Brian's brief answers had me wondering whether he's following the Al's Morning Meeting series on writing short, which is not just for radio anymore...

That radio-style discussion reminded me that I meant to go back and read yesterday's Times article on Big Radio trying for a comeback in a world of pods and blogs:

"Confronted by a slow erosion of listeners who are turning to iPods, podcasts and other sources for entertainment, the radio corporations are trying to merge their over-the-air music and D.J. chatter with the Web, adding online streams of their broadcasts and features already found on many independent Web-based stations. These include live chat rooms, blogs and MySpace-style social networking features."

Meanwhile, for another riff on "old-fashioned radio" and "old-fashioned news," one of my favorite podcasts, Jim Widner's "Radio Detective Story Hour," has devoted its 99th and 100th episodes to programs that featured newspaper reporters solving mysteries... including one based on true-life journalists.

Lifestyle Disclaimer: This is in no way an endorsement of the tobacco companies that sponsored that last program. Not much detective work needed to tell why. See that last link and these LIFE covers.