For most Americans, one of the first places they learned to read news was Weekly Reader. Launched in the 1920′s, the Weekly Reader name is synonymous with America, education and a sort of wholesome, fair account of the day’s news. Weekly Reader fits a sort of Americana of nice, peaceful schools with desks lined up [...]

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For brands in 2013, change it up, but don’t change it at all. Keep your brand the same, but switch it up a bit to keep it fresh. That is easier said than done, as to one person, “change” is good and to another, you ruin the product by changing anything. So many brands miss [...]

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LONDON – “That’s Spandau Ballet, Man!” Or so said the guy on the Chevy Malibu commercial, part of the long pop legacy of that quintessentially 1980s band Spandau Ballet. This month, the British band launched a “Fan Archive Appeal” to dig into attics and closets for historic audio and visual content related to it. Writing [...]

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NEW YORK – Does anyone else think it odd that 60 Minutes, the flagship, iconic banner of CBS News, would be seen on CNBC, even in reruns? Here is the description on the CNBC site: ABOUT THE SHOW: “60 Minutes on CNBC” takes you a step further into hard hitting investigative reports, interviews, profiles, and [...]

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There are many well-known religious publishing brands, both denominational and for-profit. Thomas Nelson and Zondervan are some of the best-known among the for-profits. Zondervan’s sister imprint HarperOne, publisher of Rob Bell’s bestseller Love Wins, continues a long tradition of religious publishing at the old Harper & Row. Of the strong denominational publishing brands are Abingdon [...]

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We ran across a recent post on the future of AM radio that set out some ideas on keeping the format viable. While the idea of AM radio still lives, and is relied upon by millions each day, the audience is increasingly aging. Furthermore, the band has seen more interference in recent decades. It had [...]

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HONOLULU – Bringing back something as iconic as Hawaii Five-O is a major challenge. There is enormous love for the old, so you don’t want to change it up too much. But you don’t want to mimic the old too closely, which would desecrate the original, and obviate the reason for doing the redux in [...]

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HAMPTON, Virginia – What do Betty White and Lena Horne have in common? I will answer the question, but please let me tell you a story first. At the entrance to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel between Hampton and Norfolk was a motel called Strawberry Banks. Though it was a motel, it was on the [...]

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LOS ANGELES – What guy doesn’t want to be Jim Rockford? Well, perhaps living in the trailer was a bit tiresome (how come they let him keep it in the parking lot?), but the rest of the life as L.A. private eye is way cool. It would be fun to drive about L.A. in a [...]

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SAN FRANCISCO – Celebrities as brands is not a new phenomenon, but it is one that continues to evolve. Gaining income from a famous person’s legacy reserved for stars whose images were larger than life. But today, many owners of the intellectual property of lesser-known entertainers and artists are finding life beyond the grave. We [...]

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