Jason Mraz "The Remedy"

There are only a handful of episodes available on Netflix, but the show The Jamz wonderfully explores the goings-on at a fictional Chicago radio station (called "The Jamz"). Created and co-written by the former Social Media Director at The Mix in Chicago, the four-part series features an episode with a Jason Mraz-like character called "Jeremy Mraz" who gets recruited to perform at the station's "Jamzing at the Park".

Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne "Love Power"

If the Lifetime/Netflix thriller You premiered in 1987, you could add "Love Power" to the show's soundtrack. The Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne duet touches on two lovers who never quite get over one another -- even a psychic in Los Angeles said so! In the twisted drama You, Penn Badgley plays the lead character Joe Goldberg who falls in love with Beck, a customer he meets at his bookstore. Joe ultimately stalks Beck by using social media to learn everything he can about her, her family and friends. Joe does any and everything (including masturbating in the bushes and committing multiple murders) to make Beck all his (insert diabolical laugh). Shocked at the amount of fans who fell for Joe, the real-life Badgley took to Twitter to remind these troubled souls that Joe is, um, a killer. Love Power: it rules us and fools us.

Michael Bolton "When I'm Back on My Feet Again"

In early-2002, Michael Bolton stopped by the radio station where I worked to promote his latest album. At the time, Bolton's career was in a slump after a healthy decade of sporting long hair, Nicollette Sheridan and heavy exposure on Adult Contemporary radio stations. His days of putting his name on an old Motown song and watching it make the climb to #1 were over. That day I escorted Michael Bolton and his entourage into the radio station, he wore leather pants. Somehow the conversation shifted to basketball as his hotel had a basketball court and how he wanted to play that afternoon. He asked me if I played. I informed him that I last played for the St. Joseph Warriors in the 5th grade and averaged 0.0 points during my first and last season. Despite my impressive resume, he still welcomed me to shoot some hoops with him later that day. I imagined myself speaking to the hotel concierge: "Hi, I'm Todd. I'm here to play basketball with Mr. Bolton." Needless to say, I didn't play. Fast forward another decade, and Bolton has survived another Nicollette Sheridan breakup and continues to live off the royalties of "How Can We Be Lovers If We Can't Be Friends?" while turning up in roles that no one would expect. First, he appeared in an SNL Digital Short as Captain Jack Sparrow, Two & A Half Men and even had his own Netflix Valentine's Day special. Here's a guy who has found his next niche--one where he doesn't take himself too seriously. Just like leather pants, Michael Bolton is back. 

Robert Palmer "Addicted to Love"

If you want to kill 90 minutes of your life, stream the '80s flick Cocktail on Netflix. Watching Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown juggling liquor bottles much to the delight of the ladies (and their large hair-sprayed '80s hair) was embarrassing enough, but now Netflix keeps suggesting equally bad movies because I watched Cocktail. I almost felt sorry for Cruise for having to dance and mouth the words of "Addicted to Love" while making martinis in the movie. The song, by the way, wasn't included on the movie's soundtrack. 

Ricky Martin - "Shake Your Bon Bon"

You know that feeling when you really want to watch Caddyshack on Netflix, but they only have is Caddyshack II?  Or how about suffering through Ghostbusters II when all you wanted was to see the original?  That sums up Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon Bon".  It was one of those songs that tried to capture "Livin' La Vida Loca" lighning in a bottle...but instead we were left with Caddyshack II.

Celine Dion - "To Love You More" (redux)

(this is the first repeat song...and it's for a bittersweet reason...)

A couple years before this song was released to Adult Contemporary radio stations, it aired exclusively in Japan and on Adult Contemporary-powerhouse WLIT-FM in Chicago.  It was 1996 and Celine's career was sizzling,  WLIT seized this opportunity to play a rare commodity that no other Adult Contemporary radio station had.  It was the pre-MP3 era and the only way you could hear this song was to tape the song off the radio.  I lucked out one afternoon and remember hearing afternoon host Megan Reed's voice come on after the song.  Megan was one of the crown jewels at WLIT during the station's era of dominance in Chicago.  No voice was more synonymous with WLIT than Meg's as she regularly sat atop the ratings.  My high school used to play the radio quietly over its intercom system so it was common to hear the station if I was walking the hallways during class.  Hearing Meg's voice meant it was just about time for school to be over and for me to go home (her shift usually started at 2pm).  

In 2005, Megan joined the station where I was working.  I trained her and helped get her acclimated to the station.  We quickly formed a friendship and bond that extended well beyond just being co-workers.  Megan had an extraordinary knack for saying something so incredibly witty and funny right out of the blue.  We joked that about this and she seemed to thrive on the challenge to "wow" me when I least expected it.

Megan took a vested interest in my personal life often talking to me about relationships.  "Relationships are actually not hard," she told me one afternoon.  "Relationships are not hard when you're with the right person."  Those words stuck with me.

After enduring months of serious back pain in 2014, Megan's doctors discovered that the back pain was actually cancer.  With that prognosis, she left us in September of that year to begin a tough battle against brain and breast cancer.  We kept in touch via email and text message.  Then in April of 2015, Meg returned to the radio station finally healthy enough to join us for a lunch in her honor.  We all shared stories and gave her suggestions for TV shows to watch on Netflix because she spent a lot of time in bed recovering from her many treatments.  Her health took a turn for the worse at the end of 2015 and the news that we had all been dreading for months was delivered on February 14, 2016.  Megan was no longer in pain and joined God at the great big radio station in the sky.

In a business filled with egos, narcissism, and nut jobs, Megan was a breath of fresh air.  With a personality that sparkled both on and off the air, Megan was a treasure.  She was my friend, one of my biggest fans, and a person whose absence has left a giant void.  We were all lucky to spend our middays with Megan and she will be missed dearly...