RIP Leonard Nimoy

Mr. Spock has passed away at the age of 83.

He was a great Mr. Spock, but he also hammered out love between his brothers and his sisters, all over this land. RIP, Leonard Nimoy.

Every Cub Ever (G)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter G. From Gabe Gabler to Jose Guzman--125 entries in all.

What will you find there? Five Hall of Famers, 14 videos, 24 classic baseball cards, four celebrity fans, two classic audio clips, two managers, a song, an executive, a psychologist, six Gonzalezes, four Griffiths, the first Latin Cub, the father of the curveball, plus Peaches, Patcheye, and Piano Legs.

Check it out here.

Records Truly Is My Middle Name

Net Neutrality

The FCC Passed Net Neutrality yesterday and I've been reading some dissents that bear no relationship to the actual truth. If you want it explained to you, John Oliver did the best job of it, back when the FCC was thinking of buckling to cable company demands...



And this is Tom Taylor's take on the decision, via his NOW Newsletter...

“Unfettered access to any lawful content.” That’s FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, who also says “This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech.” Wheeler and the two Republican Commissioners were cordial at yesterday’s snow-delayed meeting – but they couldn’t be further apart, philosophically. Ajit Pai says the 3-2 “open Internet” vote has “awakened a sleeping giant.” He says whether it’s struck down by a federal court or a future (Republican-controlled) FCC, “I do believe its days are numbered.” Michael O’Rielly huffed about the agency’s “attempts to usurp the authority of Congress.” But in the post-meeting Q&A with reporters, Wheeler predicts that “It will be hard for [opponents] to get a stay” of the rule in court. Wheeler says he’s got just three bright-line tests – “no blocking, no throttling, no prioritized fast lane.” He says the big guys like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and TimeWarner Cable “have all said we didn’t intend to” do any of that stuff, anyhow. Another way to say what the FCC says it’s doing – big ISPs “may not impair or degrade service, or may not favor some Internet traffic over other Internet traffic in exchange for consideration.” Among the witnesses introduced by Chairman Wheeler was Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson, who says 88% of the mostly home-based craft-workers who sell with his Brooklyn-based site are women who shouldn’t have to pay extra to gain faster access. Another supporting witness, via video from Europe, was no less than Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web. To Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, “we cannot have a two-tiered Internet with fast lanes that speed the traffic of the privileged, and leave the rest of us lagging behind.”

That last quote sums it up perfectly. Everything else you hear is noise. Don't be fooled into agreeing with the people who clearly don't have your best interests at heart. There's no agenda behind this decision, but there's a big time (and big money) agenda behind it's opposition.

Johnny B signs a deal with Westwood One

This is obviously why he turned down that job offer at WJMK.

Brandmeier will be the new midday guy at WLS Radio, replacing John Kass and Lauren Cohn, but he'll also be syndicated in several markets. Here's that part of the story, via Radio Insight...

To be based at Chicago’s 890 WLS where it will air live, the show will also air on 790 KABC Los Angeles, 570 KLIF Dallas, 860 KKAT Salt Lake City, 790 WPRV Providence, and 1050 KTBL Albuquerque at launch.

He's replacing Dennis Miller for Westwood One. Miller has decided to give up radio

Congrats to Johnny. He did well in this timeslot at WCKG about a decade ago. As Mark Twain once said--the rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. Robert Feder posted this e-mail Johnny sent to his fans...

“WHAT did I say?!” Nothing is over until we decide it is.

We’ve got some news for you about our new radio homes. Yes, homes – it’s plural.

It’s been a crazy few months, trying to figure out the next move. There were options we were seriously considering, but life (or Baby Jesus and Hanky) had another plan:

We’re still “living in the future” – we’ll be expanding our digital platforms and the show will be available online – stay tuned for more details about where to stream, download podcasts, etc. closer to the launch.

THANK YOU all for your patience.

And the RAMP newsletter has the word from Dennis Miller...

Westwood One confirmed that Brandmeier's new show will replace The Dennis Miller Show. "I'm stepping aside from radio at the moment," Miller remarked. "It's been a great run and I've had a phenomenal time interacting with my guests and audience. But with so many other commitments right now, it's hard to maintain a daily talk show. It's time to pass the torch as I move on to explore other opportunities. I wish Johnny B lots of luck."

Cheeseland

Ask the Historian

If you are a baseball geek like me, you'll love this Long and Winding Quiz.

I learned a few new things about baseball history.

Happy Birthday Johnny Cash

He would have been 83 today...

Every Cub Ever (F)

Today Just One Bad Century features EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter F. From Jim Fanning to Mike Fyhrie--80 entries in all.

What will you find there? Two Hall of Famers, six videos, seven classic baseball cards, two managers, two celebrity fans, two classic audio clips, a Cubs broadcaster, a Cubs scribe, a player/author, a 1908 Cub, the 1918 World Series goat, the first Mexican born big leaguer, the most famous usher ever, three Foxes, Death to Flying Things, a musician, a song, a Cub who kept a pet Cub, and a live toad swallower.

Check it out here.

Jon Stewart Fights Back

The Daily Show
Daily Show Full Episodes,  More Daily Show Videos,  Comedy Central Full Episodes

Here's the Vine video he mentions if you want to look at it a little more closely. Click on it to pause it.

Johnny B Turns Down WJMK

That's the word from Robert Feder this morning.

There's a lot not written in that piece for those of you who like to read the tea leaves. Sounds to me like the money offer wasn't sufficient, but that's just a complete guess. After listening to the people filling in on the Loop, however, I'm hoping he's working on deal to return there instead.

US-99 Wins More Awards

Yesterday their PD was named as top PD, but there were a few other awards given out as well.

US-99 was named major market country radio station of the year, and Ray Stevens & Lisa Dent were named best major market personalities. More details are here.

Congrats to everyone at US-99. I just interviewed Ray Stevens for a recent column at the Illinois Entertainer, if you're interested in reading more about Ray.

Truffle Hunt

Thanks for your patience Truffle Hunt fans. The book ships today!

Congrats to author Brent Petersen. The book looks fantastic.

Order your copy today.

Worst Day in Chicago Sports History?

I was watching the Blackhawks game last night and saw Patrick Kane's injury. Looks like he broke his collarbone, or injured his shoulder very badly. They're calling it an upper-body injury, but I suspect he may be out for the season. (We'll find out more in the next day or two)

UPDATE: He's out 6-10 weeks, and the playoffs start in 7 weeks.

And then the scroll under the game announced that Derrick Rose had ANOTHER knee injury, and will have ANOTHER surgery. He may be finished entirely. (This is starting to feel like Gale Sayers all over again)

Two superstars in one day. Has there been a worse day in Chicago sports history?

Boston's David Stern

David Stern, of course, is the co-publisher of Eckhartz Press--but he's also the proprietor of the Pothole Store, which sells "pothole product" to Chicagoans as a sort of protest against the pothole. Last year Dave made appearances on about a dozen shows in Chicago and sold thousands of dollars worth of pothole product.

Well, meet Kyle Waring of Boston. After this historic snow-filled winter, he is now selling "Boston Snow"...and people are buying it.

Full details here.

Down at the Golden Coin

Who Will Replace Jon Stewart?

It won't be Jason Jones or Samantha Bee.

They just signed a deal for a TBS series, and they are also leaving the show.

O'Reilly Goes For the Jugular

The Washington Post today has a piece examining the many threats Bill O'Reilly is throwing around to anyone who dares write about his embellishment story. He said the reporter who wrote it should be "put in the kill zone" (after he called him a "guttersnipe"), and then he threatened a New York Times reporter (“I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take it as a threat.”)

People can agree or disagree with the basic premise of the article--that O'Reilly embellished. I agree he did, but I don't think it rises to the level that he should lose his job for it.

But one thing is beyond dispute: Bill O'Reilly is a dick.

UPDATE: Uh oh. There's a new story about another embellishment this morning. This one is about his Kennedy book.

UPDATE 2: I've gotten several e-mails from people who are upset with me for not demanding an O'Reilly resignation or suspension. I can't really explain why I don't think he deserves it, other than to say, I have never considered him a credible news source anyway. This isn't like Brian Williams--who I really did trust.

Net Neutrality Wins The Day

This fantastic news comes courtesy of some really engaged activists who rallied the troops and let the people in Washington know that a few business giants cannot simply change everything we know about the internet simply because they have the cash. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

A blitz of 55,000 calls to FCC officials on behalf of Net Neutrality, bypassing the switchboard. That’s unprecedented. Below the water line, there’s been fierce advocacy for Net Neutrality. The New York Times says “in mid-October, the technology activist group Fight for the Future acquired the direct phone numbers of about 30 FCC officials, circumventing the switchboard to send calls directly to policy makers.” We already know about the literally millions of comments filed by members of the public in last Fall’s rule-making. We’ve seen very little upfront from Netflix, Amazon and other big guys. In fact, the Wall Street Journal says that after years of pressing for net neutrality, Google is now “straddling” the issue, and says that “Soon after President Obama announced his support for strong net neutrality rules late last year, Google’s executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told a top White House official the president was making a mistake” – because neutrality’s no longer a priority with Google. It’s now worried about the possibility of new regulations over the Internet. But the Times says “a swarm of small players, from Tumblr to Etsy, BoingBoing to Reddit, has overwhelmed the giants of the tech world.” As Tumblr’s director of social impact and public policy Liba Rubenstein says, “We don’t have an army of lobbyists to deploy…what we do have is access to an incredibly engaged, incredibly passionate user base, and we can give folks the tools to respond.” The Times says that “Republicans who had branded Net Neutrality ‘Obamacare for the Internet’ have grown much quieter under the barrage.” Now comes tomorrow’s FCC vote – and it appears Chairman Wheeler will get his way.

Making the case that this is bad for consumers requires a Fred Astaire-quality dance, and people just don't dance that well anymore. Even Ted Cruz sounds ridiculous arguing that this will harm innovation. All it harms is innovative new ways to gouge consumers. Instead they'll just go to court, find a Republican judge that agrees with them, and try to get it all the way to the Supreme Court. The big boys don't believe that rules should ever apply to them.

Program Director of the Year

Radio trade publication Radio Ink has named Chicago's very own Jeff Kapugi as the country format's program director of the year. Details at Radio Ink.

Congratulations to Jeff.