• by John Gaffney , July 25, 2002

OPRs (Other People’s Riffs) for the week:

Dude, Please: “Chapter 11 enables us to create the greatest possible value for our creditors, preserve jobs for our employees, continue to deliver top-quality service to our customers and maintain our role in America's national security," said John Sidgmore, president and chief executive officer of WorldCom, in a statement following the company’s chapter 11 filing.

I Wouldn’t Touch This One With A Ten-Foot Sharpie: The Sharpie brand, makers of permanent markers, announced the largest integrated marketing campaign in the brand's nearly 40-year history, focusing on the wide and sometimes wild uses of America's favorite marker. The campaign, "How Do You Use Your Sharpie?" is the result of hundreds of testimonials from consumers collected by Sanford, makers of Sharpie. The company found that whether you're the President of the United States, a NASA astronaut or a mother marking your child's clothing before summer camp, the answer to how you use your Sharpie is as different as the pen's users themselves.

And The Bad Cooking Puns Just Keep Boiling Over: NBC will air a biopic based on Christopher Byron's best-selling critical biography "Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia." NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said a script has been ordered and the network is "fast-tracking" the project, which he said "is bound to stir the pot." No casting choices have been made.

And Then, I Swear To God, The Guy Sitting Next To Me Says He Has A Bomb In His Shoe: Travel-wise American Airlines customers who share their travel tales and tips with American Way magazine between Aug. 1 and Oct. 7, 2002, will earn a chance to win an all-new 2003 Lincoln Navigator, an array of SANYO Fisher electronics or a trip from American Airlines Vacations. Travelers with exceptional travel stories and ideas can enter the second annual American Way Road Warrior Search by logging on to http://www.americanwaymag.com/roadwarrior.

Reader Feedback Of The Week: John F. Mitton of Houston-based Recruitment Advertising Services wrote to agree with my claim that local media has not fulfilled its mission. “I agreed with your point in All About The Benjamins. Local radio does service the local community. Unfortunately servicing the local community is disappearing as the huge radio conglomerates start using satellite programming instead of live, local on-air talent. As someone here said recently, "If a hurricane blew through Houston, you wouldn't hear about it on the radio!" Too much satellite, not enought servicing the local community.”