This morning, there’s a piece in The Dallas Morning News concerning some cheating going on at the Dallas Fire Rescue training academy. Specifially, it deals with how Lieutenant James Hunter, an instructor at the academy, helped trainee Desmond Luster prep for the test–by, ya know, giving him the answers. Handwritten…
Want to know what your daily newspaper will look like in the future? You’re looking at it, sort of. It’s your computer screen. Well, duh, you say. Haven’t we known that for at least 10 or 15 years? Yes, we have, smartypants, but Belo Corp.’s earnings report for the second…
Mike Rhyner, left, returns to host “The Hardline” with Greg Williams today. But Greggo all by his lonesome? Not bad, buddy. Not bad at all. Of my experience yesterday co-hosting “The Hardline” on KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) with the mighty Greg Williams, let me say this: Radio is hard. Very,…
UNT journalism professor Jim Mueller’s new book deals with the days when Dubya was an owner of the Texas Rangers–ya ‘member, the good ol’ days. Jim Mueller, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of North Texas, recently found out how you wake up a classroom of 300 sleepy…
Sweet Greggo: This is the man with whom I will be spending five hours this afternoon on The Ticket. I could not be more excited. Seriously. Today might prove a lighter-than-usual day on Unfair Park–gotta prep for my afternoon gig, dig? From 3 to 7 p.m. today, I’ll be riding…
About 30 minutes ago, Rod Dreher posted this item to Dallas Morning Views, the editorial board blog for Dallas’ Only Daily: “Murray: NCLB doesn’t work In today’s Wall Street Journal, Charles Murray writes that No Child Left Behind doesn’t work, and the Texas education statistics President Bush uses to extol…
The Man Who Would Be Guv will be on The Ticket Wednesday. So will I. That’s a lotta Jews for sports talk radio. If you listen to KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket)–and if you don’t, you must, you must–you know that Greg Williams, one half of the 3 p.m. to 7…
We just received a memo sent to Dallas Morning News staffers yesterday regarding the upcoming shake-up in the newsroom. As we noted here last week, the paper’s about to lose some 50-60 employees in the coming days, some likely from GuideLive, not two years after Belo Corp. axed 250 workers…
Ever heard of Hoak Media? No? Me neither. Not till this morning, anyway. It’s a Dallas-based broadcasting company that, according to its Web site, acquires and operates TV and radio stations in “small and medium-sized markets…that rank 75 to 200,” as ranked by the A.C. Nielsen Company. Hoak Media, which…
Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong Jr. says there has been no “definitive” decision made concerning impending layoffs buyouts at Dallas’ Only Daily. Over the last two days, I’ve heard from a number of sources, none of whom are mentioned in this post, that Belo Corp. management has decided to…
Dan Rather will be working for Mark Cuban. Happens to all of us sooner or later. The local paper says details about Dan Rather’s move to Mark Cuban’s HDNet are forthcoming; we say, why wait? No, seriously. Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer has a lengthy story on the subject, including interviews with…
Dan Rather is now working for Mark Cuban, though oddly not as a point guard. Today’s Washington Post breaks the news that Dan Rather will indeed be working for Mark Cuban, specifically his HDNet high-definition network. The 74-year-old former CBS newsman will announce this week to TV critics, during their…
When you read the letters of Herb Stark in The Dallas Morning News, keep in mind the man from Massapequa, New York, isn’t just a fan of the hometown paper. He’s a fan of every newspaper: Says here in today’s New York Newsday that every morning the 76-year-old wakes up…
Yeah! Wee! Whopee! Katie Couric’s coming to town July 11. And you can meet her! WOW! Katie Couric’s coming to town July 11 as part of a six-city exploratory mission, and yer welcome to come meet the former Today show co-host who, on September 5, takes over as anchor of…
I, like Matt Weitz over at The Dallas Morning News, attended the Kathy Griffin show at the Meyerson Symphony Center Monday night. Griffin is known for offering up gay-friendly humor and even dished that while entertaining troops in Iraq, she found one soldier with whom she communicated in “fluent gay.”…
News this week–well, last week, really–that The Dallas Morning News is offering buyouts to some 40 (or 60 or more) of its folks before firing ’em outright has rekindled memories of the October 2004 massacre that left 250 Belo Corp. employees jobless. And it’s raised the specter of the circulation…
The good Friends of Unfair Park over at FrontBurner have been on the news from the News this afternoon that buyouts-layoffs are forthcoming; sorry, but we’ve been seeing Superman Returns, because some of us are film critics in our spare time. But we too have learned that this afternoon, Belo…
OK, maybe not. But the Dallas Mavericks’ billionaire owner Mark Cuban will surely make a big splash when he makes his first appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night. The Mavs might be up 3-0 by then. If so, watch out. It’ll be a newsmaker. –Richie Whitt…
The morning-after round-up won’t be as much fun should the Dallas Mavericks drop a game or four to the Miami Heat; who wants to search thousands of articles detailing your home team’s butt-whooping, when it’s bad enough to read just one? Thankfully, this morning’s newsstand is filled with good news–and…
Says in the Houston Chronicle that Houston-based conservative radio “pundit” and District 7 candidate for the Texas Senate Dan Patrick is coming to Dallas by Labor Day. (No, not the ESPN dude. Or the race-car chick, either.) Patrick’s buying 25,000-watt KMGS-AM (1160), the “Smokin’ Oldies” station based with a Highland…
Unfair Park’s spending today reading, swimming, cooking and, of course, memoraling; we’ll return tomorrow. Till then, accept as a token of our appreciation the above interview with Dallas music legend Trini Lopez. It kicks off our weeklong appreciation of Dallas music, its way-back past and its way-out present (seriously, have…
Apparently, there are two folks in this virtual world you don’t wanna cross: Mark Cuban and Austin American-Statesman columnist (and occasional Observer contributor) Michael Corcoran. On Sunday, the Statesman ran a lengthy profile on the Mavs owner written by film critic Chris Garcia. That very afternoon, Cuban sent Garcia a…
