Somebody ‘splain this to me!

Who’d have thought that Rod Blagojevich (or his image, actually) still has the ability to sell?

Who thinks this image sells?



Because it seems that for as many people who claim they can’t stand the former Illinois governor-turned-federal inmate, perhaps there are those who will find some appeal in him.

MAYBE IT’S THAT hair? I honestly don’t get it.

Because what got me to start thinking in these terms was while I was out driving Thursday night. I was headed through suburban Calumet City north on Burnham Avenue (which city-dwellers know is really named Avenue O) when I stumbled across an advertising billboard for the Chicago news-oriented radio station WIQI-FM.

Actually, it is one of those stations that doesn’t seem to like to think of itself in terms of call-letters. It calls itself FM101.1 – which my guess the letters IQI are meant to look (sort of) like the numerals 101.

As for why they didn’t just go for the call letters WIOI, it seems a radio station in Portsmouth, Ohio (which plays the “music of your life” for people across Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia) has beaten them to it.

ALTHOUGH PERHAPS THE “Q” can also be perceived as a “tribute,” of sorts, to the days when the 101.1 frequency in Chicago was used by the old Q-101 pop music-oriented station that also gave us Mancow Muller (whatever became of him?)

But back to the point of the billboard. I nearly lost control of my automobile when I saw Blagojevich’s pre-prison image (his hair was still dyed jet black, rather than the shades of brown that it has supposedly turned to since his incarceration began earlier this year).

Along with the slogan, “He NEVER listens to FM101.1 News!”

These people do!



I suppose being out in the suburbs of Denver, it would be difficult for Milorod to pick up the signal on any radio he might be permitted to own.

AND INSOFAR AS trying to listen to the station through its website, I’m not sure how much Internet access federal inmates get. Considering that it might not be much, I’d hate to think he was wasting his time tuning in to Chicago news-oriented radio.

It’s just that I find the combination of these images to be a bizarre one. I’m not sure what message the station is trying to send.

I’m serious when I say if anyone can explain it to me, I’m willing to listen.

I would think that the Blagojevich mug on the billboard would be enough to turn off so many people. Even for those news-oriented geeks who want to know every trivial detail that is happening, who cares much about Blagojevich these days.

HE’S NOT GOING to be making much in the way of real news, unless we literally get a prison riot and he somehow gets hurt (which is something that I’m sure a few twisted individuals in our society are too eagerly hoping for).

Of course, there’s also the smart-aleck in me that reads the “He NEVER listens” portion of that slogan and says something along the lines of, “Nobody EVER listens” to that station.

Seriously, I haven’t heard anything to indicate that it’s doing much in the way of ratings. Then again, just about every radio station is down, ratings-wise, because so many young people are so determined to listen to their iPods or other portable devices that making them turn to a radio seems, to them, quite quaint -- even more so than picking up anything printed on paper.

There’s also the fact that the station (in my opinion, at least) seems a bit trivial. I have heard some say they are trying to put a “hip-hop” spin on the news of the day. Which strikes me as being an odd characterization.

ANYBODY WHO SENSES “hip-hop” in listening to the station probably thinks Vanilla Ice is cutting edge in urban pop.

And apparently, they also are deluded enough to think that Blagojevich’s face will encourage anybody to tune in to listen to the news headlines.

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