My new Lightning 100 blog!

Looks like I will be blogging here and it will be linked to Lightning100.com which is pretty exciting to tell you the truth. I have been blogging (when I get a chance) for quite sometime on my myspace page and enjoy the personal connection it creates between me and my listeners. I have a pretty busy life, so I won’t blog daily, but I will do my best to keep up with it. Let me tell you a little about myself and why my life is so busy.

I am the Production Director for Tuned In Broadcasting. I make the commercials that run on Lightning 100. I’ve held this position for about 7 years now. Which actually seems like a really long time as I think about it. Everything I record into the computer has start dates and end dates and I was just looking at something today that was recorded in 06 that seemed like forever ago. 2006 Doesn’t really seem like forever ago but I guess it is all about perspective.

I am one of the DJ’s at Lightning 100 and am on air weekdays at noon on 100.1 fm and Lightning100.com I am on until 3pm when our Program Director David Hall takes over. He has been at the station much longer than I have and has been on the air in Nashville even longer. He use to be on WKDF back when they played Rock in the 80’s. He was at Lightning 100 when I started as an intern back in 1997. I was actually interning for our Alternative rock station Thunder 94. The station that preceded 93.7 The Phoenix. When I was originally hired it was as an Audio Engineering Assistant for Lightning 100. I was setting up for their live broadcast from the Hard Rock friday mornings. They started training me to be the audio engineer for Nashville Sunday Night, when my on air desire started becoming a conflict. I had to pick being on air or being an engineer. At the time it was a no brainer decision to be on air. Something I actually regretted for many years afterward when I was still part time. I really just wanted to work full time in the industry and finally had that opportunity in the spring of 2001 when our Production Director Wes Shainline left for a job with XM and recommended me. I had been helping him with Dubbing commercials while I worked Sunday nights at the station on air and as a board op. When I asked for the job I was actually turned down. They said I could do it temporarily until they found someone. I kind of knew right away though that the job was really mine. Still it was an awkward position to be in. Wes sat with me for one day of training and told me he had to leave to get a haircut before catching a plane the next day. I worked 7 days a week for 6 months straight, commuting from Murfreesboro to Nashville, all the while feeling like I was in over my head. It was an important opportunity for me though and one I could not let pass me by. I will say that I know I would have given up and quite if it was for my then future wife Corinne. She really gave me the support I needed to get through it. My story is somewhat common for people who decide to get into the Music Business. You have to have a passion for it and be willing to work your way up. The best entrance in is doing the jobs no one else wants to do. I hear about it all the time when I am engineering Music Business Radio.

One of my duties as Production Director for Tuned In Broadcasting is producing a show called Music Business Radio. It’s an hour long talk show with people in the Music Business. We talk to someone in the biz, find out how they got started, what they did along the way, listen to stories they have to tell, find out what they are currently involved in, and then let them listen to and critique CD’s sent in from around the world from our listeners on a segment of the show we call Dave’s Demo Derby. It’s a cool show and has a ton of podcast listeners. You can catch it Sunday Night at 7pm on 100.1 fm or Lightning100.com with a reply Monday night at 11pm. It is definitely something I am proud of and look forward to seeing it’s success in the future. We just got a commitment from our first affiliate and I hope it is the first of many!

I’m sure I will talk more about Music Business Radio in the future. It is getting late and I am glad I finally got my first real blog entry done. Our newest employee and former intern Brian Waters is setting everything up and helping us improve the website. He is fresh out of college and in touch with all this cool technology. It’s amazing how quickly things seem to be happening these days. Just when I think I am caught up, there seems to be exponential growth and progress occurring. I am on facebook, myspace, and Linkedin. So look me up and lets connect. I’m also always interested in hearing from you. Let me know what you are into. It’s always nice to hear about new music or sites, especially when the people telling you about them are fans and don’t have an agenda. That is another topic for a future blog though….

I will also be sure to have lots to say about Bonnaroo 08

Here is a photo of me and Ben Harper last year