mace wrote:

Lots of high fives by the oh so tolerant American Left have most likely begun now.

Uncalled for.
 

  Actually, with all the simsub, I like it when I get a chance to see American TV commercials. But NOT the kind they show on CNN! It's not the quantity, it's the quality.  And the subject matter!  From diarrhea to constipation, to every conceivable cancer treatment; from psoriasis to psychoses, to COPD and ED.  Plus they're all TWO MINUTES LONG!! I get it:  news attracts an older demo. The Big 3 network newscasts are also full of cures for what ails ya.  But someone is sensitive to the issue:  NBC Nightly News, which is my choice, recently started billboarding their first break with "when we come back in 60 seconds..." AND they count down the seconds on screen.  Bell has already eliminated free MSNBC from my menu  (With a vengeance, btw. They just "disappeared" the channel, 1506, from the list last week.) So, I'm sure the CNN freebie is coming to an end soon, too. Meh, the nice weather is finally here and we all have better things to do. 

Thank goodness there are TV listings.  Reading the description would have meant I never would have watched it. Thanks for the heads up though to make doubly sure. OTOH,  The "Dishing with Julia " show is rather fun. Some famous chefs watch Julia Child's old TV shows and comment.  I don't think there are a lot of episodes, but then again I don't know how long you could sustain a theme like that.  But the other chefs point out things like the fact she's cooking on an electric stove. Or how she recovers quickly from some pretty major mishaps. No re-takes in those days it seems. And she never, ever yells at people nor takes joy in reducing them to tears like some ars- wipes I could name. Grrrrr.   Man I wish one of the contestants would clock one ars- wipe in particular. Now THAT would be must- see TV!!

Ah, The Ex! 

Armed with some real Telly Fun Cheques and some reasonable facsimiles thereof, my kid sister and I would arrive  early by streetcar, cash in the Fun Cheques and be ready for the midway to open.

We didn't have much money -- just enough for a Shopsy's corned beef sandwich later on. (What's smoked meat?) We'd head for the CHUM Satellite Station. Rats!  No Al Boliska!!  I know now why they didn't do the morning show from the Ex, but for a 10-something year-old it was a major disappointment.  We'd go back once in a while to hear the Chumingbirds who were pretty funny with their vaudeville shtick. One year we became CHUM bugs.  (I was too young to  appreciate the CHUM Chicks.) By 10 John Sprague was on the air.  He sat there looking miserable, never smiling, never interacting with the kids looking in on him.Another major disappointment. (It turns out he was much the same IRL. However, I have to say I think he was the last CFRB program director to  "get it.")

Mike Darrow was also around and he seemed to be into it. Yay!. I can't remember the shift. Probably 2PM By that time we would be exhausted and heading home before Rush Hour, missing Bob McAdorey  passing the CKEY remote trailer (meh) and the last Sno Cones booth fading as went to catch our street car home.

"Sno cones! Get your Sno Cones....!"
 

Agree 100% about Solomon taking Ford live.  A typical CBC-esque decision, but decided by CFRB. Meh, all ivory towers are the same, I guess.  If I'm in BC, I'd be outraged, unless the stations opt out. But can you opt out in a "network?" .idk. Where I live they replay the show in its entirety at 2000.  So it's 8 hours old!  Breaking news me arse! lol

In 1976  I was a not-very-good jock  at a not-very-good station  where  6-days-a-week was the norm as it was elsewhere, IIRC.   Worse, the 6th day was usually 6 hours instead of 4.   I had already decided to get out of the business mainly because of that 6-day week  (Honest!)  when I found myself in the company of CHML legend Paul Hanover. (Is there anything better about The Biz than trading stories with other guys in The Biz?) As a snot-nosed kid I just listened to PH for the most part, as befitted his status.  But I did happen to mention that I was leaving Radio because of the 6-day week.  I can't swear to it, but I'm sure he looked wistful as  he said, "I've been working 6 days for 30 years."  Paul freakin' Hanover!!  Not some schmoe like me.  Not some 2-bit station, but CHML!!  It was a Road to Damascus moment.  I've always been grateful to Paul for, however unwittingly, cementing my decision to work on civvy street. 

(Btw, I remember hearing Jay Nelson early one Saturday morning while I was getting ready for work at a summer job  in the late 60's.  The segment I heard was something. Completely out out (his on-air) character.  At the time Harold Ballard was embroiled in one of his many controversies (he eventually served time in prison) and Nelson went on a rant defending him. He said Ballard didn't get credit for the many good things he did like making Maple Leaf Gardens ice  available to kids with special needs. All these years later, I remember it as being heart-felt and genuine. It was something to hear and about as un-CHUM-like as it can get. But yeah,  Jay Nelson also worked 6 days a week. And Paul Hanover. )

Oh, so that's who he is: a lightweight  who wrote hack pieces for the Sun for a few weeks before being shown the door.  Plus the editor's job. Also  for a few weeks.  And now he's got a radio gig full-time on the station  that used to have the most respected call letters in Canadian Broadcasting.  Nice.    An erstwhile Boy Wonder Mike Bendixen might have picked up the phone and called (let's say) John Donabie and said, "Hey John, I have this 2-hour gig. It only pays $50 bucks,though. Interested?"  I don't know John Donabie but I'll bet he would have walked to the studio where he would have performed professionally and credibly, unlike yesterday's disaster.   "You're only as good as your last show," also applies to Program Directors. 

Re: CBC.ca: CBC temporarily replaces local evening TV news amid coronavirus pandemic   I always had trouble with timing.

lol

They're working this guy for S!X HOURS a day?  Lordy!   No one can maintain that pace for long. 

Good for you Trebek!  And you're 100% right about the chemo!  Radiation hath no charm either. Proof of the expression: the cure is worse than the disease.


 

Many years ago a savvy Radio executive asked me if I ever noticed what the top story was on CJAD.  On every newscast. As you read this the answer becomes immediately obvious but it wasn't to me at the time he asked the question.  Each newscast began with the current temp followed by a 24 (IIRC) forecast and a repeat of the temperature.  It took 20 seconds at the most. A few years later, in those per-smartphone days, my wife mentioned to me that  she didn't like having to waiting 5 minutes until the end of the newscast  to hear the weather when she was rushed in the morning. I mentioned it to the ND at the station where I worked at the time. He said she had a good point and in the time in took to write the memo and adjust the format the weather became the lede. 

PD's used to obsess over what they called "the basics."   Weather is the most basic of the basics. Don't mess with it.  In other words, "What you said, RA!"
 

And proof-read before you hit "send."   Advice to Puget Sound Radio and the editor of the "Today in History" feature.


 

Co-incidentally I have been thinking about this very thing for the past few weeks and was going to pose the question here in SOWNY. I've come to the conclusion that "Beautiful Music" as I think we all define it wouldn't work.  In addition you have  PD's who would try to insert more contemporary stuff and adulterate the format.  However, notwithstanding that you have to keep those aforementioned PD's hands off it, a format I think might work is what one might call, "The American Songbook."   It's vast, very deep and varied. (Please note the de rigeur Radio alliteration).

A man with a famous name, but not the famous man (sorry but I just can't remember the name), had a series on PBS called just that, IIRC -- The American Songbook. I was surprised at how much it spoke to me, as it were. Just one "Oh Wow!" song after another. And could you ever be creative setting up the songs!  "Years before Frank Sinatra sang about the "City That Never Sleeps" he sang about another American city -- twice!" Make sure you don't clobber the vocal as Frank starts to sing, "Chhhhhicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town!" 

(Sorry got a bit carried away there. **blushes)
 

Low-hanging fruit. Pandering to the base. Thank you, next.

In the mid-70's I caught Shane's act while on vacation. I had never heard a better communicator. When I got home I told my PD about him. I guess I did a petty good selling job because the PD called Shane and asked if he'd like to sit down and talk about moving to Canada. According to the PD, Shane said he had just signed a new deal with WGR  otherwise he would have loved to have discussed a possible move.  He was probably blowing smoke, but he was such a good communicator my PD believed him.

Jefferson Kaye: in my opinion the Greatest Radio Voice Ever. I guess today he'd be called  GOAT.