College Admissions Scammer Rick Singer Sure Didn't Try Hard With This Cheesy Recruitment Video

You've all heard by now about the college admissions scandal led by Rick Singer, who is behind the college admissions cheating plot that led to the indictment of nearly 50 people. Singer orchestrated the plot that has now implicated Lori Laughlin, Felicity Huffman, CEOs and coaches in a bribery scheme to get the children of wealthy individuals into colleges of their choice. Among other things, Singer is accused of having helped some kids cheat on their SAT and ACT exams, while falsifying records of others in order to get them admitted to schools as part of sports recruitment.

But I like to also point out that sometimes, it's easier to point out scams than you think. Watch the video above, from Singer's "The Key Worldwide." It's pure amateur cheese from start to finish, and a true red flag that this guy was a fraud. Anyone involved has to be embarrassed. My favorite part has to be "Key Coach" Brian Hewitt and the moment he starts addressing the camera. This could be a "Saturday Night Live" sketch -- but sadly, it's reality. Watch above.

RETRO FRIDAY: From 1991, Dr. Mike and Ton-Def Celebrate Halloween on WNUR

I don't know if this is a trick or a treat... but I've just uploaded our 1991 Halloween-themed radio show (WNUR, Evanston-Chicago). It's Dr. Mike and Ton-Def (above) along with Harlan Quinn... in HELL! Yes, it's exactly the show you'd expect to hear from a bunch of college freshmen on the radio. Enjoy?

Embed Music - Free Audio - Radio Free Halloween 1991

Wait, Is CBS Underwriting This "College"?

It probably goes without saying, but... perhaps there's something hinky about a "college" that advertises on the back of a bus and promotes careers that have been popularized by a long-running hit TV show.

It's kind of hard to read from this photo, but ICDC College is marketing a degree for "Crime Scene Investigator" with the marketing tagline "Expose Criminal Minds." You read that right -- ICDC is somehow using two different CBS crime procedural dramas ("CSI" and "Criminal Minds") to help promote its programs. I can't imagine CBS would be happy with this, but I suppose ICDC could argue that it's just referring to real-life people. Either way, are we really supposed to believe there's a sudden boom in criminal forensics jobs just because crime procedurals are popular on TV? You'd probably just be better off saving your money.

The Time I Punked Chicago's Q101 (RIP)

Chicago's "alternative" station Q101 (WKQX) debuted at the end of my freshman year at Northwestern in 1992. The whole Nirvana-led modern rock and grunge movement had just taken foot, and the station's owners decided to flip Q101's adult contemporary format to take on a sound that emulated Los Angeles' veteran alternative outfit KROQ.

The station got off to a decent start, but soon got bogged down by a heavily repetitive playlist. By my senior year of college, Q101 was a bit of a joke. They had embraced Pearl Jam so whole heartedly that their station slogan, "This is Not for You," was even a riff on one of the band's songs.

In more recent years, Q101 has struggled in the ratings. The station was never able to maintain listeners for its morning show (other than the period of time when Mancow Muller hosted, but he wasn't a good fit with the station) and was rumored to be dead many times. Q101 was finally scrapped on Thursday, by new owner Randy Michaels -- yes, Tribune folks, that Randy Michaels -- who now plans to launch an FM news/talk format on the frequency.

In memory of Q101, here's a post from 2004, when I recalled the time a couple of us pretended to flip our college station to an insipid Q101-like format on April Fool's Day:

Back when I ran WNUR in college (yeah, I know, another college radio story -- Mike, it's been almost ten years! Move on!), we freaked our listeners out on April Fool's by yanking our regular programming (you know, the usual college fare-- indie rock bands that you've never heard of) and pretended to flip the station's format to mainstream alternative.

We called ourselves "Q89.3" -- a dig at Chicago's big time commercial alternative station, Q101 -- and played nothing but Pearl Jam for an hour (another dig at Q101, which was so obsessed with the band it actually had adopted as its slogan "This Is Not For You," the name of a Pearl Jam song).

A friend and fellow DJ, Maura Johnston, pretended to be Samantha James, the station's hyperactive British DJ -- a staple of alternative stations back then -- while I played the clueless DJ ("Fisher Stevens," a play on Q101 jock Steve Fisher) who thought everything was ooh, soooo alternative while rattling off obvious trivia ("Did you know that Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of Nirvana?!" I pointed out after playing the already-burnt-to-a-crisp "Smells Like Teen Spirit").

Some listeners called in and freaked out, wondering what happpened. Others were wise to the parody and played along: "Hey, you know that Red Hot Chili Peppers song you just played? Could you play it again in about 40 minutes?"

It was a proud moment. Illinois Entertainer magazine called our prank the best of the year.

Q101 will attempt to live on, as a web-only radio station -- but that strategy rarely succeeds for dead radio stations. It's a shame, but a common one, as modern rock stations continue to disappear across the country and the format struggles to figure out what it should be.

Play the Game, Win a Dumpster Baby

Fans of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this is gonna be right up your alley. You've got two chances here in Southern California to win a coveted "Official Dumpster Baby Trophy."

If you don't know what that's in reference to, then you're not a fan of "Sunny." But if you know your stuff, FX is promoting the shpw's upcoming new season by touring college campuses and throwing a "Sunny"-themed game show to give away prizes.

In SoCal, the "It's Always Sunny" game show will hit Cal State Fullerton on Aug. 28 and San Diego State University on Aug. 29.

Gow 'Bows! Er, I Mean, Go Warriors!

Exciting to see the Hawaii Warrior football team end the season with a perfect 12-0 record -- making the team eligible for a BCS bowl game.

UH will probably play the Sugar Bowl -- quite a step up from its more recent appearances in the, um, Hawaii Bowl.

The team secured its ranking (No. 10) in the BCS after defeating Washington 35-28 (coming back from what could have been quite a disappointing defeat).

Of course, most of us remember going to UH games and cheering on the, yes, Rainbows. (From what I understand, old habits die hard: Fans still cheer "Go Bows!" in the stands.)

Deciding the nickname "Rainbows" was too wimpy, the school -- in what was a controversial move -- renamed itself the Warriors in 2000. Here's the Honolulu Star-Bulletin's recap at the time.

(Above, left: Pre-2000 logo; right: current logo)

Why I Sometimes Miss Local Hawaii TV News

Larger than life sportscaster Robert Kekaula -- who's even bigger than he was back when I watched him in high school -- wears Aloha shirts every day of the week. Here, he discusses the success so far of the University of Hawaii's football team -- ranked #14 in the BCS! -- and banters with KITV anchors (and married couple) Gary Sprinkle and Pamela Young.

Supporting L.A.'s Most Powerful Student-Run Radio Station

As Clear Channel fiddles with its big commercial radio stations (and now gives you at least four different frequencies playing the same songs by Nickelback), now's your chance to support the area's biggest student-run college station. (I make that distinction since there are plenty of bigger college stations out there -- KCRW and KPPC, for starters, not to mention my own KCSN -- but only KXLU is student-run.)

I have a soft spot for student-run college stations, having led Northwestern's WNUR as general manager. It ain't easy -- the money's not there, and college officials frequently wonder why they're supporting a radio station that plays music they don't understand (when they could perhaps attract a ton more underwriting by turning into an NPR affiliate). Then there's also deep-pocketed religious organizations building translator stations and interfering with your signal (something KXLU has had to contend with in the last few years). Thankfully, there are stations out there like KXLU still fighting the good fight.

Pledge online here or call 310-338-3958 to donate. The pledge drive continues through Friday.