At the end of March, The Washington Post ran a piece in which some National Public Radio hosts and higher-ups discussed the idea of having NPR member stations raise funds on the mothership’s behalf. Because, after all, NPR’s struggling like every other media organization: In December, it axed two popular…
Dallas Morning News insiders and the merely curious have no doubt spent the better part of the day watching the comments pile up on the DMNcuts blog, which has documented the layoffs taking place inside 508 Young Street. Condolences have been extended, tempers have flared, those let go have said…
‘Bout a month ago, we mentioned Chuck Norris’s column in which he kinda, sorta suggested that just maybe it was time he ran for president of Texas. A sentence from that piece — in which Norris wondered, “Will history need to record a second American Revolution?” — prompted this Charles…
Last time Friend of Unfair Park PeterK directed our attention to a vintage Dallas photo for sale on eBay, we drove up the $9.99 opening bid to a whopping sale price of $23.50, what a deal. This one’s not quite so action-packed as a four-alarm fire in the Wilson Building,…
This morning, A.H. Belo Corporation announced that layoffs at The Dallas Morning News will begin promptly, with “the majority of the actions [taking place] today and tomorrow.” By the time the company’s done with its so-called “cost-cutting measures,” it will have eliminated 14 percent of its total workforce, as A.H…
After taking a long, hard look at this morning’s Quick cover, Unfair Park would like to take this opportunity to welcome Dallas Morning News Managing Editor George Rodrigue to the sexually oriented weekly tabloid business. As a member of this elite journalism club, George, you and A.H. Belo upper management…
On DMNCuts, word is A.H. Belo Corp. will start trimming staff at The Dallas Morning News early next week. Which will be followed on May 1 by pay cuts for all: Robert Decherd this morning sent a “Letter to Colleagues” in which the A.H. Belo chairman, CEO and president announced…
This is by far the most difficult post I’ve ever written. But it’s time. I can continue this charade no longer. Over the past 11 months on this blog I’ve spewed forth a plethora of radical opinions, most of which this morning I’d like to officially denounce. I admit, most of them…
Waaaaaay back in June, Jon Stewart first got the WTF giggles over that Central Kia spot in which a Barack Obama impersonator sells cars at low, low prices. You’ve probably seen the ad plenty since then; in fact, Central Kia — which has locations in Plano, Irving, Carrollton and Lewisville…
Shortly before the 2007 referendum on the Trinity Turnpike, I discussed a Dallas Morning News editorial written by Colleen McCain Nelson, in which she had a hard time grasping the difference between a floodway and a floodplain. It wasn’t the first time I disagreed with her as she appears to…
Dallas Morning News Managing Editor George Rodrigue just posted his latest “Ask the Editor” column. And, even though nobody asked — we are soooooo blushing right now — it’s mostly about the Dallas Observer, otherwise known as “a sexually oriented weekly tabloid,” which sounds significantly more interesting than the paper…
Lose a basketball game. Win another ratings period. Ho-hum. With Arbitron’s new Portable People Meter (PPMs) ratings, instead of a three-month window we can check out the stats monthly. And what do the PPMs indicate for February? That, just like last month, 1310 AM The Ticket is as strong as…
Richie has the recap of last night’s Ticket-Lake Highlands High all-girls squad basketball game, and no doubt he’ll post the sports-talk radio ratings for February sooner than later. (Spoiler alert: KTCK’s No. 1 overall in the market with men 25-54 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, posting…
One player wore low-top running shoes and – duh – sprained his ankle. A guy in only a diaper was escorted out by security. And, in the end, the teen-aged girls reduced the middle-aged men to a hapless puddle of fart-and-fall-down. In other words, The Ticket’s game against a group of Lake…
It’s new-comics Wednesday … not so’s I’d know, um, swear. But it does provide this opportunity to point out that Lone Star Comics’ general manager Chris Powell is among those cited at length in a new Publishers Weekly report from the just-wrapped ComicsPRO convention in Memphis, where comic-book retailers insisted…
Last time we mentioned Blockbuster — on Friday, when CEO Jim Keyes was overheard lamenting the poor product Hollywood puts on its shelves — Friends and strangers used the opportunity to bash the business model. Chief among the complaints: historically high rental prices, it ain’t Netflix, time limits on rentals,…
Some random notes this a.m. — so till Merten decides to get back in gear with his Virtual Coffee, how ’bout a First Smoke of the Day? Like this puff (piece) from New York magazine concerning New York City Opera’s new director, some guy named George Steel … sounds familiar,…
The publishers of D Magazine and the Advocate this morning are extolling the greatness of Michael Lindenberger and The News for making a fraud out of Mayor Tom Leppert. Me? I knew about Leppert’s tall tales 18 months ago and am tickled by the headlines from Wick Allison on FrontBurner…
Schutze is on an East Texas retreat with Dallas administrative judge C. Victor Lander this week, so he won’t mind me posting this T-shirt suggested by Friend of Unfair Park “ericthegardener.” It all started in the comments section of yesterday’s item about the May 5 Trinity Parkway Public Hearing at…
The attorney for Russ Martin’s fiancee – Mandy – says this afternoon that his client was arrested via warrant and handcuffed at work Monday by Dallas County authorities, transfered to Irving and eventually taken by Tarrant County officers to Judge Jamie Cummings’ County Criminal Court #5 for failure to appear in…
The latest non-development in Russ Martin’s assault case in Tarrant County is actually a development. After a couple of time-wasting, docket-management appearances in Fort Worth over the last three months, Martin showed up again this morning and got the word: His trial date is July 27. By that time it will be more than…
On Monday, Ed Bark noted that WFAA-Channel 8 has hired Kristin Mitchell as a co-host on Good Morning Texas — making that show a threesome now, as the former St. Louis anchor joins a set already populated by Gary Cogill and Amy Vanderoef. A Friend of Unfair Park is not…
