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Saturday, June 28, 2008

At Least Part of My Blog Was In the News Leader Tuesday

Maybe the News Leader does like me after all. A few weeks ago, I had complained about how the News Leader was always writing articles about anonymous blogging yet allowed anonymous bloggers to be hosted by their new website. Then, Monday I wrote a complimentary post about the column Sarah Overstreet had in Sunday's paper about the flooding problem with my 25 cents (most people add their two cents but I believe my opinion is worth 25 cents).

On Thursday, I was speaking with a former co-worker who said, "I liked what you said in the News Leader about the flooding problem." Now, I usually read the News Leader online. For some reason the Local Blogs were not on the Voices page of the website. I dug through the old News Leaders at work and found it in Tuesday's edition.

Now, here is the funny part. As you can see from the photo of the column above, most of what was printed from my blog post was the quote from Sarah Overstreet's column. I guess the rest of my comments (especially the suggestion about the wiffle ball bat) were not acceptable or something.

Monday, June 23, 2008

If You Don't Agree With Sarah Overstreet On This One, You Can Drown Yourself

I know I have given Sarah Overstreet a hard time about a few of her columns, but her column in Sunday's News Leader was about one of my big complaints about Springfield - the flooding problem during the rains. I have complained about the streets flooding during the slightest rainstorm since 1987. Usually, falling on deaf ears or having some Ozarker tell me "We don't want to pay the taxes to fix it."

My parents attended a funeral here in town on June 13th. It rain quite a bit that day. They told me they would never again doubt me when I said the streets of Springfield flood when it rains.

Sarah suggest that the resistance needs to stop: "The scenario again is as follows: Old infrastructure, lots of old and new problems to be fixed, and virtually no funds in comparison to need. If you care about your fellow citizens and don't want to see them crying outside their houses and picked up by fire-and-rescue units, you're going to have to give up some greenbacks. It won't be much per resident, but we've got to push the issue and be willing to follow it up with "yes" votes.

This is one time where the "we already pay too much taxes" argument just doesn't wash. Don't want to help? Tell that to the guy sitting in the pew with you next Sunday, who's been up all night with a bucket bailing out his basement."

Of course, in the comment under this column on the website, some idiot is claiming the photos of flooding where "doctored" by the News Leader. Well, then there are doctored photos on the TV station websites and well as the Remembering Springfield MySpace site. There is a photo over at Ebbett's Field of a guy kayaking down Walnut Street.

Ms. Overstreet says she will have more articles on this in the coming weeks. Good. Here is MY suggestion if you feel as strongly about this as I do.

  1. Carry a whiffle ball bat with you on the days we have rain.
  2. Bring up the streets flooding in conversation.
  3. If someone tells you that it will cost tax payers money and we pay too much taxes to fix it, you have Desdinova's permission to HIT THEM UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH THE WHIFFLE BALL BAT! Or you could...
  4. Take them outside to the nearest flooded area and "baptise them" until the "believe" we need to overhaul the drainage system. Or...
  5. Just ask them the old Bill Cosby line, "How long can you tread water?"

What is it going to take to solve this problem? Loss of property or life. How long can we tread water?

Did You Ever Watch an Old Movie on TV and Wonder How Many People in the Crowd Scenes Are Dead? George Carlin 1937-2008

Reuters is reporting that George Carlin has died at age 71. This pic is of the young George Carlin. Carlin's humor was an influence on me. I'm probably in radio because of his "Wonderful WINO" routine. He is the guy who created the "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say On Television." I've been lectured all my life about finding Carlin funny, so there will be no comments allowed. That will keep you Ozarkers from giving me another finger-shaking lecture about what is funny and what is not. I SAY GEORGE CARLIN WAS ONE FUNNY MOTHER&$%&ER!

Here is CNN's coverage. I think the media should go wall to wall with coverage of Carlin's death like they did with Tim Russert's death last week. Also I'm calling for flag to fly at half staff in memory of Mr. Carlin. That would really hack off the talk radio guys, but they deserve. I bet 'Wonderful WINO' is now a talk radio that is "standing up for what is right - even if it is wrong and just plain stupid!"

Maybe Nobody Was Pregnant To Begin With

My previous post was about the so-called pregnancy pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Now CNN is reporting that the Mayor of the town is questioning the validity of the whole thing. Mayor Carolyn Kirk says she will meet school, health and other officials to get figure out if the pregnancy pact was a hoax. The story came to light after the high school principal, Joseph Sullivan, told a Time magazine reporter about it.

"The high school principal is the one who initially said it, and no one else has said it," Kirk said. "None of the counselors at the school, none of the teachers who know these children and none of the families have spoken about it."

There is a difference between expecting and exposed.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Hey, Let's Get Pregnant!

I really thought we were past this kind of stupidity, however adults never seem to understand teenagers. Officials in Gloucester, Massachusetts, say that a group of teenage girls made a pact to get pregnant. The mayor, an anti-teen sex activist and a certain local talk radio show host (who came from Canada) is blaming Hollywood. Here is the AP story from Yahoo. First, Britney Spear’s little sister got pregnant, then there is that movie Juno (Right here I want to mention that I am madly in love with Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, who is on the cover of this month’s Writer’s Digest) about a pregnant teenager. IT IS ALL PART OF A PLOT!

Let me tell you what I know from my thirty-some years on this planet. Gloucester is a small town. This happens in small towns every year. It happened my senior year at Lebanon High School and about ten year ago People magazine had a cover story about a small town in Texas where about half the girls in school were pregnant. It happens all the time. Someone claims the girls were "giving Hi-Fives." I went to school in a small town and you always hear an eyewitness account from "Some kid." They are always unreliable.

Second, doesn’t the mayor have better things to do than worry about who is pregnant. That must really be a SMALL AND BORING TOWN. As for the activist mentioned at the end of the AP story, I want to ask one of these abstinence activist why they all look like the snooty girls in high school who only dated the jocks. It is like they say, "I’m not going to sleep with you and I’m going to make the other girls sign a pledge not to sleep with you. Naner, naner, nya nya!"

Kids, take some advice from Uncle Desdinova. If this is what you girls want to for fun, well then knock yourselves out up.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Embarrassing Banner Ad


Some ads on news websites and blogs are to advertise things related to the content. Adland has this rather amusing screen capture from CNN.com. Ooooppps!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Nashville Brass Leader Danny Davis Dies at 83


He cashed in on radio stations having news at the top of the hour and the success of Herb Alpert. Trumpeter Danny Davis died Friday in Nashville according to the Tennessean. He and Chet Adkins came up with the idea of instrumental country hits after hearing former big bands and orchestras mangle rock and roll songs of the day (101 Stings version of "Somebody To Love" is kind-of-cool though). I remember when Davis was in Branson, he told KY 3's Steve Grant that he modeled the upbeat sound and style after Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass. He recorded several short instrumentals for radio stations to use to time up to the network news at the top of the hour. Sadly, it is hard to find Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass on CD.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

FCC's Adelstein May Believe In the Existence of Talkola

I have mentioned here before that I believe that talk radio host accept payments by right-wing PACs to push certain issues to prominence. I have dubbed this practice "Talkola" after "payola," which I believe was not a real problem but the reaction of a bunch of cranky old men in the 50's to rock and roll. I've convinced one of my co-workers of this. He told me he has given up listening to talk radio because all of the host talked about the same topic for more than a month.

Now All Access reports that FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, in a speech to the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis over the weekend, suggested the same thing. Only he isn't talking about PACs, he is suggesting that the Bush administration was behind the positive spin given to the Iraq War by talk radio as well as the news media.

"According to news reports, analysts who disagreed with the information given to them lost access," ADELSTEIN asserted. "This comes in the wake of new revelations that network executives pressured news reporters to develop Administration-friendly angles when we were heading to war. Today, I commit to you that I plan to demand a real and thorough investigation. We need to determine, without delay, whether the DoD violated the laws we enforce against payola.

"These rules prohibit anyone involved with preparing broadcast or cable programs from accepting anything of value without disclosing it to the public," ADELSTEIN continued. "This is not just a question of journalist ethics and integrity. It is the law. The war in IRAQ is clearly a controversial issue of public importance. The American people have a legal right to know when the government is sponsoring the source that is purporting to provide objective analysis."

Adelstein also mentioned that it is illegal to use federal funds for propaganda purposes. "The federal anti-propaganda and payola laws are grounded on the principle that the public is entitled to know who seeks to persuade them so they can make up their own minds about the credibility of the information presented," he said. "The public has a legal right to know that people who present themselves to be independent, unbiased experts and reporters are not shills hired to promote a corporate -- or governmental -- agenda."

Adelstein continued, "It is time for us to curb the excesses of commercialism, as CONGRESS intended," he declared. " We need to ... develop new rules to clarify that sponsorship identification has to be clear and understandable. It should not be buried in a compressed crawl at the end of a show that would take a magnifying glass to read. "We need to fight thinly disguised payola fueling homogenized corporate music that leaves no room for local and independent artists. We need to fight video news releases masquerading as news, with public relations agents pushing agendas that squeeze out real news coverage and local community concerns. We need to fight product placements turning news and entertainment shows alike into undisclosed commercials. And we need to fight rapacious advertisers preying on the unsuspecting minds of our young children."

Here is a transcript of the speech. It is great reading.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

ABC "Wide World Of Sports" Host Jim McKay Dies

Jim McKay has died. He was 86. He was the host of ABC's Wide World of Sports and voiced the famous intro (As a side note I wanted to be that "Agony of Defeat" skier). He is also known for his coverage of the kidnapping of 11 Israeli athletes. When McKay learned they had been killed by their kidnappers, he said solemnly "Their all gone." Here is AP's obit.

Great Hera! Wonder Woman Finds a Floating Corpse!




The AP is reporting that actress Lynda Cater, who played Wonder Woman on TV in the 70s, was boating earlier this week when she saw a body floating in the Potomac River.

Here is the rest: "Lynda Carter tells The Washington Post she was alone in a boat when she saw the body Wednesday. She says she didn't have a cell phone with her, so she yelled to some fishermen and asked them to call police. Carter waited until rescuers arrived and directed them to the body.

District of Columbia police say the body of 47-year-old Helen Johnstone of Washington was found floating on the river Wednesday. The medical examiner's office has not declared an official cause of death.

Carter says she "did what anybody would have done." (snip)

At least it wasn't Steve Trevor. I remember a discussion with some classmates in college in which my friend Jennifer said she wanted to be Wonder Woman because she had "a man she had to take care of."

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Bo Diddley 1928 - 2008


I know I'm a day late, but I have to mention Bo Diddley. His influence on modern rock music is so great that his style is called "the Bo Diddley beat." It was imitated from the beginning by contemporaries like Buddy Holly ("Not Fade Away"), Don Gibson ("Oh Lonesome Me") and Johnny Otis ("Willie and the Hand Jive" and "Casting My Spell"). Other clones sprang up such as "Roslyn" by the Pretty Things, "Hey Little Girl" by Dee Clark, "Hey Gyp" by the Animals (written by Donovan), "I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves/Bow Wow Wow and "Faith" by George Michael. George Thorogood even remade Diddley's "Who Do You Love" using tune of "Bo Diddley."

Here is the CNN story.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

It May Be Un-PC but Is the Only Entertaining Ad on Springfield Radio We Have


A few days back, the Springfield News Leader ran a LTTE complaining about the Heritage Chrysler radio ads. For those of you who have not heard these ads (they have actually been around for about two years or more) they feature a chant that sounds like "Song of Hiawatha," the Hamms Beer jingle of the 50s ("From the land of sky blue waters"), and "Running Bear" run through a blender. The name of the car dealer is sung to a tom-tom drumbeat and flute in a mock Native American pronunciation (HAR-I-TOGGEE). The writer of the LTTE said this was un-PC and bordered on racism.

I’ll admit the first time I heard it I thought it was un-PC and a stereotype of Native Americans. However, I liked it because IT WAS NOT THE TYPICAL SPRINGFIELD RADIO AD. It was not a dry read with out background music, sound effects or any excitement. It also wasn’t the car ad featuring one heavy metal chord played over and over while announcer yells. Best of all, it was not one of those horrible jingles that seem to pollute this market like VD – the "I remember the good old days when every thing was better." BARF!

I used to produce promos for the company I work for. I quit after some complaints. They mainly came from a former co-worker, a former employee at the station, the people in the sales department and a doofus e-mailed stuff like this "Tak dat promo off. Me no like it. Mike ______" (He changed his name ever time but kept Mike). I got in trouble for making a promo where a one of the talk show host blew up a caller to one of the talk shows. I got in trouble for imitating Jim Rome and poking fun at one of the host for saying he didn’t like Jim Rome. I got in trouble for making fun of another station’s promo using a snippet of Stan Freburg’s "Point of Order." I made a promo that never made it to the air. It was a parody of 2001: Space Odyssey and it was nixed it had monkey sound effects in it ("Screaming monkeys might upset listeners" I was told).

On the other hand, I had listeners who recognized my voice from these promos and gave me complements saying they enjoyed my work.

Like I said, I agreed that the Heritage Chrysler ad is un-PC, but it falls into a gray area Political Correctness. This ad seems to evoke the romanticized Native American of Longfellow, James Fennimore Cooper and the "Keep America Beautiful" ads of the 70s (pic above). It doesn’t seem to show a negative John Ford "bloody savage" image or stupid image from F-Troop, but still un-PC is un-PC.

My problem is CAN WE NOT BE MORE CREATIVE WITH RADIO ADS! I used to remember some great stuff being produced around here. We need to produce ads that look toward the future and not back at the good old days. No more ads that sound like the radio equivalent of a Penny Power ad. Use monkeys, sirens and explosions, funny jingles and humor but MAKE ADS THAT ARE ENTERTAINING!

Of course, an opinion, like this one, is why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

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