By The Beachwood Public Access Affairs Desk
“Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson expresses his dissatisfaction with AT&T’s treatment of community PEG channels.”
Posted on May 25, 2012
The Chicago Man Who Invented The Remote Control Has Died
‘Greatest Thing Since The Wheel’
“The inventor of the television remote control has died at the age of 96, his former employer has said,” the BBC reports.
“Zenith Electronics said Eugene Polley passed away of natural causes on Sunday at a Chicago hospital.
“His 1955 invention, Flash-Matic, pointed a beam of light at photo cells on each corner of the TV, turning it off and on and changing the channels.”
Posted on May 24, 2012
Broadcasters Sue For Right To Hide Political Ad Data
By Justin Elliott/ ProPublica
The National Association of Broadcasters is asking a federal appeals court to block a rule passed by the Federal Communications Commission last month requiring TV stations to post political ad data on the Internet.
In a petition for review filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., the broadcast industry group argues that the rule is “arbitrary, capricious, in excess of the Commission’s statutory authority inconsistent with the First Amendment, and otherwise not in accordance with law.”
The association represents, among others, the parent companies of NBC, CBS, Fox and the broadcasting arm of the Washington Post.
Posted on May 23, 2012
The Whole World Was Watching
By The Beachwood International Bureau
And this is (some of) what they saw.
1. Al Jazeera (English).
Posted on May 22, 2012
Former Cubs Reporter Jordana Spiro Now Works For The Outfit
By The Beachwood My Boys Affairs Desk
She’s baaaack!
Not that Spiro herself was so much the problem with one of our all-time favorite whipping boys. But a mob doctor?
The early descriptions are not promising – but wait ’til you see the trailer.
“Hour centers on a young female surgeon who juggles her career and her lifelong debt to the South Chicago mob,” Variety reports.
As opposed to the Irish and Nigerian mobs that Jennifer Beals had to contend with on Chicago Code.
Posted on May 15, 2012
Shark Tank Is Holding A Casting Call In Chicago But Does Not Validate Parking
At Least 10 Have Come Before You
“The producers of the ABC reality series Shark Tank are on a nationwide search to discover the next successful (and possibly wealthy) entrepreneurs, inventors, businesspersons, creators and innovators,” ABC says on its Shark Tank website. “In each episode, budding entrepreneurs are given the unprecedented chance to make their business grow immediately.”
Go on.
Posted on May 10, 2012
Circle Jerk
The Difference Between Reality And Actuality
The Wiener’s Circle on TV:
*
The Wiener’s Circle in Reality:
Posted on May 5, 2012
Can You Dodge A Paintball?
MythBusters Exhibit In Chicago!
Can you huff, puff and blow a house in? Does toast always tend to land butter-side down? Does running in the rain get you less wet than walking through it? Can you really make a canoe out of duct tape?
Spend a day as a MythBuster at MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition to uncover the truth behind the myths for yourself. And while you’re at it, watch live demonstrations by our MythBusting facilitators and peruse props and gadgets from the show.
That sounds like fun. And there’s more.
“There are phone booths where visitors can time how long it takes them to change into superhero costumes,” Steve Johnson writes in the Tribune. “Another timer and a couple of ‘building ledges,’ one wide, one skinny, demonstrate just how extraordinary the characters in movies and video games are when they suspend their bodies for many seconds by few digits.”
Posted on April 23, 2012
Tanked In Lemont
By Steve Rhodes
Inbox:
I wanted to quickly reach out on behalf of Animal Planet’s series Tanked to let you know this coming week (April 21st at 9pm e/p) a local tank will be featured in an episode based right out of Lemont!
Go on.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Tanked or if you caught any of last season but season two dunks viewers into the rowdy, family-owned business of Acrylic Tank Manufacturing (ATM), one of the country’s leading and most successful builders of aquariums.
Okay . . .
ATM is led by brothers-in-law, business partners, best friends and rivals, Wayde King and Brett Raymer, and is housed in a state-of-the-art, cavernous facility located in the center of Sin City. ATM literally has created thousands of enormous, jaw-dropping aquarium builds and conceptual tanks for ordinary joes and high-profile clients alike. This season, the guys must wade into the deep end to come up with creative solutions for some of the most outrageous and challenging builds they’ve ever tackled from a mobile school bus tank to a functional pinball machine tank and everything in between.
I’ll bite – no pun intended. Especially given that the pinball machine tank is in the Lemont episode. Let’s take a look.
Posted on April 17, 2012
Mike Wallace Learned To Fake It In Chicago
By Steve Rhodes
“CBS News’ Mike Wallace, who died over the weekend at 93, is being hailed as an icon of broadcast journalism for his foundational role as 60 Minutes’ investigative bulldog,” former Tribune staffer John Cook writes for Gawker. “This is bullshit. He was a failed soap actor and vaudeville hack named Myron who just wanted to be on television.”
For evidence, Cook cites in part Wallace’s time in Chicago as a radio announcer. Indeed, Wallace got his start here – in a variety of roles including actor and shill but not journalist.
Let’s take a look.
Posted on April 10, 2012