Even though the Royal Wedding was broadcast in the U.S. in the wee hours of Friday, Broadcast & Cable reports that “a few early numbers are showing that the event boosted live video streams to record levels for some providers.”

Akamai, which handled the transmission of live streams from the Royal Wedding for Fox News, CBS and about two dozen outlets from around the world over its network, reported peak traffic of about 2.9 million live streams over its network during the event.

This is well above the 16 million streams during the last World Cup.

YouTube traffic also saw “a clear spike,” though usage dropped off after 6:30 a.m. Eastern time… [and] CNN numbers also saw a significant spike, with about 575,000 live video streams through 10 a.m. ET.

Web aside, current estimates also show that a record-breaking 2 billion people tuned in to the Royal Wedding on television as well, but those figures won’t be confirmed till later.

Now that it’s over, whatever will we do with ourselves?

Who wants to read about the Royal Wedding? Anyone? Well, too bad. If we have to, you have to. So here’s the latest: People magazine – Time Inc.’s big money maker – is altering its publishing schedule this week in order to better cover the Royal Wedding.

According to The New York Times, the magazine usually closes its issue on Tuesdays, but the Royal Wedding issue is being closed tomorrow instead. It will also go on sale Monday instead of Thursday, and will cost more – $4.49, instead of the typical $3.99 price.

Why is People changing so much? To quote Wu-Tang: Cash Rules Everything Around Me. Four out of the five top-selling issues have been centered on the royal family:

• The death of Princess Diana, in 1997, with 2.997 million copies, No. 2 on the list.
• The marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, in 1986, 2.59 million copies, No. 8.
• The birth of Prince William. That issue, in 1982, sold 2.579 million copies, No. 9.
• The wedding of Diana and Prince Charles, William’s parents, in 1981, with 2.551 million copies, No. 10.

Columbia Journalism Review, “relieved” to find a Royal Wedding angle for today (as are we!) is reporting that Australian Broadcasting Network (ABC) has been forced to cancel a planned satirical special covering Friday’s hallowed wedding.

The special involved an Australian comedy troupe known as the Chaser boys who would satirically comment on the wedding live on ABC2, while more slavish coverage would be be broadcast on ABC1.

But there’s nothing funny about the Royal Wedding. It is the greatest and most serious thing that’s happened to us since Brad and Angelina had a child together.  So the Chaser boys’ plan was squashed when ABC was informed by the Associated Press Television Network (APTN) that “new conditions of use issued by APTN over the Easter break state footage cannot be used ‘in any drama, comedy, satirical or similar entertainment program or content’.”

As Joel Meares writes at CJR:

Finally, isn’t it odd that the royals can still dictate to the media the conditions under which they can be covered? And equally astonishing that the media would agree to those conditions? If the effect of their rule change is minimal, why not make the case that there is minimal need to change the rules?

We are back under the rule of the British Empire. We all knew this would happen some day.

Friday is a big day for the media, as we’ve promised to finally showcase the picture of our dog with a mohawk. Kidding! It’s the Royal Wedding, and whether or not the United States people care about it doesn’t matter, the media is going to cover the hell out of it. Even New York TV stations are getting in on it.

Romenesko got a look at how the Associated Press is going to cover the wedding, and though the memo begins “Friday is royal wedding day in London and our report will look a little different,” the coverage actually begins tomorrow, and from then on out it is Royal Wedding 24/7 for the AP:

As Prince William and Kate Middleton say their vows, The Associated Press will be alerting every development, running live video in SD and HD, tweeting and posting on Facebook, updating a multifaceted interactive, sending four radio packages an hour and filing hundreds of photographs from key vantage points.

If you’re not interested in that, we promise our dog does look ridiculous. Dogs are animals! They’re not supposed to have haircuts!

April 27, 1981—Ronald Reagan was just over three months into his term as president (having escaped an assassination attempt four weeks prior) and we were still three months away from that generation’s Royal Wedding of Prince William’s parents Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

April 27, 1981 was also the date that a young meteorologist from Long Island made his debut at WCBS 880.

Thus began a remarkable run for Craig Allen, doing virtually the same shift (5-10a; 4-7p) ever since. (In February, Allen signed a three-year extension with WCBS).

However, early on Allen had no illusions that he was destined for a 30-year career at a radio powerhouse.

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