From bizarro Eddie and JoBo wreaking havoc at the auto show to John Tesh backing up a yellow-haired “Christoper Walken” crooning holiday tunes to a wacky “Jerry Lewis” performing with the Million Dollar Quartet, the “WGN Morning News” dances the line between news and entertainment.

The bits are the genius of producer Jeff Hoover. The Second City alumnus and former “Jonathon Brandmeier Showgram” producer/performer/writer found himself out of work when Johnny B didn’t renew with WLUP in 2001 — and watching a lot of TV.

“I remember watching ['The WGN Morning News'] and thinking, ‘These are real people having real conversation and I would like to have them as neighbors, maybe grab some beers with them,’” he recalls. “I was smitten with their chemistry and natural ability to bust each other up and break balls over bad tosses and cheesy news teases. I started calling into their ‘Voicemail Frenzy’ segment, and they started playing my messages and using some of my show suggestions.”

“We ‘discovered’ Jeff when he started calling into our voicemail segment — doing impersonations. He was just hysterical,” says co-anchor Larry Potash, who met with Hoover at a bar and found him to be surprisingly normal. “We begged — and then threatened — management to hire Jeff, and the rest is history.”

Hoover — who likens his time with Johnny B to earning a PhD in comedy — initially contributed to the show on a per-diem basis. He was hired a year-and-a-half later as a producer/performer/writer (and recently signed a new one-year contract).

Potash says Hoover injected new life into the show. “I think when he came . . . we had all just started having children. It had become more difficult to go out and shoot bits for the show, and our energy was running low. Jeff was the creative spark that really pushed the show to the next level.”

Hoover easily made the transtion from radio to TV — where things have to be clear to the audience from the start. “Radio is easier to be spontaneous,” he explains. “However, some of my favorite moments are when the unexpected happens on live television. Tracy Morgan flopping himself up on onto the anchor desk and lifting up his shirt and pushing out his stomach and yelling that he’s pregnant is still priceless to me.”

His primary co-conspirator on the show is local comedian Mike Toomey, who plays Eddie to Hoover’s JoBo. In one bit, the pair ask locals about what they’re thankful for — peppering their interviews with plenty of enthusiastic “yeahs” and auto-insurance plugs. Eventually, they run into the real Eddie and JoBo — who play right along.

“This past Halloween, we were on our way to do our annual remote at Fantasy Costumes with Ana [Belaval] and Paul [Konrad} listening to Eddie and Jobo on the radio," Hoover explains. "Mike and I always loved poking fun at their auto-insurance commercials. We saw these Abba costumes and thought this is just stupid enough to work, and I slapped on a goatee and made our appearance alongside Ana . . . Mike and I started posing like them from the commercial and doing the lines, 'Did you know you can get auto insurance over the phone?'

"It was a hit. We couldn't believe it. The real Eddie and Jobo got the joke, and enjoy their clown clones. I asked them to make a cameo in one of our skits and they couldn't have been nicer: 'Yeahhhhhhhhhh!'"

But Hoover's favorite bit was Tom Hanks' apperance on the show last year (that clip and many others are at WGNtv.com). "I had a stupid idea to have different people lined up in the hallway in different costumes that represented different chracters from some of his favorite movie roles," he explains. "As a surprise and with no rehearsal, Entertainment Reporter Dean Richards escorts Tom down the hallway and the first person he sees is me dressed as Woody from Toy Story sweeping the floor. Tom's smile became a laugh, and he riffed on each of us as he made his way to the studio.

"He made us look good by going along with the idea. He could have just said 'whatever' and kept walking to the studio while rolling his eyes."

While Hoover has a lot of freedom on the show, not every idea flies. "

He adds, "I have to keep in mind that this is still a news show. Sometimes it's easy to forget that fact: 'What do you mean we have to kill the burlesque dancing monkeys because there is a dog running loose on the Eisenhower?'"

And what about that line?

"There is a line between news and comedy," he admits. "It keeps moving like a jump rope. Sometimes we can double dutch and sometimes we get nailed in the crotchtorial [sic] region. I think we ‘get it’ better than anyone else in town. We’re not ‘The Daily Show,’ but we don’t have 78 comedy writers.”

It seems to be working. The show consistently beats its competitors in the adult demos between 7 and 9a.m. — including “The Today Show.” Hoover says most of the audience feedback has been positive. “However, there’s always a few boo birds on the branch that crap on our clown car: ‘Stop goofing around and give me the weather. We don’t want to see that idiot in a neckbrace make a sandwich with his feet.’”

He adds, “I think it’s weirder seeing our competitors try to have fun with the news. Their idea of having fun is showing first-birthday photos and crayon weather drawings.”

Potash agrees. “Media has changed so much in the last 40 years and yet, most shows are as predictable now as they were in 1972. We try to create an atmosphere of unpredictability. We cross the line now and then, but that’s more interesting than another segment where the anchors make a tuna casserole. We take the show seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously.”

– Cara Jepsen

This article has been updated since it was originally posted.

Both children and their parents love singer/songwriter Ralph Covert’s “Ralph’s World” indie-pop CDs.

Now, the Bad Examples frontman wants to wow both age groups with a “Ralph’s World”-based TV show, “Time Machine Guitar” (more info at timemachineguitar.com).

“With the TV show, we’re trying to create something that has the same sensibility to it, and also do a show that engages and activates the kids. I think that’s something that’s not done enough with TV,” he said during a phone interview, during which his 3-year-old son, Jude, interrupted him. “Our show gets kids moving and thinking and participating.

“The early ‘Ralph’s World’ videos have dancing kids that come along and dance with me. Every time I watch those videos with kids, the kids get up and dance along. Time Machine Guitar features four music videos in every show, and in the first one on every show we have dancing kids so we can have that same experience with kids.”

The clear guitar Covert plays on the show acts as a time machine that takes him and three puppet friends — a cat, dog, and a squirrel — on trips through history, where they’re exposed to different lessons and different types of music. In the pilot episode, they travel to 1785 in search of Benjamin Franklin — and end up meeting his mole.

Covert and his wife/business partner, Rita, have shopped the kids’ show idea around to Hollywood for nearly a decade before deciding to make the pilot themselves. “I have had deals that have gone all the way to a signed deal with a network and producer, and it fell apart before it came to fruition,” he says.

“The money involved in making a show is enormous, which is part of why the choices of both cable and regular networks are so safe,” he says. “There’s a lot of risk in going from taking the idea from in your head to where you can see it. That’s why I felt it was important to make the show: I was taking some of the risk out of it for them. ‘Here’s the show. Here’s what it’s going to look like. You can watch it for half an hour and decide for yourself: Do I suck or am I engaging?’ The proof is in the pudding.”

He continues, “If you look at the Chicago music and theater scene historically, and even some shows like ‘Oprah’ that came out of Chicago, they didn’t do it by asking permission. People here historically do it by having a great idea and pursuing it. For better or worse, that’s been my business plan with the music, so we might as well apply it to the TV show.”

At the urging of Bad Examples fan, friend, and Charlottesville, Virginia-based producer Erica Arvold, Covert shot the pilot there in January, using his own funds and $18,577 raised through a Kickstarter campaign.

Although he’s acted and written plays and musicals (he and G. Riley Mills‘ musical “The Hundred Dresses” is currently playing off-Broadway in New York), Covert says shooting the pilot was a stretch. “It’s been in some ways more stressful and challenging than anything I could ever imagine, because it required me to pull from so many different directions. When you’re standing on a set, and it’s your money paying for it, and a friend who pulled the production together got a lot of A-list film and TV people together, and you’ve got to go and act with these puppets, it’s something else. It’s exciting.”

At press time Covert — who, growing up, was a fan of Mr. Rogers, the Banana Splits, and “Get Smart” — was editing the pilot, which he plans to shop around to public, cable, and network TV.

“We got through the first big thing,” he says. “We have a worthy and exciting show on our hands. Now we need to find somewhere we can share it with people in a way that we can keep the magic intact — which is a great challenge to have.”

Covert is also gearing up for a Ralph’s World concert at the Old Town School Of Folk Music on April 22nd. “The Old Town School is where this started, with me, when I was doing ‘Wiggleworms’ before ‘Ralph’s World.’ It’s one of the most magical shows we do, because we get a chance to go back and stand on the stage where it all started.”

ODDS N SODS: Look for Sean “Diddy” Combs and Comcast to launch a new TV channel “influenced by the nonstop chatter of social networking” called Revolt next year. Magic Johnson and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez also have channels in the works . . . Robert Feder’s Time Out Chicago piece about radio’s irrelevance on the night of Whitney’s Houston’s untimely death was spot-on . . . RIP Chicago News Cooperative: we’ll miss you — really . . . We can’t decide whether we love or hate WGN Morning News’ brilliant (yet so wrong) “Eddie & JoBo” bits featuring Mike Toomey and Jeff Hoover . . . Anyone else underwhelmed by the new Trop-rock college radio format, which features acts like Jimmy Buffett and Bob Marley? Decide for yourself at lewisu.edu/wlra/index.htm.

– Cara Jepsen

This version of the story has been updated since it was originally posted.

In the 1970s, local radio legend Steve Dahl revolutionized talk radio with his raw form of radio verite.

Now, he’s breaking new ground by turning his “Dahlcast” podcast (at dahl.com) into a podcast network haven for personalities who are no longer on airwaves and deserve to be heard.

Subscribers who pay $9.95 a month (or $99.95 per year) can hear podcasts three times a week by Kevin Matthews and his alter ego, Jim Shorts, as well as a monthly interview show by former Q101 (WKQX-FM) jock James Van Osdol. At press time, Dahl was talking to rock legend Joe Walsh, sports talker Chet Coppock, and others. He also added a weekend archives show highlighting the best bits from his own storied past.

The podcast is not free or live like broadcast or satellite radio, but there are no commercials, or time/content restraints. Plus it can be heard anywhere, at any time.

We asked Dahl — who’s been off the air since 2008 and podcasting since 2009 — about the new network.

IE: When/why did you decide to turn the “Dahlcast” into a network?
Steve Dahl: I was always planning on adding more shows, but Kevin Matthews getting fired in Grand Rapids was definitely the catalyst for doing it now rather than later.

IE: You’ve always been on the cutting edge of digital/internet technology. Are there any innovations that have made this endeavor possible, where it might not have happened, say, five years ago?
SD: Smart phones really make the whole thing doable. We have both iPhone and an Android app, and I’d say the bulk of our listening is done via those devices. Of course you can just listen the old-fashioned way, too: on an iPod or just streaming from our website on your computer.

IE: I assume that the others record their shows at home, and do not commute to your basement . . .
SD: They send us the files via Yousendit.

IE: Why’d you want James VanOsdol to be a part of it?
SD: I think he’s talented and he’s a displaced radio person, so he meets my criteria for network status.

IE: Do you own your archives? How many years to you have?
SD: I own everything that I’ve ever done in Chicago.

IE: Are you serious about Chet Coppock?
SD: Yes, if we can think of a good concept for him. It’s not live, so some thought will have to be put into it.

IE: Any women on your wish list?
SD: I asked Wendy Snyder and her husband if they wanted to be a part of it and they declined. Come to think of it, they might not meet all of my criteria.

IE: Why not Kathy & Judy? They still have a loyal following.
SD: That’s an excellent idea, and I would love to talk to them about that.

IE: What does it feel like to be running your own “station”?
SD: I like it. My favorite part is letting people do whatever they want to do. No limits (except libeling someone). I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of something revolutionary, which is a feeling I’ve had before, but not in awhile, so that’s fun, too.

“JBTV” Goes Nationwide: Chicago’s longest-running independent music showcase was picked up by the NBC Nonstop Network on February 18th. Now, fans of new and independent music in major markets across the country can catch “JBTV” at 10 p.m. on the digital sub-channel. Smoking Popes, Rise Against, White Lives, Kill Hannah, 30 Seconds To Mars, The Menzingers, and Phantom Planet will all be featured in March.

“It is definitely our most robust opportunity to bring ‘JBTV’ to a national audience via broadcast,” says show creator Jerry Bryant, who has been dong the show as a labor of love for the past 27 years.

In recent seasons, “JBTV” added hosts such as Ryan Manno, Tobias Jeg, and Jenna Martinelli, and segued from a music-video show to a live-performance stage shot in Bryant’s state-of-the-art digital studio. “We want to continue to introduce people to new music first,” says Bryant.

But it doesn’t stop with the network show.

“We’re laying the foundation to transform ‘JBTV’ into a 24-hour radio, new media, and television network,” he says. “We believe very strongly in introducing music fans to exciting artists that don’t have a platform anywhere else, so we’re creating the platforms.”

Stream the developments at jbtvonline.com.

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: No word on whether Jonathon Brandmeier’s weekly NBC Nonstop Chicago TV show “Almost Live” has been picked up nationally . . . We’re sad to see the demise of scrappy little new-age mag Mindful Metropolis. The paper rose from the ashes of Conscious Choice in May of 2009. Publisher Richard McGinnis explained in a note to clients, “After 32 consecutive monthly issues, we decided to retire the title and move on to other endeavors,” and referred readers and advertisers to Natural Awakenings Chicago North and North Shore . . . Jim DeRogatis‘ riveting, meticulously-reported “Pop ‘N’ Stuff” blog posts about Lollapalooza’s sweetheart tax deals really do deserve a Pulitzer. Read them at www.wbez.org/blogs/jim-derogatis.

– Cara Jepsen

Chris Auman and his buddy Tom Ziegler conceived of Reglar Wiglar during a night of drinking in Lincoln Park’s punk-rock haunt Delilah’s in 1993. The first two black-and-white, text-only issues poked fun at alternative music, and featured fake record reviews and fake interviews with fake bands.

At its peak, the $2 zine featured 100 pages of real, well-written reviews, comics, and articles with a circulation of 2,000 and distribution through Desert Moon Periodicals and Tower Records.

But Auman, who plays in Soft Targets and runs RoosterCow Records (and has written for IE), ceased publishing Reglar Wiglar in 2005.

“It was just too expensive,” he says. “Printing was the biggest expense, of course, but postage and shipping was a close second. It was also getting to the point where reviews of bad punk-rock CDs were becoming the bulk of the content, so the fun was being sucked out of it, too. That was my fault, due to my unwritten policy of reviewing every single piece of music I received. It also didn’t help that both of my distributors went under.”

Contributor Mike Dixon set up a blog for the zine in 2005, and four years later Auman restarted it as an online-only endeavor (reglarwiglar.com) that includes archives as well as fresh content such as interviews with Roctober’s Jake Austen, Radar Eyes, Portland comics artist Jesse Reklaw, and plenty of reviews. (Bands may visit the site to learn how to submit their work.)

The growing site gets 2,000 to 3,000 hits per week, and Auman loves the ease of digital publishing. “Kinko’s is out of the equation, as are trips to the post office. I don’t need to pedal around town with bags full of magazines during Chicago’s brutal winters. I can correct typos and edit content to infinity if I need to. I can fact check things more easily, thus making myself look smarter. It’s easier to get readers to find you through blogger tags and links from other sites; even Google searches bring people to the site.”

Later this year, Auman hopes to return to print – with a new zine “based on all the crappy jobs I’ve had in the past 25-plus years, which will be accompanied by comics and sidebar anecdotes.”

TERRESTRIAL TO PODCAST – METALMOUTH RADIO: Before launching his metal podcast, Neil Wonnell had a string of jobs as a producer, board op, and/or DJ at a handful of suburban radio stations, including WJOL, WICB, WLLI, and WCSF. The last straw came when he was working overnights, and gave the only respondent to a call-in contest its tiny jackpot. “[She] was ecstatic that she had won the entire pot of $9.50 and planned to use the money to buy doughnuts for her church,” he says of the elderly winner. “Monday morning, the station manager was less ecstatic and needless to say that ended my career at that station.”

Wonnell launched “Metalmouth Radio” in July 2010, as a heavy-metal talk show. “Not getting too many calls at first, I added music, but the sound quality on that original site was horrid,” he says. So he switched to music and started pre-recording on the city’s far South Side before uploading it to reverbnation.com/neilwonnell. (The show is distributed through Wonnell’s N.E.W. Audio Concepts LLC, and syndicated on Fox FM and Monclair State University’s WMSC-FM.)

Wonnell plays old-school, new-school, thrash, punk, and heavy metal and plenty of unsigned bands. A recent selection ranged from Fueled By Fire’s “Eye Of The Demon” to Killer Of Sheep’s “Lose Control” to Black Flag’s “Black Coffee.” After an energetic diatribe on the hypocrisy (and aroma) of hippies, he put on “Hippie Killer” by Suicidal Tendencies.

He says he’d like to find a co-host and do a full four-hour show on terrestrial or satellite radio, and add a talk edition of “Metalmouth.”

In the meantime, he says the recent signing of South Siders Diamond Plate to Earache Records put Chicago on the metal map. “Bands to watch for are Savagery and Smash Potater.”

Bands can submit music by contacting him via neilwonnell [at] yahoo.com.

ODDS N SODS: WGN-AM (720)’s new lineup is virtually devoid of women now that Karen Conti and Johnnie Putman are gone. At least they kept “Sports Night” co-host Andrea Darlas and “Sunday Night Special” co-host Marianne Murciano. The latter is one of the few live shows remaining on the weekends, which are now devoted to – yawn – “best-of” reruns . . . We loved the debut of Brooke Hunter and Jill Egan’s new weekly podcast, “The Brooke & Jill Show” (the two first paired up at “The Zone” in 2002). At press time they hadn’t launched a website; listen at chicagoradioandmedia.com or check out their Facebook page . . . They’re following the footsteps of local radio veteran Wendy Snyder, who continues doing her weekly podcast – which she started two-and-a-half years ago – with husband Jimmy “Mac” McInerney. Listen at snyderemarksradio.net . . . Which reminds us: on February 1st, the Chicago Foundation For Women co-sponsors a free screening of Miss Representation, a documentary about gender and discrimination in media. More at cfw.org.

Back in 1979, half of Chicago tuned into Wally Philips’ popular WGN-AM (720) morning show. That year, newcomer Steve Dahl released his song parodying the venerable Philips and his loyal listeners, “Oh Wally.”

Thirty-three years later, the Chicago Tribune-owned station hardly resembles your grandparents’ WGN.

The shakeup that put Jonathon Bramdmeier into the morning driver’s seat, simultaneously sent his old producer Bud Wiser packing, and moved Bill Leff to overnights has the station – with Garry Meier doing afternoons – starting to resemble your parents’ WLUP during its early-’90s all-talk heyday.

The shakeup also included the ouster of Greg Jarrett, whose local mispronunciations did not endear him to listeners, and husband-and-wife hosts Steve King and Johnnie Putnam, whose overnight show included live, in-studio jams with visiting bands.

But all is not lost, music-wise.

That same week, vice president and general manager Tom Langmyer quietly ushered in a startling new hire for the staid station: a foreign left-winger with Bad Jibs and no radio experience, who is actually under 30.

The newcomer is Chicago Blackhawks forward Daniel “Car Bomb” Carcillo, who hails from Canada and was born the same year Wally Philips moved to afternoons, in 1986.

Carcillo’s one-hour music show, “The Bomb Shelter,” airs sporadically on the station after weekend home games. (For more, visit wgnradio.com).

Car Bomb’s music obsession dates back to when he was elementary age, and played a cassette of Michael Jackson’s “Black Or White” until he wore it out.

“I had a white boom box by my bed, and shared a room with my younger brother,” he explains. “He got that song stuck in his head as well – whether he liked it or not. I always remember that. I had pretty strict parents. I was about 7. But I always blasted it when I was getting up and going to bed. I liked that track, and the intro of the guy banging on the door, telling him to be quiet.”

Carcillo’s father, Gino — who named his son for the Elton John song — appeared on his first show. They talked about music and the family’s history in Monte Cassino, Italy – which was ravaged by World War II. “I was digging around trying to find out why I have this fascination and love for music,” Carcillo says.

“[My father] went into the history of my great great-grandfather going around when the war was going on. He had a little music box and a monkey and the whole deal, and that’s how he’d make money during the war – he’d go under people’s windows and he’d play music and they’d throw money.”

These days, Carcillo’s taste tilts more towards classic rock than organ grinder or MJ. “I’ll never get sick of it,” he says, and rattled off some favorites ranging from the Allman Brothers to Led Zeppelin. As for new bands, he likes Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, and The Black Keys.

Carcillo says he was blown away by WGN’s massive vinyl vault. “It’s kind of overwhelming walking in there. There has to be over 5,000 records. It’s exciting to be able to pick a shelf and sift through it and play the records you find in there – from The Beatles to any motion picture you want from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. It goes back a long way.”

He hopes to do an all-Canadian band show, featuring bands like Bachman Turner Overdrive, Rush, The Guess Who, Neil Young and Tragically Hip.

“Every Canadian hockey rink you go to, it’s the Tragically Hip playing,” he says. “They’re an amazing band – I love them a lot. It’d be nice to play them on the radio.”

He’s thrilled to be playing hockey for one of the Original Six teams, and playing music on a heritage station that dates back to 1924. “To have the opportunity to express myself away from the rink is pretty amazing. To have the organization fully behind you is a big honor.”

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: The Vocalo.org radio show “Morning Amp!” was recently picked up by two college radio stations, Loyola’s WLUW-FM (88.7) and Elmhurst College’s WRSE-FM (88.), which probably quintupled the latter’s audience. Not that there’s anything wrong with the show, which is hosted by local comedian Brian Babylon and radio producer Molly Adams. But shouldn’t that prime-time air space be reserved for the kids – whose tuition finances it? . . . Steve Dahl recently added a weekly 60-minute podcast by the recently canned Kevin Matthews, which is included in the monthly podcast price. More at www.dahl.com . . . Numero Group recently released a CD called Eccentric Soul: The Nickel & Penny Labels, featuring 24 songs produced or written by local radio legend Richard Pegue . . . The best thing we’ve seen lately is the return of MTV’s “Beavis And Butthead” – particularly when they lampoon Mike Judge’s other great creation, “King Of The Hill” . . . The best thing we’ve read lately is a lively discussion of weathercaster body language on the Chicagoland Radio And Media Bulletin Board. The consensus? That some local female weathercasters lean backward and arch their backs, accentuating certain assets, while some males lean forward , hiding their paunch. The solution? “Straighten up!” More at chicagoradioandmedia.com.

– Cara Jepsen

Q101 may have flipped its format in July, but the music rocks on at www.q101.com. The busy website features streaming music, entertainment, and information aimed at alternative-rock fans.

The site is the brainchild of Matt Dubiel and Mike Noonan – the duo behind the short-lived “Save The Loop” movement. They own the syndication company Broadcast Barter Radio Networks, which purchased the Q101 brand and turned it into a virtual “station” designed to go where the listeners go via mobile apps and social media.

“We look forward to giving fans a genuine say in who and what they hear – one that traditional broadcasters only pay lip service to,” says Noonan, a former WLUP jock. He and Dubiel, general manager at Elmhurst’s WJJG-AM (1530), plan to add talent to the audio stream (live.q101.com) next year – which will also see the return of the local music showcase “Local 101.”

“No matter who we choose [as host], we’ll be listening closely to the feedback from fans on the hosts and content and production value of the show,” says Noonan. They also plan to bring back the Jamboree and Twisted concerts as well as new events.

“Radio isn’t dead or outmoded by any stretch, but obviously has been immersed in a metamorphosis since the mid-’90s, and that has been detrimental in terms of homogenizing it, giving listeners less variety and less top-flight and local talent, while also underserving advertisers. Radio is till one of the best ways to reach and motivate people,” says Noonan.

“Having said that, we feel the unique brand affinity for Q101 and being free now to expand it from being a ‘radio’ brand to being a ‘lifestyle entertainment’ vehicle without regard to what corporate minders and consultants say is huge,” he continues. “We can and will communicate directly with fans and listen to their needs and desires and be in a position to meet those needs, without the heavy burden of debt or the quarterly, even daily demands of stockholders to hold us back. We have a tremendous opportunity and don’t and won’t take it lightly. We’re perfectly positioned and suited to take Q101 and make it the tip of the digital spear.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!: Whereas Q101.com plays major-label artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Kings Of Leon, Filter, Weezer, and the Beastie Boys on Q101.com, you’re more likely to get Stereolab, Azita, David Lynch, Afrika Bambaataa, and The Del-Byzanteens on North Center-based Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP).

The online station is a truly alternative, non-profit, all-volunteer, listener-supported community project that is still hoping to get its hands on a low-power FM license. In the meantime, you still get to hear real, live music lovers playing their own records. It’s available online or via app at chirpradio.org.

The city’s other alt-stations all have a terrestrial presence – in other words, they broadcast over the airwaves – and all it takes to tune them in is a simple box with a couple of knobs.

CBS-owned WXRT-FM (93.1) is still plugging along, playing new alternative music along with mainstays such as BoDeans, The Pretenders, and Albert Collins. Grouse all you want, but “Chicago’s Finest Rock” makes us the envy of rock fans in other cities.

College stations have been playing new music all along, and now that they’re online you no longer have to be within a two-mile radius to tune them in.

Loyola University’s WLUW-FM (88.7) continues to rock the North Side with new music, despite the massive walkouts when the university regained control of the station a couple of years ago. Plus they play “Democracy Now!” at 9 a.m. each day. Listen at wluw.org.

With 5,000 watts, Northwestern’s venerable WNUR-FM (89.3) is still the area’s biggest college station, blanketing the North Side and northern suburbs. “The Rock Show” airs weekdays from 2 to 9 p.m.; “This Is Hell” airs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. More at www.wnur.org.

The most underground is Northeastern Illinois University’s WZRD-FM (88.3), which has no format but leans toward sublimely obscure rock. As its mission states, “WZRD’s brand of freeform is commercial free, devoid of ego, eclectic, and radically non-mainstream.” More at www.wzrdchicago.org.

University Of Chicago’s “Pride Of The South Side” WHPK-FM (88.5) states that it “is dedicated to playing music not commonly heard on the mainstream.” The live music show “Pure Hype” airs Fridays at 9 p.m. Rock shows air most weekdays from midnight to noon. More at www.whpk.org.

ODD ‘N’ SOD: We enjoyed the Reader’s 40th-anniversary issue, which featured former editors and writers waxing poetic about the independent weekly’s storied past. But we missed hearing from and about Patrick Arden, managing editor during most of our tenure at the “Backwards R” (full disclosure: my byline appeared regularly in the Reader from 1995 to 2008). Arden was a rarity: a great editor who also advocated for the writer and refined our stories without playing “guess what I’m thinking” or SCREAMING AT US IN ALL CAPS. He was (is) perhaps the most intelligent person I’ve ever met – talking to him was like using Google, only with relevance, context, and history. Plus he loved his job. How well I remember coming to the empty Reader offices early one morning after a cover story about the White Sox was put to bed. I nearly tripped over Arden – who was asleep under a desk, his Sox hat askew. Best. Editor. Ever. And now Senior Reporter at Metro New York who earlier this year won the 2011 political reporting prize from the New York Press Club. Bravo!

– Cara Jepsen

Soul Train has a reputation for being Chicago’s groundbreaking showcase for African-American musicians.

But six years before Don Cornelius launched that great show on WCIU-TV, there was “Jubilee Showcase.”

It presented the nation’s top gospel, spiritual, and jubilee musicians on WLS-TV Channel 7 every Sunday at 7 a.m. from 1963 to 1984. It was one of the only places where viewers could see black musicians and a black audience on a show aimed at black people – and certainly the only one featuring inspirational music.

“Jubilee Show-case” was the brainchild of host Sid Ordower, a white civil-rights activist, broadcaster, and World War II hero who helped found Operation Push (a 1969 guest on the show was the Rev. Jesse Jackson), and was instrumental in helping Harold Washington get elected mayor. Ordower, who hosted the show, described gospel as “that fine American music.”

“When we started out, gospel was not as big as it is today,” he told the Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich in 1992. “We had to find the audience and build it, so we gradually won over their confidence. Because back then, most people didn’t even know what gospel music was. So we were trying to play to a general audience and to win their confidence, which I think we did.”

Performers range from Otis Clay to Martha Bass to Clefs Of Faith to the Operation Push Chorus to Thomas Dorsey. Some of them – including Andrae Crouch, Inez Andrews, Jessy Dixon, and The Soul Stirrers – appear on a riveting new DVD of show, produced by Ordower’s son, Steven (who’s also working on a related documentary).

Watching artists like The Staple Singers, who perform with the accompaniment of just Pop’s twangy guitar and handclaps, it’s easy to make the connection with Delta blues and early rock ‘n’ roll.

The music is, in a word, amazing – even to this old punk rocker.

Not to mention inspiring.

To purchase the Classic Moments From Jubilee Showcase call (877) 459-7904 or visit jubileeshowcase.com – which also has videos and background info, and details about an upcoming documentary.

GO JOHNNY GO!: We were thrilled to accidentally run across Jonathon Brandmeier’s new show, “Brandmeier,” on WMAQ-TV’s “Chicago NonStop” (digital channel 5.2, or Channel 52 on my TV).

It’s about time he’s back on the air – even if it’s just a weekly half-hour sub-channel TV show.

(Brandmeier was unceremoniously dumped by WLUP-FM (97.9) in November 2009, and has been on the loose ever since.)

During the first “Brandmeier” TV show, he interviewed a champion air guitarist; the Wisconsin man who got a $166 ticket for giving the finger to Governor Scott Walker and driving back and forth in front of his house; and Californian Chuck Testa, whose deadpan taxidermy ads are a hit on YouTube. Johnny B. also riffed on the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray.

The show is in the midst of a 10-week run.

Brandmeier says on his website, “It’s a work in progress for all involved, but I’m thrilled to have the opportunity.”

Here’s hoping he’ll loosen up and add a bit of the heartfelt venom he displayed in his scathing 2010 video, “Johnny B- The Unemployed Radio Mo Fo” – which you can still view at johnnybontv.com.

ODDS N SODS: We’re disappointed but not surprised by the mainstream media’s coverage (or lack thereof) of the Occupy Wall Street movement against corporate abuse of the American political system. After all, the media is owned or financed by the very banks and corporations that are being protested. The local press has also largely ignored Occupy Chicago, located between the Federal Reserve Bank and the Bank Of America building on LaSalle Street. At press time, the only ones that had noticed were The DePaulia, Huffington Post, In These Times, and NBC-TV Channel 5. But, as one sign at Occupy Wall Street proclaimed, “The People Are Too Big To Fail” . . . Another nail was hammered into Radio Arte’s coffin when program director Carlos Mendez was forced out of the low-power Pilsen-based nonprofit station, where he also served as engineer and on-air host. WRTE-FM (90.5) was put up for sale by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum earlier this year, but as of presstime there were no takers . . . Muckraking not dead! We loved Jim DeRogatis‘ story about the story behind the mess that Lollapalooza left behind in Grant Park. It’s on his Chicago Public Media “Pop N Stuff” blog on www.wbez.org. It’s right up there with Mick Dumke and Kevin Warwick’s excellent Chicago Reader story, “Basketball Controversies,” in which they examined race and class through the lens of public basketball courts. If only this type of reporting were in the 99 percent – and not the 1 percent – of what usually appears in the media.

– Cara Jepsen

When someone is barely even mentioned anywhere on the Web, that’s when you know what obscure really means – and it’s amazing how much info has yet to make the billions of pages that Google looks through,” says author and “Chic-A-Go-Go” cofounder Jake Austen. As publisher and editor of Chicago-based Roctober magazine, he’s spent the past two decades publishing the work of underground cartoonists and writers, and telling the stories of the most unique, overlooked, underappreciated, and obscure musicians and artists on the planet (and beyond, if you believe the band Zolar X).

Austen started the magazine in 1992, when he was a student at the Rhode Island School Of Design – “if you can use the terms publishing and magazine to refer to a messy clump of stapled Xeroxes ornamented with crayon marks,” he writes with trademark humility in the introduction to the new book, Flying Saucers Rock ‘N’ Roll: Conversations With Unjustly Obscure Rock ‘N’ Soul Eccentrics (Duke University Press, $24.95). It features 10 Roctober interviews with everyone from Sam The Sham to Oscar Brown, Jr. to Armenian-American novelty artist Guy Chookoorian, who covered R&B hits in his native language. The riveting pieces are by Austen and other Roctober contributors, whose unbridled enthusiasm for their subjects makes the book hard to put down (plus there’s an enthusiastic foreword by longtime fan Steve Albini).

The title comes from a song by the late-’50s rockabilly artist Billy Lee Riley, whose 60-page interview with Ken Burke is the book’s longest (and is the longest that Riley gave in a career that spanned five decades). “I think as a genre – dynamic music that is not really of this world – [the title] applies to everyone in the book, especially the actual space-alien group Zolar X,” says Austen, author of 2005’s TV-A-Go-Go: Rock On TV From “American Bandstand” To “American Idol.”

But an artist doesn’t have to be obscure to appear in Roctober. “We have had articles about Kiss and Michael Jackson – but some aspect of their career has to have escaped good coverage,” says Austen, admitting that two of his favorite pieces – about the late disco singer Sylvester and underground filmmaker and musician Sid Laverents – didn’t make it into the book. “Basically, nothing in Roctober can read like it was written by a publicist, or like a writer is trying to fill a word count to get paid. The writer has to have and be able to share the passion they feel for their subject. But usually it is with a subject that it is exciting to learn their story because it has never been told before.”

Austen has only to check his computer to see if he’s done his job. “Even if we’ve never wielded enough power to put much money in the pockets of our interviewees (or ours, for that matter), we take satisfaction in the fact that Google no longer mocks them with a smug, ‘Your search did not match any documents,’” he writes in the book’s introduction.

Each piece is a labor of love, since no one gets paid for writing them. Austen’s piece on NYC’s The Fast (included in the book) began with a several-hour interview and included many follow-ups. “In the Internet era I guess stuff takes a lot less time, but back when it was libraries and microfilm and collectors and artists’ personal archives that held all the hidden info it took ages to research stuff,” he says. “But it was always worth it.”

Many of the artists who’ve been in the pages of Roctober have also appeared on “Chic-A-Go-Go,” the show that Austen created with his wife, the film scholar Jacqueline Stewart, after Austen interviewed Jack and Elaine Mulqueen, cohosts of the ’60s preteen dance show, “Kiddie A-Go-Go.”

“We have done about 800 episodes, and we try to get everyone on ‘Chic-A-Go-Go’ that we interview in Roctober, if possible, because we love to see young people reacting to old, off-center music,” he explains.

Austen says the highlight of his work at Roctober magazine occurred after he wrote a mostly glowing but mildly critical review of the 1995 book, Black Monk Time: Coming Of The Anti-Beatle by Eddie Shaw, who was the bass player for the ’60s proto-punk garage-rock band, The Monks. “The self-critical aspect of Eddie delighted in getting actual criticism, and out of the blue he calls me on the phone telling me how much he loved the review, and invites me to Bemidji, Minnesota for a Monks reunion at lead singer Gary Burger’s cabin,” Austen explains. “I end up sleeping in a tent with Eddie and his daughter, watching the band play jam sessions in Gary’s studio, and having a bonfire with the group.”

The 50th issue of Roctober comes out next month; a subscription for the semiannual magazine is $10 for three issues. “Chic-A-Go-Go” airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. on Chicago Public Access Network’s Channel 19, and anyone can attend the tapings. More info at roctober.com.

– Cara Jepsen

Radio legend Steve Dahl started charging for his podcast last month. He was dumped from “free” radio in December of 2008, when CBS Radio bought out his WJMK-FM (105.9) contract (and continued to pay him). Two years ago, Dahl launched his podcast, joining a growing number of local media figures who have tried to reinvent themselves in today’s topsy-turvy media world: paying for equipment; a staff of seven; and a $7,500 per month fee to CBS to allow him to do the podcast.

Dahl has total control over every aspect of the show, since there are no suits or advertisers to alienate. He does it from the basement of his home – so there’s no commute (although some of Dahl’s most inspired bits happened when he called in late to his old show with Garry Meier). One of the drawbacks of the format is that there’s no room for live listener input.

Now, subscribers pay $9.99 per month (or $99.95 per year) to keep the podcasts a-coming (more info at www.dahl.com).

I asked Dahl a few questions about the pay-Dahlcast in an e-mail interview.

IE: So, how do you feel a week after launching the pay podcast? Is it different from before?
Steve Dahl: I feel good. We have been signing up a lot of subscribers (many for a year) and they all say the shows are the best ever.

IE: Was this your plan all along (to offer the podcast for free, and then charge for it)?
SD: No, that idea evolved as I began to understand that it was the only viable way to monetize it.

IE: What makes you think this model will work, when it is failing for journalism (i.e. trying to charge for something that is free), and Sirius XM Internet offers 120 channels for just $12.95 per month?
SD: It’s the only place to hear me!

IE: Will the show have paid staff? If so, whom?
SD: Yes, the same staff that I have had for the past two years (Mary Sandberg, Pete Zimmerman, Jim Ruffato, Stephanie Fallara, and Brendan Greeley).

IE: Why is a radio legend of your stature doing a podcast?
SD: Because a legend can do whatever he wants.

IE: For that matter, why do you think that radio legends like you, Johnny B, and Mancow are all off the air in Chicago?
SD: You would have to ask them, but I suspect it’s because radio is losing its focus and shifting away form the one-on-one connection that made it such a great medium.

IE: Do you think a young Steve Dahl could come up in today’s corporate radio environment?
SD: Definitely not. There is no place to experiment, fail, and therefore improve.

IE: If Merlin Media, Tribune Co., or a similar entity offered you a lucrative prime time slot with Garry Meier, would you do it?
SD: I wouldn’t rule it out, but no one has asked, and I’m very committed to making the podcast work, since I really think it’s the future of what used to be called personality radio.

IE: Please add anything else you feel is relevant.
SD: I haven’t felt this good about something since I started talking instead of playing album cuts on FM radio back in the ’70s (while program directors told me to shut up)!

A NOT-SO-BRIEF-HISTORY OF Q101: In August, WKQX-FM (101.1) flipped to a news format, and Q101 joined the ranks of Chicago’s late, great rock stations: WMET, The Zone, The Blaze, and WCKG. But Chicago has always had alternatives to Q101 (anyone remember when WXRT and Q101 used to duke it out?) down on the nonprofit, lefthand side of the dial.

On Q101’s last day as a rock station, former DJ James VanOsdol exceeded his Kickstarter target for his upcoming book, Smells Like Rock Radio: An Oral History Of Chicago’s Q101 (1992-2011).

“I think that once the Q101’s demise became reality, there were a lot of people who wanted to ensure that the project happened, and become part of the it in the process,” says VanOsdol. “I’m grateful for the overfunding – it means I’ll have better resources and help with the book.”

VanOsdol spent years at the station, but left his on-air job earlier this year. “I was working part-time, doing weekend shifts,” he explains. “That found me working seven days a week for quite some time. I needed to catch my breath and get my weekends back.”

Now that the book is funded, “I’m proceeding slowly and methodically,” he says. “My plan is to talk to every air personality, Program Director, General Manager, and relevant support staffer from the station’s history. So far, I’ve completed 20 half-hour interviews, with an estimated 75 more to follow.”

So far, no one has declined his interview requests. He says the trickiest part is coordinating interviews around his work and home schedules.

He says the book will take “however long it takes. I’m trying not to put a date on it, simply because I want to do this right.

“If I had to guess, I’d say late ‘12/early ‘13.”

As for his music taste these days, “I listen to a pretty exhaustive amount of artists and styles,” he admits. “I’m perfectly happy listening to indie, metal, classic rock, and blues. It’s not unusual to hear The Jesus Lizard or Rush blaring from my car.”

More at blog.jamesvanosdol.com.

Not long after the music stopped on Q101, local radio stalwarts Matt Dubiel and Mike Noonan purchased the Q101 brand (the pair was also behind the short-lived “Save The Loop” movement and head up the Broadcast Barter Radio Network; DuBiel was program-operations director and air talent at WERV-FM Aurora and PD at 9 FM; Noonan is a former WLUP jock and former assistant production director at US-99). The duo kicked off the new “goes where the fans go” venture last month with a party at the Cubby Bear, featuring Redlight King. Look for the alternative rocker to be resuscitated via mobile apps, social media, concerts, and its online home – Q101.com.

– Cara Jepsen

Imagine a technically perfect freeform radio show where you’ll hear everything from Arctic Monkeys to Frank Zappa. Add clever drop-ins, seamless transitions, and cryptic humor. Then, imagine that every time you listen, you hear a new artist or song, or a version of a classic track that’s so obscure you never even knew it existed.

That would describe “The Best Radio You Have Never Heard,” the biweekly 80-minute podcast that’s hosted by Perry Bax and posted on the 1st and 15th of each month at bestradioyouhaveneverheard.com (full disclosure: IE is one of the show’s main sponsors).

“I’ve got a lot of really rare records,” admits Bax, an obsessive audiophile who picked up a lot of free records during a career that included DJing at Western Illinois University’s WIUS and Smart Bar, working retail at Val’s Halla Records, and serving as operations director of db Sound Chicago. He’s also written for IE, mixed local Chicago shows, and toured with Stabbing Westward, Black Uhuru, and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.

Bax estimates he’s repeated about 15 songs during the 160-plus shows he’s done. “I always try to use versions of songs no one’s heard before, especially if it’s a kind of common song,” he says. A recent show featured a version of “We Are Crazy” by Todd Rundgren (on guitar and drums) with French synth player Jean-Yves Labat (a.k.a. M. Frog, on screams and groans) from an unreleased demo album called Froggy Goes A Pumpkin.

MP3 players were still a novelty when Bax launched the podcast in 2004; nowadays he gets 20,000 hits per month for the show, which he records at his home studio in Wrigleyville. The shows usually feature healthy doses of artists such as Genesis, The Allman Brothers, or Yes as well as ’90s alt rock, punk, and new releases. “My thinking when I started was, ‘Why can’t I use all the colors in the palette?’” he says. “But you’ve got to make it work and make transitions work. Some people say it’s classic rock. It’s not that; it’s a hybrid of all things. I think that the media dumbs down what people can deal with. And they’re a lot smarter than people give them credit for. There’s no limit to what people can comprehend.”

An unabashed perfectionist, Bax listens to each show over and over for errors and cleans them up before posting (plus he pays all the royalty fees for all the songs he uses).
.
“Production is really important to me,” he admits. “I really hope that the way I do the show separates the wheat from the chaff.” It was ranked the #1 Classic Rock Podcast from about.com in 2007 and 2010.

He continues, “I’ve heard some leading podcasts out there, and my mouth literally hangs open; they’re dropping microphones and all kinds of things. I treat it as professionally as I can. One thing people comment on all the time is that show is on schedule to the minute. That separates it from other shows that come on when someone feels like getting one done – it separates it from guy in basement with his pants around his ankles.”

But the real artistry lies in the show’s subtle themes and the presentation of disparate artists in seamless new ways.

“One of great things that people have told me, is they have gone out and bought music from bands they hate because they heard it in a context that made it make sense to them,” he says. “And that’s what it is all about to me. Sometimes I think that context is lost on people. They think it’s random songs. But it’s never, ever random.” (Bax Photo Credit: Paul Natkin/Photo Reserve)

HE’S BA-ACK – THE RETURN OF RANDY MICHAELS: At press time, former Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels‘ new company, Merlin Media, was poised to purchase controlling interest in WLUP-FM (97.9) and WKQX-FM (101.1) as well a New York City station from Emmis Communications. Robert Feder reported in his Time Out Chicago column that he was planning flip Q101 to an all-news format, leaving Chicago without an alt-rock station. You may recall that Michaels was forced out by the Tribune board last fall after a tenure characterized by alienating employees and running roughshod over tradition; among other things, he used Colonel McCormick’s vaulted office for an after-hours poker party and hired Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheny to run WGN (where he fired long-time hosts Kathy & Judy and Steve Cochran and hired convicted felon Jim Laski and out-of-towner Greg Jarrett).

The worst is detailed in former Chicago Tribune managing editor Jim O’Shea’s new book The Deal From Hell: How Moguls And Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers, which includes a scene with Michaels receiving sexual favors from a female employee in his Tribune office. It’s all the more horrifying when you consider his famous memo of 101 terms he said should never air on WGN – including “bare naked,” “behind closed doors,” “diva,” and “down there.”

As the bell tolls for commercial alt-rock radio in Chicago, former DJ James VanOsdol is hard at work on a book called Smells Like Rock Radio: An Oral History Of Chicago’s Q101 (1992-2011). At press time, VanOsdol was attempting to raise the $9,750 needed to fund the book through a Kickstarter fundraising campaign (where the premiums include slightly used records from his own collection). For the latest, visit blog.jamesvanosdol.com.

– Cara Jepsen

The travel bug bit Regina Fraser at an early age. “My father [trumpeter Rex Stewart] was with Duke Ellington for about 15 years, and traveled all over the world with his orchestra,” she says. “He’d come back with a traveling trunk full of colorful stickers from all over the world. He’d point out the ones from France, Australia, Russia, and so on, and he was a great storyteller. I was fascinated, and thought, ‘I’d love to go to all of those places.’”

That’s exactly what she does with “Grannies On Safari” co-host Pat Johnson, with whom she checks out food and culture from India to Zanzibar to South Africa on Mondays at 5:30 p.m. on WTTW-Channel 11.

The Chicago-based duo include a lot of local music on the show; the Peru episode included an indigenous Incan folk troupe playing music related to the elements as well as Andean music and an Afro-Peruvian group.

“Music is really critical to us,” says Johnson, who’s been an avid traveler since she was a teen. Chicago jazz trumpeter and composer Orbert Davis, whom the pair has known for years, composed the show’s theme song. They also asked Carlsbad, California-based Afro-Venezuelan composer Allan Phillips to create music for the show, and he jumped at the chance. In 2008, “Grannies” won a regional Emmy Award for his music.

Fraser sits on the board of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic and is a marketing, media, and communications strategist, while Johnson is an arts administrator. (Both are, indeed, grandmothers). They’d traveled in the same circles since the 1970s, but didn’t meet formally until they worked together on an international arts-exchange program in the mid-’90s. Fraser hit on the show idea in 2003, and asked Johnson if she wanted to be part of it – even though she had her hands full as founding director of the Museum Of The African Diaspora in San Francisco.

“I twisted her arm and made her quit and come back to Chicago to join me,” says Fraser. They sold their fur coats and Fraser drained her 401K to fund the first shows with help from Fraser’s husband and other family members. They’ve limped along financially, picking up sponsors here and there, until the current season, which is sponsored by the AARP. The pair also became involved with local initiatives serving seniors. “There’s still a lot to learn in this world – and travel is a good way to meet new people and expand your horizons,” says Johnson.

“When you travel, you have the ability to come back and tell family members about your experiences and inspire them to travel,” says Fraser. “If they don’t understand that the world doesn’t revolve around their immediate area, they’re going to lose out on making cultural connections and finding out where their place is in the greater world.”

The pair also lead tour groups, and made international news when they were in Cairo for a four-day cruise on the Nile during the January uprising and couldn’t get out. “It was kind of dicey,” says Johnson, recalling that the demonstrations became a full-fledged revolution in front of their eyes and they couldn’t get ahold of the U.S. State Department to get them out. The two had enough travel smarts to keep their group calm – including an 82-year-old grandmother from Columbus.

They’re currently kicking around ideas for season number four – ideal destinations include Brazil, Croatia, and Cuba – or perhaps even a trip on the trans-Siberian railroad.

“It depends on if we can get the necessary support for that,” says Johnson.

“Like funding!” says Fraser, without skipping a beat.

ODDS N SODS: Pilsen’s youth-run Latino community station Radio Arte (WRTE 90.5 FM) is slated to be sold by the National Museum Of Mexican Art, along with the two-story building that houses the station and its youth art-training program. The newly formed Latino Media Cooperative says it plans to bid on the 14-year-old station’s license, antenna, transmitter, name, and frequency. Chicago Public Media, DePaul University, and California’s Radio Bilinguë have also been mentioned as potential buyers. The 73-watt station covers a 14-mile radius and has been a broadcast home to hundreds of kids since the museum purchased a Class D radio station from the Boys And Girls Club Of Chicago a decade-and-a-half ago . . . Kudos to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) for launching an inquiry into former FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker’s transition from Comcast regulator to Comcast senior vice president of public affairs just months after voting to approve Comcast’s merger with NBC-Universal. Perhaps she was trying to one-up former FCC Chair Michael Powell’s gig heading up the National Cable And Telecommunications Association. Now, Freepress.net is urging FCC commissioners to take a pledge not to work for AT&T or T-Mobile – whose merger is under consideration – when they leave office. “Unless they take this public stand and stop the revolving door, public trust in government will be impossible to restore.” Um, what trust?

– Cara Jepsen

Amy Eldon’s 1998 documentary, Dying To Tell The Story, focuses on her photojournalist brother, Dan Eldon, who was stoned to death by an angry mob while covering a bombing in Somalia in 1993, shortly after the “Black Hawk Down” incident.

In it, she comments to London-based photographers Des Wright and Carlos Mavroleon that there wasn’t much news about Somalia after the Marines left. Mavroleon responds by saying, “It wasn’t because the Marines were there [that it was in the news]; it was because we were there.”

Sadly, front-line journalists are still dying to get the news out of the world’s ever-growing zones of war and unrest. Some 57 journalists were killed in war zones in 2010, according to the Paris-based journalist advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontièrs, or RSF).

In April, photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed (and several others seriously injured) when the Libyan city of Misurata was bombed, while they were covering battles between Colonel Gaddafi’s forces and anti-government rebels. Hetherington was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year for co-directing the 2010 documentary Restrepo, about U.S. troops in Afghanistan, while Hondros was an award-winning photographer for Getty Images.

“If we weren’t there, filming, reporting, it is as if it didn’t happen,” Hetherington had told New York Times reporter David Carr.

Hondros had done seven tours in Iraq, and had told Carr that he kept returning because, “Unless it happens right in front of you, you can’t make a picture of it.”

As Carr pointed out in his Times tribute to the pair, “Missiles can be guided from great distances and drone aircraft can be commanded by a joystick, but journalists still have to go and see where the bombs landed.

“Information has sprouted from all manner of new tools, including Facebook, Twitter, and cellphone video,” he wrote, “but no one has perfected the journalist drone.”

During the protests in Egypt earlier this year, CBS reporter Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted for 25 minutes before being rescued by a woman in a burka. CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Christiane Amanpour were also attacked, as were a Reuters crew and a Greek journalist, who was stabbed in the leg.

Apparently, some pro-Mubarak supporters blamed the press for publishing pro-democracy views and fueling the uprisings.

“Attempts to manipulate foreign reporters, arbitrary arrests and detention, deportation, denial of access, intimidation, and threats – the list of abuses against the media during the Arab Spring is staggering,” the RSF said in a May 3rd report. “Those determined to obstruct the media did not stop at murder in four countries – Syria, Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen.”

Last month, Logan appeared on CBS’s “60 Minutes” to talk about the attack and break the code of silence surrounding sex assaults on female journalists.

“Women never complain about violence because you don’t want someone to say, ‘Well, women shouldn’t be out there,’” she said. “But I think there are a lot of women who experience these kinds of things as journalists, and they don’t want it to stop them from doing their job. Because they do it for the same reasons as me – they’re committed to what they do. They’re not adrenaline junkies. They’re not glory hounds. They do it because they believe in being journalists.”

At press time, 18 journalists and two media assistants had been killed so far this year. In addition, 151 journalists, nine media assistants, and 128 netizens have been imprisoned, according to RSF – which does not track sexual assaults.

As RSF Secretary General Jean-François Julliard explained, “Journalists are seen less and less as outside observers. Their neutrality and the nature of their work are no longer respected.”

He continued, “If governments do not make every effort to punish the murderers of journalists, they become their accomplices.”

Learn more at www.rsf.org.

ODDS N SODS: Kudos to political reporter Mary Ann Ahern for taking Rahm Emanuel to task for excluding her and NBC 5 from a one-on-one interview with local outlets. As she posted on her station’s Ward Room blog (and as Robert Feder reported in his Time Out column), Emanuel’s people “refused to notify NBC of rare one-on-one interviews allotted to our competitors. The TV business is competitive, but typically politicians and public figures who are involved with big events grant the same access to all-comers. When we asked why we were left out of the mix, the Emanuel communications team implied they weren’t happy with the coverage of the VIP inauguration [where some seats cost donors as much as $50,000]. They didn’t challenge facts, but were upset with tone. So they left us out. It’s an old game . . . kill the messenger not the message; cut off the access.” Sounds like something that happens in those other countries . . . The incessant Oprah bashing by local journalists surely will have quieted now that she’s left town. But we predict they’ll immediately set their sights on Rosie O’Donnell, who is slated to originate her new OWN Network talk show from Winfrey’s old Harpo Studios. We see Rosie firing right back at ‘em . . . The quarterly, nonprofit Bitch: Feminist Response To Pop Culture magazine has been taking mainstream misogyny to task since 1996 and is still going strong; learn more at www.bitchmagazine.org.

– Cara Jepsen

Print is not dead. For all the wily charms of the digital world with its tweets, feeds, blogs, and apps, there is still nothing like the pleasure created by ink on paper.”

So says the manifesto in the debut issue of Delayed Gratification magazine, a quarterly journal launched in January as an antidote to the 24-hours news cycle — its endless crawl across the screen and absurd army of journalists doing standup reporting from remote hotspots where the action has died down.

I can’t help but love a magazine that brags about being the “Latest to breaking news.”

The hefty, U.K.-based almanac is halfway between a magazine and a book, and is the brainchild of Marcus Webb, international editor of Time Out, and Robert Orchard, freelance writer and editor of Time Out Croatia, who met eight years ago. “Over the past eight years, media started getting faster and faster” with the introduction of live streaming video, Twitter, and the like, says Orchard. “People started tweeting from British court rooms and live blogging big events. We felt that sort of the journalism and the way we all consume it was opening up a gap at the other end for slower, more considered journalism that allows journalists time and perspective to add value to stories.”

Webb, Marcus, and their group of co-owners call their company the Slow Journalism Company, and each ad-free issue of DG examines three months of events with context and perspective. In addition to quality analysis and writing, the magazine also boasts excellent paper, illustration, and design.

He admits it’s an unusual choice at a time when more and more people get their news from the Internet. “A lot of bigger publications have felt increasingly threatened about he advent of online journalism and are not sure how to deal with it,” he says. “Others are trying to encapsulate online journalism in magazines. We felt the opposite way: that we should be playing on the strength of magazines; that we should engage readers and have great paper quality, fantastic images, and a fantastic product rather than try to emulate what’s online.”

Indeed, Webb has dubbed the 24-hour new cycle “the spectacle of the ridiculous.”

The first issue included a roundup on a recent spate of health-scare stories in the press. Iraq-born calligrapher Hassan Massoudy created the cover illustration for the second issue, which hits newsstands this month and boasts a piece about the economic realities of the Edinburgh Zoo’s acquisition of two pandas; an article linking China’s rise as an economic power to train delays in Britain, as well as pieces about Egypt and Japan; and plenty of infographics, including a bird’s-eye view of the recent revolutionary movements in the Arab world. Briefs about unusual stories that people may have missed are sprinkled throughout.

Orchard says they’re not hoping to do away with today’s nonstop, up-to-the-minute journalism, but providing an attractive alternative. He notes that there are similar start-ups in Norway and Sweden.

At press time, DG had 1,000 subscribers. Orchard couldn’t tell me how many were less than 50 years of age, since they don’t collect information about their customers — or market to them.

“We’re not trying get you to sign up so our carefully selected media partners can profile you,” he said. “We’re only trying to sell you one thing — the magazine.”

The Web site has a preview of the magazine, but to see it you have to buy it (an iPad version is still on the drawing board). “What I want is for people to buy the print edition, so then they get the full experience,” says Orchard. “It looks amazing, feels amazing, and smells amazing.” Subscriptions for this side of the Atlantic are £55 ($90) per year, or £16 ($26) for a single issue.

LOCAL SLOW NEWS: Some local examples of long-form or “slow” journalism are still around:

•The Chicago Reader still has long-ish cover stories, but the free weekly is so skinny these days (and coming with a major, glossy redesign) the stories are fewer, shorter, and far less quirky than they were in its heyday. But they’re still there (www.chicagoreader.com). We’re thrilled that the Reader just hired back senior writer Mick Dumke, after a year at the ailing Chicago News Cooperative.

•We love the long-form interviews Jerome McDonnell conducts with everyone from world leaders to activists to lowly workers on his WBEZ-FM (91.5) global-affairs radio show “Worldview,” which airs weekdays from 12 to 1. More info at www.worldview.com.

•But our all-time radio favorite remains Chuck Mertz’s “This Is Hell,” airing Saturdays from 9 to 1 on WNUR-FM (89.3). For the past 15 years, Mertz has been conducting incisive, open-ended interviews with activists and others on the front lines of fights and issues overlooked by the mainstream media — all while injecting a welcome dose of lively humor into the often-depressing subject matter (each show includes a hangover cure). Hear the live stream at www.wnur.org, or find the podcast at thisishell.net.

•It’s not exactly slow — the half-hour roundtable covers a week’s worth of news — but Ken Davis‘ “Chicago Newsroom” is a step in the right direction. It’s produced by Chicago Access Network TV and airs Thursdays at 6:30 on cable channel CAN TV19. More info at www.cantv.org/newsroom or chicagonewsroom.org.

– Cara Jepsen

In an era of tight budgets and strict bottom lines, locally produced TV shows are a rarity. Good ones are even harder to find.

Lucky for us there’s WTTW-Channel 11’s “Jay’s Chicago,” which airs Friday nights at 7:30.

The half-hour magazine program features producer and host Jay Shefsky talking to a handful of Chicagoans about a hobby, project, cause, or skill that consumes them.

“I like inspiring stories,” says Shefsky, who recently marked 25 years as a producer at WTTW. “I like hearing about people who are doing really good work, whose lives are taking surprising turns, or who have unusual passions.”

Each show has a theme: “Speed Demons,” airing April 8th, features local banjo player Noam Pikelny of the Punch Brothers – who picks so fast his fingers are a blur – as well as drag racers at Great Lakes Dragaway, mountain biking in the city, and lakefront bike-path safety. The April 15th episode, “Not My Day Job,” includes segments on CSO French-horn player Dan Gingrich, who raises monarch butterflies, and puppet-bike inventor Jason Trusty – who invented the dancing-puppet theater to help out a friend who couldn’t find regular work. Other episodes include pieces canoeing in the Skokie lagoon, Chicago mambo dance legends Saladeen Alamin and Gloria Farr, and a behind-the- scenes look at the public radio show, “Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me.”

Most of the segments were originally produced for “Chicago Tonight,” where Shefsky shifted about five years ago, after producing long-form documentaries for the “Chicago Matters” and “Chicago Stories” series. “Jay’s Chicago” was born when someone suggested they collect the segments into a show. “One of the things the stories had in common was that they were timeless stories about people and the city,” he says. “The show got a much better response and ratings than we expected.”

Watching the show for the first time, I was riveted, and felt a deep connection to the city. I was also impressed by the respect Shefsky showed for his subjects.

“I try to stay away from having a lot of people who have unusual passions,” he says. “Sometimes it’s easy and kind of fun to make them look kooky. As much as possible, I try to treat my subjects with respect and let them tell their stories.”

Ideas for stories come from many places – including fans who visit the show’s Web site, www.wttw.com/jayschicago (where you can also view show segments).

“If somebody around the station says a story sounds like ‘a Jay story,’ it’s usually about someone with a quirky passion or skill – like the guy who rides his bike no-handed on the lakefront bike path – or unusual stories of human perseverance and overcoming tough situations.”

The new season is in the works and will air in the fall or January. Reruns of the first season’s 13 episodes air through May 27th.

MEDIA FAIL – WISCONSIN: It was hard to turn on the TV recently and not see images of protestors and civil unrest far away in the Middle East.

Much harder to find was images of protest and civil unrest happen right here in the America’s Midwest (unless you’re watching MSNBC).

(In case you missed it, Wisconsin’s governor and other tea-partiers invoked a budget crisis in order to eliminate state employees’ right to collective bargaining. So 125,000 marched on the Capitol and camped out there for weeks. In order to postpone a vote, a score of Democrats went into hiding out of state. Similar actions took place in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.)

The Midwest unrest is far more relevant to an average American’s daily life, since it could mean the demise of the labor unions and, along with it, the death knell for the Democratic party (full disclosure: I’m a member of the Authors Guild).

So why would the media focus its attention on the Middle East, Colonel Gaddafi, and Charlie Sheen?

Perhaps it had something to do with the TelCom Act Of 1996 – which deregulated the media and made it possible for companies to own several outlets in the same market. Corporations gobbled up newspapers and TV and radio stations. Now, the media is controlled by a handful of megacorporations that determine what winds up on the news. Do you think it’s in those corporations’ best interest to have strong labor unions?

Or perhaps it had something to with the 1987 abolition of the Fairness Doctrine, which required controversial issues of public importance to be covered in an equitable, honest, and balanced way. Its demise paved the way for the partisan media, including Rush Limbaugh and Fox “News.”

Somehow, the political right has been able to use the media to convince a large chunk of mainstream Americans that access to health care and the opportunity to join unions that bargain with governments and corporations on their behalf and serve as their greatest lobbying advocate in Washington are somehow bad for them.

Instead, they’re far more interested in what Charlie Sheen and Colonel Gaddafi are going to do next.

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: At press time, Scott Davidson told us that his “Rebel Radio” was about to be picked up by south-suburban classic rocker “The Kat,” WYKT-FM (105.5). Davidson’s unique brand of hard rock and heavy metal was slated to be heard from 10 to 6, seven nights a week on the STARadio Corporation-owned station, starting March 21st. “Rebel Radio” also streams online 24/7 at rebelradio.com . . . Jockless Jack-FM’s (WJMK-104.3) recent flip to K-Hits: Chicago’s Greatest Hits Of The ’60s, ’70s & ’80s is like a blast from the local past with former B96 personalities Eddie & Jobo, Gary Spears, and Bo Reynolds spinning everything from REO to Motown. It’d be a real coup if the CBS-owned station added WJMK Oldies legends Connie Szerszen and Dick Biondi to the mix. Or perhaps the kids wouldn’t be all right with that. More at khitschicago.radio.com.

– Cara Jepsen

Any individual or organization in Chicago can learn how to produce their own program at Chicago Access Corporation (CAN TV) and show it on one of its five channels. That’s because of the city’s strong cable-TV franchise agreement, which allows CAN TV to receive its funding directly from cable providers.

Refranchising takes place every 15 years, and will start up again in June when RCN is due for renewal. RCN, WOW, and Comcast are franchised by the city, but have the option of refranchising at the state level — which is what AT&T has chosen to do. CAN TV executive director Barbara Popovic says that if these other companies opt for a state franchise, a 2009 Chicago ordinance will give the city — not CAN TV — control of the one-percent fee for public, government, and educational (PEG) channels (this would be in addition to the five-percent franchise fee the city already receives from cable companies).

“Whatever the regulatory vehicle, we feel it’s very important that the public be firmly in the mix,” she says.

CAN TV recently commissioned an independent survey, which found that 85 percent of Chicago cable subscribers say it’s important that community issues are covered on local TV channels, and that customers would like more money set aside in their cable bill for the production of local programming than for commercial channels. Nearly 80 percent said it’s important that Chicago residents have access to a local facility where they can get assistance in producing programs.

“If anything in Chicago, we see an increase in local interest and an increase in people using it,” says Popovic, noting that public-access centers have closed down in San Francisco and Seattle in addition to scores of PEG center closures in California, Michigan, and Indiana — eight in Michigan.

“There is no rationale saying that now, 25-plus years after having created good policy in Chicago, that policy should be eroded in any way,” says Popovic. “But we’re observing with concern what is happening in other cities and want to work with all parties and the public to make sure Chicago doesn’t let something like that happen here.”

She says consumers still have trouble tuning into PEG channels on AT&T’s U-verse system — the only one with a state franchise agreement.

“Our channels are treated equally on cable systems,” says Popovic. “On the U-verse system, they have tweaked it here and massaged it there, but at the end of the day you can’t find the channels on the program guides, you can’t do DVR recordings, and you can’t switch between commercial and PEG channels.”

“The AT&T U-verse architecture and network is significantly different from cable,” says AT&T spokesperson Eric Robinson. “While AT&T cannot provide PEG in the same manner as cable, cable cannot match the amount of PEG choices that we offer to our viewers,” including programming from some 80 local communities — all of which can be found on Channel 99. (A 2008 Columbia Telecommunications Corporation report disputes the claim that U-verse technology must treat PEG channels differently.)

“Although the U-verse DVR cannot record the PEG channel, customers can choose to connect their own recording device and record whatever is on their TV,” says Robinson.

He points out that U-verse ranked highest in the J.D. Power And Associates 2010 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Survey, and says that U-verse meets requirements specified by state law. Nonetheless, the PEG access issue is under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

“If cable companies see around the country that the world’s largest telecom company is able to treat PEG access with unequal standards, then the temptation will be great for cable companies to do the same,” says Popovic.

“If we don’t have entities like CAN that encourage and publish and distribute the people’s voices, the door closes on a lot of issues and discourse and controversy.

“The city is richer, and the public discourse is richer, because of it.”

A long list of local groups support CAN’s mission, and the Committee For Media Access is actively working on the refranchising issue. For more, go to ouraccess.blogspot.com or cantv.org.

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: WLUP-FM (97.9)’s recent shift from hard to classic rock has raised the hackles of longtime fans, who’ve started a movement to purchase the Emmis Communications-owned station; check out the video at www.savetheloop.com . . . Local pet expert Steve Dale has left his weekend gig on WLS-AM (890) and is now back — sort of — at his old home, WGN-AM (720), where he’s a regular contributor to the recently-returned Bill Moller’s Saturday morning show; look for a podcast soon on the WGN Web site . . . Remember that old hoax e-mail about the government killing off Big Bird? It’s ba-ack: earlier this year, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) introduced legislation that would slash all funding for National Public Radio and the Corporation For Public Broadcasting. Learn more — and sign the petition — at freepress.net . . . The Arizona shootings had some Democrats making noise about reviving the Fairness Doctrine; its death in 1987 paved the way for Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. One of those looking to bring back the FCC rule requiring broadcasters to provide adequate coverage of public issues and reflect opposing views is South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn — whose daughter Mignon happens to serve on the FCC. (She’s said to oppose such a policy) . . . Kudos to Weigel Broadcasting-owned Me-TV and Me-Too for having the agility to air classic sitcoms with snow themes during the Blizzard of 2011 — proving yet again that small and local is where it’s at.

– Cara Jepsen

The SoundExchange clearinghouse is slated to deliver $260 million in royalties to musicians for digital airplay in 2010. That’s a huge jump from $100 million in 2008, and $155 million in 2009.

But much of that money never makes it into a musician’s hands. That’s because the Washington, DC-based nonprofit hasn’t been able to locate thousands of artists who are owed money. At the end of 2009, SoundExchange had $111 million in unclaimed royalties – $43 million of which was unclaimed by artists and labels.

“As much as we want to, we can’t send out the checks until someone fills out the paperwork,” says spokeswoman Laura Anderson. “But it’s really difficult to get them to do it. Some people think it’s too good to be true or aren’t used to getting paid for their work, or think we’re an e-mail scam.”

SoundExchange collects royalties from digital music streams on the Internet, satellite radio, and cable television. Then the staff combs through 3 billion lines of data each month to determine who is owed. “In some cases it’s listed as ‘artist unknown’ or Beethoven – who has never made a sound recording. That means we have to do a lot of research to figure out who should be paid.”

It takes about 20 minutes to register online at www.soundexchange.com, and requires a voided check and a state tax number (there are instructional videos on the site).

“There’s no downside to registering,” says Anderson. “We’re a nonprofit. There’s never a cost. If someone thinks they might be owed money or are getting play on the Internet or satellite radio or a cable-TV music channel, they should register. It doesn’t conflict with any other membership. “We’ve simplified it as much as we can. When people finally do it, they say, ‘That was easy. I wonder why I waited so long.’”

As board member Martha Reeves told the Detroit News, “The artists whose records that are being played, they should be paid.”

MORE FREE MONEY FOR MUSICIANS: BROADCAST ROYALTIES COULD BECOME REALITY IN 2011: One of the groups SoundExchange does not collect from is over-the-air radio stations.

But that could change – soon.

“There has been an 80-year push from the music community to get fair pay for radio airplay,” says MusicFirst spokesperson Tom Matzzie. “We think our best shot is in 2011.”

Last year, the lame-duck Congress revived the Performance Rights Act (HR-848), which would require broadcasters to pay performance fees to musicians and record companies. Currently, terrestrial radio stations only have to pay the songwriters. The measure also covers international royalties.

Musicians, record companies, and even Pandora support the bill, which is the brainchild of Michigan Democrat John Conyers.

Not surprisingly, broadcasters – particularly the National Association Of Broadcasters (NAB) – oppose HR-848, claiming it would take a toll on an already beleaguered radio industry, whose advertising revenue dropped by about eight percent between 2003 and 2008.

The bill has been approved by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and is supported by the White House.

Last year, Congress asked the two sides to negotiate. In July, MusicFirst and broadcasters hammered out a preliminary agreement to present to Congress. “Then they backed away from it and came back with something we had not previously agreed to,” says Matzzie, who remains optimistic. “We think we can have an agreement that will work for everyone – that will support the music community and grow radio.”

Matzzie says the new Republicans in the legislature should not be an impediment. “On the liberal side, it’s seen as a fair-play issue,” he says. “On the conservative side, it’s looked at as a property-rights issue. There’s a lot of consensus on it, and if you look outside of Congress you have support from the left to the right – from the AFL-CIO to conservative activist Grover Norquist.” Learn more at musicfirstcoalition.org.

ODDS N SODS: President Obama started off the year by signing the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA), which will open the door for unused FM-radio frequencies to become low-power stations with FCC approval. Sadly, Chicago’s airwaves are already saturated . . . Smooth 87.7 (WLFM-FM) picked up the new syndicated morning show, “Sandy & Kenny G In The Morning.” It airs weekdays from 6 to 9 and features longtime Detroit radio personality Sandy Kovach and, yes, that Kenny G. Soon, everyone will have a radio show . . . Crest Hill-based south-suburban classic rocker WRXQ-FM (100.7) recently launched a live, local-music-driven morning show hosted by Elwood (Mark Mailer) and added local shock jock Raven for middays. They join interim program director Freak, whose other job – as interim program director – has him adding a wider variety of classic cuts to the NextMedia-owned station. Hear it online, at www.wrxq.com . . . Kiss-FM (WKSC-FM 103.5) canned Drex last year and replaced him with Brotha’ Fred – a.k.a. the fauxhawked young Christopher Frederick, whose last market was Charlotte, NC. Good luck filling Drex’s shoes – and keeping your fauxhawk erect during Chicago’s frigid winter.

– Cara Jepsen

I recently scoured local record stores for 7-inch vinyl with Grinderman drummer Jim Sclavunos — who found plenty of records to play at the band’s L.A. after-party.

And I found a cache of vintage issues of Triad magazine, which was like a trip back to 1970s Chicago. The mag was produced by Triad radio — a progressive, free-form, nightly program airing on WXFM-FM (105.9) from 1969 to 1977. The eclectic Triad playlist included John Cage, Sun Ra, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Albert Ayler, Kraftwerk, Alice Coltrane, Last Poets, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, 13th Floor Elevators, King Crimson, and Hawkwind, as well as lectures by such ’70s icons as Alan Watts and Sri Chinmoy.

The magazine evolved from Triad’s program guide. An issue from 1977 included reviews of Steve Martin at the Arie Crown Theatre and Iggy Pop at the Aragon. There were also ads for Job rolling papers, The Alley, and Dog Ear Records, as well as a “File”-like column called “Odds & Sods” — proof that some ideas are timeless.

But what caught my eye was a feature by Tom Riedlinger called “Sex Pistols — Pretty Vacant? Roger Ebert says No.” The long piece details Ebert’s work on a feature-length screenplay about the Sex Pistols, which was to be directed by Russ Meyer and produced by Malcolm McLaren. Apparently Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious were big fans of Meyer’s Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls — for which Ebert penned the screenplay — and wanted the same team to work on their film.

In the article, Ebert aptly pointed out the difference between American and British punk rock (the British version is class-oriented, while “American punk is largely cosmetic in terms of appearance; essentially, the music is rock ‘n’ roll surrounded by fashions in clothing and graphics”). When asked if punk rock resonated with him, Ebert said, “It doesn’t speak to me in the sense that it voices my feelings and aspirations. It speaks to me in the sense that it voices the feelings of another part of society.”

He described the movie as “a vehicle for about 12 songs, something that would combine their music with an image of the Sex Pistols as they really are — making Uriah Heep look like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.”

Although Marianne Faithfull was cast as Vicious’ mother, the film was never made. Only one scene was shot — in which a deer was killed. “There is more than one account of what went wrong,” Ebert wrote on his blog last year — where you can read the entire screenplay (blogs.suntimes.com/ebert). Learn more about Triad at pages.ripco.net/~saxmania/triad.html

FEDER ON THE MOVE: Former Sun-Times media critic Robert Feder will move his column to the Time Out Chicago Web site starting January 3rd.

Feder surprised fans when he quit his popular Chicago Public Media (CPM) home in November. The year-old blog was the centerpiece of CPM’s Vocalo Web site — not to mention the one with the highest traffic.

During his year with Vocalo, Feder relentlessly went after Chicago Tribune management for its unconventional leadership style and the systematic destruction of heritage radio station WGN-AM (720). Fittingly, his crusade (and his story about a sleazy after-hours poker party in Col. Robert R. McCormick’s former office) was picked up by the New York Times. Eventually the entire cabal — including Tribune senior vice president and chief innovation officer Lee Abrams and CEO (and former radio executive and shock jock) Randy Michaels — was canned.

Feder’s sole news post after the blog was moved to WBEZ-FM (91.5)’s Web site was a triumphant column about the firing of WGN-AM (720) program director Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheny and on-air host and convicted felon Jim Laski.

“When I wrote my first post for the Vocalo blogs in November 2009, I couldn’t have imagined what an exciting and eventful year would follow,” Feder wrote in a farewell entry.

Frankly, we’re glad that Feder will not be covering radio for a site owned by a radio station, public or not. And we’re a little surprised by the lackluster quality of CPM’s new blog site. One expects better from Chicago Public Media COO Alison Scholly — who was former vice president and general manager of Tribune Interactive.

Feder says he’s pleased to be online, where — unlike at, say, a newspaper — readers can comment and create an ongoing dialog. “Making the transition from newspaperman to blogger really opened my eyes to the unlimited potential of online journalism and the unexpected rewards of engaging readers in a ‘daily conversation’ about the media,” he said.

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: Feder graduated in 1978 from Northwestern University’s venerable Medill School Of Journalism, which is poised to change its name to the Medill School Of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. One can’t help but wonder what namesake Joseph Medill would think. Under his editorship, the Chicago Tribune took a strong stand against slavery and became the leading Republican newspaper in Chicago. After the Chicago Fire of 1871, Medill was elected mayor, and created the city’s first public library and reformed the police and fire departments. One suspects he wouldn’t like the term “marketing” much, either.

– Cara Jepsen

Johanna Zorn got the idea to start a showcase for documentary radio back in 2000, when she was producing the WBEZ-FM (91.5) series “Chicago Matters.”

“The documentary work was so good, so meaningful,” she explains. “It told great stories, and it reverberated and lasted a long time. You think of radio as being ephemeral. But this work had a great staying power. At the same time, the Sundance Film Festival was getting popular. And I thought, ‘Why isn’t there a Sundance for radio?’”

Soon, artistic director Julie Shapiro came on board, and the Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCF) was born.

“Our intention and mission is to build the field for both audiences and radio-makers,” says Zorn, the TCF’s director and founder. “Audiences know they can hear a fabulous, provocative documentary on just about any subject under the sun. Meanwhile, radio producers’ work gets heard.”

The TCF includes an online library of more than 800 eclectic radio stories, the weekly radio show “Re:Sound” (Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 9 p.m. on WBEZ), Listening Room events, a Filmless Festival, a ShortDocs Challenge in which non-professionals are invited to make short pieces using a specific set of rules, and a school curriculum called Audio Documentary 101. There’s also a conference held in conjunction with the annual Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition – the most recent of which was held in late October.

At this year’s event, during an impromptu toast to Zorn and Shapiro and the festival’s 10th anniversary, “This American Life” creator Ira Glass said that the TCF provided something that radio people like him, who work in isolation, didn’t even know they needed: validation, and a place to meet and exchange ideas with other like-minded people.

“We just want you to know that the love spreads across the Atlantic,” said one of the winners, Radio Netherlands producer Michele Ernsting – who noted that she would never have found her sound person if she hadn’t attended a TCF conference.

Last year was a rough one for the TCF, after WBEZ dropped funding and they became an independent, nonprofit organization (Chicago Public Media still supports them by providing cheap rent and administrative assistance). “A huge administrative layer was added to the work we do – and a huge fundraising layer,” says Zorn. But they pulled it off – without adding staff, and with the help of a lot of people who believe that radio is an artform.

At the awards ceremony, event co-host Jad Abumrad said that the offbeat science show he co-hosts, “Radio Lab,” would not exist in its current form if not for the TCF.

“‘Radiolab’ would not sound or be anything like the current version of ‘Radiolab’ without [it],” he explained in an e-mail interview. “Early on . . . at the first or second conference . . . long before anyone other than my mother listened to the show . . . I was at 3C and heard a couple radio stories that just stopped me, made me think, ‘Wait, is that allowed? Can I do that?’ All it takes is a few of those collisions, and suddenly you give yourself permission to invent.”

The two winning documentaries can be heard on “Re:Sound” December 4th and 5th. They’ll also be archived at the Web site in December. More details at www.thirdcoastfestival.org.

ODDS N SODS:The best thing about WMAQ-TV’s new digital 24/7 news and entertainment sub-channel Chicago Nonstop is the addition of “JBTV,” Jerry Bryant’s 25-year old music showcase. It airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. and midnight.  Find it on Channel 5.2, Comcast Cable channel 252, WOW! Cable channel 130, and RCN Cable channel 50. . . . Congratulations to former WBBM-FM (96.3) and WCKG-FM personality Karen Hand, who recently received the Hypnotist Of The Year award at the Mid-America Hypnosis Conference. After leaving radio, Hand opened a hypnosis center with former WLS-AM and WJMK-FM personality Catherine Johns. Helping people with weight loss, stress reduction, and whatnot isn’t all that different from the work she did on “Private Lives,” the popular sex-and-relationship call-in show she hosted with Dr. Kelly Johnson back at WCKG. . . We love Garry Meier’s “In The Line Of Meier” video segments, which air Wednesdays and Friday on WGN-TV’s 5 p.m. newscasts. He’s also added a Sneed-like fake gossip column, “Snerd,” at wgnradio.com, and continues to hold down afternoons on WGN-AM (720) . . . But we hate that the Chicago Tribune dumped Steve Dahl’s excellent “Vice” column. “Apparently my $400-a-week was preventing them from exiting bankruptcy,” Dahl Tweeted. You can read his blog and hear his podcasts – as well as classic Steve and Garry bits – at dahl.com . . . The Local Community Radio Act, which would create a slew of brand-new, low-power, community-based radio stations, has been kicking around the Senate for nearly a decade. While the House bill passed with a voice vote last December, Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) moved to block the bill earlier this year – even though it has bipartisan support. For more info, go to www.freepress.net . . . The most recent e-mail going around warning about an end to funding of National Public Radio and PBS is not a hoax this time around, with both House and Senate Republicans calling for an end to government funding of public broadcasting. “The message is ‘think like we think and talk like we talk or we will de-fund you,’” Representative David Obey (D-Wisconsin) told NPR. How can they not be fans of “Antiques Road Show” and “Austin City Limits”? Freepress.net has more on it, as well.

– Cara Jepsen

It’s hard to get work as an investigative journalist in today’s cash-strapped, superficial, blog-driven media environment.

But John Conroy, the former Chicago Reader investigative reporter who started writing about the Chicago police torture scandal in 1990, has landed a new gig.

Last month Conroy landed a full-time post as senior investigator at the Better Government Association – a nonprofit watchdog group that exposes waste, corruption, and inefficiency in government.

“I’m excited about it,” says Conroy. “I think with so many media outlets cutting back on staff, this job’s importance is far greater than it would have been 10 years ago.” The group’s other new hires are former Crain’s Chicago business editor Bob Reed and former Sun-Times reporter Bob Herguth.

During his tenure at the Reader (which laid him off in December 2007), Conroy wrote some 100,000 words about the torture scandal, focusing on the men who said forcibly coerced confessions led to their wrongful convictions. Cited in the Illinois Supreme Court and the U.S. Court Of Appeals, Conroy’s articles helped to free four men who had been death-row inmates. The city settled the suits in 2008 for $19.8 million.

Last year Conroy wrote a play about the scandal, “My Kind Of Town,” in order to provoke a response from Chicagoans – who were largely indifferent to the torture cases. The work involves 13 characters and weaves together three plotlines over 27 years. It will be workshopped in November by TimeLine Theatre Company, culminating in a one-night reading for subscribers. “It’s a great company and [artistic director] PJ Powers and [associate artistic director] Nick Bowling have made some terrific suggestions about the script,” says Conroy. “They’re a hoot to work with. Lots of writing involved, but it’s all good.”

Conroy is also author of 1987’s Belfast Diary: War As A Way Of Life and 2001’s Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics Of Torture. He’s also the recipient of numerous awards, including four Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism. An archive of Conroy’s police torture stories is at www.chicagoreader.com, or visit john-conroy.com.

NEWER-ER NUDE HIPPO NEWS: Now in its 13th year, “The Nude Hippo Show” – now called “The Newer-er Nude Hippo Show” – has a new TV outlet.

It’s “Chicago Nonstop,” the NBC Channel 5’s 25-hour digital news, lifestyle, and entertainment channel located at the station’s 5.2 digital outlet.

“Newer-er Nude Hippo” segments will appear daily – only not at a predetermined time.

“This channel is a new venture for NBC Chicago, so I’m sure things will change from time to time, but if we do our job at the ‘Newer-er Nude Hippo,’ you will see at least one different segment every day of the week,” says show creator and producer Tony Lossano.

The new segments will also appear on the show’s revamped site, Nudehippo.com, along with supporting material, including photos and additional video, which he promises will be “all posted as fast as we can get the stuff done.” You can also view old shows online (where I viewed a 1998 gem featuring Steve Dahl, Warner Saunders, Mr. Skin, and Harry Teinowitz).

As reported here in August, the revamped show features magazine-style stories and an expanded cast that includes former Blackhawks Ice Crew member Ashley Lobo. Instead of just reporting the stories, Lobo – along with Amy Zanglin, Gina Ferraro, Nick Rosario, and Tim Pogo – will also be “living” them.

Despite the heavy production schedule, Lossano, a recently released morning producer at WLIT-FM (93.9), can relax a little.. “Even though I am very hands-on and oversee every aspect of ‘Nude Hippo,’ I am proud to say that I have a very good team who will make this all possible.”

ODDS N SODS: While Milt Rosenberg’s “Extension 720″ has been cut back by WGN-AM (720) to two hours, four days each week, you can now catch 45-minute bonus podcasts featuring commercial-free audio that has never been aired. There are also podcasts of regular shows; visit www.wgnradio.com . . . We loved Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis‘ columns about Mayor Daley not being a friend of live music in Chicago. Kot scooped his “Sound Opinions” co-host with a post on his Chicago Tribune “Turn It Up” blog, but we ate up DeRo’s “short list of the ways Daley has actively hurt the music community,” which included the anti-rave ordinance, the post-E2 crackdown on venues, the destruction of Maxwell Street, and tearing up Meigs Field and handing control of the Northerly Island music venue to Live Nation. Read more at blogs.vocalo.org/blog/derogatis . . . Is this what we’ve come to? Top-notch journalists reduced to blogs, personal websites and public access TV? Apparently. Former Chicago Public Radio talk-show host and program director Ken Davis recently launched a weekly roundtable called “Chicago Newsroom” on CAN-TV Channel 19, where it airs Thursday nights at 6:30. Or view it online, at cantv.blip.tv . . . Sports talker Mike North’s Fox Sports Radio Network syndicated show is now heard on Salem Communications news/talk WIND-AM (560), where it airs Sunday nights from 9 to midnight . . . Krista Tippett’s American Public Media radio show “Speaking Of Faith” recently changed its name to “Being.” We prefer the former, but understand why they might want to distance themselves from the unholy ways in which the word “faith” is being bandied about these days.

– Cara Jepsen

“Growing up, I never thought beyond Q101,” says Kevin Manno, 27, who recently left the WKQX-FM show he co-hosted with older brother Ryan Manno, 29, for the MTV show “The Seven” – a live countdown of the day’s top seven pop-culture stories that debuted September 20th.

“It was my goal to be a DJ on that radio station,” says the younger Manno, who now lives in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. “Once I made that happen, television became the next obvious step. It wasn’t something I ever set out to do; the transition was extremely organic. I can’t really say where this will lead me/us. I would love to work with Ryan again at some point down the road; we inspire a great deal of creativity in one another.”

Ryan continues to host the WKQX-FM (101.1) radio show weekdays from 7 p.m. to midnight, and act as host and segment producer at JBTV (www.jbtvonline.com). “TV has always been a goal for me” he says. “Media in general is the goal.”

The Manno brothers’ foray into rock ‘n’ roll media began when they were growing up in Highland, Indiana – when Kevin says he turned Ryan onto Q101. “For years, it was the only thing I listened to,” Kevin recalls. “I was addicted. While I was a fan of the bands, I was a superfan of the DJs. I called them all the time and I would try to get to concerts, public appearances, etc. in order to meet them.”

“Kevin won tickets to Q101’s Jamboree in 1997,” says Ryan. “He was caller 101 and Steve Fisher put him on the air at 14-years old. There’s something really cool about stepping on stage to introduce a band at Jamboree 14-years later.”

While Kevin’s first record was the “Fraggle Rock” soundtrack, he soon moved on to The Monkees at Ryan’s suggestion. Kevin says Ryan turned him onto “Weird Al” Yankovic when he was eight. “Neither were shining examples of good taste, but our mutual influence started early and stayed that way,” says Ryan – whose first records were by Def Leppard and Shai.

These days, Ryan’s favorite local musicians are David Costa, The Fold, and Makeshift Prodigy. Kevin, who likes Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, AM Taxi, The Flavor Savers, and Thrilage, recently bought “American Slang” by the Gaslight Anthem. “Working at Q101, I would obviously get most albums for free, but I am very serious about buying music from the bands you love. They all need and deserve the support.”

Growing up, the pair took guitar lessons and started a short-lived band called Skratch – which Kevin says does not even deserve to be called a band. He claims he has zero musical talent. Ryan played in a “a really crappy” Operation Ivy cover band called Animal in the late 1990s. “We did all of our friends’ graduation parties and thought we were awesome,” he says. “We weren’t.”

But they were hooked on the music. “We both had a plan to go to North Central [College] for radio and then get jobs at Q101,” says Kevin.

“It was the closest thing to a career in music, without struggling as a starving artist,” says Ryan, who led the way. A Q101 internship led to an overnight shift and a full-time job on Mancow Muller’s radio show from 2003 to 2006, where he worked as music and entertainment reporter, booked guests, did audio production – and was a full-time cast member, as Ryan the Gay Mexican. “I’m straight. And Italian,” he explains.

Kevin followed his footsteps, winding up as a Q101 promotions assistant. “Sometimes he’d end up driving me to my appearances, which was weird,” says Ryan.

Ryan eventually landed a nighttime show on Q101, and Kevin did overnights. In 2007, they got their own show, which combined music and talk. “I think we got paired together because everyone saw how well and naturally we worked together in every day life,” says Ryan. “It’s such a unique hook, too. No brothers have a radio show together! Program directors spend so much time trying to build a show and force chemistry. When you grow up together, you can’t buy chemistry like that.”

Kevin says he was able to completely be himself around his brother. “Honestly, I miss seeing my brother every day. We were never closer than we were for those two years.”

So will Kevin turn into a celebrity snob at his high-profile gig at MTV? Not likely, says Ryan. “It’s not in his DNA. He’s the most innocent, wide-eyed kid I know. This won’t change him for the negative. But if it does, I’ve got plenty of embarrassing crap to hang over his head and bring him back to Earth.”

The pair hopes to one day work together on a TV project. “I can’t give you a start date, but I’ll tell you that it will happen before I die,” says Kevin.

“Whenever we can find someone smart — or stupid — enough, to trust us,” says Ryan.

– Cara Jepsen

Fucking brilliant! Those two words uttered by U2’s Bono while accepting an award for “The Hands That Built America” on a January 2003 NBC broadcast of the Golden Globes sparked a battle with the Federal Communications Commission that lasted until July of this year.

Bono’s outburst came hot on the heels of similar utterances by Cher (“Well, fuck ‘em!”) and Nicole Richie (“Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It’s not so fucking simple.”) during live awards shows. The FCC took offense, ruling that the networks that aired the shows had violated its indecency policy.

But in July, a federal appeals court struck down the FCC’s indecency policy, calling it “unconstitutionally vague.”

“The score for today’s game is First Amendment one, censorship zero,” Andrew Jay Schwartzman, policy director of Media Access Project, said in a statement. “Media Access Project entered this case on behalf of writers, producers, directors and musicians [including the Future Of Music Coalition and the Center For Creative Voices In Media] because the FCC’s indecency rules are irredeemably vague and interfere with the creative process. Today’s decision vindicates that argument. The next stop is the Supreme Court, and we’re confident that the Justices will affirm this decision.”

The U.S. Court Of Appeals Of The Second Circuit did not, however, have the power to strike down the initial ruling – the 1978 Supreme Court decision regarding the FCC’s right to police the airwaves for objectionable content. That ruling was spurred by a Pacifica radio broadcast of George Carlin’s famous monologue, “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” (for the record, the list – which was Carlin’s, not the government’s – are shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits.).

The FCC had used the FCC v. Pacifica Foundation decision as a hunting license when it started cracking under the Bush administration, deciding that profanity referring to sex or excrement was always considered indecent. (In 2004, Congress increased the maximum for each violation tenfold, to $350,000).

Fox, CBS and other television networks sued the FCC in 2006, claming that the FCC did not exlplain why it had changed its policy (previously, it had held that a single, non-literal use of an expletive was not considered indecent). The suit claimed FCC’s indecency policy was vague, and pointed out that the FCC had found ABC’s 2004 airing of the “shit” and “fuck”- peppered film “Saving Private Ryan” was not offensive, but somehow PBS’s airing of the same words in the documentary miniseries, “The Blues,” was.

In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that the FCC could penalize networks for the occasional use of expletives, but did not rule on the constitutionality of the policy. The case was sent back to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, which ruled unanimously against the FCC in July.

The three-judge appeals court said FCC policy had had a chilling effect on protected speech. “Under the current policy, broadcasters must choose between not airing or censoring controversial programs and risking massive fines or possibly even loss of their licenses, and it is not surprising which option they choose,” U.S. Circuit Judge Rosemary S. Pooler wrote. “Indeed, there is ample evidence in the record that the FCC’s indecency policy has chilled protected speech.”

Such restraints included a Pennsylvania TV station’s decision not to provide live coverage of news events unless public safety or convenience are affected, and a Vermont station’s decision to carry a political debate because one of the candidates had previously sworn on the air.

Whether the case will end up at the Supreme Court remains to be seen. But if it did, the FCC’s indecency policy could be struck down. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was vague, saying, “We’re reviewing the court’s decision in light of our commitment to protect children, empower parents, and uphold the First Amendment.”

Still pending are indecency cases involving the Steven Bochco drama “NYPD Blue,” which was fined by the FCC for showing seven seconds of a female rear end, Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction, and a Fox reality show called “Married by America.” They probably won’t be decided until the Supreme Court rules on the current overturn of FCC policy.

In the meantime, look for broadcast TV to get more raunchy. Coming up this fall on CBS: a sitcom starring William Shatner, called “Shit My Dad Says.”

ODDS N SODS: Long-gone Chicago rock jock legend Patti Haze is now rockin’ hard on Chicago Radio Online. Haze, who lives Detroit, teams up with former Loop staffer Mitch Michaels as co-host of the Classic Rock Chicago format. Many other radio legends are hosting shows at the site – including Tommy Edwards, Fred Winston, Connie Szerszen, and Clark Weber. It’s the brainchild of Kurt Hanson and John Gehron of Chicago-based AccuRadio.com. Hear it for free at chicagoradioonline.com, or get the app . . . The Creative Loafing-owned Chicago Reader has chosen Geoff Doughtery to take over as associate publisher – an interesting choice considering that his Chi-Town Daily News and Chicago Current weren’t exactly sustainable. (He says it would have taken another year for CC to make it.) Doughtery says he’ll manage the weekly’s day-to-day operations and lead strategic projects. “The Reader’s new owners are particularly interested in growing the business by finding new ways to serve our advertisers and readers,” he says. “Online initiatives are a big part of that.” Less surprising is Kiki Yablon’s official move to editor, and Alison Draper to publisher. (Both had been in interim positions.) Let’s hope they can keep it together until some decent funding comes their way. Or pigs begin to fly.

– Cara Jepsen

“I felt that there was nothing that went behind the scenes showing how human the process of making art is: its mistakes, conundrums, miracle moments, etc. I wanted to discover the artists behind the art, showing the human side, and thus making the arts more approachable for people,” says Elysabeth Alfano, host and executive producer of the new 30-minute arts TV show “Fear No ART Chicago,” which airs quarterly on WTTW-Channel 11 and posts new, smaller segments at www.fearnoartchicago.com.

Alfano knows firsthand about her topic. “In my art gallery and with my clothing company, I saw that while not everyone followed fashion or collected art, everyone was fascinated by the life of the artist and what was going on in the studio.”

Not that they’d actually venture inside. “I found with my art gallery that most people were afraid to come in,” she says. “If they hadn’t studied art history, didn’t have money, or didn’t feel educated about the exhibit, they felt intimidated. This show aims to bridge the gap between the public and the arts and deconstruct any sort of wall that separates the two.”

She says her varied background has come in handy — including a stint teaching marketing for the visual arts at Columbia College (one of the show’s sponsors). “All previous experiences prepare you for the next experience,” she explains. “My public speaking while teaching at Columbia College was very helpful to me for what I do now. I produce ‘Fear No ART Chicago’ on the smallest of budgets, so I don’t have time for many takes. I have to get it right out of the gate. ”

The show is not produced by WTTW; instead, Alfano does everything herself. “I pound the pavement looking for underwriters and sponsors,” she says, noting that she recently added a single intern to her staff.

The first show included segments on fashion designer Lauren Lein, the chefs at Moto restaurant, and local musician Nicholas Barron. Alfano is “very open” to new music, and performers can send their links to elysabeth [at] fearnoartchicago.com.

Alfano adds that local media plays a vital role when it comes to local artists. “If we want art in our community, it is up to us to make it so,” she says. “That means local media covering local artists. Otherwise, people won’t know about the arts, won’t be able to support the arts, and the arts will disappear.”

THE NEW, SLIMMED-DOWN NUDE HIPPO: “Big Fat Nude Hippo” had a great run on cable TV from 1997 to 2007, where it evolved from a sketch comedy show to a magazine-style talk show. In 2006 it was picked up by NBC.com, where short segments “aired” on the station’s Web site for a year.

Now, the show is back on NBC.com, where new segments are regularly posted NBCchicago.com and www.nudehippo.com. “The first big difference that you may notice is how we no longer have a studio portion with magazine-style reports,” says producer Tony Lossano, who now stays behind the camera and does double duty as morning show producer at WLIT-FM 93.9. “We are refocusing our field reports to be more like a reality format with strong personalities rather than just a bunch of feature stories done like if we were on a newscast. ”

Only not as serious. “My team is not pretending to have ethical standards; they are there to show you something awesome and will entertain you in the process,” he adds.

That team includes longtime contributor Amy Zanglin, as well as Ashley Lobo, Gina Ferraro, Nick Rosario, and Pogo. The last is the show’s music contributor, who plans to include acts such as Matt & Kim, Drive-By Truckers, Frightened Rabbit, The Big Pink, and Minus The Bear.

Lossano says he’s a fan of the Web TV format. “We now cover the things that we want, when we want, without the pressure of filling a 30-minute timeslot once a week. However, we average around three new segments a week — and they can be seen wherever the interweb reaches.”

ODDS N SODS: The final nail in the Reader’s coffin could be the firing of longtime editor Alison True earlier this summer. (Full disclosure: I wrote under True for many years at the Reader.) Apparently True was the one trying to keep the paper local and relevant, despite being the hatchet man for cutbacks after the weekly’s sale to Tampa-based Creative Loafing in 2007, that company’s bankruptcy in 2008, and its sale to the Atalaya Capital Management hedge fund in 2009. We wish True — and what’s left of the paper — well . . . Local content has also been suffering in the electronic-media world, where WGN-AM (720) program director Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheney continues to jettison local angles, as does Window To The World Communication’s WTTW-Channel 11 — which canned some 30 people in June as part of a $3 million budget cut. Note to bean counters: Chicago audiences have always preferred local talent addressing local issues, and can smell bullshit from miles away — even when it’s holed up in remote ivory towers.

– Cara Jepsen

Local radio stations began jettisoning their high-priced talent in the late 2000s, when the new Portable People Meter ratings system showed that big names were no longer pulling in the big numbers. Now, it seems the days of the high-priced, well-loved, hyper-local radio personality are long gone.

Here’s what some of Chicago’s former favorites were up to at press time.

Kathy & Judy (Their top-rated WGN-AM (720) show was dumped by the Tribune Company in May 2009): Even after 20 years on the air, Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey don’t have a Web site, although you can still get old podcasts on WGN’s. An unofficial Facebook fan page keeps girlfriends abreast of appearances and other news (last year they told “Girlfriends” at Columbia College that they were given a lot of freedom at WGN until their final months on the air — and that they doubted they’d return to the airwaves). Oddly, you can still order K&J paraphernalia from WGN — where it’s on deep discount.

Johnny B (Cut loose three months early by Emmis Communications-owned WLUP-FM (97.9) in November 2009): In December, Jonathon Brandmeier launched a scathing video takeoff on Jon Lajoie’s “Everyday Normal Guy,” called “Johnny B — The Unemployed Radio Mo Fo,” which had him rapping about “the motherfucking PPM” and slamming the industry with lyrics like, “Hey monkey push a button and play another song/Talent on the radio just doesn’t belong/Enjoy the crap while you can ‘cuz it won’t last long.” Despite speculation he’d land at WGN, we haven’t heard much since the amazing video that showcased the new, unmuzzled Johnny B — whom we hope gets a cable TV or satellite-radio show. The Fond du Lac native doesn’t Tweet or blog, but you can see the vid and join his e-mail list at www.johnnybontv.com.

Steve Dahl (Removed by CBS Radio-owned WJMK-FM (104.3) in December 2008): Dahl’s collecting $1 million-plus per year through the middle of 2011 from CBS, which agreed to let him launch a daily podcast from his basement studio last year. He bankrolls the 90-minute show, which employs much of his old staff and is about to hit 3 million downloads. “I’m making a significant personal investment to keep myself available to my fans during the two-and-a-half years that I’m off of radio,” he said in an e-mail interview. The show can be heard at www.dahl.com — which is full of Tweets, blogs, apps, bells, whistles, and ads. Former sideman Julian “Buzz” Kilman occasionally appears on the show but has no full-time home (www.buzzkilman.com). On a recent DahlCast, The Stever complained about the editor of his weekly Chicago Tribune column. “Every once in awhile they get irritated with me, because I didn’t go to J-school, you know, ” he said. “And it’s at the Tribune and it’s bankrupt and they’re laying people off left and right and there’s some disgruntlement there, so every once in awhile I think he [the editor] gets mad and takes it out on me . . . I’m doing the best I can for $400 a week.” Hard to hear when so many journalists are out of work and he’s pulling in the big bucks for not broadcasting. Still, Dahl is the most plugged-in of the lot.

Mancow Muller & Pat Cassidy (Fired by Citadel Broadcasting-owned WLS-AM (890) in February): While Pat Cassidy returned to all-news WBBM-AM (780), Matthew Erich “Mancow” Muller continues to syndicate his morning show to scores of markets, ranging from Corpus Christi to Macomb. On his Web site (www.mancow.com), you can access podcasts, see wacky video, and read his Tweets. But not without starting the video promo for his radio show: “This is my country. When you cut me, I bleed red, white, and blue. I want to bring back common sense to America. I want to bring back truth and cowboy logic. I’m Mancow Muller, American badass.” We prefer “Cow’s Notes,” where there are badass gems, like “The right answer is inevitable when your thoughts are positive, constructive, and loving.”

Eddie, Jobo, & Erica Cobb (Jettisoned by CBS Radio-owned WBBM-FM (96.3) in November 2008): Eddie and JoBo continued to collect an estimated $1.5 million each from CBS until their contract expired last summer. With nary a podcast, Web site, or blog to their name, they resurfaced to cover a show for WLS’s Roe Conn in March. Eddie Volkman is on Twitter and Myspace (which says he’s 42), but Joe Bohannan is AWOL. Co-host Erica Cobb immediately landed a gig as a morning co-host on Denver’s “Alice” 105.9 and recently appeared with her husband on NBC’s “The Marriage Ref,” where the judges debated her decision to continue using her maiden name. The couple won a trip to the Caribbean and parting words from host Tom Pap: “At the end of the day, Erica, you win!” In more ways than one. In June, Eddie & Jobo started hosting Saturday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. on  Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890). They’ve also been doing TV commercials since getting fired.

Melissa Forman (Canned last summer by Clear Channel-owned WLIT-FM 93.9): Still off the air, Forman filled in for Jeanne Sparrow as host of WCIU-Channel 26’s “You & Me This Morning” earlier this year, and there’s speculation that she’ll return to the Weigel Broadcasting-owned station in some capacity. In the meantime her Web site has audio and video demos as well as a blog (www.melissaforman.com).

– Cara Jepsen

Congratulations are in order for WDRV-FM (97.1) midday host Bob Stroud, who recently celebrated 30 years of “Rock & Roll Roots,” which airs Sunday mornings from 7 to 10.

It’s all the more impressive when you realize Stroud has kept it going through a career that’s had him at near every rock station in town: WMET, WLUP, WCKG, CD-94.7, and WXRT.

Ironically, the show’s only hiatus in 30 years took place when Stroud was at classic rock WCKG-FM (105.9). “From September of 1993 to March of 1995 when I ‘exited’ the station, the show was dead in the water,” Stroud said in an e-mail message. “Management was very narrow-minded at that particular outlet and the station continually suffered from anemic programming pretty much around the clock. Every other station has been open to letting the show air with my sensibilities behind it. Even WMVP-AM 1000, an all-sports AM station, aired it on Sunday mornings!”

Stroud — a former rhythm guitarist for The Cryan Shames — says the show has endured because it has evolved over the decades.

“I’ve had to change with the times over the years and modify the show to still be listenable to an ever-changing 25 to 54 demographic,” he said. “Where the show began as a hardcore oldies show, it’s now more of a deep tracks/classic tracks/ oldies show.”

But even he can tire of the oldies. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s as much as the next Baby Boomer, but I have also always loved new music. There’s no greater thrill than finding a new artist or CD that brings you the kind of euphoria that you originally experienced as a teenager or 20something. I wish more Baby Boomers were open to discovering new music, but we sure get lazy and stubborn the older we get. I actually argued with a fellow Boomer not long ago, who insisted that music stopped being good after 1971.”

Stroud is currently taking requests for Volume 12 of the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Roots” CD series, which will hit the shelves at Borders in early November. Submit your favorites (and check out the playlists for volumes 1 to 11) at www.wdrv.com/rocknrollroots.php.

MUCKRAKING NOT DEAD: We’ve been a bit obsessed with ProPublica ever since “This American Life” aired a piece in its engaging-but-painstaking seven-month investigation into the housing crisis and the role of a hedge fund that bet against the toxic financial securities it helped create. The piece included a Broadway-esque song about CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) written by Robert Lopez (the co-writer of “Avenue Q”, who is writing a new musical with “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone); you can hear it at Thislife.org.

ProPublica’s 32-person investigative team in a New York newsroom is headed by former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger, and former New York Times investigative editor Stephen Engelberg. Its primary funder is The Sandler Foundation.

They also investigated political fundraising at two Bruce Springsteen concerts last year, after the United States Supreme Court overturned limits on corporate election spending (basing its decision in part on the idea that campaign-finance records are more easily accessible than ever before).

ProPublica learned that some lawmakers paid thousands of dollars to lease skyboxes from companies affected by the subcommittees they sit on — received fat campaign contributions in return. But they learned next to nothing about who paid big bucks to get some face-time while watching The Boss.
“At best, we ended up with a handful of possible attendees. At worst, we were left with no clues at all,” wrote Sebastian Jones; a version of the article also appeared in the Washington Post.
ProPublica’s latest project is tracking the largest domestic spending bill in U.S. history. More at www.propublica.org.

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: WBEZ and Vocalo.org’s parent company, Chicago Public Radio, recently changed its name to Chicago Public Media. Plus it hired a new chief operating officer, Alison Scholly — the former vice president and general manager of Tribune Interactive. Think they’re moving towards the new media? . . . Legendary rock ‘n’ roll broadcaster Dick Biondi recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his start on Chicago radio, at WLS in 1960. Yet the 77-year-old icon — who was one of the first to play rock music, and the first to play The Beatles on American airwaves — is not on the air. Meanwhile, convicted felon and former Chicago City Clerk Jim Laski continues to host weeknights on WGN-AM (720). I bet he never wrote a parody song as good as “On Top Of A Pizza (The Pizza Song)” . . . Satellite-radio fees have skyrocketed in recent weeks. A call to XM revealed the increase had to be approved by the FCC, because XM has not been allowed to raise prices since its merger with Sirius. The reason for the exception? So they could cover the new U.S. Music Royalty fees. At least that’s what they told us. I’m shifting to the sports-and-news subscription, which is $9.99 a month. That’ll show ‘em!

- Cara Jepsen

When Conscious Choice published its final issue last April, its employees refused to let the dream die.

Instead, they started Mindful Metropolis magazine, a free, monthly glossy that marks its first anniversary this month. Not only is the magazine still around, but it’s also owned by the employees.

“We simply saw no other viable options,” says publisher and CEO Richard McGinnis. “We were freed from corporate tyranny, which meant we finally had control of our own editorial content, and we could truly be local. All we thought about at the time was Chicago needed a voice for its conscious community. We had the relationships with the writers, clients, and other organizations. It seemed there was no alternative but to keep publishing a magazine.”

It wasn’t always easy, since they had just 30 days to start a magazine from scratch. “We had no infrastructure, we had no database, and all of our equipment had been removed and shipped to Colorado. The issue was May 2009, and we had an agreement with the Green Festival to provide their print marketing. We also had a booth space at the event, so we glued together our first issue with the assistance of loyal advertisers and an ad hoc creative team.”

McGinnis, who wore several hats during his seven years at Conscious Choice — including group publisher — says things were far from ideal in its waning days. “Conscious Choice had an evolution of editorial pillars that kept moving farther and farther away from the community concept. In the end, much of the content was unrecognizable as local since most of the editorial decisions were being made out of California.

“Mindful Metropolis is about sustainable community. Everything we write about has significance in regard to what it means to operate harmoniously in our personal/social networks: the food we eat; the places we live; what we do with our refuse; what nurtures us spiritually and physically; what benefits us politically; the lake, the river, the buildings, the restaurants, all the way down to the paint we use and all the way up to the person we strive to become. Mindful Metropolis is about the relationship to ourselves and those we touch.”

But don’t call them green.

“To us, green is a single facet — a thing that one does. It is a thing one is motivated to do for larger reasons. Our mission is the reasons.”

They’re also doing a MindfuLive!, a multi-dimensional series of events where “readers can interact with advertisers in a social setting” — a sort of “reception space mini-trade fair/networking event.” Funkadesi will play at the 2010 Mindful Readers Choice Awards and Green Carpet Gala on May 21st, where Green Festival and Global Exchange founder Kevin Danaher will speak, and ABC-7’s Hosea Sanders will MC. More at www.mindfulmetropolis.com

“As we move on, we are working on a media collective,” says McGinnis. “In order to maintain strength and integrity in Chicago’s conscious community, we realize that print alone does not reach all the places that need our resources. In addition to improving our online capabilities, we have teamed up with a progressive, mission-specific media company to provide video, and we are working on collaborations for radio as well as other forms of targeted digital media.”

Musicians may send review submissions to Mindful Metropolis editorial director James Faber, 2020 N. California, Ste7 #165, Chicago, IL 60647.

ETC: Six months after its launch last fall, the Chicago News Cooperative is still going strong as a news organization, with an online presence and a handful of stories in each Friday and Sunday’s New York Times. With the tagline “committed to public service, reported by journalists, guided by members,” and financed by grants, CNC has been sharing facilities and resources with financially strained public- television station WTTW-Channel 11. Headed by former Chicago Tribune managing editor and former editor of the Los Angeles Times James O’Shea, they’ve already had plenty of scoops — including City Hall reporter Dan Mihalopoulos‘ exclusive story on Mayor Daley and the City Council’s creativity with furlough days. There’s also coverage of sports and the arts — including James Warren’s recent story about a North Side social-service agency’s successful program for at-risk youth, which includes dance, graffiti arts, poetry, rap, and music. For the latest, go to chicagonewscoop.org . . . We haven’t seen the monthly print edition of The Chicago Current, but at press time the Web site’s sparse postings were dominated by stories from political reporter Adrian Uribarri and Cook County reporter Alex Parker (it’s comforting to know that there’s at least one reporter keeping an eye on the caretakers of its $3.5 billion budget). The news, politics, and public-affairs journal is aimed at the city’s public-affairs community and calls itself “Chicago’s Place For Politics.” It’s headed by former Tribune reporter Geoff Dougherty, who folded his nonprofit Chi-Town Daily News last fall to launch for-profit CC last November. Visit www.chicagocurrent.com.

– Cara Jepsen