I don't know if radio stations are playing more Tom Petty music because he died recently, or I'm just noticing it more. Either way, no complaints. Tom Petty was always a favorite.
Holiday Mode! It has been established here that I listen to sports talk radio as an occasional diversion from doom and destruction in the real world. It's that time of year, when regular hosts start taking time off. I'm all for giving people time off around the holidays. Some replacements are very good. At times, the big networks run "best of" shows. There is nothing worse than a "best of" canned sports talk show. Even if it was a good interview, it comes off as stale.
I'm still heartbroken over the horrible things Charlie Rose did. CBS says it built its morning show around content, but mornings are a different animal. Mornings are built around personality. It will be interesting to see who CBS chooses as a replacement. Anthony Mason is coming off a fill in stint on the Evening News. He's a safe and logical choice. Solid, but not much star power.
Listening to big city all news radio traffic reports over the weekend makes me thankful I live in a small town.
Some radio stations have been flipping to an "all Christmas music" format. Strangely, it usually produces a ratings boost. My best wishes to the people who work at those stations. I don't think I could handle it. For me, a little Christmas music goes a long way.
The New York Post reports that NFL ratings are still sliding. NBC's Al Michaels got it right in a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story. Michaels said the NFL had been through the roof in recent years, so a decline is natural. I will add that we saw something similar in NASCAR. More thoughts: The NFL really has to get a handle on this national anthem thing, and needless celebrations. I've seen players celebrate a sack, even though their team is getting hammered on the scoreboard at the time. On top of that, many of the marquee games this year have been blow outs.
Please, enough with the superhero movies!
The Food Network has ordered some new episodes of "Molto Mario." The show had been out of production for several years. Mario batali's food is a little too hard core Italian for me, but I could watch him work, and listen to his take on Italian history and culture for days.
The David Letterman/Mark Twain/Kennedy Center special was outstanding. It was great hearing Alan Kalter again, and especially great hearing Paul Shaffer and the band play the Letterman theme again.
