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Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - August 25 to August 29, 2007 Latest messages listed first..... \/ August 29 Messages \/ Just another routine day on the Capital Beltway: www.youtube.com... Darn shame his license plate was illegible! (8/29/07) In regard to FM reception: yes..it was really something last night and this morning; I have the modulator for my XM radio set to 88.3; this usually doesn't present a problem. However..last night and this morning, that spot was being squeezed by 88.1..as well as 88.5..even on an El Cheapo clock radio! As for WDSD's frequency move: if it's like it was before while they were at this frequency, their signal should cover the entire state of Delaware. As best as I can determine, at 92.9, they didn't seem to be as strong! Tom in Denton, MD (8/29/07) I'd like to say that Don is a gay! - C. Wilson (8/29/07) The Sports Department of WCBC-AM in Cumberland, MD, has been barred from the two high school press boxes in Allegheny County, Maryland, because of the number of investigative stories the WCBC-AM News Department has been doing about the local school board. The station and the MD broadcasters association are taking the school board to court. The full story on the radio station's web site - www.wcbcradio.com... (8/29/07) Dave, Dont you think its time that you updated howard sterns picture that you use. The pic must be more than 10 years old. I can send you a current one of him if you need the help. Love, Rob from the don and mike show (8/29/07) Dave's response: Hey, Robb, good to hear from you. Here's the latest pic of Stern (right). I hear Robb's talking about doing a show on 3WT - "The German Hour" - in between Neal Boortz and Glenn Beck..... (I would put WTOP back on 1500 AM and 107.7 FM along with 103.5 FM. The 1500 signal would be WTOP's "Maryland edition" and 107.7 would be WTOP's "Virginia edition," both with hyper-local news, weather, and traffic inserts, as well as "zoned" ads and target websites...) Good idea Dave, I'll implement that immediately and take the credit - Jim Farley, dropping a deuce on Washington Post Radio (8/29/07) Brooke Stevens is battling Hodgkin's Disease. Recently; she held an "estate sale" and sold off most of her possessions. She's now living with her parents in FL., who are taking care of her. Brooke did alternative therapy instead of chemo, but from what I've heard it hasn't worked. Word is she's not doing well and we should keep her in our thoughts and prayers, if you know what I mean. (8/29/07) Dave's response: The above comes from a very reliable DCRTV source. Very sad. All our best to Brooke..... FishBlowDC and FishHoleDC Are Also Possibilities bigheaddc.com... Rob Capriccioso, Editor, Big Head DC, bigheadDC.com (8/29/07) Dave's response: Ha ha ha! FishBlowDC, FishButtDC, FishBowelDC, FishHoleDC. Yeah, they all work. Patrick Gavin used to be such a nice guy. Why so mean, now? I think Joe Robinson is going to be an excellent addition to 98 Rock's line-up. He's a great comic, very intelligent, and can hold a conversation and conduct an interview with the best of them. He's also got a great grasp on sports and a deep knowledge of pop-culture. I think this gives them a great morning show, some good music during the day, and a fun talk program at night. In regards to Stash, I assume he'll be on the 3-7 shift now (much deserved, he's been bounced around a lot there), co-hosting will be Steph (they pair up great),playing music, and interviewing bands/celebs. 98 Rock will hit a great stride in the year to come, and be worth listening to sun up to sun down. -J (8/29/07) Here's a hint for those who have been having problems with Comcast's digital services - it may be a local problem with your connection. Check the splitter hardware, especially if it's exposed to the elements outside the house. Those little boxes have a tendency to go bad and when they do, the higher frequency bandwidth digital services are the first to show problems. It's happened to me twice - each about 2 years apart. The first time, we went through Comcast's voice mail hell, waited three days for a service appointment (that's a whole other issue), and the guy fixed it in ten minutes. The second time, I went to Radio Shack, bought a replacement splitter for about $10 and fixed it myself. I'm told that a bad or substandard piece of cable can also wreck havoc with the digital signal. (8/29/07) BIG 100? Z104? Classical 103.5? Still alive? YES, according to the Maryland-DC-Delaware Broadcasters Association website: www.mdcd.com. Har har har! --RB (8/29/07) What's all this commotion about Dentures? I see no reason why someone who wears dentures can't achieve greatness in whatever endeavor they choose. Signed, G. Washington, Mt. Vernon (8/29/07) WWWT's new slogan? How 'bout "Go to your left, your right, your left, go to your right, your right, your left, your right, your right, your right…." KOF (8/29/07) Hey BA: Nobody ever said that WTOP doesn’t excel in the sales department. Would you rather have a 13 share or a 6 share? Would you rather have 70 million or 50 million? (8/29/07) New Jersey 101.5, which transmits from Trenton, also has a transmitter of the same programs in Atlantic City on 97.3 MHz. That might be what the gent heard "near" 97.9. As many have written here before, sometimes in the summer, and especially in the morning, FM signals go much farther than their usual 50-75 miles. I've gotten stuff in the morning from all over southern Virginia, and from Philadelphia near Columbia in the summer, even wiping out local signals, like WETA. -- Carl in Olney (8/29/07) This is the second day in a row that smooooth jazz is bleeding all over 106.7 as I’m trying to listen to D&M. not sure if it happened on Monday, but last time this went on (years ago) was because they had switched to some auxiliary antenna or something. I’m in fashionable Arlington VA and am deeply annoyed, but at least I can still hear my Stern (that’s what they used to bleed over, too, when he was there). (8/29/07) "Congrats to Joe Robinson on his new evening gig at 98 Rock. I'm iffy on well it'll go, but I'm willing to give it a chance. All of this begs a question: What's happened to Stash? Anyone willing to speculate or trade in rumors? (This is DCRTV, of course they are!)" - I think Joe Robinson is going to be an excellent addition to 98 Rock's line-up. He's a great comic, very intelligent, and can hold a conversation and conduct an interview with the best of them. He's also got a great grasp on sports and a deep knowledge of pop-culture. I think this gives them a great morning show, some good music during the day, and a fun talk program at night. In regards to Stash, I assume he'll be on the 3-7 shift now (much deserved, he's been bounced around a lot there), co-hosting will be Steph (they pair up great),playing music, and interviewing bands/celebs. 98 Rock will hit a great stride in the year to come, and be worth listening to sun up to sun down. -J (8/29/07) I think WWWT's slogan should be "You're The Only Person Listening." (8/29/07) The sites are not active yet but Bonneville International registered both wwwtradio.com and 3wtradio.com on August 14. Everett W. (8/29/07) Dave's response: The WWWT calls used to be on an AMer in Randolph, Vermont..... Howie hit the nail on the head: “WWWT's slogan should actually be "Left, Right (but a lot more right)" or maybe "Think of Stephanie Miller as our Alan Colmes"... BTW, Howie, right-wingers really do think that Colmes is a liberal instead of the guy playing the role of the Washington Generals to Hannity’s Harlem Globetrotters. But that being said, now put yourself in the shoes of an exec at Bonneville, owned and operated by the ultra-conservative Mormon Church. They probably count Kornheiser as a liberal, too. So, see? It’s “Fair And Balanced!” (8/29/07) Major leaugue kudos to DC's Channel 7 noon broadcast for showing the prank pulled on Karl Rove. It showed his car completely wrapped in shrink wrap while parked at the White House. Hooray for national security! www.wjla.com (8/29/07) "Has anyone else noticed an eccessive amount of static on 105.7 WHFS this morning?" This morning stations from all over eastern North Carolina, were coming in covering up the locals. The stations with RDS make it pretty easy to ID them. (8/29/07) Hard to imagine that Bonneville actually conducted legitimate market research and came up with the mess they’re describing as 3WT. Bill-O, Tony The K, and Stephanie Miller????? Exactly which 5 people in metropolitan DC fit into THAT demo? Six consecutive train wrecks do not make a format. Maybe Joel and the SLC boys are just playing with us… and in a few days the real format will appear. Sports, for instance. They’ve already got the Nats as their PBP anchor. And it doesn’t take a million dollar research study to understand that WTEM is critically handicapped by its night signal, and that Triple X is critically handicapped by its night signal (and the daytime signal, for that matter). Bigger, stronger signals have been knocking out existing format players with smaller, weaker signals for about 87 years now—it’s not a big secret!!!! Jeez. Second Obvious Option: Liberal Talk. Yeah, Stephanie is great. But radio formats are 24/7/365 animals. Three-hour chunks of diametrically opposed talk shows, no matter how strong they may be individually, just doesn’t work. And (back to the chorus) 1260/WWRC is critically handicapped by it’s small, weak signal and bigger, stronger signals have been… (8/29/07) WWWT's slogan should actually be "Left, Right (but a lot more right)" or maybe "Think of Stephanie Miller as our Alan Colmes". Howie (8/29/07) Congrats to Joe Robinson on his new evening gig at 98 Rock. I'm iffy on well it'll go, but I'm willing to give it a chance. All of this begs a question: What's happened to Stash? Anyone willing to speculate or trade in rumors? (This is DCRTV, of course they are!) Signed, Fferret (8/29/07) Dave, good "rant" on the options open to Bonneville post-Post. Do you know what web site the new station/stations are going to use? www.3wt.com is taken. One wonders if WTOP people are working now to secure it. www.3wt.fm is avilable but who would want it? (8/29/07) "If you split the signals, you get no credit from Arbitron. They require a 100% simulcast to combine ratings. Other than that, no flaw in the plan. Very creative... " Will that still be the case under the new People Meter system? (8/29/07) Dave's response: Also, isn't the PPM system based on the frequency the person is listening to, not the calls? So, the rating would be for 107.7 or 1500 or 103.5 and not "WTOP"? Right?..... To the loser that can't leave his name complaining about Comcast, what area are you from? I have had Comcast Digital for about six months and haven't had any issues with the channels in question, and I watch MASN all the time because of the O's games. I haven't had any issues w/VOD either, the few times I have used it. Dave, did you think it is a regional issue and not necessarily an issue with Comcast all over the DC area? Think for once. Mike in Waldorf (8/29/07) Does anyone know what happened to Brooke Stevens? She disappeared from the WVIE (AM 1370) Morning Show a few months ago...Bill (8/29/07) I read your response to my post… Funny you mention WTWP. I was getting them (WTWP-HD) this morning instead of local (Norfolk area) WJCD-HD on 107.7… - Robert (8/29/07) (Today Bonneville is the proud owner of a 5.3 share on a WTOP and a 1 lame duck share on the new station. Each rating point in this market is worth about 3 million dollars per year.) Based on each rating point equaling 3 million in revenue, that would equal $18.9 million. However, reports are that WTOP produces over $50 million a year, WFED over $2 Million a year, and lets estimate WTWP (or 3WT) at say $4 Million? That would be close to $60 million a year in revenue. Pretty good power ratios. BA (8/29/07) Last Call-anybody with any suggestions on EAS improvements? C'mon guys, everybody bitches the Feds don't listen to the smart guys, so when we actively solicit you, nothing in the way of responses? Remember that the next time somebody wants to whine about how big bad Uncle Sugar never listens to those with all the answers. Oh, and by the way, great tropospheric induction conditions this morning, with the St. Louis Classical station booming in on my car radio. Genghis Cohen, in cool and humid West Fairfax (8/29/07) (RE Today's Rant: If I was making the decisions over at Bonneville, I would put WTOP back on 1500 AM and 107.7 FM along with 103.5 FM. The 1500 signal would be WTOP's "Maryland edition" and 107.7 would be WTOP's "Virginia edition"...) If you split the signals, you get no credit from Arbitron. They require a 100% simulcast to combine ratings. Other than that, no flaw in the plan. Very creative... (8/29/07) Dave's response: And that's another big problem with modern American radio - it "plays" to the peculiarities and methodologies of Arbitron's often screwed-up ratings system and not to the actual demands and tastes of local radio listeners. That's a BIG shame..... Comcast Digital cable bites the big one. Frequently the signal is so screwed up as to be unwatchable, and for the past few weeks neither MASN channel comes in at all, nor does MSNBC. All I get is "This channel should be available shortly." An hour later, its still hasn't come in. POS. (8/29/07) Dave's response: I've been having a strange problem with Comcast's video-on-demand service. Every two weeks or so, when I try to punch up a VOD channel, I get the background graphics and the accompanying video but no text menus. The remedy is that I have to turn off the TV, and unplug the cable box for several seconds and let it "reboot." After a 10 minute wait for it to come back "to life," I can access VOD normally. But in about two weeks, the problem will happen again. And again and again. Anyone else experiencing this? Has anyone else noticed an eccessive amount of static on 105.7 WHFS this morning? Usually, I can pick up the station pretty clearly, but today in both my car and on my desk at work there is a LOT of static! Sunspots? Crappy transmitter? Typical WHFS poor quality programming? Just curious. GK in Reisterstown. (8/29/07) Dave's response: There's probably a weather front dangling somewhere over the eastern USA pulling signals from the north into the DC/Baltimore area, interferring with local stations. A rather common occurance in late summer. See the message below..... "How in the HECK am I picking up 101.5 FM (news talk) out of NEW JERSEY down here in southwestern Baltimore City (Woodlawn) just below 98 Rock (97.9) this morning?" WKXW-FM in Trenton, aka "New Jersey 101.5," is simulcast on a station in South Jersey whose frequency is 97.3; that's probably the signal you heard. -- Vincent in Triangle (8/29/07) Dave -- Your rant of 8/29: ".....Public radio talkers WAMU and WCSP, soon to be joined by WGTS." Correction: WCSP is not public radio; it's non-profit radio funded by the cable industry to cover national public affairs. Tom Walsh (8/29/07) Dave's response: I know that WCSP is not technically "public radio," but its programming broadly fits the "genre"..... Big change in Delaware Radio! The river 94.7 has been replaced by 94.7 WDSD. This is where WDSD was originally, when it had it's biggest success. Also, Murph at ZBH will be joined soon by another alumni of WRXS (Murph was doing afternoon drive @ WRXS the past couple of years). DON & Mike change at 96 Rock may be on hold! (8/29/07) Not to keep picking on NBC4 sports but...on this mornings newscast the news anchor gave the result of the Nats late game-a 4-3 loss to the Dodgers. Then Lindsay gets on with a first inning highlight and then says the Nats lost their 6th straight-no score given. Well even we morons can see that her spot was recorded in 2 takes-one with the Nats winning and one with the Nats losing. I assure you Lindsay was beddy-bye or in a bar at 1 AM when the game ended. Why we have to put up with such bush league shit is beyond me. Regards Biff (8/29/07) I wasn't going to comment on WTWP, but Oxley's statements and the prospect of yet another bad station...Oxley said, (taken out of context) "we realized we needed to take the station in the direction of personality-driven talk." Would that be as opposed to no personality driven talk? When Farley and Oxley said that they were beginning to see "traction," I knew they had lost the battle. I predicted right after they signed on that they would never have more than a 1 share 12+. Bad radio that is not an exclusive format can't grow listeners. They should have been great when they signed on. You can't tweak for years. The station really was pathetic. They discussed demographic numbers that were in the realm of statistical error. Jim and Joel know this. Now 3WT, another attempt to make syndicated talk work in DC. Just what we need. Someone pointed out the slogan sucked - - it does. In fact, WTOP is not what it used to be. It just has little competition. Maybe they should tweak WTOP, and do something original on WTWP. Radio executives in DC act like the listeners are not who they should program to. Build great radio, they will come. Ed Graham (8/29/07) I’m listening to WAMU-HD/88.5 in Virginia Beach this morning even though there is a station on the same frequency in Virginia Beach!! Also picking up WPRS-HD/104.1. Once that HD signal kicks in, there is NO static. No signals battling each other. It sounds like I’m listening to these stations right under their towers… Bob/VARTV (8/29/07) Dave's response: Damn! I can't get WPRS's HD signal here in Northern Virginia, even. There are some strange things going on reception-wise this morning. I can hear Gettysburg's country 107.7 trying to override the doomed Washington Post Radio on 107.7 at my location..... RE: “Does anyone out there know how much ratings share Bonneville has lost since the WGMS frequency swap?” Less than 5 years ago, when Bonneville had WTOP, WGMS and Z104 they owned a 12.5 to 13.0 share in the market. When Bonneville had WGMS on 103.5, and WTOP on 1500 and 107.7, they owned around a 10 to a 10.5 share. Today Bonneville is the proud owner of a 5.3 share on a WTOP and a 1 lame duck share on the new station. Each rating point in this market is worth about 3 million dollars per year. (8/29/07) How in the HECK am I picking up 101.5 FM (news talk) out of NEW JERSEY down here in southwestern Baltimore City (Woodlawn) just below 98 Rock (97.9) this morning? Incredible bounce off some secret satellite? BTW I picked it up on a 10 year old Sony AM/FM mono radio ICF-24 w/ a dial tuner, NOT a digital receiver. (8/29/07) "There is a lot of give and take between the editor and the news readers, but the editor runs the show. At least that was pretty much the way it was at ABC News." Tom, it's the same at WTOP. Lots of give and take but the editor has the final say. Jim (8/29/07) "I dig WTOP but why am I supposed to care about who is at the editor's desk?" It's a requirement of the AFTRA contract. Everybody in the newsroom except managers is AFTRA. It's a matter of pride with them and understandable. Like the by-line on a newspaper article. The editor is in charge (and takes the grief if theings go wrong). (8/29/07) The person at the WTOP Editor’s Desk is at the heart of their operation. This person decides what gets covered and what gets on the air. There is a lot of give and take between the editor and the news readers, but the editor runs the show. At least that was pretty much the way it was at ABC News. Tom Gauger (8/29/07) Remember Dave, us "bonnevillers" prefer to be called "bonnevillians", as in "orwellian". "Bonnevillans" (without the second 'i') is also appropriate when an unjust wholesale firing, format flip or station sale is involved. "Bonnevillians" as in "vaudvillian" is also appropriate when dealing with decisions or concepts that are so old school as to seemingly be from the early 20th century. And from the SLC style book, remember our slogan "Bonneville - Because We Care". (8/29/07) I dig WTOP but why am I supposed to care about who is at the editor's desk? (8/29/07) RE: [ " i.Beat " ].... Being a tech-geek myself, I always enjoy the glowing "iPod-killer" reviews for all these mp3-players in various media that ONLY the reviewer him/herself EVER ends up BUYING! Ooops, thats right, they get it for free for the review! :-) PS: New iPods next week means it will be obsolete before the ink is dry on that review. DOH! (8/29/07) The Orioles Games, every Wednesday from 8/29 through 9/26 will be broadcast on 102.7 FM in their entirety because of CBS Radio's iron clad partnership withthe University of Maryland. Every Wednesday from 8pm to 9pm, WHFS at 105.7 FM will broadcast the Ralph Freidgen Show over the Terrapin Sports Radio Network... WHFS will carry the Orioles Pre-Game, Game and Post-Game... Except 8pm tp 9pm when they carry The Raplh Freidgen Show with Johnny Holiday. CBS Radio's 102.7 signal will carry the entire Orioles Pre, In-Game ands Post in it's entirety. Every Wednesday until October, the Orioles will be similcast of two big FM sticks in Baltimore, with just one hour of Terps between 8pm and 9pm. Sound like a SWEET DEAL for the O's! On the days that the Terps are tearpin-up the the opponents, the Orioles will move to 102.7 FM as the sole broadcast partener. (8/29/07) Former Fox 45 Anchor Harold Fisher was heard on WHUR-FM this week. Sitting in for Herman Washington. Just thought you would like to know. (8/29/07) /\ August 29 Messages /\ \/ August 28 Messages \/ From midnight to six A.M., I propose that WWWT (1500 kc) will air American Airlines Music 'Til Dawn, on a sustaining basis if necessary. They love that sort of thing in London, which the Wheaton blowtorch reaches at night. Locals might love it, too, if they had a taste. (8/28/07) Dave, I know how much you like to point out sloppy upkeep on schedules, call letters, showtimes, etc. Here's one you can use if you want. Check out WBAL. Is Chip Franklin gone or not? If you look at various pages on the WBAL Radio site there are still links and listings for Chip. See wbal.com where Chip Franklin is still listed in the top link guide for shows. See wbal.com where it reads "She can also be heard weekly, reviewing movies and as a regular guest on "The Chip Franklin Show" on WBAL Radio." Oh. One other thing. A quick review of the WBAL Radio site shows that DCRTV has more advertisers on its site than WBAL does. Wow!! (8/28/07) Can anyone here please explain to me why it's taking Verizon so long to roll out their Fios services (both internet and TV but especially TV... God I hate friggin' Comcast!) to the rest of us??? Thanks. Kevin in HdG. (8/28/07) Equal Time for "i.Beat blaxx"...? They also have "i.Beat Pink!" (P!nk): reviews.cnet.com... --RB (8/28/07) Eric wonders ... "'m guessing the syndicated "Live with Regis and Kelly" will likely be moving to 11 a.m., or be dumped from WBAL's daytime line-up completely." .... Well, WBAL is leaving Reege at 10:00 and simply not running Hour 4 of Today. Steve in Lanham (8/28/07) Please tell me the end of WaPo Radio will also put an end to the hideous WaPo Radio programming on MASN. What a nightmare. Hint to WaPo reporters: When going on television, wear clothes that fit. Let's hope that the whirlpool begun by WaPo's plunge sucks WTEM and WJFK down too. Jack Nicholson said it in Batman: "This town needs an enema!" Dave In Sterling (8/28/07) To the person who called Ron Smith "The Voice of Treason": Why? (8/28/07) Hey...does anybody out there know how much market share Bonneville lost in the whole "dump WGMS, move WTOP to FM and bring on WTWP debacle? (8/28/07) All this discussion about the great "digital TV transition in 2009" got me to thinking about the great AM radio transition in 1941, or what was called "Radio Moving Day". Overnight on March 24th, a total of 777 of the 862 U.S. radio stations were forced to change their frequencies to conform with the North American Regional Broadcast (NARB) agreement, ratified in 1940. (WMAL was DC's only station that didn't need to shift.) With the sole exception of Newfoundland, the governments on the North American continent, plus Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic agreed to this "orderly and systematic allocation of channels which has heretofore governed allocations within the United States". Read about "Radio Moving Day" in two articles from the Washington Post (scroll down) at: www.dcmemories.com. (If science perfects time travel, I'm traveling back to 1940 to invest in AM xmtr crystals!) (8/28/07) How the Washington Post Failed in Radio, Harry Jaffe at www.washingtonian.com (8/28/07) "Left, Right, And Whatever We Want." Clumsy, clumsy. That HAS to be fixed. (8/28/07) I'm not at all in the industry, and I read DCRTV at least 3 to 4 times a week. I can't imagine anyone at the Post who covers local media issues, especially "breaking news", who doesn't read the site daily. I'm not just rimming Dave Hughes either. (8/28/07) Dave's response: Ahhh, no..... Hmmmmm. ""Left, Right, And Whatever We Want." Isn't this a lot like the slogan for the failed George 104? (8/28/07) Rusty Gibson: Happy Birthday my friend. Our internet was down all morning and I wanted to extend my good wishes. MHT is a wonderful program and when Johnny Dark says that you have "PASSION", he means it from the heart. Rusty, I echo those sentiments in that you are a true inspiration to all of us. When you open the mic, it is with true joy and love for the artists and also for the listeners. You share and care. God still hasn't finished with you yet Rust Man. Love and blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC) (8/28/07) "Left, Right, And Whatever We Want." 3WT (brings back memories of a certain blowtorch in Cleveland) sounds like..."Jack talks!" -- Vincent in Triangle (8/28/07) Dave's response: WWWE Cleveland's 1100 AM. Now WTAM..... Dave, I guess I'm in a minority, but I am sorry that the experiment of Washington Post Radio is ending so soon. A bit of tweaking and some time to build listenership, and I think it could have been a first rate operation. I'm glad that Bonneville had least had the sense to continue the morning program with David Burd and Jessica Doyle. I agree that with the exception of a few Post reporters, most were better to read than to listen to. I also found that the reports were limited to information that I had already read or would read, without any further depth. I applaud Bonneville for at least trying to bring a fresh approach in partnering with the Washington Post. While I might agree with some of the views of Stephanie Miller, from the times I've listened to her program, I'm not a fan. I'd also rather hear something other than Glenn Beck and O'Reilly who already get enough air play. Why not try something different mid-day M-F. Wonder if Jim Bohannan will flip back to WTOP? Congrats Dave on your scoop. Perhaps Mr. Paul will acknowledge you some day. (8/28/07) Hey Dave - In order for Fahri, or anybody else to credit dcrtv for a story, they have to have read it first. So what makes you think that Fahri or the Reliable Sourcettes or anybody else at WaPo reads dcrtv? Sure your site can be informative at times, but it's hardly daily required reading. Perhaps you're just a little too full of yourself? (8/28/07) Dave's response: Oh, they read DCRTV. Trust me. They read DCRTV..... I am surprised that 820am would be allowed to broadcast Glen Beck when it is on 930am at the same time. I thought that typically syndication rights had non-compete clauses for the same area. This would be solved if 930 switched to Sean Hannity like most similar stations have. J in Frederick (8/28/07) Dave's response: Good point. The new 3WT will have to get clearance in the Frederick market for any of the national talkers it airs. Could lead to some conflicts with Frederick talker WFMD..... Post Radio Pulled. Why? Posted by Matthew Felling www.cbsnews.com (8/28/07) (Dave's response: Since Bonneville recently flipped Frederick's 103.9 FM to a relay of all-news WTOP, I assume that the 820 AM Frederick signal will continue to relay the post Washington Post Radio talker.....) yes (8/28/07) Did anyone else notice last night that Tracey Neale had a couple of different people filling in for her on last night's newscasts on Channel 9? Jennifer Ryan filled in for her at 5 and Lesli Foster did the 6 and 11 shows. Also, another interesting thing I noticed is that Jennifer Ryan also joined Derek McGinity as a co-anchor on the 7:00 newscast. Derek has always been the solo anchor of that show, so maybe they're making some changes. Hmm... (8/28/07) Dave's response: Tracey is taking a few weeks off to go to Africa to adopt two children..... And the poster said "It was an effort to in some way make the Washington Post once again reputable." BAH ! by dragging down high quality broadcast journalism? Putting a bunch of hack writers on the radio ? NO wonder no one reads newspapers anymore. You want the news, turn on the TV like the rest of us. Geez don't they teach this in school? (8/28/07) Hey George! Now that you're back..Do you think we like those Skin's highlights in slow motion with dubbed-in crowd noise? No...we do not. Do you think we like those Nascar highlights in slow motion with dubbed-in engine sounds and crowd noise? No we do not. We would like to see a exclusive Redskins segment without Nascar. Isn't there enough going on with the Redskins that we can drop the Nascar segment? Let Joe Gibbs talk about football, not Nascar. Regards Biff (8/28/07) Hahaha...Forget Imus, forget Greaseman, forget anything you hear on WOL. When the pressure is on, the PRESSURE is ON!! Take a look at this device; this is the "blaxx" - an MP3 player from the i.Beat company. On the company website, it's called simply "blaxx." Three days ago, that was not so. It carried the full name of "i.Beat blaxx" (say it out loud to yourself). Quite an inflammatory name, you might well assume. From the looks of things, the company quietly changed the name before things got ugly. (8/28/07) Washington Post's double standard??? From Fox News: A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed "too controversial" to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists. The Washington Post and several other newspapers around the country did not run Sunday's installment of Berkeley Breathed's "Opus," in which the spiritual fad-seeking character Lola Granola appears in a headscarf and explains to her boyfriend, Steve, why she wants to become a radical Islamist. More at: www.foxnews.com (8/28/07) Experience has shown that channels 2-6 are a poor place for DTV. Too much very long distance interference, worse multipath, etc, etc. Channels 7-13 are good places. An owner I know can hardly wait for the day when he is able to turn off his analog UHF and operate only his high VHF DTV channel. The electric power bill will be __SO__ much smaller. He was one of the lucky ones. (8/28/07) The physical channel numbers may change, but the logical/marketing channel numbers can stay the same. The digital stream can contain the old analog channel number and the TV set can learn the mapping of old to new to old. (It is one-to-one and onto.) The set will allow you to detent your tuner into Channel 4 and you will receive Channel 48, WRC-DT. There. That settles that. One assumes the FCC has plans to raffle off the VHF TV band to whatever money-grubbing cellular telephone, text-messaging, voice mail, live Sports!, latest Movies!, Internet!, news feed service wants it. (I cannot envision myself watching a widescreen/stereosound movie on a tiny, tiny screen.) (8/28/07) Dave's response: In the short term, local TV stations will continue to use their channel "dial" numbers, which they've been marketing for decades. It'll still be NBC4 or Fox5 even if they're only available on UHF numbers. Except on Comcast/Montgomery County, you'll still find NBC4 on cable channel 4, and Fox5 on cable channel 5 - even after the digital switch. But, gradually, the channel numbers will become irrelevent and probably will get dropped. Eventually we'll have NBC-Washington or Fox-DC..... Kind of ironic that the U. of Maryland left WBAL because Terrapin football games were always being pushed into tape-delay by the Orioles...and now it's the Orioles who are getting moved. Debbie Yow is happy, Cuban Pete is not. (BTW, I think the Wednesday games are being moved in order to air Ralph Friedgen's show on WHFS; this fall, they should also air on WJFK, a reason Maryland left WMAL, where the show wasn't carried.) -- Vincent in Triangle (8/28/07) Was there ever any explanation as to Craig's departure from DC101? And, what? Barbara Harrison is black? (8/28/07) Dave's response: And what about Will Thomas? Is he or isn't he..... Happy Birthday Rusty Gibson! "To Know Him Is To Love him" In describing Rusty, Dave left out one adjective, PASSION. Rusty has it, the main ingredient missing from a lot of radio programming today. Enjoy the cake Rusty and may you get every wish that you make before you blow out the candles. All the best, Johnny Dark (8/28/07) Unsigned suit here to answer the question further down the board about “Why no Channel 17, 18, 19 digital channels allowed in this area for instance?” The reason is, years ago (The 1970’s, if memory serves…) the Frequently Confused Commission assigned the frequencies within those channels to the Land Mobile Service. They’re also known as the so-called “UHF-T” channels on scanners. In the D.C, area, those three channels are reserved for Land Mobile. Other channels are used in different areas. As for the “digital conversion”, I’m on record in my professional world as predicting that such a political tsunami will result from the end of analog TV that its absence (if such occurs at all) will be only for one day. Analog TV will return a day later either by emergency legislation,! Executive Order (from whomever is President), or by court order. What I find galling is that basic propagation theory is being ignored by so many TV stations in choosing a digital channel. RF at any given frequency or passband of frequencies is nothing more than a pipe. It doesn’t care what is being shoved down it. Be it analog or digital, a signal is going to travel farther at 54 MHz that at 540 MHz. With digital TV, what you need to look at are the adjacent channel separations which are going to throw the current allocations somewhat askew. But, you have to give the FCC credit for originally allocating a DTV in Detroit on channel 9 (ignoring the CBC station south of the border in Windsor), quite a few DTV’s on channel 37 (ignoring the international allocation of that bandwidth to radio astronomy), and other fiascos! (8/28/07) Dave, the first moved Orioles game is Wednesday, not tonight. (8/28/07) DCRTV Dave: Never in my life have I been so deeply moved by the kind words that you expressed. My only response is that the feeling is mutual. Not only to you, but to the "Mailbaggers" whom I've "met" through these last few years. Thank you again for your kind wishes. Along with the Guests that appeared on my show. Thanks again. Rusty Gibson (8/28/07) Ok maybe I am misreading the article but what are they going to do with 820AM? Hopefully return the all-news format to it so someone can hear it. (8/28/07) Dave's response: Since Bonneville recently flipped Frederick's 103.9 FM to a relay of all-news WTOP, I assume that the 820 AM Frederick signal will continue to relay the post Washington Post Radio talker..... Dave, looking at the dates of the O's games being shifted to JACK-FM listed by Roch Kubatko, I have a feeling Sept. 1, 8, 13, 22, and 29 have something to do with Terps football games, which are also broadcast on HFS. I'm not sure why tonight's game as well as the O's games on Sept. 5, 2, 19, and 26 are being shifted, unless it has something to do with HFS' simulcast of the new Ravens programming on ESPN1300AM? -Greg in Perry Hall (8/28/07) I had the opportunity to selectively listen to the now defunct WAPO debacle. Really, did anyone think it would survive? I don't condone all the flap about the who's going to lose jobs, and how happy some of you are that it bombed. But, at least someone had the balls to roll the dice and try for something new/OLD....It was an effort to in some way make the Washington Post once again reputable.. Cest la vie..........BOBB (8/28/07) Just my guess but the moving of some Orioles games off WHFS may be a conflict issue with the Maryland Terrapins. Everett W. (8/28/07) Dave, what the deal? I was reading Carol Joynt's post in the mailbag concerning her musings about WTWP and other things and about half way through got redirected to some site with a survey about politics and the media. And I will add it is not a particularly good questionnaire looking at the possible responses to some of the questions. (8/28/07) How does one get hold of Jim Farley? (8/28/07) Dave's response: Grab him by the ankles, turn him upside down, and shake..... Dave, with all the commentary and finger-pointing about the failure of Washington Post Radio, who do you think should take the fall? Management at the Post? Management at Bonneville? Both? Millions of dollars have been lost. Of course, the staff of Post Radio may lose their jobs – but they’re merely passengers on the Titanic. They didn’t build or steer it into the iceberg. (8/28/07) What makes Bonneville look even worse is the fact that Farley went to Seattle while all this was going on and wasn't available for comment in the Post article. What a pu**y! (8/28/07) God, would I love to go "Dumpster Diving" when NBC4 and FOX5 have to throw out all their analog ID stuff! Anybody got a mic flag they want to sell me? Al McGilvray (8/28/07) OMG! Now THIS...is rich!! re: Paul Farhi's article. "But The Post was concerned about being associated with the kind of one-sided and inflammatory rhetoric that often distinguishes successful syndicated talk hosts." the very kind that they...oh nevermind, what's the point. POT/KETTLE/BLACK!! lol (8/28/07) Hey Dave: Check out Roch Kubatko’s note in his Orioles blog: weblogs.baltimoresun.com... “Ten Orioles games, beginning with tonight's, will be broadcast on 102.7 JACK-FM instead of WHFS 105.7.” That’s interesting. And while 102.7 has a much better coverage area, I don’t think I’m the only one that would rather have the Birds back on AM radio and ‘BAL. Nick from Rockville and Boston (8/28/07) RE: [ " Dave's response: I wondered that, too. Why call it NBC4 when it's no longer on 4? However, when the dust settles with the digital TV transition in 2009, Channels 7, 9, 11, and 13 will air their digital signals on their original VHF frequencies. But not Channels 2, 4, and 5, which will all be on UHF only " ]....... Yeah, once again Baltimore's WMAR 2 the BIG loser! What a big surprise. WRC 4 has " 4 8 ", FOX5 has " 3 5 " (yeah, that's for WDCA right now, but just wait and see, believe me they chose adjacent signals for a reason, DUH!). Many of the other channels will be the same. And poor little ol' WMAR 2, MARYLAND'S PIONEER TV STATION is stuck with the digital channel that CBS's WJZ 13 just did NOT WANT! HAha! And what's worse is WJZ gets to use channel 38 for the time being, meaning WMAR cannot market it's digital channel number AT ALL for the NEXT YEAR until right up until the change! I have to admit, the more I read I STILL don't understand the FCC's methodology on the digital TV conversion. There is TONS of free space on the dial. Why no Channel 17, 18, 19 digital channels allowed in this area for instance? (8/28/07) Hi Dave, This is my first time writing to you. I've just discovered your website. I wanted to write about WUSA 9's coverage of the Redskins game Saturday night. It was a great way to fill the time instead of going back to the CBS network. Our family really enjoyed the interviews and the weather updates from Howard. What really enhanced the experience was their website. My son reads the blogs on www.wusa9.com... The director of the coverage has a blog there called, the director's chair. In the blog, the director gave a "behind the scenes" look at what went into going all that special coverage. You ought to check it out! Regards, Hal, Washington DC (8/28/07) Dave's response: I do check out wusa9.com all the time. I like their weather radar and do enjoy the blogs of Bruce Johnson and Derek McGinty..... Fisher sure has it right when he wrote -- "one of the most powerful and storied spots on Washington's radio dial, the former home of all-news WTOP." Why they moved to a pissweak little FM frequency is beyond me. (8/28/07) Dave's response: It's a shame Bonneville is selling 104.1 to Radio One. They should put WTOP back on 1500 along with 103.5/103.9. And then do the "new" talker on 107.7, 104.1, and 820..... From Carol Joynt's "Swimming In Quicksand" blog at nathansgeorgetown.com: TUESDAY, AUGUST 28 ... Ran into my friend RENEE T this morning on the early dog walk, and she told me that at least a few times a year she fasts for a week. I'm impressed. I've done one day and it's hard work, but not so bad this morning as last night. My breakfast was watermelon and canteloupe run through the juicer, rinds and all, plus herbal tea and berry anti-oxidant. The news this morning - apart from more gay republicans caught being bad in bathrooms - is that Washington Post Radio is officially dead. This confirms a report that DAVE HUGHES broke on his DCRTV.com last week. There will still be programs broadcast on 1500 AM and 107.7 FM, but there will be no affiliation with the WaPo. Probably for the best. That experiment did not work. Everyone tried, but it failed. This is not the first time a print to broadcast effort went toes up. Years ago USA Today tried to make a TV show out of their newspaper, in partnership with GRANT TINKER. The Today Show's wizard STEVE FRIEDMAN was brought in as executive producer. Steve hired me away from CBS News to be Washington bureau chief. I was one of a merry band of broadcast news executives and producers Steve and Grant pulled together and who thought we could put on an innovative syndicated news broadcast. USA Today the TV show failed, but not for lack of effort on our parts. We were perhaps too ambitious in trying to re-invent the wheel, but the bigger problem was the interference from USA Today, the newspaper. Too many of their staff were in the mix, and it probably had to be that way, but they did not understand television. They did not grasp the fundamental truth that what works in print does not often work on the air. And AL NEUHARTH, up in his penthouse office, and a success at crafting print hits out of a rigid formula, was not tuned into the more fluid nature of television production. It was all a bust. An interesting bust, but a bust, and I've never been more overpaid. I will say this about our show, though. Almost all our technical innovations now are standard with most network and syndicated news/talk shows. So, we had a legacy. I was very lightly involved with WaPo radio, in that they occasionally had me on as a guest. I was more involved as a listener. I sensed all the same problems we experienced at the USA Today effort. Moreover, they were putting the Washington Post reporters on the air (something we rarely did at USA Today TV), and while they may be able to write lively sentences in the paper, very few were able to convey any personality on the air. It was just plain dull. What worries me, though, is that rather than try to create something out of the ashes that is a smart and interesting indigenous radio format - local voices about the local area - Bonneville, who own 1500 AM/107.7 FM, wil resort to a lot of the canned junk radio that already pollute much of American terrestrial radio. You know, like GLENN BECK and PHIL HENDRIE. It may not be the alien garbage that's on WMAL in the middle of the night, but still pretty awful. Hughes reports, though, that DAVID BURD will still have a slot. He may not be everyone's cup of morning java, but at least he's local, he talks local, he's informed, and he has a unique and interesting personality that's just quirky enough, just abrasive enough, to be compelling. (8/28/07) I have a stupid question... What will happen to channel identification when all the analog TV broadcasts cease? Will NBC4 become NBC48? Or will the attractiveness of a low channel number make them continue with a meaningless (yet digitally achievable) brand? Will My20 become My35 (assuming MNT lasts that long)? Only 17.5 months to go! (8/28/07) Dave's response: I wondered that, too. Why call it NBC4 when it's no longer on 4? However, when the dust settles with the digital TV transition in 2009, Channels 7, 9, 11, and 13 will air their digital signals on their original VHF frequencies. But not Channels 2, 4, and 5, which will all be on UHF only..... I have met so many cool radio and TV people over the many years of doing DCRTV. And one of the best friends I've made is Rusty Gibson (right). Rusty, who almost died in 2000 after suffering a major stroke, is still around and going strong seven years later to celebrate his 50th birthday today. Even though he's on disability from his banking career, he still makes the weekly trek to the studios of Fairfax Public Access's internet/cable TV radio station WEBR to do his "Magical History Tour" rock, pop, and soul oldies show. Now Sundays at noon. In Rusty, there shines the strong spirit of what radio was supposed to be - a way to express one's personal love of music and communication. Happy birthday brother Rusty! May there be many many more years for you to spin the platters! - DCRTV Dave (8/28/07) From now on you should type "ø" instead of "o" when you type "FishBøwlDC" on your website. It will cut down on their traffic via Google via DCRTV hits about news they MISSED! And from now on, just never type the phrase Washington Post. I wouldn't even put "The Post" on your website. Do the same "ø" thing or, I do like "WaPo" which you've been using, it rhymes with Alpo and will make people appropriately think of tainted Chinese dog food which is still an excellent source of fiber by the way. :-) PS: I'd be happy to post DCRTV anonymously a hundred or so times on their websites to increase traffic here at DCRTV, but I'm afraid The Post might regard you as a terrorist Dave, with that beard and all, so I won't do that. Congrats on the scoop! :-) (8/28/07) Dave's response: Or we could add an "e" and start calling it "FishbowelDC"..... If a Washington Post Radio Station broadcasts and no one listens, is it really on the air? Maybe Jessica Doyle will head back to TV and do the 5:57am "Business Report" on NBC-4. (8/28/07) I just heard Shari Elliker (SP?) on WBAL. I guess she's filling in for the departed Chip Franklin. Quite a long day with Broad Minded coming up later this afternoon/evening on XM. (8/28/07) Dave's response: "The departed Chip Franklin"? RIP buddy..... Related to my mailbag message from yesterday. I liked it better when "The Today Show" was on for 2 hours. I settled for 3 hours. As for 4 hours... I don't know. NBC has decided to dump the low-rated soap "Passions", in favor of the new 4th hour of the highly profitible morning program. Personally, I'd much rather see NBC debuting a new soap in the soon-to-be old "Passions" time-slot... it perhaps be a much awaited spin-off of the recently cancelled "Another World". With NBC decision to dump "Passions"... I hope this will send a strong message to other low-rated soaps, like "Days Of Our Lives", "As The World Turns", and "The Guiding Light"... for those soaps to get their act together, before its too late. Just my thoughts. Thanks, Eric (8/28/07) Love that Marc Fisher article... "[WaPo radio] was a radio station bubbling with possibilities. Not that many listeners cared to explore those possibilities." WRONG! The listeners don't get to explore possibilities. They only get what they're fed. It's up to the broadcasters to explore the possibilities. Don't try to pin the blame for the failure of the station on the people who had no control over it whatsoever. Wasn't it one of Katie Couric's handlers who tried the same tactic--it's the audience's fault the show is failing? Isn't it interesting that the failures blame their failure on the people they're supposed to be serving? Can you say, "ivory tower"? (I knew you could.) Fisher goes on to talk about the lack of respect between Bonneville and the Post. Here's my prediction: if someone in commercial broadcasting can manage to hit on the idea of respecting the audience, they'll be a success. ~~CA in BC (8/28/07) I just got to my computer and your site. Congratulations on the scoop. It was yours and only yours, no matter what is reported in the Post or elsewhere. (8/28/07) Dave's response: I loved reading FishbowlDC and how they bragged about being the first to link to Paul Farhi's article at about 11 PM yesterday. But no mention of how DCRTV broke the story 10 days ago..... I doubt Kornheiser will return. I know nothing, but your loyalty angle rings true and he can craft his own opportunity. (8/28/07) Dave's response: Originally, Kornheiser was going to return to SportsTalk 980 until the last minute, when he got a late night call from either Len Downie or Ben Bradlee begging him to go WaPo Radio to show his loyalty to the paper that's employed him for several decades. Without the WaPo name on the station, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kornheiser go back to WTEM - or elsewhere. If I was CBS's Michael Hughes, I'd make a pitch to Kornheiser about transforming the soon to be vacant Don and Mike studios on Hubbard Drive in Rockville (not too long of a commute for Tony) to the Tony Kornheiser studios and put him on WJFK-FM..... THIS JUST IN.... Paul Farhi to start Media Gossip column strictly for the terminally ill.... (no repercussions). :-) (8/28/07) How does the Post publish an article on the demise of the radio station with out the staff being informed first? Why isn’t the GM quoted in the article? Were they not partners? Aren’t they both news properties who are used to this sort of thing? Doesn’t this gaffe lead one to think that there is great animosity between Bonneville and the Washington Post? Sounds like an ugly divorce to me! (8/28/07) Dave's response: I've been hearing off-the-record complaints from top Bonnevillers about Posties for about six months or so. Apart from Kornheiser and a handful of others, Bonnevillers seemed to feel that many Posties just weren't right for the radio. Bonnevillers absolutely hated the half-assed Post-produced website for the radio station, along with the print promotions for the station. I mean, how can you do a news talk major market radio station in this day and age WITHOUT a kick-ass interactive website. Amazing screw-up by the Post..... I win! I win! 18 months in the WaPoRad pool! That'll make up for the loss I took on the Tantum Toss at 12 months. (8/28/07) Dave's response: I knew something was "up" about a month or so ago when the Post stopped actively promoting WaPo Radio in those odd print ads, you know the one with that lonely barefoot woman who looked like she was going to jump over a wall into a woods (right). Wow..... Interestingly, the article in WaPo on WTWP's demise didn't list any center to left prospective hosts despite Dave's original scoop. Until proven wrong, I'll just assume it's going to be the usual extremist stuff and remove the station from my presets. Howie (8/28/07) Dave's response: I'm hearing that at least one lefty, Stephanie Miller, could be in the mix of post WaPo Radio. I don't know how successful a continuation of talk on 107.7, 820, and 1500 will be. There's already a lot of talk on the DC radio dial - and there will be even more when Minnesota Public Radio buys WGTS and flips it to become DC's second major public radio talker..... Remember when the Bonneville staff boasted about Z104. Didn’t they say that acquiring the Nats and changing the signal to mono were brilliant moves that would improve the station? Didn’t they say that the WTOP managers are in charge and they would save the day? Well, the ratings tanked and 104 went out of business. Remember when the Bonneville staff bragged about the ratings on WGMS? All they had to do was cross promote the classical format on WTOP and they would achieve success. Didn’t they say that the WTOP managers are in charge now and they would save the day? Well, the revenue tanked and then the ratings tanked when they switched frequencies and after 40 years the station was out of business. Remember when the Bonneville staff shouted to the world about the inevitable success the Post radio station would achieve? After all, it had to be a success because the WTOP managers would be in charge! Today, Post radio is dead, and you can bet the Bonneville staff will be predicting a huge success for the new talk format. Why? Because the WTOP managers are in charge. (8/28/07) So just what did the "geniuses" at Bonneville accomplish by killing WGMS to make room for Washington Post Radio? Bonneville made a large, often influential, loyal following very unhappy and Bonneville reduced the number of their listeners and lowered their ratings. As I told Mr. Farley a couple of times, the whole episode has certainly lowered my opinion of Bonneville, which I formerly thought had smarter and classier management than most of the competition. Diane in PG (8/28/07) Wasn't "Collapsing The Venture" the name of a pretty good D.C. new wave act back in the '80's?.....any chance that Mr. Farley might call one of the old WaPo stations "The Orb" and play Middle Ages Monk music?......does anyone know if the old antennas in toothless fairfax city next to the American Legion hall are still being used....drove by other night and none of the warning lights were on (8/28/07) RE: "four fucking hours of the "Today" show" Might make it more worth watching.... :-D -djmr (8/28/07) Anybody notice The Post story about WaPo Radio got the frequencies wrong for WTWP and WTOP? Also, I suspect they are not "going off the air" as Farhi said. Simply changing call letters and some hosts. (8/28/07) Dave's response: Ha ha ha. Yes, Farhi wrote: "In addition to WTWP, the Salt Lake City-based Bonneville owns all-news WTOP (820 AM and 103.5 FM) in Washington and WFED (1050 AM), which broadcasts news about the federal government." If Farhi had bothered to check, he'd have found that 820 is Washington Post Radio. WTOP is on 103.5 and 103.9. I guess he used the Post's inaccurate Style section radio listings for that info. Farhi needs to doublecheck his facts. Farhi's recent Donnie Simpson piece had a few factual errors, too, as I reported in a recent Rant..... Dave: I don't know if this helps or not, but I was at Washingtonpost.com, and in one of the smaller headline stories (the smallest headlines they offer under "more headlines"), it said something to the effect of "WP to close Washington Post Radio". I did a double take, refreshed the page before clicking and it was gone. I know that sounds kind of sketchy, but that's what I saw. I think they might be preparing to announce something today, and they're getting the HTML ready. I went to the view source and I found this in the HTML code: Raw Fisher: Why Washington Post Radio Died.... I've never written you, so I have no reason to make this up. I hope this tip helps. Thanks (8/28/07) Washington Post Radio: 2006--2007 ''Sometimes there just ISN'T more to the story...'' -Alyx (8/28/07) Re: The Demise of Washington Post Radio: ComeonDave....take the credit for getting the info out there 1st! Larry in Leonardtown (8/28/07) Dave's response: Ha ha ha. I guess it would have simply been too humiliating for Paul Farhi to admit in print that this little ole' one-man website scooped his own newspaper by more than a week on the demise of his own newspaper's radio station. I'd be glad to help Tony Kornheiser round up a few squirrels..... "It would be great to have WTWP go all sports...WTEM has a horrible line up...and you can't hear Red Zebra...BUT...it isn't realistic to pull it off without an ESPN or Fox Sports as a partner." Not necessarily. Sporting News Radio has some pretty good programming, including Tony Bruno, who has one of the best sports shows on radio. That would be a good national affiliate. It's a shame XM cut most of SNR's programming. Maybe give the well-respected Frank Herzog his own local show. And where has Jess Atkinson been? Hey, he wasn't that great of a sports achor, but he may be a good candidate for a local show. (8/28/07) hey Dave! Mark Stevens here , of the ill fated Stevens and Medley show on the old WARW. I am sitting here in Vandalia ,Illinois...at a Days Inn persusing DCRTV, and I snickered out loud when i saw your response to a post, saying you wouldn't be surprised to hear us back on the WARW again ...that was great! DON"T WORRY citizens of the DC area..we won't be coming back...I am on my way back to the home state of Colorado. I know a lot of you had "issues" with us on the air (to put it mildly:))...but I have to say that during my bried 2 month nightime career I did get a chance to talk with a LOT of you who actually did listen and enjoyed the show. Hey, it was a tough market and we gave it a shot and had some fun more times than not..and met a lot of great 94.7 listeners along the way ,plus had the chance to work with true DC ICONS Cerphe and Weasel..who could not have been nicer to us...and hey, I got a chance to work in the old GREASEMAN studio..come on! I honestly wish the GLOBE and all there the best--the potential to be a great radio station is there and given the proper time and committment to develop it--I know they will make it! and Dave, you run a great site here..keep up the good work! take care,.....Mark Stevens (8/28/07) Whatever happened to the former NBC 4 consumer reporter Lea Thompson? I know that after leaving channel 4, she went to New York to work for the NBC network, but I haven't seen her do any reports for them in years..Anyone else seen her? (8/28/07) I agree that Great Scott needs to fix OC 104 and JOE FM. When I first found JOE, it was refreshing. The station sort of reminded me of the old Jane, which GS trashed, never marketed. Now, JOE FM is stale with the same imaging and music that it had a year ago. It has no edge. Someone told me that the same guy who was fired from the Beach morning show also ran Joe fm. I tell ya, Eastern Shore radio is the greatest advertisement for Sirius or XM! (8/28/07) Incorrect. WMZQ has indeed had a fire. That would be the AM some time ago. In addition to that, the following WDC area stations have had transmitter fires...WPGC-AM AND FM, WGMS-FM, WAMU-FM, WPFW-FM. There might be others I have forgotten. And there was the World Bldg fire. (8/28/07) Cheryl Conner to B'more (8/28/07) /\ August 28 Messages /\ \/ August 27 Messages \/ Dave-If I hear you say "WMZQ transmitter fire" one more time I am going to explode. I checked your archives to be sure, and the May 10th posting has the pic of a burned up GENERATOR. It was just a generator people, relax. AFAIK, there has never been a TRANSMITTER fire at WMZQ, or any other station in the DC area. With your sensationalistic reporting, I'm beginning to wonder if you work for the Post. :-) Bob/Arlington (8/27/07) Dave's response: Gee, I thought that flames were shooting for several hundred feet off the top of the transmitter tower. One hell of a big marshmellow roast..... 2 weeks from today, we'll be seeing 4 hours of The Today Show. A move that affects local NBC affiliates... WBAL 11 and NBC 4. I don't know about any of you. For Baltimore's WBAL 11... I'm guessing the syndicated "Live with Regis and Kelly" will likely be moving to 11 a.m., or be dumped from WBAL's daytime line-up completely. For Washington's NBC 4... I'm guessing NBC will more than likely be dumping the local 10 a.m. newscast completely. Just my thoughts. Thanks, Eric (8/27/07) Dave's response: We've already reported that Channel 4 will be moving their 10 AM newscast to 11 AM and to go head-to-head with Channel 5's new 11 AM newscast. Personally, you'd have to hog-tie and gag me in front of the TV set to get me to watch four fucking hours of the "Today" show..... Re; "The Zombie Cheerleader" Nicole Brooks and the host Jerry Moore are in the middle of some kind of disagreement. If it ever gets resolved you can expect her back on the "Madhouse" show. Rumor has it she was at the studio during Friday nights live show but did not go on camera. As of the last show three people were credited as producers. Jerry Moore II, C.W. Prather and Greg Gutierrez. Perhaps one of them can provide more info. (8/27/07) The newspaper guy who was hosting Walker's show on WTEM this morning was Thom Loverrero of the Washington TImes. Loverrero is the best guest they have on Pollin and Czaban's Sports Reporters. He's funny and knows alot. He's not used to being the main host, but he was surely no worse that Walker is every single day. (8/27/07) Perhaps Ron Smith should change his moniker to the "Voice Of Treason"! (8/27/07) Hello - As you can see from the attachments, we are trying to outreach to all resources for this event. I noted that DCRTV lists the various radio stations in the Maryland/DC region. Could you direct me to where and how we would go about requesting a gospel station to come out to this event and sponsor a remote? This would put more emphasis on this cause to the community and would therefore reach many more people via the station advertising this event prior to their giving the remote on the date. If you could assist me in locating a station that would willingly sponsor this remote, we would appreciate it. Thank you in advance, Deborah (8/27/07) Dave's response: In the Washington area, stations wilth gospel formats include the new WPRS, Praise 104.1, which is operated by Radio One, and WPGC-AM, Heaven 1580, which is owned by CBS. Both stations have studios and offices in Lanham. In Baltimore, you could try Clear Channel's WCAO, Heaven 600..... (DCRTV Dave writes: When Schelby passes away, will she go to Classic Rock Radio Heaven or Alternative Rock Radio Heaven?) I am guessing twinkie or ho-ho heaven... (8/27/07) Damn! I was hoping that Don and Mike would be on their Labor Day vacation this week, but they were on live. Can you imagine my disappointment? (8/27/07) Not sure if you caught wind that Angela Stevens, PM Drive host on WGTS 91.9 (formerly traffic reporter for Clear Channel's DC cluster) was featured on CNN's "American Morning" on Friday August 24th. It's about "Angela's Advisory Board" which she created mostly to poke fun at all the red tape, beaurocrats and such inside the Beltway. It's a group of people that help Angela make day-to-day decisions. She has a fashion advisor, a Vice President for Cheesecake Relations, etc. You get the idea. She even has her own website: www.angelasadvisoryboard.com. Somehow CNN caught wind of it and did a feature on her. Here's the link to the video: wgts.org... (8/27/07) Dear Jazz Fans: September is jazz festival time in many places including DC, Chicago and New York. You can find out more about these events and what's happening on the show over the next two weeks by clicking at jazzradiodc.com... Thanks, Carl David (8/27/07) For the guy who wants Jim Farley to see what he can do about putting news back on 1500 for reception well outside the area rated by Arbitron. Let Jim stick to what he does best, and does very well. Since the improvement to your reception would not be shown in Arbiton nor national sales, see what YOU can do about having the local chambers of commerce out there purchase the advertising time necessary to make that happen. Those would of course be DC rates you would be paying. The cost differential between a 50kW transmitter as tenant FM and a 50kW station owns the land AM is about $75,000 per month when your transmitter is in Mont. Co. So you want Bonneville to spend @ $1 MIL additional per year to provide you a signal that they have little expectation of recovering the costs of? Can you pay that?? Having news on AM did nothing for them in the area rated by Arbitron, that's why it moved to FM. The increasing problems realized in buidling penetration and ambient noise level made AM hard to receive and hard to sell even inside the Beltway. BTW, how well does your local chamber of commerce support the local stations there? Maybe that is why you don't have news. (8/27/07) Congrats to my former colleague Don Ayres on the big jump to San Diego. Well deserved, sir! Miles Needer, a recovering WBAL Radio producer. (8/27/07) Hey Dave: Don't write off Lloyd Grove, and I doubt he is 'poor' as you intimate. Portfolio.com (where Grove's columns are now appearing) is part of the Conde Nast online empire. They are doing some pretty impressive things online and seem to be one of, if not the most aggressive 'print' companies in the online biz. They are certainly more avant-garde than the staid Washington Post/Newsweek corporation. Whether they turn their investment into profit-making and audience grabbing remains to be seen, but they are definitely an entity to watch. Jeff (8/27/07) Today was Murph's first day back at WZBH 93.5 The Beach on Delmarva. He sounded great! It was like having an old friend back on the air. In some ways it feels normal on Delmarva again. There finally is something decent to listen to in the morning again. And the station sounds a little better too in terms of music. Great Scott definitely did the right thing with bringing back Murph. Now they need to fix OC-104 and JOE-FM. (8/27/07) Perhaps, just perhaps, Chip Franklin is a classy enough guy to negotiate his producer a significantly higher amount than a 37.4% increase. Besides, I'll wager that more WBAL producers live in Pennsylvania than live in "Baltimore". Hell--even Ron Smith bailed out of Maryland years ago. (8/27/07) I’d guess that the person who was speculating about Chip Franklin’s producer who is also moving to San Diego from Baltimore and what a poor financial move it might be because of the difference in cost-of-living has never visited San Diego. Costly – YES (though not that much more than DC). A much, much nicer place than Baltimore or DC – YES!! (8/27/07) Angela Stevens from Christian AC, WGTS/Washington, DC was interviewed live on CNN's American Morning this past Friday. The show's anchors, Kiran Chetry and Rick Sanchez, were interested in finding out more about Angela's Advisory Board, a volunteer group of listeners who help Stevens make decisions in different areas of her life. Loosely based on the online Listener Advisory Board concept, Stevens joked that "if the station can have an Advisory Board to help with programming, I ought to be able to have one to help me with my life." During the interview, Stevens mentioned that "WGTS is a faith-based radio station, and we like to have a lot of fun-and part of working at a Christian radio station is bringing in parts of your life, and elements that are really open and real and honest." Angela develops friendships with her listeners both on-air, as well as at her website, AngelasAdvisoryBoard.com. In addition to afternoons, Stevens is WGTS Promotions Director. She is currently pursuing other opportunities due to WGTS's parent organization electing to enter negotiations to sell its radio broadcast license. (8/27/07) Some poaching and burning at CNBC bigheaddc.com (8/27/07) Just For Kicks would be a great tagline for an all-soccer station, not much use though for a sports/guys station in general. FYI, it was little noticed at the time but WJFK-FM dropped NASCAR this year. Local NASCAR radio listeners have to subscribe to XM or strain to pick up 93.3 out of Fredericksburg. (8/27/07) Speaking of "Therefore...I shall resign" - And if the O's keep on losing like this, Dave Trembling will be the next to quit. Unbelievable, ain't it? Shortest honeymoon period of any manager in Major League history. KOF (8/27/07) With the rumored demise of Washington Post radio, hopefully Bonneville would consider putting all news back on 1500 AM where it belongs. Here on the eastern shore, it is hard to find any all news stations during the day. With 1500, you can get them all over the shore, all the time. If i want all news now, I either have to listen to KYW/Philly or WCBS/NYC both hard to get on even a car radio during. Jim Farley, see what you can do about putting all news back on 1500 Am. Burt/Denton, MD (8/27/07) Just an fyi, i think FishbowlDC says Lloyd Grove is now writing for Portfolio (the magazine that Matt Cooper went to) not Politico.com, as DCRTV is reporting. (8/27/07) Dave's response: Sorry, I had some glop in my eye this morning. "Portfolio" looked a lot like "Politico"..... I agree with an earlier opinion that the Wash Post Sports page 'sucks'. Aside from some columnist, it has been dreadful for many years and held hostage by the button down numbnut Redskin corporates. It is a community cheat that local and olympic sports on all levels are almost ignored. The age old deceptive lie is that they cover what their readers value. My ass. They cover what symbiotically pay$. Other big northeast papers- philly and beantown- have popular pro teams and still manage to push aside some of the tire ads to include high school and olympic events. Similar to language, if it is muted then it won't be taught and eventually strangled by ignorance. I know this more a radio/TV forum, but laziness and parochial indifference are symptoms that spread with the disease of media consolidation and monopoly regardless of the technology. (8/27/07) RE: “Chip Franklin's producer at WBAL radio, will join Franklin at KOGO in San Diego with "a huge boost in pay." Unfortunately, according to Salary.com, the cost of living in San Diego is 37.4% higher than in Baltimore. Not likely that a declining industry like radio would offer anyone a bump like that. Even if it WAS that much, it means you’re on the same level as you were in Baltimore. It looks like Chip’s producer is looking at a declining standard of living. Be careful when moving between markets when you’re working in a declining industry. Full of financial hazards. (8/27/07) come on 980, this morning's doc walker show was amatuer hour with some newspaper guy hosting. who makes these decisions as to who hosts? amazing. (8/27/07) Dave's response: Please say it wasn't Paul Farhi..... Dave, Bonneville has finally succeeded where others have not: the FCC has issued a construction permit for WFED 1050 to raise day power to 3.5 kW. That'll put a solid 5 mV/m over most of the Federal government buildings in town. Additionally, WOL has applied for 370 watts from the tower on 1st Street NE that they have been using on a temporary basis at 250 watts. WOL chose that power level so as to not exceed coverage provided by the old roof-top antenna. Regards, Dave Loudin (8/27/07) I couldn't care less what language the new Maryland Public TV sub-channel speaks. I'm just sad to see it replacing programming I used to watch. Fine enough, I'll just stop pledging since I won't be watching much anymore. Now I find out I am paying for it out of my MD taxes regardless. I guess I'll have to put this as the next item in my "reasons to move to Pennsylvania" list. MPT used to run a high-definition channel as a sub-channel under their main program. Now they run two sub-channels under their main program. One is V-me, the other is a blurry/stretched version of the main program. Uh, why? If I don't like the main program, why would I want an unwatchable version of the same thing? Kanling. (8/27/07) When will jim Williams ever be critical of a local tv/radio station? He never ever ever says a bad thing about anyone !! (8/27/07) Dave's response: Jim's just a really nice guy. Not an arrogant SOB like me..... It is interesting to hear all of the talk about Bonneville, and another Sports format in Washington. WTEM was the first and they were always in the bottom two or three in revenue rankings. Then came the Triple X disaster and they lost over 5 million in year one and another 3 to 4 million in year two. In order to have a successful sports station you need to be a market leader in revenue because the expense is close to a news station, and you don’t see anybody trying to compete against WTOP. This market can barely support one sports format, let alone three. Sports stations are usually developed by frustrated jock sniffers who need too feed their huge egos (see Bennett Zier twice). The lure of the chance to mingle with the athletes and the greedy famous owners causes most men to take leave of there business sense. (8/27/07) Dave's response: I think if you were to mix sports talk with "shock jock" male talk on a solid-signalled FMer in DC, you would do quite well. That's what I think WJFK-FM should do. Bring the Junks back to their Sports Junkies era. Let Don and Mike do their current show, but encourage talk about the Redskins and football. Jim Rome middays is good. Try to get the Nationals and Redskins next season, to add to Maryland sports. Try snagging Tony Kornheiser, too. NASCAR on the weekends. Then re-brand the station: "WJFK 106.7 - Just For Kicks. Sports and whatever the hell we want to talk about. Where guys get their kicks"..... no doubt you caught washington post radio (david/jessica) quoting "new york times.com" on the breaking news that gonzales resigned. (8/27/07) Dave's response: Ha ha ha..... Regarding the "fantastic job" (Examiner)WUSA did in handling the thunderstorm delay at the start of Saturday's Redskins-Ravens game at FedEx Field, it would have been better if Sports Director Brett Haber would have not repeatedly asked Redskins Chris Cooley if he was hesitant about going on the field with the thunder and lightening. Cooley quickly noted that the NFL would not let them on the field with lightening in the area. Also, it was nice to see that WDCA-20 Saturday night airing of "ACC Football Preview" was for the 2006 season,. NOT the upcoming 2007 season. Lastly, why does WDCA feature promotional ads for programs that have already aired? (8/27/07) Dave's response: You know, the evil Rupert Murdoch has "whored out" Channel 20 so badly - via infomercials and the lame MyNetworkTV programming - that nobody watches it any more. It could go off the air and hardly anyone would notice. Oh, I caught 20 running a classic "Star Trek" rerun over the weekend. Shades of 20's greater past, huh..... It is good to hear Andy Parks back. Andy is a class act in the business and the few times I met him he was a true gentleman and professional. Andy, I've had an irregular heartbeat as well and have decided based on your experience to go get checked out. Stay well and may you have many, many more years on-air and off. (8/27/07) I had a chance to listen to the last couple radio broadcasts of the Redskins games with Sonny, Sam and Larry Michael. Sonny is still great. I really enjoy his analysis and commentary. He can tell you what' s going on in the game and why without the "I know everything about football and you don't" attitude that most commentators seem to project. You can tell he still invests time in studying the game and players. Sam on the other hand, although I like him a lot too, has lost a lot off his fastball. He doesn't provide a lot in terms of analysis and commentary and you can obviously tell he doesn't invest the time that Sonny does. He spends a lot of the broadcast teasing and playing off of Sonny. He makes a lot of mistakes that Sonny seems to try and cover for him. It's very entertaining at times. Larry Michael on the other hand, is a pompous prick. What an arrogant gasbag. A lot of the time he ignores and blows Sam off, instead of playing off of him. He tends to freeze Sam out a lot. Sometimes it doesn't even seem like they're in the same booth. I guess this is because he thinks he is Larry Michael the greatest play by play man of all time. He should show the hall of famer a little respect. I guess pretty soon he'll stab Sam in the back and push him out the back of the booth like he did Frank Herzog. (8/27/07) It would be great to have WTWP go all sports...WTEM has a horrible line up...and you can't hear Red Zebra...BUT...it isn't realistic to pull it off without an ESPN or Fox Sports as a partner. Just too much programming and resources that you need to do it correct (and cost effectively). Word is that Bonneville is counting the days until they are out of bed with the Post...but that a pure all sports isn't the direction they will be going. With Tony K. and about 4-5 other big time play by play properties, they will be the next closest thing. (8/27/07) Dave's response: I'm told that WTOP's Bonneville honcho Jim Farley wanted to do sports on 104.1 before the signal flipped to George in January and got off-loaded to Radio One in April. We almost had Score 104..... The new Style/Arts page of the Washingrton Post sucks big time. The consolidation wrecked each of the pieces of which it is made. The Post, if it wanted to save some money, should have killed the Style section on Sundays. What a waste of paper. If the Washington Post needs to look at a good Sunday paper, go to Orlando, Las Vegas, or Philadelphia. If WashPost radio dies soon, can we get the old 107.7 frequency back for WTOP? (8/27/07) Dave's response: I've heard from quite a few people who miss hearing WTOP in Central Virginia on 107.7 and in the Baltimore area on 1500..... Dave: great website. I am from Ocean City and I went there this past weekend and the whole time I was there, I heard only about 20 or 25 songs on WOCQ OC 104. Their playlist is totally redundant. I can remember years ago when the likes of Pat Garrett, Skip McCloskey, Al Thomas, Mary Lou, Dave Allen were there and the playlist was awesome. Definitely Number One back then, definitely not now. Al Thomas was actually Al Lavie, Jr. and his dad was Al Lavie, Sr. was in radio for quite along time and actually read the news on the then 100 KHI. That's taking you back. Radio sure isn't what it used to be. Rich Baltimore. (8/27/07) Dave: Hope you had a good weekend. Today on all the major newschannels for Va Tech star will enter his guilty plea. Also WUSA was the winner of the Battle of the Beltway in their coverage of the Redskins-Ravens pre game shows. The story has not made the website yet so I posted it in my blog, so that you would have it! The winners of this weekend's broadcast bowl between the Redskins and the Ravens were WUSA 9 who did a fantastic job handling the weather situation that delayed the start of the game for an hour. Sports Director Brett Haber, Sara Walsh and Gary Clark set up in a make shift studio under the stands grabbing players and team officials keeping fans entertained, meanwhile back at the studio Levan Reid and the real star, weatherman Howard Bernstein kept fans up dated with real time radar and pin point forecasts. It was Bernstein that correctly predicted that another cell would hit the Fed Ex Field area around 11:30pm.That prediction proved to be spot on and almost on time to the minute. WUSA 9 proved a creative sports department and an accurate state of the art weather department can make for some compelling, interesting and quality TV. Job well done by CBS 9. www.examiner.com... Cheers, Jim (8/27/07) /\ August 27 Messages /\ \/ August 26 Messages \/ Is this "cool," you know, with the ironic hipster air quotes, or is it kEwL? (scroll halfway down) www.scrammagazine.com (8/26/07) Re; "The Zombie Cheerleader", she is in fact a very attractive actress named Nicole Brooks. As to her future with the "Madhouse" Show. You would need to take that up with the show's Producer Jerry Moore. Nicole is a drop dead gorgeous (no pun intended) lady as I've met her on several instances. If I wasn't married, LOOK OUT NICOLE (&SALLY THORNER!). Rusty Gibson (8/26/07) I've noticed (what few times I hear the "radio" side of the Orioles broadcasts) that Fred Manfra hasn't been doing the games during this past week; they have Steve (not gonna try and spell his last name )..you radio folks know who I'm talking about anyway).my question is: is Fred on vacation or something? He is still with the O's broadcasting team, isn't he? Or has he left? Tom in Denton, MD (8/26/07) Re: Your 8/26 Rant-- The part I liked about the Sunday Post was that they totally wimped out and ran a 3-year-old Opus comic strip instead of the current one--which the Washington Post syndicates! Apparently using the word "Muslim" is just too hot for the Post to touch, because the strip did not ridicule the religion. More info on salon.com and the strip itself is here: www.salon.com Apparently the Post was joined by 24 other wimpy newspapers; surprisingly, the Baltimore Sun was not one of them. (8/26/07) Dave's response: Speaking of the Post, anyone notice that the eight-page Outlook section today was completely devoid of advertising..... www.mdrsesco.biz/webr-legal-id.wav has the legal-id of WEBR, Washington. EZ and Bright 99.5, which didn't last long because a Southern Maryland station had been using a similar theme to market themselves and that station couldn't bear the thought that their audience would stray through mistaken identity. The first cut has the audio as aired. The second cut is a slowed down version created by me on the Cool Edit 2000. (8/26/07) Regarding WTGB: Let's make a comparison between WTGB and Chicago sister station, WXRT. www.93xrt.com... WXRT has been around since the early 70's and except for some very minor tweaks in their sound, has remained consitent with their approach. Low key, intelligent, innovative, and a very wide playlist. Most importantly, they still play Sets!!! Not just a jukebox. Terri Hemmert has been with the station since a year after WXRT"s inception, and others such as Johnny Mars have been with the station and have had creative control all the while. WTGB has a difficult climb. They have a classic rock history. However, they are on the right track, by hiring Cerphe, Weasel, and now Pat Ferrise, all can keep it eclectic, and Schelby who sounds good. The on air staff is everything! WTGB is Better than their WARW times, and we, I,Everyone Should light a fire under them to urge them to sound as cool and different as they can be, and evolve into something better, more progressive, not worse. Saying that DC is not a a rock town, is tempting, and a good way to blow off steam, but it could be more of a rock town with a great radio station to take us away from the daily Wonkish grind. (8/26/07) Dave, since you now cover R-TV for the Eastern Seaboard, what is your take on the rivalry between New York's two all-newsers, WINS and WCBS? Which does a better job based covering Gotham? Paul (8/26/07) Dave's response: Honestly, I haven't listened to either station all the much lately to deliver a fair comparison. Anyone want to chimb in? It used to be that WCBS featured a little bit more in-depth, slightly less formal approach to news, while WINS was more like an automated teletype. Maybe Bonneville could put the intensely rigid and humorless news, traffic, weather "wheel" (which is made for the AM band) back on 1500 and 107.7 as "WTOP News" and take the more talkie 103.5 and gradually introduce more longform news, sports, and syndicated talk features via "WTOP Talk" to sound more like DC's version of WBAL or WRVA..... Dave, Two Things: 1. WTGB IS Classic Rock! Maybe the Post is actually commenting on their lack of current songs in their playlist. 2. Bonneville... ruined one of the best all news operations in the country. A. The actual news product is a shell of its former self. Think of their history. Of who actually worked their at one time, and who are now celebrated network correspondents. They move the news to FM, making the geographical reach considerably less which is nothing but stupid. Now, they are proposing a less expensive talk format with " less expensive" groups of talkers who with the exception of Stephanie Miller, are a bunch of Morons. If the 1500 signal is such a pain in the ass why don't they just sell it to CBS, where they would probably restore it to what it was... (8/25/07) Dave's response: Yup, I'm hearing a lot more old CSN on 94.7 these days. It looks like The Globe has deflated by a not-quite-dead Arrow. It's a shame. CBS had the opportunity to create something very special with the "new" 94.7 and is blowing it. Has blown it. But what did you expect from corporate radio in wonkish Washington DC. I wouldn't be surprised to hear Stevens and Medley back on 94.7 any day now. Repeat after me: DC is not a rock radio town. Sigh. Oh, I am enjoying WBIG's Beatles weekend. Lots of deep stuff..... Dave - are you kidding ? Don and Mike are moving to a AM station fro 96 Rock? Now that sucks a$$ . Clear channel needs to take one of thier broke dick FM stations and turn it into a classic rock station and move Don and Mike there. Oh and about trimming the beard - Keep it , kinda makes you look like Charles Manson.:-) (8/26/07) Dave's response: "Shave your beard." "Wear a tie." "Look and act like everyone else." "Conform." To which I politely reply: "Fuck off"..... I haven't been able to get reception at home or in the car since Friday. Any problem with them? or am I the victim of a vast classic-rock conspiracy? (8/26/07) Dave's response: We had a recent post suggesting that WMZQ is using its backup tower and transmitter. They had a transmitter fire at their Falls Church tower few months ago. That could be affecting your reception, especially if you live/drive way outside the Beltway..... "My name is Lesley Lopez"... Any relation to J.Lo? She has a sister named Lesley. (8/26/07) My compliments to you for recognizing the omission of Andy Parks’ health condition by the Washington (com)Post. Andy is a vocal conservative and the political bias of the (com)Post is quite evident in this omission. I know you are a liberal and commend you for noting the seriousness of Andy’s illness. Marc Barinbaum, North Bethesda, MD (8/26/07) Is Zombie Cheerleader no longer a member of the cast of Monster Madhouse? I thought she was best part of the cast! The Borloff dude seems kinda angry a lot......... I see no Brian Mitchell or Czaban on Comcast Redskin Postgame live again...Chick Hernandez and Ray Brown, who I thought quit half way thru last season to take a position with the Dreadskin's....actually the Dreadskin's appear to have a nice lot of young linebackers, perhaps another reason why LeMar Marshall was cut, maybe he can do some coaching? Is Mel Kaufman still with the Dreadskin's on an administrative basis, how about Donnie Warren?....frankly I find the WaPo Business section is pert near pathetic these days...geez anyone remember Hobart Rowan?...perhaps "the truth" may be found in the Shire (8/26/07) Re: "Bonneville Looking To Put Sports On Post Washington Post Talker?" I think it'll be a good move. Much better than turning the station into yet another failing, right-wing, White House propaganda mill. Let's face it, if there really was a huge pool of angry, disaffected, "we're losin' our cuntry to dem immigrnts", "dem turrist sumbitches gone kill us all" middle-aged white males in this area, then both WMAL and WTNT would be killing in the ratings, as opposed to getting killed. (8/26/07) Dave im hearing rumors of 96 Rock Wosc may dump a certian afternoon duo. Care to comment? While Im not happy about it I would say this duo would be better on a more classic rock station. By the way ..... Trim that dam beared!!!!!Loooks like Hoffa could be in there. (8/26/07) Dave's response: We did get a previous message telling us that D&M would be moving to an AM sports talker on the Eastern Shore. Oh, about the beard. If I cut it or even trim it a bit I become impotent..... /\ August 26 Messages /\ \/ August 25 Messages \/ Hey Rusty...My checkered past began at WHRN in 1971 and after about 3 months went to WEEL using my real name. I then left for Paducah KY and WDXR AM & TV. That's where I met Dick Dyszel of Bozo & Capt 20 fame. I returned to the area to WEEL as Chris Marlow while working at WPRW as Skip McCloskey. At the same time I went to work at WDCA TV and worked with Dick once more as I.M. Sneaky on the Bozo Big Top. I also made return appearances on WOHN as Skip Mitchell. Just as WRC was changing into the Great 98, I was hired to be The Greaseman's engineer. Meanwhile I was also working p/t at WAQA in Grasonville. After 17 years at WRC/WKYS I went to work for the owner of OC104 who put a station (WBHH) on in Beaufort SC. After a year and a half, he brought me up to Ocean City where I was at OC104 for 10 years. From there I went to work as the lead audio person at FOX News Channel and have been there 10 years as of last Friday. Hope you're still awake Rusty. Stay well my friend. ~Skip (8/25/07) Hey Skip Mcloskey: How about a brief synopsis of your radio stops after you left WEEL(one of my alltime fave stops on the dial). Rusty Gibson (8/25/07) You're right. You didn't "report" that there was a hiring freeze, but it was in the mailbag and I guess there was never any confirmation or denial of that. Only confirmation that the other stations didn't fire anybody "(except for cause.)" However, my earlier post still stands. You have a bad source. Just read some of your archives and look at how they didn't turn out. (8/25/07) Dave's response: I realize that this may be difficult for you to comprehend, but Mailbag messages are peoples' opinions, guesses, and speculations. If you're seeking "the truth," I really don't know where to point you since you obviously aren't having it spoon-fed to you here at DCRTV. As Liv Soprano liked to say: "Poor you"..... ("Star," and they started calling the station, "Brite 99.5" and the format lasted about as long as a good cigar! The WGAY CALLS remained in place the whole time...) The WGAY calls were NOT in place the whole time… The WGAY calls were actually given back…and the 99.5 frequency was known as WEBR. They took the calls back after the “Star/Bright” debacle. It is true that “Star” was WGAY, but “Bright” was WEBR. Was it legal? I don’t know. I have an aircheck of the calls “WEBR/Washington”, but the FCC has no record of the 99.5 frequency being WEBR. (8/25/07) Dave, the ad said FUTURE jobs at WTOP. Not now. Although there are two more openings now that another editor and another reporter left within the last month. On another note, so what if they pull the plug on Post Radio? At least Bonneville is the only radio operator in the DC market trying to innovate and take chances. I applaud them for that. (8/25/07) "With the failure of NBC Radio's News and Information Service (NIS) in the late 1970s, NBC executives decided to get out of the radio business." Not quite. Your memory is fading with time. (So is mine, that's not a knock). NBC shut the doors on NIS in June 1977. They didn't sell the network or any of the stations until a full decade later. If you are looking for a proximate cause, it could have been the firing of Howard Stern followed by Imus going into serious rehab just a few weeks later. WNBC was doing so well at the time with Imus on the morning and Stern in PM drive that it was single-handedly boosting the ratings of the NBC Radio Network. Also note that GE buying RCA parent NBC in 1986 changed everything. Check out Ken Aulletta's book Three Blind Mice to read about the radical changes at NBC, CBS and ABC in just an 18-month period after all three changed hands. Fascinating, and fairly accurate for those of us who lived through it. Jim (8/25/07) Our webmaster Dave is hitting them out of the park today. He's correct about one station keeping another from infringing on their call letters or imaging. When NBC went to change the FM calls from WRC-FM the new calls were to be WLIT. However, there was another FMer in town that was known as Light FM. They objected to the new calls. Luckily, NBC had another set of letters and another FM station they were changing over. WLIT went to the Chicago O&O (which was, and still is at 93.9) and the WKYS calls....well that is history. I can only assume that there was no recourse by NBC in the WRC - WWRC change over since they were both one and the same station and it's hard to confuse yourself with yourself. ~Skip McCloskey (8/25/07) I think your Bonneville source is whack....a couple weeks ago you said Post Radio is losing so much money that there is a hiring freeze on all 3 stations. Yet you have an ad on your frontpage advertising jobs at WTOP. You're missing something and you need to dig a little deeper or get a better source. (8/25/07) Dave's response: I don't recall reporting about a hiring freeze at WTOP. Maybe somebody suggested that in a Mailbag post..... Dave, you are confusing call letters with slogans and the FCC with the FTC. IF NBC had WANTED to, they could have struck an agreement to allow the WRC calls to stay on 980 when the station transferred to Greater Media. For example, WRNR in Martinsburg has had those calls for decades and ALLOWED the station in Annapolis to use them on another band. That agreement must also be filed with the FCC. One could conceivably use ANY set of similar, soundalike, available calls in a market and the FCC couldn't care less. The "Bright" vs "Star" controversy was when Clear Channel hired a PD to put a bright A/C format on 99.5 and he/she didn't do their homework. SOMAR Communications had been using "Star" as the moniker for their station at 98.3 in Southern Maryland for years. When they complained (and, I'm not sure if they went through the state courts or the FTC) the ruling body decided that there was enough signal, ratings measurement and sales area overlap, that CC's use of that slogan was an infringement on SOMAR. CC was ordered to stop using the NAME "Star," and they started calling the station, "Brite 99.5" and the format lasted about as long as a good cigar! The WGAY CALLS remained in place the whole time. And now you know the rest....... of the story. Good day! Oh... one other thing. In your rant about the Washington Post, you said mentioned something about an "otherwise great newspaper." I beg to differ. Two sad events took that paper from "great" to somewhere below the Clarksburg/ Damascus Courier in my book. They were the death of Meg Greenfeld and the retirement of Ben Bradley. What remarkably talented newspeople! - Ed. Rodriguez (8/25/07) To the “fan of voice of reason” Accolades for your absolutely on target statement regarding Radio One and it’s use of race hate. You are right on target. The other point you made was NOT RON SMITH, but some of his more vocal racists made the statements on his site. Now, to the BOBB responder…..I am NOT a censor, I’m an individual that gets sick of undercover racists (whites of blacks) that continue to try and keep the hatred alive. As I said previously, get a life…MOVE ON….MOVE ON…MOVE to another country. BOBB alias BOOB-nighty night! (8/25/07) Angela on CNN is Angela Stevens a DJ on Christian Music 91.9FM – WGTS – the one that is about to be sold. youtube.com (8/25/07) Dave is 100% correct about the WRC/WWRC call letters. One of the stipulations of the sale of the station was that the WRC calls would not transfer and would remain the property of NBC. Much to the Peacock's dismay, the calls were changed to WWRC and there was nothing legally NBC could do. An unexpected oversight by NBC...maybe. But a very slick move on part of Greater Media. ~Skip McCloskey www.98wrc.com (8/25/07) Dave's response: Skip adds that you can view a complete history of WRC radio via this link at his excellent www.98wrc.com. By the way, if one station uses call letters that cause confusion with another local station (a la WWRC and WRC), can't the original station take the matter up before the FCC or sue in court? Wasn't there a situation in the 1990s when then adult contemporary 99.5 started calling itself "Star" and a Southern Maryland station with the same moniker theatened legal action, forcing 99.5 to become "Bright." I mean, if someone bought a DC radio station and put news or talk on it and called itself WTPP, I would think Bonneville, which owns WTOP, might threaten a lawsuit. Doncha think? Where the heck has Denise Koch been? She has been conspicuously absent from the anchor desk for weeks now. Karen (8/25/07) Dave's response: A lot of people are on vacation this time of the year..... A bit of revisionist history. WWRC (980 kHz) was owned by the National Broadcasting Company for a while. Listen to WRC's own Mac MacGarry doing a legal id and chimes at www.mdrsesco.biz. With the failure of NBC Radio's News and Information Service (NIS) in the late 1970s, NBC executives decided to get out of the radio business. Apparently they changed the call sign of venerable WRC to WWRC, in an effort to ease the sale of 980, which occurred in September 1984 to Greater Media. Greater Media ran the station out of the World Building in Silver Spring as "The Station of the Stars," with programming aimed at fans of Big Band music. (8/25/07) Dave's response: How would NBC's changing of the WRC radio calls to WWRC "ease the sale"? No, Greater Media wanted to continue the station's multiple decade-long "WRC heritage," so the calls were changed to WWRC because NBC owned the WRC calls. In fact, for many years after NBC's ownership, 980 was called "WRC" except in the hourly FCC legal IDs, when the WWRC calls were quickly mentioned..... My name is Lesley Lopez and I'm a co-creator of Guerilla Gourmand, a Washington D.C.- based cooking show for college students and young professionals. To sum it up, our show teaches young adults how to eat healthy, easy food on an economical budget through recipe demonstrations and sketch comedy. I'd like to invite you to check out our site at www.GuerillaGourmand.com. The Guerilla Gourmand project began close to a year ago, when I, a television producer and personal chef, met Stevie, a radio producer and personal chef. We both shared the same passion for making good food without pretensions and being health-, cost- and environmentally-conscious in the kitchen. (8/25/07) There is a young woman named Angela who is apparently a DC talk show host who was interviewed on CNN yesterday. Can you tell me her full name and what station her talk show is on? She sounds interesting. Thank you very much. (8/25/07) speaking of bi-racial didn't donnie g. say the other day he was part black and part white and part black irish? Watchit!...and what about donnie g. smelling his e stranged mother's bra's, what's that mean?...saw a new "Out of Past" show Friday afternoon on FCAC/FPA channel 10 Cox cable the guest was Frank Hardin. Are dvd's of those shows available for a reasonable fee? (8/25/07) Dave's response: Family trees are exponential. You come from two parents. Your parents come from your four grandparents. They come from your eight grand grandparents. And they from your 16 great great grandparents. And they from your 32 great great great grandparents. Go back five generations, and you are equally related to 32 different people! Go back eight generations, and you're related to something like 256 people. And those eight generations span something like 200 to 250 years - not a terribly long period of time. That's a lot of people in the mix of your racial heritage. There's a pretty good chance that all of us have some black or Indian or Irish or Chinese or whatever somewhere in our ancestry. Go back a few more hundred years and you'll find that we're all related to each other..... Has CNBC released Eric Bolling ("The Admiral") from its nightly financial investing program, "Fast Money"? Bolling, who is an independent oil trader, was an original panelist on the program, which debuted last year. "Fast Money," which is "moderated" by Dylan Ratigan, and is broadcast from the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City's Times Square, airs Weeknights at 8:00pm ET on CNBC. At this time, rotating panelists, such as Stacey Briere-Gilbert ("The Hammer"), are being used in Bolling's spot. (8/25/07) Re: The murder of Bobby Hattrik - Because of the sordid nature of the crime, many of the details were never made public... Hattrik's body was found after his home had been set on fire. Investigators determined that the fire was an attempt to cover up the murder. A suspect was arrested and convicted. (8/25/07) /\ August 25 Messages /\ Jump to the Mailbag Archive Index.....