http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/ http://www.eblah.com en http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216910950/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216910950/#num1 Bachman on Late Show
  

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Randy Bachman will appear on The Late Show with David Letterman tomorrow.

Bachman, a native of Winnipeg who now lives on Saltspring Island, was asked to sit in with Letterman's house band, which is led by fellow Canadian Paul Schaffer. It is his first appearance on the program.

"Randy was invited by Paul, his longtime friend," said Bachman's tour manager, Kevin Duffy. "He was happy to accept the invitation."

Duffy was present at the taping on Monday (Friday editions of the show are pre-taped) and said the musicians had a ball jamming.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/etoday/story.html?id=6beb0739-b826-44f7-a256-c7d2efc367c9

.]]> Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:49:10 Swamp Water http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216749929/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216749929/#num1 Estelle Getty, peppery oldster in TV's 'Golden Girls,' dies in Los Angeles at 84
By BOB THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
                                                                                    
LOS ANGELES July 22, 2008 (AP) - Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.

"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," her son said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."

"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.

Three of its stars had already appeared in previous series: Bea Arthur in "Maude," Betty White in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Rue McClanahan in "Mama's Family." The last character to be cast was Sophia Petrillo, the feisty 80-something mother of Arthur's character.
]]> Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:05:29 mikedup http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216742863/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216742863/#num1 Letters From TV Land
Leno After 'Tonight'



Lacey Rose,
July 22.08


Jay Leno's days are numbered. Despite the Tonight Show host's ratings success and continued enthusiasm for late-night comedy, the top-rated funnyman will be shown the door in mid-2009. As part of a deal hammered out four years ago, the Tonight Show baton will be passed to Late Night host Conan O'Brien.

Anticipating a storm of late night-related questions at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles on Monday, execs from General Electric-owned NBC allowed a thinly disguised--bald and bearded--Leno to pose as a reporter and grill NBC Entertainment Co-Chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff.

When is Leno's final show? May 29, 2009.

Will he be paid for the rest of the year? Of course.

And more: Do you think people like him better as a mechanic than a talk-show host? Will you give him a fifth hour on the Today show? What if Jay changes his mind?

The gag, explained Silverman, was designed to show the roomful of skeptical journalists that despite industry rumblings and a recent USA Today quote from Leno about being "definitely done" with NBC, the network and its top-rated late night host continue to have a good relationship.

But one of the skeptics in the room refused to let it end there: "That was all very much fun and nice," the real reporter said, "but what's going to happen later on ... when Leno goes on to ABC and kicks Conan's [butt]?"

Sticking to the party line that the discussions with Leno are ongoing, both executives say they're not resigned to losing him to Walt Disney-owned ABC, or any other network.

"We can't force him to do something," explains Graboff of Leno's next move. "We've presented him with a number of opportunities we think will be great, that hopefully he'll come to think are great."

Silverman concurs: "We're looking for a way to let him remain a part of the family," he says.

Following the panel, Silverman compared the highly criticized move to the Johnny Carson/Leno transition in 1992. Though many in both the public and press believed David Letterman was the more deserving and capable successor at the time, Leno received the coveted Tonight Show position. In hindsight, the network executive points out to the gaggle of reporters standing before him, Leno has proved the more successful choice.

With his usual confidence, Silverman urges his audience to give the decision time, too: "We've ridden these waters before," he says, "and I don’t think you can ever devalue what the Tonight Show is worth."

http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/22/jay-leno-nbc-biz-media-cx_lr_0722tonight_print.html

.
]]> Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:07:43 voice over http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216668105/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216668105/#num1 Ebert, Roeper walk out of 'At the Movies'
Roeper hints at plans for another review show

The Associated Press
Updated: July 21, 2008, 01:32 PM ET
                                                        
CHICAGO -- Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert says he's cutting ties with the television show that he and the late Gene Siskel made famous.

In an e-mail to the Associated Press on Monday, Ebert said Disney-ABC Domestic Television had decided to take the show "in a new direction" and he won't be associated with it.

His announcement came a day after Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper said he was leaving the nationally syndicated "At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper."

Roeper said in a statement Sunday that he had failed to agree on a contract extension with Disney-ABC Domestic Television so his last appearance on the show will air the weekend of Aug. 16-17.

"Several months ago, Disney offered to extend my contract, which expires at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season," Roeper said. "I opted to wait. Much transpired after that behind the scenes, but an agreement was never reached, and we are all moving on."

A message seeking comment was left for a spokeswoman for Disney-ABC Domestic Television early Monday.

Roeper said he intends to "proceed elsewhere ... as the co-host of a movie review show that honors the standards established by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert more than 30 years ago."

"I will be free to share the details on that program in the near future," he said.

He also said he wishes Disney "the best of luck with their new show, whatever form it may take."

Roeper joined Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert on the show in 2000, after Ebert's original co-host, Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel, died of a brain tumor in 1999.

Siskel and Ebert had begun reviewing movies on television together in 1975 on Chicago public broadcasting's WTTW, which eventually took their program national. The pair jumped to commercial television through the Tribune Co.'s TV syndication wing in 1982, switching to Disney in 1986.

Roeper was chosen from among a large group of contenders to be the permanent replacement for Siskel after his death.

Ebert has been sidelined the last two years because of health issues that have robbed him of his voice.

"Over the last two seasons, as Roger has bravely coped with his medical issues, I've continued the show with a number of guest co-hosts," Roeper said. "It's never been the same without Roger, but I'm proud of the work we've done and I'm grateful to all the co-hosts who stepped in -- and to the viewers that stayed loyal to the show." ]]> Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:21:45 mikedup http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216661152/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216661152/#num1 Fallon Will Start ‘Late Night’ on the Web

By BILL CARTER
New York Times
Published: July 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES — With a new round of shake-ups in late-night television set to begin next year, Lorne Michaels has decided to try to get a jump on things by starting NBC’s next edition of “Late Night,” with its new host Jimmy Fallon, as a nightly entry on the Internet.

Mr. Fallon has been named as the replacement for Conan O’Brien when Mr. O’Brien takes over the “Tonight” show from Jay Leno next year, and Mr. Michaels, the long-time boss of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” who also serves as executive producer of “Late Night,” told television reporters here Sunday that he wants Mr. Fallon to work out as many of the rough spots in his presentation as possible in performances on a website.

Mr. Michaels said he did not know yet which site he will use to post the shows with Mr. Fallon, but he was sure of several of the plans:

The web performances will likely begin in the fall, long before the transition from Mr. Leno for Mr. O’Brien is set to take place. The entries will not constitute anything like an entire hour-long show. “I expect that we’ll do something like five or 10 minutes,” Mr. Michaels said.

But he said they most likely will be on every night, to try to establish the rhythm of a nightly show. And he said, “I’m going to post them at 12:30 every night, so people will begin to look for Jimmy at that time.”

NBC is expected to announce the schedule for the transition from Mr. Leno to Mr. O’Brien and from Mr. O’Brien to Mr. Fallon here tomorrow. NBC executives have previously said that Mr. O’Brien will probably stop production on his “Late Night” show in February, while he moves west and prepares to lead “Tonight” from a new stage now being built on the lot of the NBC Universal studio.

Mr. Leno is expected to continue until perhaps June. Mr. Michaels said Sunday that Mr. Fallon will definitely get some time on the air following Mr. Leno before Mr. O’Brien takes over “Tonight.” He pegged the likely start date for Mr. Fallon on the television version of the show as “sometime in the spring.”

One reason for trying out the show online, Mr. Michaels said, is that the Internet will allow Mr. Fallon more freedom in terms of what he can say and do, “more opportunity for experimentation,” Mr. Michaels said. But he added that he didn’t expect the show to push the line too far in terms of content. “I think we’re our own censors,” he said.

But the main reason for the idea, he said, was the experience of Mr. O’Brien, who endured a long period of uncertainty about whether he would survive after he assumed the desk on “Late Night” succeeding David Letterman. “Conan needed time to find his show,” Mr. Michaels said. “I think this will help Jimmy to do that.”
]]> Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:25:52 mikedup http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216310072/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216310072/#num1 Cable Series in Running for Emmys
  
By BILL CARTER
New York Times TV Writer
Published: July 18, 2008
        
                                       A scene from AMC's "Mad Men"

The nominations for television’s biggest award, the Emmy, were released Thursday morning, adding further fuel to the argument that the much of the best creative work in the medium is now being done on cable channels — and to the perception that shows do not necessarily need big audiences to be celebrated by the television academy.

The latter point was underscored by the emergence of the little-watched (but much-written-about) drama “Mad Men” on the AMC cable channel, which received nominations in the categories of best drama, best actor (Jon Hamm), best direction, best writing (two episodes from the series creator, Matthew Weiner), best supporting actor (John Slattery) and best guest actor (Robert Morse). No other drama on television had as many major nominations.

In comedy, NBC’s “30 Rock” still struggles in the ratings, but certainly not in the Emmy race. The show racked up more nominations than any other series, scoring for best comedy, best actor (Alec Baldwin), best actress (Tina Fey), best directing, best writing (two, including Ms. Fey again) and a staggering seven of the 11 total nominations for best guest actor and actress. Ms. Fey herself achieved an Emmy coup by being nominated in three separate categories, adding another for best individual performance in a variety series for her turn as host of “Saturday Night Live” for a week.

Though “30 Rock” made a strong showing, cable channels in fared well in competition against their richer, more celebrated colleagues on the broadcast networks in the major categories, especially in drama. And not, for once, because of dominance by HBO.

That network, which muscled its way to Emmy glory in the past with series like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City,” was humbled a bit this season. Its pay-cable competitor, Showtime, shined for the first time with nominations in drama (“Dexter” and that show’s star, Michael C. Hall) and comedy (Mary-Louise Parker for “Weeds”). More galling perhaps for HBO was the huge haul for “Mad Men,” a show HBO passed on even though its creator, Mr. Weiner, had been in house as a writer and producer on “The Sopranos.”

HBO could have been the network taking kudos for the next prestige drama on television; instead, it is AMC, heretofore an Emmy outsider. That network also managed some impressive nominations for another drama, “Breaking Bad,” including one for Bryan Cranston as best actor. With Mr. Hamm, that gave AMC more nominees in that category than any other network. The others were Mr. Hall; James Spader, the perennial winner for “Boston Legal”; the always praised but so far unrecognized Hugh Laurie of Fox’s “House”; and Gabriel Bryne of HBO’s series “In Treatment.”

HBO fared much better in the categories where it always stands out, like movies and mini-series, where “John Adams” was nominated for just about everything, and it had two of the five comedy show nominations in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage.” The latter show’s actors Jeremy Piven and Kevin Dillon were also nominated.

Comedy remained a bit of a safe haven from cable invasion for the broadcast networks, as three of the nominees for best series, “The Office,” and “30 Rock” on NBC and “Two and a Half Men” on CBS, were from the networks, as were four of the best-actor nominees: Mr. Baldwin, Steve Carrell of “The Office,” Charlie Sheen of “Two and a Half Men” and Lee Pace of “Pushing Daisies” on ABC.

Four of the best comedy actresses joining Ms. Parker were from network shows: Ms. Fey, Christina Applegate of “Samantha Who” on ABC, America Ferrara of “Ugly Betty” on ABC, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Old Christine” on CBS.

But in drama, more women nominees came from cable. The best actress category included Glenn Close of “Damages” on FX, Holly Hunter of “Saving Grace” on TNT and Kyra Sedgwick of “The Closer” on TNT. The networks had Mariska Hargitay of “Law & Order: SVU” on NBC and Sally Field of “Brothers and Sisters” on ABC

ABC had the best year of any of the broadcast networks, with many nominations in the major categories, but its two biggest shows, “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” were snubbed as series, and picked up only a couple of supporting actress nominations.

Among the late-night hosts, cable again was strong with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central. David Letterman got a nomination for host, but Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien did not. As has been the recent trend, NBC’s “Tonight” was shut out again, despite being by far the most popular of the late-night shows — again proving that Emmy voters do not see things quite the way television audiences do.]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:54:32 boredop http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216178516/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216178516/#num1 Les Crane Pioneered the Talk Genre at KGO

By BRUCE WEBER¸
New York Times
Published: July 15, 2008
                                                            
Les Crane, a provocative talk-show host who was the first to challenge the primacy of Johnny Carson on late-night television — and lose — died Sunday in Greenbrae, Calif., north of San Francisco. He was 74 and lived in Belvedere, Calif.
.
Mr. Crane’s daughter, Caprice Crane, confirmed his death.

Personable, cocky and well-attuned to the tenor of the times, Mr. Crane predated Howard Stern as a “king of all media”; his multifaceted career began in radio, moved to television and ended in computer software, with a stop in between as a Grammy-winning recording artist, though even he would have shuddered at calling his recording art.

An early, and by later standards, tame incarnation of a shock jock, Mr. Crane was a radio star in San Francisco in the early 1960s. From a studio in the hungry i, a nightclub that was a launching pad for performers like Mort Sahl, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand and Lenny Bruce, he took listeners’ calls from all over the West Coast, fielding their questions, sometimes with a celebrity guest, and often dismissing callers’ comments on current events and culture with brusque wit or outright disdain, simply hanging up on some in what was then a startling breach of accepted etiquette.

(He was succeeded by Ira Blue whose late evening program was also wildly popular up and down the west coast.)

His station, KGO, was owned by ABC, and the parent company transferred Mr. Crane first to the local television affiliate and then to its flagship station, WABC in New York. The show, initially with the title “Night Line ... With Les Crane” and later as “The Les Crane Show” was first broadcast in September 1963, beginning at 1 a.m. Within two months it was the object of civil rights picketers protesting the appearance on the show of Gov. George Wallace of Alabama.

Calling him “the bad boy of late night television,” The New York Times described Mr. Crane’s role on the show as “public relations expert, complaint-department chief, psychiatrist and tough hero to the callers.”

The show was well-received, and Mr. Crane, telegenic, blithely confrontational and at least partly hip — he conducted the first American television interview with the Rolling Stones, in June 1964 — was attractive enough that the following summer the network gave him a weeklong tryout in the 11:30 p.m. slot with a more conventional talk show, again called “The Les Crane Show,” which was broadcast in five big cities. The week featured interviews with Richard Burton, Shelley Winters, Melvin Belli and Marguerite Frances Claverie, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald

“We’re sitting here in the studio of a major broadcasting company in America and we are talking to the mother of a man it is alleged assassinated our President,” he said on the air, adding: “It’s pretty wonderful, isn’t it? Pretty exciting.”

The tryout was successful, but the show was not. On Nov. 9, 1964, Mr. Crane, just 30 years old, went up against Carson, who had taken over NBC’s “Tonight” show from Jack Paar two years earlier. The Crane show was canceled just a few months later, in spite of Mr. Crane’s interview with Bob Dylan, during which Mr. Crane asked Mr. Dylan, then 23, about the songwriters who influenced him and about the overall message of his songs. Hank Williams and Cole Porter were the answers to the first question. To the second, Mr. Dylan said: “Eat?” Mr. Crane returned to the show in June but lasted only until November.

Mr. Crane was born on Dec. 3, 1933, but sources about his birthplace conflict. His name at birth, his daughter said, was Lesley Stein, adding that she thought he was born in New York. According to an ABC biography, he was born in Long Beach, N.Y. The Daily News in New York once reported that he was born in the Bronx, and various Web sites say San Francisco.

Mr. Crane graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans and spent four years in the United States Air Force as a jet pilot and helicopter flight instructor; for years afterwards, he wore a bracelet with his Air Force wings on it, a reminder, he said, “that whatever I’m doing is safer than what I used to do.”

Mr. Crane married five times. His fourth wife was the actress Tina Louise whom he met and married while she was at the height of her popularity as the glamorous sexpot on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island.” They divorced in 1971 after a five-year marriage. Besides his daughter, a television writer who lives in Los Angeles, he is survived by his wife of 20 years, Ginger Crane.

After the demise of his Carson challenge, in 1968 Mr. Crane had another short-lived talk show, this time on WNEW-TV in New York. He also worked as an occasional actor on television, appearing on “The Virginian,” “Burke’s Law” and “Love, American Style.”

In 1980, Mr. Crane went into the burgeoning computer software business, becoming chairman of the Software Toolworks, whose successes included “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.” But of all his endeavors, the most well-known was one he later wanted to forget.

In 1971, his recording of the inspirational poem “Desiderata” became a cultish hit and even won a Grammy for best spoken-word recording. A cross between flower-child naďveté and New Age dreaminess, it hit a chord at the time, but by 1987, Mr. Crane had changed his tune.

“I can’t listen to it now without gagging,” he told The Los Angeles Times.
]]> Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:21:56 mikedup http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216136609/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1216136609/#num1
courtesy of vancouverbroadcasters.com

Dag Sharman  News anchor/reporter for CKVU - CityPulse News and reporter for CTV British Columbia has moved on to the private sector. He is now the  BC Hydro spokesman.

.]]> Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:43:29 Gotobreak http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1215881464/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1215881464/#num1 CFAX's
Al Ferraby
represents BC Media in Canadian Idol



The moment has arrived!

CFAX 1070 morning man Al Ferraby is going to be in Toronto representing BC Media in the Canadian Idol’ Media Idol’ finals .
On Sunday all 10 finalists from across the country will be ‘videoed’ singing 1 song selection on the Canadian Idol Stage at the John Bassett Theatre in TO. Al has picked the song “You are so beautiful:” as he did in the auditions in Vancouver back in Feb. From what Al tells us, the videos will be “Idolized” so it should look and sound better than the auditions…(I HOPE!)


You will see all the finished videos posted on the Canadian Idol web site beginning at 6am Monday morning Pacific Time.

Then the voting begins. From 6am Monday July 14th till Tuesday at 2pm July 15th you are invited to vote.

Here are the links:

http://www.ctv.ca/idol/media/

http://www.ctv.ca/idol/gen/Home.html

It’s a Canada wide internet vote that will determine the winner so tell your friends and colleagues. You should be able to keep track of who is winning during voting as well. The winner is said to be announced Tuesday night at Canadian Idol.

Break a lip Al!  
your fans @ PSR

.]]> Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:51:04 SAM http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1215384086/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1215384086/#num1 AP
NBC Universal to buy
The Weather Channel for $3.5B

Sunday July 6, 5:45 pm ET
By Seth Sutel,
AP Business Writer

NBC Universal in deal to buy The Weather Channel and Weather.com from Landmark for $3.5B

NEW YORK (AP) -- NBC Universal and two partners said Sunday they have reached a deal to buy The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications Inc., ending a drawn-out process that had attracted interest from several major media companies.
Financial terms weren't disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity said the purchase price was $3.5 billion in cash. NBC was joined in the deal by the private equity firms The Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC.

In addition to The Weather Channel, which can be seen by 97 percent of U.S. cable subscribers, the deal also includes several related assets such as weather services for newspapers and radio stations and the widely used Web site Weather.com.

NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., became the sole bidder for The Weather Channel last month after Time Warner Inc. dropped out. CBS Corp. and cable industry leader Comcast Corp. had also expressed interest earlier.

NBC already operates a digital weather and news service called NBC Weather Plus that was launched in 2004 and would make a logical fit with The Weather Channel. NBC Weather Plus is owned by NBC and its affiliated TV stations and can be seen on digital cable services and digital subchannels operated by NBC stations.

NBC and Landmark said in a statement that The Weather Channel would be operated as a separate entity out of its base in Atlanta. They said they expected the transaction to close by year-end, pending regulatory approvals.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., GE Commercial Finance, GSO Capital Partners and Sankaty Advisors LLC will provide debt financing for the transaction.

Landmark, a privately held media company based in Norfolk, Va., put The Weather Channel up for sale in January along with its other businesses, which include The Virginian-Pilot and eight other daily newspapers. No announcement has yet been made about the newspaper sales, which are continuing on a separate track.

The Weather Channel was launched in 1982. Its Web site has about 37 million monthly unique visitors, putting it in the top 15 Web sites, according to the company. The Weather Channel has 1,300 employees and estimated annual revenues of $550 million.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080706/nbc_weather_channel.html

.
]]> Sun, 6 Jul 2008 18:41:26 AirWaves http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1215135718/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1215135718/#num1
With Julie Nolin leaving in August, does anyone know who is going to take her spot?

]]> Thu, 3 Jul 2008 21:41:58 top http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214843291/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214843291/#num1

Online Broadcasting:
Time to Tame the Wild West?

By: Bill Roberts,
President and CEO, S-VOX
June 27, 2008


Watched The Sopranos on your cell phone lately? Streamed last week's Coronation Street on your home computer? Or bought an episode of Corner Gas from iTunes? For a growing number of Canadians, the answer is yes.

The line between traditional television and new media is getting blurrier every day. Broadcasters, TV producers and Internet providers are all trying to figure out how to navigate this changing landscape. And now the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is pondering whether to get into the act.

As well it should.

Until now, new media broadcasting has been a bit like the Wild West: a new frontier colonized without much in the way of government interference. But with more Canadians watching TV programming on their PCs and mobile phones, it's fair to ask whether the CRTC needs to set some policy guidelines. In an effort to answer this question, the Commission has announced plans for a hearing, and is soliciting public input.

I would argue that the CRTC does, indeed, have a role to play. The job of the Commission is to ensure that broadcasting in this country reflects Canadian values and attitudes, and serves the needs of citizens. To this end, the CRTC should be introducing policy measures that will further the development of unique and original Canadian broadcasting content for the online world.

When the Commission last looked at new media back in 1999, it chose to exempt online broadcasting from regulation. (It issued a similar exemption last year for broadcasting via cell phones and other mobile devices.) Since there wasn't enough broadcast content on the Web to have any impact on traditional TV and radio audiences, imposing strict rules seemed unnecessary.

Nine years later, the picture looks different. More than half of all Canadians with Internet access downloaded videos last year; approximately one-quarter did so at least once a week. At the same time, online video is evolving rapidly toward long-form programming that replicates traditional TV offerings (minus the regulation that requires support for Canadian content).

New media have become, for all intents and purposes, part of the broadcasting system. So it makes sense for the CRTC to take a second look at that exemption.

For the most part, Internet service providers would prefer to see this discussion stopped before it gets started. The Internet, they say, cannot and should not be regulated.

Actually, the former is a myth. North American Internet providers, for example, can and do regulate the Internet by restricting certain traffic on their networks - mostly the bandwidth-devouring peer-to-peer file sharing done by BitTorrent users. Similarly, media companies that broadcast online protect their content rights by using "geo-blocking" software that limits downloading by consumers in other countries.

Like any electronic communications medium, the Internet can be made subject to oversight. The question is how. Should the dictates of the marketplace alone determine how the medium is regulated - or should the greater public interest be a factor?

In some ways, the Wild West approach we've adopted to date has been a healthy one. The new media sector in this country has flourished, in part, because government policy makers have allowed so much room for innovation.

Changing course might be problematic. Canadians have been enthusiastic Internet adopters (nearly two-thirds of all households now have broadband access) and would almost certainly balk at any regulatory measure that restricts consumer access to online content.

Still, there is a case to be made for some limited intervention, in the form of policies that would foster more Canadian new media programming. As the CRTC correctly notes, Canada currently lags behind many other Western countries when it comes to making original, high-quality, professionally produced broadcasting content available online.

Sure, there's plenty of homegrown Web video out there - if your idea of Canadian content is YouTube clips of hockey fights or frat boys playing the national anthem on their armpits. And yes, most of the country's major broadcast players offer some Canadian programming for streaming or download.

But there's far more happening south of the border, where broadcasters have successfully developed original "webisodes," "mobisodes" and video podcasts for hit programs like Battlestar Galactica, 24 and Lost, and have experimented boldly with Web series like Quarterlife.

Why haven't we kept pace? The answer, as it often does, comes down to money. Developing original content for new media - programming that can compete worldwide in a borderless online marketplace - is a costly proposition. In a comparatively small market like Canada, the dollars needed to fund high-quality factual and drama programming are always scarce. Just ask any producer in the traditional TV business.

Over the years, broadcast policy makers have established a financial support system for made-in-Canada television programming. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the CRTC now consider creating a similar mechanism to encourage the creation of original Canadian content for new media broadcasting.

Peter Grant, a Toronto communications lawyer and co-author of the insightful book Blockbusters and Trade Wars: Popular Culture in a Globalized World, has publicly floated the idea of a levy on Internet service providers, requiring them to put a modest fraction of their revenues (say, 2.5 percent) into Canadian programming produced specifically for the online and wireless worlds.

A policy like this would need to be crafted carefully, with an eye to balancing the divergent interests of broadcasters, producers and ISPs. The CRTC would probably need to maintain a light hand, leaving online broadcasting exempt from most other forms of regulation, and would have to allow the market to determine the viability of projects supported by an ISP levy or public funds.

Still, there is great potential - especially if the regulation also offered incentives for broadcasters to partner with ISPs on such projects. We could look forward to programming that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the medium, that tells distinctly Canadian stories with worldwide appeal, that showcases the talents of Canadian content creators in the online realm, and that helps to drive traffic to Canadian Internet providers. Everyone would win.

Contrary to what some in the Web business would have us believe, developing public policy for online broadcasting is not the sort of loony leftish idea only Canadians would contemplate. From the U.S. to France, broadcast regulators are beginning to take seriously the need for intervention to advance the public interest.

The Wild West nature of the Internet has, to some extent, facilitated growth and innovation in Canada's new media sector. But it's time to ask whether our approach ought to change. Smart, market-sensitive policies that privilege the creation of high-quality, original Canadian content could benefit consumers, producers, broadcasters and Internet providers alike. Even the Wild West didn't stay wild forever.


http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=86267&issue=06262008

.]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:28:11 SAM http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214676370/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214676370/#num1 'SNL' to rebroadcast first episode
with George Carlin as Host


      George Carlin


SeattlePI.com
June 27, 2008

As both a tribute and a bid for ratings, NBC is rebroadcasting the first episode of "Saturday Night Live," hosted by George Carlin.

The comedian, who died June 22 of heart failure, was "gracious, fearless and, most important of all, funny," said "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels.

Carlin performed three separate monologues that night in 1975 and helped introduce John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Larraine Newman and Gilda Radner. The show also included a performance from comedian Andy Kaufman and featured musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston. Not a bad lineup. The show airs Saturday (Tonight)  at 11:30 p.m. on KING/5.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/368733_tf128.html

.]]> Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:06:10 voice over http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214574719/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214574719/#num1 George Carlin by rerunning this week its premiere episode from 1975, which featured Carlin as host.

Remembering Carlin, "Saturday Night Live" creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels said in a statement: "You never forget the people who were there at the beginning. George Carlin helped give 'Saturday Night Live' its start as our first host. He was gracious, fearless, and most important of all, funny."

Carlin performs three individual monologues on the program. Music guests are Janis Ian and Billy Preston, plus a landmark performance from comedian Andy Kaufman.
]]> Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:51:59 boredop http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214549249/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/forum/m-1214549249/#num1
(Sorry, couldn't resist. )]]> Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:47:29 TV_ON_THE_RADIO