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“Pornography can have debilitating effects on communities, marriages, families, and children…we commit to take steps to confront the dangers of pornography. The effects of pornography are particularly pernicious with respect to children. We are vigorously prosecuting and severely punishing those who would harm our children.”



President George W. Bush

Protection From Pornography Week, 2003

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Sometime today my 10,000th reader landed on my blog. When I first started the blog I was going to write on occasion about the radio station. But reviewing the entries over the past few months it looks like I’ve become a blogging freak.

Rich Site Summary (RSS) is used for distributing news and other types of information. It may someday replace e-mail. If not everyday consumer e-mail then at least newsletters and other subscription type ezines.

There is already a movement to do just that.

Michael Fraase says, “The spammers won. Email, for anything other than communicating with individuals you already know, is useless.”

Steve Outing of Editor & Publisher says, “Who’d have thought that things could get this bad? E-mail—long touted as the “killer app” of the Internet and the best online channel for publishers—is rapidly being decimated by spammers and virus writers. Yes, “decimated” is an accurate word. The evidence is quickly mounting that e-mail is no longer an efficient means for ethical publishers to reach subscribers.”

In recent surveys, up to 38% of legit e-mail is being blocked as Spam by ISP’s, Internet spam filters and e-mail spam filters. In addition to KZION, I also run a home and visiting teaching website. I have a newsletter called Shepherds with over 7,000 subscribers. If the surveys are correct, up to 38% of my opt-in subscribers are not even receiving their copy of Shepherds. Shepherds is a double opt-in newsletter. That means the subscriber has to first sign-up, then they have to click on a link they receive via e-mail to actually get subscribed to the newsletter. I lose subscribers because the process is somewhat complicated and some people never get around to confirming their subscription.

But I have to so I can prove that I don’t send Spam.

Now I’m losing another 17-38% because of Spam filters.

With RSS you don’t receive any e-mail, instead you use an RSS reader to subscribe to a newsletter, website, or e-mail list. When the publisher publishes their newsletter, your reader delivers the newsletter to you. No e-mail, no SPAM, no complicated process to subscribe or unsubscribe, and you only receive the information that you subscribe to.

I’m going to show in this entry how to install an RSS reader and subscribe to your first RSS feed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today was the first ever Two-for-Tuesday on KZION. It started off great and then went downhill from there. I forgot to make the newly made schedule changes to the scripts that run the playlist scheduling. Last weeks Special Broadcast started to play at noon. I caught that before it caused too much embarrassment. But then the 2-4-tuesday script began playing Christmas music. Of course the complaints came rolling in with listeners actually thinking that I started playing Christmas music in October. Then the Backtrack began playing at 4:00 PM which should of been moved to Wednesday. I was too tired to worry about it so it ran anyway.



I did receive lots of positive feedback about the Two-For-Tuesday so I think it will become a permanent show each Tuesday. The requests worked great though. Every request was matched with another song by the same artist.



Pretty cool.

Here’s a recap of the week in LDS music.



Here are the LDS Music World top 10 downloads for the week.



John Castellain – “When Angels Cry”

Hayley Anderson - “Every Corner of My Heart”

Cherie Call – “One More Star“

Katherine Nelson/Wayne Burton – “Stand as a Witness“

Alex Boye – “Ye Elders“

Andrew Reese Howells/Katherine Nelson – “Forward with Faith“

The Standards – “Because She“

Alex Boye – “Be Still and Know“

Stephanie Smith – “I’ll Choose You“

Freddie Ashby – “Altar of Love“



The Album Spotlight on LDS Music News is Railroad Blessing by Sam Payne. You can sample Sam’s music here and here. LDS Music News has also posted some new album reviews.



Kenneth Cope is performing in Mesa AZ. this week. Jericho Road is in Las Vegas and in Cardston, Canada. For all the weeks concerts see the Events and Shows schedule.



Deseret Book has a Jericho Road sampler on sale featuring two new tracks that are scheduled to appear on their next album. This quote is from the Deseret Book website.



“Their previous CD releases have sold nearly 100,000 units in less than two years, and Jericho Road is already in the studio with album #3. Now their fans can get two of the first cuts from the popular group’s latest project. This extended play CD (5 tracks) features the newest song by Lowell Alexander, one of today’s premiere songwriters in contemporary Christian music. Lowell previously wrote “You Melt the Madness” and “Nothing Matters” from the Jericho Road True North album and has taken time from his busy Nashville schedule to write “The Center of My Prayer” specifically for this current Jericho Road project. Also included as a bonus track is the group’s original, stirring, a Cappella version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”

“On March 12 of this year, when Elizabeth [Smart] was riding home with her mother after police in a Salt Lake City suburb found her walking a busy boulevard with Mitchell and Barzee, Lois Smart pointed out the pale blue ribbons festooning trees and signs.



“Elizabeth said she had noticed them over the nine months but never realized they were for her,”



“’I thought light blue was appropriate, since it’s your favorite color.’



“’Mom, light blue is not my favorite color! Why would you pick light blue?’”



Quoted from Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope

In less than 24 hours my oldest son Jason is getting married. He will be my third married child. That’s him on the right side sitting next to his best man. It doesn’t seem to be getting any easier as I watch my children grow up, get married and begin having children of their own. I only have two left at home. Josh turns 18 next month and James turns 15 next month. I’ve waited my whole life to get the kids moved out and on their own, but now that I’m starting to see the light it’s kinda sad.



I miss playing at the park with the kids. Pushing them on the swing and listening to them shouting, “Higher daddy, higher.” I miss walking the halls of church trying to settle down one of the kids, or reading bedtime stories, or saying family prayers. I miss always knowing more than my kids, I miss being bigger and stronger and the one my wife would ask to open a bottle of ketchup.



Tomorrow my son begins a new life. I hope and pray that he will honor his role as husband and father.

Bob Lonsberry Column: WHO GETS TO LIVE AND WHO HAS TO DIE?



I wasn’t really sure how I felt about Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged St. Petersburg woman who has lived for the last 13 years with the help of a gastric feeding tube.



Her husband wants the feeding tube removed. He says that his wife did not want to live like this. Her parents say no. She deserves to live until she passes away on her own.



I have told my wife many times that I do not want to be kept alive by machines if doctors are sure that my brain is dead. And she feels the same. So initially I was for the husbands decision to end Terri’s life. But after reading Bob’s column I don’t know anymore.

Everyday Lives, Everday Values Interview with Katherine Nelson about Sometimes He Lets It Rain.



Jeff Goldman pointed me to this great interview with Katherine Nelson about her debut CD, Sometimes He Lets It Rain.

Maren Ord looks for new deal



Maren Ord has been in the studio recording a new demo with Randy Bachman (Guess Who).



This is a good article which gives a history of Maren’s work and what she currently pursuing musically.



“The eighth of 10 children, Ord, now 22, got her start in the music business touring with her family’s band, the Ord Family Singers, before embarking on a solo career at age 16. In 1999, she won a talent search on Edmonton’s Power 92 station, and later was invited to perform a couple of dates on Sarah McLachlan’s female concert fest Lilith Fair.”



They connected with each other through the Tonos website. Tonos is an online music insider’s network for creating music and collaborating with others.



“He [Bachman] describes the first meeting as nothing short of ‘incredible,’ yielding several songs in a matter of days, all co-writes with Ord, his wife, Denise McCann, and himself. ‘So we met with her cold and she came with an acoustic,’ Bachman recounts. ‘I said, ‘Sing me something. Sing me the last song you wrote’ and she just let it blast, like she was onstage. There were no inhibitions.



“Some (artists) would go, ‘Oh, I have a sore throat or my guitar’s out of tune or this isn’t very good,’ you know, start making excuses. She just blew me and Denise off our chairs. We were sitting in the hotel and then she played me another song and we went, ‘Wow, this is great.’ Gave her a few ideas and the songs just poured out.”



Maren recently completed a new track, Abide With Me, for the new Mormon cinema movie The Work & The Stories.

Here’s a recap of the week in LDS music.



LDS Music News is spotlighting the By The Hand of Mormon CD by Sam Cardon & David Pliler. The CD is on sale at Deseret Book for $13.58 (15% Off). Kurt Bestor is their Spotlight Artist. There’s another boat load of performances this week from Las Vegas to Salt Lake. Kenneth Cope will be in Sacramento this week. LDS Music News also announced a new Christmas release by Eclipse called Three Kings.



It doesn’t look like LDS Music World has updated yet so nothing new to report from Jeff Fairbanks. The LDS Musicians discussion group has been discussing how effective LDS music is with kids who are struggling with the gospel. “Now for the question – are groups like Jericho Road just ‘preaching to the choir’? Or in other words, are the kids showing up to these shows the ‘good kids’, who would be making correct choices anyway? Christ said that the whole need no physician, but the sick. Do you think all of our clean LDS music is reaching out to the ‘sick’ as well, or only attracting the ‘whole’? They have also been discussing the news that Val Kilmer might be playing Joseph Smith in the upcoming motion picture The Prophet.



Sounds of Zion has the new Soundtrack to Day of Defense, a recently released movie in the Mormon Cinema genre on sale for $15.98.



Found on the Internet



A Very Singles Christmas – From the makers of “The Singles Ward” soundtrack CD. This album features favorite Christmas songs and hymns performed in all new ways by today’s hottest bands, with styles including popular jazz, pop, contemporary, etc.



“Joy To The World” performed by Majestic

“Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful” performed by the Sugarland Run

“Silent Night” performed by Jamen Brooks

“Once Within A Lowly Stable” performed by Maya Shore

“Away In A Manger” performed by Haley and Cath

“It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” performed by Jerrytown

“O Little Town Of Bethlehem” performed by Ponchillo

“Hark! The Heerald Angels Sing” performed by Becky Jean Williams

“With Wondering Awe” performed by the Debra Fotheringham Band

“Far, Far Away On Judea’s Plains” performed by Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand

“The First Noel” performed by Sofina

“I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day” performed by Clay

“Stille Nacht” performed by Sunfall Festival

“O Holy Night” performed by The Rockamatics

“I Believe in Santa Claus” performed by Kirby Heyborne

Today is my 26 year wedding anniversary. Shelly and I celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks ago so we’re not doing much today. We are however coming up with 26 things that we don’t know about each other and sharing them tonight. I’m not sure I can dig deep enough to find 26 things Shell doesn’t know about me, but I’ll try.

Each Monday morning I provide Excel Entertainment with a report of the top 20 tracks and artists played from the previous week. They’re collecting this information from many different radio stations that play LDS music and then summarizing and sharing the information with those involved.



Since I am gathering data like this each Monday I thought I would share some statistics from the KZION database each week to those who are interested.



This is for the week of October 12-18, 2003.



Total tracks played: 2573

Unique tracks played: 1727

Total performances: 185,256

Average listeners (Per song): 72

Peak listener count: 116



Top 20 Songs Played



1 Ellis Hadlock – East Winds from the CD Best Selections

2 Cherie Call – Restless Soul from the CD God’s Army

3 Rich Bischoff – Farm Boy from the CD Mission Stories

4 Michael Dowdle – We Thanks Thee, O God, for a Prophet from the CD Twenty-Five Beloved Hymns of the Restoration

5 Sarah Sizemore and James M Bailey – Hold On from the CD Hold On

6 Alex Boye – Be Still And Know from the CD Testimony

7 Katherine Nelson – Sometimes He Lets It Rain from the CD Sometimes He Let’s It Rain

8 Alex Boye – On My Knees from the CD Testimony

9 Brenda Burch – When I’m Over You from the CD Brenda Burch

10 Aaron Edson – A Candle’s Light from the CD Wondering

11 Hayley Anderson – Something Holy In Me from the CD Fly Again

12 David Edwards – Big Blue World from the CD Tipping Pictures

13 David Crenshaw – Price of a Soul from the CD You’re Getting Warmer

14 Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand – Never Give Up from the CD Hey Hey Hey

15 Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand – Would You Love Me from the CD Hey Hey Hey

16 Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand – Oh How I Miss You from the CD Hey Hey Hey

17 Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand – Hey Hey Hey from the CD Hey Hey Hey

18 Jay Richards – Morning Solitude from the CD Hope – Music of Inspiration

19 Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand – She’s Bad for Me from the CD Hey Hey Hey

20 Hayley Anderson – Fly Again from the CD Fly Again



Top 20 Artists Played



Rank    Plays    Artist

1    82    Kenneth Cope

2    75    Michael Dowdle

3    73    Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand

4    62    Cherie Call

5    48    Hayley Anderson

6    48    Hilary Weeks

7    47    Alex Boye

8    42    Julie de Azevedo

9    39    BYU Singers

10    38    Sam Cardon

11    33    Paul Cardall

12    31    Rich Bischoff

13    31    Ellis Hadlock

14    31    Katherine Nelson

15    29    Greg Simpson

16    25    Michael Webb

17    24    Brett Raymond

18    23    BYU Singers

19    23    Michael McLean

20    22    John McVey





Top 20 Requests



1 Aaron Edson – Drop Of Blood from the CD Wondering requested 45 times

2 Jon Schmidt – I Do from the CD To The Summit requested 40 times

3 Michael R. Hicks – As Sisters in Zion from the CD EFY Medley: As Sisters in Zion / We’ll Bring the World His Truth requested 39 times

4 Andrew Reese Howells – How Great Thou Art from the CD Next Door To Eden requested 34 times

5 Jeff Hinton – I Can’t Win For Losing You from the CD Bottlerockets and Lemonade requested 20 times

6 Nathan Bayles – The Thing You Love from the CD The Thing You Love requested 19 times

7 Afterglow – A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief from the CD Hope – Music of Inspiration requested 17 times

8 Cope, Webb, and de Azevedo – Return With Honor from the CD Especially for Youth 1995: Return with Honor requested 16 times

9 Julie de Azevedo – Hello Sky from the CD Hello Sky requested 16 times

10 Nancy Hanson – Bring Them In from the CD We Believe: Especially for Youth 2002 requested 15 times

11 John McVey – Distracted A Season for Courage: from the CD Especially for Youth 1999 requested 14 times

12 Kenneth Cope – White Dress from the CD Hear My Praise requested 14 times

13 Kalai – One Life from the CD Acoustacism requested 13 times

14 Reprise – Simon & Garfunkel Medley from the CD Reprise requested 13 times

15 Julia Davis Allen – I See God Anyway from the CD Order In The Chaos requested 13 times

16 Cherie Call – Prayers In A Car from the CD The Ocean In Me requested 12 times

17 Kalai – On My Mind from the CD Acoustacism requested 12 times

18 Rich Bischoff – I’ll Let You Drive from the CD Mission Stories requested 12 times

19 Colors – I Remember Yesterday from the CD Outside the Lines requested 11 times

20 Julia Davis Allen – Wouldn’t It Be Nice from the CD Order In The Chaos requested 11 times

I made it. To my 43rd birthday that is. I still think that getting old sucks, but so far I don’t feel much different.



I was looking through some old links in my favorites and stumbled across this old Meridian Magazine article about KZION, written by Ron Simpson. Coincidentally, the article was written two years ago today.



I have been thinking about the future of KZION a lot lately. I have plans for a complete redesign of the website which would be a huge project. I need to upgrade both the web server and the radio server which is going to cost another $100 per month, and I have many other ideas to give KZION a fresh sound.



But do I really want to continue spending 40 hours a week on a hobby? I spend as much time on KZION as I do on my business, and my business pays the bills. KZION just drains my pocket book. KZION only averages 100 listeners at any one time out of millions of Latter-day Saints on the Internet.



I oftentimes wonder if it’s all really worth it.



But then I receive e-mails like,



I listen to KZION at work and it has really made a difference in the way I feel about myself, my family and my co-workers. You are all indeed ambassadors of Christ.



With the declining quality of worldly music and the lack of most anything uplifting, your station brings a breath of fresh air to my home .



It [KZION] really is a beacon in a stormy world.



My prayer is that you will always be available to us out here who are grateful everyday that you’re online.



So what am I supposed to do? I keep on keeping on is what I do. I know that my life has been blessed because of KZION and I need all the blessings I can get.

KSL News: More LDS Movies Set to be Filmed



Get ready for God’s Army 2: States of Grace set to begin filming next year.



The big surprise from this article is that Val Kilmer is quite possibly going to be playing Joseph Smith in The Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith set to begin filming next year. The is the much anticipated Richard Dutcher film.



Update: Here is another article about God’s Army 2 and The Prophet.

Today at noon was the Special Broadcast of Hayley Anderson’s debut CD called Fly Again. I gave away some free Hayley Anderson CD’s during the broadcast. Well, Mike did.



At about 11:45 AM the traffic on KZION was so heavy that it brought everything to a complete standstill. I have never seen the server crumble like this before. Not only did the web server crash but also the mail server and mySQL. It was a disaster. Luckily the radio server held up fine and everyone who got on board early were able to listen to the show.



Four lucky winners won free signed Hayley Anderson CD’s.



Congratulations to Krystal of Logan Utah, Margo of Mesa Arizona, Claudia of Hampton Georgia, and Bryan of Vancouver Washington.

Yahoo! News – Geologists: Salt Lake Is Due for Quake



Looks like the Wasatch Front is about due for the BIG One. Every 1,200 years or so for the past gazillion years Salt Lake has experienced a massive earthquake.



“University of Utah geophysicist James Pechmann, an expert on the Salt Lake basin’s crustal structure, put the odds that Salt Lake will suffer a large quake over the next 50 years at 1-in-3.”



“We know these earthquakes have been going on for millions of years,” Pechmann said. “There’s no reason to think they’re going to stop just because people moved into the valley.”



This is just another reminder that we need to be prepared, both temporally and spiritually.

Here’s a recap of the week in LDS music. LDS Music News is spotlighting the new Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband album titled Hey, Hey, Hey. They also reported that Paul Cardall will be releasing a new live CD in November but if you purchase it now for $11.99 you’ll receive it before the official release. LDS Music News also reported that the Knudsen Bros are releasing a new CD titled Believe. They also have a promotional price of $12.00 if you buy now. This is the Knudsen Bros first CD since 1998. If you live in the Salt Lake City area, there are a boat load of concerts in the next few weeks featuring well known artists such as Alex Boye, Julie de Azevedo, Kenneth Cope, and others. Check the LDS Music News Events page for more information.



LDS Music World is also featuring the new Knudsen Bros CD and you can download some music clips from the CD. LDS Music World also added some new music downloads from Royce – “Yarrow Way” – Folk Rock, Lindsay Bennett – “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” – Sacred, Jay Richards – “Journey Home” – Orchestral, Marsali Hancock – “Come Follow Me” – Orchestral, and David Wright – “When You Believe” – Ballad



The LDS Musician website is featuring the new CD Release Primary Colors from LDS A Cappella Group InsideOut that I reported a few weeks ago.



The LDS Musicians discussion list has been hotly debating the topic of LDS firesides and whether people should make money from them or even receive reimbursement for gas and other fireside related expenses. There was also a lively debate on whether LDS musicians should be holding their concerts at the Unitarian Church. This is the church where the street preachers were taking LDS sacred garments and wiping their behinds with them in front of conference goers. (See my earlier post for more information)



Deseret Book has the latest Jericho Road CD on sale for $14.38 which is 10% off the retail price. You can also Pre-Order the October 2003 General Conference talks on CD, DVD, cassette, or VHS.



Missionary Emporium is giving away a sampler CD with every purchase from their online store. The sampler includes music from Julie de Azevedo, Enoch Train, Ryan Shupe, Colors, and Kalai.