Joanne Colan, former MTV EU vj, is said to be the new or perhaps temp Rocketboom gal. Rachel Sklar of ETP breaks (New Rocketboom Girl Chosen, Looks Strangely Like Old One) here.

Dave Winer confirms, and says...Andrew Baron confirmed via email this evening that the new interim host of RocketBoom is former MTV vj Joanne Colan. Dave also offers his usual spot-on pov on the rb phenom. Andrew is saying rb is back tomorrow morning.

Jarvis, Reynolds and Wood joined Howie Kurtz on this morning's Reliable Sources to chat about YouTube, cj, vlogging and the bigger picture of what it all means in msm context. Bravo to all. Excellent segment Howie. Kudos to Jeff, Glenn and Molly on their strong contributions. Closed circuit to Jason: Jeff continues to make the brilliant suggestion that CNN should offer program video, why not grab CNN content for Netscape. Start with segments or at the least clips.

Congrats to Osgood and his Sunday Morning crew (again #1) on posting their best second quarter average ever (4.75 mil total viewers, 3.4 rating this compares to second place Today posting 3.59 mil and 2.8).

The Sunday news show race dominated by Russert (3.59 mil tv), second Schieffer (2.79) and Stephanopoulos trails (2.51). It's the 35th consecutive quarterly win for MTP. Thanks to Media Life, more here

Ed Driscoll talks with Chris Anderson about this summer's must-read The Long Tail - 17 min via MP3 here

Jay Rosen is a rock star, again he knocks the cover off the ball...

The people formerly known as the audience wish to inform media people of our existence, and of a shift in power that goes with the platform shift you’ve all heard about. Read his post w/comments here

Killer thought by Dave Winer added to my header "People come back to places that send them away" Worth thinking about - his original post is here

More good reading, and thinking, from Geoffrey Moore...

2. Symbolic competence creates competitive advantage. On the web, as one cartoonist famously noted, no one knows you are a dog. All they experience about you is a function of your ability to manipulate vocabulary and symbols.

This puts liberal arts education in high relief. The digital world will move from being an engineering phenomenon to a cultural one. Memes, brands, reputations, causes—all will seek to recruit the most powerful symbolists to their ends.

Read his entire post (Top Ten Truths About the Digital Ecosystem) here

Back to the research: Finally have the time to return, part-time, to researching the beginnings of domestic black radio (WDIA, WERD, et al - 1940s and 1950s). Hope to complete research next year and begin writing a book on the subject. Should you or someone you know have subject matter expertise or have any professional insight I would love hearing about it. Thank you.

Nobody does it better: First place - running your mouth award to Mel Karmazin. The old man is on a roll lately, got his game on; few have the ability to gin up the biz, consumer and trade press better than he. While his remarks may not be pumping up his stock (as much as he wants) it's still fun to watch. The man senses blood in the water, XM is on his radar and it shows. Well played Mel. Kudos and bravo to my pal Gerry for calling it, right on the mark...

Nevertheless, anyone with a molecule of gray matter should be able to see through Mel's latest vision of grandeur. It's just a cheap and easy way to raise the company's profile by providing the meat for some fresh, new headlines on his company--which, judging by the coverage in fellow trades and industry Web sites, worked like a freaking charm. That's why they pay him the big bucks.

Blind squirrel finds acorn...Congrats to Radio Ink for finally putting the amazing Mark Masters on your 40 Most Powerful People list. Now, what happened to another legit media mogul - Nick Verbitsky? He heads the largest, most successful privately held network (with his partner, media icon Dick Clark). Hint: Next time use that clever little way you made Mark and Randall both #1, and Chad and Ryan together #40. You could open up the ranks for nine additional players by using the same convention to add John Hogan to #1, Scott Herman to #3, Judy Ellis to #4, Jon Pinch to #5, Rick Cummings to #7, Marc Morgan to #8, Catherine Hughes to #9, George Pine to #17, and John David to #21. Eric you should consider this as a way to get more realistic depth and diversity into your list. It needs work. Having said that, I'm on the record as not being a fan of these kind of lists. No matter, congrats to all making the 2006 list.