DCRTV's Best & Worst Of 2005

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Best: Glenn Beck on TNT. He’s the future of Talk radio. His show is the best thing on radio…brilliant analysis and the best comedy on the radio period. Laura Ingraham…hands down the best use of audio and brilliant, funny commentary that breaks from politics frequently to poke fun at pop culture. Wendy Rieger…damn. Lindsay Czarniak…double damn.
Worst: Jack Diamond. He’s smarmy, fake and cliched. If it were 1979, he’d rock. The show is tired. Elliot in the morning…seriously, how can you be an adult and listen to him? The Junkies. Their rambling babble is an insult to Major Market radio. How in the hell did they get hired in the first place? The Jack format: it’s an ill-conceived overcompensation for the mistakes of music radio. It’s also a convenient excuse to fire your entire staff and bring in second stringers for no money. WASH FM’S very weak and over-researched Christmas music playlist. Also, Glenn Hollis is the worst thing I’ve ever heard on the radio. He’s even smarmier than Jack Diamond! The Greaseman. Please, drop the schtick and talk like a real person! It may have worked in the 80’s, but it’s simply stupid for anyone under 35. Susan Kidd…should be tethered over the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Joe Krebbs…has the personality of a Chucky Cheese puppet. His Sunday morning obligatory public affairs program is better than a case of sleeping pills!

BEST of 2005: Ed Walker (and The Big Broadcast on WAMU) for showing us how entertaining radio used to be! Willard Scott (even though we see so little of him these days) for showing us how entertaining television can really be and reminding us how entertaining radio used to be! Rob Bamberger (and Hot Jazz Saturday Night on WAMU) for showing us how entertaining radio can really be! WAMU's BluegrassCountry.org streaming Website (from the "Banks of the Potomac" to the "Banks of the Ohio" to "Foggy Hollow" -- where else can you hear "American" Bluegrass Aussie-style from "Down Under"?) -- some other "terrestrial" radio stations could take a lesson from WAMU and put some MIA niche formats on streaming Websites! WGMS for keeping the Classical flame alive in DC! WGMS's VivaLaVoce.com streaming Website (Opera, Art Song and Choral Music, etc. ya jist cain't faand on the ray-joe inny-more) -- again, some other "terrestrial" radio stations could take a lesson from WGMS and put some MIA niche formats on streaming Websites! WTOP, the BEST ALL-NEWS STATION IN D.C. (Well, okay, the ONLY ALL-NEWS STATION IN D.C.!) Tony Kornheiser (and The Mr. Tony Show on WTEM) for showing us how entertaining radio can really be...live; we could probably do without the repeats, Mr. Tony! Kornheiser and Wilbon on PTI! Elliot & Diane on DC101 for showing us how entertaining radio can really be...but, we could probably do without the F*@$#!%@$! foul language! Johnny Holliday! Allison Starling! Doug Hill! Shannon Bream! George Michael! Lindsay Czarniak! Tom Kierein! Stephanie Wells! Bob Marbourg! Doreen Gentzler! John Riggins! Eun Yang! Tom Sherwood! Wendy Rieger! James Adams! Sue Palka! Frank Herzog! Sonny and Sam! Charlie Sloes and Dave Shea! Phil Wood! Paul Harvey! -- the ONLY bright spot on WMAL! XM and Sirius (even with all their faults) for providing an alternative to the pallid fare of terrestrial radio!
WORST of 2005: WMAL (except for Paul Harvey!) Bonneville (for not putting the Nationals on WTOP where they would have been heard from Cape Cod to Cuba)...Larry Michael..."The John Thompson Show"..."Jack Diamond"...WETA for dumping the only other classical music in town...
I'm sure I could find more "Worst" but the year is almost over and I'd rather give a champagne toast to the BEST of the departing year above! Cheers! Happy New Year! --RB

BEST: Dan Patrick (When he shows up) W/ Keith Olberman... Makes you truly miss "The Big Show". WTMD..best music selection in all of DC/B-more..If they would just pay a few more bucks for talent, it would sound a hell of a lot better. Mornings on WZBA..Chris Emry & Colleen have a good mix w/o forced "yuks". WBIG for still playing the "Oldies", sort of.
WORST: The rest of WTEM & WJFK, in particular, John Thompson...PLEASE !!! end the misery. WBAL except for Ron Smith. Attention Chip Franklin & the pompous Bruce Elliot: see John Thompson. The music on WBIG & WZBA repeats way too frequently, especially in the mornings. The long struggle of Lopez.

Best TV News. Channel 7 Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyun. Best Weather: Doug Hill. Best Radio Morning Show: Elliot on DC 101 Best Mid Days: Tony K Best Afternoons Radio WTOP: Shawn and Diane Best Radio Move: WTOP hiring David Burd. I have found myself listening longer to WTOP in the afternoon waiting to hear how Shawn and Diane will react to Burd...where does he come up with some of that stuff? He's is also great when Frank Herzog is in there. Best air talent: Tony K. David Burd, Frank Herzog, Shawn and Diane, John Riggins on WTEM, Lou Katz, Elliot, Chip Franklin. Best sense of humor: Tony K and David Burd in a tie for 1st, Don and Mike when they're on their game...Don Imus when he's not whining

BEST- WJLA's #1 @ 5pm newscast run WRC- dominance overall The NATS season- feel fortunate to see it The WIZ- (though a CAVS fan since '89) glad to see this team is no longer LA Clippers EAST Jim Vance- the best what more can you say............. Doreen Gentzler- being from cleveland and watchin her as a child, she's gotten that much better since she left WKYC. LEON HARRIS- when the dust settles and Gordo and Jim are gone He'll still be here Alison Starling- makes it worthwhile to wake up too............. NEWS4 AM WEEKEND TEAM, regardless what ya' say about clay anderson still good commutter news for weekend warriors >>>>>NO NHL for a whole YEAR! thought i would never see those guys again, darn spoke too soon.....
WORST- WASH FM's X-MAS rotation starting on holloween and playing that awful kareoke song "Christmas In Washington" NC8's WJLA 7's owners, found guilty in running Briggs bank into the ground, now destroying the hard work of the past few years, not to mention the Nate Roberts situation. Albrightons, if you have any integrity, please sell WJLA to a legitimate owner, and keep your ABC 27 's and stuff in PA please but just get out of DC! im goin there DC>>>>> Tai Shan, AKA BUTTERSTICK's birth n coverage>>> way too much >>>>> Winter Storm coverage from earlier this year, ALL DC STATIONS blew it and over sensationalized it >>>>>>NHL strike , even though you are out there now, you still blew it........ >>>>>>WJLA plastered all over METRO>>>weak >>>>>>WJLA's technical glitches, just pathetic if your gonna challenge WRC >>>>>>ALL THINGS W*USA 9 >>>>>> LESLIE FOSTER'S labor ( the only person worth watching on WUSA outside of Derek Mac) >>>>>> TIM BRANT AKA DA' BURGER KING, quit feelin up gordo and leon during the newscast please! >>>>>> NFL teams in the DC-BALTO area, making ohio's pro sports teams look like winners, bad when CINCINATTI's better than you at anything really........

BEST..I like what 94.7 The Arrow is doing, the jocks, the special events like 'cool cover weekends,' the local energy and enthusiasm for concerts, et al; I like the disco music on 100.3, the mid-to-late '70s dance music still sounds great on Saturday nights; I like Sports Talk 980--Mr. Tony, Coach Thompson, the Sports Reporters, the Redskins/NFL coverage; I like Don and Mike. And if I keep this up, I'll start to sound like a tune by Tom T. Hall.
WORST..JACK FM, what they did to the jocks and the whole vibe of the station. The ouster of Jerry Phillips, a prince of a gent who deserved much better. Radio ads for satellite radio; no knock on satellite, but c'mon, radio, put up your dukes, at least, and fight the 'cross town' competition.

Best Radio Personalities: Steve Rouse, Bob Worthington, Johnny Dark, Ken Merson, Amy Paige, Frank Herzog, Stephanie Wells, Dave Durian, Bruce Elliott, RC Allen, and Chris Core... Best TV News Anchors: Alison Starling, Doug McElway, Gordon Peterson, Stan Stovall, Don Scott ... Best TV Weather: Doug Hill... Best TV Sports: Gerry Sandusky and Lindsay Czarniak... Best Baltimore News: WBAL AM/TV... Best Wa shington TV News: WJLA... Best Washington Radio News: WTOP... Best National News: Fox News and CNN’s Situation Room... Most Entertaining on TV News: Jack Cafferty... Best Radio Move: The Ravens, to WBAL and WIYY. They do a quality job of Ravens coverage now without the rights, and I look forward to a much better pregame and postgame show and a better produced game. On WJFK/WQSR, I think I am listening to a three hour long commercial block with some game coverage mixed in... Special thanks to WBIG for keeping Oldies on FM alive, even though the station has a terrible morning show and sound generally stale and repetitive...
Worst Radio Move: JACK. IS that what passes for radio these days? JACK is nothing more than a cheap, canned, format-of-the month, cold, unfeeling shell of a radio station. The JACK stations have no human element whatsoever [and no, I do not count the prerecorded crap by Howard Cogan as human]. No ne ws, no traffic, no weather, no personalities, it lacks the elements that made radio what it is [or was, at least]. It is nothing more than a iPod, not even programmed by its user. What goes with this was the underhanded way in which the format was introduced, without warnings and goodbyes from the old format. The management at Infinity fired many popular and quality personalities, both in Baltimore and New York, without even so much as a farewell. Shame on you Joel Hollander... Worst Broadcast Management: Infinity/CBS Radio... Worst Radio Personalities: Murphy and Cash and Al Franken... Worst TV News Anchors: Barbara Harrison, Mike Walter, Marty Bass, Todd McDermott... Worst TV News: WUSA... Worst Baltimore News Station: WJZ... Worst TV Weather: All of WJZ... Worst TV Sports: Stan Saunders, Levan Reid, and George Michael... Worst Waste of Frequencies: WRBS, WAVA-FM, and WFSI using powerful FM signals for their “Godcasting,” as well as all those godcasters and time-brokered ethnic stations that have sent the AM band twirling towards oblivion by wasting valuable bandwidth...
Dave, thank you for this site, and a Happy 2006 to all...

Best: XM, being able to stream WRNR, WNRN, WTMD, and my expansive CD collection. The 92.3 TIDE from Williamsburg- hopefully they will stream eventually as well. DCRTV for keeping me company while I am pushing paper in Dilbert’s world each week. Stern going to Sirius so that he can now cater to the lowest common denominator without the FCC breathing down his neck.
Worst: Free FM (Infinity and Clear Channel in the battle of who could destroy local FM radio first), the end of 99.1 ‘HFS who even in its corp-ALT-40 format was still like losing an old friend… an old friend who had veered of course and become a drunken consultant to pharmaceutical mega-opoly. I started listening to WHFS back in 1985. Lousy talk radio programs like D&M and the rest of the Free FM line-up, I’ll take music any day of the week.
Dean in Southern MD

BEST - Susan Kidd, Doreen, Wendy Rieger, Michael & Lark, Tom Sater & Holly Morris(when they were the fun loving married couple on DC TV). The Tom Sater milk carton. It was great! Allison Seymour,the return of Tony Perkins, Roz Plater, Allison Starling.
WORSE - Tom Sater & Gurver Dhinsa as the new love couple (lots of sightings), two women one man same newsroom = bad news. The sound of Holly Morris's voice. George Michael, Tony (hype the weather) Pann, Howard Boring Berstein, JC Hayward's wigs and fake smiles, Todd Mcdermott(I swear he is not human), Bob Ryan's hair, Brett Haber.

Best: Don Geronimo's first show back after Freda's death - I wasn't able to listen live but caught the MP3 and sat at my computer crying my eyes out. It was a truly moving moment for all those who are fans of the show and of course, Freda herself. Well done to Mike, Beth Ann, and Rob for carrying on. And biggie ups to DCRTV for covering the Freda tragedy with dignity and allowing us a place to talk. It was much much appreciated. Elliot continues to be my favorite morning show. Once I "got" that he's just a goofy guy who really wants to be one of the "cool kids", I found a soulmate. Diane (Voice of reason), Flounder (Voice of ... no clue), Kyle (voice of a latently gay dude) and all the rest are my morning show. And! He talks about hockey and knows what he's speaking about, too. Always a plus. Stephanie Miller - good lefty snark. Too bad AM1260 has suck reception but at least I can get it most days.
Worst: Oh good Lord - Jack Diamond - I'm prone to high blood sugar so I can't even tune the dial that way. Stern? No. I was a fan (way) back in the day but I think I've definitely grown past that strippers and whackpack idiots. Good luck at Sirius. Take your money and move along now. We don't care any more. Ed Norris? Oh, I really don't like you at all. I didn't even know who Big O and Dukes were (being new to the B'more listening area) but they were 100% better on their suckiest day than you are ANY day. Bleah.
-Bex on the eastern shore (formerly of NoVA)

Best: Channel 4 News, Diane Stupar [simply for being Diane], Lil Stevie's Basement, Julie Parker, Don and Mike, Elliot Segal, Kim Martucci, Lindsay C., Shannon Bream.
Worst: Howard's endless infomercial for Sirius and CBS/Infinity's choices for his replacement AND the entire way they handled the entire situation. WJFK ''management'' for thinking The Junkies will save their mornings. WJFK and the entire ''Redskins Radio Network'' shrill and annoying, Barbara Harrison is a mumbling mess in the mornings and needs to be replaced. Room Store ads. Jerry's Subs radio ads. Fox 5 for sending Holly Morris to cover the aftermath of the hurricanes. Holly Morris? WARW, thanks for making classic rock unbearable and that mid day moron, Schelby. WRQX, for taking the 'Jack' format and ruining it within 2 months. ''Free FM'', duh?
Happy New Year, everyone! Paul

Happy New Year!
BEST: Don and Mike, for carrying on. New blondes at Channel 4: Shannon Bream and Lindsey Czarniak. Bob Lopez, for his talent, class, and courage. He will be missed.
Worst: Baltimore's 98 Rock Post-Lopez... zero chemistry between Kirk, Mark or "Josh"... Jack Diamond and his stupid "Best of...every crappy song". Barbara Harrison.

Best: XM radio, The Ed Schultz Show, Comcast Sportsnet for having the Capitals, Holly Morris, I just love her
Worst: Clear Channel, and the death of ESRTV

Best: WTOP's reporters - across the board, they are versatile, talented, intelligent, energetic and driven. They are the best: Derek Williams, Mitchell Miller, Neal Augenstein, Hank Silverberg, Paul Brandus, Kristi King, Mark Segraves, Darci Marchese, David Burd, Ira Mellman, J.J. Green, Maria Leaf. They cover more stories -- and of a greater variety -- than any broadcast station in town. They have been all over the world, all over the country -- and most importantly, to every nook and cranny of the Washington region. No television or radio station can match the work they do.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Dave.
Best for 2005 - News - FOX 5 and WJLA 7... Radio Morning Program - WASH, WTOP, WRQX, WMZQ... Radio Afternoon Program - WASH, WTOP... Best Improvement - WTOP over the year (Bringinig in alot of good people like David Burd, Ira Mellman and Frank Herzog)...
Worst for 2005 - News - None... Radio Program - everything on DC101, and 99.1 EL-ZOL... Loss - the Death of Don Geronimo's Wife Freda...
Sorry bout the short list this year but it's been a busy year for me. Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year. Good luck in 2006. Tom in Fairfax

Best: WTOP Radio for allowing old friends to make new friends -- David Burd, Frank Herzog, Bruce Alan, and Man About Town Bob Madigan are DC radio icons. It would be nice if they could add Johnny Holliday to the mix to really give DC Radio an institutional memory.
Worst: Clear Channel for dumping one of the nicest people in broadcasting Jerry Phillips. Apparently CC has no respect for public service, or for loyalty. To do that to someone who cares about DC the way Jerry does is one thing, but just before Christmas and before his special to help the Capital Area Food Bank is unconscionable.

Best: (1) The Laura Ingraham Show - My healthy radio addiction. My dear hubby introduced me to her this year and I am grateful! (2) Don's tribute to Freda... I never get to listen anymore due to impressionable 3-yr-old ears in the house, but I listened to the show that day and cried along with him. Hearing him tell of rushing to the hospital and how they kept her alive until he could get there was gut-wrenching. (3) Brian Bolter - He may not be the most talented anchor in the business but he sure is purty to look at. (4) Even though it isn't really local media, I have to mention the guys in the Nextel commercial who are dancing in their office to "Push It." I will NEVER get tired of seeing that spot! Makes me laugh every time. (5) Best gossip unfolding on my TV - the "are they" or "aren't they" drama of Tom and Holly's marriage over at FOX 5. Looking for those wedding rings was like playing I Spy! Followed by the drama of Holly and Gurvir together at the anchor desk. Waiting anxiously for them to come to blows some day... Special Fertility Award to FOX 5 - It's like the Weather Channel over there.
Worst: (1) The woman from the Roomstore ads. Does she suck helium before filming? (2) A close second to the voice of the Washington Area Honda Dealers ads... there is a world of difference between a sexy breathy voice and a scratchy just-getting-over-the-flu voice. (3) On-air talent who cannot pronounce the letter "S" - JC Hayward and Jim Handly, I'm looking in your direction. (4) Continuing to put the Channel 9 traffic reporters in a storage closet. Please put some better lighting in there so poor Beverly Farmer looks healthier! (5) George Michael's heartwarming tales of how some unknown overcame the odds to achieve greatness, yada, yada, yada. Reminds me of Bart Simpson doing "Bart's People."
Happy Festivus, Dave! Lori

Best TV Comeback of the Year: "The Family Guy" on FOX (I take back what I said in the 2001 BW, calling this now-hilarious show my Least Favorite TV Show of the Year! See BW2001 under Greg K., Baltimore). Best Radio Comeback of the Year: Josh Spiegel, now a part of KMS on 98Rock's Morning Show. Sure, he was on 105.7 prior to 98 Rock, but I hadn't heard him on a regular basis since he left the now defunct CHR/Pop/Dance 102.7XYV back in 2001. Best TV Programming: WUSA-TV9 moving "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" to 10:30am weekdays, preceding "The Price Is Right". Also, TV Land adding "Night Court" reruns to their daily lineup!
Worst TV Programming: WB50's airing of the now-tired "Jerry Springer" twice a day. Hey, I guess it's better than another hour of infomercials! Also, "The Family Guy" airing Sundays at 9pm. Finally, Comcast refusing to air Washington Nationals' games from MASN. Worst Radio Programming: Any station that airs infomercials instead of syndicated fare or music. Also, Infinity's handling of the 'HFS format. Finally, no local station airing club dance music a la XM81 BPM or C89.5 KNHC-FM out of Seattle. Worst TV Magazine Revision: TV Guide doing away with local listings has caused me to let my subscription run out after 18 consecutive years!
-Greg from Beltsville

Best: XM Radio and Ipods. Elliot, Only decent morning show out there. Even with Elliot's fixation on all things related to defecation.
Worst: Hot 99.5, and when are they going to fix their processing? Shrill high ends and over-driven bottom end. What PD came up with this Eighties retro sound? Oh to be 12 again, and not know the difference. The destruction and dismantling of WBIG (yeah I know it was 2004). CC for actually thinking that we are buying, "We are heading in a new direction" BS when they fire qualified personnel. CC for helping us move to Satrad and away form their homogeneous watered down, over-talked programming. "Less is More" = Less quality and more of the same stuff---over and over and over again.

Best - 1. Mike O'Meara's on-air strength the day after Freda's death, and Don's stellar tribute to Freda. 2. Maynard on the Ed Norris Show.
Worst - 1. Firing of Rouse & Company. 2. Ed Norris on the Ed Norris Show.
- Tall Lisa in Sykesville

BEST: The rumour/idea to switch Z104 FM to All-Sports
WORST: The Clear Channel "evil empire" that owns half the radio stations in this town.

Best: WTOP, David Burd, Frank Herzog, Hillary Howard, DCRTV, Channel 7
Worst: death of oldies in Baltimore, WAMU and WETA running same programming, Channel 9.

Best: WBOC.com's excellent web producers-- the only website the Eastern Shore can look to when it comes to local news. Don Geronimo's amazing two hour eulogy for Freda. Bulldog and the entire crew at Ocean 98, especially the morning crew-- the most well put-together and professional AM show a tiny market like Salisbury-Ocean City could expect, trying a lot of new things that don't always work but always seem to be different. Stern leaving terrestrial radio.
Worst: The truly miserable production values on Eastern Shore radio commercials. The awful Whiskey Wilson occupying Don and Mike's afternoon slot (nothing like hearing a three day old show on Monday mornings). 96 Rock's bizarre three day meltdown prior to switching D&M around. WMDT's consistent stagnation, especially on their website (if you're not doing it right, why are you doing it?). The juggling at 93.5 the Beach in the AM slot, that's amounted to... well, just another weak local morning show. Stern leaving terrestrial radio.
Joey C.., Fruitland

Thanks again, Dave, for all you do. DCRTV is a daily read and as entertaining a website as I've encountered on local media. --
BEST of 2005: The rise of satellite radio. I just got Sirius this month, and I'm never looking back. Is it perfect? No, and especially not out in lovely Loudoun County, where sometimes reception can be a little tricky. But it's everything radio used to be, and is supposed to be: spontaneous, diverse, and above all else, exciting. I love the fact that an old school rap station, lefty talk, righty talk, all-NFL, all-NBA and classic alternative are a turn of the dial away. Sure as hell beats hearing the same damn Nickelback song on five different DC stations, or Chris Core telling me how to clean my gutters five times an hour. Tony Kornheiser on WTEM: Something's different about his show, and it may just be the renewed local focus. But I'm listening a hell of a lot longer than I did when he was on ESPN Radio, and laughing more, too. The return of Don and Mike: God Bless Don, who went through a tragedy I don't believe I could bring myself to recover from if it ever happened to me. But the reason the Radio Gods make the best list is the fact that, quite frankly, they're thinking with their dicks again. Let me explain: when George Lucas wrote the first two "Star Wars" movies, it was all about sex: boy lusts for girl, boy takes on the universe for girl, boy explodes metallic pseudo-ovum with a shot from his weapon, right down the canal...again, for girl. Then George stopped thinking about sex, and suddenly the girl turned into a sister, a bunch of teddy bears defeated the Empire, and then came the prequels. What does this have to do with Don and Mike? Not a whole hell of a lot, save for the fact that the boys have been funnier than they have been in years and that's due in part to a certain raunch that's come back recently. Keep it up...literally. Also: Lindsay Czarniak's face, Jim Vance's voice, Tim Brandt, Dave Johnson, The Junkies when they talk sports, Al Franken, Fairfax Sports Network, Howard Stern's final shows, and the growing awareness that Alexander Ovechkin is worth paying to watch.
THE WORST OF 2005: "Best of" radio shows. When and where did this moronic trend begin? "The Best of The John Thompson Show?" Are you serious? What is that, the same two Bobby Knight interviews played sixteen times? "The Best of Bill O'Reilly?" Yeah, nothing better than hearing July's news debate in the middle of December. "The Best of the Peter Rosenberg Show?" All due respect to a guy that's gotten better recently, but he's only gotten better recently. Can't they find some out-of-work yakker to pay $5-an-hour in order to man the phones when the regular host is on vacation? I mean, besides the ones Hannity uses when he's out in the desert looking for the WMD he claims we've already found. The Majority of Air America's line-up: Would it kill 1260 to get a local host in the mix during weekdays? Or am I condemned, as a progressive, to suffer through one-lung Imus, the hit-or-completely-miss Stephanie Miller, and Ed "Doing whatever it takes to become the lefty Limbaugh" Henry before I get to the wonderfully manic ramblings of Randi Rhodes? Here's a role that needs to be filled: a local liberal voice, one that can offer a valuable counterpoint to the WMAL cabal. And one that can mix humor with insight instead of coming off as shrill or as a comedic hack. The Fox 5 Walking Thing: Why does every remote on the Fox 5 news have to involve the reporter walking around the crime scene/car crash/neighborhood? There was a winter weather report last month in which the reporter walked down the side of 270 and then ducked under a frozen tree to play with the branches. Stand still, will ya please? The John Thompson Show: OK, this is the second time I've mentioned it, but it's just awful. Sports radio works in one of two ways: creating debate or informing the listener. Since the show sounds like it's being run at half-speed through a pillow, the first option is out. And since Big John openly pleads ignorance whenever a sport that's not played on a hardwood floor comes up, there goes option No. 2. I pray Z104 flips, and that the new competition forces WTEM - a station that does have some wonderful individuals working there, and talent that deserves greater roles - to up its game. Also: Lindsay Czarniak's voice, Wil Thomas, Free FM, those creepy 9 News in HDTV promos, The Junkies when they talk poker, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern's never-ending sales pitch, and the growing awareness that Major League Baseball might have been a better fit in Virginia.
Greg Wyshynski, SportsFan Magazine, Senior Editor, Columnist, 'The Jester's Quart,' www.sportsfanmagazine.com

The Best is Don & Mike, Junkies, Sports Reporters, Doc Walker & smokin Al (they should fill Kornheiser's 11-1repeat slot) from the John Thompson Show and Bram on WTEM. SONNY, SAM & FRANK, the only way it should be. Get rid of Larry Michael, stick to program director/Danny boys right hand radio man. GIVE ME BACK SONNY, SAM & FRANK!!! WTOP is great especially having to sit in hours of traffic in the DC area. Wilbon and Kornheiser on PTI.
Worst, clearly Larry Michael and his terrible mix with Sonny & Sam, I wish Sam would light him up like he did players coming across the middle in his days. Sound system at FedEx is terrible, come on Danny, you get all our money, finally a good or chance at a good thing, fix the sound system, the Echo is terrible. Teapot Tim is a drain.

I am reluctant to "critique" broadcasters as they have a tough job in a very tough environment thanks to the likes of BZ with CC. I don't think terrestrial radio needs to be concerned so much with sat radio. They should be concerned with broadcasts over a Dixie cup and a string. The overall quality of radio and the lack of talent is its own doing. The brownest nose and the lowest salary gets the job. But, here goes.
The BEST is Frank Herzog. Frank is a pro-caster! His skill is head and shoulders above most in the industry, elevating the stature and range of WTOP.
For the worst, that's easy. Larry Michael is what's wrong with broadcasting. Must have some naked photos of someone, somewhere! He is annoying, and sounds like he just graduated from broadcasting school. He is so unnatural he makes the Sonny, Sam and "whoever" show sound awful.
Capt. Steve Chaconas

Best: WTOP (the only listenable station on Washington's airwaves); WBJC; WTMD; Cerphe and Weasel; Leon Harris; Lindsay Czarniak; Bob Marbourg (on W-T-Uh-P); Johnny Holliday; Rob Bamberger (“Hot Jazz Saturday Night”); Bob Schieffer; Internet radio; DCRTV (Dave rules!)
Worst: WETA radio without classical music; the Nationals television situation; WMAL (mean-spirited, hateful radio); George Michael; Jack Diamond; John Thompson; Doc Walker; Larry Michael; Channel 9 News; Tim Brant (“Hey!”); Barbara Harrison; James Bartel; Crystal Koons
Jack from Centreville

Best: Kornheiser's show on WTEM from 9-11 daily.Don and Mike. Lindsay on Channel 4. XM Radio. XM Radio online to use at work when every radio host is on vacation this time of year. Don Imus. Channel 4 news. Mark Seagraves reporting at WTOP. Terps radio team: Johnny Holliday, Jonathan Claiborne and Tim Strachan covering football. Johnny Holliday and Chris Knoche covering Terps hoops.
Worst: The same Kornheiser show repeated from 11-1 daily, Free FM, annoying radio ads for Shaws Jewelers, Amstel Light beer and pills that are supposed to give men a woodie (Focus Factor?) Larry Michael sticking in ad promos during Redskins games and player interviews. John Thompson Show (how has this show been on for six years???). Lisa Baden. Over hyped weather coverage. Not the forecasters like Sue Palka, but the guys like Robby Chaves showing us how a scraper works. Come on, are people that stupid? Newscasts from the airport on Thanksgiving, the Mall on Christmas Eve, etc. We get it. Enough.

best; Sean Sellers on Z104, Jack coming to Baltimore
worst: Teapot Tim on hot 99.5., Jack not being programmed properly in Baltimore

BEST: Don & Mike - especially Don's tribute to Freda. I have listened to him since before he was with Mike. I remember Freda being on WASH while Don was on PGC. On TV - Best - Channel 4 news overall with 7 a close second.
WORST: BIG 100 getting rid of Johnny Dark & Goldie; Of course the loss of Freda; Everyone on channel 9 news

Best: The best news team is Channel 4, you can always depend on them from morning to night. No other news station in the DC area can compare. Fox 5 is okay though. Jim Vance, Susan Kidd, Wendy Reiger, and Doreen are the best. When it comes to radio, the best station is WMMJ and WHUR. Tom Joyner morning show is the best.
Worst: The worst news team is Channel 9 WUSA, everybody on there seems to be fake. Especially Todd Mcdermott, he kids and jokes too much for me. He should really be more professional than what he is. The news is not an act or a show. I also think that Tony Pann on Channel 9 is terrible. He is the only Meterologist on the weekends always calling for snow. He has been predicting snow for the last couple weekends, even Christmas. Where is the snow??? I think he likes to hype things up. Tony and Todd need to go away. However I do like JC and Topper on Channel 9. The worst radio station is WPGC, no matter what the ratings show. Donnie Simpson is so boring in the morning.

Best: Chris Baker's reports in the Washington Times exposing WUSA's sneaky advertising practices. In the spring, Baker reported that the anti-obesity "public service announcements" featuring Peggy Fox were really advertisements paid for by Inova. In the fall, a front-page story by Baker showed Channel 9 was charging the D.C. government thousands of dollars a year to have its news anchors urge viewers to visit a D.C. government ad on the WUSA Web site. The Washington Post has gotten a lot of mileage this month out of shady advertising deals in local TV, but it was Chris Baker and the Times who get the credit for breaking the story.
Worst: OK, this isn't local, but it's worth noting: The forced retirement of Dan Rather. CBS should have stuck by its anchorman. With Brokaw retired and Jennings gone, viewers are craving an experienced, authoritative voice weeknights at 6:30. Rather should still be there filling that void. And while we're on the subject, ABC was foolish to not give Jennings' seat to Charlie Gibson (formerly of WJLA), perhaps the best anchor working today.

Best: Channel 7's anchor team. Inside Washington being aired after Washington Week on Channel 26. Stephanie Miller's talk show on Progressive Talk 1260 (refuting the notion that liberals can't be funny on the air). Righty talker Laura Ingraham continuing to do her syndicated show (heard locally on WTNT) while battling breast cancer. The PBS documentary on music icon Bob Dylan. XM signing Dylan, the Ripken brothers and Duke's legendary Coach K to host weekly radio shows. XM's classical and alternative rock channels. George Michael getting back on the air not long after his near fatal accident. Mel Proctor returning to the area as Nats TV voice. Channel 5's Nationals coverage. XM's baseball broadcasts. Dave Johnson's call of Wizards' dramatic playoff win over Chicago. WTEM's John Riggins show (especially when he puts Steve Czaban in his place). Kevin Sheehan's Redskins analysis o n WTEM. Ken Mease and the Junkies on WJFK's Redskins pre and postgame programming. Channel 4's Redskins Gameplan hosted by Wally Bruckner and Lindsay Czarniak (in particular, the interviews with local celebs). Jill Sorenson joining Comcast. Keith Olbermann joining ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick show. ESPN's PTI featuring Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon (none of the show's many ripoffs come close to equalling the original).
Worst: Former WMAL host Michael Graham's offensive remark about Islam.WMAL fill-in host Mark Williams sitting in a Sacramento studio and relentlessly haranguing Herndon's mayor regarding the immigrant work center issue. Air America radio being consigned locally to AM-1260's weak signal. Media excess regarding the runaway bride and Natalee Holloway stories. The vicious personal attacks on antiwar protester (and grieving mother) Cindy Sheehan by certain right wing radio hosts. Gratuitous political pontificating by certain sports radio hosts. XM and Sirius dropping niche music channels such as World Zone and Folktown. WTEM's minimalist approach to covering the Nationals' inaugural season (despite endless promos claiming to be all over the team, didn't see fit to send its 'beat reporter' to spring training or any road games). WFED missing the ;start of the Nats' first exhibition game due to a technical glitch. Phil Wood leaving XM's Home Plate channel. Kornheiser abandoning phone calls on his radio show. Anemic coverage of Capitals' rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin by local TV and radio outlets (with the notable exception of Comcast). Bram Weinstein's recurring spoof of football handicappers on WTEM (I get it!!! - a monkey can pick games just as well). ESPN jamming Yankees/Red Sox rivalry and Terrell Owens situation with the Eagles down everyone's throats. Mike, Fairfax

Best: Don and Mike (including the tribute to Freda), Ravens to WBAL/98 Rock (which means new announcers, new production values, etc.), XM Radio, Dave Durian and KMS.
Worst: Oh man, ANYTHING on 1300AM (sheesh, what an awful. amateurish station), the Ed Norris Show, Ravens Post-Game Live on Comcast SportsNet is the most brutal piece of television the medium has ever seen, the Ed Norris show and the Junkies.

Best: 1. Don's tribute to Freda, 2. The man, the myth, the legend,....Josh Speigel on 98 Rock , 3. JACK FM on WQSR, they really play a wide variety of songs! Could have sworn I heard them play a Shakin' Stevens song one morning. Now tell me when was the last time you heard Shakin' Stevens on the airwaves? , 5. WTMD - best radio station in the area. This station has introduced me to so many new artists. I am forever in there debt. , 6. Marty Bass, enough said! 7. The under appreciated and misunderstood Big O and Dukes Show. I don't care what anyone says I found them to be extremely funny and talented. In fact I would prefer listening to them in the morning than the Junkies.
Worst: 1. The untimely deaths of R. Edward Lopez, Freda Wright-Sorce, Chuck Thompson, and David Haines, 2. Miles and Thrill leaving for Seattle, 3. The multiple firings of Big O and Dukes, 4. The Junkies ADD radio show that will be back on WHFS in the morning, Arggghhh!!!! God save Us!!!! 5. The cackle that ate DC, Elliott 'the Hyena' in the Morning, 6. Free FM, what a stupid name! 7. and....The most boring show in the history of broadcasting, The Ed Norris Show. The show is nothing without Chad Dukes riding shotgun to liven things up.

best anchor: allison starling, will thomas, tracey neale
worst: elliott francis, brian bolter

And Now, the Best and Worst of R&TV, 2005:
Best: Any SatRad provider you choose. Sirius for my NFL games, XM will be next for the ACC and baseball fix. Tony Kornheiser in the AM. The continued improvement of WJLA-TV. WTOP—still the best resource for news & info, WPGC-FM, WHUR-FM. The NFL Network is becoming a regular lineup channel on my DirecTV service.
Now…the Worst: Where to start? Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) and the insta-format flip to El Zol and Jack, without notifying station employees or listeners in advance. At least before you kill a format, give them a proper burial. And your Free FM is a joke unto itself waiting to happen. See you next Arbitron book. WMAL is now dead to me. Not even a preset devoted to that piece of air. WWRC is dead to everyone…who doesn’t live within 100 yards of the transmitter, at least. The Terrestrial Radio Industry—if terrestrial radio had much more to offer, other than more of the same bland and boring stuff, would they really have to go on the offense against SatRad now? WUSA—all these changes, all this time, and still not there yet. WDCA: where Fox 5’s crap goes to die. WJZ: this station needs an update, and “Chroma Cues” needs to die. ESPN’s “All T.O., All The Time” marathons. Both Redskins and Ravens Radio’s penchant for inserting ads into every possible phrase—it’s annoying as hell. Stern’s Sirius Infomercials that posed as his radio show—even as a Siri subscriber (one year this week), I can see him working, but that’s a bit much. WRC: get with the times, and air regular sports highlights already—stop with the piped in crowd cues, the cropped shots and “Sports Machine” logos to block out on screen graphics. You would save a lot of time and money not pulling this stuff. Comcast not airing MASN is petty. Finally, WBIG, my advice is…just pull the plug. It’s over.

Best: Don and Mike on WJFK. Cristianna Kline on ABC 7 (visually appealing). Alison Starling on ABC 7.
Worst: Larry Michael's Contribution to Redskins Radio and the over selling of Sponsorship. That strange annoying elfin woman on "The Room Store" ads. All the people in the "You Don't Work Here" Mattress ads. Local weather trick to change the weather report until right before the "winter event" occurs and then claim that you predicted the weather exactly. George Stephanopolis' biased ABC Sunday show.

Josh Spiegel on 98 Rock's Morning Show.
Jack FM taking over WQSR, especially Rouse and Company.

Best: Don's tribute to Freda. Perhaps the most powerful couple hours of radio I have ever heard. It was sincere, heartfelt, emotional and honest.
Worst: WFMD in Frederick. Maryland's second-largest city deserves more than a part-time news operation. If a meteor the size of the Empire State Building would happen to land in downtown Frederick on a Saturday afternoon, you wouldn't hear about it until Monday morning.

Best on the shore: Flipping The Wave to KISS-FM. Roxi on 96 and KISS...damn is she hot! Bob and Tom on BIG.
Worst: The steady stream of crappy morning shows on The Beach. Don and Mike mornings on 96 Rock...what is the point? The addition of Jimmy Hoppa to WBOC...some people are just not meant to do TV (plus, I now have to watch WMDT in the morning which is like watching a crappy college station).
Chris in Salisbury

Best - Sirius Radio Rawdog, NFL Football & Now Howard Stern & Don & Mike before the FCC
Worst - Imus, Opie & Anthony, Mancow (All Howard Nock-Offs)

Best:Wendy Reiger.
Worst:George Michael.I swear....if I see him busting a gut to get the last word in one more time with guys Like Joe Gibbs or Joe Bugel....I'm gonna scream.Not to mention....the ridiculous,painfully obvious added sound effects to his overwrought sportscasts.

Best: Don & Mike. They continue forward, despite a devastating loss, and FCC intolerance. WTOP when there is actually news to cover.
Worst: Shaw Jewelers Commercials. Whenever any station plays that caterwauling women, they lose a listener and the CD player gets turned on. WTOP non-news stories. Do I really care what is in their refrigerator? WTOP repeats. Do I really need to hear the EXACT same bit about some trivial item 5 times in one hour? BIG 100 DJ massacre, and QSR format disaster. They don't know JACK about what we want to listen to.

Best: Elliot on DC 101-Can be downright funny! Don and Mike!! Without them JFK would be dead! News 4 on NBC!! Great newsteam!
Worst: Bob and Tom mornings on 1049/1055! What were they thinking? That is the most terrible morning show I have EVER heard!! Go Away Bob and Tom!! (other than Bob and Tom 1049/1055 is a great classic rock station!! McGinty'S MAILBAG ON CHANNEL 9! wHAT COMPLETE AND UTTER NONSENSE!!

BEST: Don's tribute to Freda - I had tears rolling down my face driving home on the Beltway. T-Bone and Heather in the mornings on 98.3 - locally oriented, professional, and just far enough outside the DC market to escape the staleness that seems to have overtaken everyone else. WRQX?s music flip - I actually find myself listening now. WTOP - just because.
WORST: The loss of Freda, Walt Starling, and David Haines. The DJ purge at WBIG. NC8's decision to let Nathan Roberts go.
alr

Best --- COMCAST SPORTSNET .... I watch other local sports and they do maybe 3-4 minutes a night, where comcast does 30-60 minute shows every night. Can't get the coverage of local teams anywhere else but CSN.
Worst-- George Michael and WJZ. Michael and the sports machine are just aweful. Stop telling me the results before I see the brutally edited highlights, blow ups, that SPORTS MACHINE logo everywhere, slo mo's--horrible ... And WJZ, STOP HYPING THE STUPID WEBSITE AND GIVING US LIVE LOOKS OUTSIDE ... I just looked out my window, that's my live look, thanks but I'm not that lazy. And A team of forecasters that REALLY understand Baltimore weather --- that comes in handy when you're doing the forecasts FOR BALTIMORE .. spend more time covering the news instead of hyping yourselves .. WJZ SUCKS!!!
-- chris, Columbia

Best: Don & Mike Show, Don doing a tribute to Freda on the air, Donnie Simpson doing a tribute to David Haines, Howard Stern leaving CBS Radio for satrad, Miles & Steve leaving OTL for a job in Seattle…and doing well! CBS Radio in Baltimore firing Big O & Dukes around Labor Day weekend, Big Phat Morning Show on WERQ, watching North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams winning his 1st National Championship on TV, Watching Tracy Neale on ANY television station, PTI on ESPN, watching chimp go ape on Channel 11’s WBAL Saturday Morning News in Baltimore…funniest thing I’ve seen on local TV this year!
Worst: Big O & Dukes Show…major train wreck! Ed Norris Show (great police commissioner but bad radio personality), Jack FM format, Opie & Anthony, watching the death toll count of U.S. solders over 2,000 killed in Iraq on television, watching & listening at the images of people anger at the federal government failed response to the hurricane victims of Katrina & Rita, losing Freda Sorce, David Haines, Chuck Thompson, Elrod Hendricks, Rosa Parks, Bob Lopez, Richard Pryor (one of the greatest comedians ever!), Luther Vandross, Peter Jennings, and finally…watching Terrell Owens imploding the Philadelphia Eagles 2005 season on ESPN.
Reggie from Clinton

Best: Satrad, Riggins on NFL Radio, 98 Rock's tribute to Lopez, Bob Haynie
WORST: Radio's response to SatRad being copying or advertising against it instead of improving the product. WBAL not bringing Garceau and Matte to Ravens Radio next year. Every play on Ravens or Redskins Radio seemingly sponsered by something, WLIF starting Christmas music before Thanksgiving, Loss of Lopez and Chuck Thompson

Best - Don & Mike continue to amuse me, and I have listened to DJ personality shows all over the country. They are the best! When they go satellite, I will buy their brand. Good Classic Classic rock on 105.5/104.9 in the Shenandoah Valley, Prairie Home Companion, Kojo and the Computer Guys on 1st Tuesday, WTOP for "Traffic & Weather on the Eights"
Worst- Tuning in to Howars Stern and hearing continuous commercial for Sirius- shortened my lisenting time by hours. Hardly any classical music on 90.5, miss it much. WETA using the same news as WAMU is stupid. Limbaugh is a bad joke, and O'Reilly is worse. Both big fathead prevaricators. All other right-wing Bush apologists.

Best - XM Satellite radio, internet archiving of radio shows I cannot hear while at work (Kojo Nnamdi, NPR, "This American Life"), the quality of HBO and Showtime series ("The Wire", "Sleeper Cell", "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), the innovative marketing of Opie and Anthony (fan web sites, XM 202 replays, pests and the OA Army), DCRTV, WTOP.
Worst - A year of Stern saying goodbye to terrestrial radio, over-hyped local news media teasers, Redskins Radio on WJFK (too many technical glitches and uneven content - tepid pre and post shows), a realization that most of the time I listened to the radio in 2005 was on XM or the internet.
Mike in Merrifield

Best: WTOP, WGMS - They know what & how a "professional" station needs to be.
Worst: WMAL (Not even a shadow of what they used to be...)

Best-Don Imus, Howard Stern, Chip Franklin, Tony Kornheiser, Don of D&M
Worst-Bill O'Reilly, Jack Diamond, Chris Core, and all local tv news
Sandy

Best: XM Radio. Opie and Anthony for doing a great show everyday, and not just doing a show about curse words, and sex everyday. Which I expect is what Howard will be doing for his full tenure. Howard Stern for finally admitting he has been doing sub-par radio for 10 years. Don & Mike as a local show.
Worst: Don and Mike continue to show why the will never be in top tier of radio. Local cheesy bits like honk for cash continue to make me change the dial. Commercial radio, and their horrible ads that radio should be free. It's free because the content stinks.

Best: Johnny Holliday and anything he does, be it Maryland, ABC Sports, or work with the ACC. Chris Knoche on Terps hoops and the Sports Reporters and Tim Strachan on Terps football. Joe B. and Craig L. on Caps TV--very professional and entertaining. Charlie and Dave with the Nats. Bang, Zoom, go the fireworks! It was great to hear DC baseball on the radio again. Mel Proctor on Nats TV--at least I have DirecTV to see the games. Steve Czaban on his Fox Sports Radio Morning show. Scott Linn is a good sidekick too. The new University of Maryland Radio Network for expanding pre-game and post game coverage and adding regular shows during the week. Rich Chovotkin for his longevity with the Hoyas. Ken Mease, the most underused excellent sportscaster in the area. Doc Wlker and Al Koken for carrying their horrible host. John Riggins on Thursday's Sports Reporters. Now that is what local sports radio should be like. To all the great men and women who work behind the scenes to keep the stations on the air. WTHU in Thurmont. A great little LOCAL station, one of the last ones around. The Walmers are beautiful people. Scott Van Pelt. I know he is on ESPN but he is a Sherwood High, U of Maryland grad, a great Terps promoter, and a super SportsCenter Anchor. Channel 7 morning news. WTOP Radio. XM Radio. DCRTV.
Worst: Please George Michael, lose the fake crowd noise and sound effects. Very little talk radio coverage of the Nats. Baseball is a great game to dissect and rehash, even in the off-season. We need a pregame and post game show on the stations carrying the Nats games. Ron Darling. Mel Proctor would be better by himself. The lack of MASN on Comcast in DC and in Ocean City. John Thomspon, John Thompson, John Tohmpson. He is an embarrassment to anyone that has ever worked in radio. Peter Angelos for trying to kill the Nats on TV. The weak signal of WFED. The loss of Chuck Thompson. Colleges charging money to listen to their play by play broadcasts on their web sites. All TV weather forecasters. How can you keep your jobs when you are wrong so often? The lack of local programming on WTEM. Move TK to morning drive, add a local 10-2 show about just sports, move the Sports reporters to 2 to 4 or 5, then have a good solid evening drive sports call in show with guests talking LOCAL sports. We don't need local guys that want to talk national sports when we already get ESPN Radio for most of the day. Think LOCAL. No radio for the Baysox or Keys. Did I mention John Thompson? No Phil Wood in Washington or XM MLB.

Best - 1. XM keeps getting better and better. 2. MLB on XM 3. Junkies coming back to Baltimore 4. Howard Stern going into obscurity 5. Terps on WHFS 6. MARTY BASS!!! 7. D&M 8. George Micheal 9. Tony's Mailbag
Worst - 1. The real HFS being gone. 2. The repeated firings of Big O and Dukes. 3. Ed Norris show, without the people's champion 4. Freda, Lopez, Chuck rip 5. Damon Jaffe 6.Internet Streaming - If it doesn't work, don't advertise it (sportstalk 980)

Best: Hearing broadcasts of a Washington baseball team again after 34 years, even though most of my listening was courtesy of XM. Didn't take me long to get accustomed to Charlie Slowes BANG! ZOOM! and Dave Shea...Lindsay Czarniak - a very pleasant surprise! Quite competent and easy on the eyes, too I had forgotten she went to JMU here in the Valley...Alison Starling - hubba hubba!...Howard finally being freed from the shackles of the FCC..."Pardon The Interruption" on ESPN with DC's own Tony the K and Mike the Wilbon - definitely appointment TV.
Worst: "Free FM" - what a fiasco waiting to happen. Within six months 106.7 will either be all-sports or a NoVa relay of El Zol 99.3...The abomination that is Larry Michael and Redskins Radio - such a shame that legends like Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen are subjected to this constant barrage of plugs only occasionally interrupted by game action...no MASN Nationals TV on Comcast cable or on my Dish Network..."JACK-FM" replacing a decent oldies station in B'more and Jack Lite on 107.3 in DC...miss ya, Freda Sorce and David Haines and Chuck Thompson and Walt Starling and Lopez.
- Larry in Luray

Best- Eastern Shore Radio is Skip Dixxon in the afternoon on X 106.9 and the return of The "Hitman" in the mornings on 96.5 CTG-fm (J.J. McKay) and his partner (Glen) the radio engineer play alot of music in the morning what a radio novelty, huh? Good Stuff too !
Worst- Where did Bull(dog) on 98.1 get his name? I bet from Man(cow) The Bull is a cow wanna be and I think he uses old shows and interviews he got from Mancow too! If the station owner ever suddenly stops the Bull's nose would go right up his as*. All of the pre-recorded or voice stuff that all of these stations use to make them sound live sux too. but the "flush" of the year award goes to 96Rock one of those Cheap Channel stations I bet.
Angela in Berlin, Maryland

Best: Chris Core's talk show. Those who haven't lived in "flyover" country probably don't realize an intelligent talk host is a rare thing. Also, WETA's new lineup, and Z104.
Worst: That unlistenable mess on WPFW 89.3. During the John Roberts hearing, the cue came from Pacifica national, "now we go to out Washington DC station for the news" which was followed by an overmodulated jazz piece - no news. Everyday their producers or board ops find new and innovative ways to screw up, run hot music beds over the talk host, play into the break music when there's no break etc. Apparently diversity means including the incompetents.

BEST TV: Channel 4 is still the best news team. 7 has come along way, and 9 no longer seems relevant, but 4 is consistently the best. RADIO: WTOP is among the best news stations I've heard anywhere. They're credible, and they give it to you straight. Good interviews. Bruce Allen is particularly strong, and I like Mike and Richard in the morning. David Bird's reports are fun.
WORST: Channel 9 really has become awful. And there's not enough real jazz and blues on the radio. You can only find either from time to time on 89.3.

WORST - There are plenty of reasons to have Opie and Anthony on any and all "Worst" lists. But maybe the most striking is their blatant, unmitigated hypocrisy. Here they are, three and a half years after being bounced off Infinity airwaves, and they are still rattling off the same two personal complaints about Howard Stern. They recently crowed that one of their "pests" got on television to get "their" side of the story on during Stern's 10,000 person rally, that Howard is a hypocrite who silences those he found weaker, never mentioning the extraordinary lengths they go to to silence any criticism. From their fan sites that they (themselves) moderate and have control over content (including deleting offensive posts and banning offensive posters), to their creation of "fucko lists" and "golden tickets," meant to punish and reward radio shows that either tick them off or kiss their ass, they are so far beyond parodying what they slammed Stern for, it's almost laughable. THEY CONTINUE to cry about Howard silencing them years ago, yet they themselves go out of their way to contain the dull roar that's been building since joining XM that the Emperors Have No Clothes. It's their little way of paying it forward, except in their case it's pissing it backwards - Imus pissed on Howard who pissed on O&A who turn around and piss on any show that isn't them, with the rare exception of the radio shows who still believe this is 2002, and that O&A really are the next big thing. They continue to threaten to keep shows off of ALL of XM (not just their garbage pile at “202”), but they have made many efforts to “clean out” the talk shows on the other channels THEY don’t like. So edgy and stuff.
BEST - O&A's continued obscurity is only a lovely prelude to their utter failure.

Best: Lindsey Czarniak...ah yes a JMU Grad done good....makes the folks here in Harrisonburg Proud.....add her to the long list of successful grads from that fine local institution....Wendy Rieger---WOW!!!!...need I say more???....All the Channel 9 alums over at Channel 7.....they finally made/make it a real DC quality TV Station...after years of not being in the same league with the rest.....Channel 4 is by far the best, Shannon Bream covers Washington like a native....is she??? What a score...getting her to give a law gig and do something worthwhile...
Worst: EVERYTHING at Channel 9.....the set, the news director, the on-air talent(excepting another JMU Grad, Tracey Neale, who is outstanding), the amount of time they devote to sports....way too limited, except they give Brett (not good enough for ESPN, Channel 5, and assorted radio stations) Haber, way too much time...I wonder how I could get the Concession to supply his hair Mousse.....what a grease ball....unfortunately that is grossly unfair to all the self respecting greaseballs of the world....Wonder if the light will ever go back on at Channel 9....they used to be so good, innovative, and well unbeatable...now...all wannabees....Toad McDermutt, Brett and assorted other lacklusters.....one of these days....hopefully..

The Best: Infinity losing the Ravens. Maybe now the Ravens games will stream on the internet.
The Worst: WBAL's decision to fire Garceau and Matte. The guy earlier wasn't comparing Chuck Thompson or Vince Bagli's ability to Garceau and Matte, he was saying Garceau and Matte have been the voice of Baltimore football for the last 20 years, almost as long as Thompson and Bagli prior. There will never be another Chuck Thompson. Some people need to learn how to read. You can't stand homer Matte, just wait for Mr. Bore fest Stan White, color commentator. He and play-be-play Gerry Sandusky will have me sleeping by the start of the second quarter.

Best: News 4 – always solid. Pat Collins – his years in the market pays off with sources everywhere. News 7 great to see Gordon in a new home. The Nationals radio team – bang, zoom I like those guys.
Worst: Channel 9 – what they did to that news department is a crime. I’ve seen college TV newscasts that are more sophisticated. WTOP editorial content. Covering important stories does not mean getting some disconnected expert live on the air for 2 minutes while your reporters are working on stories about dress codes in basketball. Please stop assigning your journalists to cover fluff. Nationals TV coverage when you can actually see a game, they have the worst announce team in baseball. Peter Angelos for mucking up the Nationals TV coverage. And Peter Angelos again, only because I think he should be listed twice.
Happy New Year

Best: WTOP by far the best radio station in town. Moss and Day all the way. David Burd and Frank Herzog, too. Channel 7 most improved TV News. Wendy Rieger just because she is great to look at.
Worst: Bennett Zier for firing Jerry Phillips and Ira Mellman. No news, no community affairs, no public service. The FCC lives here. I hope they get you for failing to serve the communities for which you are licenesed. Channel 9 and Channel 4 for their phony ad-supported community affairs events which were just a sleazy way to sell News coverage and mentions to clients. Shame!

BEST: The Don & Mike show. Lots of laughs for a lot of years.
WORST: Clear Channel dumping Public Affairs staff when they should be dumping their program directors. Also, 94.7 and 105.9's narrow playlists! Both of these formats and stations could greatly benefit if they'd just expand their playlists. My co-worker listens to 105.9 during the day and, I swear, they play Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" EVERY DAMN DAY!!!
Tom in Frederick

BEST: Infinity losing the Ravens rights (no more poor production, no more Tom Davis, no more Gary Stein, no more penalty chime, etc etc, PLUS, no more Tom Matte being the homer he is. Whoever compared Matte and Garceau to Chuck Thompson earlier in this thread must be examined!!!!)
WORST: Hearing that Infinity might have the Orioles and that all of the above might make O's games UNLISTENABLE!

Best move in radio: Mix 107.3 switching to a Jack-like format, expanding its library to thousands of songs, rather than hundreds. Best local news on TV: WJLA's ABC 7 News -- Give the 3 W*USA alums (Peterson, Bunyan, & Doug Hill) credit for turning that once-cruddy news operation back into a winner. Do I smell HDTV for ABC 7 News in '06? Best sports program: Comcast SportsNet's "SportsNite" -- This show is CSN's version of ESPN's "SportsCenter," & has already become my favorite program through & through.
Worst move in radio: Infinity for killing the old WHFS & turning it into El Zol, a Latino station. Worst news sets (tie): WTTG's FOX 5 News -- Best newscast, but the set needs an extreme makeover. Ditto for News 4. Worst local appearances for a national TV program: "ESPN SportsCenter" -- Matt Winer covered jousting in during the August 27 show in Port Republic, Maryland & Linda Cohn was on the final stop on the "50 States in 50 Days" tour in DC on Labor Day, when it was a gorgeous, sunny day on Capitol Hill. Worst cable system: Comcast. Their ads say "It's Comcastic," but what IS NOT Comcastic is these outrageously high rates, with former Comcast customers, myself included, defecting to satellite, RCN, & Verizon FiOS TV (which is, as of this writing, only in Herndon but will eventually expand throughout Maryland & Virginia in 2006).
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Sincerely, Christopher Fancher

Best: Radio - Mornings: Elliot & the class (except for one), Evenings: Don and Mike - don't forget Buzz and Rob. WTOP's Traffic and Weather on the 8's. TV - Tony K & Michael W on PTI, Babes: Wendy Rieger on NBC4 and Sue Palka on Fox5. Baseball back in DC.
Worst: Loosing Freda and Lopez too soon. Junkies - their show is tanking. Brent Haber, Willimina Thomas. Barbara Harrison - WTF is she on the air? Howard moving Sirius - not going to SatRad till XM & Sirius merge or one goes away. Redskins homer coverage. Laura "Can You See My Dark Roots? Evans, Kyle from EITM - GMU must be psyhced to have him as an alumnus.

The best: Amber Theoharis. By far the hottest looking on-air personality in the Baltimore Market. Not only hot, but loves sports too. Can't do better than that.
The worst: Amber either engaged or married. What a shame. Also bad was letting Scott Garceau and Tom Matte go as Ravens broadcasters. What in the world is WBAL thinking? Garceau and Matte have turned into the Chuck Thompson and Vince Bagli of Baltimore football for the last 20 years. BAL needs to reconsider.

We want Dave Johnson for Best!
Thank you, Kathie Dalrymple

My 10 best of 2005: 1. WTMD: Always on the top of my list. Continues to introduce me to new and exciting music. 2. WQSR-Jack FM: Do I miss the oldies? I guess. Am I listening to QSR more now? Oh yeah. We finally get a station that has an expanded playlist (I've heard everyone from Tony Bennett to freakin' Urge Overkill!) and I see nothing but complaints in the mailbag. I'll take this over "My Girl" twice a day and mindless chatter. 3. Laura Ingraham (WTNT): 'But' Monkeys and Ducks-of-the-Days. Great show Excellent use of sound bytes. Will criticize the Prez when she disagrees with him, but it's mostly about those wild and nutty (insert favorite left-of-center group). 4. XM: Just got it on DirecTV. Terrestrial radio doesn't even compare. 5. WCSP (90.1): It's pretty dry, but it's one of the few places that's in the center politically. 6. WASH, WLIF, and WAFY: Ho Ho Ho! Can't listen to them 24/7, but I'm glad they're there. 7. DC weather forecasters: Cut them some slack. I'd rather have them overhype and get nothing than the other way around. My problem is with the geniuses who think they can drive their Corvettes on those days. 8. WARW: Loosening their grip ever so slightly on the playlist. They can do better. 9. Joe Bastardi-I just like saying 'Bastardi'. 10. Tom Sater-Dude, wherever you are, don't give up hope. We will find you!
And the worst: 1. WRQX-Ok, when every other song is some safe new crap, it's not the best mix of...everything. It's not "Jack". It's not even Jack-like. 2. WWMX-My only gripe with "Jack" is that they should have replaced this mess instead of QSR. And they just got a little worse with the removal of Kenny Campbell. 3. Air America-If Al Franken speaks and no one will listen to him, is he still an idiot? 4. Smooth Jazz (105.9, 104.3)-Don't understand the appeal outside of a dentist's waiting room. And we dedicate TWO area stations to it. 5. HFS-The music's a little better. Expand the playlist and put it on full time or let someone else do it. 6. DC101-find some direction. Get a little creative. Take a look at HFS pre-1990 and go from there. 7. WBIG-Stale. Here's another desperate request to expand the playlist. People who listen to 70s and 60s music will generally like 50s music too. Duh! 8. Holly Morris. Just because she went to Duke. 9. The Washington Post-Nah, they're not biased. 10. The Junkies-The Terry Robiskies of radio. Won't last a year in Stern's slot...
Thanks, Dave. Happy Holidays! Scott in Damascus

BEST: WBNS 1460 AM in Columbus (OH) for allowing us to listen—over the Internet at work—to all 4 hours of ESPN’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning.” I could do without all the Ohio State promos, but I don’t have to rely on WTEM, who drops the last hour for that arrogant Tony Kornheiser—there’s a reason ESPN hasn’t added him back to the national radio lineup.
WORST: WMAL execs for showing they have no spines by bowing to special interest groups and a few outspoken critics and dropping Michael Graham from the lineup for speaking the truth about Islam. The WMAL suits showed that they are just as afraid of the political correctness crowd as the mainstream media.

BEST: WTOP's Dave Johnson's great morning sports coverage and perspective of Washington area teams make him a "must listen to guy" in the DC market. He continues outstanding play-by-play announcing, locally on the AM dial, of Washington Wizards games, with his now classic line, "It looks good on radio!," as shots drop into the basket. Dave Johnson is truly the radio heart and soul of the Wizards! Comcast SportsNet's Steve Buckhantz continues to shine as the play-by-play announcer during Wizards games, along with awesome color commentary from former Washington Bullet Phil Chenier. 'Local Girl Does Good Award' goes out to WRC/NBC 4 Sports Reporter Lindsay Czarniak. She is definitely a rising star at WRC. Bet she'll be on ESPN very soon. Kudos also go out to WRC/NBC 4 Sports Reporter Wally Bruckner. Wally has anchored the WRC Sports Department for many years and he is always at the top of his game. 'Career Comeback Award' goes to WUSA Sports Reporter Joyce Jackson who has really become one of the best after being at Newschannel 8 for many years. Newschannel 8's Glenn Harris. Glenn doesn't get enough recognition for the great work that he does. WJLA's Alison Starling in the morning. Hello! WHFS on XM Radio. The music of HFS lives on XM! Local DC comedian, actor and voice over specialist Wes Johnson, formerly of HFS fame. His voice is heard announcing "YOUR NATION'S CAPITALS!" during Caps games at the Phone Booth as well as hundreds of times on commercials throughout the year on both radio and television. Wes's spoof of William Shatner is over-the-top! The rejuvenated lineup at WJLA of Gordon Peterson, Leon Harris, Maureen Bunyan, Doug Hill and Tim Brandt. Great move! Tony Kornheiser's personal renaissance on WTEM. He's the ONLY reason to listen to WTEM, period! Tony's funny, makes you think about different angles of sports and has chutzpah! He and Mike Wilbon are great on PTI. Johnny Holliday, a local broadcasting legend, who without question, whatever he does, continues to be the very best. WTTG's Michelle Sigona keeps watch over DC traffic while a lot of guys watch her. WBAL's Kate Amara is a welcome addition to Television Hill in Baltimore. It was great to hear former Channel 9 Sports Reporter Ken Mease, be it on radio, during Redskins' pre and post game shows on WJFK. Props also go out to Jimmy Patterson and the entire staff of SportsFanMagazine.com for their continued interest and outstanding coverage of the DC area sports scene.
WORST: WTEM, the Washington area's best WORST excuse for what they call 'sports radio.' Their talent is weak, their signal is weak and their collective 'shtick' is weaker. Bram Weinstein is a good guy who struggles at times with the lack of strong cast members, but Andy Polin and Steve Czaban are absolutely terrible. They and the entire staff at WTEM are a perfect example of how you can keep your jobs when you find pictures of your bosses with sheep. The Junkies on WJFK are the best WORST excuse of what you can do to people stuck in traffic to REALLY make them suffer and want to plow into the car next to them and wreck. Does anyone really give a sh*t to what these guys have to say about their gambling addictions and boring dull lives? They also have pictures of their bosses with sheep, but their bosses have pictures of them with sheep too, so nobody wins on that one! Especially the sheep! The loss of WHFS on 99.1. Sure, it's back on in Baltimore, on 105.7, but it's not "HFS," at least not 24/7! All Infinity did was paint the outhouse on that job! It still stinks! Free FM? We're "free" to tune it out! Jack FM sounds canned, which it is. MASN and the Washington Nationals overall consistent lack of games on either cable on television was bad. The Nats couldn't develop a strong fan base in the DC market. Blame that more on Balmer's Peter "How bout mah O's, Hun?" Angelos. The Caps and the NHL are playing again, but can you ever hear them with a decent signal on the radio? Did DC United go on WMET 1160 AM so that fans couldn't ever hear their games? The only way you can hear WMET is if you sit out in front of their station! Someone needs to pull the plug on the entire news team at WUSA Channel 9 and put those proud people out of their misery. Do they even realize how far down the ratings hole they're in, so bad that they can hear their own echo? WMAL and Mix 107.3, are both terrible. How the once mighty ABC-owned stations have fallen. No wonder Disney wants to sell them off. The passing of Walt Starling, Freda Wright-Source, Bob Lopez, Chuck Thompson, Bob Bartl, David Haines and Peter Jennings. They'll all be missed, but never forgotten.
Pat Malone, Malone Marketing & Promotions, Washington, DC

BEST: Media website: DCRTV.com, New TV face: WRC-TV's Lindsey Czarniak, New Radio Voice: WTOP's Nathan Roberts, Expert at Saving You Money Consistently: NC8's & WJFK's Pat Goss, Morning Radio Show: XM's Bob Edwards, Morning TV Show: WJLA's Doug McElway & Alison Starling, Sportscaster: WJLA's Greg Toland, Best Sports Reporter: Comcast's Chick Hernandez (who seems much more at home in the field than behind the anchor desk), Sports Play-by-Play: While it was nice to hear the Nats' Mel Proctor back on the local airwaves and CSN'sSteve Buckhantz usually sets the standard, how about a vote for the always dapper Joe Beninati, who had to weather the NHL lockout at great personal expense and does wonderful job covering a fast-moving sport?.. Weathercaster: WJLA's Doug Hill, who will get a run for his money from WTTG's Tony Perkins in 2006.. And Most Entertaining Show: Gotta give it up to ESPN's "PTI", produced locally at Atlantic Video..
WORST: WRC-TV's George Michael's policy of blowing up sports highlights to the point where they are blurry and out of focus w/ doctored ambient sound. Does he think we don't know who broadcast the game?.. It's petty & a disservice to local sports fans!... Baseball coverage: the Nats' TV package... Potty Mouth: John Feinstein.. It's just a game Jr!... Newscaster: WRC-TV's Babs Harrison... Get another cup of coffee, Babs!.. News coverage tendency: All stations' "emergency storm" coverage.. In New England, they're laughing at you & the schools who close at the threat of a flake..
Josh in Fairfax

Best: The arrival of Kate Amara to Baltimore TV. Without a doubt, the hottest anchor on Baltimore news.
Worst: MIX106.5's bonehead decision to let Keny Campbell go. They did it last year or the year before with Stacy Lyn and now Kenny Campbell. Merry Christmas Dave Labrozzi. How do you keep your job? You know nothing about talent in the Baltimore radio market.

BEST: Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. Love them on Pardon the Interruption. Love Tony on his radio show.
WORST: Hate what WUSA has done to their News. Bruce Johnson, Maureen Bunyan and Doug Buchanan are about the only ones worth watching.

Best: Mike Sorce (Don G) and his tribute to my friend, Freda. Freda was a good person with so much to offer. We went through so much as the only females in radio at the time. Freda will never be forgotten. Pat Collins, best TV reporter. Dramatic but factual. Buck Buchanan, lost his wife but is still one of the best reporters.
Worst: Maureen Mcclain, WASH, absolutely horrible/phony , Will Thomas ,WTTG-TV, he looks and sounds like Herman Munster. Been there, done that. Washington ,DC

Best: XM Radio for its wealth of diverse music choices (commercial-free) and for Phil Hendrie, Ron & Fez, Bob Edwards, Tom Petty’s show, and The Broads; the Junkies on JFK; WTEM Sports Reporters; Gordo on Channel 7; this site (thanks for your work, Dave).
Worst: John Thompson; George “Wally Pipp” Michael (falling off that horse opened the door for Lindsay Czarniak…you’ll forever rue the day and the horse, George); Jim “bad choppers” Vance; Imus and his wheezing; Dave Johnson and his affected way of running down scores on WTOP (“the Pacers DID beat the Bucks, the Bulls DID beat the Celtics”; Dave, no one asked you if the Pacers beat the Bucks, so you don’t have to say they did, just say “the Pacers beat the Bucks” and get off the air); WTOP morning news in general (do we really need the asides and bad jokes when they move back and forth?); Howard Stern’s yea r-long commercial for Sirius (though I’m a longtime fan of his, this past year he delivered little in the way of entertainment); Opie & Anthony (pure dreck who for some reason think they’re on the same level as Howard); Tony K’s omnipresence on WTEM (new drinking game: take a shot every time Tony says “Wilbon”…you’ll be hammered in five minutes); Shaw’s Jewelers ads (some year maybe they’ll get rid of the “I looovvveee her so” singer…I can’t change the station fast enough when I hear that song); JFK’s weekend infomercials (how many colon cleansers are there anyway?); Jack Diamond (should be given a lifetime achievement award for this category); Larry Michaels, except when he’s in the Redskins locker room after a loss, in which case he goes to the “best” category, because he’s so friggin’ funny talking in his hushed tones with Sonny. Oh, and that reminds me: this Myer-Emco post is brought to you by the good people of Starbucks, where you c an buy the Washington Post and read about all the great sales going on at Giant, where you can buy Eveready batteries, which you can use to power your Dan Snyder love doll, which can be purchased at the Redskins store near you.

Best: The rise of Internet Radio
Worst: The rise of Internet Radio
Dan Wright

Best: Scott Fitzgerald on WZBA 100.7 in Balt. Very under rated! Buzz Burbank, Chad Dukes, Oscar (Big O) all also under rated! Channel 13 News in Balt., Channel 7 News in D.C., Sirius SatRad, Loveline, Tom Leykis, Finally an FM talk radio channel in Balt. (unitl it got screwed up by the part time HFS), Fox News, WTOP, WPOC, WARW, WMZQ, WTMD. Last but not least David Hughes and DCRTV!
Worst: The loss of Freda & David Haines. Jack, MSNBC, CNN (no wonder every other nation in the world hates the USA, all they have to go by is CNN) Infinity Broadcasting in general. I am not even in your industry, but can see how poorly Infinity Broadcasting is managed in the D.C./Balt. area. Have you ever seen a broadcast company so out of touch with it's listenership? The demise of WHFS, WRNR getting a little too mainstream, The confines of LPFM by the FCC, The FCC, The loss of Stern on "free" radio. Admit it, you listened to him. Don't be jealous. The loss of Miles and Thrill to Seattle, Big O & Dukes getting fired. Ed Norris is cool, but the show is painfully boring and dry. Shaws Jewelers commercials, they are enough to make you dink and drive! Santa: please bring CBS Radio (Infinity) some management with common sense for Christmas. Have a happy and safe 2006 everyone!
Matthew in Crofton

Best: ABC 7 News with Gordo, Mo and Doug. Tim Brandt is a little out of his league, but I digress. Lindsay Czarniak for, well, everything. What a babe. The NBC 4 AM weekend team. Alison Starling, Eun Yang, Sarah Lee. The Don & Mike Show. Still consistently funny. WUSA's Andrea Roane, Derek McGinty, Nancy Yamada. Kornheiser on-air, Wilbon in print.... Lindsay Czarniak (yes I listed her again!).
Worst: The Sports Junkies. Either they brag about how much money they make, or they talk about gambling for hours on end. Real interesting fellas. Let's not forget guys, you were the crew that helped turn WHFS into an all Spanish station. Larry Michael? Are you really doing an Alan Ruck impersonation from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" "This is Sloane Peterson's Fath-uh!" You ruin Skins games on the radio. Steve Czaban. Need I say more. Brahm Weinstein. How a guy with a speech impediment like that has a job in *radio* is beyond comprehension. WUSA TV. Man, from the AM to the PM, it's a shipwreck of epic proportions. George Michael, the weekend sports guy on 7 (what's his name?). Elliot in the morning; Diamond in the morning; the 104.1 AM drive team. Anything currently on WJFK save for D & M. WTEM.

BEST: Gordon Peterson, Maureen Bunyan and Doug Hill together again on Channel 7. Allison Starling and Doug McKelway on Good Morning Washington. Brett Haber on 9 (about the only bright spot there unfortunately). Newschannel 8 for airing live local news, weather and traffic from 5am all the way until noon. Nationals on Z104 (much better than if they were on WTEM, which I can barely pick up after sunset). XM. WTOP for recognizing talent over a pretty face (Hillary Howard, Frank Herzog, David Burd, Mike Buchanan) and continuing to be a stellar news operation. Howard disappearing into the oblivion known as Sirius Satellite Radio. DCRTV for always being there first.
WORST: Most of the Channel 4 news team: Jim Vance, Pat Collins, Bob Ryan, George Michael, Susan Kidd, Barbara Harrison, Clay Anderson, Tony Dorsey to name some - they're getting old and stale. Tim Brant (the weekend sports guys on 4 and 7 are better than the weekday crew). Gwen Tolbart. JC Hayward - time to pack up your wigs and ride off into the sunset. Fox5 News at Ten. People whining about Tom Sater. WJFK.

Best: Elliot, he is pretty damn funny
Worst: Don and Mike and Jack "God bless you" Diamond
Pl

BEST: (1) WAMUs Big Broadcast with Ed Walker :) Simply, Ed Walker is the best. (2) WAMUs Hot Jazz Saturday Night with Rob Bamberger :) (3) XM Satrad 60's channel and XM's Artist Confidential and Live shows. (4) WTOP Radio for NEWS.
Worst: (1) All TV and Radio with commercials--except for football commercials
Bill in Leesburg

Best - Tony Korheiser, he's made a 180 turnaround from heading up the worst list the last two years. Perhaps the ESPN radio debaucle changed his attitude. Whatever, the reality is that something has changed in him and he has returned to being the funny guy with an attitude that made him, orginally, the Jimmy Breslin of DC. Best area up and comer, Allison Starling who is going to own the DC market as the lead woman anchor within two years for as long as she wants to own it. She will be closely followed by Laura Evans. Don't be surprised if both wind up on WRC as Doreen and Wendy slow down and continue to get long in the tooth. Best surprise is Lindsay Czarniak. She started real bad and looked like she had no business on tv. George's accident gave her a chance to flourish. Best weather person with a future is Kim Martucci. Everyone else, and I mean EVERYONE else in this market better hope they don't see her coming in for an interview or asking for a promotion.
Worst - The Sports Dept of WTTG. Talk about terrible. Lou needs a course in communications as he attempts to be the Jim Rome of local tv for the hip hop crowd. Followed closely by Brent and crew at the one and only. That Sunday late night post game show is the pits! Speaking of the one and only, the worst local news award goes to them. Who watches them for Barbie and Ken, err. I meant to say Tracey and Todd? Worst radio, Andy Polie and Steve Czaban. It can't get any worse,can it? Andy is the local version of Ed McMahon while Czaban has reached the point where he gets gigs just because he somehow got his foot in the door a long time ago. He belongs on a college station with all the cool kids in the frat. Worst position to be in on the local news scene goes to Sue Palka. You gotta know that her days are numbered once Tony Perkins walks through that door and goes on the air the first time. Worst attempts to look young again has to go to both Sue and Doreen. Take a hint ladies, accept your age and maturity, keep your dignity intact. Wendy, at least, has always stayed true to herself and that keeps her off the worst list. Overall worst on local tv is a tie between Barbara Harrison and Susan Kidd, nuff said on that. Close second goes to JC.

worse: kornheiser always chimeing in on the sports updates by andy....tony tony tonu trying to be stern, who interups, yet, in a fine way, the lovely robin o quivers
best: on xm satellite radio jay brooks, who provides updates on mlb homeplate channel 175 on the satcaster in dc. his creative ways of updating the mondane day to day informaton in baseball...just like he has done on morning shows for the past decade on the east coast.

Best/Worst for the Eastern Shore in 2005
Best: Clear Channel putting on KISS-FM, WBOC hiring Dennis Ketterrer as Chief Meteorologist and Paul Butler as Sports Director, WBOC hiring longtme morning radio fixture Jimmy Hoppa to do mornings on TV and continued great coverage from Steve Hammond and Steve Summers, WMDT dumping Kelly Rouse as 6pm news anchor, Cat Country hiring longtime market legend Mike Cheney to replace Hoppa, Joel Scott returning to Q105, WZBH quickly realizing they made a mistake and dumping Shawn Quinn as morning show host, B 101.7 and 95.3 adding Karen to afternoons and Mike Bradley to middays, 96 Rock for tightening up it's playlist and adding Roxi to middays and Rich Drake to nights, Big for continuing to become a full blown Classic Rock station and adding Sam Chase to middays, SportsTalk 960 for bringing back Tony Bruno when he went to Sporting News, JJ "Hitman" McKay returning to mornings on 96-5 WCTG.
Worst: 96 Rock moving Don and Mike to mornings, and keeping Whiskey on in ther afternoon, Q-105 firing Mike Cheney, WZBH letting the whole Murph, Miki, and Cowboy incident and situation blow out of control, Murph no longer being a part of the station and leaving the market, WZBH replacing MMC with Quinn, Bulldog and the Rude Awakening show on WOCM, WGMD being one constant ad after another, not having enough stations for the younger demographic, and boring stations for the middle aged demographics.
-Scott in Millsboro

Best: WGMD continuing to be a local news/talk station on the shore. Ocean 98, from top to bottom, is great. Bulldog has done an excellent job there and I probably listen to them more than I do my own station. Sparks is pretty damn good on The Beach, maybe they'll give her someone to work with for more than a month. Steve Hammond on WBOC TV is as classy as they come. Jason Newton as well.
Worst: Don and Mike in the morning. Seriously, wtf is the idiot who made that decision smoking? Dr. Laura still on WGMD. Sigh, come on now. All the clamor for MMC. Third rate show every time I ever heard it. Ron Letterman's voice problems. Hopefully those get fixed. Infinity in DC/Balto. Thank goodness they don't own anything here on the shore!

BEST RADIO NEWS ANCHOR: As always, David Haines again in '05 ...right through his last newscast. R.I.P. David.

BEST: Virginia political bloggers collectively for filling in the gaps left by the mainstream media during this year's statewide elections, WTTG/5's Dave Feldman for paying more attention to George Washington Colonials men's basketball than most other sports anchors, Byron Kerr for getting the GW radio play-by-play job, WTOP/1500/107.7 for maintaining its vital news presence, WJLA/7's Gordon Peterson for proving why WUSA/9 never should have undercut him, the Washington Post for providing blog links from its stories via Technorati, WUSA/9's weather team for its live severe weather coverage, "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" for visiting D.C. and Middleburg, Debbie Cloyed and Bianca Smith from "The Amazing Race 7" just because. Hey, Bianca's from Woodbridge so she counts.
WORST: WTEM/980 hosts for referring to Washington Nationals' fans as "Nat-zis," WTEM/980 hosts again for consigning all local teams but the Redskins and Terrapins to relative obscurity, the Baltimore Sun's parent company for its shameful cutbacks, WRC/4's George Michael for focusing more on NASCAR than the Nationals, D.C. broadcast television stations collectively for not pre-empting programming on Virginia general election night, WRC/4 for not airing the Virginia statewide gubernatorial debate live, WTTG/5 newscasts for pimping "American Idol" way too much, WTNT/570 & WWRC/1260 for having no locally oriented daily shows at all, Radio One for only being in the "black people business," the Washington Examiner for only being in the white people business, the MASN/Comcast dispute, "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" in general for only being a shadow of its non-family self.
Everett W.

Best: Don’s tribute to Freda. Thanks you, Don, for sharing. The news with Buzz. Channel 4’s Lindsay Czarniak, I couldn’t care less about sports, but watching her and fantasizing.
Worst: Channel 5’s Roby Chavez for showing us how to scrape the snow off of a car and then brushing it away and the news reports from the grocery stores and salt domes. Channel 5 making us wait for 45 minutes to get the damn weather. All DC area weather forecasters (except Sue Palka) who just down-right stink. No Ron and Fez. And most importantly, no Freda.

BEST - The Sports Reporters - Yes, Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin are homers and can each drive you nuts for various reasons but they balance each other out most of the time and they challenge local ownership and local fans and present a great mix of other local and national sports media talent to get a different look at things. Comcast SportsNet Sports Nite - Nice to have a local sports show that delivers the goods. I can see Kelli Johnson, Scott Hanson and Sage Steele working at ESPN in the not too distant future. Very polished and very solid writers. Good to see Jill Sorenson back too…..Arch Campbell, Jim Vance and Bob Ryan (*see weather note below) - Weren't they at channel 4 when Lincoln was President? Man those guys have done a remarkable job sticking around.
WORST - Tony Kornheiser - stick to writing Style columns buddy. He cannot be more pompous and arrogant. I don’t know which is worse. Listening to him eat while Andy and Steve talk to him during "Tony's Washington" or listening to him drone on and on about some high school drama program ....The Monday Morning Quarterback show - yeah we get it, the skins won. Big Deal! Do you have to take over the whole station for two whole days?...John Thompson Show - If they got rid of the coach and Doc Walker and left Al Koken it would be a decent show. You cant understand what the coach is saying half the time. Somebody wake him up….ALL local weather people - so far 0-3 on the forecasts for this winter.
Charles - Leesburg

Best…Elliot (even with the laugh), Howard going (even though I listened to him back in the 80’s), Nats baseball on the radio, Lindsay Czarniak (she’ll be even better once she stops reading George’s copy), The Road Show w/Jon Ballard, Don and his tribute to Freda (I don’t listen to him anymore, but used to be a regular of his in studio audience at WAVA), Frank Herzog, John Riggins
Worst…Jack Diamond, Mark and Kris, Z104’s limited coverage of the Nats, Larry Michael, Tom Sater leaving, HFS 99.1 leaving us, losing David Haines, Michael Graham leaving
Rob Embrey, Ashburn

Best....EITM -- one minute crass, the next discussing the Rwandan Holocaust -- that says versatility. He is not all bad -- give him a try -- once you get past the laugh, he is quite funny. Mike Sorce -- horrible circumstances, but we were hanging on every word and crying tears for you.
Worst....WETA pulling the classical. I made contributions, because you promised that it would help keep the classical music on the air. Didn't expect you to get all commercial radio and change formats. Even worse, NPR getting nasty with Bob Edwards -- Jesus, the man gave you 30 years of quality work and his former colleagues are not permitted to appear on his program. Grow the hell up. Also, two words -----Kenneth Tomlinson.
Happy New Year to all....LO

I keep up with Baltimore and Washington by the TV Stations web-sites and DCRTV.
Best for Baltimore TV: WBAL 11's web-site... www.thewbalchannel.com. Like most of the other Hearst-Argyle O&O's web-sites. CBS 13's web-site... www.wjz.com. Like most of the other Viacom O&O's web-sites. I give them an A. Best for Washington TV: WUSA 9 making the big move to offer local news in HDTV. WUSA 9's web-site... www.wusa9.com, and FOX 5's web-site... www.fox5dc.com. I give them an A. NBC 4 debuting "NBC Weather Plus".
Worst for Baltimore TV: ABC 2's web-site... www.wmar.com. I give it a C-. FOX 45/THE WB 54's web-site... www.foxbaltimore.com. I give it a D-. The news team set-ups at ABC 2, WBAL 11, CBS 13, and FOX 45/THE WB 54 could use some updating. Worst for Washington TV: NBC 4's web-site... www.nbc4.com. I give it a B-. ABC 7/News 8's web-sites... www.wjla.com, www.news8.net. I give them both a D-. NBC 4 and ABC 7 fighting to be #1 at 5pm... Are they both that determined to hold that position in the ratings? NBC 4's 10am newscast... I would just scrap it, and replace it with a new Noon newscast. WUSA 9's 9am newscast... I would also scrap it, and replace with a new Morning variety show.
Just my thoughts. Eric from Atlanta, Georgia

Best: Don's tribute to Freda helped us all reevaluate what is important in life ... enough said. After that Elliott and Diane. Elliott does not get any credit how great he is at interviewing people. Both of them make me laugh every morning. WTOP for always being there, no gimmicks, and being very professional in probably the toughest news market in the country. Don and Mike staying in the afternoons.
Worst: WJFK for screwing Ron and Fez. The Junkies who better get their act together against the above mentioned Elliott. All they have done lately is talk about how much they spend on gambling and getting their kitchens remodeled. Umm ... most of us can't afford large entertainment theaters and drop 10 grand in Vegas "playing around". Entertain ... stop bragging. The Junkies were better as the Sports Junkies vs. the Gambling Junkies.

Best is WBJC out of Baltimore. They still have the guts to play classical music, unlike WETA which went after the money rather than quality.
Worst is any show by George Michael. His sports reports are nothing but subjective and personal. Not real journalism at all.
Howard

Best Baltimore: WBJC. It is a pleasure to listen to this station. They get everything just right. Just enough news, sports, & wx in the mornings. Excellent pacing. Levels & processing are just right IMHO. Excellent air talent. Best DC: Scooter McGruder. Sunday nights on WBIG.
Worst Baltimore: The whole WQSR (& WCBS-FM) disaster. This is why people are willing to pay for satellite radio. Worst DC: Inside Washington. Sunday mornings on WJLA. Our family watched this show since the days of Martin Agronsky. We still like the pundits but due to technical atrocities we can't stand to watch it anymore. How sad.
Mike Berry, MIKE@98WRC.COM

BEST of 2005 – Being able to listen to Don and Mike plus Howard Stern over the Internet while living in the Republic of Macedonia. Having DCRTV so I can keep up with the happenings of radio in Washington since moving overseas.
Worst of 2005 – The loss of Freda Source and feeling as if someone in my own family passed away.

BEST: Best Morning Shows - Dave Durian/WBAL, Laurie DeYoung/WPOC; Best Midday Show - Maria Dennis/WWMX; Best Afternoon Show - The Merson Person/WLIF; Best Night Show - Fran Lane/WLIF.
WORST: Worst Morning Shows - Chris Emry/WZBA, Greg Carpenter/WLIF, Sean & Frank/WCBM; Worst Midday Shows - Ed Norris/WHFS, Tom Marr/WCBM, Joe Pachino/WWLG, Chip Franklin/WBAL; Worst Afternoon Show -Fast Jimmy/WWMX, Terry Trouyet/WWLG; Worst Night Shows - Bruce Elliott/WBAL, Greg Valentine/WWMX.

Best... The return of the Greaseman
Worst... Everything else on 1160

Best: Don's tribute to Freda, WTOP: best in ALL of dc/Charm City for news. The exit of both Bloomquist and Graham(both were here in Richmond and showed a lack of class then, good riddence to them both). Stern's last week, which was known in my view as a trip down memory lane. Fox 5 news. Don and Mike(still the best in PM drive). XM for Fred FM(ch 44). Elliot, who will be the heir apparent for most of Howard's listeners that don't go to XM, The Junkies won't stand a chance. WHUR for being the best in Urban(and by the way, still locally owned, let's hope it stays that way). 98 Rock for being the best rock station(great signal so I don't have to deal with WARW and WWDC post Elliot)when I am in the area for the Nationals games.
Worst: WARW for staying mainstream on classic rock, why not add The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, B52's, Talk Talk and others, if you kick it up a notch, you might get better ratings. WJFK and Infinity for the joke that "Free FM" is, the Junkies are going to get killed in the ratings by Elliot on DC101. Only thing keeping FreeFM afloat will be Don and Mike. The passings of Lopez, Freda and David Haines(god bless them all). Mix 107.3 and Jack 102.9, both sound just as bad as New York and L.A's versions of JackFM. Sadly, Radio One for the statement of being in the black people business, wished there was a retraction to that one. Rush, Air America, Hannity and all the other talkers on the far left and far right, we all know your attitudes already, the joke is over. WMAL for being the worst overall joke when it comes to News/Talk.
Dan: Richmond, VA

Best TV team. Channel 7 Gordon, Maureen... Best Radio Mornings: Elliot, DC 101 2nd place: Murphy & Cash... Best Afternoons. WTOP Shawn and Diane... Best Personalities: Lou Katz, Frank Herzog, Amy Paige, David Burd, Chris Core, Tony K. Elliot, Rouse, The Merson Person. Big Don O'brien... Man of the Year: David Burd/WTOP for what he did for Walt Starling and his family during his last days. This is the kind of guy I want watching my back!... Woman of the Year: Freda....we really miss her!
Worst TV Team: Channel 9...empty suits in HD... Worst: Howard Stern...please stop the hype already! Don and Mike...should have retired 5 years ago. The Jack format! Jack Diamond...should have retired 10 years ago.

Best: Don and Mike and The Junkies on WJFK. They are what make the drive to and from work bearable. I have an hour plus either way and sometimes sit in the parking lot at work or the driveway at home waiting for a segment to finish. The Sports Reporters on WTEM are a class act.
Worst: Pre and Post game coverage of the Redskins. It is pathetic. If the Skins lose, the locker room reporting is a whisper...even the commercials. If they win, they're having a party!! Tony Kornheiser's rambling make me want to jump into traffic. I hate him coming on in the afternoon with the John Thompson guys. He has a morning show already. Leave my afternoons alone!! The stupid, idiotic, makes me want to puke, jewelry commercials on WJFK. If I have to hear the one about being stranded at the airport and the guy whipping out a diamond one more time I'm gunna......

Let me begin with the Best. Johnny Holliday is the best in many category's..Radio, Television, Theatre, Commercials, Sports play by play. Thanks Johnny for 36 years of entertainment and doing it with class....Gordon on 7 Doreen on 4, Doug Hill on 7. Bob Maddigan on WTOP..Jerry Sandusky on WBAL TV, good luck with the Ravens, would'nt it be nice to have Jerry and Holliday together again on Football?? Lou Katz, David Burd.
Worst..Hey,Tim Brant, Larry Michael, the guy who does the Wizzards games on radio, Dave somebody...Oldies 100 .. WMAL..Andy Polin. John Thompson..anything on WTEM.

Worst: Don and Mike are a tiring act.......WJFK and the stupid policy of cutting off Stern early (bought a Sirius).......Andy Pollin kissing Tony K's butt........Doc Walker, and the two morons at six on WTEM.....on TV - George Michael (pre-accident) and his bs as he kisses Sonny's butt....
Best: Twenty minutes of Jackie the Jokeman showing why the best days (even though I am following him) may be gone for Stern......WTOP for sticking to the formula so we get what we need on a dependable schedule........Coach Thompson for making me like him after all those years of hating G'town B-Ball.........Sirius --forget Stern -- simply being able to program the type of format is great......WTEM for having Madden on once a week (if only he could bring his wit on radio to TV)......on TV -- Gordo and MO (where is Ken Mease??)

Best: George Michael, just for being alive on this earth and returning to work. Get well fast George, we missed you. All of TV news during Katrina and her aftermath; we like to pick on the media a lot, but they rose to the challenge and became the voice of humanity in the face of government incompetence. MSNBC's Tucker Carlson for proving you can have strong viewpoints and still retaining your sanity and likeability. DCRTV; Dave you're doing a good thing over there.
Worst: FNC's Hannity & Colmes for being simply the worst show on TV, I have better things to watch than partisan hacks. Bill O'Reilly; not because of his opinions, I agree with most of them, but for pretending to be a journalist when he is merely an entertaining pundit, and for being a pompous pinhead.
Cheers, Ross in VA

Best: The feeling that comes across the air from WTOP that everyone enjoys not just working there but working with each other. If it is not true, then these people deserve an Emmy. Best job in radio WTOP's Man About Town. Bob Madigan covers the positive in a very negative city. The addition of new bucks to the line up of reporters and anchors such as Nathan Hager and Adam Tuss to work with the more seasoned new hires such as David Burd, Frank Herzog and Ira Mellman. All of this done without losing the familiar folks we have listened to for years.
Worst: The loss of Walt Starling, David Haines and Freda Sorce.
Rick in Fairfax

Best: Vegas Radio WTRI, especially the "lost 45's" show - sure there is a lot of sappy stuff but always few gems, too. Today's Christmas show (December 17) aired some rare chestnuts indeed. Greaseman to WMET.
Worst: WBIG increasing their song speed. Morning team Murphy and Cash are unprofessional, immature, and completely unlistenable. WASH and their awful holiday song playlist that repeats every few hours!

Best : TV news WRC-4. The other channels don't come close... Don Geronimo continuing after Freda's death... No more Howard Stern on Free FM... Pat Collins and his yardstick during a snow fall... Shawn Anderson and Diane Kepley on WTOP for best afternoon drive show... Tom Kelly on WBIG and his cartoons requests... Dean Lane for the " Night Side" on WTOP... Cerphe on WARW... The "King of Traffic" Bob Marbourg on WTOP... The rest of the traffic team at WTOP: Lisa Baden, Ed Rodriguez, Robert Workman and others... Mr. Tony K. on WTEM... Baseball Roundup with Mark Stern on WTEM... Allison Starling on WJLA 7... The Jim Vance-George Michael relationship... Mike Buchanan on WTOP... The NFL Now on WTEM with Mike Francessa... Charlie Slowes and Dave Shea on the Nationals radio broadcast... Jim London on WMZQ... Dave Statter... Al Santos on WJZW...
Worst: The Sports Reporters on WTEM... WMAL in it's entirety... Howard Stern... The Sports Junkies... LARRY MICHAEL ON REDSKINS RADIO. (How far up Dan Snyder's backside is he?)... WTOP for running such lame commercials. Listeners of the station know what I mean... Stevens and Medley on WARW... Lindsay Czarniak on channel 4... Joe Krebs... Any Fox-5 reporter... Jack Diamond on Mix 107.3... WUSA, WJLA and FOX-5 news broadcast... The Sports Reporters on WTEM...

Best: WTOP. Making news fun to listen to! WGMS: for being the last classical station in town. WJLA for having the best news team. XM Radio for letting me listen to music I can't find anywhere on "free" radio. Brett Haber for being about the only bright spot on WUSA.
Worst: WETA. I don't even listen to them anymore since dumping the music. WUSA News team. Even Tracy Neal seems boring in this most boring of news teams. WMAL for becoming the right wing's puppet. Howard Stern, lousy on "free" radio, wouldn't pay a red cent for Sirius. washingtonpost.com for dumping Tim Page's weekly classical music chat.

Best local radio news: WTOP. A terrific team headed by ex-ABCer Jim Farley. He knows how to keep his people focused, interested and competitive. Hiring the unhappy David Burd away from WMAL added a little pepper to the mix. WTOP is a winner although Mike Moss needs to learn how to share the mike, otherwise a great operation! Best local TV news: WJLA. Despite union difficulties after moving out of its city of license to escape collective bargaining rules, WJLA is growing beautifully. They had to raid channel 9 to do it and they still have a problem at the sports desk. Tim Brant is in over his head. Greg Tolland is hands-down better. Best network TV news: CBS-TV (Bob Schieffer). Since the death of Peter Jennings, ABC has rapidly conceded the nightly news race to CBS and NBC. Best network radio news: NPR’s hourly newscasts. Tightly and sensitively written without the verbal baggage typical of ABC Radio News. Best network radio news show: "Morning Edition," (NPR). Great team, good stories well-told.
Worst Local Radio Newsroom: WMAL. It no longer has one. Len Diebert and his team used to beat WTOP without half trying. Worst and unhappiest radio news rooms: ABC Radio. Virtually all of the members of the Writer’s Guild of America in both New York and Washington signed a letter to ABC affiliates recently protesting management policies. It pointed out what ABC News missed because of middle management staffing and editing decisions. Worst local radio jock: James Bartell (WGMS). Unbelievably idiotic and sophomoric on the air. The music on this station is a short list of classical Muzak, over and over. However, it must work as the Arbitrend has this station with very good numbers. Worst local radio show: "Andy and Grandy" (WMAL). Hopefully this station will have new owners soon with an idea of what local radio should be. Worst local TV sports personality: Tim Brant. “Hey! I’m bad!” Worst network TV news program: “Nightly News” (ABC). Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff look good but don’t have the weight and experience to be sitting in Peter Jenning’s chair. Charlie Gibson would have been a better choice. The lofted overhead question teasing upcoming news is nauseating. Worst Program Director: WETA Radio’s Dan DeVenny. Failed as a replacement for the late (and beloved) Bill Cerri. Then dumped classical music to go all-talk, something already flooding the market. Duplicating WAMU programming for several hours a day makes no sense. Donors are dwindling, ratings sinking. Worst Program Director, runner-up: Randall Bloomquist. Now gone from WMAL. Clueless as a writer years back for the Washington Times, still clueless as a PD. Biggest loss to the entire industry: The death of Peter Jennings. Runner-up: The retirement of Ted Koppel.

Best:Goldi leaving DC for a postion that fits him. Randall Bloomquist leaving WMAL, Don G. continuing after tragedy, Getting rid of Stern.
Worst-Freda Sorces' death, Jack FM,David Lee Roth on radio.

BEST: WTOP. Slowes and Shea on the Nats games. WABC Radio (NY). WFAN (NY) and WIP (Philly). KYW Radio (Philly) WKBW Radio (Buffalo). :--)
WORST: Randall Bloomquist at WMAL. JACK. Alleged sports station wtem. 570AM;1160AM;1260AM. Daniel "As in Money" Snyder. Field screamer at The Big Package (FedEx Field). Road Ragers. And those who approach a toll booth and don't have any money handily ready. :--(

BEST: Big O and Dukes taking over Out to Lunch, HFS being brought back from the dead because of listener support, Josh Speigel not going down with the ship, Finding out I can still listen to Loveline (102.1 the X, Online), my discovery of WRNR, Elliott and the class
WORST: Big O and Dukes losing Out to Lunch and ultimately being replaced by the most boring know-it-all ever, Ed Norris. Jack-FM, the loss of David "Burnt Toast & Coffee Time" Haines, Lopez, and of course, Freda, The horrible Mix 106.5 jingle, The sports programs now broadcast on HFS
Alexis - Annapolis

BW Urban Area Radio
Best: Russ Parr on WKYS continues to deliver, WHUR for keeping over 30 music and personalities still cool, WPGC for sticking to its quality talent and building on tradition, WERQ in Baltimore for innovating eventhough there is no competition,WKYS for going back to KISSing everything just the way we like it and WERQ's LaDawn Black for bringing sex appeal and sexiness to ovenights.
Worst: Donnie Simpson show -- love Donnie but the show is boring, Big Phat Morning Show - is the show for the young or the old we don't know, Love talk PGC - what the h??? and the growth of dumb sounding jocks -- old heads teach new jocks that they can be relevant and still speak well.
Troy, Laurel

BEST - Spiegel on 98 ROCK - JACK FM - Buzz Burbank - FOX 45 news at 10 - Infinity losing the Ravens - RNR - Computer Dave on HFS - Howard Gone - Towson State radio - WTOP - WCBM
WORST - Losing Lopez and Freda - Junkies - "Winter Storm" coverage - Media forgetting Katrina - O&A - Not enough music during drive time - stupid commericials of "Co-Workers" discussing TV shows

Best: Don & Mike still on the "free" airwaves, Gordon Peterson (still classy after all these years), "Inside Washington" despite moving it to Ch.8 and PBS, Howard's Last Stand...his last week on terrestrial radio and the appearance of Jackie Martling, K.C.Armstrong, Grillo, etc., Lindsay Czarniak for bringing a breath of fresh air to the stale old boys sports desk at Ch.4. and lastly, dcrtv.
Worst: The loss of Freda Sorce, Ron and Fez leaving "free" radio, Howard Stern leaving "free" radio, George Michael (corny and out of touch), Sonny Jurgenson (Dan Snyder suck up), Todd (Buzz Lightyear) McDermott, Bill O'Reilly, WJFK and the entire management over there, cropping off Howard's show at 9:45 am everyday, The Junkies, Peter Rosenberg, Susan Kidd, Jim Vance, Wally Bruckner, WUSA Ch.9, The Redskins, Dan Snyder, Beth Ann McBride, "Free FM".

BEST: nbc4, 9's news set and new music, Don & Mike, seeing DC news in Shippensburg PA, Scott Garceau, Joe Angel, baseball in DC again
WORST: The name redskins.com TV (yuck), no Frank Herzog on Skins radio, Nexstar (owner of nbc25) and their feuds with local cable companies, the Ravens offense, and losing David David Haines and Freda Wright-Sorce.

BEST: NBC 4 - Jim Vance, Shannon Bream (new kid on the block with extraordinary potential), Pat Collins, Jackie Benson, Susan Kidd. WJLA - Leon (even though he sometimes seems distant), Maureen, Sam Ford, Christianne Klein. FOX 5 - Brian Bolter & Shawn Yancy (they make the best team!) WUSA - JC Hayward (aka Old Faithful). And, WETA PD for daring to rock the boat. The ratings will follow, just be patient.
WORST: B.A.R.B.A.R.A. H.A.R.R.I.S.O.N. (although she seems like a nice woman). Classic Harrison: "I never realized Halloween was such a... umm...drunk holiday." ???; Andrea Roane has smoked way too many newports. She' s beginning to sound like Darth Vader; Todd McDermott seems highly flammable!; Pat Lawson Muse (great anchor, horrid wardrobe).
Lee - PG, MD

Best: WKBW-1520AM-Buffalo, NY Jack Armstrong
Worst: Almost every other remaining so-called Oldies station. 2005 was the height of Oldies self-destruction. Sad.

Best: Jackie Martling back on Howard; if only for a day, Allison Starling (hubba, hubba). Sirius Satellite Radio, Survivor Guatemala, Doug Hill, having a baseball team in the area (for how long DC Council?)
Worst: WJFK (management and programming), "The Situation Room" w/ Wolfie, Lisa Baden, Dan Snyder and the Washington Football team, El Zol, Baseball on Z-104 and 1050AM.

From a Georgia resident who frequently travels into DC/Baltimore.
BEST- The Tom Joyner Morning Show and his live "Sky Shows" that travel around the country, Howard Stern's move to satalite radio so people who live in areas that could never hear his broadcast show can now have the option to hear him "unplugged" And his deal is a great "F-You" to the restrictive broadcast mess provided by corporate radio, Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Neal Boortz! Who really needs to be put on the air in the DC/Baltimore area. The start of the network LOGO. And the long range nighttime signal of WTOP 1500. Heard very clearly down here in Georgia. And certainly DCRTV! The Benchmark for simular website wannabes.
WORST-Radio One now owning a 51% stake in the Tom Joyner Morning Show. A recent statement by a Radio One official in declaring that they are "In the black people business". As a black person I am totally insulted by such a exclusionary comment. News flash to the folks at Radio One: White Folks listen to us too and they deserve our respect for it! Radio One owned stations and their very short range signals often taking programs like The Tom Joyner Morning Show from stronger stations and placing them on their own weaker signals. They did this DC where the TJMS was on WHUR and could be heard everywhere and now on Radio One's 102.3 and 95.9 which are much weaker signals. In 2005, they did it in Philadelphia by moving it from powerful WDAS and is now on a Radio One owned station in the city. I fear they will do the same in Atlanta someday., The death of Oldies Radio which includes long time oldies stations in New York, Atlanta and also WAYS-FM in Macon Georgia, the home of Otis Redding and Little Richard. Clear Channel, nuff said.
Edric in Georgia

BEST - Don persevering post Freda, WRNR (although not as fresh and still needs a signal that can reach Mont. Co.), WTMD, bringing The Junkies back to WJFK, no more Howard, Mr. Tony on WTEM, Infinity name change to "CBS radio", DCRTV Dave is always first (HFS, Freda, etc..), Mailbag following the deaths of Freda, David Haines, Lopez...
WORST - Nationals on Z-104/WFED (I just couldn't hear it!), end of HFS, part time HFS, Loveline, Loveline without Adam Carolla, death of CBS-FM and WQSR to "Jack FM", the "Jack" format everywhere, rebranding WFK, WFS, WYSP, WXRK, etc to "Free FM", almost every Infinity/CBS Radio decision in 2005, Larry Michael on Redskins Radio.
Andreé in Gaithersburg

Best - Pacifica/WPFW airing democracy now 6-7 so I have something to listen to during the half hour of commercials on WJKF. The WaPo and City Paper media columns. I used to be able to get an RSS feed just of Shales, but then WaPo pulled it and now I have to search through the whole Style RSS. WJFK putting on Rosenberg. He's not polished, but interesting all the same. This site.
Worst - Losing Freda, Lopez and David Haines. Losing Ron and Fez to pay radio. Elliot in the morning... well at least he laughs at his jokes. HFS-tival with no station.... I just can't listen to Sonny and Sam without Frank....well, mostly Sonny, Sam is still listenable. Every time I turn on WAMU it seems to be Marketplace... when do I get my labor place. I think i liked it better when it was mostly bluegrass FreeFM? I like it better when it was WJKF, your assasination station.
Matt

Best: Debut of Jack FM "Variety Hits" format on WQSR; Don & Mike; 92.7 Mega going to classic Spanish as Mega Clasica; oft-underappreciated 90.1 WCSP-FM; 93.9 WKYS returning to the old "Kiss" name; Phil Hendrie still on WTNT (albeit in a graveyard shift); advancement of satellite radio with new industry talent.
Worst: WJFK-FM cutting off Howard Stern's show early and keeping Bill O'Reilly in the lineup; demise of the original WHFS; Free FM concept; stale Arrow format STILL unchanged; WAVA-FM continuing to be a waste of a commercial FM signal; the boldness of the FCC holding "indecency" fines until the next election year (2006).

This is K.C. in Bowie and here are my picks! Best and Worst 2005:
Best TV - the realization by corporations and networks that the old distribution standard is so over now that the on-demand standard is on the rise with TiVo, IPTV (Verizon FiOS?), Video iPod and cable DVRs has started (hopefully wireless connection and access to all TVs in the house is next so I don't have to pay every month for the -- analog! -- cable box that has been paid for years ago; Cartoon Network's Adult Swim (the refuge for network animation rejects and those unsafe for the rest of America: Boondocks, Family Guy, Futurama, etc.); Comcast SportsNet for finally realizing that regional sports in the Mid-Atlantic entails more than just Baltimore and Washington and adding more talent to help; Jim Vance for surviving so long in this market (even though they should let him do an angry "brotha" commentary now and then) and now I have just as much gray (at 41) as he does; Channel 4 News Team's longevity; Channel 7 capitalizing on Channel 9's errors in letting good talent go, although it may pay off in the long run with Tracey Neale and 9's HDTV News leading the way; Nathan Roberts for his gold standard at News Channel 8; A brotha' finally winning on 'The Apprentice' and representin,' although the Donald still whining about the brotha' having too much(!) education (if you ask my ancestors if you could have too much education, you'd probably be smacked for all the pain and suffering they went through before the Emancipation Proclamation came through, sorry just venting here -- Van Damme, what does a brother or sister have to do to get job with the Donald or anybody for that matter!); Scott Hanson's nice coverage of the Nats' inaugural year, Sage Steele and Kelli Johnson for hanging in there and excelling in the world of local football coverage, and Chick Hernandez and Michael Lewis's sense of sly wit in anchoring/reporting sports (and the deserved Emmys that came with it); "Everybody Loves Chris", "The Office", "The Simpsons", "Arrested Development", and a recent finding, "My Name is Earl," showing that creative comedy writing is not dead; Welcoming back native son Tony Perkins to the TV fold; Catching the pleasant (and pleasant to look at): Domenica Davis's insta-forecasts on Baltimore's TV 11, Alison Starling on Channel 7, and Channel 45's female anchor in the morning, and the entire Fox 5 Morning News for not taking themselves too seriously (perhaps other than the departed Tom Sater); WBFF's crowded but informative split-screen during their "Morning News"; Living and dying off of every call of Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier during the Wizards' 2005 playoff run. Best Radio - Tony Kornheiser back on 'TEM and nationally on XM (I guess it's sensitive ESPN's loss); Terrestrial radio's realization that if they don't do something with HD Radio soon, no one is going to be there to listen; XM and Sirius for trading blows until the day comes when they merge and the requirement to choose between the two becomes obsolete; Bye Howard Stern, can't say I'll miss you (didn't listen really to you anyway); The power of choice (formats) on XM and hopefully on HD and HD2 soon; WTOP and WHUR for always being there and steady (although I haven't been too crazy about "let me yell over the airwaves like you can't hear me" Mike Baesden replacing the milder/relaxed Doug and Lorna); WHUR for promoting HD digital Radio when nobody else (except maybe a media geek like me) knew what it was; the quiet and pending rise of gospel/neo-gospel radio via WPGC-AM/WYCB-AM and a probable (prediction here) future move of one of them to an FM signal; WFED/MASN for trying to cover the Nats with good radio and TV caller choices (Melle Mel Proctor and Charlie Slowes nee old school Bullets callers from my younger days) but not having a stronger signal or coverage to satisfy everybody; Dave Johnson's Wizards Broadcasts (current and past calls made fun of by the 'TEM regulars -- Ohhhhh, Rod!).
Worst TV - MASN for arranging such a stinky deal with the Asbestos King in Baltimore (O's) and not letting the viewers in Baltimore/Washington view and support both teams. Comcast Cable/Comcast SportsNet for not acknowledged the double-standard they are living by suing MASN for trying to compete against them in the region but introducing other CSN's in other regions (see Sacramento, Dallas, New York in '06); Also, Comcast for raising my bill iin Prince George's every six months and nearly moving SciFi to digital to (underhandedly) spur more subscribers to move (pay more) to the digital service; Reality TV (hopefully in its death throes) and the decline of creative writing in thought; Dave Chappelle, where are you? Dan Snyder for making everyone pay to put the "official" stamp of Redskins on sports broadcasts (and soon nickel-and-diming me and my family out of an enjoyable and inexpensive experience at Six Flags America); Calling Doctor Ben Casey, calling Doctor Leslie Moonves, the patient "Survivor" is fading....Finally, the mere fact that my son and his generation will never know what it is to just plug in a TV set and get 5 or more decent channels/shows for next to nothing (other than the electric bill); my future concern over the segmentation of sports broadcasting and paying extra for it/them (College Sports TV, Ice Channel, Tennis Channel, NBA-TV, NFL Network, soon-to-be NHL and MLB Networks) makes me think that ESPN-High (High School Sports?) and ESPN-Tween will be here very soon; the fact that my son can quote chapter and verse from every show and commercial he views on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel (guess I'll have to get him out of the house more). Worst Radio - Howard Stern and all of those same ilk (see further below); My local loyalty to XM (as a future subscriber in '06?) but my frustation that I can't have it all (with the NBA and NFL) on Sirius; the fact that I will need an additional device (added with the CD, iPod, etc.) to put in my cassette player to pickup HD Radio in my car; that Donnie Simpson for all his class and decency has to put up with all that gangsta/booty call silliness that goes for music on his morning radio show and that David Haines will no longer be a voice of clarity in the morning; WTEM's Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban (overall an enjoyable listening experience) for their occassional panic/disdain over Joe Gibbs' coaching/media relations style (pretty much the same as it was the first go-round, so why the angst?). Bram Weinstein's show passing for good radio on the weekend (during the week, he seems to be getting better although he is forced to work better with less time due ot Wizards/Caps broadcasts); Terrestrial radio's disdain of diverse music formats, fear of going to the edge (except where they depend on [read: easy profit-margin] shock radio and right-wing sabre-rattling) and chasing the almighty dollar.
Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Best: XM Satellite Radio, especially Opie and Anthony, the TRUE pioneers of satellite radio; Terry Ford, Drew Forrester, and Bob Haynie from WNST, the best sports station in Baltimore; Jennifer Gilbert, Marianne Bannister, & Donna Hamilton, still gettin' it done; Stan Stovall, a true professional; Scott Garceau and Tom Matte, who deserved better; Mickey & Amelia; Dan Patrick & Keith Obermann back together again.
Worst: Marty Bass & Jamie Costello who both suck; JACK-FM (the jokes would be too easy); terrestrial radio's media blitz against satellite radio, playa-haters; WSMJ- " Me and MRS. Jones" is NOT JAZZ!!!; R.I.P. Lopez, Chuck Thompson, & David Haines; Jim Hunter and Fred Manfra, the Orioles got rid of Jon Miller for this; Colin Cowherd, thanks to Mark Viviano, you don't have to hear this jerk; Viviano's sidekick, Damon Jaffe, the reason I got XM; Howard " I've been doing subpar radio for the past 10 years" Stern, $100 million for five years? Good Luck Sirius!!!

The Best: Don & Mike. During what can only be described as a horrific personal year they managed a professional net gain, holding onto their consistently strong numbers and finally becoming thE big fish in WJFK-FM’s increasingly small pond…Russ Parr…Wendy Rieger, Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyan, three professionals (one of them an absolute hottie—I’ll let you decide which) who continue to make the best of a dying format…Donnie Simpson, a perennial powerhouse…and George Michael’s horse.
The Worst: WJFK, 106.7FM. Talk about taking a bad situation and making it worse. When was the last time WJFK made a good decision? I know it’s hard to replace Stern, but shuffling your lineup to include a bore in evenings, a team of bores in morning drive time, and a propagandist middays isn’t the answer. Does anyone at WJFK actually listen to the station?....“Redskins Radio,” the biggest load of crap to be floated in this town since Wilbur Mills and Fanne Fox were fished out of the tidal basin. Larry Michaels should be doing voice work for used car dealerships in South New Backwater, not stumbling his way through 115 spots a game…Jack Diamond…Local TV news. Is there really a need at this point? Play old Flintstones episodes instead. What this town needs is a good strong dose of Davey Marlin Jones and Guy La Guy…WTEM…and Howard Stern, who phoned in an entire year’s worth of programs and disappeared into satellite oblivion. Enjoy the cash, Howie, because the audience won’t be there.
Dave In Sterling

Best: Channel 11 breaking the truth behind MD4Bush really being a Democratic Party dirty trick, now will the rest of the media really follow up or bury it?; Steve Rouse filling in on WBAL radio once in a while; Stash on 98 Rock, "Hey Stash, what's in the box Dude?"; The courageous battle of Lopez against cancer before his passing & his efforts to raise money against this terrible disease.
Worst: Comcast Sports Net & their anchors obvious bias to the Redskins over the Ravens, why not have a Redskins channel & a Ravens channel?; Traffic reports on radio that are useless, put some substance in the reports & less chit chat & commercials; The loss of Lopez & Chuck Thompson. Baltimore is a less place without the 2 of you.

Best rumor: Washington Nationals play-by-play on Classical 103.5.
Worst rumor: Pam Stone coming to WJFK.

Best: WTMD. Nuff said.
Worst: Anything related to Don and Mike--they are not funny and BORING.

Best: Howard Stern leaving terrestrial radio. Maybe it will curtail some of the idiots wanting to be him.
Worst: A bunch of wannabe mayors in DC who keep jerking around with the stadium deal. I'm sorry Ms. Cropp and Mr. Catania, Mayor Williams has your numbers as well as the rest of the DC Council.

From KOTPE in Columbia, MD
Best: Radio: Don's radio tribute to Freda. Howard Stern's farewell minus the ego (Jackie, K.C.). TV: Donna Hamilton, Domenica Davis, Both Jen Gilberts (WBFF, WMAR), Tisha Thompson, Allison Starling, Laura Evans, MSNBC Babes (Alison Stewart, Amy Robach, Chris Jansing, Lisa Daniels). Still missing Lexy Hickok
Worst: The losses of Freda Sorce, R. Edward Lopez, and Chuck Thompson. Shaw's Jewelers Commercials: Get straight to the heart of this!!

Best - Garceau and Matte, doing the last few of their Ravens broadcasts. They will be missed, especially Matte and his "guy next door" approach, reminds me a little of Rex Barney when dealing with regular fans. Sandusky on the nightly sports, one of the best at his craft anywhere in the U.S. Freda Sorce, RIP.. She WAS the DnM show as far as I'm concerned. Convict Ed holding his own on middays on WHFS.
Worst -Big O and Douches.. That slobbering imbecile Mike Paskoff (or is it Jackoff?). Worst delivery of anyone I've ever heard on local airwaves. Stan Saunders trying to make his way through a 4 minute sports segment. Sort of feels like you're getting a root canal. Bob Turk running every other word together into one long sentence. (okay, he gets a break for being legally deaf). Don and Mike post Freda.. Show can't get much worse. Guys, please shut down the E to E crap. It's as old as the crust in my tighty whiteys. Howard ever since he announced the move to Sirius. One full year of shows listening to the same crap over and over. Not to mention, his show has the worst staff it has had EVER. Sal and Richard? Give me a break, those guys are terrible. The sports Junkies who I will NEVER listen to. I've never listened, heard about 30 seconds of promo crap got sick at my stomach. Bye bye to WJFK FOREVER BEEEEOOTCHES!!
-Tom in Pasadena

So many stars and morons to choose from out there but here goes... Best; The Don and Mike show (ear candy). Wendy Rieger, Lindsay Czarniak and Michelle Sigona (eye candy). Tom Sater (where ever he is!).
Worst; Freda's passing. Losing Howard / Ron and Fez to pay radio, That brain-lock poodle Holly Morris. Joe Krebs saying "Bye" at the end of his newscast.
Pat R. from Smothern' Marland...

Best: Don's on-air tribute to Freda. Howard Stern's reuniting with few old faces and voices. Chris Core: another solid year for a guy who continues to get better and better. Gerry Sandusky doing sports on WBAL-TV. Jon Ballard's entertaining mid-day rock show and Elliot's Morning Program on DC-101. The legendary Stash on 98 Rock. Getting Steve Rouse off the air... his show was getting really stale, almost as much so as Jack Diamond. Les Kinsolving... great profile in the Baltimore City Paper. Ditto Jerry in PIkesville, the irascible one!
Worst: Big O and Dukes. Gawdawful. Good thing they were finally fired. Dave Labrozzi: the man has no idea what he is doing and ought to be the next to go; a college station PD could do a better job with the Infinity cluster than Labrozzi has been doing. Josh Spiegal: lousy announcer, second-rate newscaster replacing a legend in Bob Lopez. Dave Hill with an incomprehensible decision. Losing Lopez and Freda and Chuck Thompson. Canning Brian Wilson and Big Don O'Brien and then flipping to a Jack format. The Jack format in general. AFTRA ought to file a lawsuit that these stations violate some sort of contract. This is the end of radio as we know it if Jack succeeds. The fact that the Sports Junkies are taking over for Stern: that's so stupid, donkey! These guys are really not that funny, they are terrible interviewers, and only on par as sportscasters. Lastly the "bush league" sendoff given to Tom Matte and Scott Garceau. Unfair.

Best Media News Website: DCRTV... Best Radio Website: WBAL.Com courtesy of webmistress Angela Jackson
Worst Media News Site: Newsblues...for "oversensationalizing" media news and gossip
Kemi Lane, Atlanta, GA

I'll stick in my 25 cents worth, even if I don't live in DC/Baltimore:
Best: El-Zol 99.1 FM and DC Getting a baseball team.
Worst: The Demise of Oldies in Baltimore and NYC for this Jack Crap, WHFS 105.7, FREE-FM, The New TV Guide, and Air America.
Jay in Connecticut

Best: It was a privilege to listen to Baltimore's Fab 4 of WQSR- Johnny Dark, Bob Worthington, Steve Rouse and The Merson Person over the years. Bob Worthington-WBIG, Amy Page-Mix 107.3, WASH-FM's- Lou Katz, Mix 106.5's -Greg Valentine, WPOC- Michael J, WTOP, WBAL.
Worst: Jack-FM and Infinity taking away the best radio station in Baltimore/DC-WQSR

Best TV: Joe Krebs saying "Bye" at the end of his newscast. Best Radio: Don and Mike.
Worst TV: Barbara Harrison. Leave already. My dog's ass could do a better broadcast. Worst Radio: Diane Rehm. You need to retire. Your guests unconsciously do the warble and don't even know it.

Best: TV: Eun Yang, Lindsay Czarniak (wow!), Julie Parker, Nancy Yamada, Stacey Cohan, WJLA's 6pm news team, Sarah Lee, Holly Morris. NBC 4's weekend AM team. Radio: Don & Mike, Tony K (minus his on-air crew).
Worst: TV: Every locally produced show on WUSA 9. What a tragic mess. The set, the shows, all of it. Fox 5's 7-9 AM news. George Michael (though I'm glad his health is fine). Radio: Diamond in the Morning. Insipid would be giving it too much credit. Brahm Weinstein WTEM. So annoying. The Sports Reporters on WTEM. Particularly Steve Czaban.

BEST: Howard Stern leaving regulated radio... 99.1 forcing WHFS to go to a part time broadcast... anything that Tony Kornheiser touches... Loveline
WORST: Elliot in the morning... Hot 995... Promoting the Junkies to the AM drive... Don & Mike copying everything Howard Stern does... The FCC...

Best: Tony Kornheiser on WTEM; Wendy Rieger; Lindsay Czarniak; XM's 50s and 60s oldies; WTOP's entire crew - at least someone in this town respects talent and experience.
Worst: Everything else on WTEM; WMAL; WBIG; Comcast and Peter Angelos; Dan Snyder and Larry Michael; WETA-FM - there's coal in your pledge drive stocking this year.

Best: Lindsay Czarniak, WTOP, the occasional bright spots from Jack Diamond, Michael Wilbon on Redskins Report, Gordon Peterson, Sue Palka
Worst: Tim Brant and his biases, Arch Campbell and his 45 second reports of useless information, George Michael, Wally Bruckner, Channel 9

BEST... WTTG 10 News... WTOP NEWS... Don and Mike in the Afternoon... kathleen matthews (i just like her, but hate 7 news)...
WORST... The passing of Freda... Jack Diamond and Mix 107.3 anything... Any news except for Fox 5...

Best 1. Tony Kornheiser, for being the most entertaining person on the airwaves, a status he has enjoyed for several years..... 2. being able to hear a DC-based baseball again on the radio, no matter how bad the announcers may be..... 3. PBS, for airing the Bob Dylan biofilm..... 4. Tony Perkins, for leaving GMA and returning to DC next month...... 5. Frank Herzog, for finding his voice again on WTOP..... 6. Shawn Anderson, for keeping me informed every afternoon, from WTOP..... 7. Wendy Reiger, just because.....
Worst 1. the deaths of Freda Wright and Walt Starling, two friends from a long time ago...... 2. not being able to hear Caps games more than three blocks from the station's transmitter site once the sun goes down..... 3. Sucky and sporatic-at-best TV coverage of Nats' games.....
Paul, Lexington Park

Best: Satellite Radio
Worst: Michael Hughes
Jim Larrison – Alexandria, VA

Best: WTOP, Don and Mikes consistency of great shows, Russ Parr in the morning WKYS, Junkies thank god for the move! Julien with Hot 995
Worst: Anyone on Mix 107.3, Lisa Baden, Baseball on Z104, WBIG for letting go Johnny Dark, HFS' move to El Zol!
C Kelly, Lorton... Thank god for 2006!

Bests: WRC, WJLA, and WUSA digital having weather forecasts and radar on a subchannel, the same bunch along with WTTG-DT for limiting the sub-channel craziness (or, in WTTG's case, having NO sub-channels) that would bit-starve the HD channel, Don and Mike for consistent excellent entertainment, WTOP for continued excellent programming and exceedingly smart hires, David Burd for channeling his old WCLY self to his WTOP work, WTRI and WWLG keeping music going locally on AM, WWKB for keeping the oldies going on a big AM stick, Infinity for having the foresight to switch 99.1 to Spanish, Julian on Hot 99.5, Hot's overall sound - tight and bright!, and the Junkies, WTOP-FM's and WJFK-FM's processor chain.
Worsts: Infinity DC/Baltimore for either a) not having a plan for absorbing changes from flipping 99.1 or b) not being able to execute the changes; (As mentioned in the mailbag, Infinity had all the pieces needed to create great radio with proven talent across the whole cluster but managed to fritter away at least half of it, forcing some really weird evolutions in Baltimore.) AM digital broadcasting (creating excessive interference to the 2nd adjacent and forcing hard limiting of the analog to 5 kHz); FM digital broadcasting for cutting back on the analog modulation - we in the fringes notice this big time; WDCA for operating a flea-power DT; Z-104 and WBQB's processor chains; WETA-DT for excessive bit-starving of the HD channel and for generally not broadcasting prime-time programs in HD (what's really ridiculous is when the analog is showing a letter-boxed program - the digital SD sub-channel has black bars on all sides); PBS-HD for not including HD prime-time programs but continuing to loop the same programs over and over; Fox's continued destruction of WTTG's 10 o'clock news (on the slide since Mike Landis left); not updating the tech section this year (soon, I promise!).
Regards, Dave Loudin

Best: Jim Farley for admitting that WINS, not WTOP is "Arbitron's Most Listened To Radio Station."
Worst: Jim Farley for continuing to run promos claiming WTOP is "Aribtron's Most Listened To Radio Station." Clear evidence Farley will twist the facts to make a buck. From here on out, he shall be called "Fact-Twisting Farley."

BEST: WTTG's Sue Palka, as always the best TV presence around, & Dave Feldman, currently the best sportscaster in town; the soon-to-be rejuvenated WUSA (you heard it here); Ch 9 anchor Tracey Neale, DC TV's most elegant and charismatic presence who just needs more promotion; WJFK's Don and Mike, who still have the ability to make me chuckle loudly on the way home; the wonderful Hillary Howard, and the steady and strong Mike Moss and Richard Day on WTOP; WGMS in general and especially with the Christmas music; the always daring Eliot on DC101; WPFW, the most unheralded radio entity in town that plays better music on Saturdays than most stations play all week; Steve Buckhantz, because he's always been a true pro; WARW's Cerphe, because although he comes off like a dinosaur sometimes he still has been around and seen it all in DC Rock & Roll (catch him announcing Little Feat on their live Waiting for Columbus album and that's all you need); Tony Kornheiser, because he's a great sports mind and always has insight even if you don't agree with him, his column in the Post is always entertaining; and Howard Stern, who although he is abandoning us terrestrials for eh-eh-eh, made my mornings funny, edgy and often surprisingly poignant every day for the last 12 years.
WORST: George Michael, yes, he's a legend, but he continues to decompose on the air; WTTG's sensationalistic news story topics are nauseating and point to a problem with the news director; Tim Brant, because he's plain boring and sportscasters should never be boring; WUSA's Todd McDermott, who was promoted poorly from the start and remains wooden and unaccessible; The Junkies, because they don't have anything clever to say, they sound like a stupid frat party every show; WARW's Shelby, who has a great midday shift but never any real insight (her show with the great Warren Haynes had way too many "awesomes" and cools"); and I predict that David Lee Roth will be horrid and a meager attempt to replace the King Of All Media.

Best is everyone's favorite newsbabe Wendy Rieger and her Technicolor dream hair this year----never a dull moment! And the formidable Susan Kidd---we love her, too. Don's brave perserverance in the face of his tragic loss. Howard Stern becoming king of yet another medium---I'm following him there and wish him continued success! Looking forward to some really radical radio from that groundbreaking genius. And of course one of the BEST things in radio is DCRTV (which is why I send Dave money automatically each month via paypal---and you should too!).
Worst has got to be Freda's sad passing. Sad, sad, sad. And if this was the year that channel 9 fired all of the old gang, that sucked, too. Not too happy about NBC canceling Martha Stewart's Apprentice---I've really enjoyed it.
Here's to a happy and healthy 2006 for us all!

Best: Lopez
Worst: Spiegel and Mickey

BEST: Don and Mike keeping up the great shows. Junkies cracking me up every day. Tony K. putting on a sports show that is worth listening to. Howard going to Sirius - I can't wait for the next chapter from the king!
WORST: Elliot (enough said).
Jason Eisenhour

Best: Elliot in the morning, D&M in the afternoon.
Worst: NBC4 adding the 'crawl' to its morning news (especially at the beginning when it distorted the screen). Getting a little tired of Howard's good-byes, but looking forward to seeing what he does on Sirius.
David, Urbana

Best: 98 Rock, best Rock station in the nation; KMS, M&A; Channel 11, best news in the Mid Atlantic; Tom Tasselmyer & the 11 Insta Weather team for the best weather; Gerry Sandusky, best Sports, can't wait to hear you do the Ravens Gerry!!!; WNST, although you need a much stronger signal during the day & especially at night; Scott Garceau, thanks for 10 years of great Ravens calls;
Worst: Channel 13, how low the mighty have fallen. They need to clean house across the board except for Bob Turk; Stop buying your weather from Accuweather & get your own Meteorologists. This station is terrible all around, even Mark Viviano isn't as good as he was when he was at Channel 11 or CNN/SI; Marty Bass, when will people grow tired of his act? I am tired of him thinking he is smarter & knows more than the rest of us. People are not as dumb as you think they are in this region Marty!!; Adelphia cable in New Freedom, PA Southern York County) for still not adding the NFL Network; All the Baltimore stations for ignoring the Southern York/Southern Adams County areas, which have become bedroom community for the Baltimore metro area. You should care about where your people are moving.

Best of 2005 - Another great year of Don and Mike; Rob and his E-bay acutions; Infinity finally broadcasting shows over the Internet so I can now listen to the Junkies and Don and Mike while at work; The Hideout going to Orlando and leaving WJFK to work at a real radio station - the Internet for letting me listen to them as well as new shows such as Shannon Burke and Monsters in the Morning; Steve and Miles leaving WXYV LIVE 105.7 for Seattle and kicking butt in the great Northwest - and the Internet for letting me listen to them too; Chad Dukes and Oscar being fired from the hurting "NEW" HFS; Chad Dukes being fired from the Ed Norris Show; Chad Dukes getting dumped twice in the same year by a women that is smart enough to not want to marry that douche bag; Ron and Fez going to XM and getting away from WJFK and now being able to relax and do a show at mid-days like they wanted; DCRTV for being here for our late breaking news.
Worst of 2005: The passing of Freda, Lopez, Chuck Thompson and David Haines - they will always be missed; HFS 99.1 being turned into a musical taco stand; HFS coming back as a part-time station (LOL) and running Ron and Fez out of Baltimore; the entire Baltimore/Washington Infinity fuster cluck for not knowing what to do with their stations and the shows on those stations; 1300 ESPN Radio in Baltimore for putting Chad Dukes on a sports show with Bill Rohlan and ruining a good show; Infinity letting Howard plug Sirius for over a year ; 105.7 in Baltimore for not knowing what kind of format they want to be - are they talk, music, college sports or a mashup of all three?

BEST: Big O and Dukes, WHFS rising from the dead with a much more palatable playlist, WRNR doing an indy rock show, XM's rock stations, Elliot getting screwed out of some kegs and eggs due to a Nissan Pavilion blunder, Speigel on 98 Rock.
WORSt: Big O and Dukes getting fired, 99.1 switch to spanish, WHFS rising from the dead only to be interupted with Terps games and saturday morning car shows, WHFS still a part time music outlet, all the attention Sirius gets over XM just because of Howard Stern when XM has better music programming, Speigel leaving the Big O and Dukes show, WRNR playing adult contemporary favorites like Sheryll Crow as opposed to adapting a bit with the loss of WHFS, ALL THE JUVENILE COMMENTS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE STAFF OF WHFS THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF THE ASSHATS AT 98 ROCK!!!--Give it arest and grow the hell up already !!

Best: WTOP, Mike & Richard, Doug Hill, Lisa Baden, Bruce Alan, Shawn & Diane, Dimitri Sotis, Frank Herzog, Mark Plotkin, WFED, Amy Morris, Judlyne Lilly, Mike Causey, WGMS, Z104, Julie Wright, Brian van de Graaff, Alison Starling, Leon Harris.
Worst: WMAL, Mark Weaver (MAN, is his act ever getting old!!), WETA for surrendering classical music in this region to WGMS, WAMU for trying to imitate WTOP and failing miserably, Comcast for refusing to carry Nats games, Bennett Zier for firing Paula Young, Channel 9 for letting Gordo slide over to Channel 7.

BEST: Tony K, his show stinks, and it's the best there is in the middle of the day; WTOP by default for being the only real all-newser in town; WHUR, the new syndicated afternoon guy has figured out how to really connect with his target audience; El Zol for understanding the growth and strength of the Hispanic market; CH4 and CH7; Stern moving to satellite radio (good riddance).
WORST: WTEM, a sorry excuse for a sports/talk station; WTOP for lame story ideas and for failing to understand listeners will evenutally pass it by unless the station dumps its heavy commercial load and its stale formatics; all music stations for their short playlists and predictable "personalities"; D&M for losing their originality and creativity; CH9 and CH5; MASN and it's Nationals broadcast team, simply pitiful.

Best show: Elliott in the Morning. Even with the cackling laugh, he provides a fresh topic everyday and some sort of hilarity to the show.
Worst Voice in Radio: Josh Schhhhhhpiegal. Actually, which voice? Whichever personality shows up for work that day!

I don't watch/listen to absolutely everything, but here it goes. Keeping it local in no particular order:
Best: Dave Feldman, Chick Hernandez, Joe Beninati (solid play-by-play), Lindsay Czarniak, Sue Palka, Domenica Davis, Leon Harris, Lesli Foster, Jennifer Ryan, Kathleen Mitchell (WHAG), Alison Starling, Gurvir Dhindsa, Gordon Peterson, Shawn Anderson, Diane Kepley, Frank Herzog, Mark Viviano (better than any radio show on WTEM), Scott Garceau (I'm sure 'Skins fans would like to have him as their p-b-p guy), 98 Rock.
Worst: George Michael (retire already!), Wally Bruckner, Lou Holder, Tim Brant, Levan Reid, Joyce Jackson, James Hill (WHAG), Doug Hill, Bob Ryan, Brian Bolter, Holly Morris, Barbara Harrison, Pat Collins, Arch Campbell, Doug Buchanan, Mike Buchanan, John Thompson, Andy Pollin, Doc Walker, Al Koken, Tony Kornheiser, Bram Weinstein, WJFK (only thing worth listening to is Sporting News Radio, the rest sucks), Larry Michael, Lisa Baden, Mickey and Amelia, Jack Diamond, Elliot in the Morning.

BEST: XM, Frank Herzog, David Burd, Renee Channey. Diana Hollander (get well soon!), Dennis (Mogul) Owens, Ira Mellman. Sam Litzinger, Scott Walterman, Maggie Linton. Claire Meyerhoff, Joan Doniger. Jim Battagliese and Jack Taylor (eeeh!/private joke). Prayers for Celeste Clark, Stacy Binn-Williams, Kurt Henschen. Finally getting unpacked after moving to Ashburn.
WORST: Losing Walt Starling, David Haines, Freda Wright-Sorce, Bob Lopez, Peter Jennings. Also losing WQSR. Don Lapre still doing infomercials. Anything made by IGIA.
Have a great Holiday! /sean hall

The best is obviously Don & Mike. The guys have been through so much this past year. Of course the worst was the loss of Freda. I'm a long time listener of the show but never call. When hearing of Freda passing I sat at work and had to hide for a bit because I cried. That is what true radio is about. The connection with the listeners. Whether Don wanted it that way or not, that is how I felt. We all lost something that day. The very best to you guys, I know you read this site.
Worst is obviously Howard!!! Go already and everyone stop talking about it. Enough said???? Last question on that subject is can anyone say RATINGS???
Later Big Bird.

Best: WTOP, Uncle Johnny stopping by (come back anytime), WYPR boosting their signal on 88.1, WBJC, Greasman on WMET, WWLG picking up oldies/personality, Amy Paige, David Burd on WTOP, Michael Graham's firing from WMAL
Worst: Jack FM killing WQSR and WCBS, WPEN going all sports, Celeste Clarke disappearing and Mix continuing to keep her pic/profile on their website, WWLG not having live/local jocks on the weekends and overnights, WETA for dropping their classical music, WGMS, WMAL's rip and read news, Key 103.1 FM's changes, all stations who have begun or continue voice tracking, automation and everything else that is non local and or live, all personalities and staff who lost gigs due to the latter, and finally, those who have passed on to shifts in the sky. May their memories be kept alive.

Worst: Fox 45 morning news-entire show and their cast of characters. It's just awful. Channel 2's traffic girl. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Marty Bass. Mix 106 morning crew.
Best: Channel 11 news. Just good reporters getting the correct scoop. Sarah Caldwell-best TV Traffic. Best sports-WNST (but they need Meredith Marks back big time)!!! Jack FM is great, finally something new for Baltimore. WSMJ- playing great smooth jazz! Wzba-even though they play the same old stuff, it's better than it was and they have Chris Emry!

This obviously isn't easy so here goes (a heads up though as some of it's personal):
BEST; another fine year of keeping us all uniquely informed via DCRTV. Finally meeting you in person this year Dave. Becoming acquainted with a true lady (via the net) in WHFC's "Sister" Joyce Conroy. Having Pat Murphy as a guest on my show
WORST; The tragic death of Freda Sorce (that still hurts), Paul Farhi (a real waste of TWP print - and Paul you're not fooling anyone I know you're a regular DCRTV'er). And to all of my current and future "Mailbaggers", here's to a great 2006 and remember, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery, today is a gift, that's why we call it the present. Simply untie the ribbons. Love each other everyone (life's too short not to)!
Happy Holidays, Rusty Gibson Producer/Host "Magical History Tour" WEBR/FCAC

BEST: Laurie DeYoung's 20 years at WPOC (What'd ya think I was going to lead with?); Tony Kornheiser; Ed Norris (Hey, the dude shows some potential!); Dylan to XM; WTOP, especially my fave overnight dude, Dean Lane; Gerry Sandusky in line for the Ravens' gig; Jayne Miller always gittin' 'er done; Steve Chenevey (vote for an old college chum); and the return of Trish Hennessey to 711 West 40th Street!
WORST: Goodbyes to Lopez, Freida, Chuck Thompson, and an especially painful farewell to my old friend Bob Bartel. (God, I miss him at the Ravens' games...no one there to complain about the national anthem!) Thinking of their families this holiday season.
Aaron Rehkopf, WPOC

Best: Sad that the only thing I can list is alternativebroadcasting.org , an dc based internet radio site trying to replace old hfs (102.3 and 99.1) and new hfs (105.7).
Worst: Infinity and HFS/el zol, everything from the implosion to the part time HFS, to freefm, what a joke freefm is.WORST. MOVE. EVER. Also the moves to get rid of Oscar and Chad. Norris and Maynard are so boring!!! Lisa Worden for running tail-between-legs back to LA. Infinity and WQSR. Thanks for taking away the best "oldies" station in the area. Now I have 10,000+ songs to listen to for a station that doesn't know what it is. Ah some company Infinity is!

Best: ELLIOT! ELLIOT! ELLIOT! Elliot & Diane, DC 101 - thanks for making me laugh my ass off every morning; Sue Palka, Fox 5 - gives us a reason to stay up at night; Jonathan Leiberman counter-suing Sinclair
Worst: Weasel on whatever station he's on - I can't believe that guy's on radio anywhere; ditto for Pat Collins on tv; Shannon Bream, WRC - get rid of the Mrs. Brady hair; someone should wake Jim Vance up from his coma; Fox 5 - TOXIC MOLD is gonna kill us! We know!; any morning drive "chick" sidekick on the radio - quit whining! and Howard Stern, just shut up and GO!

BEST....Hey Dave how about a little old show called IT'S ACADEMIC..It's been around for 45 years and still the same Host...Even made it in the guinness book of world record's..I'm glad cuz it keeps my DAD outta my MOM's hair.....
Thank's MARK McGARRY

BEST - MLB games on XM. 60's on 6 channel on XM and their library of old PAM's jingles (showing my age.) Tom Sherwood on News4. TWC adding Traffic Pulse to the Local on the 8's. Verizon adding FIOS TV to compete with the Comcast/Cox conglomerates.
WORST - WTEM's non-existent local sports coverage. Comcast/Cox refusal to add MASN so their customers can watch their local baseball team. WBIG dumping Johnny Dark and Dial a hit for whatever it is they are airing on Saturday nights. Every local newscast except News4 for mostly ignoring sports. I can't comment on Howard Stern and O & A as I have never heard either show.
Dave in Fairfax

Radio and TV, at best, was in a relative holding pattern in 2005, but here goes:
BEST: The Greaseman finally being on a station (WMET) that you don't have to be parked next to in order to listen to it; Jerry Doyle being added to the WTNT line-up; FNC's Greta Van Susteren's coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance; The Military Channel; Rita Cosby getting her own prime-time show on MSNBC; The NFL Channel; any positive coverage about the troops.
WORST: The perennial lack of good talk radio on the weekends in this market; Howard Stern's short-timer's attitude and how it's hurt his show; Air America; most "reality" shows.

Best:WRC for continuing to be #1, even with WJLA catching up. XM Radio, wouldn't give Sirius a cent. Lopex(WIYY), Freida Source(WJFK, WHFS {105.7}), Walt Starling (WWRC), David Haines (WPGC)-RIP.Don and Mike for 20 years in DC, and with more (hopefully) to come.
Worst: 99.1 HFS changing to El Zol (WHFS was only major station in Baltimore to have a strong signal in DC). Free FM format (keep the previous radio name for god's sake). Comcast/MASN battle, need to see nationals on DC Cable. Infinty DC's Management.
Here's to a better 2006!
-Kevin G from Prince William County, VA

BEST - The absolute resolve and consistency of Don and Mike, who continue to show what local radio should sound like (congratulations on 20 years!); the love and support and class shown after the passing of Freda; Ron & Fez, who did an amazing job during the first 7 months of 2005 on WJFK, and haven't missed a beat being the funniest men in radio since their move to XM iin September; Dave appearing on "The Craig Coleman Show"; any sort of Washington Nationals coverage (as tough as it was to find); Channel 4 news; Count Gore de Vol returning to Washington; the worthless and talentless Big O and Dukes unable to hold down that cherry gig in Baltimore; and the happiest day in my life, when Bill O'Reilly was temporarily benched on WJFK - relegated (for only a couple of weeks) to 11:00 p.m.
WORST - January 2005, when Infinty imploded WHFS, creating El Zol, without any plan of what to do with the spare parts - the ripple effect pretty much put a wet blanket on the entire year; the loss of even a neutered WHFS is significant here in Washington; The Sports Junkies lackluster return to WJFK; The Hideout with Jefe and J. Dubs initially being bumped from their night-time spot (first for the shamed Bill O'Reilly talking about touching himself with a falaefel, then for teenagers talking about touching themselves on Loveline), then unable to get their Saturday night spot back because Jay Stevens and Michael Hughs had a frat-boy-like hard-on for Big Oh and Douche and had put replays of their hack show there, and finally Jefe and Dubs just packing up and leaving for sunnier pastures (congrats, brothers!); Bill O'Reilly getting put back in mid days, chopping up The Junks by an hour, getting rid of D&M's best of hour, and cutting into Howard Stern during the only part of his show that was still worth listening to - his news; and, finally, the local loss of Ron and Fez for StaRad, who had no choice but to leave when the Junks came back to 106.7 as the conquering heroes, and given the spot R&F had lobbied for since they arrived in 2003 - mid days. It is scary how close WJFK came to getting it right - how they had all the pieces right there for when Stern left - Don & Mike, Ron & Fez, The Hideout, The Junkies. So simple when you stop listening to the suits in New York, and you chop out Bill O'Reilly (HE DOES NOT BELONG THERE!). Other things that I can bitch about - Howard's draining year of anticipation; Channel 9; DCRTVers who think they are funny by quoting comedians and radio personalities; Free FM; the CRAPPY Nationals coverage (I downgraded my Comcast to the $15 tier last summer in protest); "Assault on the Media"; Fez's scary heart attack; and the worst thing (by far) was the tragic death of Freda Sorce, whose life had touched so many, and whose loss is still felt, even by people she never knew.

If you think about it, there’s really no “ Best” this year, just varying levels of mediocrity with some horrible misjudgments mixed in.
The closest to Best: XM, with an eclectic mix that just reminds me of how far terrestrial radio has fallen.
The worst? Stern (enough already- just go!!), D&M (please, for the love of all that’s holy and for those of us who remember how you used to be, just park the car in a quiet spot off the Blue Ridge Parkway, close the windows, doors and exhaust pipe, hold hands and drift off to the sweet embrace of death), WGMS (this is a classical station? Sounds more like one of those sampler CD’s), WMAL (what a shame for a once great station-at least they still carry Batchelor and Nouri) and the whining hypocrites at NPR (send us your money so we can continue to denigrate your tastes and treat you in a noblesse oblige, condescending manner, you bourgeoise peasants).

WORST: The so called "conservatives/republicans" telling Dave what to post and not to post on his website. By the way, those who say will not contribute, for the so called "leftist" ideas, were not going to contribute in the first place. I tell ya, politics is dividing the country. Don and Mike taking too much vacation. Howard going to Satellite; Good for him, but it sucks for the average Joe who cannot/will not pay for radio. O&A "inventing" the phrase "Hoo Hoo, tell them Fred." Lopez dying, I miss you, man!! Freda dying. I miss you Freda!!
BEST: Diane from Elliot in the morning. Come on people, she is witty!! Stash, what's in the box!! Don and Mike, and Rob, and Buzz, and BA. Howard going to Satellite, not a big fan of big bird, but I think he deserves it. KMS, Sarah Fleischer. She sounds so cool. Mickey and Amelia, although the midget could do better. 98 rock's DJs sound like they are having fun at their jobs. Me like that. Lopez and Freda going to heaven. DCRTV!!! Come on people, what else would we be reading when we are bored to death?? WLZL, El Zol radio. It was about time for a spanish radio with strong signal. Fox 5 news, you gotta like their 10 o'clock news.
Emmanuel, Boyds, MD

Best: To be honest there was no best in my book this year, just the people who make it consistent every year: Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, NBC4 Evening News, Channel 7 news team, WTOP, Don and Mike, XM and NPR (for hiring me as an intern this past summer and their stories). The newcomers (in my list): Shepard Smith (Take out the Fox stigma, he's a damn great anchor), Keith Olbermann, Anderson Cooper (the new big Three); Lindsay Czarniak, bloggers, Washington sports (in general), old school is new again (Cerphe and Weasel, David Burd, Frank Herzog, Nathan Roberts)... But the two stand out are David Haines and Freda Sorce. Damn, it's a shame we're losing great people left and right in this area.
Worst: Hmmm, this is a tough one, so I will list what are the worst in radio/tv: Clear Channel and Infinity Management, WMAL, Sirius to pony a lot of dough for Howie, WHFS, Channel 9 in Hi-Def, The Jack format, The soon-to-be demise of WJFK, The announcement of Free FM, Big O and Dukes or Ed (whatever the combo), Larry Michael, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Sinclair Broadcasting WTEM (except TK), WETA format change, Washington Post for not reporting local stuff, CNN's ten million screens, Fox News commentary and bias, Paid web sites....
Anymore? I hope next year its a miracle. Tracy Tran

Best: WAGE in Leesburg for continuing to provide (at least for now) local programming, news, information, and high school sports (including play-by-play of the Division III state championship football game that featured Stone Bridge HS); Don Geronimo's tribute to Freda...that was so difficult to listen to and not be moved; Bob Edwards on XM and Frank Herzog at WTOP...it's good to hear talented people back on the air where they belong; MLB on XM...what a treat to be able to scan the channels for games and to hear Vin Scully in LA, Jon Miller in San Francisco, Herb Carneal in Minnesota, and Milo Hamilton in Houston, each a Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick winner (or soon to be); Charlie Slowes and Dave Shea on National's broadcasts...they may not make Cooperstown, but they were welcome additions to the sounds of summer in my household and in others, letting the game rather than themselves be the focus of the broadcast, and helping to bring baseball to fans in this area after a 34-year exile; the various music channels on XM, including the 40's, 50's, and Frank's Place, each of which play selections you can't hear in the DC area; Walt Starling...thank you for taking me and my Dad up for one of your reporting shifts many moons ago; Gordon Peterson, Jim Vance, Maureen Bunyan, Wendy Reiger, Doug Hill, Ed Walker, Bob Marbourg, Donnie Simpson; and my Dad on NPR (and, no, he didn't ask me to write this...)
Worst: WTEM's continuing masquerade as a sports station; the new JACK format, which resulted in the death of oldies WQSR in Baltimore and WCBS in NYC; the legal logjam that is the Comcast/MASN mess that has prevented many Washington-area residents without satellite television from seeing many more Washington National's games; MASN's less-than-stellar coverage of Opening Night at RFK: I was there at the game, saw the pre-game ceremonies celebrating the return of baseball to DC, and just shook my head to learn later that nobody outside of the stadium was able to see any of it; Larry Michael's play-by-play on Redskin's games...every play-by-play man has some level of interest in the success of the home team, but his homerism is so over the top that he gives John Sterling on New York Yankees broadcasts a run for his money; and (on general principles) Clear Channel Communications.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sincerely, Joe Kasell

Bests: Jim and Doreen at NBC-4, George Michael NBC-4, Sue Palka Fox 5, Leon Harris WJLA, Gordon Peterson WJLA. Celeste Clark MIX, Amy Paige MIX, Loo Katz WASH, Tom Kelly BIG, Jim London WMZQ, Diana Hollander WGMS, Chris Core WMAL. Julian HOT 99.5 Best mornings: WTOP

BEST move by a TV station...WJLA promoting John Gonzales from Ch 8 to Ch7 it's about time....Best team of local reporters...WTOP hands down not only a great team..but great team work...Best on-air commentator...Mark Plotkin...he's proven he's not a one trick pony who only knows D.C. but a well rounded (and rotund) national and regional analyst who gets the big names on his show....Best News exec...my boss Jim Farley who asked me to write this....

Worst is WMAL for the Michael Graham fiasco.
Best is Federal News Radio. Even though I'm not a fed, I listen to Mike Causey every day because he makes me laugh.

Best morning drive Mike and Richard. Midday Tony K. Afternoon drive Sean and Diane. WTOP. Channel 7.
Worst: Format changes at WETA, WHFS and WQSR. Channel 9.

Best: DCRTV. WTOP. Don and Mike. Channel 7.
Worst: Lisa de Moraes. Lack of radio reporting in the Post. Channel 9.

Best for 2005: Best rat to jump off a ship before it sinks award goes to Jim Robinson at Mix 107. Best AM Drive...Donnie Simpson. Best Midday...Tony K. Best PM Drive....N/A. Best at Night....Glenn Hollis. Best News Reader....Diane Duncan. Best station overall...WPGC.
Worst rat not to jump off a ship before it sinks award goes to anyone left at WJFK after the dust settles and Jack Diamond of Mix 107. Worst AM Drive...the aptly named Hot Morning Mess. Worst Midday....whoever is on DC101. Worst PM Drive...John Thompson on WTEM. Worst at night...Baseball on Z104. Worse use of a signal in a Major Market is a tie between WGMS and Z104.

Best : Wendy Rieger, IJ Hudson, George Michael, Lindsey Czarnyck, Little Steven's Garage on arrow, MASN on Directv, Johnny Holliday's play by play, Channel 5 sports, and WTOP.
Worst: Room Store Ad, Verizon DSL ad, Crystal Koons, WJFK , 99.1 El Zol, Channel 9, and WMAL.

Best: WTOP for consistantly informing with style. Ballard on DC101 for a fun but not too chatty drive home. Spiegal on 98Rock's morning show - Lopez was a hard act to follow and he is pulling it off well. WARW for trying to make the classic rock format more engaging and adding some different music, although their signal isn't very good where I live.
Worst; Anything to do with what happened to WHFS this year - from killing off 99.1, to screwing up 105.7. WETA dropping classical to be a clone NPR station. WRNR for firing the only listenable jock on there (Duley). The Bay WZBA for playing the same 20 played out songs over and over and over and having zero personality while doing it. JACK for being what it is and for killing off the area's only good oldies (WQSR).
SJ

Best: WTOP. Channel 7. Channel 4. Moss and Day. Wendy Rieger. Gordon Peterson. Doug Hill. The guy from CNN now on 7.
Worst: Channel 9. Jack Diamond. Format changes at WHFS and WQSR.

Best: WTOP continuing to add talent: Nathan Roberts, Frank Herzog, Hilary Howard, David Burd. Doug Hill weather. Lisa Baden and Bob Marbourg traffic. The Man About Town (I'd love to have that job!) Johnny Holiday sports.
Worst: WETA duplicating WAMU. Redskins dropping Frank Herzog. Channel 9 and WMAL for their continuing suicide acts. NABET the union that still doesn't get it.

DCRTV Dave:
Best - Cerphe and Weasel for making old WARW sound better than ever; Freda Sorce - a woman who wasn't even officially in the radio biz, just the wife of a radio guy, who affected a huge audience and is sorely missed on DC's airwaves; Freda's husband Don Geronimo, who is still the funniest and most truthful man on DC radio, who bravely "soldiers on" with his partner Mike O'Meara as the USS WJFK-FM slowly sinks; WMAL's Chris Berry for getting rid of idiot Michael Graham and the misunderstood Randall Bloomquist; WBAL-AM's Ron Smith, who remains the best radio talker in Baltiwash; XM's female-oriented Take Five talk channel, now let's do it on broadcast radio; Baltimore's Jack; Lopez, Walt Starling, and David Haines - three "greats" we lost this year; DC101's funniest guy Jon Ballard (sorry Elliot); Jon Leiberman standing up to Sinclair; FishbowlDC; FTVLive; TVNewser; Wonkette; Jim Williams in the DC Examiner; Morris Jones, the Baltimore Sinclair NewsCentral anchor who deserves to return to a major DC TV news operation; WTOP for hiring David Burd and Frank Herzog; Ron and Fez; Wendy Rieger and Susan Kidd; Loo; Teapot Tim; Ed Walker; "Coast To Coast AM"; News pioneers Fox's Shep Smith and CNN's Anderson Cooper - "not that there's anything wrong with that"; all the folks who've helped support DCRTV in 2005 - thank you.....
Worst - Gannett's WUSA for ripping off area taxpayers to fund its "charity" campaigns; WETA-FM going news talk and duplicating what we already get via WAMU; NewsChannel 8 dumping Nathan Roberts; the DC Post's continued poor coverage of local radio and TV; middays, evenings, and weekends on WJFK-FM, expecially the loss of Ron and Fez; the DC Examiner (except Jim Williams) and its horrid distribution; putting the Nationals on wimpy WFED and female-oriented Z104; WRQX's "faux Jack" format; WQSR canning Rouse and company; Rush and O'Reilly - slowly deflating gasbags; Infinity demoting alt rock WHFS to part-time status on a Baltimore frequency that doesn't reach DC; Doug "Greaseman" Tracht for treading more water; Howard Stern for being the Joe Gibbs of radio; WAVA and WFSI for the continued waste of major FM frequencies; WPXW for the waste of a major TV frequency; Fox slimeball Carl Cameron, nobody kisses W's butt better, and his buddy, the creepy Brit Hume; Andy and Grandy (listed in order of talent); websites, columnists (those "RS" gals), and publications that steal DCRTV's news and don't give credit.....