Air Time

Tens of thousands of California state workers are taking advantage of a perk that pays them pension benefits for years they don't actually work, and reformers looking for places to cut have put it at the top of the list. State law allows the employees to increase their retirement benefits by tacking up to five fictitious years ? known as "air time" ? onto their public service. Although they pay a fee for the privilege and officials say it is high enough to cover the eventual payouts, critics of air time note that the boost can cost taxpayers millions when the state pension system's investment income falls short, as it has in recent years.

The four remaining GOP presidential candidates and their supporters will have spent $10.4 million on broadcast television advertising in South Carolina by the time polls close there Saturday, swamping the state with finger-pointing spots. And that total doesn't include the more than $2 million of combined air time purchased by Rick Perry and Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry "super PAC," before the Texas governor pulled out of the race Thursday. Back in 2008, when five Republicans were vying for the nomination, the television ad war totaled $6.9 million, according to Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Most newscasters in Los Angeles are pathetic. So pathetic that the mayoral duel between incumbent Richard Riordan and state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) could earn genuine in-depth coverage on local TV only if it were to occur on freeways, with squad cars in pursuit. That would hold the live cameras for at least an hour.

Tens of thousands of California state workers are taking advantage of a perk that pays them pension benefits for years they don't actually work, and reformers looking for places to cut have put it at the top of the list. State law allows the employees to increase their retirement benefits by tacking up to five fictitious years ? known as "air time" ? onto their public service. Although they pay a fee for the privilege and officials say it is high enough to cover the eventual payouts, critics of air time note that the boost can cost taxpayers millions when the state pension system's investment income falls short, as it has in recent years.

The new owners of a nearly scrapped $5.5-billion satellite service said they would sell bulk air time that could vastly expand telecommunications in China, Russia, India and elsewhere in the developing world. Iridium Satellite, an investor group, said it had "millions of minutes going to waste" after wrapping up the $25-million purchase of the 66-satellite, low-orbit network in bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

If you were pitching a product and you wanted a sports tie-in, who would be your representative? For years, Arnold Palmer was the No. 1 sports pitchman. Palmer is still high on the list, but he has relinquished his top spot to Michael Jordan. "He's hotter than any recent athlete we've seen in the prime of a career," said Brian Murphy, publisher of Sports Marketing Letter. Jordan's client list includes everything from sneakers to cereals, soft drinks to fast food.

To improve the public's access to political candidates, TV stations could offer a set amount of air time for free, rather than sell unlimited amounts at discounted rates, the nation's top broadcast regulator suggested. "What I'm basically saying is that we ought to cap the amount of time that is devoted to political broadcasts," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt said in an interview.

George Skelton was right in his Oct. 28 Capitol Journal column, pointing out that Gov. Gray Davis didn't invent our corrupt and corrupting campaign finance system. A free-air-time proposal sponsored by Sen. John McCain and others offers one way to improve the system. Federal legislation would require that television and radio stations provide real campaign coverage in the weeks leading up to elections. Debates, interviews, forums or other programs that air issues could qualify. While each television and radio station is granted exclusive use of a part of the public's airways, the stations make no payment for it beyond a vague promise to provide public service.

Shaquille O'Neal starts playing defense with the same intensity he does offense, Kobe Bryant starts passing the ball, Glen Rice starts moving without it and creating space for his open three-pointers and--voila!--the Lakers have chemistry. Kurt Rambis said Monday that the Lakers added that vital ingredient within the last two weeks. But the question remains: Does chemistry lead to winning or does winning lead to chemistry?

Dismissing Republican warnings not to offer "unequal coverage," the nation's television networks broadcast President Clinton's address to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, giving the Democrats more air time than offered Republicans two weeks earlier. GOP Chairman Jim Nicholson last week asked the big three networks to air "not a minute more" of the Democrats' gathering than they did of the Republican event in Philadelphia.

When I ask the Young Turk what stands as competition for his Internet video show on politics, he pauses for a beat. "Sh," he replies. "I just don't see them yet, thank God. The competition will come at some point and we don't want to be overconfident. But at the same time, right now, we have huge market dominance. " While many others have talked about new media forms and breaking down barriers, the self-styled Young Turk, a.k.a. Cenk Uygur, has administered his own wrecking ball.

When Stephen Colbert got a buzz cut from Gen. Raymond Odierno this week it was both the least and the most important moment in his four-night sojourn in Iraq. The Comedy Central star gave up a thick head of hair, and shelved his beloved blow-dryer. America won't soon forget the shtick -- Colbert forcibly shorn by the big, bald-headed general on "order" of the commander in chief, who beamed in via satellite TV to Camp Victory in Baghdad. That scored lots of laughs and something more.

It's just a scrap of paper marked up with some scribblings. But to Todd Haley and the rest of the Arizona Cardinals, it's a masterpiece. In fact, the offensive coordinator plans to frame the keepsake and hang it on his office wall. And why not? The doodling helped propel the Cardinals to the unlikeliest of places -- one victory away from the Super Bowl. Rewind to last Friday, when the Cardinals were making their four-hour charter flight to Charlotte, N.C.

Talk station KGIL-AM (1260) is shaking up its weekday afternoon and evening lineup, moving host Michael Savage into a more prominent spot and adding a new show at night hosted by Monica Crowley. Savage, who had been airing weeknights from 10 p.m. to midnight, will be heard from 5 to 7 p.m., beginning Monday. Crowley, a former Fox News analyst, joins the lineup from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. To accommodate those changes, several other hosts are moving to new time slots and, in some cases, getting less air time.

Deep-frying is the bacon of cooking techniques: It makes everything taste better. Do it with beignets, though, and you get the irresistible results in a more lyrical package. The word is almost as satisfying to say as the real thing is to eat. Beignets sound so much lighter and airier than fritters, but they are no easier to pass up.

NBC is turning over precious real estate to outside producers in an effort to spend less money on programming as its business is challenged by a changing entertainment landscape. Under a deal quietly finalized last week, NBC agreed to carve out a two-hour block on its prime-time schedule for adventure documentaries produced by Thom Beers, whose credits include such popular cable shows as "Deadliest Catch" and "Monster Garage."

Three days before the vote, backers of Orange County's slow-growth initiative have won free air time over six Southland radio stations by invoking an abolished broadcasting rule, the Fairness Doctrine. Tom Rogers, founder of the ballot initiative, said Federal Communications Commission spokesmen told him his group might qualify for equal air time because abolition of the Fairness Doctrine last year was not intended to relieve broadcasters of the obligation to air opposing views.

One of the state's biggest broadcasters has given 13 Republican county committees $325,000 worth of free air time to promote candidates on its radio and television stations that serve communities from Sacramento to San Diego. Pappas Telecasting Cos., which calls itself the largest privately held broadcast firm in the nation, made the donations earlier this month.

It's becoming a cherished tradition: When the Democratic presidential candidates gather for a debate, the Chris Dodd campaign breaks out the stopwatch. It did so for the talkfest at Dartmouth College on Wednesday, and the speaking-time stats underscored that Hillary Clinton is the dominant figure in the race. She logged 17 minutes and 37 seconds of air time -- roughly four minutes more than the second-place finisher, Barack Obama.

NEW YORK -- After 15 months at the helm of MSNBC, legal analyst Dan Abrams is stepping down as general manager and returning to hosting full-time, the cable news network announced Monday. In a statement, NBC News President Steve Capus praised Abrams and said his return on-air will help strengthen the network's lineup.