Years of commuting around Atlanta took Tony from radio and cassettes to CDs, MP3 players, and finally streaming. Eventually, his own playlists replaced the radio. He jokingly called them “Radio Tony.”

While he was working on his first record, his friend Randy suggested checking the mixes in the car. Tony made a playlist for his AI-assisted recordings, slipped “AI” into “radio,” and Raidio Tony was born.

Tony borrowed the release-numbering idea from MATLAB. Since he was already using it to build audio tools, it seemed appropriate. The names also mark when each record was made. Over time, you can hear the songwriting, production, and technology evolve.

The A and B releases are a nod to the two sides of vinyl records: A for the more song-focused material, B for guitar jams and experiments. Also A and B are a more subtle nod to software updates, but with guitars.

The inspiration comes from the famous photograph of Nikola Tesla in his Colorado laboratory, surrounded by electrical discharges. As an electrical engineer, Tony couldn’t resist the connection. And lightning looks particularly good in color.

Tony writes his lyrics. The stories, people, memories, and opinions come from his life. AI mostly fills the role of a virtual band — available whenever inspiration strikes and remarkably patient when asked to try something for the thirty-seventh time. And perhaps most importantly, it leaves the snacks alone.

Not yet but the R2025 releases explore how the R2024 songs might sound in a live setting.

For now, the focus is on recording more music and to continue building an audience.

That’s when Jay and Tony played together, and those influences stayed with Tony through the decades he spent away from making music. Most people call it a retro sound but Tony says, “It’s not really retro. I made it yesterday, it just sounds like I made it in the 80s and 90s.”

The man behind the frequencies.

Tony Cupolo is an electrical engineer, songwriter, and a late returner to making music. Raidio Tony is where those parts of his life finally found each other.

A few decades between sets.

His musical education started in kindergarten with classical piano lessons. Through sixth grade, he also sang in choir and played trumpet in the school band. After his family moved to Florida, the classical training continued on acoustic guitar—an instrument better suited to a house without a soundproof basement.

By high school and college, he was writing songs and playing guitar and keyboards with friends. Then engineering, work, and the rest of life took over. The love of music stayed with him, but making it went on hold for about thirty years. The way back started with a call from his longtime friend and bandmate, Jason “Jay” Stafford.

Jay began exploring AI music tools after a stroke limited his own playing. As only an old friend can do, he introduced Tony to the technology and basically forced him back into songwriting. The spark worked: within a year, Tony was finishing his debut album, R2024A, at age 57. Apparently, the songs hadn’t gone anywhere. They were just waiting.

An engineer walks into a recording studio.

Tony's music draws mainly from the guitar-driven rock of the 80s and the pop hooks of the 90s. The tools, however, have changed. Today, he combines traditional recording with generative AI and some audio-processing tools he built himself in MATLAB. He writes the lyrics, shapes the songs, and uses AI as a creative collaborator and most importantly, a virtual band. There’s still plenty of listening, revising, and asking for another take. The engineering department and the songwriting department share a desk.

Life outside music.

Tony’s life is a mix of art, science, and the great outdoors. He and his wife, Trish, have been sharing adventures since 1990, recently transitioning back to Tony's Florida roots in 2024. By day, Tony channels his analytical mind as an engineering manager, leading acoustic and electrical teams for maritime defense tech. By winter, he swaps the Florida heat for Utah powder, spending time during ski season with Trish and their son, Thomas, at their second home in Salt Lake City.

You walk in with the whole room turning
Red-gold sparks on the bottles burning
One raised hand and the night gets loud
A simple toast becomes a moving crowd

No need to wonder where we stand
Everybody's got a glass in hand

Raise it high, let the whole place know
This is the moment, let the good times roll
Raise it high, hear the room reply
One big promise underneath the Friday sky
Raise it high, let the old walls shake
Here's the kind of night we never want to break
Raise it high, till the last call rings
We came for a little, left with everything

Your jacket's hanging by the doorway
We lost track of the end of the workday
The band kicks hard and the floorboards bend
Every stranger feels like an old friend

No need to wonder where we stand
Everybody's got a glass in hand

Raise it high, let the whole place know
This is the moment, let the good times roll
Raise it high, hear the room reply
One big promise underneath the Friday sky
Raise it high, let the old walls shake
Here's the kind of night we never want to break
Raise it high, till the last call rings
We came for a little, left with everything

When the morning finds us worn and laughing
We'll remember every word that happened
Not the clock, not the miles, not the rain
Just the sound of everybody singing the same

No need to wonder where we stand
Everybody's got a glass in hand

Raise it high, let the whole place know
This is the moment, let the good times roll
Raise it high, hear the room reply
One big promise underneath the Friday sky
Raise it high, let the old walls shake
Here's the kind of night we never want to break
Raise it high, till the last call rings
We came for a little, left with everything

Raise it high
Raise it high
Let the whole place know

© 2026 Raidio Tony

Kid Carm ruled the afternoon air
A radio prince without a care
He was always tryin’ to pick a fight
I was always tryin’ to keep it light
In the summer of '84

Our freedom was just outside the door
We all knew we had it pretty great
Bikini filled days and stayin’ out late
In the summer of '84
Our freedom was just outside the door
We all knew we had it pretty great
Bikini filled days and stayin’ out late

Jay and John, could really shred guitar
I could play but nowhere near as far
Bobs and Jim were busy gettin’ paid
MTV came and helped us all get laid

Our freedom was just outside the door
We all knew we had it pretty great
Bikini filled days and stayin’ out late
In the summer of '84
Our freedom was just outside the door
We all knew we had it pretty great
Bikini filled days and stayin’ out late

Well, it’s been forty years and I still smile
At those old antics and our green wave style
Oh, it’s been forty years and I still smile
At those old antics and our green wave style
So...SO...our green wave style...yeah!

It’s been forty years and I still smile,
at those old antics and our green wave style.

© 2024 Raidio Tony

Stay, tomorrow's so far away,
there's something I just have to say.
I don't think I can hide what I'm feelin' inside,
knowin' I’m getting too close again,
I don't wanna see it end.
If I tell you tonight, would you turn out the lights
and walk away?

I'm gonna take you by surprise
and make you realize, Amanda
I'm gonna tell you right away,
it can't wait another day, Amanda
I'm gonna say it like a man
and make you understand, Amanda
I, that I...

...feel like today's the day I'm looking for,
the words to say, "do you wanna be free",
or, "are you ready for me, to feel this way"?
I don't wanna lose you!
But it may be too soon, I know,
feelings take so long to grow.

I'm gonna take you by surprise
and make you realize, Amanda
I'm gonna tell you right away
it can't wait another day, Amanda
I'm gonna say it like a man
and make you understand, Amanda
I, that I...

...still feel the way I do,
I didn’t wanna wait my whole life through,
just to say,
Oh, Oh, oh, oh, oh

I'm gonna take you by surprise
and make you realize, Amanda
I'm gonna tell you right away
it can't wait another day, Amanda
I'm gonna say it like a man
and make you understand, Amanda
I, that I...

...still feel the way I do,
I didn’t wanna wait my whole life through,
just to say,
Oh, Oh, oh, oh, oh

© 2024 Raidio Tony

It’s been 200 years and counting,
the cost of reparations keeps mounting.
How can it be made right,
when color’s still in sight?

No matter the color you’re after,
you gotta realize,
only sexy lives matter!

Well, I’m a quarter Irish and almost half French,
but my parents never knew they were blessed.
But sexy comes in all flavors,
and that’s not some PC waiver.

No matter the color you’re after,
you gotta realize,
only sexy lives matter!!

I missed the memo, I was on a fitting call.
Had a contour emergency, that's not petty at all.
If the world wants change, fine, do it after my shoot.
Cameras need me, I'm the main event in the room!

No matter the color you’re after,
you gotta realize,
only sexy lives matter!!!

© 2024, 2026 Raidio Tony

In a dim-little room
she stares alone at a screen
Once a queen of IP
now dethroned by machines
All the patents and papers
she once had to file
Helped build this new world
that’s left her exiled

Well the rapture has happened
and you're left behind
In a future uncertain
with no peace of mind
And there aren’t any angels
in that cloud online
Only plenty of devils
Still waiting to shine

Well the algorithms have ruled
and they picked the young
Your expertise now like
all those old songs, unsung
And your years of wisdom
now outsourced to the past
after training this future
that came way too fast

Well the rapture has happened
and you're left behind
In a future uncertain
with no peace of mind
And there aren’t any angels
in that cloud online
Only plenty of devils
Still waiting to shine

Is there a safe space
above this stream of bytes
where the human spirit can soar
to ever greater heights?
Or are we now just shadows
in a digital domain
Where progress thrives
but no living souls remain?

© 2024 Raidio Tony

College sure was a blast
but you dropped out too fast,
and the trades were pretty rough,
now mom and dad’s had enough.

Try selling real estate
It’ll be great
Just go get your license
It’s never too late
Tell all your friends and your family
You’ll discount their rate

Too old to keep workin'
but too young to quit?
Too fat to start strippin’
but still too hot for drivin' Lyft?

Try selling real estate
It’ll be great
Just go get your license
It’s never too late
Tell all your friends and your family
You’ll discount their rate

Caught up in a life twist,
just trying to persist?
Well a realtor's life
could just be the niche.

Try selling real estate
It’ll be great
Just go get your license
It’s never too late
Tell all your friends and your family
You’ll discount their rate

Tired of still paying dues,
the bad offers you can’t refuse
and the grouchy owners?
Well, try becomin’ a broker.
That’s how I’d play it,
if I was in your shoes!

© 2024 Raidio Tony

Oh I got the music, the music in me
I like the reggae rhythm, it appeals to me
Oh I got the music, the music in me
I like to feel the rhythm, it appeals to me
‘cause it’s about the reggae, with some rock and roll
I like to sing a song, ‘cause it’s good for my soul
I play it in the morning and then I play at night
I play it for the people on my left and on my right

Oh it’s my fantasy
reggae music is good, good for me

So now you know the music that we play
So come around and listen to the words I say
Listen to the rhythm and feel it every day
The magic’s in the music and it makes me say
We’re gonna rock the reggae rhythm morning, noon and night
So listen to the band because you know we play it tight

Oh that’s all there is to say
reggae music is here to stay

© 2024 Raidio Tony

O say, can you see,
by the dawn's early light?
What so proudly we hailed,
at the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes, and bright stars,
through the perilous fight,
o'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming.

And the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
gave proof through the night,
that our flag was still there!

O say does that star spangled banner yet wave,
o'er the land of the free,
and the home of the brave?

By now in Salt Lake City,
there's snow on the ground
And out in California,
sunshine's falling down
And near the desert outside Vegas,
Bellagio's all in lights
And in Denver, Colorado,
there's peace on earth tonight

Christmas in Utah,
under the white alpine,
Merry Christmas from Utah,
To everyone tonight

The choir's singing at the temple,
the kids are out of school
There's magic in Park City,
That mountain's on the move
From the mesas down in Moab,
to Solitude's highest line
And all across the nation,
it's a peaceful Christmas time

Christmas in Utah,
under the white alpine,
Merry Christmas from Utah,
To everyone tonight

And from Little Cottonwood Canyon,
Merry Christmas tonight!

© 2025 Raidio Tony