Billy Mays’ show must go on June 29, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Cut to the Chase.Tags: Billy Mays, Fox29, Infomercials, Obituary
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Not surprisingly, TV pitchman Billy Mays continued to work on new commercials until the day he died. He was in Bensalem last week finishing up some commercials for Media Enterprises, Inc., the company that produces Mighty Putty and Mighty Mendit. (The rocky landing on a plane from Philadelphia en route to Tampa had nothing to do with his death, an autopsy report said.)
The fate of those commercials has been announced.
Many Billy Mays commercials will be pulled until July 6, the day of his funeral. After that, they will air once again, including new ones premiering July 11.
Here are a few videos from FOX 29. The first features an interview with Billy Mays from June 2008. The second is consumer reporter Michelle Buckman’s memories of meeting the infomercial king.
- A June 2008 visit by FOX 29 cameras to a Billy Mays commercial shoot
- Consumer reporter Michelle Buckman’s reflections on her interview with Billy Mays
12-year-old pitches perfect game June 4, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Baseball, Colby Gage, Little League, Perfect Game
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He reached the milestone before Cole Hamels had the chance.
12-year-old Colby Gage, a pitcher for his Little League in Adams, Mass., struck out 18 consecutive batters to secure a perfect game.
While a milestone, this article from News 10 in Massachussetts says Little Leagues don’t generally track such records, but it says the event of pitchers’ striking out all batters could happen “a few times a year.”
Regardless, buy this kid a drink. (Not that I condone underage drinking whatsoever.)
Mendte sues the Inky after house arrest June 4, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Journalism.Tags: Alycia Lane, CBS3, Inquirer, Jill Porter, Larry Mendte, Michael Klein
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Fresh off house arrest, former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte is suing the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Also involved in the suit is Inqy columnists Michael Klein and Jonathan Storm and retired Daily News columnist Jill Porter.
The suit alleges that the three columnists put Mendte in a negative light and prevented him from salvaging his broadcasting career. He says Klein and former co-anchor Alycia Lane formed a close friendship that, in essence, distorted some facts in his reporting. The inaccuracies, the suit says, caused the district attorney to up the charges from misdemeanors to felonies.
Mendte is seeking $50,000 in damages.
Meanwhile, Lane is still in the process of suing Mendte, CBS3 and Daily News gossiper Dan Gross.
Where does your name rank? June 4, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Babies, Social Security
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Check out the Social Security Web site’s database of the most popular baby names by year. Does yours rank in the top 1,000 of the last nine years?
“Christopher” happens to be quite popular, coming in at No. 9 for 2008.
General Motors knows it screwed up June 3, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Bankruptcy, General Motors, GM
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In a new one-minute commercial, General Motors, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, is letting customers know the company hasn’t kept up with changing times.
Acknowledging that eight brands is too many and its cost structure can no longer compete worldwide, GM attempts to ease customers’ (and 60-percent owners’) concerns by saying the only “chapter” the company is focusing on is chapter one.
I find the commercial oddly entertaining. And at the 48-second mark, the Phillies make a cameo in a photo from just after their 2008 World Series win.
CBS3 launches sleeker site June 3, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Journalism.Tags: CBS3, cbs3.com
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An all new cbs3.com. It’s basically the same, but cleaner and whiter. Good? Bad? Indifferent?
The template is the same that all the CBS owned and operated stations use. If you were to go to KCBS in Los Angeles or WCBS in New York City, you’d see a very similar site.
Can’t wake up with Wakeup News June 3, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Journalism, Philadelphia.Tags: CBS3, CW Philly, Natasha Brown
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Following the news of the Philadelphia Bulletin’s folding yesterday, the CW Philly followed it up with the announcement that the station is halting its morning newscast.
The CW Philly Wake Up News, which airs from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., will broadcast its last show on June 26. Eyewitness News This Morning, anchored by Ukee Washington and Liz Keptner, will continue to air its normal time — 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. — but will add two hours, which will air on the CW.
CBS3's Natasha Brown
This means the three-person crew who hosted Wake Up News — anchor Natasha Brown, traffic guy Sean Murphy and meteorologist Christa Quinn — will be somewhat displaced. Brown, who also reports for CBS3, will move to the field for the morning show. Murphy and Quinn will serve as back-ups.
CBS3 began consolidating the CW a few months ago, adding the aforementioned personalities to the CBS3 bios page and making the CW Philly’s Web site a Web page hosted on cbs3.com.
The art of piano dancing June 3, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Big Piano, FAO Schwartz
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Call me sheltered. I’ve never seen Big. And I’ve never heard of the big piano at FAO Schwartz before watching Jeopardy! this week.
So I did my research, and I determined working at FAO Schwartz and playing the giant piano is my new dream job (behind game show host and, well, any entry-level position at this point).
This thing takes skill. I admire the workers’ dexterity.
Night owls: do you know your infomercial slogans? June 1, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Random Rubbish.Tags: Infomercials, Magic Bullet, Mental Floss
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Proud to say I got 12 out of 12.
Take this quiz from mental_floss — how well do you know the slogans of your favorite infomercial items? My grandmother taught me well. I’m the proud owner of the Magic Bullet and the Turbocooker. To reminisce, have a look below.
How well did you do?
Will you pay for philly.com? June 1, 2009
Posted by Chris Stover in Journalism.Tags: Philadelphia Inquirer, philly.com
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Along with its 180th anniversary celebration, the Philadelphia Inquirer made an additional announcement in its paper yesterday.
In an article titled “Print will live in a digital age,” publisher Brian Tierney said users will pay for the Inky’s and Daily News’ Web site, philly.com, by the end of the year.
As subscription service is one thing, but a paid subscription is something I doubt many in the Philadelphia area would buy into (literally).
