This is the last Reeling In The Years on WRAS. I'm retiring from GSU shortly, so it's time. For this show you will forgive me as I pay tribute to my heroes - my family, coworkers and students who have made my time at GSU a dream job for the past 30 years. My highest professional honor has been to advise the students of WRAS and I appreciate their kindness to me over these many years. I have said it before to the students and I will say it again here, WRAS has the best group of students on campus. They will always be in my heart.
To the listeners of this show, I'm thinking of starting a channel on Live 365 but that will take time to develop. Check in to this blog in a few weeks to see what's in store. I'm thinking of an Atlanta-centered channel, a Southern Rock channel, or continuing with Reelin'. Let me know what you think.
So, thank you for listening and for sharing this great catalog of music with me. As Bob Hope said, thanks for the memories.
8 a.m. Hour:
Carole King, Home Again, Tapestry (For Leigh)
Jan Garrett, Out Of The Silence, Gypsy Midwife (For Leigh)
Janis Joplin, Little Girl Blue, The Essential Janis Joplin (For Gayle)
Elton John, Harmony, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (For Mother)
Johnny Paycheck, Take This Job And Shove It, Biggest Hits (For Daddy)
Willie Nelson, Blue Skies, The Essential Willie Nelson (For Gam)
James Taylor, Shower The People, In The Pocket (For Karson)
Stevie Wonder, Living For The City, Innervisions (For Jason)
Led Zeppelin, Ramble On, Mothership (For Kirk)
Joni Mitchell, California, Blue (For Lindsey)
9 a.m. Hour:
Idina Menzel, Let It Go, Frozen Soundtrack (For Harper)
Fleetwood Mac, You Make Loving Fun, Rumours (For Harvey)
Kinky Friedman, Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Bunds In The Bed, The Best Of (For Tom)
Bob Hope & Shirley Ross, Thanks For The Memories, The Big Broadcast Of 1938 (For Don Kennedy)
Elton John, Love Lies Bleeding/Funeral For A Friend, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
John Baldry, Unconditional Discharge/Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll, It Ain't Easy
George Harrison, My Sweet Lord
Carole King, Home Again, Tapestry (For Leigh)
Jan Garrett, Out Of The Silence, Gypsy Midwife (For Leigh)
Janis Joplin, Little Girl Blue, The Essential Janis Joplin (For Gayle)
Elton John, Harmony, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (For Mother)
Johnny Paycheck, Take This Job And Shove It, Biggest Hits (For Daddy)
Willie Nelson, Blue Skies, The Essential Willie Nelson (For Gam)
James Taylor, Shower The People, In The Pocket (For Karson)
Stevie Wonder, Living For The City, Innervisions (For Jason)
Led Zeppelin, Ramble On, Mothership (For Kirk)
Joni Mitchell, California, Blue (For Lindsey)
9 a.m. Hour:
Idina Menzel, Let It Go, Frozen Soundtrack (For Harper)
Fleetwood Mac, You Make Loving Fun, Rumours (For Harvey)
Kinky Friedman, Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Bunds In The Bed, The Best Of (For Tom)
Bob Hope & Shirley Ross, Thanks For The Memories, The Big Broadcast Of 1938 (For Don Kennedy)
Elton John, Love Lies Bleeding/Funeral For A Friend, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
John Baldry, Unconditional Discharge/Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll, It Ain't Easy
George Harrison, My Sweet Lord
Thank you very much for this show and so many others at Album 88.5 that I have loved over the years (Blue Note, Reggae, Big Band etc.). The end of the weekend line-up in particular is like losing a close friend I will miss dearly. I actually looked forward to waking up early on the weekends to listen. Oh well, "Can't Lose What You Never Had." Please do "Carry-On", encourage the other hosts to do the same and we'll still "wake up to find out that you are eyes of the world". Cordially,
ReplyDeleteThe station has been very lucky to have had some dedicated specialty show hosts over the years. Hopefully the audience will keep up on the stream...
DeleteTHANK YOU!!! You are the best....yt misses live radio for all the reasons you make it wonderful :-) Hug of encouragement to keep on keepin` on!!
ReplyDeleteIf I have made Hotlanta Linda happy, I've not lost my touch...
DeleteReally enjoyed the show. Hate to see you go. Continue with Reelin'
ReplyDeleteI'm looking into the options - hope to know soon! Thanks for listening!
DeleteThank you Jeff for everything you contributed to the station, and to each of the students who walked thru WRAS' doors.
ReplyDeleteWe're working hard to ensure WRAS continues as we know it today. Hopefully, we can pay it forward to future WRAScals.
They are a very special bunch of students - I know they'll do well.
DeleteIt was an honor to work with and be on the radio with you. And it's has always been fun to listen to you. Thank you for all you've done.
ReplyDeleteTom Lewis
Tom who? Just kidding...Tom, I miss seeing you. I hope you and your family are well. The honor was having the students allow me to advise them. They could have just ignored me, but they've been very kind. Whether they agreed with me or not, they know I care about them and want the best for them and the station. I have just as much faith in them as others did in us when we were running things in the 80s.
DeleteYour show today was great. I never appreciated "My Sweet Lord" the way I did today. Thanks for everything you've done to advance the cause of college radio and WRAS.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I know you understand how special WRAS is. The students did the driving - I've just been happy to keep the tank filled along the way...
DeleteJ/W: accoring to todays AJC, you have a 30 day reprise....4 more shows?
ReplyDeleteSwami Don
The show was emotionally draining...I don't think I can do that again! Also, I look to legends such as Johnny Carson that know when it's time to get off the stage.
DeleteI will truly miss you on Saturdays Jeff. I will check back to see where you land. Don't let this Good Thing go. God Bless.
ReplyDeletewik
W - thank you for your many words of encouragement over the past two years. Due to the wisdom of your comments I have assumed you were H.W. and not W. (Sorry...I was a comic at heart...)
DeleteJeff thank you for everything. I'm proud to call you mentor and friend and hope that the next adventure is as amazing as this one has been. Love and gods peed - Kim Saade
ReplyDeleteKim, it was an honor to work with you. Your passion for the station and clear thinking was very much appreciated. Your family is blessed to have you in their lives!
Delete....a full 24 hours later, I am still 'reeling' from your brilliant sign-off yesterday. Thanks so much for all the great shows, not only RITY, but all the great specialty shows as well as the regular rotation. I have enjoyed since 1980, and met several life long friends directly thru WRAS, like George 100,000 Watts and many more. Hope to hear more in the future. Great job.
ReplyDeleteHi Rick! I certainly can't take credit for any of the specialty shows except for Reelin' in the early 80s and the recent version. I have enjoyed the many specialty shows our students have produced - from Pure Mania with Mark and Jane, to Adventures with Missy. George's interviews with Yoko were very cool. I'm proud to call him a friend too. We've had a lot of good talent over the years.
DeleteThanks for an interesting show. The remembrances and music were appreciated. Good to hear about Tom "Time and Temp" Taylor. We had recently been wondering about him. We listened to him on WRFG and learned about music that was new to us. Jeff, your show will be missed. Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteJeff, I have enjoyed your show for many years. Indeed, I have been listening to and enjoying WRAS since I moved to ATL in 1980. Thus, I have also valued your input as advisor to the 30 or so years of advisement to the students who produce the news and programming at the station. In the last couple of weeks, our world has grown smaller by your mentioning your former colleague Phil Jones (with whom I work at GaRRS) and Don Kennedy (in addition to being Officer Don, has been a volunteer reader at GaRRS since I joined in 1985). Thanks for putting me back in touch with the music of my youth every week. Your input at WRAS will be greatly missed.
ReplyDeleteSo very sorry to lose our old friends of Jeff and Reelin'... it will definitely leave a void in our Saturday mornings. I did make a cassette tape of your last show so we can replay it from time to time to ease the loss.
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed your recent comments about Phil at GaRRS. While I've never met Phil I know of him. My partner also works at GaRRS (Kevin) and he speaks often of Phil. Those personal touches are something that we will miss from your show. Kevin told Phil that we heard about him on the Reelin' show after that weekend.
This show was definitely one of your best. We really enjoyed all the dedications to the special people in your life.
As for continuing we would love to see Reelin' continue in it's current format online. But, as someone who is approaching retirement age I can completely understand if you decide to close the Reelin' chapter in your life and devote more time and energy to your wonderful family we heard so much about.
Best wishes to you and yours in all you do in the future!
Peace out...
Decatur Greg
Dear Jeff,
ReplyDeleteSeveral of my buddies and I are in our late 50s and we'd tune into your show every Saturday. One of them worked at WRAS in the early 80s. Sometimes we'd meet for breakfast and listen, other times we'd listen on our own and text (yes, old folks can text) about your playlist, what was happening in our lives in nineteen seventy whatever when a particular song first came out and mostly how much music in general and WRAS in particular played such a large part of our lives in those days. I started listening to 'RAS when it first started in '71. I never changed the channel much since then. There were times during your show I could almost hear Scott Sidon commenting between songs or Fiona Bloom doing the news again... (long sigh here)
Anyway... thank you once again for giving me the chance to hear the music no other commercial station has the nerve to play and to once more stroll down memory lane to a time when I was young, everything was new and nothing was impossible.
Sincerely,
Keith Thompson
BS 79, MS 85
Keith,
ReplyDeleteThank you for those kind words. They make me feel like I've made someone happy, and that makes me happy too. You know, I think students nowadays don't see their future in as hopeful terms as we did. They're certainly going to have to save a lot of money for retirement. Hey, I miss Scott and Fiona too. Fiona had that great British accent, and we only had a couple of those over the 43 year history.
Peace!
Jeff
I unfortunately only caught part of the show, but what I heard was very touching. I called in a few Saturdays ago, we had a nice chat. I hope you enjoy your retirement.
ReplyDeleteAdieu!
Paul