Front Page - Mailbag - News - Rants 2012 - Dave TV - Daveland - Support DCRTV By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com 5/7 - We get a look at the DC market radio ratings for the "third week" of April, actually April 11th through 17th, including coverage of the April 15th Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent investigation. And it appears that Hubbard all-newser WTOP saw a ratings spike when it comes to its "cume" rating, which represents the total number of different persons who tune to a radio station during the course of a daypart for at least five minutes. In the "money demo" of age 25-54, WTOP sported a cume increase of 90,000 during the period, good enough for third place overall. However, American University public radio news talker actually saw a drop of 44,000 listeners in their cume rating for the week, but still good enough for first place. Cumulus news talker WMAL saw its cume audience increase by 34,600 for 18th place, while CBS all-newser WNEW actually saw a 300 drop in its cume number, for 24th place..... 5/6 - Tommy McFly, morning man on CBS's hot adult contemporary 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD, will do local entertainment stories for Channel 7/WJLA's newscasts on a parttime basis, at least twice weekly. "Tommy is a bright, energetic guy," says WJLA General Manager Bill Lord. "We plan for him to cover entertainment stories and events around town. He will also be a regular in our Special Projects unit." Lately, McFly has also been doing entertainment news reports for CBS all-newser WNEW, 99.1 FM..... 5/6 - Last year, DCRTV ran speculation that Rush Limbaugh (left) may end his affilation agreement with Cumulus, which runs the righty talk titan on its stations in 40 markets, including Washington via WMAL, plus NYC, Chicago, and Dallas. Now, Politico reports more rumors that Cumulus and Limbaugh could end their deal at the end of 2013. Limbaugh is considering the move because Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey has blamed the company's advertising losses on Limbaugh's controversial remarks about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student. In February 2012, Limbaugh referred to Fluke as "a slut" because she had called on congress to mandate insurance coverage of birth control. The subsequent controversy over those remarks resulted in a significant advertising boycott. "It's a very serious discussion, because Dickey keeps blaming Rush for his own revenue problems," a source tells Politico. "Dickey's talk stations underperform talk stations owned by other operators in generating revenue by a substantial margin. It's not a single show issue... it's a failure of the entire station. And trying to blame Rush for that is not much of a business partnership." Limbaugh is syndicated by Premiere, which is owned by Clear Channel - which has five music-based FMers in the DC area..... 5/6 - JMK Communications, which owns Dumfries VA's WPWC, 1480 AM, loses its battle with the Federal Communications Commission to appeal a $7,000 fine levied last July for having a damaged fence around its transmitter site. JMK had claimed that it needed extra time to repair the fence, which was knocked down by recent storms, including the late June "derecho." However, according to Tom Taylor's Monday radio biz newsletter, the FCC said "it was negligence on the part of JMK Communications, and not a natural disaster, that resulted in the absence of one fence and the deterioration of the other three." WPWC carries the lefty talk of DC-based We Act Radio..... 5/5 - DCRTV hears from a source at CBS's urban contemporary WPGC, 95.5 FM, that morning man Blaine "Pablo" Sato will be getting a new sidekick. We're told that she's Tati (right), who has been doing mornings at his old station, San Diego/Tijuana's urban contemporary Z90.3, XHTZ. Since starting in mid-2012, Pablo's show has been struggling in the ratings. He was paired with Free. She was replaced with Sunni in February..... 5/4 - Former 98 Rock personality Stash (right) tells us: "I can't rewind the tape and fix it but I am off and running with a high school presentation on alcohol and decision making. I just did Archbishop Curley... Sober eight months and trying to do some good things and rebuild my life. As you can imagine, its been tough and after 24 years at 98 and BAL I'm starting over," he adds. After getting fired from his longtime afternoon gig at 98 Rock, WIYY, last year following a DUI which caused several injuries, Stash, whose real name is Stephen Smith, pleaded guilty in October to drunk driving charges and was sentenced to six months in the Harford County Detention Center. A judge reduced the original one-year sentence after he took part in a 28-day alcohol treatment program..... 5/3 - DCRTV hears from a reliable source that the longtime weekly week-in-review politics show "Inside Washington" will cease production in November. The program, which is hosted by Channel 7/WJLA news anchor Gordon Peterson (right), also airs on many public television stations, including Channel 26/WETA. It is produced by Allbritton Communications, which plans to sell WJLA by the end of the year. "Inside Washington" is the descendant of "Agronsky And Company," a political talk show hosted by Martin Agronsky and shown on Channel 9/WUSA (then WTOP-TV and WDVM) from 1969 to 1988. Peterson was a news anchor at Channel 9 in the 1970s and 1980s. The program has multiple weekend airings in the DC area via WETA, Maryland Public Television, NewsChannel 8, and at 9 AM Sundays on WJLA. More: Another WJLA source tells us that "Inside Washington" will continue as long as Peterson wants it to continue. "We have had some discussions (about ending the show) but there is no specific timetable," we're told..... 5/3 - The Frederick News-Post does a write-up on Hubbard's eclectic-formatted Gamut and its new 820 AM Frederick area signal. And the piece profiles the station's engineer and programmer, Dave Kolesar. The Gamut can also be heard on the digital HD Radio subchannels of WTOP's 103.5 and 107.7 FM signals..... 5/3 - So, as we approach its first anniversary, how is Channel 26/WETA's British programming channel, WETA UK, doing? "We're seeing good results - WETA UK ratings are strong and steady," WETA spokesman Craig Henderson tells us. "We're seeing a loyal fan base that is passionate about long-standing favorites such as 'Foyle's War,' notices clever new acquisitions like 'Scott And Bailey,' and shows up for special Saturday night stunt programming with notables such as 'I, Claudius,' 'Downton Abbey,' and this month 'Prime Suspect.' We're also finding this fan base particulary engages heavily in social media - tweeting while watching 'Doc Martin,' taking our online 'Name That Show' quiz, and 'liking' programs on their Facebook pages." More at weta.org/tv/uk..... 5/2 - DCRTV hears that Allbritton's planned sale of its television properties was the hot topic today at a monthly staff meeting at Channel 7/WJLA, DC's ABC affiliate. Look for the WJLA call letters, which are the initials of company founder Joe L. Allbritton (who died in December), to go away with new ownership. The sale will be completed by the end of the year, staff was told, with business at WJLA and sister NewsChannel 8 continuing "as usual" until then. Expect Politico to leave the existing Allbritton facility in the Rosslyn section of Arlington. To new offices in DC? Also, Allbritton management does say that a purchase by ABC/Disney would be the "best case scenario," but there is no word about which companies will submit a bid for WJLA and sister NC8. Current station managers hint that they will stay through the sale's completion, but that's not a guarantee, we're told..... 5/1 - "Racist cabbies! Killer fridges! Rats! Meet Russ Ptacek, DC's most excitable local newsman." Will Sommer profiles the sensationalist addition of reporter Ptacek to Channel 9/WUSA's news team at washingtoncitypaper.com..... 5/1 - Ben Fischer at the Washington Business Journal: Disney/ABC Television Group is the most likely buyer of Allbritton Communications' WJLA/Channel 7 if Allbritton is open to selling it separately from its other six stations, industry experts say. Privately held Allbritton announced Wednesday morning that it would seek buyers for Channel 7, NewsChannel 8, and six other stations it owns around the country. Other than Boston, Washington is the largest market in the country in which Disney/ABC does not own its ABC affiliate. Disney/ABC boasts on its website that its local stations reach 23% of US households, and Washington would be a rare chance to significantly grow that number..... 5/1 - Clearly, CBS's hot adult contemporary 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD, is hoping some longtime listeners of rival like-formatted and Cumulus-owned Mix 107.3, WRQX, will come their way now that morning man Jack Diamond has been given the boot. Fresh mornings are hosted by Tommy Fly, who is featured in an ad currently running on Facebook (right). McFly used to do evenings at Diamond's now-former station before jumping to 94.7..... 4/30 - NBC-owned Channel 4/WRC names Matt Glassman assistant news director and Catherine Snyder managing news editor. Glassman has worked at WRC for 13 years, most recently as manager of news, press, and programming. He has also worked as coordinating producer of special projects and on the assignment desk. Snyder has been senior manager of content at WRC since 2008. She has previously worked at NBC's CNBC and MSNBC, as well as Gannett's Channel 9/WUSA..... 4/29 - DCRTV gets confirmation on our report, earlier today, that CBS Radio's WNEW, 99.1 FM, will occasionally break into its all-news format to run complete Washington Nationals games. "We compared the Capitals playoff schedule with the Nationals schedule and there are a handful of conflicts," WNEW Program Director Rob Sanchez tells us. "Last year we carried some games on 1580 AM. I offered to carry those conflicts on WNEW-FM this year. We've broken format before and it's been very good for us." Both the Washington Capitals hockey playoff games and Nationals baseball games air on CBS's sister sports talker, 106.7 The Fan, WJFK. Sanchez adds: "We carried the Sandy Hook ceremony beginning to end, all the presidential debates, and of course now '60 Minutes.' The Nats are news in this town so I think this will be an exciting opportunity to expose a whole new group of people to WNEW. We've had a good experience with play-by-play on all-news stations in the past. What we've found is that many of the people who tune in for play-by-play at night wake up to the same station the next morning by default. If they like what they hear, we have an excellent chance of converting them"..... 4/29 - DCRTV hears more about the new morning show at Cumulus's Mix 107.3, WRQX. DC radio veteran Mark O'Brien, who has been market manager of Cumulus's DC radio cluster since late February, tells us that Atlanta-based Bert Weiss will start as Jack Diamond's replacement in mid-May, and will be in town to do several shows during the week of May 13 to 17. O'Brien reveals that Cumulus offered Diamond a "six figure" bonus, in addition to what he gets via his just-ending contract, in order to provide WRQX "a smooth transition" to Weiss. O'Brien says he had hoped that Diamond and Weiss, who once worked together at WRQX, could have done so again during the transitionary period. Says O'Brien, "We really wanted a nice, positive transition and handoff." But, O'Brien adds, Diamond did not agree. So, following Diamond's abrupt removal from 107.3's airwaves after Friday's show, midday man Rob Carson will fill-in for Diamond until Weiss starts. Also, according to O'Brien, Aly Jacobs will remain in mornings with the Weiss show, doing local traffic. "Washington is a very important market for Bert, and he's super excited about returning," says O'Brien, who has managed many DC area radio outlets in the past, including WASH, DC101, and the old Z104..... 4/29 - We're told that the ad sales department at Cumulus's WRQX, Mix 107.3, has been told this morning that Bert Weiss (left) will definitely be Jack Diamond's replacement. DCRTV reported that rumor Friday, when we broke the news that 24-year station veteran Diamond would no longer be heard on the hot adult contemporary outlet. Weiss, who once was a sidekick with Diamond on WRQX's morning show, now does a morning show for Cumulus-owned contemporary hit Q100 in Atlanta. Still nothing on Weiss's Facebook page. More: We're now told that Weiss will debut on WRQX on May 16th..... 4/29 - Montgomery County police received an urgent message at about 6:25 PM Saturday saying someone had been shot at Wolf Blitzer's home in Bethesda. According to washingtonpost.com, officers streamed toward the CNN host's residence near Congressional Country Club. They set up a perimeter. But a dispatch supervisor was immediately skeptical, and a call to CNN confirmed it: The message was a fraud. Blitzer was fine - was, in fact, out of town. The authorities were dealing with another case of "SWATing," in which someone jolts police into action with a fake distress call and technological trickery, the Washington Post adds..... 4/27 - Chris Richards profiles Robert Northern, who goes by the radio name of "Brother Ah." The 78-year-old hosts "The Jazz Collectors," a weekly show on Pacifica's WPFW, 89.3 FM. "We are blessed to have a lots of folks on the air who study the music, who write about the music, but Brother Ah actually lives the music," says Katea Stitt, WPFW's music and cultural affairs coordinator. "He's steeped in that truly African tradition of passing knowledge on, as a griot would do... and he's garnering a younger audience that is really hungry to know the history." At washingtonpost.com. Plus a companion interview piece, also at washingtonpost.com..... 4/26 - From TVSpy: Comedian David Alan Grier was in Baltimore to promote his latest film, "Peeples." He showed up on Channel 45/ WBFF in a segment the Fox Baltimore morning show calls "Funny Fridays." After stopping the interview to tell them his name was misspelled, Grier said, "This is the raggediest TV studio I've ever been in in my life... The sequester hit you hard," he told the anchors after insulting the camera crew. The video was at foxbaltimore.com, but was taken down shortly after we posted the link..... 4/26 - NBC-owned Channel 4/WRC maintains its news lead in the DC market TV ratings. First day of May Sweeps - DMA P25-54 Thursday, April 25: 4:30 AM - WRC (0.7/10.1), WUSA (0.6/8.2), WTTG (0.4/5.3) WJLA (0.0,0.0)..... 5 AM - WRC (1.4/17.2), WTTG (0.8/10.4), WUSA (0.7/8.8), WJLA (0.1/1.6)..... 6 AM - WRC (2.4/20.3), WTTG (1.8/15.1), WJLA (0.8/6.6), WUSA (0.7/5.6)..... 5 PM - WRC (1.7/10.3), WJLA/WTTG (0.6/3.9), WUSA (0.2/1.2)..... 6 PM - WRC (1.2/6/1), WJLA (0.7/3.6), WTTG (0.3/1.7), WUSA (0.1/0.7)..... 11 PM - WJLA (3.6/12.9), WRC (2/7.3), WTTG (0.8/3.0), WUSA (0.3/0.9)..... Little talked about April Sweeps numbers: M-F P25-54: 4:30AM - WRC (0.5/6.2), WUSA (0.4/5.1), WTTG (0.3/4.3), WJLA (0.2/2.9)..... 5 AM - WRC (0.8/9.5), WUSA (0.6/6.9), WTTG (0.5/6.6), WJLA (0.4/4.8)..... 6 AM - WRC (1.6/13.6), WTTG (1.5/12.5), WUSA (0.9/7.8), WJLA (0.8, 6.3)..... 5 PM - WRC (1.6/9.2), WJLA (0.6/3.7), WTTG (0.5/2.7), WUSA (0.4/2.9)..... 6 PM - WRC (1.8/8.4), WJLA (1.0/5.3), WTTG (0.7/3.4), WUSA (0.5/2.3)..... 11 PM - WRC (2.2/8.0), WTTG (1.6/5.7), WJLA (1.3/4.6), WUSA (1.0/3.7)..... 4/26 - DCRTV hears that USA Today sportswriter Jon Saraceno leaves the Mc Lean-based national daily after 29 years as part of parent company Gannett's buyout program. Saraceno wrote the Keeping Score commentary column for many years, and also covered boxing, the NFL, the NBA and auto racing as beats. He is pursuing opportunities in television and radio. Sports TV columnist Michael Hiestand also took the buyout, among several other reporters and editors at USA Today. The latest buyout offer deadline was yesterday..... 4/26 - Washington City Paper has the latest about court proceedings regarding a $2 million defamation suit filed by Washington publicist Wendy Gordon against MediaBistro Capitol Hill media gossip blog FishbowlDC. "Eventually, the judge settled for a mediation plan," writes Will Sommer..... 4/25 - We're told that Comcast has removed DC CBS affiliate Channel 9/WUSA from some of its cable systems in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Apparently at the request of Gray Television, which owns WSVF, a CBS affiliate from Harrisonburg VA. WSVF, which is carried on Comcast's Harrisonburg area systems via channels 4 and 807, shares studios with Gray's ABC affiliate, Channel 3/WHSV. No word if WUSA's parent, Gannett, is attempting to get WUSA restored to the affected cable systems. More as we hear it..... 4/25 - Jen Royle (right), a former WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network reporter, has landed a weekend show on sports talk WEEI in her hometown of Boston. Two hours on Saturday afternoons. "It's obviously a sports talk show with guests and various co-hosts each week," she tells the Baltimore Sun."Since it's my show, I can control not only the content but my co-hosts as well. Primarily, my co-hosts will be female, mostly already established Boston sports reporters." Adds Sun media critic David Zurawik: "Royle, who used social media as well as anyone in Baltimore radio or TV to stir the pot on sports issues and her own place in the Baltimore media world during her time at (105.7) The Fan and MASN, was nothing if not a controversial figure here." 4/24 - What's Fred Grandy up to these days? The former "Love Boat" actor, former GOP Congressman from Iowa, and former WMAL morning host will star in "Sleuth" at Beach Haven NJ's Surflight Theatre in May. More at surflight.org..... 4/24 - Frank Ski (aka Frank Rodriguez) is the latest candidate for "Washington's Next Big Voice" on Howard University's adult urban contemporary WHUR, 96.3 FM. He's doing a tryout this week for the station's afternoon drive shift. In December, Ski (right) lost his longtime gig at CBS Radio's urban contemporary WVEE in Atlanta. Before joining WVEE in 1998, Ski worked at CBS's then urban contemporary WXYV (the old V103 on 102.7 FM) in Baltimore. WHUR is looking for a replacement for Michael Baisden, whose national syndication deal with Cumulus Media ended at the end of March..... 4/23 - Jay Abbattista leaves Fox-owned Channel 5/WTTG, where he was local ad sales manager. To head to Fox's Charlotte duopolly, WJZY-WMYT, where he will be vice president of ad sales..... 4/22 - Some editorial changes at the Baltimore Sun. Pam Wood jumps from the Annapolis Capital to cover Anne Arundel County news for the Sun. Erin Cox moves permanently into the Maryland State House bureau. Also from the Capital, Cox joined the Sun last June to cover Anne Arundel County news. Yvonne Wenger becomes a City Hall reporter. She had been covering social services, and she will continue to write about issues and agencies in Baltimore city. Tricia Bishop takes on a new beat covering families, in addition to filling in on the higher education beat. She also will contribute to the Sun's Maryland Family Now blog. Ian Duncan has been officially named the Sun's city and federal courts reporter since taking on the beat on an interim basis last summer. And, Jonathan Pitts will cover religion in addition to general assignment stories. In addition to writing features for the front page and magazine, Pitts had been working for the Sun's Anne Arundel section..... 4/20 - DC TV and radio sports personality Lou Holder interviews Chadwick Boseman, the actor who plays Jackie Robinson in the new film "42." At dc50tv.com..... 4/19 - The Gamut, the eclectic music channel offered by Hubbard in the DC area, adds three shows on Sunday evenings. At 7 PM, it's "Big Band Jump" with Don Kennedy (bigbandjump.com). At 9 PM, it's "Anything Anything" with Rich Russo (richrusso.net). And at 11 PM, it's "Little Steven's Underground Garage" (undergroundgarage.com). Russo's show runs in New York City area on adult alternative rock WXPK and active rocker WDHA, Gamut programmer Dave Kolesar tells us. "This Sunday's debut will be a special show only for The Gamut, before we pick up his regular weekly Sunday night program. I think our regular listeners are in for a real treat with Russo's show," Kolesar says. "With a few 'destination' shows airing on Sunday nights, I hope we can attract some new listeners to both AM and HD Radio, and The Gamut!" You can hear the station on the digital HD Radio HD3 subchanels of WTOP's 103.5 and 107.7 FM signals and via old fashioned analog AM 820 from the Frederick area..... 4/18 - Two weeks ago, DCRTV told you that DC-based Joe Madison (right) was no longer airing on Radio One urban talker WOL, 1450 AM. Now, the Root DC Live blog at washingtonpost.com confirms that Madison's morning show can now only be heard on SiriusXM. "There was no room for growth professional and financially," Madison says of his WOL departure. "At SiriusXM, I now reach millions of listeners from coast to coast... WOL has a very limited signal. Even though satellite radio is subscriber-based it has 24 million subscribers." WOL has a 1,000-watt signal. It didn't show up in the March radio ratings for the DC market..... 4/18 - Sacramento rocker KRXQ has pulled its "Rob, Arnie, And Dawn" morning show off the air for the rest of the week after they aired a bit Wednesday featuring a "top 5" list of reasons to hate Boston. According to All Access, the hiatus follows criticism from DC radio veteran Don Geronimo (right), who now does mornings on Sacramento sports talker KHTK. He ripped the rival radio show for the bit and for spending some of Tuesday's show asking whether it was too soon to joke about Boston, following Monday's bomb blasts. On the robarnieanddawn.com show website, the trio posted a statement slamming Geronimo as a "radio host who would love to call himself a 'competitor,' but who instead is just another bottom-feeder looking and hoping for ways to better himself by disparaging and defaming us, our show, and others in the local media market." Geronimo, who left then-"guy talker" WJFK in 2008, had been heard in the DC market 30 years..... 4/17 - Fredericksburg's Free Lance-Star Publishing Company launches FredFM at fredericksburg.com and via low-power 96.5 FM. "The new station will have an eclectic blend of music geared to in-office listening during the day, and highlight a different type of music each evening," according to an announcement at fredericksburg.com. "Programming will include the blues on Mondays, honky-tonk on Tuesdays, and jazz on Saturdays." The new outlet will also "focus on the Fredericksburg community, with a mix of local artists, news and commentary. The station will also broadcast local events and offer a way for local groups to connect." The Free Lance-Star's radio group also includes country WFLS, classic rock WWUZ, rhythmic contemporary WVBX, and news talk WNTX..... 4/16 - In honor of the station's 65th year under its present call letters, University Of Maryland archivists are assembling an exhibit about the histry of the school's College Park radio station, WMUC. "Saving College Radio: WMUC Past, Present And Future" will open in September in Hornbake Library and run through July 2014. More at diamondbackonline.com..... 4/13 - Chris Emry is back on Baltimore classic rocker WZBA, 100.7 The Bay. We hear that he'll be doing weekends and fill-in work from mid-May through late June. Emry did WZBA's morning show until he got pink-slipped in 2008..... 4/12 - DCRTV hears that Comcast SportsNet has renewed WJFK, 106.7 The Fan's morning team Sports Junkies for a second season of "Table Manners." The 30-minute weekly interview TV show debuted in February. The first season featured eight episodes where the four Junkies chatted with sports, news, and entertainment celebrities at The Palm restaurant at Tysons Corner..... 4/10 - DCRTV has told you that Howard University's adult urban contemporary WHUR, 96.3 FM, is looking for a new afternoon show to replace Michael Baisden, whose national radio deal ended at the end of March. The station is searching for "Washington Next Big Voice" and is trying-out different talent each week. Last week, local radio vets Marc Clarke and Troy Johnson were given a shot. This week, it's Nikki Strong (right) who's worked at XM, Radio One, and WorldSpace as both talent and music director. No word yet as to who will be on next week. Cast your vote at whur.com..... 4/9 - Hubbard all-newser WTOP adds a new consumer feature, the "TicketBuster." "With hundreds of new traffic cameras in the DC area and a record number of parking tickets being written, more stories are surfacing about flaws in these systems," according to a WTOP release. WTOP's "Sprawl And Crawl" reporter Ari Ashe (right) will be the "TicketBuster," sharing the stories and fighting the fines of wrongly ticketed commuters via the 103.5/103.9/107.7 on-air signals and at the wtop.com website. According to WTOP, "Ashe will launch the feature with several jaw-dropping stories, including a listener who received a parking ticket with his license plate but the make, model, and color of an entirely different vehicle... Ashe was able to get the ticket dismissed." Says WTOP Program Director Laurie Cantillo: "Ari's reporting has touched a nerve with frustrated commuters in the Washington DC area. Many are battling tickets with reams of documentation to support their case, yet their arguments are falling on deaf ears. Our goal is to make sure all drivers in Maryland, Virginia, and the District get a fair shake." Listeners can file grievances at ticketbuster@wtop.com..... 4/9 - Shamrock's Baltimore classic rocker, WZBA, 100.7 The Bay, adds "Live In Concert," a two-hour weekly concert festival show featuring historic performances from artists in the classic hits/classic rock genre. The show is hosted by Lisa Berigan, who does middays on Clear Channel's DC classic rock/hits WBIG, 100.3 FM..... 4/8 - Radio Insight tells us that Positive Alternative Radio's low-power relay on 97.7 FM in Alexandria will relocate its transmitter across the Potomac River into Bethesda, where it will operate on 97.5 FM with 250-watts. It's being fed via a subchannel of Radio One's gospel WPRS, 104.1 FM. Postitive Alternative's Chrisian contemporary format can already be heard via Warrenton's WPER, 89.9 FM, and Fredericksburg's WJYJ, 90.5 FM..... 4/8 - DCRTV hears that Radio One has applied to the FCC to boost the signal of its Baltimore urban contemporary outlet WERQ, 92.3 FM, to the southeast, to improve coverage in Prince George's County, Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore. WERQ's antenna location in northwestern Baltimore will remain the same..... 4/6 - Channel 9/WUSA, the new broadcast partner for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network's Nationals games, switched away from Saturday's game at 4 PM in order to carry CBS's NCAA "Final Four" college basketball pre-game show. Just as the Nats were tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 9th inning with the Reds, the game shifted to WUSA's non-high-def 9-2 subchannel, which normally carries Bounce TV. Says one area viewer: "It was no problem for me, being on antenna, and I just switched the channel to 9-2. But I can imagine lots of folks on cable scrambling to find out what channel 9-2 is on. Gotta be embarrassing for WUSA. Oh, and when they switched to their second channel, the little scorekeeper at the bottom right of the screen was getting cut off. You could see the score, but not the pitch count or how many outs." The Nats won 7-6 in the 11th inning. The complete game could also been seen on MASN. More: WUSA General Manager Mark Burdett via wusa9.com: "We apologize to those viewers who were upset by the transition, and we will work hard in the future to better communicate to our viewers and our programming partners"..... 4/3 - Jeff Wyatt gets named operations manager of Clear Channel's Charlotte radio cluster. He will also be regional programming manager for the firm's radio stations in the Charlotte and Raleigh markets. Wyatt used to be vice president of Clear Channel's Mid-Atlantic region, including Washington. He's also served as operations manager for WMZQ and Hot 99.5, and worked for Red Zebra, which owns WTEM. More recently, Wyatt worked for CBS all-newser WNEW..... 4/2 - DCRTV hears that former Washington Capitals radio announcer Steve Kolbe is now doing sports news updates on CBS's Baltimore sports talker, 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM..... 4/2 - DCRTV hears that Nestor Aparicio, owner of Baltimore area sports talker WNST, 1570 AM, is now doing morning sports reports on Shamrock's Baltimore classic rocker, WZBA, 100.7 The Bay..... 4/1 - Huh? Howard University's adult urban contemporary WHUR started stunting in the 3 PM hour Monday with a "Non-Stop Black Country" format, with the "Bret and Chet" on-air team, as "Twang 96.3" (right). Slogan: "Keepin' It Cowboy 24 Hours A Day." WHUR did recently lose the services of afternoon drive urban talker Michael Baisden, whose Cumulus Media syndication contract ended. Some April Fools Day festivities at HUR? Yuuuup. Stunting stopped at 4 PM, when the station return to its typical adult-oriented soulful tunes and posted on its whur.com that it is looking for "Washington's Next Big Voice" for the afternoon drive slot. And this week's candidates are local radio veterans Marc Clarke and Troy Johnson (aka Bret and Chet). The two used to do "The Big Phat Morning Show" on Baltimore's urban WERQ..... 4/1 - DCRTV hears that Radio One urban talker WOL, 1450 AM, has pulled the plug on Joe Madison's morning show. He can still be heard on SiriusXM. "Was this a decision by WOL or by Sirius?" a DCRTVer wonders..... 4/1 - DCRTV's April Fools Day 2013 blurb. Enjoy..... Geronimo To Do WMAL Afternoons - 4/1 - DCRTV hears that Cumulus news talker WMAL has hired DC radio veteran Don Geronimo (right) to do afternoons, replacing the syndicated Sean Hannity. Geronimo will move back east from Sacramento, where he's been doing mornings on CBS's KHTK. Geronimo is still under contract to CBS, we're told, and the firm gave permission for him to be on WMAL due to a new corporate-wide deal between CBS and Cumulus. We're told that Geronimo, who admits to be leaning more to the right as he gets older, will be doing a politics and pop culture talk show for WMAL with longtime sidekick Joe Ardinger. Geronimo has been off the DC area airwaves since 2008, when he left CBS's then "guy talker" WJFK. There are rumblings that Geromimo's longtime former radio partner Mike O'Meara may join him for the new WMAL show, but, so far, no confirmation..... 3/29 - It looks like - despite the good news for Hubbard all-newser WTOP this week having increased its ad revenue from $60 million in 2011 to $64.6 million in 2012 and remaining the top billing station nationwide for the third straight year - just over one-year-old CBS all-newser WNEW is in it for the long haul. "If you look at our cume - the number of people who tune in each week - we are at 250,000 people. Small compared to WTOP's 950,000 to 1.1 million they average, but considering they've had a 40-year head start we're pretty happy," WNEW Program Director Robert Sanchez tells DCRTV. "We've grown the news listenership in this market by 25% in 14 months and we've done it with our commitment to being a hyper local radio station. And as such, we are always looking to cover important local stories and issues that tend to get under-reported." And he adds: "So it makes more sense for us to carry [DC's] mayor than it does the president. We do cover the president's address and the minority party response, we just don't air them in their entirety." More on WNEW's recent decision to start airing weekly addresses by DC Mayor Vincent Gray is below..... 3/29 - CBS all-newser WNEW, 99.1 FM, will begin airing a weekly three minute radio address by DC Mayor Vincent Gray. Every Sunday morning at 10:05 AM beginning March 31st. The mayor will "discuss current events and issues important to residents of Washington, DC," according to a WNEW release. "The address will be of similar format to the president's weekly radio address"..... 3/27 - From washingtoncitypaper.com: Buyouts and benefits cuts aside, times were good for Washington Post Company execs and Graham family members employed by the company in 2012, according to a new Securities And Exchange Commission filing. Take publisher and Graham family member Katharine Weymouth, for example. Weymouth's 2010 compensation of $2.07 million inspired grousing from Post reporters, and her 2011 compensation dipped to $1.92 million. According to the new filing, though, Weymouth was up again in 2012, earning $2,436,413 in salary and bonuses..... 3/25 - DC radio rock veteran Jon Ballard gets named program director at Lotus-owned Fresno classic rocker KKBZ. He leaves Clear Channel's Columbus GA classic rocker WVRK, where he held the same post. Ballard got bounced from the morning show gig at classic rock/hits WBIG in 2010 after 12 years at Clear Channel's DC radio cluster, where he'd also hosted afternoons for eight years at rocker DC101, WWDC..... 3/22 - Might news anchor Anita Brikman be jumping from Gannett's Channel 9/WUSA to Allbritton's Channel 7/WJLA? That's what a reliable source is telling us. She left Philadelphia's WPVI-TV for WUSA in 2007. Brikman has been spearheading 9's health news coverage. More as we hear it..... 3/22 - Wendy Rieger this week celebrated her 25th anniversary at Channel 4/WRC. According to washingtonpost.com: "The Virginia native, 56, started in 1988 and quickly developed a loyal fan base with her free-wheeling personality and ability to give the impression that she's having a ball. She's been the 5 PM anchor for 11 years, but gained a cult following with some legendary reports in the field - notably last fall's coverage from Rehoboth Beach of Hurricane Sandy." Pics at right: Rieger in 1988 and today..... 3/20 - Chris Duff leaves his afternoon hosting gig at Easton MD's adult contemporary WCEI, 96.7 FM. He'll be heading to like-formatted WJBR, 99.5 FM, in Wilmington DE, where he'll be afternoon host and production director. Duff also works various weekend shifts at DC's hot adult contemporary WRQX, Mix 107.3..... 3/18 - According to the Washington Post, WMAL morning co-host Larry O'Connor (left), a colleague of the late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, is asking a federal appeals court to throw out a defamation case brought against him by Shirley Sherrod, saying the lawsuit violates his right to freedom of speech. Backed by news organizations including the Washington Post Company, the New York Times, and Dow Jones, which have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case, O'Connor's attorneys argued to have the case dismissed under a DC statute that aims to prevent the silencing of critics through lawsuits. A federal district judge rejected their motion to dismiss, citing timing and jurisdictional issues, prompting the appeal. Sherrod was ousted from her job as an Agriculture Department rural-development official in 2010 after Breitbart posted an edited video of Sherrod, who is black, supposedly making racist remarks. She sued Breitbart, O'Connor, and an unnamed defendant for defamation and emotional distress after USDA officials asked her to resign and the video ignited a racial firestorm. O'Conner joined DC news talker WMAL in November..... 3/15 - Falls Church-based MHz Networks will launch an Irish TV channel on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. Today's Ireland will be seen via the 30.12 digital offering of Channel 30/WNVC. It will feature content from Irish broadcasters RTE, TV3, and TG4, along with independent productions from Northern Ireland. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny will broadcast a special Saint Patrick's Day message to America with the launch. Featuring six hours of daily programming that begins airing at 3 PM Sunday, TI will build to a 24/7 schedule within a year..... 3/12 - Multiple sources tell laweekly.com that Charles and David Koch, the infamous right-wing billionaire brothers, are considering an offer on either the Tribune newspaper group, which includes the Baltimore Sun, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune. Or the entire Tribune Company, which also includes more than 20 broadcast stations, including DC's Channel 50/WDCW..... 3/12 - Channel 7/WJLA has launched Me-TV, a classic television show network, on its 7.2 digital subchannel. The network, which features shows such as "Gunsmoke," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "I Love Lucy," and "Perry Mason," replaces the locally-based WeatherNow channel..... 3/11 - Gannett's McLean-based USA Today is offering early retirement packages. Employees who are at least 55 years old and have 15 years of service to the company are eligible for a buyout. Those who take the buyouts will get two weeks pay for every year of service..... 3/11 - Frank McCaffrey (right) is the new anchor for the Hagerstown Herald-Mail's HMTV 6 cable TV and internet local news operation at herald-mail.com/hmtv6. Where he'll be afternoon news anchor, along with doing fill-in work in mornings and at night. McCaffrey was a producer for Brit Hume's "Special Report" on Fox News Channel from 2002 to 2005. He then did anchor and reporting work for TV stations in Butte, Montana, and Jackson, Mississippi. After sitting on the TV biz sidelines a few years, he's just started "with an upstart news network in Hagerstown," McCaffrey tells us. "There is good talent here and it is competitive with [Hagerstown NBC affiliate Channel 25] WHAG. I am older, wiser, fatter and balder. It's great to be back"..... 3/10 - The online news editor for the Annapolis Capital newspaper has been charged with soliciting sex from someone he thought was an adolescent girl. George "Nick" Lundskow, 55, the interactive media editor for the capitalgazette.com website, was charged in Pennsylvania on Friday. According to WTOP, authorities say Lundskow tried to arrange sex with an undercover special agent posing in an internet chat room as a 14-year-old girl. Authorities accuse Lundskow of using a webcam to send pictures exposing himself. More at capitalgazette.com..... 3/8 - Robin Sproul reaches the 20-year mark as ABC News Washington bureau chief. She's been responsible for the editorial supervision and management of ABC's largest bureau since 1993. Sproul joined ABC News in 1981 as bureau chief for ABC News Radio, a position she held until 1992. Her 37-year career began as news assignment manager at WMAL radio in 1976..... 3/8 - WebMediaBrands, which owns MediaBistro which owns Capitol Hill media gossip blog FishbowlDC, maintains that Washington publicist Wendy Gordon's lawsuit has no merit regarding its claims of defamation. The many sexually-oriented postings by FBDC's Betsy Rothstein and Peter Ogburn as part of their ongoing "Wendy Wednesday" feature were merely "satire, opinion, hyperbole and other expressions of speech squarely protected by the First Amendment and District Of Columbia law," responds WMB attorney Mark Bailen in a court filing this week. Gordon is asking for $2 million via a lawsuit filed in DC in January. The case gets heard next month. More at nymag.com..... 3/7 - Channel 4/WRC dominated DC TV news coverage of the big (depends on where you were) snowstorm on Wednesday. The DMA P 25-54 ratings. 4 AM: WRC & WTTG 1.0, WUSA 0.4, WJLA 0.2..... 4:30 AM: WTTG 1.5, WRC 1.0, WUSA 0.5, WJLA 0.1..... 5 AM: WRC 1.8, WTTG 1.6, WUSA & WJLA 0.8..... 6 AM: WRC & WTTG 2.7, WJLA 2.0, WUSA 1.2..... 4 PM: WRC 2.8, WUSA 2.0, WJLA 1.5, WTTG 1.2..... 5 PM: WRC 3.4, WTTG 1.7, WUSA 1.2, WJLA 0.7..... 6 PM: WRC 3.8, WJLA 1.4, WTTG & WUSA 1.0..... 11 PM: WRC 2.5, WTTG 1.0, WJLA 0.9, WUSA 0.7..... 3/7 - Lots of media hype about the storm, but little snow yesterday - at least in the immediate DC area. "This was the biggest bust in the history of the Capital Weather Gang," said the Washington Post meteorologist Jason Samenow at washingtonpost.com. He said computer models didn't account for warm air already on the ground and the forecasts were just plain wrong. "We made our decisions based on, unfortunately, faulty weather predictions," said a spokesman for the DC mayor's office. "You can't really blame the government officials for using the data the scientists gave them"..... 3/7 - The Washington Post has named Douglas Feaver as its new "reader representative." He is a longtime Post editor and retired former executive editor of washingtonpost.com, according to the Post. He will field reader questions and complaints and will write a blog, said Fred Hiatt, the paper's editorial page editor. Feaver will be assisted by a fulltime staff member, Alison Coglianese. The reader representatives are the successors to the Post's ombudsman, who was an independent contractor rather than a newsroom employee, the Post adds. That position that was phased out last week after 43 years..... 3/6 - DC radio veteran Cayman Kelly is going international. He has signed a deal to become the voice of Star 92.7 in the Cayman Islands..... 3/6 - Michael Smerconish, who frequently fills in for Chris Matthews on MSNBC's DC-based "Hardball" politics show, is jumping from traditional broadcast talk radio to satellite radio. The Philadelphia-based radio talk show host, who is syndicated in more than 80 markets nationally, will move his three-hour program to SiriusXM's POTUS politics channel on April 15, airing weekdays at 9 AM, with a repeat at 6 PM..... 3/6 - Johnny "Cakes" Auville stresses that WJFK's four Sports Junkies will never allow themselves to be broken-up. "That's a deal-breaker," he tells Jonathan Shachter, the DC area radio fan who does his SadlyLackingRadio podcast from Sydney, Australia..... 3/5 - The Washington Post will introduce sponsored "news" content on its website in an effort to reverse declining revenue for the news organization. "BrandConnect" that will let marketers create content throughout the washingtonpost.com site. CTIA, the wireless trade association, is the inaugural advertiser and will "create content through blog posts, videos, and infographics." According to Digiday..... 3/4 - So what's Baltimore radio veteran Stash (right) up to after getting canned from his longtime afternoon gig at 98 Rock, WIYY, last year following a DUI, which caused several injuries? He's hosting the "Monday Night Madness" festivities at Fantasies Nightclub. Which touts $1.50 domestic bottle beer, and $2.50 imported beer. WIYY morning show host Mickey Cucchiella also hosts events at the Baltimore club. More at fantasiesnightclub.com. Stash, whose real name is Stephen Smith, pleaded guilty in October to drunk driving charges and was sentenced to six months in the Harford County Detention Center. A judge reduced the original one-year sentence after Smith's lawyer said Smith immediately took part in a 28-day alcohol treatment program and admitted that he has a drinking problem..... 3/4 - Arlington-based PBS is close to a decision on adding weekend broadcasts of the "PBS NewsHour" for the first time since the weeknightly program began in 1975, and producing them from NYC, instead of the program's longtime studios at Channel 26/WETA, which is located in the Shirlington section of Arlington..... 3/4 - DCRTV hears from several sources that Fox-owned Channel 5/WTTG has been making a number of news-oriented budget cuts of late. Including what it spends on satellite feeds, stringer video, and overtime for news personnel. "Odd that it started during the February book," we're told. "If you watch carefully, you'll note that Fox 5 no longer buys overnight stringer video. Fox 5 only purchased one stringer video during sweeps and that was by mistake." We hear from another station source that, in a recent fatal hit-and-run incident in Montgomery County, WTTG used a map of the scene while the anchor read the story, with no video. "Rumor has it that the bean counters, [General Manager] Duffy Dyer and [News Director] Phil Metlin, sent a memo ordering an end to using stringer video, file tape expenses, and satellite time, as well as overtime. They seem to have lowered themselves to the level of say Salisbury MD as far as being a second or third-rate operation. Reminds me of the days [in the 1970s] of Allan Smith at WTTG where he simply read every story with no video." More soon..... 3/1 - Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth says her newspaper will appoint "a reader representative" to replace its ombudsman, Patrick Pexton, whose term ended yesterday. "Unlike ombudsmen in the past, the reader representative will be a Post employee," according to Weymouth. "The representative will not write a weekly column for the page but will write online and/or in the newspaper from time to time to address reader concerns, with responses from editors, reporters or business executives as appropriate." More at washingtonpost.com..... 3/1 - DC radio and TV great Johnny Holliday will be voicing a public television special, running at various times in March as a pledge-driver, about the classic NBC pop music show "Hullabaloo." Holliday, who worked at San Francisco's KYA and later DC's WWDC, was the original announcer for the show, which aired on NBC in the mid-1960s. It's slated to air at 8 PM Saturday on Channel 26/WETA..... 2/27 - Sports promoter Rock Newman starts a Saturday radio show on DC's We Act Radio, which is heard via Prince William County's WPWC, 1480 AM. He was joined by a batch of former DC mayors, including Marion Barry and Tony Williams, for his debut show..... 2/26 - DC radio great Jim Bohannon (left), whose nightly talk show is heard on 500 radio stations nationwide including WFED, 1500/820 AM, will receive the Talkers magazine 2013 "Lifetime Achievement Award." Bohannon began his radio career in 1960 at KLWT in Lebanon, Missouri. He began working as a reporter at Mutual Broadcasting System in 1983, and went on to become the fill-in host for that network's Larry King show. In 1993, he took over the hosting reigns of that program which he maintained through its ownership by Westwood One to its present incarnation as a Dial Global property. Bohannon also hosts Dial Global's "America In The Morning." He's been a member of Talkers magazine's "Heavy Hundred" radio talk show hosts every year since its inception in 1995 and is an inductee in the National Radio Hall Of Fame. Bohannon will receive the Talkers honor on June 6 in NYC..... 2/26 - A Washington Post photograph that recently won an award from the White House News Photographers Association has been disqualified for "digital manipulation." According to nppa.org, Post photography director MaryAnne Golon said: "A Washington Post photographer entered an altered photograph to the WHNPA contest. Once Post editors saw that it had been altered from what had originally been published in the Post, we withdrew the photo from consideration. The Post's ethics policy prohibits the manipulation of photographs, and we have taken action in accordance with that policy." The image in question, "State Champion," by photographer Tracy Woodward, received an Award Of Excellence in the 2013 WHNPA "Eyes Of History" photo contest..... 2/26 - The DC-based National Association Of Broadcasters has announced the 50 finalists for the 26th annual Crystal Radio Awards for public service. And DC's WTOP is among the "news/talk/sports" category finalists. Winners will be announced at the NAB Radio Luncheon in April at the organization's annual confab in Las Vegas..... 2/26 - Clear Channel's Baltimore country outlet, WPOC, 93.1 FM, names Lance Houston as program director and evening talent. He replaces Justin Cole, who recently headed to the firm's Nashville operations. Houston will also oversee all digital programming efforts for the top-rated Baltimore station. He will also continue to produce and host the afternoon drive show on country WUBL in Atlanta. Before joining WPOC, Houston served as assistant program director, music director, and host at WUBL..... 2/26 - DCRTV hears that J. Michael Falgoust leaves Comcast SportsNet's Ravens insider post for the Wizards insider gig at the Bethesda-based sports network. Falgoust joined CSN last year, having covered the NBA for USA Today. CSN is in the process of looking for a new Ravens insider..... 2/25 - Kristina Akra, the Nationals sideline reporter, will not be returning to the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network for the 2013 season. She is leaving for another as-yet-unannounced on-air opportunity. Akra replaced Debbi Taylor on the MASN broadcast team in 2012, joining Bob Carpenter and FP Santangelo..... 2/23 - Nancy Trumbull, the wife of late WMAL personality Bill Trumbull, died February 19th in Manassas. She was 75. Her husband passed away in January 2012. He worked at the DC station for 36 years, and from 1976 to 1996 hosted an afternoon show with Chris Core..... 2/22 - A DCRTV Mailbagger first tipped us yesterday. Now, we hear from NewsBlues that Amanda Meadows, the morning traffic reporter for the past few years at Richmond's Channel 6/WTVR, starts March 18 as a traffic reporter/anchor for Channel 7/WJLA. She's known as the "Gridlock Goddess" at Twitter. DCRTV wonders: Is this the next step in WJLA's quest to create its own in-house traffic reporting staff, insteading of relying on reports from outside firm Total Traffic? Stay tuned..... 2/18 - Longtime Channel 9/WUSA news anchor Bruce Johnson has produced a documentary entitled "Before You Eat The Church Food." Addressing the "the incredibly high mortality rates among African Americans... from cardiovascular disease and what can and is being done to reverse this epidemic." Johnson, who is a heart attack survivor, produced it for the Association Of Black Cardiologists. 2/17 - Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, a frequent target of Capitol Hill media gossip blog FishbowlDC, returns the favor. And he calls the Mediabistro site, which is being sued for $2 million by a Washington publicist, "vicious, sleazy, snide, disreputable, unscrupulous, vacuous, wildly immature, gratuitously cruel, malicious, and mean-spirited... (which) specializes in innuendo, reckless character assassination and unconscionable, wanton defamation." At washingtonpost.com..... 2/14 - Metro Radio talker WTNT, 102.9 FM/730 AM, says it has accepted for airing a controversal pro-gun ad that was rejected by Cumulus news talker WMAL, 105.9 FM/630 AM. "WTNT supports freedom and liberty of the first and second amendments and has accepted an ad buy from Grammy-winning musician Steve Vaus," says a Metro Radio statement. "Steve has recorded a song that defies those advocating gun confiscation." The 60-second ad, "Come And Take It," features the parody character "Buck Howdy," aka Vaus. Earlier this month, Todd Freundlich, general sales manager at WMAL, said the spot was "too controversial to air"..... 2/13 - NPR's "Weekend All Things Considered" is leaving the public radio organization's DC-based headquarters for NPR West in Culver City CA, in the Los Angeles area. "Having the 'WATC' staff out west provides us with editorial and business continuity in the event that NPR headquarters is incapacitated by technical issues, weather or a major news event we need to cover. Second, moving the show west will broaden and deepen our coverage and allow us to bring strong geographic diversity to our programming," says NPR News Senior Vice President Margaret Low Smith. Politico tells us that Steve Lickteig, the show's senior producer, will lead the transition to the west coast production center, which was established in 2002..... 2/13 - Yes, that was Alan Etter (right) you heard anchoring on all-news WTOP last night. Etter was a reporter and anchor at WTOP from 1991 until 2001. He left the "Glass Enclosed Nerve Center" to become public information officer for DC Fire-EMS, and recently was spokesperson for University Of District Of Columbia. A fill-in or permanent gig? More: WTOP Vice President/Programming Jim Farley tells us that Etter is doing fill-in work and he can do it for "as long as he likes"..... 2/13 - We hear that Joe Gross, the longtime sports editor of the Annapolis Capital, died last night at age 72. He was once named Maryland sportswriter of the year, and "helped lots of people get their start in the business including Keith Mills, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and me," colleague Rich Dubroff tells us..... 2/12 - Last year, DCRTV told you that Tommy Griffiths, former morning man at Clear Channel's classic rock/hits WBIG, had joined Hubbard all-newser WTOP in a freelance capacity. Now, we hear that he'll soon start anchoring sportscasts on the top-rated station. Griffiths does have a sports background, having been a walk-on football player at the University Of Florida, when now-former Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan was offensive coordinator on a team that included Cris Collinsworth, Wilbur Marshall, David Little, and others who became NFL stars..... 2/11 - Longtime Channel 4/WRC news anchor Jim Vance went "nuclear" on the Redskins nickname on Friday's newscast. He said: "Back in the day, if you really wanted to insult a black man, attack a Jew, an Irishman, and probably start a fight, you threw out certain words. You know what they are. They were, and they are, pejoratives of the first order, the worst order, specifically intended to injure. In my view, 'Redskin' was and is in that same category. The name sucks. We need to get rid of it." More at washingtonpost.com..... 2/11 - The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network announces today that its Washington Nationals broadcast TV partner this season will be Gannett's Channel 9/WUSA, which will air 20 games. Including the April 1st home opener, along with 19 "select weekend games." Says Jim Cuddihy, MASN's head of marketing: "WUSA 9 was the best fit for MASN because of its renewed emphasis on sports programming and its quality news operation, which will help promote MASN and Nationals baseball throughout the region." In past seasons, the Nationals' TV broadcast partner had been Tribune's Channel 50/WDCW. More at masnsports.com..... 2/11 - After 30 years, Jim Carnegie is stepping aside from the founder/publisher position at Woodbridge VA-based internet media publication Radio Business Report/Television Business Report. He writes: "With my wife Cathy's passing last year it has become clear that it's time to do something else with my life. With that in mind, I have spent the last year seeking out the right partner to take over the daily responsibility of running RBR-TVBR." And that new partner is Streamline Communications, which publishes the Radio Ink media news website, based in Boynton Beach FL. Carnegie says that he'll contine running his media-related "executive advisory-consulting firm," Carnegie Solutions. More at rbr.com..... 2/8 - Timber Ridge Ministries sells Winchester noncommerial religious outlet WTRM, 91.3 FM, to conservative fundamentalist Christian organization American Family Association for $1.1 million. The deal also includes low-power relays in Harrisburg and Millersburg PA. AFA owns 200 radio stations in 33 states..... 2/8 - Clear Channel's Baltimore country outlet, WPOC, 93.1 FM, loses its program director. Justin Cole heads to Nashville to be the director of country programming for Clear Channel-owned radio syndicator Premiere. Cole worked in Nashville before WPOC, as programmer for country WKDF..... 2/7 - DCRTV hears that anchor and reporter Pamela Brown (right) is leaving Channel 7/WJLA in late February to join CNN. She's moving to NYC to work on CNN's revamped morning show, we're told. More soon..... 2/7 - DC media veteran Carol Joynt will be doing weekly appearances on Channel 9/WUSA's morning news show to "talk about what's going on in Washington. It will be more of a social chronicle, derived from what I write for washingtonian.com, with context, and with photos." Joynt, who was once an editor for Walter Cronkite's "CBS Evening News" and who helped produce Larry King's DC-based CNN show, now writes for Washingtonian and hosts her monthly "Q&A Cafe" interviews with DC political and media figures. More at caroljoynt.com..... 2/7 - After two-and-a-half years co-hosting Pacifica-owned WPFW, 89.3 FM's local news-heavy "DC Politics Hour," political consultant Chuck Thies tells washingtoncitypaper.com that he's leaving the program after today. Thies says he's been too busy with consulting work to keep up with local politics like he used to, which he thinks has brought down the quality of his broadcast. Thies joined co-host Eugene Kinlow on the show in May 2010. Will Sommer, in the WCP's CityDesk blog, writes that the 11 AM Thursday show "has been a scrappier alternative to big dog local politics talk shows like 'The Kojo Nnamdi Show' on WAMU and NewsChannel 8's 'NewsTalk With Bruce DePuyt'." Thies will continue covering DC politics via postings at Channel 4/WRC's nbcwashington.com website..... 2/4 - Tom Taylor, via his Monday radio biz newsletter, tells us that Cumulus news talker WMAL, 105.9 FM/630 AM, faces unique pressures to accept controversial ads. The right-leaning station was sued last fall for refusing to take a movie ad, and now faces bad publicity for turning down a pro-gun rights ad featuring the parody character "Buck Howdy." From The Trenches says Buck, aka Grammy-winning musician Steve Vaus, "has recorded a song that defies those advocating gun confiscation." Vaus approached talk WMAL about buying a one-minute commercial to promote the song, "Come And Take It," but Cumulus General Sales Manager Todd Freundlich had this response: "After the reviewing the spot with my program director, we have determined that it is too controversial to air." Last fall, the People's Email Network sued in federal court over Cumulus's alleged "refusal to accept a radio advertisement, for 'The Last War Crime'." The movie's subject is "the disastrous policy decision to attack and invade Iraq in 2003." The organization offered to buy 10 one-minute spots at a total of $4,500, to run during the afternoon drive Sean Hannity show. But WMAL said the ad was "too controversial and offensive for many of our listeners." Taylor says the suit doesn't stand a chance in the face of 14th amendment's equal protection grounds. "But it shows how much of a tightwire act radio can be in the Nation's Capital," he adds..... 2/4 - More from Tom Taylor via his Monday radio biz newsletter. He reminds us that DC-based National Public Radio starts moving into its new headquarters next month. The public broadcaster helped revitalize the area around its current offices at 635 Massachusetts Avenue NW years ago, and civic planners hope it will do the same in the "NOMA" area, "North Of Massachusetts Avenue." Part of the challenge in rehabbing an existing structure was to divide it up into more floors than it originally had. As the public broadcaster says: "The new NPR headquarters comprises two integrated blocks: the bulk of a historically preserved four-station 1920s-era warehouse, and a new, modern seven-story office block that rises behind." Total square footage is 440,000, and it's enough to bring in current NPR staff that’s currently officed in a couple of nearby satellite locations. There will be a "two-story open newsroom," and in the tech areas, space for the Public Radio Satellite System. NPR actually sold 635 Mass. Avenue in 2008 and has been leasing the space back from Boston Properties. There were several proposals to move NPR out of the District, but ultimately it stayed where it was founded, in 1970, Taylor adds..... 2/1 - The Washington Post wants to move its downtown DC headquarters. "Our goal is to give us a more modern, bright, open and efficient building that better supports and advances our mission into the future," writes Publisher Katharine Weymouth in a staff memo. "Our preliminary analysis suggests that a move will make good operational and economic sense, however we have not yet decided on where or when." More at Romenesko and at washingtonpost.com..... 2/1 - Count Gore De Vol (right), aka Dick Dyszel, celebrates his 40th DC TV anniversary tonight. The former Channel 20/WDCA horror movie host will be joined by longtime DC TV film and entertainment critic Arch Campbell, who now works at Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8. The event is slated for February 1, 7:30 PM, at the AFI Silver theater in Silver Spring with a screening of 1944's "House Of Frankenstein." Part of the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival. Details at afi.com..... 1/31 - DCRTV has learned that the producers of a documentary on the Bayou, the former Georgetown music hall, will premiere the 90-minute film tonight, January 31, at the AMC Loews Georgetown. Executive producer Dave Lilling and writers/co-producers Bill Scanlan, Vinnie Perrone, and Dave Nuttycombe have invited some 250 guests to acknowledge their contributions to the project. "The Bayou: DC's Killer Joint" chronicles the life of the club, which featured Dixieland jazz and rock-and-roll from 1953 to 1998. Maryland Public Television will air the documentary on February 25 at 9 PM with other public television outlets nationwide to follow. More at bayoudoc.com..... 1/30 - DCRTV hears that all-news WTOP head honcho Jim Farley just got a lovely flower arrangement from the head honcho of his station's arch news rival, public radio news talker WAMU. The card from Caryn Mathes said: "As you approach retirement, thank you for the reminder that while aging is mandatory, 'maturing' is apparently optional." Some background. Farley has been zinging WAMU by sending Tweets to its morning traffic reporter, Jerry Edwards, who works out of a studio at his Naples, Florida home, asking about the traffic on Alligator Alley. Farley announced last week that he'll be retiring from WTOP at the end of this year..... 1/30 - Ted Leonsis, who owns the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, was interviewed on all-news WTOP this morning. And he commented on his new Monumental Network: "We need to generate more revenues. It's pretty simple. We're all in that business. We have to pay our employees more money, we have to continue to grow... And right now, we have a great relationship with Comcast SportsNet. Fantastic. They're great, great partners. But they don't pay us enough money... So at some point, we have to either launch our own cable network..." More at washingtonpost.com. As DCRTV recently told you, Monumental is starting as an internet-only operation but is expected to branch out into a full-fledged regional sports video network someday, directly challenging locals CSN and the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network..... 1/29 - DCRTV hears that Justin Udo, a producer with CBS Radio's now defunct "Biz.Gov" business and federal government news format on 1580 AM (see newsblurb below), gets promoted to the company's Philadelphia all-newser, KYW-AM, where he'll be a reporter..... 1/29 - As expected. DCRTV hears that CBS Radio has flipped the call letters of 1580 from WNEW-AM to WJFK-AM, to co-brand the station with sports talker WJFK-FM, 106.7 The Fan. CBS flipped 1580 to the new CBS Sports Radio network on Monday, dropping the "Biz.Gov" business and federal government news format that was launched last year in conjunction with one-year-old all-newser WNEW-FM, 99.1. A CBS source tells DCRTV that no layoffs occurred with the switch, with WNEW-AM's employees, including anchor Nancy Lyons, moving back to the FM newser. Others will be moving to WJFK-AM's operations..... 1/28 - Back in October, DCRTV told you that Metro Radio's Spanish contemporary WKDV, La Ley, 1460 AM in Manassas, would be getting an FM simulcast via 95.9. The new Northern Virginia signal has started. Metro Radio bought the low-power facility in Gainesville from Lynchburg's Liberty University. Price $70,000..... 1/28 - DCRTV hears that Nick Ianelli joins Hubbard all-newser WTOP as a fulltime staffer in a variety of roles, including reporter. He comes from Milwaukee news talker WTMJ, where he's been an anchor and reporter..... 1/25 - Andrea Fujii joins KCBS-TV in Los Angeles as a freelance reporter. She had been a reporter and fill-in anchor at Baltimore's Channel 13/WJZ..... 1/25 - Potomac MD native Rachel Nichols leaves ESPN for CNN and Turner Sports, where she'll cover the Super Bowl. More from sportsrantz.com..... 1/24 - DCRTV hears that DC radio veteran David Burd (right) emceed a gig in St. Louis last Saturday that featured a batch of DJs from the 1970s through the 1990s gathered to remember the good old rock radio days. With rock stars such as Sammy Hagar and REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin. Before becoming a radio personality on a variety of DC area stations, including past jobs at WMAL and the old Washington Post Radio, in addition to his current gig on all-newser WTOP, Burd was a representative for Capitol Records and has known Hagar since the mid-1970s. Besides breaking Hagar, Burd was instrumental in the success of many other rockers back in the day, including April Wine, the Little River Band, and Billy Squire. The event also featured Adam Smasher, who was was heard on DC rocker DC101 in the 1980s. Check out the video at YouTube..... 1/24 - Copper thieves have struck the transmitter site of talker WTNT-AM, 730, in the Mt. Vernon area of Fairfax County. "There was nothing stolen from the WTNT transmitter building and the antenna area was left untouched, maybe because the thieves knew they would be electrocuted. But many other parts of the complex were destroyed," says Charlie Wilson, a contract engineer for station owner Metro Radio. "Substantial numbers of copper grounding bars are missing from various tenents' equipment enclosures. The site houses other broadcasters, along with Fairfax County Police repeaters," says Wilson. "The ground connection for the main tower detuning box has been taken. The AT&T enclosure had been gutted. No wiring or equipment left inside and one of the A/C units has been destroyed." He adds: "Fortunately it appears that no copper is missing from the WTNT site. All strapping still appears to be in place. The missing copper has an effect on the interaction between the main tower and the WTNT tower. This was discovered after the main WTNT transmitter would not stay at full power due to interference from a cell tower right next to it that used to be the original 730 tower before it was sold to American Tower. The is a de-tuning system on the cell tower that prevents interaction but that now appears to be damaged causing the transmitter problems. So for the time being, the antenna system has been re-tuned to operate at full power and we will see (Thursday) if it holds up." He adds that a backup transmitter usually used for night power was used daytime Wednesday at 6,000-watts, which is 2,000-watts less than full power..... 1/23 - Me-TV, a classic television show network, is launching via Channel 7/WJLA's digital 7.2 subchannel in March. The network features "Gunsmoke," "Mary Tyler Moore," "I Love Lucy", "Perry Mason," and more. More: WJLA General Manager Bill Lord tells us: "Me-TV will replace Weather Now on an as yet unspecific date in early March. Live Well (on 7.3) will be unaffected"..... 1/22 - CBS launched its DC all-newser WNEW, 99.1 FM, one year ago today. And, since then, it has seen little ratings ratings growth, remaining at about or slightly below 25th place, despite big news stories like the June "derecho" storm, Hurricane Sandy in October, and the presidential election in November. Hubbard's well-established all-newser WTOP, 103.5 FM, and American University public radio news talker WAMU, 88.5 FM, remain locked in a battle for the top spot, ratings-wise. "The news battle in Washington is a two-station affair: WTOP and WAMU. The market does not appear interested in a third news station," WTOP VP/Programming Jim Farley tells DCRTV. "If you count (news talker) WMAL, the market does not appear interested in a fourth news station. It's like deja vu all over again: We worked really hard at it a few years ago but we could not get Washington Post Radio to become that third (or fourth) news station in town"..... 1/21 - Hubbard all-newser WTOP reports that many who went to today's inauguration festivities on the Mall were faced with "distorted and spotty audio" from the big screen Jumbotrons. And many carried portable radios that were tuned to 103.5 FM to hear President Obama's swearing in and his speech. Others, the station adds, listened to WTOP's inauguration coverage via its internet stream on their smartphones and via WTOP's phone feed at 202-380-9977 on their cell phones. They posted their praise for WTOP via Twitter, says WTOP Program Director Laurie Cantillo. "The power of radio," she adds..... 1/21 - Ted Leonsis, who owns the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, starts an internet operation, Monumental Network, "in a search for new revenue to fund his billion-dollar media-entertainment-sports enterprise." It's seen as first step in a plan to create regional sports TV outlets to carry his teams, according to Thomas Heath's piece at washingtonpost.com..... 1/21 - The NY Post is reporting today that CBS head honcho Les Mooves is looking to ramp up dealmaking as part of an overhaul of his old-growth media company. With the possible sale of CBS's radio division. However, local radio sources tell DCRTV that CBS is not planning to sell the CBS News radio operation or many of its local radio stations - almost a dozen of which are in the DC/Baltimore area, including WPGC, WJFK, WNEW, WWMX, WLIF, WIAD, and WJZ-FM. On the market, possibly, is the new CBS Sports Radio Network and some broadcast radio stations in smaller, mid-size markets, we hear. "The CBS radio news operation... is operated by the CBS News division, not the radio division headed by Dan Mason. CBS radio stations and CBS News are very separate divisions of the same company. And finally, the article is just speculation," we're told. One possible suitor, if CBS does sell some radio properties, is Cumulus, which owns two stations in DC - WMAL and WRQX. CBS spokespeople deny that the radio division could soon be on he market, adds the NY Post..... 1/19 - Sunday's Washington Post looks back at Baltimore TV dance party host Buddy Deane (right), whose show ran on Channel 13/WJZ in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It's the 25th anniversary of John Waters' "Hairspray" movie, which reflected those Baltimore TV days. The main article is at washingtonpost.com. There's also an article which looks at what Buddy Deane show "committee" members are up to today, at washingtonpost.com..... 1/18 - FishbowlDC, a Mediabistro website that covers Capitol Hill media news and gossip, was hit Thursday with a libel lawsuit in DC Superior Court. According to Legal Times, Wendy Gordon, a local publicist, claims that FishbowlDC launched an "unprovoked, online smear campaign" against her and published false information that hurt her reputation and her business. The lawsuit names FishbowlDC's parent company, WebMediaBrands, FishbowlDC editor Betsy Rothstein, and contributor Peter Ogburn as defendants, Legal Times reports. According to the complaint, Gordon became the subject of a weekly feature called "Wendy Wednesday" beginning in late 2011. FishbowlDC would post a picture of Gordon, often pulled from Gordon's Facebook page, and "provide a false and humiliating description," Gordon alleges. The posts would often insinuate that Gordon was sexually promiscuous. Those descriptions are false, Gordon says. She is seeking $1 million in punitive damages and $1 million in compensatory damages, Legal Times adds. Politico and the Washington City Paper have more..... 1/17 - Baltimore and DC radio veteran Ken Merson will be hosting SiriusXM's 50s-On-5 nostalgic music channel, 6 PM to midnight, starting in February. He replaces Brian Carter, another Baltimore radio veteran, who died last April. Merson currently does fill-in and swing shift work at CBS DC's hot adult contemporary 94.7 Fresh FM, and has been heard over the years on Baltimore's WCBM, WQSR, and the old B104..... 1/17 - Gannett's DC CBS affiliate, Channel 9/WUSA, unveils a new logo (right). "It's suitably horrible," says a viewer on DCRTV's Mailbag..... 1/15 - In the DC area, cable TV giant Comcast adds MundoFox, the new Spanish language network from Fox, on channels 264 and 557. It's broadcast locally via Fox-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate Channel 20/WDCA's 20.2 digital subchannel..... 1/14 - DCRTV hears rumblings that Sam Rogers may be out of his gig as DC market manager for Cumulus, which runs news talker WMAL 630 AM/105.9 FM, and hot adult contemporary WRQX, Mix 107.3. He's had "a very rocky path" with "a lot of issues," a DC radio guru tells us. Rogers joined Cumulus last year after many years as head of CBS's DC radio cluster. More. Another source tells us that Rogers is indeed leaving in the near future. Yet more. We hear from Rogers himself who tells us: "It hasn't been rocky and there haven't been lots of issues. Everyone here has adapted to the changing environment and has grown because of it. The stations had a great Q4 and are on the right track moving into 2013. This has nothing to do with anything other than an opportunity"..... 1/14 - Gannett's Channel 9/WUSA, in numerous promos during the weekend CBS football playoffs, announces that it will reduce screen clutter during its newscasts. Numerous viewers have complained about how WUSA's newscasts feature multiple screen elements, including a bottom-of-the-screen news ticker, that often distract from what the news anchor is reading. WUSA says it will unveil a much cleaner news info graphics bar on Thursday at noon, which will be color-coded to news, weather, and sports..... 1/11 - DC's Fox 5 is reporting that CBS has temporarily changed the call letters of urban contemporary WPGC to "WRG3" to honor Redskins star quarterback Robert Griffin III. DCRTV adds: The FCC doesn't allow numbers in broadcast station calls, so the change is obviously of a promotional nature, not a legal one. DC's 95.5 is still WPGC. Also, the Fox 5 site gets it wrong when it reports that: "This is the first time in the station's history that it has changed its call letters." The WPGC call was dropped back in the 1980s for a few years, when 95.5 become adult contemporary WCLY, Classy 95..... 1/10 - DCRTV tipped you earlier and now we get confirmation. Patrick Shea gets promoted by Clear Channel's Aloha Station Trust to be vice president of programming for its Frederick MD and Long Island radio clusters. Locally, Shea will program country WFRE, 99.9 FM, and news talk WFMD, 930 AM..... 1/10 - Greg Dunkin, formerly program director of CBS's hot adult contemporary 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD, heads to Topeka to be operations manager and program director of adult contemporary KMAJ and classic hits KWIC for Cumulus..... 1/10 - Unimportant January "book" in full swing. Channel 4/ WRC is in the usual top spot across the board. Channel 7/ WJLA's "Good Morning Washington" still in last place. Channel 5/WTTG's "Fox 5 Morning News" growing in all key demos. Channel 9/WUSA showing signs of life at 11 PM. The latest DC TV news numbers. 4:30 AM: WRC (1.4/8.9), WTTG (0.9/6.0), WUSA (0.8/5.0), WJLA (0.6/3.9). 5 AM: WRC (2.7/15.5), WTTG (1.5/8.4), WUSA (0.9/4.9), WJLA (0.5/3.1). 6 AM: WRC (4.1/18.5), WTTG (2.5/11), WUSA (1.4/6.2), WJLA (1.0/4.5). 5 PM: WRC (4.8/11.1), WTTG (2.7/6.2), WJLA (2.3/5.2), WUSA (1.8/4.0). 6 PM: WRC (4.9/9.7), WJLA (3.5/7.2), WTTG (2.5/5.2), WUSA (1.7/3.4). 11 PM: WRC (4.6/9.8), WJLA (2.9/6.3), WUSA (2.6/5.6), WTTG (2.2/5.0)..... 1/9 - Frederick hot adult contemporary outlet WAFY, Key 103, has pulled the song "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People claiming it contains offensive gun-related lyrics. This in reaction to listener complaints following the school shootings in Newtown CT last month. The Frederick News Post quotes Fred Manning, chief operations officer at the station, as saying that it was his intention was to pull the song the day of the shootings, and that it was manually removed from the station's playlist. "But he said no one removed it from the computerized system that contains the songs in the rotation," he adds. The song was played on Key 103 as recently as 11:02 AM Tuesday. "It certainly was a mistake," Manning says. "It was my understanding that it was being left out. It is now being corrected"..... 1/9 - CBS Radio has filed a request with the Federal Communication Commission to improve the 97.5 FM signal of low-power alternative rocker 975HFS in Baltimore. The application would change the station's directional signal to increase coverage in Perry Hall, Bel Air, Ellicott City, Columbia, Hunt Valley, and Reisterstown. CBS also wants to move the 97.5 signal to TV Hill Candelabra tower along with its hot adult contemporary WWMX, 106.5 FM. 975HFS is also available on WWMX's digital HD2 signal..... 1/9 - Salem talker WWRC, 1260 AM, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to upgrade its daytime power to 35,000-watts. That would improve the signal toward Baltimore, Annapolis, and most DC suburbs..... 1/8 - A company called LocusPoint Networks finances $1.8 million to buy low-power Baltimore area TVer Channel 16/WMJF from Towson University. LocusPoint calls itself "an early stage wireless communications company." DCRTV wonders if the firm will shut down the TV station and use its spectrum space for wireless communications, something that the FCC is encouraging these days. WMJF currently carries student-produced programming, some syndicated shows, and MTV2..... 1/8 - Former Washington Post fashion reporter and columnist Robin Givhan, who was discharged from the Daily Beast in December, graces the pages of Tuesday's Post Style section with a piece on "the agony and ecstasy of creating inaugural gowns." It's labeled as a "special" freelance effort..... 1/7 - Vinny Cerrato and Rob Long from CBS's Baltimore sports talker WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan, land the Sunday midday slot on CBS's new CBS Sports Radio network, which is heard on WJZ-AM, 1300..... 1/6 - DCRTV hears that Channel 4/WRC weekend morning news anchor Angie Goff announced today that she's expecting. This will be the second child for the Herndon High and George Mason University graduate. In December 2010, Goff gave birth to a daughter, Adora Kate..... 1/4 - A source tells us: "I'm getting hints of the pink slip hammer coming down at the Washington Times today." Big management meeting at 11 AM. We hear: A pink slip to sports reporter Patrick Stevens. Photojournalists Rod Lamkey and Barbara Salisbury were dispatched from the paper during today's layoffs. Perhaps as many as 20 could get the axe today..... 1/4 - Last month, DCRTV told you that Hubbard all-newser WTOP flipped its internet stream to a true simulcast of its on-air signal, with no 'net-only elements. To give the station a slight advantage in the radio ratings, with both the stream and broadcast signal's numbers being combined. Well now, we hear that American University public radio news talker WAMU has done the same thing. Both stations are locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the top of the DC radio ratings heap..... 1/3 - Less than two years after opening his Main Street wine bar, Channel 5/WTTG news anchor Brian Bolter wants to open a second business in downtown Annapolis. The bar and restaurant, to be called DRY 85, would have Prohibition-era, speakeasy decor and focus on bourbon and comfort food, such as Kobe beef burgers, flash-fried okra, and slow-cooked ribs. That's according to thedailyrecord.com..... 1/3 - ESPN is on the verge of adding Ray Lewis to its talent lineup. Multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated that the Ravens linebacker is close to signing a multi-year contract with the network. At ESPN, Lewis is expected to have a significant role on the network's "Monday Night Countdown" program, and be featured on multiple platforms, including ESPN Radio..... Rants 2012 Rants 2011 Rants July To December 2010 Rants January To June 2010 Rants July To December 2009 Rants January To June 2009 Rants July To December 2008 Rants January To June 2008 Rants 2007 Rants 2006 All original material on this website is copyright by Dave Hughes/DCRTV.