We just got our API scores, and we did well!
These aren’t the same API scores that California schools get (the Academic Performance Index). Instead, many newspapers are reviewed by the American Press Institute, based on selected copies of the paper. (API asks for specific dates and, as I recall, we were able to give a few choice papers of our selection.)
Here’s what the judges said about Freedom papers as a whole:
Capturing the top quality ranking was – Ft. Walton Beach, with a score of 152.5. It also won the first “Freedom Double” by scoring highest in both the print and Web evaluations. Marysville (147.5), Lima (146), The Orange County Register (141), East Valley Tribune (138), and Alton, which tied with Jacksonville (Ill.) with 135.5, were runners up in the quality competition.
The daily papers registering the most improvement in print scores since last year were Victorville (+26), Jacksonville, Ill (+14.5) and Sun City (+10).
Port St. Joe (+20), The Island Breeze (+15.5), and, Hesperia (+13.5) were the most improved weekly papers
In terms of web valuations, The Orange County Register tied Fort Walton Beach for highest score. Colorado Springs, Lima, Mesa, Destin, Shelby, McAllen and Alton also recorded high marks in web grading.
I’m pretty sure I can’t reprint the evaluations in their entirety — they’re either the property of API or Freedom Communications, I assume — but the Hesperia Star received a 110.5 score for print and 89 for the Web (out of 170 and 150, respectively). (The Daily Press got a 131 and 111 with, officially, 16 times the staff.)
We got “Excellent” ratings in content variety and balance and in service information, and also scored well in relevance to readers, reporting and writing (just shy of “Excellent,” there), editorial pages/editorials and headlines.
I was singled out for needing a bit more help on my photographs and for cutting down some of my gigantic ledes, neither of which are a surprise or anything I disagree with. I’ll be making a special effort on both those fronts this year.
We’ll also be reading through the evaluations for the Freedom papers that did better than us, so that we may shamelessly rip off what works and make the paper even better. Watch your back, Ft. Walton Beach!
A new year and, once again, time to reset my iPod’s play count on all tracks to zero. But first, here’s what I listened to most in 2007:
- I Got It (What You Need) – Galactic & Lyrics Born
- The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson
- Girls Who Play Guitars – Maximo Park
- Arlington – Emmet Swimming
- Gunslinger – John Fogerty
- The Car Song – Cat Empire
- Don’t Apologize – Liz Phair
- The Moneymaker – Rilo Kiley
- Cobrastyle – Teddybears featuring Mad Cobra
- New Religion – Alice Smith
- Le Disko (Radio Edit) – Shiny Toy Guns
- Got to Be a Love – Greyboy
- Good Time – Leroy
- Young Folks – Peter Bjorn and John
- Sly – The Cat Empire
- Lazy Girls – Jill Cuniff
- The Night Starts Here – Stars
- Banana Pancakes – Jack Johnson
- Soap Star Joe (Rolling Stone live EP) – Liz Phair
- Long Legs – The Magic Numbers
- Pretty – Marianne Baker
- Straight Out of Compton – Nina Gordon
- You Know I’m No Good – Amy Winehouse
- Think I’m in Love – Beck
- I Knew You Were Trouble – Ian Ball
- Hands in Pockets – Laura Gibson
- On the Rise – Meat Puppets
- Rehab – Amy Winehouse
- Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne
- No One’s Gonna Love You – Band of Horses
- Parentheses – The Blow
- Pink Moon – Damien Jurado
- Shabop Shalom – Devendra Banhart
- Flathead – The Fratellis
- Jetpack – Jill Sobule
- How Lucky We Are – meiko
- How to Beat Dementia – Palomar
- Prison Bound – Social Distortion
- Are You Having Any Fun – Count Basie & Tony Bennett
- Eanie Meanie – Jim Noir
- Hello Big Mama – Kraak & Smaak
- Gimme Shelter – Patti Smith
- Weight of the World – Pigeon John
- The One U Wanna C – Prince
- Sleepwalk – Santo & Johnny
- Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups
- Lil’ King Kong – Simple Kid
- Beautiful – Storm Large
- Ridin’ the Wind (UK version) – The Tornados
- Fairfax (You’re Still the Same) – William Tell
- Take These Thoughts – Chris and Thomas
- Kids in America – The Donnas
- Hotel California (Spanish Mix) – Gipsy Kings
- My Little Suede Shoes – Grant Green
- Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
- God’s Gonna Cut You Down – Johnny Cash
- One of These Days (Featuring U-Gene) – Kraak & Smaak
- Perfect Misfit – Liz Phair
- I Am John – Loney, Dear
- Take a Chance – The Magic Numbers
- 88 Lines about 44 Women – The Nails
- Rally – Phoenix
- Australia – The Shins
- Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
- Your Ex-Lover is Dead (Final Fantasy Mix) – Stars
- Fat Chick’s Revenge – Storm Large
- Wild Horses – The Sundays
- The Shadow Government (Live on XM) – They Might Be Giants
- Alison – Elvis Costello
- Wicked Game – Giant Drag
- Running the World – Jarvis Cocker
- Love Me or Hate Me – Lady Sovereign
- The Horizon’s Been Defeated (live) – Jack Johnson
- The Big Guns – Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins
- Don’t Let Go – Pacha Massive
- California Sun – The Ramones
- Phantom Limb – The Shins
- Frank & Ava – Suzanne Vega
- Mister Me (Live on XM) – They Might Be Giants
- Withered Hope (Live on XM) – They Might Be Giants
- Brianstorm – The Arctic Monkeys
- Turpentine – Brandi Carlile
- Amazing Grace – The Dropkick Murphys
- Make-Out King – Eleni Mandell
- Renegade Master (Fatboy Slim Old Skool Mix) – Fatboy Slim, Norman Cook & Wildchild
- Jarhand – Immaculate Machine
- Let Her Go – The Lodger
- Magnolia Soul – Ozomatli
- Dear Mr. Man – Prince and Cornell West
- Mister Sister – The Tender Box
- Icky Thump – The White Stripes
- Light Up the Sky – Yellowcard
- No Cars Go – Arcade Fire
- Hunting for Witches – Bloc Party
- Melt Your Heart – Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins
- Come to California – Matthew Sweet
- Hey Eugene – Pink Martini
- Guitar – Prince
- Connected – Stereo MC’s
- With Plenty of Money and You – Count Basie & Tony Bennett
For comparison’s sake, here are the 2005 and 2006 playlists.
Candles from mom, cake by Jenn. Jenn will pay for her little joke: In about five years, I start telling everyone how good she looks for 40.
So, you got an iPod for [holiday of your choice] this year, did you? Well, in addition to sticking your entire CD collection into it, you can use it to replace your radio with a custom made channel, which you can pause, rewind or skip ahead with, too, via the magic of podcasting. It’s certainly what I’ve done, although I get a lot of podcasts from radio stations, mixing and matching for my own personal tastes.
Below is what I’m listening to now. Copy the links into the podcast software of your choice, such as iTunes:
Not all of these are daily. Some are weekly, a few are monthly and some are quarterly or follow no set schedule. I used to get more, like Fresh Air, but I found myself either not having time to listen to them.
I tried e-mailing this to Sharon, who’s been tracking this story since the beginning, but the glut of images choked the Star’s e-mail. So, here it is, blogged instead:
Photos of Dora from our Christmas visit to Oakland, where the stray cat who came in from the cold is alive and well and a big fan of my dad. As Jenn said, “All’s well that ends well!”
