Building A Brand

 

Somewhere around 1976, Big Apple Airchecks was born when I met two guys from the New York Institute of Technology who recorded radio stations and traded them with other guys across the country. They got me interested in it, and they helped me build my collection, and trade with people all over the country, and Canada as well. I was in high school at that time, and ended up going to New York Tech in September 1976. I joined the college radio station, WNYT and pretty much immediately I got a regular weekend shift, and an occasional shift during the week. That's where I "honed my craft" and dreamed of being on the radio.

In 2000, I got my first computer, and built a basic website at Tripod. It was only a couple of pages, and I quickly outgrew that. I was visiting some friends at WBLI a couple of years later, and one of them told me that she had a 16 year old kid build her site. That's how www.bigappleairchecks.com was born. 

So, I contacted him, and for $100 he built me a great site using Microsoft Publisher. That worked until my Windows 7 computer died, and Publisher wouldn't work on Windows 10.

Big Apple Airchecks has contributed to the Paley Museum in New York City, Reelradio.com and Airchexx.com. I've also had airchecks used in several movies and PBS documentaries.  My collection has many historical aspects to it, as well as entertainment value.

Back to the drawing board, and around 2021 I had this guy from Texas, a former DJ who was building websites while he was in graphic design school, build a brand new site using WordPress and various plug-ins. I had no clue what he was doing, but would eventually learn because about a week after the site went live, he ghosted me. He wouldn't answer any texts, phone call or emails. 

I learned on my own how to update the site, and even build new pages. Yay for me! So that was one brand that grew from a 2 page website to an over 20 page site that people around the world know about. I'm often contacted by people who want to listen to old radio to bring back their childhoods. Then there's the DJ who has nothing of his own because of fires, floods, moving and divorce. One guy even told me that after the divorce his wife dumped everything!

In 2020, during the pandemic, the owner of airchexx.com brought back an online radio station, www.hitoldies.net and asked if I wanted to do a show. That's how the idea of New York's Best Rock was born. The first few shows weren't branded that way, but the show eventually needed a name, and that's how New York's Best Rock was born.

Why New York's Best Rock? That was the tagline of the late, great 95.5 WPLJ, an ABC owned station in New York City. They had some great jocks including Jim Kerr, Pat St. John, Jimmy Fink, Carol Miller, Bob Marrone and the late Viv Roundtree and John Zacherle.  At one time or another, I got to meet them all, and become friends with some of them.

When I finally decided to make NYBR something, I asked Bob Marrone to be the voice of the show. I'll send him stuff to record, and my friend Richie Norris will produce it for me.

Right now, NYBR is on 37 different internet stations. Along the way, stations went off, stations dropped me or I dropped them for one reason or another.

Some stations play the show once and week, others twice, and a couple play it 4 times or more.

I have a music library that is huge, and no two shows are alike. I always hope that the stations and their listeners appreciate the time and effort that goes into producing the show. A one hour show takes approximately 3 hours to produce, and I always hope that the effort shows.

Would you like to purchase a Big Apple Airchecks or New York's Best Rock T-Shirt? Click https://www.bonfire.com/store/bigappleairchecks-and-nybr/ to go to Bonfire to order yours today!

 Kitty Prozac

My 9 year old, little black cat Dakota has a little bit of a peeing problem in the house. For some reason, she pees on our bed. We know it's not a UTI, but a behavioral issue. She tolerates our other two cats, Daisy and Scarlett who we had first.

When we're watching TV in bed, Dakota will be on my lap, and Scarlett will then be on my stomach, or on the right side of my lap, and Dakota doesn't bother her. But, if Scarlett is there first, Dakota will swat at her to get her off me. Scarlett will jump off, Dakota gets comfortable, and then Scarlett will come back.

I can't tell you how many times I've left my room for just a couple of minutes, and when I get back, there's a wet spot. I have to change the comforter and the sheet. Since this happens so much, I put wee-wee pads under the sheet so the bed protector won't get wet. We even put the pads under the bed protector and over the zippered full encasement protector.

We tried a calming collar and even diffusers that dispense calming hormones. One of them smelled so much it triggered a migraine, so I had to return them. Neither of them worked.

So I talked to the vet last week, Dr. Joy and we finally decided to put her on kitty prozac. Since Dakota will not take pills or liquids, the last resort was to get a compounded pen of prozac from Chewy.com because they were the least expensive option.

Dr. Joy called the prescription in, and one of the Chewy pharmacists called to talk about it. We got it straightened out, and he called the vet to confirm it.

It showed up within 3 days, and it's a cool pen that with one click, dispenses the correct amount of cream which goes in the ears. One day it's the right, the next day it's the left. That's it at the top of the page.

A three month supply is around $40, which is less than a pill or liquid. 

Have I seen a change in Dakota yet? Well, she seems calmer, and she really hasn't peed on the bed. I say really because yesterday my wife pulled her pillow cases off because she said they smelled. That could have been before we gave her the prozac, or it was just her imagination. 

I love this little girl, and wouldn't give her up for the world! She is sweet, friendly and loves to cuddle. I wake up in the morning, and she's in my arm curled up like a little black ball. What we won't do for our pets.

 Killer Headaches

There is nothing in this world that is worse than waking up with a killer headache. I mean that kind that makes you want want to crawl back in bed in a fetal position and just cry.

My late grandmother Dorothy used to get migraines. My father told me this, and luckily he didn't get them. It skipped him and went to my daughter Michelle and skipped Melissa and me, or so I thought.

At age 67, grandma finally caught up to me. It was around June 2025 that I started to get these killer headaches that Tylenol or Ibuprofen wouldn't take care of. I mean headaches that caused me to stay in bed all day, not eat and want to do nothing.

I saw my neurologist who prescribed Nurtec as needed, and Amitriptilyn 10mg on a daily basis. As it turned out, 10mg was to much, as it would make me drowsy the next day, so we changed it to 5 mg, and I would take it earlier in the night.

The Nurtec wasn't 100% effective, so Ubrelvey was next. That didn't work at all, but it did for Michelle so I gave it to her. Next up was Imitrex, and that worked if I took 2 in a day; one in the morning, and one later in the day.

So before you ask, I did have an MRI. It showed nothing, just a hamster on a wheel. Just kidding. Luckily nothing bad such as a tumor or a clot.

I asked my neurologist about Quilipta, and instead he prescribed Topamax, another drug used daily for migraines. It starts with one pill for a week, two pills for a week, then finally 3 pills daily after that. 

I called my health plan and found out that Quilipta is not on their formulary, and the doctor would have to prescribe, and it would most likely be rejected. Then he would have to appeal it, then it would probably be approved. Isn't our health system wonderful?

Now it's a matter of time to see if Topamax works and helps controls these migraines. If you've never had one, consider yourself lucky. If you suffer like I do, let's link arms and hope for the best.

 

Shopping For Insurance

The only thing worse than shopping for insurance is an appointment with the gastroenterologist and talking about an endoscopy and colonoscopy. Yeah, it's that bad.

I had been with State Farm for almost two years, and when I started with them, they were less expensive than any other company, including the current one at the time, USAA. Keep in mind that to have insurance with USAA, you had to be a service member, or be in the family of one. I became one because my late mother married one, so my sister and I became automatic members.

USAA touts there service and prices, and at the time they were the best prices. However, their prices kept going up, and I shopped around, and State Farm beat them by a country mile. At the first renewal in 2023, their prices went up, but were still lower than anyone else. In 2024, there was yet another price increase, and I called my local office, and all they said was it's because New York allowed a price increase to go through. 

So when I got my 2026 documents a couple of weeks ago, there was yet another price increase! Enough was enough, and I started to shop around. Those comparison websites like Insurify, Jerry, etc are a total waste of time. They are limited to show prices only in your geographic area, so the same companies started showing up, and the prices were different. 

I called USAA, Amica and The Hartford by AARP for auto and home prices. All of them were higher than what I would be paying State Farm even with new increase. Boy, was I disappointed.

I tried to get a quote from Allstate, who dropped me about 10 years ago, but couldn't do it online for some reason, and an agency in Valley Stream tried called me numerous times, but since they are nowhere near me, I didn't answer and blocked them.

Then I called Progressive, and even though Flo wasn't available to talk (just kidding) I did speak to a couple of very nice customer service reps who gave me quotes. Home insurance would be $100 a year less than the new State Farm rate, and about $1200 a year less on the cars. So yes, I went with them.

Then the fun starts with cancelling my policies with State Farm. All I was told I needed was proof of insurance, so emailed them the ID cards. I got a reply back saying I needed the Declarations page, so I called and emailed the girl I spoke to on Friday asking for it. Hopefully it will show up sometime today.

So my advice when shopping for insurance; don't bother with any of those comparison sites, they are a waste of time. Wouldn't you rather save money by making some phone calls than sitting on your computer and getting eye strain?

 

Old Friends

How long do we keep friends for? My longest tenured friend is Irwin, who I met when I moved from Spring Valley, NY to Long Island around 1974 (That's him on the left, I'm in the middle). I recently found his cell number, and left a message, and last night he called me back.

He claimed the message was staticy, and couldn't understand it until he listened several times. We hadn't talked for over 5 years, so I thought it was time. Hopefully we'll make lunch plans for next week. 

My other long tenured friend is Danny, who I met sometime in the 1980's when we worked for the same company. My wife and I became good friends with him and his wife, and we always went out together. (That's Danny on the right)

The three of us guys also went out to lunch, and our favorite place was Pizza & Pasta in Westbury, NY which no longer exists. They had $5 personal pizza's and pasta bowls, so it was a great value.

Danny and his wife moved to North Carolina several years ago, and though we talk on the phone, it's simply not the same as being together. He recently got hurt at work, and is home for awhile, so I gave him some advice on hiring a lawyer to handle is Workers Compensation case, and applying for Social Security Disability. Neither of those should be done without a lawyer.

Finally, there's my friend Steve who lives in Florida. We knew each other in high school, even though we went to different schools. We became friends because we both had CB radios when it was a thing in the 1970's. One of the good things about Steve was he was the manager of movie theatre. I have no idea how many movies I got to see for free, but it was quite a few. After high school, we lost touch.

Let's fast forward to around 2002 when MySpace was thing. I was sitting at work, looking around the site when I see a picture and name. The name looked right, but this guy was bald, with a full beard and mustache. The guy I knew had a full head of hair and no facial hair. So I moved on and didn't think much of it.

Lo and behold, the next day, Steve sends me a friend request! It was the same guy, and we've been in touch ever since. He is a private detective, and I occasionally ask him to find other old friends for me.

Just today, I asked him to find a guy I knew when I lived in Poughkeepsie, NY in the early 1970's, Jack Greenblatt. I remember so much about him, such as his family and even his dog. He had two younger brothers, Harold and Gary, and an older sister, Diane. I don't remember the dog's name, but she had some sort of kidney issue that had her smelling like urine all the time.

As we were on the phone, he messaged me some information he found. Unfortunately, none of them were good leads, except for MAYBE one for his sister. I left a message, and maybe I'll get lucky.

If I'm lucky, I get to keep friends for a long time. Recently, I wrote about the people we met on our recent cruise, Dorothy and Mark and hopefully they will be life long friends because we get along so well, and Dorothy says Mark and I were separated at birth because we have so much in common. I agree with that!

Remember, good friends are like a well built house. You'll have them forever. 

Long 1970's Songs 

As I was sitting in the dentist chair today, I was listening to the music playing, and I knew EVERY single song playing. I asked what station it was, and he told me it was the Pandora 70's Hits station. No wonder I knew all the songs.

Any Disc Jockey from the 70's that actually jockied discs knew what songs to play when it was time to hit the bathroom.

When I was in college at WNYT, all of our music was on vinyl, either 45's or LP's. The station was at one side of the Education Hall building, and the restrooms were almost at the other end. We all learned what records to put on so we could go take care of business.

The four that immediately come to mind are Al Stewart/Year of The Cat, Don McLean/American Pie, Harry Chapin/Taxi and FM/Steely Dan. All of them gave us enough time to RUN, (yes, RUN) not walk to that far away bathroom.

When I was at WGLI-AM 1290/Babylon, the bathroom wasn't that far away. It was around the corner from the control room, and when I was there on the weekend, all alone, I never had a problem waiting for someone to get out. During the business week, you had to hope and pray there wasn't a wait.

Way back in 2004, when I was filling in at WEBE 108 in Bridgeport, CT, the first thing I asked was "Where's the bathroom?" By then, there were no records to worry about, a computer ran everything. So the urgency to put on a long record was gone.

One of the shows I did this year on "New York's Best Rock" was "Long Songs." But those were more classic/progressive rock than Adult Contemporary. There's really no AC station that will play Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Ray Lynch and Renaissance. 

I certainly don't miss the days of having to literally run to the bathroom before a record ran out. 

Ah, the good old days of radio.

 It's All About The Cats

Regular readers know I love cats. My first two were Domino, who we lost to cancer at age 15, and Daphne who we lost at age 14. 

The cat above is Dakota, who is now 9 and still as cute as the day I got her. I call her my velcro cat, since she wants to be with me wherever I am.

When I take a nap during the day, she is right by my side. If I'm sleeping on my left side, I get her butt right up against my armpit, and put my hand under her belly, and she puts her rear paws in my hand. If I'm on my right side, she put her head on my shoulder. I've tried to revere that habit, but it doesn't work.

She purrs until she slowly flips over and is sleeping. There is nothing more relaxing that having her sleep with me.

When we were on our recent cruise, we stopped at a cat sanctuary in San Juan as I mentioned in the previous column. The cats were so cute, and I wish I could have taken one home, but my wife was having none of that thought.

Since we have 3 cats now, would it be fair to them if another one came into the house?

Daisy and Scarlett have been with us 10 years, and get along very well. Daisy tolerates Dakota, and Scarlett hisses at Dakota if she's with me and Dakota wants attention. But if they both are sleeping ON me, it's fine. Having two cats on me is relaxing, but we're talking about 16 pounds of cats on my lap. That makes getting up to go to the bathroom a bit difficult. There's no assurance they'll both come back when I return.

As I always say, ADOPT, DON'T SHOP! Go to your local shelter or vet and get a cat today!