A long overdue update of my life and the next project in the pipeline!

Hey all,

It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve utilized my blog to update you all of what’s been going on with me. Thus, I thought it be best to talk about it here rather than try posting it on social media where I may halve to do it in several posts.

Since my last post regarding my show, Time Tunnel Tunes on Mushroom FM, a lot has happened. I’ve since moved, got married and now have been working with Lighthouse Works Inc. for almost a year. These life events have drastically changed my priorities. I love my wife, where I’m working, and everything else going on in my life.

For the last few months though, I have seen some disappointing things occur in my life. Some of the friends I’ve known for quite a while have distanced themselves from me. Perhaps they have done so for good reason, but nonetheless, I really haven’t had an affirmative answer either way. I’m the kind of person that if I have wronged you, I’d rather come forward, apologize, and make amends. I know recently, I’ve been stretched pretty thin, but I would hope that people don’t think of me any less of a person.

Recently, I have decided to cut my ties with Mushroom FM. To me, even though I left on good terms over there, I didn’t think it was fair to them that I stay considering I don’t have an active show on the schedule, and because my upcoming project may interfere in their policies. However, I do leave the door open to them if they ever need my assistance again.

Now, let’s get to the meat and potatoes.  If you’ve been following my tweets on Twitter, and my posts on Facebook, you probably have seen that I’m bringing back Magic 109. If you don’t know what that is, it’s an internet radio station I helped run from August of 2018 to July of 2020. When it shut down, it wasn’t appropriate to continue then and there with what happened, especially considering that management isn’t at an agreement about why it shut down in the first place. Well, I’m bringing it back, and this time around, it’s MY project. I’m not running it in partnership with anyone. I have always imagined that a station should be defined by how professional it sounds, and not by whether or not it’s a so-called “hobby station” that brings a bad name to internet radio. Should everyone be having fun? Yes, but they should enjoy being apart of it, and not trying to make anything more of it. To me, if the listener enjoys the radio show, station, or presenter, then you should be enjoying yourself there in turn.

I also have been very busy with gbj Imaging and The GodSquad as well. I’m in the process of moving the sites to a new server. Admittedly, I have more work to do on GodSquad’s site, but I am really happy in it’s progress. The work has been keeping me busy and my love for God has really helped. For my online business as a voice talent and audio producer at gbj Imaging, I can’t really complain. Would I like it to be more active? Yes, but I know with my full-time job it’s not really possible. It does bring me joy and has been very rewarding.

In the end, I would just like to say that I feel the choices that I’ve made over the last few months have been great. My wife, Ashley has been absolutely amazing and supportive. Never have I felt that she has played a role in the decisions I’ve made. She has never put the things I want to do with my life to the side for her own, because I have always supported her. I don’t feel like I’ve ever had to compromise and I imagine she feels the same way. To those who feel otherwise, I’d just like to say that you probably should talk to me before making an assumption, as I’m pretty happy to share my view on the whole situation. I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who I may of offended over the last few months. If more needs to be hashed out, please let me know. I don’t want to upset any kind of friendship we had because of something that I may have jeopardized. I hope you all take care and thank you so much for your time in reading this, and hopefully we can talk real soon!

I’m back on the air with a brand new show folks!

Hey folks! I have some exciting news! I have decided to get back into the broadcasting gig and landed a spot on Mushroom FM to bring you a new show called Time Tunnel Tunes, which you can hear every Wednesday night at 8 pm Eastern. The show will also be replayed Saturdays at 6 am Eastern too! The first debut show will happen on Wednesday, September 30th, 2020. If I’ve captivated your attention, keep reading as there’s more!

Mushroom FM

Time Tunnel Tunes is a show that focuses on a specific year each week! If you remember The Rockin’ Pop Party and the segment called “The Rockin’ Hour in History” in the last hour, you’ll know how it works. Basically, I’ll play an hour’s worth of tunes from a specific year, give you hints as to the year in question and if you think you know it, chime in and let me know and on an upcoming episode, I may feature a year chosen by you!

Now, I will not be making this show available as a podcast or as an archive, but you can obviously check it out as it airs! You can find Mushroom FM on TuneIn, or ask your smart speaker or mobile device to play Mushroom FM as well. Oh, and if you live in the United Kingdom, you can enable ‘My Tuner Radio’ on your device and it will then say “Welcome to My Tuner Radio. Say play followed by the station name…” and if you say ‘Mushroom FM’ it SHOULD start it if nothing goes wrong. Of course, there are ‘listen’ links on Mushroom FM’s website for your favorite media players or other ways to tune in as well. I do hope you’ll check it out and here’s to the Time Tunnel Tunes!

Apologies and the future for me and my shows?

Over the past month now, I haven’t published any episodes of The Rockin’ Pop Party or talked about it all that much either. In fact, if you surf around my website, you’ll see some subtle changes that make it more obvious. So, you’re probably wondering what’s next? Will there be another episode of The Rockin’ Pop Party? Will you be bringing back The Geno J Show? Are there new podcasts or radio shows in the future? Well, the truth is, I have no idea. But, I will tell you what I know right now.

Last month marked the ending of Magic 109 and if any of you knew how much I loved that internet radio station, don’t know the half of it. I’d like to believe that I gave an opportunity to give that internet radio station a headstart among the rest. I put my heart and soul into the station. Magic 109 was on it’s way to a great future. Some may disagree with the practices of its commercials that aired on the station to help keep it afloat. Some may think that my business, gbj Imaging took advantage of its success. Maybe there’s even some of you who think that I’m heartless and munch off a project (in this case a station) and refuse to let it run any other way than what I believe is best for the station? Welp? You’re all entitled to believe what you think, but I would like to say something before you pass judgment.

The truth is, Magic 109 did NOT shut down due to financial issues. Granted, these issues were going to be a problem, but the reality is the station had enough money to keep going for another month at least, allowing it’s presenters to plan for there last show or possibly even make it to its 2nd year anniversary. Unfortunately, the issue dealt with management as it is in most online internet radio stations. It’s my opinion that not everyone on management was receptive enough to handle the stress of running a station, weren’t in touch with there feelings to discuss professionally what issues they had involving the station, or for that matter work with others. However, the decision to shut down the station was made at least in part by an individual not even on the primary members of management.

Ultimately, someone who we as management (me in particular) cared about deeply felt that they couldn’t contribute a voluntary monthly payment to the station or for that matter provide some of the services the station was using. They gave little to no time at all for me (or the remaining members of management) to find an alternative solution. The biggest part of all that was when I stepped up to help pay for a month of service for the station to continue, they said more or less “your money is no good”, paid me back, and terminated a longstanding agreement we had for years. Now, of course, some words were said, tempers flared, and I was upset as was the other members of management. That individual didn’t want to talk. Instead, I was painted out to be the route cause of the demise of the station and why things got out of control so quickly. It was after this that others left all mysteriously for the same reasons, that being stress. Was there stress? No doubt in my opinion, but a lot of it was caused by someone threatening suicide and making hasty decisions. After this, a wellness check was obviously necessary and later this individual showed there true colors saying “Well, I know how to work the system to get them to let me go home.” This is a terrifying perspective in my opinion. This individual along with the remaining member of management who took this individual’s side even continued to make management decisions long after they sent their letters of resignation. With all this said, it was obvious that at least I was upset when I was just trying to quietly negotiate an agreement to help pay this individual dealing with financial troubles, but others learned of it and had no interest in helping out when they were clearly responsible for some of the debt this person was dealing with. Instead, they pinned the blame on me saying I wasn’t paying for my commercials from gbj Imaging when in reality I didn’t see the need because the station was getting a free pass by not having to pay for the hosting, streaming, it’s TeamTalk server and whatnot.

Do you want to know the worst part of all of this? Those that left are apparently starting up their own station after stating to all of you that it was financial issues that caused Magic 109 to go down, at least according to a reputable source. So, it’s my belief they weren’t being honest and lied to you, the listeners, and were unhappy with the direction of the station and where it was going. At any rate, I would have 100% listened to their argument, but they didn’t want to talk, even after they initially requested to call for a management meeting though never showed up. That ladies and gentlemen is more and likely the REAL reason Magic 109 couldn’t continue.

Now, I’m not trying to say that I didn’t play a role in all this. I was raised to take responsibility for my actions. I was upset after all these individuals left mysteriously for more or less the same reason within hours from one another. Was it a conspiracy? Well, I’ll let you decide, but it could be looked at that way, couldn’t it? That said, I’d like to apologize to those who I said some things that were not appropriate and may have offended. Honestly, I just pray for those individuals and hope they see the errors in there ways as well. I pray that no more friendships are torn because of it. I say this only to show the fact that they were quick to judge, and blocked those that they think were responsible. So, if it happens again, would they turn amongst themselves if they get into a similar issue again? I know I shouldn’t point at someone else’s speck in their eye before removing my plank first. That said, one shouldn’t throw rocks if they live in a glasshouse. But, I’d like to think I can be approachable and any issue that you may have can be discussed civilly before it gets out of hand. With that said, I’m sorry and hope you can forgive me. This whole ordeal has reminded me that friendships are fragile and can turn on a dime. Some don’t last forever, but only a season. If I were to be asked to start a project like this (or restart it) again, I can say that I wouldn’t do it exactly as we did, only because if there was a friendship, I wouldn’t want to lose that. If there wasn’t a friendship, I wouldn’t attempt to create one and just stay mutual and strictly professional. Forgiveness as a Christian is an extremely hard pill to swallow, but when you realize how much baggage you carry when holding that type of resentment, it does feel better to let go. In the end, I’ve learned from my mistakes and grown wiser because of it.

Enough about what happened though, let’s look forward from here. What will become of The Rockin’ Pop Party and The Geno J Show for that matter? I don’t really know yet, but I have been very slow to respond to a feeling or whim. I don’t want to just jump into a new adventure, project, or start podcasting, or do shows for other internet radio stations until I feel I absolutely know that the Lord has been calling me to do it. I’ve seen too many radio shows, podcasts, and internet radio stations fall flat on there face because of this very reason and no doubt more will happen in the not too distant future. Not only all this, but I myself have been guilty of this same issue a few times. It’s one thing to get an urge or miss doing something you love, but it’s something entirely different when you know you’ve been called to do something for a reason and that’s what I hope happens. Right now, all I can say is that I have been looking at several different avenues and ultimately a decision won’t happen until I know first of all where I will be next year from now or if any plans have changed from where they’re at right now. Believe me, I miss bringing you all The Rockin’ Pop Party and I’ve been itching to do a podcast, even if it meant bringing back The Geno J Show. All I ask is for your patience and your prayers for a clear and obvious sign from the divine.

 

The Rockin’ Pop Party – s08e08: 07/24/2020

Season: 08 – Episode: 08,
Length: 02h:57m:13s,

Description: On this week’s episode of The Rockin’ Pop Party, I brought you another ‘hot’ episode LIVE from Ohio! I had some great tunes from the late ’90s on up through the early 2000s for the first two hours this week. You found out who won the “Between the Sheets: Cover Comparison” for last week. Was it TLC or LOCASH? You also heard this week’s contenders too! This time, *NSYNC took on Further Seems Forever with a popular track of theirs! In “The Rockin’ Hour in History” you heard some great tunes from the early ’70s to round out the show! That’s not all though, I also revealed some of the birthdays that occurred this past week, took your requests, and had plenty of friendly banter as well. Enjoy!

Geno J

The Rockin’ Pop Party – s08e07: 07/17/2020

Season: 08 – Episode: 07,
Length: 02h:56m:13s,

Description: On this week’s episode of The Rockin’ Pop Party, I have an epic episode in store for you! I was LIVE from Ohio! You found out who won the “Between the Sheets: Cover Comparison” for last week. Was it Garth Brooks or All That Remains? You also heard this week’s contenders too! This time, TLC took on LOCASH with a country version of a popular track! In “The Rockin’ Hour in History” you heard some great tunes from the ’60s and ’70s to round out the show! That’s not all though, I also reveal some of the birthdays that occurred this past week, took your requests, and have plenty of friendly banter as well. Enjoy!

Geno J

The Rockin’ Pop Party – s08e06: 07/10/2020

Season: 08 – Episode: 06,
Length: 02h:53m:50s,

Description: It’s another epic episode of The Rockin’ Pop Party headed your way folks! I was LIVE in Ohio once again and encouraged you to check it out! You found out who won the “Between the Sheets: Cover Comparison” for last week. Was it John Waite or Brooks & Dunn? You also heard this week’s contenders too! This time, Garth Brooks took on All That Remains with a country classic! In “The Rockin’ Hour in History” you heard some great tunes from the ’70s to round out the show! That’s not all though, I also revealed some of the birthdays that occurred this past week, take your requests, and have plenty of friendly banter as well. Enjoy!

Geno J

The Rockin’ Pop Party – s08e05: 07/03/2020

Season: 08 – Episode: 05,
Length: 02h:58m:24s,

Description: It’s another ‘jam-packed’ episode of The Rockin’ Pop Party folks! I’ll have you wondering how I managed to squeeze so much content in a single show! You’ll find out who won the “Between the Sheets: Cover Comparison” for last week. Was it Bruno Mars or Peirce the Veil? You’ll also hear this week’s contenders too! This time, John Waite takes on Brooks & Dunn with another ’80s track! In “The Rockin’ Hour in History” you’ll have to ‘Guess the Year’ chosen by Alternative Ash! Guess it correctly, and you can pick the featured year for “The Rockin’ Hour in History” for next month! That’s not all though, I’ll also reveal some of the birthdays that occurred this past week, take your requests, and have plenty of friendly banter as well. Enjoy!

Geno J

The Rockin’ Pop Party – s08e04: 06/26/2020

Season: 08 – Episode: 04,
Length: 02h:56m:54s,

Description: Summer is officially here, but the ‘new normal’ is taking a toll on all of us. I encourage you to check out The Rockin’ Pop Party this week and enjoy it just the way you are! You’ll find out who won the “Between the Sheets: Cover Comparison” for last week. Was it Europe or van Canto? You’ll also hear this week’s contenders too! This time, Bruno Mars takes on Peirce the Vail with another familiar track! In “The Rockin’ Hour in History” you’ll hear some great sounds from the late ’50s and ’60s! That’s not all though, I also reveal some of the birthdays that occurred this past week, take your requests, and have plenty of friendly banter as well. Enjoy!

Geno J

The Rockin’ Pop Party – s08e03: 06/19/2020

Season: 08 – Episode: 03,
Length: 02h:59m:11s,

Description: This week was a great episode of The Rockin’ Pop Party that surely got you on your feet! If you love all the tunes from the past on up through today, then give it a listen! You found out who won the “Between the Sheets: Cover Comparison” for last week. Was it R.E.M. or Hootie & The Blowfish? You also heard this week’s contenders too! This time, Europe took on van Canto with a track that everyone should know! In “The Rockin’ Hour in History” you heard some great sounds from the ’60s and ’70s! That’s not all though, I also revealed some of the birthdays that occurred this past week, took your requests, and had plenty of friendly banter as well. Enjoy!

Geno J

No joke! Hold the apostrophe!