Colorado Community Radio Rediculists

THE ODD HOURS

There is a soft strobe-like light flashing as another ridiculous quip or comment makes it's way into the air and out into the world. It's a small world (after all). Spanning Only about 40 miles in any direction. The music begins to play and a deep voice answers the phone smiling, "You are the 3rd caller.............. no, you don't win anything.........you are just the third person to call us today." This is The Odd Hours (after all).

My name is Jason "Mutt" Rogers. I have been a programmer on KRFC Ft Collins for almost 6 years. My first show was on Monday nights 11p-1am. A few years later I was given the opportunity to add an afternoon show, it was different but I got to play all the songs that did not fit into my harder-rockin' mix show at night. It was the best of both worlds. Total freedom at night and an audience during the day, the phone would actually ring, people were listening! Huhhh huh, cool.

I gave up my late night show (Dog House Rock) to pursue stand-up comedy at area open mics but kept a tight grip on that afternoon spot. Time went on and my two hour time slot expanded to three hours, time marched further and boredom settled in. I wanted to quit. I was about to quit.

Another comedian in the area had begun doing some work at the station and so I decided to talk to him about being a regular co-host on a show that would be a little different. Stand-up comedy had changed me a little and I wanted to take that and turn it into a fresh approach for a new show. Be silly, be our irreverent selves, be honest!

So, In January of 2014 The Odd Hours was born. Next week will mark the 75th show for the Odd Hours. A radio show born out of desperation. Bored desperation. 

Check out our show's website over at www.TheOddHours.com 

Or listen in below  http://www.spreaker.com/user/oddhoursradio/odd-hours-episode-74

[spreaker type=standard width=100% autoplay=false episode_id=6200485]

How Intepid Is Your Eye?

Intrepid

One of my favorite words: Once once used to refer to me while taking some photos for a local publication. I have been trying to work it into sentences ever since then.

in·trep·id

inˈtrepəd/

adjective

adjective: intrepid

fearless; adventurous (often used for rhetorical or humorous effect).

"our intrepid reporter"

synonyms:

fearless, unafraid, undaunted, unflinching, unshrinking, bold, daring, gallant, audacious, adventurous, heroic, dynamic, spirited, indomitable

Now I like to use it as a name for a style (?) of some digital photographs that I do not often roll out for anybody to see. I have a great time making these pieces and really hope to see them hang in a few more places this year. Time to send out some emails and get these babies hung up on a wall near you!!

Wanna see a little more?
https://sites.google.com/site/jrprosite/home/jr-pro-photo/intrepideye-art

Balloon Twisting Kits & Online Learning

 

Having been a professional level balloon twister (www.UpJasbo.com) for around 15 years now I have seen a few changes. When I first got started things were simple. the designs were basic and tended to be virtually the same from twister to twister. Then slowly twisters took to the internet and the ideas began to flow and progress was quickly made away from creations that used one balloon to creations with several and even thousands. Back in those days balloon twisters knew one home on the internet.

We all lived at www.balloonhq.com, scrolling pictures and scouring the "guide" which was hundreds of pages of discussions and articles about the business of working at fairs, festivals and restaurants. I would know how many pages it was because I printed it out at my local library and watched the faces turn to frowns as that sucker churned off page after page. I read each and every one of those pages in hopes of making my fortune by making balloon animals, I needed to know as much as I could and in those days the internet was not something most people spent all day staring at, how could you? That connection tone screaming and connections as unreliable as they were. It was the late 90's, need I say more?

This community seemed to spawn a market where people would design balloon creations and then sell them in the form of instructional VHS tapes. I bought my fair share and slowly built up to working 4 nights a week in restaurants and other events on weekends. I was a busy twisting fool and it helped me pay my own way through college.

    Mr. Rainbow An Early Balloon Teacher Of Mine

 

In fact I even turned down an offer to begin working with the radio stations I was interning with because making minimum wage at a radio station would have been such a pay cut over making balloons part-time. Besides I had a bigger plan which would take me to Asia and help pay back those student loans I had to take out when the balloon money fell short.

So, I took a little break from the business so to speak and went off to teach English in Japan for three years as a part of the JET program. There I figured out how to work balloon twisting into a few lessons and even began teaching young kids how to twist basic balloon shapes. After returning to Colorado in 2006 I got back into the old balloon habit of working table to table a few nights a week.

It must have been the teaching experience melding with my mind always trying to figure out how to stay self-employed when I though I could create some instructional videos and sell high quality balloon kits.

My videos were shot, edited and posted on youtube, nobody was watching them! I tried teaching for the city recreation department, not so many students were signing up. I started giving the kits away as gifts and hoping I could figure something else out. The balloon kits went onto the back-burner where they stayed for several years.

                                                            My First Balloon Video From 2007

 

YouTubeChannel

Then I heard about www.udemy.com and www.skillshare.com. These were marketplaces to sell instructional courses. My idea was reborn! Now, these websites do have some pretty high standards and so I have been working on the fourth version of my video balloon twisting course and I am hoping to have it up and running this summer.

The great thing is that I discovered this amazing resource for learning! I love the courses on www.udemy.com! Some are better than others and some certainly do not seem to be put together as well as my course, alas, the work continues! My continuing work on this project finds me using Udemy courses to further my knowledge and skills which I hope will help me get my course online and see those sweet sweet dollars pour-in!

I wonder if that job offer from 16 years ago to work at the radio station is still good? Hmmmm, I think I will just continue on this self-employed project driven life. Wanna see some what else I am up to?
www.JR-Pro.com


www.JRProMedia.com
www.NorthernColoradoDJ.com
www.UpJasbo.com
www.TheOddHours.com

Open Mic at Avogadro's Number

It was a very lucky thing that happened to me when I walked into Avogadros's Number in Ft Collins thst day in October 2012.

I was there to see if they're acoustic open mic would allow me to perform some comedy, tell some of my jokes, crack wise while on stage, you get it. They welcomed me in and allowed me up to 20 minutes to tell my jokes. In open mic comedy, you are very lucky to get any more stage time than 5 mins. This was awesome!

The situation was far from typical for many reasons. Chiefly among the differences was the fact that there did not happen to be anyone there to announce the performers names or to engage the crowd in anyway. I was used to there being an MC who would stand up on stage and at the very least make introductions. A few of the performers would say their name but if you have ever seen a musician talk into a microphone you may have noticed that they are a soft spoken bunch.

I take the stage and introduce myself, the comedy portion of the night has begun. My set goes well in front of about 15 people. I have plans to come back but  maybe not really soon. That no MC thing kinda threw me off.

Just by pure chance I am back at Avo's taking some photos at a show when I see the owner. He recognizes me and asks me how I liked performing at the open mic and if I planned to come back. I just casually mentioned the fact that it was weird to not be introduced by anyone. His reaction? He just looked at me and said, "You're Hired!" I was certainly not trying to get a job MCing an acoustic open mic, but that's what happened.

It's been more than two years and that mic has become the center of my Tuesday, It affords me great opportunities to see who is coming up in the music scene and who I might want to bring in on the radio to play live, develop new jokes and develop as an MC type guy. They feed me and pay me too. Not bad at all.

It has also meant some great times and plenty of chances to shoot and edit video. Starting in 2015 I have been shooting and editing short recap videos from each Tuesday night mic.

YouTube Channel

All a part of the plan to try to always be learning and growing. Hopefully growing into a healthy and vibrant video production business in the future.

www.JRProMedia.com
www.NorthernColoradoDJ.com
www.UpJasbo.com
www.JR-Pro.com
www.TheOddHours.com

ACX/Audible Audiobook Narration

 

My to-do list is never ending as my quest to stay among the semi-self-unemployed communities runs deep in my bones. New possible projects are always popping up as I have joined several freelancer sites offering me the chance to bid on projects and be laughed at by potential clients the world-over due to my almost non-existent portfolio of work.

I really do not yet know how to play the game so to speak but I am slowly learning how a few different markets work. I am putting in bids on audio editing projects, voice-over and video editing. I have even landed a few and the results so far have always met client expectations. 

So far, one of the most "profitable" has been www.fiverr.com (My Profile Page Here). I have not been paid anything yet but my profile assures me that after those 3 or 4 jobs I have done, I have a whopping 16 dollars coming my way. Not bad, not good. Just ok for a start place.

Another project I really wanted to try was narrating audiobooks. With a background in radio I have heard a few people throw this idea around over the years. Once I scored my bigger desktop computer for video editing I thought it might be time to give audiobooks a try. I signed up with www.acx.com and landed a royalty share gig right away. This means that I after completing the recording of the book I was to own half of the rights and would earn a good portion of the royalties from sales. I was pretty excited and got going right away. There were lots of problems with the recording specs and the release was delayed for weeks. 

Finally my first project is approved and it goes to market. No sales, nothing! My next project was a clear bust, poorly written and hardly even proofread, I couldn't finish that one fast enough. Finally my third project was a good well written story and I was happy to be involved. It was story about how an abused kid grows up to be a abuser himself. Very powerful reading and very powerful to, in a sense "be the character" and to read so many abusive words and actions in the first person. Still, not much a seller.

Then just the other day I recorded a handful of auditions and had an offer earlier today for my first audiobook read which pay me by the finished hour, a guaranteed payday!. It's not a lot but It sure beats what I have made so far. The only catch seems to be that this next project could be the one that sells really well. Seeing as they are guaranteeing payment for my work this means that I will not own any royalties for the sales. Hmmmm I will give it a try anyway. Wish me luck!!

Here is the cover for the book on Amazon! I am no bodybuilder myself but narrating this audiobook could turn it all around!! My ACX Profile Here

www.JRProMedia.com

www.NorthernColoradoDJ.com

www.UpJasbo.com

www.JR-Pro.com

www.TheOddHours.com

Old Umpire Habits Have Sprung!

Some old habits die hard while others are all too easily abandoned only to be picked up years later. Not all habits are bad, some, if started early enough can even help shape who you will eventually become.

Last weekend I found myself picking back up an old habit from my younger days. 

My old habit allows me to be outside, it allows me to really let loose with some guttural sounds no other activity has ever asked me to do. It puts me in the center of attention at times while other times totally imperceptible to anyone watching. Last but not least it allows me to cultivate a wicked farmers tan.

Umpiring is said to be the only job where you are expected to be perfect on your first day and then get even better. It’s a strange activity, in fact it is a job where you can make some pretty good money if you have the guts to stand behind a 12 year old catcher with anxiety issues while imagining an invisible box in the air and yelling really loud if the ball travels through any part of it.

I remember feeling a great deal of anxiety when I stepped on to a field at 18 years old wearing my uniform and about 4 or 5 hours of book and field training on my short sleeves.  I thought I knew the game, I thought I knew the rules, I was about to crawl inside the game and get a look very few fans. players or coaches get. I was an umpire and I had to stay on my toes. I learned how to not take things too personally as parents and coaches yelled, complained and insulted me. As time went on I developed a flow and I felt comfortable and confident on the field. Most of the criticism had stopped after two or three seasons.  I had become a seasoned umpire during my 5 total seasons and I had worked my way up to working older and more competitive leagues. Then, one summer, I decided to concentrate on balloon entertainment/twisting (www.UpJasbo.com and never got back onto the field for 15 years, until a week ago.

This was a Spring tournament  which meant the kids know the game, they don’t make a ton of mistakes, they can pitch, catch, throw and hit. My job was relatively easy, see it, call it, easy. Things went really well all things considered. I umpired 7 games over two days and was very sore and a little sunburned. 

It felt great to be back on the field and I was quite happy that after 15 years the next generation of umpire hecklers had some new jeers for me to enjoy. Instead of my old favorite of my umpire license’s origin and validity being questioned or being accused point blank of being seeing impaired. I was informed that I was “missing a great game” a slight difference. Might not be original or even all that new, but I kind of liked it. It was more about what wasn’t being said. Implied insults. Sarcasm.  Baseball was finally speaking my language! I knew I was going to have a great time after that.

I did get a few compliments from parents, coaches and players. Mostly just thanking me or telling me I had a great game. My favorite compliment was as we were getting ready to start an inning the catcher who had curly, wavy locks of hair very casually mentioning how he liked MY hair. High praise indeed!

www.jr-pro.com
www.NorthernColoradoDJ.com
www.JRProMedia.com
www.UpJasbo.com

Colorado Video Production In-The-Works!

There never seems to be a dull moment in my life which is always sending me looking for something new and something I can hopefully one day make some money doing.

I have been slowly ramping up another side business which honestly I hope will be a great money maker for me in the future. I have been contemplating how long I might be able to continue to DJ weddings and other events. I will be 40 later this year which makes me think I might have another 10 or 15 years before people will be going to younger less expensive DJ's.

Going back to the mid 90's I have had the urge to make and edit video. I had to camcorder and I was shooting a lot of footage but two VCRs were just not a good way to edit anything cleanly, I soon gave up the idea back then.

The last few years have found me doing more and more videos to promote my own wedding DJ business. As of last year I started recording ceremonies and trying my best to put them together as something clients might one day want to pay for. All along adding a few more cameras to provide more angles and then finally this past fall, adding a computer which could handle multi-cam HD edits.

I have shot and edited two short films and many recap videos of a music open mic I host every week. This summer I hope to have about 35 weddings booked with most of them including ceremony services which I have every intention of recording, editing and providing at little or no charge.

Next year will be the breakout for the video business with an emphasis on wedding and business film production. It will be an adventure to get the ball rolling and amass those demo videos as I continue to learn and grow as a video producer.

www.JRProMedia.com