By Steve Rhodes
“Ask people what they like most about living in the Chicago area, and the answers aren’t much different than what you’d expect from the millions of tourists who flock here each year – cultural activities, the lakefront and restaurants,” the Tribune reports.
And yet, we wasted time, effort and resources doing it anyway!
Tomorrow: What’s your favorite month? Oh wait . . .
Geez, what’s next, reprising the Sun-Times’s hottest fan contest?
Oh wait . . .
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Speaking of sexism, there’s always the Trib’s “Around The Web” feature to glance at on its homepage, which actually just links to stories around the Trib’s web, not the real one. I’ve been watching this for some time waiting for the day when every entry is offensive, just not most of them.
Let’s take a look at what we’ve got today.
* There’s the come hither gals accompanying the link to “Chicago’s Nightlife in Pictures: Take a Peek Inside Chicago’s Top Nightclubs,” which links to Shots in the Dark, described as “a Metromix promotions blog.”
* There’s the come hither gal accompanying the link to “Photos: Chicagoans at the Beach.” Related items there include “Pictures: Sexy Celebrities at the Beach” and “Pictures: Hottest Sports Wives and Girlfriends.”
* There’s the two gals accompanying the link to “Photos: Wicker Park Fest 2010,” where you can find a photo and three links to “Photos: Beachcombers,” where we started.
That’s actually not bad compared to many days – like the day that included “50 Hottest Female Athletes: See Danica Patrick, Misty-May Treanor and more who made the list” and “Loop Rock Girl Finalists: See the 32 finalists for the $75,000 WLUP Loop Rock Girl contest.”
And right now on WGNTV.com you can find homepage photos and links to:
* “Comic Con Hotties”
* “Hot Sports Wives & Girlfriends”
* “Sexy Celebs at the Beach”
* “Pictures: Women’s Beach Volleyball”
* “Pictures: Extreme Yoga Positions”
I guess the tone is set at the top.
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It appears the cached version of “Trib CEO Has A Shocking Past” that I link to in the piece above has now also been disappeared. That’s okay. This will get it back onto Google:
Tribune’s New CEO Has a Shocking Past
Zell steps aside for old friend
By STEVE RHODES
Updated 12:54 PM CST, Thu, Dec 3, 2009
Sam Zell is leaving control of Tribune Company in the hands of a former shock jock who used to tell jokes about gay people on the air and reportedly roamed the offices of a past employer with a rubber penis tied around his neck.
That would be Randy Michaels, Zell’s chief lieutenant at Tribune and now the once-staid media institution’s CEO, a post Zell abdicated on Wednesday. Zell will remain chairman of the company to provide, you know, a strategic vision until Tribune gets out of bankruptcy. Then Zell will probably be gone.
Michaels, however, reportedly wants to stay. What a nice gift that would be for Zell to leave behind.
Michaels is known for, among other things, believing he is the first to measure reporters’ productivity by the number of words they produce and actually believing that is a legitimate way to measure a reporter’s productivity. That and a lawsuit that once alleged – among other things – that he roamed his old Clear Channel offices with a “flexible rubber penis” tied around his neck as well as a host of other crude rituals. The suit was settled.
As an executive with Clear Channel, Michaels was “an effective but tasteless programmer,” according to Salon.
“Behind the mike he made a name for himself back in the ’70s and ’80s farting on the air, cracking jokes about gays and tantalizing listeners with descriptions of ‘incredibly horny, wet and ready’ naked in-studio guests,” the Salon account reports.
Michaels is “well regarded by the creditors who are expected to control Tribune when it emerges from bankruptcy protection next year,” the New York Times reports.
Michaels, whose real name is Benjamin Homel, was once described as the AntiChrist of radio. He told Radio Ink magazine that “We’d all prefer to be liked, so of course it bothers me. I think I personify uncomfortable change in our business for a lot of people.”
Or at least a certain kind of change.
Don’t Blame Edwin
“As a Democrat, I get to go to bed every day and know who’s not to blame,” Blago’s 2006 primary challenger tells me.
Relevant Excerpts: Helen Shiller
“With the announcement this week that Ald. Helen Shiller would not run for re-election, I headed for my Chicago bookshelf. Here’s what I found – interspersed with comments from her interview with Carol Marin on Chicago Tonight last night.”
Black Ghost
“I think my dad wanted me to be Sears Tower. I think my mom just wants me to be happy.” In Chicagoetry.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Cached.
Posted on August 3, 2010