| Here's
how it happened… I was looking for a way to expand the reach
of the Cla'ence Update, so I barged into the office of George
Taylor Moore, who was the head of programming for Westwood
One. I practically forced him to listen to the cassette
tape of the Cla'ence Update, and he said "This feature would
sound great on KJLH." I told him "I'm already on KJLH. I'm
trying to branch out." He said "Well Scott Shannon (whom
I had never heard of before) is coming in town to do the
We Are The World simulcast, where the song We Are The World
would be played throughout the entire world at a designated
time. I'll let him hear this tape." I figured "Well if that
ain't the Hollywood brush, I've never heard one before!"
so I forgot all about it.
But sure enough,
the following Monday morning, I got a 6am wake-up-call from
a crazed maniac saying something I could barely understand…
"zubzubhubbzhubba… UPDATE!!!! Zubzubzubhubbahubba SOAP OPERA!!
Uhbububzubzub… CLA'ENCE!!!!! I'mon putcha on my show!! I'mon
pay ya! You gon' be a stah! You thought I was black dinya?!"
I go "No… I didn't." "Well anyway, you gon' be a stah!!"
I said "Ok man, I'm down!"
I hung up the
phone thinking I just had a dose of New York Hype, but the
next day, Scott Shannon called me again and said "You a
stah Cla'ence! Dey luv ya!" Unbeknownst to me, I had just
landed the number one station in the toughest market in
all of syndicated radio!!
Scott recommended
me to friends of his around the country, and I soon found
myself receiving checks from 10 major market radio stations,
and this got the attention of Steve Lehman at Premiere Radio
Networks. We signed a syndication deal, and the Cla'ence
Update was heard on more than 200 radio stations, twice
daily. Not bad for a cat just illin' huh?
People always
ask me "How did you come up with the name Cla'ence, and
why is it spelled that way?" That's a story for another
time… |
