I have lots of complaints with the CRTC, CanCon rules and how Canada's TV and cable systems are regulated. But I'm regularly thankful we don't have one horrendous rule that's the law in the U.S. 

It's a regulation that allows TV station ownership groups to hold viewers hostage when they subscribe to a cable or satellite service. It means the company can ask the providers for a regular fee increase in order to keep their stations on their systems. Which inevitably means increases to the fees subscribers have to pay. So needless to say, the cable and sat companies will resist those moves with all their might.

And that results in dozens of stations being removed from the channel list, sometimes for weeks or months at a time.

The latest example comes from Scripps TV, which is demanding an increase in rates from DirectTV. Both tried to reach an agreement by the time their contract was up. Both failed. As a result, thousands of subscribers have lost access to major affiliates and the series, local news and sports they show. 

Among them - WKBW Buffalo and WXYZ in Detroit. The negotiations go on, with both sides blaming the other. If there's any small consolation to all this, it's that the regular season is over and there's not a lot to watch on the affected stations. 

Eventually it will be resolved and viewers can be sure their bills will go up. 

This kind of hostage-holding action isn't allowed in Canada. You might hate what you're paying for cable, but at least you can be sure the channels you watch are there when you want them. And that's one big advantage our system has over theirs. 

DirecTV has removed WKBW – Here’s how to keep watching

WXYZ, WMYD blacked out for local DirecTV subscribers

The ongoing controversy about the former home of CKLW and CBC Windsor continues, with some questioning whether it should count as a "heritage" building. The idea first surfaced in a study on the issue three years ago. 

"CKLW was at one point during the 1960s one of the most popular radio stations in all of the U.S., driven in part by its proximity to the Motown music scene in Detroit, per a 2023 heritage study provided to the city by the developer. "By 1970, the audience of CKLW-AM was only surpassed by WABC-AM in New York City."

But others don't think its history makes it historic. 

"It was built in the 1950s," (Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie) told reporters... "I know that there was the discussion about, well, CKLW was there and I'm like, OK, but CKLW has been in three different locations over the years, right?...They're at 1640 Ouellette, so does that mean we're now going to designate that building heritage as well? I've been in that building. It's not heritage by any means."

City moves closer to heritage designation for CBC, former CKLW building

Andy Burns wrote:

Whatever did become of...Ziggy?

I think he played guitar...

From his Facebook page:

$ony

Many modern radios have a built in alarm that turns on a station at a time of your choosing. They're not exactly clock radios, more like radios with a clock. They also come with a timer than can turn your radio off after a certain number of hours, so you can fall asleep and not worry about it being on all night. 

turkeytop wrote:

I have several clock radios. But I only use them as a clock. Every clock radio I've ever seen has a garbage radio. When we're traveling I always take along a clock radio and a real radio. I lot of hotels have removed the clocks from their rooms. They say most guests prefer to use the clock in their phone.

So I teke along the clock radio to use asa clock and a real radio to listen to.

You know, that is probably the reason why I have never owned a clock radio.

Andy Burns wrote:

Whatever did become of...Ziggy?

Perhaps this person was shown the door because they didn't just disagree, they were disagreeable. This is one of SOWNY's biggest no-no's.

Finally found a linkable article. Wow, what's going on at 60 Minutes is simply incredible. It's an open revolt and there are signs it will not stop anytime soon. This a remarkable - and sadly true - story, the kind 60 Minutes itself might have told in any other circumstance.   

Open Revolt at CBS

I can't link to this story but the New York Times has issued an exclusive that indicates Scott Pelley, the de facto lead reporter for CBS' 60 Minutes, tore a strip off his boss and his new producer in a private meeting at the network on Monday. 

According to the Times, which got its hands on a recording of the session, what they describe as Pelley's "voice shaking with anger," accused the new executive producer of the show, a guy named Nick Bilton, of having no television experience and knowing nothing about the inner workings of arguably the most successful TV news show in history.

He also insisted that Bari Weiss, the new head of CBS News, was deliberately trying to "murder" 60 Minutes. 

"She is murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” the correspondent said. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

Mr. Pelley added: “She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”

For his part, Bilton explained he wasn't planning any immediate major changes to the show and tried to reassure the staff that's left after several firings that it would be business as usual. 

When Bilton departed, the remaining staff in the meeting reportedly gave Pelley a standing ovation.

After dismissing correspondents Sharon Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega last week, you have to wonder if they would dare fire Pelley, nominally the face of the show in recent years. 

At this point, it looks like the internal turmoil at the classic news magazine will be far more interesting to watch than any of its upcoming stories.

I have several clock radios. But I only use them as a clock. Every clock radio I've ever seen has a garbage radio. When we're traveling I always take along a clock radio and a real radio. I lot of hotels have removed the clocks from their rooms. They say most guests prefer to use the clock in their phone.

So I teke along the clock radio to use as a clock and a real radio to listen to.

Our first record player was a Seabreeze with detachable speakers. Very hi-tech for its time. My first transistor radio arrived for Christmas 1965. WBT and WBZ were my first DX catches. We never had a party line but when I moved to Hamilton to attend McMaster in 1972, my landlady did. I never owned a clock radio. And my family's first console tv was a 1961 Phillips 21" set. When the set was on the channel indicator box lit up. I thought we should have bought an Admiral like my grandparents had. Too expensive according to my dad.

Apparently CTV London had a screw up on Friday’s 11 PM newscast. They started off of the report of Canada’s economy situation. But when they were about to air the local reaction from Londoners. They instead played the story from City Hall. Like we really wanted to see that instead of Canada’s economy?  Even Lauren Stallone did even know the problem or didn’t apologize to the viewers about it.

Our mail server was down for 2 weeks and nobody noticed.
Nothing has really changed or updated on what we offer in 5 years, but keep paying.
Must be nice.
 

Thanks for this, RA. As the administrator of The Oldies Music Board, I have a setting turned on that notifies me of every new post, and a couple of weeks ago I stopped receiving these notifications. I had tried turning this setting off and back on again to no avail, and so I figured something must have gone wrong with Boardhost. On the weekend I started getting numerous notifications about new posts that I'd already seen, so this would explain it. Glad that things are back to normal now.