SoFlo: MEDIA DARK SIDE (2#) -

The Sun-Sentinel's Sean Piccoli reports that one of the "local" radio stations, Love 94, has switched formats. Clear Channel, which controls most of the radio in South Florida, used the Christmas period with its seasonal music format, to transition. Most of the commenters are very angry about it.

When I was a child, American radio had lots of different kinds of content and entertaining programs: Mysteries, Comedies, Variety Programs, Soap Operas, Children's Programs, Music, and more.

It seems like Clear Channel has sucked all the Content out of American Radio and replaced it with canned screed and some mindless versions of formula-driven elevator music. Their agenda seems quite clear: to hypnotise Americans into passive oblivion.

I don't know what listeners can do
about it, except maybe complain to the FCC.

* * * * * *
Editor & Publisher posted a nice obituary for
Alvah Chapman yesterday, Friday Dec 26th:

He once said, ''You can't publish a successful newspaper in a community that's dying on the vine. If you want a successful company that's involved in the community, and a newspaper certainly is that, then you have to contribute to that community's success, too.''

Sadly, those days are gone for South Florida.

:: Piccoli :: ..... :: Chapman Death ::

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SoFlo: WHERE WE LIVE (3#) -

Just a few brief notes, catching up with some of the News around here over this weekend and the past Christmas week . . .

It's been relatively quiet around here. The weather has been unusually pretty good, but it seems like about half our French Colony did not arrive down here in time for Christmas. Perhaps, they've been delayed by bad weather up North.

# Another attempt to use an ATM machine as a piggy bank. This one in the North Miami area was unsuccessful, but this has become a rather commonplace event around South Florida, largely because of easy access to lots of construction machinery left unmanned everywhere.

# A hoax kidnapping by a fictive French nanny of a nonexistent baby. The young woman involved appeared to be EDP.

# A miscellaneous scull was fished out of a canal in Coral Springs. There are probably lots of sculls in lots of canals across South Florida.

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HOLIDAY DIVERSION (3#) -

Shep, A Christmas Story & A Literary Hoax . . .

There has been a lot of Jean Shepherd nostalgia floating around the Internet today. He was a radio raconteur in the Northeast USA from the late '50s. Shep is associated with a famous Christmas story, of course, but there was a lot more to him than that.

I happened to trip into this today via LIS and then
surfed a bunch of related links. Here are some of them:

:: LISnews blog entry :: -- [Donald Fagen, Slate]

:: nonstop on hoax :: -- [wikipedia on hoax]

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MEDIA MIX - (9#) -

The sale of NBC-owned TV station WTVJ in South Florida to The Washington Post Co has been cancelled, according to a report from AFP.

# Ben Eason will retain control over Creative Loafing for now, it was decided by the judge in Tampa FL. The company has entered into Chapter 11 Reorganization.

# The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun have entered into an agreement to share some content. The Sun is owned by the Tribune Co which also owns The Sun-Sentinel.

The three newspapers on the South East Coast of Florida have entered into a similar sharing agreement: The Miami Herald, The Sun-Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post.

But what if newspapers do not
enter into an agreement to share?

The Case of The Girl
Who Doesn't Want To Be Kissed . . .

GateHouse Media Corp is suing The Boston Globe for appropriating GateHouse's material from its hyper-local website against GateHouse's wishes. It is like the enforcement of a contract which GateHouse never agreed to enter into in the first place.

This is akin to corporate rape. It's almost like a hostile takeover. The Boston Globe, which is owned by The NY Times Co, is acting in a predatory manner. Globe/Times has gone about this in the wrong way. And the Globe/Times is being arrogant in its persistence. The trial will begin Jan 5th.

:: GateHouse Newton Local :: -- [Globe Newton Local]

:: Media Nation discussion ::

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Bookish: IT'S A WONDER (8#) -

Desi Writers: Toronto-based publishers (Harlequin) Mills & Boons are looking for Romance writers from India and are conducting a short story competition to find them.

* * * * * *
# "If Adrian Mole can be thrown in prison on suspicion of terrorism, who is safe?" The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole reviewed by Josh Lacey.

# Books Beneath The Reading Radar: some
offbeat picks by Nancy Pearl. Try to catch this one.

# Max Hastings pens a little love note for Wodehouse.

# Lost Buildings by Jonathan Glancey
reviewed by Miranda Semour. [guard]

# Scientists discover an unexplored forest
using Google Earth. [tgraph] - [guard]

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