Yes, I thought coverage of the royal baby was beyond excessive. having said that, I'm a firm believer that the media reflects public tastes, not influences them. It wouldn't be there if you wouldn't watch it. It must be cool to be born a billionaire. For some bizarre reason, I'm cutting Kate and William a lot of slack here. For royals, they seem rather unpretentious. I'm still amazed the British keep bathing the royals in wealth. Hey, it's 2013. On the other hand, I'm sure the royals bring money in to the country by being a tourist attraction, and I'm sure the networks spent thousands and thousands waiting for the big moment to happen.
Actor Dennis Farina died the other day. 69. Do yourself a favor. Watch "Get Shorty." It's an underrated film.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area is getting another all sports station. The Mountain 102.3 is flipping to NBC Sports Radio in days. The general manager says the current rock format had listeners, but no advertisers. There are a few exceptions, but all sports stations don't get big numbers. They do appeal to a demographic sought by advertisers. Plus, I'm sure the station's owner is getting the satellite delivered format cheap. The Mountain was hampered by a relatively weak signal, and there wasn't a lot of promotion. Sports radio has morphed in to guy talk, with discussions of movies, tv, beer, food, women, relationships, etc. More often than not, FOX Sports Radio is my station of choice. I listen to it on Sirius XM so it's not interrupted by local high school football and RailRiders baseball. I've grown fond of Pat O'Brien in the afternoon, and JT the Brick overnight. There are also a couple good weekend shows.
NBC is getting back into the NASCAR businesses. It picked up 20 races, for the second half of the season, beginning in 2015. NBC had the NASCAR contract before. At the time, I was freelancing at a yearly NASCAR event for a TV station in Corning, NY. I wish I had a dime for every fan who said they wished FOX broadcast the entire season. I explained FOX took the first half, and started concentrating on the NFL as fall approached. NBC was known for fiercely protecting its property. The network made sure reporters and photographers from competing operations kept their distance from the drivers. Okay. If you don't want the free publicity, I'll go somewhere else.
