Blast from the Past

Don't you just hate it when your mother throws out all that good stuff you've been saving up in the attic? Wayne Lynch, vice president of news and programming at NewsChannel 8 — the regional cable-news network serving greater Washington, D.C. —was indeed heartbroken when his Mom tossed a scrapbook and memorabilia about his beloved 1967 Philadelphia 76ers.

But when his brother found a copy of the team's yearbook and gave it to Lynch as a birthday present three years ago, the cable exec said it "rekindled my passion," inspiring him to write a book about that championship season and its superstar, Wilt Chamberlain. Lynch set out to dig up old newspaper accounts of the games and interview as many players and coaches as he could.

The fruit of his labor, Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers, was published by St. Martin's Press just in time for February's NBA All-Star game — in Philadelphia. The experience has been "a boyhood fixation that came full circle," Lynch said.

Aren't You Familiar?

Former Charter Communications Inc. CEO Jerry Kent
wouldn't be the multimillionaire he is today if he passed on good deals. As fate would have it, the best deal he got when looking for office space in St. Louis for his new company, Sequel III, was in the same office complex as his old company.

In fact, some Charter people are in the same building, and he "runs into them all the time," he said. Is it awkward? Not at all, he replied: "We have great relations." But, he added with a laugh, "we made sure we had a fire wall put in so [Vulcan Inc. president] Bill Savoy couldn't read our e-mail."

Kent reports that he and partners Howard Wood and Dan Bergstein have just closed on their first deal for a "telecommunications property." As for catching up with his old cable colleagues at the National Show next month, Kent said he hasn't made any plans, but is still "undecided."

Street Savvy Sales Call

Comedy Central has come up with a new gambit to bolster top-of-mind awareness among major media buyers this upfront season: The cable net is buying ad space on phone kiosks.

Ads will begin popping up today streets near the midtown Manhattan offices of such major ad-agency buyers as Mediaedge: CIA, Mediavest, Mediacom Worldwide, MindShare and Carat North America.

Comedy Central account executives Peter Coe, Kim Gabelmann, Rory O'Dea
and Marc Zalinzky
will be featured on these kiosk ads in "uniquely New York situations," as spokesman Steve Albani put it. They'll be dressed as a bike messenger (Coe), a hotdog vendor (O'Dea), a squeegee person (Gabelmann) and a check-it-out guy handing out flyers (Zalinzky), along with such appropriate slogans as, "We're going the extra mile" and "Want a taste of success?"

Elton John's Curse?

He's the one who said it: The veteran English rocker was set to tape a gig with hot young country rocker Ryan Adams
on March 19 at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom for the new CMT: Country Music Television series. Crossroads. Unfortunately — especially for the hard-working CMT publicists who rounded up lots of media types for the freebie taping — Adams called in sick.

For Sir Elton, that was the second time in two nights
that a cohort couldn't make a scheduled New York-area gig with him due to illness. Unlike the scheduled March 18 stop in John's tour with the ailing Billy Joel, CMT's event went on anyway. John performed solo — but not for the cameras.

After lamenting his "curse," Sir Elton went on to play a well-received solo set, and even did some songs with Adams's band, including a rendition of Jim Reeves's He'll Have to Go.
The taping with Adams has been rescheduled for tomorrow night (April 2), in Nashville.

Lou Pops Top

He's given editorial commentaries on and off for more than two decades, but don't get Cable News Network's Lou Dobbs
started on the Justice Department's decision to indict accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

The veteran anchorman raised eyebrows by angrily ripping the government's move last week in a Moneyline
commentary that also appeared on CNN's Web site (www.cnn.com). The effect of the indictment, he opined, "will be to destroy Andersen and the livelihoods of most of the 85,000 people who work for the firm."

He also took Attorney General John Ashcroft to task, by name. Dobbs told The Wire he was unapologetic and to expect more of the same, calling the indictment "unfair and un-American… it's a frightening and chilling act."

But how does he really feel about it? "I've never seen such an egregious abuse of power in my life."

Role Reversal

National Geographic Channel president Laureen Ong
returned to Philadelphia last week, on a happier note than the one sounded when she left. Ong worked at local ABC affiliate WPVI and later had a short-lived stint running local regional sports network PRISM — just weeks before Comcast Corp. took over.

This time around, she visited Philadelphia's Franklin Institute to help celebrate NGC's launch on Comcast's digital basic-package in Philadelphia today (April 1). Her graceful speech before a crowd of local Comcast executives — and in front of a towering statue of Philadelphia legend Benjamin Franklin — proved there were no lingering hard feelings. She's even lending the network's signature "Super Croc" display to the Philadelphia Zoo in August.