Contents - Front Page - Mailbag - Current Rants - News - Daveland - Support DCRTV By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com Rants from June 2003 to December 2003..... 12/29 - Hey, I have no problem with Fox News doing a look back piece on Monday on the "fall of Saddam." But slapping in some stirringly sappy music on the report, especially at the end when "W" spoke, made it look too much like an administration campaign ad. Also, what's up with Fox's repeated use of that "stock footage" of "terrorists" (bearded guys with guns running around an abandoned building) every time it does an update on the "bad guys" in Iraq? The same footage has been used for the past few weeks, at least. Really dopey, huh. Oh, some praise (gasp!) from me for Fox. Chris Wallace is a huge (!) improvement over Tony Snow in the "Fox News Sunday" slot. Nice to see a real news guy at Fox, and not the oh so typical "fair and balanced" carnival barker. Speaking of carnival barkers, dig this comment from "brilliant" mind of Bill O'Reilly: "Eminem may be the 'people's choice,' but he is as harmful to America as any al Qaeda fanatic." According to andrewsullivan.com. C'mon Cameron and Alan at JFK-FM. Dump this sad sack of sh*t from middays. Give us R&F from 11 AM to 3 PM..... 12/27 - I just heard a promo on Charm City talker WCBM that pleads with liberals to listen. It advises the allegedly misguided and friendless lefties that they'll "learn" more when they "mix it up" and socialize with the righties on 680 AM. Ah, it really would be nice to find an AM talker that respected those with differing and divergent political views. Maybe more folks (not just white guys) would listen to WCBM if it did just that. 12/25 - Happy 50th birthday to color television. Scripps reports that "the first Admiral color television using the current national transmission standard was sold Dec. 30, 1953." But, most Americans didn't make the conversion until the mid or late 1960s. Now 99 percent of all US TV sets are color. I am the proud owner of one of the one percent of TV sets that are B&W - a portable oval model from Panasonic. Got it for Christmas in 1972 - and it still works..... 12/23 - In a Rant a few days ago, I said I wanted a Chris Core coffee mug. And look what just came in the mail. It's what I really wanted this Christmas. Thanks..... I just re-watched "Network," that fascinating 1970s look at the world of network television news, back when there were only three or four big nets. Anyhow, a major plot thread of the film is how the Saudis want to take over the network. Crazed anchor Howard Beale rants about how the Saudis, with their oil money and economic power, control just about everything. It got me thinking about today. We've heard again and again that the majority of 9/11's terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. And yet we invaded Iraq. I know I'm beating a dead horse here. But, could there be a nugget of "truth" in that 30-year-old film? Watch "Network." And get a chill up your spine during this "orange" Christmas..... 12/21 - Smile. You've just been screwed. Big time. So, the FCC decided to give its big prize - DirectTV - to King Rupert Murdoch late on a Friday. Why? Because of the slow "news cycle" over the pre-holiday weekend. Duh! The story's sure to be "old news" by Monday. And, interesting to see how little "play" the story's gotten on Murdoch's own media outlets. Obviously, "papa Rupy" and "adopted son Mikey" are hoping the huge "give away" just "goes away," at least in the court of public opinion. Look, in any case, you have to admit that Murdoch is brilliant. Using one's media outlets to run PR for the president and his party does indeed result in a windfall of riches. Let's all hope, at the very least, that Michael Powell goes down as the most spineless FCC chairman in the history of the "regulatory" body. His FCC has become impotent - a joke. It, like many other fed reg bodies, is run by the suits it regulates. In cases where radio gets really raunchy, the Commission slaps the wrists of the corporate giants that own the stations. And then those corporate giants just turn around and "respectfully decline" to pay the fines, which could easily be covered by running a few extra ads. And both sides get a good laugh. If the FCC was serious, it would strip station licenses. If the Commission was serious about "fair and balanced" competition in the US media industry, it would not allow one "player" to own the entire "chain of command" - from the local stations, to the networks (including a major broadcast network and an array of cable nets), to program production, to the home delivery arena (a la DirecTV). Now, who's to stop cable giant Comcast from buying Disney/ABC? Or Viacom/CBS from nabbing up Time Warner? You and me will soon be paying for "Powell's folly" with skyrocking cable and satellite bills. And there will be far fewer "voices." But, by then, Powell will be out of the public limelight, with some cushy job on the board of some big media corporation. Maybe one owned by Murdoch..... 12/18 - Don't you just love those Chris Core ads on WMAL! He shills just about everything from restaurants to gutter companies to basement waterproofers to eye surgeons to exterminators to website designers. And Chris doesn't just do voice-overs, he does personal testimonials. He's a believer. His gutters don't leak. His basement doesn't flood. His wife can see better. His kitchen doesn't have roaches. And, incredibly, one of his sponsors even offers a special limited edition Chris Core coffee mug "with my picture on it." I want one..... 12/17 - Wednesday's Ron and Fez - Rush Limbaugh doesn't want his medical records released because he doesn't want the public to learn that he once had "something lanced on his ass." Florida investigators are requesting El Rushbo's med recs to determine if he illegally obtained large quanities of prescription painkillers..... 12/16 - Monday's Arbitrends showed that WMAL has a way to get to get a decent sized audience for its "morning news." So, how to fix WMAL's mornings? We composed a team of radio experts who told us that the previous management drove the audience away with their crazy game of musical chairs in the morning. Even though WMAL now has a product that is quite listenable, the people who left them don't know that. They need a big marketing campaign to introduce the new morning team to the people who left and potential new listeners. But their ABC corporate owners - like almost all corporate owners - won't let WMAL management spend those bucks until they start raking in a lot more sales dollars. It's a real chicken and egg question - which comes first?..... 12/15 - The brilliance of Fred Grandy. At about 6:20 AM today, the WMAL morning show co-host proclaimed that yesterday was "a bad day for Saddam." Mental lightning, huh. Duh..... OK. According to the FCC, you can say f*ck, as long as it's an adjective. As in "f*ckin' FCC." But you can't say f*ck if it's a verb. As in "f*ck the FCC." Got it? Details in the Post..... 12/12 - Radio & Recs reports: "The number of listeners who want continuous Christmas-music stations has dipped slightly in 2003: Just 14% of those surveyed prefer stations to play all-Christmas music, down from 20% last year. Furthermore, listeners were nearly two-to-one against an early start on Christmas music, with many suggesting that stations wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday to switch their on-air presentation. However, half of all radio listeners do want to hear holiday music between two to three times per hour. Almost 90% of all listeners wouldn't mind hearing at least two Christmas songs per hour." Is WASH programmer Bill Hess listening?..... 12/11 - When millions of little kids were watching a rerun of a Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon, ABC ran "Trista And Ryan's Wedding" promos of "strippers - one clad in a shiny black catsuit, the other topless with digitally blurred breasts - straddling drunken bachelor Ryan and dragging him off at night for a private seaside encounter." More in NY's Daily News.... 12/8 - Last week's snow was fascinating in how different areas, not far away from each other, received way different totals. Here in Wild West Fairfax, we got only 3 or 4 inches. A few miles away in Sterling - 8 inches. And a few more miles away in Germantown - close to a foot. While National Airport got only a dusting. Yes, I agree with many - a little less storm hype from our TV and radio weather forecasters would be nice. But the forecasts were generally on the mark, considering the wide variety of weather results in such a relatively small area. One good thing - now that we've gotten the first big winter storm behind us, the hype level should decrease. That second or third storm won't pack the media punch that the first one did - unless it's another "storm of the century," like we had last February..... Chris Wallace, in his debut as host of "Fox News Sunday," interviewed "Dem" presidential candidate Howard Dean. Dean wore one of those USA flag lapel pins. Wallace did not. We report. You decide. Oh, Howard Kurtz reviews Wallace's first outing for Fox in Monday's Post. No Tony Snow softballs, anyway..... 12/5 - A class act. Rush Limbaugh making jokes on Friday about liberal Democrat and former Senator Paul Simon's heart problems..... This weekend's Redskins-Giants game is being promoted as the "Battle For The Basement" of the NFC East by WJFK-FM. Well, it should be, anyway. And, golly gee, Redskins owner Dan Snyder has just got to be jumping for joy about Don Geromino's love-fest for the Ravens. On the Redskins' flagship station. As witnessed by Don's glowing praise (again!) for Ravens owner Dave Modell on the afternoon duo's visit to Charm City's Live 105.7 on Thursday..... 12/4 - Mark O'Brien leaving 104. Another step closer to Bonneville flipping the hot AC outlet to female-oriented talk? A big hmmm..... 12/3 - Rush now calls his show "the fastest three hours in radio." Has he been listening to Ron and Fez, which call their 11 AM show "the fastest hour in radio"? Speaking of JFK, Fez really sounded sick on Wednesday. Couldn't 106.7 have given him the day off? Maybe have El Jefe substitute with Ron. Hmmm..... 12/2 - During his Tuesday 11 AM hour on WJFK-FM, Ron (half of Ron and Fez) said that a liberal talk radio network will fail if its personalities aren't entertaining - first. He added that if you want to hear a boringly unentertaining political gasbag (Ron didn't quite use those terms) just stay tuned to 106.7 at noon for Bill O'Reilly. Amen..... "Dem" presidential candidate Howard Dean says he'll break up big media monopolies if elected. At least that's what he tells Chris Matthews on MSNBC. The Drudge Report reports Dean saying: "Eleven companies in this country control 90 percent of what ordinary people are able to read and watch on their television. That's wrong. We need to have a wide variety of opinions in every community. We don't have that because of Michael Powell and what George Bush has tried to do to the FCC." Can Dean get elected prez without the backing of Mel Karmazin and Rupert Murdoch and Michael Eisner? No way, Jose..... 12/1 - Howie Kurtz pens a profile of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. In Monday's DC Post. No mention of the "g-word," though. Not that there's anything wrong with that..... The NY Post reports that Dan Rather may soon retire from his anchor post at CBS News. No mention of the "l-word," though. Not that there's anything wrong with that..... 11/26 - As a tribute to the great Eddie Gallaher, how about Clear Channel honcho Bennett Zier bringing back the nostalgic big band music format to AM 1260? Even for just a couple of weeks, through Christmas? How about it? Hmmm..... 11/25 - Fez Whatley is now going to support Democrat Wesley Clark. He's the only presidential candidate who's been seen on TV in a Speedo, the WJFK-FM talker said on his Monday AM show..... 11/20 - Flipperooni. If I was programming Hot 99.5 I'd do a stunt format flip to all-Jacko music. For a day or two, anyway. It would really generate some buzz. Oh, WASH programmer Bill Hess tells DCRTV that yesterday's flip to all-Christmas music was actually in preparation for Christmas 2004 - not 2003. "We're the very first station in the nation to be playing holiday tunes for next Christmas. Some 13 months early. We're going to he playing Santa songs come March and June and September. So get used to it, " Hess adds. And, in a related move, WMAL programmer Randall Bloomquist has just flipped the news talker to an all-patriotic music format. "July 4th is coming and we wanted to get a jump on the competition. We heard that WTNT was thinking about it," he tells DCRTV. But what about Rush and the rest of WMAL's righty talk line-up? "Tune to Baltimore or Frederick," Bloomquist advises..... 11/19 - From David Folkenflik in the Baltimore Sun: "Rupert Murdoch, the media baron whose News Corp. owns the Weekly Standard, the New York Post and the Fox News Channel, is a lightning rod for debates about whether news outlets reflect their owners' politics or their quest for profits. Murdoch does little to disguise his political tilt to the right... Murdoch's influence stems from his willingness to please governments whose good graces are important to his corporate well-being"..... 11/18 - Ron (half of WJFK-FM's Ron and Fez) on Rush: "Before, he was an a-hole on pills. Now, he'll be an a-hole sober"..... 11/17 - "Turn it on. Rip the knob off and shove it up your ass." A WJFK-FM promo heard on Monday morning. There was a bleep over the word "ass," but you could still make it out..... Most will agree that Matt Drudge's website was primarily responsible for getting "The Reagans" removed from CBS's schedule. The TV movie took dramatic license and told "lies" about the former president and first lady. And now Drudge is leading a campaign against a new Disney movie about a Santa who has sex, drinks, and swears. Maybe if Drudge's latest campaign is as successful as his Reagan one was, we won't have the opportunity to see the Santa movie, either. Look, there's lots of crap that gets released - movies and TV. But, how about letting the people have the opportunity to see the stuff and decide for themselves whether it's any good? What if CBS had run the Reagan show on Sunday and nobody watched. Wouldn't that have been a more effective rebuke on the "liberal media" than to have it banned from the airwaves? Hey, Matt, your website is a fun read. But, please don't turn into the "top cop" in the right's "war on Hollywood." Put down the plastic badge and toy handcuffs and go back to your keyboard..... 11/15 - Oh that WTOP. At 9:44 Friday morning, we're asked if we know what those statues at Union Station are holding behind their shields? Hmmm. Then several seconds of dead air. And a promise to have the answer later. Then, during the 9:45 sports report, Dave Johnson invites us to come see him in his pajamas tomorrow at a Dulles Town Center mattress store. A little while earlier, we heard a news anchor joke about letting his dog poop on Doug Hill's lawn. So, who said that "news" has so be serious..... "If we're taking about it, you're talking about it. Just not as well." From a promo heard on WJFK-FM Friday morning. A somewhat goofy take on WMAL's "If you're talking about it, we're talking about it." I'll say it again. Will someone please fix 106.7!!! Thursday's Arbitrends show the former "superstation" trending downward. From a 3.8 in the summer of 2002 to a 2.6 now. Middays are a mess - an hour of Ron and Fez, two hours of Bill O'Reilly (this ain't WMAL), and an hour of Don and Mike reruns. It don't work. JFK needs to have one show from 11 AM to 3 PM - either Ron and Fez or something new. If R&F get moved to middays, then JFK needs something for evenings. Perhaps Alex "El Jefe" Hinojosa and J. Dubbs - now heard on weekends. Please ditch Sports News Radio from overnights. It don't work, either (this ain't WTEM). If you got nothing, then just play music, perhaps kick-ass 60s, 70s, and 80s "top 40" tunes (lotsa Duran Duran). Ditto with weekends, which are an infomercial-laden mess. And how about some better promotions. Perhaps a week of Don and Fez, and Ron and Mike. But do something now..... 11/13 - Oh joy. No more "snot is running down his nose" on some dipwad classic rock station at the Jersey Shore. Thanks to former WARW program director Phil LoCascio and his ban on all Jethro Tull tunes because lead singer Ian Anderson said he didn't like seeing US flags all over the place over here. Hey, I happen to disagree with Ian, too. If Americans want to show the flag, let 'em. But I can also understand Ian's take. He's a Brit. He didn't say that he hates America. Or disagrees with the president (something that would really get the folks at Fox News all rabid). Just that he'd prefer to see a bit less nationalism over here. Agree or disagree, he's got a right to say what he wants. And, yeah, Phil can play what he wants too. But banning some great rock songs from the past three decades is hardly the way to show pride for the good old USA. Sounds more like a ratings stunt for some smallish market classic rock station. Hey, Phil, have you banned the Pretenders, whose lead singer often slams America? Or Bruce Springsteen for the rather anti-USA stance of "Born In The USA"? Did you ever listen to the lyrics? Or maybe how about not playing the Beatles? Remember John Lennon's anti-Vietnam War campaign? What about REM's "Orange Crush"? Or the Clash's whole "Sandinista" album? Nice try, Phil. Next stop in your career path ought to be at a South Jersey strip mall shoe store..... 11/5 - Once again on Wednesday, the best political talk on DC area radio - Ron and Fez's 11 AM hour on 106.7..... Caught on Fox News Channel at about 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon - while hyping an upcoming story about a murderous transvestite, a picture of Democratic Party presidential candidate Howard Dean was shown on the screen..... Bad news for increasingly right-leaning radio talker WMAL. Yesterday, Democrats did very well in Fairfax County - the largest political jurisdiction in the DC metro area. Keeping their 7-3 majority on the county board. And picking up two seats in state government. WMAL likes to brag that it is (or was) the most listened to AM station in the county. Maybe it ought to lean a bit more to the left to ensure it continues that status in one of its core jurisdictions. Oh, congrats to NewsChannel 8 for excellent coverage of yesterday's exercize in democracy. And boos to Channel 5. While it did lead its 10 PM news on Tuesday with voting machine problems in Northern Virginia, the fact that a new guy would be running Fairfax County was mentioned as a mere afterthought - even though his challenger had already conceeded the race. "Bloody 5" just couldn't wait to jump into its oh so tiring scary "sweeps" stuff..... 11/3 - At 8:08 AM on Monday, WJFK-FM ran a promo for the Skins/Cowboys game this upcoming weekend. Are we playing them again, so soon? Oh, speaking of the four-game losing streak, WMAL news guy Bryan Nehman posed this on-air question: "Can we fire the owner?" Amen..... A former Fox News producer confirms what everyone already knows - the Rupert Murdoch-owned channel leans to the right. David Folkenflik has the details in the Sun..... 10/31 - Just past 2 Thursday afternoon, a live Capitol Hill police press conference was held about breaking news. One or two people with a gun had forced their way into the Cannon office building. Channels 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and WTOP radio covered it. So did CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. Slow poke WMAL didn't get around to airing its taped (!) version of the initial press conference until 2:21, after it had already ended. Two suspects were soon nabbed. It was a toy gun..... 10/30 - From News Blues: "Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of 'The Simpsons,' which airs on sister channel Fox Entertainment, over a spoof news ticker, claims show creator Matt Groening. Groening said the news channel backed down because it would have caused Fox to bring a lawsuit against itself. He told National Public Radio: 'But now Fox has a new rule that we can't do those little fake news crawls [tickers] on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it's real news.' The episode of the Simpsons in question showed a rolling news ticker at the bottom of the screen, which read: 'Pointless news crawls up 37 per cent... Do Democrats cause cancer? Find out at foxnews.com... Rupert Murdoch: Terrific dancer... Dow down 5,000 points... Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple...'" Oh, read about the all-important daily "Memo" and how it affects Fox News's "fair and balanced" coverage from Romenesko..... 10/27 - I (DCRTV Dave) went on El Jefe's show a week ago Saturday. WJFK-FM station mates Ron and Fez said on the air the following Monday that El Jefe's show had been cancelled. DCRTV ran a newsblurb reporting what they said. I immediately sent an e-mail to El Jefe asking for his comment. El Jefe did not, repeat, did not respond to my inquiry. Several reliable WJFK sources then told me that the story about El Jefe being canned was a "comedy bit." But since I couldn't confirm anything, either way, I removed the El Jefe newsblurb. El Jefe did not do his show this Saturday but told the substitute host by phone that DCRTV got the story wrong and that his show wasn't cancelled, and that he will be back next Saturday. Hey, Alex Hinojosa (aka El Jefe), you know how to reach DCRTV - when you want to..... 10/24 - Hey, if Baltimore can have WTMD, then why can't DC have a cool college radio station, too? Like one of these: KFJC, KTRU, KUSF, WFMU, WHRB, WKCR, WMBR, WNUR, WREK, WRSU, WQHS, WXYC, WPRB, or WXDU..... 10/22 - So, Tony Snow is no longer going to be hosting "Fox News Sunday." Not enough time to do the show because of the new Fox News Radio duties, huh? If you believe that you'll believe that Rush "resigned" from that ESPN football gig. Truth is, FNS underperformed in the ratings and influence battles and Rupert Murdoch's looking for a new host who seems a bit more than halfway interested in what he's talking about. My suggestion for Tony's replacement - Michael Savage. Good luck, Tony, joining that ever lengthening list of righty radio talkers. If you work really really hard, maybe your show will turn up on WMET or WPLC or even "blowtorch" WTNT. And, heck, maybe you'll get stellar ratings like Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, and the G-Man. Ha ha ha..... 10/20 - Memo to WAMU (after you've got your financial sh*t together) or WETA-FM: please buy CSPAN's WCSP, 90.1 FM. And then flip it to a progressive alternative music format like Philadelphia's WXPN..... 10/17 - I've long bitched about Fox News. Basically that it's just as bad - biased - as other news channels. Only in the opposite direction - right instead of left. Now I hear that Fox News's DC-based political news anchor (all Fox anchors are commentators, too) Tony Snow will be subbing for Rush Limbaugh next week. Tony, who used to work for the first President Bush and now hosts "Fox News Sunday," used to sub for Rush years ago, but wisely stopped doing that because the radio show is politically biased. What would conservatives think if Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet The Press," started filling in for one of the hosts on NPR's "All Things Considered"? Look, Tony made a smart decision to stop subbing for Rush. But I guess, with his Sunday show still at the bottom of the ratings heap, Tony needs the kind of exposure that can be gotten on Rush's 600-ish AMers. Ah, Tony, Tony, Tony. You're so full of baloney..... 10/16 - What's up with Don and Mike flunky "Robbay" voicing a spot during this morning's Howard Stern show on 106.7 about how Secretary Of State Colin Powell loves Chevron-Texaco? I couldn't stop laughing..... WMAL's using Rush's drug problem to rather shamelessly promote the station and hype the ratings. The 30-second spot features features a clip of Limbaugh's announcement that he's checking into a rehab center, along with his request for listeners to send prayers his way. Then MAL's "big balled" announcer thunders: "Taking responsibility and telling the truth." Okay. Oh, a few moments after the Rush "tribute," WMAL ran an ad from a big drug company warning us of the dangers of "prescription drug abuse"..... 10/14 - DCRTV asked Madam Zorba, the bearer of our "cracked crystal ball," to determine what's up with WMAL's recent downward ratings trend. And she told us that old 630 still didn't have its top suits in place for the summer ratings book. Now that WMAL has a program director onboard (Randall Bloomquist), look for a more focused approach for the fall book. Expect more emphasis on talk and a clearer branding message. The red, white, and blue of the ABC station's new logo and website convey, more than ever, that 630 is a conservative talker. With Sean Hannity, WMAL shows that it can steal young male white listeners from rockers like DC101 and WARW. Although, the madam adds, having Rush Limbaugh gone for a good chunk of the fall book can't help 630's fortunes..... 10/13 - Separated at birth? Fox News Channel honcho Roger Ailes and NY Yankees coach Don Zimmer..... Oh, my checker at the Giant saw the headline on the newspaper I was buying and openly questioned why our troops are still in Iraq, getting killed. I nodded in silence. But I should have done my patriotic duty and told her to watch more Fox News..... 10/12 - A month without Rush on the radio. Maybe God's a Democrat. Oh, there's no truth to the rumor that Chevy Chase Bank, a local Rush sponsor, is offering a free bottle of OxyContin to everyone who opens a checking account. Hey, anyone remember "The Smiths," the UK mope rock band from the 1980s? They once had a hit (in England) with a tune called "Girlfriend In A Coma." Well, they're planning a comeback with a tune called "Stenographer With A Broken Leg" - about you know who's drug problem. But, wait, there's more. WMAL is planning a promotion to tie in with Rush's "pathos." It'll run spots evoking sympathy for its "pathetic" air staff. Including one bit of humor that will make fun of a certain morning man who must have his "Love Boat" uniform on in order to, ah, er, well, we won't divulge any more..... 10/9 - Channel 9 made a big mistake by putting a local newscast at 7 PM. Look, I really like Derek McGinty. All the way back to his WAMU radio days. He's a top-notch news guy. No question. But there's already too much "news" at 7 PM - 4's NBC 'cast, Jim Lehrer on PBS, the Fox News rock 'n roll "Shep-fest," CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, even NewsChannel 8. Plus, news addicts who get home too late for the 6 PM newscasts on 4, 7, and 9 have probably been car-tuned to 88.5 or 90.9 or 630 or 1500 or 107.7. Or checked out the dozens of internet news sites before they left the office. My advice to 9: move Dippy Dan Rather to the 7 PM slot. And pair Derek with JC Hayward at 5 PM or at 6 PM. Oh, one more thing - "USA Tonight" is a bad title. You're doing local news, right? The name suggests otherwise..... 10/7 - I am increasingly liking what I hear from new WMAL morning co-host Fred Grandy. OK, yeah, while he leans ever so slightly to the right, the former "Love Boat" crew member and GOP Congressman sounds like a real radio pro. He's been doing 630's morning show for the past few months, and he brings a charmingly fresh perspective and a witty humorous breeze to the often glum news and political beat. While I would like to hear more female and left of center voices on MAL's morning "news," the addition of Fred was a good move. He blends well with the bit more stuffed-shirt, gruff but loveable Andy Parks. While I still spend my radio mornings with Howard Stern on WJFK-FM, I find myself hitting the 630 button during Howie's massive ad breaks. I often forget to tune back..... 10/5 - "Heavy viewers of the Fox News Channel are nearly four times as likely to hold demonstrably untrue positions about the war in Iraq as media consumers who rely on National Public Radio or the Public Broadcasting System, according to a study released this week by a research center affiliated with the University Of Maryland's School Of Public Affairs." Hey, I didn't say it (no hate mail please). David Folkenflik did. In the Saturday Sun..... 10/3 - Here's an interesting take on the whole Rush mess. He just "resigned" from ESPN. More likely, he was fired, but allowed to make it look like he resigned. Hmmm, so who owns ESPN? Why ABC/Disney does. That's the same company that owns Rush's radio stations in NYC, SF, Dallas, Chicago, and here in good old DC - WMAL. Now, if Rush is really pissed at ABC (which he probably is), he could get revenge by turning the screws to get his radio show removed from ABC's radio stations. Rush's show is syndicated by Premiere, which is owned by Clear Channel. Will Rush move to CC-owned stations (or non ABC stations) in the above major markets? I wouldn't bet against it. In the not too distant future will we instead hear Rush on CC's WTNT, perhaps a new, more powerful WTNT at 980 AM? I wouldn't bet against it..... 10/2 - My take. (No hate mail, please.) Rush would have shown courage if he had stood and fought. For his beliefs (right or wrong). Rush would also have shown courage if he apologized for what he had said. But Rush did neither. Rush resigned..... Hey, we've long had a "liberal" news media. Now, according to Rush, we have a "liberal" sports media, too. WMAL morning man Fred Grandy wonders whether we also have a "liberal" weather media. Let's see the voting records of Topper, Doug, Sue, Bob, Norm, Tom, and the other Bob (Turk). Hmmm..... 10/1 - A tip of the old DCRTV rabbit ears to the great Jim Clarke. Proof that "real" journalism that's really "fair and balanced" is still being produced today by talented, hard-working reporters like Mr. Clarke, who don't need to brag about it. Thank you, Jim, for all your years of fine service..... 9/28 - In late August when Howard U's budget-strapped Channel 32/ WHUT was off the air for more than a week with yet more transmitter troubles, I penned a rant that cable giant Comcast should provide a land line feed of the station to its area systems. Well, scanning the cable TV box here in Wild West Fairfax very early Sunday morning, I noticed that Comcast was carrying color bars and WHUT's ID on cable channel 32. I checked over the air and, sure enough, WHUT had signed off at around midnight and wasn't broadcasting. So, I guess Comcast is now offering a land line feed of 32. Way to go..... 9/24 - Lots of rumblings of turmoil at IDT's WMET. Will a continuation of the talk format at the soon to be souped-up Gaithersburg station be the ticket? Right now, WMET doesn't even register in the ratings. Way below Clear Channel talker WTNT. And way way way below ABC talker WMAL. Hey, how about this? Once the new powerful daytime transmitter is fired up, how about an 1150 (soon to be 1160) flip to a live big band, nostalgic format? DC's the 8th largest radio market and it lacks the "sounds of Sinatra" since the death of CC's WGAY more than three years ago. Leaving a huge AM format "hole." With a decent signal, and little bit of promotion, I wouldn't be surprised to see a melodious WMET becoming the DC market's second most listened to AMer, behind WMAL. Something for IDT's suits to ponder, anyway..... 9/23 - Want free XM? Go grocery shopping in Wild West Fairfax. I was hunting for grub at my local Trader Joe's and noticed some really cool music on the store's sound system. Between tunes I heard an announcement that it was "XM 76," with some neato "lounge" music..... 9/19 - When WMAL goes local, it really shines. Not to put down WTOP or WBAL radio's excellent coverage of Hurricane Isabel, news talk WMAL really shined. Especially Chris Core. His post-5 PM coverage on Thursday was superior. It's a shame that MAL didn't start Core's coverage at 3 PM on the day of the storm's arrival. It certainly would have been more of a public service than Sean Hannity's bluster for two hours. MAL spends too much of its broadcast day running all that one-sided syndicated GOP ranting. That's not to say that the right-leaning opinion doesn't deserve to be a part of MAL's schedule. It does. But it's a darn shame that MAL's talk spectrum is so narrow. MAL has only itself to blame for missing the mark - the mark of being a truly great local news talk station..... 9/15 - A memo to Comcast. Howard University's Channel 32 has long suffered budget problems. WHUT is one of the nation's only African American-owned TV stations, and it has been plagued with related transmitter troubles. Over the years, the station has spent many weeks and months off the air. The latest outage being in late August and early September. Hey, here's a partial solution to WHUT's problems. Why doesn't area cable giant Comcast provide the station with a land line link to the region's cable systems. Comcast owns all of the cable TV systems in the immediate DC area (except for Fairfax County). Plus, Comcast already has a rather extensive fiber optic video network running through the area. It would be great PR for Comcast, confirming that the firm is committed to the community. And it would be great for WHUT, making certain that the public station will continue to be seen throughout the region even if its transmitter goes on the blink again. A tax write-off for Comcast, even. A "win-win" for everyone..... 9/9 - Yesterday, we made fun of WMAL for mentioning current first lady "Barbara" Bush in a newscast. Well, today we'll pick on WTTG/5. At the opening of its noon news, anchor Michael Gargiulo welcomed us to Fox 5's "morning news." By his facial expression Michael knew he'd goofed..... From our "Heard On WMAL" department. On Tuesday, Rushbo touted a plan (now being floated in Colorado) whereby the "voting records" of college professors could be examined to determine who is "too liberal." Colleges would then be able to can the lefties and hire more conservative profs. Ah, since when did one's "voting record" (if there is such a document) become a public tool that can be used to determine employability? Ah, did Rush even bother to check the Constitution? It's getting a bit scary out there..... 9/5 - Was that Rush on ESPN on Thursday evening? It didn't sound (without the "big balls" audio/radio processing) or even look like him. Every time I see the ever thinning radio guy, he looks more and more like a deflated football. He's one of those guys who is supposed to be fat and looks kind of sickly and strange thin. He's the modern day version of the "Wizard Of Oz" - thunderous when behind his "radio curtain," but a rather wimpy ordinary guy, otherwise. Ha ha ha..... 9/4 - I was tuning by MTV2 the other day and caught "Pain Killer" from a British band called Turin Brakes. Very cool tune. The next day I visited the local branch of the corporate music store and found the CD - but it cost almost $20. Way too expensive. I, instead, found a copy on the 'net and burned it to a CD. For free. Now, Frank Ahrens reports in the Post that at least one "record" company has come to the realization that gouging CD buyers is not such a good idea..... 9/3 - Every second doesn't count at Channel 5. At about 3:45 PM on Tuesday, a tornado was approaching the Fredericksburg area. Channels 4, 7, 9, and NC8 were all over it right away. Missing was Fox 5, which didn't break for tornado coverage until just past 4 PM, AFTER (!!!) the Rupert Murdoch station ran a full batch of ads in between its 3:30 PM and 4 PM court shows. While all of the other stations continued storm coverage well past 4 PM, 5 returned to regular programming (and more ads) by 4:05 PM. Channel 5 did provide more coverage later, but nowhere near the blanket coverage that the other guys did. No injuries were reported in connection with this bout of bad weather. Thanks to excellent storm coverage from Bob Ryan, Doug Hill, and Topper Shutt..... 9/2 - Will someone at WMAL please tell Cincinnati native Pat Brogan that McLean is pronounced "McLain," not the way it's written. Oh, one of MAL's midday newscasts featured some really BIG news for the Rush crowd - BEDBUGS ARE INFESTING THE REGION (!!!), especially Maryland. Poor old Maryland. You've got Third World power, and NOW bedbugs, too. Oh, I hear that the crack MAL news team is working on a like "exclusive" for tomorrow - the revelation that each and every one of us has millions (!!!) of little "germy bugs" living in our digestive tract. I hear that Fox "News" has Geraldo looking into that story, too. That's what I'd really like to see - Geraldo's head up someone's arse. Speaking of MAL, it's running yet another (!) truth-stretching promo which claims that Sean Hannity has "terminated" (he did a recent interview with Arnold) all other area radio PM drive shows. Ah, tell that to Don and Mike or the guys at TOP or PGC..... Art Buchwald gives us his take on the Fox-Franken flap. In the Post..... 8/28 - So, Sean Hannity does a "news" show and he's exempt from the FCC's "equal time" rules that apply to broadcast radio and TV stations. Sean was allowed to interview California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday without the fear of the other 100+ recall candidates demanding equal air time. But when Howard Stern tried to interview Arnold last week, he had to cancel because his show is not considered "news." Hmmm. So, Howard ain't news and Sean is? Who defines just what is "news" and what ain't? (The FCC - duh!) Sean, in my mind, ain't "news." Basically, he does an infomercial for the GOP. Yeah, he has more politicos on his show than does Howard, but Howard occasionally interviews Senators and governors. Look, I agree with the basic theory behind these particular FCC regs, but, let's face it, they're a silly remnant of the day when all we had were three broadcast networks and didn't have the dozens of news sources we now get from cable and satellite and the internet. Time for the Commission to toss 'em out..... 8/25 - Heard on MAL: "Thanks to area Methodists for making us the number one station on the AM dial." Ha ha ha. Oh, didja hear that Andy Parks said this morning that he really likes those "lo rise" jeans. On women, not men (including himself, thank goodness)..... Oh that Rupert Murdoch. He's been getting into bed with British politicos to increase his domination of the UK's media. More from the Independent. Hey, he's already in bed with key GOPers and the Bush administration. Also, Drudge reports that Rupy's Fox News is teaming up with Arnold to improve coverage of the Republican "Terminator," who's running for Cali governor. No more "Schwarzenegger movie puns in news rotations." I bet Arnold made a phone call to Rupy, who lives in LA, to get the policy changed. Hmmm. Oh, did you catch those home movies of Geraldo's recent wedding on Fox News on Sunday? A proud example of "real journalism"..... 8/22 - A stunning 89 percent of WMAL's listeners believe that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore should NOT remove that big Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the state's judicial building. At least that's according to a daily web poll the news talker took on 8/21. A federal judge has ordered the display's removal citing the US Constitution's separation of "chuch" and "state." You know, I've NEVER seen any religious icons anywhere around WMAL's Jenifer Street lobby and studio. I wonder what the station's listeners would have to say about that? I strongly advise GM Chris Berry and new ops manager Randall Bloomquist to get ABC to buy a huge picture of Jesus for the lobby. And maybe some properly placed Christian ornaments on the desks of the station's sales and news folks might not be a bad idea, either. Just keeping the "customers" satisfied..... 8/21 - FCC head Michael Powell is leading a "localism" charge to blunt criticism that he's a corporate stooge. According to Frank Ahrens in Thursday's Post, Powell said that the FCC will "accelerate the licensing process for low-power FM radio stations" which are "designed to transmit educational, health-related and other local programming, focusing on minority and low-income areas." One again, Powell and the FCC are "BS-ing" us. First, the FM band in all metro areas is already overcrowded. There's no room for low-power stations without reducing reception of stations you already get. And, second, while many of these non-comm low-power FMers may be "locally owned," they won't be economically viable and will most certainly end up being plugged into some satellite feed (probably religious) that's probably funded by a corporate media concern. Don't be fooled by Mike's little PR dance. It's the same old song - if you don't have big bucks, you don't deserve a place at the radio table. Face it - the FCC is controlled by the big corporations that it "regulates." Nothing's going to change that sad reality..... 8/20 - Frank Ahrens, who pretty much just follows around Mike Powell and reports on his blusters, now tells us in the Post that the pro-corporate FCC honcho "plans to announce measures today designed to ensure that television stations are serving local viewers, in a bid to respond to widespread criticism of the media ownership rules he pushed through the FCC in June." Yadda yadda yadda..... 8/14 - "Fox And The Moron Friends." That's how Howard Stern described the AM team on the Fox "News" Channel, which did a phone interview with "Arnold" that was really a scam by "The Regular Guys," from an Atlanta radio station. On Thursday, Howard played the whole hilarious bit from Wednesday's cable TV show..... 8/13 - Some "news" on area stations comes from media and public relations organizations that do studies and issue news releases. So it was yesterday when US Pirg unveiled a report that attempts to tell us why cable TV rates are skyrocketing. Well, WMAL, to its credit did cover the report. But it also mentioned that it was from a "liberal" organization. So I guess that means libs are for lower cable rates and conservatives want to pay more? Ooookay. Anyhow, the thing is, I often hear WMAL doing stories generated from other media/PR organizations and the radio station doesn't usually provide its editorial take on just where in the political spectrum the group lies, like US Pirg. Why, in this case? Oh, by the way, if you want to blame someone for your skyrocketing cable bill, you may want to look to WMAL. Or, actually, WMAL's owner Disney/ABC. Which owns the fine ESPN family of channels, which are not only quite expensive to cable operators but, due to contracts, are required to be carried on your system's basic tier, meaning you have to pay for them even if you're not a sports fan and would rather watch Lifetime, the Disney Channel, or ABC Family. Which, you guessed it, Disney/ABC also owns..... 8/11 - Stern synergy. At about 8:30 this morning, Howard Stern interviewed the head of the "new" Spike TV channel (the renamed TNN, after that court battle with Spike Lee). It's supposed to be "the first network for men." (What about ESPN, the History Channel, the Speed Channel, and TBS?) But did you realize that Spike TV is owned by Viacom, the same big giant huge company (via its Infinity radio division) that signs Howie's paycheck..... You remember Geraldo Rivera. Last fall during that sniper spree the Fox "News" Channel superstar drove down to Fredericksburg to cover one of the murders, at a gas station. Then, he spent the evening partying with the staff of a Hooters restaurant down the street. Well, News Blues reports that Geraldo (age 60), whose real name is Jerry Rivers, got "married for the fifth time on Sunday, nabbing luscious Erica Levy, 28, at New York's Central Synagogue. The wedding was followed by an intimate reception at the Four Seasons restaurant with 350 of their closest friends, including Don King, Al Sharpton, (Joseph McCarthy apologist) Ann Coulter, Arianna Huffington, Cindy Adams, (Bush chief PR dude) Roger Ailes and Cheech Marin. We understand Geraldo now sports a large 'E' tattoo on his upper right arm. Some might suspect this stands for 'Erica.' We believe it represents his real love - 'Entertainment'." Our take, how about "Ego"..... 8/9 - More AM pretzel logic. WMAL, which is something like 7th in the overall radio ratings, keeps maintaining that: "You're listening to the number one station on the AM dial." Look, there are ONLY three AM stations that regularly make the DC market's top 20 - WTOP, WMAL, and WTEM. WTOP was 2nd in the latest round up, but it's an AM/FM combo. Technically not an "AM (only) station." So, I guess, it can't be the "number one station on the AM dial." WMAL takes that by default. But, hey, why doesn't WTEM make this claim: "You're listening to the number two station on the AM dial." Well, according to WMAL's logic, anyway. Even though WTEM ranked something like 18th in the overall DC radio ratings. Or maybe WTNT, which is down at about 26th or so in the ratings, could make the claim to being "the first station on the AM dial." It's at 570, the "first" frequency number on the DC market's radio band. Likewise, Korean WLXE, which doesn't even make the ratings, could claim to be "the top station on the AM dial" because of its 1600 frequency, at the upper end of the band. Sheesh..... 8/8 - I had another WMAL dream this morning. In it, the station paired David Burd with Fred Grandy. And the two had an even better on-air chemistry than Fred does with the increasingly stuffed-shirt sounding Andy Parks..... A good laugh in those summer TV ratings. And poor Rupert Murdoch-owned Channel 5. Its "news" ratings are tanking across the board. The late "news" is no longer tops. No more giant lead-ins from "American Idol." The ratings for WTTG's morning, noon, and 5 PM 'casts are nothing to brag about either. It seems that the Fox station relies a bit too much on promotional tie-ins with that trailer park trash Fox network programming. And when that flops, so do the ratings for the "news" shows. Ha ha ha. And then look at the station's horrible line-up of daytime fare. Tired old court shows up the ass. Oh, "Judge Judy" has still got some pull, but the others are pretty bad. More and more overnight and weekend infomercials. Stations that rely too much on infomercials show contempt for their viewers (and listeners, as in WJFK-FM's case)..... 8/7 - News reports say that Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt wants folks to "pray for the death of Bill O'Reilly." Apparently, Flynt is hoping that O'Reilly, who hosts a Fox News Channel TV show and a Westwood One radio show, gets a brain aneurysm and suffers a slow death. Flynt maintains that O'Reilly's "nothing more than a right wing shill who tries to destroy the careers of those he disagrees with." Well, if O'Reilly does kick the bucket (heaven forbid), will JFK-FM finally give Ron and Fez the whole 11 AM to 3 PM slot? Hmmm. There's a silver lining on every dark cloud..... Oh, now MAL's running a promo claiming that it's the top rated AM station. Period. Everywhere. Like NYC and SF, too? Hey, if you can't trust a station's promos, can you trust its news and talk shows too? Apparently not..... 8/6 - Just a quick tip of the old rabbit ears to the great Mike Buchanan. If you tuned into Channel 9's early morning newscast on Monday, you saw a different male anchor sitting next to Andrea Roane. And there's certainly nothing wrong with the new guy. Or Channel 9's morning news. Or 4's or 5's or 7's. Lots of good looking people who can read the news. Lots of cool graphics and neato music. Lots of quick news mini-bites. Plus traffic and weather. Repeated every few minutes. Perhaps that's the problem. Local station newscasts are too much alike. It seems that reporters and anchors, too often, look like they came from the same corporate cookie cutter. Young, pretty (both male and female), glib, etc. But Mike Buchanan stuck out like a sore thumb. He's old as the hills (in his 50s - gasp), balding, kinda chunky, was oh so fond of bad jokes, and had a grumpish style that seemed a bit like he'd overdosed on coffee to pull himself out of bed in the pre-dawn hours. Like a "real" person. But Mike was (and is) a local TV news "one of a kind." He was something really special about "our" DC TV. Pre-Gannett. And, it's a shame to see him go. Yeah, he did stick out like a sore thumb. But I kinda miss the pain, if you know what I mean. Oh, Mike, I hear there's a phone call for you from John Buren..... He's said it before and he'll say it again. Rush stressed on his Wednesday show that the USA "is the nation's lone superpower"..... 8/5 - Heard on WMAL on Tuesday afternoon: "Thanks for making WMAL the most listened to AM station in Derwood, Maryland." Ah, okay..... Interesting to hear Howard Stern's take on Rush Limbaugh this morning. The self-proclaimed "King Of All Media" claimed that he invented the type of talk radio where the host can just be "himself." And that Limbaugh is basically a copy cat. A very successful copy cat, Stern acknowledged. Rush was a "fat" failed top 40 DJ (making it as far up the media market ladder as Pittsburgh) and baseball team PR guy. But it wasn't until Stern blazed the trail for the new type of personality-driven radio, that Limbaugh's radio career took off. Stern also said that Rush, of late, has become little more than a GOP mouthpiece. Stern pointed out that other successful right-leaning media personalities, like Bill O'Reilly, may agree with the Bush Administration on many issues, but they don't parrot the president on almost every issue, like Limbaugh does. Stern said that listening to Limbaugh is like "reading the clock" - you know beforehand where he'll be standing on every issue before he opens his mouth. Also, Stern jestfully equated Limbaugh's army of "ditto heads" to "ass wipes." By the way, Stern and Limbaugh do agree on many issues. Stern has been very supportive of President Bush and his handling of the "war on terror." Stern has also backed many Republicans, but usually those of the more moderate political variety like current NYC Gov George Pataki and former NJ Gov Christie Todd Whitman (who even named a highway rest stop for Stern). But Stern departs from the Limbaugh litany line in his advocacy of gay rights, among other more liberal social issues. Stern also supported the election of Bill Clinton, the great Satan of "ditto heads." 7/31 - Heard on WMAL Friday morning: "Thank you Montgomery County for making us the number one station on the AM dial." According to DCRTV's look at the latest ratings, WTOP's 1500 AM frequency alone (!) gets a 5.9 share in Montgomery (full week, age 25-54) to a 3.9 share for WMAL's 630 AM. Add the 2.0 share in Montgomery from the 107.7 FM frequency and WTOP's overall lead grows..... 7/30 - Anyone notice that the "evil" Dave Letterman on Howard Stern's show is about eight times more funny than the "real" one..... 7/28 - New slogans. WMAL: "You're listening to the number one station on the AM dial." With the sorry state of the band in the DC market, is that really something to brag about? Ahhh, what about WTOP? Isn't that an AMer too? Or is TOP's audience now primarily tuning to its FM outlet? Hmmm. And, WUSA: Channel 9 is now calling its news "balanced and accurate." But not "fair." Hmmm..... 7/25 - Just after 7 this morning, "Andy and Grandy" on WMAL are interviewing some "expert" about Iraq and the grisly photos of Saddam's dead sons, etc. Then the lady (gasp) reveals that she opposes the US invasion of Iraq and starts slamming Bush. Etc. Agree or disagree, whatever. Hey, she's being interviewed on MAL so that we can hear her views. But Andy didn't agree with them. He lost it. He got all mad, on the air. He said he'd never have the lady back on his show again. He said he's tired of people criticizing America. And he said he might be kind of tired (physically) and that might have contributed to his outburst. Etc. OK, he has every right to those opinions and emotions. But if MAL wants to re-earn its stripes as a credible and unbiased (ha ha ha) DC radio news outlet, it might tell Andy to act just a bit more professional. Hey, Andy, you're Andy Parks not Andy Limbaugh..... So, you're listening to Howard Stern. And he goes to a break. Ads run. Then, Howard returns. He's talking about a movie. And, guess what, he likes it. After exactly 30 seconds, what sounds like a live show "bit" ends and more ads run. Did you realize that you just heard an ad? There's no disclaimer that Howard's flick promo was a "paid advertisement" or that it was "compensated." Look, I don't mind radio personalities doing ads. And in most cases, even without a disclaimer, it's obvious that you're hearing a paid spot. But in Howard's case, the ads can fool you. At least, they've fooled me. Unless you're paying attention and happen to notice their placement among other ads, you'd never know that Howard's being paid to sell something. Often, when the Howard-voiced ads run you're fooled to think that the show is back after a bunch of ads. It's not until more ads run that you realize what you just heard was an ad. Yeah, Howard may not be the king of "credibility." He's a shock jock, not a news guy. But Howard is taking advantage of his listeners when he does ads that "feel" too much like unscripted show banter..... 7/17 - I had a cool dream this morning. It really did seem real. I dreamed I woke and found that WMAL had taken my advice and made David Burd co-host of its morning show. I think that a lot of other people had the same dream, too. Strange..... 7/16 - According to the CBS radio news at 11 AM today, the trial of one of the alleged snipers has been moved from Prince William County to "Virginia City." Isn't that in Nevada? Hmmm..... BALer Ron Smith and another excellent commentary, this time on the Iraq war. At stories.wbal.com. Watch out, Ron, the "Thought Police" may be looking for you..... 7/15 - Did you know that in the San Diego market Clear Channel owns the alternative rock radio station. The active rocker, too. And the classic rock station. It also owns the sports talker and news talker, along with an urban contemporary outlet, a contemporary hit station, the hot adult contemporary outlet, and an oldies station. Oh yeah, and the urban oldies station. Plus, a nostalgic outlet. Something like a dozen radio stations. That's because CC owns a bunch of stations in San Diego, plus a batch more in neighboring Tijuana, in Mexico. Giving it a 44 percent overall share of listeners in the southern California market. Here in DC, CC owns eight stations, but because many are not top ratings performers, the giant radio firm gets "only" about a 20 percent share of the market. Oh yeah, the FCC has ordered CC to sell some of its San Diego area stations to allow more competition. Good..... 7/10 - Did you hear Andy & Grandy on WMAL this morning talking about a coma victim who woke up after 20 years? And the radio duo then discussed all the changes that have happened since 1984. But no mention of the great "AM 63" of that era..... I thought we'd get a bunch of sad messages from DC radio lovers about the latest management changes at WHFS. But that hasn't really happened. I guess it's because most of the folks who once really loved, really cared about the once great progressive rock radio station, have long ago accepted its death and "moved on." Hell, the "voice of HFS," DC radio legend Weasel, is now reduced to back announcing tired old Steely Dan tunes on weekend mornings on co-owned WARW. It's been somewhat numbing to watch the suits at Infinity repeatedly applying the electrical jolt paddles to the lifeless HFS corpse for so long. It's time to bury the long dead body. It's time for Infinity to flip the alt rock format and retire the calls. And leave us with our memories of what a great station HFS once was. Rest in peace, dear old friend..... Hey, if an alleged tornado approaches the DC area on a non-holiday weekday afternoon, when the local TV and radio stations are fully staffed with news and weather personnel, the coverage is absolutely stellar. As the suspicious funnel cloud made its way across Loudoun into Fairfax between 2 PM and 4 PM yesteray, local broadcasters did their absolute best to keep us informed. My cable system broadcast a tornado warning on all channels. Radio jumped into action, even stations that don't specialize in news. WMAL broke into Rush's rants early, when the storm had moved from West Virginia. WTOP was on it, too, with its usual excellent coverage. A number of local TV stations, including NewsChannel 8, featured Doppler-drawn maps that showed exactly where the storm was, down to which streets and neighborhoods were affected. Luckily, this storm wasn't nearly as bad as forecasters had feared. Nowhere near as destructive as that twister that hit La Plata in 2002. That was on a Sunday afternoon, when much of the local media army was not at work. If that storm had hit on a Wednesday, at least the human toll would have been minimized..... 7/6 - If you subscribe to Comcast's digital service in the DC area, you get four extra channels from WETA. Channel 190 is WETA's high-def service - only available to those with high-def sets and a special high-def box from Comcast. When it's not operating, anyone with a standard TV and a regular digital box gets a digital standard-def feed of WETA's analog signal on 190. Also, WETA offers three other digital standard-def signals via Comcast: WETA Prime (prime time fare) on channel 191, WETA Kids (kids programming) on channel 192, and WETA Plus ("how to" shows) on channel 193. WETA Prime is available 24 hours per day, while WETA Kids and WETA Plus are only available when WETA high-def is not operating and the digital service is relaying the standard-def signal of analog WETA. That's because, I assume, WETA is using the bandwidth of its over the air digital channel 27 for the high-def programming. During these periods on Comcast, you get a message on channels 192 (Kids) and 193 (Plus) telling you that the services are not available. I presume that Comcast's area cable systems take WETA's digital service from over the air channel 27, relaying them on cable channels 190 to 193. I was wondering if WETA could, instead, provide fiber feeds of these services to area cable systems - which would allow 24/7 operation of all (!) five channels. Since these services would not be dependent on the amount of bandwidth available on WETA's digital over the air signal, WETA's high-def programming could be available all the time on cable channel 190, along with full time feeds of WETA Kids on 192 and WETA Plus on 193. (WETA Prime on 191 is already available 24/7.) Then, in addition, WETA could offer a full time digital feed of its analog signal on, say, Comcast's channel 194. WETA's extra digital services are a delight. And it's a shame that they're not always available. Also, it would be nice if Cox and Adelphia would pick up WETA's digital extras..... 7/3 - You know, even though I run this radio/TV website, I don't spend every waking hour in front of the radio or TV. In fact, I don't much listen to the radio after about 5 PM. So I never much got to hear Ron and Fez. Well, now that they're on in the 11 AM hour on 106.7, I have been giving them a listen. And, you know what, they're really great. There's a refreshing radical intelligence there. And R&F are perfect in the post-Howard Stern slot. The only problem is that when you just start to get "into" their midday show, it's over. Replaced at noon by the political ego blasts of Bill O'Reilly, who (as I've said before) doesn't fit WJFK-FM's "open-minded hot talk" format. O'Reilly belongs on a GOP infomercial outlet like WTNT or WMAL. I am asking the powers that be at WJFK-FM to please please please put R&F on "straight" (ha ha ha) through from 11 AM until 3 PM. They are a perfect "bridge" between Stern and Don and Mike. Then, in R&F's current 7 PM to 11 PM slot, give "El Jefe" a shot, bring back the Junks from WHFS, or import Bill and Thrill from Baltimore sister "Live 105.7"..... Dippy Dan Rather's CBS news audience has shrunk to "only" 6.5 million viewers. NBC is still in 1st place in the evening network news race with 8.9 million, with ABC in 2nd with 8.2 million. On cable, Fox News ("the most powerful name in news") had a prime-time average of 1.4 million, CNN 763,000, and MSNBC a measly 257,000..... 6/30 - Time to take another look at the Washington Post's listing of area radio stations and formats. The occasional feature often serves as a "filler" in the Style section, as it did on Monday. Well, I have to hand it to the Post. It has updated some long standing errors. WPWC (1480) is listed as Spanish. For years, the Post refused to believe that the station was no longer "temporarily off air." WPLC (1050) is listed as being talk, which it flipped to only a few months ago. And WKDM (1600) is listed as being "Korean Christian." Well, I knew it was Korean, but I didn't know it did religious, too. But there are a few mistakes. WWZZ (104.1) is listed as being "Top 40." I don't think so. It's more like hot adult contemporary. And 94.3 is listed as being "WPLC" with "Spanish/ Love songs." Nope. That station flipped to the WBPS calls and a relay of "Spanish/Contemporary" WBZS (92.7) a few years ago. Also, 730 is no longer WBZS, it's WKDL. WZHF (1390) is listed as "Chinese/Talk/ Music" when it's now mainly brokered Spanish. And WKDV (1460) is listed as being "Asian" when it's Spanish. In fact, the Post even did an article a few months ago that mentioned WKDV's Spanish programming. And, oh yeah, at least with this Monday's listing, it looks like someone cut 102.3 WMMJ and 103.5 WGMS to save space. Dennis Owens would definitely not be happy about that..... 6/29 - "Lock, load, and listen to a real American hero." That's the tag line from a G. Gordon Liddy promo now being run by WTNT. Look, I'll agree that Liddy's a very colorful character. I mean, his career (including that whole Watergate thing) has been really fascinating. But I think there are better candidates for the term "hero." Oh, that silly WTNT..... 6/24 - It's always something absolutely horrible. Weather-wise. First it was all that snow we had in February. And, for the past month, all the TV and radio weather dudes have been non-stop bitching about the flooding rains, depressing dank, and deadly mold growth. Now, this week, they're complaining about the heat, humidity, and hideous pollution. And soon it'll be evil thunderstorms and killer lightning. Or maybe a bone dry drought. Surely to be followed by late summer and fall hurricanes and tropical storms, which will lead to another round of ice storms and huge snowfalls next winter. Look, I'm not against warnings for really dangerous storms. But don't you just sometimes wish our area weather folk would collectively shut up, stop trying to frighten everyone, and let us simply enjoy the wide diversity of neat weather Mother Nature has on tap for the always wacky DC/Baltimore area..... 6/22 - There's this Saturday afternoon show on WCBM where an expert answers folks' technical questions about TV (high-def, satellite, DVDs). So, some guy calls and asks how he can attach his new DVD player to his old TV set, which has only an old fashioned (75 ohm) connection for an antenna. The radio guy advises him to connect the DVD player to his VCR, which is already attached to the antenna input on the old TV. However, many DVD discs employ a copy protection system that will degrade the picture if the signal's fed to or through a VCR. That's to prevent you from making videotape copies of DVDs. I'd have thought that WCBM's expert would have already known this. The correct solution is to run down to Radio Shack and buy a little box called an "RF modulator," which will allow you to connect the new DVD player to any older model TV set. And since the connection is direct, and not through a VCR, the copy protection on the DVD discs won't ruin your viewing experience..... 6/21 - Looks like old Mike Buchanan may be preparing his lifeboat. Frank Herzog and Gordon Peterson are probably eyeing theirs, too. At least Ken Mease and Doug Hill didn't wait to go down with the ship. It's so sad to see the once mighty "USS Channel 9" taking on so much water in the cold, turbulent Sea Of Gannett. I can hear a faint tune coming from Broadcast House. It's "Nearer My God To Thee." The water's rising. As the grand old lady lists..... 6/18 - Former Channel 9 weatherman Charlie Gertz died last Friday. We reported the news on Monday. And a paid death notice ran in the Post on Tuesday. It would have been nice for the dear old Post to run a news item or an editorial obituary or even a mention in Lisa's column. But as of Wednesday, nothing. It's not that there isn't room in the paper. There's a half page (!) of radio listings (which are run only as filler) on C10 in Style. Maybe tomorrow..... Silly Utah Senator Orin Hatch, a Republican, believes that if you download a copyrighted song off the internet, the big corporation that owns that song should be allowed to send you a software "bomb." He said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights." So, according to Mr. Hatch, companies that sell songs should be in the law enforcement business, too. More in the DC Post..... 6/17 - Just saw former Channel 5 reporter Wendell Goler doing a political report for Fox News. He says that President Bush is raising huge amounts of money. But, Goler adds, no word on when the promo campaign for next years' presidential race will begin. Ah, has Wendell been watching his own network? Or listening to Rush? By the way, how come when Fox (and the co-owned NY Post) reported on Bill Clinton's past fund raising efforts it often used the term "fat cat" to describe the Dem donors. You know the crowd - union thugs and those always hypocritical "Hollywood" Commies. You don't hear Fox using that term for Bush's big-bucked contributors. Hmmm..... 6/16 - Is this sick? According to the NY Times, Mel Karmazin and his Viacom/ CBS crew are trying to tempt rescued US servicewoman Jessica Lynch into their evil corporate fold. Such as offering her "and her friends to be the co-hosts of an hourlong music video program on MTV2," not to mention movie, TV, and book deals. My take - if Jessica touches this deal she will instantly dishonor all of those brave US soldiers who have died in Iraq, in the service of our nation. May great shame come upon lecherous Karmazin and his cronies for even proposing such a tasteless pile of garbage..... Ego Largo. Rush Limbaugh may no longer be big and fat, but apparently his ego still is. Only Rush could refer to himself more often than David Brinkley during a Monday eulogy for the newsman..... Memo to Bonneville about "fixing" 104.1/103.9. Fire everybody. Immediately launch "Car Tunes." Play only the biggest up-tempo ("music to get you movin'") "top 40" hits of the 1960s through today (lotsa Motown, nothing over three minutes) with rapid-fire, highly produced traffic reports in between every (!!!!) song (or ad break) during rush hours, and in between every two or three songs the rest of the day and night. Just quick music IDs (with lots of reverb and jumpy music beds) as the traffic reports begin and end. And lots of cool "Car Tunes" jingles. And even news hype (just the headlines and weather in five seconds) for 1500/107.7. Do a heavy ad campaign at launch. It's a darn sure bet that 104.1/103.9 will join sisters WTOP and WGMS in the DC radio top ten by the end of 2003..... 6/12 - According to today's R&R, Viacom President/ COO Mel Karmazin says in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that while he hasn't been satisfied with the performance of Viacom's radio division for the last two years, he doesn't believe there's anything wrong with the radio business that can't be fixed with "a kick in the ass of the 3,500 radio salespeople." He adds, "And if I have to do it to each one, I will." Hey Mel, how about looking at the programming side of things too? Like loading up WARW with so many ads that it's almost unlistenable. Or ruining WJFK-FM with infomercials and stupid non "hot talk" programming (Bill O'Reilly, Sports News Radio) that doesn't fit the format. Or just sitting there (year after year) watching the once great WHFS sink further into a sea of bad, repetitive music as its listeners scramble for the remaining lifeboats. Just kicking the butts of your non-performing sales people ain't gonna get the job done if many of your DC area stations suck. How about driving down here, Mel, and tuning into 94.7, 99.1, and 106.7. Get the listeners' perspective..... 6/11 - Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's the line we're hearing from some WMAL insiders about the attitude of general manager Chris Berry, who joined the station last fall. Basically, we're being told, don't expect any major diversions from the station's general rightward (white male) political tilt or rather substantial reliance on syndicated (as opposed to local) talkers. "It became abundantly clear to me that (Berry's) a company boy and not thinking outside the box, and (station owner) Disney isn't going to spend the money on what would have to be a long term project (such as) a five-year plan," our Jenifer Street fly-on-the-wall tells us. You may see some deck chairs moved around, particularly concerning the station's "Morning News," but don't expect any massive renovations at the news talker..... 6/10 - I like Tom Sater. He's pleasant. Witty. Reads the forecasts well. Good looking (for a guy). But is he really the best area TV weathercaster for four years in a row? What about Doug and Topper and Bob and Sue and Howie and Chikage. (OK, maybe not Chikage. She's gone to Boston, anyway.) Or Baltimore's Marty and Norm and Tom and Bob. You know, a competition doesn't mean much if one guy (or station) wins most of the awards. Year after year. Especially if the other guys (or stations) are actually better, in many respects. Next year, instead of calling them the "Emmys," how about calling them the "Rupys," for Channel 5's owner Rupert Murdoch. And only allowing Murdoch's employees to enter. We'd get the same results..... 6/6 - I really hate to keep picking on WMAL. I really do. But here I go again. The ABC station is using its Thursday afternoon newscasts to hype the "Celebrate Fairfax" event this weekend. And, sure enough, if you go to the fair's website, ABC radio's WMAL and WRQX are sponsors. Now, I'm glad that ABC is pumping some dough into this worthy annual community event, but does WMAL really need to use the very limited time during its local newscasts (which only last a minute or two) to hype it? Shouldn't newscasts be reserved for important "news"? WMAL should confine the "Celebrate Fairfax" hype to non-news programming and/or to public service spots..... 6/4 - Is 630 nuts? In between Rush's typical "liberals are evil" rants on Wednesday, WMAL ran a public service spot on how we in the Washington area should cut back our usage of water. I mean, it has rained for something like 27 of the past 30 days! We're almost eight inches OVER our typical 17-inch rainfall amount for the year so far. What are they smoking over there on Jenifer Street? Hey Chris Berry, look out the window..... 6/3 - JFK-FM went ad free during the 3 PM hour of the Don and Mike show on Monday. Very interesting listening..... We're hearing rumblings that the recent departure of Scott Brady from WASH took not only Scott by surprise, but also some of the top guys at DC's Clear Channel Central. What's up with that? And about that search for Scott's replacemment at 97.1 - maybe it ain't all that serious after all. Maybe Dave Adler will do just fine..... No big surprises in the FCC vote. TV media giants will be allowed to pick up more stations. Hey, if you're Commission chairman Michael Powell, you don't want to get US political kingmaker Rupert Murdoch on your bad side. Well, at least no feared relaxation of the caps on radio station corporate ownership. Rupert doesn't own any US radio stations. Yet..... Doug McKelway is a reporter at Channel 7. Right? So should he be speaking for Allbritton management in a spot explaining the station's dispute with Dish Network? Seems that's a job for a corporate suit, not a member of WJLA's news department. Maybe new 7 news honcho Bill Lord should review his copy of "Journalism 101"..... 6/1 - On Monday, we fully expect the FCC to approve a plan that will allow big media companies (including those with newspapers) to own more radio and TV stations. So, how will the DC and Baltimore markets be affected? Some possibilities. The Washington Post will buy back its DC TV station - WUSA/9 - and its radio station (now the WTOP network). Clear Channel will now be allowed to own 10 stations in the DC market (instead of eight) so it will buy ABC's local line-up and add WMAL/630, WRQX/107.3, and WJZW/105.9. (CC will have to sell WWRC/1260.) Fox will trade Baltimore's WUTB/24 for Tribune's Channel 50/WBDC in DC. That will give Fox a "tri-opoly" in the DC market with 5, 20, and 50, and allow 24 to join forces with the Baltimore Sun, which Tribune owns. Viacom, which already owns WJZ/13, will buy WMAR/2 from Scripps. Channel 2 will flip to the Viacom-owned UPN network, with ABC programming going to WNUV/54 (and WB to 24). In order to stay clear of an anti-trust action, Viacom will sell its four Baltimore Infinity FMers - WXYV/105.7, WWMX/106.5, WLIF/101.9, and WQSR/102.7 - to Clear Channel, which already owns WCAO/600, WPOC/93.1, and WXFB/104.3. Religious broadcaster Salem will buy Spanish Mega Communications in Silver Spring and pick up WBZS/92.7, WBPS/94.3, and WKDL/730 in the DC area. Salem will also buy WRBS/95.1 and WZBA/100.7 in Baltimore, as well as WFSI/107.9 in Annapolis. Disney/ABC will finally grab Allbritton's WJLA/7. NBC, which already owns WRC/4, and Telemundo (WZDC/64), will do a deal to obtain all of the Pax network, which includes WPXW/66 in the DC area. Radio One will offer Howard U big bucks to obtain WHUR/96.3. And the Washington Times will buy its own radio station, righty-talker WPLC/1050. Oh, Rupert Murdoch's Fox will get into the radio ownership business. It'll buy Bonneville's WWZZ/104.1 and WWVZ/103.9 (which will keep the music format) and WGMS/103.5 (which will drop classical for an audio feed of the Fox News Channel). Oh, and what'll happen to FCC chairman Michael Powell? He'll soon retire from the Commission to join Murdoch's News Corporation in a top leadership position, as he ponders running for mayor of New York City in 2005, naturally with the blessing of Murdoch's NY Post and his two NYC TV stations. And then, maybe, the Senate..... All original material on this website is copyright by Dave Hughes/DCRTV.