Editor’s Note: don’t forget that you can always share your insights on any topic of media in Erie and elsewhere on our open comment forum, Deep Background.

• Kanzius’s passing noted world wide: The news of the death of Erie broadcaster and cancer-fighting inventor John Kanzius has been reported around the world, including on Facebook. Here in Erie, news organizations are covering both the immediate angle of the reaction to his passing and the memorial services, but also the long-term impact of Kanzius’s death on the ongoing research and potential local economic impact of the possible cancer-killing device he invented. The latest on the viewing and funeral can be found on GoErie.com.





• Conan says “Goodbye, Hello”: In a tearful goodbye, Conan O’Brien signed off to his sixteen year run on NBC’s Late Night. O’Brien went from a little known stand-up comic to the revered chair of David Letterman in 1993, when Letterman moved to CBS to begin his “Late Show”. Now the after-prime chess pieces start moving:
  • Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will debut on Monday, March 2^nd in a different studio at 30 Rock; Studio 6B, right across the hall from Late Night’s former home 6A
  • Jay Leno, who replaced Johnny Carson in 1992, will say goodbye to the “Tonight Show” on Friday, May 29^th.
  • Conan O’Brien will become the fifth host of the “Tonight Show” since 1954 on Monday, June 1^st.

  Jay Leno’s new NBC prime-time strip, “The Jay Leno Show,” will launch in the fall.

• Palattella keeps hope alive: For all of the media old-timers who fear that the age of in-depth comprehensive journalism is passing us by, the recent reporting by Ed Palattella is allaying those worries. With his ongoing stories on the relationships between developer Greg Rubino and former Erie Zoning Hearing Board member Jeffrey Johnson, and this week’s telling of the plight of a Spanish-speaking mother and her child cast into the cold by an Erie dentist on his fourth marriage, Erieites are getting a greater understanding of complex issues that surround us. No matter how much you believe in the power of the new media, it is difficult to see how the current online business model could subsidize such professional reporting as we are enjoying from Ed Palattella’s keyboard, paid for by your four bits at the newsstand, and the dollars per column advertising by your local retailer.
• Sirius XM gets stay of execution: this week Liberty Media, the parent of DirectTV satellite television, gained a big stake in the now-merged U.S. satellite radio service, Sirius XM. According to the Washington Post, Liberty is loaning Sirius XM $530 million to pay off debt and avoid bankruptcy, but at a price: 15% interest. SIRI closed at 13 cents Friday.