Kalamazoo?!?!?!
After our train from Chicago left Kalamazoo today, the conductor asked, “Did you see her? The girl from ‘Blossom’?” Apparently, we’d been sitting just a few feet from where Mayim Bialik was filming a movie called “Kalamazoo?” (The question mark is part of the title - that’s right, Adult. fans.)
This seemed like the kind of story that Amtrak employees might make up to pass the time on an hour-delayed train, but it turns out that there actually is such a movie in the works and it actually is being shot on location in Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo Gazette describes the plot thus: “[T]hree friends named Carol, Maggie and Joan return for a reunion only to find that a time capsule that contains their past dreams will be revealed. To avoid embarrassment, they set out to destroy its contents. Along the way, their deceased grandmothers exert an otherworldly influence on them.”
Your deceased grandmother points to your time capsule wherein lie your dreams of a baby.
posted by ilya on July 15th, 2004 at 9:43 pmIlya’s being paid by the American Psychiatric Association to provide examples of Axis I, and perhaps Axis II, DSM diagnoses.
posted by Anna on July 15th, 2004 at 10:52 pmI always thought Six was kinda hot.
posted by Brandon on July 16th, 2004 at 12:11 amNice to see that Blossom has rebounded from the lesbian porn to the wonderful world of B movies.
posted by js on July 16th, 2004 at 10:21 amwow, Blossom did lesbian porn??
posted by Alex on July 16th, 2004 at 1:21 pmHey, I think you should take a look at the Amtrak listing on “Stateside” — this past Monday. Why is it that you don’t blast that horrible show? TV and newspapers are fair game, why not radio? I’ve only seen two references to NPR on your site.
And oh, looks like “Stateside” is being cut to just 1 day a week starting next week.
Michigan Radio personifies A^2 smugness with itself. I invite you to take a look:
posted by Bill on July 16th, 2004 at 6:22 pmhttp://www.michiganradio.org/
Anna does not comprehend my metaphor?
Anna is lacking significant information.
posted by ilya on July 16th, 2004 at 7:01 pmBah, I don’t find Michigan Radio any more smug than any NPR station, really. WEMU and WDET are pretty similar (albeit less talk, more music).
posted by Brandon on July 16th, 2004 at 7:08 pmIlya, darling, Anna understands you perfectly. Just stand still and be a dear while these handsome young men in their clean white coats give you the injection that will make you feel so nice. Can you do that for me, love?
posted by Anna on July 17th, 2004 at 12:03 amYes, maybe but Michigan Radio doesn’t do *anything* but pump through other shows — especially now that “Stateside” is over. I looked at the U of M salary data (posted earlier on this blog) and wow — 1.3 million they pay those folks! The U. only forks over 300K, so they take a $1 million from the listeners to pay themselves for pumping through shows from other places and giving us local weather reports. Geez!
posted by Bill on July 17th, 2004 at 1:07 amI actually think that public radio in Ann Arbor is quite good. I’d even say it’s better here than in Pittsburgh, but I’m afraid that if I did Nick would challenge me to a duel.
Considering that payroll tax, benefits, unemployment insurance, etc. add approximately 30-35% to your salaries, 1.3 million dollars is, if you’re lucky, a FTE staff of about 18 people. That’s not unreasonable.
posted by Alex on July 17th, 2004 at 8:11 amAnna understands squat-point-zilch but tries hard to trivialize Ilya.
Ilya writes of a grandmother and her great grandchild. They are together now.
posted by ilya on July 17th, 2004 at 8:46 pmThe train station there has a sign which says “Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo”.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on July 17th, 2004 at 10:26 pmI want my 105.1 Classical Music station back, dammit!!!!!
WEMU is great if you like jazz. WUOM is great if you like talk radio shows. But where is the classical? I have to listen to WKAR if I want that.
GRRRRRRR…
posted by Kozzie on July 17th, 2004 at 10:43 pmNo pistols at dawn for us, Alex - Pittsburgh public radio is average (although Pitt and CMU student radio are much better than U-M’s) - and I honestly haven’t listened to pr in AA often enough to have a real opinion.
posted by Nick on July 19th, 2004 at 9:03 amoh yeah, RCT rules. Even if they did flunk me on the DJ test.
posted by Alex on July 19th, 2004 at 10:24 amEh. ‘CBN is probably one of the best student run stations in the country, mostly due to its incredible library and longstanding freeform commitment.
posted by js on July 19th, 2004 at 11:17 amAnd yes, Alex, Mayim Bialik had some unwanted internet celebrity a while ago after someone released a tape of her in hot lesbian action.
Sources close to Joey Lawrence reportedly said “Whoa.”
(As for Pittsburgh, having been through there this weekend, I was amused to see strip clubs downtown, and loved the Church brewery, which is what should happen to the Greek Orthodox place on Main now that it’s closing up…)
js
Hi Alex,
Sorry to disagree with you, but the 30-35% is in *addition* to the $1.3 million. It’s disgraceful — and you don’t need 18 people just to pump through NPR and PRI shows. KUNC in Colorado does just fine with 14 people with a lot smaller budget (and without a University backing them any more). Plus, at Michigan Radio there’s a hearty difference between what men make versus women for the same job.
posted by Bill on July 19th, 2004 at 5:48 pmHi Bill,
You obviously have way more information about the particulars of how Michigan Radio operates. I know nothing about 1)how they stack up against other radio stations (or what the cost of living is for the folks at KUNC), 2)how many employees they have, or 3)what their internal payment policies are. What I do know is that I wouldn’t want to be without public radio where I live, and running a radio station takes more than a trained monkey flipping switches in a bare room. Considering that Michigan Radio serves Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Detroit, Flint, and Lansing, a $1.3 million payroll doesn’t seem unreasonable. Even if they do “just pump through NPR and PRI shows.”
posted by Alex on July 19th, 2004 at 8:27 pmUnless I’m mistaken, Michigan Public Radio serves the entire state, broadcasting from different towers in different locations, but mostly staffed by the people in Ann Arbor. I’m amazed that salaries are as little as 1.3 Milliion, honestly.
I’ve lived in many places, and MI public radio is by far the best NPR station, second only to WBUR in Boston (and I’d say “rivaling”). I still listen to it online from 1,000 miles away (and yes, I donate).
Many of the folks currently working at the Michigan Radio are responsible for completely revamping and turning it around. It went from a middling-average (to poor) station to a really good one. They don’t just pump in programs, they design the schedule, and are responsible for raising the money to pay for the programming (which accounts for a huge part of the budget). I think they do an amazing job and earn their salaries. I can’t help but wonder what kind of personal bone to pick Bill has to pick on NPR out of the so, so, so many overpaid administrators and staff at UM.
posted by Anna on July 20th, 2004 at 11:40 amI still prefer WEMU to the Michigan Radio Network. But different strokes, I guess…:)
posted by Kozzie on July 20th, 2004 at 5:02 pm