Welcome to Doug's Place

As George Santayana noted long ago, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

In the case of “the writer,” to say the least, he has failed NBC News History 101 — again.

Now, I’m not going to rehash Parts I through IV here. Want to relive them? Go to www.DougMorris.org/search and type the question “Who can you trust?” in the search box. Parts I through IV should appear in the results.

With that, here’s a screengrab of the latest failure — as of 4 a.m. Central today…

…to attempt fairness, “the writer” did correct the story in the day — reporting that Deborah Norville succeeded Jane Pauley. However, it would’ve behooved “the writer” to add something like this…

Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story, FTVLive erroneously reported that Norville succeeded Katie Couric. FTVLive apologizes for this inaccuracy.

…or words to that effect. TV stations issue disclaimers like this when necessary for their online content. Why can’t “the writer”?

Doug’s Place Flashback #1: This isn’t easy to write about — but it’s necessary for the sake of this discussion. I got to witness some of the brilliance of Dennis Richmond during a vacation to San Francisco in 1999.

From what I’ve heard and read, Richmond demanded nothing short of excellence. When Richmond, a retired TV news anchor, passed away, the station that had long been his home initially got his age wrong — reporting he died at 82.

KTVU later corrected the error, reporting he died at 81 and noting the mistake near the end of this story.

Doug’s Place Flashback #2: This is a major turn — but again, necessary for the sake of this discussion. How could “the writer” botch this in the first place? If you’re a viewer of a certain age, you remember the following as if it were yesterday.

\ The on-air transition at “Today” with Pauley saying farewell and Norville taking over.

\ The final episode of the original “Dallas” on CBS, which mocked the transition during J.R. Ewing’s extended dream sequence.

\ Johnny Carson’s plethora of jokes about the Norville/Pauley saga. They’re bound to pop up on the Antenna TV network and/or Carson’s official streaming channel. If you look hard enough, you might even find a Carnac the Magnificent gag about this on Carson’s official YouTube channel.

\ The tabloid headlines. Need I say more?

It’s bad enough “the writer” calls out WTIC television in Connecticut for sloppy reporting that subscribers can only read on Patreon. (Think I’m signing up?) But to prove to be a sloppy reporter is something else entirely.

As for Norville, to “the writer’s” point, yes, she has made an excellent comeback after the “Today” drama. As for Norville’s next adventure, believe it or not, she will be hosting a game show after her last day at “Inside Edition”. As a lover of fun and games, I am looking forward to this.

As longtime patrons of Doug’s Place know, I’ve been part of Rock 104 for all but its first 365 days. I was at the competition.

The year of 1995 marked what I looked at as the Airwave Battle Royale. A classic rock station not named Rock 104 had just launched circa New Year’s Day of 1995. Rock 104 in its present form would debut on April 1, 1995.

I’d eventually get to hear the rebooted 104.5FM—but not before emergency dental surgery. On April 1 of ’95, I was supposed to have my usual Saturday afternoon show, but I had to call in sick due to throbbing pain overnight. Things improved in time for the Sunday show—ironically, a long-running classic rock-by-request show on what was billed as the state’s top-rated hit music station.

Along the way, word got to me that Rock 104 finally debuted after about a year of silence. The previous incarnation of 104.5FM was forced off the air due to unfortunate circumstances.

When I did tune in during Rock 104’s infancy—the following day—I don’t mind telling you I was not impressed. Sure, I was familiar with the music. The first hour I was able to sample just about matched what I would do on a Sunday afternoon.

My first evaluation of 104.5FM came around seven or eight o’clock that Sunday night, April 2 of ’95, (keep in mind, the station had not yet been tested during a crucial daypart — such as morning or afternoon drive). I was certainly familiar with the music selection. The public service elements were on par with those of sister station B95. However, certain liners and sweepers—such as “Scorching the pine trees with 100,000 watts of classic rock and roll!!”—seemed a bit over the top for this area, I thought.

Did this particular competitor catch 104.5FM during a so-called soft launch? I can’t say with certainty. But my hunch after an hour of sampling was this: This won’t last. Sure, the station’s owned and operated by people who love the craft and the area. Still, my prediction at that time was that Rock 104 would probably be around for a year or two and then change formats.

Why? Ours was a different world roughly three decades ago. Even though this market seemed ideal for classic rock at the time, the format was not handled properly from the time I arrived in the Pine Belt in 1992 through 1995. There was Z-101. There was Y-104—a return as a rock station from years as Mix 104 (sometimes they were Adult Contemporary, other times Top 40; competitors, myself included, mockingly called it “Mixed Up 104”). Those rock stations came and went—quickly.

Well, it didn’t take long to realize my prediction about Rock 104 was wrong. In the months that followed, Rock 104 gained steam. One of their promotions made local TV news. Billboards and TV spots with Rock 104’s logo clearly visible were hard to ignore. The Rock 104 van was on the streets—often—acting as a mobile billboard. Friends were talking about this rebooted 104.5FM—frequently. Maybe Rock 104 and its parent company learned lessons from certain others’ mistakes?

And what was the state’s top-rated hit music station, where I was, doing in response? To an extent, the password was — “imitation.” We went all classic rock in the morning and midday dayparts for several weeks.

Beyond that, we didn’t do much, to be honest. After all, not long after New Year’s Day of 1995, some unfortunate drama spilled on the air—less said, the better—and things pretty much unraveled from there.

The drama (now is not the time to go in-depth about it; perhaps another time) didn’t affect my Sunday show. By then, the show and I marched to the beat of our own drums. The calendar may have said we had more than enough time as a station to rebound from the drama. But, because of the drama’s magnitude, our year was already undone—even before 104.5FM’s carrier signed back on under the new Rock 104 identifier.

Months later, Rock 104’s mission was just about accomplished. As Airwave Battle Royale raged on—even if we weren’t doing a lot of raging—listeners of my Sunday show would call me up to say something like this: “Doug, we love you and your show, but the moment you sign off, we go to Rock 104 until your next show.” And no, these conversations wouldn’t end up on the air. At the risk of bragging, the final results reflected their takes.

Usually, listeners’ reactions on the phone don’t match up with the ratings results. Same with the buzz on the streets. But they did in 1995.

When the final numbers came in, I was away on family business—but wasn’t surprised to learn every daypart took a hit (I would later learn my slot on Sunday was the lone bright spot). Nearly every loss was the gain of Rock 104. To be fair, “the other rock station” did reasonably well too, as I recall—but changed format and ownership years later. When those report cards for radio came out, I had just finished college and was slowly starting a TV career. But I never shut the door entirely on radio. It was my first professional love, after all—and still is.

Near the end of this dark year of 1995, was there a promotion after all? Nope. For being the state’s top-rated hit music station’s only saving grace, our brilliant leader (yeah, right) thanked me by reducing my hours.

I’ll admit, the boss and I weren’t thinking alike near the end of the day. But consider this: The Sunday show I was hosting was all-request. No leader’s computerized log to adhere to. I had free rein. As previously agreed upon, if the rock song was a hit in the mid to late ’60s, ’70s, or early ’80s, it worked on my show. We mutually made exceptions for songs like “Stairway to Heaven”—which was never released as a single, yet it’s one of Led Zeppelin’s best-known works.

Also, consider that my boss from ’92-’96 had a myopic view of the market. He famously stated in a staff meeting in ’93 that he wanted our spot on the dial to be “a Hattiesburg station.” However, a lot of literature about the state’s top-rated hit music station, at that point in time, clearly indicated that it was dually licensed to serve Hattiesburg and Laurel. The station’s “Laurel-Hattiesburg-Meridian” experiment had taken place only a few years earlier; thus, the 18-month project was fresh in a lot of listeners’ minds. Given our extremely strong signal and potentially wide coverage area, focusing solely on Hattiesburg was easier said than done. Perhaps a longer discussion for another time.

So, here I am, saving a station from major embarrassment in 1995 in the face of heated competition—and this is the thanks I get? Yup, time to move on. I got a little more serious about TV. I even thought about leaving these neighborhoods I dearly love—but I didn’t want to.

Well, in 1996, renewed hope and prosperity. Further doors opened on local television. And I was able to take my radio talents to Rock 104.

My employment started on April 1, 1996—on the first anniversary of Rock 104 in its present form. Work began on molding and shaping what you know today as “RockTrax with Doug Morris.”

Roughly one year before the maiden voyage of “RockTrax,” I never thought 104.5FM, doing business as Rock 104, would make it to its third anniversary. During that moment in time, I never even thought about crossing the street. And yet, here we are—united in our beliefs in serving public trust and entertaining listeners—as we celebrate Rock 104’s 30th anniversary.

Much like the station I left, Rock 104 has a strong signal. The difference? Rock 104 embraces its entire coverage area. We’re well aware that the market extends beyond just Hattiesburg. Rock’s parent company and I are united in entertaining our listeners and serving the public trust. We recognize that the needs of those in Hot Coffee and Soso are just as important as those in Hattiesburg and Laurel. Unlike certain broadcasters, we know that Bay Springs is not on the Mississippi coast.

As much as we would’ve loved to start celebrating 30 years of Rock 104 on Saturday at Hubfest, while giving a nod to our neighbors at 40-year-old B95, Mother Nature had other possible ideas. Festival officials erred on the side of caution and made the call to cancel the festival late Friday afternoon.

Thankfully, we have a treasure trove of memories that will be gradually revealed from @WXRRFM on Facebook and @rock104fm on Instagram. Give my radio friends a like and follow if you aren’t already.

I begin with a confession: I don’t know the world of country music inside and out.

However, I will admit to watching a lot of The Nashville Network’s “Fandango” in the ’80s—mainly because I’m a game show fan; the puns of Edgar, the talking jukebox, were worth the price of admission. On a related note, my family and I used to eat at our nearest Po Folks family restaurant in Dayton, Ohio, which host Bill Anderson endorsed.

With that, my first memory of hearing B95 must have been during the long, hot summer of 1988 while visiting Mississippi from Ohio. It was early in B95’s run. When I tuned in for the first time, I happened to catch this iconic legal ID at just the right moment…

“We’re star-spangled, flag-wavin’, fire-crackin’ — B95 — WBBN — Taylorsville, Laurel, Hattiesburg.”

…my transcription doesn’t do the jingle justice. If you remember it, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I thought it was catchy—as I chuckled. I knew something like this wouldn’t work in Dayton and Cincinnati, home to WONE, WUBE, and as many as four other country stations over the years (including Kiss Country 101.5; FM 99.1, a longtime easy listening station in Dayton even switched to country before the decade was out). But in the American Southeast, the jingle worked.

Years later, after my family relocated to Mississippi and I entered the business, I began working—at the competition. If you know, you know.

Just before work officially started, I attended the 1992 South Mississippi Fair in Laurel. My future station’s booth looked fine—some balloons for airstaff to blow up and, if I recall correctly, a box for prize drawing entries. But B95’s booth? A pre-social media era feast for the eyes. Balloons, Buzzy the mascot, nearly all hands on deck—even the boss was broadcasting live on-site.

“Did I join the wrong radio team?” I wondered silently for a brief moment. Armed with my “Fandango”-fueled country music knowledge and not much more, I stuck with Plan Alpha.

By then, names like Kenny, Dolly, and Hank Jr. rang loudly—how could they not? But I mostly recognized them from movies, variety shows, and “Monday Night Football”. (One friend from Dayton, however, was a huge Bocephus fan; another, a devoted listener of the aforementioned Kiss Country, bore some resemblance to Clint Black.)

Show me a picture of Mel Tillis and I’m more likely to recall his time as a Whataburger spokesman from my early ’80s Texas days than his hit song “Coca-Cola Cowboy”. In recent years, I’m more likely to connect Reba McEntire to situation comedy shows (“Happy’s Place”, her eponymous sitcom “Reba”) than her legendary recording career.

Back to Plan Alpha. Long story short, the plan worked—but not for much more than a year and a half at my old station.

Later, a ten-year-old B95 got a new neighbor in 1995—Rock 104. And in 1996, the company got a new team member—me.

Great things were happening. For one, I was thrilled to bring my act to a rock station that had already made waves. Further, it was great seeing the country station that started it all—even if I didn’t know their world well.

The difference between my old station and B95/Rock 104 was night and day. While I was parting company with a great team, I was fleeing a certain leader and his deputy with myopic beliefs who wanted the place to be just “a Hattiesburg station”—never mind that it was physically near Laurel, and many listeners still remembered its Laurel and Jones County origins. (Oh, did I mention my paternal grandfather knew my old station’s first leader, Granville Walters? Perhaps a story for another time.)

Meanwhile, B95 and Rock 104 aimed to be Pine Belt stations. And oh, did they succeed. They still do.

The first time I visited B95’s studio, I saw something I can only describe as an algebraic liner for the airstaff to read. It incorporated as many cities, towns, and communities from the listening area as possible, rotating names almost hourly. Something like this…

“From Ellisville to Baxterville, from Heidelberg to Hattiesburg — the Pine Belt spells ’country’ B95.”

…my internal reaction: How clever. I’ve heard the B95 team read lines like this for years. To see the variables to make this happen was quite a site.

And it only got better from there. The station’s commitment to public service announcements was evident. I sensed from the outside looking in this was a company that really cared about the overall market. After Day 1 on the job, just seeing PSA after PSA made me realize this IS a company that really cares about the overall market. Later, the company developed its own online platforms. As the commitment extended to digital spaces, airstaff guided listeners to our websites for event details and community updates.

If you haven’t yet, check out @b95country’s official social media pages on Facebook and Instagram. Lately, they’ve felt like a living scrapbook—reliving contests, public appearances, and unforgettable moments. Spoiler alert: You’ll see some of the Rock 104 team, myself included, in these throwback posts. In events such as the Food, Home, and Health Show as well as the Pine Belt Expo, the stations had a unified presence.

I’ll close with this. Bill O’Reilly once called The Doors the best rock band ever. Hard to disagree. I won’t try to match him, but I’ll say this.

If you’ve ever wanted to give country music a try, start with Alabama. Cindy, my late wife, and I attended an Alabama concert—and I walked away realizing I knew half their set. The band was the artist of the ’80s for a reason. And this December, when “Christmas in Dixie” turns 40, it should tug at your heartstrings just as it did the first time it was released.

Happy anniversary, B95. Here’s to the next 40 years—and beyond.

Congratulations are in order.

YES 64.1%
NO 35.9%

I guess the “come for the POTUS election, stay to support our school system” strategy worked.

But seriously, to the Lamar County School District leadership, that’s just one hurdle cleared. There are more hurdles to clear.

For the rest of Mississippi, it will be interesting to see if other school districts also put bond issues, and perhaps levies, up for votes. All of this while we have a state lottery.

To view the entire series of posts, go to www.DougMorris.org/search and enter “It’s gonna take a lotto luck” in the search box.

I would’ve rejoiced this news sooner here. However, industry colleagues and I were chiming in and reacting on Facebook Monday.

Now that we’ve all had a chance to digest the news, I can say it here. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, and enjoy the beignets, 103.7FM. There are plenty to go ’round in NOLA.

With that, here in the Pine Belt, I can remember 103.7FM as an easy-listening station, a country station, a 1950s/60s oldies station, a country station (again), and rock, in some form, for about the last decade and a half. It started as active rock and morphed closer to classic rock before surrender.

I’ve written about a controversial incident regarding its morning show in The Fox/WFFX era here before. I wish not to revisit it. A polite “good riddance” to that program is also in order.

There’ve been many times 103.7FM WFFX has created confusion — making people think a certain show or song was on my radio home, Rock 104. Now that The Fox has fled for NOLA with a temporary format change to boot, the confusion it created is ending.

I’ve told others this — so I might as well confess this here. I thought for sure iHeart was going to at least retain the WFFX call letters for 103.7 here — but change the format to news/talk and affiliate with — wait for it — FOX News Radio. Heh, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong.

Welp, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

The Lamar County School District is giving its bond issue another chance in front of voters. It’s the same one as before.

As before, it needs a 60% supermajority of yes votes. If it clears that hurdle, it will mean new buildings for Purvis High School, Sumrall High School, and Oak Grove Middle School — as well as a new gymnasium for Lumberton Elementary and a new office building for Oak Grove Elementary School. (Why not makeover or get new buildings for the aforementioned elementary schools? Just throwing out a question.)

The only change to the strategy — campaigning. As Doug’s Place understands it, the school district is not allowed to actively campaign. In its place, enter the Friends of Lamar County Schools Political Action Committee.

Doug’s Place Take: To borrow a line from the game show host character in the 1990s video game Smash TV, “Good luck. You’lllllll need it.” No matter who takes the lead in campaigning, this still looks like a big ask while certain parts of the service area — particularly Lumberton — are getting the short end of the stick. That’s the problem.

The vote will be part of the general election ballot on November 5.

And, as this series of posts continues to hint, how much money is Lamar County seeing from the Mississippi Lottery (if any)?

To see other posts in this series, some of which predate the first release of the bond issue, please go to www.dougmorris.org/search and enter “It’s gonna take a lotto luck” in the search box.

It’s been about seven years since I last produced a newscast. There’s been a pandemic since then. Certain perpetrators of satellite media tours apparently closed their office for good (thank goodness). So maybe the following advice is a little antiquated.

But — with autumn on the horizon, organizers of satellite media tours may be thinking early and inviting stations across the country to a satellite, or other live, interview from Las Vegas ahead of the 2025 CES, the initials of which originally stood for Consumer Electronics Show. Of course, certain organizers of the interviews are only going to want to showcase certain gadgets. The airtime would be paid for in advance by the makers of the products, of course, to the organizers of the SMT.

What do you, as the newscast producer, do?

First, just say no to their interview. Second, alert your leader — whether it’s the news director or executive producer — ASAP.

From there, discuss alternate routes — like these…

\ If your station is affiliated with one of the big four networks (and most likely it is), there’s a good chance you have access to NBC Orbit, CBS NewsPath, ABC NewsOne, or FOX News Edge. The odds are good these VOD services will dispatch correspondents to Vegas to cover CES, which lasts about three days, without bias.

\ If your station is owned or operated by a major conglomerate, check to see if you have a sister station in Las Vegas. Then, check to see if “your friends in Sin City” are covering CES (most likely the answer’s yes) and if you can obtain video from said station (another likely affirmative answer).

\ If all else fails, CNN NewSource is worth your newsroom’s investment. I can still remember meeting with a NewSource rep about a month or two before moving on to other work. He specifically asked if there were issues with the NewSource product. I vaguely recalled one problem about a decade prior — but told him I got over it. I also recall great CES coverage from NewSource over the years — and can’t imagine this stopping after I left (save for the pandemic).

…now — to the SMT universe, before you respond with a potty-mouthed reply, please take this as a golden opportunity to evolve. As linked above, your competitors at Direct Media Services are your competitors no more. Take that as a wake-up call — and take this post as a call to change up your strategy.

I recommended long ago you should think at the local and regional level. Start there.

The results are in — and it’s bad news for the Lamar County School District…

YES 53.82%
NO 46.18%

…a 60% supermajority of yes votes was needed for the win — hence why it’s a loss.

I’m writing this reaction to the results from the perspective of an Ohioan. Yes, I know Lamar County, Mississippi, long ago presented something like this to voters. At least one matter failed; at least another passed. They came in the pre-Mississippi Lottery era.

So for starters, why did this year’s referendum fail? Either it was a big ask overall — or it seemed like a big ask combined with others getting the short-end of a stick. If a certain meeting is any indication, it’s apparently the latter.

But first, let’s review what this would’ve meant for the district if “yes” cracked the 60% barrier: new buildings for Sumrall High, Purvis High, and Oak Grove Middle Schools; a new office building for Oak Grove Elementary School; and a new gym for Lumberton Elementary School.

At a public meeting in Lumberton, months before the vote, some attendees hinted they didn’t like the idea of only getting a new gym for the elementary school. Knowing what I know, Lumberton needs and deserves more from the school district.

The school district superintendent blamed low voter turnout for the loss — as well as miscommunication and alleged wrong information in social media chatter.

Well — how’s this for chatter? Recall I lived in Ohio, another lottery state, before relocating here in 1991. The Mississippi Lottery, depending on how you look at it, started in 2018 (formation) or 2019 (selling its first scratchers). Even in that other lottery state, bond issues and levies were the norm from school districts; granted, they most likely came from city school districts as opposed to county school districts.

While there was chatter, for and against the Lamar County bond issue, I’m just asking — was there a formal campaign from the school district or friends thereof? Back in my Ohio days (most of the 1980s through the summer of 1991), when a school district put up a bond issue or levy up for a vote, a campaign immediately followed — most likely on local radio stations and in the newspapers. Good friends gave voice to a radio spot ahead of a crucial bond issue vote in ’91. Signs on sidewalks and billboards plus the newspaper ads followed suit.

For various reasons I have to keep close to the vest, I was not able to make a side-trip to Lamar County for the duration of the bond issue period — from the time it was unveiled through last night’s vote.

Still, overall, this isn’t the first bond issue I’ve seen from a school district while residing in a lottery state.

Doug’s Place Flashback #1: Thinking back to the time in the early ’90s the bond issue and levy failed in my old Ohio neighborhood, the school superintendent, while conceding defeat, admitted it was a gamble. Senior adults and retirees I recall speaking with prior to the big vote feared they were being “run out of town.” Was some of that history repeating itself in Lamar County?

Doug’s Place Flashback #2: During my time with Cindy, while visiting her neighborhoods in Delphos, Ohio, near Lima, a bond issue there was soundly defeated. One of her relatives pointed out it was a tough sell to senior adults and retirees. It made me think back to Flashback #1.

To be fair to the school district, if leaders “thought forward” with the bond issue and extremely made over five schools instead of three — with improvements for the elementary schools to match the other three schools — perhaps we’d have different results. There’d be a lot for everyone — instead of a lot for most and a little for others. Again, it sounds like the district needs to support Lumberton a lot more than it already is at the present time.

Hey, there’s still money from the Mississippi Lottery coming Lamar County Schools’ way. Right? I mean — the Mississippi Lottery just started selling tickets for Lotto America. That’s gonna rake in a lot o’ bucks for schools everywhere in Mississippi. Right?

Random thoughts on recent game show developments.

There’s word CBS will reboot “Hollywood Squares” in primetime next January. About all that’s known is Drew Barrymore will be the center square.

Good pick. There’s a generation, and I’ll include myself in it, who’s seen her grow up in front of the camera from “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Firestarter” right on up to her current hit daytime talk show, which dedicated an episode to an “E.T.” cast reunion.

“Squares” purists should hope Leslie Uggams receives an invite to the grid in this reboot. Between Uggams’ portrayals of Blind Al in the “Deadpool” movies and the overseer of Vault 33 in Prime Video’s adaptation of “Fallout”, I can see this happening. Anyone who knows anything about Uggams’ career knows there’s so much more than just “Fallout” and “Deadpool”. Producers would be wise to throw in clips from the original “Squares” series with Q&A gameplay between Uggams and original host Peter Marshall.

Speaking of producers, they would also be wise to pick up the pace. There’s word those who have run “Hip Hop Squares”, “Nashville Squares”, and the current “Celebrity Squares” for Paramount’s cable networks will run “Hollywood Squares”. Regardless of format, I can’t say I came back week-to-week as a viewer.

The pacing across this series of reboots was, and is, slow — noticeably slower than the John Davidson years in the 1980s. I recall a few times “Hip Hop”, “Nashville”, and “Celebrity” were so slow, that three Xs or circles would not be aligned in the allotted main game time. The match would boil down to who had the higher money score without scoring a tic-tac-toe. Where’s the fun in that?

So if the next “Hollywood Squares” wants a crash course in how to properly produce “Squares”, they should take a look at any recent episode of “Funny You Should Ask”. Select episodes of the Jon Kelley-hosted game show aired not long ago on CBS.

Yes, I know, “Funny You Should Ask” operates on a low prize budget. But it plays much like “Squares” — just with fewer celebrities and no tic-tac-toe element. Kelley reads a question to a pre-determined celebrity, the celebrity gives a joke answer, then the celebrity gives either the right answer or a bluff. It’s up to the civilian contestant to determine if the star is right or wrong. A correct determination awards money to the player’s score.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Question, joke, answer, is the answer right/wrong?

To be fair, on “Squares”, you can’t always go for the joke. Even Marshall admitted this in his memoir. Some celebrities were specifically positioned in the grid for quick “true/false”, “yes/no” or other quick multiple-choice questions because, usually, they’d be chosen for a block or a win. It helped with the — you guessed it — pacing.

Plus, there are secret square questions played for at least one vacation or a jackpot of prizes. In those situations, the host (Marshall or one of his successors) would ask the celebrity a multiple-choice question, the star would choose from among the selections, and the civilian would either agree or disagree.

Overall, we’ve got a long way to go before we see Barrymore and at least eight other stars on a new “Hollywood Squares” (married couples, comedy teams, soap co-stars, music groups, etc., have been known to occupy more than one square throughout the decades). We’re off to a good start.

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Briefly, there’s word ABC is bringing back “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to the network for its silver anniversary. There’s also word celebrities will play for charity throughout the season.

Call me crazy — but I’d rather see civilians play against the house for the million. Ya know — like the good old days when Reege hosted.

Roughly four and a half years after the Mississippi Lottery sold its first scratch-off tickets, we may have our first sign it’s not helping our state’s schools.

The Lamar County School District is putting a bond referendum up for votes in May.

District leaders say the maximum amount of the bond issue would be $117 million. If approved, new facilities within the district would be built including the following: new buildings for Sumrall High, Purvis High, and Oak Grove Middle Schools; a new office building for Oak Grove Elementary School; and a new gym for Lumberton Elementary School.

To clarify, I’m not a Lamar County voter. All I can do is provide food for thought in these writings from 2018 and 2019. Yeah, yeah, in the latter link, you’re going to see a reference to, at least, a hypothetical “annual fall festival.” It was written before the pandemic. Mmm’kay?

An even further Doug’s Place Flashback: Just before I left Ohio in 1991, the school system of my Dayton suburb had a levy and bond issue up for votes. Both failed.

The Ohio Lottery — even though it’s home to a TV favorite in “Cash Explosion” as noted earlier — has been in operation since 1973. While a CE host has claimed to see a difference the lottery has made in his child’s school, levies and bond issues have been submitted for Ohio voters’ approval after 1973 — many times.