American Idol Final

Just some thoughts on American Idol... the talent was great this year and at times it looked like at least 7 or 8 had a chance to go all the way to the end. I liked Taylor and Katherine from the very beginning and I think Taylor will win it. Katherine has the better voice, but too bad she couldn't have stuck with the blues more. Nice to see a guy with gray hair not be afraid to go the way he was. He could have easily dyed it, but wouldn't have stood out from the others. I do wish he would have done Joe Cocker's version of "I Get by With a little help from my friends" or "High Time She Went." I find it a bit odd to think that television is making stars of talent that would have more than likely, never been heard. I'm glad they are doing it. Radio stations for the most part, are not. They just to want play something that has been approved by some focus group and the conglomerates have made everything so homogenized, that I don't even listen much any more. now that I have satelite radio. When I got in radio broadcasting,1966,the jock could still pick a few songs that he thought could make it. One of my pick hits of the week was "Oh Kitty" by a guy named Cat Stevens. In Grand Rapids the jocks would come in early for their radio shows and pick through boxes of oldies they thought listeners would like. Those were the creative days. Before radio, when I was in a couple of rock bands, we could stop at the radio stations, let the on-air guy listen to the records we recorded and he could decide to play it if he wanted. When I lived in Michigan and had the band "Joey Gee and the Bluetones" I was more or less my own promoter. I sent out letters with the 45s to stations that I knew of. WLS, Chicago, Dick Biondi, read my letter on the air and played the song we recorded. It only sold a few thousand copies, but it was still fun. Later on when I decided to attend broadcast school in Milwaukee I formed another band called "Joey Gee and the Come-ons." We got in a Battle of the Bands and came in sixth. No one offered us a contract and I then realized how tough it was to make it when we competed with over six hundred bands. Being a country bumpkin from the U.P., eh, where there were only a handful of bands made me understand that it might be a hard way to make a tough living. Who do you think will win tonight - Taylor Hicks or Katherine McPhee? Joe