RAMP (Radio and Music Pros) LAUNCHES NOW
I had two tours of duty in radio and one tour of duty in the record business in the daze before working at MTV/VH1 and launching My Damn Channel.
There's never a doubt that the music you first heard through the radio played as much a part of creating who you are as the food you ate. In some fashion, you are what you hear.
But radio and the music business has been taking it on the chin for years. Layoffs have been brutal. When the legendary industry trade Radio & Records was shut down after 36 years, more of our friends hit the beach. It was time to put some of the bitching and moaning aside (not all of it) and launch RAMP.
Kevin Carter, Keith Berman & Steve Resnik are the artists formerly known as Street Talk Daily. Their unique brand of accurate reporting - laced with snark and laffs - covers every hot story inside radio and music.
Weekday mornings - before the crack of dawn - RAMP delivers an e-mail blast with news breaking now. If you're a Radio and Music Pro, sign up for a free subscription now at RAMP@MyDamnChannel.com.
RAMP is ad supported by our friends in the music business dedicating to getting new sounds into the ears of radioheads who bring new music to humankind.
The RAMP website is an extra shot in the arm to give My Damn Channel fans access to music videos and to videos made by the best air talent in radio. Videos will promote and link back to bands and radio stations. Find the kitty now at www.MyDamnChannel.com/RAMP
Senior Editor Kevin Carter, his "Evil Minion" Keith Berman, Sales Pro Steve Resnik, and scantilly-clad operators are standing by to take your submissions: RAMP@MyDamnChannel.com.
Posted in
My Damn Channel with tags
My Damn Channel,
Spärhusen,
Easy To Assemble,
Illeana Douglas,
IKEA,
RAMP,
Radio and Music Pros,
Harry Shearer,
Don Was,
Stella,
Grace Crashers,
Keanu Reeves,
Paul McCartney,
Knights of the Round Table on 9/13/2009 7:39:46 PM by Rob Barnett
Those 3 tired words are decades old but Hollywood hopes they help you fall in love
with new shows.
We put quotes around our "new fall season" - knowing we can't fool you into love - but hoping it feels just a little funnier that way.
In two years, we’ve birthed 25 channels of music and comedy…working with
artists we love. We think you’ve taught us how to get talent and new
series worthy of your evil eye.
Help us buy another bag of chips for lunch!
Share the
full press release.
Share these links to our New Series:
Spärhusen
Easy To Assemble: Co-Worker of The Year
Knight Shift
RAMP (Radio And Music Pros)
Harry Shearer: Greed and Fear
Don Was: The Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music (Season 3)
Stella Live in Boston
Unwigged & Unplugged: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael
McKean and Harry Shearer
Animation Block (Season 2)
Grace Crashers Presented by Southern Comfort
New Stars:
Illeana Douglas
Keanu Reeves
Ask A Ninja
Sir Paul McCartney
Rob Mailhouse
Sir Sean Connery
Todd Spahr
Sir Richard Branson
Wallace Langham
Ryan Hunter
Taige Jensen
Sir Ben Kingsley
Jeff Goldblum
Stephen Hawking
Brad O’Farrell
Justine Bateman
Tom Arnold
Sir Elton John
Kevin Carter
Keith Berman
Steve Resnik
Prince William
The Queen
Ed Begley Jr.
Craig Bierko
Kevin Pollak
Sidney Poitier
Jane Lynch
Cheri Oteri
Ricki Lake
Tim Meadows
Dave Ahdoot
Daryl Sabara
Eric Lange
Posted in
Radio with tags
WBCN,
radio,
My Damn Channel,
Boston on 7/18/2009 5:34:21 AM by Rob Barnett
Famous deaths surround us these past few weeks. The nature of heat and fame create imagined personal connections to a legendary news oracle, to a Pop King, or a Pin-up angel. But this time, it's personal.
The death of WBCN is a painful loss felt deeply by everyone of us directly influenced by its greatness.
Every music fan whose ears and taste were shaped by the artists, songs and albums heard on 104.1 lost a friend.
Don't believe everything you hear from Spinal Tap. Boston IS a college town. If you've ever called this city "home," you owe respect and appreciation for the fun, the spirit and the sounds that BCN put into Boston.
My first college internship was at BCN. I remember the intense electric feeling as my heart beat way too fast on the first night inside that studio. That internship was the first step onto a path chasing dreams. I'll always be grateful.
If you're a fellow mourner, do you accept all the nice nice talk about change being inevitable, or can you imagine a new kind of radio powerful enough to make hearts beat way too fast?
Seth Godin once said that one of the problems with radio in the modern age is that it should no longer be called "radio."
What would we call it?
How could we forge a new model for "radio" with the honesty, passion, brains and balls to a co-create a business too powerfully protected by its fans and artists to be stopped?
Where would you launch such a thing?
Just asking.
Posted in
Don Was,
Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music with tags
Don Was,
Nicole Sandler,
Stand By Me,
Air America,
Radio or Not,
Was (Not Was),
Andy,
Jon Bon Jovi,
Richie Sambora,
John Shanks,
My Damn Channel,
Ben E. King,
Wasmopolitan,
July 4th on 7/4/2009 6:50:15 AM by Rob Barnett
Happy 4th!
The method to our madness at My Damn Channel has always been simple. We put independent artists we love & trust in charge of their own channels to bring you free comedy & music.
Don Was conjured up mighty free magic with the release of "Stand by Me," a new version of the Ben E. King classic - made for the people of Iran - by Iranian superstar Andy, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, John Shanks, Don Was & friends.
"Stand by Me" is only one week old today and we're closing in on the first million views worldwide! THANK YOU for sharing this song and video and free mp3 and for moving it across continents and into Iran.
Here's the first, in-depth interview with Don about how this all came about by Nicole Sandler. (giving me trouble on IE - fine on Safari?! - must need more beer)
Nicole has one of the most impressive careers in radio. She's broadcast on some of the best music radio stations across the country. A true music fan with fine taste. You can find Nicole talking music, politics and more on Air America and we also recommend her blog at RadioOrNot.com.
Nicole spoke with Don Was about putting together the "Stand by Me" project - about Was (Not Was) - and about creating, producing and curating the Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music here on My Damn Channel.
Adam Carolla was good enough to take a phone call of thanks on his last CBS radio show Friday.
The excerpt below starts with his memorable sermon on CHANGE and segues into our phone call with lasted a mystical 3:33 and includes Adam's unexpected endorsement of My Damn Channel:
http://www.971freefm.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3517715
This just in over the weekend: Brothers Carolla, Kimmel & Dixon have a brand new TV show just announced: "ACE IN THE HOLE."
ONE DAY on the unemployment line. The man's an unstoppable force o' nature.
I'm listening to Adam Carolla online in NY this morning. I'm filled with sadness, anger, disappointment, and other badness because Fri 2/20 is the last morning the Ace Man broadcasts from 97.1 FREE FM in LA.
I hired Adam for this job back in 2004. For the past four years he built one of the best morning radio shows in the country. Adam is being so gracious this morning to all the enemies of good radio that it's....well....too gracious.
Over four years ago, nobody could 'replace' Howard Stern, he could only be 'followed.' Adam followed better than anyone else ever could. A caller to his show remarked that Howard may not be the same man in real life as he is on the air. Adam is an unusual talent. If you were sitting at his house, poolside, with a beer - you'd be hearing much the same man you'd hear on the radio. He'd be grabbing every, seemingly small detail of the oddities of life and pulling you inside the inately funniest aspects of all of it.
Adam Carolla is an entertainer, a radio host, an improv artist, an actor, a writer, a producer, a boxer, a filmmaker, a carpenter, a car nut, a husband, a father, a dancer, a brilliant brain, and above all ... an extremely decent human being.
You won't find many of those in the radio business in 2009. The magic of truly free thinkers and the music stations many of us all fell in love with long ago is all but dead. There are too many killers to name.
Instead, thanks and respect go to Adam, Teresa Strasser, Bryan, Angie, The Mikes, Kimmel, Dixon, Brusca, Dameshek, every affiliate that helped create big numbers in markets all over the country, and to the fans who embraced all of it.
As a fan, I'll keep tracking the movement at www.AdamCarolla.com.
As an new media outlet, truly FREE, without any job justifiers, or weak-kneed corporate suckass wannabees....the doors of My Damn Channel will always be open to you my friend. You're a class act Carolla.
Posted in
Google,
Viacom,
YouTube with tags
Viacom,
Google,
YouTube,
Sumner Redstone,
Eric Schmidt,
MTV,
VH1,
CBS on 7/4/2008 6:10:45 AM by Rob Barnett
Before you start waving the flag today, eyeball some bad news in the morning paper.
Two heavyweight champions have been in a classic battle that effects our access to information and entertainment.
Our privacy just got thrown into the middle of the ring:
Google Told to Turn Over User Data of YouTube
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom its records of which users watched which videos on YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far.
The order raised concerns among YouTube users and privacy advocates that the video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of the site’s visitors.
Full story here.
Summer Redstone Eric Schmidt
("The Night Feed" note: I worked at Viacom's MTV, VH1, & CBS. My Damn Channel works with Google & YouTube. We're represented by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.)
Happy Independence Day.
Posted in
Big Fat Brain,
Donnie Hoyle,
Snatchbuckler,
You Suck at Photoshop with tags
You Suck at Photoshop,
YSAP,
Big Fat Brain,
Troy Hitch,
Matt Bledsoe,
Snatchbuckler,
Rob Barnett,
TIME Magazine,
MTV,
VH1,
CBS,
Peopleburg on 5/3/2008 2:08:44 AM by Rob Barnett
TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World
Technoculture
Fun with Photoshop
Thursday, May. 01, 2008 By JOSH QUITTNER
Troy Hitch, left, and Matt Bledsoe have just been revealed as the co-creators of the hit Web series You Suck at Photoshop.
Five hundred Gazillion Web video channels and nothing good on? Google this: You Suck at Photoshop. Narrated by the fictional Donnie Hoyle--an angry, sarcastic, cuckolded Photoshop expert--it was launched in late December and ended 10 episodes later, in April, when Donnie mysteriously disappeared. Not that you ever saw him. In the videos, the camera remains centered on a computer desktop and follows Donnie's cursor as he conducts mock tutorials on how to use the photo-altering application. Sound obscure? Maybe not. With the explosion of blogging and do-it-yourself publishing, Photoshop has become one of the Web generation's indispensable tools. Accordingly, the Donnie series has been viewed nearly 8 million times and is up for two 2008 Webby Awards: Best Comedy and Best How-To Video.
How a goof became a phenomenon is a Web-age love story almost as sweet as Donnie is bitter. Many fans believed the video series had to have been made by a professional comedian; Dane Cook was a favorite suspect. But it turns out to be the work of Troy Hitch, 37, and Matt Bledsoe, 39, both of Covington, Ky.--two former ad-agency guys who met while recording a radio commercial in nearby Cincinnati, Ohio. They buddied up, started writing funny bits and launched a new-media-centric creative agency called Big Fat Institute in 2005.
That's where Rob Barnett discovered them. A show-biz guy who had worked at MTV and VH1 before spending two years at the helm of CBS Radio, Barnett had decided to become a Web-video impresario. He found Big Fat Institute while looking for someone to design his website. You Suck at Photoshop "was hysterical," Barnett recalled recently. "I was instantly engaged and e-mailed them: 'WHO are you?' In 38 seconds, I get a response: 'Who are YOU?' We started flirting." The e-mail led to phone calls and an invitation to visit Barnett in New Jersey. "A few days later, they jumped on a plane to Newark, and we fell in love," he says. Barnett signed the guys to build his video-entertainment website, MyDamnChannel.com and then produce comedy videos for it. You Suck at Photoshop was their first baby.
Hitch and Bledsoe had long nurtured an idea for a character they thought of as the Angry Photoshop Guy. Explains Bledsoe: "We had both been in the agency business so long that after a while we'd seen every kind of person in the advertising world." One of those stereotypes, he says, was the "insane designer, basically. He has horrible social skills and horrible things going on in his life, and the only thing he has going for him is he can out-Photoshop the guy in the cube next to him." It took 2 1/2 hours to complete Episode 1. "The vast majority is improvised by Troy," says Bledsoe. "I hate him for that." Hitch adds, "It was meant to be a one-off thing." But within a few weeks, the blogosphere discovered it, and the series began racking up page views.
In my favorite episode, Donnie shows viewers how to seamlessly remove the wedding band from a picture of his cheating wife's finger. "We actually really put the ring up for sale on eBay, and within four hours, 30,000 people had come by to look or bid on it," Hitch tells me. "The ring was bid up to $760." But eBay shut down the auction after discovering the performance art--a violation of the terms of service, apparently.
The team emerged from anonymity in April to launch a sequel, Snatchbuckler's Second Chance. It's filmed in a fictional, virtual world called Peopleburg.com Snatchbuckler, Donnie's erstwhile partner in the online game World of Warcraft, has gone there to shake off his Internet addiction. The video debuted on MyDamnChannel.com in late April, and it looks pretty cool. But I miss Donnie and wish I could Photoshop him back into my life.
Posted in
Coolio,
My Damn Channel,
Radio with tags
Coolio,
My Damn Channel,
Radio on 2/12/2008 9:35:00 PM by Rob Barnett
Episode 2 of "Cookin' with Coolio" will debut next Wednesday, Feb. 20.
Our newest My Damn Channel man will be on your dial that morning across the land. Details on the way.
If you're a radio pal & want him on the air email me or Gary@MyDamnChannel.com.
