Most uncomfortable ad ever

It's got to be a challenge to come up with an advertising campaign for Summer's Eve that doesn't make people uncomfortable, but boy does this one fail that test.

The 25 most liked pages on Facebook

For those of you on Facebook, you know what this means. Being "Liked" just means that someone has clicked the "like" button on your page.

Here's the list of the top 25.

The only surprise on the list, as far as I'm concerned, is Bob Marley (#18). He would have killed for this kind of fan support when he was alive. 28,719,894 have clicked "like" on his page.

And I'm one of 'em.

Zillow

Another internet property that hasn't made money went public this week, and investors snapped it up like candy.

This one is real estate site Zillow.

I'm starting to think that Just One Bad Century should go public, but I worry that because we've actually made a profit investors won't want anything to do with us.

As the Rupert Turns

Investors seemed calmed after the Murdochs testified, at least for that one day.

Since then, not so much.

It appears people are starting to wake up to the fact that this story is far from over. Here's a preview of the next bombshell.

Unless it's this upcoming bombshell.

Oh, and then there's the potential fallout from people brave enough to scrutinize his ridiculous testimony, particularly the part about being a hands-off CEO.

As the Rupert Turns

Here's a summary of what happened yesterday in Rupert's testimony to Parliament.

I watched a lot of this testimony yesterday, and I have to say I'm very disappointed with the coverage by the American press. Fox News was a joke. It must be tough to cover your boss with any sense of objectivity, but under the circumstances was it really necessary to so blatantly kiss his ass? CNN was focused on the mention of their night time star Piers Morgan (a former News of the World editor), and what they considered to be an outrageous claim that he also hacked phones. And MSNBC had an anchor covering this that completely misunderstood what was going on. When the "creampie" incident happened, he said that it interrupted pretty uncompelling testimony. (What?) And virtually all of the newspaper and online coverage focused on the creampie incident.

Really?

Did you guys watch the same thing I watched? Yes, it was interesting that somebody slammed a creampie in Rupert's face. Yes, his wife Wendy does have quick reflexes. But did anybody else notice that Rupert was pretending to be a doddering old man that has no idea what happens in his own company? Anyone that knows anything about News Corp knows that he rules it with an iron fist. He must be pretty scared to pull a Junior Soprano.

This case isn't going away. It's just beginning. The News Corp stock may have survived because Rupert didn't say anything that caused him to be arrested on the spot, but the entire British establishment is in danger. This case involves bribing police. The top two men at Scotland Yard have resigned for cryin' out loud. It involves criminal activity. The top editors and former editors have been arrested! It involves huge payoffs of hush money (approved by James Murdoch himself). It involves the British PM directly--his former spokesperson has been arrested--and an e-mail from his assistant to Scotland Yard implicates the Prime Minister himself. The main whistleblower was found dead this week. And the FBI has even opened an investigation into whether or not the voicemails of 9-11 victims were hacked here in the United States.

This story is not about a creampie. It's not about Piers Morgan. And it's not about Rupert's wife.

RIP Borders

It's all over for Borders. They had hoped to avoid this and keep their 299 remaining stores open, but the announcement came yesterday.

Borders is liquidating.

More than 10,000 employees will be looking for work.

Not a great day in publishing history.

As the Rupert turns

How bad is this scandal for Rupert Murdoch?

The Wall Street Journal (which he owns) speculates he may step down as CEO.

The News Corp Board of Directors had to issue a vote of confidence, even though they are firmly in his back pocket.

Because...

The stock is sliding so fast, the family itself has already lost a billion dollars.

Other than that, things are going pretty well for him.

Rupert faces Parliament

Rupert Murdoch is still in deep doo doo, and he may bring down the entire government with him (British PM David Cameron has close associations with the people involved in the phone hacking). This morning Rupert is testifying to Parliament, and will face a thorough grilling. Not the kind Americans can receive in Congress. A Parliament smackdown takes it to whole different level.

Should be entertaining television.

Boy, you leave for one week and...

...all hell breaks loose.

I didn't follow the media while I was in South Carolina, and holy moly.

In Chicago two stations are completely gone (Fresh-FM and Q-101). Two all-news stations are moving to FM (WBBM simulcasting on 105.9 and a new all-news is coming to the former Q-101). A former multiple Chicago Radio Spotlight interviewee was let go by WLS (Cisco Cotto) soon after his wife had a baby, and was replaced by another former Chicago Radio Spotlight interviewee--and my former colleague--Bruce Wolf. And my former boss Steve Dahl made his big announcement about his future, and it didn't involve any Chicago radio stations (he's charging a fee for podcasts now).

And in the national (and international) media, Rupert Murdoch shut down his 100+ year old newspaper to try to contain damage from the huge s-storm coming down on him in England, and backed out of trying to get a complete monopoly on cable news in Europe (by buying the rest of Sky) to placate the angry officials there, and it still didn't work. His former editor was arrested, and the FBI is now investigating whether or not the New York Post also hacked phone calls. If so, his American media empire is in jeopardy too.

Other than that, nothing much happened.

CNN Shuffles the Deck

Spitzer is out. Anderson Cooper is moving up to Spitzer's slot. Jon King is moving an hour earlier. Erin Burnett is getting King's old slot. And Piers Morgan is staying right where he is.

The full details are here.

Doesn't exactly grab you, does it?

Soaps are not dying off after all

It looks like "All My Children" and "One Life to Life" will live on after they sign off at ABC. They just won't be on standard television...they're going online with the full cast and crew.

Now all my mom has to do is get a computer, learn how to turn it on, learn how to navigate the web, and learn how to bookmark a web channel. No problem. She's nearly got this VCR thing down after only twenty five years.

Rupert's in Big Trouble

Of course he's laying low at the media mogul summit in Idaho right now, but back in England, things are getting real bad. His News of the World is in deep trouble for hacking into cell phones of newsmakers, celebrities, politicians, and ordinary people. Some 4000 people in all.

It's beyond sleazy. It's probably criminal.

Media Mogul Summit

In my novel "$everance" I describe a media mogul summit that happens in Sun Valley Idaho. A lot of people that read my book thought I made that up, but I didn't. It really does happen every single year.

In fact, it's happening right now. This year the expanded guest list includes the CEO of Pandora.

Nothing to see here...Just every single person that controls the information we see, hear, and read meeting in one place discussing who knows what. You won't read any reports about what they talk about because it's all off the record.

The only reason I don't think a conspiracy is being hatched (although all the elements are there to hatch one) is because these guys all hate each other's guts.

Dahl's next move

Robert Feder reports that Steve Dahl will make an announcement on Monday (via Twitter) stating his next career move.

I've had a lot of people ask me if I know, and I don't. I'll be waiting to hear the announcement too.

A Redstone Takedown

Sumner Redstone recently uttered the words: "I hate litigation."

Johnnie L. Roberts does a tremendous takedown of the most ridiculous thing any human being has ever said.

Bieber's Cover Bombs

Vanity Fair put Bieber on their February cover, and it was revealed this week that it was one of the three worst selling issues of the magazine in the last twenty years.

I think it's because word got out what baseball team he roots for.

That's my theory.

Hackers had a busy weekend

One hacker got into Fox News' Twitter account and tweeted that Obama was dead.

Another hacker got into Apple's database and started publishing account information.

I guess nobody invited those guys (and lets face it, they were guys) to neighborhood barbecues this weekend. Embrace the neighborhood nerds, everyone. It will help all of us out.

Reagan's in the Hall of Fame

Robert Feder has details about the latest Radio Hall of Fame nominees, and he's not very happy that the Hall didn't follow it's own rules in nominating Ronald Reagan for his time at WHO in Iowa.

I'm not sure where I come down on this one.

On the one hand, it is a little fishy to ram this through, and it does smell like a political statement because Reagan didn't really do radio very long (five years) and museum curator Bruce DuMont is a die-hard Republican. On the other hand, Reagan was a Cubs announcer during his radio days.

I do have a soft spot for Cubs announcers.

Randy Michaels

Radio Ink writes a piece this morning trying to make you think these Randy Michaels' hires are all misdirection...

Randy Michaels has never been one to stage a complicated ruse or wage a campaign of disinformation has he? Somehow, without even saying a word, Michaels has everyone convinced he's going to flip one, maybe two stations, to some sort of FM news or talk. Of course, all indications, according to media journalists and radio reporters believe some sort of format flip will happen in either Chicago or New York. Maybe both. The Sabo hire helps that theory along. But what if Michaels is just playing everyone to see if he can get Dan Mason to make the first move? Mason's CBS owns WBBM-AM, the news leader in Chicago and powerhouse New York stations WINS-AM and, of course CBS-AM. One Chicago insider told Radio Ink, "Randy is very good at yanking people's chains."

If you say so, Radio Ink. I think the fact that he has hired Charlie Meyerson and Rob Hart, (both former Chicago Radio Spotlight interviewees) and a talk radio consultant to run the joint (Sabo) says he's flipping at least one of the stations in Chicago. Of course he is. Right now they're doing rock (The Loop) and alternative rock (Q-101). One of those formats (or both) is a goner.

Beck's Replacement

Starting on July 11th, Fox News will have a new show in Beck's old time slot. Here are the details, via TV Newser...

"The Five" will feature a roundtable of five Fox News personalities from among the network’s deep bench of hosts and analysts, including Greg Gutfeld, Juan Williams, Dana Perino, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Geraldo Rivera, Andrea Tantaros, Eric Bolling, Monica Crowley, Bob Beckel and Kimberly Guilfoyle."

And no chalkboards.