One Last World Cup Post

I promise this is the last one.

Just wanted you to know that the World Cup final set ratings records for ESPN and Univision.

Oh, and that the Onion had a very funny take on it: Germans Humiliated After Winning World Cup 6.38 Seconds Behind Schedule

OK, back to normal now.

World Cup Pool

I entered and ran a World Cup pool for about thirty of my soccer pals via Yahoo, and won it by a pretty large margin. This morning I looked at the overall rankings on Yahoo, and I finished in 1194th place in the entire country, and 1315th place in the world.

Not bad.

I'm sad it's over. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this one.

Honoring the Special that Honored the Beatles

From today's RAMP Newsletter...

The Recording Academy proudly announces that The Beatles: The Night That Changed America -- A Grammy Salute has garnered six Emmy Award nominations...The six nominations for The Beatles: The Night That Changed America -- A Grammy Salute include "Outstanding Variety Special," "Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special," " Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special," "Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Special," "Outstanding Music Direction" and "Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Series Or Special."

Possible speech for awards night: "It's an honor to be honored for honoring the 4 lads who honor the music."

For the German-Speakers

In German, it's a pun. It means "Thank God" and it happens to have the name of the German player who scored the World Cup winning goal...

What Brazil-Germany game looked like to Brazilian fans

Cubs Lightning

I watched and listened to the Cubs yesterday and every time Arismendy Alcantara came up, it was like watching a bolt of lightning. That kid is pure excitement...and he's only the fifth or six best prospect we have in the minors. Yowza. 4 for 5, with two infield singles (lightning), a double, a triple, two runs scored, and three runs driven in. He was only supposed to be up in the big leagues for two days, but the brass just changed their mind. He's staying up here. (photo by Tim Sheridan, BoysofSpring.com)

Still working on getting the correct pronounciation. Is it AlCONtara or AlCANtara or AlCAntra or AlcanTARA? I heard it all four ways. I guess the announcers aren't quite sure yet either.

By the way, did you see that dustup in the ninth inning? It almost led to a brawl. Aroldis Chapman buzzed a few 100-plus MPH fastballs near Nate Schierholtz' head. The Cubs, understandably, didn't care for that. But it was probably the way Chapman dismissively waved to the Cubs dugout and walked toward it after he struck out a batter that got the Cubs really ticked off. Anthony Rizzo said a few things toward the Reds dugout when he came back out to his position, they responded with some words that made Anthony throw down his glove, and then the benches emptied. This Cincinnati writer thinks Rizzo should have been kicked out. Mmmm hmmm. It was Rizzo who started that fight, not Chapman. (Sigh)

A Statistical Analysis of Classic Rock

I thought this article in 538 was very interesting. They analyzed classic rock stations across the country, and found...

The 10-year period from 1973 to 1982 accounts for a whopping 57 percent of all song plays in the set. Besides a small trickle of music from 1995 onward — a trickle to which the Green Day song that inspired this article belongs — the last year to make an actual dent in the listings is 1991. That’s largely due to releases by Nirvana, Metallica and U2, the groups that make up the last wave of what is currently considered classic rock.

As a classic rock fan (also known as a dinosaur), I enjoyed the perspective of the youngster who wrote the piece. Also, check out this top fifteen list of classic rock songs on the radio (by most plays). You'll notice there isn't a single Beatles song on the list. Beatles fans have apparently aged out of the classic rock demo. Once I get my nurse to help me out of bed, and put in my teeth, I'm going to write the classic rock programmers a very angry letter. Now where did I put my quill?

Cara Carriveau

From today's RAMP newsletter, Cara Carriveau is now doing afternoons at WILV (FM 100.3)...

There has been a noticeable on-air change at Hubbard Radio's WILV (Chicago's 100.3)/Chicago as afternoon personality Jane Monzures exits after a six-month run. She has been replaced by market vet Cara Carriveau (pictured), who slides up from nights. As usual, these moves were first noticed by Chicago media maven Robert Feder and chronicled in his blog. RAMP hit up WILV PD Marty Bender for confirmation. He shared a staff memo, which read, in part, "Jane is a wonderful person and a great talent and we wish her continued ongoing success in her many media and philanthropic endeavors." Monzures is best known for her many years of service across the street at WLUP (The Loop). She was hired by WILV in January of this year to replace Brian Middleton. Bender's memo continues, "Beginning today, we welcome our evening hostess and Chicago radio superstar Cara Carriveau to the 2-7pm drive slot at Chicago's 100.3. Nights will be handled by fill-in hosts until we post the opening and look for our new night star."

I just interviewed Cara for the Illinois Entertainer a few months ago. That interview is here.

Cara has also previously interviewed me for her podcast (seven years ago now) about my first two books...(You can listen to that interview here)

Only Tiger

I'm surprised it's taken them this long to come up with this idea. For the British Open, ESPN will have one channel that only follows around Tiger Woods. It will be on ESPN-3.

Let's face it. Casual golf fans only watch it when Tiger is involved. (I'm one of those people).

The Records Truly Is My Middle Name Soundtrack Promotional Video

Courtesy of Tommy Kaempfer...

Zander Out

I was very surprised by this news. I just talked to him recently (via e-mail) and had no indication this was a possibility. From Radio Online...

Mark Zander is out as Program Director of Classic Rock WERV-FM (95.9 The River) and Rock WRXQ-FM (QROCK 100.7)/Chicago. He also handled afternoons for WERV. Zander, who has been with the company since October, 2010, was elevated to PD or WERV in early, 2011, adding Classic Rock WRXQ-FM programming duties the following September. Prior to that, he served as PD of Classic Rock WRXQ-FM/Joliet, IL. WERV morning co-host and Assistant PD Danielle Tufano will act as The River's interim PD.

I just featured Danielle a month or two ago at the Illinois Entertainer. She described her duties as Assistant PD as "doing whatever Zander needs." I also interviewed Zander a few years ago, when he was still working in California. He had just left the Loop, where he had been working as the overnight guy during my very last stint in radio. I was working as a morning show consultant for the Spike, Dobie & Max show.

People are REALLY watching the World Cup

Here are some stats for you.

Germany’s Stunning Rout Of Brazil Results In The Most Facebook Interactions

With 35.6 Million Tweets, Germany’s 7-1 #WorldCup Win Over Brazil Sets A New Twitter Record

Germany’s Victory Over Brazil Top Rated Non-U.S. Team World Cup Game Ever

That's all pretty incredible. I think this has been the most enjoyable World Cup I can ever remember, and I always love the World Cup.

By the way, you have to feel a little sorry for Brazil. They are hosting a World Cup final that features the team that humiliated them versus their most hated rival. I'll put it in terms my fellow Cub fans can understand. It would be like a team featuring Steve Garvey and Will Clark playing the World Series against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

Who do you root for?

I know who I'm rooting for, by the way. No surprise here...

A Google Executive's Bizarre Death

The story is recounted this morning in the San Jose Mercury News, and it's surely the most salacious story to ever hit their business section.

The description that chills is this:

It was a camera-caught crime of callousness -- an unconscious Silicon Valley tech executive left to die on his luxury yacht with a fatal fix of heroin coursing through his veins. Police said the prostitute who injected the drug cleared out evidence, stepped over his body and finished a glass of wine before fleeing.

The even odder part, if you ask me, is that the prostitute in question is a rich girl, a daughter of a software CEO, who seemed to just like danger.

I feel a show trial coming on.

The Just One Bad Century Promotional Video

Chicago Radio Ratings

Thanks again to Robert Feder for posting these...



Mornings

Middays

Afternoons

Evenings

Letterman Walks Out on Joan Rivers

Deutschland

I've never celebrated at halftime of a soccer game before. I may have to finally drink one of these beverages my German relatives tell me so much about. I believe they spell it b-i-e-r. Can't wait to see what it tastes like.

If you can't laugh at yourself...

A Yankees fan who fell asleep and was caught on camera, and (incredibly) gently mocked by the ESPN announcers covering the game, has sued them for $10 million for "defamation". The New York Post has the details.

In a perfect world this suit is immediately dismissed.

We don't live in a perfect world, however.

Green White

\

One of my on-going writing projects is writing the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my dad in the 1950s.

Each month I write about one year in club history. This month, it's 1989.

You can read it here.

The Trade

Theo pulled the trigger over the weekend, didn’t he? I think I’ve read everything written about the Samardzija/Hammel trade, and I see that there are a lot of people who seem to be upset by this trade. My question is this: Why?

We traded a guy who made it clear he didn’t want to be here anymore (and had rejected numerous contract offers) and a guy we signed specifically to trade (and told him so when we signed him) for the two best prospects in Oakland’s system, and a guy who won ten 10 games for them last year. That sounds like a great trade to me.

The Cubs now almost certainly have the #1 farm system in all of baseball. Plus we have an all-star shortstop who is still only 24 years old (Castro), a near all-star 25-year-old first baseman, a bullpen full of young guys who throw 95-plus MPH, and two young excellent starting pitchers (Arietta, and last year’s all-star Travis Wood). Three or four of the young studs in the minors will be ready within a year. These are players who are considered franchise players. We have three or four of them coming up. The oldest one is 22. We may not have stud pitchers ready to come up, but in the last two years, the Cubs have drafted 40 pitchers. 40.

I’ll admit to occasionally wavering and having my doubts about Theo and Jed, but after this trade, I’m very excited. I know the rest of this year won’t be pretty, but that just means ANOTHER good draft position next year…and next year is when we’ll begin to see the results of this stockpiling on the field at Wrigley. I get why Cub fans are a little hesitant to be patient (how patient do we have to be, right?), but this approach clearly seems to be paying off. I’m drinking the koolaid right now.

18 months in prison

Rupert Murdoch's former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was sentenced to prison today.

His sentence is 18 months.

One of the conspirators magically got away with it (Rebekkah Brooks), but let's not forget this prison sentence and the many guilty pleas associated with this former British tabloid.

Anthony's Radio Career is Over

Anthony Cumia, the Anthony of "Opie & Anthony", is finished in radio after a series of angry and racist tweets were posted by him. His employer XM/Sirius immediately fired him, and this New York Daily News article says he will never be hired by anyone in radio again. Even though there is a petition to get him back on the air, his old employer won't budge.

What caused him to do it? He was punched in the face by a black woman in Times Square. The tweets are here. No question they were way over the line.

I read the article expecting to be totally on the side of XM/Sirius. There's clearly a racist element to this. But it looks to me like he just snapped after getting attacked, and he was trying to get back at her by saying the meanest things he could think of saying. Racist things? Yes. THE word that offends all women? Yes.

Was it wrong? No question. But isn't getting punched in the face even worse?

Seems to me that this shouldn't be a career ender. A suspension? OK. Even being fired, I can see. But never allowing him to work again because he snapped after getting punched in the face? It's not like this was Mr. Rogers saying these things. Anthony's a shock jock who regularly says things that go over the line.

Maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age.

World Cup Impersonation

Love this...

Little Diddy

OK, made me laugh...Thanks "KS" for sending it.

What Soccer Means To Me

I have to admit I've gotten a bit emotional over the past few weeks while I watched my fellow Americans climb aboard the soccer bandwagon. I was more thrilled seeing 20,000 people file into Soldier Field to watch a video screen than I was watching the incredibly exciting game. I was more touched driving around yesterday afternoon and seeing every bar with a big screen packed to the gills at 3:00pm on a Tuesday afternoon, than I was watching Tim Howard make all those incredible saves.

I remember what it was like when I was boy. I remember pulling out a soccer ball to show my friends in the early 70s, and they had never even heard of the sport. I literally taught my neighborhood friends how to play the game my dad taught me. (That's a photo of my dad's player pass from the National Soccer League in the early 60s)

My father spent his entire adult life trying to spread the love of soccer. He co-founded a soccer club (Green White) and was a driving part of their board of directors for more than thirty years. He insisted to all who would listen that the way to spread soccer wasn't to change the hearts and minds of adults, it was to show kids how much fun it could be. It was literally his life's work.

Dad died in 1989. By the time he died, soccer was beginning to gain a foothold among American youth. His club (Green White) had more than 20 youth teams by that time. But Dad wasn't around to see America qualify for the 1990 World Cup, after not qualifying most of his life. That American team was overmatched, but at least it was there.

He wasn't around to see the World Cup come to America in 1994. My brother, sister, mom and I all went to the opening ceremonies in Chicago, and all of us got a little choked up thinking about Dad, and what he would have thought of this. America had started to buy into soccer, but there were still half-empty stadiums for some of those early games. And the people who did go, were still mostly ethnic types (like me).

Dad wasn't around in 1999 when Brandy Chastain and Mia Hamm helped turned women's soccer into a phenomenon. He would have never believed that girls soccer would become as popular as boys soccer.

Every time we reached a soccer milestone in this country, I thought of Dad. When the US reached the final 8 in 2002, losing to Germany in the quarterfinals, I thought of him. When I traveled all the way to South Africa to watch America play in the 2010 World Cup, and saw this Outlaw nation of fanatical fans, I thought of him.

But yesterday, when everyone in America was either watching or talking about this World Cup, I got a little emotional. It wasn't the usual "What is this, kickball?" nonsense I've heard in years past. It wasn't the "Oh great game--what was it zero to zero?" sarcasm I've grown accustomed to hearing from soccer-haters. People were into it. They had begun to understand the appeal of the game. They were caught up in the drama, in the emotion, in the tension. They were making intelligent observations about the team, and the tactics, and the strategy.

There's now a whole generation of Americans who have grown up playing and watching the sport.

And they love it.

Can you believe this, Dad? Isn't this beyond your wildest dreams?

Our Visit to WGN Radio

Yesterday was a day that Eckhartz Press author Bruce Bohrer will never forget.

See a photo gallery, listen to the interview, and read all about it here.

Bob Stroud

My latest Illinois Entertainer column has been posted. This month I talk music with the Drive's Bob Stroud.

You can read it here.

Unintended Consequences

According to this piece in the Press Gazette, the phone hacking scandal that sent one of Rupert's top aides to prison may be the best thing that could have happened to the Murdoch family fortune. Why? Because it forced to him seperate News Corp into two entitites. That move has netted his family six billion dollars.

That could be the most depressing thing I've ever written.

My apologies.

Mogul Fest

My favorite annual party is going on this week in Sun Valley Idaho. All of the media moguls are gathered there to pay homage to Wall Street financiers in completely off-the-record chats.

I had fun with this in my book "Severance". People actually thought I made it up.

What could possibly go wrong when the money people in America meet secretly with the people in charge of reporting what is going on in the world?

Wrigley Usher on Bob & Marianne

Heading over to WGN Radio at 1pm to accompany our author Bruce Bohrer. He'll be discussing his book, "Best Seat in the House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher" with Bob and Marianne. I'll be there snapping photos and chronicling the event...

How popular is the World Cup?

ESPN's Live stream of the USA-Germany match crashed during the game.

From Variety:

An ESPN rep said the sports programmer was “investigating some limited issues due to unprecedented demand.” WatchESPN viewership for the first half of the USA-Germany match peaked at more than 1.4 million concurrent viewers. During the match, WatchESPN peaked at 1.7 million concurrent users — a record for the service

Obama's Brilliant Diversion Plan

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,The Colbert Report on Facebook,Video Archive

Dan Burns at the Beverly Arts Center

If you're on the southside tonight, here's an evening you might enjoy...

~An Evening with Dan Burns at the Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W 111th St, Chicago, IL, June 26th, 7pm
Dan Burns will be questioned by the BAC’s gifted interviewer Penny Golden, will take questions and discuss his book with the attendees book-club-style, and will sign and sell copies of his Eckhartz Press novel “Recalled to Life”.

Feel Free To Copy and Use

Loyalty Divided

I'm going for the USA, but I won't be upset with a tie...



(Oh, and by the way, no calls on Thursday please)

Supreme Court Kills "Aero"

"Aero" was a start up company with investors like Barry Diller, who tried to offer network programming on the web. The networks sued, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. Today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the networks. From CNBC.com...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that online TV service Aereo, backed by media mogul Barry Diller, violates copyright law by using tiny antennas to provide subscribers with broadcast network content via the Internet. On a 6-3 vote, the court handed a victory to the four major TV broadcasters and cast Aereo's immediate future into doubt.

Most Watched Soccer Game in US TV History

How big were the ratings for the USA-Portugal game this weekend? 18.2 million people watched. That makes it the most watched soccer game in US television history.

Guilty and Not Guilty

The verdict finally came in for the phone hacking Rupert Murdoch confidantes in England.

One of them, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was found guilty. Another one, the incredibly guilty-seeming former News of the World editor Rebekkah Brooks was found not guilty.

I followed this trial pretty closely and I really thought it would go the other way.

America's Newest Golfer

I took my 11-year-old son Sean out golfing for the first time yesterday. He was part of my foursome at the Green White golf outing. Sean loved it--turns out he's a natural. We probably used five or six of his shots (it was a scramble), including a few drives. He also kept track of the number of times he out-hit his dad, which sadly, happened quite a few times. But as soon as it was over, he was ready to hit the sack.

WIND Cuts the Mike of Joe Walsh

Who knew America's most abrasive politician would say something on the radio that would get him in trouble? What were the odds? From Radio Online today...

Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh has been suspended from his two-hour show on Salem's WIND-AM (AM560 The Answer)/Chicago reports Politico's Jonathan Topaz. The suspension came down during a discussion about the Washington Redskins' team name, when he repeatedly attempted to use racial slurs on air to make a point about the Redskins name controversy. During the discussion, he wrote on Twitter that the station repeatedly cut his sound as he used the slurs. "And here comes to the General Manager," Walsh tweeted, after noting that the station kept muting his sound. "It appears I can say Redskins, which is supposedly offensive, but when I say other words, commercial." Walsh appeared to be protesting his ability to use the term "Redskins," but not other racially sensitive terms. "Just got kicked off the air until further notice," he later posted on Twitter. "Tried to have honest discussion about racist terms and management censored my language."

Eddie & Jobo to WLS FM?

From this morning's RAMP Newsletter...

Are Chicago morning radio vets Eddie and Jobo being romanced by Cumulus Classic Hits WLS-FM? That's the word from Chicago media maven Robert Feder, who reports the guys have had several meaningful conversations with Cumulus about a possible return. Eddie Volkmann and Joe Colborn (a.k.a. Bohannon) are best known for their nearly two decades of service on CBS Radio's WBBM (B96) until November of 2008. In March of 2011 they were rehired by CBS to do mornings on Classic Hits WJMK (104.3 K-Hits), but that venture ended in December of 2012, and the guys have been on the radio beach since then. Both gentlemen have suddenly become very chatty on Facebook about their supposed imminent return, with Colborn going as far as to post this giddy message, "So, Eddie and I have an INCREDIBLE offer on the table to return to Chicago Radio…I mean INCREDIBLE. I'm wrestling with this decision 24/7." Cumulus SVP Jan Jeffries wouldn't comment on all the speculation.

Of course one of the reasons Jeffries can't comment on the speculation is that WLS-FM has a current morning host. His name is Brant Miller.

He's baaaaack

From Radio Online...

Cumulus Media/San Francisco appoints Kevin Metheny as Operations Manager of News/Talk outlets KGO-AM and KSFO-FM, effective July 14. Metheny currently serves as Program Director of co-owned News/Talk WJR-AM/Detroit. Before WJR, Metheny was with Tribune's WGN-AM/Chicago which he left in 2010. He also spent ten years with Clear Channel/Cleveland as VP/Programming and OM. Metheny is a career content creator whose other recent work includes the successful launch of CBS Radio's Country KMNB-FM (BUZ*N@102.9)/Minneapolis.

I would have written it slightly differently. My lede begins with "Former WGN program director Kevin Metheney, known for fire-bombing an institution and turning it into just another radio station, has somehow managed to get hired again. Yes, the same guy Howard Stern called 'Pig Vomit' in his memoirs. That guy. Hired again."

Rejected

Middle son (age 16) rejects Cubs tickets with Dad. Dad currently revising his will and Xing middle son out of all family pictures. Going to Cubs game with son #1, who wisely jumped at the chance. For those of you keeping score at home, in the photo below, simply place an X over the little boy on the right in this photograph.

Five Years Ago Today

One of the fun things about writing for my website Just One Bad Century is that I'll occasionally stumble across a Cubs anniversary that brings up wonderful memories. For me, today in 2009 was one of those days. I wrote about it at the time.

You can read it here.

I enjoyed re-reading it, because I'm going to the ballpark with the same kid tomorrow, and he's 16 now. Let's just say it will be an entirely different experience.

Another Celebrity with Another Eckhartz Press book

"Life Behind the Camera" author Chuck Quinzio with Rob Reiner...

The "Best Seat in the House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher" Book Launch Party!

Bruce Bohrer was a Wrigley Field usher for nine seasons, and during that time he saw it all. Brushes with greatness, marriage proposals, creative signs and cheers, unique crowd control issues, and the sheer awe and excitement of Wrigley patrons are captured beautifully in the pages of this book. Maybe you'll even recognize yourself, because after all, the real stars of "Best Seat in the House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher" are not the players on the field. They are the people who come to the shrine called Wrigley; everyday fans who bleed blue for their beloved Cubs.

Come out to the launch party this Saturday from 3-6pm at Tavern on 60 in Mundelein, Illinois! Bruce will be there signing copies of his brand new Eckhartz Press book.

Here's the link to: Tavern on 60

Here's the link to: "Best Seat In The House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher"

Yes, they do serve beer at Tavern on 60.

Once again, we remind you that the attendance of Eckhartz Press publishers Rick Kaempfer and David Stern and the similtaneous easy availability of beer on tap is completely coincidental.

Another Balding Handbook Fan

This salty bald man knows a great self help book when he sees one...

America Has Soccer Fever!

From TV Newser...

Monday night’s USA-Ghana match was the most-watched men’s soccer match ever on ESPN or ESPN2, drawing 11.1 million viewers per minute.

Empires

My cousin Derek's wife Stacey's brother Sean is in this band (seriously). Big thrill that they made it on Late Night with David Letterman...

Eckhard

My Dad's been gone 25 years, but today would have been his 79th birthday. I took this picture of him on Christmas Eve 1988 when he opened my gift to him. I got him an autographed picture of Channel 7 anchor Mary Ann Childers (his favorite). He passed away a few months later. When we cleaned out his office after his death, Mary Ann's photo was on his desk. His secretary told me Dad joked with everyone that Mary Ann was his girlfriend. Eckhard was a great guy. I wish he could have been around to meet his grandsons. They would have loved him as much as I did.

McCartney Letter

Thanks "BP" for sending me this. Paul's the nice Beatle, but if this letter is authentic (and it looks like it is), he was not a happy camper when Phil Spector and Allen Klein changed "The Long & Winding Road" after he handed it off to them.



For the record, McCartney was totally correct. The version on "Let it Be" is sappy and awful. The version on the Beatles anthology (the way Paul wanted it originally), is waaaaaaay better. Listen below...

New Programmer at the Drive

Robert Feder has the details. His name is Curtiss Johnson, and he's from the West Coast. He'll be replacing Patty Martin, who stepped down after 13 years. (I interviewed Patty a few years ago, if you're interested.)

Happy Birthday Bridget!

Happy birthday to my lovely wife, Bridget. I was looking through some old pictures this morning and found this one. It brought a smile to my face. She's working today and we've got baseball and soccer practice tonight, so we'll have to celebrate this coming weekend instead.

Biden Congratulates US Team

World Cup Fever

What an incredible day of World Cup games yesterday. First the Fatherland spanked Portugal, then U.S.A hangs on to win a dramatic and exciting game over Ghana (my fingernails are nubs).

I hear there are people who still don't like soccer. For the life of me, I can't imagine what their reasons are.

And I thought I worked at radio stations with behind-the-scenes drama

From Tom Taylor's column today. This sports talk station in St. Louis takes the cake...

A fistfight at the station, on-air racial comments about a fellow host, an arrest – now a missing GM. Followup on last week’s story about “bad vibes at Grand Slam’s all-sports KFNS (590)” in St. Louis. Fifteen-month GM Dan Marshall has stepped down from that job, after he needed a hospital visit pursuant to that fistfight involving talk host Brian McKenna. The police were called out and McKenna was arrested and spent the night in the hoosegow. Though the Post-Dispatch carefully notes that as of last Thursday, McKenna hadn’t actually been charged. The main thing is the ongoing condition at the station. Ops manager Mike Calvin is temporarily in charge, and he says “I consider it a massive project…We’ve lost a lot of good talent in the last week that needs to be replaced somehow, with zero to little budget.” Among other talent departures is middayer Jay Randolph Jr., who’s moving over to C H Holdings’ talk KTRS (550). The goings-on at KFNS and sister KXFN (1380) are keeping Dan Caesar at the Post-Dispatch very busy. He says “the fight came after [KXFN’s Nick Trupiano] ridiculed McKenna on the air, saying he overstated his recent skin cancer diagnosis.” Trupiano also rapped about another KFNS personality who was mentioned in an earlier Post-Dispatch story – African-American personality Charlie “Tuna” Edwards. Trupiano says “He’s a scumbag and I hope he dies of…sickle cell, cancer, whatever, I don’t care.” Trupiano also called Edwards “that token black guy” and said perhaps the reason the show has sponsors is for “that minority tax writeoff.” (That one’s a mystery.) Sounds like the bad vibes were both on and off the air, and that Mike Calvin has a mountain of work ahead.

Who holds the Guinness Record for Most Game Shows Hosted by the Same Presenter?

Alex Trebeck!

Over 6,800 episodes.

NBC Developing Event Series About The Beatles From ‘The Tudors’ Team

You'd think I'd be sick of hearing this story, but no sir. I'm in.

It's going to be an eight-day event.

Details at Deadline Hollywood.

RIP Casey Kasem

He passed this morning on Father's Day. His son Mike posted it on Facebook...

Early this Father’s Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends. Even though we know he is in a better place and no longer suffering, we are heartbroken. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers. The world will miss Casey Kasem, an incredible talent and humanitarian; we will miss our Dad. With love, Kerri, Mike and Julie.

Blogging Lite

It's day two of summer vacation for my boys, and it's already become obvious that I won't have much time to blog this summer. I will still blog whenever I get a chance (I find it therapeutic, believe it or not), but the posts will not be as frequent.

Just One Bad Century continues to be updated daily. If you want to follow that more closely, please follow me on Twitter or click like on the Just One Bad Century facebook page. I'm not going to be posting it here every day anymore.

Eckhartz Press has five books coming out between now and the end of the year, including my own (yikes!). So I've got some serious editing/writing to do. I'll update here when we have some new books ready to go. (The usher book is going to be ready today, I believe).

My Illinois Entertainer column comes out the first of every month. I'll still post the links here. Bob Stroud is my next interviewee.

If you send me funny links or pictures or polls or whatever, I'll still post those. I appreciate you sending those.

But other than that, I'm afraid I'll be taking a mini-hiatus from blogging this summer. Isn't Friday the 13th the perfect day to decide that?

Just One Bad Century--June 13

We've got kind of a light day at Just One Bad Century today.

There are only two Cubs born on this day, and neither is really a Cub of note. One was nicknamed "Lefty", and the other is on the current roster.

Today in Wrigley history goes back to 1942 and 1980.

Today's Historical Event is the creation of Miranda Rights. Where were the Cubs?

And the A/V Club is Babe Ruth's farewell address to Yankee Stadium.

So today is a bit light, but this weekend will be jam-packed. Tomorrow's the anniversary of the Eddie Waitkus shooting, and Sunday is the anniversary of the Lou Brock trade. Plus there were tons of Cubs greats born this weekend, including one of my all-time favorites, Billy Williams. We'll also post a new This Week in 1908 and This Week in 1945.

It's worth a visit.

Have a great Father's Day weekend!