"The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of May 7, 2012
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
E books Again
It’s funny that just last week I commented on e-book readers because it seemed like I hadn’t talked about them in a while. No sooner had I recorded that program than the readers hit the headlines twice in the same week. When you’re hot you’re hot I guess.
I was interested in the announcement by the Target store chain that they were dropping the Kindle e-book readers from Amazon. Exactly why they are doing this isn’t clear. As per common corporate policy Target is making very few comments and what they are saying are textbook examples of obscurity. Rumor has it that the once dominant Kindle is suffering a major sales slump partly fueled the new tablet Kindle Fire. It’s interesting to me that suddenly folks are questioning whether consumers really want the older e ink versions once they get the chance at a more computer like version with an LCD screen. Amazon has never released sales figures for Kindles so it all remains rumor.
On the other hand what is not rumor is that the folks at Barnes and Noble suddenly have a big new friend to help with their ebook reader line the Nook. Microsoft has just invested 300 million dollars in the Nook line. Barnes and Noble is working on spinning the ebook reader and tablet computer line off into its own division and now it suddenly has LOTS of money to push the Nook into a more competitive position. That’s going to make the folks at Amazon take a second look. Of course that’s not the only deep pockets competitor out there taking aim at Amazon. Google continues to lurk at the edges with a potential tablet computer seemingly just on the horizon.
The reality is that it seems pretty clear that the base ebook reader is destined to become a minor player in the overall market. The real future is some kind of tablet or near tablet computer that also functions as an e-book reader. At the moment the clear leader is the iPad.
It’s always easy to think that we’ve seen a market segment settle down. The reality is that the news shows this particular corner of the media market is a long way from stable. We’re going to see some kind of major change within the next year to 18 months is my bet. iPad, Kindle, Nook, Google, Galaxy? Maybe someone we’ve never even heard of yet.
Who knows? But when you’re hot, you’re hot.
New Theater Life
There is a long and tempestuous relationship between the creative community and the community of critics. If you are a writer, a musician, an actor you probably spent a great deal of time and energy creating your work. It’s something that you take a certain pride in, it’s something that is an extension of yourself. So having someone come along and just trash your work can be devastating. Sometimes it can be worse if they don’t even do that. A slighting review can be even more painful. In the end of course there is also the financial end of the business. Some folks pay a lot of attention to their favorite critics. So a bad review means a potential huge loss in revenue. Consequently a lot of artists have a rather jaundiced view of the critics.
Of course a lot of critics find the artistic types to be rather full of themselves and other stuff as well. Like it or not the critic does perform a service. Identifying the truly bad is a gift for the consumer.
Perhaps the classic story of the rivalry between the two is the quote from German composer Max Reger who sent the following message to a critic who didn’t like his latest work “I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me.”
What brings all of this to mind is actor Samuel L. Jackson’s recent Twitter tirade about the less than fawning review of the new Avengers movie by New York Times reviewer A.O. Scott. While Scott didn’t pan the movie he found it bloated and cynical. Jackson leaped onto Twitter to denounce the review and state that Scott needed to find a job that he could actually do. All the usual charge and counter charge then ensued.
Here’s the bottom line. The vast majority of the critical reviews have been positive for the new Marvel Comics movie. Even more importantly the box office has been absolutely incredible. How does the best opening weekend sales figures in Hollywood history grab you? So in the end Scott’s mild rebuke of the movie in the week or two before the opening doesn’t appear to have had much effect. Which makes Jackson’s tirade look even more childish.
In the end the movie is a commercial success and I’m told a lot fun. At the same time it’s not ever going to be confused with Citizen Kane. So maybe Samuel L. needs to lighten up and cash his checks.
Uncle Bruce
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| Uncle Bruce (Thanks to Bill Dorrian for the photo) |
I worked in professional radio for just shy of 20 years. In that time I worked with probably 100 or more people. I’m not going to try and tell you that I remember them all. Specific people stood out for different reasons. Some because they were tremendously talented. Some because they were tremendous pains in the butt. And some just because they were decent, honest human beings. There were even some who were all of the above.
Over this past weekend I lost one of my former colleagues and the Jamestown radio community lost one of their truly nice guys. Bruce Baker, known to many as Uncle Bruce, lost his battle over the weekend and went too young to the broadcast studio in the sky.
I must have met Bruce sometime shortly after I came to Jamestown some 25 years ago. In the years that I knew him Bruce never changed much. He was always one of the decent, honest folks in radio. Good for a long talk about whatever during those interminably long weekend shifts when there’s really not much to do except answer the phone and keep the station on the air.
To borrow a term from hockey Bruce was a grinder. One of those determined, hard working guys who put in the hard work day in and day out. They may never get to be the star of the team but they are the kind of guy every team needs. They’re the kind of team mate every star wants. Bruce wasn’t going to blow you away with his work. He was going to charm you and make you feel comfortable and feel like a friend. He was the guy that you knew you could count on to get the job done.
Let me be totally honest here. The radio industry makes its money on guys like me. The ones with the big mouths and the big egos and sometimes even the big talent. We get the perks and the preferential treatment. The radio industry would be in big trouble if they needed to rely on folks like us to keep the industry rolling. To be honest the stars can really mess things up if you’re not careful. What radio and every industry needs are the grinders. The pluggers. Those hard working, honest, decent guys that do the job, that get it done, that you can count on.
They need the Bruce Bakers of the world. And today the world is going to have work a little bit harder because he’s gone.
So long Uncle Bruce.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
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