Archive for Friday, November, 14, 2008

There Ain’t No Cure For The Sumner Time Blues…

Friday, November, 14, 2008 by Mel Phillips.

(Weekend Edition)

The clock is ticking on that deadline for the National Amusements $1.6 billion debt payback, half of which is due in mid-December.  The terms of that debt are tied to the value of CBS and Viacom shares which are below where they closed on October 10th when National Amusements disclosed that it would sell shares in both companies to meet debt obligations.  Peter Lauria of the New York Post reports that Wall Street is not sharing Sumner Redstone’s enthusiasm that debt negotiations are going smoothly.  To paraphrase one of our former presidents, it depends on what your definition of ’smoothly’ is…

Redstone offered his latest bit of encouragement after CBS and Viacom shares tumbled sharply Wednesday.  Evidently the street sipped Sumner’s Kool-Aid and CBS shares were up 6%, or 36 cents to $6.43.  Viacom shares jumped more than 7% or $1.12 to $16.26.  Wall Street is still jittery or as one analyst says “If Viacom and CBS shares fall to a certain level, whatever that level is, Redstone gets another margin call.  All that takes is an institutional seller other than National Amusements to drive their stock prices down.” …

There was some good news for CBS Radio yesterday, since CBS took over online radio programming for AOL in June its cume audience has continued to grow from 1.9 million combined listeners in August to 2.3 million in September according to Arbitron ComScore.  That’s number one for online listening.  Yahoo’s cume dipped a bit from 1.2 million in August to 1.1 million in September.  Clear Channel visitor traffic jumped 12% in October with more than 14 million unique visitors for third place.  NPR, Citadel and Entercom were also up…   

10 Timeline Memories:

  1. 1889] Whoa Nellie: New York World reporter Nellie Bly a.k.a. Elizabeth Cochrane begins an attempt to surpass the fictitious journey of Jules Verne’s Phineas Fogg by traveling around the world in less than 80 days. Bly does it in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes in January and records a new song called “Around the World in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes” (11/14)…
  2. 1926] Debuted on this date: The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) debuts with a radio network of 24 stations. The first network broadcast is a 4-hour special featuring live big band music from the Waldorf Astoria (11/15)…
  3. 1957] The streak ends: Dick Lynch scampers around right end for a touchdown, ending Oklahoma’s streak of 47 consecutive wins. Notre Dame beats the #1 ranked Sooners 7-0 in Norman (OK) (11/16)…
  4. 1959] The birth of The Pats: William “Billy” Sullivan Jr. and a group of Boston businessmen is awarded the 8th and final franchise in the American Football League (AFL). The Boston Patriots are born (11/16)…
  5. 1960] “Happy Trails“: Clark Gable dies of a heart attack at 59 (11/16)…1961] House speaker Sam Rayburn is the victim of cancer at 79 (11/16)…
  6. 1967] MVP x 3: The Red Sox’ Carl Yastrzemski wins the AL MVP in the best individual season performance by a player I’ve ever seen - this includes watching Mantle & Maris in New York. Yaz wins the Triple Crown (batting average, home runs & runs batted in) title. No one has done it since (11/15)…
  7. 1972] Wedding Bells: Britain’s Princess Anne marries commoner Capt. Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey (11/14). They divorce in 1992 and the Princess will re-marry…1981] Luke marries Laura on “General Hospital” before a TV audience of 16 million viewers (11/16)…1987] Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet rock down the aisle (11/16). They separate in 1990 and divorce in 1993…1996] Michael Jackson and mother-for-hire Deborah Rowe make it official (11/14)…1998] Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman marry but there’s some debate over who wore the bridal gown (11/14). The marriage ends in 9 days. So what took so long???
  8. 1986] It’s a family affair: The Doubleday Publishing Company agrees to sell the Mets to Nelson Doubleday & Fred Wilpon for $80.7 million (11/14). The publishing company bought the team for a then-record $21.1 million in 1980. Citibank bought the naming rights for Citi Field, which opens in 2009 for $20 million a year for 20 years…
  9. 1993] Guilty as charged: A judge in Mineola (LI) sentences Joey Buttafuocco to 6 months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher who shot and wounded Joey’s wife Mary Jo (11/15)…
  10. 2004] McGrieved: New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey leaves office 3 months after resigning due to a gay extra-marital affair. State Senator Richard Codey takes over as interim Governor (11/15)…

Music Memories:

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“:

(11/14) Josh Duhamel (36), Curt Schilling (42), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (54), Yanni (54), Stephen Bishop (57), Britain’s Prince Charles (60), Buckwheat Zydecoa.k.a. Stanley Dural Jr. (61) and Jimmy Piersall (79)…(11/15) Frida Lyngstad of ABBA (63), Sam Waterston (68), Yaphet Kotto (71), Petula Clark (76), Edward Asner (79) and judge Joseph Wapner (89)…(11/16) Oksana Baiul (31), Maggie Gyllenhaal (31), Lisa Bonet (41), Diana Krall (44), Dwight Gooden (44), Marg Helgenberger (50) and Clu Gulager (80)…

Timeline Countdown: 13 days until Thanksgiving, 37 days until winter, 38 days until Hanukah and 41 shopping days until Christmas…

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