June 2015 - The Dudek Abides

Luczak addresses Carole Caine’s dismissal, WKLH fans protest

Posted June 30, 2015 by Duane Dudek

By most standards, it was the usual morning show on WKLH-FM (96.5). There was Dave Luczak, weather, sports, traffic, music, ticket giveaways, cackling from K.B., Hollywood trash from Gino Salomone and of course…commercials.

All that was missing was Luczak’s co-host Carole Caine, whose contract was not renewed. Her last day was Monday.

Luczak joined the station in 1983, Caine became co-host in 1986. And over time “Dave & Carole” became a local institution.

At about 7:50 a.m. Tuesday on the air, Luczak addressed her departure.

WKLH does not renew morning co-host Carole Caine’s contract

Posted June 29, 2015 by Duane Dudek

WKLH-FM (96.5) will not renew the contract of veteran morning show co-host Carole Caine, the station announced Monday.

Her last day was today, Monday June. 29.

Caine has been partners on the show with Dave Luczak for almost thirty years, during which time the “Dave and Carole” show became a local institution.

Luczak came to the station, then WMGF in 1983, with Don Girard. Caine became newsperson in 1985 and full time co-host in 1986.

Luczak will remain on the morning show, the station announced. A link to Caine’s bio on the station’s website turns up “page not found.”

Racine station switches from ‘Lake’ to ‘Shore’ in dispute with Scrippps

Posted June 29, 2015 by Duane Dudek

The Racine radio station that adopted the nickname “The Lake” after it was abandoned by the Milwaukee E. W. Scripps station now called WKTI-FM has changed its nickname to “The Shore.”

The Racine station also changed its call letters from WMKQ-FM to WVTY-FM, a reference to “Variety.”

WKTI now plays country music. When it was previously WLWK-FM it played a variety of adult pop music. WVTY-FM now plays that format.

All along Scripps maintained that it owned the copyright in the market to “The Lake” and the slogan “It’s All About the Variety,” which the Racine station also adopted

“100 Year Old Man Who Fell Out a Window” a deadpan crowd pleaser

Posted June 26, 2015 by Duane Dudek

“The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared” didn’t disappear.

He had yet another adventure in a series of remarkable ones, that we witness in retrospect.

Along the way we see him interact with Franco, Truman, Stalin, Gorbachev, and Reagan, work on the Manhattan Project and as a double agent for Russian and US intelligence agencies.

And when on his 100th birthday he gingerly climbs out of his window at the nursing home like a cat, wearing only a bathrobe and clogs, what happens to him next – it involves a suitcase full of money, several dead bikers, eccentric traveling companions and an elephant – happens despite, or because, of his failing to interact with life directly.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” turns teen movie cliches on their head

Posted June 25, 2015 by Duane Dudek

Greg, the teenage boy in “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” skates across the surface of high school life without causing a ripple.

He is on nodding terms with all the cliques, but is a party of one.

He even calls his best friend Earl – collaborator on the short films they’ve been making since they were kids – his “co-worker.”

But when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate diagnosed with leukemia and whom he hardly knows, the experience deepens his worldview even as it darkens it.

Ladies and Gentleman: Me & Earl, The 100 year Old Man and Gimme Shelter

Posted June 23, 2015 by Duane Dudek

Unless something comes up, I’m on a Rolling Stones sabbatical until Friday when I review “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The 100-year old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.”

Watch trailers for those two films below.

Below that watch a trailer for the Maysles Brothers’ 1970 documentary “Gimme Shelter.”

It chronicles the ill-conceived Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in which a man was stabbed to death by the Hells Angels.

Magical realism and artistry in “When Marnie Was There”

Posted June 19, 2015 by Duane Dudek

“When Marnie Was There” is about a 12-year old girl who goes off the rails.

Any similarities to “Inside Out,” about the emotional turbulence of an 11-year old girl, stop there (though that both open Friday is worthy of note).

“Marnie” from the Japanese Studio Ghibli, home of acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazakil was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi a key animator on Miyazaki masterpieces like “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Spirited Away” and “The Wind Rises,” said to be Miyazaki’s final film.

Exodus begins at Scripps owned WTMJ-TV

Posted June 19, 2015 by Duane Dudek

E.W. Scripps Company has begun shuffling the deck chairs at its recently acquired Milwaukee NBC afiliate WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), and a number of on-air people are among the key departures.

They include:

— Sportscaster Jessie Garcia, a Madison native who joined the station in 1994 and is author of “My Life with the Green and Gold.” Her husband is a photographer at the station;

—Meteorologist Michael Fish, a Fond du Lac native who got his master’s degree in meteorology at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He worked at the station part time.

Intelligent, amusing “Inside Out” plays on, and with, our emotions

Posted June 18, 2015 by Duane Dudek

The trouble with Pixar is that they set the bar too high.

How to you top “Up” or trump “Toy Story”?

If “Inside Out” is any indication, you do so by making them again. The new Pixar film by Pete Docter, who directed “Up” and “Monster’s Inc” and wrote “Toy Story” inevitably begs comparison to Pixar’s greatest hits. And like those films “Inside Out” plays on our emotions, this time literally.

Ostensibly about a hockey loving 11-year old girl whose life is thrown into turmoil when her family moves across country, “Inside Out” is really about the voices in her, and our, heads.

The myth of Father’s Day

Posted June 18, 2015 by Duane Dudek

When I was younger and in college, I forgot my dad’s birthday.

Chastised by my mother I rushed out and got him a crappy gift – fishing equipment – and presented it belatedly.

Thanks, but no thanks, said my dad, who had me return it.

It took having kids of my own to make me realize I wasn’t guilty of bad gifting but of forgetting.

It’s hard to forget Father’s Day; every advertisement mentions it, every store has sales. But anyone with kids of their own experiences the full sweep of a holiday like Father’s Day – from the stress, guilt and pressure of a son or daughter to get the perfect gift, to understanding the true value of things as an adult.

The Dudek Abides

Archive for June, 2015

Luczak addresses Carole Caine’s dismissal, WKLH fans protest

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WKLH does not renew morning co-host Carole Caine’s contract

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Racine station switches from ‘Lake’ to ‘Shore’ in dispute with Scrippps

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“100 Year Old Man Who Fell Out a Window” a deadpan crowd pleaser

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“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” turns teen movie cliches on their head

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Ladies and Gentleman: Me & Earl, The 100 year Old Man and Gimme Shelter

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Magical realism and artistry in “When Marnie Was There”

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Exodus begins at Scripps owned WTMJ-TV

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Intelligent, amusing “Inside Out” plays on, and with, our emotions

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The myth of Father’s Day

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