Lunch at the Lubeznik Center

Where are you going to be at lunchtime today? From Noon-2pm, John Landecker and I will be selling and signing copies of "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts at 101 W. Second Street in Michigan City, IN. The Arts center plans for a Q&A session, followed by the signing.

I'll probably head over there shortly after I get the kids off to school.

Today's Best Tweets

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...





Adam Franklin ‏@radstarr 1h
California (population 37,000,000) has only 58 more bars than Wisconsin (population 5,600,000)

Mediaite ‏@Mediaite 12m
Scarborough: Benghazi Would've Been Bigger Problem For Admin If 'Far Right' Hadn't 'Overplayed Their Hand' http://www.mediaite.com/tv/scarborough-benghazi-wouldve-been-bigger-problem-for-admin-if-far-right-hadnt-overplayed-their-hand/ … (VIDEO)

Leslie Keiling ‏@lkeiling 27m
Like a space cowboy: Riker's Chair Moves On 'Star Trek' Will Mesmerize You (VIDEO) http://huff.to/174HueS via @HuffPostTV

Wall Street Journal ‏@WSJ 1h
17 days after Bangladesh factory collapse, rescue workers have freed a woman trapped under rubble. http://on.wsj.com/133yfVN

Groovyhoovy ‏@Groovyhoovy 1h
A study says that the shorter a person’s first name, the more money they make. From now on, my name is J. (cash register sound effect)

Huffington Post ‏@HuffingtonPost 1h
Guess which religious group called David Bowie a "switch-hitting bisexual senior citizen" http://huff.to/174137e

Reid Wilson ‏@HotlineReid 2h
Top baby names of 2012: Jacob, Mason, Ethan, Noah, William for boys, Sophia, Emma, Isabella, Olivia, Ava for girls - http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum 1m
Want to protect yourself against heart disease? Get a dog http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/10/get-a-dog-it-s-good-for-your-heart.html …

Deadspin ‏@Deadspin 9m
VIDEO: College softball player runs through the fence to make a ridiculous game-winning catch: http://deadsp.in/YBHZGTE

Paul Begala ‏@PaulBegala 20m
I love TX, but it's messed up that TX says I can't buy a beer at 7-11 at 12:01 am, but I can store tons of explosives near a school. @jswatz

Gravity

This one isn't coming until October, but it looks like a winner...

The Mercury Awards

One of the biggest awards you can win in radio advertising is the Mercury Award. The finalists for this year were announced yesterday and quite a few of them are from Chicago agencies. If you're interested, all of the finalists are posted here. You can even listen to the spots.

Just for the record, the Cars for Kids spot one is NOT one of the winners. It's takes all of my restraint not to punch the radio when that one comes on.

REM

Here's a little tidbit for all you REM fans out there from the RAMP Newsletter this morning...

Rhino Records recently released a 25th anniversary deluxe edition of R.E.M.'s 1988 album, Green. This updated version now includes a second bonus disc, which contains a 21-song performance that was recorded in Greensboro, NC at the end of R.E.M.'s 130-show "Green" world tour. The concert includes many beloved R.E.M. classics like "Fall On Me," "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and "The One I Love," to name just a few. To beautfully coincide with this notable milestone, SiriusXM personality Dan Neer has produced and hosts a companion radio special, R.E.M.'s Green At 25, which features a bunch of your favorite R.E.M. tracks as well as interviews with band members Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. The special is available starting this weekend and is available in two lengths: 50 minutes (commercial-free with 10 minutes of local avails) and 58 minutes (for you non-comms).

In the 80s, REM was one of my favorites. This song was the big hit from the Green album...

American Idol Revamp

Looks like they are taking the ratings slide seriously. According to The Wrap, major changes are coming for next year. The producer will be gone and so will all four judges, including the lone original judge Randy Jackson. He released a statement yesterday that actually started with the words "Yo Yo Yo".

Read more about it at the Wrap.

Protesting the Koch Brothers

The rabidly political Koch Brothers are mulling over buying the Chicago Tribune.

The people of Chicago are NOT happy. I think even people who agree with them politically must know this is a terrible, terrible idea.

Doesn't mean it's not going to happen, though.

Indecency Activists Pressure Congress

From this morning's Inside Radio...

The FCC is still taking the public’s comments on whether the indecency rules should be relaxed to focus enforcement of the worst offenders, sidelining a policy to go after stations for fleeting expletives. But a group of 75 conservative organizations isn’t waiting to see which way the FCC will come down. It’s asked Congress to step into the issue.

Really? Fleeting expletives? That's their #1 issue? Who are these people? Luckily they've taken it to the one group of people guaranteed not to get anything done.

Cubs 365

Occassionally I like to remind you to check out the JOBC blog for our daily Cubs history story. Today it's about a famous Cubs fan, former Chicago mayor Anton Cermak. He's the portly fellow next to FDR at the 1932 Cubs-Yankees World Series at Wrigley Field.

Read all about him here.

Robert Redford, CNN, Chicago

Those three seem like an unlikely match, but CNN just teamed up with Robert Redford to do a series about Chicago. The Hollywood Reporter has the details.

Here's the scoop in a nutshell: "Chicagoland" will give viewers an inside look at the city's leaders and residents as they work to improve its public education system as well as neighborhood and youth safety.

Safe to say it won't exactly be an advertisement for our fair city.

Today's Best Tweets

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...




Steve Bertrand ‏@SteveBertrand 1m
Uh oh. RT @HuffPostBooks: When Borders went bankrupt, it owed several publishers a LOT of money http://huff.to/18TFVNz

Dave Martin ‏@martindave 4m
ICYMI: April, 1925. From the @nytimes Scott Fitzgerald Looks Into Middle Age. A review of Gatsby http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-gatsby.html

Eric & Kathy ‏@EricandKathy 19m
A woman just called in for our #WorstInjury contest. She pooped out her colon. #Winner

Karl Klockars ‏@karlklockars 22m
Today we salute you, "Guy off the Southport Stop who just put his Christmas tree on the back porch."

Mully And Hanley ‏@mullyhanley 23m
.@ManchesterUtds manager retired after 26 years! http://goo.gl/EAhWr

Amy Guth ‏@amyguth 28m
Goats to help with lawn care at O'Hare airport http://bit.ly/17Luadi

Paul McCartney ‏@PaulMcCartney 30m
One week to go until #Rockshow is in cinemas around the world. Find your local showing: http://bit.ly/RockshowOnScreen … pic.twitter.com/lpcPH4LcVG

jamesvanosdol ‏@jamesvanosdol 31m
A history of baseball stadium nachos that never once mentions serving them in souvenir helmets: http://bit.ly/10aUbjO

Judd Legum ‏@JuddLegum 38m
Mark Sanford got elected to Congress last night. But the media still won't realize no one cares about sex scandals, except as entertainment

David Haugh ‏@DavidHaugh 1h
Dale Sveum said Travis Wood is best starter in baseball? How hot is it back in Chicago?

Howard Kurtz

You would think that the ratings of Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources show on CNN would have spiked a bit because of all the publicity he got in the days leading up to this past weekend's show. Was he going to be fired? Would he cop to his mistakes? How is he going to handle it on the air?



Nobody watched.

The only people who care about the media, apparently, are other people in the media.

So happy I signed up to be a media critic.

(Hey other media guys that still care...I'm interviewing Larry Lujack this morning for my next Illinois Entertainer column. I'm excited about that...maybe you are too. Everyone else can move along now.)

Tom Berg interviews John Landecker

Tom Berg is a morning host at WKVI and he had a nice long chat with John yesterday.

Listen to it here.

Danny Lake

From this morning's RAMP Newsletter...



Cumulus Classic Hits WLS-FM/Chicago promotes from within to fill its prime afternoon drive opening. Cumulus SVP of Programming and WLS-FM PD Jan Jeffries has tapped weekend/swing air talent Danny Lake to come off the bench and dive into the big game to drive Chicago home. "Danny is a star player, consistently delivering the WLS gold standard of on-air performance," Jeffries remarked. "He is a great addition to our talent lineup including Brant Miller, Greg Brown, John Landecker and Dick Biondi." The WLS-FM afternoon shift was most recently occupied by market legend Fred Winston, who exited last month.

Elton John Turns 45

According to Bob Dearborn's The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac, today is Elton's 45th birthday. Of course, he's much older than that, but his name isn't...

May 7, 1968…Singer/songwriter Reginald Dwight legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John, forming it by combining the first and last names of his former Bluesology bandmates, Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

Da Bulls

For one day at least...we gloat...knowing full well it may be our last chance to do so this season.

Today's Best Tweets

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...




CNN Political Ticker ‏@PoliticalTicker 6m
Illinois GOP chair resigns, cites support for same-sex marriage as a reason - http://wp.me/p4HKM-1aQi

Marcus Leshock ‏@marcusleshock 30m
In case you were sleeping for the past 12 hours, the #Bulls #BeatTheHeat last night. @DavidHaugh's take on the game: http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-75805551/

Don Dattalo Jr. ‏@DDattaloJr 43m
@mullyhanley Can't stand the Heat, when James makes a basket he struts around like he just saved man kind, miss and they cry like babies.

Paul Bessire ‏@predictmachine 14m
Down 0-1 in the series, the Miami Heat are still 83.8% likely to win series over Chicago Bulls.

Ted. ‏@HilariousTed 1h
Oh Mickey, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind. Hey Mickey. Hey Hey Mickey! Admit it, you didn’t read that, you sang i

MancowMuller ‏@MancowMuller 4m
the city of new york has banned anyone who is over 260 pounds from using their bike share program, OH NO! said no one over 260 pounds

CBS Chicago ‏@cbschicago 8m
12 days until the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line shuts down for five months of reconstruction work. Are you ready? http://cbsloc.al/10DQ3oq

Ricky Gervais ‏@rickygervais 20m
Will all Male British Entertainers who were famous in the 1970s please just report to your local police station now.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 47m
Reynolds’ mammoth shot went 460 feet. He took two steps, spit on ground, then eyed Parker. Here’s the link. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_05_06_oakmlb_clemlb_1&mode=video … #Indians

McMurray, Pete ‏@PeteMcMurray 1h
Watch this video. Amanda Berry's rescuer. Hilarious! (video) http://fb.me/2D2kl7aJd

Huckabee To Hang It Up?

That's certainly what it sounds like to me. From this morning's Inside Radio...

A year after Mike Huckabee launched his daily three-hour radio show on Cumulus Media Networks, the former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful says he’s now considering whether to stick with it. “Within the next month, I’ll decide if I want to continue it or not,” he tells Arkansas Business.

What does it sound like to you?

Media Mogul Paychecks

CBS Chairman of the Board Sumner Redstone and the people he hires have always been known as ridiculous penny pinchers who like to hire other penny pinchers to run the "leanest" possible organizations imaginable. There was a time when I was working for CBS that every purchase of over $500 had to be personally approved by the CEO of the company. I kid you not. The person that ran our radio station in Chicago instituted a rule that said only executives got to use the nice stationery. That's how ridiclous it got.

And yet, because of the lavish pay Redstone gives his CEOs (at the expensed of every other person on the payroll), he has personally been among the biggest contributors to the insane explosion of CEO salaries.

The New York Times examines this strange and ironic twist.

Father Knows Nothing

My latest Father Knows Nothing column is posted. It's called "Efficient Sickness".

You can read it here.

The JRL Book Tour

John Landecker will be hitting the pavement over the next week to promote "Records Truly Is My Middle Name".



On Friday May 10th, from Noon-2pm, John will be selling and signing copies of "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts at 101 W. Second Street in Michigan City, IN. The Arts center plans for a Q&A session, followed by the signing.

Then, on Wednesday May 15th, from Noon-2pm, John will be making another lunchtime appearance at the LaPorte County Library. Or as "What's New LaPorte?" reports today: John Records Landecker will speak, sign books at LP Library May 15

Legendary radio disc jockey John Records Landecker will speaking and sign copies of his new book at the LaPorte County Public Library on Wednesday, May 15, from noon to 2 p.m.

His book, “‘Records Truly is My Middle Name,” is a biography of his beginnings in Michigan through his career at pioneer radio station WLS-AM in Chicago, and the present including his ties with Michigan City and LaPorte County. The book provides many photos and his humorous recollections of the origin of his “Boogie Check” call-in segment, celebrity encounters and the lifestyle that went along with the business at the time.

John will give examples of life at WLS in the 1970s and how the powerful radio station and its personalities influenced the country. Copies of his book will be available to the public.

This book signing is presented by Friends of the Library and is free to the public. “‘Records Truly is My Middle Name” is available at www.Eckhartzpress.com.

For more information on Landecker’s appearance, contact David Dabagia at 219.362.6156 or visit www.johnlandecker.com and www.laportelibrary.org.

Committed to Opening Beers

Ah, the Germans...

Today's Best Tweets

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...




Ricky Gervais ‏@rickygervais 6m
I think everyone should be forced to own a gun. That way no one would die as everyone would be protected, right?
It makes perfect sense.

Ricky Gervais ‏@rickygervais 4m
You can now download and print a 3D gun.
But you have to wear those silly red/green glasses when you shoot someone to see the full effect.

Ricky Gervais ‏@rickygervais 19m
Guns don't kill people, people do.
And the more people with guns, the more the people with guns who kill people, kill people.

Ricky Gervais ‏@rickygervais 8m
Cancer doesn't kill people...
I haven't thought this one through.

The Onion ‏@TheOnion 1m
Top Weekend Story: No One In Limo Going To Prom With The One They Wanted http://onion.com/ZANSTz

Suntimes ‏@Suntimes 6m
Referee dies after punch from teenage soccer player: http://suntm.es/18poHKl

Esquire Magazine ‏@Esquiremag 1h
Manipulation, fatness, and the cult of parenting with @JimGaffigan, father of 5: http://esqm.ag/6011Xled

Eric & Kathy ‏@EricandKathy 28m
Survey Shows: The #1 thing you should NEVER do in bed is cry. #MIXMindBender sponsored by @LoyolaChicago.

John Kass ‏@John_Kass 44m
A woman holding drooling Chihuahua in a McDonald's & I say rat dogs have no business at bkfst & she shouts 'Kass I hate your column!"

Dylan Byers ‏@DylanByers 1h
Al Gore, richer than Romney http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/05/al-gore-richer-than-romney-163291.html#.UYemPE9u6S0.twitter … via @POLITICO

Chicago Traffic

To live in Chicago is to complain about the traffic.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read this list of the ten worst cities for traffic in today's USA Today.

Chicago's not even on the list. Cities like San Jose, Bridgeport, Honolulu, and Austin all have worse traffic, according to this article. You'll get no argument from me about the #1 city on the list: Los Angeles.

Susannah Collins

You have to give Squire Hogg credit for this video he created about Susannah Collins getting fired. According to published reports, she was let go because the Blackhawks weren't happy her slip of the tongue (saying "sex" instead of "success") brought scrutiny on her past--which included hosting a series of YouTube videos with slightly naughty (and really not even that naughty--let's be honest) content.

Squire Hogg is obviously trying for a laugh here, but he also points out the hypocricy at play by the Blackhawks. Nicely done.

Howard Kurtz Grilled on His Own Show

Howard Kurtz is a media critic--probably the best known media critic in the country. This past week he fell victim to some pretty sloppy reporting himself, and the Daily Beast let him go. CNN is reportedly considering doing the same thing. I think that's probably what prompted Howard to allow two reporters to come on his show and grill him about his own mistakes.

Summer Movie Preview

In today's Hollywood Reporter, a Wall Street Analyst projects the movies he thinks will do top box office this summer.

To me, it's a depressing list filled with sequels and comic book characters. I hope there's at least a few movies for grownups.

A Few Historical Inaccuracies in "42"

From today's Tom Taylor column...



Sports broadcasting historian and former Westwood One exec David J. Halberstam says that in the historic season of 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers were still recreating their road games in the studio back at WHN. That’s actually two historical inaccuracies in the new “42” movie that Halberstam generally likes (“brilliantly done”). #1, the brilliant play-by-play announcer Red Barber liked to be at home at night and in 1947 didn’t travel with the team. (Also, the Dodgers didn’t want the expense of putting him on the road.) #2, Halberstam says “later in the film, there’s a shot of the Ebbets Field broadcast booth with ‘WMGM’ painted on the façade. In 1947, it was still WHN.” More broadly, Halberstam says Red was a stickler for the truth – he didn’t use studio sound effects of a crowd when he was sitting in a New York studio, recreating the game from Western Union accounts. (He even memorized whether each National League hitter was right-handed or left-handed.) And Halberstam says Barber “prided himself on impartiality.” There’s a shot in “42” where “Red is regrettably seen applauding in the Pittsburgh broadcast booth [where he wasn’t, in real life] after emoting ‘Oh Doctor’ on the Robinson home run call.”

But I will say this for the actor who played him (John McGinley from Scrubs). He got Barber's voice and inflections just right. I thought it was an impressive performance. McGinley was just at Wrigley a few weeks ago singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

Rush Upset With Cumulus

Rush Limbaugh is upset that Cumulus is blaming him for bad sales figures.

You see, the problem isn't that Rush keeps saying things that are repulsive to advertisers. The problem is that Cumulus isn't cracking the whip and selling well enough.

Sales people love hearing that, by the way. When you spend all day trying to polish a turd, there's nothing that motivates you better than the turd telling you it's the fault of the polish.

Cubs 365

Don't forget that Cubs 365 is at the JOBC Blog. Every day there's another calendar-appropriate Cubs story.



For instance...

On this day in 1941, a night of drinking led to the Cubs trading a Hall of Fame second baseman for a utility infielder and a backup outfielder.