OK, I'm eating this. But I will admit it sounds like something that I wouldn't want to.  I love to grill out like you do, and I take my streak pretty serious.  There has always been that story that you can grill a frozen steak to perfection on the grill. Sounds like it wouldn't be good.

But, it does work out in the air fryer pretty well, so I am open to it on the grill. So let's give it a go!

Frozen Steak On The Grill?

About Half – Of us feel good about returning to a movie theater (Cinamasafe)

Box Office Results - A Quiet Place 2 #1  /   In The Heights #2

New This Week - Space Jam 2 HBO Max (Wednesday) 12 Mighty Orphans / Luca (Disney Plus) / Fatherhood (Netflix)

Ned Beatty - Died at the age of 83. (Story)

Ted - A live-action series based on the Ted movies has been ordered at Peacock.  (Story) 

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane (link)

Check out my Articles this week -Electronic Strike Zone / The Eat Of The Week / Tickets Stops Are Back

It is SO good to be back out there with YOU!  WQMX Ticket Stops are back and I was at hte Pizza Hut in Wadsworth and the crowd was GREAT!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER!  You should be next!

Love making winners of Country Fest TIX!

Big crowd, nice people and great PIZZA

Hope to see you soon at a ticket stop!

As much as stars shape country music, songs shape the stars.  Some songs turn out to be more than just "songs" for an artist.  They can change the trajectory of their career and send them to heights they dreamed of the day they got off the Greyhound with a guitar.

This is the second of my two-part series, and we'll look at career changing songs, we started in 1980's and are working our way forward. (PART 1 IF YOU MISSED IT) These are songs I played, and in some cases still play on the radio in my four decades in this format.  Also, this is NOT to minimize any of these artists songs before, since, or still.  But there are songs that really do make a gigantic difference, so let's take a look now.  Our biggest stars didn't just happen, they all had those breakout 3 minutes.

Career Changing Songs Part 2!

Don't Take The Girl - Tim McGraw - 1994

I was doing the morning show at WPCV in Lakeland, Florida at this time. McGraw had a few songs before this. Indian Outlaw peaked at #8, was a real favorite and got him noticed.  He also had a song called Welcome To The Club that I really liked before that that peaked at #47.  But the song that changed everything was this one by a mile.  It was an instant classic and stations will play this song for 25 more years.  This song is universally loved -  and after this, he went on a huge run that continues today. This song would have been a career changer for anyone. The written song is incredible and he was the perfect artist to bring it to life.  This is on a short list of country legendary songs.

This Kiss - Faith Hill - 1998

Faith Hill had a number of big songs before this with very good success.  But this song signaled a big shift in her direction. This was a big, big country number one and had great success on charts outside of country and outside of the USA.  It also helped her shed the "country girl" image that she had built.  This was more pop sounding and was not at all like previous hits.  This is as good example of the perfect marriage of an artist and a song that I can think of.  I simply can't imagine anyone else singing this song.  She had a ton of new fans after this and brought many to our format. Her image and sound was forever different after this and so was her mass appeal.  Whether your favorite Faith was before this, or after, or both, what is undeniable as it even says in the song, this was the "pivotal moment" of her personal recording career.

How Do You Like Me Now - Toby Keith - 1999

This is an interesting song for many reasons.  It was well into his career and he had a lot of success before this that included three number ones since 1993.  BUT this song changed a ton. A gigantic hit, that made a great career into a mega career. After this song, Toby went on a run that included 11 of the next 13 songs going number one over a 5 year span.  His image shifted too, and Toby Keith was now a format leading artist for the next decade or so. This song spoke directly to about everybody on earth.  Who hasn't wanted to show an old crush that they are doing better than ever either directly or silently?  But the beauty of this song is it's done in a way that is relatable to both men and women, and has a casual feel that isn't offensive.  This song took a big star, and made him a bigger star. Hard to do!

I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack - 2000

This song is as big of a country hit and crossover hit song can be. Everyone loves it, and it's a staple in pop culture still.  This won awards and is a work of art. It was the ninth single of her career, and her only number one.  I was a big Womack fan as I thought she was real country, and I always rooted for her and felt she was a great vocalist and was highly believable. But this is the best example of having that gigantic song that sometimes can be too big.  This was a song that signaled the only time Lee Ann Womack would be number one, and only one more song would reach the top ten after this, the followup Ashes By Now  (A song I love too).  It is hard to out-do a song of this size.  This is a beautiful song, with a incredible message with terrific backing vocals by Sons Of The Desert that took her to heights any singer could only imagine. Plus a video that has a couple hundred million total views. Perfect artist, prefect song.

Dirt Road Anthem - Jason Aldean - 2010

Here at WQMX, I was in the 6th year of hosting the morning show when Jason Aldean put out this song. He had a bunch of hits before this with great success and had a ton of fans.  But this song was on the charts about six years into his run, and the sheer popularity of this highy unique song catapulted him to a whole different level.  The album, My Kinda Party was immensely popular as well, and all singles from it (5) were huge hits.  Fans loved this song, and we couldn't play it enough. This song was so different at that time, it really cut through and showed another hue in his musical rainbow.  This song was very influential in the fact that others tried to "imitate" this song style after, but this was the OG.  As big as he was before this song, he was way bigger after.

Country Girl Shake It For Me - Luke Bryan - 2011

Four years after his debut song this song hit the charts and changed everything for Luke Bryan.  This song plus a very memorable Country Awards show performance provided the springboard for him to reach superstardom.  Since this song, every single Luke Bryan song has gone at least to number 5 on the charts with the majority going number one.  Seldom does a 4 minute segment on national TV make as much of a difference as this one did.  Luke went from being a young hit maker to the top of the format almost over-nite.  This song is still a favorite on the air, and in his live shows.  This song, and that moment gave us the Luke Bryan we know today.   (TV Performance Below)

OK, I'm eating this  - because the picture looks so good.  I know it's not really "soup season"  but I don't care.

Click and check out this incredible soup recipe

Red Lentil Soup!

Over the weekend after taking a mow and getting cleaned up I was watching baseball on TV while I relaxed.  The announcers were chatting about the idea of the computer calling balls and strikes at the Major League level.  I can think of very few worse ideas.

I'm not anti-tech by any means. I love technology.  Makes a ton of things way better! But in this case it would be disastrous. MLB right now has some major issues, and many are tech based.  Analytics has killed much of the good of the game, and now the game needs to adjust.  We look at hitters data, have shifts for every hitter and getting hits is harder than ever with 4 players at times on the same wide of the infield.  SO - the hitters try to hit OVER the shift and launch huge home runs - Some of the time they do.  But mostly they strike out or hit grounders that can't find a hole because of the wall of infielders. Strikeouts are at an all-time high.  And that is killing the game slowly.  But that's another subject for another article and we will do that too.

But the computer calling balls and strikes would be yet another tech-botched idea and here's why.  First it's a program a machine, and has no real common sense or adjustment capability.  You see the box they put on TV now and you think that's the strike zone, and it sort of is.  But the ump behind the plate may see it a bit differently. After an inning or two both pitchers and hitters understand this and we play on. Does the ump make mistakes?  Well, yes. He's human. Does it generally work itself out.  Yes.  Can it cost your team a game? Yes.  But it's still way better than this.

If they institute an absolute computer strike zone this is what WILL happen.  Pitchers who can throw REAL hard will pepper the top of the absolute strike zone with 100 MPH fastballs. The computer will call it a strike, and the hitter can't hit it.  It's the rare hitter who will hit a hard fastball at the top of the zone in play.  You think there's a lot of strikeouts now?  You just wait.  You also may see managers pitch a guy only an inning or two. Just throw high fastballs only as hard as you can.  Then the next guy, and so on. And don't throw anything below the belt.  Sure, they could the adust the zone, but it could be so tight that games could go on longer than ever.

Also, there will be no argument with a computer. It's absolute and there can be no adjustments. This bozo move would only make the game have less action than it does right now. It wouldn't speed the game up, in fact it would slow it down with pitchers having to make pinpoint pitches, and hitters striking out even more.  Toss in the shifts and you've got a real problem.  Fans who THINK they want this don't know who much they really don't.

Hey, umpires make mistakes and sometimes have strange strike zones, there's no argue in that.  Yeah the umps blow it sometimes and that stinks.  And hey, it frustrates me too sometimes. But in the end, it generally works itself out. I think it may be some fans who feel "wronged" for some reason that there is this really bad idea floating around out there. Guess what, things aren't always fair. But if you are a fan of the game, then lets keep it a game played by humans, for humans, decided by humans.

It's worked for 150 years so far.

About Half – Movie attendance is up, if you haven't been yet check this out before you go. (Cinamasafe)

Box Office Results - Last week  - The Conjuring brought in about 25 million #1 / Quiet Place #2 / Cruella #3  (Story) 

New This Week - In The Heights (HBO Max too)  / The Misfits / Peter Rabbit 2 / The House Next Door

Loki  - Is on Disney Plus as of Wednesday  

Jack Black - Will be Conan O’Brien’s last guest on his TBS show, which ends its run with an hour-long finale on June 24th  (Story)

The Stephen King - Novel Christine is being remade (original 1983) – details coming soon  (Story) 

Kate Winslet - Says she’s open to doing a second season of Mare of Easttown!  (Story) 

JLO – Signed a big agreement with Netflix to write, produce and star in a bunch of films and TV content with plotlines about strong women  (Story)

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane (link) 

Check Out   - My Song Of The Week - (Link)

In case you missed a couple of my posts, here they are from the past couple weeks so we can get caught up together!

Song Of The Week - This week~!

Song Of The Week - Last week

The Eat Of The Week - This week

The Eat Of The Week - Last week

Country Music Memory Lane    (Part 1)

Country Music Memory Lane    (Part 2)

Love Baseball?

Memorial Day - My Dad

My Favorite Memory As A Kid

As much as stars shape country music, songs shape the stars.  Some songs turn out to be more than just "songs" for an artist.  They can change the trajectory of their career and send them to heights they dreamed of the day they got off the Greyhound with a guitar.

In my two-part series, we'll look at career changing songs, we'll cut it off at 1980 and work our way forward.  These are songs I played, and in some cases still play on the radio in my four decades in this format.  Also, this is NOT to minimize any of these artists songs before, since, or still.  But there are songs that really do make a gigantic difference, so let's take a look now.  Our biggest stars didn't just happen, they all had those breakout 3 minutes.

Career Changing Songs Part One!

Feels So Right  -  Alabama  -  1981

I was just starting at my first country station, WOBL in Oberlin, Ohio at this time. Alabama had been recording music for a number of years before this with varying levels of success.  The My Home's In Alabama album before this album broke them through with 4 hit songs, and even had two number ones, Why, Lady, Why and Tennessee River.  But this album (of the same name Feels So Right) was huge, and the single Feels So Right,  jettisoned them to another level that they never really came down from.  It was the second single off the album (Old Flame was first) it went number one and did well on the pop charts too.  This song is still universally loved by fans. This album was on the charts for over three years. This song changed everything for them.

Can't Even Get The Blues   -  Reba McEntire  -  1982

This is a good example of a nice little song that did a whole lot of good for a newer singer.  Reba had been recording for a few years before this song with mild success. Her first real chart hit, Up To Heaven, a couple years earlier got her noticed.  The song before this, I'm Not That Lonely Yet was top five, but this went number one and Reba broke through.  This was the springboard to her recording a ton of number ones over the next 20 years or so.  Short, tidy and to the point, it changed everything for her.  Even superstars have a beginning, and though this was not at her very beginning, we looked at Reba differently after this, as she took the mantle as the number one woman in country for many years to come.

Amarillo By Morning  -   George Strait  -  1983

George Strait was popular before this song and somehow this didn't go number one, as it peaked at number four.  He had a number one song earlier with Fool Hearted Memory which was his first.  But this song is as loved as any song he ever recorded.  It was named the 12th best country song ever in 2004 by CMT.  ABM is about the perfect country song, sung by the perfect artist.  After this, Strait would rattle off about 60 number one songs as this changed the way we looked at him.  He was always believable, but this song made him even more real, and in a time where pop country was still the rule, he  - and this -  were not. Many feel, as do I  - that one of the keys for Strait's tremendous longevity was that he never had that gigantic song in his career that he had to follow up somehow, but this is as close as any.  Fans bought into the fact that he was going to be  - and stay -  what they hoped and thought he was, and this song solidified it.

 Swingin'  -  John Anderson  -  1983

John Anderson (My Article On Him)  too was well established as a country hit maker for a few years before this song.  He was a big time traditionalist when pop country was in vogue.  This went number one and was so popular people who knew little or nothing of country knew and loved it.  It won awards and sold a ton.  It was the second number one song of his young career from his terrific album, Wild And Blue, (should be in any collection) which was much loved as well.  Swingin' became a fixture in pop culture and was a song we couldn't play enough at the time.  When the Urban Cowboy sound was still a thing, he gave deep country fans exactly what they needed and wanted with every release.  He became one of the most influential artists of his time.  If you love deep county, you love John Anderson.

Here In The Real World  -  Alan Jackson  -  1990

I was doing mornings at KLIK The Big 950 in Jefferson City, Missouri when Alan Jackson released his first single, Blue Blooded Woman in 1989, and it died at number 45 on the charts.  It's a fun song, and I liked it, but there was no traction for it. Remember, there was a time no one knew him at all. Soon there after I saw the video for this song, I knew at that second -  this song - and this guy were going to be huge.  Jackson was about 30, good looking, with a hat in this video singing this powerful song that I knew was can't miss.  It went to number 3, and he was on his way to about 30 number ones and incredible popularity.  I have interviewed Jackson a couple times since and have seen him in concert and on TV, and he ALWAYS says this, "This is the song that saved my life."  A huge misfire with the first song, and a darn near career song with the second. This song gave us Alan Jackson.

Friends In Low Places  -   Garth Brooks  -  1990

I was at KLIK and Garth Brooks was a new star with some songs under his belt and was on his way. He had 4 singles before this, including The Dance which was a huge hit.  But I always say the second album decides if you are gonna stick around or not. Garth's first album, Garth Brooks was big, but a big debut album has been done a ton of times. What wasn't done a ton of times was this second albums first hit song. The No Fences album was a gigantic hit, and this song showed a side of Garth we had not seen yet, and it would become his calling card.  Everyone on the planet knew this song, and still does. It's hard to say this is a career song, because it's Garth and he may have a bunch of them, but it's pretty darn close.  This song established him as the front runner of country, and put him on a path that had never been blazed before. In short, this gave us Garth for the long haul.

This Week's Song Of The Week -Listen Here!

OK, I'm eating this.  Normally I am not a huge breakfast sweet guy, but I have to admit this looks pretty darn good.

This seems to be the best of all worlds here.  Now, if you could make it on the grill, it would be a grand slam!

French Toast Casserole

I'm IN!!