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DCRTV Mailbag - November 26 to November 29, 2006
Latest messages listed first.....
\/ November 29 Messages \/
Boesche` is a double threat... Can't mix... Can't talk... Unsigned (11/29/06)
How could you let it happen! Ok, its been a couple of weeks now so if 98 rock management can't figure it out Mickey and Amelia are a bust. Get out the check book and pay to get KMS back. If you don't pay now you are going to pay later. (11/29/06)
The WJFK abortion continues. I turn on at 8:30pm and it is "Dee Dee's Basement". It appears to be the Dee Dee who was on O&A's XM show. She is/was an XM employee doing some kind of voice work. I think at one-point it was a kids channel and traffic. You would think the WJFK web site would at least put some info on the show up. Instead, it says "Loveline" is on LIVE right now. Jesus Christ. So unprofessional. (11/29/06)
This is an open note to Don & Mike from a long-time dedicated listener. Ahem, I've laughed at your hilarity for many, many years, even listening online when away from a station with your show. But this is the last straw. I've heard of everything, but to walk off the show for stupid reasons?! That's not what you're supposed to do on radio in the 21st century! And, above all, to not let your very loyal listeners (including one who posted a couple days ago on this very mailbag who actually went to your live broadcasts) what the hell is going on, other than a big red "WTF?!" on your web site, is just the most stupidest thing to do to your faithful listeners and, especially, your ADVERTISERS. I even bet your advertisers were alarmed to hear about this as well as we faithful listeners were to hear it live. Well, you know what i think...I think you all are dispicable Asshats for even attempting this at all. Meanwhile, the faithful listeners who still love ya even after this (I'm not one of 'em) tune in at 3PM to see if their so-called "radio gods" are back but most of them turn off 2 minutes later after finding out that there not back but still in where the hell are you 'ville. And i can bet you that I'm not the only former radio listener who doesn't think they're "gods" anymore after this. Screw ya'll, I got XM and i'm officially an O&A Fan totally now. Hmm, I wonder if O&A know about this at all. I bet they wouldn't even want to know this, so whatever. Anyway, when/if you DO get back, get ready for another phone meltdown because many, many ANGRY listeners will call and ask what the F*** is wrong with you and what the hell happened. Who knows, there could be a caller who causes the dump button to be pressed MANY times. And about the idea that 'JFK could be "stunting" ratings with this D&M best-of BS, thats even more stupid. Don't be suprised for sponsors to pull their sponsorship for this show after this stupid stunt and the stations BS way of getting ratings. Oh, and one more thing, Don is apparently posting here from time to time trying to diss DCRTV. Why don't you tell people about what's going on with YOU right now instead of focusing on dissing other websites. DCRTV is one of the best Radio news sites on the net, and actually lets listeners who don't like you to post freely about not liking you. Unlike Radio Gods, who totally slam you for saying that you don't like the "GODS" *sigh...* anyway, I got O&A on XM and MANY other FM stations on the internet to listen to. So, screw you D&M, you just lost one of your (former) most important things of your show, one of your listeners. DCRTV Rocks! -Kevin G from Eastern NC (11/29/06)
1) I have NEVER defended people who called for placing permanent marks on the skin of all Muslims, putting identifying patches on their clothing, herding them into internment camps, and shipping them out of the country. Please point out where and how I've written this. You will not find me saying this anywhere. For Chrissakes, I'm a Puerto Rican -- which is one step below blacks and several steps below Arabs. 2) To the Michelle Basch poster: Michelle was the only newswoman at WMAL. All the rest are male, except for Erica Kane, who has now moved to evenings from overnights (even though I think DCRTV Dave said that she's sub-contracted by the station). The only other "female voice" during the week is morning traffic's Jamee Whitten. There is no female voice at WMAL right now. -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/29/06)
For Whom the Bell Tolls? It tolls for yee old Account Executives of Clear Channel DC. First CC cuts take place this Friday. Up next - Sales Assistants and Promotions Coordinators. Tick Tock, the Axemen cometh. (11/29/06)
Hey Dave, Happy Holiday season to you. I'm not going to make this a long email. I'll just point you to web site to see if you can help me get traffic there and maybe make a mention on your site intimating or evoking people to make a donation. The site contains the story and it speaks for itself. Please take a moment to visit www.canyouspareabuck.net. The front page automatically redirects you into the site and no there is no funny business. Its very serious and near and dear as you will read, should you choose to point your browser there. Thank you in advance for your time. Ray Polen, Columbia, MD (11/29/06)
For those who buy adds on radio stations......Does the person (group) buying an add get a discount when the program is not live (re-runs)? It seems to me unfair if the rate is the same as if it is live or on re-run (best of)? (11/29/06)
Tom Gauger- Thanks for the kind words regarding WTOP. We are looking forward to working with Michelle, who has proven herself to be a real pro. -A TOPer (11/29/06)
Gotta give props to the "Troy and John Show on WHFS" poster who opined..."They sound clueless"…"admitted earlier today that they hadn't really worked together before this week"…"their news guy "Jeff" sounds like someone they pulled off the street 5 minutes before the show." The "Troy and John Show" is yet another dazzling stroke of show-biz genius concocted by CBS Baltimore's management heavies Philips and LaBrozzi! Yep, they are the same tools who over the past year and a half drove HFS's Virgin, HFS's PD Mike Murphy, CBS Baltimore's business and office managers and three key sales managers out the door. These two menschs are also accountable for stripping WQSR's Johnny Dark, Bob Worthington and Kristie McIntyre, MIX 1065's Kenny Campbell and WLIF's Ken Merson of their respective livelihoods. (11/29/06)
[RE: Okay, fine, but if I move to Saudi Arabia, I have to "assimilate" to the culture there... I have to dress like them, act like them, eat like them, worship like them... we're far more superior than the Saudis in that we're more modernized, and I'm not asking Muslim women to remove their burqas or anything like that, but if you're in America, please respect our traditions and culture too. -Silvie in Waldorf ] Silvie, You are lobbing apples and oranges in your defense of the indefensible....This is not Saudia Arabia. We live in a free society in America...Is your point that people like you want America to be MORE like Saudia Arabia, where foreigners on their soil are forced by the government to submit to their domestic traditions and culture? Silvie, WMAL callers clearly crossed the line into bigotry and it appears you either can't or just won't accept it....I'm not getting it....How can any rational person defend people who called for placing perminant marks on the skin of all muslims, putting identifying patches on their clothing, herding them into internment camps, and then shipping them out of the country? Jerry Klein was right...this is the same undercurrent of thinking that led Germany down the slippery slope to concentration camps in the 30's. I simply cannot wrap my head around your logic, Silvie...Please tell us, how does someone you don't even know, who isn't interested in interacting with you, who is clearly minding their own business, but has made the personal choice to say prayers and wear clothing DIFFERENT THAN YOU in a public place impinge on your idea of respecting American "traditions and culture"? Here's an example of how inane this line of thinking can be....Suppose I say that Catholic Priests really creep me out...Something about a grown man wearing a floor-length cocktail dress, a pair of shiny black patent leather Mary-Janes and a pointy hat while chanting in Latin ('yer in 'Merrica, padre'...Speak 'Merrican!) just gives me a nasty case of the heebie-jeebies. Now, Catholic Priests make up less than one percent of society, but they often wear strange costumes in public to bring attention to THEIR religious practices and have also been known to recite prayers in public places too...since they make up less than one percent of our population in general, should Catholic Priests also be forced to "assimilate to the standards and cultures of our society in general" just to avoid offending people like me who might be forced to look at them in a public place? Are you finally beginning to understand how this stance can be perceived as bigoted? (11/29/06)
Congratulations to Michelle Basch on her new gig. At last, she’ll be working in a real newsroom and not the museum that is WMAL. She’ll be great at ‘TOP. OK Bryan, you next? Tom Gauger (11/29/06)
Dave's response: My dream - uniting Bryan Nehman and Robb Spewak.....
I am inclined to think now more than ever that D&M are moving to WARW-FM; the reason they're off-air may be a need to rewrite their contract, and keep syndication in place. If so, that's a legal matter and I can imagine the lawyers telling everyone to shut up about it. Don's meltdown over the phone problems at the studio may or may not have been faked (I didn't hear the broadcast, but you can pretty much tell when he's faking it); in any case, it's stimulated a whole lot of talk on this board and elsewhere. I figure they will be back on air next Monday, announce the move to WARW, then promote the hell out of it until they go on Xmas vacation. As for JFK, a very interesting thought has been put on here...Snyder buying it, putting the Redskins on it again with a sports format of some sort? Anything's possible. (11/29/06)
If WJFK was doing the BO as a stunt and flipping formats--then why would they do it to the network. Remember, there are more than 1 station running that show... (11/29/06)
I believe the term Don used in today's "best of" to describe Joe was THANKLESS PRICK. Yeah, I am thinking that about Don these days. (11/29/06)
I totally agree with the person who said WJFK is KILLING in the ratings from 3:00-3:02pm. Good job Don & Mike. This seems like the new Don & Mike message board. But I still don't think Don & Mike will be taking over mornings. I think they'll screw up their syndication deal if they do that. I think they'll come back and announce that they are moving to WARW 94.7 in the afternoon and the Junkies will be taking over afternoons. Opie & Anthony will be live in mornings on WJFK like it should be before you know it. (11/29/06)
I only missed seven home orioles games a season (out of 81) and then they went on strike…imagine, millionaires (who play baseball for a living) going on strike! I haven’t been to a ballpark or watched or listened to a game since. Those spoiled brats. Now you know how I feel about those two slobs on the radio (or not). (11/29/06)
Both WJFK and D&M hold responsibility for screwing over the listeners right now - not sure who gets the bigger end of the stick (ahem), though, but this latest pissing match ultimately hurts the relationship with the fans the most. Hey! One bright spot in D&M's 3 week Thanksgiving vacation is that when they return the ones left listening will get to enjoy ten fresh shows before they exit for their planned 3 week Christmas/New Years vacation! (11/29/06)
I realize the mailbag is the "people's voice" and that they shouldn't be held to a higher standard; i.e. "knowing what the hell they're talking about". And the mailbag even reveals the occasional gem of information, once you speedscan past the 8th grade boy's room wall doodlings. But the recent Joe Krebs slander goes way beyond too far. Joe is a bright, articulate, passionate individual. Of course, I guess it helps that I've actually MET him. Yes, and KNOW him. Maybe some of your posters should vent that tedious anger on their considerable collection of video games. (11/29/06)
Either it's a strangely ironic coincidence or whoever's running the best-of tapes is trying to bust some major balls, but on the D&M reruns today they're rerunning the show (I think from sometime in February 2006) where Doni and Mike rip Joe a new one for multiple segments about not showing up to work, how he has no balls to explain his absense and if he's not going to show up he might as well be a man and quit rather than be a whiny bitch. Pretty interesting considering the current situation. I didn't hear the original broadcast so I'm not sure what the conclusion is. (11/29/06)
Any chance that the silence and running of "best-of" shows in the afternoon on WJFK is not a "stunt" to increase ratings for the Don and Mike show but actually a case of "stunting?" You know - when a station is about to change its format, lets say from AOR to CHR, they will "stunt" by playing country for a few weeks or month. I have heard that radio managers do this in an effort to drive away the old listeners and start a fresh with a new station and new ratings book. Could that be what they are doing at WJFK? Running best-of shows to drive away all the old Don and Mike listeners? And come January 1st, or December whatever, they launch the new lineup? O&A to mornings, Junkies to afternoons, and Don and Mike to either a new station (94.7) or gone altogether (buy out their contract)? Sure sounds like it. If you ever wanted to kill off a show and its listeners, this would be the way to do it - give no information about their whereabouts, play endless best-of shows, etc. YJ (11/29/06)
Dave's response: If I was Dan Snyder, WJFK-FM would be at the top of my Triple X "to do" list for the new year. If not an out-right buyout, maybe CBS and his Red Zebra could do some kind of joint deal (LMA?). Heck, the Redskins got great ratings all those years on 106.7, so it's got a good "track record." Certainly an improvement over Triple X's 92.7 and 94.3. I know that there's some bad blood between Danny and CBS over the demise of their Skins/JFK radio deal at the end of 2005, but money can ease the pain.....
I’m sure that WJFK is killing in the ratings for the D&M show between 3:00 pm and 3:02 pm when people tune in for the remote chance of a live show and then end up quickly turning the channel because it’s yet another glorious episode of “Best Of”…..good job guys!!! I’m sure that your sales people LOVE YOU TWO and CBS Radio right now…. (11/29/06)
As a long time listener of Albie Dee even way back when he was doing the "Top 20 Double Play"......I just wanted to say congrats on the new gig at XM...I'll be listening. (11/29/06)
Greetings, love your site, very helpful and informative. Question: Why is is that AM is so hard to listen to in the DC/Balto. area. The only time I can half decently get a signal is when I'm in my car as opposed to a home radio. FM: Former Mega/ now Triple-X radio, whose idea and why is it to have 2 frequencies blasting at little power that can barely be heard? My kid's Wind up toy probably produces more static electricity than atwhat those 2 stations are transmitting. TV: Why is it that I can watch English language tv stations o.t.a from 2 cities without a problem out here in Columbia, however only Univision 14 is at full power. If I want to watch Telemundo 64, Azteca America 69 or Telefutura 47, Comcast forces you to pay for a very expensive digital package in order to view LOCAL area Spanish channels, sounds screwy to me considering how heavily populated the Latino community is here. It doesn't make much sense why they should be at low power, I mean, whose signal are they going to interfere with? Thanks again, and best wishes on the site. Fabricio in Columbia, MD (11/29/06)
Dave's response: DC has always been a poor AM radio market. In short, many of the stations' antenna patterns reflect the area as it was 30 or 40 years ago, when the suburbs went out about as far as Rockville and Falls Church, not Leesburg and Fredericksburg - as they do today. And, add to that all the suburban sprawl (concrete is not a friend of AM reception) and it's no surprise that only two AMers - WMAL and WTEM - rank among the most-listened-to 20 radio stations in the market. As far as Spanish language TV is concerned, you are correct in that only Channel 14/WFDC (Univision) is full-power. Comcast does also carry low-powered Channel 47/WMDO (Telefutura) and Channel 64/WZDC (Telemundo) on its basic (cheapest) service throughout the DC area (not sure what's offered in Columbia, which is part of the Baltimore market). But if you want to watch other Spanish channels and networks, you do have to purchase more expensive digital tiers of service.....
"I'm dispappointed that Michelle Basch is leaving WMAL... she's the best female there and one of the very few (if not the only one)... this is very hard to stomach" Explain to us why it's so important to have a female/black/latino/transgendered/xxxxx (insert your favorite sex/cluture) in that position. What the hell is wrong with just having a competent person doing the job regardless of their race or sex????? (11/29/06)
Dave's response: Andy Parks, Bryan Nehman, Fred Grandy, Chris Core, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Chris Plante, George Noory - all (mostly) white guys. Need I say more?
I've been a big fan of Don & Mike for about 10 years running. I would consider myself a patient listener...but even now I have to admit I'm bailing on D&M. Whatever is going on they could have left a courtesy message on the website. Don always speaks about sending people to your site to post comments. He could have gotten someone to post what going on with them if they did not want to do it. I think it's a complete disregard of the listeners. If you remember Don a while back used to say "he didn't care about the listeners...or the listeners didn't pay the bills." I think the shows drop in rating prooves otherwise, and the amount of listeners they are going to loose now will speak for itself. I'm bailing guys. Thanks for the years of entertainment. I just purchased Sirius and they have some pretty decent afternoon drive shows. (11/29/06)
I too think Michelle B. will do well at a real news operation. She's a terrific writer, has good delivery and--though I've never met her--I sense she has a sense of humor about things---an all-too-often missing element in doing news. (11/29/06)
(re:Dave's response: Don's been in a coma since slipping in a puddle of Klink's urine a few days before Thanksgiving. Robb, John, and Buzz (but not Mike) are maintaining a 24/7 vigil by his bedside waiting for him to awaken.....) Dave give it up. You really are not as funny as you think you are. People come here because of a misguided idea that you have some inside information into the DC radio scene and are curious to get some information on one of the more popular shows. Instead they get pathetic attempts at humor from a small minded man. So please give up the humor and try to fish out some real info maybe than you can garner an ounce of respect. (11/29/06)
Ok, so the DnM mystery continues, and of course we're all wishing we knew what the heck the story is, but you totally have to give the best-of person credit for running show openings that make you wonder "hey, are they back??" like today when they were taking calls from folks who were welcoming them back, were testing the phones, etc. Donny was even saying it was 11 after the hour when it WAS 11 after (or something along those lines) so I have to admit I was fished in for a moment. Brilliant! BUT, the fact that they're doing that (deliberately, one assumes) makes me think that this IS just some bizarre ratings stunt after all. So congrats! But...BOO!! If it's just a stunt.... (11/29/06)
Dave's response: If they had returned on this past Monday, I'd have said it was just a stunt. But taking three-ish weeks off during one of the most important ratings periods (the fall book) makes no sense. As one of the other posters pointed out, there's a huge tune-out factor at 3:02 PM, once all the loyal D&Mers discover it's yet another rerun. The show's advertisers can't be happy.....
In answer to Silvie's question: I am the one who posted the CNN coverage. I was passing through a colleague's office and the sound on the TV was down, but the graphic led me to believe that a caller's voice was being played. I learned later that yes, this was a joke, but the way it was put out there bothers me. Klein may be the pet liberal over there at MAL, but the whole of that station is not worth my time listening to. Oh, another thing Silvie...in Saudi Arabia as well as other Muslim countries there is a thing known as Sharia law...I'm not well versed on it but the reason woman wear the burqua over there is because it is the law. They have to. In America, there is no law beyond certain matters that you have to wear something or not (though in some Amish and Mennonite sects there is an emphasis on toning down, if you will)--if people choose to live here as they did in their home country, that is their business. As long as those folks follow the laws of this country I have no problem with their presence at all. If people continue to judge others by their color, faith, dress style, and political views there will be no progress in this world. (11/29/06)
Re: D&M - I'm having a Tom Sater flashback! Psychedelic, duuuude! (11/29/06)
Bonneville wasted no time from getting a CP (on 10/2) for booster station WGMS-FM1/104.1 to the filing for licensure (on 11/21). This new signal is a booster station (same channel as main) and not a translator (different channel from main). The booster's 60dBu (?) contour line can not go past the main station's 60dBu contour line. Does this new signal need to be ID-ed on air? "WGMS-FM1 Bethesda, MD" Bob Corbin/VARTV.com (11/29/06)
Instead of speculation, why doesn't someone try calling WJFK and asking what is going on with Don and Mike? Bryslock (11/29/06)
Dave's response: I have attemped to contact many people over there and I either get no response or "no comment." I have heard from Michael Hughes, who says they'll return "soon".....
Re: the person who wrote: "Are you seriously going to let all this WRC-TV stuff get by without ranting that the idiot Barbara Harrison isn't getting the axe? Joe Krebs must be trying on a daily basis not to kill himself." Babs is bad, but ole Joe is your typical milquetoast bore. I bet if you ever met him at a party, the first words out of his mouth would be: "it's 8:30 p.m., 55 degrees under cloudy skies, I'm Joe Krebs...." I don't think the guy could survive without a teleprompter. He probably needs one to go grocery shopping. (11/29/06)
Dave's response: Joe may not be as sexy as, say 5's Brian Bolter, but he's a great guy and darn good reporter/anchor.....
What is the scoop with The Don & Mike Show???????????? (11/29/06)
Dave's response: Don's been in a coma since slipping in a puddle of Klink's urine a few days before Thanksgiving. Robb, John, and Buzz (but not Mike) are maintaining a 24/7 vigil by his bedside waiting for him to awaken.....
What the heck is going on with Don & Mike??!! Regards, Steve (11/29/06)
1) QUOTE: "Silvie, the roots of "our own culture" can be found in a poem written by Emma Lazarus that is inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty." Okay, fine, but if I move to Saudi Arabia, I have to "assimilate" to the culture there... I have to dress like them, act like them, eat like them, worship like them... we're far more superior than the Saudis in that we're more modernized, and I'm not asking Muslim women to remove their burqas or anything like that, but if you're in America, please respect our traditions and culture too. 2) I'm dispappointed that Michelle Basch is leaving WMAL... she's the best female there and one of the very few (if not the only one)... this is very hard to stomach... this station better get its act together PRONTO! -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/29/06)
WRC stays the ratings leader in DC regardless of the cutbacks and here's why. The "key" pieces of this puzzle are still on the table. I have nothing against those being shown the door and think they're reliable news talent but don't fool yourself, you can lose Hudson, Kidd, Anderson and Campbell under the couch cushions and still put a 500 piece puzzle togther without anyone noticing only 496 are in place. Michael is, at times, entertaining and Bruckner was solid as sports guys go, but it's called News 4, not Sports 4, and there is nothing local about that sports broadcast. I've got ESPN, and sorry Clay...I can get as local as I need to with the Weather Channel. It can only rain so many ways and really...I don't have a true need for you until it gets nasty outside and then any talking head will do. Again, not critical players, and NOT essential to-from a management standpoint-the CONTINUED (and don't kid yourself, it's what have you done for me today) success of the news operation. WRC remains as dominant as it always has because they know, and this will sound a bit harsh, but honestly in all business ventures including television, the "fish rots from the head." So if you don't lop it off from the neck up, you can keep the fish from going bad. It can grow new "scales"...every news department does...but to maintain a clear cut leader, you need to keep those "key" puzzle pieces on the table; the ones that would create some very obvious and gaping holes in the finished product if they were missing. And they have with Vance, Gentzler, Ryan in the fold, and the strongest of the supporting cast still surrounding them. We, as viewers, are creatures of habit in every television market in America. We like the comfort of tuning in to find the same people we put the most trust in for our local news. WRC still gives us that, even with the loss of some old and friendly faces. You'll continue to watch. Andy (11/29/06)
Two points. For those angry at Klein about the Muslim thing, Klein is the pet LIBERAL at WMAL. He was spoofing racist callers to get a response, nuch like the time Rush said in '94 that he was "flipping" his support to Clinton. The other point is that Michelle Basch is one of the most talented news anchors I've ever heard. Good luck at TOP! (11/29/06)
What in the hell is this crap that WHFS has decided to air from 1-3 this week? Talk about a train wreck in the making… The Troy and John Show? They sound clueless. And to top it off, they admitted earlier today that they hadn't really worked together before this week? WTF!!?? They went to their news guy "Jeff" shortly after they came on the air today, and the guy sounds like someone they pulled off the street 5 minutes before the show. He peruses a few topics and keeps saying, "uhhh… that one's not really up our alley".. Please, put Jim Cramer back on in that slot. He's much more entertaining that throwing two nobodies in the booth and watching them die a slow death. (11/29/06)
Dave's response: CBS is pulling the plug on Jim Cramer's nationally syndicated radio show.....
I remember listening to Oldies XTRA 104, WXTR 104.1 a lot overnight, but I cannot remember for the life of me who the DJ was who hosted "The Nightwatch" during the late 1980s-early 1990s. His constant refrain was, "You're listening to blankety blank ON THE NIGHTWATCH, XTRA 104." Do you remember or can you toss this out to your listeners? I think Bob Duckman was the PD at XTRA for those years. thanks, Don (11/29/06)
Sylvie, I have a question; Why is WMAL spending so much time on this Webb/Bush thing, starting with Grandy and Andy and continuing with Core, but they never, I mean never, talked about the President lying on National television www.news-press.com? BTW, Senator Elect Webb's response to "how's your son?" should have been "not drunk in Buenos Aires." (11/29/06)
I attended a meeting last night at which the presenter mentioned that the European Eureka 147 FM-only DAB system which is used in Canada is such a disaster that the CBC, and other interested parties, have put pretty serious effort over the last three months into testing Ibquity's HD Radio as the replacement digital technology. Apparently they are quite pleased and a report is due soon. Those of you locally who are used to enjoying Canadian programs in analog via skip and ducting might not be doing so much longer. (11/29/06)
I have been a dedicated long time listener of Don and Mike, but after 2 weeks of all this crap and not hearing anything I am starting to lose the faith, which I never thought would happen…... Tom in Springfield (11/29/06)
I believe there is a reason that Channel 4's news has been #1 for so long. It's a little thing that is hard to come by in either radio or TV and it's called "chemistry". The anchors on most of the Channel 4 broadcasts, but most especially the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, banter back & forth and look more like a family than a bunch of still suits sitting there reading from a teleprompter. You look at someone lock Todd McDermott on Channel 9, and he looks like a cardboard prop-up he's so stiff. There's nothing better than when George Michael is telling a story and Vance leans over the desk as if he's leaning in to talk to you, or just looking pissed about what George is talking about. They talk over each other, they raise their voices, and they occasionally argue. But that's what makes the newscast interesting -- the chemistry. By NBC causing many of these anchors to leave, you're going to be left with a bunch of no-names on the newscasts, and it's going to start looking more like a bunch of stiff suits sitting behind a desk reading from a teleprompter -- just like every other newscast already does, and probably the main reason they're NOT number 1. It's utter nonsense, but that's where bottom-line economics comes in, I guess. (11/29/06)
Channel 24 (WUTB) is heavily promoting “a new era in news” for Baltimore. The station will carry Channel 5’s 10 p.m. Fox DC news. Well, they got me there. Carrying some other city’s news, sports and weather just might be a new era. More likely it is a new error. Bob in Balto. (11/29/06)
"...too intimidated by the Skins' stature in this community to delve deeply into why a team picked to be in the Super Bowl is 4-7 right now?"--- I don't think many outside of the most rabid fans thought Super Bowl as long, especially with Brunnell in the picture. Admit it, Skins fans. Gibbs time has passed. Oh, and Greg Williams should've taken a head coaching job while he was the flavor-of-the-month. As for Riggins taking the coaching staff to task on his show, they are just getting you ready for another Snyder bloodletting. Expect a lot of new faces in '07. (No decent upcoming draft picks, Archuletta, the list goes on...BRILLIANT!) (11/29/06)
Mike in Fairfax: the most likely reason Friend got the ESPN.com story is that a disgruntled player's agent called him. It had nothing to do with "investigative reporting." (11/29/06)
Three cheers for the poster of “Personally, I don't think I'd very much enjoy living in the vision of "America" that people like you and Chris Plante share...I like it just the way it is.” Beautifully said. Second-generation Irish-American. (11/29/06)
Do you know what the story is with Michael Baisden and his show on ABC Radio Network? (11/29/06)
Dave's response: We did a blurb last week. Check out the Front Page.....
Are you seriously going to let all this WRC-TV stuff get by without ranting that the idiot Barbara Harrison isn't getting the axe? Joe Krebs must be trying on a daily basis not to kill himself. (11/29/06)
Triple X seems to be trying hard to dispel the notion that it's little more than a PR arm of the Redskins. Lately, the John Riggins show has been devoting considerable time to a lengthy article on ESPN.com that detailed dissension on the team's defensive coaching staff. The author of the piece (Tom Friend) appeared as a guest on the program two days in a row, and Riggins sharply criticized Joe Gibbs for questioning the reliability of his sources. Previously WTEM had been the station fanning the flames of controversy regarding the Skins, with Steve Czaban and Brian Mitchell leading the charge. I've noticed that local sports talk radio rarely uncovers stories similar to the one reported by Friend, preferring to let other media outlets do the tough investigative work and then swooping in like vultures to feast on the leftovers. Come to think of it, why didn't the Post or Times break this story - too intimidated by the Skins' stature in this community to delve deeply into why a team picked to be in the Super Bowl is 4-7 right now? Getting back to Triple X, why Kevin Sheehan insists on inserting weird or bizarre stuff from the news into every sports update on Riggins' show is beyond me. Yesterday, he was castigated by an e-mailer for using the story of a man who shot his friend to death over a college football wager for entertainment purposes. Sheehan replied by saying that we'd all go crazy if we couldn't laugh, but hello - there are thousands of humorous items he could have pulled off the internet that DON'T involve someone dying. One of Triple X's other update guys incorrectly stated that the Capitals would be playing the Lightning at home on Wednesday (they actually played them in Tampa last night) - so perhaps the station needs to devote more time to getting its facts straight and less to this offbeat nonsense. Speaking of the Caps, Jeff Halperin (who played for them up to last season) came on WTEM's John Thompson show yesteday and accused the DC sports media of 'disrespecting' fans of all local teams other than the Redskins. Apparently the situation is different in Dallas where he now plays hockey - while the Cowboys are as huge there as the Skins are here, the TV and radio outlets don't act like nobody cares about the Stars, Mavericks or Rangers once football season starts. Mike, Fairfax (11/29/06)
Re: the original Fox logo - There is a book called "Outfoxed," about how Fox was created. In the paperback edition, there is a photo of a news conference with the FBC logo in front of the table. There were three triangular blocks with the letters F-B-C within the blocks. Al McGilvray. TalkRadio WRNR 740AM (11/29/06)
RE:"This just in. Don G and Mikey O will be out next week as well. Overheard at a Restaurant they were having lunch at." Okay, Robbay, stop creating controversy! (11/29/06)
This just in. Don G and Mikey O will be out next week as well. Overheard at a Restaurant they were having lunch at. (11/29/06)
chalkycolon-is-a-Ebay-whore - I never said that YOU claimed to be some one else...many other dim lights here thought that your original post was Doni! because of the "Yours in Christ" salutation. I was merely setting THEM straight...how's your jump to conclusions? By the way something...I thought the folks over there didn't read this site? Geo in Parkville (11/29/06)
Do the GE suits even watch television? Do they know that you have to have good talent and a solid product? Otherwise, you might as well get out of the game. Maybe they eventually plan to just drop local news all together -- run Seinfeld, Mash or some other show they can relate to. The newscasts at WRC have become so slow and boring that the talent has remained the only reason to watch. With the departure of their stars, there's not much of a reason to tune in any longer. At the same time FOX and WJLA are coming on strong. Now, it appears that Pat Collins is the next one to feel the ax of GE. Maybe Michael Richards will regain his reputation when GE pulls the plug on the newscasts and becomes DC's "All Seinfeld" station. (11/29/06)
Hey Dave, Look at your item about changes at WRC. You said WP article was written by Frank Ahrens...lets get it right...it was written by Paul Farhi! Sounds like you got mixed up. Stephen (11/29/06)
Dave's response: Hey, I'm not mixed up. Frank and Paul are actually the same person, with two distinctly different personalities. Frank is "Dr. Jekyl" and Paul is "Mr. Hyde".....
Clear Channel announces more cuts which means more great talent in the job pool. The new management at Clear Channel should air the JACK format then they can fire everyone. Rumor has it that CBS/Washington is ready to hire all the folks that the new regime has deemed incompentent. Look for the GSM of WPOC to land at CBS. My guess is CBS would of done that trade with out a draft pick to be named later. (11/29/06)
(RE: The caller could've chosen a different set of words, but her point is that we are losing our own culture in our country today. -Silvie in Waldorf) Our own CULTURE? Silvie, the roots of "our own culture" can be found in a poem written by Emma Lazarus that is inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty. It pretty well sums up the spirit of America that you, WMAL, and a vast majority of their listening audience seem to be forgetting...it reads; "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp! cries she with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Silvie, that poem, etched on a that great statue, formed the first sight of America greeting the ancestors of a vast majority of todays natural-born Americans. Many of us are no more than 2 or 3 generations removed from those humble beginnings. Hell, my grandfather came over from Italy in 1905. He spoke a mix of broken english and mostly Italian until he passed away in 1972...and he never learned to read or write in english much more than to sign his name. He served this nation in WWI, and was proud to take the oath to become an American citizen, but always kept and celebrated his Italian heritage. He entered America with a huge wave from Poland, Russia Sweeden and Ireland....I imagine my grandfather and those like him were not very different than any of our modern immigrants from India, Pakistan, Camroon, Niger and Latin America. WMAL and a large portion of their listening audience need to back away from the bigotry and remember for a moment that Mrs. Lazarus penned that poem to welcome ALL to our shores....she didn't exclude anyone...regardless of if they dressed or prayed different than her. Silvie...think for yourself for a moment...the poem begins "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!", not "Hey lady, take that towel off your head and either assimilate our culture or take your Allah-prayin' ass back ta Burka-slavia or wherever you came from!" Personally, I don't think I'd very much enjoy living in the vision of "America" that people like you and Chris Plante share...I like it just the way it is. (11/29/06)
The anonymous responder is correct that I whiffed it on comparing DC and Baltimore TV. Charm City's VHF stations are all about 200 feet higher above terrain than DC's. However, NOBODY is operating at full facilities (channel 11 is within 19 feet, though). It's interesting to note that the antennas on the goalpost tower at Merrifield are lower by 40 feet than the antennas in Northwest DC. As far as DC HD goes, I get 4/5/7/9/20 in HD just fine 60 miles away. // My claim about the highest effective ERP in the area still stands. DC101 is about 13 miles closer to Baltimore than WETA - that's the big difference between the two. Regards, Dave Loudin (11/29/06)
"Hail to you Redskins - I would never turn my back on you despite your challenges. At least you all are trying to work together as a team" Are they now? Talk about drinking kool-aid! Maybe you missed the ESPN report about no confidence between players and coaches. Now which one is working as a team? Bryslock (11/29/06)
Has anybody noticed that TOP FM has been running in delay again? I haven't heard their AM lately to see if they are, too . . . also, I noticed this evening that WTWP AM appears to be live, but the FM appears to be on a 9 second delay. Anybody else notice? And, any idea why? (11/29/06)
If there was a meltdown of All Things Considered today, it's news to me - and since I spent the afternoon doing the local news and board-opping ATC at WXXI here in Rochester, I'd think I would have noticed. My guess is that whatever the Harrisburg poster heard on WITF was related to the ongoing rollout of "Content Depot," the new distribution system that PRSS (NPR's distribution arm) began rolling out at the beginning of November. Up here in Rochester, we haven't converted to Content Depot for live shows such as ATC, and probably won't do so until we get much closer to the drop-dead date for the old satellite system (on or about 1/1/07). It's causing a lot of long days for public radio engineers (and those of us who depend on public radio engineers) everywhere, and there have been plenty of headaches along the way (we had to renumber nearly every cut in our automation system to make room for Content Depot's new cut numbering system), but it should be worth the headaches when it's all in place. - Scott Fybush, working at (but not speaking for) WXXI AM 1370, Rochester NY, among other things. (11/29/06)
Saw Arch Campbell on the 11 pm news last night discussing the closing of another movie theatre in D.C....sigh!....Mr. Vance responded with the world is going to hell in a handbasket.....I agree....I'll miss Arch's laugh.......gosh I was so hoping WARW might increase it's playlist but d9mn it's the same old tired sh9t...and what's the deal with this live from the archives crap?.....is there a guide somewhere that lists what radio stations are broadcasting on HD and the content of them stations.....you know cerf did play Living Loving this afternoon as I raked the leaves(I miss the smell of burning leaves in the morning..btws what causes more pollution burning leaves or them g9td8mn leaf blowers and the noise and air pollution they cause) hearing that song as dusk came upon the land took me back to my yute in the late 60's...could it be possible I first heard that tune on WEEL played by Jack Alix back in '69 or was he gone from WEEL by then?.....I believe Rubbey is there running the "best of's" of the DnM's...ain't he reading some of the commercial copy?.....and cruised by the Great Falls Safeway after visiting the lovely Riverbend Park along the Potomac River but it were closed....anyways I saw Don Juan out front of the grocery store ringing the bell...it's so nice that Don Juan is thinking of udders during the Festivus period!.......despite all my rage I'm still just a rat....Bill Smith......Hey here we are now entertain us! (11/29/06)
If D&M were in fact on two week suspension that would have put them back on the air yesterday, I drank the two-week kool-aid and tuned in tuesday assuming they'd be back.....only to get more BO. Is there a possibilty that Thanksgiving wouldnt count as a suspension day and they could be back live today? (11/29/06)
Dave's response: They'd usually be in "best of" mode on the day after Thanksgiving too, so maybe the "two week" suspension will end tomorrow.....
To the CNN poster: Did CNN run the clip from Klein's show alluding that Klein believes in tattooing Muslims? Or did it just focus on the callers? (For the record: Klein does not believe in tattooing Muslims; he was just running a test to see how callers would react and explained everything at the end of his show on Sunday.) -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/29/06)
Check it out: www.tubecityonline.com (11/29/06)
RE: Retro TV network logos at http://members.fortunecity.com/tvnetworks/... A couple of months after signing-on, didn't FOX try to start to use "FBC" instead of "FOX" on air? Bob Corbin/VARTV.com (11/29/06)
Zoltar on JFK last night with my girl DeeDee from O & A. I used to listen to Zoltar on HFS, and first heard DeeDee and her snort on O & A. You two made my drive home last night. Zoltar please keep getting into DeeDee's dark side. Rick from DC (11/29/06)
Dave's response: Zoltar, the thing from Venus?
Dear Dave: A poster writes about satellite radio "There's nothing compelling about it and it's a waste of money." Well, as my late father-in-law used to say "You get what you pay for." When applied to terrestrial radio, I can say I definitely get nothing for the price I pay. Like another poster on this board, over 90% of my radio listening is on my XM system (exceptions: my Dad on NPR, Leesburg's WAGE, and WTOP for local news). The variety I have is overwhelming, whether it be the music channels by decade that feature BROAD playlists, old-time radio, MLB, the ability to follow University of North Carolina basketball now that Charlotte's WBT no longer carries the games, and so forth. The other nice thing about it is I don't have to worry about transmitter signal coverage in my humble abode. I've mentioned on this board various times over the years of the poor terrestrial coverage out here West of Wild Western Fairfax County. All in all, I personally don't see anything compelling about terrestrial radio, and HD is not going to make a difference. I don't see my listening habits changing. Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (11/29/06)
I really wouldn't be suprised if all if WJFK is in the process of being sold to Dan Snyder. It just seems like WJFK has a lot more problems than just D&M. After so long, they are still doing "Test" shows at 8pm. How many different people have to try out to actually fill the post??? The finally do a good move by bringing The Hideout back and even though they had their own show on WJFK before, they still are only getting a "Test" run. I think at this point WJFK is just trying to fill time until Dan Snyder officially buys 106.7FM. Terrestrial radio is dead... Thank God for XM! Seeyuh! Carlos in Arlington (11/29/06)
Susan Kidd is scheduled to be on Post Radio at 8:12 Wednesday morning, along with Paul Farhi, to talk about the layoffs at Ch. 4 ... should be interesting... (11/29/06)
JPS wrote "...All Things Considered had a meltdown...Sounds like they lost the link from the studios in DC to the bird." Given that the studios and the uplink are in the same building, that would be difficult but not impossible. More likely that the digital audio storage system threw up. (11/29/06)
"*Station Brake* - 11/28 - Paul Farhi does another DC Post radio/TV Q&A on Tuesday....." Why is he stopping? Or, is he being bent? (11/29/06)
I would ask that the stream-of-consciousness writer stop associating the illustrious Tirebiter name with that loathsome creature George Allen. Porgie does not deserve the taunts he is bound to get at More Science High (11/29/06)
/\ November 29 Messages /\
\/ November 28 Messages \/
Well, I see that Jerry Klein and WMAL have made the big time; CNN has just run a headshot of Klein, with the MAL mike flag, and a quote from one of his anti-Muslim callers, the comment about tattooing all Muslims and sending them home. Goes right along with the quote from the earlier poster who quoted a caller bitching about the people with towels on their heads, etc. Congratulations, Jerry! You, your station and your listeners are now nationally recognized as proudly ignorant. Just remember, Jerry: there is now a face to your name. I'd like to see how you handle yourself when someone who doesn't agree with you recognizes you in public and has something to say about it. (11/28/06)
Re: "There's nothing compelling about it and it's a waste of money." How wrong you are. For one, the music channels (except for the CC programmed ones on XM) are commerical free. That right there is one of the strong points of sat radio. The other one is the variety. There are so many stations on there that its impossible to listen to them all. Most people like one or two channels and listen there. My wife likes her set of channels, the step daughter has her set, and I have my set - and they're all different. Bottom line - variety for everybody. Terrestrial radio can't top that, even with multicast HD channels. Why wait for HD when you can have sat rad now? XM has the music, Sirius has the sports. XM has O&A and R&F, Sirius has Howard. Take your pick, you'll find something you'll like. Dave in Fredericksburg (11/28/06)
Silvie and quite a few others are missing a point, regarding the arguments being put forward on WMAL by the likes of Klein. Silvie stated people are losing their identity in America; this is not so. First of all, there is no truly "American" identity, unless you are a descendent of Native tribes. America has been defined by the people who have come here over the centuries, and that includes race, religion, and yes, culture. There indeed are certain aspects of the US culture that are uniquely ours, ie., our music. Blues, bluegrass, rock and roll and the rest were born here, but have roots in other parts of the world. We are a nation that will always change, always have different influences and the American character will reflect that. The garbage being spewed on WMAL by Klein and his cohorts, and those that are known on a national level is the same stuff that is spat out time and again by those who fear change and its inevitability. You will not lose your identity; it is a part of you. It is just that as the world turns, America changes and turns with it. You cannot stop it. I am sure Klein and the rest know this, but they can't resist beating the dead horse in the name of generating controversy, which in their minds means ratings and more ad revenue. They also know there's a paranoid, weak-minded population out there that still believe everything they're told. Louise, Baltimore, MD (11/28/06)
I am amazed at all the "kool aid" drinkers over on the RadioGodsForum.com site....standing pat for a show that gave up on them years ago...Way to stay in there guys!!!! Fight that good fight!!!!! Geesh..... (11/28/06)
("You would figure a guy with the handle Chalky Colon would spell Fissure correctly." He listens to D&M, so he probably can't spell. (11/28/06)
I am over any loyalty after ten years with D&M and my 90 min. to two hour commute home each day. But the snippet I listened to before 4pm today with technical drop-offs does make me realize that either someone is messing with the broadcast and/or WJFK is destined for Dan Snyder purchase. Thank you XM!!! Hail to you Redskins - I would never turn my back on you despite your challenges. At least you all are trying to work together as a team! Love from Howard County... (11/28/06)
Dave, to say employees at CC are nervous would be an understatement. The hatchet will continue to swing down and no department will be spared. The shoestring budgeting that they've been dealing with is about to get thinner. Be prepared for alot of the entry level salaried positions to be cut and consolidated. They'll find more unqualified people to do more work for less pay. And for those of you that work for CC in DC or or Baltimore, I'm sorry that you're finding out by reading the mailbag of a web site that they block from the company servers. You DC sales reps - look what happened to the pay structure in B'more. Programming? Do the stations even have those departments anymore? Promotions people, say hello to your new job of Sales Assistants. CC has always been about the bottom line and never about the people. They don't care about their people, from the top down. And where are the fearless CC local leaders? Collecting thousands of dollars in bonuses for their amazing management skills. That's where. (11/28/06)
QUOTE: "Can you name one regular program host 'MAL has hired in the last five years that is not white and male? I rest my case." So what's your point? If WMAL hires a black male or a Hispanic male with a conservative voice, would that make you happier? 2) To Jeff in Bowie: The point that the Plante caller wanted to make was that she clearly feels that we are losing our identity as a Nation because we have people like CAIR constantly telling us that we're racist bigots. The caller could've chosen a different set of words, but her point is that we are losing our own culture in our country today. G'nite! -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/28/06)
Check out these vintage TV logos, many from DC: members.fortunecity.com/tvnetworks (11/28/06)
WO! DIM-WITTED POSTER. AS PER THE DC POST ARTICLE THERE ARE 75,000 HOMES THAT CAN GET FIOS-TV BT THE END OF DECEMBER.THAT MEANS YOU AND I,BUDDY! CORY (11/28/06)
You know.... not even "House" could save WJFK now.... Beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.... Call it!!! Date of death...11/28/06...RIP WJFK.. (11/28/06)
Dave's response: Just some wild and crazy speculation from moi. CBS will sell WJFK-FM to Dan Snyder's Red Zebra for Triple X. Only the Junkies will survive the transfer - and they'll get moved to afternoons when Elliot jumps to 106.7's mornings when his DC101/Clear Channel contract is up. Look for CBS to put Opie and Anthony on 94.7 mornings when it flips it to a hybrid alt rock format in 2007. Nassau will buy 92.7 and 94.3 from RedZeb and make them a relay of AAA WRNR.....
(Dave's response: Speaking of technical stuff, did anyone notice that even during the D&M "best of" today at about 3:45 PM there were audio drop outs. Sounded like a CD skipping. Man, JFK-FM is the anus of the technical radio universe.....) I did notice this too. Between this, and the O&A re-run this morning, maybe there really ARE major technical difficulties that are keeping D&M off the air. I can understand that if your equipment can't even run best-of without trouble, maybe you would be reluctant to do a live show... (11/28/06)
(RE: "Chris Plante had Jerry Klein stop by tonight to discuss the strong reactions of the WMAL audience to Klein's "test" yesterday...Plante, of course, proceeded to basically rip Jerry a "new one" -Silvie in Waldorf") Thanks for the heads-up Silvie...I took a listen on their audio download, and to quote Plante, "I don't believe we do discriminate in any blanket fashion...that's a lot of hooey....If you took, like, the white Irish catholic heterosexual male population and had them file a grievance every time something happens to them, it would be a considerably longer list...In many instances, I've got to tell you I think there are many people who have a legitimate reason to feel that way, and I am here to give a voice to them." The first caller, Pam, stated; "I agree 100% with everything that you are saying, and I have to tell you that when I'm out in the grocery store or I'm out someplace and I see these women that are walking around with their heads all wrapped up in these towels and stuff, I mean, it makes me stop and think, and it makes me angry that they come over here to MY country, and they don't go with MY culture...I'm sick and tired of America bowing down to everybody else's culture but OURS...you know, maybe they wouldn't be singled out and there wouldn't be this ANGER going on, and I am ANGRY. I'm angry that there are all these minorities constantly claiming that somebody is discriminating against them, and what about the people who are born and raised in this country that just sit back and take it all the time." Jerry summed it up by stating, "Let me just say as I leave that Pam just made my point perfectly." Yep...sure sounds like Plante ripped Klein a "new one" Silvie - Jeff in (can't you just smell the sarcasm) Bowie (11/28/06)
Dave, I am being cryptic here but you should know what I am talking about-If the MD Lottery is indeed moving to Hearst and away from CBS then why did they supposedly push CBS to make a certain decision regarding one of their personalities. -Michael P (11/28/06)
RE: Dave, even with all that variety on Sirius or XM people still aren't buying into it or the two providers would be paying big dividends to its shareholders and Mel wouldn't be talking merger -- or isn't he..blah,blah,blah.//// Spoken like someone doesn't have cable TV or satellite radio. If it's a financial matter for you fine, but what are you comparing Satellite radio to Cable TV? Terrestrial Radio? Your argument only makes sense on pure economic terms, and doesn't consider that many folks want and will pay for variety, me among them. Sat Rad is in it's start up phase, it may fail, the primary players may merge, but paying dividends at this point has very little to do with it's ultimate success. I listen to SatRad 90% of the time I listen to radio, which on average is many hours per day...the cost and variety are well worth to me. Maybe you simply don't listen to enough radio or watch enough TV? I can only peg you for a guy who is too cheap, too poor, or likes to hear Satisfaction for the 3 millionth time, and because you don't want to fork out the cash, you pray innovation and variety will fail so we have to listen to the same old crap with which you are apparently satisfied. Content is king, bud, and I am re-upping my Satrad subscription for another year without hesitation, as is everybody I know who has taken the leap. It's not all about Stern or Oprah..but how you would know. As for cable, you out yourself...since when has anybody had a 40 dollar cable bill ?? (11/28/06)
Understand that All Things Considered had a meltdown on Tuesday afternoon. Local affiliate in Harrisburg, PA WITF-FM was saying uplink problems were prohibiting NPR from sending live feed to affiliates. Not sure how long the outage lasted. I was listening around 4:15 when local announcer came on and said they had talked with DC based engineering and told they were working on problem. Sounds like they lost the link from the studios in DC to the bird. JPS (11/28/06)
Dave's response: Speaking of technical stuff, did anyone notice that even during the D&M "best of" today at about 3:45 PM there were audio drop outs. Sounded like a CD skipping. Man, JFK-FM is the anus of the technical radio universe.....
RE: "Can't help but wonder if CAIR would be so generous if Jerry Klien was not such a flaming liberal" Wow....Did you ever consider that maybe the worldin general would be a little more "generous" to 'MAL all around if the REST of 'MALs on-air talent (Chris Core excluded, of course) were not such a bunch flaming ASSHOLES when it comes to issues of race, religon and politics ? (11/28/06)
Verizon Fios cable is on the way to Montgomery County. The County Council approved the franchise contract this morning, according to an e-mail from Councilperson Nancy Floreen. I sure hope that roll-out timeline of 12 months to 7 years is significantly shorter. For those of us with Fios internet and phone already in our homes, what's the wait? In the kindest (sic) words, bite me, Comcast! signed, The Dim-Witted Poster (11/28/06)
Dave's response: Wooohooo! Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.....
Can't help but wonder if CAIR would be so generous if Jerry Klien was not such a flaming liberal. (11/28/06)
Dave, even with all that variety on Sirius or XM people still aren't buying into it or the two providers would be paying big dividends to its shareholders and Mel wouldn't be talking merger -- or isn't he? I know a lot of people who aren't willing to shell out $120 a year just to listen to Howard or Oprah. Sure one or the other is in new cars, but if you took a survey of those who still get the service after the first year, I bet you'd see a drop. It's like cable, you get ALL those channels for $40 a month and it's the same old crap...and now I know why I don't have it. There's nothing compelling about it and it's a waste of money. Sure I may miss a program here or there, but I can suffer. You know, maybe that's also the problem with all of radio...analog, HD, SAT, whatever, there's NOTHING that says I've got to have THAT!!! (11/28/06)
The last entry about HD, I think the writer is about to burst a blood vessel. He's right, the content is not there, yet. But, gee, I seem to recall a thing called FM that was around for years before there were enough people with FM radios to listen to it. Then when you could the crap was all automated, which I think someone else brought up about the issue with SAT radio, it's bland. We seem to go around in circles in this business. Remember there was first automation, then we went live, then the bean counters said to cut and we had live sattelite shows (still do in some markets), then when that failed, back to live, then came more bean counters and voice tracking. pretty soon the bean counters will be doing all the work tehmselves because no one coming out of college will want to work for...beans. For every step forward we take two back. But I would think HD is here to stay. Those who don't think so, ought to take that half empty glass and turn it upside down over their heads. (11/28/06)
Dave's response: You buy Sirius because you want NFL Football or Howard Stern or Left Of Center. Ditto with XM and O&A or Major League Baseball or Oprah. So-called "HD Radio" needs to get some cool brand-based channels up and running and them market the hell out of them. Simply shilling "more" - a la "a bunch of free hidden stations" - ain't gonna do it. Despite all those generic filler ads you hear on local radio, no one can name anything specific they're gonna get from digital radio. Until they can, it ain't goin' nowhere.....
Geo in Parksville - great job gumshoe , did yee figure that out all on your own? I never said I was anyone other then myself. Yours in Budda... chalkycolon-is-a-Ebay-whore (11/28/06)
I believe Buzz is under contract at JFK therefore, he will not be in the unemployment line - but he might be breaking bottles with Mike! (11/28/06)
You would figure a guy with the handle Chalky Colon would spell Fissure correctly. (11/28/06)
RE: [ " This DC/Baltimore tower envy discussion is beside the point. Class B FM stations are limited to the equivalent of 50,000 watts from an average height above terrain of 500 feet. Television stations have similar limits. " ].......... It's rare, but Dave Loudin is wrong on this one: Almost all of the Washington DC TV stations are operating well BELOW their maximum licensed effective radiated powers because most of them are allowed a maximum 1000 foot transmitter height at the same power they currently operate at now at heights ranging between 700 and 800 feet. That is why TV reception in the DC area sucks so bad. I'm not sure if this same principle applies to HDTV exactly the same way, but it's probably pretty similar, meaning Digital TV reception in the DC market is probably also suffering. If this were not the case, I'd imagine the Tenleytown tower would never have been proposed. So I think Mr. Loudin is definitely wrong on this one. And one other thing... Despite its 75,000 watts of power, WETA does not have the best signal of DC's radio stations from the standpoint of reception from Baltimore. WWDC 101 does (at a significantly lower power) and once again WWDC's tower is about 200+ feet taller than WETA even though signal strength is significantly lower. Several DC stations have closer transmitters to Baltimore at higher powers than DC-101, but their signals are still not as good no matter how you look at it. DC may not have Baltimore's skyscraper issue per se, but the region does have tall buildings, they are just spread much farther apart and in completely different suburban regions, which can still cause reception problems. And the market is so geographically sprawling in size now. With the growth of the Washington market, I'm still amazed this problem has not been solved, nor does there even appear to be any proposal of a solution being floated around anymore. (11/28/06)
I figured that the whole D&M thing was basically a stunt. Radio and Records hasn't been paying attention to it. There's basically been nothing but speculation. But after today's O&A repeat from last Tuesday, I think the wheels have seriously come off at WJFK. When I worked at a competing talker, we certainly would have gotten a re-feed of some sort on the air via ISDN if need be. To just let it go on for the whole show tells me that nobody there is really paying attention. So either something big is in the works and they just don't care about WJFK's current format or listeners, or nothing is in the works and they just don't care about WJFK's format or listeners. I saw a crazy man at the Freindship Heights metro who could probably do a better job of running the station. I could ask his number next time I'm there... (11/28/06)
Dave's response: There's a lot of DC and Baltimore area radio news that R&R doesn't pay any attention to.....
Hey "Yours in Christ", if you actually bothered to READ my post, I never said I wouldn't listen again. I just stated that the lack of concern you have for the questions your fans have about your show is completely inconsiderate. Like all the other "ass-hats" our here, I DO check-in every day at 3 PM to see if the show is live, and I AM disappointed when I hear a "Best Of" segment. We just want to know WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!!!! Like a battered wife, I'll come back every time...like a battered wife, I just need to hear "I Love You" and everythng is okay. Yours in Lucifer, G.K. in Reisterstown, MD (11/28/06)
RE: Looks like the management whiz kids at CBS Baltimore have done it again.: Hey Don't forget Kirk and Mark's arrival in Jan. 2007. More tag team action for ya ! Oh, and Jon Boesche also does the mix action on XM's 90's on 9 Channel too. Hey, just because a turntable mix style DJ normally dosn't say anything during their set dosn't mean that they don't have anything to say. A couple other things: could this whole mess of a year for CBS (locally and nationally) mean the end of FREE FM ? Opie and Anthony are great, but they don't need to be under a stupid moniker like FREE FM and what it stands for: every major market having the same damn stations. With Kirk and Mark comming to HFS in the morning, Don and Mike on hiatus, possibly switching stations, the Junkies totally failing to pull Baltimore listeners (their own fault by not acnowledging and/or dissing Bmore people) , could we FINALLY soon be hearing more music on the HFS airwaves? Ed Norris could still do a show I guess, but seriously, how much longer will people be willing to listen to the same police stories, the same terrorist stories, the same story about what happened to him, blah blah blah. I gotta tell ya: I'm tired of the show and I stopped listening a couple months ago. There has to be others like me out there. KeninEaston (11/28/06)
Come on guys, think about it. Just because D&M are off the air, do you think that Joe, Robbay and John are sitting at home watching TV these days? John is their football Crooked Commissioner and he is keeping up appearances - just in case the boys do come back. Only the "talent" gets these days off. (11/28/06)
Another day of Don and Mike reruns and no explanation from WJFK or from D&M about what is going on. Seems highly unprofessional on the part of WJFK not to explain what the devil is going on to the listeners who tune in each day. I cannot believe that there isn't anyone, anywhere that doesn't know what is going on. Why the silence from WJFK? If Don owns his website, why can't he post some sort of explanation? This does seem like a huge slap in the face to loyal listeners not to give us some sort of explanation of why they are no longer broadcasting live. All of the times Stern was suspended or taken off the air, either he held a press conference or there was some sort press release from CBS about what was going on. I admit, I'm stumped...just don't get it. (11/28/06)
Dave, What do you think? XM or Sirius for the boys! (11/28/06)
Dave's response: With Mel on your side, anything's possible.....
RE: WMAL's "parody of anti-Muslim bigotry" Hear clips of the show on WUSA: www.wusa9.com (11/28/06)
"Yours in Christ , chalkycolon-is-a-Ebay-whore"...this post is actually from a regular from the Radio Gods Forum, not Doni! Himself. I rarely get involved with all the usual juvenile hijinks here on the mailbag, just wanted to set that one straight. All I can say, as a regular listener of the show, is that I just purchased my Sportster SatRad, and I'm just sick about it. I will certainly still tune in here and there, but it's just not the same as when I started listening to the boys in '91 when they moved to 'JFK. They're on their way out, and the music stations are just slightly below the level of total crap. Bye Terrestrial radio...you have failed me on many levels. Geo in Parkville (11/28/06)
Jamesonian - Go screw Ed in Fenton - Thats such a lovely story and you tell it so well and with such feeling. G.K. in Reisterstown, MD - You ever suck the Jelly from a jelly donut and fill it with anal phisher ice cream? Bennett, Bethesda - No im not but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night - let me ask ya ? Wadda ya care? Yours in Christ , Chalkycolon-is-a-Ebay-whore (11/28/06)
With Don & Mike in another re-run today, one must wonder if they’ve parted ways with WJFK. And if so, it shouldn’t surprise us that the incompetent Michael Hughes would run best-of segments, milking advertising dollars for as long as possible, before canning the show or making any related announcement. After all, Hughes & Co. has shown an allegiance to the almighty dollar, much more so than the average for-profit company. And for a company to be so committed to raking in the bucks, it’s always a surprise that they run crappy programming, risking their ability to maximize income. What a joke. Just when you think they can’t get any dumber, they pull a bone-head like this. Signed, Toledo Cliff (11/28/06)
Don’t know if you have noticed, but D&M are actually updating their fantasy football standings, just not the explanations… Someone is alive and kicking over there. I love being from Seattle on the outside of all this drama. (11/28/06)
Dave's response: As I've said before, Don personally owns the show's website. It is not controlled by his radio station/employer. He's free to post stuff on it whenever he wants - whatever he wants. But all we get is "WTF?".....
If WLIF's repetitive holiday hoedown doesn't drive you to destruction, subjecting yourself to ho-humbug Steve Rouse, cackling Diane Lynn, Cathy Whiteside's ear-splitting delivery or the coma-inducing drone of Greg Carpenter will. You've got to love the listener calls they've been running, too. Sounds like they rounded up all the old, out of demo, East Baltimore "hons." Now there's an image builder. 2) What did you expect? WHFS's misguided moves are the brainchildren of market manager Bobby Philips who knows everything about programming a successful radio station - just ask him. He keeps Dave "I'm the V.P. of Programming because it says so on my business cards" LaBrozzi around to do the messy things Bobby doesn't want to dirty his blue-blooded hands with. 3) Miles and Thrill are happily and profitably employed by Entercom Broadcasting in Seattle. Entercom's V.P. of Programming Bill Pasha was CBS Baltimore's V.P. of Programming for many years. That is until he had his fill of Philips. (11/28/06)
What is the point of Don and Robb posting garbage to the mailbag? I admit, I am over the whole thing other than the curiousity of what happened. In Sacto I only started listening to them in about 1996, but that's long enough. The show has been so pathetic lately. Blame it on the Feds, or whatever but it just sucks. And Don clearly just doesn't care anymore, so why should I ? I'll go back to Tom Sullivan here locally.. he's quite good, and quite diligent in his work ethic. Oh, and BTW, Don and Mike ought to be concerned with how this is going over in Sacramento.. KHTK said last time D&M went to a tape delay that they would run the show overnight and pick up Dan Patrick for the afternoons if they did it again... That would not be a good thing... Thanks Don and Mike for 7 good years, and 3 mediocre ones. Bye. (11/28/06)
Found on Radio Gods Forum: 2 D.C. Area DJs Fired After Airing Inappropriate Audio And Damaging Equipment From Corey Deitz, Your Guide to Radio..... Dateline: 11/28/06..... The Associated Press is reporting two Washington D.C. area DJs have been fired because of remarks they made while airing the audio portion of an "inappropriate" video which shows questionable sexual performances. Don (real name Mike Sorce) and Mike O'Meara from the WJFK-FREE FM afternoon show were terminated Monday in response to a grievance hearing committee's recommendations. The DJs played the audio and inserted musical accompaniment while laughing. When told they would not be back on the air until the grievance committee had ruled on the incident, Don (Mike Sorce) responded angrily and in the process of exiting the studio for the day, damaged several pieces of expensive broadcast equipment. The station is owned by CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Broadcasting), which is a division of CBS Corporation. CBS released the following apology this morning: AN APOLOGY TO OUR LISTENERS: BEFORE THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS, THE DON & MIKE SHOW FEATURED A SEGMENT WITH HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT. THIS SEGMENT INCLUDED THE AUDIO PORTION OF THE VIDEO. I AM PERSONALLY SHOCKED AND OFFENDED BY THE ACTIONS OF THE DON & MIKE SHOW. THE ACTIONS WERE INSENSITIVE, INAPPROPRIATE AND REPULSIVE. ON BEHALF OF CBS AND WJFK, I APOLOGIZE TO OUR LISTENERS AND LET YOU KNOW THAT DUE TO THESE ACTIONS WE HAVE TERMINATED THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE DON & MIKE SHOW. today.reuters.com (11/28/06)
Dave's response: Warning - the above is a parody. It is not a real article.....
Interesting piece about John Hall in today's Post. Too bad be and Johanna couldn't make a go of it. As she was the inspiration for most of his tunes. John recorded a solo record back in ''81 called "All Of The Above" which featured a catchy little tune called "Crazy". What I liked most about "Orleans" was the fact they used 2 drummers . Rock On John! Rusty Gibson (11/28/06)
In response to Yours In Christ- You appear to think that your listeners owe you something. We don't owe you anything, my friend. Not after so many years of being manipulated by you for your benefit and to our detriment. Our loyalty has manifest as sizable ratings for your show, ratings which you have consistently wielded like a hammer against your corporate masters to improve your situation. And it has worked, on occasion. That hammer got you into Philadelphia and it got you into New York, neither of which benefited your DC listeners. To the contrary, we were left in your dust as Frida shopped on 5th Avenue and you leased a condo on Manhattan. You use us, your DC listeners, to get you into bigger markets but you can't seem to get a foothold in any of them. So you come back to us as if we're you're ugly date at the prom who accepts you back after the prom queen kicked you in the nuts. No more. Why don't you just stay retired this time? You don't need us anymore. You sure as hell don't want us anymore. And no amount of your usual 10-minute humble apology can soothe this wound. Did you ever wonder what would happen to your show if your DC audience finally kicked you in the nuts, too? Get ready to find out. Maybe Sacramento still has its arms open for you. –Jamesonian (11/28/06)
Dave Garner and his fat lazy club can stick that repeater up their asses. Big Fat Farley will have news on it soon enough anyway. Love always, the Anus (11/28/06)
SHUT UP!!! about Don & Mike and how you aren't going to listen anymore and how you haven't been listening to the re-runs. YOU TURN ON WJFK EVERYDAY AT 3PM TO SEE IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE ON AND END UP LISTENING. Don & Mike are genius for doing what they are doing. They are the most talked about show on this website and their goal has been accomplished. If WJFK moves any shows around or not, Don & Mike have gotten their goal accomplished cause idiots like you are talking about them NON-STOP! I'm not a HUGE fan of Don & Mike but I do listen every so often. I prefer Opie & Anthony, BUT I have learned more about Don & Mike on this website than when I actually listen to their show myself! Good job Don & Mike, mission acomplished. (11/28/06)
I know many of you winder lickers are missing your Donnie g. so here's a link to donnie g. from days of future past from his time at wpgc amandfmmorningside.com .....Harv Moore says, "But donnie do you have to be so blue?" I wandered over to Mclean yesterday(and I saw many a campaign sign for ex-Sen. Georgie "Tirebiter" Allen littering the median strips) to the Books O' Million store and I saw several new books, one on I.F. Stone and another about Nancy Dickerson written by her son, anyways on the way over I flipping the dial and came across the John "lemme Axe " Thompson show and they had that Tom Friend fella who wrote the article about the "My oh my,my sh8t smells like lavender" Dreadskin's in espn magazine. I thought the conversation flowed nicely with moments of humor and discussion about the situation with the Dreadskin's. And I must say I find Gerry Coleman the Dreadskin's reporter for WTEM to be pretty good. Not a homer as "I'm Bram Weinstein" has turned into over at Tripe X espn. Well about an hour later I'm heading back to toothless Fairfax and flip dial over to 730 am John Riggins show an lo and behold Tom Friend is on that show. But Friend's temperament was entirely different , I swear I thought I heard his voice cracking in nervousness and he was talking real fast justifying himself and riggo didn't have many a question for Friend so the others chimed in...interesting the difference in atmosphere one station to the other...I wonder why?.....oh is Riggo turning into the new Yogi Berra...riggo said"Free capital of the World" which when you think about ain't necessarily wrong in describing the D.C. area.
......And with the end of Tower records I headed over to Borders in the toothless fairfax looking for that new Beatles record and also out of curiosity I looked up the new Cat Stevens aka Yousef Islam album and they had like 50-60 copies of it, back in the day Borders selection of music was pretty good but nowadays selection is a lot smaller and you see bonehead things like 50 cd's of Yousef Islam available...come on now they ain't going to sell nearly that many...of course, i did......lord my body has been a good friend, but I won't need it when I reach the end...I'm Leo Rosenberg and no relation to OmarPeter Rosenberg (11/28/06)Dave's response: Oh, speaking of old record albums, the print version of the Washington Post today gave us two (count 'em) more copies of our favorite record album cover (right) in a profile of Orleans founder John Hall, who's now headed to Congress.....
Bill Peterson, vice president of station operations for The E. W. Scripps Company's broadcast television station group, is in town today to meet with the staff of WMAR-TV and discuss who will run the station when Drew Berry leaves. (11/28/06)
Don & Mike: From a 13-Year listener to your show...go to hell! The least you could do is post something on your website explaining what's going on. You don't give a shit about us and don't pretend like you do! If you did, you would reach out in some way to talk to us. No wonder a news station beats you in the ratings...at least they address their listeners! I'd rather listen to WLIF's 24-hours of Christmas music than be insulted with a "Best Of" segment for two weeks (or more) without even the slightest explanation of what's been going on. And hey WHFS, nice move...first you axe Miles and Thrill, then you force us to listen to 30 minutes of the same four commercials when covering a Terps game without even a mention that you are changing the program. You guys suck too! G.K. in Reisterstown, MD (11/28/06)
RE: "To his credit, [Chris Plante] does expose the liberals' stupidity every night during his "rants". -Silvie in Waldorf" The convoluted form of "logic" expoused locally by people like Plante, and in syndication by people like Hannity, Levin, Savage, Limbaugh and O'Reilly, cannot survive any form of real public debate. People like Plante can only sound smart when they are alone, and have total control over the ability of callers who oppose their position to articulate their counterpoint. They do this by cutting them off, cutting their microphone, and as a last resort, hanging up, and pretending the caller is still part of the conversation as they hammer their own point home. Plante falls totally apart in a face-to-face debate, as witnessed when he is challenged by Klein on Sundays. Whenever Klein has Plante cornered, Plante changes the subject or resorts to talking over Jerry and attempting to verbally bully him (the childish equivalant of "LA-LA-LA...I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOUUUUUU"). As for your position that 'MAL is not xenophobic at best and bigotted at worst, here's a challenge....can you name one regular program host 'MAL has hired in the last five years that is not white and male? I rest my case. (11/28/06)
My husband and I are huge Opie & Anthony fans, we always enjoy hearing DiDi on the show. Last night we were driving home, and got to hear DiDi doing a show on WJFK, we both love her little cute voice and snort. Shelly and Mark in Va (11/28/06)
The following came from an article on radio-controlled clocks on the NIST website: "The first well known American time signal came from radio station NAA, located in Arlington, Virginia. NAA began broadcasting time signals in Morse Code in 1913 using a rotary spark-gap transmitter at a wavelength of 2500 m and an output power of about 54 kW. The time came from a USNO clock, and it was said that the time sent from Arlington was accurate to "1/20 of a second" when it reached San Francisco." One of the towers stood 600 feet tall, and the two others were 450 feet high. The article also mentions that the callsign now resides in Maine for a Navy station that transmits to submarines. Now you know the rest of the story. Mike in Frederick and the Dashboard DX Society, now transmitting from HIGH atop Triangle Towers to all the mothers, truckers, and little ladies of the night...reception reports are always welcome - we QSL 100%! (11/28/06)
Stupid god damn WJFK!!!!!! Do they realize they are running an O&A show from LAST WEEK?!?!?!?!?!? WJFK has EASILY become the worst station in the DC area...bar none! (11/28/06)
Hey, “Yours in Christ”… WTF? (11/28/06)
Ok, um, why is WJFK replaying an Opie and Anthony show from last week when there was a new show this morning? Get it f*cking right!!! (11/28/06)
Dave L.: As far as I know WETA-FM is not grandfathered. They seem to have received the high-power grant long after the FCC had "stopped" issuing them. See this comment on: w9wi.com... The current limits went into effect in 1962. Stations marked with a * signed on after that date. Most signing on a year or two later probably already held construction permits but had not yet completed construction. I cannot explain how WETA received a superpower permit 8 years after the limits were set. (11/28/06)
So! Birach has another year to get things rolling with 540/700. Thinking out loud a bit, I don't know if Red Zebra's proposal could serve as a backup if nothing happens in that time. 540/700 may not be able to cover their communities of license and maintain nulls in the right directions at the same time from Dulles. // The Eureka system, as mentioned before, was designed for the European model of national network broadcasting. Over here, the equivalent would be Los Angeles, where 90% of the dial comes from one site (Mt. Wilson). All market signals would be on the same footing, plus the boundaries of markets would be very well defined. The real challenge would be the vast areas outside of major markets. Take Winchester, for example. Would Front Royal be included? How about Staunton and Harrisonburg? Would those get combined into one set of Eurekas or would they be separate? Regards, Dave Loudin (11/28/06)
Regarding the whole Don and Mike thing: ya, I'm pissed, too. But I don't feel dissed. I know there's a reason why nobody is saying anything, and I know it will be explained somehow when they're finally back on. Obviously, major negotiations for time-slots are underway, given the abundance of information I read here. They CANNOT lose Sacramento, which gives them consistent #1's and influences their overall market scores. But there's a 3 hour time difference, so morning drive or lunchtime in DC means waaaay too early for loyal Left Coast listeners. There are about 2 dozen egos at work here, with all the show juggling, so it may take some time. But it'll get worked out soon, and we'll get back to mocking Michael Hughes, who apparently thought this whole thing up. I love him. John in Sac (11/28/06)
“Yours in Christ” is clearly Don G., So Don why can’t you just keep your “fans” informed through your website? Even “We’ll Be Right Back” is better than WTF. I don’t think you or Mike really care about the audience, only your pay checks. Howard would never pull this kind of BS because he cares. Unless you are being fired there is no reason for you to negotiate w/management at the expense of your “fans”. Have a nice Christmas break in two weeks. Bennett, Bethesda (11/28/06)
This DC/Baltimore tower envy discussion is beside the point. Class B FM stations are limited to the equivalent of 50,000 watts from an average height above terrain of 500 feet. Television stations have similar limits. Using a higher tower requires transmitting at a lower power to maintain coverage limits. The higher antenna can "see" further out, but the lower RF power compromises the ability to get into buildings. Given the terrain around here, pumping out more power is the better alternative. Now, if we really want to talk about bragging rights, WETA-FM's grandfathered 75,000 watts at 610 feet trumps anything Baltimore has to offer. // Also, the rules for repeaters limit their range to the service contour of the originating station. Regards, Dave Loudin (11/28/06)
Re: "Birach's WGOP 540 construction permit has officially expired. NIMBY's in Germantown, feel free to celebrate in the streets." Before Damascus' NIMBYs fire up Martha Reeves, they may want to head on over to fcc.gov and do an AM QUERY for WGOP, and check the CP's Application Info. (11/28/06)
Correct. France was a leader more than 10 years ago in adopting the low-power single-frequency signal-diversity networked transmitter topology called Eureka 147. NAB also licensced it. A whole industry of test gear has arisen from trying to make it work. While a great idea on paper,Eureka has many, many serious limitations, starting with the nearly $30k cost of the required portable test gear alone. As Europe has tried to loosen the government controls on media, those limitations, and the expense, are becoming more apparent. I don't think the NIMBYs here would tolerate a transmitter site, (aka a tower or rooftop antenna), nearly every ten miles and on top of every hill for very few program channels, all of which must originate from a central facility. That is why France is looking at the Ibiquity approach. It works. Multiple frequencies, multiple program channels, multiple (aka local) origination points, few transmitters. Europe has essentially the same FM analog system we have in terms of band and general characteristics. So the system is easily deployed there. The point of the post is that, regardless of the system used, the rest of the world is going or has gone digital. That some have adopted a system developed here instead of continuing with their own system says something positive about the Ibiquity system. (11/28/06)
Didnt France - and the rest of Europe for that matter - take an entirely different direction with digital radio? Back in the late 90s when I was actually paying attention to this phlegm, Europe embraced the Eureka digital system which planted the entire digital broadcast band in a whole new spectrum outside of conventional analog AM/FM. This could not work here as the spectrum they picked is the one we use for missle command telemetry, which is why we pursued the in-band on-channel scheme. If something has changed, please let me know; otherwise, comparing France's radio scheme to ours truly *is* comparing pommes a' oranges. (11/28/06)
Hey Ernie, (Ernie Kaye, DC101 1978-1993, Wash-FM 1994-2002) didn't you hang out at WNAV one summer? (11/28/06)
Did napoleonic shrimpy dictator dapper dan snyder get a comcast reporter fired cuz he didn't like the question the dude asked???? This is OUTRAGEOUS! Comcast should hang immediately reinstate the reporter, and as for that midget a-hole that's ruining our team, I wish he'd just get the hell out of town. (11/28/06)
Starting this morning, Bethesda has it's own licensed classical music station... WGMS-FM1 104.1, a WGMS repeater. The FCC approved its final use yesterday it looks like. It should make for a much stronger WGMS all around downtown Bethesda, maybe some of the surrounding areas as well. Hard to say how far 25 watts will go. (11/28/06)
Why not publish here, for everyone to see, the HD AM statement of the HD experts? Because HD doesn't work on AM at night, that's why and there is no solution in sight. So lets move on to FM. Just because France, Thailand, Philipines, Brazil. Facilities are under consideration or construction in Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada are building HD facilities, is no reason for the US to do it. You're comparing apples to oranges. These countries use government funds to build these stations. We don't. They don't use deoderant in France, are you suggesting that we abandon this too? Thailand sells off its little girls into sex rings. Is it your suggestion that because they do it, we should too? The comparisons could go on, but the point it made. Just because there are other misguided countries, that is no reason we should follow them rolling down the mountain. You proponents keep avoiding the central argument to HD. THE PROGRAM CONTENT. If there isn't anything worth listening to, it doesn't matter what the transmission format is. They could be building them every 9 feet in London, but if there isn't anything worth listening to, IT WILL DIE! You just don't get it. I saw the ads from Radio Shack this past weekend for their sale HD radio. Made the comparison to satellite radio, as though it were in competition. "No subscription fee's". Just wait until the first buyers hear the crap being programmed. HD is killing itself before it even gets off the ground. No quality programs and lying to potential listeners. Good job HD promoters. That'll build a customer base! OK, so you can listen to crap in crystal clear quality! I'll give you that. (11/28/06)
In all of this talk about Don and Mike possibly changing time slots, has there been any consideration about what happens to their other stations on the network? For example, if they moved to 'JFK or 'ARW mornings, they would no longer be live in Baltimore where 'HFS is committed to KMS and D&M already pull down decent ratings in afternoons. Same in Sacremento where they seem to have a nice following from 12-4 pacific time. This would put them on at roughly 3am if they were to continue live there. If they go to tape delay in their other markets, they would lose what they say really drives their show--the callers. (11/28/06)
Not sure if you knew, I didn't, that my former colleague at DC101 Steve (Steveski) Sutton (Sinton) ran for Congress in Georgia. He was a Democrat in a very red district and lost, but here is a link to get more details on it. Ernie Kaye, DC101 1978-1993, Wash-FM 1994-2002 www.google.com (11/28/06)
Dave's response: Ernie, good to hear from you. While Virginia is turning purple, Georgia is still deep red.....
First of all, I'm brown-skinned because I'm a full-blooded Puerto Rican - and listen to WMAL... so do a lot of minorities, judging by some of the calls to Core and Plante... so that theory about bigotry is caca. Secondly, if Plante had done the same thing -- exposing the stupidity of the liberals in such a "test to the audience", he'd be called a Nazi and there would be protests towards the station. To his credit, he does expose the liberals' stupidity every night during his "rants". -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/28/06)
RE: [ " Baltimore's a big industrial town and there's not a lot of opposition to ruining the skyline with a giant tower or three. " ]....... You should visit more often Dave. Baltimore isn't much of an industrial town anymore. It was an industrial town though when 1 of it's largest TV/radio towers was built and that would be the TV Hill candelabra tower (in the late 50's/early 60s?). The other three 1000+ foot towers around Baltimore were built much more recently in the last 10-20 years. DC didn't catch Baltimore in size until say around 1970, but yet even then when land around DC would have been relatively cheap, nothing impressively tall was ever built in DC. Even the Tenleytown project fiasco was not impressive by either New York, Philly, or even Baltimore standards today or yesteryear. I believe it was to be around 900 feet tall or slightly higher? It's just hard to imagine no DC TV or radio facility transmits from a tower much over 800 feet, especially considering the Washington market is a much more spread out market geographically than Baltimore for sure, maybe even Philly. (11/28/06)
Birach's WGOP 540 construction permit has officially expired. NIMBY's in Germantown, feel free to celebrate in the streets. Happy belated Thanksgiving. :-) (11/28/06)
RE: "truly, the entire WMAL audience are not a bunch of bigots" No, but appearantly the majority of WMAL's callers are. (11/28/06)
Dave's response: I don't know about that, but it does seem that the same half dozen people call in to WMAL again and again judging from the "diverse" array of opinions heard on the station.....
RE: "the entire WMAL audience are not a bunch of bigots." The entire WMAL audience? Heavens no, Silvie....Just an uncomfortably large fraction of the WMAL audience...that's all. Apparently, 'MAL reaps what it sows. Considering their stance last year on day laborers in Herndon, their on-going battles with CASA 'de Maryland, their stance against multi-culturalism and ESL education, their overall interest on the need to secure the Mexican border (Oh...but not our border to the north with Canada), and their incessent panic-mongering involving people of Islamic faith, WMAL really should consider changing their station motto to "BEWARE OF THE BROWN-SKINNED AMONG US!" One last Interesting thing, Silvie....did you ever notice how nobody ever considers themself to be a bigot? (11/28/06)
chalky-colon...: Why are you kool-ade drinkers posting over here at "Ruperts"? Some are realist here having not sampled the bloated-ones kool-ade, and can think for ourselves and know what's actually up, not like RadioGods.com where you seem to 'live'. Cut us a break - your own drama-queen stance at your 'gods site is even worse and more juvenile than your Doni-god's. You do have all your god's catch-phrases down pat: asshat, and all the other childish drivel. This forum allows dissenting opininon, unlike your 'home' ("no agenda posts"). I used to be a casual D&M fan 'til discovering I could stream Kidd Chris. Have listened sparingly since, and there's really nothing there anymore. Ed in Fenton (11/28/06)
/\ November 28 Messages /\
\/ November 27 Messages \/
Chris Plante had Jerry Klein stop by tonight to discuss the strong reactions of the WMAL audience to Klein's "test" yesterday during his own show exposing the hatred of the audience regarding Muslims (see specifics about this in 11/26 mailbag). Plante, of course, proceeded to basically rip Jerry a "new one" because, truly, the entire WMAL audience are not a bunch of bigots. That's ridiculous. -Silvie in Waldorf- (11/27/06)
"Tweeter and they know HD". Wow! You couldn't be more wrong on this. I have been to Tweeter on more than one occasion and they don't sell HD. They may stock it, but they sure don't sell it. I stood there and listened to a sales person steer a customer away from a head unit that carried HD to one that carried SatRad. And even asked the staff why. They said what we all know. No program material, and that he wanted the customer to value his opinion so he would come back and buy more. Anyone with any knowledge knows not to buy from Crutchfield since they are over priced 90% of the time. Also, The HD Group has done little more than basically use "trade" to promote HD and manufacturers to absorb the costs of on air promotion. Maybe if they set up some demo areas and gave better incentives of instant off savings coupons they might stand a chance (as someone else has said). I doubt it. When all is said and done two technologies will emerge fo r port able listening. Conventional analog transmission and Wireless Streaming with record-able capability. (11/27/06)
I'm one of those D&M listeners that will wait until the day they return live to listen to them talk about what they can't talk about. It's what CBS Radio would want, right??? The fact that we're listening anyway. I'm also one of those true listeners that couldn't give a cats turd about who the advertisers are or what product they're hawking. I definitely change channels when D&M go to their 14 or 15 minute commercial break. Who knows why advertisers continue to pay so much money when most listeners tune to another channel when it's time for a break. Also, since I have your attention, why doesn't WJFK dump the traffic report which only talks about one intersection or highway and add that 15 seconds to the 15 minute commerical breaks? At least it lets me tune to Traffic & Weather Together on the 8's and get the update from Old Man Marbourg. Anybody with me on this? (11/27/06)
Glyann Walden, certainly the father of Ibiquity Digital's implementation of digital radio technology, has made some pointed comments regarding the issue of digital service on AM nighttime signals. I won't repeat it here, but the comments are available in professional publications. However, it should be noted that the following COUNTRIES now have FM HD stations on the air construction. France, Thailand, Philipines, Brazil. Facilities are under consideration or construction in Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada. At least one foreign transmitter manufactuer now offers HD products. (11/27/06)
Id like address those have posted the "I use to listen to D&M until this" in the mailbag. Stop your bitching ! For christ sakes, if you cared any bit for the show and were a real fan you'd give the boys a chance. Im sick of you asshats who claim to be fans until its a rainy day (ok rainy 2 weeks) . The show is better off without fans like you! If you insist on being the drama queen and through a fit please wait until Don and Mike have explained themselves to us. To the real fans I say hang in there - to everyone eles-GO SCREW! Yours in Christ , chalkycolon-is-a-Ebay-whore (11/27/06)
'Sup with WCTN? This is more than minor transmitter trouble. They've been off the air for over a week now. Not that I personally care; I don't understand Spanish and the 950 kHz spot is DXable now, both night and day! KOF (11/27/06)
I have listened to Don & Mike for 18 years. They have completely turned me off. My new radio lineup is Junkies, O&A, and my new favorite ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ (funny, smart and almost always live). Howard Stern whenever I’m in the car. The best-of they’ve been playing isn’t even trying to retain an audience. At this point, I really don’t care if management or talent is to blame. I’ve been loyal to a fault, and this is a crap way to be rewarded. – Stay at home mom/Radio Lover (11/27/06)
I dedicate "Already Gone" by The Eagles in honor of Donnie G. who is AWOL from his radio show, maybe never to return (wishful thinking). Donnie has mentioned that was the last song he played as he was leaving KQV in Pittsburgh (before being fired) back in the 70s. Dave in Fredericksburg (11/27/06)
Re: Don & Mike...it's a just a staged bit, man..dontcha know ! You know, walk off ... hide out for two weeks, let the listenership decay on two weeks of bad Best Of and then...Voila' ! Return to gigantic, huge ratings, all the while giggling amongst yourselves and pulling each other's fingers, while teasing the listener with coy innuendoes and subtext about the secret truth, which you can't reveal. Shhh....I can hear the hollow promises and boasts how they will return to their former mediocre glory already, if and when they return. Never has a show promised so much, and delivered so little. You would think at the very least they would offer their true fans a little generic information. Surely Donnie boy could ramp up that old website Blog , you know the one he promised to use to ream DCRTV and update the fans frequently of all the things which he could not talk about on the radio. Again, more empty promises. Bury 'em both in the same box and save money. (11/27/06)
Looks like the management whiz kids at CBS Baltimore have done it again. The omnipotent Snob Philips & his trusty programming sidekick Slave LaBrozzi - still not content with having driven away or pushed out a boatload of great on-air and off-air talent - want to double your pleasure and double your fun with their double or nothing (and I emphasize the "nothing" part of that) tag team concept. First on WLIF, they resurrected former WQSR morning has-been Steve Rouse (a bad fit for a once intelligent station) & Diane (can you say "shrill") Lynn. But wait!!! The plot thickens with two new sideshow: 1) Tired Jimmy & Jen (how many times have they brought her back) Wagner on WWMX and 2) the stumbling out of the gate on-air audition featuring recently displaced 92Q morning guy Troy Johnson and the way-the-hell-out-of-his-element former B102 mixer/WHFS Promotions Director, Jon Boesche. Working for what is now CBS Baltimore is the same as booking a room at the Hotel California…you can check out any time you want but you can never leave. Even when management lets go of talent, they never really do let them go of them entirely. (11/27/06)
Screw D&M I used to be a big fan of theirs. Used to be is the key words. After this crap pulled I hope they are not allowed on the air again. We stuck by Don through all his hardship he had we gave them the ratings. I think that drunk O'mera should go back to his crap he calls a restaurant and his mikey burgers and stick them up his ass. Don is a complete tool for what he did. He thinks he is untouchable If we were to walk out on our jobs we would not have a job to return to. I say Adios Don and Mike and I hope the rest of your Life sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chris (11/27/06)
Yes, you can go into a Best Buy or Circuit City and they don't know squat about HD. Best Buy also doesn't carry Mac software. They're the WalMart of electronics and carry only what moves fast. There are some that cater to the younger generation more hip to the latest gadgets and those are Crutchfield and Tweeter and they know HD. Those will be the ones that will be in the forefront in marketing because they know their demo. Face it every college kid gets a Crutchfield catalog and they buy from there. (11/27/06)
I would like to make some open comments to Don and Mike. Gentlemen, I AM IN YOUR TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC and I don't appreciate being brushed off with the "WTF ??" posting on your web site. As a dedicated listener, for many years, and as someone who has attended your live shows, I consider myself a devoted fan. I never call and attempt to be part of the show. Instead, I have been pleased to "Let you do the driving". You have provided me with many hours of enjoyment, for which I sometimes have to endure some of your petty disputes that required you to be off the air. I agree with some DCRTV posters who have indicated that they are awaiting the "We can't talk about it" comments that they anticipate you will make upon your return (if that should happen). Regardless, YOU HAVE LOST A DEDICATED LISTENER. I sincerely hope that your advertisers reconsider their marketing campaign and decide if they want to be associated with a team that either treats their listeners with contempt or insults their intelligence with (I hope this isn't the case) a ratings ploy. Either way, color me GONE. By the way, I am not a listener that Arbitron contacts, BUT MY FIANCE IS = Surprise. (11/27/06)
First off, the morning guys on WARW are NOT moving WJFK....that wouldn't make sense. I think WJFK will move Don & Mike to AFTERNOONS on WARW, move The Junkies to Afternoons on WJFK and put Opie & Anthony Live in the morning. That's what they should have done when O&A first got back in Washington but does anything that happens in radio make sense?? (11/27/06)
I see that damn echo machine is still out of commission again! Damn you Mike Sorce, Damn You!!! (11/27/06)
On the 4 o'clock train wreck on news 4, the last story was a report by Babs Harrison about lunch time lifts. Any word on whether she volunteered to cover story as excuse to check out the doc's handiwork for her own benefit to escape the Reign of Terror currently gripping the station. As far as situation at WJFK, since this was a breach of contract on the Dynamic Duo's part, hopefully Michael Hughes won't have to negotiate anything. Don't negotiate with terrorists. Please, put something fresh instead of stale re-runs. d-n-m have been stale since Sherry Liquor left. (11/27/06)
Oh-when I commented on the 96 rock ratings, I wasn't kidding. Whiskey and Cowboy are getting better. First off, they are all good ol boys from Delmarva, as opposed to the beach show which includes out of towners, one of which has no morning show experience. Also, 96 rock has some marketing resources behind them. Yeah, they may not have the best signal, but who needs 50,000 watts that broadcasts to a bunch of chicken shacks, when you have a signal that reaches your core population, which is OC, Salisbury, Sussex County. Also, the beach has no strong manager. That place has been a revolving door for some time now, seeing a total of 3 pds in the past 2 years. As for the entire lineup on both stations, I would still invest more listening time to 96 rock, they have better audio quality, jocks sound like they can form a complete thought and sentence. (11/27/06)
I ditto the Don and Mike are dead to be person. I was a big fan of theirs, until today when I heard Best Of yet again. Screw'em...I'm off to listen to something more entertaining, like 1970's adult contemporary on the AM band. (11/27/06)
Dave's response: "But, then again, if Don was to return tomorrow he'd have to swallow a lot of his pride after what's happened (and hasn't) during the past two weeks....." - In what world do you think that would happen? If they were to return tomorrow after being suspended, expect to hear the phrase "warm wine" within the first 15 minutes. (11/27/06)
I have a sure-fire way to figure out the D&M situation... someone call the sales department and ask for about placing an advertisement during the show sometime in January or February... Their response might clue us in on what's going on! (11/27/06)
Hey Dave, I just checked out CBS Radio’s “Personalities” page and it lists: Opie and Anthony, The Junkies, Penn Jillette, and Adam Carolla, but not Don and Mike. They’re still listed on the Westwood One site, but I thought it was interesting that they aren’t on the CBS site. Check it out! www.cbsradio.com... -Rob (11/27/06)
Caught Allyson Wilson's (WTTG) piece of organ transplants in the African/American Community and was impressed with her research and ability to communicate the message. Good job! Thanks Fox 5. (11/27/06)
A writer earlier this afternoon brings up an excellent point about the D&M matter and radio as a whole: this is possibly the industry most guilty of total lack of respect for its customers. As listeners, we are who spends money with the advertisers. The advertisers are who support the structure of the programming. It doesn't take any genius to see that listeners are the backbone/foundation for any station or show on it. It's astounding to me how the "suits"are either completely oblivious to this, or are not that ignorant, but simply couldn't care less. Think about this: how often does a new or revamped lineup really catch fire? Pretty rarely. I'm not suggesting that D&M are not replaceable- anyone is- but CBS shouldn't be expecting any miracles from O&A or Stevens & Medley or whoever.... One thing that is definitely not clear is why Hughes or anyone else couldn't disclose anything if this is a suspension. Most suspensions aren't handled this way; Stern's never were, O&A's, etc. When those guys were pulled from the air, it was never ambiguous as to why. So my bet is on a contract dispute, possibly related to the walk-off, or not. I can't imagine that somewhere in Don's contract that he would have some kind of gag order on the network, but I could be wrong... (11/27/06)
B-B-B-BORING! The Troy & Jon Show needs some flava'.... It's putting me to sleep, at least Jim Cramer keeps me awake after lunch with a big B-B-B-OOO-YAH! I love Jon's mix show on XM and when he was on WXYV, but this sounds horrible. I still think Ed Norris' show is rather dry, but this idea is simply a train wreck. I know, I know, give them a chance..... But they admitted they were thrown together by management, and it certainly shows. You need someone in there with some chemistry (like the Junkies, D&M, even Big O & Douche). Maybe some practice (or a better producer) and some better topics could make the show a little more lively. I guess anyone can beat Penn's book numbers, so I applaud the effort to keep it a local show, but it sounds very unpolished. They couldn't even come up with a show liner, just a generic 105.7 drop, that screams "TEST RUN SHOW". They should have done a few episodes in an empty studio last week. I much rather hear Jon beatmix some disco and R&B for 120 minutes. (11/27/06)
re - 96 Rock: Dave , I asked you because you seem to know all the rumors (even the untrue ones,lol). As for the smart ass about 96 rock ratings - Give it time ! rex and smitty on the beach suck ass and Whiskey and Cowboy will be the top dogs soon enough! (11/27/06)
Don and Mike are dead to me. (11/27/06)
Dave's response: Nice to hear from you, Mr. Moonves.....
Dave, Michael Hughes can’t be trusted. Don and Mike are not coming back soon, like he stated in his e-mail to you a couple of weeks ago. It looks like their radio careers are over. It appears that they breached their contract by walking off of a live show and are now negotiating some type of severance package. D&M fans need face the fact that it’s over. No station wants to have a DJ (Don) that is going to retire in 6 months. We will always remember their last show. It was a great ending to a 20 year career. There is no better way to go out than just quitting 15 minutes into your last show. Adios boys. Matt (11/27/06)
Dave's response: You mean I can't trust my own uncle? Look, if it was a two-week suspension for walking off the show two weeks ago today, then maybe they'll be back tomorrow. But, then again, if Don was to return tomorrow he'd have to swallow a lot of his pride after what's happened (and hasn't) during the past two weeks.....
On the never-ending subject of D&M, is there any other business that has THIS much contempt for its customers? Whether you define WJFK’s customers as the listeners OR the advertisers, it’s still absurd. The advertisers have to be howling, and all the make-good promises in the world from the sales geeks aren’t worth it to the advertisers. If you’re a D&M listener, this is just crap. I tuned in at 3:00 today, somehow imagining that the lads would be back, and it’s back to “best of”. Face it, the Christmas vacation starts soon. Michael Hughes is apparently taking the position that there’s nothing to see here, move along – well, at least there’s nothing to LISTEN to here, and hasn’t been for a couple of weeks. I really can’t think of another business that feels free to spit in the face of its customers in such a direct and intentional level. Ah, well, back to the iPod. Sincerely, TMU. (11/27/06)
It’s best of again on D&M. Whatever the rumors might be, they’re still better than best of. I can’t believe that CBS is still mum on the issue. Steve in Odenton (11/27/06)
Dave's response: Our quote from Michael Hughes this morning - "There is no news to report regarding the Don and Mike show at this time and we will let you know if anything changes..." - doesn't fill me with a strong sense of confidence that D&M will be back live any time soon. Are Stevens and Medley in training to be the faux Don and Mike?
Hi Dave,
Thanks to your posting my story last week, I've heard from Fox 5's (current and former) with lots of encouragement. Thanks.
This is the piece we ran last night.
Best to you,
Mike www.thedenverchannel.com (11/27/06)Dave's response: Thanks Mike Landess. All the best. Hey, remember this (right)?
Amber Theoharis makes perfect sense for MASN. Haven't you seen or heard the Anita Marks Show? She fits right in. Atttractive - actually MUCH better looking than Anita - and little depth of knowledge. It's clear that the people who run MASN don't believe that actually knowing anything is a requisite for employment. It's the way of the new millenium, as far as broadcasting goes. Never hire anyone who knows more than you do. (11/27/06)
Attn: Prima-Donna. I was just pointing out that people don't enter radio broadcast engineering because of lousy hours, poor pay, and lack of respect with regards to other technical fields of equivalent intellectual requirements. There are some exceptions. I don't apologize for my reference, because half the problems we deal with are operator error as a direct result of no formalized training or requirements for talent. Remember "First Class License" requirements? Who's fault is this? The Mega-Mart radio conglomerates are to thank for this. I celebrate the demise of Clear Channel as the beginning of a Renaissance period of radio and hopefully more to follow. BTW I think HD will go the way of Beta or DAT tape. We know it's technically better, but no one cares. "A Seasoned Engineer" (11/27/06)
The Redskins stadium voice is noted area DJ Mark Kessler, who probably does a fair amount of freelance commercial work as well. (11/27/06)
RE: The big 96 ROCK announcement is that they are going to beat The Beach in the book--HAHAHA (11/27/06)
The whole D&M/WJFK/WARW situation is really odd. Assume some of the rumors are true and D&M are going to move to mornings on WARW. Why would CBS radio want to do this? As it stands right now I doubt that S&M and The Junkies really compete for the same audience. I'd assume that The Junkies draw a younger demo while S&M draw an "older" one. If you put D&M against either the Junkies or S&M there's going to be a lot of competition and I'm not sure anyone would benefit. Likewise, I don't really see D&M being huge competition for Elliot. I think it's pretty clear that D&M don't want to be at WJFK or probably even with CBS radio any longer so I'd be more inclined to think that they are now trying to get out of their existing contract and either retire or move someplace else (XM/Sirius would make the most sense). Regarding the WJFK lineup I'd suggest O&A in the morning, Bill O. and Penn mid-day, and The Junkies and The Hideout taking up the rest of the day. Unless, of course, WJFK could work out some sort of deal with XM to broadcast Ron & Fez. (11/27/06)
Its true Jon Boesche' and (former BIG PHAT) Troy Johnson are doing 1-3 on HFS (11/27/06)
so I was just watching my tape of Desparate Housewives from last night. I was fast forwarding through a commercial break and came to one of those little 4 second news IDs. It was the weather guy and he says "December goes out like a lamb." I watched it twice to make sure I heard it right. i thought it was funny. I also couldnt figure out how everyone who recorded it missed it! (11/27/06)
(From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) WKHZ Top 40 in Ocean City needs part time DJ/production staff. Major growth and webcast opportunity. Call Bill Parris at 301-424-9292. (11/27/06)
An obvious amendment to the CBS radio musical chairs that is going on: Opie and Anthony. Look for this to happen: Don and Mike to WARW mornings, Stephen and Medley to either switch shifts on that station or disappear altogether, Junkies move to the afternoon slot on WJFK, Opie and Anthony jump to mornings 6-9am on WJFK. This frees up midday time so that O'Reilly can return to the 12-2pm timeslot which he covets, and Penn Jillete can return to the 2-3pm slot which has the benefit of both of those shows being live. As well this frees up both the 9am-12pm and 7pm to either 10pm or 11pm shift. Look for one of these two slots to be filled by the Hideout, more than likely it being the late mornings shift with best-ofs occupying the night and Loveline sticking with the 10-12pm slot. The only wild card here could Stephen and Medeley get the 9am-12pm slot and The Hideout takes nights. Speculation, over. (11/27/06)
Dear Seasoned Engineer - right up to the point where you said (snip) ...And bottom line is content and programming can be supplied without jocks but not the other way around....(end snip) you had me on your side. Let's see how long your little jukebox of an idea lasts without hosts. It doesn't matter if it's a newscaster, talk host, music jock or other talent, the decay of broadcast radio is due in no small part to the small minded bean counters and support staff like yourself who dismiss the value of the presenter. You get in the ear of whatever GM is in the corner office at the moment and sell them a bill of goods on saving a few pennies so you can upgrade to a worthless fix like HD Radio, without the slightest idea that it takes real people, real voices, real personalities to deliver the product. You still need people to cut commercials, liners or some kind of identifiers, and even if you bring in programming from a satellite or automation with out-of-town voices, you're still employing someone somewhere to create content. With the constant lament that there's no place new talent to go to learn the trade, there ought to also be a comment made that even after 80 years of radio, engineering and sales still think they can do it all without good product. And just what would you sell? And just how would you pay for all that new equipment if you had nothing to sell? And, continuing the domino effect, why wouldn't listeners be drawn to iPods and other devices? Face it, you can only listen to Music Choice or the unhosted XM/Sirius channels for so long before you feel the need for a little human interaction. That's why we're in the communications business. Yes, it's a business first, but we are still here to provide entertainment, news and interaction with consumers/listeners. The recent trend of bean counting and discounting the value of the talent...the majority of whom are barely making a livable wage...has got to be reversed before your idea of all of us being "prima-donna talent" roots itself any deeper into the corporate mindset. (11/27/06)
and oh yeah...the PSSST i sent you about Jen(previous HFSer) going to Mix 106.5 to do 2-7..it seems she will be teamed with Fast Jimi ALA Mickey and Amelia ..now that they are in AM and no PM drive "shows" left on the air in Baltimore (11/27/06)
Today on 96 Rock's Whiskey and Cowboy Show mentions (several times) of a big announcement on this Friday's show. Care to comment Dave? Any chance this also involves another duo? (11/27/06)
Dave's response: What the hell do I know?
CBS Washington and Baltimore, Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. (11/27/06)
I think (and I’m way too young to know personally) that the big antenna station at Ft. Myer in Arlington used a 3-letter “N” call-sign. I also believe that when the Arlington antennas were dismantled they were moved to and used at a site near the Navy Academy in Annapolis – the sticks were easy to see on the way to the Eastern Shore – until they were again dismantled a few years ago. Also, does anyone remember the deco “Radio Building” in Arlington on Wilson Blvd? Was a radio station ever in the building? Bill R. (11/27/06)
Don’t know if if means anything but WJFK website is down. Bennett Bethesda (11/27/06)
Does the Redskins stadium announcer also do VO's for local radio stations or maybe the terps network? I was at the game this Sunday and his voice sounded very familiar. (11/27/06)
With all of this "D&M" nonsense. I wonder if the "P's TB over at Infinity have considered (even though they're Country), "Steve and DC" or even former "98Rock" Personalities "Greggo & Mo. I was just thinking they'd be a nice fit around here. This area needs a major JumpStart (& & the "Junkies" ain't it) Rusty Gibson (11/27/06)
The Junkies gave a flat denial regarding the rumors that they will be moving to afternoon drive. It was at about 9 a.m. They took a few shots at dcrtv, saying that you have gotten stuff about them wrong several times in the past, and that their ratings are the highest they have ever been, and they aren't going anywhere. They also said that even if the station wanted to move them, they wouldn't be able to because of their contract. They haven't posted it on their podcast page yet, but maybe it will be up later. Loving the drama that is D.C. radio lately!!! (11/27/06)
PSSST...Turn on 105.7 today at 1PM...will there be a change??? HMMM I have been hearing that something is going down today and it involves some local guys and some "chatter"...Don't know what station it was about but...The HFS/105.7 FreeFM website is "down" right now..chek it out!! (11/27/06)
If Don and Mike go to 94.7 mornings, look for Stephens and Medely to go the way of the dodo from that station. But, who will take over for Don and Mike at 106.7? How about Mark and Kris? Couldn't WJFK play Top 40 music for 4 hours a day, and give Westwood One a music/talk syndication deal like Michael Baisden? Sincerely, Mike in Kensington (11/27/06)
"Considering they're 9-2, I thought, ok, Comcast Sportsnet will lead with the highlights. No such luck. The Redskins 4th win is way too big a story compared to the Ravens being basically a win away from clinching the division." After MASN made its deal to carry Raven preseason games, CSN scaled back its coverage of that team. The Skins highlights always come first on their sportscasts, and they no longer provide a Ravens postgame show similar to the one Chick Hernandez hosts after Redskin games. Outside the greater Baltimore area, the 9-2 Ravens have been playing under the radar all season long - but there now seem to be some rumblings in the national media that they just may be a favorite to reach the Super Bowl. I'm sure the possibility of a matchup in the AFC championship game against the team that deserted Charm City 22 years ago has yet to be mentioned on Baltimore sports radio (yeah, right). Speaking of Comcast's Skins postgame show, I understand that Steve Czaban was back on yesterday after