Category Archives: mass media

random olympics: how not to broadcast a showcase event

I need only look at last night’s abomination of a broadcast from the National Broadcasting Corporation to see some of the worst possible chop-shop, dumbed-down sports broadcasting ever put on TV. This four-and-a-half hour long exercise in broadcast futility can be broken down thusly: The showcase event of alpine skiing, the men’s downhill, featured six …

16/02/2010 – 12:12 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, random, skiing | Tagged , | Comments (6)

random olympics: nbc’s dumbed down games racket

For years, I’ve been critical of TV coverage of the Olympic Games by the United States media. They think that the average American is stupid. No, seriously – they do. Thee assume that, as a whole, we know nothing about sports other than baseball, football, basketball, NASCAR and hockey. They think that we’re only interested …

15/02/2010 – 16:29 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, random, skiing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

one image says it all

13/01/2010 – 01:12 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, random | Tagged | Comments Off

nbc: building a bridge back to the 20th century at conan’s expense

Conan O’Brien got screwed. Let’s face it: when NBC, currently mired in a ratings abyss, decided to “fix” its primetime programming lineup by booting Jay Leno to 11:35pm (“10:35, Central and Mountain”), moving Conan’s Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night 30 minutes later, they showed that they have no concept about how to program …

12/01/2010 – 18:05 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, random | Tagged | Comments (2)

fallen icons

This was going to be a post about my most recent cycling adventures, but that will have to wait. This week has seen the deaths of three pop culture icons who resonated in my life: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, as well as the news that Walter Cronkite is likely to pass away …

25/06/2009 – 19:46 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, music, random | Comments (1)

a rock giant, a chanteuse, and one of the best

Friday the 13th was a day of highs and lows. Let me start with the highs (and a quip or two). Last night, sprite and I went to see Robert Plant (the rock giant) and Alison Krauss (the chanteuse) perform a brilliant show at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Their album, Raising Sand, was my favorite of …

14/06/2008 – 07:42 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, music, politics, random | Comments Off

too damn early

Saw my first Christmas-themed advert on TV this morning – from Hallmark, of course. It scared the pants off of me. Please, it’s too early to market for the holiday season. Sure, it’s November (and welcome to it), but it’s just too damn early.

01/11/2007 – 09:12 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, random | Comments (1)

tuesday quick quips

Some things that have crossed my mind today: WAMU’s decision to relegate their bluegrass programming to the HD range is flat-out stupid. The powers-that-be at WAMU continue to prove that they know how to implode a local radio station, creating more of the same (political talk radio and over-syndicated NPR content) rather than provide a …

04/09/2007 – 17:15 | By randomduck | Posted in baseball, dems, government, mass media, music, politics, random, tech, theocons | Comments Off

again, olbermann is spot-on

Keith Olbermann is a rare entity in journalism these days: a man who knows no fear, and who is willing to speak things that the corporate shills who run the major media outlets dare not say for fear of offending the Bush propaganda machine. And last night, as he has many times before, Olbermann said …

20/07/2007 – 19:31 | By randomduck | Posted in dems, insecurity, mass media, politics, theocons | Comments Off

talkin’ pepper

Sgt. Pepper, that is. Check out my latest post over at Selective Service. Anything else to report? Not really. Did a lot of homework tonight. Glad to see that MSNBC canned Imus. Besides: how exciting is it to watch a radio show? There’s a reason the epithet “a face made for radio” exists, and Don …

11/04/2007 – 22:49 | By randomduck | Posted in mass media, music, random | Comments (1)