Blogs

Megan Henderson

Uncle Barky's all over the comings and goings of one Megan Henderson, Good Day co-anchor at KDFW-Channel 4 since August '03. The reason? She's about to jump, or not, to the mothership: the "raw" and "unscripted" and unfortunate Fox & Friends Weekend, where, as Ed noted last month, Henderson sat in for a couple of days during what was or wasn't an audition, depending upon who you ask.

Yesterday Ed sniffed out this Media Bistro TVNewser piece that said, yup, she's leaving Dallas for NYC sooner than later, courtesy the goo-goo eyes of Fox News Channel chairman Roger Ailes. Said a source: "Roger is very impressed with her skills as a morning anchor." Only, Henderson tells Ed, "Honestly, I don't know what's going on either! This is the first I've heard of any of this." Regardless, it probably ain't the last. What say you, Chris Wallace? The network might make her move, but, really, F&F Weekend is so not a promotion. --Robert Wilonsky

Update: Media Bistro's TVNewser today followed Ed's follow by talking to Fox News Channel senior veep Bill Shine, who says, yup, Henderson's got another F&F appearance forthcoming June 6-7. And, yup, she "will have a meeting with Roger when she's here." And they gots big plans for her too. In that case, why stick her on Fox & Friends? Or Fox, for that matter?

Noticed that Harvard U.'s fancypants glossy 02138 has a new owner as of immediately. Also noticed the current issue's cover: an interesting portrait of Tommy Lee Jones, who, as you no doubt know, was borned in Midland and edumicated at St. Mark's School of Texas, where he's been on the board of directors but ain't at the moment. (Says Jones in the interview, in which he lives up to his rep as Mr. Crankypants: "I grew up in Midland, Texas, and Dallas.") Fact is, he really only gets chatty -- and funny -- when asked about a fence along the Texas-Mexico border:

The idea of a fence between El Paso and Brownsville bears all the credibility and seriousness of flying saucers from Mars or leprechauns. Or any manner of malicious, paranoid superstition. In other words, it’s bullshit. ...

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In a 2004 Rolling Stone profile of Bill O'Reilly, his former WFAA-TV colleague Byron Harris described the Fox-y one as "particularly dishonest, obnoxious, self-centered." Really? No idea. Certainly can't tell from this NSFW Inside Edition clip, making the Interwebs rounds this a.m. And I've seen this before -- on an old videotape belonging to a former O'Reilly colleague who lives in the DFW. I ain't saying he's the one who provided the footage, but I'd like to think he did. --Robert Wilonsky

Update: The YouTube link's dead. But that doesn't mean you can't see the video, right now.

Alex Gordon, who's very touchy

I was gonna pass along this Kansas City Star story to KTCK-AM (The Ticket, 1310) afternoon-show co-host Corby Davidson. But when I talked to Davidson earlier today, he said he'd already had it e-mailed to him, like, "75 times, at least." Problem is, today's story -- concerning a spring training "incident" involving Davidson, a wireless microphone and the wife of Kansas City Royal Alex Gordon -- is incomplete and overblown. Listen for yourself, courtesy The Ticket. --Robert Wilonsky

Hey, lookie, I got an e-mail from Dallas Morning News City Hall reporter Dave Levinthal! Alas, nothing too sexy -- just a note that "today, The Dallas Morning News launched a blog focused on Dallas City Hall and area political issues." And it's blessed with the catchiest of monikers: Dallas City Hall Blog. But perhaps it's all them Young Street blogs that account for The Dallas Morning News' increase in online hits; says Editor & Publisher it's up 96 percent since the same period last year. Only ... hey, hey, what's that name right above The News? The one with the "impressive" 139 percent jump in unique audience traffic from March '07 to March '08? Say, that's our parent company! --Robert Wilonsky

For those who weren't here way back when, Charlie Rose actually started his chat-show career at KXAS-Channel 5, where his first gabfest ran from 1979 till '81, when it was picked up for syndication after Rose moved to D.C. It's that long-ago and admittedly tenuous link to Dallas that allows us to show you what's fast becoming an Internet sensation: filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr.'s "Charlie Rose by Samuel Beckett." And by Internet sensation, I mean 8,500 people have seen it since it was posted a few weeks back -- but when you consider it's Charlie Rose interviewing Charlie Rose, that's a shitload of people. --Robert Wilonsky

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Robert Decherd

This line from A.H. Belo Corp. bossman Big Bob Decherd's Monday-morning missive to stockholders is attracting quite a bit of attention today: The Dallas Morning News' recently spun-off mother company's "1st quarter financial performance will be substantially below our expectations." Which explains why shares of A.H. Belo stock have been dropping ever since the letter was posted to the Belo Web site: As of posting, the stock is down $1.41 today (or 11.78 percent), putting it at $10.56 -- or just 51 cents off its 52-week low. --Robert Wilonsky

Jamey Newberg, the Texas Rangers' official blogger

The New York Times this morning weighs in not only on Mark Cuban's recent flipping and flopping over allowing bloggers access to the Dallas Mavericks' locker room, but on the larger issue of how pro sports franchises are limiting media access in order to regain and retain control of their product. Most of the major leagues come off looking snotty and petulant -- except one. Which is? Your Texas Rangers, no kidding. Because the New York Yankees, say, offer "tightly controlled access" to its players and manager before game time, whereas "a few days later it was a much different scene in Arlington, Tex., when five reporters joined the Texas Rangers manager, Ron Washington, in his office for some pregame banter." Also noted: "The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, hired a fan who had started a popular blog about the team." Which would be none other than Jamey Newberg. --Robert Wilonsky

Robert Decherd

In advance of A. H. Belo Corporation's first-quarter financials conference call next week, chairman of the board, president and all-'round CEO Robert Decherd has sent a good news-bad news missive to stockholders today. Writes Decherd concerning the state and fate of The Dallas Morning News' parent company: "Looking ahead, 2008 will be a very difficult year vis-à-vis financial performance. We are looking at every sensible expense reduction while intensifying initiatives geared to maintaining core revenues and creating sustainable incremental revenue streams." --Robert Wilonsky

Jennifer Lopez, your new KXAS meteorologist

This morning, Uncle Barky and KXAS-Channel 5 revealed the NBC affiliate's replacement for ousted meteorologist Rebecca Miller: The Weather Channel's Jennifer Lopez, an eight-year vet of the channel only watched in hotel rooms. Funny coincidence, though: On the same day we learned of the new hire, legendary KXAS weatherman Harold Taft's daughter posted a comment to our original item about Miller's firing -- which, amazingly, still gets commented upon several times a day. Writes Lori Galler Taft:

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J.D. Freeman, the ever-vigilant and always informative Dallas-Fort Worth market manager for Clear Channel Radio, delivers some breaking news -- well, broken news, if you want to get technical about it. Because almost one year to the day since Clear Channel announced that KZPS-FM (92.5) was going commercial-free under the Lone Star 92.5 moniker, with a heavy focus on Texas-bred music, the man behind the format change is gone. As of yesterday, Lone Star program director Duane Doherty is no longer with the station or Clear Channel; Freeman, of course, cannot say why, as it's a personnel matter, and "I really don't comment on employees leaving," he tells Unfair Park.

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It’s a great day to be a Dallas sports fan. And an even better day to be Randy Galloway.

In light of Thursday night’s cumulative success, the media icon can do lots of talkin’ as he celebrates his 5,000th radio show on ESPN 103.3 FM starting at 2. He can yap about the Texas Rangers sweeping a double-header, the Mavericks clinching their 50th win and a playoff spot thanks to Dirk Nowitzki’s gutsy three-pointer, and the Stars’ shocking 4-0 dismantling of the defending Stanley Cup champs in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Knowing ol’ Randy, he’ll probably also find time to sneak in some results from opening day at his favorite place on Earth.

But it won’t be gabbing about Dirk’s heroics, the Rangers rising above .500 or the Stars’ power-play explosion that makes today memorable for Galloway. It’ll be what happens at 4:30. I don’t wanna spoil the surprise, but don’t miss the guest caller. (Hint: It’s a former Ranger.) Quite an honor for an ol’ shit-kicker from Grand Prairie.

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The great Bob Phillips

This bleary-eyed, storm-clean-up a.m., a Friend of Unfair Park does us the most solid of solids and sends along our first story of the day: this New York Times profile of Bob Phillips, better known as the Texas Country Reporter -- a fixture of our childhood, natch, dating back to his days as the 4 Country Reporter in '72.

The Bryan Adams and SMU grad, who has some 33 videos available on YouTube, has parlayed his interest in his home state into a franchise, turns out, "with guidebooks, cookbooks, T-shirts and an annual October festival in Waxahachie, near Dallas, where more than 50,000 fans come to meet subjects from the shows. Mr. Phillips also has a tour company, Texas Country Tours, and a resort, Escondida, in Medina in the hill country." A nice read for a deserving gentleman, and it drew our attention to an YouTube-award-winning piece with more than 2 million views, which is after the jump. For those with electricity. --Robert Wilonsky

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A few days ago, I spoke with 103.3 FM ESPN Radio's program director to gauge the station's interest in hiring ... what's his name? ... Greg Williams. And, sure enough, says Tom Lee: “Greg’s on our radar for sure. He’s been so successful in this market for so long … his numbers speak for themselves. He’s an incredible talent and an integral part of our area’s sports talk landscape. He’s got a track record few can match. We do everything we can to help better our station, especially moves that can take us to the next level.”

Translation: It’s almost a done deal. Imminent, even. Breath-holdingly close to done.

With the momentum created by The Michael Irvin Show and the national pub garnered from Pacman Jones’ recent appearance and the buzz about Randy Galloway’s 5,000th show forthcoming April 11, now seems the perfect time for ESPN to hire Williams in a further attack on The Ticket’s empire.

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Dallas Morning News publisher and CEO Jim "Tre" Moroney delivered the keynote address today at the ninth annual International Symposium on Online Journalism on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Alas, we couldn't make it, but someone caught a little of speech on video and posted it to the YouTube. (Here's the official coverage of the speech.) Guy talks -- shouts, actually -- kinda like a fortune cookie: "The attitude that you have, what you think you will become, has a lot to do with what you become." --Robert Wilonsky