Ellen and KGW. And Oprah. And American Idol.

In Portland, KOIN gave up Ellen this season to make room for Keep It Local at 4pm, so KGW picked up Ellen at 3pm.

Then on Wednesday, Ellen announced that she's going to be the new judge on American Idol, the highest-rated series on television.

Oprah, meanwhile, has given mixed signals about whether she'll retire after her contract expires in 2011. Just yesterday, Oprah told Good Morning America that she won't decide until the end of the year.

While this is all fluffy programming, evening news lead-ins are important. Local news ratings rise and fall on the strength of the programming that comes before.

Ellen's ratings aren't the greatest, locally or nationwide. Oprah and Dr. Phil easily beat her. But just as Dr. Phil's great ratings out of the gate could be attributed to his being a frequent guest on Oprah, Ellen's regular appearances on television's most-watched, most-discussed primetime series could give her show a big boost as well.

So with KATU picking up another Oprah spin-off, Dr. Oz, for its evening news lead-in, and with the possibility of KGW losing the mothership at 4pm, did Channel 8 just luck into a solid replacement?

Major labels sue

More Ellen media news: The four major record labels have sued Ellen's show for using over 1000 songs without licensing them as she dances over to her chair.

But with the names of the songs and artists displayed during the dancing, are the labels suing over free advertising? Or does Ellen need to pay up just like radio stations, which also serve as promotion for the music they play?

OMC learned today that KGW news director Rod Gramer was hospitalized over the weekend with an undisclosed illness, but will be leaving today. We wish Rod a speedy recovery!

UPDATE (7/28, 9:19pm): Gramer's family reports through a KGW source that he is at home now and should be back to work soon. We're glad to learn he's doing better.

UPDATE (7/29, 10:14am): KGW assistant news director Rick Jacobs tells OMC that Gramer was hospitalized with viral encephalitis, and that he is expected to make a full recovery. "We all miss him here at KGW and can’t wait until he returns to work," he says.

(This story was originally published July 16, 2009 at 2:55pm.)

Four Portland television talents will vie for the title of the biggest mouth in broadcasting as they eat in a charity competition benefiting the arts and athletic departments of local schools next month. KOIN's Alexis Del Cid, KPTV's Stephanie Kralevich, KATU's Rhonda Shelby and KGW's Amy Troy will race to see who can eat a giant calzone the fastest at Caro Amico Italian Cafe, with the winner receiving an official championship belt.

The event will be hosted by sports radio host and columnist John Canzano on August 6 at 3pm, with proceeds benefiting his Bald-Faced Truth Foundation. Kralevich told Canzano, "It's a race, right? Like how fast we can eat a calzone? I think this giant mouth can handle that." Shelby said, "You realize you're asking a diabetic to participate in an eating contest?" That's dedication to the arts. Or to calzones.

The public is also invited to participate: Email JohnCanzanoaol [dot] com with a video explaining why you should compete to eat. And a poll is up on Canzano's radio site asking who you think will win.

UPDATE (7/19, 9:23am): The trash-talking has begun! From Alexis Del Cid's always-entertaining Twitter account:

@stephkralevich you are petite and delicate looking, yes, but I've heard the rumors of your hollow legs for calzone storage. I am afraid.

I slightly fear the Calzone power of @AmyTroy, as well...

And what is this about @ShelbyKATU having diabetes?? Nonsense. I suspect it's a ploy: We underestimate- and she wins. Think about it People

We'll let you know if we receive a response to any of these scurrilous charges.

(Thank you to new OMC Volunteer Brad Taylor, aka BradTaylor1, formerly skihoodoo, for sending this in. Brad was the first to offer to help OMC, inspiring us to ask for volunteers.)

Later today: a few more details on the new show keeping KOIN management so secretive, plus an editor in Portland who's now writing comic books. We're working on a story about layoffs and outsourcing in Portland television, and we'll bring you that story when we have more.

And we have a new feature in the right-hand column: live stock quotes for the owners of Oregon media outlets. If you're not sure why some companies are there, CBS is for CBS Radio; Dolan Media owns The Daily Journal of Commerce; Lee owns the Albany Democrat Herald and the Gazette-Times in Corvallis, among others; while News Corp., as we reported yesterday, owns the Mail Tribune in Medford, the Ashland Daily Tidings, and, most enjoyably, Medford's the Nickel.

We lied, Press Clippings took much longer than an hour to produce. We blame our terrible, awful, slow computer.

• KMHD host Al Evans tells OMC it will be "a couple of weeks at least" before the station moves into its new studio at OPB.
• Portland Sucks calls out Matt Davis for his BlogTown post, "Rape Allegations: Another Side Effect of Big Soccer?" The Mercury's Kiala Kazebee comes to Matt's defense in the comments. Also up for Portland Sucks' wrath is KGW's Breedlove exclusive. As always, there's strong language.
• OMC reader skihoodoo sends in a photo of KGW's other Skycam in Newport at the Embarcadero resort, a followup to a story in our last Press Clippings. Skihoodoo has been doing a lot to contribute to OMC, thank you!
• A variation on an idea from @newsjunkie60 via @PortORTraffic: When an event like Wimbledon disrupts the TV schedule, why not put regular programming on a digital subchannel?
• Local blog I'm in your water offers a Portland media roundup, including former Willamette Week columnist Byron Beck calling Cort of KUFO's Cort and Fatboy "Lars Larson."
• We almost missed this: The Alliance for Community Media is holding its annual conference in Portland, discussing ways to "protect community media at the national and local levels." The event runs July 15 through 18 at the Oregon Convention Center and Doubletree Hotel.

Beyond our region:

• The climbdown is complete: Washington Post editor Katherine Weymouth has apologized over the paper's pay-for-access scandal.
• NYU's Jay Rosen notes that CNN's Reliable Sources relegated that controversy to a commentary in the final moments of the show. Howard Kurtz' status as a media critic while under the employ of two major media organizations has long been a source of its own media criticism.
• And heavy criticism doesn't always lead to apologies: Columnist Connie Schultz is more resolute than ever that her idea to ban linking and summaries of news stories is a good idea. Should Press Clippings be worried?
• If you somehow missed it over the weekend, Sarah Palin has threatened to sue bloggers and traditional media over their handling of her sudden resignation.
• Newsroom veterans may be more likely to get promotions to general manager lately.
• There's a $3 billion gap between declining TV station revenue and online ad income.
• Layoffs of copy editors mean more complaints about typos at The Washington Post.
• The Saturday Evening Post is returning to its roots, differentiating itself on the newsstand by offering more creative writing and fiction.
• The Library of Congress now offers a searchable database of news stories from 1880 to 1922.
• Web video is evolving beyond the two-minute clip.
• Instead of non-profits, The News & Observer has an idea to operate newspapers as low-profits. Insert joke here.
• Most poll respondents said they wouldn't miss their daily newspaper if it went away. I believe there was a poll to the contrary that we posted recently. Once we add tags to our old stories, that sort of thing should be easier to find.

And another big thank you to our new contributor over the weekend! Donations are all that are making this site possible. As you may have seen in our last post, we're working on ways to increase traffic so we can get some ad revenue coming in. But even then, it's unlikely to be enough to keep us afloat. The slow holiday weekend did some serious damage to our average daily visitor count. If you'd like to help us out with any amount, there's a big shiny button on the left.

This is an open thread, what's on your mind?

The news is light in the media world this holiday weekend:

• KGW is adding a bayfront live cam in Newport. (Thanks, skihoodoo.)
• With Sarah Palin resigning, KATU's Anita Kissee wonders what she'll be for Halloween now. (Photo)
• KGW's Stephanie Stricklen gets letters. From prison.
• Fisher stations weren't the only ones with technical difficulties lately. KGW's "live from the Waterfront Blues Festival" became "live from the KGW rooftop" Thursday.
• KPTV's Kevin Coari caused an incident on the set Thursday.
• And we've got a lot of new media job listings posted to the right.

Beyond our region:

• Congressional Quarterly got slapped with a lawsuit for alleged corporate espionage and information theft.
• Lewis Grossberger provides an amusing scorecard for the reporters who posted videos to the YouTube Reporter's Center. One surprise: Bob Woodward gets an F.
• Online ad revenue can be improved by going bigger. A lot bigger.
• And a profile of West Seattle Blog, the two-person online news outlet read by up to 20 percent of the community it covers.

And another big thank you to our donor from yesterday morning! You're really making this website possible. We love our contributors! If you want to help keep us in operation, there's a big shiny button on the left.

The light posting this weekend reflects light media happenings. We're working on adding features to the site while we've got the chance.

This entry was originally published by oregonmedia on June 8th, 2009, 6:01 pm to Oregon Media Forum:

In an internal memo about Dave Salesky's move to KATU, KGW staffers were told that "Dave will sit out his non-compete and be back on the air in Portland in October." That got me thinking about significant changes to Oregon's non-compete laws last year. You can read the new language at ORS 653.295.

I should be clear that I'm not speaking specifically to Dave's situation. [Update: The new law does not apply retroactively.] Also, you should read the law for yourself and ask a lawyer if you have any questions about your own circumstances. But here's my summary as I, a non-lawyer, read the law:

• If you're on-air, the non-compete isn't legal unless your employer spent resources worth 10 percent of your salary in the last year developing, improving or training you, or promoting you in media they don't own.
• But if you qualify as salaried management, or a salaried creative or intellectual professional, and you exercise discretion and independent judgment, forget the 10 percent rule.
• If neither of the above applies to you, the non-compete isn't legal unless you received a written employment offer noting a required non-compete agreement at least two weeks before you began employment, or you must have entered into the non-compete upon bona fide advancement.
• If the non-compete is legal per the above, your non-compete period may last up to two years.
• During the non-compete period, your employer must pay you half your base salary or half of a median family of four's income, whichever is greater.

I've ignored a bunch of stuff about protecting trade secrets. If you think that applies to your situation, read the law and ask a lawyer.

I'll be asking an employment attorney to review this summary. And if you have a general rather than personal legal question, reply by post, tip or tweet and I'll get an attorney to respond.