Genius Playlist Unleashed

So, I decided to play some tunes off my iPod Touch (my old iPhone - hence the "No Service" on the screen).

I decided to do a genius playlist based off of CCR's Proud Mary. You would think I would get mainly classic rock and oldies songs in that playlist. I did end up with some of that, but there were a lot of weird choices, too.

(Almost) Dog-Bitten DVD

Streaming/hard drive-based movies and TV shows will eventually replace Blu-Ray and DVD.

But, half of the fun in our house is watching our dog, Asta (named for a movie character*), try and bite the DVD drawer as we open and close it over and over. (Sometimes, it outshines the movie).

Then again, if he ever succeeds and bites off the drawer -- we might be streaming movies faster than we expected.

* Asta was the dog in The Thin Man movies back in the 1930s.

The Media Failed Us In The Qur'an Burning Story

A fringe church of about 50 people has driven the nation into a frenzy about Qur'an-burning, filling the airwaves and web and soliciting a comment from the sitting president.
Think about that for a second.
50 people.
They don't even have a website anymore because of 'contractual issues with the hosting company.' (read: didn't pay their bill)
Seriously?

NOW, BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER.
These people are crazy. This is NOT a Christian thing to do. They are wrong! Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

They WIN because we talk, talk, talk about them.
Just like the Westboro Baptist Church crazies to my west in Topeka, Kansas (who say they've already done the burning before.) These people would shrink into the background without exposure. They may not completely go away, but there's also a church dedicated to worshipping Jedis.

But, instead of actual reporting on the many issues of the day, everyone is riled up with soundbites from people who talk without having anything to say.

50 people.

(NOTE: I work for a media outlet that avoided the story until this week, when the firestorm grew ludicrous, when we made mention of the story and sane Christian leaders' reactions to it. MY VIEWS ARE MY OWN).

TWOG (too long for a tweet; too short for a blog) Grocery Weirdness

1. I had to leap up and get some rice from the back of the top shelf. That's not very easy for a short, fat guy like me. On the second try, I snagged the Uncle Ben's box. I joked that I pulled a muscle. Or was I joking?
2. Some guy was pushing a grocery cart with the race car in front (you know the kind that kids ride in). Only weird thing, there wasn't a kid present. Maybe he lost a bet??
Carry on.

February Mailbag: Blink or You'll Miss It

Are you that bored that you want to ask me a question? Ask it at http://formspring.me/joelontheradio or e-mail me at joel-AT-joelontheradio.com (replace AT with @)

Do you play any instruments?

I have played instruments in the past. Pretty mediocre at best. I played piano and trombone growing up.

How's "sunny" California treating you this week? Encounter any mudslides?

We saw the sun briefly a couple of times (including once while I flew away). No mudslides, just a lot of rain. They tell me this is the rainy season for Northern California.

Delete Your Response

The Tech Disconnect

I think sometimes there is a disconnect between the tech community and the real world. Google is finding that out with their Google Buzz product. Facebook has had issues with their privacy changes in the past.
Do these groups (and others that make up Web 3.0 or 3.0.9 or whatever) really make an effort to find out how the average user consumes their content and/or uses their product? I don't know.
With that said, the outrage over Facebook's new homepage changes in my "social circle" was ridiculous. At any little change, everyone throws up their hands because the change zaps the power out of their mouse to look for things (like, how to logout). They moan, complain and join groups that moan and complain. They shake their fists at Facebook and vow to quit. But, they don't. Why?
Where are they going? MySpace?
That would be a no.
Tech companies need to do a better job dealing with real users. Users need to do a better job learning the technology instead of saying "I'm not really that good with computers." Sorry, it's not 1995. The world is changing.
Let's meet halfway.

Half-Court Mania in Olathe

First, a high school coach at Olathe Northwest High School hit a half-court shot while blindfolded.

OK, pretty good. What about a Fox 4 TV reporter covering the story?

Um yeah, he hits it too. Then he interviews the teacher (a former KU basketball player) and the teacher hits the shot again.

I wonder what the ONW Ravens' half-court shooting percentage is this year? Do they keep that stat? Of course, someone does.

To be honest, I think the reporter had a harder shot. Even with the spinning around, the teacher knew he was facing a goal and set himself to reorient his body to the basket. The reporter threw the ball over his head, not knowing where he was in relation to the goal.

The real prank would have been to spin the teach around and stop where he was facing the crowd instead of the goal. Of course, that might not have ended well.

Of course, I'm not sure all of this warrants a whole blog post. . . Oh well.

The Technical Foul Heard 'Round The World

As you might imagine, Michigan high school basketball isn't something I follow, but I had to blog about it after reading two accounts of this game and watching the final seconds on video.

When the clock hits 0:00, and one team has more points on the scoreboard than another, the game is decided, right?
That's not necessarily the case, as the Macomb (Mich.) Dakota Cougars found out last Friday (Jan. 8). What happens after the buzzer sounds can be as important as the shots taken before it blows.

***

Dakota's Mark Morris capped off a comeback over rival Romeo (Mich.) by nailing a 3-pointer from as time expired to give the Cougars a 63-62 win.
What happened next will be debated forever.
Rick Desotell in the Romeo Observer (FULL STORY), gave this account.

Reports vary, but the jist of the story is after Morris hit his shot he immediately started sprinting in the direction of the Romeo bench. Fellow players and fans followed and eventually wound up being a little too close and even on the Bulldogs bench. Words were exchanged and somebody got physical because the officials called a technical foul for excessive celebration on someone from Dakota, giving the Bulldogs two freethrows.

The story in the Macomb Daily was very different (FULL STORY), making no mention of any physical altercations.

"The buzzer went off as the ball went through the hoop," Cougars coach Bill Snyder said. "There was clearly no time left on the clock."

Morris made the shot into the basket in front of the Dakota bench.

At the other end of the court, Cougars players, coaches and fans flooded the floor in celebration, believing, Snyder said, the game was over.

Snyder said he stayed on the court to help restore order; in the meantime, Dakota's players went to their dressing room.

Where The Macomb Daily received their information is a little suspect. The article in that paper did not have a byline, so it's possible a reporter did not attend the game.

The Macomb article went on to quote Snyder theorizing that the"technical was improper" because time had expired.

Not so says the Detroit News' Tom Markowski: (FULL STORY)

According to Michigan High School Athletic Association rules, officials can call a foul, in this case a technical foul, as long as they have not left the court.

I couldn't find the rules online (most likely because they want you to buy a National High School Associations rule book).
When asked by Markowski about his possible protest to the state association (which was reported in Macomb Daily article), Snyder back-tracked.

"I turned it over to our athletic department," Snyder said. "We played last night (Tuesday) and we're preparing for our next game. Right now it's the furthest thing from my mind."

So, what does the video show? Yes, there is video. Local cable station WBRW televised the game and posted the video online (LINK)

The final play starts at 84:35 on the tape. The Cougars run the length of the floor and Morris hits the game winning shot (at 84:49). The Dakota squad runs down the floor (led by Morris) towards the Romeo bench. At 84:57 you see Dakota's number 23 shove a Romeo player (the Dakota roster on the web site is from last year, so I can't identify the player). The squad and fans congregate inches from the Romeo bench to celebrate. The officials try and move the team away. At 85:11, you can see the two coaches argue. At 85:17, Dakota's number 25 shoves a player.

What happened with the technical shots? The Romeo shooter made 1-of-2 to tie the ballgame. In overtime, Romeo dominated Dakota, winning the game 77-71.

Clearly, the video shows "technical-worthy" offenses from the visiting Dakota team. In accordance to the rules, the game isn't over until the officials leave the floor. That means the officials made the right call and maybe we can all learn a lesson in winning the right way.

***

LEFTOVERS: 1. It is clear that the Macomb Daily needs to do some better reporting. They didn't appear to be at the game (there was no byline) and only talked to the Dakota coach and a Romeo assistant. They didn't seem to get a clear picture of what happened. Much of the article was devoted to giving the Dakota coach a platform to argue his flawed case.
2. The Romeo Observer account gave a better picture, but added a little opinion too. The writer did not give a source or background on the rule.
3. It is admirable what WBRW does in televising Romeo athletics on cable. However, the broadcast team really takes the spotlight off the students when they continue to talk about the officiating. The amount of time that they analyzed the officials bordered on ludicrous.

January Mailbag: I Get Letters (The Electronic Kind)

Are you that bored that you want to ask me a question? Ask it at http://formspring.me/joelontheradio or e-mail me at joel-AT-joelontheradio.com (replace AT with @)

Did the dust bowl/Black Sunday of the '30s affect your part of Kansas (KC)?

I dunno. I wasn't around for the Dust Bowl. I would assume it affected south central Kansas (much more flat like Oklahoma) more than the KC metro. Although, KC was a cow town back then and I'm sure cattle trade in KC was affected. This is all off the top of my head. You better fact-check my answers.

Who invented the Christmas tree?

According to Christian lore, the Christmas tree is associated with St Boniface and the German town of Geismar. Sometime in St Boniface's lifetime (c. 672-754) he cut down the tree of Thor in order to disprove the legitimacy of the Norse gods to the local German tribe. St. Boniface saw a fir tree growing in the roots of the old oak. Taking this as a sign of the Christian faith, he said "...let Christ be at the center of your households..." using the fir tree as a symbol of Christianity.
Ya' know, you can look this stuff on Wikipedia.

What is the difference between a hotel and a motel?

Sorry, I'm not gonna type that out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel

Is that Pinto still available?

No, my dad sold it . . . in 1982.

Why does the refrigerator door close itself, but the freezer door stays open?

The auto-close mechanism in the freezer . . . froze.

What do people in China call their good plates?

Oklahoma plates

Why is an alarm clock going "off" when it is actually "on" and ringing loudly?

Because you're about ready to knock the alarm clock "off" the nightstand.

Is the hokey pokey what it is REALLY all about?

It used to be what it's all about about. How else would you know the lyrics of a song that's nearly 70 years old.

Why?

Why not?

why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Historically, the term "parkway" has often implied that the road was designed specifically with a naturalistic or manicured landscaping of the median and adjacent land areas meant to suggest a pastoral driving experience, isolated from the manifestations of commerce and advertising, even when the road passes through populated areas; for this reason commercial traffic is excluded. (Thanks Wikipedia)

My guess on driveway is that housing in a more rural society usually came with a long road that they maybe called a driveway. You came up or down the drive to the house, but I'm totally making that up.

Have you ever thought of going back to sports writing on the net as a side gig. Kind of as a paying hobby? Nothing wrong with a little extra dosh, eh? :-)

Oh sure. I actually worked in sports radio doing production and hosting a high school football scoreboard show for 5-6 years. Then, I did basketball play-by-play for a year. Print media is suffering (probably more) than radio is suffering. Business models are changing and free-lance gigs aren't as plentiful as they were when I got my first newspaper job. But, I still dabble in sports and journalism in general a little bit.

Best advice someone gave you?

It came from one of my college professors at the University of Central Oklahoma. It was advice he gave to all of us about pagination (newspaper page layout), but it makes sense in the way I approached my production, my shows, etc.
I am paraphrasing here: Know the rules and follow them, but know when to break the rules. When you break them, you better be able to explain why you did it - why it had to be this way.

If you could go only to one restaurant for the next five years, which would it be?

My wife would probably say that I would say Chili's, but I'm not so sure. Something that had a lot of variety. Can you imagine, 5 years? Maybe Chili's/Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. Can they make a combo place?

How come you left kcradio.com? I missed the announcement.

I am leaving kcradio.com to go work for another broadcast group. I'll still be based in Kansas City, but this group is national. It's a different kind of job (not a DJ job), but I am excited. At the same time, I will miss the kcradio.com listeners, but I know that kcradio.com has a bright future.

Why did you decide to go into radio?

What a sad story that is! LOL My uncle works in radio and my first visit was to a little station he worked at in southern Oklahoma, KSEO in Durant (which is still there BTW). As a kid, I was always "playing radio" with friends (my Hot 101 station on Dena Lane was the bomb!) Playing radio, recording radio, getting up at midnight to hit record because a station was changing formats, I was that kid. My parents didn't really like my career choice too much at first because of the instability in radio. I went to college and majored in newspaper journalism, worked as a sportswriter for the daily paper in Oklahoma City and quite honestly enjoyed it. But, I won a Seven Day Jesus CD from the Christian Top-40/Rock station I grew up with in OKC. I asked the DJ (who later was in my wedding) how to become a volunteer DJ. Two months later, I was the Sunday afternoon DJ. The rest is history.

Do you regret telling people to call the comment line at kcradio as often as they want?

Not at all, it was pure entertainment. I was thinking about dropping cable because of it.

What has kept you in the radio business in spite of the lack of job security?

It's kind of like riding a roller coaster and yes, I have thought about getting off the ride. However, I still get excited about the biz, but more importantly where media will be in the future (not in a traditional sense). I think job security will change in a bunch of areas (not just radio) in the future.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

sorta both

If you were stranded on a desert island, which one person would you bring with you?

My wife

The Forgotten Back Patio

We haven't been lounging on the back patio that much lately. Here's why.