JB: This is Jerry

DK: Hey Jerry, this is Dennis from Chicago Music Guide

JB: Hey how you doing?

DK: Pretty good and yourself?

JB: Good!

DK: I appreciate you taking the time today to talk with me. How have things been going otherwise?

JB: Oh, you know enjoying the beautiful winter weather.

DK: Well at least we’ve got some sun, that’s at least halfway there.

JB: It’s just been so difficult in the studio because it goes from like 90 degrees it seems like to below zero, ya know?

DK: Especially with all the equipment you have

JB: That’s what I mean it’s like uh, we can’t regulate it. (laughs). We’re ok though

DK: Cool. Let’s go back to the beginning (literally) the beginning with when and where you born?

JB: Oh THAT far?? (laughs)

DK: (laughs)

JB: I was born in Florida, Jacksonville

DK: Really.

JB: …back in the 50’s… those golden years

DK: How long were you down there for?

JB: Maybe 3 or 4 years

DK: Oh, ok. Cool

JB: Then we moved to Milwaukee, (my parents did). I got into radio in Milwaukee back in 70 something, no it has to be 68-69. A radio station called 93 QFM it was the first progressive rock radio station in Milwaukee. Similar to what XRT did, ya know they were one of the first FMs too here in Chicago; that’s what QFM was sort of like.

DK: Excellent. How long were you in Milwaukee? It sounds like a little bit longer there

JB: I was in Milwaukee from the 60’s all the way through 78-79 and then I came here

DK: Ok, between Milwaukee and Chicago what kind of differences would you say in the music scene or living conditions and things like that

JB: I like Chicago a lot because it is such a great city ya know. A lot of activity here; a lot of clubs, the music wasn’t that great in Milwaukee and there weren’t that many clubs for bands to play. So a lot of Milwaukee bands try to get into Chicago.

DK: True. Do you have any brothers or sisters?

JB: No, I am an only child

DK: Ok. What kind of music when you were growing up tended to be played in your household?

JB: Sort of everything, I grew up in a bit of a musical family. My uncle was Boudleaux Bryant who wrote all the Everly Brothers songs like “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Bye Bye Love” and all those songs.

DK: Oh wow, so you have a real deep history with music there

JB: Yeah, so I was always around music in that way. And I was always a radio freak that had to listen to radio when I was a kid ya know, good old AM radio. (laughs) Ya know back when you tune around late at night to find stations. Which kids don’t do anymore. If it isn’t pre-programmed on your radio, no one even bothers listening.

DK: True. Because I think AM was the only choice at first and then FM came later

JB: That’s why I am at the end, I’m sort of one of those late Baby Boomers or whatever you want to call it. I grew up in the 50’s and everything and I’m always at the end and the beginning of everything. When I was a kid, I was at the beginning of black and white TV going in to color and I saw that transition. Then the transition from AM radio to FM radio and then from FM radio which was mono to stereo FM. Same thing when I got into television, I got into TV because when cable first came on, it is much like… do you have high definition right now?

DK: Unfortunately not

JB: Well if you ever get a high definition TV you’ll find there’s very little programming in high definition. So what happens is, it’s a wide open market; it’s a new area to get exposed. Well when cable first came in it was this wide open wasteland, whatever you want to call it of all this available airtime that they were desperate to get programming on. It’s like nothing was on the air but as part of all that they provided public access channels and public access was one of my first shows right here in Chicago at Chicago Access Corp.

DK: Now was that channel 66?

JB: No that was channel 19, I also simultaneously did a show on channel 66, the thing is I could never see my cable show because Chicago never had cable. So, I did a broadcast show on channel 66, that was WGBO, we were on like I think 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Then they said that we were too radical so we were on night after Howard Stern.

DK: How long did it take you actually to get started of the idea of JBTV?

JB: oh right away. We do commercials for radio stations throughout the country, that’s how I make my money. We’re like an ad agency and the company is called Super Spots, and that company does TV commercials we did the TV commercial for Love FM here in town with the little animated characters and things. So that’s what we are doing. We make money doing that. What happened is , the record companies would say well we need to have Madonna… or the radio station we need to have Madonna in the commercial so the record companies back then would send me a big one inch reel of video tape and there’d be like Peter Murphy… all these great artists on the same tape that the Madonna cut was on, I’m like “How come no one is playing this stuff?” Cuz MTV wasn’t playing a lot of that; they were playing what they thought was hip or whatever, ya know. That’s how I started playing the show, I had all these videos and I started just putting a show together and that’s how it started. It wasn’t motivated by money or any of that kind of stuff we have been the longest running show with virtually no corporate sponsorship over the years, we’ve had a little here and there but not like a regular TV show, ya know.

DK: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say, I mean, you don’t even get that sense that you’re in it for the money kind of thing. It really shows through; your love for the music and that’s what makes your show great and really pleased to see that you’ve reached 20 years now, right?

JB: Yeah

DK: Well, congratulations on that!

JB: .. and I’ve virtually had no reruns; there have been a few. But I try because every week have like 50-60 great videos in and then I look at like MTV and well they don’t even play videos or Fuse or whatever. But I go well if those videos are being played on those channels I pretty much throw those in the back of my pile and I go look at this band, they’ve not gotten any airplay. I like the underdogs. I like the new bands when they’re first starting out cuz that’s the time they need the help they don’t need the help when they’re superstars.

DK: True

JB: That’s when everybody wants they’re autographs and to be at the shows it’s like the first shows the ones that are the magic ones where very few people are there, ya know and those are the true fans that will stay with the bands.

DK: That’s for sure. Now with the vision that you’ve had for the show would you say you’ve been able to accomplish that vision from day one to now?

JB: Oh yeah. The only part of it I didn’t expect were all the interviews, I just thought I’d play music videos and then bands started saying like “we gotta be on the show”. I said “well I’m not going to go to the venue because it’s just too much for me to drag all my equipment and do everything it was just too much work and it’s hard to get people to donate their time. To go to a concert, that’s a whole day ya know? Just about 2 or 3 days a week you could be doing that and it doesn’t pay the bills. You’re having fun though!

DK: true

JB: And another thing about sponsors, like we’ve had people approach us saying “we want to do a countdown show” and this and that, but I don’t like doing countdown shows I think all artists have their own.. saying that this one is #1 because of some sales or whatever they say ya know. I don’t like doing that, I’ll never do countdown shows or the best of cuz I play thousands of videos, how can you say one is better than another.

DK: True. Do you know the first video you started off the show with?

JB: Ya know I’m supposed to know that, right? (laughs) I don’t remember, no.

DK: I think it’s strictly because MTV is synonymous with starting of with “Video Killed the Radio Star”

JB: I do have the show somewhere, but I’d have to look it up.

DK: And have you always been located in the same spot?

JB: Yeah, we’ve been in the same studio since 1979, same location. So, I’ve been like a fixture. I’ve seen the neighborhoods change in downtown Chicago from the area being a bad area to now an exclusive area. Everybody’s building up, it’s always changing. It seems that a lot of the history gets thrown away a lot.

DK: Unfortunately yeah. It’s cool though because you’re located right on the edge and it’s like you’re the opening point to the city right there.

JB: Yeah. Which has probably saved us because a lot of people don’t like this area; it’s not a traffic kind of area for foot traffic. It’s the expressway feeder ramp, cuz people don’t want to stop here they want to stop at Michigan Avenue so. So, I think that’s why we’re still in the location we are. We’ve literally five or six times now, the whole thing should have been done with what we were told “We’re tearing the building down, a high-rise is going in, you’ve got six months to leave or something” We’ve had a number of that to a point of not knowing if the lease was going to be renewed because they’ve had three or four different owners in the building. And as you know a lot of people in Chicago get kicked out and then the buildings sit vacant for years so I’ve just been fighting to stay where I am.

DK: Do you expect you’ll have to move because of your growth or anything like that.

JB: I think we’re just going to have to move soon because of the cost that it is in downtown Chicago. These landlords want top dollar for every inch of space and they don’t care how long you’ve been there I mean, look at, was it Demon Dogs? Or one of those places that was kicked out ya know they were an institution yet they can’t afford to be where they are because the city or whoever wants so much money for that location.

DK: Even Double Door was one of the more recent ones

JB: That was like a big news story, I had viewers crying “I had my first concert there” and “How can they do that”? its like history. See a lot of people cling to the fact that there is a history involved ya know. I mean, we’ve had in the city of Chicago some of the finest bands go through the Metro, the Vic, Double Door, all these different theaters in intimate, nice settings. I mean the history when you down to the Metro and you walk backstage or on the stage. I mean its something about these venues that are magical.

DK: True. Some of the architecture is ornate… what’s left of it anyway.

JB: Yeah, do you know a photographer named Paul Matkin?

DK: Doesn’t ring a bell offhand

JB: He shot hundreds of concerts, stills and he’s even saying you go to these great old venues, there’s a hundred places inside of a venue to take a couple shots of them. You go to the Tweeter Center there’s nothing, there’s brick walls, it’s cold. There’s no little area to go “Oh let’s shoot here in this corner”.

DK: Photographically speaking, there are a lot of places that leave much to be desired. I’m sorry to say

JB: I even hate those venues too, when we did our first Lollapalooza back when it was called World Music Theater out there. I mean, we had total access, we could run around and do stuff; talk to the people no problems. The second year was a little more restrictive but not nearly as bad and then the third year was like “you can’t go here, you can’t do this”. And then the fourth year was like “We need 10 grand just for you to show up” because everybody has their hand out trying to make money on stuff. That’s why I like things at the beginning going back to how things change between color TV and black and white and AM radio and FM and FM and stereo it’s like cable. I was at the beginning of cable and I was at the beginning of cable and I was at the beginning really when UHF stations were starting to become more of TV because nobody really watched UHF for a while. It was like “Oh that’s the upper dial” (laughs) and that’s the same thing now in technology with video I-Pods, we’re doing pod casts now. It’s amazing how many people are subscribing to it around the world. Literally I think I have more viewers on pod casts than I do on TV

DK: It’s really good to see that people are jumping onto technology and not just sticking with what works

JB: Well, it’s like with albums, you’re old enough to know that one. I mean, albums were THE thing and then when CD’s came out “Oh who’s going to do that?” An album is a rarity.

DK: Unless of course you’re a DJ (was meaning a club DJ) They’re still keeping it alive, I think

JB: I don’t know where, all the radio stations are computerized now and it’s touch screen and most DJ’s program the music weeks in advance. When I was on the golden age of FM radio back in the 70’s we played what felt good on the radio at the time. If it was a rainy day, we’d go to the mood. I mean today is a bright sunny day, you feel a bit more up, ya know a station used to feel the city. Now the station isn’t even part, it’s somebody’s idea of what a program should be like with no regard (and I think you’ve noticed this too being in the music business) where you’ve got a great song and then they follow it up with a piece of crap. It’s not necessarily a bad song but it would have fit better maybe somewhere else.

DK: Yeah, there should be a little more thought process that should take place
JB: And I try to segway music to, I don’t know if you’ve noticed that

DK: Definitely

JB: I mean now you can’t even listen to radio without talking in between each song

DK: Now with the videos, what do you feel are the qualities that would make a good video and not necessarily the song itself

JB: I think the better quality they put into videos is going to help. A lot of bands think they can shoot something on DV cam and it works perfectly, ya know but it looks ok sometimes. I think the video should be as good as it can be. I played every kind of video from the lowest of lowest budgets to the highest of high budgets. And it gets down to, if the songs good, that’s your first concern. But I’m a quality freak, I gotta have decent quality on everything. I’m always saying, “Give me the best”.

DK: Totally understandable, you want the bands to look good too.

JB: Well a good example is if a band goes to play the Metro and they get one of their buddies to tape them with a DV camera in the back of the venue with no audio cuz board audio is no good, it’s audio meant for the club where you’re not micing everything individually, so in the club it sounds great but on TV it sounds awful. Like we use Tim with Metro Mobile Sound here in Chicago to do all of our audio and we have a number of other people too, but the thing is I try to do everything top notch 100% best quality I can right away. So I’ve got like concerts from the late great Jeff buckley that are still impeccable, the audio is great and the video still looks good, ya know.

DK: Excellent!

JB: I’m trying to do more things, we’ve got a little stage area, I’m trying to get more local bands to come in shoot things in high definition, because that’s the future. It just costs so much money. I can’t get sponsors to pick up any of those costs so I’ve been doing it all myself

DK: How can bands get onto your show?

JB: The best way is to make a video and send it to us. Without a video it’s a little hard cuz I am not a radio show so I can’t play a cut of music. It’s like, I gotta put some video with it. I always encourage and I gotta tell you nowadays I think of a band that doesn’t have a video that their wasting their time; they HAVE to have a video. They have to have something, an electronic press kit (an EPK) a couple minutes long. They gotta have something that shows the band so you get a feeling of what their like, how they are in front of a live audience or how they talk in front of a camera, how their attitudes are. I think a lot of that is very important with video I-Pods and the web casts and the things that you can do. I think a band is hurting themselves by not doing videos right away

DK: Like at what point of a bands career would you say…

JB: Right away

DK: Before demo? After demo?

JB: During demo. Shoot pictures, I mean a press kit with video can be just stills too that are shot. You don’t have to have moving video every time. So you can tell stories multiple ways and now with the computers with the Final Cut Pro and the video editing systems, it’s smart. I mean anybody can do it and there’s kids out there that are willing to do videos for bands because the love the music and it’s their first chance at making a video and working with a band. So I encourage them and it’s not like it was where it costs a hundred thousand dollars to do a video; you can do a video for a couple hundred bucks now. If you don’t want to show your band on TV, do something animated where you’ve got videos where people draw just pictures or stills or other stuff like that.

DK: A lot of the local colleges might even be able to pick up on that too

JB: Cause there’s no rules to videos, you can do whatever you want

DK: True, in fact a lot of those tend to be the better videos.

JB: Exactly, because when you spend so much time and when you get committees and everybody talks about everything it gets to be so watered down. I think some of the finest albums and the best music recorded was from the heart. Where they record and you get those goose pimples and it goes “wooah” (laughs) and there may be a mistake in it and it may not be perfect but there’s something about it, ya know. So, when you get those magical things that happen, that’s what makes music great.

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