In the 1973 Woody Allen-Diane Keaton film “Sleeper” a futuristic society discovered that the health foods of the 1960s and 70s were actually unhealthy and caused dis- ease, and that greasy fried foods and chocolate, as well as cholesterol and candy, were actually good for you.

Why does Baltimore not have a solid
round-the-clock radio news station
like Washington D.C.’s WTOP?
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering how far television ratings would nosedive for the NCAA hoop tournament if it weren’t for office pools and people everywhere wagering on the Final Four and eventual champion, it’s interesting to note the following:

  Speaking of ratings, you have to wonder whether CNN will learn something from the fact its ratings have zoomed back into respectability during coverage of the International story of the missing jetliner Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

With in-depth reporting on the mysterious disappearance on March 8th of the flight with 239 people on board, viewership has gone up.

The pioneering all-news cable network was founded as a hard-news station. But in recent years, caught up in the ratings competition between the conservative propaganda of Fox News and the liberal dogma of MSNBC, CNN has gotten away from its mission of providing news.

CNN is at its best when it sheds its opinion-based feature-entertainment prime-time focus and goes back to comprehensive reporting on national and International news.

  Why doesn’t Baltimore have an all-day all-news radio station like Washington’s WTOP? While WNEW (99.1FM), an all-headline type news station focused mostly on Washington, is trying to expand into the Baltimore market, it’s still more of a traffic-weather reporting outlet for the nation’s capital.

WTOP does address traffic and weather but it also blends in news coverage with a style that allows depth. If you listen for more than half an hour you will hear different features and other reports instead of nothing but repetition and updates.

AN EXCELLENT DRIVE-TIME NEWS PROGRAM

WBAL (1090AM) has an excellent afternoon drive-time news program from 3 to 6 p.m. but has shifted away from news in the morning to more variety and entertainment.

Most cities have a designated news station. Boston’s WBZ, which is all-news from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., is usually a ratings leader throughout New England. New York, with WINS and WCBS, has two all-news stations. Philadelphia has one. What’s holding Baltimore back?

  Give the cable TV networks — like USA, TNT, AMC, HBO and Showtime, to name a few — credit for developing an impressive enough lineup of original programming to make the traditional television networks better.

Competition can bring out the best, and with the exception of the stupid and mindless “reality” shows, this is one of the better years for a higher level of quality on CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox.

  Why does anyone take seriously everything political analysts come up with when they dissect election prospects and campaigns? One of the most frequent observations you hear delivered about Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor is that he needs to define his vision for Maryland and show he is not just following in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s footsteps.

Nothing in fact could be further from the truth.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (blue polo shirt, center) and his running mate, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman (red shirt, center) make splash at 37th annual Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake last year at Crisfield, surrounded by campaign aides holding up Brown-Ulman lawn signs.  State Attorney General Doug Gans- ler, who is running against Brown for governor, noted that numer- ous campaign signs for the lieutenant governor’s gubernatorial candidacy were illegally displayed on the public highway leading into Crisfield that summer day. (VoB File Photo/Veronica Piskor)

If Brown wins his party’s nomination and goes on to be elected governor, it will be because enough people believe he is going to maintain O’Malley’s policies and that he shares his liberal vision.

While O’Malley has his share of critics, and even though some of his supporters are less than enamored with his condescending, preachy style, he would easily win a third term if he could run again in this heavily liberal Democratic state.

Brown’s fat lead over Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is because he has the backing of O’Malley’s well-oiled Democratic party machine and he would be a fool to tamper with what is working.

  When the candidates for governor participate in their televised debates, wouldn’t it be a nice change of pace if the moderator had the poise, confidence and authority to demand answers instead of allowing the candidates to avoid questions and issues by stubbornly sticking to their talking points?

  While there’s support in the General Assembly to raise the legal speed limit on certain Maryland highways from 65 mph to 70, it’s a horrendous idea.

The justification offered of, “Well, everyone is driving 70 anyway” would be laughable if the issue weren’t such a serious matter of safety. Using that type of reasoning, the increase to 70 will mean many drivers will go 75 and 80.

With the sloppy and careless driving habits so many people exhibit, is giving license to drive at more dangerous speeds a sensible proposal? Another question is, why put something into law that’s going to decrease fuel efficiency at a time when we are trying to conserve energy?

  Two new newspaper advertising “innovations” that bug me are those wrappers that get put over the front page and the sticker ads that are placed over the headlines of the lede story. My way of combating such trashy commercialism is to never buy any product or service that advertises this way.

  With the recent results publicized from a review of 72 studies revealing that the link between fats and heart disease is not a certainty, one wonders if stock prices for fast-food eatery chains will rise.

GREASY CHEESEBURGERS AND HEAVY FRIES

If greasy jumbo cheeseburgers and heavy fries don’t contribute to health issues, what will be left to qualify as junk food?

If this sort of thing keeps up in our crazy world, the next thing we’ll be hearing is that a vegetarian diet causes obesity.

  The hiring of Phil Jackson by the Knicks as CEO to restore the floundering New York NBA franchise to its Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Red Holtzman glory days, is a big sports story. However, if he succeeds and the Knicks some day square off against the Lakers in the NBA finals, there will be an even more interesting aspect to the story.

Jeanie Buss, Jackson’s fiancé, is president and part-owner of the Los Angeles team. This is a pretty uncommon ownership-management situation in the world of professional sports.

There are plenty of examples of coaches who are brothers facing each other as rivals in big games. This occurs every time the Ravens and 49ers meet with John and Jim Harbaugh on the coaching sidelines.

But as far as executive management goes, this is very rare.

For instance, what would the reaction be among Baltimore fans if the Ravens and arch-rival Steelers were suddenly being run by owners and front-office people who were from the same family?
 
davidmaril@hermanmaril.com
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
EDITOR’S NOTE:  In the presidential campaign of 2000, Vice President Al Gore sought to separate himself completely from the Clinton Administration, to the extent that he refused repeated offers of campaign help and advice from outgoing President Bill Clinton, who was still popular despite his earlier impeachment and affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gore lost the narrowest election ever to George W. Bush.
 
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