Thursday, June 12, 2008

Media Notebook (June 12, 2008)





Collected and Edited by Rick Kaempfer





Highlights and links to the big stories in the news this week about the media. This column appears twice a week at MEDIA NOTEBOOK



Viacom starts distributing "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" on hulu.com

(Mediaweek) Mike Shields writes: "Viacom has struck its first deal with Hulu to distribute content from its family of cable networks, specifically Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report--as the company continues to steer clear of delivering any of its top series to YouTube, the reigning leader in the online video category. As of Tuesday (June 10) Hulu began featuring full length episodes of both Colbert and The Daily Show, bringing two of the more popular series among the Web savvy, clip-sharing generation to the increasingly robust video site, itself a joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal. The move represents both another stamp of approval for Hulu’s professionally-produced, long form video model by a major traditional TV producer, as well as another blow to Google’s YouTube."


Spielberg's $1 billion dream
(Hollywood Reporter) Carl DiOrio writes: "Steven Spielberg aims to raise more than $1 billion in third-party financing to reinvent DreamWorks as a separate company that once again owns the movies it makes. As for distribution, Spielberg wants to bolt his roost at Paramount for Universal, which wants to land Spielberg and DreamWorks after losing out to Paramount in that quest a couple years ago. But on recommendation from his advisers, Spielberg has allowed a bidding war to begin among studios for the rights to distribute future DreamWorks movies. The chief suitors other than Paramount: Universal, Disney and Fox."


HBO joins forces with Funnyordie

(Variety) Cynthia Littleton writes: "HBO is getting into bed with Will Ferrell's FunnyorDie.com Internet vid venture. Pay cabler has bought a small equity stake in the 2-year-old comedy website and has commissioned 10 half-hours of programming from Funny or Die as part of the deal. The wide-ranging pact also envisions the two sides partnering on a host of future projects, from the live comedy tours that Funny or Die is developing to a possible Funny or Die-branded programming block on one of HBO's offshoot channels. For now, the website is focused on recruiting a veteran producer to help Ferrell and his Funny or Die partners -- Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Judd Apatow -- shepherd the initial order of 10 half-hours."


CLICK HERE



60 months in Bagdad
(NY Observer) Gilette, Haber, and Koblin write: "'It’s the oft-stated phrase that truth is the first casualty of war,' said Michael Ware, CNN’s Baghdad correspondent, on the telephone from Iraq. 'In this war, as in every other conflict, everybody lies to you. Your government is lying to you. The Iraqi government is lying. The insurgents are lying. The militias are lying. The U.S. military is lying. Even the civilians lie. Or in the best case, there’s confusion and exaggeration. The truth is the most elusive thing in war, particularly in an insurgency.' Sixty-two months into the war, this is the language of the American journalist in Iraq... As the American press corps gets older, wearier—and simultaneously younger and more untested as the veterans leave—there are truths that some of the reporters of Baghdad have learned about the war in Iraq. Chief among them is that even if you grab hold of a part of the truth, it has a way of becoming false. Second: If you manage to find a true story, don’t depend on anyone back home wanting to hear it."


The Internet Rumor Machine versus Obama
(LA Times) Rumors have always traveled fast, but when it comes to politics, the whispering campaigns and defamatory leaflets of yesteryear don't hold a candle to the button that beats them all. "Forward": the marvelous technology that allows truths and untruths alike to be propagated widely, instantly, and at no cost to the sender. Thanks to Forward-thinking citizens, the online rumors are flying in this campaign like no campaign season before. Dozens and even hundreds of different e-mail chain letters -- most targeting Sen. Barack Obama -- are being circulated in the Internet's muggy back channels, where context suffers and falsehoods flourish. Add in the parts of the political blogosphere that survive on speculation and unsourced hearsay, and you have a petri dish capable of growing such vivid rumors that the best of them actually make it into the mouths of the Washington press corps -- without so much as a factoid to back them up. At Snopes.com, the urban legends clearinghouse run by a couple in the San Fernando Valley, Barack Obama's page has 18 entries, only one of which Snopes determined to be true. Of the rest, Snopes rated 11 false, four partly true and two undetermined.


Sean Hannity, Citadel and Clear Channel have agreed to a three-way deal.
(Radio-Info.com) Tom Taylor writes: "But don’t expect any press conferences until at least next week – it’s an agreement in principle and now goes to the legal types and the folks who resolve questions like who sells what and who handles what. But this is what I’m hearing: Citadel and Clear Channel will jointly own the Hannity show. (Citadel’s ABC Radio Networks owns it now.) Sean will get a significant signing bonus. The negotiating was done at the top levels of the various companies and they finished it over the weekend. And I’m told that everybody’s happy with the result. Now – could things go sideways or get delayed? Sure. It’s an agreement in principle and doesn’t exist as a signed contract yet."






CLICK HERE






Actor drops $10 million lawsuit against Corolla
(Radio Online) An actor who filed a $10.5 million negligence suit against syndicated radio host Adam Corolla, late night talk host Jimmy Kimmel, "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville claiming he was tricked into putting his penis in a mousetrap during Coralla's show has dropped the suit. Perry Caravello filed the suit in May, 2007, after the event was captured on video without Corolla's permission and surfaced on the Internet. The trio was sued by Caravello, who claimed that Knoxville promised to pay him to promote the DVD release of the 2003 TV movie "Windy City Heat" on Carolla's show if he agreed to place his genitals in a mousetrap. Caravello also claimed he was humiliated when clips of the incident appeared on the web. The suit was dropped last week and it's unclear whether the suit was being dropped due to a settlement or for some other reason.


The Clear Channel Memo: Cash & Consequences
(Wall Street Journal) This makes me physically ill...Sarah McBride writes: "Clear Channel Communications is the beneficiary of a near-miracle: its buyout, once near death, came through with full funding from its investment banks. That’s why Clear Channel is going to make sure nothing goes wrong now — and specifically, making sure that the company has more than enough cash on hand in case a lot of shareholders choose to take cash for their shares rather than use the stub equity option. So, a couple of weeks ago, CFO Randall Mays has sent top executives a memo telling them to cut costs before the deal closes. That’s because, if enough shareholders demand cash, the biggest stockholders, including executives, would end up having to roll over their shares into stub equity in the private company. Here’s the risk: if Clear Channel finds itself without a healthy supply of cash on hand when the deal closes, those executives won’t be able to cash out their shares when Clear Channel’s deal to privatize finally closes — so the buyout won’t be as lucrative for them."


Networks, Olympic Organizers clash in China
(Associated Press) Television networks that will broadcast the Beijing Olympics to billions around the world are squaring off with local organizers over stringent security that threatens coverage of the games in two months. Differences over a wide range of issues — from limits on live coverage in Tiananmen Square to allegations that freight shipments of TV broadcasting equipment are being held up in Chinese ports — surfaced in a contentious meeting late last month between Beijing organizers and high-ranking International Olympic Committee officials and TV executives — including those from NBC. In response to the complaints from broadcasters, Sun Weijia, head of media operations for the Beijing organizers, asked them to put it in writing, only to draw protests about mounting paperwork.


Mark Cuban eyes buying the Cubs

(Chicago Tribune) Phil Rosenthal writes: "Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, one of the Major League Baseball-approved bidders for the Chicago Cubs, expects to receive confidential financial data on the team any day now and said Friday on a Chicago radio show that it is his "job" to convince everyone he is the best choice to own the franchise. Cuban also told WMVP-AM 1000 hosts Marc Silverman and Tom Waddle he "definitely would want Wrigley Field to be part of the deal," despite the fact Tribune Co., which is parent of the Chicago Cubs, has considered selling it separately, either to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority or a private buyer."


Jim McCay passes away
(New York Times) Litzky and Sandomir write: "Jim McKay, the genial ABC Sports broadcaster whose calm voice and trustworthy demeanor were synonymous with the network’s Olympic broadcasts and the celebrated sports anthology series “Wide World of Sports,” died Saturday at his country estate in Monkton, Md. He was 86. The death was confirmed by LeslieAnne Wade, a spokeswoman for CBS Sports, where Mr. McKay’s son, Sean McManus, is the president."



CLICK HERE




Mancow writes about his buddy Chris Farley
(Chicago Sun Times) Mancow writes: "There were 30 frantic messages to me on my home answering machine the night Chris Farley died. I never heard the full messages. Erase. How had it gotten to this point? Erase. He was a huge comedy star and had been a dear friend. With a new book out about Farley, today’s reality reminds me of my fallen friend. Toward the end of his life I cringed at the thought of even talking to him. In those final messages there was a sound of real desperation in his voice. The next day he was dead. He was a comedic version of the Roman god Janus — one smiling public face rooted in this world and the other tearfully looking into the spirit world. Was he calling for help or did he just want me to be a part of that dramatic final act? I’ll never know."

Sam Brownback holding up XM/Sirius merger
(Mel Phillips) Mel writes: "On May 27th the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio (C3SR) sent a letter to the FCC in opposition to the Sirius-XM merger. Understand this: 1) The coalition’s name speaks for their agenda regarding satellite radio (and) 2) C3SR is funded by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Enter senior senator from Kansas, Sam Brownback who still believes Toto resides in his state. He also believes that Congress may have been misled in its prior hearings on the merger. Brownback claims that Mel Karmazin wasn’t being candid about the companies’ effort to make and market “interoperable” receivers or radios that can receive both Sirius and XM signals. Brownback now wants redacted portions of the May 27th letter made public."


Chicago Radio Spotlight Update
(Chicago Radio Spotlight) Last weekend I spoke with Java Joel Murphy, the former Kiss-FM night time jock about his time in Chicago--his controversial interview with Justin Timberlake, and his even more controversial racial remark that led to his firing. Coming this weekend: famed music programmer "Jukebox Jimmy" Jim Smith.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Suburban Man: Fight Board


By Rick Kaempfer


The only sure things in life are supposedly death and taxes, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s at least one more sure thing if you’re the parent of boys, especially during summer vacation.

Fights. Lots and lots and lots of fights.

We have a particularly combustible mixture in our house. The oldest brother Tommy doesn't want to play with either of his little brothers. This distresses the middle brother Johnny who idolizes Tommy, but can't stand the youngest brother Sean. And Sean would kill for a little attention from either of his brothers. It's literally impossible to keep all three of them happy.

In addition, Tommy has a razor sharp tongue, Johnny has a hair trigger temper and likes to talk with his fists, and Sean LOVES stirring up trouble, because hey—bad attention is better than no attention.

The other day I actually wrote down a few comments that led to fights. Mind you, this was all during one breakfast...
=Why does he get the green bowl?
=He’s looking at me
=Tell him to stop humming
=He called me stupidhead.
=I am not purple!
=He bit my butt!
=Batman cannot fly!

Each of these comments would have ended in fisticuffs if I wasn't physically standing between them to break it up.

With "summer togetherness" season upon us, I know it's only going to get worse, so I’m doing everything I can to avoid it. I signed them up for just about every activity under the sun, from summer school classes to day camps to swimming lessons.

And of course, I'm bringing back the Fight Board.

I haven’t had it officially trademarked yet, but the Fight Board was created by yours truly in a fit of inspiration during an all-out brawl a few summers ago. The fight board is non-judgmental. All it does is keep a running tally of the number of fights throughout the summer. It doesn’t matter who started it, what caused it, or whose fault it is. A fight is a fight—and a red tally goes on the board. If they can go an entire summer with less than 100 fights, they each earn a new toy of their choosing.

I know that sounds like a lot of fights, but it's really only a little more than one fight a day. When your oldest boy is twelve and your youngest is five; that's a nearly unattainable goal.

Still, the Fight Board is a "carrot and stick" approach. A carrot must be offered. If they so choose, the carrot is there waiting for them on the double digit side of the 100 fight mark. On the other hand, the real effectiveness of the fight board comes with the stick portion of the program, which kicks in with the 101st fight. Every fight over 100 results in the loss of a toy...for all three of the boys.

Does it work?

The first summer they blew it by August 1st. I think deep in their hearts they didn’t believe I would really take away toys, so they weren't too scared when they hit triple digits. They found out they were sorely mistaken, however, when they had their 101st fight of the summer. I still remember the disbelieving looks on their faces when I started a collection of Star Wars fighter jets in my room. I had nine of them in my closet in the first two days.

By August 3rd, the fights stopped. Totally. They didn’t fight again for the rest of the summer.

Seriously.

The idea of the fight board was to encourage them to settle the fights themselves. If I walked into a room and heard a fight about to start, all I had to say was: "Is this going on the fight board?" Instead of hearing who was to blame (remember the fight board doesn't care), I would get the sound that I love more than anything else in the world.

Silence.

I know all the parenting books suggest using positive reinforcement, but when given the option of the carrot or the stick, my boys will choose the stick every single time. They made a half-hearted effort to earn a new toy, but boy oh boy, they really got their act together when the toys started disappearing.

All three of them magically discovered how to get along overnight. When Johnny started to blow, Tommy helped calm him down. When Sean started screeching because his brothers were ignoring him, Johnny stepped in to give him just enough attention to avoid the meltdown. When Tommy started to lose it, the other two gave him his much needed space.

It was a miracle; a miracle that goes by the soon to be trademarked name of "The Fight Board." The groans I hear when I tack it up on the kitchen bulletin board every summer are just a bonus.




This article originally appeared in NWI Parent Magazine.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Monday Musings


Every Monday stop by for jokes, links to stories you might have missed, amusing photos and video, and more. Contributions and suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Click on the "Email Me" link on the right to contribute.



Joke of the Week: Father's Day jokes, contributed by "F"



One evening a little girl and her parents were sitting around the table eating supper. The little girl said, "Daddy, you're the boss, aren't you?" Her Daddy smiled, pleased, and said yes. The little girl continued "That's because Mommy put you in charge, right?"

*****

"Daddy, Daddy, can I have another glass of water please?"
"But I've given you 10 glasses of water already!"
"Yes, but the bedroom is still on fire!"

*****

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed, "Dad". With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Joan and she is so nice even with all her piercing, tattoos and her tight motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion dad, she's pregnant and Joan said that we will be very happy. Even though you don't care for her as she is so much older than I, she already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter.

She wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Joan taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and trading it with her friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want! In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Joan can get better; she sure deserves it!!

Don't worry Dad. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your son,

Benjamin

P. S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.


*******


A Man gets on the train with his son and gives the conductor one ticket. "How old's your kid?" asks the conductor, and the father says, "He's four years old."

"He looks at least twelve to me," says the conductor, and the father says, "Can I help it if he worries?"




Stories you might have missed

1. Sandra Day O'Connor comes out with a video game

(I'm thinking a gavel is involved somehow...)

2. Fly the airline for fat people: Derrie Air

(I'm not going to explain...click on the link to find out the real story)

3. The most bizarre port-a-potty story ever

(A naked man...a few alcohol beverages...the jaws of life...)

4. 4 more weeks until due date for pregnant man
(Yes there are pictures at the link...)

5. Brad Pitt buys a $293,000 table

(My limit is $200,000. Anything more than that is irresponsible.)




Video of the week: WLS Commercial from 1981, with Rodney Dangerfield and Larry Lujack






Photo of the week: Contributed by "B"






















Reader Response


Regarding Suburban Man: Bad Dad


"I have forgotten so many things and somehow my daughter has not only survived, but usually forgets about it within the hour. You are not alone. And you are certainly NOT a bad dad!"
--P

Regarding Just One Bad Century

"I love the new Losing is sooo last century shirt. I just bought one for my dad."
--M

"That anti-St. Louis onesie makes me want to have another kid. I even remember when I started to hate them, back in like 83-84 when I worked the Cubby Bear selling hotdogs and beer for a few weeks. Their fans were insufferable and my disdain for the Cards and other St. Louis teams remains strong to this day."
--T






225 days until we get a new president.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Java Joel Murphy


Java Joel Murphy once manned the night shift at WKSC-Kiss FM in Chicago, and can now be heard on the radio in Cleveland and Montreal (among other cities)




COMPLETE RADIO-OGRAPHY

1992-1993: WNYO Oswego NY (SUNY Oswego station. I hosted an all-80's specialty show at my college station)
1994-1995: 99 Hits FM/Potsdam NY (mom & pop AC station near my hometown. I did nights and then middays).
1995-1997: Mix 96 (WVNC/Canton NY) (middays/music and then mornings/pd...it was a tight sounding Hot AC/Adult CHR)
1997-1999: Hot 107-9/Syracuse (afternoons/music..CHR/Rhythmic)
1997-2001: Mediabase 24/7 (used to monitor radio station airplay for Mediabase/R&R)
1999-2001: 98PXY/Rochester (heritage CHR, nights)
2001-2005: WKSC-FM/Chicago (host of "The Rubber Room" show, nights)
2003-2004: tracked nights for various Kiss FM stations (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Rochester NY, Louisville KY, Jacksonville FL, Tulsa OK and Z100/Portland OR)
2005-2006: Y103.9/Crystal Lake, 102.3 XLC/Waukegan, Nine FM/Chicago, Free FM/Chicago (various weekends and fill-ins)
2006-present: 94-7 Hits FM/Montreal (afternoons)
2006-present: 96-5 Kiss FM/Cleveland (evenings)
2006-present: WOKY/Milwaukee (weekends)
2006-present: Y100/Miami (fill-ins)


Rick: In Chicago we remember you mostly for your time as the host of "The Rubber Room" at WKSC (which ran from 2001-2005). How would you describe that show to people who never heard it?

Joel: I did the show with J Dogg & Silly Jilly. J Dogg was a production assistant/utility guy who was there when the station was doing Rhythmic Oldies as "The Beat". He was a goofball and we hit it off immediately. He was like a cross between Eddie Haskell and Justin Timberlake. Silly Jilly used to call into the show when it was just me, J Dogg and Erica C. (now of Eddie, Jobo & Erica). Jilly hated me...but wouldn't stop calling into the show. She was 17, I think. Then, she started just showing up at the station. She'd hang out in-studio with our afternoon guy, Rick Party. Slowly but surely, she just kept hanging out. She wouldn't leave! Pretty soon, Jilly and her random sense of humor became a part of the show. We all had pretty similar sensibilities. It took awhile for the show to really gel. It certainly wasn't overnight.

(Photo: Java Joel, Mel T, DreX, and Scott Tyler) Essentially, it was just three friends hanging out goofin' on stuff. At the time, Kiss was an under-performing station going head-to-head with a 20 year behemoth--B96. In order to cut through, I knew we'd have to be pretty aggressive. We did the obligatory prank calls, parody songs, bits & topics. Nothing terribly innovative. Some considered us fairly subversive for a CHR-night show. At our best, I think we were honest, real, self-deprecating and interesting. At our worst, we were sophomoric, sloppy and childish. We prided ourselves on caring more about what came out of the speakers than what kind of clothes we were wearing or what type of hair gel we were using.

It was the single greatest experience of my professional life.

Rick: I remember a memorable interview you did with Justin Timberlake. Would you mind recounting that story for us?

Joel: A few weeks prior, Justin went on Hot 97, the hip-hop station in NY, talking about his sexual exploits. I figured, if he talked openly and honestly about his sex life to them, what would keep him from doing the same with me? (Demographics, apparently) I knew I didn't want to do the standard, conventional pop interview. So, I jotted down some top-of-mind questions--all having to do with his sex life, his drug use etc...Well, he wasn't having any of it. He lost his temper, I lost my temper, we ended up screaming at each other. We were both pretty annoyed and disgusted with each other. He ended up cursing at me and eventually hung up. Some people still think it was just a fixed, wacky radio stunt.

After the interview ended, word is, Justin immediately called his label, Jive Records, to complain. The label freaked out and was acting as if I had just interviewed the Pope. It was really dumb. Jive did everything in their power to try and block the interview from airing. Luckily, my PD Rod Phillips had the courage and foresight to let it air. The next day, the story was all over the web. Even making it into the London Sun and NY Post. I still get asked about it to this day. It was a pretty exciting week.

Some Program Director's actually think I should've gotten fired for that interview. There seems to be this antiquated notion that if you're on a top 40 station and targeting females, you have to play nice and be respectful of "core artists". I don't buy it. I think the preferred end result is interesting radio. It surely wasn't the best thing we did on Kiss, but I do think it was compelling radio.

In retrospect, it was admittedly a pretty obnoxious, amateurish interview. However, I don't regret doing it. I still get asked about it to this day. It gave us the best book up-to-that-date and got the station and show some much needed buzz. I'm glad we did it. I got a pat on the back from John Gehron the next day. I still remember that.

Rick: Of course, The Rubber Room came to a crashing halt one day in 2005 over a remark you made that was considered "racial." Now that you've had some time to reflect on that incident, what are your thoughts?

Joel: I think what was most criminal about that remark was that is just wasn't funny. This isn't a popular opinion, but I do think there is a place for racial humor...provided it's FUNNY. My comment wasn't funny, but it also wasn't hateful.

I think the nail-in-the-coffin for me wasn't the joke itself, but a fight I got into with a woman who called into the show to complain. I riled her up so much that she called management the next day. Had I not gotten into that argument, the comment may have remained under the radar and I probably wouldn't have gotten fired. The bit got a grand total of one complaint.

Rod Phillips, my PD, called my home phone the next day. I knew something was up since Rod never called my home phone. If he needed something, he'd send me an email or try my cell. On my way out the door, I told my wife that I thought I was going to get fired. I was right.

I could tell Rod didn't really want to fire me. It was out of his hands, as they say. On the drive back home to Wheaton, I called J Dogg and Silly Jilly to give them the news--the show's been cancelled, it's over.

It was a difficult time. For the next eighteen months, I was essentially jobless. I was able to grab some part-time stuff at some suburban stations. Eventually, in the spring of '06, my wife and I left Chicago and moved back to upstate NY to live with my Mom. I never thought it would come to that. A few months later Clear Channel hired me back for nights at Kiss in Cleveland. I've been here since.

I've learned quite a bit from the experience. It seems many people are unable to distinguish the difference between hate speech and racial humor. They equate a black joke with a hate crime. People like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are part of the problem, not the solution. They have done nothing to bring people together. They're all about race-baiting and being divisive. The black community deserves better leadership. So many issues need to be addressed. Instead, they go after the Don Imus-es and Opie & Anthony'es of the world. There's something truly perverse and offensive about that. I find that more sickening than any racial joke I've ever heard.

Rick: One of the members of your show, Silly Jilly, is back on the air here in Chicago. Do you keep in touch with her at all?


Joel:
Absolutely. Just talked to her last night. She called my hotline here in Cleveland to tell me she had just gotten a request for one of the parody songs we did way back in 2002! She's come a long way since her days of hanging out in our Hancock studios eating cream cheese with a fork and babbling incessantly about ridiculous things. I was still in Chicago when she got an interview with Kiss FM in Harrisburg. She hosted a popular night show there for a couple years. It wasn't long after when they called her back home.

Jilly's (photo) grown into a very dynamic air personality. She's a refreshing change from the norm. So many (male) PD's want their female jocks to giggle a lot, act sexy and talk about Hollywood gossip, shoes, boys and clothes...Jilly is random and real. She has a bright future ahead, just as long as she can stomach all the programming megalomaniacs and industry know-it-alls.

I still keep in touch with J Dogg, as well. He's married, has kids and is making loads of cash in Texas working for an oil company. No, I'm not kidding. You can't write stuff like this folks. ;)

Rick: While you working here at Kiss, you were also voice-tracking nights at eight other Kiss stations. I've talked to a lot of people who have lost their jobs thanks to voicetracking, but not too many who have been the actual voicetrackers. I take it you have a little different view of the practice. Am I right?

Joel: I don't track nearly as much as I used to. I do the very occasional fill-in for my old Chicago PD, Rod Phillips who is now at Y100 in Miami, giving the station their biggest ratings in decades. My friend and former Kiss FM afternoon jock, Scott Tyler, hooked it up so I can track weekends for WOKY, the legendary AM oldies outlet in Milwaukee. I love that gig. It gives me an opportunity to slam posts, run up ramps and lets me live out all my boss jock fantasies. I also do afternoons for 94-7 Hits FM in Montreal. That's cool since I'm from far upstate NY and grew up listening to Montreal radio. It also gives my family a chance to hear what I'm up to.

I'm happy to see more companies move away from tracking. Radio is obviously going through some serious growing pains. I think we can all agree that, now more than ever, being local is extremely important.

Rick: How is your show there similar or different to the show you did in Chicago, and can your Chicago fans listen anywhere on the internet?

Joel:
My Mom thinks my show here in Cleveland is boring. She used to listen to the Chicago show on-line. I'm not nearly as fearless as I once was...plus I'm doing the show solo. The show's pulling some really strong numbers and the bosses seem pleased. Yup...All the stations I'm on (Cleveland, Montreal, Milwaukee) can be heard on-line.

Rick: Is there anything you'd like to say to your former Chicago listeners and/or colleagues?

Joel: I miss you.