Coming this Saturday...

Visit the blog this Saturday at 4pm for a live chat with Andy. He is going to give us 30 minutes of his time to ask him questions that he will respond in the comments section of a post. If you're curious why he is taking time out of his 52nd birthday to blog with us, you might want to revisit The College Advice Show. On this episode, we introduce the blog for the first time, and Andy promises me that he will post once a year on his birthday. Did I mention that Andy will be turning 52 years old?

Talk of the Town

I thought it would be fun to do a quick, calm summary of this Metropolitan Diary tangle.

2.12.07
WFMU's Beware of the Blog breaks the story:
Seven Second Delay to The New York Times: Sell My Shorts

Gawker picks it up:
'Times' Metropolitan Diary Gets Punked By WFMU

2.13.07
Fishbowl New York joins in:
Times' "Metro Diary" Pranked By WFMU Hosts, Pulls Story From Site

2.14.07
Seven Second Delay
The "Making It Right" Show

2.15.07
Gawker chimes in again:
Metropolitan Diary Editor Steamed At WFMU

Gawker starts a rumor:
Prank Might Kill Metropolitan Diary

The National Review
NY Times Editor Falls for Spoof, Threatens Kid

2.16.07
The New York Times publishes a correction:
Editor's Note

WFMU's Beware of the Blog corrects the correction:
The New York Times: Not Just For Young Trendies Anymore!

The Huffington Post
Pranking the NYT: Not Really All That Clever If You Just Lie to an Editor

2.20.07
The Wesleyan Argus, my school paper, does a story:
Silenzi '07 draws ire of NY Times

Wesleying, a campus blog, does a story:
How to Destroy a NYT Column by Blogging

2.21.07
Seven Second Delay
The "We ID Music Song Snippet Part Two" Show

2.22.07
Gawker loves this story:
Persecuted WFMU Metropolitan Diary Pranksters Claim They've Struck Again

Ethics

It was hinted at last show, but you never know with these things. This week, should Andy and Ken call Randy Cohen (New York Times's The Ethicist) again to get a professional opinion on the Metropolitan Diary punking and the resultant fury of Michael Pollak?

My answer would be absolutely. Seven Second Delay continuity rarely comes together this neatly. You can't pass these opportunities up.

(Cohen appeared on the show almost exactly a year ago, if you're wondering. I think his hypothetical appearance this week would be much more interesting.)

Why, oh why?


February 21, 2007: We ID Music Song Snippet Part Two

Can you believe it? We did it again! Just try to spot our second submission to the Metropolitan Diary! You can read this week's column here.

FYI, the phone number in the new studio is 201.536.9368.

Happy Note

After a long week of lies told and paradigms ruptured, I like to relax with some nice, old-fashioned anecdotal humor. Flyover-approved, for the online listeners.

Hiding Lite Brites: OUT.
Imaginary Kids: IN.

"Some Kind of Great Blow for Coolness"

February 14, 2007: Making It Right

I hope you were able to catch the show last night. It was stellar.

Andy: It's true, I guess, that there are many elderly people who depend on the Metropolitan Diary, but what you should have explained to him is that are many more really, really pathetic listeners who depend on our show, equally as much.

If you've been following this story on the blogs, you're not alone. You can read about it on The National Review or on Small Dead Animals. You can also read a ton about us on Gawker, a Manhattan media and gossip blog. They wrote about my phone call with the editor, and then they leaked a rumor that our prank may have killed the Metropolitan Diary.

That's right. No more precocious New York kids. No more amusing misspellings. Only the bad news will be left.

Now, sure, the Metropolitan Diary has had some problems with this in the past, they have a tendency to repeat themselves and they're no Overheard in New York, but no one ever wanted them to disappear. To be honest, my grandmother would never forgive me. Also, many of you have admitted really enjoying the column, even if just to poke fun at it.

According to Ken's last comment on this blog, the next episode of Seven Second Delay might need to be devoted to saving the Metropolitan Diary. I'll sure be listening.

Overheard Everywhere



If you don't know what's new with Seven Second Delay and this blog, I recommend you read Ken's WFMU Blog post, or the Gawker article, or the Fishbowl New York article.

Or you should look at Listener Robin's screenshot and compare it to the current page of the Metropolitan Diary.

Or, you could always check my e-mail or listen to my voice mails.

Subject: fabrication
From: "Mike Pollak" [pollakm@nytimes.com]
Date: Tue, February 13, 2007 4:37 pm

Dear Ms. Silenzi:

This is Michael Pollak, the editor at The New York Times who you lied to several weeks ago.

We are publishing a correction of your Metropolitan Diary item of Feb. 12, noting that it was a deliberate hoax, and that when you were called by The Times, you falsely stated that you wrote the item, that it was truthful in all respects, that the events described actually happened and that you could vouch for the next-door neighbor whose son was mentioned in the letter. We plan to print your name and that of the Wesleyan radio station.

Michael Pollak
Staff editor


Please note that he has confused WFMU in Jersey City, NJ with my radio station, WESU in Middletown, CT.

And, of course, you can listen to tonight's live show from 6-7PM EST on WFMU. I think Ken and Andy might have a good show topic in mind.

Dear Diary

Don't forget to read your favorite section of the New York Times today!

Sixty Second Delay

I hope that, in addition to being completely obsessed with this blog, many of you find time to still read WFMU's Beware of the Blog. On the blog a few weeks ago, Ken publicly challenged listeners to create their own sixty second remixes of songs, reflective of all of our evolving attention spans. There have been some amazing submissions thus far, but my personal favorite is clear.

Here you go, have some Breckman Pie (submitted by DJ Jesuspants).

Demographics

February 7, 2007: Animal Crackers, Heroes and Haftorahs

Some important questions came up in the last Seven Second Delay regarding the listenership. It seems like there's some pretty valuable information about who listens to the show that's just not accessible. The show was over before that information could be collected, but isn't that what this blog is for? I'm not sure, actually. It might as well be this.

Everyone has to check in. Every listener. This is the big Seven Second Delay census push: this is the only time this will happen until I can't come up with another blog post idea and do this again.

1. If you are Jewish, are you prepared to recite part or all of your haftorah at a moment's notice?

2. If you are a woman, have you ever had a dream about being unable to find a bathroom?

Jewish women should answer both questions.

3. If you are male and not Jewish... I don't have a question for you. It didn't come up in the show. I still need you to check in though. Maybe you could tell us if you've ever had a dream in which you couldn't find a bathroom or whether you're prepared to recite your haftorah.

The Time Machine

Ever feel like taking a trip back to November 22, 1991? I sure hope so.

Recently (this is a lie) an old Aerial View was made available, notable here for the presence of one Andy Breckman, just one month into Seven Second Delay at the time, as the co-host. The show is about the Kennedy Assassination, and is tremendously dated ("Andy, what are you calling your show nowadays?") but the entertainment value is timeless, right? Maybe. Who knows.

It's pretty shameful passing this off as new information over a year after the fact, I'll admit it. If I was really on top of this blog thing I'd have noticed it day one and would have started a blog about Seven Second Delay so I could post about it.

I failed. I'll own it.

Also of interest, a show Chris hosted with Ken in 1993 -- and that's only been available for, well, over four years. Eventually all the currently accessible information about 7SD will be republished right here. You heard that here first, at least.

Proud Moments

Unless you can freeze time without crushing your glasses, grubbing for gems in the Seven Second Delay archives can be a heavy scene. Of course, if you're here, the odds are much greater than usual that, at least when it comes to Ken/Andy nostalgia, you have that sort of determination.

So, for the new folks who are just now getting 7SD RealAudio fever... What's your favorite episode from 2005 or before that hasn't been re-run? If you've got one, post it in the comments section. Take us to school.

On a tangent, I think "Google Map Guilt" is brilliant. But I've been wrong before.