Chicago - A message from the station manager

Yogi Berra Was A World-Class Shill

From Cat Food To Foot Spray, Never Met A Product He Wouldn’t Hawk

“In 1993, Berra’s sons, Larry, Tim, and Dale, and Tim’s wife Betsy, formed LTD Enterprises,” Carlo DeVito writes in his 2014 Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original.
“According to business reporter Patricia Winters Lauro, their intention was ‘to market their father’s career after they realized that Mr. Berra was inundated with about 100 letters a week, most of them seeking his autograph. As sports memorabilia grew in popularity, the sons decided they were better suited than agents to protect and promote their father’s image. LTD now runs a thriving mail-order business and has a Yogi site on the World Wide Web, complete with a Yogi store, a whole range of memorabilia, and Yogi links to to favorite sports sites.’

“I couldn’t sell widgets, but I can sell Yogi Berra – it’s so easy,” said Dale.

Oh, but it started decades before that – when he was still playing. Let’s take a look.
1987 Miller Lite, With Jason Alexander.

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Posted on September 30, 2015

American Master: United Airlines Pilot Nia Wordlaw, A Black Woman From Chicago

By WNET

Chicago area native Nia Wordlaw is one of 15 women featured in American Masters: The Women’s List premiering nationwide Friday night at 9 p.m. on PBS & locally on WTTW. The film is available same day on DVD via Perfect Day Films Inc. at shoppbs.org and will be available to stream on the American Masters website September 26.
Wordlaw is one of approximately 25 black female pilots flying for a major airline in the U.S. today.
She attended Lindop Elementary School (Broadview, IL), Oak Park and River Forest High School (Oak Park, IL), Lewis University (Romeoville, IL) and is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University, where she did her flight training. She moved to Houston in 2007 and is currently employed by United Airlines.

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Posted on September 25, 2015

Good Riddance, Sábado Gigante

Ridiculous Stereotypes, Crude Humor

“There were songs. There were silly hats. Confetti and El Chacal, even. But the man of the three-plus hours did not cry,” Yvonne Villarreal writes for the Los Angeles Times.
“Mario Kreutzberger, better known under his stage name Don Francisco, closed the decades-long book on Spanish-language mainstay Sábado Gigante with an emotional send-off celebration Saturday night at Univision studios in Miami.
“After 53 years of being a familiar glow – lit up by zany sketches, scantily-clad women, bizarre TV characters such as El Chacal, and Kreutzberger’s raucous stage persona – that had been a fixture inside millions of Latino homes on Saturday nights, Sábado Gigante will beam no more.”

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Posted on September 22, 2015

Andy Kaufman Award Deadline

By The Andy Kaufman Award

Comedic Award Show Set for October 11, Celebrating 40 Years since Andy’s Feature on SNL’s Debut
(New York) – The submission deadline for the 11th annual Andy Kaufman Award is next Tuesday, September 15, 2015. Comedic artists are encouraged to submit their entries online at andykaufmanaward.com.
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The Andy Kaufman Award will take place on Sunday, October 11, 2015 at the UCB East in New York City where the finalists will perform in front of a live audience and a panel of notable judges.
Interested comedians must submit a video of them performing original material. Video submissions must not exceed six minutes in length, and the use of vulgarity is discouraged.

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Posted on September 10, 2015