Editor’s note: Sound off, give a shout out on “Deep Background,” our totally-random open discussion of all things Erie media.

• Surfing for faith: In Saturday’s Faith section of the Erie Times News, Dana Massing did a story on the various churches and religious groups using the internet to expand their ministries. She highlighted the work of Carol Jones Saint and “A Visit with the Joneses,” an inspirational music and devotional program that has been on the radio for over 60 years and for the past several available on the web through Salem’s OnePlace.com. Other websites noted included those from Garden Height Baptist Church, Kingsley Methodist’s MySpace page and site for the Islamic Association of Erie, and the Tibetan Buddhist Center.




• Bailout for the press?: Some “see I told you so” to all those who thought my poll about newspapers receiving a bailout was, in Zoolander parlance, “whack”. Reuters reports Wednesday that an assemblyman in Connecticut is seeking state help for Journal Register, who publishes The Bristol Press and the New Britain Herald. Journal Register is overwhelmed by hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, and could close the papers in days. The piece articulates the now serious debate that weighs the independence of a free press versus the economic viability of maintaining that press.
• Selling short: The new Verizon phone directory arrived over the weekend, and the Disc Jockeys section is full with quite a few expensive ads. What stuck out to me was an outfit called Funky Monkey Entertainment, offering weddings for under $300. You’d barely pay for your phone book ads at that level. Such pricing is sure to make pros like Joel Miller’s and John Gallagher’s eyes roll.
• 20 years of Marketplace: one of the best shows in media about business is twenty years old. Marketplace, heard on 91.3 WQLN weekdays at 6 PM, along with morning reports during AM drive, was first launched from LA in January 1989. Kai Ryssdal is the show’s fifth host, and the program has garnered many awards for its reporting, including a Peabody and a duPont-Columbia award. We need their coverage now more than ever.
• Still waiting for JET HD on TWC: Cable viewers were disappointed that the Rose Bowl was not in High Def on Time Warner Cable on New Years Day. The latest that AVS Forum participants have heard from the company is that WJET HD will be added with the upgrade on January 9th. Folks with their new sets from Christmas are itching to get as much programming in HD as they can get their hands on.