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By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com
Rants from 2004.....
12/31 - 2005 promises to be a year of big change. Because of my ma's passing in November, I'll be selling the old family compound (and defacto DCRTV HQ) in Wild West Fairfax this spring. Heck, I've lived there (on and off) since 1972. I'm looking to acquire a pad inside the DC Beltway, perhaps in swinging Arlington, where I'll be able to get better reception of many DC area AMers at night. And since I'll be paying either rent or a mortgage at the new place, I'll need to upgrade my sources of income. While your support for DCRTV-related costs (computer gear, internet connections, etc.) has been most generous in 2004, it still doesn't provide a "living wage" for your friendly webmaster. But, I promise that DCRTV will continue. Free of subscription fees and passwords and annoying pop-ups. It'll be here to continue to drive all you local radio and TV folks utterly insane. And provide a voice for listeners to lead the charge against the tyrany of "big media." Ha ha ha. Thank you all for your wonderful friendship during the past year. And for the hundreds of sympathetic messages regarding my ma. I will make one firm resolution for 2005 - there will be a big honking party for all DCRTVers. It's about time - after eight years! Late spring or early summer. Costumes and masks will be permitted for employees of Clear Channel, Sinclair, Fox News, and Infinity. Happy New Year everyone.....
12/30 - I haven't done a "wishlist" in a couple of years. So here's one. Wishlist 2005.....
12/29 - WMAL's 8 AM Wednesday news put the Dulles Town Center in Reston. Ah, nope. It ain't even in the same county as Reston, where the Reston Town Center is. Hey, you Montgomery County-oriented radio folks ought to come over to Northern Virginia and explore our gridlocked geography. Heck, in rush hour it can take the better part of an hour to get from Reston to the Dulles Town Center. And, yes, we Virginians should do the same with Maryland. White Flint Mall. That's in Gaithersburg. Right? Ha ha ha.....
12/22 - A tanker truck exploded on I-395 in Arlington at 3:30 AM Wednesday. Creating a huge fireball, killing the driver, and blocking traffic. Four hours later (!) the story still hadn't made WUSA's wusatv9.com. Is Channel 9 really in the breaking news business? Like over at wjla.com or nbc4.com or wtopnews.com. Hmmm. Oh, over at WMAL. A headline during the 7:45 AM "news" update, right after the tanker truck explosion headline: the sequal to "Meet The Parents" opens today.....
12/15 - I'm not a religious person. Spiritual, yes. But not traditionally religious. Anyway, I heard a Capital One radio ad which changed the lyrics of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing." OK, if it was a non-religious holiday tune like "Jingle Bells" it wouldn't have bothered me. But hearing the "glory to the new born king" lyrics bastardized by a credit card corporation just struck me as really tacky and tasteless. If I had a Capital One card, which I don't, I'd seriously think about cutting it up.....
12/14 - My impression of Tony Snow just jumped a whole lot. Via WMET this morning, the right-leaning radio talker said that while he's against abortion he's also against the death penalty. His logic is that if you believe in the sanctity of life, you have to apply it equally to an unborn child and to an adult convicted of a crime. That makes a lot of sense. It's nice to hear a radio/TV talker who doesn't pander to his/her audience..... On his Tuesday show, Rush Limbaugh bragged about what a wonderful guy he is. He just had to tell his audience that he spent two hours signing Christmas bonus checks for his employees. Hey Rush, you might want to take some advice from my ma, who recently passed away. She'd say: "Do good. Just don't talk about it." Doing good is good. But telling people you did good only makes you look crass and insecure..... Just got this at DCRTV's Rantarama: "Dear Scott Peterson, I am sorry that you murdered your wife and unborn child, but, thanks to the lurid coverage of your trial and all the resulting hoopla, my Fox News division was able to achieve stunning ratings and record profits. - Rupert Murdoch".....
12/13 - WMAL late morning talker Michael Graham said on his Monday show that he'd decided against moving into ultra-lefty Montgomery County when he moved back to the DC area a short while ago. OK, Michael, so where do you live? Certainly not lefty DC, PG, Arlington, or Alexandria. Or even increasingly liberal Fairfax. I guess Frederick and Loudoun are still "right enough" for your political tastes. Michael, do you really put your mortgage money where your mouth is? Hmmm.....
12/7 - What I'm listening to. More way way way cool tunes I've heard via XM's wonderous XMU, channel 43. Indie eclectic rock. All are available from iTunes. Don't expect to hear any of these on DC101, WHFS, or 98Rock.....
11/29 - It's funny how songs link to events in one's life. An oldie reminds you of something in high school. Or an old friend. Well, that's happened to the Bjork-ish tune "Montana" by Venus Hum. We had my ma's burial service the Friday after Thanksgiving at the family plot in Cape May, NJ. A "seafoam" green coffin. Ma loved green and purple, but no purple coffins were available. It was a cold, windy day, with a big beautiful, cloudless sky. After a week of glum, rainy weather. And the hook in "Montana" is "big beautiful sky." Afterward, we gathered at Carney's pub on the beach, which, as luck would have it, is open in the off-season on Fridays and weekends. Again, thanks for the messages and cards about ma's passing. Losing ma is tough, but knowing that I have such a large cyber "family" has been a great comfort. So, it looks like 2005 will be a year of great change for me and DCRTV. While I've been caring for ma the past few years, doing DCRTV from the home office has allowed me to focus my career-oriented energies. My sister and I (the beneficiaries of ma's estate) have decided to put the old Reston house up for sale and split the proceeds. But we'll wait until after the holidays. Too much emotional baggage at the moment. DCRTV now cranks up a nice chunk of change thanks to ad sales and your very kind (!) donations. But hardly a living wage. Something I'll need. I will do my damnedest to keep DCRTV just as it is - free and loaded with news and gossip that's updaily daily. And, I'd like to stay in the DC area, where I've been since 1972. But who knows. All I can say at this point is "stay tuned".....
11/23 - Thanks to all the many (!!!) folks who have sent sympathy messages regarding the death of my mother, Sara, on Saturday. Her passing was expected. In fact, nobody, including the doctors, thought she'd live more than a few months after a major heart attack almost five years ago. And, she was able to live the past years at home on her own terms, surrounded by her loved ones. Up until Wednesday, when she simply couldn't walk any longer and was in intense pain - and we had to rush her to the ER. Her decline in the hospital (and a day in the hospice) was blessedly short. Her circulatory system, which had been gradually worsening over the years, just shut down. Believe me, doing DCRTV has kept me sane through all of ma's health challenges. So I'll continue to be here, although I may not be updating the site quite as often during the upcoming week or two as other matters take my time. More in the DC Post.....11/18 - I had to rush ma back to the hospital yesterday. Her feet were going blue. On top of her heart, digestive, back, knee, and kidney problems. She got hooked up to a heart monitor in the ER which showed her blood pressure way too low. I then told her to clear her mind and focus on one image - George W. Bush. Instantly, her blood pressure rose. Almost back to normal. God's honest truth. Ah, my ma. A good liberal.....
11/15 - Another reason why Michael Powell and his FCC are one big, fat, f*cking fraud. Hey Mikey, take a cue from daddy-o and resign.....
11/11 - Heard on WMAL. At 1:12 PM Thursday, Rush Limbaugh mistakenly called it "Saving Ryan's Privates." Now we know where Rush's mind is when he's voicing those GOP-produced sermons.....
11/9 - Heard on WMAL this morning. Fred Grandy had "good news" for liberals. He promised to reveal a website that has about information defecting to Canada. "Bad news" for you, Fred. I'm staying. Right here in the country that I love. I'm proud to live in a nation that gives me the freedom to stand publicly with the 48 percent of voters who said no to four more years of George W. Bush. And to campaign for change. Fred, you're a conservative. Did you want to move to Canada when Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter or Lyndon Johnson or John Kennedy was president? I didn't think so.....
11/8 -
I've been a member of XM Nation for about a month now. And my favorite channel is XMU, the indie rock/college radio stream. And here are some of the way cool tunes I've discovered. I would strongly advise the program directors at the cooler (ha ha ha) DC and Baltimore area alt rock, modern rock, and hot adult contemporary stations to consider adding these. By the way, each is availble for 99-cents via iTunes.....11/6 -
So, Lopez, who does the news on 98Rock's morning show, gets lung cancer. Earlier this year. And he goes public with his health problem. And jokes about it. Heck, his station even creates a "pull the plug" ad in which his show-mates, Kirk and Mark, hover over a helpless Lopez in his hospital bed. 98Rock's website posts regular updates and the news has been good. Lopez goes to Pimlico. And Europe. Lopez is conquering the cancer. Etc. Then, along comes Friday. I hear that former Sinclair newsman Jon Leiberman is subbing for Lopez. And I make a joke that if Leiberman replaced Lopez, after he "kicked the bucket," they could keep the "KML" (Kirk, Mark, Leiberman - instead of Lopez) name of the show. Funny. Ha ha. I even check 98Rock's website for a Lopez health update and there isn't one. So I assume he's fine. But, shortly after posting the newsblurb, I hear that Lopez's health took a downturn on Tuesday night. Hey, had I known that, I would not have made the joke. I apologize to Lopez, his family, and his friends. I like Lopez. A lot. And not because he's a lefty like me. But because he doesn't take himself too seriously. He's able to laugh at himself. And doesn't see himself as the center of the universe. He puts others first. And that's the mark of a truly great human being.....11/4 - DC went for Kerry. Prince George's County went for Kerry. Montgomery County went for Kerry. Howard County went for Kerry. Arlington went for Kerry. Alexandria went for Kerry. Even Fairfax County went for Kerry. Ah, the influence of WMAL.....
11/3 - I'm writing this at about 1 AM. And it looks like we'll be having another four years of Bush. Kerry needed to carry Florida and Ohio, and he ain't gonna do it. Well, the "good" news for Bush is that, this time, he actually appears to be winning the popular vote. But, the "bad" news for Bush is that it's a very close race. Not the decisive "stamp of approval" that an incumbent president wants - and needs. America continues to be a very divided place - "blue states" and "red states." The "war on terror" will continue. And so will a patch of political quicksand called Iraq. The FCC will continue its "indecency" campaign. And big media corporations will get bigger, as more localism gets squeezed out of radio and TV. But no one will stop the freedom of speech and choice provided by satellites and the internet. Oh, one thing that will stick in my mind is the Washington Post's decision to run that anti-Kerry documentary "Stolen Honor" on its Florida TV stations during the last days of the campaign. It probably helped Bush win the state. I guess the Post can expect some kind of "blessing" from the Bush administration and the FCC. Maybe it's time for the Post to mount a challenge to Channel 7's license, tarnished by owner Allbritton's link to the Riggs Bank international money laundering scandal. I wonder which Post Newsweek executive's initials will replace the "JLA"? Hmmm.....
10/28 - OK, so Gordon Peterson's leaving Channel 9/WUSA. And, DCRTV's been reporting rumblings that WUSA will dump its 7 PM newscast, hosted by Derek McGinty. So, why not move McGinty into Gordon's old job - anchoring the 6 PM newcast and hosting a weekend political talk show? Hmmm.....
10/27 - I heard a "Tuesdays At Tower" ad on WJFK-FM (hyping the music store's one day of the week sale prices) on Wednesday morning.....
10/25 - Today, Rush Limbaugh called Kerry a "walking cadaver." Oh, Rush's WMAL show today was sponsored by Pepperidge Farm Premium Pot Pies (no joke), which are available at Giant. Served piping hot in a cracked pot, I suppose. Just a joke. No hate mail, please.....
10/21 - I just heard WMAL report that a "black woman" stole someone's beagle. Just pulled up in her car and took the pooch. I could understand WMAL giving the woman's race if it was relevant to some sort of public search for her. But, in that case, wouldn't a bit more of a physical description be warranted? Like her age, height/weight, clothing, hair style, type of car, etc. It makes you wonder. If the woman was "white," would WMAL have mentioned her race? A big hmmm.....
10/18 - I ain't no prude. But I heard an ad during yesterday's Redskins game on the Fox broadcast network for some "male enchancement" remedy that mentioned the word "erection." And on Monday morning, WJFK-FM aired an ad for a like service that featured the word "ejaculation." So, it's not OK with the FCC to show Janet Jackson's boob, but it's just fine to run ads that feature the technical terms for "boner" and "woody" and "hard-on." Mikey Powell, does that make sense?.....
10/15 -
Did you know that if the Redskins win or tie their last home game before a presidential election, the party in power will win. If the Skins lose, the party out of power will win. This prediction streak has been unbroken since 1936. So, if the Redskins beat the Packers on Halloween, Republican George Bush will win. If they lose, Democrat John Kerry will be the next president.....10/13 - Today, October 13, I heard Christmas tunes playing in a local Books-A-Million bookstore. Only 73 days (!) before Christmas. Insane.....
10/12 - There's a Pepco radio ad now running that features the sound of a siren. When will the producers of such ads and the stations that air them realize that it's downright dangerous for drivers when they hear a siren on the radio? It's too easy to confuse it with the real thing on the road.....
10/11 -
Not really a media item, but kind of interesting anyway. Associated Press reports that a painting (right) of a nude President George W. Bush has caused the closing of the "Funky Furniture" exhibit at the City Museum Of Washington. The painting has Bush's left hand covering his private parts.....10/9 - Bryan Nehman, filling in for David Burd (off due to the death of a relative), interviewed the station's film reviewer gal on the Saturday edition of WMAL's "Morning News." They got to talking about the recent DVD release of ultra-lefty Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." To balance the anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war stance of the documentary for the station's right-leaning audience, Nehman mentioned how almost no American media outlets have had the cahones to feature the images of the brutal beheadings of Americans by terrorists. Hey, Bry, even though your station's website, 630wmal.com, did link to images of Nick Berg's gruesome beheading last spring, it hasn't featured any since. So, I guess you're criticizing WMAL's editorial "judgment," too, huh.....
10/7 -
I was in London a few years back. And guess who I heard doing the morning radio show on XFM, a rock radio station? Jon Stewart. Yes, "our" Jon Stewart. Before his "The Daily Show" gig. Now, I'm reading that Viacom/Infinity is going to "look big, really big" to fill Howard Stern's morning radio shoes after he leaves for Sirius in 2006. So, why not Jon Stewart? He leans left - like Howard. He's funny - like Howard. And he's great on the radio. And jumping from a niche cable TV comedy channel to a nationally broadcast morning radio show would be a big move "up." When you read in USA Today this spring that Viacom has signed Stewart to be Stern's replacement, remember that you heard it here first. On DCRTV.....10/6 - Woke up Wednesday morning. Turned on WMAL. "All day we'll be talking about last night's debate." I groaned. And immediately flipped over to Howard Stern. Also on WMAL today: a report of an ABC poll which claimed that Republican Dick Cheney beat Democrat John Edwards in that VP debate. However, more Republicans than Democrats were included among those polled. Duh.....
10/4 -
I'm gonna start a new Rant series: "How I'd Fix..." This first installment deals with a grand old anemic post-punker called WHFS - once a great progressive rocker, now a commercial-laden low-rated (and least in DC) alt rock music mess. Hey Lisa Worden and Michael (Todd) Hughes, do you guys watch digital cable? MTV2 runs a late-night show called "Subterranean." Lots of cool underground "indie" rock tunes. And, VH1 Classic runs "The Alternative," a flashback to the way cool progressive-ish alt rock tunes of the 1980s and 1990s. Then, over on MTV Hits, there's a great line-up of mainly current pop-ish tunes. Take a liberal dose of all three of the above, put it in a big honkin' blender, and mix it all up. Add some local music flavoring. That's what WHFS should be playing. Cut the clutter - the ad load and DJ banter. And move all (!) the talk somewhere else - the Junkies back to WJFK-FM (or a new WARW), and take "Loveline" with them. Do weekend speciality shows on reggae, goth, punk, ska, synth, electronica, and nostalgic "Rock Of The 80s." Bring Weasel back where he belongs. And give Neci a raise. Make 99.1 musically intensive 24/7 - and promote the hell out of it. Celebrate its heritage.....10/3 - A new WMAL promo touts the talk station's "magnificent seven": Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Chris Core, Michael Graham, Paul Harvey, Andy Parks, and Fred Grandy. All men. All white. Not a sermon. Just a thought.....
10/1 - 62.5 million people watched the presidential debate on Thursday evening. Of those, 9.5 million watched it on Fox News Channel. And the Drudge Report screams: "Fox News Blowout On Debate Night." Ah, that's 15 percent of the viewers who watched the debate on FNC. And 85 percent who watched it somewhere else. Don't get me wrong. A great number for FNC. But hardly a "blowout".....
9/30 -
Rupert Murdoch has been using his media organs - especially the New York Post and Fox News Channel - to slam CBS's Dan Rather for doing stories based on faked documents concerning our president's National Guard service. And Murdoch is right to do so. CBS and Rather are wrong. But, take a look the front page of Murdoch's Thursday NY Post (left). That picture of Martha Stewart in prison garb is a fake. The tiny-print photo credit reals that it's a "Post photo composite." They put Martha's head on the body of someone else wearing prison garb. If Dan rather shouldn't lie, then maybe Rupert's gang shouldn't either. Oh, that same edition of the New York Post tells us that Rather's ratings have fallen to only 6.9 million viewers a night. What the NY Post doesn't tell us is that number is still about three or four times (!) the number of folks watching Fox News Channel at the same hour.....9/29 - It's official. Baseball is back. The Montreal Expos will be moving to DC for the 2005 season. The new Washington Senators? So, which DC radio and TV outlets will carry the new team's games? Bonneville all-newser WTOP carried the Baltimore Orioles until a few years ago. Might it seek to again carry baseball? Or might B'ville want to put the games on one of its FMers - classical WGMS (a definite possibility, we're told) or on low-rated modern rock Z104? What about Clear Channel sports talker WTEM, which currently carries the Orioles? Or how about Infinity? It could put DC baseball on hot talk WJFK-FM, along with the Redskins, giving the station more of a sports feel. Or how about ABC's news talk WMAL? On the cable TV side, will Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic) carry the new team's games? If so, it would need to start a split or second feed to accommodate Orioles games, too. Or, maybe the new team will have its own local cable channel (like the NY Yankees do). On the broadcast TV side, might Fox bid for the new team's games for Channels 5 and 20. Or how about Tribune's Channel 50 getting back into the baseball act? It carried the Orioles until two seasons ago. And what about continued carriage of the Orioles in the DC market? Back to Pax's Channel 66? Would Orioles games be moved from their current DC homes of WTEM and Channel 20? And would anyone in the Baltimore market carry the DC team's games? Hmmm.....
9/28 - WMAL reported in its noon newscast on Tuesday that Virginia Governor Mark Warner said that his state won't be getting a baseball team. But, WMAL didn't bother to mention that Warner made that revelation during arch rival WTOP's "Ask The Governor" program, less than two hours earlier.....
9/27 - NYC's WABC radio is treating its fans to a boat trip around NY Harbor with the ABC-owned talker's personalities. More in the NY Daily News. DCRTV hears that WABC's sister station, DC talker WMAL, is planning a like event. Andy Parks and Michael Graham will be taking fans of old 630 on a "cruise" around Hyattsville in a beat-up old Metrobus.....
9/23 - I've long said that I don't think that the FCC should fine any stations for the Janet Jackson boob-bearing incident at last winter's Super Bowl. I don't think that a woman's breast is "obscene." Frankly, I think women should be allowed to go shirtless, just like guys, whenever they want. But that's another "rant." Getting back to the FCC's decision. If the FCC is going to penalize stations, then it should fine ALL the 200-plus CBS affiliates that carried the halftime show, whether they are owned by CBS or not. The FCC received many thousands of complaints about the "wardrobe malfunction," and many of those "complainees" were watching it on stations that are not owned by CBS. The FCC has fined Clear Channel-owned radio stations that have aired Howard Stern, even though his show is produced and owned by Infinity. So why not also fine the CBS affiliates that are owned by companies other than CBS? Me thinks that FCC Chairman Michael Powell wants to have it "both ways" - the "positive" press that he's tough on "indecency" with a very small "slap on the wrist" for his broadcast biz "buddies." And, believe me, a half-a-mil fine for Viacom-owned CBS amounts to a mere few minutes of advertising time. Real small change. Once again, the FCC has let us all down. Hey Mike, you can't "fool" me. Time to leave the FCC and go run for some Republican office somewhere. How about the sheriff of Fairfax County? Then you can arrest breast-feeding mothers on Metrobuses.....
9/22 - Remember Christmas morning, back when you were a kid? For months beforehand, you'd dream that you'd awake to find that present that you really really really wanted under the tree. And, upon opening it, you'd be happy for ever-after. Then, when the real 12/25 came around, the dream bubble burst. OK, yeah, you did get what you wished for. But, somehow, it wasn't as great as you'd imagined it would be. And by noon on Christmas day, you were already bored with the gift. You'd learned another of life's cruel "lessons" - that the "wanting" was far better than the "having." Well, that's kind of how I feel about Channel 9's "new" news line-up. What was it - nine months ago - that DCRTV first reported rumblings about "the big anchor" change. Tracey Neale might be leaving 5 for 9. Gasp! And after all of the speculation, after all of the protracted contract negotiations, after all of the rumors and the press, and after the formal announcement last spring, and after yet more waiting, I almost expected seeing her on Channel 9 might be something like "news nirvana." And, like Christmas morning as a kid, I was, well, rudely brought back to reality. There's nothing really wrong with Channel 9's "new" news. It's a decent major market newscast. It would fit in perfectly in Seattle, San Diego, Denver, Cleveland, Atlanta, or, heck, here in DC. Nice graphics. Anchors who "do their thing" and look as "pretty" and as professional as the next "news team." But, to be honest, if you're happy with what you now get from Channels 4, 5, or 7, I don't see a compelling reason to switch to Channel 9. Maybe the arrival of Brett Haber, who hasn't debuted yet, will change all that. But I don't think so. That's the rub - "local" newscasts look pretty much the same no matter where you go. Having less Gordon Peterson (an old DC TV news warhorse) and more Todd McWhatshisface (the young generic anchor with far better hair) doesn't seem to me to be a "good" thing. But then, I'm just a viewer. Not a highly-paid corporate news "consultant." So what do I know.....
9/21 - We all owe Dan Rather a big pat on the back. He's taught us an important lesson. Never "trust" a news organization. Any news organization. Not CBS, not ABC or NBC. Not Fox or the Washington Post or Times (DC or NY). Or your "friendly" local TV station. Not the Wall Street Journal or USA Today. Or NPR and Time. That includes Drudge and the thousands of "blogs" out there. Be especially wary of news organizations that "pretend" to be "balanced" and "fair," or "a friend." All "news" is written and produced by human beings, and all human beings have biases of one sort or another. Some of that bias is forced from the "top down," and other slant is more subtle, even subliminal. But - that's not to say you shouldn't watch and listen and read. You should. In fact, you should "consume" as many different news sources as you can. The more the better. Everything from corporate newscasts to pajama-clad bloggers. American and foreign. Then make your judgments about politics and foreign affairs and other stuff. News sources are important and useful "tools." But they are only methods of information delivery. They are not to be "worshiped." Anchors and reporters and commentators are not your "friends." You do not "know" them even though they may "come" into your home each day. They are not "truth-tellers." They are merely men and women, telling stories. Oh, by the way, there is no such thing as "the truth." There are as many "shades" of "the truth" as there are people. Worth remembering. Thanks to Dan.....
9/19 -
The first thing on Jim Farley's and Joel Oxley's "to do" lists Monday ought to be to make sure that WTOP's 107.7 FM signal stays on the air during weather and other emergencies. Thanks to WTOP's excellent news department, the Warrenton FM relay has become the primary radio information source for millions of Virginians. Yet, when a batch of nasty twisters hit the region Friday, 107.7 went off the air for almost three hours. I can imagine thousands of folks, huddled in the basements of their darkened homes and businesses, tuning to 107.7 on their battery-powered portables - and finding nothing. Bonneville needs to make sure that the FM transmitter has reliable back-up power. And make certain that the DC studio to Warrenton transmitter link can survive a series of power interuptions along the route. WTOP has been trusted with a vital public function. It must not again "drop the ball," as it did Friday.....9/18 - If Fairfax County's Martha Pennino had been a 23-year mover and shaker on the DC Council, I bet that the Washington Post would have put her Saturday obit on the front page, and not at the bottom of the front page of the regional Metro section..... David Burd did a Saturday interview of a Nation reporter critical of George W. Bush's National Guard service. Nice to hear increasingly righty WMAL giving us both sides of a political story, for a change..... WMAL lets us know what it thinks of CBS anchor Dan Rather. A cute new promo heard on AM 630: "Make up the news? We'd rather not." For the record, "America first" WMAL is owned by ABC, which employs alleged lefty anchor, Canadian-born Peter Jennings..... As tornadoes and severe thunderstorms roared across the DC area yesterday, my Comcast cable system went into action. It periodically flashed a message on all channels advising folks to tune to cable channel 12 for tornado warnings. If you did that (at least via my cable-ready set), you got a sitcom on the ABC Family channel. The local weather bulletins were, instead, carried on cable channel 8, temporarily in place of NewsChannel 8's tornado coverage. Sounds like Comcast ought to get its severe weather act together.....
9/17 - According to an afternoon newscast on WMAL yesterday, some guys with "Arabic-sounding names" were arrested in a terror bust in Florida. I guess that's "politically correct," these "war on terror" kind of days. But I wonder if maybe old 630 would have done the same kind of treatment regarding an news report involving dudes with "African-sounding names," or "Chinese-sounding names," or "Jewish-sounding names," or "Welch/English-sounding names" (like mine), or, what the heck, "American-sounding names".....
9/16 - Only hours apart. Rush Limbaugh did a story on Dan Rather's low ratings. Then Drudge did a story (not a link to another site) on Dan Rather's low ratings. Then Fox News did a story on Dan Rather's low ratings. Coincidence? Or coordination? Hmmm.....
9/15 - Jeff Beauchamp, WBAL radio's station manager, is a man of integrity. He's right. Appearances matter. Sure, Ron Smith is a commentator. He's paid to air his opinions. But, also, he should not be involved in a business relationship with someone he deals with in his job, a la Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich. Even indirectly. Ehrlich learned a valuable lesson - keep some distance from your "media pals." The gov should not have offered Smith's wife a state job, and she should not have accepted it. Both the governor and Smith come off looking somewhat foolish. But, thanks to Beauchamp's decision to pull Smith off Ehrlich's regularly scheduled interview show (and lose the governor's participation), WBAL radio retains its hard-earned status as a top-notch news operation.....
9/13 - VCR alert. "A Face In The Crowd" ran on Turner Classic Movies today. I call it the "Network" of the 1950s. Based on the career of media personality and cultural commentator Arthur Godfrey, who hailed from the DC area. Stars Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal. A great film.....
9/10 - The Herzog curse? Dave Roberts. The man who decided to terminate sports anchor Frank Herzog's contract at Channel 9/WUSA is no longer news director. Now, Alan Leinwand. The man who decided to replace the long-time radio "voice of the Redskins" Herzog will no longer be head of the Washington Redskins Radio Network and general manager of WJFK-FM. Hmmm.....
9/9 - Yesterday, I picked up a copy of the new more expensive USA Today to see if it was any better than the old 50-cent version. Hey, while I like USA Today, I did not detect a 50 percent increase in quality to go with the 50 percent increase in price. Oh, the store where I bought the 75-cent paper still rang it up at 50-cents, despite the new cover price. Temporary justice.....
9/8 - Blurring the lines. I slam Fox News all the time. Now, CNN comes in for some ripe criticism. DC-based lefties and former Bill Clinton strategists Paul Begala and James Carville should resign their jobs with the Time Warner news network if they're going to be advising the John Kerry campaign. (More from TVNewser.) Shouldn't they? I mean, it would be just as bad if Fox News head Roger Ailes was giving private political advice to the White House, or Fox News business anchor Neil Cavuto was making a contribution to George W. Bush. Right? Hmmm.....
9/4 - Another silly ruling (to come) from Michael Powell's FCC. Fining all the CBS-owned stations for showing Janet Jackson's bare breast during the Super Bowl. But not fining the non-CBS-owned affiliates. So, the general manager of Baltimore's Channel 13, a CBS-owned station, should have known in advance that the "wardrobe malfunction" was going to take place on a live broadcast and yanked it off the air. But "no problem" if the general manager of DC's Channel 9, not a CBS-owned station, didn't catch it. You see, the FCC can't fine just CBS because it doesn't "license" the network. It licenses only the network's stations. Hey Michael, your buddy George W. Bush is going to win big in November. Your other buddy Rupert Murdoch will see to that. So, let's drop this (and other) goofy "indecency" campaigns that play to the "peons in Peoria." The "boob incident" is "spilled milk." Forget it.....
8/31 - When American Nick Berg was beheaded by terrorist thugs in Iraq last spring, WMAL talkers Chris Core and Michael Graham got really upset. Rightly so. And they posted links from their webpages on WMAL's site to the video of the horrific act. I agree with Core and Graham's decision. We need to see the horror of what is going on in Iraq. But since Berg's death, there have been many more terroristic murders of the innocent in Iraq, including the recent massacre of a dozen non-American workers. And there's a new sickeningly graphic video (via ogrish.com) which features another monsterous beheading of a helpless young man, a laborer from Nepal who was rebuilding Iraq. And yet, not a peep of indignation from Core and Graham. Why not? I hope that it's not because the latest batch of brutality is focused not on Americans, but on Nepalese and Italians and Koreans. WMAL loves to tout its new slogan of "Where America Comes First." How about a slight change in that. How about replacing "America" with "Humanity." Look, I'm just as patriotic as the next guy, but a brutal terroristic murder of a non-American upsets me just as much as a like act against an American.....
8/30 - Oh my God! "The sales tax in Virginia is going up half a percent." That was the "big news" on a WMAL early Sunday morning newscast during the Art Bell show. And, it was still news worth mentioning on the WMAL early Monday morning newscast, also during the Bell show. Since the tax is going up at midnight on 9/1, the journalistic revelation, which was decided months ago by the state's legislators, could still be breaking news on the early Tuesday and early Wednesday newscasts, too.....
8/29 - Am I the only viewer who doesn't care about the "clarity" of the pictures on my TV set? I don't want better "reception" - I want better programming! Hell, I get 200-ish channels on my digital cable TV and I frequently find that there's "nothing on." There's already way too much bad TV. I don't need all that awful TV in high-def. Give me some new "good stuff." Stuff with solid writing and decent acting. Stuff with the creativity of "Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Absolutely Fabulous," "The Office," or "The Sopranos." Or how about a classic "Twilight Zone" or a half-decent "Star Trek - Next Generation" episode? Even an old "I Love Lucy"! I'll gladly watch high-quality programming on a low-def old-fashioned set. In black-and-white, with the snow and ghosting of an analog signal, even. I don't want all that high-def "reality show" shit, all those fancy digital public TV pledge breaks, or plasma-screened infomercials so I can see every crease in a Tempur-Pedic mattress. Next time I visit Best Buy, I'll look for a set that gets only "high-quality" TV - HQTV.....
8/26 - Reason number 698 why I don't like Rupert Murdoch. On Wednesday, an Army report was released that implicates 27 members of a US military intelligence unit of instances of alleged abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. On Thursday, USA Today did a front page article on the report. The Washington Post ran two front page stories and filled two inside broadsheet pages with coverage. Even the Washington Times covered it. But not righty media baron Murdoch's New York Post. Not a single article in Thursday's paper. Nothing. Is the reason that the Murdoch media organ didn't cover it because the issue is an embarrassment to the Bush administration? Hmmm. By the way, Murdoch owns Fox News Channel and DC's Channel 5 and 20.....
8/13 - At a few minutes before 5 PM on Friday, when CNN and MSNBC were covering a hurricane with 140 MPH winds slamming Florida, what was Fox News Channel airing? Neil Cavuto once again shilling his book, which came out in early June. More proof that Cavuto is the absolute worst TV news anchor on any national TV news network. Hey Neil - retire! On the profits from your stupid book.....
8/10 - WMAL has been promoting the "rabid fox in Herndon" story all Tuesday morning. You know, "Herndon" includes the town plus a rather large chunk of western Fairfax County. It would be nice - and helpful - if WMAL's reporters would tell us what specific neighborhood the fox was seen in. A little less hype and a little more "news you can use," huh..... OK, I do occasionally watch Fox News Channel. And one reason is the really "fair and balanced" political commentary of Juan Williams on Brit Hume's 6 PM DC-based show. Was watching Monday's show and got the distinct impression that Juan doesn't look well. Hey, Juan, go get a check-up.....
8/9 - Once again. DCRTV breaks a story (Gurvir Dhindsa joining Channel 5), and gets no credit from the Washington Post. In our seven-plus years of existence, DCRTV has broken an almost infinite amount of local radio and TV news. And we often get credited by the Washington Times and the Baltimore Sun. And the Fairfax Journal, the NY Post, and the NY Daily News. And by many trade pubs like All Access and News Blues. But the old Washington Post just stubbornly refuses to mention that we constantly kick its collective butt. Oh, we get the occasional mention from some of the paper's columnists (thank you!), but never ever a credit on the news side. Oh well. I guess the continued silence is a compliment in itself.....
8/8 - A really good reason NOT to visit the website of the Washington Times: pop-up ads that can't be closed by clicking on the upper right "X" on the ad's window. They can can allegedly be closed only by clicking on a element within the ad. A great way to get a virus or unwanted "adware" loaded on your system.....
8/2 - "History Detectives" is one the the best things on PBS. A great show for kids. So why does Channel 26/WETA delay the Monday show's airing to 10 PM, from its standard 9 PM PBS network slot? What - to make the show more difficult for younger kids to watch? Utterly dopey..... Be very afraid. Yesterday, the feds posted heightened terror alerts for financial "targets" in DC and NYC. However, according to what I heard on the radio this morning, the threats come from a computer seized several weeks (!) ago. And some of the threats go back several years. So, why all the fuss now? And, what are we supposed to do about it? Nothing. But be suspicious of people taking pictures and asking for directions. Tourists..... Oh, according to WMAL's psychic weather on Monday, we're going to have "severe" t-storms - on Wednesday.....
7/30 - "The thing you have that is not found anywhere else is truth." From a WMAL promo heard Friday. You mean, you can't find "the truth" elsewhere? Not even in the Washington Times and on Fox News? Sheesh. Now, WMAL is running this after most newscasts: "You've just heard another award-winning newscast." You mean, that very newscast which ended only seconds ago has already won an award? What? A Bloomquist? Ahhh. Goofy 630.....
7/28 - Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh joked about Barack Obama, the African-American running for the US Senate from Illinois and a major speaker at the Democratic Party convention in Boston. A Rush caller jested that Obama ought to grow a beard, put on a turbin, and rename himself "Obama bin Laden." It must have been an especially proud radio moment for Chris Berry, general manager of WMAL, which carries Rush's show. Speaking of WMAL, how about this to add to its stable of whacky promos: "630 WMAL. Don't just write it down and tell a friend. Get it tatooed on your ass. On your partner's ass, too".....
7/27 - Letters, We Get Letters. It's my policy to keep secret the identities of the folks who donate (or don't donate) to DCRTV. But, I got a really strange letter today. A plain envelope with a "no name" DC return address. And inside, a folded blank (!) note card featuring the printed name of a famous DC TV sports anchor. The stationary was from the station he worked at years ago - not his current employer. Nothing else.....
7/25 - Keeping it all in the family. The Rupert Murdoch-owned NY Post defends the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel against the critical "Outfoxed" documentary.....
7/15 - Comcast, which runs my cable system here in Reston, is negotiating with Fairfax County to renew its franchise. One sticking point is how many public, educational, and government access channels the system will carry in the future. Right now, Comcast carries seven. The county wants several dozen. Obviously, Comcast doesn't want to load its 30-channel limited basic analog service with channel after channel of community bulletin boards and zoning commission hearings. And, probably, neither do subscribers. But there is a relatively simple solution. Go ALL digital. Right now, Comcast offers its limited basic and expanded basic services - some 75 channels - in analog, with digital confined to premium services, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, high-def, and some basic cable networks. Why not get rid of analog and flip everything, including basic cable, to digital? Sure, Comcast would have to replace some set-top boxes. But the change would mean better reception and greater channel capacity. And, since six or seven digital channels can be squeezed into the space of one analog channel, Comcast could carry 40 public access channels in the bandwidth that it now carries seven. Problem solved.....
7/12 - Wow. I actually agree with something Rush Limbaugh said today. He argued that we should not delay the November presidential election if there's a domestic terror attack in the weeks before. If we delay democracy, the terrorists win, Rush said. I agree. Totally. Oh, nice to hear WMAL run a CompUSA ad underneath Rush's monologue. Sounds like something that WTNT would do.....
7/6 - Listening to WMAL's increasingly nutty morning "news" at about 7:30 this morning. A traffic report which called an accident victim "a participant." Sounds like something voluntary. Then, a news report calling DC's police force "men." Don't we have women cops, too? Duh. A weather report reporting "the least amount of wind ever observed" at Dulles Airport. Calm. Okay. A lame attempt at humor. Plus a promo with the station's personalities reciting the Pledge Of Allegiance. Look, I love my country as much as the next guy, but I couldn't take any more. I flipped to the the sanity of a Howard Stern rerun on WJFK-FM.....
7/5 - From Mike James, editor of the excellent News Blues TV news website: "Fox Jazeera. Your surly editor spent a portion of July 4th watching Laurie Dhue's legs, which seemed to go on forever and, except for the maddening lower third crawl and the huge upper left corner super and the massive upper right logo, appeared to fill much of the Fox News Channel screen. Laurie had little of importance to report. She explained that it was raining in DC and that cops outnumbered tourists. But she and her Fox cohorts spent hours and hours and hours reminding us of the potential dangers of the day, of the color coded risk levels, of the fact that terrorists could very well be gathering somewhere on the outskirts of our town, preparing to launch a major attack on America. On the screen I saw a soggy, empty national mall. But, according to Fox, the nation's capital was on the cusp of oblivion. They played to the national fear of the day. They beat the drums of alarm and warned us that, although the world looked safe, we were surrounded by danger. It was a sobering reminder that there are many ways of perceiving the same events. And it struck me that just as Al Jazeera plays to Arab nationalism with emotional rhetoric and inflammatory video, so, too, does the Fox News Channel, which plays to American patriotism, for the exact same reason.....because they know their demographic audience and they give the viewers what they want to see. There was no national attack, but lots of cops got plenty of overtime, and Fox Jazeera entertained".....
6/29 - "I think. Therefore A.M." Another one of those whacko promos heard on righty talker WMAL. Oh brother! Like, "thinkers" listen to AM, while, I guess, "sex perverts" stick to FM. It's nice to know that we "thinking sex perverts" will always have WTOP, which is on both AM and FM..... Also, I just caught a Fox News Channel debate in which a "radio indecency expert" said that we shouldn't be getting our political ideas from a "shock jock" like Howard Stern. Oh, so I guess it would be better to get them from someone a bit more politically "lofty" and "intellectual" - like Fox's own Steve Doocy or Bill O'Reilly. Okay.....
6/28 - "I always thought I was a Democrat. I wasn't. I was just uninformed." So says a chick in a station-produced promo airing on increasingly righty talker WMAL. OK. Maybe it's time Democrats finally got mad and told WMAL's major advertisers a thing or two. I'm on the phone right now to that hemorrhoid relief place, the church group hawking cemetery plots, and that medical company doing a study on incontinence.....
6/25 - In today's DC City Paper, check out the atmospheric images of DC's historic cemetaries in the "Romancing The Stones" photographic essay, starting on page 18. By the way, your friendly webmaster did the same kind of photographic thing a few years back. Check out pages 9 and 10 of the Dark Planet Gallery.....
6/21 -
Tried to scan the local radio bands lately? The AM dial is quite a mess. Interference from electronic gear (computers, TVs, power lines) has made the band almost unlistenable. Add to that a new generation of receivers that features poor selectivity and even worse audio quality, and you'll wonder why anyone bothers tuning in the right-wing talkers, Hell-fire preachers, Korean disco, and Spanish chatter that proliferates the band. Throw in outdated signal patterns that were devised in the 1950s, when the outer suburbs were Falls Church and Wheaton. But, wait, if AM's bad, what about FM? It's getting just as bad. In metro areas like DC, stations are crammed together worse than sardines in a tin can. You can't hear half of Baltimore's stations (only 35 miles way) because DC's stations are "too close," frequency-wise (106.7 clobbers 106.5, 104.1 clobbers 104.3). And vice versa. Now, throw in a new headache (literally) - digital radio. Tune in WAMU at 88.5 and you'll hear the station's digital signal "buzz" going all the way from 88.1 to 88.9 - just about wiping out the reception of less powerful stations in Frederick (88.1) and Baltimore (88.9). It's getting increasingly difficult to tune in anything other than the 20 or so most powerful stations in any area. And, like AM, FM's faced with a crop of bad receivers that can't handle the rapidly deteriorating "condition" of the band. No, broadcast radio won't die. But, the sorry state of the bands will "squeeze out" all but a handful of dominant stations. Forcing listeners to pay for the "diversity" of satellite radio. Perhaps that's "the plan".....6/19 - I subscribe to one newspaper - the Washington Post. I read dozens of others - on the web or via the newsstand. On Friday, my Post didn't get delivered. Even when I filed a "missing paper" thingo at the Post's website by 8:30 AM, it still never got delivered. You know what? I didn't miss not getting the "dead tree" edition. I still got what I wanted for free via the website. Look, if I need the classifieds, the real estate ads, or TV Week (which doesn't list many of the cable channels I get), I can buy a single day's print edition. I've subscribed to the Post for decades. By habit. But it looks like that habit won't be all that hard to kick.....
6/11 - Na na na na na. On its noon newscast on Wednesday, WMAL predicted that "severe" thunderstorms would occur in the DC area some 36-plus hours later - on Thursday. For the record, not a drop of rain fell at the DCRTV World HQ in Wild West Fairfax. Perhaps old 630 ought to get a new "weather psychic." Or at least confine its predictions of "severe" to, at most, a few hours before the "severe" boomers really form..... It's funny to hear righty radio promos using lefty music. WMAL is running a Rush Limbaugh Reagan tribute with U2's "Beautiful Day" in the background. U2 front man Bono has long been a critic of Reagan's policies. Or how about that WMAL Sean Hannity pro-troops promo featuring CCR's "Fortunate Son," a Vietnam war protest song. Or previous righty radio promos using Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA," a tune critical of America and its alleged war culture. And we can't forget Rush's signature tune - "My City Was Gone" by the Pretenders, whose lead singer has roundly slammed the US for the war in Iraq.....
6/10 - Hey fatso. You can sit your big ass on the couch and catch 1,200 (!) hours of the Olympics later this summer. NBC says that it'll provide coverage not only on NBC, but also on CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, USA Network, its HDTV channels, plus Spanish-language coverage on NBC-owned Telemundo. Better order a truckload of Doritos..... Yesterday, Neil Cavuto sounded like a neutered frog during his abbreviated 4 PM business show on Fox News Channel. Perhaps the God Of The Airwaves has taken away his voice for shamelessly hyping his new book during every single show (!) he's hosted for the past two weeks. Earlier this week, Cavuto even worked in several book plugs during a tribute to the Gipper. Thank you, Lord..... WMAL is predicting "severe" thunderstorms this afternoon. With hail the size of "Rush Limbaugh's testicles." I guess that means pea-sized..... Would you believe that the NY Post actually pays TV critic Adam Buckman for writing garbage like this? It's a good job if you can get it.....
6/9 - The news clowns at WMAL are predicting "severe" thunderstorms - for tomorrow. Via 630's 12:30 PM weathercast today. What? Does their weather radar show a huge line of storms racing toward DC - from Omaha? That'll reach us in 36 hours? Sheesh. It's one thing to put t-storms in the next day's forecast, but how about waiting until the boomers really get to be "near severe" before reporting such. Oh, I get it. The hype is what's important.....
6/7 - Whenever major news breaks, like Ronald Reagan's death, my thoughts always turn to Clear Channel. CC owns eight radio stations in the DC market. More than anyone else. And commands about a quarter of the market's radio audience and ad revenue. But it lacks a full-fledged radio news operation. On 9/11/01, the best CC could do was to relay Channel 4's audio. The only commercial local DC radio news bureaus are Bonneville's WTOP and ABC's WMAL. I've always thought that CC should have one, too. True, CC doesn't have a news station. Its five FMers are music-oriented. Its three AMers include sports talk WTEM (980), mainly righty talk on WTNT (570), and more sports talk on WWRC (1260). While they have pretty good daytime coverage, all three have signal weaknesses - particularly at night. So, how about this. CC takes the trio and makes "one station with a DIFFERENT program stream on each of its three signals." Call it "CCDC" for "Clear Channel DC" - "news, talk, and sports." Fed by a real news bureau. You'd have CCDC-980, CCDC-570, and CCDC-1260. The primary station would be the most powerful - 980. It would be a broad-based news-talk-sportser like Baltimore's WBAL, Richmond's WRVA, or Cleveland's WTAM. It would feature local news-based AM and PM drives, plus "heavy" talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, and sports coverage. The 570 and 1260 frequencies would be a mix of other news, talk, and sports shows - Don Imus, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Savage, Jim Rome, Mike and Mike, even Al Franken - along with sports events that don't "fit" on 980. The three outlets would be marketed and sold as one "station." With a news, traffic, weather, and sports-oriented website featuring streams of all three outlets. Also, the CCDC news bureau would feed headlines to CC's FMers. Lacking a real "clear channel" blowtorch, it seems to be a good way for Clear Channel to develop a much needed news presence in the nation's capital - and to fix a batch of broken AMers.....
6/6 - I agree with Tom Shales in the DC Post. The fifth season of "The Sopranos" was brilliant. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco are amazing actors. Even a bad episode of the HBO Mafia drama is far, far superior to watching a bunch of dingbat amateur singers. In my humble opinion. So what now? Another year-ish wait for the final 10 episodes? So unfair.....
6/4 -
If my dad (center, with towering Redskins) was still here he'd be 70 today. He fell asleep on a Florida beach in 1991. At a quarter to 6 on a November evening. At sunset. And never woke up. Even though he jogged two hours each and every day, the docs say he suffered a heart artery blockage. A month before he died, he took my nephew to the taping of a Channel 9 Redskins sports show. Glenn Brenner was supposed to be there, but was out sick. Glenn died two months after dad did. I still have the WUSA coffee mug that dad received from the show. I took many long walks with dad and spent a lot of time with him during his last years. Father's Day is coming. If your dad's still around, spend some time with him. Even if your relationship isn't perfect. Time is precious.....6/2 - I actually found a Northern Virginia Journal in my driveway this morning. Barely a newspaper. More like a large pamphlet at only 20 tabloid, almost ad-free pages. The freebie local daily paper gets delivered to my home, on average, once every two weeks. The Virginia edition of the regional newspaper became a free tabloid last year. It's supposed to be delivered to homes in "select Zip Codes." I guess my Zip (20191) is "select" only a few days a month. The Journal used to be a much more substantial broadsheet that cost 50-cents a copy. One could subscribe via the mail or find it reliably on area newsstands. Now, newsstands don't carry it because it's free. There are Journal distribution boxes at some area shopping centers and bus stops, but they're often empty - even first thing in the morning. Sometimes I'll find a stack of Journals at the local grocery store. Sometimes not. Hey, the first rule of publishing is to make your "product" available. Something that the Journal is now having a difficult time doing. Pretty soon, the paper may just vanish completely. If that happens, hardly anyone will notice. Sad.....
6/1 - Mel Karmazin has balls. He's the main reason that Howard Stern has survived 20 years on the airwaves. Howard's right - his major ally within the giant Viacom/CBS/Infinity corporate boardroom is gone. Mel is also the major reason why Infinity pushed the young-male oriented FM "hot talk" format - a la DC's WJFK-FM. And in other cities where Infinity owns stations (although not in NYC, a rather curious failure along with the temporary muzzling of Opie and Anthony). Mel's a cocky, obnoxious kinda bull who was never afraid to tell the Feds where to go, such as recently, when they were shoving "indecency" rules down this throat. So, why did Mel jump from Viacom's luxury liner? Who knows. Perhaps some internal wrangling with other suits. A personality clash. But you can bet that Mel will be back. Perhaps in control of some other radio company. Radio seems to be Mel's first love, having nursed the growth of Infinity before it merged with CBS and Viacom. The radio guys at Infinity have a big reason to be concerned about Mel's departure. Radio management is still, pretty much, a man's world. And they are in serious danger of being neutered. Just like the guys over at Clear Channel. Ouch.....
5/31 - Memorial Day. Bryan Nehman, subbing for Andy and Grandy on WMAL's "morning news" on Memorial Day, was interviewing a guy about holiday cooking. And Nehman just had to mention a sponsor, Johnsonville Brauts, which are being pitched by 630 talker Michael Graham. (And WJFK-FM's Ron and Fez.) Nehman said that he'd just been "in the bathroom" talking to Graham about the spicy sausage weiners. Maybe Graham is eating too many brauts and that's why he's spending so much time in the station bathroom. A word to the wise - too many brauts and too much beer at your Memorial Day picnic and you'll be spending a lot of time in the bathroom, too.....
5/11 - From today's Washington Post: "In isolated pockets across the Washington area, periodical cicadas have begun to emerge in heavy numbers, the silent beginning of an infestation of black-bodied, red-eyed insects that is going to get a lot more intense and a lot more noisy before it ends next month." Oh my God. They're here. DCRTV hears that WTOP will be airing "Cicada Alerts" every 10 minutes on the 9's, just after traffic and weather on the 8's. WMAL has changed its "Where America Comes First" slogan to "Where Cicadas Come First." Channel 4 has renamed Bob Ryan's "Storm Center 4" as "Cicada Center 4." Doug Hill has fine-tuned his "Superdoppler 7" weather radar to focus on the clouds of cicadas and WJLA will run a crawl during programming to advise which neighborhoods are "under attack." Channel 5's Holly Morris is preparing a series of reports - "Will Cicadas Kill Our Kids?" Rush Limbaugh will blame the cicada invasion on John Kerry. Channel 9 plans to put Gurvir Dhindsa in a cicada costume, to co-anchor the 6 PM news with Gordon Peterson. Hot 99.5's Teapot Tim also plans to don a cicada costume - and run up and down the lanes of the Beltway. DC101's Elliot Segal will describe in graphic detail his sexual relations with a cicada. He'll get fined by the FCC, but Clear Channel still won't fire him. And Sinclair-owned Channel 45 will not report on the cicadas in the belief that their presence will harm George W. Bush's re-election chances.....
5/6 - F*ck "Friends." The perfect finale for "Friends." There's a gas leak and the whole cast is blown up. Look, I never understood why anyone liked "Friends." Never got it. Ditto with "American Idol." Sorry, but it's just so dopey. The attraction of the vast majority of primetime network fare these days is a complete mystery to me. "Everybody Loves Raymond"? Not me. I still love "The Simpsons." And "The Sopranos" is great. I was a huge fan of "Seinfeld." But during primetime, these days, I'm never on CBS, NBC, ABC, or Fox. I'm usually tuned to TV Land. I'm a huge "Green Acres" fan. Or PBS. Or Turner Classic Movies. Or BBC America. Call me a traitor, but "The Office" blows the doors off the current crop of lame US sitcoms..... Notable Quotable - "I know the left like I know every inch of my square body." Rush Limbaugh on his 5/6 show.....
5/1 - WMAL is running a promo for Michael Graham's show. A guy painfully recalls how his lefty female partner gave him an ultimatum - either righty WMAL or her. And, guess what, he chose old 630. Now he spends long lonely nights in bed with his radio. Poor misguided dude..... Speaking of MAL, one of the items on its 8 AM Saturday local newscast was that Domino's is re-opening an Alexandria pizza joint that was closed by Wilson Bridge construction. Oh, there'll be a "pizza eating" contest at 2 PM. That's news? Oookay.....
4/29 -
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't receive nice comments from folks who visit DCRTV. And increasingly, I hear from some of the "greats." I don't mention the kind words since they are usually part of a private communication, often via a letter in the old fashioned mail. You know who you are, and I thank you all. Just today I got another very nice letter. And I will reveal who it's from - Don Richards. He was one of the pioneer news anchors at Channel 9. One of the original "Esso Reporters." Now living in Front Royal, Don tells me that he's still working as a radio-TV spokesman and narrator. Really good to hear from you, Don.....4/28 - So what's wrong with WMAL? The news talker just can't seem to get its act together, ratings-wise. The Andy and Grandy morning show continues to struggle with lackluster numbers, particularly among the advertiser friendly age 25-54 crowd. And is still way below what Tim and Andy did a few years back. The station's big problem continue to be its "lack of traction" in the mornings. That's what I'm hearing hearing from some DC area radio experts. And that's hurting old 630 the rest of the day. "Rush and Hannity do better in other cities because here in DC people don't start out the day on 630," a radio guru reveals. Another admits that 630 ought to go full-bore as a talk station. Concentrate on that. And stop trying to compete with WTOP for the "news, traffic, and weather image." Yeah, but if MAL did that, it would pretty much leave the DC market with only one full-fledged radio news operation. That would great for WTOP, but not so great for radio listeners who believe that competition is actually good for the news biz. If I was running WMAL, I'd try to do what Jim Farley did with WTOP - get it on FM. I hear that mantra again - "DC is an FM market." Get ABC to buy Mega's 92.7 and 94.3 and create "The WMAL Radio Network." I'd take Michael Graham (righty) and pair him with Chris Core (lefty) and create a solid, well defined LOCAL PM drive show from 5 PM to 8 PM, moving the last hour of Hannity to 8 PM. I'd also interview some new talent for the morning show. Make it more make it more female, off-white, and youthful.....
4/24 -
I was reading the bios of WHFS's Junkies via junkiesradio.com and noticed that Jason and JB went to DeMatha in Hyattsville. So, if the Junks are 30-ish, they went to high school 15 years ago - the late 1980s/early 1990s. I was wondering if Jason and EB remember a Mr. Franks, who taught physics and mathematics at DeMatha back then. Nelson Franks was my college roommate at James Madison University in the late 1970s (that's him on the left, me on the right). We still keep in touch. He now teaches at Benedictine in Richmond. Small world? Hmmm.....4/22 - Happy Earth Day. And Rush Limbaugh was, as usual, was making fun of "environmental whackos." Even on today's show, Rush re-alleged that only "31 percent" of Americans place a high priority on "green" issues, according to recent polls. But guess who was sponsoring today's Rush show, via WMAL? DC's Marian Koshland Science Museum, which ran enviro-friendly ads. Including spots on the dangers of "global warming," which Rush has long maintained is a leftist, anti-capitalist fraud. Hmmm.....
4/21 - I've got a ratings grabbing idea for Classic Rock 94.7. Or 100.7, The Bay. How about a week of playing nothing but the worst songs of all time. Starship's "We Built This City," "Heart Of Rock 'n Roll" by Huey Lewis, and The Doors' "The End." Oh wait, maybe they're already doing that. Never mind.....
4/20 - Just heard Larry Michael doing a Redskins report on 106.7. It was immediately followed by an ad for Radley Acura. But the first few seconds of the ad overlapped the end of Michael's sign-off, making it sound like: "This is Larry Acura." Hey, that gives me an idea. Memo to DC Infinity honcho Michael Hughes: perhaps JFK-FM could make a few extra bucks by selling last names to sponsors. The "new" Redskins radio team: Sonny Quiznos, Sam Budweiser, and Larry Acura.....
4/19 - I rarely go "wow" when I hear a song these days because so much of the current music crop is, well, so awful. But I just caught Sam Roberts doing "Brother Down" on MTV2. And said "wow." Hey, if I was programming Z104 I'd be playing it twice an hour.....
4/13 - It ain't Jack. Just got a "not for publication" complaint from the morning man on an area radio station who doesn't like the criticism of him found in DCRTV's Mailbag and, especially, the razzing I've recently been giving him in some of my "Dave's response" comments. Look, all I can say is that if you can't take the "heat" of being a major radio personality in a major market, then get out of the "kitchen." And, more importantly, it's when folks stop talking about you that you really have to worry that no one's listening.....
4/10 - The FCC is indecent. From andrewsullivan.com: "The Silencing Of Stern: All I can say is that if we cannot hear sex and fart jokes on the radio, America is a lesser place. Half a million dollar fine for a single broadcast? Where are we? Tehran?" DCRTV says amen. By the way, the Wall Street Journal reports that Howard Stern's employer, Infinity, hasn't paid a Federal Communications Commission "indecency" fine since 1995. Including several against Stern and a hefty levy against Opie and Anthony's sex in a church stunt. And, so far, the WSJ adds, the FCC hasn't enlisted the Justice Department to take Infinity to court to collect. So, on one hand, the FCC wants to make it look like it's being tough on "indecency," but on the other hand it isn't enforcing that its fines be paid. What is clear is that, any which way you look at it, the FCC headed by Michael Powell is a joke. It's pretending to be siding with the "public" (actually a small band of anti-Stern fanatics), while actually jumping "into bed" with a handful of corporate titans who run the US broadcasting industry. Mr. Powell, how about making the first really bold move of your inept chairmanship. Resign.....
4/9 -
Tune in Fox News Channel, or some local newscast, and you'll be treated to swooshes, metallic clunking sounds, overhyped or scary music, and eye-popping graphic "titles" for the accompanying "news" story - "War On Terror," "Missing Beauty Queen," "Where's Laci?," etc. Well, the NY Daily News reports that a fire broke out in NYC the other day and that city's Channel 9/WWOR filled the screen with the words "Fatal Fire," accompanied by a loud zooming sound. "As if that weren't enough, the graphics whizzes at the station added flames licking the edges of the screen to drive the point home. It was better suited to sell Burger King's flame-broiled beef than it was a story about a family ravaged by a deadly fire." By the way, that TV station is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News.....4/7 - Old WMAL talker Andy Parks and new WMAL talker Michael Graham (subbing for Fred Grandy) were doing an ad for a "virtual physical" firm this morning on 630. And Mike admitted that he'd had one of those fancy scans, which looks inside one's bod. "I'm a right-wing nut-job and they wanted to see if I had a heart." He didn't mention the results. Oh, by the way Mike, next time you guest on CNN, a little less caffeine, please. Your sparring partner, Al Franken on "Wolf Blitzer Live," looked like he was ready for a snooze. OK, no righty jokes about lefty Al having a scan to see if he has a brain..... Hey you dudes at WARW. How about something like this.....
3/21 - Fewer players. Less freedom. You may get 200 channels via your cable or satellite TV system. Or 50 stations on your radio dial. But don't be fooled. They're all owned by a handful of large corporations. Entities that are increasingly dependent on political favors (removal of regulations) so that they can merge and grow yet larger. And make more money. And become more "efficient" with more automation and fewer human beings. Is this good for freedom, and the proliferation of more and differing voices, ideas, thoughts, and opinions? Miren Gutierrez spells it out at ipnews.net.....
3/19 - News, Talk, Rallies.
I have no problem with folks wanting to rally to show support for the troops, America, the war in Iraq, the president, whatever. Or anything else, for that matter. But should a radio station that is one of the top news providers (probably the only commercial radio news source) in a city be organizing or sponsoring the rally? That's what WHP, a news talker in Harrisburg, is doing. On 4/3, the Clear Channel station will be holding a "Rally For America II" on the steps of the Pennsylvania state capital. This is nothing new for Clear Channel. Lots of Clear Channel stations in many markets have held "pro-America" rallies, especially last year when the USA invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam. Heck, I don't have a problem with a rally being sponsored by a radio station that is not (!) a major news supplier, such as a country or rock outlet. Or by a talk show host or other non-news on-air personality. This is a free country. But, perhaps I'm a journalistic fuddy-duddy. If you're a major news provider, maybe you should stick to what you do best and not go around organizing or sponsoring rallies. For anything.....3/18 - Back on 3/2, DCRTV reported that 98Rock PM drivers Mickey and Amelia were planning to broadcast two gay weddings today. It was suppossed to be a protest against a constitutional amendment banning such unions. Yet, when we recently checked 98online.com, we noticed that the promo for the event had gone missing. Could it be that WIYY's owner Hearst has shot down the plan? Or did it generate bad vibes from listeners? Or is it still on, just being low-keyed? Hmmm..... Update. We hear that the weddings have been cancelled. No interested couples or minister.....
3/15 - The Buzz At 9. Yeah, it appears that a recent posting on the TV Spy website was largely full of faulty information. Yeah, we all got a good laugh out of it. And a nice spike in DCRTV's traffic. But, I think that the general impression it gives - that Channel 9 news is at a chaotic, critical transition point - will probably prove truthful. Look, "news dean" Gordon Peterson will retire. Probably not in August, as the post jested, but I wouldn't be surprised if at this time next year he's not doing the daily news grind at WUSA. And, I wouldn't be surprised if at this time next year a game or entertainment show reinhabits the 7 PM slot at 9. And, that Derek McGinty will be doing something else, like co-anchoring the 5 PM newscast with JC Hayward. And, I wouldn't find it all that shocking if very deserving news vet Bruce Johnson takes the "news dean" position at WUSA, co-anchoring the 6 PM and 11 PM newscasts with Tracey Neale. Yet, I just can't see long-time beat reporter Dave Statter abandoning his "scanner mobile" for a desk job. No, the poster of Monday's WUSA predictions may not be right on target. But it is certain that Channel 9 will have to shake things up. For its own good. The station, which dominated the news ratings in the 1970s and 1980s, has got too many good people not to retake the DC TV news crown from Channel 4. With the right management.....
3/14 - A couple of months ago, I coughed up a few bucks to help the cash-starved Commonwealth Of Virginia and got one of those "Internet C@pital" license plates with "dcrtv.com" on it. Well, this morning as I was pumping almost $2 per gallon gas into the "DCRTV Mobile," a fellow motorist at the Exxon station complimented me on "a great site." Cool.....
3/12 - Sadly, Elliot must go. If Clear Channel can take Howard Stern off of half a dozen of its radio stations for "indecent" material, then it must also fire Elliot Segal from DC101 if it is to remain credible in its "campaign" to "clean up" radio. Infinity's Stern hasn't (yet) been fined. Segal has. Since December, for two completely different "indecency" incidents. I have said that I think Clear Channel's decision to yank Stern was wrong, and I believe that Segal's removal would be just as wrong. It's a freedom of speech thing. But how does the San Antonio-based radio giant defend Segal's continued employment in the face of Stern's removal? If Clear Channel doesn't fire Segal (and maybe, even, some of its DC radio cluster management), it should be branded, at the very least, as a hypocritical corporation.....
3/12 - Red, white, blue, and old 630. You better be wearing your red, white, and blue undershorts when you wake up in bed with WMAL's "morning news." A 630 promo: "Where America comes first." OK, great. MAL loves America. Whoppie. So, what's MAL trying to say? WTOP and WTEM and WAMU don't? Look, I don't need an injection of rah-rah patriotism when I'm arousing from a night's slumber. I want the news, traffic, weather, some laughs, and maybe some talk. I don't need to plug into "GOP Campaign Central." Heck, my cable system already carries Fox News. Under the guidance of programming dude Randall Bloomquist, MAL even ran a promo a few weeks ago with a voice suggesting that if we don't support President Bush we don't "support the troops." Look, Randall, this ain't a Dixie town like Richmond or Charlotte. There are "a few" Democrats who live in the DC metro. I guess you're telling them (and me) to go listen to WTOP, instead. That's a "smart" move.....
3/6 -
This ain't Orlando. Or Pittsburgh. Or Miami. Or Rochester. This is Washington DC. The city that gave Howard Stern his big push toward fame. It was Stern's stint at DC101 in the early 1980s that caught the notice of some radio execs, who brought the "shock jock" to NYC - and eventually national distribution. And, for the past two decades, Stern has been a morning radio staple. Yeah, some of his humor is on the edge. But like or dislike Stern's brand of rant, as long as he generates ratings he deserves to be heard. Now, there's increasing talk that the FCC has targeted Stern for removal from the airwaves. Why? Too anti-Bush? Too potty-mouthed? Vulgar? Whatever. That's not important. What is important is that like Rush Limbaugh and Tom Joyner and Sean Hannity and Diane Rehm and G. Gordon Liddy and Tavis Smiley and Dr. Laura and Elliot Segal and Russ Parr and Michael Savage and Doug Tracht, Stern must not be silenced by a group of spineless corporate radio suits that seeks favors from fat-cat Capitol Hill politicos. If Stern is taken off the airwaves, we all lose. Our freedom. That's why it's important for us to "be prepared." Make a mental note of the sponsors on Stern's DC radio station - WJFK-FM. Especially the local ones. The car dealers. The jewelry stores. The cell phone and beer companies. And get ready to spread the word that if Stern is dropped from his DC radio perch, we're not afraid to use our economic "stick" to show our displeasure. Also, we must use the ballot box to throw out politicians who are using this so-called "indecency" campaign to silence popular radio personalities. Even in this age of "big media," the power still rests with us. You. The voter. The citizen. The listener.....3/5 - I've really been enjoying all the "deep cuts" on WARW's "A To Z" promo. Yesterday, they were doing tunes that start with "H." Stuff like Foreigner's "Headgames" and the Stones' "Heartbreaker." But is Carly Simon's "Haven't Got Time For the Pain" really a classic rock tune? Sounds like it would fit better on WASH or WWLG. Hey, I still want 94.7 to play some Smiths. How about "Headmaster Ritual" or "How Soon Is Now"? Or "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"? If Carly rates airplay on "The Arrow," why not Morrissey and Marr? C'mon Cerphe.....
3/3 - As a favor to President Bush (and his brother the governor), Clear Channel pulls the increasingly liberal Howard Stern out of two important markets in Florida (Orlando and Miami), a state that very well could be "in play" in November. That's what Howard suggested on this morning's show. You know, if CC was really serious about "indecency," there are far worse offenders at many of its stations. Personalities who are still on the air and collecting paychecks from the giant Texas (Bush's home state) HQed media corporation. Howard has a point. A big giant hmmm..... Imagine my pleasant surprise when I punched up 94.7 on Tuesday afternoon and heard "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" by the Beatles. Wow. I hadn't heard that "white album" nugget in many moons. It's part of the Infinity classic rocker's "A To Z" promo which features "deep cuts." Thank you WARW. And thank you for the wonderful "15 Years In 15 Days" feature which also aired a lot of tunes that usually don't get a lot of airplay on 94.7. WARW needs to increase what I call the "wow factor." When you hear a great tune that you haven't heard in a long long long time. Stuff like CCR's "Run Through The Jungle," the Stones' "Memory Motel," or "Summer '68" by Pink Floyd. And, WARW, don't be afraid to mix in more 1980s tunes - U2, REM, the Smiths, even. That stuff is 20 years old and certainly classifies as "classic rock." Nice to hear that there's still life in old "Lady Arrow".....
3/1 - Memo to Bonneville. Please put "girl talkers" Debra Leigh and Erica Hilary in PM drive on 104. If you're kinda nervous, throw some music into the mix, too. I'm telling ya, a female-oriented PM drive talkish show on DC commercial radio is gonna be big. If only B'ville has the "balls" to do it. 104's ratings have nowhere to go but up. Congrats to D&E for their R&R recognition..... "I was vomiting blood." That's from a Fox 5 news hype radio promo on Monday on "dangerous" prescription drugs. I wonder if they'll have video of it. Remind me not to watch.....
2/26 - I hear that the Bush Administration has combined the Defense Of Marriage Amendment and the Broadcast Indecency Act. If the new Defense Of Broadcast Indecency Marriage Amendment Act passes, no one - not even if you're gay or straight - will be allowed to marry Howard Stern. And, only straight married people who have procreated will be permitted to be heard on the radio. Goodbye Fez. But, there will be a "Limbaugh Exception" for those who haven't procreated. Oh, if George W. Bush wins a second term, Colin Powell's son will be replaced with Pat Robertson's son as head of the FCC..... So, Clear Channel is looking for a replacement for Howard Stern. Here's a possiblity. From Richard Leiby in the Post (with my extras). "Moralist (and admitted serial gambler) Bill Bennett has a new career as a talk-radio host. He's expected to announce today that he's launching a daily national show, filling three hours of air with (self righteous) chatter about (right-wing) politics, (wholesome) entertainment, (Caucasian) sports, whatever." Bennett's a good friend of the president, many in Congress, and probably CC's suits, too.....
2/20 - "If you don't support the president... you don't support the troops." Heard in a Friday promo for news talk WMAL. Ooookay.....
2/18 - I've got a new nickname for WTOP. I now call it "the Lyndon LaRouche station." Several times, during the past month or so, I've punched up 1500 and/or 107.7 to hear what I thought was a news report or interview. Only to discover, after about 30 or 45 seconds of being "fooled," that I was listening to a paid ad for the perpetual political pontificator. Perhaps WTOP should rethink taking ad dollars from political advocates, particularly those with spots that sound like actual news stuff.....
2/12 - Comcast will never get control of ABC/Disney. The FCC won't allow it. Why? Simple. Comcast doesn't have a cable "news" channel that performs PR for the prez. Fox's Rupert Murdoch, DirecTV's new owner, is no dummy.....
2/10 -
DCRTV is developing a marketing division. And the first project is a print/web ad for news talk WMAL. The campaign is entitled "I'm a 630 aniMAL." The copy goes like this. "Meet Norman (right). He's a 630 aniMAL. Wheaton born and bred. Used to work for for the DOD but is now retired. Widowed. Leans to the right, naturally. Sexually impotent. His favorite radio station? Why WMAL, of course." If the suits at WMAL don't like the "aniMAL" concept, then how about the "MALman" tag instead? Ah, I haven't yet heard if the execs at 630 want to sign on to the project..... Just heard a radio ad for Quizno's subs in which a chick says she'll be getting her horny male dog "fixed." And she's found a place that'll do it for only $2. "That's a buck a whack," she cheerfully states. Ouch. Hey Rush, now there's a real "femme-Nazi" for you..... Oh, at 1:56 early Tuesday, "Coast To Coast" host George Noory mentioned that he's moving to "a great new station" in DC, WMAL. Well, I don't know about "great," but at least it's a "real" radio station, unlike WTNT..... From our "That's Not Nice" Department. Mike James at News Blues: "Fox News war actor Geraldo Rivera says he is heading back to Iraq and will travel across the country, from Kuwait to Turkey. He even posted a map showing the cities he plans to visit, the highways he plans to use, and the times he will be there. We can only hope the rebels were watching... and taking notes"..... Oh, yours truly watched 15 minutes of Fox News at 10 AM today. And saw the same exact clip of President Bush vowing to cut taxes aired three (!) times. If I didn't know better, I'd think there was a Bush PR dude running things over there.....2/8 - WTNT is a stinky little radio station, ain't it? During every single break, in lieu of ads, the Clear Channel talker runs promos slamming Democrats. Laura Ingraham slamming Democrats. G. Gordon Liddy slamming Democrats. Michael Savage slamming Democrats. Etc. I think it's time that all of us Democrats started boycotting WTNT's local sponsors. If there were any.....
2/6 - In a 4:52 PM Friday report, Fox News reporter Adam Housley referred to Ronald Reagan as the oldest "former living president." Obviously, Housley's tongue got a bit tied. He probably meant to say that Reagan's the oldest "living former president." Reagan is 93 today.....
2/5 - MAL mornings. "Andy" and "Grandy" may rhyme, but David Burd and Fred Grandy just sound great together. Don't they? But, alas, we're told that Andy Parks is just taking a few (more) days off and will be back on Monday. No word on whether he's signed a new deal with WMAL, whose suits still insist that he'll be at 630 for "a long time." Oh, Fred's taking next week off, with Torie Clark (former Pentagon flack) filling in..... Again, Rush Limbaugh on Thursday said that the primary purpose for marriage is for procreation. OK, Rush, you've been married three or four times. Where are the kids? Hmmm.....
2/4 - FCC head Michael Powell. Gasbag. Empty suit. Keeps the chair warm. Lots of bluster. Little action. The Commission is in bed with the media slickos it "regulates." Witness Powell's silly investigation of the Super Bowl boob incident. Strictly PR. Will play in Peoria. Good for a laugh or two, anyway. More in the Post.....
2/3 - If WMAL is trying to sell itself as a major local radio news source, why didn't it cover Senator Bill Frist's 2:30 PM news conference on the ricin toxin found in a Senate mailroom that has closed all of the Senate office buildings? This is a major local (!) news story. WTOP was on it, live. So were Channels 4, 9, and NewsChannel 8. WMAL should have been on it, too.....
2/2 - Janet Jackson's boob on the Super Bowl halftime. Says WJFK-FM's Ron Bennington: "I wanna see two breasts or nothing." Oh, FCC honcho Michael Powell is even calling for an official investigation of Ms. Jackson's right mammary. More from Reuters. Ah, the Corporate Bowl. Dog bites crotch. Farting horse. Erectile disfuncton pitches. SUVs, beer, and more beer. Catch Tom Shales.....
1/28 - Memo to WMAL news dude Mark Weaver. The U2 guy is "Bah-no." Not "Bo-no," as in Sonny.....
1/26 - "By 2007 or 2008, CDs will be something only old people have," some music industry research guy says. Instead, he adds, all the cool people will do the digital download thingo. Hey, I must be ancient. I still have hundreds of vinyl record albums. Remember them?
1/22 - My sources tell me that Bonneville was actually thinking about buying 99.1 alt rock WHFS from Infinity and trading it to Family Radio for religious WFSI on 107.9. The two Annapolis (city of license) stations share a tower in Crofton. Then, Bonneville could use the 107.9 signal to bolster all-news WTOP's FM coverage into DC's eastern suburbs. The current 107.7 WTOP relay signal from Warrenton, a good 40-ish miles southwest of DC, has a tough time making it into DC, not to mention a good chunk of Montgomery and all of Prince George's. By also owning 107.9, Bonneville could re-engineer things to allow 107.7 to move closer to DC. It could also use 107.9 as a WTOP relay. However, I hear that Family has shown no interest in the plan, which would also give WFSI, via 99.1, better coverage into DC and northern Virginia - not being "up against" 107.7 in those locales. And, of course, Bonneville would face another hurdle - would Infinity want to part with WHFS? Maybe for the right price. The above scenario appears dead. For the immediate future, anyway..... What do WMAL traffic guy Dan Alpher and WJFK-FM talker Fez Whatley have in common? They both have cats. And they're both doing cat food ads on their respective stations.....
1/21 - Interesting to hear Howard Stern on Wednesday morning talking about his DC radio days in the early 1980s. And how he met Jerry Nachman (who died on Tuesday), who was then in charge of NBC's WRC radio, a news talk station. And how Nachman wanted Stern to move from rocker DC101. Stern turned down that job offer. But it got the ball rolling for Stern to move to NBC's WNBC radio in NYC, a contemporary music station. Stern left DC for the Big Apple. And the rest is history.....
1/16 - Don't you think those goofy cable nets are getting just a little bit nutty in the coverage of all those whacky, anti-American "Dems" doing the Iowa caucus thingo. Just heard that Fox News used its exclusive "UrinalCam" to discover that Howard Dean actually uses the stall to pee - and he sits down to do it! "How girly." Steve Doocy just reported the stunning news on "F&F." Drudge just picked it up. Rush, too. Look, I'm beginning to agree with Fox. "W" is great. Best president since Henry Fonda. Stands, too. Vote for someone else? Not me. I don't need an Ashcroft investigation.....
1/14 - Rush went into a verbal rampage on Wednesday about men (aged 30-ish) who stay at home and live with ma and dad. But he didn't say anything about men (aged 50-ish) who get their housekeeper to score them massive quantities of prescription painkillers..... I don't get it. Fox News Channel will interrupt things if a drunk Mexican drives around LA in a stolen pickup truck. But not if a fiery tanker truck explosion closes the USA's most major east coast traffic artery. Go figure..... Just heard a radio ad that wants each of us to "grab a 12-pack of Heineken for Grammy night." OK. But what if you're watching with a friend? Does that mean you'll need two 12-packs? Oh, don't forget. "Drink responsibly." And don't vomit on the big screen TV.....
1/11 - There was nothing wrong with the Post's lengthy obit for WETA founder Elizabeth Campbell, which graced the very very very bottom of the front page of the Metro section on Saturday. But if I had my say, I would also have run an "appreciation" to the "Great Lady Of 26" on the front page of Saturday's paper. Or, at least very least, at the top of the front page of Style. When the grand dame of the Post died a while back, the paper (naturally) went head over heels to pay tribute. But when an equally great woman (but maybe a bit less flashy) died Friday, the old gray rag did the required minimum. Nothing more. Mrs. Campbell and the Post's subscribers deserve better.....
1/9 - DCRTV has long called for a female-oriented, non political talk radio format. Well, now we hear that Marie Osmond (you know, Donnie's sister) is going to do a "personality" oriented radio show from a studio in her Utah home. That's so she can be close to her eight kids. OK. So if Bonneville's 104.1/ 103.9 flips to female-oriented talk, it could have Haber and Erin remain in AM drive (but doing talk), Marie in middays, and Deb and Erica's "Girl Talk" in PM drive. And "Chick Chat" in evenings. Then on weekends, WWZZ/WWVZ could get "Patricia" Goss (Pat in a wig) to do a car show for gals. Oh, we hear from a reliable source at B'ville that the station WON'T go female talk. But I can dream.....
1/8 - Have you heard those new patriotic WMAL promos? They talk about how the talk station is a reflection of "Washington." Considering the line-up at old 630, that's a Washington with few women, next to no African Americans, and almost no one who votes for Democrats. That's a Washington with about one-tenth of its current population. Oh, and what about that Sean Hannity promo on WMAL which features the "born to raise the flag" line from CCR's "Fortunate Son." If anyone bothered to listen to that Vietnam era song, they'd find it's a condemnation of so-called "flag wavers." There ought to be a law against twisting the meaning of old rock songs for "patriotic" radio show promos.....
1/7 - Did you hear all those listeners tuning away from WJFK-FM at noon today? You could literally hear people punching their radio buttons to something other than 106.7. What a great late morning show Ron and Fez did on Gibbs rejoining the Skins. But with only an hour under their belts, it was time to cut to the predictable political rants of Bill O'Reilly.....
1/2 - WMAL fill-in host Ray Collins introduced a traffic report on Friday morning at 6:36 from "homosexual" traffic reporter Pete Medhurst. At least that's what I thought I heard. Actually, he said "metrosexual." You know, those are straight guys who are obsessed with fashion and shopping and stuff like that. Just a joke. Obviously. But Collins sure sounded like he was "outing" his traffic guy via my cheapo radio. Hmmm. Maybe 2004 will be the year that area radio personalities "out" each other on the air. It could produce an erection in the ratings.....
1/1 -
1/1 - From the cracked crystal ball. DCRTV's predictions for 2004. Bonneville will buy an FMer on the eastern side of DC to improve WTOP's coverage. Maybe 107.9. By the end of the year, 1500 will flip to Federal News Radio, but still carry WTOP's AM and PM drive shows, and emergency coverage. Also, Bonneville will switch 104.1/103.9 to a female-oriented talk format. Brett and Erin will continue to do mornings, with Deb and Erica doing afternoons. "ChickChat" will also arrive. Clear Channel will take WIHT to a full urban format with Olivia Fox and Albie Dee doing mornings. The Morning Mess will move to Big 100, which will go all-'80s. Also, 980 will go news talk, with the sports talk moving back to 570 (and remaining on 1260).
Clear Channel will buy WZBA (keeping the format) and take 104.3 to rhythmic contemporary. It'll also buy WBAL-AM and WIYY (keeping both formats). Elliot will head to NYC, and be replaced at DC101 by the Junkies. For Infinity, more turmoil at WHFS, with it finally flipping to Spanish contemporary by year's end. WJFK-FM will dump Bill O'Reilly and make big changes to middays, evenings, and weekends. Ron and Fez will get heard in Baltimore (via 105.7). Brian and O'Brien will do PM drive on WQSR. Radio One will buy Mega's 92.7/94.3 and flip it to gospel. For ABC, a very rocky year at WMAL, compounded by Rush Limbaugh heading to the slammer. A new AM show? WRQX will bring back the Q107 brand with major tweaks (a la 104's music). WETA will buy 90.1 from C-SPAN and make it a mix of classical, jazz, blues, folk, and world music, flipping 90.9 to talk and news full-time. Winchester's WINC-FM will flip to '60s and '70s oldies and market itself to the DC area. On the TV side, with Tracey Neale in place by mid-year, Channel 9 will tie Channel 4 for DC's top newscast. Look for another big news name to join 9, as Gordon Peterson is gently eased into retirement. Ditto with Frank Herzog, and yet another sports anchor's arrival. Channel 5 will continue to pick up news strength at 5 PM and 10 PM. Look for Mike Landess to return from Denver and 7's Rene Knott to jump to 5. And Channel 7 will continue to struggle. Comcast will buy into NewsChannel 8, and expand its coverage into the Baltimore market. Speaking of Baltimore, 11 and 13 will continue to battle it out for the top news spot, with 2 and 45 still in the cellar. Gurvir Dhindsa will jump from Channel 9 to 11. Channel 13's sports staff will take over WJFK-AM, which will become WJZ-AM, "Sports Talk 13." With John Buren? Look for a few more of the better known Baltimore news vets to head to larger markets. And look for a Spanish AMer for Charm City - maybe 970 or 1570, or both.....Click here to jump to the Recent Rants page. Jump to DCRTV's Front Page or to the Mailbag.
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