Channel 5 Minus Four

Uncle Barky’s reporting that Andrea Burnett, who joined KXAS-Channel 5 as a weekday morning reporter at the beginning of the year, is “the latest casualty of corporate-mandated downsizing.” In other words: Last one in, first one out. Or damned near. She came here from Wichita Falls, Ed says, and now…

Instant Nostalgia (Or: How Old is John McCaa, Anyway?)

This morning, we stumbled across some vintage video recently posted to YouTube featuring Dallas newscasts from the early and mid-1980s. So, yeah, there’s Iola Johnson, John Criswell, a boyishly rugged Dale Hansen and John “Dorian Gray” McCaa (seriously, wow) on WFAA-Channel 8…..

A Dreamgirl’s Potential Nightmare

Jennifer Hudson’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination for her performance in Dreamgirls. But not before the first-timer and former American Idol favorite has to deal with something she told the Dallas Voice last week, during her trip here to promote the big-screen version of the hit musical. Seems…

City to Local Newspapers: Pay Up or Shut Up

This morning, there appeared in The Dallas Morning News a story about how the some folks at City Hall — including several council members — are working on an ordinance that would “ban distribution boxes not conforming to rigid standards for size, color and material.” Also included in that ordinance:…

Rolling Newspapers

We’re accepting nominations for Bob Mong nicknames. Anything with “Bong” would be cool, man. Real cool. This morning at Time.com, a few newspaper execs were asked to comment on the sorry state of the biz. Among those queried were Scott Bosley, executive director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors;…

There Goes the Neighborhood

About an hour ago, cops on horses and motorcycles and in vans and squad cars showed up near the corner of Maple and Wyclif, which is just north of the Observer office. More than a dozen officers are now on the street, stopping drivers to check for license and registration,…

Up-and-Comer, Come and Gone?

During an online chat today, Washington Post media writer (and CNN’s Reliable Source) Howard Kurtz was asked to name the Top 10 newspaper in the country. You might recognize the name of one of ’em. (OK, all of them, but, c’mon, play along.) Washington, D.C.: Mr. Kurtz, in your column…

Man Crushing on Tony Romo

Last night wasn’t an easy one for Tony Romo. He has to endure KTVT-Channel 11 sports anchor Babe Laufenberg’s cheap-ass come-ons during “The Score”: graphic gags involving Romo’s head being Photoshopped onto Mount Rushmore and a Hall of Fame bust. (Only days earlier, during a 10 p.m. newscast, anchor Tracy…

What Tomorrow Holds

Before the day ends, I did want to give you faithful Friends of Unfair Park a heads-up: In tomorrow’s Dallas Morning News, Steve Blow (all right, quiet down) will at long last run his column about our old pal Zac Crain and whether he ought to be considered a serious…

Belo in Bed with Yahoo!

Yeah, well–The Dallas Morning News and, like, 149 other daily newspapers. It’s part of “a strategic partnership with more than 150 daily U.S. newspapers to deliver search, graphical and classified advertising to consumers in the communities where they live and work,” says the press release Belo issued today. Sounds like…

DMN Sends City Hall Reporter to, uh, Austin

Emily Ramshaw’s leaving Dallas, but not The Dallas Morning News. She’s merely moving to the Austin bureau. Emily Ramshaw, who, for the last two years, has done a superior job covering city of Dallas business for The Dallas Morning News (even if Jim has the occasional issue with her work),…

Ski Mt. Dumb-ass

A couple of days ago, Colorado talk-radio host Peter Boyles (loved him in Young Frankenstein) discussed a June 12 Dallas Morning News article headlined, “Parkland will treat all moms-to-be.” Well, Colorado Media Matters, a state-based project of the nonprofit “progressive” group Media Matters for America, reports on its Web site…

Radio Uh-Oh

Yes, I know. Thanks for the calls and e-mails, really. KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) is not on the air right now–at least, not on the AM side. Its FM counterpart at 104.1 is up and running, but the guys back at the station have no idea what’s up at present…

Malas Noticias

We mentioned it last month, and the Los Angeles Times repeats it once more today: If you get your local news from Telemundo, well, chances are it ain’t really local. Nope–it’ll come straight outta Fort Worth. That’s because NBC Universal, Telemundo’s parent company, is cutting $750 million from its budget,…

Cuban: Newspapers Do “Dumb-Ass Shit”

Not that Mavs owner Mark Cuban is criticizing our fair medium; it’s just that “newspapers don’t see their own value,” which is a point well taken. So that doesn’t stop Cuban from touting The Dallas Morning News in the latest issue of Esquire, in which Cuban shares “What I’ve Learned”…

Hindsight is 20/20

Judge Keith Dean, who gave a pot-smoker life and let a murderer walk, was voted off the bench Tuesday. 20/20 is kinda taking the credit for that one. Dunno if you saw this last week, but during 20/20’s special report on “Privilege in America” last week, it included a piece…

Look Out, Belo. Your Redesign Sucks.

It’s easy to pick on The Dallas Morning News–and, ya know, it’s kind of our job. Has been ever since BeloWatch way back in the late, oh, 1960s, was it? I had no intention of logging in early this a.m. and taking potshots at its new Web site. Who are…

Ankarlo Off a KLIF

Darrell Ankarlo’s leaving Dallas. It’s OK to cry. Let it out. Got some good news for local League of United Latin American Citizens president Jesse Diaz (and the rest of the human race) this morning: Darrell Ankarlo, morning-show host on KLIF-AM (570), is leaving our fair town for Phoenix. So…

Typo Our Ass

I had no idea till I saw FrontBurner just now–and big ups to our pal Aaron McGill for the link–that Richie Whitt’s “two shits” made Gawker yesterday (not to mention AdRants and a host of other sites). Apparently, some folks think Richie made a typo; ah, not so much. More…

We’d Rather Watch

There’s finally a start date set for Dan Rather Presents on Mark Cuban’s HDNet: November 14. And Rather talks about the show, his first since being unceremoniously canned from CBS News in June, in today’s New York Daily News. (What he doesn’t talk about is how Katie Couric’s taking the…

Belo Suits: They Fit Like They’re Handmade!

Rhett Bomar, The Dallas Morning News has some more questions for ya, if you don’t mind. OU does, apparently. I saw last night on KTVT-Channel 11 that some 18 former Dallas Morning News staffers have filed suit against their old boss, claiming age discrimination. The fine folks at FrontBurner have…