RIP to the old mainstream media, and get ready for a new "gold rush" by podcasts and streaming video platforms to fill the void. .. and hey how about a cool old photo?

 * ... LOCAL MEDIA: The graveside services for what was known as "the mainstream media" - your local newspaper, network TV and its local affiliate news stations - were held long ago. Media is splintering, newspapers are struggling to keep the lights on and TV ratings are shrinking. In its place,

blogs, podcasts and new video streaming platforms are flourishing, if for no other reason than they don't need truckloads of cash and advertising to stay in business. This is particularly true on the local level, where new "media channels" position themselves to capture the audiences that have abandoned newspapers and other "mainstream" platforms. Locally, look no further than KERNCAST.COM, a new venture catering to the political right and run by former mayoral candidate and pro cannabis activist T.J. Esposito. So far, he has signed up former KNZR radio personalities Chad Garcia and Inga K. Barks, as well as Denise Gary, to do weekly video streaming episodes, and more are in the works. (KERNCAST also hosts a lively "Bored in Bakersfield" channel that is worth checking out). Esposito can be a polarizing figure about town, but it would be wrong to prematurely dismiss him or KERNCAST. The gatekeepers of old media are dead, and there is a new gold rush to see who will fill the void.

 * ... CANNABIS DRAMA: Speaking of old media, it took our local newspaper more than a month but it finally got around to covering the dramatic charges and counter charges involving Supervisors Mike Maggard and Leticia Perez in the local cannabis debate. It's another example of how shrinking staffs in "old media" simply can't keep up with more nimble news sources, and how new alternative news outlets are now leading the way. By the way, if you want a real, unfiltered view of this cannabis mess, go to the KERNRADIO.COM archives to hear interviews with all the players in the local pot debate: Heather Epps, David Abbasi, T.J. Esposito, Kim Schaefer, Ben Eilenberg, Fernando Jara, Maggard and Perez.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: Pat Sajak, host of "Wheel of Fortune," posted this: "It must be exhausting to spend your days monitoring everyone’s speech searching for something to turn into a hashtag hate campaign. #Getalife"

 * ... DISNEYLAND: There is some bad news at the happiest place on earth. That's right Disneyland is raising its prices again and those on the annual season passes are getting slammed. For annual passes, the least expensive pass now costs $729, up from $619, and the Signature Pass (includes parking) is now going for a princely $999 a year. A family of four can easily spend near $4,000 a year for the passes, and that doesn't include gas, hotels or food.

* ... VETERANS: Comrades and Canopies, a group of local veterans dedicated to improving the lives of those who have served, is taking eight Honor Flight vets out to Skydive Taft this weekend. Event organizer Chad Garcia said some of the War World II and Korean War vets had not jumped out of a plane in decades. Garcia and other veterans will be raising money this week at BJ's Brewhouse on Stockdale Highway and Salty's BBQ on White Lane.

 * ... MEMORIES: Tell me you are not transfixed by this photo shared by Mark McGown on the Facebook page "Kern County of Old." In McGowan's words: "L to R: May Stark, Adalaine Nicholson, and Ella Faye in 1894. They were teachers at Kern County High School."