Earlier this week, ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell itemized some of the reasons why ticket prices for Super Bowl XLVII were plummeting to perhaps their lowest aggregate mark-up value since 2002. But for fans like Leo Laporte (pictured), who bought in early to be sure they got what they needed, it’s a different story.

The host of the very informative weekend phone-in program The Tech Guy, which airs on KFI AM 640, SiriusXM and 170 other stations across North America, told Bill Handel from the Big Easy this morning that his 35-yard-line tickets cost $4,000… each. That’s three times the face value of $1,250.00, brokered through what everyone these days likes to call a  ”packager.”

“If it weren’t my team (the 49ers) and New Orleans, I probably wouldn’t have done it,” Laporte admitted. “But this is a truly special occasion.”

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Following the very contentious recent on-air pronouncements of John Kobylt and Rush Limbaugh, this is the last thing KFI 640 AM management in Burbank want to be dealing with. But thanks to a bulletin from the Black Media Alliance, they will be.

At around 8:40 a.m. this morning, Bill Handel uttered the words “dumb ass women” while discussing Kansas’ new abortion law, House Bill 2598, which if passed, will require women to hear the fetal heartbeat before a procedure. As soon as he said it, colleague Gary Hoffman jumped in with the comment, “You just stepped into it once again… Whatever you just said is going to be taken so completely out of context…”

Not exactly. As far as the BMA is concerned, context is immaterial. Here’s the organization’s reaction statement:

The line was crossed yet again on Clear Channel’s number one radio station in the second largest media market in the country, Los Angeles’ KFI 640 AM. And again this “imaginary line” keeps being crossed at the expense of women.

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When it comes to the Los Angeles radio industry, a good guy to have in the Rolodex is definitely Greg Ashlock. Per an item today in the LA Times by Steve Carney, this guy oversees eight different stations for industry giant Clear Channel.

At the top of Ashlock’s list is KIIS-FM. Arbitron ratings released Tuesday show that the station has been number one in the LA/Orange County market this year, January 1 through August 31. So how does Ashlock do it? He says it’s all about breaking the next big musical artist:

As an example, Ashlock mentioned a concert three summers ago that KIIS hosted at Raging Waters, the San Dimas water park, starring rap artist Shwayze. The opening act was Lady Gaga, before the release of her debut album.

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Critic Carolyn See and novelist Porochista Khakpour square off; Galley Cat has the details.

KFi’s Bill Handel interviews homicide cop/novelist Will Baell.

Reviewing Steve Almond’s new book, Joy Nicholson wrote

There is no lack here of craft in straight-shooting.

Editor Nick Ochwar understands both spoken and written English, right?