April 24, 2007

Collected and Edited by Richard Kaempfer








Coming soon: Laugh 'n' Sniff TV
(Zap2it) The folks at the Peacock are aiming to engage viewers' noses as well as their eyes with a breakthrough it's calling "Laugh 'n' Sniff." During the Thursday, May 3 episode of "My Name Is Earl," people equipped with special scratch-and-sniff cards will be able to smell the world of Camden County as well as watch it. The cards will be inserted into issues of TV Guide that week.


Rich Little Bombs at White House Correspondent's Dinner
(Editor & Publisher) Greg Mitchell & Joe Strupp write: "Rich Little, with shockingly dyed hair, said at the outset that he is 'not political' but rather a 'nightclub performer who does a lot of dumb, stupid jokes,' then proved that. Little followed by doing six presidents, including a man he 'loved,' Ronald Reagan. He put in false teeth to play Jimmy Carter saying that when he was a peanut farmer 'I had the biggest nuts in the county.' As the presidents got more recent, the impressions got weaker: George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and then possibly the worst impression of all, the current president. But he closed with the one he is most famous for, Richard Nixon, saying, 'Let’s bring him out of the mothballs one more time.' Little proceeded to do Nixon shaking his head uncontrollably, quipping, 'I’m having a jowl movement.' Speaking to E&P afterward, probably aware that his routine went over rather poorly, he said, 'this is not the easiest audience in the world.' But he said Bush told him when it was over, 'absolutely perfect.' Some in the crowd walked out in the middle of the routine-- far more than left during Colbert's performance last year."
VIDEO: The only funny moment of the night--Letterman's Top Ten George Bush Moments



CBS Sues Radio Station for Running Best of Imus
(Radio Ink) CBS Radio is suing KCAA-AM Riverside, CA, for airing repeats of Don Imus' program since his firing for controversial comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The suit claims KCAA violated copyright protections. The suit seeks a temporary restraining order and $150,000 for each violation.


Clear Channel to try commercial free radio
(New York Times) Andrew Adam Newman writes: "Facing increasing competition from satellite radio and iPods, Clear Channel Communications is trying something radically different at a commercial radio station in Texas: getting rid of the commercials. As of today, KZPS in Dallas — on the dial at 92.5 FM or online at lonestar925.com — will no longer run traditional 30- or 60-second advertisements. Instead, advertisers sponsor an hour of programming, during which a D.J. will promote its product conversationally in what the company calls integration."


CBS Radio suspends duo for crank call
(New York Times) Jacques Steinberg writes: "CBS Radio suspended two hosts from an FM station in New York City today after an Asian-American advocacy organization complained about the broadcast of a six-minute prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant that was peppered with ethnic and sexual slurs. The call was first played on “The Dog House With JV and Elvis,” a midmorning show on WFNY, on April 5, the day after Don Imus made his comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team on WFAN, another CBS-owned station. The call was then replayed on 'The Dog House' on Thursday, a week after Mr. Imus was fired by CBS Radio."



Tribune to hack away more jobs?
(Chicago Tribune) Michael Oneal writes: "Faced with declining revenue and pressure to cut costs, the company is planning to offer employee buyouts to eliminate jobs, said sources familiar with the situation. These sources didn't know how many jobs are targeted companywide but said the Chicago Tribune Co. is expected to issue a request for buyouts on Monday, with a goal of eliminating 100 positions. If the offers don't generate enough savings, one source said, the company may resort to layoffs. A spokesman wouldn't comment on the cuts and didn't make executives available to discuss the quarterly results."


LA Times to cut 150 jobs
(LA Times) James Rainey writes: "The Los Angeles Times is expected to announce Monday a plan to cut about 5% of its workforce, or approximately 150 jobs, as profits at the newspaper and its Chicago-based parent company continue to slide. Times executives said they expected most of the cuts, including nearly 70 newsroom positions, to come through voluntary buyouts. After the reductions, the newspaper would have about 2,625 employees. The news staff would shrink to about 850 people from 920."


On 'The View,' a case of she-said, she-said
(LA Times) Matea Gold writes: "Hasselbeck has improbably emerged as the show's ballast. The youngest and most conservative member of the four-person panel, she persistently defends the Bush administration, positioning herself as punching bag, foil and fire-starter for her co-hosts, who frequently jostle for the opportunity to challenge her statements. Hasselbeck has become more outspoken — and essential — in that role since the arrival this season of O'Donnell, the show's moderator, who seems exasperated and disgusted by her pro-Bush views. All this political passion has given "The View" a renewed sense of relevance in its 10th year. Partisan blogs, cable shows and entertainment magazines alike now raptly follow developments on the water cooler mainstay."


Ricki Lake gives birth on film
(New York Magazine) Faye Penn writes: "Ricki Lake’s documentary, The Business of Being Born, features her most revealing role yet: naked in the bathtub of her West Village apartment, delivering her second child, Owen. She wants to call attention to what she sees as the shortcomings of giving birth in hospitals, which she believes push for a Cesarean too readily: Some New York hospitals’ Cesarean-section rate tops 40 percent. Lake wasn’t always the Al Gore of natural births—only after the drug-assisted delivery of her son Milo at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt did she look into alternative practices, which led to the tub birth that gave her 'an indescribable high.' But being filmed doing it? 'It’s not flattering in any way,' admits Lake, 38, whose movie will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. For the event, 'My publicist said I needed to be in the best shape possible, so I just lost 24 pounds. I’d look pretty good naked in a tub now.' Still, 'to this day,' says Lake, 'my assistant talks about how she had to clean up my bathtub afterward.'


Could a Journalist be our next Secretary of State?
(Marketwatch) Jon Friedman writes: "Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria, one of the nation's most respected foreign-affairs pundits, all but held up his hands in self-defense when I asked him The Question: Would he want to be the secretary of state in the next presidential administration? 'Oh God!' he replied, grinning in mock distress...'I won't be coy with you. I'll give you an honest answer,' he began. 'I'd always be intrigued. But again, it's unlikely and I'll die happily if I never have a White House pass.' Ultimately, Zakaria said: 'If I were a betting man, I wouldn't bet on this.' I wonder if Obama would take that wager, though."


An interview with Eddie Schwartz
(Chicago Radio Spotlight) On Chicago Radio Spotlight, the former king of late night radio in Chicago--Chicago Ed Schwartz. He gives us a health update, and talks about his legendary radio career.



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