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By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com
Rants from 2007.....
12/31 - It's out annual year-end In/Out list.....
12/28 - My choices for the "top 10" local radio developments of 2007:
(10) The birth of commercial gospel FMer Praise 104.1, WPRS.....
(9) Sad passings: DC area bluegrass radio legend and WAMUer Red Shipley in October, DC area progressive rock radio legend and WHFS founder Jake Einstein in September, and DC area radio/TV legend Milt Grant in May.....
(8) The "almost sale" of Christian contemporary WGTS to Minnesota Public Radio.....
(7) The demise of classic rock WARW and the birth of "green" alt rockish The Globe.....
(6) The continued turmoil at and ratings slump of Baltimore talker WBAL radio.....
(5) The fall and rise of Don Imus, who was heard on WTNT and attracted many DC media politicos.....
(4) The demise of Washington Post Radio and the birth of talker and sports-ish 3WT.....
(3) The sale of ABC's radio stations - WMAL, WRQX, and WJZW - to Citadel. Looks like the fallout will have to wait until '08.....
(2) The demise of commercial classical legend WGMS and the re-birth of non-commercial classical WETA-FM.....
(1) The almost-done satellite radio deal to merge DC's XM with NYC's Sirius.....
12/28 - Am I the only one who thinks the "Names And Faces" vacation replacement gossip column in the Washington Post is light years better than the often silly "Reliable Source" stuff from those two dippy gals. Those are two salaries the Post could cut and improve the weak Style section at the same time.....
12/27 - Look, we've always liked David Burd. But, you know, as Tony Kornheiser's substitute host, Marc "Nigel" Sterne does just fine as the head of 3WT's 8 AM "posse".....
12/26 -
Yes, that's DC TV and radio veteran Frank Herzog (right) in the new "National Treasure 2: Book Of Secrets" movie. The current WTOP news anchor, who used to be the radio voice of the Redskins and a sports anchor at Channels 9 and 7, appears with star Nicolas Cage, who is talking to the president, played by Bruce Greenwood, at his birthday party at Mount Vernon. As they are looking at a map at George Washington's home, Herzog walks up and says: "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," and the president says: "Thanks, Frank." Also, Herzog played a dance contest judge in 2006's "Step Up," which was filmed in Baltimore.....12/26 - Local cable TV giant Comcast has been running ads touting "over 200 HD programming choices at any given time." Using Comcast's math, that includes "over 100 hours of HD movies and shows available any time" on its video-on-demand service. I guess, technically, Comcast is right. But the Average Dave (like me) will find, in reality, that his local Comcast system offers about 25 high-def channels, with about six of those local signals (technically) able to be received for free via an antenna, without cable. And, not all of those 25 channels are in HD all the time. Many, especially the local channels, frequently run standard-def programming. And even some of those cable-only HD channels, like TBS and A&E, often merely "stretch" standard-def programming to make it "fit" the widescreen. Not "real" HD. Yeah, Comcast does offer many HD programs On-Demand, including a batch of movies at $5 a pop. But it would probably be more fair to the consumer if Comcast would stick to bragging about how many fulltime HD channels it offers and not how many "programming choices" provided. Using Comcast's math, a single HD channel like HBO-HD could be said to offer 20 "programming choices" per day or 600 per month, if you count each program and movie as a "choice." Something kinda fishy about that kind of calculation.....
12/24 - DCRTV is undoubtedly the most influential DC and Baltimore area media website. And, while we received countless Christmas greetings from many individuals who work at area TV and radio stations, we received only one official station Christmas card this year. From Channel 50/WDCW, Washington's CW station. We did get some nice plastic neon ice cubes from Comcast. But as far as official corporate greetings go, that's about it. Nothing from 4, 5/20/24, 7/NC8, 9, or 26. Or 2, 11, 13, or 45/54. Or from all those wonderful (and not so wonderful) radio stations we cover all year. Nothing from MASN, XM, CSPAN, or Discovery. So, in 2008, when those cuts come and/or those format flips materialize, don't expect us to get all that upset about it. Unless, of course, Zell sells 50. Then we might shed a tear. Oh, as for all you local media PR folks - hope you're renting. Having to sell in 2008's depressed real estate market could be a bitch.....
12/21 - Stopped by the Reston Hollywood Video on Friday and found a Channel 7/ NewsChannel 8 truck out front and a few hundred people in a line snaking through the store waiting for Wii thingos. I scanned the line for someone looking like Don Geronimo, a confessed computer game nerd, but didn't see him. Oh well..... On his WMAL show today, late morning talker Chris Core charged that the huge drug companies are doing big-budget ad campaigns to create demand for high-profit prescription drugs from consumers who beg their doctors for drugs that they don't really need. Man, nice to hear some "truth" on WMAL for a change. Oh, one thing he didn't mention - a lot of those ad dollars are going to radio stations like WMAL. Chris, you got balls.....
12/20 - A DCRTVer tells us: "Steve Ash gave a live (via phone) on-air interview with the 98 Rock morning show this morning, and 'Stash' said he is fine. He is doing well, he is happy with all of the support from everybody, and he will indeed be back sometime in 2008 at the station... He said members of the Harford County emergency services department saved his life. 'Stash' sounded positive, upbeat, and eager to get back on the air fulltime." The WIYY afternoon man spent 10 days in intensive care for severe head trauma after a 12/4 fall at his Bel Air home. He's now in a physical rehabilitation facility.....
12/19 - Some 2008 radio change predictions from our cracked crystal (Koons) ball. OK, they probably won't happen, but it's fun to have delusional dreams. Enjoy.....
FM
88.1 - Balto's WYPR talker makes deal with UofMD for College Park relay into DC
90.9 - WETA news talk restored, classical moves to 91.9
91.9 - WGMS classical, WETA buys WGTS, Christian contemp moves to Salem's 105.1
92.5 - WNVR Northern Virginia Radio, news and talk, goodbye WINC
92.7 - WPRS gospel Praise 92.7, Dan Snyder sells to Radio One, from 104.1
93.9 - WKYS puts weak Radio One sister talker WOL on HD2 channel
94.3 - WRNR adult alternative rock relay from Warrenton, sold by Dan Snyder
94.7 - CBS's WJFK "Just For Kicks" guy talk and sports talk, moves from 106.7
95.9 - RO's WHVN, becomes gospel Heaven 95.9, with 600 going talk, urban AC to 104.3
97.9 - Hearst sells 98 Rock to Clear Channel, keeps format, puts Elliot in AM, M&A to 105.7
99.1 - CBS's real progressive rock WHFS, remains of The Globe from 94.7, covers Balto
99.9 - CC's Frederick's WFRE goes classic country, marketed to DC
100.3 - CC's sports talk WTEM, from 980, assumes Dan Snyder's Redskins Radio
100.7 - Baltimore's Hot Hits 101, WZBA, bought by Clear Channel
102.3 - RO spends a few suburban promo dollars on MMJ, ad billing triples
103.9 - Bonneville's oldies and sports 3WT
104.1 - B'ville's oldies and sports 3WT, Radio One sale cancelled, gospel to 92.7
104.3 - CC's WSMJ becomes adult urban contempory with flip of WWIN-FM to gospel
105.1 - WGTS Christian contemp, Salem acquires WGTS programming, moves talk to 730
105.5 - DC area relay for Balto's AAA WTMD (that's already happened, nevermind)
105.7 - CBS's WJZ-FM, talk and sports talk, M&A to afternoons, WHFS calls back to 99.1
106.7 - CBS's Spanish/English hits, the Nueva El Zol WLZL, from 99.1, JFK to 94.7
107.7 - Bonneville's oldies and sports 3WT
AM
570 - CC's nostalgic Vegas Radio, also on 1260, talker WTNT to 980
600 - Clear Channel's WCAO goes talk, gospel goes to Radio One's 95.9
630 - WMAL, Imus to mornings, Grandy & Andy to afternoon drive
730 - WAVA, Christian news/talk, Dan Snyder sells to Salem
780 - WAVB, more Christian news/talk, Salem moves WAVA calls to 730
820 - back to all-news WTOP relay, takes WTOP calls
860 - MD DOT buys signal from Family, starts Baltimore Traffic Radio
980 - CC's news talk WTNT from 570, news dept feeding FMers, sports WTEM to 100.3
1050 - Bonneville's WLVS, Elvis 1050, 1950s oldies, WFED to 1500
1090 - becomes all-news, Hearst sells WBAL to Bonneville, 600 picks up talk
1260 - CC's nostalgic Vegas Radio, also on 570, WWRC's talk remains go to 980
1300 - CBS's WJZ-AM, talk and sports talk
1400 - RO's WWIN-AM now in parallel with gospel 95.9
1500 - Bonneville's Federal News Radio, now 50,000-watts, from 1050 AM
1580 - CBS's WDGR Don Geronimo Radio oldies, post-JFK retirement for DG
12/18 - Could DC-based lefty morning man Bill Press take over the morning gig on lefty Air America? The Talking Radio blog tells that us the the Young Turks show will be dropped from the Air America next month. "Why are the Turks and AAR calling this an amicable separation. And why is lib talk show host Bill Press smiling?" Press is heard on Clear Channel's Progressive Talk 1260, WWRC.....
12/18 - Bad vibes. That's why Tracey Neale didn't succeed at 9. Too many "e's" in her name. The TV news universe didn't like it. Tracey Neale should drop at least one "e" from her name - probably the last one. Become "Tracey Neal." Give the "e" to Lesli Foster, who definitely could use it. She could become "Leslie." That would restore proper balance to the 9 News Now galaxy. Now, about about Derek McGinty becoming a "Derrick"? The universe might like that spelling more - and better ratings would be the reward. What about new anchor Anita Brikman? Maybe "Brickman" would be better? Another thing - how about giving Mike Walter a completely new name. I got it - let's now call him "Morris Jones".....
12/17 - DCRTV hears that Channel 7/WJLA news anchor Alison Starling is in the midst of negotiations for a new contract with the Allbritton ABC affiliate. The word is that she's asking for more money. Duh.....
12/16 -
Channel 9's Howard Bernstein (right) doing a winter weather report Sunday morning from Frederick County. What's the point of doing news in hi-def when you don't clean the low-def weather crap off the camera lens? Hmmm.....12/13 - Continued proof that Style remains the Washington Post's sick sister. The dippy gossip gals at "Reliable Source" today scoop everyone about a man who looks like U2's Bono at BWI. Not Bono, mind you, a look-a-like. This is gossip? Well, at least no "what they were eating/wearing" reports about C-list celebs today from "RS." Then 14 (count 'em) graphs from Lisa "I Continue To Ignore DC Media" de Moraes about how the writers' strike may sideline the Golden Globes. Do we really care that much? And, top it off with a nice big, page-hogging pic of the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" picking up their Globes at last year's (!) ceremony. If I was a tree, I'd have been really pissed to have given my life for such third-rate crap from such a clueless, out of-touch rag.....
12/13 - DCRTV hears that former WMAL sales legend Bob Bowen was honored at the Dancing Crab on Wisconsin Avenue Wednesday night. Bowen, long retired, was a volunteer helper for the DC Police Boys And Girls Clubs after he left radio. He's moving back to his hometown in Wisconsin. Among those attending the celebration were legendary in their own right: Bill Mayhugh, Bill Trumbull, Ed Walker, Andy Ochershausen, Len Deibert, Ted Landphair, Chris Core, John Lyon, Frank Harden, and many of the former WMAL sales staff, and lots of old clients Bowen called on in his years in the radio sales biz.....
12/12 - Ever since I got a new HDTV last month, I've been again watching the local newscasts in new digital clarity. Yesterday, one local reporter warned me that a pimple can grow into a deadly flesh-eating virus. Another screamed that a simple cough could be transformed into deadly pneumonia. And, another frighteningly hyped that the killer ice storm in the Midwest is "coming our way." Of course, no mention that it would be harmless rain here. I just remembered why I gave up watching these idiots a few years ago. From now on, my HDTV viewing will exclude local "scarecasts." Back to Chris Matthews, BBC America, ESPN, and the Science Channel for me.....
12/12 - A fly on the wall at Jenifer Street tells DCRTV that Clear Channel's adult contemporary WASH morning man Loo Katz was spied recently meeting with Steve Allen, who now programs Citadel's WJZW, Smooth Jazz 105.9. Then, another Jenifer Street fly (a lot of bugs over there on Jenifer Street) tells us that Loo's morning partner at WASH, Lori Brooks (right), was seen this week chatting with Citadel WRQX, Mix 107.3 morning man Jack Diamond. However, we hear that nothing is "up." Katz and Allen, old friends from Allen's days programming WASH, were just lunching. And Brooks was attending a market-wide meeting of a national ad client, we hear.....
12/12 - Notable quotable. "This guy does have talent. You mean, there's no place in the radio landscape for him?" - WJFK-FM afternooner Don Geronimo today on DC airwaves veteran Doug "Greaseman" Tracht, after visiting his getalife.tv site. Tracht is currently on "hiatus" from his homebrewed morning radio show, which had aired on WMET (1160 AM) in the DC area. Geronimo has issued an invitation to Tracht to guest on his JFK show, to help "resurrect" the Grease's radio career.....
12/10 - DCRTV recently told you that WMAL's program director is out the door. And, we hinted that more changes could be coming to the news talk station with new owner Citadel now in control of the former ABC station. However, we hear from several sources connected with 630 AM who tell us that ain't so. And the rumors are just "spin" coming from WMAL's local radio rivals. "Nobody on Jenifer Street knows of these big changes. So whoever is telling you this is trying to stir things up," we hear. "The ABC properties are still controlled out of Dallas by Mitch Dolan. Citadel is just the board room raking in the profits from these well-run radio stations." WMAL is still a top-billing station in the DC market, and why would Citadel risk changing that, we're told. "Citadel needs (WMAL and sisters WRQX and WJZW's) huge profits to pay off the debt they own to (ABC parent) Disney. The last thing they will do is bring in the bulldozer, because their mid-markets cannot pay off the debt," we hear from someone else. The fact that Citadel has decided not to replace morning men Fred Grandy and Andy Parks with Don Imus is proof that the rumors of change at WMAL are pretty much just bunk, we hear.....
12/9 - Alan Dershowitz reviews Fox News and 3WT radio talker Bill O'Reilly's new kiddie book, "Kids Are Americans, Too," and finds it "so riddled with errors, inconsistencies, (and) bad advice... (that) it should be placed in the adults-only section of the bookstore. Or better yet, with the joke books." In the DC Post.....
12/8 - DC Examiner sports media columnist Jim Williams tells DCRTV that he thinks Tony Kornheiser will stay on the ESPN "Monday Night Football" booth team in 2008. Williams says that the Washington Post sports superstar columnist is "very comfortable" with his "MNF" commentary duties and ESPN's suits are thrilled at the broadcast's great (for cable) ratings this seaon. Kornheiser has announced that he will return to his morning radio show at Bonneville talker 3WT (formerly Washington Post Radio) in January. And Bonneville suits insist that it's a full-year deal, with Kornheiser not leaving in June (like he did in June 2007) for "MNF." Stay tuned.....
12/3 - You know, that Bonneville deal to lease 104.1 to Radio One for that new gospel station? The deal to eventually sell the signal to the Lanham-based African-American broadcaster? The one that's gotten delayed and is supposed to be consumated in the new year? Could that deal be just the tip of the iceberg of talks going on between the two broadcasting firms? Is Salt Lake City-based Bonneville looking to maybe "help out" over there at Radio One, which has hit a few financial snags of late? Like maybe picking up some of their stations for some much-needed cash? Like maybe the regional signal of 102.3 here in DC? Bonneville could keep WMMJ's adult urban format and instantly have a "top five" companion for its all-news WTOP? Stay tuned.....
12/3 - Two new classified ads here at DCRTV. One's from a real estate firm touting a new Bethesda residential development called Suleman Estates, featuring the planned Imus Town Center. Just off Greentree Road, bordering the Beltway. And, we've got an ad for an engineering position. For someone who is an expert at "diplexing AM antenna systems." With an audio file featuring a snappy little tune: "Do You Know The Way To Germantown?" Hmmm..... I had a dream last night featuring Don Geronimo. In it, I happened to run into the JFKer at a mini-mart. And all he could do was complain about CBS Radio DC head Michael Hughes. Hmmm.....
11/29 - Look, I realize that ads can help pay the bills on news-oriented websites - like this one. But when a Dell ad on washingtonpost.com tried to "expand" and take over my whole screen this morning, I made a mental note not to buy a computer from them. Memo to the Post's ad people: Ads that feature audio, ads that shoot across the screen, ads that expand and invade the "reading space" and cause you to make link click errors, ads that completely hog and dominate the page and are "unmovable" or "unremovable" for several loooooong seconds, and other intrusive ads actually cause visitors to develop distain for the advertisers and the website. "Get the f*ck outta my face!".....
11/28 - DCRTV is hearing more rumblings that Washington Post superstar sports columnist Tony Kornheiser will not be returning to ESPN's "Monday Night Football" next season. We're told that Kornheiser wants to focus on his local morning radio show, which resumes on new talker 3WT in January, and on his ESPN "PTI" afternoon TV program. Kornheiser's decision to give up the "MNF" color spot could cause some hurt feelings at ESPN, which removed sports media rival and former Redskin great Joe Theismann from the "MNF" broadcast booth before this season's shows started. However, Korheiser has publicly said that he and Theismann have a friendly relationship. Whatever.....
11/27 - DCRTV hears that Radio Ink has named Bonneville DC radio cluster head Joel Oxley as one of its "Best Managers In Radio." No word if anyone from the now-defunct heritage classical WGMS, the now-defunct talker Washington Post Radio, the now-defunct adult hits George 104, or the now-defunct contemporary hit Z104 would agree with the trade pub's pick. However, a local Bonneviller fires back: Oxley, via all-news WTOP, "returns more to the bottom line than any other radio station in DC. More revenue than many stations in NYC or LA".....
11/26 - DCRTV hears that Channel 9's new traffic reporter, Angie Goff, is a graduate of Herndon High. Come to think of it, some area broadcasting greats have gone to Herndon High. Including DC radio legend and Washington Nationals producer Steve Ray, as well as your friendly webmaster, DCRTV Dave. Go Hornets.....
11/25 - Has anyone noticed that with the Christmas shopping season now steaming along in full force, something is missing. All over the stores and the store circulars you see HDTV - 1080i, 720p, plasma, LCD. Upconvert DVD players, HD-DVD, and DirecTV. Computers, video games, laptops, Wifi, GPS, Blueray and Bluetooth and Blackberry, digital cameras, cell phones, XM/Sirius, plus iPods and their many immitators. But where are the ads for HD Radio products? Do you suppose that electronics retailers have detected not much demand from already tech-overloaded consumers about spending something like $300 to hear a dozen or so "canned" unique digital channels on their local radio dial with spotty reception, to boot? Until broadcasters get on the bandwagon and offer new, original, and creative broadcast digital stuff that listeners really want to hear, HD Radio will be dead in the water. And if they don't act fast - and it may already be too late - that fancy HD Radio receiver will be laying at the bottom of the sea, along with the remains of AM Stereo.....
11/22 - DCRTV hears rumblings that CBS Radio is planning personnel cuts in its Baltimore cluster for the new year. Is top dog Dave Labrozzi on the way out? Along with at least one program director? Plus some other lower-level employees? Stay tuned. In Baltimore, CBS owns WLIF, WWMX, WHFS, WQSR, and WJFK-AM.....
11/20 - DCRTV hears that Lanham-based Radio One's purchase of Bonneville's 104.1 is not a certainty. Radio One began operating the Waldorf station under a lease agreement last April, when it launched commercial gospel Praise 104.1, WPRS. At the time, Radio One announced plans to buy the signal by 2008 or early in the new year. But now, DCRTV hears that financial troubles at the African-American radio giant may have an impact on those plans. No word if Bonneville will "take back" the frequency any time soon. Bonneville had paired 104.1 with Frederick's 103.9 for a variety of formats, including classical WGMS, adult hits "George" WXGG, and contemporary hit Z104.....
11/20 - This morning, WMAL morning man Andy Parks wondered on-air if a white Texas man who shot and killed two Hispanic men burglarizing his neighbor's unoccupied home should be "given a medal." We all know that the issue of illegal Hispanic immigration is Citadel talker WMAL's daily drumbeat and instrumental to its status as the only AMer in the DC area that gets significant ratings. But, you've got to wonder if WMAL would have even mentioned the Texas news item (more from CBS News) and taken callers - and proposed honoring the shooter - if, say, the burglars weren't Latino.....
11/15 - Amazing. I actually heard one of my all-time favorite tunes, "A Forest" by The Cure, on DC radio today. No, it wasn't on rocker DC101 or the new alt rockish The Globe. It was bumper music "under" the 11:40 AM traffic report on talker WMAL. I think I'll scream. Rock radio sucks so bad in DC..... Was in Best Buy this morning. New digital HD TV sets now down to the $300 price range. But they're selling component video copper wire cables for as much as $100. What? The frigging connection cables costing a third of the price of a TV?!?! Rip off! Some advice: Don't pay more than about $25 for component video cables. And even that's a 50 percent mark-up for the retailer. Sheesh.....
11/14 - In Wednesday's Washington Post, Frank Ahrens pens a piece about how the FCC is planning to relax its TV/newspaper crossownership rules in large markets, allowing existing and new combinations. And, in an accompanying graphic, we see how the rule change will impact the five largest markets. Including market numero uno - NYC. Where, according to the Post graphic, Tribune owns both Newsday and WPIX-TV. And, no mention of media baron Rupert Murdoch, who owns two NYC TV stations, WNYW-TV and WWOR-TV, and the NY Post newspaper, not to mention some local cable sports networks. Also, no mention of Gannett's ownership of McLean-based USA Today and Channel 9/WUSA in the DC market. Seems the article could have used a little more "fleshing out".....
11/13 - Heard on all-news WTOP today, an ad for a "guns and ammo" show at the Dulles Expo Center. Yet, Bonneville's WTOP still refuses to run state lottery ads, citing its corporate opposition to the issue of legal (!) gambling. OK. However, I have yet to hear of anyone who's been killed or injured by a lottery ticket - unless maybe someone tried swallowing one whole and choking on it. Thanks for the "protection," Bonneville..... Bank Of America is running radio ads touting an account with Redskins checks. You mean the 5-4 Skins? A team that hasn't been to the Super Bowl in 16 years? Come on! Sheesh.....
11/12 - We talk to a local radio guru about the commercial talk radio scene in DC. "It's a critical time for the future of (WMAL owner) Citadel. The stock dropped 38 percent on Friday, as scared investors bailed on the bad earnings news. So far, over the months of new ownership at the ABC radio stations, there have been no substantive changes in station operations. The management structure of the legacy ABC stations remains the same, with Mitch Dolan continuing to run the show from New York. And, Dolan has specifically promised that Imus will NOT air on WMAL. As has been reported, it's likely Imus will end up on (Clear Channel's) WTNT. That would, of course, maximize Citadel's revenue opportunities in DC. It is instructive to read a transcript of (Citadel CEO) Farid (Suleman)'s Q3 conference call Thursday. Contrary to your (DCRTV) headline on Friday, he did not mention the Washington stations in tandem with the phrase 'need to be fixed.' He did reference NY, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and Detroit in that context, however. The worst performing markets, Farid said, were Atlanta and Detroit (with double-digit declines), followed by San Francisco and DC. But EVERY Citadel market suffered a decline in the third quarter. On the conference call, Suleman only specifically mentioned the situations in New York (WABC and Imus), LA (KABC and the Dodgers, KLOS), Chicago (WLS and "The Zone), Detroit (FMs), and Dallas and Atlanta (two country stations in each market). Bottom line - there is seemingly no need to scare people here in Washington, or in any city, that big cuts are coming. The phrase 'need to be fixed' could mean additional pressure on the sales teams (which is why WMAL is safe - they have the best sales staff in the company) or programming tweaks (Atlanta, Dallas) meant to raise ratings. But if this stock decline continues, future moves might not be up to Farid. As far as Imus on WTNT - remember that ratings don't always equal revenue. The top-rated stations in our market, for example, are urban music stations. They're hardly the top-billers. That said, (CBS's NYC sports talker) WFAN for years was the highest-billing station in radio (annual revenues $50+ mil) - and that was largely due to the successful selling of Imus in the morning, even though the station never seemed to break a 2.0 share (age) 12+. Farid, who was Infinity's CFO in that era, clearly thinks he can replicate the billing numbers of WFAN at WABC. There's really no reason he can't. In fact, given the larger audience of (NYC talker) WABC as a whole, Farid must figure Citadel can do even better selling Imus's upscale audience than Infinity ever did. Of course, for those of us who know a thing or two about radio programming, there's the genuine fear that the WABC audience will reject Imus. But, I think - hope - Phil Boyce and Johnny Donovan will do their best to make the show 'fit' the '77 WABC' brand. Already, I hear they're using the 'quack quack' at the top of the hour, which I think is a brilliant way to promote the coming of the show. And Imus must feel like a pig in shit, because he's never had the chance to become 'King Of New York' radio like he does now. Here in DC, there's plenty of niche-selling to be done. Hence, why Bonneville continues to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to staff (federal news) WFED will real human beings, when it gets zero ratings. So, the same class of companies (like executive jet services) that tried to reach that very small group of Imus's DC listeners before will presumably pay top dollar to do so again, even for the 0.5 percent of the audience that listened to Imus on WTNT. Any syndication revenues will be like money falling from the sky, since Imus is officially on WABC's headcount. Farid is intelligently optimistic about the financial benefits of this deal. I just hope the old I-man keeps up his end of the bargain, putting on a show people actually want to listen to. morning drive... Today, (WMAL programmer) Paul (Duckworth) has maximized Fred (Grandy) and Andy (Parks)'s personalities, and built huge audience loyalty. The ratings and revenue have been tremendous. (WMAL head) Chris (Berry) is very happy with the results... So, if (WMAL morning men Grandy and Andy) continue to go strong, why not make money from them AND from Imus on WTNT? I'm not worried about cannibalism there... As far as (Bonneville's new talker) WWWT (3WT) goes, I think (WTOP programmer Jim) Farley has blown a real opportunity. In a perfect world, this town would be like San Francisco - with a strong all-newser in KCBS and two strong talkers in both KGO and KSFO. KGO is all-local, news-heavy, issues-oriented, middle-of-the-road (if not liberal), while KSFO is satellite-driven conservative. Unfortunately, Bonneville doesn't seem to want to make WWWT anything more than a satellite-driven 'full service' talker. In a crowded, sophisticated radio marketplace, you can't just put a new station on the air, fill it will a hodgepodge of syndicated, second-tier talent and pretend it's all-things-to-all-people. Even if it's got the BEST second-tier talent network radio has to offer. (WWWT morning man) David Burd is a tremendous talent. But I think he was at his best on music radio, when he could kibbitz in and around records and do the 'What are you wearin, darlin?' bit and just do well by making people smile. That's why people think of him so fondly. And that worked well on WMAL on Saturday mornings, too. He tried his damnedest on WMAL and (Washington Post Radio) WTWP when he needed to be a master of current events. And he largely held his own. But in talk radio, it's not enough to be warm or friendly, or even well-informed - unless you're a fill-in guy. If you're a primary talent, you've gotta have a shtick, or a life story. You've gotta jump out of the speaker. And David just doesn't. He just wasn't made for talk radio. I think he'd be better off on (classic hits) WBIG or (soft rock) WASH. Overall, WWWT doesn't seem to be giving anyone a reason to pick them. A successful radio station these days has to be FOCUSED. Bonneville can't expect to be successful by putting a new product on the air and having a hard time telling advertisers and listeners who and what they're all about, and what they do. They should have become this market's KGO, and filled it with local talent in drive times, promised us the best in news, etc. But they probably feared they'd upstage (Bonneville's all-news) WTOP. So, they pussied out, took the cheap route, and decided to become talk radio's version of Jack FM, even stealing the slogan. Sad. But if they do just one-tenth of a share better than WTWP, and I think they will, they'll consider themselves successful. But who knows, maybe Farley knows something we don't. Maybe Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly, and Randi Rhodes really are the next big things in DC radio".....
11/12 - I know it's a teeny tiny little mistake. But local traffic reporters should get the names of area roads right. Especially the more important arteries. Memo to a Metro Traffic reporter who does WMAL in morning drive: It's "Hunter Mill" Road. Singular. Not "Hunter Mills." Sheesh.....
11/9 - You know, you hear cooler tunes being played as "bumper" music - during show promos and traffic reports - on talker WMAL than you hear being played in their entirety on alleged alt rocker The Globe.....
11/7 - Virginia voters yesterday voted to remove WMAL's Grandy and Andy morning team in favor of Don Imus. In a little-reported ballot measure in Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, voters gave the current 630 AM morning team just a 44 percent approval rate, with soon-to-be-resurrected radio morning man Imus receiving 56 percent of the vote. "They (Grandy and Andy) harped and harped on the illegal immigration issue, and it turned out to be a non-issue across the region," said WMAL chief Chris Berry. "They were ineffective in communicating the issue, so they must go." Berry also confirmed that the picture of Grandy and Andy is being removed from the "WMAL Hall Of Fame," which doubles as the station's snack room, with vending machines and a microwave. "We're putting Imus's picture right there, next to Harden and Weaver," Berry added. G&A will continue on the air as "lame ducks" until December, when WMAL will stage a "regal" inauguration for Imus..... Memo to talker 3WT head Greg Tantum: Tucker Carlson was superb - and very very funny - during his substitute morning hosting stint over the summer. He would be a great choice for a local and live afternoon drive show on your station.....
11/6 -
Coming in 2008 (right)? How much longer is CBS Radio going to allow 94.7 to be stuck in the tractionless "green" whatever rock muck? Hmmm..... By the way, one of my favorite British TV characters is "Alan Partridge," a washed-up, pompous radio/TV personality played by the great Steve Coogan. Check out "I'm Alan Partridge" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You" on DVD. Imagine my surprise when I thought I spotted a chunky Coogan in Larry David's latest "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode, playing Larry's British marriage therapist. And, yes, the closing credits confirmed that it was Coogan. Wow.....11/3 - Your friendly webmaster just shelled out $320 for a 19-inch digital TV, with built-in DVD player. And I wanted to do a "real world" test. First, I plugged the LCD model into a Comcast HD DVR box and it worked great. Comcast Reston offers about 25 HD channels, including 4, 5, 7, 9, 20, 26, and 50, plus a bunch of cable networks. And the HD picture is magnificent - even on a relatively inexpensive set like mine. I then attached a set of common Radio Shack "rabbit ears" and let the TV "search" the digital TV broadcast bands. At my location in Wild West Fairfax, about 15 miles due west of DC, my set had no trouble receiving both the analog and digital signals of 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 20, 26, 32, 50, and 66. However, it took two "passes" with the antenna re-oriented to get 26 and 66's digital signals. It did find the analog signal of 56, but couldn't get its digital signal. No sign of any of the Baltimore/Annapolis area digital signals, and no sign of Northern Virginia's digital-only 30. And, with over-the-air digital reception, pixilation and drop-outs were common. Re-orienting the antenna was necessary with almost every channel change. The conclusion: Digital standard and high-def "reception" works superbly if you're plugged into a cable or satellite box. Not so good via over-the-air. If you're going to do the latter, a rooftop antenna and a relatively close-to-the-transmitter - or high on a hill - location is strongly recommended. Certainly no more than about 20 miles away.....
11/2 - In a phone interview this morning on 3WT, "Tonight" show great Ed McMahon kept calling David Burd "Tony." At the end of the interview, David had to remind Ed that he was talking to Tony Kornheiser's substitute - not Tony himself. Afterward, David commented about Ed: "He's 84-years-old and still has all his faculties".....
11/2 - So, we now know for certain that Don Imus will be resurrected on the morning drive airwaves, via NYC's WABC, on 12/3. We also know that his show will be syndicated. For DCers, the question is where will Imus wind up here? Well, WABC is owned by Citadel and so is WMAL. But, we've heard that talker WMAL (630 AM) is very satified with the ratings of its Grandy and Andy morning show. WMAL could tape delay Imus and air him at 10 AM, but his politically incorrect show needs to air live. Could Citadel play a "wild card" and put him on its smooth jazz WJZW (105.9 FM) or hot adult contemporary WRQX (107.3 FM)? Probably not - not without a major format change. So, what about Bonneville's new talker 3WT (1500 AM and 107.7 FM)? That was a likely possibility until the news this week that Washington Post superstar Tony Kornheiser will be returning to the 8 AM slot in January. The most-likely Imus station appears to be Clear Channel talker WTNT (570 AM), where Imus aired before he got fired by CBS Radio last spring after making that racist and sexist comment about the Rutgers female basketball team. Of course, Clear Channel could pull its "wild card" and move SportsTalk 980 from AM to an FM frequency and put Imus on 980, which has a better signal than 570. Nah. Another possibility for Imus is brokered talker WMET (1160 AM), which just announced that its morning man, DC radio veteran Doug "Greaseman" Tracht, is going on "hiatus." And - what about Baltimore's struggling talker WVIE (1370 AM) carrying Imus? Goodbye Mancow? Stay tuned.....
10/31 -
Nice to see someone joining your friendly webmaster in the Big Beards Club. From this morning's Washington Post piece on molecular biologist Aubrey de Grey (right). Check out my big beard at Davepix.....10/30 - Blink and you'll miss it. The Washington Post posts an almost hidden four-line blurb in the "Reliable Source" gossip column about its superstar sports columnist Tony Kornheiser signing to be on talker 3WT next year. News DCRTV broke yesterday. The Post's coverage was far from the multitude of well-placed, heavily-hyped articles in early 2007, when Kornheiser debuted on Washington Post Radio as its presumed ratings savior. The Post's 3WT Tuesday item was reported by Paul Farhi, who has been feuding with Kornheiser since delivering a bad "Monday Night Football" performance review in the summer of 2006. Also, we hear that the Post and Bonneville, which flipped Washington Post Radio to talker 3WT in September, did not have an all that amicable divorce. Although Bonneville officials deny that.....
10/29 - Damn! Check out the DC Post's "Reliable Source" gossip column this morning. What George Clooney and Jody Foster were wearing while they ate meals in area restaurants! And check out that 15-year-old stock photo of Jodie in the print edition. Wow! The Rewrite Gals at their absolute best! I'm sure the "Page Sixers" are in utter awe..... Oh, a lot of talk in the media this morning about how unfair the Patriots were in running up the score against those hapless Redskins. Look, I'm a Skins fan and I think the Pats should have taken their score to 100 points, dammit. Let's face it. The Skins' season is over - in October. Again! Lil' Dan Snyder should fire Joe Gibbs and then sell the team and his dipshit radio stations, too..... Yeah, I know she's an advertiser, but I really think Carol Joynt's "Q&A Cafe" is really something special. Have you checked out the replays on NewsChannel 8? It's a fascinating media celeb interview series that heralds back to the days of Maury Povich's "Panorama" WTTG midday chat show in the 1970s. A local, Washington "insiders" show. I like what Carol's doing. My suggestions: Do it at the bar of her restaurant - with drinks. Less formal. Maybe incorporate callers. Have multiple guests per show and regular features. Maybe even do a "Q&A After Dark" edition, with more of an "entertainment" quality. "Q&A" could and should be a regular feature on NC8 and/or C-SPAN and on local radio - a midday show on an FMer like WAMU, 3WT, or, heck, why not C-SPAN's WCSP? Heck, it might just be the show to get more people to tune in C-SPAN. Hmmm..... "Whatever rocker" the Globe's new "acoustic" Sunday morning feature sent me back to sleep.....
10/26 -
So, WMAL morning man Fred Grandy lost a bet this morning. And, as punishment, he was forced by his radio partner and so-called "friend," Andy Parks, to eat a high-fat, high-cholesterol "big breakfast burrito" from a local fast food joint. Both Grandy and Parks (right) have bum tickers. Grandy's been hospitalized several times to have heart artery stents placed. And Parks just had a pacemaker implanted. What surprises me is how much joy Parks got in watching Grandy munch away. (You evil man, you!) But maybe their bosses at Citadel are even more sinister. Maybe they're trying to get these morning radio clowns to retire early (if not drop dead) due to heart problems to clear the way for the cadaverous Don Imus.....10/25 -
Call this one strange. Thursday morning, during a Tony Kornheiser rerun about the sudden ending of the final "Sopranos" episode back in June - just as Tony K was telling about the mid-scene cut to black ending the legendary NJ mob family drama - talker 3WT's 107.7 FM signal went off the air for a couple of seconds. Is the ghost of Tony Soprano messing around with the power down there in Warrenton? Doesn't Tony have a favorite club in nearby Culpeper, a la that last season episode driving down I-95 (and listening to Fredericksburg classic rocker WWUZ) with Pauly? That must mean Tony's really dead. And his spirit is floating around Virginia.....10/22 - The number of one-way out-of-town U-Haul rentals is way up in Prince William County. That must mean that "illegals" are heading out of town. Right? That assumption is according to the almost gleeful news reports, heard over-and-over-and-over this morning on righty talker WMAL. Oh, wait, what's that rumbling sound I hear? Coming from the northeast? Why it's the Citadel bulldozer. Heading down I-95 from NYC. And who's that behind the wheel? Why it's Citadel head Farid Suleman. And look, there's a stretch-limo following right behind. Isn't that Don Imus in the backseat? Maybe some WMALers should start thinking about renting a U-Haul, too. One-way, out-of-town. Hmmm.....
10/19 - "Topper Shutt and Howard Bernstein actually live in Kim Martucci's jacket." Mike O'Meara on Friday's "Don And Mike Show" on WJFK-FM.....
10/18 - I'll say it one more time. If The Globe is to survive, it needs to assume the heritage of the legendary progressive rocker WHFS, a la pre-1999 or so. It needs to get the classic calls back from Baltimore. And then take its playlist to one-quarter current adult album alternative tunes (like XM's XMU), one-quarter alternative rock tunes (Linkin Park, Green Day), one-quarter retro "New Wave" from the 1980s and early 1990s (Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode), and one-quarter deeply progressive classic rock (Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother", Beatles "White Album"). It needs to become "quad A" - accessible (!) adult album alternative. It needs to rebrand itself "947HFS." A new "hip" morning show must be developed, Weasel should to be moved to evenings, and music director Schelby needs to find a new job at Mix 107.3 or WASH.....
10/18 - Heard on Bonneville talker 3WT's David Burd show Thursday morning. A giant rat lay dead only steps from Bonneville's Idaho Avenue broadcast complex. With pedestrians walking around it. The facility houses all-news WTOP's Ledo Pizza Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center.....
10/17 - The Washington Post mistakenly placed a picture of radio commentator Paul Harvey, heard locally on WMAL, next to a front page Metro blurb promoting the inside-section obituary of the death of a prominent local cardiologist. The photo error was corrected in later editions.....
10/17 - Lee Shephard, who did the weather on the old Channel 9 back when it was WTOP-TV, and who runs local nostalgic TV site lookoutlee.blogspot.com, tells us that the classic WTOP radio and TV folks held their 21st annual reunion luncheon at the Cozy Inn in Thurmont MD on Tuesday, with 64 people showing up.....
10/15 - "I'd take them if they'd make me funny." WJFK-FM afternooner Don Geronimo talking about steroids on his Monday show.....
10/15 - So, I was trying to listen to Washington Post media columnist Howie Kurtz's interview on WAMU's Diane Rehm show this morning. But WAMU was doing fundraising. So, I flipped from 88.5 to 88.1 to hear the uninterrupted chat on WYPF, the Frederick relay of Baltimore's WYPR. The signal was coming in great as I was driving around Northern Virginia, except at intersections, when some other strong signals came booming in. Sometimes rock. Sometimes jazz. Sometimes Howard Stern. Oh, I realized that I was picking up other drivers' satellite radio signals. Their gear uses the 88.1 frequency to send the signal from their satellite receiver to their car radio. And to everyone else's car radio nearby - as long as it was tuned to 88.1.....
10/12 - WMAL honcho Chris Berry should send a big "thank you" to Bonneville. The morning show from that company's new 3WT talker actually makes WMAL geezers Grandy and Andy sound youthful and cutting-edge by comparison. That's a marketing goal that Citadel talker WMAL could never have achieved without Bonneville's help.....
10/12 - From CBS News: Ann Coulter is stirring up controversy again. The conservative commentator said this week that the nation would be better off if all Americans were Christian and that she wants "Jews to be perfected, as they say." Appearing on the CNBC show "The Big Idea," Coulter was asked to give her version of a better America. She told the show's host, Donny Deutsch, that it would look like New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention. Pressed for details, Coulter said, "People were happy. They're Christian. They're tolerant. They defend America".....
10/11 - From our You Know It's A Slow News Day Department: Citadel talker WMAL's been hyping a big announcement all morning. And then it came. At 8:30 AM, Grandy and Andy show newsman Bryan Nehman proclaimed that his wife is pregnant with a boy. The couple's second son. And they'll be naming the child "Don Imus Nehman." Just a "joke." The name bit, anyway.....
10/10 - "Imus will be here tomorrow." Fred Grandy making a joke (we think) at 5:28 AM Wednesday on Citadel's WMAL.....
10/10 - You know what's sad? The most exciting thing on new talker 3WT is when they air that sounder which features the calls at the top of the hour. W - W - W - T. Boom boom boom, splat. It's all downhill from there. There's no getting around it - local or syndicated - 3WT's programming is deadly dull. I'm almost (but not quite) to the point of wishing 3WT would put Mancow in mornings. The Bonneville talker is a great companion to CBS's dull "whatever rocker" The Globe, just up the dial. We love Weasel. But his morning show with Kelly Knight is so, well, standard. Boring banter! It could be on any frigging station. It's generic (like WTGB's music). Weasel needs to do what he does best - a musical show, preferably in evenings. The Globe desperately needs to find an edgy morning show (and no, not Mancow). Come on you DC radio management dudes, put some excitement on the dial. Especially with the so-called "new" stations. Sheesh.....
10/7 - WAMU is the only radio station in the DC and Baltimore markets that is doing what it should be doing to promote digital HD Radio. Every hour, during program breaks, it's telling you what you could be hearing if you had an HD Radio and tuned into its HD2 and HD3 signals. That, dear GMs and PDs, is called "creating demand" among your listeners. WAMU - get this - has also programmed its HD2 and HD3 signals with viable, listenable, "go-to" programming. Much of it directly related to the news and talk programming on its main 88.5 channel. Not "canned" stuff on the "back burner" like what you hear on almost every other local station's digital signal. HD Radio is not catching on because most stations feature either nothing but a relay of their analog signal on HD, crappy and unimaginative programming (like dull as dishwater album rock on alt rockish WTGB's HD2 channel), or programming completely unrelated to the main station's format (like unsigned indie rock on all-news WTOP's HD2 channel). Running generic promo ads for HD Radio is not enough. HD Radio is sinking because station owners and programmers really don't give a shit about it. Let's hope WAMU's valiant efforts are not in vain - or too late.....
10/6 - With all the rumblings yesterday about disgraced Don Imus's return to radio, many of the local radio experts I talked to thought he might land on talker WMAL. That's because Citadel is the company talking to Imus (right) for its NYC talker WABC - and Citadel also owns WMAL. But, as I've been told, Citadel is very happy with the ratings and revenue generated by Fred Grandy and Andy Parks. So, where else could a live morning show from Imus land on the DC radio dial? Clear Channel's low-rated and not-so-great signaled talker WTNT? Maybe. That's where Imus used to air. But, I think, a much more likely scenario would put Imus on Bonneville's new post Washington Post Radio talker, 3WT. Imus's show is Washington politico-centered and his arrival at the better-signaled 3WT would generate a huge amount of buzz for the new station. Nobody's saying anything on the record, but I have a feeling that Bonneville biggies Joel Oxley, Jim Farley, and Greg Tantum are thinking the same thing, too. Hmmm.....
10/5 - Was that Seth Warner, who recently got the budget boot from Clear Channel country outlet WMZQ, seen walking the halls of Citadel's hot adult contemporary WRQX? Might he soon be doing a weekend shift at Mix 107.3? Hmmm.....
10/5 -
Check out the Washington Post's print edition Friday. Page C7 in the Style section. Bottom of the page. The local radio station listings (right). FM 107.7, formerly Washington Post Radio and now Bonneville talker 3WT, is mysteriously missing. Even though it would have fit - there's an extra blank line below 107.9. Over on the AM listings, 1500 is listed as the old WTWP, WaPo Radio, even though that's now WWWT, too. Oh, 1520's now Spanish.....10/5 - The NY Times feeds the rumor mill that Citadel is close to signing a deal to put Don Imus back on the morning radio airwaves. Citadel head Farid Suleman said that Imus has "more than paid the price" for his derogatory comments last spring about the Rutgers women's basketball team, resulting in his firing from CBS Radio and MSNBC. Suleman would not comment on widespread reports in recent weeks that his company was working toward an agreement with Imus. But three other people apprised directly on the status of the negotiations characterized the two sides as having reached an understanding for Imus to take over the morning drive slot on Citadel talker WABC radio in NYC. That has prompted some in the DC radio community to wonder if Imus might also air on Citadel talker WMAL. "Is this the end of Grandy and Andy?" - a local radio guru wonders. However, a WMAL biggie tells DCRTV that G&A make a lot of money and won't be dropped. Maybe Imus could be back on Clear Channel talker WTNT, we hear.....
10/4 -
Former Channel 7/WJLA news anchor Kathleen Matthews (left) took the anchor chair at MSNBC's DC-based "Hardball" Thursday and interviewed her husband, "Hardball" host Chris Matthews (right). Mr. Matthews told Mrs. Matthews that he's working hard to control his temper ever since he gave up drinking. And that he tries hard to be as hard on the Democrats and he is on the Republicans, although some might disagree. Kathleen now heads communications for Marriott. Chris is pitching a new book - "Life's A Campaign." "Hardball" celebrated its 10th birthday with a big DC bash Thursday.....10/4 - From politico.com. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, on Rush Limbaugh: "My classmates went to Vietnam, he did not. He was 4F. He had a medical disability, the same medical disability that probably should have stopped him from spending a lifetime in a radio announcer's chair; but it is true, isn't it? If he has an inoperable position that allows him not to serve, presumably it should not allow him to sit for long periods of time the way he does. I think this is a serious enough offense for the people who fund him, who buy ads and allow him to be on the air, need to be asked if this is what they really stand for, do they think it is alright for someone who has never served to denigrate the men and women who have simply because they are expressing an opinion. Frankly, I thought that is what we are fighting for." Limbaugh was excused from the draft because of a pilonidal cyst.....
10/3 -
We here at DCRTV continue to be surprised at the comic versatility and talent exhibited by Mike O'Meara (right), the often-thought "second banana" of WJFK-FM's afternoon "Don And Mike Show." Well, on Wednesday, top dog Don Geronimo was sidelined by last-minute dental problems. And, guess what? The Don-less "Don And Mike Show" sailed along just fine. Mike, joined by show staples Robb, Buzz, Joe, and John make a perfectly good afternoon radio team. WJFK boss Michael Hughes has nothing to worry about when Don makes his planned May 2008 departure from the show. Don't get us wrong. Geronimo is a local radio legend who will be missed. No doubt. But the show will continue - and thrive - without him. Perhaps Hughes ought to get busy and "lock in" Mike, Robb, Buzz, Joe, and John with some hefty raises and more "generous" contracts. Mike, you're no "Hank." You're a "Larry" - as in Sanders. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Bravo.....10/3 - If I have to listen one more time to 3WT morning pitchman David Burd delivering another on-air scolding about getting a colonoscopy and then revealing the history of weekend car guy and fellow 3WTer Pat Goss's colon, I think I'll keep my radio dial tuned to WMAL and righty whackjobs Grandy and Andy. As awful as they are. I know, G&A do medical pitches, too, but at least they don't talk about Goss's colon.....
10/2 -
Bottom feeder. DC-based ghoul Greta Van Susteren continues to generate exploitative ratings from the 2005 Natalee Holloway case. It's being heavily hyped via Rupert Murdoch's cable TV empire, including at foxnews.com: "What happened to Natalee? Tune in Wednesday night when Greta and Beth Holloway head back to Aruba to retrace their steps, reexamine the evidence, and reveal an investigation shocker!" Sad case of a missing, presumably murdered, Alabama teen. Even sadder "news" coverage.....10/2 - The "Morning Reading List 10.02.07" on Mediabistro's Capitol Hill media news site FishbowlDC links to a 9/29 Washington Post story on digital TV. Three days old. Better late than never.....
9/29 - I know, I'm a fool. I'm one of that increasingly small group of folks who likes to read a print newspaper in the morning as I sip my tea at the kitchen table. But imagine my disappointment this morning. No Washington Post on my doorstep. Second time this month. Called to report a missing paper at about 8 AM and never got a replacement. It's just not quite the same in front of the computer screen. Wah.....
9/28 - In a phone interview on 3WT radio Friday morning, Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi claimed that Bill O'Reilly "secretly taped me" and played his phone interview with the Fox News commentator on Thursday's "The O'Reilly Factor" without Farhi's consent. Farhi was heard telling O'Reilly: "Please don't repeat this... You're getting so dragged into something you don't deserve," regarding O'Reilly's latest racial controversy, which Farhi reported about in Wednesday's Post. Farhi revealed to 3WT morning man David Burd that, in retrospect, he shouldn't have divulged his personal opinions on the O'Reilly controversy in his phone interview with O'Reilly. On Thursday afternoon, via 3WT's airwaves, O'Reilly said he was mounting a charge against "corrupt media coverage" and singled out Farhi.....
9/26 -
Rant. As you probably know, DCRTV got its start 10 years ago this month. In September 1997, my ma (left) was starting to suffer health problems and I made the "career decision" to spend more time with her in the old family home (dad had died six years earlier). I set up a home office and started building a freelance writing and reporting business. And, oh yeah, dabbled on this new fangled thing called the web. Three years later, ma suffered an almost fatal heart attack. But she pulled through. However, from 2000 to 2004, her health steadily declined. I'm glad I was there with her, because she wouldn't have been able to live alone in the house that she loved. In 2003, I decided to put DCRTV on "the front burner," career-wise. And the site's grown rapidly since then. I spent much of my time in those years driving ma to countless doctors' appointments and to hospitals for tests. And I always had the car radio on. She listened with me to Howard Stern, Don and Mike, WTOP, Weasel, Diane Rehm, "Car Talk," Big Oldies, and WMAL, too. And she loved them all (OK, maybe not WMAL). I got an XM radio in October 2004 and set it up near her couch so she could listen to the big bands of her youth. Ma died in November 2004 at age 70. Renal failure, the docs said. But she was able to be in her beloved home up until three days before she died. If it wasn't for ma, I probably would have landed a "job job" back in the late-1990s and never bothered with DCRTV. In a very real sense, DCRTV is here because of her. Happy Birthday ma! Check out my tribute to her here.....9/25 - From his "Station Break" Q&A at washingtonpost.com: "Johnson Center, George Mason University: What do you think of the chances of 3WT (old Washington Post Radio) doing well in the ratings? Very little local, original shows; mostly nationally syndicated shows... Paul Farhi: I think I agree with my man Dave Hughes over at DCRTV on this: It will do worse in the ratings than WaPo Radio, for the reasons you cite. These syndicated shows (O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, etc.) have already been tried on local stations and found wanting. I think 3WT had better hope ol' Tony Kornheiser comes back in January (not a sure thing at this point) because the off-the-shelf stuff will never be a home run." Later. "Columbia MD: Don't you think it's likely that Tony will go back to 980?... Paul Farhi: I have no inside info on this, but if I were betting, yes. Since there's no more Post connection at 3WT, he's a free agent".....
9/23 - Our take on new Bonneville talker 3WT. A big fat "ho hum." Apart from the local morning show with David Burd, there's really nothing to listen to on the station that replaced Washington Post Radio last Thursday. Burd is a very talented radio veteran who was part of the popular "Baker And Burd" morning show on pre-urban WPGC some two decades ago. His more recent weekend morning shows on WMAL and on WaPo Radio showed Burd to be a funny, relaxed, low-key, and imaginative host. But, ever since he moved to the much more high-pressure weekday morning drive slot on WaPo Radio, and now 3WT, his presence seems more forced and less genuine. He's trying too hard to be Don Geronimo or Jack Diamond and not himself. It doesn't work. After Burd leaves the airwaves at 10 AM, there is simply no compelling reason to continue to listen to WWWT. Pretty much syndicated talkers you can already hear all over the AM band, especially on Clear Channel's low-rated WTNT and WWRC. While Bonneville has sought to throw a few women and lefties into what's usually a male and righty talk radio mix, it's surprising how there's not a single African-American hosting voice on the station, apart from a weekend, very early morning public service show. Yeah, there's the great Jim Bohannon on in evenings, Pat Goss's car show on the weekends, and the Nationals, but that's about it for listenable material. Much of the weekend time is, sadly, "whored out" to paid infomercials. 3WT needs to further develop its morning drive show, including the return of the great Tony Kornheiser to the morning mix come 2008, and put together a local afternoon drive show - something that doesn't feel like it's playing to a bunch of "blue hairs" at Leisure World. (What's Mike O'Meara doing after Don Geronimo retires from WJFK-FM next spring? How about an O'Meara and newsman Buzz Burbank afternoon show on 3WT? Hmmm.) If Bonneville can sign the Redskins next season, re-sign the Nationals, and maybe take the station in more of a sports talk direction, there might be some hope for 107.7 FM and 1500 AM. But, as it's currently configured, Bonneville shouldn't be surprised to find 3WT getting even lower ratings than what WaPo Radio got. Sigh.....
9/21 - DCRTV hears that some former ad sales folks at Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra are not happy with their former employer. Earlier this year, when Snyder was planning to move the transmitter of RZ's Triple X sports talker's 730 AM signal from Mount Vernon to Ashburn and hike its power, RZ brought on a batch of new sales people. But, apparently, some didn't realize that their contracts got them paid via a "non-refundable draw," which, some say, ultimately cost them a healthy chunk of their projected salary and commissions. Meanwhile, many left RZ when Snyder's plans for 730's move got rejected and ad sales slowed, we're told.....
9/21 - We've uncovered a major scandal here. Marc Sterne on the David Burd and Jessica Doyle show at 6 AM on the new 3WT barely has a British accent. He almost sounds American. But Marc "Nigel" Sterne on the "Tony Kornheiser Show Featuring David Burd" at 8 AM has a thick-as-clotted-cream Cockney accent. What's up with that? What does the real Marc Sterne sound like? And who is he - really? Hmmm.....
9/20 - A DCRTVer tells us: "With his most recent recording session for the Rosenthal Automotive Group, it marks the 34th consecutive year that Don Richards has voiced commercials for that car dealer organization. Can anyone else in the country match or surpass that record?" Veteran broadcaster Richards was the top news anchor on the old WTOP-TV, Channel 9, in the 1950s and 1960s.....
9/18 - What? When Washington Post superstar sports celebrity Tony Kornheiser calls his "Tony Kornheiser Show Starring David Burd" show on Washington Post Radio (to become 3WT on Thursday) he never talks to David Burd. In his daily calls from the "Monday Night Football" road, Tony will only talk to show producer Marc "Nigel" Sterne. Not to substitute host Dave. Why? Does Tony hate Dave? Is there some kind of feud going on? Jealousy, perhaps? Look, Dave's a US Marine. He's a tough guy, right? He ought to make it very clear to Tony: "When you're gone, it's my show, and you talk to me." Dammit, Dave, you're looking like a wuss. You've got to put your foot down. Take charge! Be a manly man! Sheesh.....
9/15 - Saturday's Style section in the Washington Post thought it was important that we knew that Subway sandwich shop spokesman Jared Fogel was spotted "wandering around Capitol Hill yesterday." But nothing, yet, on Washington radio maverick Jake Einstein, who died on Wednesday. On Friday, the Post did run a paid death notice in the Metro section, which didn't mention Einstein's association with legendary progressive rocker WHFS. But still no editorial obituary or "appreciation" article. And, surprise, nothing yet in Marc "The Listener" Fisher's "Raw Fisher" blog. The Post will get around to telling us about Jake Einstein one of these days. Yeah, the news can wait until the Post is good and ready to report it.....
9/14 -
We've heard the complaints that commercial talk radio, particularly the political kind heard largely on AM, is heavily white and male. You know - Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Chris Core, Ron Smith, etc. So, we're going to keep a running tally about new Bonneville talker 3WT, WWWT, which launches on 9/20. As of today, we've gotten official word that locally-based David Burd, Jessica Doyle, and Pat (Patrick not Patricia) Goss will be on the station. Plus nationally syndicated talkers Bill O'Reilly, Neal Boortz, Glenn Beck, Phil Hendrie, Larry King, Jim Bohannon, and Stephanie Miller. As more show hosts get officially announced, we'll add them to the "3WT Diversity Scoreboard" (right). Stay tuned.....9/6 - In a phone call to Washington Post Radio Thursday morning, Washington Post superstar sports columnist Tony Kornheiser seemed dumbfounded that his old radio show still sports his name. "It's like walking into Hechts and they're still calling it Woodies." Kornheiser left the 8:30 AM show - now hosted by David Burd - in late June for six-ish months of ESPN "Monday Night Football" duties. He is expected to return to the local radio dial in January or February, but there's no confirmation of where he'll wind up. Bonneville sources say Kornheiser will return to their new 3WT talker, which is set to replace Washington Post Radio later this month. But other area radio sources say Kornheiser could end up at another station, possibly his old radio haunt of SportsTalk 980. Also, for what it's worth, Kornheiser Thursday talked to show producer and old friend Marc "Nigel" Sterne and not to substitute host Burd......
9/4 - Come 9/26, the fall season of Carol Joynt's "Q&A Cafe" gets underway at her Nathan's restaurant in Georgetown. Dan Rather, Mark Warner, Howard Fineman, and many more newsmakers are waiting in the wings to join Joynt and her fascinating lunchtime sessions. It seems that the interviews, which, in past seasons have broken news - a la DC "madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey, might be a cool local programming addition to a local radio station's lineup. The most-likely candidate would be the new "more" news and talk WAMU. Make it a weekly "news event" - preferably live. Or possibly on the new news talker planned for WGTS, or maybe even on the new Bonneville talker 3WT? Or how about C-SPAN Radio, WCSP? Media veteran Joynt is no stranger to radio, having done regular guest shots with David Burd on Washington Post Radio. Definitely "food for thought"..... OK, since CBS can't get the WHFS calls for 94.7, how about re-branding it "947 HFS" with the WWHF calls, which would only be shot-gunned at the top of the hour. Get HFS vet Gina Crash back for mornings, and move Weasel to evenings. Give the station a fresh, more alt rock-ish playlist with 25 percent current alt rock tunes, 25 percent current AAA adult alternative tunes, 25 percent classic rock deep cuts, and 25 percent classic alternative "New Wave." If CBS doesn't give 94.7 a solid identity real soon, Clear Channel's rocker DC101 and classic rock hits WBIG are going to have The Globe "for lunch," I fear.....
9/1 -
In September 1997, I started a personal website with a few pages about my life-long love of radio. Ten years later, DCRTV has caused every area radio and TV "suit" to shit his or her pants at one time or another. I've met the Greaseman, Ed Walker, Weasel, and Don Richards. I've gotten phone calls from Tony Snow and George Michael. I've had lunch with Walt Starling, something I will never ever forget. I've interviewed Johnny Dark and Johnny Holliday. I've guested on NewsChannel 8 and WJFK. I've been in Count Gore De Vol's dungeon. I've online "chatted" with Bob Levey. I've gotten hate calls from fans of Don and Mike. My niece almost ran off the road when she heard Elliot diss me on DC101. I've had news items on Drudge, City Paper, the NY Post, the NY Daily News, the Baltimore Sun, the DC Times, and the DC Post, and stolen by countless blogs, websites, and some print rags. Each day, I get dozens of secret e-mails from local reporters, weathercasters, traffic chicks, PDs, TV anchors, radio personalities, voiceover dudes, GMs, engineers, crackpots, and many other local radio and TV folks - many with an ax to grind. Some who just lust after me. But, you know what, I have loved every damn minute of it. I still wake up past midnight anxious to check my e-mail for the latest scoops. Thank you all. It's been a blast. Here comes 11! Live, local, and late-breaking.....9/1 - A DCRTVer tells us that Channel 11/ WBAL's Rob Roblin did a live segment for CNN on Saturday morning. He was at the liquor store in the Nottingham neighborhood of Baltimore County that sold one of last night's winning Mega Millions tickets. At the end of his piece, Roblin gave the standard signoff. But when CNN's Melissa Long went to follow up with a question, Roblin was seen yanking his earpiece out of his ear and muttering to someone to his side, off-camera, "This is the last time I do this..." He obviously didn't realize that he was still on the air.....
8/31 - It's almost official: 94.7 is back to standard classic rock. It played the Allman Brothers at 11:30 this morning. What next? Marshall Tucker? Lynyrd Skynyrd? The six-month-old alt rockish experiment known as The Globe is pretty much dead. The Arrow has risen from the grave. Why else still no PD or full on-air lineup if you're not "in it" for the "long haul"? Sigh.....
8/31 - Is Clear Channel about to pull the plug on Baltimore's Smooth Jazz 104.3, WSMJ? Apparently, someone at RadioInsight thinks that a change will be coming to Charm City's 104.3 over Labor Day weekend. "The smooth jazz format has been trending downward in the ratings in Baltimore over the past year, while there is a void in the market for classic hits/oldies since CBS flipped 102.7 WQSR to variety hits 'Jack' in 2005. With the recent changes at CBS since Dan Mason returned, we'll speculate that this could be a race between the two companies to cover that niche." Also: Clear Channel has recently registered the following website addresses: my1043.com, fresh1043.com, and 1043fresh.com. CBS is using the "Fresh" label via a new upward-trending female-oriented hot adult contemporary format in NYC.....
8/29 - So, Bonneville will be re-launching local talker Washington Post Radio as largely syndicated talker 3WT. Like its predecessor, it faces a Washington radio dial that already sports an awful lot of talk. Righty talkers like WMAL and WTNT. "Shock jock" talkers like WJFK-FM's Junkies and DC101's Elliot. Teen-aimed talkers like Hot 99.5's Kane. Chick-geared talkers like Mix 107.3's Jack Diamond. Sports talk from WTEM and Triple X. Christian talk on WAVA. Public radio talkers WAMU and WCSP, soon to be joined by WGTS. Lefty talk WWRC. Urban talker WOL plus the black-oriented talk shows of WHUR's Michael Baisden and WMMJ's Tom Joyner. Spanish talk all over the AM band. Not to mention Bonneville's own federal talk WFED and talkie news WTOP. If I was making the decisions over at Bonneville, I would put WTOP back on 1500 AM and 107.7 FM along with 103.5 FM. The 1500 signal would be WTOP's "Maryland edition" and 107.7 would be WTOP's "Virginia edition," both with hyper-local news, weather, and traffic inserts, as well as "zoned" ads and target websites. Also, the 1500/107.7 combo would feature WTOP's local talk shows, including "Ask The," Mark Plotkin, car guy Pat Goss, a David Burd weekend show, plus sports, including college, the Nationals, and maybe even the Redskins. With 103.5 remaining non-stop news, traffic, and weather. If Bonneville thinks Neal Boortz and Bill O'Reilly are the "answer," it's asking the wrong "question".....
8/28 -
DCRTV broke the story about the demise of Washington Post Radio more than a week ago. Yet "Stonewall Paul" Farhi (right) conveniently "stonewalled" and didn't mention the fact that he got scooped by DCRTV during his Tuesday "Station Break" Q&A at washingtonpost.com. In his Q&A, Farhi also didn't mention that in his DC Post article about the demise of Washington Post Radio he got the frequencies of his own newspaper's stations wrong. No correction at the Q&A. Washington Post Radio is on 820 AM, not WTOP. Plus, Farhi didn't discuss the fact in today's Q&A that he erroneously claimed in his article that the Post's stations will "go off the air." They will remain on-air with talk. It is human to err. We all do. But it takes a slimeball not to acknowledge and correct his faulty reporting.....8/27 -
After playing a U2 song this morning, alternative rockish WTGB The Globe's Schelby (right) told us that U2 frontman Bono wrote the tune for his father, who is now in "Rock And Roll Heaven." Yes, we know that Bob Hewson, father of Paul Hewson (Bono's real name), died in 2001 at age 75. But, as a retired postal worker, shouldn't he be in Postal Worker's Heaven? I mean, do all parents of rockers go to Rock And Roll Heaven? You mean that if we get to visit Rock And Roll Heaven after we pass away we'll get to meet David Bowie's ma and/or Ozzie Osbourne's dad? I'm presuming that they're dead, sorry (in advance) if they're not. Maybe we can pick the type of Heaven we go to when we die, and don't have to go to the one for our particular occupation. I mean, when I die will I go to Internet Celebrity Heaven with folks like Matt Drudge, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, and Ana Marie Cox? I guess that would be pretty cool. When radio people die, do they go to Radio Heaven? Or do they go to a specific radio Heaven like Adult Contemporary Radio Heaven? Where would DC101's Elliot Segal go? To Rock Radio Heaven because DC101 is a rock station or to Talk Radio Heaven because he does a talk show? When Schelby passes away, will she go to Classic Rock Radio Heaven or Alternative Rock Radio Heaven? What effect do format flips have? Hmmm.....8/27 - Where was all-news WTOP programmer Jim Farley last week? In Seattle. And what do we hear this week? That city's news talker KIRO, which is owned by Bonneville, has inked a contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks. Hmmm. DCRTV wonders if Farley's going to be gunning for the Washington Redskins for Bonneville's WTOP or its rumored new post Washington Post Radio talker for next year? Hmmm, again. Farley does national news and talk radio consulting for Salt Lake City's Bonneville. A Bonneville source tells us that Farley was asked to "help out" by Seattle radio management. "Landing the Seahawks was the hard and creative work of Bonneville Seattle Market Manager Scott Sutherland and PDs Rod Arquette and Dave Logan," we're told......
8/26 - I really hate having to constantly pick on the Washington Post, but the paper keeps putting "kick me" signs on itself. Take Sunday's debut of the new Style And Arts section. They run an outdated local radio listing featuring 94.7 WARW as classic rock. The Post had updated the listing a month or so ago to reflect the station's change last February to alternative rockish WTGB. New gospel 104.1 is back to WXGG, the George adult hits format, and poor nostalgic 1520 WTRI is again playing "Christmas" tunes. Even 820, which now relays Washington Post Radio, is listed as having its old all-news WTOP format. A newspaper that doesn't "sweat the small stuff" can't be expected to be accurate on the "big stuff," can it? Hmmm.....
8/25 - I think it was simply smashing of the Washington Post to do two stories in two days about WPGC-FM's great Donnie Simpson. About his 30 years on the air here. But how come nothing on another major DC radio morning man, WMAL's Andy Parks, who's been in the hospital all week with what could be classified as a heart attack? While Parks' co-host Fred Grandy did try to minimize the pacemaker implantation procedure on the air, an erratically beating ticker requiring the assistance of an electrical device is a pretty serious medical situation. It would have been worth a mention in the Post's Style section, don't you think? Maybe in "The Reliable Source" column? Ah, Style, the chronically weak link in otherwise great newspaper.....
8/24 - From Erik Wemple's blog at washingtoncitypaper.com: "Local media site DCRTV is out ahead of the pack in reporting on the rumored demise of WTWP (Washington Post Radio). Just yesterday, it posted an item that took for granted the experiment's imminent undoing: 'Now we wonder: What will Post veteran Tony Kornheiser do after 'Monday Night Football' without a Post-branded radio outlet to come back to? Some sources tell us that Kornheiser will return to the station early next year, doing the 10 AM to noon slot.' Rumors, of course, are easy to spit onto the page. Getting on-the-record confirmation, at least on this piece, is a bit tougher." Basically, Wemple got "no comment" responses from Posties Len Downie, Tina Gulland, Christopher Ma, and Steve Hills, and Bonnevillers Jim Farley and Joel Oxley on rumors that the two sides are "in talks to collapse the venture." Sources tells DCRTV that WTWP owner Bonneville will continue a non-Post radio talker on 107.7 FM and 1500 AM after Labor Day, with less expensive nationally syndicated personalities. Only a handful of time slots will be locally-produced.....
8/24 - "Don doesn't need to whore himself out like I do." WJFK-FM's Mike O'Meara responding to a caller Friday who asked why he does "cheesy" car ads on the radio while his wealthier radio partner Don Geronimo doesn't.....
8/24 - Some corrections to Paul Farhi's Friday article about WPGC-FM great Donnie Simpson. "He started as the night man on the old WWRC-FM, but moved to the morning slot within two years," Farhi writes about Simpson's arrival in DC from Detroit. That station, which became WKYS (93.9 FM), was WRC not WWRC. The only WWRCs have been the post-NBC-owned WRC AM outlet on 980 (now WTEM), for a short time on 570 AM (now WTNT), and the current 1260 AM (currently WWRC). The extra "W" was thrown in to indicate that those stations were not (or no longer) owned by NBC, which owns the only "real" WRC, now only DC's Channel 4. Back, pre-early 1970s, the WRC calls (one W) graced Channel 4, AM 980, and FM 93.9. Also, 93.9 dropped the WRC calls and became easy listening WKYS before Simpson and the disco and urban contemporary formats arrived.....
8/23 - More rumblings today in-line with DCRTV's exclusive Rumorama piece last Sunday about the probable demise of Washington Post Radio after Labor Day. DCRTV hears that WaPo Radio morning man David Burd (right) will remain with the reconfigured Post-less Bonneville talk outlet, doing mornings. More like his old weekend morning show, but in the 6 AM to 10 AM weekday slot on 107.7 FM, and 1500 and 820 AM. The rest of the station's lineup will be syndicated talkers like Bill O'Reilly, Stephanie Miller, and Glenn Beck, we hear. Now we wonder: What will Post veteran Tony Kornheiser do after "Monday Night Football" without a Post-branded radio outlet to come back to? Some sources tell us that Kornheiser will return to the station early next year, doing the 10 AM to noon slot.....
8/22 - Many major public television stations offer several digital subchannels via their broadcast digital signals. In the DC area, WETA offers WETA Create, WETA Family, and WETA World. Across Maryland, Maryland Public Television does the same. But area cable TV giant Comcast has a policy of carrying those extra digital offerings of just one public TVer per market. So, DC area Comcasters get WETA's subchannels. And Baltimore area Comcasters get MPT's subchannels. But what about locations where public TV signals overlap, like the DC market? Clearly, MPT serves the DC area via the strong signal of Annapolis's Channel 22/WMPT, which transmits from Anne Arundel, not far from the Prince George's County line. Now, a controversy is brewing because MPT just added the digital offering of V-Me, a new Spanish language public TV network. But Comcast won't carry it in Prince George's or Montgomery because it carries WETA's digital offerings in those DC area Maryland counties. And WETA doesn't offer V-Me. The solution to this problem seems to be simple: Comcast should carry WMPT's three or four digital subchannels throughout the DC metropolitan area. Look, Comcast currently features hundreds of digital channels - mainly commercial networks and premium services. Would offering three or four more digital public TV channels to its subscribers in PG, Montgomery, DC, and Northern Virginia break the back of the cable firm? Hardly. Comcast already offers WMPT's analog signal in those locations. It should offer its digital channels, too.....
8/21 - DCRTV hears that there's not a lot of love going on at the six-month-old alternative rock-ish The Globe, 94.7 FM. We hear there's some dissention among the CBS Radio station's air staff about what tunes should be played - and shouldn't. Still no firm feel for what kind of rock the station should be playing - currently everything from old Crosby Stills And Nash to new Guster, with some Fleetwood Mac and Depeche Mode thrown in. But no Linkin Park. Still no program director. Still no consensus on how much the personalities should talk, especially on the weekends. Still no evening personality, with folks like Albie Dee doing fill-ins. And it still feels that the morning show with WHFS veteran Weasel and Kelly Knight is still "feeling its way." The ratings are ticking up, but not surging. Now, we hear that Mike Franciotti, who'd done nights and weekends, is leaving for another gig. And alt rock 99.1 WHFSer Pat Ferrise has been heard doing weekends. Is he in line for the PD gig? Finally? Stay tuned.....
8/21 - Is Imelda Marcos dead? So wondered Washington Post Radio morning sidekick Victoria Jones this morning. The crew of the substitute Tony Kornheiser show was talking about celebs and their collections of shoes. "If she's not she should be," jested producer Marc "Nigel" Sterne. The former Philippine first lady, wife of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is alive at age 78. That reminds us of WMAL morning man Fred Grandy's quip of a year or so ago about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher "turning over in her grave." Ms. Thatcher, like Ms. Marcos, is still among the living.....
8/20 - I've always liked Channel 9/WUSA's weather radio via their website. When it shows rain over my Wild West Fairfax neighborhood it is, indeed, raining. Very accurate. But some boob at 9 decided to "improve" it by making the background land green color almost the same as the green color for some types of precipitation. Now it's much more difficult to see where it's raining and where it's not. Is that a hill or a rain storm? Brilliant.....
8/19 - Rumorama. DCRTV's hearing rumblings from a number of well-connected radio sources that there's a strong possibility that the plug could get pulled on the year-and-a-half-old Washington Post Radio in September. Maybe on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Basically, the news talk station is not attracting enough listeners to generate the advertising revenue needed to support the expensive locally-produced news and talk programming. Nobody's officially confirming anything, but an alleged mutual agreement to end the somewhat contentious marriage between station owner Bonneville, which also owns all-newser WTOP, and the Post would not end the talk format on 1500 AM, 820 AM, and 107.7 FM, we're told. David Burd would still do a local morning show, but the rest of time slots would be inhabited by far less expensive satellite-delivered syndicated talkers. The names we're hearing are Bill O'Reilly (recently dumped from WJFK-FM), Stephanie Miller, Neal Boortz, and Glenn Beck. Bonneville would market the "new" station against rival righty talkers WMAL and WTNT as a more politically diverse array of opinion on "triple" the number of signals. Stay tuned.....
8/17 - I lasted until 8:38 this morning before I bailed out on Washington Post Radio's "The Tony Kornheiser Show Featuring David Aldridge Substituting For Substitute Host David Burd." When I heard that a replay of Tony's rant of several months ago (!) about that TB carrier guy who was mistakenly allowed back into the US was coming up. Can it get any worse? No! It makes you seriously wonder if WaPo Radio PD Greg Tantum is getting secret dough from ABC-Citadel to drive WaPo Radio's listeners to ABC talker WMAL. (Good thing. Chris Core had an excellent discussion this morning about the Iraq War.) Greg used to work for ABC Radio and surely has friends there. I'm just joking, but "hmmm." See you in September, Greg.....
8/15 - Washington Post Radio Wednesday morning with some guy (we won't divulge his name to avoid embarrassment) subbing for the vacationing David Burd who was subbing for the "Monday Night Football"-bound Tony Kornheiser. Don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, but it's just plain awful radio. Really really really bad. Why not just have Burd co-host Victoria Jones, a local radio pro in her own right, host the show with Burd/Korny's crew? Or maybe Bonneville believes a woman can't handle a top hosting job on the radio? They can only be sidekicks, huh? Instead, let a man do it - even a boring-ish one! Sheesh! UPDATE: I hear that Victoria Jones is hosting the afternoon show today on Washington Post Radio. Good.....
8/15 -
Remember the Greaseman (left)? He did mornings on CBS classic rocker WARW until early 1999, when he made a racially-tinged joke. CBS, which also owns WPGC-FM, then and now the top black-oriented station in the DC market, was faced with the potential of an African-American boycott of its advertisers. And Doug "Greaseman" Tracht was promptly fired. Yeah, he's back on the radio, via a handful of smallish stations, including a Gaithersburg AMer, doing a morning show from his local home, but his career never recovered. Now, Don Imus (right) is standing at the same "radio gallows" for a racially-tinged and sexist joke he made in April. CBS, which owns Imus's former home station in NYC, isn't going to take him back. Sirius Satellite Radio, which is currently seeking federal approval for its merger with XM, won't hire him. There are lots of black and female legislators - duh. And probably no other major broadcaster will touch him for fear of a listener boycott of its advertisers. Maybe Don could find a nice home down here, put a home studio in his basement, and do a show on that local AMer and a handful of other smallish stations.....8/13 - DCRTV hears that Channel 9/ WUSA lost its Metro Traffic helicopter in its new traffic news deal with traffic.com. Channel 7 "WJLA used to be the only DC station with no chopper. Now they have a new bird and Channel 9 is grounded," we're told by a DC area TV news source. "Probably not that big a deal most of the time since TV choppers are not allowed to fly anywhere inside the Beltway - but when there's a big story in Maryland or Virginia, WUSA is going get burned because they won't cough up the big bucks for aerial coverage." However, a Channel 9er tells DCRTV: "There will be ample opportunities to piggyback on other regional choppers on a dime when the story warrants it, which isn’t very often".....
8/13 -
Free Republic says MSNBC's DC-based "Hardball" host Chris Matthews (left) has a bit of a problem "keeping his lust in check" on the air. On Friday evening's show, Matthews was interviewing CNBC's "Street Signs" anchor Erin Burnett about the latest Wall Street news when "suddenly he switched gears." And said: "You look great... Look at that look... You're great... No, you're beautiful. I'm just kidding... You're a knockout... It's alright getting bad news from you even. Okay. Thanks for coming on 'Hardball'." Matthews is married to former Channel 7/WJLA news anchor Kathleen Matthews. The video is at YouTube.....8/12 - Don't the folks at the Washington Post ever turn on the friggin' radio and listen to it? Sunday's Post touts "Opie And Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour" next Saturday at the Nissan Pavillion. While the rag mentions the radio duo's XM show, it doesn't tell us that they're also heard on local talker WJFK-FM. Also, yesterday's Post neglected to mention that Saturday night's Redskins pre-season game was heard on the big inside-the-Beltway signalled WBIG, along with a bunch of dingwatt rimshots. Granted this is small stuff, but if the Post doesn't give a shit about the small stuff, how are we to expect it to be accurate about the big stuff? Hmmm.....
8/9 - "I've been told that I'm no expert in aging, because at 48 I look like I'm 68." Mike O'Meara on Thursday's "Don And Mike Show" on WJFK-FM.....
8/2 - Less than 24 hours after that Minnesota bridge collapse, some of the cable nets (including the one I love to hate) are doing on-air promos bragging about their coverage of the disaster. Further proof that some really inhuman scumbags inhabit the PR departments of said cable nets. Even with many people still missing and feared dead. Yeah, we all know you'll get big ratings from the coverage, be able to juice up your ad rates, and make more dough for your media baron corporate bosses. But what pathetic lowlifes some of you cable news people be.....
8/1 -
How I'd Fix WBAL. Poor news talker WBAL radio is plagued by slumping numbers of late. It's mainstream talk format is being "nibbled to death" by the righty talk of WCBM (including former BALer Rush Limbaugh), the public radio talk of WYPR, the FM radio guy talk of WHFS (and the Orioles), the female talk of WVIE, the urban talk of WOLB, the Christian talk of WRBS, the sports talk of WJFK-AM and WNST, and even, probably, and the new Washington Post Radio talk of WTWP's 1500 (which many Baltimorians probably still call WTOP). So, what should the venerable 50,000-watt 1090, now Orioles-less, do now that it's got a "big hole" to fill from 9 AM to 3 PM, with the departures of Chip Franklin and Rob Douglas? Keep Dave Durian and Ron Smith in their popular drivetime talk shows, but the rest of the time do an all-news "wheel" with news, business, sports, and entertainment headlines, lots of local news reports, and traffic and weather on "the 8s" or whatever. Make it the "WTOP of Baltimore." WBAL already has an excellent radio news department in place. Way too many Baltimore radio listeners already tune to DC's WTOP for their news headlines. Is Baltimore big enough for it's own all-newser? You betchur aaaass, hun!.....7/31 - Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi on WJFK-FM's morning Junkies (right) and their not-so-hot ratings in his Station Break Q&A Tuesday at washingtonpost.com: "They finished tied for 14th among listeners 25-54, although they might argue that their core audience is 18-34. But whatever. I love the Junkies, but given their ratings over the past five 'quarters,' they may well have peaked. Sadly, they may even be past their peak." Then, when he was reminded: "The Junkies are 9th among adults 25-54 AQH share and 3rd with men 25-54 in the recently released Spring Arbitron," Farhi responded: "D'oh!! My bad. My very, very bad. You are correct about the AQH share (9th). I was looking at the wrong page on my ratings cheat sheet (the numbers I gave were for the station, signon-signoff). Dumb." But, in a later response, Farhi returned to his original belief: "Again, love the Junkies. But here are the - yes - actual ratings quarterly share numbers for them since Stern left (25-54): Spring '06: 4.0, Summer '06: 4.2, Fall '06: 4.2, Winter '07: 3.3, Spring '07: 3.4. I hope they do well, but that looks like a peak to me." A top WJFK-FMer tells DCRTV: "The Junkies are doing well in the demo to whom we market the station. We believe the show will continue to grow and they will be here for a long time to come".....
7/29 - A Baltimore radio guru has shed some light on the mysterious spring Arbitron radio ratings released Friday. In the all-important age 25-to-54 numbers, he reports surges for adult contemporary WLIF and classic rock WZBA. But adult hits Jack WQSR is in serious trouble, we're told, in almost all dayparts. In mornings, Rouse is way up on WLIF and so is JoJo on Mix 106.5. And Elliot is increasing his Baltimore listeners who tune in via DC's DC101. But Mickey is slumping on 98 Rock, with Kirk and Mark staying level on WHFS. In middays, Ed Norris on WHFS is up big. In afternoons, country WPOC and 98 Rock are way up, with WHFS's Don and Mike jumping from 12th to 10th. In evenings, WHFS does very well with the Orioles, with huge gains among male demos. On the sports side, WJFK-AM's Anita Marks is a loser with a big drop in her numbers, while sports talker WNST gets even lower ratings than she does, we hear.....
7/28 - "Me And Mrs. Jones." Heard today on classic rock hits WBIG (100.3 FM). And it wasn't the only black ballad played on Saturday morning. Is Clear Channel taking the ratings-slumping, largely caucasian station in a more "soulful" direction? Back a step or two to the "Big Oldies" days of the O'Jays, Sly, and Motown? Are three rockers - mainstream DC101, adult alternative WTGB, and WBIG - too many for DC? In our deepest Barry White voice we wonder: "Hmmm".....
7/26 - DCRTV hears from a very reliable DC area radio source that Redskins owner Dan Snyder is "shopping around" the signals for his Red Zebra Triple X ESPN Radio operation - the far suburban FMers of 92.7 and 94.3, and Alexandria AMer 730. Either Snyder's planning to get out of the radio business completely at the end of the Redskins' 2007 season or he's planning to buy some new, better signals for his sports talker. DCRTV has been reporting rumors that Snyder might be looking to purchase the signals of Bonneville's Washington Post Radio - 107.7 FM and 1500 AM. However, we from another very reliable DC area radio source: "Bonneville is not going to sell those stations. And I am very sure Red Zebra is getting out of radio, not looking to buy".....
7/26 - From our "What If Department." What if the Washington Post pulls out of its radio deal with Bonneville. And what if the rumors aren't true and Redskins owner Dan Snyder really isn't interested in buying the signals now used by WaPo Radio. What would happen to the format of 107.7 FM and 1500 AM? Hypothetically, DCRTV hears, probably not too much. There's a strong likelihood that the station would keep its talk format. We hear that Bonneville's DC suits are very happy with David Burd and Jessica Doyle's early morning show. And would love to continue airing Tony Kornheiser's late morning program, as well as Washington Nationals baseball. We probably would hear some more syndicated, less expensive talk fare on the station in afternoons and evenings. Stay tuned.....
7/23 - Back in the 1980s, you couldn't turn on a local television without seeing her. Tammy Faye Bakker singing, preaching, and crying black mascara tears with her then-husband Jim on the "PTL - Praise The Lord" (dismissed as "Pass The Loot" by critics) religious show. On Friday, Tammy died at age 65, a woman deeply transformed by her divorce from Jim in 1992 and her battles with prescription drugs and cancer. Hank Stuever remembers her in the DC Post.....
7/30 -
Goodnight Tom! Maverick late night TV host Tom Snyder (right) dead at 71. From complications of leukemia. Back in my college days, my nighttime (early morning) TV ritual was Johnny Carson at 11:30 followed by Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" program at 1. The black background, the illuminated cigarette smoke, the intense but oh so funny banter. Tom, who once even did the news in Philadelphia, would do the oddball, offbeat, Carson reject interviews - the punk rocker, the beatnik writer, the Yoko Ono-types. After many more years in the "fringes" of broadcast and cable time slots, Tom left the TV biz, but for many years continued contact with his fans via a website, which he gave up a year or two ago due to ill health. A tip of the old rabbit ears to you, Tom. One of the very best. Tom Shales remember Snyder in the DC Post.....7/27 - There is no bigger loser than someone who has come up short in a "hottest media type" contest on a dippy little website like FishbowlDC. If you can get enough of your so-called "friends" and co-workers to stuff the ballot - sit at a computer screen day and night endlessly clicking on your dorky pic - from among a selection of dudes and chicks who are, to be polite, not anywhere near the cream of the "sex-o-licious" Capitol Hill wonk crop, you are pathethic. Lower than low. Face it, you're unlovable. Alone in a crowd of pompous phonies, all seeking meaningless "approval".....
7/27 - Do some certain area radio personalities, like one on the Washington Post's radio station this morning, want to bore their listeners with "behind the scenes" ratings crap - 99.9 percent of them don't care? Even if you feel that you've been "wronged" by some print or internet critic. Let the ratings speak for themselves. And leave it at that. You just don't know how insecure it makes you look when you talk about your "numbers" on the air. Sheesh.....
7/25 - Incoming at DCRTV's Rumorama: "Don't tell (WTOP honcho Jim) Farley, but two broadcast license brokers in DC have heard from Utah (where Bonneville is based), fishing around for a price tag on a possible upcoming sale of the 50,000 (watt) AM property that used to be WTOP in Wheaton (Washington Post Radio on 1500). Farley is apparently unaware of what one player called a property management review, preliminary. Apparently due to falling revenue at a newspaper (Washington Post) has caused them to reconsider whether to extend their (multi-year) deal (with Bonneville), and so it goes. Got to fill that signal with something while they peddle it, so time's a wastin'" However, a top Bonneviller tells DCRTV: "That's so dopey. Bonneville does this every two years at every one of its stations. It's a routine inventory of furniture".....
7/23 -
Often, if I see a good movie in a theater, I'll "pair it" with a home viewing of a like-themed movie I have on DVD. For example, this weekend I caught "Talk To Me," the film about legendary WOL radio and WDCA television personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (right). Fabulous! Funny, touching, well-acted. Go see it! Don Cheadle is brilliant as Petey and is deserving of an Oscar nomination for his performance. Ditto with Chiwetel Ejiofor as WOL Program Director Dewey Hughes. If you're "into" DC radio or not, you will love it. 
And then, on Sunday night, I dug out my DVD copy of "Private Parts" to relive radio great Howard Stern's (left) DC radio days at DC101. Another very good flick - and it holds up well a decade after its release. You may recall that Howard did do a guest shot on Petey's TV show back in the early 1980s. So, after you catch Petey in the theater, go rent or buy Howard for home viewing. A great "DC radio double feature".....7/20 - Why does Tony Kornheiser substitute David Burd repeatedly talk about how his audience wants to be "destressed"? Washington Post Radio listeners want news and talk and commentary delivered in an entertaining, lively way. If they want to be "destressed" they'll be listening to classical music on WETA-FM or Smooth Jazz 105.9. And, please, no more talk about "puddin' pants." At times, Burd sounds like he's doing his show for a crowd of the silver-haired at Leisure World. Sheesh.....
7/19 - Call it the DC Radio Domino Effect. If Bonneville hadn't killed off classical WGMS in an effort, ultimately, to make room for news talk Washington Post Radio, then WETA-FM wouldn't have dropped its news talk format for classical music, which is attracting Minnesota Public Radio to DC to put news talk in place of Christian contemporary on WGTS. So, you could say that Mormon-owned Bonneville is ultimately responsible for the potential loss of Christian contemporary tunes on the Washington area radio dial. But, then again, Bonneville did sell a latter day (sorry, bad joke) WGMS frequency to Radio One for Christian gospel tunes. So, I guess God can't be too angry with Bonneville. And so it goes.....
7/18 - Holy cow! The Washington Post has finally updated its radio listing to correctly indicate 94.7 as having the WTGB calls and alternative rock format, which it's had since February's dumping of classic rock. However, the Wednesday Style section radio list still sports plenty of wrong info that we've bitched about, like the WXGG calls (now WPRS) for gospel 104.1. But, we must take note of the Post's one small step toward accuracy. Congratulations. That wasn't so hard, was it?.....
7/17 - So, the National Association Of Broadcasters has nominated WMAL for a Marconi Award as being the best "news/talk station of the year." What a crock! On the "talk" side, WMAL plugs into the satellite at noon and pretty much stays that way the rest of the day and night (Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, Noory). The only locally-produced shows are the morning Grandy and Andy show, Chris Core's late morning show, and Chris Plante in evenings. WMAL doesn't even have a locally-produced afternoon drive show! Now the "news." WMAL has a scaled-back news department. Look at all the staff who've gone to other stations, including WTOP or WAMU! During weekends and evenings, WMAL gets its news from an outside source - Metro Traffic. On the weekends, the station is pretty much infomercials or more satellite-delivered talkers. No more University Of Maryland sports and the Redskins left long ago. As for the station's on-air personalities and line-up, it's almost all male and almost all white - in a heavily black city! If WMAL is one of the nation's best news/talk outlets, then American radio is in a very sorry state. WMAL does not remotely come close to being a prime example of its format. Give that award to WABC or WOR in NYC, WGN in Chicago, WPHT in Philly, KFI in LA or, heck, even WBAL or WCBM in Baltimore.....
7/16 - Wrong yet again. The radio station listing in Monday's Washington Post again claims that 94.7 is classic rock WARW. The station became adult alternative rock WTGB in February. A great newspaper strives for accuracy, even with the "small stuff".....
7/15 - Oh, how I love doing DCRTV! Imagine my "joy" at being awakened early Saturday morning by a phone call from a local radio personality who was upset about a rumor I'd printed on Friday. And he - get this - vowed to never ever have me on his radio show. Like it would have happened if I hadn't reported the rumor? Hey, all you radio folks out there - I have no desire to be on the radio. Let me repeat that. I have no desire to be on the radio. I'm told I sound like a cross between Quentin Tarantino and Fez Whatley. I cringe when I hear my voice on a tape recorder. In the 10 years of running this site, I've guested on only one local broadcast radio show - "The Hideout" with El Jefe and J-Dubs. And where are they today? Off the radio. I still haven't listened to a CD someone sent me of that show. Me - I'll stick to "print." Maybe I'll fill a book with all the local radio personality stories I've heard over the years. Fascinating stuff, oh yeah.....
7/13 - A couple of months ago, I complained about a radio ad for a local car dealer holding a "fire sale" that featured sirens. The ad got promptly pulled. Now, there's a DC Lottery "fire drill" ad with a siren in it that's running on local radio stations. When will advertisers, ad agencies, and radio station management realize that it's damn dangerous for drivers when they hear sirens in radio ads because, for a few seconds, they can't tell whether the warning is real or not? You hit the brakes and start to pull over only to realize that there really isn't a fire truck, police car, or ambulance approaching you. Once again, I need to say it - the DC area's roads are dangerous enough without phoney sirens adding to the problem. Radio stations must pay attention to the ads they run.....
7/12 - Fresh out of college in the early 1980s, I landed a job at a Northern Virginia weekly newspaper and was covering politics. And one of the big issues was Chuck Robb's successful run for governor of Virginia. I got to meet Lady Bird Johnson (who died yesterday at age 94) at a fundraiser for Robb, who was married to Lynda Bird, daughter of the former First Lady. I got to chat with Lady Bird for just a few minutes. She was a bit flustered that the campaign plans for that particular evening weren't going smoothly and she was arguing with Lynda Bird and their aides. My first memory of Lady Bird was via television in 1963 at the John F. Kennedy funeral. I was only 5 and a bit upset that they'd cancelled all the cartoons. Naturally, I didn't tell her that. I was just in awe at meeting her. A great lady.....
7/10 - Another glitch of "glorious" HD Radio. Tried listening to the beginning of Rush Limbaugh's show on AMer WMAL's digital signal today, but the hi-fi HD audio kept cutting out. Very annoying. Must have been all that thunderstorm interference on the band today. Duh! Did the guys who designed and pushed for HD on AM realize that this would happen during the summer boomer season? Sheesh.....
7/6 - Not quoted in Paul Farhi's Friday Washington Post article (above blurb) about Bill O'Reilly getting dumped Thursday from CBS Radio's WJFK-FM is anyone from WJFK-FM. But, WTOP programmer Jim Farley, who works for Bonneville, which runs Washington Post Radio, is quoted by Farhi. A big fat "hmmm." By the way, the Post's radio listings in today's Style section still claim that CBS's 94.7 is classic rock WARW, when it flipped format and calls in February.....
7/2 - A great show about the after-effects of a comet/asteroid hitting the Earth on Silver Spring-based Discovery's The Science Channel on Sunday evening. During the first 35 minutes of the 2-hour program there were a few ad breaks. OK. But then, for some odd reason, Discovery decided to chase its audience away with ad breaks every four or five minutes. More ads than show! And these breaks featured either the same annoying pitches for low budget crap like a toy helicopter or repeated promos for other Discovery shows. Needless to say, I bailed out before the program's halfway mark. I'll guess I'll catch it on DVD, someday.....
7/1 - They've been up and running for a few weeks, but we're now officially launching our NYC/Philadelphia and Boston/Providence radio, TV, and media news pages. Including coverage of Atlantic City, Trenton, Wilmington, Long Island, Hartford, and Manchester. Plus, we're featuring some northeastern radio and TV memories at DCRTV Plus.....
6/30 -
How I'd Fix WHFS. Back when alternative rock WHFS was on 99.1 based out of the DC market, it got great ratings in Baltimore even though it kind of sagged in DC. The old HFS frequently rivaled 98 Rock's more hard rock sound. Now, the "new" talk HFS on 105.7 is kind of slumping in the ratings - 15th in the latest age 12+ trends. Hell, more people in Baltimore are listening to out-of-market urban WPGC-FM than to Baltimore's own WHFS, which has become the "weak sister" of CBS's FMers in Charm City. That's sad! My suggestion - keep Kirk and Mark in mornings, keep the Orioles, but flip 105.7's talk to youngish alternative rock. And do a "Baseball And Beck" male demo campaign.....6/30 - The Washington Post ran its somewhat outdated local radio station list in Saturday's Style section. And guess what? The listing for 820 AM has just been updated to indicate that the signal now relays the "news/analysis" of Washington Post Radio. The signal shift from all-news WTOP took place only days ago. Yet, the Post's radio list still has "WARW" and "classic rock" for CBS's 94.7, when it's been WTGB and adult alternative rock since February. And countless other call letter and format inaccuracies remain on the list, some dating back years. Oh that Post!.....
6/29 - PBS's Bill Moyers speaks the truth about media baron Rupert Murdoch. At YouTube.....
6/29 - As we approach the half-year point of 2007, I'd like to update you on the "State Of DCRTV." Our traffic is up about 10 to 15 percent from last year at this time, but our revenue is up almost 40 percent. Thanks largely to your donations, especially those coming from folks accessing our new DCRTV Plus, which we launched in March, and the increasing number of advertisers who've placed their messages on DCRTV. As many of you know, the DC area is a very expensive place to live. And the revenue generated by the site now almost, but not quite, covers your webmaster's expenses. I'm still dipping into savings each month to help pay the mortgage and ever-increasing health insurance premium. But, hopefully, with the expansion of DCRTV into the NYC/Philadelphia and Boston regions, we'll increase traffic and revenue to make the site fully "self-supporting" by the end of the year. That's the goal, anyway. Thank you all for your generous support! If you want to send a few bucks our way, click here. Even the $5 donations mean a whole lot and are greatly appreciated! And don't forget, DCRTV turns 10-years-old in September. More about that soon. Wow! It's been a fun trip. Again, thanks.....
6/28 - "This radio station would become Spanish in a couple of years." That's what WMAL newsman Bryan Nehman said this morning about the possible outcome of a rebirth of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" on his largely right-leaning news talker. He and morning show host Fred Grandy predicted that many radio station owners will simply drop political talk formats if the federal government requires that lefty "equal time" shows be aired to balance the current crop of righty shows, a la Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Grandy jested that he could, instead, play "show tunes" on WMAL's mornings.....
6/27 -
Now that Washington Post Radio superstar Tony Kornheiser is almost out the door to do his "Monday Night Football" duties until next year, the Washington Post has replaced Korny's beautiful face in the print Washington Post ads with a barefoot woman in a skimpy black dress (right) looking over a stone wall into a woods. Will she jump over? Or will she walk up the stone steps to her right? I guess the highly-paid promotions people at the Post figure that this type of artsy and vague campaign will generate listeners for their news talker, as opposed to a series of ads that feature - oh say - the other still largely unknown personalities on the low-rated station like David Burd, Hillary Howard, and Bob Kur. Whatever.....6/25 - Last week, Drudge breathlessly hyped an upcoming NY Times investigation of media baron Rupert Murdoch, whose local properties include three TV stations - WTTG, WDCA, and WUTB - and Fox News Channel. Well, it's now available at nytimes.com. It's big! The product of five journalists with five webpage jumps. The conclusion: Murdoch's "vast media holdings give him a gamut of tools - not just campaign contributions, but also jobs for former government officials and media exposure that promotes allies while attacking adversaries, sometimes viciously - all of which he has used to further his financial interests and establish his legitimacy in the United States, interviews and government records show".....
6/23 - Perhaps some corrections are in order at the Washington Post after seeing the listing of area radio stations in Saturday's Style section. Where do we start? On AM: 700 is listed as being "WGOP," calls it dropped years ago in favor of WDMV, and its format is said to be "news/talk" when it's brokered talk and ethnic. 780 is listed as being "WABS" when it adopted the WAVA-AM calls a while back. 820, soon to be a relay of Washington Post Radio, is listed as being "WTOP" when it's really WTWT. 950 is listed as "Christian" when it's been Spanish and brokered ethnic for a while. Brokered WMET 1160 is listed as being simply the "Greaseman," when he's just the weekday morning personality. WZHF 1390 is listed as being "Chinese" when it's been Spanish for years. On the FM band, 94.7 is listed as being "classic rock" and "WARW" when it's been adult alternative rock and WTGB since February. The calls for the 103.9 WTOP relay are listed as being "WTOP" when they're WGYS. The calls for gospel 104.1 are listed as being "WXGG" when they're now WPRS. It might help if the Washington Post had one of its employees actually scan the area's radio bands once in a while. Sheesh.....
6/21 - Nice to hear Tony Kornheiser on Thursday blasting his own Washington Post Radio for running those dopey "SUV Owners" stilted mother/daughter discussion ads about federal energy policy. Maybe the ad campaign is backfiring, bigtime. Oh, Kornheiser again said that the "Washington Post Live" local sports show on Comcast SportsNet is "unbearable" and must be cancelled immediately..... On Sunday mornings, when I drive around, I like to punch up some intelligent talk on public radio.
And, back when WETA-FM was doing news and talk, it wasn't a problem. But now, WETA-FM is doing classical music. And normally news talk WAMU runs bluegrass on Sunday mornings. So, there's no NPR talk on DC radio on Sunday mornings. Over on so-called long-form talker Washington Post Radio, which has touted itself as a commercial replacement for public radio talk, they're whoring it with infomercials. We all know that Washington Post and Washington Post Radio owner Bonneville had a hand in killing off the news and talk on WETA-FM. At the very least, these commercial radio bedfellows should give us the same kind of quality talk on Sunday mornings - when it isn't available on WAMU.....6/20 - Johnny Sack?!?! I love it! youtube.com.....
6/19 - Gotta love that ad from "The SUV Owners Of America" currently running on area radio stations that features two "wooden" women, allegedly a mother and daughter, who sound like they're reading a script. The two females stiltingly argue that we need changes in federal energy policy so that they can spend less than $75 to fill their vehicle's tank. You'd think the lobbying group could find an ad agency that would use voice-over "artists" that sound convincing.....
6/19 -
Channel 9/WUSA meteorologist Topper Shutt has a "short speaking part" in the new "Evan Almighty" movie starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman. In fact, Shutt even has a listing at imdb.com. His only other starring role has been in a "TV series" called "WUSA Eyewitness News," according to the film information site. Channel 9 has been giving away tickets to premiere screening of the film on Wednesday at DC's Avalon Theater. Graphic (left) from wusa9.com.....6/16 - Looked all over Friday morning's Washington Post and couldn't find Thursday's deal to put Maryland football and men's basketball on CBS talker WJFK-FM (see yesterday's DCRTV newsblurb). Yeah, it could be yet another instance of their crack journalists missing yet another local media story. Or, maybe the story isn't running because the powers that be at the corporate Post believe that having the university's sports on a rival to talker Washington Post Radio, which does run college sports and the Nationals, is worthy of a "non-mention." However, a Post insider tells us that the "one" sports section editor "who reads DCRTV" is "on vacation." Of course, CBS did send out a press release. Hmmm. Update: It did appear in Saturday's Post - buried in the 15th paragraph at the very bottom of a sports "News And Notes" column two days late. If that's not an "almost non-mention" I don't know what is.....
6/15 - WMAL's Fred Grandy said Friday morning that his even more conservative co-host Andy Parks has gotten "crankier, whiter, and less tolerant" than he used to be. "Just how white can Andy get?" Grandy wondered.....
6/13 - "It's awful... It's unwatchable." Washington Post superstar sports columnist Tony Kornheiser on his Wednesday Washington Post Radio show about the Washington Post's "Washington Post Live" local sports show on Comcast SportsNet.....
6/12 - You had to go to the 13th paragraph of a page A19 article in the Washington Post on Tuesday to learn that three US soldiers were killed in Iraq Sunday and six others were wounded in a car bomb attack. Agree or disagree with what we're doing in Iraq, it makes me very angry that the sacrifies of our brave young men and women in Iraq are being done in practical anonymity, regarding coverage by the mainstream media. And the Washington Post is one of the better media outlets when it comes to reporting news from the war-torn Mid-East. Instead, all too many newspapers and TV networks are practically orgasmic with allegedly publicly-demanded coverage of Paris Hilton's legal problems and the last chapter in a FICTITIOUS (!) TV show about the mob. The line between "news" and "entertainment" has always been a difficult one to discern. But, lately, it's been invisible. Sure, the number of "eyeballs" attracted to one's media "organ" is important when it comes to generating ad revenue, but do "journalists" really need to become publicity "whores"? Doesn't "real news" work any longer? Sad.....
6/12 - A DCRTV source tells us that DC's XM Satellite Radio is planning to implement a three-second delay in Opie and Anthony's subscription show when the duo returns following a month-long suspension this month. We're told: "That way if they go into a rant about a particular subject that XM may find overly offensive, (XM management) can dump it. F-bombs, live sex, and the like will still be allowed, but no more rants regarding political leaders." O&A got yanked in May after a guest made sexual remarks about Secretary Of State Condi Rice and other prominent women. The NYC-based morning radio pair's free CBS Radio show, heard locally on WJFK-FM, was unaffected by XM's yanking. XM is currently seeking approval on Capitol Hill for a proposed merger with rival Sirius.....
6/12 - On Washington Post Radio Tuesday morning, superstar sports columnist Tony Kornheiser said that he doesn't want his show to continue to be named after him when he leaves in late June for six-ish months of ESPN's "Monday Night Football." The Bonneville-operated talker plans to keep Kornheiser's name on the 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM show even with substitute host David Burd. Also, Kornheiser said that since he won't be paid for doing the radio show from the road, he's not going to have much incentive for making the occasional call-in. And, Kornheiser admitted that he wants to continue his local radio show early next year, after this season's "MNF" gig, even if his newspaper's low-rated radio operation doesn't survive. Kornheiser's show is the highest-rated program on Washington Post Radio.....
6/11 - There's no way Tony Soprano would have taken his family to a public restautant only hours after knocking off rival mob boss Phil if the place wasn't heavily guarded. We then can safely assume that all of the tough-looking characters at the place in the last scene were Tony's bodyguards. And we can assume that Tony and his family are all well and good, despite the show finale's sudden ending.....
6/11 - From TVNewser: The AP picks up on the Project For Excellence In Journalism's finding that "MSNBC and CNN were much more consumed with the war in Iraq than was Fox" during the first quarter of 2007. "It is surprising that they're not covering the biggest story in the country and the world," CNN chief Jon Klein tells David Bauder. Another Klein quote: "It illustrates the danger of cheerleading for one particular point or another because they were obviously cheerleaders for the war. When the war went badly they had to dial back coverage because it didn't fit their preconceived story lines." Fox wouldn't respond to the AP's interview requests. They don't want to talk about their war coverage.....
6/10 - Bad Bedmates. When Bonneville's DC radio suits Joel Oxley and Jim Farley were planning a long-form news and talk radio outlet to complement their very successful all-news WTOP, they should have taken the simpler path. They should have done it themselves. Without a deal with the Washington Post. That way, they could have kept total control of the station's programming, all of the profits, and could have made use of all of the DC area's newspaper resources, including the Washington Times, the Examiner, and even City Paper. If they wanted to put righty talker Glenn Beck in middays to cut costs, they could do so at their own whim. Without a political correctness review from the Post. In addition, the Bonneville news/talk station would have had more credibility because it wouldn't have been seen as a PR arm for a newspaper, in many respects a rival news outlet to WTOP. Oxley and Farley know local radio. They know how to get great ratings with radio news programming here. They didn't need any "expertise" from the Washington Post and the related embarrassment that has resulted form the joint venture. In hindsight, they should have known better. Now you know why you'll never see an all-news WCBS-produced New York Times Radio station in NYC or an all-news KNX-produced Los Angeles Times Radio station in LA. For damn good reason.....
6/8 - Poor Paul Farhi. It's been a bad week for the Washington Post's media reporter. He got scooped by this lowly little website twice (!!!) this week, including news about his own newspaper's station! And then he got more verbal shit directed his way from Washington Post Radio morning man and superstar sports columnist Tony Kornheiser, who extended his year-long feud, charging that Farhi's piece on the station was like taking a "meat cleaver" to his employer. I just love Washington Posties, who claim that they have far more "journalistic ethics" than their "blogger bretheren." Yeah, right! They take scoops and leads from internet websites and they pass them off - in print - as their own work, without crediting their sources. Yet, many "bloggers," especially this one, make it a point to provide credit and a link to every single damn source of information we use. How many times do you see DCRTV credit a "Paul Farhi" or "Frank Ahrens" or "John Maynard" Washington Post article as the source of some information? Frequently. And, how many times do you see Paul Farhi or Frank Ahrens or John Maynard return the favor? Almost never. I really ho