Once upon a time Belo’s Channel 8 was the be-all and the end-all of TV in the North Texas market. It was the class act, the innovator the nationally acclaimed leader. But Channel 8 has been in a slow decline over the years as their best talent slipped away (or were occasionally driven away) to competitors. Now WFAA is in free fall.

In the “sign-on to sign-off (Sunday – Monday 6am to 2am) category WFAA’s audience share plummeted 17% while for the first time in its 50 years of broadcasting KTVT Channel 11 moved into a tie for first with 8. Channel 8’s audience share for the critical 10 pm news swooned 20% while Channel 11 rose to within one rating point of Fort Worth’s KXAS Channel 5. In the 6 pm news sweeps KXAS was down 10%, KDFW channel 4 dropped 22% and Channel 8 way down with a loss of 29%.

KXAS is still identified as a Fort Worth station and draws a heavy share from the western half of, well, the North Texas Metropolitan area. Channel 11, originally and independent station operating from Fort Worth and showing mostly (very) old movies is now a CBS affiliate with a North Texas wide operation. It is clearly the hard charger. It also has Tracy Rowlett, once Belo’s pride and joy, and weather woman Kristine Kahanek, who left WFAA amidst law suits.

The fact is that the 11 on air news team isn’t just warm and attractive it is very bright and involved in the news. The station has also shown an ability to dig and get news. It also has some very good lead-in programs like Wheel of Fortune to lead into some of those broadcasts.

If you have never been to the Bishop Arts District in North Oak Cliff you have missed a treat.  So give yourself a treat and head to this unique area for the 10th annual Jingle Bells on Bishop.  Some of Dallas best restaurants are to be found there along with some of our most unique shops.  And this Friday and Saturday (December 2 &3).  There will be music in the streets and lot's of special treats for big kids and little.

Michael Irvin still has his job at ESPN.  The charismatic Irvin is talking the talk and telling a good story.  Norm hopes he is telling the truth.  Given the history his emphasis is on the word "hope."

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This Saturday December 3^rd is the start of the filing period for candidates planning to run in next March’s Democratic and Republican primaries. Republican candidates may pick up their filing papers at Dallas County Republican Party offices located at 10100 N. Central Expressway. Democratic candidates may pick up their filing papers at Dallas County Democratic Party offices located at 4209 Parry. Republicans seek additional information may call 214-369-9555. Democrats seeking additional information should call 214-821-8331. Candidates for either party may go to www.sos.state.tx.us. and print out forms. Requirements to file vary by office. The filing deadline will be January 2, 2006 .

Southwest Airlines will begin service from Dallas Love Field to Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis on December 13^th. And while American Airlines appears to be a few months from inaugurating its own Love Field to Missouri service it announced greatly reduced fares to both cities from its hub at DFW.

A one-way ticket on American to Kansas City from DFW is selling for $158 before taxes with 14-day advance purchase. Southwest says they will set an unrestricted fare to both Missouri cities at $129 pre-tax each way.

Southwest expects to offer four flights each day to both cities. American currently offers 13 flights per day from DFW to St Louis and 11 to Kansas City but expects to shift some of those flights to Love.

John Wiley PriceDallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price sued the three Republican Commissioners (Mike Cantrell, Maureen Dickey, and Ken Mayfield) on the Commissioners Court in March of this year for allegedly violating the state open meetings laws. Price accused them of engaging in private discussions about the makeup of a panel on healthcare problems at the Dallas County Jail. The Republican Commissioners had been concerned about the failure of the previous panel to address the jail healthcare issues and felt that they were being excluded from the process of addressing those concerns. That panel did not even meet in 2004. DallasBlog broke the story Wednesday about a new Department of Justice investigation into county jail-related issues. Now, we have learned that John Wiley Price has agreed in principle to drop his lawsuit against the Republican Commissioners, with the Defendant Commissioners agreeing not to pursue their counterclaims against Price.

It looks like the original Price open records lawsuit turned out to be "much ado about nothing."

Ralph Reed and Jack AbramoffOnly the most addicted of Texas political junkies probably knows who Jack Abramoff is but a group of self-style “public watchdog” groups are seeking to change that. Three groups including Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, Common Cause of Texas and Texans for Public Justice today released a letter to Travis County Attorney David Escamilla asking that he investigate whether one Ralph Reed violated Texas law by failing to register as a lobbyist while acting on behalf of Abramoff.

So who is Abramoff? Or for that matter Ralph Reed? Abramoff was once the highest paid lobbyist in Washington and Republican operative who is currently has a two-count felony indictment against him and who was recently implicated in the murder of a Florida man by his business partner Jack Kidan. He is a man former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay once called “one of my closest friends.” Who is Ralph Reed? He is the former head of the Christian Coalition, former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and currently a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia.

According to the three watchdogs Reed was hired by Abramoff to lobby the Texas Legislature to shut down the Tigua Indian Tribes Speaking Rock Casino. The ultimate client was Abramoff’s client the Louisiana Coushhatta Indian tribe. The letter asserts that there is ample documentation of Reed’s lobbying in Texas. The letter provides email and other documentation indicating that Abramoff paid Reed over $3 million to lobby the issue. It also indicates that Abramoff felt Reed was unsuccessful because the Tigua Tribe had given $20,000 to Gov. Rick Perry.

Yesterday’s celebration of the life of Glenn Mitchell, host of public radio’s Glenn Mitchell Show, brought an SRO crowd to the Dallas Theater Center – and for good reason. Mitchell was a community treasure and will be missed on the local media scene.

His passing was all the more tragic because he was poised to go national with his show on Sirius satellite radio. But Mitchell made his mark in Dallas radio, with numerous Dallas Press Club Katies for radio reporting and for the widely appreciated KERA (90.1) radio show he hosted for the last 10 years over the noon hour.

As his friend and colleague David Johnson said at the memorial, with that show, Mitchell was doing what he really wanted to do in life. A favorite among listeners was the Friday show in which Mitchell took call-in questions about “anything you ever wanted to know.” If he couldn’t answer the question, he relied on other callers to phone in the answers.

Remarkably, Mitchell could answer many because he had such broad interests, ranging from music (all kinds) and books to baseball and all sorts of trivia. He loved interviewing musicians and authors and was known for doing his homework before an interview. He spent weeks each year preparing his Christmas Blockbuster music show for KERA radio. The show, in his absence, will nonetheless air this year on Dec. 18.

The memorial service was as eclectic as Mitchell, featuring music, audio clips, and remembrances from friends – from Johnson’s “Mitch could do anything,” to Bob Ray Sanders’ “Everything I know about radio I learned from Glenn Mitchell,” to Tom Blackwood’s “He respected his audience; he really respected Dan from Tyler.”

But the best comment may have come from fellow blogger Norm Hitzges, Mitchell’s roommate from 30 years ago. Mitchell, he said, “had a remarkable 7-11 mind. It was always open.”