Laughing all the way to the control board.
Steve Paskay is thinking small, for now. Paskay, who co-produced the enormously successful TV reality series “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” is trying his hand at the radio/music biz. It’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but he likes it.
People being their silly selves made it all possible. His residuals still roll in from “AFHV,” which went on the air as a series on 1990, though Paskay hasn’t been involved directly since 1995.
Thanks to income from the show, however, he’s able to indulge another passion. Paskay has created and is producing “If These Songs Could Talk” (9 p.m. Sundays, KKQZ 93.4-FM), an hour-long educational oldies show.
KKQZ, based in Windsor and known as “Z94.3,” is barely audible in the metro Denver area but Paskay foresees the day when his show, hosted by Brad Pierce, is syndicated nationally.
Strictly speaking, “Songs” is not nostalgia, says Paskay. “I’m trying to tell the story behind the song.” Paskay is the master of musical minutiae, what he calls “little nuggets of factoids.” For example, did you know that the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” originally was titled for a woman named Daisy Hawkins? Or the connection between The Doors’ hit “Touch Me” and a TV commercial for laundry detergent?
Paskay does the whole show on his laptop at his home in Marina del Rey, Calif., and, so far, he’s financing it out of his own pocket. But he has dreams. “I think I have a different product. What is it about these songs that you can listen to them over and over again?”
Dire but not fatal
A House subcommittee’s vote on Friday to butcher the government’s support for public broadcasting put an upside-down smile on James Morgese’s face.
“We have repelled attacks like this in the past, but the atmosphere in Washington is different,” the president and general manager of Rocky Mountain PBS said Monday.
The subcommittee voted to lop 25 percent off the budget of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“We already rely on the public for 55 percent of our operating budget. That’s going to go up, and expenses have to go down. We’re cutting to the bone.”
Especially hard hit would be “Ready to Learn,” children’s shows designed for early-education outreach programs.
Around the dial
KWGN-Channel 2 named Denver’s best television newscast by The Associated Press for its “overall content” at AP’s awards ceremony Saturday night. KUSA-Channel 9’s Susie Wargin was named for best sportscast. … Innervision Television does another G-rated open-mic night at Broussard’s Creole Cafe, 233 E. Colfax Ave., at 10 p.m. Thursday. … Quotable: “I don’t know anything about music. In my line, you don’t have to.” – Elvis Presley
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
