A great radio station is dead, a victim of the ever-changing world of major media. WCBS Newsradio 880, a fixture in New York City for nearly six decades, has said farewell to its loyal listeners, me included. The shutdown on August 26, 2024, of the iconic all-news station marks the end of an era in local news broadcasting.
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Donald Trump is now the first president to be tried and convicted of a crime, a Manhattan jury finding him guilty of falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star. It is the third time a jury of his peers has found him guilty, the previous two cases involving civil lawsuits for sexual abuse and defamation.
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On Monday New York Judge Juan Merchan scheduled a trial beginning April 15 of Donald Trump on charges he falsified business records to cover up making a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The payment was allegedly made during the 2016 presidential campaign to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly about her claims of having an affair with him. It will be the first-ever criminal trial of a fomer U.S. president.
Tuesday morning Trump took to his Truth Social online account to attack not only Judge Merchan but also Merchan’s daughter. Tuesday afternoon Merchan issued a gag order restricting Trump’s future posts about the trial.
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If you are a journalist, at the end of the day, that’s what you have standing behind you. You either have credibility, or you don’t. And in the 21st century, it is often a debatable subject. The debate has turned into an insurrection at NBC, following the announcement that the company has hired Ronna McDaniel, the former chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), as a political news contributor.
NBC News senior vp politics Carrie Budoff Brown wrote her staff, “I’m pleased to announce Ronna McDaniel is joining us as an NBC News political analyst. She will contribute her expert insight and analysis on American politics and the 2024 election across all NBC News platforms.”
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I heard him long before I met him. I remember sitting in the cafeteria CBS had set up in the basement of New York’s Madison Square Garden to feed the hundreds of staff members it had brought to the 1976 Democratic National Convention. Believe it or not, in those days the political conventions meant something and, in part because of legal requirements, they were extensively covered by broadcasters.
Just two years out of journalism school, I had been sent by my employer, WBBM-TV, the CBS owned station in my hometown Chicago, to manage our coverage. Along with me was a terrific video crew and a wonderful reporter who needed no supervision and little assistance, and an anchorman who definitely needed both. Those are stories for another day. Today, I just want to talk about the voice.
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His mother always liked his brother best. That was his go-to line. Tommy Smothers (left above) was an American comedian, actor, composer, and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. He was born in 1937, in New York City, and passed away on December 26, 2023, at the age of eighty-six in Santa Rosa, California.
When I look back over my blogs, I see that the few obituaries I write are always about people who have had a significant impact on me. Smothers is one of those people. When I think of Tom I think of the Sixties. This was my coming-of-age decade, and one that stands out as a turning point in American history.
Read moreLet me give you a piece of advice. If someone asks you if calling for the genocide of the Jewish people violates the standards of your organization, the answer is “Yes!” Do not equivocate. Do not hesitate. Do not turn to your lawyer and ask for a legal brief balancing the right of free expression against the fighting words involved in a call for the violent elimination of a race of people. Just say, “Yes!”
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