Sundays at 5 pm
Matt Seinberg

Many years ago, when I had my first Compaq computer, I discovered the world of streaming radio stations. It was great. Years later, when I was on vacation in Portland, OR visiting my uncle, he let me use his computer.

Radio on the web.

I listened to my favourite New York City radio stations, including the late, great WPLJ-FM. Even with the three-hour time difference, it was fun to hear a taste of home. Radio could be as is McDonalds, the same everywhere, because of the web.

Then I figured out how to record the stations using several different recording programs. My favourite recording software was Cool Edit Pro, which I got from a friend. Then I upgraded to the latest version, Adobe Audition.

In 1993, internet radio was born. It continued to evolve from independent broadcasters to large corporations. It dominated the ears of listeners.

Around 2006, my long time aircheck friend from Canada, Russ Horton, invited me to join Radio Samantha. It was an internet radio station from Bristol, England, run by his friend Brian Young. There were no real format rules, we could do whatever we wanted.

I had some liners and imaging done for me by my radio friend Tim "The Byrdman" Byrd, in Florida. I usually did theme shows, ranging from One Hit Wonders, All Classic Rock and Twofers, playing two songs back to back by the same artist or group.

I used two programs to produce these shows. The first was OTS Turntables Silver, which plays the music from the computer, automatically mixing everything together. Then Adobe Audition records everything; I save it as an mp3 for later uploading.

While doing these shows for Radio Samantha, my friend Steve West invited me to join a New Jersey based internet radio station, which shall remain nameless. I basically did the same show that I was doing for Samantha, but changed the imaging and talk breaks. The owner, of this internet station, was nothing but a hard ass; he hired a consultant whose name he didn’t reveal.

That was strike number one. Strike number two came when the owner issued a report and all I got was criticism, with no feedback on what to change. Strike number three came when Steve told me the owner bad mouthed me in a phone call, which did not involve me, on-the-line.

I gave the owner a reaming he would never forget. I told him to take his station and shove it. You don't pay me for my time; this is how you treat me. F*%k you moron.

I sort of retired from internet radio.

As the years went on, it became a chore to do internet radio. I got bored. I told Russ Horton and Brian I didn't want to do it anymore. Radio Samantha was fun, while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

A few months later, Live365, which was streaming Radio Samantha, raised its transmission rates. The station eventually closed. In the last couple of years, it reopened, though.

Brian Young had some medical issues, so the timing, of the closure, was good for him. Russ Horton went on to other endeavors, including D-Moos.com and Halton Hills Radio, in Canada. He invited me to join D-Moos, but my interest in internet radio was over.

Let's fast forward to now. Steve West re-started a dormant internet station called Hit Oldies. Once again, Russ Horton is involved, and another long-time friend, Bob Gilmore, as well. After a couple of weeks of him badgering and cajoling me to join them, I joined Hit Oldies for a weekly show.

I agreed, with a couple of conditions. First, the show would be one-hour recorded, not live. Second, I wanted my owner liners and imaging. Steve agreed.

He had Brett Provo, who works full time for WMAS-FM in Springfield, MA, and does weekends on Hit Oldies, record imaging for me. I also asked my friend, Dan Kelly, to do some production. Dan is the former Creative Services Director at WPLJ-FM and a two-time Iron Imager from Benztown Branding. He now does production for WNSH-FM and radio.com, in New York City.

Dan has done some material for me, in the past; he is the bomb. I asked him to do it in the style of Top 40 WPLJ-FM; he came through like the star he is. I can't wait to use them on the next show.

In the last few months, I changed some of my equipment. My old Behringer mixing board died a slow death and the Radio Shack mixer I used for some other equipment also died. I dumped the Behringer and bought a mini Mackie Mix12FX mixer. It has built in effects, so I sold the outboard processor, which I bought on e-bay, years ago; it went for more money than I paid for it. That money pretty much paid for the new Mackie.

I still use OTS Turntables Silver and Adobe Audition for my shows. Bob Gilmore is going to load his entire mp3 music library on an external hard drive I just mailed him. I can't wait to get that back.

I also ran all new cables. A friend from work gave me a classic Sony receiver that had more inputs and outputs than my old JVC or Sherwood receivers. The Sherwood is now in the garage; the JVC is semi-retired. It still works, but is not set up.

I was back in business. Not only to do the analog to digital conversions work, which I do on airchecks, but I could record radio shows, again.

Last Sunday, 3 May 2020, I made my debut at 5 pm EDST, on HitOldies.net. It's nice to be working, again, with old friends. I wonder if I have mic rust.

Sundays at 5 pm is going to be my regular spot. I'll record the show on Friday and put it in Dropbox for Steve to download. This way if there's a problem, I have a little time to redo it. I don't see that happening.

Sunday afternoons with Matt.

Listen to the new Hit Oldies, with Magic Matt, on your computer or mobile device every Sunday at 5 pm.