After listening to Bob Edwards interview Bob Elliott this morning on The Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio, I was going to post an article talking about the great team of Bob and Ray. But I realized I don’t have to; for those who love Old-Time Radio, Bob and Ray are no strangers, and for those who want to learn more, Bob Edwards has already written a fine article which can serve as an introduction for those few poor enough to never have laughed at this pair.

To hear the interview, hit XM OnLine and sign up for a free sample account and tune to XM channel 133, any time until tomorrow morning at 8:00am eastern, and all weekend long every fifth hour.

Oh…my…god.

Sorry, after re-listening to the first few Million-Dollar President productions from PRI, which is the pilot-set for PRI’s new morning news The Takeaway, airing now on a precious few PRI stations, I am writing this so I don’t become so depressed I slit my wrists after listening to the hosts of this program joking their way through an interview on The Bob Edwards Show. Just like NPR’s Trailer- Bryant Park Project, these guys have clearly used focus groups composed of children with the IQ of a turnip. Seriously, I know a whole lot of 20-somethings, and none of them are so brain-damaged as to listen to this nonsense.

Let me ignore NPR’s entry into the dumned-down-news category and focus on PRI’s as demonstrated in the Billion-Dollar President disaster, hosted by Adaora Udoji and John Hockenberry. The first episode/pilot aired a few months ago, and began with the formerly-respected Hockenberry telling an outright lie. No, you read that right, a news program starting out running a phony news story delivered with the somberness of legitimate news. I honestly was so stunned by the utter stupidity of such an act I was unable to move…what the hell happened to a formerly-respected journalist who is remembered for his solid reportage on NPR by those of us who grew up with the public radio system? A guy who goes off to the major networks and performs solid reporting there? What deadly trauma could possibly have changed him into a wanna-be standup comedian and…well…a liar?
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Today on The Bob Edwards Show is a fascinating interview with Les Paul - you can listen to the show with a free three-day sample-subscription to XM Satellite Radio’s online service at listen.xmradio.com, and you’ll be able to hear the weekend version of this interview (edited for time) at the bobedwards.info website in the Bob Edwards Weekend forum. Now everyone who’s met Mr. Paul has a story to tell about it…this is mine.

A few years ago, Mr. Paul was a guest of the Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention at one of the more…er…eclectic closing performances. He spoke for a bit, answered some pre-set questions, and accepted our applause. After the evening’s performances finally ended, I sought him out…I didn’t take anything for him to sign, I just wanted to thank him for taking the time out of his schedule to visit with us, and frankly I wanted to meet the guy, someone I’d appreciated for pretty much my entire lifetime, and particularly since I learned to play guitar after losing a finger on my left hand. I found him, and did so…while shaking his hand across a table, I held it for just a moment longer than customary (men know what I’m talking about), looked him in the eye and said, “I wonder if a lick will rub off?”

He got a huge grin on his face, grabbed my hand between both of his (they seemed so large to create such a delicate sound), rubbed it between them so I could feel friction heat, and with a soft laugh said, “I sure hope so!”

I forgot to mention last week, there’s been an addition to the Bob Edwards Show/Bob Edwards Weekend Forum - now the free podcasts of Bob Edwards Weekend are available in one-click format! Just like the podcasts here, you can download the show directly for playing in your portable device, or listen to the show on your computer immediately simply by clicking one little arrow.

While it isn’t the full daily show, it is a great addition to anyone’s weekend, and now with one-click listening there’s no excuse not to enjoy the show!

This coming “Super Tuesday,” XMPR (XM Satellite Radio Channel 133) will be running a news special from PRI/WNYC/New York Times/BBC on the election; air time is 7:00 PM to 3:00 AM Eastern time. More information (although d*mned little…) is available at http://www.americasexitpoll.org/

Note this is from The Billion Dollar President and The Morning Show production team, so plan on it being light on actual news and long on happy-talk segments apparently designed for focus groups comprised of drug-addled or brain-damaged teenagers, but it should at least cover the basics of the election in real-time between the chatting-with-elementary-kids and what-clothing-the-spouse-is-wearing segments. (Lord, what I wouldn’t give for someone to challenge NPR’s radio news dominance with anything not designed for old people’s twisted ideas of what kids want…)

Yeah, I want to get my scathing review of The Billion Dollar President posted, asking the question, “Didn’t John Hockenberry used to be a respected journalist?” but I haven’t had the time. Apologies, but I’ll get there, I promise.

I played hooky again yesterday…and believe me, it takes something to get me out of my bunny slippers and on the road for a four-hour drive. But yesterday, instead of working, I took a drive to my favorite inside-the-beltway coffee shop…er…bookstore (hey, there’s very little more relaxing than sitting downstairs sipping the perfect cappuccino and smelling all those delightful books right on the other side of the doorway…) Politics and Prose. You should remember this bookstore from my previous visits (I’ve posted about the trip down to see Studs Terkel), and if anything’s changed the coffee is even tastier.

But last night’s visit was to see an institution in journalism, Daniel Schorr. Info, multimedia after the jump.
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Quicksilver Radio Theater A CHRISTMAS CAROL
(A Ghost Story for Christmas)
by Charles Dickens

Directed by Jay Stern (THE CHANGELING), and adapted by Producer Craig Wichman (THE DEVIL YOU KNOW). Featuring Mr. Wichman, Anthony Cinelli, John Prave, Ghislai ne Nichols, Deborah Barta, Jodi Botelho, Elizabeth Stull, Joseph Franchini, and Tony Scheinman. Music by Tony-winner Mark Hollmann; Sound Effects by Clyde Baldo and The Cast; Engineering by David Nolan.
“…A Scrooge for all seasons…” - Paul Davis, author of THE LIFE AND TIMES OF EBENEZER SCROOGE

(NOTE: All times LOCAL)

KPR (Kansas) STREAMING
Sunday, December 23rd, 8pm CT

KMUN-KTCB (Oregon) STREAMING
Sund ay, December 23, 7pm PT

KUHF (Texas) STREAMING
Christmas Eve, 3pm CT

KUOW (Washington) STREAMING
Christmas Eve, 8pm PT

KDUR (Colorado) STREAMING
Christmas Eve, 8pm MST

WVRU (Virginia) STREAMING
Christmas Eve, 8pm ET

WMNF (Florida) STREAMING
Christ mas Eve, 10:30pm ET (Part 2)

KUND (North Dakota) STREAMING
Christmas Day, 3pm and 7pm CT

KZYX-KYZZ (California) STREAMING
???

KWSO (Oregon)
Christmas Eve, 10pm and Christmas Day, 7pm PT

Ok, ok, so you still have to subscribe to XM Satellite Radio to start off your weekday mornings with Bob, but if you don’t have a station near you running Bob Edwards Weekend, fret no longer! Simply sign up to the podcast of Bob Edwards Weekend by copying and pasting the following URL::

http://rss.streamos.com/streamos/rss/genfeed.php?feedid=591&groupname=xmsatelliteradio

…into your favorite podcasting client (ahem, the same one you use to pull the Old-Time Radio shows on the podcast here, of course), and you’ll be able to at least spend a few hours every week with Bob.

The knuckleheads at the National Association of Broadcasters put together a website, XMSiriusMonopoly.org, with their own twisted slant on why the merger is a bad thing. Of course, they have their own reasons, reasons which if directly stated would actually play towards the merger…so they have a bunch of reasons they don’t really believe in posted to oppose the merger.

Problem is, they’re right, even if for the wrong reason. I’ve made no secret to anyone my strong opposition to this merger (and sent my public comments to the FCC back in July as well), so for the first and probably the last time, the NAB and I are on the same page.

If you agree with me that the merger of Sirius and XM would be the end of satellite radio, or at least the end of any satellite radio worth listening to, I reluctantly urge you to visit the NAB’s website and follow the links to send your own comments to the FCC, letting them know what a bone-headed move this is. I have no idea whether it will help (with the pro-merger climate in Washington these days), but if nothing else it will make you feel better.

This morning on The Bob Edwards Show, David Kipen promoted XM’s new collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, The Big Read. Mr. Kipen is very, very enthusiastic, and I certainly understand why since having XM promote the program dramatically increases the number of people who know about it. But let me give you the other side of the coin, one Mr. Kipen either isn’t aware of, or frankly doesn’t care about since his focus is not on the radio side.

First, let’s examine the entire idea that books-on-tape promote literacy. Horse-pucky…books-on-tape are entertaining, and great for those long commutes, but they have nothing whatsoever to do with literacy. We as a society read less and less, and salving our souls by saying, “well, I heard a book the other day…” is just plain silly.

So why would XM make this collaboration with the NEA? Oh, heck, that’s simple; they want to make money. I saw this nonsense coming long before now, ever since the marketing agreement with Audible begat the annoying This Is Audible sales-pitch masquerading as a radio program. Audible, for those who have just returned from the 1980’s, is the company that has made a fortune making books-on-tape available to the Internet masses for a fee, complete with restrictive Digital Rights Management designed to limit the freedom the customer has with the items they purchase. (I will never understand why the modern consumer is so determined to allow businesses to dictate to them what they may and may not do with the items they purchase, but there it is.) This collaboration is a method for XM to promote their partner Audible and to make money of purchases made through the company…it’s pretty much that simple.
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From blatherWatch: Deborah Brandt speaks out about KUOW

From KenVincent.com: Move Along (This page links to three different article on the subject)

More problems with Public Radio, this time KUOW’s management ignores the achievement and popularity of their on-air staff. This isn’t anything new, and simply replicates in a local form the lack-of-concern about audience desires NPR has displayed over the years.

As usual, I recommend you not support NPR-member stations. There are plenty of alternatives that deserve your financial support much more; alternatives that don’t treat the listener as some moronic cash-cow.

From The Washington Times: Misunderstanding the XM/Sirius merger

From the editorial: “The reason why the price freeze and new packages by themselves cannot fully protect satellite radio consumers is that XM and Sirius compete along multiple dimensions for subscribers, including programming choice, equipment, and the amount of commercial time (virtually none today). Committing to refrain from adjusting one of these levers of competition for a fixed duration does not protect consumers against a degradation of programming, an increase in equipment costs, or a sudden infusion of commercials.”

Someone finally gets it. It just isn’t something I’d expect from The Washington Times.

As some of you know, I’m…er…cheap. Ok, look, I’m an old man with a nine-year-old, so there’s not much disposable income anymore. And also as most of you know, I have a bunch of XM Satellite Radios around, all but the first one bought at substantial savings over “retail” (no, no, I don’t have a “guy,” I just am always watching out for sales and such). One of the radios I have is a Samsung Nexus 25…actually, we have two Nexus 25’s (from henceforth known as the Nexii); one I was given as a Christmas Present from my wife and my daughter, and the second was a killer deal from Crutchfield a while back that included a $55 XM prepay card, bringing the price of the unit down to under $15, including shipping.

(A quick explanation about how the Nexus works; there are actually three parts, all required: the Passport, the Nexus, and the cradle. The Passport is the XM Satellite Radio…it contains the Radio ID for which I pay, and is a cool system so that no matter how many Passport-ready XM radios you have, you only pay for the one subscription, and wherever the passport is, there you are (of course, thanks to the knuckleheads threatening to merge, this cool technology will probably be smashed by the Sirius overlords, assuming those of us vehemently against the merger can’t get it stopped). The Nexus is the player, allowing for recording of live XM while in a cradle, and when out it’s an XM/MP3 player only. The cradle is the piece that puts it all together. So if Annie has the car, she can take the Passport and her Nexus and listen live. When I have the Passport, she listens to recorded XM material (she still has like four hours of the St. Patrick’s’ Day Celtic Channel on it) and MP3s (her Marshall Chapman tunes, some Old-Time Radio) while I’m listening live. Both Nexii run off of the same Passport, so this only counts as one “radio.”

Each of the Nexii came with a home kit, but neither of them came with a car kit. Now we’ve had XM radios in the car for a while now (beginning with the Roady2 I activated in September 2004, running through the Tao XM2Go which was also a loyal and faithful servant), so not having one in the car now seems kinda silly. But I didn’t have a car cradle for the Nexus, just two home cradles…which look identical, but have minor differences (only in the home cradle will the radio record scheduled programming, and only the car cradle has an FM transmitter - didn’t need that, since my car is old and has a tape deck). So instead of spending $70 on a car kit for my Nexus, I decided to use the spare home kit in the car.

This sorta assumes the Nexus isn’t your first radio, and you already have mounting hardware in your car (if you don’t, this doesn’t make much sense). It also assumes you have a spare home kit, or are planning to carry your home unit back-and-forth (this is perfect if you want to record The Bob Edwards Show in your car while you’re at work, BTW). Either way, this is about as close to a “0″ on the difficulty scale as you’re gonna find…honest, this is simple. Copious photos after the jump…
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Who can tell?

You know, trying to keep up with the XMPR schedule is getting annoying, especially when the folks at XM don’t seem to care. The PDF schedule on their website still doesn’t reflect RadioWest, so it doesn’t have a prayer of having anything to say about the weekend changes I’ve noticed (and those I haven’t, even). I’ve used strike-out to note the programs I think have been replaced, and if/when I ever get some straight information from anyone, will make the corrections.

If anyone reading this heard additional changes to their schedule they aren’t bothering to tell anyone about, please let me know.

…since the last Morning Edition on NPR. I know, I know, they’re using the same name for their “new and improved” morning show, but it ended three years ago when the pinheadsstripes replaced Bob Edwards with the Ken and Barbie Comedy Hour.

Ok, ok, I know…I gripe about it a whole lot. But by now you should realize how long I hold a grudge against an organization that screws with my mornings. No One screws with my mornings…

From John Sutton: Is the Audience Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

From the article: “First, and most obvious, is that the weekly audience (Cume) for Morning Edition was 12.5 million or higher while Bob was still there. That’s a much bigger audience for Bob Edwards than the ‘more than 10 million’ listeners cited in the Sacramento Bee article.”

Nice to see someone confronting that lie with truth…

The Sacramento Bee ran a column yesterday that was basically a puff piece, promoting an event with Renee Montagne and Ellen McDonnell this evening. Thing is, the article is so…well…wrong that it again begs the question, why can’t NPR stop lying about this whole thing, and why is it that even the trench-workers now feel the need to get into the fray?

The article claims 1) when Bob Edwards left as host, Morning Edition had 10-million listeners per week, 2) the show added 800,000 listeners/week during the first year without Edwards, and 3) the show now has 13-milliion listeners per week, a three-million-per-week increase due directly to the outster of Edwards and the addition of the dual-host-dual-coast format.

The truth: 1) when Edwards was removed, Morning Edition had 13-million listeners per week (“NPR reassigns its longtime morning voice,” The Boston Globe, March 24, 2004; “Bob Edwards & the Remains of the Day,” Washington Post, April 29, 2004; other articles from the period), 2) while NPR touted that 800,000 additional listener per week figure a year after Edwards’ departure, it apparently referenced Arbitron ratings for fourth quarter 2004, when there was that hotly-contested presidential election to create a “bump” in ratings, and 3) the show now has around 13-million listeners per week…zero-growth from the Edwards’ era, and indeed according to projections there is an expected decline in ratings (“Has Success Spoiled NPR?” The Washintonian, March 1, 2007).

Edit: If you need more proof, check out the statement made by Kevin Klose to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet during their July 10, 2002 hearing on “Corporation for Public Broadcasting Oversight and a Look Into Public Broadcasting in the Digital Era” - even in 2002, the President and CEO of National Public Radio said, “At present we are producing more than 100 hours a week of live and live-to-tape news programming, including the Nation’s
second and third most listened-to radio programs, ‘Morning Edition,’ which has about 13 million listeners a week, and ‘All Things Considered,’ which has about 10 million listeners a week.”

Ok, I understand the author of the column has his own bias (heck, I’ve made it clear I’m not a big fan of NPR after spending most of my lifetime supporting them), and that’s fine. But to accept clearly-phony numbers from Mss. Montagne and McDonnell is irresponsible at best…and I honestly can’t figure out why they would flat-out lie the way they have. This isn’t some pin-stripe - you expect them to lie (search for the transcript of the “web-chat” with Jay Kernis to see what I mean about pin-stripes being full of it), but the co-host of a news show and that show’s producer spouting numbers that are clear fabrications…good lord, how much faith can you have in anything on the show? Why in the world would these two, both of whom worked with and profess to respect Edwards, pull these phony figures out of thin air?

Oh, wait…you have a morning news program with solid increases in ratings for its first 24 years…you then change the program radically and three years later you have flat ratings and you’re expecting a decline. Now you need to feel good about yourself and your decisions, since admitting you screwed up is unheard-of in today’s business world and NPR has already shown itself to be no more concerned about the “public” than any other lumbering corporation.

(By the way, if you need more proof that NPR knows what a mess they’ve made of things, check out the new morning news program they’re building to compete with ME. And if that isn’t enough, even PRI smells blood - they, too are building a new morning news show to compete directly against Morning Edition.)

So what to do when you know things are slipping away, and you can’t face the responsibility? Simple. Lie your ass off, and hope there’s no one with the sense to point out the lie.

If anyone’s going to be at the Mondavi Center in Davis tonight, I’d appreciate it if you’d ask them why they need to insult the public with lies to make themselves feel better. Oh, never mind…I doubt you’d get the truth from them, anyway.

Was listening to this morning’s The Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio; today’s guest is Steven Landsburg, author of More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics. The concepts are so…unconventional (I really want to say “bizarre”) I think my head is about to explode.

I’m gonna read the book, though…

I admit it, I don’t understand all the hand-wringing about Imus and his moronic comments. He’s a shock-jock. His job is to shock. What he said about a a bunch of 18-year-old kids was shocking. Seems to me he was fulfilling his function, doing his job, and earning his millions of dollars.

Maybe what we should be asking ourselves is, in what bizarro universe is it that over-grown juveniles are not just allowed, but expected, to be outrageous, obscene, insulting, and idiotic in the misrepresented name of “comedy?” How comes a couple of obnoxious infantiles who go out of their way to profane a church get a big deal with a satellite radio company and, oh yeah let’s not forget, CBS radio who fired them some years ago to save face for that scandal? In what crazed cosmos can an aging pre-pubescent with a breast fixation get a half-billion dollars to talk about sex all day? What the devil happened to us that CBS makes $20-million dollars per year on Imus, then doesn’t stand behind him when he does exactly what they are paying him to do - be an lewd, outrageous loudmouth?

Sorry, kids, I don’t buy the whole self-serving nonsense CBS has put up, taking the high road for canning him, “fixing” the problem. We as a society still think it’s funny to insult women, insult each other, and more importantly allow aging frat boys to insult our intelligence. Imus did what he, and every other shock-jock, is supposed to do. The problem is, we as a society accept and pay for that embarrassing nonsense in the first place.

From Ars Technica: Satellite radio report author: “I am not a flip-flopper.”

Ars talks to Jimmy Schaeffler of the Carmel Group, author of the whitepaper which refutes the claims of XM and Sirius that a merger won’t be anticompetitive.