Look into a radio executive’s heart and you’ll find Arbitron scars. The national ratings service, which counts radio’s unseen audience by mailing out weekly diaries, has been the industry standard for decades. Arbitron’s numbers–500 to 600 diaries are collected every month to measure this market of roughly 2.5 million potential…
There is nothing this newspaper would like more than to celebrate the downfall of Dave Pratt. Over the years, New Times has feuded gloriously with Pratt, the KUPD-FM morning man who has ruled local rock radio for what seems like forever. One Wednesday, when Pratt encouraged listeners to deposit stacks…
Arlin Troutt, the Apache Junction-based front man for the Willie Nelson Hemp Collection–a line of apparel made of marijuana-derived fabric and backed by the popular country singer–is on the run from the law. A warrant was issued for Troutt’s arrest about a month ago in U.S. District Court in Minnesota,…
Good news for liberal chow hounds! The Valley’s five official Rush Rooms appear to be flops. Though some restaurant managers claim success for this promotional gambit–sections of five Valley restaurants have been designated for people to watch and to listen to Rush Limbaugh’s midday broadcasts–firsthand observation of the Rush Room…
This is an article about education reform in Arizona. It contains opinions on complex issues, profound sociological theories, colorful political bickering and, most impressive, statistics. For example, literacy researchers claim that less than 30 percent of Americans are capable of reading a long newspaper feature story to its completion. So…
You want action, baby? Arizona’s got it. From Prescott to Tucson, suckers are throwing their money away on slots, cards and high-stakes bingo. Some of the casinos operate round-the-clock. Others attract rotating hordes of bingo addicts from lunchtime til deep into the night. All are located on Indian land, just…
Vernon Bauldry has a neighbor problem. The same goes for Alan Goff. When they eye each other from across the street, they see the enemy. The two men have complained to the police about each other, hired lawyers and battled in court. Bauldry, a retired carpenter and heart patient, stands…
Except for the 100 or so people directly involved with Arizona State University’s student government, Associated Students of ASU has not traditionally been a hot topic on campus. Jason Nitschke, a sophomore business major from Albuquerque, answers for most of his fellow undergrads when asked about ASASU. “I know they’re…
It is not difficult, during the time of day normally categorized as “Happy Hour,” to view a stand of saguaros silhouetted by the setting sun and assign those plants supernatural features. Saguaros are naturally spooky–tall, thorny, touchdown-signaling water tanks. The plant’s lore is accordingly rich, and its symbolic power is…
Despite what you might have heard or read, the giant saguaro cactus is not dying off. There are plenty of genuinely endangered environmental victims around this big, bad world, but Carnegiea gigantea isn’t one of them. Joe McAuliffe, director of research for Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, makes that point in…
One thing you should know, but probably don’t, about the mighty saguaro cactus–universal symbol for desert life–is that its scientific name is borrowed from industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie. That’s right, dust breath. The world’s eggheads know Arizona’s greatest cultural icon (aside from Alice Cooper, of course) as Carnegiea gigantea. File…
A little boy rings a hand bell; the school day begins. Uniformed children assemble in a classroom. They sit in neat rows, the smallest ones in front. A life-size statue of Jesus stands at the front of the room, palms raised. The principal stands at the rear of the room…
How many millions of automobile travelers have wondered, while making their way through Arizona on Interstate 10: “What the heck is The Thing?” And how many of those travelers ask, after pulling over to see it: “Why the heck did I ever stop at The Thing?” The Thing experience, housed…
In America rugby is not yet soccer, which is gradually emerging as a favorite schoolyard game. Still, a sturdy few hardheads play it. Some of America’s best hardheads will converge in Tempe this weekend to try out for the U.S. Eagles, a national all-star team. By Sunday afternoon, the 25…
In our opinion, there are just two things Phoenix Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill must consider when he evaluates his team’s coaching situation: 1. Mike Ditka is God. 2. And He is available–if not immediately, then eventually. Joe Bugel is a nice guy. But you know what they say about nice…
Park Central, Phoenix’s original mall now suffering from declining-tenant flu, recently has added two new stores. What’s unusual about these two businesses, located just a few storefronts apart on the mall’s north leg, is their, um, orientation. Unaffiliated in any way besides thematically, both stores deal in “adult” products–condoms, flavored…
It’s no big surprise that Willie Nelson believes in hemp. But Nelson, a longtime advocate of smoking the stuff, has now moved his advocacy into a different realm. The outlaw country-music icon is spreading the word that hemp, a sturdy weed more popularly known as marijuana, can save the planet…
Fueling speculation on veeply ambitions, veteran investigative journalist Jack Anderson reported last week that soon-to-be-former Vice President Dan Quayle is considering an offer to become publisher of the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette. The Quayle-as-R&G-publisher mill began to grind just after the election, when New Times cartoonist Bob Boze Bell…
The wheels of justice finally turned for Steve West on November 19, when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that two Bullhead City police officers had wrongfully stomped West–a wheelchair-bound paraplegic–in 1989. Judge William Copple awarded West $816,000 in medical costs and general and punitive damages for the one-sided confrontation…
Hockey is brutal, high-speed mayhem. The players wear metal blades on their feet and 20 pounds of plastic and padding everywhere else. The object of play–the puck–is a fistful of rock-hard rubber. The playing surface–ice–is wet, slippery, cold and dense. You can’t play the game well unless you skate better…
Gary Peter Klahr is talking. This is not one of those toss-the-reader-into-the-action, New Journalism leads. It is a statement of fact. No matter when or where you happen to be reading that first sentence, Gary Peter Klahr–Rick Romley’s only competition in Tuesday’s election for Maricopa County Attorney–is talking. The reason…
Local talk-radio listeners remember Tom Leykis as KFYI’s first and greatest presence, a bomb-heaving provocateur who filled our mid-1980s airwaves with entertaining yak. He left the station early in 1987 because he couldn’t get along with management. Leykis landed on his feet at KFI in Los Angeles, where he became…
