Q. Are bands and artists still sending CD's in this digital era?                        A. It's unfortunate that at this time that  the industry is changing and has been for some time. Record labels have stopped sending CD's and prefer to go the digital route. This is understandable in some ways with how the global economy is and the practicability of it. But what it's doing is hurting any airplay a band may receive by the quality that is sent to us. MP3's sounded absolutely dreadful on an FM radio signal (people forgot we were an FM radio program first) and can sound just as bad on high end radio streams which unfortunately forced us to limit the airplay we can with labels/bands/artists that sent us them. In the now passed FM radio days, the digital quality compression of low end MP3's sounded terrible as our transmitter compressor battles with making the sound right. Then add in the digital hiss and the digital clicks and it adds up to 'un-listenable' music. And let's face it, on our new HD stream, you want the best sound possible. We ask that labels send us FLAC or WAV files. If MP3 is the only file they can send, then we ask for 320 only. Nothing lower. Overall, we still prefer the CD because we still like to look at the whole package. Booklet, insert, CD, artwork, etc. These things are important to us in giving a band air time on our radio program. We want to know who they are. We can't lie, those bands and artists that actually send a CD do get preferential airplay.  

Q. What is the background music you use on your radio program?                 A. I love the music of Klaus Schulze. I tend to use his Picture Music album, and his X album. I also like use Pat Thomi's Fairy Tales album as well. We will be incorporating music from the heavenly bodies soon as well.

Q. What happened to our beloved z889 WBZC?                                          A.  Sadly, we were shut down on January 18th, 2018, nearly 23 years to the day we first went on the airwaves in 1995. There were many factors with the shutdown. While Rowan University and Burlington County College have now combined, the factor of relocation came into the game. To move z889, it requires a lot major work just on equipment alone, both externally and internally, and the biggest elephant in the room, money. What I feared when the merger happened, was that Rowan may shut us down because the thinking would be, why pay for two FCC license? So sadly, with all the fight our fearless leader Jason Varga did without most of us knowing really how hard he tried, it just wasn't feasible to sustain. She became costly. We will miss her terribly. Especially myself for being its first member in 1993 and seeing it through to her sad demise. On the upswing, we are now RCBC with a new beginning in a new world. Fingers crossed!  

Q. How often are you in the RCBC studios on Saturdays? Are these programs prerecorded or live?                                                                                 A. For the most part, the radio program is done live. For years in Pemberton, New Jersey and now in Mount Laurel on Saturday nights, the live aspect is very important. When issues arise with travel or sporting events, I may prerecord the radio program at our other location, North 13th Studios in Brigantine, New Jersey. Brigantine is just north of Atlantic City at the Jersey shore. There are always hints if a radio program is recorded at the home studio. Only some have figured it out :). For the most part, home studio recordings were taking place in the summer, now they are almost always constructed there before being presented live if not pre-recorded. As for times? If we do an Aural Moon only program, they are sometimes recorded just hours before the actual broadcast at 10PM. Unfortunately, our radio show archives are running out of room.

Q. What recording gear do you use for the program?                                 A. I was recording the programs for many years as .wav files in Pro Logic for Mac. But since the Mac High Sierra disastrous update, it rendered it useless. I now use the Garage Band program. I prefer to use Adobe Audition for editing interviews and other production. I use a SP C1 large diaphragm, fixed-cardioid condenser microphone which has a low noise amplifier. I also use a Behringer Xenyx digital/analog mixing board. For post production I prefer using TDK CDR's since they are the most reliable recording discs.

Q. How come you do not play more popular progressive rock bands like Yes, Genesis, ELP, in plenty?                                                                       A. While we respect and love those bands and understand that the progressive rock scene wouldn't exist without them, we feel it is far more important to support current progressive bands and lesser known, non-mainstream enriched music. Also, during the heyday of those bands and artists, there were similar bands doing just as creative and powerful work as their contemporaries were. They will not go unnoticed. Remember the definition of the world 'progressive'.

Q. Why does it take so long to hear some new releases, when other times it is on 3 weeks before it is released?                                                                  A. This is our most popular question we receive. In some ways, it's luck of the draw. Imports of a new release usually come out before a North American release date. We are fortunate to be serviced by overseas outlets that ease the wait. But lately, labels are forgetting about us...again, the industry is changing.

Q. What is your policy on reviewing and airing music?                                A. We receive many new releases on a monthly basis.  When we do receive a recording, and it has been tracked and aired, it is then put into rotation and into the database for the year end top 100 polling.  We work on a 3 week rotation depending on the established artists new release schedule dates, and request buzz.  A band or artist, when sending their recording, will be notified by email and/or their site's forums/social media site up to that week prior to airplay on how to listen . Now with the new RIAA Radio Streaming laws, we can only air a certain amount of tracks from a release. Playlists will be posted AFTER the reruns are aired currently on Tuesdays due to file sharing laws.

Q. Is the program just you or are/were there other staffers involved?            A. Over the years we have had many people that have assisted in many aspects of the show's programming. From 1991 to 1993, we were often joined by Keith "The Man" Myers, Reginald Szatny, and Jon Most. Their contributions were in music, production, and new talent. By 1994, we worked with other staffers such as Roger Beckwith who was host of Roadhouse Radio opposite Janet Watts, and Steve Huston who assisted us for live in studio performances and interviews. We then became involved with Charles Nolan as a consultant who was with us from 1996 to 1997. During that time, we also became involved with George Piatkowski. George became a co-producer and took the program to even deeper levels with music obscurity. He was part of the crew until 2006. For live events, we were continuously helped by Roger Beckwith and Bob "Big Bob Lovin' Volpe at countless venues. Ken Golden of Laser's Edge has co-produced many thematic programs over the years and continues to, to this day. He is an honorary staffer.  In 2000, Jack Webster came on board and archived many in-studio events and continues to assist as videographer, photographer, and contributes to programming as well. He at times was also joined by his assistant Frank Alfeeri. There is also Brian Schenkenberger,  our online engineer at Aural Moon who maintains live broadcasts internet streams at progressive rock events and the program itself. We are assisted by Jason Varga for in studio events as well, who has now become 88.9 WBZC's Program Director. Michael Cohn is a newer part the radio program since 2013 and is our assistant and contributor. We also have added the great Kevin Feeley who is our technical advisor. He has been the focal point with our live and abroad radio shows such as NEARfest. He has always supplied top notch equipment and contributed endless hours of technology. We are also assisted in imaging by Grace Stewart and Connie Louis.