WE SAID HELLO IN 2001, GOODBYE IN 2021

by Pat Matthews
11/16/2021

Let me say it's been a labor of love. I have poured my heart and soul into programming Beatles-A-Rama!!! internet radio for twenty plus years. And mostly, it has been a labor of love. There were a few years before 2010 that I made money. But it's been more than a decade since that happened and it seems mostly like a dream. Since the inception of radio on the internet around 1998, I dreamed of having a Beatles tribute station. Yes, that was 19 years before Sirius/XM's Beatles Channel. And we began 16 years before they debuted in 2017. That's neither here nor there. What IS important, is that through all the fundraising "experiments" (Premium Subscriptions, PayPal donation attempts, selling station "gear"-not a one sold by the way, etc), the apathy of our so-called faithful fans has been appalling to say the least. Yes, I am bitter right now. I beat cancer soI know I'll get over it. I always have. I want to thank all the great radio people who have contributed along the way. A big thanks goes to my radio "soul-mate" Ray Whitaker, who has been with me since 2004. His lovely and talented wife, Laurel Reddington, joined the staff along the way. An old boss and dear friend, Bob Todd, joined me in 2006. He has stood by me even through tremendous personal tragedy. There's Gillian Lomax, "Brit Gilly", who has been more than a newsgirl...she has been a long-time friend. Steve Warren, who has more important things to do...like running his business that includes the fabulous Music1 software which we have used to program the station for close to fifteen years. Steve has one of the smoothest voices around. Another host with "pipes" is my partner in crime, Greg Cavanaugh. Greg has assisted me in so many ways. He came aboard Beatlesarama around seven years ago. We met at a Live365 "convention" in 2004 and reconnected ten years later through a mutual friend. Through his own personal tragedy he has kept me sane for many years. Bet you didn't know we had a Radio Hall of Fame member on staff? Thank you, Gary Burbank, for keeping me laughing for the past thirteen years. Then there's Norm McBride, who I hired to work at an Orange County (CA) FM station in 1988. Norm has been around California radio for decades and added his smooth talents nightly (even when he moved to C'oeur D'alene, Idaho). Our all night guy came to us from the Brand X Beatles Radio. We didn't hold it against him and he has such a sense of humor, he could take the ribbing from his fellow "Rama Jocks" (a term coined by the lovely Laurel). Then there are our solid weekend on air talents who joined us in recent years: Michelle Merker, Bob Walker and Weird Wayne Watkins.And a special tip o' the hat to Warren Brown and his incredible art work. I would also like to share the love with our weekend programs people: Mike Solof, Dan Augustine, Ken Michaels, Dennis Mitchell, Thel Roundtree, Mike Mercer, Casey Piotrowski, and our daily NewsGuy, Scott Segelbaum. And a special thank you goes out to our Web Site designer Jerry Smith. TRULY an artist! We have all been like a family; a family that had one common purpose: to put a smile on the faces of Beatles' fans worldwide. I hope we did that for you. It's been a long and winding road. So long!

PM