“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-18 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from the week of December 23, 2018
This Week’s Podcast
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Those We Lost
Every year the world loses many people. The media world loses some folks, both well know and lesser known every year. A quick look back at the stories we highlighted here.
A personal favorite actor passed away this year. For those a decade or so younger than me, the actor Robert Hardy will be remembered for his work as the Minister of Magic in the Harry Potter movies. While a lot of fun that’s an incredible shorting of a varied career. For me, he will always be Siegfried Farnon.
Since I’m starting with personal favorites, then I need to add speculative fiction writer, editor, and all-around gadfly, Harlan Ellison. Ellison pushed for science fiction to move beyond spaceships, bug-eyed monsters, and blasters. While he had a reputation for being difficult, the genre will never be the same again, and that’s a very good thing.
Mike Joseph was the least known name on the list year. If you are into the history of popular radio you might have known the name of the creator of the “Hot Hits” format. Joseph is one of the millions of people who work “behind the scenes” to make media the vibrant and fascinating world it can be.
Two television producers left us this year. Steven Bochco lead the way in creating several hit series but will be remembered for the astounding ensemble cast he created in “Hill Street Blues”. The show was groundbreaking in both its grittier look at the police drama. On the other hand is the lighter, cult following of Hugh Wilson’s “WKRP in Cincinnati”. Beloved by many radio professionals, the show lasted only a couple seasons but the characters are astounding. If I had one Christmas wish, it would be to solve the music licensing issues that keep a proper video collection of the show being released.
The last three names on the list all qualify for the label of “legend”. Each dominated their field for many years.
It’s easy to dismiss Burt Reynolds as just a good old boy playing at movie star. The reality is that at his height his movies were smash hits. It’s also easy to overlook the quality of his work when he took a turn at more serious work. Burt Reynolds was an old-school movie star.
Neil Simon also gets the cold shoulder from some folks. Like Reynolds, his work has been a huge popular success over the years.
Last but certainly not least is Stan Lee. Stan the Man changed how we approach comics, not once but twice. Again, critics may sneer at his legacy, but he will be remembered long after more “serious” artists are forgotten.
The world is a lesser place than it was.
The Year Ahead
It’s the final week of the year and in addition to looking back at what’s been in the media news of the year, I thought I’d take a look ahead as well. It’s impossible to predict what may happen in the next year, but there are a couple things that we can rely on discussing in 2019.
First, as much as I was tired of discussing Facebook this year, it’s inevitable that they will be back in the news in 2019. But it won’t just be them. This could be a tough year for all of the social media networks. Increasing questions about privacy and how our data is collected and used is likely to be a major topic all year long. The regulatory bodies in the European Union are much stricter than anything here in the United States and they take the subject of privacy far more seriously than we do here. That doesn’t mean the social networks can forget about U.S. regulatory bodies. Congress has shown interest in what has been going on, and with a new majority moving into the House of Representatives, you can count on them increasing the number of hearings scheduled.
There are two other topics that are sure bets to get lots of airtime (and not just here) in the coming year. There is an overlap between them as well. That’s the struggle to salvage journalism’s reputation in this country, and politics.
Given his track record, we can count on President Trump continuing his drumbeat of criticism of the media. Just last week he was complaining about a sketch on Saturday Night Live, suggesting that the government should have the authority to review all broadcasts. In times like these, it is even more important that journalists work hard to do their jobs well and to the standards. It is clear that the audience has grown tired of never-ending shrillness. The more that the news media sticks to reporting and analyzing the news and moves away from editorializing, the better it will be able to defend itself against the President’s repeated criticism. As consumers, we need to acknowledge that being critical of any position or person does not make the story “fake”.
Finally, politics itself will intrude with greater frequency on the media. By this time next year, we will be firmly in the grips of the next election cycle. For better or worse, the media will be part of that story once again.
2019 is guaranteed to bring lots of challenges and a few surprises along the way. I can hardly wait.
The Year In Review
Each year at this time I like to take a look back at what dominated our show. What always amazes me is that what I think was the most common topics is almost always wrong. With three shows a week for 52 weeks every year, it’s easy to lose track over the course of 156 shows. So I play a little game with myself before I total the topics. And for 2018, I was wrong again! Here’s what the year looked like on the Phlipside.
At the top of the list was a catchall category – General Media stories. These are exactly what they sound like, more sweeping topics about “the media”. And to be honest, I am perfectly happy to have this category finish in the number one slot. It shows that we’re covering a wide range of topics, which is always the goal. It finished just below ten percent of all shows with a 14.
I can’t imagine anyone will be surprised with one of the two categories that finished second. Commercials and advertising fascinate me more than most folks. My hope is that I can make the stories interesting for everyone else as well. Finishing with 13 stories, this category was tied with stories about television.
You won’t hear me complaining about the next category either. My love of the movies continues to grow, and I now have in excess of 300 movie reviews at the website of The View From The Phlipside. So movies are something I connected with this year with 11 stories.
The numbers start to fall off at this point. Social Media checked in next on the 2018 list with nine stories. Finally showing up tied for sixth place, with eight stories each, were Facebook, and Journalism. These were my guesses to take the top two spots. As I looked at the list I realized that there were a lot of journalism stories early in the year and a lot of Facebook in the second half.
Rounding out the top ten story categories were Sports, and Government/Regulatory stories at seven each. Technology stories took the final slot in the top ten with a mere five stories.
Stories about young people, Print, and the Internet all logged four stories, YouTube, and Music had three each, then radio, gaming, AR/VR, local media, theater, business issues, audiobooks, and computers logged in at two apiece. After that were scattered solo stories including pieces on politics, violence, satire, and plagiarism among others.
In the end, the list covers lots of ground and topics, which is what I want. I hope you enjoyed the stories as much as I have. I’m looking forward to 2019.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2018
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Stories Are My Life 
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