It would be interesting to know how much I have spent over
the years in my pursuit of all things music. Then again, that answer might
cause that instant feeling of queasiness to come over my stomach. I spent “How Much?” While there are some
regrets along those lines, I do tend to think of much of that time and expense
as an investment – though if you had told me in 1988 where my road would have
taken me, I would have thought you were crazy.
One thing is for sure, I started early. Whether it was using
my $ 5 weekly allowance as a kid to buy tapes off of the $3.96 rack at Walmart
or begging my parents for the latest edition of Music City News, Song Hits, or
Country Song Roundup at Kroger, music was something that was always on my mind.
I had no desire to sing or play an instrument, but there was something about
the songs and the artists that I gravitated toward – even then. I didn’t know
that I was being influenced at the time.
Then, one day I had gone to the mall with my mother and
grandmother, and I ventured into B. Dalton Booksellers. In the magazine aisle,
there was this rather large magazine that I had heard about – mainly on the
weekly countdown shows.
It was Billboard Magazine.
At the time, the cover price was $3.95. So, buying it would
crimp what style I thought I had – at least for that week. But, I wanted to
find out more about this magazine that Bob Kingsley talked about on ACC each
week. So, I bought it. I remember being so enthralled by the charts. I knew ACC
featured the Top-40, but there were sixty more slots on the page – all the way
to # 100. I remember taking a pen to the issue and marking the songs I was
familiar with. Then, I went to the Albums chart, and marked the ones that I had
in my collection. (Over the years – before I became a full-fledged journalist,
I made it to 68 out of 75. I probably bought a few over the years to cross them
off the list.)
As time went on, Billboard became a very useful tool for me.
As I started to earn more freedom in my radio career, I did a Top Ten countdown
of my own each week from 6-7pm (before the Hatchery) on WDKN. I wanted to
absorb every ounce of information about the records I was playing that I could.
Billboard helped greatly with that.
But, it did get me in trouble – once.
Back in eighth grade, I was in Mrs. Trondsen’s English class
as she was going over the lesson for the day. I had a copy of Billboard
strategically placed in my Trapper Keeper (Man, I am dating myself!) so she
wouldn’t see. Well, at some point in class, she noticed I was paying more
attention to the notebook than what she was teaching. I guess she had seen that
before! So, she told me to hand it over. Now, most thirteen-year olds might
have had a skin magazine or a truck mag…but not me. Nope, I got into trouble
for Billboard.
I guess all those $3.95 purchases paid off, as for the past
six years, I have been very blessed to have had over 1,400 articles published
by either the magazine or its’ digital arm. I don’t take it for granted. And, I
have learned to push myself in ways that I never imagined during my radio days.
I wasn’t always that confident. In fact, if you had told me when the summer of
2011 what was around the corner for me, I would not have believed you. Sure, it
was something I had dreamed about, but to say I didn’t have a plan would be to
put it mildly. What happened to make that possible was what I thought to be
rejection – and an email that almost got deleted from my server……To be
continued!
