February 27, 2006

Collected and Edited by Richard Kaempfer







The Palestinian Comic
(Chicago Reader) Michael Miner profiles Chicago's very own Ray Hanania in his Hot Type column in this week's Chicago Reader. Miner writes: "He's just returned from a short tour of Israeli clubs, where he was the sole Palestinian in an impromptu act that also included his black Jewish pal Aaron Freeman; Charles Warady, a Jew from Chicago now living in Israel; and Yisrael Campbell, an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem who was once a Catholic in Philadelphia. Warady was the instigator. He e-mailed Hanania just before Christmas and asked if Hanania had the guts to play Israel."
VIDEO: Ray's comedy act


Opie and Anthony not happy campers about Sirius/XM merger
(FMQB) If the merger closes by the end of 2007, as is being pushed for by the two satcasters, O&A will have less than a year left on their contract, and it has them wondering what will happen with Karmazin as CEO of the merged company. After all, Karmazin was the CEO at Infinity Broadcasting when the duo had to sit out their contract after the Sex For Sam stunt went awry, and when a gag order was placed on them that disallowed any mention of Stern on their program. 'I don’t want to sit there if we're going to be sh*t on all the time,' said Anthony Cumia during today's (2/26) program. 'If on a daily basis, we have to be told don’t talk about this guy... and constantly being f**ked with, then were going to have a problem. The second fiddle thing... if we notice we're not getting any resources, because 100 percent of them are being pumped over to [Stern's] show, it's going to annoy us. I'm not going to sit on his channel and have to do a Howard Stern commercial by mentioning Howard 100.'"


What is the richest media company in the world?
(Worldscreen.com) Time Warner generated $29.8 billion, 13 percent of the total media revenues. News Corp, the second largest, generated just over half that—$16.7 billion. In the number three spot was NBC Universal’s parent company GE, with $14.7 billion in media revenues, followed by CBS Corporation with $13.4 billion and The Walt Disney Company with $13.2 billion. The five top media owners are all based in the U.S. Each has at least a 50-percent stake in a U.S. television network. In all, 16 of the top 30 media owners are from the U.S. The other countries with media owners in the top 30 are Japan, France, the U.K., Germany, Italy and Mexico. Non-American companies on the top 30 list include Axel Springer, Bertelsmann, BSkyB, ITV plc., Fuji TV and Televisa. Two new-media companies are in the top 30: Google, at 13th, and Yahoo!, at 15th.



Old media is richer than ever, but cutting jobs
(Broadcasting & Cable) This article does offer some good news (new media jobs are growing), but Anne Becker also writes: "Last year, almost 18,000 media employees lost their jobs—the biggest group of layoffs since the dotcom bubble burst in 2001. Some of the world's biggest 'old-media' companies—including MTV Networks (MTVN), NBC Universal, Disney and Discovery Communications—are axing staffers in handfuls and hundreds. In one of the biggest reductions, Time Warner's AOL began cutting 5,000 employees in December, about 26% of its workforce."



What will happen with the Tribune?
(Wall Street Journal) Sarah Ellison writes: "Despite considering a late-breaking bid from Chicago real-estate magnate Sam Zell, Tribune Co.'s board is inching closer to a "self-help" restructuring deal it will implement on its own, say people familiar with the situation. The board met with its advisers Saturday for an update on the five-month-old auction. Unlike the past couple of board meetings, it issued no statement afterward. Tribune -- which owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and 23 television stations -- has promised shareholders a resolution of the auction by March 31."



Katty Kay profile
(Washington Post) Howard Kurtz has written an excellent profile of BBC reporter Katty Kay. In it, she does an excellent job of differentiating the way the British press and the American press cover the Iraq War.



New Online video service: NewsTube
(Broadcasting & Cable) This is fantastic for news junkies. B&C reports: "Despite having been written off as obsolete amid years of ratings declines, the evening newscasts remain a vital cultural force. And Andrew Tyndall is still watching. As editor of the Tyndall Report, Tyndall (who is also a B&C contributing editor) has monitored and analyzed the way the newscasts cover various topics since 1987. Now he is inviting viewers to join him. His Website tyndallreport.com recently began offering an extensive searchable database of news stories complete with links to video clips of the segments."



Vice President/Oscar Winner
(Crooks & Liars) The video of Gore's Presidential tease on stage at the Academy Awards is available at the link here.




VIDEO: Without Question, the Best (Funniest) Moment of the Oscars!



Oscar.com was "late and lame"
(Washington Post) Lisa de Moraes writes: "Oscar.com took the 'multi' out of 'multitasking' on Academy Awards night, giving us late and lame. Meanwhile, television was the better experience because it was at least, um, live."


The Sun Times calls it: "One of the best new radio blogs around."
(Chicago Radio Spotlight) This is a new blog I started at the beginning of 2007. Every Sunday I interview a current or former Chicago radio personality at the link above. Click on it now, and you can read my interviews with Cara Carriveau, Charlie Meyerson, Steve Edwards, Bobby Skafish, Richard Cantu, Kathy Voltmer, John Fisher, and Roman Sawczak. Coming this weekend: Spike Manton.





COMING SOON (April 2007) ON ENC PRESS

A satirical novel about the broadcast media

Click on this link ($EVERANCE) to pre-order it now.












Available via Allworth Press--A How-To-Guide for producing radio shows

Click on this link to order your copy: The Radio Producer's Handbook