Into The Mind of Bill

TechtalkRadio Original Crew
When we started the radio show, it was in Palm Springs on the KPSI-AM Station. Mike O’Brien, Bill Grace and I had heard that Bill Gates had a home not far away in Indian Wells and always wondered if he ever checked out the only Tech Show on the Radio in Palm Springs back then. We did get a guy named Bill Gates call into our show once but..not THE Bill Gates.

When we started the radio show, it was in Palm Springs on the KPSI-AM Station. Mike O’Brien, Bill Grace and I had heard that Bill Gates had a home not far away in Indian Wells and always wondered if he ever checked out the only Tech Show on the Radio in Palm Springs back then. We did get a guy named Bill Gates call into our show once but..not THE Bill Gates.

While I will have to juggle Downton Abbey, Rambo Last Blood and Ad Astra this weekend, I still have to be sure to catch Between Two Ferns: The Movie on Netflix. To be honest I have already snuck in about 15 minutes of it while at work and am still laughing.

Another Must see on Netflix this Weekend is Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates. The show is a 3 Part Documentary of Bill Gates, What got him started, what motivates him and of course his thoughts on where we are going with Technology. Let’s face it, Bill helped drive computer technology with the Windows Operating System in Homes and Small Business. We look forward to this one as well, but it will have to wait till I finish Between Two Ferns. – Andy

Nostalgic Find at TechtalkRadio

Photo of the Power Radio Broadcast Crew in Palm Springs
Photo of the Power Radio Broadcast Crew in Palm Springs

Great Week at TechtalkRadio! Some cool things are happening soon and the new “Finished” or at least completed up to now website will be uploaded soon.  First of all, Happy Birthday this week to “Broadway”

(Bottom Left in the Photo)

Not sure exactly how old the guy is but I have known John since the early days of my morning radio show Barry and Andy at KPSI FM. I remember one day Barry telling me he found the perfect guy to be an producer for the show. Did it have anything to do with his organization, contact list or his proven ability to make things happen? Absolutly Not! it had to do with his desire to do just about anything we threw at him.

And throw at him we did! John would approach anybody while on the phone with us and do whatever was asked if it was going to sound good on the air. I really think John had a lot to do, along with a number of other great people, with the success of the morning show in the early days. As the show moved forward and John moved on, we would keep in touch but it wasn’t until many years later that I discovered Johns passion for technology and had taken up an education in everything from Networking to administering.  John has since joined the show on many occasions from his home in Texas and just like he was in his early days with the morning show will tell you what he thinks and give you an honest opinion of a subject or solution.

John has a way of bringing a lot of fun to the show, kind of like how he looks at life , and I am looking forward to his participation in the return. Happy Birthday Broadway!

A Flyer Promoting Techtalk with Mike and Andy
A Flyer Promoting Techtalk with Mike and Andy

Gloria was doing some spring cleaning and found an old flyer that Mike and I used to promote the show when it made it debut on KPSI Newstalk 920 in Palm Spring back in the Mid 90’s. The radio show was originally called Techtalk With Mike and Andy and we were joined on occasion at the time by Bill Grace. Mike O’Brien and I became friends after meeting at Egghead Software and talking about Technology. I had always thought a radio show dealing with technology would be a lot of fun.

Leo was doing his show on KGO and I listened when I could driving into my nightime FM Radio Show called Saturday Night Hotmix. With the radio background the thought was I could do something to bring the passion of Tech to the airwaves for the Palm Springs listeners. It certainly wasn’t something I could do at the time alone and needed somebody who lived with the same love of gadgets, had a sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to be on the air.

A Photo of Mike and Andy of Techtalk with Mike and Andy
A Photo of Mike and Andy of Techtalk with Mike and Andy

We got over the hurdle of the fear of the airwaves and quickly Mike was up and running and providing some great discussions on the level of the average user and having fun while at it. Mike had a succesful Computer Business in the Coachella Valley and the radio show helped promote it however with only one hour, it was a challange to fit it all in.  The Radio Morning Show I was on was offered an opportunity to move across the street to a new radio group and one of the “deals” involved bringing Techtalk with Mike and Andy to the new stations AM outlet. A Stronger signal and we wouldn’t have to pay for the time slot which to our happiness was going to be on Saturdays!

Andy Taylor, Bill Grace. Mike O'Brien
Andy Taylor, Bill Grace. Mike O’Brien

We brought in Bill Grace and the show continued to gain momentum. Bill added to the show not only with his tremendous knowledge of Microsoft and Dos but also worked to get Techtalk with Mike and Andy on the web. We streamed our show live via shoutcast and we quickly had emails from all over the country that would tune in to the show to have questions answered. I looked forward every week to hanging out with not only Mike and Bill but also the listeners to the show.

Some years later, I moved to Tucson to do radio but every weekend I would drive back to Palm Springs and do the show. After about a year of this commute, we hung it up a KNWZ.  We all went our seperate ways and the show rebranded as TechtalkRadio and have had many co-host since then, Justin, Slick, Randy, Scott, Bruce, Carol, Broadway and of course Wally. Mike and Bill as well as all the co-host always have a place on the show and while the show may not be nationally syndicated, the roots are what makes this ride so much fun. Thanks all of you!