Does the podcasting world yet have a superstar?

Podcasting as a medium is pretty small-time, but podcasting is growing as media moves online. Today, we can consume whatever media we want, whenever we want it. Terrestrial radio is being hit just like every other form of media as evidenced by the recent format switch of KLSX, the station that used to have Adam Carolla’s morning talk show. KLSX decided that they want to spin cheap records rather than pay for expensive personalities and, in that ugly shuffle, Adam Carolla was unceremoniously axed. 

Fans cried. Many a fan called on the last two day of The Adam Carolla Show to weep as Adam comforted each and every one of them, reminding them that change is almost always good. As a shot in the arm to those suffering, Aceman—he calls himself “Ace”—assured each of his listeners that he wasn’t going anywhere. Huge numbers of fans across the world were downloading his daily KLSX-sponsored podcast and streaming KLSX live. Adam knew then his potential: if terrestrial radio won’t have me, I’ll still have fans out there.

Carolla took a giant leap into the podcast-only world. Sure, other big personalities put out podcasts. These podcasts are almost always marketing for another vehicle—like a TV show or a radio how—or an in-the-basement kind of affair. The This American Life podcast, for example, wouldn’t exist without the NPR show already broadcasting nationwide on NPR affiliate stations. No giant star has tried to monetize or capitalize on the podcast-only medium. That is, until now.

The Adam Carolla Show ended on a Friday. That following Monday, fans all over the world took to their computers and found a podcast just for them. Carolla was using his own money. He had no sponsorships, no advertising. He was using his own equipment, his own domain name, his own electricity to record about 45 minutes of Adam being typical Adam, uncut as the marketers say. Often times, he says, he is in a bath robe. Sure, it was no four hour radio time slot and didn’t benefit from a studio full of equipment with people to run it. But the feeling was very raw and organic. The show was, indeed, that methadone to keep Adam fans satiated. 

Since then, Adam has pulled out all the stops to get guests, the usual suspects of Adam’s circle: Dr. Drew, his former co hosts Theresa and Bryan, Larry Miller, Bill Simmons, and David Allen Grier, all popular guests on the morning show. But from the moment The Adam Carolla Podcast went online, it was pretty obvious that Carolla has stumbled on something great. His first show, a sort of airing-out of laundry, certainly an uncharacteristically melancholy Adam, was downloaded over a quarter of a million times. Granted, the show wasn’t even on iTunes for easy download yet. 

Since then, ratings have been high for the show. It is ranked number 1 on the iTunes “Top Podcasts” list. In a little over a week of podcasts, the show has been downloaded over a 1.6 million times. This begs the question: have we found Podcasting’s first superstar? When Carolla was on a podcasted corporate radio show, he enjoyed the backing of a company to do the work for him. Today, he’s paying his own way just to connect with fans (and maybe get some bread down the road). It’s genius marketing and self-promotion. Most of all, it’s great talk radio, the kind of radio we’d actually like to hear over the airwaves.

2008, my husband and I both agree, was the worst year on record for both of us. Not only were we living in a new city, my husband got a job with a very long daily commute. We didn’t know anybody in town, and finances, being what they are, were also causing strife.

Sometimes life becomes a little more bearable with the introduction of a new hobby. In this case, we started listening to The Adam Carolla Show, a morning radio station syndicated from KLSX in Los Angeles. Adam’s multi-hour show had celebrity guests, two adorable sidekicks, and was the funniest thing I’d heard on the radio, well, ever. TACS didn’t actually air in St. Louis, so we would podcast the program and listen to it a day later. It made the long St. Louis commutes seem shorter and made our lives a little better.

Now the LA Times is reporting that KLSX is switching formats from FM talk to Top 40. Advertising dollars in the tough economy are harder and harder to come by, and KLSX has decided to cop out and go with what works: radio for teens.

Tomorrow, February 20th, will be the last day for The Adam Carolla Show, and will be a sad day. While I know it’s coming, I won’t be able to listen to it until I can sync up my MP3 player tonight.

Losing The Adam Carolla Show is like losing a best friend. Adam Carolla, Theresa Strasser, and Brian Bishop have become like family, a strange digital family that I never get to see but still feel I know. While I thank them all for the laughs, I hope to hear one or all of them again soon. After all, TACS is a very popular podcast. Perhaps go podcast-only? I’m just sayin’…

I very rarely have the knee jerk reaction to boycott anything. I’m a friend to the large corporation. I use plenty of products from so-called “evil” organizations, including the Microsoft-powered laptop on which I currently type. Now why in the world would I send a letter to Kellogg’s informing them I couldn’t purchase their products anymore?

As might already know, the story goes like this: Swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, more than anyone else in history.  After the games, Phelps signed a bunch of very lucrative contracts to hawk products for the likes of Kellogg’s, Omega watches, and more. A few days ago, a British tabloid printed a picture taken by some jerk at a college party of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana. A few days after that, Kellogg’s informed the public that they would no longer honor Phelps’s endorsement contract.

Why did this action by Kellogg’s get me so upset? Well…

• Phelps, for all intents and purposes, had his privacy violated at that party, even if there’s no inherent right to privacy at a public event.

• Phelps, like most Americans, probably has the opinion that marijuana isn’t all that big a deal. The worst harm that the drug can cause a person is if they get caught by authorities. The punishment for marijuana in this country far out weights any of the dangers of the drug itself.  What do people in countries with more sane marijuana policy feel about the Kellogg’s decisions? Are they insulted?

• Several states in this nation have legalized medical use of marijuana. Whether you agree or not, this reflects the shifting position of Americans that marijuana isn’t that big a deal to anyone but the authorities.

• Kellogg’s is insulting all Americans who believe that this country is founded on principles of privacy and personal liberty, even if our federal laws don’t always reflect those values. 

I’m sad to see Kellogg’s leave my life. Kellogg’s makes several products I really enjoy, including Morningtar Farms meatless products and All-Bran cereal, both of which I’ve eaten to help me with my recent 50 pound weight loss.

I urge Kellogg’s to reconsider their position and apologize to Phelps for their much ado about nothing. Reinstating Phelps as a spokesperson would also be nice.

I’d also like to pose the following question: What year does Kellogg’s believe it is, anyway?

The lads of Top Gear

Hello again. I haven’t written in a while, but now I’m back! (Mild, condescending applause). I’ll get back to Arrested Development movie news soon, but today, we’re talking about cars. And television. 

I know you’ve heard me say this before, but one of the best television shows in the world is the BBC’s amusing car show Top Gear. One of the most popular shows in the world, Top Gear brings you three very different English blokes talking about cars, testing new models, and participating in various car-related challenges. 

Now, being from the land of well-refined car snobbery, the English have managed to get the world excited about cars, especially European  cars. The series has spawned versions in other countries like Australia, as well as the occasional copycat. Wikipedia tells me (and they would never lie) that about 350 million people watch Top Gear all over the world.

Now, let’s move on to NBC. The Peacock is struggling a bit at the moment. Despite having one of the funniest sitcoms on the air in Tina Fey’s 30 Rock, NBC suffered a blow from lowered Super Bowl ratings and has fallen into fourth place in ratings among the four majors. So it would seem that NBC would want to take a different approach, and approach that might, you know, produce programming that others might want to watch.

Adam Carolla

So last year, NBC ordered a pilot of an American version of Top Gear. At the helm would be Adam Carolla of The Man Show and Loveline fame, but also the very funny host of The Adam Carolla Radio  Show, a syndicated radio show out of Los Angeles. He also recently released a very funny and touching movie called The Hammer. Sitting alongside Adam would be Eric Stromer, star of Over Your Head on HGTV, and Tanner Foust, a stunt car driver. 

I’m sad to report that, despite sagging ratings (because everybody wants to watch more Howie Do It, obviously) and a built-in fan base, NBC has officially passed on an American version of Top Gear. So instead of funny car stunts and hot lap times in fast cars, NBC continues to do more of the same. Perhaps a cable network might pick up Top Gear but, in the meantime, fast car voyeurs in this country have to be satisfied with shows that just aren’t that entertaining.

I know American car companies are struggling, but perhaps there’s a good reason: today’s kids just aren’t excited about cars because there’s nothing to be excited about. Sure, it’s nice to foam at the mouth at the sight of an Astin Martin DB9, but how many eight year olds are excited about, say, a Cadillac or Pontiac? Wouldn’t it be nice to try and cultivate some fans for your product with, say, an entertaining TV show? I’m just saying…

Britons, if you are reading this, perhaps you could explain some things to me.

For Yanks, here’s the story. BBC Radio Two is apparently the most popular radio station in England. On Radio Two, listeners could tune in to a late night radio show hosted by none other than Russell Brand. Americans know Brand from the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall and American teens know him as the most recent host of MTV’s Video Music Awards.

Brits, however, have had quite enough of Brand’s antics, apparently. On Brand’s October 18th episode of his TV show, he and popular BBC presenter Jonathon Ross were having a bit of fun. Americans won’t recognize Jonathon Ross at all, so no point in trying to explain. Suffice it to say that Ross is one of the highest paid men on the BBC payroll for his work on both radio and TV.

Both men thought it would be a good idea to make cheeky phone calls to Andrew Sachs’s answering machine. Sachs is best known for his acting role on Fawlty Towers as the Spanish waiter. For those Americans who didn’t watch as much PBS as I did growing up, you probably don’t know who Sachs is, either.

Point is, Brand and Ross decided to joke that Brand had slept with Sachs’s granddaughter and told him just that. So, in a series of possibly-misguided comedy bits, the two men left several messages for Sachs claiming so, making it worse, and milking the moment for comedy.

Apparently that sort of thing doesn’t go over well with Brits.

Because of a joke phone call, Ross has been suspended for about three months without pay. That means he can’t do his radio show, and he can’t present–or “host” as we say in the States–on his or any other BBC television show. BBC News reports claim that this gaff could cost Ross about 1 million pounds.

Brand has quit his show as well. Damn, I was really starting to enjoy his podcasts.

Now the station director at Radio Two, Lesley Douglas, has quit her job over the incident.

So Britons, I want to know: what’s so wrong with that?

I realize it’s not technically polite to call an aging actor and make obscene claims on his answering machine. However, have you ever heard the raunchy talk on American morning radio shows?

Perhaps one of you could explain what in the world was so wrong with a crude joke? I mean, they may be rude, but Ross and Brand are certainly no Opie and Anthony.

UPDATE: Seems like we get away with much more on our airwaves here in America. Plus, we don’t have that English propensity for perpetual politeness. I guess our ability to spread out and have more personal space is a contributor to that, making us, in the minds of the space-cramped Europeans, rude, loud, and obnoxious. And so the cultural divide continues.

Blame it on Top Gear.

For those that don’t know, one of the funniest, coolest, and entertaining shows on television worldwide is a show out of the UK called Top Gear. Top Gear invovles three presenters, all former car journalists, talking cars. They perform crazy stunts, test hot cars, and have an in-house racing driver only known as The Stig. While this might not seem like the formula for great television, the formula is rife with laughs and chemistry. Yanks, of course, don’t know this show very well, but an American version of the show is coming, starring the very-funny Adam Carolla. The British version, however, has changed my life.

The lads of Top Gear

At one point, I could care less about cars. Today, I love talking and reading car news. My head whips around every time I see a beautiful, exotic car passing by. And, naturally, I’ve begun to love European cars all the more. As you can probably imagine, the middle-aged blokes on Top Gear don’t care much for American cars or, in the case of Jeremy Clarkson (the one in the brown jacket), Americans. A car, what was once just a tool, is now a passion. I need, NEED a sweet ride, and the Mini seems to fit the bill.

Unfortunately for us, my husband and I made a recent trip to a Mini dealership here in St. Louis. My husband is a large man. We figured that our love for the British racing car with character, the Mini Cooper or the turbo-charged Cooper S would be asuaged once we found that my husband couldn’t fit in one. Nope. He fit just fine with room to spare.

These cars may be boxy, but they are delight on the inside. The interior has quite a bit of space for a car that small. The racing pedigree gives a nice flavor to the interior, and the racing-inspired seats and dials make you feel like it’s the sixties and you’re racing around a twisty track, even if you’re taking the kids to school. Even the seemingly-annoying options are charming. Imagine if every Saturn came with the option of an American Flag roof. Minis, however, have the option of an American flag, the Union Jack, or a checkered pattern on your roof and rearview mirrors.

Unfortunately, all this soul does come at a bit of a price. Now a Mini isn’t terribly expensive compared to, say, a Bimmer. However to Cooper base model starts at around $19,000 while a Cooper S starts around $22,000, not including all the fun options. Compared to other compacts, thought, it’s a bit of a stretch. Plus, what fun is a racing car without all the options?

So, my friends, I’m back on my blog with this note: I’ve got a fancy new job in an office, and I vow to brown bag it until the day I can buy the perfect Mini for me. I accept contributions to my cause.

You can build your own Mini here.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of my favorite UFC fighters. He’s the guy who wears a huge, industrial-looking chain around his neck. He’s the one who beat up Chuck Liddell for the title win in UFC 71. He’s the guy who, up until his stupid loss to Forrest Griffin, was the UFC Light Heavyweight champ. He’s got one of the funniest mouths in MMA.

Well, turns out Quinton is a bad man indeed.

Yesterday, while driving around in a monster truck emblazoned with a Toyo Tires logo and his own picture, Quinton led Newport Beach police on a chase after a hit and run accident. Police arrested Rampage at gunpoint, as these shocking pictures from TMZ can attest. Apparently Jackson was driving erratically, swerving lanes and driving on the sidewalk.

Jackson was then taken to the hospital. Some say Rampage was visibly not well, and cops forced the champ to go to the hospital before taking further action.

Well, Jackson was picked up again today, supposedly for his erratic behavior. He is currently in the hospital. Now word yet on his condition or the cause of his erratic behavior. TMZ reports that friends have claimed that he’s not been well lately.

As a fan, I would never condone Jackson’s actions, but I do hope he gets well soon and seeks treatment for his problems.

Also, enjoy some of Rampage Jackson’s famous quotes (definitely R rated). He’s quite the dirty Yogi Berra, that guy.

First, the story was hostile. Belgian brewer InBev set its sites on the St. Louis-based brewing giant Anheuser-Busch and was not going to let go until AB was in its growing portfolio of beer brands. InBev already owns Anheuser-Busch Canada. It wanted AB so bad that they threatened a hostile takeover. First, they were going to pull an FDR and pack the board with InBev-friendly board members. Then they were going to take the case directly to shareholders in hopes that they could gain control of AB for a cut-rate price, but that wasn’t necessary and AB was sold to InBev for $52 billion dollars, making St. Louisans sad. Even Obama is sad about the sale.

Of course, InBev realizes that this is the best time to buy possible. The dollar is weak against the Euro, and AB is a $50 billion dolllar-plus bargain.

InBev claims that things in St. Louis won’t change much. Anheuser-Busch headquarters will still be housed in St. Louis, they say, and they will continue substantial charitable donations. Of course, millions of dollars float around St. Louis not-for-profits today, and there is no certainty that these charities will receive any money once the takeover is complete. My friend who works at a local art museum can’t count on having job next year if InBev does indeed pull their funding of local arts and charitable organizations.

AB has already had plans in place to cut costs. They’ve recently renegotiated benefits for employees to cut costs. They are no longer filling open positions and more people could be losing their jobs in the future.

So is this another nail in the coffin of the St. Louis economy? The automotive business has moved out, slowly but surely, as the local Chrysler plants have announced that they will be cutting thousands of good blue collar jobs. Now the monument of St. Louis corporations, Anheuser-Busch is no longer a St. Louis company and there’s no guarantees that AB will stay in this city, state, or even country.

I’m reminded of the eighties documentary Roger & Me, directed by Michael Moore. While St. Louis is no Flint, Michigan, we are certainly facing an uncertain economic future. On the plus side, with the weakening dollar, we become more attractive to foreign business. We have a large, qualified work force, ready and willing to take on the challanges of running a successful corporation or assembling complicated, high-tech products.

So is the InBev takeover really a nail in the coffin of the St. Louis economy? Well, that remains to be seen.

I’ve just learned the sad news that George Carlin passed away. He was 71.

Carlin had a chat with my husband backstage at a concert once. George was performing at our college’s performing arts theater. George was waiting around for his showtime and my husband was doing some security, a boring job that amounted to keeping people from coming in a certain door. My husband had his homework in hand, a book of short stories.

George, who couldn’t have been nicer, signed a record for our mutual friend, talked to my husband about literature, and reccommended a book that my husband loved, the short stories of Breece D’J Pancake. This was, apparently, one of George Carlin’s favorite authors.

Everyone else might remember George Carlin from the seven words you can’t say on TV or from his movie roles in Dogma, Jersey Girl or Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Still others will remember Carlin as a counterculture icon with an ascerbic tongue, a witty pen, and a knack for knowing what’s funny.

Words can’t describe how much the pioneering comic will be missed among fans of movie, comedy, or the counterculture.