Elon Musk Could Help Slash Public Media Funding

Sesame Street’s “Sunny Days” may not be as bright if Elon Musk makes good on his proposal to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding that is allocated to PBS and NPR stations — home to Elmo and the gang and popular programs like All Things Considered and Fresh Air with Terry Gross & Tonya Mosley.

The Philly Inquirer reports Elon Musk is in a unique position to recommend defunding public media. 

National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service are preparing for the effects of funding cuts. After the 2024 election, the leaders at NPR’s biggest member stations circulated a report that stated “it would be unwise to assume that events will play out as they have in the past” in regard to federal funding, the New York Times reported, as PBS was made aware of the situation by political consultants in early December. Station directors in certain states have started lobbying legislators.

The NY Times is apoplectic over the possible defunding of NPR despite its failing ratings and rising political bias. https://t.co/pMpWRW8iEx There is no discussion of the inherent conflict of the government funding a news organization... https://t.co/s1Pu7fZOcH

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 28, 2024

WHYY is the Philadelphia region’s PBS/NPR member station, serving 2.9 million households in the Philadelphia area, Delaware, and South Jersey — one of the country’s top 10 markets, as of March, according to the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Fresh Air, one of the most well-known NPR programs, is owned and produced by WHYY. It’s unclear how WHYY will be affected by potential cuts or if the station is bracing for any impact. New Jersey also has its own public media network — NJ PBS — which is composed of various outlets, including WNJN.

In a statement to The Inquirer, Gary Bramnick, senior director of marketing communications at WHYY, emphasized the importance of public media for educational content, cultural programming, and news regardless of a consumer’s income or location.

“Supporting diverse audiences, voices and perspectives, Public Media is an invaluable asset to our society, offering a unique blend of services that enrich our lives, supports an engaged civic populace and ultimately strengthens our democracy,” he said Friday. “Investing in public media is an investment in a more informed, engaged, and equitable society.”

A spokesperson for PBS echoed Bramnick’s sentiments in a statement Friday and said PBS is grateful to have bipartisan support in Congress.

Woman Claims She Was 'Lured' To Diddy' Party via Radio Contest

In a new lawsuit, a woman has accused embattled rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2006 at a New York party, where she says she was “lured” through a radio station contest.

NBC News reports Latroya Grayson said in the lawsuit she and her half-sibling were flown to New York City from Oklahoma on Oct. 16, 2006, after her relative won a trip for two to attend one of Combs’ parties. 

At the party, the woman, who was 23 at the time, said she felt sick and became unconscious after she was served two premade drinks by waitresses, according to the complaint filed Dec. 20 in the Southern District of New York.

She said she woke up in a hospital with a ripped shirt, missing underwear and shoes, and no recollection of how she got there, the complaint said.

She said her vagina hurt for about a week, which she believed was from rough intercourse that she did not remember, the suit says. She said she did not seek medical treatment or report the incident to law enforcement out of fear, according to the complaint.

Grayson said in the suit that she later received a call from an unknown woman with a New York number, allegedly threatening her to keep quiet. The caller allegedly said any attempts to pursue anything about the alleged assault “would be futile” because Combs “was a celebrity,” the complaint said.

Nashville's Big Bash Rings In 2025

Many TV viewers tuning into the CBS New Year's Eve "Big Bash" tomorrow night might not be ready for the display of influence Nashville's music stars are set to have on American pop culture, based on current hit songs and streaming trends.

The Tennessean reports The "Big Bash" will air from 8 to 10 p.m. ET/PT and from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. ET/PT on CBS, with streaming available on Paramount+. Live viewing is for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, while Paramount+ Essential subscribers can watch on-demand the day after.

Lainey Wilson

The celebration includes performances from Downtown Nashville at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, featuring artists like Kane Brown, Jelly Roll, Shaboozey, Keith Urban, and the critically acclaimed Brittney Spencer, leading up to the midnight music-note drop.

Artists at the 2024 New Year's Eve celebration reveal through their performances that country music traditions endure despite changes.

Conversations with artists like Tyler Hubbard (formerly of Florida Georgia Line), 2023's Country Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson, and Zach Top, nominated for CMA awards, underline the timeless appeal fueling Nashville's cultural influence.

"We're accomplishing everything that we told our fans and the music industry that we could achieve and because of that, we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel," Wilson told a Tennessean reporter while breaking from rehearsals at Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge honky-tonk on Lower Broadway.

It’s almost here!!! Tune in to @CBS this Tuesday, December 31st for THE BEST NYE party…LIVE: Nashville’s Big Bash! #CBSNashvilleNYE pic.twitter.com/drnTZZdcQ9

— bert kreischer (@bertkreischer) December 29, 2024

Nashville's country music scene has evolved, now emphasizing both its mainstream popularity and the widespread acceptance of country artists' capabilities across America.

Wilson has won 14 awards from the Academy of Country Music and the CMA since 2021, alongside seven No. 1 country hits. Her ballads like the Jelly Roll duet "Save Me" and the solo "Watermelon Moonshine" have also found success on all-genre top-40 radio, showcasing her crossover appeal.

"We're excited and proud to be on the platforms we're on, but if they're anything like me, we're also thinking about what we can improve on because I'm my worst critic," Wilson said. "With every song and performance, we're sharing all of ourselves to set the groundwork to fuel the fire behind a culture that people can also live."

Let's Get The Party Started

Happy New Year! Ryan Seacrest is set to countdown to 2025 on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest live on ABC starting at 8pm ET, January 31st, and the performances will be truly star-studded.

Performing during the New Year's Eve festivities to help ring in 2025 are Alanis Morisette, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Cody Johnson, Dasha, Ernest, Hardy, Jonas Brothers, Kesha, Laufey, Lenny Kravitz, Luis Fonsi, Megan Moroney, Natasha Bedingfield, Reneé Rapp, Sophie Ellis Bextor, T-Pain, Teddy Swims, Thomas Rhett, Tinashe, TLC and more!

Seacrest will be joined by co-host Rita Ora. The show will also be broadcast on iHeartRadio stations across the country, as well as on iHeartRadio's Hit Nation station.

#CUinNYC @RyanSeacrest! Can’t wait for my @RockinEve performance – tune in New Year’s Eve at 8/7c on @ABCNetwork! #RockinEve 🎤🪩🎉 pic.twitter.com/zJGYSLyIis

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) December 29, 2024

Dayanara Torres returns as co-host in Puerto Rico. Additional hosts include NFL retiree Rob Gronkowski and TV personality Jeannie Mai. Gronkowski will be covering NYE content from Las Vega, while Mai will be on location in Los Angeles as the ball drops in NYC.

The 54th edition of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest will also be available to stream next day on Hulu.

Stormy Weather Made 2024 Dangerous

2024 had its fair share of weather events that received top billing over newsier topics.

Hurricanes dominated the news cycle, with three making landfall within the lower 48 states. Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas as a Category 1 storm on July 8; Hurricane Helene landed as a Category 4 on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26; and Hurricane Milton made landfall in the Sunshine State in October, touching down as a Category 3 storm.

Helene was the most destructive of the three hurricanes, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicating that it was the deadliest hurricane to affect the continental U.S. since Katrina in 2005. The hurricane led to more than 150 direct fatalities, the majority occurring in North Carolina and South Carolina.

These major storms—as well as other weather events taking place throughout the year—kept America’s major weather networks, including The Weather Channel and Fox Weather, very busy.

The Weather Channel 

Hurricane Milton was the network’s most-watched weather event of 2024, with October posting its best monthly, weekly, and daily performance. The Weather Channel ranked among the Top 5 cable networks in the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo between Oct. 7-10 and was the top cable network among that audience on Oct. 9 when the hurricane made landfall. It outperformed the combined viewership of Fox News and CNN on that day, according to TVNewser.

Outside of its special hurricane coverage, The Weather Channel’s highest-rated program of 2024 was Weekend Recharge, which saw 313,000 total viewers and 48,000 demo viewers on Aug. 4. Its highest-rated primetime show of the year was Highway Through Hell, which attracted 267,000 total viewers and 13,000 demo viewers on Mar. 17. 

Fox Weather

Like The Weather Channel, Fox Weather saw significant viewership growth during the month of October due to coverage of Hurricane Milton. 

Note: Fox Weather’s viewership is not Nielsen measured as it is primarily distributed as a streaming network. Data sources for Fox Weather streaming: Adobe Analytics, Amagi, Cascada, Roku Portal, Xumo dashboard, Fubo dashboard, YTTV, Tubi dashboard, Hulu, and Nielsen.

During October, Fox Weather’s coverage total view time was up +662% year over year. Oct. 9 was the network’s best day in view time, with 994.8 million minutes streamed across its cable and the FAST channels.

Meanwhile, coverage of Milton and Helene represented 9 out of the top 10 days for the Fox Weather stream, and boosted viewership on the network’s website, which saw a +167% increase in year-over-year page views.

HEROIC RESCUE: @foxweather meteorologist rushes to save a woman from rising floodwaters as deadly Helene slams Southeast. pic.twitter.com/Nv9tvtFJoF

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 27, 2024

A viral moment occurred during Fox Weather’s Helene coverage involving on-air meteorologist. While on location in Atlanta, Bob Van Dillen switched from reporter to hero mode as he rescued a woman trapped in a flooded car. 

R.I.P.: Jimmy Carter, 39th Presdient

Being elected president of the United States just once would satisfy most people, but Jimmy Carter has pushed the envelope ever since he was a farm boy dreaming of the Navy. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has compiled a list of some of Carter’s biggest accomplishments,

1. As a lieutenant in the Navy in 1952, Carter served under the legendary Adm. Hyman Rickover, helping to develop a nuclear-powered Navy. Bringing things full circle, Carter in 2004 christened the USS Jimmy Carter, a $3.3 billion nuclear submarine.

2. Carter left the Navy in 1953, following the death of his father, Earl, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 58. The elder Carter was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, and his son eventually followed him into politics. In 1962, after first winning a court fight over voter fraud, Jimmy Carter was elected to the Georgia Senate. In 1971, on his second try, Carter became Georgia’s governor, and in 1976, he won election to become the 39th president of the United States.

3. As president in 1978, Carter mediated negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to produce the Camp David Accords. Under the agreement, Israel agreed to return Egyptian territory conquered during the 1973 war, and Egypt in return extended full diplomatic recognition to Israel. Begin and Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize for that effort.

4. Carter has long been associated with Habitat for Humanity, first working with it in March 1984 when he joined a work crew in building a home for a needy family in Americus. Habitat for Humanity has honored the former president’s efforts for the charity by holding an annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The next one, the 32nd, will take place Nov. 1-6 in Nepal to help that country recover from a massive earthquake.

5. Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

R.I.P.: Charles Dolan, A Cable-TV Pioneer

Charles Dolan, a pioneer of the cable-television industry who launched Home Box Office and AMC Networks, has died at age 98.

The Wall Street Journal reports Dolan was the founder of Cablevision Systems, which over four decades grew into a leading pay-TV operator in the New York metropolitan area. Over the course of his career, his holdings in media included AMC Networks, whose namesake channel aired “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad”; Madison Square Garden Co., including the famous venue and ownership of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers; Radio City Music Hall; and the newspaper Newsday.

He “passed away peacefully from natural causes, surrounded by his loved ones,” a family spokeswoman said. “Remembered as both a trailblazer in the television industry and a devoted family man, his legacy will live on.”

Dolan, who was known as Chuck, often took a contrarian path compared with cable-industry peers and didn’t shy away from a fight. He was one of the first industry executives to argue that consumers should be able to buy cable channels a la carte instead of being forced to buy large bundles, an idea that is still resisted by entertainment giants. He took on major media companies in a landmark legal battle that ultimately legalized the cloud-based digital video recorder, an innovation now used by a host of online TV services.

Cablevision in recent years sold or spun off its media investments, including MSG, AMC and Clearview Cinemas, as the operator refocused on its core cable business.

Dolan for years toyed with the idea of selling the cable business itself, including to the neighboring New York operator Time Warner Cable. But he always stepped back from such a move.

A Tribute To Those We Lost in 2024

Around this time of year, it's hard not to think of those we lost – family and friends, most of all. Then, there are the people who in their own way almost become like family to all of us … people from all walks of life, in all kinds of fields.

"Sunday Morning" correspondent Lee Cowan remembers some of the newsworthy men and women who passed away this year – musicians and storytellers who surpassed the ordinary, athletes who defied expectations, and activists who defied injustice, all touching us with their creativity and humanity.

Radio History: Dec 30

➦In 1911...Actress Jeanette Nolan born (Died at age 86 from a stroke – June 5, 1998). Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series The Virginian (1962–1971) and Dirty Sally (1974); and in films such as Macbeth (1948).

Nolan began her acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, and, while a student at Los Angeles City College, made her radio debut in 1932 in Omar Khayyam, the first transcontinental broadcast from station KHJ. She continued acting into the 1990s.

Nolan made more than three hundred television appearances.

➦In 1914...Radio & TV host Bert Parks born (Died at age 77 from lung cancer – February 2, 1992).  He is best known for hosting the annual Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979.

Parks entered radio broadcasting at age 16, for Atlanta's WGST. Three years later, he moved to New York City and was hired as a singer and straight man on The Eddie Cantor Show, then becoming a CBS Radio staff announcer. Parks was the host of Break the Bank, which premiered on radio in 1945 and was telecast from 1948 to 1957, as well as Stop the Music on radio in 1948 and television from 1949 to 1952.

Bert Parks

The success of Stop the Music took a toll on the ratings of the popular radio show hosted by satirist Fred Allen, who began spoofing Parks's program with skits mocking the premise of the show, one called Cease The Melody.

With other celebrities, he hosted NBC radio's Monitor during the 1960s.

Parks' first game show was Party Line on NBC (broadcast from New York City NBC flagship station WNBT), which involved viewers calling in to answer questions and win $5 prizes; Party Line ran from June 8 to August 31, 1947, making its one surviving episode the oldest known game show and one of the oldest surviving television shows to have been recorded. Commercial kinescopes did not come out until fall 1947 (co-sponsored by NBC, DuMont, and Kodak), and the only kinescopes known to predate Party Line are a few episodes of Kraft Television Theater from February and June 1947.

Parks is most famous for hosting the Miss America telecast from 1955–79; each telecast ended with Parks singing "There She Is, Miss America", as the winner was crowned. Following the 1979 pageant, he was unceremoniously fired by the organization (he heard a newscast while on vacation) in an attempt to attract a more youthful audience. The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson led an on-air campaign to get Parks rehired, but was unsuccessful. In 1990, for the 70th anniversary of the Miss America pageant (during which Miss America 1991 was crowned), Parks was brought on by host Gary Collins to sing "There She Is" to the new Miss America, Marjorie Judith Vincent. It was the last time Parks performed the song live.

➦In 1917...actress Nancy Coleman born (Died at age 82 – January 18, 2000). After working on radio and appearing on the Broadway stage, Nancy Coleman moved to Hollywood to work for Warner Bros. studios.

Early in her career as an actress, Coleman portrayed Alice Hughes on the radio version of the soap opera Young Doctor Malone.  Coleman also appeared as the lead in the 04/13/1943 episode of "Suspense", entitled "Fear Paints a Picture". On television, she played Helen Emerson on Valiant Lady.

Jack Benny and Fred Allen

➦In 1936...The famous radio feud between Jack Benny and Fred Allen began. Good friends in real life, Fred Allen and Jack Benny inadvertently hatched a running gag in 1937 when a child prodigy, violinist Stuart Canin, gave a very credible performance on the Allen show, inspiring an Allen wisecrack about "a certain alleged violinist" who should hide in shame over his poor playing.

Allen often mentioned his show-business friends on the air ("Mr. Jacob Haley of Newton Highlands, Massachusetts" was Allen's way of saying hello to his pal Jack Haley), and on the Canin broadcast Allen knew Benny would be listening. Benny, according to Allen biographer Taylor, burst out laughing, then responded in kind on his own program. The rivalry gag went on for a decade and convinced some fans that the two comedians really were blood enemies.

The Allen-Benny feud was the longest-playing, best-remembered running gag in classic radio history.  The gag even pushed toward a boxing match between the two comedians and the promised event was a sellout, though the match never occurred.

➦In 1942...the radio program, "Mr. and Mrs. North", began it's run on the NBC Radio network. The show was a radio mystery series that aired on NBC and CBS from 1942 to 1954. Alice Frost and Joseph Curtin had the title roles when the series began in 1942.

The characters, publisher Jerry North and his wife Pam, lived in Greenwich Village at 24 St. Anne's Flat. They were not professional detectives but simply an ordinary couple who stumbled across a murder or two every week for 12 years. The radio program eventually reached nearly 20 million listeners.

➦In 1942...Frank Sinatra opened at New York's Paramount Theater for what was scheduled to be a four-week engagement, but turned into eight weeks because of its popularity.

Radio History: Dec 29

➦In 1891...Thomas A. Edison patented "transmission of signals electrically" (radio).

Wendell Niles, Marilyn Monroe

➦In 1904...one of the prominent announcers of big-time radio & early TV Wendell Niles was born in Twin Valley Minnesota.

Niles worked on such radio shows as The Charlotte Greenwood Show, Hedda Hopper's Hollywood, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, The Man Called X, The Bob Hope Show, The Burns & Allen Show, The Milton Berle Show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour. On February 15, 1950, Wendell starred in the radio pilot for The Adventures of the Scarlet Cloak along with Gerald Mohr.

Wendell Niles

He began in entertainment by touring in the 1920s with his own orchestra, playing with the Dorsey Brothers and Bix Beiderbecke. In the early 1930s, Niles was an announcer at radio station KOL in Seattle. He moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1935 to join George Burns and Gracie Allen.

He and his brother, Ken, developed one of the first radio dramas, which eventually became Theatre of the Mind.

He toured with Bob Hope during World War II. Among his film credits are Knute Rockne, All American (1940) with Ronald Reagan and Hollywood or Bust (the last Martin & Lewis comedy, 1956) as himself.

Wendell Niles was the announcer for TV's "America's Show Of Surprises"... It Could Be You, and for the Hatos-Hall production Your First Impression. Niles was also the original announcer for Let's Make a Deal during that show's first season in 1963 and 1964; he was later replaced by Jay Stewart.

Niles and his brother, Ken, are the first brothers to have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He died March 28 1994 at age 89.

➦In 1945...Sheb Wooley recorded the first commercial record made in Nashville. The song was recorded at the studios of WSM-AM and released by the Bullet label; but it would be 13 years before Wooley would finally score with a big hit (“The Purple People Eater” was #1 for six weeks in 1958.)

WSM is credited with helping shape Nashville into a recording industry capital. Because of WSM's wide reach, musical acts from all across the eastern United States came to Nashville in the early decades of the station's existence, in hopes of getting to perform on WSM.  Over time, as more acts and recording companies came to Nashville, the city became known as the center of the country music industry. Disc jockey David Cobb is credited with first referring to Nashville as "Music City USA", a designation that has since been adopted as the city's official nickname by the local tourism board.

➦In 1945...The mystery voice of "Mr. Hush" was introduced to the audience of the radio show, "Truth or Consequences", which was hosted by Ralph Edwards.

Ralph Edwards

Born in Merino, Colorado,  Edwards worked for KROW Radio in Oakland, California while he was still in high school.  Before graduating from high school in 1931, he worked his way through college at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a B.A. in English in 1935. While there, he worked at every job from janitor to producer at Oakland's KTAB, now KSFO. Failing to get a job as a high school teacher, he worked at KFRC and then hitchhiked across the country to New York, where, he said, "I ate ten-cent ($2 as of 2014),  meals and slept on park benches".

After some part-time announcing jobs, he got his big break in 1938 with a full-time job for the Columbia Broadcasting System on WABC (now WCBS-AM), where he worked with two other young announcers who would become broadcasting fixtures - Mel Allen and Andre Baruch.

It was Edwards who introduced Major Bowes every week on the Original Amateur Hour and Fred Allen on Town Hall Tonight. Edwards perfected a chuckling delivery, sounding as though he was in the midst of telling a very funny story. This "laugh in the voice" technique served him well when 20th Century Fox hired him to narrate the coming-attractions trailers for Laurel and Hardy movies. He later used the conspiratorial chuckle frequently when surprising someone on his programs.

In 1940, Edwards created the game show Truth or Consequences, which aired for 38 years on radio and television. Contestants were asked to perform (often ridiculous) stunts for prizes of cash or merchandise.

➦In 1958...the first radio broadcast from space occurred when the voice of President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "To all mankind, America's wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere".

➦In 1963...Much to the chagrin of the disc jockeys at 50,000-watt 77WABC in New York, the 5,000-watt blowtorch known as WMCA 570 AM and its famed “Good Guys” became the first New York radio station to play the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. It didn’t take long for WABC to get revenge. WABC played the record an hour later and started calling itself the “official” Beatles station (W-A-Beatle-C).

Throughout the 1960s, WMCA would continue to beat other radio stations on most Beatles' promotions, scoring firsts, causing headaches in particular for rival WABC - most notably when Capitol Records printed a photograph of the "Good Guys" line-up - on the back of a limited edition record sleeve for the single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Side 2: "I Saw Her Standing There"). WMCA's Good Guys were also featured at both of the Beatles' concerts at Shea Stadium, on August 15, 1965 and on August 23, 1966.

WMCA Good Guys: Johnny Dark, Joe O'Brien, Jack Spector, B. Mitchel Reed. Harry Harrison

WABC responded in different ways, scoring a success during the Beatles' second New York visit in August 1964 - when the band stayed at the Delmonico Hotel, rousing thousands of teenage fans into a frenzy - while broadcasting from one floor above the Beatles' rooms.  WABC later went against its own music policies, promising promoter Sid Bernstein that it would play a new group he was handling before any other New York City radio station - if it could get exclusive access to the Beatles. WABC never added records "out of the box" - but it did for Sid Bernstein when it played The Young Rascals' "I Ain't Going To Eat Out My Heart Anymore" - before other radio stations.

Since WABC knew WMCA already had a relationship with the Beatles, with tapes of the group promoting the station - what could WABC do to achieve the same? In August 1965, WABC came up with what it thought was a brilliant idea - issuing "medals" called "The Order of the All-Americans" - tied to its own DJs.  The strategy was to present the medals to each of the Beatles the next time they were in New York. Everything was set. The goal was to get each Beatle to comment on the "medal" - and then to get each to say the station's call letters, "W-A-B-C." These in turn could be used in station IDs and promotions, etc. - thus matching WMCA's success at getting the Beatles to promote WMCA and its Good Guys. But WABC's plan backfired. The station got its interviews, but none of the band's members would utter WABC's call letters. According to Beatles' historian Bruce Spizer, manager Brian Epstein ordered the Beatles to stop "giving away valuable promotional spots to radio stations for free."

Ted Danson is 77

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS

• Actor Jon Voight is 86. 
• Singer Marianne Faithfull is 78. 
• Actor Ted Danson is 77. 
• Singer-actor Yvonne Elliman is 73. 
• Actor Patricia Clarkson is 65. 
• Comedian Paula Poundstone is 65. 
• Guitarist-singer Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain is 63. 
• Actor Michael Cudlitz (“The Walking Dead”) is 60. 
• Singer Dexter Holland of The Offspring is 59. 
• Actor Jason Gould is 58. 
• News anchor Ashleigh Banfield is 57. 
• Director Lilly Wachowski (“The Matrix”) is 57. 
• Singer-guitarist Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 54. 
• Actor Kevin Weisman (“Alias”) is 54. 
• Actor Jude Law is 52. 
• Actor Maria Dizzia (“Orange Is the New Black”) is 50. 
• Actor Mekhi Phifer is 50. 
• Actor Shawn Hatosy (“Reckless,” ″The Faculty”) is 49. 
• Actor Katherine Moennig (“Ray Donovan,” “The L Word”) is 47. 
• Actor Alison Brie (“Glow,” ″Community”) is 42. 
• Country singer Jessica Andrews is 41. 
• Actor Iain de Caestecker (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) is 37. 
• Actor Jane Levy (“Suburgatory”) is 35. 
• Drummer Danny Wagner of Greta Van Fleet is 26.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 2011..Bobby Purify [Robert Lee Dickey], American soul singer (I'm Your Puppet), dies at 72
• In 2020..Phyllis McGuire, American pop vocalist (McGuire Sisters - "Sincerely"; "Sugartime"), dies at 89
• In 2022..Pele, Brazilian soccer attacking midfielder (92 caps; Player of the Century; 1,281 goals in 1,363 games; Santos, died from colon cancer at age 82
• In 2023..Les McCann, American jazz pianist, soul singer ("Compared to What"), painter, and photographer, dies of pneumonia at 88

TV Ratings: 27M Watched Beyonce Half-Time Show

The NFL’s Netflix debut was a success – as far as streaming goes, anyway. But even with Beyoncé performing at halftime, the games’ ratings were roughly on par with last year’s Christmas viewership, which was aired on broadcast and cable TV.

CNN  reports the late Ravens-Texans game averaged 24.3 million viewers in the United States, and the early Chiefs-Steelers game averaged 24.1 million, according to Nielsen. The games were the most-streamed games in NFL history, the ratings company said.

Viewership for the Ravens-Texans peaked at the halftime show, dubbed the Beyoncé Bowl, with over 27 million viewers, Nielsen reported.

“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix chief content officer, in a statement.

That might have been a stellar debut for football on Netflix, but the numbers weren’t particularly great for the NFL. Last year’s Christmas games, all broadcasted on traditional TV and cable networks, each out-rated this year’s offerings. The Raiders vs. Chiefs on CBS netted 29.2 million viewers. The Eagles vs. Giants on Fox scored 29 million and the 49ers vs. Ravens on ESPN had 27.1 million viewers on average, Nielsen reported.

This year’s Christmas Day games were the first of a three-year deal for the NFL and Netflix, which paid $150 million to carry the games through 2026.

“We’re thrilled with our first Christmas Gameday on Netflix with NFL games being streamed to a global audience,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution, in a statement.

The ratings may have been hurt by the blowout scores. The Ravens beat the Texas 31-2, and the Chiefs outscored the Steelers 29-10.

The NFL experimented last year with streaming its playoff game on Peacock, and the ratings were surprisingly strong despite significant confusion and concern from fans ahead of the game. At the time, the Chiefs-Dolphins game on Peacock on January 15 was the most-streamed live event in history.

NPR, PBS Bracing For Funding Tussle

In his new role advising President-elect Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk has floated sweeping cuts to the federal government, including the elimination of entire departments and the firing of agency leaders. One of the most concrete proposals on his list is eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding that the government funnels to PBS and NPR stations, home to cultural touchstones like Elmo, Big Bird and “Fresh Air.”

For decades, NPR and PBS have overcome similar threats. But this year, “the attention and intensity” of the calls to defund public media seem greater, said Michael Isip, the president and chief executive of KQED, which operates NPR and PBS stations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The NY Times reports NPR and PBS stations are bracing for the fight. After the election, leaders of NPR’s biggest member stations circulated a report that warned “it would be unwise to assume that events will play out as they have in the past,” with regard to their federal funding. PBS received an update on the situation from political consultants at a board meeting in early December. And station directors in some states are already making their case to legislators.

Internally, NPR is preparing for a variety of funding possibilities, including that government money will be clawed back immediately, according to two people briefed on the network’s planning.

While many Americans know NPR and PBS by popular programs like “Sesame Street” and “All Things Considered,” those national organizations are merely the most visible part of a network of local stations crisscrossing the United States — a network that depends on public funding for local news, educational programming and emergency alerts. More than 98 percent of the U.S. population lives within listening range of at least one of the more than 1,000 public radio stations that carry NPR programming, and many stations use government funding to buy shows and pay for their newsrooms.

An NPR spokesperson, Isabel Lara, said defunding public radio would result in less money for local journalism, including coverage of sports and culture. She added that the network regularly planned for a variety of different financial outcomes. “Cutting public media funding means cutting funding to local communities,” she said.

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Delay TikTok Ban

President-elect Donald Trump in a legal filing Friday asked the Supreme Court to delay a potential ban on Chinese-owned social media app TikTok due to take effect in January to allow time for him to negotiate a way to “save the platform.”

The Washington Post reports Trump’s intervention follows his campaign promises to keep the popular social media app accessible to its more than 170 million U.S. users if he won. His brief was filed as a friend-of-the-court, not siding with either party to the case.

The Washington Post previously reported that advisers to the president-elect expected him to intervene on TikTok’s behalf if necessary, despite Trump previously attempting to ban TikTok himself, citing national security concerns about its Chinese ownership. President Joe Biden rescinded that order when he entered the White House in 2021.

Trump suggested at a rally in Arizona Sunday that his recent popularity on TikTok had encouraged him to consider attempting to push back on the ban threatening the app. “We had billions of views, billions and billions of views,” he said. “They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see. And as I looked at it, I said, ‘Maybe we got to keep this sucker around a little while.’”

TikTok became a key part of Trump’s online campaign this year, with his account featuring celebrity cameos and unscripted behind-the-scenes moments with the candidate.

The app is particularly popular with younger adults, the Pew Research Center found in a 2024 survey, with 59 percent of adults under 30 saying they use the app. Only 32 percent of U.S. adults support a government ban on TikTok, Pew found in a separate survey this year, down from 50 percent in March 2023.

Free-Speech Advocates: US TikTok Law Reminiscent of Dictatorships

A U.S. law against Chinese-owned TikTok evokes the censorship regimes put in place by the United States' authoritarian enemies, free-speech advocates told the Supreme Court on Friday.

In an amicus filing, opens new tab, PEN America, Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute, and the Free Press urged the country's highest court to strike down the federal TikTok law to ban it or force its sale. They argue that not only did the law unlawfully threaten to restrict Americans from accessing foreign media in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it "recalls practices that have long been associated with repressive governments."

Reuters reports the brief noted the Soviet Union and Chinese communists jammed Western radio broadcasts following World War Two, while modern-day Russia and China have a host of restrictions on websites and apps including Facebook, X, and YouTube.

TikTok and its owner ByteDance are fighting to keep the popular app online in the United States after Congress voted in April to ban it unless ByteDance sells it by Jan. 19.

The Justice Department has said that as a Chinese company, TikTok poses "a national-security threat of immense depth and scale" because of its access to vast amounts of data on American users. Judges have accepted the government's argument that it is acting solely to protect the U.S. from a "foreign adversary nation" and hamper Beijing's ability to gather data on Americans.

In their amicus brief, the free-speech advocates said any bid to protect Americans' data would best be achieved through privacy legislation, rather than banning a popular mode of expression.

The brief noted that, if successful, the U.S. would ironically join Beijing in banning TikTok. Chinese authorities only allow the app's domestic version, called Douyin, which is subject to heavy censorship.

S-F Radio: Lamont Hollywood Returning To KSAN

Lamont Hollywood plans to return to the Bay Area radio airwaves with a new show set to debut at his former home early next year. 

“The Lamont Show” will premiere on 107.7 The Bone (KSAN) on Jan. 6, just two months after Hollywood departed from the station, according to The S-F Chronicle. 

His exit marked the end of a long-running partnership with Paul Tonelli on “The Lamont & Tonelli Show,” a fixture of Bay Area radio for 35 years.

Lamont Hollywood

Hollywood’s return will bring back familiar voices, including Chasta, the station’s program director, and Danny “Baby Huey” Delmore, who will join him as co-hosts. 

The new show promises to continue the irreverent humor, classic rock hits and pop culture commentary that made “The Lamont & Tonelli Show” a favorite among listeners. 

The duo first launched their morning program in 1989 at KSJO in San Jose before moving to KSAN in 2003, where they built a devoted fan base, affectionately known as Boneheads. Their farewell broadcast on Nov. 15 was filled with emotional listener tributes and heartfelt thanks. Lamont signed off with a nod to the Bay Area’s rock roots, playing Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” as the final track.

Last month, the company also parted ways with longtime KNBR hosts Tom Tolbert and John Lund, and relocated the station’s broadcast studios from San Francisco to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.