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Showing posts with label Tom Brokaw. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Brokaw. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

#London2012 - Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies because of NBC's editing, and the Tom Brokaw one-hour documentary that allowed him to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing niche

Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed Sunday night at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies while people because like me continue to question  NBC-TV putting Tom Brokaw front-and-center Saturday night to showboat a bit, and to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing nicheduring a completely unnecessary one-hour program about 1930's Britain and WWII and the economic and social aftermath, "Their Finest Hour."

Nice original title(!) and contrary to what's been reported, I HAD seen much of the footage before.

And if you insist on doing something like this, why would you schedule it on the last weekend the Olympics instead of the first weekend?
It's completely illogical, even on its own terms -even if you support something like it airing on U.S. television.

There's a very good reason why so many smart people in the U.S. saw the original "The World at War" anthology by ITV about WWII when it first aired in the U.S. came out in the late 1970's, with Laurence Olivier's narration.
Because of its quality and clarity and depth, unlike most high school and college textbooks.

It aired here in South Florida on Channel 10 on Sunday nights before ABC-TV's entertainment  programming began. I never missed it and have seen every episode about a dozen times thanks to the Military Channel, DirecTV Channel 287. http://www.theworldatwar.com/ )


NBC Cut Nearly An Hour From Its Closing Ceremony Telecast. Here’s Everything They Didn’t Show You (Including The Kinks’ Ray Davies)
By Timothy Burke
August 13, 2012 1:44 PM 
We knew NBC would heavily edit its broadcast of last night's London Olympics closing ceremony; they cut out a bunch of stuff from the opening ceremony, too, in the name of "tailoring programming to our American audience."

IF you are one of those rare Americans who had somehow missed the point for the last forty years that Brokaw was from South Dakota, you couldn't have missed it during this self-indulgent one hour.
Since it was all recorded, there was no actual reason for Brokaw to even physically be in London save high self-regard and him throwing-his-weight-around and/or NBC wanting to trot him out to how how serious they were, and in any case, wasn't the latter role actually Bob Costas' role as Everyman, who felt it necessary to state the obvious, sometimes, in grave tones?

Meanwhile, these are the same NBC geniuses that waited until the 15th day of the 17-day Olympics to do a segment on Roger Bannister, when it should've been done the first weekend.

The same geniuses who DIDN'T show the medal ceremony for the Men's Marathon winner, the last contest of the Games, and always a highlight.
Thank goodness an American runner didn't do something silly and win and throw NBC's minute calculations off.

Me, foolishly, I thought that the hour of coverage that NBC promised us after the Local NBC affiliate newscast would be what we missed.
Instead, they re-played what they'd already run, awkwardly picking it up during the narrative of the U.S. Women's gymnastics team battle for the team gold against Aliya Mustafina, Victoria Komova and the rest of the Russian team.  

See clips of the rehearsals of the Closing Ceremonies at
http://www.youtube.com/user/london2012

My grade for NBC for the whole Olympics is C-.
In a nutshell, with plenty of examples I could cite jere, probably just like you: The winner of the Women's 100 Meters speaks English, being from Jamaica, but NBC chose not to interview her - THE fastest women in the world.

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http://olympicclosingceremony.tumblr.com/

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The funniest discovery of the new year: "Jeff from Tallahassee" on Red Eye; reminds me of the Steve & Garry, Don & Mike comic genius I miss


Because reality is always the funniest thing.


The funniest discovery of the new year: "Jeff from Tallahassee" on Fox News Channel's Red Eye, broadcast weekdays at 3 a.m.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/red-eye/index.html
See the video at:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4497479/red-eye-answers-viewer-mail/

No matter how many different video clips of "Jeff" that I see on must-watch Red Eye, he cracks me up every time with his deadpan delivery of not-so-pithy comments.
This guy is a gold mine of comedy satisfaction.
Even when you know what he's going to say.

For me, listening to his droll comments recalls the very best times from the kind of 'Old School' radio I prefer, and of my listening everyday for hours to Steve Dahl & Garry Meier in Chicago on WLS-AM and then WLUP-AM, then FM, while living in Evanston and Wilmette in the mid-'80's, often crying from laughter at work or on the walk from the El station to my home and then once in the house.
I knew their bits and routine better than I knew my neighbors.



1983 Entertainment Tonight video of Steve & Garry, with Mary Hart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73-7DE_SlmQ


Their insightful observations and repartee with guests, esp. Joe Walsh of The Eagles, plus the best collection of "bumpers" ever assembled, as comedian/actor Richard Lewis was always quick to mention whenever he was a guest of theirs, ensured hours of amusement for their loyal listeners throughout Chicagoland, NW Indiana and southern Wisconsin.

Their hysterical satirical stories about guys-on-the-make flying dates to Palwaukee Airport-in Wheeling-
were classic, and always sure to ensure comic paralysis.
Listen to those broadcasts at:
http://wn.com/steve_dahl,_airport

There were SO MANY times I'd end up staying at an El stop rather than get in the train car, even when it was absurdly cold, because I just had to hear the very end of the segment or bit they were doing before they went to a commercial break.
If I had a dollar for every time that happened...


I actually preferred listening to Steve & Garry out in the bleachers at Wrigley Field when I went to Cubs games during the week than I did listening to the game broadcast on WGN-AM.
I could always tell that many other fans in the bleachers were doing the same thing, because when I took out my earphones, I could hear so many people laughing at the same exact time.

I once was walking down N. Michigan Avenue near their studio and heard them say something incorrect about a subject I knew quite a bit about, so I took the elevator at the Sears Tower up to their office intent on writing a short note with the correct info and passing it on to one of their producers. Or so I thought...

In all the time it had taken me to finally catch an elevator to get upstairs, the duo had gone in to a commercial break and once I walked thru the door, who do I spy but Steve in the lobby wearing one of his Hawaiian shirts.
 

Naturally, he asked me what I was doing there.


I explained the whys and wheres, he listened intently to me and eventually agreed I was right, so he said he'd mention the correction on-air later, shook my hand and went back towards the studio.

I was so casual about the whole thing it wasn't until I was at the Main El stop at the Chicago-Evanston city line, where I had to change over to another train that took me up to the Linden Avenue stop in Wilmette where I lived, just a block from Lake Michigan, that it all sunk in.
If only I'd had a digital cameras back then!


Audio: 1/9 - Steve Dahl &Garry Meier -
December 1987 - WLUP AM 1000 Chicago, Illinois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P5MH29RquQ

December 5, 2008

Steve Dahl out at CBS' WJMK-FM

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2008/12/steve-dahl-out.html


Years later,
while living for 14 years in the Washington, D.C. area, I'd be as devout a listener to the Don & Mike -Don Geronimo & Mike O'Meara- on WJFK-FM, even while I'd also try like crazy in the wintertime to get Steve & Garry on my AM radio after they switched stations, because of the seasonal "skip" that allowed me to start getting distant AM stations around 5 p.m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_and_Mike_Show
In the future I hope to have a separate post or two about the Don & Mike Show, but this honest 2005 Washington Post article I think gives you some insight into what made them so ridiculously popular and the number-one show in the very competitive Washington, D.C. market, as well as some other cities around the country where they were syndicated.

Don Geronimo's Grief-Stricken Solo
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080200036.html

With both duos, I made dozens of audio-cassette recordings of them on my Sony cassette recorder, a sort of "Best of" mix tape if you will.

I'd take 3-4 of them with me to listen to while away on business trips or flights down here at the holidays, so if I got bored, I'd have something to amuse me or to fall asleep at night in hotels. Something familiar!


As a person who had the radio on in my office all day while living and working in the Chicago and Washington area, it's hardly surprising that having listened to such very talented guys for so many years, it's my opinion that nobody even half as talented as them currently works in the South Florida radio market, otherwise I'd have mentioned it here.
http://www.donandmikewebsite.com/
June 11, 2009

Steve Dahl to launch daily podcasts in partnership with CBS Radio

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/07/steve-dahl-to-launch-daily-podcasts-in-partnership-with-cbs-radio.html
Steve Dahl Show podcasts: http://www.dahl.com/podcasts/weekly
http://www.facebook.com/stevedahlshow

http://dahl.com/blog

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOriginalShockJock

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Some recent Red Eye videos worth perusing:



CNN's over-the-top coverage of the Coffee party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK3oks9xOkE
(*Includes THE sexiest woman on American TV, Courtney Friel.)

Canadian Radio Bans 1985 Dire Straits Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voUMsybfbPo

Rock station fights back

http://www.youtube.com/user/FoxNewsChannel#p/u/83/M7OuQ0LucvE

Gutfeld: Brokaw's Bar Hopping Fears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXGkr_CtkHk

See also:
http://www.dailygut.com/

http://activitypit.ning.com/

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Phil Rosenthal's Tower Ticker blog at The Chicago Tribune, covering the "Media business in Chicago and beyond."
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/