Tom McMahon

Take A Good Look: There Will Never Be Another One Like Him

From a eulogy of Harry Caray by Bob Costas:

Sometime in the 1960s Harry Caray found himself in Memphis, Tenn. The phone rang in his hotel room. "Harry," the voice said, "this is Elvis Presley. I grew up in Mississippi listening to you call the Cardinal games on KMOX. I think you're the greatest. I'm sending a car over to bring you to Graceland." There, by Caray's account, the two sat till the early-morning hours, eating barbecue, drinking Budweiser and talking baseball.

Entertainers loved Harry Caray. He counted many, Sinatra and Elvis included, as friends. And why not? Caray himself was a kind of performance artist, working from a broadcast booth instead of a stage. The Harry Caray Elvis heard in the '50s and '60s was a truly great announcer; his outsized personality combined with exceptional broadcasting skills. In recent years, with age and illness, those skills diminished, leaving only Harry: the voice, the windshield-size glasses, the passion for the game that made him the fan's announcer. And that was good enough.

I had the good fortune to experience both Harrys. Back in 1963 Harry The Great Announcer was in the broadcast booth calling Stan Musial's last game in the old old Busch Stadium (nee Sportsmens Park). His signature line from that game was the title of this post: Take A Good Look: There Will Never Be Another One Like Him.

It's been 45 years now and you know what? Harry was right: There never has been another one like Stan Musial. But you also know what? In those 45 years there have been lots of other great ballplayers: Nolan Ryan, Ryne Sandberg, Bruce Sutter just to name three. None of them like the others. And there will be more to come.

I mention this now because right now the State of Wisconsin is still going through a period of sports grief about Brett Favre. Yes indeed, there will never be another one like him. But I've been through this, and I'm here to tell you it's OK. There's lots more yet to come.

How to Write Comedy for Radio: The Undergraduate Senior Thesis of Johnny Carson at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, May 1949

From the University of Nebraska web site:

Entertainment and television icon Johnny Carson received his bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech (with a minor in physics) in 1949 from the University of Nebraska. While at Nebraska, he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and served as master of ceremonies for the Kosmet Klub, a male dramatic society.

Before completing his bachelor of arts degree, Carson did a senior thesis for his broadcasting professor, William Dempsey. His 1949 senior thesis was entitled “How to Write Comedy for Radio,” which he recorded on a reel-to-reel tape. The 45-minute recording was a scholarly examination of the techniques and devices that radio comedy writers used to construct the jokes and gags in comedy radio shows. Using bits from several well-known comedians, such as Jack Benny and Bob Hope, Carson illustrated the various techniques used to write comedy, which he later effectively used in television through his “Tonight Show” monologues.

The link above will let you download the entire 49-minute, 69 MB MP3 file, truly a fascinating piece of American broadcast history. I just learned about Carson's thesis from the PBS Pioneers of Television 4-part series.

A New Baseball Voices CD: A Tribute To Bob Uecker

A New Baseball Voices CD: A Tribute To Bob Uecker

Produced, written and narrated by Pat Hughes. Other CD's available include Jack Buck, Harry Kalas, Harry Caray, and Marty Brennaman.

Two New Dennis Day Collections On CD

 
Two New Dennis Day Collections On CD:
A Song In My Heart
Serenade

Both of these were released in 2007. 

Two Cheap Ways To Transmit Your Music Library Around the House: The Logitech Wireless Bluetooth Music System and the C. Crane FM Transmitter

The Logitech Wireless Bluetooth Music System

Just so you know, the Logitech Wireless Bluetooth Music System is an orphan -- Logitech doesn't list it on their website any more. But that's probably why Tigerdirect has it for just $60. I just added a pair of cheap powered speakers and I was good to go. Sound quality was much better than I expected. The nice feature about this unit is that you can skip over a song you don't like, or pause it to take a phone call.

The C. Crane FM Transmitter

The C. Crane FM Transmitter will set you back about $70. Yeah, I know there are much cheaper FM transmitters out there, but most of those only let you chose a couple of FM frequencies -- the C. Crane unit lets you choose any frequency you want. The advantage of this approach is that you broadcast to every FM radio in the house (the Logitech only broadcasts to its one receiver). The downside is you can't pause or fast forward.

Any other cheap solutions out there?

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Looks a bit nappy-headed himself . . .

The Big Show: Old-Time Radio's Last Gasp

From radioarchives.org:

November 5, 1950 saw the debut of what many observers at that time considered radio's "last gasp": "The Big Show" - "ninety minutes with the most scintillating personalities in the entertainment world." The National Broadcasting Company mounted the expensive, star-studded extravaganza in an effort to reclaim its former dominance on Sunday nights, decimated by both television's rising popularity and the success of rival CBS in peeling off much of NBC's former talent (Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Amos & Andy, etc.) in the Tiffany network's legendary "talent raids."

With a price tag of nearly $100,000 ($735,000 in 2003 dollars) per broadcast, "The Big Show" presented a weekly mixture of comedy, drama and music from such guest stars as Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman, Danny Thomas, Groucho Marx, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Judy Garland and Fred Allen - the latter graduating to semi-regular/contributing writer status. In fact, each program found the guests introducing themselves by name; the introductions completed with a husky voice intoning "...and my name, dahlings, is Tallulah Bankhead." ...

During its original radio run, "The Big Show" received glowing reviews in the press; author Jim Cox quotes one critic as calling it "a perfectly wonderful show - witty, tuneful, surprisingly sophisticated and brilliantly put together...one of the fastest and funniest ninety minutes in memory." But back then - as it is now - the public had the final say, and even though NBC scheduled the program in a time slot so as not to interfere with the television audience (estimated at about 8,000,000 viewers) it was difficult for "The Big Show" to make a dent in the ratings, being regularly trounced by CBS' "The Jack Benny Program." ...

"The Big Show" has long been considered one of radio's biggest financial failures but, listening to the program through 21st Century ears, the show will surprise many an OTR fan; the program's writing remains top-notch, the performers are at the peak of their craft, and the music remains sprightly and entertaining as ever. What makes "The Big Show" mind-boggling is that it seems inconceivable that a program of its scope could be put across today.

Surface Tension, An Episode of Old-Time Radio Sci-Fi Series X Minus One: If The Sun Was Going To Explode Just Two Weeks From Today, What Exactly Would You Do To Preserve The Human Race?

Here's what the scientists in Surface Tension did:

1. They created a sub-microscopic race of human beings.
2. Using modern genetic controls, they adapted them to live in a single drop of water.
3. To a sub-microscopic race of humans, two weeks on Earth would be like 20 million years to them. (Time speeds up when you get smaller.)
4. Millions and millions of humans would thus be able to live in a single drop of water, in a civilization spanning thousands of generations in the two weeks time remaining before the sun exploded.

So, is this really a solution? You can download the mp3 file at the Internet Archive page (that familiar voice is Mason Adams, the guy who made his living with "With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.") You can read more about X Minus One here, here, and here.

A: Max McGee. Q: Who Scored The First Touchdown In Superbowl History?

From ESPN:

McGee had only four receptions for 91 yards during the 1966 regular season. He didn't plan to play in the title game against the Chiefs because he violated the team curfew and spent the night before partying. The next morning he reportedly told Dowler: "I hope you don't get hurt. I'm not in very good shape."

Dowler separated a shoulder on the Packers' second drive, and Lombardi summoned McGee. He had to borrow a helmet because he left his in the locker room. A few plays later, McGee made a one-handed snare of a pass from Bart Starr and ran 37 yards to score.

"When it's third-and-10," McGee once said, "you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time."

After his football career was over, McGee became one of the original investors in Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurants. He was the color commentary guy for the Packers Radio Network -- I don't know anybody in Wisconsin who listened to the TV sound back then. He had this endearing, low-key but dead-on accurate way of stating the facts. I remember once when a Packer Kenny Stills was called for a late hit McGee remarked nonchalantly "Stills? Oh, he's good for about 4 or 5 of those a season." At a team meeting Vince Lombardi held up a ball and announced "Gentlemen, this is a football." To which McGee replied "Not so fast not so fast." Only Max McGee could get away with that.

What Max McGee couldn't get away with was cleaning the leaves off his roof when he was 75. He fell off and died on Saturday. RIP, Max.

When Joey Bishop Joined Vince Lloyd And Lou Boudreau In The Chicago Cubs WGN Radio Broadcast Booth Late In The 1976 Season

I had just gotten out of the Navy and left the San Francisco Bay area, came back to Illinois and started my studies at Northern Illinois University. The Cubs were awful that year, as usual, and were just playing out the season. For some reason Vince and Lou brought in Joey Bishop for a couple of games to chat, and he was really funny and interesting. That's when I became a Joey Bishop fan -- I never cared for him before that. Any older Cub fans out there remember this?

When The Far Left Talks On The Radio

Excerpts from View From The Cheap Seats:

You see, a while back I tried to listen to AA, thinking maybe it'd be half way decent. I was wrong. Randi Rhodes, Al Franken, Garafolo, et al, so much hate. I've been listening to talk radio for about 18 years. When you drive truck, you need something other than music and audio books to pass the long hours. Since intelligent conversation on the cb radio has, for the most part, disappeared, that leave the A.M. Radio, and now, Satellite Radio. My conclusion? With the exception of Michael Savage, I've NEVER heard the kind of hate and vitriol from conservative radio, on a NATIONAL scale, that I've heard from Liberal/Far Left talk radio. ...

Who wants to listen to that? Not enough to make Air America profitable. Now, you can argue about Savage's nastiness, and you'll get no argument from me about it. However, in the free Market of Radio land, Savage is PAID to do his show as he brings in ad revenue and his show makes money. Air America was paying stations to be on. That's backwards and shows that they can't last in the market.

In short, I enjoy conservative radio because, with a few exceptions, it's entertaining and sane. Lefty radio, with few exceptions, is shrill, somewhat hateful and boring. I could write their scripts.

And Introducing Rush Limbaugh As Jeff Christie!

And Introducing Rush Limbaugh As Jeff Christie!

Pittsburgh, early 1970's.

Congratulations To KXOK's Ray Otis On His Induction In The St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame

Congratulations To KXOK's Ray Otis On His Induction In The St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame

Back when he was on the air in St. Louis, my brother Tim used to mow his lawn. And while KXOK is long gone, Ray Otis is still very much around. Ray's granddaughter Michelle Oddis recently wrote about her Grandpa:

The young Ray Otis was only 24 when he started working in the St. Louis radio scene. The year was 1962. He was married with three children. It was Mothers Day weekend and my grandfather was traveling from Cleveland to St. Louis to visit his mom. The management at the current radio station he worked at expected him to be in a meeting on that specific Mothers day. After a small dispute consequently my grandfather left his disk jockeying job there. (For those of us who only know iPods, music came on disks -- records -- before tapes and then CCs. The guys who hosted radio shows were called “disk jockeys.”) That same weekend in St. Louis was the first time my grandfather heard KXOK radio.

In St. Louis “the God’s were good” he said, and he landed a job KXOK. He was host of the morning show for only a short time before it became the top morning show in the market. He was the first disk jockey ever to have a city mayor on the air regularly. St. Louis Mayor A.J. Cervantes would call in every morning and talk about what was happening in the city and what his day looked like. The governor called once a week.

My grandpa even received an audition tape from a young Rush Limbaugh and was considering the possibilities of putting him on the air on weekends, but that was erased when Doc Downey showed up in St. louis and was given the weekend job. Limbaugh later went on to replace Downey on a station in Sacramento.

Radio Shark: Record Broadcast And Internet Radio On Your Computer

Radio Shark: Record Broadcast And Internet Radio On Your Computer

Blurb excerpts:

You can record while you listen, or you can set up recordings to occur later, or according to a repeating schedule. You never have to miss a favorite show again. Recordings are saved to your hard disk, and can be added (automatically!) to your iTunes library for listening on your iPod. . . . Along with the usual fare of AM/FM talk shows, call-ins, top-forty, and easy (and sometimes no-so-easy) listening, you get to browse the ever-expanding world of Internet Radio. . . . Plug the radio SHARK "fin" into your computer's USB port, load the software, and start tuning in.

The Chairman of the Board Frank Sinatra Meets KXOK's Johnny Rabbitt

The Chairman of the Board Frank Sinatra Meets KXOK's Johnny Rabbitt

I used to listen to Johnny Rabbitt all the time growing up. I love that guy over in the corner . . .

The $40 Pocket SportSyncRadio With Sports Audio Delay: Synchronizes Radio Play-By-Play With Your TV Picture

The $40 Pocket SportSyncRadio With Sports Audio Delay: Synchronizes Radio Play-By-Play With Your TV Picture

I just found this on the web. If you own this radio, how well does it work? See also the DelayPlayRadio.

The 50-Plus Things The Milwaukee Left Says You Won’t Hear on Talk Radio, Plus A Point By Point Refutation Of Same, All In Response To The New Book By Charles J. Sykes Titled 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education

No.	50+ Things The Milwaukee Left Says You Won’t Hear on Talk Radio	But To Heck With Them, Here's What I Say ...
1	Might does not make right.	Awfully repetitious, these first four. Which doesn't make them right.
2	Repetition doesn’t make anything right.
3	Ditto wishful thinking.
4	Ditto the size of your IQ.
5	Size only matters if you’re insecure.	Only on Number 5 and you already got some Freudian thing going on. That's OK, I hear it's No Big Thing for you guys.
6	Guns do kill people.	Especially in Milwaukee's inner city. During deer hunting season, no so much.
7	The rich get rich and the poor get poorer; it’s the Republican way.	Then why does your side have all the richest Senators?
8	You are your brother’s and sister’s keeper.	My brother Tim is going to be just thrilled to hear this.
9	People don't choose to be poor, any more than they choose to be gay.	Are you saying that poor gay people have no free will at all?
10	The Fairness Doctrine is not an “Equal Time” rule.	The Fairness Doctrine is neither.
11	The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around. – Gaylord Nelson.	OK, you tell that to the Big MegaConglomerates trying to make big money off the Global Warming hysteria.
12	When you go to war, God is not on anyone’s side.	Yeah, I hear He was pretty much this way, that way on the whole Dachau-Auschwitz thing.
13	Reagan raised taxes.	He probably needed the money to bring down the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain.
14	I'm sorry.	No wonder NPR is sooooo boring.
15	I was wrong.
16	I shouldn't have interrupted you.
17	Bill Clinton isn't still President.	Thank God!!
18	George Bush made a mistake.	Yeah, he raised taxes after promising not to.
19	Gays are human beings.	Except before birth.
20	The American public turned against the Vietnam war before the press did.	Yeah, they wanted LBJ to quit fooling around and win the damn thing.
21	There were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq.	Because all the poison gas had been used up already on the Kurds.
22	Saddam Hussein was not behind 9/11.	And Adolf Hitler was not behind Pearl Harbor either.
23	Abstinence programs don't stop teens from having sex.	And homicide laws don't stop murders, either.
24	Abortion is a choice best left to a woman and her doctor, not the government.	And starving a wife to death is best left to a husband and his judge.
25	Prayer doesn't improve test scores.	And a 1450 SAT (730 Math, 720 Verbal) probably won't get me into Heaven, either.
26	You are not entitled to your own facts.	Hey, we Conservatives tried sharing the facts with you, but you didn't want them.
27	Joe Wilson didn't lie. Valerie Plame was covert.	And she did such a great job of infiltrating Al-Qaeda, too.
28	Bill Clinton was incredibly popular.	With the ladies. In his own mind, anyway.
29	Al Gore didn't say all those things you think he said.	With our buddy Al it's not so much what he says as it is the fascinating way that he says it.
30	Climate change is real.	And "Global Warming Is A Bad Thing" is a real tough sell here in Wisconsin.
31	Tax cuts don't increase revenue.	Except when they do.
32	The Clinton Administration employed more women and minorities in top positions than the Bush administration.	Not quoting Hillary's Talking Points until Number 32: Priceless.
33	Illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than American citizens.	A small consolation, since that number should really be zero anyway.
34	Universal health care is cheaper and of better quality in most Western nations than our "free market" approach in the US.	Which is why all those Canadians come down here to the USA for their health care.
35	Compassionate Conservatism is neither.	See Number 10 above.
36	When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. – Mother Teresa.	Or in the case of the Ukraine, because Stalin starved them out.
37	Blaming parents for their out of control teenagers may feel good but it does not lower homicide rates.	And similarly, excusing parents for their out of control teenagers may feel good but it does not lower homicide rates.
38	Iraq was not a breeding ground for Al Qaeda terrorists until the United States invaded.	And there weren't any Nazis in Germany until the United States invaded on D-Day.
39	No Democrat was ever caught fondling a FEMA director and saying, "You are doing a heckofa job Brownie."	But a Democrat was caught committing perjury with that famous blue dress.
40	Politicians should leave the science to the scientists.	And they do, unless the scientists want tax money.
41	Political scientists should learn that politics is not a science.	Then how come so many of you guys majored in Political Science?
42	Medical decisions should be between doctors and patients, not between big insurance companies and their accountants.	And if you're worth millions like Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin), you don't have to worry about any of this.
43	Even people that I disagree with are innocent until proven guilty.	Except for George W. Bush, eh?
44	Being poor is not a character defect.	But being rich really lets you put those character defects you may have into full bloom.
45	You didn’t grow up rich in the suburbs because you’re so smart. (You were born on third base; that doesn’t mean you hit a triple.)	Most of us were born in the suburbs because our parents had moved out after numerous court decisions had made most major cities unlivable.
46	Radio airwaves belong to the public; broadcasting on them is a privilege, not a right.	Try telling that to all-liberal-all-the-time-and-still-funded-by-my-tax-dollars NPR.
47	The greatest tragedy in mankind's history may be the hijacking of morality by fundamentalists.	Or it's abandonment by the liberals.
48	The poor go to heaven, too.	John Kerry is going to be terribly disappointed when he finds this out.
49	In fact, it has been said that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”	Richly demonstrated by Ted Kennedy for the past 45 years.
50	Taxes are not inherently evil.	Then why is your hero Warren Buffet so good at avoiding them?
51	The US health care system really isn't the best in the world	I have a big scar running down the middle of my chest that says otherwise.
52	Dick Cheney is not omniscient	You are absolutely 100% correct on this one: He can't see through lead.
53	The president really can't just do anything he damn well pleases. Even if he's a Republican.	But when we told you this during the Clinton Administration, you told us to go to Hell.
54	The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -- Bertrand Russell.	Fools rush in, where wise men fear to go, but wise men never fall in love, so how are they to know? ---- Ricky Nelson
55	Gay marriage won't hurt your marriage.	So get to it and start convincing other folks of this so that the law can be changed. Let me know how it goes ...
56	Poverty causes social problems.	Or is it the other way around?
57	The Constitution mandates a separation between church and state.	In most communities, it's about 10 feet from the lot line.
58	The right to privacy is a constitutional guarantee.	See also The End of Privacy: The Attack on Personal Rights at Home, at Work, On-Line, and in Court by Charles J. Sykes
59	Justice Scalia has expressly repudiated strict constructionism.	But for some reason, you guys still hate him.
60	The U.S was founded not on Christian but on Enlightenment principles.	A Tale of Two Principles: Enlightenment = French Revolution Christian = American Revolution A Tale of Two Revolutions: French = Guillotine American = No Guillotine
61	Bill Clinton was, at worst, slightly right of center.	And that's why I never understood why you liberals abandoned your moral principles so readily for that guy.
62	It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… attributed to Theodore Roosevelt.	This quote actually used to be on Charlie's web site. Now it's on mine.
63	The United States is the only country in the world to have dropped nuclear bombs on a civilian population--twice.	You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Uncle Sam. Too bad for the Japanese that Jim Croce wasn't born 40 years sooner.
64	Be a class act. Class seems to be inextricably related to kindness, consideration, and a general recognition of human worth. -- Roy Beers.	Mmmm.....beers
65	Being black in America is hard. It doesn’t just give you special privileges.	See Number 6 above.
66	Being gay could not possibly be a choice since no child who ever heard the hatred tossed around playgrounds would ever choose it.	But all in all, pretty mild compared to being a Chicago Bears fan in Wisconsin.
67	Living in poverty is hard work. It’s not for the lazy.<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]-->	You want to know what's really hard work? HTML markup.
68	The truly conservative position on gay marriage would be to insist upon it.	A lot of gay-related items on your list. Is there something you want to tell us?
69	We’re going to need all the immigrants we can get here to pay into Social Security to support the Baby Boomers in retirement.	Oh, so that explains your opposition to reforming Social Security.
70	Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	Pretty good for a bunch of agnostics, I'm truly impressed! Thank God that those Gideon Bibles are still free.
71	Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.
72	Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
73	Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be satisfied.
74	Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
75	Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
76	Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
77	Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
78	Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.
79	If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.	This post will be a real test of that for you guys, eh?
80	Really -- hair is supposed to move!	You guys are just jealous because Charlie still has hair.
81	Jessica McBride is not a journalist.	As opposed to those real journalists who fabricate all those stories that their left-leaning newspaper and magazine employers have had to retract lately.
82	Midnight fireworks can backfire.	... but not nearly as bad as the Giant Burrito from 7-11. Trust me on this one.
83	Paul Bucher has never been a judge, not even for one day.	And neither has Judge Reinhold, oddly enough. And as for Paul, we kinda like to think of him as "The Terminator".
84	George W. Bush is the evil twin.	No, the evil George W. Bush we've been holding back for Terms 3 and 4. Sorry to spring the news on you like this, but you have another 8 more years to go.

Timex Dual Alarm MP3 Clock Radio With Built-In SD Memory Card Slot And USB Port For A Flash Drive

Timex Dual Alarm MP3 Clock Radio With Built-In SD Memory Card Slot And USB Port For A Flash Drive

Load 'em up with your favorite songs or old-time radio shows and you'll have everything you need, right at your fingertips. $75. <joke location="inside">See guys, Dan's really not crazy after all.</joke>

A Young Tom Snyder Just Starting Out At WRIT-AM Radio In Milwaukee

A Young Tom Snyder Just Starting Out At WRIT-AM Radio In Milwaukee

From the 1950s. More here and here, and on a thousand other spots on the web to-day.

An Unsolved Mystery: Who Was The Harmonica Man From The Tom Snyder Radio Show?

On The Tom Snyder Radio Show in the late eighties, The Harmonica Man would call every now and then, blow a few notes like a kid just trying to make some noise, and then hang up. But he always gave Tom and his producer a chance to catch him first, by giving his name and his city:

• George from Washington, D.C.
• James from Madison, Wisconsin
• Sam from Houston, Texas
• Andy from Jackson, Tennessee
• Tom from Jefferson City, Missouri
• Rick from Springfield, Illinois
• Walter from Raleigh, North Carolina
• Alexander from Hamilton, Ontario

It got to be quite a cat-and-mouse game for Tom and his regular listeners, one that we all enjoyed. And even though the producer knew to be on the lookout for "Abe from Lincoln, Nebraska", The Harmonica Man would somehow always slip through. And to this day, his identity remains a mystery.

Harmonica Man, here's to you, I hope you're doing well. And if not, well maybe you and Tom are having quite a chuckle just about now. Myself, I think I'll go watch the Colortini's as they fly through the air . . .

When Radio Was: Chuck Schaden's Old-Time Radio Show Bites The Dust

From Robert Feder:

Chuck Schaden's nationally syndicated old-time radio show could be going the way of "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "The Great Gildersleeve." "When Radio Was," which airs nightly on more than 200 stations -- including CBS Radio all-news WBBM-AM (780) -- has ceased production of new episodes.

MediaBay Inc., New Jersey-based owner of the show, said last week that it has been unable to find a buyer for the company and plans to cease operations by early September.

Schaden has hosted the show since last fall, when he replaced Stan Freberg after 11 years.

Maybe it's time to bring back the CBS Radio Mystery Theater from the 1970's, eh?

Mugs-A-Plenty: Saint Jessica The Radio Martyr

Mugs-A-Plenty: Saint Jessica The Radio Martyr

She may not be on the radio at night any more, but now she can be on your breakfast table every day! BONUS FEATURE: The reverse side has Eugene, The Headless Chicken! At only $12.99, you can buy several as gifts, etc etc etc blah blah blah . . .

WLS-AM, The Rock of Chicago: Big 89 Rewind Audio Now Available for Download

WLS-AM, The Rock of Chicago: Big 89 Rewind Audio Now Available for Download

Congratulations to my buddy, WLS Program Director Kipper McGee on a great event.

The Jessica McBride Story

For my readers outside of the great state of Wisconsin, a brief explanation from Mark Belling about the Jessica McBride affair:

The firing of talk show host Jessica McBride by Journal Communications’ WTMJ-AM isn’t merely another example of the double standard that crucifies conservatives for supposedly "offensive" speech. It is proof that mainstream media corporations are incapable of offering conservative messages.

Liberals who can’t win arguments are determined to silence the other side. They are increasingly using the tactic of pretending to be "offended" in order to demand that the conservative be muzzled. Since liberals are adept at the pressure game and media executives are themselves liberals, the tactic often works. This modus operandi is especially effective when the supposedly offensive remark has anything to do with race. ...

What did McBride do that was so awful? She pretended to interview liberal Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane by asking him a number of questions he’d have trouble answering. She played the sound of a chicken clucking when it came time for the absent Kane to speak. One of the "questions" dealt with the murder of a little girl in a drive-by shooting. The playing of the "clucking" sound was the horrid "offense" that got McBride sacked.

Give me a break. The bit wasn’t very funny (and is actually a ripoff of something I did years ago) but it’s hardly offensive. McBride was making fun of the refusal of urban liberals to acknowledge the severity of the crime problem. She wasn’t mocking the little girl. WTMJ knows that.

Here’s what happened after McBride’s show. A local blogger, former Journal reporter Jim Rowen, posted McBride’s bit on his Web site. Rowen, by the way, was the person McBride beat out for her University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee journalism teaching job. Rowen apparently tipped off another Journal columnist who called WTMJ to "ask" about it. McBride was canned 36 hours later.

And from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's TV-Radio critic Tim Cuprisin:

General manager Jon Schweitzer said Friday that the move had been in the works, but was sped up by McBride's attempted comedy bit that featured a reference to a 4-year-old girl killed earlier this week in a drive-by shooting.

"It contributed to the timing of it," Schweitzer says. "We felt it was in the best interest of the station and Jessica to make the move right now."

Now Tim Cuprisin is about as liberal as they come, and he's my favorite lefty on the newspaper. That he wasn't supportive of McBride -- to put it mildly -- shouldn't surprise anybody in Milwaukee. His title is "critic", he gives you his opinions, that's his job.

No, the real jerk, the real loser in this story is WTMJ GM Jon Schweitzer. He's managed to take a rather straightforward programming change and convert it into a major hoo-hah among his station's listeners. Booting McBride and replacing her with Dennis Miller should have been a slam dunk. That sort of thing happens in radio all the time. Instead, he's snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, ill will from the well of good feelings. The debut of The Dennis Miller Show on his station has been completely overshadowed by this controversy.  You can't screw up this badly on what should be a routine move. Mark my words, Schweitzer will be gone before too long. 

As for Jim Rowen, he's now the laughing stock of the Milwaukee blogging community, at least the non-tinfoil-hat part of it. Couldn't stand getting beat by a girl. It's the sort of thing that was funny as a Leave It To Beaver episode. In real life in the new millennium, it's just pathetic.

Bitter Jim in The Case Of The Unintentional Martyr

Bitter Jim in The Case Of The Unintentional Martyr

The Continuing Adventures of Eugene, The Headless Chicken

The Continuing Adventures of Eugene, The Headless Chicken

Milwaukee: Talk Show Host Says He's Glad Radio Rival's Mother Is Dead

"Mother Sykes, she dead. To me it's the vengeance of God. I ain't got no tears. Matter of fact a woman that would have a fool like that deserve whatever is coming her. She raised a sure enough idiot," McGee said on his radio show. "My instincts say Charlie Sykes killed his momma, cuz she live out in this big palace in Mequon all isolated. He got tired of waiting for her money."

That's Michael McGee Sr. on the death of Charlie Sykes mother. A Real Class Act, eh?

I really can't think of anything to add to this story except this quote I stumbled upon from Heinrich Heine:

"Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid."

And for something 180 degrees different, check out this post from John Edwards supporter Caffeinated Politics: 'It Is Good To Have Tony Snow Back!' 

Our Sympathies . . .

. . . go out to Milwaukee talk radio host Charlie Sykes on the tragic death of his mother in a fire. May our thoughts and prayers be with you and your family, Charlie.

A Don Imus Limerick

Sent in by James B., a New Mexican doctor:

A radio talker named Imus

Committed a grave PC crimus:

Called some roundballers "ho's"

CBS says "He goes!"

And now he has lots of spare timus!

I'm thinking of changing this blog's format to all topical limericks. Whaddya think?

My Final Short Poem About Don Imus

If he saved his do',
He won't be po'.

My Second Short Poem About Don Imus

Debated by friend and fo',
Until the shootings by Cho.

My Short Poem About Don Imus

Because he used the word 'ho',
He ain't on no mo'.

Congratulations To Charlie Sykes On His First Full Podcast

Congratulations To Charlie Sykes On His First Full Podcast

Like many workers who toil in big office buildings, I can't receive AM radio at my desk. But now that Charlie has a podcast of his full show, I can listen to his show the same day. And since he didn't mention it on his show, I thought I would!

By the way, the portrait was made with a program called Pop Art Studio.

WCFL Chicago Top 40 Charts 1965-1976

WCFL Chicago Top 40 Charts 1965-1976

Also available: WLS Chicago Top 40 Chart books

The Dennis Miller Radio Show

The Dennis Miller Radio Show

More of a mix of topics than your usual talk radio show. Check the site for a station in your area. I like the show so much, I plunked down $50 for the podcasts.

CC Radio Plus: The Best AM Radio You Can Buy

CC Radio Plus: The Best AM Radio You Can Buy

We got one for our Dad, and he really enjoys it. You can read a full review here. $165.