One way or another every local television news outfit hypes itself as Your News Leader. What they mean by this, of course, since only one station can be the actual leader, is that the kids in their PR departments have found creative ways to twist Nielsen numbers to make it appear as though they have … Read more
To the surprise of no one who can read a ratings book, my former employers at KTLK have at long last spared Twin Cities radio listeners a third hour of Sean Hannity. The downside of course is that that same audience will get a third hour of Jason Lewis. … Oh, come on. That’s a … Read more
Interesting piece today from former Rake writer Al Eisele on The Huffington Post. He’s entirely correct in citing another terrific piece of work by the upper echelon of mainstream journalism. But do keep on reading, as Eisele’s readers rip HIM for giving the MSM a nano-second’s break from the hellstorm over their far more egregious … Read more
I don’t currently subscribe to either XM or Sirius satellite radio. But there have been times I would have sold my mother to the Arabs, (to quote Woody Allen), for anything that offered relief from the unmitigated crap that qualifies as “local broadcasting” across huge swaths of the continental USA. I mean, westbound out of … Read more
Brother. Everyone following the next great transition at the Star Tribune ought to read this posting on MnSpeak. The high key vernacular — phrases like, “leaving in droves” and such — are standard with disgruntled, PO’d sales reps at every TV and radio station in town. So take that with a grain of salt. But … Read more
Minnesota Republicans regard thousands of hours of Al Franken speeches and air-checks as manna from heaven. They are certain their decent, rigidly traditional, God-fearing, Bachmann-ite base will develop chronic, moral whiplash from the volleys of vulgar imagery Franken has thrown at poor Norm Coleman and Republicans in general over his career. But judging by the … Read more
Upon hearing this morning of the latest departure/replacement at the Star Tribune, this time publisher J. Keith Moyer — I placed a half dozen phone calls to what I consider the usual suspects … plus. I expected to listen to another wave of stunned dismay. Wrong. Those Strib employees who weren’t either busy trying to … Read more
This from a Stribber on today’s Barnes-for-Gyllenhaal announcement. Barnes … “1) is the first woman ever named to the executive editor post at the Star Tribune 2) leapfrogged over Gillespie — which is a big blow to Scott, a great guy — but in fact that follows a pattern around here of managing editors not … Read more
Nancy Barnes, currently the Star Tribune’s Deputy Managing Editor for Content, was named Anders Gyllenhaal’s replacement in a 2:30 announcement to the staff this afternoon. Her in-house competition was assumed to have been Monica Moses, executive director of Product Innovation and, Scott Gillespie, managing editor. At least for the time being both remain in their … Read more
MPR’s Kerri Miller had NPR’s Ken Rudin, (a.k.a. “The Political Junkie”), on last Friday morning. Both are plenty hip to horse race politics so the conversation and calls, even with Pledge Week breaks, enhanced my drive up I-35 to Duluth. They talked up Obama and the presidential slates. The obvious stuff. But it was the … Read more