In the news

82-year-old rock critic retires

When Jane Scott began writing about rock 'n' roll for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Beatles were new.

Now, a month before her 83rd birthday, she's retiring.

Scott's last column appeared in Friday's editions. She announced her retirement at a private luncheon for newspaper employees Wednesday.

"All of a sudden it dawned on me: What am I trying to prove?" she said. "I just felt maybe it's about time."

Scott is well known in Cleveland and the rock music world as just Jane, or sometimes as the world's oldest teenager.

She was a 1941 graduate of the University of Michigan, where she majored in English and drama. Her first day at the Plain Dealer was March 24, 1952, three days after the world's first rock concert: Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball at the old Cleveland Arena. She began as a society writer and later wrote columns for teens and senior citizens.

When the Beatles performed on Sept. 15, 1964, at Cleveland's Public Hall, Scott was there as a reporter.

She became the newspaper's rock writer, scoring an interview with Paul McCartney when the Beatles returned to Cleveland for a performance in Municipal Stadium in 1966.

"It went on from there," she said. "I got hooked on it."

The Daly Show

Carson Daly may be replaced at host of MTV's TRL before his contract expires in mid 2003, TV Guide says. Daly has cut back his TRL duties since the January debut of his NBC late-night show, Last Call, and the show's ratings have dropped 30 percent among its target audience, 12- to 17-year-olds. Meanwhile, NBC liked Daly's Last Call interview with Elton John so much, it will air an edited version in prime time, 8 p.m. April 20. The show normally airs at 1:35 a.m. weeknights. NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker says the interview just "seemed a good fit for prime time."

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