The Decline and Fall of WCCO Radio

Image via WikipediaStick another fork into the legacy of Minnesota's most powerful radio station.  WCCO-AM and Goldy Gopher have parted ways for the first time in what seems like forever.  Actually, it goes back to 1924 when the station was known as WLAG.

The University of Minnesota and Learfield Sports, which owns the broadcast rights, made the decision to take their business elsewhere starting next fall.  For the next three seasons, KFAN-AM and KTLK-FM will take over Gopher football broadcasts, while KSTP-AM (1500 ESPN) becomes the new radio home of Gopher men's hockey and men's and women's basketball.

One of the reasons why the 'U' and Learfield decided to change stations is that they wanted a younger audience.  WCCO's audience can best be described by two of its advertisers:  Washburn-McReavey funeral homes and the Cremation Society of Minnesota.

This must be a sad time for Sid Hartman, who for most of his life has been as big a supporter of Gopher sports as could be without sacrificing his journalistic integrity.

The NHL Minnesota Wild are the only sports property WCCO has now, where once they cornered the market.  The Vikings have been on KFAN for over a decade.  The Twins moved to KSTP in 2007.

Sports isn't the only place where WCCO has fallen on hard times.  For years they were the flagship station for a weekly radio show hosted by the Governor of Minnesota.  This year, there won't be one.

Governor Mark Dayton rejected all offers to host his own show because (A) the stations and websites who bidded were inadequate, and (B) he was offered lousy time periods.  WCCO, which aired Governors Jesse Ventura's and Tim Pawlenty's shows at 9 a.m. Fridays when they were in office, wanted Dayton to appear at 7 a.m. Saturday mornings.  The Governor called the offer insulting.

Longtime listeners share the feeling as they watch the Good Neighbor slide into irrelevance.  Though ratings have been picking up lately, they're a far cry from the glory years.  Too many familiar voices such as Charlie Boone, Eric Eskola and Don Shelby were either let go or retired.  In their place are polarizing personalities such as Chad Hartman (Sid's kid), Michele Tafoya and Tom Mischke.  Its news coverage, which used to be second to none, has now been surpassed by Minnesota Public Radio.  And there seems to be commercials every five minutes.

Gone are the days of full-service radio stations like WCCO, where you could expect to be informed and entertained without ever having to go anyplace else.  Competition from other stations and new technology changed all that, not to mention budget cuts by owner CBS.

We take no pleasure in always beating down on a legendary radio station that has seen better days.  Management made its bed, now it has to lie in it.  But listeners shouldn't have to suffer the consequences if their favorite station gets treated as if it belongs on an episode of "Antiques Roadshow".

"Good Time Charlie" Gets The Axe

Image via WikipediaOK, we've avoided this long enough.  One man has been in the headlines more often than the rebellion in the Middle East and the budget standoff in Wisconsin.  We'll give you three guesses.

Time's up.  Today, our subject is Charlie Sheen.

Sheen has just been fired by Warner Brothers TV from his long-running CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men".  Because he's been playing the same kind of role in real life as the character he played on TV, only with more serious consequences.

To date, Sheen has been in and out of jail and rehab, his three marriages have ended badly, and his kids are caught in a custody dispute.  His alleged treatment of the women in his life leaves something to be desired.

Sheen's reportedly wild behavior has apparently been going on well before "Two and a Half Men" went on the air.  CBS and Warner Bros. had been raking in high ratings and profits from syndication.  They saw no reason to rein in their biggest star until they finally realized they had a PR disaster in the making and did something about it.

Sheen has reacted to all this negative publicity by going on almost every talk show that isn't on CBS, blasting his producers, defending his lifestyle, and parading porn stars in front of TV cameras.  He has also threatened to sue Warner Bros. for getting back the money he's owed for the final two years of his contract.

Sheen's enforced departure has cast a cloud over the future of "Two and a Half Men".  Production has shut down for the remainder of the season, leaving several episodes unfilmed.  No one knows if the show, which has been on CBS since 2003, will return next season.  There's been talk of a different actor taking over for Sheen.  Failing that, maybe the network will just move either "How I Met Your Mother" or "The Big Bang Theory" into "Men"'s time period on Mondays.

It is not a pleasant sight to watch Charlie Sheen go down the tubes as he apparently has.  Having been fired from TV's top-rated sitcom, this should provide him with the opportunity to get his life back together.  If he doesn't, he can look forward to ending up like other Hollywood stars who lived fast and died young.  Let's all hope he makes the right choice.

Cutting The "Public" Out of Public Broadcasting

Image via WikipediaRight now, your local PBS station might be showing music specials for baby boomers and motivational talks  from self-help gurus instead of "Masterpiece Theater" or "Nova", punctuated by 15 minutes (or so) of nobody you'd know urging you to give up some of your hard-earned money to help pay for the channel you're watching.  That's right, folks.  It's pledge time once again.

This year, there's more urgency to the cause because of what Republicans in Congress are trying to do to public broadcasting in the name of paring down the federal deficit.  The GOP-led House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that would eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and federal support for public media altogether.  The measure now goes to the Senate.

It's no secret that conservatives loathe public broadcasting.  It takes up too much of our precious tax dollars, they say.  The programs are too liberally-biased, and so on.  Instead, in a manner that would make Marie Antoinette proud, they would say "let them watch cable".

That's really not an option for people who are on limited budgets, or just don't want to pay for more channels in the first place.  PBS and NPR are for them bulwarks against biased news, reality shows, infomercials, limited playlists and right-wing talk shows on commercial stations owned by a few corporations.

Which isn't to say public broadcasting is perfect.  The informational shows are too dry.  Most documentaries are great cures for insomnia.  Those announcements for corporate underwriting sound an awful lot like commercials.  The Juan Williams thing could have been handled better.  Did we also mention pledge drives?  Is "Barney" still on the air?

Also, in some places, some public broadcasting outlets have become so powerful that smaller stations are literally gasping for air, not to mention donations.  If you live in Minnesota, you know what we're talikng about.

Love it or hate it, public broadcasting has become an indispensible part of our culture.  "Sesame Street" still teaches and entertains little kids after more than 40 years.  "Antiques Roadshow" has been popular enough to spawn imitators.  And NPR is really the only place where you can find in-depth news coverage on radio.

So, as you watch another salute to pop singers of the 1950s and old episodes of "The Lawrence Welk Show", ask yourself how and why we benefit from public broadcasting.  And also ask why there are people out there who are hellbent on taking it away.

Another Dictator Bites The Dust?

Image via WikipediaMuammar Gaddafi has been running Libya since 1969, sometimes into the ground.  Over 42 years, he has antagonized the rest of the world with his actions, while keeping a tight lid on the movements of his fellow citizens.

Now Gaddafi is in the battle of his life, fighting to retain his power as opposition forces move in on the capital of Tripoli.  He has vowed to stand and fight as onetime allies of his desert him.

Libya has become the latest Middle East country whose people finally had had enough of a decades-old dictator, yet do not have a clue as to what comes next.

Granted, Gaddafi has always been the epitome of the tinhorn dictator.  Lately, though, he's been making rambling speeches from inside bombed out buildings (courtesy of U.S. airstrikes during the Reagan era), assuring everyone that everything was under control when it really wasn't.

Now that most Americans who wanted to leave Libya have been evacuated (with the exception of a few hardy journalists), the United States is putting out the word that they're ready to help get rid of Gaddafi if the people there so desire.  Besides freezing financial assets, no such request has been made so far.

In a classic case of "be careful what you wish for", those who are cheering the overthrow of oil-rich Middle Eastern governments will soon be paying for it.  Price hikes in gasoline and food due to the unrest are threatening an already-fragile economy.

Whatever happens in Libya will be interesting to watch.  Because Gaddafi has dominated the political landscape in that country for so long, crushing any kind of formal opposition, the people there will have to start from scratch.  Just like the people in Tunisia, Egypt and who knows where else.  Throwing off the chains of dictatorship is one thing.  Forming a new nation out of the ashes is quite another.

Oscar Hails "The King's Speech"

Image via WikipediaTo no one's surprise, a film about a stuttering king who was trained to speak flawlessly on the wireless at a time when his country needed him the most was the big winner at the 83rd Academy Awards.  "The King's Speech" won four Oscars out of 12 nominations for director Tom Hooper, actor Colin Firth's portrayal of George VI, original screenplay and for best picture.

Natalie Portman got her Best Actress trophy for "Black Swan", while "The Fighter" won supporting actor awards for Melissa Leo and Christian Bale.  If Leo almost sank her chances because of the way she handled her voting campaign, she became known for dropping the proverbial f-bomb during her acceptance speech (which ABC mercifully bleeped), then apologized for backstage.

Considering all the stories we've been hearing about the mysterious artist Banksy, whose work can be seen in various Los Angeles locales and has attracted considerable attention with law enforcement and copyright attorneys.  His film was nominated for Best Documentary, and everyone was wondering if he'd reveal himself to accept the award.  The Academy avoided embarrassment by awarding the prize to the film "Inside Job", which chronicled Wall Street's role in the financial meltdown of 2008.

The Oscar telecast was co-hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who did their darndest to become a 21st century version of Donny and Marie Osmond without quite succeeding.  One wonders how the Academy came up with this pairing until you consider how it all benefits Disney and ABC, the TV network it owns.   Franco used to be on the ABC soap "General Hospital", while Hathaway was introduced to movie audiences in Disney's "The Princess Diaries".  They were no match for Billy Crystal, who was on hand to introduce a hologram of Bob Hope introducing a special effects category.  Both were missed.

There were some things that the Oscar telecast improved on this time.  There were no boring montages of Great Movies of the Past.  The "In Memoriam" segment, sung by Celine Dion, was tastefully done with no camera pans of the giant screen onstage and no applause until the end, when Halle Berry saluted Lena Horne (which only served to remind folks that no black performers were nominated this year).  The embarrassing testimonials for the Best Actor and Actress nominees were limited to Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges, respectively, from the stage.  And the show ran just over three hours, not "127 Hours" as some had feared.

It was officially announced during the show that ABC will continue to televise the Academy Awards through 2020.  By then, the network will have been Oscar's TV home for over 40 years.  Who knows what TV--or the movies--will look like by then?

Standoff In Badgerland

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeGovernor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who's only been in office a few weeks, had to know what kind of havoc he just created.  He and his fellow Republicans are behind a bill that's going through the state legislature that would restrict collective bargaining for state employees, which in turn would help solve their budget crisis.  Without it, the governor says, layoffs would become necessary.  And he's not interested in compromise, which could be a big mistake politically.

Tell that to the protestors who jammed the state capitol in Madison, the 14 Democratic state senators who fled across the border to avoid voting on the bill, and to the parents whose kids stayed home from school because their teachers called in sick--but not sick enough to keep them from joining in the protests.

Unions have become less and less important as corporations have figured out that they could include many of the same provisions, such as a shorter workday and an hourly wage, that they had been resisting for a century without hurting their bottom line.  Now government is catching on.

Wisconsin and Minnesota are among several states that are now millions of dollars in debt.  The GOP and the Tea Partiers tell us that wasteful government spending is the problem, but it is also the national economic climate with fewer people working and more companies either shutting down or moving elsewhere.  That means those states aren't collecting as many tax revenues as they used to.  And still they have to provide certain services, such as health care and unemployment benefits,  for those who can't afford them any other way.

What's happening in Madison could soon be playing out on a national stage.  Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down the federal government, which is trillions of dollars in debt, unless they get the budget done their way and not President Obama's.  They tried this tactic back in the mid-1990s when they took control of both houses of Congress, with the results being so disastrous for the GOP that President Bill Clinton was re-elected.

We're told by those who think they know that government has to live within its means, just like the rest of us do.  That's a nice thought, but is it possible?  What does "living within your means" actually mean, anyway?  You can cut and cut and cut your way to a balanced budget, only to find that the people you serve are going to suffer needlessly.  Is that what the Republicans really want?

This latest example of political gridlock would be mere farce if the stakes weren't so high.  The protestors who are fighting this possible law are also fighting for their lives.  Trouble is, so is the state of Wisconsin.

I'll Take 'Man and Machine' for $200, Alex

Image by LeeLeFever via FlickrAn IBM computer named Watson defeated two human competitors--past champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter--to take the million-dollar prize on a special edition of TV's "Jeopardy".  Since computers can't spend money (unless it's the virtual kind), IBM says it is giving the prize winnings to an alleged charity.

This is the most buzz "Jeopardy" has had since Jennings set a record for consecutive wins a few years ago.  At times, the two-game, three-day competition played like an infomercial for IBM.  They spent so much time explaining Watson to the audience that they almost forgot to play the game.

Watson isn't infallible.  Though it racked up more points than either Jennings or Rutter could muster, not to mention being programmed to be quicker on the signaling devices, Big Blue's creation still got some things wrong just to prove it could be--human.  Take the Final Jeopardy category U.S. Cities.  The answer:  This city has two airports.  One was named for a World War II hero, and the other for a famous battle.  The correct question:  What is Chicago (for O'Hare and Midway airports)?  Watson's response was:  What is Toronto?

"Jeopardy", which has been hosted by Alex Trebek since the syndicated version went on the air in 1984, is still the best game show on TV.  They deserve credit for keeping difficult categories like Shakespeare, the Bible and classical music in the mix.  But we can certainly do without the word game categories that make the show and the contestants look ridiculous, as well as the celebrity and kids tournaments.

Some fear that, with Watson's victory, this is the beginning of the end for the human race.  Not so fast.  Maybe someday computers will be doing all our thinking for us.  But who's going to put in the information?  As far as we know, computers aren't capable of doing that.  Maybe IBM is working on it right now . . .