dcrtv.com - Mailbag - May 19 to May 24, 2007

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DCRTV Mailbag - May 19 to May 24, 2007

Latest messages listed first.....
\/ May 24 Messages \/

Am surprised that no one has posted a birthday wish to one of the most incredible voices of our generation, the incomparable Miss Patty LaBelle who turned 63 today. Back to the Crabby Appleton thing. Not only, do I have the original Elektra 45 single of "Go Back", I also own the original vinyl LP record (in pristine condition). The flip side of "Go Back" was a tune called "Try" which showcased the fine drumming of Phil Jones and Percussionist Flaco Falcon.. As a musician, I appreciate stuff like that! Love you Trivia Fans! Rusty Gibson (5/24/07)

Don't believe that Stan Karas worked at WHFS. He DID work at WHMC-1150, now WMET-1160, and he hired Al Ross to be the morning man. He also did not work on WRC-FM when the Great 98 took over in late 1972. I was working at NBC then and remember that time very well. The picture with John Masterman is undated, but probably comes from the 1960's. The picture of Tippy Stringer with Ed Walker at the WRC studios at the Wardman Park hotel from 1957 is for Ed Graham. (By the way, Ed, she didn't wait for you because Chet had all the money!) Dave in Annandale (5/24/07)

Dave, you REALLY have a giant hard-on for Bonneville. Why? (5/24/07)

Dave's response: Mormons are sexy!

Hey Radio Uncle Bob Mathers: You knew that I would have to chime in on the New Colony Six thread. I love "At the River's Edge" with it's edgy sound, raw sound. This tune was included on the Nuggets collection and it's my understanding that founder, Ray Graffia, Jr. preferred the edgy sound over the ballads. I like "Treat Her Groovy" too. Kudos to Ed Jones for these great questions and the Rust Man too. Blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC) (5/24/07)

92.3 K-Rock "The Rock of New York" Is Back!!! www.923krock.com (5/24/07)

Dave's response: Now, if they could get Howard Stern back to do mornings that might be something.....

If I didn't enjoy Kornheiser's writing (back when he actually wrote) or his occasional TV show stints, I wouldn't have listened to his radio show twice. He's a funny writer, good on TV, but that barky nasal tone and sarcasm come across very poorly on radio. It's just like the innertubes, you don't always get the sarcasm without the imagery unless there's a big "well DUHHHHHH" afterwards. (5/24/07)

RE: " Rumors are swirling that FREE FM in NYC is flipping formats this weekend. I guess O&A always WHINE in the end. Keep up the good work boyz ..." Soooooo sorry. O&A are still the morning show on K-Rock. They're even helping kick off the music tonight so I guess O&A does ALWAYS WIN IN THE END!!! Bwaah-haaaaa!!!! Kevin in HdG, MD. (5/24/07)

I was one of the lucky folks to work with Stan Karas...first at WEAM and then at the WITH in Baltimore during their "Big Band" days. What a master! Always the ultimate professional, Stan would spread his enthusiasm about radio and the music we were presenting to all around him. I always considered Stan my mentor because he taught me the ropes, gave me an opportunity to showcase the wonderful music of the 30s and 40s with a free hand, and was always interested in new and innovative ways of presenting a form of programming that now has disappeared from commercial radio. WEAM and WITH, with Stan at the helm, were close knit families due to his spirit and devotion to those who worked with him. Rick Colom (5/24/07)

If you mention McGuinness Flint, you gotta pronounce D.O.A. by Bloodrock? Then, segue over to ‘Once You Understand’, by Think featuring Lou Stallman. (5/24/07)

For over a year, I have been asking why Hollander still had a job. I knew that Dan Mason would not keep bad radio on the air just because it was there. Hollander, after messing up many stations and formats, started this stupid "Free FM' thing. In fact, he hired David Lee Roth to attract YOUNG PEOPLE. Reminds me of the, "Beach Boys are an acid rock group." I look forward to seeing Mason fix DC and Baltimore. Could happen. WTWP can't blame ARBITRON for bad radio. Aside to Dave: Thanks for the Tippy Stringer photos. I was in love with her when I was a little boy. Had to put new aluminum foil on the rabbit ears when she did the weather. Ed Graham (Never understood why she married Chet and didn't wait for me to grow up.) (5/24/07)

Hi Dave - I have a question. You had a comment in your column a little while ago regarding three meterologists I think it was WUSA Channel 9. You said in your column that one of them was in jail. I remember seeing one of the meterologists in the picture, but I can't remember his name. Doug Hill was in the picture also, I think. Could you tell where in DCRTV Plus I could find this article? Thank you. Sue (5/24/07)

Dave's response: That's Bill Kamal. We have a pic and write-up about him on Page 22 of our Photo Gallery at DCRTV Plus.....

Regarding your TK comments. Yes, sometimes I wonder about the substance of the show, but most of the time I find it to be amusing. Anyways, I'm in my 60s, there isn't one radio station in the DC area playing music I think fit to listen to, and my only other choices (considering the reception in my office) are the idiots on WTEM and Chris Core (watch me vomit after 5 minutes of listening to those right-winged bigots). So, its TK to the end in June. Skipper (5/24/07)

"It's my duty as webmaster of this site to listen to ALL local radio, good and bad....." With all the time you spend listening to Kornheiser, how do you have time to hear all the other radio stations? (5/24/07)

Dave's response: Sure. I'll often listen to Tony Kornheiser, the Junkies, Chris Core, Elliot Segal, WTMD, WTOP, and the Globe at the same time on different receivers. The neighbors often complain about all the noise.....

If we are going to explore obscure hits...how about this one: When I'm Dead And Gone by McGuinness Flint? (5/24/07)

The Great 98 website had a Stan Karas blurb up on Wednesday afternoon and they mentioned that he worked at WHFS with Barry Richards. I was not aware of that. Did Chaconas own the station then? Talk about strange bedfellows! (5/24/07)

Dave's response: That's at www.98wrc.com.....

OK...now that we've started this "Trivia" thing I've got one for you. LA based group had one local hit back in 1970, appeared here in DC for WPGC the group was called Jamul, name the song! Also there was another local chart song...Sympathy, who sang it? PLB (5/24/07)

The New Colony Six offered up some great song arrangements in their day. ‘Ling’ mentioned ‘Things I’d Like To Say’. EXCELLENT angst-driven strings in that one, fer sure, fer sure. Good observation, Dave. Then, there’s ‘I Will Always Think About You’, the other hit that Ed Jones alluded to in his thread-starter. That was a similar type tune. Now, yet another little gem by Ronnie Rice, Les Kummel and the boys from Chicagoland is ‘Barbara, I Love You’, out of ’70 or ‘71. Not only does the cut contain more of those wonderful NCS strings, but you’ll hear some sweet harmonizing on the end of the song, too. Keep it going, Mr. Jones. Next trivia question, please? - Bob Mathers (5/24/07)

I was up in Garrett County, Maryland, about a hour Southwest of Cumberland on Tuesday. Around noon time, I was getting radio stations from Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. I was able to positively ID: 94.9 WMGE Miami (Spanish format, was able to figure out this one from all the advertisements for area code 305 numbers), 89.7 WMCU "Spirit FM" Miami, 100.7 WYPY Baton Rouge, LA, 97.9 KZBB B-98 Potaeu OK, KLSZ Rock 100.7 from Fort Smith AK. (5/24/07)

dave, for someone who thinks Tony's show is "horrible" it seems you listen a lot. Not many loyal listeners could reel off as much information about his show as you just did. (5/24/07)

Dave's response: It's my duty as webmaster of this site to listen to ALL local radio, good and bad.....

So the answer to the trivia question is the New Colony Six. I just heard their hit "Things I'd Like To Say" on an internet oldies station called richbroradio.com and it sounded great. --Dave Arlington (5/24/07)

The radio site All Access is confirming that Free FM in New York has been taken off the air. It's apparently stunting until a new format debuts. Watch for an announcement within a day or so. (5/24/07)

WINX comes in fine beginning around the exit for Parole – almost to the other side of Salisbury. One wonders… if a mousetrap is set in Easton… (5/24/07)

Dave, I agree with your rant today. But for years now everyday we hear the horrific news that our own troops have been killed over there. It's almost sickening that this really occurs and we have to read about it everyday. I think shows like American Idol give us a break from having to think about that for the moment. There is nothing we really can do about this war. We completely changed congress and it still is going on. They did the best they could to get that bill through last week, but the President still has ultimate authority. So until his term is over, we will unfortunately be reading stuff like that. We should always know what is going, but if something like American Idol is going on too, then that gives us a little bit of a mental break from having to deal with the reality at hand. (5/24/07)

Well, on the Radio Chick's website she speaks of the demise of WFNY. Quoted from her site, "Today the news isn't good, Chick fans. They blew up the station, and there won't be much talking on it anymore. Check my blog in a couple hours and I'll tell you more." Also, on the WFNY website all the have is a countdown timer that is at 5:15:31 and counting down. I guess at 5 PM today, they are going to make the switch over to the rock format. (5/24/07)

For those of us here in Culpeper who knew Stan Karas, he will be sorely missed. It was not unusual to see Stan in town with a big smile on his face or waving to somebody and saying "How are you doing" and meaning it. It was a common site to see Stan eating lunch or dinner in the Frost Cafe with a member of Town Council, the Board of Supervisors or the Chief of Police trying to convince them to come on his Channel 21 program to discuss current issues facing the Culpeper area. For those who may want to attend the visitation or funeral service, traffic on Main Street in Culpeper backs up at the light for Rte 522, the turnoff for the funeral home. Get in the right lane as soon as you pass the second 7-11 and McDonalds. It is because of people like Stan, the DC metro area is such a great place to live. (5/24/07)

"Roll On" was recorded by New Colony Six - Barnie Pip (5/24/07)

RE: "***RE: "the difference in calling WINX-FM an Annapolis station is that you can't pick 94.3 up in Annapolis!" I drove between Easton and Annapolis every day and 94.3 comes in just fine in both areas.*** No, it doesn't. It starts fading on Route 50. And the canned deejay voices are always different than the song on the radio and the weather is always for a different day. My little brother says its like radio from Mars. And the races always sound tinny likean am station. WAAI is the cool coutnry station on the shore. Maya" Sure it fades on Rt. 50, on my radio(s) it fades west of Annapolis. I never said it was a good station, just that I have NO problem picking up 94.3 in two different cars in Annapolis. (5/24/07)

In answer to the trivia question I posted yesterday as to who recorded "Roll On", I'll wait until more guesses come in. Here is a clue; this group hails from the Chicago area and they had a top ten hit in 1968 and a top 30 in 1969. If no one comes up with the answer, you will be truly surprised. Any word on Jason Kidd's return to Baltimore? Nothing's been posted about him since he came to JACK FM. Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (5/24/07)

Free FM countdown - www.923freefm.com (5/24/07)

Dave's response: I imagine Philly's WYSP will join NYC's WFNY (formerly WXRK) in the flip back to rock.....

I am glad that O & A are off of XM. Hope they are off for good. We don't need trash talking people like that on the radio. I can't understand why anyone would cancel their sub and smash their radios of these jerks. (5/24/07)

Sorry to read in dcrtv that Stan Karas died. When I was a kid growing up in Potomac, one of my neighborhood friends was the son of Al Ross, who was the morning man on WRC-AM in the early ‘60s. His son and I were about the same age and hung out together. One fall Sunday morning, I was invited to go boating with Alan and his parents on the “cabin cruiser” of Stan Karas. We left the marina down by the Pentagon and motored south down the river towards Alexandria and Mt. Vernon, all the while listening to the Redskins on the radio on the boat. Stan was the nicest guy you’d want to meet and we had a great time. While I didn’t listen to much overnight radio, I do remember catching snippets of his show from time to time. BTW, my connection to Al Ross via his son, led to us getting a lot of rock & roll 45s that would come into WRC from record companies and then would never get played as R&R didn’t fit their format back then. But I do remember hearing “Ruby Tuesday” well before it’s official release in the US on a British version. Peter in Rockville (5/24/07)

Holy smokes, it’s cheeseface??!! Could have knocked me over with a feather. I thought it was going to be the polky-dot lady. (5/24/07)

Ron’s rant about FreeFM (on XM show) putstuff.putfile.com... Ron’s sign off last night (FreeFM) media.putfile.com... (5/24/07)

You can slice it any way that you want but Washington Post Radio is a complete failure. The failure occurred at the time of conception. The vast majority do not want or care for this product. Signal, call letters, management, TK....nobody cares. The Dan Snyder venture is the same. The failure occurred at the time of conception. Did anyone really think that "those" signals would work? Is Snyder that arrogant that he thought his mighty Redskins would counter the pathetic distribution system? The only difference between the two failures are that Snyder hired a manager who compounded the problem by way over spending. At least it was a fast death, unlike the slow and painful trip to the end that the Post radio will suffer. (5/24/07)

Dave's response: Tony Kornheiser's show is just plain horrible. Leading the show with "American Idol" crap every damn day, "who cares" interviews with boring sports guys on the phone, "aren't I important" name dropping, rich guy bitching about very minor financial gripes with the poor slobs at companies like Verizon, "revolving" and somewhat anonymous female hosts that keep "the gals" in their place (not too important to overshadow the big male host), and a cast of third-class radio freaks (sorry Nigel) who laugh hysterically at Tony's every unfunny word (out of fear, I guess). The feigning praise for other Post stooges, many of whom are Ivy League (we're reminded). "Wonderful article Lisa (de Moraes)." Again and again and again and again. And I haven't even gotten started on the annoying New York accent (and I was born there) and the "p-popping" and lip smacking. And all those old tunes! He claims to love music and then spits venom about greats like David Bowie, REM, and the Pretenders! Am I alone here? Everyday, it seems, we have to be reminded that "my 21-year-old son" attends a fancy, expensive school. His daughter, too. Sheesh! The show stinks, big time. It's dreary and awful from beginning to end. And then they replay the blasted thing! Argh.....

Ed: It looks like we've got some pretty sharp folks here in "Mailbag" as "Go Back" was indeed recorded by "Crabby Appleton" and their name was derived from the "Tom Terrific" cartoon series on Capt. Kangaroo. Though I'm sorry to report, I have no idea about "Roll On". My first reaction was "Alabama (probably incorrect). Rusty Gibson (5/24/07)

Crabby Appleton from the Tom Terrific cartoons (mentioned by several previous posts) (5/24/07)

Rumors are swirling that FREE FM in NYC is flipping formats this weekend. I guess O&A always WHINE in the end. Keep up the good work boyz ... (5/24/07)

Dave's response: Oh my God. The Titanic (Free FM) sinks and the lifeboat (XM) has a hole in it. Help.....

Hi Dave, I hope you’re doing well … and thanks for keeping all us old DC radio guys informed … no matter where we are. I’ve been in Orlando for the past 6 years doing voiceover and production work. I’m sorry to hear of the passing of Stan Karas. We worked together at Big band WEAM back in the early 80’s. I owe him a great deal in my radio career. He provided me with tremendous opportunities and helped grow my skills on and off air in the radio industry. Just yesterday I tried to contact him at the TV station in Culpepper where he was working. Stan was supposed to come to Florida soon and we were going to get together and go over old times. I hadn’t seen him in years. Sadly they told me Stan was in hospice care and was not expected to make it. Apparently his cancer had passed to his brain. He’ll be missed by Washington radio fans, going way back to his days at WRC, and to people like me, Dave Adler, Vera Summers, Tom Shedlick, and many others who worked with him at WEAM during the big band format years. Godspeed to his family and please let me know if you have received any funeral information. *JT* (5/24/07)

RE: "Since there are multiple posters on here that are willing to stick up for the special interest groups and corporations with this little argument that we're having dealing with "free speech" here....." /// My first comments regarding this squabble. I see this as a media issue and about business, more than about free speech, per se. As with the Imus situation, somehow an uncalculated throw away comment got picked up by the media and morphed from a dung heap into a mountain. This seems similar to what has happened to O&A. I think it's still more about the merger and XM trying to get ahead of the political correctness crowd and the media curve, when they have important business in the Federal hopper. The last thing they needed is extended discussion in the media for a couple of deejays who have already famously been reprimanded for a prior bad act. I think anyone who owns XM, and cares enough to protest should do so, but ultimately since the Feds have nothing to do with this situation, and I think the claims of censorship get kind of thin. And Kevin, I don't think the Eric the Midget example works, as you probably know a character named Hank the Angry Dwarf drank himself to death a few years ago and that was on terrestrial radio. I don't recall any outcry against Stern from the dwarf community or anyone else. Stern is much more bullet proof for a variety of reasons than O&A or Imus. I think it's much more curious that after XM made them apologize and suspended them, that they get to carry on their CBS show like nothing ever happened. It would seem to me if their comedy faux pas was so vile, why wouldn't it transcend and follow them to CBS? What is more interesting to me is the weird cabal of bloggers and media minnows that start stirring the pot then wait and see if any of the regular big fish in the political correctness crowd or word police start paying attention to any given issue. Since I didn't hear the naughty homeless guy ranting myself, I don't know if it was funny or not, but clearly you don't need to be a Mensa member to know that if you are going to broadcast hardcore sexual innuendo and statements involving the Secretary of State or the President's wife, or even the President, you are pushing the envelope pretty hard, and more than a few people are going to find it in poor taste. I do find it troubling that every word and joke seems to be getting parsed by people that I wouldn't want washing my boxers, but this is the reality in the information age: everyone is a critic, has an opinion, or is a self-described expert and they don't mind beating a drum with others to get attention. They are simply exercising their free speech. It's more about why a corporation would fold so easily from pressure from so few, as in the Imus case, more so than what seems like more obvious reasons with O&A and XM, considering the tenuous state of satellite radio. On a free speech/censorship scale of 1-10, I think this rates about a 2. (5/24/07)

***RE: "the difference in calling WINX-FM an Annapolis station is that youcan't pick 94.3 up in Annapolis!" I drove between Easton and Annapolisevery day and 94.3 comes in just fine in both areas.*** No, it doesn't. It starts fading on Route 50. And the canned deejay voices are always different than the song on the radio and the weather is always for a different day. My little brother says its like radio from Mars. And the races always sound tinny likean am station. WAAI is the cool coutnry station on the shore. Maya (5/24/07)

Sad to hear about Stan Karras' passing. I was thinking about him this evening, driving past the WMAL towers on the beltway . . . . Stan (WRC-AM & FM) was partners with George Wilson (WMAL)and Irwin Lust (theatre lighting) and Stan Brandorf and Ron Canada (now a pretty well known actor)in a small firm of friends that owned the Villa Rosa Dinner Theatre in the early 70s. I stage managed there while I worked my way through an RTVF degree at U of Md, and had a blast getting to know these guys. . . . There were many nights after shows at the Villa Rosa that Stan would invite me to sit in with him during his show at WRC, before The Great 98. In those years, there were board ops at WRC-AM, and Stan's contract called for a break from 4:00am til 5:00am, when he'd run down to a diner joint on Wisc Ave, a couple of blocks north of the Dancing Crab, for bagels and coffee, and then slide back into the chair just in time for the 4:59:50 id . . . . He was a great guy. When the Great 98 format flipped, I think they moved Stan to WRC-FM, where he did a show . . . as did Paul Anthony, I think. And, for some reason, WMAL did Sunday mornings from Greentree Rd, and I remember sitting in with George Wilson several times at Greentree . . . Anybody know what George is up to these days? I think he was living down in Calvert County, near Cobb Island, last I heard . . . It was great to have well established, senior guys in our field who were great mentors to youngsters in the field . . . (5/24/07)

The rumors have been floating that the FreeFM stations in NY and Philly will flip completely by Memorial Day weekend, so it's not just R&F if it is true. The San Francisco FreeFM did just flip, with the talent going to "FreeAM." Ron and Fez's first full NY book was a Godzilla-like - very strong - HUGE numbers. During their XM show today, Ron "joked" (maybe not) about being thanked by the CBS people for "saving the format" because of the book, but then "two guys made Chinese jokes" (a reference to JV and Elvis, who were recently let go). It's a post-Imus world we live in. (5/24/07)

Dave's response: Seriously folks, maybe they ought to do the same thing at JFK. Keep the Junks in mornings and D&M in afternoons, and make it music the rest of the time. Other than those two shows, there really isn't anything else to listen to these days (and nights and weekends) on 106.7. Maybe go back to what HFS was doing on 99.1, a young male-skewing "hard" alt rock format - something that wouldn't "step on the toes" of CBS's co-owned AAA-ish Globe. If Michael Hughes could get the Redskins to return to JFK, maybe he'd have a path to salvation for the station.....

RE: Dave's Question: "I wonder what kind of numbers they're generating on NYC's WFNY?" Funny you should say that because Ronnie was just saying today, on the XM show, that they were number 2 in their key demographic on WFNY. It seems that 2nd isn't so bad, surely not bad enough to fire them over. Kevin from HdG, MD (5/24/07)

/\ May 24 Messages /\

\/ May 23 Messages \/

Kevin, my compliments, and that is not sarcasm. A well-crafted response to the activity we have been seeing here regarding O&A. Why couldn't you write like this from the outset, rather than resort to cheap whack-off-in-the-basement drivel? I still am taking anything People Against Censorship have to say with a large grain of NaCl. For one thing, they boast over 5,000 members - I would be happy to know the identities of maybe ten (that's only 0.2%) of the more prominent or publicly-known members proud and willing to lend their attention and money to this organization, and what their ties might be - if any - to the O&A situation. Second, I note this page on their website: "A List of Things You Can Do to Help O&A" (peopleagainstcensorship.org) asks that people constantly call XM and "keep calling". Where I come from, this is called harassment. Since Caller ID can track and classify phone numbers in a database, it is easy for XM to see and take action against repeat annoyance callers. Finally, I want to repeat my initial observation that the organization lacks a history to speak of (click the "About" icon to see a whole lot of nothing), and there is no contact information. Through WHOIS, I was able to find a presence in Pennsylvania near Valley Forge, but other than president Debbie Wolf and the mysterious "Franklyn", I see nothing that would make me believe this is anything more than just a couple of opportunistic crybabies with a fancy letterhead and a real good eye for graphics. As always, I am ready to be flamed, but would prefer being proven wrong with cold hard fact. (5/23/07)

Ron Bennington just made it sound like tonight was their final broadcast on FreeFM - not joking, not a bit, he did a heartfelt thanks to the people at CBS in New York, and thanked the listeners for welcoming them back so strong. (5/23/07)

Dave's response: The CBS Radio sources I've talked to say that R&F could never generate any ratings on the DC area's WJFK-FM - during evening or middays. I wonder what kind of numbers they're generating on NYC's WFNY? If it ain't happening, R&F's NYC broadcast radio days could be numbered - or exhausted. Hmmm.....

Crabby Appleton was the villain in the Tom Terrific cartoon series, which ran inside Bob Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo television series, that was broadcast weekday mornings on CBS, opposite The Today Show (NBC). Tom Terrific was a little boy who wore an inverted funnel as a hat. When he had a problem, the hat became his thinking cap. Also featured in the cartoon was the boy's dog Manfred. (5/23/07)

Since there are multiple posters on here that are willing to stick up for the special interest groups and corporations with this little argument that we're having dealing with "free speech" here, then I'll just make this post to address all of you at once. My friends, you will reap what you sow and today this thing is about O&A (it's not just about O&A but whatever) but tomorrow it may be someone you might actually give a crap about. Oh, I know. O&A are bunch of skateboarders that are their own worst enemies. I know, I've heard and read the bashing on here a million times from you guys. Blah-Blah-Blah. But let's look at Imus' situation then. Did he deserve to be fired? Wait a minute, rephrase that....Did he deserve to have some special interest group (especially one headed up by the likes of Sharpton) threaten to boycott, thus creating a situation where his job can be used against him to stifle his freedom of speech? Yeah, I know congress, the FCC or the rest of the dopes in government weren't going after him but where do we say, enough is enough to these special interest groups?? Who, if anyone will be able to stand up to them??? Obviously not CBS. I bring you JV and Elvis now. Again we're back to the special interest groups. At least this time it's not Sharpton. No, this time it's an Asian American anti-defamation group that didn't like that JV and Elvis used a computer generated voice to make a prank call to a Chinese take out restaurant. Another suspension followed by a quick firing after the special interest group started threatening boycotts and, ta-dah, another edgy radio talk show axed for doing what they were hired to do. Now we're up to O&A in this little suspension leading up to whatever will come next, the jury's still out. O&A go on air one day and invite in a homeless man to talk. They've done this before and they realized somewhere along the line that most homeless people have more than a few screws loose up-stairs so this should make for some entertaining radio. So the guy starts to talk and it's working out beautifully. The guy is crazier than bat shit and he thinks he's Richard frickin' Pryor too, so he's cracking all kinds of jokes left and right. He's talking about muggin' old ladies for their checks they get at the first of the month. He's talking about Sharpton, politics and whatever else comes to his warped little mind. This guy is going after anyone and everyone. So finally he wraps it up with the infamous Condeleeza and Laura comments. I'm at work listening to this live and thinking to myself this guy is fucking nuts and he's going to say anything to try and impress O&A and little Jimmy right now but that's where it ended. I didn't think it was too big of a deal. I've heard worse on that channel and on both the Sirius uncensored comedy channel, Raw Dog and XM's uncensored comedy channel 150. Plus, it was on XM so all was supposed to be good. Wrong. It seems some blogger heard the comments and decided to blog about them (In a blog post originally filled with multiple inaccuracies) Drudge then saw this post and decided that it was news worthy and before you know it, XM was forcing the boys to go on air and make an apology for the comments. This apology was then deemed to be insincere by the suits at XM and they then laid down the law with there 30 day suspension. Again, I know there was no government involvement here as well. Hell, in this case there wasn't even a special interest group to really blame this one on but nonetheless, XM caves and suspends O&A for doing exactly what they've done day in and day out since day 1. So basically, if you want to sit here and argue symantecs over what would actually be defined as censorship, then I'm not the guy to do it with you. I have better things to do. But the next time that Howard is talking about his deceased pal, Eric the Midget and this sparks all kinds of outrage from little people's groups around the country demanding that he be fired because he used a word that, to little people, is just as bad as the N word.... Or the next time that Rush calls Barack some clever little phrase that he came up with to describe Obama's mixed race and that sparks calls from mixed race groups all across the fruited plain to boycott his sponsors as well.... Or like I've said before, whoever you listen to says anything remotely politically incorrect or offensive, maybe you should then call the PAC because they'll likely be the only people willing to go out there and defend that show (No matter which show it happens to be) while the rest of the country and this board sits around with their heads buried up their own asses trying to figure out what the TRUE meaning of the word censorship is. I know that it doesn't comfort me any that I know it's not the FCC coming after my favorite radio shows now but some fat blowhard from NY that's willing to do anything to get the cameras to look his way for more than 30 seconds but I guess that's just me..... PS: And thanks for the spelling lessons, assholes. I know how to spell, damn. Jesus Christ, any of you fuck-wads ever hear of a fucking typo???? Kevin from HdG, MD (5/23/07)

Regarding Phil Wood's return to WTEM, 2005 was the thirty-fourth anniversary of Wood telling his listeners that major league baseball would return to Washington the following year. Glad to see that he was finally correct, although some would argue that major league baseball still hasn't returned. (5/23/07)

Madness is apparently hereditary - Deryk Schlessinger got it from his Mom, Dr Laura. Her 21-year old son who is stationed in Afghanistan, follows his Mom's advice to 'Go take on the day' and expands his psychotic military mission to include 'taking on everybody else', too! The Salt Lake Tribune reports: "The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called 'repulsive.' The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned 'My Sweet Little Habib'; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets. www.sltrib.com... DC-based blog, Wonkette, also has coverage on this wonkette.com (5/23/07)

Stan Karas actually was the overnight man on WRC in the ‘60’s. Al Ross was the morning man. (5/23/07)

Looky here, all you dummies arguing over O&A and free speech, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FREE SPEECH, the government said nothing and did not try to stifle their free speech, friggin idiots. Now if the government pulled them from the air then you can talk free speech. XM made a business decision to suspend O&A, only time will tell if it was a good one. You people on this board be dumb sometimes. (5/23/07)

(QUOTE) Keep your nose out of my Constitution. (END QUOTE) Amen, bro'! Let's reread that ol' First Amendment, shall we? "Congress shall make no law ...(the religious part blahblahblah)... abridging the freedom of speech". Sure enough, Congress has never written or passed such a law. The government did not step in and muzzle O&A - the managers of XM removed them from the air because they own the frickin' bird. And unless one knows implicitly what is in O&A's contract with XM, one cannot state here or anywhere that O&A had absolute free rein on any satellite channel. It boils down to this: the Government will never create a law that will take away an American's freedom of speech, but said American had better be ready to deal with the consequences that this particular freedom brings with it. You 'censorship' people are free to voice your dissatisfaction to XM - it's your right - but stand up and take it like a man when others exercise THEIR right to tell you what a transparent pantload the whole movement is. (5/23/07)

I don’t know how the group Crabby Appleton came about their name, but I do know that the Crabby Appleton cartoon character was from Tom Terrific show, broadcast by CBS, I believe, and not from the old Crusader Rabbit show as a previous poster said. (5/23/07)

WaPo Radio gets zero ratings because of call-letter confusion? HAHAHAHAHA! Stop, Dave, your killing me! If that were true, then WTOP ratings would be better on 103.5 (plus the 1500/107.7 mistakes) than they were 15 months ago. But they are not, they are worse! Here is the real, no-spin, non-Bonneville truth. WaPo Radio gets no ratings because it is bad radio.. Sometimes there is just NOT more to the story! Time to sell the frequencies to Dan Snyder so we can hear the Redskins! The Listener (5/23/07)

Just a correction on the Albie D post. 95.5 was WPGC when Albie got to Washington. The call letters had already been changed from WCLY to WPGC, before he got to town. (5/23/07)

(You can still see the day local news in Loudoun County died on WAGE Radio. The news page on their website www.wage.com still has not been updated since the removal of most of the staff, including their news director, back on April 27th.) Oddly enough, if you surf around that website: 1. Potomac Radio (why bother naming your company with any kind of a local connection when you all but abandon local news)... 2. They are still listing obituaries. I wonder if WAGE was listed for April 27th?... 3. They are looking for an account executive (but not a webmaster)... 4. The "hosts" page is blank... 5. The birthday contests page still lists the local shows in a dropdown... Dan Synder could take some lessons from these people. (5/23/07)

*SNIP* As a mimic no one is better than Mike *SNIP* Mike is good, damn good, but I miss Phil Hendrie. THERE was a talent. Insult the retard caller in fake voice, then admonish 'yourself' in real voice and sympathize with retard clueless caller. Some of his arguments with himself in character were priceless. Comedy Gold (5/23/07)

Dave's response: I hear that Phil Hendrie is in jail. He was arrested for stalking himself.....

I'm not sure if the group Crabby Appleton got there name from this source but that was a character on the old Crusader Rabbit show. (5/23/07)

I also commend my Lord Michael on his fortitude over past days. Its like a Junior Mint! Also, I'd like to thank Rob "the hater" for finding the microphone when he speaks. Lately he has blurted out from the back of the studio and is providing massive amounts of dead air. My Lord and Lady either give the bloated toad a mic or tell him to work in another room. SKIMMELL (5/23/07)

RE: "the difference in calling WINX-FM an Annapolis station is that you can't pick 94.3 up in Annapolis!" I drove between Easton and Annapolis every day and 94.3 comes in just fine in both areas. (5/23/07)

Is Big Don really broadcasting from Easton? It sounds like his co-host is on the phone, not in the same studio. Maybe they are both broadcasting from home? I have heard him many times in the past trying to avoid saying that he/the studio is in Annapolis and acting as if he was in Easton. (5/23/07)

Jeez, Dave. I saw a headline that Hughes was named one of Washington Life’s DC Power 100 and got excited. I was set to send you a congratulatory email, but I read further and saw that it was Cathy Hughes. Bummer. Roddy Freeman (5/23/07)

Dave's response: I mean, who cares who makes a list from Washington Life magazine, or whatever it's called.....

When someone says "...I'm no prude, but ..." the really are. The O&A thing is simple. It is a freedom of speech thing, if XM wants to let them say those things. XM can hire, fire, suspend or whatever they want. It's their satellite. O&A are not on the public airways when they are on satellite. The question of decency is moot. Don't listen if you don't want to, but keep your nose out of my Constitution. I know in America now - - War is great, sex is bad. By the way, that's what is wrong with our once great country fueled by corporate greed. Ed Graham (5/23/07)

No real details about Fezzie except there were some complications from the surgery 2 weeks ago and the doctors wanted to see him some more - he spent last weekend back in the hospital. Not a lot of talk about it. According to Ron (who is the only one holding XM 202 together!), Fez was back home as of yesterday & on the mend - there was hope that he might be back today, but they don't want to push him. DC LOVES FEZZIE! (5/23/07)

WTOP's Mark Segraves has been selected as the "Fraud Examiner of the Year" by the Washington Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. The ACFE is the world's premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. Together with nearly 40,000 members, the ACFE is reducing business fraud world-wide and inspiring public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession. Segraves was chosen for his body of work over the past year exposing waste fraud and abuse in government at the local and federal levels. Segraves' work included reports on missing laptops in federal agencies as well as DC agencies over-billing themselves for work. Past winners include the United States Department of Justice, the U.S inspector General and the chief investigator for United States Senator Charles Grassley. Segraves will be honored at a luncheon on June 5th in Washington, DC. (5/23/07)

Ahh, the trivia questions are coming!!!! I just read the mailbag, and saw someone already answer Rusty Gibson's trivia question of who recorded Go Back. I remember that song and I have it on my Super Hits of the 70's, Have a Nice Day disc. Now, here's a trivia question: Who recorded Roll On? Clue: It hit the mid 50's on the Hot 100 back in 1971, but was a top 20 hit in the Kansas City area where I grew up. Any takers? Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (5/23/07)

Crabby Appleton was the villain on the old "Tom Terrific" cartoons from the 1950's. (5/23/07)

"This group had a hit in 1970 with "Go Back", Can you name the group and the origin of it's name?" I'm not Ed Jones but I know the answer: It's Crabby Appleton. It took awhile to think of the name. I didn't google it. I don't know the origin. Clever play on crab apple? Les in Adelphi (5/23/07)

To Kevin in HdG, MD- Put down the flag, buffoon, and listen up. As far as I know, neither D'opey nor Anthony were censored. They are simply being disciplined for their on-air behavior, just like you would be if you'd said those same things at the Burger King where you work. Neither XM Radio nor Sirius nor any other broadcast entity is in the business of allowing any and all speech at all times and in all circumstances. You're confusing XM's business practices with the US Constitution- two different things, dude. No one owes a living to O&A, nor me, nor you for that matter (although you're safe as we all need our burgers flipped). We can all be shit-canned for cause at any time. That's censorship? So, tell me, my heavily patriotic friend, for what righteous cause are your "People Against Censorship" fighting? The right for employees to avoid being fired from our jobs? Just imagine what the world would be like then, my burger-flipping friend. You'd be the CEO of Burger King instead of the fry cook, and the Board of Directors couldn't lift a chubby little chicken finger to do anything about it. Yikes! So, before you start waving that flag again, put down the spatula and pick-up a copy of the Constitution. Go right to the back where it says Amendments and check out the first one. Then, tell me why it should protect radio hosts from being fired for saying things that their employers find uncomfortable. -Jamesonian (5/23/07)

From All Access: MUSICRADIO 89 WLS returns for a very special one day only event, starting at 5a this MONDAY (MEMORIAL DAY), featuring live broadcasts from LARRY LUJACK with LIL' TOMMY EDWARDS, FRED WINSTON, JOHN "RECORDS" LANDECKER, JEFF DAVIS, CHRIS SHEBEL and TOM KENT. Helping to prepare and pull off a seamless presentation for "THE "BIG 89 REWIND" is a talented behind-the-scenes staff supporting WLS PD KIPPER MCGEE and the WLS greats that will be on the air that day: BILL SHANNON - Chief Musicologist... JAY PHILPOTT - Rewind Coordinator... SCOTT CHILDERS - Lead Historical Consultant... ART VUOLO - Videographer... MICHAEL WOLFGANG - Producer in Chief ... Special Voiceovers: JEFF DAVIS, FRED WINSTON, BILL PRICE... Musicradio jingle library courtesy of JAM PRODUCTIONS... The special will also feature the generous contributions of unique WLS airchecks from many fans, collectors and "UNCLE RICKY's Top 40 Repository" at www.reelradio.com. You can listen to the live stream of the entire 18 hour broadcast at www.wlsam.com. (5/23/07)

Dave's response: Ahhh, I spent many nights in the 1970s cruising around the DC area in dad's Olds Cutlass listening to the mighty "89".....

Who are these "Beatles" everyone's talking about? Did they open for Brittney? (5/23/07)

Texas radio (There is nothing like it) - KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels is a Texas Radio station that plays Texas Music, Alt Country, Americana, and Roots music in the Texas Hill Country and all over the world via their webstream. This is the real deal--- www.knbtfm.com... KFWR 95.9 THE RANCH Fort Worth/Dallas/Plano- Texas Radio For The Metroplex www.959theranch.com... (5/23/07)

Spelling has gone down the toilet with four letter words here (dam'n)...LOL. Now. the gathering for freedom of speech due to the OBNOXIOUS statements made by the retards O&A. Agree, freedom of speech is at the core of our nation, BUT isn't respect for others somewhere in the mix? I'm no prude, but when some of the idiot posters start sniping at Dave for his opinions and Dave is bold enough to even post them, well now, THAT'S freedom of speech. O&A be damned.....they aren't qualified to peddle snake oil in the industry. Someone mentioned Mike O'Meara being a "hidden gem". I do agree.(without Geronimo) PLB (5/23/07)

Hey Ed Jones my Trivia friend: This group had a hit in 1970 with "Go Back", Can you name the group and the origin of it's name? And don't "goggle" it (that's cheating). Your pal, Rusty Gibson (5/23/07)

I first heard the Beatles when they released 'Free as a Bird' back in the mid 90's. Ahh, the memories. -John, Annapolis (5/23/07)

OK. Please let me know what the initials “DCRTV” stands for. Is it District of Columbia, Radio, Television? Joan (5/23/07)

Dave's response: It stands for DC's Rowdy TransVestites.....

I think Mike and Rob have done well. Is this a preview of what we'll see come October 1 2008? (5/23/07)

(Mike O'Meara does a great job when Don's gone. He's the DC area's "hidden radio gem".....) You must be kidding. I think the DM show is a trainwreck to begin with, but with Don MIA, it turns into a shuttle disaster. I have been listening since Don's absence and I can get through 10 minutes of Mike's blathering and boring, I mean ear bleeding boaring, missives. Why is it that when Don is gone, no one can run the sound effect board with any competence? This show died years ago and when the contract is up, I will not shed a single tear when they leave. As a mimic no one is better than Mike, but let him fly solo...plane crash everytime. Jim in Herndon (5/23/07)

Since many of us lost XM on Monday, anyone know what "stent complications" Fez W. had? (Maybe in/out of hospital briefly last weekend?) -MontCo (5/23/07)

Dave's response: Oh dear, I hope he's OK.....

Excellent article about a local Gospel singer in MD. Thought others would appreciate it. www.hometownannapolis.com (5/23/07)

Dave, the difference in calling WINX-FM an Annapolis station is that you can't pick 94.3 up in Annapolis! It was licensed to Trappe, then Cambridge and now, it sounds like St. Michaels! But, that "little bird" that says they're doing well must be the "Kingston Parrot!" A little Mouse told us that sales reps have called on their cheese store trying to sell NASCAR packages for under $20. Hmmmmmm.... (5/23/07)

Dave's response: I must admit that I have dreamed about making "pick ups" in Annapolis, but never 94.3.....

Dave: I've visited Arbitron's Maryland HQ years ago, and have seen actual diary entries. Things have changed, no doubt, since those days, but I wonder how Bonneville "knows" that diary-keepers are recording "WTOP" when they actually mean "WTWP." How does that work? Is it merely a suspicion, or is there contradictory diary data -- for instance, the frequency is written down alongside the call letters ("107.7 - WTOP"), which would invalidate the entry, or something like that? Christian (5/23/07)

Dave's response: The question is why, when they started Washington Post Radio, did they give it call the WTWP call letters, which are so like WTOP's? Seems to only have compounded the confusion among listeners.....

WINX-FM’s legal ID says it is licensed to “St. Michaels” – but don’t tell the FCC. They still show it as Cambridge. (5/23/07)

You can still see the day local news in Loudoun County died on WAGE Radio. The news page on their website www.wage.com still has not been updated since the removal of most of the staff, including their news director, back on April 27th. (5/23/07)

In regards to the issue of listeners writing WTOP when they are listening to WTWP. The reality is this...WTWP still needs improvement, but more people are listening to WTWP than Arbitron is giving them credit for. This is a case where the PPM would be helpful...that is if you believe that a smaller sample size still delivers "accurate" information. And I use the term "accurate" very loosely. (5/23/07)

(Regarding the Don-less D&M show:) Dave - You must have missed the Sacramento bit yesterday...awful, awful, AWFUL! (5/23/07)

RE: WINX-FM. Thier studios have just relocated to Easton, in a business park. They are being LMA'd by Steve Kingston,so when 103.1 was sold, they moved the studios across the bay. Now that they have a local presence, and a little bird tells me that they are doing rather well too. (5/23/07)

I agree with Dave. I thought that Mike has done a good job driving the boat on the Don and Mike Show. (5/23/07)

People Against Censorship, defending O&A while they denigrate and desecrate women and religion has as much validity as Al Sharpton talking about ending racism as he accuses white folks of crimes they did not commit. At least O&A are being held accountable by some more open minded folks. (5/23/07)

"To the march on Washington for uncensored satellite radio and Opie and Anthony . Dam, you have got a lot of time on your hands." Exactly! Most of us have better more productive things to do, like go to work. (5/23/07)

Dave's response: It's "damn," unless you're talking about the Hoover Dam.....

Dave, Curious as to why you refer to WINX as being an Annapolis station? (And "Big Don" O'Brien still works at Annapolis country outlet WINX, 94.3 FM. I think.....) They used to be licensed to Cambridge, and I don’t think that has changed. If they had a studio in NYC, you wouldn’t call them a New York station. (5/23/07)

Dave's response: Aren't their studios in Annapolis, with co-owned WRNR, which is licensed to Gaysonville? Nobody calls WRNR a Graysonville station, do they? Does that mean we have to start calling WHFS a Catonsville station and WJFK-FM a Manassas station? Hmmm.....

No news on Don? The show, pretty bad with Don, is dreadful without him. Strange there is no mention of his whereabouts... (5/23/07)

Dave's response: Mike O'Meara does a great job when Don's gone. He's the DC area's "hidden radio gem".....

(clippage) they are out there fighting for a pretty dam important cause ... they'll still be here fighting for whoever's next on the list ... still be sitting in your Mom's basement whacking it to old tapes of Hoo-Hoo...(end clippage) OK, first of all, moms are off-limits. Mine's been gone for 14 years, so if you're going to attempt a creative masturbatory retort, write one that doesn't read like rejected South Park dialogue. Second, since when are two lame radio announcers at the forefront of a free speech movement? They aired something BRAINLESS and NOT FUNNY, not revolutionary. Let me know how funny or relevant you think they are when they talk about flipping your daughter over - by name - and repeatedly having their way with her. Next, what "fight"? A gathering of pimple-squeezers in front of a hotel? A mass-smashing of radios? If I worked in satrad and I heard people were smashing my radios, I'd be laughing because those receivers are already paid for! Thanks for your money, doofus! See you next month when you have to buy another! Lastly, "dam(n) important cause"? Please... stand up and shout out about the war, breast cancer, racial harmony, renewable energy, Darfur or something that makes a genuine difference. O&A are just another pair of morons who have already been bounced before for being just that: morons. If this Censorship organization has the talent to create such an elaborate website, they at least could have made it read as if there was some sort of heritage to it; right now it reads as little more than a fly-by-night publicity machine wearing a Wonderbra (t). I'll repeat what I said before: ignore this march, folks. It's a non-event and the biggest load of trucked-in manure this town has seen since Howard's "Private Parts" bus tour. (5/23/07)

RE: "Yeah, OK... your credibility might have had a chance if there was something under your website's...." What kind of pathetic piece of crap are you that you would take the time out of your day to send in a post like this knocking a bunch of people (PATRIOTS) for standing up for something that they believe in. I don't care if that organization has been around for 3 minutes, 3 seconds or whatever, they are out there fighting for a pretty dam important cause and here you are, internet tough guy, slamming them becuase you happen to think that this will all go away once the O&A suspension is done with. Fact is, they'll still be here fighting for whoever's next on the list and you'll probably still be sitting in your Mom's basement whacking it to old tapes of Hoo-Hoo asking some drugged out stripper to take off her top. Kevin in HdG, MD. (5/23/07)

/\ May 23 Messages /\

\/ May 22 Messages \/

"People Against Censorship"? Yeah, OK... your credibility might have had a chance if there was something under your website's "About" heading that would have made the world think you were legit ("There are no items to display"). How long you been out there? Three weeks or so? Maybe since the firing of Don Imus, right? Folks, these guys are blowin' sunshine up your skirt. Skip their pathetic march and go to a museum instead -- improve your mind rather than pickle it with any O&A B.S. (5/22/07)

To WHom It May Concern: YOu might be interested to know that People Against Censorship will be hosting a protest in front of the XM shareholder meeting this Friday. The meeting starts at 9:00 at the Westin Embassy Row on Mass Ave.. Over the last two weeks there have been many documented cases of XM subscribers canceling their subscriptions only to find that XM instead offered them free months - and therefore XM is able to keep those people on the books as a sub. XM has been unwilling to share with the public how many cancellations there were due to the suspension of Opie and Anthony, but we hope to get an answer at this meeting. I hope you can send someone to the protest. (5/22/07)

To the march on Washington for uncensored satellite radio and Opie and Anthony . Dam, you have got a lot of time on your hands. (5/22/07)

The fake "Irish" guy in the Irish Spring commercial was Matthew Perry's father (or...wait... was he the guy in the Old Spice commercial?). I do think he was the latter. Hmmm. -- Bobbie (5/22/07)

RE: regarding a previous post) "I was in the Merchant Marines...Colgate-Palmolive didn't start marketing Irish Spring until 1972 /// It's official you are the DCRTV Junior Sleuth Award winner for 2007. And because you are probably a D-bag that likes to ruin everyone's fun whenever you can, did you know the guy in the commercial who cut the Irish Spring soap bar in half with a pen knife to reveal the neato green and white marbleized looking interior, wasn't even Irish? I will be waiting for a full report on little known faux Irish commercial actor from early 1970s, get Googling. (5/22/07)

Dear DCRTV; The People Against Censorship have organized a march for uncensored satellite radio. Specifically against XM Radio, and their decision to censor shows advertised to paid subscribers as "raw and uncensored". I am an Opie and Anthony listener, a disappointed XM subscriber, and a firm believer in freedom of speech - for everyone. As you know, tens of thousands of subscribers have already cancelled their subscriptions to protest this decision (I cancelled 5 subscriptions, personally), and several advertisers have pulled their ads from XM Radio in support of the Opie and Anthony Show. This march is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 25, 2007, the same day as XM Radio's Annual Shareholder's meeting. When contacted, XM Radio denied that their annual shareholder's meeting was scheduled on this date - even though this information is freely available to all XM shareholders', as well as many other information sources.. When confronted with this, XM did admit that the meeting was, in fact, scheduled for May 25th, 2007. The fact that this suspension comes just as XM is preparing to merge with Sirius Radio is a major concern to me. If the companies merge, there are no other options available to consumers as far as satellite radio is concerned, and one company controls the entire information source, and that I no longer trust. I believe XM gave out false information regarding their annual shareholder's meeting in order to discourage negative publicity that might possibly hurt this merger.... People Against Censorship March for Uncensored Satellite Radio, Friday May, 25th, 2007, 8 AM to 12:30 PM, Westin Embassy Row Hotel, 2100 Massachusetts Ave, N.W, Washington, DC 20008..... For more information, please go to www.PeopleAgainstCensorship.org... (5/22/07)

Hey Dave.... Hurray! XM is back!! Anyway, Ken Smith on XM 5 (50's on 5) will be conducting a LIVE phone interview around 5 PM, tomorrow Wed. 5-23 with the old stars from American Bandstand from Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, MO. Scheduled to be on are Bobby Vee, Fabian, Brian Hyland, etc.... (check out www.dickclarksbranson.com)... Ken Smith gives credit to the surviving members from Danny & The Juniors (At The Hop, Rock & Roll Is Here To Stay) for setting up the phone interview. How about that?? All The Best, Dave Kremnitzer, Waldorf, MD (5/22/07)

Hey Ed Jones: Really enjoy your trivia questions. The only problem is that Rusty Gibson is so darn sharp that he keeps beating me to the punch. Rusty, the first time hearing a Beatles tune would have to be on the Big 60, WCAO. "She Loves You" is the song that comes to mind. Like most kids and even as an adult, going to the dentist is not my favorite thing. My dentist loved this song and could be heard all through the office with his "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah". I betcha he was listening to WCAO. He would have me singing with him while in the chair. Bless the Fab Four. Joyce Conroy (WHFC) (5/22/07)

(regarding a previous post) "I was in the Merchant Marines when making a port o' call in Hamburg in the winter of 1962. With a bar of Irish Spring in one hand, and a bottle of Old Spice in the other I stumbled into a dump called the Star Club. I ponied up to the to bar and started talking to a guy, who turned out to be Brian Epstein." Colgate-Palmolive didn't start marketing Irish Spring until 1972. (5/22/07)

The DX Gods were at it again this morning. While in Frederick, on my way to work, I couldn’t get a good copy of 100.7, The Bay, due to the signals of KZBL, Natchitochos, LA, and KWRD, The Word, Irving, TX. Neither could completely overcome The Bay, but I did copy definite station ID’s on both. The skip was in - sporadic E lives! Mike in Frederick, and the Dashboard DX Society. Also, my first Beatles song was “She Loves You”, which I heard one evening on 77 Musicradio, WABC, probably with Cousin Brucie. Carroll James played it the next evening on WWDC. “I’ve got blisters on me fingers!!!” (5/22/07)

The full interview with "dc madam" deborah jeane palfrey will be up on our website tonight: www.nathansgeorgetown.com... Ps-she slams abc. From politico.com: "The Palfrey/Sibley team also announce they were disappointed with ABC’s report – even though Brian Ross did a 'spectacular job' about the Madam and who was involved in the scandal. After a lot of hype, it turned out, only two big names were involved. 'It’s not our place to be disclosing names,' Sibley says before noting that ABC had called them to discuss around 25 names and the report was 'significantly more watered down than expected.'" More at www.youtube.com..... (5/22/07)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Bob Mather's time at WQSR, and Joyce Conroy's post explaining WQSR's evolving into it's oldies format. I remember when Steve Cochran was doing "Jukebox Saturday Night", WQSR was a top 40 station, competing against B-104 and Hot Hit's 106. Steve played some slammin' oldies on that show. As Joyce mentioned, Steve hired Alan Lee back in 1985 to do "Jukebox Sunday Night" which was later named "Forgotten 45's". I do miss WQSR and Oldies/Big 100.3, but as a realist, I know that oldies radio probably won't make a come back here, although I'm wishing and hoping. Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (5/22/07)

(Re: "So, how much money is Tony Kronheiser being paid to do his Washington Post Radio gig, in addition to his salary from the paper and his various duties at ESPN?") ... I understand both Tony and Mike earn in the neighborhood of $900,000 each for Pardon The Interruption, and Tony makes something like $500,000 to have a byline in the Post. Just what I heard from some former 980'ers. (5/22/07)

Dave you’re slipping! Rush talks about his inbred cat, it’s urinary tract blockage and not even a mention? (5/22/07)

Dave's response: That's the nice thing about radio. If you don't listen, it's like he doesn't even exist.....

For all you Craig Heist fans, the WTOP sports reporter will be on Washington Post Live tonight at 5:00. Denesh (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Where can you find "WPL"? Oh yeah, that cable public access channel.....

On John Thompson's radio show today, it was confirmed that WTEM will resume its Saturday morning baseball program on May 26 with Phil Wood as host (10 AM to noon). So I guess he'll no longer be co-hosting Tom Davis' weekly show on Baltimore's WJFK-AM and MASN. You have to give 980's management some credit for making this move to serve the local fan base for baseball. While Marc Sterne's clearly an avid fan who did a good job hosting that show for several years before leaving for Post Radio, few are in Wood's league when it comes to overall knowledge of the game and its history. "Friday night's announced turnout of 22,375 was deemed 'pathetic' by Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons". Hello - last time I checked, the Orioles weren't exactly setting attendance records over at Camden Yards. When the Nationals play there in a month or so, it's entirely possible that the combined turnout for the three games won't be a whole lot better than last weekend at RFK - so Gibbons is way out of line making a remark like that. Frankly, I'm getting fed up with all the naysayers who cite box office figures for a team with an obvious shortage of major league caliber talent as 'proof positive' that baseball can never be a huge success in DC. They're probably the same geniuses who proclaimed for years that we'd never get a team. Mike, Fairfax (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Once again, you got the news first on DCRTV!

I first heard the Beatles "Love Me Do" in January 1963 on shortwave. Les in Adelphi (5/22/07)

Anyone catch the F word being mouthed 3 times during the first Maroon 5 song on "Saturday Night Live" May 19, 2007. Each time the lead singer moved the mic away from his mouth but still, very obviously, said the F word. As far as the FCC, I thought, because of lip readers, etc, mouthing the F word was just as bad as actually saying the word. Kraig (5/22/07)

Speaking of Brian And O'Brien what are they doing now. Herb from joppa (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Brian Wilson programs a talker in Toledo and still runs his "vacation relief" service for talkers from his Baltimore area home. I think. And "Big Don" O'Brien still works at Annapolis country outlet WINX, 94.3 FM. I think.....

"I can almost recall the words he used to introduce the song." Actually, a listener that wrote to James asking about the Beatles introduced the song the first time it was played on WWDC. (5/22/07)

Nice to get some Beatles history from Colin Hanton. Do you live in the D.C. area, Colin? JOHN IN STAFFORD (5/22/07)

If you do not like Kornheiser, turn his show OFF. It's easy. Try it. I don't listen so I don't hear his worthless chatter. He's a waste. He provides nothing on MNF and why ESPN keeps him is, as he would say as an oldster, "the $64,000 question." Where is Hal March when we need him. As for PTI, I can't stand it anymore. Kornheiser and Wilbon hollering at each other is so boring. Bad TV. Maybe someday they will have a real discussion about something rather than screaming back and forth. (5/22/07)

"TOP OF THE HOUR I.D. (EXPLOSION SFX)"W-I-S-Z AM&FM GLEN BURNIE...BALLLLLTIMORE COUNTRY!".(cue record)".. Now it can be told Dept: in cue, we spun the 45 right up to the vocal, then backed it off exactly 3 1/4 turns. On top of the hour, we'd segue from one record to this one with the ID - hit the turntable and the ID cart at the same time, and presto! tight, tight, tight! -- Mark Clark (5/22/07)

Here’s a company statement from XM regarding the temporary outage for some customers. Service is back to normal levels for those affected: "XM Satellite Radio today announced that normal levels of service have resumed for customers who experienced outages or significantly degraded service starting yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. The problem occurred during the loading of software to a critical component of the satellite broadcast system, which resulted in a temporary loss of signal from one of the company’s satellites." (5/22/07)

Dave, I gave DCRTV credit in my question that wound up in Farhi's Station Break Q&A. Since you get pissed off at those media outlets that take your stuff without credit, here's a shot back at them. All for you ... Sincerely, Ted Edison (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Thanks Ted! At www.washingtonpost.com.....

Dave, how about this for your "Notable Quotable" feature - "You and I are not elite." Rush Limbaugh on his show today. That's the same Rush who has his own private jet, a mansion in Florida, and luxury apartment in New York, plus a hotline to everyone from Dick Cheney and George W. Bush to Karl Rove and Roger Ailes. Not an elite Rush? Yeah right. (5/22/07)

So, how much money is Tony Kronheiser being paid to do his Washington Post Radio gig, in addition to his salary from the paper and his various duties at ESPN? Let's just say he's really wealthy. So, why does he get so upset about the charges - what? a few hundred bucks - from his kids' cell phone usage, and deliver a damning rant against Verizon on his show. Tony, there are people out there who have REAL problems. Unlike you and your pathetic, meaningless gripes! Tony, you really need to get you head screwed on right, you winey old man. (5/22/07)

Re: Lack of posts from Sirius subscribers: I guess we were all busy enjoying our uninterrupted service. And re: which of the satellite radio companies has the better technology... well, I don't think it's the one that cut off its listeners when it proved to be too difficult for the company's engineers to program properly. All the more reason I hope the merger gets quashed. (5/22/07)

"Am I simply incompetent -- or are others experiencing these problems? Christian" - Nope you are simply incompetent (sorry couldn't resist) more than likely firewall issues. Many companies are now instigating stricter firewalls because people are using up valuable bandwidth that should be used for work. And not every stream is perceived the same by firewalls. The other just means that their output level is too low. (5/22/07)

I can go ya one better Beatle fans. In March 1957 I was kicking around Liverpool and this bloke named John Lennon and his best pal Pete Shotten were playin skiffle as "The Black Jacks". We were looking for a place to suck back a few fags (cigarettes! you bloddy twit!). I piped up, "How about the quarry, men?"...and the rest is history. A few weeks later we were playing a gig at the St. Peter's Parish Church in Woolton when Ivan Vaughn, a friend from Quarry Bank High, introduced us to a skinny kid named Paul McCartney. The kid picked up a guitar while we were setting up for the next set and played "Twenty Flight Rock". John was impressed, not by the kid's playing, but by the fact that Paul knew all the words. We wnet thru another name change from "The Quarry Men" to "Johnny and the Moondogs" with me, John, Paul, 14 year old George Harrison (who joined February 6, 1958) and John Lowe. It was under this configuration that we recorded two songs at a local shop..."That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger". You can hear both on the Beatles Anthology1 So from "Johnny & The Moondogs" to "The Nerk Twins" to "The BEAT als" (changed to "Beatles" on May 10, 1960 when we switched to the "The Silver Beatles" ) and finally to The Beatles" after John flipped it back and forth a few times on August 16, 1960. So if any of you DCRTVers heard a recording of us before then you must have been dreamin'. - signed Colin Hanton - The REAL Fifth Beatle (5/22/07)

Dave, Great site, as always. Just wanted to mention that my XM channel 142 has not had any problems (Fox Sports Radio). Curious, eh? BTW, to the conspiracy theorists out there, the inverse of what was suggested re O&A's suspension may be true; the suspension, and the outages, with the subsequent cancellations and loss of ad revenue may only help to bolster the arguments for merger. Hope not. Frank in Arlington (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Since I listen to XM from a building and not a car, I seem to get most of my service from a local land-based repeater and not from the satellite itself. When the repeater network goes out, as it did in past 24 hours, I can still get XM but it's very weak. I suspect I'd get better reception in the car.....

I just love all of these f-ing morons who are smashing there XM receivers over dumb&dumber getting suspended. Buying a second unit when those jerk offs come back on the air will really show the suits at XM whose smart. (5/22/07)

XM is back on the air? I wouldn't know - I canceled all 5 of my subs when they suspended O&A for doing exactly what the company hired them to do and advertise them as. I heard XM SAT3 is on a 30-day "suspension" as well. And did you hear what Howard Stern had to say about the XM outage? No one else did either - Howie doesn't have any listeners. Hoo-Hoo, I invented getting a 0.0 rating, Tell 'em Fred. (5/22/07)

Carroll James of WWDC may have been the first American DJ to play "I Want To Hold Your Hand," but he wasn't the first to play the Beatles. The group did receive some minor chart action and airplay throughout 1963, notably on WLS in Chicago, where "Please Please Me," released through Chicago's Vee Jay label after Capitol initially showed no interest, made the lowest reaches of the charts in the spring. The song also aired on KFXM in San Bernardino/Riverside, Calif. -- Vincent in Triangle (5/22/07)

XM JUST CAME BACK ON THE REPEATERS. / CHARLIE IN D.C. (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Checked at 12:05 PM and I'm once again getting XM loud and clear at the DCRTV World HQ.....

(Regarding a certain afternoon radio talker:) Called a listener ASS once too many, eh? Love. Ed in Fenton (5/22/07)

Poynter Online - Tuesday Edition: Al's Morning Multimedia: "Mortgage Meltdown" ..... You should see how much WMAR-TV in Baltimore offers online users on the issue of mortgage foreclosures. The station mapped "hot spots" for foreclosures. ABC2 News investigators looked at more than 1.7 million loans made in Maryland in 2004 and 2005 using data from the federal government. Under the Federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, lenders must report race, ethnicity, gender, income and the location of each loan. As good as the work is -- and it is very good -- it is too bad the Web site allowed a mortgage company to place an ad on the same page. CNN's Paula Zahn show on Friday focused on the rising tide of foreclosures sweeping across the country. (Read transcript here.) Foreclosures are up 35 percent in the first quarter of this year. The show not only focused on the "what" of the story but attended courthouse step auctions, told the story of an eviction officer and a homeowner who is losing everything, and looked at risky loans that help to set up the default. This was a terrific, deep look at a growing problem. You would do well to take a similar deep and wide look locally. The show also offered tips for people who are behind on payments and may soon find themselves in foreclosure. (5/22/07)

Can anyone confirm that WTNT's streaming volume level is too low? I turn it up as loud as it'll go, here at the office and on my home computer. But if the sink is running, or someone is typing, I can't hear the stream -- and I listen to it through headphones! Also, WMAL's stream recently required me to sign in and log on, after a year or two of needing to do nothing more than click "Listen Live." I confirmed my login and password twice, but whenever I enter it, WMAL tells me I committed an error. So I'm going through Rush and Sean withdrawal (Dave: make your own joke here). Am I simply incompetent -- after all, I DO listen to WTNT and WMAL -- or are others experiencing these problems? Christian (5/22/07)

Hell..I got all you hep cats beat. I was in the Merchant Marines when making a port o' call in Hamburg in the winter of 1962. With a bar of Irish Spring in one hand, and a bottle of Old Spice in the other I stumbled into a dump called the Star Club. I ponied up to the to bar and started talking to a guy, who turned out to be Brian Epstein. Before long some decadent looking longhairs started playing and singing My Bonnie, being a sailor I knew all the words. The long evening ended with me retiring with Epstein to his grimy flat, where we shared and investigated our mutual interests while sipping Brandy Alexanders and smoking clove cigarettes until the sun rose over the foggy Hamburg skyline. (5/22/07)

WTOP has got to be kidding with the iChannel. How much are they getting paid to air this? There are countless SIGNED bands that you can never hear on the radio - see, for example, most acts who sell out the 9:30 club - and they're only playing unsigned bands? Ridiculous. (5/22/07)

So far all of you are incorrect. The first Beatles song was played on WWDC at about 4:00pm by a disc jockey named Carroll James. I am almost sure that it was on a Saturday afternoon in November. I can almost recall the words he used to introduce the song. (5/22/07)

It was announced on WETA (FM) this morning that the fund raising drive that just ended was the best ever. (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Hey, lotsa those old folks got lotsa dough.....

I bet the Verizon people who spend a million dollars with DC Bonneville every year are real happy with the TK rant this morning. Maybe Tony should do the same rant on Monday Night Football this year and see what happens. (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Hey, I have Cingular and I've had the same kind of problems. All phone companies are like that.....

Donnie G missing now for two broadcasts. [remainder deleted] - Jim in Herndon (5/22/07)

Dave's response: I'm told that Don's been in court dealing with a stalker-type listener. As I said before, this is a private matter and we're not going to speculate here in the Mailbag. If Don talks about the matter on his show and opens it to listener input, then I may relax the restrictions.....

Re: "Funny, judging by the comments here the XM listenership is pretty high. And judging by the lack of comments from Sirius listeners, I guess that speaks for itself." This is one of the dumbest statements I have ever read on DCRTV. BTW, I'm a Sirius subscriber. Happy now? (5/22/07)

1. WMAL has been doing overnight work toward their 10kW increase. 2. XM Repeaters are called that for a reason. They pick up the satellite signal or other repeater signal and repeat it. Thus, no satellite, no repeater either. Which is why the NAB contention of XM providing local content holds little merit. Sirius is supposed to be the same, but the FCC has had many complaints about the Sirius system, not so many about the XM. 3. In spite of the outage, it does appear that the engineering design at XM is pretty solid. In the XM system, loss of one bird should only decrease coverage in the CONUS by @ 20-30 % and over a predictable area. This is what they reported to Wall Street. I would be curious how far West one could drive before the signal becomes solid again. Now Sirius, OTOH, if they loose one bird, they loose at least 66% of their coverage, but the 'hole' will move during a given 24 hour period. This is because it takes two Sirius birds to properly acquire the receiver. Any two birds together can cover only 33 % of the territory. A loss of one bird means loosing effectively 2/3 of the coverage as there would be no overlap of the signal on either side of the missing bird. Thus, over that 24 hour period, the entire service area experiences some degree of 100% loss. Statistically speaking, it amounts to nearly a 90% loss. So, XM looses a bird and looses a 1/3, Sirius looses a bird and looses 2/3...hmmm, wonder which one has the better engineering. Funny, judging by the comments here the XM listenership is pretty high. And judging by the lack of comments from Sirius listeners, I guess that speaks for itself. (5/22/07)

Heard "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in mid-December on WBZ in Boston. Overnight guy Dick Summer said something like, "Here's a group from England. I don't think this will be a big hit." The rest is history. (5/22/07)

The term POTUS has been around forever. Ans let us not forget there is also FLOTUS (First Lady...) and SCOTUS (Supreme Court...) (5/22/07)

Dave's response: Yeah, but ordinary people aren't familiar with the terms. So, why name a presidential election radio channel that?

I usually don't care, but this radio host was one of the first people to call for the firing of Don Imus. Now it seems like he's in a little trouble himself. Since he believes in his own rules, he should be fired. The radio station is owned by cbs and its a sports station just like wfan. Its funny that nothing has happened to him even though he allowed a guest on the air that is known to curse without the proper pre-cautions that the fcc requires. He could have taped the interview or had a delay or maybe even hung up on him after the first curse word. Opie and Anthony had to use the delay button when they had Ozzie Osbourne on the show last week. The banning of 7 dirty words are one of few concrete rules within the fcc. Meanwhile Opie & Anthony were suspended for having an out of control guest on satelite radio, for saying something that was on non fcc regulated radio. This host named Mike North has also made a racial slur about chinese americans in the past. So, why is he still on and Jv & Elvis and Imus are fired? How many mistakes does he get, when he wasn't willing to forgive Don Imus on his. CBS) CHICAGO They have two of the biggets mouths in Chicago and Friday, they went at it on the radio. CBS 2's Jim Williams reports on what sparked the ugly battle. Colorful language highlights a "radio fight" between White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and The Score 670 Sports Radio talk show host Mike North. The confrontation began shortly after White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzinski told the MIke North Show he was disappointed that he was not in Friday's starting lineup. A little while later, Ozzie Guillen called in and let North have it on the air. Mike North: "How ya' doin Ozzie?" Ozzie: "Aw, shut the f___ up." North: "Oh!" Ozzie: "I know you like A.J. ..." North: "Ozzie, wait we're on the radio. I know you think we're just having a conversation, but we're on the radio." North's warning that they were on the air did not discourage Guillen, instead he continued to curse. "I'm trying bulls___ every damn day," he said. North: "Hey, Ozzie clean up your mouth. Don't talk go talking down to somebody, you understand me." As the conversation went on, North got angrier. Ozzie: "Why you talking on the air?" North "...that's my job, to find out what's going ...to to find out what AJ thinks...yeah, you'd better hang up the damn phone." Later, after Friday's game, Guillen did not want to talk about the confrontation. "I'm only talking about baseball, man," Guillen said. Guillen said that if North makes another comment he doesn't like, he'll call the station again. "Ozzie, wait we're on the radio," said Mike North. "I know you think we're just having a conversation, but we're on the radio." www.CBS2chicago.com (5/22/07)

Spotted in the microfilm archives: A follow-up to DCRTV Dave's mention of the passing of Howard Stanley, WEAM's "the Lonesome Guy" from the 1950s (who was 90 when he died March 20 at his home in Portsmouth, Va.) is this program listing from the August 1952 WaPost Sunday Radio/TVmagazine. (5/22/07)

I wonder if Captain Midnight is a friend of O&A? When I left the office this afternoon, my RX was one of those having problems. As my girlfriend would've said, I said "WTF?" as I drove along. I checked the antenna aming S-meter, and the AF would drop a few seconds before the satellite RF would disappear. There were also no repeaters where I'm used to finding them. Also, no mention of the problems from the Motormouth on XM6. Right now (0148 UTC on 22 May), here's what's on XM's website:"5/21 Service Degradation - You may be experiencing temporary degraded performance with your XM reception at the present time. XM is aware of the issue and working diligently to resolve it as soon as possible. We anticipate full signal strength will be restored by early Tuesday morning." I find the lack of candor troubling. Either it's something very serious that they cannot fix, or it's something that they about but don't want to (or can't) talk about... (5/22/07)

Rusty, I am sure the first Beetles song I heard was I Wanna Hold Your Hard . I think it was 1964 and it was on WCAO. The only station I listened to back then. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (5/22/07)

The first Beatles song I heard was in 1963: "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on WPGC. I remember thinking, "Boy, do they sound lousy." I was seven, what did I know? My mother was into barbershop harmony and show tunes; WMAL was our first station on the dial, followed by WTOP and the Washington Senators. However, the Beatles grew on me, and I fondly remember waking up one morning at 6 AM to WPGC-FM signing on and playing "Yellow Submarine" five years later. --GAB in the Airless Cubicle (5/22/07)

Ref - Speaking of Harford County radio - it was JJ McKay (The Hitman) who put Smilin’ Jack on the air on WASA and later on WHDG and Bobby Montgomery the Ole Sheriff as well, JJ was the Program Director of both WASA/WHDG as well as The Morning Show dj, I think it was in the late 70’s – early 80’s and I remember JJ used to known as Marvelous Marv Ellis back in the early 70’s on WAMD way before Captain Jim arrived on the sceene, I remember all of the dj’s used to hang out at a place called the Eagles Nest in Aberdeen, Md. Names like PJ Marx and Les Roberts….Marv Ellis aka JJ McKay was the Program Director and Morning dj on WAMD and use to have A bed ridden handicapped man do local sports to help make his shut in life a little better, I can’t remember the older mans name but I know he enjoyed reading the sports news..And we all enjoyed listening to them. I know a lot of this because JJ hired me to do mid days back in the 70’s. I did the show for almost a year until a snake crawled into the am transmitter just behind me in the studio and shorted out the transmitter, I left the station shortly thereafter…..Chase Landers (5/22/07)

In reference to various Key subjects: The 500+ feet tower on Moravia for 105.7 and soon thereafter WBMD-750 was actually put into use in 1987 or 1988 by Carl Brenner's Key Broadcasting, not as early as 1983. WQSR-105.7 even bought some billboards touting the higher tower, a move that looked strangely retro for a successful station making an incremental change of signal, for the new antenna seemed to be more sharply directional than the previous one on the lower tower. The site is good for AM, as seen by the great coverage of 750, a strict daytimer for decades, but it is not so hot for FM because areas not too far to the north, northwest and west have rising and falling terrain, putting the FM station in a bit of a 'hole' in terms of height. However, coverage was great to the south, east and northeast, and the oldies performance on 105.7 pre-CBS, Infinity etc shows the station playing to its strengths. Remember that when oldies reigned on WCBM-680 in faraway Owings Mills, many of the most loyal TSL consumers of the format were in Dundalk, Essex, Rosedale and parts of northern Anne Arundel County that fell within major lobes of the DA-2 patterns. It still remains curious why the FCC ever allowed 105.7 to be allocated to Catonsville in the first place, because WNOW-FM-105.7 in York clearly preceded it on the air. One speculative possibility might be that 105.7 had been allocated but not built before WNOW-FM; another that Catonsville should have received 105.5, for decades a restricted, Class A frequency (max ERP 3kw at approx 300 ft) , the fact that WCBC/WBMD-FM had 2.8kw in the early years could be a hint. WNOW-1250 and WNOW-FM were owned by Bill Rust, an engineer and inventor who normally would be expected to guard his coverage and potential coverage ( 105.7 having full Class B status after the Commission changed the FM rules, preventing any more anomalies such as WINC-FM 92.5 or 300kw WMC-FM in Memphis etc etc). WNOW A/F had been a Top 40 that turned to Country in the 1960's and by the early 1970's was slickly-formatted and not afraid to stretch the definition of Country. 1250 was a daytimer that simulcast in mono with 105.7 until early 1974. WQXA-105.7 emerged as a stylized Top 40 in mono with 6 or 7kw NON-directional at 750 ft above average terrain, the same as NOW-FM. Q-106 resembled the TM Stereo Rock pop format, except that WQXA was live while most TM clients were automated. WQXA finally went to a directional approximate 50kw in stereo in very late 1974 or early 1975, with a reduced antenna height. WKTK-105.7 had been running a directional 50kw since at least 1971. More than a decade later, the FCC was telling FM stations to build out to their maximum facilities or risk being locked down at lower powers and antenna heights. In the mid 1980's, WQXA went back to the top of the old WNOW tower with about 25kw directional around 750 ft, and more than a year later, the Catonsville station in northeast Baltimore went to its current approximate power and height. No name in Maryland. (5/22/07)

Dave, As of 4 AM this morning, XM reception continues very spotty at best. I just spoke with a trucker friend travelling the Turnpike from Ohio thru PA & he's having similar issues with his XM. Where's the 'Motormouth' (Terry Young) when you really need him? All The Best, Dave Kremnitzer, Waldorf (5/22/07)

Any idea why WMAL has been off air for the last few days? kurt (5/22/07)

Dave's response: If only.....

Email from XM at 206am this morning -- "Service Degradation Alert You may be experiencing temporary degraded performance with your XM reception at the present time. XM is aware of the issue and working diligently to resolve it as soon as possible. We anticipate full signal strength will be restored by early Tuesday morning." Please, let them fix it before I have to listen to anything other than a Nats game or 'TOP. -- Robert (5/22/07)

I thought that someone said that WTNT 570 was going to start simulcasting MSNBC's morning show? They are still running Wall Street Radio. I can imagine how many people are listening to that. (5/22/07)

/\ May 22 Messages /\

\/ May 21 Messages \/

Am I the only one who is really liking Dennis Miller on WTNT in the afternoons? Maybe his hip charm will wear thin after awhile but so far it’s nice to listen to a new spin on the talk radio circuit. He has interesting guests and it’s not all political talk which is refreshing. Hope his show makes it. Pam H. (5/21/07)

Am conducting an informal survey to my fellow "Mailbaggers" for an upcoming show of mine. If you can remember that far back, when and on what station, and what tune did you hear your first Beatle song? All responses would be appreciated and credits will be given to all of my friends on this board when I air the episode. Rusty Gibson WEBR Radio/Fairfax (5/21/07)

Dave's response: I think the first Beatles record I ever bought was the "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" 45 on Capitol (orange/yellow swirl label) in 1966 or so when I was 8. I heard it on Philadelphia's WFIL, Famous 56, when I was living in Willingboro NJ. Probably bought it at Woolworths. I was more into the Monkees back then. I didn't heavily get "into" the Beatles until 1970 or so, just after they broke up and all the "Paul is dead" rumors were floating around.....

(From earlier posting) JV & Elvis and Don Imus are fired for saying things that are within the FCC guidelines. Wheres the big outcry? (end). The FCC will only take action if someone files a complaint. The white horses dont charge in by themelves anymore, and unless someone bitches about it, nothing will happen. Evidently there is no outcry coming from anywhere. And as you know, the FCC had nothing to do with Imus, JV or Elvis going out to the curb ass-first; those were corporate decisions. (5/21/07)

"This host allowed a person (Ozzie Guillen) that is known for using both f-words on his fcc regulated radio show. Without having any of the proper pre-cautons." Sorry, but I don't get your point. Just because someone swears like a sailor (or should I say, a major league baseball manager) does not mean he is banned from interviews. Did he swear during the interview? Then you'd have a case. I know, I'm not pleased with the annoying double standards either. Right now, the cause jumpers have made objectionable speech (or not, depending on one's POV) the disease of the week. It will fade, like everything else. Meanwhile, Imus will sue CBS, O&A will likely be back on XM (if their satellite gets fixed in time), and all the political gabbers will say whatever they want and be conveniently ignored (as long as they are slanted in the "right" direction). Life goes on. The RCL (5/21/07)

Dave, The XM reception was totaly non-existant in NW Washington. Parked at a standstill in beautiful Manassas signal level flucuated from 3 bars to none. I thought, for a while, that the company had lost their terrestrial repeater system or that the repeaters were non-synchronous data mode. So imagine the drive home when I had to listen to music on hard drive from the local, rather than satellite stations. Keep us advised. Thanks (5/21/07)

Re: Eddie Cheezum and the Country Redtops...on World Records. I remember them as the only band that I ever heard in a beer joint singing Bill Anderson's "This Song's for all the Lonely Women In the World...drivin' a car, sittin' in a bar....wherever you are..." By the way, Rusty...you couldn't have lived in South county and not heard of the Moreland family...Big draft horses...Bill in Lothian wanting a Big Draft National Beer (5/21/07)

A dominatrix who claims to have had an affair with conservative talker William Bennett in th 80s may show up at Nathans Restaurant tomorrow for the "DC Madam" interview. bigheaddc.com (5/21/07)

HI, I doubt you will report on this, but here is another double standard when it comes to talk radio. This host allowed a person (Ozzie Guillen) that is known for using both f-words on his fcc regulated radio show. Without having any of the proper pre-cautons. Meanwhile Jv & Elvis, and Don Imus are fired for saying things that are with in the fcc guidelines. Wheres the big out cry. Tony Kornheiser had no problem with it, neither does any of the media. Including you guys. Meanwhile Opie & Anthony are suspended because the had an unknown guest on a pay for radio service thats not with in the fcc guidelines. What should happen to this Radio DJ. Just listen for yourself. Thanks inadvance, Chris www.phonifier.com (5/21/07)

TOP OF THE HOUR I.D. (EXPLOSION SFX)"W-I-S-Z AM&FM GLEN BURNIE...BALLLLLTIMORE COUNTRY!".(cue record)"..I've got aaa tiger by the tail it's plain ta seeeee......" (5/21/07)

Roddy Freeman: I’m sure with your vast and accurate knowledge of old Baltimore radio, you will also recall Barry Richards’ brief tenure at 1230 WITH. He was on the air one day in late ’65 when Baltimore experienced an unusually warm day, a record-setter in fact. When the official Custom House announcement came into the WITH studios, Barry broke into the middle of a song to excitedly inform everybody that a new Baltimore high temp for the day had just been achieved. He also did a number of TV promotional spots for WKTK in later years, and looked every bit the ‘underground’ jock with his long black hair and full beard. – Bob Mathers (5/21/07)

I'm pretty sure POTUS is a pretty well known acronym, especially to anyone whe would be interested in listening to 2008 election coverage in May 2007. (5/21/07)

Dave's response: I still think it's a dumb name.....

Let's see...XM has signal problems and a bad business plan with a stock price that is a disaster....sounds like a radio company to me! (5/21/07)

RE: "Oooops! Last time I checked, all your terrestrial broadcasters were on the air...for free". How's that saying go, " A bad day of satrad is better than a good day of terrestrial radio". Um terrestrial radio isnt free you pay with non stop bad commercials from Jarad, Ronnie, and the rest of the idiots that want us to shell out for diamonds every month for one holiday or another. Unless of course their engineers muck up and cross the hi voltage three phase burning up their generators. (5/21/07)

where where is Donnie G. at ? (5/21/07)

That WTOZ pattern looks like Rush Limbaugh's rear end. (5/21/07)

Roddy: As far as I'm concerned, you can post as much as you want about WBMD..although I can't say how the other mailbaggers feel about it--smiles! I do remember "Helpful Harriet"..never knew who she was..but remember her "Helpful Hints" bit that they used to run throughout the day; I also remember Harry Roop; back in 1972, he was the MC for a show at the Queen Ann's Country High School; the show featured local favorites Eddie Cheezum And The Country Redtops, Carl And Pearl Butler and Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours! If I may, I'd like to say a word about Bobby Brown: I remember him saying (this is back in the 60s, mind ya)..that he felt that we were going to see a time when the "dividing line separating "country music and pop music wouldn't be so apparent (I don't remember exactly how he worded it_)..but what he was saying was: country music and pop would grow closer and closer together. I don't think he realized at the time how right he was! To me, a lot of what they're calling "country music"..just isn't "country! Oh..and to the poster talking about Smilin' Jack: I also remember listening to him on both WBMD and WHDG; seems to me that he played music in the Baltimore area and..if I'm not mistaken, his son may have been at a steel guitar show that I attended a few years ago over in Jesseph. Tom in Denton, MD (5/21/07)

Amy Morris wondered yesterday about songs with phone numbers in title or lyrics. Once upon a time, phone numbers began with an exchange name, which is why keypads have letters as well as numbers, which is in turn why advertisers can urge you to call "1-800-WHATEVER". Back in the day, the Marvelettes had a hit with "Beechwood 4-5789." That was 1962. Two decades earlier, Glenn Miller made New York's Hotel Pennyslyvania famous when he made the hotel's phone number the title the now-standard, "PEnnsylvania 6-5000." When "all-digit dialing" was introduced in the 1960s, it was a painful experience for many, who felt their identity was being taken away along with their PLaza 7- and WYman 2- named exchanges. The late song parodist Allan Sherman led the way with "The Let's All Call Up AT&T And Protest To The President March." ArtC (5/21/07)

Bob Mathers: You mentioned Barry Richards and what a character he was. I once sat in on Barry’s show when he was at WHMC-AM in Gaithersburg. In the middle of reading a commercial, he turned off the mike, belched for about 5 seconds, and then turned the mike back on and finished the spot. Roddy Freeman (5/21/07)

XM is still on Directv channels 800 to 879. (5/21/07)

The O&A Pest Army is planning a Washington DC attack - trip - this week to give XM stockholders the old "what for" (www.fullblownaids.com). Not sure how effective they will be since XM's stock has bounced up (moneycentral.msn.com) since Opie and Anthony were forced to sit on the sidelines for a month. Meanwhile, it looks like the People Opposed to Censoring the Radio Shows We Like (or POCTRSWL) is spending whatever money they are milking from lemmings on buying snazzy billboards. (5/21/07)

Dave's response: I guess the financial dudes see a merger between XM and Sirius more likely now that pesky O&A have been silenced, causing a stock erection.....

XM is off and on for me--I was driving down 50 on the Eastern Shore--with no trees or hills around and the signal was cutting in and out. Hey-even XM can have issues. This is the first issue I've encountered in the 4 years that I have had XM. In 4 years, how many times have terrestrial radio stations gone off the air due to storms, transmitter fires, etc? (5/21/07)

Dave's response: I'm getting virtually no XM service here at the DCRTV World HQ. The signal will cut in for a second or two and then fade away again. No luck with reception of the nearby terrestrial repeater, either.....

Couple of quick comments on the WBMD-WQSR thread before it goes away. In the summer of 1973, ‘Top Gun 75’ WBMD had a guy named Harry Roop who did PM drive at the old Moravia Road & Sinclair Lane studios. I sat in with him a few times. Across the hall on air was Barry Richards on WKTK. He was quite a character. ‘Peace, Love, & Bicycle’. And after he did his Johnny’s Used Cars remote early in the afternoon, Bobby Brown would come in to put his equipment away and stick his head in the door to ’shoot the breeze’ with Harry. Ironically, I had an English teacher at Southwestern HS that year named Nancy Sampson. She later married Harry Roop. Even further along the irony line, I came upon a fender bender one day in the late 70’s at Eastern Boulevard and Wilson Point Road in the Chase area of Baltimore County. The officer handling the accident was none other than…Harry Roop. That was a real surprise. As far as WQSR is concerned, before I later spent the better part of 2 years there as an AE and voiceover person, I was hired by Sid Mills when Sconnix owned the station in the summer of 1989 as a fill-in/utility announcer. I sat in with Jack Scott on a Friday afternoon to learn the board, and went on the air the next day. Sid had a very unique 4AM-8AM Saturday shift that he put me on the first time around. My relief came in at 7:30 the first day. He offered a quick greeting, and then said he would be back at the top of the hour. I hit my last record at 7:57 or so, made sure all of his spots and songs were pulled (carts & CD’s), and walked next door to the production studio to work on a couple of things. Well, the song ran out at 8…and no one was there to take the top of the hour ID into the next song. I was making a beeline back to the air studio to go on when finally, 3-4 seconds later, the jock runs in, slams the ID in to the cart machine and things were back to normal. His name was/is Steve Rouse. Whom I enjoyed working with years later over at 600 Washington Avenue. Back in the late 80’s, I was handling on-air for WARM-FM 103 in York (swing) and WGET-WGTY in Gettysburg (F/T) in addition to WQSR. I did about a half-dozen shifts on 105.7 in that month of August, 1989 and then decided to quit. The wear and tear of driving from Hanover, Pa. to east Baltimore was too much after working full time in Gettysburg during the week. I resigned in writing and Sid called me back. He was incredulous that I’d give up the opportunity. A short time later, he too had moved on. – Bob Mathers (5/21/07)

Second day in a row without Don on Don and Mike. What's up with that? (5/21/07)

Here we go again - Opie and Anthony are ripping off Howard Stern once again. Howard invented *not* being heard on satellite radio. Hoo Hoo. (5/21/07)

14 yr old zit infested comuter geek and opie & anthony "pest" hacks xm and shuts company... OK....maybe not....but still what are the chances theh good rev falwell is behind this? (5/21/07)

I didn't know Paul Berry was selling Real Estate in Easton. www.lacazemeredith.com (5/21/07)

Definitely looks like XM is off the air...all channels. Nothing on their web site. Oooops! Last time I checked, all your terrestrial broadcasters were on the air...for free. If I were paying for XM, I'd be a little pissed... (5/21/07)

Dave's response: I hear the XM3 bird took a "death ray" laser hit from the top of the Opie And Anthony Building in NYC. Hmmm.....

Must be a snafu at XM. Off the air. Folks on the XM Fan forum around the country experiencing the same thing. Opie? Anthony? Anyone account for their whereabouts? (5/21/07)

Looks like WTOP has the WTOZ calls for 103.9 after all... www.wtopnews.com (5/21/07)

From the Business section of this morning's Washington Post, in the "Appointments" column, under the Legal category: "Garson Claxton of Bethesda named I.J. Hudson, former news reporter and broadcaster for WRC-TV, communications director for the government relations group." -- Bobbie (5/21/07)

cute www.youtube.com Goin' All In with Dave Johnson (5/21/07)

Hey Roddy: You are amazing. I mean this in a very sincere fashion in that you should write a book about Baltimore radio. I always enjoy reading your posts. Regarding the "oldies" format at WQSR, the guy who was responsible for bringing it to life was Steve Cochran, "The Rock n Roll Doctor". Steve is currently the host of the "Roots Cafe" heard Monday and Saturday on WHFC. Steve was playing "oldies" on a specialty show at WQSR (I believe it was "Jukebox Saturday Night") and the response was so overwhelming that it eventually became a viable format. If I am not mistaken, Steve was responsible for hiring Alan Lee. Unfortunately when Sconnix took over, there were positive changes made to WQSR; however, they were proponents of the scripted personality. Steve believed in having fun on the air and it wasn't his thing. Personally, it wasn't my thing either so we both departed for WHRF where we could do "oldies" with fun and personality. He's still an inspiration. Alan Lee was also great to work with and his rock and roll knowledge is to be respected. Blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC). (5/21/07)

Speaking of Harford County radio--I remember when WHDG was sporting a rock format. Then along came WXCY introducing the area to a funny blend of Country/AC--now that station is the hottest in the area. Speaking of The Birdman, Captain Jim did a similar segment with this fella on his morning show during his days at WAMD, so I wonder who had it first. Oh, and last time I was in the area, I heard Smilin Jack doing his bluegrass show Sunday mornings at 9 on WAMD-still from his home in Joppa. While we're on the subject of WAMD, has anything come of that construction permit to move the tower site and/or reduce daytime power? Are they still sporting the Oldies format.If they are, I'm sure its off the bird. That station had a decent thing- just lacked the ownership support to make something of it. Truly the last local (commercial) station in Harford Co. (5/21/07)

With Phil Wood's gig @ WTEM, does this mean he'll no longer be co-hosting The Tom Davis Show on MASN on Saturday mornings? a really great baseball oriented program! Rusty Gibson (5/21/07)

Speaking of trees falling in the forest: On my ride back to NJ after visiting Larry in Leonardtown, I tuned to WPTX 1690 (formerly owned by Key Broadcasting for you WBMD fans)) and heard the Greaseman. Geeze I was really looking forward to hearing CNN Headline News. Was able to listen to Grease til about 6:30am when Westfield, NJ's NOAA weather broadcast clobbered the Lexington Park signal. Frank in Fanwood (5/21/07)

Speaking of Country/Western/Bluegrass – Does anyone remember when WHDG in Havre de Grace was playing country with Smilin’ Jack in the afternoons broadcasting live from his house (ranch) on Route 40. And the ole Sheriff Bobby Montgomery broadcasting live from Nottingham, Pa. HDG at that time in the late 70’s-80’s was playing lots of Blue Grass way before Ricky Skaggs came along….Who was responsible for programming that station back then? I think at the time J.J. McKay was doing mornings on their sister station WASA and was program director and every morning he used to call and talk to the “BirdMan” a bird watcher and bird lover, But JJ found a way to take that otherwise boring phone call and turn it into a 5 sometimes 10 minute comedy bit, I remember my Uncle Jim even built and put up a damn birdhouse in the Back yard. Radio back then was kinda clean but fun to listen to and was part of what we did first thing in the morning – smack the alarm clock, put on the coffee and turn up the radio - radio now sounds like someone pissed in the coffee and smacked the dj so we turn off the radio and turn on the damn tube in the morning - sure miss the good ole days don’t you? (5/21/07)

Tom in Denton, how could I forget... Jeff Michaels is also still on the air at WPOC, Saturday mornings. I would say it's accurate to state that he has been at WPOC longer than everyone there. He does the Rescue 1250 promotion from WCBM, that is carried on other stations across the country. (5/21/07)

Tom in Denton-you are correct. Clark West remained at WBMD until it was sold to Family Radio. As a matter of fact, his voice was the last one to be passed through the compressed audio chain of WBMD before it signed off and was turned over to Family Radio at 2pm (I think it was 2, or 3pm) on that sunny afternoon. (5/21/07)

This is my final post about WBMD—I promise! But I thought of a couple of things I wanted to mention. The “WBMD Jamboree,” the station’s country music programming in the ‘60’s, featured homemaking tips by Helpful Harriett. I think she might have been (owner) Carl Brenner’s wife. Does anyone else remember her? She sounded horrendous so she fit right inJ. Also, after WKTK-FM’s progressive rock format died in the mid-‘70’s, Brenner tried several formats, none of which got any ratings. Then, in 1982 immediately after WABC-AM in New York dropped music, the ABC Radio Network was going to introduce a top-40 satellite service called “Super Radio.” It was going to feature some big New York personalities, including Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy. WKTK signed up to carry Super Radio. It was perfect for Brenner since a lot of salaries could be eliminated. And that’s when Brenner changed the call letters to WQSR, with the “SR” standing for Super Radio. At the last minute, ABC pulled the plug on Super Radio, and Carl Brenner was one of the most vocal critics. But eventually, Brenner started the oldies format, and by the time Sconnix bought WQSR in 1989, WQSR had already started to become a good-sounding station. Roddy Freeman (5/21/07)

/\ May 21 Messages /\

\/ May 20 Messages \/

To Tom Conroy: I thought I had heard Jeff Michaels doing a spot on WCBM; wasn't sure it was him..but doesn't he still do Saturday mornings for WPOC? Thought I heard him on there not long ago. I was told his real last name once..but have forgotten it; I do remember..after hearing what it was, I thought, "Gee..no wonder he changed the last name!" Not that it was so bad..but probably a bit hard to pronounce; I almost believe I met him back in late 1981: WPOC was doing their bit to raise money for the Johns Hopkins Children's Center; a good friend of mine..along with his girlfriend took me over there to the Security Square Mall to see Trish Hennessey, who was working at WPOC at the time. Can't speak for the rest of you..but it's kind of fun trippin' down "Memory Lane"..and hearing about WBMD from people who where actually there at the time! Am I correct in assuming that Clark West was at WBMD until it was sold to Family Radio? Doesn't seem like it's been all that long ago..he was still on during the morning hours..but I could be wrong. Tom in Denton, MD (5/20/07)

"Not that it means a whole lot but can anyone explain why all three Nats - Orioles games on MASN were broadcast by Oriole announcers?" As explained earlier, MASN had the Baltimore feed and announcers, MASN2 (and WDCA) the Washington feed and announcers. I believe when the teams meet in Camden Yards next month, the MASN feeds will be flipped -- visiting Nats on main MASN, home Orioles on MASN2. What I didn't get is why on the MASN2 screen, the scores were shown as "ORIOLES" and "WASHINGTON," or, in the corner "O'S' and "WSH." After all, "BALTIMORE" and "BAL," respectively, would've fit. Must've been an executive order from Cuban Pete, for whom the word "Baltimore" is anathema. -- Vincent in Triangle (5/20/07)

What other songs featured a phone number in the title or lyrics? "777-9311" by the Time. Second track on the CD "What Time is It?" I remember it well...777 was the exchange at the University of South Carolina back in the 80s and 90s. - Amy Morris (5/20/07)

I was real surprised to read so many interesting posts about the old WBMD, and Roddy, you sure have an excellent memory, sure wish I had. I actually got my first commercial radio job with WBMD in 1973 or so. Clark West, one of the greatest broadcasters in the area, was PD at the time, in fact, he was there for over 50 years. Here is a guy who did not want a produced aircheck. He led me to the production room, ripped some copy of the teletype, and told me I had 10 minutes to put together a newscast. It must have impressed him, because I spent about 30 years there. Smiling Jack (Hamlett) did afternoons, Clark West mornings, Kenny Miller middays, I shared evenings in the early to mid 70's with part timers including Bob Knorr, John Healey, and Keith Parks. Ray Davis did the bluegrass show weekdays from Johnnys Used Cars on Harford Road, around 1 or 2pm. I could always tell when he was there, the studio had a familiar 60 hz hum for years. Kenny and Jack frequently did live broadcasts with the WBMD log cabin. This was an actual custom built log cabin on back of an old 3/4 ton Ford truck, which often blew transmissions because of the weight. The Marti broadcasts had excellent quality, they did all the music on scene, I believe we did the spots locally. Remotes were as far away as Harford County, and they were frequent. The tower was 306' tall at the time, with WKTK antennas side mounted. We used a folded unipole design, and had coverage from 20 miles above Harrisburg, all the way to Southern Maryland and Ocean City, not bad for 1kw. At the time I was there, the old Gates 2.5 kw FM mono transmitter was installed but not in use, they went with a 25kw Rockwell/Harris. Back about 1983 the new 500' tower went up, WHILE WBMD still broadcast from the original tower, just 5'-6' away. They shifted to the new tower overnight, and worked on dismantling the old one section by section. That created lots of challenges! They now use a folded unipole off that tower @780 watts. Regarding WISZ, Jeff Michaels was there for quite some time when country, he went with WPOC during the early years with Pete Porter, and trained me in 1979. Jeff currently sells for WCBM/WVIE. Again, I appreciate the radio history, and those who correct me from time to time. Tom Conroy (5/20/07)

To the post about Oriole Announcers... The game was on WDCA 20 today. With the Nats announcers. MASN had the game on MASN 2. (5/20/07)

To Rusty Gibson: I wish I could tell you for sure where to obtain a copy of that rousing rendition of 'Go, Orioles Go!'. That 1966 song will always remain a great memory considering it was the year the Birds first won it all! I have a snippet of it on an August '66 radio aircheck, but not the whole song. Short of finding it on ebay...one possibility is to call one of the older ad agencies in Baltimore, if any are still left. Although I think the Robert Goodman agency may have put the song out. Or...try Mike Gibbons at the Babe Ruth Muesum in downtown Baltimore. If I find it before you do, I'll dub you a copy. - Bob Mathers (5/20/07)

RE: [ " Well, it was all "smiles" in April 2006, when Oprah last visited WJZ " ]..... Now that WJZ is owned by CBS, virtually no one at WJZ (except for maybe Richard Sher & possibly a janitor or cameraman) was there when Oprah was there. I think her gripe is with the old Group W management, which still sounds like sour grapes since they did give her her first syndicated talk show, People are Talking, which got her noticed nationally. (5/20/07)

There's a post on one of the Nationals' fan sites that says that the WTEM site claims Phil Wood is coming back to 980 next Saturday morning. Anyone heard anything about that? (5/20/07)

Just saw the clip on Inside Edition (it's probably on YouTube by now)....... Oprah slams WJZ TV Baltimore at Howard University while accepting an honorary doctorate. A teary-eyed Oprah claimed that WJZ tried to get her to change her name to Suzie, told her that she was "too big", and only put her on a talk show to run out her contract before getting rid of her. This isn't the first time Oprah has slammed WJZ. If I remember correctly, she previously claimed that the late long-time anchor Jerry Turner treated her poorly.

The irony here is that Oprah has just purchased 2 Ritz Carlton Inner Harbor waterfront condos (6-8 million) in Baltimore, so she must have some fond memories of the town that gave her her first syndicated talk show. (4/20/07)

Dave's response: Well, it was all "smiles" in April 2006, when Oprah last visited WJZ (right).....

WISZ's George Morgan was also Jack O'Brien part time at WFBR, and he's now working in master control at MPT under his real name which I don't think he wants me to tell the world- - and yes we did push the country envelope in that Nashville Sound era, even working in Lobo, Allman Bros and Jim Croce. Bill Barden was the PD and he won a Billboard Trendsetter award for it - - Mark Clark (5/20/07)

In response to the prior musical question....: 634-5789...a great soul tune from the sixties. "...though I'll be right here at home...all you gotta do is pick up the telephone and dial 634-5789...." (5/20/07)

At the risk of getting yelled at by whatsisname, I'd like to report that 950 AM WCTN is off air again today, which is now about 1 week since they last put a signal up. OK fella, have at it; you've already torn me so many a**holes over this that I can play my butt like an ocarina. (5/20/07)

Hey "Bill in Lothian" Are (were) you familiar with the Moreland family as they are relatives of mine whom have since relocated to southwest Va. Rusty Gibson (5/20/07)

There's an item in the news about two plumbing firms who are fighting over who gets to use the phone number from the Tommy Tutone song “Jenny (867-5309)". www.eyewitnessnewstv.com... I also remember "BEechwood 4-5789 by The Marvelettes and Pennsylvania 6-5000 by Glenn Miller. What other songs featured a phone number in the title or lyrics? (5/20/07)

Two things I remember about WISZ: 1: in the late 60s/early 70s, they had a turn table that was slow (I used to hear that sort of thing in radio back in that time frame)..2: in the early 70s, WISZ really began sort of "pushing the envelope" as far as their music was concerned; I seem to recall hearing Olivia Newton John's "If Not For You" on that station for the first time. by 1973, they had seemed to resolve that "turn table" thing; this is also when I began to notice that DJs would play a record twice during their airshift. I got to hear that station a lot in September of 73 as I was in the hospital for three weeks; one of the DJs they had then was a guy who went by George Morgan..he was on during the morning drive..and would say "Good Morgan on ya!" Tom in Denton, MD (5/20/07)

Not that it means a whole lot but can anyone explain why all three Nats - Orioles games on MSN were broadcast by Oriole announcers? (5/20/07)

Tom in Denton: You might be right about WBMD being on Chase Street at some point, but I don’t recall that. The transmitter site was always at 5200 Moravia Road, where the new complex was built in the late ‘60’s. But in the mid-‘60’s, Moravia Road was just a little narrow suburban road and not the major boulevard it is today. And the WBMD tower was a little stick, nowhere near the 542-foot tower that was built to hold the FM antenna as well as the AM (which I think is now at the WBGR site). Roddy Freeman (5/20/07)

I was on-air at WISZ AM-FM from 1973 - 1978. 1590 AM is still around, as I understand it, as WFBR, mainly selling brokered religious programming. We were doing well with the AM-FM combo until Nationwide bought WFMM-FM and turned it to WPOC on Labor Day, 1974. It was difficult for our 5,000 watt mono FM to compete with 50,000 watts and Nationwide's budget. In December 1976, WFBR 1300 AM (ironically enough) bought the FM and it became WBKZ on 95.9 (Z-96.) After that, the AM limped along for a while, and the format was changed to MOR and the calls became WJRO in April, 1977. Clear as mud, eh? Mark Clark (5/20/07)

Okay..hope I don't get too "long-winded" here; to all of those who weren't (or aren't) fans of WBMD or country music, you might want to scroll down past my post now! First of all: to the poster talking about WAAI: yes..I'm familiar with them; they do sort of mix the traditional and modern country music. As you say, they have a classic country show which airs early Saturday mornings. Bill Cody's Country Classics" is on Saturday nights..and Mel Price is on for a couple of hours on Sunday evenings. The problem I have with WAAI is this: although their programming is local in the mornings and afternoons, during middays and evenings..it's "satellite-driven!" I have noticed that they have a new gal on in the afternoons that sounds pretty professional! But if I know that station, she probably won't be their for long as I suspect that MPS doesn't pay their on-air talent that well! As for your comments concerning WANN: I had almost forgotten about them! There again, it seems that most of it's programming was also "satellite-driven." But later, WYRE programmed classic country; it actually wasn't too bad; only problem is that..here in Denton, mostly because of this station which calls are WKDI (840)..it made WYRE a little bit difficult to get! I seem to recall that..back in the 60s (when they were programming their "top 40 format, the signal was better! Now about WBMD: thanks to Roddy Freeman for sharing what he remembers! Here's more of what I remember: As Roddy pointed out, Clark West and Bobby Brown were on in the afternoons; Joe Powers did the morning show. But as I remember it, WBMD was on Chase Street; maybe this was just where the towers were; at least..this was the address they'd give for picking up prizes, sending mail correspondences..and the like. Later (again..as I remember it) they moved to 5200 Moravia Road; this would be around 1969; it is also (as I remember it)..when the "AM" and "FM" started true simulcasting. There were a few other disk jockeys other than Clark, Joe and Bobby: does anyone remember a fellow named Pappy Gibbs? I think he may have been on in the late 50s/early 60s; he would have done the shift that Bobby Brown did later on. As Rpoddy pointed out, WBMD was more "traditional" country; WISZ (when I first heard it) was pretty much the same; in my humble opinion, what might have helped them to hurt WBMD was the fact that WISZ played country music )all day and all night!__. WBMD never did do this..at least not as far as I knew! Would be interesting to be able to hear some airchecks from those old stations from back during the time they were on; would be particularly interesting for me to hear what WBMD sounded like in it's earlier days..back in the late 40s on through the early 60s as I didn't start becoming real familiar with that station until about the mid-60s. One more thing before I leave ya: Ray Davis certainly is still on WAMU..and sounding (at least to me) as good as he did in his heyday; why..you'd think that any moment, he's going to start trying to sell you a "Johnny's Used Car!" Oh BTW..that establishment moved from 900 East Fayette St. to 4801 Harford Road (I don't remember what year that happened.)..but I do sort of vaguely remember his show from Fayette ST. Sorry for the long post! But you guys have struck a nerve with me as I have been a country music fan for most of my life! I listened to the "rock-N-Roll" thing too (I actually wanted to listen to both)..but the way the culture was at school in those days, it was hard to listen and admit you liked both! If you liked rock-N-roll, you didn't get caught dead listening to country; fact is, if they found out you liked "country (or as it was often referred to as "hill-Billy" music, they'd run from you like you had the plague! Be that as it may, around 1964/1965, I decided that it was going to be "strictly country" for me! IOh..one more thought: about that program from the Stardust Inn..aw man..do I ever remember that one! A guy who served as the morning man a little while after Joe Powers left WBMD named George Dale hosted that show and..well..it was just a wild time! Again..sorry for the long post! Tom in Denton, MD (5/20/07)

1) WTOZ could well have been allocated to the Coast Guard. An old FM call in Ohio, WDJQ, shows up the same way, and the station (now WZKL) was unsuccessful in getting it back when it returned to the former "Q92" top 40 identity. Maybe Bonneville has more friends in high places i