Tuesday, February 28, 2006

CBS Radio Should Be Smarter About Stern

CBS Radio Sues Howard Stern
By SETH SUTEL , 02.28.2006, 06:20 PM

Quote:
>>Stern said the lawsuit was meritless, and said CBS was trying to "bully" him. He called the lawsuit a "personal vendetta" against him by CBS Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, whom Stern said held a grudge against him.

Stern said CBS officials knew of his plans to leave for Sirius and also condoned his references to satellite radio on the air and did nothing to stop him when he spoke about it on his show.<<

Regardless of what you think about Stern, he brought huge ratings and lots of money to CBS Radio, and his move to Sirius has had a huge impact on the radio business.

Stern, Sirius, and CBS can all make more money working together than suing each other. There are thousands of hours of classic material from Stern's years on CBS. What they should do is work out a deal:

1. Give Stern his CBS shows. Let him play them on Sirius, uncensored.
2. Sirius/Stern should provide CBS with edited content from his Sirius show to play on CBS stations.
3. CBS should play classic moments of Stern's old show as well.
4. Release (some) of the classic show moments from the CBS show on CD and/or podcast, with both Stern and CBS getting the profits.


It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Monday, February 27, 2006

'Weird Al' Yankovic IS Talented

Just Because It's Mainstream Doesn't Mean it Sucks
Article Last Updated: 02/26/2006 9:00 AM PST
Sumana Harihareswara writes for Bay Area Living each week. You can write to her at sumana@crummy.com.

Quote:
>>WHEN I was in high school, I went to see Weird Al Yankovic perform at the local county fair/asparagus festival. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. But what sticks in my mind is the spectacle of three young men, standing in a circle toward the back of the audience, performing line dances and lip-syncing to every song.

Yes, Weird Al sang perhaps 20 songs that night, and they knew the lyrics to every single one by heart.

At the time, I thought, "How weird are THOSE guys?" And I made no connection between my rather unkind judgment and the amusement that my math teacher showed, 10 minutes later, when he saw me leaving the fairgrounds clutching an 8-by-10 glossy of Weird Al impishly winking at the camera.<<

Good write-up. Check it out.

-Ken

Sunday, February 26, 2006

710 Freeway Battle Subject of Musical

The Pasadena Star-News has the story by Patricia Jiayi Ho HERE.

Quotes:
>>A Palo Alto-based playwright has chosen to tell the timeless tale of that favorite local topic, "The 710: really hideous, or to die for?"

Former Alhambra resident Mike Najar, 32, situates his play, "Love Songs in Traffic," in the San Gabriel Valley, tackling the Long Beach (710) Freeway completion/incompletion controversy.

The 90-minute play will open March 17 at Palo Alto High School, where Najar teaches music. From there, Najar said he plans to pitch it to high schools in Alhambra and South Pasadena, the cities in which the freeway debate is most heated.
[snip]
In the play, a love story develops between a Caltrans project manager and the preservationist granddaughter of the first Rose Queen.<<

I'm a South Pasadena native who supports just about any solution OTHER than the standard "through the middle of town" surface freeway. Traffic is already horrendous on the southbound freeway going bast the 60 and the I-5... I can't imagine what it would be like if it had 210/134/110 traffic already on there.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Latest Kenversations Now on LaughingPlace.com

My latest Kenversations column is now up at LaughingPlace.com. In this edition, I talk about the single-season wonder of the Light Magic show at Disneyland Park, which was supposed to be a permanent replacement for the long-running Main Street Electrical Parade. I also review a DVD featuring video the first public preview of the show.

Check it out! Tell your friends!

-Ken

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Quoted About Intersection

Pasadena Star-News - Intersection a Motorist's Nightmare

There I am.

Quote:
>>BASSETT - What can government officials do to improve an intersection that has 86,000 daily vehicle trips, three sets of train tracks, up to 60 daily train crossings, and is near five freeway onramp roads, three offramp roads and a river?

For now, the answer for the intersection of Valley Boulevard and Temple Avenue is "nothing," according to area traffic experts.

For years, motorists have been clogging the intersection, which engineers agree is probably among the most congested spots in the San Gabriel Valley.

"Let's put it this way, it's beyond saturation point, way beyond it," said Ken Pellman, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. "It's a really, really bad intersection."

The county rates intersections from A through F. A has the best traffic flow. F has the worst. The Valley and Temple intersection in Bassett is "way past F," Pellman said.<<

-Ken

Saturday, February 11, 2006