Read more here.I've been fighting off the temptation to mention the nosediving ratings of Piers Morgan's new show on CNN. But I surrendered this afternoon when the Nielsen folks revealed that Morgan dropped below half a million viewers Thursday night even with a bunch of crazed half-naked Kardashians sitting at the desk with him.
Really.
You can't break the half-million mark with Hollywood's most beloved trollops bragging about their boobs? (The scoop from Kim: "They're 100 percent real!" Kourtney, not so much.) And their sex tapes? (Poor Kim says she's embarrassed by hers, though not embarrassed enough to stop talking about it on national televison, though I guess you could argue that 498,000 viewers qualifies as a "national audience" only in someplace like the Togolese Republic, which may be where Piers Morgan is doing his next show.)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Piers Morgan: Boobs! Sex tapes! No viewers!
From Glenn Garvin, Miami Herald TV Critic
Zuckerberg Makes Cameo on SNL
Mark Zuckerberg meets actor Jesse Eisenberg when he hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Gadgets Get Around Communications Block
Egyptians armed with low-tech electronic gadgets like dial-up modems, landlines and old-school satellite phones are finding ways to get their message out, despite efforts by the teetering government to block communication, reports Diane Macdeo at foxnews.com.
Those who had been using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to distribute images and video to the outside world have had to come up more creative ways to communicate after the Egyptian government blocked Internet and cell service, a move that many are calling unprecedented.
"The Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet,"
Renesys, a U.S. Internet monitoring firm reported, on its blog. "…every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world."
Vodafone also issued a statement saying, "All mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it."
"This is a completely different situation from the modest Internet manipulation that took place in Tunisia, where specific routes were blocked, or Iran, where the Internet stayed up in a rate-limited form designed to make Internet connectivity painfully slow," the Renesys blog said. "The Egyptian government's actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map."
Chris Weber, managing partner at Casaba Security, called the Egyptian government action "pretty scary," but says there are things even they can't block.
"If Egypt's shut down their main pipeline to the Internet, the Internet is designed in such a way that it's a mesh, so even if the main pipeline is down there are still other ways to get in," Weber told FoxNews.com.
One way: Satellite phones that communicate directly with satellites rather than cell towers.
Read more here.
Those who had been using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to distribute images and video to the outside world have had to come up more creative ways to communicate after the Egyptian government blocked Internet and cell service, a move that many are calling unprecedented.
"The Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet,"
Renesys, a U.S. Internet monitoring firm reported, on its blog. "…every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world."
Vodafone also issued a statement saying, "All mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it."
"This is a completely different situation from the modest Internet manipulation that took place in Tunisia, where specific routes were blocked, or Iran, where the Internet stayed up in a rate-limited form designed to make Internet connectivity painfully slow," the Renesys blog said. "The Egyptian government's actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map."
Chris Weber, managing partner at Casaba Security, called the Egyptian government action "pretty scary," but says there are things even they can't block.
"If Egypt's shut down their main pipeline to the Internet, the Internet is designed in such a way that it's a mesh, so even if the main pipeline is down there are still other ways to get in," Weber told FoxNews.com.
One way: Satellite phones that communicate directly with satellites rather than cell towers.
Read more here.
Charlie Sheen Checks Into Rehab
'Two and a Half Men' on hiatus,
Defends partying with porn stars
Fresh off an epic bender, actor Charlie Sheen is going to rehab - and his hit sitcom is going on hiatus, according to nydailynews.com.
TV's highest-paid star "has voluntarily entered an undisclosed rehabilitation center," said his spokesman, Stan Rosenfield. "He is most grateful to all who have expressed their concern."
While a porn star dished about Sheen freebasing cocaine and guzzling vodka, Rosenfield said the actor "asks that his privacy be respected at this time."
His top-rated CBS show "Two and a Half Men" - which had been scheduled to resume shooting Tuesday - was placed on immediate production hiatus Friday.
"We are profoundly concerned for his health and well-being, and support his decision," said a statement from CBS.
Shortly after the rehab announcement, Sheen sent a text to gossip site RadarOnline.com brushing off the hubbub surrounding his partying ways.
"People don't seem to get it. . . . Guy can't have a great time and do his job also?" the website reported.
When Sheen ended up in the hospital, his camp insisted the cause was "severe abdominal pain." One friend improbably suggested the actor aggravated a hernia - by laughing at a television show.
Initially, Sheen, 45, indicated he planned a return to the set for business as usual when the show resumed filming next week.
Instead, after a hospital visit from his parents and ex-wife Denise Richards, Sheen went into rehab - again. Dad Martin Sheen was "worried Charlie is going to kill himself," a source close to the family told RadarOnline.com.
Read more here.
Defends partying with porn stars
TV's highest-paid star "has voluntarily entered an undisclosed rehabilitation center," said his spokesman, Stan Rosenfield. "He is most grateful to all who have expressed their concern."
While a porn star dished about Sheen freebasing cocaine and guzzling vodka, Rosenfield said the actor "asks that his privacy be respected at this time."
His top-rated CBS show "Two and a Half Men" - which had been scheduled to resume shooting Tuesday - was placed on immediate production hiatus Friday.
"We are profoundly concerned for his health and well-being, and support his decision," said a statement from CBS.
Shortly after the rehab announcement, Sheen sent a text to gossip site RadarOnline.com brushing off the hubbub surrounding his partying ways.
"People don't seem to get it. . . . Guy can't have a great time and do his job also?" the website reported.
When Sheen ended up in the hospital, his camp insisted the cause was "severe abdominal pain." One friend improbably suggested the actor aggravated a hernia - by laughing at a television show.
Initially, Sheen, 45, indicated he planned a return to the set for business as usual when the show resumed filming next week.
Instead, after a hospital visit from his parents and ex-wife Denise Richards, Sheen went into rehab - again. Dad Martin Sheen was "worried Charlie is going to kill himself," a source close to the family told RadarOnline.com.
Read more here.
The Saturday Aircheck
Yvonne Daniels, 89 WLS July 12, 1975
LISTEN HERE!
Known as “The First Lady of Chicago Radio,” Yvonne Daniels was an African-American broadcast pioneer. Her soothing voice and knowledge of jazz made her a favorite with listeners throughout America’s Midwest.
The daughter of jazz singer Billy Daniels, she began her radio career at a Jacksonville, Illinois, rhythm and blues station. Later she joined WYNR/Chicago, where her jazz show competed with popular disc jockey Sid McCoy on WCFL. At McCoy’s urging, WCFL eventually hired Daniels and soon the team was heard in 38 states, thanks to the 50,000-watt power of WCFL.
From 1964 to 1973, Daniels worked at WSDM/Chicago, the nation’s first all-female radio station. Her program Daniels’ Den consistently won its time slot.
In 1973, she moved to WLS/Chicago, another 50,000-watt powerhouse, where she became the station’s first female disc jockey.
During the 1980s, Daniels worked Chicago morning shows on WVON, WGCI and eventually on “Smooth Jazz WNUA.” During her 30-year career, Daniels is credited with paving the way for future generations of female radio personalities.
Yvonne Daniels died on June 21, 1991.
LISTEN HERE!
Known as “The First Lady of Chicago Radio,” Yvonne Daniels was an African-American broadcast pioneer. Her soothing voice and knowledge of jazz made her a favorite with listeners throughout America’s Midwest.
The daughter of jazz singer Billy Daniels, she began her radio career at a Jacksonville, Illinois, rhythm and blues station. Later she joined WYNR/Chicago, where her jazz show competed with popular disc jockey Sid McCoy on WCFL. At McCoy’s urging, WCFL eventually hired Daniels and soon the team was heard in 38 states, thanks to the 50,000-watt power of WCFL.
From 1964 to 1973, Daniels worked at WSDM/Chicago, the nation’s first all-female radio station. Her program Daniels’ Den consistently won its time slot.
In 1973, she moved to WLS/Chicago, another 50,000-watt powerhouse, where she became the station’s first female disc jockey.
During the 1980s, Daniels worked Chicago morning shows on WVON, WGCI and eventually on “Smooth Jazz WNUA.” During her 30-year career, Daniels is credited with paving the way for future generations of female radio personalities.
Yvonne Daniels died on June 21, 1991.
Friday, January 28, 2011
CBS Radio Takes Fresh Approach in ChiTown
Looks to jump-start stalled stations
You don’t survive at the top of Chicago radio as long as Rod Zimmerman has by shooting your mouth off with predictions that could come back to haunt you.
So when Robert Feder at chicago.timeout.com tried to press the man who has headed the CBS Radio money machine here for 13 years to speculate on the long-term prospects for his two most troubled stations — classic hits WJMK-FM (104.3) and adult-contemporary WCFS-FM (105.9) — he politely but unequivocally refuses to take the bait. “I’m not going to make any forecasts,” he says. And that’s that.
As senior vice president and market manager of the seven-station CBS Radio cluster, Zimmerman probably would prefer to keep the focus on his group’s much more successful properties — rhythmic Top 40 WBBM-FM (96.3), all-news WBBM-AM (780), sports/talk WSCR-AM (670), country WUSN-FM (99.5) and adult rock WXRT-FM (93.1). But it’s the two weak links in the chain that competitors are watching (and listening to) most closely. Jack FM and Fresh, as WJMK and WCFS are known, ended the year dismally, finishing 20th and 23rd, respectively, in Arbitron’s December survey of adults in the “money demo” between the ages of 25 and 54.
In an effort to jump-start the two underperforming stations, CBS Radio conducted marketwide music testing and a perceptual study that pointed the way to adjustments in their formats and playlists. Here’s how Fresh alerted listeners earlier this week on its website:
Read more here.
So when Robert Feder at chicago.timeout.com tried to press the man who has headed the CBS Radio money machine here for 13 years to speculate on the long-term prospects for his two most troubled stations — classic hits WJMK-FM (104.3) and adult-contemporary WCFS-FM (105.9) — he politely but unequivocally refuses to take the bait. “I’m not going to make any forecasts,” he says. And that’s that.
As senior vice president and market manager of the seven-station CBS Radio cluster, Zimmerman probably would prefer to keep the focus on his group’s much more successful properties — rhythmic Top 40 WBBM-FM (96.3), all-news WBBM-AM (780), sports/talk WSCR-AM (670), country WUSN-FM (99.5) and adult rock WXRT-FM (93.1). But it’s the two weak links in the chain that competitors are watching (and listening to) most closely. Jack FM and Fresh, as WJMK and WCFS are known, ended the year dismally, finishing 20th and 23rd, respectively, in Arbitron’s December survey of adults in the “money demo” between the ages of 25 and 54.
In an effort to jump-start the two underperforming stations, CBS Radio conducted marketwide music testing and a perceptual study that pointed the way to adjustments in their formats and playlists. Here’s how Fresh alerted listeners earlier this week on its website:
Read more here.
Assange "elusive, manipulative, and volatile"
Bill Keller, executive editor of the NYT, penned a blockbuster essay for this Sunday's Times Magazine, where he calls Assange "elusive, manipulative, and volatile... and ultimately openly hostile,"
Apart from his sharply unflattering portrait of Assange, here are the key points Keller makes about the NYT's entire WikiLeaks deal:
- Aside from a (commonplace) embargo on when the NYT could publish articles on leaked documents,imposed no conditions on what the NYT wrote about them.
- Assange asked Guardian not to share its third WikiLeaks dump with the NYT (after things got rocky) but due partly to rogue leaks, Guardian concluded it could share the cables anyways.
- The Obama administration condemned WikiLeaks, but did not seek an injunction to halt publication. There has been no serious talk of pursuing news organizations in courts.
- The NYT tried to excise information that might harm people, but largely dismissed U.S. government concerns about information that might just embarrass people.
Read more here.
A Big Boost for National Emergency Network
Ever since the attacks exposed the inability of fire, police and rescue departments to talk to one another via radio in an emergency, public safety officials have pushed for the allocation of additional airwaves, also known as spectrum, for their dedicated use.
But Congress had mandated that the wireless spectrum at issue — a prime block of airwaves known as D Block — be auctioned off to a commercial wireless company, which would raise money that could then be used to help build a public safety network.
Both the Bush and Obama administrations had supported auctioning the spectrum, as had the Federal Communications Commission. Last June, the F.C.C. published a white paper saying that a better public safety communications network could be constructed at lower cost by using airwaves already dedicated to public safety, supplemented by the right to essentially take over commercial networks in an emergency.
Read more here.
Egypt's Web, Mobile Communications Severed
As the country braced for huge antigovernment protests on the traditional day of prayer, the government appeared to have unplugged most means of communication—including social network Facebook and Twitter—that activists had been using to coordinate action across the country. Landline calls placed from outside the country, however, were connecting.
In a blog, U.S.-based Internet intelligence firm Renesys recorded how late Thursday it saw "the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the Internet's global routing table," in what it called "an action unprecedented in Internet history."
It contrasted the scale of the crackdown with the "modest Internet manipulation that took place in Tunisia, where specific routes were blocked, or Iran, where the Internet stayed up," but download times were slowed. Facebook and Twitter weren't immediately available to comment on what is happening in Egypt.
Read more here.
Zucker-Katie Redux
Buzz has ex-NBC big 'perk'olating a Couric talker
Former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, expected to set up shop Monday on Park Avenue, is already lining up his next gig -- he's talking about starting a syndicated talk show featuring CBS News anchor Katie Couric, according to a posting at newyorkpost.com.
Word of a possible Zucker-Couric venture comes as the 54-year-old anchor nears the end of her five-year contract that will pay her $15 million this year.
Couric, whose contract expires in May, recently rebuffed approaches from several parties who wanted to work with her, these sources said.
Couric told them she already has Zucker lined up, the sources added.
The two have a long working relationship that began at NBC's "The Today Show."
Zucker, who will turn 46 this spring, is expected to hang out his shingle at 299 Park Ave., home to investment bank UBS.
The two have been putting their heads together to create a new show format that could potentially replace the recently ended program of reigning talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, sources tell The Post.
Zucker closed out his 25-year NBC career this week in Miami at NATPE, a television industry conference where producers shop their syndicated-show concepts to station groups.
Read more here.
Word of a possible Zucker-Couric venture comes as the 54-year-old anchor nears the end of her five-year contract that will pay her $15 million this year.
Couric, whose contract expires in May, recently rebuffed approaches from several parties who wanted to work with her, these sources said.
Couric told them she already has Zucker lined up, the sources added.
The two have a long working relationship that began at NBC's "The Today Show."
Zucker, who will turn 46 this spring, is expected to hang out his shingle at 299 Park Ave., home to investment bank UBS.
The two have been putting their heads together to create a new show format that could potentially replace the recently ended program of reigning talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, sources tell The Post.
Zucker closed out his 25-year NBC career this week in Miami at NATPE, a television industry conference where producers shop their syndicated-show concepts to station groups.
Read more here.
CA Senator Advocates Limbaugh Boycott
According to talkers.com, California State Senator Leland Yee – also a candidate for mayor of San Francisco – says he’s received threatening faxes since criticizing Rush Limbaugh for mocking the Chinese language on his radio show during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S. Yee says the faxes contain explicit language and threats against African-Americans and Asians, including a drawing of a black man’s head in a noose and appear to come from a Limbaugh supporter.
Yee says he also received a threatening fax in April of last year after questioning how much Sarah Palin was paid for speaking at a public university. Yee told KTXL-TV, Sacramento, “It can happen, but sometimes you kinda scoff at these threats. But given the Gifford shooting I think all of us take these threats a little more seriously.”
Read more here.
Charlie Sheen Hospitalized
UPDATE 12N
Actor Charlie Sheen has left a Los Angeles hospital where he was being treated for severe pain related to a hernia, his representative told CNN Friday.
Sheen left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Thursday night after being rush to the facility that morning, representative Stan Rosenfield said.
"Charlie has had a hernia condition for some time," Rosenfield said. "I was told by the person who made the 911 call that it was hernia-related."
CBS' "Two And A Half Men" star Charlie Sheen was admitted to Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Thursday reportedly after a night of wild partying. K-CAL 9's Stephanie Abrams reports.
Actor Charlie Sheen has left a Los Angeles hospital where he was being treated for severe pain related to a hernia, his representative told CNN Friday.
Sheen left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Thursday night after being rush to the facility that morning, representative Stan Rosenfield said.
"Charlie has had a hernia condition for some time," Rosenfield said. "I was told by the person who made the 911 call that it was hernia-related."
CBS' "Two And A Half Men" star Charlie Sheen was admitted to Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Thursday reportedly after a night of wild partying. K-CAL 9's Stephanie Abrams reports.
Culture Shock Likely as Comcast Takes Over NBC
From Meg James, latimes.com:
In the NBC sitcom "30 Rock," the self-absorbed television chief executive, played by Alec Baldwin, obsesses over what will happen to his career when his company — NBC — is taken over by Kabletown, a fictional cable systems operator from Philadelphia.Read more here.
On Friday the real-life cable company from Philadelphia — Comcast Corp. — assumes control of NBC Universal, the real-life entertainment colossus that is featured in the show. And while Steve Burke, the new chief executive of NBC Universal, is a fan of "30 Rock," one of his priorities will be to reform the NBC Universal corporate culture, one that has condoned politicking and aggrandizement, the very workplace parodied by the sitcom.
"Doing the right thing and treating people the right way. We think integrity and honesty are the foundation of a productive working environment," says the Comcast credo distributed to NBC Universal's nearly 30,000 employees Thursday. "We take our business seriously, but do not take ourselves too seriously."
Even before Comcast's official takeover Friday several key NBC executives were shown the door, including former Chief Executive Jeff Zucker. The face of MSNBC, anchor Keith Olbermann, found himself without a job too, just days before the new owners arrived. Although Comcast says it did not instigate Olbermann's ouster, his departure served as a warning that people who spar with bosses won't be tolerated.
Infusing Comcast's and Burke's management approach, one that encourages teamwork and takes a dim view of office politics, into the sprawling NBC Universal could take years.
But Burke, 52, has been in training for the job nearly his entire life. He spent his early career at Walt Disney Co., working in theme parks, retail stores and the ABC broadcast network, before joining Comcast in 1998. His father, Dan Burke, confronted a similar challenge a quarter-century ago when his Capital Cities Communications acquired the larger ABC network, which had fallen to third place, and cut layers of management and clamped down on a perks-laden culture.
Now it's up to Steve Burke to fix the once-invincible NBC, ramp up revenue at the Universal Pictures studio, elevate the Spanish-language Telemundo network and navigate a new digital world where profits remain elusive.
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