<![CDATA[Genuine Nerdology]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!niWR!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7d2f5d22-94c0-4a7e-a6e9-eaa1725494cd_1098x1098.pngGenuine Nerdologyhttps://www.genuinenerdology.comSubstackSat, 04 Apr 2026 12:30:58 GMT<![CDATA[Holiday Sands]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/holiday-sandshttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/holiday-sandsThu, 19 Mar 2026 19:38:27 GMTCIRCA 1990: The main segment from our second pilot for a proposed local-TV music video show, It’s Toby Time. We shot this one at the late, great Holiday Sands swimming spot in our hometown of Ravenna, Ohio. Holiday Sands was owned and operated by the family of a really good high school buddy, Jim Klohn, and they lived in a house that was right next door to the swim park. It was pretty much “the beach” for kids in Portage County and beyond back in the 70s & 80s. Not sure how long it went into the 90s. Apparently the Ravenna Moose Lodge purchased the property in 2002, then reopened it in 2011 for members to eat, drink and fish!

The Klohns were an awesome family. Very friendly and welcoming. We spent a lot of high school time with Jim, heading back and forth between their house and the swim park. Sadly, Jimmy passed away suddenly a few years ago—he’s sorely missed.

My main takeaway from rewatching this is how freaking fearless Toby was back then! The crazy dancing in public is amazing enough, but he actually had the balls to give the dreaded “barrels” a go. These infamous barrels were the Holiday Sands equivalent of a giant version of lumberjacks’ log-rolling—very wet, very slippery and very dangerous. Stay tuned until the very end to see Toby give it a go!

BONUS NOTE: Our companion site, From Heck It Came, is temporarily down for tweaking as we integrate our previously-shot videos with new stuff for the upcoming feature-length version of the project. Stay tuned for an announcement of when it’s back “live.” 😉

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]]><![CDATA[The Return of Larry the Lizard]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/the-return-of-larry-the-lizardhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/the-return-of-larry-the-lizardSun, 08 Mar 2026 18:26:09 GMTCIRCA 1990: Another tidbit from the first pilot for our proposed local-TV music video show, It’s Toby Time. Although in this clip, Toby mentions that he “hopes you’re enjoying tonight’s movie,” so we were most likely hedging our bets in case we could sell it as a vehicle for Toby to host late night movies, à la Hoolihan and Big Chuck (which was actually Big Chuck and Lil' John at that point). And, as promised in an earlier post, you get to see the return of Toby’s pet lizard, “Larry,” which sounds a bit dirty in the clear light of day. 🦎😆

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]]><![CDATA[In Toby's Room]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/in-tobys-roomhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/in-tobys-roomWed, 04 Mar 2026 23:05:54 GMTCIRCA 1990: A second bit from the pilot for our proposed local-TV music video show, It’s Toby Time. This wasn’t Toby’s actual room at home, but rather a hastily-constructed, no-budget set in our old studio in downtown Ravenna, Ohio. Nevertheless . . . it looks like a pretty fun place to hang out! 😆

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Is Dressed To Nerd]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/toby-radloff-is-dressed-to-nerdhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/toby-radloff-is-dressed-to-nerdTue, 03 Mar 2026 23:05:12 GMTCirca 1990: Post-MTV and pre-Killer Nerd. The owners of local talk-radio staple WNIR launched some low-power TV stations in the Northeast Ohio area and we hatched a plot to get Toby his own “cable-access” styled show for the fledgling mini-network. We envisioned tidbits of Toby in-between the “latest and greatest” music videos of the moment. Our “MTV-cred” got us fast-tracked in getting officially-released videos directly from the record companies—on the day of release—and our small studio in Ravenna, Ohio was quickly swamped with an eclectic mix of music videos delivered on bulky 3/4” tapes.

The proposed show was going to be called It’s Toby Time and we received “bonus tapes” along with many of the music videos featuring specially-shot footage of various artists identifying themselves and then exuberantly adding “. . . and you’re watching IT’S TOBY TIME!”

One of those artists was the immortal Donny Osmond, who was in the midst of a post-WHAM George Michael-inspired musical makeover. He had a Billboard Hot 100 #2 song “Soldier of Love,” followed by the top 20-hit “Sacred Emotion.” The former teen idol was out on tour again and really making hay while the sun shone once again. So Donny himself had to take time out of his day to stand in a studio and say, with his best toothy-smile, “I’m Donny Osmond . . . and you’re watching IT’S TOBY TIME!”

The show itself was never picked up . . . and I’m still kicking myself over the fact that we never saved that choice tidbit of Osmond video.

Anyhow, in this brief clip, Toby stands in front of a hastily-constructed, low-rent “set” and talks about his unique sense of style. A few more clips from the pilot will be forthcoming.

SEE ALSO: Donny Osmond—back in action!

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Celebrates Spring Break In Cleveland On Vintage MTV]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/spring-break-in-clevelandhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/spring-break-in-clevelandTue, 17 Feb 2026 22:25:19 GMTCirca 1989: Our last segment for MTV News would also turn out to be our most-viewed Toby clip. It aired during MTV’s Spring Break coverage, which was fairly huge at the time. Our MTV producer told me that this particular segment would most likely have been viewed close to 4.5 million times during the weekend that it aired!

This was also the segment that was used in the American Splendor movie to represent Toby’s “MTV era.” The film’s producers—HBO Films and Good Machine—called MTV to see if they could send them some Toby video to include in the film. It had been quite some time since the original Toby segments had aired, so MTV didn’t have anything in their archives. The producers then contacted me to see if I had anything—Toby and I were still making weird videos, this time for the web, so we were easy to find. I only had the original segments as they aired, recorded on VHS from the original MTV broadcasts of The Week in Rock. I sent them those and even came up with the (hopefully-bright) idea that they could film the VHS videos playing on a TV monitor so that they could have a “hi-res” version of the footage. They thought it was an awesome idea and ended up doing just that. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back! 😂

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Works Out On Vintage MTV]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/toby-radloff-works-outhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/toby-radloff-works-outMon, 16 Feb 2026 19:07:03 GMTCirca 1989: This one was taped at World Fitness, a gym that was located on State Route 59 between Kent and Ravenna, Ohio. I would edit these clips pretty loosely, without any music or sound effects. That way MTV had plenty of leeway to tighten things up and to drop in whatever then-popular tunes they wanted to spotlight. They could use anything, so it was pretty great seeing our videos legally backed with music from artists like Michael Jackson and Eurythmics. That definitely ain’t gonna happen again! 😂

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Celebrates Valentine's Day On Vintage MTV]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/valentines-dayhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/valentines-dayMon, 16 Feb 2026 01:03:06 GMTCirca 1989: We shot this segment in downtown Akron, Ohio. For some inexplicable reason, we had Toby walking a foam lizard on a leash—a type of toy that was a standard “prize” at county fairs around that time. I guess we thought it was funny and nerdy? It would have made slightly more sense if we would have at least showed a few closeups of the toy lizard so that the viewer could see it better. The lizard would return in the pilot for a cable access show that we shot with Toby after the MTV segments dried up. So be prepared—you will be seeing “Larry the Lizard” again in a future post!

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Gets A Makeover On Vintage MTV]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/toby-radloff-gets-a-makeoverhttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/toby-radloff-gets-a-makeoverMon, 16 Feb 2026 00:26:37 GMTCirca 1988: This segment was taped at Cipriano’s Scissors & Sun in Ravenna, Ohio. The owner and stylist, “Chip” Cipriano, was a good friend. His family owned—and probably still owns—Guido’s Pizza in Ravenna, which offers up arguably the best pizza in Portage County. Chip’s salon was right across the street from our old studio and he would continue to do Toby’s “King Nerd” hairdo for the remainder of our MTV segments, and for both Killer Nerd and Bride of Killer Nerd. Chip was a swell guy and he always seemed to get a real kick out of Toby. Sadly, he just recently passed away.

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Searches For The Perfect Halloween Costume On Vintage MTV]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/the-perfect-halloween-costumehttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/the-perfect-halloween-costumeSun, 15 Feb 2026 23:32:09 GMTCirca 1988, this segment was taped at the Akron Costume Shop in Akron, Ohio—a business that has since gone the way of the dodo. The “trick-or-treating” bits were shot in Ravenna (Riddle Street, Maple, Rosedale, Spruce, etc). At the very end, Toby delivers his “Nerd Sign-Off” for the very first time. I thought that he made that up, but it’s apparently taken from Revenge of the Nerds! 😆

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]]><![CDATA[Toby Radloff Talks About Drive-In Movie Theaters On Vintage MTV]]>https://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/drive-in-movie-theatershttps://www.genuinenerdology.com/p/drive-in-movie-theatersSun, 15 Feb 2026 23:06:12 GMTCirca 1988, this is the very first Toby video that we shot for MTV News. We taped it at Midway Drive-In in Ravenna (Ohio, natch) while they were closed for the season. It was basically just Toby walking around and talking and doing his Toby thing. MTV was still huge back then, so the local newspaper, the Record-Courier, actually did a front-page article on the segment, ballyhooing its debut on the cable channel. After that was published and after the segment aired on MTV, we got a letter from the PA-based company that owned Midway at the time, threatening to sue us for shooting on their property without permission. We basically ending up just giving them all of the money that MTV paid us for making the segment just to make them go away. Also on the minus side, we had already paid Toby for his appearance in the clip, so we were starting out in the hole. 🤣

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