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DCRTV Mailbag - July 26 to July 30, 2007
Latest messages listed first.....
\/ July 30 Messages \/
LETS MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR & HONEST... Comcast did NOT move or delete ESPN Classic when they added MASN OR MASN2 to any channel lineup in Maryland (or any cable system) that I'm aware of and believe me, I was checking. If someone has news of this happening, please come forward NOW, but I'm pretty sure I'm right on this. COMCAST DELETED ESPN CLASSIC JUST WEEKS BEFORE CAL RIPKEN'S HALL OF FAME INDUCTION! And to add insult to injury, COMCAST kept their TV GUIDE Channel still showing ESPN Classic on the same channel up until about a week or so ago EVEN THOUGH IT HAD ALREADY BEEN DELETED FROM THE CHANNEL LINEUP. Then after fixing that, ummm, "technical glitch" (yeah RIGHT!), they started advertising that you could see Cal's Hall of Fame Induction by PURCHASING THEIR DIGITAL CABLE SPORTS TIER! And by the way, it does make one wonder why Comcast REQUIRES you to enter your HOME ADDRESS just to get a particular channel lineup for 1 of their cable systems doesn't it? Couldn't they just do it by county or system name? I'm sure their customers know where they are right? DUH! What is Comcast afraid of? Are they afraid people from 1 county might get mad that another county has this or that? Oh, NO, that can't be the reason. I often wonder if Comcast just might use tracking cookies to find out if you're using Verizon DSL, and well, you get the picture, oops PC broke. And yes, Cal Ripken IS a COMCAST SPOKESPERSON! 'Nuff said. (7/30/07)
Though I wasn't a fan of his at first, I found it interesting that no one mentioned the fine job Gary Thorne did as MC during yesterday's Hall Of Fame festivities. In my book, he's a true pro. Rusty Gibson (7/30/07)
This is in response to the gentleman from Denton, MD who inquired about CBS radio in Baltimore. He is correct - WAYE was the CBS radio affiliate at the time of Kennedy's assassination. WAYE was a daytime only station that went through several permutations, among them was as an all news station during the early Sixties. It wasn't a successful experiment as it transformed itself later into an all Rock station. I remember listening to the new format during 1972 and it sounded pretty good. Unfortunately it went through another change again this time into a big band format. It really couldn't succeed as a news station since its signal shut down at night. Its success later as a rock station was negated by the steady growth of FM stereo throughout the '70s decade. CBS radio's history in Baltimore is rather unstable. Back in our parents' and grandparents' day during the 1940's WCAO was the outlet for CBS. Radio was the predominant home entertainment before it was eclipsed after 1948 by television. An affiliate meant carrying that network's programs which included dramas, variety comedy shows et al. WCAO chose to alter its format to a youth driven rock'n'roll top 40 format which lead to disaffiliate itself from the CBS Radio network. By that time radio readjusted itself as the primary medium to the primary music medium. Evidently the locally owned WCBM assumed the CBS radio contract. This placed WCBM with WBAL as the two major news stations in Baltimore. By this time CBS News had established itself as the prestige news establishment among the networks. Metromedia bought WCBM either in 1960 or 1961 ending its connection with CBS a year later. Somewhere along the way WAYE became the CBS affiliate for Baltimore which probably paved the way for its foray into all news radio. As previously stated an all news format couldn't work on a daytime only station. CBS then bounced over at WFBR for a small while during the early '70s. CBS could never find a real home in Baltimore - even WBAL was with CBS recently. However WBAL never carried CBS' hourly news reports picking and choosing what it wished to carry on its own local reports. A few years ago I heard CBS news on WCBM. I believe CBS is back with WBAL although that station is now using CNN reports occassionally. The other network NBC didn't have that problem in Baltimore. Baby boomers and older Baltimoreans will recall that WBAL was strongly identified with NBC dating from the beginning of radio. It ended when its sister TV station reaffiliated with CBS. The radio station signed with one of the ABC radio networks ending a long 40 year period as an NBC station. FULL DISCLOSUre - Although this sketchy history is based on memory and a smattering of personal research I hope it helps to put the story of CBS in Baltimore in perspective. Michael Levin (7/30/07)
"By the way, wasn't ESPN Classic moved for some of you in order to fit MASN?" Well, Comcast jiggered the line-up to put MASN (and The Golf Channel) in the sports block of chs 2-7 (in Balto County), but prior to the shift, ESPN Classic and MASN were both readily available. Now, Comcast has chs 68 & 69 quite EMPTY - and MASN2 still bumps C-SPAN2 when there's dual baseball coverage. AND when MASN2 live coverage ends, we're treated to a second feed of ESPNews rather than a swift return to C-SPAN2. VS? Already sitting in the sports block at ch 2. Moved to fit? I think not - I'll go with $queezed out. Mark/CharmCity (7/30/07)
"but what "GJ" doesn't get is that ALL the Redskins billing runs from August-December. since Redskins billing makes up about 90% of their sales, they have their problems. They need to produce revenue from non-Redskins programming or the station will not make it" So what is it - ALL or 90%, you managed to contradict yourself in just one sentence - if you hadn't used caps, the error may have been forgivable. But obviously you must be much closer to Dan Snyder than his very own investors (most of whom paint a very different picture) to have that kind of detailed financial information. Did the two of you go over his balance sheet this morning over breakfast, or are you just full of shit? "GJ" (7/30/07)
Yes, Bill Press is a former WMALer. But, MORE importantly, he is the current morning man on Progressive Talk 1260. (7/30/07)
Dave's response: Oh come on! Is 1260 a real radio station? Ha ha ha.....
Congratulations to Pamela Brown from WJLA and Newschannel 8 by being voted the hottest ON AIR female in the DC area...she is absolutely worthy of the honor, she is a very perky hot young lady who will go far in the business. It is a pleasure to watch her on TV in the mornings on Newschannel 8. (7/30/07)
WTMD 89.7 will broadcast live from Virgin Fest at Pimlico with interviews from the artists and bands playing this historic music festival. Throughout the two day event, WTMD DJ's will report on the festivities and crowd reactions to the music as well as what the festival means to Baltimore. Morning Show Host Erik Deatherage and Baltimore Unsigned host and Baltimore Sun reporter Sam Sessa will report from backstage and out in the crowd speaking with artists, technicians, fans and event organizers. Melissa Goode, Ben Rogot and John Mathews will emcee the coverage Saturday August 4 from 12 noon to 8 pm and Sunday from 12 noon to 5 pm... (7/30/07)
Blaine Young did not appear on Frederick's Forum, the WFMD-AM show he has hosted since 2002, this past Saturday; Bob Miller filled in for him. It seems that Young was suspended... Young no longer works as the sales manager for WFMD, having left to form his own company, Interstate Mobile Ads... (7/30/07)
Lori has worked at WGAL for almost a year now…doing weekend mornings and fill ins. (7/30/07)
GJ. Quite a bit of defending your company over the past couple days. I hear Danny Boy rewards loyalty, especially when one of his loyal servants defend his bad business decisions. Sounds like you might be in line for a raise...or maybe just spared during the next round of firings at Red Zebra. (7/30/07)
Younger than 55 or didn't grow-up in the DC/Baltimore area? You may stop reading now... July marks what would have been the 82nd birthday of Singing Woodsman Billy Johnson who captivated local kids with his daily shows on WTOP-TV 9 & WMAR-TV 2 and (later) WTTG-TV 5 during the 1950s. Sadly, Billy died Christmas Day 2006 from heart problems. However, Ira Gallen's tvdays.com has rare footage of Billy's Channel-5 show, viewable in three parts: DCMemories.com... (Milt Grant and Lee Reynolds also pop-up in some unusual places.) More about Billy at: DCMemories.com... (7/30/07)(Not to defend Snyder, but didn't they bill that in just 5 months last year?). I believe they went on air in July, so probably about 6 months, but close enough. but what "GJ" doesn't get is that ALL the Redskins billing runs from August-December. since Redskins billing makes up about 90% of their sales, they have their problems. They need to produce revenue from non-Redskins programming or the station will not make it. (7/30/07)
Another day, another copter crash: A helicopter carrying a pilot and two traffic reporters -- including one from CBS Radio/Dallas -- crash-landed after losing power Monday morning (July 30), leaving the passengers bruised but alive. Reporter Julie DeHarty of news/talk KRLD and AC KVIL and Chip Waggoner of Fox affiliate KDFW-TV survived the crash without severe injuries, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. (7/30/07)
Al the voting on Media Bistro for media hotties crashed their computers! (7/30/07)
Dave's response: They got some automated programs running to jack up the vote tallies and crashed poor MB's computers. Wah wah! Ha ha ha ha.....
Just heard on Anita Mark's show: Cal's speech will be replayed at 8 P.M. tonight on ESPN2 Hope this helps those out who weren't able to catch it yesterday; personally, it would have been nice if one of the local Baltimore channels could have carried it; some folks still don't even have cable! They either don't get it in their area..or they just aren't able to afford it! Tom in Denton, MD (7/30/07)
(Dave's response: Speaking of Carson, Letterman, and Snyder, anyone remember staying up really really really late to catch that marvelous NBC offbeat overnight news show with Linda Ellerby?) Dave, that great show was NBC NEWS OVERNIGHT and ran from July 5th, 1982 to December 3, 1983. Ellerbee co-hosted the show with Lloyd Dobyns. A smart and funny show that was on from 1:30am to 2:30am. I remember both the first and last shows occurred during a lunar eclipse. (7/30/07)
Dave's response: Yeah, back in my 20s, I could get by on three or four hours of sleep a night. And I watched a lot of late night TV.....
(I would like to respond to "Alan Lee plays tunes from the 70s and 80s? You must not listen to Alan. He doesn't think that there has been a decent record made after 1970! Really! Bring him back, CB-asss! Do something right in Baltimore for once!! ") - If you've read my post, you would have seen that I DID NOT say Alan Lee plays tunes from the 70's and 80's. If YOU'VE listened to Alan Lee's show, you would have heard that he did from time to time play songs from the 70's and 80's. Not the popular songs, but the modern doo wops or good remakes of 50's and early 60's tunes. And some good soul tunes that fit the format of his show. It was very rare that Alan would play anything outside of the 50's and 60's. Also, I also said in my post if Alan Lee wasn't selected to do a Forgotten 45's show, Jack Edwards, the Merson Person, Johnny Dark, or Bob Mathers would be a good fit for a show like that, if that were to occur. However, I do agree with you that Alan Lee should be brought back. Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (7/30/07)
I can recall what Elvis Costello came on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" show, either in 1980 or '81, when Costello was still in his "angry young man" phase. Snyder asked him whether he had matured as an artist, and Costello snarkily replied, "is that like cheese?" or something to that effect. Fast forward to 2007, and Costello is now in his early fifties, an all-around pop Renaissance man known for his eclecticism, and married to a jazz star who just delivered twins. I'm sure somewhere, Snyder got a kick out of the changes brought on by "time, the avenger," to borrow a Pretenders song title. Au revoir, Tom. -- Vincent in Triangle (7/30/07)
Dave's response: I remember Elvis Costello's first appearance on "Saturday Night Live".....
Please get Stephen A. Smith off of Triple-X. I've never heard such bombast. He also keeps giving the New York call letters. If he is the replacement for Dan Patrick, afternoon broadcasts will be unlistenable. Shawn in DC. (7/30/07)
Dave, Letterman’s show always started at 12:30AM Eastern time. The Tonight Show was cut back to an hour in 1980. Letterman started his show in 1982. (7/30/07)
Dave's response: Speaking of Carson, Letterman, and Snyder, anyone remember staying up really really really late to catch that marvelous NBC offbeat overnight news show with Linda Ellerbee? "And so it goes".....
"the Zebras billed somewhere north of $9 million and that included Redskins sales. On the expense side, reports are of $14-$15 million being spent last year. Don't need to be a math major to see that is a loss of $5 Million. Failure" Not to defend Snyder, but didn't they bill that in just 5 months last year? Sounds like you must have had a pretty miserable childhood. Your father probably pegged you as a failure the moment you missed your second baby step, that's probably why you have enough time on your hands on a Monday to spend second-guessing the mind of a guy who makes more in one day then you have since day one. But in your mind, your smarter than him - aren't you? GJ (7/30/07)
Alan Lee plays tunes from the 70s and 80s? You must not listen to Alan. He doesn't think that there has been a decent record made after 1970! Really! Bring him back, CB-asss! Do something right in Baltimore for once!! (7/30/07)
Why are all these people complaining about ESPN Classic carrying the Hall of Fame induction? Why would you want to watch something that will be replayed over and over again? ESPN was carrying NASCAR which brings in huge ratings (second most watched sport nationally). The Orioles were playing the Yankees at 1:00pm. I have news for all you Baltimore fans: If the Yankees and Red Sox did not come to several times a year, the Orioles would be in Las Vegas by now. By the way, wasn't ESPN Classic moved for some of you in order to fit MASN? You have two choices. Stop living in the past or pay the extra for ESPN Classic as well as Fox Soccer Channel and VS you cheap bastards. Bryslock (7/30/07)
A minor correction on the Nationals broadcasters: Charlie does 1, 2 , 5, 8 and 9. Dave does 3, 4, 6, and 7. Both are very good, and it would not surprise me if Dave is snapped up as a lead announcer for some club in the future. Hope not, though, as they work well together. Shawn in DC (7/30/07)
FYI: I am unable to say how long Lori Pinson has been up here in Pa. but it seems she has been at Lancaster's WGAL for quite some time now. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (7/30/07)
There was much debate last week about Red Zebra’s success or failure. To add to the discussion, I offer these observations on ratings, revenue/profit, programming, engineering, and people. ratings: hovered around a one share since inception with a CUME of barely 100,000 people. Could argue that RZ has taken listeners from WTEM. problem is that WTEM never had more much more than a 2 share. Failure. Revenue/profit: according to reports, the Zebras billed somewhere north of $9 million and that included Redskins sales. On the expense side, reports are of $14-$15 million being spent last year. Don't need to be a math major to see that is a loss of $5 Million. Failure. Programming: took ESPN programming from WTEM (nothing groundbreaking here). added Riggins. He is a big name, but his ratings don't justify his reported salary of $1 Million per year. Failure. Engineering: purchased 3 of the worst signals in the market and have been unable to upgrade or buy better properties. Failure. People: no other station has had more people in significant roles turnover such a short amount of time. Failure. As of today, not really sure how else you can slice it. (7/30/07)
Dave's response: Dan Snyder's only hope - and I mean ONLY hope - for his Triple X sports talker is to get a better signal, and pronto. And the only potential DC radio deal I see on the horizon is to buy 107.7 and 1500 (WaPo Radio) from Bonneville. Snyder could either put Triple X on that duo or do some sort of swap with Salem for 105.1 (WAVA). Until something like that happens, Snyder is doing nothing but pouring his money down a rat hole. If Snyder doesn't do that, and Triple X dies, CBS will be in the catbird seat to flip the slowly sinking 106.7 to sports talk and hold onto its valuable male demos.....
lawyers getting involved in GTS sale www.savewgts.org (7/30/07)
I never claimed to be a radio genious … apparently; you’re not any other kind of “genious” either. (7/30/07)
Re: "AH HAH HAH HAH HAH – All right sir…" That's a Tom Snyder-ism. (7/30/07)
Dave's response: Oh, I get it! Dan Ackroyd.....
To answer your question Christian, Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler are co-billed as Play-By-Play voices for the Nationals Radio Network. There is no "color commentator" as there is with Bob Carpenter on MASN, with Don Sutton filling that bill. Charlie does innings 1, 2, 5, 6 & 9, Jags does innings 3, 4, 7 & 8. It's been that way since the beginning with Dave Shea doing a similar number of innings. Jags does indeed contribute quite a bit to the broadcasts both on & off the air and the team has recognized that by having him doing the narration for the new "Nationals Park" virtual video tour, as well as the promotional phone on-hold messages...while Charlie is used for events such as the ESPN Zone Q&A's...and they both go out each year on the Nationals Winter Caravan tour. Slowes & Jageler as a team are really coming into their own, even generating callers on Nats Talk Live that ask about their contract status at the end of the season, because they've become the comfortable voice most Nats fans rely on. It's equal billing for Charlie & Dave, as it should be. - S (7/30/07)
(In response to this: A More Soulful WBIG?:) That would be great if this were the case. Although I like BIG as it is now, it would make it a more interesting station if they added more soul and R&B to their play list. They already play some pop songs like I'd Really Love to See You Tonight, Baby Come Back, Afternoon Delight, etc so it wouldn't be a bad idea, because BIG is not a true classic rock station anyway. As for Jack's days possibly being numbered in Baltimore, I couldn't agree more. If WQSR switched to a format similar to CBS FM's, I think it would be successful. If they had a forgotten 45's show, that would be VERY Good. Alan Lee's Forgotten 45's show did very well in the ratings. I'm not saying they should play exclusively 50's and early 60's oldies, but if they decided to have a Forgotten 45's show, they should include Forgotten 45's from all eras (50's through 80's) well mixed together. I think they would have an audience. If Alan Lee is not selected to do a show like that, then maybe Jack Edwards, Johnny Dark, Bob Mathers or the Merson Person could do such a show since they would have extensive collections and excellent musical knowledge to make such a show interesting. I saw Lori Pinson, former Fox 45 Weather person on WGAL Channel 8 in Lancaster PA. She's looking good as ever. One other point; KCMO 94.9 the oldies station in Kansas City does very well in the ratings. Their play list goes into the 80's; but on Sunday Nights, they have a golden oldies party which features hits from the 50's and early 60's from 7 pm to 12 midnight CDT. They play some good stuff. Check it out at www.949kcmo.com. Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (7/28/07)
AH HAH HAH HAH HAH – All right sir… (7/30/07)
Dave's response: Huh?
Tom Snyder was a very nice guy. When his website during his retirement years was up, he made a point of answering every email that was sent to him. Occasionally, if he were away on a trip, it might take a few days and he would always apologize for being late in his response. Television lost a great one, a true giant, when he retired and now in his passing away. Bob in College Park (7/30/07)
I've been listening to the Nationals on WTWP, and have grown accustomed to Charlie Slowes' voice. For a time, I wondered what the point was of having Dave Jageler in the booth with Slowes -- I rarely heard him say anything, although I listened only sporadically to Nats games, and even then, heard only a few innings of each. Lately, however, Jageler's voice has been heard more frequently. I figured he took over when Slowes was sick or had vocal troubles, but a couple of weeks ago I turned on a game and heard Slowes, then turned it on later and heard Jageler doing the main play-by-play, or whatever it's called in baseball-broadcast lingo. So what gives? Is the usual arrangement that Slowes does the main play-by-play, with Jageler offering "color commentary" as needed, or has Jageler always done an equal amount of play-by-play, and I simply hadn't listened during the right times to hear him? I hasten to add that both men are quite good, but I wonder if Jageler's being "worked in" more frequently by the WTWP brass. Christian (7/31/07)
I see you took the mention of Letterman out of the Tom Snyder tribute. It's true that David Letterman's "Late Night" on NBC replaced the "Tomorrow Show", which had been foundering as the '80s began, but Letterman had respected Snyder enough to make him the first host of CBS' "Late Late Show" in 1995. Good background stories on this at: en.wikipedia.org... Tom not only subbed for Larry King, but had his own ABC Radio program in the early '90's. I'll be interested to see how/if Letterman makes any references to Tom tonight, and for that matter if Craig Ferguson has any remarks on his predecessor. (7/30/07)
Dave's response: My memories from the late 1970s, when I was in college, are somewhat faulty. I did watch Carson at 11:30 and Snyder at 1. But Letterman didn't start doing his NBC show until the 1980s. Then, it was Carson at 11:30, Letterman at 1, and Snyder at 2. Eventually, Letterman came on at 12:30, and Snyder soon moved to an evening show on cable, I think CNBC. When Letterman moved over to CBS in the early 1990s, Snyder followed him at 12:30 for a while. Something like that.....
I worked with Tom Snyder when he was a guest host on Larry King's late night radio show. He had a great sense of humor and carried a chip on his shoulder ---two essential qualities for anyone in the talk show business. He was a class act and a lot of fun---the conversations with him during commercials are somethng I will always remember fondly--and of course something I can never repeat. Pat Piper (7/30/07)
It Is Monday and time for another WTOP “Knucklehead in the News”. Am I the only one if finds this segment completely idiotic? (7/30/07)
Dear Dave- I just read Howard Kurtz's article on Campbell Brown. He states that Ms. Brown once interned at NewsChannel 8. I was at News 8 from the beginning in 1991 until September 2004. Campbell Brown never, ever interned at NewsChannel 8. As a matter of fact, I was working at the NBC affiliate in Richmond, WWBT, when Ms. Brown was working their D.C. beat. I don't know where Howie gets his info, but he obviously didn't ask Campbell. Rick (7/30/07)
Vin Diesel on the mailbag page? Don't the boys in your photos have to come out of the closet first before you post them there? *snicker* (7/30/07)Dave's response: I have read that Vin has been selected by several gossip sites as the most likely next celeb to come out of the closet. However, just because someone has posed for us in a DCRTV t-shirt, that doesn't imply anything about their sexual orientation. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Heck, we even have a DCRTV promo pic of Dick Cheney that we occasionally run. And then there's always that frightening image of G. Gordon Liddy in a Speedo. Both very manly, straight men.....
"Either the Angelos haters are makin stuff up again or Comcast is up to their old tricks again or both" I have Antietam Cable and had trouble. (7/30/07)
To call it unintelligent is crazy, look at the basic facts, things that work and don't. As for needing meds yeah right!! Your comments were typical of the egotistical I know everything attitude. CBS-FM isn't the station it was before their flip back to Oldies / Greatest hits and etc. Exactly! It doesn't need to be what it was before, it would make no sense for it to be. For music perspective CBS works great, it has a wide variety of music from the true oldies 60's and 70's to disco and classic hits (Supertramp, Queen, ELO) type stuff, to some 80's. It's variety! It's still better than to say we play everything but in reality we stole the Mix's playlist from a year ago. A mirror image to Mix 106.5. Jack actually wasn't horrible when they played lots of 80's but Jason Kidd has truned it into Mix 106.5 part 2. For the ccomment on Broadway Bill Lee, tell me can you go on radio and present the music, and do a better job at it? Really? I doubt it. As for Fast Jimi he's not horrible or old but I just think he'd be a better fit elsewhere. If you're running CHR your prime demos are 18 - 34 and 25-54. I don't think he's a bad DJ at all, actually he's one of my favorite DJ's. As for comparing WSOX to bigger maket stations yeah there's a diffence in market rank 114 to 21 or 8 but markiet rank means squat when you're talking about the music they play. Even when WQSR was around WSOX did steal listeners anywhere north of Balitrmore with ease simple just due to playlist diffences.Yeah no one could match Rouse, nor ever will. After seeing what happened to WQSR, and WCBS, and while they were doing just fine with ratings and had no reason to update the playlist coming off a 7.3 (third place book) book they added Classic hit's to their Oldies on July 22, 2005 a day after that book. It equaled instant success. Now due to ownership changes to Corporate style and now having a figurehead PD the station isn't no where what it was before March.Would the music WSOX played be successful, in Baltimore or anywhere else? More than likely yes. It's not about market rank but about the music the station plays and how it's presented (DJ's). Did you ever listen to WSOX in their prime say six months ago? I doubt it. I never claimed to be a radio genious. But I do keep up with ratings in many markets, it's easy to see what works and what doesn't. It's easy to tell what stations nheed help and which don't. Teah there's a chance Merosn would comback in a heartbeat to CBS if given the opportunity, same with Johnny Dark, or Bob Worthington, or any tale. I remember him saying that he enjoyed his time at WQSR. But these gueys all now have new jobs. It'd be great if Bob Worthington came back to Baltimore but he suddenly got dumped buy two Oldie stations. So why would he when he just moved to Chicago? As for Albie Dee, maybe the guy is up there in age, but he does well at presenting the product. Why does everone here have a Med's fetish? Practially everyone who posts a response to a post says that the original poster needs to go on med's!!! Grow the heck up!!! By the way no one knows everything. One that thinks they know everything needs some serious help. (7/30/07)
You won't believe this. Go to www.nationals.com. When the video shows a highlight of a Nats game, it ain't the Nats announcers. Probably the Mets announcers. What the heck is this? It's the Nationals web site for gosh sakes. Who the heck is responsible for this garbage? (7/30/07)
I don't get why people aren't BLAMING MLB for allowing ESPN to put the hall of fame ceremonies on ESPN Classic? This should have been on broadcast television for EVERYONE in the country to see. SHAME SHAME on Major League Baseball for first of all scheduling the Orioles to play their arch rival the NY Yankees AT HOME during the ceremonies and secondly for cutting a deal that allowed ESPN to air it on a station that MOST OF THE COUNTRY does NOT get. MLB could have used the positive press Cal Ripken and Tony Gwen generated today. With all the problems baseball has these are two of the good guys, the really good guys...the ball players you looked up to and made themselves admirable role models. I don't care about Comcast or Dish or Direct TV....BLAME MLB for short changing Cal, Tony and true baseball fans for NOT TELEVISING the ceremonies when the Orioles weren't playing and where EVERYONE could watch them. (7/30/07)
With the Don and Mike show sinking even further does this weaken O'Meara's bargaining position in terms of continuing on with WJFK after Geronimo jumps off..is it possible O'Meara also might move to Florida on May 30th, 2008? Do you think they'll have a big going away party for the fan's of just cue up "Already Gone" and leave the studio?...O'Meara could easily pick up some voiceover work and do some fix it jobs around Master Geronimo's estate.....you know if WBAL radio would set up a webcam in the studio I'd watch some of Alan Prell in a rocking chair with oatmeal dribbling down his chin......I thought Eddie Murray was Cal's bestest friend? How come Mr. Murray doesn't get any mention anymore with regards to O's managerial position? Was "Wild Bill" at the ceremony for Cal? Now I'm fairly sure the Hall o' Fame ceremonies have been on ESPN or ESPN2 in the past. And the gotd9mn tennis espn was showing was from 2006! The peckerheads! That's for Mr. Gibson who I thought was moving......that thing about WBIG playing sweet soul music strangely seems to be a Friday thing. I too had heard a few soul sounds of the 70's on previous Friday's but then rest of time it's back to classic rock. Something must happen to the programming computer on Friday's. They ought to give it a good kick...Did hear an interesting show on WBIG Sunday night called the Acoustic Storm, the show plays some really interesting stuff. I never thought I'd hear the Danny O'Keefe song "Magdelana" off his brillant "Breezy Stories" album ever again over land based radio. Now I find myself on Sunday evenings flipping 'tween Lil' Steven's Underground Garage show on WTGB and this "Acoustic Storm" on WBIG .....I still like JACK radio but "old farts oldies" would be nice if that's what returns but you old farts, I wouldn't hold your breaths on that. It'll likely be more like the new WCBS. Man I do dig that Bobby Vee.....speaking of oldies I've been listening quite a bit to XM 60's, which is free to listen through AOL, I believe, and I do axe myself do d.j.'s got a playlist? Are the d.j.'s on XM free to chose the music for their show's or am I wrong in my assuming again? (7/30/07)
Note to anon on WBAL: You claimed I have it wrong, then started ranting about O'Malley. What a tangent. The fact is that WBAL was top dog when it served the entire community. Now they serve one angry piece of the community, and they aren't. Part of the problem is the collapse of AM radio generally, part is the new found strength of Radio One, but a large part of it is that the "Spirit Of Baltimore" forgot that not everyone is an angry conservative. And if you don't think they've moved quite a bit right since the century began, you haven't been listening. WCBM isn't going to catch WBAL unless WBAL falls to them. CBM is about as high as they can go. BTW, that's the REAL geezer station in this town. Luber, Marr, Kinsolving (the guy who picks his nose on camera at White House press briefings)? Howie (7/30/07)
/\ July 30 Messages /\
\/ July 29 Messages \/
Interesting controversy about Hillary's cleavage. The same people criticizing the reports are the same ones who screamed bloody murder when the FCC stepped into the Janet Jackson nipple incident. Sex sells, baby! Cleavage = Votes. (7/29/07)
The DirectTV customer is lucky. Where I am, Dish Network went out a little when the great Tony Gwynn was giving his speech. Back and forth and then back again. But when the marvelous Iron Man gave his speech, right after he started, my Dish signal pulled a Sopranos. The signal returned after Cal had completed his speech. Missed just about all of it. Just listened to the speech at BaltimoreSun.com. Thanks Sun. Dish shall be gone soon; FIOS on the way to this household. (7/29/07)
WAGE appears to have amended its 50kw application showing the proposed land is owned by the Loudon County Sanitation Dept. Does that mean they've gotten the all-important county zoning approval that Danny Snyder couldn't get for AM 730 that caused him to abandon his project? Now that would be funny since the 2 sites are practically across the street from each other! If only Dannyboy could play nice with other children..... oh nevermind. Incidently, WBIS 1190 is already approved for 7kw from Baltimore, so I wouldn't be surprised if an additional nighttime upgrade app gets submitted eventually (they intend to turn in the WBIS license). (7/29/07)To the unsigned poster who wrote the nearly unintelligible drivel about Baltimore radio; take your meds! Please. Let's begin with the fact that CBS-FM has returned as a quasi-watered down version of itself at it's most successful. And, Bill Lee's constant rhyming is just lame and bush league. NOT about "Oldies" or any other quality radio. To say that out-of-work personalities "would not work for" a major broadcast company is just silly! Broadcasters will work for whoever is paying them. They all need the job! Then, you mention Fast Jimi as sounding to old and suggest Albie Dee instead?!? Hell-oh! McFly? Albie Dee is old enough to be every Washington/Baltimore DJ's grandfather... except for Cerphe, who keeps a picture of Dorian Gray in his attic. Also, keep comparing WSOX in York to WOGL, WCBS and WQSR. Major market stations LOVE to be held up against small market stations. Finally, Dave, great job getting the Prince to sport the DCRTV letters on his bum. He told me he is actually considering a tattoo of them on the same spot! - The Girl Who Knows Everything (7/29/07)
At the risk of starting an unwanted thread on days gone by, I'm going to ask a few questions of you knowledgeable radio types: I was having a conversation with someone yesterday concerning the history of radio in Baltimore; this person said something that..well..it could well be true..but I'm just not sure! Here's the deal: I was recounting where I was when John F. Kennedy was assassinated; I said that I could remember that the radio was tuned to WAYE..and that I thought they were the CBS affiliate in Baltimore at the time; theperson I was having the discussion with then informed me that this couldn't be..that at that time, WCBM was still affiliated with CBS! Somehow that almost sounds right; still..for some reason, I'm thinking that WAYE may have joined CBS before the person I was speaking with said (he said that WAYE didn't become a CBS affiliate until 1965! So hopefully someone can clear this up for me; could it be that, somehow, WAYE could have been plugged into CBS in 1963? Or am I just remembering this all wrong? Another thing while I'm at it: just when did WCBM become an affiliate of CBS? I'm told it wasn't until 1956; I'm also told that, before that, WCAO was the "CBS" station in Baltimore! That totally blew me away! As I said at the top of this post, forgive me if I'm starting an "unwanted" thread..but I know that there are some people on the mailbag that know radio in Baltimore really well! Thanks for reading! Tom in Denton, MD (7/29/07)
Dave, something from the Curious Files. I've noticed that on your front page and mailbag page , you post pictures of celebtrities wearing shirts and/or hats with DCRTV printed on them. I'm assuming the letters are computer generated on the apparel. Any offers from any of the celebrities to pose for you in person? (7/29/07)Dave's response: Computer generated? Are you kidding! They're all real. I was particularly pleased to get Prince William (right) don a Speedo with "DCRTV" on it.....
A greatest hits WQSR returning would draw as much publicity as the day it Good Time Oldies was pulled from the air in May 05. The station if done right which is like CBS-FM could probably draw at least 4.0 - 4.5 shares easy. Anyone who disagrees with this is full of it and they're just trying to feel big and knowledgable. WSOX in York, PA has done the CBS like format since July 22, 2005 and it has been extremely successful with the Greatest Hits format last fall WSOX enjoyed a 9.0 rating good enough for second in the market, a constant average rating of about 7.0 good enough for 4th in their market. WOGL is sucessful and from what I can tell CBS-FM should be also as long as they keep up what they are doing. It wouldn't be an overnight thing as it seems to take any station about 6 months if not more for verdict to be out. Look at Fresh in NY, they are slowly eating at WLTW and therir ratings have been nothing but up since becoming Fresh. The key for a new-old WQSR will be to make sure ithe music isn't too repetious (150 song playlist). The play list would have to be much bigger than the 100 song playlist they had in their final days, and larger and better than the playlist than 101.9 Weekends. CBS-FM sounds very good with the 80's included, I always find myself listening to them online and their HD-2 Jack (Which sounds better than Baltimore's Jack) as well. The question is who the personalities would be. Since CBS-Baltimore did a great job at burning bridges with most WQSR DJ's as well as others. BW is in Chicago, Merson has his things going with Entercom, I imagine Merson would comeback to do radio in Baltimore but I'm not sure if he would be willing to work at CBS-Baltimore again. Johnny Dark is on World Space Radio. Fast Jimi and Steve Rouse are down the hall and niether really fit IMO on 106.5 and 101.9. If they could find a way to get Rouse on WQSR and get Merson back, maybe move Jimi to WQSR or 101.9 since Mix 106.5 really needs to get a bit younger if they are going to be very-successful with CHR. Albie Dee for afternoon's or Evening's on Mix 106.5 anyone? (7/29/07)
Up here, in the Borough of Hanover in the beautiful Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there was absolutely no problem with the Orioles broadcast on WJZ nor on MASN. Perhaps it was your cable company because it sure wasn't Peter Angelos. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (7/29/07)
comminity.myfoxdc.com/blogs/Brian_Bolter - "I don't know Bill Press of the Bill Press Show. Never listened to his talk show on Sirius radio. Never read his columns. Don't care about his politics. But I know one thing about Bill Press ... he's hot! So says a growing majority of voters on the fishbowldc.com web contest in its current search for "Hottest Media Type, Male On Air." And even though he is handily beating 'yours truly' ... along with 10 other nominees for this great honor ... the real reason Bill Press is hot is this. In one fell swoop he created a massive wave of voting and snatched the lead (most likely the pending title) from a certain NPR employee. Again ... I have no knowledge of ... and have never met ... that certain media type from NPR. But the guy was running away with it! Like Secretariat, the rest of us, including Bill Press, were getting manhandled in the polls. If it were American Idol, I was Chris Sligh .. and America wasn't feeling the witty guy when they could lay their eyes and votes on Sanjaya Malakar. Who knew we could garner 60 ... 70 ... 110 votes ... while clearly the fishbowldc.com visitors were overwhelmingly enamored with NPR Malakar. First 200 ... then 400 ... now at last count 686 adoring fans. But like a Tour de France rider fresh from a blood transfusion, a steaming steroid smacked baseball from Barry Bonds, a technical foul from Tim Donaghy ... Bill Press comes from voting obscurity to run away winner! Nationally syndicated help from the computer savvy public? Who cares! Everybody loves an underdog ... and NPR Malakar met his match! You can vote at the link below. Polls close Monday. I'd love not to come in last. But as you've learned by now ... I pull for the underdogs! mediabistro.com" (7/29/07)
Dave's response: Don't forget to check out my 7/27 Rant on the pathetic losers who are competing for the "hottest media types" at FishbowlDC.....
I was able to watch part of the ceremonies on ESPN Classic as a badly timed thunderstorm killed the DirecTV signal just as Tony Gwynn was about to speak. Fortunately it came back on as Cal stepped up to the podium. I agree with the posters angry at Comcast, but also wonder why this really could have been shown on ESPN 2 in HD instead of bowling and tennis, none of which were in HD. (7/29/07)
This MASN picture quality thing has to be a Comcast issue because the picture was perfect on WJZ channel 13 over the air at my house as well as on my neighbor's Comcast Baltimore county MASN2 channel. So how could it be so bad everywhere else? Either the Angelos haters are makin stuff up again or Comcast is up to their old tricks again or both. (7/29/07)
The best part about comcast moving classic to the pay service and thus fans with standard can't see it is that cal ripken IS A SPOKEPERSON FOR FREAKING COMCAST. Unbelievable, they'll screw over fans from seeing the biggest sports icon in the mid atlantic region get inducted into the hall of fame who is also a spokesman for your company, COMCAST TRULY BLOWS. If you're a fan of cal and don't drop comcast for another cable/satellite company, something is wrong with you. I guess I'll have to watch local news or CSN for their coverage tonight, JERKS! (7/29/07)
"If they (WQSR) return to an oldies/classic format" with "some established personalities, like WCBS-FM did, there would be much rejoicing." Like who? (7/29/07)
Those guys on WHFS. Kirk and Mark Humdinger? Is that his last name?? That's what it sounds like while he is whispering on the promo they run often on the Orioles games. (7/29/07)
Dave, Regarding your most recent headline.... Like most media "guru"s yours has only given a portion of the picture. Is that AQH? Cume? A lot of random (and irresponsibly posted with backing facts) half-facts or opinions you posted there. IMO. (7/29/07)
Dave's response: The guru was painting a picture of the Baltimore radio ratings with very broad strokes. I do realize that if you dive into the endless details of the Arbitron numbers you can find something wonderfully positive about each and every station - if you look hard enough.....
Kids read this board? Nice try at justifying censorship Rusty. But seriously... kids, ladies, lactose intolerant, handicapped, the mentally disturbed, I don't care who reads this board. Dave does a fine job at clearing topics and personal information that could offend or be libelous. Why haven't we heard an outcry over links to station "hotbod" sites that show almost every detail of the female form? What about some of the DCRTV bods? Enough with "dumbing down" the internet. Kids need to be monitored when they go online (you wouldn't let a 7 year old go downtown alone so why are you letting them surf alone?), and adults need to take more responsibility for themselves and their families. If you don't like what's posted, move on, scroll down, turn it off but leave the net as a free forum the way it was designed to be. We can self police just fine thank you. (7/29/07)
The controversy over Hillary's cleavage is hilarious. She ought to be thrilled that the Washington Post is interested in it. We can be damn sure that no one else is, and that includes Bill. (7/29/07)
Dave's response: What next from the sexist Post? A comparison of the "bulges" in various male candidates' pants? Sheesh.....
Someone was asking about Scott Hansen this weekend. I think he's with NFL Network now. One of the CSN alums was there when I had the channel last fall and I'm pretty sure that was his name. Of course now that Comcast decided to move it to an enhanced sports tier I can't (yeah yeah, won't either) double check. Up your's comcrap. I can't wait until I get FIOS TV here. (7/29/07)
The tv helicopter crash in Phoenix on friday that killed four innocent people has affected many nationwide, even many here in the DC area. I actually know the chief meteorologist at abc 15 and was wondering if anyone in radio, tv or traffic was planning on sending out any type of condolence card or letter??? If not we should try to ban together from all areas of broadcasting in the DC area and pay our respects in some fashion. This could have happened here or anywhere and I think it would show compassion and a good judge of character for the DC area to honor our fellow media family members. Any thoughts or suggestions? (7/29/07)
Dave, Here is where fans can find Cal's Hall of Fame induction. ESPN Classic will have the TV coverage (digital cable). Live radio coverage will come from ESPN 1300am Baltimore and Triple X ESPN radio in DC as well as XM Radio Ch.175 Pre and post induction coverage is going on now on WBAL Radio, ESPN 1300, WNST, and Triple X ESPN. Post induction coverage will be WJZ right after the Orioles-Yankees coverage. All Baltimore TV stations will have live reports from Cooprstown with extended sports reports. The above outlets will also be there in Cooperstown Monday morning for follow up coverage. I will have a review of the coverage for you in the morning paper. Here is the Examiner blog on where to find the coverage. www.examiner.com... Have a good day!! Cheers, Jim (7/29/07)
Why all of the sudden interest in profane calls? Before you post such ugly things, please remember that ladies (and even kids) read this board. So, show a little class gang! Rusty Gibson (7/29/07)
To the post about picture quality on MASN. I had the game on,( O's - Yanks ) the picture was great. I have Comcast in Arlington. Doug (7/29/07)
I didn't like JACK from day one, still don't like it, and I don't know when, but I think it will eventually go away. This is the result of CBS Radio and the Clear Channels of the radio world trying to emulate MP3 players and the like, instead of accepting the technology changes and competing against them with live entertainment via radio personalities mixing with music and giving the listener a reason to listen and wade thru all the spots. It's easy to copy, cheaper to operate without a "live staff", and on and on. The result is a questionable product at best, with low ratings and probably lower earnings. Sounds familiar...like CBS-FM NY. At least the new CBS-FM regime took the proper steps to correct it! (7/29/07)
...reminds men that we should never allow wymyn control of the remote control let alone be taken seriously on television "news": www.breitbart.tv (7/29/07)
UN-FRIKKIN-BELIEVABLE........ COMCAST is ADVERTISING RIGHT NOW (TWC) that you can WATCH CAL get inducted into the Hall of Fame by PURCHASING THEIR DIGITAL SPORTS TIER on DIGITAL CABLE! A little late for that isn't it? Last week, they were still telling you ESPN Classic was still on basic cable. DOH! What fucking scumbags. You can rant and rave about MASN & Angelos all you want (and you'd probably be right on most of it), but this is nothing more than PAYBACK TIME to O's fans from SUCKCAST! There really could be no other explanation, especially with all the blank channels they're running this weekend. It really is beyond belief that Comcast could be such scumbags like this but they actually ran that commercial. I hope the subscribers pay them back soon with cancellations. First the Nats fans, now a kick in the balls to lifelong O's and Comcast subscribers. -- (still shaking head in disbelief) (7/29/07)
Dave, A few years ago, a couple of religious companies abused the FCC's translator application window and applied for FM translator licenses in just about every single place they would fit! The great translator invasion brought thousands of applications from the same two affiliated entities -- and some of them were approved. This includes 106.1 in Baltimore, which is now on the air relaying WGTS. It is a complete waste of a good signal, since 91.9 already covers the same area just fine. Let's hope the sale of WGTS will result in 106.1 carrying something that isn't otherwise receivable (perhaps 89.5 on the eastern shore, or 91.1 from Bel Air, or public radio from Philly). The 106.1 signal covers Baltimore fairly well and is receivable on I-95 down to about Columbia, where adjacent 105.9 starts to dominate. ...Sam (7/29/07)
The solution should be obvious for WQSR, best summed up by the song, "Hit the Road, Jack". If they return to an oldies/classic format some established personalities, like WCBS-FM did, there would be much rejoicing, as there was in NYC, with a twist -- this time they should use the strong signal to be the odies station for the entire Washington-Baltimore area, now that WBIG is gone, and stations are not rushing back to the format. Our overall region is certainly big enough to support at least one such station, as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and LA do -- Washington-Baltimore is the nations 4th largest metro area. Since they've been gone for a while, people will welcome back a local sound, and being fully regional (ID's, traffic, contests, etc.) encourages interest in more parts of town, while it would not detract from the sound anywhere else. (7/29/07)
RE: WBAL's problems......... Sorry Howie, once again you've got it wrong... WBAL's problem is NOT trying to OUT-CONSERVATIVE WCBM. How could anyone think that since they dumped Rush? And Uncle Allie is geez, more like Grandpa Allie now. I liked him when I was a kid still listening after the snow closings were announced, ummm, almost 30 YEARS AGO! If anything, WBAL has been TOO KIND to the new Maryland Democrat Governor who has all time low poll numbers for a new Maryland governor ever! And former Governor Bob (on his WBAL show) has been a complete bomb because he's WAY TOO NICE! WBAL is a complete mess now. I never cared much for Chip Franklin, but at least he had the cajones to pick a fight with O'Malley about crime stats in Baltimore (which by the way are at an all-time high after according to The Post being previously fixed too low!). Poor WBAL, I wouldn't be surpised if WCBM beats them in the next ratings period. 98 Rock already has. Isn't that a milestone by itself? (7/29/07)
"So I'm attempting to watch the O's/Yanks game on MASN last night, and the picture quality is terrible as usual." I have Antietam Cable in Hagerstown and channel 13 looked terrible as well. I thought it was the thunderstorm rolling in but my other channels looked fine. MASN is garbage. (7/29/07)
Not broadcast last Sunday- Not on wmal.com schedule! WMAL was the "flagship station". Is it on anywhere now in the WDC area? - Patrick (7/29/07)
So I'm attempting to watch the O's/Yanks game on MASN last night, and the picture quality is terrible as usual. In fact, I got a "Poor Input Signal" thing popping up on my 50" Sony which I had never seen before.. Not sure if that's MASN's fault or Comcast's.. Now the good part - I was flipping over to ESPNHD occasionally to catch Barry Bonds at-bats in pursuit of 755 HR's. As fate would have it, ESPN decided to switch over to the O's game for A-Rod's at bat in pursuit of his 500th HR.. ESPN has two choices here.. They can steal feed from MASN, or they can steal feed from the Yankees' Yes Network. Of course they choose the Yes Network, and oh my God, all of a sudden we have a perfect, crystal clear HD signal booming into my living room live from Camden Yards. It was nice to see such a clear picture from OPACY, albeit long enough for only one batter. It's nice to know that HD cameras still work at the 'Yard. Maybe the O's need to start stealing their opponents camera feeds. PETER Angelos, get your head out of your ass and do something about your half-assed broadcasts! (7/29/07)
I really enjoyed reading the memoirs of John Bodnar. He not only was a dedicated, talented performer but a very close friend who I still miss to this day. A member of the WASH family who helped shape a great radio station. I'm sipping a Coors in his honor. RIP! BD (7/29/07)
RE: [ " Dave's response: ..... While I'm very sorry that the two Phoenix TV copters collided and crashed, killing four, I am very much against TV stations (and cable "news" networks) televising live police chases. There isn't much news value there and the the very presence of TV coverage of such events encourages people - particularly the drunk and drugged - to break the law and lead the police in high-speed chases thereby endangering countless thousands of responsible drivers, their passengers, and pedestrians. " ]............... I especially agree with you Dave when they're FOX NEWS choppers in Miami. My favorite is from several weeks ago, WSVN FOX 7 Miami, and a chase where the FOX NEWS MONKEY in the chopper zeroed in on the WRONG VEHICLE after losing the correct vehicle under a bridge! (I'm serious, you cannot make this shit up, I laughed my frikkin ass off, was the chopper cameraman on the same drugs & alcohol as the perpetrator???). This chase was embarrassingly covered nationally by MSNBC, CNN (for a short time), and of course FOX NEWS. Only CNN decided to break away when it was clear they had the WRONG CAR on camera! And a George W live speech saved the other 2 from the final embarrassment they both deserved. Anyway, between the WSVN local Miami anchors and the MSNBC & FOX anchors (I kept switching back and forth to see which IDIOT would figure it out first! LOL), the winner was, you guessed it, NO ONE! Each networks' anchor just covered up the BIG MISTAKE as if they were never wrong! What they fail to grasp is that people in the real world know what it's like to not have an editing department to fix their mistakes in the NEXT HOUR! DUH! And you wonder why the only people who get as little respect as Congress and the President are people in the news media? Now you know! (7/29/07)
Dave's response: I'll say it again. The news directors and general managers at those Phoenix TV stations must take full responsibility for the deaths of those four men in the news choppers. You're sending out irreplacable human beings (who have wives, kids, and families) to ride around in rather dangerous machines to photograph cops chasing cars on highways and endangering other motorists and pedestrians - something with no real news value other than "voyeuristic" live pics to attract eyeballs and juice ad rates. Those TV station management people should take the full blame when something horrible happens, like what happened last Friday.....
hey howie what website did Nasty give his explanation to (7/29/07)
Ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls, children of all ages, when was the last time we've seen or heard a TRUE talk show host? One that can straddle the line between friend & enemy? Are they Conservative? Liberal? Libertarian? Labour Party? You legit don't know the next thing they'll say and you're entertained by it? Politics? Pop Culture? Local News? Do we want that host, or someone who reaffirms our beliefs and makes us feel smart? Ask yourself if ClearChannel, CBS, Bonneville, RadioOne or Citadel will hire that person. Nah. The days of a TRUE talk show host are dead. (7/29/07)
A quick inquiry from the sleepless. I put on WTOP and noticed that it doesn't break news format early Sunday mornings for the Church of God broadcast anymore? When was the religious show dropped? It had reportedly been carried for decades. Everett W. (7/29/07)
Dave's response: Someone told me that WTOP owner Bonneville got the show moved to the wee early morning hours on Praise 104, according to the local marketing agreement to transfer the 104.1 signal to Radio One.....
/\ July 29 Messages /\
\/ July 28 Messages \/
I came in on the middle of Huggy Lowdown talking about how he now is known as the Celebrity Snitch. When I came in on the show, I heard something about this all coming out of New York and I want to say it has to do with someone else with the same name. So, I really don't think it has to do with WPGC..But don't quote me.. (7/28/07)
Some notes about a couple of recent items: I do think Uncle Allie would be a short term solution to BAL's problems (He is seventy, and Ron's pretty close, it CAN'T be a long term fix). WBAL was at its best as a station for the whole community; they lost favor when they decided to out conservative WCBM. It can't be done! Allie, Midday news, Lunch with______, and Ron. That was a winning lineup...Anyway, I think that as bad as the Orioles have been, their leaving hurt BAL a lot. I'm less likely to blame it on Rush's cancellation, didn't the ratings stay up AFTER he left and wasn't his show the weak link in the daytime lineup, ratings-wise...Nestor Aparicio gave an excuse for the Rob Long rumor to another website-it was a website mixup. Yeah, a website mixup that makes every mention of Rob Long disappear from the site, removes only Rob's face from the site masthead, and changes the name of his show on the station's schedule to simply "The Coors Light Show". That's quite a glich! Nestor would have spent weeks making fun of the Orioles if they tried a similar alibi. Howie (7/28/07)
Attn Comcast Montgomery customers.. You may be able to "negotiate" deals on cable and internet service. Details..after 2 free months of digital service ended, the csr said there were no new promotions. I mentioned that Verizon FIOS offered the equivalent or better for far less money. After some "checking" the csr quoted me new rates( good for 12 months) about 30+ % cheaper than what I was paying.( similar results not guaranteed ) Regards Biff (7/28/07)
I don't think you noted in your front-page item, but the Marc Fisher blog blog.washingtonpost.com post with his Sunday story on WGTS includes this postscript: "ONLINE EXTRA: Since the deadline for the print edition of Sunday Arts, Columbia Union College has announced that American Public Media is indeed the selected bidder for WGTS and that the college is determined to go ahead with the sale of the station to save the college from a financial crisis. More details in this release from the college press office." - www.cuc.edu... (7/28/07)
Dave's response: Not all that new news. We've known for a few weeks that APM/MPA is the main bidder for the station. However, we won't know until early September, when the Columbia Union College trustees meet, if the station sale will be officially approved. Looks very likely, though. Oh as for the Post's "Online Extra," the folks who get the Post FREE via the internet again get MORE than the poor slobs who PAY for the print edition. Is this any way to run a viable business? Hmmm.....
I really have to question how a seventy year old Allan Prell could save WBAL. Don't you think he may be sitting in his rocking chair with oatmeal dripping down his chin? JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (7/28/07)
As someone already noted, the Wise Investor Show didn't air last Sunday morning on WMAL and from a hard-to-find notice on the station's website www.wmal.com it looks like it won't tomorrow. A news article in a Left Coast newspaper sanjose.bizjournals.com indicates that the Wise Investor Group has switched its affiliation from Ferris Baker Watts to Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, which is expanding its presence in the District of Columbia area www.rwbaird.com... Hope the show is resurrected somewhere. (7/28/07)
I thought Ms. Reiger was a classmate of Mike O'Meara at American University. Didn't Mr. O'Meara recently celebrate his 48th birthday? And Ms. Reiger ain't wearing the leopard spotted blouses like she use too? I need new glasses but does channel 4 whetherperson Virginia Johnson shave her eyebrows off like Whoopi? (7/28/07)
why can't huggy lowdown use his name on the tom joyner show????? (7/28/07)
Dave's response: Maybe CBS Radio, which owns Huggy's former employer, WPGC-FM, owns the rights to the name? Just a wild guess.....
Details of WASH-FM's late, great John Bodnar's stint in "the Coca-Cola pokey" (from the Washington Post, 9/11/81) and a tribute upon his untimely passing (from the Washington Post, 12/12/89) can be seen here: DCMemories.com (7/28/07)
The ratings for WBAL will not pick up when the Ravens season starts. WBAL/WIYY Ravens pregame stinks, WHFS/ WJFK-AM has a much better pregame show and now has The Ray Lewis Show. (7/28/07)
I second a previous poster's suggestion that WBAL bring back Allan Prell. If WBAL varies the different views of each of their talkers perhaps more people will listen to their station. I believe more people listened to WBAL with the old lineup of news shows in the AM and PM with talkers in between even before Limbaugh was on the lineup. The times were different then but it did work. I realize this may be a controversial statement(I hope not - I don't need the attention)but conversative talkers may attract less audience than they had before. Limiting oneself to one politcal perspective may not work anymore in radio. (7/28/07)
The Baltimore ratings demonstrate without a doubt that Baltimore AM radio is on life support. Only 1090 ,680 and 600 can support themselves and justify there existance. Long ago 1400 ,1230 gave up and found God..The daylighters died decades ago They should be sold off to local colleges or unique miniority ethnic groups..1090 ,680 and 600 would do much better on the FM dial. RIP Baltimore AM radio. John T. Henneman (7/28/07)
reporters covering KTVK 3, KNXV 15 copter crash wipe away their tears www.sfgate.com (7/28/07)
Enjoy your flashback items. They reminded me of 20 some years ago when I volunteered a few times to help out with promotions for WASH-FM. I've been trying to remember the name of the host with the great, deep, kind of gravelly voice, as I recall, a kind of scrawny guy with a beard (?), I thought he had the sexiest on air voice. I know he's since passed away and I want to say his name was John Bodnar? I was just a college age volunteer, so alot of your readers may have better and more accurate memories of this. I remember a promotion where they had him inside a motorhome, parked in a local shopping center parking lot, and the motorhome was "buried" in cases of Coke or Pepsi products. Listeners were encouraged to drop by and unbury him by buying soda, proceeds going to charity. He was nervous because he had a Hawaiian vacation coming up soon, and if he wasn't out of the soda jail by then, he had to stay here and finish the promotion. We volunteers sat at tables selling the soda to listeners as different restaurants catered meals to the imprisoned dj, doing his air shifts from inside the motorhome. Only problem was that as time went on and he got more and more bored and antsy, he started drinking, and I remember station personnel trying to figure out who was smuggling it in to him. I was never sure if that part was true, or just a colorful addition to the promotion and on air story.. Supposedly at the end a big donor bought up the remainder of the soda, but had them not tell him till the very end, just before he had to leave on vacation. Thanks for bringing back alot of memories of late 70's/early 80's Washington radio. (7/28/07)
Whatever happened to Scott Hanson, who worked at Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic) from 2002-2006? (7/28/07)
WHFS-FM - Spring06 puts in a 2.6. Spring07 they are down to a 2.4. Wow, those multi-million dollar investments in a new morning show and Orioles Baseball are really paying off. Congratulations, WHFS. Now you're on par with gospel radio in Baltimore. (7/28/07)
People shouldn't be so hard on Drew Forrester, b/c WNST personnel decisions are probably not really his to be making in the first place or for him to make comment on. That doesn;t necessarily get station management off the hook. What else are the listeners to think if you take an honest look at NST's track record when it comes to these things. Rob and anything related to him were completly mising from the site all together yesterday. His blogs--gone! His picture--gone! His bio--gone! The name of his show, " The Rob Long Show Brought to you by Corrs Light", was re-named to "The Coors Light show. And up until Drew's response at COB on Friday, there was ZERO comment by anyone at the station, despite the numerous blogs, threads, and discussion boards. So what track record do I sopeak? Well, several years back, listeners woke one morning to see any and all reference to Spiro Morekas and The Swami wiped completely from the station's site, only to learn later than day they were fired. Same thing happened to Terry Ford. So when it happened with Rob Long, I don't blame anyone for thinking the same happened to him, especially since the station remained fairly silent (thats' not to say it should be on drews shoulders to comment). I certainly have no reason not to take drew at his word, but its also reasonable to suspect that "something" happened, and the silence from mgt does nothing to deter sussision, especially when they're often critical of the management of a certain baseball team for the same kind of silence. Here's an idea, though, call Rob's show and ask HIM. Hopefully the folks at WNST including Drew should realize that this whole Rob Long fiasco should have at the very least boosted the number of visits to the WNST website in the last 24-48 hours, to numbers unbelievably higher than had this thing never surfaced to begin with. Which should be good news for WNST, because their new website is a pretty damn good one, and one that they should be proud of. Especially with their new video feature they added and announced this morning--which was coincidentially right in the middle of "RobLong-gate." Who knows, the whole thing could have been fabricatred for this very reason (not to be construed as an accusation). (7/28/07)
Received from an unknown source, most likely a west coast broadcast list, but the forwarder is reliable and in the biz. Plus, FCC records should show these transactions nonetheless. *** begin article *** Why yes, KOCK Is Available... Thanks to our pal Erika Engle at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, who tipped us off about some alleged naughtiness going on over on Maui, where KM Communications succeeded where many of us have jokingly thought of going: The company just scored the call letters (brace yourself) KUNT for a new TV station on the island. As if that wasn't hilarious enough, KM also requested — and got — KWTF for a station in Arizona. Bonus! It turns out that the FCC system is completely computer-operated — there aren't any chimps or humans involved, and no one bothered to teach it the dirty words. Kevin Bae, VP of KM Communications, had the crap appropriately embarrassed out of him when Engle called him: "We'll file to change those calls immediately," he promised, so if you want to grab them for yourself.... "I can't tell you how long my lawyer laughed at me when he learned of it," said Bae. Thankfully, the indecency cops are not investigating. By the way, if you're looking for other ways to screw with the system, we can tell you that the KCUF calls (give it a sec) are already on a station in Aspen, CO. *** end article *** (7/28/07)
Please post the news about the fatal helicopter crash in Phoenix asap. Both stations will need our support! (7/28/07)
Dave's response: It's all over Drudge. While I'm very sorry that the two Phoenix TV copters collided and crashed, killing four, I am very much against TV stations (and cable "news" networks) televising live police chases. There isn't much news value there and the the very presence of TV coverage of such events encourages people - particularly the drunk and drugged - to break the law and lead the police in high-speed chases thereby endangering countless thousands of responsible drivers, their passengers, and pedestrians. TV stations do a major (!) public disservice by engaging in such sensationalist "reporting." There's nothing wrong with a TV station having a copter to report on traffic conditions and other stories requiring that type of airbourne coverage - such as big fires. But, please, not car chases.....
Personally, I like WNST when I listen to it, and Drew has a pretty good show. He does a great intervirew, IMHO, but I lose the signal quick. But maybe some people got the idea that Drew "dodged" this issue from the very thread that he initiated in the Talk Forum on The Sun's website about the Brian Billick Interview (www.baltimoresun2.com). If you visit that thread, you'll see the very first reply to the thread came from a guy asking Drew if he could provide any insight into the Rob Long (RL) situation, and Drew didn't respond. That same guy then posted another question to Drew about a differrent topic. Drew responded to his second question, though. But he did not respond the first one about RL. Drew even posted again to reply to a third guy about yet another topic. But the very FIRST question to Drew in response to the initial thread (the question about RL) was never answered, despite Drew commenting on other things posted AFTER the question on RL was posted. By reading through that thread, how is one NOT to infer that he dodged the issue? Especially since in his response here, he seemes to basically admit that he would have dodged it regardless. Quoting DF's earlier response: "...Even if I would have known something, it wasn't my position to offer public comment. But to somehow create this myth that I "dodged" anyone is untrue, shameful and, unfortunately, typical......go back and re-take Journalism 101. " Well, I'm pretty sure if anyone re-takes Journalism 101, they'll still learn that if you know something about a particular issue, but refrain from commenting on it all together if asked, well, that's a textbook definition of dodging an issue if there ever was one. But honestly, if I were him I would have dodged that issue too because he is not station management and it appeared to be a management-employee issue. If he didn't dodge the issue, I'm just wondering how he could have responded the other questions posed to him on his own thread, but not have seen the very first reply to the very thread he started. I don't think it's "shameful" at all to point out that observation. It's a reasonable enough question (IMO), and for all I know it probably has a reasonable enough answer. (7/28/07)
If you're going to list Wendy Reiger's resume, please do not forget her stint as afternoon news anchor at W-Lite. The format may be long-forgotten--but it was the last time 94.7 had ratings. CBS is doing better with it lately...but not WLTT numbers yet! (7/28/07)
For WBAL in Bawl'mer, wanna' win? ALLAN PRELL. Your ratings will rocket far above the harbor, tunnels and the ballparks. (7/28/07)
From Drudge: The call letters KUNT have landed at a yet-unbuilt low-power digital television station in Wailuku, Maui. (7/28/07)
Was City Under Seige the name of the continuing series that Morris Jones use to do on channel 5 about the proliferation of "crack" on the already mean streets of D.C. back in the 80's? Didn't channel 5 have a "crack" van in witch from it's interior Mr. Jones would do his almost nightly report?....surfed by MASN yesterday afternoon and no John Riggins show just more of Aneater Marx show with Marty Bass...have they told Ms. Marx to use her hands while talking now......come on Alan Prell back to WBAL.....while reading WaPo yesterday I got to wondering weht Kornholio and Wilbon?....and I hate to admit it but some of them whippersnapper WaPo sport's writer's that show up on CSN for WaPo Live ain't half bad. Give them boys a long term contract and wave adios to Kornholio and Wilbon....was listening to the Sport's Reporter's on WTEM yesterday afternoon when an ad came on for John Thompson show and it delightfully occurred to me that I had not listened to one second of the John "lemme ask you something" Thompson radio show since it moved time slots......speaking of Thompson's, is former channel 4 er Lea Thompson still with NBC? (7/28/07)
/\ July 28 Messages /\
\/ July 27 Messages \/
Maybe I'm just on the sidelines since I can only see the 12+ Numbers, but is it just me or is Jack-FM really the flat sinking ship it appears to be? Also I could have never pictured that losing Rush Limbaugh would affect WBAL so much. My two cents is that WBAL should do what ever it takes to get Ed Norris. I'm not a big fan of Ed Norris as a person but overall his show seems to be good in the pieces I catch of it. I think with the exception of the O's and Norris that's all 105.7 HFS has going for them. I really don't see WBAL going down the drain at all because I think they will put together a group who'll get them the ratings. Plus they do still have the Ravens. If Allen Prell and Ed Norris were added to that station it would make a lot of sense and would be a great move for WBAL. When will CBS Baltimore stop making their stations sound so much a like? Not much variety anymore on Jack as they are sounding like Mix from about a year ago. If CBS-FM does well I wouldn't be shocked to see WQSR go a format very similar to WCBS, then put Jack on HD-2 where it's much better without commercials. Everyone can keep saying it won't happen but there's only so long CBS will take carrying only a constant 7th place 25-54, and when it's an over low rated flat station. The only rhing keeping 102.7 from being oldies now is Dave Labrozzi and Bob Philips doing a great job of running WQSR into the ground. Without them screwing it up it probably could still bring 4.3 - 6.0 ratings easily as long as they kept updating the format to about where the New WCBS is now. Yes people say Jack does well in 25-54 (7th place). I really don't know anyone who listens to it and I think there are quite a few people who didn't like the sudden format flip of a I think are still a bit bitter. Also is it just me or does Mix 106.5 sond a lot better without JoJo in the morning? JoJo is alright but I actually like the show a lot better with just Reagan and Sarah. He'd be a better fit for 101.9 in my opinion. (7/27/07)
To address Mark Opsasnick's question: I believe that most historians recognize the true start of Rock 'n Roll was through "race records" played on radio stations aimed at a "Negro" audience. Washington DC's African-American population burgeoned following the end of World War II, and one of the first stations to aim squarely at that new audience was WUST which changed format, city of license (formerly Bethesda) , and call letters (formerly WBCC) at the end of 1951. Read about it here from the Washington Post of March 1, 1952: DCMemories.com... (By the way, along the left margin of that article is the list of DC-area operating stations of that time.) (7/27/07)
Wendy Reiger over 50??!!..Yeah Dave, she surely doesn't look it..She has aged VERY well!!! (7/27/07)
Dave's response: Let's do some investigating. According to Channel 4's website, Wendy joined the station in 1988, after stints at WAMU, NPR, WTOP, and CNN. So, say she started her career at 22, with an average of 2.5 years each at the four places before WRC, and 19 years at 4. Therefore 22 + 10 + 19 = 51. Tah dah.....
Just saw a piece of NBC4 talking about the AV Restaurant closing and Wendy Reiger said she had her first white pizza there when she first got here 30 years ago..How old IS she?? (7/27/07)
Dave's response: Over 50, but she doesn't look it.....
Drew Forrester is an outstanding professional in every way. Best wishes on your new arrival .God Bless you and your family. John Henneman (7/27/07)
I would like to use a quote off Kapugi`s Myspace page, left to him by one of his buddies: "Hey, Jeff! I hear you and Kane have hit that town like a freight train! We LOVED the Bobby Brown thing. You guys rock." I couldn`t have said it better. Good job on fucking up Hot 99.5, Jeff. Too bad listeners have to suffer. Oh, thats right, who cares about listeners. (7/27/07)
Response from Drew Forrester, WNST Radio -- From the "just so you know" category of "it's really none of your business, but I'll tell you anyway". My wife is 39.5 weeks pregnant. I've been swamped all week with baby-arrival stuff. From Tuesday until today around 12:30 pm, I accrued 93 unread e-mails in my inbox. Generally speaking, I answer ALL e-mails directed to my wnst.net address on the same day/night. The last three days, though, have been very hectic for me. Yesterday, I fulfilled a previous obligation to play in a charity golf outing and was unavailable throughout the afternoon. I arrived home last night, went about preparing for my Friday show, watched my baby moving and kicking in my wife's belly, and finally fell asleep at 9:30 pm. I did NOT check my e-mail from yesterday. Had I checked my e-mail, I would have seen something from the radio station regarding Rob Long. I didn't see it until this morning. Rob Long is still employed by WNST, as you all know. It's not MY place to comment on anyone's personal business at WNST, particularly not ov er the internet or via e-mail. My lack of response last night and/or today was a by-product of two things. A) I didn't know anything and, B) Even if I would have known something, it wasn't my position to offer public comment. But to somehow create this myth that I "dodged" anyone is untrue, shameful and, unfortunately, typical. Contrary to popular belief, I *DO* have a real life that I need to attend to from time to time and occasionally that gets in the way of saying "how high?" when my critics say "jump!". Those of you who jumped to conclusions poured gasoline on this fire...go back and re-take Journalism 101. Other than that, everything's great in Baltimore. Have a nice weekend. I'm having a baby. Or, my wife is...hopefully. DF (7/27/07)
Nice job BOOGER! You said it, and its true. Different direction! (7/27/07)
dave---once again, the danger of looking too closely at 12+ numbers rears its ugly head. now granted, the poster who said that comparing WaPo's numbers from spring to spring is capricious. was right.....trying to gauge a radio station's success or failure by looking at 12+ is unwise. you HAVE to dig deeper in the books and find what you can sell....like watching tony snow try and dance around alberto gonzales... it is said here EVERY time a trend or book comes out..look at the 25-54's people DO NOT rush to judgement on the 12+numbers! you would think, that this area, being the king of "spin" would understand that!! (7/27/07)
On the WNST situation, Drew's wife is about to give birth. That may explain why he hasn't responded to you. I know him personally and he has never ducked any issue since I first dealt with him 20 years ago with the MISL Baltimore Blast. (7/27/07)
Some more Don And Mike numbers. 12+ was 13th place. In the 18-34 demo, they have a 4.5 which puts them in 8th place. And, in the 25-54 demo, they have a 4.0 which puts them in 7th place. Up the road in Baltimore it is even worse. In the 18-34 demo, they have a 3.2 which puts them in 10th place. And in the 25-54 demo, they have a 3.1 which puts them in 10th place. (7/27/07)
The big story this rating period is in Baltimore between WBAL/WCBM talker ratings. I know the figures are hard to get but it would be interesting if Dave could come up with some figures especially 9-12noon 12noon to 3:00PM Slots. Maybe WCBM put out a memo like WashPost HeHe Anyway keep up the good work Dave,,,,,John T. Henneman (7/27/07)
Dave's response: If someone'll send 'em, we'll post 'em.....
Don and Mike continue their decline. Now at 3.0, 13th place in the 12+s of the spring Arbs. Since the Spring '06 Book 12+ they have gone 5.2 - 4.7 - 4.1 - 3.2 - 3.0. And among 25 to 54: 6.8 - 6.5 - 5.7 - 4.8 - 4.0. (7/27/07)
"We beat WMAL 25-54 share 10 a.m. - 3 p.m...... " They DID? Hmmm... I don't have the numbers, but if Sam Litzinger was beating Rush Limbaugh, et al, in ANY demographic, wouldn't he still be on the station? Christian (7/27/07)
Dave's response: I hear that Sam's departure was of his own volition and not because of ratings.....
My question is: What was the first Washington DC-area radio station to play rock and roll music? If we accept the notion that Alan Freed began popularizing the term “rock and roll” and applying it towards a new classification of music in 1951 on his “Moondog House” radio program, it would make sense that references to this new style would have begun appearing on the local radio airwaves sometime around 1952 (the year Bill Haley and the Saddlemen hit with “Rock the Joint”) or 1953 (when Billy Haley and His Comets scored a Billboard chart hit with “Crazy Man, Crazy”). I’ve pulled radio listings from this time period and some of the likely candidates may be such radio shows as “Dancing Party (WMAL), “Hit Parade” (WMAL), “Bandstand 1260” (WWDC), “Parade of Hits” (WWDC), “Dance Party” (WWDC), “Dancing Party” (WEAM), “Request Granted” with Milt Grant (WOL), “High School Hit Parade” (WOL), “House Party” (WTOP), “Parade of Bands “ (WRC), and shows by Jerry Strong (WMAL), Milton Q. Ford (WWDC), and even Eddie Gallaher’s “Moondial” (WTOP) – Gallaher even wrote a piece on Bill Haley in his Wash Post column of 7-26-53 (On Records). Any thoughts or information? Thanks, Mark Opsasnick, www.capitolrock.com (7/27/07)
I don’t get the suggestion of a sign of life with WAPO and the latest rating survey. The in house memo seems to be crowing about beating WMAL in the 25-54 demo in certain dayparts. Since when is WMAL a ratings juggernaut in that demographic? The growth comparisons to Spring 06 are ridiculous. They debuted with nothing but zeros, so of course they will show growth. In addition, this book included TK. Ask WTEM how they did after TK left the building. WAPO is a station on life support that is currently ranked 18th 12+ and 17th in morning drive. (7/27/07)
There are ratings for all listeners 12 and older. These are the numbers Arbitron will show for free, because they don't mean much. Then there are ratings for different age groups. 25-54 is the one most advertisers want, and this the the demo stations make money on. In that 25-54 demo, YES, Post Radio beat Andy and Grandy and Chris Core and Paul Harvey and Rush. (7/27/07)
I’m listening to WNST right now, and Rob Long is on the air, hosting his show as if nothing happened. Why no one at WNST would answer any questions about this is confounding. I bet it was purposely done to increase the number of website hits for this month. (7/27/07)
Dave, Post Radio beat Grandy and Andy?!!? And Rush?? Are you sure? That does not sound right. (7/27/07)
Dave's response: I have never understood the radio ratings and never will. Here's a memo someone forwarded to us from WaPo Radio PD Greg Tantum. Do with it what you will.....
"Here are the Washington Post Radio headlines for the 2007 Spring Book…..in one year …… · We now beat WMAL 25-54 share and cume morning drive..... · We beat WMAL 25-54 share 10 a.m. - 3 p.m...... · We beat WMAL total week cume 25-54..... · We tie WMAL total week share 25-54..... · Year to year (Spring ’06 versus Spring ’07) 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.25-54 share has increased 29%..... · Year to year 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. 25-54 cume has increased 16%..... · Year to year WMAL 3 p.m.- 7 p.m. 25-54 share has plummeted 57%..... · Year to year WMAL 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. 25-54 cume has dropped 20%..... More information as we dig into the numbers and get the Maximizer program on Monday. YOU ALL HAVE WORKED INCREDIBLY HARD AND SHOULD FEEL VERY GOOD TODAY! Let me know how you think we should celebrate!"
Cal Ripken Induction ceremony on ESPN Classic/Comcrap Digital - Couldn't Comcrap simulcast this on their CN8 channel & bump the infomercials probably on the schedule for the time of the ceremony? Give the people who don't have digital a chance to see this (like my parents in Middle River, MD) & get some good PR? Or couldn't Peter the Great ask ESPN if he could simulcast it on his network since he has a relationship with them, ESPN News runs several hours a day on his network. A lot of older Orioles fans, primarily the ones who don't have digital, will miss this event, the last for the fans of Baltimore to see for a very long, long time related to a Baltimore Oriole going in the HOF...O, while I'm here talking about Comcrap, can I get the NFL Network on my digital cable in New Freedom, PA? Please...Good grief, you have had your teeth into the former Adelphia systems for a year & still no NFLN or on demand channels on our system in Southern York County, right on the PA/MD state line. This is getting old as we enter another NFL season & still no NFLN. But we do have at least 20 music video channels (all the MTV, VH1, GAC, CMT, Fuse, etc channels), 5 or 6 shopping channels, & 5 or 6 religious channels, with alot of them on digital tier. Of course that's where ESPN Classic & News are too. Yea, a la carte is a bad idea for cable!!! I know what I would do if I had that option. Maybe I'll just invite my parents up to watch it at my house if they want to come up. Jeff in New Freedom, PA (7/27/07)
RE: CAL & ESPN Classic........ COMCAST ( SUCKCAST ) is just playing more games with their customers. Remember when they didn't have channel capacity for MASN & The Nats? Now they have 2 or 3 BLANK channels and they routinely run 1 that tells you that you MUST GET DIGITAL CABLE ASAP or YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE YOUR SERVICE! Its strong-arm tactics like that along with dumping ESPN Classic and Cal that is going to eventually bite them in the ass when VERIZON FIOS comes along. Seriously, what a PR debacle, but then again the Roberts family is in Philly and probably couldn't give a rats ass about Cal's induction. Even if Verizon isn't really a better company, with Comcast, it's just one thing after another and people (especially Orioles & Nats fans) will remember and cancel COMCAST with reckless abandon the 1st chance they get. Oh, remember Comcast's TV GUDE channel was wrong for like 2 weeks still showing ESPN CLASSIC even though it was gone? Well, imagine this, just a couple days before Cal's Hall of Fame induction, magically, TV GUIDE Channel is fixed, no Cal/ESPN 2. What a bunch of scumbags. I hope bloggers pick up on this story and spread it to a national story...... "COMCAST BANS CAL RIPKEN HALL OF FAME COVERAGE from CABLE TV!" It's got to be one of the dumbest corporate moves in recent memory. SUCK MY ASS COMCAST! (7/27/07)
To Howie, and Doug in Bel Air— You’d be interested to know that Drew Forrester actually started a thread on the Baltimore Sun’s talk forum yesterday to promote his interview with Brian Billick (which took place this morning). On that thread yesterday, several people responded asking him to provide some insight into the Rob Long situation. Guess what his response was? Nada, zip, nuttin, zilch! A big goose egg. Obviously, he seems to be taking a very hypocritical approach to this. He constantly bash’s the O’s PR staff for never responding to his inquiries, but when he’s being hit with inquires by the station’s very own listeners about an issue involving his very own station, then mums the word. And I know more than one person who has e-mailed him on this, only to get no reply. WNST claims to be about “the fans”, but the fact that they’ve swept this issue under the rug and refuse to acknowledge it on their airwaves gives them no room to talk the next time they want to sling mud at the O’s screwed-up media relations department. I know Drew reads this site because I’ve seen him post here before. Well Drew, here’s your chance. You always equate Angelos to Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” (i.e. “You can’t handle the truth !!”) Are you and Nestor now going to take the same approach, now that you’re getting bombarded with questions as to why a very popular host at the station is no longer there?? And if you’re not dodging it, then please drew, please enlighten us as to why Rob Long is no longer a host on WNST, and why has it taken so long for the station to give a reason? What do you and your station’s management have to hide? (7/27/07)
Great so Cox is putting on new channels. Why don't they worry about fixing their sh!tty audio and video? Oh and sh!tty customer service too! I switched to FiOS (I'm in beautiful Fairfax City) on June 30th and I've got to tell you, the picture and audio are great, internet is faster, and no outages, more channels, lower rates. Plus most of the "new" channels offered by Cox. When I took my old box back to Cox, the girl asked why I was canceling. I told her "switching to FiOS." She smiled. I said "A lot of that going on, huh?" She just nodded. Good bye "Digital Max". Thank God I won't have to see him every third commercial anymore! FiOS Rocks! Stay@HomeDad (7/27/07)
It is my understanding that there was a staff meeting at NST yesterday and a Free the Birds 2 Campaign was being discussed. Apparently, Rob Long feels like enough is enough. A dispute ensued and Rob decided to resign as a result of Nestors yen to continue to beat on the O's. Thought this may be of interest to you. (7/27/07)
Just after the noon sports update, Bob Haynie said that Rob Long would be on at 2 PM. Could Rob and Nestor have made up? Howie (7/27/07)
Howie wrote, " I'm always amazed at how talk radio demands transparency.." Absolutely Howie. I e-mailed Forrester on Wed about the situation on COMCAST regarding the live broadcast of the HOF Induction ceremony. Never got a response, and no discussion on air. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you are the "Comcast Morning Show", would it? This from the "objective" guy who routinely rips WJFK for having nothing negative to say about the Orioles because they are in bed with them. Then this morning, Nestor is on at 8:00 with a "Big Announcement" Thought it may be about Rob Long, but after running his mouth until about 8:25, it turns out the big news is another feature on the website, at which point I turned it off. This guy must be a real treat to work for. I'd like to see him paired up w/Chris Mathews, though, since between them, I don't they'd allow each other to complete one sentence. It's all a shame. The station had a great deal of promise, but the morning show has absolutely no flow to it because of traffic, commercials, station event proms, etc. Rob was the best they had going for them. If our old former mailbagger Michael Popovec is destined to take Rob's spot, well, God Bless him. He'll need Blessings from Joyce, and everyone else. Doug in Bel Air (7/27/07)
I spoke to someone yesterday afternoon about Rob Long disappearing from WNST. Shortly after his show was supposed to begin, Rob Long and all references to Rob Long disappeared from the WNST website. A mutual friend told me that Nestor Aparicio floated the idea of a "Free The Birds II" protest later this season, to which Rob objected. Following a heated exchange, Mr. Aparicio decided to terminate Rob. It will probably be reported on WNST as a decision by Rob to resign from the station due to philosophical differences. (7/27/07)
Burd just came on the air at 10:10 AM and said the new ratings came out - the June monthly Arbitrends - saying that they showed no drop off from Kornheiser. Yet, Post Radioers earlier said the June numbers were unimportant (!!!!!) since Burd only hosted a few days of Tony's show at the very end of the month. Seems Burd wants it BOTH ways. Dragging the ratings crap into your daily show is little more than a last ditch attempt to get some ratings traction in a muddy mess of a ratings failure. (7/27/07)
"Given that the network[MASN] is primarily owned by Angelos, a fact that grates on many Nats fans, the Baltimore label may be unavoidable. " Part of this apparent rebranding of CSN-MA is intentional and some is just circumstance. The Ravens current owner actually gets along with Angelos (Angelos wouldn't acknowledge the Ravens existence when Art Modell owned them) and took a favorable deal with MASN. That left CSN-MA with the Redskins, Terps, and DC winter sports. Since CSN-MA doesn't have either major Baltimore franchise in the fold, a shift is natural. You are right that, despite the Nats, MASN will always be seen in DC as a Baltimore-centric entity; that won't matter to most of the Mid-Atlantic region outside the two metro areas. Despite having the Orioles all those years, CSN-MA and its predecessor, Home Team Sports, were always quite Washington oriented but no one really made much out of that. Howie (7/27/07)
I'm always amazed at how talk radio demands transparency from those they cover (see Drew Forrester and the Orioles, for an example) yet covers up thier own business dealings like the Mob. Rob Long was on the radio just two days ago promoting how much bigger his "Chicken Box Fridays" show was going to be once football training camp started. The station has loved comparing their knowledgeable local guy versus the novelty hire working drive time down the dial. Most listeners seemed to like Rob; only Bob Haynie got better reviews. Now we hear Rob's gone and his entire history with the station has been scrubbed from the website. The cult of WNST tries to pretend it isn't a business, but then reality rears its ugly head. Howie (7/27/07)
(regarding a previous post) "Hello, I am working on a documentary film on D.C. in the 80s. I am trying to track down footage of D.C. from 1980-1992." You may find what you're looking for here www.lib.berkeley.edu or perhaps here www.aparchive.com (7/27/07)
RE: EAS... While everyone's concerns about EAS being ineffective for many types of emergencies. Let us not forget the original purpose of EAS... which was primarily to permit the President to address the nation in the event of atomic attack. The other applications were essentially tossed in later. CONELRAD was solely a end-of-world alerting system, as was the early years of EBS. The EBS was expanded later on to include weather alerts from the NWS. EAS inherited all of that, and then later added the CAE/Amber Alert protocol, but the original purpose was warning of atomic attack.... happy friday... djmr. (7/27/07)
Right now, it seems that EAS is basically used as a "Weather Alert" service with a sprinkle of "Child Abduction Alerts" that usually don't pan out. That, and a reason for the FCC to fine someone who doesn't follow the rules to the letter. Calling the thing the "Emergency Alert System" is misleading, because "in the event of an actual emergency," you are more likely not to hear "official information and instructions." The point is, if the public can't really count on the system, what good is it? We can argue about what it should and should not be used for, but the fact remains that at least once a week we tell people to tune in if something bad happens with no legitimate expectation (on our parts) that when something bad does happen that we will have any official information at all. News stations may have something on the air that is credible, but those reports will have nothing at all to do with EAS. (7/27/07)
(QUOTE) There was concern that EAS activation was not only duplicative but might have engendered panic among non at-risk populations, particularly in urban areas.(END QUOTE) Sell my banjo, Mabel, I'm a fixin' ta die in a riot! Did those in charge truly believe that a fistful of duckfarts aired in NYC, DC and PA would cause widespread panic in the streets? Even MORE than what was happening at that moment? What 50's monster movie were THEY watching? I'm not talking about some droning blathering endomorph in a booth somewhere, spouting an "official" account of things in National Emergency status. I meant that maybe the frickin' mayors would direct a primary station to commit to the local activation of the EMERGENCY alert system - surely one did indeed exist in three regions that day. (ANOTHER QUOTE) There was also a palpable concern especially from the Defense Department that activation of EAS, being unnecessary, would be seen as a militarization of the domestic crisis (END QUOTE) Again, where does a thought like that come from? EAS gets regularly punched whenever a large thunderstorm is coming in, a freight train skips a rail, or Cousin Cletus drives off with the sitter. I never see tanks and troops rolling down the street following one of those activations. Whether it was a controlled decision or just that everyone was too busy to remember that they had an EAS box in the rack, I will forever maintain that broadcasters blew it by not activating the system designed for that very moment, and that 50+ years of tests, rehearsals and technology were a waste of time, electricity and false log entries. (7/27/07)
Hello, I am working on a documentary film on D.C. in the 80s. I am trying to track down footage of D.C. from 1980-1992. In particular, I am hoping to find old recordings of City Under Siege on Fox. I've had several people suggest I contact you. Any ideas regarding where I might find the footage... or know any people with closets full of videos from that time? Thanks for your help. Cheers, Heather Murphy, R. Rock Films/Swindle Magazine, thedcdoc@gmail.com (7/27/07)
It was just confirmed by a friend of mine who works for WNST that Rob Long did resign today, and that Michael Popovec is taking over for now. Matt in Abingdon (7/27/07)
I believe someone needs some new glasses or was that some kind of inside reference to Drew Carey's phony glasses he wears or does he really need them now? And yes, Carey is too hip for the room! Is Carey married these days or is he still constantly hitting the Vegas Strip, baby! ....Now if CBS had considered Colin Mochrie that would have been a totally different thing.........Did Cufflinks make Mr. Panero and offer he couldn't refuse?......I thought Baltimore City Paper and Washington City Paper had same ownership? Seems like a similarity in design. Disliked the addition of staples to City Paper. I liked to pull out sections for saving like the concert gig pages. Of course, it's become harder to find the Washington City Paper since Tower Records closed, have I mentioned how much I miss Tower Records. I hope Dave McKenna sticks around with his Cheap Seats column. I do wonder why he hasn't been hired away? And The News of the Weird column, penned by a former GWU professor. What was that comic strip Matt Groening use to draw that was carried in city paper, no not that although I believe a Bart like character was in the strip. And I do miss the bitingly sardonic movie reviews and no I don't mean the recently deceased Joel Siegal of ABC.....say, no Beth Parker on that list? (7/27/07)
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\/ July 26 Messages \/
I must need new glasses because I coulda sworn I read "[Drew Carey's] too hip for the [Price Is Right] crowd." Carey may be many things but hip is not one of them. The day he becomes hip is the day his career dies. (7/26/07)
The Baltimore SportsTalk "powerhouse" WNST seems to have undergone a line-up change...again. Rob Long is mysteriously off the air and all traces of him are wiped clean off the WNST website, without a peep of an explanation from mercurial station master Nestor Aparicio. Any idea what gives? Steve, Sparks, MD (7/26/07)
Hey VARTV guy--- Talking about that DXing--that first station featured was using the WAITT system, the same one that WAMD carries (carried). (7/26/07)
Dave, Did you see that Harry Jaffe is "trembling with fear" about his upcoming "beatdown" with David Burd? www.washingtonian.com... Peter (7/26/07)
Interesting article in the Washington Times the other day about the COMCAST Sportsnet and MASN. What is pretty clear is that COMCAST Sportsnet, while not discarding the Baltimore teams, has focused on the DC teams. The Redskins and Nationals usually get top billing on the COMCAST Sportsnet news shows, with the Ravens and Orioles usually an afterthought. Their strategy seems to be that focusing on those teams, along with the Caps, Wizards and DC United, whose games they broadcast, is the way to keep the bigger DC market. MASN, on the other hand, is trying to avoid being tarred with the label of being primarily a Baltimore station by broadcasting the Riggins radio show and doing Georgetown games. Given that the network is primarily owned by Angelos, a fact that grates on many Nats fans, the Baltimore label may be unavoidable. (7/26/07)
Back when the mighty 1090 sent Rush packing down the dial to 680, I didn't think it was a good move. Now I'm even more positive. Sounds like they are scrambling now, but still making money...just waiting for WCBM to overtake them. While BAL has been sliding, CBM has slowly been moving up. (7/26/07)
How about the local radio stations which are running an ad touting "stacks and stacks of ammo" for a local gun show make a donation to the fund for the family survivors of those Virginia Tech students. Your "public service" ends at the very point that those ad dollars are "sacrificed". Bastards! - Milo (7/26/07)
hey dave! so, wedneday, i was stuck in slow moving traffic coming out of bethesda, and decided to flip over to don and mike for the first time in months. an interesting listening experience to be sure....the first thing i heard was a LONGGGGG discussion of how Regis had an "old man moment" because he supposedly did not undertand the Price is Right game show. liberal use of lengthy audio clips that were just not very entertaining. the discussion of whether regis was an antique still on the air struck me as oddly ironic that it was coming from these two very tired hosts. mike tried to spice up the discussion with regis impressions--whew! it was (as suggested on this board by many posters) "unlistenable". and then, just as my finger was set to press the next pre-set....BOOM on comes tom gavin with more radio magic....but oddly this was actually kind of interesting--sorta. as don went on a rant about tom being on elliot's show...and then just laying into elliot ..suggesting elliot wants to be just like don and mike, that he wants their "position in the community and their place in the business"....all particularly vitriolic in nature. i was unaware of any current "radio war" between don and elliot is this just a continuation of and old one? all of this went on for a very long time--and left me shaking my head....but in the end , i guess they won because i stayed with it for 40 minutes plus...but i felt oddly empty. (7/26/07)
RE: "Interesting FM DX in Columbia, MD this morning. Picking up Dixie 105.7 out of Elizabeth City, NC (about 250 miles away)." Think that's interesting? At 5:30 this afternoon, I was picking up stations in central and western Kansas from Virginia Beach!! One station is 1,400 miles away. Most were coming in as locals... Take a listen here..... (7/26/07)
Anyhow, WNST's afternoon host Rob Long iwasn't on this afternoon, and he is no longer listed on the station's web-site (www.wnst.net). He was the only African-American talk show host with a daily weekday show on either of the two "all sports" stations in Baltimore (WJFK being the other). Any truth to the rumor that he's going to fill some of the vacated daytime spots at WBAL ??? Hmmm... (7/26/07)
Red Zebra didn't pay 10 million for those rimshots. They paid 33 million. www.washingtonpost.com (7/26/07)
Your sources at Bonneville are twisting the truth, which is suprising coming from a so-called news operation. Snyder IS shopping his signals, but for a station swap that will surely involve cash from his side. It would have been foolish of him not to approach Bonneville with an offer considering their situation, but I'm sure they'll screw this deal up just like they did the 104 deal by spreading false rumors becuase they are to proud (or stupid) to admit failure. (7/26/07)
Its unsettling how your 'sources' at Bonneville have now resorted to starting rumors about Red Zebra. Its ridiculous to think that Dan Snyder and his buddies who invested with him would want to lose money by selling off their stations, why would they do that when the stations pay for themselves? - Pathetic, they are really desperate over there. (7/26/07)
Snyder has roughly 20 million invested in his three signals in DC and an additional 3 to 4 million in Richmond and Norfolk. The five stations combined couldn’t sell for more than 10 million. The only way to move those signals in a market like this is to sell them at 50 to 60 cents on a dollar if he gets lucky. He didn’t give away the entire 10 million dollar rights fee that he once had with WJFK. Red Zebra pays the Redskins 4 to 5 million a year to air the games. Maybe next year you will only be able to hear the games at Johnny Rockets, Six Flags and the Redskin retail stores voiced by Tom Cruise. Come to think of it, that may be an improvement! (7/26/07)
It appears that WNST's (1570 am - Baltimore) afternoon man, Rob Long has been fired or quit. He is no longer listed on the station's web-site. He was just on yesterday afternoon, too. Do you know anything about this? (7/26/07)
Dave's response: No. Anybody know?
Courtesy of Romensko, which flagged this Jaffe blog post: www.washingtonian.com... "Against the advice of my co-workers and family, I have agreed to appear on the Tony Kornheiser Show tomorrow morning at 8:45 -- so that I can explain how I came to the conclusion about the ratings. They fear I will be eviscerated by the cutting wit and commentary of Tony's replacement, Mr. Burd. He seems to have taken my column about the failings of Washington Post radio very personally. I am trembling with fear at the "beat down" Burd and his radio posse have promised to administer tomorrow morning." (7/26/07)
Drew Carey to host PiR,ugh! He's too hip for the crowd and that cheesy laughof his. Are these the same CBS numbnuts who thought Couric would be a good newsreader for the evening news?........ I guess the rumors of the Old Cryptkeeper coming back to WFAN were for naught? I forget, is WFAN a Viacom station? Might a return of "death warmed over" helped with that lawsuit the I-man has against CBS/Viacom? How much radio talk show experience does old "Boomer" have? Hell don't matter I wouldn't listen anyway. I just miss the days of the Cryptkeeper syndication and he being on MSNBC, which will never happen anyways with all bridges burnt between both parties. Scarborough is a snooze. And who are the numbnuts running NBC? I recall that they were shuttering a lot of the New Jersey campus to consolidate in NYC, now it's having a lot folks go back to N.J. .......you ever notice how NewsChannel 8's newsreader Dave Lucas drags the last few words in a lot of stories seeming to lend the story a lil' bit more significance than the story really is worth. Is that a newsreaders trick?....and I believe I saw Jesse Atkinson on WaPo Live CSN a few weeks ago he had same job as mentioned earlier in mailbag.......what has George Michaels been doing all summer?.....does Gurvir have neck problems? Watching the way she jerks her head around gives me whiplash pains. (7/26/07)
The comments about EAS and 9/11 are quite correct. This was one Cold War stand-by emergency procedure developed exactly to deal with what happened that day that was never implemented. Early on, when both DOD and the White House realized what was happening, a conscious decision was made not to activate EAS. The tragedy was unfolding on nationwide (indeed, global) TV, and there was concern that EAS activation was not only duplicative but might have engendered panic among non at-risk populations (particularly in urban areas). Local radio and TV stations in the target cities did a yeoman job that day providing essential information to emergency personnel and the civilian population (alternate transportation routes, recall of critical off-duty emergency personnel, injured and missing locator services), and nationalizing communications (which is what the EAS basically is) was considered something that would be reluctantly revisited if the scope of the attacks exceeded the original strikes. Otherwise, local voices and recognizable national news broadcasters were considered far more preferable to disjointed and irrelevant communiques from distant command bunkers asking viewers to "Stand By". Believe it or not (and I know that the "Bush and Cheney are worse than Hitler" crowd will be driven crazy by this), there was also a palpable concern (especially from the Defense Department) that activation of EAS, being unnecessary, would be seen as a militarization of the domestic crisis. That's actually the last thing anybody who works these issues wants. The constitutional formula is local civilian first responders, then state and federal civilian support to affllicted areas, then State National Guard to help with law enforcement and federal military presence last (and that usually restricted to material loans and support functions except in grave circumstance-it's called the Posse Commitatus Act, and has been in existence since the 1870's). And grounding all those thousands of civilian planes in the air within 2-3 hours of the attacks? While the FAA did a fantastic job (mind you, ordering the skies cleared of hundreds of thousands of air travellers in 3 hours, all over the country, in thousands of planes without a single injury other than a run on hotel rooms), they and the Department of Defense had been training for such an eventuality for decades. The procedures are contained in a program called SCATANA (Strategic Control of Aviation Transportation and Air Navigation Aids). This is the type of program that mandates what to do if you have to launch a whole lot of military planes and missiles at once while you have a nation full of commercial aircraft in the air. Since it's generally not a good idea to kill the people you're trying to protect, the Department of Defense and the FAA have been working for decades to come up with and test procedures to bring people down quickly and safely from the air if a national emergency develops. The plans were followed and they worked better than anybody had ever expected; don't forget, this was the first time they'd been implemented. Oddly enough, the formal order to execute these procedures didn't reach the FAA Emergency Operations Center (two floors down from my then office) until 4 pm that sad day, at which point the countries' skies had been clear and quiet (with one or two emergency exceptions and military aircraft) for at least 5 hours. Remembering that terrible day like yesterday, Genghis Cohen (7/26/07)
Jess runs a production company that produces the show Comcast carries on Mondays at 8 PM on Maryland football and also produces Under the Shell, the show about Maryland women's basketball on Comcast that airs from January to March. You can probably find out how to reach Jess through Comcast, the Maryland Sports Information Office, or the football or women's basketball offices at Maryland. Matt N. (7/26/07)
From the executive desk at Big Head DC: REMEMBER! You Must Vote In Big Head DC's 2nd Annual Hottest Media Types Contest Have you heard? It's summer in Washington, so it must be time to vote for hot journalists!!! Yes, you heard us! Hot journalists!!!!!!!!!! Get voting!!!! We're simply breathless from all of this hot, hot excitement!!!! bigheaddc.com (7/26/07)
Red Zebra may be having a fire sale. I hear you can pick up any of the three DC rimshots for well under million each. Snyder probably rues the day he listened to good old old BZ. (7/26/07)
(QUOTE) The purpose if EAS is to tell people what they need to do. (END QUOTE) Correct; after first establishing to said audience that there indeed exists an emergency condition. If we knew for sure another plane was enroute to DC today, that loud "pop" you would hear would be the collective sound of broadcasters pulling their thumbs out of their southbound sphincters and diving to hit that button. In its present state, EAS is a drifting, meandering ship with a drunk captain and a clueless crew. Any change is welcome and for the better. (7/26/07)
Hillary www.achannel.ca wow (7/26/07)
I’ve become quite the fan of Dennis Miller’s show on WTNT in the afternoon. However, I’ve noticed for the past two weeks that there seems to be some interference with the reception both in my car and on my kitchen radio. No, there are no storms in the area -- it’s not static. One day it was so bad that the voices were completely chopped that I had to turn it off. If anyone else is listening to the show, are they having the same issue? I’m near Springfield VA and usually don’t have a problem with my AM reception. I realize this is probably not someone’s priority from Clear Channel – if they can actually access dcrtv to read this post – but they do have a good thing going with his show and it would be nice to have them address the issue. Thanks. -- Kim (7/26/07)
I was just reading the Examiner and wanted to share this information with you folks . COMCAST just reported that their second quarter earnings are up 28%. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa.(7/26/07)
Nice picture of David Burd. I wonder whatever happened to his onetime partner, Jeff Baker. BTW, for your New York page (which I also read, being from that area), you might want to include Westchester County in your scope. I'm from there; it's suburbia, part of NY. There are a few stations there, including WVIP Mount Kisco, WVOX New Rochelle, and WFAS White Plains. WRKL in Rockland County is across the river but reaches parts of Westchester. Fairfield County, Ct. should be under New York's coverage area too. If you're including Long Island, you ought to include the north suburbs too. Tim Phares (7/26/07)
Interesting FM DX in Columbia, MD this morning. Picking up Dixie 105.7 out of Elizabeth City, NC (about 250 miles away) much stronger than 105.7 WHFS from Baltimore. (7/26/07)
Dave's response: Hey, maybe WHFS did a format flip to country. Couldn't hurt. Ha ha ha.....
"even though they are billing a decent buck on their Redskins sales, that is still not covering the $10 million rights fee Danny Boy used to get from WJFK...so they are losing money in that deal" Sounds like somebody at WaPo has sour grapes about RZ, one must wonder why? I don't think anybody here would disagree that the $10 million was not coming back to Snyder, so you can't possibly characterize that as 'losing money'. RZ can easily sustain itself, no hemmoraghing going on over there that's why they are in the buying mode and Wapo is in the selling mode, HUGE difference. Also do not think Snyder would tolerate his staff posting on this board like the Bonnevillians do, that's probably why they are flying under the radar. Here's another hypothetical - Dan Snyder and Jim Farley betting which station will outlast the other. I wonder how many people here would bet on Wapo espcially considering Snyder would snatch it up the minute the Nats lose their last game this season. The folks at Bonneville are grasping at anything, seems uncharacteristcally desperate, I'm suprised they are allowing it themselves. - GJ (7/26/07)
Something interesting (at least to me)..I've read much about the poor signal from Red Zebra: well..here on the eastern shore of Maryland (at least here in Denton)..Red Zebra's 92.7 smokes in pretty good! Of course..I do have my stereo receiver hooked to the television antenna..and it's pointed towards Baltimore..but I find it interesting that station in Prince Fredrick really does come in good! What area is that particular station supposed to serve? Tom in Denton, MD. (7/26/07)
Dave's response: 92.7 used to be WMJS which served the Southern Maryland counties of Calvert, St. Mary's, Charles, and southern Prince George's and southern Anne Arundel.....
I wish Chip Franklin all the luck in the world as he begins his morning show hosting duties at San Diego's KOGO in September- cuz he's gonna need it! KOGO makes WBAL and WMAL (Chip's former radio home) look like a bunch of liberal wussies (with a P) in comparison. KOGO is also part of a huge Clear Channel radio cluster. In all honesty, Franklin may well be totally out of his league when he lands at KOGO. The afternoon guy, Roger Hedgecock, is a former mayor of San Diego. In 1985 he was forced from office after being convicted on one count of conspiracy and 12 counts of perjury involving more than $350,000 in improper campaign contributions he failed to report. Despite a good number of liberals in the general population of San Diego county, it remains quite conservative and the city itself is a Navy Town. Remember, it's the place that gave us Randy "Duke" ($2.5-million in bribes) Cunningham and his replacement in Congress, Brian Bilbray. San Diego county is also the home of Congressman (and G.O.P. presidential candidate) Duncan Hunter). If the Chipster really is a liberal-in-conservative's-clothing, he'll be found out in short order and they'll eat him alive! (7/26/07)
"no one ever pushed the Big Red EAS Button on Sept 11, so how useful is it going to be?" The purpose if EAS is to tell people what they need to do. Flash flood, seek higher ground. Tornado warning, seek shelter. What would they have told people to do on 9/11? 9/11 was a News event, covered well by TV, cable and some news radio stations like TOP. EAS is not a system to do News for radio stations that don't make the investment in News for themselves. (7/26/07)
Ah, the Zoh Show. Zoh is that wonderful libertarian who believes that Bush I and Clinton were involved with the CIA in running drugs through Mena Arkansas and in all the Clinton murder conspiracies. She would read hours of her own writings on these subjects over the air. She used to have actor Dwight Schultz (The A Team) on as an expert on the government coverups of alien landings at Roswell NM. The show would be a hoot, I loved listening and laughing at it the last time, but it'll never happen. Only a desperate station, as WCBM was at the time, would go with that. Hey, Schultz himself is a talk host and member of "the Patriot Brigade". Why not just go with him? Howie (7/26/07)
This link is a bit old, but this is the last I heard about what Jess Atkinson is up to. Has his contact info at the bottom: umterps.cstv.com (7/26/07)
RE: "I would so love to know what engineered the delay in david and harry." Don't know for sure, but my guess is that it's because the Spring Arbitron comes out tomorrow. And BTW, anytime programmers can talk to listeners about Arbitron and the ratings, they are happy. If they reach just one random person with a diary, and remind that person to fill it out, they are doing a happy dance! (7/26/07)
In regards to the Red Zebra, Post Radio comparison: Whereas WaPo radio has not lived up to expectations and gets trashed every day on this site, Red Zebra is arguably as big of a failure if not more than Post Radio. When these 3 signals were purchased, everyone knew that they stunk. so why now are they getting a hall pass because they are on bad signals? that is part of creating a successful station. How about the RZ programming? John Riggins was great on WTEM as a guest. he is horrible as a host. those 3 talk over each other constantly and Riggins doesn't add nearly enough to the show to make up for it. Beyond that, they have ESPN programming...which is just that...syndicated radio. Talk about hemorraging money! at least WaPo has 2 signals that have value and could be sold for a nice profit. RZ is taking a bath on the value of their sticks and even though they are billing a decent buck on their Redskins sales, that is still not covering the $10 million rights fee Danny Boy used to get from WJFK...so they are losing money in that deal. No matter how you slice it or how much it is talked about, Red Zebra is a complete failure...but interestingly enough, flying under the radar on this site. BA (7/26/07)
("the amount of posts on this site about WaPo Radio would prove otherwise...that people are listening" Are you from Bonneville?). I'm not from Bonneville...just happen to like Burd, TK, goss...do I like every show, no. Got an obvious suggestion...If you don't like it, then don't listen. still don't know why so many people are talking about it if they hate it so much? just so you could post on this site? that would make a lot of sense... (7/26/07)
Let's make this short since there is a full set of ratings coming out Friday. Going into the final month of the Spring Book Washington Post Radio is beating four of the other talk stations in the market in the money demo, 25-54, tied with the heritage talk station in the market (WTOP is not included considered News rather than Talk). This after just one year. If this trend holds up tomorrow will the same naysayers be demanding such stations as WTNT, WTEM, WWXX and others shut down. If there argument is the kind of growth WTWP has had in one year is a "fizzle" or train wreck it would only make sense the stations that perform below Washington Post Radio and have been in format much longer than Washington Post Radio go dark. This seems to be the logic of many of this sites posters..... Anyway, as always we'll stick to the facts...and look forward to what happens tomorrow. (7/26/07)
Want a female on the air mornings or midday at WBAL? How about The Zoh Show!!! I miss Zoh Hieronimus, she's not a liberal or a conservative, just a wonderful libertarian. My guess is, they'll convince Gov. Bob Ehrlich and his first lady Kendel, to do a show. Anyone know what is going on with Sajak's 1470 WTTR? Mark Woodworth hasn't been on in the morning for a few weeks now with Dwight. Someone trading as Becky Santos, has been on with him. Yes a good ol' country boy in Carroll County, can love Zoh's show and listen to the 5:30 farm report on WTTR... everyone can coexist. (7/26/07)
Dave's response: OK, how about this? Bonneville buys Hearst's 97.9 and 1090 and makes 97.9 WTOP North (WTBP) and 1090 Baltimore Sun Radio. Then, CBS could take 105.7 to hard rock. Oh, nevermind.....
WAPO Radio is in the any publicity, is good publicity stage. T