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TapDetroit Internet Radio Detroit Style
The Plankman Show is hosted LIVE every Thursday night by Plankman and Ted Eberly. It's a music of local music, sports talk and whatever else Plankey and Ted come up with. It's a show that meanders along like two confused owls asking WHO WHO WHO's job was it to pick the music. Join in LIVE and you can even chat along with Plankey and Ted via our chat room!
My love for music began at an early age. I remember my older brother’s record collection and sneaking in his room to play 45’s. He had this old Realist tube amp stereo system with giant speakers, the sound quality was fantastic. That first time I put the needle down, cranked up the volume and heard Laid Back’s White Horse and the Styx’s Mr. Roboto, I was sold. I would take advantage of this, The Cars, Bob Segar, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Rush, The Who and many more artists on vinyl brought musical joy. It did not stop there, I remember in the 4th grade when Iron Maiden’s Live After Death came out and my young mind was blown away by vocals and guitar riffs. It was my first exposure to hard rock and metal and I sold. Still to this day,
I hold that Live After Death as one of the best live concert albums of all time followed by Slayer’s Decade of Aggression. I can listen to both of those front to back all day long. But who could forget Metallica and Ozzy, no metal head does not have at least one album from them. There are too many bands to mention that span my musical horizon. Throughout my life, music has been ingrained. Elementary school brought band class, which continued into my high school years in concert, marching, and symphony bands. Somewhere in the third or fourth grade, the electric guitar came into my life. A friend down the street had a Fender Stratocaster, next thing you know, we were making songs on a four track recorder.
To think, at a young age, we even when to the local music shop that had a small studio and record a song we wrote called Hellrazor, a mythical creature that would come and get you in the middle of the night. I still remember the chord progressions and some of the lyrics. Many bands and high school band jams followed with me singing, playing guitar or on bass. Charvel 650 in red was my first guitar and a Steinberg rip off bass followed. How my parents made it through my teenage years, I still wonder to this day, especially since their basement was used for band practice……. Even though the band life ended long ago, I still have a Jackson Pro that I play from time to time today.
“And now, you know the rest of the story,” ~ Paul Harvey.
It did not end there. Somewhere after high school, and lost in what to do with my life, I went to Spec Howard’s school of Broadcasting. With Detroit having a rich radio history filled with lots of personalities I grew up listening to, I decided to try my hand at broadcasting. I believe it was in 1996, I officially became a disk jockey. My one and only live on-air radio stint. It started as just filling in time overnight for 6 hours between paid programming choosing any songs I wanted to play.
Then, there was programming change to “talk and Oldies.” WPON AM 1460 Walled Lake, at one time, was huge in the Pontiac, Michigan area in the 50’s and 60’s and the owner wanted to relive that. Imagine a metal head all of a sudden ask to play Bobby Darin…… Well, I did for 8 years of my life, bringing the love of Motown, Doo Wop and late 50’s and 60’s rock and roll baby into my realm! Times change and people do, I left the radio industry behind when WPON was sold in 2004 vowing never to return. We know what happens when you say that! College came and went, obtaining a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture, and finding myself in the construction industry designing and building, meeting new people.
One of those people introduced me to the local rock music scene because of a band he knew the members of. During this time, I met James Plankey at some of these bar band shows. Plankey had a show on Tap Detroit that played local and independent rock and metal artist. A few years later, Plankey asked for me to be a guest on his show. After months of twisting my arm, actually more likely a few weeks, in realty, just a couple of days, I was a guest on his show. After a few times of having me on, I became the guest that never left.
