Born on this day!! Actor William Shatner is 92. Actor M. Emmet Walsh is 88. Singer Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy is 82. Singer-guitarist George Benson is 80. News anchor Wolf Blitzer is 75. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is 75. Actor Fanny Ardant is 74. Sportscaster Bob Costas is 71. Country singer James House is 68. Actor Lena Olin is 68. Singer-actor Stephanie Mills is 66. Actor Matthew Modine is 64. Comedian Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele) is 52. Actor Will Yun Lee (“Hawaii Five-0″) is 52. Actor Guillermo Diaz (“Scandal”) is 48. Actor Anne Dudek (“Mad Men”) is 48. Actor Cole Hauser (TV’s “Yellowstone”) is 48. Actor Kellie Williams (“Family Matters”) is 47. Actor Reese Witherspoon is 47. Drummer John Otto of Limp Bizkit is 46. Actor Tiffany Dupont (“Murder in the First”) is 42. Rapper Mims is 42. Actor Constance Wu (film’s “Crazy Rich Asians,” TV’s “Fresh Off The Boat”) is 41. Guitarist Lincoln Parish of Cage the Elephant is 33.
THIS DAY IN GENIUS HISTORY
1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumiere first demonstrated motion pictures using celluloid film in Paris.
1765 – The Stamp Act was enacted on the American colonies by Britain.
1820 – U.S. naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with dishonored former Chesapeake captain James Barron.
1894 – The first Stanley Cup championship game was played. The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (which won the cup unchallenged the previous year) triumphed over the Ottawa Capitals.
1933 – The first German concentration camp was opened at Dachau.
1945 – The Arab League was formed in Cairo, by Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
1972 – Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment and sent it to be ratified by the states. The amendment would fail to get the required 38 states to ratify it.
1997 – Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth in the skies over the northern hemisphere. The comet’s next pass is predicted for the year 4397.
2012 – Amadou Toumani Touré, The President of Mali, was ousted in a coup d’état.
Today Is: As Young As You Feel Day, International Balloon Animal Day, International Day of The Seal, National Goof-off Day, Ramadan, Talk Like William Shatner Day, Tuskegee Airmen Day, World Day for Water, World Day of Metta
TODAY ON TV!
Primetime TV (All Times Eastern)
CBS – 8:00 – Survivor / 9:00 – Most Wanted / 10:00 – True Lies
NBC – 8:00 – Chicago Med / 9:00 – Chicago Fire / 10:00 – Chicago PD
ABC – 8:00 – The Conners / 8:30 – The Goldbergs / 9:00 – Abbott Elementary / 9:30 – Not Dead Yet / 10:00 – A Million Little Things
FOX – 8:00 – The Masked Singer / 9:00 – Farmer Wants A Wife
CW – 8:00 – The Flash / 9:00 – Gotham Knights
TV Talk Shows
Jimmy Fallon: Brian Cox, Gaten Matarazzo, Mikaela Shiffrin, Caroline Polachek
Stephen Colbert: Christina Ricci, Jen Psaki, Robert Glasper featuring YEBBA (R 3/13/23)
Seth Meyers: Fred Armisen, Penn Badgley (R 2/9/23)
James Corden: Kerry Washington, Delroy Lindo
Watch What Happens Live: Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright
Daily Show: Guest host Al Franken
The Talk: Melody Thomas Scott, Jess Walton, Michelle Miller, guest co-host Victor Cruz
Live with Kelly and Ryan: Jennifer Aniston, Mae Whitman
Drew Barrymore: Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, Sheryl Underwood, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, Amanda Kloots
Jennifer Hudson: Coco Jones, Skai Jackson
WHAT ARE YOU TALKIN’ ABOUT? Here are today’s PPM-Friendly Topics!
QUESTION: Didn’t we just see this story on “THE LAST OF US??” Our friends at the CDC say a deadly, drug-resistant FUNGUS is spreading through hospitals in the U.S.!! (mortality rate: 33%!)
QUESTION: Is Autocorrect RUINING YOUR LIFE?? Apple users say the new IOS version of autocorrect is “atrocious,” changing correctly spelled words.. like “barely” is changed to “Barry!!?”
QUESTION: Is THIS the way to get verrrry special treatment on a long flight?? This guy tries a very famous hack.. and it WORKED!! He got upgraded to a $12,000 seat to Abu Dhabi!!!!!!!!!!!
QUESTION: If this is HUMP DAY, is it time for a FLORIDA MAN story?? Our FM of the Week was arrested for slapping his wife in the face with a PIECE OF PIZZA!!! “That’s not blood, it’s SAUCE!!”
QUESTION: Are they IN or are they OUT?? Ben Affleck still wants to close on their $64 million mansion in Pacific Palisades, but J Lo wants to BACK OUT for the THIRD time!! Trouble in paradise?
Nick Lachey Ordered Into Anger Management
Nick Lachey has been ordered to attend anger management classes and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after accosting a paparazzo. Police records show he was charged with assault and battery against Jody Santos in March 2022 but did not receive any formal punishment until the photographer hassled the Beverly Hills Police Department for months. “He has to complete [anger management and AA] within a reasonable time, which is like a year or so,” Santos explained to the Daily Mail Monday. “If he fails to do so, they will move forward to prosecute him with noncompliance and he will get arrested.” On March 27, 2022, Santos spotted Lachey, 49, and his wife, Vanessa Lachey, leaving Mastro’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. He spotted the paparazzo sitting in her car across the street taking photos and went ballistic, running over to her car and trying to grab her camera and phone through the passenger window. “In all my years of photographing celebrities, no one has ever tried to hit me,” Santos told the newspaper, adding that she tried to roll up the window “as fast” as she “could.” “He then started punching the window. I thought he was going to break his hand; that’s how hard he was hitting the glass,” she recalled. “I am surprised he didn’t shatter the window.” Santos said she has “no doubt” Nick would have “knocked” her out had she not raised her window in a timely fashion. However, she claims he only received a punishment after she accused the district attorney’s office of providing him with “preferential treatment.”
******He walked into his first AA meeting and said, “Where’s the bar??”
********We knew Nick was a good guy.. we had no idea HOW good!!!
Shaq Getting A New Hip
Shaquille O’Neal joked about getting “some BBL work” done while reassuring fans that they have “no need to worry” about his recent surgery. He tweeted a throwback photo Monday of himself showing his bare butt in his Los Angeles Lakers jersey. The image was edited and played on a loop to show his cheeks expanding. “to all the people who are worried and concerned. first off, let me say thank you,” O’Neal wrote. “And lastly no need to worry, just had to get some BBL WORK AKA #hipreplacement,” he continued, using the acronym for a Brazilian butt lift. He went on to thank his followers, concluding, “love you all. but no need to worry and yes i’m fine.” O’Neal’s post-op update came one day after he shocked fans with a photo of himself in a hospital bed. “I’m always watching @TurnerSportsEJ and @Candace_Parker miss y’all,” he captioned the photo. Many Twitter users wished O’Neal a “speedy recovery” while awaiting more information. Three months prior to his surgery, the Olympian spoke about dropping 40 pounds — and looking to lose 20 more — after having blood work done.
********Seriously.. he’s 7’1″!! We’re betting he had to have those hip-replacements custom-made!!!
****If he DID have a BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift), they must have used a truck jack to raise those cheeks!!
Nick Cannon Says Mariah Carey “Is Not Human”
Nick Cannon feels lucky to have ex-wife Mariah Carey in his life. He called her “the love of his life.” “Like the greatest? I mean, I always talk about that,” he said in an interview with The Shade Room. “Then it goes viral, and our fans get mad at me. But I was 12 years old with Mariah Carey pictures on my wall, and that becomes my wife. And the fact that she’s the coolest person I ever met.” Cannon became a dad in 2011 when he and Carey welcomed twins Moroccan and Monroe, now 11. They separated in 2014 before pulling the plug on their union in 2016. “I get a lot of this delightful disposition from her,” he went on. “She’s just always happy, always doing for others.” “No matter what’s happening in life. I’m like, ‘Wow, a person can really operate like that and don’t allow negative energy into their space.’” “When I found out about how remarkable she was… that woman is not human. She’s a gift from God,” Cannon added.
********OK… what does HR want???
*****He called her the next day and asked if she’d babysit some of his other kids!!!
Taylor Swift Shows Off Some “Swimming” Skills During Concert
Taylor Swift is adding long distance swimming to her long list of new skills. While kicking off her Eras Tour over the weekend in Glendale, Arizona, she surprised concertgoers when she dove into the stage during one of her musical sequences, disappearing into the floor. Viewers captured the moment, sharing videos of the special effect to social media. In the clips, Swift — wearing a floor-length, ruffled dress — dives into a square shaped hole on stage. After the dive, graphics on the stage show Swift swimming underwater back toward the main stage. The sequence ends with Swift disappearing underwater as a huge wave splashes over the large screen, sending ripples throughout the stage. Once the wave dissipates, she magically appears in a new outfit on the screen, climbing her way up a ladder to the clouds. See the video HERE.
********Yeah, but can she SING???
Bad Bunny Sued By Ex-Girlfriend
Bad Bunny’s ex–girlfriend is suing him for at least $40 million over a well-known voice recording she provided the singer before he became famous. Carliz De La Cruz Hernández, whose breathy “Bad Bunny, baby” recording was included in two of his songs, claimed in a lawsuit filed this month in a Puerto Rico court that her voice and the phrase she came up with are being used without her permission. The lawsuit, which was first reported by online Puerto Rico news site Noticel, notes that the phrase was used in the “Pa Ti,” song, which has more than 355 million views on YouTube and more than 235 million reproductions on Spotify. It also was used in the “Dos Mil 16” song, which has more than 60 million views on YouTube and 280 million reproductions on Spotify. The lawsuit states that De La Cruz’s “distinguishable voice” also has been used without her consent for songs, records, promotions, worldwide concerts, television, radio and social and musical platforms. “Since then, thousands of people have commented directly on Carliz’s social media networks, as well as every time she goes to a public place, about the ‘Bad Bunny, baby.’ This has caused, and currently causes, that De La Cruz feels worried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious,” the lawsuit states.
********She feels all those things… AND she feels “greedy!!”
Ripping The Tabloids (Throughout the week, we’ll give you the stories from that weeks tabs!)
**Please Credit Publication!
Loose Talk-(Us Weekly)
“I didn’t realize that, oh sh*t, I’m actually looking really strange with injections and doing stuff to my face.”-On chasing youthfulness, Courtney Cox.
“I am America’s ex-boyfriend.”-On his relationship reputation, John Mayer.
“William always worries about me meeting under one-year-olds. I come home saying, ‘Let’s have another one.’”-Admitting being around babies makes her “very broody”, Duchess Kate.
“I’ll give you a spoiler; and I’m not gonna tell you who, but one on us has a fake ass in their suit.”-Revealing one of the Spider-Man: No Way Home actors-including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield-wore a prosthetic butt in the film, Tom Holland.
STUPID NEWS
Skateboarding Pig
A family’s pet pig is turning heads in his owners’ Illinois town after picking up an unusual hobby: skateboarding. Norbert, a 150-pound black-and-white pig belonging to Vincent and Alicen Baran, has become a familiar sight to Buffalo Grove residents after learning to ride a skateboard. “People just really enjoy seeing a pig do things that normally pigs don’t do,” Vincent Baran told WLS-TV. “I took one of my old skateboards and put it out and literally within seven days he was able to get his hooves on the board and push with his other hooves.” The couple said Norbert is an expert at several tricks commonly associated with dogs, including shaking hands and spinning, but the skateboarding gets him the most attention. “He’s not always graceful but it’s definitely a unique thing to see,” Alicen Baran said. “It’s just the craziest thing to see him kind of roll on by.” See the video HERE.
*********Haven’t we told you?? Don’t play with your food!!!!
*****He also calls local radio stations requesting “Skater Boi!!!”
*****This pig is a real ham!!!
Mystery Food Delivery
Residents of a Los Angeles neighborhood said they have been flooded with mystery Uber Eats deliveries they did not request. Locals in the Range View Avenue area of the city’s Highland Park neighborhood said they have been receiving up to 13 deliveries a day from McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Starbucks and other eateries through Uber Eats during the past three weeks. The residents said the deliveries show up at all hours of the day and night. “When it became too much food at once, we’d try to find places to donate it or give it away,” local man William Neal told KTLA-TV. Some of the recipients said they tried calling the phone numbers listed on the orders, but they were all out of service. They noted the pre-paid orders always included a tip for the driver. A representative for Uber, the delivery service’s parent company, said officials are investigating the origins of the mystery orders. Neighbors said they do not know why someone would be sending so much food to their homes. “I don’t think anybody has seen it as anything sinister — it’s just varying degrees of annoyance,” Neal told the Los Angeles Times.
*********Ronald McDonald is drunk-dialing again!!!
*****The Taco Bell delivery could constitute “attempted murder!!!”
Man Uses Times Square Billboard To Propose
A Connecticut man made a trip to New York’s Times Square with his girlfriend all the more special by using a billboard to pop the question. Jose Negron of Waterbury dropped down to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, Alicia, beneath a giant billboard that displayed a photo of the couple and their son with the message: “Will You Marry Me?” Alicia accepted the proposal. Negron said the plan came about after he learned about an offer on timessquarebillboard.com, which offers individuals the opportunity to have their photos displayed on the digital billboard. The service, which costs $150, has the photo displayed for 15 seconds every hour for 24 hours. Jaime Suarez, the owner of the billboard, said the idea came about as a means of making good use of the advertising space during the pandemic. He said a similar offer for businesses will display a photo or short video ad for 60 seconds each hour for 24 hours for $500. See the video HERE.
*********Why rush into marriage?? Wait until your kid is out of high school!!!
Man Clawed By Mountain Lion In The Hot Tub
Wildlife officials said Monday they are searching for a mountain lion that clawed a man’s head while he was sitting in a hot tub with his wife at a rental home in central Colorado. The man was soaking in the in-ground hot tub in a wooded subdivision west of Nathrop on Saturday night when he felt something grab his head, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. He screamed at the mountain lion and started splashing water while his wife shined a flashlight at the animal. Authorities said it retreated to the top of a hill and continued to watch the couple. The man and his wife were able to get back into the home, where they cleaned his wounds and called the property owner, who happened to work for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The man had four superficial scratches on top of his head and near his right ear, but he declined medical treatment. “We think it’s likely the mountain lion saw the man’s head move in the darkness at ground-level but didn’t recognize the people in the hot tub,” said Sean Shepherd, area wildlife manager based in Salida. “The couple did the right thing by making noise and shining a light on the lion.”
*********Thanks, we’ll remember that!!
*****We’re not saying he was scared, but they’re gonna have to flush that hot tub!!!
STUFF THAT’S COOL AND VIRAL
VIDEO: WATCH THE JAPANESE ANNOUNCERS GO CRAZY AFTER THEY BEAT MEXICO IN THE WBC.
A LIST FOR WEDNESDAY
How to Tell if Amazon Reviews Are Fake
The Penny Hoarder
There’s no foolproof way to distinguish legitimate reviews from phony ones. Plus, since many of these fake review writers have technically purchased the item, seeing the “Verified Purchase” label on a positive review is increasingly meaningless. But these five tactics will help you spot fake Amazon reviews.
- Use a Browser Extension or App to Spot Misleading Reviews
One of the easiest ways to avoid being tricked by a fake Amazon review is to use online tools like Fakespot and ReviewMeta. Both have browser extensions, along with apps for Android and iOS, so that you can automatically see if a product has low-quality reviews when you’re shopping. You can also cut and paste the URL of a product page in either tool to get an analysis. Fakespot grades reviews not only on Amazon, but also on eBay, Best Buy, Sephora and Walmart. It provides a letter grade that rates the quality of the reviews, rather than the product. So when Fakespot gives an “A” rating, it isn’t saying the product is great. It’s saying the reviews appear to be legitimate. Likewise, an “F” rating means the algorithm detected lots of fakes, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the product is terrible. ReviewMeta works with Amazon only. It analyzes a product page and filters out the reviews that its algorithm flags as untrustworthy. It tells you what percentage of reviews it filtered out and gives the item an adjusted rating. For example, a pair of shoes purchased by Yours Truly had a 4.5-star Amazon rating. ReviewMeta filtered out 7% of the reviews and adjusted the rating to 4.4 stars.
PRO TIP
Wouldn’t it be nice if you got an alert when you’re shopping online and are about to overpay? That’s exactly what this free service does. Add it to your browser for free.
- Look for Product Reviews With 2, 3 or 4 Stars
Typically companies pay for five-star ratings, or they pay fake reviewers to leave one-star reviews for a competitor product. Look for the moderate reviews with two, three or four stars where the reviewer has left detailed feedback. You’re more likely to get a realistic sense of the item’s pros and cons.
If a product has a bunch of reviews that are super short, whether they’re positive or negative, it’s likely that it has many paid reviews. Also, if a product has a bunch of five-star reviews, a few one-star reviews and even fewer in between, it should trigger your spidey senses. Chances are high that the overly positive reviews that give five stars were paid for, while the one-star ratings are legitimate reviews from actual customers who wasted their money on the item. Also avoid putting too much weight on the average number of stars. Rochester Institute of Technology assistant professor Ali Tosyali, a co-author of the 2022 paper “Detecting Fake Review Buyers Using Network Structure: Direct Evidence from Amazon,” said he purchased a vitamin with 5,000 reviews and an average 4.9 rating from Amazon. He returned the vitamin after experiencing side effects. But upon closer review of the negative reviews, he discovered that others were experiencing the same side effects.
- Research the Product on Other Sites
Look beyond Amazon and see what reviewers on other sites have to say, particularly if you’re making a big purchase. YouTube is a particularly valuable resource for honest product reviews. The reviewers often have expertise with the particular type of product, plus you’ll get a better feel for its look and function, even if the video quality isn’t great.
- Read the Product Q&A
It’s easy to write a glowing review that generically describes how great something is. But the Q&A section that contains answers to commonly asked customer questions gets a lot more detailed. There’s no guarantee that someone who works for the company isn’t answering some of the questions. But if something has lots of reviews, you should be able to get a decent picture of the product. Instead of finding out whether people loved or hated it, you’ll find details like whether the product has held up well, how difficult it was to assemble or whether the color matched what was displayed in the photo.
- Use the Timestamp Filter
A company will typically recruit a bunch of people to write fake reviews for a product in a short period. While Amazon typically shows you its top reviews first, you can switch to filter by most recent. If you find a flood of five-star or one-star reviews that were left within a window of a few days, chances are those reviews are fake.
You might also want to compare the date when the item first became available to the review dates. One Wall Street Journal reporter recently discovered dozens of glowing reviews for a device that hadn’t even been released yet.
The preceding material was compiled and edited by Brandon Castillo. The Editor-In-Chief is Gary Bryan. The Radio Genius Show Prep Service is licensed for use on-air only by subscribing radio stations. Other means of redistribution is forbidden.
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