Some random notes this a.m. — so till Merten decides to get back in gear with his Virtual Coffee, how ’bout a First Smoke of the Day? Like this puff (piece) from New York magazine concerning New York City Opera’s new director, some guy named George Steel … sounds familiar,…
The publishers of D Magazine and the Advocate this morning are extolling the greatness of Michael Lindenberger and The News for making a fraud out of Mayor Tom Leppert. Me? I knew about Leppert’s tall tales 18 months ago and am tickled by the headlines from Wick Allison on FrontBurner…
Schutze is on an East Texas retreat with Dallas administrative judge C. Victor Lander this week, so he won’t mind me posting this T-shirt suggested by Friend of Unfair Park “ericthegardener.” It all started in the comments section of yesterday’s item about the May 5 Trinity Parkway Public Hearing at…
The attorney for Russ Martin’s fiancee – Mandy – says this afternoon that his client was arrested via warrant and handcuffed at work Monday by Dallas County authorities, transfered to Irving and eventually taken by Tarrant County officers to Judge Jamie Cummings’ County Criminal Court #5 for failure to appear in…
The latest non-development in Russ Martin’s assault case in Tarrant County is actually a development. After a couple of time-wasting, docket-management appearances in Fort Worth over the last three months, Martin showed up again this morning and got the word: His trial date is July 27. By that time it will be more than…
On Monday, Ed Bark noted that WFAA-Channel 8 has hired Kristin Mitchell as a co-host on Good Morning Texas — making that show a threesome now, as the former St. Louis anchor joins a set already populated by Gary Cogill and Amy Vanderoef. A Friend of Unfair Park is not…
Time just posted its list of “The Ten Major Newspapers That Will Fold Or Go Digital Next.” And, no, The Dallas Morning News isn’t among them. But the Star-Telegram is. Why?9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram is another one of the big dailies that competes with a larger paper in…
While one Live 105.3 alum bites his tongue and cashes his checks, another is on the verge of a return to Dallas radio – and beyond. Big Dick Richard Hunter’s locally based, nationally syndicated show hits our airwaves in drive time – 4-6 p.m. – on KMNY 1360 AM begininning April…
Jim Moroney, A.H. Belo executive vice president and Dallas Morning News publisher, confirms that the company has laid off employees at The Denton Record Chronicle — how many, though, he does not say. Belo, as reported earlier, expects to lay off 500 employees in coming days, with 75 to 100…
Those of you bombarding me with emails and hints and rumors of former Live 105.3 FM talk-show host Russ Martin resurfacing on satellite radio, cool your engines. Not gonna happen. At least for a while. I was reminded by a radio industry source last night that Martin’s split with CBS Radio included not…
It was strange to pick up The Dallas Morning News today and learn that Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price has impugned the integrity of Dallas Observer columnist Jim Schutze. The commish accuses Schutze of reporting comments made by two public officials — U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson and Dallas…
Though the challengers to its throne increase as its working margin idles, 1310 AM The Ticket remains the undisputed champeen when it comes to Dallas-Fort Worth sports talk radio. Even as Arbitron has made the switch from manual diaries to portable people meters, The Ticket has maintained an edge over long-time rival 103.3 FM ESPN…
You’d think with A.H. Belo’s ongoing fiscal woes that Robert Decherd hisself would make every effort to get The Dallas Morning News to folks who actually want home delivery. Alas, not so much, says Laura Bush in an interview set to air this evening on ABC’s World News with Charles…
Couple weeks back, the chaps behind Bobby Goldstein’s Cheaters announced that former KTVT’er Robert Riggs had hopped into bed with them as executive producer of new programming and development. And I did talk to Riggs that afternoon, though I never got around to posting the follow-up because, well, Uncle Barky…
And neither’s Mike Rhyner, which you already know if you read Richie’s piece last Friday about how “The Hardline” was awful close to moving from KTCK-AM to the recently launched The Fan located at 105.3 on Your FM Dial. Said Rhyner last week, “It was close. Very close. … [But]…
A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention to this Texas Observer item concerning House Concurrent Resolution No. 50, filed Tuesday by three Republican state representatives — Leo Berman of Tyler, Brandon Creighton of Conroe and Bryan Hughes of Marshall — who more or less want to declare Texas a…
These have been busy days over at CBS Radio Dallas: First, it turned chatty Live 105.3 into the sportsy The Fan. Then, mid-song yesterday, all-day dance party Movin’ 107.5 became the puro Español Mega 107.5, described by Kurt Johnson, VP of programming for CBS Radio Dallas, as “Dallas’s first and…
In the wake of A.H. Belo’s recent announcement that it’s laying off yet another 500 employees — no later than March 28 — the question is: How much money did The Dallas Morning News’s parent company make in 2008, the first year it operated as a spin-off of Belo Corp.?…
After months of flirting with 105.3 The Fan and coming this close to leaving the phenomenally successful station he almost single-handedly launched 15 years ago, Mike Rhyner tonight reached an 11th-hour contract agreement with Cumulus Media that will keep him at 1310 AM The Ticket for the foreseeable future. Multiple times…
Maybe I haven’t been paying attention or maybe, truth be told, I just didn’t miss her enough to notice. Whatever, I thought I had a mini-scoop this afternoon when I found out that Fox 4 had severed ties with long-time sports reporter Nita Wiggins. That is, until I read it here…
Still haven’t been served over this December 16 item concerning the surprisingly litigious Hiram Walker Royall, a Highland Park developer, so I will proceed further — but only with the caveat that a mutual friend of ours insists “he’s a great guy.” So, there — covered. Anyway, the details behind…
Last week, Rep. Pete Sessions had to be interrupted by an aide during an interview with the National Journal when he just couldn’t stop putting the words “insurgency,” “Republican Party” and “Taliban” in the same sentences. Which is how Sessions, makin’ the 32nd District proud, wound up as the subject…
