Media Watch

The title is a cliche that has become the bitter moniker of the displaced and disgruntled local radio personality and the signs are pointing to more dramatic reductions in local facilities, considering the recent bolstering of centralized management teams and infrastructure. No one should be surprised when radio leaves Main Street USA; it's been coming for 16 years. If you work in local radio and you're 25 or younger, your grandchildren may not believe you when you tell your stories about local radio. "They did what with 100,000 watts? And a thousand-foot tower? That's stupid!" I took a four year hiatus from radio in the nineties and when I returned, the carts and card catalog were gone and automation had been rolled out and the the President had just signed the 1996 telecommunications bill, essentially opening the door for the massive corporatization of my beloved career. What happened in '96 was not the death of local radio, but the seeds of a gradu...

 When the state tacks fees on the price of a gallon of gas, it's punishing a class of people that are not only the least deserving, but the weakest element of the government. The wage earner. The reason we, the weak, are taxed in the first place is because we don't have the power to fight back. The US Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations are sovereign entities above and beyond the individuals that comprise them by upholding their ability to speak with a louder, more pervasive voice in government via campaign contributions. That gives the very rich incredible influence in government that the rest of us cannot access. The reason the wage earner, the people that drive their cars for reasons of personal travel or to get to their jobs and many other non-commercial reasons, should not have to pay a gas tax is because they cause a minuscule amount of wear and tear on the roads in comparison to that of commercial users. The unmistakable beneficiary of our roads are the c...

I always threatened to cancel my cable TV subscription, but when my bill jumped from $78 to $140 a month, it was suddenly a lot easier to return the gear to Mediacom and end the relationship. What I had not fully realized was that 95% of what I watch is free.  In fact, all the top shows are in fact broadcast OTA (over-the-air).  What am I missing?  I can't watch Mad Men and The Daily Show at their initial air times anymore, but for $9 (Netflix) I can catch up on almost any cable show, like Mad Men, and there's a free app for The Daily Show. For the sake of full disclosure, I had to replace the Internet connection my cable company provided as a part of their $140 package.  I found a company that provides DSL for $45/mo.  And I still have my Tivo DVR, so that's another $129/yr ($10.75/mo).  I can drop that (see below) and still enjoy all my shows.  Finally, my phone bill is $45 a month.  I'm keeping that. What you need to cut the cable: ...

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad announced today that he's backing Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) for the Presidency. It's pretty late in the race to be choosing horses, and this particular stallion has some issues from a previous run. Romney showed us there's nothing he wouldn't lie about.  So the question is whether it hurt Branstad to back the better of the evils, when in fact the lesser man is evil. Let me take you back to august of 2007 when the former governor of Massachusetts appeared on a radio show while stumping in Des Moines during his ask-me-anything tour. Several minutes into a filler segment, the talk show host abruptly shifted gears, noting that Romney was walking into the studio. "Good morning, sir, welcome aboard," Jan Mickelson said.  But the niceties didn't last. After a significant kerfuffle on and off the air, Mickelson said, "I hope we can do this when we can spend some quality time on the air."  "No, I get a little tir...

I've lived in Iowa all my life and I owe it to the agriculture community a measure of gratitude for sustaining an economy here so that I can be gainfully employed my entire adult life.  But should that mean I can't speak openly about the elephant in the room? Would I be a bad Iowan if I was critical of its producers?  Listen to any politician or company or industry communication director and you're going to hear some one-sided dialog.  But as an ordinary resident, that's not my job. As an individual I have a right to take the available information and assess it with as much critical thinking as I can muster on a given day and form an opinion about it.  Unfortunately it's well known that the industries see their jobs as managing public perception through spin in the name of sustaining our economy here. As a lifelong Iowan, I've long known you don't ask what's in a hot dog.  I've long known that hamburger consists of about the lowest grade meat i...

This has been circulating for a while and I enjoy seeing it every time it rolls back to me. The Dog's Diary 8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing! 9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing! 9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing! 10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing! 12:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing! 1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing! 3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing! 5:00 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing! 7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing! 8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing! 11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing! The Cat's Diary Day 983 of My Captivity My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The ...

This is my thirtieth year in radio and I'm still inspired by the spirit of the business, with all of its varied aspects.  There are layers stacked on entertainment, journalism, community service, marketing and a camaraderie that has always spoken to me.  It touches people and binds us to those in other worlds and about town. There's also a moving timeline that is intriguing and exciting.  There's a rich history that creates this aura of heritage, yet it's full of people always working to enhance and polish the processes that make the sound come out of the speakers and the words ever-relevant. I'm not a purist.  I think that's too limiting for such an evolving medium.  I love new ideas and exploring ways to change up my craft.  Besides, pure is relative to an individual and the period of his entry into the business. The earliest broadcasts were always live, as there was no means to record them.  Later, programming was produced using test...