This was in Saturday's "Religion" section ironically enough:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/020406dnrelrody.1f78585b.html
From the Zoo to the pews
Onetime radio zany has a new career, providing Web services to churches
By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
For many years, John Rody was a star of the Dallas airwaves, earning his greatest fame in the late 1970s and '80s as part of the KZEW-FM "Morning Zoo" team.
Today, John Rody is a new-media consultant; he's shown onscreen while demonstrating webcasting. When not spinning "deep album cuts" by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, Mr. Rody and co-host John LaBella provided humor that in the Howard Stern era might seem tame, but then seemed outrageously irreverent. They poked fun at any and all authority figures, and did a full body embrace of the rock 'n' roll life, with all its implied mischief.
"You kind of felt like you were listening to a couple of individuals that your parents wouldn't approve of, which was good," said Barry Green, a 43-year-old Decatur lawyer who came of age listening to the Morning Zoo in the Fort Worth suburbs.
These days, Mr. Rody looks like an elder statesman Viking, his reddish blond hair and beard flecking gray. He is long gone from radio, instead making a living through his own Internet services firm, Webcasting.com.
And in an irony that's hard to miss, he spends much of his time helping churches improve their Web sites, including streaming video of sermons and entire worship services.
He is a long-lapsed Catholic – not religious – and he gets most of his income from working with corporations, associations, political candidates and the city of Dallas, for which he streams video of contract bidding.
But Mr. Rody, 51, has a passion for helping his handful of church clients.
"I get a big charge out of it," he said. "These are people who are truly grateful."
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. churches now have a Web site, up from only 33 percent in 2000, according to the Barna Group, a Christian research firm. Churches are finding they can use Web sites as calling cards for visitors, bulletin boards for members, and more.
But Mr. Rody contends that most churches still don't use their sites well.
"Feed the beast" he preaches, explaining that churches must constantly change and improve Web content to attract visitors and keep members coming back to the site.
Even with church clients, Mr. Rody goes about his work cheekily. He calls Dr. John Fiedler, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Dallas, "Dr. John" – a reference to the grizzled New Orleans blues pianist.
Dr. Fiedler doesn't mind. He's an old Morning Zoo fan. Even if he weren't, he'd cut Mr. Rody some slack, having seen the church's Web site traffic soar under his influence.
The site now gets more than 100,000 hits a month, and the number keeps growing, the pastor said. People as far away as Europe are watching the church's services online.
"It challenges you to think of ministry and proclamation beyond your church walls," Dr. Fiedler said.
Mr. Rody grew up in Hartford, Conn., where he recalls a youth of juvenile delinquency, only with a twist: He stole radio and TV parts, even an X-ray machine, indulging his fascination with electronics.
He got two years of college before dropping out to work East Coast radio jobs, some on the air, some as an engineer. He was hitchhiking to a job in San Francisco when he stopped in Amarillo and saw a tumbleweed. He whimsically decided to put down roots, getting a disc jockey job. Soon he had a second gig as local TV weatherman.
After two years in Amarillo, he moved to Dallas and KZEW as a news producer. He hosted a Sunday talk show and did editorials called "Zoo Gazettes."
Wacky stunts were a hallmark of the former KZEW-FM radio staff: John LaBella (left) and John Rody performed 'brain surgery' on Mike Rhyner. Before long he was teamed with Mr. LaBella – who was killed in 2002 in a freakish accident on Interstate 30 – as hosts of the Morning Zoo. Mike Rhyner, still a Dallas radio figure, did sports.
The show's humor was somewhere between Mad magazine and Firesign Theatre. "Walter from Waco" (a creation of Mr. LaBella) was a daily comedy feature. Mr. Rody and Mr. LaBella also made up TV shows and movie titles. One Mr. Rody recalls was "Walking Short," starring Troy Dungan, the not-too-tall weatherman for WFAA-TV (Channel 8).
Public figures who did or said something dumb were dishonored with the sound effect of someone getting kicked down a set of stairs.
"That was sort of our public outrage vehicle," Mr. Rody said. "Anybody who stepped out of line got kicked down the stairs. ...I remember Journey came to town for a concert, and [lead singer] Steve Perry called out, 'Hello, Cleveland!' We kicked him down the stairs."
Mr. Rody recalls much of the Morning Zoo comedy as "lame." Others have a higher opinion, especially of his part.
"Rody was the star," said Mr. Rhyner, now co-host of the evening drive-time show on the Ticket, the popular sports talk station. "He was quick, smart, funny. His humor was never forced. He was too good for that."
The Morning Zoo team went on the road a lot, to restaurants, malls, and concerts. Annual Zoo World events, featuring rock bands and appearances by the Morning Zoo team, drew 300,000 to the Dallas Convention Center. "Zoo" bumper stickers became ubiquitous in rock club parking lots. Rolling Stone magazine chose the Morning Zoo as one of the nation's top rock programs.
But in 1986, after about a decade of Mr. Rody and Mr. LaBella's reign, Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News and WFAA, sold KZEW. The new owners cleaned house, first in a series of ownership and format changes for the frequency, 97.9. (It's now hip-hop station KBFB, "The Beat.") Mr. Rody promptly found a radio job in Seattle. Within a year, he was back in Dallas, first at one station, then another.
In the mid-'90s, Mr. Rody – a computer geek – left radio to become a high-tech entrepreneur. An Internet services firm he and some partners formed failed. But Mr. Rody soldiered on alone under the company name and domain Webcasting.com.
He built a small base of clients, and streamed video for such special events as the National Association of Broadcasters convention and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
In late 2001, Rob Ray, media manager for First United Methodist in Dallas, called Mr. Rody, asking for help.
First Methodist had long been given free TV time on Channel 8, but its Sunday slot had been moved from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. That meant a smaller audience. The church hoped to use its Web site to compensate.
First, Mr. Rody worked with the church to improve the look and organization of its site, and to begin to stream audio of sermons. Next came delayed video broadcasts, with separate links for "sermon only" and for the entire worship service.
Mr. Ray provided the cameras and taping. Mr. Rody gave advice and "hosted" the video on the big media server in his Bishop Arts District studio in Oak Cliff. He also did editing as needed.
Since then, Mr. Rody and Mr. Ray have collaborated in archiving a year's worth of sermons and worship services. Mr. Rody charges First Methodist about $15,000 a year, which covers his time and use of the server and other equipment the church would prefer not to buy.
Of late, some national firms have emerged, focusing on Internet services for churches. Some large churches have the budget and staff to do quality streaming on their own.
But for smaller or medium-size churches that want to improve their Web sites, Mr. Ray touts the former DJ.
The next step for First Methodist in Dallas, beginning this month, is to stream live video of worship services. At First United Methodist in Fort Worth, another of Mr. Rody's clients, live streaming is already under way.
Mr. Rody recently helped that church stream video of a wedding and a baptism, so family members from afar could watch. For Greater Grace Temple Church in Detroit, Mr. Rody has streamed video of services and religious plays.
"We don't have the expertise," said Melvin Epps, communications director for Greater Grace. "We're very satisfied with the work he's done."
The near future for Mr. Rody's church clients includes "podcasts," downloadable MP3 files of sermons that can be played back on portable listening devices.
He foresees churches collaborating on Web sites, providing lots of compelling sermon and music content, with advertisers covering costs.
Mr. Rody also imagines a future with virtual church members who attend only via the Internet but support the church financially.
Dr. Fiedler is cautious, saying there's no substitute for congregational worship. But he notes that 40 percent of recent first-time visitors to his church had already checked out its Web site.
"You're really shaping a person's first impressions before they get here," he said. "That's a new day."
Knocking around Dallas, Mr. Rody runs into old fans, and he's glad to see them. But he has no hankering to get back into radio. He's happy with what he's doing. He watches three or four hours of religious programming a week, and some of it moves him.
But what he really has faith in is the power of the Internet to help churches. On that score, he said, "I do as much evangelizing as any preacher."
E-mail [email protected]
JOHN RODY
Age: 51
Born: Hartford, Conn.
Family: Married to Pamela Steele, longtime Dallas radio personality. Son, Matthew, 20, by previous marriage.
Residence: Stevens Park section of Oak Cliff.
The office of his company, Webcasting.com, is in the nearby Bishops Arts District.
Why he's in Oak Cliff: "It's a great part of the city. ... The Bishop Arts District is like a little town.
Favorite Oak Cliff hangout: Nodding Dog Coffee Co.
Song he most enjoyed playing as DJ: "Conquistador" by Procul Harum
Most requested song: "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Hero in radio: Ron Chapman. "I would learn something each time I listened to him. ... A great station 'image maker.' "
Radio stations he listens to now: "I have satellite radio (Sirius) and love it!"
First home computer: Commodore VIC-20, with 18k memory
Computer now: Several. Mostly Dell, with 1 gig memory
On the cyber-future of churches: "Webcasting will be much more common. The ability to put compelling content in the pockets of viewers and listeners will be happening, too."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/020406dnrelrody.1f78585b.html
From the Zoo to the pews
Onetime radio zany has a new career, providing Web services to churches
By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
For many years, John Rody was a star of the Dallas airwaves, earning his greatest fame in the late 1970s and '80s as part of the KZEW-FM "Morning Zoo" team.
Today, John Rody is a new-media consultant; he's shown onscreen while demonstrating webcasting. When not spinning "deep album cuts" by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, Mr. Rody and co-host John LaBella provided humor that in the Howard Stern era might seem tame, but then seemed outrageously irreverent. They poked fun at any and all authority figures, and did a full body embrace of the rock 'n' roll life, with all its implied mischief.
"You kind of felt like you were listening to a couple of individuals that your parents wouldn't approve of, which was good," said Barry Green, a 43-year-old Decatur lawyer who came of age listening to the Morning Zoo in the Fort Worth suburbs.
These days, Mr. Rody looks like an elder statesman Viking, his reddish blond hair and beard flecking gray. He is long gone from radio, instead making a living through his own Internet services firm, Webcasting.com.
And in an irony that's hard to miss, he spends much of his time helping churches improve their Web sites, including streaming video of sermons and entire worship services.
He is a long-lapsed Catholic – not religious – and he gets most of his income from working with corporations, associations, political candidates and the city of Dallas, for which he streams video of contract bidding.
But Mr. Rody, 51, has a passion for helping his handful of church clients.
"I get a big charge out of it," he said. "These are people who are truly grateful."
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. churches now have a Web site, up from only 33 percent in 2000, according to the Barna Group, a Christian research firm. Churches are finding they can use Web sites as calling cards for visitors, bulletin boards for members, and more.
But Mr. Rody contends that most churches still don't use their sites well.
"Feed the beast" he preaches, explaining that churches must constantly change and improve Web content to attract visitors and keep members coming back to the site.
Even with church clients, Mr. Rody goes about his work cheekily. He calls Dr. John Fiedler, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Dallas, "Dr. John" – a reference to the grizzled New Orleans blues pianist.
Dr. Fiedler doesn't mind. He's an old Morning Zoo fan. Even if he weren't, he'd cut Mr. Rody some slack, having seen the church's Web site traffic soar under his influence.
The site now gets more than 100,000 hits a month, and the number keeps growing, the pastor said. People as far away as Europe are watching the church's services online.
"It challenges you to think of ministry and proclamation beyond your church walls," Dr. Fiedler said.
Mr. Rody grew up in Hartford, Conn., where he recalls a youth of juvenile delinquency, only with a twist: He stole radio and TV parts, even an X-ray machine, indulging his fascination with electronics.
He got two years of college before dropping out to work East Coast radio jobs, some on the air, some as an engineer. He was hitchhiking to a job in San Francisco when he stopped in Amarillo and saw a tumbleweed. He whimsically decided to put down roots, getting a disc jockey job. Soon he had a second gig as local TV weatherman.
After two years in Amarillo, he moved to Dallas and KZEW as a news producer. He hosted a Sunday talk show and did editorials called "Zoo Gazettes."
Wacky stunts were a hallmark of the former KZEW-FM radio staff: John LaBella (left) and John Rody performed 'brain surgery' on Mike Rhyner. Before long he was teamed with Mr. LaBella – who was killed in 2002 in a freakish accident on Interstate 30 – as hosts of the Morning Zoo. Mike Rhyner, still a Dallas radio figure, did sports.
The show's humor was somewhere between Mad magazine and Firesign Theatre. "Walter from Waco" (a creation of Mr. LaBella) was a daily comedy feature. Mr. Rody and Mr. LaBella also made up TV shows and movie titles. One Mr. Rody recalls was "Walking Short," starring Troy Dungan, the not-too-tall weatherman for WFAA-TV (Channel 8).
Public figures who did or said something dumb were dishonored with the sound effect of someone getting kicked down a set of stairs.
"That was sort of our public outrage vehicle," Mr. Rody said. "Anybody who stepped out of line got kicked down the stairs. ...I remember Journey came to town for a concert, and [lead singer] Steve Perry called out, 'Hello, Cleveland!' We kicked him down the stairs."
Mr. Rody recalls much of the Morning Zoo comedy as "lame." Others have a higher opinion, especially of his part.
"Rody was the star," said Mr. Rhyner, now co-host of the evening drive-time show on the Ticket, the popular sports talk station. "He was quick, smart, funny. His humor was never forced. He was too good for that."
The Morning Zoo team went on the road a lot, to restaurants, malls, and concerts. Annual Zoo World events, featuring rock bands and appearances by the Morning Zoo team, drew 300,000 to the Dallas Convention Center. "Zoo" bumper stickers became ubiquitous in rock club parking lots. Rolling Stone magazine chose the Morning Zoo as one of the nation's top rock programs.
But in 1986, after about a decade of Mr. Rody and Mr. LaBella's reign, Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News and WFAA, sold KZEW. The new owners cleaned house, first in a series of ownership and format changes for the frequency, 97.9. (It's now hip-hop station KBFB, "The Beat.") Mr. Rody promptly found a radio job in Seattle. Within a year, he was back in Dallas, first at one station, then another.
In the mid-'90s, Mr. Rody – a computer geek – left radio to become a high-tech entrepreneur. An Internet services firm he and some partners formed failed. But Mr. Rody soldiered on alone under the company name and domain Webcasting.com.
He built a small base of clients, and streamed video for such special events as the National Association of Broadcasters convention and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
In late 2001, Rob Ray, media manager for First United Methodist in Dallas, called Mr. Rody, asking for help.
First Methodist had long been given free TV time on Channel 8, but its Sunday slot had been moved from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. That meant a smaller audience. The church hoped to use its Web site to compensate.
First, Mr. Rody worked with the church to improve the look and organization of its site, and to begin to stream audio of sermons. Next came delayed video broadcasts, with separate links for "sermon only" and for the entire worship service.
Mr. Ray provided the cameras and taping. Mr. Rody gave advice and "hosted" the video on the big media server in his Bishop Arts District studio in Oak Cliff. He also did editing as needed.
Since then, Mr. Rody and Mr. Ray have collaborated in archiving a year's worth of sermons and worship services. Mr. Rody charges First Methodist about $15,000 a year, which covers his time and use of the server and other equipment the church would prefer not to buy.
Of late, some national firms have emerged, focusing on Internet services for churches. Some large churches have the budget and staff to do quality streaming on their own.
But for smaller or medium-size churches that want to improve their Web sites, Mr. Ray touts the former DJ.
The next step for First Methodist in Dallas, beginning this month, is to stream live video of worship services. At First United Methodist in Fort Worth, another of Mr. Rody's clients, live streaming is already under way.
Mr. Rody recently helped that church stream video of a wedding and a baptism, so family members from afar could watch. For Greater Grace Temple Church in Detroit, Mr. Rody has streamed video of services and religious plays.
"We don't have the expertise," said Melvin Epps, communications director for Greater Grace. "We're very satisfied with the work he's done."
The near future for Mr. Rody's church clients includes "podcasts," downloadable MP3 files of sermons that can be played back on portable listening devices.
He foresees churches collaborating on Web sites, providing lots of compelling sermon and music content, with advertisers covering costs.
Mr. Rody also imagines a future with virtual church members who attend only via the Internet but support the church financially.
Dr. Fiedler is cautious, saying there's no substitute for congregational worship. But he notes that 40 percent of recent first-time visitors to his church had already checked out its Web site.
"You're really shaping a person's first impressions before they get here," he said. "That's a new day."
Knocking around Dallas, Mr. Rody runs into old fans, and he's glad to see them. But he has no hankering to get back into radio. He's happy with what he's doing. He watches three or four hours of religious programming a week, and some of it moves him.
But what he really has faith in is the power of the Internet to help churches. On that score, he said, "I do as much evangelizing as any preacher."
E-mail [email protected]
JOHN RODY
Age: 51
Born: Hartford, Conn.
Family: Married to Pamela Steele, longtime Dallas radio personality. Son, Matthew, 20, by previous marriage.
Residence: Stevens Park section of Oak Cliff.
The office of his company, Webcasting.com, is in the nearby Bishops Arts District.
Why he's in Oak Cliff: "It's a great part of the city. ... The Bishop Arts District is like a little town.
Favorite Oak Cliff hangout: Nodding Dog Coffee Co.
Song he most enjoyed playing as DJ: "Conquistador" by Procul Harum
Most requested song: "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Hero in radio: Ron Chapman. "I would learn something each time I listened to him. ... A great station 'image maker.' "
Radio stations he listens to now: "I have satellite radio (Sirius) and love it!"
First home computer: Commodore VIC-20, with 18k memory
Computer now: Several. Mostly Dell, with 1 gig memory
On the cyber-future of churches: "Webcasting will be much more common. The ability to put compelling content in the pockets of viewers and listeners will be happening, too."
and i think Pamela is the best female jock EVER.