TotalPopularMusic.com founder Mark Harris knew and respected the late Doug Fleming, who started Radio-Info.com. Following Doug's extremely unfortunate death in July 2005, at the all-too-young age of 28, Lance Venta continued to work with Radio-Info.com, the ownership of which had passed to Doug's parents. Nine months later, the Flemings decided to take Radio-Info.com in a "new direction," and Venta began the competing site, RadioInsight.com. Mark Harris, aware of Doug Fleming's original vision, actively supported the new site in preference to Radio-Info which began its "new direction."

Mark, and his associate Jay Thomas, continue to believe in the original vision of the late Doug Fleming. However, recently Venta apparently assumed the attitude of "if you can't beat them, join them" — and changed the direction of RadioInsight.com, apparently attempting to make it a carbon copy of the greatly revamped Radio-Info.

Both Harris and Thomas actually have great respect for what Radio-Info is now doing. However, the original vision of Doug Fleming has been lost. Very regrettably, this is now even more true of RadioInsight. The truth be told, that site has been dying for some time. New member posts have continuously diminished until becoming almost non-existent. This was especially noticeable after last year's site redesign, during which most users log-ins and nicknames were lost from the site's data base.

Now, most of the posts are by administrators and are marked "closed" at the time they are posted. There appears to no longer be any room for radio professionals and radio fan(atic)s to actively discuss what is happening in the Wonderful World of Radio.

Mark Harris is a longtime broadcaster whose time in, around, and affiliated with radio spans almost 48 years, dating back to the Summer of 1962. He's worked as a disc jockey, program director, operations manager, station manager, production director, news director/morning anchor and more.

Although Mark started in radio at the age of 15 with a dream of becoming a "star" Top 40 personality, he eventually moved to Oldies, Adult Contemporary, Classic Rock, and even Country for a time — and, much to his own surprise, All News and News Talk formats. Mark now operates Mark Harris Broadcast Consulting (MHBC), the parent of TotalPopularMusic.com.

TotalPopularMusic.com has recently expanded its coverage of Radio & Media News with the creation of the subsidiary TPMedia, which joins TPM PROmotions and TPM Enterprises as extensions of MHBC and TotalPopularMusic.com. Plans call for TPMedia to eventually be spun off to its own domain. TPM Radio Bored will be a companion.

Jay Thomas spent more than 30 years in radio, dating back to the late 1960s. He worked as a disc jockey, programmer and engineer. While Jay was popular on-air, he actually preferred the technical end of the business. He was, what was then known as a "First Ticket." Jay and Mark first met in 1973 when Mark hired him to cover afternoon drive on a South Jersey shore area station of which Mark was the PD and midday host. They have remained good friends over the years, although for periods of time they lost touch with one another.

Jay left fulltime radio in 2001 to start JKT IT Solutions, using his full name of Joseph K. Thomas, following several years of training in the IT industry. He is also the founder of ChartWatch Data Services (CWDS), and has created a patent-pending system of monitoring radio airplay to create customized hit music charts. CWDS data is now used by Total Popular Music in a number of areas. In late 2007, Jay became a full associate of TPM, and a year later a junior partner and Vice President.

Both Mark and Jay sincerely believe it is time to start a new Radio Board. Both are "Bored" with the existing options and their censorship of ideas and unexplained deletion of members. Thus, was born the idea for the TPM Radio Bored. It's goal will be to put the fun and excitement back into a Radio Board.

The new TPM Radio Bored will debut in the near future. Bulletin Board software is now being tested and acquired. Tests are hoped to begin within 30-60 days. When it is fully ready, an official announcement will be made here, and on the TPMedia NewsPage.

We intend to restrict our "Radio Bored" Board only to Radio — no television.

Other than that, the rules will be as few as possible:

• No censorship — but no libel or slander

• No personal attacks on others who post

• If these rules are followed, no deletions or moderator edits of posts

Although we will discourage unnecessary use of profanity, you will be able to post radio legend Dick Purtan's name without it becoming "**** Purtan." We will even allow a former employee of a particular boss to say, "He was a real dick back then," without fear of the comment being censored. However, an outright libelous, slanderous, or defamatory comment will not be permitted — if only for legal reasons.

Yes, we will even allow you to refer to radio legend Dick Biondi! No "**** Biondi" here!

Latest Update: January 28, 2011
After many delays &mdash of every kind imaginable! — we have finally launched a start-up for a new National Radio Board where those in the industry and those interested in the happenings of radio can discuss trends in the industry, specific news items, and all things related to radio broadcasting.

Check it out, and sign up, here. We hope you will join us!

Bored with the other national radio boards? This is the place for you!

Questions or reactions regarding this announcement, or regarding any other aspect of TotalPopularMusic.com, should be sent via email to TotalPopularMusic@Verizon.net. You may use the link provided below or copy and paste our email address. We read every message submitted and try to reply promptly to all.

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