WXRT’s stunt raised over $90,000 for the Red Cross. Pretty sweet. On the way home from the office, I heard Cake’s “Rock n Roll Lifestyle,” The Monkees’ “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind,” and a bunch of other great stuff. I pulled into the parking lot as they started playing “God Save The Queen” …
Charitable Radio
Finally, a truly unique stunt in Chicago media: today, WXRT has converted itself to all-request radio. For a $100 pledge to the American Red Cross to aid the tsunami victims, listeners get to request a song to be played on the air. The only stipulations are that they have to be under 4.5 minutes and …
Worth Losing Sleep Over
I saw on the ‘net today that the BBC’s CeeFax videotext service is turning 30 years old today. Unless you’ve spent time in the UK (or Europe, where the television broadcasters there have similar services), you probably aren’t familiar with CeeFax or videotext services. In the days before the internet, there was a lot of …
More Music and Les Nessman
Clear Channel radio issued this press release yesterday. Apparently, they want us to know that they care about the listening audience and that 20 minutes of commercials an hour can be a bad thing. The press release says that the new policy goes into effect January 1. Wow. I’m glad to see this is such …
The Return of Johnny LaRue
I read today that my favorite TV show of all time, SCTV, is finally making it to DVD. This is big news. SCTV was always funnier than Saturday Night Live, if you ask me. They had a very low budget and no big musical guests (at least in the beginning) so they made up for …
And Exactly How Many Cameras Were On You?
Am I one of the few who really doesn’t care if tonight is the Friends finale? This morning, the front page of my local paper features the following: coverage of the president’s non-apology; a story about whether or not slots should be allowed at Arlington Park; a piece on how gasoline is getting expensive; and …
Get The Red Out
Just a quick note to let you guys know that Mr. Red Eye wasn’t at his post this morning. And I was all primed for it, too. Maybe tomorrow. Another quick thing about more evil in the world of food. Some of you are aware that I have a desk drawer known as “The Land …
Red All Over
The two main daily papers in Chicago, the Tribune and the Sun-Times, each have a “hip” little daily tabloid publication that’s geared towards the young city-dwelling crowd. The Tribune’s paper is called Red Eye, and the Sun-Times’ is called Red Streak. These papers basically take the top 10 news stories and squish ’em down into …
Tryin’ To Anaesthetise The Way That You Feel
Yesterday, someone said to me “radio should be free.” I agree with this sentiment. I’ve had a bunch of people ask me when I’m going to get an XM or Sirius receiver. These suggestions come from people who know that I have a long-standing affection for radio (see Exhibit A) and my tastes in music …
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A Cecil B. Beats De Mel
I just noticed that tonight Turner Classic Movies is showing the Cecil B. DeMille epic King of Kings. I was planning on turning in early, but this one is worth staying up for. It’s been years since I saw this movie, and with Mel’s movie still fresh in my mind it would be a good …