Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - May 11 to May 20, 2010 Latest messages listed first..... \/ May 20 Messages \/ The rumor mill is in overload because of something that Kyle Osborne did or didn't do at NC8. That may be why you can't access his show. (5/20/10) According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the regional VP and VP/GM of the Radio One cluster in Cincinnati were fired Monday. It was so serious that the radio division president, Barry Mayo left the corporate office in Maryland and went over to run the 3 stations. Knowing Radio one, the exec probably drove to Cincinnati. John (5/20/10) Reading the tea leaves from the new PD's on-air visit to WMAL this morning, I have a "Star Trek" analogy for Chris Plante; Imagine you are standing on the transporter pad preparing to beam down to the unknown Class "M" planet with an away team consisting of five. As you look around to see who will be accompanying you on this mission, you see Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott standing on the pad around you. Just before the transporter energizes, you look down and realize that you are the only one wearing a red shirt...Get the idea yet? - Jeff in (Beam me up, Scotty...there is no intelligent life on Jennifer Street) Bowie (5/20/10) From HFS2's facebook page: "Listen tomorrow morning from 7 to noon, for a special HFS DJ you should all be familiar with!" (5/20/10) Do you know what happened to Kyle Osbourne's Entertainment Forecast that had been on Channel 8? I cannot get into the website and when you look under the Channel 7 website and drop the local box down the Entertainment Forecast link is missing from there too so if you know anyone in Channel 7 that can answer this question can you please email it back to me or put the info on your website so that others that need to know the info can read it there? Thanks so very much. (5/20/10) One of the things I enjoy about going to Rehoboth is that I can get away from the mostly bad radio in DC. Due to frequent Tropo down the coast from Philadelphia I can listen to WXPN on 88.5 loud and clear most evenings and mornings. Now that WAMU has dumped lots of public money into a 50KW relay for all their 27/7 talk and blab on 88.3 the reception on 88.5 will be very difficult if the relay is only analog and wiped out if it is digital. Why do they need to push their crapy non stop talk and blab over their and wipe out a great music station like WXPN? There are already enough Public Radio stations in the area. Where did they get the funds to do this? Bob Fairfax (5/20/10) Drew Hayes and Richard Hayes? Richard Hayes was a famous vocalist of the early 1950's who had the original hit recording of "The Old Master Painter." The same Richard Hayes also appeared frequently as singer and and co-host on Arthur Godfrey's Program on CBS, and later served as a very popular radio talk show host on WMCA in New York City and WCAU AM 1210 in Phiadelphia now known as WPHT, "The Big Talker," which numerous stations have emulated. The point of this is to pose the question, if not anawer it, what is the relationship between Drew Hayes and Richard Hayes? Maybe someone can follow-up on this to comment upon "talent runs in the family." No doubt about it, Richard Hayes was a multi talented singer, radio-tv perfomer, talk show host with an exceptional background in the enterainment industry....and Drew Hayes in similar fashion was a highly successful talk show host in Chicago before proving his mettle as a consummate radio programmer and broadcast executive, Bill Quinn MQA, Michael Q Anthony (5/20/10) Now that the dust has settled, this whole WMAL soap opera is a staggering example of a management cluster fuck. The obvious motivation for all of this was budget savings - not improved content. After the music stopped we are back at square one except that Andy Parks is no longer on the air and they outsourced the PD job. Talk about taking the long way home! This raises a couple of questions. First, what was management thinking? There was obviously no well thought out plan or clear cut strategy. Unless, of course, there was so corporate had to step in a 'fix' things. That means that Paul Duckworth takes the fall while those above him get to wash their hands. Classy. Second, what does this say about Fred Grandy? He stands idly by while his partner gets hung out to dry then wacked? Then he's on the air...then he's not...then he is. Grandy is either part of the conspiracy or has minimal scruples or just flat out needs the job. Plante was a pawn throughout so he was just being a good soldier. And, now, they are re-hiring an old news director? Nothing against John Matthews but the news ship has sailed at WMAL. Even though they have some GREAT people like Bill Thompson and Mark Weaver - they cannot and will not ever take WTOP's news dominance away. Frankly, the best part of WMAL is their news department yet WTOP continues to beat them like a drum. Sorry, but its 'game over, man'. Drew Hayes thinks WMAL is a powerful station but that is their heritage, not their currency. The sad reality is that these are probably not the last changes/cuts you will see. While it is all being blamed on the bankruptcy the truth is that this is how corporate radio operates today. Small staffs, small budgets, small ideas with large expectations. All they are doing right now is buying time. In 6 months WMAL will be exactly where they are right now. Who will be to blame then? (5/20/10) WAMU running bus board in Ocean City for the launch of there new 50,000 Ocean City Repeater 88.3. Now will have Morning Edition and All Things Considered on 5 stations, 88.3, 89.5, 90.7, 91.3, and 106.9 Got to love NPR for milking a market. No word on where it will be in HD. I would love to have the Bluegrass Channel over here, but who needs 5 stations running the same thing. 106.9 gives us Baltimore Traffic, I guess we'll get D.C. traffic now. If there were just a frequency available for WHYY-FM, then we could have Philly traffic too. (5/20/10) In the case of WHFS it has become obvious that CBS, and everyone not an HFS fan, is terrified of being considered racist or otherwise Politically Incorrect. The total lack of threats to flip formats,something they did even to WPGC,is a 'deafening silence' indicator of this. The majority of WLZLs fan base is known to be illegally residing in our nations capital, of all places, and openly laughs at us 'stupid Americans' for allowing thier presence. If any other business or industry caters to known law breakers they are shut down and/or prosecuted. Everyone is aware of this situation and ,like everything else, turn thier head to it. "The American People" ,as the media is fond of saying lately, is well known for being outraged over everything from too much sodium in foods to violations of human rights in countries not our own....yet no one has the balls to do anything about the hypocrites and thieves right here among us. In this instance it is "only" a radio station but it is indicative of every facet of the worthlessness of being a legal citizen in this once great nation. Donnie in Cecilia county Marialand (5/20/10) While some in the mailbag have praised the new WMAL OM/PD Drew Hayes appearance on the "Grandy Gang" this morning I found it very disappointing. It was clear that little preparation was done for this appearance other than he would show-up. There was no introduction to speak of, he didn't have any remarks concerning his credentials, such as the cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.) where he had worked before, or some sort of mission statement as to what WMAL is to become under his supervision. Sure, he could have said that he was studying a bunch of things, like having more local content in the afternoon and a better News Department; then is a few weeks after "studying" the station's programming he could say that "everything is great and only minor changes are to be made" (i.e., only local from 5am to noon, with syndicated programming the rest of the day and mostly infomercials on the weekends) which is what he has in mind anyway. Perhaps he was nervous, but in my opinion he came off as an unprofessional, arrogant smart-ass who hasn't spent much time in front of a radio microphone. Though I did like that he gave DCRTV props! (5/20/10) Dave's response: I didn't catch the first few minutes of his appearance, but, from what I heard, he really didn't answer any questions about all the crazy changes. Orginally, I'd heard that Citadel needed to cut the WMAL budget to satisfy he bankruptcy court, and that's why the highly-paid and relatively low-rated Grandy and Andy needed to go. Ultimately, it was Andy Parks and PD Duckworth who got cut. I think that Drew Hayes knew that WMAL VP/GM Jeff Boden had made a bad situation worse, and was trying to make the best out of a rather messy cockup without openly criticizing his Citadel "superiors"..... If Drew Hayes is trying to rally the troops and breathe some life into WMAL he has already made a grave error in judgment. Returning John Matthews to WMAL in a supervisory role is about as big of a mistake as he could make. John Matthews is already telling everyone how they are going to have to "suck up" to him. He says it in a joking way but everyone knows it's the truth. Whatever hope among the staff that this thing could turn around is now completely dashed. Expect morale to drop even lower...if that's possible. There are so many talented people at WMAL and they are beaten down for their hard work and dedication. Then they are made to work for a lazy blowhard. Someone needs to let Drew Hayes know what a huge mistake he just made. All his "hard work" in DC is negated by making such a poor choice. He's going to find this out real quick. (5/20/10) I hear Geronimo is going to buy the Charlestown Chiefs and move the team to Florida. (5/20/10) I hear Sorce is going to buy the Charlestown Chiefs and move the team to Florida. (5/20/10) Dedicated to Patrick Montana: Predictions show a steady low, You're feeling just the same. But seasons come and seasons go. I'll make you smile again. If you don't believe take me by the hand, Can't you feel you're warming up, yeah, I'm your weatherman. So when you're feeling lonely, try to understand, Baby, I can warm you up 'cause I'm your weatherman. (5/20/10) Some cast members from MTV's The Hills will be in Baltimore for a party at the Mosaic on Saturday, May 29. The party is for the East Coast launch of LXM Pro lacrosse and music tour... The founder of the league, Scott Hochstadt, is a local guy and he is dating The Hills' Lo Bosworth who will be at the party. The Hills' Stephanie Pratt should also be there. Stephanie dated Max Ritz who is a player on the LXM tour. Both guys will be on next week's episode of the show... (5/20/10) "Another is that he may be getting in bed with Paul Bicknell (aka Davy Jones) and DC radio vet Bill Parris to do a show on KHZTV.com" --Which begs the question...Will Geronimo have to pay the $25 an hour studio rental fee as well? (5/20/10) While the situations are different, the whole WMAL stuff is no different than WHFS or WQSR happenings of 5 years ago, all bonehead moves by people who know nothing about radio, but just trying to cut costs & just answering yes to the corporate execs. The management at Citadel's DC cluster or the corporate management don't really care what the listeners think at all, but feel it was the right moves for them to put money in their pockets. The fans of 99.1 HFS staged a huge petition & so fourth that went where? HFS is only on a crappy HD2 signal in a DC cluster of CBS stations which HFS2 is better than any of the programming on the main signal's of any 5 of CBS's DC stations, and could probably attract better ratings than any of those other than maybe 95.5 saying that 95.5 is even popular at all. While it's obvious CBS cares about a small portion of DC's spanish population, meanwhile HFS would hold popular because of the type of music that's played plus the heritage behind the station. In Baltimore, 5 years after the uproar of Oldies WQSR being "Jacked"there still isn't a full time Classic Hit's station on the dial when it would most likely be very successful. You're choices are DC's Big 100.3 which is more classic Rock than Classic hits and the signal doesn't come through well in Baltimore city or anywhere north of the city. Then 101.9 which carries a format on the weekend that would probably be close to what WQSR would be playing if was still on the air today. Great music, good weekend air staff, but when you want to listen to the music during the week there's no where to find it.CBS won't do it because it would step on WLIF's toes and would probably damage WLIF a good bit, and it's probably better off that CC doesn't attempt it after looking at how well they did with Channel 104.3's programming & airstaff as it probably couldn't have been don more half ass. Welcome to corporate radio where all that matter's is what's going into the pockets of NYC or San Antonio exec's pockets. WMAL is just following the same path of every other corporate owned station. (5/20/10) Uh oh, hope we didn't touch a nerve here. The internet video stream for KHZ-TV Radio is showing a DARK empty studio this morning. And at 10:30, that puts it 1/4 of the way thru the Davy Jones show. Wher-u-at, Davy? (5/20/10) Dave's response: "Davy" is in OC with DG (aka MS) and JD of AA. Hmmm..... I think WTOP officially "jumped-the-shark" this morning with the smarmy story (read by Mike Moss & Bruce Alan) about giving up sex for a week. Recommendation to new WMAL PD Drew Hayes. Craft the station to be more of a news-weather-traffic alternative to WTOP -- and I think you would get a ton of new and longer attentive listeners. (5/20/10) Dave's response: And put it on 105.9..... Not a fan of 4's Veronica Johnson myself nor do I really get the whole "Bob Ryan goes to 7" thing either since it is a safe bet to say that ten years from now if not sooner I doubt either Doug Hill or Bob Ryan will still even be on television. But with that being said, I do have to admit at least DC still values experience ( more/less ) when it comes to TV weather. Many many years ago I can remember when Jay North ( yes that Jay North ) tried to do TV weather down in Hampton Roads. I can remember one of the tabolids even running a photo of North on the news set as well as running a story about "the new job for Dennis the Menace". Not sure if any of this was for actual employment or just PR since at the time North was stationed in Norfolk but either way "..now the weather with Dennis"..didn't become a reality. Then there is Allan Kayser who had played Bubba Higgins on Mama's Family. In the early 90's he was offered a job doing weather in Kansas City. but the "catch" was the station had wanted Kayser doing the weather as Bubba Higgins. When Vicki Lawrence had her own talk show at the time, she had Allen on as a guest and when Allen said he had turned down the gig I had the feeling that Vicki was a bit disappointed. Maybe she had wanted to do a cameo as "Thelma Harper". If the thought of having Bubba Higgins or Dennis Mitchell doing the weather is goofy, my sister who lives in Vegas was telling last year that at least two Vegas stations had tried only to fail in getting adult film star Patrick Montana on board for their weather. Nevermind the fact that Patrick had never done ANY TV and the only time he had done work in front of the camera was for his porn studio. At least DC hasn't taken ths route, not yet anyway. (5/20/10) I like Veronica Johnson and she's been growing on me lately. Maybe she's not flashy or has a schtick but she delivers the goods - basic low key weather info. Veronica has a soothing delivery, some would say boring but I don't need a 'personality'. Everything doesn't have to be overdramtized. Sorry to see that her style isn't more appreciated. Maybe I'm just projecting...? (5/20/10) I heard at least one reference to DCRTV shortly after 7:00 AM this morning. Station Director said he was reading it. (5/20/10) Dave's response: Yeah, just before 8, Drew Hayes gave an on-air shout out to DCRTV, me, Carol Joynt, and Sylvie..... Don Geronimo/Mike Sorce - Rumor is he's coming back soon, have you heard anything? (5/20/10) Dave's response: A couple of rumors. One that he wants to buy an Ocean City radio station. I'm hearing that he's kicked the tires of WQMR 101.1. Another is that he may be getting in bed with Paul Bicknell (aka Davy Jones) and DC radio vet Bill Parris to do a show on KHZTV.com and via 810 Annapolis and 1590 Ocean City, which would maybe someday air in the DC area, too. That's the only way he could come back on the air before his October contract ends with CBS Radio, by doing Ocean City/Eastern Shore radio, where there are no CBS stations. Now, there's always the possibility that CBS could hire him back and put him back on in the DC market. Maybe by flipping WIAD 94.7 from Fresh AC to WCBS-FM-type oldies and giving him the morning slot. Stay tuned..... Kudos to Drew Hayes for answering listeners' questions today on WMAL. He should get his own show -- I think he had more calls on hold waiting to talk to him than any other show in months. I e-mailed my question, which was the following: "I’m wondering if you’ve considered tape-delaying Sean Hannity’s afternoon radio show (which is in 18th place in DC and has been on the air at WMAL since 2001), and replacing it with a local afternoon drive show, preferably with Austin Hill or Chris Core?" -Silvie- (5/20/10) OK, so WMAL "PD" Drew Hayes is doing an "Ask the Boss" thing on the once-mighty 630... Talk about the sincerest form of flattery! How many times have Jim farley and Joel Oxley already done the same thing on WTOP? I don't think there's anyone left who can pull WMAL out of the dustbin of radio history... -Unsigned Corporate Suit (5/20/10) If you've ever wondered where failed program directors go to die, I think I've found the answer: They start an online newsletter. It's true, in the case of Randall Bloomquist, who used to be at WMAL. He's currently penning something called "NewsTalk Edge". The latest edition asks: "If WMAL Doesn’t Need a PD, Does Your Station?". Bloomquist quizzes various consultants on this topic and one "warns that the on-air talent -- the very essence of the format -- suffers the most when a station doesn’t have its own PD". One wonders how bad not having a program director could really be, since Bloomquist (and more recently) Paul Duckworth, as PDs, pounded more than a few nails into the WMAL coffin. Randall Bloomquist advising how to successfully program a radio station truly IS utterly laughable! (5/20/10) Another question to ask WMAL's GM; Chris Core, Tim Brandt, Michael Graham, Jane Morris, Bill Press, and Andy Parks, were never given a chance to say "goodbye" after they were yanked off the air. Why does WMAL disrespect their listeners in not allowing air personalities so say goodbye on the air? Oh, can he please tell Plante that Michael Steele was never "pelted by Oreos at a Black College. Thanks, and I will take my answer off the air. (5/20/10) I too am not a real fan of Veronica Johnson. She does have quite a dull delivery. And if I were to play the drinking game of every time she says "UH", take a shot, I'd be plastered. (5/20/10) /\ May 20 Messages /\ \/ May 19 Messages \/ (I've never cared for Veronica doing the weather on Channel 4. And it's not merely because Bob is so much better of a weathercaster by comparison; it's that Veronica's approach has always been like dishwater--just the facts, hardly anything else, totally blah. You can tell it's not her forte. IMO she sounds a lot better on WTOP radio reporting on a lot of different things.) Veronica Johnson works at Channel 4. She does not report for WTOP radio. You are confusing her with Veronica Robinson. (5/19/10) 2010 'WABC' Rewound... New York Radio Message Board... Posted by Allan Sniffen on May 19, 2010 at 10:24:18... I've been getting a lot of e mail asking if WABC itself will feature Rewound in any form this year. The answer is no. Instead, Rewound Radio will feature WABC Rewound over the Memorial Day weekend (not just on Memorial Day itself). I have taken the best Rewound airchecks that were aired on WABC from 1999-2009 and removed all the breaks. Each aircheck will play all the way through without stopping as was necessary when WABC itself ran them (and when I previously presented them on Rewound Radio). There are enough airchecks to make this an entire weekend event rather than just one day. The airchecks sound great as restored by Johnny Donovan and Rob Frankel so it will be fun to hear them again and you'll have all weekend to do so. It starts Friday afternoon before Memorial Day at 4PM on RewoundRadio.com (5/19/10) So WUSA is losing yet another class act with Dave Statter leaving the station. The good news is that he'll be right at home over at WJLA. And, to show that there is indeed a cloud around every silver lining, the good news is that WUSA doesn't have to worry about losing too many more "class acts". Why? there aren't that many still working there! At the rate that station is going, a purchase of WMAL by Gannett would be a natural. Imagine, "WMAL-TV, channel 9"??? -Unsigned Corporate Suit (5/19/10) Looks like Newschannel 8 has canceled its long-running "Entertainment Forecast show" without notice. Site has been taken down. (5/19/10) Dave's response: I guess the new NC8 sked is TBD. Hardy har har..... Recent Tweet from Don Geronimo aka Michael Sorce WHAT IF....I was back on the radio before October? (5/19/10) Dave's response: Ocean City's 1590, khztv.com? I've never cared for Veronica doing the weather on Channel 4. And it's not merely because Bob is so much better of a weathercaster by comparison; it's that Veronica's approach has always been like dishwater--just the facts, hardly anything else, totally blah. You can tell it's not her forte. IMO she sounds a lot better on WTOP radio reporting on a lot of different things. Funny, when I was a kid I thought nobody could top Louie Allen with his distinctive folksy weather-doodlin' persona, but almost from the beginning Bob Ryan surpassed him in my book. (Louie didn't have the technology to take full advantage of back then either.) Bob has always been full of interesting facts and side knowledge about not just weather but things related to it. So now I guess I'll be switching to WJLA around 11:18 every night, and then come back to 4 right afterward. At least they still have Jim, Doreen (my hearthrob), and Lindsay. KOF (5/19/10) Another reason not to watch Channel 9 anymore. I loved Dave Statter and his reports. When he reported, you knew that you were going to get a good story. (5/19/10) RE: [I think what’s really upsetting you is that all of this listening to WMAL is starting to Hannitize you.] Actually, I really do enjoy "hannitizing" every time I drop a big old "limbaugh" in the loo. Sometimes I even have to use two or three big hand-fulls of "sean" before I get that "no-longer-soiled" feeling back. Thoroughly refreshing. You may be right about repeated exposure though....I believe I must be starting to side with WMAL on immigration...every time I eat Mexican food, my "plante"s gets all inflamed and sore and I need to sit on on of those inflatable doughnuts for a few days until I work it thoroughly out of my system. (5/19/10) How long will NBC4 continue with “Veronica” doing the weather in the 5-7p block? She’s in over her head, doesn’t seem to be a part of the team and is far better suited for mornings doing the “Today Show” local weather. I miss Ryan as he did a lot more than play with graphics. (5/19/10) I was in my car in the middle of a supermarket lot, and I don't own a cell phone. Maybe it was a nearby vehicle's cell charger that was doing a number on 720 AM! But that still doesn't explain why 750 AM was totally dark early this afternoon (and for all I know may still be). KOF (5/19/10) Holy s**t...Enough already with the damn KHZ crap! Buy a f**king ad!!! (5/19/10) I have to agree that Howard Stern has been pretty fun to listen to lately when he's not spewing endless crap about Beth O's new book [which tanked]. My question is regarding the surge in subscriptions to Sirius recently. I wonder how many of those subscribers will stay after hearing how awful the music channels have become? And how many will bail the moment Howard leaves [IF he leaves] at the end of the year? Paul (5/19/10) Dave i guess that WPGC is pretty much rested sitting outside of the top 10 PPM ratings at number 12 with the 12 plus demo the talk of a format flip seems to have died down however. The PPM ratings are strange to me you have stations who have so-so ratings like WPGC but they remain money makers but it must be based off of the 18-34 and 25-54 numbers that has to be the only explanation for this. The 12 plus numbers do not add up i believe even WMAL is still profitable even with there non-sense. (5/19/10) Couple of random musings....To Ed Graham, glad you liked Jack Edwards on WTTR's recent Radio Legends Week. When we get around to round two, you're next up and hopefully you can make it up to Westminster. BTW, a slew of pictures from the event are now posted on wttr.com...To Paul Bicknell, glad you're having a blast with KHZ. Radio is something that should be fun and in whatever form or venue you broadcast, enjoy it and love it, as I know you do. - Bob Mathers (5/19/10) Re: WJFK's Lavar Arrington opened his show today by thanking the audience for making their 2PM-6PM show #2 in April! Yet your April PPM ratings lists him as #18. Who's right? - In this case, Lavar is right. WJFK 3-7 p.m. in April is ranked 2nd with Men 25-54, way way up, and beating WTEM by 2 shares. They are 2nd only to WTOP. That's their key demo. WJFK had a pretty impressive month overall. All the way to 3rd overall in that demo, 3rd in the morning, 4th in midday, and 2nd in the afternoon and at night. WTEM was down. This one is not over by any means and will be interesting to watch as we go through the different sports seasons. (5/19/10) Dave's response: And I'm right, too. WJFK is 19th in the overall age 12+ demo, with Arrington in 18th place. I didn't make that up..... (snip) noticed that both WRNR (740 kHz) (end snip) Not sure when you were listening, but for about an hour today (Wed) from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm, WRNR in Martinsburg was off the air due to a power failure. Al McGilvray (5/19/10) Hi Dave, As a DCRTV Plus contributor I would humbly like to request more reminisces/coverage of Baltimore radio & TV. The last 3 photo galleries were exclusively DC. Thanks, Mike Cusimano (5/19/10) “Is 9 hours of rush-hannity-levine of wall-to-wall wing nut radio radio enough?” You guys really crack me up! Bitch and moan about the content yet it’s obvious you continue to listen on a regular basis. Is your radio on/off switch broken or unable to tune another station? Why don’t you listen to Air America instead? Oops that’s right. I think what’s really upsetting you is that all of this listening to WMAL is starting to Hannitize you. Most people are smart enough to stop doing things that cause them irritation. Apparently you’re not that clever. (5/19/10) Don Geronimo - Intervention Part II - Over a year ago, [we] told you to dump your agent - a few weeks ago, you finally did. Tip 1, now sue him for negligence over that non compete. Over a year ago, we also suggested that you should pick up a small radio station -a few weeks ago, rumors had it you were looking into it. Tip 2 Forget about working for or purchasing a 'brick n mortar' radio station or tower. Tip 3, drop your new radio agent and hire a commercial real estate agent. See Mike Sorce, the future of even your radio career is content. What you need to do is purchase a 1500 sf industrial building - rates and values have never been lower. Build-out a few state-of-the art digital studios - hell, even one that would seat 50 audience members. Tip 4 Then start producing your show. Better yet, develop revenue-sharing agreements and new shows with other talented out-of-work jocks and other talent categories throughout the country. Ya, ya, that's it - start building a radio network of CONTENT. With Leo Laporte & Adam Carolla as your mentors, become the future of radio, the master of your own domain while making a few million a year. Not a bad retirement for you. Or, you can take a series of dumpy dj jobs well below your pay grade or experience. What say you Mike Sorce? Will you become a new radio pioneer or simply a Wal Mart radio greeter? Time will tell (5/19/10) (QUOTE) I ... noticed that both WRNR (740 kHz) and WBMD (750 kHz) are off the air... neighbor WWII (720 kHz) has a strange warbling tone interfering with their signal. (END) Are you listening in your car or at home? I discovered a few months ago that my automotive cellphone charger was wiping out reception from 680 to 750 kHz, in the very manner you are describing. Plug your charger in and out and see if that makes a difference. If this happened at your house rather than in your car, it means aliens from the planet Grablnax are about to invade and are f***ing with your radio to distract you. They're clever little bastards, they are --- (5/19/10) WJFK's Lavar Arrington opened his show today by thanking the audience for making their 2PM-6PM show #2 in April! Yet your April PPM ratings lists him as #18. Who's right? (5/19/10) Dave's response: Probably, we both are. DCRTV prints the overall age 12+ numbers. He's obviously talking about some sort of male-only demo, maybe 25-54 or 18-35..... (Georgetown media diva Carol Joynt has line-up White House State dinner crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi for her June 17 Q&A Cafe in advance of the premier of Bravo's "Real Housewives Of Washington DC.") I'm assuming that this is a joke. Why would anyone give any legitimacy to these grifters? If not, can anyone crash the event? (Shawn in DC) (5/19/10) RE: the commenter who stated “It is extremely easy—and common—for licensees to pledge oodles of “local” programming during any-and-every application process and then forget about it—because “local” content is so hard to define. If a jock who is born-and-bred in Loudoun County, VA sits in a Leesburg studio playing songs recorded in LA/London/Nashville for an hour and breaks in twice to voice 20-second weather forecasts… is that “local” programming? That was life at the old 1290/WAGE…” My point exactly. Potomac Radio is the one who made promises of “local” radio to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. I’m merely asking for their definition of “local”. And my main gripe is the current site for the tower application…in a floodplain and a heron rookery. Let me state for the record, I’m not against WAGE returning to Leesburg. I’d merely like them to choose another tower site…and define “local” since THEY decided to throw that promise out there. If you’re going to toss around the word…back it up. (5/19/10) If indeed channel 5 is requiring it's anchors to control the teleprompter, are there no remotes available that are much less conspicuous?..That HUGE remote I've seen Gurvir hold in her hand looks like one of the first cellular phones from the 70's or 80's..And that foot control that I've seen during the 9am telecast at the foot of Allison Seymour looks like a foot control from one of the old sewing machines!!..Can FOX5 come to the 21st century? (5/19/10) Questions to ask WMAL program director: Why do they have so much disrespect for their audience and what are they going to do to try and win them back? Why do they employ employ such a blithering idiot like Chris Plante (e.g., everyone entitled to their own opinions not their own facts)? Is 9 hours of rush-hannity-levine of wall-to-wall wing nut radio radio enough? And yes, what is this Trucker Show crap that's on from 3am to 5am? (5/19/10) Speaking of WRNR….I was AM channel-surfing in the past half hour and noticed that both WRNR (740 kHz) and WBMD (750 kHz) are off the air. Not only that, nearby neighbor WWII (720 kHz) has a strange warbling tone interfering with their signal. Since there are no other AMs at that freq within daytime distance, it's evidently in the station. You don't need to kill AM; it's falling apart before our ears all on its own. KOF (5/19/10) I’m very much enjoying the updates from Paul’s Career, Paul’s Ego, and Paul’s Libido. This is my new favorite soap opera! I hope it continues. (5/19/10) What can I ask the new manager of WMAL? Hmmmm… How about A) “Plante often misquotes, and substitutes words when quoting. Will you allow Plante to continue this abuse of the English language? B) “In the only election Tuesday where a seat in Congress was the prize, a Hannity endorsed Republican lost to a Democrat in a district that went for McCain in 2008. For the survival of the Republican Party, can you get Hannity to stop losing races for us?” C) “Can you ask Mark Levin to stop splicing Nancy Pelosi’s comments? D) What’s up with that Trucker thing? E) Do you believe, Like Hannity, Levin, Plante, and Hill, that there are “Death Panels?” F) Sean Hannity said the Justices Kagen clerked for “the most radical Supreme Court Justice in the history of the bench.” Since Kagan clerked for Justice Marshall, can you tell the good folks of DC how Justice Marshall was so radical? G) Your predecessor told me there was no need for Andy Parks to apologize on the air for saying on the air “Hitler is in the White House.” Dale Carnegie said, "when you are wrong, admit it quickly and openly." "As a manager, who was right here, Dale Carnegie or your predecessor?" H) "what do you think of Silvie?" (5/19/10) The University of Maryland's main commencement ceremony will be held Thursday, May 20 at 8 p.m. in the Comcast Center. Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, will be the featured speaker. Current President Dr. C.D. Mote, Jr. will host his final commencement as president. Among the 7100+ graduates will be Terp basketball players Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne. The university's cable station - UMTV (Channel 72 in Prince George's County and Channel 40 in Montgomery County) - will broadcast the ceremony live. (5/19/10) WRNR has a new logo again (5/19/10) Don’t know if you’d seen this: a puff piece about a well-known producer at ABC News – leaving journalism to become a guidance counselor and help children find their way. Turns out a LOT of people saw her as more devil than angel, as seen in the comments the article elicited: www.observer.com (5/19/10) (A Query) Name one broadcast outlet that is trying to create something different? (End Query) LPFMs, Part 15'ers and yes, cable access radio. They are putting radio back into the hearts of their communities, rather than try to spray a generic plain-vanilla signal from horizon to horizon. When they go to the computer for playback, it is out of necessity. But if given the opportunity to get real live local talent and material on the air, they will stop at almost nothing. Its a shame that the DC market is so saturated with FM signals that an LPFM cannot fit on the dial. But now we're spinning way out of orbit here: the original message was why have a webcam running in an empty studio? The message had nothing to do with the quality of the gear in use; and an empty studio with a Naugahyde sofa and living room halogen pole-light in it is, sorry to say, unattractive. (5/19/10) Hi! This is Paul's Career checking in. I'm stuck here in 1994 because Paul felt the need to throw me away by walking out of a gig and showing up at a competeing radio station an hour later. Since then, I can't seem to get off that damn blacklist! Paul's Ego will tell you that the blacklist doesn't exist, but I'm telling you it does. Paul will occasionally break me out in an attempt to rekindle the days of old, but unfortunately my best days are way behind me. It's hard to excel when you've been relegated to doing a gig from some low rent, pay by the hour studio. Paul's Libido and Ego just make me look so bad. I don't care for them! Well all, it's about that time again. Time for Paul's Ego to write another witty mailbag retort. I think I'll just go sit over here and hide my face. Someone, please save me! Signed, Paul's Career (5/19/10) Re Laura Lieberman’s comments on WAGE. A few decades ago the FCC gave up trying to determine what was “local” programming and what wasn’t. Is a news story about Tysons Corner blowing up “local?” Or doesn’t it count because Tysons is in Fairfax County? What if the story is about a Leesburg explosion but the coverage is from a network? Does that count as “local?” It is extremely easy—and common—for licensees to pledge oodles of “local” programming during any-and-every application process and then forget about it—because “local” content is so hard to define. If a jock who is born-and-bred in Loudoun County, VA sits in a Leesburg studio playing songs recorded in LA/London/Nashville for an hour and breaks in twice to voice 20-second weather forecasts… is that “local” programming? That was life at the old 1290/WAGE… (5/19/10) so is this it? or could it be some sort of other combo next week. Glad Fred is back - they are taking calls from new management tomorrow... (5/19/10) Paul does not feel he is being slandered. Just don’t spell his name wrong. As for studio shot, Paul agrees. They are working on that. Question, who else is being innovative in the broadcast arena these days? Instead of criticism go invent something and contribute to the industry like we are doing? Name one broadcast outlet that is trying to create something different? Must learn to crawl before you walk.-Paul’s Libido (5/19/10) Plante's attitude isn't meant for mornings. having worked with him he is way too childish. (5/19/10) KHZ Radio - still viewing an empty studio at 9AM Weds. When does a live show take place in there? I'll watch it when it does. (5/19/10) To its credit, WMAL is bringing PD Drew Hayes on-air on Thursday to take his lumps (er, "questions") from the audience about all the changes. We've all had some rather mucky things to say about the station in recent times, but as a good will gesture on the part of WMAL, this is a move in the right direction. It means more than the usual you-told-us-what-you-want-in-a-radio-station promo aired at the beginning of a ratings period, and a helluva lot more than parking yourself 600 miles away in your office and ignoring the cries of "bulls**t!" from a formerly loyal audience. Whether or not it will accomplish anything, this is exactly what this corporation SHOULD be doing with this legacy property. I'm keeping an open but skeptical mind heading into Thursday. (5/19/10) "And the biggest loser - WMAL President/General Manager Jeff Boden." Michael Scott could have done a better job. (5/19/10) I don't get it - even though it's got two hosts (Grandy, Nehman) it's called "The Grandy Group"? How absurd is that? Doesn't it take at least three people to consist of a "group"? That's just like that music group Destiny's Child, but it had three people in it. Although anything is better than that "Plante & Grandy in the Morning" abortion. Something about that show's logo makes me feel like eating breakfast with Louie Anderson. (5/19/10) Dave's response: It's Grandy, Nehman, and the ghost of Andy Parks..... Ever notice whenever Sean Hannity endorses a "conservative" candidate (whether Republican or not), and helps to frame that candidate's campaign to be on 'conservative" issue's and a national referendum against the Democrats, that candidate loses? Yeah, Sean, that Burns thing last night turned out to be (as you predicted and kept saying) a "nail biter," and I am sorry once again you sent a producer up to Pennsylvania to cover what turned out to be a loss for your cause. Sean, you have no power; just shut up, and go away. You are doing too much damage to the Republican party. (5/19/10) "A morning drive slot is not necessarily the best venue for Plante's dry humor, cynicism and sarcasm. Too many traffic/weather/sports/other news interruptions. Gotta love the guy (and I love him dearly & wish him only the very best!), but Plante needs long segments to make & formulate his points. I will say this until I turn blue in the face. -Silvie- (5/18/10)" ----- Silvie, what the heck is wrong with you? Plante needs to shut the eff up and let the callers talk. He TAKES long segments to "make & formulate his points." That's one reason he SUCKS. "Dry humor, cynicism and sarcasm"? NONEXISTENT. Like most people criticizing him on this site, I'm in WMAL's demo, and I mostly agree with him politically, it's just bad radio, and his on-air persona is kind of a dummy. To paraphrase Mark LeVINE, "Plante, get off my air!" He's not a good broadcaster. Michael Savage can spend 20 minutes talking about his dog Teddy's testicles and it'll all be nonsense, but GOOD RADIO. Plante goes on the air, and it's NOT GOOD RADIO. (5/19/10) (clippage) KHZ studios... FAR FROM (cheap and unattractive ) They are well designed, and it's a top of the line board, Senheiser mics all the bells and whistles to make it cook...find something constructive to critique. (end clippage) Positive or constructive items do not require critique; only points of interest needing improvement. I have no doubt the gear at KHZ is top-shelf, which means a very clean picture and very clean sound of AN. EMPTY. STUDIO. Repeat: What is the purpose of shooting an empty room? No one can see those expensive cameras, and radio people are not impressed by equipment pix. So who are you streaming to, interior decorators? (5/19/10) This is PLB's libido. This slander of Paul must cease! Paul tells me all the time just how great and modest he is. He's always remarking on his altruistic ways like keeping a local station afloat by buying airtime when he could be at his business. And he cuts quite the figure as well. I hear him tell himself that all the time standing in front of the mirror. So, knock it off with disparaging this great man! (5/19/10) With interest I read couple of comments that was made about the signal of 1500 AM. To the point I had to put in my two cents in. I have two co-workers that commute from Delmarva to DC area four days a week. When the news radio was also on 1500 AM, day or night, from the time they left home until they arrived at work they could get 1500 AM with clear signal and they enjoyed the information during their long commute. Of rcourse now with FM signal they won't be able to tune in until they get to Annapolis area. Just an observation. (5/19/10) RE: " top of the line board: in KHZ. Really? I trained on that same kind of board, in college in the early 90s. Further, I know of three small market stations that have the same board. As for top of the line, speak to me when you actually have the processing loud enough on the transmitter to cut through all of the static that I get on 810..in PASADENA (5/19/10) /\ May 19 Messages /\ \/ May 18 Messages \/ Paul, Paul, Paul...Using your wife's initials in an attempt to make the mailbag animosity stop? That's low...even by your standards. (5/18/10) DC's own, Paul Anthony, stays on as the imaging voice of NYC's all-news WINS, but a more musical lead-in to each 20-minute news cycle has been introduced. The sound is more tonal than teletype. nytimes.com (5/18/10) ITEM: Plante back to nine until noon on WMAL...... I suspect we'll soon see the reason. Lousy ratings, no doubt. Morning drive-time is the most important four hours of the day for a radio station and if you don't get numbers there, the rest of day is lost. ACH (5/18/10) Ronald Reagan's FCC Chair Mark Fowler did away with most of the agency's localism and public access rules. Prior to the 1980's, a broadcasting station's license renewal was based on various criteria, such as providing public service programming involving local groups, individuals and the like. I gather more than one Mom & Pop operation took the rules seriously and tried to provide such service....why risk losing your source of income and a decent retirement? My in-laws certainly tried. Today, the station using the same calls provides one live entertainment program on weekdays, news taken from local web sites and no local access or coverage of local events, etc.. It broadcasts 24/7 while my in-laws had a daytimer. Businesses change; government regulations change. The governments of most industrial nations assumed ownership of the broadcasting spectrum in some fashion. The US 'leased' the spectrum to private businesses via licenses with various requirements to be followed; during the Reagan years, a number of those requirements began to be dropped. Some stations still try to provide local content/access though not required. A lot don't. (5/18/10) I'll speak for PLB, because he has people working for him. Why are you so obsessed with PLB? If you don't like his posts...who cares? Many others post their show info...what they're doing etc. From what he told me he simply thanked Ed (Graham) for the kind words. If you're so busy how do you find time to go to KHZ...DCRTV and post. Unemployed? of confined to quarters?- RCB (5/18/10) Fwd: Listen to 630 WMAL Tomorrow Morning - From: "630 WMAL" 630wmal@listenerclub.com - Listen tomorrow morning at 5am as Fred Grandy returns to WMAL with the debut of The Grandy Group. The Grandy Group program will focus on the biggest and most interesting stories of the day as seen through the eyes of Fred Grandy and Bryan Nehman, and will feature newsmaker guests, calls and texts, Traffic and Weather First on the 5's, and ABC and WMAL news. Following the Grandy Group, Chris Plante returns to his natural 9 to noon habitat to provoke, amuse, enlighten and always entertain WMAL's midday listeners. (5/18/10) RE: [Oops! You spoke too soon, Jeffy! -Silvie] Nope. Once again, it appears your reading comprehension is just about on-par with your sooth-saying. Go back and read my post, Sil...A.) Plante isn't going to be on the air at 6AM, and B.) His morning show ship has sunk. My only gaze into the crystal ball is witnessed in my prediction that Plante's immediate future is likely to include unemployment...and we have yet to see if that prediction holds, but with the ominous changes in the air, it is a safe bet that Plante won't be hangin' round the old 'MAL breakroom Flavia machine much longer. Buck up there, pumpkin...You just keep whistling a happy tune, Plante might just prove himself to be a cheap enough "talent" for the new management to keep him around for the old middle-of-the-night "coast-to-coast" slot just for you and those like you! (5/18/10) WE WANT ANDY! *clap clap* WE WANT ANDY! *clap clap* WE WANT ANDY! *clap clap* WE WANT ANDY! *clap clap* (5/18/10) So, PLB..if your company is so successful, why are you posting on DCRTV 15 times a day. And, I'm sure you are not getting paid at KHZ, since all of their checks bounce anyway. So, you would not get fired from a volunteer job. But, I wouldn't put anything past Bill. (5/18/10) Oops! You spoke too soon, Jeffy! Since Chris Plante will be back in his 9-Noon slot on WMAL, how about reversing those engines, Babes? Maybe next time! As Titanic passenger Mr. Guggenheim stated as the ship was sinking: "Brandy, anyone?" -Silvie- (5/18/10) YOUR WORDS~~ "ah, the youthful and good-looking Nehman's straight with a wife and a kid - and his questionable racial heritage - an American of Lebanese descent." Plante didn't say that...YOU DID!!! and none of it has anything to do with anything! Before you tell someone to "Turn on their Brain"...you might want to go out and pick one up! (5/18/10) In response to an earlier post: “But more to the point, what do you want to happen—or not happen? Have WAGE return to the air under their currently licensed specs? Go back to covering Leesburg news and doing Little League play-by-play like they did when they ran a kilowatt on 1290? Or do you simply want the SOB shut down forever? Are there too many stations on the dial for your personal taste? What’s the goal?” I have a few points here. As a resident of Loudoun I’d like to know how “local” WAGE’s programming will be. Potomac Radio’s argument to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors was that Loudoun needed a “local station”. Well, let’s see what they have in mind. Another key point here is to keep the tower out of a known floodplain and heron rookery. I would prefer the tower not be located in this particular environmentally sensitive area. I’m not saying they should deny WAGE’s application for a tower…just not for this specific location. Final thought—don’t rush the application/approval process for promises of “local radio”. Respectfully, Laura Lieberman (5/18/10) Dear Dave, In the same vein - Now how do we get our Fat Fuck back? m (5/18/10) RE: [Before I get my ass chewed out again by Jeff from Bowie ... -Silvie] Chew your ass? Why heavens no, Silvie...however I am pleased to see that your epic streak of inaccurate prognostication shall remain unbroken. Look at the optimistic side, Dear...come 6AM Monday morning, you will likely still be able to bear witness to (the soon to be unemployed) Chris Plante slipping into that black cocktail dress and wig of your perverted fantasy in order to belt out his best impersonation of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". The only difference being that it appears Plante will not be able to croon it to you on the air...but from the middle of your kitchen floor. While the sight of Chris Plante roleplaying some torch-song crooning cross-dressed ingenue might bring tears of joy to your eyes, it appears to the rest of us that the "Titanic" Chris Plante Morning Show you once heralded to be "unsinkable" will soon reside deep in the mud at the bottom of the ocean floor, rusting away for eternity -- where it rightfully belongs -- and exactly where DCRTV Dave predicted it would find its tragic end. Toll the bell...there is no real need for me to beat the dead carcass. -- Jeff in (What on EARTH was Paul Duckworth smoking?) Bowie (5/18/10) Dave's response: Bryan Nehman will waterboard Chris Plante on tomorrow's debut of "The Grandy Group" morning show on WMAL..... Dear Dave, Yes Virginia...m (5/18/10) So the hub-bub regarding KHZTV prompted a few web clicks and I found "The Music Package – You get 5 hours in studio time, including Producer/ Engineer, finished CD and guaranteed commercial radio airplay of your finished song in Maryland. Total cost - $250" Ahem, sure hope they're identifying the sponsor of those "pay to play" songs! Look up the term "payola". (5/18/10) To Young Whippersnapper, I would not dare to put words in Mr. Old Fart's mouth...I think he may have been referring to Docket 80-90 which occurred during the first Regan term. It was ugly, it was bad engineering, it was totally political. It did a number of far reaching things but the most obvious was to increase the number of FM stations by dropping them in through out the country. What it didn't do, though, was to add one dollar to the advertiser base. More stations had to scrimp for what dollars there were in the market, already stressed by the 80's depression. That caused stations to consolidate to survive and, voila, the future of radio. John (5/18/10) I move for an immediate ban on any and all mentions of KHZTV until ad space is purchased on this site. I believe most readers of this mailbag are sick of their periodic guerilla promotional tactics. (5/18/10) Regarding the Stern dust-up. I have been listening to him for over 20 years, including his entire time at WJFK, and it is my opinion that he has never been better. If he is not your cup of tea then please don't listen. Whatever your opinion, I find there is no reason for unbridled vitriol. As his contract comes to an end, it will be interesting to see how much value Sirius puts on it's premier talent and what the future of the company is, should he or they elect to not resign. Thanks. John (5/18/10) I can only assume that Jack Diamond already has decent windows which allowed Carson to get that ad with Thompson Creek, but I doubt that there is much that he takes a pass on. People are sheep and if JD says that the Italian food at Carraba's is the best ever, well it is not a stretch to believe that enough listeners will think that he is the latest Phyllis Richman. As I said before, however, the MedSpa ads leave out a LOT of details, but that is true with all of their services (they are a long-time advertiser on MIX 107.3 - Chili Amar got rid of her mustache with them years ago). They may only need to convert 5-10 listeners per week in order to make the ad buy successful. It will be interesting to hear Jack in 6-12 months if he gains that weight back. (5/18/10) Well one thing is for sure you've never been to the KHZ studios, FAR FROM (cheap and unattractive ) They are well designed, and it's a top of the line board, Senheiser mics all the bells and whistles to make it cook...find something to constructive to critique. Usually there is a loop, several loops as a matter of fact. Oh, and there is more to the site than just the studios. Oh, there's more studios too...Oh, and there's a fully equipped television studio with green screen..Top of the line Video Cameras...lighting......It is far from CHEAP or UNATTRACTIVE-KHZTV.com-Yeah baybee! (5/18/10) I say, Mr. Old Fart: You caught my interest when you stated "...local radio before Ronald Reagan was President". Was there some decision or event related to the Reagan Administration that would have been a watershed event concerning local radio? I was in my 2nd year as a jock when Reagan entered the White House and cannot recall anything associating him with radio, local or otherwise. What am I missing? (5/18/10) Interesting "tweet" from Fred Grandy (as reported below in today's Mailbag)... I'll be listening to WMAL at 5am tomorrow morning. Dave, regarding your rant, I too heard the Lebanon/Lesbian comment, and once again I continue to insist that Chris Plante MUST be placed again in a 9 -Noon slot, or evenings. Before I get my ass chewed out again by Jeff from Bowie and the majority of Plante fans on his Facebook Fan Page (who now hate me twice as much as DCRTV Mailbaggers) -- this is the precise situation/connondrum (sp?) that we are facing with The Planteman: A morning drive slot is not necessarily the best venue for Plante's dry humor, cynicism and sarcasm. Too many traffic/weather/sports/other news interruptions. Gotta love the guy (and I love him dearly & wish him only the very best!), but Plante needs long segments to make & formulate his points. I will say this until I turn blue in the face. -Silvie- (5/18/10) Falls Church-based Potomac Radio LLC is doing their best to get WAGE back on the air. Spin doctors hired by the station are making the rounds to the local media attempting to garner support for the stations controversial location for its proposed radio towers. The owners spokesperson is promising the return of local news, weather and traffic to the station. The Loudoun board apparently has failed to ask what their defintion of local news is? Notice some interesting characters playing out in this article. Their spokesperson, Charlie Jackson, was hired away from the Leesburg Today by John Andrews, who is also quoted in the article. Jackson was hired by Andrews to work behind the scenes for his company Green Energy Partners. Andrews recently received approval to build a green energy power plant in Loudoun County. Not sure of the connection between the two, but there appears to be a there there...if you know what I mean. www.loudouni.com (5/18/10) "Jones doesn't pay rent." --That's true...The check is signed by one Paul L. Bicknell...or at the very least the more talented member of the group, Renee. Signed, The Catalyst (5/18/10) [snip]...stops paying the weekly studio rental fee... Jones doesn't pay rent. I know, I collect rent from people like you. -The radio slum lord. (5/18/10) The Grandy & Andy Morning Show Grandy & Andy fans... Changes ARE coming. Please join us tomorrow morning at 5am!!!! www.facebook.com/GrandyandAndy (5/18/10) Grandy says changes at WMAL tomorrow -? twitter.com... @grandygroup: Changes ARE Coming. Hear it for yourself at 5am Wednesday on 630WMAL. #tcot (5/18/10) Dave, So let me get this straight. First WMAL fires Chris Core and replaces him with Chris Plante. OK, I get that, Plante is much more red meat. Then WMAL fires Chris Plante and replaces him with Morning Joe. Then WMAL dumps Morning Joe and hires Plante back again. Then WMAL fires Grandy and Andy and replaces them with Plante. Then WMAL re-hires Grandy to work with Plante. Then Grandy quits. Then WMAL fires the program director, Paul Duckworth, and replaces him with a PD in Chicago who is staying there. And now you are saying there is another change coming to morning drive? Why not poll your readers on who is the worst broadcast executive: the incompetent CEO of Citadel, Farid Suleman, who has driven his company into bankruptcy in under three years, or the bumbling WMAL GM (for now) Jeff Boden, who is clearly over his head? Oh, and by the way, are there any WMAL sponsors left? Since radio ads are sold well in advance of the air date, who would buy a station that seems to have no idea who will be on the air next month, or even next week? J.M. (5/18/10) While hosting ESPN 980's Sports Reporters last Friday (with Andy Pollin away), Steve Czaban expressed the view that the Nationals aren't a good topic for local sports radio right now because "they're playing great - what's there to talk about?". That has to be the lamest excuse for neglecting baseball that I've ever heard offered (and there've been more than a few). So I guess they NEVER discuss the Yankees on the FAN in New York - by Czaban's logic, 15 consecutive playoff appearances means that no issue concerning that team is ever worthy of being batted around on the airwaves up there. Yet when the Redskins got off to a 6-2 start in 2008, I seem to recall that being the dominant topic on Reporters by a country mile - Czaban wasn't saying anything about success being a disqualifier back then. If it's true that sports talk radio's fueled by losing and serves mainly as an outlet for fans to vent their frustration and disappointment, then you'd think the four year period (2006-09) when the Nats were consistently at or near the bottom of the National League standings would have been a virtual gold mine for WTEM. But of course that wasn't the case at all - with the exception of a baseball show hosted by Marc Sterne and later Phil Wood on Saturday mornings, the team was largely ignored all year round by the station (with the justification apparently being - "they're awful - what's there to talk about?"). Czaban wanted to spend most of the final hour discussing LeBron James (who plays in Cleveland and is highly unlikely to sign with the Wizards) - this despite the fact that he'd already devoted a good portion of the show to James. John Feinstein (the guest that day) correctly called him out on it, pointing to the issue of how the Nats will handle the impending callup and debut of pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg as one definitely deserving of air time. So what happened over the weekend? - they lost three straight games in Denver, thereby qualifying them for major discussion time on Sports Reporters by Czaban's definition. But he didn't get around to them until two hours and 40 minutes into the program and was moving on to another topic a scant four or five minutes later. What's clear is that Czaban has very little interest in baseball and no appreciation whatsoever for its rich history and endlessly intriguing aspects. Although Pollin's hardly an expert either, at least he has the professionalism to recognize that the Nats are steadily becoming a more and more important part of the local sports landscape and deserving of their slice of the talk radio pie. Mike, Fairfax (5/18/10) Per a radio station serving its local market: I listened to WBCB Fairless Hills/Levittown, PA Sunday morning while driving back to MD. The station was broadcasting its 45th annual remote from the Bucks County Technical (High) School Pancake Breakfast; the host being able to name all the station employees who had broadcast the remote. Reminded me of local radio before Ronald Reagan was President. But them I'm an old fart. (5/18/10) Here is the problem with WJFK calling themselves a sports station. I got stuck listening to Lavar Arrington's Show today from 2 until 2:45. All they talked about was whether Gilbert Arenas, Donovan McNabb, Albert Haynesworth or Alex Ovechkin is the most popular/recognizable athlete in DC. The same conversation they have had several times prior to today. Nowhere was there actual talk about sports going on right now: NBA Conference Finals, NHL Conference Finals, NBA Lottery Draft, Nationals, Orioles, Steven Strassburg pitching tonight. I would even settle for NFL off-season talk. But no, the same conversation they have had multiple times about how famous Donovan McNabb is. (5/18/10) I was just up on KHZTV.com's radio website, complete with a webcam ... of an empty studio. Honest to God, people - if you have nothing compelling to put on camera, either turn off your feed or stream a promo loop. That goes for ANY station that thinks a webcam is a good idea. If you're unattended more than not, why show how cheap and unattractive your facility looks? We can see that now on UStream. (5/18/10) [snip] …it starts off with Cynae Simpson about to pee her pants in excitement. [end snip] Allow me to quote the great postmodern thinker, Paris Hilton, when I say, THAT’S HOT! (5/18/10) Oh Christ. Look who is back in the mailbag and causing trouble again. Old PLB. (5/18/10) "OH wait…..you can’t you’d get fired…I won’t KHZTV.com/Davy Jones/PLB" --Bicknell's right...KHZTV won't fire him...they only will kick him out if he stops paying the weekly studio rental fee. (5/18/10) Snippet again from proud fulltime, that cannot even give out calls…(Name withheld due to my current FULLTIME position... Hey, I’m fulltime too, on KHZTV.com..I also own a successful Audio/Video Production House and Advertising Agency-MY NAME? Davy Jones/Paul L. Bicknell(If you are tempted post at least the calls….OH wait…..you can’t you’d get fired…I won’t KHZTV.com/Davy Jones/PLB.. (5/18/10) You, sir are the idiot - not Chris Plante. But yes, Bryan Nehman sounds ridiculous on the new format which is a joke. Jonathan Miller (5/18/10) Loved your rant (about Bob Ryan jumping to 7)... There is more journalistic experience at WTOP... The have national, international and Capitol Hill experience unlike any other place I know. Small wonder people listen and keep the numbers up. If only the suits in TV understood what they understand here, which is news is why people watch the news. You were right about the weathermen. Whatever happened to anchormen in the mold of Jennings or Rather, or Koppel who actually broke news. I always ask the following queston? If September 11th happened again, which local news anchors would be able to tell you how to get out of town from any place in the local ADI. All others should be fired. (5/18/10) I have never understood why radio personality endorsements work so well since it’s obvious the personalities are being compensated. But being in advertising and having placed endorsements over the years, I know they can be extremely effective. Stations usually limit the number of products that a personality can endorse at any one time and require a media buy of significant length, so that the personality can maintain some credibility. Several years ago, a brand called Metabolife, also a weight-loss product, was doing radio endorsements, and I read that a few personalities did not feel comfortable with the product and stopped doing the spots. My personal experience is that jocks clamor at the opportunity to do any endorsement for virtually anything. The only exception was several years ago when I tried to get a personality to endorse a health supplement that was a probiotic. One of the lines in the copy read, “It promotes healthy elimination.” And nobody was willing to say that. Haha. We had to take out that line. Roddy Freeman (5/18/10) Hey I watched channel 7 last night for the first time in my life. Bob Ryan is probably one of the most respected weathermen in the country and is well respected by his peers. Doug Hill is probably second most respected in the area. The others are ok but Sue Palka isn’t even a real meteorologists just a personality. Anyway I agree at 11 I usually skip news and watch the daily show but it’s a real get for 7 to have the two best people in the weather business together. (5/18/10) RE: "Snippet from an ignorant non-listener**(RE: KHZTV.COM playing hit after hit....sure, if you really can stomach "Barbie Girl" day after day. Go ahead, have fun. Too bad no one else is listening to it. (5/17/10) Knowing the playlist..Barbie Girl was played 13 days ago..at least when it's live. Oh, by the way our research tells us you're the only dummy that is listening, and we can't figure out why. You know nothing about the industry..LOL-confucious" I know plenty about the industry. Unlike a certain "boss jock," I am in radio full time, work in two top 20 markets and actually am able to give away a contest, even if it was a low as the khz pass--this is because people actually listen to the radio station that I am on. By the way, are you counting hits, or views on the site? Cause, hits are like the 12+ numbers, that don't mean shit! Name withheld due to my current FULLTIME position. (5/18/10) I for one am going to defend Howard Stern. Sure he lost millions of listeners by moving to satellite radio, but his show is still the most entertaining morning show ever. Most of the idiot morning show hosts on DC radio put absolutely no effort into their shows. They show up at 5:55 a.m. and are out the door at 9:59 a.m. Stern's show is a mix of topical content, great bits and off the cuff hilarity. Mix that with excellent interviews where celebrities actually answer the most outrageous questions and you have classic Stern, only uncut!! The Amish girl trying to become a model and Ashton Kutcher in studio are some great recent interviews. (5/18/10) What is your obsession with WMAL?....You claim you don't like it, you're not a conservative but they are! And now you're speculating on the sexual preference of the host and his newsman? It seems kind of strange. (5/18/10) Dave's response: I wasn't "speculating on the sexual preference of the host and his newsman." Chris Plante was making on-air jests about Bryan Nehman's sexual orientation. Please turn on your brain next time you respond to one of my Rants. Thank you..... Found this posting of the Doug Hill- Bob Ryan lovefest. Thought you'd be interested for your site. (5/18/10) Does anyone else find Jack Diamond's live reads increasingly objectionable? I have to admit that he does a great job of weaving personal stories into commercials for AT&T, 1-800-FLOWERS and Carraba's, but the latest one for Reveal MedSpa makes me want to gag and I have started to change the station for 5-10 minutes every time he starts yammering about health studies in Prevention magazine or some similar setup. I guess that I would not find these commercials so distasteful if he was at least somewhat honest about the cost and that he is a compensated endorser. You hear how AT&T has phones starting at $9.99 with voice plans for under $40 per month or how you can get a dozen roses for $25 delivered, but what about letting people know that the Reveal program is going to cost $1500-2000 or how no qualified medical doctor would really recommend losing 30 pounds in 30 days as a medically sound or sustainable approach to weight loss? No, I have not been burned by this program, but I am familiar with ones like it. I lost 45 pounds since early 2009 by making small changes to my diet (i.e., limiting processed foods, no soda, 1-2 drinks per week) and just a bit more exercise. Everyone wants a quick fix and JD's message is harmful and disingenuous. Maybe I am totally off base on this, but am I the only one who feels this way? (5/18/10) From Mailbag ("Stern is irrelevant" the ignorant rallying cry of people who have never listened to Howard Stern.) I guess you must be referring to the decade he was relevant???? He’s toast. Rich but BROKE!!!!! Fallen star!!!!!! (5/18/10) Dear DCRTV, The Kuhner Show on 570 AM WTNT was a big success yesterday at its new 5 to 7 PM time slot. Better yet, podcasts are now available for the show. Simply click on to this web link: www.washingtontimes.com. Best regards, Tom, Temple Hills, MD (5/18/10) Kevin and Rock to afternoons at the Fan...you heard it here first... (5/18/10) What the Post Ombudsman fails to mention is that this drop in circulation over the years comes at a time when this region continues to gain population and has a steady base of workers from the federal government. It’s not like the Cleveland Plain Dealer or Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which suffered from a declining business base and the flight of residents. The Post should have seen an increase in circulation with all the residents and development the area has seen since the mid-90s. But it has not. A major reason is its drop in Metro coverage. The Metro section is the thinnest section each day, with reporters who barely write one or two stories per week. They’ve ceded local coverage to the suburban newspapers and now to community blogs. The drop in circulation will only continue as older readers move to retirement areas or pass away. (5/18/10) Allbritton wants to launch a new, cutting-edge, modern news site and TV station-- ridiculously named TBD-- so they hire who? A washed up, old anchor guy formerly from a rival station. Way to appeal to the internet savvy youth. The way people get their news (or in this case weather) is evolving -- particularly so for YOUNG people. But rather than attempt to appeal to a younger audience, who does WJLA bring on for weather? A washed up, old weather guy from a rival station across town. Again, way to bring in the young demo. Meanwhile, NBC4 -- the top station I might add-- recently hired several young people to mix in with the established reporters and anchors, showing they're willing to evolve with the times and welcome some new faces to a market that has just as many young people working on the Hill, as it does retirees in the burbs. Don't get me wrong, Gordon Peterson, Maureen Bunyan, Doug Hill, etc are great, experienced and talented. But how can local TV news change with the times when we're all forced to look at the same old faces day in and day out? Dear WJLA, enough with snatching up aging talent. It's not working. You're still stuck in 3rd place. Soon 7's gonna look like an old folks home. (5/18/10) "Stern is irrelevant" the ignorant rallying cry of people who have never listened to Howard Stern. (5/18/10) I hadn't heard the Lopez check in years and noticed it today. I can't believe it has been 5 years. Mr. Bob Lopez was true class and he is greatly missed. (5/18/10) Don’s video???? Advertising? He has the means to buy a small DC based UHF type station in DC. Mike has two Ds and second fiddle money. Don in AM. Mike in FM. It is over between them; yes…but together, will the remnants of old DC Guy talk rise above on what Mel always said works??? Yes!! Mike is kicking ass on PODCASTS!! BA??? Joe??? Poor Chad….stuck dealing with Lamar’s grammar and lack of immediacy in speech. In the slot of his life…Could he be left out with MW? Howard, if he was smart, would combine both aspects of radio. One can be relevant on real radio for real guests and to advertise for SAT. The other takes it to another level on SAT like O&P but in a better and more relevant way…. (5/18/10) Snippet from an ignorant non-listener**(RE: KHZTV.COM playing hit after hit....sure, if you really can stomach "Barbie Girl" day after day. Go ahead, have fun. Too bad no one else is listening to it. (5/17/10) Knowing the playlist..Barbie Girl was played 13 days ago..at least when it's live. Oh, by the way our research tells us you're the only dummy that is listening, and we can't figure out why. You know nothing about the industry..LOL-confucious. (5/18/10) bees takes over whitehouse press area cnn.com (5/18/10) Dave - just for accuracy, we lost Bob Lopez five years ago this coming Saturday, not today. Either way, we lost him way, way too soon. (5/18/10) Dave's response: I corrected the Front Page blurb to say "five years ago this week"..... /\ May 18 Messages /\ \/ May 17 Messages \/ RE: KHZTV.COM playing hit after hit....sure, if you really can stomach "Barbie Girl" day after day. Go ahead, have fun. Too bad no one else is listening to it. (5/17/10) WTH? (5/17/10) I too saw the Bob Ryan welcome that WJLA put on and it was quite staged..It was almost like a in your face to NBC4..But sorry Bob and WJLA, not enough to lure me to your channel. (5/17/10) (regarding a previous post) "Howard Stern's observations...are on target, which is why I pay tribute to him today". Stern is irrelevant. His audience today is a tiny fraction of the masses who heard him on broadcast radio. He's available virtually everywhere via satellite, yet hardly anyone is willing to pay to hear him. His influence and impact are practically nil. He's over. (5/17/10) Re Laura Lieberman’s letter: Ma’am, the train left that station about 30 years ago. These guys are just trying to follow the rules laid out by the FCC. Your beef shouldn’t be with the licensee. It should be with the commission. But more to the point, what do you want to happen—or not happen? Have WAGE return to the air under their currently licensed specs? Go back to covering Leesburg news and doing Little League play-by-play like they did when they ran a kilowatt on 1290? Or do you simply want the SOB shut down forever? Are there too many stations on the dial for your personal taste? What’s the goal? (5/17/10) Hey Dave, I happen to be browsing a list of Baltimore TV affiliates on www.rabbitears.info and discovered that WNUV in Baltimore will relaunch Ch.54.2 as an affiliate of a new music network called The Cool TV on June 1st. According to www.thecooltv.com, the network signed an agreement with Sinclair Television Group back in February. However, there doesn't appear to be any information about the new network on The CW Baltimore's website or on their sister station Fox45's website. -Greg in Perry Hall (5/17/10) Rarely watch channel 7 news, but while watching Oprah, saw a commercial with all the hoopla about Bob Ryan coming on board and wanted to see how they were going to handle it..Well, it starts off with Cynae Simpson about to pee her pants in excitement..Then they show Doug Hill getting into a gas guzzling Hummer, the passenger door opens and he picks someone up (face not shown) and then arrives at the station and Bob Ryan gets out to be met by other anchors who are standing out there..Then there's a little bit of small talk. Now, of course it's quite staged and Doug Hill seems quite awkward in trying to make this seem like it's the best thing for the station since sliced bread..It just seems a little overboard and almost an attempt to throw it up in channel 4's face that they "stole" Bob Ryan from them..In any case, I still will be watching channel 4 news.. (5/17/10) WAZT, the Christian low-power television network with stations throughout the Shenandoah Valley, has a new web site - www.watchfaith.net. Al McGilvray (5/17/10) Regarding Kim Martucci, I wonder what happened to Justin Drabick? He did two weekends and then disappeared. Looks like he went back to Salisbury's WBOC. Now if only Craig Melvin were to disappear... (5/17/10) Lavar let the word “Shit” slip this afternoon. Anyone else hear it? (5/17/10) The following post was originally submitted to leesburgtoday.com. It was forwarded to DCRTV..... Dear Editor: I would like to address several points regarding WAGE's request for a new tower location. I spent 15 years working in commercial radio in the Washington, DC, market from 1992-2007. I worked for several smaller radio companies but larger ones as well-including Bonneville International and ClearChannel Communications. What I saw was commercial radio's movement away from actually serving their community to focusing mainly on revenue through cheaper, syndicated national programming. Please ask Potomac Radio how much "local programming" will make up its schedule. They claim to want to serve Leesburg/Loudoun County. Then that includes local, live programming pertaining to the town of Leesburg, Loudoun County and the state of Virginia. Question how much of the programming will be syndicated from sources outside of the immediate area. Many stations claim to "serve" their community but that's questionable after companies bought stations in bulk and started outsourcing their news and other programming. "Local programming" is now considered an oxymoron to most radio insiders. Questions need to be asked: What percentage of programming will be local and/or live? How many employees will WAGE have on site (in its offices)? How much of the programming will be syndicated or paid programming (i.e. news feed from outside of the area, paid programming like infomercials)? Does WAGE truly service the listening area? What services will it offer Loudoun County residents? What kind of local, public service programming will be offered? Jim Plowman rightly pointed out the need for communication with "constituents." What programming will WAGE offer to make this a reality? What can WAGE offer that existing stations like WTOP-FM or WMAL-AM cannot? It's not as if Loudoun is lacking in a large choice of radio stations. Loudoun County residents pick up signals from the Washington, DC, market, Frederick County, Winchester, Pennsylvania, and others. To suggest that Loudoun County is under served by radio is incorrect. Additionally, the thought of placing a tower in a flood plane is ridiculous. If Potomac Radio actually wants to serve the residents of Loudoun County its will respect the wishes of residents and not place its tower in a floodplain or in a known heron rookery. This sounds to me that Potomac Radio is all about "business" and less about "serving its community." Please pose these questions to Potomac Radio and suggest that a more suitable location be found. Loudoun County should not be in any hurry to process Potomac Radio's request for a tower. Questions need to be asked and residents truly do need to hear the facts from their "local" radio station. Laura Lieberman, Lovettsville (5/17/10) Dave, concerning your response to WaPo's new business tab, you said, "The WaPo used to have a stand-alone weekday business section with a Monday business tab. Then they eliminated both (except on Sundays) and reinstated the Monday tab that you can get if you cough up $49 more a year. I checked out the 'new' tab and it was OK, but not worth spending the extra dough for." That's exactly right! I looked through the new business tap and wondered to myself if there was 95 cents worth of information that I would use? I decided NO, too. One other thing, as I understand it, you have to be a 7-day-a-week subscriber to WaPo to even be given the "privilege" to send an another $49 for the biz tab. It sure looks like the WaPo company is trying to drum up revenue (including salons v2.0) for the newspaper anyway they can. What they are doing isn't pretty. And have you seen the editing of the paper recently? My college journalism class would have caught many of these errors! (5/17/10) A poster states: “Right-wing radio works in very liberal cities because the relative handful of conservatives (say 10-15% of the population) feel like the wagons are circled and they are surrounded by Indians (liberals). They become very loyal to that conservative talker, and ratings success is based on a small, loyal audience with super-high TSL.” Yeah, we get it. Gospel, foreign language, and a host of niche formats have lived/died on the same premise: “We Don’t Have Many Listeners, But We Don’t Share Them.” Or didn’t, at least. If WMAL could turn the clock back 20 years and wake up as the only place for conservative talk, it might help. There is a radically different approach available, though—the same one used by all the stations ranked ahead of WMAL. Tap into the vastly larger cume available in DC among non-rightwingers for a bigger pile of listeners and you don’t need “super-high TSL” to survive. (5/17/10) Fresh off a book tour for his 20th novel "Super," PBS NewsHour host Jim Lehrer sat down with POLITICO at Politics and Prose Sunday to talk media. He held forth on the future of journalism, promising that public television will be one of its saviors, and discouraged fame-seekers from entering the trade... (5/17/10) Ed (Graham)..With all due respect, ”if it itches it should be scratched!”. LOL..At KHZTV.com we are having a ball. It is entertaining, great music and freedom to play 4 Decades of Top 40. Hit, after hit, after hit, high energy,. And lot’s that should be played but isn’t across the country. We (Renee’) and I are on vacation starting Wednesday for 10 days..YES! PLB/Davy Jones (5/17/10) Couple things: I finally listened to the Jack Edwards-Bob Mathers morning show (recorded) from the WTTR web site. Great stuff, but it still bothers me that my wife's top 5 DJs were Jack Edwards, Jack Wells, Buddy McGregor (sp), Alan Drake, and Lee Parker. (Notice my name missing from the list) By the way, I hope Edwards is not too upset about the passing of Rosa Rio at age 107. They were a thing back in the day. + + I watched a little PLB and Renee on KHJTV,com last week. Really fun to watch and listen. Renee was great and PLB was the old Davy. (Note to PLB when you are scratching those things, at least turn your back to the cam) + + I have resisted writing-in about WMAL because most of the posts have been lame. Many people think the problem with WMAL is their right-wing stance, either too strong or too weak. WMAL should not worry about right or left - - they should try being a radio station, and not a political machine. It would be easy to fix WMAL after a move to an FM simulcast. The right talent and direction is not just a function of cost. Bad talent and PDs cost as much as good ones. Bringing back Icons is not the only way, and may not be the best way. Ed Graham (5/17/10) When will station owners just give up on righty talk in this market? How long before 1260 flips to brokered ethnic programming? (5/17/10) Dave's response: Salem doesn't depend on ratings. Look at its WAVA-FM. Great signal, terrible overall ratings. But the station makes plenty-o-cash with its brokered religious shows. The Lord works in mysterious ways...... In big Keith Olberman voice -Losers of the week! "A tip of the rabbit ears to WGMD morning man Dan Gaffney and wife Becky for the birth of their 6th child. Ace Walker Gaffney, 7lbs 4 3/4 oz. Baby boy born at Sunday 5:50pm. Mom and baby are healthy and wonderful" Three thoughts. Gaffney is as old or older than dinosaur Geronimo. By the time that kid reaches puberty, right-wing nut job Gaffney will be wheel-chair bound and fed through that Sara Palin straw he keeps as a bookmark in his bible. Two, after five biological kids, good to see this Duggar wanabe "Christian family" do the socially responsible thing and ADOPT - NOT. And seriously, you burden this kid from Day 1 by naming him Ace? Holy Shit, with that many kids, you should of least named him Royal as in Royal Flush. That's as bad as Geronimo naming his kid Bart, after Bart Starr and the kid never plays a down of football in his life - does Madden count? (5/17/10) In his 980 show today, Tony Kornheiser slammed Bob Ryan for failing to be on-camera on 4 for some of February's big snowstorms. Kornheiser and his crew suggested that Ryan was in the midst of contract talks with 4 and wasn't going to bust his ass to cover the historic winter weather. Classy! (5/17/10) (5/17/10) Is anyone else getting the annoying pause on Versus (Ch 90) during the Hockey games. I have Verizon FiOS but I don’t get Versus HD so I watch the games on the SD channel 90 and I get this VERY annoying 1 to 2 second pause in during the games and it’s driving me crazy! (5/17/10) Dave, Correction - Name of show host on AM 1260... It's Hugh Hewitt, not Howard Hewitt. He also has the website hughhewitt.com. ...Sam (5/17/10) Was Post gets rid of the buss section now I am forced to buy their cap buss a extra paper inside the paper. Your thoughts (5/17/10) Dave's response: The WaPo used to have a stand-alone weekday business section with a Monday business tab. Then they eliminated both (except on Sundays) and reinstated the Monday tab that you can get if you cough up $49 more a year. I checked out the "new" tab and it was OK, but not worth spending the extra dough for. Oh, I hear that the WaPo is planning to launch a new "Bob Ryan Plus" media column for an extra $1 week soon. You'll get the typical blanket coverage of Bob Ryan that the Post now gives you, plus (!) the occasional piece about some other local TV and radio personalities, too. Imagine that..... Howard Stern's observations about pop culture, politics and Washington are on target, which is why I pay tribute to him today on New York Social Diary. Also, an evening with the Washington Performing Arts Society. www.nysocialdiary.com... Best regards, Carol (5/17/10) Tom G's formula for successful radio (Local+Time=Successful Radio) is well-known to everyone here and is as true as 1+1. The abstract math must now take over to come up with a way to make Local=Affordable. An airstaff and news department constitutes an enormous above-line cost that can only be satisfied by ad dollars. Increasing the cost of the ads to cover that expense means you'll have a lot of PO'd advertisers. Increasing the commercial load while keeping the costs the same results in a pile of PO'd listeners. Station owners don't WANT to take programming to the bird, but in survival mode, that is what it takes. I absolutely want local radio to rule (a couple of Fredericksburg stations seem to do OK in this regard - one is even hiring) and I hate totally canned programming; but I absolutely understand why it happens. Until someone fleshes out a functional workaround to make Local=Affordable, the trudge continues. So, since we all agree that radio should be more local, I enthusiastically suggest we contribute some creative ideas here to make it happen. Who wants to go first? (5/17/10) Advertisers preparing to see the big television network’s fall schedules for the first-time this week got a preview of what NBC’s fall lineup could be – courtesy of National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA). The new website – NBCFallLineup.com – shows what the schedule could look like if the network doesn’t renew its contract with the union that represents nearly 3,000 of NBC’s workers, including technicians and news writers, right before their crucial upfronts presentations. It shows a bunch of YouTube videos and other propaganda against the network. NABET-CWA says its principal goal is to protect job security from the network’s attempts to dismantle how technical and news writing work is assigned, so that NBC’s employees who primarily perform those tasks are allowed to remain in the union. Moe the Union Guy, www.nabet31.org (5/17/10) Once again: Fixing any radio station involves a simple formula. Local+Time=Successful Radio. Tom Gauger (5/17/10) Great news! Fans of the Redhead weather babe, and mother to be, Kim Martucci can now see her as a NEWS 4 weekend fill in...according to her Facebook blog! Congrats Kim! The most personality of any weather person in DC! The AQH Listener (5/17/10) WJLA announced on the 11PM show Sunday night that Bob Ryan will officially be working there, they had a pic of Bob and Doug together. Also Kim Martucci announced on her Facebook page that she will be doing some freelance work at WRC soon. (5/17/10) A tip of the rabbit ears to WGMD morning man Dan Gaffney and wife Becky for the birth of their 6th child. Ace Walker Gaffney, 7lbs 4 3/4 oz. Baby boy born at Sunday 5:50pm. Mom and baby are healthy and wonderful. (5/17/10) In other weather forecaster news, Kim Martucci is going to be working at WRC, she posted on Facebook. www.facebook.com (5/17/10) I had NO trouble listening to the Nats game Saturday night....in Fanwood, NJ. (5/17/10) /\ May 17 Messages /\ \/ May 16 Messages \/ I just a commerical on WJLA Channel 7 regarding the weather: Washington Weather will never be the same. Monday on ABC7 News at 5... So, it must be true that Bob Ryan will start on Monday (5/16/10) Saw a commercial on channel 7 about a BIG weather event coming, bigger than the blizzard. Monday @5pm... (5/16/10) WJLA now running promos about "a major Washington weather event ... Monday at 5." Hmmm .... Steve in Lanham (5/16/10) how cool! 1950s WFAX Radio Station Matchcover ebay.com (5/16/10) Hi Dave, I was wondering if you would help me promote my brand new show. This is Matt The Cat Baldassarri, formally of XM Satellite Radio. I was eliminated during the SiriusXM merger. My new, weekly 1950s R&B show is called the “Juke In The Back” and it began airing on 88.1 FM KZGM in Cabool, MO on Sunday, May 16th at 7pm Central Time. “Juke In The Back” features the “soul that came before rock n’ roll”, the tunes that you couldn’t hear on the jukebox in the front. To hear this glorious rhythm and blues, you had to go to the “Juke In The Back.” The show is up on Pacifica’s “audio port” for programmer review and distribution as well as NPR’s www.prx.org. The Juke In The Back page on PRX is www.prx.org... The show is looking for public radio and commercial radio affiliates. “Juke” has it’s own page at www.jukeintheback.com... Attached is the image that I’m running with the show. KZGM is also known for creating and distributing programs such as Kaleidoscope, The Evolution of Dance Music and Trance On The Porch to Pacifica stations. I appreciate any mention and exposure that you might give this show. You do a great job on DCRTV and I check your site every day and follow you on Twitter too. Soulfully, Matt The Cat Baldassarri www.mattthecat.com (5/16/10) Dave, WBAL's coverage of the Preakness deserves some praise too; it was excellent. (5/16/10) I don't know about 2010 but back in 1998-2000, I made many trips to Florida. (Usually driving straight through.) Many times, I went through North and South Carolina in the middle of the night listing to 1500 A.M. ( My absolute favorite station.) Things were probably different then. Back in the 1980's, I could listen to WMAL twenty-four hours a day. Now, it' to difficult to listen to. Back in the 1970's, I could drive around Westminster listing to WWDC and listen to WLMD in Westminster. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (5/16/10) I stand corrected about Consumerist.com and Consumers Union being related. (5/16/10) Dave: It's quite amusing to see people complain about a new radio talent while forgetting about the past. My point: Say what you will about Anita Marks, she was the most re-freshing talent on sports- talk radio in the Balt-Wash markets in years. No one in Baltimore took her seriously and since she received a bit of national exposure, now people are starting to see she knew what she was talking about. Let me remind you that the people who run MASN used to work at Comcast. This equals cheap undiscovered talent that's shoved down our throats. I'm sure Jen Doyle's not receiving any feedback about her work and she was just thrown into the fire to replace Anita Marks. Well, you can't lie about your lack of sports knowledge. Anita should have been re-signed and most of all, MASN should have found a spot for her as a sideline reporter on one of their telecasts. Yes, I hear she's tough to work with but who isn't? (5/16/10) to the post about Jen Royle of MASN you are so right (5/16/10) 106.3 the Heat's (WCEM/Cambridge) "Morning Stew" host/horse trainer G.E. poses with the station's Preakness entry "I'll Tell You Why" at the Cambridge Turf Club before the festivities. (5/16/10) Dear Dave: Regarding your comment "but try picking up 1500 in Chantilly or Poolesville after dark." My family and I just witnesseed sundown on a narrow barrier island that is part of the Assateague National Seashore, only a few steps from the high tide of the Atlantic Ocean. After returning to my vehicle I turned on the radio and there was 1500 coming in loud and clear providing me with play-by-play of tonight's Nats/Colorado Rockies contest. If we were in Ashburn, I wouldn't be able to hear the game at all. I know very well the reasons why this is so, but it still doesn't make sense, especially when I don't want to have to jump through a ton of hoops just to hear a game involving the hometown nine. Again, Dave, a great site! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (5/16/10) With all due respect to you, Dave, it's perfectly apparent listening to Jen Royle that her knowledge of baseball players is limited to their personalities. She's got zero smarts about the game. She was on MASN Friday afternoon and in 3 hours said nothing of any real value. Simply saying that so-and-so is a "great guy" doesn't exactly mean a whole lot as far as analyzing the game goes. There have to be better qualified women out there. Her on-line video stuff isn't particularly compelling either. Don't be another Jim Williams, Dave. (5/16/10) Some of us remember when Loudoun County was nothing but farmland with towns in between--and Leesburg was the oasis in the middle of the desert drive from Northern Virginia to Winchester. I am among many who believed wholeheartedly in putting an FM out here (I live here nowadays) 30 years ago, knowing the county would eventually get developed. WAGE was a great local radio station--with the emphasis on "local." At 5kw at 1200, it wasn't a giant-killer, but it had a passable signal that covered the county during the day. Nights, admittedly, was a different story. But there was a point in time...for a long time...when people really listened and WAGE did things local stations are supposed to do; high school football/basketball, etc.; town and school board meetings; expanded local news and more. What killed it wasn't the content. It was money. Eventually, the owners had to pare it down to the point it was unlistenable and, thus, couldn't be sold. What in the world makes anyone think a 50KW day/2500 w night separate sites station is going to do any better...especially with mostly syndicated programming? Sorry; we don't need more stations on a fader. We need to go back to being local and relevant. Sadly; it's a wild guess if anyone will put up the money to do it right. Back to square one. sean hall (5/16/10) My automatic NOAA weather radio was sounding non-stop during Friday's hail storm, so if you really think WTOP is raising hay you might also blame the National Weather Service. Go to Youtube and search for "Fairfax hail storm" and order by upload date and you'll see what people encounter here. www.youtube.com (5/16/10) /\ May 16 Messages /\ \/ May 15 Messages \/ I hate to agree with ACH (I was the one that made the "don't quit your day job" quip that set off a torrent) but in this case he's right. From the Consumerist website: "The Consumerist is published by Consumer Media LLC, a not-for-profit subsidiary of Consumers Union" (5/15/10) ACH wrote, "Note to the Comcast lover in Salisbury, Md. Comcast was recently named 'Worst Company in America for 2010' by Consumers Union...." No, they were named worst by Consumerist.com which is NOT Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. Still, that doesn't make them suck any less. (5/15/10) The WTOP anchor who was forecasting hail of various sizes has a history of sensationalizing adverse weather conditions. In 2009, when a line of severe thunderstorms was forecast for the DC area, this individual was teasing upcoming weather reports with "Stay tuned to WTOP for potentially life-saving information!" It must have worked as we were all saved. (5/15/10) The WTOP All-Panic Weather Team was doing it's best to terrify listeners yesterday; in one five-minute stretch they warned that Fairfax was about to be destroyed by "quarter-size hail," "half-dollar size hail," "ping-pong ball size hail," "golf ball size hail" and -- I kid you not -- "tennis ball size hail." Seriously? "Tennis-ball size hail"? Ever heard of the word "credibility"? (5/15/10) Dave's response: For about a minute at about 6:30 PM yesterday, we did really have golf ball-sized hail here at the DCRTV World HQ in Reston. It was really strange. It made a terrible racket on the roof. I have two skylights and I was waiting for them to come crashing in. But they seemed to have survived without a scratch. The golf ball-sized ice pellets collected on the sidewalks and even brought down a fair number of leaves and small branches..... Not to repeat the Sylvie joke from before, but Citadel *could* save money by closing out the Jenifer Street facility and taking up residence in a smaller more efficient location with newer gear. The equipment in use now is not at all energy efficient, and there is just too much square footage and HVAC capacity devoted to not enough people or function. Office space is all but being given away over the river in Northern Virginia (WJLA-TV and the Radio America Network figured that out fast) and power requirements for modern digital gear and flat monitors beat the daylights out of analog consoles and CRT computer screens any day. Breaking up camp and going a few miles down the road is a good thought. Clearly survival and adaptation is the new way of doin' sh*t, but unfortunately too much of the old "ABC way of thinking" still drives the place now. (5/15/10) Dave's response: With the exception of Bonneville and Citadel in DC, all other major DC market radio groups are in the suburbs. Radio One and CBS are in Lanham (JFK in Fairfax), with Clear Channel and Red Zebra in Rockville..... Reason: "Concerning Ashley Madison web site: the scuttlebutt for years has been that it's a complete fraud." So. what you are saying is Sean Hannity read their advertising copy and didn't do any investigation or research before his "debates." He was a shill. Sean Hannity's crap can be heard on WMAL and on Fox News. (5/15/10) Note to the Comcast lover in Salisbury, Md. Comcast was recently named "Worst Company in America for 2010" by Consumers Union, beating out every airline and every Wall Street financial firm (to name a few of the more maligned industries. While I'm happy that you are experiencing no difficulties with Comcast, based on the comments to this site alone, I also have to believe that you are in the minority. ACH (5/15/10) Here's a great idea...Citadel could drastically cut their operational budget at WMAL while at the same time raising much-needed capital by completely shutting down their operations at Jennifer Street tomorrow, selling off the antenna transmission site and starting Monday morning, perform their entire local lineup live, from one of the chairs in Silvie's kitchen. By adopting this plan, WMAL would still be able to reach approximately 50% of their current listening audience with a vastly improved signal-to-noise ratio, and the only person who would have to remain on-staff would be Chris Plante, who has displayed the rare and unique ability to completely whore himself out in order to keep his job, while simultaneously doing it for minimum wage! It's clearly a win-win! (5/15/10) Drew Hayes has brought both hope & insecurity to Citadel D,C. Plante's comment of " This is a week that could end and it would be OK with me." is the most positive thing you'll hear out of that place anytime soon. If Drew can turn around WMAL, he'll cure cancer as his next assignment. D.C. has become a serious embarassment for Citadel corporate If it weren't fpr online streaming of their viable properties, there would be serious questions about their qualifications to continue to be an FCC licensee... (5/15/10) At least in the Salisbury, MD service area (Where I live in Delaware and at work in Salisbury, both by Comcast Salisbury) I couldn't be more pleased with Comcast, well other than the price for residential internet. It's pretty rare to ever have an outage, when i do always been handled extremely quickly. When i've needed a tech on site, it is within 4 business hours at work, or next morning when at home. Whenever I've called for tech support (888-COMCAST) I usually get a real person within 2 rings after going thru the menus, it used to be based out of White Marsh, MD so I don't know what the person means by foreign voices, the last couple times I believe the call center is in PA somewhere. You can't beat the price for business internet, I get 20mbps down/6mbps up (way more than advertised, i think they advertise like 8?) for $79.95 a month (I pay $400 a month for a 1.5mpbs T-1 from AT&T) At home the only thing I'm not happy with is the price it's about $65 for Internet only which is crazy. It's advertised at 6mbps/2mbps, and I get 9mbps/4mps so it's where it should be, but I'm jealous because my co-workers all get about 12 to 15mbps at home in other neighborhoods. But considering Comcast has the monopoly, Verizon won't even consider running DSL here, let alone Fios, I'm lucky it works as well as it does. I usually get hit by lightning about once per year, and I'm glad I lease the modem for $3 a month, yeah you can buy for $20+, but this way you don't ever have a tech tell you well maybe it's your modem. When it gets fried, I just carry a copy of my bill and the modem into the local office (5 miles from work) and they swap it out for me no questions asked. Usually the office there is staffed well with 2 to 4 reps and line is never longer than about 4 or 5 people. My co-workers are pleased with the DVR/On-Demand choices and have the triple-play and happy with phone service and tv as well. Any time the promotional price expires, they call Comcast and explain how long they've been a customer and they feel it's unfair to be charged more than a new customer, and they've always been given a fair discounted rate. 2 of my co-workers are late on their bills frequently and sometimes get cut off, when they go pay in cash the service is back on before they can drive home. When they pay by phone, the service is generally restored in about an hour. Of all the big behemoth companies out there, I think Comcast is one of the best. (5/15/10) Famed organist, Rosa Rio, had died at age 107. DC radio fans might recall her appearance at the Virginia Theater in Alexandria, with the Joy Boys, in 1971. www.thejoyboys.com... www.nytimes.com (5/15/10) What to do with WMAL? Simple News at 15 and 45 and the greatest Oldies of all time with local informative DJ's with a Full Service Attitude like that being done at WAKR 1590 Akron, Ohio. (5/15/10) Dave's response: How about Vegas Radio? Bring on Buddy Rizer as program director..... /\ May 15 Messages /\ \/ May 14 Messages \/ My nominee as a future “weather presenter” (as a former employer of mine once called them) in D.C.? Holly Morris! She’s probably at least as well educated as Topper Shutt, but much more entertaining to look at and listen to! And, Gannett really wanted Bob Ryan. But, they couldn’t afford him. If Gannett could legally have high school kids do their newscasts, they probably would. -Unsigned Corporate Suit (5/14/10) I have had cable for twenty-five or so years. About four years ago, our local cable company was for sale. Word was that COMCAST was buying it. After reading all the less than nice remarks on DCRTV about COMCAST, I almost went to the dish. I didn't and after four years, I have no complaints. JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (5/14/10) (regarding a DCRTV Newspage item) "David Schuster ... tells the Examiner that he is 'still playing strong for his company's softball team'. So I guess this means Schuster is a lesbian, right? (5/14/10) Dave's response: WMAL - White Men And Lesbians..... I just discovered that Liz Crenshaw on NBC4 News recycles viewers' questions and her answers on her "Ask Liz" segment. I submitted a question over a year ago, which she answered on the air. On tonight's 4:00 News, she used my question with the same answer that she had given originally (at least it was the same answer and not a different one). Either nobody is submitting questions to her, or she found mine so interesting she had to use it again. It's no big deal, except that I think most people (including me) are under the impression that all the questions/answers are new...obviously not. -- Bobbie (5/14/10) Concerning Ashley Madison web site: the scuttlebutt for years has been that it's a complete fraud. Members must pay to contact the othr so-called members that initiate contact with you. These "members" are nothing more than automated scripts that are designed to make the web site money, and when a member spends credits to contact these fake people, the "person" invariably breaks off the contact. The rest of the female members are actual people hired through freelancer.com to create fake accounts and pose as real members. It's all a scam that's eventually going to get someone in really big trouble. And, please, don't insult our intelligence--there was no "spike" in female memberships after Mother's Day. Have a look at www.ashleymadisonsucks.com for some unsolicited testimony. Naturally, who is going to report this site to the feds when in doing so will reveal their own infidelity? It's a virtually ironclad fraud. -Chainsman (5/14/10) Condolences to WTOP's Mike Moss for his torn anus this morning from the class at WWDC's Elliot in the Morning. (5/14/10) ("The sale of WWRC from Red Zebra to Salem becomes official tonight. Still no word from Red Zebra management to their employees that this sale is even taking place") Likely, when this poster is fired, it too will be with little fanfare from Red Zebra. (5/14/10) Notable Radio news - Access Music Group: The RADIO MUSIC LICENSE COMMITTEE, which negotiates music licensing fees for most of the radio industry with the major performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI, received word from U.S. District Court Judge DENISE COTE last night regarding a decision on interim fees to be paid by radio operators pending the conclusion of the industry’s ASCAP rate case. The interim fee decision calls for a reduction from 2009 levels of some $40 million in annual industry-wide fees payable by the radio industry to ASCAP. This interim fee decision supersedes a temporary fee decrease that had been voluntarily agreed to between the parties for the period commencing JANUARY 1st, 2010. The corresponding fee adjustments should be reflected in the JUNE or JULY 2010 ASCAP monthly billing to stations. These fees will remain in place until final fees are either negotiated or determined by the Court after further proceedings. The final license fees -- whether higher or lower than the interim fees -- will be retroactive to JANUARY 1st, 2010. Similar interim fee proceedings are pending with BMI. RMLC Exec. Dir. BILL VELEZ commented, "We are pleased that the Court has afforded significant fee relief to the radio industry even as the litigation continues. We view this as an important first step towards a return to reasonable fee levels for the industry that reflect current economic conditions." (5/14/10) Dave, I read your Dave's Cable Page and envy the fact that you seem to have a contact at Comcast who can actually get repairs made in a timely manner. When I call Comcast customer service with any complaint other than "my cable's out" it's like speaking a foreign language. The reps don't know how to handle a problem like "the right channel audio on analog channel 15 is loud and distorted". They want to dispatch a tech to the house when it's a headend problem. Or, they seem like they take the info for such a problem but then nothing is done. So, if you have any Comcast contacts for the Howard County system, I sure would appreciate knowing how to contact them. (5/14/10) Dave's response: While DCP is pretty much my own train of thought about Comcast's comedy of errors via my Reston cable system, I'll be happy to post other peoples' probs via their Comcast systems. I know the head honchos in Philly occasionally drop by DCRTV. Maybe a few embarrassing revelations about what "real world" Comcast subscribers are experiencing is what's needed to get things improved..... Hey, racist….did you ever stop to think they combed the market for “ethnics” that could perform and there were none AVAILABLE? A friend of mine told me they had “auditioned a lot of talent” some NOT white. None of them could cut it. Callous (5/14/10) The sale of WWRC from Red Zebra to Salem becomes official tonight. Still no word from Red Zebra management to their employees that this sale is even taking place. It's like they're so ashamed of what they've done with the station, that they don't even want to talk about it. (5/14/10) Dave's response: Salem's lease of the station becomes official tonight. The FCC's approval of the sale will take a bit longer. Anyone know if Salem's gonna ditch the WWRC calls..... Sean Hannity’s television intro to his “debate” with ashleymadison.com’s CEO Noel Bidderman. (Ashleymadison.com is a dating site for married people who want to cheat); Sean: “Unlike Match.com or Eharmony.com or Hannidate on Hannity.com, AshleyMadison.com isn't just another dating Web site for singles. It is a dating Web site for married people. Now not only do they actually encourage cheating on your spouse, the company proudly acts as the vehicle to help make that happen. Now, after disappointing displays of affection from their husbands this past Mother's Day, over 31,000 women signed up for the service the very next day. Now that's 10 times the average number who typically sign up on any given Monday. According to AshleyMadison, now their slogan, it says it all: "Life is short, have an affair." Now let's take a look at how they are persuading people to join this Web site.” [View sex commercial]. Editorial comment; Sean Hannity has hit an all time low in thinking most in his audience would believe this debate was a real, and not a shill. Sean Hannity's crap can be heard afternoons on WMAL, and evenings on Fox News. (5/14/10) (So Ryan goes to WJLA. Ok another White weatherman at WJLA. So what's up with that. They seem to like that look I guess. All men, all white. God forbid they add any "flavor" to their weather line-up. It mirrors that every station in town has a White, blonde sports girl. Every single one! the station mangers need to realize that DC is a DIVERSE city with DIVERSE viewers so how about some changes.) Now that's just silly. The local news stations have been as diverse as it gets over the years in terms of the on-air personnel. (5/14/10) I want to know why, as a regular and habitual WTOP radio listener, that the first time I have ever heard of this story was from the AP today. Not only that, but the trial starts today. Does the Mormon organization Bonneville have a policy against running stories such as these? news.yahoo.com -Chainsman (5/14/10) RE:Proof that government projects are overfunded and goverment employees are overpaid.... Dave- Sorry to go off-topic, but I am so tired of this repeated mantra. My FATHER worked for the federal government his entire adult life; he was NEVER overpaid; as a matter of fact, his pay was often frozen by the president. He worked hard and he EARNED his pay, that kept us in our house, kept food on the table and clothes on our back. But we never had extras. Stop blaming the “overpaid” government worker for everything, You don’t know JACK about it. (5/14/10) Regarding the poster outraged at private business spending money THEY EARNED, I wasn't aware that the President had time to read and post comments to DCRTV. Looks like he doesn't have enough to do. (5/14/10) From a 1998 interview of Pat Buchanan: “And, sure enough, in 1977 Frank Scott at WRC [in Washington] put me and Frank Mankiewicz on the air every morning for a little thing called Confrontation in the Morning. It consisted of a 20-second introduction by the one host, 75 seconds by the other and a 75-second conclusion by the first. Each of us got $25 a day.” (5/14/10) Regarding how WFED gets its money from advertisers such as "defense contracting firms, federal labor unions and other interest groups" - In other words, all paid for with your tax dollars. Proof that government projects are overfunded and goverment employees are overpaid. If the contractors have such excess profits to pay for this, then the government should be taking that money back. Same thing for the employees. If they can afford union dues to virtually useless federal unions, then they dont need those dollars in their paycheck. Lower their salaries and return the contractor and employee excess to the tax payer in the form of lower budgets, less programs, less employees, all of which would lower taxes. This is an outrage that tax dollars are supporting WFED. (5/14/10) Dave's response: Those "tax dollars" are also supporting the Politico and the Washington Post and a host of other DC media outlets that run mucho ads from big defense contractors, and the other groups you mention above..... "Sure, WMAL is “fixable.”...the Citadel braintrust refuses to recognize the Washington, DC metropolitan area for what it is—an overwhelmingly Democratic/liberal market." You don't get it. Right-wing radio started in one of the most liberal cities in the country, Seattle. Next, it sprang up and succeeded in an even more liberal city, San Francisco. Right-wing radio works in very liberal cities because the relative handful of conservatives (say 10-15% of the population) feel like the wagons are circled and they are surrounded by Indians (liberals). They become very loyal to that conservative talker, and ratings success is based on a small, loyal audience with super-high TSL. WMAL never executed this correctly. Never called themselves "Washington's Conservative Voice." Never defined what they are as a station. Wimped out on Michael Graham (for fear it would embarrass parent Disney's huge lobbying office in town). Today, both Seattle and San Francisco have successfully competing right-wing radio stations! (5/14/10) The comments to the Observer piece about the departing ABC News producer, Mimi Gurbst, make the DCRTV Mailbag seem like milk & cookies over at Mister Rogers'. ABC News: The Friendly Shop! LOL (5/14/10) Dave: Re your Notable Quotable this morning, you left out the best part. I was driving to the gym at 6:05 and heard Plante and Nehman start the hour with a misunderstanding over a Nehman statement that implied someone was out to get him, or something like that. Plante laughed and said, yeah, he found himself looking around his parking lot early this morning as he left his home, just in case someone was going to ambush him. Plante then said something along the lines of, "Maybe it's because it's a Friday, and I'm in the radio business," at which point both men laughed. I guess "Friday is firing day" applies to radio as well as to other industries. Anyway, as the men's mutual laughter died down, Plante said, "Check DCRTV for the details," and they both laughed a little bit more. Christian (5/14/10) Dave's response: Ha ha ha..... I live in Loudoun and I can't get anyone to give me an actual answer about HDNet, which is in Winchester and tons of other Comcast systems across the country. Any chance you can pass along the contact info for you marketing person? Or, if you prefer, I will can send you an e-mail and have you forward to her. Thanks and keep up the good work. -- The guy who once froze on the Montreal Canadiens intermission show (5/14/10) Dave's response: Hey I keep asking about when they're going to add BBC America-HD. And I get silence. That's that great, better than Verizon customer service Comcast keeps bragging about. Ha ha ha..... So Ryan goes to WJLA. Ok another White weatherman at WJLA. So what's up with that. They seem to like that look I guess. All men, all white. God forbid they add any "flavor" to their weather line-up. It mirrors that every station in town has a White, blonde sports girl. Every single one! the station mangers need to realize that DC is a DIVERSE city with DIVERSE viewers so how about some changes. (5/14/10) One for the ages - www.observer.com - A must read, given the reader comments. I'm not a former ABC'er, but have been in TV 25 years and this is one of most astounding outpourings about a departing TV Exec that I've ever seen. From deep in the comments: Karma's a bitch. Just like Mimi. Possible added storyline because ABC is apparently trying to get it all pulled. (5/14/10) Dave, Kudos to the guy who gave his lengthy description of his time at WTRI. He couldn't be more spot on about Marty Sheehan. I worked for him for a couple of years. He's not only the meanest, cruelest sales manager I ever worked for, but probably the worst PERSON I've ever met... A good guy like Buddy Rizer should never have partnered with a ... like Marty Sheehan. The station was doomed to fail. (5/14/10) mark his words: cash cow washingtonpost.com - "WFED 1500 AM is the sister station of Washington's all-news powerhouse WTOP and though it usually places dead last in the local radio ratings, it's a cash cow for owner Bonneville International thanks to advertisements and infomercials purchased by defense contracting firms, federal labor unions and other interest groups. It's also the radio home of the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals thanks to a powerful AM signal that can be heard as far away as Cape Cod in the evenings." (5/14/10) Dave's response: Yeah, you can hear it in Cape Cod at night, but try picking up 1500 in Chantilly or Poolesville after dark. Ha ha ha..... Want proof there is no God? The mailbag finally rids itself of PLB....only to then be over run with countless Silvie posts each day. Figures, don't it? (5/14/10) Could the defense of WTOP’s increasingly disenfranchised sales staff have been posted by Matt Mills’ butt boy, uh, make that LSM, Ralph Renzi? Seems like the thing that Matt would have his “peeps” do on his behalf. Napoleon complex anyone? (5/14/10) Why is that any post on the negative side of WTOP has to be from a "bitter" ex employee? We all know WTOP is a very good station. We know! Isn't it possible that some of these "bitter" ex employees are right? Isn't it possible that WTOP has flaws, and makes mistakes like everyone else? Me thinks thou does protests too much! (5/13/10) 1) Don't be silly! There are no traffic troubles on Rt. 5 in So. Md. during the mid-week Noontime hour! 2) Jeff, don't be a moron. Did you even read the entire paragraph I wrote on Plante before your hyperventillating session? At least you archive all of my comments... and I thought I was the one who needed my tin-foil hat re-adjusted... Sheesh... -Silvie- (5/14/10) /\ May 14 Messages /\ \/ May 13 Messages \/ With all due respect Dave, not sure the former news director of WMAL could come back and manage a winning news department. You'd have to put your people first. You'd have to support them. You'd have to invest in technology for them. You'd have to give them opportunity. You'd have to fight for them and let them shine. You can't do that when your first priorities are setting your own schedule to avoid traffic and arranging your next free junket to some Disney theme park. Winning starts at the top, with the GM and News Director. WTOP is rock solid at every level, and WMAL's news team is now relegated to always been an "also ran." Plus, why shoulder any more unnecessary expense for a loser. (5/13/10) More Loudoun County Media News....The CEO and president of American Community Newspapers – the parent company of Leesburg Today – resigned May 7. American Community Newspapers is one of the largest community newspaper publishers in the nation, reaching 1.4 million households in suburban areas. It operates 86 newspapers and 14 niche publications in four states – Virginia, Ohio, Texas and Minnesota. In addition to Leesburg Today and its sister publication Ashburn Today, ACN also locally operates Loudoun Magazine, Loudoun Business, Middleburg Life, The Sun Gazette newspaper chain (Fairfax and Arlington) and Northern Virginia Parent Life Magazine. Norman K. Styer, publisher and editor in chief of Leesburg Today, declined to comment, other than stating in an e-mail that he saw “no impact” on ACN’s local operations in Loudoun. He referred other inquiries to ACN corporate offices. www.loudountimes.com (5/13/10) Plante is too hard to stomach in the morning. Chris needs to open up a little and tell us about his personal life. With G&A we heard about Brian's toddler bedtime problems, and Brian's traffic tickets. We listened intently about Fred's experience in congress, and Fred's college age daughter issues. Chris, lighten up; bitch about Tricia, tell us about your traffic problems on route 5 towards southern Maryland earlier this week for your scheduled Wednesday nooner, relate to us about being fired by a guy who has now been fired. We need entertainment! (5/13/10) I believe the call letters WOWG AM are available for WMAL . WOLG-AM would be so honest "Washington Old White Guys" AM 630 Radio.John T. Henneman (5/13/10) WMAL… The only thing saving it from oblivion is that CC has yet to pull Rush and Hannity (both syndicated by Premiere (as is Coast-to-Coast AM) which is a CC subsidiary) and put them on 100.3 (98.7 has political pressure protection on its current format) as a “Rush Radio” conservative talker. Of the “troika”, Citadel only owns Mark Levin. As for why Citadel has failed so miserably here… There are many reasons. But, in all reality they remind me of the guy in the UK a few decades ago who hit the lotto, bought a Jaguar and proceeded to fatally wrap it around a power pole shortly after taking delivery but before he could otherwise enjoy the winnings. As for Chris Plante, I expect the next PPM to make him the “Andy Kaufman” of WMAL. –Unsigned Corporate Suit (5/13/10) Dave's response: I know George W. Bush listened to country 98.7 WMZQ, but Obama's probably more of a WHUR, WMMJ, WPFW kinda guy..... Frank was General Manager of WRC AM-980 during its all news and news-talk days with NBC, as well as WKYS, beginning with their disco sound. I know he was GM 1977-80, as I worked for him then. He was a great boss. - Jim Bohannon (5/13/10) My goodness...the omens are certainly not boding well for Chris Plante's long-term survival! SILVIE ON APRIL 22: "Better yet — have Chris Plante do the morning drive show!" SILVIE ON APRIL 26: "This morning is moving along swimmingly at WMAL - better than I expected!" Shortly thereafter, Silvie commented, "...unlike Captain Murdoch...who reversed the engines on the Titanic...Plante is just going full steam ahead...totally missing the iceberg...[wearing] the 'heart of the ocean' as a necklace...belting My Heart Will Go On...it brings tears of joy to my eyes..." AND TODAY? HOLY JEBUS! THE SHOE DROPS: Silvie posted, "Plante in the early mornings is a bit hard to stomach" OH SNAP! OH NO SHE DI'INT!..SILVIE DISSED PLANTE! Golly Jeepers! I hope someone at Jennifer Street has the foresight to post the phone number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline next to the Flavia Machine in the breakroom - Chris Plante is gonna need his ass talked off the ledge tomorrow morning! - Jeff in (fetch the smellin' salts and prep the fainting couch!) Bowie (5/13/10) If you are expecting dramatic changes in WMAL land you have a long wait. They will not change the Rush-Hannity-Levin troika for one very important reason. Those are the only shows that are garnering any ratings for the station. If you think 630 is a black hole now just take away the 'revenue generating portions' of their programming and see how quickly they disappear from view. They have 5AM-12N to play with. Unfortunately for them, they have one foot in the grave in mornings. While Plante is not the answer he sure is a lot cheaper than what they had. And, they will NEVER, EVER be able to beat either WTOP or WAMU in mornings. It is more likely they pipe in another syndicated show in that slot than pay big bucks for a competitive morning show. Keep in mind that there are no household names hanging around that would garner instant attention. Which means they would actually have to market a new show. Do you really think they are going to pony up for that? If Citadel actually had marketing dollars to spend they'd be throwing them at the cash cow WRQX and try to actually beat WASH. Sorry, but WMAL is what it is and will never return to its glory days...or even the days of real ratings. It is, and will likely remain, old white guy radio. I'm not saying that as a slam against them. The fact is - that IS their audience - old white guys. Minor tweaks in the programming will not change that fact. (5/13/10) Re Silvie's post, she said in part, "I could do without John Batchelor during that [9pm to midnight] time slot because he's easy to locate in other stations." Now I may be wrong, but isn't Batcheor's show only on WABC in NYC and WMAL here? (5/13/10) WMAL cannot be fixed. I suggest that the towers be torn down and a community vegetable garden be put on that site. The studios should be converted into a park and farmer's market, where the vegetables from the former transmitter site can be distributed to the needy. (5/13/10) Dave's response: Yeah! Suleman Gardens on Greentree Road in Bethesda. Vegetable plots for the poor..... A third sports talker??? You have to be kidding me. We only have one station worth of talent with the two we have now. Where is Chad's daily propaganda e mail today? Does he usually wait till he is off the air? (5/13/10) From Randall Bloomquist’s blog; “I just wish we had more shows hosted by people who were obsessed with radio, and not with furthering a political agenda. Where have you gone Don Geronimo?” Coming from the man that introduced us to Michael Graham, reconfigured Chris Core, and let Tim Bradt go, I politely request he apologize to us, and finally admit he was wrong. (5/13/10) Dave's response: Hey, Randall, Don Geronimo is right there in Ocean City, hungry to return to radio once his CBS contract ends in October..... Sure, WMAL is “fixable.” It’s still got a very good (not great, but very good) signal, so it boils down to what programming is slapped onto that signal. Trouble is, the Citadel braintrust refuses to recognize the Washington, DC metropolitan area for what it is—an overwhelmingly Democratic/liberal market. Gotta figure that their hard-headedness either reflects ironclad corporate political beliefs (We’re Doing It For Our Country) or stupidity (It Works Everywhere Else) or a combination of the two. Regardless, don’tcha feel sorry for the poor SOBs being held responsible for the damn thing? I know—they’re well-paid—but it’s kind of like having a warehouse full of Ben Roethlisberger jerseys—or having the Spanish station in Honolulu… or, well, you get it. The “fix” is real obvious and real easy. They just won’t do it. (5/13/10) If WMAL really thinks anyone under 40 is listening to the "Murderers Row" of paranoid know-it-alls Plante>Limbaugh>Hannity>Levin they are obviously clueless. I found Grandy & Andy difficult to listen to because of Parks (who has nothing original to say), but Plante is a stone cold egomaniac and rude to boot. Eileen Griffin Gallant, former producer of Jackson & Weaver, recently passed away, so she mercifully didn't have to witness this train wreck. (5/13/10) I'm going to add my two cents here (more like twenty-five cents at this point) regarding your rant on the "Unfixable WMAL". First off, it was a huge mistake that The Grandy & Andy Morning Show has ended. That said, let's move on to what can be done and how this could be fixed. I'd keep Rush, Hannity & Levin right where they are. No need to mess around with these national shows. If they are removed to other time slots via tape-delay, there will be a listener outcry of huge proportions. Plante in the early mornings is a bit hard to stomach -- his brand of dry humor, cynicism and sarcasm is more appropriate for mid-mornings or late evenings (after Levin, from 9pm-Midnight -- I could do without John Batchelor during that time slot because he's easy to locate in other stations.) From 5-9am, I'd bring a conservative point of view along with a liberal point of view. Two options: If you leave Plante in the early mornings, I'd bring back Jerry Klein. Like I've stated a million times before, Klein is the only person that is able to 'stump', 'buffer', challenge and take on Plante like none other. In addition, Klein has experience in the 'goings on' in-studio -- the 'administrative' & 'housekeeping' issues -- so that Plante could just fully focus on talking while Jerry focuses on other matters in-studio. The other option would be to bring is Jerry (or someone like him), along with Chris Core. Or someone like Jerry and Bryan Nehman. Any of these options, in my humble opinion, would work. I don't even know what Jerry Klein is up to these days, and he may be perfectly happy in whatever he's doing at present and perhaps not interested in getting involved in this situation, but I just want to let him know that there are conservative fans out there like me who respect him and enjoy listening to him on the radio. As you all know, I'm also Chris Plante's #1 Cheerleader, and I'm quite concerned about his constant time slot changes and whether or not this is changing Chris' on-air personna. -Silvie- (5/13/10) Dave one part of your rant is right on (of course ALL of your rants are valid since it's your site :P): the part about delay broadcast. Take WHFS as an example. They could play Lou Dobbs show live against Hannity and Doyle; with a little promotion they might do better (I know we're talking CBS spending $$$ so it's not gonna happen). Instead they play the lame Dennis Miller show (DM is funnier than hell doing stand up, loved his HBO series but can't do the radio show), which is from the morning. Wouldn't it make more sense to run Dobbs live, then play DM at 6? If it's delayed, it doesn't really matter when they play it. They can even play that old Greaseman promo: "It's a morning show...at night" (5/13/10) Interesting comments about WTRI. ".. How do you explain to potential advertisers in 2010 that your station is off the air before 5:30pm part of the year?.."..even if WTRI had limited nighttime over the air coverage, I doubt that would had made much of a difference. Also do the people of Brunswick even care about WTRI in the first place? AM radio in small towns, even small cities are considered by many to be antiques, "things of the past", that it has got to point where if many of those stations do go dark, I doubt very many would even notice. Yeah there are excpetions like Hagerstown's WJEJ and Harrisonburg's WSVA but would people in those cities would really care if WARK or WHBG would go dark? When Winchester lost AM 610 WHPL/WTFX and likewise with Leesburg and WAGE, did anyone in those communities outside of radio noticed? Woodstock's WAMM-1230 I don't think they ever did make any money and no surprise they are now dark ( last I checked ) and the people in that communty really couldn't care less. Mount Jackson's WSVG-AM 790 was dark for a very long time and even though they are back on the air there is no shortage of those in that region who believe that the only reason WSVG is on the air is to give local guy Craig Orndorff a job. Once Craig quits..there goes WSVG !! Charles Town's AM 1550, I am sure most folks in that town don't even give that station a second thought. Nah for the most part many of those small town AM stations, sadly few care and I wouldn't be surprised that within the next five years many of these stations do end up going dark. Sort of like a mom/pop drug store only to have a Walgreens open up across the street. Of course most people will go to that Walgreens and why should it be a surprise if the day would come when that little drug store closes up shop? Sad for a few days then totally forgotten for the rest of time. Wasn't there a classic county station in the Brunswick area back in the 90's somewhere around AM 1150? For the most part totally forgotten now !! (5/13/10) Hey Dave, Great site. Back a week or so ago you mentioned that Comcast employees were loosing our free internet, cable and reduced phone service. Any update? I've been a Comcast employee for 14 years and haven't heard a word about the loss of benefit. Thanks (5/13/10) Dave's response: I'm hearing that the policy will be revealed on or around June 1. Heck, you may just get a June bill Comcast will full prices for all your previously free or discounted services..... From earlier message: "Daytime AMs in the 21st century are, for all intents and purposes, worthless." I hope someone from WDMV read that and takes the hint. (5/13/10) Dave: Please allow me to throw a suggestion into the bag of what to do with WMAL? How about beating someone to the punch and flipping over to sportstalk! This time, some new faces and talent would have the ability to create a fresh product rather than recycling the usual management-types like Bennett Zier and talent like Al Koken. Do what WTEM and WJFK haven't been able to do, get some new people with good "people" skills along with aggressive thinking. If this occurs, what would you have? An excellent alternative to an already dreadful sportstalk radio market!!! (5/13/10) A poster states “I'm surprised no one has questioned the $1.2 million price tag on WTRI. I'd be curious to see what the gross revenue has been for the station over the last few years coupled with the value of the real estate. I'd guess the station's actual value is less than half the asking price. Please tell me if I'm wrong.” Of course you’re not wrong. A $1.2 million price tag is a pipe dream. If radio stations are valued at a multiple of cash flow, the value of WTRI is $0—just as it has been for the past 25 years. These guys are counting on The Greater Fool theory—that is, that there will be a fool even greater than they were—who will pony up actual cash for the opportunity to lose shitloads more in order to test-and-fail at their brilliant programming & marketing plan for this awful property. FWIW, it was an awful property when it first hit the air (lousy frequency, limited hours, not enough power, meager population base) but it did okay as a small-town station playing Country tunes in an era when no major stations were playing Country… and FM was just a rumor. They ran it very inexpensively, but ran it like a real business—the same way a shoe store or corner restaurant was run back then. But standalone small-town AM daytimers—as a category—became antiques around 1975. In the case of WTRI, I’ll peg their last profitable month somewhere in the mid-eighties when the Thorntons were schlepping $5 spots to the local feed & seed store and keeping their kids employed. Their debt was low, their operational expense was low—so a little bit of revenue was enough. But unless WTRI is handed to you as a gift to operate as a hobby, there is no way to make it work in today’s world as an actual business. Time to knock down the towers and send the license back. (5/13/10) RE: RANT - IS WMAL UNFIXABLE? Here's another solution: Go with in-house local weather, traffic and news on the 1/4 hour paired with some syndicated National news feed from 6-9:30AM, move Plante to 9:30-noon, keep Limbaugh noon-3PM, Hannity 3-4:30PM on-air, and air the remainder of the show live webstreamed from WMAL.com, Local news, traffic & weather paired with some syndicated National news feed from 4:30-7PM, dump that horrible troll Levin and do a some form of a local issues-oriented interview/talkshow that is NOT SO OVERTLY POLITICAL (with a less conservative, more moderate bend) that takes callers from 7-10PM (similar to what was broadcast in the days when Chris Core and Victoria Jones had nighttime shows), then rebroadcast Hannity's last hour and a half 10PM-11:30 PM for those who do not have web access. (5/13/10) The poster thinking about the real value of WTRI is on target...the other issue is, what do you do with it, even if you pay $600K for it? Daytime AMs in the 21st century are, for all intents and purposes, worthless. How do you explain to potential advertisers in 2010 that your station is off the air before 5:30pm part of the year? Vegas Radio was of high quality - it didn't work. Classic country didn't work. Other formats didn't work. The formats previous owners tried didn't work. There's been two constants thoughout the history of the station - the signal and the market. (5/13/10) "It seems all they show [on the History Channel] any more is 'fluff', shows such as Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, American Pickers, Pawn Shop and other stuff that is, in my view, NOT HISTORY." Cable channels like History and A&E that were created for the purpose of providing educational and cultural content (along the lines of public television) have clearly caved in to commercial pressures over recent years. Whoever's running the History Channel these days probably assumes that not enough people are interested in the Roman Empire, Thirty Years War or the Louisiana Purchase to justify providing shows on those topics anymore. Tomorrow's schedule includes two hours on "Sex in the Civil War" - so even when dealing with actual history they feel the need to sex it up. PBS may be the last refuge on TV for those interested in traditional educational programming. On another topic, perhaps NBC's Today and the other network morning shows need to clarify the meaning of terms like 'just ahead', 'coming right up', 'in a few minutes' and 'in just a little bit'. This morning around 7:30, Today co-host Matt Lauer (broadcasting from the Cannes Film Festival in France) said that his interview with Oliver Stone, Michael Douglas and others involved with the movie "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" was coming right up - but it didn't air until 8:10. I'm sorry - when you tell me that something's 'coming right up', I don't interpret that to mean having to wait 40 minutes and sit through three segments on topics I have no interest in whatsoever. Nor should 'just ahead' mean an hour from now or 'in a little bit' two hours from now. These shows should be taken to task for the deceptive ways they try and hold their audience - is it too much to ask that they provide slightly more specific information on when particular interviews and features will be shown so that those of us who have to leave for work can at least program our DVRs? Mike, Fairfax (5/13/10) My fix for AM 630: Look at the ratings and figure out what brings in the best ratings....hmmm, conservative talk? Not really. Straight news: WTOP, WAMU Morning Edition and All Things Considered. I want me some of that pie. Ditch the conservative talk, and go with a straight news talk. "The Washington area's only AM news station." A few reporters, augmented by a national wire. 3-minute weather and traffic on the 6s. Nats at night. (5/13/10) (WTOP is now apparently selling its RDS banner (the scrolling thing on RDS-equipped radios that usually identifies the station/performer/song title) to Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. And you thought the Ledo Pizza Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center was the ultimate in sales whoring." In what way is that "whoring"?) That's one of the things the RDS was designed for in the first place! (5/13/10) Dave's response: And how many people have RDS-equipped radios? A dozen? Ha ha ha..... "The mailbag post about the sales unrest at WTOP" was written by a bitter, ex-employee. Ask any currently-working AE in town what station he or she would like to sell for and you'll get the same answer every time. (5/13/10) Yesterday on Sean Hannity’s radio show, he interviewed the founder of Ashleymadison.com, a dating website for married or committed people who want to have an affair. Sean played the audio from TV commercials for the site, and said repeatedly the site had “six million members.” Sean let the guy say the average member was a 36 year old women and mother, bored with her husband, and Sean said if you went on it, you could have an affair. Sean was disgusted at the founder for facilitating these naughty hook ups, and let the guy know it! Sean then said he would play all the ashleymadison.com commercials in their entirety as well as give a more in depth interview with the founder on his Fox News show later tonight. Wow. Was Sean Hannity paid for this interview that hit all the “bad boy” buttons? Sean Hannity is a marketing machine geared for dumb people (remember Sean’s ringing endorsements of the movies An American Carol, and Expelled?, as well as most Dick Morris books?), and it appears Sean had hit an all time low promoting this website on his radio and TV shows. I am sure the six million member number will go up (mostly men looking for this lonely housewife in their area ready to jump in bed with a stranger) after the appearances. (5/13/10) All this talk about Jim Morrison( was film director David Lynch a classmate?) makes me dreg up the reference to local author Mark Opsasnick's book "The Lizard King Was Here" tiny.cc. Also of note is his book about Washington Rock 'n' Roll history. He could have used an editor but still has lots of interesting nuggets on the D.C. area music scene. Wish he'd do a book on the history of country music in the D.C. area, which I guess is pretty much dead these days but thrived in the 50's and 60's. Saddened by the demise of The Jack radio 102.7 that I liked. Had a nice variety of '80's and early 90's pop and new wave in addition to the classic rock, now the format has drifted to mainly the hard rock/classic rock stuff and far less pop and new wave. Anotherwards, to me the same old stuff. Why have they bothered to change the music played on the station if plans to change over to righty talk format? And I'll admit the sound quality of WQSR sucks but I could tolerate it as long as they played music you just don't hear on the radio anymore but wait there's more if you call (5/13/10) I'm surprised no one has questioned the $1.2 million price tag on WTRI. I'd be curious to see what the gross revenue has been for the station over the last few years coupled with the value of the real estate. I'd guess the station's actual value is less than half the asking price. Please tell me if I'm wrong. (5/13/10) "My guess is that you're an incredibly short man" ...and we're not necessarily talking vertical height here either. (5/13/10) At least Andy and Grandy were professional and did their homework. I think grandy should be on federal news radio he was never interest in local news anyway and I am sure the legislative staffers on the hill love him. I truly personally think that WMAL would do good in ratings with hosts that reflect the demographic metro DC.I love to hear Joe Madison or the former Channel 7 ancho rthat did the 11PM news I think his name is Paul Berry .Then add two females one in morning one in afternoon and bring in more local metro news.Berry did a show on WTNT it was excellent but WTNT has a lousy signal. Berry show was very informative many local news makers and down the middle.John T. Henneman (5/13/10) “Ex-WUSA weather lady Kim Martucchi announced via Facebook she is expecting a baby and is due on Oct 1st. (5/12/10)” And here’s a photograph of how Lurch’s baby will look: www.post-gazette.com (5/13/10) Dave's response: Man, what did Kim do to you to make you go on such a series of Mailbag rants against her and her height? My guess is that you're an incredibly short man and just thinking about this tall lady somehow causes you to flash back to all that "hey shorty" taunting you got back in elementary school. Right? Get some therapy, huh..... Buddy Rizer made a bad investment more on nostalgia than sound business judgement. The real estate market has nothing to do with the value of WTRI except maybe for the value of the land. But that station was already in the toilet and a black hole for money way back in 1993 when Liz Roberts was trying to claw it from the grave using a retuned transmitter and some shenanigans to avoid paying for the tower. RIP: WTRI (5/13/10) Let me add my voice to those mourning the loss of WTRI, particularly during its Vegasradio days. Buddy had a tough row to hoe. Having spent more than 10 years with the same type of format at WWLG, I know the frustration he felt as the audience got older and died off and the younger audience tuned out. Buddy and I got together when I brought It's Showtime to TRI and we had a good thing going until the economy and other factors caught up. But in the case of the adult standard format, it was inevitable. I can remember thinking even in my Music of your Life days at WITH that, sooner or later, that type of music would only be viable on public, non-commercial stations. It seems to have come to pass. I'm lucky in that I found another home at WHFC, thanks to Gary Helton. But that's where I always thought It's Showtime and adult standards in general would end up, plus just about any other variety of music that didn't fit the current norm. Great fight, Buddy. But when it comes to that music, we're dinosaurs now. Alan Field (5/13/10) Regarding the apparently impending sale of WTRI in Brunswick... I worked for the station, very briefly, during the very first few weeks Vegas Radio went on the air. None of them would remember me, I was there for such a short time, but I was one of the first three people to be "hired" by them. Despite what I applied to do, I was sort of suckered into pushing air time to local businesses. But I thought it was a good way to get my foot in the door, so I agreed. The weeks leading up to the opening of the station were promising. I helped clean up the long abandoned station... did some infrastructure repairs. Hung out with Buddy. I felt really positive about getting in on the ground floor of something new. But once the official launch started, and my sales duties began, I knew right off something was quite wrong at WTRI. It paid only on commission, which I should have known would be problematic, but I still figured it may be worth a shot, since I love radio. I liked Buddy Rizer, though I did not spend as much time with him once the launch happened, he actually let me record a news report for the station once, which went to air. Very cool. But most of my time at the station, (when I wasn't out pushing the product) with with Marty Sheehan, the business director, or whatever he was supposed to be. It was an atrocious experience for me, and for years I thought it was simply because I wasn't any good at the job. But I have been reading posts about WTRI here in the mailbag ever since I discovered this site. And it seems that it was not just me, but that this Marty had a problem treating anybody like a human being. (Based on the recent post which mentioned something about "Marty driving away all of the sales staff".) It seems the way he was years ago is the way he continued to be. I'm not bullshitting when I say this, but I want to thank any and all people who have posted about that situation here on this site. You have no idea how much of a weight is lifted from me knowing that it was not, as I was led to believe, my problem. But is in fact something that he seems to be somewhat famous for, at least within the local radio world. I was only there two weeks. I made one sale late in the first week I was there, but Sheehan blamed me personally one day for the fact that he was still in debt. Told me he was tired of losing money because I couldn't make a sale. That everybody had money, and that he wanted it, or he could introduce me to the door. He even withheld the commission from my one and only sale that week because of "laziness". (I know now it was totally illegal to not give me my commission, which I had a contractual agreement to recieve, but I was young, and naive, and thought that he would know more than I at first since he said he was a former VP at ESPN, or something.) The last straw was when he sent me at 7AM all the way across the county about an hour away to a business he had a "lead" on. When I got there I learned, much to my embarrassment, that this lead was in fact, a family member of Buddy Rizer himself. Which naturally meant he expected to do his business with Buddy personally. Of course, I didn't blame him for that. When I got back to the station, and began to explain that there had been an error, Sheehan explained to me that "Management doesn't make errors, YOU make the errors when you don't jump when I tell you to." I walked out the front door, drove home, and emailed Rizer my resignation as soon as I sat down. I never saw the inside of the station again. The man had nothing but contempt for me. Even before I quit, everytime you would try to talk to him about anything, or ask a question in order to learn more, his answer would only ever get back to him saying, "and when we get all this money, we'll be able to do this and that, and we need you out there..." As though you were talking to a computer. He had even more contempt for the locals. He hated everything to do with Brunswick, Maryland, and indeed most of the county. "Rubes. Hillbillies." "If they ain't got a dime, I ain't got the time." All things he commonly had to say about the "community based station" they were supposedly setting up. He was never seen at any town event around here as far as I know. IN fact, after a while, I think the town forgot all about them up there on the hill, because all they ever did was try to make money out of the DC suberb houses that picked them up once in a while. I'm sorry for Buddy, but I say good riddence to their incarnation of WTRI. They were clueless about their market at best, and at least in the case of Sheehan, reprehensible and cruel. If anybody ever wants to share their own horror story about working over there with me, I would love to hear it. orchote@hotmail.com (5/13/10) I just finished watching the American Masters documentary about The Doors on PBS. Great show! I'm a child of the 60s. As mad (and maddening) as that era was, radio was personable and fun, with lots of awesome music. Today, there's still all the madness that you'd ever want, but it's mostly on radio talk shows. Sad. (5/13/10) There's a job open at Discovery Networks for a Master Control supervisor. But look at how the Commonwealth of Virginia classifies the position: www.vawc.virginia.gov... toot-toot... (5/13/10) /\ May 13 Messages /\ \/ May 12 Messages \/ RE: [Have at it, fellas: Michael Savage: The Playboy Interview, June 2010 --www.playboy.com...] Wow...I never thought the day would come when you would open your monthly copy of Playboy and find by a big-old, fat, wrinkled, hairy disgusting Weiner waggling in your face! (5/12/10) Re "Sirius XM's righty talk Patriot Channel (Sirius-144, XM-166) adds Fox News superstar Glenn Beck to its weekday line-up" I note the "Patriot" label. This seems to have caught on with inadequate men. The motorcycle dealer at Fairfax Circle calls itself "Patriot" and markets super loud motorcycles to old fat guys. "Vroom vroom, listen to my noise. Listen to how powerful and manly I am." Robert, Arlington (5/12/10) The two years I hosted on Vegas Radio, WTRI, were most enjoyable. I'm truly sorry it didn't work out, but the product was wonderful and that's a testament to Buddy Rizer who gave it his best shot in a tough environment. Duck (5/12/10) (regarding a previous post) "It makes the average DCRTV reader like me question your posts. Maybe you'd want to 'filter' and confirm this info with other 'sources' before publishing?" C'mon Slivie, you must be joking! 'Filter and confirm'?!? You're a fine one to be using such terms! I mean, you and your ilk suck furiously at an endless supply of putrid swill, from the DC area right wing radio teat and you dare suggest that Dave's information is inaccurate or suspect? (5/12/10) Have at it, fellas: Michael Savage: The Playboy Interview, June 2010 -- www.playboy.com... -Silvie- (5/12/10) Dave's response: Centerfold? God no!!!!!! The mailbag post about the sales unrest at WTOP reminded me to contribute this to the DCRTV community: Noticed earlier this week that WTOP is now apparently selling its RDS banner (the scrolling thing on RDS-equipped radios that usually identifies the station/performer/song title) to Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. And you thought the Ledo Pizza Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center was the ultimate in sales whoring. (5/12/10) "Please take Hannity off the airwaves in DC;his twisted logic, holier than thou attitude, and outright lying, drive me batty." Yet you continue to listen every day. So tell us, who's the real douche?? (5/12/10) I learned this afternoon that Gwen Ifill gave up an interview with Gen. Stanley McChrystal tomorrow in order to keep her date with The Q&A Cafe. That's no small sacrifice, so please help me to show her a strong turn-out. Right now we have plenty of seats available. There's loads to talk to Gwen about; the whole world around us. The location is the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown. The seating begins at noon, the program at 12:30, ending at 1:30, and the $50 fee covers everything. For reservations, please call 202.912.4110 this evening or tomorrow morning. I hope to see you there, and thank you, Carol Joynt (5/12/10) OK, now THIS is cool: from back in the days when radios actually meant something, here is the "Smokerette" all-tube, AM-only radio, which combines a pipe rack, tobacco storage bins, ashtray and radio all in one. washingtondc.craigslist.org... Looks like a dude in Leesburg is trying to sell it. Ain't cheap, though. (5/12/10) (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE, National Association of Broadcasters. Will be responsible to execute recruitment and retention strategies for the various types of members of NAB - Radio and Television stations, International broadcasters and Associate companies. Please visit our Web site for a full listing about this exciting opportunity: www.nab.org. Send cover letter with salary history and resume to HR@nab.org with "Account Executive"� in the subject line. (5/12/10) A Website about former Sun staffers wbng.com (5/12/10) Re: "This is probably old news but, if you type in www.1067thefan.com to your URL, you be redirected to www.espn980.com. Kinda sleazy, but I guess that’s what we expect from Danny, The Boy With The Midas Touch." Red Zebra is by far not alone in doing something like that. Back when Internet domain names started having any value at all, the chief engineer at our station registered a domain name of our biggest format competitor...and redirected its traffic to our relatively new site. This was back when radio stations were still asking "should we put up a website?" The twist to the story? A year or so later, our company bought the other station and it became our sister station. At the time our CE bought the domain, no one saw that coming. (5/12/10) Jim Morrison was a military dependent who graduated from a high school in Alexandria in '61. Five years later, his vocals lit the charts--and a whole lot more--on fire. Five years beyond that, while the cool spookiness of Riders on the Storm warned us not to 'give this man a ride,' his fans remembered where they were when his death was reported. I was an 11-year-old in the backseat of the family Mustang when I heard the announcement on a Fresno radio station. Jim Morrison was at his best as the frontman of the Doors, and what a best that was. Anyone getting lost in his poetry should just put the books down and pick up the records. Robb de Capitol Heights (5/12/10) Please take Hannity off the airwaves in DC;his twisted logic, holier than thou attitude, and outright lying, drive me batty. Plus, all those plant and scripted callers just give me headache. Memo to WMAL; CSPAN radio has a live afternoon drive long form news and call in show that is a breath of fresh air. It puts hannity/levin’s crap to shame. I was listening to CSPAN the other day and they were going over Kagan’s “defective” or “flawed” statement, and explaining to the CSPAN audience she was referring to the original constitution that purposefully excluded women and discounted blacks. I switched to whiney Mark Levin and he was ranting about how the original Constitution should not be called “flawed or defective” and should be taken literally. So, I started laughing hysterically knowing the facts Mark purposefully left out of his rant. I said to myself “propaganda,” and turned back to CSPAN. Or, Mark Levin may be right; maybe we should take away rights given to women in the 20th century, and go back to counting each Black as three fifths of a person for the 2010 census. On second thought, WMAL sucks. (5/12/10) Does anyone know the whereabouts of Donna Penyak? She was former morning anchor with Donnie Simpson on WKYS, before that on WRC all news 98, after WKYS, CBS radio anchor, New York City, and, in recent years, blogger. She's had health problems and I have reason to fear things have turned for the worse. (5/12/10) I wouldn't sweat it, Matthews. I don't think that Mr. Hayes does or will ever read DCRTV. Dave, I question your 'trustworthy sources' in all media. What if these sources are, yes, 'trustworthy' with you, but they hate someone else's guts and are willing to bad-mouth and discredit that person without evidence and facts knowing full well that you'll publish anything 'juicy'? It makes the average DCRTV reader like me question your posts. Maybe you'd want to 'filter' and confirm this info with other 'sources' before publishing? -Silvie- (5/12/10) I have neither the need nor the inclination to suck up to anyone, but if my presence at WMAL is enough of a threat to someone that they feel the need to spread disparaging rumors about me, then I say go for it! It's nice to get a mention! John Matthews, Media Professional (5/12/10) RE: [The satellite is part of orbital "constellation" that carries the signals of Showtime, MTV, HSN, Food Network, Cinemax, Encore, ESPN, Fox News Channel, HBO, Starz, and SyFy.] Let me make my prediction for tomorrow morning's four-hour-long, spittle-flecked, Chris Plante rant-a-thon on 630 Dubbya-Emmay-YELL; Since the FauxNooze Channel happens to be one of the networks included on the list of stations that may be knocked out, I predict that Chris Plante is going to spin this into a big-assed loopy Obama-based conspiracy theory involving a secret cabal of "leftie Lib Wackos" at NASA who are under direct presidential orders to silence the "dissenting patriotic voices" at FOXnews....stay tuned for more information as soon as the voices in Plante's head jibber it to him....Jeff in (Insert "Silvie" Joke Here) Bowie (5/12/10) I hope Buddy Rizer finds a buyer for WTRI. He deserves to have his efforts to make something out of 1520AM rewarded, because in spite of the signal limitations, having to shut down at sunset to protect 1520 in Buffalo (I once got an email from a listener who enjoyed Joey Reynolds on Vegas Radio LOL), and the machinations of having a partner who berated most of the sales staff until they quit...Buddy poured his heart, soul, blood, sweat & tears into trying to make something work there. I'm sure Bob Duckman, Alan Field, Chris Zemba and the other air talents would agree we had a blast with 'Vegas Radio' over 2 & 1/2 years...and Classic Country 'Radio Earl' was a perfect niche format for the western suburbs. Maybe someday we'll have a VR reunion on another station...or before 1520AM is handed over to new owners. Best of luck Buddy. - Steve Ray (5/12/10) Dave's response: Buddy's a great guy. I've talked to him and he's had the same problem that many homeowners have. He bought WTRI back in 2005-ish, at the height of the real estate boom. And, over the years, the station has lost value, causing it to be worth a lot less now than back then. And with a sagging radio ad market in the Leesburg-Frederick area, which has caused Leesburg's only radio station, WAGE, to go dark, it's just been a double- whammy for Buddy, who's had a batch of health woes on top of all that..... Personally, I think the Doors had some great music. Some, not all. And I don't give a rat's behind about poetry. As for standing the test of time, I don't really even think the Beatles music has stood the test of time well. Have you listened to Sgt. Pepper lately? Yuck............Doesn't mean that they still aren't interesting subjects for a documentary. I will certainly watch the one on the Doors.............. (5/12/10) [Come On Maaaan....don't diss the Lizard King] -"Lizard King", shit... That should be the name of a racehorse, not a singer. [Were you once a fan, and now that the buzz has worn off , you have come to your senses?] Well, from the posturing your posting is cast in, you may well be describing yourself as well. Read on. [Morrison being lionized as a poet has more to do with cashing in after his death, than anything else. Kinda like those 100+ LP's of bad Hendrix material that came out after his death and got repackaged ad infinitum] No argument there. The music industry will never run out of reasons to release Hendrix and Beatle material every 6 to 7 years. [My guess is there is more than a little bad poetry that has been turned into great songs]. Please - nothing 'great' about them. They are memorable at best because they remind us of too many stoned late nights in the dorm. Hardly great. [Morrison was a stoned, acid dropping drunk, whose poetry and solo efforts may have sucked] My point exactly: Doors, fine. Morrison's poetry, fermented crap. [I just wonder what the OP is doing with Morrison poetry books and why would he be taking efforts to re-read banal poetry?] When you have the Internet, you don't need to own old poetry books. I don't. Curiosity prompted me to go back; same way we rent "Kentucky Fried Movie" to see if it is still funny (it isn't) [You would have to poll well more than a 100 people who own a Doors LP, CD, or Digital Download before you found one with a poetry book by Jim Morrison] And again, I don't own any book by him. I'll leave you in charge of the poll; I'm too busy. [Don't douche the baby with the bathwater Mr. Happy.] Weak summary, my friend. Morrison would never have used that in one of his poems. (5/12/10) (So the local Emmy Noms have been announced and as usual, channel 5 has the most which will more than likely result in them winning the most..And then they'll go on and on about how they received the most..Come on..Do the math..The more you submit, it increases the chances to win..I think I remember years ago channel 4 saying that they don't submit a lot of because it's too expensive..True?) Well they may have more to enter compared to the other stations. So do you blame them for that. That's like "get a D on your test...everyone else is doing it" (5/12/10) Re: "The Style section of the Post had a review of The Doors' latest docu-whatever to be aired on TV. I recently went back and re-read some of Morrison's poetry and - I'm sorry fans - it is terrible...."/// Come On Maaaan....don't diss the Lizard King. So, lets see..the Post article notes a new movie with some fresh footage, and this spurs you to go back and RE-READ old Morrison "poetry" ? Why ? Were you once a fan, and now that the buzz has worn off , you have come to your senses ? The Doors were a great rock and roll band, which had three members besides Jim Morrison. Morrison being lionized as a poet has more to do with cashing in after his death, than anything else. Kinda like those 100+ LP's of bad Hendrix material that came out after his death and got repackaged ad infinitum My guess is there is more than a little bad poetry that has been turned into great songs. So, we know Morrison was a stoned, acid dropping drunk, whose poetry and solo efforts may have sucked, but with the Doors, he helped create some classic rock and roll, some of which still stands the test of time. This is how Jim Morrison is remembered by the vast majority of the people. Ok, I will concede that the Doors have a couple of rambling, way-too-long recorded songs, which defy the anybody but the most ardent Jim Morrison fan to make it through, but those are the exception. I just wonder what the OP is doing with Morrison poetry books and why would he be taking efforts to re-read banal poetry ? Because he knew a new movie was coming out and wanted insert timely off topic mini-critique? I bet you would have to poll well more than a 100 people who own a Doors LP, CD, or Digital Download before you found one with a poetry book by Jim Morrison. Don't douche the baby with the bathwater Mr. Happy. (5/12/10) Ex-WUSA weather lady Kim Martucchi announced via Facebook she is expecting a baby and is due on Oct 1st. (5/12/10) WTOP - Disgruntled sales staff -- fed up with having their commissions cut and their accounts stripped away -- can't help but wonder which is bigger: The station's monstrous ratings, or the ego of its GSM, Matt Mills! (5/12/10) Dave's response: Ahhh, is there a local radio or TV sales staff that isn't "disgruntled"? These ad sales people don't appear to be very happy souls. Hell, ad sales has got to be a brutal biz..... "Speaking of Masterbation, for the DCRTV babes washingtonpost.com" It's spelled masturbation, you sexist moron. (5/12/10) (A whole batch of DC TV "newsbabes" - Lindsay Czarniak, Angie Goff, Pamela Brown, Lau.....) TV and RADIO newsbabes. If you have the print edition (of today's Post), that is WTOP's Hillary Howard on the left in that photo in Reliable Source. (5/12/10) Commercial voice-overs were once the domain of disembodied unknowns, but now stars are grabbing the mic - and the money. www.forbes.com (5/12/10) If Doni G's looking for a station, maybe WTRI's the ticket. Covers the DC area - at least the western subs - pretty darn good. I'm sure he could get some investors together for the $1.2M price tag. (5/12/10) About the Galaxy 15 satellite situation -- The list of channels didn't include AMC. I hate 'em when it comes to how they chop the hell out of movies, but they're home to two of the best dramas on TV, "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men". "Breaking Bad" is getting close to the end of a great third season and "Mad Men" kicks off season 4 in July, so I hope we don't lose that signal. They also run The Three Stooges in the morning sometimes, which in crazy times such as these, would be a loss too. (5/12/10) Dave's response: As bad as AMC is - I call 'em the movie butcher - the same company also owns IFC, which does show cool movies uncut. So you gotta give 'em a little credit..... WMAL should put a laugh track on the morning trainwreck. The new motto should be "it's so awful it's funny" (5/12/10) Speaking of Masterbation, for the DCRTV babes washingtonpost.com (5/12/10) Just received the following in my inbox this morning. I guess the deal with those "Christian folks" didn't work out so well, Marty? ..... Maryland -- WTRI 1520 AM Brunswick -- Serves suburban Washington DC counties: Frederick county in MD and Loudoun county in VA. High population growth rate. Includes real estate. New ground system. 5 acres at transmitter site are included in the sale. $1.2M www.radiotvdeals.com (5/12/10) The Style section of the Post had a review of The Doors' latest docu-whatever to be aired on TV. I recently went back and re-read some of Morrison's poetry and - I'm sorry fans - it is terrible. His stuff reads like the banal ramblings of some 15-year-old Emo chick, especially when it was set to music as one of those extended play stream-of-consciousness disasters. They say the greatest test of any truth is time, and his writings are finally emerging as little more than what you'd get using a set of those refrigerator word-magnets you'd arrange to create random phrases. Hard to believe that such literary phlegm was actually considered captivating at some point. -Mr. Happiness (5/12/10) /\ May 12 Messages /\ \/ May 11 Messages \/ Dear DCRTV, After having satellite TV the past year and watching the History Channel, I've only seen the occassional show on Hitler or even history. It seems all they show any more is 'fluff', shows such as Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, American Pickers, Pawn Shop and other stuff that is, in my view, NOT HISTORY. I remember, in the years before I gave up the outside antenna (when the government required the ending of regular TV for digital) that the History Channel actually showed shows about history, and heavy on WWII and yes, Hitler. But for the last year, no Hitler and dang little history on the History Channel. frshirer, maryland (5/11/10) Dave's response: I wasn't talking about the History Channel. It's the Military History Channel. Comcast is packaging it with the Sports Entertainment Tier. So, people who want just sports are paying extra for two networks that don't show sports. And people who want to see Hitler docs on the Military History Channel are paying extra for a bunch of sports channels that they don't want. So, in either case, Comcast is getting a bunch of subcribers to pay extra for a bunch of channels that they don't want. And yes, you're right. The History Channel has no history programming on it..... Great, Kuhner takes an hour from Jerry Doyle. I'm probably one of three people that listens to Doyle, but I really like his show. He's smart, funny and has great guests. He's a welcome alternative to Hannity; Hannity has good guests but the whiny Lawn-Giland soccer mom callers are hard to take. Doyle's a welcome change, and rational and makes sense, so of COURSE WTNT cuts an hour for a boring Canadian. Figures one of them dang nabbed foreigners are taking an Americans job...close that border (5/11/10) (regarding a previous post) "'How To Spot A Masturbator christwire.org' - I can't wait to hear this explaination, Dave...but what in the hell does this have to do with local media?" Actually, May is National Masturbation Month. It's not a coincidence that WMAL instituted on-air and off-air changes at the station now. Of course, if they think that these moves will improve the station's chances for success, they're just jerking themselves off. www.examiner.com (5/11/10) Check out goofball Wendy Reiger getting hit with a paper ball today on the 5 PM broadcast... It bounced off the front of her forehead and made her hair move. Before that happened she got caught with a silly goofball smirking smile at the end of a very serious story of the Sutton murder in D.C. and quickly went back to her "empathy" look. How unprofessional. No wonder WRC is losing ratings and viewers. I hope somebody can put that on Youtube. (5/11/10) The following comment was sent to Carol Joynt regarding her web piece on WMAL this morning..... You are a very capable reporter and writer but I think far different in point of view from the hard right lineup on WMAL. To me WMAL is useful as a source for information that the hard left leaning mainstream papers won't tell us about. But it is painful to listen to gullible call-in listeners who buy the words of the hard right talk show guys uncritically, unaware that they are not always getting both sides of the story from these glib right winders. Following the news these days is like driving a car - you have to be able to simultaneously look in all four directions at once. Or in the case of the media - you have to read and follow many sources from the left and right continuously to piece together the whole story. (5/11/10) RedZebra buying the 1067.com website is not sleazy. It is smart marketing. This kind of stuff happens all the time. You don't think Coke would do this to Pepsi if it could? CBS was asleep at the switch. You may not like it - and use it as another reason to hate Dan Snyder - but it was a fair business move. (5/11/10) (Regarding the Chicago Tribune article of today:) His (Drew's) comments on WMAL.......considerable problems indeed! (5/11/10) A couple of things. To the person who lamented that corporate radio has ruined radio. True, but don't lump Bonneville in with CC or Cumulus. Bonneville and Greater Media are about the only two that are still trying. Certainly can't say the same for Citadel. Dave's rant outlined the convoluted process of WMAL's evolution to....something. You have to wonder what the hell was going on behind closed doors at 4400 Jenifer. Were these shots being called locally? And, why put Paul Duckworth through all this crap, make him fire people - then give him the bullet? Not exactly Peter Drucker-style management, y'know? You can be sure the Drew Hayes experience is being mandated from on high. But, in the end, will it matter at all? WMAL is not on a rebound course. And, given what Citadel has done in San Fran it is likely that the current 5 hours of local programming will probably shrink to virtually nothing. WMAL lost its information image to WTOP a very long time ago and will never, ever get it back. It exists merely as a way to clear ABC Network, err, Citadel Media spots. It can't be very much fun working at that shop right now. (5/11/10) New afternoon talk show line up just announced on 570 AM WTNT on The Jeff Kuhner Show. Tom - Temple Hills (5/11/10) This is probably old news but, if you type in www.1067thefan.com to your URL, you be redirected to www.espn980.com. Kinda sleazy, but I guess that’s what we expect from Danny, The Boy With The Midas Touch. I was trying to find the Junkies website so I could hear Lurch’s tornado podcast, but whoever is supposed to load the show’s podcast onto the site hasn’t gotten to it yet. In other words, the only thing I learned from my morning internet search is that Dan Snyder is sleazy, and I knew that already. Chris from Bethesda (5/11/10) Dave's response: That is old news. It's been like that since late last year. A sports talker in Nashville, also on 106.7, flipped format and didn't need its website address. And WTEM took it. WJFK's site is www.1067thefandc.com..... (Unlike either of those two clowns, she has significant time in the real world, in business.) Her "businesses" consisted of a car wash that never washed a car and a marketing firm that never did any marketing. She described herself as an "unemployed housewife" in 2004, and tried her hand at the two "businesses" a couple of years later. (Shawn in DC) (5/11/10) Dave, I am saddened to report to the hard working radio community that Paul Duckworth is “no longer with us.” In lieu of flowers, anyone interested can send a donation in Paul’s name to Media Matters for America, 455 Massachusetts Ave. NW Suite 600, Washington, DC 20001. Paul will be greatly missed. Where do you think Paul will end up? (5/11/10) Dave's response: I hear he'll be answering phones for a lawn care service run by "the late" Andy Parks. "Carroll County Lawn & Turf"..... Nice showing for Z104.3 in Baltimore. Hey Thea,great job hon....LOL I see your boy Mick Lee is getting it done. (5/11/10) The following comment was sent to Carol Joynt regarding her web piece on WMAL this morning..... Regarding Harden and Weaver, they were simply the Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon of D.C.-area radio for years and years. They were the gold standard—fun, funny, insightful, smart, accessible, entertaining. Real radio guys, real newsmen, in a sense, and real entertainers—they were what many radio guys used to be. Real radio guys. It’s a shame and a travesty that the station couldn’t continue that same type of show with other people. On a broader scale, there are scores of us who have followed radio for decades now who said years ago that the conglomerization and corporatization of radio—as well as television and print media—would hurt those entities in many ways. I, and others, believe this is most evident in radio, simply and realistically, because these corporations and conglomerates had no business getting into radio, running radio, managing radio or programming radio. Citadel, Clear Channel, Bonneville, Liberty and others are as much to blame for the demise or commercial radio as the recession and its concurrent problems. What really needs to happen is that much of commercial radio needs to go right back to being locally owned, operated and run, with a direct connection to the local community. By the way—great article on WMAL. Just a good, solid piece. Why they didn’t hire you is a mystery—that would have been a great fit. It would have helped that station emmensely. (5/11/10) "How To Spot A Masturbator christwire.org" - I can't wait to hear this explaination, Dave...but what in the hell does this have to do with local media? (5/11/10) Dave's response: Ummmm, lotsa guys who work in local media are chronic masturbaters. Particularly at WJFK..... How To Spot A Masturbator christwire.org (5/11/10) I see where NBC4 has put on their website pictures of the female newscasters who attended a benefit for breast cancer..Well, the captions under each picture said "bombshell media mavens"..Well, maybe whomever did the captions should've looked at each picture before he/she put those captions there since there were some that were NOT anywhere near being bombshells..But then again, of course beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.. (5/11/10) RE: [ It is interesting to note, as might be expected of her liberal bias and lack of any real world business experience, that Kagan's grand scheme...] Okay, Mr. "Hannity Listener", Two questions: 1.) What, if any, "business" experience did John Roberts or Samuel Alito bring to the table, and 2.) Since when does five years at the helm of the nations most prestigious school of law not count as necessary "real world" experience worthy of serving on the high court? I'm sick and tired of these "hannitized" talking points being mindlessly regurgitated by these brainless morons! She has the credentials. Shut. Your. Mouths. (5/11/10) So the local Emmy Noms have been announced and as usual, channel 5 has the most which will more than likely result in them winning the most..And then they'll go on and on about how they received the most..Come on..Do the math..The more you submit, it increases the chances to win..I think I remember years ago channel 4 saying that they don't submit a lot of because it's too expensive..True? (5/11/10) The following comment was sent to Carol Joynt regarding her web piece on WMAL this morning..... Carol, I agree that WMAL appears to have gone off the rails in recent years. Full disclosure: I was one of the folks at the "old" WMAL and did the news for Harden and Weaver for a time. As an old hand who spent more than a few years sweating the details of morning ratings, it's obvious that what WMAL is failing at is making it easy for an audience to listen. By that I refer to your mention of time/temp/traffic/news, aka "service features", that anchor a listener's experience with the station and increase comfort level and habit. Just shouting invective is not much of a programming strategy, however satisfying it might be for the shouter. Radio is, at its heart, an entertainment medium, not a broadsheet. (5/11/10) AM Drive on WMAL is just unlistenable now. Not completely because "it's Chris Plante", but it just became too damned angry. It is very unpleasant to wake up already stressed out about the day ahead, but just one quarter-hour into the WMAL morning program and I've got veins popping out of my veins. I'm all for intelligent debate and discourse on the happenings of the day, but Citadel has elevated Hate Radio to a new degree, and a full five hours before it can consciously be welcomed and assimilated into my frame of thinking. I may start listening to that low-power TV/FM Spanish station at the base of the FM band; I don't understand a word of it, but they sound like they are having a great time. (5/11/10) WETA got some good news last night when the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS-NCCB) announced the nominees for the National Capital Emmys -- WETA received three nominations for Washington in the '60s, our show about an unforgettable decade in this region. The Emmys will be announced at The 52nd EMMY Awards on Saturday, June 5, where NATAS-NCCB will also present two special awards affiliated with WETA -- Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal will receive the 2010 Board of Governors Award and WETA Studio Supervisor and Technician Glynda Bates will be inducted into the prestigious Silver Circle. (5/11/10) I knew that Jerry Klein was back at 630 WMAL (I listen to Fowler's show every Sat. morning), but he's obviously behind the scenes. He needs to be placed in more of a decision-making role at the station. He was one of the best assistant program directors a few years ago -- he's clearly objective, a 'thinker', analyzes a situation first without jumping to conclusions, and has a great sense of humor. He also needs to be on-air more often and, as I've stated many times before, should be on-air with Chris Plante and re-start what was once known as "The Chris Plante & Jerry Klein Show". If anyone can efficiently and successfully challenge The Planteman, it is Klein. -Silvie- (5/11/10) I sure hope the Maryland Terrapins do bail on !06.7The Fan. WJFK has treated the Terps like crap imo. They moved a lot of games over to 94.7 to make way for the lowly Zards. Hey who signed up first and who's probably way more popular at this point WJFK? And now with the Hokies signing probably pushes the Terps another rung down the ladder by the lowlifes at WJFK. Hey how about this, Maryland Terrapins return to WMAL?! Yeah, baby, bring back yesterday! (5/11/10) Silvie - Jerry Klein has been back at WMAL for a number of months now, but in a more behind the scenes role. Every now & then the man Limbaugh called WMAL's "Favorite Pet Liberal" pops up to challenge Rick Fowler on the 'Saturday Morning Update'. Jerry is the kind of pro Drew Hayes should turn to for the day-to-day details when Hayes is in Chi-town. I have a feeling the deck chairs may still be moved around on the S.S. WMAL & perhaps even the addition of a new sister ship on 105.9FM by summer's end. (5/11/10) Part of a true conversation; "Can you tell me, what's the difference between 'spread' and 'redistribute?'" -Paul Duckworth. "Do you own a dictionary or speak English?" listener calling to complain. All the best to you, Mr. Duckworth, and thanks for the memories..... (5/11/10) Poor WMAL! It was already going into the crapper, with the placement of Chris Plante into morning drive - and now the programming decisions are being phoned-in out of Chicago. What was once a legendary DC radio station has been diminished to a lowly state that's hard to even comprehend. Sadly, what it has become is the broadcast equivalent of the Washington Monument being converted into one of those carnival rides with little airplanes on cables, circling around it. (5/11/10) CLEAR CHANNEL SALES REPS ARE FED UP WITH NON-COMPETES! CC-sales department is tired of being held prisoners by their non-competes that they were forced to sign as a condition of employment. Inside sources say, that local sales managers want to do away with non-competes arguing that "if the company and stations are so great than employees will want to work their instead of being forced too!" Market Manager "Heartless" Adkins insists on non-competes, fearing that the entire sales staff would quit and go to the competition! CC non-competes are so unfair to the employees, that even if you are terminated you still have to sit out for six months. Will non-competes really hold up in court??? (5/11/10) Be careful Dave. Sarah Palin does have more government experience than Obama, and Kagan combined. Unlike either of those two clowns, she has significant time in the real world, in business. Palin two years as a professional journalist, which while not much, you can't really say you have either. It is interesting to note, as might be expected of her liberal bias and lack of any real world business experience, that Kagan's grand scheme of nearly free tuition to HLS in return for a promise to persue legal social work has now been unfunded at Harvard, because, drum roll please, it is not economically viable. Business has much to fear from her tenure on the court, if she attains such. There is also ample reason to be concerned about her agenda, as she is the first Dean of the HLS to refuse the Royall chair, having done so without explanation, and having appointed herself a different chair instead. From the comments of others, who seem to know her well, she is quite the man hater, and so full of venom that she would not even take a prominent chair named after a man. Nice. Obama has truly proposed a Trojan horse for SCOTUS. (5/11/10) Dave's response: I was a "professional journalist" for eight years, before I jumped into the freelance writing thingo. That's four times (!) more experience than Palin has. Maybe I should try to get Fox News to hire me so that I can run for president..... I insist to this day and will continue to believe deep in my heart that Paul Duckworth did a phenomenal job at 630 WMAL during his tenure. He was at the helm when Grandy & Andy won their Marconi Award, and, along with former station manager Chris Berry, he brought in an unknown former CNN Pentagon correspondent to a dead-air evening slot back in June 2006. Although I'm the first to admit that moving Chris Plante to mid-mornings would change who he really is, he's still there for now and we Plante Fans are living with these developments on a "day to day" basis [refer to the "Bring Back Grandy & Andy to 630 WMAL" page on Facebook for more rants & innuendo]. We ar ealso pleased with Bryan Nehman and continue to support him at WMAL. I have a feeling that Mr. Hayes will change things around in the mornings once again, thus shuffling our guy around like a deck of cards. Hang in there, Plante! Now, if someone could just bring back Jerry Klein so that he can help clean up this situation. All the best to you, Mr. Duckworth, and thanks for the memories..... - Silvie- (5/11/10) /\ May 11 Messages /\ Jump to the Mailbag Archive Index.....