WBZ-AM: We’re Number Seven! We’re Number Seven!

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Trade magazine Radio Ink has published its first-ever list of the Top 20 News Stations in America.  And local fixture WBZ-AM has landed in the top ten.

Via Pew Research Daily Briefing of Media News:

5146659WTOP IS #1 NEWS STATION IN AMERICA

A panel of news and news/talk experts have named Hubbard Radio’s WTOP top news station in the country in Radio Ink’s first listing of news and news/talk stations. Under the leadership of GM Joel Oxley, Vice President of Programming Jim Farley, and Program Director Laurie Cantillo, WTOP has developed into a news leader in the Washington D.C. market, competing with newspaper outlets like the Washington Post and television news organizations in the nation’s capital. WTOP has also established itself as a digital news leader with nearly 100,000 regular readers at WTOP.com and 60,000 followers on Twitter and 11 full- and part-time digital journalists.

And here’s the full list (don’t forget a shoutout for WGAN in Portland, ME):

#1) WTOP - Washington DC
Read our cover story with WTOP’s Jim Farley HERE
#2) 1010 WINS - New York City
#3) KFI-AM - Los Angeles
#4) KCBS-AM - San Francisco
LISTEN TO A KCBS AIRCHECK HERE
#5) WBBM-AM/FM - Chicago
LISTEN TO A WBBM AIRCHECK HERE
#6) WCBS-AM - New York City
LISTEN TO A WCBS AIRCHECK HERE
#7) WBZ-AM - Boston
#8) WSB-AM/FM - Atlanta
#9) KYW-AM - Philadelphia
#10) WWJ-AM - Detroit
#11) KIRO-FM - Seattle
#12) WBT-AM/FM - Charlotte
#13) KNX-AM - Los Angeles
#14) KKOB-AM -Albuquerque
#15) WBAP-AM & FM – Dallas
#16) KTRH-AM - Houston
LISTEN TO A KTRH AIRCHECK HERE
#17) KFBK-AM & FM – Sacramento
#18) KMBZ-AM & FM – Kansas City
LISTEN TO AN AIRCHECK OF KMBZ HERE
#19) KRMG-AM & FM – Tulsa
#20) WGAN & WGIN – Portland, ME

 

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ABC News: Boston’s Charlotte Golar Richie Not A Major Mayoral Candidate

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Boston Magazine’s redoubtable David Bernstein might rank former state representative Charlotte Golar Richie #2 in his list of Boston mayoral hopefuls, and the Boston Globe might report big names coalescing around her campaign, but that still doesn’t give her any cred at ABC News.

In today’s edition of The Note, reporter Michael Falcone notes Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel’s loss this week to City Councilman Eric Garcetti, but says “The Year of the Woman Mayor” declared by liberal activist group Emily’s List could still come to pass.

Although Los Angeles was a top prize for Emily’s List, it is not the biggest. That distinction belongs to New York City where City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leads a crowded field of Democratic mayoral contenders, which now includes former Rep. Anthony Weiner. And other women leaders are running in mayoral races in large cities around the country — in Houston, Minneapolis, Seattle, Dayton, Syracuse, Albany, Long Beach and Tulsa — to name a few.

Albany? Tulsa?? But no Boston?

Hey, Mr. Falcone – give us a call. Better yet, give David Bernstein a call. He can get this sorted in no time.

 

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Here’s Your Hat, What’s Your Murray?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

The local dailies have very – all together now – different takes on yesterday’s swan song for Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray.

The Boston Globe runs it upper left on today’s front page:

Picture 2

The Boston Herald gives it all of Page One:

Picture 3

And page two . . and page four . . . and page five . . .

Read the rest at It’s Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.

 

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Why We Love The Stanley Cup Playoffs

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

Reason #1:

The Bruins’ OT win over the Toronto Maple Leafs last night:

 

Reason #2:

The Kings’ OT win over the St. Louis Blues last night:

 

Reason #3:

Anaheim’s OT win over the Detroit Red Wings last night.

 

The hardwatching staff is off to celebrate its 30th wedding anniversary now, so we’ll be Stanley Cupless for awhile.

But you should definitely enjoy the Greatest Show on Ice in our absence.

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Joe Boyd Gets Last Word On Nick Drake Volkswagen Ad

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

Ever since the hardworking staff posted this last month, we’ve been going around the Maypole with music producer Joe Boyd about his statements in an NPR interview regarding the Boston ad agency that created the 1999 Volkswagen commercial featuring Nick Drake’s song “Pink Moon.”

 

At issue: Exactly when the “slackers from an alternative Boston ad agency” decided to use Drake’s song as the commercial’s soundtrack instead of their original choice of a track from The Church.

The hardworking staff noted that “[i]t wasn’t ‘an alternative Boston ad agency’ that created the spot. It was Arnold Worldwide, the second-largest ad agency in New England at the time, if memory serves us.”

We also checked with Alan Pafenbach, the creative director of the spot, who wrote this in an email:

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” It makes a better story, so what the hell. He gives us credit and probably between me Lance [Jensen] and Shane Hutton there probably was a general impression of slackerdom. Truth is it happened in the edit and Volkswagen never was given a choice.

But Joe Boyd says, not so fast.

I have to disagree. I have a clear recollection of being sent the story board before the shoot. Perhaps it was already shot, but we weren’t told. Also, I have a clear memory of the meeting two years later in Boston with the agency and hearing the guy who came with the Pink Moon idea telling me about listening at home and bringing the idea in the next day to the rest of the team, right before the VW exec came for a meeting. I may have exaggerated “that same morning” for the VW meeting, but I know it was very soon after the switch from the The Church to Nick Drake.  

That’s it. We’re done now. You can ship the Maypole to the Markey/Gomez rumpus.

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Aereo Dynamics Coming To Boston

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

Aereo, the ant(enna) farm that lets viewers access broadcast networks on the Internet for a monthly fee, is expanding into Boston, but not without opposition.

Via The Verge (tip o’ the pixel to Poynter):

Picture 1Aereo files suit against CBS to head off second copyright claim from network

Aereo has filed a complaint today against CBS in an effort to prevent the network from filing additional lawsuits against the fledgling service.

Aereo is a web TV service that enables users to view over-the-air broadcasts via the web. Two groups of television networks — groups that include CBS, Fox, and NBC — filed copyright claims last year and argued that Aereo is an illegal service because it distributes their programming without compensating them. After losing two decisions in New York this year, a CBS spokesman said on Twitter two weeks ago that CBS plans to file another lawsuit against Aereo in Boston, an area Aereo recently announced it would move into. Aereo says that the broadcasters are just shopping for a more sympathetic court and that it’s a waste of the public’s resources.

Boston as a sympathetic venue?

Who woulda thunk?

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How Much Do You Love The Ottawa Senators Right Now?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

In the Stanley Cup quarterfinals, the Ottawa Senators are in the process of very forcibly sending the Montreal Canadiens back home for the summer.

Les Habitants, indeed.

Sweet enough Sunday night the Sens not only beat the Habs, they beat them up.

 

Last night they also beat them down, erasing a two-goal lead in regulation and winning Game 4 in overtime.

 

Those cheers have to be music to every Bruins fan’s ears, yes?

And it’s even better that the color commentary is in French, oui?

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Herald Retakes Memorial Ad-vantage From Globe

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

When we last chronicled the Marathon-bombings-related advertising in the local dailies, the Boston Globe was the clear favorite, two ads to none over the Boston Herald.

Especially notable was this ad from the Newbury Street League and the Buck – sorry, Back Bay Association.

Picture 2

Notable because it seemed a serious snubbing of the feisty local tabloid by the tony local retail set . . .

Read the rest at It’s Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.

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NYT Reporter (And (NOT) Ex-Boston Globie) Gets Mugged In New York . . . Times!

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

Patrick Healy, late of the Boston Globe and current New York Times theater reporter, conducted this interview with Irish author and playwright Colm Toibin last week.

01toibin-blog480The Testament of Toibin: A Tony Nod, and a Closing Notice

The Irish writer Colm Toibin was shaving in his bathroom on Tuesday morning, and savoring the news that his “Testament of Mary” had just been nominated for a best play Tony Award, when the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, “I have Scott Rudin on the line for you.” And so began one of the more surreal phone conversations that Mr. Toibin ever had: He was a freshly minted Tony nominee, but his producer Mr. Rudin was telling him that the play would close on Sunday, after only 43 performances and far earlier than planned, due to poor ticket sales.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Rudin was not amused (tip o’ the pixel to the Missus):

rudin_aScott Rudin Dresses Down NY Times Theater Reporter

In a Saturday ad, the producer makes no secret of his irritation at the Times’ coverage of his decision to close the Broadway play “The Testament of Mary.”

There’s nothing like a public spat to liven up Tony Awards season on Broadway.

An ad in TheNew York Times Saturday Arts section theater listings for The Testament of Mary states “Last 3 Perfs.” It also carries the following unusual quote from producer Scott Rudin: “Let’s give a big cuddly shout-out to Pat Healy, infant provocateur and amateur journalist at The New York Times. Keep it up, Pat — one day perhaps you’ll learn something about how Broadway works, and maybe even understand it.”

The quote is a direct response to the Times theater reporterPatrick Healy‘s Q&A that ran on Wednesday, May 1 with Irish author and playwright Colm Toibin, who wrote Testament as both a critically lauded novella and a theatrical monologue.

Saturday’s Times Theater Directory:

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Rudin’s Testyment notice:

Picture 2

No response so far from Healy. Maybe he’s not such an amateur after all.

UPDATE: Thanks to the ever-reliable Dan Kennedy for pointing out that the hardworking staff is an idiot and got its Patrick Healys mixed up.  (Ex-Globie here, and in the Metro section as political correspondent.)

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The Empty Suit & The Empty Chair

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey, the emptiest suit on Capitol Hill, has finally met his match in an empty chair he’s using to represent his U.S. Senate opponent, Gabriel Gomez.

From Shira Schoenberg’s report in the Springfield Republican:

12662086-mmmainDemocrat Ed Markey hammers rival Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez on refusal to sign People’s Pledge

BOSTON – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Edward Markey on Monday hammered Republican Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez for refusing to sign the “People’s Pledge,” a pledge effectively barring outside groups from advertising in the election.

“Gabriel Gomez is saying he will not accept the People’s Pledge, that he is going to welcome vast amounts of undisclosed, unlimited money into this campaign,” Markey said at a press conference at the Omni Parker House Hotel. “I think that the people of Massachusetts deserve better. I think they have a right to know who in fact is contributing, who is paying for these ads that are going to come into our state. Is it the (National Rifle Association)? Is it the coal industry? Is it the oil industry?”

“I am committed to signing this pledge if he is willing to sign this pledge,” Markey said, sitting next to an empty chair.

The People’s Pledge, of course, has now become just an elaborate money-laundering scheme, as the hardworking staff has previously detailed.

Regardless, NECN’s redoubtable Alison King has the video here.

Let the wild Kabuki rumpus begin!

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