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What Is
/ The History Of Cleft In The Rock
/ Cleft In The Rock Radio Staff
What Is Cleft In
The Rock?
Cleft in the Rock is an Internet-based Christian
Music Ministry. Our mission is to communicate the message of Jesus
Christ through Alternative Rock Music reflecting a Christian
world-view; to build up and entertain our listeners with quality
programming and music; and to help fulfill the Great Commission by
spreading the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world via the
internet.
The History Of Cleft In The Rock
In the summer of ’74 it hit me like a freight
train. I sat with my brother’s portable cassette player in my lap
recording the local top 40 station out of one of the speakers of our
console stereo. I wanted to be a disc jockey just like “The Wolfman”!
I’d sit there and playback what I’d just recorded and I’d be the
disc jockey. Man, what a life!
As most things we dream about when we’re kids that
dream mostly faded away with time. I went on to other things like
chopper bicycles and girls and louder, better, stereos. I met
someone when I was 14 who kinda rocked my world. You may have heard
of him but I’ll leave that until later.
The year is now 1982. I’m in my college dorm room
playing with the wires in the back of my stereo system. I finally
get it rigged up so I can broadcast out of my stereo to our small
dorm room. My roommate is absolutely FREAKING out. He’s convinced
the FCC is going to hone in on my signal and take us both to jail.
Needless to say, I had a great time broadcasting Resurrection Band
to my fellow dorm mates.
Skip forward another ten years or so. It is now
1993 and a new radio station is coming on-line in my city. I
approached the management with fear and trepidation to ask if I
could air a specialty rock show. Much to my amazement and utter
shock they say ‘yes’. There was only one catch. Other than
impersonating ‘The Wolfman’ and broadcasting to my dorm mates I had
no experience in radio. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Enter ‘The Big Cheeze.’ It just so happened that
one of the jocks at this new station was a 20-something year vet in
radio. He took me under his wing and taught me the ropes of radio.
Shortly thereafter the two of us launched my dream of a lifetime… A
specialty alternative rock show called “Cleft in the Rock” was born.
For the next 10+ years we took to the airwaves every Friday or
Saturday night (depending on what year it was) and put out some of
the best Alternative Rock the area had ever heard. On the way we
picked up some help. Scooter joined us in 1998 and Oz came on board
shortly after. There were some other players along the way but we
were the core nucleus of the show. We were having a BLAST! Word
spread about us and lives were being changed! What a concept!
In the early summer of 2004 it became obvious it
was time to part ways with our host station of over ten years. We
were all heading in different directions and the time had come to
call it quits… Or had it?
Not so fast! As the old saying goes, ‘You can take
the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the
boy.’ I don’t know what that has to do with anything but it sounds
pretty good don’tcha think?
I found I couldn’t just walk away from radio. It
was too deeply engrained in who I was. Enter Ryan Rice. Ryan was a
long-time listener of Cleft in the Rock and had come to meet the
same guy (I referenced above that I’d met), in part, through the
show. Being a computer guru (and all around nice guy) he took it
upon himself to get ‘Cleft in the Rock’ up and running on the
internet. So, that’s why you have found this page and now are
totally wondering why you’ve kept reading this far.
The Name: What the heck is up with “Cleft in the
Rock?!” What the freak does it mean?!
Remember I told you that Ryan and I had met the
same guy who rocked our worlds? Well, he wrote this totally awesome
book that’s been around for a long time… It’s called the Bible and
the guy I’m talking about is God. He’s the main man and his one and
only Son (don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise) plays the part
of Lifeguard (he saves us when we’re going under). His Holy Spirit
gets the job done of revealing truth as we ask God to show us. So,
in this book of his there are many sub-books. In the book of Exodus,
chapter 33 and verse 22 (page 160 in my Bible) God is talking to a
guy named Moses (ever seen the movie ‘The Ten Commandments?’ That
would be Moses with the BIG hair) and Moses is begging God to let
him see him. God says ‘no way” cuz you’ll die. Moses won’t quit and
God gives in. God tells Moses, ‘I’ll stick you over here in the
‘Cleft in the Rock’ and when I’m done passing by you can look at my
back, but don’t try to look at my face or you’ll die’. So, that’s
it. Cleft in the Rock. God shelters us and allows us to see him.
That’s the view from the Cleft in the Rock. It also serves as a nice
play on words. If you’re musically inclined you know that a bar of
music has a bass & treble clef. And we play rock music (hey, it’s
not an exact fit but it works!)
So, there you have it. Thanks for checking us out
and please drop us a line if you wanna chat!
Cleft In The Rock
Founder & President,
Thom Hazel
Cleft In The Rock Radio Staff
Scott "Oz"
Logan - Former Host Of Cleft In The Rock Live / Friday Night With Oz
& Bernie
Oz joined Cleft In The Rock
in 1997 as a production assistant. As time went on, Oz grew into an
on air role as the "third" man on Cleft. As times have changed and
the ministry of Cleft In The Rock evolved Oz's role in the ministry
evolved as well. In 2006, Oz started hosting the show part time
until 2007 when he officially took over the role of the host of
Cleft In The Rock. Oz became the Program Director and with his co-host Bernie
started the radio phenom known as Friday Night With Oz &
Bernie. Though Oz left Cleft In The Rock Radio in January
'09, you can still keep up with his latest activities at
scottloganmusic.com!
"The Lean
Mean Philippine Machine" Bernie Tajonera - Former Co-Host Of
Friday Night With Oz & Bernie
Bernie joined the Cleft crew in the
summer of '07 as the new co-host of the Friday night show with Oz.
Bernie is a musician as many of the other staff members are. He
performs with several musical artists and is a songwriter as well.
Bernie is also a stand up comic and can be seen in various places
through out the tri-state area. In the fall of 2008, Bernie
and Oz brought something completely different to Cleft in the Rock
Radio when they changed the Friday night show forever into a new
kind of show. Though short lived, Friday Night With Oz &
Bernie quickly gained the approval of long time Cleft fans
and brought in a new generation of listeners. The guys finally did
their last show in January of 2009 on a very memorable and emotional
night. Bernie currently resides with his wife Julie and his two
kids, Sara and Abbie, in New Gloucester, Maine.
"Tomahawk"
Thom Hazel - President Of Cleft In The Rock Radio Inc.
Tomahawk and The Big Cheeze got
together in the fall of 1995 where The Cheeze taught him the ropes
of radio. After The Cheeze's departure from Maine "T" took over the
role of host of the program. Thom hosted the show for well over 10
years before deciding to move onto other things in his life. Thom is
still currently the president of Cleft In The Radio Inc.
"The Big
Cheese" Mark Stephenson - Vice President Of Cleft In The Rock
Radio / Technician
Mark is the grandpappy of the Cleft
Crew. He's been in and around radio for over 30 years and has a
wealth of broadcast experience. The Big Cheeze was the original host
of Cleft in the Rock until his departure sometime in 1998. After
spending a few years in Kansas he relocated back to the Portland
area where he rejoined the Cleft Crew. Mark and his wife, Mary,
reside in the Bath, Maine area (famous for it's ship building) with
their daughter, Olivia. He is also a grandpappy!
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