Disney/OMD Riffs: There’s been a lot of trash talk lately about how media synergy and cross-platform deals don’t work. Someone forgot to tell Disney. I’m always suspicious of officially reported numbers, but if this deal is anything close to the reported $1 billion, you can’t tell me synergy doesn’t work. The long rumored deal apparently closed yesterday, giving OMD a lower CPM for the huge chunk of business.

Post Dot-Com Blues Riffs: Maybe I’m too sensitive. Maybe. But I’m starting to bristle at the never-ending conversation and stream of press pieces about all the lessons we’re all supposed to have learned from the “post boom” era (such as the one that appeared in Sunday’s NYT Magazine) Like a lot of people, I poured a fair amount of heart and soul into the new media revolution. Yes, it was ridiculous to think “scalable growth” would replace “percentage growth.”

New York Radio Riffs: Driving in to the Radio Mercury Awards in NYC yesterday, it struck me that the radio business doesn’t want me. Here’s why I feel left out: I’m on the young end of the 40-54 demographic. I don’t like talk radio because I find most of it so right wing that I get anxious about my personal safety.

Medical Journalism Riffs: I have decided that the toughest job in the world is no longer being Eminem's shrink. Or R. Kelly's lawyer. The toughest job in the world may well be planning and buying media in the pharmaceutical category. Information abounds. So does BS.

Airline Riffs: I think the airline business needs to forget about Wall Street and move uptown to Madison Ave. You will read a lot in the coming weeks about the sector's "elusive" economic recovery. Yesterday, Continental Airlines, which I think is an excellent brand marketer, announced that its estimated May system unit revenue fell six to eight percent.

Rebounding Riffs: Here's why I like NBA Commissioner David Stern. His sport has suffered the loss of the best athlete ever, and its about to find its stride again. And that stride is good news for media planners, because the NBA delivers urban markets like Nets point guard Jason Kidd delivers passes: right on the money.

Boy Book Riffs: They’re multiplying like boy bands. Boy books – you know Maxim, Controversy, Razor, FHM – are the hot area right now. And with a hot area you need to be concerned that the area doesn’t stray into the overcooked zone.

Sir Riffs: I doubt Sir Martin Sorrell has a lot of time on his hands. As worldwide head of the WPP Group, I doubt he has any time on his hands. So why did he use an interview with The Wall Street Journal to bemoan the current economic state of advertising? Here’s part of what he said:

Smoking Riffs. No. Non-Smoking Riffs: Now this is an argument worth having. Are anti-smoking campaigns effective? Are the softballs launched by the tobacco industry more or less effective than the shockers put up by the American Legacy Foundation?

It's no surprise to me that Americans are taking in more news. How could they not? As reported in yesterday’s McPheters & Co. survey, Americans say they are watching about as much TV news programming -- 2.4 hours per day -- in May 2002 as they did in October 2001, just after the Sept. 11 attacks.