Editor: David Tanny
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What's My Beef: Expen$ive Sunday Newspapers (Jan 14, 2002)What's the deal with the Sunday papers? Sure, there's a lot of stuff in it, but, why the high price for all the stuff, most of which goes directly to the recycling bin anyway?Megajobs? Got a job. Sha-na-naaa-na. Sha-na-naaa-naaa-na-naaaa. Seriosly, that Megajob section alone accounts for 1/3 of the cost of the paper. So why not spin that off onto its own weekly and lop off 50 cents from the cost of the paper! Those who don't care to read it won't be contributing them to the landfills and wasting money on unnecessary sections that aren't going to be read anyway. Glossy inserts: coupons. flyers. sale catalogs. Should these help pay enough for the cost of the paper to get the price down? Again, the high price of the newspaper doesn't add up with all the advertising helping to pay for the cost of the paper. Comics? Why just six pages? The Union-Buffoon used to have eight pages in my early days. Why not turn that measly comics flyer into a full-fledged section about, hmm, 27 pages of comics and other fun stuff, with about 5 full pages of advertising aimed at families such as Popsicles, bikes, and SUVs. That will improve the section greatly. TV Weak? Sure is. I want less channels listed! Yup. Get rid of the Pay Per View and Pay TV listings! Get rid of the fringe niche channel listings for HGTV and Hallmark! Just concentrate on the regular channels, you know, that ones that are the numbered channels 2-69? Put in the popular cable channels like the sports and TV reruns like ESPN and Gilligan's Island on TNT! The rest of the sections are OK, but why must 1/7th of the newspaper be placed on a high-priced edition? Just reduce the price back to the daily price like 50 cents, the going rate for most papers anyway, and you'll still make money! And as for the Union-Buffoon...pay the press workers more money! Don't be a cheapskate. You have lots of money. B 94.9 Concert NewsB94.9 sends out announcements on their mailing list for promos. Included in them are hints that will not be seen on DFS News (I'm competeting against the other local folks for prizes too), so to subscribe to their mailers, just go to their website b94.9fm.com and find the link that will help you subscribe to their mailing list. Here's all that I can tell you about the announcement...All this week you will hear B94.9's Dave Smith giving away tickets to the Aerosmith concert at the Sports Arena this Thursday night. Well, we've put a couple of pairs of tickets aside just for you, the members of the B94.9 Loyal Listener Club (the mailing list). This is D.T. again. In the announcement is a day and time the listeners should be listening for a particular song to be played, and when they hear it, call 570-1-94-9 and win a pair of tickets to Thursday's concert. It's a secret contest only for mailing list readers, and since I'm also competeting, I see no sense of letting too many cats out of the bag! B94.9 is San Diego's ONLY station for the best of the 80s and more. Every weekday at 11:10am Jane Asher salutes an office that listens at work and awards lunch from Stuft Pizza and Brewing Company. Plus, on Friday, the "Office Salute" winner gets lunch delivered and catered at their office by Stuft Pizza and Brewing Company. (It's Stuft's specialty.) Great food is delivered the following Monday. To be part of the fun just log on to B949.com and click on the Office Salute button. What Is Your Worst Song of the Year 2001 (Jan 14, 2002)The nominees so far...Worst Song of the Year
A ballot will be up soon. Meanwhile, the Demented Music Poll is now closed and results from that poll will be seen next week. What is D.T. Watching Tonight? (Jan 14, 2002)8pm ABC Who Wants to Be a Millionaire 9pm --- D.T. Zone: listening to Internet feeds, MP3's, videos, etc. The 28th People's Choice Awards Winners (Jan 14, 2002)The 28th annual People's Choice Awards were announced live on CBS in a ceremony held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The awards were based on the results of a nationwide telephone poll conducted by the Gallup Organization between November 2000 and October 2001.The complete list of winners: - Motion picture: ``Shrek.'' - Motion picture star in a comedy: Eddie Murphy. - Motion picture star in a drama: Tom Hanks. - Motion picture star: Tom Hanks. - Motion picture actress: Julia Roberts. - Male television performer: (tie) Kelsey Grammer, ``Frasier;'' Ray Romano, ``Everybody Loves Raymond (news - Y! TV).'' - Female television performer: Jennifer Aniston, ``Friends.'' - Male performer in a new television series: Damon Wayans, ``My Wife and Kids.'' - Female performer in a new television series: Reba McEntire, ``Reba.'' - Television comedy series: ``Friends.'' - Television dramatic series: ``ER.'' - New television comedy series: ``My Wife and Kids.'' - New television dramatic series: ``Alias.'' - Reality-based television program: ``Survivor: The Australian Outback (news - Y! TV).'' - Daytime dramatic series: ``Days of Our Lives.'' - Male musical performer: Garth Brooks. - Female musical performer: Faith Hill. - Musical group or band: 'N Sync (news - web sites).Highlights: The NBC hospital series ``ER'' was named favorite television drama for the ninth consecutive year. In a rerun of last year's results, the NBC sitcom ''Friends'' was named favorite television comedy and Jennifer Anniston, who co-stars in the series, was honored as favorite female television performer. Country music star Reba McEntire won her ninth People's Choice award, but her first as an actress. She was named favorite female performer for ``Reba,'' a WB comedy series in which she stars as a Texas soccer mom struggling to keep her dysfunctional family from falling further apart. Damon Wayans, who plays a worried family man in the ABC sitcom ``My Wife and Kids,'' was selected favorite male performer in a new series. Kelsey Grammer, the star of NBC's ``Frasier,'' and Ray Romano of CBS sitcom ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' tied in the polling for favorite male television performer. In music, country stars Garth Brooks and Faith Hill were named favorite individual performers in a repeat of last year's results; Brooks' win was his 12th. Pop group 'N Sync was also picked again as favorite musical group or band, beating out the Backstreet Boys and Dixie Chicks. In movies, the computer-animated comedy ``Shrek'' was chosen as favorite movie, ahead of ``The Fast and the Furious'' and ``Pearl Harbor.'' Tom Hanks won two awards, edging out last year's winner, Mel Gibson, and Denzel Washington, as favorite movie actor, and besting Washington and Anthony Hopkins to be named favorite movie star in a drama. Julia Roberts was picked as favorite movie actress, her eighth award. Fall TV Scorecard (Jan 14, 2002)Fall 2001 New Series Borecard, er, I mean Scorecard. Here is an update of the 33 shows that debuted this past fall. -Officially Renewed: The Amazing Race (CBS) Crossing Jordan (NBC) Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC) Scrubs (NBC) -Shoo-in for Renewal: The Bernie Mac Show (Fox) Enterprise (UPN) The Guardian (CBS) One on One (UPN) Reba (WB) Smallville (WB) -Expected Back: According to Jim (ABC) Alias (ABC) -Keep Your Fingers Crossed: Maybe it's Me (WB) -50/50 Shot at Renewal: The Education of Max Bickford (CBS) Philly (ABC) 24 (Fox) Raising Dad (WB) Undeclared (Fox) -Unlikely: The Agency (CBS) -On Hiatus: Pasadena (Fox) -Waiting for the Axe to Swing: The Ellen Show (CBS) Off Centre (WB) U.C. Undercover (NBC) -Officially Cancelled: Bob Patterson (ABC) Citizen Baines (CBS) Danny (CBS) Elimidate Deluxe (WB) Emeril (NBC) Inside Schwartz (NBC) Men, Women and Dogs (WB) Thieves (ABC) The Tick (Fox) Wolf Lake (CBS) Nationwide (Jan 14, 2002)Electronic Media: http://www.emonline.com/ - Univision launches TeleFutura:... Univision Communications has launched a new 24-hour Spanish-language network called TeleFutura which will attempt to counterprogram traditional Spanish-language broadcast networks. "The launch of TeleFutura marks a significant advancement in television today and represents our company's latest answer to the U.S. Hispanic community's tremendous demand for diverse Spanish-language entertainment," said A. Jerrold Perenchio, chairman and chief executive officer of Univision Communications. Miami-based TeleFutura will broadcast via 42 stations (23 owned and operated stations and 19 affiliates) across 27 markets nationwide, reaching approximately 70 percent of Hispanic homes.Media Week: http://www.mediaweek.com/ - Zoinks! Scooby Doo Coming Back on WB... New version of the classic cartoon series will anchor Kids' WB's Saturday-morning lineup this fall FCC orders DirecTV to carry Paxson stationsDirecTV's satellite television service must carry television stations owned by broadcaster Paxson Communications Corp. in 31 markets, federal regulators said on Tuesday.The Federal Communications Commission ruled that an interim deal between the two for retransmission of the stations was not an irrevocable election of its rights to be carried on the satellite service. ``We recognize that DirecTV requires some period of time to make the necessary technical arrangements to commence carriage of each of these stations,'' the FCC said, adding that the satellite service will have 60 days to begin airing the them. Otherwise, DirecTV will have 15 business days to explain to Paxson why it refuses to carry any of the stations, the agency said. Starting Jan. 1, satellite television providers have been required to carry programming from all of the local broadcast stations in markets where they carry at least one station. A spokesman for DirecTV, which is owned by Hughes Electronics Corp., said the provider had a ``valid contract'' to carry a national feed of Paxson's family-friendly television programming in exchange for the broadcaster's waiver of its must-carry rights. ``The ruling would force DirecTV to use its limited bandwidth to offer local PAX programming that is already available by the national feed where it can be viewed by more customers than if it was offered through local affiliates,'' said the DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer. He said the company believed the decision was wrong and is considering its options for redress. A Paxson spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. Shares of West Palm Beach, Florida-based Paxson closed up 33 cents, or 3.16 percent, to $10.78 on the American Stock Exchange. Shares of Hughes closed up 10 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $16.90 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites). National Wires (January 14, 2002)Kurt Hanson's Radio and Internet Newsletter: http://kurthanson.com/ - From the San Jose Mercury News: "Why is Live365 faltering?...
"'As the money dries up, the ad agencies are going to want to put the money where they're almost guaranteed results. They go to newspapers, to radio, to television. And if anything is left, they
"It [the company] reduced promotional spending and lowered bandwidth cost by striking a deal with a discount broker that allowed it to stream music to five times as many people for a quarter of the cost. But that move backfired when Cogent Communications, a national data telecommunications carrier, disconnected the unnamed reseller [see coverage in RAIN beginning here]...
"'We might have built that redundancy in quicker two years ago, when there was a lot of money. Maybe we wouldn't have moved
"Live365 should break even this year, said [Live365's chief operating officer Raghav 'Rags'] Gupta, as expenses hold steady and ad revenue increases. But he also acknowledged that the company is in discussions with a prospective buyer, whom he declined to name."
Read the full article here.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/live010202.htm
Radio Daily News: http://www.radiodailynews.com
Diversity, they say? How about diversifying the formats starting with San Diego? How about a 100,000 watt folk and bluegrass station? Now that's different from the other stations. THIS is DIVERSITY!
Make another one all electronica dance; sounds nothing like Z90 or 933! That's DIVERSITY! Combine the four oldies
stations into one; it's all old music anyway! Create an all radio game show station on 1360! Win Cheap Channel prizes
on this truly nationwide format! Clear Channel should have hired me for the diversity position! I would have given
musical diversity as promised to the radio listeners when the ownership limits were relaxed.
Guess what they did? They debuted yet another stupid reality show "The Chamber" in the second hour and
reran two Simpsons episodes in the first hour. Is this yet another act of stupidity on the network's part?
Why do broadcast networks pull the switcheroo on us after the schedules have alredy been published in TV Guide?
What about the idiots who wanted to catch that "Chamber" but didn't know it was on Sunday night if they never
tuned in Fox in recent days when they were plugging it away? News bulletins are one thing, but bumping a bunch of
good shows for an asinine program is another.
So, on this week's DTV ratings week, the four missing shows that Fox would have aired that I watch will
all be entered with zeros, effectively penalizing Fox for their unannounced change in the schedule.
And X-Files...that show is so over. Bring back the sitcoms at 9!
And ABC is doing what Fox did, that is, premiere a show that is not listed in TV Guide tonight.
"The Chair" premieres at 8 and runs for an hour. More about that in the next section...
A couple of anonymous tips to pass along this morning. One is a bad omen for
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." A TV Barn reader writes, "Friends from New
York associated with the show have told me that WWTBAM has taped its last
prime time episode and laid off the writing and production staff. It taped a
mock syndicated version yesterday for affiliates (with Michael Davies
standing in as emcee), but once they burn off their inventory of taped
shows, that will be all for prime time WWTBAM. This is quite a story for a
show that once dominated the ratings."
A reply:
This was posted at TV Barn sometime last week but things are looking
up for "Millionaire" now. The new heads of ABC seems to realize they
made mistakes and says that things were taken out of context
concerning the firing of Regis. They also said that the show's future
is up to Regis, who may keep hosting the primetime version or end up
doing the daytime version. On the other hand they could just be trying
to say all the right things.
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