Media, Pitch

E. Thomas McClanahan confused by language, science, the world

Scott Wilson — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:08:00 -0600

Won't someone please help E. Thomas McClanahan? He's stuck in his La-Z-Boy again, barking half-remembered Google-search results as he fart-squirms toward the Marie Callender mini pie on his TV tray.…

Jabulani Leffall's strange show behavior not caused by drugs or alcohol, source says

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:55:00 -0600

Jabulani Leffall abruptly quit as host of KCUR 89.3's Central Standard on Wednesday after an unfocused show in which he stumbled over words, made strange declarations about a "new world order." He ended the show a bit early and signed off with this:

"This is a new world order on Central Standard, and my last broadcast at KCUR 89.3 FM.…

102.5 the Fan, the third sports talk radio station in KC, launches this morning

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:12:00 -0600

Sports misery loves company. At midnight, Funny 102.5 became Sports Radio 102.5 FM the Fan.…

STRETCH's Eating the Enemy debuts Thursday night on Animal Planet

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:29:00 -0600

Man has always set out to conquer nature and drag it back to the dinner table. He has just never thought to save Mother Nature the same way.…

Bo Jackson documentary airs on ESPN Saturday night

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:57:18 -0600

Finally, ESPN and director Michael Bonfiglio have fixed the greatest shortcoming of American cinema: the lack of documentaries about Bo Jackson. You Don't Know Bo, a film retracing Jackson's career as a cultural phenomenon, baseball player and football player, airs Saturday on the network.…

Matt Pearce talks about loneliness in KC on Central Standard today

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:50:33 -0600

Former Pitch scribe Matt Pearce is set to talk about loneliness in Kansas City on today's Central Standard. The KCUR program is tackling the issue of being lonely in KC with Pearce, psychologist Dr. Bruce Liese and sociologist Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson from Washington State University at 10 a.m.

Pearce penned a first-person piece earlier this month for The Pitch about his own struggles to make friends ("Can't a Guy Just Make Some Friends Around Here?…

Is KC responsible for Missouri being pronounced 'Missourah' ?

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:41:00 -0500

The New York Times uncovered a startling truth Friday: Missouri has two different in-state pronunciations. In a piece that looked at how politicians appeal to the common Missourian via the last syllable of the state's name, the Times suggests that Kansas City might be responsible for the "uh" in "Missourah."…

Jason Whitlock's Twitter was (is still) hacked

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:10:00 -0500

Call it karma or a conspiracy, but just when Fox Sports' Jason Whitlock pens something relevant to Kansas City fans, his Twitter (and its 140,000-plus followers) account has been hacked. The story is up on BuzzFeed, documenting Whitlock's frustration that this has been going on since Monday.…

KCI TSA was out of line with public pat-down of breast-cancer survivor

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:10:00 -0500

It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month everywhere except the Kansas City International Airport. Marcia Deitrick, a breast-cancer survivor, talked to KCTV Channel 5 about what she says was a 'humiliating pat-down,' after a female Transportation Security Administration agent checked the area around her breasts.…

KC is America's 15th Best City, says Businessweek

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:15:27 -0500

Crank up the T-shirt machines or find three foam hands because another ranking of Kansas City is hot off the Interwebs. Businessweek released its second annual '50 Best Cities to Live' and Kansas City was ranked 15th.…

Wall Street Journal writes greatest Kansas City headline ever

Ben Palosaari — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:54:00 -0500

The Royals finished off another losing season Wednesday night. Hooray for not finishing last!…

Joe Posnanski on Up to Date today before book talk tonight

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:53:00 -0500

Former Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski hasn't said much about his new book, Paterno. Today, he's going to have to start talking.…

Jason Whitlock weighs in on Joe Posnanski's "Paterno"

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:00:00 -0500

The reaction to former Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski's hefty biography of deceased and disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has been mostly bad. Before the book was released, Posnanski was widely seen as an outstanding sports columnist and journalist, who left The Star to write for Sports Illustrated.…

Tony Botello issues apology and retraction of Tony's Kansas City posts about Louie Wright

Ben Palosaari — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:09:00 -0500

A year ago, Louie Wright, former president of Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, filed a defamation lawsuit against popular and controversial local blogger Tony Botello. Wright claimed that the Tony's Kansas City writer defamed him in blog posts written on August 22, 2009, and May 13, 2011.…

Shut the cluck up, Jeneé — Chick-fil-A doesn't need your help

Scott Wilson — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:00:01 -0500

Sometimes I feel sorry for Jeneé Osterheldt.

The Kansas City Star’s longest-serving intern knows that every time she posts one of her commerce-friendly, minimally reasoned columns on the paper’s website, she’s going to get trolled.…

Kansas City Star will implement a paywall by the end of the year

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:17:33 -0500

The McClatchy Co., which owns The Kansas City Star, announced that it had income of $26.9 million, or 31 cents per share, during the second quarter of this year. In a press release, CEO and President Pat Talamantes also indicated that McClatchy was not following the much-derided plan by newspaper publisher Advance Publications, which announced in May that it was cutting The New Orleans Times-Picayune to publishing three days a week.…

Momo the Missouri monster is this state's Bigfoot

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:49:00 -0500

Oregon has Bigfoot. Washington has Sasquatch.…

Steve Penn, fired Star columnist, sues McClatchy

Ben Palosaari — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:28:35 -0500

A year ago, The Kansas City Star fired metro columnist Steve Penn after editors discovered he had submitted more than a dozen columns that were nearly verbatim copies of press releases. Now, Penn is suing McClatchy Newspapers Inc., the Star's owner, for defamation.…

SouthComm buys Washington City Paper and Atlanta Creative Loafing

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:58:00 -0500

SouthComm Inc., the Nashville-based owner of The Pitch, announced today that it has purchased Washington City Paper and Creative Loafing Atlanta. The company now owns eight alt-weeklies, in addition to several specialty publications.…

University of Missouri Press will close

Ben Palosaari — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:28:50 -0500

UM System President Tim Wolfe announced today that the University of Missouri Press, which opened in 1958, will be phased out starting July. The press has 10 employees.…

Missouri newspaper pays blogger for copyright claim

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:36:26 -0500

A spat between a blogger and a newspaper editor is not breaking news. But a blogger asserting a copyright claim at the offices of a newspaper while a video camera is rolling - that's national news.…

Jezebel, we're sorry Kansas City's chihuahua parade didn't live up to your standards of sperm donations and kitten hiccups

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:47:00 -0500

A costumed chihuahua parade on Cinco de Mayo is ridiculous - you'll get no argument here on that point. It is also harmless and requires a bit of stripping away the detached shell of angry sarcasm that blights the Internet.…

Nick Wright tweets that he's leaving 610 Sports

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:09:00 -0500

Nick Wright, 610 Sports' most polarizing and likely most popular host, tweeted this afternoon that he will be leaving the station soon. Wright was named the best sports personality by The Pitch in 2010.…

Joe Posnanski can't escape conflict with Joe Paterno book

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:35:00 -0500

As writers, we often agree to trade a degree of access for a degree of discretion. Some journalists will tell you that nothing is "off the record."…

Walt Bodine's last day on the radio is Friday, but first, Bodine stares down a lion

Justin Kendall — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:00:00 -0500

Walt Bodine's final broadcast is Friday morning at 10. Our friends at KCUR 89.3 have really done a great job of paying tribute to Bodine in the waning days of his 72-year career.…