Kiger's Notebook

Celebrating the Month of James?

I'm sure many, many people in Rochester view December as the month-long holiday called the Month of James.

But not everyone might know how it came to be celebrated and for those few out there might not know of it, here's a quick primer on this celebration honoring one of Rochester's most revered former radio superstar (formerly on the air in Rochester, not formerly a superstar) James Rabe.

Here's the background on the Month of James' Web site:

How did we, as a nation, come to celebrate December as the Month of James?

It was a cold Friday night in Ferndale, MI.  Downstairs, the 5 Rabe children were doing homework, playing and doing whatever else kids do on a Friday night.  

Their father, Bill Rabe, was puttering in his study and their mother, Mary Ann Rady Rabe, very pregnant, was upstairs, getting a head start on wrapping gifts for the upcoming Christmas celebration. 

She later said that she knew things would soon get busy and she didn’t want to worry about it while she was busy having her 6th and final child.At  7:30pm, Mary Ann was struggling with the ribbon on Karl’s Spiro-Graph when she felt the contraction that said it was time.  She yelled downstairs, “Bill…BILL! 

Put that stupid pipe down and come take me to the hospital!”But it wouldn’t be until 3am, Saturday, December 9th, that James Rabe would enter into this world.

“Crap,” thought Mrs Rabe, “I could have finished Karl’s gift and had another scotch!”

Rabe is the former long-time morning show host on KROC.

PS - If joke isn't funny, it is due to my tweaking of it. It is really funny, when you read the pure, un-Kigered writing on James Rabe's Web site.

Blockbuster returning to Roch.

Well, it is kind of returning.

Don't expect a building or store as in the past, but do expect to the blue and gold movie ticket logo to reappear in Rochester.

Blockbuster stopped renting movies and DVDs in Rochester back in 2006. The International Buffet building was previously a Blockbuster as was a space over by Target North.

I'll have more on this in my column Monday.

New movie + Red Wing roller derby skates

Here's some from an interesting piece from the P-B's man in Red Wing, Brett Boese.

RED WING -- Bob Riegelman took his wife out for dinner three years ago and capped the night with a visit to Roy Wilkins Auditorium. To watch roller derby.

Though 5,000 rabid fans packed the place to cheer on their favorite skaters -- Harmony Killerbruise, Citizen Pain and Hanna Belle Lector, to name a few -- Cherie Riegelman was less than impressed.

"This is the sport I'm involved in," the president of Riedell Inc. desperately tried to explain.

It's a sport that no longer needs an introduction.

Drew Barrymore made the niche sport accessible to the public in "Whip It," her directorial debut that hit theaters last month. It was filmed almost entirely in Detroit, but has strong ties to the Red Wing area. When Barrymore began looking for equipment, the seasoned skaters she enlisted as cast members recommended Riedell Inc. in Red Wing.

The double stripe skate -- Riedell's trademark -- soon became everpresent in the movie and its promotional events. The movie used 55 skates and other equipment provided by the company.

Cabela's sells Lake City-based Wild Wings

Here's a deal I missed completely last week.

It seems the outdoors outfitter giant Cabela's sold rustic art specialist Wild Wings at the end of October. Wild Wings is based in Lake City.

I have a call into Wild Wings' president to see if i can flesh this out a bit more.

Here's some from a brief press release that Cabela's quietly slid out about this sale:

Cabela's Incorporated announced today the sale of its wildlife-art division, Wild Wings, LLC, to RDE Acquisition Company, LLC, which is owned by a former executive officer of Wild Wings. The closing of the sale took place on Oct. 30, 2009.

Its marketing, product development, sales, administration, picture framing, warehousing and framed-art shipping divisions all are located in Lake City, Minn.

"Wild Wings and its employees have been an integral part of Cabela's success over the last 10 years, and we are proud to have had them as part of our extended family," said Tommy Millner, Chief Executive Officer of Cabela's.

Cabela's will continue to sell Wild Wings products through its retail stores, catalogs and Web site.

Mayo Clinic 'unscripted' TV show?

The status of the proposed 'unscripted' or reality-style television show based on day-to-day action at Mayo Clinic sounds like the phrase used in the final frame of many cliff-hanging, season ending episodes - To Be Continued.

------------

An “unscripted” or reality television show focused on Mayo Clinic was proposed by the Turner Broadcasting cable network earlier this year.

Here’s what Mayo spokesman Chris Gade had to say about it last week:
“Nothing’s changed. No final decisions have been made.”

Stay tuned.

Mayo Clinic Dr. + 'Dancing with Doctors'

No worries. This is not a spin-off of the 'Dancing with the Stars' TV show.Dr. Michael Brennan, an endocrinologist, appears on an espisode called 'Dancing with Doctors,' which is part of the PBS series "Life (Part 2)."

Thanks to Mayo Clinic's Social Media Guru Lee Aase for pointing this out on Twitter.

Here's some of PBS' introduction to the show:

Why do we often feel scared, rushed, and powerless in the doctor’s office? Can this affect how we heal? Why do doctors behave the way they do? How can we improve the “dance” we do with doctors?

Host Robert Lipsyte, a two-time cancer survivor, asks the insiders. The Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Michael Brennan offers pointers on getting and keeping your physician’s attention and reaping the greatest benefits from a visit to the doctor.

MayoClinic.Com vs Righthealth.com

Here's a tidbit I stumbled upon. It looks like, according to MarketCharts.Com that MayoClinic.Com has been topped by RightHealth.Com in the standings as online medical sources.

In January, MayoClinic.com had 4.76 percent of the U.S. visits, which placed it as #2 behind WebMD's 12.67 percent. RightHealth.Com was #7 with 2.18 percent.

In February, MayoClinic was still #2 with 4.92 percent and RightHealth.com was #3 with 4.07 percent.

In September, RightHealth.Com has #2 with 5.67 percent with MayoClinic.com #3 with 3.48 percent.

Alexa, a Web site traffic tracking site, ranks MayoClinic.com as 513th top visited site for U.S. traffic.

Alexa puts RightHealth.com at 1,024 for the U.S.

MayoClinic.com has 10,463 sites linking to it compared to 284 linking to RightHealth.Com., according to Alexa.

Earlier this week, Time Inc.'s Health.com announced a partnership with RightHealth.comm to expand Health.com in 2010.

Not sure what all of this adds up to for MayoClinic.Com, but the pieces are interesting. I'll follow up with Mayo soon.

KTTC's Watson to run more stations

Following a promotion this week, Jerry Watson, the leader of Rochester’s KTTC-TV, is now in charge of six stations in four states.

Watson was named a regional vice president Monday by the Illinois-based Quincy Newspapers, Inc., which owns KTTC. QNI is a family owned media organization. The Oakley family organization owns 12 TV stations, two newspapers and two radio stations, while also operating KXLT-TV, the Fox affiliate in Rochester, under a joint sales and share services agreement.

That means in addition to his previous duties as vice president and general manager of KTTC as well as KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa, he now has oversight of NBC affiliates in Waterloo, Iowa; Bluefield, W. Va., and the Illinois stations in Quincy and Rockford.

He now has between 350 to 450 employees under his management.

Watson said he chose to remain based in Rochester. His Rochester base also reflects how the station has grown to be more prominent within the Quincy company.

“We’ve attracted some of the top technical talent for the whole company,” Watson says.

That means a lot of the technical control for the stations in the region is based here.

He has worked at KTTC for 20 years. His promotion is notable, because this places him as one of the top executives who is not a member of the Oakley family, Watson said.

Watson’s new duties will mean spending more time on the road.

“That means I’ll rely more on station manager Liz Dahlen than ever before,” he said. “When I’m not here, she is the ranking manager on site.”

New clinical center in N.E. Roch.?

Plans are in the works to build a new clinical center in northeast Rochester. 

I’ll keep checking the medical charts to see if the treatment plan of construction pans out.

Charter Communications unveils new facility

  Charter Communications snipped a ribbon with the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce this a.m. at its new $5 million, almost 31,000-square-foot facility overlooking Superior Drive Northwest from a hillside by the Hollywood 12 CineMagic Theatre.

The cable, telephone and Internet provider broke ground on the complex in November 2008. About 160 of Charter’s 686 Rochester employees are working in the facility.