Archive for Michael Bird
The Death of Daytime Television
In James Taylor’s song “Our Town,” he sings, ‘long ago, but not so very long ago’. It seems like not so long ago that I was caught up in daytime television on summer and holiday breaks. Game shows and sitcom reruns rounded out the morning network schedules, and I knew if I could just be [...]
26Apr2011 | Michael Bird | 0 comments | Continued
Radio Days, part one
My parents set up two turntables, a microphone, and a tape deck for me when I was just a preschooler, which fed my lifelong passion. I wanted to be a disc jockey when I grew up. Music geek that I am, from earliest memory I was quoting facts and figures from Billboard and Rolling Stone. [...]
25Mar2011 | Michael Bird | 0 comments | Continued
I Love the Grammys!
In today’s overexposed celebrity culture, it is sometimes difficult to garner true, real excitement over the plethora of awards shows. But the Grammys are always different. They are an entertaining throwback to an era where anything was game for the Top 40. The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards aired live on CBS Sunday evening, and true [...]
19Feb2011 | Michael Bird | 1 comment | Continued
Death of the Man with the Golden Ear
They called him “the man with the golden ear”. And his passing last week marks the end of an era in popular music. Don Kirshner was a co-owner of Aldon Music, housed in the famous Brill Building in New York. His stable of contract songwriters included Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka and [...]
25Jan2011 | Michael Bird | 1 comment | Continued
WAKA gets the last laugh
After seeing a promo for WCOV News at Nine, I couldn’t help but wonder: is this a case of WAKA finally having the last laugh 25 years later? From the time Channel 8 received its construction permit, and for about 30 years thereafter, these two stations were locked in a bitter battle over CBS network [...]
3Jan2011 | Michael Bird | 12 comments | Continued
Charlie Brown at 45
Of all the television shows spun off from comic strips, there is perhaps none more iconic than a Christmas special that aired 45 years ago this week. On Thursday, December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired for the first time. Over time, some cuts were made in the running time of the show. For [...]
6Dec2010 | Michael Bird | 0 comments | Continued
What Would Jesus Watch?
In this week of Hallow’s Eve and days devoted to All Saints and All Souls, and as non-stop violence – both real and scripted – fills our television screens, an apt question may be: What Would Jesus Watch? Growing up, I never really understood why “All in the Family” was censored. Back in the 1970s, [...]
2Nov2010 | Michael Bird | 1 comment | Continued
The Feel-Good Hits of the Summer
BILLBOARD magazine has been keeping track of the top 40 best-selling singles for over five decades now. Summer officially ended this past week, and fall is finally here. So, with one longing glance backward, let us review 55 years of pop music history to see where we’ve been, and where we may be going. (Note: [...]
27Sep2010 | Michael Bird | 3 comments | Continued
Elegy for the End of the “World”
“Good morning, dear.” Those were the first words spoken by actress Helen Wagner, who portrayed matriarch Nancy Hughes until her death earlier this summer, on the afternoon of April 2, 1956 as CBS-TV premiered the first 30-minute daytime drama live from New York City – AS THE WORLD TURNS. A production of Cincinnati soap and [...]
20Sep2010 | Michael Bird | 3 comments | Continued
Like A Rolling Stone
“Did you see that piece in ROLLING STONE?” I asked Willie G. Moseley, a local author and senior writer for VINTAGE GUITAR magazine. (He hangs with Frampton, Nugent, Shaw, other rock luminaries). “I don’t read fashion magazines,” he opined. Mr. Moseley is probably right about ROLLING STONE. I have been a reader for over twenty-five [...]
25Aug2010 | Michael Bird | 0 comments | Continued
Diaries
“I found her diary underneath a tree” Wow, talk about an anachronism. The first line of the number-one single “Diary,” recorded by Bread in 1971, certainly speaks volumes about how far we have come with regard to journal-keeping. The singer thinks he has found the diary of a girl professing a secret love for him; [...]
17Aug2010 | Michael Bird | 0 comments | Continued
Finally! After almost a year and a half since Montgomery locals were turned up on Direct. Picture quality is great. ...