My media focus this year will be on some of my favorite subjects...the moguls, the pundits, the broadcast news biz, show business, radio, and the publishing business. (Read "$everance" if you want a crystallization of my positions on those subjects.) And, of course, I'll also keep tabs on Chicago's media.
Chicago Media
~Roy Leonard Has a Scare
He fell down after a show at the Lyric Opera and lost a lot of blood, but Robert Feder reports that Roy is in good spirits and doing well. One of my favorite Chicago Radio Spotlight interviews was with Roy (in 2010). You can read that here.
Showbiz
~Live TV Version of "Grease" Coming to Fox
I hope it's better than the Sound of Music fiasco on NBC. Although, I'll admit this now. I'll be tuning in just to watch the train derail. No word on the casting yet, but if they hire the Sound of Music casting people, we'll probably see a pairing of Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian.
Journalism
The New York Times Bets Big on Video
If you're a kid who wants to get into journalism, you better have some chops when it comes to video. It's the future of the business. (I know this article is in Women's Wear Daily, but it happens to be absolutely correct).
The Pundits
~The Daily Show hires Michael Che
He will join the show after the season of SNL ends. Here he is doing a recent stand up bit on Seth Meyers show...
The Radio Biz
~Radio Listening Allegedly Hits Record High
I don't want to besmirch my old industry (which I still love), but this just doesn't sound true to me. Radio Ink reports on the latest findings by Nielsen:
Despite the bombardment of new services now offering audio entertainment to consumers, Nielsen says radio listening is at an all-time high. Today, Nielsen is releasing its second quarter report called "State of the Media: Audio Today." The report concludes radio listening remains at an all-time high with 92% of all Americans 12 and older, or 244.4 million people, tuning into radio in an average week. The report also provides detail on the Hispanic and African American radio listener. Those two categories account for nearly 30% of the national radio listening audience.
~Multi-Format Success
Again, I'm not trying to besmirch this report from the RAMP newsletter, but the seven different formats mentioned here would have all fit under the Top 40 umbrella back in the day (except maybe Triple A). But it is good to see we're having a cross-cultural moment in music:
Pharrell Williams continues to forge musical history, as his now-ubiquitous anthem "Happy" becomes the first and only song to ever reach No. 1 at six different Mediabase radio formats. This week, "Happy" jumps to No. 1 at Mediabase AC, as it remains No. 1 at Hot AC and Urban AC. The song recently hit the top spot at Top 40, Urban and Rhythm, marking six total formats at No. 1. Just weeks ago, "Happy" broke yet another Mediabase record, reaching 272 million in weekly audience, breaking the previous record set by Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" -- which, awesomely, also contains Pharrell. In total, "Happy" has charted at seven Mediabase formats -- Top 40, Rhythm, AC, Hot AC, Urban, Urban AC, and Triple A.
~The Voice of Tony the Tiger Dies
He was much more than that obviously. From Tom Taylor's column today:
Lee Marshall was the voice of Tony the Tiger, after the 1995 death of Thurl Ravenscroft, and that’s being prominently mentioned in the headlines about Lee’s death of esophageal cancer, at age 67. Aside from that signature role in voiceover work, he did tons of jobs in radio (especially news), TV and cable. Lee loved sports announcing, and he did wrestling for Turner Broadcasting. LARadio.com runs down the list of Marshall’s radio credits, from KCBQ San Diego, Detroit-market “Big 8” CKLW (delivering the “20/20 News”), and Los Angeles stations such as KHJ (starting in 1970), KDAY (1976-78) and KABC. LARadio’s Don Barrett says “in recent years, Lee was teaching voiceover classes at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks...and as former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said of Lee – ‘If God ever wanted to make a speech, Lee Marshall would get the call.’”
The Publishing Biz
~"To Kill A Mockingbird" Finally Becomes an E-book
In honor of author Harper Lee's 88th birthday (yes, she's still alive), Harper Collins is finally releasing the e-book version of one of the all-time great novels, "To Kill a Mockingbird". Her birthday is on July 8th.
