We had some good times on the Free-FM morning show, The Big Show with Botten, Blair and Brandt. It only lasted a couple of years, but we worked our tails off and had big fun.
It was a big deal for the station when Free-FM became part of Rock the Park, the annual music festival that raised money for Bethany’s Hope Foundation. Every radio station wants to attach its name and logo to that event and at that time, there were only three nights. When we secured the Saturday, two years in a row, the whole staff was at Harris Park all day, from taping banners to beer-garden table-tops to tear down the following morning. The Big Show introduced the headliner who didn’t take the stage until about 10 pm, so there was a lot of waiting, but a lot of good music and silly fun, too. We did a live broadcast from the park and interviewed the artists who would make themselves available before showtime.
We got a little giddy after about 8 hours of coffee drinking and power-bar eating. Our home base was a big gazebo, off limits to the regular folk, and outfitted with beautiful livingroom furniture on loan from EQ3, as well as all of the broadcast equipment and beverages. Here we are in July 2014, Blair, Derek and me, in our Bethany’s Hope team jerseys, hearing, seeing and speaking no evil, like a bunch of broadcasting monkeys.
That year, we met Huey Lewis backstage, and the guys from .38 Special barely made it over the border in time for the show. The crowd had no idea how close they cut it. The Friday night featured Sammy Hagar & Friends and Survivor, and ticket sales were so soft that organizers were still smarting by Saturday even though our line-up filled the park. Based on Friday’s losses, they decided they were done with classic rock for future festivals. Pity. It really was good while it lasted.