Baseball Play-by-Play: I am very happy for Cory Provus, who is leaving us after three seasons to become the lead play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Twins. Together with our partners at the Milwaukee Brewers, we'll find someone who is another great fit. Our track record is pretty good: former WTMJ sports announcers now handle play by play for the Cubs (Pat Hughes and Len Kasper), the Braves (Jim Powell) and now the Twins (Cory Provus).
By the way, as was the case three years ago, we are getting lots of applications for the Brewers play-by-play job. I think it's important to remind people that being a baseball announcer is a unique talent. We've received tapes from people who have never called a game in their life (other than in their living room) who think they're up to the task. I never want to dissuade people from following their dreams, but just because you can do a mediocre (or even good) imitation of Bob Uecker's home run call doesn't mean you are ready to handle a season's worth of baseball announcing at the major league level.
Playboy Club: I'm still getting e-mails from people demanding that NBC cancel "The Playboy Club". It was actually canceled two months ago due to low ratings. I also received one note from someone requesting that the show be reinstated. So, the e-mail tally is roughly 15,000 to 1.
I-Pad Giveaway: I hope you've logged on to Facebook to enter our iPad giveaway. Simply enter every day, then watch our 10 o'clock news to see if you've won (http://www.facebook.com/todaystmj4). You don't have to watch to win, but it's our way of thanking people for checking out our web site, our Facebook page, and watching our newscasts. And for the couple of critics who think this is all about promoting our station, here's a message for you: yes, we actively promote our station. I don't know a successful business anywhere that doesn't reach out to its customers (or in this case, viewers). At the end of the day, the audience decides how successful we are and I'm more than happy to invite them to watch and listen to all our stations.
A Very Long Walk: Our FM station (94.5 Lake FM) is doing something very creative for a good cause: we are walking from our studios all the way to Lambeau Field! Follow 94.5 Lake FM's J. Pat Miller as he gets ready to help feed the hungry at www.945lakefm.com.
As always, I appreciate your questions, comments, compliments and criticisms.
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