In the Eighties, I had several reliable radio choices in L.A. There was KROQ, the new wave/alternative rock station. The was KCRW, the NPR affiliate. And there was KPFK, the Pacifica affiliate. KROQ was admittedly commercial, even back in its glory days (It has totally sucked for many years). KCRW did present some alternative music [...]
Trainwreck Fave
News in the NY Times this morning that NPR is canceling the Bryant Park Project. I must confess, I’ve never listened to it, but it sounds like a good idea — in theory — and it also sounds like it was moderately successful online, which would kind of be the point. I’m guessing it was [...]
This American Life – Live!
This American Life is possibly the finest show on radio. And since its debut on Showtime last year, it’s also a great television show. Have you seen these promotions for watching rock concerts or the Metropolitan Opera at your local movie theater? I have. I think I’ve read that the first season of Metropolitan Opera: [...]
Days of Future Past
On the Oct. 21 edition of his radio program Le Show, Harry Shearer made the following observation: I’m amazed, ladies and gentlemen, that if thirty years ago you had placed a couple of seemingly obvious bets, you would have lost your shirt. Bet number one: On the night [10/2/76] when John Belushi and Joe Cocker [...]
Radio and Salad
Here’s another excerpt from Fred Allen’s 1954 account of his time in radio, Treadmill to Oblivion, referenced below. He is describing his next venture after his first radio show, The Linit Bath Club Revue. I believe these events took place in 1932. This led to our next radio venture, the Salad Bowl Revue, which was [...]
The broadcast wars
Speaking of radio, as I was, one of the other great shows of all time is Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life. It’s funny and touching, often at the same time. A few weeks ago, the TV version of the program debuted on Showtime, thus providing one of the best reasons to subscribe to a [...]
The jury is in
The state of radio today is pretty sad (see here). One bright spot in the landscape is Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles, which plays a truly alternative blend of rock music. And the best show on the station is Jonesy’s Jukebox, hosted by Steve Jones of seminal punk band the Sex Pistols. In the past [...]
Higgins: On the media and in it
More coverage and tributes on the occasion of the death of John Higgins. Goodbye to a friend (Higgins lived in Hoboken all of his time in the New York area and he was a supporter of the Hoboken411 blog.) Remainders: Kramer’s Newest 15 Minutes Are Almost Up (He would have loved making an appearance on [...]
Katrina: One Year Later
I wasn’t going to post anything on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Katrina, since I didn’t have anything particularly intelligent to say. But I thought of some things to offer today, so here we go. This American Life offered some amazing coverage in the aftermath of Katrina; it’s highly unusual for them to [...]
On air, off script
Two examples of people expressing themselves with full honesty. On August 12, Radio personality Inetta “the Moodsetta” Boykin Hinton of WBLX-FM in Mobile, AL got toward the end of her show. As she did her last break, at 1:50 p.m., she launched into a resignation, ending with the classic line, “I quit this bitch.” You [...]