Getting Screwed by the Pharmaceuticals December 7, 2007

It’s Time for Some Accountability

Like many other diabetics around the country, I had been prescribed a GlaxoSmithKline medication called Avandia back in July of 2001. Later, in June of 2006, I was switched to a product called Avandaryl, a combination of Avandia and Glipizide (a sulfonylurea used to help control blood sugar levels).

If you took the time to do a search on Avandia, you would find that GlaxoSmithKline is under siege from lawsuits by stockholders and customers. I contacted my wife’s attorney (and a fellow alumnus of Iona Prep), Luis Penichet of The Penichet Law Offices in White Plains (NY) for his usual expert advice. Luis is truly one of the great guys walking around on this planet.

Luis referred me to a very trusted colleague and personal injury attorney, Phil De Caro of De Caro & De Caro in nearby Harrison. Mr. De Caro is a caring, sensitive, intelligent and understanding attorney who listened to my personal Avandia saga. He carefully noted the facts and asked great questions. His advice was honest and forthright, and he had my best interest first at all times.

Lots of people are going to cash in on the GlaxoSmithKline bonanza from the BILLIONS they raked in on a drug with unpublished lethal and debilitating effects. Unfortunately, it is likely that I will never see a penny for the pain, suffering, lost wages, illnesses, physical damage and the mental anguish endured by my wife.

Everything that has happened to my health since October 27, 2005, could have been avoided if GlaxoSmithKline simply disclosed that Avandia was contra-indicated for individuals with a history of heart disease. It is only now, as of November 2007, that “black box” warnings appear on Avandia products and the Avandia web site.

CBS Doesn’t Know Jack about Radio July 16, 2007

The Oldies Return to WCBS-FM in New York, NY

The author is a former Oldies DJ for WDAQ-FM in Danbury, CT, and WCZX-FM in Poughkeepsie, NY. The former owner of Bluboo Radio, one of the Internet’s first on-demand radio programs, has a Master of Science in Education, a minor in Journalism and has studied the history of Rock and Roll and radio broadcasting.

On July 12, 2007, at 1:01 PM, WCBS Radio started its attempt to reverse the betrayal of its loyal listener base by canning Jack-FM, its voice-tracked, computer operated jukebox, and bringing back the successful Oldies format dumped unceremoniously on June 3, 2005, in favor of Jack-FM.

According to The Journal News, WCBS-FM will follow the trend of most oldies formats by playing hits from the 1960’s and the 1970’s, ignoring the 1950’s except through some special programming. While it will be good to hear Bob Shannon and Dan Taylor again, the old familiar voices of “Cousin Brucie” Morrow and his contemporaries will be sorely missed.

The cautious radio listener will avoid being dazzled by this blatant publicity move on the part of CBS Radio, which is still suffering the throes of ratings losses as a result of its mismanagement over the last two years. Besides the Jack-FM fiasco, CBS Radio took a major ratings plunge when it callously fired Don Imus. In short, they are likely to lose a major lawsuit that will require them to pay-off the remaining $30 million on Imus’ contract. In that light, this is a move by CBS Radio to garner radio ratings and advertising revenues, not to be penitent to the listeners it betrayed.

If you cannot forgive CBS Radio, and you really have no reason to forgive them, there are plenty of great oldies stations to choose from in the metro New York market, including: WVLT-FM (92.1, Vineland, NJ), WTKU (Cool 98.2, Ocean City, NJ), WJRZ-FM (100.1, Manahawkin), WMTR-AM (1250, Morristown, NJ), WMID-AM (1340, Atlantic City), WNNJ-AM (1360, Newton, NJ), WHTG-AM (1410, Eatontown, NJ), WGHT-AM (1500, Pompton Lakes), WRNJ-AM (1510, Hackettstown, NJ) and WREF-AM (850, Danbury, CT).

If you still don’t think this move is self-serving, you may ask yourself why the publicity department has already rewritten the Wikipedia article about “Oldies” to put WCBS-FM back at the forefront of Oldies Radio. This is not true yet and may not be true ever again.

Payback Time for MSNBC July 8, 2007

First, I’d like to extend a hearty thanks to Catcleopatrick for a very nice referral on the MSNBC discussion board, post #756. You are tops, Cat.

In message 758, Cat supplies the following information: “Cable News Ratings from Imus’ last day until Friday. Fox & Friends: + 30%. American Morning: + 26%. Robin & Co. + 45%. Morning Joe: – 68%. Let me say it again. a loss of 68%. Minus 68%. I.E., two-thirds of the audience. A 68% loss. Even Mika trying to light the MSNBC building on fire in tribute to Al Sharpton’s 1995 Harlem demonstration won’t improve the MINUS 68% STATUS AT MSNBC. How is Brian Williams doing? More to be revealed.”

The Cable News ratings tell a very dramatic story. A 68% loss in audience is total self-destruction, a catastrophe beyond any recoverable levels. This is what happens when Corporate America listens to a loud, uninformed segment of the population and makes decisions based on panic rather than sound, loyal thinking. Despite MSNBC’s attempts to spin the story to make themselves and CBS Radio look like heroes, they simply come out looking like the rats they truly are.

Consistency on the Ice and in the Classroom April 22, 2007

The Classroom, Corporate Culture and The NHL

One might wonder what the connection is between ice hockey, Corporate America and the classroom, other than the fact that this teacher and his wife (also a teacher) are die-hard season ticket holders for the New York Rangers. And no, this article has nothing to do with my wife’s utter fascination with the “caboose” of Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers’ phenomenal goalie. However, today’s lesson is about a word that has been lost in this modern day of makeovers and media spin.

What is consistency? How does it apply in the NHL?

Today’s word is consistency. According to the folks at dictionary.com, consistency is “steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.: There is consistency in his pattern of behavior. Unfortunately, the lessons from the National Hockey League have to do with the performance of the referees. For those of you not familiar with the NHL, new rules were instituted at the beginning of the 2005 – 2006 season. The new rules required refs to call a two-minute penalty for ALL “obstruction” fouls with zero tolerance – holding, hooking, interference, illegal picks and goalie interference – whereas such fouls in the past were only called when the infraction was highly obvious or prevented a scoring chance.

Welcome to the ‘Hood January 28, 2006

Trying to Be More than Another Blog

Pulling off this blog is really quite a miracle at times. Okay, so maybe Saturdays and Sundays are not my most creative days following a week of teaching and an hour-long commute into the ‘hood. As much as I don’t have time to devote to this blog, it has become a fabulous creative and intellectual experience for me. Just as I have devoted myself to teaching the disadvantaged minorities of The Bronx, a borough of New York City, I hope to stake sgtands against all kinds of racism and bigotry. Maybe we can also have a few chuckles along the way. We can also dream about ending the worst thing to ever happen to education, No Child Left Behind.

My blog has been in business since January 2006, born at the urging of a professor who said I need to be current with emerging technology. I like this blogging thing but I hope that my use of a tiny corner of cyberspace might be a force of change and not a waste of bits and bytes.

I sometimes look back at my long, life-draining career at a mom and pop operation named Contractors Register, publishers of a Yellow Page type directory called The Blue Book of Building and Construction, and wonder why I flushed almost 20 years of my life down the toilet. Besides working in an Ultra-White corporate culture akin to a restricted country club devoid of minorities, my days were lost as a manager or account exec selling silly little advertisements to one of America’s most corrupt industries, construction and building. Every day was a struggle to cope with an overwhelming lack of value in the use of my intelligence and talents. Besides enduring insults, professional jealousy, ridiculous leaders and a loss of confidence, I suffered a heart attack and the resulting triple by-pass surgery … all because this company controlled my ability to support my family.