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Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - April 4 to April 9, 2007 Latest messages listed first..... \/ April 9 Messages \/ If you wanna hear Don Imus's appearance on Al Sharpton's talks show today here is the link to Sharpton's radio show archives. The audio quality is excellant! Registration may be required! Alvin www.syndication1.com (4/9/07) Sopranos are back. Don and Mike are back. All is well with the world. (4/9/07) Dear Dave: WTOP should just forget about the Orioles. There's a baseball team right here in our Nation's Capital that I'm sure would enjoy the extra time for coverage that would not be allotted to the O's. Sincerely, Joe Kasell (4/9/07) Have we learned nothing from the Greaseman, how many apologies can one make? Give em (and “you people”) hell I-man. Stop apologizing, it did Grease no good and my guess would be that it will do Don none either. Most black folks could care less what Grease said, the only people who care are whiney assed liberals and “black spokesmen” that have something to gain from crucifying him. He has apologized until he is blue in the face and what good has it done him. He is still one of the more talented personalities, and is still doing good stuff, even if it’s a bit stale. Why should he bother to update it when wimpy exec’s in radio haven’t the courage to put him in front of an audience. (4/9/07) Its amazing that the snOrioles are bending over so much for crappy CBS Radio/Baltimore. Considering that the Orioles are getting a big fat $0 in rights fees and from Baltimore's Crap Cluster, and instead had to "settle" for a revenue-sharing set-up (that word has is on the road to being a huge money LOSER). Its not like the snOrioles are getting tons of money for their radio rights. Nothing ever changes there in the B&O unawarehouse. (4/9/07) This morning, 98 Rock had listeners call in on whether they "love" or "shove" the Orioles. It was 11-10 in favor of "love." And a 52% approval rating is good how?? (4/9/07) "As a Washington, D.C. station, WTOP has as much business covering an out-of-town baseball team in Baltimore as they would any other out-of-town team. Let’s see Craig Heist in Toledo! Or, Columbus! Perhaps Richmond? For that matter, how about in Prince William County, where the Cannons play." Uh, the team in Prince William is now known as the Potomac Nationals. -- Vincent in Triangle (4/9/07) Ride any Metro bus or subway car and you'll hear balcks call each other the n-word, call other women 'ho's and whatever slang words are popular for the week. This is why I never take Sharpton or Jackson's protests seriously when their own race call each other these words. Props to you I-Man, don't let them bring you down! (4/9/07) Stick a fork it in, Imus, your career is DONE. (4/9/07) Someone in Birdland is not thinking big-picture from a PR standpoint. A team with obvious struggles over the past 10 years needs all the help it can get, yet it restricts media access and thus, hurts its PR effort. They need as much media buzz as they can get, and their credential restrictions is not helping their cause. Then again, Angelos has never shown much PR savvy. Rusty Payne (4/9/07) Craig Heist has more than enough street creds to cover the O's, he's the primary sports reporter for the Associated Press in the Mid-Atlantic area and covers more sports in more cities -or- at the very least assigns the stringers to gather sound at his direction - than any other person from Philly to Richmond. Almost every clip you hear of the Caps, Wizards, Ravens, Orioles and Nationals, as well as most other major events comes thru Heisty's microphone. His relationship with the O's has nothing to do with his association with WTOP and everything to do with the embarassing way the Baltimore ball club is being run into the ground. And to answer the speculation about DC revenge, both the Nationals and the Nats broadcast team have too much class to even engage in a low class move. Angleos should put the team up for sale and walk away into the sunset. (4/9/07) That the WAVA tower is coming down is not news. Many have known this was coming for 3 or 4 years now. The tower, and the AT&T building (but not the AT&T tower) are both coming down. Look for it to all start very soon. The power will be cut to the AT&T building any day now as Cingular has vacated the premises in a hurry. (4/9/07) As a Washington, D.C. station, WTOP has as much business covering an out-of-town baseball team in Baltimore as they would any other out-of-town team. Let’s see Craig Heist in Toledo! Or, Columbus! Perhaps Richmond? For that matter, how about in Prince William County, where the Cannons play. With all the respect Washington baseball fans and, now Washington media is getting, give the Baltimore baseball team what they obviously want! The result your periodontist always gives you about your teeth and gums: Ignore them and they’ll go away! When will Washington baseball fans and media realize this about Baltimore: They don’t want Washington. They don’t need Washington. Why? Because they aren’t Washington. If they did, the businesses and people of Baltimore would make it clear that we are wanted. Instead, they’ve chosen to put out the “Unwelcome” mat. That’s why I fly out of Dulles and shun BWI. Why I not only spend zero money in Baltimore, but as lit! tle as I can in that Peter Angelos fiefdom known as Maryland. (4/9/07) Ref: Amber with the "flagshit" station....saved it on my dvr - Hell she can recite the phone book and sound and look good, "Flagshit - Flagship" it's all the same......some of us have a face for radio....Amber makes Anita look like one of the little sisters of the poor on roids' send her back to Miami - Now, thank you (4/9/07) To the poster inquiring about reception of MASN on the Dish Network or Dirrecttv: my vision isn't that great (I'd be considered "an extremely low-vision" but for whatever it's worth, I a "Dish Network subscriber..and the picture looks okay to me. Tom in Denton, MD (4/9/07) "I hear that CBS Radio's suits are not happy with O&A's late morning/midday ratings on WJFK-FM....." -----Well, here is a wacky idea for the CBS suits...Move them to mornings in place of that abortion of a radio show "The Flunkies"! You put O&A on LIVE against Elliot, and I can guarantee you WJFK pulls better ratings then what they have now with the four pontificating asses they have on from 5am-10am....Another idea is to STOP cutting the O&A show off early every f**king day...Let the show go to the end!!!! No one is listening to O'Reilly, so who cares if it starts late?!?!? (4/9/07) A number of people have talked about "mumbles" Barbara Harrison. Well, as much as I love FOX5's Allison Seymour, she seems to be mumbling and stumbling quite a bit these days. Don't know if she's having problems reading the teleprompter or not. But, she's constantly apologizing for mispronouncing words, leaving them out, or just reading them incorrectly. What's up Allison??? (4/9/07) Outrageousness and controversy are not new to Imus. In the late 60s, as he was beginning his career, he was fired by a small California radio station for promoting an "Eldridge Cleaver Look-Alike Contest". In the 30-some years that I've been acquainted with the Imus program, I can't think of anyone he has not insulted in one way or another. As a White, straight-haired male who doesn't play basketball, I can't honestly say that his comment offended me, nor can I say that it was his "finest moment" or particularly amusing. Ultimately, people are free to "vote" with their radios by turning the dial, or with their pocketbooks by not partonizing his sponsors. (4/9/07) I'm no fan of Don Imus, but if you listen to one rap record, you'll hear women called a lot worse than anything Imus said. Imus, having enhanced his reputation as being "shocking", is laughing all the way to the bank. And the political correctness crowd and the race baiters bought right into it. (4/9/07) So I hear MSNBC has suspended Imus for 2 weeks..Is it really going to make a difference? (4/9/07) That old picture of Mike O'Meara (hyping a future Flashback at DCRTV Plus) looks like he's posiitioning himself to take a dump. Fred G (4/9/07) Dave: the WAVA tower at 5232 Lee Hwy, Arl must go. new owners of the adjacent parcel (old AT&T Long Lines "Garden City" microwave site) do not want to have a WAVA anchor/guy combo on their land... my guess is that the FM could lease from nearby WETA-FM stick (which already hosts FM, DTV/HD and WGTS main tx), or one of the candelabra towers in Merrifield or 5202 River Road. the AM (780) will need a tower though. possible sites are Newcombe's WFAX (1220) or WEAM/WUST farm on Crimmins Lane, etc.... as for WAVA, I'm no fan of their rabidly right-wing Fundie, anti-Gay programming and syndicated hosts. simply another neo-WMAL with "religion" added. (4/9/07) You need to fix the pic on the front page. Here is what it really looks like... (4/9/07) Dave's response: Now now now. A pic of a CBS/Baltimore radio suit made up to look like the devil, himself. Not nice..... Hey, Ed Graham. I ain't no racist, boy! You best bettuh poe an extra cup of Geritol ovuh yaw Bran Flakes tomorruh moanin.' Signed, Al Jolson (4/9/07) Is it just me, or is FOX5 attempting to phase Holly Morris out?..Tony Perkins has taken over the following segments formerly done by Holly: Neighborhood News, Let Tony Try It and this morning, the Easter Egg Roll at the White House..Holly's been doing the latter forever!!!..And FOX5 even had Maureen Umeh doing an American Idol piece from Hollywood..Anyone else notice?? (4/9/07) In the middle of a racially tinged controversy, Imus broke out the "you people" phrase!?!? Exactly how many feet can one I-Man insert into his mouth, anyway? Clear Channel may want to look elsewhere for a morning show at WTNT. Everett W. (4/9/07) Dave's response: Imus is going to hear from Rush's attorneys. I'm pretty sure that Limbaugh has copyrighted the "you people" phrase. Oh, loved watching idiot John Gibson's Fox Nudes coverage of the Imus controversy today. Frequent mentions of NBC, which owns MSNBC, which runs the show, but not a word about CBS, which owns Imus's home (NYC) radio station..... Why would the Orioles shut down WTOP at Camden Yards? Don't they need coverage in the DC area now that they have to compete with the Nats? Didn't WTOP carry the Orioles for something like 20 years? Why did Peter Angelos suddenly turn on them? (4/9/07) Dave's response: What did you expect? Is there a bunch of radio dudes anywhere in need of better PR than CBS Baltimore? I think not. They seem to scream to just about everyone: "hate us, please"..... Wasn't the Riggo Show supposed to be live from Camden Yards today? I guess the O's shut them down too. (4/9/07) Dave's response: Hmmm. If true, it's getting really silly, isn't it, CBS/Baltimore? Uh... okay... read the article from the Bay Weekly. And, I still have to ask... who's Damian? I moved here ten years ago, moved away and came back. I never thought WHFS was all that anyway. I liked 98 Rock better. But I still wonder, who's Damian? MAB (4/9/07) Was listening to Triple X ESPN Radio around 4:20 (yeah!) on Monday afternoon...no Riggins..it was the ESPN syndicated programming...what gives? (4/9/07) Dave's response: Hmmm. Anybody know more? "Is there any way to get the ratings for WETA radio and the effect of the switch to classical music?" Yes. you can get them in Maximiser. they publish the non-commerical stations in every book. Dave can talk to one of his "sources" who works at a station and they can get them for him. Or he can just guess at the success and failure of Classical WETA...kinda like he does for other stations/companies on this site. however, in terms of WGMS on WETA...you need to wait until the book comes out next month. only 2 monthlies have come out. too early to get the full rating book just yet...and a disclaimer...even the Winter book won't be a full 3 months of the "new" WETA. WGMS went to WETA a few weeks after the book started. (4/9/07) "So the Orioles have shut down radio reporters at Camden Yards. Bonneville has the radio rights to Nats games at RFK. Will they now shut down other radio reporters there????" I doubt it. Bonneville probably beleives strongly in First Amendment rights. (4/9/07) Imus needs to be fired. He should have no problem finding a job working at a Bukkake pit in Times Square. The Tooz (4/9/07) Dave's response: He could always put on a wig and do "The View"..... WNST’s Drew Forrester has just gone on record to accuse the Orioles of lying. The Sun’s Rick Maese reported on his blog that Orioles spokesperson Bill Stetka confirmed that Forrester was not given a credential for the season because he was granted one last season and never picked it up (blogs.baltimoresun.com)... Forrester just reported on his blog (www.wnst.com), that the explanation given to Maese was a “BLATANT lie”, and maintains that he did indeed pick up his credential last year. From Forrester’s blog: “That is, absolutely, a BLATANT lie. I assume they created that lie in order to deny me a season pass and handle my situation with major league baseball by telling MLB "this guy had a season pass last year and never picked it up.... I absolutely DID have a season pass last year and it WAS picked up. In fact, the ballclub used my picture from the 2005 pass on my 2006 issued credential. So that's how your LOCAL ballclub is treating me today. By telling both major league baseball and The Sun that I never picked up my media credential last year...lies, lies, lies." (4/9/07) A poster wrote, "Who is Damian?" Is he kidding? Anyone who remembers the old WHFS knows the story. Here are some excerpts from a Bay Weekly article written in 2000. Sounds a lot like the new owners of WRNR. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. #### "The new owners of WHFS moved the station to Landover to give it an information-age make-over. This meant changing from the artistic free-form of the past to the mechanical button-pushing of today. The station’s new general manager decided to “promote” Damian from disc jockey to the do-nothing position of assistant program director, a management position that would supposedly use Damian’s vast knowledge of music. The station claimed to have removed Damian out of “business necessity,” when in fact Damian’s ratings were the highest of any disc jockey at the station. The promotion was a tactic to remove Damian from the air, a decision based on the speaking disability that had resulted from his auto accident. Listeners, and with them the industry, rose in outrage. Thousands of people signed petitions or wrote letters to WHFS demanding that Damian be returned to the air. Another letter came from “Friends of Damian Einstein,” whose members included Little Feat, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Nils Lofgrin and Bonnie Raitt. They wrote: “To remove him, or anyone, because of a supposed disability is, in our opinion, unconscionable. In focusing on Mr. Einstein’s supposed disability instead of his tremendous ability to communicate and educate in a simple, eloquent manner, you have created an issue where an issue has never before existed. On the air and off, Damian Einstein is one of the greatest assets you possess.” (4/9/07) ANG.... Bicknell? Another alias?!? And that silly, self-promoting note earlier? Get into production and edit my Mr. Soundoff's, dammit! Bob Howard (4/9/07) Here's a good one: On WJZ and MASN, Amber TheoHuxtable just called WHFS the Orioles "flagshit...er, flagship" station. Happened in the top of the 7th on Monday's O's home opener. As you know, she works there as well. Think anyone noticed? (4/9/07) MASN's slogan is "Be There." Well, I tried to "Be There" for the first pitch today and they were on commercial. It was already a 2-1 count when MASN on WJZ came back from commercial to "start" the game. Also, in the year he's going into the Hall of Fame, how do they not show live Ripken's ceremonial first pitch and applause from the O's faithful?? Mind-boggling. Did just get a laugh though when Amber Theoharris did her best Kung Fu movie impersonation. MASN.....Be There, But Not in HD TJ in Baltimore (4/9/07) WTOP is probably the largest CBS Radio Network affiliate not owned by CBS. Do the local guys at CBS Radio in Baltimore know they are pissing off such a big affiliate of CBS Radio?? And since Bonneville owns the radio rights for the Nats, could they not retaliate? (4/9/07) For the life of me, I can't understand how we can't have even ONE quality rock station in Washington OR Baltimore. DC101 thinks they're cool, but they're ridiculously slow at playing new music, and their DJs are nothing less than awful. The Globe is a combination of bad things...a "green" concept that doesn't fit a city like DC, a lie that it's a rebirth of "the old HFS" (are they even managed by anyone who knows what that is?), and a boring and tight playlist that nobody can like. 98 Rock has only one decent personality (Stash), and I can't go 15 minutes without being driven away by bad nu-metal or some tired hair band. I'm guessing Tim Virgin was the music director at HFS, because after he left the music was suddenly so awful that I could swear they were intentionally tanking the format. The bright spot in all of this is that their HFS2 (which, sadly, you can only get with an HD radio or on their webpage at whfs2.com) sounds better than any rock station in this area has sounded in at least a decade...tons of songs I haven't heard in ages, a good mix of new rock (I actually hear stuff that none of my friends have heard yet, which is what HFS used to be all about), and some good '80s stuff peppered in...I just hope they can bring back some DJs and some of the specialty shows they used to have. I don't know who's running that station, but if CBS can learn to leave a good thing alone (HA), maybe I'll break down and get one of those new car stereos with HD radio. Thanks for letting me vent, Dave (4/9/07) So the Orioles have shut down radio reporters at Camden Yards. Bonneville has the radio rights to Nats games at RFK. Will they now shut down other radio reporters there???? (4/9/07) Who is DAMIAN? If there is a "heart and soul of broadcasting in this area," it seems like it would be somebody on a much bigger station than WRNR. But, I like their morning guy, ALEX. He is informative and relaxed. The new girl at night talks a little bit more than I like but she's okay. I never listened much at night before because I couldn't understand what the guy was saying. MAB (4/9/07) Is there any way to get the ratings for WETA radio and the effect of the switch to classical music? They are not listed on the Radio and Records site. (4/9/07) Dave's response: Ratings firm Arbitron is very secretive about its non-commercial radio ratings. We sometimes hear about them, but usually not..... word is the troops over at Red Zebra are devastated that they didn't get 104.1 (stay tuned for others to jump ship). Bonneville sells to Radio 1. obviously they were ready and willing to sell the property. so that begs the question, what happened to the Zebras in this bidding war? Supposedly Bennett worked out a deal that Danny wouldn't approve (looking back, probably the same time Danny realized he had to make a change at the top). This sale screws RZ...just like they screwed employees (firings) and clients (millions of adverstising in games that nobody ever heard). You think RZ will buy time on a station for the games? if they do, no more than rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. you can't keep that operation afloat unless they have upwards of 10 million in revenue from the Triple X sports product. The expenses of the broadcast, and the Redskins rights fees (still being paid even though RZ is owned by Snyder) puts their business model in the red from the start. let the countdown begin. JC (4/9/07) Dave's response: Unless Red Zebra can get one half-decent FM signal for its Triple X sports talker, there is no hope. You know, maybe Dan Snyder should put the Redskins on Praise 104.1 this upcoming season. Perhaps God could help the team's miserable fortunes. A fitting pairing..... Discovery to Eliminate 5K Jobs - what are you guys hearing? (4/9/07) Dave's response: Nothing new. Anybody hearing anything? You know some of the "Larger than Life" jocks..(Imus in his own mind) Truly get to a point where they think they are untouchable. This type of radio is "bush league" I know from experience that really good air personalities just don't have to step over the line. They are for the most part bright, creative really nice people, For example, Johnny Holliday, Johnny Dark, Harve Moore..Dave Adler..These individuals are above any of that "spectacularism". I agree, Lush Rimbaugh it a total bigot and an out of the closet racist homophobe. As for Imus, FIRE HIS ASS. The "Grease" was executed and has never come back. ANG (4/9/07) So far, MASN on Dish Network, of all places, looks fine. Clear picture and clear sound. Still no communication to customers from Dish that it has MASN; it popped in on Friday. Must be a secret. Of course, Dish didn't tell Virginia customers when, in January of this year, a new tax appeared on bills. It's a Virginia tax. No one at Dish can tell me what kind of Virginia tax. Must be a secret. (4/9/07) Sun columnist Rick Maese confirms that the O’s have denied Nestor Aparicio a press credential. From Maese’s blog on the Sun’s website: blogs.baltimoresun.com (4/9/07) Dave's response: Well, an O's source tells me on Monday afternoon that Nestor's WNST will get seven press credentials to cover the team..... ("MASN looks like crap on DirecTV, analog is so 20th century. MASN is one of only 2 RSNs not producing HD telecasts this year. Aren't we lucky...") MASN looks like crap because it's overcompressed DIGITAL standard definition on both Direct and DISH, not because of "analog". An analog SD signal would be much sharper. Watch the Orioles on 13 or the Nats on 20, for example. CSN(SD)on DISH looks even worse than MASN. As far as HD goes, I'll give MASN this season to get the kinks out. I hope they will at least be broadcasting the home games on the main channel in HD next year. Heck, CBS and ESPN don't even broadcast half of their events in HD now. Howie (4/9/07) ("CBS Radio's suits are not happy with O&A's late morning/midday ratings on WJFK-FM.....") Well, that's no surprise - but if CBS wanted O&A to succeed - why not overhaul the entire mess that is WJFK? O&A would have their best chance for reasonable DC ratings if they were broadcast live - but the Junks are in the way. If O&A are "important" to CBS in DC - why are they be playing second banana to a 14th-rated morning show (i.e., the Junks) on a 10th-rated station (i.e., WJFK)? I'm no JFK fan (and like O&A only slightly more than totally irrelevant D&M) - but I would dearly love to see the station re-worked from top to bottom - even if that included O&A in the morning. Then Ron and Fez could resurface in broadcast DC in drive time or early evening as part of the JFK re-construction process. daPJdjINva. (4/9/07) MASN looks like crap on DirecTV, analog is so 20th century. MASN is one of only 2 RSNs not producing HD telecasts this year. Aren't we lucky. MASN - Mr. Angelos' S*** Networks (4/9/07) What the heck is going on at WRNR in Annapolis? I first read in a local music weekly that DAMIAN'S DINER was switched to Sunday Night and that he was replaced on weeknights with a woman named Carrie. Now I just went on the WRNR website and he was gone totally. Damian is a musical legend in the DC area, and here in Annapolis (where I work), he is an iconic figure. He'd walk up the street and talk to all the kids and locals like a Mark Twain type guy. He was the heart and soul of broadcasting in this area, and if gone, will be sorely missed. How come nobody seems to know what exactly happened to him? Did Steve Kingston fire him? I just don't understand that station at all. One second they are playing James Blunt and Death Cab for Cutie, and the next CCR "Who'll Stop The Rain" and Simon & Garfunkle "The Only Living Boy In New York City." What kind of radio station is that? They were so much better 3 or 4 years ago. Pat J., Arnold, MD (4/9/07) "Is it true that O&A got a 0.0 rating in both Las Vegas and Chicago? I heard this on Howard this morning and I wasn't even sure that was possible!! " It's entirely possible but no, it isn't true. After being preceded by Rover and Stern in Chicago, O&A were put on a station that did indeed have a 0.0 in the morning. Since being on the station, it has improved drastically. Stern, on the other hand, has the Sirius equivalent of a 0.0 in every market in the country. And he's being paid half a billion for those results, without the support of ad sales. That's based on every Sirius subscriber tuning in to Stern every day, which of course they don't. Sirius won't release the actual data beyong baseline subscriptions for obvious reasons, just like they're seeking a merger (takeover, actually) with XM for obvious reasons. (4/9/07) Dave's response: I hear that CBS Radio's suits are not happy with O&A's late morning/midday ratings on WJFK-FM..... To “Disgusted in Hyattsville”: You don’t have to worry about Tom “He Stops The Show, And Not In A Good Way” Gavin becoming the official in-house Special Olympics rep for the Junkies – the Junkies already have a relationship with “Bruce the Hugger”, who is also, it appears, in the special needs class. I agree completely with “Disgusted”. God bless Tom Gavin, I hope he lives a full and rich life, to the fullest extent of his abilities – and I hope that full and rich life is lived OFF THE RADIO. Why, why, why do radio shows think it’s entertaining to devote long segments to their own personal designated retarded person? It’s a dial-turner to me, that’s for sure. Looking forward to D&M’s return today, I’ll admit. Here’s hoping the guys wait at least three segments before “Jew to Jew”, “Larry and Larry” and/or “How About That” make their inevitable, and dreaded, appearances. Sincerely, TMU (4/9/07) How expensive is the storage for radio stations to keep years worth of tapes from old shows? I wonder if WJFK will pay storage for all the Don & Mike shows after they leave. Would it be cheaper to burn them? I can't imagine anyone making a dime off them in the future. JOHN IN STAFFORD (4/9/07) Note to Pat Sajak: I noticed that an area AM 1430 near Richmond Virginia may be moving off of AM 1430 altogether and moving to AM 650. Maybe time to boost the WNAV signal towards the Washington market Pat? (4/9/07) (RE: This morning, 98 Rock had listeners call in on whether they "love" or "shove" the Orioles. It was 11-10 in favor of "love.")This morning the 98 Rock Morning Shows took another dive in the ratings. Their in-house ratings team should do a callout to see who really listens to this garbage. The same for WHFS and the KMS show...if that show wasn't already on their last leg I'd say they are about to be one foot in the grave. And lastly, if Don and Mike aren't on, are they really missed? I caught very little of their recent three week vacation best-of and when I did it was the same crap I had heard when it was "live". Who cared about Lisa the homeless chick then and wanted to really hear it now??? Dave....rack'em! (4/9/07) Wow, I just noticed from FCC recs that WCSP/C-SPAN radio is now broadcasting in HD Radio. Anyone know if if they're going to carry MASN2 on one of their HD channels? I know, bad joke. :-) (4/9/07) I assume that WKHZ from Ocean City will be simulcasting on WCTN. They are now identifying themselves on KHZTV.com as WKHZ Ocean City and WYRE Annapolis/Baltimore. The link for the Washington DC market does not work yet. Or, maybe they will simulcast on 1390? It would be nice to hear current music on AM in the DC area again - but who will listen? That is assuming they would make KHZ Top-40 again. A rather odd mix of music on KHZ right now. The last I heard 1590 it was a loop of music from the 80s through today - repeating music within the hour. If WYRE gets its power boost - perhaps Baltimore would get a mainstream CHR - but on the AM dial! JKF18 (4/9/07) RE: [ " But I don't think I'm going to include low-powered repeaters, like WZBA's 100.1 downtown Baltimore outlet, in the list " ] For quite awhile, the only way to listen to 100.7 downtown or in Highlandtown/Fells Pt./Canton areas of Baltimore was to listen to 100.1. They even used to advertise it on billboards. So, I'd recommend adding it to the list as well as a smattering of other well-listened to frequencies like the new Bethesda 104.1 and the WTOP repeater in Virginia. I recommend not listing the calvacade of repeaters (a dozen or more around the area) for the Hope Christian Church of Marlton New Jersey. How they managed to evade FCC rules and get so many low power FM stations in Maryland repeating an out of state station defies logic. Is the FCC outsourcing application decisions to Bangladesh these days or does Jerry Falwell get to make those decisions on behalf of the Bush administration's FCC??? (4/9/07) The Post's Web site is pulling good numbers, and even the Washington Times makes the top 25 newspaper sites, at #23. But where's the Examiner? www.editorandpublisher.com... Christian (4/9/07) Regarding the Imus/Sharpton interview Monday afternoon, according to Al Sharpton’s radio website, WOL (1450) in Washington carries the show from 1P to 4P Eastern Time. Of course this makes since Radio One is the syndicator. This my be very interesting listening considering all of the heat that Imus has taken over the past few days and the comments he made today defending himself. Heck, even Chris Core on WMAL was talking about it this morning. (4/9/07) This morning, 98 Rock had listeners call in on whether they "love" or "shove" the Orioles. It was 11-10 in favor of "love." (4/9/07) "F" Imus, and "F" Al Jolson...and the same for all the racists who broadcast. Even the ones who are so stupid, they don't really know they are racists. (Limbaugh and his clones) It's 2007 shouldn't we all be beyond this? Ed Graham (4/9/07) OK...So what's with George 104 converting to Praise 104? (4/9/07) Dave's response: One of my sources tells me that Bonneville may not sell 104.1 to Radio One. Just rent it out to them on a long-term basis..... About Bonneville. I worked for them for nearly three years (WTOP) and they are great people. It may be true that people aren't making a great deal of money there, but that's the business in general. If you have ever worked at 3400 Idaho Ave., it is a labor of love. It's like having an extended family. People watch out for one another, they socialize outside the office, etc. Turnover is low, you have a lot of fun and the bosses try and take care of you. As a reporter there I could do just about anything I wanted and they pretty much left me alone. The only reason I left is because I had a chance to more than triple my salary in another industry and who wouldn't do that? Even so, leaving was a very difficult decision. WTOP is a powerful presence in Washington, they book a ton of revenue and without looking at their books, I am sure their margins are great. As a sign of Bonneville's future intentions are, I haven't seen anyone mention that they are upgrading their facilities on Idaho Ave., so they clearly are in it for the long haul. Paul (4/9/07) Question for Dish Network & DirecTV subscribers out there: Does MASN look clear on your service? I have Comcast (The Fourth Reich) and watching MASN is like watching a game through foggy goggles. I was just wondering how the picture looks on the satellite services...considering switching to one of them. Thanks, Greg in Reisterstown (4/9/07) Dave's response: I get MASN via Comcast and the picture looks perfectly fine. For an analog signal..... Do you listen to Kornheiser regularly? I tuned in briefly this morning at the very moment he seemed to be talking about George Michael, Nathans, your site? I think. Do you know what that was about? (4/9/07) Dave's response: I didn't hear it. Can anyone illuminate us? "Do you think she could get the I-Team to look into finding the recipe for the Mighty Mo?........" The I-Team needs to find some Allbritton dough to get the station into the 21st Century. (4/9/07) So changes are coming to WAMU? I notice that "The Eddie Stubbs Show" doesn't seem to be in the new Sunday schedule! Does this mean that they're moving his show back to Saturdays? Or does it mean that his show will no longer be on WAMU? If the latter is true, they'll get no more money from me! Yes..I enjoy Ray Davis and Dick Spottswood..but Stubbs was the man; he's the reason I donated my money (I didn't do it this year in favor of waiting until their fall membership drive)..but if Eddie is not going to be doing his show, I may not pledge at all! While I have your attention..does anybody have any history on the old "WBMD?" I listened a lot to that station in it's heyday in the mid-60s; I wonder about such things as, when did the station sign on; who was on back during the beginning and such! I remember folks like Clark West and Bobby Brown very well..and Joe Powers too! I hear that Bobby Brown his deceased now..but don't know if Clark West and Joe Powers are still with us or not! Tom in Denton, MD (4/9/07) Tom Gavin...why? Seriously, when I used to listen to their show and he was let on the air, it was 10 minutes of my life I wasted...I liked Don and Mike fine, but when Tom, or Robert the Mailman came by, "Click!" If people want D&M not to come back, the formula for ratings gold, sorry, meant crap was More Tom Gavin!!! If they do have call screeners, why don't they implement a ban of the guy? He calls other shows, why can't he be their problem for a bit? If the Junkies did take him in, they have no idea how bad they are in for it, until he calls every hour of every day. -Disgusted in Hyattsville (4/9/07) Is it true that O&A got a 0.0 rating in both Las Vegas and Chicago? I heard this on Howard this morning and I wasn't even sure that was possible!! (4/9/07) Nestor is making a mountain out of a molehill. No one has gotten their 2007 Orioles credentials yet, not even the CBS Radio guys, other than the actual team broadcasters who come and go as they please. It's a front office screw-up that's likely going to end up being blamed on the PR office, though it's not their fault in any way, shape or form. Gotta hand it to Aparicio though - he knows how to self-promote via the "little lie" a la the Bush Administration as well as anyone in the business. (4/9/07) Tony K. was in such a tizzy this morning about the Masters that his spit actually came through the radio speaker and hit me in the eye. Now go smack your lips again. It's really not all that annoying. (4/9/07) Dave, here you go again...pontificating on about Bonneville. Unbelievable. You should probably know that CBS has tried to buy WTOP for the past 10 years, and Bonneville wont sell it to them or anyone else! I used to work for them and the word is that Bonneville would sell ALL of their stations in the country and still keep WTOP. Why? It makes a KILLING! Estimates are as high as $30 Million per year in cash flow, not revenue (which is rumored to be well over $50 Million a year). $30 Mil in cash flow is more than all the stations in DC bill per year (with the exception of maybe WPGC). Besides the ridiculous cash flow, the Mormons want, and need, the DC presence. WTOP is a very high profile station in a high profile city. As for WTWP...yeah, it has it's ratings problems which I am sure they are incredibly frustrated by, but do you really think that Bonneville would ever let another company pick up those signals so they could put a competing station to WTOP on WTOP's old frequencies? use your head Dave. Bonneville is owned and run by Mormons, not morons. and sometimes you make a move in business to "protect" your cash cow. (4/9/07) Dave's response: Hey, that's my "job." To mindlessly "pontificate" about local media..... (From Inside Radio:) The BIA list of groups that lead in ACQUIRING stations? Bonneville makes the list at # 9 Don't know where you get the notion Bonneville is shrinking when it is growing....... (4/9/07) Dave's response: But not in DC. That's my point. Bonneville just pulled out of the San Francisco radio market, to expand Seattle and Cincinnati. How about Bonneville selling its remaining DC radio stations (mainly WTOP) to CBS to pick up some of CBS's radio stations in, say, Chicago, and expanding its existing cluster there? Just some wild speculation. It makes cents, er, sense. Consolidation is the key to profitibility! Oh my gawd, I'm sounding like a capitalist..... (snip) To the whiner about WCTN 950 AM well I guess you got your wish cause it looks like they've gone dark. (end snip) "Wish"? I didn't want them to go dark, you goob; just put a little more sweat into what they were trying to do. What good is owning a million-dollar stick if there's no passion? (next snip) I hope you heard "Love Grows Were My Rosemary Goes" and your head blew clean off (end snip). Whenever I discover one of your sad-ass excuses for postings here in the Mailbag, I wish it did too. (4/9/07) A couple of omissions from the DCRTV station list: 1470 AM, WTTR Westminster, Oldies. 100.1 FM, W261CD Baltimore, Classic Rock. Also, 1590 is WFBR and 1190 is WBIS. (4/9/07) Dave's response: Gracias. But I don't think I'm going to include low-powered repeaters, like WZBA's 100.1 downtown Baltimore outlet, in the list..... Missed one... one of the best stations we have here in southern MD... en.wikipedia.org... Lexington Park, MD (4/9/07) Regarding Bonneville, one poster yesterday should be corrected on several points. For example: (1) "I'd posit that the company would be better off getting out of radio completely and reinvesting in a higher-growth industry " If you'd posit that, you'd be a fool. There are very few industries with higher margins than radio, which is typically in the 30-50% range. Why do you think everybody - especially lately private equity firms - wants to get into radio? (2) "Bonneville's remaining radio property, WTOP...has another difficult financial issue: tremendous overhead." No doubt WTOP does have high overhead, as does any news station, but it still managed to post a net profit significantly better than 50% last year (net as a percentage of gross revenue). That would be very good for a music station; for a news station, it's exceptional. (I'm told WTOP's employees received profit-sharing bonuses again for last year.) (3) "cash-draining Post Radio" Says who? WTWP posted a profit last year and, with the addition of Tony Kornheiser no doubt will again this year (regardless of what they are paying TK). (4) "[WTOP's] corporate masters in Utah should consider lessening their exposure to radio." WTOP is among the very top grossing radio stations in America, despite being in only the 8th largest market. It returns an eye-popping percentage of that gross revenue to its "corporate masters" as profit. As far as Bonneville is concerned, TOP is the goose that laid (and is still laying) golden eggs by the cartload. Rather than "lessening its exposure to radio", Bonneville would be smart to protect and grow that asset as best it can for years to come. And I have no doubt that it will. Another poster wrote, "'Radio is an industry in secular decline and they don't have any ideas (nor does anyone else) for turning things around.' -- what say you, Idaho Ave?" I don't work on Idaho Ave, but given their experiences to the contrary, I suspect the folks who do would disagree. Finally, Dave mused, "Since Bonneville's radio assets in DC are dwindling, how about, say, CBS sells a radio station or two to Bonneville in Chicago, a market where both own stations, in exchange for all of Bonneville's remaining radio stations in DC." An interesting "What if..." scenario, and no doubt CBS would love to get its tentacles around WTOP. As I said, I don't work on Idaho Ave, but I know for a stone cold fact that Bonneville has no intention of unloading (by sale, trade or otherwise) any of their remaining DC properties to CBS or anybody else. If anything, look for the company to begin expanding its holdings in DC again once it casts off the albatross that was 104.1. Bonneville is a solid company run by some of the smartest people in this business. Sure they may misfire once in awhile - nobody's perfect. But believe me when I tell you, these people know what they are doing. (4/9/07) /\ April 9 Messages /\ \/ April 8 Messages \/ Is WCTN 950 dark perhaps because it's going to relaunch as one of DCRTV Dave's favorite locally programmed stations? hmmmmmm The rumor mill has been quietly churning all weekend about this & there may be a surprise announcement in the next few days. (4/8/07) Dave's response: Huh? A relay of WRNR? That would be quite cool..... Saw Kathleen Matthews hosting Capitol Sunday on a repeat showing this eve on newschannel 8. I see at her channel 7 website bio she is not entirely gone news.wjla.com... Do you think she could get the I-Team to look into finding the recipe for the Mighty Mo?........Is that Wolfman Jack I'm hearing on XM -60's channel this Sunday evening? Has he risen from the grave or can they doctor tapes? Let's see a few hours of the Wolfman and then the Lil' Steven Underground show on The Glob, not a bad evening of listening. (4/8/07) Re: "I didn’t at all ignore those 'facts' – but pardon me if I don’t feel sorry." I don't feel sorry, either. If you're busting your ass in television/radio news today - on the desk, in the field, as a "news" director (it's really a "lite-filler-let's-not-use-our-brains-or-challenge-anyone-including-ourselves-because-we-gave-up-years-ago" director, by the way) you're essentially making a tacit admission that you'll never do better than, say, 90-grand a year (if that). You're admitting that you're superficial. You're admitting that you're not pushing yourself. You're admitting that you're afraid to live outside your comfort zone or take risks. You're admitting that it's OK for others to push you around. No chutzpah, no job skills, no connections? The poster urges people to get some balls and the poster is correct. (4/8/07) Dave: Thanks for putting 'my' call letters on the station list. Got two corrections: WKIK-FM 102.9 is based in California, MD. Though now run by Somar, the frequency was originally awarded to Dick Meyers who bought the original WKIK in Leonardtown from me in 1967. The second correction is for WPTX which when @ 1570 and 920 was a pain in the butt. Would I love to have had what PTX has, a 10K/1K non-directional on 1690. All Somar has is the audio of CNN Headline News and G Gordon Liddy. What a waste. Thx. Larry-in-Leonardtown (4/8/07) Dave's response: Hey, I want to get the Station List 100 percent accurate. See anything that should be changed? Let me know. Perhaps I should add those low-powered "TIS" stations in the 1600-1700 segment. Anyone got a list with calls, "formats," and locations? To the whiner about WCTN 950 AM well I guess you got your wish cause it looks like they've gone dark. Me I didn't mind putting in a little listening time to the oldies even if they were constantly repeated. Actually I hope you heard "Love Grows Were My Rosemary Goes" and your head blew clean off..........Has Greg Toland left channel 7/8? Haven't seen him in two weekends doing the sport's.......And long time ago someone axed what happened to John Lisle of newschannel 8. I believe he is now the spokesperson for Arlington County Police or perhaps the county government en totale. Probably a better job with more security and benefits than working for newschannel 8......Has Faux News channel been changing its corral of newsbabes over the last few months? (4/8/07) Dave's good-humored speculation about the chance that we might see "CBS make a play for WTOP" just reminds me of the first time CBS owned WTOP... and then SOLD a controlling interest in the station to the WaPost! DCMemories.com (WINX 1340kc and WINX-FM 96.3mc had been the existing WaPost-owned stations up 'til the time.) (4/8/07) I like the PostPoints promotion that the Washington Post newspaper is doing, but shouldn't someone point out to them that their cartoon spokesmen look like little birth-control diaphragms? (4/8/07) Dave's response: Speaking of the Post, I heard WMALer Chris Core on its radio station yesterday. About 3:40 PM. Some "this week in talk radio" review program. For a few moments, I thought he'd jumped the USS ABC for Citadel Bonneville...... A little Irony from your website... From your front page: "When format changes happen, we immediately update DCRTV's master radio and TV Station List." From your station list: 106.9 - WARX - oldies - Hagerstown MD... WARX flipped to Classic Hits WWEG in 2005. Great site overall, though. (4/8/07) Dave's response: Those evil web gremlins. They'll "getcha" every time..... I don't quite follow all the fuss about HD radio. Let me see if I get this straight....HD radio is brought to us by the same folks that bring us the current, mostly lame, mix of radio....yet claim this is somehow better in terms of content? Why would I want to spend $'s to by a HD receiver, just to get better sound junk? (4/8/07) Dave, there's a new unscoped aircheck on www.reelradio.com of "Tiger Bob Raleigh and Davy Jones of WPGC. Harve Moore does some news live too. It's a classic. AND it was recorded on Easter Sunday April 6th 1969-Real "ear candy". POPS (4/8/07) response to this: "The "green" (lefty) Globe is currently running an ad for an Army marathon race. In fact, I think the ad mentioned the Globe as being a sponsor of the race along with a bunch of defense contractor firms. But what's really funny about the ad is the fast talking disclaimer that preceeds it. Something about how running the ad does not constitute endorsement of the military and its activities. If you've heard the ad, do you recall what the disclaimer said? I'd like to know exactly what it said. Very interesting." The promo disclaimer in the begining says this word for word, "dist. of this announcement does not constitute sponsor endorsement by the fed. gov't, DOD, or the army." why is this interesting? When the globe was WARW they did this 10 miler. there are suppost to be 25,000+ people running this year. it's just a huge race. even if the globe is green (lefty), that doesn't mean they don't support the military or it's troops. and plus it's all about sponsorships, ratings, and $$$$$$$$$$$ of course. (4/8/07) To all of my fellow "Mailbaggers":: Happy Easter! Rusty Gibson (4/8/07) Dave's response: DCRTV hears that Rusty's favorite bunny (right) paid him a visit this morning. Ha ha ha..... Just went to GEORGE104.COM and it says they will begin broadcasting on 103.5 HD2 Shortly. If you don't have an HD Radio they plan on giving away 103. Marc (4/8/07) Dave's response: Hey, whatever happened to Bonneville's HD Radio Viva La Voce stream? Dave – When it comes to writing about print, you’re not always wrong, but you’re often half-right for the wrong reasons. There’s no way the Post is stifling radio news because it’s affiliated with a radio station, particularly when that news includes a frequency flip that benefits said radio station. Much more likely – the Post simply didn’t pick up on something that happened on a holiday weekend. Not that unusual. Rule of thumb: Never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity. Or laziness. Or short-staffing. (4/8/07) "Bonneville is probably very happy with their profit...smart broadcasters take their profits off the table. This is a business." I'll bet if you were to look at Bonneville's free cash flow (how much a company has left over after paying for stuff like capital expenditures), I'd posit that the company would be better off getting out of radio completely and reinvesting in a higher-growth industry (whatever that might be). In DC, margins are shrinking and the area's slowing economy is limiting its pricing power, specifically its ability to raise ad rates. "This is a business," the above poster said. That's what General Electric said 20 years ago when it dumped radio. In addition to the above-named margin pressures, Bonneville's remaining radio property, WTOP (I'm not even counting cash-draining Post Radio here) has another difficult financial issue: tremendous overhead. Its corporate masters in Utah should consider lessening their exposure to radio. I would encourage people in radio to broaden their job skills, start networking and control their fate -- before someone controls it for them. (4/8/07) "Radio is an industry in secular decline and they don't have any ideas (nor does anyone else) for turning things around." -- what say you, Idaho Ave? (4/8/07) Reserved parking for Tony K -- THAT'S a perk? There are a million free spots on Idaho Ave. - you can usually park right in front of the station. Failing that, there's a parking lot 15 feet away next to that little strip mall. Gee, he must have been a tough-as-nails negotiator to win that concession from Jim and Joel. (4/8/07) Hey you old-timers! How's THIS for an eBay special (and no, it's not another old studio console)? cgi.ebay.com (4/8/07) “This poster ignores the fact that lots of people in local news would love to get out and make more money, but lack the job skills, connections or frankly chutzpah to do so.” You’re kidding, right? I didn’t at all ignore those “facts” – but pardon me if I don’t feel sorry. Lack of skills? Whose fault is that? Connections? Who didn’t bother to make them? Lacking chutzpa? Then grown some balls or continued to be pushed around. In the media business - as all business, YOU create your destiny. (4/8/07) RE: "...why not take that money and buy an HD radio and reconnect with George on the WTOP-HD2 channel? Same George, same playlist, and no commercials - and it'll sound better..." That is all fine and dandy if you stay within the DC metro--but if you travel between Balto and DC, or west or to the shore--HD will only get you so far--maybe 35-40 miles tops. XM gets you coast to coast. So--ponder that one too. (4/8/07) dave, wwtd, tv49 in DC has been since December the official MTV Tres broadcast affiliate in the DC DMA. if appropriate could you please update your list to reflect this. your listing says IND, independent, and while that is true we are the official affiliate. thanks and don't eat any hollow chocolate bunnies today! (4/8/07) Dave's response: Thanks. I've updated the Station List. Also added WXCY and WKIK-FM/AM, which had been missing..... Hey Dave, Do you think Mix 107.3 will pick up the "George" format, or a small portion of it? I enjoyed listening to 104 while they had this format on. You kind of knew it wasn't going to last long though, after all how many stations can loose that amount of revenue? 104 days of commercial free radio. Even Joel didn't care about this station, just let the automation go. Hell, we don't even have to watch it. I thought that 104 made it nice to listen to FM radio again. Not what will do? (4/8/07) Dave's response: I don't think you'll see any changes at 107.3 until the Citadel folks take over this summer. Then? Who knows. You could tell that George was merely a "place holder" while Bonneville actively had the station on the market. In this day and age of radio cost-cutting and consolidation, it makes great financial sense to build big clusters of radio stations within markets. The fact that Bonneville is selling off properties, and shrinking its cluster, makes me wonder if the Salt Lake City firm is planning on getting out of the DC market, all together. Radio One's already made a DC acquisition from B'ville. It wouldn't surprise me to see maybe Nassau pick up some of the Frederick signals or CBS make a play for WTOP, as I mentioned in a previous response. Maybe the Washington Post could actually buy Washington Post Radio from Bonneville. Hmmm..... "('You are busting your hump and making the Aftra minimum, how the heck do you feel?') You should feel that if you don’t like it – you can get out." This poster ignores the fact that lots of people in local news would love to get out and make more money, but lack the job skills, connections or frankly chutzpah to do so. Some people do leave though and since you're talking about people who have left Bonneville's radio properties, in the past few years one left to be the flack for the Fairfax cops, another to be a flack for DC Fire and EMS. Hardly big-bucks jobs, but better paying than they were making busting their ass on the radio. There was a girl at Washington Post Radio who just left to be a hospital flack. She spent years at WTOP and Post Radio paying her dues, working horrible hours, doing terrific work. In the end, all that got her was a big fat goose egg and nowhere to go but out. What kind of message does this send to others? This isn't an indictment against Bonneville. It's a fine company run by good and decent people who are doing the best they can (in contrast to most of the industry). But radio is an industry in secular decline and they don't have any ideas (nor does anyone else) for turning things around. (4/8/07) Dave's response: It's no secret that the journalism business does not pay well. The average newspaper, radio, or TV reporter barely makes enough to live on. Nothing new there. Yeah, you have some "big names" like Bob Woodward, Howard Kurtz, Gordon Peterson, Jim Vance, and Bryan Nehman (just joking) who make good dough, but the other 99 percent don't..... Hallelujah! Dish Net. has MASN. MASN sent me an e-mail with the good news. Dish sent nothing. No communication. And they have my e-mail address because I get their propaganda every week. Unbelievable. Go Nats! (4/8/07) "Dave - Thought you might like this; it is a screen capture from WJLA's website. The story is about Cardinal Francis George (of Chicago), who fell today while blessing Easter baskets. The associated graphic for the story is for the NFLs Arizona Cardinals." Of course, the Arizona Cardinals began as the Chicago Cardinals, playing at old Comiskey Park (believe it or not, they actually won a championship there, their only one to date, in 1947) before moving to St. Louis in 1960 and to Phoenix in 1988. Then again, the football Cardinals have stumbled so many times that it's no wonder the person running WJLA's Web site saw the phrase "Cardinal Falls" and automatically thought it referred to that misbegotten franchise. -- Vincent in Triangle (4/8/07) Haven't seen an obit for Art Kellar. Here's the wikipedia entry for EZ Communications. en.wikipedia.org. So EZ had it's main offices in Fairfax but for awhile did not have a station in Fairfax? I found an entry for Elliott Francis at wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Has an interesting background. (4/8/07) Dave's response: We covered his death in a 3/20 newsblurb. I don't recall seeing an obituary in the Post. He certainly deserved one. Again, sometimes obits (journalistic articles - not paid death notices) appear in the Post many weeks after a person has died..... FNC rules....I DVR the LEFTY bullshit and watch it all.....the Geraldo vs Bill O. was great TV.....and what all of you freakin' tree hugin' lefties need is a laugh track for this site, Go Dave, rah rah......and to all of you want to be broadcasters - More Music - Less Imus Peace !! (4/8/07) Dave's response: I'm launching a formal campaign to get a laugh track put on Fox News. Anybody with me? "If anyone knows a decent station in the area please let me know. And do not say Big 100 - that is a joke. I keep going up and down the dial hoping to find something out there - I guess I will have to start paying the price for XM. Chris " Chris, instead of buying an XM Radio, then paying for a monthly subscription (which, no matter what Mel says now, will cost more once the XM/Sirius merger is approved), why not take that money and buy an HD radio and reconnect with George on the WTOP-HD2 channel? Same George, same playlist, and no commercials - and it'll sound better. Crutchfield has HD table radios, component HD radio tuners and even excellent-quality HD car radios. (4/8/07) Dave's response: Baltimore's Jack is running a promo where a guy claims he canceled his XM subscription because he's getting so many cool tunes on 102.7. I mean, not a half bad station, but you still don't get anywhere near the depth and breadth of tunes you get on XM. Sheesh..... "When I can finally buy a surround sound receiver with HD radio, I'll upgrade my vintage 2003 Onkyo 6.1 unit." The product you are looking for, my friend, is the Yamaha RX-V4600. An excellent 7.1 digital home theatre receiver with built-in HD Radio tuner. Details here: www.yamaha.com (4/8/07) /\ April 8 Messages /\ \/ April 7 Messages \/ Tuned in to MASN on the Dish Network to see the Nats game and it said the game was blacked out. Was it blacked out because the game was not sold out?" No, MASN in the DC area was blacked out because the game aired on WDCA. (4/7/07) Well Imus has really bit the big one this time. I’m ready coach; put me back in the game while they drag the I-man behind the truck. Damn, I said it again! Well I guess that’s, that. See ya Monday morning on WMET. Waddle doodle Datum (4/7/07) In response to "If I were Radio One", here would be my plan: I would make Family Radio an offer they couldn't refuse and try to exchange 104.1 for 107.9. Such a move would not only give coverage over both Baltimore and Washington, but also parts of the eastern shore. That signal would still cover a decent portion of Charles county. I would sell 1340 in Washington and either 1010 or 1400 in Baltimore, keeping the talk format on the remaining station there. In turn, Family Radio might want to consider selling 750. Dave, I agree with you that a switch between 93.9 and 102.3 would make sense, but would you suggest the same might be good for 92.3 and 95.9 in Baltimore? (4/7/07) Dave's response: Yes, both adult urban Magics - 95.9 and 102.3 - would be more popular with white audiences in the suburbs than the more rappish, hip-hop sounds of WERQ and WKYS. It would make sense to move the stations to the stronger 92.3 and 93.9 signals, respectively. Radio One already gets good ratings with both WWIN-FM and WMMJ, but a move to stronger signals could increase advertising revenue by appealing to more "outside the Beltways" sponsors..... Bonneville is probably very happy with their profit. Very. Wouldn't be surprised to see them buy more stations. Smart broadcasters take their profits off the table. This is a business and you sometimes forget that (even though I am a fan of you and your board) (4/7/07) Dave's response: Since Bonneville's radio assets in DC are dwindling, how about, say, CBS sells a radio station or two to Bonneville in Chicago, a market where both own stations, in exchange for all of Bonneville's remaining radio stations in DC. Then CBS could get control of WTOP and run it like its other all-newsers in Chicago (WBBM), NYC (WINS and WCBS), LA (KNX), and Philly (KYW). Bonneville would add to its Chicago cluster and move out of the DC market. Meanwhile, CBS would maintain a radio presence in Chicago and bolster its radio presence in DC - and gain some prestige with the addition of WTOP. Jim Farley could jump to CBS and stay here in DC running WTOP. He'd be working for Michael Hughes instead of Joel Oxley. Hmmm..... Dave - Thought you might like this; it is a screen capture from WJLA's website. The story is about Cardinal Francis George, who fell today while blessing Easter baskets. The associated graphic for the story is for the NFLs Arizona Cardinals. (4/7/07) Wax on, wax off. That's how the 104.1 frequency has been on the preset list in my truck for the past 18 months or so. Z-104, on. WGMS, off. George 104, on. Praise 104, off. It's too bad my hardwired iPod modulator is on the fritz and the in dash CD changer jammed, because now I am forced to listen to FM radio. And it got worse, yet again. I thought the last few months of DC radio were positive... WBIG to classic rock, WARW to WTGB, classical to WETA, and something to listen to on 104.1. It's too bad that Star 98.3 and 97.7 The Rocket are fried by the time I get halfway into Prince George's County from Charles County, because both have much better music play lists and DJ's that are not princes and princesses. How much do you want to bet that Radio One is just leasing the signal from the Boneville boneheads? Radio one does not have the proverbial pot to piss in right now, and they pick up another station in the DC market? Sounds fishy to me. And why have the major electronics manufacturers and automakers not caught up with the FM HD/AM HD transition? When I can finally buy a surround sound receiver with HD radio, I'll upgrade my vintage 2003 Onkyo 6.1 unit. It would also be nice to get a retro fit kit for the OEM stereo in my truck, and it would be nicer yet to see FM HD/AM HD as an option or standard equipment on the cars I am looking at buying. But oh no, satellite is all they can focus on. Satellite is fine, if you don't mind another $13 expense every month, don't mind wires all over your vehicle or don't mind spending $400 or more to have it hardwired into your vehicle. At least I know by the end of the year, I'm going to be living in Garrett County MD, where I get a choice of about six FM radio stations. And all six are better than what we get in the DC market. I'll take six good ones over the 30 or so craptacular ones we have to choose from in the DC/Baltimore area. (4/7/07) Dave's response: I have six primary music FM presets on my car's radio. They're filled by WTGB, DC101, WRQX, WBIG, Hot 99.5, and George 104. I just replaced George with WQSR, which was on my six secondary (FM2) presets, along with 98 Rock, WJZW, WINC-FM, and WETA-FM. I also have a button for WTMD but it's usually just static. For solidarity's sake..... I am not making this up. At 6:29:45 Lindsay C. was doing the sports on channel 4 and started to cover the soccer team's game. She was cut off just as the first seconds of some soccer highlight was being played and she said, "well I guess we don't have time" and they cut away immediately to a Target toilet paper ad. I would dare say that this is what the majority of sports fans think of soccer anyway. (4/7/07) Tuned in to MASN on the Dish Network to see the Nats game and it said the game was blacked out. Was it blacked out because the game was not sold out? Should we expect blackouts for all home games since I doubt the nats are gonna have any sellouts at home this year? (4/7/07) nice to see Leslie Cook anchoring the weekend edition of WJLA News at 6pm. She is extremely easy on the eyes. Rumor has it, she has been made the permanent anchor replacing Elliot Francis. Any truth to this? (4/7/07) Well - so much for 104 days of commercial free music on the new George 104 playing the 70's, 80's and whatever we want....Praise 104 is loud and clear now. I remember when it was the Great Xtra 104 oldies and than it went all 70's and than Z104 and than classical. Didn't Bonneville own it when it was Xtra? If anyone knows a decent station in the area please let me know. And do not say Big 100 - that is a joke. I keep going up and down the dial hoping to find something out there - I guess I will have to start paying the price for XM. Chris (4/7/07) To all the NATS / MASN whiners and complainers........ Why don't you get off your fat asses and go to the damn ball park???? The Nats are in dead last place in attendance, even below Kansas City, Milwaukee, and the 2 former Washington teams (Texas & Minnesota) and except for Texas it's MUCH COLDER in those places!!! Is the honeymoon over before the new ball park is even built???? Geesh! (4/7/07) Wow...George 104 already drowned? That didn't take long. Who was in charge of that station? Andrea Yates??? Yuck...yuck...Gimme those ribs you...FRUUUUNKUS... (4/7/07) Dave's response: As I said in a recent Rant, Bonneville, which three years ago had three viable radio stations in the DC market - WTOP, WGMS, and Z104, is now down to only one - WTOP. Ponderous, man, ponderous..... To the folks who were telling of the National's game being "blacked out" (or partially blacked out) last night: I noticed that on the MASN "main channel", I noticed that..at close to two in the morning, they were replaying the National's game instead of the Orioles! Maybe the reason why this was done was because of the problems that Directtv were experiencing? One more thing concerning "black-outs": when I was first considering getting Dish Network, a friend of mine advised against getting the "extra Inning" package, because sometimes..if the game is available on that package..let's say that the Orioles were playing the Yankees...I imagine that the "Yankee" telecast would be available if one had the "Extra Innings" package, then, the "local" feed would be blacked out! Am I on the right track here? Anyhow it is good to see MASN on the dish at long-last! I really was becoming concerned that we weren't going to get it! To all who still don't have it, all I can suggest would be to keep bugging your local cable provider! Good luck! Tom in Denton, MD (4/7/07) ("you are busting your hump and making the Aftra minimum, how the heck do you feel?") You should feel that if you don’t like it – you can get out. Tony’s the star – you’re not… that’s the way it goes. If you’re a Bonneville employee I assume you were not forced to take the gig for the money they offered… there’s always going to be somebody that makes more money than you – get used to it. Do ya think Tony whines because Donnie Simpson makes more than he does? … Come to think of it, he probably does. (4/7/07) Imus' ignorant and prejudiced rantings have been well-known for years. This time he picked someone else's show to make an ass of himself (again) on, and I think that's why there's so much attention this time. Not to mention he and his I-buddies picked on a basketball team whose home is right down the road in Jersey. I tend not so much to see Imus as the problem, but Bernard McGuirk, who has been titled at times Imus' "resident bigot." To me McGuirk is out and out racist, and that is probably why he was hired for the show years ago: to make the idiotic comments and to take the heat off Imus. Then there's McCord, the alleged born-again Christian newsman who just repeats, "Right you are, I-dude," kind of like Andy Pollin did for Kornheiser. I used to listen to Imus many moons ago when he'd make comments that his brother was a weasel, and that someone was a jerk or an idiot. Harmless, but more and more they leaned into the nastier side of things, and the darker side of Imus and his cronies emerged. Was it an effort to prop up ratings, to get attention? Or was it a bitterness that they couldn't keep up anymore with the competition? In any case, Imus' apology is as hollow as Michael Richards' was for what he spewed out in that comedy club. Thing is, the borderline (and overt) racist comments that come out of radio hosts' mouths (Glenn Beck, Mike Gallagher, Howard Stern to name a few) are indicative of how some hosts are quite plainly allowed to get away with it, because of their political connections and affiliations as well as who they have influence over. If people got as pissed off about other hosts saying stuff as they do over Imus, you might see people cleaning up their acts. But we tend to forget pretty quickly these things. The RCL (4/7/07) I'm more than a bit surprised at what Bonneville is doing with "George". The LMA intrigues me. Is this because of Radio One's potential FCC problems if the SEC inquiries find smoking guns? (Care to say, "Lack of candor"? Or, how about this blast from the past, "Unfitness to be a Commission licensee"?) Is there a possibility of Radio One going the way of RKO General? One thought: If Radio One goes down ala RKO, this LMA could put Bonneville in a prime position to get 93.9 and perhaps 102.3, while still keeping 104.1! (4/7/07) 2 things. Has anyone heard how bad WHFS breaks away from Don & Mike for the O's pre-game. I heard it last night at 6:22, what a joke. Anyone else noticed WPOC is almost all oldies Country now? WOW. The station has changed in the past few weeks. Something up? (4/7/07) Tigger is not big news. You assume that because it is WPGC and they have a black audience, that this is a big story to the black community. Incorrect assumption. It is of news only to the younger demo of the black audience, and they don't buy newspapers. So no coverage in TWP because it is of marginal interest overall and represents no ad dollars. In fact, your other 'big in the black community" story is probably of more interest to a larger share of the black community that has pocketbooks to buy papers and what is advertised in them. Radio One buying 104.1 would be big news, if it had not been for all the shuck and jive with 104 over the past few years. Lame station, same game. Changing formats, changing hands, it sort of all sounds the same to the news reader. The real question is, will Radio One dump the high price real estate that 1,000 watt WOL sits on and move the WOL or WYCB format to WXGG where it gets to be a 50,000 watter? One on the main channel, one on the HD-2? This also gives them a signal down towards central Virginia/Spotsylvania area, where Gospel is still big too. I sort of wonder if this isn't the first programming move of Jay Stevens, and a damn good move too. (4/7/07) Dave's response: If the Post can see fit to break the news that company honcho Donald Graham is doing jury duty, I fail to see its news judgment that a new afternoon drive personality at the DC area's top-rated radio station doesn't merit at least a mention. I mean, if Tony Kornheiser had a boil on his butt it would be all over the Style and Sports sections, doncha think. You'll notice that Posties spent mucho column inches this morning on the latest Geraldo/O'Reilly grudge match and Imus's ugly mouth. Obviously, these are stories (a la the endless "Idol" rehashing) with potentially huge national interest and will probably garner links on Drudge and on blogs all across the American-speaking Empire. Hell, why waste precious ink on silly local media news which won't be of interest to anyone more than 50 miles outside the Beltway! Don't be fooled. Despite the token local stuff in the Metro and Sports sections, the Post is really a national media organ..... More than a year ago, we switched from Comcast to Verizon FiOS TV because Comcast didn't carry the Nationals games. Today we learned from Verizon that they won't be carrying MASN 2 until MAY??? We missed last night's Nats game against Arizona since it was on MASN 2? We may have to switch back. What's up? Mike and Kate DeMarco, Ellicott City, MD (4/7/07) Dave's response: Apparently, Verizon's FiOS features MASN2 on its local news service on channel 1, which isn't yet available on all its systems. By the way, is this the same Verizon has provided the DC area's local phone service all these years? I thought so. You're going to really "love" them when you get a billing error or have a service problem. Ha ha ha..... Re: "The I-man being the I-man" I bet you're a white guy. Sad... (4/7/07) The "green" (lefty) Globe is currently running an ad for an Army marathon race. In fact, I think the ad mentioned the Globe as being a sponsor of the race along with a bunch of defense contractor firms. But what's really funny about the ad is the fast talking disclaimer that preceeds it. Something about how running the ad does not constitute endorsement of the military and its activities. If you've heard the ad, do you recall what the disclaimer said? I'd like to know exactly what it said. Very interesting. (4/7/07) The I-Man being the I-Man? I wouldn't accept that variation of the "boys will be boys" argument about a thirteen year old, never mind an adult in his mid 60s. There shouldn't be some flexible media standard where Imus (and only Imus) gets to bash people with the most degrading terms for no deserved reason at all. Everett W. (4/7/07) I want to concur with my experience that DirecTV customer support and supervisors were very courteous and spent the time to try to find out the answer. Of course, I would like to think my call to DirecTV's Segundo, California helped get them on the air again. We better not have a repeat of this again or there will be calls made to the Congress incl. the non-voting DC Representative Norton. BTW, why does DC continue to push for representation without taxation? They should be pushing for no taxation since they will never get representation. (4/7/07) Dave's response: Reminds me of my dealings with the Kaiser HMO. They manage to screw up their billing at least three or four times a year, and it's a half hour wait each time on the phone, but their folks are always very pleasant and courteous..... 600k for Tony Kornheiser is absurd, absolutely absurd. I don't blame Kornheiser I'd take that for half a year and 10 hours of work a week but if you work at Bonneville and you are busting your hump and making the Aftra minimum, how the heck do you feel? Yes there are stars of staions and they are paid well but this tony k deal is outrageous. Good for him, bad for morale at idao ave. (4/7/07) Who was the (personality) doung the 11:00 sports report for channel 9 tonight. Sara (I didn't catch her last name). She's hot... Also everyone needs to lighten up on Imus and Bernard, it's just the I-Man being the I-Man. That's what makes his show great. It's a hell of a lot better listen than stale American Idol resets (Tony, Don and Mike). Bernard and the I-Man have called the NY Knicks "Knuckle dragging nit wits" over the years. Where was the outrage then? (4/7/07) drove by State Theatre friday night and the place appeared to be packed for the Sport's Chunkies toodoo. I didn't realize that there's enough slack jawed yokels left to like the unadulterated boring sh8t them chunkies do on the radio. I did see Tom Gavin out front of the theatre screaming "RRRoooooaaaaarrrrrr Don and Mike suck!"...... I'll never understand the genius which is Geronimo, they set up their website to try and destroy the last of their fans who would drink the Kool-Aid and follow them into hell over at radio gods forum.....ah d9mn just give up on the Glob and that environmental b8llsh9t and the whfs like playlist.....the playlist has quickly gotten smaller and seems to be just rock hits from '80's and the end of rock in the 90's...yes, rock has been dead sometime now...and i've mentioned how i think Cerphe is a sell out but that weasal may have an encyclopedic knowledge of music but the dude will probably do anything to keep a job in corporate radio, yuk!...I'll be listening to XM radio while it lasts and WFMU over the internet from now on.........and whats not going on over at WEBR, I realize Mr. Gibson is no show because of health issues but the only person showing up to do his show on that station anymore is Tom Gavin and he's got to leave for the short bus at least 16 minutes early, is WEBR shutting down?......i wish that Jerry Rivers would have thrown a chair at Bill O'Rightly even if i don't care for the open borders (4/7/07) Today (Saturday April 7th) is the 80th anniversary of the first intra-city television broadcast. AT&T sent a signal from Washington, DC (on 12th Street NW) to AT&T labs in Whippany, NJ; and then on to AT&T headquarters in New York City. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was the guest of honor. A Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone operator - Edna Mae Horner - became the first woman to appear on television as she escorted guests to the front of the mechanical television camera. Al McGilvray, TalkRadio WRNR AM 740 (4/7/07) ""HD" is such a load of crap! Now people have to but a special receiver to receive your signal? That's crap." Yanno, nobody thinks twice about plunking down $2500 for an HDTV - which doesn't even get you any programming content that you can't get in SD (except for HDNet) - yet ask them to pay $200 for an HD radio and they act like you're cutting off an arm. THAT'S crap. Unlike HDTV, HD radio offers programming channels you cannot receive with an analog radio. WTGB-HD2 ("The Jam") is a prime example. The reborn George format on WTOP-HD2 will be another. And if you think you'll never hear REAL indie music and unsigned bands on commercial radio anymore, check out www.ichannelmusic.com. Coming soon to an HD radio near you? I don't know, but considering who's behind it, I wouldn't bet against it. -DB (4/7/07) /\ April 7 Messages /\ \/ April 6 Messages \/ Re:"Has any of these people snatching up and trading radio stations like pins at a Shriners Convention ever think about giving DC a free-form station again?" -- My answer: No. Free-form radio requires talent, a love for music and for radio, and faith in those qualities. None of those things are a pre-requisite for buying up radio stations, and none can be quantified in any way for the stockholders. Multi-station ownership is the reason radio sucks, not a hope for the future of radio. (4/6/07) Nats on MASN2 finally showed up on DirecTV Friday night. While DirecTV Cust Serv and supervisor didn't have the correct answer, each was professional and cordial. So much better than Comcast in NJ. (4/6/07) Who is to blame? I subscribe to DirecTV, and MLB's Major League Extra Innings package and like others was hoping to see our Nationals - Diamondbacks on MASN - 2, whatever that is? After an hour on the phone with DirecTV -- no explanation why the game wasn't being shown. Then I called MASN. They said DirecTV was blacking out the game. Couldn't tell you what MASN 2 is since I haven't seen it yet. Is the big Democrat Peter "Asbestos King-MASN Owner" Angelos taking on Rupert Republican Murdoch's DirecTV? Explain...... UPDATE UPDATE: DirecTV has lifted the "blackout" and the game is on -- unfortunately the game is in the 6th inning and the Nats are down 5-0. (4/6/07) So we finally get MASN and MASN2 on Dish Network. All I can say is YIPPEE and OVERDUE!! My brethren in the Shenandoah Valley on Comcast systems apparently are still waiting. Keep up the pressure - it apparently had an effect on the folks at Dish - - - - - Larry in Luray (4/6/07) DIRECTV Blacks out Nationals on MASN2... Angelos up to his tricks? (4/6/07) Have you heard the newest MASN drama? Apparently, during the Washington Nationals game tonight on MASN 2, it's been blocked out on D*, for no apparent reason. Someone said there was going to be a story in the Post tomorrow about it, which, to me, says they really have some space to fill. (4/6/07) HELP! DirecTV Viewers of Nats Games: On Friday evening, I sat down to enjoy the Nats game on MASN2. Here in ZipCode 20650, 'Game not available in your area' on 671. On 659 RSNa, the game was listed but got a blank screen after the banner faded. Very nice CustServ person and supervisor said the game was blacked out in Leonardtown. Appreciate any advice (other than getting Dish or local MetroCast cable) on how to watch Nats on TV. Thx. Larry-in-Leonardtown (4/6/07) Did anyone see the tape of Geraldo Rivera and Bill O'Reilly. Going at it, on the O'Relly Factor. It look to me, to be some good acting. Then at the end they gave each other a big KISS and made up. So sweet! (4/6/07) Dave's response: Fox News would be just perfect with one more thing - a laugh track..... I am a Dish Network subscriber and I am also getting MASN & MASN2 on channels 432 & 433. These are not HD channels however. Dish has been very slow in adding HD channels to it's lineup. Don in Fredericksburg (4/6/07) Dave's response: You'll be happy to know that there is no HD version of MASN..... I do have quite a life, Tim in Gaithursbug. Keep enjoying my posts about Don & Mike. There will be more to come as long as they are on the air. You seem to take them so personally. Are you sure your name isn't really Don or Mike? JOHN IN STAFFORD (4/6/07) Okay..I'm a happy camper now! After reading DCRTV's "Front Page"..I saw the wonderful news that MASN was reportedly on Dish Net, so I checked it out for myself..and it's true, it's true! It's there! But what's kind of weird is: if you check the "info" thing, it's saying "The John Riggins Show"..but they're carrying "The Anita Marcks Show!" Now about this "HD radio business: my problem with HD is..you almost have to be twenty to forty miles within the signal to listen; if you don't get it, you just don't get it; it's all or nothing! So for us here on the Eastern Shore, I just wonder how much good that does us? Tom in Denton, MD (4/6/07) "Bring back the signal or go straight to hell. Sincerely, Steven Goelz, Springfield, VA" - Now that's what I love about the Mailbag: respectful, civilized discourse among mature adults. Given his apparent belief in a tormented afterlife, I'm sure this guy will be soaking up all the Gospel music he can get! (4/6/07) Dave, MASN and MASN2 are now on DISH Network. (4/6/07) For all those who've been complaining about MASN not being available in HD, check out the Anita Marcks Show on ESPN1300 during the six o'clock hour as she is supposed to be talking with the Examiner's Jim Williams, who is supposed to explain what's going on with that. I only hope this makes the mailbag in time for folks to see it; as for my part, I say..just be lucky that you can even see MASN; us Dish Network subscribers still don't have it..HD or otherwise! Am still hoping this will change before too long! Tom in Denton, MD (4/6/07) to Steve in Springfield: ""HD" is such a load of crap! Now people have to but a special receiver to receive your signal? That's crap." ...people said that about FM, back when you had to have a special adapter to get it. You can get HD in your car or home for less than $200 now, and believe me, when you hear it you'll LOVE it. There's LOTS of great music and unique formats out there, commercial free, all the time on HD. And unlike satellite, no subscription. Check out classic98rock.com, indie979.com, hfs2.com, or any clearchannel station website, then click on HD Radio, and "Hear hundreds of new stations". It was listening to these stations online that made me go out and get an HD radio, and it was worth every cent. (4/6/07) Has any of these people snatching up and trading radio stations like pins at a Shriners Convention ever think about giving DC a free-form station again ----- ala the "original" WHFS? Get Weasel (who probably knows more about free-form' radio in DC than anyone) to program the thing and do a killer afternoon show, and maybe Cerphe and a few other DC legends to round out the day and evening, and go back to the '70''s when WHFS was the only free-form rocker and, certainly, the coolest station in town. Oh, how I long for the original format if HFS' again. How bout you, Dave? You think DC could deal with The Smiths, old stuff from the Dead Kennedy's or some obscure Grateful Dead cuts mixed with some esoteric new-age rockers? JA (4/6/07) Dave's response: Yeah, a rebirth of the free-form, progressive rock WHFS would be very cool, indeed. Our best hope is with CBS's Globe format on 94.7, which could, if we cross our fingers, start sounding something like the old WHFS. By the way, CBS Radio/DC did make a noble effort to get the WHFS calls transferred from Baltimore's 105.7 to DC's 94.7 in time for the Globe's launch. But the bastards at CBS Radio/Baltimore wouldn't let 'em go..... One aspect of 104.1's transition to Black Gospel that so far has gone uncommented on is the impact this will have on WAVA's weekend schedule: www.wava.com... Saturday afternoons, WAVA plays gospel music (as opposed to mostly white "CCM") from 2 to 6 p.m., and again on Sundays from noon to 8 p.m. Can they compete with an all-Gospel station right next door on the dial? I doubt it. They'll probably revert to talk programming or infomercials, or maybe they'll go all CCM. Christian (4/6/07) Radio One might actually be able to make a go with 104.1 where Bonneville clearly failed. Aside from 104.1's obvious favorable propagation in D.C. and Prince George's County, Charles County itself is primed for a significant population increase among Radio One's targeted African-American demographic. And if the new format does turn out to be gospel, such a strong powered station might do some good beyond just ratings here in the Prince George's shooting gallery. Let's just hope that Radio One has more staying power with its chosen format. Everett W. (4/6/07) Isn't WAMU news Director Jim Arsendio the same person that couldn't stay focused long enough to finish an interview with Senator Hillary Clinton not long ago? He's now causing havoc at the public radio station WAMU. Kelly (4/6/07) Lowell Thomas was born on this date in 1892. Not only was he a CBS Radio commentator, explorer, lecturer and journalist, he was also known for his bloopers and infectious laugh. www.btmemories.com (RAM) (4/6/07) So WTOP is off of 820. Not sure what kind of impact that will have around Hagerstown since I’ve never tried to listen to 103.9. In these parts, we could never get Z104 because 103.9 is a religious station in Luray, and closer to the cave, it even covered up 104.1. In fact, the only time I heard Z104 in the clear down there was when Hurricane Fran knocked 103.9 off the air for a few days in Luray back in 1996. I do know that 820 comes in pretty good during the day in some places around Winchester/Front Royal where you could never get 103.5 OR 107.7. It’s a bit of a surprise. Charles in Winchester (4/6/07) Dave's response: WTOP will remain on 820 until the end of June, the end of the spring radio ratings "book." Maybe Bonneville could buy back 94.3 in Warrenton for WTOP (remember when 94.3 was WTOP before WTOP moved to 107.7 and then on to 103.5) from Dan Snyder to improve its coverage into central Virginia - if Snyder buys 630 for his Triple X. Oh those radio musical chairs..... I enjoy John in Stafford's constant trolling of Don and Mike, especially recently when it has been one post a day. Must have quite a life. Tim, Gaithersburg (4/6/07) To Whom It May Concern at 104.1: I feel angry and betrayed that you would broadcast such a wonderful selection of music (without commercials, yet!) on regular radio for a month or so, and then kidnap the signal and take it to "HD" radio. "HD" is such a load of crap! Now people have to but a special receiver to receive your signal? That's crap. I was very pleased that you switched formats and finally played late '70s, '80s and beyond rock like I listened to growing up. Now the position on the dial is empty and I must go back to listening to CDs. I really enjoyed your station so much- I tuned in nothing else in the car, played it in my office, and even listened on my clock radio, which I haven't done in years. You have committed a crime against your audience by pulling this shit. Is this any way to run a business? You are an excellent example of why radio is a dead medium. There is nothing on air that anyone wants to hear, and when something good does finally get programmed, you steal it away in an obvious bait and switch. You have caused me to sincerely doubt that I will ever turn on a receiver in the future, terrestrial, HD, or satellite. Bring back the signal or go straight to hell. Sincerely, Steven Goelz, Springfield, VA (4/6/07) Here is Don Imus's "apology"...not that it matters...it is what it is. -- Bobbie..... Imus 'sorry' for racist remarks about Rutgers, Don Imus apologized Friday for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his "Imus In The Morning" show. www.msnbc.msn.com (4/6/07) Dan Snyder should have bought 104.1 while he had the chance. What's he going to do with that collection of weak signals? Citadel is NOT going to sell WMAL when they get it. The land under the WMAL transmitter site alone is worth a fortune. (4/6/07) There has got to something more than meets the eye on Radio One getting their hands on that 104.1 frequency. It seems rather odd when already two Gospel station (one of the fifty thousand watts) can't even muster up a two share between the two of them. Now they think an FM station will turn the trick??? Oh, paleeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!!!! Alvin G. Lawton (4/6/07) Dave's response: Well, WPGC-AM, aka Heaven 1580, is 50,000-watts by day only. And it is an AMer. FM gospel stations have done very well in heavily African-America markets like Atlanta..... Smart move by Bonneville keeping 103.9. That's an upgrade for TOP in Frederick morning drive pre-sunrise and PM drive post-sunset. 820 will be a plus for Post Radio and a big damn deal for us Nats fans in Fredneck who can finally hear all Nats games come the end of June. Bravo! (4/6/07) Dave's response: Three signals for a station that gets no ratings?!?! Oh the horror of Washington Post Radio..... I like Bob's sarcasm regarding the return of Don & Mike, as if he really misses them. I like Dave's sarcasm, too, "God willing." Funny shit there, Dave. JOHN IN STAFFORD (4/6/07) Time to take 104.1 completely off my radio, even though I don't listen to terrestrial radio that much anymore. It was fun while it lasted. We all knew that the station was just in a holding pattern. Looks like we know where its going to land now. I'm surprised that Bonneville didn't throw in the 103.9 frequency too? I just wish they had a relay in Warrenton again so us folks south of the beltway can get some decent reception for WTOP. Oh yeah, right, they gave that away as a failed experiment with the Posties. Like others have said - Bonneville should realize the experiment failed and put WTOP back on the 107.7 frequency. Dave in Fredericksburg (4/6/07) So, is Mallory Crossland leaving Channel 4 by choice, or does she see the writing on the wall and chose to leave before she also got the axe? (4/6/07) "Where are all the social-sensitivity groups yelling and screaming about it like they did at WARW some 8-9 years ago?" The difference is that Grease had an audience on WARW. Imus's ratings, not so much. One of my favorite Stern lines, "Imus is barely a broadcaster. You have to have ratings to be considered a broadcaster." (4/6/07) Warren Brown would not be WMAL's token black man. Larry Elder has been black since he was born. It would be nice to hear Warren back with Bill O'Brian on WMAL. (4/6/07) Dave's response: Larry doesn't count since he's syndicated from LA. He's not a station employee..... RIP George 104..... 2007-2007.... We hardly knew ye..... (4/6/07) Dave's response: Where else are we going to hear KC And The Sunshine Band? Ref: Bowel Movement - Greetings from the bowels of the Eastern Shore, And you thought all I had for you was this lousy t-shirt right? No my friend I did Mornings for Bill Parris on 1590am KHZ for about 6 Months while I was talking to the folks at Sebago Radio Inc. about doing Mornings on 96.5CTG Chincoteague, Va. (COL) kinda like warming up the pipes again if you will. We have applied for change in (COL) Eden/Salisbury and if it does get approved CTG will be a player in the Metro Salisbury Market and still super serve our listeners on the Virginia Eastern shore (or as the poster called it the bowels of) I will not be working for Bill Parris again - as a matter of fact I think he still owes me like $80 bucks. I'm healthy and so is my family thank you and I will continue to do mornings on the "Island" and GM at the World Famous Purple Moose Saloon....have a nice day and leave me alone - Thanks J.J."Hitman" McKay (4/6/07) It's sad to see what has happened to Steve Summers. He was extremely popular on Delmarva for 18 years on WBOC. The viewers loved him, they did not know what he was like off air. It sounds like he has some anger management problems, and unfortunately he will have problems finding a job. I don't know what has happened to him.... (4/6/07) Regarding Imus' ridiculous remarks, this is what I found regarding MSNBC's response: MSNBC released this statement in response to the comments, "While simulcast by MSNBC, 'Imus in the Morning' is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN Radio. As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for these offensive comments." (4/6/07) Dave: Is it true that Don and Mike will not be coming back to WJFK after management got the latest ratings? I hope it is not true because they really seem to care about the loyal listeners that they once had. I have never witnessed two men more committed to bringing a quality program to the air than those two men. It was sure great having them when they were here. Thanks. Bob (4/6/07) Dave's response: Not true. D&M will return, God willing..... From Warren Brown's online chat at Washingtonpost.com: "Warren Brown: Okay, good folks. Thanks for joining me today. Please come back next week. And for those of you concerned about my talk show going off the air at WTWP, stop worrying. No sweat. If all goes okay with financing, and it certainly looks as if it will, The Warren Brown Show--no bossy co-host, no advertising sales people fretting about how to sell ads, no ridiculously reluctant producer--will resume May 1 at a station near you. Be patient. Keep smiling. Eat lunch, Ria. And drive carefully. A successful Passover, Happy Easter, pleasant Spring Break to all of you." (4/6/07) Dave's response: Warren used to do his show at WMAL. Maybe he's headed back to old 630? Hmmm. He could be the righty talk station's token African-American..... What is up with the 104.1 lately?! It seems like this town does not have any good adult top 40 stations, when they finally get a good one, it changes. 104.1 has been how many formats over the past six months? Thank god for XM. (4/6/07) Dave's response: George received a lethal injection at noon today. Read the Front Page for more..... If I were Radio One, here's what I would do: Move Majic to 93.9, KYS to 104.1, and Gospel on 102.3. Majic would get the bigger signal that might allow it to pull ahead of HUR once and for all. KYS would stay on a Class B signal (it would lose Mont. Co. Coverage, but I doubt that would hurt it very much... the core of its audience is in DC and PG co., where 104.1 booms in.) Majic is often the #1 station in DC. It needs a bigger signal. Putting a likely (relatively speaking) low rated Gospel station on 104.1 would be a mistake when a strong station is sitting on a Class A signal. I think R1 has been reluctant to just swap Majic and KYS because of the fear that KYS will lose share on the weaker signal. On 104.1, KYS will be just as strong over its core audience. Finally, 102.3 will be just as good a signal for gospel because the only alternatives are weakish AM stations, and therefore just about any FM signal with Gospel will beat them. Just my $.02 worth. Dave, what do you think Radio One should do? (4/6/07) Dave's response: Gospel will do fine on 104.1. I'd flip WMMJ to the more powerful 93.9 to better reach the suburban audience who'd go for the urban adult sounds, with rappish hip-hopper WKYS on 102.3, which is better focused on the closer-in, urban neighborhoods..... Hypocrisy, a double standard and telling the truth is what killed Greaseman. Some say he was set up. I have met and worked with Doug Tracht. He is a gentleman. Grease is a character. His accusers care not to know the difference. (4/6/07) The sticking point between DISH and MASN is apparently over what tier the service will be offered. MASN wants it on the lowest tier and DISH does not offer RSNs in that tier. I would not expect either side to budge. (4/6/07) Q-"What is your best guess as to when or whether DISH network will start carrying MASN so we can watch the Nats?" I'm tempted to give the answer about Heck and freezing, but I still hold out slight hope. Charlie Ergen plays hardball when it comes to programming (especially sports) and I'm guessing the MASN can't give him a cut rate or they'd have to cut rates to all the other outlets who have already accepted the MASN terms. I'm calling and emailing both companies every day just to be a pest. Howie (4/6/07) Bonneville pays $600,000 a year for Tony Kornheiser and the best he can come up with is American Idol recaps, stale Peter Yarrow jokes, a board op with a fake British accent & rotating his print pals & ESPN cronies because he can't handle a real guest? How about we add Celebrity Birthdays and reading featurettes from USA Today and make it like every other morning zoo crapfest in the country? Ooooooh is this the "out of the box" thinking we keep hearing so much about from the new radio landscape? Just what in the hell are you people thinking when you pay that kind of money to someone who is only on for two hours live & takes an extended vacation in the middle of the summer to rest up for his once a week TV football gig as the next in line resident Cosell knockoff at MNF? $600,000 would have probably gone a lot further to expand the staff by 10 to 15 people at WaPoRad. One night I'd like to sneak into 3400 Idaho Ave and place a brainwave detector to see if there is any activity over there. The armchair PD in me says Burd & Doyle from 6A to 10A, dump Kornheiser, put Jim Bohannon on to lead into Litzinger, and at night when you don't have Nats baseball at least have a full-time 3 or 4 hours of real sportstalk. Get someone who has a broader knowledge of baseball and other sports than Byron Kerr and that embarassing Nationals Insider. Phil Wood, Marc Sterne, Craig Heist, Charlie Slowes, Dave Jageler, anybody who does more than 2 minutes of headlines & highlights twice an hour would be better for that nighttime slot. For the love of all that is good and holy Johnny Holliday in that slot would be exceptional radio. I'm so glad I left radio for network TV three years ago, but every now and then you get the urge to go and smack someone when they come right up to the edge of doing something spectacular and then screw it up. If they do read this over at Bonehead-ville I wouldn't be surprised if the braintrust called a meeting to schedule a meeting to discuss when they can meet to discuss just why the hell they ARE paying so much for so little in return on one of the last great AM signals DC has left. - Color Me Frustrated - P.S.: We all know there are super secret mind control signals coming out of the gold Gabriel statue on the top of the big Mormon Temple (4/6/07) It's a little strange that NBC O&O's are the ones pushing the Imus/Rutgers story considering that Imus airs on MSNBC. Is there a move at NBCU corporate to force Imus off MSNBC? Truthfully, Imus probably should have been dropped long ago from MSNBC (and WTNT too) on the basis of irrelevancy. Everett W. (4/6/07) What is your best guess as to when or whether DISH network will start carrying MASN so we can watch the Nats? (4/6/07) I love it! Another rant by someone who thinks the Sun should be shutdown because the bias he perceives it to have doesn't reflect the bias he obviously does have. My complaints about the Sun are that since the Abell Co. sold the paper the absentee owners have closed bureau, desks, and cut staff to the bone. The Sun's front section is a collection of stories written for the LA Times, the Trib or by wire services. Only local stories worthy of front page status are actually written by a Sun employee. They've also cut the number of Sun employed op/ed columnists in favor of the syndicated variety. I'd rather read Jules Witcover (now with the Examiner, I believe) than Ellen Goodman, thank you very much. And if you miss Cal Thomas on Wednesday you can read an almost identical column by Thomas Sowell on Thursday. The Washington Post, although it has greatly slipped in recent years, is to the Sun as the Sun is to the Examiner. Howie (4/6/07) Dave, an interesting story on Arthur Godfrey and his influence on public safety communications in Loudoun County. inetdocs.loudoun.gov (4/6/07) Re: Hitman and Bill Parris/KHZ. The "Hitman" was there in the a.m. for a short period of time, key word..short. Then a short gig on an AM station, (do I detect a pattern here?) now he's apparently somewhere down in the bowels of the Eastern Shore. Careful what you wish for KHI. (4/6/07) Ed, In regards to your questions about Rod Daniels: When you have been an employee at Hearst for as long as he has, you accrue some major vacation time. Considering he can not take off during sweeps, he is probably enjoying a wonderful vacation on some remote island. The bigger question is, it has been two weeks after an announcement that Domenica Davis has been hired by the Fox News Channel to become a meteorologist. Her last day is next Friday. Her replacement has been announced. Yet there has been NO local print coverage on the move. The Sun really does suck. Some Media column they have. Oh wait, I forgot, I do not read the Sun, so maybe they did cover it. (4/6/07) Washington radio would be lucky if big Steve Allan returns to his roots at a station in our area. I worked with him when we were just out of U of Md at WLMD in Laurel. Smooth pipes and great music sense, even back then. He invented the Oatmeal for Brains Breakfast Club. --Longstreet Jones (4/6/07) If the owners of the Baltimore Examiner had any clue, they would pay the Hearst kids a pittance for the Baltimore News-American name, which technically was Baltimore's oldest continuously published newspaper when it folded. When I think of The Examiner, I think of the San Francisco Examiner, I just don't get a local connection vibe from that name. I think that is the problem with the whole Examiner business model. In Washington, why not pick up the Washington Star name as well? I can't imagine that the owners of those 2 newspaper names are currently reaping any profits from those names, but they do have and own a legacy of old local stories and even some national. I actually have a copy of The Baltimore News Post (which became the News-American) from the day JFK was shot. Face it, young people are not buying newspapers anyway, but middle-aged and older people who still do still remember The Star and The News-American and like old dogs that hate new tricks, they'll probably not check out either edition of The Examiner in either city in my opinion. (4/6/07) Tony K, kill the Peter Yarrow bit. It was marginally funny when it started, but you're running it into the ground. - Stu (4/6/07) isn't this what killed Greaseman? www.nbc4.com (4/6/07) WHIO TV hasn't yet removed Steve Summers (formerly of WBOC) from their website www.whiotv.com (4/6/07) Imus is an idiot. Did his comments hit the air here, or was someone at the station fast enough on the DUMP button to wipe the comment clear? Where are all the social-sensitivity groups yelling and screaming about it like they did at WARW some 8-9 years ago? (4/6/07) RE: 100KHI.. those calls are taken by Great Scott---107.5 Joe FM is WKHI. But, if you flash a nice shiny Benz to Mitch Scott, I'm sure he'd sell those calls....seing that the current WKHI is not marketed and gets low numbers anyway. (4/6/07) Dave, This story is on News Blues.com. It is about Steve Summers who used to be a Lead Anchor at WBOC-TV in Salisbury. He has been let go from his current position. Steve Summers, weekend anchor and reporter at WHIO-TV in Dayton, was fired yesterday. He joined the station in October. Last weekend, while anchoring, Summers was heard on the air saying stuff you shouldn't say on TV. In February 2006, Summers resigned from WBOC in Salisbury after 18 years. At the time, tipsters told Newsblues that twenty minutes before a newscast, Summers something to the effect that he had had 'enough of this sh*t,' stormed out of the station, got into his car and drove off." (4/6/07) The SUN is SMOKING something all right, but trust me, it's not another newspaper! Watching their coverage of Maryland politics practically turning into a third world socialist circus this past legislative session makes me think of PRAVDA. Isn't that what you get when all of the politicians, media, and "free press" are reading from the same page, the party in power is caught with the keys to the voting machines and everyone, including the constitutionally inelligible attorney general, looks the other way? Oh, excuse me, they did do one "token" Repub story and one "token" Dem scandal story the other day, but other than that they've been earning lots of O'Malley Frequent BJ points the past few months. It's been sickening to watch. I would post my complaints aganst the SUN individually in detail, but I don't think DCRTV has enough bandwidth for a daily anti-SUN rant. We can only hope the new TRIBUNE owners will just give up when they see the mess that is The Sun and just fold the once great paper before it tarnishes its illustrious history anymore. (4/6/07) The Baltimore Examiner gives you news, sports, entertainment, ads, and about three comics in a space the size of the Sun's LIVE section. There's no comparison. The Trib's run-on-the-cheap version of the Sun is still better. I can't imagine someone who likes to read newspapers dropping the Sun because of the Examiner. I do like the Examiner's coverage of local sports; they cover teams the Sun long ago deemed unworthy. I read the Examiner-hey it only takes about two minutes or so-but judging from the number of handmade "NO FREE PAPERS" signs at the end of driveways in my neighborhood, I may be the only one. BTW, if being free and thrown into driveways unsolicited all over the region DOESN'T give you the largest circulation, something's really wrong. Howie (4/6/07) Imus really put his foot in his mouth here. At least it wasn't MLK Day.... www.wnbc.com (4/6/07) So JV got the prodo gig at WJFK, eh? Somebody better tell the webmaster at cbsradio.com; the ad for the position is still active. (4/6/07) Dear all, I'm sure by now you've heard of this town's newest political website and newspaper: The Politico? They've made news and been news and here is your chance to know them better and also get an expert's look at the '08 Presidential race. The Politico's editor, John F. Harris, will be interviewed at The Q&A Cafe on Thursday, April 12. John was the national political editor of The Washington Post before he helped launch the new contender on the political block. He's also the author of "The Survivor," an engrossing look at the life and times of Bill Clinton, and co-author of "How To Win," which focuses on the already started race for the White House. Make your reservations now with Jon Moss at 202.338.2000. As always, the doors open at noon, the program begins at 12:30, the fee is $35, all inclusive, and anyone can come. Next up, on Thursday, April 19 - Jeff Gannon, on Sex, Politics and White House access. Please hit the Q&A Cafe TV link on the website to catch up on recent interviews you may have missed: DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier, TV talker Chris Matthews, possible prez candidate Fred Thompson; Carly Fiorina; author Susan Isaacs; Kenneth Adelman; journalist extraordinaire Bob Woodward; news anchors Jim Vance and Gordon Peterson. This week's interview with sportscaster George Michael should be up Friday. NOTE: If you have bookmarked nathanslunch.com, please change the bookmark to nathansgeorgetown.com. The former website is out of date and will be shut down soon. Carol Joynt (4/6/07) /\ April 6 Messages /\ \/ April 5 Messages \/ Ref: Clear Channel/100KHI & Froggy - Didn't The "Hitman" do mornings for Bill Parris a summer or two ago on KHZ? Hmmmm sending the Frog down the dial to 95.9 and bringing back the ole 100KHI with Hitman would make for very interesting Eastern Shore radio, huh? (4/5/07) Speaking of WEAM - XM's 60s on 6 does a salute to 1390 WEAM's Top 40 days tomorrow (4/6) from 4:00-9:00 PM. Always a lot of fun with the old jingles and airchecks etc. etc. - - - - - Larry in Luray (4/5/07) From my calculations, WAMU started with three full time reporters and will end up with three full time reporters. From what I hear, they also now have another part time reporter. That sounds like more, not less. They've now even got local news until 9pm. That newsroom now trains students from AU and other universities and there are even some formerly out of work journalists earning cash and getting experience. Some have already been hired at NPR and WTOP. WAMU radio people have been moving on for years. Just look at NPR and other places around town. They can PAY more. There are former WAMU newspeople everywhere. (4/5/07) Kay Summers you say you have openings for 2 reporters. You've least 4. A little spin in the DCRTV mailbag perhaps? (4/5/07) With news of the death on 3/20 of WEAM's "Lonesome Guy", I recalled that this Saturday, April 7th, marks sixty years since the first day of broadcasting on Arlington's AM 1390kc. Read about WEAM's rocky start in 1947 at DCMemories.com (4/5/07) DCRTV Dave: check out www.localtvllc.com before the webmaster changes it. Someone is having way too much fun with Photoshop. Al McGilvray (4/5/07) The Sun SMOKES the Examiner...it's not even close. Unless you work for the Ex or are seriously delusional, that should be apparent. (4/5/07) Hi Dave- Thanks for putting up the information about James White. He'll be greatly missed. Just hoping to add some clarity to the second posting on the dcrtv homepage... WAMU 88.5 currently has openings for 2 full-time reporters, 1 full-time assignment editor, and a full-time on-air host. As a department of American University, we find places for qualified interns wherever possible in all departments in the station - it's part of our responsibility as an educational institution - but the newsroom is and will remain professionally staffed. For any source to suggest otherwise is simply incorrect. Kay Summers, Director of Public Information, WAMU 88.5 (4/5/07) Hey Dave, No Happy 1st Birthday to The Baltimore Examiner? I know you have ranted about The Washington Examiner, but the Baltimore paper has done well & is better than anything coming out of Calvert Street or Sun Park. They have ran a lot of important stories & brought up a lot of issues that the other Baltimore paper hasn't or simply chose to ignore. Happy 1st Birthday Baltimore Examiner!!! . The largest circulation paper in Baltimore & Maryland. Thanks for starting up & rescuing us from the Sun. Yes, I asked the question about Rod Daniels last week Ed & no one replied. (4/5/07) Dave's response: Regarding the DC Examiner, not a bad little paper. But it still doesn't have its distribution shit together. I continue to find those red boxes in the Reston area filled with old, out-of-date papers..... What's happened to Rod Daniels? He hasn't been on TV 11 news for at least 3 weeks. Is he sick? Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (4/5/07) I'm confused why the Nigel "act" is getting bashed in the mailbag. I don't remember seeing these positings when he was on WTEM playing the same part. Might it be that people like trashing WTWP whenever they can? and maybe that is because they would really love to trash WTOP, but the ratings and revenue kinda prevent that? I'm just trying to figure it out, because I think Nigel is a riot. the accent, his comments, etc... Count me as one of his fans! (4/5/07) Don & Mike tied with Sean Hannity for 10th place, funny. I can understand Don & Mike being low after the long layoff that has the had the potential effect of killing their show--or killing what's left of their tired show. I never noticed Hannity's ratings before and assumed that they were higher. I guess Rush Limbaugh's lead-in isn't as strong as I once assumed it is at WMAL. JOHN IN STAFFORD (4/5/07) I thought I heard either Kornheiser or one of his show's toadies make an ethnic slur on today's show. Apparently he thought it was okay because it was aimed at the Irish, and not one of the groups that are protected by the politically correct crowd. Such utter hypocrisy. (4/5/07) I got the official word from Michelle Webb, the Executive Producer of Verizon FiOS1 on when it and MASN2 will be available in Howard County for Verizon FiOS customers: "Thank you for contacting us. Please know how much we value and appreciate your business. Verizon FiOSTV is in the process of finalizing the plans to carry MASN2 on all the Verizon FiOS TV lineups, no later than the end of next week. When we do carry it, MASN 2 will appear on STB channel 1, but that channel will not include FiOS1 programming in Howard County. To clarify - the websites do not list MASN2 as being on FiOS1, but on FiOS TV channel 1 - a subtle difference. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. I will alert the relevant parties of the trouble you had getting information from the call centers. Again, please know Verizon is committed to providing you with the best customer experience. Thank you, Michelle Webb, Executive Producer, FiOS1" (4/5/07) Heard from two different sources today that Clear Channel Salisbury is a done deal. The new owners are Bill Parris and Sid Abel. Parris was VP of Operations for United Broadcasting in Bethesda. You may remember Abel from THUNDER 107. So let’s really get the rumors going. Parris is an old CHR guy. Remember WLPL? Parris was a former Billboard Magazine Program Director of the Year. He claims to know much about that format, but he doesn’t know much about the country format. And since Bill is notorious for “hands on” programming (just ask any program director who worked under him), does that mean Froggy 99 moves down the dial to 95.9 and CHR returns to 99.9? Many people here on the shore still talk about the old 100 KHI. Could be very interesting. (4/5/07) Dave's response: Reliable sources tell DCRTV that the above sale is total bullshit..... I saw this morning's post about the news changes going on at WAMU, and I think the News Director Jim Asendio has done a great job with what he has been given. The department is still trying to find their role in their community as WETA has changed formats, and doesn't want to pigeon-hole itself to commercial radio coverage but doesn't want to isolate itself from what really matters in the community. The reason why they are relying so heavily on interns right now is because of some temporary short-staffing issues. The interns obviously can't replace professional full-time reporters...because they don't operate as reporters, they operate as writers who's copy is continuously edited. For the only public broadcast newsroom in the District, I think they are doing a fine job and just going through some growing pains. (4/5/07) WTWP's ratings are so low, 0.7 12+, that a demographic break out of a day part is in the realm of statistical error. A single diary entry can cause a swing. The 0.0 to 1.7 25 to 54 didn't even change the 0.7 total audience. I would hope that WTWP doesn't get too excited until they show an upward trend. It's ironic that the tweaking they are doing will not affect WMAL's ratings, but if they become a good radio station the ratings that are impacted will be WTOP's. If they sell in combination, the total audience will be higher than just WTOP, because they will share listeners. If WTOP really wants to hurt WMAL, they should do Talk. Nothing wrong with WaPo talk, but to hurt WMAL it will have to be better (not easy with Limbaugh and established personalities) or different (possible, but it would still have to be center or a little to the right - - radical lefties like me don't have time for talk radio, it requires long TSL). Ed Graham (4/5/07) Did anyone see Andrea Roane dancing this morning on the 9AM news? She was all dressed up and looked wonderful! (4/5/07) Listening to Dennis Miller on WAGE. Actually sounds pretty good!! Seems to me he would be a pretty good fit on WJFK, better then O'Reilly. (4/5/07) Love your item on Dennis Miller! www.extrememortman.com... Cheers! -- Howard (4/5/07) Love the D&M post. It’s like when my Mom would cheer at the instant reply during the Redskins game. But the truth is it COULD have been a live D&M show because they are just doing the same old stuff. (4/5/07) Not sure what the one poster was talking about. In December WTWP had a .5 25-54 and since has built to a 1.7 in February. I'm not sure the poster in question understands trends and extraps. At the same time WMAL had a 1.5 in December and had a 1.3 in February. WTWP 25-54 cume in morning drive increased each month from December to February and other vital signs such as time spent listening showed nice increases. In addition when you look at the past three full trends WMAL 6- 10 a.m. has gone 2.0 (Fall Book) to 1.9 (Nov-Dec-Jan) to a 1.8 in the latest trend (Dec-Jan-Feb) WTWP 6- 10 has grown from .6 (Fall Book) to .7 (Nov-Dec-Jan) to 1.0 (Dec-Jan-Feb) and as earlier stated the February extap shows WTWP with a 1.7 and WMAL with a 1.3 The fact of the matter is WTWP is trending up and WMAL is trending down. We have a horse race and let's see what March brings. (4/5/07) Dave, I thought you would get a kick out of these pictures I took a few minutes ago at the WSM Radio Blaw-Knox Tower and Transmitter Site outside of Nashville. I'm sending the pictures from along the roadside next to the transmitter site with the station on in the background! Scott (4/5/07) Clearly some posters here do NOT know how to interpret Arbitron numbers. Trend numbers Arbitron releases are a rolling average that still includes numbers from the Fall Book. Every GSM and PD in town gets out a calculator or uses a program like X-traps to see what the actual monthly number was. That's why an "extrap" is far more valuable than the Trend number. (4/5/07) What does the Washington Post really bring to the table for WaPo Radio? They can't even be bothered to update the website in a timely fashion. Bonneville should go it alone. Make it a good talk station, a news/talk counterpart to TOP. With a classy website like wtopnews.com (4/5/07) Do Dan Hellie and Lindsay Czarniak share the lead sports anchor position at WRC? Dan seems to get stuck with a lot of weekends which makes him look like a second banana, but both of them were in Atlanta for the Final 4 working side by side and they seem to switch during the week. I have a tough time buying Lindsay as the lead, probably because it seems like she will be moving on to bigger things with the network resulting from her 'mentor' relationship with King George. While sports anchor in DC is not a bad place to build a career, I don't see anyone helping Dan onto the next level. (4/5/07) The spin on the WaPo station and George is hard to take. WaPo has a .8 and is ranked at the bottom. There is no traction now or ever. If George has "GMS numbers" with a 2.3 share then I must have been reading the Arbitron survey wrong the last 5 years. That 2.3 will turn in to a 1.8 when the full book comes out next month. No marketing, commercials or promotion gets you a 1.8 and a wasted signal. WaPo and Triple X are the two biggest failures in DC Broadcasting history. (4/5/07) I read that John Seigenthaler, who handled NBC's weekend news for the past 11 years, has been let go due to budget cuts (gee, haven't seen enough of those by now?). His salary is probably outside the price range of WJLA or WUSA - but it would be nice if one of those could pick him up and put some quality behind the anchor desk. Not a sermon, just a thought. Dave in Fredericksburg (4/5/07) I caught maybe 30 seconds of the Don & Mike show this afternoon getting in my car, and Don was gloating about his interview with Garry Shandling. Garry Shandling? Are you kidding me? A quick look at his bio on IMDB shows that the guy hasn't done anything memorable since 1998 when he was the VOICE of a penguin in Dr. Doolittle. Yet another reason why I don't listen to the show any more. And by the way, great ratings, guys! You're #10 in the afternoons, tied with WMAL! I don't know whether to congratulate WMAL for getting to #10 or laugh at WJFK for being tied with them. Maybe both. Oh, and great website D&M. Your "Daily Log" hasn't been updated since 3/22. (4/5/07) Dave's response: It was a rerun. D&M are on vacation..... Speaking of MASN... It was just added to Bay Country Communications today. BCC serves Dorchester County-and Cambridge. They replaced WUSA-TV9 for MASN. (4/5/07) thank you for all the work that you do to provide an interesting and informative blog! I was curious about the ratings numbers. Is there any way to look at the numbers for a specific time slot. I am very interested to see how WCBM is doing with Rush in the 12-3 pm slot compared to WBAL. with WBAL shaking up (or just adjusting) their afternoon lineup, it makes me wonder how the two stations compare since WBAL dumped Rush. On a side note, it's difficult to listen to WBAL anymore, with the incredible am