How is everybody’s long weekend going? Thanks for spending part of your Sunday reading The Six.
The line up today features articles on a famous political blogger whom insiders suspect has gone AWOL, the downfall of a tech entrepreneur, Howard Stern is not retiring and a cigar-chomping Florida man saves a puppy from an alligator (yup, it did happen. There’s video).
Let’s proceed with the Six.
Matt Drudge basically invented political blogging in the late 90’s. Ubiquitous today, the use of anonymous sources was not common when Drudge used them to break Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in 1998. His website, The Drudge Report, has been a must read for political insiders for over two decades. Now, the website appears to have been abandoned by Drudge. Has he cashed out?
The First Person To Report The Death of John Lennon
Earlier this week marked the 40th anniversary of the shocking death of music icon John Lennon, shot outside his apartment in New York City. Most of America famously learned of Lennon’s death from Howard Cosell, the sports commentator who announced the news while broadcasting a “Monday Night Football’ game in December 1980. A young radio reporter went on the air with the news before Cosell. This is a fascinating piece of history about a tragedy still deeply felt in our culture four decades later.
The Last Self-Destructive Months of A Business Visionary
We’ve all bought shoes from Zappos at some point (now have them delivered by Amazon). In 2009, Amazon paid $1.2 billion for the company, making its founder, Tony Hsieh, extremely wealthy. Just last month, the day after Thanksgiving, Hsieh died in a house fire in Connecticut. The 46-year-old was reportedly battling person demons and using drugs for years. A good read from Forbes on Hsieh’s downward spiral.
How A Suburban Kid From Connecticut Became America’s Most Famous Teen
Readers of the Six will know that I’ve linked out to a few Tik-Tok stories. I’m not so much interested in Tik-Tok as the culture around it. This article is another example of the Chinese company’s reach and influence in the teen market. A few years ago, Charli D’Amelio was a normal suburban teenager living in Connecticut. By late this fall, she had 94 million Tik-Tok followers, more followers than Rihanna has on Instagram or Taylor Swift on Twitter. How did it happen? The Atlantic explores.
Howard Stern Remains on Satellite Radio for Five More Years
I’ve been listening to Howard Stern and his gang of misfits since he was on terrestrial radio in Chicago in the 1990’s. He’s not the same shock jock portrayed in the film “Private Parts” but his show on Sirius XM is one of the main reasons I spend $25 per month for the service (Eddie Trunk is another favorite host). Happy to see Howard & the crew will still be broadcasting and how Stern is probably the wealthiest media talent of all time.
With Cigar In Mouth, Florida Man Rescues Puppy From Alligator
More animal stories! Yes, the headline explains exactly what happened. The video on this one is incredible. Just watch.
Have a great rest of your weekend everybody. Thanks for reading as always.
Have a suggestion for the Sunday Six? Send email to jon@jonjkerr.com.