Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - July 14 to July 20, 2008 Latest messages listed first..... \/ July 20 Messages \/ Dear Dave: You write "...Ted Baxter was the pompous and overbearing anchorman on the old "Mary Tyler Moore" show in the 1970s..." Unlike Larry Michael, however, Ted was funny and entertaining. Again, a great site! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (7/20/08) Sure, that's why his first action was to fire three of his critics and the next act was to take away the show of John Riggins, another critic of Damn Snyder. Right, everyone's going to be free to criticize him. And I'm the King of France. Tim Phares (7/20/08) I was watching ESPN SportsCenter tonight (6pm edition on ESPN2)… when ESPN needed a voiceover from Washington about the Jason Taylor trade, they called their affiliate… And thus, Andy Pollin made his first on-air appearance for ESPN on the TV side – billed as “Andy Pollin/ESPN Radio 980 Washington”. Fascinating, since the station doesn’t actually exist yet… the website (accessible as both sportsradio980.com and triplexespnradio.com, but *not* as espn980.com) doesn’t reflect the name change… the rigginsradio.com website is still up… but ESPN TV is getting audio from the afternoon-drive co-host from “ESPN Radio 980 Washington”. Interesting way for Red Zebra to handle the worst-kept secret in Washington radio… :) Rob Hoffmann (7/20/08) Dave's response: If three of your four signals are NOT 980, why call the station ESPN 980? Red Zebra head Bruce Gilbert about the new line-up for WTEM, ESPN 980, which debuts on Monday."It is huge misconception that Dan Snyder is involved in the day to day running of the radio stations. He is not and we expect that all of the talent that we have on ESPN 980 to freely speak their mind no matter if it is pro or anti-Redskins, or pro or anti-Dan Snyder" - DAN GILBERT HAS A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR. WHO'S HE TRYING TO KID? LOL (7/20/08) Sure was refreshing to hear the normal-sounding voice and speaking pattern of Kimberly Suiters co-anchoring NBC4's Sunday morning news. Funny how one person can dramatically improve a local TV newscast so instantly just by being natural. (7/20/08) Dave wrote:"Hell, we're intelligent folks who earn good money, buy lots of big-ticket stuff..." Dave, glad to hear you're sitting pretty; perhaps you'd consider a monthly donation to the BfB Institute? We are affiliated with the Human Fund, perhaps you've heard of it. It would greatly assist me in continuing my wacky yet incisive posts to DCRTV. Think about it, won't you? I like 94.7 a little bit more than you do, but you're 100% right about the unexploited pool of talent they have there (Weasel, Cerphe, Albie). Why don't they just let the jocks program the station? Couldn't be any worse than what they have now, and it's never been done before!! Oh, wait a minute, forget that last part... what was it? WOOFS? WERFS? something like that. Long ago, and you could never assemble a team like that again. Forget I even mentioned it. Biff from Burke (7/20/08) Dave's response: By "good money," I meant to say that I don't make a lot of money, but all of my money is good..... *** Do you remember when Bear Bryant was the coach of the Maryland Terrapins? *** I was aware that he was there but way too busy with my immigration from Canada, the acquisition of my Los Angeles sports teams, the L.A. Times and KRLA (and, what a mess THAT one turned into!) I was just too busy to pay much attention. You know, dear Otto brought young Gogolak to the Redskins. He was the boy with that sideways soccer-kick. - JKC/The Squire (7/20/08) "Leonard Roberts & Edie House Receive Black Media Awards" Does anyone know when the White Media Awards will be announced? (7/20/08) Dave's response: I hear WMAL should sweep that competition..... Re The Globe and its place in the ratings --- if I recall, 94.7 was ranking about 17th or 18th back in Greaseman days too. Nothing new there. (7/20/08) "........Otto Graham preceded the great Vince Lombardi as Head Coach of my beloved Redskins from 1966-68......" This was a great post. I had forgotten that. Now I have a question for the Squire. Do you remember when Bear Bryant was the coach of the Maryland Terrapins? (7/20/08) As of noon today (Sunday), the espn980.com site still takes you to the GoDaddy parking lot...and sportstalk980.com redirects you to the (old!) "Redskins Radio" site (still touted as "The NEW 94.3 92.7 730 ESPN Radio Home of the Redskins" ... We must be patient! --RB (7/20/08) And the newspapers wonder why their numbers keep declining... The last time I saw the Baltimore Examiner was June 28. That's when they stopped home delivery. No promised Thursday and Sunday editions, and never any copies in any boxes or racks. It's like they went out of business. Today I went to 3 stores looking for the Washington Post. Nothing. If a person actively seeks newspapers and comes up empty-handed, the papers might as well not exist. Cry me a river over your slumping circulation, rags--get some product out where people can get it and maybe things would be different. (7/20/08) I was sorry to hear of the passing of Jo Stafford. My old partner and friend, Eddie Gallaher, always pointed out to his listeners that she had one of the purest voices and "perfect pitch." One of his favorites! And for the collectors, we had fun occasionally playing a song by Jonathan and Darlene Edwards who were really Jo Stafford and her husband, Paul Weston. They intentionally butchered the old standards...painful to the ear but very funny. Bob Duckman (7/20/08) Dave---you are dead on about 94.7 the Globe.. there was a "buzz" when they first signed on back in Feb 07..but now, nearly 18 months later (can it really be that long)...the station has failed to distinguish itself. Maybe there has been some slight improvement in 25-54 number..but the usual 12+'s we see has the Globe consistently in the 17th or so position..why has this happened? It was a great idea..as the "green"concept was and is still hot ...but moving Weasel to mornings was a disaster(he is great at nights where his tendency to expand is more appreciated)...the music occasionally strays into more adventurous territory--but mostly dwells in the land of the familiar and tired. CBS here just didn't have the cajones to really take this thing into WXRT style radio--which i think could have snagged an audience here.....first impressions really count and with the Globe it is a case of "coulda...woulda ...shoulda" oh what a wasted opportunity!! (7/20/08) Dave's response: I'm telling you - sophisticated adults like me (ha ha ha) here in the DC area really need a cool, progressive, forward-looking rock station that is geared to open-minded folks over 30 who love music. And that doesn't mean all we want to hear is old CSN, Jackson Browne, and Pink Floyd. Hell, we're intelligent folks who earn good money, buy lots of big-ticket stuff, and, golly gee, don't have a music-based radio station to call our own. DC101 is OK, and so is BIG. But all the local radio biz does is talk down to us and under-sell us with "well-worn rock re-treads." The sad thing about the Globe is that CBS has some really great people working right there - Weasel and Cerphe, yeah Albie Dee, too - who could spearhead such a cool format and the company simply doesn't know what to do with them. It's kind of like having a great band like Nirvana playing nothing but Abba covers. Not that there's anything wrong with Abba. Argh..... So NBC 4 had a nice little peice of politically correct garbage on this morning. In their Going Green series, they did a story on a group of stores, a small strip shopping area, that only sells green products. The happy face bias shown toward these products was obscene. The story was a complete soft sell, a complete sell out to knee jerk liberalism. It painted everything green through rose colored glasses. What they left out made me green. First, by breaking the product line down among supposedly independent stores, and keeping each staff under 15 people (it was rather obvious that the stores have small staff), they can avoid most Wage and Hour laws. Second, things labeled as 'organic' are often grown or produced in quantities and with methods that make them exempt from frederal health and safety oversight designed to protect the consumer. How hypocritical, first the liberals sue to make companies accountable for worker and consumer safety, and then they create companies designed specifically to make a profit while evading those very rules. Oh no, did I let that secret slip out? The reason you should be seeing green is that if you buy 'organic' it will cost more of your green for less of a product as organic foods spoil faster and organic clothing tends to not last as long, especially if washed to Western sanitary standards. Recent stories have even focused on the profiteering of 'green' products that are grown by small and poorly compensated farmers where the product is eventually sold at a significantly higher markup than that realized by a larger conglomerate. Those conglomerates have real costs of compliance that the green distributors evade, thus retaining a higher profit rather than seling these products at their real, and lower, cost. NBC 4 should be ashamed of that story. It may be of human interest, but it lacks any newsworthy interest and journalistic integrity as it asked no critical questions. Not one word about the costs, health and safety or other revelant consumer-oriented questions was asked about these goods offered for public sale. God, if the Bush twins opened stores like these, you can bet the investigative teams would ask those questions. (7/20/08) Dave, I've lived in the area for the past eight years and a huge sports fan and especially like listening to the various sportstalk stations from around the country {check-out I-Tunes radio station section and you can listen to some of the greats}. Anyway, there's no question that we have some bad radio talent in the market and many operate with their own agenda's in mind. However, just because Snyder brought-in some big-wig from ESPN Radio doesn't mean a {national-network} person is going to be good for our market. A catch-22 situation all around. You are 100% right about your idea to program 980 and the other stations. Problem is, by your plan, you still need good talent to make things run and that doesn't exist in this market. Czaban is bitter and mad at the entire world with Linn following him like a golden retriever, Doc is too busy talking himself and Pollin is as smug and politically correct as they come. Now what, for the money conscious executives out there like Snyder and other station owners, why not just aim the satellite dish and use syndicated network programming. (7/20/08) Dave, the Clapton tune is "Tears in Heaven". I remember telling the Clapmeister that a little horse would fix him right up after that unfortunate incident when his wee one took a tumble. I don't understand why you spend so much time dipping into a station that you don't like. But that's just me. Based on you're recent self-portrait, I suspect you look "Wonderful Tonight". That's the thing with being an armchair pd who never thought to get in the game ( I include myself). You constantly hear stuff you would do differently, but you have no power. Example: WJFK's MMA program on Saturday at 4. I would prefer the Money Pit, but even then, I tend to listen to "The Program" with Bob Brinker on WMAL in the same timeslot. Still, it may be a good business decision for WJFK. I tend to tune away from their station when they start talking about MMA, but I will occasionally watch it on broadcast TV. On the radio, it makes as much sense to me as talking about porn or broadcasting hockey. But then, as a wise man once said, I know precisely dick. One thing I do know for Gotdamm sher is that there should be no more Chad and BDK drunk shows that deprive me of my final hour of Loveline. This cannot stand!! Biff from Burke (7/20/08) Dave's response: If the Globe was getting ratings with what it's playing - stuff I don't much like - then I'd say OK. The suits at CBS know radio, I don't. But 94.7 continues to trend lower since its launch as an altish rocker in early 2007. I do have this strange obsession to continue to listen. It's not often that the "forces collide" in DC radio to create the potential for a truly great radio station, as what the Globe could have been. And to see CBS continue to wallow in the muck is somewhat astounding. It's proof that these "industry types" who get paid big bucks to program radio very often don't know any more that we "sideliners" do..... Thanks to Jack Edwards for sharing the news about Jo Stafford. I first heard it on Fox News Channel. Her incredibly beautiful voice still melts me. Congrats to the fantastic Leonard Roberts on his Lifetime Achievement. As I count though, you're not even halfway through, buddy! I will always remember Leonard showing up to help me move in a jacket and tie. And, I still recall his smiling face, driving way out of his way home, to stop by and keep me company during a boring Christmas remote inside a mall in Frederick. - Ed. Rodriguez (7/20/08) (Dave's response: With six friggin' area signals, you'd think Snyder could offer two WTEM sports talk program streams. The main one on 980/92.7/94.3 and maybe a "WTEM Too" on 570/730/1260 with all the stuff that doesn't "fit" on the first.....) Such an arrangement is in Cleveland, where 50 kW day/4.7 kW night WKNR/850 is part of a two-station duopoly owned by Good Karma Broadcasting... run by Mel Karmazin's son, Craig Karmazin. He originally intended to buy WKNR from Salem Communications, but initally settled on a tiny 1 kW daytime signal in WABQ/1540. A neglected, forgotten gospel station. Rechristened WWGK, it took the ESPN affiliation away from WKNR (which took Fox Sports), under the premise that ESPN would have a 24/7 clearence in the market. It wasn't the case until Craig bought WKNR just one month later. Both stations swapped affiliations again into the current configuration. WKNR is "ESPN 850" now, unfortunately with the apparent Mike & Mike mandate, but with local programming and Jim Rome from 10am-9pm. Even with a decent amount of local shows on the weekends. WWGK is "KNR2," carries the Fox Sports Radio affiliation and the ESPN lineup from 10a - 4p (which allows for the 24/7 clearence that ESPN Radio wanted in Cleveland), and the occasional play-by-play spillover if WKNR is contracted to air two events at the same time. Program a "TEAM2" the exact same way could and would work. It gives WTEM the option to go live at 10am (instead of noon), plus it keeps Czaben's morning show in the market. Either combination of 730, 570 or 1260 would work for a "TEAM2." (The remained could take ESPN Deportes Radio.) In fact, I am surprised that they didn't take such an approach. Unless if they wanted to keep the two or three listeners of 1260 or 570 happy until the presidental election... *sarcasm* Regards, Nate from Cleveland, Enjoying DCRTV since 2001 (!) (7/20/08) /\ July 20 Messages /\ \/ July 19 Messages \/ Don't forget, Leonard Roberts spent some time in the "newsroom" (actually the little hallway outside of the main studio) at Frederick's original Z-104, WZYQ... -Mike in Bartonsville (7/19/08) Congratulations to my old friend and good buddy Leonard Roberts. You've always been the best. From Z104 to WTTR to WBAL. Leonard was one of the first to report from 3 mile island for us. Steve Drepperd (7/19/08) Just logged on and noticed Leonard Roberts was feted for that wonderful award. Way to go, Leonard! We worked together at WGET-WGTY during my 5 years there in the late 80's and early 90's. He and I would talk radio stories and personalities between my music breaks and his newscasts. Gave multi-tasking a new twist. Later, when I was putting the WITH 55th Anniversary promotion together in the Spring of 1996...Leonard was of inestimable help in providing me with aircheck material from WITH's Top 40 days in the early 60's. I've had opportunity to meet members of Leonard's family...and considering how kind and gracious they were, it's only natural that he too would be a nice fellow. Best to you Leonard...and as you might have might have replied when informed of your award...'Very Well'. - Bob Mathers (7/19/08) "Dave's response: Ted Baxter was the pompous and overbearing anchorman on the old 'Mary Tyler Moore' show in the 1970s. Calling someone a 'Ted Baxter' means they have like qualities....." For a more recent analogy, how about John Sterling, the Yankees' obnoxious hack? If anyone is the Ted Baxter of play-by-play, it's him. -- Vincent in Triangle (7/19/08) Back in the day, Leonard Roberts reported the news on WBAL, Prior to that, he did the news on WTTR in Westminster and WSBA in York,Pa. He also worked for a number of years reporting news on WGET-AM and WGTY-FM in Gettysburg,Pa on weekends while working on WBAL in Baltimore through the week. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. Congradulations to him. He deserves every honor he gets. (7/19/08) Congratulations to my old friend and co-worker Leonard Roberts of WBAL for receiving the Lifetime Achievement award from the Black Media Workers this week. Leonard and I met at WBJC-FM in 1972, before he became J.C. Tucker at WSID, and I became an Amtrak cop. Sad to read of the death yesterday of Owens Pomeroy who, with Gene Leitner, founded The Golden Radio Buffs of Maryland. Gene wants to fold the club. Hopefully it will find a way to carry on without them. I've offered my help to Gene. If anyone else is willing, please email me at ghelton@harford.edu, and I'll pass it along to Gene. Gary Helton, WHFC-FM (7/19/08) In my humble opinion, you cannot compare Larry Michael to Ted Baxter or Ted Bexter. (7/19/08) UPI omits Moon owns the news service - washingtoncontinent.com (7/19/08) Yes, Dave, I know who Ted Baxter is, I had no idea who Ted Bexter was! (7/19/08) Can someone please tell me, who is Ted Bexter? (7/19/08) Dave's response: Ted Baxter was the pompous and overbearing anchorman on the old "Mary Tyler Moore" show in the 1970s. Calling someone a "Ted Baxter" means they have like qualities..... If the Riggins show is going off the air, it is no great loss. I stopped listening to it months ago. MASN would probably be better off airing Anita Marks show in full. Although the show sometimes is full of commercials, they cover much more subject matter and have a variety of guests. As a fan of both the Ravens and Redskins, Anita Marks' show is clearly better than the Riggins show. Burt in Denton (7/19/08) A question: Shouldn't WTTG be carrying the Phillies-Marlins game today instead of the Red Sox-Angels, given that they are two of the Nationals' NL East rivals? Were this pro football and there was a game between the Giants/Eagles/Cowboys in a timeslot the Redskins weren't on, you can be sure it would be carried. How long will it be before Washington is a genuine NL market, or do all the Ivy League emigres who root for the Bosox trump that because of their more desirable upscale demographics? -- Vincent in Triangle (7/19/08) To Chris Frankdc61 RIGHT ON!!! Thanks. Who do i make the check out to?. ( Larry Michael (AKA Ted Bexter) (7/19/08) During the 1940's and early 50's, two of Baltimore's most popular radio stations 1300 am WFBR and WITH 1230 am featured a ton of great pop songs of the era. One of the very best artist of those years was Jo Stafford. She passed away Friday at her home in California at the age of 90. Her biggest and most successful single was "You Belong To Me" followed by Make Love To Me, Shrimp Boats, Jambalaya, all Columbia 78 rpm records from the early/mid 50's. She also sang with the group The Pied Pipers from the 40's that for awhile included Frank Sinatra. Sad that nothing was mentioned on network or local news. Thanks, Jack Edwards (7/19/08) Geez Dave, and I heard 94.7 play a stripped down version of a pretty good Foo Fighters song ("Hero" I think) this morning. I thought it was pretty damn good. Now even some of the DJ's there will say they wish the playlist had bigger balls most of the time, but this weekend seems like a pretty good one so far, even if you heard one song you didn't like. (7/19/08) Dave's response: Much of this weekend's 94.7 acoustic stuff could easily "fit" on Mix 107.3, sadly..... Saw your item on Hannity, were you aware of my previous coverage of this deal? radioequalizer.blogspot.com... Thanks, Brian Maloney (7/19/08) First, I totally applaud Dan Snyder for finally stepping-up and making sweeping changes to sportstalk radio in the Washington, DC. It's just my opinion, but everyone's so upset because the sub-par talent and locally produced talkshows are changing and/or going away. What's wrong with that? If you sat and actually listened to the first half of any Redskins game, and I mean carefully listen, you'll hear that Larry Michael rarely acknowledges or extends to the next level any of the analysis given by Sonny or Sam. Yes, sometimes Sonny and Sam are out there but for the most part, it's their "veteran" in-sight that people have always respected. If you know anything about Sonny and Sam, they command and deserve that respect and that's where Larry Michael will never understand why he should be replaced by someone like Mike Patrick. Finally, area sports fans should be looking forward to ESPN programming on 980. Are you trying to tell me Doc Walker and his "baller" staff are better than any of the ESPN personalities or even Dan Patrick. Again, the problem was Doc thought so...along with your Steve Czaban's of the world. In this case, people need to see change is good and probably for the best and not conveniently blame Dan Snyder for making bold moves. From: ChrisFrankdc61 (7/19/08) I went to the Post link which was talking about Hispanics not being prepared for the DTV flip. And I found it interesting that the picture on the t.v. shown was was a Maury Povich show that appeared to be one of those "who's the daddy" shows. (7/19/08) ***Kicking out Frank and bringing in Larry was like evicting a beloved uncle and dragging some annoying stranger in off the street for Thanksgiving dinner. It's a shame that was done and an even greater shame that the people who did it didn't understand or care about the nature of their error. *** Umm, it's an even bigger affront that, as a CBS Veep, Larry Michael did it himself! But, give him credit. He really does excel at being creepy and annoying. What if... what IF Snyder pulled the same trigger and sent Michael back to CBS and brought Frank back into the booth? I'll bet the team would mysteriously start winning again. Karma's delicate. You just can't go yanking it around too much. (7/19/08) Sad to see new WTEM line up does not include the Booms and Kiley show, Ken Beatrice and Warner Wolf but hey Warner is doing fine on the Imust show these days and Kiley had show in L.A. but has he moved on from that show? and as for Da Coach is he still chilling in the great S.W.? Still think Czaban needs to move on to a different city to do a real sports talk show without having to cowtow to the Dreaded Zebra. I thought Mr. Geronimo would at least take the summer off if not a year from radio. I know radio is in his blood but I thought he was looking for a break. Or was he really looking to get a break away from his old whack pack which now invokes sleep afternoons on WJFK? This inquiring mind asked a long time employee at the toothless fairfax Borders if a new manager was in place and she/he said No. Said any changes in a store are always made per order of corporate headquarters! This was on Thursday and the newspapers still had sign about going behind the counter August 1st. Also back in January last Borders made big cut in the CD's they would carry, this must be on top of the previous cuts cause those cd racks have been light for over a year or more.. Aw, another fall out from the closing of Tower, all those lost legions of classical music aficionados have no were to gather. Doesn't Melody records still have a classical music expert or two? But I find as I get further and further into old fartdom not venturing much into D.C. and the hassle of trying to find a parking space. And if ye be a classical music fan and live in toothless fairfax you might check out the Classic Arts Showcase programming, which is shown late nights weekdays and all day weekends on the analog channel 25, a Fairfax Co. Public School cable channel. It's probably shown on many a public access channel around the country... (7/19/08) Dave's response: With six friggin' area signals, you'd think Snyder could offer two WTEM sports talk program streams. The main one on 980/92.7/94.3 and maybe a "WTEM Too" on 570/730/1260 with all the stuff that doesn't "fit" on the first..... Dave, Is there any clarification on what type of show Donnie G will be doing? Opie and Anthony have been intimating that they are on the way out at XM; could Geronimo be replacing them? Or could Geronimo be taking Ron & Fez's spot? Geronimo's show was a failure in syndication, further proving that the DC market is not indicative of national tastes and that his humor was relied too much on arcane "inside baseball" for casual listeners to enjoy. However, if the great minds at SiriusXM think that Bubba the Love Sponge's thrillbilly schtick does well in any other region other than the armpit that is Florida, then they may just think that Geronimo can work as well. The only safe bet would be a consolidated channel featuring Stern, O&A, and R&F. Further, is Geronimo ready to return to talk radio? He was phoning it in (for a number of understandable reasons) during the last years on JFK; will he be any different on satellite? (7/19/08) Dave's response: The newsblurb had all I know..... The poster who wrote "Concerning the comparison between Larry Michael and Frank Herzog, I think the main thing is that Herzog was a familiar and comfortable part of that Redskins broadcast team. Sam, Sonny and Frank had a chemistry and a shtick together......" managed to write one of the smartest and well written posts about the Sonny Sam and Larry situation that I have ever read on this mailbag. (7/19/08) Thank God for Satellite Radio. Terrestrial Radio in Washington "SUCKS" (7/19/08) Re: "sportstalk980.com still shows the regular 980 content for me" Sometimes it takes these changes a day or two to propagate through the Internets. You'll probably get the Redskins Radio/former Triple X site at that address sometime over the weekend, or whatever Danny Boy Sports Radio puts up for the newly combined effort. Meanwhile, here, at least, "espn980.com" lands you on a rather unprofessional looking GoDaddy domain parking page. I'm sure that will change by Monday, as well. (7/19/08) I think its pretty clear that there were three things Don Geronimo had to get away from in radio...#1. Mike O'Meara....#2 Mike O' Meara...and oh yeah #3 Mike O'Meara...I had high hopes for the merry Mick...but after listening to the show after Don's departure...It's painfully lame....Just turn that time slot over to Spewak and can the rest of the cast...WB Centreville, VA (7/19/08) /\ July 19 Messages /\ \/ July 18 Messages \/ Concerning the comparison between Larry Michael and Frank Herzog, I think the main thing is that Herzog was a familiar and comfortable part of that Redskins broadcast team. Sam, Sonny and Frank had a chemistry and a shtick together. Frank made mistakes in his identification of players sometimes and also with respect to some other stuff on the field. But he was an integral part of the back and forth in the booth, often knowing just the right way to jokingly play Sam and Sonny off against each other. Those broadcasts were never to be judged on technical merit. Most folks listened while they viewed the game on their TVs with the sound turned down. Those guys were like part of the family in the room watching the game with you. Kicking out Frank and bringing in Larry was like evicting a beloved uncle and dragging some annoying stranger in off the street for Thanksgiving dinner. It's a shame that was done and an even greater shame that the people who did it didn't understand or care about the nature of their error. (7/18/08) Dave, Czabe and Andy both said last week that they would be on vacation all this week and would return on Monday (7/21/08). Eric (7/18/08) I can't believe that anybody is commiserating the possible loss of Sam Huff as a voice of the 'Skins. Poor Sam got his bell rung one too many times in his career. The guy is as dumb as a box of rocks and it comes across every time he opens his mouth in the broadcast booth. Let's only pray the rumor is true. (7/18/08) My worrrrrd! People, people. How quickly we forget! Otto Graham preceded the great Vince Lombardi as Head Coach of my beloved Redskins from 1966-68. Why, I didn't even own the team yet, but I certainly remember Otto. Some of you make me feel like you're just spitting on my legacy! Give the new fellow a chance. Same goes for radio. He's building something. Now, Coco and I have to meet Lombardi and George Allen for dinner. Pardon us. JKC/The Squire (7/18/08) The Richmond ESPN Radio concern is an interesting one. If the John Riggins Show won't exist in D.C. any longer, then how can it continue in Richmond or Hampton Roads? Everett W. (7/18/08) sportstalk980.com still shows the regular 980 content for me and the 'listen live' link still produces Andy & Steve's "Best Of" show .... which, by the way, has been on the schedule for today since last week. I find it odd that, all through today, the impending changes were all but ignored. Czaban wasn't on this morning (vacation). Doc wasn't on this morning. I didn't listen much to Coach & Al but when I did, they ignored it. Riggins was in "Best Of" mode as well. The sports updates on both stations didn't mention it. That's odd because on the day of the sale announcement, Redskins Radio led every update with the "we bought 980" news. Heck, at 3pm today, 980 was still running a "we have Dan Patrick" promo. Steve in Lanham (7/18/08) Czaban and Pollin's "Sports Reporters" are assholes. I glad they got laid out on their asses. (7/18/08) Um, they just mirrored over the Triple X ESPN radio site, that is why The Sports Reporters is not on the site. They have been on "best of" the Sports Reporters all week so I don't know why this would alarm anyone. Andrew (7/18/08) THE SPORTS REPORTERS GONE FROM WTEM WEBSITE? WTEM now if an official Redskins radio website. It used to be the only avenue for anyone north of DC to hear Czabe, Andy, Tom, et al. Now, "listen live" gets you Riggo, while the weak AM signal of 980 does appear to be a "best of show" for TSR. What the heck happened? Are they fired? Any other avenue to hear their show, other than sit in my car. I'm not even a Redskins fan, and I hate this jerk Snyder. Give me back my show! (7/18/08) Surprised you haven't picked up on the fact that the current GM @ WTVJ is Ardy Dierks who was the GM at WUSA years ago. Also, Terry Smith, former WUSA Director of Technology is the Chief Engineer there as well. Looks like they'll be on the beach soon. (7/18/08) In reading the FCC filing for the WWIN-FM move to Arbutus - some of the "compelling" reasons that Radio One cites for the move is all of the things that Arbutus has to offer, so it would be "appropriate" to have "first local transmission service to a deserving community." One of those things is Arbutus' semi-pro dodge ball team, "Dance Party Vietnam." You couldn't make this shit up if you tried. Maybe in the next filing a "compelling" reason will be Paul's Restaurant on Oregon Avenue. No tower move, but first local service. I'm *reasonably* sure you can hear WWIN-FM in Arbutus just fine today, as-is. (7/18/08) Someone was speculating as to what will be on MASN, now that The John Riggins Show won't be there: actually..guess it's a possibility that MASN could just let John do that spot from 5 P.M. to 6 30 P.M. But if I were to guess as to what will happen..I'd guess that they'll probably just let "The Anita Marks Show" run from 3 P.M. until 6 30 P.M. Tom in Denton, MD (7/18/08) If the previous post really was from Otto Graham, you should alert George Noory or Art Bell. Graham's deaaaaaad! (7/18/08) El Zol's revenue in 2007 was about the same as 2004 WHFS' revenue. El Zol's last 12+ was 3.7, with a power ratio of 0.78. Next question, what is a power ratio? (7/18/08) Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 - December 17, 2003) was an American professional football and basketball player who played for the Cleveland Browns in both the AAFC and NFL, as well as the Rochester Royals in the NBL. (7/18/08) (The reason Washington's NFL franchise is called the "Redskins" is because George Preston Marshall originally called the team the "Braves" when they played at Braves Field in Boston. When the team moved to Fenway Park, Marshall named the team "Redskins" in honor of his head coach, Lone Star Dietz, a Sioux indian. Dietz had a coaching record of 11-11-2.) Close, but no cigar. Two things: 1. Marshall changed from Braves to Redskins in Boston (actually "Red Skins" originally) so as to be able to re-use the same uniforms featuring an Indian head; and 2. It turned out that Dietz wasn't really a Native American, he made it up. (7/18/08) Anyone out there know what’s going to happen to my Richmond ESPN 950? It’s Red Zebra owned. - Grace (7/18/08) Dave's response: The recent changes are only for the RZ stations in the DC area. I imagine the programming on the Richmond and Norfolk RZ stations will stay the same..... RE: "In fairness, George Washington Colonials men's basketball had Larry Michael as its radio voice for years without any sort of complaint." I guess the difference is that one is a small college basketball program and the other pretends to be one of the NFL's elite. There are hundreds of college basketball voices and a whopping 32 NFL radio voices. Larry Michael sounds exactly like what he is: Dan Snyder's Yes man. He's stiff, he's wooden, he's plastic. I won't claim to have heard every NFL radio man now working, but I have heard them in Boston, New York, Philly, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa, Chicago and Dallas. They were all better than Michael. And he's never been able to touch what Frank Herzog brought to the broadcast. Dave in Sterling (7/18/08) Dave's response: Frank Herzog had a certain sense of "gravitas" that Larry Michael has never been able to duplicate. You know, I've been doing DCRTV almost 11 years and I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Frank Herzog. That's kind of amazing..... "Seriously, what other franchise would let a stiff like Larry Michael be their radio voice?" In fairness, George Washington Colonials men's basketball had Larry Michael as its radio voice for years without any sort of complaint. Everett W. (7/18/08) ***So now you are going to have two egos in the booth calling the games. Guess which ones I am talking about.*** Would that be the two who've won Superbowl rings? And, what have YOU done lately, couch-warmer? Man-up, pantywaist! Otto Graham (7/18/08) Dave's response: I don't know who Otto Graham is, but the above ain't from him..... (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Radio Engineer / Maintenance Technician - WBAL-AM & 98 Rock Baltimore, Maryland. Applicant needs three + years in the field or educational equivalent plus strong computer skills. Experience with: AudioVault, transmitters, studio construction / maintenance and PC certifications a plus. Send your resume to Kerry Plackmeyer, Chief Engineer, WBAL-AM & 98 Rock kplackmeyer@hearst.com EOE. (7/18/08) ("Look at what "El Zol" on 99.5 bills!") You sir have no idea what you are talking about. First off El Zol is on 99.1 not 99.5. Secondly 1 of the 5 CBS stations in DC is a Spanish language station, thats hardly ignoring the Spanish community. Third why whould CBS put El Zol on more than one station? Fourth spanish language stations don't make as much money as english language stations, they get great ratings but don't bring in the money. Fifth WJFK makes more money than El Zol why would CBS replace it with a station that makes less money and only has about 1/8th of the avalible audiance(I Think 1/8th is being nice)? (7/18/08) It will be a sad day indeed when Sam and Sonny are no longer doing the radio broadcasts of Redskins games. Hope it's not as soon as is rumored here. I will say however that I do think a booth of Mike Patrick (an absolutely FIRST class play-by-play guy), Joey T, and Riggo would probably be the best replacement team possible. (7/18/08) John Quale, one of the most respected communications attorney in D.C., recently passed away. He also owned part of some radio stations back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He was a partner at Skadden, Arps in D.C. You can read the whole obituary at www.skadden.com. He was also a founding member of Wiley, Rein & Fielding (now just Wiley Rein since Fred Fielding left to join the White House staff as Counsel to the President. John was just a terrific guy who represented many big and small broadcasters. He was 61. (7/18/08) Hey! Just heard Ira Melman on CNN Radio at the top of the 2p hour! Is he full-time? AWESOME. (7/18/08) Dave's response: Well, maybe he landed a gig from that Front Page newsblurb on DCRTV a few weeks ago..... Re: "...There is a very good chance that this will be the last year with Sonny, Sam, and Larry, and they will be replaced by Mike Patrick doing the play by play, and Joe Theismann, and Jon (sic) Riggins adding color..." Is that just idle/idol speculation? What's the source of that information? If it's true, let's hope they have at least some small role for Sonny and/or Sam. They've both been very informative and entertaining through all of the changes over the years. Maybe a FIVE-MAN BOOTH!?!?! :-) :-D --RB (Now, if they would just bring back Frank!) (7/18/08) Geronimo to SatRad...we DO care. O'Meara trying to perform a Frankenstein experiment on the defunct Don & Mike Show...we DON'T care. Good luck Don, Goodbye Mike. (7/18/08) Oh for the good old days. When you would watch the Redskins with the sound muted so that you could hear Sonny, Sam and Frank call the games. So now you are going to have two egos in the booth calling the games. Guess which ones I am talking about. (7/18/08) John Riggins will continue his involvement with 980 AM for two reasons. First, His current contract doesn’t expire until sometime in 09, so they don’t want to pay a million dollars for nothing. The second reason is more interesting, and it involves the play by play announcers for the future. There is a very good chance that this will be the last year with Sonny, Sam, and Larry, and they will be replaced by Mike Patrick doing the play by play, and Joe Theismann, and Jon Riggins adding color. (7/18/08) Looks like Snyder will do for radio exactly what he's done for the Redskins and everything else he owns: turn it into a money-making mediocrity. Cut expenses, gut the system, rake in the cash and to hell with the fan. Seriously, what other franchise would let a stiff like Larry Michael be their radio voice? As for Don Geronimo going to satrad--I, for one, give a damn. It just hasn't been summer without him on the air. (7/18/08) Cool news about Don going to satrad if it is true. Looking forward to hearing him again and hope things are going well for him. (7/18/08) I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but WTEM's web site is now redirecting to the "Redskins Radio" site...which contains nothing I can see about the coming changes to 980. (7/18/08) Dave's response: I noticed that..... "Dan Rather said that "Jesse Jackson helped pave the way for Osama bin Laden to appear." Good ol Dan is the gift that keeps giving! Don't recall seeing it mentioned before but Paul Harvey returns tomorrow. (7/18/08) Geronimo to satrad - So what. We don`t care. (7/18/08) Meteorologist Jennifer Lopez joined KXAS-TV/NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth) in June 2008, and can be seen on NBC 5 Today weekday mornings from 5am to 7am. Lopez comes to NBC 5 with a depth of network level weather forecasting experience earned at The Weather Channel since 2000. Previously, Lopez worked as a weekend meteorologist at WTLV-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., and as a weather producer and weekend meteorologist at WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, Fla. ... North Texas, and Tarrant County in particular, is a destination for Jennifer for personal reasons. Her husband, a Southwest Airlines pilot, is currently on military leave in charge of relocating a Navy DC-9 squadron from Atlanta to Fort Worth. READ MORE AT: www.nbc5i.com (7/18/08) Looks like I'll need to stick close by the computer to listen to DP starting Monday. Hated Coherd ever since he took over Mr. Tony's spot at ESPN...... Charles in Winchester (7/18/08) I understood the reason behind the NFL Boston Braves' name change in the 1930s was because the NFL team lost its lease at Braves Field (the MLB team of the same name left for Milwaukee in the mid-1950s and a dozen or so years later wound up in Atlanta) and the Red Sox ownership didn't want any team named "Braves" playing in Fenway Park. Thus, they became the Boston Redskins (get it? "Red Sox" - "Red-skins") and George Preston Marshall kept the name when the team moved to DC in 1937 and made Sammy Baugh their first draft pick in their new city. Makes as much sense as any other explanation. I'm no fan of Danny Boy and his business practices (including the radio nonsense) but if political correctness forces him to change the team name, I will ditch my season tickets immediately along with many thousands of other fans. The team will lose much more in revenue than they would stand to gain from a PC nickname, and Snyder knows this - - - - - Larry in Luray (7/18/08) Does anyone know what has happened to Jennifer Lopez of the Weather Channel? She hasn't been on the past few weeks. (7/18/08) Dave's response: She used to have a little, but now she's got a lot..... Don’t know if you have seen this yet or not, but I found the article on Comcast about the satellite merger finance.comcast.net... Looks like 2 of the 5 people have voted yes already, all that is needed in one more vote for approval. Robert (7/18/08) Dave's response: Before you send me a "breaking news item," please take a quick gander at the Front Page to make sure I haven't already reported it. We got that one yesterday. I've already gotten several "tips" from readers this morning that Riggo is gone from Triple X. Ah, we reported that two days ago. OK..... (FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, wants the companies to cap prices for six years and make one-quarter of their satellite capacity available for public interest and minority programming, among other conditions. If the executives agree, Adelstein told the AP that he will be in favor of the deal.....) How nice that Mr. Adelstein wants me, an XM subscriber for over 4 years, to pay my $12.95 per month for a bunch of channels that I will NEVER, in a million years, EVER listen to. I didn’t subscribe to XM to hear NPR-style reports on the plight of the polar bear due to global warming and how the dastardly pair of Chimpy McBushitler and his evil side kick Dick Cheney are creating Amerikkka out of our proud republic. I subscribe to XM to avoid that crap. I can skip right past Talk Left (and Talk Right) very easily as I troll through the channels. There will already be enough XM content eliminated by Boss Mel after the merger without adding an incentive to delete even more by requiring 25% if the capacity be dedicated to public interest stuff no one will listen to. BTW, is Mr. Adelstein demanding that free receivers be given away to minorities and other to listen to his precious 25% of the spectrum? DCThunder in Rockville (7/18/08) The reason Washington's NFL franchise is called the "Redskins" is because George Preston Marshall originally called the team the "Braves" when they played at Braves Field in Boston. When the team moved to Fenway Park, Marshall named the team "Redskins" in honor of his head coach, Lone Star Dietz, a Sioux indian. Dietz had a coaching record of 11-11-2. (7/18/08) Why do you think John Riggins has not commented on the pending demise of his show? I've been listening all week and have yet to hear mention of the cancelation. (7/18/08) Dave's response: My guess is that Riggo will continue to be heard on SnyderSports 980/730/92.7/94.3, just not doing a regular show. His role is still "to be determined," I'd guess..... As reported about a month ago, Comcast & the Big Ten Network reached a tentative agreement that the area cable TV provider will carry the collegiate sports net. Now, Comcast confirms that they will begin carrying the Big Ten Network on its Sports Entertainment Package on channel 257 beginning Friday, August 15th. A digital converter will be required to view this channel. Comcast carries 4 other collegiate sports networks: FCS (Fox College Sports) Atlantic, FCS Central, FCS Pacific, & the CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV). (7/18/08) Anybody notice WTOP going overboard in their use of pop music to punch up stories? In a 15 minute span from 6 to 6:15 this morning they used "Summer In The City" Lovin' Spoonful, "These Boots Are Made For Walking" Nancy Sinatra, one I could not identify, and finally "Say It Isn't So" Hall and Oates for the story on Starbucks is closing some locations. The use of pop songs lyrics helping to connect the dots for a story is a clever device, but like Tabasco sauce, a little goes a long way. I'm a big fan of WTOP and listen many times daily. I'm just saying dial down the hit parade WTOP, and do what you do best ... deliver the news. - Kathleen M. in Alexandria (7/18/08) I miss working with Santos, Grooms and all my pals at WJZW. Great people! - Ed. Rodriguez (7/18/08) /\ July 18 Messages /\ \/ July 17 Messages \/ Czabe's reaction to the 980 news on his blog czabe.com (7/17/08) "FCC holdout wants tougher conditions for satrad merger." What a sham. The two companies never lived up to the conditions set forth in 1997. The FCC is just a facade for duping whatever people are left who still believe that "public good" means anything. (7/17/08) Re " Walked past a t.v. and the 5pm news was on and I got a glance of some guy doing the sports. I think his name is Andy. New guy? Anyone know?"..I forgot to include the station. It was FOX5. (7/17/08) Walked past a t.v. and the 5pm news was on and I got a glance of some guy doing the sports. I think his name is Andy. New guy? Anyone know? (7/17/08) Re: "Do you have any idea of what 94.7 The Globe is doing with their format?" Well, I sure as heck would love to see them do a (for lack of better label) Smooth Jazz format... then they could hire me and ALL (and AL) will have come full circle, returning back to 94.7, where back '87 I took over the Sunday Jazz Brunch (from Steve Allan), programmed it to 5 consecutive #1 ARBs and launched my jazz radio career in DC. Come on guys, what could be greener than Smooth Jazz? (and now back to the regularly scheduled speculations about Sat/Rad, Dan Snyder, Mike O and how radio isn't the same. AL (be seeing you, in all those old familiar places) SANTOS. (7/17/08) Dave's response: Or how about a resurrection of that eclectic New Age format Cerphe did on 106.7 in its WBMW days in the 1980s. "W-B, W-B, W-B-M-W"..... The new 980/730/92.7/94.3 lineup, starting Monday: 6-10 -- Mike & Mike... 10-12 -- Cowherd (no third hour)... 12-2 -- Doc & Kevin Sheehan... 2-4 -- Thompson, Mitchell & Koken... 4-7 -- Sports Reporters... (no truth to the 'reporters' being booted, Loverro's on next week)... Riggins is now a Redskins 'analyst' doing Sunday game-day stuff (I assume pre- and post-game) and the Monday day-after shows. He will also appear on the 980 shows on a regular basis. Since Bram's gone, Walker is the new sideline reporter for the Redskins game broadcasts. (7/17/08) When I read your scoop several weeks ago that the recently retired Don Geronimo would soon be returning to the airwaves at WOCM- FM Ocean City, I was looking forward to be able to tune him in when I headed "down the ocean" Well, I'm just back to my Baltimore home after a beach getaway. I must say it was a little weird hearing Don on the air without his longtime partner Mike O'Meara and cast of characters. But in true 70's slick DJ style, DG didn't miss "talking up an intro" to his rock and soul records. He did point out to his audience, that it being only his second week at 98.1,the show was still a work in progress. Don also wondered what kind of audience is out there doing prime 1-3pm beach hours, so he invited listeners to call in. I got through unscreened within a few seconds. I told him a lot of his longtime listeners were glad he's back on the air. But when I compared him to his favorite Packer Brett Favre who also wants to come out of retirement,Geronimo sounded less than pleased, explaining," Favre's not a guy who is real popular these days".Then Don said he was going to blow me off and proceed to end the conversation. Regardless, Favre and Geronimo both have a real passion for what they do, and are destined to become Hall of Famers someday in their respective fields. Tony Pagnotti, Baltimore (7/17/08) Dave, regarding your response to a previous post, “Dave's response: Someday soon, the entire western world will be owned by either Dan Snyder or Rupert Murdoch.....” I have to say I’d take Rupert. (7/17/08) Dave's response: As bad as Rupert is, at least we got "The X-Files" and "The Simpsons" from him..... Did anyone else notice that the store owner in today's story in the WaPo about Murky Coffee (murkycoffee.com to read the owner's blog) appears to be Nick Cho, former intern from the Don & Mike show, who banged one of his high school teachers at the beach soon after graduation? I believe his threat to punch the customer "in [his] dick" clinches it. Nick Cho! Don & Mike listeners honor you!! AAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH....... Caller X (7/17/08) Since MLB wouldn't directly pay off Lil' Peter Asbestos when the Expos came to Washington, I felt all along that the whole "let's set up a shared sports net" MASN concept was a way to hold the Nats' TV rights hostage. That way, their new ownership would have to pony up big bucks to get those rights back and INDIRECTLY pay off Lil' Peter, and MLB can distance itself and wash its hands of the whole deal. Hell, I can't keep track of who's playing on what channel, either. All conspiracy theories welcome - - - - - Larry in Luray (7/17/08) Do you have any idea of what 94.7 The Globe is doing with their format? It is supposed to be alternative/ go green/ listener choice. But for the past week or so all they are playing are classic rock (The Who, The Doors, The Stones) alternated with a handful of songs that they play to death (Death Cab for Cutie, Eddie Vedder, etc). Are they changing formats again? Thanks for any info. (7/17/08) Dave's response: I stopped trying top figure out what the Globe 94.7 is doing months ago. It does seem that they are trying to "back into" their old classic rock format. They do play a handful of more current tunes, all formally and oddly pre-announced, but it does seem that they're trying to go back to the "Arrow" days. That's not too smart since the DC radio dial already has classic rock hits on WBIG 100.3 and a new older oldies outlet via WJZW 105.9. I really think that CBS just doesn't know what the fuck to do with 94.7. It makes some money and they're playing it safe. I'd like to see JFK's guy talk format moved to the better-signaled 94.7, the Spanish El Zol format to 106.7, which better reaches the Hispanic DC and NOVA suburbs, and a REAL progressive rock (AAA) WHFS format restored to 99.1, which reaches both DC and Baltimore..... Re: Nats ratings and comments like "I'm pretty sure that the reason the Nationals' ratings are the lowest in the league is due to the fact that they are the only Major League team that has to share its telecasts with another team. Between MASN, MASN2, and My20 who knows where the games will air?" Puh-leaze. In an age where everything on the tube is based on the fact that viewers use their remotes every few seconds, it is beyond belief that going up or down one notch between MASNs or going over to 20 would have any impact on ratings. It is far more likely that a town with no MLB team in a generation has had a hard time warming up to the no-offense Nats. The longer they stay near .500 next year, the better the ratings will be. It's that simple. Dave in Sterling (7/17/08) So Dan Snyder Sports Radio's moves basically end up as the adding of two ESPN shows to the existing 980 format, and simulcasting the whole thing on 92.7/94.3/730. Color me not impressed. I haven't heard Riggo at all, so I don't know if his show was any good, but I suspect at least part of his "low ratings" problem was the fact that he was broadcasting on the Triple X Low-Power Radio Network. (7/17/08) Two things: Greg in Reisterstown is right, and Jerry Coleman is a very hard worker, more than you can say for many of his former co-horts at 980, who are so intellectually lazy as to be nearly worthless. Here's hoping 1500 comes to its senses and goes all-sports. They can pick up Dan Patrick for a late morning show, and do local in morning and afternoon drive with play-by-play at night (Nats & Caps). Oh, and they can hire Jerry as their 'Skins reporter. How tough can that be? I think they'd top 980's numbers in their first book. (7/17/08) Happy 3rd Anniversary Craig Dubow!! from Gannettblog.blogspot.com: Based on today's quarterly earnings alone, the board of directors should put CEO Craig Dubow on a performance improvement plan -- instead of having rewarded him with a $1.75 million bonus. Yesterday marked the third anniversary of his ascent to CEO. Performance of Gannett, competitors, and the S&P-500 index since then: GCI: down 76%... New York Times Co.: down 59%... Washington Post Co.: down 34%... S&P-500: up 0.25%... Just how low must GCI go before the board lets him go? (7/17/08) "Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson, and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek," What? No Chris Matthews and his tingling leg? (7/17/08) I'm sure the local TV outlets are happy to have Virginia in presidential play, considering both Obama and McCain have already started blanketing the D.C. airwaves with ads to reach Northern Virginia voters. Everett W. (7/17/08) Dave's response: I find it odd that the Northern Virginia cable TV systems will sometimes run local avails for Maryland political candidates..... News Anchors To Follow Obama Overseas - if only they can touch his robes, they might be healed. (7/17/08) Dave's response: It is nice to see a local state actually "in play" in this presidential election campaign. Usually, with DC and MD always in the Dem camp, and VA solidly in the GOP camp, the region gets passed over in presidential campaign appearances. Not this year, at least in VA..... An Update on the crabby Kornheiser story - as close to a retraction as we're likely to see: www.delawareonline.com... Links to Deadspin. (7/17/08) Earth to poster who didn't have the nerve to leave a name, I CAN get My20 via an over the air antenna from Reisterstown thank you very much. And I am NOT uninformed. I'm not a Nationals fan at all, but I sympathize for the fans that are. And by the way, Angelos is PRECISELY to blame for MASN, he brokered the deal that created the stupid network in the first place and used it as a bargaining chip to allow the Nationals to move from Montreal. Get YOUR facts straight! Greg in Reisterstown, again. (7/17/08) Re: Red Zebra. WTEM 980 and WXTR 730 cannot simulcast more than 42 hours a week because of signal overlap. edocket.access.gpo.gov (7/17/08) Dave's response: If Snyder has 980, there is absolutely no need for 730. The former Triple X rimshot FMers, 94.3 and 92.7, will add to 980's night coverage in Northern Virginia and Southern/Eastern Maryland. If Snyder was smart, he'd take 730 and pair it with 1260 and do Spanish sports talk on it. But using it for a relay of WTEM is completely pointless..... The Woodbridge Borders cut it's CD holdings months ago (shortly after Xmas 2007). It's gotten to the point where I read "Gramophone" or Stereophile for news of recent releases in the areas of music I like (or copy down what I hear off of XM) and just order them through Borders or Books a Million. I too have grown really nostalgic for the days of the old record stores and when every College Bookstore had a music section that lasted for aisles. I particularly remember when Princeton U and my old Alma Mater, Rider University up in Lawrenceville NJ, had music sections full of LP's and those new fangled things called "Cassettes" (Hell, they even came in Stereo; a real treat for the Onkyo Rack System I spent months saving and scrimping for) that you could spend hours and hours wandering through. And six blocks down from the U Store and 1 off Nassau Street (behind the Annex restaurant) was (and I believe still is) the Princeton Record Exchange, the best used record (and now CD) store between NYC and Philly. I used to scrounge through their classical LP section looking for old Deutsche Gramophone recordings. Genghis Cohen, with deep sighs of regret over the loss of youth and innocence, in hot, humid and not nearly as comforting Prince William County…. (7/17/08) Maybe Snyder should buy AOL from Time Warner….he could use AOL to promote nothing but “good” news about Six Flags, Johnny Rockets, The Redskins and Red Zebra. The business model fits perfectly for his taste….They are bleeding money…they are outdated, and he knows “nothing” about the business. Even the name doesn’t need to change…AOL would stand for A**hole On Line. (7/17/08) Dave's response: Someday soon, the entire western world will be owned by either Dan Snyder or Rupert Murdoch..... Earth to Greg in Reisterstown (Greg **** maybe?)... The Nationals ALREADY HAVE a dedicated network, as much as MANY other MLB teams. Geez, c'mon, The Nats get talked about, shown, and discussed as much on MASN or MASN 2 possibly even more than some other MLB teams do on some Fox Sports regional networks. The only difference here is, it changes channel numbers. And geez, Greg, you can't even get WDCA My20 in Reisterstown via cable, so how the hell would you even know? As for The Senators "rich history", ummm, sorry, but no one but Phil Wood knows anything about that, everyone else is either dead or never went to a game! HAha! If there's anything we can agree on, it's that there probably should be 2 full-time MASN channels or more HD, but try getting COMCAST, DISH, or DIRECTV to accept that! See, THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM, once again another uninformed person tries to throw the blame on Angelos. The man is to blame for a LOT of things, but this just isn't one of them. Think about it, if the Nats were on Comcast Sports Net in the next 2 weeks instead of MASN, what would be getting more coverage??? Yep, the Redskins!!! Case closed. :-) (7/17/08) Dave's response: Now now now. I don't let people "out" you on the Mailbag..... It is interesting that one's prior perception of someone based on their voice is often wrong. I've listened to people on the public service radio for years and formed an impression of them over that time and yet when I meet them they are just the opposite of what I thought. It is the same with how someone expresses themselves in their writings. After reading your (Dave) rants over the years I imagine you as a fat slob who needs two chairs to type on the computer and has pizza crumbs falling onto the keyboard. Probably just the opposite though. (7/17/08) Dave's response: Food crumbs do frequently fall out of my beard onto the keyboard. Was testing out my new digicam the other day (right). I shot it through Beth Ann McBride's infamous mirror..... Too bad for Riggo but I guess he and his cohorts antagonized Snyder and the team too much. Hope they find a place for him somewhere at WTEM during football season. Also hope his cohorts Sheehan and Big Time Brawn are taken back by Kornheiser. (7/17/08) A reception for fans of 630 WMAL’s Chris Plante took place last night and many fans from all over the region came to the new McCormick & Schmick’s at National Harbor in Oxon Hill to mingle with him. Chris, as always, so gracious, spontaneous and with a super sense of humor. Below are pics of Plante & myself as I presented him with a gift bottle of the newest sensation from Rums of Puerto Rico, Bugalú rum (1 Happy Fan + 1 Bottle of Rum = An Elated Radio Talk Show Host). Speaking of sense of humor, Jerry Klein was also there (WMAL’s “Pet Liberal”) and I just love that guy -- his personality and brilliance can make any gal ‘weak on the knees’ (did I just say that about a liberal?!) A great time was had by all. -Silvie in Waldorf- (7/17/08) Dave's response: That's funny. After hearing his voice on WMAL, I pictured Chris bald and fat..... Hey Commissioner Selig, I'm no expert...but I'm pretty sure that the reason the Nationals' ratings are the lowest in the league is due to the fact that they are the only Major League team that has to share its telecasts with another team. Between MASN, MASN2, and My20 who knows where the games will air? Also, only a ridiculous 25% of their games are broadcast in HD and those are only available on certain providers. I'm an Orioles fan, but I feel for the frustration that Nationals fans have. The Senators were around long before the Orioles and they had a rich history. The Orioles have been around longer than the Nationals and they have a rich history. The difference is that the Orioles didn't have to share a network with the Senators when they came to Baltimore. There is no reason (other than the greed and stupidity of Peter Angelos) why the Nationals can't have a dedicated network that broadcasts their games in HD like every other team. Hey Pete, that goes for the Orioles to a**hole! Greg in Reisterstown (7/17/08) RE: [ " Wonder why Laura Ingraham’s “Just In” show on Fox didn’t last long? " ]....... And if you think she's a mess, check out the Katie Couric clips there too at www.mydamnchannel.com... You clearly see why Katie has no clue about news and is completely unqualified to be hosting a network news program, not to mention completely unprofessional. The only difference is FOX knew when to pull the plug. CBS is willing to sink its entire news organization's credibility with Couric just for the sake of political correctness! (7/17/08) Dave's response: You can't be a major TV network news anchor or reporter without being "wired" into some major politico or political group. Usually on the left, but with Fox it's on the right. That's just the way the biz works..... Speaking of the toothless fairfax Borders, for several years I've noticed many of the racks for the CD's were nearly empty. When inquiring minds asked store personnel they said just had sale or expecting shipment soon but the empty racks went on and on. So maybe instead of all those empty racks they consolidated them but it does leave a big empty space, don't it. I've noticed the same at the Tysons Borders, empty racks that is. Rarely, go to the Tysons store anymore since the move, just a pain in arse to park in garage instead of parking right outside the front door and going straight in. Anyway's, back to the toothless fairfax Borders, not only were they moving all the newspapers behind the counter but they've also moved a lot of the DVD's behind the counter. I get the feeling this store has a new manager and we got a mastermind at work. I believe the old manager was a former manager at the old Tower Records in Fair Oaks. Isn't Borders on its financial last legs? I find the pricing cheaper at Borders than Barnes, especially when you get the discount coupons, but lately they(Borders) don't seem to be giving out the discount coupons for items in Borders, instead get these coupons for other stores to shop online. Funny thing about empty CD racks. The Fair Lakes Best Buy always seems very light in selection but when I'm out Reston way that Best Buy seems to have a plentiful selection. I guess all dependent on management at each store. I too miss the Tower, I still find or found it much easier to discover new music or movies or old stuff I'd missed by roaming the aisles of Tower than surfing the Internet . How much was Riggins getting to host the radio show? I'm guessing even riggo knew he wasn't a very good host but better as a sidekick lobbing funny bombs into a show but maybe lil' danny made riggo an offer he couldn't refuse. I wouldn't mind riggo returning to Sports Reporters in season. What happens to the 2 other guys on the Riggins show, they being former WTEM'ers. Any other D.C. station thinking of picking up the Dan Patrick show? And thank you Daniel Snyder I was worried Michael Savage wouldn't have an outlet in D.C. Michael Scott Shannon welcome back from your journey to Africa. BTW, The Association song "Windy" is another song you play with the vocals messed up. And poor olde WaPo, I do find that page 3 column in the Metro section interesting, the one about the Biograph theater brought a tear to me eye. Even had one of the managers and a co-owner of the Biograph chime in on the column. Did Kornholio call the staff at that Reheboth eatery inane drones? That Tony tells- it - like- it- is! Please give him a break he's working so hard to memorize names and numbers, but not birth dates, just years, in prep for his football gig. Does Tony enjoy the curly fries these daze? (7/17/08) Let us take a moment to reflect on Dan Snyder. Purchase 3 pea shooter signals and start Red Zebra…$33 million. Hire hall of fame Redskin John Riggins for a radio show which was broadcast from New York…$2.5 million. Buy 2 more pea shooter signals and an AM that powers down after sunset…..$25 million. Watching Snyder get his butt kicked in business….Priceless! (7/17/08) Dave's response: Clear Channel got 17th or 18th place with a sports talker on one signal. And Dan Snyder will be lucky to get that rating with a sports talker on four or six signals. The only way to best WTEM's lamish ratings up is to put a sports talker on an inside-the-Beltway FMer, since DC is an FM market. And Snyder still doesn't have that..... Wonder why Laura Ingraham’s “Just In” show on Fox didn’t last long? www.mydamnchannel.com (7/17/08) iChannel.FM Expands to Yet Another Market on HD2. Bonneville’s independent artist radio station, iChan­nel, will be heard in Cincinnati, OH on 94.9-HD2 starting in early August, bringing the total market count to 6, including Chicago, Washington, St. Louis, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. iChannel is heard in Washington on WTOP-HD2. (7/17/08) As for an increase in Nationals ticket prices, that's thanks to a proposal by the D.C. City Council. They want to increase the tax on tickets and merchandise due to the fact that the owners have refused to pay rent saying that there are some things at the stadium that aren't complete..So, the fans have to pay more because of this?..What sense does that make?? (7/17/08) What replaces John Riggins on MASN? -Sportstalk 980 programming... -Baltimore Sun or Examiner show similar to WPL on CSN... -more Anita Marks... -Orioles and Nationals Classics Programming... -Paid Programming... -John Riggins stays with the Virginia affiliates, without DC, so it's still on radio... -John Riggins gets a TV exclusive live talk show... -John Riggins goes to another affiliate in the Mid-Atlantic area... -Ravens programming... -local sports production company buys time from MASN... -talk radio from a local radio show to make MASN money and make it more like CN8 rather than SportsNet... or something else, what do you guys think? LONGSHOTS: -WBAL's Steve Davis... -WNST's Rob Long... -local internet sports radio show... (7/17/08) /\ July 17 Messages /\ \/ July 16 Messages \/ Being a native of Wisconsin, I'm grateful to Bud Selig for bringing the Brewers (Seattle Pilots) to Milwaukee. However the years leading up to his eventual sale of the team, then being run by his daughter, was an unmitigated disaster. Fast forward to a new owner, a winning team, and the Brewers are doing better than they have in a decade or more. So Bud should know first hand that even a small market team like Milwaukee will support baseball if a good product is put on the field. I believe the same would happen, and eventually will, in DC. I seem to recall he wasn't a big supporter of bringing baseball to DC to begin with. Maybe he's looking for a "see I told you so?" (7/16/08) So--Bill Paris is running 1590-----into the ground! (7/16/08) Re: “Rush in a Catholic church?” Actually, although Rush is not Catholic (or even the least bit religious, as far as I know), he has always been hugely supportive of the Catholic Church’s positions on a wide range of issues, with the notable exception of the death penalty (which the Church officially opposes). IIRC, Rush was also supportive of the Church during the dark days when the priest sex abuse scandal broke several years ago. So while he may or may not be leading an exemplary life (who’s to judge?), he is and has historically been supportive of the Catholic Church. -Brian (7/16/08) Thanks for the erockster link. I am only listening for 20 minutes now and I love it. Where has the good rock & roll gone?! Listening to regular radio you would think nobody is making good music anymore. DC101 is essentially a “best of the 90’s” radio station. It is sad I get the best music on my internet connection. (7/16/08) Dave's response: Erockster is magnificent. It's a shame that it's not on DC101's main signal, with Elliot and the generic rock stuff on the HD2 side..... Re: WTEM ... How can Doc Walker's mid-morning show be intact if Mike & Mike go from 6-10 and Cowherd goes from 10-1? IIRC, when Tony K was on, they may have carved out the 9-11 slot for him, trimming each ESPN show by an hour. Steve in Lanham (7/16/08) Just a Quick comment on the post: "Battle Of The Local Media Hotties - the two douchebags in the middle should immediately be disqualifed for that stupid thing with their hats on backwards." I agree, .....A "Large midtown" night club here in Ocean City, Has in their dress code that you must where your hat forward..... They will escort you off the property if you don't comply.. And I love it, When it happens.... To me nothing screams "I am a douchebag" more than wearing a hat backwards.....Just wear it over your face and crash your car into a pole already, Let natural selection take its course.......... (7/16/08) I’m intrigued by the “what if” possibilities, were NBC to drop local news in English at a future point as postulated in an earlier post. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went this route. Nor, would I be surprised at the bigotry that would be displayed were such to occur. However, having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if NBC didn’t someday drop their local English news with corporate affiliate Telemundo possibly expanding their local news. Why? Look at the demographics of the Hispanic community in the major (and a growing number of medium) markets. Then, look at the Spanish language TV stations and listen to Spanish language radio. Look at the spots on the TV stations and listen to the radio. Forget the image of ads for immigration lawyers; check cashing stores, and money forwarding services! Look carefully, and you’ll find the same high-value clients of a WTOP-FM, WJLA-TV, WTTG-TV, etc., with “customized” ads for the Hispanic audience. Because of a number of factors, broadcast has serious power in the Hispanic community. Look at what "El Zol" on 99.5 bills! Say what you want about rating points, but I look at the bottom line. Talk about “cash money” from a radio station, and you’ve got "El Zol", not “Jack$hit”. It’s a station the audience is loyal to and passionate about. Why CBS hasn’t yet put an "El Zol" relay on 106.7 is mind-boggling. Talk about a no-brainer! Or, for that matter, put it on 94.7! The United States has possibly the fastest growing Spanish-speaking population of almost any country in the world, and is now one of the most populous Spanish-speaking countries. For any media business to ignore the current and expanding marketplace clout of this community would be beyond foolish. Remember that the foremost fiduciary duty of any corporate officer is to conduct business in a manner that provides the maximum ROI for your investor-owners. If that means going Spanish, ¡Tan sea! Does that mean there wouldn’t be a potential downside? No, I didn’t say that. However, there is rarely any great reward achieved without taking an equal (if not bigger) risk. The biggest risk would of course be market-motivated advertiser backlash. Just ask Michael Graham about how powerful that can be. -Juego Corporativo sin Firmar (Unsigned Corporate Suit) (7/16/08) I'm currently watching NBC4's 6pm news, they're doing a piece on places you can travel on one tank of gas round trip and are talking about traveling to St. Michaels in Maryland..Uh, FOX5 is doing the exact same one tank trips and just featured St. Michaels yesterday. Coincidence?. Don't know. But I think for one of the stations, this may have not been an original idea. (7/16/08) I can't believe that Bud Selig is actually checking into the accuracy of the Nielsen ratings for the Nats. Why are they wasting their time?. The team sucks. So why wouldn't the ratings be bad?..And if I heard correctly, there are plans to increase the prices at the stadium which includes tickets and Nats merchandise.. (7/16/08) I've thought from the start that the Nats tv figures were bogus. I cannot accept the fact that if an average of 28,000 people attend a home game that only 9,000 television sets would be tuned into an away game. That does not make sense and I believe that the investigation will reveal that errors were made in the tabulation. It has nothing to do with which games or how many games are on HD. Real baseball fans will watch a game in black and white and I guarantee you that there are more than 9000 of them. (7/16/08) "Paul" routinely makes disparaging comments about women's appearance. This is something a gentleman just won't do. Therefore, we can assume that "Paul" is no gentleman. (7/16/08) Rush in a Catholic church? Somebody tell Bob Ryan those won't be your garden-variety lighting bolts on Thursday. (7/16/08) Paul wrote: "And is it just me or does the African American anchor on Good Morning America look disturbing with her hair that short? I know she had a cancer scare recently but shaving her hair off was a bit extreme. I know I'm being amazingly Un-PC but whenever I see her, the first thing that pops into my head IS ''cancer'' and it's uncomfortable to watch her." Un-PC doesn't even scratch the surface. Robin Roberts didin't have a cancer "scare" she HAD cancer. As for her hair, It FELL OUT due to chemotherapy. She may have worn a wig during her chemo treatments but now that her hair has come back in a bit she has shed the wig. Perhaps we ought to tell her to put the hot and itchy wig back on just to make YOU comfortable, Paul. I was diagnosed with cancer last year but was very lucky to not need chemo. I sure hope that if I do down the road that I can find a wig because heaven forbid I do not want to make anyone who hasn't feel uncomfortable. Marge (7/16/08) Could you update your readers on what’s going at SportsTalk980? Looks like Doc Walker’s show is gone, replaced by the syndicated Dan Patrick show, and Sports Reporters has been a “best of” all week, with no explanation and of course no explanation on the SportsTalk 980 website, which is totally blank when you click on the link that says “980 On-Air Schedule”. Typical of Dan Snyder to keep loyal customers in the dark…. (7/16/08) Bob - I didn't know anyone still listened to Kirk & Mark, what a waste of $$$$ by CBS Radio. Not that it matters to me because I don't own CBS stock & really can't hear the station since I live on the PA/MD border & WHFS 105.7 is just hammered by 105.7 out of York, I lose the station around Forest Hill. Kirk & Mark are just collecting their paychecks & will continue to stay as long as CBS keeps giving them 1. They've been phoning it in all their time at 105.7 & the last couple years @ 98 Rock after Lopez passed on. Jeff - New Freedom, PA (7/16/08) I'm wondering if WTVJ, Ch. 6 in Miami is the 6th most popular station because so many people in Broward and southern Palm Beach Counties can't even get the signal. They usually watch Channel 5, WPTV in W. Palm Beach. WTVJ is extremely directional so as not to interfere with Channel 6 in Orlando. And that could be the main reason Chs . 10 and 6 could become a duopoly. Personally, I say give me "Guerra Entre Los Sexos" on Telefutura, Miami's WAMI-TV: Channel 69. -- Carl in OIney (7/16/08) Dave's response: I remember watching "I Love Lucy" reruns on then-indie WCIX-TV, Channel 6, in Miami in the late-1960s, when my family was vacationing in Fort Lauderdale. Back then, Miami's 7 was NBC..... Anyone know why Sports Reporters on WTEM is in 'best of' mode? I know that Andy was on a staycation a couple of weeks ago and thought that Czaban's was in August. Seems really odd to me. (7/16/08) how about this battle of the hotties: Candice Dold of WBFF 45 in Baltimore against Angie Goff of WUSA in DC. (7/16/08) Damn Dave....you made me look twice when the headline read "Rush to Attend Tony Snow Service". I thought you might have meant Rush, the group, not Limbaugh. Rush (the group) is making their first tv appearance in 33 years on Colbert's show tonight on Comedy Central. As for Tony Snow, may he rest in peace, even though Limbaugh will be there. (7/16/08) So Bud Selig says that MLB is "checking into the accuracy of published Nielsen ratings in which television viewership for Washington Nationals games ranked a distant 30th out of 30 MLB teams." Could it just possibly have anything to do with the fact that the Nationals also rank 30th out of 30 teams in terms of winning percentage? Or maybe it's because the Nationals (and Orioles for that matter) rank last in number of games broadcast in HD? It's a crap team with a crap broadcast. What exactly does "Bud" expect? (7/16/08) Am I the only one who caught Mike O'Meara specifically asking the Lurch be at the little Friday booze-off? I didn't think much of it until he said, "I want it to be the original guys." Hinting at a replacement? (7/16/08) I shaved my head when I had a cancer scare because I thought it would be easier to handle the chemo baldness. I'm male, so it was easier, but I can understand where she was coming from if that is in fact why she did it. (7/16/08) For those who missed it, The Junkies' JP Flaim's 1st Round knockout courtesy of YouTube :-) www.youtube.com... (7/16/08) Dave's response: Bobbitt versus Flaim. That'd be so cool..... No offense ''Vaughn'' but we here in DC remember the good ol' days when Don and Mike were actually ''hungry'' and put more effort into their show. What you're getting is a watered down version of Mikey O. What you got with Donny G. is a guy who clearly had ''issues'' to settle with himself and didn't need to be on the air. That ''Hogfest'' was a complete bore and it was deviod of any kind of life. And is it just me or does the African American anchor on Good Morning America look disturbing with her hair that short? I know she had a cancer scare recently but shaving her hair off was a bit extreme. I know I'm being amazingly Un-PC but whenever I see her, the first thing that pops into my head IS ''cancer'' and it's uncomfortable to watch her. Paul (7/16/08) Was it really important that the Post ''reported'' that Paris Hilton lost her diamond rings? Is that REALLY ''news''? I'm saddened by the death of Dick Martin. Even though I was just a lil kid, Laugh In was hysterical. I guess he's gone to kiss that sweet bippy in the sky. Back to you, Dan. Paul (7/16/08) I could have sworn that I heard Shamrock say he was leaving the Kirk on Mark Show this morning...Anyone know if he jumped ship & is headed to The Bay? - -If so - there goes the last reason to listen to K&M. -bob- (7/16/08) I think it's important to note that WPLG Miami is the top rated station in the Miami market, so when thinking about The Post's duopoly transaction, think in terms of WRC 4 also owning WUSA 9 and consolidating both news teams and studio facilities or in Baltimore WBAL 11 or WJZ 13 buying WMAR 2 and doing the same. That's a pretty fair comparison if you exclude the Spanish language TV stations in Miami. Obviously those Spanish language TV stations garner far less ratings up here than in Miami and that's what puts the NBC station out of the FCC's Top 4 Duopoly KICK-OUT RULE (or whatever they technically call it) and makes it substantially more valuable to sell to the other companies in the Miami market as a duopoly. Most anywhere else, like DC or Baltimore, this wouldn't be approved, and I bet The Post isn't going to comment on this because it is generating quite a bit of controversy already in Miami. (7/16/08) NPR contends that the (satellite radio) marriage "would undoubtedly diminish viewpoint diversity." Irony, thy name is NPR. (7/16/08) Have to laugh at NPR bemoaning the proposed satellite radio merger as an enemy of "viewpoint diversity." Don't remember the well-paid suits at NPR shrieking when WAMU and WETA were airing the same NPR programing at the same time in the same market for years. (7/16/08) Or bettter yet, how about John Wayne Bobbitt vs. Junkies J.P. Flaim ? We'll get to see which one is more D-less in the ring! lol (7/16/08) Dave's response: Chris Kinard, get busy on that..... Dave says "Now they're denying they ever posted the memo, huh?" I understand YouTube has a walk-through using a point-and-shoot in video mode showing the sign, as posted by a "BordersBabe," but I cannot find it from the keyword searches so far. (7/16/08) I just weighed in at 223 pounds. Where is this boxing match with that Bobbitt honky anyway? I'LL EAT HIS CHILDREN!!!! Mike Tyson. (7/16/08) Battle Of The Local Media Hotties - the two douchebags in the middle should immediately be disqualifed for that stupid thing with their hats on backwards. (7/16/08) Maybe Mike O'Meara should go up against John Wayne Bobbitt since the MO'M show lacks balls! (7/16/08) The problem with splatter on 104.3 is caused by Praise 104.1, but will probably be helped a little bit soon when they move to TV Hill (which I don't think has happened yet, anyone know?), but even with their current location, 104.3's omnidirectional signal should still be stronger than 100.7 in Annapolis and this shows on Radio-locator.com. One of the tradeoffs of moving a Class B signal licensed to Westminster, Maryland & a transmitter in Hampstead, MD closer to Baltimore was a switch to a directional signal that has to send less signal to the east because of south Jersey's WXZL 100.7 (which is omnidirectional). What happens to me often during the summer months either on the water or near the water is that ducting causes the 2 100.7s to flip in and out, back and forth. It's very annoying and there's really nothing that WZBA 100.7 can do about it. Now if you're talking about Pennsylvania or Frederick county, absolutely, 100.7 The Bay wins. Also, the Owings Mills MPT tower which 100.7 now uses has historically turned out to be a bad transmitter location for TV and FM. The channel 67 signal barely makes it to Highlandtown in Baltimore city, let alone the bay. Downtown skyscrapers may not as much hamper 100.7's signal to Annapolis, but they sure do along the water further north in northern AA county and Baltimore county where 104.3's signal is rock solid, not to mention 100.7's signal is pretty sketchy in Harford county as well. So no, I don't think Clear Channel would trade signals with Times Shamrock. (7/16/08) I went to the Borders this morning when they first opened up, and there is now a sign that says "Free Newspapers, Please Help Yourself". How do you figure that? (7/16/08) Dave, Just thought you'd like a confirmation of the awesome reach & power of DCRTV.com. (Do the wave here.) Since you ran my shameless self-promotion piece (6/30), I've heard from radio friends I haven't chatted with in years, former DC broadcast pros from all over the country who keep up with what's left of DC Radio Gaga Radio Googoo through your efforts. No job offers, mind you, but lots of e-mails to reply to during the hours when I could be doing a highly-rated radio show. Thank you for using your power for good and not evil. Jim London (7/16/08) Dave's response: You can reach Jim at cyrusplace@hotmail.com..... Re WTVJ Miami story: Back in 2000, Post Newsweek swapped WFSB 3 Hartford for WKMG 6 Orlando with Meredith, so Post Newsweek no longer has a station in Hartford. (7/16/08) Wow, I just saw a No Shirt, No Shoes, or Dave Hughes = NO SERVICE sign outside my local Borders today! :-) (7/16/08) (Regarding the Border's Rant:) Good job Dave. I hope the same bigwig who emailed you reads the mailbag. I actually bring my papers from home and then donate them to the Cafe. I bet if they took a tally, they would end up with a surplus. (7/16/08) ".........Dave's response: I read it in the Fairfax edition of Pravda....." OK Dave. We all know you are funny. Today is Wednesday. It's a new day. Could we please have a straight answer? I called the Fairfax Borders, and they denied the rumors about moving the papers. Is this a joke? Where did you hear this? (7/16/08) Dave's response: There was a notice on the store's newspaper rack yesterday proclaiming that come 8/1 all rags would be placed behind the counter. I got an e-mail from a bigwig at Borders yesterday evening and he said he read my Rant and would check into it. Obviously, he called the Fairfax store and got the stupid plan yanked. Now they're denying they ever posted the memo, huh? Smacks of a corporate cover-up to me. Ha ha ha..... RE: [ " Post Buys NBCer In Miami " ]... Not only a duopoloy, but potentially THE MOST LUCRATIVE ONE IN THE NATION for The Washington Post! Wow! If not for the 2 highly popular Spanish language TV stations in Miami, this purchase would not even be approved by the FCC and i'm not even sure it still should be. Comments on The Miami Herald website also appear to be quite negative too. Expect challenges to this BIGTIME! On a completely other level, this caught my attention.... "NBC, which also owns Telemundo, has said it plans to keep that network's flagship station, WSCV-Channel 51"...... The question begs, WHY would NBC-UNIVERSAL ditch their ENGLISH language TV station in large market Miami yet KEEP their SPANISH language TV station? Can't wait for Bobblehead Rush Limbaugh to chime in on that although I have to admit even I'm shaking my head a bit too wondering. It's only a matter of time before someone says... Is NBC's eventual goal to only do Spanish language local news and not English ??? Ooops, there I said it. hehe Ultimately though, this hurts MSNBC and NBC news in general as they'll be LAST now to get footage of those Miami area helicopter high speed I-95 car chases. :-) (7/16/08) Too bad the good old days of hanging out in record stores are probably gone, Christian and Dave. Some of the old, smaller defunct record stores were great places to find out about new music. The people behind the counters at those stores usually knew about obscure, but great, records that I never would have found on my own. I wasn't the only one who would hang out and talk about music. People would just get into informal conversations, in old record stores, with people they had never met before. The other customers in those stores were helpful when they would bring up stuff they liked that I had no idea about before talking to them. I suppose the CD will be dead within a decade. Who knows? The vinyl LP is still around in limited releases. I suppose the high price of oil will kill it off for good, sooner or later. Can audiophiles get excited over downloads like they do older electronics formats? Is it backward thinking to wish digital music had never gotten off the ground? JOHN IN STAFFORD (7/16/08) Dave's response: I'm like Robb Spewak - I like having the physical copy of something. There's something nice about a collection of your favorite albums or movies, something you can touch and feel and see. The cover art, the cases, the shiny discs. Not merely a listing on an iPod or on a hard drive. Even now, when I download a tune on iTunes, I make a "hard copy" on CD and file it among my collection..... I live right on the bay in Annapolis and WZBA comes in perfectly fine here, so I'm not so sure that you are correct about the signal on the Chesapeake. I get them clear as a bell right into Baltimore no matter what season. Channel 104.3 gets spatter all the way up I-97 until about the BWI airport, so yes, WZBA has a much better signal than WCHH in at least my entire side of the Baltimore metro area. (7/16/08) /\ July 16 Messages /\ \/ July 15 Messages \/ If this Radio One proposal gets approved by the FCC, I wouldn't be surprised if Bonneville does a simllar thing with WWWT 107.7. They already got the city of location moved to Manassas, VA and look at what's going on down in Delmarva. The Class B WKHI 107.5 is no more, replaced by localized Class A WKHI 107.7 With Bonneville's 107.7 being grandfathered on short-spacing to both 107.3 and Annapolis's 107.9 (Radio One's main argument to dismiss increased interference on their app by the way), I'd be shocked if Bonneville hasn't hired some engineers to look into this possibility, not to mention that both 107.7 & 107.9 are both owned by religious companies, but we won't go there. Finally, WZBA does not really have a better signal than WCHH 104.3 and it certainly won't after 104.3's move to the 1300 foot TV Hill tower. It might look better on paper, but in reality, 100.7 The Bay is always going to be plagued by the same problem: WZXL 100.7 in Wildwood, NJ which has a monster omnidirectional signal hanging out there over the Delaware Bay feeding 60% fish & salt water, not to mention, nothing but chickens and salt and brackish water between the 2 100.7s! WZXL's signal often goes from Ocean City Maryland to Ocean City NJ, not to mention sometimes anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay. Every time i'm on the water in a boat or even near the water from Annapolis to Joppatowne during the summer (even sometimes downtown at the Inner Harbor!), its the same result with 100.7 The Bay & WZXL flipping in and out. The worst part is WZXL plays better music! HAha! :-) (7/15/08) Dave's response: Here in Reston on 100.7, you can either get Baltimore's WZBA or Harrisonburg's WQPO, depending on how you orient your antenna. That's a pretty good signal from a town about 150 miles southwest of DC-Baltimore..... I'll be hosting a 50's and 60's oldies show tonight from 8 PM to 11 PM ET on www.topshelfoldies.com. I invite you to tune in and to log on to the chat room. Top Shelf Oldies features different deejays every evening, with rare recordings, live interviews, and requests. This program will be simulcast and rebroadcast on www.wgay.fm. -Ken Carpenter (7/15/08) Dear Dave, Someone just wrote "I have a question. If they sell WRC, does that mean anything to the washington bureau of NBC as they are located in the same building." More importantly, if NBC sells it's DC O&O, what am I going to watch in the morning without: "Across The Fence", "PDQ", and those cute Wilkins Coffee Commercials?....whoops! Sorry....flashback man...I'm better now.... (7/15/08) Dave's response: If WRC was sold, I'd imagine that the Nebraska Avenue NW DC complex would go with it. It would be better for NBC's DC news bureau to move to Capitol Hill, anyway..... I was at the Fairfax Borders a couple of weeks ago to buy the latest CDs from Brian Blades and the Fellowship Band, and Joe Henry. Both were there, but I was stunned to see the CD section of the store reduced to about half of what it's always been. I don't know what the now-open floor space will be used for, but I felt sad after visiting. Olsson's cutback on music a couple of years ago, now Borders is gutting its music selection. Tower closed. I guess I'm supposed to sit at my computer all day and find song samples. At least those samples won't epend on what the local bookstore is carrying -- there's a whole world out there to discover. But I still feel sad realizing that I have one less reason to make one of my all too infrequent trips to the bookstore these days. And to think: I used to hang out at Tower and Borders every week. Life goes on. Christian (7/15/08) Dave's response: I really miss Tower. It was a wonderful place to hang out on a rainy Sunday afternoon. There's something fantastic about being able to physically meander though CDs or records that internet entities like iTunes just can't replicate..... It seems WZBA has a disgruntled former employee on here maybe?!? First, I don't know what the deal with the PD or anything about the company is, but I can say that they have a very good signal. I'm sure WWIN, WCHH, WRNR, WTMD, WHFS, and a few others would love to have that signal. They come in clearly from PA to the Eastern Shore and from the DC beltway to the Susquehanna up 95. Since the tower was moved to Owings Mills they are right there with the big boys and the signal is not an issue. As for they do with Classic Rock, it's not quite my taste. They are more of a classic rock-hits station that only plays the big hits like Free bird, Walk this way, Stairway, etc. The morning show did need a change and hopefully they will spend what they need to spend on something entertaining. The signal though - it's pretty good and with the right morning show and some freshening up of the music they could be a major player. (7/15/08) WWIN wants to get out of Glen Burnie, that's all. Arbutus, known for Calvert Whiskey, is a great place, a teeming metropolis along Sulphur Spring Rd. Glen Burnie? Known for the DMV, a few bowling alleys, and skanky women with a Farrah Fawcett hairdo and too much perfume. GB don't get no respect (Dangerfield, fiddling with tie). Marley Station Mall. It was supposed to be "Glen Burnie Mall" until locals told the builder no one would shop there in that case. (7/15/08) Re: Old DC FM tuner dial: WRC (93.9)... WOOK (95.9 Silver Spring, MD)... WTOP (96.3)... WASH (still 97.1)... WOL (98.7)... WNAV (99.1)... WCFM (99.5)... WWDC (still 101.1)... WGAY (102.3)... WCAO (102.7)... WGMS (103.5)... WARL (105.1)... WBCC (106.7? or 103.1?)... WMAL (107.3).... I (too) admit to being older than dirt... ;-) --RB (7/15/08) ...here (www.jjonz.us) are some more "Golden Oldies" for your enjoyment! ;-) --RB (7/15/08) "---------The newspapers are where they usually are, but they'll be going behind the counter on 8/1. I hear Borders is using its Fairfax store as its new Soviet Borders------" Could you please cite the origianal source for this story? If it's true, I want to load up while I can. (7/15/08) Dave's response: I read it in the Fairfax edition of Pravda..... WZBA RECIPE FOR SUCKCESS: Take one failed DC PD who couldn't get a real job, so he then accepts part-time status, mix quickly with one bad- signal- no promotion- low budget- radio station, financially unable to hire a decent full-time PD, haphazardly remove the only on -air presence that the demo has known for over three decades, the only classic rock cred they ever had. Carefully bake - half-bake that is, like everything else the company does, & serve luke warm. Da lish!!!!! (7/15/08) Do we really need to see Katie Couric in HD? Her Joker smile is hard enough on regular TV. Paul (7/15/08) Ghengis... First of all, the "oreo event" was at Morgan State in Baltimore...not PG. Secondly, yes the country DOES need an enema. But it needs it because of eight years of the Bushies. (7/15/08) With all due respect to Mr. Cohen's apparent age and mental capacity, he is perpetuating a myth. While Michael Steele has met been met with protest in the past, he has never had Oreo thrown at him. It's a fallacy. Please see this article for an in-depth explanation. (7/15/08) Dave- I appreciate the latest news and rumors about changes at Sportstalk 980. Not sure how you feel about Pollin and Czaban, but they have a strong following (myself included in that following). Triple X just hasn't performed well. I called the studio line this morning to see where the Doc Walker show was as they were airing a national show, and the screener said he'd be back Tuesday and the show would be "different." Many folks are worried about the future of 980 under the Red Zebra umbrella, myself included. I am worried about Dennis Gilbert and Snyder and others effing a good thing up. (7/15/08) A little bit of selective outrage from the "Getting Moist over Obama" crowd. Remember when Bobby Haircut and his running mate Steele were running for election the first time around? And the campaign appearance in PG where democrat plants in the audience threw oreo cookies up on stage while Steele was talking? Remember the outrage then? Buehler? Buehler? (The deafening sound of Crickets….) Yeah, I thought so. Steele, for all his faults, was the first Black Lt Gov in Maryland, and he got treated like crap by the liberal media and the Dem organization. The affronts and insults were routinely ignored by the regional media, but even the PG Dem leadership felt guilty enough to bolt the state party and back him for Senate in the general election. I guess it's okay to beat up and demean a black guy if he isn't a liberal. Genghis Cohen, wondering whether this country isn't due an enema... (7/15/08) (RE the WWIN power hike proposal:) The Funny Communications Commission is off their rocker. Does anyone even read these FCC filings? To quote - "No changes in antenna, antenna height, or location are proposed." Then *why* would a COL change be proposed? What sense does that make? Is there some part of the bigger picture that I'm missing? (7/15/08) ".......Borders putting newspapers behind the counter is a result of the industry going to "scan based trading;"........." Dave, I'm sorry I missed the original post to this. I just came back from Fairfax Borders, and didn't notice where the newspapers were. Incidentally, tonight at 8pm, there will be a live simulcast from San Diego with an author reading from a children's book. (7/15/08) Dave's response: The newspapers are where they usually are, but they'll be going behind the counter on 8/1. I hear Borders is using its Fairfax store as its new Soviet Borders model. There'll be a big counter in the middle of an dingy, empty store where, after standing in a long line, you'll be afforded the opportunity to make requests for the books and magazines that you want. If it's in stock, and approved by the "authorities," you must pay before you can touch. No browsing. No loitering. No fun. At Borders, the customer is the enemy. At least that's the subliminal message they're sending..... I took a look at the FCC Application for WWIN "Magic 95.9" and the thing I chuckle over with all due respect is the whole city of license routine on the application with the FCC. The city of licenses are rarely specifically served like they were in years past. So if Arbutus becomes their city of license does that mean Magic will read Arbutus PSAs, mention the temps in Arbutus, broadcast from and do remotes and such in Arbutus, given the demo of Magic and the makeup of Arbutus, I think not. This is not a slam at Magic, its the FCCs fault. Why stations like Magic have to make a case that sed town does not have a station serving, etc...come on, even in smaller markets, while locals are served better its not anywhere it used to be. With voicetracking and automation, you don't hear much news until Monday morning from the weekend. God forbid a storm rolls through, there's probably a 50% chance you won't be able to get much info from you local radio station. So much for serving the community. (7/15/08) Borders putting newspapers behind the counter is a result of the industry going to "scan based trading;" soon, retailers will only pay the newspaper distributor on those newspaper copies scanned at the check out line, not counted against returns. If newspaper copies are lost or stolen, under the new "scanned based trading," the retailer will not pay the distributors for the missing copies. Putting newspapers behind the counter is most likely Borders way of appeasing the distributors that complain of being hurt by retail shrinkage. (7/15/08) Dave's response: One of the reasons for even bothering to go by Borders in the first place any more was to browse some rags and mags at the coffee bar and on the comfy chairs. With many rags at $1 or more and many mags at more than $5 a pop, they're a budget-buster with $4+ a gallon gas. I guess with the change, me and many others will have one less reason to go to Borders. Another boost for biz, huh..... Wow, Radio One has applied to DOUBLE the power of it's Baltimore FM station WWIN 95.9 from Class A 3000 watts to 6000 watts and change its city of license from Glen Burnie, MD to Arbutus, MD. They've even gotten a signed waiver from Susquehanna Radio Corp's WSOX 96.1 up in Red Lion, PA but I imagine some other stations might not be so kind. DC's WHUR maybe ? (7/15/08) Dave's response: Will Fredericksburg's 95.9 sit still for that? While in throwing-out mode, I came across an old I WANY MY MTV FM Dial sticker. Remember back in the day when you could split your cable line to your receiver and watch Cheap Trick music videos in STEREO? Wow, that was of course back when MTV stood for "Music Television" -- Almost as Old as Dirt. :-) (7/15/08) Interview With LA Weathercaster, Jackie Johnson soupcans.blogspot.com (7/15/08) Just read with interest Ed Graham's post. Lest we forget Les Kinsolving is still mumbling, Tom Marr is still nasty, Fabian is a fisherman, Jack Edwards still can't hear, The Danoff's made DCRTV mailbag THIS YEAR!!! Cousin Brucie is on the air somewhere, so is Joey Reynolds and Ed Graham is as funny as ever. Oh, Kate Smith is dead!!! (7/15/08) Re: Lehrer to Cover Conventions... It would be more fun if they were covered by Tom Lehrer. Tim Phares (7/15/08) (news item) DC's NBC4 has partnered with 3rd Dimension to launch "NBC Washington Traffic Cam," a free service for mobile phone users providing live traffic video and information for the DC metro area. (end item) Hey cool! And how many accidents will be caused on the Beltway by all those oatmeal-heads diverting their eyes from the road at 75 mph just to look at their phones? Sheesh! Does anybody ever think of this crap before they go ahead and build something? (7/15/08) (RE Steve Allan:) "........but that's how he wants to be known professionally......" In what profession would that be? (7/15/08) Dave, Some info on the Baltimore & Washington Examiner's: - Sunday was the 1st Sunday edition of the Examiner in all 3 of their markets (Baltimore, Washington & San Fransisco). 340,000 copies in Baltimore, 255,000 copies in Washington & 250,000 copies in San Fransisco. - Home delivery will only be on Thursday & Sunday - The paper is only available "on the street" in boxes or racks on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday. There will be an increased amount of papers on the street these days since there is no home delivery these days. - There is no more Saturday edition. (7/15/08) Dave's response: I still find it difficult to find the paper. I never got home delivery in my Northern Virginia neighborhood, and there are a number of area shopping centers where there aren't Examiner boxes. And now with the box gone from the Silver Diner here in Reston, there are even fewer chances that I'll find the rag..... Listening to Johnny Cymbal’s Always, Always and Teenage Heaven on my MP3 player and reading DCRTV, I have a few totally unrelated reactions to recent posts: Marconi is turning over in his grave. Biff thinks people die in threes. Only NPR would name a morning show "Bryant Park Project." Indians aren’t from India. Radio guys say things that are not true. Someone thinks headphones cause brain tumors. Phil Wood likes baseball. Jack Gale is still alive. The WP thinks Chandra Levy can build distribution. Nobody listens to Don Imus, again…and TK has crabs. Is this a great country, or what? Ed Graham (7/15/08) Re: a special antenna for digital TV? No, there is no such thing. Digital TV uses the same frequencies as analog, and an antenna just responds to the signal frequencies; it doesn't care what's carried on them. HOWEVER, digital TV *sets* require a *stable* signal to avoid breaking up and blacking out. Rabbit ears generally don't provide that because when you walk near them (or if your neighbor walks near them in an apartment setting) you change the signal environment, bounce the signal off your body, stuff like that. If you have a house and don't want to put up an outside antenna, put an antenna in the attic or as high as possible. If you have an apartment, good luck. (7/15/08) Vincent in Triangle said, "...Steve Allan (note his last name is spelled with two "a's")..." Allan is really his middle name but that's how he wants to be known professionally. s/ Unincorporated Suited Sign (7/15/08) I uh just eeh, listened to the aaaa new um Blaine Young uh Show. It was uh the um most painful uh thing that I um have heard in eeh a really um long time. Is there no talent in Frederick? Craig HF/WV (7/15/08) While in throwing-out mode, I came across a dial for my Howard FM tuner. I'd marked stations on it ... low to high on the FM band: WRC, WOOK, WTOP, WASH, WOL, WNAV, WCFM, WWDC, WGAY, WCAO, WGMS, WARL, WBCC, WMAL. I admit to being older than dirt. (7/15/08) (Regarding DCRTV's latest Hotties battle:) Bateman - I vote for Tommy Bateman from the old WJFK show "The Hideout" He was drop dead gorgeous.. put those boys to shame. (7/15/08) "Sooo, at least one of the Junks wants out." If any of them want out, my money is on J.P. He's got the law degree, is writing a book and had a pro fight. I've always thought the Junkies do a great show and consider myself a fan, but sometimes I get the vibe from J.P. that he's bored with the whole thing and thinks himself capable of "better things." As for Mike O'Meara, his interviewing skills are hit or miss and some of the games they've concocted aren't all that interesting, but as a whole I really like what he's doing with the new show. I was a big D&M fan and hung on every minute of Donnie G's frequent histrionics, but I've found that MO'Ms sunnier, looser show is a nicer way to spend the afternoon commute home. (7/15/08) The media calls a company "foreign" when it suits them. For about nine years Chrysler was a German-owned corporation, foreign in the same way as Toyota, Honda, and NIssan, all of which have factories in the U.S. that pay American workers with home-grown dollars. Never heard it revised to the "Detroit Big Two" nor saw Chrysler grouped with other "foreign" automakers. Same with Shell, same with our local Giant Food whose parent is also based in Holland. (7/15/08) Find the interviews on O'Meara show boring and he's really bad at interviewing but all these interviews seem to be part of the WJFK way these days, along with talking fast and loud and laughing without anything funny being said. Is this the CK, progrum director, way? Probably have a hard time getting any good guests on the O'Meara show. They should get Normand back on show, at least he could get some big time guests on the show even if I found that mostly boring stuff. I found El Jefe and J.Dubs a bit rushed last night on WJFK, not the conversational flow of the Saturday night show. Maybe they were a bit nervous? Hooked up my analog tv to the magic digital converter box. Picture is fine but not particularly special, sort of reminds me of picture quality on TV's from say 15 years ago. I also see you have to fiddle with the rabbit ears sometimes when the digital picture starts breaking up. Is there a special antenna to be used for the digital image instead of my old rabbit ears antenna for my analog tv? And I can't pick up any MPT stations, what am I going to do about my Britcom's during the afternoon? And is channel 50 analog CW network going to be digital come Feb. 2009? So WETA has 4 digital channels and MHZ seems to have the same. Must cost a pretty penny to program all those stations ,does that explain all the fundraising on WETA?. Did they consider 1 or 2 really good channels? And as for MHZ networks, how do they get their funding? Pretty much supported by Virginia taxpayer dollars ain't it? (7/15/08) With all the talk about bloggers talking trash about Tim Russert and Tony Snow after their deaths, I would like to preemptively talk some trash about Bruce Fein, a regular columnist for the Washington Times, while he's alive. He is clearly agenda-driven, which is fine, but although billing himself as a constitutional lawyer, he repeatedly displays an astounding lack of understanding of the Constitution. His columns are a waste of newsprint. May he live long and prosper; he's certainly not in the same league to create a trifecta. It would have to be someone political who's loved on all sides, and appears on TV. To all the armchair programmers out there (and this includes you, Dave): there's nothing stopping you from forming an LLC or a Subchapter S corporation and putting yourself out there as a consultant. I know what I like in radio, I know what I think would work in radio, and I know that I know precisely dick. As do all of you A.P.'s ---- Biff from Burke (7/15/08) Dave, you have 2 posts today on guys named Tony. One is a class act guy who we lost all too soon to colon cancer. I read nothing but positive comments on him. The other is an A-Hole. I wonder if Korny even thinks about his legacy and what people will say and write about him when he dies when he goes through life being dismissive and abusive to everyday people he comes into contact with. Karma is a bitch. (7/15/08) Blacks = n***ers... Jews = kikes... Italians = wop dego... You get the idea. There's a big difference between slang and slur. There once was hate behind the word. I could be wrong. Perhaps the old ownership selected the name to honor Native Americans. Perhaps they maintained segregation until threatened with eviction from RFK to honor African-Americans, too. (7/15/08) I just don't understand why NBC/Universal wants to ditch all its local market stations, especially in huge markets like Washington or Miami. Doesn't NBC News and MSNBC rely on many of these stations for breaking news 1sts like car chases and what not? It's almost sends a message that they just don't care to have an edge on the competition anymore. Sad. I realize the ad market in local markets is not good right now and there will be a short term gain in NBC-U stock price from the sales, but it seems like such a short-sighted idea. Sort of reminds me of when the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) 1st split up (radio, TV, music, film, etc.). Then decades later, different execs are desperately trying to arrange costly mergers to essentially re-create a similar company from different parts at ridiculous expense to shareholders. Dumb in my opinion but I have no doubt it'll happen anyway. (7/15/08) I have a question. If they sell WRC, does that mean anything to the washington bureau of NBC as they are located in the same building. (7/15/08) /\ July 15 Messages /\ \/ July 14 Messages \/ Someone please tell the idiot hosting on 8:30 PM this evening via WMAL (some guy from California) that Shell oil is not "an American company." Shell Oil's "parent company," according to Hoovers and D&B (subscription required) is Royal Dutch Shell, headquartered in the Hague. So, when the WMAL hosts declares war against "foreign control" of our oil, he shouldn't use allowing Shell Oil to explore in Alaska as an example of an "American Company" profiting from "American oil." Why can't WMAL hosts just get the facts correct? I mean, Mark Levin and Sean Hammity continued to say for weeks the Chinese were drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba, when in fact, Newsweek said that declaration was a rumor that turned out to be not true. (7/14/08) Methinks that any Redskins "fan" who would ditch the team because they don't like the owner never was much of a fan to begin with. As for the team's name, it appears that the political correctness wackos are trying to harass Snyder enough so that he gives in. It will never happen. For once, I'm glad he's the prick that he is. Regarding WTEM, I'll miss Loverero if in fact he is no longer on Sports Reporters. The guy's smart and entertaining. (7/14/08) Just saw the full list of Marconi nominees. Mostly familiar call-letters, as usual. But one set stands out like a sore thumb. WMAL, for Major Market Station of the Year??? What year? 1968? (7/14/08) Dave's response: Plugged into the satellite from noon to 8 PM and all night. Farms out news and traffic to Metro much of the time. Yeah, right..... Did the poster bitching about the Junkies ever consider that their slacker attitude has been their schtick for 11 or 12 years, and seems to be working out pretty well for them? And have you seen the ratings? According to the Washington Post, they are #1 in all of the male demographics, which I would guess is their target audience. What are you going to criticize next, Jack Diamond for being too nice and female/family friendly? Or WTOP for doing too much traffic and weather? (7/14/08) NBC is in the process of selling ownership of WTVJ Miami and WVIT Hartford-New Haven. We've been hearing rumors that NBC may be thinking about dumping ownership of WRC D.C. NBC has yet to formally announce whether or not to sell WRC. New owners for WTVJ and WVIT could be decided any day now. The rumors I'm hearing about WVIT... Hearst-Argyle Television, owner of WBAL Baltimore and WCVB Boston may be expressing interest in buying the station. WBAL and WCVB win the news ratings in their respective markets... KCRA Sacramento and KMBC Kansas City are 2 other Heart owned stations I know of that have top-rated local newscasts. B&C article from May 28th... www.broadcastingcable.com... The rumors I'm hearing about WTVJ... Viewers have been echoing the sentiment of Belo Corporation or Cox Enterprises buying the station. Belo or Cox could give the South Florida "bottom dweller" the turn-around it's been needing. KHOU Houston, KING Seattle-Tacoma, WFAA Dallas-Ft. Worth, and WWL New Orleans are 4 Belo owned stations that I know of to have top-rated newscasts... WFTV Orlando, WSB Atlanta, and WSOC Charlotte are 3 Cox owned stations that I know of to have top-rated newscasts. SFLTV.com blogs... www.sfltv.com and www.sfltv.com... These are just rumors I've been hearing and reading about. (7/14/08) The only question that begs to be answered regarding Billy Packer's departure from CBS is: Why in the hell did it take 10+ years for CBS to fire his lame ass? He had become a total embarrassment to CBS sports. Good riddance. (7/14/08) "Brett Favre will be speaking to - of all people - Greta Van Susteren, tonight on Fox News. I didn't even know he was Republican..." - Howard Eskin on WIP/Philadelphia today - just moments ago, in fact... (7/14/08) I agree with TMU. Mike O' Meara ought to cut back on some of the interviews. It seems like his show revolves around too many interviews of a bunch of nobodies no one cares about. Where is the fun of the old show with Don? I'm not calling for a revival of the Don & Mike show. All I'm saying is bring back the nuttiness. How about a marshmallow race between Dennis Murphy and Tom Gavin? JOHN IN STAFFORD (7/14/08) Dave's response: If it's a celeb interview, fine. But D&M fans don't want to hear MO'M chatting with some guy about Lyme disease. Sheesh..... Interesting to see the battle continue regarding the use of the term “Redskin”. Some will remember back in the early 90’s that WTOP took a stand, and would not use the term “Redskin” on the air. The GM at the station commissioned a study to prove that the term was offensive to Native Americans, and the study showed that most Native Americans didn’t really care so he buried the study. After the station was sold, the new owners put the term back on the air, and the study was shared with the late Jack Kent Cooke who burned it in effigy right in the middle of his office at the old Redskin Park. (7/14/08) Dave's response: I've never understood the controversy. You name a sports team after something you admire. OK, it's a slang term for native Americans. So is "Chiefs." Or "Indians." They're not really from India..... Re: Replacing a GE Superadio... I have not heard the CCrane radio, but I understand it's made by Sangean and every Sangean radio I have heard sounds unacceptably fuzzy on the AM bands. I'd recommend a Grundig S350 instead. I got mine years ago (on ebay under the Tecsun label) and I've been very happy with it. It's a good performer (although the sound is not as rich as the Superadio's) and very easy on the batteries, too. (7/14/08) Dave's response: Don't try to listen to an AMer like WMAL, which runs HD Radio, on a Superadio in the wideband "high fidelity" mode. You will be disappointed..... Now if they only get rid of Dick Vital, we could actually turn the sound up on our TV’s to watch the college basketball games. Not sorry to see Packer go. (7/14/08) Was yesterday (Sunday, July 13th) the first day of the Sunday edition of the Washington Examiner? I didn’t pass one of their paper boxes when I was out to check. But today I did pick up the Examiner and noticed that the have done a bit of a redesign. I live in Virginia and the masthead no longer says “Virginia Edition,” just “The Examiner” with “Washington” in red to the upper right. Also, I noticed a house ad saying, in part, “For a faster read, check out the new Examiner. Our redesigned format is more concise so you can get all the news you want and then get on with your day.” Looks to me that the are responding to WaPo’s Express (which a lot of people read on the metro but is not much more than reprints of Associated Press stories). At least the Examiner does some original reporting. (7/14/08) Dave's response: I usually pick up the Examiner from one of those red boxes at the Silver Diner in Reston, but it's been removed. The box, not the diner..... No shocker that the Danny will put his tiny footprint on WTEM. A partner for Doc Walker? Well, I guess that means Doc talks less, so that's a silver lining. However, the BEST part of the Sports Reporters is when they bring in the outside reporter. Some good yakkers in that group, too, notably Mr. Loverro. If it's just Andy and Czabe -- or, worse yet, Andy and Czabe and the insufferable and ignorant John Riggins -- that's going to be pretty tiresome. Czabe, particularly, needs stimulation, or he's just bored, and it shows. Sportstalk 980 is pretty awful, but I bet the Danny can make it worse. Sincerely, TMU (7/14/08) How long do you think it'll take before somebody breaks it to Mike O'Meara, ever so gently, that he's pretty awful doing these "hard news" interviews? An NTSB investigator? I don't know who's driving the bus on these constant interviews, but you can smell the burning brakes every time. Sincerely, TMU (7/14/08) So I guess Tony Kornheiser has actually said in so may many word, “Do you know who I am!!” (7/14/08) Nice to see that TK is making friends at the beach this summer…Like the old joke says….If you cut off his head, an obnoxious New Yorker would jump out! Come on Tony, you are rich enough to hang out at the Hamptons with all the other New York phonies. What a self absorbed jerk. (7/14/08) YO DAVE, sounds like KORNHOLIO is a class ASS like the story says. I work at the beach in the summer in one of the area's finer dining establishments. We get our share of "Famous folks" from the Metropolitan D.C. area and for the most part everyone is pretty cool. Every once in a while we get some mega rich asshole and that’s what they are. To rich to have any sense of what it's like to actually work hard for the money.. If KORNHOLIO thinks he's too famous even to eat some place he should stay the F$%K home and get his crabs to go so no one has to deal with his Star power. If it had been where I worked I would have told him the same thing one of the other posters said, Sit down here’s the menu if you don't find something you like then get the hell out ASSHOLE!!!!!!!! He's a complete douche in my book and ugly to boot. It's not like he's going to attract a bunch of Hot,bikini clad babes to his table who might be hanging down at the shore 'Hon............... A.M.F from DELMARVA.... (7/14/08) In ref to an earlier queston, Chirs Emry HAS left the building !!!!! (7/14/08) Re: Kornheiser, I want what I want and when I want it... Korney, we want you to learn how to talk to people when you are out in public and when you are talking football, learn how to input intelligent conversation because as football fans, who know and love the game of football, "we too, know what we want and when we want it" when it refers to the game. Otherwise, eat your crabs in a corner and respect those around you. As a Ravens ticket holder, the fan credo at the opening of every home game ends something like this, take note: " Have respect for the fans around you and DON'T BE A JERK ".. seriously, it's on the jumbo tron at every home game. Rich in Bmore (7/14/08) what's the deal with with this lame-ass 'fill-in-host'? (he drove thru Baltimore once with his grandparents?) I'VE TAKEN AMTRAK THRU BALTIMORE & I CAN FIND IT ON A MAP... -SO CAN I BE A FI