12/07/08: December 24th and 25th

For the past ten years or so, I have been on the air over Christmas......all day long. Last year I added Christmas eve. It seems only right, after all, I am the only Jew at the station with nothing else to do save go out for Chinese food.
So, on Christmas eve, starting at four PM, I will be on air at CJAM. The first few hours are musicals and stories of Christmas. Then, beginning at around eight PM I do something no one else does in this area. I play the traditional songs, like the Mormon tabernacle choir and Leonard Bernstein! I got so many calls last year from people who were thrilled to hear the Christmas songs as they were heard in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Who knew that this would now be Alternative Music??!!! People kept calling all night, complaining about the stations that have been playing Christmas music for the entire month and then some. They were fed up with 'Rudolph' and 'Frosty' by Burl Ives and 'I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' and new bands with very little talent trying to sing 'O holy Night.' One man vowed he would scream if he heard 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' one more time. When someone came in after midnight and tried to play different music, people called him in an outrage for changing the music.
On Christmas day I celebrate Windsorites who are making it big, or are trying to make it big. The first year I did this, I had three interviews. Last year, I had fifteen. It's a blast. And again, people call in, so excited to know there are so many talented people in Windsor.
Soooooooooooooooo, if you want 'alternative' music and radio "like it was in the good ol' days," tune into CJAM, 91.5FM on Christmas eve, 4 PM to midnight, and Christmas Day 0800 AM-7 PM. I'll be there. For those of you not in the area, we can be heard worldwide on the internet.
And for all of you Christians out there - Merry Christmas.

If you read my blog under 'A Moment' you will see that there was an 'incident' at the university this past week. Coming on to discuss it will be Dario David Hunter, the president of the Jewish Students Association, and Osama Iqbal, the president of the Muslim Students Association. It should be interesting.
Also on the show will be Whalid Shoebat. A former Palestinian terrorist, Whalid now spends his time travelling around the world, talking about his youth and how he got involved with terrorism. It should be quite the show!

It happened again! In the middle of an interview with Noah Bedein on last week's show, the phone in the ON AIR room died. Talk about frustrating experiences!!! So, for those of you who listen to the show, I profusely apologize. Let's pray it will be up and running soon!

ust confirmed a great interview!

Just to let you all know that author, Robert Ferrigno will be coming on the show's Writer's Corner segment to discuss his new book, Sins of the Assassin. His last book, Prayers for the Assassin stayed on the NYT best seller list for weeks. After reading the first chapter, this book may make it to the list as well. Keep checking in for updates!

We are now a few days into the new year and already things have improved. For those of you who listen to my radio show on a regular basis, you know that the ON AIR phones have been out of commission since October. Well, hallelujah and amen, my dear, sweet manager has gotten them fixed properly, once and for all! She jokingly said it was a Christmas present of sorts. It sure was. I worked seven hours Christmas Eve at the station, and then returned Christmas day for another 12 hour stint. I would have sunk without the phone. Twelve interviews had been arranged.
Now that the holidays are over we are starting again in earnest with new interviews. We will be focusing on Condi Rice's comments about how she can relate to the Palestinians, George Bush's visit to Israel, the plague of having Olmert at the helm in this trying time, just to mention a few topics of discussion. We have new c/ds from Israel coming in as well. So, stay tuned and let me know what you think!

This week's show is all about fundraising! Why, you may ask? Well, that's very easy to explain. CJAM needs the money to keep the programming going and our ON AIR room equipment updated. The University that we are affiliated with thinks that so long as they pay for our managers, nothing else is really needed. Wrong!!! So, all the costs for equipment upgrading, costs of shows etc. is up to the volunteers on the station to raise during their shows.

As it happens, CJAM's Boker Tov is one of the more expensive shows to run because of the many long distance phonecalls we make to bring you so many interviews. A ten minute phone call to Israel, during show time costs approximately $25.00. So imagine how expensive those 30 minute interviews cost!!! It does add up.

The ON AIR room is in desperate need of a new phone system, so we can have Caller ID, hold buttons, and conference calls. It will take Hundreds of dollars to replace our present system, which is why we haven't done it yet. We would also like to have a better sound system in there. All of that costs a lot of money.

So, there's our dilemma. We hate asking for money, but all of us at CJAM believe in our station and the shows we bring to you. I especially believe in Boker Tov. Boker Tov is the only Jewish radio show in the Windsor/Detroit area. We strive to give you the latest and most honest opinions and news from Israel, not to mention all of the issues we tackle every week.

We only ask for financial support once a year,so, please consider giving generously this year. Last year, Boker Tov raised nearly a thousand dollars. We would be thrilled if you could at least double that amount, this year. Ilan and I thank you in advance and hopefully we will hear from you when you call in your pledge on Thursday!!!

Shalom everyone!
Tomorrow looks like another great show so do listen
in. Joanne Gignac from Ward 4 will be on to diuscuss
where she stands on all of our local issues as will
Alan Halberstadt from Ward 3. Both candidates voted
for selling Superior Park, so it will be interesting.

Also on hand, in our new writer's corner will be
Robert Ferrigno. You may remember Robert from when I
interviewed him when his book Prayers for the Assassin
came out last year. Well, he has had quite a reaction
to his book, especially in the Muslim community.
Robert will be on hand to discuss that.

Also on hand will be Larry Horwitz and his crew from
Horwitz's Haunted House downtown.

It will be an interesting show, eclectic for sure!
Listen in at CJAM, 91.5FM 0800-1030. We can also be
heard on the internet.
Pam Goldstein

We feature the Windsor Symphony Orchestra's 2006/2007 season sampler.

• Track 1
• Track 2
• Track 3
• Track 4
• Track 5
• Track 6

Dr. Aurel Braun

Interview with this week's featured artist.