Newspapers Are a Bad Investment? Tell Me About It.

Thanks to some dude named Anthony Noto at Goldman Sachs, newspaper stocks are tanking today. Seems Noto, who Forbes recently said was pretty good at picking stocks, said today that he “anticipates ad sales will weaken further as economic conditions continue to deteriorate in 2008,” and Goldman Sachs today is…

Josh Venable to Rock L.A. Hard.

Josh Venable, headin’ to the City of Angels Turns out, Josh Venable still works for Clear Channel after all — only, now it’s in Los Angeles. Clear Channel’s Dallas market manager, J.D. Freeman, sends words that today, it was officially announced that the former Adventure Club host and KDGE-FM (102.1)…

Honor Among Pundits

Yaser Abdel Said Not 48 hours after the shooting deaths of two teenage sisters in Irving, the blogosphere is atwitter with the missives of angry scribes who’ve already branded the girls’ father, 50-year-old cab driver Yaser Abdel Said, an “honor killer” in a frenzy of Oh-my-God-Muslims-are-ruining-our-country hysteria. And police have…

What’s Left of the Dial

Our old pal J.D. Freeman, Dallas-Fort Worth’s market manager for Clear Channel Radio, fills us in today concerning some changes around the DFW dial. As in: KDGE-FM (102.1) needs a new morning show, as Lex & Terry are moving over to the recently resuscitated KEGL-FM (97.1) come January 9. (The…

Fox Me? No, Fox U.

Damned if I can find any hint of this on KDFW-Channel 4’s Web site, which might be the worst local TV-news site in town, but MediaWeek brings news that the Fox owned-and-operated station has paired up with journalism students from SMU on a new site called Fox U News, which…

The Spirits of Texas

The comedy team of Delkus & Hansen was in high gear New Year’s Eve down at Victory Park, where, clearly, someone spiked the punch. Speaking of punch, the WFAA-Channel 8 sports anchor sure knows how to welcome a new member to the team. Happy New Year, Cynthia Izaguirre. You too,…

The Playmaker Gets a Radio Gig

It figures that one of our final items of 2007 would deal with sports radio — though, to be fair, it has nothing to do with KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket). Well, not really, though if memory serves former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin did used to have a weekly…

“Indefinitely” Is Turning Into a Long, Long Time

KDFW-Channel 4’s Rebecca Aguilar — still missing more than two months later Rowlett’s Marisa Trevino is a friend of Rebecca Aguilar’s; she’s very clear about that in her Scripps News-syndicated column about Aguilar’s continued absence from KDFW-Channel 4, from which Aguilar was indefinitely suspended in October following her polarizing parking-lot…

Meet the New Boss

Mark Donald, the new editor of the Dallas Observer The Dallas Observer will begin the new year with a new editor: Mark Donald. His should be a very familiar name to longtime readers of the paper version of Unfair Park: Mark — who now demands to be called Mr. Donald,…

The Last Word on The Ticket’s “He Who Must Not Be Named”

Mike Rhyner, at left, weighed in today about the future of The Hardline. Moments ago, The Hardline host Mike Rhyner and sidekick Corby Davidson spoke at great length about the fate of KTCK-AM’s drive-time show — specifically, the cease and desist about which Richie wrote yesterday and the what’s-next for…

Dallas, Not as Bum Steer As You’d Think

For those who can’t wait till Texas Monthly’s new issue hits the stands, the mag has kindly posted its 2008 Bum Steer Awards — and by my count, Houston, with its 11 separate items, is far more bum-steer than Dallas, which only garners six (not including ones related to, oh,…

Greggo’s Gone for Good. But to Where?

Greggo, at right, is gone — even his drops have been adiosed, alas. If you’re a listener of KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) — and judging from my saturated e-mail inbox and your comments, you most certainly are — this week you’ve heard a subtle, yet significant change. Or maybe you…

Sitting in With “Our Man Downtown”

Mark Graham Not much early blogging today: I’m scheduled to appear on Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price’s radio show at 8 a.m.: Liberation Nation, sitting at KNON-FM (89.3) on your transistor’s tuner. The subject: this week’s cover story, about architect William Sidney Pittman and his Knights of Pythias Temple…

Absinthe Makes the Grimes Grow Fonder

4:30 p.m. Just got back from an afternoon field trip to the Sigel’s liquor store at Cole and Fitzhugh avenues with Bobsky, ’cause when Bobsky says, “Grimes, let’s drink,” there’s nothing to do but grab one’s purse and traveling hat and follow the man in the motorcycle boots to the…

Barking Up the Year in Local TV

Uncle Barky, who watches local TV so you don’t have to, today provides his local TV year-in-review — a Top 10 rundown of “2007’s most notable happenings,” leading off with David Finfrock’s hacking cough, poor guy. Amazingly, Rececca Aguilar ain’t the top dog in Ed’s pack o’ picks. –Robert Wilonsky…

The Eagle Has Landed. Again.

J.D. Freeman, Clear Channel’s Dallas market manager, called this morning with the news that as of 10 a.m. today, 97.1-FM is once more … The Eagle. As in, “We’ll play artists like Metallica, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourne, Linkin Park,” etc. As we reported last month, Clear Channel ditched the Spanish-language format…

Maybe It’s All Those Pop-Up Ads, Y’Think?

According to Editor & Publisher, folks ain’t spending a lot of time trolling The Dallas Morning News’ Web site. And the number’s dropping precipitously, at least when Nielsen compared November 2007 to November 2006 — down 18.5 percent, which ain’t as much as USA Today’s 27.8 percent free fall, but,…

Was Channel 5 Ever Good?

More from the KXAS-Channel 5 archives, courtesy our Friend “phloid,” who sends word that he’s got more vintage video forthcoming — a little Harold Taft, anyone? Till then, a hard-hitting piece on a psychic from Richardson who predicted a “Metroplex calamity” for 1990. Not this. –Robert Wilonsky…

Greg’s New Radio Gig

Yes, but that wasn’t the question. Do you like your new gig, Greg Hill? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But it’s not The Ticket’s Greg, but rather this one, now appearing on the newly tweaked ESPN Radio. Don’t get me wrong, any move that yanks Stephen A. Smith and his faux…