Radio

For over a year, I have had an interest for radio that continues to grow every day. Music has always been and always will be one of my passions and working at a radio station has become my dream job. Although some people say there are not good radio stations in San Diego, I think this city has some of the best radio stations in the entire country. There's so many different stations with such a broad range of genres, it's hard not to find at least one station that plays something you like. Personally, I have around six or seven stations that I can tune through and they will always be playing something I like. I prefer rock and alternative rock over all other genres and to satisfy my hunger for this, I listen to FM 94.9. The music they play in this station is fantastic and everything from their music to their web site and even their slogan and art work I find to be very much of my taste. Another station that I listen to a lot is Rock 105.3. I enjoy a lot of the music they play and I appreciate them being "Metallica's Appreciation Station", being that Metallica is one of my all time favorite bands. Having said that, if I absolutely had to pick only one radio station, it would definetly be FM 94.9. I love the variety of music and artists they play and a lot of the music I listen to today I "discovered" on 94.9. Eventhough I think they are not so much "About the Music" anymore since they have a talk show on every week-day morning, I am actually a big fan of The Mikey Show and I have followed this show since they were on Rock 105.3. FM 94/9 has a daily feature called 8 o'clock albums in which they play a single album from an artist in its entirety. I like this because it's a way to actually listen to the whole album and not just the songs that might be being overplayed on the radio. One of my absolute favorite daily features from this station is Big Sonic Chill. Every night, slow rock, pop, electronic bliss is played from 9:00pm to 2:00am. The features name says it all, music to chill out. The variety of artist and music all around along with its talk show is what lured me into being a listener. Anyone with a sligh interest in alternative rock should not be too hard to convince to start listening to this station. I believe this station has something for everyone whether it be a talk show, awesome music to turn up the volume to, or entrancing tunes to realx to. There is a perfect blend of rock, alternative, independent, metal and a touch of classic rock to listen to. Again, there's something for everyone being played at all times. I listen to the talk show every morning before I go to school or to work. I'll listen to the station on and off throughout the day but I religiously listen to Big Sonic Chill every night. FM 94.9 is one my favorite radio stations and I feel very lucky to have a station like it in San Diego.

State of The Union Address 01/27/2010

The State of The Union address is a speech given every year by the president of The United States to report on the condition of the nation and to outline his agenda and national priorities to Congress. This year, it was Barack Obama's turn to step up to the plate.
Now, i'm no politician so whatever I say in this blog should not be taken too seriously. That being said, I believe Obama's State of The Union Address was excellent. There's just something about this guy that makes you feel like you can trust him. His name radiates "power" and with a name like Barack Obama, it sounds like he should be fighting De la Hoya this weekend. Throughout his speech, he was loud and clear about what was on his playbook and delivered his speech with sureness and a firm tone of voice that inspired trust.
In my personal opinion, The United States should have turned "green" a long time ago. Natural resources do not last forever and I found it real pleasant that our president has that very well in mind. The United States has and will continue being the "big brother" of other countries and therefore should be setting the example for them. Clean, green energy should be a global movement and it's good to see that the leader of our country finds this as important as it is. "...The nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy and America must be that nation."

Conan/Leno Mon. 18, 2010

Conan O'Brien legally can not say anything negative about NBC now. Four words: Ri-di-cu-lous. It makes sense for them to not want Conan to badmouth the network on their own airwaves, but Conan very a la O'Brien, simply didn't care. Why would he? The network's kicking him to the curb. His show didn't start off as well as the previows episodes but once he made his mind up about the NBC jokes, things started going uphill.
Conan's writter is a genius. I love how he gets you thinking at the beginning of his segment then elaborates his claims, such as why Conan O'Brien is actually an African American.
I haven't been watching The Tonight Show for years but just by seeing these past episodes I can see that it is nothing short than the end of an epic legacy.
I find it hilarious how Conan is willing to jump at the first job opportunity that comes up. Martin Scorsese's interview started out looking more like job interview. I hope Conan really does get some kind of role in either a movie or a television series. I'd be real great to witness his transition and see he is still on his feet.
Colin Firth's interview went awesome. A little of his background and his love for Italy was discussed and it slowly transformed into Elementary Italian. Delicate meal? Or angry reproductive organ? In my opinion this could easly have been a Classic Conan O'Brien moment.
So how 'bout that Jay Leno? How is it that he can riff all he wants about NBC? Regardless, I'll give him credit for his Dallas Cowboys and Brokeback Mountain joke. I'll say what I've been saying about him in my past couple blogs. His show has a slow start. Maybe im just an O'Brien fan now but something is really keeping Jay Leno from winning me over. The guy is funny and his "Headlines" segment is real funny. I appreciate him telling his side of the story and trying to set the record straight and put to rest any rumors that might be floating around. To tell you the truth, he kind of grew on me with that.
Emily Blunt's interview went by smoothly but wasn't very interesting. Her driver's license story and her french translation anecdote kept me interested but I think Leno has had better interviews.
Leno's musical guest was the most intruiging part of the show. I mean, come on. What better way to keep viewers tuned in that to have Ringo Star play at the end of your show.
So is NBC making the right decision by booting Conan O'Brien and keeping Jay Leno? In my honest opinion, absolutely not. Conan's show seems much more diverse and much more appealing. His jokes are arguably edgier than Leno's and he is simply more pleasant to watch. Leno is funny but I don't think he has much character. Not when you put him against O'Brien at least. NBC is making a huge mistake by letting go of Conan. It simply feels wrong. Unless there is some kind of secret agenda, a master plan or millions of dollars behind all of this, Conan should have been the one staying on television. NBC's divine plan is causing controversy and upseting whole-sale crowds, to say the least. Knowing that Conan will soon be off the network and without a show, I can confidently say that I will remain a faithful "Team Conan" member.

Conan/Leno Fri. 15, 2010

Conan's first segment was sheer genius! When he said going to work was uncomfortable I was expecting maybe people throwing deminishing comments around, I was not at all expecting a scene from Die Hard. Conan always seems to open his show beautifuly. His connection with his audience is just amazing. The Tonight Show for sale on Craigslist? How is it that he can just riff on the tension between him and NBC? Oh, that's right, his name is Conan.
His first interview went well. Actually, it went great. Conan got an interview from Jeff Bridges with a side of musical guest. Neat deal.
Mary Lynn is a gem. I didn't really see her as being funny on her own but she's actually a pretty witty woman. You don't see that a whole lot. It was great that Conan and Mary Lynn got to talking about her life before acting. I find it fascinating when actors come out and say they used to work minimum wage, dead-end jobs like Denny's. Or how they wore a chicken suit and stood outside El Pollo Loco. It kind of gives people hope in a way. I think.
Conan, you're the man.

Conan/Leno Thurs. Jan 14, 2010

Conan O'Brien's intro was very intriguing. I like how he started his show with jokes on NBC, his show and the trouble they're going through. All of his jokes were funny and from recent events. I thought O'Brien had a lot of character and delivered his jokes beautifully. I really admired how he managed to touch serious subjects with the right attitude and then switch back to his riffs seamlessly. His Craigslist joke was hilarious. Andy did a good job with his statement, not amazing, but O'Brien is the star and Andy the "side-kick".
The first half of the "interview" with Rob, the first guest, I thought wasn't really much of an interview. I'm not completely sure if it was supposed to be one to begin with but it kind of looked like Conan and Andy were putting their guest on the spot. The second half looked more like what I would expect from a guest coming on. He talked a little about what he does and the conversation with Conan seemed to go smoothly.
Jane Cracouski's segment, I thought, went a lot better. Right away they got to talking about her. After all, thats why she's there.
Hilary, Conan's musical guest, was a good change of pace for the show. I didn't really follow the mood the show had up to that point but I think it served the show well. It was a nice way to end 45 minutes of joking about their troubles with NBC and staying on a positive note.
Jay Leno's introduction to his show could be better. I don't know if he does this all of the time or just recently started doing it but I thought him letting the audience come up close to greet him was awesome. It's a nice way to connect with them and shows that he really appreciates them. His opening jokes weren't all that great and I kind of wished I was still watching Conan. He kept my attention by sneaking in a couple jokes that made me smirk. Not laugh, smirk.
"Don't try this at home". Unnecessary. I didn't really find it that entertaining. If I really wanted to see stuff like that I would probably just go on YouTube. Dwayne Johnson made both his segments good. I liked how he was the one doing the talking and had the light on him. The last 10 minutes or so were the most entertaining to me. Jimmy Kimmel actually got a laugh out of me. Overall, a little dissapointed.
Conan O'Brien? Or Jay Leno? Without a doubt, I would watch Conan O'Brien. Leno might have his faithful followers but I found O'Brien much more entertaining and his jokes much more edgy than Leno's. Maybe I have to have been watching Leno for a while to really get his show's vibe. Maybe O'Brien's target audience is a younger crowd. Whatever the reason may be, O'Brien's show was much more intriguing to me and entertained me throughout from beginning to end.