• by John Gaffney , October 3, 2002

This Week’s Riff That I Wish I Wrote: By Chris Willman on EW.com. “ Well, okay, maybe there are a few other culprits responsible for the musical mess we're in today. Namely, the label executives who sign so much bunk; the careerist musicians who make it; the FCC, which in the '90s deregulated radio to the point where a few corporations own most major-market stations; the radio listeners who don't hang up when radio's hired marketing guns ring up to do ''call-out'' research and play 10 seconds of a song to find out if it's a hit. Complicit, all. But I don't have any compunctions about essentially blaming the mercenary folks who run radio today. They're an easier target than Saddam Hussein, and possibly more deserving.”

Yo, Mr. President. I Ain’t Tryin’ To Hear Dat: In an internal memo cited by media organizations this week, a CNN producer suggested adding hip-hop phrases such as "flava," slang for "style," to make the news more accessible to a younger audience.

Somebody, Please Take Tina To The Old Town Tavern For A Burger: Tina Brown’s debut column on media for The Times of London began thusly: “At lunch with Steve Florio, the president of US Condé Nast, in the Grill Room of the Four Seasons Restaurant just off Park Avenue, I contemplate the dwindling band of CEOs still in a position to get a table. Between the summer’s business scandals and the hyperactive stock market, half my lunch partners these days are doing, in handcuffs, the perp walk, filing for bankruptcy, or “exploring new opportunities” and “spending more time with their families”, ie, getting fired.

Easy, Fellas. It’s Just A Media Company, Not El Nino: The LA Times, assessing the recent troubles of Michael Eisner, opined: “What's bad for Walt Disney Co. is bad for Southern California, and at the moment Disney Chairman Michael Eisner is looking pretty bad."

Reader Riff Of The Week: Peter Gillespie waxed Greenpeaceish after reading one of my missives last week that expressed concern about the short term economic prospects for media: “Your thoughts on a near-term downturn are probably 'on the money' as would be the consequences you predict for print and radio advertising…. Your thoughts on brand advertising and marketing goals reflect a "maintenance" attitude toward the economy ; We are not in growth mode, we must therefore 'maintain'. As an American living abroad and somewhat removed from daily 'American' concerns, I wonder if the larger question isn't a question of leadership? Can we not articulate a more global view of the role for media and media planners in a truly national debate on the singular issues before the generation now entering the workforce, those of security-environmental, political and economic-and I do not mean 'defense of the American comfort zone'.