WA2K Radio is now on the air

George, thanks for that historical note. Rebecca Nurse's home is quite lovely. Does anyone live there now?

Or is it:


The House With Nobody in It

Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track
I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.
I suppose I've passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute
And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;
That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.
I know this house isn't haunted, and I wish it were, I do;
For it wouldn't be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.

This house on the road to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass,
And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass.
It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;
But what it needs the most of all is some people living inside.

If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid
I'd put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade.
I'd buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be
And I'd find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free.

Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door,
Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.
But there's nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone
For the lack of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do, a house that has sheltered life,
That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,
A house that has echoed a baby's laugh and held up his stumbling feet,
Is the saddest sight, when it's left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.

So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie track
I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back,
Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart,
For I can't help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart.

I don't know about you, listeners, but as a child I always wanted to go through empty houses just to see if I could get the feel of former occupants. Anyone else ever have that urge?

Amazing, listeners. I just visited Setanta's history thread on frigates. That man never ceases to amaze me.

In translating his signature line, I found that this says a world of things:


We call dangerous those which have the spirit made differently than us and immoral those which do not have our morals. -- Anatole France

Pirate Jenny - Judy Collins

1928) bertolt brecht, kurt weill

You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors
And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawking
Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell
In this crummy southern town
In this crummy old hotel
But you'll never guess to who you're talkin'.
No. you couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'.

Then one night there's a scream in the night
And you'll wonder who could that have been
And you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin'
And you say, what's she got to grin?
I'll tell you.

There's a ship
The black freighter
With a skull on it's masthead
Will be coming in

You gentlemen can say, hey gal, finish them floors!
Get upstairs! what's wrong with you! earn your keep here!
You toss me your tips
And look out to the ships
But I'm counting your heads
As I'm making the beds
Cuz there's nobody gonna sleep here, honey
Nobody
Nobody!

Then one night there's a scream in the night
And you say, who's that kicking up a row?
And ya see me kinda starin' out the winda
And you say, what's she got to stare at now?
I'll tell ya.

There's a ship
The black freighter
Turns around in the harbor
Shootin' guns from her bow

Now
You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face
Cause every building in town is a flat one
This whole frickin' place will be down to the ground
Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound
And you yell, why do they spare that one?
Yes.
That's what you say.
Why do they spare that one?

All the night through, through the noise and to-do
You wonder who is that person that lives up there?
And you see me stepping out in the morning
Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair

And the ship
The black freighter
Runs a flag up it's masthead
And a cheer rings the air

By noontime the dock
Is a-swarmin' with men
Comin' out from the ghostly freighter
They move in the shadows
Where no one can see
And they're chainin' up people
And they're bringin' em to me
Askin' me,
Kill them now, or later?
Askin' me!
Kill them now, or later?

Noon by the clock
And so still by the dock
You can hear a foghorn miles away
And in that quiet of death
I'll say, right now.
Right now!

Then they'll pile up the bodies
And I'll say,
That'll learn ya!

And the ship
The black freighter
Disappears out to sea
And
On
It
Is
Me

edgar, that is one eerie song. Ghosts ships and eclipse, and darkness bring out the wraiths.

Perhaps, my friend, it's because at midnight tonight, the Yanks better have their returns mailed and postmarked properly.

The graveyard of the Atlantic lies in the outer banks of North Carolina and often I have walked those sands and watched the winds whip up the waves. Ah, the land pirates and their hobbled horses.

Listeners, strange and odd things happen here at WA2K radio. It is the darkness that makes it so.

And as England, Norway, Denmark and France sleep, we sing about tales of the deep.

Three fathoms deep, the pride of the White Star Lines rusts and all its secrets rust with it. Iceberg? perhaps.

On this day in history in 1912, the Titanic sank at 2:27 AM in North Atlantic as the band played on.

Yes, Raggedy. The band did not play "Nearer My God to thee" but something else like an song of autumn.

Crazy song about the Titanic:

Oh they built the ship Titanic,
And they built it strong and true,
And they said it was a ship that the water would never come through,
But the Lord's all mighty hand said that ship would never stand,
It was sad when that great ship went down.

More later on that song, listeners. Right now, believe it or not, I've got to fix stuffed salmon.

Song lyrics
Come on and hear, come on and hear
Alexander's ragtime band
Come on and hear, come on and hear
It's the best band in the land
They can play a bugle call like you never heard before
So natural that you wanna go to war
That's just the bestest band what am, oh honey lamb

Come on along, come on along
Let me take you by the hand
Up to the man, I said the man
Who's the leader of the band
If you care to hear that Swanee River played in ragtime
Come on and hear come on and hear
Alexander's ragtime band



And folks, that was one of the tunes that the band played because all of the survivors agree.

and with that song in mind, Ms. Letty reclines.

Goodnight, WA2K radio.

letty, your houe song, reminded me of this tom waits tune from his mule variations cd

House Where Nobody Lives
Tom Waits

There's a house on my block
That's abandoned and cold
Folks moved out of it a
Long time ago
And they took all their things
And they never came back
Looks like it's haunted
With the windows all cracked
And everyone call it
The house, the house where
Nobody lives
Once it held laughter
Once it held dreams
Did they throw it away
Did they know what it means
Did someone's heart break
Or did someone do somebody wrong?
Well the paint was all cracked
It was peeled off of the wood
Papers were stacked on the porch
Where I stood
And the weeds had grown up
Just as high as the door
There were birds in the chimney
And an old chest of drawers
Looks like no one will ever
Come back to the
House were nobody lives
Once it held laughter
Once it held dreams
Did they throw it away
Did they know what it means
Did someone's heart break
Or did someone do someone wrong?
So if you find someone
Someone to have, someone to hold
Don't trade it for silver
Don't trade it for gold
I have all of life's treasures
And they are fine and they are good
They remind me that houses
Are just made of wood
What makes a house grand
Ain't the roof or the doors
If there's love in a house
It's a palace for sure
Without love...
It ain't nothin but a house
A house where nobody lives
Without love it ain't nothin
But a house, a house where
Nobody lives.

Don't whisper things to me you don't mean
For words down deep inside can be seen by the night
The night has a 1000 eyes
And it knows a truthful heart from one that lies

Though romance may have called in the past
My love for you will be everlasting and bright
As bright as the starlit skies
And this wondrous night that has a 1000 eyes

I've lived my life walking thru a dream
For I knew that I would find this moment supreme
A night of bliss and tender sighs
And the smiling down of a 1000 eyes
The night has a 1000 eyes

Wake up, wake up Darlin' Cora
Wanna see you one more time
The sheriff and his hound dogs a coming
I gotta move on down the line

I don't know why darlin' Cora
Don't know what the reason can be
But I never had found a single town
Where me and my boss-man agree

I ain't a man to be played with
I ain't nobody's toy
Been working for my pay for a long, long time
How come he still calls me boy

Well I'd rather drink muddy water
And sleep in a hollowed out log
Than to hang around in this old town
And be treated like a dirty dog

Well I whopped that man darlin' Cora
And he fell down where he stood
Don't know if I was wrong darlin' Cora
But Lord it sure felt good

If it wasn't so dark darlin' Cora
You'd see tears trickling down my face
It breaks my heart darlin' Cora
But I got to leave this place
Wake up, wake up darlin' Cora

Edgar,

That reminds me of a song my Daddy used to sing when I was young.

He was only a lavander cowboy,
the hairs on his chest they were two.
He wanted to be a big hero
and do as the he-men do.

He fought for Red Nelly's honor.
He cleaned out a holdup nest.
He died with two six guns ablazin',
with only two hairs on his chest.

When filling out my income-tax form,
can I claim the government as a dependent?

========

Some OneLiners Tax Humor to help you get through this
TAXING Day.

Take a look at your tax bills and you'll quit calling
them "cheap politicians."

The reward for saving your money is being able to pay
your taxes without borrowing.

Even if money could bring happiness, think what the
luxury tax would be!

There's one consolation about life and taxes - when
you finish the former, you're through with the latter.

One can be born free and then be taxed to death.

It will be real nice if taxes get down to where we can
afford to make a living.

We wonder why they call them "tax returns" when so
little of it does.

At no time is it easier to keep your mouth shut than
during an audit of your income-tax return.

After a man pays his income tax, he knows how a cow
feels after she's been milked.

If you fill out an income tax return correctly, you go
to the poor house. If you don't, you go to jail.

Reading, thinking, wondering.

The time difference is a nuisance, isn't it, so replies or comebacks are often delayed a day or more, before that old sun comes around again.

For anyone keeping track, I am 5 hours before EST.

GMT, or Greenwich Mean Time, is calculated from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich on the Thames in London, or was originally. When we vied with the French to be the "0" of longitude.

That old observatory, which is still there, is part of a museum and a park which is well worth a visit. From the park, on its hill, there are fine views of Canary Wharf (the new docklands development) and views over London known to Turner, Caneletto and Dickens. And Nelson too, God bless him, as the Royal Naval College with the Maritime Museum is at the foot of the hill.

Hi, everyone here on WA2K radio.

I need to look over all the messages that have come into the studio before I can respond to each.

McTag, I realize the time factor. Is it ten o'clock in Manchester and elsewhere?

Well, folks. I need to get some more sleep. Up too early this morning. Here is a great way for measuring time around the world:

http://www.timeticker.com/main.htm

Back later, early birds, with acknowledgements and other things of interest on WA2K radio.

Funnily enough, and maybe confusingly for some listeners, hereabouts at the moment we are on British Summer Time (sometimes known as daylight-saving time) which is GMT + 1. So in the summertime I'm six hours ahead of EST

In the springtime, our clocks go forward one hour, which has the effect of arranging more daylight in the early evening, less in the morning. For who needs much daylight before six a.m.? Most people are abed. Daylight in the evening is more useful to a majority of people.

So here at the moment, and you can check this time with the time A2K gives for the post, it's 11:40 or thereabouts

Well Letty certainly pried the eyelids open early this am. Karaoke at the new place last night was interesting. Shorter time as they only operate from 9:00 to 12:00. Ther were a lot of singers so I only got two songs in. Equipment was good and the guy running it was cheerful and knowledgeable. There was also a good mix of young and old so variety raised it's hydra head. I read an interesting article regarding radio this morning and thought I'd share the concept with you.


Entertainment - Reuters
Reuters
Non-Niche Radio Is Becoming the New Niche

Fri Apr 15, 7:45 PM ET



By Paul Heine

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Radio's playlist liberation movement hatched in late 2001 at a birthday party in Winnipeg, Manitoba.



A radio was blasting when Howard Kroeger, director of operations and programing for CHUM Broadcasting's Winnipeg stations, arrived at his friend's 40th-birthday bash. It was a competitor's classic rock station, and Kroeger used the occasion to conduct an informal focus group among the partygoers, most in their mid- to late 30s.

Whenever Boston, the Cars, Meatloaf, Supertramp or some other '70s staple came on, it got an overwhelming thumbs-up from the Molson-enhanced crowd. But there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm when Jimi Hendrix, the Animals, the Doors or other '60s icons played.

While the crowd dug connecting with music from their high school years, Kroeger noticed the station wasn't playing a lot of other acts his generation grew up with, like the Pretenders, Elvis Costello), Soft Cell and Tears for Fears.

Returning home, he pulled one of Joel Whitburn's Billboard chart reference books off the shelf and began feverishly compiling a list of songs from 1974 to the present that had a rock/adult contemporary (AC) flavor but were not getting much radio love. He ended up with a deep and wide potpourri.

With the help of Mike Dorn from Audience Research International, Kroeger made a format montage from the song list and had it tested during a CHUM strategic study. "It came back that the hole was absolutely huge," Kroeger recalls.

STARTS WITH A 'B'

Kroeger always liked the "Bob" moniker used by a Minneapolis country station in the early '90s, so he adopted the handle in Winnipeg. "We wanted to present a personality for the radio station without having to go through all these names that have been used a gazillion times before, like the Hawk and the Bear," he says.

And so, on March 4, 2002, North America's first Bob FM was born on CFWM Winnipeg. In launching the station, Kroeger jump-started the latest hot radio format, which goes under various regular-guy names: Bob, Jack, Ben, Simon, Hank and others.

It encompasses a wide swath of music from the mid- to late '70s up to the turn of the century.

Variety is the name of the game, seemingly mimicking the iPod Shuffle campaign in its quest for odd juxtapositions of style and genre. The one common denominator is that these songs were all hits.

Launching two weeks into Canada's Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings survey, the fresh format debuted in Winnipeg at No. 1 among adults ages 25-54 and has remained there ever since -- for nine consecutive ratings periods.

Inspired by the success in Winnipeg, Rogers Broadcasting launched Jack FM in Vancouver in December 2002, under program director Pat Cardinal. Today, there is a Bob, Jack, Joe or Dave in every major Canadian market except Montreal. Each of the country's three radio titans -- Rogers, Corus Radio and CHUM Broadcasting -- program variations in multiple markets.

FIDGETING PROGRAMMERS

Initially puzzled by a format that fractures some of radio's time-honored programing tenets, U.S. broadcasters have since embraced the concept. "The first time you sit down with somebody to schedule what everybody calls 'train wrecks,' you might see a little fidgeting going on," Joel Folger says amid bursts of devilish laughter. A former programer, Folger works with Kroeger advising U.S. stations on the format. He prides himself on helping program directors "unlearn many of the principles that (they), as a programer, have come to believe are set in stone. You can play songs from different (musical) formats on the same station."

In one form or another, Bob, Jack and their offshoots have hit the air in markets including Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; Dallas; Detroit; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; Salt Lake City; Austin; Sacramento, Calif.; Indianapolis; Des Moines, Iowa; Tucson, Ariz.; and Texarkana, Texas.

While the new approach is most evident as an adult top 40/classic hits hybrid, it is also being felt at formats as disparate as modern rock and country. Don McLean)'s "American Pie" into the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls?" No problem. Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" into Lipps, Inc.'s "Funkytown?" You bet. U2's "Desire" into the Spinners' "Rubberband Man?" Bring it on.



Though it waves the "We play anything" flag with pride, the format focuses on music that appeals to 35- to 44-year-olds while tossing maxims about fit and compatibility out the window. Classic alternative from the '80s is abundant: Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Soft Cell, INXS. That meshes with the acts that first put MTV on the map, like Men at Work, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Duran Duran, and with that decade's pop-rock crossovers from Bryan Adams), Toto, Prince and the J. Geils Band.

But there is also room for dance and funk from the Commodores, Kool & the Gang and Wild Cherry. Seventies classic rock is another cornerstone, with Foreigner and the Steve Miller Band taking prominent seats at Bob and Jack's table. And don't forget adult top 40 from the '90s and today, encompassing Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, Avril Lavigne and Matchbox Twenty.

In short, it is the only place on the dial where Grand Funk Railroad, Norah Jones and the Georgia Satellites peacefully co-exist.

LOOKING BACK

Spanning the youngest edge of the baby boom and the older end of Generation X, the 35-44 demo is nostalgic for the music it grew up on. In addition, Kroeger believes consumers tend to obsess on what was hot 20 years ago. In the '70s, the '50s-inspired "Happy Days" was a TV smash. In the '80s, people looked back to the Vietnam War era of the '60s through films like "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket." In the '90s, TV's "That '70s Show" became popular, and there were movies about Studio 54.

Now, it is the '80s' turn. "As you approach your middle to late 30s, those pangs of nostalgia get louder and louder," Kroeger says.

Meanwhile, the explosion of peer-to-peer file sharing and the popularity of mix tapes have conditioned consumers to expect -- and demand -- more variety, Kroeger reasons. "The last several years became a real awakening period for people's musical taste buds," he says. "Radio has been niche-formatted to death. Now variety has become a niche."

Will the novelty wear off? Do Bob and Jack have legs? "Because of the breadth of the years encompassed and the sheer volume of songs, you're not going to see the kind of burn factor that you saw with Jammin' Oldies and '70s stations," Folger says. "The format is going to grow beyond belief in the next few years. In three years, you'll have a station with a wide playlist of all different kinds of music in every market. It's an exciting time for radio."

It reaffirms the adage that you've got to listen to your audience. With that in mind feel free to express your opinions to us at WA2K. Be assured we recognize your importance (gotta pay attention almost spelled impotence) because without you we don't exist.

Thanks bob, Happy Saturday to you

Good day to all.

Bob: That's a very interesting article, but I must admit that the new concept holds no interest for this music lover. I stopped listening to radio music in 1978. Since then, I've been content listening to my CDs. I don't think I know any of the 80's songs and definitely none of the 90's - with the exception of Broadway and two new Baez albums. hmmm. I wonder if I'm missing something.

Here we go with the April 16 birthdays:

1844 Anatole France writer (Thaïs, The Wickerwork Woman)/Nobel 1921/died 1924
1866 Jose de Diego, Puerto Rican patriot/political leader (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; died 1918)
1867 Wilbur Wright, pioneer aviator (Millville, IN; died 1912)
1871 John M. Synge, playwright/poet (near Dublin, Ireland; died 1909)
1889 Charlie Chaplin, actor/filmmaker (London, England; died 1977)
1919 Merce Cunningham, dancer/choreographer (Centralia, WA)
1921 Peter Ustinov, actor (London, England) ; died 2004
1922 Kingsley Amis, author (London, England; died 1995)
1924 Henry Mancini, composer (Cleveland, OH; died 1994)
1929 Edie Adams, singer/actress (Kingston, PA)
1930 Herbie Mann, jazz musician (New York, NY)
1934 Robert Stigwood producer (Saturday Night Fever, Grease)
1935 Bobby Vinton, singer (Canonsburg, PA)
1939 Dusty Springfield [Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien] Hampstead London England, rock vocalist (Growing Pains) / died 1999
1947 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball player (New York, NY)
1947 Gerry Rafferty Paisley Scotland, guitarist/vocalist (Baker Street)
1955 Ellen Barkin, actress (New York, NY)
1964 Lela Rochon, actress (Los Angeles, CA)
1965 Jon Cryer, actor (New York, NY)
1976 Lukas Haas, actor (West Hollywood, CA)