Items of note

Usually this post would be called "T Dog's Groovy Grab Bag", a roundup of media notes, but an item here is a tragedy and it involves a helicopter and a radio tower:

-Four people were killed Wednesday Night when a medical helicopter slammed into the radio tower in Aurora of west suburban WBIG-AM. Three adults and an one-year old were in the aircraft headed for Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago when it hit the tower. The crash has knocked WBIG off the air indefinitely.

WBIG is a talk radio station based in Aurora that airs mostly brokered programming. It is not related to WBIG-FM in Washington D.C., which is a classic hits station.

In other news:

- Mark January 16 and March 20 (tentatively) on your calendars, everyone - those are the dates Battlestar Galactica will have its season premiere and series finale, respectively.

- Cartoon Network has picked up a new animated series based on the line of Hot Wheels toys made by Mattel. Titled Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5, the series is set to debut next year on Sunday mornings.

This isn't the first time a cartoon has been made about the line of racing cars: ABC aired a Hot Wheels Saturday morning animated series from 1969-71, but the show was unsuccessful (ABC aired reruns in the second season) and was later banned by the FCC because the program was basically a 30-minute commercial for the toy.

The 1969 version of Hot Wheels featured the voice talents of Casey Kasem and Albert Brooks.

- Viewers in Philadelphia had a choice between the Presidential debates and the Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Guess what they picked?

The baseball game. But it also helps if the team is the Philadelphia Phillies and they were playing to go to the World Series.

Fox-owned WTXF won its time slot with the broadcast of its parent network's telecast, and it earned a 32.3 household rating and 44 share, according to Nielsen, beating the other broadcast channels combined. Among adults 25-54, WTXF dominated with a 24.5/45.

ABC-owned WPVI (the market's news leader), finished second with a 7.3/10 in households and 3.9/7 in adults 25-54 with ABC News' coverage of the debate.

The Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5, winning the series 4-1 and now they face either Tampa Bay or Boston in the World series.