Uncategorized

Jackie’s Birthday

Well, Jackie’s birthday was last week.  She turned five.  She raked in the presents, just like Maggie did last month.  But, being older, she got one big present from her Mom and Dad:  a shiny, brand-new bicycle — with training wheels.  It’s a pink and purple Schwinn, and she loves it.
 
When I got my first bike, I wanted training wheels, and my dad informed me that training wheels are for girls.  He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t get into a pool by slowing wading in the shallow end, but jumping in the deep end.  Thus, no tolerance for training wheels.  The same thing happened to me when I was 19 and I bought my first car — a stick shift.  My experience with a stick shift was limited to a couple times my uncle let me practice on his Honda Accord.  I needed a cheap car, and a stick shift helped put the car in my price range.  But, silly me, I thought my dad would drive it home and I could practice driving in a parking lot that afternoon before taking it out on the road solo.  Nope.  I had to drive it off the lot at Jim McComb Chevrolet by myself.  For those of you who don’t know, that particular dealership is at one of the busiest intersections in Peoria — War Memorial Drive and University Street.  Somehow I survived.  I think I probably have more confidence as a result of these experiences. 
 
But, Jackie gets training wheels.  I hope that doesn’t stunt her growth.  She still figured out how to tip over the bike and fall off regardless.

City of Peoria

VOP

1 Comment
I took the family to Vonachen’s Old Place (VOP) last night for dinner, and let me tell you — the employees are b-i-t-t-e-r!  And who can blame them, since owners Mercedes Restaurants have given them a week’s notice that they’re closing for the summer.  Now that other businesses are done hiring for the summer — now they tell them.  Nice.
 
I shudder to think what kind of “remodeling” they’re going to do.  I’ve always liked Vonachens.  My family has gone there for years.  In fact, my dad used to be a busboy there way back in the early ’60s.  My daughter loves “the train restaurant,” as she calls it, and she loves to watch the little model train go around above the entrance to the kitchen.  I like the 4-egg omelettes — the Mish Mash Omelette is my regular order. 
 
I guess I’ll hold off judgement until it reopens, but I suspect they’ll screw it up somehow — change the menu, nail a bunch of junk to the walls (a la Applebees), install televisions in the dining area (yech), and other stuff that will just ruin the atmosphere.  Call me pessimistic, but I do hope they get experts to do the kitchen remodel (find more info by visiting the Granite Transformations official website).
Uncategorized

Good Job: WCBU, WOAM

In tribute to the great job Jonathan Ahl does on his WCBU program “Outside the Horseshoe,” the city council defeated a motion to move the council meeting start time back 15 minutes to 6:00.  That move would have caused the cancellation of Ahl’s much-liked interview program that airs every Tuesday night at 6:00 when there’s a council meeting.  What a compliment to local radio that the city council recognized the value of this program to the community.
 
Also, I listened to the Midwest League All-Star game tonight on WOAM.  In addition to the usual play-by-play, they also included interviews with Pete Vonachen and the president of the Midwest League, among others.  Way to add value to the program!  WOAM also broadcasts all the regular-season Chiefs games and other local sports games.  Just another example of good local broadcasts.

Uncategorized

Don’t cut funding for public broadcasting

What hath man wrought–and how will man use his inventions? The law that I will sign shortly offers one answer to that question. It announces to the world that our Nation wants more than just material wealth; our Nation wants more than a “chicken in every pot.” We in America have an appetite for excellence, too. While we work every day to produce new goods and to create new wealth, we want most of all to enrich man’s spirit. That is the purpose of this act.
 
— President Lyndon B. Johnson, upon signing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (11/7/67)
Republicans have put funding for public television on the chopping block, wanting to cut it by 25% this year, and eventually do away with it completely.  The reasoning given by the committee recommending the cuts was “something’s got to give.”  In other words, the budget has to be cut somewhere, and public broadcasting is one of the less-necessary expenditures. 
 
And that would mean something if they were submitting a balanced budget.  But they’re not, and one has to wonder if all the other deficit spending is really more important than public broadcasting ($3.1 billion for a mission to Mars, for instance?).
 
I know there are those that think public radio and television are politically liberal.  And they’re probably right.  But public radio and television is more than just news programming.  Most of WCBU’s day is spent playing classical music; WGLT plays jazz.  There are also entertaining shows like A Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk, and locally there’s Outside the Horseshoe and the weekly broadcast of the city council meetings.  WTVP offers concerts, plays, musical theater, ballet, opera, British entertainment and news programming, documentaries, local sports (Lady Braves), and other local programming such as Illinois Adventure and documentaries on Grandview Drive and Peoria in general.  And all these programs are commercial-free.
 
There’s another thing that public TV offers that’s becoming an endangered species on television:  children’s educational programming.  Kids programming on network television is dwindling, and none of it is what one would call educational.  Meanwhile, PBS regularly offers entertaining and educational children’s programming, like Sesame Street, just as it has for the past 35 years. 
 
And that’s why I find it odd that Republicans are anti-public-broadcasting.  I would think that conservatives worried about the dearth of family-friendly programming would be the first in line to support quality programming on radio and television.  Why sacrifice all the good of public broadcasting just because a few political programs tilt to the left?  I’m a moderate Republican and I wake up to NPR news every morning.  While I have heard some biased reporting (it’s inevitable, in my opinion, regardless of whether you’re a conservative or liberal reporter), by far most of the news reports are well-balanced, and opinion pieces are clearly identified as such.
 
Public broadcasting should be preserved and it should be funded.  President Johnson’s argument is still persuasive:  how will we use our inventions?  We already know what television looks like in the “free market,” and that has its place.  But our nation “wants more than just material wealth”; we want “most of all to enrich man’s spirit.”  It’s a noble and worthy goal.  And that’s just what the arts, educational, and entertainment on public broadcasting provides — and, I might add, provides to everyone on over-the-air broadcast stations.
 
I encourage everyone to call or write their representatives and ask them to keep funding public broadcasting:
 
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) 1-202-224-2152
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) 1-202-224-2854
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-18th) 1-202-225-6201
Rep. Lane Evans (D-17th) 1-202-225-5905
Rep. Tim Johnson (R-15th) 1-202-225-2371
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-11th) 1-202-225-3635
 

Uncategorized

Why not put MWL All-Stars on TV?

Tonight is the Midwest League All-Star Game, which is in Peoria for the first time since 1992. It starts with a home-run derby at 6 p.m., followed by the first pitch at 7 p.m. Here’s the roster for tonight’s game.

When the Chiefs played their first game at the new O’Brien Field, it was broadcast on WEEK-TV. It was a very exciting event — they even had Cardinals pitcher Steve Kline pitching that night as part of his rehab. Channel 25 did a good job of covering it — the camera work was professional, the play-by-play was entertaining, and it was just like watching a big-league game.

I can understand why regular-season minor league games wouldn’t be the most exciting television on a regular basis, so I can see why they haven’t broadcast any since O’Brien Field opened. But why not televise the all-star game? WEEK shows regular-season Bradley Basketball games every year, and WTVP broadcasts some of the Lady Braves games. It seems like the MWL All-Star game would be a natural for local sports broadcasting, with all the minor league stars destined for the big leagues right here in Peoria.

Instead, all we’ll see of them on TV will be coverage on the local news tonight, which will probably be about the same length segment as they devote to White Sox highlights. That’s too bad.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up what was on TV tonight that would have been preempted if they showed the All-Star game:

WEEK: “A Katie Couric Special” on Jennifer Wilbanks, the ditz who faked her own abduction (big loss to preempt that); “I Want to Be a Hilton” (Premiere: “Kathy Hilton works with 14 young contestants, who compete for the chance to live a champagne-and-caviar lifestyle for a year”), “Law & Order: SVU” (repeat)

WTVP: “Nova” (repeat), “The Harlem Globetrotters: the Team that Changed the World” (repeat), and “Frontline” (which is new, but will be rebroadcast on the 23rd and 26th)

WMBD: “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes” hosted by Pierce Brosnan

WHOI: “My Wife and Kids” (repeat); NBA Basketball (okay, that one’s gotta stay)

WYZZ: “Trading Spouses” (repeat); “House” (repeat); News; “M*A*S*H” (repeat, obviously)

WAOE: “All of Us” (repeat); “Half & Half” (repeat); “Girlfriends” (repeat); “The Bad Girls’ Guide” (new); “Becker” (two repeats)


Based on these lineups, I think there are several stations which could have preempted (or time-shifted, in a couple cases) their programming to broadcast the All-Star Game.

Jeff Melbourne recently alerted us that Peoria’s TV station’s FCC licenses are up for renewal at the end of the year. The FCC has established a Localism Task Force to “promote localism in radio and television broadcasting.” I’ve already acknowledged that a couple of our local stations have shown a commitment to local sports by showing Braves games, and of course WTVP does the most local programming of anyone, so I want to be careful to give credit where credit’s due. But I think showing repeats of network shows instead of tonight’s baseball game is a big missed opportunity for more local broadcasting here in Peoria.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Tear down White School and build… another school?

WhiteSchool.jpg

I was reading the paper the other day, and I happened to notice this article, which is mainly about putting “mini-parks” within the Med-Tech District. But toward the end of the article, it says this:

In other business, the commission discussed recent talks with Peoria School District 150 to allow for construction of a new middle school in the Med-Tech district, which would focus on math, science and technology.

A Med-Tech committee met last month with interim deputy superintendent Ken Hinton, interim superintendent Cindy Fischer and treasurer Guy Cahill to discuss the project, expected to cost about $15 million.

So, the school district that is $19 million in the hole — so broke they have to close schools — is now thinking of building a new school in the Med-Tech District for $15 million? But wait, it gets better:

There has been talk about locating a new school at the site of the current White Middle School, which is being considered for closing.

So, they want to close White School (ostensibly to save money), tear it down (expensive), then build another school on that site that will cost $15 million. This is their plan. Let’s go over it again: (1) Close schools to save $19 million, (2) tear down one of them, (3) build new school on the same site for $15 million.

Does this make any sense whatsoever to anyone? I mean, I must be missing something. Someone, please tell me what I’m missing here.

Uncategorized

My grandfather, the prophet

I was at my parents’ house recently, going through some of my grandfather’s memorobilia, and I came across some letters that he had written back in 1928-1929. He worked for the Journal Star (in one of its incarnations) most of his life, starting as a paperboy in the early 1920s and retiring in 1974 as their National Advertising Manager.

But when he was 19 years old, he took a job at Columbia Records in Seattle, Washington. During the year he worked there, he wrote home to his folks, and they kept his letters. One particularly interesting passage was this one, from a letter he wrote April 14, 1929, a little over a month before his 20th birthday:

I’m glad you got to see the show, Mother. Take Dad to one of the all-talkings sometime. I think he’ll like it. They are just like vaudeville. Mr. Kilgore is just like Dad. He doesn’t care for moving pictures. I’ll bet within ten years there won’t be any vaudeville shows. They will all be talking pictures. Even the big shows in Seattle are doing away with vaudeville.

And how right he was! I get a kick out of his prescience every time I read it. It’s also interesting to me that even though technologies change, people’s reactions remain the same. His dad was reluctant to embrace the new “talking pictures” technology. I remember hearing this same reluctance from some people when computers replaced typewriters and CDs replaced vinyl records. Pretty soon it will be iPods and egocasting replacing radio and IP-VOD replacing cable TV.

And somewhere, some 20-year-old will probably write an e-mail or instant message to his mom saying, “tell Dad to try these new IP-VOD movies — I bet within ten years there won’t be any cable TV….” But his grandkids will never read his wise words, because the technology on which it was written will be obsolete by then.

Dick Durbin

As long as we’re comparing….

Goebbels.jpgDurbin.jpg

Since Sen. Durbin has compared America’s treatment of prisoners with the Nazis’ treatment of prisoners, I think it’s only fitting that we compare Sen. Durbin’s propaganda to that of Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels’.

Ridiculous, you say? Yes, but sadly, it’s no more ridiculous or reprehensible than Sen. Durbin’s comments. Senator, it’s time to stop defending yourself and apologize.

Update: Durbin said Friday: “I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings: Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support.”

I just love defensive “apologies” that put the blame on others’ response instead of one’s inappropriate actions. So, let me get this straight, Mr. Durbin: when you said Gitmo was like a Nazi prison camp, you meant that in the most respectful, admirable way toward our troops, eh?

Unfortunately, this is the closest thing to an apology that we’ll get.

Uncategorized

Wanna make big money? Make a G-rated film

I always heard that the reason there weren’t more family-friendly movies out there was because sex and violence sell and mamby-pamby G-rated flicks are big money losers.

But now there’s a new report out by the Dove Foundation called Profitability Study of MPAA-Rated Movies, and their findings are fascinating. I encourage you to click the link and check out the whole report (it’s only 12 pages), but here’s the bottom line:

While the movie industry produced nearly 12 times more R-rated films than G-rated from 1989 – 2003 (1,533 and 123 respectively), the average G-rated film produced 11 times greater profit than its R-rated counterpart ($78,982,000 and $6,939,000 respectively).

G-rated films also produced an average rate of return on investment (ROI) three times greater than R-rated films (94.5% vs. 28.7%).

Between 2000 and 2003, Hollywood produced nearly four times as many PG-13 films as PG (75 vs. 21). During that same time, the average PG film produced $33 million greater profit than a PG-13 film ($78.8 million vs. $45.6 million).

G-rated films were identified overall as most lucrative in all of the following categories:

-Net profit per film
-Theatrical box office per film
-Video revenue per film
-Rate of return per film

Films with a PG rating consistently report higher profits and rates of return than PG-13 and R-rated films.

So, it appears the conventional wisdom is off-target. If it’s all about the money, the theaters should be flooded with G- and PG-rated fare. So one wonders, why aren’t there more family-friendly movies?

Uncategorized

The Day After

Hi everyone — sorry I haven’t been around lately. I just peeked out of my bomb shelter today after being holed up since last night’s council meeting. You can understand why. Listening to Chuck Grayeb talk about what would happen if the city didn’t buy the water company had me scared nearly to death. I was expecting the evil German IAWC troops to be at my door any minute, forcing filthy water down my family’s throats and robbing us of all our worldly possessions while the ICC looked on with approval. When the due diligence measure went down to defeat, I knew I had to act fast. I got all the bottled water I could find (Evian, bottled in France, ironically) and headed into the bunker. Surely, I thought, Armageddon was soon to start.

Imagine my surprise when I found out the sun still came out today! And, I’ll be darned if I didn’t hear birds singing. I looked out the window and there were even children playing! We were still able to wash our dishes and do our laundry just like always. Things didn’t seem to change at all, actually. How did this happen?

Okay, enough snide comments. I’m not celebrating much because I know it’s all coming up again (like a bad lunch) in a few short years. Water-buyout advocates won’t let this little setback stop them. Start preparing now for Water Buyout ’07.