Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - July 29 to August 4, 2008 Latest messages listed first..... \/ August 4 Messages \/ Stephanie Miller dukes it out with Jim Bohannon (in for David & Jessica) on Monday morning over Obama, McCain, mostly Obama. There's an exchange about the Iraq war at the halfway mark that might give you douche chills... www.youtube.com (8/4/08) My prayers and very best wishes for Robert Novak and his family. (8/4/08) "So the tumor on his (Robert Novak's) CAT scan isn't real and was penciled in by the doctor??" "Like YOU have seen his CAT scan? - Of course not Captian Obvious . Only an idiot would think it was a put-on to get out of a traffic infraction. Wonder if you still think's it's a stunt or do you want to shoot your mouth off some more?? (8/4/08) I realize that you did not write the original article but by reprinting it you are perpetuating the confusion. On 8/1 you posted: "No Vote Planned On Fairness Doc Ban - 8/1 - A bill to permanently ban the Fairness Doctrine, a dormant FCC rule that says broadcasters are required to grant equal air time to opposing ideologies, probably will not be voted on this year in Congress, says House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. More from FMQB." The problem is that the Fairness Doctrine never called for equal time for opposing viewpoints but rather that opposing viewpoints be represented when discussing conroversial issues. Stations were given wide lattitude in how to accomplish this. This is not the same as the Equal Time rule for political candidates which does require stations to provide equal opportuity to opposing political candidates with a few exceptions. www.law.cornell.edu... While the FCC has quit enforcing the Fairness Doctrine the Equal Time Rule is codified and still in effect. Sincerely, Brian (8/4/08) (Stephen Hunter Leaves Post) To give him is due, he won a Pulitzer. And he was one of the few Post people who sounded great on radio... (8/4/08) Here is still another WEAM story. As pointed out in prior posts, WEAM jocks seemed to get fired pretty frequently. In 1971—I was attending the U. of MD at the time—Eddie Rogers, an excellent jock, was doing afternoons. Suddenly, he disappeared from the air and was gone for 2-3 weeks. Then just as suddenly, he returned. Shortly after Eddie Rogers reappeared, Jay Brooks, who was doing evenings at the time, suddenly was gone. Then about 3 weeks later, Brooks reappeared in his evening slot. That day, as Eddie Rogers was closing his show, he said, “Next on WEAM is Jay Brooks. Yeah, I had one of those long vacations, too.” By the way, one of my friends at the U. of MD did a good imitation of Jay Brooks. His name was Bob Bell. I wonder whether he ever posts here. Roddy Freeman (8/4/08) (CBS could easily blow WTOP out of the water. why, then Dave,haven't they done it?) Cory, WTOP is the biggest and most important affiliate of the CBS Radio Network not already owned by CBS (in other words, all their larger affiliates are stations they own). CBS and TOP are close. CBS treats WTOP practically like an o and o. (8/4/08) "a format that can "keep the plates warm" (bet not too many under 30 would understand that phrase!)" Legs, I am well over 30 but I confess I do not know that expression. (8/4/08) DG fired from OCM? Darn. They finally broke a .7 in the ratings! Guess it was just a publicity stunt. Really, the rumor in OC was he was going to replace the current morning show, which has failed to have any impact in the market during the four or five years they've been on the "air." (8/4/08) Say, Darryl Nixon; I understand Lefty was asking whether you and Sheldon will be covering the freshmen Terps again this year? (MP3 File) DCMemories.com (8/4/08) Regarding my post on FOX5's blurb on Morgan Freeman, I need to make a correction. The 235 referred to the number of pictures they posted with the story which I thought was a little odd..As for James Adams losing his breath on Sunday's newscast, I've also seen him struggling to catch his breath on previous newscasts. I was wondering if that's why they've chosen to go with someone else on the weekends. (8/4/08) From the lady that answered the business line at WOCM, Ocean City : "Don Geronimo is no longer with Ocean 98" (8/4/08) Another potential head-exploding moment in DC metro radio…Bring the WINS format here?!? With all due respect, are you guys nuts? The motto for INS is "Give us 28 minutes, and we'll give you 13 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of boring, repetitive shallow news coverage until you wanna vomit!" The only advantage that INS has over WCBS is that it tends to be more local in coverage with fewer national and regional segments (which makes sense, since INS' transmitter pattern doesn't penetrate as far into New Jersey and Penn. As CBS does). (8/4/08) Today's Mailbag has items referring to New York City station WFAN. Back in the early 1960's Washington had a FM Spanish language station with the call letters WFAN. It was the only Spanish language station in Washington. Now, of course, there is one Spanish language station and quite a few AM Spanish stations. Arnie (8/4/08) It seems like WEAM stories have dominated the mailbag lately. So, I thought I'd toss in this item. Harold Thoms, who lived in Asheville, NC, owned WEAM and WCOG, another very successful Top 40 station in Greensboro, NC. In late 1973, after WRC had switched to Top 40, and put the final nail in the WEAM coffin, Harold Thoms decided to get another opinion as to why things were not going so well at WEAM. So, Thoms sent the long-time GM of WCOG to Washington, for a couple of days each month, to ride with the sales reps and talk to advertisers. This went on for several months and had to be a humiliating time for WEAM GM Harry Averill. But, (to his credit) Harry always tried to put a positive spin on this. That GM at WCOG was Jim Poston, a fine gentleman and the brother of legendary comedic actor Tom Poston. Darryl Nixon (8/4/08) On FOX5's website, they reported, as has other media outlets, that Morgan Freeman was in a car accident. However, FOX5 then has a link to 235 of him!!!..WTF???!!! (8/4/08) What’s up with NBC4’s James Adams losing his breath and cutting to commercial break during Sunday night’s 11pm newscast? Just wondering if you happen to know or trying to figure it out. I have checked on dcrtv.com and found nothing about it. I have seen that happen to him once before. Maybe DCRTV didn’t know about it or is not that interested. Maybe you want to check it out. I’m just curious. Thank you for your time. -Steven, Maryland (8/4/08) Dave's response: Was James having an anxiety attack or something more serious? Let me know..... Driving around on my lunch hour, I dialed through 94.3FM 'Redskins Radio,' where I learned in just a few moments time that Ric Walker was a classy Redskin, the Redskins are a class act, the Redskins have the greatest fans ever, the Redskins are among the NFL's elite, the Redskins cheerleaders are "literally universally admired," Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is "a lot smarter than people think," FedEx Field is the envy of the NFC, the Redskins performance last night proves that they're playoff-bound and a lot more Redskins belong in the Hall of Fame. There was also a commercial for Redskins memorabilia and another for Darryl Green memorabilia. What an exhausting, non-stop pukefest. Then I flipped over to 94.7FM -- the Globe -- and Schelby was NOT on the air. Most of the music still sucked (the Globe's obsession with Jack Johnson defies explanation), but the improvement was still worth a mention. (8/4/08) just tuned into the web stream of WOCM. I heard a promo for the"DJless hour -- We get rid of the DJ's at 2 PM for an hour, Monday through Friday." That leads me to believe that Don Geronimo is gone from WOCM ... That is, unless he's been moved to another timeslot. Chris (8/4/08) First, thanks to the person who answered my questions about WEAM. I wish I knew who you are, but thanks. (The current WEAM-AM is in Columbus, GA at where on the dial? 1580!) Thanks also to Johnny Dark for the additional information. Second, it’s nice to see that WCBM re-signed Tom Marr. But with WBAL in a weakened position during middays and having its lowest ratings ever, I can’t quite understand why WCBM doesn’t take the steps necessary to beat WBAL. Getting Rush was a terrific move for WCBM (and a misstep for WBAL in my opinion). Having Limbaugh and Hannity back-to-back has gotten WCBM nipping at the heels of WBAL. I haven’t been in Baltimore for a couple of years, but I’ll comment on WCBM as I last heard it because I think they could beat WBAL with just a couple of moves. The morning show, led by Sean Casey, was absolutely horrendous. I realize getting a decent morning show is easier said than done, but almost anything would be an improvement. And the other thing that’s hurting WCBM is that hour of infomercials at (I think) 6PM. Yes, the infomercials get the station guaranteed revenue, but putting that revenue in front of long-term audience growth seems very shortsighted. WCBM probably has a better daytime signal than WBAL, and WBAL is there for the taking. Roddy Freeman (8/4/08) Your rant about CBS flipping 94.7 into another WINS is not insane.It boggles my mind that in he nation's capital CBS has not turned one of it's radio stations to all-news?CBS could easily blow WTOP out of the water. why, then Dave,haven't they done it? CORY (8/4/08) Dave's response: CBS owns the CBS-TV stations in NYC, Philly, and Boston. But not DC. CBS owns major radio talkers and/or all-newsers in NYC, Philly, and Boston. But not DC. Do the "math"..... When I left WEAM (the first time) at the end of 1960, the studios were in the basement of the Arlington Trust Company at 1515 N. Courthouse Road in Arlington. The transmitter was at the Falls Church location. You are correct in your assumption that the overnight music was played on tape from the transmitter site. Once a week, Don Cosgrove (air name:Don Grove) would do the show "live" and it would be recorded by one of the engineers. Then, when they were replayed during the week, the hours would be rotated so the same hour wouldn't be heard at the same time. The show ("All Night Downbeat") was usually sponsored by the Eddie Leonard Sandwich Shops...When I returned to WEAM in '65, they were at the Crimmins Lane location. The residents fought hard to keep them from putting the studios and offices there. It was only after they assured the residents that the building would look like all the other homes that they were allowed to go ahead with the construction. Anyone who ever worked at the Crimmins Lane location can assure you that they kept their promise....Johnny Dark (8/04/08) "It's up to those setting up a new sports format to find and develop these people. Folks who know sports, live it and breathe it. Not just one sport. Not just two sports. But folks who can insightfully discuss the range of sports and teams in this area." The problem seems to be this notion that since the Redskins account for the lion's share of sports interest in the DC area, all a host need do is be up to speed and able to talk knowledgeably about them. While it's probably a good idea to pay some attention to the Wizards, Terps and Hoyas as well, baseball or hockey expertise is definitely considered optional and not valued very highly by those running local sports radio. If Bonneville decided to convert 3WT into a 24 hour sports talker competing directly with the Danny Boy stations, it would probably have to make a deal with Fox Sports Radio for overnight and weekend filler programming - which could pave the way for Steve Czaban to come on board if they agreed to carry his national morning show. Joe Jacoby has apparently either quit or been let go by Red Zebra after being part of the Redskins postgame programming on WTEM and later Triple X for the past 12 or 13 years. During its on-site coverage of Saturday's pro football Hall of Fame ceremonies, ESPN980 chose to blow off the three speeches by non-Redskin enshrinees in favor of Andy Pollin interviewing ex-Skins about Art Monk and Darrell Green. I thought that was very disrespectful toward those three ex-players, not to mention the fact that people in their cars who couldn't watch the telecast on ESPN or NFL Network were relying on that radio broadcast. At least WTEM carried the speech by Emmitt Thomas, who despite never playing for the Skins was an assistant coach here for a number of years. On local TV, the coverage by CSN as well as channels 4, 5, 7 and 9 appeared to be entirely about Monk and Green with no recognition whatsoever of the fact that anyone else was being honored that evening. Mike, Fairfax (8/4/08) (( I wanted to pass the word that long-time Atlanta Braves play-by-play man Skip Caray (Harry Caray's son) died in his sleep yesterday. )) ...... also the father/grandfather to current broadcaster Chip Caray, who does FOX and TBS games. (8/4/08) To Roddy Freeman: WEAM moved from 1515 N. Courthouse Road in (if memory serves me correctly) what was the Clarendon Trust building to Crimmins Lane at the end of March 1965. The building constructed to house the studios and offices was built in front of the pre-existing transmitter bunker. The transmitter had been located at that site since the station went from a daytimer to full-time operation in the 1950s. The houses in the neighborhood surrounding the station went up a few years before the full WEAM operation moved there. Perhaps Johnny Dark or other WEAM vets from the pre-Crimmins Lane era can provide details on the unique setup where all of the programming came from the Courthouse Road site EXCEPT for oldies which were played from a Schaffer automation unit at the transmitter. One other quick note: WEAM was DA-1 (with full-time use of what is now its night pattern) until sometime in the early-'60s when the now-day pattern was licensed. (8/4/08) Well, let’s talk about some serious bias in the media. Anybody heard of Ron Paul? Yes, he is the Texas Congressman who did, in fact, make a bid for the presidential nomination. But you wouldn’t know because neither television, radio or print covered his run—other than to list his name as a candidate. And I can say with pride I’ve been a tree-hugging, granola eatin’ hippy for as long as I’ve been in the DC maretk (my entire life) but to see a candidate treated so unfairly is unforgivable. He was barely given ANY time to speak at televised debates. Sometimes he was not even invited. And based on the acutal number of votes I would say that Ron Paul’s percentages were inaccurately reported by our beloved media. Am I happy to see Obama get his fair share of coverage?? Hell yes. But T-Rex (McCain) gets his fair share courtesy of Fox. So, for all of you cry babies--if you don’t like the coverage email your local media and complain. Otherwise, let’s just wait for the next fixed election courtesy of Diebold. (8/4/08) The following was forwarded to DCRTV..... Dear Friends and Colleagues, HD Radio™ technology is continuing to make great strides on many fronts: automotive to new programming channels to international stations going on the air. It’s great momentum was picked up by USA Today recently, which featured HD Radio broadcasting in three major stories in one issue. Here’s some of the exciting news since our last communication. Click on the links to get the full stories: Mercedes officially announced that it will offer factory installed HD Radio technology on select 2009 vehicles. Hyundai Genesis featured HD Radio technology in their 2009 model press demonstration events. Many low-cost radios are available at retail this summer, including sub-$100 HD Radio products from iLuv, JVC, Pioneer, Radiosophy and Sony. And many sub-$200 products are also available from a variety of manufacturers, including Coby, which announced the first battery operated HD Radio receiver. A full list of HD Radio products is at www.hdradio.com. iTunes Tagging is making major inroads. Clear Channel Radio announced that all of its 350 HD2 stations are iTunes Tagging compatible in addition to their main HD Radio stations. And several new Tagging products are available this summer including receivers from Sony and Jensen. ESPN launched the ESPN HD Radio network, which is making available compelling sports content for HD2/3 channels. The network, which was launched with the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament, makes ESPN’s vast inventory of sports content available to member stations to easily create high-quality, customized sports channels for their listeners. Several HD Radio stations are on the air in Mexico after that country’s FCC – Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission (CoFeTel) – authorized HD Radio broadcasting within 320 kilometers (200 miles) from its border with the U.S. Here again is a quick update of the basic facts about the status of HD Radio technology development: More than 1,700 HD Radio stations are on the air in the US. More than 800 new HD2 or HD3 multicast channels are on the air. More than 60 unique HD Radio SKUs are available. More than 12,000 stores and online outlets offer HD Radio products. Factory-installed HD Radio technology is available in all BMWs and Minis. Dealer-installed HD Radio technology is available on Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. Hyundai’s Genesis will be equipped with HD Radio technology at dealerships this summer. Mercedes, Ford, Jaguar, Scion and Volvo have announced that HD Radio technology will be a factory-installed feature in future models. Lastly, I’ve started a regular column on our corporate website where I will discuss topics of importance to radio’s upgrade from analog to digital technology. See you there. www.ibiquity.com. Regards, Bob Struble, President & CEO, iBiquity Digital (8/4/08) Dave's response: A DC area radio guru tells us - "There are more behind-the-scenes technical problems with transmitting HD than you even know"..... Dave, Dave, Dave... Well, I'm back from taking the kids to summer camp, and I see over my morning coffee that your monthly shipment of ED medication has made it to Reston. Your usual rant about 1500 is more of the same old thing, so I won't belabor the point that we've discussed before, that by the time they made the flip, so few people were actually listening to WTOP on 1500, and so many more were listening on 107.7 that it was actually the decision that made sense. On another point, you seem to take great pleasure in busting their chops for not rolling over, and going all-live-and-local news-talk or all-live-and-local sports-talk. I, for one, would love to have a solid sports-talk station here in town, but only along the lines of WFAN. But the thing that makes WFAN as good as it is, is that it is programmed by people who have full staffs of producers and assistants who do the hard work of booking guests, doing research, and doing the production that makes the station sound so good, and listenable. Well-done "live and local" radio is very people-intensive, and very expensive. That goes for both sportstalk and newstalk radio. My brother-in-common-sense the Unsigned Corporate Suit will understand that when you have a competitor whose costs are substantially less than yours (i.e. "ESPN 980", taking the bulk of its broadcast day off a satellite), that's a substantial "barrier to entry" to going up against such a competitor. The conundrum Bonneville finds itself in is to come up with a format that can "keep the plates warm" (bet not too many under 30 would understand that phrase!) during the day until Nats and Caps play-by-play in the evening and weekends, but that is not too expensive. I don't know anyone on the inside there, but I'm pretty sure that's what's at work here. If you remember my previous analysis that there was not enough ad revenue in the Washington Metro to support three sports talk stations, well, now the trick comes in charging enough for spots to afford to have more costs (i.e., Bonneville with a well-done, but expensive sports -talk format) than a competitor (ESPN 980 that is mostly a terrestrial satellite relay). So, Dave, its nowhere near as simple as you make it. It never is. Anyway, my two cents, your mileage may vary. / Gingerly stepping off the soapbox in hot pink Chuck Converse high-tops and a white/pink striped Addidas tennis dress /, - Just Call Me 'Legs' (8/4/08) Please tell me FOX5 isn't going to have Laura Evans and Claudia Coffey subbing for Allison and Steve all week..They just talk all over each other and when Tony Perkins and Dave Ross came to the anchor desk, they could hardly get a word in. Then add Holly Morris and we just have "cackle fest". (8/4/08) Just saw a commercial for WJLA saying that it was #1 for late night news. Well, if I'm not mistaken, FOX5 has claimed the same. How is that possible?? (8/4/08) Dave's response: Easy. Different demo..... Re: unsigned poster's comment that "News is what is novel." If this is the case at all anymore, it's by coincidence more than anything. News, in my opinion, is driven by 1) ratings/subscriptions, 2) the agenda of those writing the news, and 3) advocacy (which relates to #2 but is a little more well-meaning). The Obama story - especially as packaged by his honestly excellent team of media handlers - hits all three of these square on the head. As Dave's comment said, "Obama is the very first black man to be nominated... That rather amazing fact does tend to tilt the overall amount of coverage toward him." The largely liberal media remains fascinated by race and paternalistic do-gooderism especially on the topic of race, so it's no surprise at all that they are endlessly building up this guy. What is odd is that many of them are admitting to it so unapologetically. It will be very interesting to see what happens to "journalism" especially source confidentiality, if this trend toward opinonism continues. When the fourth estate becomes essentially pure political advocacy 90% for one side, is it really even the fourth estate anymore or is it just political operations? At any rate, if he is elected, I sure hope he's up to the task given that his record in state and national legilature has been distinguished only by the huge percentage of votes on which he abstained. Courteously! Bob in Forest Hill (8/4/08) Dear Dave: While not really a DC area voice (although he was featured on TBS for years), I wanted to pass the word that long-time Atlanta Braves play-by-play man Skip Carey (Harry Carey's son) died in his sleep yesterday. Here's the link. www.ajc.com... Sincerely, Joe Kasell (8/4/08) RE: [ " Dave's response: Slam Obama's positions, fine. But this "messiah" campaign against him is rather bizarre and sad... " ]......... No, it's great when a candidate is called the Messiah, at least until crucifixion &/or election day, whichever comes 1st (sorry, bad joke). Seriously though, it's incredibly bizarre when every mainstream media outlet admits its biased coverage publicly and embarrasses themselves in the process. I mean, c'mon, has McCain not been a thorn in W & his father's side for decades yet all you hear is that he's a Bush pawn or hear nothing at all? (Bad pun unintentional) Yes, sad is being Bob DOLED to death by the media, pretend McCain's already dead and don't bother covering the story that is your life's work. PREDICTION: Mainstream media loses again, McCain wins, Fox News ratings go up, NY Times, Wash Post, & Balt Sun subscrips go down, & Keith Olbermann has a stroke &/or quits his job &/or goes back to sports reporting. And Hillary in '12. :-) (8/4/08) National Public Radio this morning sounded a little obsolete. Dina Temple-Raston had a report on the anthrax case and said the FBI would have to brief the family of the dead man before releasing details of their case against him. She said this was so the family wouldn't first read about it in the newspapers. Huh? Everyone knows the first place for news is NOT in the newspaper but on television and radio. Even in Frederick. (8/4/08) (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Part Time Announcer/Board Operator - WSVA-AM has an opening for a weekend announcer/board operator. If you live in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, in or near Harrisonburg, and have an interest in entering the radio business, this could be your foot in the door. Duties include engineering local sports broadcasts, talk shows and some on-air announcing. Interested parties should email frankwilt@valleyradio.com and include an mp3 air check if available. or mail tape and resume to Frank Wilt, WSVA Radio, P.O. Box 752, Harrisonburg, VA 22803 (8/4/08) Aside from the race angle, the interest in and extra coverage of Obama arises from the contrast he presents with the current regime. McCain represents the continuation in office of the people Bush has appointed and an extension of Bush's policies. We've had eight years to become familiar with Bush. McCain promises more of the same. News is what is novel. Bush and therefore McCain is not novel. (8/4/08) All the WEAM history discussed in the past couple of days made me wonder when WEAM moved its studios and offices to Crimmons Lane (i.e. the house with the towers in the backyard). Wasn’t WEAM in a bank building in Arlington prior to moving to Crimmons? Was the WEAM “house” built at the same time as the rest of the subdivision? Did it replace a transmitter building? Roddy Freeman (8/4/08) Kevin Sheehan is really not a Larry Michael Jr, he has been one of only a few voices, Czaban and Walker the others, willing to criticize the team over the last few years. He and Riggins were especially tough on Joe Gibbs the last few years on Triple X. His voice is fine and his insight is much better than Andy Pollin's although I think Pollin should continue to be the partner for Czaban. (8/4/08) /\ August 4 Messages /\ \/ August 3 Messages \/ I was listening to WNAV today and it was great to hear Scott Brady, formerly of WASH and Mix-106. I wonder if he's filling in? (8/3/08) The Continuing Olympic Adventures of WBAL's Neil Estano........ See Neil kayaking www.youtube.com... See Neil volleyball www.youtube.com... See Neil snowboarding (but not really, he gave his WBAL jacket to a pro, the phony! haha) www.youtube.com... And Finally, see Neil do a cartwheel across the 5 Day Forecast, my personal favorite. www.youtube.com... Take THAT MARTY BASS !!!! :-) Oh, I was going to post Rob Roblin's James Brown dance, but we all need to keep our food down don't we? :-) (8/3/08) “Might I add that DCRTV is starting to seem similarly unbalanced these days. Maybe I'll stop reading it, too.” At least when it comes to politics, Dave doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not: he’s a staunch liberal and he has stated as much many times on this site. Besides, DCRTV is as much about his opinions – right, wrong or just plain goofy (see today’s Rant) as they may be – as anything else. On the other hand, the Post likes to think of itself not just as the newspaper of record for Washington, but as the daily journal of American politics. So it’s particularly galling when the paper that pretends to be the unbiased voice of political reporting devotes 80% of its presidential campaign coverage to the left-wing candidate. I’ll bet a month’s pay that neither Fox News nor the Washington Times – both supposedly right-wing mouthpieces – have weighted their coverage so lopsidedly toward McCain. -Brian (8/3/08) Dave's response: To defend the Post and other media, Obama is the very first black man to be nominated (or soon to be) by a major American party to run for president. That rather amazing fact does tend to tilt the overall amount of coverage toward him. Agree with Barack Obama or not, it's something that's never happened before and it is a very major achievement in the history of this nation. And, yes, as I have said many times before, this is my site and a vehicle for my opinions. But I also give you ample space for yours..... For the interested few, you'll find elaborate details about WTOP Radio's Ku Klux Klan influenced predecessor, WJSV, at DCMemories.com. Actual articles from the New York Times and Washington Post support an excellent article by James Snyder on the subject. Mr. Snyder's explanation was originally contributed to Lee Shephard's WTOP tribute site, (dedicated to the good ol' days of Broadcast House), at lookoutlee.blogspot.com. (8/3/08) Well Dave, your favorite beer is making a come back "Schlitz" www.msnbc.msn.com (8/3/08) Dave's response: My doc has advised me to give up drinking beer in favor of the beneficial effects of vodka. So I have..... (Dave asked) Could anyone think of a worse name for a broadcast TV network than "My Network TV"? Sheesh. How about calling it FUCT? (end) Not as bad, but wouldn't "Springfield Hills Independent Television" be a great channel to have? Just imagine seeing *that* acronym as a logo against a cityscape... (8/3/08) Dave's response: Did you know that Rupert Murdoch has trademarked the following slogan - "My Megamaniacal Media Baron" - for himself..... So the Post is just figuring out that its a grossly biased organization. I came to the same conclusion many years ago, when I decided to cancel my subscription. Might I add that DCRTV is starting to seem similarly unbalanced these days. Maybe I'll stop reading it, too. (8/3/08) Dave's response: Bye! Ahhhhh yes...cutting promos at WRC. Not at all like the previous poster described. Yes the talent provided the voice and an engineer did the actual recording. Now whether the recording engineer put together the promo or not usually led to the complexity of the production. All engineers were created equal and, as far as operating was concerned, could do all facets in recording and producing. OOPS! Did I just say engineers produced? In reality...yes! I sometimes handled the duties of adding a touch of reverse-reverb here or a touch of a synthesizer there. Just like back before WRC-FM/WKYS went live, Engineer Bob Shenton ran and 'programmed' the beautiful music format. If it wasn't for him the station never would have survived. I feel I can speak for the talent I worked with when I say they were very happy just to lay down a track and leave for the day and let the engineers cut, mix and cart up the spots and promos that were done locally. -skip (8/3/08) To Pat Murphy, for your info: the overwhelming majority of posters to DCRTV post anonymously. That's the nature of the beast of most forums on the net. Does using a name in a post somehow sanction the post or make it more palatable in your mind? Let's face it, I or anyone else could have even used the name of "Pat Murphy" in any of the postings challenging Ed Rodriguez's credentials. A name is a name is a name. And if the "nasty chickenship sniping[s]" in these postings cause you to post less, then so be it. The DCRTV forum and the remainder of us posters (along with DCRTV Dave) will survive and continue to post, with or without your input. And ... are you the real Pat Murphy? Who knows. /s/ Another unsigned [anonymous] poster. (8/3/08) Dave's response: That's the nature of the internet. Anyone can pretend to be anyone. I do believe that the recent postings from "Pat Murphy" are from the real DC area radio veteran. However, there's no way I can verify 100 percent that anyone is who they say they are - at least via e-mail..... FYI - the low-rated My Network TV is also owned by Fox. WUTB is running their own network. Why would the company owning the network want to dump a station in the 24th largest market and lose that control? Also, check your regs...the market can't have another duopoly...not enough signals licenced to Baltimore. Besides, who would want the CW? If 90210 doesn't work, it's all but gone. Why do you think WDCW is now calling themselves DC 50 and not CW Washington? Same thing happened in Houston. (8/3/08) Dave's response: Could anyone think of a worse name for a broadcast TV network than "My Network TV"? Sheesh. How about calling it FUCT? The Fox United Collection of TVers..... Ah yes, those Harry Averill memos. Most of them about things that he shouldn't have been concerning himself with. However, let me share a story with you that shows that there was a softer side to Harry. Harry and Bob Parkinson brought me back to WEAM in the spring of '65 to do nights. A month after I arrived, they made me Music Director. A month later, Harry made me the Program Director, moved me to afternoon drive and moved Bob to nights. Around Thanksgiving, Jack Alix was promoting a show in Alexandria that starred the McCoys, the Shangri-las and a couple of other acts. He made a deal with Harry to have WEAM promote the show and be on stage. In return, the station would receive a portion of the profits. Two weeks before Christmas, Harry called me into his office. On his desk sat piles of cash. Since Harold Thoms, the owner of WEAM, wouldn't allow Christmas gifts or bonuses, Harry wanted me to help him divide this money among the members of the air staff. He even wanted it divided so the news announcers even got a little piece of the pie even though they were not involved in promoting Jack's event. I only stayed with WEAM on my second tour for about 15 months. During that time, Harry and I never had a disagreement of any kind. Former WEAM teamers all have their share of Harry Averill stories but this one always stuck in my mind as the side of Harry that very few got to see.....Johnny Dark (8/3/08) The basement at WFMD/WFRE floods every time there's a significant rainstorm, not just "three times" as Doug Hillard implies. Makes you wonder who's really sick. (8/3/08) Several people have noted the "revolving door" at WEAM, back in its heyday. I'm wondering if the fact that it wasn't a "union shop" (while stations like WPGC and WRC were) whether that made a difference in terms of turnover? I know people come and people go at radio stations, but they'd probably be more likely stick around at a station with higher pay, more benefits, as well as other protections available under an AFTRA contract. Speaking of WRC - In the 80s I worked in Kansas City with Jack Casey, who was at 4001 Nebraska Avenue for a while (and also 'Bradley Field' at WEEL). He used to tell me that with the setup at WRC, cutting a promo or commercial was a veritable dance of jurisdictions, what with the various unions there. Talent could pretty much only provide the speaking portions, with one technical member handling certain equipment functions in the process, and another technical member handling other equipment operation. (8/3/08) A question for WBAL-TV insiders: Does Baltimore Magazine pay money to WBAL to put Max Weiss on every Saturday morning or is some sort of advertising trade involved? I really can't imagine WBAL allows her on television week after week without some sort of deal being made between WBAL and Baltimore magazine. Inquiring minds would love to know! (8/3/08) Pat Murphy's mention of Harry Averill's memos at WEAM motivated me to grab my files to share a couple of these communiqués with the group: From July 13, 1966: Gentlemen, at this RADIO station we do not ride over .. yo-yo ... cut in or however you want to describe interfering with records. We have discussed this many times. I have written memos about it until I'm frustrated. Now I'm simply saying that if I ever hear a WEAM announcer utter one sound after a record has started to play and before that record is finished I will assume that is his method of resignation and will accept it promptly. Please read this carefully and govern your actions accordingly. From June 27, 1968: To avoid suspicion please do not carry brief or attaché cases, bags or other containers to or from work. It is the responsibility of the engineer on duty to check in or out the contents of such containers and give the bearer a list of such items a signed list detailing the items, and showing the date and time and the engineer's signature. Lists are to be made in duplicate with the original being sent to the Manager's Office. Failure to observe these requirements by either air personnel or engineer on duty may result in dismissal of the personnel involved. As for the signal, these maps taken from Radio-Locator.com show the "projected" day and night contours. While Murphy is correct that the night signal went through the heart of DC, it did not reach areas North or West of the city, including the "growth areas" of Montgomery County and Northern Virginia outside the Beltway. (8/3/08) I greatly enjoyed Pat Murphy's memoir on WEAM. Lack of signal strength was the reason WEAM was a non-player amongst the avid radio listeners at my mid-MontCo school in the late '60s. 1390 simply didn't appear on the dial of our cheap AM receivers. Our ears were glued to WINX, WPGC, and (at least through the mid-'60s) WWDC-AM. By the way, you're never far from an Eddie Leonard Sandwich Shop at Skip McCloskey & Mike Berry's 98WRC.Com site: www.98wrc.com... If you haven't grown tired of playing old school radio, Skip recently changed the music and added some elements to his do-it-yourself 98WRC Control Room. Why not step inside, fire-up the Ager Road xmtr and put yourself on-the-air at: www.98wrc.com... (Oh... I checked Skip's toilet stalls, and there're no memos from the GM for while you're mastering a BM.) (8/3/08) The 1928 DCRTV Plus teaser a reporter from the Washington Post asked the new owners, of what was to become WJSV (forerunner to WTOP), whether the station would continue to be "pro-klan," and the answer was "No." Good on them. Apparently it was possible to fund construction of a broadcasting station in the 1920s with money donated to perpetuate race hatred. (8/3/08) 'Missing girl found in Baltimore after a concerned witness called police...' WHAT?! A "CONCERNED WITNESS" IN BALTIMORE??? -LOL (oh, then again it was a missing white girl! -ha) (8/3/08) Other than the willingness to be Larry Michael Jr. for the Redskins, do you have any idea what the Red Zebra folks see in one Kevin Sheehan? As an avid sportstalk fan, I was bummed when The Danny bought 980. As an avid sportstalk fan several years prior, I was thrilled when KS went to the Zebra's family of low-signal stations. He typically is not at all insightful, has a bad radio voice and can be condescending to callers. (Esp callers who dare criticize the team.) Polin, Sheehan and Riggins on the MMQ show seems like an absolute trap for Polin. Now, I'm no fan of Polin, but I'd take him 10 out of 10 times over KS. Just seems like the coming AP-KS conflict is setting up a situation where KS becomes the No. 2 host at the new 980, then No. 1 host when Czaban inevitably jumps ship after AP is forced out. Personally, I am torn b/w calling in to blast KS's homer view and boycotting this sham of a station... (8/3/08) I'm surprised at the challenges to Ed's tenure at WEAM. I think everyone who worked at WEAM knows he was there. I never worked with Ed, but there is no question he worked there. I think if you are going to challenge someone in a public forum, the very least you can do is use your name. Its this kind of nasty chickenshit sniping that keeps me from posting more often. I was at WEAM two times. 1965-early 66. Bob Parkinson was PD and I did the news for Jack Alix 7-12pm and weekend fill ins as Terry Knight. I also did the overnight show for a while, anyone remember "Eddie Leonard sandwich shops are the finest?" which I recorded in between doing the news for Alix. I was a High School Junior and Senior at Wakefield at the time, so my contact with the day staff was limited, but there was enormous staff turnover. One thing I remember about Averill was the "Memo's" on the stalls in the mens rooms. You couldn't even take a dump without having the read one of his paronoic, rambling rants about how the Coke machine was a mess or some other assinine thing. My contact with Averill was so limited that when he came to see me when I owned WYVA and he was then a "Consultant", he didn't even remember me. This is possibly why I lasted as long as I did at WEAM in the 60's. I was at WEAM again after I left WMOD in 1974 (?) my memory is blurry on the dates, as I smoked waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy toooooooo much weed in those days. (just ask PLB!!!) I do remember that Jim Elliott was PD, he'd just left WRC. I know I stayed through a book and the ratings came up, but then Elliott was fired and I resigned on the air and managed send management into a tizzy! I do remember how much fun it was to "quit" on the air. Took management until almost 10am to get someone in to replace me. Within 24 hours Art Kellar called and asked me to come over to WEEL and I stayed there until I bought the FM station in Yorktown, VA in 1976. One thing that does stand out about WEAM was the awful amount of "echo" and "reverb" that was on our voices. Thank God radio has passed that phase! Ahhhhhh, those WEAM memories make me appreciate being retired and done with it! WPGC came into such prominence because of the FM signal! WEAM had a superior AM signal over DC. It wasn't until you went west toward Tyson's that the signal dropped off. I see all these comments about WEAM's signal being weak and its suprising. They had a kick-ass AM signal in the 60's and 70's. WPGC was an AM daytimer and had some serious signal issues. The FM was what made WPGC. Pat Murphy (8/3/08) Dave's response: WEAM's night signal did vanish in western Fairfax and upper Montgomery at night. But it was great inside the Beltway, and way far east of DC at night. I remember listening to WEAM at my grandparents' house near Atlantic City at night, wondering why I couldn't hear it in Reston after sunset. Oh, a highly-directional night pattern. Duh..... /\ August 3 Messages /\ \/ August 2 Messages \/ FOX will not make WUTB MY 24 a FOX station ever for one simple reason....... SINCLAIR. Sinclair owns more FOX stations in more markets than any other station ownership group in the country and Baltimore is Sinclair's HOME market. So unless FOX 45 wants to GIVE UP the FOX Network, the FOX Network will stay on FOX45 as Sinclair has more leverage than FOX on this matter and the Baltimore market is not exactly FOX's biggest worry or concern. FOX has bigger fish to fry and has wanted to unload the Baltimore station for a long time. All station ownership groups seek duopolies now, well except for maybe Scripps Howard, which can barely manage to keep WMAR 2 afloat. (8/2/08) O'Reilly???? Ass Whopping??? Did he hire a new female ''producer''? That ''Messiah'' nonsense is getting out of hand. You Republicans all need to stop drinking out of the same punch bowl. Paul (8/2/08) Dave, you were a little hard on "PLB" back on 7/31. I was down in Bethesda on Friday, and I heard music on AM950 at 10:50am--The Mills Brothers to be exact, and the signal was strong. I assume that was WCTN. At 12:50pm, however, there was no signal there. (Today, at home in Balto County, I get a very weak signal on 950 with talk programming, but there's been too much lightning noise for me to know what station it is.) ~~CA in BC (8/2/08) Dave's response: I was just having some fun with PLB. He is a radio god. Oh, you're probably getting sports talk WPEN in Philly..... To Ed Rodriguez: Thanks for sharing about your WEAM employment, et al. Now don't you feel better after doing something that you should have done in the first place. And Ed, name-calling really has no place in this, or any, forum. Shows how tough your skin is, pal. /s/ A "hater" [I think not], "wimpy-winer" [hardly] and another unsigned poster [for sure]. (8/2/08) Why does a newscast on 24 give 13 an advantage over 11? WUTB BTW is ownd by Fox. I think it is more likely that it would stay with that ownership but move to Fox. (8/2/08) RE: The local Anthrax Scientist story........ I know several wickedly smart people (one who even works for NASA) who juggle obsessively in public places who are not licensed street performers, juggling professionals, and/or Carney folk. Trust me, he killed himself. Let's all be thankful and not start crazed conspiracy theories of an X Files proportion. It's just a movie. In real life, there are just crazy people out there, even brilliantly smart ones at times. :-) (8/2/08) Re: your comment "Slam Obama's positions, fine. But this "messiah" campaign against him is rather bizarre and sad....." As an astute observer of the media, you cannot possibly be oblivious to the unprecedented nature of the of the media response to this guy, and the irrational reaction (fainting, crying...nay, sobbing) that is repeatedly observed and reported. To have all three major anchors - not to mention hundreds if not thousands of other reporters - travel with this largely inexperienced talker through Europe and to see hundreds of thousands of lemming Europeans cheer him along is a STUNNING spectical. He is being treated as some kind of savior and is even himself adopting quasi-Biblical language which lends itself to that comparison. Support who you want, but such references are hardly "bizarre" or "sad." They are a best attempt by people (like me) who just don't understand what all the fuss is about to explain what they are observing. Those who are caught up in it understandably don't yet have the perspective to see how...well...silly it all is. Perhaps the Beatles would be a more digestible comparison. Pretty much the same thing. As for slamming his positions, it's basically wack-a-mole: he either has no discernable position or is constantly changing him. Just today he changed his position (only just recently announced) on off-shore drilling. I am NOT a McCain fan (I'd prefer a Ron Paul type), but I certainly don't want a return to administration by poll triangulation. Anyway, you may not "get" the comparison, but it is certainly not bizarre or irrational. Bob in Forest Hill (8/2/08) Roddy- Rollins never actually bought WEAM. Mr. Averill left in 1974, followed by Bruce Houston from WRC as General Manager. Upon Mr. Thoms' (the owner, hence Thoms Broadcast Enterprises) death in 1976, Bruce was replaced by Terry Watts, a genuine bottom-feeder IMHO, who had been GM at Rollins' WRAP in Norfolk. Terry is the genius who ordered me to dismiss all "white" members of the air staff, resulting in the first reverse discrimination case in broadcasting. (Thoms offered us a settlement rather than go to hearing!) Mr. Thoms daughter, Maitland, owned the station until they sold it to Viacom and it became WMZQ-AM. Incidentally, Mr. Thoms' nephew, Richard, married Maitland, allowing them to keep the company completely under family control. I report- you decide! - Ed. Rodriguez (8/2/08) What's the big deal about the Verizon kid in Delaware? That company has been jerking off its' customers for years! (8/2/08) Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the ass-whooping O'Reilly gave to turncoat Scott McClellan the other day. He sounded an awful like Messiah Obama, uh uh uh ummmm. Porter Jervis (8/2/08) Dave's response: Slam Obama's positions, fine. But this "messiah" campaign against him is rather bizarre and sad..... EdRod: Did Harry Averill stay at WEAM until Rollins bought the station? I think that was around 1975 or 1976. Roddy Freeman (8/2/08) Dammit, we were having a really NICE discussion about WOL, WEAM and 1965 Washington radio when these haters seeped out of the woodwork. So, for the little wimpy-whiners who are too scared to post their names, here it is. I started spending time around Crimmins Lane in the summer of 1968. I always wore a dress shirt and tie so that Mr. Averill would not chase me off. I'd walk to Charlie's for sandwiches, etc. for the jocks and do anything I could to be of help without getting in the way. The jocks were very kind to me and taught me a helluva lot about radio. That was my pay for my effort! I made friends with Jeff "Steve Raymond" Stevens, Jim Stewart and newsman Paul Clarke. Program Director Ted Clark was nice but always looked at me with a jaundiced eye. No doubt, he was worried about having some punk kid hanging out at the station. In late 1974 or early '75, I was hired from KRNA in Iowa City, by PD Simon Trane, to do middays. After Si left, the new PD, Frank Adair, promoted me to Music Director and mornings. When Frank left, I was promoted to PD. Did I get to wear "The Red Blazer?" No. Do I still consider myself a WEAM Team Redcoat? Hell, yes. To the grave. See, that station touched me when my family moved here in 1963. I watched it morph through many, many changes over the years. Just as kids from Philly aspired to work at WIBG or WFIL, New Yorkers to work at WABC and WMCA, Chicagoans at WLS or WCFL, etc., WEAM was where I wanted to be. When I finally made it there, it was a very real accomplishment in my young life. It provided me with a great springboard to WASH-FM, management, ownership and other great stations like WPOC and WMZQ. I am proud of my time spent at WEAM. And, for the record, Mr. Averill was nice to me then and treated me even better when I became a general manager, even driving down to see me at WXAM in Charlottesville. I have nothing to hide. In fact, thanks for triggering some wonderful memories! - Ed. Rodriguez, WEAM Team emeritus (8/2/08) To the person about VDOT. Media Relations Central Office StateWide issues , the number is 804-786-2715 (8/2/08) There is heavy local coverage of the suicide of the "Anthrax scientist" from Frederick, Maryland at local news radio WFMD and the Frederick News Post. FMD is doing half hour news updates and has a large blast on their web page www.wfmd.com with updates. The national media is asleep on this story sticking with copy and tapes recorded at the start of the probe. The Frederick City police have a case opened to investigate the death. The national news folks would do well to lock on to some of this local coverage to get the full picture. There will be future questions arising! (8/2/08) Aw shucks, is Pamela Brown no longer working weekend mornings anchoring Newschannel 8? Could her reassignment? be attributable to her loss on the dcrtv battle of the local media celebs who be the hottest? Saturday morns just won't be the same no more with out her to go along with a shot a beer and WaPo. seems like a lot of Deadskin stuff for the Monk and Green on Comcast Sports was produced in house by the Dreaded Skins. Is this the wave of future for the local sporks channels? If the o'meara show is so good how come the sycophants over at dcrtv friendly? radio gods forum have so little to say about the show? those lemmings would walk off the cliff in the past for the DnM. Did the new GM CK at WJFK ban Tom Gavin from the show and station? BTWS, WEHT Rusty Gibson? Moved out of area? Did enjoy the music he played on his show. Never got around to putting up podcasts of those interviews with the jocks of old? Adios TT Reynolds another place that is gone... (8/2/08) Mike O'Meara rear-ended = karma. Get to know the people who worked at or frequented his restaurant and you'll know what that means... (8/2/08) I'm visiting Nassau County, Long Island, this week and have been able to watch television only on a TV set attached to a "rabbit ears" antenna. Every single night this week, about 1 minute after David Letterman's show ended and just seconds into Craig Ferguson's opening monologue, the WCBS-TV signal suddenly disappeared and the screen showed only static. (Meanwhile, every other NYC station continued to be received without any problem.) Channel 2 is either turning off the transmitter or else it's powering down drastically. Does anyone know what's going on? It seems very odd that CBS' flagship station would do this just as an important late-night network program is beginning. If transmitter work is being done, wouldn't one expect Channel 2 to wait until network programming concludes -- or to turn on the station's backup transmitter? (8/2/08) Does anyone know how to get in touch with the VDOT department that manages the commuter info radio "station" at 1620 or 1630 AM? It is heard loudest right around the Mixing Bowl in Springfield. There are so many things wrong with the material they are putting over the air, I want to apprise someone of it. (8/2/08) Wow! All this "Ed Rodriguez Hullaballoo" is doing wonders for my ego. I feel like a teenaged heartthrob who's been discovered flipping pancakes at a diner in Dubuque! Yeah... I said it... PANCAKES! So, Bob Mohr... how long has it been? For those of you who have not had the pleasure, Bob is one of the most PRINCIPLED men to ever crack a mic in this market. And, your words humble me, friend. Is this the part where Ralph Edwards walks in and plays the tape of me offering to set up Mike Michaels with a lot of girls when he moved to Puerto Rico? Or, the part where I walk into my office to find Bob "Nighthawk" Terry changing his clothes in there? Nah, I never worked at WEAM! It was all a dream... like on "Dallas." ROFLMAO... Ed. Rodriguez (8/2/08) /\ August 2 Messages /\ \/ August 1 Messages \/ To the defense of WEAM and EdRod!...Ed was an inventive air personality at WEAM, a cool music director and a competiive P.D. I worked with Ed for short times in 1975 and '76 during Frank Adair's progressive format and there was nothing cooler than working at WEAM. I challenge those who question WEAM's overall sound during the period of 1972-76 to acnowledge how many true heavyweights in the business worked there during this time. People such as Jeff Davis, Ron Morgan, Dave Kellough, Dave Michaels, Charlie Fox, Jim Elliott, David Tate, Don O'Brien, Pat Murphy, Simon Trane, Steve Drepperd, Marty Dempsey, Chris Bailey, Sean Hall, Ty Ford, Kelly Saunders, Bob Showacre, Bob Davis, EdRod and others. If WEAM had been on 97.1 or 101.1 on FM, maybe we would have had a different story in the DC ratings. I was probably one of the worst ever to grace the mic at 1390 when I was hired by Billy Martin in 9/75, but Frank Adair kept me on when he regained the PD job a week later, and I got better. One reason was following Ed or being on the shift before him on weekends [I was part time]. Thanks, in part to the friendship and competance of Ed, WEAM was a cool time for me.....Bob Mohr, currently at 104.5KHJ in Garrett County,MD {since May of 2000). (8/1/08) Dave, I sure hope (not that I have any control over It) that Clear Channel does not get there hands on the CBS Baltimore radio cluster they are an awful radio company with how they operate(voice tracking central) several of those current formats would be In serious trouble under them. Red Zebra as well(Baltimore hates the Redskins) and Bonneville also. Hopefully Media General,Nassau,Entercom,or even cumulus would get Involved and get Into radio In this region enough with Clear Channel,Bonneville,and Red Zebra the region needs new blood as far radio ownership goes. It Is a mid-market but apparently an attractive market (21)judging by the line of companies that are already getting In line to get the stations. (8/1/08) i believe ed was the pd of weam in 1976 after frnak a. left. he also owned a couple of stations, including the shell in gaithersburg that you mentioned. damn fine jock on wash. he was part of the staff when they won billboard stattion of the year (8/1/08) In spite of previous claims to the contrary, WPGC did snag a fair amount of talent from WEAM back in the day, including: Dave Kellogg, Jim Elliott, Jack Alix, Kevin James, Loo Katz, Ed Kowalski, and Don O'Brian. (8/1/08) Greg Kane going to the Examiner is great. Now I can avoid the Sunpapers all together, and their constant praise of Governor O Malley or looking the other way when O'Malley commits another buffoonish act. (8/1/08) One more thing...... If CBS were to dump its Baltimore radio cluster and buy WUTB MY24, another thing would almost be guaranteed to happen....... Say hello to CW 24 and MY 54. CBS would almost assuredly take The CW network affiliation away from Sinclair owned WNUV 54 since they co-own The CW Network and WJZ would finally have an advantage over WBAL with a 10pm news lead-in on CW 24. The big loser of course would be Sinclair who would be stuck with the low rated My Network TV crap. There would be no other alternative other than possibly ION and that's doubtful. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Baltimore the largest TV market in the country without either an ION affiliate, a Spanish language station, OR even an independent or religious local TV station? Baltimore's TV & radio market ranking has always puzzled me considering the market's Top 10 per capita income ranking in recent studies. I wonder if it is strictly due to the lack of a great # of TV and radio stations in Baltimore compared to similar sized markets (being so sandwiched between DC & Philly). (8/1/08) Indeed Ed Rodriguez was a jock at WASH and a good one. Let's face it, like others, he's worked at a lot of area stations including a Shell station in Gaithersburg. (8/1/08) Re: The Post's slumping subs. Don't blame me -- just this morning I extended home delivery for another year. We get the Post and the Washington Times -- a two-paper household! (For this year.) Print news forever! Can I get a witness? Anyone? Hughes? Anyone???? Christian (8/1/08) Dave's response: I still enjoy receiving a "local newspaper of record" on my doorstep every morning, to leaf through while I drink my morning cup of tea. And that, at my location, is the DC Post. But, I must say, I have cut way back on my purchases of additional papers over the years, a la USA Today, the NY Times, the NY Post, the DC Times, etc. I still glance at them when I find them at a newsstand (usually at Reston Barnes And Noble, and less often at the Fairfax Fascist Borders) or in the "free pile" at Silver Diner, but the days of this "news junkie" paying for more than one rag a day are gone..... I'm not sure what all the Ed Rodriguez hullabaloo is about and I don't claim be any type of expert on DJs in the region, but I did do a Google search and found web pages listing an Ed Rodriguez at several area stations. Someone even claims to have an aircheck of him at WASH in 1977. FWIW. Howie (8/1/08) PREDICTION: If CBS does sell its Baltimore cluster, I bet the next thing they do is buy WUTB MY24 for a duopoly and possibly start a 10pm WJZ run newscast. Everyone knows FOX doesn't want to own the Baltimore station and has had it for sale for like forever. The problem selling WUTB has always been Scripps doesn't want it while Sinclair, Hearst, and CBS can't currently buy it due to FCC market saturation rules. (8/1/08) Dave's response: That could be part of CBS's plan. Sell the Baltimore radioers and pick up a TVer to pair with 13..... To Ed Rodriguez: I'm not the "unsigned poster," but stop playing cutsie with all of us. If you had any gonads, you'd just clarify the record without indulging in the childhood game of "I'm not, but you are." If you don't have anything to hide, then why not spill your guts about your illustrious career in detail and be done with it. And to paraphrase H. L. Mencken: "It is always the best policy to speak the truth--unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar." /s/ Another Unsigned Poster. (8/1/08) For what it's worth, I thought Ed Rodriguez worked at WEAM during the period in the 1970s when the format was big band. (8/1/08) So is MIke Moss really gone? I looked foward to radio's version of Lou Dobbs, so full of himself he doesn't need someone on the other end. (8/1/08) harry jaffe on newhouse's closing, he did a nice little video about it; www.washingtonian.com (8/1/08) Has this been already addressed? While going around the FM dial last night, I noticed a clear broadcast coming in at 87.7 MHz; it even announced itself as Channel 6 in Arlington, VA. An ID at the top of the hour stated a phone number to call for more info in both English and Spanish; the music otherwise was somewhat traditional Mexican music; and it apparently was putting out an FM Stereo signal (therefore not a TV-style signal), because my Stereo light was on, meaning they were using Channel 6 as a radio station. I know this was done in the last couple of years in Brooklyn, NY, for a Russian language station. Is it here now, too? And for a low-power station in Arllington, it came in pretty good in my 20-mile away town. And, while I'm writing, if CBS and Clear Channel are selling their stations, maybe the small would-be radio station owners who have felt shut out for the last few years could reappear and create good radio again. It wa s embarrassing for the industry that I had to put on my Arbitron diary last week stations on the Internet from the Alsace or from someone's server in Los Angeles, which are 100 times better than most stations in Washington and Baltimore.-- Carl in Olney (8/1/08) Dave's response: There's is a licensed low-power Spanish TV operation on channel 6 in Arlington..... Dave, The problems with Retro TV yesterday weren't Comcast's fault. I had the same problem OTA. I even checked my signal strength to be sure it wasn't my receiver or antenna. Howie (8/1/08) CBS has a combined 15.9 share 12+ in Baltimore. They have 3 FMs in the top 10 and WHFS-FM at number 12 with a 2.1 share 12+. These are very valuable stations. What a sale that would be. CC could add that to their 8.7 at WPOC, 2.5 from WCAO, and 1.9 from WCHH. WCHH had a 3.5 last book and could regain some with another format change. This would give CC about a 30.0 share in Baltimore. WTF. Under the same conditions, a Radio One take-over would give them 32.3. Time for Mel K to save (buy with other peoples money) Radio One. He will need something when he cashes out of SiriusXM. Ed Graham (8/1/08) I've sat through some really horrible ''broadcasters'' in my time but none come quite as close to Larry Michaels female sidekick on ''Redskins Nation'' on Comcast. She's a very cute girl but the moment she opens her mouth to speak, that train wreck of a show completely derails. I literally keep waiting for Larry to start yelling at her. ANYONE who watches that show has to see how bad she is. Why is she even there? Paul (8/1/08) Dave, I'm confused, how is Baltimore a mid-size market? I thought those would be considered say 50-100. Also why would CBS sell Baltimore, didn't you report a year or so ago that the CBS Baltimore cluster has recently won awards from within for how well they have done in sales...BTW I just want to say how good it was to see some of my old radio and media friends and meet some new ones up at Ravens camp including Rob Long, Casey Willett, Joe P from Press Box, Aaron Wilson, Brent Harris, Tony Lombardi, Steve Davis, Keith Mills just to name a few. Those guys couldn't have been nicer to me. -Michael Popovec (8/1/08) As for my suggestion that new talent be found for sports talk radio in the DC area, I think some of the talent may be here, some has to be found in other places. It's up to those setting up a new sports format to find and develop these people. Folks who know sports, live it and breathe it. Not just one sport. Not just two sports. But folks who can insightfully discuss the range of sports and teams in this area. (No, I'm not suggesting equal time for all sports and teams -- just that shows not have gaping holes in their coverage.) It's been said by a number of folks here before: give a listen to WFAN AM 660 in NYC to get a feel for what's possible -- at least for the local slots. Having said all this: I think there's nothing wrong with having regularly scheduled niche shows dedicated to each team or sport. Phil Wood is the natural for baseball, the Nats, and yes even the O's when callers wish to discuss them. It's a broadcasting crime he's not on the radio in DC. (8/1/08) Please, Please, Please will somebody buy the CBS Baltimore cluster so we can get rid of Phillips & Labrozzi (AKA Dumb & Dumber)... Signed, The Staff of CBS Radio Baltimore. (8/1/08) Of the CBS Baltimore properties, which has the strongest signal? (8/1/08) Dave's response: I'd have to say that 101.9 and 102.7 are the best CBS Charm City FM signals because they don't have close-spaced adjacent-channel FMers in nearby markets cutting their coverage. Both 105.7 and 106.5 are limited to the southwest by their close-spacing to DC's 105.9 and 106.7, respectively. Plus, 105.7 also has a Pennsylvania FMer on the same frequency hitting it from the north..... Let's think this out. Your "friend was at a meeting where they said KHTK was for sale. All the print said that. If they are sold, then the Mike O'Meara show is done. Why don't they wait and see who buys it and if they will really get rid of a show that puts up good numbers...ratings and billing. Or is your friend a tea leaf reader? Or did you just make up the whole post? (8/1/08) What's on Retro TV on WJLA-DT 7.3? I can't find any listing for it in the WJLA site. And when I looked for a way to ask, the only contact information I could find was related to news, not other programs. Am I missing soimething or is WJLA all hype and no substance? Diane in PG. (8/1/08) Dave's response: I tried watching "Leave It To Beaver" yesterday and the audio was choppy and the picture kept pixilating. Don't know if that was Comcast's fault or WJLA's compression. Anyhow, according to the Comcast electronic program guide, it's 10 AM "Ironside," 11 "Kate And Allie," 11:30 "Bachelor Father," noon "Adam-12," 12:30 "Dragnet," 1 "Marcus Welby," 2 "Quincy," 3: "Emergency," 4: "Simon And Simon," 5 "McHale's Navy," 5:30 "Leave It To Beaver," 6 "Incredible Hulk," 7 "Knight Rider," 8 "A-Team," 9 "Magnum PI," 10 "Rockford Files," 11 "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," 11:30 "Night Gallery," midnight "Suspense Theater," and infomercials from 1 AM to 10 AM..... I have a friend who works for CBS Radio in Sac and he attended a closed door meeting yesterday where he was told that the Sacramento CBS radio station cluster is for sale – including KHTK Sports Talk 1140 AM where the Mike O’Meara Show is heard. KHTK has been one of the most ardent and successful affiliates of the former Don & Mike Show and now the new Mike O’ Meara Show. I am told, not for long! (8/1/08) Tom Taylor today - DC speculation: "What 'selected stations' might be on the CBS hit list? One enterprising poster at Radio-Info.com’s message boards has this observation: 'If CBS simply pared off their smallest 11 markets, they would sell exactly 50 stations.” Those markets are (drum roll, please): Portland, Oregon (Arbitron rank #23). Pittsburgh (#24). Charlotte (#25). Riverside (#26). Sacramento (#27). Cleveland (#28). Las Vegas (#33). Orlando (#34). West Palm Beach (#46). Hartford (#50). And the nobody-even-know-they-have-stations-there market of Palm Springs, CA, #133. So here’s another great question: What if CBS is also putting under-performing stations in larger markets in the mix, so they wouldn’t necessarily be selling the entire cluster? That might even reach up into a market like Washington, D.C. (I’m thinking of a rocker there) or Detroit? And yet another way to slice this: What about a larger market like Minneapolis or Denver, where the CBS presence is just three stations? Would that market be a possible 'spin', more than a smaller market like Charlotte? The speculation party’s well underway online.'" (8/1/08) Dave's response: Does he mean that CBS might sell the Globe? Look, if CBS was going to sell one of its DC FMers, as far as signals go, it would dump 106.7, which is short-spaced to Baltimore's 106.5, and doesn't reach parts of DC's northeastern suburbs (a la College Park). And keep the better DC market coverage of 94.7. Maybe move JFK's talk and UMD sports to 94.7. Gee, I wonder who's suggested that before? Hmmm..... Your idea of WJFK being a good talk station. I think the key point you make is that it's local and live 6am to 7pm. In the good old days here we had many stations, who with interesting local personalities who made you feel compelled to listen and it became part of YOUR life here. Remember Art Brown, Fred Fiske and later Johnny Holiday on WWDC? Harden & Weaver and the great lineup on WMAL and including of course Felix Grant. How about Fred Knight's mid-day show also on WWDC. The local talent with live broadcasts made radio in those days interesting, compelling and fun. The Joy Boys in afternoon drive on WRC how could you not love them? Seemed like it could not get better. It was all about HERE it was all about OUR lives everyday. Maybe all these corporate geniuses could stop and think about what makes, or at least made, radio such a personal, real, entertaining companion. And I agree maybe here today WJFK is the closest and only thing we have that has content and a sound that resembles us. And while my background here makes me just a little prejudiced.... Instead of just playing with numbers and shares the sales departments being creative with their sales & marketing approaches could make stations like WJZY, the cool jazz version, more economically successful. (8/1/08) A couple of questions to some prior posters; To the one who wrote in regards to Bonneville's 1500 going all-sports: "It'd be too late to bring back Phil Wood but a serious Nats show could be done due to them actually having Nats broadcast rights. Maybe Charlie Slowes would be interested" two things. Too late? Did he die? And, why do you think Slowes, who's a Nationals employee, would do an objective show? And, to the person who said "If a new sports talk station were to be started in DC, it would have to feature a fresh cast of hosts. Please, no more recycling of the same ol' ex athletes and tired old hosts who basically know only the same crap they knew years ago and can't be bothered to expand their expertise even a little," are you suggesting people from out of town? Who did you have in mind, exactly? (8/1/08) Ok, this probably goes without saying, but IF Clear Channel does decide to purchase the CBS cluster in B-More, I'd imagine that CC would go for renaming WHFS to calls more appropriate to F.M.T.alk, say WBFM or something. Give WHFS calls back to an alternative station, what is now 104.3 WCHH. KeninGlenBurnie (8/1/08) For those experiencing low-level audio during Channel Four’s Nightly News, check your receiver and make sure it isn’t in the surround sound mode, unless you have center channel audio available. The dialogue track goes to the center channel in 3.1, 5.1 or 7.1 systems. If you aren’t using a center channel you won’t get much. Tom Gauger (8/1/08) To the unsigned poster who doubts the veracity of my WEAM employment; I would HAPPILY clarify the record on one condition... that you identify yourself. My late father taught me to never answer inquiries without knowing who I'm talking to. And, to paraphrase Willem Dafoe's character in the 1985 film, "To Live and Die in L.A.," If you won't even say who you are, you ain't for real! - Ed. Rodriguez, former WEAM Jock, Music Director, Program Director and WPGC Good Guy Squelcher (8/1/08) The poster below is correct that Washington’s abundance of poor AM signals is what enabled WEAM to succeed despite a fairly poor signal. And the poster is also right that once WPGC-FM overtook WEAM around 1971—and Washington was an early FM market given the poor AM-signal landscape—WEAM did become marginalized; and that the final nail in the coffin was WRC (although WEAM’s DC coverage was certainly better than WEEL, WINX and WHMC). That said, and despite the signal and Harry Averill’s jock-du-jour policy, WEAM was one of Washington’s great stations in the 60’s, at least to listeners, and did rack up some great ratings in those days. And a number of the jocks went on to big things: Eddie Rogers-CKLW, Bill Campbell (Gable)-CKLW, Paul Clarke-WLS, Paul Christy-WCFL, Chris James (Jack Friday)-KFRC. And there were others. My favorite WEAM jock was the late Jack Alix. Roddy Freeman (8/1/08) If a new sports talk station were to be started in DC, it would have to feature a fresh cast of hosts. Please, no more recycling of the same ol' ex athletes and tired old hosts who basically know only the same crap they knew years ago and can't be bothered to expand their expertise even a little. (8/1/08) I realize I'm a day late with this, but sincere thanks to whatever convinced Greg Kane to take the buyout and go to The Examiner. That'll make avoiding his column just that much easier at the Sun's website. Signed, Fferret (8/1/08) Anyway having problems with WRC News 4 sound? We have directv HD with an optical cord running to surround sound. Whenever the channel 4 news is on, the sound level is really low. BUT when anything else is playing on channel 4 (regular programming) the sound is normal. This problem also carries over the world news tonight in the evening. I'm trying to figure out if the problem is News 4 or directv. (8/1/08) Why all the hate directed at Ed Rodriguez over his claim to work at WEAM? Let's face it, despite the historic but counterfeit cachet of being DC's Top 40 "leader", WEAM was a signal-challenged station run by a diabolical tyrant in a notoriously AM-poor (signal-wise) market. At best, it was the cream of the crop at the bottom of the barrel. By the time FM penetration arrived in DC with the release of the Fall '71 ARBs (as Arbitron was called then), and WPGC-FM became dominant, WEAM was reduced to being a rimshot station in a class with WEEL, WINX and WHMC. The final nail in WEAM's coffin was the flip of WRC to Top 40 in the Fall of '72. Any true student of market history who recalls the countless shifts in direction and formats undertaken on 1390 from 1971 forward under the regimes of PDs such as Michaels, Metheny, Bell, Adair or the untold, forgotten others who passed around the virtual revolving door at 2131 Crimmins Lane knows that by 1973-1975 anyone working at WEAM was doing little more than wiping the bird poop off the awaiting hearse. The passing of time dims (not Norm) the memory and we tend to hold on to the happier recollections, including making employment at WEAM a bigger deal than it was in reality. If claiming to work at WEAM gives a little boost to Rodriguez or anyone else who spent time at that East Falls Church hellhole, then let them enjoy it. It doesn't take any money out of your 401k, bunky. (8/1/08) man o' man, what exactly happened DCRTV Dave happened at that meeting in the underground garage in toothless fairfax with the unnamed wjfk honcho? I find the carp on the WJFK BORING! talk loud, talk fast and laugh even before the line is finished , yeah entertaining sh8t that is.....even tried listening the tiresome o'meara show yesterday afternoon for the gene simmons interview but I found the show some boring and predictable i fell asleep and missed most of it except for the tiresome carp by o'meara about if your ever in d.c. we need to get you in the studio, he still saying that all the time zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (8/1/08) With CBS Radio putting "50 Mid-Size Markets" on the block including Baltimore, who do you think will be the players? Clear Channel is out and so is nearly bankrupt Citadel. Got cash? (8/1/08) Question? Re: Your Sign Off..."WEAM Team Redcoat Ed Rodriguez" Excuse me? "Redcoat?" What a nice claim to fame! What was your airname? When exactly did you work at 1390-WEAM? Was it post late 1974, early 1975? Or pre-1973? Are you saying you were on the air at WEAM before 1973? We'll be forever humble (for the record) if you can prove you did work there prior to 1973. Maybe, with the great Bill Gable in 1970 -- or with Mike Michaels (John Galanses)? I never saw you on Crimmins Lane from 1973-1975, when I was part of the team. Perhaps you worked with Terrel Metheney and Norm Dimm? Or, the other guy who came in after Metheney (and Burkhart), Frank A.? Who was your PD? Thanks for clearing the record. (8/1/08) (regarding a previous post) I've always heard that the Three Stooges movie, "The Outlaws Is Coming!" featured bit parts by some of the Kid's TV hosts who presented the boys, around the country. Does anyone know if Bill Johnson, Bill Gormley or Lee Reynolds had cameos in the movie? And what about those theaters listed in the ad - are any of those still in operation? I'm pretty sure I saw "Outlaws", but I didn't think it really measured up to their previous stellar work in "The Three Stooges in Orbit". (8/1/08) /\ August 1 Messages /\ \/ July 31 Messages \/ Dave: Wanted to second the person who said Bonneville should start a local sports talk station. At this point I could easily see them luring Steve Czaban away, now that he is not happy with Danny Boy cutting his morning show for the unlistenable "Mike & Mike." (I actually did enjoy "First Team.") If they could lure Andy Pollin away as well, they would easily reunite Tony K and "Andy Polley" and a do a Sports Reporters show that doesn't feature only Redskins talk. It'd be too late to bring back Phil Wood but a serious Nats show could be done due to them actually having Nats broadcast rights. Maybe Charlie Slowes would be interested. All of these are just ideas but is there any way to actually implementing them? Can we start a grassroots campaign? Sincerely, Jay (7/31/08) MEMO TO JIM FARLEY AND THE OTHER SUITS AT BONNEVILLE: Now that Dan Snyder is shoving the Redskins down our throats 24-7-365, It's time to turn 3WT into a REAL SPORTS TALK STATION. It's time for Snyder and his DEAD ZEBRA stations to get blown away to radio ratings hell. You have the foundation to start a real sports talk station: Frank Herzog knows the Redskins better than the suck-ups who work for Snyder and he would make a first class AM or PM drive time anchor. And lets not forget that he used to be the voice of the Bullets as well Then there is Nathan Roberts who used to anchor sports at Channel 5 and News Channel 8. Another solid anchor here. And then there is Chris Core. Don't forget he started as a sports reporter/anchor when he started at WMAL. Lets not forget the WTOP sports guys either. Dave Johnson, Byron Kerr, Jonathan Warner,George Wallace, Craig Heist, John Aaron and Dan Lang are a very talented group broadcasters and would offer great insight on the area's other pro teams ( plus the Snyderskins) and cover the college athletic scene. Then you could add Phil Wood as your baseball czar. Last but not least, Tony Kornheiser as a show host or doing commentary would work as well. Perhaps you could use l channel 4 personalities Jim Handly and Bob Ryan as "guest reporters" on the local tennis scene. Since 3WT already broadcast Nationals, Capitals and GW men's basketball games, the foundation is there to expand on the number of live events that are covered. What about forming a partnership with MASAN? MASAN and 3WT would greatly benefit from the other's vast resources. A partnership with the sports departments of the Washington Post or Washington Times would add to the wealth of resources available. ( We all know how Danny boy likes the Post's coverage of the Redskins, NOT!) Now is the time to let Dead Zebra know there is more to sports than just football in the DC metropolitan areaand Bonneville has the tools to make it happen. Jim Farrley and company what are you waiting for??? (7/31/08) Dave's response: Unless Bonneville is willing to make an investment in a live and local (most of the time) talk formatted 3WT, it should flip it to sports talk. You are absolutely right. Bonneville could do some excellent cross-promotion via all-news WTOP and beat the pants off Dan Snyder's ESPN 980. Just think, it could have jumped the gun on Snyder (or prevented his purchase of WTEM and maybe even also secured the radio rights for the Redskins) by starting 3WT as a sports talker a year ago, when Washington Post Radio was silenced. Yet another (!) missed opportunity for Bonneville..... Dave,is it safe to say you prefer the Junkies to Elliot???WJFK is great and thanks for the rant.#1 here they come,party at Lurch's...............and any chance you'll give us your top 5 DC radio shows? Steve,VA (7/31/08) Dave's response: I do listen to Elliot. But it's that cackle. Top 5? Let me think..... Dave: Want to start by saying that I'm a big fan of your site, and enjoy the always current content. Now here's my feedback for you. I think you should be careful when you call out Harry Jaffe's "almost creepy obsession with the Washington Post." You do take great pleasure in calling out the inaccuracies and inconsistencies that appear in the Post (on a regular basis, I'll agree); so b careful of any "glass house" characterizations.... As with any unsolicited feedback, feel free to delete if you wish, I'll continue to read on a regular basis. Thanks for listening. (7/31/08) Dave's response: I'll freely admit it. I have lots and lots of creepy obsessions, as most regular DCRTV readers can readily attest to..... Hey Dave, I loved your rant about WJFK’s lineup today. I’ve been listening online 5 days a week for almost two years. I spend my day with all three shows. I always enjoyed the Junkies and I loved Don and Mike but once they moved Big O and Dukes to midday’s I was HOOKED! I can get a little overloaded on all the testosterone sometimes and the Junkettes and Buzz Babes are a little vapid but I get all excited about Daniel Craig in a bathing suit so I understand. These are GUYS that are talking and at least they give you an honest look at what goes on in side a man’s head. And they are FUNNY! I hope they keep up the good work for a very long time. Katherine Hegler (7/31/08) Dave's response: And another reason I like JFK. You'd think that a typical guy-oriented radio talker, these days, would bash gays. But JFK is a very gay-friendly station. Yeah, you do hear gay jokes on JFK, but they're done with a respect for diversity and tolerance. Not in a mean spirit. Witness the Junks and their frequent "man crushes" on guys - the latest being Jason "Lurch" Bishop's lust over new Redskin Jason Taylor (right) via wjfk.com. The 106.7 on-air (and behind-the-scenes) guys are secure in their sexuality and don't feel the need to trash those who are different. And that's a big deal..... Now that you’ve weighed in on WJFK’s line-up in your Rant, I may have to give them a listen. But, speaking as one lone conservative out here in Liberal Land, I wish you wouldn’t tar Rush Limbaugh with the same brush as the likes of Hannity, O’Reilly and Savage. Rush at least entertains and informs me, and is not the hollow gasbag that some make him out to be. But Hannity, who repeats the same things over and over, and stops arguments when he’s losing? Lightweight. O’Reilly, the biggest bully on TV, and a stain on Fox? Know-nothing. Savage, a classic uninformed loudmouth, the type normally heard on Air America? Moron. None of them can hold a candle to Rush, despite the mishmash he’s made of his personal life. I’m embarrassed that the other guys are conservatives. As for JFK, I’d listen more if the signal didn’t drop like a hot potato somewhere in northern Montgomery County. And everytime I turn it on, there’s another commercial. I’ll give ‘em a shot though, as I’m really tired of what passes for afternoon radio around here. It’s Traffic and Weather and Bad Music Forever. Christopher (7/31/08) Dave's response: I don't mind it when Rush slams Obama's stands on issues. But when he runs comments about how Obama "sounds like a girl" (huh???) like he did two days ago, you just sit there as a listener - Democrat or Republican - and think: "This is just stupid." I know Rush thinks he has an acerbic sense of humor, but sometimes he comes across as little more than infantile..... I like today's rant about WJFK. I agree that the line-up is great! I was always a fan of DnM and now MO'M, but I've really grown to love Big O and Dukes! I listen to all day long while I'm at work! (7/31/08) Dave's response: I make it a habit to listen to Rush Limbaugh at noon on WMAL. At least to hear what his latest "Hate Obama Topic Of The Day" is. But, lately, I can't listen to him for more than about 15 minutes or so of Rush without getting too damned close to popping a blood vessel in my brain. So, increasingly, it's over to JFK for more of Big O and Dukes. It is amazing how fresh their show sounds even though they do almost five hours daily..... Here's a link to Mel Karmazin's interview on the Stern Show yesterday: www.zshare.net... Like the O&A interview yesterday, this one is long too so make sure that you have about an hour or so to listen. -Kevin from HdG. (7/31/08) In response to: "I see MO'M is doing an appearance/party on the opening night of the Olympics. A MOnday night party? Wonder if a lot of people will show or not." It’s August 8th. That’s a Friday night party. (7/31/08) (Re: Calling your attention to Seattle, where Bonneville is dumping its FM oldies station to simulcast KIRO-AM. Most speculate it’s temp, leading to an all-sports or some other talk format on FM.) Whoever is speculating this is temporary may be missing some recent changes. Bonneville put WTOP on the FM dial, they put their Salt Lake News station on FM and then they put their Phoenix news station on the FM dial. I don't know what is happening in Seattle, but this seems to be a trend with Bonneville and their news/talkers. BA (7/31/08) 950 AM going Oldies? Oh, come on!!! They already tried that and they sucked moth-flakes doing it. Remember? They were the station that played "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" at least 16-18 times a day. If they do Oldies, they have to do them right; otherwise it'll be a toy jukebox again, just like the way Classic Country 1250 sounds right now. (7/31/08) Looks like Joe in Essex has touched a nerve again. And you wonder why he keeps posting? All the suckers! LMAO (7/31/08) WHAT: Online chat with Kojo Nnamdi, host of The Kojo Nnamdi Show and The Politics Hour... WHEN: 1:15 p.m., Friday, August 1, 2008... WHERE: conversation.wamu.org... DETAILS: Kojo Nnamdi, host of The Kojo Nnamdi Show and The Politics Hour, heard on WAMU 88.5 weekdays at noon, will chat with listeners online Friday at 1:15 p.m., after the show. The chat will take place on The Conversation, an online meeting place for WAMU 88.5 listeners, producers, hosts, and reporters. Those interested in participating need only go to conversation.wamu.org and fill out a profile to join. Nnamdi will discuss patriotism, an issue that has been at the forefront of the presidential campaign to date, and anything else that listeners would like to discuss... (7/31/08) Anyone hear Rush's series of tributes to himself this week? Sad. Now go home to your complex of mansions and sit along in the dark and pet your pussy (cat). (7/31/08) TO OSCAR SANTANA: THE WORD IS REGARDLESS, NOT IRREGARDLESS. THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS IRREGARDLESS, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU THINK. Since you are on the air you have the power to please stop spreading this ridiculous verbal blunder. Thank you! (7/31/08) Dave's response: My favorite is "pre-recorded." Ah, how can something be recorded before it's recorded. "Recorded" will do fine..... I see MO'M is doing an appearance/party on the opening night of the Olympics. A MOnday night party? Wonder if a lot of people will show or not. (7/31/08) Dear Dave: A couple of weeks ago, in response to the termination of Phil Wood's program on WTEM, I said the following about the station's new PD: "...and I can only surmise here, had never before set foot in the DC area, and whose knowledge of DC sports is probably limited to whatever he had viewed on ESPN Sportscenter..." Well, I just finished reading an article by Leonard Shapiro on the Washington Post's web site (www.washingtonpost.com) which discusses the end of Phil Wood's program, and I found it interesting to read that the new PD essentially had no idea when Phil's program was on the air. I'm not surprised. Phil also mentioned that his program was making progress to the point where the sales staff were saying that his numbers were looking very good...and all this while talking about the worst team in baseball. One can only conjecture what the numbers would be like had the Nationals performance been better this season or what they would be should the team improve in the upcoming years. I've said that Snyder can do whatever he wants with his stations. I don't have a problem with the Redskins being the top dog in this town. They certainly made a splash their first season in DC when they won the 1937 NFL Title. But this "we-will-not-have-a-substative-mention-of-any-Washington-sports-franchise-other-than-the-Redskins" mentality is what's turned me off from following the 'Skins. Yes, I was a diehard fan. It's just that I realized my limit. Greate site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (7/31/08) In response to your rant I couldn’t agree more. I love listening to the Junkies, Big O & Dukes (when I’m not at work) and Mike O’Meara. I can’t believe I’m saying this because I listened to Don and Mike their entire 20+ years together but I don’t miss Don at all. I really had my doubts at first but Mike has made it a much “kinder” show and reels Robb in if it takes too negative a turn. Last week when Mike introduced a new game and it worked out, you could tell by his voice how excited he was – he was like a kid on Christmas morning – great stuff. I also like how the three shows talk about each other and come on each other’s shows and really seem to like each other and they all seem very sincere about it. CM (7/31/08) Great RANT about the 106.7 lineup. I supported the Junkies a year or so ago in this mailbag when someone claimed that anyone that got their news from the Junkies was a complete moron. I understood what that guy was saying, but he didn’t understand that people and shows can do MORE for an issue than just report the facts. I was listening to the Big O & Dukes show today when they were talking about domestic vs. foreign cars and learned more about that from both the callers and the hosts than any local news show has ever enlightened me on. So whoever you were that slammed the Junks for being ‘idiotic’, give a listen to Joe Krebs some morning, or any of the other local news people, and see if you’re a more informed person afterwards. I’m thinking you won’t be, unless you wanted to know BREAKING NEWS about the latest cat stuck in a tree. So kudos to 106.7 for bringing three of my favorites together – and for cross-promoting them like crazy. It’s a fun group and listening to the Junks on the Mike O’Meara show on BOB Friday last week was CLASSIC radio. Now we just need to get rid of Rome. PLEASE. (7/31/08) If you're looking to get a jump start on planning your weekend, (and IF this is June of 1965), you may want to catch Herman's Hermits at the DC Armory, do the Disco scene at the Casino Royal (with music programmed by THE WEAM TEAM), go stag or drag to the Boy Meets Girl Dances at the Burlington Hotel, or catch the Motortown Revue at the Howard with MC Bill Murry; (no, not *that* Bill Murray). The kids can choose from Story Book Land, Marshall Hall, or a matinee of "The Outlaws Is Coming!" (the final film by The Three Stooges). You'll have to wait until Monday for the versatile, dynamic Kim Sisters and their act packed with heart and Seoul at The Shoreham Terrace. But, I'd advise you to steer clear of the Stanton Art Theatre unless you like sticky seats. For details, click (and scroll down) at: DCMemories.com (7/31/08) Hi Dave, I do love your site. But: Why do you consider WMAL an extension of GOP Central and NBC, CBS, ABC not an extension of the DNC? You never state thate these networks are so much in the tank for the Dems and Obama. Personally they are anything but fair in their reporting. Regards, George, Stephens City, VA (7/31/08) To all DCRTV Mailbaggers: Please stop responding to the posts of poor ol' Joe in Essex. It only stokes his false ego. Here's a hint: maybe if we all ignore him, he'll just go away. Only wishful thinking I guess. Oh, I forgot: :-) (7/31/08) Dave, Great rant about WJFK, I think you were spot on. I've been in the DC area for about 5 years and though there's been a lot of changes in a short time, I think they are on the right track. I didn't have this type of talk radio back home in rural PA. My only complaints with their lineup are 1) The sports evening show isn't that great and I don't think it fits in with the rest of the lineup. 2) The AWFUL Hideout show on the weekends. It was awful years ago at nights and its just as awful on the weekends. The hosts are not funny at all and they have no idea how talk radio is supposed to be. They say "The Hideout 106.7 WJFK" about 30 times an hour... no exaggeration. Count it sometime, it'll drive you crazy. Finally... I've said it a million times and I'll keep doing it - bring back Ron and Fez in the evenings and the station will be perfect. I've emailed this request to CK personally and he responded that he didn't believe that they wanted to return to local radio. They did a version of it in NY while on Satellite, why not DC? This is a major market... WJFK just needs to not be cheap and put up the money! -marcus (7/31/08) Dave's response: Love to hear R&F return to 106.7. I think they'd be better for evenings than the syndicated Tom Leykis.... I listened to several innings of the Nationals game last night, and there were two stretches of silence, one of which lasted for several minutes. The station never explained what happened. Not a huge deal, but I'm probably the only person in the area who left the station on that entire time, rather than turn the dial (I was doing some writing, enjoying the game in the background). Christian (7/31/08) Just got off the phone with Barry Richards. I'm heading for Malibu CA tomorrow. Barry, his wife, Joel Denver and his wife and me and my wife hook up either Monday or Wednesday for dinner, and boatload of funny memories. PLB (7/31/08) Those searching for "your 'HMC heavy head leader", radio chameleon Hairy Barry Richards, look no further than here: DCMemories.com... Of course, just nine months earlier than that article, an immaculately clean-shaven BR was mixing-it-up with the teenie boppers on "Groove In" at: www.youtube.com... With big changes coming to satrad, I wonder if "The Reazar" will still be smokin' up the airwaves on Sirius XM Radio from 10 pm - 4 am ET on Fridays? Word on the street has it that BR's low-budget "Rock'N'Soul" video shows on Channel-20 from the 1970s are being prepped for release on DVD. (7/31/08) Dave, Check out WCTN...950 AM, the liners sound very familiar. Kind of a different format. Great for the galloping grays. I hope you enjoy. I don't know if I do or don't. Great music, MOR. PLB (7/31/08) Dave's response: What are you smoking, PLB? I hear the station's been off the air with transmitter troubles of late..... Look, lady, I'm pretty sure the question about stations targeting young males has been answered, but let's try one more time: it is the belief of marketers that young men have the most disposable income that they are likely to spend AND are most easily influenced by what they hear/see to spend it. It's that combination that makes them worth trying to attract. Your statement ("I am certain that MOST 25 year-old males cannot afford what MOST 35-45 year-old females can afford to buy") not only ignores the combination of attributes (and skews the demo by confining the male category to 25 year-olds while giving a decade-long range to the female side), it also ignores a mountain of statistical evidence. (7/31/08) Saw former WJLA anchor Christianne Klein doing a report and see that she's dyed her hair dark. I wonder if she believes that a darker hair color will make her seem less like the "dumb blonde" stereotype. (7/31/08) WTOP without Moss in the morning? Sounds great. A pleasure not hearing that guy laugh because HE THINKS he's funny. (7/31/08) Dave's response: Ditto with DC101 and Elliot..... Bill Figenshu at WOL used the name Bill Powers. Wasn't he there in early to mid 70s? (7/31/08) Are Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban trying to write their own walking papers at ESPN980? Last evening on Sports Reporters, they gave prominent play to a column by Jonah Goldberg blasting ESPN for honoring Tommie Smith and John Carlos (Olympic track medalists from 1968) with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the recent ESPYs. Of course Smith and Carlos are best known for giving the black power salute at their medal ceremony, a gesture widely lauded as a brave stand on behalf of civil rights and freedom at a time when racism and segregation were rampant in America. But Goldberg (an editor at National Review) is a staunch conservative who articulates the minority view that the two sprinters were expressing support for "a racist militia, the Black Panthers, which orchestrated the murder of innocents and allied itself with America's enemies" - and he accused ESPN of engaging in revisionist history by honoring them. Both Pollin and Czaban appeared to be buying into the Goldberg position - not surprising for an unabashed right winger like Czaban but I thought Pollin was supposed to be more liberal than that. What's particularly disturbing is his apparent failure to dig more deeply into the topic or present the pro-Smith/Carlos viewpoint as well. The typical lazy approach of fishing for a provocative column on the internet and kicking it around for five minutes or so is inadequate for issues as serious as this one. Two of the regular guests on that show are Mike Wise of the Post and Kevin Blackistone, both of whom have written columns praising Smith and Carlos in the past - but Pollin was probably unaware of that fact because he didn't bother to do the research. From a Red Zebra standpoint, it's interesting that he and Czaban don't seem to have any hesitation about ripping ESPN despite the fact that their station's now aligned with the four letter network. Mike, Fairfax (7/31/08) Calling your attention to Seattle, where Bonneville is dumping its oldies station to simulcast KIRO starting in about two weeks. Most speculate it’s temp, leading to an all-sports or some other talk format on FM. www.radio-info.com... RJ (7/31/08) Dave's response: Yeah, I got tipped to that yesterday, but I didn't put it on DCRTV since we don't cover Seattle radio..... Wow, the "Subterranean Sound Experiment" as "Essex," and another blast, The Electric Brew, either on WTOP's FM station or was it WASH around the same time. Good stuff until WGTB's radio showed up ( and WHFS in the early 1970's) (anybody remember WHMC and Barry Richard's psychedelic music show's (Barry's reincarnation #4?, anyways reinventing himself) . (7/31/08) Joe - "Both are blatantly attempting to circumvent FCC policy" - I'm sure the FCC knows their own policy. If the FCC deems it is time to stop such things, I'm sure they will. If you'd like to make formal complaint, there is a process. Follow it. The form is right here - esupport.fcc.gov. Make a complaint, take a stand. It's not that I have anything against you, Joe - I just think the FCC has bigger fish to fry than to worry about the Hope Church of Marlton New Jersey or WXXY's chain of STA's. You know. Important things. Like Janet Jackson's boob. (See, Joe - some humor to show I'm not such a tool) (7/31/08) Ok, my bad. Who would have thought installing new windows in my office would mess up my reception. After moving my antenna in all sorts of places, I finally seem to be able to tune in to 105.9. At least Steve Allen will know that there is a fan of the station out there!!!!! Kim (7/31/08) Dave's response: I love what 105.9's playing. It just needs some local "personality." Scott Shannon 24/7 is a bit much..... Certainly no surprise that CBS is selling some radio properties. I'm sure there is more to come as well as with Clear Channel. Now that they have ruined radio as we know it, they want out because they can't satisfy their shareholders. Something is definitely wrong with a business model that consolidates properties (radio stations and their staffs) and then can't make a profit. Could it just be so much waste and mis-management? With all the voice tracking, automation, and short playlists, they wonder why their former audience listens to satellite and their own ipods. (7/31/08) Now that CBS is divesting 50 non major market stations and Clear Channel will continue to sell off the same it appears we are beginning to finally come full circle. The Clear Channel and CBS model of owning everything never worked. Running major market stations takes a different talent skill that running middle or small market stations. It is not any harder, or easier, it is just different. If Clear Channel can stop selling its properties like a commodity than may be there is some hope. (7/31/08) Is anyone else having trouble getting 105.9 this morning? I was able to get it on my way in to work in my car and I usually have no trouble getting it on my office radio but all I have had since 8 am is static. --Kim (7/31/08) Dave's response: Checked at 9:15 and 105.9 was coming thru just fine at my location..... Now I would have only been 7 or 8, but I seem to remember the Chartbusters opening for Herman's Hermits at the DC Armory. One fuzzy memory is that the Chartbusters' drummer flipped his sticks high in the air as he played, although that could have been another act on the bill. Howie (7/31/08) RE: [ " I just don't understand why you personally have a vendetta against WXXY and the Hope Church of Marlton New Jersey. " ].......... What vendetta? Both are blatantly attempting to circumvent FCC policy and getting away with it due to FCC stupidity. Neither is serving the public's interest and I've criticized a few other stations and companies in this same way previously. It IS the public's air-waves correct? Funny how the industry tools in this mailbag always defend the FCC on this stuff. It's sad but true that no one in the media would dare take a critical view of the FCC else they bite the hand that feeds them (with the possible exception of the satrad merger, but that's a whole other competitor of all terrestrial radio stations that is feared). (7/31/08) A) I am employed. B) I appreciate Ed Graham's wisdom. C) Bite all of us! Now, back to 1965... Roddy, although you're right about Dave MacNamee's voice on WEAM, WOL and WMOD, I think the guy you're thinking of is Steve Stafford. He was the Production Director for WOL/WMOD, filled in on "The Big 'OL" as "Jack Jeffries," hosted WOL-FM cum WMOD's great Sunday night "Underground" show, the "Subterranean Sound Experiment" as "Essex," could write and produce a spot in his sleep ("The Soul Shack, the Soul Shack... Everybody's goin' to the Soul Shack!") and... jeez... what else WAS there for him to do? Dick Lillard was the News Director AND Music Director in the early days of WMOD. "Marvelous" Marv Brooks was the PD who signed WMOD on as an Oldies station. I don't recall Bill "Fred" Figenshu on WMOD. I thought his first day on the air was Day One of WMZQ (98MZQ). Pat Murphy, it's great to see your post. You were the first guy I knew with an in-home studio! You were too damn cool for school! Phil Beckman, enjoy the Florida "Phil Sunshine!" (Sorry, man... I HAD to.) And, hey, fellow "Redcoats"... please hold Good Thoughts for former WEAM Team Chief Engineer Ed Buterbaugh while he fights a very difficult strain of cancer. The man could make a lousy signal COOK! And, when I got to WCAR in Detroit, I could not lose his CKLW even parked under a bridge! Talk about signal envy. Johnny... we're going to need that blazer back. And, Spike, go cut the grass around the towers! - Ed. Rodriguez... not REALLY the bastard child of Harry Averill (7/31/08) Much as I love it, I’m a bit worried about ABC’s World News Tonight. Tuesday night, Lisa Fletcher—covering the western wildfires in an attractive, if unnecessary bright yellow firefighter’s coat—received a hug from a woman who learned from Fletcher that her home still stood. Wednesday night, Fletcher got yet another hug from yet another woman after rescuing possessions from that woman’s home. That’s two hugs in two days: two more than any network correspondent should receive, or at least include in her story. Bob in Pikesville, MD. (7/31/08) Joe - I just don't understand why you personally have a vendetta against WXXY and the Hope Church of Marlton New Jersey. (7/31/08) /\ July 31 Messages /\ \/ July 30 Messages \/ RE: [ " and you know this...how? Yes, he has had extensions of his STA, but come off your high horse a little bit. Oh, and why do you care? " ]......... Very simple, check WXXY's FCC records, 10 YEARS of constant STAs, under several different owners, none of which had ANY desire to BUILD OUT the STATION nor did any of them! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. No high horse here, just plain and simple common sense. The FCC needs to get off its ass and start yanking LICENSES from serial offenders like this and certainly NOT giving them NEW FCC LICENSES TO OPERATE MORE STATIONS!!! If AM stations like this disappeared, markets that can actually support or need better AM signal coverage could improve their signals with less interference from these phony FCC licensed PRETEND STATIONS. In the case of AM 1600, well guess what, Washington, DC has a grossly underpowered AM 1600 all the while the Delaware AM 1600 doesn't even have a permanent transmitter facility for over TEN YEARS! What's wrong with this picture? Geez, there is hardly any argument here you could make in defense of this FCC policy. Anyone who disagrees with me on this is either an FCC employee, a WXXY employee (do they even have any? HAHA!), an industry tool, or... nevermind. You made your point. :-) (7/30/08) Hey, you, the one that took shots at Ed Graham. He is NOT looking for work, he’s VERY comfortable. He’s one of the best programmers alive. Build a format, hire great talent inexpensively, treat them right, praise them. Build numbers, continue to refine the format WHEN ALLOWED. So, in my humble opinion, and one that has worked with him on three successful occasions PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR POST or Go screw yourself-It’s you that probably were dumped by Ed that send these hate filled emails. PLB:0) (7/30/08) Regarding WXXY "the other has no intention of EVER building any permanent transmitter facility whatsoever" - ...and you know this...how? Yes, he has had extensions of his STA, but come off your high horse a little bit. Oh, and why do you care? (7/30/08) Great stuff about "The Lively One"! Wasn't Dick Lillard a PD at WOL at one time? He was the Honky Du Jour in the late 60's... Revisiting the WOL processing thread, my 1967 Broadcasting Yearbook lists a Frank Bacon as the CE. Wonder if his bacon is done by now... Inquiring minds still want to know about the 60's processing on WOL and, for that matter, WEAM (Thank you, Ed Buterbaugh!), WPGC, WOOK, etc... And, Ed Rodriguez, I am alive and well in Naples, FL, scratching out a living as a contract engineer. Phil Beckman (7/30/08) WTEM early to late breakdown. Mike and Mike are boring. Cowherrd is good if you live in a college football city, but not here. Kevin and Doc are a mismatch though both have been good in other situations. The John Thompson Show is a tough listen although the basketball talk is unmatched. The Sports Reporters aren't funny, although Czaban is a lightning rod. (7/30/08) Here's a link to the entire O&A interview with Mel Karmazin this morning. It is about 40 minutes long though so make sure you have some time to kill. www.orbitcast.com -Kevin from HdG (7/30/08) Did I hear "The Chartbusters at The Rocket Room"? DCMemories.com... In the '60s, The Rocket Room was owned by Joseph and Sanford Bomstein who tried to book the hot young acts of the day. (7/30/08) Re: Fox does it again. Gee Dave, have you never gotten your mords wixed up? JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (7/30/08) Dave's response: I can understand that mixing up "Obama" and "Osama" verbally isn't all that difficult to do. Especially when one is under pressure, under the hot studio lights. But when you keep doing it regarding on-screen graphics, like Fox does, you've really got to wonder what's up? Johnny Dark... Paging Johnny Dark. Please report to the TOPS TELE-QUEST TIME mobile studio for your air shift. (And bring your own 45s. Someone spilled a chocolate shake and a Sir Loiner® over the records.) (7/30/08) And only 1 DAY after posting here about WXXY in Delaware's 10 years of not having a permanent transmitter site and STA status and WAGE's crazy FCC environmental hurdles, guess what happens? fjallfoss.fcc.gov... PREDICTION... the STUPID CORRUPT FCC will once again approve this station's right to NOT SERVE IT'S COMMUNITY OF LICENSE, 10 years and still running, as usual. WXXY may never have a permanent transmitter facility or serve the people of Dover, DE as licensed, but they'll sure have a decent powered FM translator in Ocean City, MD to raise money for the, ummm, business/church, whatever you wanna call it, a gift from the FCC. The irony is one station, WAGE, wants to build new upgraded transmitting facilities and serve the public, the other has no intention of EVER building any permanent transmitter facility whatsoever, a proven fact over 10 years! But guess who the FCC sides with time and time again? You guessed it. A pathetic FCC, just simply pathetic and corrupt. :-( (7/30/08) Dave, Is "Matt David", the newscaster heard on Magic and WTOP, the DJ formerly known as YDB? He has. A very. Halting style. More so. When he anchors. On WTOP. I remember when Dave Brown followed the Greaseman on DC 101. He was very good. (7/30/08) Dave's response: "Young Dave Brown" has been doing weekend morning news anchoring on WTOP for a number of years now..... (if you want to fly safely this summer, fly USAirways. muslims are boycotting them.) I'm not a muslim but if the racist PIG shoe fits, wear it, Dude. ~Marge~ (7/30/08) Gee Ed, thanks for telling us all how to do our jobs. Judging by the fact that you’re not-so-subtly trolling for work, we can only assume that no one who is actually employed in the business in this market appreciates your great wisdom. (7/30/08) Bruce and Debbie really sound awesome together on WTOP, really natural. They sounded great together back when, and it sounds great to hear them together again. WTOP's got a dream team right there. I'm not sure what Debbie's been doing, but it's good she and Bruce are back together. Bruce is always top notch no matter who he's with and he was the best with those Ask The shows. (7/30/08) Dave MacNamee did in fact program both WMOD and WOL in the early 70's. The "white" voice you heard on WOL were either MacNamee, who had a real talent in the production room, or one of the WMOD jocks. MacNamee loved to do production, his voice was on most of the liners for WMOD too. Bob Parkinson was the Program Director at WEAM in 1965 -66 when I worked there. Pat Murphy (7/30/08) I also want to know what is goint to happen to lifetime subscriptions of sirius radio, I have one??? rob (7/30/08) Marv Brooks was the WOL production voice around 1969-1970, just before the person I was asking about. Bill Figenshu, using the name Fred Figenshu, was WMOD’s morning man in the mid-seventies and might have been the PD also. That was during the time when WMOD made an ill-fated attempt to compete head-on with WPGC, post the WMOD oldies days. I re-listened to the WEAM aircheck and am sure the early seventies WOL voice was on it. Since Ed mentioned he noticed Dave MacNamee on the aircheck, I’m pretty sure Mr. MacNamee was later WOL’s station voice. Roddy Freeman (7/30/08) Huh? Roch Kubatko ( or maybe his sidekick No talent anita) must be clicking onto his page AT LEAST 1,000 times a day - NO WAY THOSE NUMBERS ARE ACCURATE! Heck, the WAPOST -jlc Skins Blog-or evne their BOG gets10 x that! - Not to mention, la times previously, Kevin- catonsville (7/30/08) WTOP has to be hoping House Science Committee Chair Bart Gordon (D-TN) has an Arbitron Diary.... Here's how he introduced former Lockheed Martin Chair Neal, uh Norm Augustine today during a hearing on NASA. gordon.mp3 (7/30/08) The WOL-WMOD production voice could also have been Marv Brooks. (7/30/08) Dear Mr. Jack Velvet if they give you a call to program them, call me. I'm all numbers to all audiences. I do believe that your perceptions re: Red Zebra. I love sports, and I love to talk. In fact I love music and I love to sing. In fact I love Talk radio and I love to talk. Do you know if there is a station for the deaf? I love to listen, maybe I could work there? KAPPY (7/30/08) Roddy Freeman -- was the WMOD voice Bill Figenshu? (7/30/08) i read the release (about the Sun's Roch Kubatko going to MASN), and i have no real info other than a heard-fourth-hand conversation, but i find it impossible to believe that "roch around the clock" gets anywhere close to the traffic of the la times's hugely popular lakers blog. i mean, la as a market dwarfs baltimore, and the lakers as a franchise REALLY dwarf the orioles. it shouldn't even be close, and, from what i've heard, it wasn't. but maybe i heard wrong... (7/30/08) fox news channel's molly henneberg discusses the redskins and being fair and balanced... blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog (7/30/08) Ed...The Terry Knight on WEAM was not the one from Detroit. Harry probably gave him the name because he had a jingle in house that he could use. Also, he couldn't take the name and go to work for another station locally...I got a kick out of you mentioning the WEAM team "Redcoats." When Harry Averill canned a jock, one of the first things he did was make you return your red jacket. When he hired a new jock, he'd take him to the closet so he could pick out one that would fit him...FYI, Robert C. Alllen III is alive and well. He was the morning guy (Russ Wheeler) when Harry and Bob Parkinson (the PD) brought me back to WEAM in '65. A couple of years later, when WCAO brought me back to Baltimore to do mornings, I did it for a while but wasn't very happy doing that shift. The PD at the time, a wonderful guy named Gene Creasey told me that the GM loved me in the morning but, if I could find him a good morning man, he'd get me back on nights. I immediately tracked down Robert C. and he eventually came to Baltimore and set the town ablaze. He's a wonderful guy and a dear friend....Johnny Dark (7/30/08) Ed Rodriquez/Pat Murphy: Around 1971-1972, WOL used a voice guy who was white and had a hyped delivery. The station had tons of reverb in those days, and it really came across in the imaging. At the time, I thought he was Dave MacNamee. Was he? Didn’t MacNamee program both WOL and WMOD? Roddy Freeman (7/30/08) "Shawn of DC" can include me among the believers that Richard Day is the best anchor WTOP Radio has on their staff, *period*. But let's not overlook the possibility that it was Mr. Day's choice to no longer report for work before the crack of dawn. Despite his youthful appearance, Richard is old enough to collect Social Security (*if* he wanted to) and should be allowed the privileges that seniority bring him. (7/30/08) Some Notes: The WEAM aircheck was great, but Johnny Dark on WEAM live from Topps Drive-in was real American Graffiti radio. His voice cutting through the night and real passion about the show is just not duplicated today. As a youth, I was hired to work mid-days and had to use the name Jack Velvet. In those days, the owner liked to have the same name and just change DJs every few months. Great station in spite of that. - - Red Zebra, you want a sports station? Hire the best and program it right. Sports radio can be very profitable. If the station sucks, the signal won't matter. Please re-program some of the stations. Programming causes audience. If you need help, call me. - - Same goes for 3WT, put the right people on the air and go after WMAL. No excuse for what you have now. WTOP does sound better these days, but it is still the victim of exclusive programming. You should run the station as if it had stiff competition. - - The ratings show that Globe sucks, and the station has no rudder. Traction is out of the equation. - - One more thing. For some crazy reason the FCC has decided to give the corporate media 3,400 TV channels. The 1,700 TV channels now owned by corporations will greatly expand with digital broadcasting. Think about it, all owners of single channels, will now have four channels. That's diversity. 3,400 channels become available, and they just give them away to the people who control all of the other ones. Ed Graham (7/30/08) While I thank everyone for their suggestions of what they think are female oriented channels (country?, christian? please) I really do like and listen to Elliot, O&A, O and Dukes and the Junkies. My question though, is why do radio stations and advertisers think the young male audience numbers are the best ones? I am certain that MOST 25 year-old males cannot afford what MOST 35-45 year-old females can afford to buy. (7/30/08) The "Terry Knight" on the aircheck is in fact, Pat Murphy. I did the news for Jack Alix's how in the evenings in 1965 and did weekend air shifts. I worked with Dave MacNamee (JEB Stuart) at WEAM then again at KKUA (Honolulu) where I was Terry Knight again in 1969 (we were both in the Marine Corps) and then again at WMOD (DC) in 1973-75. By then I was "Murphy in the Morning". Last communication I had with Dave he was in Florida and doing well with his consulting business. There were a "lot" of different faces that passed through WEAM in the 60's. There were probably several other "Terry Knights" but the one on the aircheck is Pat Murphy (7/30/08) Hey Johnny Dark... This isn't the same Terry Knight who worked in Detroit, is it? Or, did Harry Averill just "borrow" the name from his CKLW days? The Detroit Terry Knight managed Grand Funk Railroad and a Cleveland group called, The Choir, who became the Raspberries! He was murdered in Texas a few years ago. Also, I think I recognize Dave "JEB Stuart" Macnamee's voice on some of the promos. Russ Wheeler was a WEAM house name that used mostly by the great Robert C. Allen III, who did mornings in Baltimore for years. - WEAM Team Redcoat Ed Rodriguez (7/30/08) (snip) The PPM method seems to bolster the ratings of rockers. Then, CBS will re-evaluate the Globe after a full "book" of PPM data, we're told (snip) It's unfortunate the Smooth Jazz format or at the very least, the REAL Sunday brunch, will not have the opportunity to be evaluated by PPM methodology... I think it would do very well... but, then again, what would you expect me to say? Al (builder of bridges) Santos (7/30/08) Dave's response: How about this? Since both Baltimore and DC no longer have smooth jazz outlets, what if CBS took 99.1, which covers both cities, and made it smooth jazz. And put El Zol on Northern Virginia's 106.7 and put WJFK-FM on 94.7, which would allow its University Of Maryland sports to actually be heard in College Park..... I agree - Debbie and Bruce sound good together on WTOP, but they should, they used to be a team on TOP years ago. She was also a great partner in the afternoon with Bob Madigan. Isn't it interesting how much more relaxed everyone sounds without Moss in the morning? (7/30/08) "Now with the merger of Sirius/XM, I wonder what will happen as far as programming for those, like myself who had paid for a special lifetime subscription to Sirius, I don't know if XM had that package. Any ideas?" I have the lifetime sub as well and I would speculate that the lifetime subs are still just that lifetime subs, but you might have to pay a little more for the "best of both services" a la carte menu. I wonder if that includes the MLB play by play package which I am anxious to hear as a Sirius lifer. (7/30/08) Dave's response: If you get a box of candies FedExed from Mel Karmazin, don't eat 'em..... Wonder if the FCC is playing tough with WAGE because once it goes to 50,000 WATTS a certain Redskins owner may jump all over WAGE Radio which already has been broadcasting local sports, including the Redskins for years. Mitch (7/30/08) (However, last year Fred was harsh on a bunch of Islamic students praying in an airport terminal before their flight, causing many observers to call security.) if this is the situation i'm thinking of, those muslims were intentionally drawing attention to themselves. they were removed and promptly sued the airline. and now their lawyers actually want USAir's procedure manuals for dealing with suspicious people. if you want to fly safely this summer, fly USAirways. muslims are boycotting them. (7/30/08) I am on vacation in the midwest where they have a similar service to FIOS by AT&T called U-Verse. Same principle, IP TV, phone and internet. I have noticed that all the channels are out of lip sync on the 3 different boxes I have seen. Video ahead of audio by about 4 frames. Video quality is good though. Anyone on FIOS notice lip sync problems? Charlie / Springfield (7/30/08) Just listened to the Terry Knight aircheck from January '65 -- fascinating listening, as I never heard WEAM prior to its conversion to a Drake-style format. And it was interesting to hear the commercial for the "Rocket Room" at 12th and New York NW, promoting a show by the Chartbusters, a popular D.C. band who had a Top 40 hit with "She's The One" (not the later Bruce Springsteen song, of course). Again, thanks for the reference. -- Vincent in Triangle (7/30/08) I remember WEAM back in 1965 and somewhere in that time frame they weren't using jingles, as evidenced in the aircheck mentioned. As far as Terry Knight is concerned, there may have been more than one part-time jock using that name. None of them were up to the standards of the full-time jocks. (7/30/08) (Is it just me, or does WTOP sound better without Mike Moss in the morning? All of the fill-ins have been great, especially Debbie Feinstein.) For the life of me I don't understand why they moved Richard Day from morning to midday. He's got a great voice, excellent delivery, and is very professional. Shawn in DC (7/30/08) Seems that the good folks who worked at NBC/Mutual in Crystal City have settled on a date for their reunion...Saturday, September 13th at the Hyatt in Crystal City. It's going to be a gab fest for those attending. No entertainment is being arranged. Just come with your memories and stories of a great newsroom that worked very, very hard for its hundreds of affiliates. Look for an E-vite soon! And, for those who want to know more please write mutualreunion@yahoo.com. Rita Rich, Class of 1989-2000 (7/30/08) Hey Dave, A little mythbusting is in order today. WJZ is hyping an "exclusive" interview tonight with Matthew Haarhoff, son of black widow scam artist, Cindy McKay. They're claiming that he will admit in their interview that his mother indeed murdered one of her husbands. Perhaps he will. But he did the same thing in an interview earlier this year with our reporter, Justin Fenton, who broke the McKay story in a three-part series in April. Haarhoff's admission was published in part 3 of the series on April 29. Here's the link - www.baltimoresun.com... (7/30/08) Is it just me, or does WTOP sound better without Mike Moss in the morning? All of the fill-ins have been great, especially Debbie Feinstein. (7/30/08) FYI...Terry Knight (sorry I don't remember his real name) was a part-timer at WEAM in 1965 at the Crimmins Lane location. The news sounder was a holdover from the early days of Top 40....Johnny Dark (7/30/08) I listened to and enjoyed the WEAM aircheck referenced below. Jack Alix sounded great on the promo for his show. (Alix actually went from WEAM to WYRE later that same year, and eventually landed at WPGC). As far as the news sounder, many top-40 stations across the U.S. used that type of sounder in their news. Roddy Freeman (7/30/08) Now with the merger of Sirius/XM, I wonder what will happen as far as programming for those, like myself who had paid for a special lifetime subscription to Sirius, I don't know if XM had that package. Any ideas? (7/30/08) Forward, into the past!... I used to listen to 1390-AM WEAM, "The Lively One" in 1965 - but apparently not on Sunday evenings, because I don’t remember this guy. Here's his air check airchexx.com from January 24, 1965. (the date info is mislabeled on the web site) It features Terry Knight. What is strange to me is the lack of jingles. I know WEAM had 'em and used 'em back then, but none show up on this air check. What does make it, briefly near the end of the audio, is that crazy telegraph key beeper thing that WEAM used in newscasts. I guess they thought it lent an air of excitement to the proceedings, but I always thought it sounded pretty stupid. (7/30/08) Dave: I've already made the switch...moving my daily listening habits to satellite radio rather than listening to ESPN980. Kevin and Doc are terrible...the SportsReporters have gotten worse. You would think since Czaban lost his local morning gig, he would mellow-out and start to smell the coffee and be a professional. Once again, you can tell he has no respect for someone like Frank Hanrahan...let along anyone who poses a threat to his routine. Furthermore, if you were given a second-life as Red Zebra continues to air the SportsReporters, why wouldn't you try to spice-up things and have some better guests instead of having Knoche and Lavarro adding nothing to the show. (7/30/08) RE: "A present-day XM or Sirius receiver will absolutely NOT work “just fine” with both services, now or ever, at least not without a chip upgrade at the very least..." You really need to stop speculating and start reading some of the information out there right now. According to FMQB: fmqb.com Karmazin discussed this very issue and they're absolutely stating that current receivers will be able to access the a la carte services as soon as they're rolled out: "One of the most exciting benefits of this transaction is the ability to offer subscribers the option of expanding their subscriptions to include the Best of Both services. Given the respective popularity of exclusive programming on both Sirius and XM, we expect many subscribers will upgrade their current subscription," said Karmazin. "The upside potential for both consumers and shareholders is huge. Consumers have the ease of adding premier programming without purchasing a new device. For shareholders, this kind of organic growth is a key part of the company's future and the success we expect to see." *Also, from FMQB: fmqb.com Mel will be making the rounds on the radio tomorrow including Howard's show and he'll be on the XM side of the Opie and Anthony show sometime in the 9 AM hour. That should be some interesting radio. - Kevin from HdG.* (7/30/08) I disagree with the poster who says WTOP doesn't have good reporters. They are good. The problem is they're not great, and they're not great because they don't have time to be great. They work in a sausage factory, cranking it out, cranking it out, cranking it out. No time for real research, no time for more than maybe one phone call and they have to do several stories a day. The journalism suffers, as does the quality. The poster decries the plucking of "low hanging fruit." That part I agree with. They just do whatever is easiest, whatever is quickest and a lot of corners are cut. The end result - like the sausage - is often bland, unsatisfying and unfulfilling to both the person making it and the person consuming it. I suspect that more than a few folks there entertain thoughts of doing something else for a living, but few ever will. (7/30/08) WUSQ Rules Winchester, But Is WIKZ Tops In Hagtown? Centennial subscribes to Eastlan Ratings for both Winchester and Fredericksburg. I guess out of protest, Arbitron chooses not to list the competitor's stations... same with VerStandig in Hagerstown... Eastlan! (7/30/08) Well Mel Karmazin, will be on Sirius XM (That is the new name) Howard Stern Show. On Wednesday. (7/30/08) Tuesday morning, while discussing prayer vigils at gas stations, Fred Grandy said that people should be allowed to "pray wherever and whenever they want." However, last year Fred was harsh on a bunch of Islamic students praying in an airport terminal before their flight, causing many observers to call security. Fred they should have gone someplace less visual. I guess Christian prayer is OK, but other prayer is not. Sean Hammity said today Obama wants to replace the White House bowling alley with a basketball court. (7/30/08) /\ July 30 Messages /\ \/ July 29 Messages \/ "to make an investment in satrad hardware right now would be just plain foolish." Yes, that In V2 for $39.99, pro install at $50.00 and subscription of $13.00/month is ASTRONOMICAL. Total bill 1st month: $102.99. Thats quite an investment for music of your choice with no commercials and all the play by play you could ask for. Foolish? A lot of fools are enjoying the benefits of sat radio and I simply love Sirius. Adding XM just makes it that much better. (7/29/08) en.wikipedia.org... “If you enjoy companies that pay management at a rate of 2.5 times your company's entire revenue, burn cash like crazy, but have a story that sounds good until you listen closely, this may be the stock for you. Knock yourself out. If you're looking for a good investment, look elsewhere.” Just four months after its IPO, establishing a share value of $22.36, WorldSpace was trading at $12.28; after seven months, $11.62; and after exactly one year a public slice of WorldSpace was valued at $2.16 (NASDAQ: WRSP). (7/29/08) Looks like the FCC is making WAGE jump through LOTS of environmental hoops to become one of Washington's most powerful AM signals at 50,000 watts on AM 1190. If approved WAGE 1190 would rival AM 1500 and AM 630 in daytime signal strength and possibly a better night time signal than AM 1500, a Class A! (at least locally, not in England of course, hehe) A flurry of amendments were filed today in response to FCC inquiries, mostly environmental related and typo corrections. Amazing environmental interrogation by the FCC in that the FCC daily keeps approving interference waivers that affect local Baltimore/DC FM stations willy nilly at the bequest of The Hope Christian Church of Marlton NJ (who shouldn't legally be able to translate a NJ FM signal into Maryland). How many FM frequencies in Maryland should the Hope Christian Church of Marlton NJ be allowed to have? It's just plain crazy! Not to mention the FCC's been handing out translator permits to individuals already owning radio stations without transmitting facilities for TEN years running via the FCC's crazy S.T.A. MERRY-GO-ROUND extension program (I'm referring specifically to the owner of WXXY AM 1600 in Delaware which the FCC gave new translator permits to even though the owner currently doesn't even operate a permanent transmitter site for the station the company CURRENTLY OWNS and that station hasn't had a transmitter site or operated as licensed for practically a DECADE or LONGER!). Is the FCC on crack or is just WHO you know (as in God)? C'mon, seriously, if the FCC approves the ownership of a radio station and that company doesn't operate it as licensed or as required by law in the public interest and makes virtually no effort to stay within the law, should the FCC be handing out NEW permits to that same owner? You would think not, but the FCC just gave the WXXY owners a brand spanking new FM translator permit for FM105.1 near Ocean City Maryland. It's like replacing a toy for a kid who repeatedly breaks same toy and walks away from it crying for another, pathetic parenting FCC. Meanwhile, the pathetic FCC is busy worrying about the DEER population in Loudoun County at WAGE's proposed site. Well, I can submit that environmental report very simply.... The deer are having LOTS of sex and loving it. I don't think they'll even notice the towers. :-) (7/29/08) Re the missing numbers (WAYZ/WFYN/WPPT in Hagerstown, WINC/WWRT/WWRE in Winchester, WEEO, WJEJ, et cetera) it should be understood that these non-subscribers have not been excluded from the Arbitron reports for those markets—just omitted from the published summaries. Arbitron withholds that info in an effort to keep the non-subscribers from waltzing into the local direct/non-agency clients waving around copies of 12+ rankers pulled off R&R, All Access or radio-info websites. Subscribing agencies, of course, have all the numbers anyway, so the Centennials and VerStandigs of the world are counting on those agency buyers continuing to funnel money their way without the expense of writing monthly checks to Columbia. That will work for awhile—until the agency buyers realize that those stations are flying blind and have no information handy to counter lowball rates. If they’re counting on agency buyers to be nice to them and maintain high-end rates, they’re in dreamland. Penny wise and pound foolish. BTW, WEEO & WJEJ never have subscribed, so their exclusion this time around just means they got swept up by the same broom. (7/29/08) Oh yea, the Junkies move women up the phone bank but it is so they can play the old "fatty or not" game or to find out if their favorite bird is a *swallow*. I feel like calling in right now so I can participate in that type of choice entertainment. NOT. ~Marge~ (7/29/08) Re: "Kristi King as a good reporter." How far our standards have fallen when we say this. Few news organizations today - certainly not WTOP - have reporting staffs that they can brag about. Standards today are SO low, the expectations so rock bottom, that a story of the low-hanging fruit variety is touted as "great reporting." All King did was jump out of a plane and do a narrative. Only slighly more difficult than covering a parade or three-alarm fire. News organizations today don't do real enterprise reporting, don't do real investigative reporting, don't do substantive, truly useful reporting. But they've convinced themselves - and a gullible public - that they do. Or perhaps my definition of what constitutes "great reporting" is just differerent. (7/29/08) Re: Best of Baltimore 2008 ! - ONLY thing worse than reading Max Weis - is SEEING AND HEARING HER! TAKE YOUR FINGERS OFF THE CHALKBOARD!! (7/29/08) I don't care if the 28,000 people at that Redskins intrasquad scrimmage came from friggin' Siberia, it's still a pretty damn impressive turnout. The Nationals have been lucky to draw that many to their brand new stadium for a regular season game. Redskins mania will always overwhelm everything else in the region sports-wise. And if, as a result, people would prefer "fluff" on the Redskins instead of coverage of the Nats, Wizards or whatever, so be it. (7/29/08) For the person who questioned where the programming is for women, try Michael Baisden in the afternoon. (7/29/08) Gee, I guess Bobb was wrong. Emery would be great in any other shift! Gee, I guess the new PD that “GETS IT”. Didn’t get it. He didn’t move him to another shift they BLEW HIM OUT!!!!! lark (7/29/08) "Do young men have a lot of cash to throw around? And don't most women actually control the "purse-strings? Listening to the Junkies they all acknowledge that their wives impact how much they spend (or don't). I am a married female who makes a great living, has a lot of electronic toys and an expensive car and have a lot of discretionary money to spend. I listen to shows that are mostly male-oriented but always change the channel when the hosts start talking too much about the female anatomy. I have a lot of female friends who are similar to me and just wonder why radio stations don't take us into account? Not that Elliot is aiming for this because they are at different time-slots, but I really enjoy his show and can't stand to listen to Mike O'Meara." How long have you listened to the Junkies? They want females to call in, and it rarely happens, regardless of the topic. They will let female listeners on the air before males. Most women control the purse strings, wrong, if the marriage was the way it should be, money issues get discussed. Try reading Michelle Singletary once in a while, you might learn something. Mike in Waldorf (7/29/08) Dave, re: your rant saying "how many other people would get such "superstar" treatment on the Post's lead editorial page less than a day after hearing that they might have cancer." Umm...Ted Kennedy just a few months ago? He was sainted in an unnatural way for days on end, across the board. And with very few mentions of his problems with the bottle or poor Mary Jo. Maybe this was the Post's way of making up for their softball Teddy coverage. Bob in Forest Hill (7/29/08) Dave's response: The point of my Rant today was aimed at the way the Washington press corps covers its own. It seemed a little odd that the Post would do a major editorial on Robert Novak on such short notice of hearing about his battle with cancer. It was a worthy editorial on a worthy topic. But the "rush" timing gave the impression that Novak is far sicker, and closer to the grim reaper, than he lets on. Maybe the Post's editorial staff knows something that "we" don't..... "WTEM should have left Doc by himself. His show might have been too inside but he is much better by himself without challenge. Sheehan was an effective antagonist on the Riggins show, Doc is better as the main host with a peanut gallery possee." Interesting - his previous show with the 'peanut gallery' was ripped repeatedly in this mailbag (can't recall a single post praising it). There was definitely too much trash talking and not enough issue oriented discussion on that program, and what's the deal with that Byrd character who got an hour's worth of air time every week? Not that there wasn't anything good about the show - Walker's Redskin critiques were usually on the mark, hockey got some badly needed run and the Al Galdi commentaries were interesting. Where did that rumor about Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban being on vacation this week come from? - both showed up for 980's Sports Reporters yesterday. Apparently Kevin Sheehan will once again be part of the weekly postgame programming on the station, perhaps co-hosting a show with either Joe Jacoby or John Riggins. Regarding the turnout of 28,000 at a Redskins scrimmage on Saturday illustrating how much bigger they are than any other local team, you have to keep in mind that admission was free and a lot of people from outside the DC area were in attendance. The Skins are hardly the only NFL team attracting big crowds to training camp events like that - happens across the league, especially with high profile teams like the Cowboys, Packers and Steelers. The media overkill for the burgundy and gold might be easier to defend if the coverage was more substantive and insightful, but (especially on TV) too much of it is fluff. The towns where football's the dominant topic right now are those where there's no baseball pennant race to talk about - the Bears have to play third fiddle to the first place Cubs and White Sox on WGN's (Chicago) sportscasts. If the Nationals were ever in playoff contention in July and August and packing them in at their ballpark, any media outlet that still gave priority to the Redskins would deserve to be slammed. Washington's always been a huge basketball area (high school, college and pro), while hockey interest is on the rise due to the Capitals' success last season - so you can't say the Skins completely overshadow everything else on the local sports scene. Mike, Fairfax (7/29/08) Hey Dave, just caught this little tidbit from Inside Radio regarding the satrad merger: “Under terms of the merger, the combined company will keep the standard $12.95 monthly rate through 2011, although the FCC does create a loophole to boost rates as soon as next year.” This is the first I’ve heard of such a “loophole” – anybody else heard about it? Why am I not surprised that the Foolish Communications Commission created a loophole just big enough for Mel to get his fat head through to jack up the rates almost immediately? It hasn’t even been a week and already it’s becoming clear that the supposedly stringent conditions of this “merger” are nothing but a farce. (7/29/08) THANKS GOODNESS 98 rock has pulled the plug on irresponsible radio .. first of all DUMB NAME, 2nd of all NOT FUNNY.. people like myself just want to hear music, they talked way too much and just weren’t funny or entertaining at all, good move. (7/29/08) “or just go ahead and subscribe now under the assumption that a present day XM or Sirius receiver will work just fine when the merger is totally complete?” A present-day XM or Sirius receiver will absolutely NOT work “just fine” with both services, now or ever, at least not without a chip upgrade at the very least. The two services’ delivery technologies are incompatible. Not mutually-exclusive, necessarily – a device may yet be built that can receive both services – but more likely what you will see is one service will be phased out and then shut down completely. (Probably XM, since Mel is approaching this from the Sirius side.) Bottom line: I would wait to see what happens before taking the plunge into satellite radio. Yes, that could be awhile, but to make an investment in satrad hardware right now would be just plain foolish. -Brian (7/29/08) Chris Emry would be a very good afternoon drive jock or any other time slot than morning drive in my opinion. He definitely doesn't "suck", he's just not what I would call a morning jock anymore. Times change. Hopefully he will turn up in an appropriate time slot on "Jack" when CBS finally realizes that things aren't happening at 102.7. Now let's see if "The Bay" will actually pony up the required $$ amount to get a good morning show, or if they will go on the cheap with a syndicated turkey like WCHH is doing.... From what I'm hearing they finally have a PD who "gets it" over there, we'll see. (7/29/08) Thought you might like to see Harry Shearer (The Simpsons, Spinal Tap) in full make-up as Karl Rove singing "Turd Blossom Special": www.mydamnchannel.com... You may notice long beard musician Leland Sklar (Phil Collins, James Taylor) on bass. (7/29/08) Per, EITMfans (link: eitmfans.blogspot.com) Elliot In The Morning producer, Tyler Molnar, proposed to his long-time girlfriend Lindsey, while vacationing in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic last week. The couple will wed next summer. Congrats! (7/29/08) Dave , WINC and the other stations aren't listed because their owners do not subscribe to Arbitron. (7/29/08) Another poster talked about purchasing the new receiver that carries both XM and Sirius when it's available. I'm not a subscriber to either service, but I was thinking about signing up for one of them soon with the expectation of combined programming. Should I wait until the combined company makes and issues new receivers (which could be a while, I'd suppose) or just go ahead and subscribe now under the assumption that a present day XM or Sirius receiver will work just fine when the merger is totally complete? (7/29/08) (This "cult of personality" doesn't play well outside the Beltway. Or inside.) then explain obamamania. he's redefined the cult of personality, especially considering he's an empty suit with a legislative resume that could fit on a postage stamp. (7/29/08) Dave's response: Nice to hear from you, Mr. Limbaugh..... Dave, Just got this... it's sad because they were funny dirthvader - - - It was fun while it lasted... Body: Well, to those who haven't heard the news, Irresponsible Radio is no more. The powers that be have decided that it's not economically feasible to keep us together. I would like to say on a personal note that working with Joe has been the real highlight of my radio career. The guy is class all the way and I can't imagine a better partner and friend. This certainly is not the last you'll hear of HIM! He's one of the funniest and most talented people I've ever known and I'll miss working across from him every day. I'd also like to thank Rob Robinson for all of his hard work (free I might add). The show was better because of him. Hey Robbie....at least you got yourself some less-ridiculous shoes! To all of the comics that came in every week, thanks. This isn't the end for you guys either. And finally to all of the listeners that gave us the benefit of the doubt when we first came on....we love you guys. The people who "got" what we were doing were the ones we were shooting for. I will continue on in the night slot but not as Irresponsible Radio....that was ours. I'll be deleting our myspace in a week so I'd love if you'd become my personal friend on my Theo page. Thanks for the support and for listening. We had a great time with you. theo (7/29/08) From radio-info.com: Last Monday, all CBS-owned programming was yanked from the digital subchannel net, including Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy, Hogan's Heroes, and Happy Days. RTN is now relying almost exclusively on the NBC Universal library, which in some markets is airing Leave it to Beaver as much as four times a day to replace the CBS programming (they might as well rename it the Universal Classic TV Channel.) RTN was sold recently to Henry Luken, the largest shareholder of former owner Equity Media Holdings. (7/29/08) Take a look at the Winchester and Hagerstown-Chambersburg ratings. Something looks odd. WINC is missing from Winchester and WAYZ is missing from Hagerstown-Chambersburg. Considering the past history of these stations being either number one or two in these markets, it looks like Arbitron may have not printed the top line of the ratings. The Ol' PD (7/29/08) Dave, As an XM subscriber (as well as a die-hard O&A fan) I've been watching the merger developments with great interest over the past year. Whether O&A survive the impending bloodbath on New York Avenue or not, I think the company and product will be better for the merger. But that's just one man's opinion. I have every intention of purchasing the new radios that carry both services as soon as they are available. Here's my question: I seem to recall you posting something a few months back (perhaps even last year, now that I think about it) about Worldspace making noises about attempting to make in-roads into the US market. If so, that pretty-much negates any talk of monopolies. Have you heard any more rumblings about this? Quentin (7/29/08) Dave's response: I haven't heard about Silver Spring-based Worldspace getting into the US market, but we have been reporting about their financial difficulties of late..... From BOBB to "suck fest": You're correct, Emery has sucked on a FEW, (VERY FEW) Successful B'MORE and DC stations. And suck he does. As for my suckin...I'm not free, but I'm reasonable. Now, go suck yourself. BOBB (7/29/08) Hahahah! Oh god, what would it sound like if Clear Channel bought WWV (the shortwave national time standard)? New liners and a new image, for one. Listen to the audio file at: www.lownoiserecords.com (7/29/08) Talk about a cluster-foxtrot! WTOP must have had a dozen TV cameras jammed into the newly-remodeled Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center this morning when Martin O’Malley, Tim Kaine and Adrian Fenty all appeared together on the same program. I imagine the TOP logo will be popping up all over the place on TV tonight. (7/29/08) Dave's response: Must be for Kaine, since he's at the top of Obama's VP list..... Re: " I have a lot of female friends who are similar to me and just wonder why radio stations don't take us into account?" Ever heard a Country or Christian station? How about that awful WTOP? As far as they're concerned, men either don't exist or are simply on the planet to be ridiculed. Tune into one of those, sister, and I'm sure you'll feel right at home. It's just a matter of what you listen to. The belief that all stations are targeting the same demographic is more than overly simplistic -- it's just dead wrong. (7/29/08) What ever happened to WEEO-FM in Chambersburg? Are they still on the air? I noticed they did not even show up in the book for Hagerstown-Chambersburg. (7/29/08) Funny to look at the Hag-town ratings and see WAYZ didn't show in the book? That's gotta be a typo. Or did they do something to get delisted? (7/29/08) Dave's response: Yeah, WAYZ has to be first in the Hagerstown book, as usual, and WINC-FM has got to be second in the Winchester book. But both are missing. Hmmm..... Dave: Thanks to you and your Mailbag readers who answered my question about Rock 105 in Blacksburg. There can be a lot of sniping in the Mailbag, but whenever I ask a question about the nuts and bolts of the business, your readers come through. I appreciate their quick feedback. Christian (7/29/08) (Dave, how come the male demographic is so important to radio stations?... Dave's response: Because a lot of advertisers want to reach men, particular young men. You know - booze, cars, gambling, porn, erectile dysfunction pills.....) Do young men have a lot of cash to throw around? And don't most women actually control the "purse-strings? Listening to the Junkies they all acknowledge that their wives impact how much they spend (or don't). I am a married female who makes a great living, has a lot of electronic toys and an expensive car and have a lot of discretionary money to spend. I listen to shows that are mostly male-oriented but always change the channel when the hosts start talking too much about the female anatomy. I have a lot of female friends who are similar to me and just wonder why radio stations don't take us into account? Not that Elliot is aiming for this because they are at different time-slots, but I really enjoy his show and can't stand to listen to Mike O'Meara. (7/29/08) Since Sirius and XM both said they would profitable at 4 million subscribers a few years back, and neither one is profitable at 9 million subscribers, then why would anyone but Wall Street believe the merged company would make money at 18 million subscribers? This ship has sailed. (7/29/08) Of course, DISH network doesn't offer YES Network even in SD. Howie (7/29/08) Yet again, I get to see the MASN-HD bug in the bottom corner of the Orioles game while watching it in beautiful, fuzzy, standard definition...thanks so much Dish Network for making MASN the ONLY regional sports network that you don't offer in HD. (7/29/08) Hey BOBB...you're right about Emry. He suck's sooooo badly that he's managed to get paid to suck on some of Bmore's & DC's best stations for over 30 years...as opposed to you, who gets to suck for free. (7/29/08) This morning, you (DCRTV) got a mention at the end of the 7:15am sports with Keith Mills... Here’s the exchange with Durian and Mills... By the way, I’m told by some high placed sources at the Sun that Roch had the most popular blog on the Sun’s website... dcrtvbal.mp3... (7/29/08) Dave's response: Cool..... This is in response to Christian asking what happened to WVVV 105.1 FM(Rock 105) in the New River Valley. I'm originally from the New River Valley and Rock 105 was my favorite station when I was at Virginia Tech in the 1980s. Although I had moved out of the area when it happened, my understanding is that the station was purchased to allow a new frequency in Roanoke (at 104.9). When I was still working in Roanoke in the early 90s, I was hearing rumors that this move was going to happen. The upshot is that it opened a new frequency in the NRV (at 105.3). By the time that Rock 105 signed off, most of their staff had moved on to WROV in Roanoke and the station was past its prime. The sister AM (WJJJ 1260) I believe went dark until Virginia Tech picked up the frequency several years ago and they broadcast it as a non-comm. As of my last visit to the NRV a little over a year ago, the old WJJJ-WVVV building on Business Rt. 460 is still there, but vacant. Keith Thompson, WCTR in Chestertown (7/29/08) Wow! Did anyone see the ratings drop for WAFY- Key 103 in Frederick. One of the local newspapers ran a story about it. They said that a few years ago when Ed and DeLayna were on the morning show that they beat WFRE in some age groups. Now WFRE has a 17 and WAFY has a 5.6! I remember when they changed that morning show. First, she left then he did. I don't know who the new people are. They sounded so bad I started listening to Bob Miller on WFMD. The paper says he is in second place. He's very funny and informative. And Frank Mitchell too. Don't know why they don't beat WFRE. I only like country some of the time. The paper said that Eagle station is part of Key 103 and that they dropped real bad too. Guess they'll start firing the people at those stations that lost all their listeners! What a business. Glad I just listen. (7/29/08) The Bear (105.3) is the only Bburg area station in that frequency range. I think they may have moved and upgraded... it's owned by Cumulus... Do any Mailbag readers who attended Virginia Tech in the 1980s/1990s know what became of Rock 105? It was the best station in that market. I graduated in 1992 and didn't return for years, but the next time I was down there, I got only static on the old Rock 105 frequency. I know that radio stations change formats, but how often do stations simply "go dark," or whatever the lingo is? Who owned the station, and why did they dump it? Any help from readers is greatly appreciated. Christian (7/29/08) For Christian, who asked what happened to Rock 105, which had been on 104.9 FM in Blacksburg: In 1997, 104.9 FM in Blacksburg and 105.3 FM in Roanoke swapped frequencies so that both stations could increase their transmitter power and improve their coverage. The station you knew as Rock 105 is now "105.3 The Bear" (www.1053thebear.com). (7/29/08) To the guy (VA Tech grad) who inquired about "Rock 105" in Blacksburg/NRV VA. WVVV-FM/104.9 was the first FM station in the NRV, and I think this is the stationyou remember as "Rock 105." In the early 90s WVVV moved from 104.9 to 105.3, so that a new station on 104.9 (now WJJS) could be established in nearby Roanoke. This also provided WVVV an opportunity for a stronger signal. Now owned by Cumulus, 105.3 is now WBRW "The Bear" and still operates a rock format, though it is ratings-challenged. As always, the powerhouse Roanoke FMs (but not weakish WJJS) rule the dials in the NRV. (7/29/08) The following was forwarded to DCRTV by an XM employee: TO: XM Employees... FROM: Nate Davis... DATE: July 28, 2008... SUBJECT: Merger News... Team, We’re finally at the finish line! With the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of our merger with SIRIUS, we expect to close the transaction shortly. The new company will bring together some of the biggest names in sports, music, and talk, providing the best in audio entertainment to more than 18.5 million subscribers. Our merger will make satellite radio a stronger competitor by improving our financial position and allowing us to offer consumers a compelling range of new packages that we believe will be good for our business and good for consumers. I am pleased to announce that we have now completed the final step in this long process, the refinancing of certain of XM’s debt. We’ve secured the remainder of our required financing and are now ready to close our deal. As we announced 16 months ago when this process started, Mel Karmazin will be the CEO of the combined company and Gary Parsons will be its Chairman. Mel will come to Eckington Place tomorrow morning to introduce himself to all of you in a town hall-style meeting similar to my all-employee broadcasts. I have seen a draft of Mel’s presentation and I think you’ll find it to be enlightening and him to be engaging. While I would have liked to be on hand tomorrow to introduce Mel, unfortunately, I am on a long-planned summer vacation with my extended family and unable to attend. I am confident that new company will be in great hands under Mel’s leadership. As for my plans, I will stay with the new company on an interim basis to help with the transition process. After this short period, I will leave the business. My association with XM goes back nearly a decade, as a board member for what began as a startup housed in a D.C. basement office, and more recently, as an executive for a company that in that short time grew to change the face of audio entertainment. It has been the honor and thrill of a lifetime for me to have had the opportunity to participate in the creation of this exciting new medium. I have tremendous confidence in the future of this business and I will continue to be satellite radio’s biggest fan. I want to thank all of you for the incredible support you have shown me. This is a very talented and special group of people and I am so proud of what, together, we have accomplished. Nate Davis (7/29/08) /\ July 29 Messages /\ Jump to the Mailbag Archive Index.....