Still Here

Yeah, I know, almost a week since my last post. Patience, friends! I have a few posts in the "almost ready to go" bin. Stay tuned!

Ya Gotta Believe! Steve LeVeille is Coming Home!

For those who fear their voices are never heard; for those who wonder, "What can I, as one person, do to affect my world?"; for those who love local AM overnight talk radio; for all of you, I am pleased to pass along some fantastic news:

WBZ 1030AM in Boston heard us! Steve LeVeille will be back on the air!

The news was announced today that LeVeille and Lovell Dyett with both be returning to the Boston airwaves this weekend, with Dyett's return in the Sunday morning 4:30-5:00AM slot, and LeVeille returning Monday night in his old midnight-5:00AM slot!

If you are unable to tune into WBZ over the airwaves, the station provides live streaming audio over their website, www.WBZ1030.com!

Door-to-Door Encyclopedia Salesmen Are OK, Though

Saw this post at Burbia.com, and laughed out loud. Jerry, it seems, has been a little less than neighborly. Follow the link to see a close up on the fine print. Classic stuff!

Would YOU Take a $4,000,000 Raise?

The Phillies' website is reporting that first-baseman Ryan Howard is seeking $18 million for 2009 in arbitration. The club has supposedly offered Howard $14 million, which is a $4 million raise from 2008.

The question that GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. needs to answer is how valuable is Howard's overall contribution to the club? Last year, Howard played the first half of the year like he was Dave Kingman - hitting around .220 and striking out a whole lot, with some towering, majestic home runs strewn among the mediocrity. The second half he came back and began playing like the Ryan Howard who should have been paid $10 million, culminating in a .281 average over the last 10 games of the season, pulling his overall average up to .251 for the year, to go with 48 home runs and and 146 RBIs.

Those power numbers are right in line with past seasons (47 HR, 136 RBI in '07; 58 HR, 149 RBI in '06), but his batting average has tumbled from .313 two years ago. Add to that the fact that his defense is iffy at best, and do you really have an $18 million player?

I happen to like Ryan Howard, and I'd like nothing more than to see him stay with the Phils. So far, the club has come to arbitration-avoiding deals with Cole Hamels, Greg Dobbs, Ryan Madson and Shane Victorino. Can they bridge the $4 million gap with Howard before arbitration? Better question: should they?

Another Blow Against Local AM Radio

The World of Isaac is reporting that Detroit station WDFN 1130-AM in Detroit, MI will have switched to an all-syndicated content station as of 3:00PM today. All local shows cancelled, all local talent let go.

Sad days.

#44

The pomp and circumstance has not yet begun to wind down in Washington DC tonight. There are balls to be attended, more speeches to be made, and celebrations of what many are hoping will be a new, better chapter for our country. Once the party is over, however, the hard work begins.

As I noted during this morning's live blog (thank you again to those who were here), I did not vote for Barack Obama. I happen not to agree with his politics. While I think all Americans want to see the same ends achieved, I personally don't believe the means by which Mr. Obama seeks to achieve those ends are the proper way to go. Still, I want to see President Obama succeed. I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong, for if I am, we as a nation will be in a much better place.

President Obama is outstanding when it comes to delivering speeches full of sweeping emotion and go-get-em attitude. His "Yes we can!" slogan and his calls for "hope and change" are straight out of the Positive Affirmation playbook, and his speech today fell right in line with that attitude. To hear him speak today and not be caught up in the enthusiasm would have been impossible. To hear him speak today and not ask "How can I help President Obama rebuild this country?" would have been unthinkable. And, as I noted earlier today, that speech was pitch-perfect as far as what he needed to say...today.

Where Mr. Obama has always fallen short, in my eyes, is when it comes time to get to the detail. How, exactly, are we going to face the challenges before us? What, precisely, is the Obama Administration going to do to bring about the change and maintain the hope that he has talked about for these many months? It's great to shout to the rooftops that the old internal political divisions that have sometimes cuffed our hands are obsolete, but what does President Obama do when those obsolete divsions inevitably cuff his hands from the things he wants to accomplish? Is he prepared for those battles?

I do not envy President Obama the job he has begun today, and I hope that he does have a few tricks up his sleeve for when the going gets tougher, because it will. And it will be in those toughest of situations that we will learn whether this change is one for the better, or whether we have once again fallen for the old "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" routine.

Live Blog: Inauguration of Barack Obama

Inauguration Day Live!

I will be live-blogging during Tuesday's historic Inauguration. I have chosen Cover It Live as the on-screen interface to use, as it will allow real-time interaction and conversation from you, the reader. I will have the Hulu live feed on the site as well.

The live-blog session here will kick off at 11:30AM EST; our 44th president, Barack Obama, is scheduled to take the Oath of Office at noon.

I hope you'll join me!

Cole Hamels - No Arbitration!

Happy news for my beloved World Champion Philadelphia Phillies: the Phillies' website announced today that pitching ace Cole Hamels has signed a three-year, $20.5 million contract with the club! Hamels was one of seven Phils who might possibly go to arbitration this year. Agreeing to this contract avoids arbitration in Hamel's case, and secures both a highly valuable part of the 2008 Championship Team and one of the flat-out best young starting pitchers in the Major Leagues today. Hamels performance in last year's post-season was phenomenal, and I, as a life-long Phillies fan who has seen a lot of bad pitching from this club over the years, am very glad to see this deal get done!

With the game's finest pinch hitter Greg Dobbs recently signing a two-year deal, and the addition of Raul Ibanez to the outfield, the 2009 team is starting to take shape. How the Phils will fair in '09 may rest, however, with the six remaining players eligible for arbitration: Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, Chad Durbin and Joe Blanton. Howard, of course, is the big question-mark, but the Phils would not have been in the post-season if not for the strong contributions of the other five names on that list.

LeVeille Update

First of all, thank you to those of you who commented on the post I wrote last week regarding Steve LeVeille being taken off the air. I am so pleased to hear other voices joining the chorus asking for his return. Please, keep the comments coming!

That post has generated a tremendous amount of traffic for this blog, in large part because of two sites which linked to it: The Boston Radio Blog and Radio-Info.com both picked up the post and brought quite a few new readers my way. A huge thank you to those who linked, and a warm welcome to those who stopped by to take a look. I do hope you'll stay and become regulars!

While there hasn't been anything to report regarding Steve LeVeille's status, the Boston Globe is reporting that Lovell Dyett, another former WBZ on-air personality who was summarily laid off in similar fashion and at the same time as LeVeille, has been meeting with WBZ management to discuss a return to the air. Could this be the first sign that WBZ is realizing the tremendous mistake they've made by selling the station's soul to the CBS Network? Keep fingers crossed!