Blind date

Aw...look at the cut baby elephant...hey...what are you doing? (Contributed by "BK")

Jose Cardenal

Happy 66th birthday to one of my all-time favorite Cubs.

I met him once...a story I tell everyone I meet.

Rush Limbaugh...funnier without audio

Love this new Letterman bit.

Rush Limbaugh...funnier without audio.

Jersey Boys Bomb Scare

This report comes from the Tribune...

"Chicago police safely disposed of two suspicious boxes behind the Bank of America Theatre late Tuesday and were turning their attention toward finding the person or persons who left them. Though the boxes left in the alley behind the theater at 18 W. Monroe St. were determined to be non-dangerous, police weren't calling the incident a mere hoax.

"I would say it's a little bit more than a hoax," police Bomb and Arson Cmdr. Eugene Roy said just before midnight Tuesday night near the theater. "It appears that this was deliberately set up to provoke this type of response."

Police were alerted at about 9 p.m. when two boxes -- each with a note -- were found behind the theater. One letter read: "This is not a bomb" while the second note read: "This is not going to end good," Chicago Police Lt. Charles Flynn said.

Staff at both the theater and the adjacent Hampton Inn hotel evacuated their businesses, while police shut down several nearby streets to traffic. The evacuation interrupted a performance of the Tony-winning musical "Jersey Boys."

Look, Bomber dude, I understand your feelings about "Jersey Boys," really I do. I worked at an Oldies station for ten years and when I hear "Rag Doll" or "Big Girls Don't Cry" I still develop facial tics (I can only imagine what those poor actors must think about those songs after performing them every...single...day), but this is really going too far. Do what I do instead. Don't go to the show.

Limbaugh bids to buy St. Louis Rams

From this morning's Radio Ink...

Premiere Radio Networks syndicated talk host Rush Limbaugh is partnering with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts on a bid for the NFL St. Louis Rams. AP quotes a statement from Limbaugh confirming the bid, and saying he and Checketts are "continuing the process." Limbaugh is a Missouri native and known to be an enthusiastic sports fan.

What can the Rams expect if Limbaugh buys the team?

*No black quarterbacks ever.

*No left side of the offensive or defensive line (because they are always at fault).

*A mysterious increase in Oxycontin for treating "medical conditions."

*A renewed focus on being offensive.

*Every opponent playing the tape of Rush saying "This is Barack Obama's America. White kids get beat up, while black kids say 'right on, right on, right on.'"

Cubtober 7th

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here are a few examples of years where they were still following the team in October, and why.



On this day in 1935, the Cubs are eliminated from the World Series by the Detroit Tigers. It happens in heartbreaking fashion...in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6.







On this day in 1984, Leon Durham goes down for a ball and it scoots right through his legs, costing the Cubs a shot at the 1984 World Series.








On this day in 2003, the heavily favored Cubs, fresh off their only playoff series victory since 1908, begin the NLCS versus the Florida Marlins. They lose Game 1 on a Mike Lowell home run in the ninth.

The 1910 World Series

This week's Tale from a Bad Century is about the World Series that ended the magnificent (and only) Cubs dynasty: the 1910 World Series versus the Philadelphia Athletics. In true Cub fashion (a sign of things to come), some very strange happenings doom the team.

Read all about it here.

$everance reviews

I was looking for information about an upcoming interview subject on the internet last night and I stumbled onto a site called "Good Reads." It's basically a book review site.

Imagine my surprise when I found twelve reviews of $everance. They were all good reviews. Here are a few from the last few months (remember, it came out two years ago):



From Sarah Gorr...

"As a public over-saturated with exposure to the media and information being beamed to us from all directions, Rick Kaempfer’s latest book, $everence, provides a hilariously entertaining inside look at the world of politics, persona and media consolidation. Kaempfer doesn’t just ask the question, “What happens when it all goes too far?” but suggests the outcome and it is not pretty.

One of $everance’s greatest advantages in delivering its message is its use of humor and avoidance of dry political and corporate jargon. While an inside term or two might pop-up, Kaempfer’s book doesn’t seem to be preaching to the choir; it’s an open invitation for even those with little or no knowledge of the media’s inner workings or its political wheelings and dealings to join the conversation. Whether you’re news junkie, undecided, uninformed or just plain apathetic, $everence is a clever and enjoyable read for anyone exposed to the media; and that’s everyone."

From Tisbutehname...

"Severance: an indictment of spurious journalism? Check! Severance: a Laodicean account of the annoying nature of political zealots? Check! Severance: a hilarious satire about the trials and tribulations that accompany…trying to get fired? Check!

It’s a battle of attrition for Chicago radio DJ Tom Zagorski and long time on-air partner Richard Lawrence. In a vain corporate attempt to get the duo to quit, relieving the company of their fat severance checks, the once prominent talk radio show now features less talk and more commercials, as well as news read from day old papers. Zagorski’s atomic bomb of insubordination backfires and in no time he ironically becomes a Wall Street golden boy and big shot for the second largest media conglomerate in the world.

As Zagorski and Lawrence navigate their way through New York City’s maze of CEOs, conservative hotshots, bad journalists, liberal loudmouths, and vomit inducing cab drivers, trying to piss them all off and play them against one another isn’t as easy as it seems. Every absurd scheme the two come up with—from redecorating an office to resemble an epic Hollywood movie, or completely destroying what was left of objective reporting (and a lot in between)—their plans only result in more praise and more unwanted attention. Author Richard Kaempfer mixes humor with sadism to great result: each success, when Zagorski only wants failure, brings with it bigger laughs, more outrageous characters, and ‘nothing-good-can-come-of-this’ situations.

Severance is a carefully balanced satire about the post-deregulation liberal and conservative on-air personalities, as well as the behind the scenes puppet masters, that saturate the media with their opinions, but don’t be surprised when you see animal rights activists, film producers, and Celine Dion dressed as nun. You name it, Severance has got it, and Kaempfer, through the admirably indifferent Zagorski, exposes the weakness, hypocrisy and foolishness in each and every one of them.

By staying objective, Severance does not crumble under the weight of its observations on the degradation of journalism into a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ profession. It does not, like so many of its characters, become hypocritical or biased; on the other hand, it remains satisfyingly ambivalent, and genuine all the way to its final sentence. As good satire can, Severance will make you laugh, but just as quickly it can scare the pants off of you. Though some of the characters are absurd, the novel is not. Severance is an accurate appraisal of the ongoing mutations happening to a very crucial industry, and a highly recommended read."

From Jennifer...

"It all started with an office prank—a memo radio DJ Tom Zagorski i sends out from his station’s office in Chicago to the entire Sierra Megamedia Corporation (a media giant that owns not only Zagorski’s radio station, but many others, along with television networks, movie studios, and publishing houses). The memo suggests techniques to save money—like installing security guards to keep employees from stealing office supplies—as well as techniques to raise money, like Nascarization, which basically encompasses stamping everything visible with some sort of advertisement during news broadcasts. To Zagorski and his fellow employees, the memo is an obvious farce. Its suggestions are so ridiculous that Zagorski hopes he’ll be fired from the job he’s grown to hate, and gain him the only thing he really wants: his severance pay. To his (and my) very great surprise, his memo lands him the COO position of the entire Sierra Megamedia Corporation.

Many others would run with a position like this. After all, it allows use of the company credit card, the company Jet, suites in the best hotels all over the country, and dinner in the best restaurants (all of which author Richard Kaempfer describes enough to make Zagorski’s sudden rise pretty enviable). The world is virtually at Zagorski’s fingertips. So what does he do? He sticks to his original plan, now on a much greater scale: he sets out to destroy the company & everything it represents. He wants the company’s stock to plummet so badly that they will have no choice but to fire him—which means he’ll still get his severance pay. It doesn’t hurt that in the meanwhile, he’ll be hurting a pretty corrupt organization.

Which is why Zagorski is ultimately so likeable. Even when he’s handed everything, he doesn’t sell out. He sticks to his convictions with a sort of bumbling, sarcastic grace. He remains loyal to his friends and always has a kind word for the otherwise ignored. Kaempfer does an excellent job in drawing out each of his characters—even the ones I hated—into very realistic, vivid, three dimensional people.

My biggest problem with $everance was situations where I ended up thinking, “that wouldn’t happen!” But $everance’s biggest fault is also one of its strongest qualities. The over-the-top scenarios Kaempfer creates serve as satire of social issues—they prove a point. By putting them in such an exaggerated context, Kaempfer grabs our attention; then, with unrelenting honesty, he drives the matter home.

$everance is one of the few books that made me laugh out loud several times. It’s enjoyable for all of the normal reasons—an interesting plot, good writing, great characters, thoughtful symbols—but also serves a greater cause. I highly recommend picking it up."

The Sun Times

The deadline passed yesterday with no new bidders, which means that the only bid on the table is the $25 million bid from James Tyree (that the union flatly rejected). From today's Chicago Tribune...

"If there is a union agreement, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi will likely make short work of approving the Tyree deal at Thursday's hearing. But if the unions and management are still at odds, what happens next is not entirely clear. The judge could move to shut down the case and convert it into a Chapter 7 liquidation, bankruptcy experts said. Or that request could come from a creditor or the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee on grounds that Sun-Times Media lacks enough cash to pay the various costs associated with liquidation, a condition known as "administrative insolvency."

Not good.

David Letterman

He apologized to his wife last night on the show.

And I bet this statistic makes him a little uncomfortable. His ratings are up 38% since this story broke last week.

That second story also mentions the names of the women involved, one of which it appears, was an intern in the 1990s. I'm not going to judge him there.

My wife was an intern at the Loop in the 1980s when we first started dating.

What is Time Warner worth?

Four years ago it's estimated worth was between 129-145 billion dollars. What's it worth now?

$50 billion.

Ouch.

New enforcement

This is probably going to change the way a few Chicago radio personalities go about their business. From this morning's Radio Online...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued new guidelines affecting endorsements on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other new media, effective December 1. Essentially, if an air personality engages listeners through one of these new media channels, they will now be required to disclose any "material connections" (i.e. payments or freebies).

The rule, revised for the first time since 1980, carry fines up to $11,000 per violation. It covers any consideration received from companies whose products reviewed or promoted.

The FTC also issued new rules on testimonials, saying advertisers must now "clearly disclose" what kind of results consumers can typically expect. In addition, air personalities and celebrity endorsers may now be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made during the endorsements."

That last bit is obviously directed a the weight loss and hair growth industries. They've been running rampant for years.

What a country

I think Yakov Smirnov said it best..."What a country!" I think Levi Johnston agrees...

Cubtober 6th

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here are a few examples of years where they were still following the team in October, and why.


On this day in 1984, Steve Garvey sticks a dagger into the Cubs when he hits a home run off Lee Smith in the bottom of the ninth to tie the series and send it to a Game 5.

Read all about that day here.



On this day in 2007, the Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs by the vastly inferior Arizona Diamondbacks.

Read all about that day here.

Shooter

This week's great nickname at Just One Bad Century is Shooter. He was a relief pitcher for the Cubs, and a crowd favorite. He's also no longer with us...but despite the nickname, it had nothing to do with a gun. Read all about him here.

Conservatizing the Bible

I kid you not. A group of conservatives are working on eliminating all the liberal bias out of the Bible.

The details are here.

First stop: eliminating all those references to helping the poor and turning the other cheek. That's commie talk, right there.

Sun Times deadline

The deadline for other potential bidders is today at 5PM.

Details are here.

I'm crossing my fingers. I would hate to see this paper go under.

Letterman's alleged extortioner

This piece in the New York Observer has lots of details about Robert Halderman. It's written by Felix Gillette, who I consider to be one of the best media reporters in the country.

He calls Halderman (the accused extortioner) "a Vince Vaughn type."

Reactions to Letterman

This AP article details the jokes other comedians have been making at Letterman's expense, a media expert's review of Letterman's response, and a claim that the video of Letterman's confession is impossible to find.

Scroll down a few segments below this. I posted the video last week if you want to see it.

Media landscape to change

From this morning's NY Post...

"Take a good look around the media world -- two years from now many of the companies in the sector will have vanished and those that remain will appear vastly different than they do now.

Comcast's ongoing talks to merge its content assets with NBC Universal marks the beginning of what analysts and industry observers believe will be a massive reconfiguration of the media landscape.

The urge to merge and the temptation to takeover will be too great to resist for an industry that's predisposed to buying instead of building, sources said. And, not unlike what's happening in the pharmaceutical industry, as the economy improves and the debt market firms up, deal activity will increase in proportion."

This may be true, but I think it's also possible that the prices will be so low that non-giants will be able to buy in...and that would be a very good thing.

The Pope

30 years ago this week Chicago was agog about a visit from his Holiness...the Pontiff...the top Catholic dude...Pope John Paul II

Read all about that here. It's this week's Cubs through History at JOBC.

Cubtober 5th

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here are a few examples of years where they were still following the team in October, and why.



On this date in 1938, the World Series, Cubs vs. Yankees begins.

Read all about that incredibly memorable series here.







On this date in 2003, the Cubs do something they haven't done since 1908--they win a playoff series, knocking off the Atlanta Braves.

Cubtober 4th

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here are a few examples of years where they were still following the team in October, and why.




On this day in 1989, the Cubs vs. Giants NLCS begins.

Read all about it here.









On this day in 2008, the Cubs vs. Dodgers NLDS ends.

Read all about that here.

Father Knows Nothing

I just posted my latest Father Knows Nothing column at NWI Parent. This one is called "How the other half lives" and it's about one big difference between raising boys and girls.

You can read it here.

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Lise Dominique

I just posted my latest Chicago Radio Spotlight interview. This week I talk to former Loop, WTMX and WLS traffic and news anchor Lise Dominique.

You can read the interview here.

Cubtober 3rd

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here are a few examples of years where they were still following the team in October, and why.




On this day in 1915, the Cubs played their final game in their championship field...West Side Grounds. The next season they would begin playing in a new ballpark on the North Side.





On this day in 1938, the city of Chicago has a parade for the pennant winning 1938 Cubs.











On this day in 1945, the World Series begins, Cubs vs. Detroit Tigers. Read all about that series here.





On this day in 1976, Bill Madlock wins the National League batting title in his final at bat as a member of the Chicago Cubs.

He is traded for Bobby Murcer after the season.

Strange story in Kansas

A radio executive with a gambling addiction to scratch off lottery tickets embezzled in the neighborhood of $87,000 from his company to feed the addiction.

Then he won $96,000, and is using that money to pay back the money he embezzled.

The whole story is here.

To me the strangest part of the story is having a scratch-off lottery ticket addiction. That's the most inefficient addiction ever. If you're gonna be addicted at least take a big risk to get the adrenaline rush. A scratch off lottery ticket? Can you imagine how boring life must be in Kansas?

David Letterman

Whoa. This story is a little shocking. On his show last night David Letterman admitted to multiple affairs with women that work on his show, and said that he was being extorted by a CBS producer (from the show "48 Hours") for $2 million. And it's not a joke. The producer was arrested.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Sights & Sounds

This week at Just One Bad Century we've got a home movie from the 1929 World Series, and the audio of legendary Cubs public address announcer Pat Pieper announcing the lineup of the 1932 Cubs.

See it and hear it here.

Cubtober 2nd

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here a few examples of years where they were still following the team in October, and why.




On this day in 1936, the Cubs faced the White Sox in the City Championship series.

Listen to a portion of that game here.








On this day in 1984, the Cubs-Padres NLCS began at Wrigley Field.

Read about that series here.

AUDIO: Steve Trout talks about that team.




On this day in 2001, Sammy Sosa hit his 60th home run, becoming the first player in history to do that three times.

Poor kid

It will take years of therapy to overcome this moment...


Terrible Football Mistake Causes Loss - Watch more Funny Videos

Dan Rather on Fox?

That's right, Dan Rather will be on Fox this afternoon. He'll be a guest on Neil Cavuto's show at 3PM Central time.

How did Fox land the first post-lawsuit interview with Rather? I hate to say it, but it's almost certainly because Fox has the highest ratings.

Sun-Times replacement

This seems like an unlikely move, but according to this report, it may just happen. The New York Times is talking about creating a Chicago edition (and a San Francisco edition too), with additional local content.

If the Sun-Times goes down, that would help soften the blow (and maybe even offer another place for Sun-Times employees to find a job.)

Sun Times on the brink

Monday afternoon is the deadline for offers to buy the Sun-Times. There is only one offer on the table, but that offer was rejected by the Sun-Times union. If no-one else makes an offer, and the union doesn't reconsider, the Sun-Times could be facing liquidation. The full details are here.

I sure hope that doesn't happen.

Will Comcast buy NBC?

According to the Washington Post this morning, Comcast is in talks with General Electric to buy NBC.

Still to be ironed out in the negotiations...who will Bill O'Reilly blame for all the media evil in the world once GE leaves the business?

Radio Producer's Handbook

5 years ago today, October 1, 2004, Allworth Press released a book called "The Radio Producer's Handbook." It was written by a couple of radio producers from Chicago: Rick Kaempfer and John Swanson.

I hear it's still available at amazon. Why yes it is. Lookey here: The Radio Producer's Handbook.

But do people think it's a good book? Why yes they do. But only some of the most respected broadcasters in the country.

Did it get good press? Why yes it did.

Is it being used in universities across the country? Why yes it is.

I'd buy it if I were you before they run out.

John Paul Stevens

Lawyer.

Judge.

Supreme Court Justice.

Cubs Fan.

Cubtober 1st

Chicago Cubs fans have had better Octobers than October 2009. Here a few examples of years where they were still following the team, and why.



The Cubs and Detroit Tigers began the 1935 World Series.

Read about it here, and listen to the final out here.






In 1960, Billy Williams hit his first MLB home run. He hit it in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum against Dodgers pitcher Stan Williams. It was a two run shot that put the Cubs up by 3 runs.