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Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - January 5 to January 9, 2007 Latest messages listed first..... \/ January 9 Messages \/ Oh god. orioles to CBS! They whored out the Ravens. I can just hear it now "this walk bought to you by ..blah blah blah" Jon Miller is probably laughing hiss ass off. This is worse than when WCBM had Orioles rights. Ain't the beer piss warm..... (1/9/07) re: CBS Radio Baltimore via WHFS: ..... being run by half-ass managers Bob Philips and Dave Labrozzi famous for losing the Ravens – a team and a half." True-true! And in the typical nature of that classless cluster -- err clusterfu*k, the always classless and amateur Gary Stein last night was openly bragging about them getting the Orioles rights and yelling statements such as "We should call WBAL right now and laugh at them and say 'see, we got ya back'." Gary, totally classless. You're a perfect fit at that station. Keep up the impressive work. (1/9/07) I was flipping around to different channels for the best ripken coverage and no one stood out until I stumbled upon comcast sportsnet. From phil wood to ken rosenthal to taking everything live from camden, was just great to see. Keep it up CSN. --- Jim from baltimore (1/9/07) I am glad to see Ripken and Gwynn get into the HOF -- they were two class acts, didn't hold out for more money, didn't bitch about their contracts and played hard every game. As for McGwire, I think he has been jobbed and unfairly demonized as what is wrong with the game, to whit steroids and/or human growth hormone. I certainly don't condone it, but I see why so many players have, or appear to have juiced over the years: with all the money on the line and the pressure to perform and to win, players will do it. They will also do it, under the old adage by "anything you can get away with." Big problem though, is the obsession with home runs. For years, fans have demanded more home runs, owners want more home runs, broadcasters constantly saying "we could use a home run here," and sportswriters measuring players pay by how many homers they hit--oh yeah, and "Chicks dig the long ball." No wonder home runs have been racked up in such numbers; you all wanted it and you got it. And now so many people are pissing and moaning about what it's done to the game. Brings back another old saying, "Be careful what you wish for." The RCL (1/9/07) Couple of things regarding the lack of media scrutiny of Ripken's steroid use or lack thereof. First of all, one of the attributes of steroids is that is allows the player to recover from injury more quickly. Something that would have been quite useful to an older player trying to maintain his "streak." Second, Ripken was, in fact, considerably more bulked up toward the end of his career than he was early on. Obviously, no one can tell for sure, but it seems that the media's giving him a pass improperly. In my opinion, it is equally as likely that he did as that he didn't. But he gets in without a question and McGwire (for whom no concrete evidence of illegal steroid use exists either) gets hammered by the media and shut out of the Hall of Fame? Something not right there. (1/9/07) There was an earlier post giving out some of Opie & Anthony's ratings in New York. I wonder what they are in D.C. I've listened to their show off and on. Occasrionally, it can be funny. More often than not, it can be a giggling borefest. It seems that they are trying to act like 15 year olds, even though they have to be pushing 40. Howard Stern is better at that type of humor because he can be filthy and make someone older than 15 think what he says is funny. Do 15 year olds actually think O & A are funny, or do they just look desperate trying to play to that demogrphic? (1/9/07) RE: [ " Wonder why no media investigates or even asks if Ripken used Steroids. Pretty much everyone else in that era is under suspicion. " ] Excuse me, but what exactly would steroids have possibly contributed to Cal's unmatched record of playing in a total of 2,632 consecutive games? Cal's recognition is not for a feat of superhuman strength, it is for a feat of superhuman perseverance, as well as dedication and love of the principles of the game....steroids would have absolutely nothing to do with that achievement. Let the man have his due....Baseball is a better sport for his contributions. Not many players in the league today are able to meet his standards. (1/9/07) Stern being picked up by XM? You mean so he can have the same 35,000 listeners that O&A struggled to get. At least he has shown to help increase subscribers unlike the skateboarders. Shoot, from what I have read their regular radio ratings are pretty lackluster also. (1/9/07) Vincent: One of the reasons Maryland left WBAL for WHFS was that they would not be bounced to another frequency when there was a conflict with an Orioles broadcast. Now, they are back in the same boat they were jumping out of three years ago. UMD didn't want to play second fiddle to any other sports team. I would hope CBS would bounce Maryland to another FM and not just put it on JFK-AM during a conflict, but I don't think that's what UMD had in mind when they changed flagships a couple of years ago. (1/9/07) Of course the Stern haters read the sizzle, not the steak. Here are a few facts, those pesky things the haters love to avoid. Fact 1 - Stern was given 22 mil. plus shares as a bonus for exceeding agreed upon subscriber numbers. In other words, MENSAs, he did his job exceptionally well, and was rewarded for it. Fact 2 - Stern hasn't SOLD the shares, in fact, he hasn't sold most of the 34 million shares he was given last year either, meaning, he's a long term investor in his own company, not someone who is looking to make a quick buck. All today's filing said is that he is letting the SEC know that he will sell shares from time to time ...something someone awarded stock options is required to do. In other words, not even a story. Fact 3 - SIRI fully disclosed and accounted for the bonus throughout calendary year 2006. In other words, they knew Stern was going to get the bonus and (gasp) actually followed proper accounting procedures (unlike XM which is still under various investigations for its business dealings). Fact 4 - Stern's BONUS dwarfs what anyone else on terrestrial radio (including your heroes, O&A) could ever hope to make in SALARY. Superman's cape gets tugged on by many, but remind me the next time there is a media blitz that includes major newspaper coverage and multimedia attention around the 1 year anniversary of any other radio broadcasters show going to a new format. Call him an old lady, insult him, but if he is SO irrelevent, and SO marginalized, why can you not stop fixating on him? (1/9/07) How much longer will CBS and XM give the great O+A experiment, now that numbers for both are showing once and for all that they will never be Howard? With one year under their belt, Ope and Ant have taken Free FM in NY from 22nd place with Roth to 21st place - there has been zippy impact with subs flocking to XM to hear 2 hours of them yawn and occasionally say a dirty word. All of this after mountains of glowing praise (at least 3 articles in the Washington Post, plus cherry gigs on Leno and Letterman). Would their legacy have been better off if they had never returned after being off for 2 years, or can it finally be said that the emperors have no clothes, and that they are closer in stature to The Greaseman than they ever were with "Hoo Hoo"? (1/9/07) Ed Graham holds a special place in my heart. He was the first PD to reject me for a job opening (summer 1976, age 18, WITH Radio Baltimore) and the last GM to hire me for a full time on-air position (fall 1996, age 38, WITH Radio Baltimore). Ed himself has one of the most dynamic voices ever heard on radio. As GM at WITH in the 90's, he did some great things with the station sound...in spite of Bob Mathers. He modified the stop sets back to an early 60's format, hired legendary R&B jocks to cover the nighttime, encouraged more jock ad-libs and personality, and was very proactive with station promotions (like the Meyerhoff concert in February 1997 featuring Lesley Gore, Freddy Cannon, Lou Christie, Bobby Lewis & The Coasters). It worked. Even the WQSR guys listened to us for ideas and inspiration. Had Jack Gale & Buddy Deane bought WITH when Mark McNeil sold it in early 1997, the station would today be Baltimore's oldies authority. Not bad for a station on a 1000 watt stick, McGee....not to be confused with any song by Stick McGhee. For all of Ed's greatness, his accomplishments pale next to those of Mrs. Graham. Just ask Buddy MacGregor. Thanks, Ed. BTW, The Lovely Janet is STILL Lovely. Bob Mathers (1/9/07) Dave – FYI: Format Flip in Western Maryland….Q94 – WQZK-FM in Keyser, West Virginia, changed formats yesterday at 12 noon. They went from Classic Rock to Top 40 and they are calling themselves the New Q. Their contract with John Boy & Billy was up and they have switched to a Morgantown, WV, morning show. The station was bought by another new station in the Cumberland, MD, area – Magic 100.5 – WDYK-FM, run by the new Allegany Radio Corporation, which is owned by West Virginia Radio Corporation (www.wvradioadvertising.com) Magic 100.5 debuted in September 06. I would guess they will probably add a country and talk station to their roster in the months ahead, similar to what they have done in other markets. Their big marquee attraction is West Virginia Mountaineer Sports (Football & Basketball). Allegany Radio is breaking ground on a new headquarters in Cumberland. Pretty big news for this region…you’re SVRTV guy should be jumping on this as we speak. Mike Dawson (I’m a Terp!) (1/9/07) To Dave & 'A Concerned Fan' This is a Boston-based DCRTV reader (and lifetime Oriole fan) that confirms that WBAL can be heard EVERY night from my car radio here in New England. Loud and clear. I just discovered this as the latest baseball season concluded and can say it's quite disheartening to think I'll be missing out next season on such a cool AM radio perk. -Nick from Boston & Rockville (1/9/07) Dave's response: Well, you'll still be able to hear the Washington Nationals on 1500 AM, which puts a killer night signal into New England..... Adventures in the X-band: While surfing the upper limits of the AM broadcast band this afternoon from classic Rockville, I heard the Arlington County Emergency Management, WQBY206, on 1700. They ID as "The Voice of Arlington", as well as by callsign. It was surprisingly strong and clear for a 10-watt (per FCC database) station. I knew it existed, but had never heard it. Other TIS-type stations heard included: KFQ70, 1660, at NIH; WPDD, 1070, MontCo DOT; and WNVY507, MD DOT in Rockville. Mike in Frederick and the Dashboard DX Society. (Sorry, the preceding had nothing to do with Don & Mike.) (1/9/07) Dave's response: Some X band signals available at the DCRTV World HQ: 1640 "KHP942" from Reston/Herndon?, 1650 City Of Fairfax info, 1660 Air & Space Museum at Dulles info, 1700 Arlington info..... From WBAL.com Be sure to listen all afternoon for interviews with Cal's former teammates. At around 4:30pm WBAL will carry Cal’s news conference live from the 6th floor warehouse at Camden Yards. After the news at 5:30pm, Ron Smith will be joined by Steve Davis for a live interview with Cal. Following The Brian Billick show, WBAL presents "The Road to 2131" and a replay of the entire 2131 game at 7PM. (1/9/07) Dave - Don't know of the reliability of the following, but looks like O&A are not exactly knocking anyone's socks off in NYC ...(Fall Book 2006) - (12+) 1.6 - down from a 2.2 in the summer. (persons 25-54) 2.4 - down from 3.1 in the summer. (18-34) 3.1 - down from 4.1 in the summer. (men 25-54) 3.9 - down from 5.0 in the summer. (1/9/07) Dave... A pre-emptive strike: assuming you receive and choose to post a Mailbag item from that 'person' who insists on mis-spelling Mike MOSS' name incorrectly (perhaps as a form of extreme disrespect for the man, I don't know and frankly don't care about his motives)...would you please at least have the decency of calling him out on it, and reminding him of the correct spelling, in your italicized "Dave's response"? This fellow may not believe it, but it is possible to be critical, or even not like someone, and at least have the guts and integrity to spell a man's name correctly. Thanks, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled Mailbag... And so it goes... - Max in Mild West Arlington P.S. Thanks for the really nice pictures over the last week or so! (1/9/07) As I recall, the last time they stunted on WTOP with a "big announcement" they went to the FM band. (1/9/07) Dave's response: Jim Farley says that shortwave is the next "big thing" radiowise. The next move will be WTOP-SW, 15000 AM, right on top of the time-pips station from Colorado..... RE: [ " Wonder why no media investigates or even asks if Ripken used Steroids. Pretty much everyone else in that era is under suspicion. " ]...... Simple answers: "The Oriole Way", or more specifically in this case, "The Ripken Way" (meaning Cal Sr. would have beaten the liven crap out of him if he caught wind of it), and more importantly, the lack of Popeye arms and monster home runs. I could think of dozens of other players that should be investigated before Ripken. Doesn't mean he never did it, but if he did, he certainly didn't do it to excess or in a manner that fundamentally changed his career stats like so many others did, including even a few other Orioles players, who I won't mention. (1/9/06) It will be interesting to see what they announce on Friday morning. But I don't think David Burd needs a co-host. He can just keep bnrining in his staff as he did on weekends. that was a great show. (1/9/07) Here we go again. The Orioles affiliates are ready to get screwed. When CBS/Infinity Baltimore ran the Raven’s network, the game would sound like piles of dog shit on the affiliate stations. They run the network so tight, overlapping network commercials with local Baltimore spots. They change their format sheet when they see fit without notifying the affiliates, mostly to add additional local commercials. They slam local station promos up against network spots before they are over. They are a board-operator’s nightmare. When you complain, they are nothing but attitude and nothing ever gets resolved. Fine ship you’re running up there, Phillips. Someone from one of these “small market” stations should go up to Baltimore to teach the “major market” talent how it should be done. That, or hire the guy at WBAL who knows how to put together a professional sounding network. Mark my words, affiliates will be dropping and everyone will have to try to listen off the new flagship’s mediocre signal. Go Birds! Joe E/Salisbury (1/9/07) Way to go "Mr. Angelos" ! What a great move for what's left of your fan base. Question for CBS/Baltimore; Will we be subject to the same 16-18 second delay beweent TV and your signal, just like we have for Maryland Basketball Games? And by the way, as I travel to Baltimore each morning, why is "Mike and Mike" on WJFK-AM anywhere from 3 seconds one day, 11 seconds another, 18 seconds another, 23 seconds today from the signal of WMVP-1000 in Chicago? What a great organization the Baltimore cluster is! Doug in Bel Air (1/9/07) Clear hannel can announce all the cool technology deals they want. But when it comes to traffic information, their data here in DC isn't worth a damn. Peolle who PAY for information get pissed when it is not reliable. (1/9/07) A previous poster said: "I'm also dumbfounded by the Orioles move from monster-signaled WBAL to weaker signaled WHFS 105.7" No reason to be dumbfounded - it's part of a trend that can be seen in most cities with a major league team. MLB (and now XM radio) want to sell you all the exciting play-by-play action that you used to hear for free by AM DXing all those legendary AM clear-channel blowtorches like KMOX, WJR, WLW, and WBAL. So, watch as the MLB rights migrate city by city from big signal AMers to weak also-rans that even listeners in the team's hometown can't always hear after dark. It's all about the money, even as they slowly kill the golden goose - no new generation of young fans are listening in late at night to see if Marty Pattin can get through the last two innings and pitch that no-hitter...When's the last time you saw kids just grab their bats and gloves and go play a pickup game without leagues, uniforms, umpires and screaming parents? JMHO as the Radio Bear, who remembers when baseball, kids, and AM radio were all joined at the heart... (1/9/07) Re: Howard Stern, the rich keeps getting richer. I am starting to believe less O&A when it comes to attacking Howard. www.usatoday.com (1/9/07) RE:"Clear Channel Radio and Microsoft announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the two companies have signed an agreement to build a nationwide data delivery service that will incorporate HD Radio technology. The service will be used to provide localized and personalized content to HD Radio receivers, under the name MSN Direct HD. Microsoft has an already-existing MSN Direct service, which transmits traffic, weather, sports scores, movie times and more to various devices." This is the real driving force behind HD. It is to make money on data delivery systems. Not sound quality, not commercial free, not better content. On the FM side sound quality can't really improve because of "Blending" needed between analog and digital signals. They can't run commercial free indefinitely or their analog clients will say what am I paying for? And content? Hahaha do you seriously think PD's want to program another station that won'tbenefitt their Arbitron numbers? And what does it matter when WiMax will end it all eventually. (1/9/07) One guy and one guy only keeps posting abvout the comment in the Post that about the Dan Snyder/WGMS deal that this person claims queered the deal. Give Dan Snyder a little credit. You think Dannyboy is gonna forgo a critical deal because of some comment in the press? He gets knocked in the Post all the time for every move the Skins make, for pruning the bushes in front of his house (he said tongue in cheek) and for all sorts of personal whims and foibles Red Zebra has to acquire signals that can be heard or go out of business. It's that simple. Snyder is not going to go against his own economic self-interest becuase his feelings where hurt in an article in the Saturday Washington Post read only by people at Red Zebra, Bonneville and readers of DCRTV. Nobody else in town even noticed! So, anonymous poster, we see through your intended smear. Your are transparent, bud. Not to mention repetitious. Fen (1/9/07) Here’s the latest half-time analysis regarding The O’s coming to CBS Radio Baltimore via WHFS: It’s half of a team on half of a station covering half of the Baltimore Metro that is being run by half-ass managers Bob Philips and Dave Labrozzi famous for losing the Ravens – a team and a half. (1/9/07) Dave: I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the young lad next to George Harrison is none other than Cerphe, who no doubt was still at HFS (the original, at 102.3, HIGH atop Triangle Towers in Bethesda). Also, if the tube tester at either Lafayette or Peoples' Drug isn't working, you might try the the Heathkit store on Nicholson Lane. Mike and the Dashboard DX Society, munching out on a Teen Twist at the Hot Shoppes in Wheaton. Somewhere, a "geeze" alarm is going off, non-stop... (1/9/07) Dave's response: Yup! And former XMer Bruce Kelly with Paul McCartney the previous day..... Sinclair probably cares about Intellectual Property [I.P.] rights. They pay money for the I.P. rights for much of what they broadcast and they create the rest - for which they own the rights. They probably feel that Comcast should pay for what Comcast takes from Sinclair and sells to its subscribers. Another example would be if someone copied a DVD borrowed from a library and sold the copies - they would have no rights to the I.P. on the DVD. (1/9/07) Dave's response: The "intellectual property rights" of Homer Simpson and Paula Abdul. Don't make me laugh..... Of course Old Lady Stern wants to stay at Sirius. That way, when they go bankrupt in a year or so, he'll be picked up by XM, and then he'll actually have an audience to listen to him. (1/9/07) Quick! Someone go check to see if Uncle Mel is still breathing! He hasn't begged for and XM-Sirius merger in a few days... (1/9/07) What is the deal with Rod Daniels, news anchor for WBAl-TV? He is off several times a week with no explanation. Last nite (Mon) Stan Stovall was "filling in" for Rod with Mary Ann Bannister.. Don Lewns (1/9/07) "Are you trying to say the University of Maryland will not have a problem seeing its programming moved from a 50kw FM to a 5 kw low rated AM? I could see CBS trying to sell that line of thought. I can't see the University of Maryland buying it, though." I would think that Terp games would still air on 105.7 FM when there weren't conflicts with Orioles games, and in those few instances where football or men's basketball has conflicts with the Orioles, CBS will probably have some sort of compensation to the university, or move the game to another one of its Baltimore FM outlets. -- Vincent in Triangle (1/9/07) Stern news today.reuters.com (1/9/07) Wonder why no media investigates or even asks if Ripken used Steroids. Pretty much everyone else in that era is under suspicion. (1/9/07) Dave, You suggested flipping 105.7 WHFS to a Sports and Talk station. I took the best of Free-FM, the best of ESPN 1300 and added some other talks shows to it. The result? Introducing 105.7 SUPER-TALK FM. www.geocities.com... Now tell the suits at CBS I want $1 million for coming up with a program schedule. I'll give you a cut of that Million since it was your idea for Sports and Talk. And I already have plans for what replaces ESPN 1300. (1/9/07) Dave's response: How about La Luna on 1300 to balance El Zol on 99.1..... I have to admit, I'm also dumbfounded by the Orioles move from monster-signaled WBAL to weaker signaled WHFS 105.7 (And why should it even be called WHFS anymore at all now?!?). The Orioles have previously been on the weaker signaled WCBM 680 and WFBR 1300, so I guess it's not unprecedented. But not only will it be bad news for O's fans around DC and southern PA, but anyone who's moved from Baltimore to anywhere northeast. It was not all that uncommon for someone in New England to call into an O's post-game show after listening to the game from the Boston area. Only WBAL and WTOP can provide that type of signal in this area. Not only will the Nats have a comparable signal in the Baltimore market, they'll still have their night games booming up and down the east coast, while the O's will be confined to lil ol' Baltimore. The irony of all of this is that in hindsight, the Nats TV/radio situation now appears more stable and strong compared to the Orioles!! Kinda gives you an insight into Peter Angelos's cut off a hand to save a finger lawyer-like mentality doesn't it? Either that or he's going senile and took bad advice. He sure fits in well with the Phillips/Labrozzi CBS disaster-twins of Baltimore radio though, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprized if they actually were to put some of the games on AM 1300 and STILL not rename the station WFBR!!!! Talk about dumbasses. These guys wouldn't know how to sell girl scout cookies, let alone market a Baltimore radio station! With WJFK, now WHFS, Baltimore radio seems to have become just a place to plant out of market call letters until these programming geniuses (translated: idiots) can figure out what to do in another market. Finally, somebody, ANYBODY, PLEASE buy the Orioles. Even Danny Snyder would do. Ummm, nope, I take that back, but we're almost that desperate!........ Signed: A concerned fan (1/9/07) Dave's response: I presume the O's will be heard in the DC market on Clear Channel's 980/570/1260 because Baltimore's 105.7 gets wiped out in much of the DC metro by Smooth Jazz 105.9..... As stated in your blurb about Sinclair and Mediacom: Mediacom has no cable systems in the DC-Baltimore area.... While true, Mediacom is the cable provider for Ocean Pines, MD (21811) though neither Baltimore Sinclair affiliate is carried there... PS As a former Sinclair employee, I find all of the Sinclair dirt particulaly entertaining. (1/9/07) Responding to Vincent in Triangle: "Actually, with this setup, problems should be minimal. Maryland games will still air on 1300 AM, since it won't be carrying baseball, and this probably also means Terrapin women's basketball and men's lacrosse broadcasts will continue on that station in addition to football and men's basketball." Are you trying to say the University of Maryland will not have a problem seeing its programming moved from a 50kw FM to a 5 kw low rated AM? I could see CBS trying to sell that line of thought. I can't see the University of Maryland buying it, though. (1/9/07) Did anyone here Don and Mike yesterday mixing clips of Chris Hanson's "Dateline" sex sting questions with a repeated clip of USA Today's gay columnist Craig Wilson introducing himself. It was a totally tasteless and pointless piece of radio and further proof that Don Geronimo is rotten to the core as a human being. Shame on both CBS and WJFK. - Mark in DC (1/9/07) HFS is Dead. Long Live WTMD! That's where the real music is played. As daring and interesting as WHFS was 25 years ago! (1/9/06) Dave's response: As evil as CBS suit Michael Hughes is, at least he killed off the legendary DC version of alt rock WHFS quick. One day it went Spanish. Up in Baltimore, they're killing off the musical WHFS slowly and ever so painfully. Drip drip drip. Come on CBS - just flip 105.7 to all talk and sports and be done with it. I still think CBS ought to bring the WHFS calls back to DC - to 94.7 - which would become adult alternative rock..... Nice job Angelos, take your little baseball team & run away to CBS because the Ravens are more popular. Now I will never hear the games as I head North to the MD/PA line. Hey, why do you think the Ravens moved from 105.7 to 102.7 after their first couple years here? Because the 105.7 signal is weak. & what does CBS do, they give you the weakest signal in their Baltimore FM cluster. You just don't get it, do you Napoleon, er Pete? Piss off what is left of your fan base even more. Well, now Miss Miami will have more to do at least, although as usual, she won't know what she is talking about. (1/9/06) Classic "Sesame Street" sides with the Trump camp: rosiefirstcontact.ytmnd.com (1/9/06) As my mind seems to recall the gentleman who did the "Nooooobbbboooodddddyyyy!" tv commercials came out of Indiana or some such area in the mid-west. I think he did similar type of campaign in that region. Would anything be up on youtube?..........I see Mark Levin has increased his syndication empire. I listened one night a few weeks back on wmal and Levin said that el presidente shrub and John F. Kennedy had similar government and military experience prior to becoming President. I sure miss Felix Grant even more these days!..........When is the projected departure date of George Michaels from sport's anchor at channel 4?......is there something wrong with David Caruso's neck?........Billy Smith.......should Cal be a unanimous vote?! (1/9/06) Dave's response: George Michael gives up his nightly sports anchoring duties in early March..... Someone certainly has a hard on for me. John Miratovski aka Bryslock. (1/9/06) Dave, I agree: can't we all just get along? I've been reading and supporting DCRTV for years, and it is disheartening at times to see how nasty and just plain mean some people can be who are posting in the mailbag. What is going on with you people?! There certainly are more important things in life to worry about rather than slamming each other over XM vs Sirius, D & M, O & A, etc. On a lighter note, lovely to see a pic of George Harrison on the way to the mailbag! Donna in Ashburn (not afraid to sign my name) (1/9/06) Let me get this straight: Sinclair is asking for money for the "rights" to retransmit a free signal within its confines? Doesn't this amount to legal racketeering? Sincerely, Mike in Kensington P.S. One exception: If the cable cos. get their feeds via fiber-optics, then cable cos. should be willing to pay a nominal fee for such special treatment, and when the agreement term ends without a new contract, switch reception tactics over to antenna. (1/9/06) Dave's response: Sinclair wants Comcast (and ultimately Comcast's subscribers) to pay a monthly fee for programming that's already available for free over-the-air. I think that Sinclair should, first, flip Fox 45 and CW 54 into scrambled mode (a la Super TV in the 1980s) and then charge everyone (!) for the programming. That would still be greedy - but, at least, it would be fair..... great, o's on hfs. thank you cbs radio for kicking the dead horse of hfs music yet again. thank you for helping me re-discover the great offerings of music on internet radio. thank you for giving me more reason to listen to 103.1 WRNR, "where the legacy continues". some legacy you are leading hfs! and radio execs think talk will save fm radio? they need to realize its what is driving people away from fm radio and to satellite. when will they ever learn? so the hfstival will now be held at camden yards and we will watch an orioles game, and on the jumbotron will be maryland terps games, and the 6 blow hards of hfs, kirk, mark, norris, penn, don, and mike. no music. thanks cbs. f-you! (1/9/07) Re: ?Right...the silence is deafening! Oh, and by the way, you have been fired from the debate team." Hey stupid fuck! I was talking about the font, not the content. Read more and talk less. Did I talk about format../// With all your steroid bluster, you missed the point again. The original post was a criticism of design and content, but you are happy to pontificate and babble off topic, and then get angry when people call you on it. In fact, over time I don't know any one regular poster who has to continously rely on cursing and pseudo threats to retort or make a point. I am surprised Dave allows your threatening posts, but maybe he does so because we all know the guy screaming and pretending to be the biggest tough, is the first guy headed for the exit when trouble arrives. By the way, Bryslock means nothing to me, I mean what is that, a first name? a last name? From now on I insist you post your real full name, address, and phone number, as you seem to be incredibly lonely. Oh, and by the way, you are still fired from the debate team. (1/9/07) Dave's response: C'mon guys, can't we all just get along? The New York Times takes note of Stern's first anniversary on Sirius. www.nytimes.com (1/9/07) What a strange choice for a background on the Junkies' new web site... a near empty M&T Bank Stadium? If I disliked the Junkies, I'd be tempted to make a joke like the percentage of the number of people in the stadium is about the same as their market share. But I don't dislike them so I'll let someone else make that joke! ;-) Seriously though, as a semi-designer myself I can't imagine why they wouldn't choose a more exciting photo... like a stadium with people actually in it. (1/9/07) Bryslock, I've had a change of heart. As I scroll back and reread all your postings which I have saved in a special file, I can see you are crying out for comfort and company. Behind that pre-Charles Atlas physique I sense a nuanced and sensitive man-child that needs to spread his wings and release the inner anger and pain. The first thing that pops to mind is a deep Lingham massage, but lets not put the cart before the horses. As you have cried out, and challenged those at DCRTV numerous times to meet you, I have decided to succumb to your worldly cyber charms. Nothing turns me on more than a wordsmith, whose skill and sensitivity with the written language conjures up the image of a magician constructing Shakespearean verse with a swish of his wand. Therefore, forthwith, and hencewise....I doth propose a meeting. The place is Club Chaos, just a left handed pebble toss from Dupont Circle. At 10:30, between drag shows, I will be in the second stall, you place yourself in the third stall. I will tap my foot three times and you will respond in kind. We will then reach under the barrier and give each other the secret limp pinky Shriner handshake, for a final method of identification. I hope the warm temps hold, because my plan is for us to skip down into the deep ravine of the P Street Beach, or perhaps take a quick taxi ride over to the Iwo Jima Memorial where I always have friends about. It will be a honor to finally meet in person, and satisfy your long held desires to meet a real live DCRTVer. After the essentials, we can cool down and smoke a clove cigarette, sip some Courvoisier, and exchange notes on the finer points of TV and Radio in Washington. Oh, and by the way... your still fired from the debate team! (1/9/07) Dave, Johnny Holliday is gearing up the promotion for his new book- Hoop Tales: Maryland Terrapins Men's Basketball. Foreword by John Feinstein. Johnny will guest on Washington Post On Line this Wednesday at 1:00 pm. He's also discussing and signing books at the Sports Legend Museum at Camden Yards on Jan 18th at 12 noon. Details at www.hofmag.com. Thanks for helping us spread the word. Steve Moore, faithful co-author. Book cover and hype at www.jholliday.com (1/9/07) /\ January 9 Messages /\ \/ January 8 Messages \/ "As for the O's on HFS, there will be some ticked off people in College Park over this. One of the reasons that the U. of Maryland moved away from WBAL in the first place was to get away from the Baltimore Orioles preemption problem." Actually, with this setup, problems should be minimal. Maryland games will still air on 1300 AM, since it won't be carrying baseball, and this probably also means Terrapin women's basketball and men's lacrosse broadcasts will continue on that station in addition to football and men's basketball. -- Vincent in Triangle (1/8/06) Congrats to Uncle Pete Angelos, for being one of the first to run towards the Enchanted Land of CBS Radio, when others have run away. Those Ravens must not know what they were talking about when they left the Holy Land. Only the man that dumped Jon Miller, manager of the year Davey Johnson, Pat Gillick, etc etc etc, would dump the best signal and coverage in Baltimore and realize how prosperous the CBS Radio Enchanted Land of Empty Promises is with 8 minute commercial blocks, crappy production, and shitty talk show hosts really is. Another legendary business blunder by Pete. (1/8/07) RE: [I'll lighten up when people stop acting like pussies. People come on here and complain all the time. When was the last time they complained to the people they bitch about? Never!] My Goodness! Would somebody please call poor Bryslock a WAAAAAAmbulance? Tell us...are we supposed to be impressed with your creative use of the word "pussies"? Or do you think you could try to get your point across without sounding like a fifth-grader throwing a recess tantrum? Gee, Bryslock Do you kiss your mommy with that potty-mouth? Either talk like an adult, or please be quiet and let the adults talk. (1/8/07) Wait! You're ALL wrong! The "no-o-o-body" was the campaign of the late Ralph Brown Buick, next to Tops Drive-In on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. - Johnny Rogue/WEAM Radio (1/8/07) I'm pretty sure the "Nooobody..." ads were for Ralph Brown Buick, which may not be around anymore. It wasn't Bob Peck or Bob Bell, that's for certain. Also, it would be lovely if the Orioles' move to WHFS meant no more Jim Hunter, but I think he's too far up the owner's behind to lose his job. (1/8/06) "That says something. So if you want to spit your crazy venom about, back it up with a name or just back up. Bryslock" Right on brother! Saddam Hussein (1/8/07) Actually, nameless one I am not at all threatened by Sirius and how it's doing. I could care less. It is you who continually make an issue out of it. And by the way, more stereotypical insulting remarks about my choice of music, and the patchouli? It is obvious you are not reachable. Vicki (1/8/07) Dear Vicki, please go and listen to the Allman Bros, wear your patchouli, and stick your head in the sand. You seem to be very threatened by the mere suggestion that Sirius actually out gained XM this past year and is positioning to do it again this year. You are correct there is nothing we can do to make XM go away. Their management is doing quite a good job on their own. (1/8/07) Does anyone know the name of the chump who ruined the Snyder/Bonneville deal by mouthing off? Does anyone know what happened to him? On another subject, I was listening to WBIG today and the announcer mentioned that they were commercial free. That does not surprise me since no one in sales ever answers their phone. How do they expect to sell time? (1/8/07) What's upp with Sinclair? Just moved to Iowa and we're having the same trouble here. Mediacom (cable provder) no longer carries the local CBS affiliate in Cedar Rapids because of the same nonsense. ~PrairieRobin Read about my new life in Iowa: funky-little-house-on-the-prairie.blogspot.com (1/8/07) FYI, Hendricks is not part of the new DC United group yet, that's still under negotiations. As for the O's on HFS, there will be some ticked off people in College Park over this. One of the reasons that the U. of Maryland moved away from WBAL in the first place was to get away from the Baltimore Orioles preemption problem. A final question to ponder, where (if anywhere) will the Saturday night NFL playoff game air on DC radio? WTEM and its AM alternates all have obligations to local teams that night. Everett W. (1/8/07) It is official per the Baltimore Sun that the O’s will be heard on WHFS; www.baltimoresun.com. I guess this means that WHFS will be the FM version of WBAL that they’ve slowly started becoming. Bad enough were’ going to lose the Junkies in Baltimore for the two has-beens in the morning BUT NOW we’ll lose half of the Don and Mike show for the remainder of their on-air life span so we can get Orioles pre-game shows. Oh and say good-bye to the music as well. (1/8/07) Dave's response: CBS has screwed the "radio gods" once again..... I'll lighten up when people stop acting like pussies. People come on here and complain all the time. When was the last time they complained to the people they bitch about? Never! People come on here and state this guy is a bastard or such yet they never leave a name. I have the balls to come on here and use my email address as my name. Dave uses his real name. That says something. So if you want to spit your crazy venom about, back it up with a name or just back up. Bryslock (1/8/07) Those "rumblings" about the O's and HFS are now official. The release was sent out at 5:24 pm. The Orioles will be on HFS this season, and there will be no local AM carrier. (1/8/07) You know, anyone can use figures, numbers, statements, et al to make their point. Merely accentuating certain of those aspects can be used by anyone to prove their point, or to confirm their ideas. Considering the bile being spewed by everyone over Sirius vs. XM, Howard vs. O&A, the Junkies vs. D&M, Cleveland over Baltimore for who has suffered the most from losing their NFL teams...it's nothing but a statistical debate that solves nothing. In the grand scheme of things, all these entities exist and will exist in some form or other. In the end it matters not at all. So the next time you make a post to this or some other board, perhaps we should all think into it...discussion, not attacks is what DCRTV should be about. Debate, not flame warring. Perhaps I've fallen into that myself in the past, but let's all, myself included try to do a little better. The RCL (1/8/07) I believe it was Bob Bell – not Bob Peck – signed anonymous… (1/8/07) Does anyone remember that advertisement on both DC-area tv and radio for a car dealership that went: "Nobody, but nooo-body---can beat Bob Peck. Nooo-body!" Was it Bob Peck Buick or Bob Brown? Who was the older speaker or actor with the distinctive voice? (1/8/07) Dave's response: "Check with Peck before you buy"...... RE: "If a Metro train derails on a weekend, especially a Sunday with pro football playoff games, does anybody bother to cover it?" Hmmmm...sorry, but the story is just not sexy enough....now, if you can tie the derailment to Hillary Clinton, or if you start a rumor that it was caused by a group of Mexicans jumping the border, why then we'll be on it like stink on a monkey!...thanks for the tip! - the entire WMAL Air Staff (1/8/07) Can you guys tell me why producer Jay Catrell (sp.?) is no longer on Steve Czaban's Fox show? You've probably covered this and I just missed it. Thanks. Chad (1/8/07) Sticks and stones? Guess so; considering you constantly mock O&A, calling them names, insulting their fans and insulting anyone that doesn't think just like you. It goes both ways. Vicki (1/8/07) RE: [Blah, blah, blah....So what now tough guy? You want to slap me? Bryslock] With apologies to Sgt. Hulka......"Lighten up, Francis." (1/8/07) Dear Mr. Hughes, For the record, I did NOT have a four burrito breakfast this morning. If the truth be known, I had six soft-boiled eggs, a quart of yogurt, a serving of oatmeal, and my usual glass of orange-flavored Metamucil with a shot of Dom Perignon. Nor was I in New York this morning. My gas only caused my next door neighbors' Bull Mastiff to go into convulsions for a short time while doing the show from my Palm Beach estate with half my brains tied behind my back. Sincerely, Rush (1/8/07) "Right...the silence is deafening! Oh, and by the way, you have been fired from the debate team." Hey stupid fuck! I was talking about the font, not the content. Read more and talk less. Did I talk about format? No. You bitched about the tiny font your puny weak eyes could not see. So what now tough guy? You want to slap me? Bryslock (1/8/07) Sticks and stones Vicki. When people can't make arguments, they call people names. You've proven the point. That is all. (1/8/07) Comcast…Angelos…Sinclair….they deserve one another! (1/8/07) You know, Little Boy Sirius Cheerleader, you can rah-rah Stern and boo-hoo all you want about the mere existance of XM--but nothing you say and or do is going to make XM go away. Right now, I'm turning you and dcrtv off and cranking up the Allman Brothers Band on Deep Tracks XM 40. Go wring out your crying towel and jerk off to Howard repeats. Vicki (1/8/07) 1) Greg Valentine is one of the hardest-working talents I've ever had the pleasure to know. Just watching him prep and execute his show (which was a show unto itself) would have exhausted a lesser person. He will be sorely missed by his Baltimore friends and fans alike. The best is yet to come for you my friend. I wish you nothing but happiness and success on the next leg of your wonderful journey. 2) Harold Green's name is legendary in Washington, DC radio - period! I sincerely doubt that Mr. Green will remember this but here goes. Sometime in April 1974, I was let go at WLMD primarily because I had no business doing talk radio at age 22. I mean what does anyone know about life at that age. Then owner-manager Alex Sheftell arranged for me to speak with Mr. Green who by then had moved to WRC-AM as General Manager. Long story short - Mr. Green took my call, listened to my "baby deejay" hopes and aspirations and shared his compassionate wisdom with me. Even though I never realized my then-dream of getting a gig at the Great 98, I fondly recall Harold Green's generosity of time. Here he was running an NBC O & O but he unselfishly gave me the time of day and some. Because of people like him, I have always tried to share some "mentoring" time with up and comers who have been hopelessly bitten by the broadcast bug. Mr. Green, I'm glad it's not too late to thank you for you thoughtfulness. It really made a difference. 3) Thanks to my CBS Radio friends and to DCRTV’s Dave Hughes for making my ??th birthday extra special. Ken Merson / mersonperson@hotmail.com. (1/8/07) QUOTE: "If a Metro train derails on a weekend, especially a Sunday with pro football playoff games, does anybody bother to cover it?" If a tree falls in the forest, is there anyone there to hear it? If this incident had happened the night before, during the Fenty inaugural, maybe then all the locals would've cut into programming. Also, no one was killed, thankfully. -Silvie- (1/8/07) More details on the Greg Valentine situation. I just got off the phone with a source who tells me that a lady named Kim Stevens will be Greg's sidekick on the new morning show gig in Memphis. She is leaving a Vegas country station gig to join him. She is 42 and Greg is in his mid 40's so in theory it will work. But this is good for Mix in the end. The whole thing is a Pasha deal and the last laugh is on all of them because Mix is better for getting rid of Greg. Now they are set to put in talks with a hot young jock I wont name for the night gig. Trust me it will be a good change. (1/8/07) Dave: It's fairly standard in journalism not to write glowing articles about the competition. That's just standard! Running a newspaper is a business, after all. Probably the only time that you'll see one journalism entity--other than the N.Y. Times, in this case!--run an extensive piece on a direct competitor is if there's something negative or damning going on. I mean, you don't see The Hill writing articles about Politico. You don't see Roll Call writing about the Politico. And you don't see CQ writing about the Politico. And you don't see The Washington Times writing about the Politico, either. You don't see the Examiner writing about the Politico. Why on earth would the Post care about writing about the Politico? By the way, lots of people in local journalism, political, social circles not giving the Politico more than five years. There's simply too much competition all of a sudden. Too much. (1/8/07) Greg Valentine formerly of Mix 106.5 Evenings was canned sometime last week and is going to turn up in mornings very soon. I hear its Memphis. Im wondering if Mix caught wind of the deal and cut him loose before he could stiff them and run out. Im preety sure thats why they did it. Anyhow he will be leaving Baltimore soon if he hasnt already moved to Memphis by the time this prints. Something with Entercom, an oldies station morning show. So if you wondered where Greg went, wonder no more. Although I dont think anyone cared on DCRTV and his ratings book sure didnt show that he had a following. (1/8/07) "WTWP, you can blame the post for indifference, but the PD (or designee) should be all over them to keep current WTWP information in the paper. Ed Graham." I don't think anybody at WTWP is complaining. Dave Hughes pointed this out. I wonder, Ed, how many newspapers you partnered with in your radio career? (1/8/07) Ed Graham, can you spell "naive." ??? (1/8/07) Dave: The (Ric Edelman syndication) story is true. On Saturday (1/6/07) on ABC owned KSFO in San Francisco, Bob O'Donnell, host of the long-running "O'Donnell On Technology" announced his show was being cancelled immediately because of a new "mutual funds show" from the ABC Network. (1/8/07) Gas leak in Manhattan. The Stern show is considering evacuating their building since many buildings including Macy's has been evacuated. (1/8/07) Dave's response: I hear that Rush Limbaugh had a four burrito breakfast at the EIB Building in downtown Manhattan..... "It's 8 o'clock in the Big Bannana, Brother Dave at SUPER Q!" Dave was really great, and sometimes, as if by cosmic intervention, he was spectacular. *** WTWP, you can blame the post for indifference, but the PD (or designee) should be all over them to keep current WTWP information in the paper. Ed Graham (1/8/07) "It's 8 o'clock in the Big Bannana, Brother Dave at SUPER Q!" WOW...WDJQ 104.....the prelude to B104! Early 70's rival to WLPL in Bmore. What ever happened to Dave Harrison? (1/8/07) Re: "If you looked at O&A or Howard's site, you would see the same font being used for headlines and bios respectively. Look first instead of making shit up. Bryslock '..//// I've looked plenty, dumbass. There is absolutely nowhere on any of the sites in question where one can find unformatted paragraph after paragraph droning on about a single subject in tiny font, without graphics, pictures, or any sort of design at all, as in their Daily Log. You are one snarky twit, the general point which you ignored was about how the D&M website looks, functions, and it's lack of content and interactivity in comparison to Opie & Anthony, Howard, Junkies, and why that is important to listenership today. You want people to listen to an Internet Stream, download pod casts, view content on your website, and you have a site that looks like a 12 year olds My Space page. Why don't you argue you that ? Tell us why the D&M website doesn't look like a trial balloon after a 3 hour Dreamweaver course? Right...the silence is deafening! Oh, and by the way, you have been fired from the debate team. (1/8/07) In addition to Baltimore, Ken Levine also broadcast Seattle and San Diego games, as well as some minor-league teams. (He was also a top 40 jock in Los Angeles for a few years before going into sitcom writing.) He has a blog that's pretty amusing: kenlevine.blogspot.com -- Vincent in Triangle (1/8/07) Thanks to Radio Guy in Salisbury for the kind words on Spiro Morekas (and to Spiro for the king words on Jim Karvellas-the only guy who could make the NBA interesting to me). If only WBAL would realize that THE voice of the Towson Tigers should be calling the games on their airways as well as at WTMD. Also, a comment on Ken Levine: He just didn't have a radio voice. He also didn't mesh very well with Jon Miller because it forced him to play straight broadcaster. He was better on Sundays, when he worked with Chuck Thompson and could be funny. Ken, like everyone else in the world, is now a blogger. If you like stories about how TV shows are put together, it's a pretty good read. Howie (1/8/07) Wouldn't say that Levine was "pretty awful". But a step above Tom Marr. In fact Ken wrote a book about his experiences behind the naseball mic. It was called "It's Gone, No Wait a Minute". Got a chance to meet him once (the day of the bench clearing brawl w/ the Mariners) when he autographed my copy of the book. A nice guy who LOVED his days with the O's. B/T/W Dave. What's the latest on the 'BAL thing in '07? My "source" is currently is Sarasota preparing for the "Fantasy Camp". And on a personal note, I'd like to thank those that sent notes of "Get well" as I rec'd good news from my Doctor this a.m. WEBR may not be "real radio" but it's all I have and I have a damned good time doing it! Thanks again and Love 2 ALL,, Rusty Gibson WEBR Radio/Fairfax (1/8/07) Dave's response: All the best Rusty, regarding your recent seizure. DCRTV hears that area radio legend Tom Gavin has volunteered to be a brain donor for Rusty, should the need arise..... "Come on, someone, show us that you care about us for more than our willingness to listen to your advertisers. Please?" Why do you care so much? Move on for crying out loud. There's plenty of other things to spend your time on. Hey Dave, didn't you say you were going to stop the Modell stuff? A.D.D.?? (1/8/07) Nothing to say here ... cgi.ebay.com (1/8/07) Ken Levine didn't do color on the Orioles' broadcasts, he was the second voice on the radio games with Jon Miller. He was pretty awful, frequently behind the action, or would get distracted and miss something completely. Did some Seattle games after the one year in Charm City. (1/8/07) Just wandered over to the Don and Mike website. The “featured” item is a picture of Don and Mike with Wayne Newton. It’s been up there for months, and it’s the first thing you see when you visit the site. Come on! Is that really so spectacular that it warrants sitting for months at the most important piece of real estate on the website? It’s another example of how someone over there (Infinity? CBS? Don himself?) just doesn’t really care about the audience. The only podcasts we get lately are 20 minute clips from each 4 hour show. Not to mention the near two-month absence last year. So much opportunity. So much political capital that is being squandered. Very sad. Come on, someone, show us that you care about us for more than our willingness to listen to your advertisers. Please? (1/8/07) "To the post! "Art Modell Crap" Yes you are right!!!! Get Over It! ... Move on! DAM!" - How come nobody ever tells CLEVELAND to get over it? They were without football for, what, 5 minutes? God help Dan Snyder if he ever threatens to move the 'Skins - Congress will go into emergency session so the Department of Homeland Security can take over the team through eminent domain to avert the crisis. Real easy to say "Get over it" when it wasn't YOUR football team that snuck away in the midle of the night and left you without NFL for 13 years... Oh yeah, and Comcast SUCKS. I'd rather watch the chickens here on Delmarva than pay their prices. But I don't even have that option - they won't wire my neighborhood, which is less than 700 feet from their nearest customer and I have a Comcast line that ends at my mailbox. That company can't go bankrupt fast enough. Amd's in DAMN! with an "n", ok? Bill in Salisbury, MD (1/8/07) "It's 8 o'clock in the Big Bannana, Brother Dave at SUPER Q!" (1/8/07) The numbers don't lie people. All the XM lovers try to slam SIRI, but they won't even try to defend their own company. 905,000-442,000 is a thorough butt kicking. 2.7 million new adds. vs. 1.7 million (and that's rounding up for XM) is a thorough butt kicking. 4.8 million new adds. vs. 4.4 million new adds. (2005-2006) is a butt kicking, especially when SIRI wasn't even on the map before Howard came along. Keep trying to slam Mel, slam Howard, but your own company is in a shambles and on their way out. That is all. (1/8/07) The Washington Post Radio web site not only has the old lineup but believes today is New Year's Day with Bob Levey subbing for Mike Moss. Hopeless, absolutely hopeless. Everett W. www.washingtonpost.com (1/8/07) Uh-oh is espn trying to tell former WaPo sport's writer, Silver Spring native and University of Maryland grad Norman Chad something by picking up Full Tilt Poker programs? I believe Full Tilt was on Faux Sport's channel. I mean how many poker shows can espn show. Chad's been doing the World Series of Poker stuff for a few years now and this is one viewer who has grown tired. I think one bad aspect of the WSOP is you get new characters each show unlike before the poker tsunami when you got to know a pretty select group of long time poker players. I bet the Full Tilt was created to counteract this , since it seems to be made up of a lot the name players of poker, like Ivey,Hellmuth, Gordon, Chan , Ferguson, etc......and the former WTEM host who's landed a gig in L.A. was Kevin Kiley..........did Count Gore of Captain 20 know Petey Greene? Weren't they at channel 20 for a number of the same year's?....and say couldn't Bonnie Bernstein, and University of Maryland grad, be considered for the channel 4 sport's anchor job, too?....and finally watching the MASH marathon on tvland I see the name Ken Levine in the writing credits, remember when he did the color work on Oriole broadcasts one year? I think he tried it somewhere else after the Orioles....... Cousin Barney Stuangstabalk...oh I luv's to go swimming with bow legged women and swim between their legs (1/8/07) "Don & Mike have a Daily Log...which is an endless stream of dates, with a ponderous retelling of each day's show, posted in a microscopic font size, which no one in their right mind would bother reading." If you looked at O&A or Howard's site, you would see the same font being used for headlines and bios respectively. Look first instead of making shit up. Bryslock (1/8/07) I have Mediacom cable in the Bethany Beach area, and it is horrible. The PREMUIM cable channels (HBO, STARZ, etc) are broadcast in MONO. Most of thier channels go between Mono to Stereo. Also, they carry 3 fox affiliates, the new FOX from Salisbury, FOX5 from DC, and FOX9 from Philly. But, it still beats the price rape of Comcast. Here on Delmarva, we'll take anything over watching the chickens. (1/8/07) A technical question for those in the biz - how are TV programs recorded these days? I know that everything these days is all digital, but are programs stored to digital grade video tape, hard drives, DVD discs or something else? How are these programs archived for long-term storage? What digital codecs are used? (i.e. one of the MPEG standards?) Just curious as to how the industry works these days. We've come a long LONG ways from 2 inch analog video tape, but what is being used now? Dave in Fredericksburg (1/8/07) "If a Metro train derails on a weekend, especially a Sunday with pro football playoff games, does anybody bother to cover it?" WTOP was all over it. (1/8/07) Burd and Moss sound very good this morning. Can't quite put my finger on it but the station sounds different. I think better. (1/8/07) Look at the ad in the print version of The Washington Post on page 2 of the front section. They can't even get the new line-up right. And Sunday, they still had the wrong time for Warren Brown on the radio. The print newspaper does not give a sh&t about WaPo Radio. (1/8/07) If you happen to see Ken Merson (The Merson Person) today, please wish him a Happy Birthday from his many friends at CBS Baltimore. Hey Ken! We miss you every day on the radio and in the halls. It's not the same without you. (1/8/07) Dave's response: His birthday comes exactly one month before mine (and Ted Koppel's). Happy birthday Merson Person! Your blurb about the Junkies website, reminds me of a critique I have of the all too popular whipping boys Don & Mike. During their absence, and when Geronimo was threatening to write a blog about DCRTV, I visited their website. It looks like it was designed by a 14 year old doing his first Dreamweaver project. Notice anything about Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony, the Junkies, and just about anyone else with a decent radio career as a personality....they have well designed, interesting, and interactive websites. Even if some are a little heavy with bells & whistles, at least there is something to navigate and look at. Don & Mike have a Daily Log...which is an endless stream of dates, with a ponderous retelling of each day's show, posted in a microscopic font size, which no one in their right mind would bother reading. It's typical of their laziness. They could probably round up a host of geeks who would be willing build something decent for them for free, but they are so out of it and stuck in the past. They don't realize or care that a good web presence would help them with listenership. A good website is expected, and theirs is absolutely third rate. On completely different subject, my dad bought me my first real stereo at the Lafayette store in Springfield Mall in 1979. I don't think the store lasted more than another couple of years before it went kaput. (1/8/07) I don't know if anybody else does, but I really do miss Susan Kidd on NBC 4 at 5pm. I hope she returns to another DC station soon. Maybe ABC 7 at 5pm with Leon Harris???? That would be a good match. Jim Handley with Wendy at 5 on 4 is terrible. He is so boring and dull. Wendy would be better off by herself. NBC made a huge mistake in the DC market. DL, Reston,VA (1/8/07) If a Metro train derails on a weekend, especially a Sunday with pro football playoff games, does anybody bother to cover it? (1/8/07) /\ January 8 Messages /\ \/ January 7 Messages \/ To the post! "Art Modell Crap" Yes you are right!!!! Get Over It! ... Move on! DAM! (1/7/07) Holy shit Sinclair sucks !!!!!!! that has to be one of the worse companies to work for (1/7/07) Dave's response: It seems that just about everything Sinclair does seems to generate contempt and hatred toward it. I hear that the side of their Hunt Valley corporate headquarters building has a giant "Kick Me" sign in neon. Amazing..... To the poster who was talking about the audio on the NBC coverage of the game yesterday: I thought I was the only one having problems hearing the announcers; I found that I had to have the audio turned up louder...problem was, that also intensified the crowd noise as well! Tom in Denton, MD (1/7/07) I am so pleased to hear from Harold Green! My dad talked a lot about you over the years; always thought you were the best. I was good friends with your daughter, Elizabeth, when we worked together at Oldies 100/WGMS (then Colfax). Please tell her hello for me, feel free to write me personally and also feel free to give Elizabeth my email address (sean@seanhall.com). Jim had one helluva voice, for sure. He was a natural talent, completely self-taught in not just announcing, but in broadcast journalism. I learned to write news from him; helped him write Mutual newscasts on weekends when I wasn't yet a teenager. His 1973 demo (www.seanhall.com/jimhall.ram) absolutely killed everyone who ever heard it. He made big money off that demo. Sadly; Jim, by and large, HATED management--and never pulled any punches in that department. Several veterans I know still do great impressions of him reading memos from Ed Little on the corkboard at 16th and K! Those were the days. Same for WMAL. It was a special radio station. You could count ones similar to it on the fingers of one hand--but there were none like it, per se. My only involvement with WMAL was as a visitor--but I remember vividly going to Greentree Road and Jenifer Street back in the day to visit Frank and Jack. Every time I went--it was like going to Mecca. Mr. Green--please feel free to stay in touch with me. I know Jim would like that. He truly respected you--and for him; that was saying something. /sean hall (1/7/07) Hey Harold Green, I'm probably not even in your memory bank, I worked WMAL FM with Marty Conn, Ray Freeman, Chad Perrywinkle et al..I did mornings air name, Davy Jones. I will NEVER forget coming into your office and seeing a book..."Everything I know About Radio" By Harold Green. I was so impressed..... Then I opened it......172 BLANK pages...I laughed so hard I almost peeed my pants. One of my fondest memories. I was such a rebel those days.....Thanks for being a part of my life...Paul L. Bicknell/Davy Jones...:0) (1/7/07) Fisher's column today ends with an editor's note that his long-awaited book on musicradio, "Something in the Air," hits shelves on Tuesday. www.marcfisher.com has excerpts of the preface and the first chapter. Good read, a real appreciation of radio. The site also features airchecks.. Including (of local interest) links to some from George Michael at WFIL and WABC. The website also notes Marc will be making appearances at various bookstores in the coming weeks. Might be worth promoting/attending. I'm sure the truest geeks among us will show up. (1/7/07) Dave's response: Don't forget to order the book via the link (below) on DCRTV and help support your favorite site..... When is the Art Modell crap going to end here? Enough already! (1/7/07) Dave's response: Right now..... QUOTE: "Mike Jerrick & Juliette Huddy". I'd rather watch head lice harvest than to watch a morning show with these two. They had a one-hour early afternoon show on FNC until recently and it made the now-defunct National Enquirer TV show look like the McNeil Lehrer Newshour. -Silvie in Waldorf- (1/7/07) Dear Ma'am/Sir, I'm looking for a video/dvd of the ranger hal show. I saw this web page: kidshow.dcmemories.com... It shows that you were associated with that show. I was on the show sometime in 1962-66. If you have information on how I can get a copy of the show, please let me know. If you by any chance kept records of who was on the show: my name is Cary Martin. I lived in Centerville Va. at the time. Thank you for any help you can give. Cary Alan Martin (1/7/07) Dave's response: During those years, I was a little kid living in the suburbs of Philadelphia watching Sally Star on Channel 6 and Gene London on Channel 10..... Caught Arch and the Count on the weekly webcast at www.countgore.com. They were having entirely too much fun. Brought back lots of memories of working with the Count in the dungeon studios at channel 20. Can't wait to see who next month's celebrity guest will be...Dave. Walt in Lewes (1/7/07) Dave's response: Gee, I wonder who it could be..... I'm glad there are no more NFL games on NBC the audio is terrible. The crowd noise is so loud you can't hear the announcers. I'm watching the AFC wild card game on CBS right now and there is a big difference. (1/7/07) Art Modell is a saint. He should be in the HOF. Cleveland now has a team. They didn't have to wait more than a decade for the NFL bigshots to fix the error like we did in Baltimore. (1/7/07) "Dave's response: No. My radio's broke. Needs new tubes, I suspect. Will have to pick up some next time I'm at Woolworths....." The tube tester at Woolworth's is no good. Try the one at Lafayette. I mean, tubes cost $2 apiece, so you don't want to buy ones you don't need. -and- Sheesh, I can remember listening to WMAL just about every weekend afternoon when I was in elementary school, eighth grade, and early high school. Somehow I can picture a gray sky outside, not unlike today. I'd be inside working on a stamp collection, or reading something, with the radio going in the background. "Monitor" would be playing on WRC. I remember one time there was this weird traffic accident on 295 in Maryland. A car's starter or alternator had come loose while the car was in motion on 295, dropped to the pavement, and ricocheted into the windshield of a car headed in the opposite direction. It killed the driver. Anyone remember that? (1/7/07) Dave's response: I'll make sure to stop by Lafayette on the way back from Luskins..... Dave, WTOP is doing special reports on Places that are Gone in DC. One of the reports is on WHFS. www.wtop.com... Thought you might be interested. (1/7/07) If the public is confused about digital TV, Marc D. Allan's article in today's WaPo TV mag illustrates at least part of the reason. After a blatantly wrong description of the type of converter box people with older TVs will need (it's digital to analog, not the other way around), his description of what analog and digital TV are is so wrong anyone would have been better off before they read it. Then he proceeds to perpetuate the most common error of all -- and one I believe the electronics industry likes a great deal -- confusing "digital TV" with "high definition TV". The two terms are far from equivalent, as anyone who's watched a bit-starved digital TV "subchannel" can tell you--even calling these "standard definition", as is the norm, is an exaggeration of their quality. At least in his references Mr. Allan got the web addresses correct, and those sites give the correct technical details. (More evidence of the abdication of print in favor of the net?) (1/7/07) Dave's response: That was in this week's TV Week. It was a silly piece that panders to two of the DC Post's bigger advertisers - Circuit City and Best Buy. You're going to hear a lot of "scare stories" to get misinformed people (mainly the elderly and the poor) to pony up big bucks now for still-too-expensive digital and high-def TVs. Look, if your old fashioned analog TV is connected to a cable or satellite box (as most are) or a DVD player or VCR, it'll still work even past the 2009 digital deadline. The only people who'll be affected are those who watch only (!) over-the-air TV, and they still have more than two years to get a new digital set - and not necessarily a more expensive HD unit - or a broadcast converter box. There's still plenty of time to wait for the prices to come down even more. And, who knows, the digital-only deadline may get extended..... Come ON, Dave! "That's when Howard University accepted a donation of a radio station from the Washington Post and built WHUR (96.3 FM), one of the country's first black-oriented FM stations....." It was 1971!!! Black-oriented broadcasting began in Washington in 1949 at WOOK. Throughout the fifties and sixties, there were NUMEROUS black-oriented stations in every major metropolitan area (WWRL, WVON, WILD, WAOK, WOL, WEBB, WUST, KGFJ, KSOL, etc.). Now, to say that WHUR was one of the first black-OWNED broadcast facilities would be entirely accurate. - Ed. Rodriguez, WHUR "Origianl Staffer" Transmitter engineer, 1971-72 (1/7/07) Dave's response: Again, don't blame me. As noted in today's newsblurb, that was from Marc "The Listener" Fisher's piece in today's Post. Also, Fisher was referring to WHUR as being one of the nation's first black-oriented FMers. Most of the stations you refer to were AMers..... The new Fox morning show will be great. It is with Mike Jerrick & Juliette Huddy who hosted the weekend edition of Fox & Friends on the FNC until earlier this year. The two worked great together and had great chemistry on air unlike Matt Lauer and Meredith Vulture. Not to mention, Juliette Huddy, along with Kiran Chetry are the two most beautiful women on tv period!-Mark (1/7/07) I agree that Czaban's bombast sometimes fogs up his analysis. But he's really pretty good. For example, he was all over the Redskins Brandon Lloyd trade when it happened. Now it has turned out that Lloyd is a head case and a mediocre player and the Skins screwed up big time. Czaban called that way before everyone else in local media. (1/7/07) I listened to portions of David Burd's show this morning. I do like him and mostly that the show has a truly local flair to it. Sadly, that kind of thing is all but gone from DC radio. The only complaint I have about Burd, which others have commented on here, is that he tends to interrupt guests and others in the studio too much. Today, for instance, a caller was describing a problem she was having with a pet to the guest who is a vet, and Burd cut her off a couple of times with joking remarks that were annoying and ill timed. I think Burd overall has an entertaining sense of humor and relaxed style, but he's got to throttle it back a bit sometimes when others are speaking. (1/7/07) Bill Trumbull (WMAL Radio) sent me the letter by Sean Hall, son of Jim Hall (WMAL,WRC). Sean, I was not yet program manager of WMAL 63 when your dad was on. I was still working at WMAL-TV (Ch-7), and I didn't know about the telephone call you recalled in your letter. I don't remember the name of the WMAL program manager at the time, but I do remember a horrible contest, "Sixty-Three Thousand Dollars Worth of Prizes" that droned on and on on Radio-63. This was about 50 years ago. The prizes were shoddy and it was bad radio. The station ranked about 12th in the market at the time. I cerrtainly remember Sean's dad, Jim Hall. A spendid fellow and a good broadcaster. We called him "Earthquake' at Ch-7 and TV Director, Dick Armstrong, shortened it to " 'Quake". I can still hear Dick say, "Cue 'Quake". Jim was good natured, very bright and a lot of fun. Of course, Willard Scott and Ed Walker were and still are two of the nicest peope ever in broadcasting so I am sure they treated Sean well. If you read this, Sean, you may be proud of your father, he was respected and well liked. He was ahead of his time at WMAL, because WMAL was without direction of any value in those days and didn't know what to do with the talent that was already in the company: Like Frank Harden and Jackson Weaver, Bill Trumbull, Felix Grant, Bill Mayhugh and Jim Hall. Jim Hall was gone when Andy Ockershausen and I took over WMAL Radio, and we knew what to do with Harden & Weaver, Bill Trumbull, Jim Evans, Felix Grant and Bill Mayhugh. What a ride that was!! Plus, Len Deibert and a great newsroom. Couldn't happen now with the lawyers and accountant types running most of radio. it takes time to build a radio station and find its audience. The greedy wolves won't wait for that. They just try nicely fashioned "formats". The real answer is always Personality. WMAL in those days had personality. I am 80, retired and living in Ft. Myers, FL. Harold Green (1/7/07) As someone who used to live in the DC area (Fort Belvoir,VA) I read your website regularly! Your article on WHUR caught my eye. In it you said it was one of the country's first "black orientated" FM's in 1971. Black FM stations go back a little further. In Kansas City KPRS-AM 1590 added an FM signal in 1963 which simulcast it's urban format untill sign off and carried jazz untill 2am. Another FM in Kansas City KWKI switch from country to urban in 1969. Just thought I would add my two cents! Alvin G. Lawton (1/7/07) Dave's response: It wasn't "my" article. It was penned by Marc Fisher of the Washington Post. DCRTV just linked to it..... I see that FOX is embarking on another morning show at 9am. I think it's called Mornings w/Mark and Julie. Never heard of them. Sound familiar to anyone?..Also, didn't FOX have a morning show years back with Tom Bergeron that they ended up cancelling?..What makes them think another morning shows' going to work this time?..And who's going to get the axe with the addition of this show? (1/7/07) What fun listening to David Burd's final weekend shows. Glad the brass at WaPo Radio decided to move him to Monday through Friday. For a change, suits make a smart move. Dave, they probably listened to your advice. (1/7/07) He sure knows how to put on a show! The final morning of David Burd's weekend show was lively and fun. It will be interesting to see how the combination of Burd and Mike Moss works weekdays on WPR. Any bets? (1/7/07) Sean Hall I echo your sentiments about Mike Jakaitis at WTOP. A great guy who had the support of his colleagues in a time of need. Sean, since you are a long-time observer of the local radio scene I would like to hear what you think abnout the new line-up on WTWP (Wash Post Radio). Good or bad? Would also like to hear knowledgable folks like Tom Gauger weigh in as well. Or Max C. (1/7/07) Dave, did you get to hear any of the final weekend for Dave Burd? (1/7/07) Dave's response: No. My radio's broke. Needs new tubes, I suspect. Will have to pick up some next time I'm at Woolworths..... Czaban might be the best non-jock covering the Skins but Sheehan, Weinstein and Haber are close. I'd give a few kudos to Scott Jackson at 980 as well. The latter four aren't nearly as bombastic as Czaban which sometimes masks his thoughtful statements. (1/7/07) In a recent post Spiro Morekas described himself as "a nobody" doing a "little nothing talk show" when he was at Salisbury's 960-am. NOT. Spiro did a good job and had a loyal and appreciative audience. He carried the sports banner well in the mid-80's at the station where other voices behind the sports microphone included Jim Simpson in the 1940's, Ron Weber in the late 50's to mid-60's, Chris Thomas in the 70's, and Pete Medhurst in the 90's. -Salisbury Radio Guy. (1/7/07) ...anyone who knows mike jaikaitis knows he's a super guy. always nice; always decent. i'm one of many jake fans who's glad to know he's back. enjoy the rest of your life, jake. may you never have a scare like that again. /sean hall (1/7/07) I'm afraid I too, must jump on the bandwagon of negative waves regarding Mr. Riggins. It just ain't thick enough with him as head honcho of show, needs co-host with equal weight........speaking of which I see former WTEM host, who I heard working sidelines for pro football radio broadcasts by Westwood 1, has landed a co-hosting gig at 710 ESPN Los Angeles. Now I think he'd have made a fine pairing with Riggo......btws wasn't Kiley a N.Y. Jet briefly, was it about same time as Riggins arrived?....and recent sighting of Chuck Booms on Faux News Channel, I don't know if he was trying a mancow impression or not, he struck me a being a bit smarter than mancow......and did you see West Springfield basketball phenom Kara Lawson as courtside reporter for NBA action on ESPN Friday night......... and MASN first I love you, then I hate you that's a game for fools...friday night they ran 1985 Big East semi final game between Georgetown and Syracuse...ah the names bill martin, patrick ewing, david wingate, south lakes high's' michael jackson et al...it was great and the video quality was outstanding but then MASN you got that horrid Anita Marks show and that gotd9mn crawl!.........say you totem polers out there why don't you throw Jill Sorenson's name into the mix for head spork's anchor at channel 4, she has more experience don't she or why not pam ward, the university of maryland graduate has been at espn for years....wonder why just czarniak's name is only one thrown out for consideration if it has too be woman at channel 4....heck did they even consider susan kidd....it's been demonstrated that in depth spork's knowledge ain't necessary for the job........Baklava Stuangstabalak....the wind grows colder and suddenly your older (1/7/07) www.famous56.com scan down page aircheck of George Michael from Dec. 18,1973 or check the aircheck archives Man he looks a bit like Jim Carey from "Dumb and Dumber" in that picture of the wfil jocks (1/7/07) Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Rusty Gibson! To whom I owe much, for dragging up those painful memories of WEEL, WEAM and WMOD days in the 70's. He's got to get better, he's the only one who acts like he's interested when us "geezers" start pining about "how it used to be" and "when I was doing radio", or "in my day we didn't read from cards" (well not everything)! Get better Rusty! Pat Murphy (1/7/07) Well David Burd, will be on at 5:30 a.m. On monday (1/7/07) /\ January 7 Messages /\ \/ January 6 Messages \/ Bob Devlin, et el: your revisionist history notwithstanding, Art Modell will NEVER make the NFL HOF - especially not while he is alive. He has pissed off too many people, and taken too much delight in screwing over not only the city of Cleveland, but other cities and even many his fellow NFL owners. Art Modell is a low-life snake and there is no room for him in the hallowed Hall at Canton. (Dave, sorry this post is somewhat off-topic, but it needed to be said.) -Brian Oliger, lifelong Cleveland Browns fan (1/6/07) None of today's postings provides a single justification for Art Modell to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sorry, being involved in the creation of Monday Night Football ain't enough. Should they also induct whoever negotiated the Sunday Nite football deal with ESPN? How stupid. A Baltimore Sun article at the following link provides great insight into Modell's double dealing and deceit that resulted in the move of the team from Cleveland to Baltimore: www.baltimoresun.com (1/6/07) To Sean Hall,Ed Walker and Willard Scott are two genuinely nice people. I still work with those wacky guys over at NBC. I considered an honor to have worked with your dad over at NBC radio at the Press building in the mid 70's.see U soon. Cory Haber (1/6/07) I can't help but add to the misguided Modell bashing discussion. All you ned to know is two words - Al Lerner. This guy was worshpped in Cleveland for bringing a team back after the Browns left. Do you know who was instrumental in setting up the deal between Baltimore and Modell? Survey says - AL LERNER!! Do you know on whose private plane the deal was signed to move the Browns? Show me the answer - AL LERNER!!! This guy did all he could to help (i.e., push) Modell to take the team out of Cleveland so he could own an expansion team there. The same Mr. Lerner who tried earlier to get an expansion team in Baltimore, and when it failed he launched the plan to get rid of the Browns and get himself the new Cleveland team. When you throw in the previously posted banking background, you get the whole Lerner picture. OK now, who stood up in the NFL meetings and convinced the other owners to give Cleveland (and Lerner) an expansion team when the vote was two votes short of approval, in spite of the local government that would have let him go bankrupt rather than help him get a new stadium? Um, that would be Art Modell. And after all was said and done, big Al said he had nothing to do with the decision on the Baltimore move, and that he disagreed with it. If that's their idea of a good owner, the Cleveland fans who still hate Modell can kiss my ass. - Bob Devlin (1/6/07) Hey Dave: Happy New Year, My Brother! Here's an idea. Scooter, Alan Lee, Merson Person and Johnny Dark on an AM station playing oldies. Maybe C.B. Asss can spare one of their useless stations for this? BTW, does ANYONE actually like Dan Rodericks on WBAL? Just wondering. (1/6/07) Seeing the mailbag shot of Ed and Willard, circa late-50s, brought back a flood of memories until now relegated to the inner recesses of my mind. I was three when we moved to the DC area in 1958 from Wheeling, WVA, where my dad was doing the afternoon show (there was no "afternoon drive" then) at WWVA--at the time a multi-format powerhouse. MOR all day; country at night. We moved here when Jim was hired to do the afternoon show (still no "afternoon drive," per se) at WMAL. That lasted about 18 months, after which my dad was canned after an on-air contest went awry. It was some kind of entry drawing and my dad was to call the winner on-air. Remember; no delay back then. No profanity, but when he called and had the engineer put the person on the air with him--It went something like: "Hi--is this the Baxter residence? Hi this is Jim Hall from WMAL. Can I speak to Bill Baxter?" "Sorry," the other end replied; "Mr. Baxter died this morning." I guess they drew another name--but it was awkward, so my dad took the fall for that one. I think Harold Green was the program director back then; not sure. Perhaps someone still around from those days could chime in and verify that, but that was the story I got. Okay; onward. After WMAL, my dad went to do weekend booth and weekend ANYTHING at Channel 4. This is where he met and befriended Ed Walker and Willard Scott and remained good friends with them til his death in 1990. They still remember him fondly. When I was in kindergarten; Dad used to take me to work with him and deposit me in the Joy Boys' studio while he worked. As I remember; he did this many times. Ed and "Scotty," as my dad would call him, were always wonderful to me--and frankly, were so nice to so many. In a way--that's where I got the radio bug that never left me. I haven't seen Willard since the 2003 WQCB dinner--the one after I got out of the hospital. Every time I've ever seen Willard in recent years--the first thing after "how are you?" that's always come out of his mouth has been, "you know--I LOVED your dad!" It's a funny thing about broadcasting. I was always sad my father and I never had a good relationship. Perhaps we were too much alike. But I know so many others truly liked him, not just for the great job he always did on-air, but because he was a great guy in the business. Don't see that much, anymore. /sean hall (1/6/07) Sheehan is a bit too smarmy for my tastes, but Czaban is the best non-jock sport guy in the area. As for the jocks, there's not much to choose from. Doc Walker is atrocious with his know nothing bluster. John Thompson's only asset is a deep rolodex from which to get interviews. Brian Mitchell is nothing but a flamethrower. His lack of real sports knowledge is woeful. Riggins was better in small doses. His show is boring. (1/6/07) I'm still gonna back one of my least favorite radio stations, WJFK 1300 over any dribble that comes out of a whining Clevelander's mouth. And I know I've typed this here once before, but let me say it again since it's a FACT and people from Cleveland seem to enjoy making them up as they go along: WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A REAL ENCYCLOPEDIA !!!!! Everything you typed is just some idiot's OPINION! I could go there right now and type that Art Modell is the son of Satan and Cleveland is a suburb of HELL and it would probably remain there for hours, maybe days, possibly FOREVER for stupid people (Clevelanders) to think they're facts! Hmmm, maybe I will correct all of those inaccuracies you just mentioned while I'm at it. Thanks for the heads up on that B.S, nearly none of which is in fact true and half of the truth is missing. Sometimes I wonder if forum geeks purposefully make up a story, post it on WIKIPEDIA, then play "pretend-smart" on another website like DCRTV! :-) Like I stated previously, Art Modell has done as much for the NFL as any other owner in NFL history. In the grand scheme of things, Cleveland and Baltimore have little to do with the reasons Art Modell will go into the NFL Hall of Fame. It's some tiny little TV show called, ummmm, MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL! Geez, will you Clevelanders let it go?! You got your frikkin football team, history, name, & colors back almost immediately, unlike cities like Baltimore that waited 13 YEARS to NEVER! Now SHUT the F up! If Clevelanders have moved on, you wouldn't all be posting all of this dribble 24/7. (1/6/07) Thanks for the early days ‘Joy Boys’ photo of Ed Walker and Willard ‘Bozo the Clown’ Scott. (1/6/07) Dave's response: Coming soon - a new and improved DCRTV photo gallery. Stay tuned..... Al Lerner was one of the biggest Bankers in the World not just USA. He was such a fine man when he bought out my credit card he immediately raised my interest rate from 9% to 14.9% Al Lerner the joy of Cleveland. Remember the bank that was taken from Maryland and Corporate Headquarters moved to Ohio .I am sure there was moral outrage in Ohio about that .I guess Al Lerner doesn't belong in the Bankers Hall of Fame now. I also felt it was interesting that Art Modell's partner was this Banker Al Lerner and yet Modell almost went bankrupt in Ohio could not have Al Lerner kept Modell out of financial hot water or possibly did Lerner want Modell to fail so he could takme over the Franchise.Al Lerner sure didn't help my financial situation maybe he didn't help Modell's either.And the Baltimore Raven's under Modell sure did better than the Cleveland Browns underf the Lerner family. (1/6/07) I'm a Cowboy fan so I have no affiliation with the Ravens or Browns. I was a Foreman at the ravens stadium project back in 98 I guess. I met Mr Modell once and saw him many times. He used to buzz around in a golf cart with Moag, his son, Ozzie etc. He was very cordial to the crew. He shook my hand, and i'm a nobody. He didn't have to do that. I was woprking in his suite (The double decker with the spiral staircase) and I turned around and there was he and his son (I think) along with many other white hard hats in suits. He was very nice again. As far as the poster bragging about all of the Browns championships. At least 4 of them came in the old AAFL. Not the NFL. Look it up. (1/6/07) This is a "touchy question". Has anyone seen WX guy Norm Lewis lately? He's sporting a BALD HEAD, it looks terrible. To start off, he's NOT the slickest looking guy on the tube..by a long shot. Is this his idea of SVELT? I know this is not a nice post, and I'm sorry for that. My first instinct was: He's sick...(chemo)..I pray that's not the answer, I've known Norm for a long long time, but haven't recentley been in touch. Please don't take this as a nasty post, it's not, it's a concerned one. If he's doing it for attention, he's getting it, but he should get his ears fixed immediately. (1/6/07) To the woman from Capitol File Magazine: If you had your last day in the office; how are you still affiliated with the organization? It sounds like a professional type "firing" to me! (1/6/07) I've never been to Cleveland, but from everything I've read, Modell screwed that city badly. And Modell, apparently, also was largely responsible for Baltimore not getting the expansion franchises that were awarded to Carolina and Jacksonville. He was on the expansion committee and wanted to keep Baltimore's sweetheart stadium deal for himself. So for a Baltimore station to be running a tribute to this guy, well let's just say there has to be a lot of spinning, duplicity and history - rewriting going on................ (1/6/07) Riggins may not be polished but he's not stupid. The question really is about whether or not he is entertaining. The signal issues prevent long listens at a time but I've caught some of his show when it's very good, and some of it when it's very bad. And as far as the comment issued about "giggles" Weinstein, I wouldn't let one misstep cloud the fact that he's a dependable Redskins reporter, certainly better than the new guy on WTEM. He is very knowledgeable and does a very good job on the Redskins. Kevin Sheehan also deserves a mention as a more than dependable host of Triple X's Redskins coverage. I would put he and WTEM's Steve Czaban at the top of the heap of the savviest non-jocks doing Skins coverage on broadcast radio or tv. (1/6/07) Dave's response: If Dan Snyder wants to build Triple X into a sports talk/male talk ratings killer, he'll need an inside the Beltway FM signal. Yes, WGMS's rimshot signals will be better than the rimshot signals he now has, but Snyder really should set his sights on buying something like 100.3 or 105.1. Perhaps he could do a deal with Salem to buy WAVA's 105.1 in exchange for 92.7, 94.3, an upgraded 730, plus a boatload of cash. That would give Salem four DC area signals (with their existing 780) and Snyder his "blanket coverage." Oh yeah, hire Elliot Segal for mornings when his DC101 contract is up..... To the person about "Frank Herzog is many things" That must have been from Larry Michael . Who is many things. ( Jaskass!) (1/6/07) "I hate to criticize him but radio is not for John Riggins." Riggo was at his best when he use to make a weekly guest appearance on WTEM. He didn't have to watch what he said, unlike now because he is employed by Danny. And, he usually had a few belts before coming on the air which made it even more entertaining. (1/6/07) One of the most amusing things about postings on the DCRTV mailbag is their tendency to claim they are correcting a previous posting with the facts, then, instead provide a load of BS. Quoth the Browns fan was correct on all accounts. His (or her) posting concerned whether Art Modell deserves to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. The posting provided only a few of the facts why the answer should be "no." To those who were offended by the Hitler reference, the poster was only reporting what Modell actually said. Refer to Ken Rosenthal'sDecember 29, 1998 column in the Baltimore Sun: "Modell, speaking to the media after firing Ted Marchibroda yesterday, was asked what style he'd prefer in his next coach. "If Hitler came back, I'd take him," the Ravens' owner said." To the poster who described the Browns as the "LEAST STORIED of all the longest running sports franchises...," your ignorance is showing. The Browns won 8 championships from 1946 through their last one in 1964, a 27-0 shutout over the Baltimore Colts. It's been a long time since that last one, but 8 championships is an impressive total. They have appeared in 13 championship games. The Baltimore Colts/Ravens have appeared in 6 championship games, winning 4. The Browns Backers fan club is one of the largest sports team fan clubs with 279 chapters. To the person who doesn't like the Browns' orange colors but apparently is satisfied with purple, I know a few women who'd like you to design a dress for them! To the person who argued that Modell didn't have a sweet deal in the Cleveland Stadium lease, note the following from en.wikipedia.org: "The Stadium was an economic drain on the City of Cleveland, which owned it and originally operated it throughout its life. In the mid 1970s the Browns owner Art Modell agreed to lease the facility for $1.00 per year. Modell's company, Stadium Corporation, took over operations and invested in improvements, including luxury suites. The suites were quite lucrative for Modell and generated substantial revenue for him. Modell refused to share the suite revenue with the Indians baseball team, even though quite a bit of the revenues were generated during baseball games. Eventually the Indians prevailed upon the local governments and voters and convinced them to build them their own facility where they would control the suite revenue. Modell, believing that his revenues were not endangered, refused to participate in the Gateway Project that built Jacobs Field for the Indians and Gund Arena for the Cavs. Modell's assumptions proved incorrect and the suite revenues declined when the Indians moved from the stadium to Jacobs Field in 1994. The following year, Modell decided to move the football team to Baltimore, Maryland after the 1995 season." Clevelanders have moved on from Art Modell's removal of his sports franchise from Cleveland, however, inducting him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a different matter! (1/6/07) Anyone who has been even casually following the Dan Snyder era has to know the real deal. Two things are paramount in his life: his money and his ego. The order is unimportant. Know this: impugn either and you are dead. LeVar Arrington found out when he went after additional money in a contract dispute. Suddenly, he was not a good football player anymore. The smoke screen about his being a loose cannon, etc., was just that. Now comes word that the WGMS thing is dead. Some spokesperson told the press that Danny boy was paying too much for the station. Also implied was that taking the over-inflated price would more than justify any criticism that Bonneville might receive for killing the only classical music outlet in DC. (Action at WETA about a classical music change seems to hinge on the outcome.) In this case it was a double-whammy. Danny was going to be separated from too much of his precious money, and everyone was informed that he had made a bad deal. Ergo, he kills the deal. My guess is that he would still love to have these frequencies, but money and ego got in the way. (1/6/07) Am in total agreement w/ the poster's comments of Johnny Dark &"X-tra". Yes do bring him back as I'd LOVE to work with him! Rusty Gibson (1/6/07) Frank Herzog is many things, and competent broadcaster is certainly one of them. He is not, however, remotely close to being a sports "expert." One need only spend a short time with him off the air to figure that out. Beyond the NFL, he's kept up with virtually nothing in the sports world. (1/6/07) From the no-it-all that thinks I am affiliated with WTEM: I forgot to mention that the only show that I have heard that is as bad as Riggins is the John Thompson show. As far as the Riggins show and Triple X ESPN in general is concerned, they are made for each other. Failure begets failure, as the "Danny" is starting to find out Keep thinking you know it all genius. Your laughable. (1/6/07) Comcast in Howard County and Baltimore City (and maybe more) has a message saying that the contracts with Sinclair (WBFF and WNUV) are almost up and the stations may be pulled as early as Feb 5 if negotiations don't go well. The Howard County message says that "Other Fox HD programming will be available." Does that mean WTTG? (1/6/07) Your Washington Post Radio story should make clear that I'm just filling in during the 10AM-12Noon show for part of the week of 1/8. My only permanent presence there remains the Jim Bohannon Show, weeknights 10PM-1AM, America in the Morning, weekday mornings 5-530AM, and America this Week, Saturday mornings 5-530AM. Jim Bohannon (1/6/07) Dave's response: Thanks Jim. I do believe we mentioned that you're doing temporary "fill in" work at 10 AM. "Late night talk radio veteran Jim Bohannon and Victoria Jones will be filling in on Howard's old 10 AM to noon slot"..... ("Has there been any more news about MASN carrying games in High-Definition? Or did they blow all of their money in legal fees trying to get the Washington Expos on Comcast?") That and the cost of the Angelos "hand me down" graphics generator. Can you imagine how crappy the Nats games will look with that thing on 1/3 of the screen (1/6/07) Ummm, did I read that right, Hitler and Art Modell in the same sentence?!?!?!?! As much as I hate commending WJFK? AM 1300 Baltimore for anything (trust me on that one), the Cleveland-style revisionist "Lost their team" rambling Art Modell complaining history here is even more nauseating than the Baltimorean Irsay one (at least that one is funny), so lets correct a few things with, ya know, FACTS......... Cleveland would not have a new stadium nor would Modell if he had stayed in Cleveland for several reasons....... #1.... NO NFL MONEY (from the owners and fans like me as well)...... #2.... NO ART MODELL MONEY (from Art Modell himself, yep, he actually contributed a few bucks towards the stadium his team doesn't play in)...... #3.... MODELL not only leased that old stadium for $1, he also had to pay for its maintenance and all upgrades necessary to keep the shithole mistake on the lake from collapsing into the lake at a proven loss of money which is the very reason the city of Cleveland did not care!...... #4...... Grandstanding Mayor White. Finally, I recently moved, and you know what, I have a new barber and haven't seen the last barber since. I also haven't visited the old McDonald's near my old house either. So shoot me. And I think we can all agree that NO ONE wants to visit you for a Ravens/Browns game in Cleveland either or to get a haircut and a mob lynching for $4! Please Clevelanders, climb back under your dieing rust-belt rocks and leave us good people alone. Anyone who tries to throw Hitler into a sports and radio argument needs therapy. Get the help you need man but do it in private so we don't have to hear about you or any Cleveland loser/nutjobs again, ok? Thanks from all of us at DCRTV in advance. PS: The Browns are the LEAST STORIED of all of the longest running sports franchises you could think of. And the "story" seems to get worse every year! 'Nuff said! (1/6/07) To the guy who thinks Riggo is a "lead torpedo" intended to "sink" WTEM. Get a clue. The only thing his show, and the tin-pan of cafeteria slop known as "Redskins Lunch" are good for, is the copious amounts of unintentional comedy. The first this week was Riggo was interviewing Gibbs. Gibbs starts going OFF about the Post story, and about 5 minutes into it, Riggo says (from his comfy apartment) "Uh.. coach. Hate to interrupt you, but I'm not sure I know what you are talking about." HAR!!! Nice research! I guess they don't have the internet up there in NYC! Even still, how about a PRODUCER faxing him a copy of such a bombshell of a story? It was pants-wettingly lame. Nice "insight" to the local team, 44. Then there's Giggles Weinstein. Not only did he hamhandedly goof on the 112 year old Red Sox fan who died, but then Larry Gasbag gets all serious about the death of Jim Carvellas. The tension between the two over THAT awkward exchange was like the turd in the bowl at somebody's Christmas party. There is PLENTY to complain about WTEM and it's lineup flaws, but Dan Snyder's radio outfit is like his team. An overpaid former legend, surrounded by the radio equivalent of Brandon Lloyd and Adam Archuleta. (1/6/07) Enough nonsense about Z 104. What Trash!! Bring back Xtra 104 with the echo and oldies with Johnny Dark and Company. Isn't there enough trash on Radio???????? (1/6/07) Actually, Mr. Brown's fan, the City of Cleveland wasn't about to give Mr. Modell a new stadium. That only happened so they could get an expansion team in that fine city. He asked for a new stadium and the city hemmed and hawed about it. Finally Modell gave up trying and moved the team to Baltimore where he got a good deal on the stadium. Also, quit your whinning about the Raven's Superbowl and the failure of the Brown's franchise. You can go ahead and believe all you want that the championship should be Cleveland's. It's not. You may quit your belly-aching because your city got their name, colors, and history back. To be honest, I am glad when the team was moved to Baltimore it changed identity. The last thing I would want here is a team with the uglist colors in football. (1/6/07) /\ January 6 Messages /\ \/ January 5 Messages \/ Nice history lesson on Bonneville. Some of what was said is fact. Alot of what was said is conjecture. It might even be possible to play out as described, except for one thing. This isn't Dr. Brady's Bonneville, it's Bruce Reese's. While Bonneville does have roots through the 1920's as described, the modern company was structured in the early 1960s as something far larger than just a radio services company. Bonneville International Corporation is just that. A multi-national, multi-services media corporation. Only support at the highest levels of the church has kept Bonneville in radio. Bruce did a pretty rapid fire series of sell, buy, trade events during the mid-90s designed to improve the radio division's performance. Bruce even had a study done that showed how much the church would benefit from selling off all the radio assets and it was shopped pretty heavy to several much larger entertainment conglomerates. Eventually Gordon B. Hinckley publicly affirmed during a General Conference that Deseret Management intended for Bonneville to remain in radio broadcasting. Don't assume however that the past is any indication of the current loyalities to either the properties or the on-air content. Bonneville's may still be a values driven company, but the most precious value is the desire to make money so that the church's temple construction projects remain fully funded without touching the funds held in reserve. (1/5/07) Sirius is cash-flow positive also: www.orbitcast.com (1/5/07) ("Is it me or is John Riggins totally unlistenable?...I cringed when I heard him the first time and could never tune back in.") Thanks and a hat tip to a SportsTalk 980 manager/employee for that comment... you know who you are... sorry bruh, yer goin' down and Riggo's the lead torpedo followed by the ESPN armada. The destruction will just begin showing Jan. 16. (1/5/07) Again, good f*cking job WJFK…Listening to the D&M replay this evening, and the show sounds all chopped up…Like the audio drops bits and pieces of what they are saying…It is very hard to listen to. ON TOP OF THE REVERB. Jesus!... One more complaint – With all the chopping up of the audio, it gets worse -- Don is right in the middle of questioning the chick who they got a date and it goes STRAIGHT to commercial. I am actually ½ interested in the show for once in a long time, and the timing is WAY off. GOOD JOB WJFK…I HOPE THE BOARD OP GETS FIRED! (1/5/07) Good God, the "Cleveland Whiiiiiine Festival" continues.(what a bunch of cry babies over nothing, no wonder they're a bunch of losers rooting for losers) Last time I checked my pocket NFL 2006 schedule it showed my team playing the cleveland browns not once but twice. All is well in cleveland. BTW, the schedule belonged to the Baltimore Ravens and not The Baltimore colts! Case closed!!!!!!! (1/5/07) DON GERONIMO IS A GENIUS! Yes you ever decreasing legions of window lickers I tried to listen to the Dons and Mikes show today. First time I hit a commercial break, second time I hit another commercial break, and in the 9 1/2 minute break I heard 2 PSA's, I don't ever recall ever hearing PSA's on the DnM show, well third time was a charm, O'Mirror was imitating someone I couldn't figure out for the longest time and Don was doing that lovely snarling(grease,grease, grease) laugh of his(as if it was really funny)...but the light bulb went off in my head.....Don is going to make the show so staid, so boring, so lacking in spontaneity, hitting every commercial break right on time that the ratings will plummet and the braintrust(?) at cbs radio will can them and thus having to pay the remainder of contract. Then Don can make that move to Florida with his newly found hoochie....and to keep his toes in the d.j. business Don will volunteer to do the Big Band show on weekends at the local public radio station.....GENIUS I TELL YA!.............Say has lil' Danny considered making a run at C-Span radio?..... Mr. Augenstein(btws did you bar hop with Mr. O'Mirror while at AU?) don't forget the Unicorn Times as you take us back to those heady rock and roll days and that short lived joint at the old Hot Shoppes in 7 Corners, why I remember seeing the now sadly looks like defunct NRBQ there....................Mr. Carlson....i got monkeys on my feets...it ain't no free (1/5/07) To those who believe Art Modell was justified in taking the Browns away from Cleveland because the city didn't treat him fairly, the truth is he had the best stadium deal in all of sports. Modell leased Cleveland Stadium from the city for $1.00 per year. If that doesn't sound good enough, his lease also made him the landlord for the Cleveland Indians, enabling him to collect rent and concession income for their 81 yearly home games, plus for any concerts that might be held there. Mr. Modell didn't have to move the team - the facts establish that after a few short years, Cleveland had a brand spanking new stadium full of all the amenities owners crave. The Browns' last championship was in 1964 - diehard Browns fans are particularly bitter about the Ravens' Superbowl victory. That should have belonged to Cleveland and Clevelanders will never forget it. The Browns are one of the most storied franchises in NFL history - which one of you can image the Cowboys somewhere other than Dallas or the Giants somewhere other than in the New York metropolitan area or the Redskins somewhere other than the DC area. While it is true that NFL teams are the playthings of their owners, the Browns have one of a handful of the largest fan bases in all of sports. He knew the ramifications of the move and chose greed over class and sportsmanship. The same greed Modell employed when he cut Tom Cousineau and was seen the same week purchasing a new Rolls Royce. Modell's accomplishments in growing the NFL are tangible but also self-serving. Who among us doesn't take steps to grow their business. As a measurement of Modell's character, I look no further than the barber he visited weekly on Fairmount Circle in Cleveland's east side. After Modell moved the team, the barber never heard from him again. In another incident reported in the Baltimore press, Mr. Modell, a jew, was quoted as saying he would hire Hitler himself if that act would turn his team into winners. In the minds of Cleveland Browns fans, Mr. Modell will never be eligible for consideration for Hall of Fame induction. If he thinks he ought to be considered, why doesn't he attend the next Ravens-Browns game in Cleveland (that would be a first) and stand at the 50 yard line and justify his actions. That would be a $1,000 per ticket sell-out! Quoth the Browns Fan (1/5/07) Is it me or is John Riggins totally unlistenable? For a guy that had acting aspirations, he sounds as rough and contrived as it gets. May have been a great ball player but his radio skills are subpar at best. I cringed when I heard him the first time and could never tune back in. And to think MASN will be picking up his show? What are they smoking? I hate to criticize him but radio is not for John Riggins. (1/5/07) Re:"When someone sends a post that is over a full page (whether Sirius or XM or anything else for that matter), hardly anyone reads it" /// Amen, brother. That last pro-XM posting was like a page from the corporate manifesto. Absolutely mind numbing, and well beyond most people's comprehension or interest. I have both services, and they are both good. For one I hope they both survive, because a merger means hold on to your pocketbook. (1/5/07) All this yada-yada about adding new customers to Sirius or XM doesn’t amount to much. Look for the “churn rate.” How many did each lose? What’s the current customer base for each. (1/5/07) So what popular major restaurant chain is The Danny going to buy and make patrons pay for every single solitary amenity? $1.00 for that extra turn of the pepper mill? $5.00 for that extra basket of bread? Before he starts diversifying his portfolio, he needs to get the current holdings straight. LO (1/5/07) I like the conditional tense Dan Snyder used regarding buying that sad joke WGMS is today. I bet he's trying to get his greedy hands on 100.3!!!! However, don't be surprised if WGMS doesn't make another move on the dial. Commercial classical not only rates and bills well, but in D.C. it is also important politically with both major political parties. WGMS played no small part in helping to keep the FCC off RKO General’s ass for many years, thanks to political pressure from Congress. I’m sure Dennis remembers “Guest Conductor” (Not to mention “Precious Magnolia”!) as much as I do! Also, Bonneville International Corporation has no stockholders per se to answer to. It is a “privately held” company held by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was or! iginally called the “Radio Service Company” in Salt Lake City, and got its start in broadcasting with KSL in the 1920’s. While they usually do not carry paid religious programming from other faiths, it is not unknown for some Bonneville stations to carry paid spots for other churches (WTOP, with ads from McLean Bible Church, Capitol Baptist Church, among others…) other Bonneville stations do not. (KSL very quickly dropped ads a few years back when a Lutheran church in Salt Lake City bought time around Easter!) Usually, programming or ad carriage cannot be contrary to the principles of the LDS church, with local station management given vast freedom to achieve success. One thing that Bonneville strives for is to avoid controversy in what they do. Which surprises me all the more with the spots on WTOP for an ED clinic that “guarantees ‘solid’ results for thirty minutes”, not to mention the car dealer running spots that quotes a Consumer Reports test as one! line of their cars being “more reliable than Toyota or Honda”! O ne goes against the dictum of “good taste” while the other goes against the principles of protection of intellectual property. Having said all that, if we start hearing stunting with Contemporary Christian music with a Mormon slant on 104.1/103.9 figure sports talk is coming. Bonneville could do a very good job of it and attract a serious network to supplement what they do themselves. They already have a good core airstaff if they went in that direction. All they’d have to do is bring in the already top-notch WTOP sports team, take Frank Herzog off of news, and you have an instant sports authority! What surprises me is that they didn’t do just that in the first place with 1500/107.7!!! (1/5/07) Has WHUR radio (96.3FM) changed its format? Yesterday I heard Queen and tonight, while scanning, I heard Elton John's Benny & the Jets. What's up with that? (1/5/07) Dave's response: Are you sure your radio wasn't really tuned to 100.3? Dave: Hope you had a good holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! --Matt (1/5/07) Dave's response: Thanks..... I have to agree that the unnamed source crap that LaCanfora and the Post relied upon is a bunch of BS. Even assuming the quotes are accurate, citing unnamed players who make comments prevents the reader from judging what biases those players bring to the table. For example, if Adam Archeleta makes a negative comment about Gregg Williams, the reader may take it a lot less seriously than if the same comment came from Marcus Washington or Cornelius Griffin. The unnamed source stuff is sleazy journalism. If a source won't be quoted by name, the information should be used for background and not a quote. (1/5/07) First, it's painfully obvious that some of the pro-XM posts come from XM employees (Hey, I know one of you and you admitted as much to me). Secondly, When someone sends a post that is over a full page (whether Sirius or XM or anything else for that matter), hardly anyone reads it, because IT'S BORING! Less filling, tastes great, blah, blah, blah. Let's give it a rest for a while. Lovin' my iPod in Fairfax. (1/5/07) www.jpost.com... Classical music stations around the country, including 104.1 are actually doing a disservice to classical music. They have devalued its worth and made it disposable just like everything else in this country. This article points out how ring tones are doing the same thing. Bonneville should be commended for dumping a cheap format and letting the pros in public radio do it right. I don't understatnd why WETA doesn't jump at the chance. We desperately need a good outlet for sports and the Redskins. We also need a good outlet for classical music. Right now we have neither. The Snyder sale would give us both. Everyone would be a hero. Everyone would win. Bonneville should lower its price just to punish the Bozo who bragged about the 50% premium they were getting. They could deduct the loss from his salary. (1/5/07) WGMS BYE BYE? If they would have let John Meyer put that opera station on when he wanted to, none of this would be happening. Don't lead him on like this!!! (HEEHEEEHEEEHEEE!) Sorry, 'Lil Bit. Someday a radio station and a woman will appreciate all the litte stuff you have to offer. (1/5/07) MY God, Mel really must be able to sprinkle fairy dust and keep the SEC away. Can Sirius investors really be this gullible? At the end of the 2005, Sirius reported 3.3MIL verified subscriptions. At the end of 2006, they now claim 6MIL subscriptions, for a 'net' improvement of 2.7MIL. Interesting, but on Jan. 6, 2006, what Sirius suggested then was 6MIL for the year. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180705,00.html So what happened to the 6.3MIL guidance of Oct. 4?? On October 4, 2006, Sirius claimed to have added more than 441,100 net new subscribers in the 3rd quarter, which realized a claimed subscriber base of 5.12MIL. www.usatoday.com... That means that Sirius had to have signed up 1.82MIL net new subscriptions in the first 3 quarters of 2006 (5.12 - 3.3 = 1.82). It is interesting to note that Sirius keeps reporting 'net'. While arguably a more honest number, it hides the high percentage of unactivated subscriptions that would be shown in reporting the gross subscription rate. It is however that gross number which Sirius keeps using to claim, inaccurately, that they have a lower cost per subscriber. If 441, 000 net new subscriptions occurred in the 3rd quarter, that means Sirius had to have signed up 689,000 subscriptions per quarter for the first half of the year. Note that in the 3rd quarter then, subscriptions had already declined by @ 30% per quarter. Yet, Mel/Sirius then raised their EOY guidance to 6.3 MIL thereby projecting an increase of 1.2MIL subscribers for the 4th quarter alone. That means Sirius expected in the 4th quarter to sign up 3X as many subscribers as they had in 3rd quarter, even with the 3rd quarter being off by half of that goal? So how did Sirius expect to generate a 100% increase in quarterly subscriptions from 3rd to 4th if the 3rd was a decline? Even if they used the 2nd quarter as a benchmark, that is still a 50% increase in the face of declining subscriptions. But Mel-omanic put forth that 6.3 MIL anyway. And lo and behold, typical Mel, two months later, on Dec. 5th, when he figured folks were too busy to pay attention, he lowers the projection to 5.9-6.1MIL, in line with the original guidance of Jan. 2006. And that, in my opinion constitutes fraud. Mel claimed on Dec 5th that they lowered the projection for EOY because of poor Thanksgiving Day sales. Moosepatties!!! Sirius knew damn well on Oct. 4 (though some sources indicate the 6.3M number as being offered as early as August) that they were tracking 6MIL at best for the year and that the trend data to Oct. 4, 2006 clearly could not support a 3X improvement in quarterly sales for 4th quarter. Even at the higher subscription rates of the first half, they were not tracking toward 3MIL new subs for the year. In order to have made that number, the 3rd quarter would need to have been 800,000, and it was half that. Soooooo what was the projection then for the 3rd quarter? If they had 5.12MIL on Oct. 4, and the first two quarters averaged .689MIL, then do the math, 5.89MIL was the expected EOY amount on Oct. 4, which is in line with the Dec 4 projection of 5.9, but off by 500,000 from the 6.3 MIL that Mel suggested on Oct. 4. Call it what you want, I call it fraud. The fact is that while Sirius may have signed up 800,000 subscriptions in the 4th quarter, that is less than 2/3 of what they projected in the 3rd quarter toward 6.3M and only an increase of 30% from the performance in the less active months of the first half of the year. But averaged out, it still comes to approximately 675,000 subscriptions per quarter, at least 75,000 less per quater than needed to make 6.3M from the start of the year. Which means that even at 800,000 subscriptions in the 4th quater, Sirius actually did no better during the peak holiday season than they did in the previous 3 quarters. But Mel did not need to wait until Dec 4, after Thanksgiving to say that, he already had the trend data a month earlier showing Sirius would come in around 5.9MIL, on target for the guidance issued 9 months earlier. Mel knew on Nov. 4 that there was no way Sirius could do 6.3MIL by the end of the year, there is no data to support such a claim, Mel knew that on both counts, but Mel makes such claims regularly and the SEC does nothing about these lies and fabrications which are intended by Mel to generate fear and interest in an acquistion by XM. www.marketwatch.com... XM however, told the truth. On Nov. 6, XM reported 7.1 MIL subscriptions biz.yahoo.com... Let me quote from PRNewswire "XM projects that it will end the year with total subscribers of between 7.7 million and 7.9 million, which is within the previously announced guidance range" XM ended the year at 7.6 MIL, which was under by only 100,000 from its yearly guidance. Sirius ended the year as well by under 100,000, but was actually off by 300,000 from the same 1st week of November guidance. biz.yahoo.com... In fact, at Nov. 6 2006, XM had grown 43% over the same quarter a year earlier and Sirius had only grown 23%. Overall, Sirius grew less than expected while increasing their cost per subscriber, in comparison with XM that grew as expected, and projected less than Sirius, but with a lower cost per subscriber. Thus, without Mel, Stern or lots of intentionally misleading press releases, XM achieved positive cash flow, but Sirius won't even report their 2006 results for another month. How can anyone take Mel Siriusly? I think the SEC should take him to the woodshed for a SOX in the mouth. (1/5/07) As much as the mailbagger and Jason LaCanfora want to put down the Redskins, mainly Dan Snyder. Jason LaCanfora DID NOT answer the question. The Post put together a story, who knows how much of it was made up, because every quote was from a SOURCE. Just as much as Jason LaCanfora and The Post want you to believe that George is a blowbag for The Redskins, The Post should own up to that fact that THEY DO NOT LIKE Snyder and will put together any story to discredit him or make him unfavorable to the public. This is football not Watergate, I heard from a SOURCE is bullshit. Mr. LaCanfora grow a set of BALLS and do a real story. I didn't read the article(s) mainly because I don't read the Post's sportspage, because it sucks. I'll only read Wilbon's column. But this has been the only thing talked about the past couple morning on WTEM. Their guest today said that the USAToday does not let them put together "from a source" story. I'm started to like that paper better. (1/5/07) Hi, Thanks for doing what you do. I enjoy reading the site. Have you given any thought to distributing daily updates through RSS feeds? Thanks, Julie (1/5/07) Dave's response: I haven't found an easy way to offer an RSS feed for DCRTV, being a hand-coded site. Also, we generate ad revenue with more "page hits." RSS would allow one to access our content without visiting the site. If a good deal comes along to offer RSS, I'll sure give it a good look..... Two other numbers to chew on: In 2005, XM added 2.7 million new subscribers. In 2006, XM added 1.69 million. A 37 percent DECLINE. In 2005, SIRI added 2.17 million new subscribers. In 2006, SIRI added 2.70 million new subscribers. A 25 percent INCREASE. Taken together, new subscribers to satellite radio actually shrank from 2005 to 2006, but that is wholly attributable to XM. The total new subscribers for both companies in 2005 equaled roughly 4.87 million. In 2006 the total new subscriber total was about 4.39 million, the difference was the huge shift in percentages and raw numbers. 2005 - XM added 55.4 percent of new subscribers and SIRI added 44.6 percent. 2006 - SIRI added 61.5 percent of new subscribers, XM added 38.5 percent of new subscribers (with the corresponding increase of 25 percent for SIRI and 37 percent decline for XM). That represents an ENORMOUS