It's Keef's World

This one cracked me up for obvious reasons...

Joke for a Friday Morning

Courtesy of "PC"...

A husband and wife are shopping in their local Wal-Mart. The husband picks up a ...case of Miller Lite and puts it in their cart.

'What do you think you're doing?' asks the wife. 'They're on sale, only $10 for 24 cans', he replies. 'Put them back, it's a waste of money', demands the wife, and so he does and they carry on shopping.

A few aisles further on along, the woman picks up a $20 jar of face cream and puts it in the basket.

What do you think you're doing?' asks the husband... "It's my face cream. It makes me look beautiful,' replies the wife.

Her husband retorts: 'So does 24 cans of Miller Lite and it's half the price....'

HUSBAND DOWN, AISLE 7 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RIP Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif has passed away. He was 83 years old. Met him back in my radio days. Nice man. Just saw his phone number in my old radio phone book the other day. Sad how many of those old stars have passed away since I left the business ten years ago.

His two most famous films were "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr. Zhivago". My mom always considered this one of the best movies ever made...

Marv Nyren Returns to Chicago

Marv was the GM who fired the show I was consulting (Spike, Dobie & Max) back in 2005. From this morning's RAMP newsletter...

Marv Nyren has left his position as Market President of iHeartMedia Jacksonville and has returned to Chicago, hired by Tribune Broadcasting as Director of Group Sales and Marketing. It's a career homecoming for Nyren, who is probably best known for his seven-year run with Emmis Chicago as GM of WLUP (97.9 The Loop) and WKQX (Q101) until 2011. In February of 2012 Nyren crossed the street to become VP of Affiliate Development/Midwest for Total Traffic Network. He had been in his Jacksonville post since April of 2013. No replacement has been named in Jacksonville.

Misremembering History

MLB imagines what would have happened if Bartman was a hero instead of a goat...

ESPN and Olbermann "Part Ways"

Keith Olbermann's latest stint at ESPN is officially over. This time it doesn't sound like he was let go because of a personality dispute or a behind-the-scenes confrontation of some kind (although it has been reported that the network didn't like the way he criticized the NFL). It sounds like when it was all said and done, it was good old fashioned ratings that did him in. From Variety...

ESPN executives were pleased with the quality of Olbermann’s program, according to a person familiar with the situation, but felt the show was not attracting a level of viewership required to keep it on the air.

Home Run Derby

Both of these guys will be appearing in the Home Run Derby in Cincinnati. I may actually watch it this year.

Bill Cosby

It's one thing when you lose all your commercial endorsements (the Jello people have to be scrubbing YouTube these days), or your comedy gigs dry up despite the fact you're one of the best comedians of all time, but you really know you've hit career rock-bottom when your agent dumps you.

Bill Cosby may never be prosecuted for what he did, but his career is officially over.

This Can't Be Good

The CNN.com headline reads: Athletes Allege Abuse and Racism at University of Illinois.

It's in the women's basketball program, and the men's football program, and it sounds very bad.

That's my Alma Mater. Making me so proud once again.

Tony Bruno

For a little while Tony Bruno was the morning sports-talk host in Chicago, hosting a show for Sporting News Radio. He has gone on to achieve success in Philadelphia, but that ended abruptly yesterday. This is kind of a shocking development, so I thought I'd share the details with you. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

He’s been absent from his PM drive co-hosting slot with Josh Innes on CBS Radio’s all-sports WIP Philadelphia (94.1) – and for about a half-hour yesterday, Innes was also AWOL. Now it all comes out in a melodrama that probably made some PPM meters glow white-hot. Josh, who’d been brought up to Philly from Houston first to do nights and then afternoons, was paired with the more experienced Bruno. Now Tony, a syndicated host on several sports networks who had recently circled back to WIP, says he’s leaving AM/FM radio, period. Tony posts on his website that “after 45 years of pursuing my dreams and goal of radio, and climbing the sports radio stairs to the highest rungs, the format and industry in general no longer provide me joy and satisfaction, even after reaching #1 in PM drive in record time [with 25-54 men] in my hometown.” So, he “decided to resign from WIP and from regular long-form terrestrial radio as a result, and will pursue my podcasts and other things that keep my occupied and happy.”

Chicago Radio Ratings

The June ratings came out for Chicago radio and there are several interesting things of note there. One is that WGN had a resurgence (probably sparked by the Blackhawks), and Me-TV FM has really made a splash.

Of course I wrote about them in my Illinois Entertainer column last month.

More analysis of the ratings are here.

Media Mogul Retreat

It's that time of year again. Every year all the media moguls gather in Sun Valley Idaho for a closed-to-the-public off-the-record retreat; something that I lampooned in my novel "$everance". How this off-the-record retreat of the people who control the vast majority of the information we receive as a country hasn't sparked conspiracy theories is beyond my comprehension.

Tom Taylor speculates about this year's confab in his column today: "Who’s flying their private jets to Sun Valley this week? The two top execs at CBS, Les Moonves and Joe Ianiello. Things might get awkward if they bump into Philippe Dauman of Viacom, who will sit on the board of the Redstone family trust that oversees both companies after Sumner’s passing. Current Disney chief Bob Iger will be there with COO Tom Staggs. So will the Murdochs, and Apple CEO Tim Cook."

I find this whole thing incredibly fascinating. These guys are all billionaires, and they all hate each other, yet they never miss a chance to attend. What on earth goes on at these meetings?

Sarah Palin's Subscription Service is Ended

She was offering yearly subscriptions to her online channel for only $99. The Hollywood Reporter says that she has decided to pull the plug on that.

No word as to the reasoning. My favorite line from the article is this: "It's unclear how many subscribers had signed up for the service."

Is the clock beginning to run out on her 15 minutes? You Betcha.

It was a good run, Sarah. Good luck on that book you're writing "of short meditations applying biblical principles to such contemporary issues as economics and human trafficking." I'm sure that will be a masterpiece.

Jared's Very Bad Day

Subway has already removed all references to Jared on all their websites and social media outlets, while saying they are "very concerned" about the raid.

They should be.

CBS News reported that Jared is a suspect.

Harry Shearer is Back After All

I was just talking to a big Simpsons fan a few weeks ago who was distraught about Harry Shearer leaving the show. I laughed and said--"Don't worry, he'll be back. It's called negotiations."

He's back.

I honestly wasn't worried.

Now *That's* a Cover

Courtesy of the Lawrence Welk show...

Lester's First Hit

It took him ten years in the big leagues to do it, but Cubs pitcher Jon Lester finally got his first big league hit last night.

Sadly, it was in a losing cause, but that wasn't his fault.

My sister Cindy and son Sean are using my tickets to see the early game today.

Oscar Peterson

Incredible video from 1979. The great Oscar Peterson explains piano styles to Dick Cavett. Amazing...

Say it ain't so, Jared

The feds have raided the home of Subway spokesperson Jared Fogel.

They are looking for child porn.

Wish I was kidding about that. Remember, he hasn't been charged with anything yet, but this can't be a good development.

No Prison Time for Rupert's Features Editor

The final sentence of the phone hacking trial in England was handed down yesterday, and 49 year old features editor Jules Stenson received a four month suspended sentence, which means he's not going to jail. The judge had some compassion for him. From the AP...

The judge said Stenson "was put in a position of competing with people working on the news desk who he knew were phone hacking, and his editor condoned the practice."

And so it ends. Nine of Rupert's employees were convicted in the case--including a few of Rupert's hand-picked editors like Andy Coulson, who later served as the Prime Minister's spokesperson. Next time you hear one of Rupert's other media outlets criticizing the mainstream media, keep in mind that this is the same organization that has been convicted of criminal activity. Nine times.

World Cup Final Viewer Totals

Yesterday I noted that it was the most watched women's soccer game in American history. I need to revise that slightly. It's even more than that. It's the most watched SOCCER game in American history--men or women.

That's absolutely incredible.

Adweek has the details.

Cosby Admits It

Portions of the 2005 case against Cosby have been unsealed, and the big bombshell revelation is that he essentially admits to using drugs in exactly the way women have described.

More details are here, including an analysis of what this means.

Tim Huston

News about a former Chicago radio vet, courtesy of the RAMP Newsletter...

Beasley Media Group has appointed Tim Huston as General Sales Manager for the Company's six-station cluster in Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville, NC. Huston started his radio career in Chicago, working in the programming department at WLUP (97.9 The Loop) and WMVP-AM under Evergreen Media. He later crossed over to the sales side at ABC Radio's WXCD/Chicago. From there, Huston served as a Market Manager for Cumulus Media in Michigan and as a Sales Manager in several Citadel markets. He later returned to Chicago as the Local Sales Manager with Merlin Media.

No Game Today

This is an interesting esoteric look at Comiskey Park, back in the 60s...

Historic Date

From today's The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac...

July 6, 1957…John Lennon and Paul McCartney were introduced to each other at a church social where Lennon's band, the Quarrymen, was playing. In the church basement between sets, 15-year-old McCartney taught 16-year-old Lennon to play and sing Eddie Cochran's, "Twenty Flight Rock" and Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula." Lennon was also impressed when McCartney showed him and the group's Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars, something they had been paying someone else to do for them.

Found this video of a live performance of "Be Bop A Lula"

$190

Not proud of it. Just being honest.

Record Breaker

According to the preliminary ratings, the USA-Japan game is the highest rated women's soccer game in history. Huge TV numbers.

It pulled a 15.2 overnight rating, which is even better than the 1999 championship game (13.3).

The details are here.

Even the Great Ones Got Cut

This is a must read article for all kids in youth sports who get cut from their teams. It's about six girls from the World Cup team who were also cut when they were younger, and used it to motivate them to greater heights. It's actually quite inspiring.

Trump is Lawyering Up

Is there anyone who spends more money on lawyers than Donald Trump?

Well, his latest comments about Mexicans and the fallout against his "brave truth telling" (actual words used to describe it by Fox and Friends) is about to lead to a bunch of lawsuits filed by the Donald. His lawyer was on the Sunday talk shows discussing their plans. The Hollywood Reporter has the details.

I suspect he won't win those lawsuits. Every contract has a clause allowing for actions like the ones taken by NBC and others. On the other hand, our legal system is notoriously unpredictable.

World Cup Champs!