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Reds Having Distribution Issues?
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Okay--anecdotal evidence--but something that I feel is either significant or a stupid choice. Every morning my bus takes me to the Jefferson Park Transit Terminal, where I take the Blue Line downtown to my job. Since the Red Eye and Red Streak began publishing, there has usually been someone at the terminal, handing out papers to commuters.
Until two weeks ago, that is.
From November 25th thru last Friday, I couldn't get either paper at Jeff Park. Neither Red had a vending box (gee, the Sun-Times even has TWO right next to each other) and the piles of Reds that used to sit outside the newsstand no longer appeared. Was I able to get a Red at the newsstand? Maybe-but I'd have to actually pay for them. Yeah, right!
So, myself-a 33 year-old commuter to which the Reds are targeted-and thousands of other commuters who arrive daily at the station via one of the 16 CTA bus routes that connect at Jeff Park and get on the Blue Line or the Metra Union Pacific-Northwest Line route for the next leg of their journey have not been sampling either of the Reds for the past couple weeks. When I finally get downtown, I have to grab one of the "commuter papers" from vending boxes on Wacker or Michigan Ave. Of course, by that time my commute has ended.
I was wondering if the Reds had made a conscious decision to stop distribution at one of the CTA's busiest stations. A station so busy that candidates for state and local office routinely hang out there to press the flesh. Before the November elections, I had the opportunity to shake hands with Lisa Madigan, Jim Durkin and a few judge candidates. Rahm Emanuel handed out pastries, which I thought was nice but odd considering the possibility that he'd flipped out and decided to poison people (luckily he didn't). Rod Blagojevich held court at Jeff Park the day after he was elected Governor!
Then, out of the blue there was a Red Eye hawker at the station on Monday, and today there was a Red Eye box (but no one hawking the tabloid). Still no sign of the Red Streak. Maybe they are saving money on the hawkers? Maybe they don't want to pollute the station with a red-colored vending box? Maybe they want me to buy my paper.
Whatever.
Sweeps
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Know how to tell when the rating sweep is over? Tons & tons of reruns.
As I mentioned last issue, the special sweep stories that our five newscasts fed us were, on the whole, lackluster. Check out the updated sweeps stories file for detail.
I'm still amazed that Channel 32, with a newscast that is sadly stagnant, largely avoided doing special stories and instead blew their load with the Real World-esque "Experiment: Gay & Straight". Larry Yellen & Patrick Elwood had a few nice reports, highlighted with an exclusive interview with the guy who, with his son, beat up Tom Gamboa at Comiskey Park.
Channel 9 was the only station with blatant promo-stories for their network. Dina Bair did some very good profiles of teenage rescue workers in a remote Alaska town...though I'm not sure how relevant the story is for a Chicago newscast. Good stories, though. Julian Crews also had some nice stories on stopping Chicago's street gangs.
Channel 7 did a good job, with a nice mix of topics. Chuck Goudie showed us how easy it is to sabotage local chemical plants. Good information to know.
Channel 5, the #1 newscast as far as households, had a good mix of stories with Phil Rogers Stopping Saddam and Renee Ferguson breaking a story about sexual harassment at county jobs. Dr. Deanna Lites, the last of the TV doctors, told us about diet & women's issues. Dave Savini (does he smile?) exposed Fraud & a virus while Mary Ann Ahern pulled some Dr. Phil clips to illustrate how to get along with your family.
Channel 2 kept Pam Zekman busy exposing health care problems, home building issues and city workers who don't work. For the old-school viewers, Jim Tilmon gave us some aviation tips and John Drummond told us how hardened mob figures reside in low-security prisons.
Good, but not great. Actually, the work of two people most impressed me this sweep: Pam Zekman & Walter Jacobson. Both did stories about city workers who just weren't working. Pam went nuts with the hidden camera & followed scumbags who went to elaborate lengths to avoid working while Walter had someone with a camera stake out a worksite where no one did anything. Considering all the really dumb and incompetent people that Gorge Ryan appoints to jobs and the even more dumb and incompetent friends those people must have, I'm thinking it's not gonna be hard to find government workers who aren't doing much. It is my hope that Walter, Pam and all the other I-teams keep the heat on the feet of those overpaid, non-working government employees. The big coup will be when someone exposes an appointee who's not doing anything for his 6-figure salary.
Elections
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
I updated the endorsement breakdown for the November 4th elections.
In the final tally, 79% (120) of the 151 candidates the Tribune endorsed won while 91% (102) of the 112 candidates the Sun-Times endorsed won.
As far as the major state government races, the Sun-Times only whiffed by backing Jim Durkin, while the Trib whiffed with Durkin, Jim Ryan & Carl Hawkinson.
I don't know what it all means, but it looks interesting when it's all laid out.
Mariotti Getting Old
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
There were some interesting revelations in Jay Mariotti's self-indulgent November 27th column about his appearing on ESPN's "Around the Horn". Now, I'm the last person to complain about self-indulgence and I am also very interested to get a peek into Mariotti's cold, decomposing heart.
As usual, Mariotti ended up contradicting himself. Oddly, it was the Sun-Times' own Phil Rosenthal who called him out. Phil wrote in Thursday's "What are you looking at?" column that Jay's "unqualified rave last week for this show...marks a reversal from last year..." Jay's statement made fun of sound effects & gimmicky graphics, which are a staple of "Around the Horn". Then he put down "TV bosses" targeting the 18-34 age group by pointing out that the target audiences aren't buying it. "But, hey, TV thinks shtick sells. Even when it obviously doesn't."
The ESPN web site says of "Around the Horn": "The rapid-fire program will make creative use of boxes containing the columnists from their remote sites, shrinking and shifting the boxes around the screen as applicable. Around the Horn could also evolve into a spirited competition amongst the columnists, with score being kept on the quality of each person's perspective." The topic of conversation ends when a loud buzzer rings and host Max Kellerman has a mute button, which he can use when he sees fit to shut someone up.
I guess shtick sells for Jay after all.
Okay, so Jay plugs the show he's on, pats himself on the back for being the most intelligent there and gives excuses for why the others don't agree with that. With the exception of Bob Ryan, Kellerman has assembled a group of lesser-known columnists from major cities. The 2nd-string feel you get from the writers only serves as a reminder that the show is but a spin-off of the solid "Pardon The Interruption". Saving grace comes in the form of Bob Ryan, who effortlessly outclasses everyone else whenever he appears on the show.
Aside from blatant plugging, the gist of Jay's column is his surprise that he's now getting feedback from young people - under 30 young people. I found this amusing because when Mariotti came to Chicago the Sun-Times obviously positioned his "sports with an attitude" to the younger reader. I guess even Mariotti thinks he's getting old.
Hopefully, Jay will relish his newfound attention because with all things being equal, it won't last. Once you become familiar with Mariotti, you begin to tire of his style, which is to bitch about nearly everything and contradict his own past. I find it hilarious that T.J. Simers of the LA Times picked up very quickly that Mariotti has very little good to say about Chicago sports. It's only a matter of time before everyone picks up on the fact that Mariotti is not at all consistent with his opinions.
Read Jay Merryman every week in the Chicago Red Face!
IN THE CURRENT CHICAGO RED FACE:
- Design for 2003 Chicago vehicle stickers revealed
- Tubby teens take comfy couch to court
- Sotheby's to Auction clues to new Seuss
- Jay Merryman: Hundley Deal Huge Mistake
- New York Times Editorial Board: Tiger Needs to Step Up
- Old man doubles down at Riverboat Casino
- Anime is Hot!
- Winter storm on the way!
Check it out at: www.chicagoredface.com.
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