Renewing My Vows

 Today is my anniversary. My 31st anniversary. Back in 2001, on my 10th anniversary, we renewed our vows. I wrote about this in my book The Radio Producer's Handbook....

Renewing My Vows

November 16, 2001, Bridget and I renewed our wedding vows live on the air. I described it in this short section of my book..."The Radio Producer's Handbook." The photos are a bonus for the blog readers.



The John Landecker show did a week of live broadcasts from the Dominican Republic. Every morning there were huge technical issues to overcome, but the shows were quite memorable. Rick Kaempfer and his wife renewed their vows live on the air (for their tenth anniversary). The ceremony was perfect for the radio. It was a surprise for Rick’s wife, but every element of it was pre-approved by Rick and John.






There were visual elements (the bride arrived on horseback, the groom arrived on burro) and audio elements (music, crowd reaction, and an audio play by play provided by John), plus it was all captured by the digital camera and instantaneously placed on the station’s Web site.







The live audience felt like they were involved in something special. The show ended with Rick and Bridget, each holding one of their young sons, slow dancing to their wedding song. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience, and the listeners at home got to listen to the song, and see the pictures on the Web site—a truly multi-media experience.





























The only problem with this wonderful moment, of course, is that anything I do for our anniversaries now pales in comparison.

I usually just get her a card.

The Radio Producer's Handbook

I found out something else when I was tooling around on the internet last night. It turns out my first book "The Radio Producer's Handbook" is now available in the Kindle format.

Nobody tells me anything. Maybe I should occasionally leave my basement.

The Radio Producer's Handbook now on Kindle!

This was news to me yesterday when I got an e-mail from a fan of "The Radio Producer's Handbook". He wasn't writing to tell me that the book was available on Kindle now. He was writing to tell me that amazon is now charging...and I'm not making this up...$89.75 for a new copy of the book, and $26.86 for a used copy.

On the bright side, as the headline of this post announces, the book is finally available as an e-book, in the Kindle format. And for that, they're only charging $3.19.

I was informed about none of this by my publisher or by amazon. But then again, why should I be? All I did was co-write the book. Honestly, it's amazing how little say authors have in the sale of their books. It's one of the reasons I started Eckhartz Press in the first place.

E-mails, we get e-mails...

It's always nice to get feedback about my books. This came into my e-mail box this morning.






Good morning Mr Kaempfer,

Just a quick email to introduce myself...I work for a music producer from Australia..He has a 2 hrs weekly show (pre-recorded) and it is syndicated in 20 countries worldwide so far.

My job is helping the producer and organising the content of the show. As I am very young (24) and new to this job (we are a team of 3 people and we just started in October), everything is a discovery.

I wanted to tell you that I've purchased your book 'The Radio Producers Handbook' and I am finding it brilliant, very inspiring and full of material. So I wanted to thank you for that!

I will email you again once I finish the book.

Best regards,
-AF

5 years ago

5 years ago this week, John "Swany" Swanson and I were featured in Bill Zwecker's "5 Questions With" segment about our brand new book (still available, kids), The Radio Producer's Handbook.

You can read Zwecker's piece here.

Radio Producer's Handbook

5 years ago today, October 1, 2004, Allworth Press released a book called "The Radio Producer's Handbook." It was written by a couple of radio producers from Chicago: Rick Kaempfer and John Swanson.

I hear it's still available at amazon. Why yes it is. Lookey here: The Radio Producer's Handbook.

But do people think it's a good book? Why yes they do. But only some of the most respected broadcasters in the country.

Did it get good press? Why yes it did.

Is it being used in universities across the country? Why yes it is.

I'd buy it if I were you before they run out.

E-mail Box

I got this e-mail yesterday...


Hi Rick,

I just wanted to email you or John Swanson to say that this book is one of the most useful resources I've ever come across for beginners in the industry so thank you very much for taking the time to write it.

Its great to find someone as openly enthusiastic about University (yes, I'm from England) radio as I am. I started a Film & TV Production course at University and after some experience at hospital radio I quickly realised I wanted to be radio producer but there's no student station here. I have been spending the last year trying to persuade the university to help raise the money to build one but there's a surprisingly low amount of interest!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you both for this book. It's very helpful and gives me a bit of insight into the American radio industry too.

Regards

Liam