RIP Richard Irwin

Probably not a name you knew, but if you've ever searched for old radio clips or airchecks online (like I have many times), you definitely ran into Irwin's website reelradio. Tom Taylor's NOW column has the details...

Richard Irwin, founder/operator of the “ReelRadio” online museum, died yesterday. That’s the news posted on Facebook by Jeff Rothman. He says “For more than 20 years, [the ReelRadio Top 40 Repository] was the first place I looked every Sunday morning for updates.” “Uncle Ricky” had been in poor health and had been posting about recent medical tests and procedures – but it’s sad news for followers of his “Reel Top 40 Radio Repository.” Irwin ran it as a not-for-profit, and had recently said he’d stopped accepting donations and would spend down what was left in the bank. ReelRadio launched in the pre-dawn days of the Internet – February 1996. It claimed to be “the Internet’s largest archive of popular music radio programs...Most have been saved from the era of top 40 radio (1955-1985) and feature favorite stations and disk jockeys.” Irwin said “our virtual museum is user-supported and our website was the first of its kind.” You’d have to say that onetime North Carolina broadcaster Richard Irwin was himself one of a kind – and he genuinely loved radio. A NOW reader who knew him at East Carolina University says “Richard was one of the most talented and enthusiastic people about radio that I ever met. In college, Richard Irwin lived and breathed radio.”

Safe Inside

"Safe Inside" by Lee Kingsmill (Eckhartz Press) is now also available as an e-book on Amazon.

Get it for your kindle here.

RIP Anthony Bourdain

This is a shocker. Sad news. Famed chef/television star Anthony Bourdain died last night in Paris. He was 61 years old. The cause of death appears to be suicide.

CNN has the details.

His biggest moment on CNN was probably this one, when he convinced the president of the United States to have food with him in a little dive in Vietnam...



Here are Bourdain's favorite Chicago spots.

Printers Row Litfest

This weekend is the Printer's Row Litfest, near the UIC campus in Chicago. I won't be able to make it down there because of a few other engagements, but two Eckhartz Press books will be there.

Look for the CWA (Chicago Writers Association) tent, and you will find "The Write City Review" and "Cubsessions" along with some of the authors that contributed to each.

What He Said

He'll always be a Chicago Bull to me...

Warriors coach Steve Kerr on White House controversy:

"I'm blown away by the irony of the Eagles being disinvited. … Instead we just have these military sing-a-longs at The White House to show how patriotic we are, even though we don’t know the words." https://t.co/dLRT50KTJA pic.twitter.com/vw0vN99I4H

— ABC News (@ABC) June 6, 2018

Free Kicks, Episode 5

The World Cup is coming soon! In this week's episode we break down Groups D, E, & F...Some of the best teams in the world!

Listen to it here.

Minutia Men, Episode 97

EP97: Rick and Dave discuss deli-counter comedy, whiskey arm pits, Jenkins at the FBI, swings for 20-somethings, Ever Cub Ever roulette, and Rick’s brush with Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones.

Listen to it here.

Walk Off Grand Slam

Sean and I were there last night for one of all-time games...

WALK. OFF. GRAND. SLAM. pic.twitter.com/AEMAlUB2dm

— SI MLB (@si_mlb) June 7, 2018

WGN Lineup Shuffle

The ratings at WGN haven't been good for some reason lately--they rank #22 in the market, even among their target audience. They say it's not the reason for the lineup shuffle, but it must be part of the reason.

Robert Feder has the details.

The gist of the news is this--Justin Kaufmann's show will no longer be on from 7-10pm. He is being moved to the morning show, to co-host with Steve Cochran. Also, Andrea Darlas is being moved from the morning show into that 7-10pm slot, to co-host with Patti Vasquez.

I, Robot

I still remember the day I bought this album at the Kaufhof in Heidelberg in 1977. Tonight I'm taking my two grown sons (ages 22 & 20) to see it performed live in concert (amongst other APP songs). They love Alan Parsons more than I do. Son #2 just scoffed "You only have 14 Alan Parsons Project songs on your iPod!"



UPDATE: They played the entire "I Robot" album. It was tremendous.

Like Seeing a Unicorn

An actual Fox News apology...

.@FoxNews apologizes for showing photos of @Eagles kneeling in prayer in their segment about the national anthem protests pic.twitter.com/2cN3LRUFRf

— Tasneem N (@TasneemN) June 5, 2018

Q&A with Todd Manley

WGN Radio moved out of their Tribune Tower digs this week, and into new studios on the other side of the river. The Tribune (who also moved recently) interviewed station manager Todd Manley about the move and the impending ownership by Sinclair.

You can read it here.

Cubs pick another shortstop

It's funny how many shortstops the Cubs have picked in the first round since Theo & Company arrived. Their theory is these are the best athletes, and if they are also great hitters, they will turn out to be big time players. They did it again yesterday in the first round of the draft. MLB.com explains the pick...

24. Chicago Cubs: SS Nico Hoerner, Stanford University
I'm a little surprised the Cubs passed on a couple of the college arms that were available here, but Hoerner is an offensive-minded middle infielder with a track record of hitting in college. Those are hard to find, and he should continue to hit at the next level, with good power for his position. A lot of scouts see Hoerner more as a second baseman than a shortstop, but he should definitely be able to stay up the middle.

Mike Mulligan

The June issue of the Illinois Entertainer is out and features my interview the Score's Mike Mulligan.

Read it here.

Javy Steals Home

This was the winning run of the game. Doesn't get more exciting than this...

🎶 Can't take my eyes off of you 🎶 pic.twitter.com/eVYCekDO2b

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 4, 2018

Another Facebook Bombshell

The New York Times has the story, and it's even worse than you thought...

As Facebook sought to become the world’s dominant social media service, it struck agreements allowing phone and other device makers access to vast amounts of its users’ personal information.

Facebook has reached data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers — including Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung — over the last decade, starting before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, company officials said. The deals allowed Facebook to expand its reach and let device makers offer customers popular features of the social network, such as messaging, “like” buttons and address books.