Carlos Danger

The Anthony Weiner story has so much potential for comedy, it almost makes me wish I was working in morning radio again. First you've got a guy named Weiner texting pictures of his namesake. Next we find out that he was using the pseudonym Carlos Danger. To me, that's even funnier than the ironic name/vice of Weiner. It sounds like a super hero/porn star name.

"Ola, Seniorita. I am Danger. Carlos Danger."

I can't sit on the sidelines for another moment. Time to exercise my dormant parody song muscles, and throw together a little verse or two for you. It's to the tune of the Johnny Rivers classic "Secret Agent Man". Free of charge to anyone who may want to use it...

He's a man who they call Carlos Danger,
Even though he's technically a stranger,
If you merely ask,
He'll take off his mask,
Not in the same place as the Lone Ranger's,

He's the Weiner man,
His own Weiner fan,
He tweets and texts and sexts that weiner all across the land

More Bad News For Barnes & Noble

The clock is really ticking now.

Barnes & Noble will be no more very soon.

Lorna Ozmon

Saw this little blurb in the RAMP Newsletter this morning about one of radio's bigger companies...

Entercom has retained the services of consultant/talent coach Lorna Ozmon of Ozmon Media, who "has built a stellar reputation coaching air talent, and will now be spending a significantly greater portion of her time with Entercom helping our personalities improve their shows."

I've worked with Lorna before, and seen her in action. She's the best talent coach I've ever seen. She knows how to talk to talent, she knows how to convince management to take some chances, and she can tell the difference between good radio and bad radio. Entercom just made a good hire.

Today's Best Tweets

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...




Chicago magazine ‏@ChicagoMag 19m
This 1914 Gold Coast property was once part of the Playboy mansion. @DealEstate tours the chandelier-filled home: http://chi.mg/15MQRfs

New York Daily News ‏@nydailynews 9m
Kris Jenner details sexual past on talk show in front of teen daughters. http://nydn.us/1blUekx

Greg Sargent ‏@ThePlumLineGS 12m
Must read by @jbplainblog on the core contradiction at the heart of GOP efforts to sabotage Obamacare: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/07/25/the-core-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-the-gop-campaign-to-sabotage-obamacare/

Huffington Post ‏@HuffingtonPost 25m
8 signs you need a vacation now (GIFs) http://huff.to/1bOs68K

The Onion ‏@TheOnion 33m
BREAKING: Print Dead At 1,803 http://onion.com/11glvyd

Jeff Greenfield ‏@greenfield64 40m
I'll be back on "Morning Joe" tomorrow. 7 a.m. My topic:"when did the Yankee-A-Rod relationship turn into "Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?"

ChiTribSports ‏@ChiTribSports 1m
Gators remove Aaron Hernandez brick from stadium celebrating his play at UF http://trib.in/19kkgmA

New York Daily News ‏@nydailynews 7m
Crocodile-trainer puts head in crocodile's mouth. Crocodile bites trainer's head. http://nydn.us/1blVaFt

Fareed Zakaria ‏@FareedZakaria 9m
In 2011, U.S. spent 17.7% of GDP on health care, no other nation tracked by OECD reported more than 11.9%: WSJ http://on.wsj.com/162vqcq

Michael Ian Black ‏@michaelianblack 10m
Big ups to a bunch of dudes who were like, "Yes, we SHOULD call our band Spandau Ballet."

Be Careful with that Telestrator

Keith Olbermann

When Keith Olbermann returns to ESPN in the next few days he tells the New York Daily News he will be talking mostly sports.

But some politics will be too hard to avoid...especially when it's funny. For instance, he will not be able to stop himself from making fun of Anthony Weiner's Sexting Pseudonym: Carlos Danger.

Who can blame him. To use a baseball term, that's a fastball right down the middle.

Fox Sports One

What can we expect from the new all-sports network Fox Sports One? The Hollywood Reporter interviewed the executives in charge, and they shared their vision.

As long as they keep showing soccer, I'm in.

Steve Goodman

He would be 65 years old today. Happy birthday Steve Goodman...



If you want to read a little more about him, he's featured today at Cubs 365.

Second Look

I think this is a great idea. CBS is creating a website called "Second Look", and it will only be showing shows from cancelled series. It's a good way to run off the shows that have been shot but never aired, and a good way for fringe hits to find a new audience.

Details are here.

Busted

On this day in 1963 Ray Charles recorded one of my favorite Ray Charles songs, "Busted". (I was born four days later.)

I found this little piece of history on Youtube...a video from the Johnny Cash show of Ray Charles and Johnny Cash singing "Busted" together. I wish they would have recorded it.

The Eastland Disaster

98 years ago today, the worst tragedy in Chicago history; the Eastland disaster. More than 800 people died when the ship rolled over in the Chicago River.

The Chicago Tribune has some truly chilling archival photographs.

Today's Best Tweets

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...





Chicago Bears ‏@ChicagoBears 20s
LM: First #Bears training camp practice is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Friday. Practice is free and open to public.

Patton Oswalt ‏@pattonoswalt 3m
"You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when he met you. He picked you out, shook you up, turned you around...your rebuttal?"

The White House ‏@whitehouse 10m
FACT: Since March 2010, our economy has added 7.2 million private-sector jobs—and there's more work to do. pic.twitter.com/fJP47kmfpf

Ezra Klein ‏@ezraklein 39m
Obama says the economy grows best from the middle. Research suggests he’s right. http://wapo.st/1c2QemA

Paul McCartney ‏@PaulMcCartney 12m
Paul recently got #OutThere in Fenway Park, home of the Boston @RedSox. Watch Paul swing his baseball bat HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1aloOys8_Y …

Oakland Athletics ‏@Athletics 14m
The A's have spent 18 consecutive days in 1st place, their longest stretch since 2006. #Athletics vs. #Astros today at 11:05 PT.

Pee-wee Herman ‏@peeweeherman 15m
Today is NATIONAL TEQUILA DAY!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM …

Funny Or Die ‏@funnyordie 19m
No good deed goes unpunished. Watch what happens when Tom Brady does his old "buddy" a favor: http://ow.ly/nhskX

Beachwood Reporter ‏@BeachwoodReport 28m
From daddy's girl to daddy's boy-council approves Deb Mell as new member and moves on to the toy Tom Ricketts' dad bought for him. #chicago

Cut4 ‏@Cut4 36m
Joe Mauer of the @Twins is now the father of ... you guessed it, twins: http://atmlb.com/18CSWjQ

Things Men Want

Thanks to "MS" for sending these to me...

Fox News

Their ratings are still strong, and their revenue is still strong, but according to this piece in the New York Times, the median age of their viewers is now over 65 years old. This is the way the NYT describes the audience...

Just how old is its audience? It is impossible to be precise because Nielsen stops giving an exact figure for median age once it passes 65. But for six of the last eight years, Fox News has had a median age of 65-plus and the number of viewers in the 25-54 year old group has been falling consistently, down five years in a row in prime time, from an average of 557,000 viewers five years ago to 379,000 this year. That has occurred even though Fox’s overall audience in prime time is up this year, to 2.02 million from 1.89 million three years ago.

Of course, if you're a Fox News viewer, you just pshaw, and say "liberal media" when you hear that this story was in the New York Times.

Sellers and not Buyers

As we watch the Cubs trading away their stars and acquiring prospects in return, it occurs to me that I haven't seen them do this in nearly 40 years. They have been buyers for the past forty years, and it hasn't worked. (Like this stupid trade, which they made on this day in 1986.)

The last time they were sellers was the early 70s when they traded away some of their all-time greats like Williams, Santo, and Jenkins. They got a young 2B named Manny Trillo back for Williams, plus some bullpen help (Bob Locker & Darold Knowles). They got a future all-star catcher (Steve Swisher), and a reliable starting pitcher (Steve Stone) for Ron Santo. And they got a future batting champion and a replacement for Ron Santo (Bill Madlock) in return for Fergie Jenkins.

Not a bad haul if you consider that Williams and Santo each only played one more season. If Madlock had simply been paid instead of shipped off after asking more money, the Jenkins trade would have been a good one too (even though Fergie won another 100+ games in the American League).

Keep in mind that Theo and Jed don't have nearly as much to trade, and they still seem to be picking up some good prospects. I'm cautiously optimistic that they're on the right track.

FC Bayern Youth Cup

This is the reason I've been so difficult to reach over the past week or two: The FC Bayern Youth Cup at Green White

It was a great experience, a difficult challenge, and a ton of work, but it was also a huge success.

I need a vacation.

Clear Channel Imports Morning Show

Robert Feder has all the details on his facebook page.

Here's the money quote: Despite promises that Clear Channel Chicago would launch a local morning show on its newly branded 93.9 MY FM, that doesn't appear to be the case. Paul "Cubby" Bryant, who hosts mornings on Clear Channel's WKTU-FM in New York and also is heard on WMIA-FM in Miami, is expected to add WLIT 93.9 FM to his syndication lineup, sources said Sunday.

Of course it won't be the first syndicated morning show on the former Lite-FM. They've made that mistake multiple times.

I thought the most interesting part of Feder's post was this final paragraph...

For weeks now, Chicago radio veterans Eddie Volkman and Joe "Jobo" Colborn were rumored to be headed for mornings on 93.9 MY FM. On July 10, Volkman posted a photo on his Facebook page of the duo taken at Clear Channel studios. "Today's meeting could NOT have gone better!" he wrote. "Watch out, Chicago! Damn, I'm stoked."

Sounds like E&J got a bit blindsided. I hate this business sometimes. I really do.

Mick's 70th Birthday

On Friday, July 26th, Mick Jagger is turning 70 years old. If you're looking for a place to celebrate it, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum is currently presenting Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction, their first ever major exhibition capturing the band's legendary career spanning more than 50 years.

Get a preview here.

In Chicago we've had a few memorable moments with Mick and the boys over the years. I wrote about a few of those for Just One Bad Century.

Dealing with Trolls

Every now and then I'll get asked why I don't allow comments on my blogs. There's a one-word answer for that: Trolls

If you want to know what a troll is, simply read the comments section of any article on any newspaper website or blog, or read this piece: The Top 12 Signs You're Dealing with Trolls

Father Knows Nothing

My latest Father Knows Nothing column is called "Baby Boomers" and it's about a certain piece of mail I received this week.

You can read it here.

Nate Silver joins ESPN

Everyone's favorite statistical nerd, Nate Silver of the New York Times "538" blog, is going back to his sports roots. He became famous by analyzing baseball statistics for the website/magazine Baseball Prospectus. Now he's taking his skills to ESPN.

From the New York Times article...

At ESPN, Mr. Silver is expected to have a wide-ranging portfolio. Along with his writing and number-crunching, he will most likely be a regular contributor to “Olbermann,” the late-night ESPN2 talk show hosted by Keith Olbermann that will have its debut at the end of August. In political years, he will also have a role at ABC News, which is owned by Disney.

Sounds like an interesting match. Looking forward to it. I'm a big fan.

Rolling Stone Buy-Back

This is how one Boston radio station is dealing with the conroversial new Boston Bomber cover story. From this morning's RAMP Newsletter...

By now you are painfully aware of Rolling Stone's controversial new cover featuring that "rock star" photo of the Boston Marathon bomber (we're not going to use his name). Needless to say, many people living in the Boston area are particularly incensed over the cover -- and while the ideas of boycotts and/or ill-conceived notions of mass-burnings have been floated, we are fans of the clean and classy solution conceived by Greater Media's WBOS (Radio 92.9)/Boston, which this Friday will be conducting a buy-back (more accurately, a "trade-back") of that August 1 Rolling Stone issue, in exchange for a pair of concert tickets. It's important to note that this offer is open to current Rolling Stone subscribers only -- "We do not want to encourage people to buy copies in order to 'sell them' to us," says a notice on the WBOS Facebook page. All issues containing a valid subscription label and brought into the WBOS studios this Friday between 9am-5pm will be boxed up and mailed back to Rolling Stone.