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Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - November 16 to November 20, 2006 Latest messages listed first..... \/ November 20 Messages \/ I grew up in Baltimore and watched both Baltimore and Washington television in the days before cable. Baltimore had WJZ (ABC) and WBAL (CBS). In Washington, it was worth pointing the rabbit ears to see WUSA (CBS) and WRC (NBC). Times change. However, it is sad to see a friendly face that you trusted go away. I never worked with her, but I share the same passion for the industry. Susan Kidd was always one of my favorites. She "got it". She was able to connect with people, stories and co-anchors outside of what the prompter said. She was just being a real person. That is what her e-mail was... a real person. I agree with Dave. So much can be lost in e-mail. My hope is that she will find a new home in the DC market. She was aware of her strong ability to showcase "stories that matter" and put the spotlight on "ways to make people take notice of things that needed to be made top of mind in the community". It showed. And, as her e-mail showcased, she made people proud of what she achieved. She is going to be know from some great, impressive work on the air and in the community. I hope to see more of it. Susan, thank you for that. I know we are a business of profit and loss, but in the end, that's what matters. We are hear to serve the public interest. Thank you. (11/20/06) You Know, what amazes me it all the radio sponsors on WJFK who advertise on the D&M Show when they run their alleged "Best Of" shows. Which for the most part are the "worst of" shows run by a lame intern or whatever position he holds. Bearo..SoMD (11/20/06) Just read where Rupert Murdoch made the following statement "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson,". No sh_t Sherlock!!!..What the heck did you expect???..How long did it take for you to "agree with American public"? This was a publicity stunt AND a money maker for OJ (he supposedly was paid $3.5 million) and Rupert Murdoch thought that this would be a ratings bonanza..What a jerk..I'd be curious as to whether FOX5 was bombarded with e-mails, calls, etc..I know there were quite a few comments on the web page.. (11/20/06) I, too, am sad to see Susan Kidd go. Merry Christmas to all! On the other hand; I wish Susan would have thought twice before sending that email. Long before emails; Henry Tenenbaum did the same thing when he was tossed out of 9 and no one ever heard from him again. Better to say nothing when there's nothing to say... (11/20/06) Dave's response: Henry's alive and well at KRON in SF, I think..... I too wonder what's going to become of NBC4 w/o George Michael, IJ Hudson and Susan Kidd. Although "old" staples (and I mean that in an endearing way), I think they were quality anchors/reporters. And as other posters have stated, there are others on there who I wouldn't miss if they were let go. But, I guess although we may not agree with the changes that are going to occur at that station, unfortunately, change is always inevitable. I only watch NBC4 for my 6pm & 11pm news and I just hope this time next year, or even in the next 6 months, I'll still have them as my choice. (11/20/06) This isn't local, but thought you might want to see. www.kvlytv11.com (11/20/06) Thanks to Rusty Gibson, Tom Gauger and Keith Thompson for the good wishes. You are all welcome to visit if in the Roanoke/Rocky Mount area. Tom, it's amazing because last night I was viewing your profile on 440 Satisfaction. Before I get too busy, here's wishing everyone on the Mailbag a "Happy Thanksgiving". Goes for you too DCRTV Dave. Blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC/WYTI). (11/20/06) Dave, just heard from a source in L.A. In an e-mail sent to me at 4 p.m. ET it was stated that the "massive cuts" will take place at CNN. -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/20/06) Can it be confirmed that Susan Kidd actually wrote that "dear colleagues" message??.. She states that she's not bitter, but the next few lines beg to differ; pretty sarcastic.. I thought she was much classier than that.. (11/20/06) Dave's response: It looks authentic to me. It's from an NBC Universal e-mail address. Sometimes emotions don't translate well via e-mail. It seemed that she was trying to inject a bit of humor into a very sad situation. After 23 great years at 4, it's not the end of the world. That kind of thing. All our best to Susan Kidd. One of the best. So, what's going to become of WRC with George Michael (at least as nightly sportscaster), IJ Hudson, and Susan Kidd gone? And I'm sure we'll hear about more departures from 4 in the upcoming weeks..... All this talk about Alice's restaurant got me searching in youtube. Emmanuel. www.youtube.com (11/20/06) I am very sorry that Susan Kidd will be leaving NBC4, apparently not her decision, unfortunately. I thought she and Wendy Reiger were a wonderful team with great chemistry...professional, informative and enjoyable to watch. Although it is very sad when someone loses their job, there are several other people at NBC4 who, in my opinion, should have been let go rather than Susan Kidd, based on competence (i.e., ability to read and pronounce words correctly), performance and professionalism. I won't mention names. I thank Susan for the many years she brought us the news, and I wish her the very best in the future...she will be greatly missed. -- Bobbie (11/20/06) I see an O.J. Pay Per Veiw special in the near future. (11/20/06) Two Items: First, Susan Kidd and the word Cans shouldn't be used in title of a newsblurb for obvious reasons, although they are spectacular, all three of them. Finally, I agree with WB, D&M will return with their per usual excuse making, secret squirrel bullshit, and inside codeword crapola. On occasion I catch the first hour of their show, especially if they are taking issue or feuding with this site (about the only thing that keeps that studio full of man-boobs interesting), otherwise I don't spend a second of time listening to the Best of D&M. So, if this is some sort of stunt to garner ratings, I certainly don't get it. It doesn't affect the casual listener like myself and only punishes their devoted fans. I am more inclined to hear about their ignominious return on this site than remember to listen when they return. (11/20/06) I agree with previous poster that when Don and Mike return "we wish we could, but we can't talk about it...", etc. will be the standard issue reply--straight out of the "DJ Handbook". Guys, I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but no more: these kind of radio stunts that you mock and deride as pitiful are the very ones you are now embracing!! This sure seems to be a perfectly timed shell-game for the fall ratings book. Are we wrong Don and Mike? If so, prove it to us. Why should we NOT think that this is anything but a sad stunt? How many times can you go to this well?? -Barney in Annapolis (11/20/06) This is such sad news to hear that Susan Kidd is leaving NBC 4. I don't think that broadcast will be as good without her. I could tell that she was crying today. Hang in there and I am hoping you will join a new team soon! (11/20/06) Wow! Just by reading DCRTV I see that Dan Alexander (aka Michael Wolfgang) has checked in from Chicago… and from the fabled blow-torch WLS! (You can just HEAR those PAMS jingles when fired by the Wild-Eyed Italiano, Dick Biondi. But I digress…) Dan Alexander belittles his own sterling career as a really hot rock jock. I knew him waaaay back while at the old WIST in the mid-1960’s as we were being trounced by Jack Gale at Stan and Sis Kaplan’s Big WAYS. Alexander is another radio Good Guy. Tom Gauger. PS: Good luck to Joyce Conroy at WYTI. (11/20/06) WTMD 89.7 and in Washington on WAMU-HD2 will be Playing Alice's Restaurant….the whole thing…during the noon hour on Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays. FYI, we hear Radio Shack will have HD radios on sale for $99 the day after Thanksgiving. (11/20/06) I'm sure D&M will be back, probably on Monday Nov 27th. With the same old tired D&M bullshit...."we can't talk about it"....Write it down...take it to the bank...That will be their response...WB Centreville, VA (11/20/06) Quite a shame that Susan Kidd is getting the heave-ho from Channel 4. A lot of what has kept 4 on top of the local news races for so long is the fact that viewers at that hour know that they will see a familiar (and competent) face. I say familiar, not in terms of the viewer knowing the anchor, but the anchor knowing her viewers, and I think that Susan Kidd exemplified that. If 4 isn't careful, they could see the same fate as WUSA before too long, and people will look back at this day as being analogous to when Channel 9 dropped Maureen Bunyan. I hope Susan can find another prominent gig in the area, perhaps Ch 7 or 9, or WaPo Radio? Good luck, and Happy Holidays... :-/ Joe in SS. (11/20/06) I don't know if there's any good answer to this, but here goes anyway...Can anyone explain why, if 101.9 in Baltimore & WASH-FM in DC insist on going the marathon route each year with the Xmas music, that they have to have such a ridiculously limited playlist?? Just from going back to them every 3-4 hours this weekend, I can safely say Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas",the Crosby/Bowie duet on "Drummer Boy" and Lennon's "War Is Over" aren't just getting run into the ground, they're getting drilled into it with an oil rig. When these stations plan on doing this every year, why do they ignore a whole slew of other classic or novelty Xmas tunes? I like those songs above too, but do they HAVE to play Whitney Houston's "Do You Hear What I Hear" only spaced 2 hours apart? If I had to guess, I'd say they have maybe 125 songs in rotation--tops. So what is it, shoddy programming in advance, or they just don't care? (11/20/06) Dave or anybody: I seem to recall for many years WHFS played "Alices Restaurant" as well (back in the 70's) but there but be SOMEPLACE closer than Winchester playing it on Thanksgiving Day? Anyone know, or is there a radio show producer out there who will? Thanks! BTW: F-D & M..their arrogance finally caught up to 'em. somethinghappened.com (11/20/06) To Susan Kidd: Love, it will NEVER be the same watching the daily newscast without your pretty face adorning the screen. But I'm here to tell you NBC4 remains my source for afternoon and evening news. I'll miss you very much! You were handed a shitty deal. Rusty Gibson WEBR RadioFairfax (11/20/06) I'm glad that the O.J. TV special on Fox and the book deal have been cancelled. I understand that the book had been scheduled to hit the stores within two weeks. I don't know anything about publishing deadlines or timelines, but I have to think that they've already been printed and maybe copies have been sent out into the normal distribution channels. If I'm correct about this, I wonder how soon before we'll start seeing see copies of "If I Did It" offerred on eBay?!? (11/20/06) "Does anyone think there will be enough pressure from viewers and the NFL to get NFL Network onto the basic programming tier (non-digital) for the series of Thursday night games that begins this week?" ----- Dave's response: I can't imagine that area cable TV giant Comcast would move the channel from digital to analog any time soon. Look at the huge fuss it was for them to add MASN to expanded basic on area systems..... ----- But there are two BIG differences. One being that the NFL Network isn't in the same position of enmity with Comcast that Peter Angelos' MASN was, and wouldn't be competing with their CSN for viewers. Plus it's football. The other is that the NFL is an unstoppable juggernaut at this point, whereas the main draw of MASN was regular season baseball. And no matter how much anyone may love baseball, it's light years behind football in the "demanding viewers" category. (11/20/06) RE, Don and Mike bet, where is my dollar? (11/20/06) BREAKING! From Drudge: News Corp. Cancels O.J. Simpson Book and TV Special. (11/20/06) Dave's response: Just got the Front Page blurb up..... Hi! This stinks to have more best of D&M. But I doubt that they have been fired. If they were fired, would we really have another week of "best of"? I think that the idea that there were major problems with the Rockville studio, combined with the fact that they were already going to take this week off is an entirely plausible explanation. (11/20/06) This just broke- Rupert Murdoch of Newscorp accounced that the Fox Broadcasting company has decided not to air the O.J. Simpson interview for the upcoming book If I Did It. Regan Publishing has also ditched the idea of publishing the book after outrage from the public. So now the country will remain split on whether OJ did it or not. I Fox should interview Kramer from Seinfeld and ask him Why I Said It? Its unbelievable how stupid these Hollywood types are. Maybe Kramer will use the alcohol excuse a la Mel Gibson. (11/20/06) You have to love Clear Channel. While cutting jobs left and right only a short bit from Xmas, the Mays Boys net themselves 17 million dollars each on the backs of all the employees that have to go home and say no merry Xmas to their family's. Locally, Chiller at Hot 995 is another of these folks. Who says Scrooge is a mythical character. (11/20/06) Don & Mike normally broadcast on the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. I guess they're on suspension. The only question is, will it be short or Opie & Anthony length? Cute dig with replaying their 20th Anniversary show, do ya think they're trying to send a hint to management? (11/20/06) Dave: Would it appear that Don and Mike have indeed been fired? Normally when they have been suspended in the past, Rob or Joe run the best of shows. Since they are not doing this, it would lead me to believe that they have all been fired. Do you have any idea who will be replacing them at WJFK and can you tell me will the new show be syndicated? I would appreciate any info on the new show that you can give me? Thanks, Matt (11/20/06) Dave's response: All I can say is that I have been in touch with certain elements of "the dark side." And what I'm hearing ain't positive about a return of the 106.7 afternoon team. If I hear anything specific, I will let you know..... Dave, A quick shout out to Joyce Conroy. Congratulations and good luck with your new job at WYTI. I am also a Franklin County, VA native and my first home was in the shadow of WYTI's tower at their old location on the north end of town near where the Middle School is now. Also, at one time I worked for WNLB/WZBB when they were in WYTI's current digs at Glennwood Ave. I'll definitely have to look up you and Tom when I get down to visit my grandparents who live near Rocky Mount. As for me, I'm pretty much done with radio unless something falls into my lap and I'm still looking for my next career opportunity. Keith Thompson (11/20/06) Hi Dave, Here's a copy of the memo I've just sent out. Just wanted to get ahead of the rumors. Thanks! "Dear Colleagues, I've been kicked to the curb. 2.O'd. I'm told I'll be off the air as of the end of December. I'd write a long note about the highlights of my years here...but my short term memory is nonexistent. Here's what I know for sure: 1. I'm not bitter because I've remained humble. Really humblED. You can only be called Doreen or JC so many times before you realize it's not all about you. 2. People love me, but they love Vance more. 3. When I was first paired with Wendy I would have thrown myself under a live truck if not for my boys being on the 8 year college plan. Since then, like any good arranged marriage, we've become a family. Her enthusiasm for life and learning is infectious and she is one of the few people in local news who can write a story that makes you want to listen. Every pa and intern should be required to watch her stories. Someone please have the guts to tell her to shut the hell up, or at least cease and desist if she goes on a hair coloring binge again. 4. It has been a real privilege to give voice to those who might not otherwise be heard. Saturday there was a letter to the editor in the Washington Post that praised a photo as breathtaking. I know the photographer was thrilled. It has meant more to me than I can express when a story of mine has moved someone to tears, to action, or to just top of the line me that they enjoyed it. 5. Just 4 One has helped 4 bright students do what they might otherwise have not been able to do.... finish college. Please help Murray Schweitzer keep it going. I hope some of you can meet our current student, Alvara Ortiz. He is a fine young man. 6. None is collective SINGULAR, I don't care what the Washington Post does. Several weeks ago I sat sobbing in my office after reading an e-mail from a professor at the University of the South. He had been through town and caught me on the air. Turns out he used to watch me when I worked in Greensboro, North Carolina. He wrote, "There were virtually no African American professionals in Stuart. My community was supportive of me, but I did not know any African American professional personally. My parents, though they saw to their children's educations, did not finish high school since the school provided for them when they were growing up only went to the 9th grade. All of this is to say that watching you on the news was often the highlight of my day. You made me proud. It meant so much to see a bright, articulate African American professional moving in the world. It helped me to see at an early age what was possible. So thank you, Susan Kidd, for inspiring me to dream, to set goals, and thank you for enlarging my sense of what was professionally possible." I couldn't ask for anything more. I'm a crier, so please avoid eye contact for 48 hours and I'll be just fine. One Love, Kidd" (11/20/06) This just in...with an Opie and Anthony story on the main page of DCRTV, the zombies scramble to make lame skateboarder jokes, realize that Howie has no listeners, he's losing subscribers, and has done nothing but copy O&A for a year trying to save his failed career. Hoo Hoo, I invented irrelevance, tell 'em Fred. (11/20/06) RE:"Anyone want to take bets on whether or not D&M is live this week?" It's thanksgiving week, I really, really doubt they will be on. I bet you a dollar, junkies style. (11/20/06) Anyone know what (if anything) is going on with ReelRadio.com? I tried accessing it while ago and all I got was a blank page... (No "404 Error"...)..... Also, it was good seeing John Bisset's anme on the board. I got to work with John about 20 years ago on a project of mutual interest when 'CXR was moving from Hybla Valley to Merrifield.... (11/20/06) Dave's response: ReelRadio doesn't work for me either. And I just got error messages when trying to access the websites of Radio Gods Forum and Radio And Records. The "virus" must be spreading to all the "R" sites..... Does anyone think there will be enough pressure from viewers and the NFL to get NFL Network onto the basic programming tier (non-digital) for the series of Thursday night games that begins this week? (Chris in Owings Mills) (11/20/06) Dave's response: I can't imagine that area cable TV giant Comcast would move the channel from digital to analog any time soon. Look at the huge fuss it was for them to add MASN to expanded basic on area systems..... I surfed around and stumbled upon your tribute to your Mom. VERY moving. I loved the reference: "Instantly, her blood pressure rose. Almost back to normal. God's honest truth. Ah, my ma. A good liberal." The world needs more good liberals like your Ma. My condolences for your loss. (11/20/06) Dave's response: Thanks. Yeah, ma passed away two years ago today. But I still get messages from her in dreams. And she tells me that she's having a wonderful time, especially talking lefty politics with 98 Rock's Lopez..... Steve Czaban was not on the Comcast TV post game show yesterday and it appears they may have suspended him. I don't know for sure. BUT I don't believe he's been suspended by WTEM radio. (11/20/06) 1) Dave: If FNC is doing that, then it is totally wrong. By you stating that they are airing "OJ-related programs to hype the broadcast", are they actually airing ads for the show? O'Reilly and Geraldo have publicly condemned the show. 2) Art Bell is truly losing his mind. During last night's "Coast to Coast AM" live broadcast from Manila, he asked listeners that if they've sold their soul to the Devil, to call the show and that they will bypass the screener and talk directly on-air with Art. Some real nutcases called in (not me, thankfully!) 3) Laura Ingraham predicts that Katie Couric will make a triumphant return to the "Today Show" and that Meredith Vieira will move on to "Dateline" with Stone Phillips. -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/20/06) Dave's response: I didn't watch Fox News over the weekend, but I read on some news sites that the channel was running some old interviews with OJ. Why now? Hmmm. Don't know if any ads ran..... I would be very thankful to the management of WTWP if they would give Mike Moss the rest of the week off to rest up and give David Burd a chance to do the whole week solo. It was so riveting this morning that I didn't even bother flipping to the check out any other radio show or even listen to my iPod this morning, which is a first on my weekday commutes. (11/20/06) "Dave's response: I just sense a dark and deepening rift between the D&M camp and the CBS Radio camp over last week's "festivities." If the show's back today, it won't be because everyone has "kissed and made up"....." If they're back today its because O'Meara has child support to pay and isnt selling many... burgers at his dump out in Manassas....WB Centreville, Va (11/20/06) To the poster asking if anyone would be playing "Alice's Restaurant" in the NYC Thanksgiving tradition, well coincidentally I will on a special edition of The Magical History Tour this coming Wednesday between 9:00am and Noon. Rusty Gibson WEBR RadioFairfax (11/20/06) For those in listening range, Real Classic Rock 104.9/105.5 in Winchester, VA plays the full version of "Alice's Restaurant" at Noon and 5p.m. every Thanksgiving Day. Cheers, Kym McKay/PD/Real Classic Rock 104.9/105.5... (11/20/06) I agree with the previous poster, regarding our local Fox affiliate plans to broadcast the O.J. Simpson infommercial. I have also let my feelings be known should they continue and profit from this sick endeavor. I urge all those who feel similarly to contact Fox5 and let them know your feelings. www.myfoxdc.com (11/20/06) Re.: Alice's Restaurant. I know one of the Baltimore Stations plays it every year at noon on Thanksgiving Day. I'm pretty sure it's 98Rock. If not it's "The Bay". Hopefully, someone else can clarify. Doug in Bel Air (11/20/06) You know you're a DCRTV addict when you see the headline "The Junkies Network" on Howard Kurtz's column and expect the installment to be about WJFK's morning team. (11/20/06) I heard on Redskins pre-game that Steve Czaban was suspended for a couple of shows for his questioning of Mark Brunell. (11/20/06) Dave: As always, thanks for being first to report that George Michael was stepping down from the NBC4 sports desk. I saw their newest sports guy, Dan Hellie (sp?) at the Tampa Bay game yesterday and the said that he & Lindsay Czarniak are taking the reins. Which one do you think will do the 6PM news and become the #1 sports face @ WRC? (11/20/06) Dave's response: I think she should be the top dog since she's been at 4 longer and has proven herself. But, knowing the male dominated world of TV sports, he probably will..... Just a quick question for radio fans. In NYC, there’s a Thanksgiving tradition of radio stations playing the song “Alice’s Restaurant” (the full “Massacre” version) at least once on Thanksgiving Day. I know XM’s Deep Tracks will be playing it this year, but are there any local DC stations preserving the tradition? Happy Holidays. (11/20/06) Do you know why Steve Czaban wasn't on the Redskins Postagame show on Comcast Sports Net yesterday? Was he banished because or his questioning of quarterback Mark Brunell the prior week? Just Curious. Thanks. Paul (11/20/06) To Greg Carpenter: Don't let the mean-spirited people who sometimes appear on this site get you down. You are, and have always been, a born and bred Baltimore radio professional. I miss hearing you in the mornings, but enjoy the ride home with you in the afternoons. (11/20/06) Anyone want to take bets on whether or not D&M is live this week? (11/20/06) Dave's response: I just sense a dark and deepening rift between the D&M camp and the CBS Radio camp over last week's "festivities." If the show's back today, it won't be because everyone has "kissed and made up"..... Steve Czaban of WTEM must have been kicked off the COMCAST post-game show for the Skins because Mike Wise was on in his place. Not only that, they didn't let any of the panelists, Wise, Brian Mitchell, Ken Harvey, ask questions of the players or coaches. Only the COMCAST beat reporter. This all arises apparently from Czaban's rather innocuous question to Mark Brunnel last week which Brunnel apparently took offense to. But is sure shows that when Danny Boy says jump, COMCAST Sportsnet says how high. (11/20/06) I just sent an e-mail to FOX5 regarding the OJ show: "By FOX5DC choosing to air the OJ Simpson interview, what you've shown is that you also have blood on your hands and I will never, ever watch your network again. You have shown complete disrespect to your public. Simpson does not deserve your air-time. Please reconsider your decision." -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/20/06) Dave's response: Good for you, Silvie! Last week, Fox NEWS dolt John Gibson lectured his viewers that it was the Fox BROADCAST network, not the Fox NEWS Channel, that was doing the OJ blood money thingo. Even though both are owned by the gnarled Rupert Murdoch. Yet, this past weekend, the Fox NEWS Channel ran several OJ-related programs to hype the Fox BROADCAST network shows next week. So, I guess Gibson was misguided - his fellow "newsers" have blood on their hands, too..... This DC Media Shake Up you are reporting looks pretty big. There are some very long faces over at the Washington Post and some "announcement" is supposed to happen today. Looks like the Post is some how the "loser" on this shake up! (11/20/06) Hey Dave… I was in a Googling mood and ended up at your Website this morning. I was wowed!! You really have an ear and insight into the DC media market. There were lots of delicious tidbits which I gobbled up (wondering why it took me so long to discover DCRTV, Internet junkie that I am). I was in DC from the early 80s until ’95, first as Production Director at Q-107 during its heyday under the programming genius of Alan Burns. It was an amazing experience and probably the most fun I’ve had during my…hrumph…LENGTHY radio career. I went on to do mornings and production at VOA Europe for a couple of years before joining WCXR as Production Director during their Classic Rock days. I ended up at XTRA-OLDIES after ‘CXR was sold and the new owners canned the programming department then ended up “on the beach” for a while after Liberty Broadcasting prepared to put the chain on the block by issuing a major cost-cutting edict across the board. I was saddened to learn of Jax Alex’s passing. I worked with him at XTRA prior to being “downsized”. Anyhow, I just wanted to drop a note your way to let you know how impressed I am with your Website, which I’ve bookmarked and will return to daily. I’m curious as to your broadcasting background. Are you or have you been a “participant”…”an observer”…or both? Whatever, you’ve honed your craft and have won over a new regular reader. Regards, Michael Wolfgang (AKA “Dan Alexander”), Production Director, WLS-AM, Chicago (11/20/06) Dave's response: Thanks Michael. I like to think of myself as an "observer." I did do a little bit of radio back in college, mainly behind-the-scenes stuff, but my career is mainly in writing and reporting. During the 1980s and early 1990s, I wrote for a bunch of radio and TV technical trade pubs and did a lot of freelance writing work covering "the biz." I was working at Radio World in Falls Church when 105.9 became classic rock WCXR. Remember engineer John Bisset? As a youth in the 1970s, I spent many evenings and nights listening to WLS from Chicago, but I always liked WCFL better. Ha ha ha..... RE: "Before you start telling others how to support the troops, why don’t you begin by tell us what you’ve done for them????" I'd be more than happy to. Here's a suggestion....before you run out to WalMart and spend another five bucks on your next "I support the troops" magnetic yellow ribbon for the back of your SUV...you know, the one which supports no more than the Magnetic Yellow Ribbon Manufacturers Association of America...I challenge you to do as I do and go to www.anysoldier.com. From there, you can see what a soldier on the front lines actually would like to receive (No suprise there, I have yet to see one soldier ask for a membership to Rushlimbaugh.com or a free copy of the limbaugh letter). Next, go get a box, put the stuff the soldier asked for into it and send it to the APO listed. If that is too complecated, then you can PayPal a donation or anysoldier.com, or mail one to P.O. Box 715, Waldorf, MD 20604. 100% of your donations actually go to support the needs of a soldier serving in the combat area, unlike that crummy "I support the Troops" magnetic yellow ribbon tens of thousands of Patriotic Americans bought last week to inflate their own ego. Now, might I suggest you pull your arm back down, curl your cynical index finger around a pen, and get to work on your checkbook before you embarass yourself any further? (11/20/06) WJLA has a strict contract that they must air Wheel Of Fortune as soon as ABC Sports ends the game. This was a requirement of King World when WJLA bought the rights to air Wheel. Since the Game itself was over, WJLA had to start Wheel. There are ABC O&O (ABC Owned & Operated) stations that have the same contractual language, and they actually have to cut off the network too! (11/20/06) BREAKING: Big DC media shake-up/announcement planned for Monday morning... I have a very good source who tells me that this has something to do with CBS and the Washington Post. Not CNN. (11/20/06) The manager of 101.9 in Baltimore would be wise to enroll Craig Carpenter in a remedial reading class. He cannot get through a complete sentence without tripping over himself. Friday afternoon - for example - he stammered and stuttered his way through an announcement for an upcoming holiday event with all the confidence of a bush league beginner. (11/20/06) /\ November 20 Messages /\ \/ November 19 Messages \/ “Rush actually gave nothing more than two hours of his time for this presentation....If he really cares so much about the troops, howabout showing his appreciation better by renting the Warner, footing the bill for a few entertainment acts, and picking up the transportation costs to bring wounded Iraq and Afghanistan vets over from Walter Reed for an evening.” Before you start telling others how to support the troops, why don’t you begin by tell us what you’ve done for them???? (11/19/06) Do the various tv stations think that they are being cute by disguising racial descriptions when they report on criminal activity? I refer to catch phrases like "teen gunmen", "group of youths", "gang of youths", "teen attacker", etc, etc. When it became politically incorrect to mention the race of criminal defendants media outlets resorted to these and so many more stupid descriptions. They aren't fooling anyone. (11/19/06) What's up at WJLA? I'm still waiting for the post game interviews from the Ohio vs Michigan State game. Announcer says they will be right back for the Post Game Show after these messages from your local station. After about 8 minutes of commercials they air the end of Wheel of Fortune. What gives? (11/19/06) Lindsay Czarniak is both a babe and an intelligent sportscaster. She would be in line to become the sports boss at Channel 4, and good for her I hope she gets the gig. Her biogrpahy shows just the Right Stuff to run WRC sports -- rollerblading, running, hiking, skiing .. loves the beach, sushi, traveling and going to sporting events …enjoys art and movies, seeing shows, getting together with friends. What's not to like ? (11/19/06) In response about "George Michael viewer" and supposedly not watching and giving "a lot of details." You should have said, "true details." That would be much more accurate. Thanks. (11/19/06) There is a new children book hitting the shelves next week . unknown author but one can guess... Title Little D never learned to share... Here are few lines from the book... Once there was a boy king named little d who owned a football team. He would charge fifty dollar a beer and ten dollars to use the bathroom. His team would always loose even though he over paid for a bunch sorry ass players. Every year at the beginning of the season he would tell the people of his kingdom that they were going to the super bowl, and every year his stupid fan would believe him. They come to the stadium by the thousands hoping the see little D’s team win a game or even score some points, but they never did. This made the boy king so mad that ordered all the trees in the national park near his home cut down. (11/19/06) From a mail insert that I received from Verizon over the weekend: Verizon wants to bring you a new choice for TV service in Prince George's County - FiOS TV. FiOS TV features: * Hundreds of digital video channels... * Breathtaking pictures & flawless sound... * Thousands of shows & movies-on-demand... * Dozens of digital, commercial-free music channels... * An unprecedented lineup of diverse programming... * And the quality service & reliability you can count on from Verizon... Visit www.verizon.com/md to learn more about FiOS TV & to ask your County Council Member to vote YES on Verizon's cable franchise on Nov. 28. (11/19/06) I found the Post's abridged publishing, Saturday, of the blog against Czaniak's comedy club win as a lapse in journalistic ethics. They, conveniently, make no mention of Wise's being a judge or his supposed bad taste joke for which he is alleged to have apologized to her parents who were in attendance. Frankly, it read as a hit piece on Lindsey. Why, I dunno and I have no dog in this fight. It makes me wonder though if it is a attempted subtle move on some people's part to begin to torpedo her chance at succeeding George. The darn thing was a amateur night for charity with B list local celebs. Why make it out to be something more than a very weak version of Dancing with the Stars. The blogger should grow up and the Post either should have published the thing in its entirety (whoops, that might not have shown Kornheiser wannabe Wise in a bad light) or not published it at all, IMHO. Care to add your two cents, Dave? Bob from College Park (11/19/06) I think everyone understands that WTEM has a contractual deal with Les Boulez (as they’ll always be to me) that mandates that the games be carried in their entirety, no matter what, but that just reinforces what horrible management that station has. If you EVER put yourself in a position where you have to leave Event A (helloooo . . . #1 against #2) to go to Event B, you’ve screwed the pooch. I was in the car when they cut away, and I couldn’t believe it. Sincerely, TMU (11/19/06) Dear Dave: While another poster correctly pointed out about WTEM being contractually obligated to cut away from the Ohio State/Michigan game, the fact that they did not have any sort of viable backup plan in the event that game ran over (and most will agree that this was a very BIG game) tells me that they are just ill-prepared to handle any foreseeable contingency. To quote my favorite line, I couldn't see them successfully coordinating a one-car funeral procession. Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (11/19/06) 1) If FOX5DC airs the O.J. Simpson special, I swear I will never watch that channel again and I will tell my friends & family to do the same. 2) Jerry Klein, WMAL's resident liberal, was talking once again about Rush, this time during his Sunday show and commented on what a good man Rush is & how "he's as nice as anyone I've met", a "lovely man" and "generous". Okay liberals, Klein was on stage with Rush and actually spoke to the man. 'Nuff said. -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/19/06) Regarding the "blunt" Brian Mitchell, he's a flaming hypocrite. He was on the bandwagon before the season just like most people were. Now he acts like he knew they would suck all along. And with Mitchell, one must always remember that he was let go when the Redskins signed Deion Sanders. He nurses a huge grudge against Snyder and all of his commentary about the Redskins must be taken with that in mind. (11/19/06) Re: George Michael viewer: "He was a great DJ in Philly and NY but is a truly awful, terrible and horrible TV sportscaster. I'm glad I don't see him on TV." You sure give a lot of details for someone who doesn't see him on TV! (11/19/06) The poster is right - WTEM had no choice but to break away from OSU/Michigan for the Wizards. They're the primary rightsholder of the team, and are required by their contract to carry even the pre-game show live. The only problem they had is no way to handle things if the game went over, and "moving" listeners to 570/1260/whatever would be messy. (11/19/06) Glad George Michael is leaving. For years he gets away with "last night's" stories and highlights shown before fresh sports information. And sometimes he doesn't even give current sports info in lieu of old stuff and idiotic highlights from things he's only interested in. He was a great DJ in Philly and NY but is a truly awful, terrible and horrible TV sportscaster. I'm glad I don't see him on TV. (11/19/06) As much energy as ‘Dave’ seemed to put into dissecting all the sordid details about everything else Don and Mike related, I find it odd that all that we are getting is speculation. I mean, dude if you are so high-octane and tuned in, why don’t you clue us all in as well. See, I think you know sompthin…so let the cat out of the bag. Something like this does not occur in a vacuum. What say ye? CF in Sactown (11/19/06) Dave's response: Jesus, it's "only" a radio show!!! So what am I supposed to do, bug Michael Hughes's phone or camp out in front of the "radio gods" homes? Frankly, I've got better things to do with my time like writing love letters to Ann Coulter..... Dear Dave: Did WTEM pull another radio version of the "Heidi Bowl" again? Shades of their cutaway from the overtime of a Maryland-NC State football game (with big post-season implications) for a meaningless early-season Wizards game about five years ago. Well...can't accuse the station of being inconsistent. They are very consistent...consistently lousy programming, consistently no-knowledge-of-anything-but-the-Redskins air staff, consistently mediocre signal at night, consistently low ratings, etc. Some days you just wanna say "What a waste of a frequency!" If I don't get the chance, Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Again, Dave, a great site! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (11/19/06) To "Sister" Joyce Conroy: I am sitting in the front row rooting for you as you embark on your new gig for I know you will kick ass and take names on your way to the top! And to the kind individual that missed me on the on the air last Friday. sorry I had the flu. But I will be filling in for a friend's show on Wednesday morning (@9:am), and will also be doing my normal show this Friday from 3 'til5. But Peace & Love to All, Rusty Gibson, WEBR Radio/Fairfax (11/19/06) I saw no obit for Jack Alix in the last couple of Wash Post...come on Wash Post I think Mr. Alix was certainly deserving a write up!.....just read the Wash Post article on the gutting of channel 4 sport's department.....geez if George Michael hadn't taken the sword how many more members of the sport's department would have been let go...going from 20 to 10 seems way drastic......wonder if these 20 not only worked the daily sport's casts but also worked on the Sport's Machine...did the channel 4 sport's department have it's own camera and lighting and sound people and oh yeah, make-up?.... how does the size of channel 4's sport's department compare to the other tv channels in D.C. ...wonder if Hellie came to D.C. thinking, okay look at all these resources,but now what.........was watching MSNBC this morn and it's Headliner's and Legends show about Oprah....gee in college she was relatively svelte....and any pictures of the bald headed Oprah after baltimore channel 13 sent her to New York City for a makeover....did Marty Bass offer his do to Oprah? and I saw a photo of Oprah with a younger Ron Reilly with mustache and was that permed hair I saw on Mr. Reilly?.....on this weekend's George Michael Redskin's Report(geez he seems so full of vineagar on the show) he says Riggo got canned by Sirrius or was this just a joke(ha-ha) by Mr. Michael?.....was watching ESPN this afternoon and they had a little piece about the Brett Farvre and Peyton Manning match up this weekend and they compared it to a match up back in 1972 between Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath...they showed some footage of a yuteful Riggo catching a pass from Broadway Joe!.....say would a teaming of ole Kevin Kiley and John Riggins be thick enough for Tripe X ESPN radio? or maybe Nat Albright and John Riggins...hey it's time for the 5 o'clock club......geez louisie I just saw in the last City Paper issue that Brian Wilson was in town Saturday night(with Al Jardine!, that's been a long time) that's the first I heard of it ,dang! Say maybe that's were Donnie G. has been all week, he was wrapping things up at home to become a roadie for Brian Wilson? ..... Enjoyed the heck out of Mr. Dylan at Patriot Centre Friday night, well except for the dude seated next too me who kept farting all night, had breath like a dead bear and kept shouting Dillon!, Dillion!, even while the very good Ranconteurs played the opening set, yeah Jack White!....but the smell...can you imagine the smell!.........hey buddy do you want too make a deal?....Bill Smith...Why so many questions? I'm a kid, it's my job!.....I'm your Huckleberry! (11/19/06) Dave's response: Washington Post "obituaries" (unpaid editorial articles) can appear upwards of a month after the person dies, so we still may see one about Jack Alix. Those small print "death notices" are paid-for by the family of the deceased. And I guess Alix's family only ran a death notice in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which we linked to, and not in the Post. It was their call..... I’m sure the only “flood” around any telephones was from Don’s tears. I’ve only been listening for three or four years, but this guy’s act has turned into the whiniest no talent thing on radio. Has he ever had a real job and had to put in a 40 hour week, no matter what? All it has been for some time now is crying over bad ratings or gloating over minor increases. If he really has to mention it at all there is certainly no need for it to go on for hours. Of course, that’s just par for this “talent”. They are the masters of trying to turn three minutes of somewhat amusing stuff into a 20-30 minute bit. Maybe management just needs to pull the plug. Buy out the loser’s contracts and let them walk. My God, if all someone can talk about is how badly they want out, why keep them around? I can waste a minute each day to see if they can trouble themselves to show up for work. I do want to hear whatever lame excuse will be presented. After that, which will surely take three or four hours, I’m done. Besides, the next month long vacation is not far away. Must be nice…. If only the advertisers who bought into the November book period would do something about being defrauded. A soon to be former listener in Las Vegas (11/19/06) Now that Clear Channel is spinning off the Salisbury stations, here are some thoughts. First they have 8 stations, 6 FM and 2 AM. When the 6 FM were picked up the rules were based on overlap, but now it's based on market, so one of the FM's will have to be spun off separately. I would thing Magic 98.9, for several reasons, low billing and it's tower sites owned, all the other FM sites are leased.Now who wants these stations? Well with 2 class B FM's and a Class B-1, I would think Cumulus might want back in the market (They sold to CC because of a bigger deal to add other CC stations). How about Nassau,they've been expanding into the region. Also Saga, which has stations in the Norfolk area. By the way Great Scott has a similar problem, 8 FM's and 2 AM's, if they ever sell, 3 FM's will have to go separately. Delmarva Broadcasting is kind of interesting because they own 4 FM in the market, and two in Milford. Milford in spill in half, part is in Sussex County and half is in Kent County. The tower site for WAFL is in Kent County, and the tower site for WNCL is in Sussex County, so depending on how the FCC looks at it they either have 4 FM's in the Salisbury market, or 5 or 6. They do primarily market both Milford stations at the Dover area, which is a part of the Wilmington market. I hear that Delmarva may be looking to acquire more stations,but I don't know where. Would MTS be interested in adding to the Cambridge cluster (Not all of Clear Channel, but may be the FM being sold separately). Would Beasley which is buying WJBR FM in Wilmington be interested in adding the Salisbury stations as a regional play? Oh had the voice tracking by out of market jocks will probably change, one shift on Froggy is done by a jock at WPOC in Baltimore. The news on the Salisbury cluster was done by Arron at WPOC, but that ended when Clear Channel entered into a deal with WBOC to provide news and weather for it's stations.2007 is going to be very interesting "Down the ocean Hon". (11/19/06) Dave, is there some way, some amount of money, that could get me in the ring with The Junkies' "JP Flaim"? Wow, all this time, I didn't even know what I was missing on WHFS LIVE 105.7! Damn! Seriously, I promise to be incredibly competitive (I don't have boxing gloves but I do have UFC gloves), but don't worry, I will throw the fight of course, I wouldn't think of messing up his pretty-boy face, and I'll certainly make it worth his time. They say some people have a face for radio. But, damn, that boy's got a face for modeling or at least the Washington Navy yard area [strip] bars. Ooops, but thats a "flame" of a completely DIFFERENT kind! My bad, sorry. :-) (11/19/06) WTEM was likely obligated to carry the Washington Wizards game in its entirety, regardless of whether it had to preempt the finish of the "college football game of the year." That begs the question of why WTEM slotted Michigan at Ohio State in such a vulnerable position in the first place. There had to be a better solution than some abrupt 7 p.m. cutoff of the college football with no explanation or resolution for its listeners. Everett W. (11/19/06) " I also think it's wonderful that five years into the war, Rush finally availed himself of his FIRST opportunity to put down the golf clubs and actually spend thirty minutes" Wow someone is very emotional. I could care less what people think of him but lets interject some facts….this hasn't been going on 5 years and he has made a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan a year or two back for starters. I think the point being made was that he’s done a hell of a lot more for the troops than 90% of the people that like to take shots at his past problems. (11/19/06) /\ November 19 Messages /\ \/ November 18 Messages \/ Congratulations to the fucking geniuses at Clear Channel! With four minutes left in the biggest college football game of the season, WTEM abruptly cut away from the Ohio State-Michigan game at 7 PM to broadcast the Washington Wizards. Perhaps once the private equity group takes control of CC, some common sense might take hold. Then again, I ain't holding my breath! (11/18/06) 104.7 wasn't there supposed to be an translator there?? Tell me more... rk (11/18/06) As a longtime listener of D&M I have to say that the recent decision on their part to walk out on the show due to "technical" difficulties is unprofessional and disappointing. They've done it before and maybe the first time it was funny due to its "shock" value but do it over phone problems is lame. What happened to just off the cuff discourse between D&M about current events or some other topic? Part of being a live show is being able to cope with technical gaffs and screw ups and still put something out there. It would appear that the frequency of these "walk outs" is occurring with some regularity and that the real reason behind them might be a way of wriggling out of their contract and getting out of terrestrial radio. I know I've bailed on them and now find myself listening to Howard Stern replays on Sirius during the D&M time slot...between the endless commercials and their "best of" shows that we are forced to hear because they have to storm out on their audience, I just can't hang in there anymore. (11/18/06) Every keeps talking about D&M yet no one knows the truth. Like most things, instead of searching for the truth, people make up shit. How about some sources get searched. Until then, SHUT UP! Bryslock (11/18/06) I have to agree with the poster who asked why George Michael didn't make a deal with the station to include his staff with the offer they made. From what it appears, the offer included a bunch of money. Don't know how much, but he could've refused some of that money to save his staff..And even though he's leaving, isn't all his staff being let go anyway? So who's jobs is he saving? (11/18/06) Dear WHFS: I have been a listener since 1990 and have stuck by since you went half talk - half music, even enjoying some of the new talk programming like the Ed Norris show, Penn Jillette, and Don and Mike. I don't mind the format of half talk, half music. It seems to be the way the industry is going nowadays and I understand that. But where's the freaking music ? Every time I turn on the station when music is supposed to be on, there's either UMD games or sports shows or the Ravens shows on Sundays. The Ravens are already on 98 Rock and CBS already has a sports AMer that can broadcast these shows. Why are both of the freaking Baltimore rock stations broadcasting Ravens football shows at the same time ? WHY ?! I don't mind football, hell, I like watching football every once in a while, but seriously the audience of the Ravens are already being served on either 98 Rock or ESPN 1300. There is a rock audience that needs to be served too, and as a Bawlmorean, I don't want to listen to DC101 (especially when they'll update you with the Skins scores). I have XM, love it to death and prefer it to almost anything out there, but WHFS still gets a scan when I'm driving because I love my HFS dj's and I'M LOYAL. Please bring the rock and roll back to the airwaves, at least part-time. Signed, Loyal Listener KeninEaston (11/18/06) Comcast was to my house four times to fix a complaint: HBOHD was coming in badly if at all. Call #1: put an amplifier on the line inside the house. Call #2: recognize a problem with the cable box in the front room and swap boxes. Call #3: put in a new drop wire from the pole and recognize that the problem isn't on my premises. Call #4: a bucket truck shows up and does who knows what except the HBOHD channel is now reliable. Funny thing, though. The HBOHD channel is right next to its low-def counterpart. They look IDENTICAL. Conclusion: Instead of fixing the problem, Comcast is feeding the reliable low-def signal in place of the unreliable high-def signal. Sure shuts up the customer. (11/18/06) Dave's response: Cable companies are notorious for "blaming the individual customer" for system-wide problems. I don't know how many times I've called to complain that there's something wrong with my set-top box or cable modem and have an appointment scheduled to visit my domicile - like it's only "my problem." And later to have the cable guys discover that "my outage" actually affects a whole bunch of customers..... That's a really interesting question (whether Buzz Burbank gets suspended without pay when the big boyz do). I guess it depends on his contract and whether it says he is expected to work whenever there's a live show, or whether he's supposed to work on every day except holidays and his regular days off (plus vacation, sick leave). If the latter, then it would be a matter of Buzz opting for suspension rather than incurring Don's wrath for acting like a scab and showing up for work. Methinks donny would really make you pay for any perceived disloyalty. (11/18/06) Dave, I'm sorry. The link to the article in the Roanoke Times on the termination of Jamey Singleton is www.roanoke.com. Have a great day. Joyce Conroy (11/18/06) As a longtime listener of Don & Mike, I can't help but agree with some of the letters that you've shared in your mailbag. I think Don's tantrums and tirades are really getting old (I turn them off) and this latest stunt they've pulled is too much. I'd be curious to know the real story behind them being off the air for a week now; has Mike finally hit his rock bottom and entered rehab? Has Don shown his ass and pushed the envelope for the last time? I miss the good old days of D&M -- Beth Ann McBride....Dennis whatever the hell his last name was...just the goofiness of it all. Oh well....all good things must come to an end, I suppose...(??) Sign me, A Disappointed Sacramento Listener (11/18/06) I think I've got the formula that would be a ratings winner for WTWP's morning show. Moss and Murphy in the Morning, Dennis Murphy that is. (11/18/06) Believe me, I have no intention of seeing Katie Couric's play, but since you put the blurb up earlier on your front page about her upcoming play, I'd be remiss if I didn't send along this update, which I just read tonight, while paging through the Washington Post's Weekend section: "The Kennedy Center has extended the run of 'Katie Couric's the Brand New Kid,' the world premiere of a children's musical inspired by the CBS news anchor's book about a 7-year-old boy who struggles to be accepted at a new school. The show opens Friday in the Family Theater and continues through Dec. 17. Tickets cost $15. Many performances are sold out. Tickets for the extension weekend, Dec. 15-17, went on sale earlier this week." www.washingtonpost.com... Christian (11/18/06) LOL, to the poster who wrote "The old mange"---I believe that's the ol' MAJ as in Major Bill Smith. Funnier your way, tho! So who besides me sprung for the opportunity to see Junkie JP Flaim get pummeled at the Patriot Center on Dec 9, after Dave so kindly alerted us to it on the front page? Knockout in the first round? Dunno, but it should be grrrreat fun! All that and good lookin' Contender Jimmy Lange, too. I've got a ringside seat, but if you use the Junkies code word on the ticketmaster site you can get some special $200 tix (front rows of the concourse, looks like). See you there! (11/18/06) I could give a rat's a$$ about Um-dum and Michelle Mascara (or Robbay Speedbump for that matter), but does anyone know whether Buzz Burbank is gets penalized when the other two dumb a$$e$ get themselves suspended? At least he's got the Farrish Jeep commercials to fall back on as opposed to those other no-talents. (11/18/06) There is labor unrest at Comcast SportsNet. Technicians who work on-site at various arenas and stadiums (Wiz/Caps ect.) voted in IATSE a year ago and negotiations have reached a critical point. Rumor has it that Comcast has already had scab crews located near events it was covering in case the crew walked. The Company and its technicians are far apart in the economics of the contract. (11/18/06) I.J. Hudson is expected to be leaving NBC by January, 2007... no word on if FOX 5, ABC 7/NC 8, and WUSA 9 have expressed interest in hiring him or not. George Michael is expected to leave by March, 2007... with NBC to end the syndicated "Sports Machine" show after 23 years, and station management to announce who'll be replacing him. IMO, this seems like a repeat of what NBC saw in the late '70s and early '80s. Back in the old days, WUSA 9 had a top-rated news operation. As of now, 9 has since been dead last in the ratings. 9 hasn't been the same since Glenn Brenner passed away nearly 15 years ago... as well as hasn't been the same since Gordo and Mo (as in Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyan) were let go. I can see that 9 is managing to hold on to J.C. Hayward, Bruce Johnson, Andrea Roane, and Gary Reals, who have been at 9 during most of their news careers. If NBC was to can Jim Vance and Doreen Gentzler, and replace them with new lead anchors (which will likely not happen)... and/or NBC 4 moving "Dr. Phil" to 5 p.m., and cancel the 5 p.m. newscast. Either or both could hurt NBC 4's ratings. For the past year and a half, NBC 4 and ABC 7 have been battling for 1st place at 5 p.m. With NBC continuing to impose the budget cuts, it would appear to be inevitable that ABC 7 could and might very well be on its way toward becoming the top-rated news operation. (11/18/06) /\ November 18 Messages /\ \/ November 17 Messages \/ Guys, good call on WSMJ changing formats a few months ago. Just had their highest share yet in the latest B'More trend. (11/17/06) Regarding the termination of meteorologist, Jamey Singleton, here's a link to the story that is running in the Roanoke Times. Jamey grew up in Franklin County, Virginia where I am currently a resident. Personally, I am a bit troubled by the decision of WSLS to terminate Jamey given that the photo was allegedly posted on the internet without his consent. In the Roanoke Times article, an ethics expert believed that Jamie would not have been fired if his record was clean. Jamey also shared in the article that he made it through rehab and has been clean. I wish Jamey all the best. This situation reminds me of our discussions about Keith Mills. It is difficult enough for a recovering addict to land on his/her feet and equally difficult when you hold a position in the media. Unfortunately, drug addiction brings with it other problems like bad influences that can remain after a former addict has made a positive decision toward recovery. This is sadly what happened to Jamey as the person who took the picture was a former friend. I just wish that the management of WSLS could have taken this into account. On a lighter note, just wanted to share that I am still hosting "Oldies Block Party" with WHFC; however, I have taken a position with WYTI (AM 1570) in Rocky Mount, Virginia assisting in station operations. WYTI has been on the air for 50 years and it is a true honor to be a part of the team. Blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC and WYTI). (11/17/06) An interesting angle to the naked Roanoke weatherman story that wasn't mentioned in the initial AP story: Several months ago, the same meteorologist publicly admitted that he was abusing heroin. www.wsls.com... It's interesting that admitted heroin abuse apparently doesn't violate Jamey Singleton's morals clause, but having a nude photo of himself posted online, possibly without his own knowledge, does. I hope this guy gets his feet back on the ground. (11/17/06) I see someone mentioned the beautiful music station on 104.7 FM. I noticed it a few years ago, and still have no idea what it is. I'm pretty sure it's a pirate station, and I think it's probably in Rosslyn, since I can get it very clearly at my apartment there, but not as good at a friend's place near Courthouse. If anyone has any information, I would love to hear about it. Michael (11/17/06) Hay how 'bout this, CBS Radio honchos tell Donnie G., dude chill out and just find some peace(?) of mind and we'll pay you rest of contract, you go away now...then O'Meara takes over solo with the erstwhile Robbay and laconic er iconic Buzzito and carry on....say has anyone noticed in the last year or so that Donnie G. uses the heavy guttural UH,UH from his angry redneck character that calls radio station's....he seems to use the UH a lot...is this homage to the redneck character or has Donnie G. morphed into a very very angry person...which is understable when you've lost your anchor and the I'm a Tough Guy shtick gets old.......I don't know, I don't know, if George Michael had it in his head that he was posing the slightest thought of giving up sport's anchor job should he have let Buckner hit the road or was there something else going on there there...and what would czarniac ac, ac,ac do if NBC honchos gut the writer's for the sport's department.....and would Hellie really want to stay, after being lead in Orlando, if he ain't tapped for the weekday sport's anchor chores......I assume that Georgie didn't own the Sport's Machine(is that slated to get gutted by NBC?) seems like something Hellie could easily take over...and what about Sage Steele or heck Jill Sorenson for sport's on channel 4 , someone who knows more about sport's or has sport's turned into it ain't the meat it's the motion these days?.....I've stopped listening to John Riggins show, man all the hype on that station is just so ponderous.....and Riggo as lead don't work for me...he needs someone to play off of who ain't his subordinate....anotherwards, Hey Riggo baby, loosen up!...but I must compliment him on not being a mouthpiece for the glory of the Dreadskin's...does Mr. Gibbs have a gawd complex...........I see no Rusty Gibson and the magically tour show today...seems like every other week is a no show for last couple of months .....sympathy walk out for the DnM cause?...hope things are okay.......Was Jack Alix a diabetic?.....The Old Mange , Bill Smith.....stay on the stick....Oh, Donna (11/17/06) Dave's response: Speaking of Riggo and RedZeb's Triple X, 92.7 is sure coming in a lot better here in Wild West Fairfax these days. Did Dan Snyder cut down some trees on the transmitter site? Reading the story about the WSLS weatherman whose nude pic appeared on My Space, it said that the station has a morals cluase written in the contracts for their employees. I imagine this is normal for TV Stations but what about radio stations? Do they do this? Not talking about religious stations but your average commercial stations? For some reason I seem to remember some controversy a few years back somewhere in Virginia ( I think it was in either Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, maybe Richmond ) when an employee at some station attended the Bear Invasion ( a gay pride event ) in Washington DC only to have pics of himself appear in the Washington Blade. Not only was he fired over it but the people behind Bear Invasion put a rule into place barring anyone who is employed in any media from attending as a direct result of this. If radio does enforce this, seems strange. A jock can talk about sex parties and stuff on the air but to actually attend one they get the ax. (11/17/06) RE: Roanoke weatherman, apparently, he also likes lamps. profile.myspace.com... (11/17/06) RE: "Nice opening piece from Rush today on his visit to DC and the proceeds that went to Fisher House." Yeah....I agree. I'll go you one better.... I also think it's wonderful that five years into the war, Rush finally availed himself of his FIRST opportunity to put down the golf clubs and actually spend thirty minutes in an eye-to-eye visit the wounded vets at Walter Reed who each made powerful sacrifices fighting a war he feels he has the right to compare to a random series of fraternity hazings at a tropical resort. BTW, Rush actually gave nothing more than two hours of his time for this presentation....If he really cares so much about the troops, howabout showing his appreciation better by renting the Warner, footing the bill for a few entertainment acts, and picking up the transportation costs to bring wounded Iraq and Afghanistan vets over from Walter Reed for an evening. Beats the hell out of a self-serving two-hour stroking of his own ego. (11/17/06) I sure hope Don & Mike are gone. I can't stand their show. That dork Don should have been let go permanently every since he walked off the air years ago at the other station when he was bad-mouthing management. What a loser. (11/17/06) Re:Regarding today's rant and the WashPost article on the Soul of Fox & Rupert Murdoch. It’s hard to believe anyone in the media would question anyone’s soul. I recall the WashPost splashing across the A section of their paper a picture of a South Riding couple whose 15-year-old daughter took her own life with her boyfriend. There used to be a time when suicides were not touched by the media. Now, at least according to the 'holier then though' WashPost they are front page material //// It is ? There was? When was this time when suicides weren't "touched" by the media ? Perhaps they were back page, low profile items, but certainly covered if they were newsworthy. It has more to do with what is considered newsworthy in current times. As for why one would find such a story as the example sited on the front page of a major newspaper, simply look at what all media is doing in the competitive marketplace. The salacioius,sexy, and shocking crime story is bound to lead the news, as opposed to matters which are usually much more important, but judged more boring and complicated to understand. Do we have more murder-suicides than decades past? Yep, and we have more people, more guns, and a society which is more violent on the whole. As for questioning Fox and Regan books, I think it's a fair topic for discussion. If you can come up with a scenario where those who are going to profit from Simpson's hypothetical admission of guilt are advancing the greater good of society, or that the money generated from this sick enterprise isn't blood money, please inform me. Outside of money, what is the benefit to anyone of giving this sociopath a stage to flaunt his brutal crimes? This is not analogous to the outrage you may have felt about reading the tale of two teens who committed suicide plastered on the front page of the Washington Post. Oh..and by the way it's "Holier Than Thou" although "Holier Then Though" is more confusing and sounds cooler, but I reckon you are probably still recovering from the shock that this may mean OJ isn't innocent. I suggest you find a better topic on which to bash the Washington Post and defend Rupert and Fox Corporation, this one is indefensible. (11/17/06) WTOP reporting that a Roanoke TV staffer has been fired after a nude photo of him or her was posted on the Internet somewhere. That's all I know for now. (11/17/06) Dave's response: More from www.wavy.com and from our sister VARTV..... Don and Mike seem to be taking yet another day off due to "technical problems" with their phones. WTF!?! Can't they broadcast somewhere else? Where's Rob broadcasting their excuses from? Isn't there an empty studio in northern Virginia... say at WJFK. Aren't they welcome back there? Just a few questions that need never be answered. Thanks -- John from California (11/17/06) Nice numbers to the crew at 1801.What's the company LINE now? Hey boys ,you might want to google MAYFLOWER Van Lines to get their rates.Oh and while you are at it, burn a copy of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper.Your time will come! (11/17/06) Dave's response: SportsTalk 980, er SportsTalk 98.7.... Who wants numbers? For the August/September/October trend: Men18+ Junkies 5.7 Elliot 4.9..... Persons 25-54 Junkies 5.3 Elliot 4.6..... Persons 18-34 Junkies 8.6 Elliot 10.9..... (11/17/06) It would seem as if WRC would want to keep a stable, award-winning, consistently #1 anchor team intact in this competitive market, especially with ABC national programming nipping at NBC's heels. To that extent, don't you think George Michael would have sufficient juice to make staffing demands? For instance, he says the company put a great offer on the table to keep him. Perhaps if he actually cared for his staff as he claims, he would have made them part of his contract negotiation. Do you truly believe WRC management would break up a money team like JimDoreenGeorgeBob over a staffing dispute? If so, I should go for a job in upper-level management at WRC; I've already got the stupidity thing nailed. -Rick (11/17/06) Where are Don and Mike? When will they be back on LIVE? Listener to D & M for 21 years. Only reason I listen to your station. Please bring them back ASAP. They were right - they need good equipment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (11/17/06) Regarding today's rant and the WashPost article on the Soul of Fox & Rupert Murdoch. It’s hard to believe anyone in the media would question anyone’s soul. I recall the WashPost splashing across the A section of their paper a picture of a South Riding couple whose 15-year-old daughter took her own life with her boyfriend. There used to be a time when suicides were not touched by the media. Now, at least according to the 'holier then though' WashPost they are front page material.. Just a thought. (11/17/06) Dave: You got to love this article and a chance to hear George talking up the Jackson 5 and Elton John. www.musicradio77.com... Have a good weekend. Cheers, Jim (11/17/06) As I was driving down Route 7 in Loudoun County today I saw something up in the sky!! Was it a bird? NO! Was it a plane? YES! And there was something trailing behind it. It looked like a banner. I wondered if yesterday's strong winds had inadvertently blown one of the Ocean City advertising planes west. Then I read the banner. It said something about being Comcastic and how Adelphia was now Comcast. I was dumbfounded. A company allegedly on the cusp of technology uses a rickety old plane with a banner in trail to advertise its big announcement in the county? I am not sure if they are dumb or cheap. Maybe if you are still in the cable business today you have to be both! (11/17/06) Dave's response: Comcast took out an ad in the Reston Times yesterday welcoming all the Adelphia customers in Reston to Comcast. One small thing - there are no Adelphia customers in Reston, which has been part of Comcast's empire since Jones sold the system many moons ago..... Regarding the poster who told you to get the ratings breakdowns... I hate to say I agree with him. Dave, you're media savvy enough to know that basing anything off of the 12+ numbers is pretty... irresponsible. If you want to compare stations, compare them based on their key demos versus other stations that target the same listeners. For instance, compare the Persons 25-54 numbers of WARW, WBIG, DC101, and WJFK in mornings, afternoons, etc. If you don't have access to those numbers, you should say so. Then, you should work on getting them. A sermon, and a thought. Jeremy (11/17/06) A few days ago, some of the D&M fans who were around before I had heard of the show (I was on board LONG after the Janety Jackson debacle and have only heard the whitewashed Don and Mike) posted entire clips of the show, dating back not only to 2001, but going all the way back to 1994 and even a few of the WAVA days. Having now listended to those, I see how completwely castrated they are. I'mr eally stunned they sit there and take this. I know people have this image of Don sitting on a golden throne wiping his ass with dollar bills while he effortlessly peels through this show, but no wonder he's upset. THis show used to be fun for them, and now I no longer feel like it is. It took me listening to their old shows to realize ANY change in quality is nopt a result of THEIR decisions, or talent, but the management and staff of Inifinity and CBS radio. I long for aday where they can just be ont he air, without management acting like buffoons. Adam (11/17/06) Way to get an early Christmas vacation Don and Mike. You got the week of the 13th through 17th off. Then since Thanksgiving is on the 24th and you never broadcast live the day after, why not take that entire week off too? It's just three more days. We may get the priviledge of having you live--if they can fix those pesky phones, during the week of November 27-December 1 but then it will be time for your Winter holiday. Hell, just stay off the air until January 8th? This will give you lots of time to get the phones fixed, your batteries recharged and the time you need to unwind after such a trying and difficult year. (11/17/06) Rush is "a good, good, good man"?!? Jesus! Put down the crack pipe! Rush Limbaugh is a vile, evil sack of purulent, steaming pig excrement!I will never forget when President Clinton's mother, Virginia Kelley, passed away in 1994. Out of curiosity, I tuned-in to see what Limbaugh might say about it. His show began, with a typical diatribe, a good 20 minutes of the usual Clinton bashing - vile stuff. Then, just before the first commercial break, he gave a half-assed mention that Clinton's mother had died and expressed his supposed "heartfelt" sympathies. What contemptible bullshit! Even the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz" has more of a heart than Limbaugh. (11/17/06) Dave's response: Rush has frequently feigned sympathy after prominent Dems have "reached room temperature"..... Dear, "You can find Geritol..." My post was about the sound processing on Hot, not my opinion of Kane. I really don't have one yet. As for some of the bad morning people I heard this morning - - Junkies, Andy/Grandy, and a few Baltimore stations. Sound quality is very important. Motley Crue at Nissan had great sound, Guns N Roses at the 1st Mariner Arena had bad sound. I know that saying I could hire a better staff for any station sounds presumptuous, but it is true. I'm good at that. How much money you spend on staff has little to do with the level of talent. You can hire bad people, or good people with the same budget. For example, I think Steve Rouse is a bad match for WLIF. Nothing personal, it just is not a good fit. Ed Graham (11/17/06) I'm sitting at work in Arlington VA, and just stumbled upon 104.7 FM. Been listening for a 1/2 hour now, and no announcements, no station ID. Just song after song of "beautiful music"- soft strings, instrumental versions of Sinatra and the Everly Brothers, top tapping swing songs. I'm so calm and relaxed I might actually get some work done for a change. Bill Cook, Alexandria VA (11/17/06) Dave's response: The only area 104.7 I know of is a Hagerstown country outlet that used to be easy listening. Has it returned to its roots? Dave- If anyone wants to sign the Jack Alix Memory Book, they may do so through the following link: www.lecacy.com... Rick (11/17/06) Nice opening piece from Rush today on his visit to DC and the proceeds that went to Fisher House. Makes you blowhards taking shots at him sound awfully petty. (11/17/06) Dave's response: Rush is particularly good when it comes to talking about how wonderful he is..... JFK had a huge month. Get the breakdown. D&M were up and the Junkies were up huge. (11/17/06) Dave's response: In the 12+ numbers, D&M were 5th, the Junks 10th, and the station overall was 16th. Improvement? Yeah. Back to the its former glory? Not quite..... Radio Ratings 101 -- refresher is apparently needed. There is no such thing as a "sweeps" month in radio. There is an Arbitron rating period. The current one began in September and runs to mid-December. During a ratings period there are monthly "trends" reported. They are a rolling three month average of listening patterns that may or may not reflect the final Arbitron rating. One of those TRENDS will be reported today. By stunting in November, a radio station may hope to boost a trend or try to finish strong in a ratings period, but rarely does a one-week occurance (other than something catastrophic like a war or terrorist act) have an impact on the entire ratings period. (11/17/06) ("I could make a list of the top ten morning guys in the market who are not on the air - - and a list of ten guys that they could replace.") Please Lord, as I move on in years, don't let me make statements like this in public. As the twilight years engulf me, keep me comforted in the knowledge that my time has passed, and that's OK. Amen. FYI...although not my cup of tea, Kane is considered by his peers to be one of the best in the country. You can find Geritol is on aisle 6, Clapper on 10. (11/17/06) I also saw Brian Cleary on the news this morning and yes, he has NO IDEA of what will change or what won't BUT if there are any changes, its a long way off since they have not even been sold yet. The Salisbury stations are just for sale. Also, the people who should be worried are upper management. Not anyone else. New companies tend to fire management before doing anything else if they fire anyone. (11/17/06) "Did anyone notice that Monday's D&M daily log seems to have been deleted from their website. Could this have anything to do with what's going on?" Geez - get a life! (11/17/06) No leak on the trends? How did the Junkies do? Elliot?...I thought you were on top of this stuff. (11/17/06) Dave's response: Overall 12+ numbers - Junkies 10th, Elliot 6th. The blurb is up..... Hot 99.5 doesn't sound hot, in fact, it is really bad. I tuned in to hear the morning guy today, and I really can't tell if he is OK or not. The processing on the station is so bad, that even Jonathan Brice's Toyota commercial sounded bad. Nothing but esses. The mike on the morning guy is popping like microwave popcorn. There is no excuse for a major market station to suck this bad. It is unlistenable. Get an engineer who knows how to make you sound HOT. Train your morning guy on mic techniques. Honestly, the sound was so bad, I never did get to form an opinion on the new guy. Where is PLB when you need him? I could make a list of the top ten morning guys in the market who are not on the air - - and a list of ten guys that they could replace. Ed Graham (11/17/06) ABOUT...... " Dave, Did you notice the inconsistencies in the Post, Times and Examiner articles about George Michael? The Post lists George's age at 67, while the Times has him at 65. The Times says he's been at Channel 4 for 27 years while the Examiner has him there at 26. How hard is it to do the math these days?"............... Sorry, carbon dating is not an exact science. (11/17/06) WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT PICTURE OF LIMBAUGH...FROM HIS HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK? (11/17/06) It's so funny seeing Brian Cleary from the local Clear Channel stations on the news this morning. He promised that after thier stations are sold, nothing will change. The music will be the same, the people will be the same and you'll never notice a thing. They don't even know who's going to buy their little cluster. How can he be sure of anything. I guess it's just his self help tapes kicking in. "If I say things won't change, they won't" Plus I'm sure that because they are partnered with the local CBS station, WBOC, that had nothing to do with the little show on the news. (11/17/06) Xarias posts (in caps, so we’ll hear it better) “To the geniuses at 105.7 "WHFS" - WHAT THE HELL WAS THE 30 MINUTES OF COMMERCIALS BEFORE YOU STARTED AIRING MD TERRAPINS BASKETBALL??? Many aired 2 and three times!” He/she must have just flown in from Mars. This is how pre-game shows work. Gotta cram in all the sponsors in pre-game, halftime and post-game because there isn’t a definite number of commercial breaks during the games themselves. But—more importantly—they know the listener/viewer is going to stick around regardless, because they’re FANS… “fanatics.” They’ll bitch about it—sometimes even in caps—but they’ll stick around. Can’t miss a minute of the Terps crushing St. John’s! (11/17/06) Chris Core said that Limbaugh called up Jerry Klein to the stage and shared some moments with him at the beginning of his performance. See, Rush is not the Devil! He embraced WMAL's resident liberal in front of everyone! Jerry even said that Rush is "a good, good, good man". -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/17/06) Did anyone notice that Monday's D&M daily log seems to have been deleted from their website. Could this have anything to do with what's going on? (11/17/06) Re:"Did you ever think they might be hyping all this so that when they finally return TONS of us will listen. Sweeps Month you know. Don and Mike Damn, I just can't quit them."---Sweeps month refers to Nielsen TV ratings. We (radio) are in the middle of the fall Arbitron. And yes, it reeks of stunt... (11/17/06) A quick George Michael story… I grew up in Fairfax, and liked George Michael mostly because he did covered professional wrestling. I grew up a wrestling fan, and looked forward to his wrestling highlights on either his sports broadcast on the news, or on the Sport Machine. Anyway, I was probably 6 or 7 (early 1980s), and there was a wrestling card at the Capital Centre. I didn’t go, but George had a Sports Machine phone line that you could call and get scores for that night. I figured he would also have the WWF wrestling results on the phone line too. So I waited till around 10:30 that night, and called the phone line…no wrestling results. I called a few more times that night, with no results given. My uncle helped me write a letter to George Michael basically asking why no wrestling results were on the Sports Machine phone line. A couple weeks later in the mail, I received a George Michael 8X10 PR photo, in which he wrote me a little note apologizing for not having the wrestling results, and he would try to get those on the phone line. He signed the photo too. It was pretty cool, and I still have the photo. As the years have passed, I have realized how cool it was of him to do that for a kid. Thanks George for doing that, and good luck to you! ~Josh in Charlotte (11/17/06) (RE Davepix:) I see that you put some more studly photo's of yourself on the site. Very sexy. (11/17/06) Dave's response: I'll never be or never was as studly as JP of the Junks, though..... Signing off - Michael ending 23-year run as Sports Machine host - AP sportsillustrated.cnn.com (11/17/06) I attended Roosevelt HS in Wash DC in the 50's so I did listen to Eddie's Moondial Matinee on a regular basis. I continued to follow him with his playing the good old music of the "50"s" throughout his career. Your site with pictures of him at the time of his retirement was moving. After retiring in 93 from the Fed Govt in the DC area we moved to Morehead City, NC, my wife's hometown but continued to follow Eddie when we were in the DC area visiting. I spoke with Eddie when he was still on the air a few years before he passed away and asked him the question "Were any of his Moondial Matinee shows recorded from the 50's etc?. He said they were not saved. However, on 7 August 1977 on WASH FM Eddie did re-create his "Moondial Matinee" for one day only. He played the old songs and added his comments about the stars and stories about them. The program did include advertisement of the day....and not of the 50's which would have made it very authentic for the 50's. I did record that re-creation and edited out the commercials of that day. Could be I am the only one who did record him on that day sounding just like he did back in the 50's which of course brings back many fond memories for me of that time. Just wondering if your station ever received copies from anyone out there of that one time program??????? And, if not would your station be interested in having a copy of that program? Let me know and I can send a copy to you. Larry Richter.....a fan of Eddie Gallaher for years......... Morehead City, NC (11/17.06) Dave's response: Larry, I would love to get a copy of that. I'll send you my address..... Who gives a doody if Don and Mike are suspended, taking time off, etc... Did you ever think they might be hyping all this so that when they finally return TONS of us will listen. Sweeps Month you know. Don and Mike Damn, I just can't quit them. PJL525 (11/17/06) Question: If a fat, blow-hard Sunday talk show host falls and breaks his cankle...will anyone hear it? Now if we can just get John McLaughlin to fall..and break his neck...that would be progress...WB Centreville, VA (11/17/06) Dave's response: Don't get me wrong. I love Tim Russert. One of the best TV political journalists. But, gosh, he must physically have one of the largest heads ever on a human being. Coming down the stairs, you'd think he'd get "top heavy" and start tumbling head-first. Which is what must have happened on Tuesday evening..... A followup to the 11/10 dcrtv newsblurb about Clear Channel cleaning house locally: WFMD in Frederick is cutting back its news department further, with fulltimer Rachel Hejnal's position being eliminated after she leaves shortly. That leaves only ND Caroline Wood and Kevin McManus as fulltimers and former ND Rebecca Matthews part time. (11/17/06) Dave, Did you notice the inconsistencies in the Post, Times and Examiner articles about George Michael? The Post lists George's age at 67, while the Times has him at 65. The Times says he's been at Channel 4 for 27 years while the Examiner has him there at 26. How hard is it to do the math these days? Jeff, Alexandria, VA (11/17/06) Here's hoping George Michael takes his sound effect tapes with him. How can anyone take a news/sports cast seriously that dubs fake crowd noise and squealing tires on top of slow motion video? And speaking of "WTF?," does anyone really believe the ego on this guy with his, "I was offered a long-term contract to stay but I will not lay somebody off.... If they're going to cut, let them start with me." George expects me to believe what I hear from him and not what is obvious... just like with the fake sound effects. Hey George, NBC wants you out... I told you that would happen, so I'm going to play a song about it... it's CHI-CA-GOOOOOO!!! Yes, I'm a D&M fan and know a little about a little regarding their show. Don't count out the possibility that this is "strike" like behavior on their part; it might just strengthen their bargaining power right now. I think Dave's observations about getting out of their contract for other opportunities could be a lot more accurate than the D&M detractors would like to think. Hey, maybe we can combine these stories and D&M can get George Michael to fill in for them just like that time back on WAVA! (11/17/06) The Post blurb didn't mention how many "gift" subscriptions to his website Rush managed to sell at Walter Reed yesterday. Any idea? (11/17/06) Regarding Rush's visit to Walter Reed yesterday, I sure hope they kept the prescription drug cabinets locked. (11/17/06) For all of those carping about the lack of interest in the Rush performance last night....I hope you point out that the place was packed...some people came an hour early just to be in their seats on time. (11/17/06) This is a Christmas Music Alert: WASH-FM officially began at about 5 AM this morning playing what Loo said will be 24/7 Christmas music. Sincerely, Mike in Kensington (11/17/06) Dave, In your years covering D.C. media, is this latest D&M the most odd and unusual (not shocking, just strange) situation you've witnessed? Vaughn, 1140 KHTK listener (11/17/06) Dave's response: Heavens no. Remember that big spat D&M had with management in 2002, when they were doing middays. They'd come on the air and just play music, with no comedy. I forget, but it might have involved a feud with O&A, who were doing afternoons. I believe there was a suspension back then, too..... Actually, it's a very smart move for CC to not sell off WFMD/WFRE! Given the good signals of both, just imagine what a creative independent owner could do with those things. While it sounds like a WJOK-ish fantasy, suppose WFMD went regional talk (with C2C overnight) and perhaps took the FM to 50's to 70's oldies? CC would never sell anything that could even dent one of their major clusters. CC is super stupid. But, they are not dumb. Yes, D.C. is now a major market. After all, Wegmans has moved in! (11/17/06) Dave's response: Clear Channel can always use 99.9 for DC's major country outlet when they flip 98.7 over to something younger and more "urbane." Like Whoopi 98.7? Hmmm..... Every Memorial Day, WABC in New York salutes its Top 40 heritage with a feature called "Rewound," airchecks from vintage WABC jocks and broadcasts. A few years ago, one featured George Michael, then the evening jock, with an hour he did the night Elvis Presley died in August 1977. He did a phone interview or two with people who knew Presley as well as a number of Elvis records, some obscure and dating back to the Sun era. Considering he only had a few hours to prepare, it was wonderfully done. I haven't always been crazy about the "Sports Machine" or his focus on things like pro wrestling, but there's no denying that George helped pave the way for popularizing sports-clip programming, and was probably Washington's most influential sportscaster since Warner Wolf in the early '70s. Thanks, George, for 26 fine years in D.C. -- Vincent in Triangle (11/17/06) Hell must have froze over. I agree with Dave's rant about the WashPo's priorities. (11/17/06) Dave's response: Agree or disagree with the whole Iraq thing, I am getting tired of the media "downplaying" the fact that we're still losing lots of young Amercian troops on a daily basis over there. They're fighting and dying for us - and they deserve more and better coverage, at the very least..... Found this on the net. Could this be the trouble? (11/17/06) Dave's response: The above included a rather rude phone message allegedly from D&M show producer Robbay to former D&M show producer BA..... /\ November 17 Messages /\ \/ November 16 Messages \/ I have always been a fan of George Micheal. Listened to him in his heyday as a boss jock in Philadelphia and NYC. Always considered his approach to his sportscasts as a top 40 jock. Instead of records he had sports highlights. And whether it's sports or a top 40 hit, no one hits the post like George. I wish him well and know he will still be around for years to come. (11/16/06) Dave... I, for one, will miss George Michael when he leaves. I agree with you that his comments in the wake of the announcement that he is leaving are nothing *but* classy, he seems to be a very classy guy. (I know there are a bunch of no-nothings on this board whose only reason for posting is to complain and bitch and whine, and that George has been the subject of a lot of these cheap shots. I still say if you don't like the man's sportscast, SWITCH TO SOMETHING ELSE and qwitcherbeefin, already! Who gives a frakk if you don't like him??? Your complaining doesn't improve anything.) I've always found George to be informative and entertaining. And I especially enjoy his interaction with Doreen and Vance, who remain my two favorite local news anchors. There's some genuine chemistry between these folks that turns up on the air. I remember all the good things George took the time to say on the air when Vance had his problems years ago. I've been a huge fan of Channel 4 since 9 began its long, slow slide after the legendary Post-Newsweek era. Even had a many of my good friends go to work there (the late Walt Starling, Wendy Rieger, Debra Silimeo, among others). I just feel like with these cuts, and the "bottom-line" mentality that now seems to be running the roost at Nebraska Avenue that we may now be seeing the beginning of the long, maybe slow slide for Channel 4. I hope not. And so it goes... - Max in Mild West Arlington... P.S. Amusing moment from today's stormy weather: Our cable TV in the global news headquarters was interrupted several times by EAS telling us about the storms that hit our area today. Fine and dandy...except that after three alerts telling us real information about real weather, they decided they also needed to run the weekly test!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, we need something a whole lot better than EAS!!!!!!!!!!!! (11/16/06) (RE WERQ:) Dj Spontaneous was let go a week ago... cinamx leading canidate for his slot... Pork chop most likely headed for throat surgery... (11/16/06) Hey Dave - know you are not the most liked person in the DNM world. But really can a radio station have technical issues for a week? Is it there a chance that DNM have been suspended and they are now attempting to break their contract somehow? ....... I also want your thoughts when will DNM have their next vacation? They wonder why they are not number one.....you have to be live on the air to be maintain an audience. (11/16/06) Dave's response: Yeah, it can't help D&M's numbers to have a series of reruns in the middle of the important November radio ratings book. I assume that the next "scheduled" D&M vacations would be three or four weeks around Christmas and New Years, plus a few days at Thanksgiving. I'd have to guess that there's some kind of suspension going on. You're contractually obligated to "do a show" regardless of the technical difficulties that are beyond your control - to, at least, "be there ready to go" in the studio between 3 and 7. I'd imagine that CBS's suits, a la Michael Hughes, didn't much like it on Monday when D&M split at 5:30 when the phones weren't working. There are still comedy bits you could do in the studio or "take the show out on the street." Maybe Don is trying to get out of his contract and take the show to satrad or Clear Channel. I've heard rumblings that CC wants D&M for WBIG. Of course, CBS has been known to take its personalities off the air and have them sit on the sidelines until their contracts are up. Look at how they handled Opie and Anthony after that "sex in a church" stunt. That happened in 2002 and O&A didn't get back "on the air" via XM until 2004. We shall see..... I've been critical of George Michael here before, but now I have to applaud him. He's not bowing out kicking, screaming and bitching. Instead, he's doing it with class. (11/16/06) The phones are still not working? What happened? ... (11/16/06) Well, I knew George would leave after the massive cuts NBC were making, but I think he wanted to pass the torch, as well as understand there are highlight shows everywhere. ESPN, Fox Sports, and other highlight shows should thank George Michael of bringing up the highlights. The Sports Machine has passed its prime. Its interesting is that he’s an intelligent guy. While almost everyone who bashed George for super-sizing graphic, bumbling, mambling, has-been, his statement is unheard of in any media market. Now, I mention this previously and someone responded that they want their sports report and be done. Well, that’s great, but how are you going to interact to your colleagues next to you or show a little personality? George wasn’t the best reporter, everyone can agree, but he was the most charismatic, outgoing, friendly local sports reporter by miles. You can’t dispute that the Channel 4 team had the most chemistry and are authentic about themselves, unlike the other channels. I like Lindsey and Dan, but they have one huge mountain to climb to reach George’s status, but I hope either one keep the boat float for Channel 4. Oh, if NBC were making cuts, you probably are going to see more super-size graphics and fuzzy pictures. Now, I just caught the Peter Rosenberg clip at the Improv. Uhhhhh, what was he doing? Making penis jokes, Mark Brunell loves losing? Please move on. One more thing; I have a friend who is looking for a job as a music writer/critic in this area. Any job openings out there? Tracy (11/16/06) Is there an easy answer to this? How does non-union freelance voiceover talent go about finding projects in Northern Va/DC. I’m new here. All Talent being equal—are the union members getting most of the VO jobs in DC? Can non-union (that is non-AFTRA or SAG) talent deliver spots anywhere at any rate? (11/16/06) "....gambling has been problematic for centuries. Lotteries are a stealth tax-usually on those who can least afford it." Interesting! Whether you know it or not, the part you wrote about lotteries is a direct quote from Thomas Jefferson. For a laugh, check the Fred'neck Nose-Pick... there is a headline and small piece that assures readers that because Clear Channel is being sold, "WFMD and WFRE will not be going off the air." Did they just stop teaching people ANYthing after like... fifth grade? So many maroons, so few hands available for bitch-slapping! (11/16/06) planet mancow ......... UGH www.foxnews.com (11/16/06) Dave's response: "Mancow and O'Meara"? Oh, nevermind..... "Ammo ammo ammo" isn't in the LEAST hypocritical.Guns only recently have become the Big Bad Leftie Boogeyman....gambling has been problematic for centuries. Lotteries are a stealth tax-usually on those who can least afford it. (11/16/06) I don’t know what’s actually playing on WJFK right now because I’m in Sacramento, but on the JFK stream they are playing Tom Gavin’s show from 94.5. WTF INDEED! (11/16/06) To the geniuses at 105.7 "WHFS" - WHAT THE HELL WAS THE 30 MINUTES OF COMMERCIALS BEFORE YOU STARTED AIRING MD TERRAPINS BASKETBALL??? Many aired 2 and three times! Best of Don and Mike had Ed McMahon on and it was something actually FUNNY!!!!!!! They cut them off in mid-sentence and proceeded to run an ENTIRE half hour of ads. Mr. Tire, Comcast, Cavalier, you should get your money back. That did no more than ANNOY your potential customers. Oh, and SHOVE sports on this station. Isn't that what 1300 was for? What's wrong? No one listening? Xarias (11/16/06) Speaking of this morning's EAS test... I got one of them Motorola set top boxes with a DVR that Comcast puts in. I was watching the Today show that I recorded live at 0700 and watched time shifted to 1030. When the EAS signal hit the cable box, the playback stopped and the "This is a monthly test" screen appeared. At the end, the playback didn't resume. Instead, I was watching whatever channel the cable box was set to. This confused me for a few seconds as I had forgotten I was watching a recording. Technology is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get. (And chances are it ain't a tasty morsel.) (11/16/06) re: "...freed from the iron shackles of corporate-programmed generic formatics." What makes you think that will change?"...Well, look at it all this way. Few of the markets on the block are even on the edge of any civilization much less metros that mean anything -and- how many of the affected stations (mainly bad AM's that CC has been keeping on life support in some of these markets) will eventually go dark? I suspect in many of these markets there are AM's on the list that don't bill enough to cover their power bill now and if real estate is included in the sale - may not be worth as much as their tower sites...CC bought them because Randy Michaels loved AM and they 'had' too in many markets to get the FM's they wanted. I wonder if this deal could in the mid to long term cause a sea change on the AM dial? (11/16/06) Back in July, DCRTV reported that WTTG ordered HD equipment. Since then, they have made numerous upgrades to the station-graphics, tower upgrade, power boost, News at 11, etc. WUSA only took 3 months to upgrade its infrastructure, and they had to completely overhaul the station, so what is taking WTTG so long to launch theirs? (11/16/06) Don, I know you frequent Dave's website so "Please come back soon!" My afternoons suck without you guys. You guys are the best, and F all the haters. Greg -Alexandria (11/16/06) in this interest of balanced reporting, since you cover stern, i think this bears mentioning... articles.moneycentral.msn.com (11/16/06) OMG!!!!! HEAD FOR THE HILLS!!!!!! WTOP is advertising a GUN SHOW!!!!!Yeah.....refusing gun show ads will make a big difference in the "gun violence" in a murderous city with the country's strictest unconstitutional gun "control" laws.... KJ, Laurel,MD (11/16/06) Dave's response: You refuse lottery ads but take gun show ads that tout "ammo, ammo, and more ammo." Isn't that just a tad hypocritical? Say whatever you want about Rush. He's a self-made man who owes nothing to no one. On another topic: For the love of God! Can our local channels 4,5,7 & 9 please preempt some motherf*cking soap operas or asinine talk shows to give weather alerts when there's a tornado watch?!? I'm at the office looking out the window at about 1:30 p.m. to hurricane winds & driving rain, and I turned on all locals to see what was going on -- but not a word. Only about an hour later, Ch. 9 puts the little weather box -- but still keeps the soap on the air. Ugh! -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/16/06) "What a crazy couple of minutes on WTEM. EAS goes off.....we hear a WTOP identifier, a time check (11:52) and Charles Osgood! Got a good 30 seconds of the Osgood File before the three quick tones that then turned the air back over to 980. Geez, what a nutty world." That was not WTEM's fault. It's a fault with the EAS system itself. A WTOP engineering type says while the original message was going out, EAS transmitted ANOTHER set of tones right in the middle. (11/16/06) Yep, the D&M show **is** having "technical" difficulties. "Technically" the show is out-of-date, unfunny, and the "team leader" is losing his mind. Minor technical issues indeed. While out-of-work Donnie counts the money he so proudly brags about, let us ponder a day when JFK will feature O&A in the AM, the Junkies in the PM, and - were a miracle to occur, R&F somewhere inbetween. The PJ_DJ_n_VA. (11/16/06) I don't think Don and Mike can get away with the "the phones are broke" excuse anymore. My thinks something fishy is going on, and it has to do with management. They have been suspended, yes, but why? Is the walk out the real excuse? (11/16/06) Not like this is going out on any kind of limb, but I would venture a guess that Don and Mike have been suspended for walking off the show on Monday. Honestly, I don't buy for one second the fact there are technical issues that couldn't have already been fixed. I listen to D&M online everyday from Denver and the show gets me through my crappy afternoon at my crappy day job. Having to listen to "best of" frankly, sucks monkey balls. I heard the show and the circumstances surrounding the walk-off and thought it was a bit of a hissy fit and could well imagine them being suspended for it. Not like it means anything, but I'm reasonably sure most of the rest of the planet would be suspended (or worse) if we acted in similar fashion. Don…Mike…please come back soon, work blows with out the show. Regards, Dave Leighton (11/16/06) Dave's response: Let's hope it's "just" a suspension. The way things are going at C-BS Radio, you never know. I've had my share of run-ins with Mr. G, but he'll definitely be missed if he's not on the DC radio airwaves on a regular basis..... Dave Pugh, Booger, and Hartley Atkins are all on their way back from San Antonio's budget meetings. And, they are bringing a lot of pink slips with them. Good bye Elliott! (11/16/06) I find it interesting while listening to some "best of" on the Don and Mike show of when they had to let the best producer and on air addition they ever had, Beth Ann McBride, because Don claimed at the time he couldn't supplement her income because of what it caused legally for him when he let Charles Broyhil go. However, in a recent rant against Rob, Don let slip that he is currently supplementing Rob's income. Make no mistake, Don steers that ship in ALL areas. That little temper tantrum blaming his producer, engineers, and management is akin to a rich little brat child screaming at his nanny, butler, and parents that he wants what he wants and he wants in right now. These tantrums are becoming more frequent and will continue to do so as Don continues to deal with his guilt and general depression. Frankly, I wish Don would just go away and leave the show to Mike and Buzz. Rob is not an entertaining radio personality, so he can go or be shuffled off to behind the scenes. Randy - Stockton, CA (11/16/06) Why not bring Frank Herzog to replace King George at NBC 4? (11/16/06) Dave's response: You know, I did get to chat with George for a little while this afternoon. One hell of a guy. And he has principles. Imagine that. In the TV biz even! Definitely one of the all-time greats. There'll never ever be another like King George Michael. Let's hope he's seen on NBC 4, if not in a nightly sports anchor capacity, for many more years..... Top Notch Reporting, Dave!! D&M are NOT live today! (11/16/06) Dave's response: I accept your condemnation and have updated the blurb..... Even worse news for the zombies...Howie's ratings = 0.0 Hoo-Hoo, I invented the zero point zeo, Robin. John Blutarski ripped me off. Tell 'em Fred. (11/16/06) Well I see 2 more folks wised up and left Bob Radio, I mean CBS Baltimore. Soon there will be nobody left there for Mr. Bob to demean exept teenager board-ops. He has sucessfully run out nearly every good person. To everyone left at CBS Baltimore RUN!!!! you know that is the worst eviorment to work in as long as Mr. Bob is there. Glory can return to the CBS Baltimore Cluster when and only when he is no longer working there. (11/16/06) According to "Always Bet Against Cakes" the Junkies' "Cakes" predicts Don and Mike will be on live today, Thursday, November 16th on WJFK. Remember: Always Bet Against Cakes! And prepare to hear Boy Rob's sniveling about technical difficulties again today! THIMMESCH... alwaysbetagainstcakes.com (11/16/06) Just F.Y.I.....No matter what they are saying at WMAL, the Limbaugh appearance is far from sold out. If you go to the ticketmaster link, the entire mid-balcony is still open from the second row (mm) back, and even the "$100" floor seats are still available all the way up to row "A" seats 1-12, which are the left and right aisles three rows from the stage. I'd estimate that somewhere in the neighborhood of only 500-600 tickets have been sold. Just goes to show you...don't believe everything you hear on the radio. (11/16/06) More stellar ratings news for the skateboarders ...YSP (Philly) gets a whopping 2.0 share. No one will miss Stern ... oh no ... what BS! (11/16/06) Heard a commercial on HFS for upcoming arrival of KMS, have they announced a third member of the cast as Spiegel seems to be in place at 98 Rock? (11/16/06) re: "...freed from the iron shackles of corporate-programmed generic formatics." What makes you think that will change? The Clear Channel stations sold so far have all been purchased by a consortium . There is no reason to think that the ones in the smaller markets won't also go as a package, rather than to individual owners. This isn't a feel-good sale, it's a business deal. (11/16/06) Damn, tell me it's not true! George Michael leaving channel 4? I know he get's his fair share of jabs, but the man is an icon in this area and to learn that he might be going away is sad in a nostalgic way. Kind of like losing a good friend. George has always been my favorite sportscaster and I wish him nothing but the best. (11/16/06) Dave's response: Just talked to "da man" and he'll continue working for 4 but will be giving up the nightly sports anchoring come March. See the updated blurb on the Front Page..... RE: "I'd like to add to the Limbaugh poster that tickets to his show tonight have been sold out for weeks" Big whoop. Gallagher sells out the Warner, and he's been d-listed for decades. Face it, Skippy...the Warner seats less than 1,850. That's broken into three tiers: Orchestra: 988 Mid Balcony: 440 and Upper Balcony: 370. If, as I suspect, 'MAL only "sold out" the main floor, that's less than 1,000 seats. You also need to remember that 'MAL held over 200 of the available seats as giveaways. Considering it took WMAL over 6 weeks of hawking the tickets from the date they announced the show to sell it out, that's not quite an accomplishment I'd be proud of. (11/16/06) Could it really be true that George Michael is leaving Channel 4? My goodness I hope so. Hopefully Lindsey Czerniak takes over and finally stops doing those slo motion replays with the piped in sounds and more importantly, stops screwing with the scoreboards that all the networks use now... They look so unprofessional when they chop the screen to avoid showing that scoreboard... (11/16/06) RE: Czarniak Wins Comedy Contest - Peter (Rosenberg) hardly bombed. While he was a little nervous, he was still funny and did get some laughs. Judge for youself: youtube.com..... (11/16/06) Inside Radio is reporting a CC selloff thus far of only 448 radio stations, all in Market 100 or lower. This may not affect our area in the immediate future, but it will be fun to watch other markets to see if the 60s and 70s repeat themselves: a rimshot station, located a few miles outside of metro and freed from the iron shackles of corporate-programmed generic formatics, becomes a ratings monster under its new owner and blows the metro powerhouses right out of the water. It happened here folks: what stations keep coming up as nostalgic favorites listed on DCRTV? The ones in Fairfax, Rockville... Let's hope the CC selloff signals an end to bad radio forever. (11/16/06) "I concede that Rush's many misdeeds are fair game for flamers, but what's the purpose of attacking 1) the program for his listeners to donate his Web site memberships to military personnel" - My personal issue with this is that it seems like a really low way to sell more memberships, frankly, by draping it in the idea that they are "for the troops". If Rush really wanted to, he could just offer free memberships himself to any members of the military who requested one, rather than making it part of this "buy a membership for the troops" deal which brings in more revenue for him. Certainly one can argue that he doesn't have to do this, and that it might be too much of an expense for him to simply give memberships to members of the military, but it still has the appearance of being sort of unseemly. - Justin in McLean (11/16/06) The obituary for Jack Alix is online from the Richmond Times Dispatch at: www.legacy.com... It includes details about the service tomorrow evening and there's an online guestbook Jack's friends can use to post their thoughts and notes to his family. There's supposed to be an obit in the Washington Post, but I couldn't find it. Maybe tomorrow. John (11/16/06) What a crazy couple of minutes on WTEM. EAS goes off, so I figure its got something to do with the crappy weather outside. No, its a required monthly test. What timing! So then, instead of going back to Andy, Steve and Tom at SportsTalk 980, we hear a WTOP identifier, a time check (11:52) and Charles Osgood! Got a good 30 seconds of the Osgood File before the three quick tones that then turned the air back over to 980. Geez, what a nutty world. Charles in Winchester (11/16/06) What's up with Don & Mike. The front page of there website just says WTF ? in big red letters. The Tooz (11/16/06) According to the Reliable Source in this morning's Post, and also reported on NBC4 News this morning...Dan Snyder and his wife were invited to Tom Cruise's wedding (and Oprah was not). Apparently he will leave the reception and fly directly to Tampa to the Skins game on Sunday. -- Bobbie (11/16/06) RE: [ " Greaseman is on 1160 WMET, not 700 WDMV. " ].... Yep, you got me there, Grease changed stations, but still is not listenable in Baltimore and probably Hagerstown. I guess thats why I missed it. (11/16/06) 1) I'd like to add to the Limbaugh poster that tickets to his show tonight have been sold out for weeks, so he's generated a lot of interest, regardless of whether the GOP won the midterm elections or not. 2) Bryan Nehman mentioned today that Dan Snyder got invited to TomKat's wedding. I hadn't heard this reported anywhere (I've been out-of-the-loop for a couple of days) but it's illogical to me that they invited him and not Oprah. -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/16/06) It's a week before Thanksgiving and WASH-FM 97.1 hasn't begun playing christmas music all day long, like they have done in the past years. (11/16/06) Dave's response: I hear they're flipping on the 24th..... I concede that Rush's many misdeeds are fair game for flamers, but what's the purpose of attacking 1) the program for his listeners to donate his Web site memberships to military personnel or 2) Rush's cars, plane, home and TVs? Sounds like sour grapes. Will the flamer only be happy if Rush is miserable? Someone needs a life. (11/16/06) Here's a link to Jack Alix's obit in Richmond. www.legacy.com. (11/16/06) Dave's response: We've linked to it in our Front Page blurb, too..... "Now Bonneville and the Nats have to find a way to get some more stations in outlying Virginia and Maryland on the network -- Vincent in Triangle" - Bonneville has nothing to do with additional stations on the network. That's totally up to the Nats. (11/16/06) I’m a loyal D&M listner but I have to agree that storming off the show in a temper tantrum is WEAK! So what if the phones aren’t working, do an ‘F’ing live show! Invite listners to come to the parking lot and do a live listner interactive show. If the Rockville studio is down, do it from Fairfax! I could listen to Don’s stories about his run in’s with the general public for hours, they are usually pretty dammed funny! Oh boo hoo the phones don’t work properly… D&M, Rob & Buzz, you have enough talent to produce a show without the phones! Cripes, gimme me a break. WEAK WEAK WEAK! I really hope they are on suspension and would not be disappointed if they are fired for breech of contract. – Cary in Fairfax (11/16/06) (snip) Only Winchester, Hagerstown, & Baltimore will still be out of luck to hear Greaseman. (end snip) They already are. Greaseman is on 1160 WMET, not 700 WDMV. (11/16/06) Dear Dave: A poster writes: "...Because the first question from a caller would likely be: Who in the hell is this guy? And not one person on WTEM or Triple-X would be able to answer it. People in this town have waited for weeks for Brunell to be benched, not the next Nats manager. Go get a big-name manager and the Nats will get better coverage..." The lack of discussion about the new hire on WTEM or the Triple-X has nothing to do with who the new manager is. It has everything to do with what you said in your post: "...And not one person on WTEM or Triple-X would be able to answer it..." With one or two exceptions, it doesn't appear that anybody at either station could tell the difference between a baseball or a snowball or, there's a snowball's chance in hell that anybody there could (or would be inclined to) have an intelligent discussion about baseball that lasts more than 1 minute. That's why you don't have baseball discussion. Aside from WTEM's Marc Stern, is there anybody at either station who takes the time to do more than just a cursory examination of the game so that they can tell you who Manny Acta is? As for Steve Czaban, I don't agree with the assessment that being a non-athlete automatically disqualifies him from asking football questions. Though he is not my cup of tea I give him a lot of credit for closely studying football in order to discuss it in an intelligent manner. Why is he not my cup of tea? Probably because of the below the belt tilt in his comments and questions. I think it's good that he will ask critical questions and make critical comments about the team (Lord knows I like to see more of it from local reporters) but I agree that there seems to be some personal animus behind it. When you get to that point you begin to lose your objectivity and you no longer are a journalist as you are a fan, which is OK if that's the type of show you want to broadcast. And while being a fan is fine, it's not always a good thing in all situations. I remember listening to Ken Beatrice on the day of the sale to the Redskins to Dan Snyder. In his discussion he added a caution about the fact that somebody who had been a Redskin fan all his life (Snyder) was buying the team: basically that decisions about the team will be made with more an element of personal emotion of a fan rather than be made based on sound football judgement. Was Ken right with the caution? Well, the Redskins record since Snyder purchased the team speaks for itself. I would add that taking the approach of a Redskin fan in covering the team would tend to cloud objectivity and journalistic judgement as well. Just my two cents. Again, Dave, a great site. Sincerely, Joe Kasell... P.S. - for you DX'ers out there who have tuned in to play-by-play of University of North Carolina basketball on Charlotte's WBT for many years, I learned today that the station decided not to renew the broadcast contract after it lapsed following last season. WFNZ, the ESPN station in Charlotte, now carries the games and, like here with WTEM and the Triple-X stations, there are complaints about the signal strength of WFNZ beyond Mecklenburg County. Seems like we have a recent trend here with sports teams leaving blowtorch AM stations after many years (i.e. - St. Louis Cardinals and KMOX; Pittsburgh Pirates and KDKA). Sad to see these traditional associations disappear. I'm glad that XM Radio still allows me to hear the Tar Heels and MLB. (11/16/06) Dave: Noticed the letters in the mailbag about the WFBR tower site. Now that we have finished the upgrade to our studio site, we felt that we should go check to see if our towers were still there. Thanks for looking out for us. WFBR (11/16/06) (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) DC DMA TV Ad Sales Pro Needed For Contract Assignment - WWTD-LP, tv49, Washington, DC's newest FCC-licensed broadcast television station, seeks a local television market ad sales pro to help launch the hottest new broadcast channel in the market - MTV Tres! (www.mtvtres.com) If you have extensive local market TV sales experience, understand the Latino youth culture, know how to get in the door with the right people, close deals, and are looking for a ground floor sales opportunity in one of the hottest demo's, email me today! This is a limited-period contract position available immediately. Contact WWTD tv49 Station Manager, Mike Gravino at: mikegravino@tv49dc.com. All emails confidential and will be answered asap. No calls please. (11/16/06) Poor old Baltimore Sun, a review of the movie "Casino Royale" in today's Sun, but no mention of it's U.S. premiere being held in Baltimore! DOH! Are they just writing their stories now for Tribune syndication purposes only? Honestly, I cannot wait for someone, no ANYONE, to buy The Baltimore Sun away from Tribune, Inc. Tribune should change their corporate name to Titanic, Inc.! (11/16/06) Birach has filed an application to upgrade WDMV 700 AM to 50,000 watts. Could this throw a monkey wrench into Redskins owner Danny Snyder's Red Zebra WXTR AM 730 upgrade? Birach had previously applied to upgrade WDMV 700 to 25,000 watts from a new site in Damascus, MD along with WGOP 540 AM, but that plan has run into lots of NIMBY opposition and has only about a week left before the FCC construction permit expires. So, it looks like Birach has abandoned that plan and intends to upgrade AM700 to 50,000 watts from its current transmitter location. This 50,000 watt signal would blanket the DC market from Carlisle, PA to well past Fredericksburg, VA if approved, daytime only, of course, to protect WLW in Cincy. Only Winchester, Hagerstown, & Baltimore will still be out of luck to hear Greaseman. (11/16/06) The FOX News Channel is copping out when it comes to the upcoming O.J. Simpson special on how he would do it if he did it. Both Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren used a disclaimer saying, Oh! That's not us. It's the Fox Network not the News folks. Sorry! The name is FOX and it's one family. Can you imagine if CBS, ABC,NBC, CNN or MSNBC made such a statement. FOX would be all over them. By the way Bozo Hannity and Wimpy Colmes didn't even mention Simpson on their show. (11/16/06) Dave's response: I can hear it now. Fox owner Rupert Murdoch saying - "Don't blame me. Blame Rupert Murdoch." Hey, some people turn to Comedy Central for "parody news." I turn to Fox News..... Very saddened to hear of the passing of Jack Alix! As a yute in toothless Fairfax I can remember getting ready for school or upon coming home and hearing Mr. Alix on long gone WEEL. Any video of "Wing Ding" out there?......So I'm sitting in the crazy new traffic configuration in toothless Fairfax this eve and I'm looking at all the construction going on and how it is all destroying the views that I'd grown up with, turning it into a sea of walls. Thinking that the past drifts further and further away and not caring much for the present and future of this toothless Northern Virginia area and now another part of one's yute moves on......Bill Smith...what a drag it is getting old.....imo a certain radio personality is dead from the neck up....can't a chicken run around without it's head for 18 months like david bird said? (11/16/06) Condolences to his loved ones upon the passage of Jack Alix. I first heard him on WPGC-FM in the 1960's, as we lived too far out in northern Maryland to hear