I was looking at old music videos on You Tube the other day. Remember how much fun MTV used to be?
Mark Goddard died last week. 87. He was Major Don West on "Lost in Space." The series was never one of my favorites. It was outrageously fake at times. Plus, I was a little kid when it was on, and it frightened me!
A local radio station flipped its format from 80's hits to Spanish music last week. When I was a radio pup, format changes were a big deal. Now, it seems like we have at least one a month. This station was hampered by a relatively weak signal. Management tried a variety of formats over the years. Nothing really clicked. I should add the area's most popular stations have had the same formats for decades. Consistency. Brand. Promotion. But then again, they all have pretty good signals.
I caught part of the Kent State @ Eastern Michigan game Saturday on the CBS Sports Network. Former coworker Jason Knapp was on play-by-play. Listening to Jason call a game is always a treat.
The latest war in the middle east boosted the ratings of FOX News and CNN. MSNBC slipped. I found that to be odd. CNN always gets more viewers during a crisis, but NBC has a solid staff of correspondents covering the war.
Hats off to Taylor Swift. She can pack them in at a stadium, and now movie theaters. I'm glad the Swift concert movie, plus "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" have given the theater industry a much needed shot in the arm.
I read where many fans were disappointed with the NBC team of Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett on Saturday night's Notre Dame/USC game. I checked on the game while at my WNEP producer's desk, but it was just to see the score. I didn't stay long enough to get a feel for the abilities of the announcers. If the complaints are true, I'm sad. NBC had a deep stable of talent at one time. Now, not so much. I like Noah Eagle, Dan Hicks, and Tom Hammond. That's about it.
This is a new media related item. My personal email provider is doing an amazingly lousy job of letting spam and phishing items slip through. I report them all. Nothing happens. Hey, shape up!
I know Sunday is a huge television night, but it's also fertile ground for sports talk radio. There is no shortage of topics because you had all those fresh football and baseball games Sunday afternoon and evening. JT the Brick on Mad Dog Sports Radio on satellite and the Spanier/Plank team on FOX Sports Radio are head and shoulders above the rest. What used to be a wasteland time period now really rocks with news and opinion. Plus, there is plenty of fun on both shows. Even if you're just a casual fan, like me, do yourself a favor and twist in some exceptionally entertaining radio.
"Tomorrow" with Tom Snyder made its debut on NBC at 1:00 am, Tuesday, September 16, 1973. 50 years ago. I didn't see it. The local NBC affiliate signed off after Johnny Carson. My first exposure to the great Tom Snyder came via Dan Aykroyd's wonderful impression on "Saturday Night Live." When I finally saw the real Snyder, I was blown away. Holy Cow! There really was a guy like Aykroyd's impression! I know thanks to streaming, cable, satellite, internet, etc., there is still some serious and creative talk out there, but nothing like Tom Snyder.
I don't stream, so I won't see the "Frasier" reboot, but it's getting awful reviews. That saddens me because the original was so good.
