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THE AGONY OF DEFEAT
To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio
Toby Young thought he had it made. He had a prestigious
job at Vanity Fair magazine, a press pass that got him in everywhere,
and a suave British accent to boot. He was poised to take Manhattan.
Then everything went wrong. In this hour of To the Best of Our
Knowledge, flops, failures and debacles. Also, jumping the shark:
how to pinpoint the exact moment goes bad, from Seinfeld to Spielberg.
SEGMENT 1:
"How To Lose Friends and Alienate People"
is the title of Toby Young's memoir of his experience working
for "Vanity Fair" magazine. The book was so successful,
Young turned it into a play. Young talks with Steve Paulson and
explains what he did at "Vanity Fair," and how he got
into so much trouble. Also, Jason Zasky edits the failuremagazine
website. He just loves a good comeback story and shares a
few with Anne Strainchamps. For instance, Rubber was useless until
someone figured out how to vulcanize it; Moe Norman is the "Rainman"
of professional golf; and prunes are back as "dried plums."
SEGMENT 2:
Public Radio veteran producer Jay Allison
has a new venture - a website called Transom.
He prepared this sound portrait on artists and rejection. Also,
Jon Hein uses the term "jump-the-shark" to describe
the precise moment when things begin to go bad. He tells Steve
Paulson how the concept got its name and gives some examples.
SEGMENT 3:
Sherron Watkins is the whistle-blower who
tried to tell Ken Lay what was going on at Enron. With co-author,
journalist Mimi Schwartz, Watkins lays out the story in her book
"Power Failure." Watkins tells Jim Fleming Enron combined
risky accounting practices with the collapse of virtually all
organizational controls within the company and started paying
immense bonuses to executives immediately before bankruptcy.
Cassette copies are available
at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 03-09-07-B.
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Books:
- Jon Hein, jump the shark
(read by the author) (Listen & Live Audio)
- Sherron Watkins, Power Failure (Doubleday)
- Toby Young, How to Lose Friends &
Alienate People (Da Capo)
Music:
- Will to Fail/ Katie Lee/ Incredibly
Strange Music Volume I
- ReSearch -The Hot Canary
- Patrick Sheridan, tuba/ Bon Bons/ Carmen Records
- Theme Song from "Happy Days" -Backlot
- "Ed Wood" Original Soundtrack Recording
- Hollywood -Green Tea/ John Scofield/ A Go Go/ Verve
Distribution dates:
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Questions and comments can
be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org
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