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| Born-on date: June 29, 2000. Somehow we've made it to
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| Born-on date: June 29, 2000. Somehow we've made it to
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 Buy your favorite music thru STLMedia ... You can buy DRM-free MP3 songs that will play anywhere (I've dl'd to the hard drive, burned to a CD, and copied to portable drives...no problems!) from Amazon by clicking on the Top MP3 Songs link at right. Every song you buy coughs a few coins into the STLMedia till...thanks for your support! Next STLMedia Monthly Meeting: Friday, January 30th, 9:30AM ... ...at Reynold's Roadhouse, 11488 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights MO. Maps here (halfway between Lindbergh & I-270 on Dorsett -- look for the US flag out front and the sign on the building; parking and entrance in back). This'll be an important get-together, as we'll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Frank Absher's remarkable website tribute to STLRadio history. Thursday 11-20-08: Gun & Knife Show this weekend ... Friday (4pm-8pm), Saturday (9am-5pm) and Sunday (9am-3pm), at the Machinist's Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton. Admission $7. Thursday 11-20-08: You could be the new PD for Bonneville's 106.5 The Arch ... Unless you're disabled. Or older and not physically capable. I know a lot of people who qualify in every regard for this position who would, in fact, be great additions to the Bonneville teams and smack-happy to get back to work in the business they know so well. But, according to Bonneville's own website, they're not eligible because they might not be physically qualified...  And it's probably illegal. Yes, I know that job aps sent through an HR person are just EOE shams, and that the decisions are made elsewhere. But why should a company like Bonneville be so stupid as to restrict the position to able bodies when more professionally qualified, albeit older and less physically qualified, applicants are available? Oh, wait: maybe the guys with experience actually expect a living wage... Nonetheless, maybe a few of us "old cripdogs" oughta contact the ADA and see what's what, huh? By the way, going back into day-to-day radio is not on my list of things to do...I'm speaking here for others of my generation who also have physical issues. But I can hump 500 rounds (15 or so pounds each) of UPS-delivered 9mm and .45 ammo from the front porch to the gun safe pretty easily, with just a little huffin' and puffin'. I've always been a good soldier. Comment here. Thursday 11-20-08: More news of The Legacy Media ... Yellow Pages Directories Facing Extinction: The yellow pages industry is in deep trouble, and growing online revenues may not be enough to save it, according to The Wall Street Journal. Consumers are increasingly use sites like Google to find the information they need, and "now, the economic downturn is sending the already ailing business into a tailspin." Indeed, with small online audiences and slowing growth, online revenues will not be enough to offset rapidly declining print sales for most yellow pages publishers. The Journal points out that too many directory services are vying for the same local business ad dollars. Because of this, none of them has a comprehensive roster. Meanwhile, in the face of a weak economic outlook, small businesses are drastically cutting back on their ad spending. According to Wachovia analyst John Janedis, yellow pages spending, both print and online, will fall 6.3% next year, more than double the expected rate of decline for broadcast television. Borrell Associates projects that in the next four years print ad spending will fall 39% for yellow pages publishers. Faced with such prospects, the Journal says some of the biggest publishers, which have considerable debt, are slashing jobs, scrapping dividends and exiting unprofitable markets. Shares in R.H. Donnelly and Idearc, for example, have fallen 99% this year. "Cerebral" NYT sports mag put to sleep: The New York Times is halting publication of Play, its quarterly sports magazine, according to FishbowlNY.com, which first reported the news. Editor Mark Bryant said the decision to cancel the magazine was made only recently--in the last month--as a result of the sudden, steep decline in the general economic situation. Play was launched by the New York Times on February 5, 2006 to coincide with Super Bowl Sunday. In keeping with the New York Times' brand, the glossy sports mag was somewhat more cerebral than its consumer magazine competitors. For example, a recent article on the magazine's Web site covered the resurgence of Russia in international athletics, drawing parallels between the renewed U.S.-Russia tensions and a rivalry between the NHL and Russia's new CHL. PCMag goes online only: PC Magazine, which has documented the explosive growth of the personal computer since 1982, announced on Wednesday that it was dropping its print edition next year and going online only. PC Magazine publisher Ziff Davis Media, which recently exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said in a statement that the final edition of the iconic magazine would be the January 2009 issue. Time Magazine trims 600: TIME Inc. becomes not a publisher of magazines but of pink slips instead. The magazine giant is expected to cut more than 250 from the payroll as part of an overall plan by Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore and Editor-in-Chief John Huey to slash 600 jobs from its overall work force of 10,200 employees worldwide. One insider estimated that when the Day of the Ax is done, it promises to be among the bloodiest one-day periods in the company's history.  This year, among the cable news networks, CNN won election night by a wide margin, pulling in an average of more than 12 million viewers during prime time; its Web site also saw a huge spike on election day, attracting some 30 million unique users. Among the broadcast networks, only ABC managed to beat CNN in prime time, from 8 to 11 p.m.—and if you expand the viewing horizon to 12:30 a.m., CNN topped them all. Jonathan Klein, who spent much of his career working in broadcast TV news before joining CNN in 2004, said that cable news is playing a completely different game than the broadcast networks. “What they’re playing is golf,” said Mr. Klein. “That is, they’re trying to get there in as few strokes as possible. Spend as little as possible, but still look like you’re still covering the news. “Here, the challenge is the opposite,” he added. “Show the audience that you are swarming over every story with as many resources as possible. Run up the score.” With a financial crisis undermining the American economy, advertising in free fall and the election over, will CNN continue to try and run up the score at the same feverish pace? “We’re not going to trim our sails,” said Mr. Klein. “We’re going to be cautious just as everyone else in America is. But we intend to continue innovating. The best path through turbulent economic times is growth.” Comment here. Tuesday 11-18-08: Dang, this WWW thing is amazing ... I did a search for something (I forget what) about military service and wound up with the email addy and service journal of one of my classmates at Signal School at Ft. Monmouth/NJ back in Spring '68. And now we're in touch, after 40 years. Ain't that the damndest thing? Tuesday 11-18-08: Talk radio PD betrays his agenda ... This story, by Dan Shelley, hit the net late last week and has since been linked at about a gazillion websites, righty and lefty. I've had the URL sent to me by dozens of readers, many of whom added "See, what did I tell you?" comments. The upshot, true or not, is that Conservative talk show hosts play on the fears and innate prejudices of their listeners to garner listeners. Read the piece, from Milwaukee Magazine, and make your own judgement. What struck me, though, was the very first line: I first got into journalism because I thought I could make a difference. 'Scuse me for bein' a non-JSchool dummie, but I always thought that a journalist's job was not to make a difference, but to report on the differences observed, so that we, as readers, could make up our own minds. Armed then with the various chunks of info presented, maybe we could make a difference. Like when we voted or took part in a bloody revolution or sumfin. I'm glad that this Shelley guy had the gumption to show us his stuff and management style, but I don't think I'm too far off-base to suggest that he went into his business for all the wrong reasons. I've never liked having my decisions made for me. Comment here. Monday 11-17-08: You can never get enough Blue Christmas ... Former KTRS'er and KC radio legend George Woods has set up a channel on his RadioGeorge website that plays nothing but versions of the seasonal classic Blue Christmas. Radio George reports listeners in over 1,600 cities in more than 60 different countries. This, of course; begs two questions: First, why aren't radio stations using their websites (and their highly-touted HD channels) for more projects like this? Second, where are all the STL radio personality websites? They're significant only in their absence. I mean, it's not like it's an expensive thing to set up...or are they all too intoxicated with the Facebook and MySpace black holes? Comment here. Monday 11-17-08:Backstoppers benefit project ... from Shari Eischen at A-B via Broadcast Center's Ralph Stanley: My next door neighbor is a Fireman for Maplewood and used to work w/the young guy, Ryan Hummert, who was shot during the standoff situation in Maplewood during the summer. They are having a fund raiser in honor of Ryan this Saturday and Sunday at the Papa John´s Restaurants in St. Louis, St. Charles and Metro East locations. If people mention that they are supporters of the Ryan Hummert Memorial Foundation, then 20% of the bill is donated to the foundation. Is there a way you can have your broadcasting buddies mention this event on the radio this week? I´m sure the Maplewood Firefighters would appreciate it as well as the Backstopper´s. If YOUR radio or TV station mentioned this, it would be a mitzvah. Monday 11-17-08: Secret Squirrel sick call ... Charles Jaco on injured reserve at Fox 2 following eye surgery to repair a torn retina (ouch!). Will be out several weeks. Elliott Davis to helm Jaco Report. No word on filling the hole in the 10pm news. Comment here. Monday 11-17-08: Sam Zell shows us how to rescue print media ... Dumb down the stories, make the pictures bigger and the charts more colorful...and add burned out radio dude Lee Abrams as a consultant. And, no, Abrams ain't workin' out: So far, Abrams' ballyhooed efforts to rethink the American newspaper—employing more radical versions of the big headlines, small articles, and colorful charts rolled out at other newspapers over the last three decades—have had no impact on declining circulation. And analysts are skeptical about whether Tribune's focus on redesigning print makes good business sense as advertising, the main income generator for newspapers, continues to soften. On Monday, the company reported a 19 percent drop in advertising revenues and a 2 percent drop in circulation revenues for the third quarter compared with last year. Comment here. Monday 11-17-08: Please, sir, may I have some more? How long before the Legacy Media insists on their share of the financial free-for-all called The Bailout? Not long, I bet. Newspapers and TV nets, broadcast and cable, and ailing broadcasters, including Sirius/XM (currently trading at about a quarter a share) will be standing in line, waiting with their duffel bags to be filled with cash dollars straight out of your pockets and mine. It's not like we didn't try to save their sorry unthinking asses once already, with the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970. Yes, that was the deal that gave the Globe-Democrat's owners (Newhouse Publishing) half of Pulitzer's profits, with none of the silly expenses like personnel and printing. And Pulitzer pumped cash year after year into that worthless enterprise until they got the idiots at Lee to buy them out for billions. This article is only slightly tongue in cheek: Should our proposals fail, we can still shake loose much low-hanging fruit. For starters, a special—and substantial—tax credit for daily newspapers, given our "educational" rebranding. Consumers' subscriptions will win tax-deductible status as well. I'm less certain than some of you that lifting laws preventing newspapers from owning radio or TV stations in the same market will fatten bottom lines. But here, too, a persuasion campaign can reap benefits. Comment here. Monday 11-17-08: So Mel Karmazin lays off a ton or two of employees at Sirius/XM... ... and then expects them to fall in line with their one-year non-compete agreement. Who, exactly, is XM/Sirius' competition? Karmazin, according to Inside Radio's Tom Taylor, says it's all other forms of audio entertainment. I guess this means that guys who worked for SatRad, making, say $150k, couldn't take a $15/hour gig at a CD duplicator. There's something wrong with this picture. And, oh yeah, no holiday party at Sirius/XM this year. But if you work there you get the day after Christmas off. Comment here. Monday 11-17-08: Product integration a problem? Maybe not so much ... From Variety: The lingering impediment is that nobody knows precisely where the audience's "ick" factor kicks in, but most evidence suggests that they're pretty understanding. According to research from Knowledge Networks, a small percentage of viewers object to product integration, a few actually enjoy it, and the lion's share don't care. So while purists might wince, there's little reason to believe a few derisive postings on Jim Romenesko's media-news website will trigger a significant ratings backlash. Comment here. Weekend 11-15/16-08: KMOV sacks another veteran reporter ... Secret Squirrel tells the story: In its quest to become the worst station in local news, KMOV has not renewed the contract of (read fired) long-time reporter Mike O'Connell. O'Connell has been with KMOV for 15 years and is easily one of the top two or three reporters in town. His vast experience does not matter. His numerous news contacts do not matter. What matters to KMOV management is that he is old (over 30) and most importantly he makes a good salary. KMOV's owners are doing anything to save a few bucks. Pay freezes, layoffs, double work loads for staffers and selling their credibility by getting rid of good journalists in favor of young, cheap cub reporters are all part of KMOV's plan for short-term financial success but long-term ruin. This is already being discussed on the MB: Comment here. Thursday 11-13-08: Jonnie King update ... Jonnie had shoulder reconstruction surgery performed earlier this week, pinning and screwing the original pieces of his right shoulder back together and avoiding the use of metal parts, as he preferred. Jonnie still faces months of physical therapy, between the shoulder surgery and his fractured jaw. More info later. He's been home recuperating since late Tuesday, and hasn't been able to key a word online since his accident. But he'd love to hear from you. Comment here. Wednesday 11-12-08:Just noticed this ... ...in Randy Raley's blog From The Rearview Mirror: And that's how the fight got started...funny stuff. Wednesday 11-12-08: How the decline of newspapers ... ...is killing TV news. From the New York Post: But what we're not hearing from TV in reporting this story is that it's also an enormous television story. Without newspapers, from where will local TV newscasts procure the news they daily report? Most local newscasts have for years taken much or most of their hard news from newspapers. The freshest genuine news that local TV newscasts now provide are weather forecasts, unless you count updates and previews of "American Idol," "Survivor" and "Dancing With The Stars." Read it all. Comment here. Wednesday 11-12-08: Live Cable's Fleeting Profanities ... ... Do They Matter To Viewers Or Advertisers? From TVWatch: A media critique by Wayne Friedman Once again, don't be surprised if your favorite actor or TV newsperson on any cable network says some profanity. They can do it as often, as long as they like. It happened yesterday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program when Joe Scarborough talked about the "steady nature" of Barack Obama, David Axelrod, and Robert Gibbs, and how new chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will fit in. Scarborough said: "These are good, decent, steady men that don't go around flipping people off or screaming 'fuck you' at the top of their lungs." Then, realizing what he'd said, he apologized. But he didn't really have to, not according to the Federal Communications Commission. Scarborough apologized more for decorum -- for his viewers and, no doubt, for big national advertisers who run TV commercials. TV advertisers run ads mostly with the understanding that cable networks adhere to broadcast-TV-like standards. Remember, there's plenty of foul language on Comedy Central's "South Park" -- and occasionally even on big network-like TV shows such as TNT's "Saving Grace." Cable's scripted show are where viewers should expect, and accept, such language -- occasionally. But what if it was more of the rule for live cable TV, especially on cable news networks? Would viewers rebel? Would advertisers walk out? The dirty little secret about cable networks is that they have always been network or broadcast network wannabes. But some critics think they need to be more unlike broadcast networks to distinguish themselves. Extend this to others areas. What if Stuart Scott of ESPN was getting a tad funky with his highlight description of say, a Philadelphia 76er-New York Knick game? No big deal -- at least according to the FCC. Under the FCC broadcast TV rules, Scarborough's flub could be considered "fleeting" -- which, according to one federal court, means no foul. To be sure, using language to shock would yield viewer complaints and perhaps a dip in some advertiser revenues. But how about in the heat of an argument? Or, in any show in adult-time periods? How about when U.S. troops are under live fire in a live TV broadcast? The question is, not just when foul language is appropriate, but when it is necessary. Comment here. Wednesday 11-12-08: Who better to run a non-profit than an NYT exec ... ...NPR chooses a New York Times online exec as its new President/CEO: Read NPR's story They took a little more than eight months to identify a successor to Ken Stern, and that’s less time than they expected – no doubt lots of people wanted the job, but it demands just the right person. That turns out to be Vivian Schiller, who’ll take the rest of the year to wind up her current job as Senior VP and General Manager of NYTimes.com. That’s just the kind of experience National Public Radio’s digital side wanted. Comment here. Tuesday 11-11-08: Just a reminder ...  (Mike's ribbons, representing awarded medals, from his Army service '68-'71) Today, the 11th day of the 11th month, is Veterans' Day, when we pause to remember and thank all those brave men and women who have served to make this the greatest nation on Earth, sometimes in the face of daunting odds and enemies, foreign and domestic.Join me in hoping and praying that their work will never have been in vain. Tuesday 11-11-08:Don't even have to leave my driveway... I know this is incredibly lazy of me, but it works well and now I make it available to my "worldwide audience." I've been cutting ad tracks on my under-$200 Zoom H2 digital recorder, editing and cleaning them up in Audacity and emailing them to clients. I've actually been using the Town Car as my studio. Why not? It's upholstered in leather and it's soundproof. You won't believe the quality I can deliver this way. Want a new voice for your clients? Well, it turns out I have a little experience at reading commercial copy. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed. And I could always use a new income stream... You can have one free sample, and then you get to pay. Contact me for info. Monday 11-10-08: What Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads says... How to Avoid “AdSpeak” in Your Ads: 1. Limit self-reference. Reduce the number of times you refer to your company or your product in your ads. (New York Times bestselling authors Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg offer a free, online analysis of ad copy at FutureNowInc.com. Their “We-We Calculator” scores ad copy instantly. Just copy and paste your ad into the text-block and the software does the rest.) 2. Don’t say it. Lead the customer to say it. Instead of saying, “We’re honest,” say something that only an honest person would say. Let the customer respond, “Wow. That’s honest.” 3. Admit the downside. It makes the upside easier to believe. Imagine the impact of a jeweler saying, “A diamond is just a symbol. The important thing is not to forget what it symbolizes.” Read more Monday 11-10-08: Here's a quickie from David Garland's show Rise To The Top ... See below for more show and website info. Monday 11-10-08: No Wi-Fi for you, it makes you itch, or sneeze, or something ... From The Register: The city of Santa Fe is being taken to task over a plan to deploy a Wi-Fi network on the ground they're unfairly discriminating against people who are allergic to electromagnetic waves. The complaint is spearheaded by Arthur Firstenberg, and the Cellular Phone Task Force*, as reported by KOB-TV, and is based on the premise that putting up Wi-Fi equipment unfairly discriminates in breach of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Firstenberg would like to see Wi-Fi banned - in all public buildings, at least. In fact Firstenberg would like to see a lot more than that, as outlined in his article on the subject entitled Killing Fields. He'd like government funding to pay for more attorneys and cover the cost of buying land for EMF-free sanctuaries. City Councillor Ron Trujillo reckons the areas under contention are already awash with Wi-Fi signals, so any claim that the city's deployment will alter things is spurious. Comment here. Monday 11-10-08: I take Crestor every day ... It's been nothing less than magical in lowering my cholesterol and now I apparently have this added benefit: AstraZeneca Plc's Crestor slashed the risk of heart attack, stroke and death by nearly half in people with normal or low cholesterol in a study, potentially opening a way to save the lives of thousands of seemingly healthy people. After two heart attacks and cardiac bypass and femoral artery surgery in both legs, this is wonderful news. I originally took Lipitor, but changed to Crestor some years ago. I intend to live to 100+, just to annoy my haters. Monday 11-10-08: KLOU's celebrating their 20th anniversary and a format "adjustment" today... ... so I've moved this piece back up to the top. On November 5 (or the 8th, depending on whose record you believe), 1988, Top 40 KHTR segued from Cheap Trick's version of "Don't Be Cruel" to the Elvis Presley version. The first picture below shows the original staff in 1988 (the late Ron Morgan, Joe Sonderman - still on the air and still writing STL histories, Kevin McCarthy - currently owns an audio and video production company and is doing a syndicated radio travel show, Paul Arca - still on the air and back in KLOU's PM drive, Mike McCann - who made it to WCBS-FM and who is probably the most knowledgeable oldies jock ever, and Scott Arkin - current whereabouts unknown). The second picture shows the original studios at One Memorial Drive (better quality photos added). ADDITION: And as a bonus, here's streaming MP3 audio of the changeover, with a "very special message" from the late Bob Hyland. Photos and audio courtesy Joe Sonderman. UPDATE: Joe Crain adds this: Mike... Good Lord! How the time flies by... had the audio continued on for the "opening moments" of KLOU, you would have heard me coming out of Danny and the Juniors into Johnny Rivers (IIRC). Funny side note, the script Mr. Hyland read at the changeover was nearly identical to the script he read for the switch form KMOX-FM to KHTR seven years earlier! A couple of the KHTR folks were let go earlier in the day (AM Driver Chuck Buell; nightjock Tammi Rush) and Roger Brand was moved from AM show producer to producer duties down on the 3rd floor at the Mighty Mox---of course, Roger went on to higher heights of success as the heir apparent to Capt. Don Miller in the KMOX Jet Copter. The weekend jocks, myself and Mike Jefferies, were retained and I stayed on-board until the Spring of 1989 when the opportunity to work full-time and Program took me to a CHR in Duluth, MN as the PD/PM Driver. I attended the KLOU 15th aniversary party at the Casino Queen. Of course, Ron had passed away by then... but, Joe, Kevin, Paul, Scott were there (Mike McCann couldn't attend). At the time 5 years ago, Scott Arkin was working as a financial planner/stock broker out in west county. Not sure what he's up to these days. Later today, I'll try to dig up some old photos from KHTR and KLOU, scan them and e-mail them to you. Later, Joe (KHTR March '88-Nov '88/KLOU Nov '88-April '89) Joe Crain WICS-TV Meteorologist "Sunrise This Morning" and "ABC NewsChannel 20 Midday" Springfield, IL   ... why do so many radio stations declare the 25-54 demo as their primary target? How can that be? What kind of sense does that make? When Mrs. A and I were 54, all of our children were older than 25 (and there were four grandchildren, by then, too). How can two generations, with different life experiences, different social and economic structures, radically different educations, different musical tastes, be clumped together in one bunch for ratings? They can't, of course, and they shouldn't be. To think it's so is absurd. 25-49, once a subset at Arbitron, needs to be its own stand-alone demo and format target, examined as the children of Boomers. 50-64 should also be a stand-alone demo (the new version of 25-54), incorporating Boomers from start to finish. And another demo needs to be added to Arbitron studies: 65+. Why? We're living longer, lots longer, and we have lots more money to spend than Seniors in any other generation. Seniors 65+ still listen to radio and still spend their loot. But they're not represented in either written diary surveys or PPM and that's wrong. Give any of these "new" demos a compelling reason to listen, present relevant ads to them, and watch your garden grow. You pay a ton of money to Arbitron for ratings results. Make sure they represent your audience appropriately. Comment here. Weekend 11-08/09-08: Career and social advice and info for 25-34's ... Told you this was coming, and now it's here. David Siteman Garland's Rise To The Top airs this week on My46 and ABC30 (check the website here for more info) and will eventually be available weekly online. It's a well-produced show, with great ideas and content, and produced especially for 25-34's. Radio stations shooting for that demo would be wise to get involved, if David accepts your pitch. Garland's nailed it with content and I believe that this show will grow way beyond STL, even if it's "only" an audio and video podcast. As far as I'm concerned, his start in Legacy Media broadcast TV is only the beginning. This show's future is online. Weekend 11-08/09-08: Rifles, handguns and ammo ... ... are being snapped up at retail and online outlets as fast as they're placed on sale and ammo cost is at an all-time high. Does this presage a resurrection of the ridiculous 1994 Clinton assault gun ban (affecting the purchase, but not the ownership, of weapons that were clearly and demonstrably NOT assault weapons) that also included air rifles? Or is there something else going on? I'm not an NRA guy, but I am a gun owner and a target shooter; my spidey-sense is tingling and tells me that something evil is afoot regarding the sanctity of the 2nd Amendment. Comment here. Weekend 11-08/09-08: It always comes down to t-shirts ... CNN headline T-shirts The election of Barack Obama has sent Americans scrambling for keepsakes of the historic moment, creating lines outside printing plants for yesterday's newspaper editions. It has also led to a small flurry of a new kind of keepsake: CNN has registered thousands of orders for T-shirts carrying the headline from the site reporting Obama's election victory. Comment here. Weekend 11-08/09-08: What is youth? ... From MarketingCharts.com: Consumers Stay ‘Younger’ Longer The traditional demographic definition of “youth” is no longer applicable in today’s society, and marketers should target consumers based upon their engagement and participation in youth culture rather than on their chronological age, according to the “Golden Age of Youth” study from Viacom Brand Solutions International (VBSI). As people worldwide delay the onset of adult responsibilities and stay emotionally and physically younger for longer, it is becoming more acceptable for older people to participate in youthful pursuits. To support this trend, marketers should routinely consider the often-overlooked 25-34 age group a part of the youth market, VBSI said. “Contemporary youth should now be defined as ‘the absence of functional and/or emotional maturity,’ reflecting the fact that accepting traditional responsibilities such as mortgages, children and developing a strong sense of self-identity/perspective is occurring later and later in life,” the study said. Indeed, 52% of all 25-34 year-olds agree they still have “a lot of growing up to do,” and this sentiment is highest in Asian (78%) and Latin American (66%) markets. And then, of course, Johnny Cash asked this question years ago: Comment here. Friday 11-07-08: Forgot to present the results of our Presidential survey ... with 310 "votes" cast, 156 were for McCain/Palin and 154 were for Obama and the other guy. A 50/50 tie here, but it didn't work out that way in the real votes, where it mattered. But I guess by now you know that. Previous polls results here; another one's coming soon. Friday 11-07-08: STLMedia Watch Dog, Tasha ... happily cedes her regular weekend presence here in honor of a true Canine-American hero, President Bush's pup, Barney, who this week took a chunk out of a Reuters' reporter. Good dog, Barney! I hope that the reporter had his shots and that Barney will be OK. Thursday 11-06-08: So what's a share in KTRS going for these days ... Not a lot, I've heard. As we saw on Robocop..."I'd buy that for a dollar!" Might be close. Thursday 11-06-08: Big web users are big TV viewers ... ... From MediaDailyNews: Internet usage does not seem to erode TV viewing. A new study by Nielsen Media Research found that the heaviest Internet users also happen to be the heaviest users of television. At the same time, the study showed that the lowest users of TV are also the lowest users of the Internet. Could this have anything to do with my personal experience? That everywhere in my home where I access the Net (office, living room, bedroom) I also have big-screen cable-hooked TV's that are always on? And that I use the 'puters as fact-checkers for what I see on TV as much as work stations? Comment here. Thursday 11-06-08: US News & World Report ... ... always the third-ranked newsweekly, after Time and Newsweek, has dropped completely out of print and will concentrate on their web service: "We're accelerating this transformation in response to our rapid growth online where our audience is now about 7 million uniques a month and growing," US News president Bill Holiber and editor Brian Kelly said in the memo. "For all of you who have worked so hard to make this transition possible, say good-bye to Web 2.0 and welcome to Journalism 5.0," they added. Like other US magazines and newspapers, US News has been losing readership and advertising revenue to online media for years. 2008: the year that Legacy Media died. Comment here. Thursday 11-06-08: So were you at this meeting? Secret Squirrel wasn't and wants to know more: dave greene has called an all staff mtg for wednesday at 5:30 where he is expected to give the rundown for the new kfns. the new kfns will look a lot like the old kfns as green is going to announce that he will be the lead host for the new morning show in a format where no one that is currently on the air will remain with the exception of cusamono. ramsey is expected to go to 101 and everyone else will be let go. gordon and vernetti have a shot at staying but will move to late nights as green likes the idea of live late night call in radio for when games end. all the nitch shows on the weekend will be replaced with shows bringing their own money. that means no more golf or nascar shows. kfns will be a memory this time next year. Comment here. Thursday 11-06-08: If the Dems kick the Fairness Doctrine back into play ... ... I keep hearing that it will be the death knell for Talk Radio. Some of the Really Smart Guys say that the companies who program the most talk are owned and/or run by Dem supporters and so it will not happen. Maybe, maybe not. But if the FD is reinstituted, and political talk goes away, what will talkers do? The answer is so blindingly obvious and the implementation so simple that I'm astounded no one has yet suggested it, or even begun to move on it pre-emptively. I won't tell you what it is, at least for free, but I will say that it has the potential to power and make profitable at least one talk station in every one of the Top 100 markets (and several syndicators) for the next 20 years. And even if the FD is not resurrected, this is something talk stations need to look into. Radio must be truly and completely devoid of capable, imaginative management to have missed this. Thursday 11-06-08: Secret Squirrel loves him some oldies ... ... but that resource may be coming to an end. Word is that the "My 103" moniker for KLOU is a thing of the past, and that the music played there may become a thing of the more recent past, as the station seems to be gearing up to play oldies for a demo younger than 45+. Will KLOU make the '80's the new '60's? Tomorrow (Friday the 7th) might be the target date for startup. Comment here. Tuesday 11-04-08: Jonnie King update ... I had the chance on Tuesday to spend a few hours with our friend Jonnie, driving him to his first meeting with the orthopedic surgeon who'll be doing the repair work on his shoulder. I'm told she's the best in her field. She did a thorough exam and I'll be taking him in for the work next Monday; with any luck he'll be home the day after, with a long period of recovery and rehab ahead of him. Jonnie's jaw is still wired to help heal the three fractures he suffered during his accident; he's got at least another month and a half ahead of him for his jaw to heal sufficiently to enable him to eat real food. Thanks to Dr. Larry Hoffman who has been keeping a careful eye on Jonnie's upkeep and surgical needs. Mrs A has established a medical fund (managed and accessible ONLY by Jonnie) for Jonnie, and we'll be presenting a mailing address in the next day or so where you can send your financial assistance to help defray his costs. I'm just happy to be able to drive Mr. King where he needs to go, when he needs to get there. Think of it as "Drivin Mr. Jonnie!" It's my privilege to do it. Comment here. Tuesday 11-04-08: How I spent Election Day 2008 ...  Dressed and let Tasha out again, rinsed dirty dishes off and started the dishwasher (I won't do that again at 5:30AM...Mrs A wound up with a lukewarm shower). Brought the dog in and headed out to vote. The line was three across and wrapped around the church and out to the street; went home. Let Tasha out once more, drank coffee from Mrs A's fresh-brew. Surfed the net and read relevant blogs until Mrs A left to vote; she called relaying that the line was still long and she went on to work. Bacon, eggs and rye toast for breakfast. More web surfing and email. Tasha out once more, then into her crate and I was off to take Jonnie King to a surgeon's appointment, to his polling place so he could vote and then dropped him off at his home. That accomplished, got to my second-favorite gunshop at just before 2PM, where I ordered a Hi-Point 9mm carbine for delivery Friday. Hotfooted it to my polling place to vote; no line at 2:45PM, just a few ahead of me. Hotfooted it home to meet the housecleaners exactly at 3PM. Worked behind them, cleaning out the fridge and restocking water and soft drinks, getting trash out and doing another load of dishes and then on to the grocery store for dinner. Mrs A headed home just after 6PM, showed up at our polling place, voted correctly and managed to be the final voter in our precinct at exactly 7PM. Don't know the finals yet, but I survived a year in Vietnam, four years of Jimmy Carter, eight years of Bill Clinton and almost four decades in radio. At this point in my life I figure I can handle four years of anything. Comment here. Weekend 11-01/02-08: Your weekend Tasha ...   ("That's the last time I do that for three bucks." -- Frank O. Pinion) Driving around here at night is always an adventure. Weekend 11-01/02-08: Over the top on the cute meter ... Comment here. Friday 10-31-08: Told ya about this on October 12 ... ... and now Dan Caesar finally has his grab at it: KFNS shakes it up at the top; on-air likely is next The changing of the guard is taking place at KFNS, the troubled former leader in the local sports-talk radio business, as Evan Crocker has resigned as general manager and is being replaced by two executives with St. Louis Sports Magazine. Dave Greene will oversee the on-air operations and James Oelklaus will run the sales side. Comment here. Friday 10-31-08: This week's roundup of SportsTalk101 info ... ... the addition of award-winning veteran sports journalist Bryan Burwell to their broadcast team in a daypart to be named, the addition of Chris Gardner as PM Drive Producer and a three-year agreement with SLU to serve as the flagship radio station for men's Billiken Basketball. It's looking worse and worse, recycling old players and teams. Who listens to college BB on the radio? Not even grads care; they're at the game. This game is for Bonneville to lose (to peanut whistle AM's, even). And so far they're doing a mighty good job of shaving points and making their multi-million dollar remodeled station a loser from the get go. Over the weekend I'll show you a plan they can use, a way they can step up to the plate, hit the first ball on 01/01/09 and knock that sucker out of the park, even using new talent, brought fresh into the market. But they'll have to implement it immediately and quit using worn out STL sports guys (no disrespect intended). Comment here. Friday 10-31-08: We presented the trial part of this a while back ... ... here's the sentencing phase: Sylvia York, convicted of using more than $70,000 of Emmis Communications' money to pay her own American Express account, has been sentenced to a year in prison, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. Prosecutors said that York, who served as controller of Emmis/St. Louis, diverted the money to pay for travel, clothing, and entertainment, and used her knowledge of company procedures to cover up the crimes. York must pay $70,633.56 in restitution to Emmis. When she leaves prison, she'll spend six months in home detention, followed by two years of supervised release. Comment here. Friday 10-31-08: Jules Riley off and running ... ... The respected Arch PD moves on to Greater Media's 95.7 WBEN –FM (BEN-FM). Jules will begin her new position in mid-November. Good luck to her, on a nice jump from Market 20 to Market 8. Note to Jules: Phid-uh-delfya is just a provincial as STL. Please say hi to my peeps in South Jersey. Comment here. Thursday 10-30-08: Thanks to MySpace ... ... for scrubbing the scurrilous Mick Flanderson parody pages from their web server at my request. I don't mind criticism of what I do here. I do mind offensive, personal attacks by people who are afraid to sign their real name. Even the wild, wild web is coming into self-control in that regard. Personal responsibilty for accurate content matters. This includes websites who refer to us this way: I hope [Anderson] dies soon, so I can s**t on his grave. (Yes, I said that.) I'm raffing. I have too much to do before I die. Comment here. Wednesday 10-29-08: How's that BluRay DVD workin' for ya ... Toshiba has abandoned it's HD-DVD format but Sony's BluRay has been slow to catch on. By the end of Summer, only 4million units have been sold and, to make the format work Sony will need an additional 10million players in the marketplace by the end of 2008. Nope, none here at STLMedia HQ, just old-fashioned DVD players in the 'puters and at every TV. BluRay is one tech advance I don't much care about. And apparently neither do many other DVD users. Can you spell B-E-T-A? Comment here. Wednesday 10-29-08: First man in space ... Son Jason sent this video along: Joe Kittinger stepped out of a balloon at 102,800 feet in 1960, jumping from black space to Earth in just under 14 minutes. It takes me longer than that to get through the grocery store on my daily run. Wednesday 10-29-08: Eulogy for Jim Bland ... Losing a friend or family member to age or a lingering illness is one thing. It's not unexpected that someone who is older or ill will pass from their condition. But losing a friend in his prime to something like an auto accident (and I've had many friends lost this way) is as cruel to the survivors as it is to the victim. Jim Bland was a relatively young man, just 55, middle-age, really, with a bright and building future in education. He was one of the few guys I knew who truly took lemons delivered to him and made them into lemonade. And he was one of the very few who, as Placement Director at Broadcast Center, really made a difference. The guy worked hard to make sure that the students who had passed the BC course went to work. I occasionally sat with him in his office while he made his calls, pitching this student and that one, extolling their raw skills, hoping to land them a gig somewhere, anywhere. And he almost always did. Many of them went on from their first gig to a second one, and a third. All thanks to Jim Bland's remarkable effort. There are an awful lot of men and women in the broadcast industry these days who owe their careers to Mr. Bland and his sales talent. After I first heard the news yesterday morning I just kinda went into a trance, had the tv on but wasn't really watching it, sat on the couch and rubbed Tasha behind the ears as she likes, just zoned out, reflecting on what a hideous waste Jim's untimely passing truly is. I met Jim in early 1986, when I was the morning guy at WIL and went to work part-time as an instructor at BC. That was back when Bill Gephardt owned the place and it was in Clayton, with a perpetually flooding basement. Jim and I hit it off immediately. We could make eachother laugh and that's the best basis for friendship I know. Over the next few years, we discovered a lot we had in common, much of which centered around cooking. I was, for a few years, a regular at his annual Jim loved him some Cardinals' baseball! We eventually fell out of touch, with the exception of an occasional email, holiday card or phone call. Way too few of any over the years. Damn, I'll miss the guy. Comment here. Wednesday 10-29-08: The MSM's in ICU and I'm not feeling so well myself ... Well, now. Newspaper circulation continues to decline, print company stock prices are tanking, ad revenue is dropping through the floor, writers are coming out of the closet with mea culpas for their bias, some papers are dropping some weekday editions and the respected Christian Science Monitor is going weekly. Then, of course, there are the broadcast media issues of hugely declining ratings and revenue and you arrive at one final conclusion: 2008 was the year the MSM died. Comment here. Tuesday 10-28-08: Jim Bland dies in an auto accident ... Bland was visiting a friend in Paris, France, where the accident occurred Monday afternoon. Jim was a long-time employee of Broadcast Center and a teacher at Webster University, from which he received his degree in Education. He was 55. Funeral arrangements are pending. More details here. Tuesday 10-28-08: My ISP is going fiber optic, upgrading from DSL ... ...and they're going to give me faster service, a new (free) modem, free install and more. Or at least that's what the guy who came to my door recently said. No bundling of phone/cabletv/web, no metered service, no rate jumps, no email changes, no IP addy changes. Just better and faster service from AT&T. Why do I not believe that this is possible? Is this actually happening anywhere else in STL? Comment here. Tuesday 10-28-08: Steve Mays is the go-to guy for web solutions at Learfield ... ...which provides news and sports programming to hundreds of Midwest radio stations and manages multi-media rights for more than 40 college athletic programs. I've sent folks to him when they've asked questions I couldn't answer and Steve has helped them, regardless of their affiliation. Mays is a smart guy who wields a great deal of influence within his company and, by extension, with their clients. His politics are his own and none of my business, but when he writes something like this on his widely-read blog, wherein he represents himself as an employee of Learfield, I get a sinking feeling:  How can a statement like this from someone in his position not affect the way the company's clients think? This reminds me of a dinner Mrs. A and I had a couple Summers back with four multi-star AF Generals, who, among them, controlled the assignment and deployment of all USAF bombers (including nucs), transports and fighter aircraft everywhere in the world. The next day, a leftie anti-military friend of mine joked about whether or not they were ready to use their authority to overthrow the government. I tried to explain that these guys (and their commands) were sworn to protect and defend the Constitution etc. and had spent the last thirty years of their lives doing so, but some people just don't understand the concept of duty and country. Evidently Mr. Mays, of Learfield, doesn't understand that concept either. It just creeps him out. Comment here. Monday 10-27-08: Jonnie King update ... Spoke with Jonnie Sunday afternoon. He's home until the next round of surgery; his is not going to be an easy recovery and Jonnie needs our best wishes and assistance to pull through this rough patch. If you're a friend, now's the time to stand up and be counted. Don't call, but email sent to edrothratfink@gmail.com will automatically forward to Jonnie's private email inbox and he'll pick it up there. He mentioned on the phone this PM how much he appreciated the many messages he's received...keep 'em comin'! Please note: Mrs A's helping me set up a bank escrow fund to help Jonnie manage this problem...hospital care ain't cheap and his resources and benefits may not entirely cover it. We'll likely need some help from you to make sure he gets well again, soonest and with the best available medical care. I'll keep you posted. Comment here. Monday 10-27-08: Looking at buying ... the Kel Tec P-32 described here and here and the Kel Tec PF-9 described here and here to fill in the collection blanks. Anybody got any other suggestions in these calibers and frame sizes? Email me! Weekend 10-25/26-08: Lookin' out my front door... This afternoon, while I was in the office updating client websites, they came a-knockin'. Tasha uncharacteristically growled as she crouched at the door. Good dog, Tasha. Yes, she's a Red Dog. I opened it with trepidation, as I do to anyone I haven't invited or expect and with my cocked-and-locked .380 in my hand behind my back I faced... Two well-dressed 20-something Caucasian women. I slipped the .380 into my pocket, sensing no immediate threat. "Yes?" I asked. "We'd like to speak to (Mrs A)," they said, using her full legal name, looking at their list. "And who might you be?" I asked. "Canvassers for Barack Obama," they said. "Ah," I replied. "I'm sorry, but she can't come to the door right now. She's upstairs, barefoot and pregnant, reading her Bible and cleaning our handguns after our day at the shooting range. And then she'll have to grill our venison steaks." "But she can't vote anyway," I went on, "she's only 15." They just stared at me. Open mouthed. "Hahaha," I chortled. "Have a nice day," I said. And then I shut the door forcefully. Not quite a slam, just forcefully. I just know I'm now on The List. The Cold Civil War goes on... (Okay, that's not exactly how it went, but it's pretty close and this makes a better story.) Comment here. Weekend 10-25/26-08: This is just a slap in the face... ... for all taxpayers: From TheHill: House members in the next Congress could get Apple’s iPhone as their newest communication gadget. The Chief Administrative Office (CAO), which oversees the communications systems for the House, has begun testing a small number of iPhones within its ranks to see if they are compatible with the working needs of lawmakers and staff. “The reason we’re trying them out is because we heard a lot of people wanted the option to have them,” said Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the CAO. The CAO plans to decide whether to give members the option of using the phones, which are offered exclusively under AT&T contracts, by the beginning of the next Congress in January. The cell phone of choice in the House is currently the BlackBerry, with nearly 8,200 in active use. Comment here. Weekend 10-25/26-08: Might be room for Lefties after all... MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show is doing well for the cable network. Better, in fact, than Olbermann. But she's also performing well on another platform — podcasts. Last Monday, the program started a video and audio podcast, and the video version is #1 on iTunes. The audio podcast is #8. Comment here. Weekend 10-25/26-08: HDRadio wants a ten-fold power increase... From Tom Taylor: The FCC wants to know – it really, really wants to know, because this is controversial, and yet time seems scarce in terms of giving HD Radio buyers a satisfactory listening experience. The 18 radio groups representing over 1,200 commercial and non-com stations and the four biggest manufacturers request an increase from the current 1% of analog power to as much as 10%. But National Public Radio claims that will endanger reception of first- and second-adjacent stations on the FM band, based on its study of the Pittsburgh market (among other things). So the FCC’s like a court with competing expert witnesses, asking for more input. Public comments should be filed on MM Docket 99-325 by November 28, with reply comments due January 4. Comment here. Weekend 10-25/26-08: Missed this obit last week... Don Burnes, the PR man who created the image of KSD radio in the 60s, passed away Wednesday, October 22 following a stroke the night before. For those who've never heard of him, Don is the only PR person elected to the St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame, a recognition of his outstanding work with Pulitzer's station here. Don was the brother of the legendary Globe writer Bob Burnes. Comment here. Weekend 10-25/26-08: Over the past week... Bonneville's Sports/Talk 101 has added Randy Karraker, Tom Casey, Sara Dayley and Brian Stull to their staff for their expected startup on 01/01/09. Karraker, Casey and Dayley are all seasoned all-sports pros, with experience on major local stations and radio and tv nets. Stull has a wrestling website and has hosted a wrestling show on one of the local penny-whistles. One of these things doesn't belong with the others... Comment here. Weekend 10-25/26-08: Sarah drops the puck last Friday...  First, KTRS signs the Cardinals to a long-term contract for PxP, stealing them from KMOX. Then the Cardinals buy 50% of KTRS for $2million (WTF?!?), with the agreement that the two entities share their ad revenue 50-50. Then radio spot sales don't go so well. Then the Cardinals decide to keep all the ad revenue from their side to themselves, that 50-50 thing be damned. Then KTRS fires Ops Manager Craig Unger, who goes to work for the Cardinals. Then the Cardinals take ALL of their inventory for games in house (as they did this week). No more selling Cardinal baseball for the staff at KTRS. Bet money that young Mr. Unger ran a play that'll cause some hits to the pocket book in KTRS sales. Score: Unger 1 - Dorsey 0. And every observer laughs out loud. Prediction: watch the Cards sell their share in KTRS to an "interested radio investor" for a marginal profit, move the games on to a better signal and an entirely different deal and significantly alter the setup of the KTRS Board of Directors. Hey, it could happen. Most of this already has. Comment here. Friday 10-24-08: Your weekend Tasha, the STLMedia WatchDog, pinup...  Jonnie called this afternoon, sounding beat up, as well he might. He's been through a couple surgical procedures already, on arm and jaw, and likely will be going through more. Jonnie's got a tough road ahead of him, but he's got amazing resolve and lots of friends to help him through his recovery. He's promised to write the adventure up for us, so we have that to look forward to...already, he's got stories to tell. Mrs A and I plan on stopping by to see him (and deliver a Steak & Shake chocolate milk shake) tomorrow PM. Email sent to edrothratfink@gmail.com will automatically forward to Jonnie's private email inbox and he'll pick it up once he gets back to a computer. Bombard the ol' boy with get-well messages! Comment here. Friday 10-24-08: Great last STLMedia Monthly Meeting of 2008... ...some familiar faces and some new ones, and lots of great conversation and problem solving. If only the masters of media would listen...see ya at our next go-round, January 30th, 2009. Friday 10-24-08: One of the other projects this week... ...was the re-do of our master-bedroom bath vanity area, installing custom-made cabinets and a custom-molded one-piece faux-marble counter top. We've been planning this for a long time and now it's done and we couldn't be happier. Our thanks to Jon Newman for his excellent work installing all of the components and making sure it all worked. And before he left he even applied his craftsman-magic to a couple other problems. Newman's a wizard when it comes to home repair. Friday 10-24-08: Sorry for being out of touch... ...but it's been a very busy week. Mrs A has been on vacation and we've been doing stuff around the house and stuff together that we've missed out on while our jobs have directed our attention elsewhere. On Thursday we made the road trip to Lonedell to take our much-anticipated CCW class, taught by Greg Pugh at his range/classroom there. Lotsa classroom stuff to absorb, material to study and serious shooting for qualification to do. We both passed and Mrs A has already applied for her permit; like everything else she approaches, she's determined to make her skills top-notch. I 'spect we've got considerable range time in our future. Here's a video I shot of our Instructor wailing away with his fully-automatic (and fully legal) sub-gun... I hefted Greg's sub-gun, but declined the opportunity to fire it...a bit too heavy for me and I was afraid the recoil would knock me off my feet! I've fired auto before, but I was younger. Much younger. Damn. As George Burns famously sang, I wish I was 18 again. FYI, I chose Pugh's course over other, closer training because of his website and a couple phone conversations. Greg lives and breathes the 2nd Amendment, gun safety and legality of purpose. We learned a lot more than we expected and had a great lunch there and a nice drive in the country to and from to boot. I recommend his training services highly; we'll probably be going back for the next skill levels. Tuesday 10-21-08: Veteran STL Radio broadcaster Jonnie King... ...was injured in an accident this evening that occurred while he was working on one of his cars. King broke his arm and fractured his jaw and will probably be undergoing at least preliminary surgery on both injuries tonight. For the sake of his privacy, I'll withhold the name of the hospital and full condition reports until I hear from Jonnie. But I will keep you posted and I've set up a special email address for you to drop him a line...I know he'd appreciate it. Mail sent to edrothratfink@gmail.com (if you know anything about Jonnie, you know why that email addy is appropriate) will automatically forward to Jonnie's private email inbox. According to a doc who is a mutual friend of ours, this could be a recuperative process as long as a couple months, maybe more. Keep in touch with Jonnie! Bombard the ol' boy with get-well messages! Comment here. Monday 10-20-08: TV call letters suck for recognition... ... according to the consultants. From MediaPosts's TVWatch: FOR LOCAL TV STATIONS, it's not just about TV -- not if they want to grow in the future. But what's the long-term cost for their brands? Heeding the advice of some Internet consultants, NBC Universal has decided to revamp its local TV station Web sites, dropping call letters and/or channel numbers, reinventing sites as broader-reaching local media portals. Instead of KNBC.com or WNBC.com, you'll have NBCLosAngeles.com and NBCNewYork.com. NBC already was moving in this direction in renaming its local TV group, NBC Local Media. The good part of this strategy? NBC believes it should have a broader role in attracting and keeping its savvy TV customers, which will include all sorts of media -- Internet, print, radio, whatever. That makes sense. So far, TV stations' online efforts have been essentially limited as a promotional tool. Customers and business partners -- online advertisers -- see those Web areas as marketing tool as well, which in the end can be devaluing. Now the bad: NBC is throwing out some of its long-lived brands, eliminating call letters and channel positions. It will keep around the "NBC" name, however. But what does this mean for WMAQ-TV in Chicago, known as NBC5.com online? Its brand name is basically eliminated online (though it's still evident in Internet searches. The problem is that getting bigger as a local media player can produce conflicts, or at least new Internet realities. If an NBC TV station's online business really wants to cover its market entirely, it will include some stuff from its competitors. Many Internet news sites regularly have links to other competitors' stories. (MediaPost, for example, does this all the time). If a CBS affiliate breaks some interesting news, will an NBC Web site offer up a link, and give credit? NBC believes the name "NBC" and the name of the city are the most important things -- which means a well-earned, long-time local brand name in that city is less valuable. I remember hearing this same song years ago, when consultants insisted that radio frequencies were more important than calls. Turned out they were right, especially after radio dials went digital. Comment here. Monday 10-20-08: Sam Zell's TribCo dumps AP... with a two-year notice. From Editor & Publisher: AP Spokesman Paul Colford confirmed the cancellation notice, but said he had no more specifics. He issued the following statement about it: "We understand that in this climate a lot of newspapers are re-examining their strategies. The Associated Press will continue to work with all members of the cooperative to ensure that we are providing the most efficient, valued and essential news service for them." Comment here. Monday 10-20-08: Yay for us... Mrs A got the new HP combo up and running as a fax, color printer and scanner for her station in the office. Now there's just the wireless printer thingie for the other four 'puters on the local net. I think I'll name the new device "Festivus," the printer for the rest of us. Once it connects. Otherwise it's a 9mm shot in the memory card and a quick return in the original box. Monday 10-20-08: TV's in trouble, again... Screen Actor's Guild might go on strike around 12/1/2008 and ad revenues are in the dumper, with more cuts to come. And today we get the news that NBC/Universal is setting itself up for gigantic budget cuts in 2009, to the tune of a half-billion bucks. This will affect movies, too, of course. Considering it all, it looks like a dry 2009 for video entertainment. Comment here. Monday 10-20-08: Tom Casey lands on his feet... He writes: I just signed with 101.1 FM today to handle weekday afternoon updates and cover the Blues starting in January. Thanks for all of your kind words and support since my leaving Metro. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity and will have great teammates including Randy Karraker and Brian Stull, just to name a couple. Thanks again, Rev! Monday 10-20-08: Frank Absher scores... STLRadio's premier historian sends along this link to the Sporting News archives...every issue, back to March 1886. If you're a sports junkie, this is where you'll be spending your spare time for the rest of your life. Registration is free; it leads to Paper of Record, which is a search engine for newspapers worldwide. Weekend 10-18/19-08: Adding a wireless multi-function printer... We've been using HP LaserJet6L's as standalone printers for way more than a decade, almost fifteen years, they've been wearing out slowly for a while, and today bit the bullet to go 802.11 when we found a networkable HP wireless color inkjet double-side printer/scanner/copier/fax for under $200 during a trip to OfficeDepot for paper clips and manila folders ($350 out the door for everything in the basket...sheesh!). The install has been interesting, to say the least, and will continue Sunday, making it work with Windows2000, XPPro, Vista and Linux is likely to be a project. Good thing Mrs A is the IT pro...this is giving me a headache. Weekend 10-18/19-08: The Unknown Analyst kicks back into service... ... with a penetrating look at 25-54 in Summer Book 2008:
25-54 PERSONS MON-SUN 6a-MID
25-54 PERSONS MON-FRI 6a-10a
25-54 PERSONS MON-FRI 10a-3p
25-54 PERSONS MON-FRI 3p-7p 25-54 PERSONS MON-FRI 7p-MID |