AIKEN NEWS NETWORK JANUARY 20

[clayMaine-iac]

Good Morning, everyone!!!

According to Nielsen Media Research preliminary fast national ratings, yesterday's American Idol 4 premiere was the most-watched television program -- including all sports broadcasts -- of the 2004-2005 television season among both total viewers and the all-important Adults 18-49 demographic.

American Idol 4 premiered to a phenomenal 33.5 million viewers and a 14.0/33 rating/share among Adults 18-49 -- the second highest numbers that the program has ever drawn in these measures, trailing only American Idol 2's Ruben Studdard versus Clay Aiken season finale.

REALITYTVWORLD

[clayMaine-iac]

Tuesday's season premiere of American Idol, largely featuring the off-key, bizarre and painful warblings heard at a cattle-call audition in Washington, D.C., was sampled by 54 million viewers, Fox said Wednesday.

Overall, the two-hour telecast averaged 33.6 million viewers, per Nielsen Media Research, making it the most watched non-sports program of the season and the second-most watched Idol ever, behind only 2003's Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken finale.

EONLINE

[clayMaine-iac]

And Peyton Manning ... well, MeMo's just a girl and doesn't know much about football or the Middle East or anything, but if she did, she'd call Peyton Manning the Clay Aiken of football. Because even if you're a girl, you can still get a warm feeling a few days after a game like that.

CHRON.COM *thanks to Christie*

[clayMaine-iac]

Then there's Clay Aiken.

He didn't win, but he's had more success than any of the others. He has a legion of loyal fans who call themselves Claymates and has sold out tour stops across the country.  He even hosted a Christmas Special this season with-Barry Manilow!

HAMPTONROADS

[clayMaine-iac]

Idol Chartwatch, January 19: New Year, New Season, New Entries
by Rob Smith -- 01/19/2005
 
With the holidays gone, the charts are somewhat quieter as many of the entries by Clay Aiken and Jessica Simpson disappeared from the charts. Kelly Clarkson is truly dominating the charts with her new album Breakaway and the singles it has produced, and Fantasia and Josh Gracin both make entries in to the Hot 100 charts. The US charts are also impacted for the first time by a foreign Idol. Chartwatch is ready!

Clay Aiken

This week Clay is in the #11 position on the Christian Albums chart with his album Merry Christmas with Love. The single “Solitaire/The Way” sits in the #30 position on the Hot 100 Single Sales chart.

FOXES ON IDOL

[clayMaine-iac]

Are We There Yet?
Opens Fri., Jan. 21, at Meridian and others

Beginning the film with a talking bobble-head doll of Satchel Paige on the dashboard of Ice Cube's pimped-out SUV is the first of many reasons why this annoying carload should've been run off the road. When Nick (Cube), owner of a sports collectible store and self-proclaimed child loather, falls for a divorced "breeder" with two brats, he realizes that in order to get to Suzanne (the lovely Nia Long), he first has to charm her children. His opportunity comes when he offers to escort the kids from Portland, Ore., to a New Year's bash that their mother is throwing in Vancouver, B.C. As soon as the road trip begins in Cube's new Navigator, the 11-year-old diva and her asthmatic 8-year-old brother are ruining his leather interior with body fluids, spraying juice on the ceiling, and listening to Clay Aiken records. The slapstick continues with Cube chasing a moving train on a galloping horse, fighting various forest mammals, and causing the explosive demise of his beloved Navigator.

SEATTLEWEEKLY

[clayMaine-iac]

Is It Over Yet?  
Ice Cube’s family movie may make you long for the hood.  
(snip)

It's too bad. Intelligent family film is far from an oxymoron (School of Rock, for instance), though you wouldn't know it to look at most of what issues from Hollywood. And what, exactly, is Ice Cube doing in selling his soul to whitey? "Lord, these kids are ethnically challenged," he complains when they request Clay Aiken. Here's a guess: They got that way by watching movies like this one.

EASTBAYEXPRESS

[clayMaine-iac]

"Idol's" fourth season, which launches at 8 p.m. EST Tuesday, has upped the outer limit two years, to 28.

"If it's 28, why not 29?" Cowell, 45, said in an interview Tuesday after addressing TV critics gathered here. "If it's 29, why not 30? On the record charts, there's no age limit for being a hit artist, as Rod Stewart just proved."

In Cowell's view, it's a mistake to program for a specific demographic.

"It's a funny thing about 18- to 34-year-olds. My gut is that when you don't aim at them specifically and aim at everyone, they'll still watch. It's always a danger when you try to target an age group in television or music. I would never do it."

Fellow judge Paula Abdul, 42, seconds the motion. "It would be awesome to have no age limit. Why not? I don't think there should ever be an age limit on talent."

Speaking of talent, Cowell predicts that Clay Aiken, last year's baby-faced "Idol" runner-up, will have the longest career among all "Idol" contestants. "More than anyone, he understood why he won, who watched the show, and what people who watched the show want to buy."

CENTREDAILY
*hey, gramma, what about "baby-faced"*

[Her]

*hey, gramma, what about "baby-faced"*

M.B. you crack me up!  Have a terrific day and thanks for the news...

[clayMaine-iac]

"Every year some of the kids that didn't try out [the year before], that were really talented and went home, they say, 'You know what? Fantasia's the bomb. I don't care what nobody says,' " Jackson explained. "'Ruben's the bomb, Kelly's the bomb, Clay's the bomb.' It's a valuable talent thing now. People [used to] generally think that somebody like corny or whatever, who's not talented, is going to win this thing, but this is a real, real talent competition."

If that's the case, Fantasia, who came off like a superstar while still competing and who has since recorded with artists such as Missy Elliott and Jermaine Dupri, might inspire some quality singers turned off by the schmaltzy Aiken.

MTV
*schmaltzy??*

[clayMaine-iac]

Good Morning, MB!!!

We have been buried under snow up here!!!    No school today!!
We got at least 6 or 7 inches of that stuff   last night and it is still snowing now!!!!  

I need extra      

[Her]

*schmaltzy??*

whaddup with that????Schmaltzy Paltzy...sounds like a deep cut sorta, but that's okay...Clay rocks!

Gees Ms. D. I forgot to leave you with   and a  

[clayMaine-iac]

Concord High wins $32,000 grant for peer support

Concord High School will receive $32,000 toward a project that will pair students without disabilities and students with disabilities in classes, extracurriculars and other settings. Students without disabilities will get elective course credit for participating.

The grant will cover the cost of hiring a teacher to develop the project.

The money will come from the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which supports inclusion programs for children with disabilities and their peers. Clay Aiken, a recording artist and former special-education teacher, founded the organization two years ago with Diane Bubel, a disabilities activist whose son has autism.
"Concord High School understands that acceptance and interaction with peers is integral to the happiness of all people,"Bubel said in a statement announcing the grant.

She will present the check at the high school on Tuesday morning.

CONCORD MONITOR

[Her]

We got at least 6 or 7 inches of that stuff  last night and it is still snowing now!!!!  

YUCK!!!!  I was whining at OCD about 45 degrees!!!!  Please try to stay warm and I'll say a prayer that ya'll don't lose power.  Do you have a fireplace if you lose power?

[clayMaine-iac]

Other reports dealt with the final episode of the second season, when Fox said 24 million votes had been cast and Ruben Studdard beat Clay Aiken by 134,000.

But Verizon, the nation's largest phone company, said it had received 116 million more calls than average that day, and SBC Communications reported an increase of 115 million calls, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine, suggesting a logjam in which millions of viewers were not able to get through. Although it's impossible to know where each call went, Verizon's Daniel Diaz Zapata told Broadcasting & Cable that "there was no obvious reason for all those calls, other than 'American Idol.'" Verizon and SBC handled nearly one-third of the long-distance market at that time.

MYRTLE BEACH ONLINE

[clayMaine-iac]

But when it comes to judging the show, the residents of Atlanta are more Paula Abdul than Simon Cowell. For the past three premieres of the "American Idol" season, the highest average ratings for the premiere have come from the Atlanta designated market area. The Atlanta market has finished as the number one market for each premiere of the show, with an average rating of 26.4 percent. The other top "Idol" markets include Washington D.C., Milwaukee, Memphis, and Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C. The 2004 winner, Fantasia Barrino, is from High Point, N.C. The 2003 winner, Ruben Studdard, is from Birmingham, N.C., and runner-up Clay Aiken is from Raleigh, N.C. The first season's winner, Kelly Clarkson, is from Burleson, Texas.

MEDIA POST

[HavinaClayAffair]

Good Morning! I feel so out of touch! I have read but not posted!

We are having a heatwave here ClayMaine-iac! It is 23 degrees!! I feel like I should have a tube top on!

Thank you for the news...The Movie- "Are We There Yet?" ..and Clay Aiken music? TOO FUNNY!! I hope I enjoy the movie that I am now going to go see! HA! ( I was planning on it anyway..)

Have a great day...

Lora-Ohio

[clayMaine-iac]

MB,

If I lose power, I freeze!!!   Will I turn  :girlsmurf ??

I can handle the cold...but I really would hate to not be able to use the computer!!!      

[clayMaine-iac]

The personal pain of Sedaka's sad songs is infectious, like Merry-Go-Round, and 2004 hit Solitaire, re-popularized by American Idol star Clay Aiken. But the jumpin' rock songs have lost not an ounce of bounce. Both the gospel-style Good Times, Good Music, Good Friends and Laughter in the Rain with sax soloist Pat Pere just about turned the place out.

PALMBEACHPOST

[ANGELA]

HELLO EVERYONE!!

FOR ANY OF YOU THAT WOKE UP SHIIVERING FROM ALL THIS COLD WEATHER     --HERE IS SOMETHING TO KEEP YOU WARM

I HOPE ALL OF YOU ARE KEEPING WARM OR KEEPING COOL DEPENDING ON YOUR LOCATION.--I HOPE OUR CLAY IS NICE & WARM.

THANKS DEANNA FOR THE NEWS---I WILL BE BACK FOR MORE UPDATES.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY EVERYONE.

ANGELA