Star Trekking - The Secret Hideout Years

 

I had hoped today's Star Trekking post would be of a more celebratory nature as I posted about this remarkable era of peak Star Trek creativity.

But I am writing this post under a shadow, a shadow of doubt, of uncertainty and regret. 

Last week, Paramount announced that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy would NOT be renewed after it's 2nd season.  A 2nd season that has been shot and according to scuttlebutt from series insiders ends on a cliffhanger.  

While we face the prospect of life in Star Trek's 32nd century may end unresolved, there is the matter of life in Star Trek's 23rd century with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds coming to end after it's 4th and 5th seasons, seasons that have been shot and completed.  

For the first time 2017, there is no Star Trek project happening right now.

2017 was when Alex Kurtzman and his production company Secret Hideout took the reins of the Star Trek franchise and gave us a lot of new Treks to go on.

2017–2024 Star Trek: Discovery

This show did not get off to a good start.  What we got was another goddam prequel nobody wanted, redesigned Klingons that nobody liked and a dark grim tone that antiethical to what Star Trek was all about.

The show improved a bit with Anson Mount's charming Capt.Christoper Pike taking command in season 2 but it was the jump to the 32nd century in season 3 where Discovery really began to shine and it became to my way of thinking the epitome of what Star Trek is all about: knowledge over power, wisdom over force, compassion over hate. 

Unfortunately, the damage done by the 1st season lingered. 

And sadly trolls were out in force for a show that put the focus on a capable black woman, especially when she made it to the captain's chair.

Purveyors of hate will be a constant scourge throughout this era of Star Trek. 

2018–2020 Star Trek: Short Treks

This project of short stories really opened up the world of Star Trek to new possibilities.

And haters are gonna hate.  "The Trouble with Edward" where tribbles overwhelm a starship is too silly and doesn't belong in Star Trek. Well, screw you! I thought it was a lot of fun and it's my 2nd favorite short trek.

My favorite is "Q&A" which is just Spock (Ethan Peck) and Lt. Una/Number One (Rebecca Romijn) getting stuck in a turbolift and have to talk to each other. 

2020–2023 Star Trek: Picard

OK, this is more like it with a return to "present" of the Star Trek universe and following up on Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

Patrick Stewart agreed to return to the role of Jean-Luc Picard on the understanding this would not just be some kind of nostalgic Next Gen reboot. And I get where he was coming from. But fans wanted some hooks into our Next Gen history.

Season 1 gave us fans some Next Gen era love with the return of Wil Riker, Deanna Troi and from Star Trek: Voyager, the return of Seven of Nine as a space pirate.

Season 2 was a travesty.  'Nuff said. 

Season 3 went full in on nostalgia including a return of the freaking Enterprise 1701-D.  The finale of season 3 was a genuine thrill ride and set the stage for continuing adventures.  

That we may not get. Despite fan demand for a Star Trek: Legacy series, nothing has come of it.  (And may not will but that's for the end of the post.)  

2020–2024 Star Trek: Lower Decks

Yeah, this was kind of a tough sell with a hyperkinetic animated comedy which kind of grated on my nerves but as the seasons progressed, I came to appreciate how much this show was a heartfelt love letter to the fans. 

And it helped that the hyperactive nature of season 1 did settle down a bit to provide for nuanced character driven stories.  

2021–2024 Star Trek: Prodigy

As a production done to present Star Trek to the Nickelodeon audience, this show was definitely not made with me in mind. But over time the annoying kid characters became less annoying and the connections to larger Star Trek lore made this a fundamentally significant show.

A sign of Paramount's lack of respect for the franchise, they cancelled Prodigy after one season with NO plans to release the 2nd completed season. Netflix picked up the show and released the 2nd season. 

This may be a harbinger for the future but again, that's for the end of the post.    

2022–2027 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

After Anson Mount's very charming turn as Capt. Christopher Pike in season 2 of Discovery with brief but enticing appearances of Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Spock, we HAD to have more. 

OK, haters, we DARE you to hate on this one, original recipe Enterprise adventures exploring...well, you know, it's right there in the title. 

Hey, trolls! It's a WHITE MAN in the captain's chair. Are you happy now? 

Even though the show is designed to appeal to classic Trek tropes, SNW has pushed some boundaries: 

Spock has a girlfriend and it's Nurse Christine Chapel? 

Not all challenges to the Star Trek: The Original Series status quo have worked. Yeah, I'm talking about the Gorn.   

2025         Star Trek: Section 31

The premise of the project: we have Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh under contract to do a Star Trek thing?  So let's do a Star Trek thing.

Of all the projects made in the Secret Hideout era, this movie is the only one I would write off as a complete misfire.  

2026–2027 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

We're jumping back to the 32nd century with perhaps Secret Hideout's most daring Star Trek concept about young people in space school.  Can we do any episode around a prank war run amuck? Yes, we can!

Boy were the trolls out in force for this one with so much for offended white boys to rail against.

Another damn Trek show with a woman in charge?

And a gay Klingon? 

And a big bad in Nus Braka who was clearly a repudiation of Donald Trump?

Paramount/Skydance owner David Ellison saw his best bro was being made fun of and naturally Starffleet Academy had to die.

As I wrote last week, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was not created with me in mind (but I enjoyed it anyway) but with an eye on the next generation of Star Trek fans.  

In his Dropping Names podcast, Jonathan Frakes chatted with screenwriter John Logan about the importance of bringing Star Trek to a new, young audience.

By the way, Dropping Names with Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner is my current favorite podcast.

With Alex Kurtman's contract with Paramount to produce Star Trek ending this year. the franchise stands at a crucial crossroads.

With a Trump supporting executive in charge of the studio, a progressive thing like Star Trek may not be a priority.

And to the trolls and haters, Star Trek has ALWAYS been progressive. No less than Gene Roddenberry envisioned a future that repudiates hate and ignorance and supported those three words you hate so much, diversity, equity and inclusion.

She may have been just answering the damn phone in a mini-skirt but Roddenbery put a black woman on the bridge when the network didn't want her there.  

As much as you may want to remember Capt.Kirk as some kind of kick ass man of action, time and time again Kirk turned to curiosity and compassion as guiding principles.  

If you want a show that promotes "might makes right", watch Pete Hegseth's press conferences.  That attitude was never what Star Trek was about in the 1960's and it's sure as hell not what it's about now.  

Another factor working against Star Trek is Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Why hassle with Star Trek when you're taking over a studio that has access to Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and DC Comics?  

Whatever the future may bring, I will assess IMHO that Alex Kurtxman's Secret Hideout era has been a success with me. Not all projects have landed as well as I would've hoped but I appreciate they were there to actually try and keep Star Trek fresh and relevant. 

It was an era that built up on the foundations of the past while expanding the mythos outward and forward.  There were steps that were stumbles but mostly those were surpassed by confident strides to something new and interesting.  

The odds seem against it at the moment, I must confess, but I do hope Star Trek has a strong future and I would not object if Kurtzman and company continue to guide it.  

Movie Time Goes Bananas

 Instead of a Movie Time post, we've got....

...we've got Banana Time.

So what happened? 

Hell if I know.

I had my laptop perched on my lap while watching the Duke/St. John's basketball game and I was heading down the homestretch on a Movie Time blog post about a movie that was released March 27, 1937 called The King and the Chorus Girl.

To be honest with you, I saw this movie about a year ago on TCM and I was struggling to remember exactly what the hell went down.

There was a king.

And a chorus girl.

That much I knew.

Oh, and the screenplay was by Groucho Marx.

Yeah, that Groucho Marx.

Despite writing from one of the Marx Brothers, I recalled the movie wasn't really that funny or good.

But damn it, I was getting a blog post out of it.

But while typing, I notice my screen was blank. 

All the text I was writing as well as pictures and graphics were gone. 

I have no idea what key stroke I made to cause that to happen and no efforts on my part were successful in retrieving anything I had created.

Apparently typing on my laptop on top of my lap was a bad idea.

Hey, what happened with the Duke/St. John's game?

<INSERT SCORE HERE>.

...

Psst!  Hey....  

It still says....

<INSERT SCORE HERE>

....

Whoops! Sorry.

After putting me through 2+ hours of this is too damn close, Duke pulled out the win over St. John's, 80-75.

So Duke gets to play another day.

And I have to continue "caring" about sports.  

Your Friday Video Link: Casually Comics

My favorite You Tube resource for all things comic books is Sasha Wood and Casually Comics.   

Her particular interest  in silver and bronze age comics and the bizarre minutae found in those classic stories makes for some interesting and funny analysis of this beloved medium.

Your Friday Video Link post today spotlights Sasha's take on some specific oddball topics.

Like Cyclops of the X-Men using his deadly dreadful powers to cut cake! 

What was Hawkeye's purpose in the Avengers?

Apparently to bitch at Captain America every damn minute. Sasha explores what that's like. 

Over at DC, Sasha examines one of Batman's most unusual villains, the Eraser.

Click here for her earlier Eraser video .

Sasha Wood pokes around at the first adventure of the Elongated Man as the newest member of the Justive League of America. The JLA vs. creatures made of .... putty! 

One last video where Sasha has a personal annoucement.  

So comic book fans do have sex! So there! 

Congratulations, Sasha! 

Sam Kieth

I was saddened to hear that artist Sam Kieth passed away last week.  He was 63 years old.   

I'm gonna be 63 this April so when someone my own age dies, well, it does make you think.

Sam Kieth (and no that is not a typo, the "I" does come before the "E") drew the first 5 issues of Neil Gaiman's Sandman.  

I'm not sure why Sam Kieth was only on Sandman for so short a time but I imagine the rigors of producing this detailed artwork on a monthly basis may have been a bit much.

But those 5 issues made quite an impression and set the tone for all the other artists who followed him. 

Art from Sandman#4

Sam produced art for Batman including several covers and some interior art.

Sam Kieth also brought this distinctive style to Marvel Comics, illustrating Wolverine. 

Sam's most notable work on his creator owned series in produced for Image Comics, The Maxx  which was also turned into an animated series that ran on MTV.

Maxx is a vagrant, a "homeless man living in a box" who is helped by a social worker named Julie.

In an alternate reality, Maxx has a monstrous powerful form where he serves as protector of another version of Julie known as the Leopard Queen.

Mike Sterling described the series as "a tale about trauma, abuse, mental health, and the very nature of imagination and reality. It was weird, it was funny, it was emotional, and it was unique." 

Unique is a most apropos word for Sam Kieth's body of work. 

Sam had Lewy body dementia and it was complications from this disease that took his life on March 15th. 

And the condition also silenced an incredible talent.

God bless you, Sam Kieth, and rest in peace. 

Comic Books From March 1976

It's time for another installment of my bi-monthly look back at comic books I bought 50 years ago.

What the hell did I buy off the ol' spinner rack in March of 1976?

Not much it seems.

When I was a kid, my family was poor and there wasn't always a lot of spare change for anything resembling an allowance.

So I reckon March of 1976 was especially lean in the way of spare change.

Still, I manage to scrunge up some coin from somewhere and bought a few books that month.

Let's start with a really good one: Superman#300.  

Bob Oskner really steps up with a very powerful cover for this anniversary issue.

After producing the 4 issue identity crisis storyline, writers Cary Bates and Elliott S! Maggin and artists Curt Swan and Bob Oskner serve up a speculative tale called "Superman 2001". 

As it said on the cover, what if Kal-El's rocket land on Earth today and grew up to become Superman in the future world of 2001? 

Back in the 1960's, editor Mort Weisenger frequently turned to "imaginary tales" to spin stories told outside of regular continuity.  This was the first time editor Julius Schwartz turned to this storytelling device since taking over as Superman editor. 

Bates, Maggin, Swan and Oskner come together one more time to craft this story of not only shifting the time of baby Kal-El's arrival on Earth  to the present but also what would happen if he were raised not by an earnest couple on a farm but as a child of a government agency.  

He adopts the mantle of "Skyboy" to stop the world from nuclear self destruction and also becomes "Clark Kent" in the aftermath of personal tragedy.

Clark adopts the red and blue uniform once more to save the Earth from himself and becomes Superman.

This was before the comics industry began to jack up the page count and thus the cover price for anniversary issues. Superman#300 did get a few extra pages of story at the expense of the letter column.  

Justice League of America #131 brings us a god awful cover by Ernie Chan.

Gerry Conway is back at the typewriter joining regular artists Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughin for "The Beasts Who Thought Like Men", a tale I am having a really hard time remembering what the hell happened. 

I should cut myself some slack, I suppose. It has been 50 years.

So what the hell is going on here? A plague is ravaging the Earth causing humans to act like animals and animals to gain human intelligence.  The culprit?  A sonic code on credit cards designed to replace currency.  

The lesson from 1976? Credits cards make you crazy. Stick to old fashion cash! 

Another Ernie Chan production for the cover of The Flash#242. I will concede this cover is not all that bad.  Not all that good either but not... you know what? It's bad. 

"The Charge of the Electric Gang" Is by the regular creative team of Cary Bates, Irv Novick and Frank McLaughin and clocks in at 10 pages.  Yep, it's the Flash's own book and he only gets 10 pages. He had to share the other 7 pages with Green Lantern.  

While the Flash tries to cope with three electricity-wielding crooks, the Rogues' Gallery gathers to mourn the death of one of its members.

GL was in the middle of the Ravegers of Qys storyline by Denny O'Neil, Mike Grell and Tex Blaisdell.   

I should note that after DC raised the cover prices from 25 cents to 30 cents, the story page content dropped from 18 pages to 17 pages. 

For Superboy#217, we get a pair of tales from writer Jim Shooter and artist Mike Grell.  

"The Charge of the Doomed Legionnaires" kicks things off as 

Brainiac 5 plays a "chess game" for keeps against Marshal Lorca of the Khunds, with the Legion members as his game pieces.

The Khunds were to the Legion what the Klingons were to Star Trek.  

Is it true that the explosion on the final page of the story spells out "Holy cow! Dig the fireworks!"?

Yes, it's true! 

The lead story takes up 11 pages while the 6 page back up is a rare in his own book solo outing for the Boy of Steel, "Future Shock For Superboy".  

We get the introduction of Laurel Kent. And a display for Mike Grell's penchant for designing women with as little clothing as possible.

Is Laurel supposed to look like Lois Lane? Yeah, I believe that was the point.  

World's Finest Comics #238 has an Ernie Chan/John Calnan cover for another installment of writer Bob Haney's trippy Super Sons stories.

"The Angel with a Dirty Name" is drawn by Dick Dillin and John Calnan.  And it's another one of Bob Haney's trippy tales of the Super Sons.  

Clark Kent Jr. and Bruce Wayne Jr. are still doing their version of Easy Rider when they happen across a darling damsel in distress named Dora.

Through some machinations of plot, she manipulates the duo into her helping her to carry out an escape from a local prison.

The escapee? Lex Luthor, evil scientist, Superman nemesis and Dora's dear devoted dad.

The escape goes from the walls of a prison into.... OUTER SPACE! 

To the planet Lexor where Lex Luthori is their hero.

And they need a hero real bad! 

Seems Lexor is being devastated by a plague turning the populace into large blobs.

I bought so few comics in March 1976 and this one made the cut?  Really?!?

Also making the cut of this month's slim pickings was Action Comics #460  which gave us a pair of Superman tales under a Bob Oskner cover.  

"Superman, You'll Be the Death of Me Yet" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell.  

Karb-Brak is an alien from Andromeda who has assumed human form to live on Earth, the only world that can cure him of a fatal disease.

Yikes! Superman's presence causes Karb-Brak to assume his alien form again and his illness kicks in and resuming killing him.  

To survive, Superman must die!

And here's a fun twist: Karb-Brak thinks Superman's secret ID is  Steve Lombard?  That blowhard dope? 

Elliot S. Maggin and Kurt Schaffenberger collaborae on "Welcome Home to Mxyzpolis" with a spotlight on Superman's 5th dimensional imp nemesis. 

For reasons I cannot surmise or recall, I did not buy Batman or Detective Comics that month.

And that is that for my flashback to the comics I bought 50 years ago in March 1976! 

More comic book stuff later today with a tribute to the late Sam Kieth and in tomorrow's Your Friday Video Link.

2 Guys Named Chris

 This blog post will go live at 5 AM.

One hour from now, the radio landscape of the Greensboro Triad area will fundementally change.

Today is the last day on the air for Chris Demm at WKRR 92.3 FM, Rock 92.

One half of the iconic radio duo known as the 2 Guys Named Chris has decided to call it a day and retire after 3 decades at Rock 92.

Chris Demm publicly announced his retirement 2 months ago although Chris Kelly said Demm has told of his plans months before.

It is a rare thing for a radio disc jockey to go out on their own terms.  Most radio careers end with a DJ signing off with a "see you tomorrow", then getting called into the program director's office and escorted out the door. 

Working in radio has never been an easy business. And it's less so now if an industry that has been rocked by technological changes and cultural shifts.   

It was recently announced that CBS News Radio, in operation for nearly a century, will cease to be as of May 22, 2026.  This cancellation is being led by the Trump aligned CBS news director Bari Weiss and the Trump supporting bean counters at Paramount/Skydance. 

Casting this decision as some kind of politically partisan action is tempting but the reality is radio ain't what it used to be. Geez, I don't think I realized CBS Radio was even still a thing until I heard that it would no longer be a thing. 

But back to more local radio stuff....

For all it's success, 2 Guys Named Chris still could not escape the headwinds of radio's downward spiral.  Just last year, 2GNC lost Dave Aiken when Rock 92's owners fired him in a cost cutting move.  

One fears that Chris Demm saw a chance to retire when he can rather than hang on and be forced out by the inevitable heat death of the radio universe.  

Boy, this post is taking a turn of the negative.

Let's try to accentuate some positivity. 

Chris Demm is a classic old school rock 'n' roll DJ with a smooth delivery and a sharp wit. He also posssess a near encylopedic knowledge of rock 'n' roll trivia. 

A big feature of 2GNC was the daily Put Up or Shut Up Rock 'n' Roll trivia game where listeners would match wits with the master. Once in a while, some listener would get lucky.  But not often.  This man knows his stuff.

Chris Demm has been the perfect counter to the hapless Chris Kelly.  Much like the blog's banner says about myself, Kelly is trapped in a world he is not designed to cope with.  Demm was there to provide an alternative perspective of someone with a slightly stronger grasp on making life work.  

I have no idea what the show's branding will be once today's installment comes to an end.

1 Guy Named Chris? 

God only knows how Chris Kelly will survive without Chris Demm to keep him out of trouble.

The lead up to Demm's retirement has been weird, part celebration, part mourning. It's as close to one can get to hearing their own funeral without being dead.

Former co-hosts Dave Aiken and Deidre James returned to the studio on Friday to pay homage to the departing Demm.

Below is a clip posted to You Tube of the start of Friday's show as Chris Kelly welcomes the return of Dave and Deidre. 

2 Guys Named Chris has long been a favorite program of mine although I will admit I am part of the problem for traditional radio. As I work from home and do not commute to my job, I don't listen as often as I used to.  

Chris Demm is a class act and while I am sorry to see him go, he has certainly earned his right to retirement and I am glad that unlike so many others in radio, he's getting to show himself out the door at the end of the day. 

Good luck to Chris Demm in his retirement. 

And good luck to Chris Kelly and Rock 92 as they move forward with the unthinkable reality of doing this without Chris Demm.

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Invincible

So I was playing Roku's Daily Trivia game when a question came up about a quirky New Zealand crime drama set in a town run by lesbians.

Well that has to be Deadloch and that was indeed the answer.

So why is a quirky New Zealand crime drama set in a town run by lesbians from 2023 coming up as a topic on my Roku Daily Trivia game?

Because 3 years later, Deadloch has dropped a 2nd season! 

I did not know that was a thing! 

I used to not be caught off guard by this stuff. 

I also was blindsided by the debut of season 4 of Invincible as well.  I knew it was coming but I didn't know it was coming NOW! 

I will not be posting about Deadloch season 2 yet. I've got way too many things on my TV viewing plate right now.

• I've haven't finished season 2 of Fallout yet.
• I've got season 8 of Outlander.
• Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again begins tonight. (Jessica Jones is back! YAY!) 
•  And of course season 4 of Invincible.  

And lots of other television stuff that demands my attention.

Deadloch season 2 will have to wait a minute.

Now... on with the Touchbase!

Yep, I've dusted off the old Batman themed Touchbase graphic.

So Invincible is back for a 4th season and man, is life rough for Mark Grayson.   

Some time has passed since the end of season 3 but the wounds from that time have not yet healed.  The attack by Angstrom's army of multiversal Invincible variants followed by the assault by the Viltrumite warrior known as Conquest has left massive property damage and many lives lost, including several of Earth's heroes.

Invincible wants to help but he's overwhelmed by guilt for all that Earth has suffered in these epic battles.

Losses that hit very close to home when Conquest savagely beats and kills Atom Eve aka Samantha, Mark's girlfriend.

Only an unexpected glow up of Samantha's matter/energy powers brings her back to life.  

Unfortunately, there's some weird shit going down with Samantha's Atom Eve powers with her energy to matter constructs melting into goo.

Meanwhile, Samantha's experience with death is not something her asshole father is willing to let Mark forget.  As if Mark isn't already feeling the weight of that guilt.

Not to mention the sheer constant battle against a widening variety of super menaces that keeps Invincible busy for ever damn minute of every damn day.  

Then just to make matters even more exhausting, two seperate super menaces strike simultaneously.

Alien warrior Universa has come to steal energy from Earth to save her planet. It's an epic struggle as Invincible and Atom Eve try to stop Universa's energy theft from sending a nuclear power plant into meltdown.  With Samantha's powers shorting out, it's up to a well placed punch from Atom Eve to finally put Universa down.

AND there is the horror of the sequids who are possessing humans in an ever widening circle that will encompass the whole world if not put in check. Cecil Stedman and the Guardians of the Globe have the sequids contained to a city block but their containment will not hold for long.   

Mark Grayson arrives after stopping Universa to help the Guardians and finds the central human controlling the sequid hive mind.

If you've read enough comics, you know what usually happens here is when our hero is faced with a choice to kill someone to stop some kind of threat, our hero will find some clever miracle solution to avoid that.  

Invincible stops the sequids by killing the human in the center of the alien squids.

Well, just great. One more damn thing to plague Mark Grayson's conscience. 

As I have said before about Invincible, do not let the bold bright colors of the animation fool you. This show goes hard and does not avoid the harsh consequences of super powers in an otherwise fragile, all too human world. 

I suppose it's a reasonable expectation given the way this series works is that things will get worse before they get better.

_________________________

Andrea and I did not get to catch the whole show but the clips we've seen of Saturday Night Live UK have been enjoyable and I think genuinely funny.

Here is the cold open where Prime Minister Keir Starmer really dreads calling Donald Trump. 

SNL USA alum Tina Fey was the guest host who was as funny and charming as ever.

We think that Saturday Night Live UK has gotten off to a pretty good start. 

___________________

News came down yesterday that Paramount has cancelled Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.  There will be no more seasons after season 2.

Well, I think this sucks AND blows.

I will pontificate on this some more in this weekend's Star Trekking post.

_____________________

I want to make note of a couple of celebrity passings.

Nicholas Brendan who played Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer died last week at age 54.  Xander was the Jimmy Olsen to Buffy Summers and it was a thankless role but Brendan made the most of it with a character that was genuinely helpful and a good friend to the Scooby gang.

Brendan had to deal with struggles involving his mental health and substance abuse but worked really hard to keep his life on track.  Rest in peace, Nicholas.

And Chuck Norris died last week at age 86. Back in the 1990's, visiting my parents on a Saturday meant I got to watch Walker, Texas Ranger.  Not HAD to watch. Got to!  The honor was mine, Mr. Norris.  

Yeah, the dialogue was stilted and the acting was stiff but nobody came to this show for that. We came to watch Chuck Norris kick ass.

Even if the bad guys were too dumb to realize they were doomed. I remember this one line for an episode where Walker and his team have the bad guys surrounded and one of them calls out, "You'll never take us alive <pause> Texas Ranger!"   

That line has stuck with me for years. 

Death did not claim Chuck Norris. Norris stared down Death who decided to call it a draw. 

Rest well <pause> Texas Ranger! 

_____________________

That is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.   

____________________________

Enough with television. Next post up: what's going on in the world of radio.

(Yes, it's still a thing! For now.)