Last Sunday, Pope John Paul II was beatified in a ceremony held at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. Beatification declares that a person be "blessed" and is the last step to becoming a full blown saint. For sainthood to take place, a miracle must have been performed and it is said that John Paul cured a nun of Parkinson's disease. I'm not a Catholic so I find all this beatification a bit baffling.
This sticker came out when the Pope visited St. Louis, Missouri in January, 1999. It was John Paul's last visit to the US before his death in 2005. Over 104,000 people attended Mass at the Trans World Dome which set a record for the largest indoor gathering ever in the United States. KSHE is a Rock station licensed to Crestwood, MO. Sweetmeat is the station's longtime pig mascot.
Radio Vaticana broadcasts in 47 languages on shortwave, mediumwave, FM, satellite and the internet. Their first broadcast was in February, 1931 and was attended by Guglielmo Marconi, who "invented" radio. In 2009, they began airing commercials for the first time in order to meet rising costs. Vatican Radio programming includes news, religious ceremonies and music.
A buddy and I went to see Rush at Nationwide Arena in Columbus Sunday night. I saw them about 15 years ago at Riverbend in Cincinnati but was really looking forward to seeing them again because they'd be playing their best album in its entirety. Moving Pictures came out in 1981 right about the time I started paying attention to music (I was 10.) It contains their best known song, "Tom Sawyer," heavy use of synthesizer as well as Neil Peart's impeccable drumming. When it was released, Moving Pictures was all over the radio where I lived in western New York--probably because of its proximity to the band's hometown of Toronto. The show was fantastic and the band played for about three hours. No pictures because I forgot the camera in my car...what an idiot.
A Rush sticker from KSHE, a Rock station licensed to Crestwood, Missouri. This was to promote the band's 1996 Halloween-night show on the Test for Echo Tour in St. Louis. The piled rocks are the Inukshuk from the Test for Echo album cover but also features Sweet Meat, the pig which has been KSHE's mascot for decades.
The first song played Sunday night was "Spirit of Radio" which was written about Toronto's CFNY and uses their former slogan as the song's title. Here are the lyrics:
Begin the day With a friendly voice, A companion unobtrusive Plays the song that's so elusive And the magic music makes your morning mood.
Off on your way Hit the open road, There's magic at your fingers For the Spirit ever lingers, Undemanding contact In your happy solitude.
Invisible airwaves crackle with life Bright antenna bristle with the energy Emotional feedback On a timeless wavelength Bearing a gift beyond price Almost free
All this machinery making modern music Can still be open-hearted Not so coldly charted, It's really just a question Of your honesty
One likes to believe in the freedom of music, But glittering prizes And endless compromises Shatter the illusion Of integrity.
For the words of the profits Are written on the studio wall, Concert hall -- Echoes with the sounds... Of salesmen.
CFNY was a Progressive/Alternative/Freeform/New Wave station in Toronto starting in the late 1970s. The above "sticker" is actually a giant, three foot long car sunshield. I had to take a picture of it because it's too large to scan.
Today, CFNY is a much less adventurous Modern Rock station known as "102.1 The Edge."
This sticker came out when the Pope visited St. Louis, Missouri in January, 1999. It was John Paul's last visit to the US before his death in 2005. Over 104,000 people attended Mass at the Trans World Dome which set a record for the largest indoor gathering ever in the United States. KSHE is a Rock station licensed to Crestwood, MO. Sweetmeat is the station's longtime pig mascot.
Radio Vaticana broadcasts in 47 languages on shortwave, mediumwave, FM, satellite and the internet. Their first broadcast was in February, 1931 and was attended by Guglielmo Marconi, who "invented" radio. In 2009, they began airing commercials for the first time in order to meet rising costs. Vatican Radio programming includes news, religious ceremonies and music.
