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DCRTV Mailbag - September 12 to September 16, 2007
Latest messages listed first.....
\/ September 16 Messages \/
Hi, Dave, re: "DCRTV first ran the Drudge story on 9/4. I got it from a source and I thought I was first. But, obviously, that Ohio media blog beat me to it and I stand corrected. DCRTV did get it the same day as Cincinnati rag did, though....." Oh, I wasn't going after you at all. You're in the same universe as the Ohio blog. I was tweaking you for the reference of the item being "confirmed" in the NY Post about a week after you, the Ohio blog and the Cincinnati blog/newspaper ran it. I would assume a confirmation from the home newspaper of Drudge's replacement is enough, with quotes from a Premiere Radio VP, not to mention the fact that Premiere has had up a page for Bill Cunningham's new show for a week or so. www.premiereradio.com... It's not you, it's the "it's not confirmed unless it's in a big city paper" thing I was talking about...you have an excellent service here, and YOU consistently scoop the "mainstream media" on media items both in DC and beyond. (9/16/07)
what ever happened to WFBR FM in baltimore ??? thanks (9/16/07)
Shortwave "broadcasters" from the Washington area? None that I can immediately think of. Unless one considers C.F. Jenkins’ W3XK transmissions to have been broadcasts! However, there have been other "broadcasters" over the years! As for the CIA, Vint Hill farms was supposedly closed during the Clinton administration. The 4-digit transmissions (In English, Spanish, and Russian.) are still around. Back when WAVA was Top-40, I heard them one afternoon for about 15-20 minutes one Saturday afternoon on an HF frequency habitually used by CynthIA and friends. Adding to the ease of ID was the S9+60dB signal in Oak Hill, VA with a dummy load on the antenna input of my R-71. Also, various international agreements require host governments of embassies to permit HF transmission (and now satellite) facilities for communications back home. That’s one of the reasons you see the serious HF log periodics (Mostly made by the old Hy-Gain, now a division of MFJ in Mississippi!) atop the ! embassies in D.C. Oh yes, if you want to see a really neat LP antenna, drive past the FAA Air Route Traffic Control out on Route 7, near Leesburg. That baby tunes continuously from 3.2-30 MHz! (No transmatch required!) Now, there are a few "mysteries" on shortwave that point to the D.C. area. Such as the "Department of State Intelligence Service" stations running RTTY/CW with "KKN" prefixed calls. Or, the times "phonetic alphabet" stations (Usually attributed to the MOSSAD…) are heard around here with levels and at times and frequencies, while inconsistent with reception direct from the Middle East, are consistent with transmission here in the Washington, area. For info on these things, download Simon Mason’s "Secret Signals" or look at Chris Smolinski’s site… (9/16/07)
JC-I'm sorry your not happy with our on air fundraising. We know fund drives can be distracting, so each drive we try to come up with something unique. This time around we're in our 'Hood to 'Hood Challenge. We've grouped the neighborhoods in our listening area into teams and the team that contributes the most funding to WTMD this week will win an exclusive, customized, free event in their neighborhood. It's our way of saying thanks to our listeners for understanding that on air drives are necessary method for funding the music and mission we work on every day. If you have fundraising experience and would like to help us reduce the amount of time we spend fundraising on the air, call me dude, I'd be happy to interview you for a job. Commercial playlists? You gotta be nuts. As I post this, we're playing Japanese Reggae. Our new favorite bands include Rogue Wave, Mark Ronson, Drop Kick Murphys and more. Check the playlists at wtmd.org. Steve the GM. (9/16/07)
You've gotten some heat for tracking 'diversity' on post-Post radio in terims of white guys vs. everyone else. There's also another way to track 'diversity'--by political viewpoint, which is how Bonneville is trying to sell 3WT. The hosts who have been announced (officially or unofficially through DCRTV) can be classified as: Righty: Bill O'Reilly, Phil Hendrie... Center: Jim Bohanon (well, that's what he says), David Burd (though he could almost be in the next category...)... Apolitical: Jessica Doyle (never talks about her politics), Larry King (we all know he schmoozes with everyone), Mr. Tony (if and when he comes back)... Lefty: None so far... Assuming Mr. Tony comes back, and assuming further that 3 PM to 9 PM weekdays ends up split between Neal Boortz and Stephanie Miller, the score would be Righty 3, Center 2, Apolitical 3, Lefty 1. 'Balanced' if you compare it to WMAL or WTNT, but still not exactly even. Steven J. Berke (9/16/07)
Dave's response: I think Tony Kornheiser could be considered a lefty and so could David Burd, who was an unofficial media advisor to Democrat Jim Webb.....
The NFL does have a black-out rule. The Jacksonville Jags are hardly ever on local TV because they play in the 80,000+ seat Gator Bowl, and can't sell it out, even though they have "closed off" the upper deck. (9/16/07)
Dave, Please see Marc Fisher's blog for my comment, which discusses both HD reception and piping Radio Shack's Accurian table-top model through any decent stereo system. It's at: blog.washingtonpost.com. The difficulty, however, is that most people in the potential audience aren't buying the radio. Many of those who do will return it to the store because the relatively trivial adjustments that they could make won't occur to most of them. iBiquity has a communication problem. There won't be much progress in solving it by 88.5-2 unless word-of-mouth works. Around a thousand people will get the table-top model free because of their past donations. But is 1,000 people enough of a critical mass to pass the word that it's a premium with a new $100 donation? It's a catch-22. People who pledge $100 during the coming October fundraiser get the radio. But since they don't already have the radio they can only hear the fundraiser on 88.5-1. And since the bluegrass and Americana listeners have very little left to listen to on 88.5-1 (apart from Saturday 6 p.m. to Sunday 1 a.m., plus the rebroadcast of PHC on Sunday mornings), some of them will never find out about the premium. With best wishes, Alan (9/16/07)
Dave,
I'm glad to see the demise of Washington Post Radio doesn't mean the end of the groovy Washington Monument/radio image! WAMU seems to have created a variation on the theme (also evidenced by today's ad in the Post). (9/16/07)Week 2 of the NFL regular season and the Raven's Flaggingship station runs this on the Ravens Gameday web page. "RAVENS ON WBAL RADIO Listen for exclusive coverage during the preseason on Maryland's home for Ravens Football, WBAL Radio." Brilliant. (9/16/07)
I don't know who is getting more ridiculous with fundraising drives - MPT or WTMD Towson. I can't even listen anymore to WTMD - they are constantly begging for money. Their playlists have become more and more commercial anyway so they might as well just start running commercials and save us from the pleading for dollars every five minutes. Also, is it me or did Sheri E just start at WBAL and she's already on vacation? They should bring back Alan Prell and get some listeners back. JC in Baltimore (9/16/07)
To Rusty: Thanks for the update; hope you get to feeling better soon! Tom in Denton, MD (9/16/07)
Anyone else notice that WJFK is now "broadcasting from the Geico Studios"? (9/16/07)
Dave's response: Didn't it used to be the Don and Mike building there in toothless Fairfax?
First, Washington is a footbal town. If the Redskins home games where not sold out, you could not watch them on tv. I think the NFL still has the black out rule. (I maybe wrong).. (9/16/07)
to chime in on the happenings of Eastern Shore radio. I've heard WKHZ (am 1590) airing Penn State and high school football (i thinks steven decatur). Sounds like old Parris has a staff there now. (9/16/07)
I see where the old Washington post Radio the simulcasts in Frederick, Md. on the 820 Am frequesncy will have talkers like Glenn Beck and Jim Bohannon. These tow have been talk show staples for many years on news talk 930 WFMD also in Frederick. Gee are we going to have even fewer radio chioices her in Frederick on the of don't the radion suits care about anything but money. 820 could go back to be a "local" station. There is enough talk radio here already with WFMD and the simucast of WTOP on 103.9fm... (9/16/07)
Comcast NEVER puts a notice on MASN (or MANN never places a notice on their own channel) informing fans when the Nats game is on channel 20. They ALWAYS show a frozen screen of a ballplayer, a beer bottle, or some cryptic message like "channel 40W is prohibited, blah, blah. (9/16/07)
(""The three biggest cities in the United States, NYC, LA, and Chicago are baseball towns, not football towns. Only in a city like Washington, are discussions about the hair styles of the backup Redskins quarterback more important that the pennant races. It just goes to show you that Washington is among the worst sports towns in America.""") That's nonsense, of course. DC is a good sports town. As has been previously been pointed out, the number of towns where pro football rules the sports market and the sports coverage greatly exceeds the handful of baseball towns. So claiming that because a town is a football town makes it a bad sports town is just silly. And I would dispute your characterization of Chicago, but it doesn't really matter in the context of the overall point. By the way, MLB basically pissed on Washington while the NFL was here the full time. Given that, only a person who has been hit in the head with too many baseballs would expect the Nationals to come close to the Redskins in media coverage and the loyalties of local fans. Back in the sixties, the Skins and Senators both sucked and pretty much were on an even plane coverage-wise. But MLB saw to it that the Redskins ruled the roost by taking the team away. So you baseball heads who want more coverage really have no one to blame but the geniuses who kept baseball out of here for 33 years. (9/16/07)
Having seen photos of the mummified corpse posing as David Lee Roth when his short-lived CBS radio show debuted, I wasn't excited by news that Van Halen had reunited. However, this ultra-rare footage of the group's recent news conference really brought me around: www.youtube.com (9/16/07)
A note to my fellow "MailbagersDue to on-going health issues, There was no "Magical History Tour" again this week. I',m Sorry. Rusty (9/16/07)
MHT not on again today? I tuned in to Rusty's show on WEBR..and found that "folk" show again..what's up? Rusty: Hope you're still doing okay! Tom in Denton, MD (9/16/07)
Hi Dave: Just so you'll know..I did check out that thing on the Zenith radio on DCRTV Plus. Unfortunately, on account of the format this is in, us folks who use screenreaders ((I'm one of those folks) cannot access it! I find this same thing to be true; from time to time, someone will put something from DCMemories.com in the "mailbag" section. But it's in a "JPG" file..leading me to believe that the person has scanned it in. Therefore, once again, folks like me cannot access them! I don't know that there's anything you can do to get around this..but thought I'd let you know..just in case there is a different way; I don't know how many blind/visually impaired people access your site, so don't know if this is a big enough issue for you to deal with. Still, I felt the need to point this out to you! I do enjoy coming to your site; I manage to check it out a couple times a day; kind of gives me an "outlet" for talking about an industry that I've never worked in..but have always been interested in since I was a kid! Thanks! Keep up the good work! Tom in Denton, MD (9/16/07)
Add St. Louis and, to a lesser extent, Detroit as baseball rather than football towns. And while the Cubs may rule Chicago this year, it was the White Sox who ruled in '05. The Sox are more the city's team, while the Cubs belong to the out-of-towners, tourists and Big Ten frat boys. As for Washington, let's see what happens in a few years when the Nationals play meaningful games in September; aside from the Nats being on the periphery of the wild-card race in '05, Washington hasn't seen pennant-race baseball since the Senators finished second to Detroit in 1945, so no one here really has an idea of what it might be like. I lived in Philadelphia in 1993 when the Phillies advanced to the World Series, and for those few weeks when seasons overlapped, the Eagles were pushed to the background. No reason something like that couldn't happen here. -- Vincent in Triangle (9/16/07)
***As big as the Bears are, the Cubs rule Chicago.*** Hey, that must be a quote from someone who's never seen Da Loop! Sorry, chumpie- White Sox RULE, Cubbies drool. Chicago BOASTS three championship teams in the last ten years- Da Bulls, Da Bears and Dem SOX! And, while you're all right about DC radio sucking, it's even scarier to watch those Bridge Ratings taking ALL radio farther down into irrelevance so quickly. I'll bet it's like watching Vaudeville die was for our grandaprents and great-grandparents! Listen to that dcmemories.com recording of Arthur Godfrey's WJSV morning show with an ear to how personable he was. And, notice that the success of EVERY solo morning show, from Godfrey to Robert W. Morgan, was that the personality was focused on YOU, the Listener. They weren't talking to Moron Jimi, Stunt Girl Phil or Froggy Ass the news chick! So, what role did the damned Morning Zoos have in dooming radio to irrelevance? Discuss, and remember, White Sox Rule- cubbies drool! - Da South Sider (9/16/07)
The mistake by Montgomery County Comcast wasn't in cutting off the Nationals last night, it was in airing the MASN feed of the Nationals in the first place. The MASN signal should have been blacked out for D.C. area subscribers in deference to WDCA/20. On an unrelated issue, it isn't realistic (or contractually allowable) for WTWP to join the Nationals in progress for the sake of Navy football. Navy knew the deal for better or worse when it signed the contract with Bonneville in the first place. Unfortunately, the early Navy schedule has annoyingly coincided with the Nationals to date. Everett W. (9/16/07)
Dave's response: It looks like Comcast Montgomery was late to pull the plug on its MASN feed, since the game was to be shown exclusively in the local market by Channel 20. That "plug pulling" resulted in a "frozen image" on the MASN channel which confused some viewers. Comcast should have run a message on the MASN channel that the game was available on Channel 20, but it didn't.....
"We thank him for his contributions over the years, and wish him well in future endeavors," said WMAR News Director David Silverstein in a Friday memo to the Baltimore station's employees. However, a WMAR source told DCRTV that the key issue was money. "The company felt he made to much money. They could get four reporters from Harrisburg, PA for that price." A DC area native, Broom's won seven AP awards and an Emmy for his reporting work..... I'm waiting for the day we get 10 news directors from India who can do what Mr. Silverstein can do for the same price. Quality doesn't matter anymore. (9/16/07)
Ref: BullDog on WOCM, I have been able to pick up the station (kinda scratchy) and the Morning Show "Sucks". Isn't this the radio guy who left the states and headed for the Islands a few years ago after a stock market/insider trading scandal? (some news guys might want to look into that little tid bit) And came back into the country with the help of Mancow. Let's see BULL-MAN, COW-DOG, anyway it's worth a little research huh? Jeff in Ocean Pines, Maryland. (9/16/07)
(regarding Jake Einstein's death) based on info from DCRTV www.lacrosseforums.com www.democraticunderground.com Thanks. (9/16/07)
Did I see O'Meara seated next to the greasemun behind home plate at the Jankee vs anal Sox game on Saturday?.......Mr. Prather, that intro to bone jangler on friday night was a bit raunchy, hate to ruin it for any youths who tune in but some of that stuff was triple X......was that Ratso I saw toting a tv camera at the fantastic Billy Joe Shaver gig the other night......Where did Jake Einstein get his start in the radio business?......annoying voices huh (9/16/07)
Speaking of Debbie Jarvis, I was driving to Philadelphia Saturday and heard her doing a commercial for "DelMarVa Electric" on Wilmington's "new" 99.5. (9/16/07)
Dave's response: Well, the former WRCer is the "voice" of DC's Pepco. Maybe Pepco has some sort of ownership relationship with them. It's funny. A lot of aging TV newsers go into PR or become a spokesman for a company when they lose their reporting jobs - and kind of fade into obscurity. But it seems Jarvis is more prominent and well-known now than she ever was at WRC. Way to go girl!
"As a matter of fact, I can only thing of three major cities that can fairly be called anything other than a football town: New York, Boston and Los Angeles, all of which are baseball towns." You also forgot Chicago. As big as the Bears are, the Cubs rule Chicago. The three biggest cities in the United States, NYC, LA, and Chicago are baseball towns, not football towns. Only in a city like Washington, are discussions about the hair styles of the backup Redskins quarterback more important that the pennant races. It just goes to show you that Washington is among the worst sports towns in America. (9/16/07)
Dave's response: And one of the worst rock radio towns in America.....
/\ September 16 Messages /\
\/ September 15 Messages \/
Another great job by Comcast/MASN. The first hour and ten minutes of tonight's Nats game was on MASN1 (channel 41 in Montgomery County). At about 8:15pm, with Robert Fick at bat, the screen suddenly froze and showed Fick looking at his shoes. After five minutes I decided to check channel 20 and there was Fick hitting a three run homer. At this time, 8:54pm, MASN1 still has a frozen Fick looking at his shoes. No crawl, no on screen notice, no nothing telling people to change channels. Of course MASN will blame it on Comcast and visa versa but the truth is that both networks could care less about their customers. (9/15/07)
(regarding a previous post) About a minute-ten into this "PM Magazine" story about Baltimore businessmen who do their own commercials, there's a segment about our old friend, Mr Ray and his spectacular hair weaves! www.youtube.com (9/15/07)
(shortwave radio stations in the balt wash area, last 50 years???) Many embassy rooftops have suspicious antennas. Next to Ft. Myer and the Navy Annex, in Arlington, there are some HF-type antennas on the top of a building there. If he means commercial or VOA AM-type HF transmissions and not SSB transmissions, then I wouldn't know. (9/15/07)
There are contractual considerations for the Nationals to air as the primary sporting event on 1500 & 107.7, the Navy game was broadcast from beginning to end on WFED 1050 AM (which is their full time affiliate in DC), in addition to being aired on WTWP and the announcement between the two games on 1500/107.7 clearly said "...to continue to hear Navy Football please turn to WFED 1050 AM Federal News Radio". The cutaway was done as Navy was going into their halftime, so I don't think the listener can fault WTWP for doing what they needed to to satisfy both the flagship agreement with the Nats, the client agreement with Navy & making a clear announcement at a natural cutaway telling you where to continue to listen. As the new 1500/1077/820 AM gets deeper into the fall/winter sports season you'll hear maybe 5 or 6 overlapping games between the Nats, Caps, Navy & GW. You'll find the remainder of most games on the sister station and the new website will carry separate sections and complete detailed information to reduce the amount of hunting around the dial for your favorite team coverage. I hope that satisfies your concern and explains the situation behind how the coverage priorities are handled. - S (9/15/07)
major boos to WAPO Radio...leaving the navy game to go to the Nationals. I love the Nats, but you don't break out of one game to go to another. you join in progress. (9/15/07)
Was there any shortwave radio stations in the balt wash area, last 50 years??? thanks (9/15/07)
Dave's response: The CIA allegedly does some clandestine SW broadcasts from the Vint Hill area of Fauquier County. While the Voice Of America is headquartered in DC, its SW transmitters are located elsewhere, a la Greenville NC, among other places around the world.....
R.I.P., Jake. I’m more of a Metal guy, but HFS was one of a kind. All my best to David and Damian………….. A Grieving Eric In Alabamastan (9/15/07)
In regards to the person mentioning WOCM and Bulldog in the moring. Id be interested in listening but the signal kinda sucks. (9/15/07)
Rusty, I remember those awful Mr. Ray’s Hair Weave commercials. They ran incessantly on WWIN, I think even earlier than the ‘70s. Not only did Mr. Ray not fit the WWIN format, but listening to his Baltimore accent was like hearing chalk squeak on a blackboard. But I guess his product was in demand by his target audience because he kept advertising. Roddy Freeman (9/15/07)
In response to rk's question "How many remember WPIK as a middle of road music station, not country???"...I do. My dad, Charles Roudabush, was one of their engineers back in the late 1950s/early 1960s. alr (9/15/07)
Over at Clear Channel Don & Mike (Mike is quitting next spring from WJFK the station at the program comes from) move from 96 Rock (FM) to Sports talk 960 (AM). New 3-7 shift coming Monday to 96 Rock? Changes at Kiss 105.5, could they be returning to a simulcast of 921. Oldies? Bill Baker who did shifts on both Kiss and Major was let go last Friday (Sept. 7) and Kenny Love from engineering is filling on Magic. Over at Great Scott "Murph's" back on mornings at WZBH, Wooki is out of mornings at WOCQ (after 17 years). WRXS is off the air waiting for equipment to repeat 88.1 WYPR in Baltimore. WSDL (NPR Talk) at Salisbury University has bolstered their programming as they wait for WYPR's relay to sign on. Mancow, formerly on WRXS, WOSC is mow on WKHW (K-Rock 106.5) in Pocomoke City, which now runs Classic Rock. WQMR and WXMD carrying the Ravens. Over in in Cambridge, Shane Walker wakes you up and drives you to work on WAAI (Country) and brings you home 3-7 on the Heat 106.3 (Hot A/C), Shane's always been a hard worker. Where will Crazy Eddie from the now defunct X-106.9 going (maybe afternoon's on 96 Rock). WGMD still seems to be playing musical (talk show) chairs with afternoon's, who will get to set for awhile. And that's the latest edition of as the radio wheel turns on Delmarva. Oh, forgot WDSD in Dover back to 50kw on 94.7, while WRDX The River's been downgraded to 3kw on 92.9. (9/15/07)
SSG Minecci: What is your zip code, or "APO?" Some of us DCRTV regulars would like to send you CARE packages while you are in Iraq defending our freedom. God Bless You. Al McGilvray (retired Navy) (9/15/07)
Dave, how about a "D.C. Media Hotties of the Past" with pix on the basic DCRTV and results only available to the subs of DCRTV+? If you go with this, how about Cynthia Hecht who used to be with WAVA and later joined AP Radio as the first nominee? (9/15/07)
Dave's response: Hmmm.....
DCRTV Dave sez...[snip] DCRTV is pretty much "on" all the time, except when I'm having sex and sleeping.....[end snip] What's the matter Dave, can't you type with the other hand? hahahaaaaaaaa (sorry, that was waaaay too easy!) - SR (9/15/07)
Anyone remember the annoying voice behind the "Mr. Ray's" Hair Weave Ads in the 70's? Was is "Mr. Ray" him self? Much like the ads for Monroe Used Cars. Kiss My Bumper, Rusty Gibson (9/15/07)
It's harder and harder to find something that's fun out there in eastern shore radio but the guys over at WOCM sure seem to have a good idea about it. This mornings Bulldog show was one of the weirdest and funniest things I've ever heard. They had some Australian guy hypnotizing the two bozos who're on there and had them doing all sorts of crazy stuff. The people in our office crowded around my computer watchin the web videostream as they had these idiots dancing and singing and talking like pirates. Unreal, check out the clips at irieradio.com. I was in radio for a very long time and I'm very impressed. (9/15/07)
In today's New York Times, the Saturday Interview is about The Future for XM, With or Without a Sirius Merger. www.nytimes.com (9/15/07)
Dave, re: this item - "Confirmed: Drudge To Give Up Radio Show - 9/11 - DCRTV broke the news last week. And now we get confirmation from the NY Post that Drudge Report internet guru Matt Drudge (right) is giving up his nationally syndicated Sunday night radio show." I may be nitpicking here, but is a piece of news not confirmed until it's printed in a "big city" paper? :) The Drudge item appeared first on a local media blog in Ohio that's similar to yours (ohiomedia.blogspot.com) the Friday before Labor Day (you picked it up shortly thereafter), and was confirmed in the "mainstream media" after Labor Day by the Cincinnati newspaper's radio/TV columnist (on his blog at frontier.cincinnati.com, and in the Cincinnati Enquirer paper the following day). Guess it takes the extra week for word to travel to the alleged "Big City" paper in NYC. Has your new NYC/Philly news section been reported by the New York papers yet? I won't confirm it exists until they "confirm" it. :) - (9/15/07)
Dave's response: DCRTV first ran the Drudge story on 9/4. I got it from a source and I thought I was first. But, obviously, that Ohio media blog beat me to it and I stand corrected. DCRTV did get it the same day as Cincinnati rag did, though.....
Dave, WTF? You spend a lot of time beatin' on the Washington Post, almost as if you think you're actually competing with them to cover local broadcast/cable stories. THEY ARE SO YESTERDAY that you have to realize you are boxing at shadows. I should have thought their declining circulation/ad revenue and their failed radio venture would have convinced you that people not only don't want to "read it in the newspaper" anymore, they don't want newspaper writers trying to do broadcast journalism. Your chief competitors are online, dude, where instant posts like yours and your contributors are today's news. (9/15/07)
Dave's response: Two points. First, I'm told the the Post does have a website with instant news blogs and stuff like that. But it still manages to miss a lot of news. Hmmm. And, two, even though countless blogs and websites are "instant" news sources, the truth is that many, like Mediabistro's FishbowelDC, are pretty much 9-to-5 weekday operations. If something "comes down" at 5:01 PM Friday, you won't read about it until late Monday morning. Or Tuesday, if Monday's a holiday. DCRTV is pretty much "on" all the time, except when I'm having sex and sleeping.....
First of all, "diversity" has nothing to do with anything when it comes to the business of sports. The name of the game is getting fannies in the seats, and it doesn't matter what color the fannies are. You don't get brownie points for "diversity." Second, while DC isn't a baseball town, it sure as hell isn't a soccer town either, although DC United is a great franchise. Like most cities in the USA, it is a football town, you know, the American football, right? As a matter of fact, I can only thing of three major cities that can fairly be called anything other than a football town: New York, Boston and Los Angeles, all of which are baseball towns. I'm all for sports other than football getting their fair share of time on stations like WTEM and fair coverage generally. Which is why I think COMCAST Sportsnet does a good job and WTEM most assuredly doesn't. But let's not kid ourselves. The Redskins own this town and, despite all the whining about Danny Boy Snyder, that isn't going to change. (9/15/07)
To the person, are you saying Washington is a soccer town. It may not be a baseball town. But it is a football town. As bad as the Redskins have been (5-11 last year) The games where sold out. Back in the 50s and 60s, the Redskins could not win a game. All of the games where sold out. (trust me i was there) Would fans still go to DC United games if they had a bad record? (Don't think so) Washington is a football town. (9/15/07)
Dave, Just wanted to say hello, I am here in Baghdad with my Reserve unit (not sure if you remember my last tour was all of '05 - I volunteered for both tours) and was catching up on DCRTV. It's great to get a little piece of home while away. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated, be it from Guatemala, Iraq or where ever this job takes me! It is weird, missing Frederick, never thought I'd say that.... SSG Nick Minecci, 3ID Field Historian, 52nd Military History Detachment (Operations NCO), Multi-National Division - Center, Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq (9/15/07)
Dave's response: Thank you for your service to our country, Nick.....
I just heard a couple lines on OC104 here on the Eastern Shore talking about something new coming to the morning show on Monday. (9/15/07)
Wonder what happened to former NBC4 Meteorologist Clay Anderson? Like Debbie Jarvis, he now works for Pepco. He was shown in an ABC7 On Your Side Report www.wjla.com (9/15/07)
To everyone complaining about the lack of baseball coverage here you need to face the truth about something. This is not a "baseball town" by any means, and I happen to like baseball. Lest we forget that from 1971-2004, there was no major league team in our city and NO the Orioles don't count. During that time, the Redskins and basketball (pro, college and HS) became the big fishes here. Soccer also has much deeper roots in DC than baseball does. Trust me, I go to DC United games and the crowds are so diverse they make Nats games look like conservative seminars. And, the crowd at the Beckham game was the largest crowd at RFK all year. And if United makes the final at RFK, that record will be broken. (9/15/07)
Last I heard, former HFS'er Josh Brooks was an account exec with Clear Channel's WFMD/WFRE in Frederick. -Mike in Bartonsville (9/15/07)
Regarding why WPGC AM and FM simulcast (ca. 1960-1988): As I understand it, the FCC ruled that the stations could simulcast no more than 25% of their programming if either station was licensed to a town with a population greater than 25,000. Being that both WPGC AM and FM were licensed to Morningside, Maryland; they were exempt from the rule. I believe there was one format exempt form this rule entirely, and that was Classical. IIRC the rules on simulcasting were dropped by about the mid-'80s. Still, WPGC-AM broke with its FM in the fall of '88 to broadcast a Business News format. (9/15/07)
Dave, Re: T.V. personality having a Stroke: Glenn Brenner suffered what was first thought to be a stroke (first decribed as a "vascular event") during the Marine Corps Marathon in 1991. Brenner later died in January 1992, from what was finally determined to be a "Brain Tumor". Could this be what the poster was referring to? Doug (Hemmoragic Stroke survivor in 1993 at age 31 in 1993) in Stephens City. (9/15/07)
/\ September 15 Messages /\
\/ September 14 Messages \/
First President on UHF: The first commercially-licensed UHF TV station was KPTV in Portland, Ore., which went on the air on September 18, 1952. That would have been in the waning days of the Harry S. Truman administration. Since some of the early NBC/CBS/ABC/DuMont affiliates were broadcasting their news on UHF (such as Norfolk's DuMont WTOV-TV channel 27), I would say the answer to your question would be Truman. Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated in early 1953, and would be the sure-bet answer. I'll take Bolivian Art for 200, Alex. Al McGilvray (9/14/07)
Someone said, "The big question in radio and music and business circles this week is:WHY on earth is there nothing in the media this week (other than on dcrtv.com) on the death of Jake Einstein..." It's because he fired the best people like Thom, from the morning show, and Cerphe. Jake was lucky that the "Spiritus Cheese" gang fell on his doorstep. He could be more cold-hearted and calculating than Bennett Zier if he felt he needed to. And, he didn't "found" the station. If you REALLY want to pin that rap on someone, I'd suggest Alvin Jeweler. Let's face it... that station was in the toilet until the "Spiritus Cheese" people brought the sixties into the building! JB (9/14/07)
I second that emotion…the selection of Post articles on ‘HFS dating back to 1970 (via the ‘dcmemories’ link posted below) is a mind blower for those of us who followed the station closely throughout its history as a rocker. RIP Jake. Mark O. (currently sojourning in Equatorial Guinea) (9/14/07)
Mike in Fairfax: I think you're beating a dead horse with the refrain that baseball should receive more coverage than it gets on WTEM. The Nats could be in the world series and, while coverage would obviously increase, it would still take a back seat to the Redskins. That's just the way this market is. By the way, Ted Leonsis made clear on his blog that the Caps are still going to be advertising on Clear Channel so they haven't cut all ties. WTEM is well advised to promote at least that remaining relationship. And remember, Leonsis will someday own the Wizards too, which is the last local pro team for which WTEM is the flagship. WTEM continues to piss off Leonsis at it's own risk. (9/14/07)
1st President to give a speech via live radio.... Warren G. Harding on WEAR AM (later WFBR 1300) Baltimore. (9/14/07)
I wanted to let you know that I too am a lifelong radio lover who grew up in the 60s and greatly enjoyed the djs of the era. I like reading your updates/comments each day. As you know, it's nearly impossible to find music of that era on the radio anymore. When I saw a format for "oldies" listed on 950 am, I tuned in to see what was going on. I mostly heard a Spanish language station but no oldies. I know about 95.9 fm in Fredericksburg, but it's hard to get even here in Fairfax county. WEBR, the free form radio on cable plays some of these tunes. WASH-fm (which used to be a great adult contemporary station) plays some of the music of the 60s and 70s but I have to suffer thru the latest hot country or soppy love song to hear those tunes. Any suggestions, perhaps something on the net? Keep giving us accurate updates...the main paper sure can't do that! Thanks, Ed Schoenberg (9/14/07)
As Jake, always said when I called him on the phone " Make a long story short " Rest in Peace. Former Annapolis, MD WYRE Radio DJ Billy Ray - Peace and Love also to his Family. (9/14/07)
Dave's response: How about this. On Monday, 94.7 becomes "947 HFS" and carries on Jake's legacy with a reborn free-form progressive rock "format." How about it, Michael Hughes? CBS could be doing truly great rock radio in DC. The time is now.....
96 Rock just announced Don and Mike are moving to 960 am. Any idea on who is replacing them? (9/14/07)
First person on TV to later be president - Herbert Hoover (1927)... First President on TV - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1939)... First President to open White House to TV - Harry Truman (1948)... First live Presidential news conference - John F. Kennedy (1961)... First President in HD - George W. Bush - 2007... (9/14/07)
Dave's response: But, who was the first president on UHF?
WLIF always says its a station the whole family can listen to, yet one afternoon this week, they were playing a tune which several times the singer says "Its a Bitch Girl"... Is this supposed to be a "family friendly" station? Burt/Denton (9/14/07)
Dave's response: Damn that foul-mouthed Daryl Hall and John Oates. A possible scenario. A guy gets his girlfriend a dog. And she asks about its gender. "It's a bitch, girl".....
"I like the fact that WTEM has a two hour Phil Wood show on Saturday and he does regular guest appearances on Walker's show and the Mitchell-Thompson-Koken show. So Nats fans can count on some talk about their team amidst all the Redskins talk. The question is, why not do that with other sports?" One problem with having a specialized program devoted to a single sport is that it gives the mainstream shows on the station a convenient pretext to ignore it and tell anyone who complains to 'go listen to the specialty show'. I've noticed that since Redskins training camp opened, nearly all the baseball discussion on the Doc Walker and John Thompson shows has taken place during Wood's guest appearances. Specialty shows are best suited to niche sports like soccer and car racing (many of whose fans don't care much about anything else), and participatory ones like golf and tennis. Baseball should never be treated like a niche sport in any city with a major league team. Nonetheless, until the daily shows on 980 start giving the Nationals a bit more run than the occasional 'feel good' player interview, Wood's weekly program will have to suffice. With Clear Channel recently losing the Capitals radio rights to Bonneville, I was sure that WTEM would start acting as if hockey didn't exist. Apparently that's not the case - Ted Leonsis was a guest on Feldman & Maloney earlier this week and George McPhee (the team's GM) appeared on the Thompson show yesterday. Clearly, Leonsis is a shrewd businessman who understands the importance of keeping his team in the sports radio conversation (albeit barely at times) regardless of where the games are heard. On another topic, a quick geography lesson may be in order for ESPN college football anchor Chris Fowler. During yesterday's Maryland-WVU telecast, he referred to College Park as being 'midway between Baltimore and Washington'. Mike, Fairfax (9/14/07)
Hi Dave, Interesting conversation here about "loyalty" to the home town team. It brings up an interesting story I can relate to you. A few years back I was assigned to go to Fed Ex field to get FAN reaction to the Redskins game against the cowboys. I did so outside, and was able to get into the press box briefly while the game was underway. I am a news reporter, and it was the first time I was ever in a press box at a Pro Football game so it was interesting to watch. . At one point, Dallas scored a touchdown..putting the Skins behind. There was a roar from one section of the press box, from the SPORTS reporters from Dallas. A few minutes later, over the internal intercom in the press box came this announcement. "Those of you who are in the press box are reminded it is for working media only and cheering is not permitted" There was then a big chuckle from most of the local reporters covering the Redskins. I tell this story for a point. Yes, SPORTS reporters, when covering a game are supposed to report what happens, and not ROOT for one team or the other. But sometimes they do. But they can talk about the good news and bad news of ANY team. Baltimore is close to DC. The area lot of Orioles fans, Red Sox fans, Philly fans, Eagles fans, Dallas and I am sorry to say EVEN Yankee fans. The guys at WTOP do their best to cover the best and most interesting sports of the day. Sometimes that is NOT the Skins, or the Nats. The O's are having a dismal season. That IS a sports story. The Nats get great coverage in the local press even though they are struggling through another losing season. One other note..as a Red Sox fan, I get extremely annoyed at the ESPN broadcasters on Baseball Tonight who constantly TALK UP the Yankees. Example.. "Oh..those Detroit Tigers..they are four games behind the Yankees in the Wild card..they're dead..they're out of it." "Hey how about them Yankees..they are ONLY five and a half in back of the Red Sox in the AL East. "Yea..they are really making a surge. The Red Sox have gotta be looking over their shoulders" Journalism can get lost at times in the SPORTS press box. But relax..it's only Red Sox-Yankees or Skins Dallas. It's NOT U-S vs Al Quida or Clinton Vs Thompson. (that is not a prediction by the way! Sports is FUN guys (AT LEAST ONT HE FIELD IT IS) ...not REAL LIFE. Hank Silverberg (9/14/07)
Interesting that the one part of the post-Post Radio schedule that still hasn't been announced is afternoon drive. I STILL find it somewhat hard to believe that Bonneville is going to turn over afternoon drive to a syndicated political ranter like Beck or Boortz or Stephanie Miller for that matter, and settle for WTNT like ratings. If that is what happens next Thursday, I will still wonder if it is an interim arrangement, and if maybe 3WT itself is an interim format like George was for 104.1. Interim prior to what? Maybe a sale like 104.1, but in that case why keep Burd and Doyle in the mornings? What they're doing would, OTOH, be logical if they are going sooner or later to flip to sports talk. If they did, Dave and Jessica could still do the morning show (with some more sports content) and certainly Mr. Tony could still do his if he wants, but you wouldn't want Bob Kur and Hilary Howard in afternoon drive--you'd want sports people doing that show, to lead in to Caps and Nats games. If that's the end result I won't mind that much. I'll still miss Bob and Hilary (well, at least Hilary) but it will sure beat listening to Neal Boortz. Steven J. Berke (9/14/07)
I'm surprised that there's been no comment on the passing of a true entrepenuer in the radio industry. Jake Einstein, what a peice of work. Through the years I had many many casual conversations with him. He was one of the funniest and most energetic people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Whenever I got to Annapolis, I'd stop by the station he currently was working with, stay for about an hour and swap funny storys. He was a genuine, real dynamo. I never worked with him, (Lord knows he made the offers) NEVER wanted to pay..LOL. I for one, will miss him. His sons are really great people too. God Bless him and family-PLB (9/14/07)
How many remember WPIK as a middle of road music station, not country??? rk (9/14/07)
Dave wrote, "It will be interesting to see if Bonneville will have one (just one) black host on its new 3WT? " They already do...Jerry Phillips hosts a talk show on WTWP, and I hear will continue to host it on 3WT. Or doesn't he count in your subjective tally? (9/14/07)
Dave's response: Oh yeah! When's he on? 5 AM Sundays or something like that?
Lincoln Financial Media's MAJIC 102.7 (WMXJ) Miami / Ft. Lauderdale Morning Man (and DC radio veteran) Bruce Kelly and PD Bob Hamilton debut the MAJIC Morning Daily Download available via YouTube. " It's a first for radio - a daily video version of our popular morning show - featuring celeb guests, remotes, exclusive behind the scenes, contests and much more. And of course, a wide - WIDE screen version of Bruce." Kelly adds, " Bob gave me a discount coupon for Casual Male Big and Tall for my new wardrobe - what a guy ! The MMDD is a great way for our fans to catch up on missed shows and participate on a level never before available. I recommend everyone stealing this idea." To take a look or subscribe click here : youtube.com... (9/14/07)
The big question in radio and music and business circles this week is: WHY on earth is there nothing in the media this week (other than on dcrtv.com) on the death of Jake Einstein on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007? Here we have a legendary man who is literally one of the great businessmen, music promoters, radio men and broadcast pioneers not only in the D.C. area, the Baltimore area, the mid-Atlantic area, but in the entire United States. And that is NOT over-stating the case. The death of Jake Einstein is front-page news. Jake Einstein developed, produced, operated, ran, managed and oversaw one of the best progressive rock radio stations in the United States, WHFS. The original WHFS was one of the most groundbreaking, influential radio stations in the region and in the country for several decades. Jake's son, Damian, is just as legendary, and Damian is one of the most knowledgable men in local radio and music. And Jake bought, managed and sold several other local radio stations, also. And yet there's nothing in the mainstream pint media this week! Why is that?! (9/14/07)
Dave's response: I don't know. We got a tip yesterday from a reliable source, but we have yet to get firm confirmation. No one has contacted us to deny it, either. Go figure.....
"Dave's response: Not sure of all the dates, but Cerphe has also worked at rockers DC101 and WAVA and at the old jazzy New Age WBMW (now WJFK-FM) before joining WARW/WTGB....." Right. I'm not sure of the dates either, but as you probably know, but didn't mention, the order of the above was WAVA, then to DC-101, then to WBMW, then WARW/WTGB. Also, about 3WT (I hate that name): If Marc Sterne is going to be part Burd's morning show, and Stephanie Miller is going to be part of the lineup, and her show starts at 9 a.m. (on the Air America affiliate here), aren't you pretty much confirming that Tony Kornheiser's show, which Sterne produces and which airs during the same time as Miller's show, will be on another station soon? Christian (9/14/07)
MONSTER MADHOUSE LIVE RETURNS TONIGHT At 10:00 p.m., on Falls Church, Virginia based FCCTV! Karlos Borloff and the rest of the Monsterminators are back hosting the silent classic "The Lost World." Lots of interesting surprises are planned, including special guests, live call in, a dinosaur in studio, a new music video and oodles and oodles more! This is a rare opportunity to catch live, LOCAL and improved television again - grown men and women in make-up, monster movies, and the promise of something you never will see anywhere else! FCCTV can be viewed in Fairfax County and Falls Church on Cox Channel 12 on Starpower Channel 2, all of Northern Virginia on Verizon's Fios service Channel 35, and STREAMING LIVE on the internet (complete with a live "chat" with members of the cast) at www.monstermadhouselive.com. (9/14/07)
I like the fact that WTEM has a two hour Phil Wood show on Saturday and he does regular guest appearances on Walker's show and the Mitchell-Thompson-Koken show. So Nats fans can count on some talk about their team amidst all the Redskins talk. The question is, why not do that with other sports? Have Joe Benanati or Craig Laughlin or Steve Kolbe do a regular show once a week on the Caps plus a regular guest appearance. And have someone do a DC United show (which, by the way, is far and away the best pro sports organization in this town). And have a college b-ball show that emphasizes the local teams and gives the GW's, GMason's and AU's their due amidst all the Gtown and MD hoopla. The fans WILL listen once they know they can count on the time slot. See, there ARE ways to become a real sports station if the management at WTEM would just wake up. (9/14/07)
"Morning radio in DC: the junkies trying to act 40 somethings acting 12; WTWhatever fifty somethings acting 20; and 630 am sinking in the harbor of rant. Thank God for Howard Stern" Could you listen to any lower rated shows? Why don't you try a show in the top 10. They actually exist. Paul (9/14/07)
Anyone know whatever became of 1980's WTOP Sports Guy Frank Daly? Rusty Gibson (9/14/07)
Dave, Did you hear anything about someone having a stroke while at Redskins Park? I think they worked at ch 7 but I can’t track it down…shooter or producer??? Thanks. (9/14/07)
Dave's response: Noooo.....
Dave - RE: your posting on the 'new' 3WT lineup... I've been listening to 820 AM in Frederick occasionally and everyone you listed has been on the station in the time slots you mentioned. They've been carrying Larry King's audio from CNN nightly at 9, Jim Bohannon nightly at 10 (why WFMD isn't screaming about this I have no idea because they carry him at the same time), Phil Hendrie at 3 a.m. and "American in the Morning" early mornings. Same old stuff with a new logo come 9/20. They didn't have any ratings before and, guess what, they won't have any a year from now. Also, the Wash. Post isn't the only paper around that doesn't know what radio stations are in their community. In the Frederick News Post sports column where it says sports on the air and lists the events on TV and Radio, it says the Washington Nationals can be heard on"82Q". It was back on December of 2000 when 82Q was dumped to relay WTOP's radio audio. Tom in Frederick (9/14/07)
In today’s The Baltimore Sun, Laura Vozella reports that former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who provided Baltimore City primary election commentary Tuesday night for Fox 45 (WBFF-TV), might be getting a regular gig with WMAR-TV (Channel 2). Here’s Vozella’s column: www.baltimoresun.com... As you know, he currently has a weekly talk show on WBAL Radio with his wife Kendell. Which brings me to another topic. How about a DCRTV “Battle of the First Lady hotties”?” Kendell Ehrlich vs. Katie O’Malley. LOL !!!! (9/14/07)
To the person who is concerned about objectivity in sports reporters on TOP. How objective do you think Dave Johnson is about the teams he also works for, like the Wizards or DC United? Isn't there also a guy there who also works for the Nats? I'm surprised Bonneville continues to allow them to work for the very teams they have to cover in an "objective" manner. (9/14/07)
Morning radio in DC: the junkies trying to act 40 somethings acting 12; WTWhatever fifty somethings acting 20; and 630 am sinking in the harbor of rant. Thank God for Howard Stern. (9/14/07)
After all the discussion about WPIK and WXLN, I just want to say that DCMemories.com is a terrific website, and want to congratulate its webmaster, Kaptain Kidshow. I seem to recall in history class, reading about when the Kidshow family emigrated to American. I think they were from Latvia. Roddy Freeman (9/14/07)
By the way, WPIK was on 730 AM, was never on 950. The owners of WXLN first signed on 950 AM. It was a new AM frequency at that time. The station was not on until WXLN first signed on. WPIK was always at 730AM. Kevin (9/14/07)
re your rant, still waiting on this one. (Maybe next you can put up a diversity scoreboard for WHUR or 99.1 El Zol... Dave's response: You know, that's not such a bad idea.....) (9/14/07)
Dave's response: I'm not arguing that every radio station should feature token members of every racial/gender group. I realize that radio is in the "niche business" with stations tarketing blacks, women, young white men, Latinos, teens, whatever. But, in Bonneville's case, it's launching what I've heard will be a major radio talker with a broad range of programming and a wide spectrum of political opinion aimed at the diverse DC radio listener "pool." I'm just curious to see how many women and blacks will be part of the hosting lineup. So far, it doesn't look like too many. More or less a copy of WMAL.....
Have you accounted for Michael Baisden, Tom Joyner, LARRY YOUNG and Al Sharpton ? (9/14/07)
Dave's response: And Larry Elder and Tavis Smiley. Read what I wrote. AM radio is "heavily" white and male. I did not say "exclusively." It will be interesting to see if Bonneville will have one (just one) black host on its new 3WT? Hmmm.....
The Martin Agency of Richmond has done a knockout job on a parody of a 1960 Mattel TV commercial for the then new Chatty Cathy doll using original footage. They exactly reproduced, or even improved on the scoring and the voiceover. The links show the original spot www.youtube.com and its evil twin www.splendad.com. (9/14/07)
Where did Cerphe go after getting canned at 'HFS? Does Cerphe still do that 'HFS back in the day thing on The Globe?....Here's a nice article about Damien from 2000 www.bayweekly.com... What happened to Bob Here? And doesn't Josh Brooks work for Clear Channel?...."It's so easy to slip It's so easy to fall And let your memory drift And do nothin' at all", Lowell George (9/14/07)
Dave's response: Not sure of all the dates, but Cerphe has also worked at rockers DC101 and WAVA and at the old jazzy New Age WBMW (now WJFK-FM) before joining WARW/WTGB.....
(Dave's response: Hey, why was Fox5 running Bush in "Fat Face Mode" for the first few minutes of his speech tonight? Scary......) As opposed to Bush in HD? Pick your poison. (9/14/07)
I too questioned ESPN running the story on the alleged hate crime on the Maryland campus. I wonder if they will discuss a rape that occurred on some big universities campus this week during the weekend matchups. I decided to do a search on the internet to see what the Crime Stats were for WVU. I discovered they were sued in 2004 for improperly reporting crimes www.securityoncampus.org. When I went to WVU's website the only stats they had were from 5 years ago. Where was that story on SportsCenter?? Also, to all media members. Although what happened on the MD campus is a sad commentary on the students involved, according to federal guidelines it cannot be categorized as a hate crime. Look it up. (9/14/07)
There is a major gap in my knowledge of the WXLN days - that is, there were some offices next to Doug Bailey's Agency at 140 Congressional Lane; supposedly they were rented and a studio installed. I never saw them, but they must have been there as Bailey's studio wasn't up to a full broadcast day (even if for a daytimer radio station). So it could very well be that when Bailey was dumped for the successor format, perhaps it was broadcast from there for a short time. Then again I was also told there was at least some broadcast facility at Falls Road Golf Course. Speaking of green towers, I attended the County Council meetings where it was debated if these short green towers would mean the end of the world if they were built. I was going to testify that we needed something different on the radio dial, and Bailey's format was just that (wasn't called, thank goodness, but at least we had a victory). I would imagine that in different parts of the day the little studio next door was used as well; to be honest Bailey's studio was great for commercial production and sound effects (and original commercial tunes from the organ plus it's OWN sound effects) but it wasn't up to that much usage; one turntable was Rek-O-Kut, the other Presto, I don't even want to think of things like rumble and tonearm mass or tracking force. He had two of those vertical Ampex tape recorders, the kind that were also sold in "brown suitcases," they were kind of simple in concept but worked year after year (decades, really). The worst thing was the mixer; it was really a Bogen PA amplifier that somehow managed to warm up and work every day. Bailey had two of the "good" RCA ribbon mikes, one at the organ console, one for Johnny Parker. The highly directional characterisics of the RCA mike worked perfectly for Bailey and the organ sounds; it's side faced the swell shutters (air operated shutters that opened and closed to give the organ some volume control or "expression" and those sounds were masked along with most of the "air" noise (theater organs have a high static pressure and they leak air, after all, they date from the 1920's and 1930's.) A note of trivia is that one of the Ampexes was run every day on the P&B show and used for that "tape delay echo" thought to lessen the effect that the studio was so small. I believe when WXLN had finally gone on the air I had recently graduated high school; Bailey wanted me to quit my job at Kitt's Music upstairs to start hunting down music for the new station and be "Music Director" but I'm glad I didn't given the short life of this great (for a few weeks) station. Does anyone have any air checks or an exact timeline? Sadly I don't know what became of the many open reels, including the WXLN concept demo tapes as well of tapes of commercials Bailey had made back into the 50's. When he died the office was emptied in a hurried basis, and I don't know what became of the tapes. Bill Halvorsen (9/14/07)
Retired Pgh anchor died -- he went to UMd, I gather... Ray Tannehill at KDKA... about as well known and liked as anyone could be in 23 years at a station, especially considering he was in Bill and Patti Burns' shadow. I can't find anything online about his attending Maryland, but long-time 'Burgh anchors Stacy Smith and Patrice King-Brown reference it in at least one of the clips at kdka.com. (9/14/07)
RE: WTOP-FM & [ " Sir, must you be reminded of the individual and organization which worked so assiduously for many years to deny Washington a baseball team of its own? And, even when a team was moved to Washington, controls its television destiny and profits from it? " ].......... If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times............. Baltimore has to watch the Deadskins on their TVs every week, even channel 24 once broadcast their preseason games. And sir, must you be reminded of the individual and organization which worked so assiduously for many years to deny Baltimore a FOOTBALL team of its own? And, even when a team was moved to Baltimore, held the state of Maryland hostage for money and for its approval to be in existence at all? Ahhh, hypocrisy comes in many flavors and paybacks are a bitch aren't they? (9/14/07)
"I wish WTOP-FM and its sports reporters would show more baseball loyalty to its city of license." I would hope reporters on any news station, sports or otherwise would show no loyalty at all to any team in terms of their reporting. It's why many news shops impose a ban on reporters wearing team gear to cover games. It's one thing to joke about liking one team or another in casual banter, or to express shock or sadness at a sports story. Those are human emotions which make people on the air real to their listeners. But to insist that reporters show "loyalty" to a hometown team defies the very notion of objectivity that is at the heart of any good reporting. JT (9/14/07)
[someone said yesterday] Nearly every station with a newscast ran the story yesterday of a scientist who discovered a way to use radio-frequency waves to *burn* salt water, opening up the possibility of using the abundant stuff as a fuel source. This raises one question in my mind: if we can get water to burn, what the hell do we use to put it out? -------------- Gasoline, of course. (9/14/07)
/\ September 14 Messages /\
\/ September 13 Messages \/
Chris Matthews is a big fat hypocrite. On Wednesday he was spouting and spitting with his speech impediment about how the networks should not cover the President's speech, just because he requests time. As I tuned in to MSNBC there is Chris Matthews covering the speech. If it is not an important speech for prime time Chris, then why are you sitting your fat ass in the DC studios and not in your ritzy suburban home? I hate all of these politico's who get on TV and the Radio and make these remarks but never stand by them.... And please someone tell Matthews to get his dentures fixed, you can see the spittle coming from his mouth on my HDTV. (9/13/07)
Dave's response: Hey, why was Fox5 running Bush in "Fat Face Mode" for the first few minutes of his speech tonight? Scary......
Jake Einstein's passing marks the loss of another "great" in Washington radio. Although the format and music wasn't as "commercial" as I usually listen to (When I travel, I pot up the car radio for stopsets, local spots, etc. OK, so it annoys the hell out of my girlfriend!), I consider him a success as he had the courage to take on "established" broadcasting with WHFS. For that, I've always respected him. Pity it's unlikely we'll ever see the likes of him again. I'm tempted to pull a Mothers (of Invention, for those too young to remember) album from the basement closet and put it on the turntable (Yes, I still have one!) in his memory. Or, maybe "Fish Cheer" from "Woodstock"? One thing Jake Einstein proved was that you could make money with "Underground Radio". Maybe not a lot (At least in D! .C.), but enough to keep the lights on and the staff paid. Jake's WHFS had one essential element that makes for a successful broadcaster (And, which today's media conglomerates could care less about!): A devoted audience! Unsigned Corporate Suit... (9/13/07)
Thank you, Mr. Halvorsen. As Kevin pointed out below, I got the call letters wrong and was reminded that in the Parker & Bailey days, they were WXLN. I actually drove out to see the green towers when the station first signed on. Roddy Freeman (9/13/07)
Re: "Comcast routinely places its affiliated channels on its basic tier while refusing to make comparable independent channels available on the same basis" -- Well, duuuh! Comcast is a for-profit company, not a public utility or government entity. Naturally they're going to help themselves and hurt the competition. (That's part of the reason granting cable companies community monopolies is such a bad idea.) Did someone at the NFL just wake up or what? (9/13/07)
To answer a previous posters question... WPIK-FM signed-on at 98.3mc for only a few months beginning Monday, August 18th, 1947. (The closest you'll find that frequency to DC now-a-days is Mechanicsville, MD in Charles County.) As an 8/17/47 Washington Post article mentioned, their FM signal simulcast WPIK-AM from sunrise to sunset, and then continued to broadcast until 10pm each night. Beginning in 1946 and continuing in 1947, WPIK had secured partial radio rights to carry the Nats games, but their daytime-only status forfeited all Nats' night games (as well as Sunday games) to WWDC. Perhaps WPIK hoped an FM signal would compensate for their daytime-only AM signal, but with only 14,500 FM sets in the metro area, that idea was 25 to 30 years too early. So, for reasons we'll likely never know, WPIK-FM disappeared (without explanation) from the WaPost radio listings (and presumably from the airwaves) by May 1948. A little more than ten years later, WXRA(FM) signed-on in Woodbridge on Christmas Day, 1958. Some details at: dcmemories.com (9/13/07)
What would cause ESPN, during the first quarter of tonight's Maryland game, to suddenly break away from the action on the field and have the announcer start talking about this stupid noose that was supposedly in a tree on campus? The announcer was incorrect by stating that the "noose was found last week" when in fact it had been hanging there for two weeks being ignored by everyone walking by. In fact the maintenance staff thought so little of it that they threw it away. If you were a black recruit watching from Florida would this change your mind about coming to Maryland? Lets see if ESPN also reports that West Virginia is playing a freshmen who was convicted of armed robbery. This is totally inexcusable. (9/13/07)
Around 1968, WHFS 102.3, on Cordell Avenue in Bethesda, was a middle of the road station--Sinatra, Ray Anthony, etc. Then somebody decided they'd do this new "underground rock" thing, weekdays, 4PM-12Midnight. At 12Midnight, they went back to middle of the road music. I can recall dating the allnight announcer, and taking her from dinner and a movie to work, I in my suit and tie, she equally dressed up. We'd enter to a lobby full of Woodstock refugees who, at the sight of so straight a couple, would immediately begin a simultaneous stubbing of funny little cigarettes into ashtrays as they sat on the floor. Very noisy, very funny. I always wanted to whip out my wallet with a fake badge and announce, "up against the wall!" It wasn't long til middle of the road was gone and they could smoke what they wanted, when they wanted. (9/13/07)
During the 6:45 sports report this morning (9/13) on WTOP-FM, I heard Dave Johnson get emotional about Baltimore’s baseball team losing last night’s game. OK, perhaps he’s a native of Baltimore. In that case, a bit of disappointment might be OK. But, emotion? Sir, must you be reminded of the individual and organization which worked so assiduously for many years to deny Washington a baseball team of its own? And, even when a team was moved to Washington, controls its television destiny and profits from it? Last I saw, WTOP-FM is licensed to Washington, D.C., with studios on Idaho Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C., and transmitter on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C. Now, I’ll grant that the comparatively flea-powered WTLP-FM relaying WTOP-FM may serve listeners who ma! y be fans of the baseball team in Baltimore. However, the vast majority of WTOP-FM’s service area is in Washington, D.C. and its immediate suburbs –Not Baltimore! Baseball fans in Washington no longer have to genuflect towards Baltimore for major league baseball as we have it here once again. I ask you, would your counterpart at WBAL-AM be equally emotional over a Washington Nationals loss? Does WBAL-AM cover the Washington Nationals to a degree equal to WTOP-FM’s coverage of Baltimore’s baseball team? I seriously doubt it. While I realize that Washington was a baseball vacuum for more than a generation with the nearest “native” baseball fans being in Baltimore, I wish WTOP-FM and its sports reporters would show more baseball loyalty to its city of license. And, to the baseball fans who live in that city and its suburbs. (OK, maybe he was doing a remote from 3800 Hooper Avenue?) (9/13/07)
what ever happend to WPIK FM??? thanks (9/13/07)
Dave's response: There never was a WPIK-FM in the DC area. WPIK-AM's FM relay was WXRA, 105.9. It became classic rock WCXR in the 1980s and is now Smooth Jazz 105.9, WJZW. The old WPIK-AM on 730 is now Dan Snyder's Triple X sports talker.....
Dear Dave: Really enjoy reading your reports almost every day. Keep up the good work. A comment on HD Radio: I have been a frustrated fan since day one. The sound is fantastic but the reception is terrible. What are the restrictions on a station boosting the digital signal to the level of the analogue? Thanks. Jon Powers (9/13/07)
(quote)///That’s interesting because when WCTN 950 first signed on, the station carried Parker & Bailey, who had left WPIK. And I believe the WCTN studios were located in Congressional Plaza. I’m guessing they were in the space that had been used by WPIK(unquote)////There was no WCTN 950 carrying Parker & Bailey, 950 AM began as WXLN, WCTN was some time after the plug was pulled on Doug Bailey's nostalgia format, perhaps 2 months or less after it began. WPIK did not really have a Rockville studio; I highly doubt if anyone can come up with an aircheck of WPIK "switching to it's Rockville studios" for any purpose other than the Parker & Bailey show. Calling it their Rockville Studio was a promotional stretch. The studio, ad agency offices, and theater organ installation were in "office space" Bailey rented from Congressional Plaza. No radio show other than Parker & Bailey originated from Bailey's office; I believe the WCTN broadcasts were from the transmitter site. They were unhappy times for Doug Bailey who had worked hard to bring a radio nostalgia format to listeners, including live talent, but the stockholders pulled out. It was way past the time where a radio station could have a really different format (gasp) for adults (double gasp). Bill Halvorsen (9/13/07)
The perfect daily or once a week roundtable of sports hosts would be Phil Wood, Craig Heist, Frank Herzog and George Wallace. Individually able to handle it on their own, but together an unbeatable group of very knowledgable people who can talk about more than just one sport. Historically, Phil Wood is the best baseball guy in town. If Craig Heist ain't covering it from the press box and locker room, it ain't worth covering. Frank IS football in Washington, screw Larry Michael. And George Wallace is one of the most entertaining guys behind the mic on a variety of sports. Together they would be an unbeatable group. If you rotated in regular contributors like Dave Jageler (who once hosted six hours of sports talk in Providence with no phones at all), Johnny Holliday, Steve Kolbe and Dave Johnson to talk about their respective sports during the peak of their baseball, college basketball, hockey & soccer seasons, it would be as good or better than anything ESPN had to offer, but on a local Washington level. (9/13/07)
In honor of Jake Einstein, take a trip down memory lane, WHFS-style. From "Spiritus Cheese" to "Murray The K on HFS" to "All-News 'HFS"(?!?) to 'HFS on WEAM(?!!?), and the eventual "Departure of a Pioneer". DCMemories.com... There's even surprise appearances by Savannah and by Johnny Dark. (Yes, you'll need to scroll down to read it all.) (9/13/07)
Dave's response: Damn. I remember reading all those articles when they first appeared in the Post. The sale of WHFS 102.3 to the then-owner of WTOP, the possibility of WHFS getting moved to WEAM 1390, then having it eventually re-emerge at 99.1 in Annapolis. And then having that signal being sold. Oh the memories.....
If you want to discuss a REAL trainwreck, look no further than syndicated talk radio host Michael Reagan's DC producer Dan Susskind. Dan survived an actual train wreck in Germany a few years ago. (9/13/07)
The trouble with local sports radio is the overreliance on the likes of John Riggins and John Thompson, who have more value as "names" than as actual sports talk show hosts. Washington needs an equivalent of Mike Francesa and Christopher Russo, people who can discuss a wide variety of sports (and other topics) and be simultaneously authoritative, intelligent and entertaining. There are probably a handful of former jocks or coaches who have those qualities, but Riggins and Thompson aren't among them. -- Vincent in Triangle (9/13/07)
Yo DAVE, I used to bartend in potomac years ago and JAKE EINSTEIN used to come into the pub there and talk shop all the time. He was a gruff,honest character of a man who would criticize all the other stations around at the time (early 90's) about how bad their playlist's were and other stuff. It took me awhile to finally ask him one day just who the heck he was and why he was always ragging on every station at the time. After I figured it out he would still talk the talk and he certainly walked the walk. Glad to have met an HONEST FIGURE in the radio biz. He might've been a little rough around the edges but then again he was a pioneer in the radio biz at the time and certainly will be missed......THANKS MMC...... (9/13/07)
During the Parker and Bailey era the call letters were WXLN. After Keith Jolley and Christ Church of Washington bought the station they changed the call letters to WCTN. The studios were in Congressional Plaza until WCTN moved them to Potomac Maryland Kevin (9/13/07)
MIAMI, Sept. 12 -- After 4 hours 9 minutes of laboring in the tropical midday heat in a cavernous and virtually empty stadium Wednesday afternoon, the Washington Nationals got stuck with this: a 5-4 loss to the Florida Marlins in 12 innings. I don't know what to say about this picture. It is so sad. Ed Graham
(9/13/07)Dave's response: I saw that in the paper this morning. I hope Washington Post Radio (soon to be 3WT) is getting a few more than that as listeners.....
“the (WPIK) Maryland studios mentioned were the Congressional Plaza, Rockville offices of ad man Doug Bailey... one-half of the Parker & Bailey duo…” That’s interesting because when WCTN 950 first signed on, the station carried Parker & Bailey, who had left WPIK. And I believe the WCTN studios were located in Congressional Plaza. I’m guessing they were in the space that had been used by WPIK. Roddy Freeman (9/13/07)
I had the pleasure of sharing many a cocktail with Jake Einstein at Chadwicks back in the day. The man was pure gold and smart as whip. Jake really understood how radio was supposed to work. Everyone in the country was aware of the old 102.3 FM. The DJ’s were unconventional, the music was unconventional and the format was unconventional. He understood why it was important to be local. He understood why the personalities must be engrained in the music and club community. Diane, David, Damien, Weasel and Cerphe were real people who picked their own music and people loved them. Jake did it the right way. Jake was a pioneer. Jake will be missed. (9/13/07)
What's up with WRC's analog transmitter? The over the air signal was weak last night. (9/13/07)
“If you want to discuss a train wreck of a sports radio program, you don't have to look any further than John Riggins and his crew.” If you want a real train wreck of a sports radio program, I recommend the John Thompson show. It's hands down the worst. (9/13/07)
RE: WOL & WYCB's new transmitting site...... Amazing that it took Radio One 10 years and STILL they did it on the cheap. The site apparently does not have enough room for a full ground system, so both AM signals are going to be extremely inefficient, haphazardly directional, as well as underpowered. (9/13/07)
Jake Einstein certainly wasn't the "founder" of WHFS, he was the fourth or fifth owner. The previous owners were unsuccessful and he is due a great deal of credit for finding a formula that worked (and for FM "coming of age" during his ownership). (9/13/07)
Dave's response: No, he wasn't the first owner of radio station WHFS. But he was, I think we'll all agree, the "founder" of the legendary WHFS free-form progressive rock "format." In its earliest days in the 1960s, 102.3 was classical music, wasn't it?
If the news about Mr. Einsteinstein's passing is true, my sympathies go to their family on this High Jewish Holiday. Shalom My Friend! Rusty Gibson (9/13/07)
Dave's response: Amen!
One observation about the June 1966 WPIK ad DCMemories.com which stressed "the powerful voice that serves the Mid-Atlantic States" and "the only station with studios in Washington, Maryland and Virginia." I know from Bill Halvorsen's excellent website www.wqmrwgaymemories.org that the Maryland studios mentioned were the Congressional Plaza, Rockville offices of ad man Doug Bailey... one-half of the Parker & Bailey duo, whose program (with a live organ) was fed via a 5kc "equalized" phone line down to Alexandria. Does anyone have a clue as to where WPIK's DC studios were located? (9/13/07)
that last Riggins poster was correct. it doesn't sound like much, if any, preparation is done. he makes it seem like watching games is an imposition for him. Anyone know how long his contract is for? It has only been one year so far, so you'd have to imagine he has at least 1 more year, if not 2 more left. Either way, that is a lot of bad radio left to be heard. Maybe Bonneville will hire him and put him with Tony Kornheiser...the Odd Couple of radio. (9/13/07)
The John Riggins show doesn't work because John is not a lead guy. He wants to be a lead guy but he is not willing to invest the time and effort. Gary and Kevin were supposed to be the side kicks but they have evolved into the main players because Riggins won't do the work and frankly doesn't care. If Riggins didn't have the gig he wouldn't even watch NFL games on a regular basis let alone other sports. He would rather be fishing, hunting or drinking and it shows. It is OK for Riggins to broadcast from NYC if the necessary prep work gets done. A new show like this takes hours of prep everyday and it sounds like they talk for about 45 minutes daily. In addition, Riggins is off way to much. You can't establish the necessary bond with the listener in the first few years if you take eight weeks off a year. All of the good talk show hosts waited a couple of years before taking more than two weeks leave. The total show costs Red Zebra well over a million dollars a year and the ratings are dismal. It is one thing to have talent call all of the shots when the ratings are good, it is another when there is no return on this outlandish investment. If anyone thinks that Riggins will get his contract renewed next time they are crazy. (9/13/07)
Roddy Freeman and Joe Kasell: There's a posting further down the mailbag page that has a DCMemories.com link to newspaper ads and articles about WPIK, including a May 1965 article about Jim Gibbons moving from WOL to do the sign-on to 10:00 am shift on WPIK, and a June 1966 ad which mentions "an all-star lineup of James Leo Gibbons, Carl Kassel, Jay Perry, Parker & Bailey, and Milton Q. Ford". (9/13/07)
Forget Andy Pollin. If you want to discuss a train wreck of a sports radio program, you don't have to look any further than John Riggins and his crew. This is possibly one of the worst radio shows in the history of radio. Riggins was (and is) great in his own way. His was very funny and engaging when he was on WTEM as a guest and he does a good job with his Redskins TV work. BUT he is NOT a radio host. he can't complete most thoughts, his sentences are disjointed and except for hunting and drinking beer, he has a general lack of knowledge about most of the things he is talking about...even football. If you listen to the show, you will hear Gary and Kevin either correct him (like the other day when Riggins called Duece McAllister "Duke McAllister"), give him the name of someone that he can't come up with or help him finish his points. To make matters worse, Gary and Kevin constantly talk over John. to the point where it is uncomfortable to listen. Gary was VERY funny when he was with TK, but he is not a talk radio host. Kevin is verbose and too serious. there just aren't enough mics in the room for all these guys. to top all of that off, Riggins does most shows from NY and even though the normal listener can't tell he isn't in studio, it adds to the disjointedness of the program. Rumors are the he gets close to $1.5 mil a year. He hasn't gotten any ratings they can sell, so as soon as his contract is up, you can expect to see them go in a different direction. Maybe they will hire Andy Pollin?! (9/13/07)
Dear Dave: In response to Roddy Freeman, my Dad, Carl Kasell, was the morning man at WPIK from 1965 to 1971. Starting in 1967, he was also heard on WAVA, where he did the news during afternoon drive and the weekends. Keep in mind that digital tuners didn't exist and that tuning in a station meant turning a knob and watching a needle scroll over a frequency dial to whatever frequency you wanted. Given that not all dials were calibrated exactly and that the frequencies for WPIK and WAVA were close (AM 730 and AM 780), during an afternoon one could tune it what they think was the former when it was actually the latter, hear my Dad's voice, and think that he was doing a newscast for WPIK. Now it may well be that Jim Gibbons was the morning personality, but that had to be before my Dad began work at WPIK. Gibbons is also remembered for being the play-by-play voice of the Washington Redskins, preceding Steve Gilmartin, Len Hathaway, Frank Herzon, and (gasp) Larry Michael, and also owned WFMD in Frederick for a number of years. Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (9/13/07)
For most fans, it's better if the Joe Gibbs Show is done in a friendly place something WTEM wasn't with Czaban even though Czaban asked the tough questions. Weinstein will ask Gibbs tough questions but Michael doesn't have it in him. Most fans prefer when the host plays nice with Gibbs. (9/13/07)
Shawn Murphy? Howard Stern…He had to come back because he shot his career down the shitter in New York. He steals material from anyone and everyone to maintain his “friends” status requirements. (9/13/07)
**This may be a repeat** Radio One's long quest to find a permanent home for WOL has come to an end. The FCC has issued a construction permit for the facility on 1st Place NE that's currently operating under an STA. Transmitter power will only be 370 watts in order to not exceed the coverage to the north provided by the old facility (this greatly simplified getting the CP). Also issued was a CP to move WYCB to the same antenna with 1000 watts. // Congratulations on 10 years! It's hard to believe it's been that long. Regards, Dave Loudin (9/13/07)
Was listening to Cerphe show on the globe yesterday afternoon and they played a tired joe jackson song and then a tired Who song and then finished set up with Mr. Springsteen's latest single called "radio nowhere" seems like an okay song but if i heard the lyrics right it's a negative comment on precisely the kind of boring radio the globe does...say isn't that ironic...... Annie Wilson has released solo album with Zeppelin classic "Immigrant Song" on it.....at this point Annie Wilson has more of a Robert Plant voice from days of yore than Plant has these days judging from his Soundstage performance broadcast on PBS last year....now that Volkswagen is locally based, Herndon, did the Nick Drake music ad campaign fail....I sure liked them commercials (9/13/07)
/\ September 13 Messages /\
\/ September 12 Messages \/
"Fox 5's entire 6PM hour hits the all time low." Bravo! I couldn't have said it better myself. Just absolute trash. Do yourselves a favor folks. Turn off the TV and spend some quality time with your family or pick up a good book. (9/12/07)
I hate to prolong this, but I vividly remember Jim Gibbons doing the morning show on WPIK right after WOL changed formats. And I just called a friend in Baltimore to see if I’m cracking up. If I’m cracking up, he is too because he also remembers Gibbons doing the morning show. So Joe Kasell or Sean Hall, please clarify. Are you saying that Carl Casell was the morning personality at WPIK? Or did he do the news or another airshift? My getting to sleep tonight depends on your answer. Another question I have is, was 730’s transmitter site always where it is now (in Mount Vernon)? Was it ever in Alexandria? I seem to remember it was, but that memory is not as clear as Gibbons in mornings. On another subject, Max reminded me of a couple of things. I used to say that WDON was the only station that couldn’t be picked up a block from its tower, and that was pretty much true. WDON, at 1540 with 1,000 watts, used a tower in back of its studios on University Boulevard. A couple blocks or so away, also on University Boulevard, was WTOP, at 1500 with 50,000 watts. And I well remember the WASH trailer. In the summer of 1969, a friend and I (Rick Marr) toured every single radio station in the DC market, including the fringe ones such as WOHN. I remember walking up to the trailer; Mike Conners was on the air. We asked for Bob Duckman. Conners told us to go into the building. Roddy Freeman (9/12/07)
Well Dave, i don't no if it is the same story. But Fox Sports Radio, just said NFL Network HD will be off for 24 to 48 hours. Also web site www.tvpredictions.com had it on there web site. I don't no if it is the same thing. Doug (9/12/07)
I missed Holly Morris clubbing the baby seals. Is it on YouTube? (9/12/07)
"Fox 5's entire 6PM hour hits the all time low. From the sleazy, slimy in-your-face ''News Edge'' at 6 to the flesh crawling, nausea inducing TMZ at 6 30" I disagree. TMZ on TV is a refreshing change to the puff pieces done by ET and Inside Hollywood. TMZ shows celebs as what they are; shallow classless people like most people. Paul (9/12/07)
The NFL Network, A&E, Histroy and Yes Network HD. Was not working because of a fire . They hope to have it back up in 72 hours. The fire happen at Harbor Drive in Conn. - Doug (9/12/07)
Dave's response: We reported on our Boston/Hartford News page that there was a transmitter site fire in Stamford CT. I presume that's the one you're referencing.....
Mild Max sparks a great memory from early WASH days. The KLAC trailer used until the WASH studios were finshed sat on Harrison ST.NW.(between Harrison and Garrison there's no comparison!). At that time, all our music was played on turntables. Unfortunately, night time jocks were at the mercy of inebriated customers of Alfio's Italian restaurant across the street who would rock the trailer on their way to their cars resulting in major problems with the tunes. Certainly could have used a cart machine! BD (9/12/07)
Dave… I don’t think WDON and WASH ever simulcast either station’s program schedule in the time they were co-owned. But it did bring to mind the now apocryphal story that was told by Bill Dalton, WASH’s former General Manager from the days when Metromedia owned the station (Bill was also later my boss when he owned oldies XTRA-104 in Waldorf, and I was part of the two-man news department with Metro’s Jim Hawk). Anyway, Bill tells the story that shortly after Metromedia purchased WASH, he would be at the station’s studios which were then off of University Boulevard in Wheaton, just west of the transmitter and tower facilities for what was then WTOP at 1500 AM. Bill says it was not uncommon for people to walk into the lobby of the station lugging large bags of clothing in need of laundry services, in part because of the big brightly lit sign outside the building that said “WASH”. ROFL! Eventually, of course, WASH moved to 5151 Wisconsin Ave with then-co-owned Channel 5/WTTG, but for a few months before the station’s studios were ready down in the basement of the Metromedia building, WASH announcers like “Long” John Dowling, Jerry Clark and Bob Duckman all did their programs from a makeshift studio in a trailer under a big tree right out on a side street off of Wisconsin. And that, as they say, is the rest of the…well, you know! To my old stereophonic compadre Ed Rod, hey, man, hope life is good “on the beach” !! Call me! And so it goes! - Max in Mild West Arlington… (9/12/07)
The WMAL feature in DCRTV Plus is terrific. Old Time Washington radio buffs will really enjoy it. Sorry no mention of Trumbell and Core or its great news staff (besides Larry Krebs). That's a radio format you'll probably never hear again. And speaking of old time radio, any word of a WQCB dinner this October? (9/12/07)
Dave's response: I will be adding more stuff to the WMAL Memories page at DCRTV Plus real soon, including Trumbull and Core pics. And, no, I haven't heard anything about this year's WQCB. Anybody know?
What's all this talk of mailbag quotas? I'm a firm believer in "Spare the E-Rod (or Spare the Roddy) and spoil the nostalgia." Besides... you can be sure that Dave Hughes is gathering all this data for an eventual "WPIK Tribute Page". 1000-watt WPIK-AM signed-on for the first time by Howard Hayes and Carl L. Lindberg on Monday, December 10th, 1945. WPIK-FM signed-on (for a few months anyway) on Monday, August 18th, 1947 at the frequency of 98.3mc, but disappeared (without explanation) from newspaper listings by May 1948. WXRA, Woodbridge signed on at 105.9mHz on Christmas Day, 1958, but didn't get so much as a mention in the WaPost for years. An article from the WaPost of 2/9/47 relates the story that "Having sunk 11 tons of concrete into a nice juicy swamp so their transmitter could be in moist surroundings, (WPIK) spent three weeks blasting it out again when it submerged out of sight." Read it at: DCMemories.com (9/12/07)
Actually, WBAL fought hard to keep the Orioles and even outbid WHFS but would not agree to some conditions team Angelos set. So yes--the O's pulled the deal away from WBAL and WBAL has worked actively since to denigrate WHFS to O's management and get the O's back. There is no connection between the Ravens and O's deals. (9/12/07)
Somebody asked when WDON and WASH shared programming: I don't recall that they ever did..but I didn't know about those stations until 1966 (I could pick up WDON at the school for the blind in Baltimore)..not a bad station in those days..would had been nice if WDON and WASH had have shared the same programming..that is..if WASH could have shared WDON's country format! Then, I could have listened to WDON here on the shore; I could pull them in ever so slightly; it was an adventure to try and listen to them down here! When I was at school (and during the time of year when the sun rose very early in the morning)..when all the crap would die away before eight in the morning, I'd sometimes switch over and listen to Tomcat Reader ((sorry if I've misspelled that last name)! Tom in Denton, MD (9/12/07)
Regarding the "late, great" Cal Worthington, the renowned TV car salesman is still with us. Reportedly, he's living in Northern California, and his commercials continue to air in this part of the USA. Mike in SoCal (9/12/07)
An interesting post earlier about the Ravens, Orioles and their radio rights. Interesting yes, but not very accurate. The poster opined that it's " no wonder the orioles pulled the account from beauchump's stumble bums." The Orioles did NOT "pull the account". It was BAL's decision to go after the Ravens. The Orioles then went to CBS almost by default. I just wish posters who put so much effort into being "clever" would put the same effort into being "accurate". No, I don't work at either station, I just care about the truth. (9/12/07)
when did WASH and WDON share the same programming??? thanks (9/12/07)
I used to think A Current Affair and Hard Copy were scraping the bottom of the barrell. How WRONG I was! Fox 5's entire 6PM hour hits the all time low. From the sleazy, slimy in-your-face ''News Edge'' at 6 to the flesh crawling, nausea inducing TMZ at 6 30. My hats off to you, Fox 5. You've lowered the bar and have taken any kind of ''credibility'' you may have tried to make for yourself and placed it firmly in the gutter. After the one time I watched it, I needed a shower just to wash the stench off me from watching. What's next at Fox5? Holly Morris in a bikini clubbing baby seals? Paul (9/12/07)
I remember Bob Dupree's "Mesopotamian Whorehouse" line vividly. I believe the cologne was "The Baron," which smelled great at the time. Maybe it was just me, since it's either not stood the test of time or ended up on the fragrance shelf at Eckerd. Not sure which. The midday jock who shot the Coke machine? I remember his first name was Jerry but my memory's equally foggy on his last name. I DO remember Red Shipley giving him my weekend airshifts because I was working at three stations and this guy was sleeping in his car, IIRC. Those were the days, indeed. sean hall (9/12/07)
It is being reported that the female Rutgers basketball player, who claimed that she was defamed by Don Imus, has dropped her lawsuit against Imus. Most likely because an attorney with some brains told her that she had absolutely no chance of prevailing. Kudos to Imus for not caving in and settling. (9/12/07)
Dave's response: I won't defend Imus. What he said was awful. But, a college basketball player is more-or-less a "public figure." And Imus's stupid comments weren't directed at her specifically, but her team. She would have had a difficult time winning a court case. My guess is that CBS Radio quietly cut her a check to put an end to the "negative publicity".....
I wish I had a shot to make a playlist for WGTB. I'd show them a thing or two. All rock and roll of course. I think sometimes what is missing in a good playlist are the transitions from one song to the next song. I've heard a decent string of songs from them recently, so I know they can do it. Yeah next thing ya know, they might be back to Bob Seger and Bad Company etc. That's why I stopped listening to the old WARW. Fitz (9/12/07)
The Joe Gibbs show is a joke. The only time the show had any merit was during the WTEM days and that ended once the tough questions were asked of Coach Joe. Then Joe moved to Triple X because of the Redskin affiliation and Riggins made him very uncomfortable. The thing about Gibbs is you know when he is lying. He gets that nervous giggle. Today, Gibbs is buried on the Larry Michael Skins love fest hour where he fields lots of softball questions while passing out free bibles. (9/12/07)
"Savannah joins NBC News from Court TV" -
I thought she was already there (9/12/07)Dave's response: Savannah is the sultry, southern, brunett Wendy.....
It's Wednesday afternoon...shouldn't the Ravens pre-game coverage on WJFK, WHFS, 98-Rock, and WBAL start within the next hour or so? Greg in Reisterstown (9/12/07)
pretty funny. according to the ravens web page at their "flagship", it's still pre-season. no wonder the orioles pulled the account from beauchump's stumble bums. (9/12/07)
re: "Perhaps the next DCRTV Battle should be between Tammy Darvish and Crystal Koons. Both need to learn to leave their commercials to the professionals! " They are both very sexy women. However, Crystal Koons is by far sexier. She really gets my motor runnin'! The Tooz (9/12/07)
To the "Mailbagger" bitching about Tom Petty and Iggy back to back. Need I remind you that "Heartbreakerker" member Scott Thurston was once a member of "The Stooges" (as well as "The Motels"). Just some useless info. Rusty Gibson (9/12/07)
"From bigheaddc.com" Is the person running this site a family member or friend of yours? They sure get a lot of plugs on DCRTV under the guise of (worthless) stories. (9/12/07)
Tony Kornheiser should hang it up, he sucks and appears to be a total NFL League Office "Yes-man" already. That was obvious at the end of the the Ravens-Bengals game when there were 2 blatantly terrible ref calls (1 against each team) and all the ESPN crew w/ Tony K did was act as if they were in a hurry-up telecast mode to get the next game in on time, not giving a damn about the current game they were telecasting. At least that's what it seemed like watching it live. What the hell is an analyst supposed to be there for? Kornheiser added nothing to that telecast. From a fan's perspective, that game was 1 of the closest to a "FIXED" outcome that I've seen in years. I don't think it was fixed for or against anybody, just fixed to finish "AS SCHEDULED & ON TIME!" (9/12/07)
Can you imagine any other city's Office of Cable Television and Telecommunications wasting taxpayer's money to televise the funeral of any of their former mayors' wives, especially when the mayor is an EX-CON? I think that just sums up how f'd up DC government is and why it will never become a state. (9/12/07)
From bigheaddc.com:
Gag reflexes, be warned.
Regular listeners of Rush Limbaugh (we are not one of them!) have reported that the conservative talker has taken to hawking an unusual item during his daily radio show.
No, not Viagra! It’s pig-flavored java that he can’t get enough of.
When he recently started plugging Maple Bacon Flavored Coffee on air, some listeners thought it was a joke. “For heaven’s sake, man!” screamed one lady blogger. “How many tons of pulverized Oxycontin do you have to shove up your nose to think caffeinated pork is a good idea!”
It’s not that she’s not a huge fan of all things coffee and all things bacon. “I’m not one of those culinary ideologues who insist that my peas not touch my carrots,” explains the blogger. ”But this is an abomination. Truly, it is. I’m just saying…if we start swilling pork flavored coffee…the terrorists have freakin’ won, folks.”
Ditto on that, kids. (9/12/07)The Dan Patrick slot on Triple X ESPN should go to Van Pelt with or without Sheehan although I thought the two paired together yesterday was a really good listen. Van Pelt is a talent and he was much better yesterday than he's been by himself. Perhaps the credit goes to Sheehan who does well to make Riggins better. The Joe Gibbs show needs to be done with someone who will ask him the occasional tough question something Michael and Weinstein either won't or aren't allowed to do. It's too bad really because Weinstein does a pretty good job covering the Redskins and is capable of asking the tough questions. How bout the glut of Redskin programming on radio and tv in this area. Comcast has 7 Redkins shows and none of them are good. When it comes to the Skins, Weinstein and Sheehan from Triple X and Walker and Czaban from WTEM are the only ones that do the job well. (9/12/07)
Dear Dave: In response to the Bob Dupree story from John “Diamond” Diamantis: that really made me laugh because I can just picture him in my mind (with that voice) saying exactly that! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (9/12/07)
Last 10 Songs Played on WTGB: Tom Petty- Running down a dream, Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child, Wilco - What Light, Pink Floyd - Run like hell, U2 - Pride (in the name of love), INXS - New Sensation, Crosby Stills N Nash - Cary On, Sting - Fields of Gold, The Fray - Over my Head, Eric Clapton - Before you accuse me..... Besides the one Fray song and maybe the Wilco song - looks exactly like a playlist that you could find on the defunct arrow. Think they are making their way back towards a classic rock radio station Dave? (9/12/07)
Dave's response: Yes, I'm afraid so. I've gotten soooooo frustrated with Clueless 94.7's unimaginative playlist that I've stopped listening. I doubt I'm alone. With Don Geromino due to leave 106.7 next spring, and no successor in sight, it looks like CBS Radio will have two of its DC stations "crashing and burning" at the same time.....
Perhaps the next DCRTV Battle should be between Tammy Darvish and Crystal Koons. Both need to learn to leave their commercials to the professionals! (9/12/07)
Dave's response: You know, that's not a bad idea.....
Absolutely the most deranged Dave Campo (Car Sales Evangelist) clip of all is "right heeeeeeere": www.youtube.com... That's right, friends. (9/12/07)
The Joe Gibbs radio show can't seem to stay in the same place from one year to the next. Back in 2004, it was hosted by Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban on WTEM. Apparently Gibbs didn't like the tough, probing nature of the questioning so Bram Weinstein (who comes across as more polite and deferential to the Redskins head coach) was named sole interviewer the following season. With the launch of Red Zebra a year ago, the show became part of John Riggins' afternoon drive program on Mondays. Now it's heard in the noon hour on Tuesdays with Weinstein and Larry Michael doing the honors. Listening to 980's Sports Reporters, it's hard not to get the impression that Pollin and especially Czaban still harbor some sort of grudge against Gibbs over what happened three years ago. They seem to go out of their way to rake him over the coals on an almost daily basis regarding seemingly minor issues involving the Skins, and you'd think the Dolphins were the worst team ever to take the field in a pro football game listening to them belittle last Sunday's season opening victory over Miami. Speaking of WTEM, the John Thompson show was marking yesterday's 9-11 anniversary with clips from pro-America songs but the producer appears to have fallen into the old trap of mistaking Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" for a patriotic anthem (it's no more so than "I Ain't Marching Anymore"). Another irony is that Neil Diamond's "America" (also heard on the program) was actually on a list of songs that Clear Channel discouraged its music stations from playing in the weeks following the attacks. Exactly why is unclear - perhaps its pro-immigration theme was considered out of step with the rather xenophobic mood of the nation at the time. Mike, Fairfax (9/12/07)
I worked at WPIK/WXRA from late ’77 as a part time jock, through the sale to Metroplex Communications (not Malrite) as a full time jock, and on through the CXR era, becoming asst. Chief Engineer, and then Chief Engineer of WCXR/WCPT. . During my PIK/X-Ray time, the studios were located in a warehouse off Duke St. in Alexandria. My memory’s a bit foggy, but IIRC, mornings were simulcast, with “Shy Guy” Hamilton, I don’t remember the name of the midday jock on XRA, but I do remember he blasted the coke machine with a shotgun because it beat him out of $0.50. Bob Dupree did middays on PIK. Afternoons were simulcast with PD Bob Hughes (I don’t remember the rest of the air staff at that time, but Dave Hammond did an air shift somewhere). By the time I joined the staff, they were converting to a Drake-Chenault live assist format with reel to reel tapes. The equipment was showing it’s age too; the PIK on air console was a ca. 1950’s RCA tube type, that actually worked most of the time, and the XRA on air console was germanium transistor RCA BC7a, that needed a good whack on the left side every now and then to bring back a dead left channel. A quick story (I’ve actually got enough to fill a book); Sean Hall and I were sitting in studio while Bob Dupree was on the air, doing the required time/temp/artist back sell-front sell, and reading from his stack of National Geographic magazines. In studio, Bob was usually all business, but did surprise you now and then with his wit. Sean had on a particularly strong cologne that day, to which Bob quipped in that incredible voice of his, “Sean, what is that awful cologne you’re wearing? It smells like a Mesopotamian Whore House…” song fades, and without skipping a beat, he hit the mic on key…, “that was Anne Murray. WPIK time is 1:17. Here’s Razzy Bailey. Mic off, then he hit the tape start, and went back to his reading. Those were the days. John “Diamond” Diamantis (9/12/07)
Greatest car salesman on TV ever? In fact, TV and the advent of the car culture is what made Cal Worthington by far the most successful TV car salesman ever. Peck, Koons, Ourisman, they’re all amateurs compared to Cal. He’s been in the car business for 56 years, and has probably sold more cars and trucks than anyone in the world.Cal’s slogan has always been, "I'll stand on my head to beat anybody's deal," and he's proved it time and time again. On top of that, how many car dealers were so famous that Johnny Carson used to make jokes about him in his monologue? -- PB (9/12/07)Dave, Here is a column on how the Ravens are getting more coverage both local and nationally. www.examiner.com... Cheers, Jim (9/12/07)
Nearly every station with a newscast ran the story yesterday of a scientist who discovered a way to use radio-frequency waves to *burn* salt water, opening up the possibility of using the abundant stuff as a fuel source. This raises one question in my mind: if we can get water to burn, what the hell do we use to put it out? (9/12/07)
Greatest TV car salesman ever? No, not Dave Campo, but Southern California’s late, great Cal Worthington. Not even close. - PB (9/12/07)
Dave's response: Two words that'll keep me out of the showroom - Tammy Darvish.....
Dear Dave: OK, I'm at my allotment on this WPIK discussion. After speaking more with my Dad yesterday, he was at WPIK from 1965 to 1971. He started at WAVA in 1967 as a part-timer, went full-time late in 1971, began work at NPR as a part-timer in 1975, then left WAVA in1977 to go full-time at NPR. As Paul Harvey would say: "Now you know the rest of the story." With all this discussion about the days of yore, now I'm starting to get old. Again, Dave, a great site! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (9/12/07)
Re: Screaming car salesman from mailbag of 9/7. That was none other than Dave Campo the greatest car saleman ever! He used to do spots on location for Templeton Oldsmobile, that proved to be too expensive so they switched to chromakey studio production. He later did spots for Dick Stevens Chevrolet, "So whadya gonna do! Pick up the phone and give us a call! Drive it home TODAY!" I have the DIck Stevens spots, will post em on YouTube soon. Tom in DC (9/12/07)
Re: "I can't imagine [WUSA9.com] management wanted this for their official description." Having been on the developer side for more than one company's sites, I'd bet no one at channel 9 ever got back to the developer(s) about what the official description should be. They're probably still having meetings about it. (9/12/07)
Like Roddy, I've reached my mailbag quotient, so this is it! WPIK and WXRA were co-owned by the Potomac Broadcasting Company. The owner was named Carl Linbergh and the late "Bud" Hayes, an engineer, was our General Manager. Essentially, WXRA only had an engineer of record, who also held the title of Station Manager, Bob Taliaferro. While WPIK had state of the art (c. 1945) studios on First Street, in Alexandria, WXRA's "studio" was in a little 800 square foot shack on the banks of the Occoquan River. I nicknamed it "Vietnam" and the name stuck. It was like serving in a jungle on summer nights. There was no air conditioning and most of the jocks carried small calibre pistols or revolvers to shoot at any intruding rats, snakes or other vermin. In the fall of 1973, they began simulcasting from First Street and ID-ing both stations as WPIK/WXRA. They could have been WPIK AM/FM but, when the owner sold to Malrite, they brought the late Ted Stecker in as PD and Ted ALWAYS named his stations "KIX." So, the greatest calls in Country music were switched to WPKX. Later in his career, Ted was hired as PD of WLS-FM in Chicago to take it Country. I suggested resurrecting "The Prairie Farmer" theme of the pre-Rock WLS. But, Ted stuck with "KIX" and the station's format lasted less than a year. - ER (9/12/07)
Okay... but, this is it! The FCC requires that at least 50% of the programming between an AM/FM combo be "different." Whatever the FM did while the daytime AM was off the air was considered to be "different programming." The weekend shows were, most likely, hyperintensively about Alexandria and Woodbridge, respectively. Public Affiars documentation about local (community of license) issues remains an important factor at renewal time, even today! - ER (9/12/07)
Our favorite news readers wear make-up while performing. I wonder just how awful they would look without it. What is the theory behind the use of make-up for television performers? I remember once seeing a photograph of a person who was being televised in the days before TV had been "perfected." In order to get a good TV picture, the performer had to wear hideous green and red make-up. Somehow, that looked "natural" on television. (9/12/07)
WPGC was allowed to simulcast 100% of the time because the FCC allowed daytime AM stations to duplicate their FM’s during the AM’s broadcast hours. I don’t recall whether WPIK and WXRA simulcast on weekdays or not, but they would have been allowed to because WPIK was a daytimer. Roddy (9/12/07)
It is a bit on the national side, but I thought Scott Van Pelt and Kevin Sheahin did a terrific job hosting on ESPN Radio in the old Dan Patrick slot today. You can tell they have known each other for a long time as their chemistry really came through and was not at all forced. Great for two local guys. It would be terrific if they could man the spot permanently. Does anyone know if ESPN has named a permanent host for the 1-4 time slot? (9/12/07)
To PLB regarding Russ Wheeler: You mentioned that your friend would like to reach me as he used to visit me at The WEAM studios when I was there in the mid sixties. My email address is: rcallen123@yahoo.com. There were only two Russ Wheelers. The Russ Wheeler name originally was was given to me by the manager, Harry Averill. After about two years at WEAM, I went to KDKA for an "off air" job, which I didn't like, and returned to Washington to be the first Bob Peyton of Peyton's Place at WPGC. Then, Mr. Averill hired me back at WEAM, but this time he gave me the name Marc Allen because he had Ritchie Sher change his name to Russ Wheeler when I left. A few months later, he changed my name back to Russ Wheeler and Ritchie Sher used his name again. Harry Averill's favorite song was the "Name Game". Russ Wheeler, a.k.a. Bob Allen, WFIL/Tony Edwards, WIBG/ Robert C. Allen III, WCAO/ R.C. Allen, WBAL, WWLG, etc. (9/12/07)
This is just getting ridiculous Maryland Public tv is back fundraising again when they just had another drive in July. And now MPT runs fundraising programs during non prime time hours all the time. I certainly enjoyed the repeat airings of Marty Stouffer's program on the life of squirrel's on WETA. Wonder how Mr. Stouffer got them squirrels to gather them nuts. (9/12/07)
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