The X Factor

Wednesday August 3rd, 2011 - Rockford, IL

   Back to Rockford, IL for an on air visit with my good buddies ‘Stone and Double T’ on ‘WXRX - The X’. I really enjoy hanging out with those guys, even though I have no clue if anyone who listens to them enjoys what I do. It’s a heavy rock station that plays music I would never listen to by choice on my own, but the guys themselves are very entertaining.

   They have all kinds of guests on from hockey players and coaches from their local team the Ice Hogs to celebrities on the phone to anyone else they feel like talking to. It’s a very eclectic mix and it sounds very good in my opinion. They get huge ratings, and whenever I’m asked to be on I’ll always say yes. They have me on for the whole show and it’s fun.

   Rockford still intrigues me as a business opportunity. It’s extremely blue collar and has been hit especially hard by the economy’s woes, but there are about 250,000 people in the metro area and I have to believe at least some of them want to laugh. There have been one night gigs that have come and gone over the years but never a long running full time club.

   I don’t know if I’d have the guts to try a full time comedy room there, but I’d sure like a chance to parlay my on air relationship with Stone and Double T to do several shows each year. I know a crowd is out there, it’s just a matter of getting them to show up as a group.

   A while back Jim Stone got a call from a UAW union hall asking for a list of comics he might know that would be interested in putting on a show in their space. Stone called me and I called my friends Jim McHugh and Steve Purcell and we went in there and really lit it up for those people. It was a fantastic show, and I have to believe there are more to do.

   There are also people who live in the surrounding areas who have no live entertainment at all to speak of. If people like Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick still call this area home, how horrible can it be? I don’t want to be greedy, but I think there can be some business here.

   I got my exercise walk in before I left, and also a healthy breakfast of oatmeal sprinkled with walnuts, poached eggs and some vegetables. It still shocks me that I’m ordering stuff like this on purpose, but I’m trying to develop new habits that will produce new results.

   My theory of making my main base of operations be Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Rockford still could work in my opinion, and that’s another reason I went out there today. I wanted to explore the area a little more and I saw there’s a Rockford College. Maybe I’d be able to teach a comedy class, or find a community college with continuing education.

   Whatever the case, I’m planting seeds in the area by being a semi regular on the radio. I wish I had a better picture of who their listeners are, but I know they have big time ratings numbers so someone has them on. It’s my job to find out who that is and get them out for a comedy show. Maybe it’s not possible and there’s a reason a full time club never lasted, but since I live so close and have the advantage of radio exposure whenever I want it, it’s worth my time and effort to keep showing up. If nothing else, it’s fun. Today was a blast.

Posted via email from Dobie Maxwell's "Dented Can" Diary