Get well, P.J.

One of my favorite people in the business, P.J. Bednarski, had open-heart surgery June 6 after experiencing chest and jaw pains for months. We spoke on the phone yesterday and he sounded fine.

I first read P.J. in the Chicago Sun-Times, but he also toiled as TV critic at the Dayton Journal Herald, Cincinnati Post and USA Today.

For the past few years he's been a top editor at Broadcasting & Cable, so when I heard a female voice on P.J.'s voice mail announcing that he was on indefinite medical leave, the first thought I had was: Oh no, first Higgins, now this.

But in fact, P.J. got his triple bypass before any real damage was done, and now he intends for that to be the end of heart trouble. "I feel pretty good," he said. "I've got a big incision and all that" — a friend told him he should strap a pillow to his chest so when he sneezes it doesn't hurt like hell — "but I've been exercising and I'm determined to do well."