Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Media Notes

The CBS Evening News has a new theme song.  It's good, but not as good as the one it replaced.  CBS went back to its classic theme after the Katie Couric debacle, and I loved it.

I wish ABC would go back to a more classic treatment of its theme.  Those first four notes were attention getting, and you knew the news was on.  The power of the four note signature is really lessened in the current version.  By the way, ABC Radio News does it the right way.

You might be saying , "Hey, it's only a theme song."  Wrong.  It's part of your brand, like the golden arches at McDonald's and Coke's red cans.

Tony Kornheiser is giving up his Washington, DC radio show at the end of the month.  I listened most days.  It's become rather self indulgent recently, but it was still better than most things out there.  Kornheiser was on an all sports station, but the topics frequently veered off into politics, media and pop culture.  Kornheiser says he's starting a podcast in September.

Speaking of podcasts, some co-workers have tried to get me interested.  I guess there's some pretty good stuff out there.  I'll give the Kornheiser show a try.  I'm an old radio guy and a podcast is not radio.  it seems like Kornheiser is following a trend.  More artists want to control their own material-- and they want freedom.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump went off on the media last week.  I don't have a problem with that.  If Trump feels he was treated wrongly and unfairly, he should speak up.  The same goes for anyone else.  There's an old saying that you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, and there's some wisdom in that.  Still, suffering in silence is wrong.

We're in to "hurricane season."  The Weather Channel produces some solid information.  However, theatrics and showboating really detract from it.

Verne Lundquist steps away from SEC football on CBS after this season.  Great voice.  Great delivery.  He knows the game is the star.  Lundquist helped a lot of color analysts learn the business.  Lundquist was teamed with Terry Bradshaw when Bradshaw retired and was new to CBS.  Bradshaw can't say enough nice things about the guy.  Contrast that with the sainted Vin Scully, who works alone on baseball. He blew the chance at being the number one CBS football guy because he talked too much.

Brad Nessler replaces Lundquist starting in the fall of 2017.  A few newspapers delivered a swift kick to Nessler last week.  The assertion is that Nessler can't generate excitement.  I understand where the writers are coming from.  Nessler is no Lundquist, but he's solid.

Would Muhammad Ali have been as big without Howard Cosell?  I did enjoy looking at all that old video over the weekend.