JASON: Hey Idol fans!  This season we’ll be recapping “American Idol” on The Wakeup Show AND here on panhandlepost.com–updates will be under the KCOW tab.  Here’s a recap of the season premiere:

NEW YORK (AP) – The Big Apple sends 41 hopefuls to Hollywood. “American Idol” began its 12th season last night with two hours of auditions in New York City. Frankie Ford from Brooklyn makes it. He’s a professional singer — of sorts. He sings in the New York subways and passes the hat. But James Bae (BAY) from Long Island doesn’t make the cut. He’s not William Hung bad — but he’s close. The 15-year-old James told new judge Nicki Minaj he’s single. While James didn’t get a golden ticket to Hollywood, he did a get a peck on the cheek from Minaj. Tonight, the Idol auditions move to Chicago.

JASON: One thing that really bothered me last night…the contestant who received her audition entry via a surprise pop-in by Randy at a club where she was performing.  If you’re gonna go to all the trouble of hand-picking her to audition, you’d think they could have let her try a song without the guitar!  She obviously was nervous but I think if she had had time to settle down, she could have done a better vocal and snagged the golden ticket.  Leave your thoughts on this (and anything else from last night) in the comments!

I’ll have all my thoughts on the NYC auditions on KCOW at 8:45 this morning.  And my “Idol Chatter” cohost Jennifer Schmid will be sharing her thoughts on the air and online in the next few weeks.