Back in the days when Creem Magazine was a rock journalism institution, Dave Marsh was the Guru. It was Rolling Stone with a Michigan work ethic, stripped of excess and printed on glossy stock. It inspired a generation of great writers like Lester Bangs, Dave DiMartino, J. Kordosh and Susan Whitall. It was a place where those in the know went to know more about rocks great and near great. And on every page, you could feel Dave's influence.

That influence lives... on Sirius Satellite Radio. Starting Sunday October 10 from 10 AM to Noon Sirius Talk will debut Kick Out the Jams! With Dave Marsh. The reference to the classic MC5 tune is no coincidence:

"The show will be based at the intersection of music and politics," says Dave. "I plan to tell stories, rant and foment, as usual, besides interviewing music figures and others, and receiving calls from listeners. I'll also play a record here and there (maybe even a countdown of the 1001 singles book). I hope the show will be a lot like an over-the-air version of Rock & Rap Confidential. "

"I plan to be myself--despising Bush, disdaining Democrats, fighting the war, looking for things that sound like freedom, attacking injustice (ranging from the demolition of the Tennessee public health care system to the exclusion of Lynyrd Skynyrd from the R&R Hall of Fame), and delighting, always, in the music and what it brings to our lives. "

Although Sirius is a subscription radio service, Dave is high on the technology because, "it doesn't have to kowtow to the FCC so adult humans (or even the kids, who have rights, too) get to speak the way people speak in real life and I don't have to hunt down a 'brothers and sisters' version of the theme song. And there's no advertising, so that much less to fear in the way of pressure to conform."

Sounds to us like must-hear programming in the style of WKNR-FM, without the seven-words constraints. Dave encourages feedback, "Except maybe for, 'Don't do this, you idiot.'"

Read Dave Marsh's Weblog>>

On-Demand radio is a step closer. Premiere Radio Networks is delivering Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger via the web.. for a price. Phil Hendrie's fans can listen live for $6.95 a month and have 30 day access to archives of past programs in either Real or Windows Media formats. Archived shows are pruned of commercials. And according to the New York Times it's just the tip of the iceberg.

WDVD, WKRK and the 31st annual Michigan Radio Guide. All this and more in Mike Austerman's most recent radio column in the Oakland Press.

Russ Gibb posted this some time ago on his RussGibbAtRandom.com site. It's worth re-reading.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?

It took five minutes for the TV warm up?

Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?

Nobody owned a purebred dog?

When a quarter was a decent allowance?

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?

Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?

All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels?

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . and they did?

When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a .." and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today?

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.

Send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Dowdy and the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.

As well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, Hula Hoops, bowling and visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?

I am sharing this with you today because it ended with a double dog dare to pass it on.

To remember what a double dog dare is, read on.

And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and too young to care.

How many of these do you remember?

Candy cigarettes Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers Newsreels before the movie P.F. Fliers

Telephone numbers with a word prefix....(Raymond 4-601).
Party lines
Peashooters Howdy Dowdy
45 RPM records Green Stamps Hi-Fi's
Metal ice cubes trays with levers
Mimeograph paper
Beanie and Cecil
Roller-skate keys
Cork pop guns
Drive ins
Studebakers

Washtub wringers, The Fuller Brush Man, Reel-To-Reel tape recorders, Tinkertoys, Erector Sets, The Fort Apache Play Set, Lincoln Logs, 15 cent McDonald hamburgers, 5 cent packs of baseball cards - with that awful pink slab of bubble gum, Penny candy, 35 cent a gallon gasoline, Jiffy Pop popcorn.

Do you remember a time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?
It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
A foot of snow was a dream come true?
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?
"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
War was a card game?
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!!!!

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown-up" life . . .I double-dog-dare-ya!

Q: Whatever happened to Johnny Ginger?
A: In 1956, Johnny Ginger began an 11 year stint as host of Curtain Time Theater on WXYZ-TV His Motown popularity spanned the height of WKNR's popularity and his Monday through Friday program of Three Stooges episodes and lip-synch pantomimes was something just about every Keener kid remembers. Along with Soupy Sales, Rita Bell, Bill Kennedy and others, Johnny was part of Detroit television magic in a time when there was a lot more locally produced programming than we see today. At last report, Johnny was still performing.

Some Keener Q&A:
Q: How can I make a CD of the great Keener commercials on the site? Janice M. Covey
A: If you have a CD burner, you most likely have the software on your computer to create audio CDs from MP3 files. To save commercials or air checks to your computer when using Microsoft Internet Explorer, right-click on the link you want to save and select "Save target as.." from the menu. Save the file(s) in the folder of your choice. Then you can open your burner software and drag-and-drop the MP3 files you wish to include, and create and audio CD that should play on most CD players.

When Paul Drew rocketed CKLW to the top of Motown radio consciousness, one of those who rode the wave was Ralph Wright. He came to the Big 8 at the age of 21 and under the name of Mike Rivers executed the Drake format to near perfection. Mike passed away recently, but like many of those who cracked a microphone during the Keener era, his work is preserved and his memories live on.. on the web.