Wow, what a huge party.  Every year when we are planning the B93.7 Halloween Bash, we secretly wonder if it will be as big as the year before. Will it be as good as the year before?  Will the economy hurt the crowd?  There is always something to worry about.  But this year was our best year ever!  We SOLD OUT the Hyatt!  We actually had to turn people away at the door and we HATE doing that, but the Fire Marshall was there and he would not let us admit any more people to the ballroom area.  That is how successful the even was this year.  I guess next year you just gotta show up earlier!  Plus we will work on finding a way to increase capacity, but we were in the full ballroom at the Hyatt so I don’t know how much bigger it can get!  Here are a few pictures from this year’s party!

We are getting ready to host our second annual Greenville Hospital System Children’s Hospital Radiothon and this story is very close to our hearts.  Last year when we were interviewing some of the parents who had children in the hospital, we met Bob Gleason.  Bob was there with his wife Angie and their daughter Katie.  Rachael was there too - she was in the Children’s Hospital and Bob was excited because Rachael was going to be taken off the ventilator after surgery to remove a stage 3 neuroblastoma, a type of cancerous tumor.  Rachael had originally been diagnosed in February of 2008 and had been treated, but a new tumor had come back.  After we interviewed Bob about the Children’s hospital, we went up to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and met Rachael.  I took one look at her and knew that I wasn’t going to be able to say anything.  All I could do was just hug Bob.

Sadly, Rachael passed away on November 19, 2008.

Bob and Angie have gone on to create Rachael’s Run to commemorate her life and to raise funds and awareness for families fighting childhood cancer.

You can learn more about Rachael, Bob, Angie and Katie at the website: http://www.rachaelsrun.org/

Remember those essays you had to write in school at the beginning of the new year where the teacher would have you write “What I Did Last Summer?” Well, this is kind of like that except it is about what I did this weekend and it is also about what we are going to do next weekend. My wife rounded me and the kids up and we went to an old-fashioned hay-ride at Denver Downs Corn Maize in Anderson. Hawk and I will be broadcasting live there this coming Saturday (October 10th) from 11am-1pm and we’d love to see you there. If you (like me) have no idea what this is all about then I have a bunch of pictures for you from my weekend there.

Probably the most striking thing as you enter Denver Downs is the goats standing on a platform about two stories high up in the air. Kids (and adults) can put goat-feed in buckets and lift them up to the platform and the goats will climb up to get the food. It is pretty awesome. And the kids go nuts to see the goats climbing up there!

There is also a rubber duck racing track where your kids can pump water from an old-fashioned water pump and race their duck to the finish line.

There are plenty of goats, pigs, sheep and cows that the kids can pet and feed as well.

And you can take home your very own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch at Denver Downs Farm!

Bee sure to visit the corn maze…

and get your picture taken with with the pumpkins and flowers.

And your day wouldn’t be complete without a HAY-RIDE!

Check it out for yourself at http://www.denverdownsfarm.com/ and come see us this Saturday, October 10th from 11a-1p as we broadcast live on the radio!

Tom Steele Answers The Tough Questions - The
McDonalds™ Analogy

Why guys don’t want to be friends with a girl who breaks up with them…

I know a girl who broke up with a guy and she told him she wanted to “still be friends.” He said, “No thanks.” She wondered why he couldn’t fall back to being just friends after they had a romantic relationship. I came up with the ”McDonalds Analogy” to try and explain it in a simple way that would help all women understand this tough question.

Imagine if you went to McDonalds a lot and ordered a Big Mac Combo meal. A Big Mac, Large Fries and a Coke. You really like this meal. One day, you pull up to the drivethrough and order the Big Mac Combo meal and the girl tells you, “I’m sorry - you can have the Big Mac and the Coke, but you can’t get fries with that anymore.” You think about this for a moment, and sure - the Big Mac is the centerpiece of the meal, but McDonalds has some really good fries and you like their fries with your meal. So you say, “I’ve been able to get fries with that before, why can’t I have fries with my Big Mac combo anymore?” The girls says, ”Well, I just think it is better if you only have the Big Mac and the Coke from here on out.”

At this point, a lot of guys are going to go to Wendy’s or BK and see if they can get fries with their combo at that drivethrough window. But there are some guys who REALLY like McDonalds Big Macs and they might think, “If I keep coming here and ordering the Big Mac and Coke, maybe she’ll change her mind and give me some fries with that later.” So they will keep on getting the combo without the fries until the deal breaker happens: One day that guy is going to order the Big Mac and Coke and then he’s going to pull up a little bit to pay, and someone else is going to pull up to the drivethrough speaker and order the “Big Mac Combo” and he is going to hear the girl say, “Would you like fries with that?”

That’s why guys don’t like to be friends with a girl who breaks up with them.

Dr. Dermot Jevens is a good friend to the Hawk and Tom Show.  Dr. Jevens and I met in the Summer of 2006 when we found out that my “best friend” had cancer.  It was my little Pomeranian named Nordbert and Dr. Jevens and the fine staff at Upstate Veterinary Specialists helped us treat Nordbert and eased his pain during our last days.  Dr. Jevens was such a great help during the difficult time that we decided to name our next dog after him and now Dermot is our “furry child” in the family (although Samantha is pretty hairy too!)

Dr. Jevens and Upstate Veterinary Specialists were big supporters of our first Children’s Hospital Radiothon last year and we owe them a big thank you for helping us set a record for the highest ever donation for Children’s Hospital in our first attempt!

And if all that wasn’t good enough for you, Dr. Jevens is also the sponsor of an event that raised $20,000 for the American Cancer Society last year, and they are doing it again this year.  As you might imagine, the event is centered around pets and it is called Paws for a Cause.   It is a one mile dog-walk at the Falls Park and County Square (by the Reedy River Falls and Suspension Bridge) on Saturday September the 26th at 9:00 am (registration at 8:00am) and the $25 registration gets you entry in the walk, a t-shirt for you, a bandana for your dog and a goodie bag.  I don’t know if they allow cats.  I don’t think cats do well on leashes and there are going to be a LOT of dogs there (over 400 last year!), so I’d personally recommend against it.  ;-)

For you NASCAR fans, the walk is sponsored in part by the Greg Biffle Foundation.

You can also register ahead of time at the Paws For A Cause website ahead of time.

The Greenville K-9 unit will be there with a l ive demonstration and they will also have a live band and a bouncy castle for the kids.  It should be a great day for the whole family.  Once again, check out the website at www.upstatepawsforacause.org for more information!

Hawk and I got into a debate over whether my son (who is 2 years and 2 months old) can use an iPhone or not.  I recently upgraded to a 3GS and we have an extra 3G now.  (I know, we are spoiled by AT&T - they are big fans of the Hawk and Tom Show and we encourage you to support AT&T!)

So I decided to put together a little video of my son using the iPhone to LEARN.  If Hawk had one of these, he might be a lot smarter!!!

Anyway, if you ever had any doubt that a 2 year-old kid might benefit from using an iPhone, check this video out!

Ok, I admit it - I didn’t get twitter when it first came out. But now that I have a “smart”phone, twitter makes a whole lot more sense. And we are finding new ways to use it in the studio. In the past, we would take a picture of something that was happening in the studio and then Kato would have to log into our website and upload the picture, and add a caption and by the time he posted it, we were talking about something else.

NOW, with twitter, we can take a quick snapshot with one of our AT&T phones and post it on Twitter INSTANTLY. And you can see it instantly - if you are following us on twitter.

So… how do you do that? Well, first off you have to make a twitter account if you don’t already have one. Don’t worry, it is easy and it is completely free. Once you make the account, search for people you want to follow. Then you’ll see any of their posts on your account. It is great on the computer if you don’t have a phone - but if you have a phone that can view twitter, that is where it gets really neat because you can check out the texts and pictures we (and your other friends) send out ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.

All you have to do to get started is click on the link below…

One of the things that I get asked most often is, “What do you do with the rest of your day after you only work for four hours?” Well I certainly won’t complain about my job - it sure beats working - but I will let you in on a little secret. We actually do work more than four hours each day…

Today was a little hectic, so I thought that I would share my schedule with you as an example:

4:40am - Alarm went off, I have no recollection of this happening.
4:47am - I woke up and thought, “I have no recollection of the alarm going off.”
4:50am - Shower, get ready for work.

5:15am - Get on computer and read some e-mails and check for news to talk about on the show.
5:20am - Send Kato some e-mails to print for the show.
5:35am - Get in the car and head in to work.
5:45am - Arrive late to work, everyone gives me a hard time - again.

5:46am - 9:35am, we had a busy show today. We gave away Taylor Swift tickets to a guy who came in and let us beat up his pickup truck with a sledgehammer. Also we had a big discussion about “girls night out.”

9:40am - Bathroom time, every day, consistently.
10:00am - Out of the bathroom. Hawk says I take a long time in there!

10:15am - Meeting to discuss how we are going to give away the next pair of Taylor Swift tickets. We argue about it, but finally everyone comes around to seeing things my way. As usual.

10:45am - Hawk and I record promo for tomorrows show. Edwin McCain will be on the show and we have those Taylor Swift tickets to give away. We are going to hide them and give out clues!

11:00am - Meet with HR to discuss new contract that would keep us in place through 2014. We still have some details to work out.

11:30am - Go home and get on computer and start editing video of the Concerts For Clunkers contest from this morning. I have to get it done by 12:00 Noon for it to be on tonight’s edition of Scene On Seven with Kimberly Kelly. The show’s producer, Heather is blowing up my iPhone wanting to know where the video is and making sure we have all the names and details correct.

12:15pm - Finally got the video done and uploaded. Heather has it and it will go on the show tonight at 7:30pm

12:20pm - Send text to Chase, Dino and Just Joe. I tell them that the video is up on our website and that Scene on 7 will be showing the video tonight on their show.

12:30pm - My wife comes home with two fish filet sandwiches and a large fries for me!

1:00pm - I sit down at the computer with the contracts and begin carefully reading them to see how the company is trying to take advantage of us this time. (I kid, I kid!!!)

2:00pm - I call Hawk and tell him all the ways that I found that the company was trying to take advantage of us and discuss. (Again, I kid!)

3:00pm - Veterinarian’s appointment for my dog Dermot. Bad news… he is overweight and we are to blame. We have to start adding green beans to his diet. $225 later I am leaving with all his shots, some special food because he has digestive problems (like me!) and some Heartguard and probiotics. Dogs are expensive.

4:00pm - Email contract changes to HR.
4:15pm - HR emails me and says we are crazy. But they will send the changes to corporate where they can shoot them down and we will meet after the show tomorrow.

5:00pm - Hang out with the kids and the dog in the yard. The dog runs some, maybe that will count towards helping him lose weight.

6:30pm - Fried up some Red Snapper for dinner. My 2 year-old son has taken a liking to Pinocchio (which is CRAZY now that I re-watch it as an adult) and we watch that while we eat.

7:00pm - I get back on the computer and edit the audio from the Concert For Clunkers contest that we did this morning so it is ready for replay in the morning.

8:00pm - I order some embarrassing songs on iTunes (Glee Cast - Don’t Stop Believing)
8:15pm - I change my status update on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace to announce Edwin McCain coming in tomorrow. (And I announce that I downloaded that song off iTunes. One listener says I must turn in my man card.)

8:30pm - Realize I have not blogged in over a week. I have no idea what to blog about, it has been a busy day… HEY, there’s an idea!

9:30pm - Post blog, head upstairs and lay down with my son as he falls asleep.

10:30pm - Take blood pressure medication, anti-anxiety medication and brush my teeth. Go to bed.

Repeat as necessary.

I plan on taking it easy tomorrow - I’m plumb tuckered out.

Ok, I admit it - I am addicted to my iphone and the itunes app store. I am always looking for the next cool thing to install on my iphone and play with during the show.

You can click on any of the apps listed above and it will take you to the itunes store and you can check out the app and see if it is for you. Also, share any cool apps you have that I don’t show here because like I said, I’m always looking for cool new apps for my iphone addiction!

Here are a few quick reviews of some of the apps I have installed.

Fandango is the movie app. It is free and shows movie theater schedules, previews, reviews and you can even order tickets from your phone.

Snooth is a free wine app for people like me who don’t know anything about wine but like to order a glass at a fancy restaurant sometimes.

i.TV is a free app that has your tv schedules. Card Star is also free and lets you store all your bonus cards and membership card numbers in one place on your phone. Pretty cool! MedScape is great if you aren’t feeling well or if you take prescription medications and want to know more about them.

Flycast is a free app that lets you listen to B93.7 on your iphone no matter where you go, even out of state!

Mover is another free app that lets you share photos and contacts with your friends who have iphones. There is a Mover+ out that does more, but the free version is pretty cool too.

Grocery Gadget costs $4.99 but it is worth EVERY PENNY. It is a grocery shopping list and what makes it so cool is that your significant other can update the list from the computer at the house or his/her iphone and it INSTANTLY shows up on your phone. So I can leave work, head to the grocery store and my wife can be back at the house and update me with the things we need at the house while I’m there at the store. Did I mention how awesome it is?

RaceFan isn’t the absolute best quality app in the store and I think it cost $2.99, but there aren’t many NASCAR apps available and this one does a good job of letting me quickly check the schedule and see recent race results. For a race fan, it is worth having. I would love to know if any of you have a better one out there.

Sale Price Free is a great app. I can do percentages in my head pretty well, but this app will figure the total price when stores do that “50% off AND take another 35% off” thing that they like to do. Plus it figures sales tax so you know EXACTLY what you are going to pay at the register.

Vlingo is free and it is WAY COOL! You say what you want to do and Vlingo has your phone do it. Say, “Call Home” and it calls home. Say, “update status facebook, laying out at the pool” and it does that for you. And it is FREE.

Google’s app is also voice activated and free and cool.

iConcertCal is an amazing app (but it costs a few bucks, I think $3.99) that has EVERY CONCERT in a 150 mile radius. I’m not just talking about the BiLo Center or Charlotte or Atlanta, but if there is a show at the Handlebar, they have it. If there is a show at your church with Third Day, they have it. If your garage band is practicing at a friend’s house, well - they don’t have that but they have everything else. Very cool.

Shazam is a free app that lets you hold your phone up to a speaker when a song is playing and it will tell you what that song is, in less than 30 seconds.

There are lots more on the widget above and even more on my phone. Let me know what you like and what I’ve missed!

Ok, this idea came to me because Just Joe had it as a poll question. But being a poll question, it only had a couple of answer. I’m always looking for someone cool to follow on twitter and I don’t want celebs who have someone else twitter for them - I want to hear from that celeb.

Here are some that my wife and I follow. She follows Lance Armstrong. He does his own twitters and even has responded to some things she has written him so that is very cool. She also follows Ryan Seacrest and he updates a lot during American Idol and tells some of the things that you will see on that night’s show.

I am a NASCAR fan and it is hard to find NASCAR drivers that tweet regularly. Juan Pablo Montoya is one driver who does his own tweets and does a lot of them. Ross Kenseth is Matt’s son and he is a prolific tweeter! Kevin Harvick and his wife Delana are on twitter as well.

I also follow WSPA Channel 7’s TV Amy for all my local news - she is on top of any story that is breaking and you can count on her tweets to keep you up to date with local news.

So, now I turn it over to you. Who do YOU follow that is cool on twitter? Please post them in the links so we can all check it out!