The hardreading staff has long been baffled by BostonHerald.com, which is to news websites what the Edsel was to automobiles.
Exhibit Umpteen: The Herald’s online Year in Pictures, which features up to one photo:
We’re looking forward to Monday’s print edition – Still Only $1! – for the full picture(s).
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Boston Herald columnist/WRKO squawker Howie Carr is experiencing an extreme bout of Howenfreude over the demise of FM talk station WTKK. (Full disclosure: The hardreading staff did a weekly segment on the Jim & Margery show.)
Today’s triumphant nyah-nyah from Carr:
Talk radio’s not dead, just moonbats’ radio
WTKK wouldn’t be turning off the lights next week if I could have just gotten over there back in 2007. No brag, just fact. And by the way, I’m still damn sorry I didn’t make good my escape from the AM band.
But here in Massachusetts, in the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls. And you wonder why I dismember so many state judges. Payback is a bitch, you hacks.
Still, WTKK’s failure is not the end of talk radio in Boston. Nature abhors a vacuum, and having no talk station on FM is a gaping hole. Less than 20 percent of the radio audience ever listens to AM radio — and it’s a mighty old audience, too. They don’t call it “Ancient Modulation” for nothing.
In his gleeful victory dance, however, Carr gets his feet all tangled up.
Harry Truman used to say, “If you give people a choice between a Republican and a Republican, they’ll vote for the Republican every time.”
Here’s WTKK’s epitaph: “If you give listeners a choice between NPR and NPR, they’ll pick NPR every time.”
Sorry, Jim and Margery, nobody was giving up “All Things Considered” for you guys.
First of all, what Harry Truman actually said was this: “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time.” That makes sense, as opposed to Carr’s mushbrained quote.
Second, Jim and Margery are up against “Morning Edition,” not “All Things Considered.”
Not to get technical about it.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, the Namesniks have a slightly kinder – and slightly more optimistic – take.
WTKK to abandon talk radio for music
For an all-talk station, the folks at WTKK aren’t saying much. But we’re told the rumors are true: News Talk 96.9 FM is ditching its lineup of loudmouths in favor of music. The format change, which will take place right after the new year, means no more Michael Graham, who was sent packing last Friday, or midday host Doug Meehan, who actually left Boston a few weeks ago, or Rick Shaffer, cohost of the weekend “Money Show.” We’re told Jim Braude and Margery Eagan will be on the air as usual Wednesday morning, but that will be their last day at WTKK. Fans of “Jim and Margery” will be happy to learn, however, that they’re very likely to show up elsewhere on your radio dial sometime soon. No word on what sort of music 96.9 will be playing, but let’s hope it’s more soothing than Graham’s rants.
Or Howie Carr’s, for that matter.
10 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 96.9, All Things Considered, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Harry Truman, Howie Carr, Jim & Margery, Jim Braude, Margery Eagan, Namesniks, NPR, WTKK | Permalink
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First today’s Boston Herald tells us this:
Mr. Ed draws yawn in Senate horse race
Seriously, is this the best the Democrats can come up with? Ed Markey?
This is a guy who has been in Congress for 36 years — the ultimate Washington insider.
A guy who didn’t even own a home in his own district for the first 20 years of his career.
This is a career politician who has never had a serious re-election challenge in decades.
And etc.
Then the feisty local tabloid tells us this:
Republicans cheer ‘tired’ Ed Markey’s entry into election
U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey became the first Bay State congressman to jump into the U.S. Senate special election yesterday, with an announcement that gleeful Republicans called a late Christmas gift for Republican Scott Brown.
“This is a huge positive for Scott Brown,” said GOP consultant Rob Gray, noting that Markey, in Congress for 36 years, is seen as a consummate insider. “This looks like the first in a series of non-bigfoot candidates that Democrats are putting forward.”
Or the last. To all appearances the Democratic establishment is trying to pull the ladder up behind Markey.
Here’s the Herald web piece:
Kerry, Vicki endorse Markey in Senate race
U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Victoria Reggie Kennedy are giving their hearty backing to Congressman Ed Markey, who yesterday became the first Democrat to throw his hat in the ring in the race for Kerry’s seat — an indication of the eagerness of Bay State Dems to anoint a candidate swiftly and painlessly before what is expected to be a bruising battle with likely GOP nominee Scott Brow [sic].
Which still leaves this question for the Herald: Endorsements aside, is Markey drawing yawns or cheers?
Not that it really matters.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Ed Markey, John Kerry, Rob Gray, Scott Brown, U.S. Senate, Victoria Reggie Kennedy | Permalink
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Sad to say, the Boston Herald’s gala two-part series on the Boston Police K-9 Unit ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. What earned Page One treatment yesterday (plus a 17-paragraph, tw0-video report) is shuffled off to page 11 today, and doesn’t appear anywhere on the Herald’s homepage or News & Opinion page.
(If you plug the reporter’s name – Robert Greim – into the search box, you still don’t get the story. We tried to plug “Crime Biters,” the name of the two-part series, into the search engine but that was a bust too.)
Finally! Got the piece via the Googletron:
Partners on job, at home they’re family
When the criminals are cuffed and the workday is done, the police officers and dogs in Boston’s K-9 unit don’t part ways — they head home together.
The K-9 crime biters and their human handlers who make up the Boston Police Special Operations K-9 Division work and live together 24/7, fostering a special bond that lasts even after the dogs retire.
“They really do become part of the family,” said Officer Joseph Fisher, a handler in the K-9 unit.
It goes on from there for eight more heartwarming paragraphs, some of which feature multiple sentences. There’s also a “K-9 Dogs at Home” video, which might sound redundant but probably doesn’t look that way.
All in all, a disappointing end to a series that started with so much promise.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Boston Police, Crime Biters, K-9 Unit | Permalink
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The Boston Herald, God love it, is always scrapping to retain its foothold in the local news media, which leads to enterprising front pages like Wednesday’s (via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages):
Part One of the series focuses on the K-9 Unit’s preparation for drug- and bomb-sniffing duty.
K-9 squad keeps Hub’s streets clean
Barking up the right tree
Before the giant LNG tankers are allowed into the city, Boston’s crack bomb-sniffing K-9 squad sweeps the gargantuan ships seven miles out at sea.
If a bullet, spent magazine or gun must be found, these crime biters are called.
The U.S. Postal Service, DEA, ATF and area schools all have Boston Police Special Operations K-9 Division on speed dial.
“It’s just amazing what these dogs can do,” said Sgt. Frank Flynn, commander of the K-9 unit. “They won’t quit until we tell them to stop.”
Just like the Herald, yeah?
As the feisty local tabloid is wont to do these days, it also features videos of the dog-training on its website.
Given all that, would it be unfair of the hardreading staff to point out that Part One of the series is all of 17 paragraphs long? That compared to, say, the Boston Globe’s 68 Blocks series, this is sort of Nerf journalism?
Yes, it would be unfair.
The Herald newsroom has fewer than a dozen general-assignment reporters, with stripped-down crews across the board. In some ways, it’s a miracle they get a paper out every day.
So, in the holiday spirit, let’s all appreciate the Herald for what it brings to the table every day, shall we?
Doggone it.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 68 Blocks, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Police, K-9 Squad | Permalink
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From our While We Were Out desk
While the hardreading staff was down the Big Town, the Boston Herald gave WGHB a real thrashing last Friday, featuring this Jessica Heslam column on Page Two:
High-living WGBH owes $300G
Public TV behemoth WGBH has to pony up more than $300,000 as part of a federal civil settlement for what authorities said yesterday was shoddy record keeping of federal grant money.
Under a deal struck with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, WGBH must fork over the money for failing to “properly track and account for” federal grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, according to an announcement yesterday by Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
In 2011, a Herald review found that more than a dozen WGBH execs at the taxpayer-subsidized flagship station were making more than $200,000 a year while working in an $85 million multimedia headquarters dubbed the “Taj Mahal.”
“This settlement underscores that recipients of federal grant money must be scrupulous in their accounting for how those funds are spent, and in making accurate reports to federal grantors,” Ortiz said.
At issue: WGBH’s “inadequate accounting system” for the over $60 million in federal grants the station received from 2003 to 2010.
A Herald website news report on the fine included this comment from Doug708:
The left wing screaming liberal media will make sure this story gets buried. The only place anyone will see this story is the Herald.
If by “left wing screaming liberal media” Doug708 means the Boston Globe, he’s right. The hardsearching staff got this result for “WGBH federal fine” from the Globe’s website as of Monday at 1:27 AM:
Meanwhile, a Googletron search of WGBH federal fine produced this:
Take a bow, Doug708.
You too, Jessica H.
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Carmen Ortiz, federal fine, Googletron, Jessica Heslam, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney, WGBH | Permalink
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When a local labor union decides to take a workplace dispute public in a newspaper ad campaign, the knee-jerk locale would be the Boston Herald, champion of all things blue-collar.
Not so in the case of the SEIU’s current crusade against HealthBridge that surfaced in a Tuesday Boston Globe ad:
A HealthBridgeWatch video:
This isn’t the first healthcare organization the SEIU has targeted. The union also has a longtime beef with BIDMC, as the hardworking staff at Campaign Outsider has previously noted.
So far, the SEIU hasn’t made a dent in HealthBridge’s image. We’ll see if the Globe ad helps.
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Interesting split decision in today’s Boston Globe sports pages over Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, which is currently underway.
Commissioner Emeritus Bob Ryan makes his position clear from the get-go.
I’m not voting for Bonds, Clemens, or Sosa
I am in possession of the toxic ballot.
It is the Hall of Fame ballot voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) have dreaded for the last five years. Our feet are finally being held to the bonfire. How will we as a body judge the candidacy of the all-time home run leader, the only man to win seven Cy Young Awards, and a man with 609 career home runs who is the only person to homer 60 times or more in three seasons?
Absent, shall we say, a complicating factor, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa would be ultra-mortal locks. Based on the numbers, there wouldn’t be the slightest hesitation in checking the box next to their names.
But what sports fan doesn’t know there is a complicating factor?
The rest of the piece has Ryan wrestling with/explaining his choices. The final score:
Summing it up: Yes to [Jeff] Bagwell, [Craig] Biggio, [Edgar] Martinez, [Jack] Morris, [Mike] Piazza, [Tim] Raines, and [Curt] Schilling. Sorry to anyone else not named Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire , and Palmeiro.
By contrast, Globe baseball scribe Nick Cafardo skipped the Hamlet stuff and just included this in his Sunday Baseball Notes column:
Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Alan Trammell, Tim Raines, and Jack Morris were all checked on my Hall of Fame ballot.
Reasoning, we hope, to come.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, meanwhile, no mention whatsoever of the Hall. It’s not like there are no BBWAA voting members at the feisty local tabloid – Steve Buckley, Jeff Horrigan, and Michael Silverman are listed on Wikipedia‘s BBWAA roster.
We’ll let you know if they let us know.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Barry Bonds, Baseball Writers Association of America, BBWAA, Bob Ryan, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hall of Fame, Nick Cafardo, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa | Permalink
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It’s no secret that the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald inhabit entirely different political landscapes here in the Bay State.
Exhibit Umpteen: Their respective takes on who might succeed Sen. John Kerry (D-Reporting for Due-ty) if he gets what is widely regarded as a well-deserved nod for Secretary of State.
From Saturday’s Boston Globe piece by Glen Johnson:
A number of US House members, including Representatives Edward J. Markey and Michael Capuano, are also possible Democratic candidates in a special election.
From Friday’s much more expansive Boston Herald column by Howie Carr:
That’s what you now see when you try to access the Herald website. Except none of the links – Full Site, Basic Mobile Site, Get App – actually link (at least not at 1:39 Saturday morning).
Luckily, the hardtyping staff is one of the Herald’s up to 17 home delivery subscribers, so we can tell you that this is what Carr wrote:
Let’s go down the congressional list. Ed Markey’s wanted this seat since 1984, but he could never risk his safe seat, lest he lose and starve to death. One of his only jobs in the Dreaded Private Sector was driving an ice cream truck. Now Mr. Frosty will have a free shot.
Ditto, Mike Capuano. He’s morphed from an unrepentant Somerville hack into a twitchy, MoveOn mouthbreather. Remember his exhortations to his union thugs on the Common about spilling a little blood?
The hardguessing staff anticipates more than a little blood in what looks like an inevitable Senate bakeoff.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Ed Markey, Glen Johnson, Howie Carr, John Kerry, Mike Capuano, Secretary of State | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 