The John and Ken Effect

Love 'em or hate 'em, the John and Ken Show on KFI is a tour de force on talk radio in the afternoons. Albeit bombastic, steady offerings of barbed language and an in-your-face-style, they are anything but boring and never seem to violate the 1st Rule of Radio: Be Entertaining.

Today, the Los Angeles Times opines on the famous shock jocks in the context of the trial of Orange County's ex-sheriff Mike Carona. I suppose it is a badge of honor for them and I'll have to tune in Monday to see what they have to say about it.

At issue: a series of readings by the hosts, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, from transcripts of Carona conversations that were secretly recorded by federal investigators. When Carona's legal team objected to the pretrial publicity, Kobylt and Chiampou rose to the challenge, dubbing this segment of the show "Taint the Carona Jury Pool" and advising fans called for jury duty to lie if asked about their radio listening habits. Daring stuff -- and stupid too -- but the purpose of a venue change is to ensure that the accused gets a fair trial, not to address media buzz.

Considering the size of the Burbank-based show's listenership (about 1 million a month), the widely dispersed audience in L.A. and Orange counties and the vagaries of listeners' habits, the probability that a substantial number of jury pool members have even tuned into "John & Ken's" Carona coverage seems vanishingly small.

Read the full editorial.

Mayor Sam Awards Nominations

The nominations are in! To vote for the 2007 Mayor Sam Awards, "The Sammies," please click here.

You have until midnight on the 30th to vote, we'll announce the winners on the 31st.

Local Elected Politician of the Year
Assemblyman Paul Krekorian
Eric Garcetti
Janice Hahn
Michael Ten of South Pasadena
Sheriff Lee Baca

Local Elected Politician's Staffer of the Year
Stuart Waldman
Michael Tou
Young Gi Kim
Josh Kamensky
Jennifer Cohen

Hottest Politician's Wife, Husband, Boyfriend or Girlfriend
Corina Raigosa
Long Beach City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal's husband Daniel
Tony Cardenas' wife

Sexiest City Government Employee - Female
Kellie Hawkins, Exec. Dir, Comm on Status of Women
Young-Gi Kim
Janelle Erickson
Kieren in Perry's office

Sexiest City Government Employee - Male
Antonio Villaraigosa
Jimmy Blackman
Matt Szabo
Bernard Parks

Cutest Couple
Janice Hahn and Reggie the Alligator
Mirthala and Antonio
Mr. and Mrs. Kefflebaum
Janice Hahn and Noel Weiss

Dumbest Politician of the Year
Lloyd Levine
Rocky Delgadillo
Tom LaBonge
Ed Reyes
Fabian Nunez

Dumbest Staffer of the Year
Manny Figueras
Lisa Sarno
Mitch Englander
Uli Sanchez
Bob Blumenfeld

Crook of the Year
Mike Carona
Richard Alatorre
Governor Schwarzeneger
Fabian Nunez
Rocky Delgadillo

Dumbest Idea, Program or Cause
Jan Perry's Fast Food Ban
mayoral school "takeover"
AB1381
Mansionization
Alatorre and Roos becoming lobbyists for developers

Model of Efficiency Award (someone in City government who actually got something right)
Bill Robertson, Director of LA's Street Services Bureau
Michele Siqueiros
Brian Humphrey, LAFD

Biggest Mistake
Lloyd Levine dumping Stuart Waldman
Rocky not registering his car
Villaraigosa holding a news conference to announce his affair and then complaining that the media was prying into his personal life
Prop R
Funding Gang Prevention programs.

Best Place to Drink After A City Council Meeting
The water fountain on the fourth floor
Pete's
The Redwood
Little Tokyo

Worst Public Official or Government Employee Driving Skills
Michelle Delgadillo
Lance from Tom LaBonge’s office

Most Corrupt Special Interest (organization or individual)
SEIU
Eli Broad
Richard Muerelo
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
Rivers and Mountains Conservancy

Special Waiver Award (anyone you want to nominate for any reason - state both and why)
Zuma Dogg because I like big balls
Red Spot for his brilliant social commentary, grammatical errors notwithstanding.
Ted Hayes bitch slapping Maxine Waters
Michael Hunt for dressing like a Klansman

Local Journalist of the Year
Kevin Roderick
Jon Regardie
Joseph Mailander
David Zahniser
Joseph Chapman

Media Outlet of the Year (blogs, newspapers, radio or television stations)
LAist
CityWatch
Daily News
BBC
Channel 4 News

Sexiest Local Journalist
Sharon Tay
David Zahniser
Mariel Garza
Sioux-Z Jessup
Lisa Hernandez

Person of the Year (the person who had the biggest impact locally - good or bad)
William Bratton
Laura Chick
David Hernandez
Antonio Villaraigosa
Zuma Dogg

L.A. WEEKLY EARLY EDITION "NO GUNS, CONT.", "SHERIFF BACA, VINDICTIVE TO CHALLENGERS"

It is a simple fact that to read "THOUGHTFUL, DEEP PROBING JOURNALISM", then you have to wait till the "WEEKLY OF RECORD" hits the streets on Thursdays. But on the LA Weekly Web Page, some stories are re least a day or two early. That the case this week.

Jeffery Anderson continues his series of articles on the discredited anti gang program "NO GUNS" and its founder Hector Marroquin.

This week, he highlights how Marroquin committed an "HOME INVASION ROBBERY WHILE ON CITY OF L.A. PAYROLL !!". If this doesn't "SHAME" Controller Luara Chick into auditing the L.A. Bridges Program. then she should resign.

The other article highlights the "SNARLEY, VINDICTIVE" side of "SHERIFF TO THE STARS", Lee Baca.

Baca and Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona must of been "TWINS SEPARATED AT BIRTH", seeing how they treat political opponents.

Read away and just maybe there will be another article of interest on Thursday.