Business

For Ira Glass, the 50-year-old host of Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life, doing radio is like talking on the phone to somebody late at night. “There’s an intimacy to just hearing someone’s voice,” said Glass, Saturday’s keynote speaker during the University of North Texas’s fifth annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction…

As I told you back in June, Dale Hansen is a tip-toeing toward burnout these days. As of today, his work load is a little lighter. A radio industry source told me over the weekend that the iconic voice of Dallas sports will not sign a new contract at 103.3 FM ESPN…

Two media matters this morning, beginning with A.H. Belo releasing its second-quarter numbers: “Advertising revenue, including print and Internet revenue, was down 30.2 percent, due to declines in retail, general and classified revenues in all AHC markets.” The press release has all the stats concerning The Dallas Morning News’s parent…

Bud Gillett is still at KTVT-Channel 11 — says so right on the station’s Web site, where he’s hailed as the most veteran reporter at CBS 11 News with 33 years in major market television news, the last 26 years working the streets of Dallas/Fort Worth.” But, as Ed Bark…

Greg Williams is a recovering addict. Wednesday was one of those bad days. Friday he’ll be back on the air with Richard Hunter. Hopefully it will be a good day. “Yesterday he was a little off,” Hunter said during his show on Rational Radio 1360 AM moments ago. “But we…

Bless Greg Williams. The guy, as you know, has a history. Now, alongside Richard Hunter on Rational Radio 1360 AM, he has a second third chance. We’ve heard him wacko before. Yesterday afternoon … I dunno – you tell me. He arrived late. Fumbled with his headphones. Gave out The Ticket’s phone number. Apparently…

For some reason, within the span of the last 15 minutes I received a handful of e-mails (and a phone call) from a few strong Friends of Unfair Park that all contained some variation of the following message: Go stream Richard Hunter’s Rational Radio show … right now! So I…

Let’s see, what went down on the dial while I was ransacking the craps table at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas? *Weird story about Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Not that he’s accused of sexual assault. That happens. The bizarre twist is that ESPN – your worldwide leader – has…

So reports the great Ed Bark, who’s peeked at a copy of the CBS affiliate’s petition to the Federal Communications Commission in which KTVT’s asking for a new frequency pronto. Uncle Barky’s got the details, but the short version is: Channel 11 says the digital transition on June 12 absolutely…

Ok, where were we? … Ah-ha! Right here. While I was out actually winning some money in Las Vega$, playing some horrible golf and getting some rest in advance of Dallas Cowboys’ training camp in San Antonio, last week on vacation I did make time to catch Channel 8’s “candid” and…

So says The New York Times on this morning’s front page in advance of ESPN’s Monday-morning announcement that it’s this close to launching a Web site dedicated solely to Dallas sports. The Worldwide Leader’s actually muscling into three markets after testing the product in Chicago, with Los Angeles and New…

The biggest revelation to arise from Dr. J. Q. Lazarus Schütze’s appearance on KERA-TV last night was that haircut and that suit — quite fancy for a sex-tabloid worker! I’ll let you watch Jim’s Friday-night Think-off with Dallas Morning News’er Lee Hancock without further comment, though why Hancock was invited…

Yes, yes and yes to all those wondering if Dr. James Phoestus Schutze will still brighten up KERA-Channel 13’s airwaves tonight at 7:30 with sand-in-the-levees talk. Says right here:WHAT’S ON TODAYTopicThe Trinity SagaGuestLee Hancock, Jim Schutze & Philip HaasDescriptionWhere does Dallas stand on the Trinity River Project? Will the recent…

Remember how, earlier this week, we mentioned that Austin venture capitalist John Thornton was starting an online newspaper, the intention of which is to cover Texas and specifically Austin? Well, now we know who the CEO of that paper’s gonna be: none other than Texas Monthly’s president and editor-in-chief Evan…

It’s doubtful you’ve ever heard of Border Media Partners: It’s a miniature radio conglomerate founded in 2002 in McAllen but now HQ’d in the same shiny N. Central Expressway office tower as Richards Group, and it owns and operate more than two dozen Hispanic-centric stations from Waco down to Austin…

Greg Janda at KXAS-Channel 5 sends word that the NBC affiliate’s Web site is carrying live Brett Johnson’s funeral in its entirety; you can watch it here. Services for the 48-year-old Fort Worth native — who died suddenly Sunday of pancreatitis after being admitted to the hospital one week ago…

Says so right there on The Dallas Morning News’s “Problem Tracker” Web site…

Six paragraphs into this Burnt Orange Report item this morning, which deals with the dwindling number of reporters covering State Capitol doings, there’s this intriguing nugget:Sources say publishers and editors have ratcheted up their efforts to come up with news while cutting staff. Additionally, word that Austin investment guru and…

After the jump you’ll find KXAS-Channel 5’s video tribute to Brett Johnson, the 13-year station veteran who died Sunday at the age of 48. The NBC affiliate reports that Johnson — whose affinity for Texcentric tales made him the station’s down-home-style version of Bob Phillps — died of pancreatitis, for…

Schutze is out of the office, no doubt freshening up his deep, dark tan for his forthcoming television appearance, about which we were just notified by Meg Fullwood at KERA. As she does every week, Meg sent along the programming schedule for next week’s Thinks, both the radio and teevee…

Honestly, I thought the guy was gonna walk. I’m shocked he took a plea today. I mean, “no contest” is a sort of an admission of guilt, right? To me, this smells like Russ and Mandy –  who were reconciled for months – having a very recent falling out and him fearing…