 Contents - Contact Us - News Tips - News Archive - Mailbag - Rants - Support DCRTV About DCRTV - RSS - NYC/Philadelphia - Boston/Hartford/Providence - DCRTV Plus Dave's Cable Page - Station List - Twitter - Facebook - Classifieds - Advertise On DCRTV Voice Marketplace - Show & Personality Marketplace - Coming Soon: Editorial Services Snyder Addresses His Troops On His Radioer - 7/29 -  On the first day of training camp, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder (right) sat down for about a four-minute interview with Redskins employees Larry Michael and Larry Weisman on the Snyder-controlled ESPN 980. The DC Sports Bog has more.....Private Screening For "DC Housewives" - 7/29 - Bethesda's Half Yard Productions has sent "non-transferable" invitations to elite members of the press for the August 5th "private" screening of "Real Housewives Of DC," which it produced for NBC's Bravo..... "MTP" Stays 1st - 7/29 - NBC's "Meet The Press" stays atop the heap of Washington political talkers last Sunday. More from TVNewser..... 5's Katy Adams To Examiner - 7/29 - Katy Adams jumps from Channel 5/WTTG to the Washington Examiner, where she'll co-write the "Yays And Nays" gossip column with Nikki Schwab. Adams replaces Tara Palmeri, who recently jumped to the New York Post's "Page Six" gossip column..... ESPN-3D To Debut College Football Sked At FedEx Field - 7/29 - ESPN plans to broadcast 13 college football games in stereoscopic 3D on its new ESPN-3D network this fall. The 3D coverage, which is being sponsored by Sony, will begin on September 6 (Labor Day) with Boise State facing Virginia Tech at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. Comcast carries ESPN-3D on channel 980. You'll need an expensive 3D capable TV, a later-model HD-digital cable box, and, of course, special glasses to get the full visual effect..... Clearwire Does WiMax Deal With Best Buy - 7/29 - WiMax provider Clearwire has signed a reseller deal with electronics retailer Best Buy - the first wholesale distribution agreement for Clearwire outside of its strategic investors, which include Comcast and Time Warner Cable. The Minneapolis-based retailer will offer Clearwire's 4G network services through its Best Buy Connect LLC subsidiary. Beginning in 2011, Best Buy Connect will add a new 4G tier powered by the Clearwire network in "dozens" of cities. Expected pricing and other details were not announced. Multichannel News has more..... Former 4 ND To Head NBC LA TVer - 7/29 - Vickie Burns, formerly news director of NBC's Channel 4/WRC, gets named president and general manager of NBC's LA TVer, KNBC. For the past 15 months, since leaving WRC, she's been vice president of local media content and audience development for NBC's NYC TVer, WNBC..... Madison Makes Talkers List - 7/29 -  DC-based radio talk show host Joe Madison (right), heard on WOL and Sirius XM, has been listed in Talkers magazine's 20th anniversary issue among "The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts Of All Time." "It's an honor to be listed among the famous and infamous in this industry. I just hope my God, wife, children and country are proud of me, and in that order," he tells the Redding News Review. Other DCers making the list: Arthur Godfrey, Laura Ingraham, Jim Bohannon, Mark Levin, G. Gordon Liddy, Bob Edwards, and Diane Rehm.....Will TBD Really Be Blogger Friendly? - 7/29 -  Rant. Will Allbritton's new TBD.com local news website abuse bloggers like a lot of other sites do? Here's what happens at a lot of other sites like Huffington Post and Mediaite that rely heavily on third-party sites, often blogger-type sites, for their news. They put up a link on their front page which takes you to another page (!) on their site that summarizes the story that they "appropriated" from the blogger. This page features ads, comments, and, yes, an obligatory link - sometimes just some highlighted story text - to the original piece. But, there's almost no need for most readers to click a third time (!) to the site where the story originated. So, basically, they "take" your story and keep the traffic on their site. You get some credit and maybe a little extra traffic. And, of course, no payment for your hard work. Let's hope that the TBD model is more "blogger friendly" than most of what's out there. More Rants.....Amanpour To Keep NYC Pad Despite DC Gig - 7/29 - Back a few months ago when she accepted the job to host ABC's DC-based Sunday talker "This Week," Christiane Amanpour said that she'd be keeping her NYC home. Now, the DC Post confirms that she "will commute from Manhattan for the time being"..... DCRTV Plus: Keeping Local Media Memories Alive - 7/29 -  Due to popular demand, we're extending our $29 for two years DCRTV membership special until the end of July. Sign up, renew, or extend your membership right now for way less than the regular $39 for one year rate. Click here. This offer will NOT be extended past the end of July! DCRTV Plus is loaded with local radio and TV memories, tribute pages, tech specs, audio/video clips, classic jingles, station histories, and more. Check out this 1940s memory of WTOP radio (right) in DCRTV Plus Photo Gallery 41. Just opened: Four more DCRTV Plus Photo Galleries - 61 through 64. With memories of Paul Berry, Tim Brant, Arch Campbell, Bob Ryan, Martin Agronsky, Jim Vance, Jackson Bain, Vince Bagli, and much more.....CSPAN Radio By Phone - 7/28 - You can now listen to DC-based CSPAN Radio, WCSP (90.1 FM), via any telephone. In a partnership with AudioNow, you can hear the station's live public affairs talk programming by dialing 202-626-8888..... Revenue Up For Comcast - 7/28 - Those recent rate hikes you've been hit with have been good news for area cable TV giant Comcast, which kicked off the second-quarter earnings season Wednesday by reporting strong results - revenue and cash flow were up about 6% each. Multichannel News has more..... PBS, WETA Defend Cut Of McCartney's Anti-Bush Remark - 7/28 -   From Fox News: Despite the furor over former Beatle Paul McCartney's jab at former President George W. Bush last month following a taped performance at the White House, Arlington-based PBS has decided to let it be and drop the footage from its broadcast on Wednesday. In June, McCartney mocked Bush's intellect after receiving the Gershwin Prize from the Library Of Congress, saying "after the last eight years, it's great to have a president who knows what a library is." PBS defended cutting the comment, saying it came after the program concluded when President Obama appeared to have already left the room. "It wasn't even in the body of the show so no, it wasn't difficult" to cut, said Mary Stewart, vice president for external affairs for PBS DC affiliate WETA, which produced the program.....WaPo Fails To Credit Salon In Arlington Cem Scandal - 7/28 - Salon editor Joan Walsh slams the Washington Post for not giving enough credit to Salon's breaking the story of the Arlington National Cemetery scandal. Walsh says that the Post's reporting "insults readers by ignoring Salon stories, which provide news/context for Arlington scandal." Mediaite has more..... Conn To Mornings? More Changes At 105.7? - 7/28 -  There are rumblings that CBS Radio in Baltimore might move Jeremy Conn from afternoons with Scott Garceau to mornings on sports talker WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan. To join new morning co-host Steve Davis, who is currently paired with old morning man Ed Norris. There are rumblings that Norris could be cut loose when his contract expires later this year. And, we're also told, former WNSTer Bob Haney is being eyed as Garceau's new partner, filling the seat of Anita Marks, whose contract was not renewed back in January.....More: Nats TV Ratings Way Up - 7/28 - Jim Williams at washingtonexaminer.com looks at the "staggering" 140% MASN TV ratings hike for the Washington Nationals and wonders if rookie star pitcher Stephen Strasburg deserves all the credit..... ESPNer Does CapHill In Cocktail Dress - 7/28 - From NewsBlues: ESPN's Erin Andrews, wearing a stylish black sleeveless cocktail dress and a $3,800-Rolex, was paraded through Washington yesterday by politicians sponsoring anti-stalking legislation. "I had no idea just how serious this crime was until it affected my life," she actually said. Comments NewsBlues editor Mike James: "We believe she meant the crime of stalking and not the crime of giving blondes microphones and putting them on the sidelines of college football games"..... John King's Sinking Ratings - 7/28 - The ratings for John King's new 7 PM DC-based CNN show are down 42%. The LA Times has more..... Mock Leaves Hagtown Suns' Radio Job - 7/28 - Ryan Mock leaves his gig as the radio voice and director of media relations for the Hagerstown Suns minor league baseball team. Dave Vatz, the team's assistant director of media relations, will fill in this weekend, with Brian Holland taking over as the voice of the Suns on Monday. The Suns air on adult standards WJEJ. More from the Hagerstown Herald-Mail..... FCC Starts Consumer Site - 7/28 - The Federal Communications Commission launches a new consumer-friendly site for information on rulemakings and to file complaints and comments. It's at comcast.com. Oh, wait, the Comcast takeover of the FCC hasn't officially happened yet. Until then, the new site is at fcc.gov/consumers...... Breathing Room For Radio One In Credit Crunch - 7/28 - From Tom Taylor's Wednesday TRI radio biz newsletter: Lanham-based urban radio giant Radio One's stock shot up nearly 30%, even after news of a default to lenders. Shares of "ROIA" climbed up 28 cents to $1.24 yesterday. But CEO Alfred Liggins must convince the last few debtholders who've been hanging back to exchange their notes coming due in 2011 and 2013 for new notes due in 2016. They're at close to 90% acceptance of the tender. But August 13 is when a just-reached "forbearance agreement" with a lender group led by Wells Fargo expires. Not only is Radio One in default under its senior loan covenant, it also failed to "provide written notice of such default." Wells Fargo inherited the lead lender position held by Wachovia, and it and the others in the senior credit facility did agree to that "forbearance agreement" that gives Radio One some breathing room - but at a cost. As of July 1, Radio One is now paying interest at the "default rate," another 2% on top of the usual payment. Locally, Radio One owns WKYS, WMMJ, WERQ, WWIN-FM/AM, WPRS, WYCB, WOL, and WOLB..... Maria Dennis To Do Regis & Kelly - 7/28 - DCRTV hears that Maria Dennis, who does middays at CBS's WWMX, Mix 106.5 in Baltimore, and fill-in work at CBS's WIAD, 94.7 Fresh FM in DC, has made the finals to co-host with morning TVers Regis and Kelly in the show's "female radio co-host for a day" contest. More soon..... Weigel To Slate - 7/27 - Righty blogger David Weigel, who wasn't really a righty and who resigned from the Washington Post last month after the Journolist listserv leaked-message controversy, joins the Post's Slate website as a political reporter. More from Yahoo..... NC8 Yanks "WBT" As TBD Launch Nears - 7/27 - The DC Biz Journal reports that big changes are coming as Allbritton-owned cable channel NewsChannel 8 begins its transformation into the new online-television hyperlocal hybrid known as TBD.com. One of the first moves is the end of the half-hour daily business show "Washington Business Tonight." The program's 7 PM slot will be filled by other programming on a temporary basis. Also, don't mistake the programming changes as the relaunch. These shifts in formats and programming are gradually "bridging the gap" between now and the official launch of TBD.com, which will happen simultaneously on the website and television, according to TBD.com VP President Of Cable News Steve Chaggaris. "What our schedule looks like today is not what our schedule will look like when we launch," Chaggaris said. No word yet on the official relaunch date, but look for it sometime within the next few weeks..... "Dishonesty" Could Throw Trib B'ruptcy Into Chaos - 7/27 - An examiner probing Sam Zell's buyout of the Tribune Company in late 2007 has found evidence of "dishonesty" in the deal's latter stages, a conclusion that could throw the company's 20-month-old bankruptcy case into turmoil. Kenneth Klee, appointed by the US Bankruptcy Court to review the Tribune deal, said in a report submitted late today that fraud may have occurred in late 2007. That's when the Chicago-based Tribune finalized $3.6 billion in financing to complete the $8.2 billion acquisition that came overwhelmingly from debt. The Chicago Sun-Times has more. Locally, Tribune owns the Baltimore Sun and Channel 50/WDCW..... WWIN-FM Tops Balto Radio Heap - 7/27 - The Baltimore Portable People Meter radio ratings for the second week of July, full-week, age 12+: 1) WWIN-FM, 2) WLIF, 3) WPOC, 4) WERQ, 5) WWMX, 6) WQSR, 7) WZFT and WIYY, 9) WRBS-FM, 10) WZBA, 11) WBAL-AM, 12) WCBM, 13) WYPR, 14) WJZ-FM, 15) WPGC, 16) WKYS and WWDC and WBIG, 19) WCAO, 20) WRQX and WHUR and WIHT and WEAA..... NBC Newsers Do "Top Chef" For NBC's Bravo - 7/27 - Luke Russert, Mika Brzezinshi, and Joe Scarborough of NBC's MSNBC, as well as NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, Matt Cooper, and Savannah Guthrie will all be featured on NBC-owned Bravo's "Top Chef" Wednesday night at 9, which was filmed at Washington's Palm restaurant..... More On McKelway: "Fired" - 7/27 -  NewsBlues is reporting today that "a handful of insiders" claim that Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8 anchor/reporter Doug McKelway (left) "was fired on Friday after a showdown with Station Manager Bill Lord over on-air comments about the BP oil spill's impact on US energy policy legislation." DCRTV broke the news on Friday that McKelway had been benched "temporarily" because of comments he made Thursday that didn't sit well with Allbritton management. "WJLA isn't talking, and (the mainstream media) has largely ignored the internal brouhaha," NewsBlues adds.....Country WFRE, WUSQ, WAYZ Top Their Markets - 7/27 - More spring regional radio ratings. Country WFRE tops Frederick, country WUSQ tops Winchester, and country WAYZ tops Hagerstown..... Geico Top DC Spot Advertiser - 7/27 - From Tom Taylor's Tuesday TRI Newsletter: Who's #1 in Washington DC? Advertiser-wise it's Geico, says Media Monitors, whose latest research puts Geico at the top of the radio Spot Ten chart for the last couple of weeks. It's followed by Home Depot, University Of Maryland University College, SafeLite Autoglass, PNC Financial Services, Jiffy Lube, Honda, the HD Radio Alliance, McDonald's, and the Wolf Trap performing arts center..... Get Ready For Pepco "We're Sorry" Ads - 7/27 - Rant. The Washington Post, WTOP, and DC TVers must love all these companies responsible for oil spills and wildly accelerating cars because they buy loads of "apology" ads. You've seen them. Those daily full-pagers in the Post where BP touts how wonderful it is and how it's oh soooooo busy cleaning up the oily goo in the Gulf. Or those TV spots all over 4, 5, 7, and 9 where Toyota tells us how its soooooo focused on safety, spending something like $1 million a minute to protect "you." Awwwwww. Well, in light of all these "we're sorry" ad blitzes, I was surprised when I didn't see a like ad from Pepco in the Post this morning. A la: We're soooooo sorry that it'll take a week or so to get your power back on after that 20-minute thunderstorm front on Sunday. And I wonder how much extra money media outlets make from companies engaged in PR related "apology" blitzes. It's got to be a lot. I just bet that the Post is lusting after those potential Pepco "we're sorry" ad dollars. Maybe we'll see a full pager tomorrow - and well into next week. More Rants.....Many Cablers Fear Comcast-NBC Merger At Balto Confab - 7/27 - Talking to a roomful of small and medium-sized cable operators, American Cable Association Chairman Steve Friedman said it was time for the discrimination against smaller operators to stop, including arguing that a Comcast/NBC Universal merger has more clout "than any one company deserves." In a speech at a Washington policy update session here at the Independent Show in Baltimore, Friedman said that whether the issue is network neutrality, retransmission-consent reform, broadband reclassification, or the Comcast-NBCU merger, the problem boils down to big versus small. More from Multichannel News..... Jeremy Jacobs To Hotline - 7/27 - Jeremy Jacobs joins Hotline as editor of its popular blog Hotline On Call. Jacobs comes from Campaigns And Elections magazine, where he wrote features on campaign finance law. He has also worked for the Hill newspaper, where he wrote about US House races and contributed to its Blog Briefing Room..... Nats Ratings Up On MASN - 7/26 -  The Nationals have climbed out of the local TV cellar for the first time since the team moved to Washington in 2005. According to Sports Business Journal, which examines baseball ratings on regional sports networks across the nation, the Nats are up 139 percent on MASN and MASN2. Most of the Nats ratings gains can be attributed to the emergence of rookie pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg, whose games are among MASN's highest rated. The Nationals are averaging 31,000 households per telecast, which moved them out of last place in total audience. Just two years ago, Washington finished the 2008 season by averaging just 8,000 households a game, and it was easily the least-viewed team in the MLB. But MASN executives say the increase is fueled by more than just the addition of Strasburg, who joined the team in June. A quick start by the team helped the Nats show significant ratings increases before Strasburg joined the parent club, and MASN executives say the team would have climbed out of last place even without including Strasburg's games. MASN/MASN2 also carries the Baltimore Orioles and that team's TV ratings are up about 10 percent this year.....Former WRCer Leah Siegel Dies - 7/26 - Leah Siegel, an ESPN producer and Dallas mother of three whose two-year struggle with breast cancer inspired many thousands, died early Monday. She was 43. Siegel grew up in Washington DC, attending Maret High School, was graduated from the University Of Maryland. She began her career at Channel 4/WRC. We're told that she's the daughter of long-time sportswriter Mo Siegel. More at dallasnews.com..... Hicks To Host Middays On MMJ - 7/26 -  Radio One's urban adult contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3, names Courtney Hicks (right) as the host of the 10 AM to 3 PM Monday through Saturday slot. She's worked at radio stations in Chicago, Detroit, and, most recently, Mobile, Alabama.....TOP Tops DC Radio Heap Again - 7/26 -  The Washington Portable People Meter radio ratings for the second week of July, full-week, age 12+: 1) WTOP [1st both drivetimes], 2) WMMJ [Joyner 2nd], 3) WIHT [Kane 6th], 4) WASH [L&L 5th], 5) WAMU, 6) WHUR [Harvey 3rd], 7) WMZQ, 8) WLZL [Biagi 15th], 9) WBIG and WPGC [BT 17th] and WPRS, 12) WETA-FM, 13) WKYS, 14) WRQX [Diamond 10th], 15) WWDC [Elliot 15th], 16) WMAL [GG 10th, Rush 14th, Hannity 18th] and WVRX and WIAD, 19) WJFK [Junks 12th, Wise 20th, Arrington 19th], 20) WTEM [M&M 20tyh, Korny 19th, Czaban 20th], 21) WGTS, 22) WINC-FM and WBQB and WFLS, 25) WWEG, 26) WPFW, 27) WAVA-FM and WFRE and WERQ, 30) WFED, 31) WDCN, 32) WGRQ and WJYJ and WIYY and WILC and WAFY and WQSR and WXTR, 39) WSMD and WGRX and WOL and WNYC and WWRC and WBQH, 45) WHYY and WZBA and WLIF and WWGB and WZFT and WWMX and WPOC and WRNR-FM and WBJC and WKIK and WYCB and WKTU and WWIN-FM and WTNT and WWUZ and WRBS-FM and WXRK and WAFX and WACA and WSKQ.....WikiLeaks Leak Shakes Washington - 7/26 - A trove of military documents made public on Sunday by WikiLeaks reflects deep suspicions among American officials that Pakistan's military spy service has for years guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants. The NY Times and the Washington Post have more..... Walters To Interview Obama - 7/26 - President Obama will be the featured guest on ABC's "The View" on Thursday, July 29. The occasion is the first time a sitting president has visited the show. It will also mark the return of Barbara Walters to the program. Walters underwent successful heart valve replacement surgery in May, but was not scheduled to return to the show until September. However, she will make an exception to in order to interview Obama. More from B&C..... Taylor West To Nat'l Journal Group - 7/26 - Taylor West joins Atlantic Media as communications director for the National Journal Group, handling strategic communications and media relations for all National Journal publications, including National Journal, the Hotline, Congress Daily, the Almanac Of American Politics, National Journal Live, and Global Security Newswire. West is a veteran of campaign communications and strategic messaging, coming from New Partners, a Washington-based public affairs consulting firm..... Ombud Backs WaPo Security Series - 7/25 - Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander says that his paper's series last week on the burgeoning "top secret" national security bureaucracy in the Washington area and nationwide since 9/11 did not expose too much security-sensitive information and backs the decision to publish it. At washingtonpost.com..... Oldies For 730? - 7/24 - DCRTV has heard rumblings about a format change coming to Spanish sports talker WXTR, 730 AM. As of midday Saturday, the Red Zebra-owned station was airing Anglo pop and soul oldies. We're told that it's calling itself "Non-Stop Classic Hits, XTRA-AM." Update: As of Saturday evening, it was back to Spanish sports. Stay tuned..... McKelway Off JLA, NC8 - 7/23 - Updated. A source tells DCRTV that news anchor Doug McKelway (left) has been at least temporarily pulled off Channel 7/WJLA and sister NewsChannel 8. We're told that he made some personal comments on-air yesterday regarding a local protest about the Gulf Of Mexico BP oil spill that didn't sit well with the Allbritton stations' management, as well as some e-mails he allegedly sent to other WJLA-NC8 employees after Thursday's dust-up. DCRTV gets confirmation that McKelway had been taken off the air after incorporating some comments in the WJLA report about the spill's impact on US energy policy legislation. And that led to a coverage dispute with WJLA station manager Bill Lord, who is in charge of the ABC affiliate's news output. Allbritton also owns the Politico Capitol Hill newspaper/website, which is heavily dependent on advertising from energy policy lobbying groups.....Hot 99.5 Promo Slammed By Gulf Coast Pols - 7/23 - A Hot 99.5 contest promotion for an "oil free" cruise to Bermuda is drawing criticism from politicians and businesses on the Gulf Coast saying it spreads "misinformation" and "reinforces the widely believed idea that oil is everywhere." More from foxnews.com..... Daniel Schorr Dies - 7/23 - Daniel Schorr, a combative broadcast reporter who over six decades broke major national stories while also provoking presidents, foreign leaders, the KGB, CIA, and his bosses at both CBS and CNN, died Friday morning at Georgetown University Hospital. He was 93. No specific cause of death was reported. Mr. Schorr, a senior news analyst with National Public Radio for the past 25 years, was one of only a handful of reporters with firsthand knowledge of newsmakers from the 1950s through the 2000s. Recruited to CBS by the legendary Edward Murrow in 1953, he had the first televised interview with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and won three Emmy Awards for his coverage of the Watergate scandal. More at washingtonpost.com..... Edwards & Dark Join WTTR - 7/23 - Oldies WTTR (1470 AM) in Westminster adds local radio veteran Jack Edwards for the 9 AM to noon shift. He started on July 19th. With another vet, Johnny Dark, to handle the noon to 3 PM shift. He'll start on August 2. Both Edwards and Dark rose to prominence in the 1960s at legendary Baltimore "top 40" outlet Big 60, WCAO. Saturdays now feature Betsy Santos from 6 AM to 10 AM. She's followed by Joe Evelius from 10 AM to 3 PM. The former Saturday morning shows get moved to Sunday mornings. WTTR is owned by "Wheel Of Fortune" host Pat Sajak..... Grandy Says Adios To Wog - 7/23 - Today, WMAL morning man Fred Grandy bid farewell to his show producer Ann Wog, who survived many incarnations of old 630's wake-up programs. As DCRTV has told you, she's heading to Boston talk radioer WTKK to a show producer gig..... More: Comcast Doesn't Care - 7/23 - Rant. Last week, I wrote about a friend who moved to a new apartment in Reston but couldn't get TV. Comcast turned her down because she owed a previous balance during a period of recessionary unemployment. She was on the wrong side of the building for satellite and had no luck with digital TV reception in her place. Well, as fate would have it, she found a note on her door Wednesday from the complex's management that Verizon will soon be wiring her building for Fios. She's looking forward to TV again, and, even with a nice income from her new job, she says she will never forget how Comcast treated her during her period of temporary employment difficulties - like a deadbeat. Way to go, Comcast! More Rants and more about Comcast at Dave's Cable Page.....Kurtz: Journolisters "Cagey Political Operatives" - 7/23 - Howard Kurtz has more at washingtonpost.com on the public publication of more of those reporters' private messages, largely critical of righty political figures, on that now-closed Journolist listserv: "None of this quite adds up to a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, and there is no reason to believe that some conservative commentators don't have similar discussions. But there is no escaping the fact that some of the list's liberal literati come off sounding like cagey political operatives"..... No Copy Editors At TBD - 7/23 -  From Richard Prince's Journal-isms: "In Washington... the deep-pocketed Robert Allbritton, whose company funds Politico as well as the local ABC affiliate and an all-news cable outlet, is preparing to launch a hyperlocal website, TBD, led by General Manager James M. Brady, formerly executive editor of washingtonpost.com, and Erik Wemple, former editor of the Washington City Paper. "TBD at its inception will employ no editors whose sole function is copy editing," Wemple told Journal-isms by e-mail on Wednesday, speaking of those once called "the last line of defense... We screened our editors for copy skills by administering a copy-editing test to each one. Those whom we hired did quite well on it. We'll rely heavily on those skills from the start, but as with any web-first or web-only operation, we'll need our reporters to deliver clean copy in every blog post and article. Would we prefer to have a squadron of copy editors? No doubt. Faced with a choice between hiring copy editors or reporters, though, we went with the latter. We'll leave it to you and others to judge how smart an idea that was".....Unification Church Head Responds To Unsigned Blog Post About WashTimes - 7/23 - Unification Church leaders say a blog post from "UCI" attempts "to shift blame and seize the moral high ground in advance of their possible closure or sale of the Washington Times." The letter-signers write: "As a result, we are taking this unusual step of setting the record straight so that all church members will understand the wishes of the Founder ...(who) is committed to supporting this great newspaper, (so) that it can continue its original mission of playing a key role in America and throughout the world as a vehicle for journalistic excellence in the protection of democratic and moral principles." More from poynter.org..... Tapper Talks About End Of "This Week" Run - 7/23 - This Sunday marks ABC News' White House correspondent Jake Tapper's last appearance as host of "This Week." In the wake of George Stephanopoulos' move from the Sunday show to "Good Morning America," Tapper was named interim host. Former CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour will fill the role permanently starting August 1. Politico checked in with Tapper to see how he felt about his guest-hosting gig, and what's in his immediate future..... Joynt To Do Grandy's Group - 7/23 - Washington media veteran Carol Joynt, who hosts the "Q&A Cafe" of local media celebs and newsmakers, guests again with WMAL's "Grandy Group" on Monday at about 8:30 AM..... O'Meara & Podcast Team Visit Iowa's KCJJ - 7/23 - New 105.9 The Edge morning man Mike O'Meara jets out to Iowa to do some guest starring on KCJJ radio, which is an affiliate of his daily one-hour mikeomearashow.com podcast, which he's been doing since December. O'Meara will do KCJJ's Friday morning show, with his Friday podcast being done from KCJJ at 1 PM ET. Check it out at www.ustream.com/channel/kcjj-raw. You can also catch Robb Spewak's weekly Friday KCJJ show at 2 PM ET on the Ustream link. On Friday night, O'Meara and his podcast team will be in Iowa City for an arts fundraiser. On Saturday, they'll be doing a bar crawl from noon to 8 PM..... Salahis Won't Dominate "Real Housewives" - 7/23 - Lisa de Moraes at washingtonpost.com tells us that the State Dinner crash couple, the over-publicity-seeking Salahis, will not totally dominate Bravo's new "Real Housewives Of DC"..... New Classified Ads - 7/23 - WYPR in Baltimore is looking for a producer for "Maryland Morning With Sheilah Kast." Also, Centennial in Winchester is looking for an assistant engineer and a promotions coordinator. Those are the latest DCRTV Classified Ads. For just $25 you can reach many thousands of movers and shakers..... Amanpour To Do Fall NAB Show - 7/22 - CNN-to-ABCer Christiane Amanpour will conduct a newsmaker Q&A at the fall National Association Of Broadcasters confab here in DC on October 1. She takes the "This Week" host chair on August 1..... Comcast-NBC Might Have To Sell 4 - 7/22 -  Comcast may have to sell some NBC television stations - including DC's Channel 4/WRC - to get US government approval for buying General Electric's NBC Universal. According to Bloomberg, these are among the remedies the Federal Communications Commission or the Justice Department may require to ease fears about keeping television markets competitive following the $28 billion deal, antitrust analysts said. Comcast, the largest US cable operator, would get control of the NBC television network and broadcast stations, plus its Comcast SportsNet sports networks, in Washington, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, six of the biggest US television markets. Comcast also would acquire NBC's national cable networks, including Bravo, USA Network, MSNBC, and CNBC, and national sports and Olympic Games programming. DCRTV wonders: If WRC got put on the market, who would buy? Neither CBS or ABC owns its affiliated stations (WUSA and WJLA, respectively) in the DC market. We could see an ABC4, with Allbritton's WJLA 7 becoming an NBC affiliate. Or a CBS4 with Gannett's WUSA 9 airing NBC programming.....Comcast-NBC Merger Could Be Unfair Pairing - 7/22 - Documents from Comcast and from NBC Universal show the two have every intention of leveraging their combined market power to the detriment of their competitors should they be allowed to merge, according to the American Cable Association. According to CED Magazine, the ACA said it has reviewed the documents the two companies have filed with the FCC, and it asserts that the plans of Comcast and NBC Universal are actually worse than the ACA initially feared. It renewed its demands that an approval of the merger be contingent upon the imposition of strong conditions..... Tribune Ups Kapugi - 7/22 - Jeff Kapugi, who was the operations manager of Clear Channel's Hot 99.5 until 2008 when he left for Tribune Interactive, becomes the Chicago-based firm's chief operations officer. He'll be responsible for the company's publishing, broadcasting, and interactive websites. Most recently, he'd served as senior vice president of representation for Tribune Interactive. Kapugi spent almost 20 years with Clear Channel and its predecessor Jacor, including many years in DC and Baltimore. Locally, Tribune owns the Baltimore Sun and Channel 50/WDCW..... Loudoun Independent Now "Indie" - 7/22 - The Loudoun Independent has re-named and re-branded itself. The paper is now known as the Indie and, according to its website, will include an investigative and entertaining look at the area's top news and entertainment stories. After an unannounced break from publishing the paper last week, the new Indie is set to be delivered on Friday. In June, Peter Arundel, president and CEO of Times Community News, announced that Loudoun County's two largest newspapers - the Loudoun-Times Mirror and the Loudoun Independent - were merging their online and print operations to create a unique multimedia offering to serve Loudoun residents and advertisers. After the merger, several staffers from the Independent were either let go or left - including the paper's publisher. No word on whether the re-named paper will be delivered to mailboxes, as it had been in the past, or thrown in the driveway like the Loudoun Times Mirror. More at loudouni.com..... Dibble Unfazed By GQ Slam - 7/22 - GQ magazine says MASN's Nationals broadcaster Rob Dibble is one of baseball's worst. Ask him if he cares. Dave McKenna has more at washingtoncitypaper.com..... PGC's Anji Corley Is Regis Semi-Finalist - 7/22 -  WPGC (95.5 FM) midday personality Anji Corley (right) made it to the semi-finals for the "Live With Regis And Kelly" Women In Radio Co-Host For A Day Contest. "She's the only urban personality in the DMV to make the cut," a PGCer tells us. Ten finalists will be announced during their show Monday, August 9th, and viewers will then vote via liveregisandkelly.com.During the week of August 17th, the top four nominees will co-host with Regis, who is seen locally on Channel 7/ WJLA and Channel 11/WBAL. More at wpgc.radio.com.....Chris Russell Jumps From JFK To TEM - 7/22 - Chris Russell announces on his Facebook page that he's leaving CBS Radio sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, for Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra-owned rival WTEM, ESPN 980. "I am proud, honored, and excited to announce that I will be joining ESPN 980 and the Washington Redskins Radio Broadcast Team," he writes on FB. "My duties will include pre, halftime, post, and breaking news/updates during the games with the voice of the Redskins, Larry Michael, and the legendary Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff." Russell, a former Sporting News Radio host, will also be a regular on the afternoon "Sports Reporters" show..... Farley: TOP Spends 35.9% Of Budget On News - 7/22 - From today's edition of Inside Radio: "A story in Tuesday's Inside Radio saying commercial stations don't spend more than 25% of their programming on news content brought a response from all-news WTOP-FM, Washington VP of programming Jim Farley proving the story wasn't entirely correct. The Bonneville-owned station puts 35.9% of its expense budget toward news. Looks like money well-spent. WTOP-FM was the top-ranked station in the market last month and BIA/Kelsey says it was the second-highest billing station in the US last year, pulling in $51 million"..... Kurtz On Sherrod Controversy - 7/22 - Howard Kurtz looks at who's to blame in the news media regarding the racial controversy regarding Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official abruptly fired - and re-hired - this week over a videotape excerpt that turned out to be misleading. At washingtonpost.com. More from David Zurawik at baltimoresun.com..... WHP Leads Harrisburg - 7/22 - Nearby news. News talker WHP (580 AM) tops the Harrisburg radio ratings. More from radio-info.com..... Classifieds Up At Media General - 7/21 - Although Richmond-based Media General posted a net loss in the second quarter of 2010 due to higher interest rates on its debt and other expense-related items, the newspaper publisher and broadcast owner did have positive results that will likely bode well for the rest of the industry. In particular, online classifieds were up nearly 16 percent, suggesting that the pullback in that segment spending is over, at least for now. PaidContent has more. Locally, Media General owns InsideNova.com and Prince William County's News And Messenger newspaper..... Journolist Revelations Don't "Compromise" Politico - 7/21 - Whew! There's nothing in the archives of Journolist - that private listserv of mainly lefty journalists who slam Fox News, Matt Drudge, and Rush Limbaugh that's being made public by largely righty Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller - that "compromises" the Politico. So says editor-in-chief John Harris in Ben Smith's column at politico.com. More: The Daily Caller fails to report that it too was part of Journolist. So reports the Huffington Post. Yet more: At Washington Post, mum's the word on Journolist. So reports Byron York at washingtonexaminer.com..... Positive Sign For Arbitron - 7/21 -  Columbia MD-based radio ratings firm Arbitron sees a rise in revenue for the second quarter of 2010, as the radio advertising marketplace continued to improve. More from FMQB.....Marks To Head MacNeil Lehrer Productions - 7/21 - Simon Marks gets named president of MacNeil Lehrer Productions, replacing Lester Crystal, who recently announced his retirement. Marks has been associate executive producer of the "PBS NewsHour," which is produced at Arlington's WETA. MacNeil Lehrer Productions, a partnership of Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer, and Liberty Media, produces the "PBS NewsHour"..... Josh Kurtz Leaves Roll Call - 7/21 - Josh Kurtz, managing editor of Roll Call, becomes editor-in-charge of environmental news publisher E&E. Katie Smith, RC's deputy managing editor, will replace Kurtz..... Former MAL PD To Dallas - 7/21 - Former WMAL Program Director Paul Duckworth heads to Dallas-Fort Worth to take the PD post at Cumulus talker KLIF-AM. He fills the position that was occupied by Steve Nicholl, who died in May. In April, Duckworth got canned from his second round as PD at Citadel talker WMAL during a period of turbulence with its morning show, which saw the departure of Andy Parks, Fred Grandy walking off the show and threatening to leave, the shift of late morning man Chris Plante to mornings for a few weeks, and the eventual birth of "The Grandy Group" with Grandy and Bryan Nehman. Before WMAL, Duckworth programmed talkers KVI in Seattle and KPAM in Portland, Oregon..... McKenna Errs On Miller - 7/21 - Shame on Dave McKenna, the Washington City Paper writer who freelances concert reviews for the Washington Post. A correction on page A2 of today's Post: "The July 19 Style review of a Jack Johnson concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion misstated the title of a Steve Miller Band song that Johnson performed. The song is called 'The Joker,' not 'Space Cowboy'"..... Virgin Mobile Lineup "Refreshing" - 7/21 - The lineup for theVirgin Mobile FreeFest at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 25 features "the most refreshing line-up in its five-year history," according to the DC Post..... Media Disputes Gitmo Reporting Rules - 7/21 - After nearly a decade of uneasy coexistence at Guantánamo Bay, the Pentagon and the news media are now locked in a dispute that will test how strictly the government can limit what reporters there are allowed to reveal. A coalition of news organizations has demanded that the Pentagon's public affairs office rescind parts of its guidelines for reporting on Guantánamo. The 13-page "Media Policy And Ground Rules" packet, which every reporter who travels to Guantánamo must sign, dictates how photos can be taken, who can be interviewed and even what reporters can write in their notebooks. The NY Times has more..... From Your Webmaster: Thanks - 7/20 - Rant. Last Tuesday, DCRTV's main computer crashed. It was only two years old, but the hard drive and the power supply were simply fried. So, we got out a grunky, slow 2002 backup system and plowed onward. Thanks to the donations from so many wonderful DCRTVers, we managed to get the funds to buy a new system. And we're back up-and-running at full power. As you probably know, DCRTV is a one-man, totally independent operation. And if it wasn't for the very generous support of our visitors and advertisers since 1997 we simply wouldn't be here today. Again, many thanks! Now, full steam ahead with DCRTV's main missions - to cover local media news and to give you a powerful "voice" in the increasingly corporate media environment. And to preserve the wonderful legacy of Washington and Baltimore radio and TV.....More Journolist Leaks - 7/20 - The Daily Caller has another set of leaked e-mails from the now-defunct liberal journalist listserv Journolist, which cost Washington Post righty politics blogger Dave Weigel his job during the initial round of leaks a few weeks ago..... WWIN-FM Tops Balto Radio Heap - 7/20 - The Baltimore radio ratings for the first week of July, full-week, age 12+: 1) WWIN-FM, 2) WLIF, 3) WPOC, 4) WERQ, 5) WZFT, 6) WWMX, 7) WBAL-AM, 8) WRBS-FM and WQSR, 10) WIYY, 11) WCBM, 12) WZBA, 13) WYPR and WPGC, 15) WJZ-FM, 16) WWDC, 17) WRQX, 18) WKYS, 19) WCAO and WTOP-FM, 21) WBJC and WHUR , 23) WHUR and WAMU, 25) WASH and WMAL, 27) WBIG, 28) WGTS and WEAA, 30) WTEM and WMZQ and WXCY and WTMD and WLZL, 35) WRNR-FM, 36) WWIN-AM and WIAD and WJZ-AM, 39) WMMJ and WFRE, 41) WTTR and WOLB..... CSN Launches Baltimore Sports Site - 7/20 -  DCRTV tipped you last week. And now the formal kick-off announcement from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic regarding today's launch of CSNbaltimore.com, in advance of the Baltimore Ravens 2010 training camp. The new site provides exclusive Baltimore-area sports coverage featuring the Ravens, Orioles, and the University Of Maryland Terrapins. Newly-hired CSNbaltimore.com lead writer John Eisenberg, a veteran Baltimore sportswriter, serves as the site's "Ravens Insider," while also contributing to coverage of the Orioles and other local teams. Eisenberg is an award-winning former columnist for the Baltimore Sun. Through an exclusive content-development partnership with PressBox, the Baltimore-based sports media company, CSNbaltimore.com features original content from a variety of local sports experts. PressBox's local writers who will regularly contribute to the site include Stan Charles, Joe Platania, and Pete Kerzel. Plus, video content from Comcast SportsNet Baltimore correspondent and area native Brent Harris.
CSNbaltimore.com utilizes the format and design employed by CSNwashington.com, which launched in July 2009. Jim Williams has more at washingtonexaminer.com.....6 Awards For DC's Cable TV Office - 7/20 - The District Of Columbia's Office Of Cable Television has received six 2010 Videographer Awards in an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding achievement in video productions. The statues are for "Blizzard Of 2010 Snow Removal," "Washington Full Circle: Cinema City," "Enslavement To Emancipation," "OCME: More Than A Morgue," "DYRS New Beginnings," and "Life Skills"..... NPR Wants Front Row WH Seat - 7/20 - Fox News and Bloomberg aren't the only news organizations vying for the front-row-center seat that's been up for grabs since Helen Thomas's resignation last month. DC-based NPR is also making a run for it. The White House Correspondents Association, which determines seating in the White House briefing room, is expected to make a decision on August 2. More from yahoo.com..... David Dick Dies - 7/20 - David Dick, a former CBS News correspondent who worked in Washington in the 1960s and 1970s, died of prostate cancer on July 16 at the age of 80. He won an Emmy in 1972 for his coverage of the attempted assassination of Alabama Governor George Wallace in Laurel, Maryland. He retired from CBS in 1985 and became a professor at the University Of Kentucky and at Cumberland College..... 1M Watch "DC Cupcakes" - 7/20 - Discovery's TLC attracted about 1.1 million viewers for its debut Friday of "DC Cupcakes," a reality show about two beautiful women who sell cupcakes from their Georgetown storefront. The DC Post has more..... Folkenflik Does Gutherie - 7/20 - NPR's David Folkenflik checks out NBC's DC-based Savannah Guthrie - a "rising star" who personifies the "new news norms." At npr.org..... MMJ Continues Surge - 7/19 - Dropping its air talent and going wall-to-wall tunes helped adult urban contemporary WMMJ soar into 2nd place in the Washington market radio ratings for the first week of July. Full week, age 12+: 1) WTOP [1st in all dayparts], 2) WMMJ [Joyner 2nd], 3) WIHT [Kane 5th], 4) WHUR [Harvey 3rd], 5) WAMU, 6) WASH [L&L 6th], 7) WPRS and WBIG and WMZQ, 10) WKYS [Parr 8th], 11) WMAL [GG 10th, Rush 6th, Hannity 17th] and WLZL [Biagi 16th], 13) WPGC [BT 12th] and WWDC [Elliot 12th] and WRQX [Diamond 12th], 16) WETA-FM, 17) WIAD and WVRX, 19) WGTS, 20) WTEM [M&M 20th, Korny 18th, Czaban 20th], 21) WJFK [Junks 8th, Wise 22nd, Arrington 19th], 22) WBQB, 23) WFLS and WWEG, 25) WPFW and WFRE, 27) WAVA-FM and WERQ and WINC-FM, 30) WAFY and WFED and WILC..... NAB Picks WTOP As A Top Station - 7/19 - The DC-based National Association Of Broadcasters picks Bonneville-owed DC all-newser as one of five "legendary station" finalists for its 2010 Marconi swards, which will awarded on September 30 at its DC fall radio confab. More at nab.org..... New Deal For Baisden - 7/19 - Afternoon urban talker Michael Baisden signs a multi-year contract extension with Citadel Media, which distributes his show to stations around the country, including DC's WHUR, 96.3 FM, where he's top-rated..... TBD To Feature "Accuracy" - 7/19 -Steve Buttry and Erik Wemple say that their new local news website TBS - oh wait, that's a cable TV network - er TBD will feature a "committment to accuracy." Golly. If the Allbritton venture ever launches..... Politico Denies Being "Sweatshop" - 7/19 -  From Romenesko: Politico editors deny running a journalistic sweatshop. Reporters, though, describe feeling overtaxed at times. "Sometimes you felt like it was just too much, whether it's the workload, the pressure," ex-Politico reporter Helena Andrews tells the NY Times. "I think that some people felt like they were sinking." About a dozen reporters have quit the Allbritton-owned political news website and newspaper this year.....Kurtz: Many Candidates Attacking Media - 7/19 - Howard Kurtz at washingtonpost.com: "Some of the most conservative and combative Republicans running for Congress are convinced that the media have it in for them. But these candidates seem to regard it as an affront when reporters challenge them on their past statements and inconsistencies, which is a basic function of journalism. They are avoiding or limiting interviews with all but the friendliest faces as a way of circumventing the press. And some of them delight in skewering the mainstream media, a tactic that plays well with their base"..... How Will Riggo On MASN Play In Baltimore? - 7/18 - John Riggins is a Redskin legend with a long connection to DC sports. So, how will his new afternoon radio show play on MASN, especially with Baltimore sports fans? PressBox has more..... WashTimes: WaPo To "Push Bounds" On Intelligence Reporting - 7/18 - Quinn Hillyer at washingtontimes.com: "I have obtained (a) document sent by the Office Of The Director Of National Intelligence. It appears the Washington Post is about to push the bounds of intelligence reporting. The intelligence agency seems concerned." The Post piece is at wapo.com..... WaPo Waited On Black Panther Story - 7/18 - The Washington Post took too long to report about a growing controversy over the Justice Department's decision to scale down a voter-intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. So claims ombudsman Andy Alexander at washingtonpost.com..... Support DCRTV's Advertisers - 7/18 - DCRTV thanks Reliant Broadcast Services for renewing its top-page ad banner through the end of the year. Check out Reliant's traffic and news services at ReliantBroadcasting.com. Also, DCRTV welcomes former WBAL radio talk show host Rob Douglas, who has teamed with Cari Hermacinski to create "The Cari And Rob Show," for starting a right column ad on DCRTV. The right-of-center political talk program airs weekdays from noon to 2 PM ET. Listen via stream, on-demand, and podcast at CariAndRob.info or via radio affiliates in Colorado and Utah. For program directors, the show is available at no cost for either weekday or weekend formats and can be accessed on the StarGuide III and XDS Pro-4 satellite receivers. Contact Rob at Rob@CariAndRob.info..... More: Comcast "Cares" - 7/17 - Rant. In an ad in Saturday's Washington Post, area cable TV giant Comcast reveals that it's hiking its payment by phone processing fee from $4.95 to $5.99. And is raising its reconnection fee from $4 to $5. I guess the firm needs a few more nickels and dimes from its captive subcribers so that it can make more contributions to politicos on Capitol Hill to get its merger with NBC approved. Stay classy Comcast honcho Brian Roberts! Sheesh. More Rants.....Tito Muñoz: Hispanic Radio Conservative - 7/17 - The Washington Post profiles Tito Muñoz, who hosts a conservative politico show for Latinos on Laurel's Radio Viva, 900 AM..... Gannett Profit Up, Ad Deal With Yahoo - 7/17 - McLean-based Gannett reported financial results Friday that beat Wall Street's profit expectations but fell short on the revenue side. The company, which owns Channel 9/WUSA and USA Today, also announced an advertising partnership with Yahoo that brings together Gannett's local media brands, sales capabilities, and website audiences with Yahoo's display advertising services. More at wsj.com..... 10 Questions For TOP's Jim Farley - 7/16 -  Radio trade pub All Access grills WTOP's top programmer, Jim Farley (right), on the stunning success of the Washington all-news radioer in its "10 Questions With" feature.....WaPo Abandons Plans For Tysons Site - 7/16 - A source tells DCRTV that the Washington Post was developing a news website specifically for the business center of Tysons Corner - a pay site - and had hired a designer for about $90,000 to develop it. Lots of reporters and editors involved. They pulled the plug this week when the Fairfax County government launched the same service for free..... WaPo To Launch Metro Transit App - 7/16 - A source tells DCRTV that the Washington Post is waiting to get Apple's approval for a Metro app that will provide transit info, plus links to its entertainment pages so users can find restaurants and theaters near Metro stations..... WaPo Gives Sullivan More Weekend Control - 7/16 - DCRTV hears that the Washington Post makes some changes. Kevin Sullivan will oversee Style, the Sunday magazine, Food, Travel, and Book World. He will also hold the new title of Sunday editor. Debra Leithauser, who oversaw the Sunday magazine's redesign last year, will take over the Weekend section as well as the Going Out Guide. Tracy Grant, who has overseen Weekend and the Going Out Guide, will now oversee the Universal Desk's handling of On Faith and On Leadership..... WPOC Tops Balto June Ratings - 7/16 -  The Baltimore Portable People Meter radio ratings for the month of June, full-week, age 12+: 1) WPOC, 2) WWIN-FM and WLIF, 4) WERQ, 5) WWMX, 6) WZFT, 7) WIYY, 8) WBAL-AM, 9) WRBS-FM, 10) WQSR, 11) WYPR, 12) WZBA and WCBM, 14) WJZ-FM, 15) WPGC, 16) WWDC, 17) WKYS, 18) WAMU and WCAO, 20) WRQX and WBJC and WTOP-FM, 23) WBIG and WIHT and WASH and WHUR, 27) WEAA, 28) WMZQ and WLZL and WMAL and WTEM, 32) WGTS and WTMD, 34) WJZ-AM and WRNR-FM and WFRE, 37) WXCY, 38) WWIN-AM and WLIF STREAM and WIAD, 41) WTTR and WMMJ and WOLB, 44) WETA-FM and WVRX and WRBS-AM, 47) WVIE and WWEG and WAVA-FM and WNST and WYSP and WSTW and WFED and WVBV.....Big O & Dukes Re-Unite, Launch Podcast - 7/16 - Oscar "Big O" Santana and Chad Dukes revive their "Big O And Dukes" show on the internet via a podcast at bigoanddukes.com. You'll recall that Oscar and Chad got separated just about a year ago when WJFK yanked the duo's midday show as part of the 106.7 flip from "guy talk" to sports talk. Chad got moved to afternoons on the CBS station, paired with former Redskin Lavar Arrington. While Oscar's been doing a podcast with former WJFK afternooner Mike O'Meara (who now does mornings on WVRX, 105.9 The Edge) via mikeomearashow.com..... WTOP & TVers Cover Early Morning Quake - 7/16 -  A DCRTVer tells us: "It's easy to tell which station in DC is the news station. Coming out of the 7 AM news, WTOP was right on top of the earthquake story, with an informative report from the USGS, while WMAL was droning on and on about Obama. I'm half expecting to hear Fred and Mrs. Fred claim the quake was Obama's fault. WMAL is a joke!" The 3.7 magnitude quake was centered near Gaithersburg and was felt from West Virginia to DC, and throughout Maryland and Northern Virginia. Even here at the DCRTV World HQ in Reston at 5:04 AM. The local TVer newsers first reported the official confirmation from the US Geological Survey at about 5:15 AM. No reports of injuries or damage. More at wtop.com.....Gazette To Merge Editions - 7/16 - Maryland Politics Watch reports that the Washington Post-owned Gazette newspaper announced that it is combining its Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Wheaton, and Burtonsville editions into one edition. They promise that each neighborhood will "get the same amount of local coverage as they have always had." MPW adds: "But that is hard to believe given the fact that each edition in the past has carried stories not seen in the other editions. Unless the paper actually increases in size to accommodate all the stories, this is a difficult promise to keep - and that, of course, would reduce any savings from the change"..... Clear Channel Wants More Radioers - 7/16 - Radio giant Clear Channel, which owns more than 800 stations nationwide and about a dozen in the DC-Baltimore area, wants to grow even bigger. Ars Technica has more..... Ed Henry To Head WHCA - 7/16 - CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry has been elected president of the White House Correspondents' Association..... "DC Cupcakes" Not Too Tasty - 7/16 - Hank Stuever delivers a not so tasty review of TLC's "DC Cupcakes" reality show about two beautful young women who make cupcakes at their Georgetown storefront and socialize. It debuts tonight. More from the DC Post..... CSN To Start Balto Sports Website, Partner With PressBox - 7/15 - Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will start "an exclusive content-development partnership" with Baltimore sports newspaper and website PressBox, along with the launch of its long-anticipated CSNbaltimore.com website July 20. PressBox's stable of local writers will contribute to the new Baltimore sports news website, including publisher Stan Charles along with Joe Platania and Pete Kerzel. PressBox's regional sports media operation includes PressBox, a monthly sports newspaper, PressBoxOnline.com, multiple television and radio shows, and special events. CSNbaltimore.com will feature breaking sports news, feature articles, game stories, and blogs. The site will provide exclusive content dedicated to Baltimore-area sports, highlighted by coverage of the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and the University Of Maryland Terrapins. CSN started CSNwashington.com last summer. More from PressBox..... TOP Dominates June Ratings - 7/15 - The monthly June Portable People Meter radio ratings for the Washington market, full-week, age 12+: 1) WTOP [1st in all dayparts], 2) WIHT [Kane 3rd], 3) WMMJ [Joyner 6th], 4) WHUR [Harvey 2nd], 5) WASH [L&L 8th], 6) WAMU, 7) WPGC [BT 10th] and WBIG and WETA-FM, 10) WPRS, 11) WRQX [Diamond 8th], 12) WKYS [Parr 12th], 13) WWDC [Elliot 11th] and WLZL [Biagi 14th] and WMZQ, 16) WMAL [GG 13th, Rush 9th, Hannity 18th], 17) WIAD, 18) WVRX, 19) WTEM [M&M 18th, Korny 17th, Czaban 19th] and WGTS, 21) WJFK [Junks 14th, Wise 21st, Arrington 20th], 22) WBQB, 23) WINC-FM and WPFW, 25) WFRE and WFLS and WAVA-FM, 28) WWEG and WDCN and WFED, 31) WERQ and WIYY and WACA, 34) WILC and WQSR and WJYJ and WKDV and WKIK, 39) WPOC and WBJC and WTNT and WMMJ STREAM and WGRQ and WGRX and WAFY and WRNR-FM and WLIF.....PBS Picks Up 37 News & Doc Emmy Noms - 7/15 - Arlington-based PBS flexed its usual strength when the news and documentary Emmy nominations were announced Thursday, racking up 37 nods. More at latimes.com..... Preview: Good News For Gannett - 7/15 - McLean-based Gannett is expected to show less print ad erosion when it releases its second quarter financials on Friday. The period could be the newspaper publisher's most encouraging in years as the ad slump eases. Yahoo has more..... Crocs Most-Viewed At WaPo.com - 7/15 - A story about the financial problems facing the maker of Crocs, the ubiquitous colorful foam clogs, was the most-viewed story on the Washington Post's website in the past year. More at washingtonpost.com..... Carlson Picks Up Olbermann Domain - 7/15 - Tucker Carlson, the DC-based political pundit who runs the Daily Caller, has purchased the rights to the KeithOlbermann.com domain name of his much-hated rival who hosts a nightly show on MSNBC. More from Yahoo..... Bridgham Joins FNR - 7/15 - Bonneville's Federal News Radio, WFED (1500/820 AM), adds Chris Bridgham to its ad sales team. A Bowie native, Bridgham comes from the 1105 Government Information Group and, before that, the Post Newsweek Tech Media Group..... Comcast-NBC Claim Merger Benefits In WaPo Ad - 7/15 - Comcast and NBC Universal take out a full-page color ad in today's Washington Post (page A9) to tout the benefits of their proposed merger. Comcast, the dominant cable TV provider in the DC area plus owner of Comcast SportsNet, and NBC, the owner of DC TV's news ratings leader, Channel 4/WRC, say that their marriage will bring you "more ways to enjoy... TV, computer, and even more mobile devices." The ad features an African American father and son. Comcast and NBC execs have promised Capitol Hill lawmakers that they'll provide more minority-oriented TV shows and cable networks if the merger is approved..... WaPo Buys iCurrent - 7/15 - The Washington Post acquires iCurrent, an online tool that allows users to collect news automatically according to their interest. The purchase price was not disclosed, although it's reportedly more than $5 million..... UMD Launches Multimedia Journalism Program - 7/15 - The Merrill College Of Journalism at the University Of Maryland is launching a certificate program this fall in multimedia journalism aimed at working professionals. The Saturdays-only, two-semester certificate program will include classes in multimedia journalism, online journalism, mobile journalism, and "new media entrepreneurship." There's an August 15 deadline to apply for the 12-credit program. More at umd.edu..... Cohen To Politico - 7/15 - Richard Cohen jumps from the National Journal to the Politico. He's covered Congress for more than three decades..... BBC To Start DC-Based Site - 7/14 - BBC.com, which debuts Thursday, will be produced by a staff of 10 journalists based in the British network's DC bureau. AdAge has more..... CSN To Bolster Balto Coverage - 7/14 -  DCRTV has told you that the Baltimore-based Mid-Atlantic Sports Network has been working to improve its sports coverage to the Washington market, with a jolted website plus the addition of Redskins great John Riggins in afternoons. Now, we're hearing rumblings that DC-based (actually Bethesda-based) Comcast SportsNet is getting ready to reveal big news that will bolster its Baltimore base. More soon. Stay tuned.....3rd AMer For KHZ - 7/14 - The KHZ Radio Network picks up a third area AM radio station - WEMD near Easton MD - to add to its AM duo of of WYRE in Annapolis and WKHZ in Ocean City. For its unique and diverse music format in which air personalities "perform" between every song. "The hits on the website are strong, we are getting up to 20,000 hits daily although we have yet to launch our social networking plan, we are starting to get music requests from the radio station's listeners and advertisers are getting results," says KHZ president and local radio veteran Bill Parris..... Heil Gives Up Roll Call's "HOH" Column - 7/14 - Emily Heil gives up Roll Call's "Heard On The Hill" column after three years to focus on feature writing for the Capitol Hill publication. Ali McSherry will now join Elizabeth Brotherton on the "HOH" column..... CP's Scheinman To UNC - 7/14 - Ted Scheinman is leaving his arts beat for the Washington City Paper to head down to the University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he's entering its doctoral program..... FCC: One Blunder After Another - 7/14 - So, yesterday a court threw out the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast "indecency" policy. Even though it was always an unconstitional infringement on freedom of speech, for many years the FCC just went about and fined many radio and TV stations for airing nasty words. Including the speech of local radio personalities like DC101's Elliot Segal and national shock jocker Howard Stern, back when he was heard on WJFK. While many listeners may not like it, radio and TV stations have the freedom to air the "f-word" and the "s-word" if they want to. But you've got to realize that the FCC's nasty word policy is just one of many big blunders by the federal agency that regulates communications in America. Look at the Commission's ruling for digital radio a few years back. By allowing digital and analog signals to share the FM band, the FCC has created a giant mess known as "HD Radio." With analog stations suffering interference, and low-power, ineffective coverage for digital signals. Several years later, the FCC's digital TV ruling was also a giant blunder, essentially making it impossible for many viewers to continue to receive over-the-air TV without coughing up mucho dough to subscribe to cable or satellite services. Now the FCC is on the verge of making another huge gaffe - if it approves the merger of the country's largest cable system owner, Comcast, and one of the largest broadcast TV networks, NBC. Allowing the marriage of the two will create a host of unpleasant conflicts. For example, Comcast will own DC's Channel 4, but also be relaying DC's other rival TVers to many thousands of subscribers. It's putting too much potentially un-competitive influence in the hands of one gigantic company. Come on, FCC! Time for yet another huge screw-up? I hope not. More Rants.....NSA Leaker Works At Apple Store While Awaiting Sentence - 7/14 - Ex-National Security Agency exec who leaked to the Baltimore Sun works at a DC area Apple electronics store while awaiting trial. Thomas Drake's supporters consider him a patriotic whistleblower targeted by an Obama administration bent on sealing leaks and on having something to show for an investigation that spans two presidencies. The former NSA official could get up to 35 years in prison for leaking sensitive information to the Sun. More at washingtonpost.com..... WaPo Sends Lally To Moscow - 7/14 - The Washington Post sends Kathy Lally to Moscow to be bureau chief. Instead of sending her to the paper's Middle East bureau in Baghdad, as was planned. National Journal reporter Will Englund will be joining Lally in the Russian capital come October..... Perino To Teach At GW - 7/14 - Dana Perino, who was press secretary to President George W. Bush, will teach a class at George Washington University's graduate school of political management. She has been named adjunct faculty for strategic public relations for the fall semester, and will teach a master class in political communications..... WaPo & Bloomberg Team Up For Web Biz Section - 7/14 - The Washington Post launches a co-branded online business section with Bloomberg. The move comes after the January launch of a Post-Bloomberg global news service, which provides daily stories to newspapers and websites. More at marketwatch.com..... WETA Cuts McCartney Comment - 7/14 - WETA had to get a 90-minute special out of Paul McCartney's 60-minute concert at the White House last month, but that doesn't mean the whole thing is in there. Tactfully excised from the TV version, airing July 28 on PBS: Sir Paul's jab at George W. Bush. More at washingtonpost.com..... More: Big Tigger Gets Syndicated - 7/14 - Yesterday, Channel 50/WDCW issued a press release revealing the WPGC morning man Big Tigger has line-up three new markets for his new WDCW TV show, "Direct Access." Which DCRTV reported. And today, Lisa de Moraes reworks the press release into her TV column at washingtonpost.com..... Cupcakes For TLC - 7/14 - On Friday, TLC debuts a six-part reality show series on the two beautiful young women who run Georgetown Cupcakes. At washingtonpost.com..... Jenny Glick To BAL Radio - 7/13 - Jenny Glick joins WBAL radio's newly-launched "Afternoon News Journal." The Chicago native held a batch of Windy City radio and TV gigs before heading to California, where she was a reporter and anchor for KCBS radio in San Francisco. In 2002, Glick joined Channel 2/WMAR, where she was a general assignment, breaking news, and education reporter for more than six years..... Verizon's Fios To Add MASN2-HD - 7/13 - Verizon's Fios is going to start carrying MASN2-HD on channel 501 in the DC area - not yet in the Baltimore area. The second MASN high-def channel launched back in April. More at verizon.net..... Bill Hess Seen At MAL - 7/13 - DCRTV hears that Washington radio management veteran Bill Hess, once programmer of WASH, WBIG, WTNT, and Air America, was seen today hanging around Citadel talker WMAL. Might he be interviewing for the vacant program director position? Citadel recently recruited Drew Hayes from Citadel's Chicago talker WLS to be its operations manager..... Court Strikes FCC's Indecency Policy - 7/13 -  A federal appeals court on Tuesday knocked down the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast TV and radio indecency policy, saying that the agency's guidelines for fleeting expletives and other indecencies in broadcast violate the First Amendment. The opinion was a win for Fox, CBS, and ABC, which had petitioned the US Second Circuit Court Of Appeals, saying guidelines on "fleeting expletives," implemented by the FCC in 2004, were arbitrary and capricious. More at washingtonpost.com.....John Monds To MMJ Afternoons - 7/13 - DCRTV hears that former WHUR morning man John Monds will be the new afternoon drive personality on Majic 102.3, WMMJ. He starts today at 4 PM, just as the station's 102 hours of commercial-free music promo ends..... Truitt Named 47's ND - 7/13 - Sarah Truitt gets named news director at Salisbury's Channel 47/WMDT. She's been at the ABC affiliate for seven years, working her way up to executive producer and assistant news director. She replaces Dawn Mitchell, who died in April after suffering a massive stroke..... Domenica Davis To NBC-NYC - 7/13 - Domenica Davis, a former weather reporter at Channel 11/WBAL, jumps to NBC-owned WNBC-TV in NYC to do weekend weather. She's been in NYC doing the weather for Fox.... WAMU To Move 105.5 To Bethesda - 7/13 - DCRTV hears that WAMU is asking the FCC for permission to move its 105.5 FM translator, which airs Bluegrass Country, from Great Falls to Bethesda. While the 250-watt power level will be reduced to 99-watts, the antenna will on a higher tower, one of our tech gurus tells us..... Portnoy Joins Grandy Tuesday - 7/13 - DCRTV hears that ABC Radio's DC-based newsman Steven Portnoy will be guest hosting with Fred Grandy today, Tuesday, on WMAL's morning "Grandy Group" show. Filling in for the vacationing Bryan Nehman. Portnoy used to do WMAL's local newscasts. Grandy's guest hosts for the rest of the week: Lt. Col. Bill Cowan on Wednesday, Iowa Rep. Steve King on Thursday, and "Mrs. Fred" on Friday..... New: DCRTV's Show Marketplace - 7/13 - Regional radio talent Tommy Griffiths lands a radio gig in Scranton. This and other local broadcast and internet radio show news at DCRTV's brand new Show Marketplace page. We've got some great inaugural ad rates for the page, and you'll get loads of cross-promotional possibilities with DCRTV. Get your ad up on DCRTV and get your show noticed by thousands of local radio, TV, and internet "movers and shakers" throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast corridor..... Big Tigger Adds 3 TVers - 7/12 - "Direct Access With Big Tigger," the Channel 50/WDCW show featuring the WPGC radio morning man, has been picked up for a 10-week run in Dallas, Philadelphia, and Hartford. The weekly TV show attracts among women aged 18-34 and adults aged 18-34, often winning its time period. "We are very excited by the success of 'Direct Access' and look forward to debuting in other markets," said Eric Meyrowitz, WDCW vice president and general manager. The show airs at midnight Fridays and 11 PM Saturdays..... MASN Unveils Nationals & Orioles Landing Pages - 7/12 - The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network has launched team-specific landing pages. Nationals fans can go directly to nationals.masnsports.com. Orioles fans can go directly to orioles.masnsports.com. "The pages are easier to navigate and to find all of the content being produced by MASN every day," MASN spokesman Todd Webster tells DCRTV..... Can't See TV In Digital Age - 7/12 - Rant. I have a friend who has no television options. She has new apartment here in Reston but can't get television, other than what she can see via her DVD player and her computer. But, because of her apartment's west-facing location in the western suburbs of DC, she doesn't get decent digital over-the-air reception with an antenna. And since her unit doesn't "see" enough of the southern sky, there's no Dish Network or DirecTV either. Verizon's Fios doesn't serve her apartment complex. Since she got behind on her Comcast bill due to a recent period of unemployment, the cable giant won't even give her its basic lifeline service unless she coughs up a $500 security deposit - which she doesn't have. While she tells me that while she misses the newscasts on Channels 4, 5, 7, and 9, she can "make do" with old movies on her DVD player. In the "old days" of analog TV, she could have put a portable TV with rabbit ears just about anywhere in her apartment and received watchable, if not perfect, reception of the local TVers. But since the Federal Communications Commission pretty much outlawed "free TV" with last year's problem-plagued all-digital TV conversion, you pretty much can't even get the local TV channels without paying for cable. And if Comcast says "no," you're out of luck. Like my friend and, I'm sure, others like her. Comcast cares? Yeah, right. More Rants.....Ad Dominates USA Today Front Page - 7/12 -  The front page of the Washington Examiner is often a "wrap-around" full page ad. Now, a respectable newspaper is doing the same thing. This morning's McLean-based USA Today featued a four broadsheet page wrap-around ad section for Jeep's 2011 Grand Cherokee. USA Today, along with other newspapers that have been walloped by the recession, has been pushing new ad units lately. It wrapped its Life section with a Verizon ad July 1 and recently introduced new Page 1 ad units of varied shapes. More from Mediaweek.....John Beaston Dies - 7/12 - Nearby news. John Beaston, news director and morning drive co-host at Harrisburg PA's WNNK, was found dead in his apartment this morning. He was 35. A heart attack is suspected. "He dabbled in radio in DC and Baltimore, but most notably worked in Harrisburg and Chambersburg," we're told by a colleague. He started his career at WIKZ in the Chambersburg/Hagerstown area 18 years ago. There is a tribute at wink104.com..... Ann Wog To Boston - 7/12 - Last week, DCRTV told you that Ann Wog was out after four years of producing WMAL's morning show. Now, she reveals on her Facebook page that she's heading to Boston to be executive producer of Jim Braude and Margery Eagan's show on FM talker WTKK..... Baltimore Radio & TV Pioneer Jack Wells Dies - 7/12 - The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Jack Wells, a pioneering broadcaster who hosted Baltimore's first morning TV show, died June 27 from complications of a stroke at a Los Angeles nursing home. He was 86. Wells decided to go into radio during World War II, when he served in Europe as an Army radio operator with Chuck Thompson, who went on the become a legendary Baltimore Orioles announcer. In 1948, Wells originated the nation's second radio talk show, one that was broadcast from 1 AM to 4 AM from a nightclub called the Copa. Because the technology for a two-way conversation on the air didn't exist at the time, Wells repeated the caller's words to listeners, he told the Baltimore Evening Sun in a 1977 interview. In 1950, Wells began a seven-year stint as the host of TV's "Dialing For Dollars," which was adapted from radio. After moving to the West Coast in 1963, Wells had his own show at KABC-AM Los Angeles, and he created and hosted another show on LA TV station KHJ, "The Age Of Aquarius." Wells also did voice-overs and guest starred on shows such as "Days Of Our Lives," "The Young And The Restless," and "General Hospital"..... Top TOPer Slams "Arrogant" WaPo - 7/12 - WTOP top programmer Jim Farley is calling the Washington Post "arrogant" for misreporting Saturday that Rockville had lifted water restrictions after a water main break earlier in the week. Farley is angry that the Post rejected a courtesy call from a WTOPer Saturday pointing out the error. The Post reportedly issued a correction about the lifted restrictions about half an hour after the WTOPer called the paper..... Where's Tom Joyner On 102.3? - 7/12 - Radio One is running 102 hours of non-stop tunes on its WMMJ, Majic 102.3, and there'll be no syndicated Tom Joyner on Monday and Tuesday. The music marathon started Friday morning. The station is retweaking its adult urban contemporary format to include more '80s and '90s tunes to attract more females aged 35-to-44. If you're in need of your Joyner fix, you can still hear him on Baltimore's Magic 95.9, WWIN-FM, WMMJ's Radio One sister..... Hill's Stoddard Does MAL - 7/12 - AB Stoddard, the Hill's associate editor, is guest hosting with Fred Grandy this morning on WMAL's "Grandy Group." Filling in for the vacationing Bryan Nehman. She's a frequent guest on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and CSPAN..... Dreazen To Nat'l Journal - 7/12 - Yochi Dreazen jumps from the Wall Street Journal to the DC-based National Journal Group, where he'll be a senior correspondent covering military and national security issues..... Tom Sater To 9 - 7/11 -  DCRTV hears that former Channel 5/WTTG weatherman Tom Sater (left) will be doing the weather on Channel 9/WUSA today, Sunday, at 6:30 PM and 11 PM. He will be doing weekend freelance forecasts during the summer to cover vacationing 9ers, we're told. Devon Lucie will work weekdays on 9 when Howard Bernstein or Topper Shutt is on vacation, with Sater picking up the weekend weathercasts. The husband of WTTG morning news anchor Gurvir Dhindsa, Sater got the axe from 5 a few years ago. He's since been working as a salesman at a tractor and farm implements supply store in Warrenton.....DCers Tuning Into 92Q For Baltimore Sound - 7/11 - The Washington Post does a lengthy Sunday Style piece on Baltimore's 92Q, WERQ. The urban contemporary outlet on 92.3 is not only one of the top-rated Baltimore stations in the Baltimore market, but it's also one of the most-listened-to Baltimore stations in the DC market. "Like many Radio One stations, 92Q is tasked with sticking to hit-friendly playlists populated by the likes of Drake, Lil Wayne, and Usher... The station ranks fourth in Baltimore and is the highest-ranking station for its format. But within these playlist constraints, 92Q manages to maintain its local identity, offering a quick jolt of club music every evening at 7, a solid hour of club music on Thursday and Friday nights at 9, and nearly three hours of club music in the wee hours of Sunday morning"..... WaPo.com Goes Tabloid When Traffic Slumps - 7/11 - Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander tells us how the paper's managers monitor washingtonpost.com traffic minute-by-minute, and quickly hype scintillating, tabloid-ish celebrity news when site visitors slump..... More: Discovery Does Balto Hospital - 7/11 - David Zurawik at baltimoresun.com has more on a new Discovery series, "NICU," that focus on intensive care for infants at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center. It debuts Thursday on the Discovery Health Channel..... Kiddie Radio King Kenny Curtis Makes WaPo - 7/10 - Sunday's WaPoMag puts Sirius XM's DC-based kiddie show king Kenny Curtis on its cover. The Catonsville native has long been involved in local radio programming for kids, including the kids formatted Radio Aahs triple-cast on Silver Spring's 1050, Manassas's 1460, and Towson's 1570 in the early 1990s. Also, he once introduced cartoons on Baltimore's Channel 45..... Parris & Bicknell's KHZ Music Lab - 7/10 - Glen Burnie's Maryland Gazette takes a gander at the new KHZ Network, which broadcasts on Annapolis's WYRE (810 AM) and Ocean City's WKHZ (1590 AM). It's a Pasadena-studioed "music laboratory" created by local radio greats Bill Parris and Paul "Davy Jones" Bicknell..... Dave's Cable Page - 7/10 - We compare Verizon's Fios with Comcast and find that the former still carries a lot more networks than the latter. At Dave's Cable Page. Plus, repeatedly rebooting a fussy Comcast DVR..... Rush Sells Plush NYC Pad - 7/10 - A year after railing about the high tax burden on wealthy New Yorkers, Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk-show host, is severing one more tie with New York, selling his lushly decorated Fifth Avenue penthouse to an undisclosed buyer. Limbaugh's 10-room condominium, which features a 30-foot-wide living room with fireplace and four terraces overlooking Central Park at East 86th Street, went into contract Thursday for a bit under the final $12.95 million asking price, wsj.com reports. The final price was about $11.5 million. Limbaugh paid just under $5 million for it in 1994..... Younger Female Tweak For MMJ - 7/10 -  Is Radio One transforming its adult urban contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3, into something more like its Charlotte outlet WQNC, with "R&B From The '80s '90s And Now"? In June, WMMJ discharged its entire local airstaff. We're told it's hiring new personalities and has been hyping "something big." DCRTV hears that 102.3 started 102 hours of non-stop tunes and no ads as of 10 AM Friday. Maybe even pre-empting Tom Joyner on Monday and Tuesday. The music has shifted to attract a core of African American females age 35-to-44, about a decade younger than the previous audience. With more music from the '80s and '90s, we're told. New music director and on-air personalities coming soon. "The best minds in urban radio are working to hard to put Majic 102.3 back on top of the urban radio landscape in Washington DC".....Support DCRTV's Advertisers - 7/10 - Don't forget to check out Social Media Creators at SocialMediaCreators.com and the Vinyl District at TheVinylDistrict.com. Both are new right column display advertisers here on DCRTV. Also, we thank Mike O'Meara for renewing his top banner display ad through September. Download his daily podcast at MikeOmearaShow.com. DCRTV also welcomes Tom Robinson and Fairfax Home Values to its family of advertisers. Check out FairfaxHomeValues.net for this week's free home values report. Also, we welcome Diploma Plaque Laminators, which offers laminated wooden hand-made diploma and certificate wall plaques. More at DiplomaPlaqueLaminators.com. And, don't forget, DCRTV's got some great rates for right column ads. Interested? E-mail us at dcrtv@dcrtv.com and put "DISPLAY AD" on the subject line..... WMAL Morning Producer Leaving - 7/9 - As DCRTV hinted earlier today, Ann Wog, the producer of WMAL's "Grandy Group" morning show, is leaving the Citadel news talker. She's been with the station for several incarnations of its morning show, including the previous pairing of Fred Grandy with Andy Parks. The station is actively searching for her replacement..... FBDCer Reads DCRTV - 7/9 - Rant. Hey, it's nice to know that when Betsy Rothstein of FishbowlDC is not hyping and printing private messages from local journalists in order to get links from Drudge to bolster her site's anemic page hit count, she's reading DCRTV, the area's best source of reasonably accurate media news. More Rants..... FCCC: Don't Forget The Consumer In Comcast-NBC Marriage - 7/9 - Rant. The Washington Post takes a gander at the various conditions the "FCCC" - the Federal Corrupt Communications Commission - will likely place on Comcast in order to approve its merger with NBC. Yet, it appears that the giant, impersonal cable company's many subscribers - many in the DC-Baltimore region - will walk away with diddly squat in the deal. The FCCC and its new head, Julius Genachowski, who was appointed by Obama, is why so many Democrats, like me, are starting to become incredibly dissatified with our new president. Joining the crowd of Republicans and Independents who have already turned on Obama. All told, Obama is no different than most of the previous presidents who have - consumers be damned - allowed big media companies to get even bigger and more inhumane. Comcast is so powerful these days that many newspapers, like the Washington Post, and other major media players, like rival TV networks and cable firms, are literally frightened to comment on the Comcast-NBC marriage, fearful of the gigantic, many-tentacled firm's revenge. And this is BEFORE is gets even bigger with its NBC-Universal addition. As Comcast, which continues to raise its rates every year, forces its subscribers to waste their money by buying expensive packages of little-watched channels in order to get the handful of networks that they really want. At the very least, the FCCC should require Comcast to offer its channels via an "a la carte" option to subscribers as a condition for its merger with NBC. Something that would save consumers many bucks every month. Come on, Genachowski and Obama, deliver something for we long-suffering Comcast cable TV subscribers, too, in this merger deal. More Rants.....More: Friday Changes For MMJ - 7/9 - Yesterday, DCRTV told you that Radio One's urban adult contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3, was running promos that promise "something big" starting Friday at 10 AM. Now, they're saying the big announcement will be at 4 PM. The station recently discharged its entire local airstaff. Stay tuned..... Pentagon Reverses Reporter Ban - 7/9 - The Pentagon has reversed its ban on a Miami Herald reporter from covering military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and said the reporter can return to the naval base there to cover a hearing next week. The decision comes a week after a coalition of major news organizations protested as unconstitutional the rules that were used in May to ban Carol Rosenberg and three Canadian reporters from the commissions. The Miami Herald has more..... TBDers Work Up Sweat Before WaPo Attack - 7/9 -  Top TBDers - Dan Victor, Jeff Sonderman, and Erik Wemple (right) - get all sweaty at one of their many pre-launch parties as they prepare to kick off "a frontal challenge" to the Washington Post and its new PostLocal.com website. So reports the Georgetown Dish, one of the 100-ish local blogs networked with the new Allbritton local news site, which is slated to launch later this summer. Wemple, who is the top editor of the new venture, joined TBD.com from the Washington City Paper earlier this year. Allbritton plans to merge TBD.com with its Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8 websites.....Bigger NBC Things For 4's Craig Melvin? - 7/9 -  DCRTV hears that there was a WRC-TV mini-reunion this morning on NBC's "Early Today" show, with Craig Melvin (right), who was anchoring from NYC. "Seems Craig is on the network's radar," we're told.....2 Hearst News Hires For 11 - 7/9 - DCRTV hears that Baltimore's Channel 11/ WBAL has added two reporters. George Lettis comes from Lancaster PA's WGAL-TV, another Hearst-owned station, and has been doing freelance work. And Kai Reed, who made her on-air debut yesterday. She is a fulltime hire from WBAL's Hearst Milwaukee sister, WISN-TV. "WBAL's keeping it in the family with the Hearst shuffles/hires," we're told..... Totenberg Honored - 7/9 - NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg nabs the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting for her 35-year career at the DC-based public radio network..... CSN To Cover Wall's Preseason Wiz Outings - 7/9 - Comcast SportsNet will televise all five Washington Wizards games of the 2010 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. The live high-def game coverage will be highlighted by John Wall's first appearance with the Wizards since being selected by the team first overall in the 2010 NBA draft on June 24. The coverage starts July 11th at 8 PM when the Wizards play the Warriors, with "SportsNite: Wall To Wall Wizards" at 7:30 PM..... 99.5's Kane Denies Tampa Move - 7/8 -   Updated. DCRTV hears that Hot 99.5, WIHT morning man Kane (right) will be moving to Tampa by the end of 2010 to do the morning show on WFLZ, come early 2011. Like Hot 99.5, WFLZ is a contemporary hit outlet owned by Clear Channel. He'll be taking the place of the retiring MJ at the Florida station, we're told. Kane is currently heard on WFLZ's afternoons via voicetracking. We also hear that, as of now, there are plans are for Kane to continue to be heard live in mornings on Hot 99.5 from Tampa instead of from the Clear Channel DC radio complex in Rockville, with national syndication plans. Kane on his Twitter page: "No truth to that rumor." Kane's Hot 99.5 show is regularly in the "top five" in the age 12+ DC radio ratings.....Half Of Pub Radioers Listen To News & Talk - 7/8 - News/talk formats, like what DC's WAMU (88.5 FM) and Baltimore's WYPR (88.1 FM) run, account for about 50 percent of all public radio listening. That's according to a new study from Columbia MD-based Arbitron. More from FMQB..... Friday Changes For MMJ - 7/8 - A DCRTVer tells us that Radio One's urban adult contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3, is running promos that promise "something big" starting Friday at 10 AM. The station recently discharged its entire local airstaff. Stay tuned..... Mobile Apps For Radio One - 7/8 - Lanham-based urban radio giant Radio One will soon launch iPhone and BlackBerry mobile apps for 51 of its radio stations through AirKast. Plus Android-compatible apps, too. The apps will all be free downloads. Locally, Radio One owns WKYS, WMMJ, WERQ, WWIN-FM/AM, WPRS, WOL, WOLB, and WYCB..... KJS Tops Richmond - 7/8 - Speaking of Radio One, the firm's urban adult contemporary WKJS tops the latest batch of Richmond radio ratings. More at radio-info.com..... 7 Emmy Noms For WETA - 7/8 - DCRTV hears that Arlington-based public TV broadcaster WETA has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards. The Academy Of Television Arts And Sciences announced the nominations for the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards this morning. Overall, PBS programs received 32 nominations. WETAers up for awards include: Ron de Moraes, Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan,
Buddy Squires, Erik Ewers, Craig Mellish, Ryan Gifford, Dave Mast,
Jacob Ribicoff, Margaret Shepardson-Legere, Meagan Frappiea, and
Dominick Tavella.....Baltimore Natives Nab Emmy Noms - 7/8 - More Emmy nomination news. ABC's new comedy "Modern Family" received 14 nominations. Including supporting actress Julie Bowen and executive producer and director Jason Winer, both Baltimore natives. Baltimore film director Barry Levinson was nominated for his HBO docudrama, "You Don't Know Jack," about Dr. Jack Kevorkian. More at baltimoresun.com..... Jeff Greer Leaves USNWR - 7/8 - Jeff Greer leaves DC-based US News And World Report to write sports for Florida's Palm Beach Post. During his time covering education issues and writing the "Paper Trail" blog at USNWR, he's been doing sports freelancing for the Washington Post..... NJ's Amy Walter To ABC - 7/8 - Amy Walter is leaving her editor-in-chief gig at DC's National Journal to become political director of ABC News. Over the years, she's been seen on CNN, PBS's "NewsHour," CBS's "Face The Nation," NBC's "Meet The Press," C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," HBO's "Real Times With Bill Maher," and more..... Examiner's Stirewalt To Fox News - 7/8 - Chris Stirewalt leaves his political editor job at the Washington Examiner to be a political analyst for Fox News..... Upcoming Babies For Kartalija & Goff - 7/8 - DCRTV hears that Channel 13/WJZ's noon anchor Jessica Kartalija and Channel 9/WUSA traffic reporter and anchor Angie Goff have both announced they're expecting their first child. More at wjz.com and at ohmygoff.tv..... Baby For Baier - 7/8 - Fox News DC anchor Bret Baier and his wife Amy celebrate the birth of Daniel Bret Baier, the couple's second child..... NPR Ditching Words For Letters - 7/8 -  DC-based National Public Radio now wants to be known as "NPR." NPR says it's abbreviating the name it has used since its debut in 1971 because it's more than radio these days. Its news, music, and informational programming is heard over a variety of digital devices that aren't radios; it also operates news and music websites. Hence: "NPR is more modern, streamlined," says Vivian Schiller, NPR's chief executive. She points to other "re-brandings" by media organizations, such as Cable News Network, which has been "CNN" for years. More from the DC Post.....Turtletaub To Bloomberg - 7/8 - Jessica Turtletaub jumps from NBC News in Washington to be the NYC-based manager of content promotion for Bloomberg..... Ripken On Fox: Fears "Wussification" Of Sports - 7/7 - Fox News Channel's "Fox And Friends" had Orioles legend Cal Ripken on this morning and host Brian Kilmeade asked him if he is "concerned about the wussification of America." Turns out that Ripken doesn't like it and that he's opposed to "participation trophies" that reward every kid involved in a sport, instead of just the winners. Mediaite has more..... WAGE Back On The Air - 7/7 -  Is Leesburg's WAGE (1200 AM) back on the air? The Loudoun County radio station has been playing a mix of music today, including Three Dog Night's "One Is The Loneliest Number", Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover", and Pink Floyd's "The Wall". At this point we have not heard any commercials or station IDs at the top of the hour. Are they testing the signal? After being purchased by Potomac Radio, the station went dark in August 2009 citing the poor economic climate as the reason. In June 2010, the new owners received approval from the Loudoun County Board for a new transmitter site near Dulles Airport, which will allow the station to broadcast at 50,000-watts during the daytime. At the time of the approval Potomac Radio owner James Weitzman told reporters that construction of the towers could be completed this fall and the station could begin broadcasting immediately after the structures go up. More: At 2:06 PM, what sounded like a live voice came on the air and simply said "WAGE Leesburg".....Bilger To Image 94.7 - 7/7 - David "AJ" Bilger gets named imaging director at CBS's WIAD, 94.7 Fresh FM. He comes from Clear Channel's Milwaukee radio cluster, where he did imaging duties..... Balto Hospital To Be Featured In Discovery Series - 7/7 - Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center will be featured in a 10-part documentary medical series premiering July 15 on the Discovery Health Channel, a network of Silver Spring-based Discovery Communications. More at baltimoresun.com..... Scotte Manns Dies - 7/7 - Scotte Manns, 73, an advertising executive at the Washington Post who became one of the highest-ranking female managers on the business side of the Post, died June 18 at a hospital in Greensburg PA. She had a form of cancer. She was the newspaper's director of advertising sales from 1984 until her retirement in 1992. The Post has more..... Radio One's Deborah Cowan To NPR - 7/7 - Deborah Cowan gets named chief financial officer at DC-based National Public Radio. She had been senior vice president eep of finance at Lanham-based urban radio giant Radio One, where she's been since 2001. Locally, Radio One owns WKYS, WMMJ, WERQ, and WWIN..... Voice Marketplace: Matt K. Baker - 7/7 - DCRTV checks in with local voice man Matt K. Baker who tells us that he's doing car commercials for Cowles of Woodbridge and Shawnee Mission Hyundai in Kansas City. He also voiced a "secret project" for USA Today that will be aired during the San Diego ComicCon in July, as well as some videos that will run on USA Today's site, "explaining some elements of the news." And Baker just finished a series of commercials for the IWIF and Baltimore Ravens, as well as a commercial for Constellation Energy that will run in Garrett County. Along with his usual promos for the Discovery Networks and the Travel Channel. For more about local voice talent, including the latest video from Dude Walker, check out DCRTV's new Voice Marketplace..... Jackie Bradford Named GM Of 4 - 7/6 - Jackie Bradford, who heads the NBC-owned TVer in San Diego, KNSD, has been named the new general manager of NBC-owned Channel 4/WRC in DC. Bradford succeeds Michael Jack, who last month became head of NBC-owned WNBC-TV in NYC. This is a return to WRC for Bradford, who was the station's finance director from 2000 to 2008. Before that, she worked for NBC parent GE's Capital Real Estate Services for two years. She was also finance manager for NBC News and a financial analyst for NBC's "Today" show. Bradford began her career working on Capitol Hill for Nevada Senator Richard Bryan. She's a graduate of the University Of Virginia..... Older news goes to DCRTV's News Archive. Copyright Dave Hughes/DCRTV.....  |
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     For almost 20 years Sky Television Inc. has been the market leader in Washington DC and Northern Virginia installing DIRECTV systems. From basic tenant space to entire buildings or facilities we have installed hundreds if not thousands of CATV Cable Television Systems as well as RF distribution Head-Ends. Our staff strives, and prides itself to stay on top of emerging technologies. From HDTV to IPTV and beyond. Yeah you can dream it we can design-engineer-install it. Questions? Give us a call!      Including Communications World, Television Week, and many other communications biz and government trade pubs.....     Reach them with an affordable ad on DCRTV! Click here.....  |