Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - December 20 to December 31, 2007 Latest messages listed first..... \/ December 31 Messages \/ Whoever decided at NBC News to employ actor Michael Douglas' voice as an intro to its newscast must be hard of hearing and in denial. The man has a very annoying voice. I guess Brian Williams was the one who convinced Douglas to do it. Not the brightest bulb in the land: news.aol.com (12/31/07) Jim Handly and Wendy Rieger did both the 5:00 and 6:00 hours of News4. Doreen and Jim have the night off. Geez, at least see if the same lineup happens more than two non-holiday days in a row before you assume it's permanent. (12/31/07) "Anyone know if Bennett was in Detroit over the weekend?" Why would anyone spend the weekend in Detroit? (12/31/07) Not to put too fine a point on it but FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer seemed to break the Billick firing story way before any of the Baltimore area sports media. Everett W. (12/31/07) Is Eun Yang the new co-anchor with Pat Lawson Muse on News4 at 4? She was on today, so I thought that maybe she was just filling in for Jim Handly, but Handly came on with Wendy Rieger for the 5pm news. Maybe he’s assuming that role permanently now and relinquishing the 4pm chair (hmm…tough choice…working with Pat Lawson Muse or working with Wendy Rieger?). No updates on the bios page on nbc4.com, but that’s not a surprise, because Lindsay Czarniak’s bio lists her as a co-host of the George Michael Sports Machine. Didn’t George take his “Machine,” complete with its 1980s-style graphics, out the door with him when he rode off into the sunset many months ago? (12/31/07) For your enjoyment ... And happy new year! www.extrememortman.com... Cheers! -- Howard (12/31/07) Dave's response: Awww schucks! And a very happy new year to you, too, Howard..... DAVE, WJZ, ESPN 1300AM were first to break the story that head coach is out in Charm City!!! 3:30pm presser covered on all Baltimore outlets at 3:30pm and it will be the lead story on all newscasts. www.examiner.com... One last thing and that is the Examiner broke the story before all local media including radio and TV by about 10 minutes... Cheers, Jim (12/31/07) My best New Year wishes go out to DCRTV Dave as well as the broadcast pros, friends and listeners who have supported and encouraged me during my recent local radio “vacation” and current business endeavors. As you toast a brand new year of possibilities, join me in celebrating the end of my contractual non-compete, restrictive covenant. Cheers y’all! Ken Merson - Merson Person Voice Tracks - mpvt123.com. (12/31/07) Dave's response: Thanks Ken! And a great '08 to you, too..... RE: [ Predictions for Baltimore HDTV newscasts ]..... And you wonder why Baltimoreans have such an inferiority complex. Baltimore has such a higher overall wealth, market ranking, market growth, and overall population growth than places like Cleveland and better or at least even with Cincinatti in most stats as well. Obviously Scripps' WMAR ABC2 is not a very popular station as far as news, but geez, what a missed opportunity to be first. I know I'd tune it to see Baltimore news in HDTV for the 1st time and maybe I'd stick around if I liked what I saw. WMAR 2 is just one of those stations that just finds an infinite number of poor solutions to screw up their ratings decade after decade. You would think that after being sold a few times, the cycle would end, but geez, what bad local TV decision making on Scripps Howard's part! Similarly with Hearst's WBAL-TV, Baltimore is a bigger market than Sacramento & Kansas City, and probably even with the anomaly market Orlando (kind of hard to top that kind of tourism advertising)......................................... And by the way, WESH 2 is technically licensed to a not very growing Daytona Beach, FL and their transmitter is in fact one of the few that's closer to Daytona and does not well serve the Orlando/Cocoa Beach area as far as signal. But apparently, the FCC has allowed those 2 markets to consolodate even though they are MUCH further apart than DC/Baltimore! Go figure, another example of the FCC siding against localism and in favor of big business. Just try and find local Daytona Beach news on the Orlando TV stations these days. What a joke that local TV stations pretend to cover news in like a 125 mile radius in cities 2 HOURS apart and the FCC doesn't care that they cannot physically do it. Meanwhile, there's the virtual equivilent of a DC/Baltimore news blackout from one market to the other! Think they'll ever license TV stations to Melbourne/Cocoa Beach or Daytona Beach again? Doubtful. It just doesn't fit into the current FCC's BIG BUSINESS model to care about these types of TV markets even though these cities are big enough cities to support their own local TV stations! Anyway, back to my original rant.............................. DAMNIT SCRIPPS AND HEARST! PUT BALTIMORE LOCAL NEWS IN HDTV! BALTIMORE IS BIGGER AND BETTER THAN THOSE MARKETS! I'd plead for CBS to do it, but I'd be shocked if CBS' WJZ took the plunge first. Can you imagine that haggard old crew in HDTV??? ¡Aye carumba! :-) (12/31/07) In the mail today, a New Year’s gift from Comcast in Winchester: The required 30-day notice for a raft of changes, including the move of NFL Network from digital basic to the new sports package ($6). Digital channels in the 100s are moving all over the place to correspond with those closer to metro DC. Not included, MASN, although the little birdie told me several months ago we’d have it in time for Nats and Orioles season, so I guess they will wait until the last minute. Also, at least at this point, we’re keeping WBAL and WJZ from Baltimore. By the way, I think that was a sign of the apocalypse on Saturday night, Bryant Gumble coming out of 6 different channels (8 if the HD feeds are included) on my TV set. Charles in Winchester (12/31/07) A few weeks ago, I gave my predictions about the D.C. market. Now, my predictions for the Baltimore market. By gazing into my crystal ball... I'm predicting that FOX 45 may be considering expanding their current morning and early-evening newscasts... and attempting a new midday newscast. Viewers begin waking up to "FOX 45 Morning News" weekdays from 5-9AM, instead of 5:30-9AM. "FOX 45 News at 5:30PM" becoming the new "FOX 45 News at 5PM"... FOX 45's new midday newscast being seen weekdays from 11AM-NOON. The current 10PM and 11PM newscasts remain in place. I'm predicting that a 5PM newscast could and might be disappearing, to make room for "Dr. Phil" or "Ellen". As for which station could and might be dumping their 5PM newscast... it remains a toss-up between ABC 2 and/or CBS 13. I'm also predicting that a new 7PM newscast could and might be coming to WBAL 11 sometime in 2008. It be branded as "Baltimore Nightly News". Not to worry, WBAL 11's current morning, midday, 5PM, 6PM, and 11PM newscasts will remain in place. Finally... I'm predicting that viewers could and might soon be seeing local news in high definition. As for which station could and might be first to pull it off... it remains a toss-up between ABC 2 and/or WBAL 11. ABC 2 is owned and operated by Scripps... several of 2's sister stations are now in HD, including Tampa Bay's WFTS, Cleveland's WEWS, and Cincinnati's WCPO, among several others. WBAL 11 is owned and operated by Hearst... 4 of 11's sister stations are in HD as well, being Kansas City's KMBC, Sacrameto's KCRA, Boston's WCVB, and Orlando's WESH. I'm predicting that it could be sometime in January or February before viewers begin seeing newscasts and local programs in this new format. Just my predictions. Happy 2008! Thanks, Eric (12/31/07) (Re: Elvis show not on the radio.) If you yearn for some Elvis, you'll find Elvis playing mp3's from a iPod overnights at the Dunkin Donuts on Rockville Pike. A jelly donut will get you two, back-to-back requests. Signed, Tom Parker. PS: Elvis says the best hangover cure is to take the juice of two pints of whiskey and ...... (end) (12/31/07) In response to the person who "heard a rumor that the WJZ Morning Edition is doing away with the Ron Matz "man on the street" People are Talking segment", I read an article recently that as of 01/07/08, CBS will no longer allow its affiliates to carry local news throughout most of the 7am hour of "The Early Show", except for the usual 5 minute newsbreaks at 7:25am and 7:55am. Happy New Year to all from Greg in Perry Hall! (12/31/07) SW was filing in for Rich Hunter, and this allowed him to be heard on WFLS, which just lost Brian Strobel after 30 years in radio at WFLS. Seth also has been heard doing fill-ins on MIX 107.3, so I guess he's just freelancing to earn some holiday spending money. (12/31/07) (Dave's response: I hear that Bennett Zier is also working for Sima Birach) Maybe that is who Tod Castleberry beat up (12/31/07) Dave's response: Anyone know if Bennett was in Detroit over the weekend? Dave, The Saturday night game between the Pats and the Giants was the highest rated show thus far of 2007 TV season. www.examiner.com... The telecast was also the first in league history to air on three networks nationally with simulcasts on CBS, NBC and the NFL Network. In New York WCBS, WNBC and local over-the-air partners WWOR in New York, WCVB in Boston and WMUR in Manchester. Based on fast national ratings, an *average of 34.5 million viewers* tuned into Patriots-Giants – ranking as the most watched show of the current television season and the most-watched program since the Academy Awards on February 25* (*viewership through final gun). Patriots-Giants is the most-watched NFL regular-season game since Thanksgiving 1995 (35.7 million for Chiefs-Cowboys). Locally, the game earned a 24.0 rating/40 share in New York, a 50.1/75 in Boston. (12/31/07) Dead People on TV: When NBC announcer Fred Facey (Live from Studio 1-A in Rockefeller Plaza, this is...Today!) passed away, The Today Show continued to use his voice so his family could collect a fee. Fred was finally "retired" when Katie Couric left for CBS, and new sounders had to be produced. Al McGilvray (12/31/07) Way to screen those prospective employees there, Sima. (12/31/07) Dave's response: I hear that Bennett Zier is also working for Sima. Hmmm..... I was watching News4 last evening and they were reporting on the vandalism and tire slashings in a neighborhood in Silver Spring. They interviewed a victim of this crime and her name was "Jamee Whitten", which is spelled exactly like the Jamee Whitten that does the morning traffic reports on WMAL. Any word on whether or not it was "THE" Jamee Whitten? (12/31/07) "John" wrote, "Since Seth Warner got canned from WMZQ (unfortunately, he has a good DJ radio voice) he now works for or is contracted by Shadow Traffic. Last week he sounded to be covering for Rich Hunter (did he get canned or is on vacation) on a variety of radio stations including WINC and WMMJ." --- No, "John," Seth Warner does NOT have a "good radio voice." He has a smarmy, fake radio voice. That's why he keeps getting canned (WMZQ, WRQX, WJMO, WMZQ). And, what language is the phrase, "sounded to be covering for" from? Finally, why is it that every time someone takes a day off, you bunch of nerds assume they may have been fired? Rich Hunter is one of the most "fireproof" people at METRO Traffic. Oh yeah, "John," Shadow Traffic hasn't existed for nearly ten years... (12/31/07) Turnabout is fair play. XM/Sirius should counter iBiquity's proposal with one of their own than all IBOC radios be required to also receive XM/Sirius. ;-)) (12/31/07) AOL to End Support of Netscape Navigator www.nytimes.com (12/31/07) I live in Reston, VA. and just read your history of cable TV in Reston. Is there any other Cable TV service that I could get other than Comcast? I would sure appreciate it you know of another service Thank you, Sharon (12/31/07) Dave's response: Verizon is currently wiring Reston for its FiOS TV service. And there's always non-cable DirecTV and Dish Network..... Baltimore Sun confirms Big Head DC's Ron Paul Scoop bigheaddc.com (12/31/07) /\ December 31 Messages /\ \/ December 30 Messages \/ Are the folks in Great Falls and Potomac aware of this www.wtoctv.com... If you have a home or business security system, pay close attention. A ruling by the Federal Communications Commission could disable your alarm system. Starting in February, the FCC will no longer require cell phone companies to provide analog service. The change means your security system may need some serious upgrades to keep working... (12/30/07) iBiquity Responds To Sirius/XM Proposed Merger www.twice.com... HD-Radio developer iBiquity weighed in on the proposed merger of Sirius and XM in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Although iBiquity said it has no formal position on the merger, it urged that FCC approval of the merger be contingent on two stipulations: one, that HD Radio technology be included in all satellite radio receivers, and two, that a merged Sirius and XM be prohibited from entering exclusive arrangements with suppliers, retailers and car makers and that it terminate existing exclusive relationships... (12/30/07) Speaking of dead folks who keep on broadcasting, "Hollywood Squares" kept Charlie Weaver and Wally Cox on long after they assumed room temperature. (12/30/07) Let's all ring in 2008 with a photo of a young Robb Spewak ... server2.uploadit.org (12/30/07) Tod with one "d" is likely the same Castleberry. If it is him - and the birthdate seems to check out - then the arrest is not much of a surprise. TC is known to get somewhat belligerent when he's imbibing. Having worked in Detroit myself, methinks he didn't gauge the mood of the neighborhood beforehand. Wonder if he was out with his pal Dan Miller? (12/30/07) Since Seth Warner got canned from WMZQ (unfortunately, he has a good DJ radio voice) he now works for or is contracted by Shadow Traffic. Last week he sounded to be covering for Rich Hunter (did he get canned or is on vacation) on a variety of radio stations including WINC and WMMJ. John (12/30/07) I could see by watching the NFL Network last night that I'm not missing much. Great game, lousy broadcasting. I've seen the Eastern Motors ad with Sean Taylor since he died many times. Paul (12/30/07) Dave, By the way MY9 did get the OK to air the Pats-Giants game last night in New York. The NFL gave their ok late Friday and so THREE stations in NYC plus the NFL Network carried the game. There were some clever NFL Network spots in the game where a cable guy was in a bar and a number of customers asked him why their cable company did not carry the network it was a funny. The tag line told Cablevison and Time Warner customers to call a 1-800 number or go to a website to tell the cable companies that they wanted the NFL Network which is not even on digital sports packages in NYC. Only Comcast has it there. Fun stuff!! (12/30/07) I heard a rumor that the WJZ Morning Edition is doing away with the Ron Matz "man on the street" People are Talking segment. Normally, I don't care because I can't stand to watch Marty Bass, but if this really is true, then the ME has sunk to a new low. More Ron, less Marty, please. Can anyone verify this? (12/30/07) Dave, Since the NFL is in the Holiday mood they dropped the no conflict rule so channel 9 in DC will air the Ravens-Steelers game at 4pm and In Baltimore FOX45 will air the Redskins-Cowboys game. The rule was to protect the gate and to make sure that the only game shown in the area was the home teams game. So the entire region will be able to see both games on this the final Sunday of the season. Of course the Redskins-Cowboys will be on FOX5 in DC and the Ravens-Steelers game will be on WJZ-13 in Baltimore as usual. www.examiner.com... Have a great new Years! -- Jim (12/30/07) The interference to WIHT and WBIG that The Hope Christian Church of Marlton New Jersey will be providing to the area's FM dial is well documented and proven by their own technical studies within their FCC applications. The FCC's approval of their phony waiver request is not only suspect in a technical sense, but it's an EXTREMELY QUICK FCC APPROVAL during a busy holiday season where very few such FCC approvals have been approved so quickly. That is far beyond suspicious in nature in my opinion. That was my point. Did the FCC think no one would notice? (12/30/07) Dave, the Michael Landon ad and or infomercial was about an educational program of some kind. It continued to run after Landon's death with the approval of his wife. (12/30/07) Anyone else notice that Sean Taylor is in an ad for Eastern Motors that's still airing? I just saw it today (12/30). (12/30/07) Dave's response: Wow! There was a series of ads featuring Michael "Little House On The Prarie" Landon that ran for many months (years?) after he died..... (quote) The FCC has approved your waiver in less than 1 week's time! Truth be told, we never even bothered to look at it, hehe, shhhh! Signed, your Christian friends at the Federal Communications Commission. (End quote) Hahaha! These are the same guys who ACTUALLY approved the callsign KUNT for a Hawaiian low-power television station earlier this year. starbulletin.com (12/30/07) Merry Christmas to The Hope Christian Church of Marlton New Jersey from "your" FCC! Per your request, the FCC has expedited and approved your waiver to allow interference to radio stations WBIG 100.3 and WIHT 99.5 in the Washington, DC area. The FCC "agrees" with your assessment that this illegal interference will be inconsequential due to the fact that no one actually lives in the Chesapeake Bay region and the vast numbers of recreational boaters of course have no right to interference-free FM radio. Plus, we concur that the great service that you intend to provide is of far more importance than the rights of people living near or on the water to receive interference-free WBIG or WIHT. Therefor, we expedited your waiver request to use FM 99.9 in Annapolis for approval on the day after Christmas, Dec. 26, 2007 so that you may get your important service up and running as soon as possible during this important holy time. I think you'll agree 1 week's time is speedy work from the FCC as we wish you the very best during this holy season. You should see all the holiday fun we have with some "other" waiver requests during the Christmas season (you know, from the heathens, shhhhh). Of course, we are just so so busy during the holidays and they have to be passed around from office to office, it can sometimes take months of tiring work! But worry no more, the FCC has approved your waiver in less than 1 week's time! (truth be told, we never even bothered to look at it, hehe, shhhh!). :-) Signed, your Christian friends at the Federal Communications Commission. Oh, and Happy holidays to everyone "else" too, you know, Happy Kansas and Happy Kahoonikah from "your" FCC. ;-) {NOTE: all sarcasm intended} (12/30/07) Final score from the Pats-Giants game: Number of times Bryant Gumble said "It appears as if" 19 - Number of times Bryant Gumble said "It seems as though" 14. (12/30/07) Here's a can't-miss piece by retiring Wall Street Journal editor Paul Steiger, chronicling the last 40 years of newspapers, radio, TV and the future of it all. Absolutely fantastic insights on how sales create the rising or falling tide in any newsroom, for better or worse... Here's the link: online.wsj.com. (12/30/07) I heard that Steve Rouse left WLIF because they wanted to cut his pay. In a way I'm glad that he is getting away from that loser station. What I don't understand is how do they sell ads? I would listen for about 40 minutes in the morning, on my drive to work, just because of Rouse. His show was not as entertaining as the old qsr days but I know it was more the station then him. I stopped listening when they started the all christmas music format the monday before thanksgiving. Had a little email conversation with Greg Carpenter, the so called "program director". He claimed that the all christmas music was very popular and good for their ratings. All I have ever heard is complaints from "joe average" people. Even their regular playlist is limited, maybe 15 (lol)? The only good thing about the station was the "flashback weekends" and even then one hour was about enough. They must have some damn good sales people. I wouldn't pay good money to advertise on that station. Maybe that's why they wanted him to take a pay cut. Hope Greg got a pay cut too and I don't even want to say what my wish for Dave L is. The station is just plain mind numbing boring. Wish that CBS would take the suggestion you made several days ago. That's a format I could "buy" into. Robert Hoke, Baltimore (12/30/07) All this talk about Kelly Burke got me thinking down memory lane about former local tv personalities and I was wondering whatever happened to Nancy Mathis, my favorite tv journalist hottie from my youth and it turns out Kelly is an associate at her consulting company: www.firsttake.com. I gotta say Nancy 's still got it going on in the looks department after all these years. (12/30/07) /\ December 30 Messages /\ \/ December 29 Messages \/ Gumbel gaffe #1: After Giants opened the game with a TD: "The Patriot offense will come back on the field for the first time..." (12/29/07) Don't forget Art Kellar amongst area media folks of note who passed away in 2007. Why I remember as a lad numerous visits to my dentist the late Dr. Woodside, when he was located in toothless fairfax, and hearing the wafting tones from WEZR in between the sound of drilling and screaming. Good times! I found this interesting radio teaching program funded by Mr. Kellar www.asucom.appstate.edu... (12/29/07) Dave's response: Yeah, a lot of great local radio folks passed away in 2007. It was a difficult decision to pick the three I did (Red Shipley, Jake Einstein, Milt Grant) in my recent radio Rant. I didn't want to slight some other radio greats who passed away this year, a la Art Kellar, Tom Terrell, Jack Alix, and more..... My apologies DCRTV Dave for the use of that controversial phrase. It was a phrase originally derived from the mind of Don and Mike show writer Robbay Spewhack. Perhaps the lateness of my posting led to me use same phrase. Maybe "swordfighting" would have been better choice."Re.re. "Interesting choices by Mr. Geronimo for "Best of" on Thursday and Friday editions". Don does not pick the best of segments, Robbay does."" Nobody does anything on Don and Mike show without the approval of Don Geronimo.... Is Johnny Holiday turning into the busiest man in show business? He handled radio play by play for the Terrapins loss in Emerald Bowl Friday night. He does radio play by play for Terrapin basketball. I've heard him doing tv play by play for Loyola of Baltimore on MASN cable, both men's and women's basketball. He does Terrapin football in the fall and last year added that Washington Senator tv pre game show he does with Ken McMullen. And I believe I've now heard him doing the station ID's for WJFK. Geez does he still have time to do dinner theater anymore? Where does he get the energy? Not from that new terrapin water energy drink, Fear The Turtle. (12/29/07) Dave's response: Your original wording was probably OK since Don did do the bit on his show. Just playin' it safe..... Fox news blamed for Ron Paul forum exclusion bigheaddc.com (12/29/07) Dave, I left Baltimore in 2003 but I see how life can change suddenly. Just browsing online and discovered one of my favorite newscasters David Haines passed away in 2005. Remember David..."burnt toast and coffee time?" sitting next to Chris and Donnie Simpson at PGC? How sad! Remember how I found out earlier this year about 98 Rock's Lopez too? I guess that's why we have DCRTV Plus for all the memories. Will miss them all. Kemi Joshua in Toronto, Canada (12/29/07) Dave, on the poster that described Friday's CBS Evening News, I was watching and there is only one thing to say. Everyone's on vacation and my 7 year old son looked like he edited the show! It was a disaster! Many people were watching the CNN Bhutto coverage all day but we flipped CBC, CNN, BBC and the big three, CBS, NBC and ABC. On a serious note, Les Moonves probably edited the tapes! LOL. It was simply H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E! Kemi in Toronto, Canada (12/29/07) Hi , Hey everyone, this is Craig from RocklandUSA.com. I appreciate all of your support you have given me in 2007! Come over and check out my new top rated Internet TV show weekday mornings on BlogTV.com. We are the featured morning show from 9AM - 1PM ET. It's morning talk radio wtih a complete multimedia platform of audio, video, interactive chat and call-in phone lines. Would love to have you stop by, register for a FREE username and join in the fun! Hope all is well and best wishes for a great 2008! Rock on! Craig - Rockland USA Live! TV SHOW: www.blogtv.com (12/29/07) Dave, since you have so many people in New York and Boston interested in today's game i thought that you might want to let them know that the pre game show on the NFL Network actually starts at 2pm. Yes 6 hours of pre game hoopla comes before the big game that will be seen on CBS, NBC and the NFL Network. www.examiner.com.... Also in my blog Sunday... I will detail the Redskins-Dallas coverage and the Ravens - Steelers coverage. For the first time the NFL will allow the Redskins and the Ravens to be on throughout the entire region at the same time. Since the Redskins could be playoff bound with a win over their rivals Dallas. The game will be seen of course on FOX5 in DC but also on FOX45 in Baltimore. Meanwhile since plenty of Ravens fans live in the DC area they will want to see the Ravens -Steelers game and since they both play at 4pm the NFL will allow WJZ to carry the game as usual and in Washington WUSA 9 will have the game so fans of the Redskins and Ravens will be able to see their teams at 4pm Sunday. Cheers, Jim (12/29/07) Re: "Interesting choices by Mr. Geronimo for "Best of" on Thursday and Friday editions". Don does not pick the best of segments, Robbay does. (12/29/07) I cannot believe this Elvis radio program is not aired in the Baltimore area...so many Elvis fans. Geez! (12/29/07) What is the deal with WAMU this morning? Weekend Edition has been interrupted several times during the 9AM hour by the EAS tones. Thank goodness it’s now 10am and I can listen to Car Talk on my Sirius radio. (12/29/07) Allow me to present a slightly different viewpoint on the NFL Network controversey... Not much has been said (of yet) about what (if any) compensation the NFL will offer the Cable TV systems (and the TV broadcasters in the home markets of the New England Patriots and the New York Giants) now that the "exclusivity" part of the carriage contract (Which has to be there!) has been violated by action of the NFL, namely allowing NBC and CBS to carry the game this weekend. Yes, no doubt there was a lot of pressure put on the NFL by the government (Probably in the form of threatened legislation.) to do this. Unfortunately, what we have here is a network with a flawed business plan from the beginning. If I were the GM of WWOR I'd have my lawyers looking over every part of the contract. Ditto if I were the VP in Charge of Networks with a Cable operator carrying the NFL Network. This really upsets the whole ball of wax for sports programming on radio and TV. Boradcast, Cable, an! d Sarellite are all affected here. And, it really distorts the whole theory of intellectual property rights, copyrights, and such. It is the type of action that the folks demanding eight cents per play of recorded music on internet radio have been fearing. While the royalty system as it stands now has caused numerous American radio stations to discontinue Internet feeds (Espececially the retroactive part of the current arrangement.)-perhaps permanently- were the law to be changed to something the eight cents per play folks didn't like, they would have it within their rights to withdraw all Internet streaming of all recorded music. I say this because, recorded music like a football game, is a copyrighted intellectual work that is the property of the owner of the copyright. In the case of an NFL football gane, it is the NFL and the home team where the game is played. Now, just as Ford (for example) cannot be forced by the government to sell Mustangs to Chevy and Dodge d! ealers in competition against Ford dealers simply because more people want to buy Mustangs at more places, should the NFL be forced by the government to offer one of its products (An NFL game) to vendors other than those who had agreed to buy all others? While I'm no fan of overpriced sports programming, and I recognize the potential historic importance of the Giants-Patriots game, having the government get involved in what is essentially broadcast programming in this case sets a very dangerous and chilling precedent. One that I fear. Why? To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, "A government powerful enough to tell you what you're allowed to broadcast is powerful enough to tell you what you're not allowed to broadcast". -Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/29/07) WHFC used to have a variety of oldies rock shows but 'management' had other ideas. Heaven forbid that a station licensed to a higher educational institution actually program educational programming from time to time. They were more interested in sounding like a NPR station rather than a community station. I hope that the WHFC listeners enjoy that decision today. (12/29/07) Interesting choices by Mr. Geronimo for "Best of" on Thursday and Friday editions. Thursday had replay of (a controversial) bit involving earthdog brother Jimmy. I thought it had been agreed that this bit would never be discussed again? And Friday saw the replay of the burning of bridge with a celebrity bit with Donnie G. blowing off (watch it) Jack Cassidy. Does anyone know if the plan is Don and Mike relocate to Florida and set up a new Serious channel with El Jefe and J. Dubs and Ron and Fez and maybe Opie and Anthony after Mr.Karmazian shuts down XM? Don and Mike can not discuss any future plans because of contract and agreement regarding their release from cbs?.... Have enjoyed the replay of "Presidential Libraries" series on C-Span the last couple of days with Richard Norton Smith. Is Mr. Smith working at George Mason University? I guess Brian Lamb is relinquishing his control of C-Span with his possible retirement in the near future? C-Span now runs bits in which we get to see the folks behind the camera telling us what they do. I know we live in a "Hey, Look At Me" society but seems to me under Mr. Lamb's tenure folks blowing their horn on C-Span was a no-no. You know that thing called objectivity......as one who matriculated at George Mason University I never thought of the place as a bastion of objectivity. Isn't George Mason the campus were the only good tree is a dead tree. And yeah that stupid Las Vegas style sign on Braddock Road. My oh my GMU topped NVCC with it's signage, now isn't that special. (12/29/07) Anyone else catch Friday night's CBS network news? It looked so bad that maybe Rick Kaplan himself did the editing. Started with an anchor intro to Lara Logan, who introduced her own taped piece. Somewhere in the middle, you could hear but not see her introduce Sheila McVicar, who we then heard but didn't see for a while. Now 4 seconds of blank tape/dead air. OK, more Lara please, a few more scenes from Pakistan, but we don't see her until she appears on camera and says "Now let's do one more for safety, and she WALKS out of the frame!" Quick more scenes and we hear her introduce David Martin who does a bit from the Pentagon, which happened to be all normal. Never did see Sheila, but we got the irrepressible Lara again, introducing the "rest of the days news" back to the anchor, who ignored the entire train wreck and went on with Britney's knocked-up sister or something similar. (12/29/07) /\ December 29 Messages /\ \/ December 28 Messages \/ I wanted to commend my friend Matt Noble on a real nice job filling in for Johnny Holliday on the play by play of the Maryland Basketball game. Matt, heard you down here in OC on 101.1 this evening, also caught you a few weeks ago with the one of the women's game. Keep up the great work and I'll have to buy you beer the next time I see you at the Crab Cake Factory. Happy New Year! -Michael Popovec (12/28/07) Hello, My name is Daniel and I love watching Nine News Now. I also enjoy reading your website. I could not find anything though about what happened to reporter Becky Diamond. I think channel 9 gave her the boot, but don't know for sure. She was the only backpack journalist for channel 9 (WUSA--TV). I don't know if you could find out what happened to her and where she is working now...she is a great reporter. Thanks for reading my e-mail. (12/28/07) CNN and MSNBC weren't included in the GMU study because they keep looping the same news over and over until prime time rolls around. But if you were to include them in the GMU study, wouldn't Fox look even more fair and balanced? And nice touch getting part of your blurb from HuffPo. Why not get reaction from Daily Kos as well? Both of them always cover things objectively and without anti-semitic moonbat commenters. (12/28/07) Dave's response: Hey, Brit, nice to hear from you. Oh, I enjoyed hearing your Fox News Murdochian-mate John Gibson today making Benazir Bhutto a weekly "winner" by being assassinated. Unbelievable. Even if you loved her and agreed with everything she stood for, you can hardly claim she's a "winner" after this week's tragedy. Gibson is, without a doubt, the dopiest American TV news anchor - by far..... On the subject of some people not being able to have a dish because they're in an apartment building: it is my understanding that (legally) a landlord cannot stop someone from putting in a dish (as long as) they have a balcony..or a place where they can put it; my info comes from the show "High Tech World" which can be heard on Saturdays after 3 P.M. on 680 WCBM. I may be misunderstanding this..but the way I take it is: a landlord can't just say "no..you can't have a dish!" Tom in Denton, MD (12/28/07) Dave's response: Right. Even here in the "planned community" of Reston, with a plethora of rules from homeowners/condo/cluster associations, you're allowed to put a dish on your own balcony. However, if you're on the north side of a building or have trees in the way, you may not get any satellite TV reception via your dish. Oh, I can confirm that Verizon is wiring my south Reston neighborhood for FiOS. Comcast's days as the monopoly cable TV provider here are numbered..... Ed Graham: Really enjoyed your post and reflection. I often think about how the "oldies" and "classic" rock formats will fare twenty years from now especially on commercial radio. I would love to see a "Rock History" station on satellite, commercial or public radio or how about a "Rockin Through the Decades" format. I utilize the later on my program at WHFC. I still love and enjoy the one-on-one connection with a personality. Unfortunately, it seems that nowadays stations are so heavily laden with formatics that it takes away from the creativity, spontaneity and most of all the fun. Now, I am not talking about endless rambling, but focused personality. Again my friends, this is only my opinion and reflection as well. Here's wishing everyone on the Mailbag a great 2008. Blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC) (12/28/07) I remember watching Steve Rudin on FOX 5 and he was always so serious and very intense. He is much more animated now on NewsChannel 8, almost borderline hyper (in a funny, quirky kinda way). Sue and Doug are still the best DC has to offer in the weather world. (12/28/07) Dave's response: Steve must have borrowed Adam Caskey's electric undershorts..... The NFL Network took out a full page ad in Friday's sports section of USA Today and basically blamed cable companies for what they called "stonewalling" the fans. They want to be given credit for showing the Patriots-Giants game as if they really intended to all along. Yes, the Comcasts of the world are to blame for their part in this battle over greed, but we are not gullible to believe the NFL Network is blameless in all this. The only reason this game is available is because the NFL Network had a gun put to its head. On the subject of choosing Direct TV over cable and having the NFL Network as part of the basic package, there are many people who can never get dishes installed where they live. Many apartment buildings, some old or some hi-rise are not equipped to handle satellite. Many landlords won't or don't want to deal with it. (12/28/07) Dave's response: Great stuff from Phil Mushnick in today's NY Post..... In the summer of 1984, Kelly Burke made the same error in judgment that is made by thousands of folks daily... he drove under the influence of alcohol. His error caused a crash that cost the life of a young father-to-be when Burke's van crossed over the center line of a curving section of River Road in Darnestown. Several months later, Burke was quoted in the Washington Post as saying, "I don't know why God spared me-- all I know is that there's no joy in living with this. ... There's not an hour every day that I don't think about this." Sobering thoughts for those who intend to get zonked for New Year's Eve. (Kelly went on to found Reconcile, Inc., a non-profit communications company which develops media projects specifically aimed at raising awareness of social problems, including alcohol awareness and driver safety programs.) (12/28/07) Hey, Dave and all, Merry and Happy to you! Roger Lodge filling in for Jim Rome today from Washington DC. Curiosity dictates that I ask if anyone could tell us what studio he's working from? Wishing everyone the best for 2008. Frank in Arlington, listening on-line to KLAC because local radio is, well, wretched. (12/28/07) Dave - Ledo Pizzas have corners. (12/28/07) Dave's response: It's a generic pizza (right)..... just talked to a friend of mine at WTOP and they said the "Ledo Pizza" Glass enclosed nerve Center is ending. they said a note was sent to the newsroom about it yesterday. I am surprised I haven't seen about it in DCRTV considering how much crap was written about it on this site. Does anyone know if this is really true? (12/28/07) The channel 4 reporter who was involved in the fatal accident (in 1985) was Kelly Burke. (12/28/07) Blast from the past to read the name Kelly Burke! Here's a link to what former WRC-TV reporter Kelly Burke is doing now. www.sheehanassociates.com... From what I can tell reading up on him, he's really turned his life around since that awful accident in the 1980s. For those of you who remember the aftermath, he did a PBS documentary called "Drunk Driving: The Toll and the Tears" that was one of the first national examinations of drunk driving. I always liked his low-key reporting and am glad he's doing well and has (apparently) led a responsible life for the last 20+ years. Bob in Harford (12/28/07) Bumming a bit about Bun Penny's shutdown at the Mall in Columbia (WPost, B2) A bunch of us who worked at WLMD in the early 1980s were the beneficiaries of a spot trade when we had a public studio at the Mall. Great sandwiches. WLMD, 900kc AM, owned at the time by Billy Lemer, saw Columbia as an excellent "growth" community not served by the big stations in Baltimore and Washington. So we built a studio there, coverered news in Howard County, while keeping our audience in Laurel (city of license) and Prince Georges. Ah, those were the days. A little kilowatt daytimer that actually had a loyal following. That's why the original owners of Bun Penny worked a trade with us. (12/28/07) On the topic of writers being wooed by ESPN, the Baltimore Sun's Terp beat writer, Heather Dinich, was lured away this past fall. She covering college football for the website. Howie (12/28/07) Predicting the future of radio is not as easy as it used to be. With so many other ways to get streams of your favorite kind of music, radio will have to develop new formats that cause audience. I have a few thoughts, but it would be interesting to hear what you are thinking. The fragmentation of music into narrow formats will make many current formats irrelevant. Imagine Oldies or Classic Rock twenty years from now - - what would they play? I think News, Sports, Talk, and ethnic formats will survive. Top-40 may be reinvented as a mostly currents and re-currents format with live jocks talking about the music. I also think that music w/talk would be an interesting format. That one may be the first "new" format to be successful in major markets. Imagine a Jean Shepherd, Long John, or Jim Lowe type host telling stories, interviewing, taking phone calls and playing relevant music. Yeah, I know they are all old, or dead, but there must be some young talent around. We are badly in need of some formats that reflect this decade. Most of what I hear is 80s or 90s, or music flow. Radio should give us a reason to listen. Ed Graham (12/28/07) Bryant Gumbel was calling the 49ers game two or three weeks ago and during a player substitution, he said “and Al Gore is coming off the field….check that, FRANK Gore, I beg your pardon.” You could hear Collinsworth laughing in the background. Also, if you have a sip of beer every time Gumbel says “It would appear….” or “It would seem….” you’ll be hammered by the end of the first quarter. (12/28/07) CBS should scrap the NFL Network's commentators and let the other (talented) Gumbel do the game. NBC could let Al and John do the game. Bryant Gumbel is flat out not a play by play man. The field goal is good... no! wide left! (12/28/07) I think the Channel 4 reporter the previous poster was trying to remember is Kelly Burke. Yes, I'm a DC old timer. I go back as far as Neil Boggs, and even further. -- Bobbie (12/28/07) I love to listen to Chris Gordon of NBC4 on the radio. This morning he was heard subbing for Grandy & Andy on WMAL, along with Rick Fowler. More Gordon, please! (12/28/07) "With the Patriots-Giants came being simulcast on NBC and CBS, now the rest of the world that is lucky enough to not get the NFL Network will get to see and hear just how poor their game broadcast team is, and be thankful they are not paying for such an mistake filled duo." Actually, Cris Collinsworth isn't that bad. It's Bryant Gumbel who is probably the worst NFL play-by-play man in history and brings down the entire broadcast. He can't even tell if a field goal is good or not. It will be an embarrassment to the NFL Network. What were they thinking hiring this arrogant idiot? (12/28/07) Introducing Calgary’s Classic Alternative--- Fuel 90.3 FM. www.fuelcalgary.com (12/28/07) Here's a question for DC old timers: What's the name of the reporter from WRC-4 who used to be the reporter on the Wednesday's Child segments in the early 1980s? I think his first name was Kelly. He left the station after he was involved in a fatal car accident. I tried to find him on the Wikipedia page on former staff of WRC-4 News and there was no mention of him. I've been racking my brain all night trying to remember his name... (12/28/07) I've heard no mention this year of Dick Clark's yearly appearance at New Year's Rockin' Eve? Seems like a big fuss raised the last couple of year's but nothing this year? And what about Regis?..... And that's "I"m Bam Weinstein" not Bam Weinstein! No Dreadskin's appear on John Riggins show because of Larry Michael?...... And CW channel is showing Season's Greetings from the troops but also with sponsorship. And Cox apparently has set aside a special channel on the digital side for same. I guess Cox too cheap to run Season's Greetings instead of their commercials they constantly run over the commercials run by the cable channels......And a new era of political correctness? Surfed by a spanish channel and some auto dealership commercial and instead of Merry Christmas in spanish they said Happy Holidays in spanish. Oh geez (12/28/07) /\ December 28 Messages /\ \/ December 27 Messages \/ It’s funny…you all diss WASH for switching back to their regular format on the 26th…AND you diss WLIF for keeping Christmas music on after the 25th. It proves that people will complain about everything. Can’t there be something productive from this board?? (12/27/07) Okay..about the NFL carrying the New England Vs Giants game on regular TV, my question is: why do they need to have both CBS and NBC carrying the game? As for WLIF still playing Christmas music: I may be in the minority here..but I always thought a bit cold when, precisely at midnight on Christmas night..stations sometimes will just :"pull the plug" on Christmas music..kind of like Christmas never happened! Although I don't know that I want a steady diet of Christmas music after Dec. 25th, I see nothing wrong with some Christmas music being thrown in until New Year's Day! As it is, it's nice to know that..if I decide I want to hear a Christmas song, I can tune into 101.9..and still hear something Christmassy..at least for now; I was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday when I tuned by there..and found them to be still playing Christmas music! Tom in Denton, MD (12/27/07) Happy 60th Birthday to Howdy Doody! Check out Google Video for some interesting Howdy Doody videos that are on-line. There's a program from ca. 1948 with Bob Keeshan as Clarabell that was available commercially many years ago. There is also an episode of the Canadian Howdy Doody Show with Timber Tom (not Robert Goulet) dated 1950, which is wrong because that show didn't start until about 1954 and has Heidi Doody and the Flubadub. The Mr. Bluster puppet is slightly different and, of course, the voices are all different. Dilly Dally sounds like Howdy did after Buffalo Bob had his heart attack and Allen Swift did Howdy' voice. Howdy sounds like Rocky the Squirrel. Also, on YouTube there is a clip of Buffalo Bob and Howdy on I've Got a Secret. Dave in Annandale (12/27/07) The other night Bram Weinstein claimed that Redskin QB Todd Collins was "literally on fire" during the Vikings game. Anybody have any video of that? Dave in Sterling (12/27/07) Caught a few minutes of The Globe today....has nobody at that station ever thought to tell Schelby that there's no such word as "Eek-let-tick"? You'd think that after a half century doing the same worn out bit she'd learn how to pronounce "Eclectic Lunch." (12/27/07) Dave's response: Here's the dirty little secret - the Globe has only produced 48 hours of programming since its launch last February. And all they've done since is rerun those same 48 hours over and over and over - each day in a different order. But the really sad thing is that the listeners haven't even noticed. How else can you explain that same blasted Joe Cocker song every goddamn day..... With the Patriots-Giants came being simulcast on NBC and CBS, now the rest of the world that is lucky enough to not get the NFL Network will get to see and hear just how poor their game broadcast team is, and be thankful they are not paying for such an mistake filled duo. (12/27/07) Randi Martin has been doing traffic reports on MIX 107.3 for the past few days while Chili has been on vacation. Mike in Waldorf (12/27/07) Well you forgot one thing that you have to do at Red Zebra as Operations Director. You have to clean the Restrooms also, before you leave for the day.GOD!! (12/27/07) RE: "DCRTV hears that Greg Valentine, a veteran of CBS Radio in Baltimore, joins Miami country outlet WKIS to be assistant program director and evening host." Who's Valentine replacing permanently at WKIS? Hint: He's in DC... Bob/VARTV.com (12/27/07) Dave's response: Somebody voice-tracked from MZQ? WHAT? Sportsyak980’s running a third-class operation? Whoa, hold the phone! Face it, sports talk has nothing to sell but what’s happening TODAY – “best of” sports talk segments are just unlistenable. OK, given that it’s Sportsyak980, they’re MORE unlistenable than the usual fare on 980. On the other hand – given that 980 has many hosts who repeat the same garbage every day (Rick “Come Strong To The Mike” Walker; John “Joe The Fan/I don’t know anything about . . .” Thompson), are we SURE it was best-of? Whether it’s fresh crap, or recycled crap, crap is crap on 980, after all. Sincerely, TMU. P.S. If WASH went off the air on Christmas Eve, that means Santa brought me one of my presents. (12/27/07) "FYI...It's December 27th and WLIF is still playing Christmas music all day. What a bunch of freaks." Actually you'd be surprised how many people have called into 101.9 to thank them for still playing Christmas music. The holiday season isn't technically over until New Years, if we want to listen to the same 50 Lite, Mix, or Classic rock songs we have all next year to hear it! Yay! Nothing like that awesome corporate radio!!!! (12/27/07) I just read the job posting on Red Zebra's website for Castleberry's replacement www.triplexespnradio.com. S**t, no wonder he left! It reads like the Ops guy has to do everything him/herself. Is there a staff to speak of there? (12/27/07) So last night I went up to meet my Dad in Kent Island for some dinner for the Christmas holiday. So we sit down and music is playing through the house system, it turns out to be XM 25 and after a few songs, a familiar voice comes on to sign off on her shift. It was none other than former 97.1 WASH afternoon host Randi Martin. I haven't heard her voice on in years, it was good to hear it again...This is a bit random but I remember Randi playing (every Friday at 5pm on WASH-FM), 'Weekend' by Wet Willie from 1979, a song you never hear on the radio. Its a great upbeat song for the weekend. Well I went on-line and bought an album that was a combo of Wet Willie and Red Bone so I could get the song. I played a few times on WCEI when I first got into radio and just recently my MD at The B, came in and out of nowhere said the other day "yeah I came across some songs Mike would like"-for my eclectic lunch hour-"The 12 O'Clock Whatever") So I can't wait to play it again. Thanks Randi and good to hear you, hope all is well at XM.- Michael Popovec (12/27/07) "Both of these stations [WTEM and Redskins Radio] have yacked incessantly for 6 months about the Redskins. Now, the Skins have the biggest game of the year, against there arch rivals, with a chance to go to the playoffs, and both sports stations are in “Best Of “mode? I know that people need a vacation, but don’t they have anyone else to go on the air and discuss the biggest game of the year?". Apparently WTEM doesn't have much on-air bench strength anymore. In past years, either Scott Jackson, Scott Linn or Bram Weinstein would fill in on Sports Reporters when Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban were away for the holidays and be joined by one or two of the show's usual media guests. But Jackson and Weinsten no longer work there while Linn's also on vacation this week, so the station decided to go with syndicated fare on Monday and 'best of' yesterday. What's ironic is that Pollin and Czaban expended so much sarcasm and vitriol in their Skins discussions throughout the season, going so far as to subject the Hall of Fame coach to undeserved, mean-spirited mockery at times (although they've toned it down a bit since the death of Sean Taylor). Now that the team's playing its best football all year and on the verge of making a playoff appearance few thought possible a few weeks ago, they're not around to talk about it. As far as John Riggins' show (on Red Zebra) is concerned, apparently he has a 'Jay Leno' clause in his contract dictating that there can't be fill-in hosts when he's off (not even sidekicks Kevin Sheehan and Gary Braun). Regarding the Patriots-Giants game being shown on NBC and CBS as well as NFL Network, play-by-play man Bryant Gumbel will be briefly reunited with the two networks for which he hosted morning news shows in the past. Mike, Fairfax (12/27/07) Happy 60th anniversary to Howdy Doody, who premiered on NBC-TV on this date in 1947! (12/27/07) Dave's response: The flip side of the 1910 Fruitgum Company's "Indian Giver" 45 was a song called "Bring Back Howdy Doody" in reverse..... Why does Marc Sterne use the fake cockney accent as "Nigel?" What started that? Is he contractually not permitted to be Marc, perhaps? Is he in the witness protection program? Thank you. Mel in Manassas (12/27/07) Dave's response: Yes, it is well-known that his UK accent changes depending on his mood. It ranges from "heavily Geico gekko" to "almost American"..... I was driving home last night and noticed that Sports talk 980 and Redskin Radio were in “Best Of” mode in afternoon drive. Are you kidding me? Both of these stations have yacked incessantly for 6 months about the Redskins. Now, the Skins have the biggest game of the year, against there arch rivals, with a chance to go to the playoffs, and both sports stations are in “Best Of “mode? I know that people need a vacation, but don’t they have anyone else to go on the air and discuss the biggest game of the year? Besides, the “best of” shows only work for personalities like Stern, Elliot and Don and Mike. They can select the funny bits, and people can enjoy the comedy. Who wants to hear repeats of sports talk show? (12/27/07) Dave's response: Imagine if DC had a professionally-operated sports talker on a signal you could hear 24/7 across the region. If somebody would do it, the ad revenue and ratings await..... nfl network - Does this mean that we will get three different channels of Bryant Gumbel? Hope that TVLand I Love Lucy marathon is on....oy Steve in Staunton, Va. (12/27/07) FYI...It's December 27th and WLIF is still playing Christmas music all day. What a bunch of freaks. (12/27/07) Dave's response: If Dave Labrozzi could get ratings and ad revenue by playing XMAS tunes in April on WLIF he probably would do it..... Maybe it's just me, but doesn't the fact that the NFL has decided to simulcast the Patriots-Giants game on NBC and CBS prove the fact that not enough people get the NFL Network to begin with? After all, if everyone had the NFL Network and it was THAT popular, there would be no need to show the game on regular broadcast channels right? G.K. (12/27/07) Will you people STOP?!? WMAL has great morning hosts this week and the reason the station might not be able to find other subs for Grandy & Andy, Core and Plante is probably because EVERYONE in this G-D town is on VACATION! Come the Iowa Caucus next week and straight through the general election in November, news talk radio hosts should be quite busy. All of these guys deserve a break! Bah Hambug! (12/27/07) Props to Dave for having one of the most iPhone friendly sites around! Keep up the good work! :) Happy New Year (12/27/07) Dave's response: Hmmm, never thought of that! Thanks..... /\ December 27 Messages /\ \/ December 26 Messages \/ I wish all of the NFL Channel whiners that write sports columns, do radio shows and post to message boards would stop crying about how “their cable company doesn’t offer the NFL Network”. They also cry “I can’t get the game…boo hoo.” You want congress to get involved because you are not smart enough to do the one simple thing that will get you the channel. Get DirecTV you bunch of whiners and you can get the NFL Network. Then I will not have to read, hear or watch how a bunch of losers can’t watch the games on NFL Network. Timothy, Caroline County, Virginia (12/26/07) The NFL “triple-cast” gets even worse: In Boston, the ABC station, Channel 5, gets to keep its over-the-air broadcast, so it looks like ABC, CBS and NBC in Boston will all show the same thing on Saturday night. Decisions, decisions. Charles in Winchester (12/26/07) Patriots' finale on NFL Network, NBC & CBS www.nfl.com (12/26/07) Re: Your 12/26 rant (Comcast's HD math): I agree completely, but such is the way of all American business: If you ain't got the goods, concoct a weasely way of describing what you do have to sound like it's better than what it is. What we need is a class in deciphering weasel words in every high school curriculum. (12/26/07) Have you guys seen this website? ruinromo.com... If any group of fans can do this and throw Romo off it’s us! GO REDSKINS!!!!! (12/26/07) Great news (potentially) for football fans everywhere. The New England Patriots-New York Giants game (on the NFL Network) will be shown to local home television in the state of Connecticut Saturday night. The Nutmeg state is right in between the New York and Boston markets and has strong followings of both teams. The extreme pressure brought about by fans on local and national politicians was transferred to the NFL. The league then caved in to make this historic game available to everybody. Now, it may not open the door for D-C and Baltimore markets to get this game Saturday night, but it may be a beginning of the end of this feud. Let's hope it's a start in the right direction. (12/26/07) WMAL Mornings. Now that WMAL has access to Imus why not run Imus when Andy & Grandy are off.Also air Imus 10PM -1:00AM weeknights instead of repeats of Coast to Coast. Running Imus in morning would serve to promote the show if it were airing weeknights reguraly. John T. Henneman. (12/26/07) Dave's response: Imus way have already done a contract deal with Clear Channel, to be on WTNT come January. We just don't know..... A bigshot reader of DCRTV! www.extrememortman.com... Cheers, Howard (12/26/07) Dave's response: Cool..... This morning after listening to WMAL for about three minutes, the substitute yahoo's at the 8:00 AM hour asserted that the injured at Walter Reid hospital told them and Rush Limbaugh disparaging things about Senator John Kerry. Please, WMAL, stop putting words in the mouths of our military for your own political agenda; It is a disingenuous and disgusting trait you seem to cling to. WMAL, we all know whatever these two Bush leaguers asserted the injured soldiers said, by its presentation, is called "hearsay." As most people know, "hearsay" is usually not credible, and is used by cowards, sophomores, and the non-intelligent to bolster up their own importance or self actualization (just ask Republican Deborah Pryce about the dangers of "hearsay" and putting words in a soldier's mouth). (12/26/07) Dave's response: Why does WMAL feel the need to use shrill boneheads to sub for Grandy and Andy and Core? Unlistenably bad..... This is the time of year when I admit that PBL is my friend. I don't know why, just worked out that way. I just read a few comments about Oldies Radio from Paul, Tom, JD and a few others. Just remember what Lava Girl said, Everything that is, or ever will be, started with a dream." I thought the Metromedia approach, "The Greatest Hits of all Time" was a good one. Bruce Holberg was an incredible PD. Sometimes I read this site and wonder if the Internet would have helped blacksmiths avoid being replaced by Detroit. Maybe not, but we are in the middle of huge change. We don't only worry about AM dying, but also FM, HD and Satellite. Please, keep Mel Karmazin away from Lee Abrams. As Lee would say, Mel just doesn't get it. Ed Graham (12/26/07) Was listening to a repeat bit on the Big Oh and Dooks show last night on the floundering JFK. The bit was about gross out scenes in movies. A caller mentioned "Pink Flamingoes" and the boyz were clueless as to what that was and who was John Waters. Didn't these groovy hip happening young boys have a show in Baltimore for a bit and they never heard of John Waters? A couple weeks back gave these bright young boys a try (watch it) and heard a bit about Xmas light display outside their humble domicile. They even had one of Sport Chunkies involved in the bit. It was mentioned that one of the boyz had red lights outside his home and this set off the other one in a huge guffaw . Then it was mentioned that he also had candy cane lights in the front yard and the other one laughed so hard that I thought on the verge of going into seizure. I didn't get the funny. Today's yutes are so funny so I axed Santa Claws to bring me some funny for Xmas but I been very very bad this year. Conclusion Big Oh and Dooks show is a lame imitation of the whoring Sport Chunkies show. Well time to catch some ZZZZZZZZZZZ's for this old fart. (12/26/07) RE: Rant: Comcast's HD Math - Dave, Comcast realizes that they have to twist and stretch the truth because DirecTV and now even the Dish Network are both blowing them away with the sheer number of HD channels that each service now offers and neither service needs to offer confusing math to show how they are killing Comcast. It's simple, just count the number of HD channels available from each service. That's all and if you did that, the satellite companies both offer all the local channels in HD as well. Both satellite services not only offer every single national channel (directv.com) that Comcast does but they also offer far more. It really is no contest and Comcast knows it too. That's why they feel like they have to come at us with the constant BS and don't even get me started on this whole NFL Network charge that Comcast tries to pull on their customers. What a friggin' joke! Kevin in HdG, MD. (12/26/07) Is Leonard Shapiro trying to stick it to WTOP? Notice how he can't even say the call letters: "Wouldn't it be nice to hear Frank Herzog say "Touchdown, Washington Redskins" one more time? Perhaps he could somehow slip it in when he shows up as a semi-regular anchor on all-news 103.5 FM." (12/26/07) WTOP's Frank Herzog also gets a screen credit in "National Treasure." Nice to see a great guy get a break! (12/26/07) Dave, I took my son to see "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets" over this past weekend and got a kick out of seeing our old buddy Frank Herzog make an appearance in one of the big scenes. The star, Nicolas Cage, is talking to the President, played by Bruce Greenwood, at his birthday party at Mount Vernon. As they are looking at a map of the underground passageways at George Washington's home place, Frank comes up to the president and says "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" and the prez says "Thanks, Frank." It was very cool to see a great guy like Frank in the top grossing Christmas movie...I guess the acting career is picking up and he's a natural at news and sports. The only thing better would have been to see Frank break out the "Touchdown, Washington Redskins!" signature but I guess it wouldn't be appropriate there. Also, there are several great scenes shot on the mall at the University of Maryland in College Park in front of the McKeldin Library. As a Terp alum, it made me feel very proud of my school....Happy Holidays to all! Mike Dawson, Former of WMAL, VOA, WHFS, WMUC (12/26/07) Dave's response: Check out Frank's entry at IMDB. He also starred in 2006's "Step Up" and the "TV series" of "WUSA Eyewitness News," where he played a sports anchor. Frank spent many years at Channel 7/WJLA. I wonder why that's not listed? The lasting legacy of Benny Hill: "Yakety Sax" can make anything funny: www.youtube.com (12/26/07) Dave's response: I don't believe Benny Hill ever married or had kids. But they did clone him before he died. And that's how we got Graham Norton...... It's the day after Christmas. I get into my car in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning to drive to work at zero-dark-thirty, punch up WASH-FM, and I get "In the Arms of the Angels" the song closely identified with the September 11th terrorist attacks. Guess I'll take down my tree when I get home. (12/26/07) /\ December 26 Messages /\ \/ December 25 Messages \/ What happened to WASH-FM Christmas night? The so-called Christmas station was AWOL for a looong time. Any info? Santa (12/25/07) On FOX5 this morning, at the end of the broadcast, they ran a list of all of the employees and included Doug Buchanan as one of their reporters. So, maybe that means that he's a permanenet fixture (for now). (12/25/07) "Thee Best" jazz pianist rest in peace. Thank You Oscar Peterson. www.cnn.com... Listen for yourself -- below link: www.amazon.com (12/25/07) Today, took my kids to 'National Treasure Book of Secrets" Frank Hurzog had a small specking part 'Hi Mr President" Who every played the president said "Hi Frank, go to see you" (12/25/07) D'ya think Leonard Shapiro of the Post reads DCRTV? I tend to think no. His "wouldn't it be nice" column doesn't seem to reflect the opinions posted here in the least. He could learn a lot by reading the best/worst posts. He seems hopelessly attached to the same folks every year. (12/25/07) I'm for piling more lumps of coal on local tv channels. From what I've seen channel 7 is only local channel showing Season's Greetings from soldiers overseas. Bah, Humbugs! And ain't so pleased with channel 7. They've attached sponsorship to the greetings with the mention of sponsor longer than the greeting from the soldier. And one of the sponsors is "war profiteer" lockheed...Did channel 20 show the Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney "White Christmas" movie this year? And did some cable channel show the Bill Murray "Scrooged" this year? But nnnnoooooo just another marathon showing of that feel good holiday film "goodfellas"....Has Lifetime cable tv cut back Alexandria's, according. to McPaper article, Denise Austin's exercise time in the mornings? .......judging from all the comments at the AOL blog on the change to AOL Radio I ain't only one who thinks it's just mediocre ...oh and Robert Earl Keen sends a shout out "Merry Christmas From The Family" tinyurl.com (12/25/07) Dear Dave: First off, a very Merry Christmas to you and to all the readers of this web site. I'm not really one who wants to act as my Dad's publicist, but here was an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal recently (online.wsj.com). I only bring it up because of something mentioned in the article that will be broadcast tomorrow night. Yes, I'm very proud. Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (12/25/07) Dave's response: For the record, we did run a Front Page blurb on that Wall Street Journal profile of Carl Kasell on 12/20..... Even if Santa short changed you under the Christmas tree last night, it's not too late to download a Santastic treat for your ears (in "3-D", no less). www.djbc.net... Rest assured, there'll be a couple of Elvis sightings, and I'll warn you about some guy named Richard who hides in a box... apparently. (Merry Christmas, everybody!) (12/25/07) Finished your Christmas dinner? Before the tryptophan kicks in... hitch a ride in the 1970 Motown motorcade with little Michael, Winnie & Yoko for another oldie that never was: www.youtube.com (12/25/07) Dave's response: I had a Christmas gyro at the Amphora in Vienna with some friends. Yummy - the food and the friends..... Larry in Luray you got it wrong. Her first name is spelled Adrienne and she wasn't fired. She resigned to take a host job with POTUS. (12/25/07) Dave's response: That's XM's POTUS presidential election news channel. Not the real POTUS..... To the Mailbagger critical of the reporter wearing a ski jacket outside a funeral, perhaps she took her fashion advice from Dick Cheney, who famously wore a green parka---with his name on it---to a solemn anniversary of the holocaust. WaPo describes it thusly: "The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower. Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults. Like other attendees, the vice president was wearing a hat. But it was not a fedora or a Stetson or a fur hat or any kind of hat that one might wear to a memorial service as the representative of one's country. Instead, it was a knit ski cap, embroidered with the words "Staff 2001." It was the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goodie bag. It is also worth mentioning that Cheney was wearing hiking boots -- thick, brown, lace-up ones. Did he think he was going to have to hike the 44 miles from Krakow -- where he had made remarks earlier in the day -- to Auschwitz?" www.washingtonpost.com with pic! Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to DC Dave and all of you out there in radioland!!!! (12/25/07) I went to see "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" on Christmas Eve. Funny flick, but equipment freaks are really going to enjoy the lineup of classic audio and video production gear that goes by. Pretty much all of it followed the timeline perfectly (no 1990s cameras or 1940s microphones dislocated from their place in media history). Merry Christmas to all. (12/25/07) Christmas Greetings from the Southland! OK... with the windchill, South Pasadena is probably cooler than Dave is at DCRTV World Headquarters! But, a Christmas Day picnic down at San Onofre might be just the thing for the family and I! (According to KNX, lower 70's expected along the beaches, although with a "high wind warning" until 6 PM Christmas Night.) And, for Dave: WTOP-9 was still lighting their old 179' tower at the real "Broadcast House" ("...at 40th and Brandywine Streets, Northwest...") for at least a year or so after they started diplexing with the then WMAL-7 on the tower at 4010 Chesapeake St N.W. A very Merry Christmas for all my friends back on the "least" coast! -John Pinckney (12/25/07) www.nypost.com: BILLY Joel has angered some of his fans by composing an anti-war anthem, "Christmas in Fallujah," which starts off: "It's evening in the desert/ I'm tired and I'm cold/ But I am just a soldier/ I do what I am told/ We came with the crusaders/ To save the Holy Land/ It's Christmas in Fallujah/ And no one gives a damn." WOR Radio host Steve Malzberg said on Thursday, "I give a damn." Malzberg was interviewing Long Island singer Cass Dillon, 21, who was given the song to record by Joel. "He just thought it should be a younger voice, someone about the age of the troops," Dillon explained. As for Malzberg's assertion that the song is "blatantly anti-American, anti-military," Dillon said, "The whole song was inspired by the troops, what they told Billy in their letter and what they told him face to face." Another verse begins: "We came to bring these people freedom/ We came to fight the infidel/ There is no justice in the desert/ Because there is no God in hell." (12/25/07) Dave's response: Go see "Charlie Wilson's War." It suggests that if we had given Afghanistan more humanitarian funding after we helped kick the Ruskies out in the 1980s, the place might not have become a breeding ground for terrorists 15 years later..... /\ December 25 Messages /\ \/ December 24 Messages \/ Just when I thought that I had seen everything I have just watched a tremendous show of disrespect to a fallen hero. Many of you might have missed it but the last week a Smithburg, Md (Washington County) police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty. Channel 4 sends some clueless wonder to the funeral and she appears on camera, with the hearse in the background, in a windbreaker with a well-known logo on the breast. Does anyone realize that even if you are not a mourner that you don't go to a funeral dressed like you are going skiing? (12/24/07) FCCTV DELIVERS HORROR HOSTS FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Christmas Eve and through Christmas Day, local channel FCCTV (seen in Fairfax County and Falls Church on Cox Channel 12 on Starpower Channel 2, and all of Northern Virginia on Verizon's Fios service Channel 35) is delivering Horror Hosts far and near! A full day marathon today of locally produced "Monster Madhouse Live," will give way this evening for several Christmas episodes of "The Bone Jangler" (from Illinois) and "Jebodiah Buzzard" (from Arkansas). Christmas morning will be classic Christmas episodes from "The Spooky Movie with Dr. Sarcofiguy" (seen on FCCTV since 1995), and a heaping six hour marathon of "Ghoul A Go Go' (from New York). And an added bonus will be the unveiling of the new "A. Ghastlee Ghoul Log" - 30 minutes of Dayton, Ohio's favorite grown man in make-up, keeping an eye on you from within a fireplace (for a preview, please check out www.horrorhosts.com). HO-HO-HO-HORROR HOSTS! (12/24/07) Actually Hank - there were times this year when I FELT really old. I hope everyone has a safe holiday season - and the very best of new years. Diane Kepley - alive and well at AP Radio. (12/24/07) Dave, Merry Christmas to you and yours! Thanks for all you do for this great site! Also Merry Christmas wishes to all those out there in DCRTVland, even Mr. AQH, lol. Don't worry I didn't bore my listeners too much, lol, it was only two quick stories. Really it was to get my listeners to call in with theirs and they did. Actually the show gave a lot of background info on the Christmas songs including some audio clips from writers like Mel Torme who collaborated on The Christmas Song. Thanks to Joyce Conroy for her musical information...Anyway I have been blessed with much this year and I want to thank all my radio friends for all their support, well wishes and great example. From A-Z thanks and Merry Christmas! -Michael Popovec (12/24/07) Dave's response: Merry Christmas to you too! Just clicked by Fox News Channel at 2 PM Monday and they were running a Christmas church service. With commercials. First, a news channel shouldn't be running religious programming - from any religion. And, second, if you're going to do that, do it ad-free. Oh that Rupert Murdoch, what a scoundrel..... Dave, it was great to hear one of my former colleagues on the air today. Hank Silverberg doing his thing at WTOP. PB (12/24/07) A Holiday Photo Tribute to Georgetown and Washington www.nysocialdiary.com (12/24/07) Dave, It was great to hear two of my former colleagues back on the air today. Diane Kepley was anchoring the hourly AP Network Newscast, and Paul Brandus was doing the business reports at Marketwatch. To paraphrase Douglas McArthur-- Old radio anchor/reporters never die..they just show up on someone else's satellite feed. (Not that either Paul or Diane is old..no hatemail please.) Hank Silverberg (12/24/07) Dear Friends, Happy Holidays one and all! This is a beautiful season where we celebrate the birth of Christ, reach out to friends and family, party, vacation, shop and take inventory of the previous year, with hopes and anticipation of an even greater year to come. This year has been filled with many exciting events and opportunities for Caribbean Vibes Radio. I would like to thank you for continued love and support. Special Thanks to all of the wonderful people I have worked with this year. I've met a few key people along the way that have embraced me and Caribbean Vibes Radio and I look forward to future collaborations which will benefit YOU, our beautiful listeners! Thanks for making us your favorite radio station as made evident in the the awards we've won this year: "Best Caribbean Internet Radio Station", "Best International Radio Station" by BlackWebAwards.com and "BEST LOCAL JAMAICAN RADIO STATION" by www.Jamaicans.com. We are humbled and BLESSED. THANK YOU. There are exciting changes and additions in store for 2008 here at CVR. Continue to ride the waves with us. You WILL NOT be disappointed! Keep us locked as you enjoy a beautiful blend of holiday music CVR STYLEE!!! Share the link: www.CaribbeanVibesRadio.com. On behalf of the entire Caribbean Vibes Radio team, I wish you ultimate PEACE, JOY and TRUE Happiness this season can bring. Be HAPPY and SAFE. God bless you all. Cheers! (12/24/07) When is Danny Boy going to stop pumping money into Triple X Radio. Also can Larry Michael just go away... PLEASE! He has got to be the worst play by play man .. Please Larry just go away. (12/24/07) Dave's response: With the Skins now on WBIG - which, I hear, is pretty much give-away time from Clear Channel in order to get ratings on its rather dreadfully-programmed classic shits 100.3 - Danny boy can't get no ratings on his whimpy-signalled Triple X, which is little more than a cash drain. And with radio production of his own games in-house, that's got to suck away the dollars, too. Imagine a few years back, when Danny had CBS coughing up ultra big bucks to produce and air the team on JFK-FM. But, Dan's got such a big pile of dough that it really shouldn't matter much to him..... Augie Wren's Xmas Story tinyurl.com... Fairytale of New York tinyurl.com... Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol tinyurl.com... Christmas at Kmart by ROOT www.youtube.com... (12/24/07) Dave , have you ever sucked the jelly from a jelly donut and then discovered Don Geronimo is a horses ass? Freebird-1 Don-0 (12/24/07) Speaking of politically correct (as many people have regarding "Merry Christmas")...on a recent news report from Channel 4 regarding a sexual assualt at a Holiday Inn in Montgomery County, the graphic on screen said the suspect was a black man, but the reporter (Darcy Spencer) said that the suspect was African- American. How does she know that? The perp could have been African-African. It's an insult to American black people to call someone African-American if they're not regarding a crime. What's wrong with the term "black"? I'm described as white, but I'm not offended. As Dave says, "Geeze." -- Bobbie (12/24/07) Dave, just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all that you do on DCRTV. Here's also wishing you and everyone on the Mailbag a Merry Christmas and happy holiday to all. Thanks for the gift of your friendship. Blessings. Joyce Conroy (WHFC) (12/24/07) Dave's response: Thanks..... I dont usually watch Football Night in America, but someone tell Olberman enough with the Chris Berman imitations and all the nicknames! (12/24/07) /\ December 24 Messages /\ \/ December 23 Messages \/ I saw that report on Channel 4 about the toy giveaway. Those vile women [who were rather well dressed, I might add] made my stomach roll. Those women should apply for jobs at the DC Tax Office. I hear you can write your own checks and the mayor is too stupid [or crooked] to stop you. I have my application in. I need a new house in the Bahamas. I'm glad 4 ran that report though. From now on my money's going to Childrens Hospital. Paul (12/23/07) Thanks to those responding about "Nine!". The YouTube link hit the spot. I'm too cheap to subscribe to ReelRadio (unless they take my airchecks, then it would be worth it). And, yes, I did Google it, but after going 20 pages deep and only finding Nine Inch Nails, Radio Nine in England, some record label, and an Australian band, I gave up and asked you guys. Best of all, it's still funny after all these years. (12/23/07) To the pesons that are posting about Opie’s fiance’ let it be. I can’t believe some of the twisted stuff that people post. All it does is damage. She’s probably twisting in the wind and some idiot is intending to ruin her life for what? All of us make mistakes. Let it be. PLB:-Merry Christmas! (12/23/07) Just quickly checking in before I start my Christmas Eve preparations. At three tomorrow afternoon I will sneak over and cut the wiring to my neighbor's annoying ten foot high inflatable Santa and his blinding light display. Just before I head down to the basement I will wait in the bushes for the obnoxious carolers who make it a point to stand in front of my house every year. This year I will bombard them with curses and invective until they leave. Then, for the fourteenth consecutive year, I will head for the basement where a thirty pack of Milwaukee's Best. a barrel of Christmas cookies, and an inflatable air mattress will await me. Since I've drilled a hole in the floor and fed the cable wire through I will be able to watch hours and hours of consecutive Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. (12/23/07) Dave's response: Cheer up Mike! I hear that the "The Mike O'Meara Show" will debut on 6/2/08. Hang in there..... I have Nine! Skip McKlosky gave it to me back in the mid 70's. Its on cassettte so I'll have to find a way to port it over to digital. I also have the New York Telephone Obscene one as well. (12/23/07) (Re:) Does anyone out there know how I can get a copy of "Nine"? (end Re) I shouldn't be telling you this, but there's this cool new invention called "Google". Shhh, nobody knows about it yet: www.reelradio.com or www.reelradio.com (12/23/07) Imus can be seen on the RFDTV channel on DISH, channel 231. (12/23/07) For the mailbag writer looking for "Nine:" www.youtube.com (12/23/07) Dave, I thought you had printed something on your Front Page about Steve Rudin filing a suit against FOX5... In fact, I had meant to post a comment after seeing that since I saw somewhere that Tom Sater had filed a similar suit against FOX5 and won.. (12/23/07) Does anyone out there know how I can get a copy of "Nine"? It was a spoof about a radio station that only uses "Nine" as its identification, where the DJs, callers, sounders, jingles, and everything else say "Nine". Think it came out in the early 80s. (12/23/07) Talk show host wants to spice things up www.thenewsstar.com (12/23/07) I work at XM and the last few days... There is a homemade porno tape of Opie's finace... floating around.... Now a former staff member has the tape and is going to release it. More to come. (12/23/07) /\ December 23 Messages /\ \/ December 22 Messages \/ Detailed Newsday article on Warner Wolf's return to Imus, while he's working at ESPN1050: www.newsday.com (12/22/07) Re: Adrian Mitchell - I defer to you, Max! My bad. The memory is the SECOND thing that goes, ya know. Merry Christmas to all (whether it's PC to say it or not) - - - - - Larry in Luray (12/22/07) I too saw the Toys for Tots piece on Channel 4 this evening. As an Aftican American, I was totally embarrassed by the two women who were behaving in such an ignorant manner. Instead of this woman making a comment about how grateful she was that her kids could have gifts at Christmas, she chose to yell and scream about how she has four kids and that she signed up like "ere body" (vs. everybody) else out there. Another example of someone feeling that they're entitled to something. I'd be curious as to what she's doing to better herself other than expecting something for nothing. And let's give kudos to Channel 4 for showing the most ignorant people in the crowd. Thanks for feeding into the "ignorant Black people" stereotype. (12/22/07) I'm shocked about what I saw on the Channel 4 news at 6pm. For years I have contributed to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign and assumed that the toys were going to deserving poor people. Channel 4 goes to the distribution point to be confronted by two indignant women (with no baby daddies in sight) who complained about having to stand in a line to get FREE toys. One woman had four children and was bitching about the inconvenience of it all. I wrongly assumed that my money was going to people of all races who were appreciative of the efforts of these Marines. How wrong I was. (12/22/07) re: Larry in Luray's 'Best/Worst': Adrienne Mitchell was NOT 'let go' at WTOP. She left of her own accord to become a host/anchor of XM's POTUS '08/XM130 channel. Said so right here in DCRTV if you have a problem with that. And so it goes... Happy holidays! - Max in Mild West Arlington... (12/22/07) The debate over who abandoned radio first - the station owners or the listeners - is as endless as the old "chicken/egg" riddle. Personally, I think the excesses resulting from deregulation in the 90s marked the beginning of the end for radio. Eric Klinenberg's 2007 book, "Fighting For Air: The Battle to Control America's Media", tells the whole sad story. You can get it in hardback or paperback from Amazon.com and if you use the link that Dave has set up, your purchase will help fund DCRTV. (12/22/07) Dave's response: Fuck amazon.com. I have removed almost all of their links from DCRTV. Even though we give them many hundreds of "click thrus" every month, they return substantially less kickback revenue this year than last year for the "favor." Cheap bastards..... There have been a few great comments about the engineering side of radio, and it's problems. I have a young son that at 12 knows more about audio and RF than I did when 30. He knows both of his parents are on air, but really has no interest in that area. I still encourage him to pursue that field, as I know the industry is in dire need of newcomers. I took an interest in engineering while a teenager, and was "walked" thru repairs and bypasses while doing weekends, thus saving the engineer a trip. Mentors like Mike Fast, JR Richardson and others really trusted me with some interesting projects over the years when I was in Baltimore, and I had no formal education. Corporate staff needs to trust the experience of these professionals, it's usually not the CE who wants to push the limits between loudness and distortion. I can say that here in Roanoke, Wheeler recognizes the importance of engineering staff. We have a CE, an RF engineer, a studio tech, and several "IT" staff. Yes corporate radio, the engineers count, after all, who do you call when things go bad real fast, in the middle of the night or during storms? They are a big part in keeping the revenue flowing, regardless of the programming. Tom Conroy (12/22/07) Hey AQH listener. Its not the owner - its the listener. The listeners didn't go away (in total) because radio got boring. They went away because they wanted more than radio can give - music anyway they want, commercial free. They no longer need the transistors in your pocket to get 1,000 songs in their head. They now have a shuffle for that. OK before you say, "radio is more than songs", you are right. But listeners aren't gonna stay with commercial (music) radio just to hear the jock or AIR TALENT yuck it up. That might be what the big corporate owners figger'd out. Radio would have died one way or the other. You talk about reinvention....MAYBE that is what is happening now...MONEY magazine reported earlier this year that in 2006-07 more people banked on line than banked in the brick/mortar locations, a trend that is continuing. The banking industry will never be able to get those people back in their 'stores'. There is NO REASON FOR THEM TO COME BACK EVER. They now have to concentrate on online and other ways to make money. The communications industry reported just last week that total spending on cell phones outpaced land line total spending this year for the first time...a trend destined to continue. What is ma bell going to do with those phone sets? Radio must do the same. PUR (or persons using radio) continues to decline in most markets every ratings book. Satellite radio (commercial free albeit 'fee' based) isn't growing by the same number...these people are getting their music (or whatever) in a number of other (some more convenient) ways. Many will never come back or at least devote the quarter hours they once did. Radio must concentrate on the people who still do listen and figure out why they do and give them more of that....something tells me it ain't Michael Popovec telling us about his family traditions during the noon hour. Or all the great jocks of the past put together. Or dreaming of running an oldies station with all the old jocks mentioned with 'passion'. Sometimes looking to the past ain't how to fix the future...ask all the buggy whip makers.... (12/22/07) Hey, "Unsigned Xorporate Suit"...I concur! Engineers, the good ones...are out the door as part of Wall Street cost cutting. Not only are a lot of the new "techs" not patient enough to make your cube, I doubt they know what a cube is exactly. My point being that the good, rather great people in radio were cut for costs! New cheaper talent on air and off has emerged. Syndication replaces local programming. All of the components that gave radio it's flavor and value are going, going ...just about gone. Promotions directors giving their heart, soul and whatever was left to really build cume were unceremoniously "let go". Some like Lisa Baden were strong enough to reinvent themselves. Programmers like Steve Allen are reemerging. Sales managers who can't hit their numbers are adding more AE's to the staff while some of the big hitters are getting their lists chopped to "make room" for the untested to see who "sticks". Former CCer JW had a disrespect and disregard for the two most important customers...the listener and the advertiser. These groups are telling the radio groups there is a problem...but corporate radio with their eye on the ticker, doesn't have their ear to the ground. The AQH Listener (12/22/07) Dave, re: "Didn't Disney/ABC hold onto the ESPN and Radio Disney stations?" They sure did, and even the ABC News Radio operations - which are still being run by ABC, under a 10 year deal where Citadel will sell the ABC News Radio product to stations. WABC and WEPN in NYC are no longer co-owned, though I think they may still be in the same building. If Warner Wolf is appearing on both, it's a cooperative deal between the two non-co-owned stations. And if indeed they are still in the same building, there's no commute or extra audio line involved for Mr. Wolf. (12/22/07) On the way FM sounds (signed by the corp suit), the main reason FM sounds the way it does is because listeners don't demand anything better, and don't seem to care. Remember they are downloading, streaming and listening to MP3's for pete's sake. You CAN give them something they don't care about but lose in the loudness wars, even occuring in the mastering process of many studios these days. I still laugh about how one group in town set up their "new" (then) Optimod digital processors back in the mid 90's....The local chief said his (competing group) had trouble setting up theirs to match "the big ol square waves" that XX group of FM's were putting out. The FCC doesn't seem to care about percentage of mod though, I will grant that. How many FM's on your dial are over 100%? - and have probably turned the 'peak' light off on their mod monitor...if they still have one (there's no current requirement) (12/22/07) This is from www.capitalweather.com. Poll Update: Steve Rudin wins ex-weathercaster voteI finally cut-off voting for the "Who's your favorite former DC weathercaster?" poll. After more than 1100 votes came in, former CBS9 and FOX5 weathercaster Steve Rudin came out on top, earning 236 votes. Tom Sater finished in second with just one vote shy of Rudin. Will he demand a recount? That is, if he ever re-surfaces again. Together, Rudin and Sater earned 40% of all votes. The rest of the results are as follows: 3rd place--Gordon Barnes (11%), 4th place--Lexi Hickok (10%), 5th place--Chikage Windler (9%), 6th place--Dave Jones (8%), 7th place--Dennis Ketterer (8%), 8th place--Alexandra Steele (7%), 9th place--Bill Kamal (5%), 10th place--Andrew Humphrey (1%)..... BTW, when does Bill Kamal get out of jail? I also think Alexandra Steele is a nice looking lady for her age. (12/22/07) The Weather Channel's Alexandra Steele on the CBS Saturday Early Show again today. (12/22/07) Dave's response: Damn, sure looked like Steve Rudin in drag..... When I first glanced at your headline on the front page about Burbank, I thought "Good for Buzz to get out from under Don while the gettin' is good and before Don can drag him down for the end of the D&M show". Oh well, maybe next year. (12/22/07) Reading that Steve Rudin has returned to TV, it reminds me that two years ago I was surprised to see his name appear in the Washington Post in an article about real estate. www.washingtonpost.com... Apparently, after he left TV, he took to investing in property, as well as going back to school. www.genecowan.com... Hopefully, he wasn't stricken by the housing and sub-prime crises. --Wes McGee (12/22/07) The "AQH Listener" has hot a lot of it right. However, he left out one discipline in Radio that was neglected, ignored, and then given the boot: Engineering! While there is little (if anything) to be said about the quality of the average radio receiver of today, just listen to what the average FM station sounds like! (We'll leave AM to some other time!) Except for having some possible stereo "presence" (You can't really call it "separation"!), most of today's FM's sound terrible at best. Just because the FCC allows your on-air sound to resemble a Pace 23-channel CB radio doesn't mean you have to. The end of serious FCC-mandated Proof of Performance tests has about spelled the doom of quality radio audio. Of course, there's also a shortage of bright young talent going into broadcast engineering. Students know the bucks aren't there. In fact, several formerly top-notch university EE programs have dropped anything but the most basic coverage of RF from their programs. ! Sort of analogous to what the dropping of the old "Radio-TV-Film" programs at the college/university level has done to programming. In a way it's good that one of the tests I gave when I was interviewing future technicians was to give them a 12" long piece of copperweld, tell them to cut it into 1" pieces, give them a soldering iron and solder, and have them solder a cube. Those that persevered and made the cube (It didn't have to be perfect.) showed that thet had the patience and tenacity needed to get the job done. Even in this era when the equipment is so damn reliable that some of it is not only self-diagnosing, but "self-healing", where little serious training is needed, there will always be times in this business where "book sense" will be found inferior to "common sense" and experience. When I finally do my "Best/Worst" for 2007, I'll include ownership and management. The only reason I've not finished it yet is because there are still 10 days left in the year. ! 10 days is more than enough for somebody to really fuck up. Or, for more layoffs or salary cuts to happen. Unsigned Xorporate Suit (12/22/07) Oh man, the new look of AOL Radio is just mediocre. Just effing ponderous moving around the new site and the look of dull grey is ugh! Why did they waste money on this if they got money problems. The old look and interface was better. Plus ain't AOL about to shut down AOL Radio because of the increase in music fees? Why the change! And the WaPo has crossed the line for this longtime single issue buyer. The hike in price makes reading online much more attractive than buying at newsstand. I did same when McPaper jacked it's price. Just not enough good content in WaPo anymore. Come on give it up, Wilbon and Kornholio don't really write anymore for WaPo. I thought new FCC rule was a newspaper could buy a television rated 4th or lower in a top 20 media market. Come on channel 20 let's beat channel 9 with all day Mash and Seinfeld marathon's ! Or because channel 20 is owned by Fox , like channel 5, it don't work? Anyone going to the last radio party at the Look Around Cafe Saturday night in Manassas? Be sure to bring a hot potato. I understand that the Ghost of Major Bill will be there with his special Christmas Spam. (12/22/07) Good for Rouse to say"kiss my ass: Bob Philps!" Finally someone can say "You and Labrozzi suck and eveything you do:! GET OUT OF RADIO NOW. BOTH OF YOU DONT BELONG IN RADIO! GET THE "F" OUT ! They're... here to suck every lifeforce of any radio sanity that is left.... Look at Mills and Thrill in Seattle who just signed a 5 year deal to conitune tio be the NUMBER ONE SHOW... The West Coast Boys comin; to call on your soul... (12/22/07) /\ December 22 Messages /\ \/ December 21 Messages \/ From the late 90's (Larry Kenney impersonating Sen. Ted Kennedy);"Imus In The Morning 20/20 Sports. let the Wolf go forth from this time and place. here is Warner" Imus: "Did you say water" "You dirty bastard"- Warner used to work on Imus' show on WFAN/MSNBC so maybe Imus wanted to work with Warner again, there didn't seem to be any bad blood between them in NYC. (12/21/07) as reported on DCRTV, "steve rouse got the boot"....not entirely true, as he was offered a pay cut, refused, and subsequently decided to leave pertaining to a looming cut in salary. weblogs.baltimoresun.com (12/21/07) Dave's response: OK, technically Rouse didn't "get the boot." But if the company you're working for offers you less money than what you're now getting, it's more-or-less a "forced exit." You know, DCRTV broke the story. It would have been nice if the rat bastards at the slumping Sun could once in a while give this site the credit it's due. Oh well, they'll soon get their Hell from Mr. Zell..... "Must be someone who can't get a job anywhere else." Haven't had one for years...keep guessing. Obviously you missed the point. No matter how you slice it, the radio product just aint what it used to be. Poor management, weak treatment of sales talent and oversyndication has left what was one of the most powerful advertising mediums to cannibalize it's product with slimy advertising and spot overloads. Stopsets 3-8 units....confused? Especially is you're in the 3rd or 4th position. Don't take my word for it. In 2001 Bloomberg established a radio stock index...starting at 100...this index closed today around 51. Pretty good investment? How about earlier this year, at a high of about 68...today down to 51? I have listened to DC radio for 50 years and remember the days of daytimer radio....part of the problem in our area are the inherent small signal patterns of the AM's and FM's. That and I guess since DC is such a transient town, there really isn't any loyalty. And today's radio aint helping! Changing formats, programmers, management, and air talent doesn't build loyalty...neither do syndicated (non-local) programs. The days of Robin Breedon going to appearances everyday to meet, greet and build her audience are over. And loyal sales managers given a carrot of stock options not worth the paper they are printed on? Not sure where they are putting that carrot! How is that good for radio? Then there's the product. From what I read in MAILBAG...none of you are very happy with that either. For my money, I'd rather go to Atlantic City and put it all on red or black. The AQH Listener (12/21/07) Your rant was right on about Chris Core being (right on) about big pharma. I work out of my truck and I've noticed a number of radio personalities and sidekicks over the years have championed what this or that psychotropic drug like Paxil or Zoloft did for them. Subtle market ploy I wonder? Thanks for the site,your the bookmark I check before I hit Drudge and I appreciate the work you do. (12/21/07) Didn't Steve Rudin go back to work at channel 5 after winning his lawsuit but left shortly after that? Nice to see Mr. Rudin back on the air but doesn't Newschannel 8/7 have an army of weathercasters already or have some of the troops been shipped out? Didn't channel 5 consider Mr. Rudin as a fill in for Ms. Tolbert till her return? channel 5 seems to have been trying out a lot of youngsters since her injury. Surfed by the Globe last night about 11:30 and heard a favorite Xmas tune of mine The Pogues "Fairytale of Christmas". Hope they play "Christmas Wrapping" and "Kung Fu Christmas". As I post this Tom Gavin is playing old Conway on his webr internet radio show. Merry Xmas Tom Gavin! What's Up Guys! (12/21/07) Anyone have any idea as to why Redskin players don't give interviews to Riggo's show? It's the "official" station and it seems strange not to have player interviews on the station's flagship show. (12/21/07) First of all, the necessary thing to do if you’re planning an “Oldies” Station is to get rid of the stigma…Let’s get away from “OLDIES”. Re-label it..Retro-rock and Roll or something. From that point on I agree with Capt. Tom, Ed G..et al. BUT whether you know it or not, the best part of this picture is the fact that the bottom line could be realized playing Retro..by the folks in their late 40’s to mid 60’s, (that’s where the money is) Great personalities, great production, great selection,a great signal and great MARKETING. Now those are the elements that can really make a “rocker” come alive in this day and age. Johnny D….Ed G…Capt. Tom. Let’s find a station that needs $$$$ (MOST OF THEM) Let’s make the dream a reality. Some of us are still out here ready to ROCK N’ ROLL. We just need a “glass enclosed nerve center and all of the above mentioned. The dream is still alive, BUT where are the “dreamers?? PLB (12/21/07) Think Cerphe bought new loafers for that Was. Post article? Paul (12/21/07) ("I am hosting a special and final 2007 "12 O'Clock Sleigh Ride" sharing my family traditions...") I have to ask myself – do I really care about his family traditions – well, um… no! (12/21/07) Steve Rudin looked drop dead crazy sexy with with his closely cropped beard today on NC 8. Speaking of Gwen, how long does it take a person to recover from getting hit by a bus? (12/21/07) Wow! Who the fuck is Lou Brutus and why should I give a shit about him or his "book"? Oh, wait; I don't know who he is and I don't give a shit about him. Merry Christmas everybody! Escapee from Fairfax (12/21/07) Dave's response: He was on the old 99.1 HFS, back when it was a skater punk station..... Pretty funny to see the rant from "the AQH listener" about how radio has no future. Ratings 101. AQH is a function of Cume and Time Spent Listening. The AQH listener name implies the author spends a lot of time with a medium he/she believes has nothing to offer. Must be someone who can't get a job anywhere else. (12/21/07) A heads up to WBIG & WIHT... Ahhh, those wacky happy clappys are at it again... The Hope Christian Church of Marlton NJ is asking the FCC for a 2nd & 3rd Adjacent Interference Waiver from the FCC for their proposed translator on 99.9 in Annapolis claiming the interference is only over "water" and attempting to demonstrate a "lack of population". But, in this case they're referring to the bay, not the ocean. The FCC should reject this waiver considering how many boats are on the bay during the Spring, Summer, and Fall months and it might be in WBIG & WIHT's best interest to send off a letter to the FCC regarding this matter. (12/21/07) Nationally syndicated radio host Lou Brutus has made his holiday card, The 2007 Lou Brutus Christmas Activty Book, available for free download at his web site www.loubrutus.com. Written by Lou and illustrated by Alan MacBain, this twisted Christmas card features The Britney Spears Panty Maze, The Paris Hilton F-Word Search, The Amy Winehouse Jailhouse Letter Mad Lib, The Rip Snortin' Lyndsay Lohan Picture Puzzle and the Where in the World is Chinese Democracy Coloring Page... (12/21/07) Your mailbag is becoming a douche bag! Many of your readers are looking for their megabytes of fame by trashing what's left of radio. That said, here comes more! There are a lot of things wrong with radio I don't see being corrected. The dilution of talent runs across the board...sales and programing. Hmmmmm...sounds like the great consolidation experiment is now the monster it created. Account Execs are lured with a list...then that list is slowly taken away to lure another Account Exec. Then that Exec either goes to another radio group or eventually out of radio...leaving a creativity vacuum. How dedicated can a cluster sales exec be? If that doesn't get you...how about commission cuts...or other disincentives. Programmers are leaving to satellite and internet, leaving more services, consultants and multi format PD's in charge...narrow play lists with more spots...because untalented Sales managers force more spots into an hour to meet budgets. Then the PD gets blamed for the drop in ratings....hmmmm. All this to meet the stockholder expectations. How are radio stocks doing these days? Over the past five years? Or since consolidation? Clear Channel's saving grace for shareholders was their billboard business! Old Viacom guys like Figenshu, Ochs, and Kosbau had it right...this is a fun business! Making money makes it more fun...but it ALWAYS had to be fun for everyone...listeners, air talent and other staff. Today stations whore out their airtime, running any spots or block programming. Ochs would never air some of the spots being aired today by most stations. GM's and SM's are taking any and all ad dollars, turning a blind eye to the impact they might have on the lives of their listeners. Financial, medical, supernatural...if the check clears...it airs! Creativity has been intimated out of radio...sales and programming! It is especially noticed this time of the year when corporate radio makes their Holiday staff and pay cuts! Sad to say that radio, especially music formats have little left to offer. Fewer listeners, listening less...how much ad value remains? Not much! Even talk formats, no longer local, are twisting in the winds of radio's last gasp. Solution? None realistically...technology will continue its advance into our cars and homes and take over our listening time. Maybe Snyder can buy them up to finally get a signal...he'd be better off by eating humble pie and getting Herzog back! The AQH Listener! (12/21/07) Why is Warner Wolf of New York's WEPN-1050 appearing on Don Imus's show on WABC-770? Because both stations are owned by ABC, so he can move between them easily. In fact, back in 2001, I was in NYC on September 11, and WABC was simulcast on WEPN. -- Carl in Olney (12/21/07) Dave's response: WABC radio is now owned by Citadel, while ESPN's radio stations, like NYC's WEPN, are still owned by Disney/ABC. Didn't Disney/ABC hold onto the ESPN and Radio Disney stations? Rouse was a fill in at BAL between QSR and his recent CBS gig, so I'm not surprised to hear he'll be welcomed back there. I have trouble figuring out how he'd work as more than a vacation sub for Durian, though. His show doesn't seem well suited for middays where the station needs help and I have trouble seeing him do a straight talk format. Howie (12/21/07) Re (Post's Style Remains Free Of "Dick"): Does that mean that the "Post Journalistic Decency Code" won't allow publishing "Peter" in the paper? Brian/Reston (12/21/07) I enjoyed Tom Conroy's essay about Oldies as a viable format, and suggest that maybe there's also room on the airwaves for "oldies that never were". Take for instance the pairing of Jeff Lynne's ELO and Diana Ross' Supremes by madman Mark Vidler at www.youtubecom... And Master Vidler also recalls that little known collaboration by the Beatles and the Monkees on "Paperback Believer" www.youtube.com... Happy Holidays everyone! (12/21/07) Always great to see a post from J.D. I've listened to radio stations across the country over many years, and Johnny Dark is about as good as it gets. I grew up listening to him and he was an inspiration for me to get into top 40 radio back in the day. I guess I saw the handwriting on the wall some years ago, got out, and today it's not a pretty picture. Johnny's enthusiasm and knowledge of the business is unparalled. I've never met Johnny, but at one time or another I've met some of his former colleagues...Jack Edwards, Paul Rogers, Kerby Scott, Alan Field, etc. It's ashame Johnny cannot be heard on World Satellite Radio, because I for one would listen! Steve Miller (12/21/07) Just a few notes: Sometimes at 5:20 in the morning when I'm waiting for my bus and it's 20 degrees and windy, I hate Ed Rod. ** I don't like to encourage Tom Conroy, but he's right. Stupid programmers and owners burned out Oldies as a format by playing the 300 safe songs over and over - - with no personalities. Hell, that's what an Ipod Nano is for. ** It's that time of year when real broadcasters' lives are ruined by people who think they understand radio programming, but really only know how to bring about a false bottom line. All tactics, no strategy. Seriously, radio conglomerates will face changes this year, when the stations they own devalue. You can't fake it forever. Programming will begin to become important again. ** I really believe Imus is a New York thing. His syndication will not do any better than part of a one share in most other markets. I actually remember when Imus was funny, it's a fading memory. ** How about Donny G going to NPR where he could do a nationwide show about radio. It would require a slight character change, but he would be great. ** 3WT is a place holder. It will never have ratings as a talk station as long as syndicators are filling important day parts. Please, decide what you want the station to be, and then try to do it. I just never understood how you (Jim Farley) expected to gain an audience from stations other than WTOP, or why you didn't see that coming. As David Giovannini said in his research on Public Radio, "programming creates audience." But, when you program against yourself, it creates a little and shares a lot. If you can't come up with original programming, at least counter program a competitor. ** I hope WBAL puts Rouse to good use, maybe ask him what he would like to do. WLIF wasn't really the right place for him, WBAL could be. Ed Graham (12/21/07) I've said this in the mailbag before, but it bears repeating. Management at most radio clusters will never learn from previous programming mistakes because they all come up through sales. They don't understand the creative mind and therefore cannot peacefully coexist with creative types. The talent mentioned in previous mailbag posts are no longer with the mentioned stations because they refused to bend to corporate pressure. The people who are still employed with the CBS's, CC's, & Radio One's are the people who dance like puppets for their corporate masters. While there are a few exceptions to this, by and large this is the case. If radio really wants to right itself, and it doesn't, it will put creative types in positions of power to hire and work with creative types. That will leave the bean counters to eat their own, which is what they do. Merry F'n Christmas. (12/21/07) Tom Conroy...I love it when you get up on your soapbox. Personally, I agree with everything you said regarding the "Oldies" format and the way it should be presented. With talented jocks, the correct music, great production elements, it would sound exciting and jump off the dial compared to the countless bland formats that are heard all across the country today. Michael Popovec...Thanks for remembering me so frequently in your posts. It's greatly appreciated by this old rock 'n' roll disc-jockey. Johnny Dark (12/21/07) The following was forwarded to DCRTV..... The WTOP Sales Department is comprised of 15 business owners - each salesperson is responsible for developing and managing their individual accounts. We have had Account Managers leave us in the past to start their own businesses and we have another entrepreneurial Account Manager on the staff. Michael Fitzgerald has decided to leave WTOP to pursue fame and fortune by opening a chain of Massage Envy - Therapeutic Massage Clinics. For those of you who know Fitz well, you know replacing him will be impossible. However, I have attached a job listing in case you know of anyone. Title of Position: ACCOUNT MANAGER Requirements: Builds excellent relationships, has a track record of retaining business through good and bad times, team player (office, softball, paintball, etc.), card dealer, event planner, accurate ball thrower, everyone's best friend & confidant, fantastic dancer, story teller (can take a 5 minute story and tell it in 30 minutes or more without an ending but many punch lines) and resident funny man (always a joke to be told). Fitz also wanted me to mention that when his first "massage parlor" (just kidding, Fitz) opens in March that he will be offering 10% discounts if you sign up for his e-mail database. Just e-mail him at mfitzgerald@massageenvydc.com or for more information you can log onto Massageenvy.com. (12/21/07) Dave's response: For the record, Fitz will not be the only local radio guy to get into the massage biz. I've heard that a legendary former WMALer has beat you to the punch..... To Ed Rodriguez – You mention, you will have an opening soon? Anything in the AE dept. – and if you could share how much an avg rep brings in, that would be great. Sign me anonymous for now... (12/21/07) NBC4 Sports up to their old tricks again this morning. They recorded two different versions of the dreadful " sports in a minute " because the game ended late. The version shown had Navy taking the lead in its bowl game " but not holding on and losing " Of course no score was given. This is such bush-league shit. Just let the news anchor give highlites and the score and let poor Dan go home and go beddy-bye at 11:30. And while we're at it.. on the pre-recorded Sat. and Sun. AM sports reports must we continue to hear " that's your sports on this Sunday morning". We knowww it's Sunday morning. Are they trying to convince themselves it's Sunday morning when they are recording the segment Sat night. Such baloney. Regards Biff (12/21/07) I just saw Steve Rudin doing the weather on News channel 8 this morning. He used to be on channel 9 a few years back i believe. (12/21/07) Talk about a blast from the past…former Channel 9 and Channel 5 meteorologist Steve Rudin is filling in on Newschannel 8 this morning. I was quite surprised to see him, because I don’t think he’s been on the air since WTTG (replaced him) in favor of Gwen Tolbart several years ago. It’s good to see him on TV again. Brian in Fairfax (12/21/07) I wish the Examiner's Jim Williams would ask 1300's Anita Marks: Which is more difficult, posing naked for a photographer, or pretending you know what you're talking about on the radio? Hey, maybe someone should ask Jim Williams the same thing! (12/21/07) When you look at the numbers in many markets, the Oldies formats are struggling. For those who grew up in the 60's, radio was a huge part of our life. How many fell asleep with the little transistor radio under our pillows listening to our favorite top 40 station? We loved the music! What I hear in my travel is a tight playlist, and it's much the same wherever I go. I believe that over a period of years, those same few hundred songs simply burned themselves out. Look at the Top 40 playlists over the years, so many songs got solid airtime originally, and the music covered many genres. Only a handful made it to the air now. Unfortunately, the stations relied a big part on programmers that may have not been intimately familiar with a given market, thus "one size fits all". Many of America's cities had favorites that were not necessarily in the Top 10, but the audience loved them. I really believe Oldies is a viable format if it's done with the passion that made Top 40 successful years ago. All of the production and personality elements need to be in place. Tight playlists can work, but only if they are rotated to keep the music fresh. If that means "tested" songs, so be it, but tested within the market intended. I am not a programmer, and the opinions are mine only. It seems that the internet, satellite, and college stations are they only outlet for that kind of variety that is hurting commercial radio. Tom Conroy (12/21/07) "Been gone for a whie, but see some things never change. A few comments...re: Star Regisrty...not sure about htem, but her are many stioasn running fDANGEROUS finaicial progamming and spots! many GM's liek BZ and SM's like Jimmy W, had no consciens when it came to allwoign" So how has Melwood been? (12/21/07) I am hosting a special and final 2007 "12 O'Clock Sleigh Ride" tomorrow (Friday) during my show from noon-1pm, sharing my family traditions and playing the best Christmas music, many classics, including Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You, from his "Wall of Sound". I will be giving a lot of background info on the songs, taking requests and having a blast. I hope you get the chance to tune in. Since I am on the shore you can't get either of my station's signals (101.7 or 95-3), you can listen via the web at www.musicontheb.com -Michael Popovec (Midday Host-The B) (12/21/07) /\ December 21 Messages /\ \/ December 20 Messages \/ Dave, When I said WETA has the poorest signal I receive I did not mean signal strength. I meant picture quality. When motion occurs in the picture more bandwidth is required because more data is being sent to the TV. A fast moving picture requires a lot of data to maintain a high quality picture in HD. WETA is using bandwidth to run three other channels and does not have what is needed to maintain a good HD picture when fast changes occur. Bob Fairfax (12/20/07) Dave's response: Got you! I have noticed that, via a number of HD channels on cable during periods of motion in the program content, the picture seems to pixilate and "stutter," becoming not nearly as clear as during periods of little or no movement. I also noticed this during a recent Redskin game on NBC via WRC-HD..... It is amusing how Cerphe appears in the WashPo with his fancy fireplace. I mean, him being on the "green" radio station and all... showing off a home heating source that is immensely more inefficient and polluting than any other. -Kanling in Balto. (12/20/07) I wonder with all the hoopla about WETA's Newshour in HD if they are going to improve there HD signal? WETA currently broadcasts three SD channels as well as their HD channel on their digital transmitter. They have the poorest HD signal of all the channels I receive because they are using bandwidth for the other channels. Quantity not quality seems to be the idea. Whenever there is any motion on their HD channel the picture smears with pixilation. A still picture looks fine. Bob Fairfax (12/20/07) Dave's response: At my location in Reston, WETA's one HD and three SD digital signals are easily the strongest digital TV signals. However, I still haven't get been able to pick up the slightest hint of WNVC's over-the-air digital signals, which come from a transmitter about six miles (as the crow flies) from the DCRTV World HQ. Of course, I get them all fine via Comcast..... (Regarding the DCRTV Best-Worst promo at the top of this page:) Did