Yes, I’m back...

...and busy dealing with the consequences of taking six days off.

More to come, but meanwhile...

...anyone have ideas of what/where this is?

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 23:07:47 GMT | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Happy 4th of July

Enjoy the weekend!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 10:31:01 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Mercy killing?

(Variety, via Instapundit [late add: and C.G. Hill]):

Gee, if I started watching again, maybe I could push it over the edge into total geezertude! Cue Lawrence Welk!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:01:14 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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And speaking of “marketoids,” what time warp is this one writing from?

Peter Smyth^[1]:

Hello Everyone,

As we continue to work diligently to prevent the proposed XM-Sirius monopoly from becoming a reality, I have to ask the question that is slowly dawning on me: Why doesn’t Washington like free radio?

Hey Peter, word: It’s not just Washington!

Radio is the voice of vital information and safety,

...excepting weeknights after 6pm, mornings before 5am, and all day on weekends. Then you'd better hope the folks at the weather service push the right buttons on their EAS transmitter.

the voice of comfort and hope,

...recorded 500 miles away 3 days ago...

and the voice of collective action and change

...all the while running 20 minutes of commercials per hour.

From supporting our soldiers to sustaining our local food pantries, we are embedded deeply into the fabric of our communities

Communities that lost their local service so some group could turn it into another big-city rimshot.

... Our political leaders obviously understand the breadth of our reach and the depth of our impact on our audience in a given day. Why else would they buy time on our stations to get elected to office?

...nice office you got elected to there. Wouldn't want anything to happen to it, would you?

But somehow, instead of working with us, some members of Congress and the FCC continue to challenge the radio industry to prove that we are “worthy” of keeping our licenses.

You see, that was the deal. You get the licence free, in exchange for providing public service. No public service, you’re gonna get complaints. Hey, if you want to renegotiate things, I’m sure Congress would be eager to talk about a spectrum tax.

I find it absurd. I challenge them to leave the beltway for a day and go into the heartland. I invite them to visit Iowa and New Orleans and see firsthand where our listeners live and the beneficial role radio serves in providing a lifeline to the people.

...and you need to get out of Boston and listen to the kind of “service” the rest of the country gets. Hint: A lot of it resembles what bulls do to cows.

...I am weary from listening to the many politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. who do not appreciate the contributions our industry makes to our communities or the problems we face in this challenging economy.

You overpaid for your properties, cheapened the product, fired all the talented people, and then chased away the listeners with boring programming and advertisers with lousy marketing.  Now you're in trouble. And this should be Congress’ problem because...?

Washington is willing to ignore the many transgressions of the satellite radio companies, who have violated almost every law and rule that ever applied to them, but wants to impose a raft of new legislation and regulations to dictate the programming and outreach decisions of local

Out-of-town owned, satellite-delivered, 24 hours a day!

free

(Don’t mention that 20 minutes per hour of commercials!)

radio.

Washington wants to give our competitor an unrestricted and virtually unregulated monopoly, so Howard Stern can disparage Dolly Parton with impunity, but will fine local radio stations $325,000 when a guest or caller accidentally says “the s-word.”

You mean S-U-B-S-C-R-I-P-T-I-O-N, as in “paid, voluntary”?

And yet, when the politicians really need to reach their constituencies, they turn to local, free radio. And we deliver.

(Don’t mention that 18-24 demo. Or the 25-54 one, either!)

Local, free radio represents every demographic and every community in the nation. We employ hundreds of thousands of dedicated and talented individuals, from every city and town in America.

...mostly in San Antonio, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, etc. Everything else we voicetrack.

We deliver local news, weather, traffic, and sports updates every hour

(!)

every day

???

365 days a year

Disclaimer: Not including weekends, holidays, weekdays after PM drive, weekdays before AM drive, mid-days between AM and PM drive, overnights...

. We raise hundreds of millions of dollars every year for local and national charities

...all the while paying not one penny for our spectrum space

and people in need.

(Can't forget those needy venture capitalists and those corporate VPs counting on that quarterly bonus!)

How in the world did we become the bad guys?

Ya know, if you have to be told... But here’s a hint: “Local radio” went away 15 years ago.

(Yes, I may be being a bit unfair here. But only a bit!)

Via: Hear 2.0
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Posted by: Old Grouch in Radio at 01:22:29 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Is “marketoid” taught, or does it come naturally?

And if it’s natural, can we quick find a genetic test for it?  So we can strangle it in the cradle?

“The launch of XTP^[1] is about entertaining the three and half million passengers using the Tube each day.” - Tim Bleakly, Managing Director Sales & Marketing, CBS Outdoor.

Londonist:

Um. No.  It's about pushing advertising in the faces of a captive audience... one that would probably prefer to escape from flashing images on a digital screen for half an hour or so each day.

And...

“We believe that this technology will enhance passengers' journeys...  These hi-tech screens are a perfect complement to the major upgrade work carried out by London Underground in delivering a world-class Tube for a world-class city.”^[2] - Richard Parry, Strategy and Service Director for London Underground.^[3]

Diamond Geezer:

Like hell they are.

Naming names:

Via: Indignant, of Bow

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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 23:20:26 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Jay Nordlinger wonders: What’s cool?

...or, more specifically,

Why isn’t Ivan Castro a twentieth as admired as — not to single him out, but . . . — Jon Stewart?  How did the whole country become Lenny Bruce-ified?
...
I think of something Bob Dole said in that marvelous, Helprin-penned convention speech (1996): “the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered, and never learned.”

It is the phrase “never did anything real” that particularly haunts me.

By putting his life on the line– against odds, asking no accommodation, making no excuses– Castro highlights the petty artificiality of most of what we are pleased to call “heroism.”  His very existence is an embarrassment to the poseurs who equate “courage” with throwing ball bearings at the cops in some demonstration, or “speaking truth to power” with shouting down some university dean.  And his absolute confidence in the rightness of what he is doing affronts all who prattle “nothing is real,” “it’s all relative,” or “there’s nothing worth dying over.”  It’s little wonder that our Chattering Class ignores him; his standard is too far above them.

But should we call Castro “cool?”  I don’t know.  David Bowie was cool. So was Frank Sinatra.  But George Washington wasn’t cool.  Abraham Lincoln? Anti-coolness personified.^[1]  Winston Churchill?  Maybe in his later “jolly stout man with his cigar” persona, but certainly not the Churchill who declared, “Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.”  The first astronauts?  “Right stuff” out the wazoo, but what a bunch of squares.

For coolness carries a burden of lack-of-seriousness- of-purpose.  You can’t be cool if you’re too committed; in fact the essence of coolness is ironically amused detachment.  Nothing matters anyway, why not laugh?

Except in the “real world,” reality... does matter.  A facade of irony won’t stop a knifepoint.  And though laughter can help get through times of trouble, laughter alone is insufficient.  Achievement requires more than attitude; it requires a seriousness, a dedication, a striving that transcend “cool.”

Which brings us back to Ivan Castro.  Out there, beyond “cool,” in the world of life-and-death reality, where we can but stand in astonished admiration.


Via: Power Line
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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:16:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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One thing to be said for naming your cat “Dammit”

It’s convenient.

(Squeaky has no “cats” category, but here’s an earlier post.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 01:46:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sites Linked - June 2008

43 posts in June, not as good as May’s 45, but still better than March and April (both 35). Far better than the lowest month YTD: September 2007, with only 28 posts.

The June linklist is below the jump...
more...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Meta at 00:18:23 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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