Most popular street names in America

This is interesting research in the Washington Post.

The most popular street name in America is "Park". Second place is "Second/2nd". Oddly, "First/1st" is fourth. I guessed before I looked at the list and thought "Main" would be #1. It's 10th.

The tree-names are also in the top ten...Oak, Maple, Pine, Cedar.

In Chicago, it's Pothole. (Not really, but it should be)

A tip for forensics

Thanks to "PC" for this one...

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford was injured a plane crash yesterday. He was flying a vintage WWII era plane, and landed on a golf course.

Perfect place to land. There were probably a dozen doctors within a hundred yards of him.

Sounds like he's going to be OK.

Every Cub Ever (L)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter L. Everyone from Rene Lachemann to Dad Lytle–96 entries in all.

What will you find there? Four Hall of Famers, 18 classic baseball cards, ten videos, four classic audio clips, three managers, two executives, a broadcaster, a famous trainer, a celebrity fan, five Cubs named Lynch, a left-handed catcher, a radio disc jockey, the perfect-game-in-the-World-Series pitcher, the most obscure Cubs no-hitter, the only Cub born on Leap Day, the last Cub to win 20 games in a season, one of the oldest players to suit up for the Cubs, a 1908 Cub, plus Little Eva, Peanuts, and Dummy.

Check it out here.

Is WLS about to drop Rush?

Robert Feder had an interesting day yesterday. First he reported that WLS was about to drop Rush Limbaugh. Then, WLS made statements that said it was completely inaccurate. My guess is that Feder didn't make that up out of thin air. Where there's smoke, there's fire. This is Tom Taylor's take on it...

If Limbaugh leaves the schedule at talk WLS (890), that would let it carry the full three hours of “Johnny B.,” in the market where he’s best-known, Chicago. He’d air 9am to noon, instead of the originally-announced 9am-11am. That would leave WLS with a hole from noon-2pm. One scenario has Cumulus and Premiere negotiating to transfer Rush to Salem’s conservative talk WIND (560). After all, Premiere’s parent iHeart set some precedents by moving Rush off his longtime L.A. affiliate (talk KFI/640) to a sister station, the new avowedly-conservative “Patriot 1150” KEIB. But – Salem has previously displayed little interest in Rush, and this would break that pattern. There was friction between Cumulus and Rush a couple of years ago, when CEO Lew Dickey mentioned a revenue issue at some talk stations. He didn’t name-check Limbaugh, but Rush took it personally. The backdrop here is the three-year-old advertising boycott against Limbaugh whose match was lit by Media Matters, then kept alive by watchdog sites like StopRush.net (February 5, 2014 NOW). What's next? If WLS really does offload Limbaugh, this will look like a Major League Baseball or NBA team trading away a player with a really large contract. Sure sounds like something’s up.

I have a funny feeling they might be thinking of putting Bruce Wolf in that timeslot. Everyone else who was taken off the air at WLS has officially been released. Unless I missed it, Bruce has not said his goodbyes yet, even though he's not on the air anymore. Putting his show between two shows he used to be a part of (Brandmeier & Dahl) makes a lot of sense to me.

Another Happy Eckhartz Press Author

Congrats Brent Petersen, author of Truffle Hunt.

50 Years Ago Today

I saw this little tidbit at Bob Dearborn's The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac...

March 5, 1965…Neil Sedaka was the celebrity guest on the CBS-TV game show "I've Got A Secret."

And I went searching for the video. Here it is...

Every Cub Ever (K)

Today Just One Bad Century features EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter K. Everyone from Mike Kahoe to Emil Kush–82 entries in all.

What will you find there? Four Hall of Famers, 14 classic baseball cards, eleven videos, two classic audio clips, two managers, two executives, a broadcaster, a celebrity fan, a Cubs scribe, a father/son team, a 1969 Cub, two 1908 Cubs, a college hall of famer, the inspiration for Babe Ruth’s anti-Cub anger, and your humble editor.

Check it out here.

Husbands

Thanks "PC" for turning me on to this...Guilty as charged.

DeLorean

If the Cubs live up to the prediction of "Back to the Future II" and win the World Series this year, you could get the famous DeLorean.

A museum in Volo, Ill., has promised to raffle off its 1981 exhibition model DeLorean if the Chicago Cubs can win the World Series this year.

Details are here.

How do you keep up with music?

There used to be one simple answer to that question: Radio. Not so much anymore. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

AM/FM drops from 75% to 69% as “a source for keeping up with music.” Though “there’s no one [single] challenger,” according to the Edison/Triton Digital Infinite Dial update – it’s a constellation of sources. “Friends and family” as a “keeping up” source actually grew stronger, from 66% last year to 70% this year. Then it’s AM/FM, followed by YouTube at 61%, Pandora at 51%, Facebook at 40%, music channels on TV (jumping from 33% last year to 39%), and “information/displays at a local store,” mentioned by 32%. iTunes rates at 31%, then satellite radio, up from 20% to 23%. Then iHeart at 20%. That ties iHeart with Spotify, which gained from 14% to 20%. When Edison phrased the question as “the source most used for keeping up-to-date with music,” AM/FM wins at 29%, followed by friends and family at 20%. But here’s trouble – the “source most used” pie-chart for 12-24s drops AM/FM all the way down to 8%.

With a Horse?

His defense is that he was high. But how high do you have to be to do what this guy just did? (Warning: NSFW headline, but thankfully no video or photos of act in question)

Ah, Wisconsin.

I know I'm getting to be a hopelessly old man, but is there really a genre of porn called "Horse Porn"?

Chicago in March

Chicago - Another Planet from Guy Bauer Productions on Vimeo.

Every Cub Ever (J)

Today Just One Bad Century features EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter J. Everyone from Brett Jackson to Billy Jurges–53 entries in all.

What will you find there? A Hall of Famer, eleven classic baseball cards, six videos, a celebrity fan, a classic audio clip, 8 Cubs named Jackson, 8 named Jones, 12 Johnsons, a ’69 Cub, an actual Cub, the first African-American Cub pitcher, the player who scored the only run in the Sandy Koufax perfect game, a player who was shot by a crazed fan, plus Footer, Handsome Ransom, and Kangaroo.

Check it out here.

Biggest News Day Ever?

If you're a casual follower of the news, you missed a doozy yesterday. On a normal day, every one of these stories would have received full-time 24-hour cable-news coverage.

1) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu spoke to the U.S. Congress and ripped the American president (to thunderous applause from Republicans).

2) Former CIA Director David Petreaus admitted to passing classified documents to his mistress, and faces a potential prison sentence.

3) Former Secretary of State (and probable presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton was revealed to have conducted all of her official business as Secretary via a private e-mail account, sparking concern about security breaches and transparency.

4) The Department of Justice released a report alleging that the Ferguson Missouri police department was casually racist--although not criminally liable for it.

5) The House of Representatives passed the DHS funding bill without any anti-immigration riders--after pretending last week that this was something that could NEVER happen.

6) And today, the Supreme Court hears arguments to end a provision of Obamacare based on a technical use of vague language--that would immediately kick five million people off their insurance plans.

I got a kick out of watching the cable news shows trying to figure out what story should lead their programs. There was no consensus--all of those stories were picked by at least one show.

Curt Schilling Defends Daughter In Twitter-Hate-Fest

I'm not a Curt Schilling fan. I think he's kind of an opinionated ass--and I disagree with him on just about everything (except for his hopeful take on the Cubs). That said, I applaud him for the way he handled this situation on Twitter.

Tweeters went after his daughter--and that's never acceptable. He tracked them down, and called them out.

Read his full take on it here.

The Wave of the Future?

NBC Universal is planning an "over-the-top" comedy subscription service. All of the NBC comedies including the Tonight Show and SNL will be available for streaming for a monthly fee of between $2.50 & $3.50.

The Hollywood Reporter has the details.

I have a feeling this is the future for network broadcast television (and probably cable too).

Chet Coppock

For a guy who's known as a bit of a blowhard (and I say that affectionately), Chet Coppock sure does wear his heart on his sleeve. The other night he went on a twitter rampage. The tweets have been deleted, but this blogger preserved them before they disappeared.

Chet takes shots at Dan Bernstein ("gutless", "wimp", "look in the dictionary under 'bitch' and you'll find Dan Bernstein"), Julie DeCaro ("little tart"), Chris Rongy ("forever a recap guy, never a host"), and a guy downstate.

If you're interested take a look at the tweets at the link above.

I'm guessing Chet wishes he hadn't done it (which is why he deleted it), but the thing that seemingly (I'm guessing based on the article) sparked his anger (talking about the Patrick Sharp rumor with no substantiation) is a legitimate gripe. He could have addressed it without expressing his opinions quite so graphically, but Chet does have a tendency of going into full-Wrestling announcing mode pretty quickly.

The blog post suggests Chet was probably drunk when he did it, but I don't think he was. Chet doesn't drink.

(I interviewed Chet for the Illinois Entertainer last May)

Steve Dahl

I think this is a very good article in Chicago Magazine about my old boss, Steve Dahl. Steve gave full access to the writer, and the writer presented Steve fairly but compassionately.

Bill O'Reilly from Buenos Aires

Here's the actual tape of O'Reilly's report from Buenos Aires...



It looks pretty hairy to me. Not a war zone, and nobody being gunned down in the streets, but pretty ugly. This riot looks like the one in Ferguson Missouri earlier this year. But it's not a war zone.

Remember, Brian Williams was suspended for saying he was in a plane that was shot...when it was actually a plane near him. I'd say this embellishment is in the exact same category, unless I'm missing something.

Again, it's not going to matter because Fox News will never suspend him for something like this (or anything else as long as his show is bringing in the cash), but it's nice to know where the truth lies.

Every Cub Ever (I)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter I.

There are only six entries in all, but one of them is a Hall of Famer, another is the player acquired for Greg Maddux, plus there’s a classic baseball card and a song.

Check it out here.

Haters Gonna Hate

Sometimes internet commenters just forget that they are ripping a real person. Some of the vile things that are said out there have taken my breath away, and not just towards political figures like the president (or the previous president). Even in the world of radio things can get ugly--especially when people are allowed to comment anonymously. That just happened in LA to the newest member of the Kevin & Bean show on KROQ. From Tom Taylor's column this morning...

New Kevin & Bean cast member Allie Mac Kay says on Facebook “needless to say, been a rough 4 days for everyone involved. I can take a lot of abuse...but death/rape threats and lies spread about my addition to the show is way over the line.” Some social media posters turned very ugly, says Don Barrett’s LARadio.com, when CBS blew out 24-year traffic reporter Lisa May and newsman “Doc on the ROQ” Boyd R. Britton from the L.A. alt-rocker. As Don Barrett says, “Lisa was told she was gone...nothing was said on the air, then Allie shows up, and nothing is really said about introducing her to the audience.” That’s when the hating began, particularly against former KTLA-TV reporter Allie, who was seen as replacing Kevin & Bean’s female voice. (Even though Lisa worked for an outside traffic service.) Garman says “for Allie to get death threats, rape threats and the names she’s been called online...it hurts me to think our listeners are capable of that.” Some aren't even good spellers, as Allie wryly notes on Facebook - “it's called "the C word" for a reason...spelling it with a "k" made me sad for so many.”

The rumors that have been swirling around Chicago regarding Patrick Sharp fall into the same category for me. Are they true? Everyone involved says that they aren't, but wow have they spread. If you're in Chicago, you've heard the rumors. Patrick Sharp even felt it necessary to make a public statement yesterday addressing the issue. He pointed out that he's a real person--that he has two daughters--that his parents even called him to find out if it was true. It it was, the Hawks surely would have traded him. The deadline passed yesterday. The guy's reputation has been tarnished forever. That seems like a pretty high price to pay just for being in the public eye.

Peter Bowen

News came out yesterday that Peter Bowen has been named the new market manager for Cumulus in Chicago. Here's the blurb from Radio Online...

Cumulus announces that 20-year Chicago radio veteran Peter Bowen has been named Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Chicago. Bowen moves into the role previously held by Donna Baker, who was promoted to Regional Vice President for Cumulus. Bowen joins Cumulus from CBS Radio, where he was Senior Vice President/Director of Sales for CBS Radio's six radio stations in Los Angeles. Prior to that, Bowen worked for CBS Radio Chicago for 16 years, serving as Senior Vice President/General Manager of WBBM-FM and WJMK-FM, and as Vice President/Director of Sales for CBS Radio's Chicago stations.

I worked with Peter at WJMK when he was a salesman there. Nice guy. I wish him the best.

Guy Bauer

My latest media column for the Illinois Entertainer has been posted.

This month I spoke with former Brandmeier producer Guy Bauer--who is now a successful video entrepeneur.

Read it here.

My New Favorite Show

John Oliver's show on HBO is fantastic. Every week he spends about half of it delving into one topic. This week it was infrastructure.

WSHE

When you're going after women listeners, why not name yourself WSHE? That's what WILV is doing, beginning today.

Robert Feder has the details.

KSHE, by the way, is a legendary rock and roll station in St. Louis that doesn't target women at all.

Happy Pulaski Day!

Today is Kasimir Pulaski day, which is a big deal to Chicago’s large Polish population. There have been exactly five players in big league history who were born in Poland, and one of them played for the Cubs.

His EVERY CUB EVER entry is listed below…

~Moe Drabowsky 1935 (Cubs 1956-1960)
Moe was born in Poland, and was a hot young gun pitcher for the Cubs in the late 50s. His best season with the Cubs was probably 1957, when he won 13 games as a 22-year-old for a very bad Cubs team. He never lived up to that in the proceeding years, so the Cubs eventually gave up on him. He later pitched for the Braves, Athletics, and Reds in the early 60s, but really found a home in Baltimore. Moe became a key part of the bullpen for two World Series champions Orioles teams in 1966 and 1970. He beat Don Drysdale to win Game 1 of the 1966 World Series. Moe ended up pitching 17 years in the big leagues.

The other 4 Polish-born players were Elmo Valo (who played 20 seasons in the big leagues, mostly with the A’s), Nap Kloza who played for the Browns, and Henry Peploski and Johnny Reder, who both played one season in Boston.

More O'Reilly Truth Stretching

As more and more examples of O'Reilly truth stretching come out (TPM has 7 examples today, the Daily Dot has 99), Bill O'Reilly is starting to feel the heat.

Nothing will happen to him at Fox News, of course, but he's getting very ticked off at the "hatchet job" of the mainstream media. Unfortunately for Bill, these are all pretty easily disprovable things that he said. He's starting to sound like Bill "depends on the definition of is" Clinton when he tries to explain them.

When you live by the hatchet (is there anyone who hatchets people more regularly? he calls people pinheads nightly), you are bound to be wounded by the hatchet yourself. Luckily for Bill, he makes a ton of money for the network, and that's the only thing his bosses care about.

Every Cub Ever (H)

Today Just One Bad Century is featuring EVER CUB EVER beginning with the letter H. Everyone from Eddie Haas to Herb Hutson–168 entries in all.

What will you find there? Four Hall of Famers, 25 classic baseball cards, 12 videos, seven classic audio clips, five celebrity fans, two broadcasters, four executives, two managers, a scribe, three members of the Hairston family, seven Cubs named Hughes, four 1969 Cubs and two 1908 Cubs, two that were banned from baseball, a father/son team, three no-hitters, the rooftop homerer, the villain from the movie “42″, the pitcher who sustained the most embarrassing injury, another pitcher who was acquired just to destroy him, plus Shanty, Egyptian & Bubbles.

Check it out here.

Green White Schlachtfest

What were you doing on Saturday night? I was the MC of a soccer banquet.

Green White staged our annual Schlachtfest on Saturday night (February 28th), and a great time was had by one and all. The Johnny Wagner band provided the music, and the club provided the festival of meat--including the famous Zimmer Hungarian sausages. A big crowd (over 300) showed up for the event, including our many longtime members, plus a large contigent of players from the first team, over 30s and over 40 teams, and quite a few members from our youth division.

We gave out a number of awards, including the First Team MVP (Monroe Bell Jr.) and the over-40 MVP (Barnacus Hernandez), and a we recognized club senior VP Jon Duddles for his dedication and service to the club. Jon is the man who runs our Steve Zimmer Memorial Tournament every summer.

It's also become a Schlachtfest tradition to crown Miss Green White, and Miss Green White 2015 is Elayna Mork (granddaughter of longtime member Fritz Spiess). Elayna gave an eloquent speech about what the club means to her and her family.

I used to dread doing these events--I'm not a big fan of speaking in public (despite my radio background) But as I'm getting older, I enjoy it more and more. And I enjoy seeing old friends and eating some incredibly delicious German food.

Thanks Green White for asking me

RIP Minnie Minoso

Minnie Minoso was one of the all-time greatest Chicago White Sox players. He set a major league record in 1980 when Bill Veeck brought him back for two at-bats, allowing him to have played in the major leagues in 5 different decades (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s). He passed away yesterday in Chicago at the age of 92.


Sad news about Minnie Minoso over the weekend. Everyone in Chicago loved Minnie. I met him many times over the years. He lived in Chicago, and every time I called him up and asked him to appear at one of the John Landecker Show's live broadcasts, he happily agreed. He would show up with a pile of promo pictures and patiently autograph them for anyone who wanted one. He was a heck of a guy.

Now if you've ever heard Minnie speak, you know that his English was very shaky--even after living here for more than fifty years. (He was supposedly one of the inspirations for the SNL character who always said "Baseball has been berry berry good to me.") So why would we have someone who could barely speak the language on our radio program? Well, the event we invited him to every year was our annual Mini-Golf fund raiser. We invited several local celebrities to participate, but Minnie was always our star attraction. Bob Sirott from "Fox Thing in the Morning" always sent over a TV crew to simulcast Minnie's portion of our show. Why? Same joke every year.

Bob: Is that Minnie Minoso there, John?
John: Let me ask him. What's your name?
Minnie: Minnie Minoso.
John: What are you playing?
Minnie: Mini-Golf.

Here's a picture from our first tournament. Standing from left: John Landecker, White Sox organist Nancy Faust, Santa Claus, WJMK afternoon man Scott Miller, Sidekick Vicki Truax and her daughter Teddi, Barry Newman (singer from the Crests), Radio hall of famer Larry Lujack, Carl Giamarese (singer from the Buckinghams), Minnie Minoso, Late sportscaster Tim Weigel, Ronnie Rice (singer from the New Colony Six), Elvis, and Ronald McDonald (This was a benefit for Ronald McDonald House). Kneeling in front holding the sign: Rick Kaempfer & WJMK Promotions Director Michelle Dirks.

I'm not qualified to render an opinion about whether or not Minoso belongs in the baseball Hall of Fame, but I will say this...

Minnie was berry berry good to me.