DCRTV's Best & Worst Of 2004
Front Page - Mailbag - Support DCRTV - Back To BW2007From Scott in Damascus-
Ten Best: 1. WTMD-Tops my list again. Their countdown of the top debut albums was terrific. 2. Michael Powell/FCC: Relax, people. This is not the end of radio. Bland? Yes. But radio's been bland long before Powell and his gang arrived (Remember, Milli Vanilli won a freakin' Grammy!) Radio can now follow television's lead: Keep the networks (ie. AM/FM) relatively clean and transfer the envelope pushers to the cable/pay stations (satellite radio). Sounds like common sense to me. Just cough up the $10 bucks/month and enjoy all the church sex you want to hear. 3. 106.9-Probably has a better variety of oldies than 100.3 or 102.7 combined. 4. Laura Ingraham-She's Sean Hannity, only prettier and funnier. Shows how the lefties are just so darn cute when they get up in a lather. 5. Weasel-He must dread coming to work but he actually makes classic rock interesting. 6. 15 years in 15 days-Sure, 94.7 played some softer stuff during this special, but my ears were glued. I love not knowing what's coming next, unlike the other 350 days at the Arrow. 7. WAFY-Pretty good mix of current and past hits. Would love to see them go to all 80s. 8. 98.5-OK, I'm getting a little out of the area but I can still receive it. So far I'm enjoying new format. 9. Satellite Radio-Would get this if I wasn't satisfied with internet radio (Live 365). 10. 90.1/WCSP-Especially Washington Journal. Listened during the campaign and, for the most part, it was pretty objective.
Ten Worst: 1. 100.3-No one is listening and they blame it on the jocks?? Please! Maybe, just maybe, it's because they play "Baby Love" every three hours. 2. 99.1-No more Active Rock! What is the fascination with Linkin Park? See Dave's wish list. He's right on target. 3. 94.7-Chances are they're playing Boston right now. 4. The Washington Post-Just got rid of my subscription. Objectivity was thrown out the window during this election year. 5. Flounder on DC101-Hearing him talk is like nails on a chalkboard. The guy simply can't speak and he's on the radio!! He must have pictures of Elliot. 6. DC101-I really don't mind Elliot in the Morning (except for #5) but they're trying to be 99.1 for God knows what reason. It appears that it's working because they're getting closer to HFS in the ratings. 7. Breaking News on FOX 5 news: Boy crying wolf syndrome. No one pays attention when breaking news actually occurs. 8. Todd McDermott-You replaced Gordon with this beefcake? 9. WMAL-Still mad at them for getting rid of Dr. Laura. 10. All Morning Shows-If I want USA Today tidbits, I'll stop by the Exxon on the way to work. Get a little creative, people. Stop with the "Nitty gritty from Music City", "The Good, the Bad, and the Gossip" and the like.
Happy New Year!
Best DC Sports Team Play-by-Play Guy: Dave Johnson. Dave is the voice of the Washington Wizards and provides great play-by-play consistently throughout the season. He's a guy who's rich in talent and as a long-time Washingtonian and sports fan, we all should appreciate what a great job he does with the Wizards and WTOP Sports!
Worst WUSA Channel 9: WOW, what a disaster over at Channel 9! The way they let Gordon Peterson go was disgraceful! Tracey Neale is the only bright spot on that whole team! Todd McDermott is God awful, Topper Shutt is all wet, and Brett Haber is just so played out. Gannett might as well scrap any plans for the February sweeps. Clue phone! No one is watching Channel 9!
Pat Malone, President, Washington Senators Fan Club
Best: Radio Ron and Fez Hey Buddies! and Suprise suprise Don and Mike! Their show seems fresh I likey!
Worst: Chris Core what a bore- show prep= drudge report. Howard Stern- go to sirus already!! Television: Well I only get Baltimore on with my Directv so there is no one standout for best but the worst is also a toss up between Rod Daniels who stammers so much I always think it is his first show and Vic Carter who seems so abouve it all. The women on all the stations are scary with the exception of Donna Hamilton she is a class act. Stan Stoval seems to have been humbled with his move and is getting better eventhough he has been on the air for years and years. Del Walters.... welcome to Baltimore Hon!
-- Christie- Edgewater
BEST: WTOP--news whenever I want/need it. Bob & Lisa are the best traffic reporters, not just telling where it is slow, but WHY it is slow, even if it is only volume, and offering ways to avoid the bottlenecks. BILL ASHLEY at Bradley Broadcast (formerly of WAVA and WABS), he knows his business and he's the best Dad ever! BEVERLY KIRK on PSB giving evening news updates. DCRTV keeping us up to date!
WORST: 99.1 WHFS calling themselves "The True Alternative." They have not been "alternative" in years. Makes me mad every time I hear it!
Thanks and happy new year! Jenn, Broad Run, VA
Best anchor team-Harris/Matthews--sorry Allison lovers Matthews is the best!... Best local radio show--Cojo (he's a great interviewer and very comfortable on the air.) Best morning news--WUSA Andrea and Mike(but I miss hillary)... Best Sports-George naturally... Best Weather-Doug Hill...
Worst Anchor--Jim Vance (can someone wake this guy up?)... Worst Sports-Wally Bruckner(can he please stop shouting at us, we can hear okay)... Worst Weather--Actually I think all the weather people in town are comfortable to watch! I have no complaints! Worst Reporter: Paaa-tttuh Coll-iinnnsss...his delivery is unbelievable...Pat no one, and I mean no on the planet talks like you. Quite throwing in these ridiculous inflections..you sound like a moron. Worst Radio show in the universe: Elliott...why does this guy laugh at everything he says...because I can guarentee you no one else is. He's awful!! Worst Media Management decisions: Getting rid of Gordon, and Bob Edwards!!!
Love the site, Have a happy 2005
Best Market V/O: Dude Walker. A true radio professional. Best Management: None
Worst Management: Jeff Laird at WZBA. This putz couldn't manage his ass with a map! Good thing for him, he has buddies in higher places.
Thanks!!
Best: Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, History Channel International, Discovery Times Channel, VH1 Classic, The O'Reilly Factor and Fox news Channel for keeping the big boys honest, WMAL raising over $1 million for Fisher House.
Worst: The purge at WUSA, WARW altering lyrics to songs ("zlab" instead of "balls"), Mark Kessler's disappearance, lack of good talk radio on weekends.
Best TV News anchors Jim and Doreen WRC........Best TV Sports George Michael....Best TV Weather..Doug Hill WJLA.....Morning show Radio..Imus, Best Afternoon show Radio Tom Kelly Oldies 100... Best Play by Play, Johnny Holliday. Best Radio Talk show host David Burd WMAL..Best Radio Sports Talk Show, Tony Kornheiser WTEM..Best Radio station for News and Information WTOP. Best Traffic reporter Bob Marburg, WTOP Best Network News NBC, Best Cable News, CNN. Best TV move, Gordon to WJLA
Worst category, too many to list, but here's just a few, Tim Brandt, Doc Walker, Larry Michael, Andy Polin, Michael Graham, WTEM, WMAL, Oldies 100, Dave Johnson, Mike Moss, Howard Stern, Don and Mike
Best Radio DJ’s: Brian Wilson and Don O’Brien [formerly of WQSR], Johnny Dark [WQSR], Ken Merson [WLIF], Steve Rouse [WQSR], Stephanie Wells [WBIG]
Worst Radio DJ’s: Murphy and Cash [WBIG],
Best Talk Radio Hosts: Frank Luber [WCBM], Sean Casey [WCBM], Dave Durian [WBAL], Bruce Elliott [WBAL], Chris Core [WMAL]
Worst Talk Radio Host: Al Franken [soon to be on WWRC]
Best TV anchors: Alison Starling [WJLA], Doug McElway [WJLA], Gordon Peterson [WJLA], Leon Harris [WJLA] Stan Stovall [WBAL-TV], Don Scott [WJZ], Bruce Johnson [WUSA]
Worst TV Anchors: Babbling Barbara Harrison [WRC], Mike Walter [WUSA], Marty Bass [WJZ], Todd McDermott [WUSA]
Best TV Weather: Doug Hill [WJLA]
Worst TV Weather: WJZ/13
Best TV Sports: Frank Herzog [Formerly of WUSA and WJFK, now on WTOP, WTEM]
Worst TV Sports: Levan Reid [WUSA], George Michael [WRC],
Best Management: NONE
Worst Management: WQSR, WLIF, WWMX, WXYV, WJFK-AM [Dave LaBrozzi, Rob Phillips] and WJFK-FM [Alan Leinwand (Good Riddance)], WUSA [Gannett]
Best Washington News Station: WJLA
Worst Washington News Station: WUSA
Best Baltimore News Station: WBAL
Worst Baltimore News Station: WJZ
Best Media Moves: WJLA moving Alison Starling and Doug McElway to mornings, WQSR hiring Brian and O’Brien, WJLA signing Gordon Peterson
Worst Media Moves: WUSA and WJFK-FM firing Frank Herzog, WQSR firing Brian and O’Brien, WUSA cleaning house, WWRC flipping to Air America
Best Morning Show: Rouse and Company [WQSR]
Worst Morning Show [other than Murphy and Cash], Howard Stern [WXYV/WJFK-FM]
Best News Industry Website: [in a landslide] dcrtv.com
Best in Washington TV: Medical Reporter Kathy Fowler. She gives all of us great info to keep us healthy. Obviously Maureen and Gordon -- back together again!!
Worst in Washington: Allison Starling --
With way too much time on my hands AND 12 HOURS TO THE END OF 2004 , I have gone through the best and worst lists and have come up with the following:
BEST: WJLA News or WJLA hiring Gordon, Maureen and Doug, 47 votes...WTOP, 40 votes 10-20 VOTES: Ron and Fez, Tony Kornheiser, Don and Mike, XM Radio, WRC News, Lopez 5-9 VOTES: DCRTV, George Michael, Johnny Holiday, WGMS, Ed Walker, Jim Vance
WORST: WUSA News 27 votes, Frank Herzog's firing or Larry Michaels' inept work 20 votes. 10-20 VOTES: WMAL, FCC, Clear Channel, WBIG, WARW, 5-9 VOTES: Howard Stern, WASH, WETA-WAMU Duplicating, WJFK, WHFS, Fox-5 News, Andy Pollin
BOTH BEST AND WORST: Lisa Baden...6 Best...5 Worst
Best: Obviously the decision to hire Gordon over at 7 and the efforts of those folks in management to see the opportunity presented to them.
Worst: What was the management team at Gannett thinking???? Painfully blatant was the lack of any thought in those decisions…Tracey was a coup, but after that…Toad McDermott??? Get real…this guy is worse than awful….must take make up hours to get him ready…plastic hair and all. He simply redefines awful. I live in one of the smallest TV Markets in the USA and the on camera staff at the local channel is better than what 9 is using. Brett Haber??? He couldn’t make it on ESPN, Channel 5, and apparently not even on radio…..I have an idea….maybe Channel should hire him…any more castoffs and failures out there….hope spring eternal as long as Gannett is running things…. As for Frank Herzog…the BEST, Yes THE BEST Sportscaster in the whole market…dumped by and for Larry “The Hack” Michaels, who obviously has no clue…I could go on…but it has already been said and fallen on deaf ears….only one more thing…Remember those promos on 9 touting all the news experience of their broadcast team…Why don’t they run them any longer???
Chip, Harrisonburg, VA
Best: WTOP's afternoon crew- Diane, Shawn, Frank Hanrahan on sports and Bob Marbury on traffic - just great; WTEM; Doug Hill weather; Johnny Holiday; Tom Sherwood; Sonny & Sam.
Worst: the always pompous and self-righteous Jack Diamond and the rest of the 107.3 morning show - they jumped the shark long ago; WMAL; Everyone on WUSA - please pull the plug; Comcast SportsNite; Jim Hunter & Fred Manfra; Wally Bruckner; Doc Walker and his manhood; Tim Brandt; Larry Michael.
BEST: Cool music on WTMD...the Jocks could use some help.WZBA actually sounds like a real radio station..Chris Emery & Colleen mix well and are entertaining W/O dick jokes..Miles & Thrill mix well W/ dick jokes on 105.
WORST: The non-stop bashing of WARW & Schelby's weight. Leave em' alone for another 6 months or a year. Chip Franklin's Friday "Let's all pat each other on the back" Fascist fest.That weekly group grope misses Lopez more than Kirk & Mark. Every second that Jim Hunter spends on an Orioles' broadcast, continues to magnify the stupidity & arrogance Of Peter Angelos.
Best: Lisa Baden and Bill for WTOP traffic (Great Team and coverage), Loo and Laurie (solid morning team on WASH), Mark, Art, and Allie on WARW (too bad they are gone), Fox 5 Morning team (the only all DC morning show), Donnie Simpson.
Worst: Bob Marbourg (Sounds like Sqiudward fom SpongeBob), the new morning show on WARW, Stevens and Medley (painfully bad, where did the music go?), WMET.
best---david burd, phil wood, ron and fez, dave johnson,am coast to coast, WTOP, ed walker, dallas burnett and the big G on WEBR - FAIRFAX PUBLIC ACCESS
worst---WTEM, howard stern, O & A, WMAL,and WTNT
regards, king richard
Hi Dave! Thanks for maintaining such a great site.
BEST - Ron and Fez, the first and last hour of Don & Mike, Sports Junkies, WINC (great reception throughout northern Virginia), WTOP, Lisa Baden, WAMU Saturday (NPR) and Sunday (Stained Glass Bluegrass) mornings. XM Radio - including Channel 83 during the Christmas season and OpieAnthony on 202. Internet related radio: Live365, Foundry Music (supports O&A), WAMU show archives (only way I can listen to the Computer Guys, Diane and Kojo).
WORST - Channel 9 and WMAL. Redskins Radio firing Frank Herzog. NPR firing Bob Edwards. Stern's long goodbye to terrestrial radio. WHFS radio reception in western Fairfax County (cannot hear the Junkies.)
Mike, Merrfield VA
Best:Gordon Peterson gettting back some respect on Channel 7..and Zxulu on urban WKYS 93.9...I spend time in VA and DC and hearing Zxulu reminded me how sorely VA misses him on 6-10 on 106.5...Jon Stewart for making "Bowtie Bob" look like the true "postier" he is
Worst:the Fairfax Public Library station...and to agree with a comment from Mike the overblown Howard Dean scream...he was just hyped and put an exclamation point on it and everyone overtook for him being crazy...NO...Debroah Norville tonight..(I rather sit on hot coals with Britney Spears singing and Star Jones naked in front of me...really I would)
-Rail
Best: Ron and Fez... channel 7 nabbing Gordo... Joe Angel back in Baltimore... WTOP period... Tony K back on the radio!... WGMD on the eastern shore... Meet the Press and Inside Washington... Jon Stewart... Elliott in the Morning.... DC 101 playing some of the 80's rock and metal... 98 Rock is still number one though.
Worst: Jim Hunter in Baltimore... Channel 9, please just turn off the lights! Channel 7's treating of their employees... Tim Brandt over Rene Knott??!!?!! The Post never mentioning local radio or tv unless it's ground breaking and earth shattering. Michael "Douchebag" Savage.
The worst radio station of the year has to be WMET-AM, although through no fault of the local talent running the place. Blame corporate for dragging its feet on the construction and signal upgrade, the buildout of expensive new studios that do little more than relay network programming, and the mangled mismanagement that brought in a full staff then threw them out within weeks. Blame the technical overseers that did not anticipate RFI problems into telephones and other consumer audio equipment, and created a nighttime pattern that still allows a Jersey AM to crash in. Blame the programming and marketing Einsteins that bought the big buscards and TV spots, then gutted the programming lineup by adding - then dumping - Geoff Metcalf (who is filling in on WMAL right now), and breaking up the day with Heloise and her vinegar bottle. These clowns finally realized they have no business being in radio and sold off the entire network. If the local managers have any say in how things are done, WMET may actually have a shot at being a decent AM operation. But as long as out-of-market 'experts' are calling the shots, WMET may as well have stayed a local Gaithersburg stick. Runner-up: 700-AM WDGMOVP, just because.
Best radio promotion: WMAL's Fisher House campaign. What better way to raise awareness for a little-known group that does SO MUCH GOOD for real human beings whose loved-ones have already given so much for our country (read: their arms and legs). And to raise more than $1.5 million from its listeners, in a matter of weeks?? It's just one example of how WMAL continues to care about its community and its audience, and how much that station -- and its ratings -- have improved over the past year. Whether or not YOU agree with the station's politics, many people do... and they keep growing in numbers. Go Randall and Chris.
Worst radio promotion: WTOP's online auction. Hahahaha. Didn't they pimp out their news department for that one?? Puke.
Best Wish for 2005: WRNR moves to KFSI's Crofton MD 107.9 FM and WTOP can then move to WRNR's Gransville MD 103.1 FM so we can finally get Triple A in DC!!! Also, the Nationals get to be broadcast in FM Stereo on WJFK as they rock RFK.
Worse: Isn't WWRC (WWDC) suppose to be at 5,000 watts, 24 hours a day, on its 1260 AM frequency???? I can't picked it up Wizards games in Vienna VA!!! Hey, I remember the old Capital Bullets, and even the Senators were once on that station (the old WWDC) and we could hear something beyond static breaking through a distant Radio Disney station in Virginia. The Wizard affiliate WAGE (1200 AM) in Leesburg does not cover Fairfax County.
-David
Best: (1) WTEM's Sports Reporters. (2) Tony back on the air. (3) WTEM hiring back the classy and insightful Frank Herzog. (4) WTOP's underappreciated sportscaster Frank Hanrahan. How about letting him do some Wizards play-by-play?
Worst: (1) Larry Michaels and his awful play by play calls. Can he fire himself? (2) WRC-TV morning show…Barbara Harrison give me a break!! (3) WTEM for continuing to put the Wizards on 1260 so that you can't hear them anywhere in DC. (4) Sage Steele on Comcast
Happy New Year...
Best: WMAL, for offsetting the onslaught of slanted, biased mainstream media coverage during the election campaign. Surely conservative radio stations should be named the "Station of the Year" in their respective markets for keeping hope alive during a difficult campaign and reminding the country of why George W. Bush needed to be re-elected. The people heard and they responded, showing the awesome continuing power of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Will Dave have the guts to name WMAL the Station of the Year because of its influence, even though he despises the station? We shall see...
Worst: WPFW. For the past three years I've singled out WPFW on this list as the Best station in town, because it's independent and dares to play great jazz. But this year the station doubled the length of its "Democracy Now" drive-time broadcasts and became part of the shameful anyone-but-Bush media assault. I've always known of and have respected Pacifica's true political colors, but I didn't mind because I admired their different voice, even when I disagreed with it. But this year, by displacing its greatest asset -- jazz music -- in favor of a jihad against Republicans, I name WPFW as the Worst station of 2004.
Christian
Best: Radio WTOP. TV News Channel 7. Moss, Day, Hill, Baden, Gordo, Leon, Alison. DCRTV. Wtopnews.com.
Worst: WBIG and Channel 9 both decided to commit suicide in 2004. WAMU and WETA show they don't give a damn about serving the public by duplicating the same NPR programming. Think of the musical and cultural diversity of programming we could have if they actually CARED about the public.
Pros we miss.... Jammin 99.5..with Bruce and Boogie Man.....WGAY.....Bob Mokes.....Mark O"Brien...... Soft Rock.....Baker and Burd.....Glen Brenner.....Alexandra Steel......Randi Martin.....Olivia Fox.....Sexy Lexy...Goldy....Grease.....
Happy New Year to All!!!. PD
BEST MORNING SHOW : DONNIE SIMPSON- AFTER ALL THESE YEARS SIMPLY THE BEST... BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER ON A MORNING SHOW: HUGGY LOW DOWN- JUST THE FUNNIEST THERE IS... BEST RADIO STATION- WPFW- YES IT IS VERY AMEAUTUR , HOWEVER THAT IS WHAT MAKES ITS GREAT, JUST A BUNCH OF VOLUNTEERS PUTTING IN THEIR OWN TIME TO MAKE THE STATION WORK AND TO SERVICE THE COMMUNITY. THEY DO MORE FOR THE COMMUNITY IN THE AREA OF AWARENESS AND LOCAL ISSUES THAN ANY STATION... BEST ANCHOR TEAM= GORDON AND MAUREEN- ITS AS IF THEY WERE NEVER APART... BEST SPORTS TALK SHOW HOST- TONY KORNHEISER...
WORSE RADIO STATION- WMAL WHO SLANTS ONLY ONE WAY- TO THE RIGHT... WORSE SPORTS TALK SHOW HOST- ANDY POLLEN AND STEVE CZABIN- SOMETIMES BORDERS ON RACIST AND SEXIST COMMENTS IN A ATTEMPT TO BE FUNNY... WORSE ANCHOR- THE NEW GUY AT CHANNEL NINE TODDY WHATEVER- LOOKS LIKE A CARDBOARD CUTOUT...
JULIAN, WASHINGTON DC
Best Improved TV News: WJLA. When I turn them on at 6pm, it's deja vu. Seeing Gordo, Maureen and Doug together, I think I'm watching WUSA again! Still the Best TV News: WRC. Their decades-old philosophy of keeping the old hands on deck is still paying off. Best TV News Decision: WJLA. Hiring Gordon Peterson. Best TV Sportscaster: George Michael. Come on! You don't have to like the guy to enjoy watching his sportscast! Best TV Weathercaster: Tom Keirein, WRC. Check him. He's consistently the most accurate forecaster in town.
Worst TV News Decision: WUSA. Demoting Gordon Peterson, allowing him to go across the street. Worst Stupidity: A tie... NPR for demoting Bob Edwards and Bill Kamal for trying to meet an underage kid for sex. What was he thinking? Worst TV News: WUSA. Do I need to explain?! Is anybody left over there? Oh yeah, Topper. Hmm.
BEST: 98 Rock’s Kirk, Mark and Lopez, especially Lopez for the past 25 plus years. 98 Rock deserves some kudos for their programming as well. Baltimore Radio beats DC hands down!
Worst: Don and Mike. Hey If I wanted to be political all the time, I would listen to NPR (which I do for news in the Afternoon). D&M stop whining and get back to basics.
Radio
Worst: WBIG management, for firing the station's most talented and *personable* on-air hosts -- Goldy, Kathy Whiteside and Johnny Dark. Oddly, the three people who most excelled at reaching listeners on a "one-to-one" basis all got canned. For shame.
Best: Hagerstown's WARX-FM, for continuing to show how an oldies station can be programmed to sound great (lots of variety, not the same small repertoire of burned-out tunes), plus we get to hear legendary boss jock Jim Nettleton 6 days a week! The station's hard to receive well here in Fairfax, but it's well worth the effort.
- EMR
Best anchor team: Wendy Rieger (or should I say Riegrrrrrr), and Susan Kidd. Rock on, ladies! Best DC area tv and radio website: this one! Best radio duo: Ron and Fez.
Worst weathermen to look at and listen to: Bob Ryan and the dreaded Topper Shutt (channel nine guts everything but keeps HIM? oy!). Worst proportion of commercials to show: Coast to Coast AM. Worst weekend news coverage: WTOP radio for recycling things from the prior week. Worst WTOP radio traffic reporter: Bob Marburg, for wasting far too much time on blah blah blah instead of cramming in LOTS of info on LOTS of roads. Boo!
Here's to a happier new year for us all.
Best: XM Radio/Bruce Kelly. WJLA morning newscasts. I love Doug and Alison together in the a.m. Fox News Channel. I am glad to have a news outlet that has the same viewpoints as myself. Joe Gibbs, I am glad he is back in DC. Good Morning America.
Worst: Elliot in the morning. Robert Workman traffic reports. NBC4 morning reports and the Today show. Desperate Housewives hype. Comcast cable and the raising of their rates. Stephen Tshicha, he wears too much makeup. I can't look at him in the a.m. He grosses me out.
Best: KML, but especially Lopez; XM Radio.
Worst: Z104's sucky morning DJs of the past year.
BEST: #1- Ron & Fez (the only original show on the radio) #2 Don & Mike (without Rob they would have burned out by now) #3 XM Radio (the only way to fill the hours without R&F and D&M, and it's the only way to listen to music on the radio. It's the ONLY place you'll hear Ian Hunter on the radio) #4: Monsters in the Morning / XM channel 152 (So bad it's good. I think this is syndicated around Florida, it's Red State Radio for people who think Rush uses big words.)
Worst: #1 Steve Czaban and all the other "soccer is not a sport" losers on WTEM. (Except TK, he likes the World Cup) #2 O&A on XM, caught the free listen on XM - they were awful on WJFK, and they've taken awful to a new level on XM. I wouldn't pay an extra penny to hear them. Why would I? I can get the "Monsters in the Morning" out of Florida on XM 152 with my regular subscription. #3 Fox News Channel - I have blocked it on all my Direct TV recievers.
Hi Dave and happy new year:
BEST: Jim Hunter, Fred Manfra & Frank Herzog
WORST: Joe Angel, Larry Michaels & the name 'Nationals'
-Nick from Rockville and Boston
The Best… ...XM and Sirius..the Mike Wallace Inyurface award for exposing the stick that's up corporate radio's butt while showing them the well deserved door.... ...Live 365...Internet radio....do it yourself programming that runs the gamut from s**t to shining..just the way real radio is supposed to... …Steve West...the best kept secret in morning radio....Eagle 97.7 on the Eastern..... ..Tom Schultz...the best kept secret in Saturday night radio...Eagle 97.7 on the Eastern… ..Scott Edward Phelps...the best kept secret in oldies radio...Cool 101.3 on the Eastern… ...Alex at WRNR Annapolis...a platinum neck brace for holding his head up high while they call his morning show "Planet Alex" ("....far OUT!..."-John Denver 1967) ...Pat Sajak...for proving that stations with no particular format (WNAV, for example) can be just as lucrative a tax write off as your more conventionally formatted stations.... ...Michael Popovec at ESRTV...the Dubya award for good naturedly sticking to his guns no matter how wrong he is.... ...Bucky Murphy, late of WYRE, pre Hispanic.......the best kept secret in doo wop and fifties radio...and the fact that he's not says everything that need be said about contemporary commercial radio... ..and the lion's share of the on-air radio folks in the broadcast areas...the George Steinbrenner/Billy Martin award for being hired/fired/hired/fired/hired/fired in the kind of loop that makes the movie Groundhog Day look like bargain basement Rod Serling.... ...Dave and the whole DCRTV family...for pulling off the new ultimate oxymoron: intelligent blogging…
And The Rest… ...Howard Stern...the Madonna award for making the mega millions most of an average talent... ...George Bush...the PT Barnum Award for proving that you CAN fool all of the people (or at least an Electoral College majority of them) all of the time... ..Murph, Miki and Cowboy on The Beach...the "Not Just for Breakfast Anymore" award for proving that a lot of stoners actually get up in the morning and listen to the radio like the rest of us.... ...Michael Powell...the Frank SInatra Jr award for keeping in touch with his inner child by guiltlessly accepting a piggy back ride from daddy.... ..Clear Channel and Infinity...the C Chord F Chord G Chord award for playing the same song, literally AND professionally, over and over and over and over and over and....... ..Mitch Scott of the Great Scott Scotts...the Paris Hilton award for not worrying about things like class or style while having the most unembarrassed fun spending the family's money... ..MTS Broadcasting...The "Green" award for pitching in to the environmental effort by recycling the same worn out on-air presentations week in and week out... ..WTDK The Duck, in particular...the She's My Sister/She's My Daughter award for the mixed message of wonderful song selection combined with the aforementioned same worn out on-air yada yada.... ...WRNR 103.1 in Annapolis...the Hip to Be Square Award for cleverly disguising their increasingly unfocused presentation as "alternative" radio....
...happy holidays everyone...and, tongue in cheek notwithstanding, best wishes for a safe and healthy new year.......
Best TV news anchor: Jim Vance (Channel 4). Best reunion: veteran anchor Gordon Peterson joining former WUSA colleagues Maureen Bunyan, Mike Buchanan and Doug Hill on Channel 7. Best political roundtable show: Inside Washington (now on 7). Best weathercaster: Sue Palka (5). “It’s About Time!” Award: national debut of Air America (soon to be heard locally on AM-1260). Best election analysis: Tim Russert on NBC TV. Best music programming: XM Radio (to be fair, I haven‘t yet heard Sirius). Best sports anchor: Dave Feldman (5). Best sports radio programming moves: WTEM extending Mark Sterne’s weekly baseball show beyond the season; Frank Herzog added to that station’s Redskins coverage; Ken Mease joining WJFK-FM‘s Skins postgame show. Best new ‘sports’ radio show: Tony Kornheiser on WTEM. Most incisive Redskins commentary: Steve Czaban on Comcast and WTEM. Promising newcomers to local TV sportscasting: Nicole Zaloumis (4), Kelly Johnson (Comcast). Best idea since sliced bread: XM’s plans to make all major league baseball radio broadcasts available to subscribers in 2005. Happy trails: Tom Brokaw, Rene Knott.
Overblown political stories: Howard Dean’s ‘scream’, Swift Boat vets’ charges against Kerry regarding his Vietnam service (largely discredited). Most asinine radio commentary: Rush Limbaugh comparing the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib to frat house pranks; honorable mention: WMAL’s Michael Graham ripping NBC’s Today Show for its choice of best Christmas songs. Most annoying political radio host: Laura Ingraham (WTNT). Overblown sports stories: Monday Night Football’s opening skit promoting ‘Desperate Housewives’, Redskins playoff talk (when the team was 4-8). Underplayed sports stories: return of baseball to DC (the local media still doesn’t seem to grasp how enormous this is), NHL lockout (sick and tired of hearing Andy Pollin and others say that nobody in Washington cares about hockey). Bad programming moves: NPR letting go of Bob Edwards (now heard on XM-133), WMAL canceling Sam Donaldson’s show, Wizards’ games going from AM-980 to 1260. Janet Jackson ‘This Has Got To Stop‘ Award: Bram Weinstein, for doing racy material on a Saturday morning sports radio show. Good Riddance: Colin Cowherd on WTEM.
Mike, Fairfax
Best: WTOP. They do a great job. And Bruce Alan does an especially great job with his Ask The Governor and Ask The Mayor shows. I have been in this business a long time and have seen some of the best in action and he is definitely one of the best. His shorter interviews during the news are also great. Same thing for Mike Moss and Richard Day in the morning.
Worst: Channel 9 news. What has it become? Also sports talk in Washington doesn't seem to be as good as it should be.
Best: Radio--WTOP overall during morning and evening drive times; Best local TV News--NBC 4 esp. at 6&11 with Vance/Gentzler; and AM with Krebs/Harrison (despite Barbs' occasional slip-ups. .I can overlook that in an early morning newscast--she makes up for it with her congeniality). Most underrated-- JC Hayward, Kathleen Matthews, Lark McCarthy, Bruce Johnson, Susan Kidd, Andrea Roane.. all are long-time competent and professional anchors who have been in this market a long time and have been overlooked during this year of hype!!. . . . Newcomers with great potential--Allison Starling, Shannon Bream, Eun Yang, Lesli Foster, Shawn Yancy, Adam Caskey(Newschannel 8)
Worst: Radio--Russ Parr morning show without Olivia Fox. The overrated return of Tracey Neal (she was better off at Fox 5), Todd McDermott, Darcy Spencer (I'm surprised she's lasted at NBC4 this long), Elliott Francis (I see why he was demoted to weekends), Brian Bolter.
Best Commentator: Cal Thomas on WTOP. He's intelligent, thought provoking, and has a great sense of humor. Pity he's only on twice a week.
Worst: WTOP's spotload! Ever notice the number of spots they carry for fertility clinics, male potency clinics or remedies, or female libido enhancers? If the Council of the Twelve Apostles were to hear that garbage, I bet it would all be gone at the end of the contracts! Almost as bad are those insipid car donation spots. Face it, WTOP is #1 in AM and PM drive. Why not cut the risk of tune out by carrying spots that match the quality of the work your broadcast journalism professionals turn out??? (Repeat after me: "Quality spots improve quarter-hour maintenance...") Clear Channel's Customer Service also merits a strong dishonorable mention! I was given a subscription to "Coast-to-Coast AM" for Christmas and can't get Windows Media Player 10 to launch like Real Player does. So, on 12/28, I e-mailed their support. I get an automatically generated e-mail on 12/29 telling me that their technical support is closed beginning 12/24 and won't re-open until 12/27! How clueless can you get? Who would be willing to bet I won't get an answer until 2/3/05... At the earliest??? Good customer service spoils you as it's so rarely found. In this case, I think it may be verging on non-existent!
BEST RADIO: Free digital HD radio broadcasting. It will soon make pay satellite radio obsolete. BEST TV: Tracy Neale is anchoring again. Doesn't make much difference where.
WORST RADIO: WTOP will never be good until it gets a direct competitor. Chris Berry's considerable all-news know-how is wasted as long as his WMAL remains an underachieving talk station. WORST TV: The conspicuous lack of news reporting on cable "news" channels, CNN, MSNBC and FNC.
Best TV News: Channel 4. Best up-and-coming TV news: Channel 7. Thank you for bringing Gordo and Maureen back together. They're all class and professionalism. Best Radio News: WTOP. Best new radio show: Tony K on WTEM. What's old is new again and terrific. Best move by a radio station: WTEM for cancelling Colin Cowherd. Best at landing on their feet: Ira Mehlman, Hillary Howard, Johnny Dark.
Worst: Execs who unceremoniously canned talent because they weren't smart enough to know what they had. Channel 9 for teaming up the 2004 version of Barbie and Ken. Tracey and Todd may be photogenic, but is that all there is? Colin Cowherd on WTEM as a replacement for Tony K. A third-rate, medium market talent. WTEM for running Best of Tony K during the week after Christmas. What, you don't have enough money to pay someone to do a TWO HOUR show? How cheap is that? Constant plugging of what's coming up on WTOP. I already know what's coming up by listening to the teases at the top and bottom of the hour. And just how many times in a half an hour do we have to hear that the station is standing by to go live to an event I don't care about? Note to Farley & company: cut the number of plugs in half, and the station might be able to do another story or two, or provide listeners with information they can actually use. Programming and pompous drive-time egos on all music stations. I no longer listen.
Justin in D.C.
Best: Weasel and his full-time gig on WARW. It's just too bad that he has to spin some of those awful, overplayed "classic hits"...but it sure is great to listen to him. Other bests: Vance/Gentzler/Ryan/Michael, Gordo and Maureen back together again, KML, Sarah Fleischer.
Worst: hands down, the WARW morning show. Simply terrible, not funny, total dreck.
Donna in Ashburn
Best: Channel 4 5AM news--starring the underrated anchor Joe Krebs, and, in spite of occasional teleprompter gaffes, Barbara Harrison. Best Sports Reporter: George Michael, hands down. Best Sports Announcer: Johnny Holliday. Best Weather: Surprise!! They all apparently subscribe to the Voter News Service, because none of them get it right when you NEED it. However, since weather (like tsunamis) can be unpredictable, they are ALL forgiven!) Best Chemistry between evening anchors: C'mon! Vance/Gentzler, who else could it be? Best Radio Station: A Tie! WMAL and WTOP for giving their target audience what they want. (Even if the Lib weenies think that being a Conservative = Bigot.) Best Traffic Reporter.....Ta Da!!! Jerry Edwards, always was, still is, and one of the nicest guys in "da biz". Best weekend AM news director: Naomi Staneski on WRC. Best Morning drive radio personality: Imus, but you have towatch him on MSNBC to really appreciate him I think.
Worst: The spoiled listeners and readers of this website who think that the sex, or race, or age etc. make a difference. NONE of ya could do the job that you lambast others for doing. And you do not quite get the concept that everything on commercial radio/TV is FREE to you, but the job of delivering the ad revenue to support the stations, and their talent is a fairly rare commodity that is appreciated. Its the PD's, and the Sales teams who are on the line daily (along with the talent of course). Don Geronimo was better at 15 years old than 99% of you whiners could be if u lived to be 1000. And although I don't listen to Stern anymore, he is still the best interviewer bar none. And they both paid MAJOR dues.They have earned their positions. If ya don't like 'em, "F" off!
Having said that, I am really glad I found this site, because Dave, Lib that he is, is at least honest about it, and rarely censors. Dave, you may take this as a back handed compliment, because of his politics, but you are to DC Radio and TV what Drudge is to web news in general. You have a great site. Thaks very much. Paul in Montgomery County
From Montgomery County
BEST-XM Radio...can't wait for the walkman! 980's new lineup...WTOP always does a great job...
Worst- ch 9 getting rid of hertzog and anyone else old. Comcast Sportsnet poor quality productions of live sports. Anyone seen YES or NESN...Alot to learn CSN...
From my perch in Edgewater MD:
Best: Sirius Satellite Radio for making me money in the market this year. I knew that it would take off! 103.1 WRNR for becoming my new favorite station and 106.3 "The Heat" from the E. Shore for becoming my wife's favorite (since she's now working in Easton). I say that because I can tolerate "The Heat" over her old fav station, Z104 - and I admit it... I actually like Paul Harvey too! Too bad that they don't have a better signal up towards Annapolis, but they do come in fine from Edgewater on down into Calvert. Kudos to ABC-7 for the improvements thanks to WUSA-9's stupidity. Of course props to WTOP, although I wish that I had an FM signal for them here. Jon Stewart for his "Crossfire" appearance. Normally he's a bit of a tool, but he was dead-on that day.
Not so good: WTOP's signal after dark just fades in and out on 1500AM. I hope that they do buy 107.9 here and put something of use on that signal. WBIS-AM for it's lack of signal and local programming. Sinclair and it's local affiliates FOX45 and WB54 for pushing ANY agenda (they went hard right with no objectivity) and for the horribly cheap look to their news and constant technical mistakes during "The Simpson's". Dan Rather for not knowing better and being lazy. Talk radio for molding uneducated minds to their viewpoint on both sides. 24 Hour Cable News Nets for pretending that entertainment and tabloid circus court trials are news - because there isn't enough actual news to fill 24 hours of TV. FOX and Bloomberg for having an agenda, and frauds like O'Reilly and Rush pretending to be what they are not. A big Brooklyn cheer to all news outlets for not asking any tough questions of either candidate this year and for rolling over under any pressure. The press can tick off the politicos because they will always come back. Politicos like the cabinet members are nothing but press whores and they need the press more than the press needs them. We used to know that when I worked in that biz, now the politicos have their way and the press is letting that happen. It makes me glad to be out of that business and in the stress-free world of stock trading (in comparison!).
Sorry for the rant! I wish a great '05 for all that are still in the biz and all readers of DCRTV. Scott
BEST: Ron and Fez for making every day feel like a party.
Worst: George BU$H & the FCC for resurgence of censorship and the excommunication of free speech.
BoboGolem, Baltimore
Best: WRNR-FM's much needed overhaul (DJs and production) and awesome 10th anniversary concert on West Street in Annapolis. 98Rock for just being what they are...year after year. WTOP and all of its reporters - as well as WFED for serving me, the gov't slackie. Ballard on DC101 for the drive home until WRNR comes in - then Rob Timm on WRNR for some dry wit and cool tunes.
Worst: My oncoming old age that makes me shake my fist at some of the music that is now on WHFS! The poor signals of both classic rock stations in the Annapolis area (WARW and WZBH). Also that "classic rock" now means hearing "More than a feeling" and 9 other tired songs every hour. The strong possibility of a foreign language format (Spanish) taking over a station that I listen to from time to time (while shaking my fist).
-Rich
Best: Can't truly think of nothing at all in the "best" category for this year. The media has become a morass of lowest-common-denominator crap.
Worst: WTOP's news teases - "someone important has died, here are a couple clues about who it is, we'll tell you who after 5 minutes of commercials." Their news comes in 5 second chunks, liberally interspersed with nonsense like "why reindeer paws click." In addition, their insistence on using sound effects in their reporting make me suddenly want to swerve my car out of the way of oncoming ambulances when none exist. WETA for the way they've thrown Mrs. Campbell's educational ideals out the window and filled the schedule with pseudo-science quackery and thinly veiled infomercials; not to mention the introduction of right-wing demagoguery programming. I thought public broadcasters were meant to serve UNSERVED audiences? Don't we have enough right wing crap on the air? The media in general for abandoning journalistic principal and allowing the government and administration to control the message and divert our attention.
Gene Cowan, www.genecowan.com
TV NEWS: I’m disgusted with an overall decline in good reporting, and an almost complete lack of accomplished storytelling and solid writing. I see too much emphasis on live reports—with wide-eyed youngsters who spout off energetically, but make little sense. My best and worst for reporting/writing/storytelling:
BEST: WJLA: Sam Ford, Hillary Howard, the late Dale Solly... WRC: Wendy Reiger, Julie Carey... WTTG: Bob Barnard, Malini Bawa... WMAR: Andy Barth...
WORST: Greatest lack of good storytellers at Fox5, where strangely manic live reports rule the day. The worst: Maureen Umeh, Jennifer Davis, Nancy Lee, Matt Ackland, Robby Chavez (like him live, but the packaged reports are indecipherable)... WRC: Darcy Spencer (sounds like a police blotter), Eun Yang (cute and energetic but incomprehensible)...
Best: John Riggins on WTEM, Dave Johnson on WTOP/Wizards Broadcasts/Comcast News and Soccer. Allison Starling anytime during the day. And the rock: Jim Vance.
Best: Best new station, Delmarva's Hit Music WDKZ 105.5 KISS-FM. Best Radio Show, Out to Lunch on Live 105.7. Best rumor, B104 coming back to Baltimore. Best Changes, Mix 106.5 adding more CHR music. Best hope for 2005, WTOP aquiring 107.9 in Annapolis.
Worst: Worst DJ, Jack Diamond. Worst signal, HOT 995's signal to the east. WJFK/Live 105 extremely long commercial breaks.
WORST: The number of commercials on WJFK-FM. Also Worst: When WTOP promotes traffic/weather on the 8's and then says the next traffic/weather will be at 10:58 when it's only 10:48. If you do a time check, make it the right time and not a promo for a future time.ALSO WORST: Stupid TV news stories such as a reporter telling us to drink lots of fluids when it's 105 degrees outside. If we're smart enough to use a remote control, we're smart enough to know this stuff.
BEST: CSPAN radio replaying the talk shows on Sunday.
BEST: On the desk: the new WJLA team. WTTG's new morning anchor Gurvir Dhindsa. On the beat: the stunning Sarah Lee, the reliable vet Mike Buchanan, Nancy Yamada, Holly Morris, Stacy Cohan, Eun Yang.
WORST: WUSA's boring AM news...amatuerish afternoon lineup and horrific late news. Pray you still get the great lead-in numbers from CBS in the new year WUSA. What a sad state that once great station is in right now. Howard Stern: Go to sat. radio already...stop the whining. Nobody feels sorry for a guy who dates a model, makes $20+ mil a year and is only looking out for #1.
Best anchor duo: Mckelway and Starling on Good Morning Washington. Good chemistry. Good vibes. If they stay put -- they could be the next dynasty in D.C. area tv.
Worst trend: No original thinkers in tv news. The people who run these places worship at the alter of badly flawed audience research. They're like a bunch of clueless lemmings, afraid to think for themselves.
Best: Best way to wake up in the morning: NewsChannel 8 traffic and weather and news. Its quick and informative. Never more than 5 minutes passes without a weather/traffic update. Listening to Kirk, Mark, and Lopez on WIYY-98 Rock. Still the best "DC" rock station. Channel 7 WJLA, bar none. Kathleen Matthews, Doug Hill, Maureen Bunyan, Leon Harris, Joe Witte!!! Entertainment Forecast on NC 8. And for sports announcer, give me Nicole Zaloumis anyday. Just wish they wouldn't put so much product in her hair. Local licks on DC101. Flounders Mash-Ups on saturday night on DC101.
Worst: The guy on WJLA that does the sentimental reports. He is gray haired with glasses and seems to be about 3 sheets to the wind. Sorry, I couldn't find his name listed on wjla's website.
BEST SYNERGY: Wouldn't it be cool if you took the thermonuclear power of the WTOP team and smashed more of its atoms with those at the advanced Nuclear News Department at WJLA? What a power combo of professionals. The seasoning (Experience etc) of the two would be somethin' else. Who would've thunk it. After all the years of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory Channel 7 is actually a contender with one helluva a bench.(Didn't Brando want to be a "Contender" ? ) So.. why not put together some sort of bigger "sharing" arrangement and use the mega strength of WTOP and WJLA?? WOWSER! A Farley-Lord deal would certainly seem doable.
Best TV: Alison Seymour on Fox 5 and Alison Starling on 7- 2 good reasons to wake up in the morning. Newschannel 8's 4 PM News/Talk show. Gordon Peterson, Mike Buchanan AND Hillary Howard jumping to 7. 2 Simpsons episodes at 6. Jim, Doreen, Bob and George- Still the ONLY game in town. And God forgive me- I dig Holly Morris and Guvir! Best Radio: Saturday R&B, Blues and early Sunday morning Bluegrass on WAMU [or is it ETA]. Stern's rants against the FCC and G.W. Done and Mike dropping the ''blue'' material because of the decency nutcases. Bill O'Reilly for being exposed for the hypocrite and phony he is. Diane Stupar from Elliot- Sexy, funny, smart.
Worst TV: Babs Harrison- Go mumble and stutter to Wednesday Children. Jan Fox on 9- Another stutterer and what the hell is that on your head? The inane, moronic, brain dead local daytime programming on 5, 20 and 50. The overhype of the Second Coming of Princess Tracey. Worst Radio: Howard Stern's constant whining. Elliot- A Stern clone without the talent. 94.7- You mean to tell me you morons can't figure out why your station sucks? WHFS and DC 101- Same 20 songs every 3 hours. And what exactly IS ''Tim Brandt Style''? Is it anything like Anal Ring Toss?
Paul
best! whur and their ulta clean audio,sirius for their clean "processing" and wtop for being the best at what they do!
worst: xm and their hidious audio quality and their lack of levels and processing and yes the streams sound really shi**y all of a sudden and also the worst v/o in the entire dc area goes to the biggest puker of em all dr dave ferguson.what a set of "neck" nuts
Best: XM radio. Looked at Sirius, was not impressed with the line up.
Worst: Regular radio, period. Tried listening to regular radio since getting XM and I can not stand it. Even radio stations that I used to like, even they are horrible. It is worth the money to buy it and the $9.99 a month.
Best: Terry Gross -- day in day and day out, why I still listen to NPR, even after they hosed Bob Edwards*. Elliot's Diane -- one of the smartest women on radio.
Worst: The radio execs who do not give their audience credit for some level of intelligence and hire low-rate, no-talent idiots. In some cases replacing people who actually have a rapport with their audiences. Z104 -- Firing Erin Dawson. She and Erica Hillary could have easily carried a morning show. Matthew Blades is god-awful. *NPR hosing Bob Edwards -- I miss Bob and can no longer listen to Morning Edition, it sucks. (Rene Montagne and Steve Inskeep are both fine reporters, who unfortunately have to follow in the footsteps of a giant.) Stephens & Medley -- what the hell is that crap? Prime example of item #1.
Here's to a better 2005 (and that XM subscription). LO in Fairfax
Best: WJLA for realizing the importance of experience and knowledge of the DC area. A "pretty young face" should not be the only priority when hiring anchors. WTOP-many good decisions made by a strong management team. Newschannel 8-DC has become a 24 hour town. Local news becomes National news in our area. Ron SMith/WBAL- I'm a liberal but still appreciate his intelligence and wisdom.
Worst: (geez, where do you start...) WMAL-You can just tell that the people on the air hate their jobs/management, etc. WBIG- What a concept...get rid of the only airstaff in town that truly liked each other despite the CC problems. Mix- Jack and the rest of the airstaff continue to be stale and boring. There is NO reason to listen to this station. WASH- Loo and Lauri are bad but Maureen McClean is as bad as it gets. Please God, find a woman (and there are many) that doesn't sound fake, insincere and just plain horrible. The only good people on WASH are Bill Worthington and Glenn Hollis. DC101, WARW, WMZQ-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Happy holidays despite all the bad radio and TV!
Best- despite Janet Jackson's nipple creating an epic scenario that was never epic and the FCC's best attempts to curtail radio, most local radio is able to stay decent. Don and Mike, Sports Junkies, Ron and Fez all deliver a product that is far superior than paying for Satellite Radio. Channel 7 delivering in picking up the real journalists.
Worst - WJFK weekends, Channel 9 going for a younger image and failing, DC101 (from Elliot to their retarded playlist)
Best Overall: WTOP/WGMS Best Music: WGMS Best Smarts: Channel 7 for resurrecting a true and quality news-team.
Worst Overall: WMAL - doesn't even rate a shadow of what it was in the 1970's - early 1980's. Worst Music: WASH - just another "here's the same playlist CC is using on all their stations" blob. No Smarts: Channel 9 for dumping above-mentioned news-team.
Best: Laura Ingraham, Michael Graham broadcasting from Walter Reed Hospital with the troops (he does have a heart sometimes), Discovery Times Channel (great up-to-date documentaries), Comcast SportsNet's Redskins post-game show, History Channel International Channel's military programming on the weekends, Dennis Miller's CNBC show, Pat Buchanan subbing on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country", Ron Insana on WTNT.
Worst: WARW post-Mark Kessler, no good talk radio on the weekends, WJFK's very thin programming lineup, too many money, computer, and auto shows on the weekends.
Best: XM Radio
Worst: WJFK's 15 minute breaks
Charlie / Springfield
Best: Old standbys like Gordon Peterson, Jim Vance, and Maureen Bunyan showing everybody how it should be done...Ed Walker's old time radio show on Sunday nights...the Car Guys...WAMU, WETA-FM, WINC-FM, WAFY...Doug Hill's weather reports and Bob Marbourg's traffic reports on WTOP...my Dad on NPR (an obvious bias here)...the return of Tony Kornheiser to WTEM...DirecTV for providing me four years of excellent service and channel selection for a decent price...XM radio for their service, incredible music selection, the hiring of Bob Edwards, and for it's plan to broadcast every Major League Baseball game next season, which will include the Washington Nationals (to me another best of 2004, that being the return of baseball to the area after 33 years)...this web page, which provides a wealth of information about the industry.
Worst: The way in which Frank Herzog was tossed aside by WJFK and WUSA in favor of two mediocre-at-best hacks...for that matter the general housecleaning that went on at Channel 9. There's a reason why I don't watch that station anymore...the departure of Bob Edwards from NPR...lest we forget, the management of Clear Channel for the housecleaning at Oldies 100 (we seem to have a common pattern here regarding management decisions)...WTOP's weak 104.3 signal to Ashburn...WTEM's nighttime signal to the western suburbs...moving the play-by-play of Bullet, er, Wizards games to AM-1260, effectively shutting out any pro hoops fans living west of Route 123 in Virginia...exploitative reality television, especially the junk on Fox.
To everybody, best wishes for a Happy, Rewarding, and Safe New Year! Sincerely, Joe Kasell
BEST: WTOP, WBIG, WGMS, WRC, Jim Farley, Al Santos, George Michael, Ed Walker, Johnny Holliday, Johnny Dark, Tom Kelly, Dave Adler, Scooter Magruder, Steve Ray, Bonnie Phillips, Dennis Owens, Jim London, Eddie Gallaher, Bob Duckman, WGMS Holiday Music, Dude Walker, Mac McGarry, Willard Scott, Tom Brokaw, Ann Curry, Ira Mellman, Sam Litzinger, Jim Bohannon, Dale Soley, Doug Hill, Gordon Peterson, Jim Vance, Wendy Reiger, Greaseman.
WORST: WARX, WJFK, WARW, Hot 99.5, WPFW, WCSP, Barbara Harrison, Lisa Baden, Elliot, Billy Bush, Bennett Zier, Steve Allen, Catherine Malloy, Jack Diamond, Loo Katz, Charley Donovan, P. Kenny Burns, Don Imus, Opie & Anthony, Albie Dee, Art Bell, Bob Appel, Randy Martin, Randi Thomas, WASH Christmas Music, Pat Goss, Don & Mike, Larry Michaels, John Thompson, Tim Russert, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, Holly Morris, Susan Kidd, Topper Shutt, Bob Ryan, Clay Anderson, Howard Stern.
Shit. I think I e-mailed my 2001 Best/Worst List!
Best: Jason Kidd's return to Baltimore radio. Putting a bit more "mix" on MIX1065. Scott Davies return to radio, Johnny Dark, and Kathy Whiteside returning to the Baltimore airwaves. Channel 11's news, especially the morning news. Although the newscasts are serious, there is some personality and humor, it's just enough to keep the news reporting professional and dignified.
Worst: The following radio station websites: MIX1065; Doesn't have updated staff. On their webcam, it says "Stay tuned for a new MIX 106.5 website to debut soon at this address." That message has been there for the past 1 1/2 months. Big 100; No staff updates, the Big 5 at 10 hasn't been updated since the September 30, 2004 countdown; the forgotten 45's isn't updated every week. The cutbacks at the above stations are showing. Channel 13's morning news; Too much clowning around, and Marty Bass' constant interruption of Don Scott.
Ed Jones, Bel Air MD
BEST: Local Radio... Diana Hollander (WGMS), Loo Katz (WASH), Amy Paige (while flying solo WRQX), Tom Kelly (WBIG) Rouse and Company (WQSR) Sean Hall (WQSR) Julian (HOT 995) Ron And Fez (WJFK)... Local TV News: Still Channel 4. Love the chemistry of Jim and Doreen. But Leon Harris is solid and is surrounded by some well known proven performers. I think WJLA will see some real progress in the months to come. Best weather: Sue Palka at WTTG.
No WORST ... just don't want be negative.
BEST: WTOP Radio (a station that deserves its #1 ratings, and that also deserves one big FM signal for the whole area, like 94.7, or 105.1, or 107.3); Jim Farley; Lisa Baden (the best traffic reporter in town, and one of the nicest people on the radio, unlike a lot of the ego-hounds on many stations) and Bob Marbourg; WRC-TV's news operation, especially Wendy Rieger, Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler; XM Satellite Radio (most channels, except for the one that carries O&A); WJLA-TV (the most improved news operation in town; they need to spend a little more for some of the kind of reporting talent that's over at WRC, to back up the really good anchors they finally have); on cable, HGTV, CNN, MSNBC, The Food Channel (especially Rachael Ray and Emeril); Renee Cheney at WGMS.
WORST: WMAL Radio (worthless fascist-hate-rant programming; nearly zero-committment to the local community; disappointingly second-rate news department; most of the people in the station's management); most commercial "music" stations in D.C.; any Clear Channel AM station in D.C. (all you have to do is listen to understand this, assuming you can pick up their technically deficient signals); the people who rant on endlessly against WTOP on this board; personal and libelous attacks on radio and TV talent on this board, and the fact that Dave condones those attacks; the "research" people whose "findings" are used by "management" at the conglomerates who own much of commercial radio these days to justify gutting a once decent, and profitable industry; WJFK-FM for unceremonously replacing the great Frank Herzog with second-rate talent on Redskins broadcasts (I hope JFK doesn't get the Nationals play-by-play so I can continue to boycott this Infinity station); Maryland Governor Ehrlich for his order barring state employees from talking to two reporters from the Baltimore Sun (what a thin-skinned idiot); anyone who says people don't want to hear news on the radio.
BEST: RADIO SHOW = The Junkies, who continue to be funny & slightly edgy, despite Infinity's crackdown; PERSONALITY = Laura Ingraham, who doesn't mind insulting newsmakers (and her producer with the well-timed soundboard drop-ins); NEWS STATION = WTOP's news, even if it's rehashed info from this morning's Washington Post; SPORT REPORTER = George Michael's sports, still the best in Washington after all these years (and the only one who has the balls to cover Terrier races); TRAFFIC REPORTER = Dan Alpher traffic on WMAL afternoons, despite only having what appears to be 10 seconds to actually talk about traffic during the afternoon rush hour, during commercial breaks for Hannity.
WORST: RADIO SHOW = Don & Mike, who (after listening to them religeously since the 80's) have decided to just "phone it in", literally -- turning their 4 hour-a-day show into a 4-hour interview show of the latest reality show loser or the same interview everyday with someone from Access Hollywood (way to just give up in the wake of the FCC crack-down, guys -- take a lesson from The Junkies on how to stay funny without farting & overt sex talk); TRAFFIC REPORTER = HANDS-DOWN WINNER: LISA BADEN for continuing to be the WORST traffic reporter in Washington -- she may have the voice & the information, but songs & contrite words kill me -- CUH-LICK is the sound you hear in my car many-a-morning when she comes on; WORST STATION = Every "rock" or "alternative" station in town, who's cookie-cutter approach of playing the top 20 songs every 3 hours gets old, and drove me to XM; WORST STATION RUNNER-UP = WASH-FM for starting Christmas music a month & a half before Christmas and completely killing my holiday spirit by December 3rd; WORST PERSONALITY = Bill O'Reilly, the "worst man of all time..."; WORST METEOROLOGIST(S) = All of them, for not being able to predict snow or rain to save their lives; RADIO SIGNAL = WMAL for not being able to be heard west of Herndon after 5:30 p.m.
Best: Don & Mike; Howard Stern on 105.7; WWMX 106.5 Maria Dennis back to work. WMAR Channel 2's new reporter, Katrina Owens.
Worst: Blood bath at Infinity. Howard Stern on satellite radio.
Best: WTOP, Jim Vance, Allison Starling, Laura Ingraham, The Sports Reporters, Sonny & Sam, Pat Goss, HD
Worst: WMAL, Ben & Brian, WARW, WHFS (except Tim Virgin), DC101 (except Elliott and Sat nights), NBC4, WUSA, Larry Michaels
BEST:WTOP Yes music is a good thing. BUT being "informed" is better. And better still .... is being informed by people who have a high degree of personality that are not fake in any sense of the word. They have fun and it "looks".. ummm. .. make that "sounds" like they do. There's a certain twinkle, given stories where that is an appropriate way to be. The "twinkle goes away when things turn deadly serious in our world and that's the way it should be. Mark Twain wrote glowingly of people who like what they do. That "work" is really "play" if one likes it. He also said "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." WTOP is one astonishing group of people connecting the day to day "dots of life"
WORST: Ain't gonna do it this year. "Not Gonna Do It" "Not at this Juncture"
Best: WTOP, Lisa Baden, Bob Marbourg, Doug Hill, Richard Day & Mike Moss, Shawn Anderson & Diane Kepley, Ask The shows, Dave Johnson, the FCC, Michael Powell, Gordo moving to ABC7, Channel 7's Times-Square-style giant TV and news ticker in downtown Rosslyn, Laura Evans, Allison Starling, Suzanne Kennedy, Tracey Neale, Shawn Sellers, Tony Williams for bringing baseball back, Laura Ingraham.
Worst: WMAL and its hate-mongering talk shows, John Matthews and his childish rants in the Mailbag, Howard Stern and his childish whining, Mel Karmazin, Clear Channel, Linda Cropp almost killing baseball for her personal political gain, then trying to take credit for bringing it back, Don & Mike, who stopped being funny about 10 years ago, and now simply rely on re-tread or stolen material, WBIG's firing of the best music airstaff in Washington, Harvey "Jack Diamond" Fisher, O&A, Joel Hollander & Infinity, Barbara Harrison (how did she ever get a job in major-market television?), Bill Hess, Brett Haber (the most arrogant, pompous personality in Washington radio or television), AFTRA bennies getting worse but costing more, Lyin' Bob Ryan (worst weather forecaster in the market BY FAR), the nonsensical Ron & Fez, everything about WASH, EAS because everybody knows it doesn't work.
BEST: Best Local Radio Show - TIE - Tony K "Old Guy Radio" on WTEM & The Sports Reporters... Best new TV News Anchor - Allison Starling... Best Local 24 HR TV News station - NewsChannel 8 (Always there when you need it)... Best Local radio news source - WTOP (Always there when sitting in traffic)...
WORST: Worst Local TV Anchor person - Barbara Harrison on NBC4... Worst Local TV Newscast - TIE - 10PM on FOX 5 and any show on WUSA...
The Best: Without a doubt, WJLA-7. Their blitzkrieg of a year left 9-News crippled and recreated one of the best anchor desks in Washington TV history...Don & Mike, who turned the FCC's witch-hunt hysteria into a new and improved program that is better than ever...and Bill O'Reilly, Hannity, Rush, Ann Coulter, etc etc etc, for successfully selling the biggest scam in American history, the myth of a "Liberal Media Elite." They could sell refrigerators in Antarctica.
The Worst: The FCC, which used the War on Terrorism, a split second of a single semi-nude breast, and a mountain of irrational complaints from a handful of political activists as an excuse to impose an outdated, overly-rigid and completely nonsensical heap of sometimes contradictory 'standards' on American broadcasting, with virtually no upside in sight...Fox-5 News, a joke from beginning to end...Howard Stern, who has allowed the FCC to cow him not into submission, as he said he feared, but instead into a boring and mind-numbingly repetitive corner he can't seem to talk himself out of. Maybe he'll be revitalized when he moves to satellite but, at this point, who really cares?...Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, a decent Style section feature writer and a decent NBA analyst, both misused as Sports section columnists and, even more disastrously-as local radio and ESPN gab-show hosts, for both abandoning what they're best at....and, finally, Doug Hill, who has never seen a breeze, a flake, or a slightly out-of-the-ordinary temperature that he didn't immediately label "dangerous." Life is too short to cower in your home while Hill declares all types of weather apocalyptic.
Dave In Sterling
Best source for news: WTOP hands down. Best Hires WTOP: Hillary, Ira, and that investigative guy from WJLA ( what's his name?) WJLA : Gordo... Best reporter you've never heard of: John Gonzalez, NewsChannel 8's DC reporter, Bill Lord better move him to Ch 7 while he still can.
Best: Comcast Sports Net - DC for putting the "local" back into local sports
Worst: WUSA for taking local tv to an all-time low with ultimate dumb and dumber news department.
BEST: The new team at WJLA. They just seem to belong to each other. WTOP for being consistant in its news product and for the remarkable, positive way they treat their employees. WBIG for changing their play list to include more 70's tunes.
WORST: WBIG for gutting their news department and basically giving up on news. Channel 4's George Michael for YELLING the sports at us every night. The people who post on this website without knowing what they are talking about. (There are a lot of them).
Best: WTOP, "Ask the Governor" Bob Marburg Doug Hill, Mystery Newsmaker Contest
Worst: In the spirit of the season I will not knock anybody
Best: XM Radio; Radio voices: Buzz Burbank, Gary Chase & Dude Walker; Best Impressionations: Mike O'Meara; Sports Radio hosts: Tony Kornheiser, Dan Patrick; Line: "I'd rather listen to Madeline Albright fake orgasm than Terry Bradshaw sing Christmas songs"--Bernard McGuirk on the Imus in the Morning show; Best TV Sportscaster: Tim Brant
Worst: 94.7 and their definition of "Classic Rock"; Traffic Reporter: Lisa Baden; Sports Hosts: Tie Andy Pollin/Steve Czaban; TV news: Channel 9; Move: Firing Frank Herzog and replacing him on Redskins radio broadcasts with Larry Michael.
Best - WTOP - It's not just for traffic on the 8's. The Sports Reporters WTEM - Andy Pollin & Steve Czaban...best PM Drive show in the market.
Worst - WARW's new morning show. URGH! WJFK - It's time for Stern to go to satellite. WTEM - Tony Kornheiser re-broadcast. Not again!
Barbara
Best: Sirius. Don and Mike. Ron and Fez. WJLA 7 News (Gordon, Mo' and Doug). Glenn Brenner (always and forever). Sonny, Sam and FRANK. Stern (I had to put him here...he's kept me listening when many others have lost me this year). Alison Starling. Joe Gibbs Returns.
Worst: XM. Bill "No-Spin" O'Reilly (HA!). Out to Lunch (I don't get the fascinaiton at all). Lisa Baden. Fox5 News. Jim Vance. Janet Jackson. Larry Michael. John Thompson. Baseball in DC (DC's not a baseball town...plus it's a dying sport). Big O and Dukes. Post-Olivia Fox Russ Parr Morning Show (a celebration of Ghettoness). ROBERT "Don't call me Robert" Lopez (giving Dems a bad name daily). Pre Joe Gibbs Hype Machine. 99.5's 85-minute repeating playlist. WASH-FMs and Lite 101.9 going all-Christmas.
BEST: Ch 11 morning news, Stan Stovall actually knows what he is talking about, no jokes, or stupid gags like on the other station... WBAL radio news dept....FOOD NETWORK anytime/anyday WBFF Fox 45 news at 10.
WORST: Ch 13 morning "show" what a waste of time. NOT A SINGLE bit of news, its all from the night before. Denise and Sally do NOT get any better with AGE and Vic and Kai still can't read their way out of a paper bag. Somebody please tell those two, they could come in 20 minutes early and PRE-read the copy so they would have a clue. And the promos where Sally and Denise are RUNNING TO COVER THE STORY? How stupid do the stations think we are as viewers? The anchors don't leave the station except to visit Cross Keys for lunch. Ch 2 is also "not" improving, despite having about 14 news directors in the past decade. And fox 45 MORNING news person Jennifer who talks like a man and must think she is the hottest babe since Barbie, girl, glad you are GONE!
Joe
Best WTOP, Alan Etter, Dave Ross, Channel 7 hiring Gordon, wtopnews.com
Worst WBIG and Channel 9 for destroying themselves on purpose, John Matthews, Regis Philbin
Best: Radio-WTOP, WASH Christmas music, WARW. TV News - WJLA for bring back the great WUSA lineup. Internet - WashingtonPost.com, Wonkette
Worst: FCC for caving in to the PTC over and over. WUSA for gutting what was left of their good lineup. WASH for playing too much of the same Christmas music. Local radio for playing too many commercials, not having varied playlists and never giving new artists a break.
Best WTOP, ABC7, Doug Hill, Lisa Baden, Nationals, Tony Williams, NYPD Blue (I'll miss it)
Worst WUSA TV, WBIG, the hate monger on WMAL, Bob Ryan, Peter Angelos, Linda Cropp
Best: WTOP, Channel 7, Desperate Housewives
Worst: WBIG, Channel 9, Fox's new show about finding your father. A new low.
Best: WTOP keeps getting better and better. I love their new WFED. Smart move partnering with Channel 7 (although it probably helps 7 more than it helps TOP)
Worst: WBIG and Channel 9 both in decline from self-inflicted wounds. Hate-monger Michael Graham on WMAL.
Greg from Beltsville
Best TV News: ABC7 from 5-7am & noon (w/ Alison Starling) and at 6pm (w/ Gordon, Maureen, and Doug); NBC4 all other times. Best Times to Watch TV: TBS' comedy block of back-to-back "Seinfeld" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" episodes weeknights at 6pm; FOX5's back-to-back "Simpsons" episodes weeknights at 6pm and "Seinfeld" weeknights at 7:30pm & Midnight; UPN20's "Everybody Loves Raymond" weeknights at 11pm. Best Radio News: WTOP. Best Radio Music Playlists: XM (81 BPM, 82 The System, The 90s on 9, The 80s on 8, 44 Fred, 54 Lucy, & 27 Cinemagic); "Club 106.5" on MIX1065 Saturday nights from 9pm-2am; "Subterranean w/ Zoltar" on 99.1HFS Saturday nights/Sunday mornings from Midnight-2am.
Worst TV News: FOX5 & WUSA9 all the time! Worst Times to Watch TV: Anytime infomercials plague the airwaves! Worst Radio News: WMAL Worst Radio Music Playlist: 99.1HFS all other times.
Best: Don and Mike (absinthe or no… it’s amazing how much D&M haters know about the show, curious); Mr. Tony back on the air – makes the work day go SO much faster; Ron and Fez in Baltimore; Out to Lunch; WTMD; Comcast adding NFL Network and Discovery HD; Lopez; Bob Haynie and whoever the guy is who hosts Classic Baltimore Sports on JFK-AM – two guys who are actually fairly informed and thoughtful on sports
Worst: Sinclair keeping Comcast from adding Fox HD in Baltimore (as if I didn’t already hate them politically, now they make it so I wouldn’t dream of watching the Super Bowl at home); Big O and Dukes, not even worth listening to as a train wreck; Elliott; almost all music radio in the area; WHFS (except the Junkies, most of the time) for continuing to be as non-progressive as possible; Mickey and Amelia – my nightmares are about wearing headphones with Big O and Dukes coming out of one ear and Mickey and Amelia the other; Infinity for their Christmas massacre; Nestor (taking brown-nosing to a whole new level)
Best: WTOP and its owner Bonneville for building and maintaining the only true monopoly in Washington Broadcasting.
Worst: Z104,WGMS and their owner Bonneville for looking the other way and settling for revenue and profit failures because of the great success of WTOP.
From Scarecrow in Ellicott City:
Best: Don & Mike-I've always loved them, but I think they've actually gotten funnier since they quit working blue. The new producer has books better guests and runs a tighter ship than in the past. Channel 7 for picking up Gordon Peterson and WTOP for picking up Frank Herzog. The Junkies on HFS-the only good thing about that station. WARW's 15 years in 15 days-a great promotion on one of the worst programmed stations in the world. (more on that in the Worst section), Mickey & Amelia and Sarah Fleischer on 98 Rock. Satellite radio-I'm starting to believe that it truly IS the future of the medium and I hope to have mine soon. Goldie and Big Don O'Brien-both are great DJ's and area institutions and they got job'd. Ron & Fez-I didn't care for them at first, but they're really growing on me. Tammy Bruce-she was on during the weekend on WMAL and she was great. Where'd she go? Lopez for being a survivor. He aggravates many of us to no end, but we still love him and want to see him well.
Worst: Where to start? Howard Stern-enough already. Elliot Segal-ass. Larry Michel-can you say LOSER? Stevens & Medley-can't suck enough. Murphy & Cash: make it stop. Ben & Brian-ouch...quit it. DC 101-you were really great once; what happened? WARW-what mental patient is running this station? There are so many things that could be done to make this station great, but it gets worse every year. The only bright spot was the aforementioned promotion. THAT was great. Otherwise, Suck City. Corporate radio-Infinity and Clear Channel think listeners are morons and are ruining the medium. Everything is pre-programmed and vanilla with more commercials than ever before. KML-as much as it pains me to say, they just don't have it anymore. They've gotten complacent and it shows. WRNR for having a signal that can only be picked up in the station's parking lot. The entire DC/Baltimore market for not picking up the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom show.
BEST: Gordon jumps to channel 7. New sound of Mix 106.5. DC-101 on Saturday night. "Morning Edition" on WJZ. Jim Vance on NBC-4... he still has it. Denise Koch on WJZ... she gets better with age. NBC-4... still the team 4 news.
WORST: Tracey jumps to channel 9. (She had a good thing, why give it up!) WQSR dumps Brian & O'Brien. Infinity sticks with the Stern infomercials. Christmas music before Thanksgiving... not because the listeners wanted it, but because of Arbitron. Everything "Big 100" did in 2004. Mix 106.5 for dumping Stacey from the morning show.
BEST: WJLA, Chan. 7 for picking up Gordon Peterson.
WORST: WQSR for canceling Brian & O’Brien and cutting Alan Lee back by an hour.
Mike Berry, WWW.98WRC.COM
Best: The great team of volunteers that helped us launch WMJS-LP 102.1 in Prince Frederick MD and nurse her through the startup "challenges" over our initial six months.
Worst: The Biggies at Mega Communications in Silver Spring who told the Wash Post "We'll be glad to help. We have lots of equipment we don't need." in an interview for an article about our application for an LPFM CP shortly after they bought, moved, and reformatted the old WMJS 92.7 into a Spanish language satellite-fed station targeting the DC area. When we got our CP last December, Mega's managers & staff refused to even return 10 phone calls and did not answer three letters from us (even one delivered FedEx with receipt signature) asking them for an appointment to discuss what they could and would do to help us.
Bill Santiff, GM, WMJS-LP
Best: Laura Ingraham---she's got class. Phil Hendrie---Hilarious. David Bachelor---very informative. Brian Lamb and CSPAN---More class and very fair. Gordo Peterson---more class, more talent. Steve Goldstein at BIG---Great and talented guy. Don and Mike--for sentiment's sake.
Worst: O'Reilly with all his whining. Michael Graham, that holier than thou bigot. So annoying. Merry Christmas, you insensitive twerp.. WJFK---completely controlled and seduced by that idiot Snyder--what were you idiots thinking when you fired legendary Frank Herzog? Don Imus-terrible, and terribly fake. Larry Michaels---are you kidding me? One word: Boring.... Howard Stern---enough whining already---who cares?
Best - Ron and Fez; WRC-TV News; Gordon Peterson; Tom Shales and his November rave out of the FCC; Air America; Buzz Burbank drunk; The Hideout; Sirius for being aggressive and not simply rolling over and allowing XM to run away with the market; Kyle Oseborne; U2's performances on SNL; Ron & Fez & J Dubs and WJFK sponsoring local music this fall; Ani Difranco at the 9:30 Club; Infinity for standing by Stern; The Nationals; The AFI Silver Theatre; DCRTV
Worst - Opie and Anthony; WUSA News; Larry Michael; Lisa Lisa de Moraes and her inability to connect to Washington and local media; The "Sports" Junkies; Billy Bush; Ashlee Simpson on SNL; Mash Ups; XM for hiring the two biggest cancers in radio; Bill O'Reilly; Stuttering John thinking he would find fame and fortune with Jay Leno; WHFS; Infinity for not standing by Don and Mike; The Capitals; The Uptown Theatre; whiney Republicans who are always bitching about DCRTV's "slant" - Grow up, you big girls ! You guys won already.
best banjo picking anchor: Doug McKelway. Best morning interviewer: Lark McCarthy.
worst excuses for journalists: all the cutie kids on local news.
Best: WJLA-7 for reassembling as much as they can of the old "Eyewitness News" team. Pity Max Robinson, Glenn Brenner, and Bob Dalton (among others) have been contracted already by "KHVN-TV". Given time, patience, and creative freedom, WJLA can become a news powerhouse to be reckoned with... The challenge to WJLA's license renewal. The FCC needs to be consistent with the standard and precedent it established long ago with RKO General. Pull that license! They may have shed the bank, but what it did while a part of the WJLA corporate family should render its current owner unfit to be an FCC licensee. Who knows, if ABC buys the thing, could we see WMAL-TV once again?... WMAL, for putting the liberal Michael Graham on before Rush... Cox Communications, for continuing to show the industry how to do cable right with its mixed bag of analog and digital video, high-speed data, and now telephone. The pity is that around here Cox currently only serves Fairfax and Fredericksburg. Everybody else has to suffer with Comedycast and Adelphia... CBS for putting online at least an "internet-only" feed of one of it's O&O's, WCBS-880. Can KNX or others be far behind? We all recall how opposed Mel Karmazin was to internet broadcasting during his days at CBS. If Mr. Karmazin was really so honestly committed to promoting "local" broadcasting that he kept some of the finest broadcasters in the U.S. off the Internet, why did he join Sirius?. Maybe Sumner Redstone will get around to addressing what's happened at CBS radio and bring "Tiffany" back to CBS radio, as well as TV... WTOP, for simply getting better and better. Until KNX started sounding so laid-back that you'd think they're ready to be slipped on a slab at the L.A. County Coroner, I would've rated KNX the best all-newser in the country. Not anymore. WTOP is starting to eat KNX's lunch. Bonneville is proving that you can indeed buy success by investing wisely in who you hire. They are willing to capitalize on other station's stupidity. Example: WTOP hiring Frank Herzog so quickly after being canned by WJFK... WFAX for not just being the best Christian station in the D.C. area, but perhaps one of the best in the nation... WARX for having the best oldies playlist I've heard outside of "69 X-TRA Gold" from Tijuana. No POO (played-out oldies) there! However, they do need better jocks, jingles (They *suck*!), and spot production. Not to mention coverage!
Worst: Cheap Channel, for its mass execution at WBIG just before the holidays and CBS for their mid-holiday mass canning in Baltimore... WBIG gets special dishonorable mention for showing every day how far down the toilet a radio station can be driven. It is absolutely pathetic. But, even CBS isn't doing oldies much better as witness what they've done of late with KRTH-FM and WCBS-FM. What's needed is an "oldies powerhouse" like the KRTH-101 of old. However, Clueless Channel needs to do a serious re-think. As things stand now, I wouldn't trust them to format a floppy disk for a Commodore 64, let alone a radio station. The only consolation for WBIG is that they are still pulling numbers only slightly better than KFA-942 on 1640 KHz (whose numbers are only somewhat better than WAVA...)... WUSA-9, the poorest excuse for a major market, network-affiliated VHF I can think of. Time was, when you thought of TV news in D.C., you immediately thought of Nine. Not any more. That place needs a top-to-bottom house cleaning. The kind which comes with a new call and new ownership... Fox News and CNN, for proving that there is a need for a cable news network that is indeed "fair and balanced", which neither of them are... Salem Communications and WAVA, for ruining Christian broadcasting to the point where a "Michael Powell"-esque crackdown on Christian broadcasting is not beyond the realm of a future possibility. If this happens, it'll be the fault of WAVA and their ilk. I am a devout Christian who accepts the Bible as God's inerrant word. The whole Bible, not just those bits and pieces that make me happy. Unfortunately, WAVA and some of the programs they air speak more of political ideology than they do of Scriptural instruction... The current copyright climate that has killed Internet broadcasting from the United States by both traditional broadcasters and internet-only broadcasters. Putting U.S. domestic culture forward is not done best by the VOA. It's the local broadcasters with their local programming and local commercials that show American society at it's best. There's no reason why every U.S. broadcaster from a Class IV AM on 1240 to what used to be a 50KW 1-A clear shouldn't be putting their local air signal on the Internet... Adelphia and Charter for their greed and mismanagement that has destroyed Cable Telecommunications as a sound long-term investment... Verizon, for having the sheer gall to not only block rush-hour traffic on major arteries as a part of their upgrade, but to tell local governments that because the video services they plan to carry use IP video, they do not need a Cable TV franchise. If it's video being delivered via a solid conductor (whether the carrier be at 54MHz or 1350nM) it's Cable TV. Thus, Verizon needs to match (if not exceed) the investments in local government access channels, taxes, and fees that the incumbent Cable Telecommunications providers have paid. And are still paying! This obligation also includes wiring all of a jurisdiction, not wiring only the "rich" areas as is currently proposed by the RBOC's... Prediction on DCRTV: Family Stations selling WFSI to Bonneville! Between Family Stations' doctrine of the "Bible according to Harold Camping" and Bonneville being wholly owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), I do not see them sitting down together to do even a mutually beneficial business deal!
BEST: WRC - Now and Forever (at least until Vance retires). WJLA - Up and Coming (at least until Gordon and Maureen retire). WTEM - the return of Tony K's Old Guy Radio, the only local Name who realizes that good radio is all about Personality, and who actually has One. WTOP - indispensible radio for all the right reasons.
WORST: WUSA - for obvious reasons too numerous to list. WMAL - the Official Apologist for the Bush Administration. WBIG - the best excuse to buy a satellite radio is to not suffer through the deliberate destruction of a once great Oldies station. WJFK - Larry Michaels for Frank Herzog? What were they thinking?
Best: Steve Czaban, WARW, Sonny and Sam, George Michael, Laura Ingraham.
Worst: Kornheiser, John Thompson, Larry Michaels, Brett Haber, WHFS
Best radio station: 97.1 WASH-FM. Washington's #1 At-work Station has lived up to its labeling. Not only is it a workplace's best friend, but also family-friendly. That station has the no-repeat workday, & also plays music covering five decades -- 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s. Best programming move: WJLA finally airing "Jimmy Kimmel Live" after refusing not to carry it 15 months earlier. Best local sports program: CSN's "SportsNite." Last March, CSN signed title sponsorship deals with PricewaterhouseCoopers & Chevrolet for their "SportsNite" broadcasts. Best local talent: (tie) 1. FOX 5 News; 2. Comcast SportsNet.
Worst radio morning drive team: The Hot 99-5 Morning Mess. Get rid of Mr. Kaye & Ms. Gamble! Worst talent firings: (tie) 1. CSN getting rid of George Johnson & Rich Cook; 2. Big 100.3 firing 4 members of its on-air staff. Worst news set: NBC 4 (WRC). The current set needs to be renovated. Worst cable system in Washington, DC area: Comcast.
Christopher from Hyattsville, MD
I refrain from putting D.C. area sports television on this list, because my mother always told me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, chances are I’m talking about “Tim Brandt Style.”
THE BESTEST - Best Comeback: Tony Kornheiser. His local show was always better than his national show, and it’s been a pleasure to listen to somebody talking D.C. sports in the morning…despite the Pollin Factor. My favorite Tony moment thus far was his opening up a Sam’s Club-sized can of whoop ass on Sally Jenkins for being based in NY and writing about D.C. baseball meetings. Best Pinch-Hitter: WTEM’s Bram Weinstein. Funny guy. Interesting insights. Actually tries to do more than turn the microphone on and make mountains out of mole hills, which is why I’d prefer to listen to his show from 5-7 weekdays if I could…even though his voice makes Mark Levin sound like Orson Wells by comparison. Best Radio Duo: Buzz Burbank and Absinthe. While it’s sort of a shame that Don and Mike have to resort to imported hallucinogenics to create unpredictable radio, there’s no denying these shows provided some of the funniest moments the program’s had in years. The boys overall had an above average year, save for the recent Access Hollywood infomercials (I didn’t want to listen to Billy Bush when he was doing morning drive; why do I need him at P.M. rush hour?) Best of a Pathetic Lot: Sean Hannity. The guy knows how to do a solid radio show, and gets my ire up just by being his usual close-minded self. Better him than Rush “Druggies are bad, ‘cept for white rich ones named Rush” Limbaugh, Laura “Hollywood is bad, ‘cept for anyone who made ‘The Passion of the Christ’ Ingrahm, Michael “Islamofacists are coming to steal your children!!!!” Savage, Glen “Dead Air” Beck, and “I am” Michael Graham. Best Bit: Ron and Fez, riffing on the Bill O’ Reilly “sex tape.” It was the funniest script reading since Howard and Robin read the Frank Gifford/Stewardess hotel affair recording transcript. Don’t forget your falafel! Best Show Nobody’s Listening To: Randi Rhodes. Perhaps that changes in ’05. Best Weekend Nonsense to Have on While You Drive: The Cigar Dave Show. What an absolute curio that show is.
THE WORSTEST - Worst WTEM Trend: Proudly boasting ignorance about sports that many listeners actually care about, such as hockey, soccer, and basketball outside of the MCI Center. Worst WTEM Show: The John Thompson Show. Limited knowledge of sports, great guests, zero chemistry with his co-hosts, and knows exactly what toes he doesn’t want to step on. This would be the Sports Reporters’ award to lose, save for the fact that hearing them deal with the harsh reality of Joe Gibbs’ second stint in Washington, after their preseason orgasms, was interesting radio. Worst Sports Station Not Named WTEM: SportsTalk 1260. Seriously, what the f—k was that all about? Worst Forced Chemistry: Mike and Mike in the Morning. Czaben in the Morning by March ’05. Worst DCRTV Trend: (Tie) Liberal Dave bashing and Howard-to-Sirius bashing. Is Stern as funny as he was? No. Is he still funnier than any other show on the radio in the morning? Yes. I, for one, can’t wait to hear what his show sounds like in ’06. And as for Dave and his political leanings: Why is it liberal thinkers are always the ones who have to temper their opinions so as not to offend the conservatives? It’s his party; he can opine if he wants to. Worst Topic Selection of Fall/Winter ’04: Conservative talk radio, which strangely didn’t find anything compelling about the fact that the first two major holidays after the last election (Thanksgiving and Christmas) went by with nary a peep from Homeland Security and its pretty color-coding system. Boy…sure was nice of those Al Qaeda fellas to cut us a break for a few months, huh? And right after a re-election! Worst Sports Radio Decision: Hello, Larry. And finally, Worst Excuse for Morality: Any FCC crackdown that would attack language on a radio comedy show but allow uncut R-rated motion pictures on in the “family hour” because they have “historical significance.”
Thanks for everything, Dave... Greg Wyshynski, SportsFan Magazine, Features Editor, Columnist, 'The Jester's Quart,' www.sportsfanmagazine.com
Best Sound Bite: Jim Vance, in response to the possible loss of Baseball..."Good, let'm leave and screw somebody else..." The man is an icon and the best local news anchor, BAR NONE... also on the best list: Wally Bruckner...the man plays second banana to someone who should have been put out to pasture long ago...It is a wonder that nobody has snapped Wally up...yet.
Worst AM Drive: Stevens and Medley in a landslide. These guys are pathetic and it is a wonder that they haven't been run out of town yet. Worst Programming: (here's a shocker...) WARW. Max Dugan must have naked pictures of some Infinity Honcho. That is the only plausible reason that he hasn't been fired. Worst DJ move: WBIG, for cutting Goldie loose while keeping Murphy and Cash.
Tim In Stafford, Virginia
Best: WTOP keeps getting better adding people like Hillary Howard, Ira Mellman and the investigative guy from ABC 7. ABC 7 keeps getting better and the Gordo move was brilliant. WFED great niche idea. wtopnews.com and dcrtv.com
Worst: the meltdown at Channel 9. Dropping real oldies on WBIG. The selfish duplication of programming on WAMU and WETA.
Best -- TV: Channel 4's news. A class act all the way around. Channel 7 for recognizing valuable talent and brining it together. Gordon and Maureen have always been a terrific match. It's good to have them back together again. Radio: Tony K's return. His show stinks and he's got a big orange head. What more could you ask for? WTOP for it's traffic reporters Lisa and Bob, and for its commitment to providing news that's neither right nor left.
Worst -- TV: Channel 9 and it's decision to let Gordon go. Tracey and Todd are his replacements? How embarrassing. Todd looks (and sounds) like an actor who plays an anchor on TV, and Tracey is certainly not walking on water, even though her supporters here on DCRTV made it seem like her departure from 5 and hiring by 9 were the most important events of the year. By the way, where are those huge ratings that she she should be producing to go along with that huge contract? All TV talking head shows that feature nothing more than radical opinions on either side of an issue and people yelling at each other. This is NOT good television. Radio: All music radio. Who programs this dreck? Smooth Jazz. This station is NOT PLAYING JAZZ. It is smooth URBAN, and it truly does stink. Czaban, Ron & Fez, D&M, Stern. All obnoxious and unlistenable. Mike Moss on WTOP. Does this guy ever let anyone else talk? Or do only his opinions matter? Note to WTOP managers, just name the AM drive show the Mike Moss show, let him fly solo where he can bask in his own ego, and let Richard Day move to another shift where he will actually be allowed to do something.
Best: DCRTV for its great pictures of bikini girls used in its fundraising. Dennis Miller on CNBC. Gordon Peterson going to 7 and reuniting with the old team. Shannon Bream! DCRTV Dave for giving us the straight scoop.
Worst: DCRTV Dave for his constant bashing of righties. Come on, Dave, we like to read your site, too. If you don't want us, just call yourself DCLRTV (L for liberal), so we'll know your slant before we log on. Alienating half your readership won't win you much support. I know you live in Reston, but please. Talk radio on the weekends. Jerry Klein on WMAL for his recent implication that the soldiers in Iraq and Afgahnistan are chumps. Rush Limbaugh for taking as many days off as Johnny Carson in his heyday.
Doc in Herndon "I'm your huckleberry."
My fellow WCBM hosts and our wonderful news department aside,
My best are: DC News: WTOP... DC AM: Elliot in the Morning (DC-101)... DC Drive-time: Chris Core (WMAL)... Baltimore AM: KML (98 Rock)... Baltimore Drive: Mickey and Amelia (98 Rock)... Honorable Mention: Tim Virgin (WHFS)... Honorable Mention: Don and Mike (Live 105.7)...
Worst: Still the worst show on radio by far: "Big O and Dukes " (WHFS)... Honorable Worst Mention: the radio stations who refuse to mention the words "Christmas" and "Hanukkah" and instead say "Happy Holidays," as if Christmas and Hanukkah are dirty words. Please. Let people rejoice in their religions instead of giving in to the pathetic PC police...
Cheers, Tom
Best Weather: Bob Ryan. Best News Cast: NBC4. Best Anchor Team: Gordon and Maureen. Best hair coloring job: Wendy Reiger (total hottie), Will Thomas (is that tar on your head?). Best newcomer: Nichole Zalooomidynomhottieszouls (NBC4 Sports)
Best: Reunion of WUSA team on WJLA, Joe Penny Show on WMAL, The Reagan Funeral (for its reverance); any shows that honored the military in 2004
Worst: Howard Stern for whining for five hours a day, Jerry Klein on WMAL for referring to the soldiers in Iraq as "chumps," the whole DC radio market for its lack of quality talk radio on the weekends.
Best In Radio: ron and fez, out to lunch and for my hip hop fix 92Q, overnight show hands down is 92Q's Love Zone - thanks for growing up WERQ
Worst: Limbaugh, The liar O'Reilly and any giggly, silly, urban morning show with no feel for today's real news and issues.
Left Baltimore last year but here's my list!
Best of 2004 - Best Internet Broadcast News site: DCRTV.com who you can rely on for up to date media news in the nations capital. Best Blog or TV: TV Newser, 18-year-old Brian Stelter who should be the next CEO of FOX News. Best Political Blog: Professor Pan, Baltimore's devil blogger. Best offspring websites: PBRTV, ESRTV, VARTV and Keminications.com.
Now my worst of 2004 - Worst TV website: Newsblues who on 12/21 called our site "renegade and clearing house" for reporting wild rumors about Atlanta's CBS-46 ND being canned. We ended up with 400 hits an hour and a lot of support emails and some "wild truth" on our message board. Worst TV Station: WMAR Channel 2 in Baltimore who should be SHUT DOWN! Worst blogger: That "Wonkette girl" Her stuff is boring!
There's my 50 Cents, Kemi Lane, www.Keminications.com, Atlanta's only Media News site
Here is the Best/Worst of 2004 from Delmarva.
Best: JJ "Hitman" Mckay returning to the airwaves in the morning on 1590 KHZ. Skip Dixxon becoming PD of X-106.9 and making it a true alternative station. Clear Channel dumping Doug Welldon as Operations Manager and giving the gig to Brian Cleary. OC-104 getting rid of Poot at night. B-101.7/95.3 bringing back Eric Nielsson for middays. WOCM getting rid of "Deb's Diner." Q-105 putting Ken Raymond back on the air in the afternoon, and putting Sandi Alexander back in the shift she started many years ago, middays. 98.5 Big putting the syndicated Alice Cooper on at night. Magic 98.9 putting Bill Baker "The Rumpshaker" on the air in the afternoon, and putting Ron Banks on at night with "The Nighttime Takeover." Lite Rock 107.5/103.5 putting on ABC's syndicated AC format. WINX hiring Big Don O'brien for morning drive. 96 Rock getting rid of Elliot in the Morning, bringing Dino back to the market in middays, and bringing David Lee back as the voice-guy.
Worst: Hitman being on AM, he should be on FM! The revolving door of female co-hosts on OC-104's morning show. The Wave letting Jack Da Wack leave. 96 Rock letting Skip Dixxon leave. WOCM for getting rid of Josh and Rich and keeping the horrible jocks they have now. Max 92.5's weak signal.
Best: Flounder's Mash Up's will revolutionize music and spread like wildfire. Elliot in the Morning. The Sports Reporters on Sportstalk 980.
Worst: Mash Up Radio on HFS. "The Sports Junkies" (Horrible). "Mike & Mike" mornings on Sportstalk 980.
Best: Sirius for Out Q 149, Carrying Air America 143, Disorder 24, Folktown, 38 and Pure Jazz 82 with Paul Anthony in the mornings. I've had Sirius from their beginning. They had commercial free music from the start. WTMD for bring back an eclectic mix of music and The World Cafe to Baltimore. They just need 50kw at 500 ft. for a better signal in the Washington area. (I live in Fairfax.) WPFW for being a non professional live radio station, playing real jazz by people who love the music, and for broadcasting ultra lefty talk and news in W's town. WJLA for scooping up WUSA's News team. Bob Ryan for good forecasting. Last but not least Bill Moyers.
Worst: WAMU & WETA for duplication of programing and talking you to death. How about giving up two hours of duplication on the weekend and bring The World Cafe to Washington. WUSA for the the same reason everybody else is giving. Sinclair, Clear Channel, Rush Hatebaugh, Michael Powell, Bill O'liebag, Religious broadcasters, and commercial radio in general.
Best: Ron and Fez Live in Baltimore. A breath of fresh air. Air America. Even though they aren't quite sure what they're doing yet, it's nice to have an alternative to the big hemorrhoid. LOPEZ!!! You're a freaking Baltimore tradition. I hope to be listening to him 20 years from now. Howard Stern and his crusade against George Bush. THANK YOU!! You fought the good fight. Too bad so many are brainwashed, (hope you all enjoy the draft...). You got a lot of miles out of High Pitch Eric too.
Worst-Don and Mike-the show is a hollow shell of what it was. Not much more than the "Jo Jo and Kenny Show" at this point. Infinity cutbacks just before Christmas. Have you NO shame! And to dump Stacy Lynn right after returning from maternity leave...trust me, I will NEVER listen to that station again! XM Radio-You lost me ever as a potential customer by hiring those two tools. Looks like that's not working out so well huh? Hate radio at it's finest. It just shows, you can't just be shocking, you actually have to be funny too. Probably why they're trying to give it away on terrestial radio now. Michael Powell and his band of Nazis. Put a few more pictures of you and celebrities on the FCC site there Mike. I guess if I mention that I have to mention nipple-gate. Thanks for screwing with my radio Janet... Oh...and "Out to Lunch"...dear God, who thinks this is good radio? Awful...(personally, I think they let the wrong guy go...).
Xarias
Best: Carson new afternoons on MIX 107.3, imaging work on 99.5, Bob Edwards and O/A on XM, NBC 4 news
Worst: Fox News (5 and national), Arrow 94.7 (can we get them some help? No reason to waste such great music through bad programming...), (what seems like) an increased commercial load on all stations...FCC's indecency crackdown....let parents be in charge, not the government....
Best Morning show....WTOP with Richard Day and Mike Moss.....Best Radio Weather guy and TV guy, Doug Hill....best TV move Gordon to Channel 7. Best Sports Talk show host, Tony Kornheiser (even with Andy Polin) Best TV sports guy, George Michael, Best play by play broadcaster Johnny Holliday Hope he winds up as either the radio or TV voice of the Washington Nationals!! Best TV anchor team, Jim and Doreen Channel 4....Best Radio news, WTOP.....Best Traffic reporter Bob Marburg WTOP...best voice on Public radio, Ed Walker.
Worst Radio station, WMAL....worst talk show host, the 9 to noon guy on WMAL. worst Weather reporter on Radio, Lisa Baden WTOP. Worst TV anchor team, WUSA, Tracy and Todd. Worst Tv Sports reporter Tim Brant, worst Radio Play by Play, tie between Larry Michael and Dave Johnson
Best: Ron and Fez
Worst: Don and Mike/Howard Stern
Best: Todd McDermott Joining WUSA, Tracy Neale joining WUSA, Teapot Tim(hes funny), WIHT,WJLA/News8, WTTG/Fox5, Doug Hill,WTOP, Live 105.7, 102.1 The X(can pick it up some places), Al Franken, Sports Talk980/1260,the skins record!
Worst: Elliot Segal, WWDC, Richard Day, Howard Stern, WJFK in General, Matty leaving HFS, St .Louis Football not being shown enough
Wally in Herndon, Happy Holidays
Best: Don & Mike (Still and always the best!)...Buzz Burbank's post-election Buzzcast (Please to give him a Peabody Award)...Bill Maher on HBO (Ditto on the Peabody)...DC gets baseball...WHAG's Morgan Fogarty ("Mofo"): simply adorable...9's Lesli Foster, DC's prettiest and most under used and appreciated newscaster...Gordon Peterson landing at 7...9 redux at 7...Buck landing at 7...DCRTV, Dave and DCRTV's bloggers...NBC's fall slide (Frasier went out on top despite Jeff Zucker's mission to destroy it)...David Letterman (More excellent this year than usual)...Ron & Fez...Al Franken originally calling his Air America show "The O' Franken Factor"...Stern calling in and confronting Michael Powell...The Washington Post (Say what you will, but Tony K., Wilbon, Tom Boswell and Norman Chad are great)...Topper...Incredible movies I saw this year: About Schmidt, About a Boy, American Splendor, Auto Focus, Love Actually, Monster's Ball...Joe Gibbs return...Wizards actually decent.
Worst: Michael Powell and the FCC and the post-Nipplegate overreaction...9's bloodbath...'JFK dropping Frank...FOX News (Especially Sean Hannity and his laapdog Alan Combs)...CNN (Appear desperate in their attempt to play catch up)...No Junkies radio in Western Maryland (Junks TV a bit stale)...Billy Bush collecting a regular paycheck in the field of communications...Tony Kornheiser plus George Costanza equals Lame Sitcom...Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather retiring (God help NBC if Brian Williams' batteries run out on air/I hear that Larry Michael is lobbying Viacom to take over the Evening News)...Stepford newsidiot Todd McDermott (To call him a Ken doll is an insult to Ken dolls. He makes Wil Thomas look macho)...DC almost fumbles baseball...Tracey Neale's return soiled by forced Gordo exodus/Pairing with McDerm-bot...Gibbs' first season back.
Best: Flounder's Mashups on DC101
Best- The topper of the list, XM radio. With the demise of terrestial radio, satellite has become the trend similar to cable and satellite tv. My friends, we are looking the true future of radio. XM got a head start and is very smart using the money, unlike Sirius, which is trying to be the Yankess and buy everything. Sirius better hope for huge revenues in the next few years. (Note: Hope I get an XM radio for Christmas) Runner-Up: I know every teenager and young adult are going to hate me (I'm 21 by the way), WGMS is the only thing I listen to when I travel to work. I am forced to because of my dad and I carpool, but their lineup is more diverse and has a greater focus than any other lame station. This is an embarrassment to my youth that a classical station is whooping on both rock stations combined. That's an achievement all by itself. Other honorable mentions: WRC-TV-keeping it consistent; WJLA-welcome to the club guys, you made smart moves and ABC is on a hot streak; Ron and Fez- that's how local radio should be; Public Television- If documentaries are going into mainstream, PBS is in the same path with Regency House, Frontline, NOW, etc. Lopez, Johnny Holliday, Tony Kornheiser, WTOP, and you Dave (I will promise a donation for next year, since I'll be out of college, and I will not put my annual WGMU because next year, we are going to blow up, trust me)
The worst- The FCC and Michael Powell. This was a no-brainer since now the FCC has awoken an thinking they are in charge. A pixel of "bad stuff" wouldn't damage a kids mind. And your listening to three people to make your decision and letting other corporations buy others, what happen to independence?! This is sad from the son of Colin Powell. You remind me of a John Henry Williams, who was well hated in Boston. I hope you can survive the next four years, buddy. Runner-Up- Clear Channel and Most of the Infinity Stations (with the exception of urban stations)- Wow, you guys really screwed this up. Five songs an hour, the same rotating songs, righty talk, no humor, no structure, no direction. I could go on and on. So long guys, nice to know you. Other dis-honorable mentions: WTTG, WUSA- New crew, no personalities; O & A- Still doing the same crap again, not even maturing a bit; Larry Michael- No good, hearted, trash, piece of crap, backstabber talent you are; Ruppy M., local media stinks around here. On a footnote: Not to be arrogant or anything, I'll be graduating next year. I'm going into media management in the D.C. area and hope to re-establish the good old days of D.C. media.
Tracy
Best: Charlottesville becomes a full-fledged TV market, adding local CBS and ABC affiliates.
Worst: The Board of Broadcast Governors continues its dismantling of the Voice of America, once the proud home of Edward R. Murrow and a beacon of truth, but now just another spin machine for the administration.
Once again, it is my pleasure to present to you THE BEST (and worst) OF DC RADIO & TV 2004!
Starting with the BEST of this region: Best TV Station AND Best News Organization: ABC7 (WJLA). I have to say, changing to the standardized "Circle 7" logo has done wonders for this station. And you gotta love the fact that the top news team from W*USA ten years ago is once again working together. And they agressively go after GOOD talent...unlike one station who shall be mentioned later... Best Sports Anchor: Still George Michael. He's the only sporcaster in the region who can truly claim that he has a "style". Best Sports Talk Show: (tie) The reincarnation of the Local Tony Kornhieser Show. God, did I miss him. He makes Andy Pollin tolerable. And the Bram Weinstien show; this guy has true talent. Damn good Redskins reporter, and very funny and listenable on his own show, too! Radio News: WTOP. Hey, when I need to know something RIGHT NOW, they'll tell me RIGHT NOW. That's why TOP is an automatic preset when I gotta lock in my radio stations! Best Music Station: WMMJ & WHUR. I know it's all a matter of preference, but I like to hear variety in my music. These stations provide what not many others have...and I can tune in for more than an hour and be entertained. Sports Play By Play: Frank Herzog. Now I realize just how much I miss him. Damn you, JFK! Good Move award: Comcast, for adding at least one of the channels I aked for; the NFL network. Good. Now add Turner Classic Movies, and I might just consider buying in.
Now the worst: Local News: W*USA, est. 1997. And while I'm on that topic, *USA gets honors for worst overall personnel decisions, too. They also win for worst sports coverage ( a crown they have held since 1994). Frankly, W*USA is THE worst television station in the DC Market. Either Gannet needs to sell the station, or just...well...sell the station, already! It's time to do what KYW did in Philadelphia and revamp the whole damn thing. All the way down to the Frank Gari "Enforcer" theme song. OY! Worst Sports talk program: If any of you in Baltimore are still suffering from having to hear three hours of "The Herd" with Colin Cowherd, that pretentious front-running gawker from Portland, we apologize. WTEM thankfully spared the rest of us from that crap when Kornhieser came back in November. The "That Radio Trend is Done" award: The Clones of Conservative Radio. I understand that they paved the way for what talk radio is today, but ask yourself: is it really neccessary to have 250 people saying THE EXACT SAME THING REPETITIVELY for 365 DAYS A YEAR? And just when you think they can't add more, now Scarborough adds his show. Great. Clone 281-4A gets added to the list. Worst Music Station: Everybody sing along, now..."WBIG-FM...Washington." The same conglomerate that owns this hole of a station is the same that killed Jammin' Oldies in a tenth of a second. Tell me, what is an Oldies station that plays the same 29 songs from the 60's and 70's, runs off entertaining hosts, and just doesn't give a damn anymore? Besides, WQSR is a far superior station, given the similarites in music that they play...except QSR jocks actually sound as if they're having a great time. BIG on the other hand sounds like they're dead. I hate this station. Worst Play-By-Play: the "Executive Producer for Westwood One Radio Sports", Larry Michael. Um...who the hell thought it was a good idea to run off a damn good announcer who, while not always getting info correct, was entertaining and had establised a good rapport with his comrades in the booth? It's not the same, listening to the Redskins, pitiful as they have been, without Frank there. But still, having said that, I can pick six guys who call the NFL on Westwood One Radio that I'd prefer to listen to over Larry Michael...Harry Kalas, even with his impediment of speech, would be more attainable for broadcast than Michael. Shut up, Larry. The Andy Pollin "Shut Up" Award goes to: Sports Talk 1260. That was another brilliant CC decision: splitting up the sports talk feed for only two listenable shows: Rome, and Bruno. Bruno was eliminated in the fall by Fox Sports Radio, leaving Rome as the only profitable margin that station had. All the while, pointless simulcasting of 980's afternoon drive, and the Czaban show (which has grown on me) makes this station's very existence worthless but for three hours out of an entire 24 hour day. And, just when the Wizards are having a decent year for a change, they get stuck on 1260...where NO ONE CAN HEAR THEM. So, to read of this station's demise as it prepares to switch to Air America, isn't as surprising at all. In fact, good riddance. Honorable mention: whoever runs bumpers at 980. It seems like whoever is in charge of running ID bumpers just can't get right, and the bumpers either overrun programming, or play over the syndication, causing this annoying double talk...argh! FIX IT! Worst use of Breaking News Sounders: WTTG, Fox 5 news at Ten. Things you should not do in a newscast: 1). Run a "Breaking News" flash graphic at the beginning of a newscast, then go directly to whatever your regular top story was. 2). Delay said Breaking News for 10 minutes of the newscast. 3). When finally reporting the "Breaking News", the news that was so important ten minutes ago that it required you to run special graphics, and a special cut of the "X2 Music Package", is one of the most insignificant things in the newscast that day. Thanks for nothing, Fox 5. And finally, Worst Marketing: The "Tim Brant Style" promotions on ABC7. "Gimme the Redskins, Tim Brant style!"? Give me a break. He's okay, but I'm not ready to attribute a request for a "style" just to watch the damn Redskins on my local newscast. The only man who can claim that type of "style" has long departed us, and the station that employed him has been falling ever since. God keep you, Glenn Brenner. God, save Channel 9...-from itself.
Sincerely, VENT CASEY III
Best: WTOP, XM Radio, Opie & Anthony, Elliot in the Morning, Jen At WHFS, Allison Starling, Gordon Peterson, Flounders Mash Ups, Weasel, WPGC, Glen Hollis, Doug Hill, Jim Vance, Topper, Mike, Coast To Coast AM...
Worst: Clear Channel, Tracey Neale hype, WARW, Holly Morris, Brett Haber, Z104, Matthew Blades, Jack Diamond, Don, Ron & Fez, El Jefe, The Redskins, Stern, WRQX, Big 100, Showing Lisa Baden on TV, Firing Frank Herzog, Freda, Neci (fire her already), 98 Rock, WJFK Weekends, G Gordon Liddy, George Michael, Ben & Brian, Hot 99.5 dj's, The FCC...
Best: Larry Janczik over at the Senate Radio-TV gallery who runs a very well oiled machine no matter what the obstacles with help from Tom Seem of CBS...WJLA for figuring out early that patience pays (hiring 9's talent)...Lisa Baden's cheery traffic reports on TV and Radio...WTOP's focus on the news...Don and Mike's continuing soap opera during afternoon drive...Ron and Fez's show which is improving as time goes on...Khalim Pihanki at WUSA for standing tall throughout all the WUSA turmoil...HDTV in the DC market is ramping up...Topper Shutt for his ongoing concern towards public safety when serious weather happens (three way tie with 7 and 5)...finally firing the inept and callous news director at WUSA...
Worst: The puppet managers at WUSA and their handlers over in McLean, VA who continue to believe that their philosophy of throwing huge sums of money at computer technology instead of hiring people with common sense will somehow work in this market (or any other market they're in)...WUSA for cutting Mike Buchanan loose...WUSA for cutting Hillary loose...WUSA for cutting Gordon loose...Gannettoid Harvey Mars and his laboratory AVID experiment at WUSA...would someone puh-lease light Lisa Baden for her TV reports????...WTTG's 10 pm show for starting to slip into the "...if it bleeds, it leads..." arena...and finally...the Assignment Desk at WUSA whose priority is covering their ass instead of the news.
From Larry in Luray - happy holidays!
BEST - XM - it's great to hear music for whatever mood I'm in, with no commercials, my faves being the 60's and 70's channels and TopTracks for classic rock and oldies, Hank's Place for classic country, Soul Street for classic r & b and soul music and even Lucy for classic alternative, if there can be such a thing. Yeah, I'm a classic kinda guy - best $$$ I ever spent on entertainment purposes (well, there was that one night in New Orleans, but I digress). Sirius gets props, too, for having the cojones to get Howard and give him the freedom of speech the FCC, Viacom, CC, etc. can't seem to allow these days. XM and Sirius are gonna clean the clocks of over-the-air radio in the next couple of years. WTOP for getting me to and from work, or at least from Haymarket to my office (the rest of my trip each day is devoted to XM) - keep bashing Lisa, but she makes my pre-6 AM commute a little more enjoyable. And props to Stardust 105.7 out here in the Shenandoah Valley for picking up the MOYL format and getting decent numbers with it after WAZR became part of the Cheap Channel evil empire.
WORST - Arrow 94.7 and that travesty of a morning drive show. If anyone wants to hear the future of terrestrial radio in a post-Janet Jackson, post-Stern world, I challenge you to listen to Dumb and Dumber on 94.7 in the mornings and hang in there for more than five minutes. WJFK and WUSA for unceremoniously dumping Frank Herzog. WJFK for replacing Frank with that corporate butt-kisser Larry Michael, and WUSA for unceremoniously canning Gordon Peterson and Mike Buchanan (way to go, Gordo, for landing on your feet at Seven). WJFK's midday, overnight and weekend jokes that they call programming. Oldies....oops, BIG 100 (point 3) for canning the jocks instead of fixing the deeper rooted problems inherent there. The FCC for appointing themselves un-elected national censors and trampling all over the Constitution instead of letting the marketplace decide, as all true conservatives should. And Viacom, Cheap Channel, etc. for caving in to the FCC and also for turning what used to be a great communications medium into a mind-numbing procession of commercials occasionally interrupted by lamer and lamer programming.
Best - Don and Mike, Ron and Fez, XM Radio
Worst - WUSA for canning Frank Herzog and the worst of 2004 is Larry Michael the no talent hack.
Best: Ed Walker and the Big Broadcast...WGMS (especially Christmas Music and the listener's top 103)...Dave Collins (Okay the guy has not broadcast a baseball game in two years - but he is still in the area and is very good. Helloooo Nationals)...Bob Socci and John Fienstein on Navy Football....WBAL, like'em or hate'em Dave, Chip, Ron and the sports programming make the mighty 1090 the only quality local programmer in the Wash-Balt markets. (More and more people in the Wash DC area are tuning in after WMAL went from being one of America's great stations to one of the worst)...Derrick McGinty, sure WUSA may not be using him to the best extent possible...but he is the only thing worth watching on Channel 9...Tony Kornheiser, okay the guy's ego is bigger than his prostate and he is awful as a sports reporter since he never covers a game or hangs around actual working sportswriters, but his 2-hours on WTEM is what local radio is suppose to be about...WJLA, I never thought I say anything nice about a station where the calls letters are the owner's initials, but somehow they are changing things around, now if they will only spend as much money on news gathering as they do on talent... Hillary Howard, Doug Hill and Sue Palka...all TV people who don't act like TV people. They act like they could be regular folks and live in my subdivision...WJEZ and WHAG, you have to love it that in Hagerstown there are two radio stations playing standards while the Washington DC, a market of 3-million plus, you can't hear one Frank Sinatra song.
Worst: WUSA, they fired Hilary Howard, do you need to say anything else?... WASH Christmas Music, I didn't think it could get any worse, but then I heard the Guardsmen with Snoopy and the Red Baron's Christmas Bells...WAMU is wasting four hours of air by running the same NPR programs at the same time as WETA...WMAL, the only reason it is still on my car's preset is for Paul Harvey. I believe that Westminster is closer to Baltimore, it's too bad that Andy Parks and WBAL can't work something out...WPFW for taking narrowcasting hundred steps too far with Haitian programming...WTGS you would think that a radio station owned by a religion would have at least good Christmas music, but you would be wrong. "Christian" artists really are that bland. Their Christmas songs sound as bad as their other stuff... Mark Plotkin. Local politics are great but rude is rude is rude and after a while you don't want to hear windbags, whether their name is Rush or Plotkin...WWLG. Come on that Brenda Lee stuff from the 50's was bad then and is awful now...more Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlens, etc...Clear Channel for ruining local radio and making XM radio possible. Andy Pollin, gee it would be understandable if Andy owned the radio station and was trying to keep down costs, but he doesn't and 80 hours of Andy a week is beyond too much, 8 hours a week would be bad enough... WTNT for cutting off the last hour of the Imus show. At least with Imus we do get some entertainment and not all political bashing all the time.
Best: Don & Mike. Out to Lunch on Live 105.
Worst: FCC. Who would be stupid enough to listen to shows they don't like? Don and Mike bashers please take note!
Best - Ron and Fez (The Fastest Hour in Rad