50 Years Ago Today

From "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" by John Records Landecker, page 68...



I can tell you the exact date of my most memorable experience at WILS-Lansing. It was April 4, 1968. We had a very special guest in the studio that day; Stevie Wonder. Stevie was a big star at the time for Motown Records in Detroit, but he also supported a local school for the blind in Lansing, so he came to town semi-regularly. The music director at WILS (Craig Dudley) knew Stevie, and knew that he loved playing disc jockey, so he invited him to come to our station, sit at the control board, play records, and talk on the air.

I was there that day, and was lucky enough to watch him in action. It was just an amazing sight. He cued up the records, turned the knobs, turned the microphones on and off; you name it. Even though he couldn’t see a thing, he knew exactly what he was doing. There were a few Motown Records employees with him, but he was doing it all by himself. I was standing in the back of the studio watching the whole thing, in awe of his abilities.

That’s when the news came across the wire that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot.

At first it wasn’t clear if King was dead or not, but we all suspected he was. An instant tension filled the room. The Motown executives didn’t say a thing. None of the radio station employees (including me) responded, and neither did Stevie. But we all knew we were experiencing a significant moment.

Even though this clearly affected him, Stevie was a total pro. He finished the show.

Marvin Gaye unplugged

Amazing singer...

Marvin Gaye’s isolated vocals for “I Heard It Through The Grapevine." Simply incredible. https://t.co/ztG6l3lM2U pic.twitter.com/9tdb9xHCX0

— Meredith Frost (@MeredithFrost) April 3, 2018

Ron Magers on Sinclair

I thought Ron Magers made a great comment on Robert Feder's page yesterday about Sinclair forcing anchors to read their propoganda word-for-word.

Ron Magers: We’re skipping a step here. Before the anchors were ordered to read it, dozens of General Managers signed off on it. Did not one say, “This doesn’t work in my market for my station!”

Forget their political agenda and remember that Sinclair is making a mockery of serving a local community. For me, that’s evidence enough for the FCC to say no to this deal.

But we all know it won’t happen that way.

And can we guess that the orders to muzzle WGN employees came from up top where any number of executives stand to reap a financial windfall when the Sinclair deal closes?


It led to this response this morning on Robert Feder's page...

Bill K Walsh · Loyola University Chicago
Why did Ron and the elites, not notice the key last sentence was missing from the Soros like permutation of the Sinclair video.
.......At [station] it’s our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically "left nor right." Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
iit allows them to be condescending and ignore the actual total perspective of the statement. It applies as much to the Wolf Blitzers and the Shep Smith’s.

Which Ron Magers again answered quite well...

Ron Magers · Toppenish High School
Ron and The Elites was the name of my quartet in the 60's. How did you know?
What I did notice is that the category of "Fake News" as presently used for political purposes is itself fake. "Fake News", in our era, started as a false story circulated mostly on the internet for the purposes of influencing opinions. The Russians, our own political parties and fringies of every variety got quite good at it. Certain politicians have now taken up the term to denigrate any story or outlet that doesn't agree with their political position. Mr. Trump has, on countless occasions, used the term to describe stories that were true and accurate and, somehow, his base agrees with him. It is sad to see.

Mainstream journalists may sometimes make a mistake but they don't practice "Fake News". That dark art is a specialty of those who have you, Bill, in their bulls eye.

Cumulus officially buys Q-101

From this morning's RAMP Newsletter...

After negotiating the price on rocker WKQX-FM in Chicago, Cumulus and Merlin Media have come to a new agreement that will lead to Cumulus keeping the station after all. Cumulus will also get the WLUP-FM call letters and all WLUP intellectual property from Merlin.

So, if you want to start up a new Loop station, you can. You just need to buy the rights from Cumulus.

Dane is stuck in London

My good pal Dane Placko (Fox 32 reporter) took his daughters to London for a spring break vacation. Unfortunately for Dane, he suffered a detached retina while he was there, and now he has to stay in England for at least four weeks.

He tells the whole story on his facebook page.

50 Years Ago Tonight

MLK's last speech. The next day he was shot dead by James Earl Ray.

ELO Bonus

I bought my boys tickets to see ELO this coming August as a Christmas present. I know they love the band, and figured it would be a good bonding experience to see the show with them.

I had no idea at the time that the opening band would be Dawes. The guitarist of Dawes is Trevor Menear, son of my old Loop pal Kevin Matthews.

Bonus!

Remember those tough Russia sanctions?

We were all a little surprised that President Trump expelled 60 Russians in retaliation for the attempted murder in England. Turns out, we were right to be surprised. It was all for show. The Russians are free to replace those 60 with 60 new guys...

State Department confirms that Russia can replace the diplomats, alleged to be intel officers, expelled last week.
US "is not requiring the Russian bilateral mission to reduce its total number of personnel" a spox says. New accreditation to be reviewed on a "case-by-case basis.”

— Julian Borger (@julianborger) April 2, 2018

Clint Watts, a former FBI agent, has a pretty plausible take about Trump's involvment with Russia in this morning's New York Times...

Evidence of Russia’s intent to interfere in the election is overwhelming, and documentation of Trump campaign members’ collusion not only exists but is growing. The special counsel’s investigation into collusion ultimately comes down to two questions. First, did President Trump or any member of his campaign willingly coordinate their actions with Russia? And did President Trump or any member of his campaign knowingly coordinate their action with Russia?

Trump campaign members certainly colluded with Russian influence efforts, some willingly, some possibly knowingly. The president denies the Kremlin’s hand, either still unaware or in denial of being manipulated by Mr. Putin’s minions. For Mr. Putin, it’s likely everything he hoped for — America riddled with political infighting and mired in investigations, a weakened NATO alliance vulnerable to aggression and a United States president seeking his adoration, obstinate and ignorant of the great caper the Kremlin just orchestrated.

The problem for the president is that ignorance is not immunity. The problem for America is that ignorance of Russian interference is vulnerability.

The highlighted portion above was not highlighted by the New York Times. It was highlighted by me. The fact that people are still questioning it, despite such obvious public evidence, is absolutely amazing to me.

Brent's Liverpool Tips

Eckhartz Press author Brent Petersen ("Truffle Hunt") is a fellow Beatles nut, so when he recommends things to see and do in Liverpool...listen to what he says.

His blog today has tips and photos.

Cara's new gig

When Cara Carriveau signed off at WSHE a few weeks ago, she indicated that something else was in the works. That news came out yesterday. From the RAMP Newsletter...

Local Radio Networks has expanded its on-air team with 15 additional major market and network hires across its 24/7 Music Formats -- please welcome: Cara Carriveau -- (ex-WLUP & WSHE/Chicago, who takes on middays for Classic Rock); Craig "Catfish" Hunter -- (ex-Jones Radio Network, Denver, Atlanta, San Jose & Tampa jock will do afternoons on new music format TBA); Gregg Stone -- (ex-Westwood One Radio Networks, longtime Denver talent joins Classic Rock); Ryan "Tall Guy" Chase (ex-WWO, longtime Denver talent hosts afternoons on Classic Hits); Michael Gifford -- (ex-Jones, WWO, local Denver talent joins AC); John Gleason -- (ex-Jones, WWO, local Denver talent takes nights for Classic Country); Tim Jeffreys -- (25 years in San Francisco/San Jose, most recently PD of KFOX/San Jose, joins Classic Hits); Maria "ChaCha" Chavez -- (Former WWO, longtime Denver talent to do middays on new music format TBA); Andrew "Jaye" Cannon -- (ex-Jones, now doing evenings on Mainstream AC); Jenny D -- (ex-WWO, local Denver talent to do nights on new music format TBA); Dennis Harrington -- (ex-Jones, WWO, local Denver talent will do overnights on new music format TBA); Chad Blake -- (ex-Jones, WWO talent joins Classic Country); John Glenn -- (ex-Waitt Radio Networks and Country PD joins Mainstream Country); Ray Michaels -- (longtime Florida programming vet to host middays on Classic Hits); Robb Rose -- Currently with WSHE/Chicago, joins Mainstream Country).

Fearing for WGN

Robert Feder has a chilling piece today about the future of WGN-TV. Read the whole thing, but this excerpt sets the tone...

Jeff Hoover, a longtime producer and on-air contributor for WGN-Channel 9’s top-rated morning news show, was the first employee to speak out Monday about the impending takeover of the Tribune Media station by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

He also was the last.

In response to a video montage that went viral last weekend showing anchors at Sinclair stations delivering identical messages parroting President Donald Trump’s anti-media talking points, Hoover tweeted: “Re: Sinclair – There is NO WAY any of our on-air anchors and reporters will read their scripted messages on our show. Chicago’s Very Own, not owned.”

The normally free-spirited Hoover later said he could not talk about what he had written and declined further comment. Other sources confirmed that Hoover had been admonished by his bosses for the unauthorized tweet.

I know the people on that morning show felt a little bulletproof because of their incredible ratings, but these Sinclair folks don't care about ratings. They are in this to push a political agenda. I said it at the time, and Feder says it too, Mark Suppelsa sure picked a good time to get out.

I still hope that Sinclair won't mess with what's working, especially that morning show. But the reaction of the current WGN bosses sure makes it look like they aren't exactly convinced.

This John Oliver piece from last summer might illuminate you to what WGN will be soon facing...

Beth Jacobellis on WGN Radio

This morning during the 9am hour, Steve Cochran interviewed Eckhartz Press author Beth Jacobellis about her book "Cameo". It was an entertaining segment that should be available soon as a podcast on WGN's website. Dave Stern was there with her and took a few pictures...

Loop Memories

My personal story about the Loop is this month's media column in the Illinois Entertainer.

You can read it here.

Will Laura Return?

The hub-bub over Laura Ingraham's obnoxious tweets about the Parkland teenagers has resulted in her taking a last minute vacation this week. Eleven of her advertisers are taking vacation as well.

The question is...will Laura return?

If not, fear not right-wing fans. There's always another conspiracy theorist in the backup bin. They will never run out. What would America do without an alternate reality?

Welcome to the MLS

Zlatan...gonna be huge in LA.

April Fools

Son #3's wacky April Fools joke. He hid hard boiled eggs and made us search for them. He said there were three, but we could only find two--one labeled #1, and one labeled #3.

Not finding a hard boiled egg? Not an option, for obvious (smelly) reasons.

After we searched for about 20 minutes, he admitted he was kidding. He only hid two. April Fools.

Love this joke

Moses was technically the first person to download files to his tablet from the cloud.

— Dire Wolf (@ADDiane) March 30, 2018

Destroying America, One Market at a Time

Sinclair broadcasting, coming soon to WGN-TV...

Sgt. Pepper

On this day in 1967, one of the most colorful photoshoots ever took place, for the Beatles' album, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' pic.twitter.com/Us8PlzYxVs

— Decades TV Network (@decadesnetwork) March 30, 2018

Paul is still rockin the tune today...

Mitch Michaels in Berwyn

Heading out to Berwyn tonight for a rock show at WIRE. Also selling Mitch Michael's book "Doin' the Cruise" there, because Mitch has a history with the band.

It's the 40th anniversary of a band called Gambler. They were on the 1st WKQX Hometown Album under a different name (Buster) and went on to get a Capital Records contract for a couple of albums. They've asked Mitch to come by and emcee and bring some books to sell.

Mitch asked me to join him. Looking forward to it.