Quickies

Gonna go out and watch the Dodgers/Brewers game at 10, so just some quick thoughts this morning....

If radio wants to set itself apart from competing media, emphasize the personality and localness it can offer. Satellite can't do that. iPods certainly can't either. Bring back the personality and you bring back the listener. My sister says she doesn't want to listen to someone she can identify with, she wants to listen to someone who can entertain her. By cannibalizing personality, while emphasizing "commercial free music sweeps" and voice tracked shifts from afar (KWNR's night gal is in Phoenix and tapes her show in the morning down there), the industry is killing off the very thing it needs to survive.

Why is it big news that John Edwards is endorsing Barack Obama? Like the good lawyer he is, Edwards is simply cutting a deal. He knows Obama will likely be the nominee and the way to get in good with the nominee is to join their camp. Believe me, he see a vice presidential nomination in his future. Endorse Hilary, and Edwards fades from memory. If Edwards mattered anyway, people would've voted for him. I'd love John Edwards to be my attorney if I'm trying to win a case. I don't want him a bullet away from the presidency.

With so many calling this the worst economy since the Depression (stunningly wrong), I've thought of something that we have in abundance that we really need to pare down. We have way, WAY too many.....pundits. "Experts". Talking heads. Whether it deals with politics, relationships, or world affairs there never seems to be a shortage of well dressed experts waiting to tell me what's going to happen and why. Watching Fox yesterday, I saw a panel of SEVEN talking politics. Not surprising, more time was spent hearing people talk over each other than getting anything I could use.

Speaking of pundits, I always get depressed when I see someone who's labeled as a "senior analyst", and they're younger than me.

If you're going to drive like an idiot, why would you have personalized license plates? Believe me, if you drive me into a ditch, I'm going to remember a plate that says "RUFFBOY" better than I will a random series of numbers and letters.

Off to a local sports bar soon. It'll be my first time at this particular place. Too often in Las Vegas when I've gone to a "sports bar" to watch a game during the day, the tvs have shown things like Fox, CNBC, Nickelodeon (at a bar!), even Animal Planet. Their credibility is instantly ruined, especially when the bartender has no idea there's a game on that day. I went to watch a Cubs game a month or so ago and went to four places before I found one showing the game. Here's to better luck today.