If Fox News Isn't Compliant Enough

Fox News is basically a Pravda-style promotional machine for the Republican party these days, but they do still have a few actual journalists on staff like Brett Baier, Chris Wallace, and Shep Smith.

If the occasional truth makes Fox News a little too critical for you, guess what, you're in luck!

You can now watch One America News, which is even friendlier to the president.

One America’s owner, Robert Herring Sr., a millionaire who made his money printing circuit boards, has directed his channel to push Trump’s candidacy, scuttle stories about police shootings, encourage antiabortion stories, minimize coverage of Russian aggression, and steer away from the new president’s troubles, according to more than a dozen current and former producers, writers and anchors, as well as internal emails from Herring and his top news executives.

And they call liberals "snowflakes".

Trouble at the Broadcast Museum

From this morning's Inside Radio...

It bills itself as “one of the country’s most respected media museums,” but that apparently has not helped the Museum of Broadcast Communications pay the bills. The 35-year Chicago-based destination has not paid its mortgage since 2015—and is now facing a final shutdown deadline of this December, according to a story in Crain’s Chicago Business.

The museum remains open in a 62,000-square-foot four-story building and includes the National Radio Hall of Fame, a vintage WGN Radio studio, doors from “The Oprah Winfrey Show” set, and television shows from the 1990s, including “Friends” and “The Simpsons,” Crain’s reports.

As of last August, the nonprofit owed $2.5 million to Pepper Construction in Chicago, which holds the building’s mortgage. Pepper and museum officials are “in ongoing discussions about how this matter can be resolved,” said Bruce DuMont, museum founder and president, according to the story. “We are doing whatever needs to be done.”

A meeting scheduled for Wednesday (July 5) was seen as being pivotal to the future of the museum. Larry Wert, the museum’s interim board chair, president of broadcast media at Tribune Media and a longtime Chicago broadcast exec added, “We have more than one strategic plan that we are currently evaluating with stakeholders.”

Crain’s says the museum ended 2015 with an operating deficit of $561,331, according to its tax filing, the most recent one available. The tax filing values the museum building at $16 million.

How Will Sinclair Change WGN?

John Oliver has one vision of it, and it's terrifying...

CNN Takedown Video Creator Apologizes

How much of a deadbeat is our president? The man who created the CNN Body slamming video on Reddit that was getting so much airtime this weekend has apologized. He was tracked down, and when he was discovered, he said the following...

First of all, I would like to apologize to the members of the reddit community for getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened. I would also like to apologize for the posts made that were racist, bigoted, and anti-semitic. I am in no way this kind of person, I love and accept people of all walks of life and have done so for my entire life. I am not the person that the media portrays me to be in real life, I was trolling and posting things to get a reaction from the subs on reddit and never meant any of the hateful things I said in those posts. I would never support any kind of violence or actions against others simply for what they believe in, their religion, or the lifestyle they choose to have. Nor would I carry out any violence against anyone based upon that or support anyone who did.

The President of the United States, the leader of the free world who should be an example to us all, retweeted it and has refused to apologize. When the formerly anti-semitic Reddit guy who goes by the name HanAssholeSolo has more of a conscience than the president, we're all in deep deep trouble.

Is There Something in the Water?

Just a month or two after sexual harrassment claims blew up Fox News, the same thing is apparently happening at Fox Sports.

The LA Times has the story.

The story is still in its early stages, but it's notable that the big boss has already been fired. Seems they might have learned a lesson about to handle a story like this.

The Senate at Work

Still true today...

Happy Birthday 'Merica

After one grueling day in the office, I'm taking the day off today to celebrate our great country's birthday.

Happy 241st!

Len O'Kelly

The July issue of the Illinois Entertainer is out and features my interview with Grand Valley State's Len O'Kelly. He's responsible for sending the broadasting world the next generation of broadcasters.

You can read it here.

Excited Authors

Bill Paige's book is available at Eckhartz Press for pre-order right now! He got a copy of the book in the mail and reacted in a way that cracked us up...



All authors feel this way when they see their book for the first time, but Bill managed to show it more than most. Love it.

Lee Kingsmill's book is coming out at the end of the summer, but we're already in production. He also got a copy of his book recently, and while his response was more muted, he was just as excited...



Both men are first time authors and we're thrilled to help make their dreams come true.

Look Who Is In the Hall of Fame!

This news broke while I was out of town, and I couldn't have been happier to hear it. John Records Landecker is in the National Radio Hall of Fame!

Love this quote in the article... "Thanks to everybody who listened to me, everybody who worked with me and everybody who married me.”

Then I read this blurb in Robert Feder's column and realized that John and I were going to be working hard on the new edition of the book.

The acclaimed autobiography of radio legend John Records Landecker is being reissued to coincide with his induction in the National Radio Hall of Fame. Records Truly Is My Middle Name, first published in 2013, is tentatively set for re-release October 23. As announced this week, Landecker will enter the Chicago-based shrine honoring radio’s greatest stars on November 2. Branded as a limited “Radio Hall of Fame edition,” it will include new photos and Landecker’s reflections since he quit WLS FM 94.7 in 2015, according to David Stern, co-founder and publisher of Eckhartz Press. “This is a perfect opportunity for us to publish all the stories John forgot to include in the first one,” he said. Stern’s partner in Eckhartz Press is Rick Kaempfer, who served as producer of Landecker’s morning show on WJMK FM 104.3 and co-wrote the book.

That work begins today...

Where in the world were you, Rick?

I was in Holland and Germany with my son's soccer team for the past few weeks. If you're interested, you can read the story in three parts.

The World Class Training

The International Matches

The Sights We Saw


We also made a trip to my hometown of Heidelberg so that my boys could see where their old man grew up. They were only impressed by one thing...the Heidelberg castle.



Then we swung by London so that my middle son could reunite with his grade school best friend. They hadn't seen each other in eight years.



While we were there, of course, I had to see this...



Now I'm back to earth and ready to rock. Lots of very exciting stuff happening right here in Chicago.

Bobby Skafish's e-book is on Amazon!

Bobby Skafish's e-book is now on Amazon!

He'll also be appearing at the Record Collector Show in Hillside on July 16th. I'll be there with him.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's favorite Daddio again.

Back after July 4th holiday

I'll be out of the office for the next few weeks, but the beat goes on at my various different ventures.

Eckhartz Press has at least six books in the pipeline for this summer. A few will be coming out on e-book in the coming weeks and a few brand new paperbacks will be coming out soon. My co-publisher Mr. Stern will keep everyone apprised of the new stuff via facebook, twitter, and the eckhartzpress website.

Just One Bad Century will continue to update new content every day; this week in Wrigley history, Cubs birthdays, historical events, and more. If you're a Cubs geek and you don't like JOBC, I worry about your true Cub-geek-ness.

My regular Illinois Entertainer column will come out on July 1st. This month I interviewed a former Chicago radio pro who is now mentoring and teaching the next generation of broadcasters. Don't laugh. There is a next generation. It's an uplifting interview.

Episode 55 of Minutia Men will come out on Thursday June 15th. Dave and I will discuss where I am, Canadian duels, an eating and drinking history of the Netherlands, Jenkins at the funeral home, the worst trade in Cubs history, and my brush with Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards. Episode 56 won't air until July.





Hope everyone has a great couple of weeks!

Your pal,
Rick

An Ode to Prog Rock

I always had a soft spot for the 1970s progressive rock movement. It made me feel like we were headed to a higher, grander style of music. Turns out we never quite got there.

The New Yorker has a great piece about this movement today. It appears the kids are now discovering it. I know my oldest son loves it.

As the Sumner Turns

This is the lawsuit that just won't go away for CBS/Viacom chairman/vegetable Sumner Redstone. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

Sumner Redstone’s love-life is back in the courts. So are his finances, because the man who’s still the controlling shareholder in CBS and Viacom allegedly gave tens of millions of dollars to his romantic companions, before they were ousted from his estate. Sumner later sued two of them to recover the money. Turns out we haven’t heard the last of gal-pal Sydney Holland. Bloomberg says “A Los Angeles judge on Monday refused to dismiss her complaint that [Sumner’s daughter Shari] secretly paid her father’s staff to dig up confidential information” to use against Holland. Sydney wants “about half of Sumner’s liquid assets” in the California-sanctioned category of palimony. That could be 1% or 2% of $5 billion. Shari Redstone wanted the new Sydney Holland suit to be dismissed – but the judge didn’t see it that way.

Well that's gonna be a leverage killer

Eric and Kathy fans know that Kathy has been off the air for a while now embroiled in some sort of dispute. The ratings news that came out yesterday (Robert Feder reports) probably isn't going to help her if she was looking for leverage.

The show remains #1 in Chicago, even without her.

Eckhartz Press Signs Mitch Michaels

This is what I was doing yesterday...


Photo: (left to right) Author Ken Churilla, Mitch Michaels, Eckhartz Press Co-founder & Publisher David Stern, Eckhartz Press Co-founder & Publisher Rick Kaempfer

For immediate release:
June 12, 2017 (Chicago)

High atop the city on the rooftop of LondonHouse Chicago, legendary Chicago DJ Mitch Michaels and Chicago based book publisher Eckhartz Press came together on an agreement to release Michaels’ book Doin’ The Cruise: Memories of a Lifetime in Radio and Rock & Roll.

Michaels, a radio disc jockey since 1969 and in Chicago since 1971 is synonymous with rock & roll to generations of Chicago rock fans. Michaels career has included stints on nearly all of Chicago’s biggest rock stations including WLUP, WCKG, WKQX, WXRT, WDAI, CD 94.7 and now as afternoon drive host on 95.9 WERV-FM ‘The River’

Michaels book Doin’ The Cruise: Memories of a Lifetime in Radio and Rock & Roll is a memoir tell all that delves into his great personal rock and roll stories including the direct impact he had on Rod Stewart’s career, his place in the infamous Disco Demolition, Studio Jams from Mantra Studios, and his personal dealings with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry to breathe life into a lagging Who concert promotion at the Chicago Stadium. Michaels also sheds light on his life outside of radio as well including his successful (and then failed) boutique retail operation, his family life including his marriages, children and the untimely passing of his son.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this book,” said Michaels. “I’ve been rocking in this town since the early 70’s and I've got some stories you wouldn’t believe…but they’re true!”

"I grew up listening to Mitch on the Loop," Eckhartz Press' Rick Kaempfer said. "If you would have told the high school me in 1980 that I'd one day publish the books of my radio heroes (Mitch Michaels, John Records Landecker, Bobby Skafish), I never would have believed it."

Doin’ The Cruise: Memories of a Lifetime in Radio and Rock & Roll is slated to be released on September 5th, 2017 and published by Eckhartz Press. The book was written with Chicago-based author / noted music journalist Ken Churilla. This is Churilla’s second book.

RIP Adam West

The former star of Batman died over the weekend. I loved that show. I loved the crash, boom, pows. I loved the batmobile. I loved the celebs looking out the window. Julie Newmar as the Catwoman was the first girl that made me tingle a bit. And I loved the vivid colors. It was the first show that really made me want to get a color television.

I met Adam West a few times in my radio career and told him that. He wasn't impressed. Oh well. His legacy remains...

Farewell to Coaching

Yesterday was my last official day as the soccer coach for my son's team, after seven years at the helm. My fellow coach and I Adam Howarth have one last job with this team. We are taking them to Europe on Wednesday for a two week soccer-playing tour of Holland and Germany.

I must admit, I got a little verklempt when the boys gave us this going away gift...

JRL in Union, IL

Had a great time in Union Illinois on Saturday with John Records Landecker. We were at a phonograph show, and selling some books.