The RETURN of Radio Showbiz!

[VegaNova]

Awhile back I alluded to a new addition that was coming to SP.com - well that was only half true. The real story is that we are bringing back Radio Showbiz. Some of our newer members may not be familiar with the station but that's ok, even our old listeners are gonna be in for some plesant surprises!

First up, we've improved the sound quality. We've also vastly improved our broadcast schedule and overall playlist. You'll currently be able to hear over 700 tracks comprising well over 48 hours of audio. Granted, we still have some major gaps in our archive, but we are actively adding to it!

We are also actively showcasing many tracks by the artists who provide the voices for some of our favorite RAE and CEC characters! Now, if you're wanting to tune in to hear the current CEC show that's playing in stores you're outta luck (you can go to CEC for that). But if you wanna take a journey back through the forgotten audio of days past, we hope you enjoy what we have to offer!

Oh, and our new format allows you to tune in on your favorite audio player too! This all goes down tomorrow April 2nd!!!

[raebigc]

ROCK ON!!!!!!!!! Thanks for bringing back Radio Showbiz.

[dheineCECfan]

Radio ShowBiz returning! I miss the glory days it was on Live365.com !

[CECExtravaganza]

Welp, i'm still pretty new then I quess, lol. This is going to be awesome, can't wait to check it out. Think its cool that you're playing the good old stuff.

[cec080]

Hey great! glad to see you brought this back!

[CEC3066]

this is so cool. once RS ended I contemplated canceling my Live365 subscription,ultimatly doing so a month or so ago as it was a miinor expense. looking forward to tomorrow, what time is the re-inaugural broadcast?

[RAFE CEC Guy]

I hope this is true. Not all April Fools' Day announcements are fake. Example:

http://marioandsonicfans.com/files/2008/12/mario_n_sonic-medium.jpg

[VegaNova]

Oh was that today? :-?

April Fools day is so tacky. I used to hate it when people would play pranks on me back in high school, so I made a solemn vow to never stoop to such lows. B-)

So no worries, here on SP.com we've stood for honesty and accuracy since day #1, and we would never sink to using April Fools pranks. :o)

[RAFE CEC Guy]

Oh was that today? :-?

April Fools day is so tacky. I used to hate it when people would play pranks on me back in high school, so I made a solemn vow to never stoop to such lows. B-)

So no worries, here on SP.com we've stood for honesty and accuracy since day #1, and we would never sink to using April Fools pranks. :o)

Need I remind you of last year?

[VegaNova]

I thought last year skipped straight from March to May. Something to do with the daylight savings extention... or something like that...

[cec080]

I'm not falling for this one Travis!!! LOL!!!!!
Like my Grandma says don't count your chickens until there hatched!!!!!!! LOL!

[Vega III CEC]

Well, if this totally isn't an April Fool's joke, then right on for bringing this back. If it is just a prank though...:-P

[menutia]

I'm still waiting for "the other shoe to drop"... you know. A link to a station playing Showbiz songs that sound more like "The Chipmunks" than the RAF... or maybe CEC music backwards... how about just playing the 2 tracks of animation control signals instead of the music?

I used that "Archive.org" posting to link to the old Radio Showbiz pages. I searched Live 365 and there is nothing in their search of stations that has RAF or CEC music on it.

Furthermore, the old site was pulled because of the cost of "Royalties" that had to be paid for each song. That issue has not changed, and it has escalated even more so.

(LINK TO "RADIO SHOWBIZ BLOWOUT" Post -- Look at response #10 from Travis: http://www.showbizpizzaforum.com/showthread.php?t=1667.)

LINK TO STORY FROM LAST WEEK ANNOUNCING THE NEW RULES AND FEES: http://www.rbr.com/radio/13536.html

(Scroll halfway down to Chart #2 and look at the annual cost for a single stream -- $15,768.00 !!! - In ADDITION to the annual $500 license fee.)

This site isn't taking in a ton of cash (has it even made a profit since the membership fees were eliminated???), so unless someone here has won the lottery, I doubt that you will see streaming RAF music tonight at midnight.

Add all of this to Travis's responses earlier in this thread and I'll just stick to the "I'll believe it when I see it." position.

(((For more about the fees and royalty licensing, visit: http://www.soundexchange.com/)))

[macrossmaster]

AHHHHH! SO EXCITED! Please don't let this be a joke. I'm not sure how it would be possible, but it would make me so, so happy again!!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Kids,

YOU..yes YOU can help Showbiz Pizza . Com by purchasing any of the cool Dvd's in the 'Online Shop'!

Let's see...i figure if we sell like 110 Dvds in the next few hours, we will have the money for Radio Showbiz..plus interest! 110 Dvds X $20 each = $22,000

So get shopping, people!

:D

[Harmony Howlette]

Oh was that today? :-?

April Fools day is so tacky. I used to hate it when people would play pranks on me back in high school, so I made a solemn vow to never stoop to such lows. B-)

So no worries, here on SP.com we've stood for honesty and accuracy since day #1, and we would never sink to using April Fools pranks. :o)
Good ol' Travis...always a man of integrity...;;)

[menutia]

Like I said... "When I see it..." It's 8am Central Time... Hope everyone enjoyed the joke!

[raebigc]

is the station up yet?

[dheineCECfan]

What time is Radio ShowBiz slated to relaunch?

[RAFE CEC Guy]

For right now, I'll keep waiting. If it's not up by Noon or 1 today, it's officially a joke.

[CEC Kid Check]

Ladies and Gentlemen, *drum roll please*




Happy April Fools Day! =))

I'm shocked about 95% of you actually fell for this. It's been a yearly tradition for sp.com to participate in April fools activities.

Thanks to everyone for being great sports! =D>

[chuck e cheese fan]

it was pretty funny i actuly thought this was realy goona happen

[VegaNova]

HA HA HA HA HA!!! *sorry*

Since I think I've done contributed to everyone's confusion, I'll just hand this announcement over to Ming-Ming of the Wonder Pets....

http://www.showbizpizza.com/temp/mingming.jpg

I really gotta stop entertaining myself with these jokes LOL... one of these years I'll learn.

Enjoy!

http://www.showbizpizza.com/radio/

[pasqually333]

Awesome Travis I'm glad Radio showbiz is back on the air:)

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Awesome! IT"s BACK!!!

Only problem- it will not keep playing for us non-broadband users! Du'oh! I get to hear , like, 30 seconds and then it cuts out on me. Click the button again...another 20 seconds...click again...you get the picture.

Nice for you guys that have the gear to hear it, but torture for those few of us left with old school dial-up service.

I'm still glad to see it back though. Woo!

[cec080]

Awesome! glad to see it's back! way to go Travis!!!!! The audio is superb!

[lildook]

YIPEEE you guys rule... Ive been lacking this every since it disappeared!!! ITS GREAT intermission for my showroom :)

Keep up the good work!

OH JENN,

Its time to upgrade the technology :-P

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

NO freakin' way, dude! :-P

I LIKE playing video games on my Atari 2600...all the real video 'classics' are there man..none of this 'vector graphics' or 3D imagary crap...you were supposed to use your imagination! OH wait...people don't do that these days. Well, their loss ( and society as a whole, when you think about it...)

I LIKE listening to my music on vinyl records.....back when 'Albums' WERE freakin' ALBUMS as God intended ( with FULL cover art!) CD's suck..the world is waking up finally to the 'Big Lie' the music industry pulled back in 88'. Besides, everyone knows all the very BEST music was released on those 'old' formats. Oh, and on Reel to Reel too.... Nuf' said!


I LIKE having a rotary phone, dammit! No buttons, ROTARY man! With the spinnin' wheel and pulse tones and everything! What joy is there is pushing some lit buttons? Cell phones are annoying as...well....it rhymes with 'well'. I have never owned, nor ever plan on owning a cell phone. I like my 'land line', thank you very much....and my MIckey Mouse phone from 87' is too damn cool to 'upgrade'. Pfft......!

Speaking of phones...

I LIKE not having a answering machine for my phone... saves me tons o' money not having to call all those people back! Actually, i will confess i DO have one...J gave me his small cassette-run model back in 86' and it still sits in storage in my basement abyss. I never used it....but appreciate having it still. It's probably a collectible now...some 'Old Tech' freak like me would probably sell me his first born for it at this point in time if i ever put it up on Ebay...


So yeah,


I LIKE my dial-up service for my laptop computer ( 99% of the time..yes!). I'm lucky i got THAT FAR.... I did'nt have this Comp' ( my FIRST computer ever,of any form..!) until 2004....and it was a major deal getting THAT!

Ha ha....!

......

...and i LIKE it!



=))

You may laugh, but ALL of the above is TRUE. Scouts pledge!

[RAFE CEC Guy]

Oh my god... it is real... High-def Dolli and Rockafire? This is AWESOME!! THANK YOU TRAVIS!!! :D

[Beach Bear]

I'm loving the Radio guys!! It's opened me to the RAE again. I was getting bored of it but after hearing more showtapes I've got my interest in it back. And I heard some awesome PTT and MMB songs.

[RAFE CEC Guy]

My only complaint is TOO MUCH CHUCK E CHEESE!! I WANT ROCKAFIRE DAMNIT!!! XD

[CalvinandCEC]

Awesome! IT"s BACK!!!

Only problem- it will not keep playing for us non-broadband users! Du'oh! I get to hear , like, 30 seconds and then it cuts out on me. Click the button again...another 20 seconds...click again...you get the picture.

Nice for you guys that have the gear to hear it, but torture for those few of us left with old school dial-up service.

I'm still glad to see it back though. Woo!
There is another problem for us Linux users... It won't play in Totem Movie Player unless you have the Quicktime Codecs or a Playlist for Totem Movie Player, or unless you have WMP running under Wine (emulator not the drink).:|

[WickedWonder1]

I was just thinking how much I missed Radio Showbiz! Thanks so much for making me happy! I'm marathoning to get my fill.

[RAFE CEC Guy]

ATTENTION: If you need any codecs to play Radio Showbiz, click one of the three links depending on your OS for a codec pack so you don't have to worry about that anymore.(And so you can play any media on your computer) Plus it's FREE!! :D

Windows (Middle Download Link[Mirror]) (http://www.free-codecs.com/ace_mega_codecs_pack_download.htm)

Mac OS X (http://davidtse916.wordpress.com/2007/12/30/k-lite-codec-pack-for-mac/)

Linux (Most won't need this, but whatever.) (http://www.afreecodec.com/linux/161/mplayer-essential-codec-pack/)

[CStoneNo37]

Listening at work via iTunes. How long before my co-workers think I've lost it?

[Flash Kid]

There is another problem for us Linux users... It won't play in Totem Movie Player unless you have the Quicktime Codecs or a Playlist for Totem Movie Player, or unless you have WMP running under Wine (emulator not the drink).:|
Hey, dude. I'm on Linux right now. You can use VLC to run the stream ;). MPlayer CLAIMED it can do it but it didn't work for me X-(

Keep on freeing yourself from the devil! (Bill Gates)

FK

P.S. Totem is total garbage. Get rid of it :P

[lildook]

WHAT?? ITUNES ?? WHAT?? How you listening in there? Can we stream this from anywhere haha.. Namely My iphone? Eww wouldnt that be sweet...

David

HOLY horse turds! I found an Iphone app... Radio Streamitall! THIS KICKS POTATOE SACS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vega III CEC]

Listening to Radio Showbiz is pretty cool! I've heard some things I've never heard before. It was cool listening to Dolli singing "Talk Like and Animal" and actually hearing the word "hell" (unless I mistook that one) and then The Abracadabra Medley... Man, Rock A-Fire sounds great in this format. This might've made me a fan.

[gwendolyn_1983]

Thank you so much! This is made of awesome!!

[menutia]

THIS KICKS POTATOE SACS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only people from Indiana like you and Dan Quayle can spell potato like that!!!

[Isabella Price]

This is so awesome. Nice work, guys.

[Vega III CEC]

I honestly thought of so much more to say while I was listening to this last night. I got to hear how much of a rude rat Chuck used to be and I LOVED THAT. His original voice was absolutely perfect for how he was back then. The Harmony tape... I loved it. The banter between Harmony and Chuck was perfect. All the RAE stuff I heard was enthralling and so full of passion. Then later on hearing some CEC stuff I hadn't heard in years along with the script that ran between Chuck and Helen that was lighthearted and enjoyable and then the stuff I found on YouTube that I listen to regularly. Needless to say I had a hard time turning Radio Showbiz off.

[VegaNova]

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the station! I wasn't sure if it was gonna take or not to be perfectly honest. I was hoping that the improvements over our old service would make a difference (used to have 64kbps sound plus a bunch of crappy misc advertising).

But this really is just the beginning. I personally have some neat ideas to roll out as we go into summer and Brian has a bunch of good ideas too. Once we get the new system all figured out we can really pull off some neat things!

And we also wanna give everyone what they want! We won't ever be able to completely please everyone, but we are open to suggestions anyway. Maybe if there's enough demand we can have RAE night or PTT night or CEC night. Once we make improvements to our playlist catalogue we can get to taking requests and maybe even do a weekly top 10. It'll all depend on how much time we can put into it and how much interest there is in it.

Oh, and as a proud iPhone owner I couldn't forget about that. Check out the FAQ link on the radio section for some details on that. There's an official shoutcast app that you can get for free. I've tested it and it works great. Perfect over wi-fi. Flawless on 3G with full bars. And I tried it earlier today with just the edge network on 4 bars and it came though pretty darn solid. That surprised me a little since we run at 128kbps. ;)

[NickRyder]

So is there any kind of "playlist" listing so we kinda know what we're listening to or can plan on tuning in for RAE or PTT stuff?

[ChuckEZone]

It's all on general rotation right now so you'll get to hear a little of everything. As Travis mentioned, a feature RAE/CEC/PTT night may be an option if there's enough of a following. The playlists are more elaborate than ever before.. and all the music isn't even in yet!

[CalvinandCEC]

Hey, dude. I'm on Linux right now. You can use VLC to run the stream ;). MPlayer CLAIMED it can do it but it didn't work for me X-(

Keep on freeing yourself from the devil! (Bill Gates)

FK

P.S. Totem is total garbage. Get rid of it :P

I'm wasn't able to on the computer I posted it in. It's a school computer with Fedora 10. And with the rights of a limited user you aren't able to remove it.
P.S. Yes, I will keep freeing myself from the devil! (Bill Gates)

[NickRyder]

I gotta admit, I'm really enjoying the ooold PTT stuff, Madame Oink's got a nice voice and I love that old Rat Chuck E voice. Definately brings back A LOT of good memories. Never realized just how "bowery/vaudeville" he sounded or at least I forgot lol. Hey it's been what? Nearly 30 years! Y'know some of that classic stuff would be awesome to actually see synched up to some animatronics again.

[Isabella Price]

Not only is this epic because I can hear stuff that was played before I even existed, but it's really inspirational to get some fanart done! :D

[terry67401]

Glad to see its back...very nice!! I have truly missed Radio Showbiz!!

[little junior2]

i'm listing to it right now.They are playing birthday star 1999.

[Vega III CEC]

Just heard Combo #5/ We Got the Beat and I gotta say thanks to ya Travis. This is the kinda stuff I wanted to hear on Radio Showbiz!

[Rockafirecheese]

Wow.... on these nights when your bored its sure nice to have Radio Showbiz to listen to again!!!

I was thinking maybe for CEC music doing the origanal and then right after that doing the remake

Like on some of the live shows

[Larry the Tech]

Hey, you're playing some weird voiced show as I type this, the theme is Chuck E.'s Rock & Roll history or something, what is that showtape?

[Vega III CEC]

Ya know, I was tuning in last night and heard a strange song. Something about a gravy train and hopping on one. I'm interested to know what show it came from. Of course before the song ended ShoutCast kicked me off like it always does so I didn't get to hear the whole thing. I swear that App is on a timer to turn itself off.

[VegaNova]

Let's see... the "History of Rock & Roll" show was from 1986 and was one of the 1st shows to use completely new voices - the Jasper and Pasqually (and possibly Helen) stuck around through the late 80s, but Chuck and Munch were only on this one tape as far as I can tell. Once they got Scott Wilson re-hired (under ShowBiz management) they got the old Chuck and Munch back.

The most unfortunate part of this tape was that they did continue to use some of the Live Intros & Bdays into the late 80s and retained some of those bizarre voices way too long. I have a review written for this tape, just haven't gotten around to posting it yet.

And the "Gravy Train" show must be the Hard Luck Bears show from Knobels Grove (as far as I know this was their second show and was custom recorded for Knobels - even though I got it from a theme park in Canada).

Also as far as Shoutcast booting people - are you talking about the iPhone/iPod App? I haven't run it all that long here at home, but I know that using the Wi-fi connection at my work is absolutely useless... I get on there for a few minutes at a time is all before it just randomly shuts off. I think it has more to do with my Wi-fi connections than anything. I've run it off the 3G (and also the regular Edge network) and they run it decently, but it does drop off for me more than I'd like - anyone else have this issue going on?

[Vega III CEC]

And the "Gravy Train" show must be the Hard Luck Bears show from Knobels Grove (as far as I know this was their second show and was custom recorded for Knobels - even though I got it from a theme park in Canada).

Also as far as Shoutcast booting people - are you talking about the iPhone/iPod App? I haven't run it all that long here at home, but I know that using the Wi-fi connection at my work is absolutely useless... I get on there for a few minutes at a time is all before it just randomly shuts off. I think it has more to do with my Wi-fi connections than anything. I've run it off the 3G (and also the regular Edge network) and they run it decently, but it does drop off for me more than I'd like - anyone else have this issue going on?

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Yeah, it's the iPod App. I think it's the App's issue since it just recently started doing this to me. It worked fine for a while after I got it, and I'm pretty sure my Wi-Fi's not the issue because I've never had problems on any other device that uses the connection.

[Larry the Tech]

How come you don't play any 1990s CEC songs?

[Charon the Sabercat]

Kinda irks me that some of the songs on Radio Showbiz are being played at the wrong speed, but the station's been behaving for me all day.

[VegaNova]

Kinda irks me that some of the songs on Radio Showbiz are being played at the wrong speed, but the station's been behaving for me all day.

Just curious on which tracks you were talking about?

A lot of the tracks do sound different, I'll admit that much, but most of them were pulled off the original reels by a very small handful of people/players. Many of the early tracks (both Rock-afire and PTP) sound bizarre, but it's not due to tape speed as much as it was experimental recording techniques (for example, many of the early Billy Bob and Earl recordings sound higher because CEI altered the pitch to make the voices sound a certain way - something they quit doing after the first year or two).

One track that bugs the crap outta me is the GOFA advertisement where Billy Bob sounds particularly squeaky.

[Charon the Sabercat]

The ones I can name off the top of my head are "Little Sister", "My Love" and "Light my Fire". I never hear showtapes playing in high pitch, only the tracks that came off the albums. 78 speed, man! I can particularly hear it in Dook songs since his voice was deep to begin with. (Although, personally, I like the sped-up version of Little Sister a little better. Much more energetic!)

[VegaNova]

Ok, well on the "Light My Fire" track you could be right - that one is one of the few tracks that was actually dubbed from vinyl. For some reason that one hasn't turned up on an actual reel - to the best of our knowledge, it was most likely an outtake. That could be false of course because the archive that exists in the community is incomplete as far as the very earliest RAE stuff is concerned.

But the other two are pulled from the reels... I dubbed these myself back in '03 alongside most of the other tapes. Really though, I think Dook just sounded "higher" in the early shows (the original Beatles Medley comes to mind). I can remember about a decade ago after hearing the "Homely for Christmas" cassette for the first time, I asked Aaron Fechter if someone else had been voiced Dook on that tape because it sounded much deeper. Keep in mind this was the first showtape I had heard outside of playing the old records on my player... it's sad to think of how deprived we were for material in the early days of this site ha ha.

But yeah, just about everything on the station was dubbed directly from reel (from two different recording sessions - the one I did back in '03, and a more recent session done around '06 by someone else). The only tracks I can think of offhand that came from alternate sources are Light My Fire (vinyl) and School Days w/intro (video) which is also believed to be an outtake with Aaron playing the voice of Fatz - again pitch altered.

[Rockafirecheese]

Occasionally it’s true.... Light My Fire is a hard song pitchwise. Occasionally I play Gee, Our First Album on a really old record player where you have to adjust the speed manually, and all the songs on that album are particularly hard to determine a good speed. And of course Dook has more solo songs than anyone else in the band which makes it even harder, but I love that album!