Archive for Monday, May, 12, 2008

No End in Sight…

Monday, May, 12, 2008 by Mel Phillips.

Every day someone else adds a new condition to the XM/Sirius merger.  At this point we’ve already seen the mandating of price caps, channels set aside for commercial leasing, a 20% channel capacity set aside for a minority-owned company, HD radio capability, room for competing electronic devices, minority programming and just about everything else.  Which will happen first? - Hillary dropping out or the XM/Sirius merger?   Flip a coin…

If you’re looking for a timeline on the merger, here it is straight from the Wall Street Journal,   First the FCC commish Kevin Martin must circulate a draft order on the merger and circulate it among the other four FCC commissioners.  Then look for another three weeks for the FCC to come to some kind of agreement.  The longer Kevin Martin waits the more the condition requests grow…

Makes you wonder what the Justice Department was thinking when they approved the merger without conditions back on March 24.  I’ll tell you what they were thinking.  They were thinking let’s wash our hands of this mess and make it the FCC’s problem - that’s what they were thinking…

10 Timeline Memories:

  1. 1926]  The 400 Club:   Walter Johnson  of the Washington Senators joins Cy Young  as the only 400-game winners in baseball history with a win over the St. Louis Browns.  No pitcher has even come close to that number since and never will.  Over the weekend Greg Maddux became the 9th pitcher to win 350 games…
  2. 1932]  Lindbergh baby found:  The body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh  is found in a wooded area near Hopewell (NJ)…
  3. 1956]  No-no, not again:  The Dodgers’ Carl Erskine  pitches a no-hitter against the cross-town rival Giants.  The 2-0 shutout is Erskine’s second no-no…
  4. 1959]  Victim #4:  Liz Taylor  takes husband number four, Eddie Fisher.  The two will remain married until March, 1964…1971]  Wedding Bells ring out for Mick Jagger  and Bianca Perez-Mora as the couple rock down the aisle in St. Tropez.  The marriage lasts until 1979…
  5. 1960]  The Odd Couple:  Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley team up on the same TV special and swap hits…
  6. 1970]  Let’s Play Two: Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks becomes the 9th player to hit 500 or more home runs…
  7. 1985]  Knicks win the lottery:   The New York Knicks win the rights to Patrick Ewing in a special drawing, begging the question, was this tainted love for the New York franchise???
  8.  1991]  Teddy tribute:  With Ted Williams  in attendance, Lansdowne Street  is renamed “Ted Williams Way” on the 50th anniversary of his great 1941 season when he was the last .400 hitter in baseball history…
  9. 2001]  ‘Happy Trails’:  Perry Como  passes away in his sleep at this home in Florida after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer’s disease.  Perry, one of the nicest people I ever met, was 87…
  10. 2002]  Busted:  Dionne Warwick  is arrested at Miami International Airport when baggage screeners find 11 marijuana joints inside her lipstick container.  She’s charged with possession of less than 5 grams of the stuff and signs an affidavit promising to appear in court.

Music Memories:

Commentary:

Major League Baseball earned millions of dollars to help in the fight to cure women’s breast cancer with what I consider the best promotion in sports - using pink bats in games.  Some players also wore pink shoelaces, socks and wristbands.  All of sports needs to do more of these worthy promotions.  On the subject of promotions, the worst I can remember was when bases had the “Spiderman” logo on them.  Now that was blatant commercialism at its worst…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday”:

Emilio Estevez (46), Ving Rhames (47), Billy Squier (58), Steve Winwood (60), Billy Swan (66), George Carlin (71), Burt Bacharach (80) and Yogi Berra (83)…

Timeline Countdown:  14 days until Memorial Day and 34 days until Father’s Day…

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