Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - December 9 to December 17, 2008 Latest messages listed first..... \/ December 17 Messages \/ "What, does AP make their writers buy their own cameras & computers?" I spent a horrible four weeks at a place (a recognizable though fading brand name) that had no copy machine, one stapler for six or seven people and a computer work station that hadn't been maintained properly for a few years and constantly froze up. The guy "running" the operation - the same one who stressed during the job interview the importance of integrity in the workplace - withheld this information from me, then expressed surprise when I mentioned how bad the computer was and how it was keeping me from doing my best. He said "Well, I'm not going to go crawling around the desk trying to fix it like "J" did -- you'll just have to keep calling IT." Another time, my ISDN line broke down seconds before a live shot and I had to call in a report to an affiliate via landline. The guy blamed me for that as well. He said "A good carpenter doesn't blame his tools." I replied "True, but then again, a good carpenter has tools that work." It was a total abrogation of his managerial responsibilities. A basic tenant of the company-employee relationship is that the former will give the latter the basic tools - and support - needed to do a good job. A colleague said "I had all kinds of troubles when I was using that work station three years ago." Fortunately, I was able to flee after a month for another position. It was the most incompetently run shop I ever encountered. A few months later I ran into him at a black-tie event and he admitted "You're better off." I feel for him and the folks still there - they're good men and women trying to do their best - but I suspect if they had more options or money in the bank they would be out the door in a flash. I feel for the good men and women of the AP as well -- and wish everyone there all the best. (12/17/08) Mike Bell a local force in broadcasting in the mid and late seventy's in Winchester,Va has passed away.He was a innovator in using chararters and strange voices to enterain his listeners.Anyone who remembers his antics please post your memories of him. He was a GREAT man!!! (12/17/08) From an e-mail sent out by 94.7: "Classic Rock Christmas... We're rockin' your Christmas this year with our Classic Rock Christmas. Starting at noon on Christmas Eve, you’ll hear the best holiday rock from The Eagles, David Bowie, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney and more. So while you're unwrapping your gifts you can crank up Classic Rock 94.7 The Globe. You can also listen online at 947TheGlobe.com! Plus, this year, Weasel is coming back to host his very own Christmas special, 'The Weasel Who Stole Christmas' featuring holiday song parodies, songs comparisons of Classic Rock Christmas songs like 'Run, Run Rudolph' by Keith Richards and Chuck Berry, holiday greetings from rockers & celebrities and much more. It happens Christmas Eve starting at 7PM. You don't want to miss this holiday classic!" (12/17/08) Do you know what the latest ratings are for WVIE, Fox 1370 Sports Radio? I have seen some numbers through mid December and unless I'm mistaken, they have either been erroneously omitted or their numbers are less than a 0.4. (12/17/08) Re: "Ravens-Cowboys game is on the NFL Network:" DirecTV Channel 212 (as of last Sunday) (12/17/08) I don’t know how valid the John Gibson story is, but the New York Post is reporting that Rudy Giuliani is Westwood One’s leading candidate to replace O’Reilly. Giuliani would seem to be a more compelling host than Gibson, especially since he doesn’t conform strictly to the points-of-view of either party. Roddy Freeman (12/17/08) "WJFK should have Joe Ardinger or someone else broadcasting live from 3-7pm instead of airing stale Mike O'Meara "best of" shows for 3 weeks during one of the busiest shopping times of the year. These "best of" shows are running from 12/16/08 until 1/5/09. Advertisers beware--even fewer people are listening to WJFK during these endless reruns." Well, WJFK feeds the network with MoM's feed. Do you think the engineers can rig it to where it feeds the networks and has the possibility to be live? Remember these are the same engineers that Mike Omeara said can't fix a hum in the board. (12/17/08) Dave's response: If I was programming JFK, and Mike O'Meara was away for three weeks, I'd have Big O and Dukes sit in with Robb and Buzz in the afternoon drive slot. Anything live is preferable to a rerun. Plus, it might actually get BO&D more listeners once O'Meara returns. Duh..... Funny, if WCHH 104.3 had the call letters WHFS, people here would be clammoring for its survival. Smooth Jazz WSMJ was a BORE and a ratings failure no matter how you look at it. They weren't even winning in the battle of the dentists' offices (WLIF was)! haha Don't get me wrong though, I think Clear Channel has screwed up the debut of WCHH on so many levels, no personality, lack of local talent or morning show, boring call letters. Baltimore is a very provincial town. None of these out of town radio suits ever get this. How about WLPL or WKTK, heritage Baltimore rock call letters? I honestly like the format and music better than 98ROCK. But, where's the advertising? The list of CC screwups on this 104.3 format switch are endless. Sure, I like Elliot, but even I often have to smack my own hand in the morning to prevent myself from hitting the DC 101 preset instead of 104.3! DOH! One of the problems is DC/101 has a monster signal around most of Baltimore. If CC had chosen Top 40 and a clone of HOT99.5, they'd have had better luck just from a technical standpoint since few people around Baltimore can get DC's HOT 99.5. I honestly want this station to survive, but even as a listener, I'm having a hard time seeing how that's gonna be possible unless CC makes big changes. (12/17/08) Dave's response: The "problem" with the smooth jazz format ain't the size of its audience. It gets decent numbers. It's the demo - older folks, and by that I mean people over 40 or so. Kind of like classical music. That's not who many advertisers want to reach. While alt rock WCHH gets more "appealing" demos to attract advertisers, primarily young men, it must compete with five other (!) rockers in the Baltimore market - WIYY, WZBA, WTMD, WRNR, and DC101, which covers much of Charm City. Clear Channel would have been smarter to have put contemporary hits, rhythmic adult contemporary, ultra heavy metal, or even some form of "live and local" oldies format on 104.3. Not only must it solve the 104.3 "problem," it now has 102.7 to program. And, on top of that, Cheap Channel is now doing much of its Baltimore programming from Rockville Pike, using folks who don't "know" the Baltimore market. Hell, I sometimes wonder if they "know" their own DC market..... WJFK should have Joe Ardinger or someone else broadcasting live from 3-7pm instead of airing stale Mike O'Meara "best of" shows for 3 weeks during one of the busiest shopping times of the year. These "best of" shows are running from 12/16/08 until 1/5/09. Advertisers beware--even fewer people are listening to WJFK during these endless reruns. (12/17/08) I'm not an AP hater, but really, get over yourself. The material AP provides is readily accessible from other sources. The arrogance of the dinosaur media is part of the problem. If management there busted the union today, they could build a comparable team from among those who are on the street, who would gladly do the same jobs, same quality, for about two-thirds of the pay. That's the reason "fair contract terms" (whatever that means) are NOT worth FIGHTING for. Negotiating for, yes. Discussing with management--sometimes heatedly--yes, certainly. But it's foolish to "fight" for more, more, MORE when the rest of the industry is spending less, less, LESS and is eyeing your company's services as one of the places to chop. And calling attention to your "fight" with a childish game like withholding your byline just makes people think you're arrogant and petty. I also continue to disagree with the statement that AP content drives any traffic to any web site anywhere. No one in the real world pays attention to the source. If someone sees an AP report on the Yazoo City Times web site, as far as they're concerned, they read it on the Yazoo City paper's site. They don't pay attention to the source because they don't care, just as they won't care when it's Reuters/AP, CNN, or whatever other content provider comes down the pike. Again I say...Earth to AP talent: the business model is changing. You are not artists. You are widgets. You are replaceable. For the record, I am a widget too, but I understand how the business side of the world works, instead of assuming that just because I have the job now, I am entitled to it until I decide I no longer want it. (12/17/08) I share the concern about the interviews on the Mike O'Meara-Lusitania-Titanic-Hindenberg-Good-Time-Hour . . . why? They're just dreadful. It's a LITTLE better when MOM assigns one of his minions to do the interview, while MOM cracks wise in the background, but that's still a card that should be played rarely. B.A. McBride is fine in her role as foil, and tut-tutting "Oh, you boys" female voice, but NOT as anybody who actually has any control over the show and its guests. With all the third-tier interviews, it's like she's programming, "Good Morning, Duluth". Sincerely, TMU (12/17/08) Re: "it appears CBS took their audio processing preference off WQSR"-- OMG! They're listenable now! I always _wanted_ to like Jack FM, but the audio processing made my ears hurt. Now I can add them to a button on my car radio... until CC kills the station, anyway... ~~CA in BC (12/17/08) I haven't seen any discussion on this subject but I'm sure it will come up. Saturday's Ravens-Cowboys game is on the NFL Network and while Baltimore will get the broadcast over local airwaves, it leaves the rest of us cable people (Northern Virginia, D.C and Montgomery County) out of luck. I'm sure there are arguments in favor of dish t-v because they carry the NFL Network as part of their basic package. But to my way of thinking, I get all the NFL information I need from ESPN and other sources and would essentially be paying extra money for eight games. (12/17/08) Dave's response: In all fairness, Comcast offers the NFL Network, and the NFL HD Network, as part of a digital sports tier of about a dozen channels for just $5 a month. How much will $5 get you at a FedEx Field game? About 30 seconds in front of a urinal..... In response to the AP haters... the substance of AP's service does drive traffic to Web sites (fast, often first, continuously updated news from every state and around the world.) That's tough for potential competitors to match. The service isn't built on a brand name and commercials and flashy graphics. That's why fair contract terms are worth fighting for because the AP probably won't be replaced in the age of cheap journalism. (12/17/08) Where is FOX 1370 on the latest trends? Hmmm (12/17/08) One of my very first on air jobs was at the Old "Super 61" WHPL in Winchester on weekends. Sorry to hear of Mike's passing, he helped me out when I was just a radio wannabe in 1976. So many good radio people are passing too soon. All my best to the Pam and the rest of the Bell family. Jim Curtis, WASH (12/17/08) What, does AP make their writers buy their own cameras, computers, and teletype machines? Guess the company is too cheAP to buy the tools needed. Workers shouldn't be using their own stuff anyway, **there's** a job issue. (12/17/08) "Their (AP) content has been driving huge traffic to news Web sites for years." No it hasn't. Name me ONE person who says "I'm going to (whatever) web site so I can read what The Associated Press has to say about this." You can't. It is a news SERVICE. The talent there SERVES stations and newspapers. And with the continuing slide toward mediocrity in favor of cost-cutting, if some news organization can be SERVED with the same material cheaper, they'll do it in a minute. AP is the quintissential dinosaur media. They are following their union leaders into the tar pit of irrelavence. In the current media and economic environment, it is the pinnacle of hubris to make "demands" of management. (12/17/08) A DCRTVer recently penned: "Perhaps we can even get Goldy back" To quote Lurch from The Addams Family, "uheuheuheuheuheuheuheuheuhe uheuheuheuheuheuheuheuheuhe" Ted Cassidy. (12/17/08) Re: WCHH ratings-- Die, monster, die! (12/17/08) Re: WQSR 102.7 At this moment it appears CBS took their audio processing preference off WQSR. I think it sounds better now. (12/17/08) WERQ SOARS??? Who are you kidding. Their three month 12+ rolling numbers were 12.4 in September, 8.3 in October, and 8.6 in November. Hummmm....bet they're biting their nails wondering what will happen when they lose that 12.4 next month. (12/17/08) Sooooo...WCHH - the Alternative Rocker that was gonna set Baltimore on fire - is tanking, huh? What happened, Clear Channel? Did your hoardes of assumed young-uns disappoint you? What? There's no loyalty in YOUTH? Are you KIDDING?! OMG. Man, isn't it a beeyotch when you whore out a loyal audience when your whole motivation is greed? Karma WILL bite you in your holiday ass, for sure. Hey, it's not too late to bring back WSMJ - without Dave Koz or Ramsey Lewis, of course. Wanna get REAL numbers? Bring it ALL the way back - bring back a mix of Jazz and Soul vocals that belong in the mix and live people on the radio. Call it something different than "Smooth." Redeem yourself - just in time for Christmas. You have a chance to do just that with WQSR.... (12/17/08) Maybe CC should have re-thought purchasing WQSR when the can't get WCHH right. I don't think it helps when everyone who listens to the CC alt-rockers in Baltimore still tunes into DC101. WCHH actually has a pretty good playlist. Is it the Voicetracked idiots or the fact that a good percentage of people don't even know Channel 104.3 even exists? (12/17/08) ("Are the jobs of Michael Hughes and Cris Kinder(?) on the line to if WJFK changes format to sports talk? Seems like Hughes can't really have much to do with WPGC or El Zol so that leaves The Glob and Hot Talk JFK. Who really decided to straitjacket O'Meara by doing all them gosh awful interviews? The suits or O'Meara? Is Pamela Brown gone from WJLA?") I would believe that Beth Ann has been scheduling the guests. Especially since Mike made her do a few interviews last week with pisspoor guests that he didn't want. (12/17/08) "Summer Samba" is the ultimate Ear Worm (a song that gets stuck in your head and won't go away for hours, even days). Play it only once and join us in the ranks of the Zombified Undead. (12/17/08) Good for AP staffers for fighting for a better contract! While other media companies have been struggling over the past five years, the AP has been been diversifying and increasing its revenue. Anyone who sees the AP as "dinosaur media" is sadly out of touch. Their content has been driving huge traffic to news Web sites for years. And as for the byline strike, of course it's not supposed to provoke public outcry. It is a symbolic show of unity and strength to management during tough negotiations. Along with the byline strike, staffers are withholding use of personal equipment to emphasize that the AP needs to invest in its staff with its surplus revenues. (12/17/08) Back in the mid 90's my sister worked in sales at Winchester's Q102 and I remember her telling me that Blake Allen was coming to their station. First as a jock and to be "groomed" as Q102's next program director as it was pretty much well known around Winchester that Q102's then PD Jenny Lynn Woodward didn't want to continue to be PD and just do the morning show. I think Q102 wanted Blake not only for the voice but to go up against 92.5 WINC-FM's then-hot "star" Jason Taylor. Sort of like "..hey check us out..we have a hot young thing too", that sort of thing. My sister never did tell me why Blake never did Q102 but went to WINC instead though I remember hearing from others two different reasons why . One was money of course..or the lack of that Q102 offered ( WINC-FM always did pay their jocks better than what Q102 did..not sure about now since they are under different ownership ). I also heard that Blake Allen hated Q102's sister station WFQX-FM so much that he refused to have anything to do with them and how he wanted to fire this person, replace that person..etc..anyway all of this turned off Q102 as far as hiring him went. In other words..Q102 loved his voice but hated his attitude and from what a few folks at WINC has told me over the years...they held the same feelings towards Blake Allen too. He was great on the air but.... (12/17/08) According to an obit in this morning's Winchester Star, former WHPL and WEFG radio personality Michael P. Bell has passed away. The 56 year old Bell died in Miami Beach, Florida. His parents operated the two Winchester-area radio stations, and he was the morning show host, before leaving for WRVQ in Richmond and stations in Florida. There will be a funeral at Sacred Heart Church in Winchester on Friday at 2 pm. (12/17/08) "I am pretty sure he (Blake Allen) was the V/O guy for AM 980 when they were still WWRC". You are correct. Blake Allen was the V/O guy for WRC AM 980 during the 90s. He wasn’t there for long; I believe he worked there when Jim Allen was the PD. He ended up at WMAL not long after that. I wonder whatever happened to this guy? His voice was very cool, deep and unique sounding. (12/17/08) I was disappointed to read some of the downright nasty (not to mention ignorant) postings about the AP byline strike. Of course most readers are unlikely to notice a difference -- but that's NOT the point! The strike is meant to get the attention of AP management and member news organizations. Most importantly, it's meant to show the company that union members are unified as contract negotiations continue. Most AP reporters (like a vast majority of hard-working journalists) aren't high-profile and don't aspire to be. But that doesn't make their work any less valuable. Rather than lambasting these people, how about showing a little support for folks seeking fair compensation in an increasingly brutal industry. (12/17/08) "Summer Samba" by Walter Wanderly it is! Guess you were able to pick out the tune from that dopey list of E's and Bb's. Thank you! www.youtube.com (12/17/08) RE: ["Summer Samba" by Walter Wanderly] a very neat tune which used to come every so often on the Sunday Brunch… what ever happened to that Sunday morning breath of fresh air? (12/17/08) Spotted playing on the large monitors outside Verizon Center on 7th Street tonight: the Washington Post's "35 cents - read what you want" commercial... (12/17/08) Dave's response: I hear it'll be changed to the "Katharine Weymouth... she makes a huge salary... she's young and pretty... so she must know something... she'll save us..." version..... Look ahead to 2009: NBC 4: Maybe NBC might finally convert its DC local newscasts to high definition, despite ongoing fallout. DC viewers seeing a newer news set, similar in design to their sister station WNBC. With NBC expected to impose deeper budget cuts, I expect that we could be losing the 5PM news, and maybe the 11AM news as well... as well as 2 or 3 on-camera personalities leaving the station. FOX 5: I really don't expect FOX to convert its DC newscasts to HD just yet. ABC 7: With their recent conversion to HD... wish they'd get a newer news set, and get rid of that ghastly news set they're still using. WUSA 9: With a ratings rebound a bit far-fetched... wish they'd revert back to the '9 Eyewitness News' branding, and be done with that '9 News Now' branding. I could picture 9 dropping the 9AM newscast, and airing a new local show similar to other Gannett owned stations... it be branded as "Capitol and Company". With Phyllis Armstrong and Gary Reals set to leave the CBS affiliate, I bet ABC 7 could and might be eyeing yet another 9er, in a bold attempt to drive NBC 4's ratings out of the water. Just some thoughts. (12/17/08) /\ December 17 Messages /\ \/ December 16 Messages \/ Are the jobs of Michael Hughes and Cris Kinder(?) on the line to if WJFK changes format to sports talk? Seems like Hughes can't really have much to do with WPGC or El Zol so that leaves The Glob and Hot Talk JFK. Who really decided to straitjacket O'Meara by doing all them gosh awful interviews? The suits or O'Meara? Is Pamela Brown gone from WJLA? (12/16/08) Network and local had poor journalism tonight on CBS and WUSA. News entertainer Katherine Couric failed to tell us WHY police were able to close the Walsh child case, and the local Gary Reals failed to tell us how police came to find a kid with a seatbelt wrapped around his neck and choking him. If they still made newspapers I guess I would go buy tomorrow's to find out. (12/16/08) The Associated Press seems to think of itself as much more than just a newsgathering service for the print and broadcast industries. It's wire copy is frequently filled with "the Associated Press has learned" and "in an exclusive interview with the [AP]". No shit. Isn't "...has learned" what they are supposed to be doing as a service to the companies that pay for that service. Why have they insisted on self promotion? BTW, those who have been on the street will know the AP reporters like Darrell Holly and Candace Smith from days gone by. The stupidity of the byline strike is that most of the business and none of the general public gives a rat's ass who they are. IT'S A SERVICE, A VENDOR. Brad (12/16/08) The song the easy listener poster was looking for was the "Summer Samba" by Walter Wanderly (unless my piano playing is as bad as my kids say it is). A great easy listening instrumental. Just ask Bob Moke. BD (12/16/08) (Reporters at Associated Press, including those in the DC news bureau, are withholding bylines and personal in protest over the news agency's proposals that would threaten job security). Quick!!! Name any three AP reporters. Time's up. I couldn't name any, either. Do these clowns think anybody will notice???? (12/16/08) It's great to see ABC 7 News in HD again (5pm). Their noon news today was in SD after their morning news wasn't broadcasted due to problems. They should change the news open voiceover to say "Live, and sometimes in HD, this is ABC 7 News" Did WUSA have any similar problems when they went HD? I'm seriously wondering if they even know they are in SD for some of their newscasts--either that or they need to rewire/fix/replace their HD equipment so it would work. Maybe they could do that when they redo Newschannel 8's set this week. It's a shame they are having so many problems because their HD newscast looks great (except for their upconverted 16:9 SD-like studio shot quality) when it is in HD. DLP in Woodbridge (12/16/08) Tony Kornheiser will not return to local radio next year. As long as he is working for Monday Night Football, he’s not going to do radio. (12/16/08) Dave's response: I got to thinking. Tony can't return to 3WT because it ain't there no more. I doubt he'd want to work for Dan Snyder's ESPN 980. Of course, he could always go to Sirius XM. But what about this? What if CBS flips WJFK to sports talk? Might Tony end up doing mornings or late mornings on 106.7? Tony and the Junks? That would be so bad it might just be good! Anybody remember a few years back when CBS wanted Tony to do mornings on the old classic rock WARW? Hmmm..... Any reason for O'Meara being in best-of again? (12/16/08) Dave's response: I think he's started his Christmas break..... ("Why does Clear Channel, or whoever is trying to run DC101, suspend their biggest, most popular personality for two days?" One word: publicity. Look what's happened here, you're writing about it, helping to create buzz") That used to work in the Diary world. But in the PPM world, actual listening is measured, not unaided recall. Those tricks no longer help in the ratings. (12/16/08) ("I am pretty sure he was the V/O guy for AM 980 when they were still WWRC") Blake was the VO / prod person for WMAL, not WWRC. (12/16/08) Would someone enlighten this to me. Dave reported, “Reporters and photographers at Associated Press, including those in the DC news bureau, are withholding bylines and personal equipment in protest over the news agency's proposals that would threaten job security, dramatically raise medical costs, and freeze wages.” OK, if the AP employees aren’t using their personal equipment to help them report/photograph a story I can understand, but what leverage is there in withholding the bylines? I don’t think that most readers of AP stories/photos even notice or care too much about who wrote/shot it? Case in point, though not directly related to AP. The late Bernie Boston, LA Times photographer, shot one of the most famous pictures of the Vietnam protest era; a picture of a person (I believe it was a girl) putting a flower into the barrel of a National Guardsman’ rifle at some protest rally. I saw the picture when published, I had met Bernie years later, worked with his wife and had no idea what he had done until I read his obituary. The point is, unless you’re are some very high profile reporter most consumer don’t know who the reporters/phogs are or really don’t care. (12/16/08) " In my humble opinion, AP’s strength lies in its state wires. " TODAY, yes. In the future, no. If you scroll down in that FollowTheMedia story that Dave linked, you'll see that local papers are forming consortia to deal with that issue. AP will be unnecessary unless they can justify their existence to the outlets that pay them. And in this day and age, the name means nothing. If a manager can cut two cents by choosing a local bunch instead of AP, they'll do it. (12/16/08) Just wondering if you had heard what the problem was with WJLA-7 (Good Morning Washington) this morning. From 5-6 they had the ABC News Feed and then shortly after 6, Melanie Hastings from NewsChannel 8 came on and said there were "technical difficulties" at Channel 7 and they were gonna simulcast the News Channel 8 feed. Wonder if it had to do with the HD issues that have bit them in the a**? (12/16/08) (AP’s New York digs are also in a high rent district) Tom, they moved out of Rockefeller Center to cheaper space in the 30's on the West Side. But I agree with your other point: (More of their people could work from home). Amen. Invest in people, not infrastructure. (12/16/08) Are there any fans of the old Beautiful Music / Easy Listening formats lurking today? I need help with the title and artist of an old bossa-nova organ instrumental that was a staple of those late 60s early 70s playlists. I can't display a music score here, but if you can poke this melody out on your Casio keyboard, you might remember it: E-G-A-(rest) B-Bb-A-(rest), E-G-A-B---Bb-A, Eb-G-A-(rest) B-Bb-A-(rest), Eb-G-A-B---Bb-A-(rest). Does this sound familiar to anyone? Thx ahead of time. - A. Peterson, Ballston VA (12/16/08) In my humble opinion, AP’s strength lies in its state wires. (Yeah “wires” is an outdated word). I believe that as long as AP can get out decent coverage in all 50 states they will be viable. They may also need to go through another round of cost-cutting such as getting rid of that expensive 13th Street bureau and move anywhere else cheaper. AP’s New York digs are also in a high rent district. More of their people could work from home, also. Tom Gauger (12/16/08) Whatever became of Blake Allen ( aka..Buck Rogers )? Back in the 90's within a short time he went from nights on Harrisonburg's Q101 WQPO ( I remember him calling up other radio stations in the valley and making fun of their jocks on air ) to Winchester's WINC-FM to DC's Mix 107.3 and then the voice of MSNBC. I am pretty sure he was the V/O guy for AM 980 when they were still WWRC. Blake's stint at WINC was interesting because of this "...Blake Allen has by far the best damn voice that has ever been heard in the Shenandoah Valley...great attitude, good looks...he is PERFECT !!". Who said that? Q102 !!! Makes me wonder if that is how Q102 really felt about him, why did he go to WINC? Anyway I have heard for the time he was at WINC he had the best ratings there and was actually even more popular ( among listeners and staff ) than Barry Lee. Quite surprised he didn't do the morning show. (12/16/08) (Reporters and photographers at Associated Press, including those in the DC news bureau, are withholding bylines...in protest over the news agency's proposals that would threaten job security). Um, do these arrogant reporters think readers will even notice much less care?!!? What a toothless protest. (12/16/08) Earth to AP: you have no job security. Your future is cloudy at best. You are the essence of the dinosaur media that the public is fed up with, and costs too much money. Reuters/Politico is going to do what you do, and give it away. www.followthemedia.com... If you think they're going to stop at DC coverage, get real. The Guild should be on its knees begging for AP not to fire everyone, close up, and go home. (12/16/08) Bonneville's WTOP AM 1050 has gotten FCC approval for a new 10,000 watt signal upgrade on AM 1050, daytime only of course, but still a substantial signal improvement with a much better signal to Annapolis to Baltimore to Frederick to Dale City. Of course, as everyone remembers, much of Baltimore sort of lost WTOP with the switch to FM 103.5 since that FM signal is directional and fights against the FM103.7 in Harford county on most of Baltimore's north to east side where as the old WTOP 1500 was almost a local signal to much of Baltimore. While this only affects daytime, WTOP AM 1050 is now a 2nd viable option to listen to WTOP in some places. (12/16/08) From the FCC files, Bonneville has now secured permission to up the power of WTOP 1050 to 10 kW from 3.5 kW. Regards, Dave Loudin (12/16/08) I'm old enough to remember that before the era of endless Public TV pledge drives, WETA helped pioneer the "on air auction" fundraiser. In May '68, their first auction which had been expected to raise $250k, brought-in closer to $75k over five-days. The next year's six-day attempt grossed about $103k of their $120k projected goal. Although Howard U's Channel 32 and Northern Virginia's Channels 54 and 56 would revive the format, apparently WETA-TV never attempted another on air auction. There was a frighteningly prophetic observation in a May 7, '68 article about the event by Lawrence Laurent in the Washington Post. Laurent reports that DC Democrat Joseph L. Rauh, Jr pumped-up the bidding on a state-of-the-art TV set during the auction by stating "you'll need a color set during the political convention this summer. You won't be able to see all that blood with just a black-and-white set." Rather ironic that coverage of Chicago's Democratic Convention delivered the scarlet tones that Rauh had innocently predicted. See that article at: DCMemories.com (12/16/08) Arbor Marie Bellocchio has been selected as Miss Howard TV January 2009 for Howard Stern’s Howard TV On Demand. Arbor Marie, born and raised in northern California, now lives in Las Vegas. She attended college to study fashion design but left school to become an exotic dancer. She’s now a dancer at the famous Rick’s Cabaret in Las Vegas where she goes by the stage name of “Melrose.” While appearing on air for her interview with Howard that is currently airing on Howard TV On Demand, she proudly mentions that stripping is a great way to make money despite the recent recession. She also discusses being single and how her job affects her dating life as well as sexual experiences she’s had with other women. Miss Howard TV spokes-models are interviewed on “The Howard Stern Show” and then featured on Howard TV On Demand where they introduce and give an overview of the monthly programming on the channel. Arbor Marie and previous spokes-models are also profiled on www.howard.tv. (12/16/08) Dave, you ask: "Why does Clear Channel, or whoever is trying to run DC101, suspend their biggest, most popular personality for two days?" One word: publicity. Look what's happened here, you're writing about it, helping to create buzz, and in turn I'm taking the time to write about it too. Elliot probably had a 4 day weekend planned, they play a best of, then he comes back as says "I can't talk about it." Oh, big mystery! BS. It helps keep the "bad boy" image alive. It's not news, or blog worthy, it's a morning guy making huge money taking a few days off to spend some of it. End of story. (12/16/08) Dave's response: I didn't ask that. A listener did..... [Announcing the XM Lifetime Subscription Plan] So, they want $399 for lifetime XM, $499 for lifetime XM plus the best of Sirius (2 Stern channels, NASCAR, Martha Stewart, NFL, etc). There's a $75 charge if you want to assign your subscription to a different receiver. And, after 24 hours, it's not refundable. I asked "so what happens if you guys go out of business next year?" and she said, "After 24 hours, there are no refunds." Doesn't seem like very safe bet now, does it? (12/16/08) WBIG and WQSR were two of the most popular radio stations when they played oldies, now known as classic hits. But because they think people over 40 have no money and don't buy anything, the idiots that ran the stations decided to change the formats to skew younger. Now that they're both under the CC umbrella, why not set up a super-oldies station with real live DJs that runs simultaneously on both stations. After all, the Washington-Baltimore market is pretty seamless. Maybe Dave Adler will move up from Fredericksburg. Rouse and Company is available. So is Johnny Dark and the Merson Person. Perhaps we can even get Goldy back. With the right promotions and publicity (something WJZW doesn't seem to understand), these could be top stations again. Look at the boost WCBS-FM got when it junked Jack, and one of the top stations in Philly is the oldies, er, classic hits, station there. (12/16/08) It'll be sad to see one of Baltimore's best music stations become one of it's worse when CC takes over. Even though CC owns a few Jack-FM's. I can see it now Radio 102.7, Hot 102.7, 102.7 Kiss-FM, FM102.7. Lord knows it would be one of the lame CC names with a station that plays the same 10 songs over & over. Though I would have thought that it would have been more worth while for CBS to sell WQSR w/ WLIF & WWMX because it has such a strong signal. 102.7 probably will soon to be a simulcast of Kane, Ryan Seacrest, playing the same 10 CHR songs over and over with a commercial after every song & a studio being brought to you by some company, and with one of the basic station names mentioned above. Though I would imagine that CBS put a clause in the trade that CC can't flip the stations they picked up to a format that would compete with the CBS stations or at least until the CBS'ers are sold, I'd think that a CHR station in Baltimore would take a good chunk out of Mix 106.5 for sure. (12/16/08) At the end of last night's "11 News Tonight", WBAL-TV's President and GM Jordan Wertlieb announced in his editorial that WBAL-TV 11 will join Baltimore area broadcasters in providing a test at 5:45 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 17 to provide viewers an opportunity to determine if they are ready for the official switch this upcoming February. There's more info at www.wbaltv.com. -Greg in Perry Hall (12/16/08) Re: Public TV not showing indie films... Do they even have anyone paying attention to what they do show? The same Britcoms non-stop for the past 25 frikkin' years... The same Billy Joel concert every Sunday... The same pledge-drive dreck over and over and over... The programmers' brains must surely be petrified. Try to wedge in the idea of an indie film and they'd crack. It's hard to imagine two more incompatible ideas than "public TV" and "indie films". "Are You Being Served?" NO! ~~CA in BC (12/16/08) Dave's response: I've said it before. I'd rather let public TV stations run ads (perhaps clustered at the top and bottom of hours) than that dreadful, never-ending pledge programming..... I am sure you have dozens of emails hitting your inbox on this, but you got mentioned (in a way) on 101.9 this morning. I was taking a commercial break from ESPN980 and flipped over to hear the end of Dominick the Donkey and Greg asking who sang it. Then he commented on how on "that blog" people would be complaining how he is a professional and doesn't know. Finally Diane mentioned how she couldn't wait for the Best/Worst list and then they quickly moved on. No mention by name, but it sounds like they at least keep tabs on your site and may even like some of it. Keep up the good work. ~Jason (12/16/08) "dear Mr. Pen- the Greaseman would not be on Mike's show because he is doing a show in Jacksonville FL at the same time as Mike's show- logistically very improbable for the Grease to appear unless he goes on a vacation. And it's Imus Ranch chips, not Stern ranch. Stephen" - Let's try to keep up, shall we, on a good lookin' Tuesday? It really is --- ThePenisMightier (12/16/08) WJLA must be having some serious technical difficulties this morning. They are now rebroadcasting Newschannel 8 on WJLA sans NC8's logo bug and ticker. Dave, have you ever heard of NC8 being shown on WJLA before? DLP in Woodbridge (12/16/08) At 6 a.m., WJLA/7 flipped from ABC's "America This Morning" to a simulcast of NewsChannel 8. The NC8 anchor Melanie Hastings announced that 7 was having "technical difficulties." Everett W. (12/16/08) ABC7 News apparently gave up on trying to resurrect its "Good Morning Washington" newscast, as it switched to a feed of News Channel 8 this morning at 6:01am. During the 5 o'clock hour, WJLA showed ABC's National Feed of "America This Morning" (12/16/08) Well... according to www.eitmonline.com Elliot's website, Elliot says he can't talk about it... He took some questions from "Tyler" asking him various scenarios, and after that Elliot says, "Of course, it may be a different story tomorrow when Tyler asks if the suspension had anything to do with Elliot encouraging his employees to throw their shoes in a pile and “play” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, but who knows??" Oh my goodness. Maybe that's why? (12/16/08) dear Mr. Pen- the Greaseman would not be on Mike's show because he is doing a show in Jacksonville FL at the same time as Mike's show- logistically very improbable for the Grease to appear unless he goes on a vacation. And it's Imus Ranch chips, not Stern ranch. Stephen (12/16/08) It's 5:05am... Do you know where ABC7 News is? (12/16/08) Re: pink slips for on-air people at FOX5, if I had to pick anyone, I'd venture to place my bets on Allison Wilson, Sarah Simmons and possibly Patrick McGrath. And I say Patrick McGrath because he's been there 25yrs which equals to him more than likely receiving a fat paycheck and therefore will probably be offered a buyout..Considering popularity means nothing to the stations, I will pick Steve Chenevy as a wild card for a pink slip in order to give Tony Perkins an anchor spot on the morning news.. (12/16/08) Are they constructing a new set at Newschannel 8? I noticed that they are broadcasting their newscasts from the their newsroom tonight. (12/16/08) 2008 RTCA elections - 2008 Executive Committee Election Results: 1.) Peter Slen, C-SPAN 196 Votes... 2.) Jill Jackson, CBS 172 Votes... 3.) Jeffrey Ballou, Al Jazeera 147 Votes... 4.) Chad Pergram, FOX 127 Votes (incumbent)... 5.) Lisa Desjardins, CNN 125 Votes... 6.) Jamie Dupree, COX 107 Votes (incumbent)... The top four vote-getters serve a two year term on the Executive Committee beginning in 2009. The top vote-getter serves as Vice Chair in 2009 and Chair in 2010. Total ballots cast = 358... Slen, Jackson, Ballou and Pergram join chair Linda Scott for the 2009 term. The Association primarily deals with issues of coverage, access and technology for correspondents who cover congress. However the RTCA like its older sister organization the White House Correspondents Association are both best known for their annual dinner featuring the President of the United States as its guest of honor, celebrity guests and swanky after parties. (12/16/08) Newschannel 8 announced this morning that the station is getting a new set. They are using the newsroom until it debuts. Meanwhile, sister station ABC 7 had problems at the same time with a flickering screen and stuttering audio for the first few minutes of their morning news on both the analog and HD feed. They then reverted to the (I presume central time zone) feed of ABC News "America This Morning." I didn't see it noted anywhere, but they also reverted back to broadcasting their news in SD for most of their morning newscast the other day after having the first half-hour or so in HD. The switch to SD simply happened at the end of a weather report as if it was nothing, and it remained that way for the rest of the newscast. They should have tested their HD equipment before debuting it! Although I really like their HD graphics and am glad they made the switch, I think WJLA really half-assed their HD debut. The HD studio shots doesn't look anywhere near as clear as the studio shots from WUSA or CNN, both of which are the same quality on my HD set. WJLA's studio shots looks like upconverted 16:9 SD on my 40" HDTV. I wonder why it's like that since their news graphics appear to be in HD quality. DLP in Woodbridge (12/16/08) “Such a fallacy that The Pirates, Tigers, Orioles and Indians – to name a few all made moves to sports talk related stations in the last three years. That is hardly old school in fact they left more traditional talkers like KDKA, WJR, and WBAL all because their audience no longer listened to those stations.” Jim, you’re wrong again. The Indians are on WTAM, which is a traditional news/talker, not a sports-talker. (12/16/08) /\ December 16 Messages /\ \/ December 15 Messages \/ Fill you Earthings in by the dots connecting, I shall. WEAM was inhabited by aliens, it was. A flying saucer WEAM had, you silly humans forgot. In the first Star Wars trilogy, the clues contained they were. Spike Averill was Luke Skywalker. Debbie Averill was Princess Leia. Harry was Darth Vader. His Cadillac was the original Death Star. Ed Buterbaugh was C3PO. Jack Alix was R2D2 and, yes, his wires were crossed. Sales manager Bill Wester was Obiwan Kenobe. Tommy Edwards was Han Solo. Steve Raymond was Chewbacca. Bob "Nighthawk" Terry was Lando Calrissian until he got his doublecrossing ass carved up. Ed Rodriguez was Yoda. Bob Howard from WPGC guest-starred as Jabba The Hut. I was Emperor Palpatine. Klaatu barada nikto! - Dr. Harold H. Thoms (12/15/08) (quote) I've found the Select-A-Tenna to be an excellent choice. (end quote) Yep it works great. But it costs anywhere from $30 to $65 to purchase. If it should fall over and crack open, you will find the same loop-&-capacitor circuit shown on the Geocities link in the original posting --- which can be made by anyone for about $5 worth of junk. I love listening to out-of-market AM, but I've got better uses for $65 than a Select-a-Tenna. (12/15/08) Dearest defensive Jim Williams, once again no fact checking on your part. Byron Kerr Schrecker does not work for Bonneville. He is a Metro employee who performs his duties on site for Bonneville. You have as much credibility in the sports press as Byron does in the Nationals press box after Kerr pronounced JoJo Reyes' name as HoHo. Jim Williams = Sarah Palin of columnists. (12/15/08) Dave, Why would Clear Channel flip the Jack format other than changing the name because of licensing? If it bills as well as CBS says it does and the ratings are good with minimal overhead cost structure, that seems right up Clear Channel's alley to me. If they went CHR it would require jocks and money that they obviously don't want to spend much of at all. Look at 104.3, mostly if not all out of town voicetracked jocks or synidication...A CHR will not work because you already have Mix 106-5 and 92 Q and Hot 99-5 gets into Baltimore fairly well. (12/15/08) O'Meara's birthday is NOT in December, you were listening to a repeat you fool. (12/15/08) As of 5:58 pm WTEM is still on daytime power. Not complaining since I like the Sports Reporters which I usually can't hear after 4:45 in Decemeber. (12/15/08) When it comes to improving AM radio reception, I've found the Select-A-Tenna to be an excellent choice. It's relatively inexpensive and requires absolutely no electronics or construction skills whatsoever. The mailorder firm, C Crane, carries it. Here's an equipment test review that compared a similar (and pricier) Terk antenna and the Select-A-Tenna: www.radiointel.com (12/15/08) Hey JW: Can you write my college thesis paper for me? Thanx. LOL (12/15/08) I am sorry, but after Jim Williams' shameless, bootlicking, and obnoxious shilling for Peter Angelos and MASN re Nationals broadcasts, he has no credibility. My guess is that he is fronting again for someone else. I don't care if the poster is from Bonneville; he or she has infinitely more credibility than Williams. Shawn in DC (12/15/08) It's O'Meara's birthday today, and on his show he announced that Don Geronimo texted him. (12/15/08) Regarding AM reception in DC or really anywhere ... What dedicated AM listeners really need is either www.ccrane.com or www.geocities.com... One is pricey, the other is bulky, and frankly neither can be recommended unless one is truly a diehard aficianado of AM reception. (12/15/08) Dave's response: Yeah, DC's AM band - Spanish, religion, and righty crackpots. Just joooooooking..... Let's get right to the meat of Jim Williams article concerning his fantasy of moving the Nationals from WFED to WJFK. 1) (I used Byron's name because he works for Bonneville. The point was more about the lack of programming WFED was providing. Forget Byron Kerr the column is not about him)."the bright & talented Byron Kerr" doesn't host the pregame. Charlie Slowes & Dave Jageler host every pregame. At best, Byron assembles a bunch of prerecorded interviews once a week during the season for Nats Insider and has his turn weekdays on Nats Talk Live. I will agree with previous posters that Byron is fine with GW basketball, but out of his element with baseball. I doubt even MASN will use him next year. 2) In the off-season WFED presents a Nats World Series special, an MLB Winter Meetings special and a pre-Spring Training preview. If Jim took the time to do his homework he'd see that the bulk of the programming after 7PM and on the weekends at WFED (and previous to that on 3WT) is devoted to the Capitals, GW and AU basketball, DC United and Navy football and basketball when the Nationals aren't on the air. (I said that it would be nice if WFED did a weekly Hot Stove Show like they do in Baltimore and many other big league cities. Most of the time and the show is done on Saturday mornings. I never said do it at night. 3) Does Jim Williams have proof that the Z104/WFED combination of stations in the first season was the direct cause of selling more XM radios than any other city in the US? (I spoke with representatives of XM radio after the Nationals signed with 104.1 who showed me a list that pointed out that sales in the Washington area were well head of any other market in the country. That happened when I lived in DC just a few blocks from the WTOP offices and I could not get 104.1 in either my car or my home. I bought an XM radio so I could listen to the Nationals. It was then that I found out that so many people were buying XM radio's and that the stats were pushing DC to the top of the list of XM radio ownership. ) Impossible to prove and another bullshit line of reasoning. 4) On Washington Post Radio and 3WT there is proof that the ratings for the Nationals in those two years equaled or surpassed the Tony Kornheiser ratings in the key Male 25-54 and Adults 25-54 demos. Those are the money demos where people can afford to bring their enirte family & spend on concessions and merchandise. The first year at Nationals Park they reached the 2 million mark in atttendance quicker than the year before by almost a month. Jim seems to think 12 year old boys are the target demo.( No Jim wants to know why the ratings on 1500AM were so embarrassing that no one at Bonneville really wanted to talk about them. I said that 12-34 is a target market when you are building a fan base.) 5) The cross promotion by the most listened to station in the city, and the use of WTOP sports anchors as postgame hosts for the Nationals and the Capitals, is priceless. Ted Leonsis thinks so and so does Stan Kasten and Mark Lerner.(So now I know that this was really written by someone at Bonneville. WTOP is the ratings monster but they are un able to transfer those ratings to their weak sister station on 1500AM. Last year the worst radio ratings in all of baseball. I am sure that is priceless to Mr. Kasten and Mr. Lerner.) As to WJFK's ability to deliver an audience - their signal is spotty as even they admit on the air, the Sports Junkies are in the lower 1/3rd of the ratings with PPM measurement and if you listened at all to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Caps games on WJFK last year they screwed up their end of the broadcast, even though all they had to do was put in spots and IDs. Not a big confidence builder for any team. It's also a well known fact that Johnny Holliday has expressed great interest in finding Maryland a home on 1500AM.(Clearly a Bonneville employee wrote that) 6) Jim Williams is of the old school midset that you have to have a sports oriented station in order to carry game broadcasts. It's a fallacy.( Such a fallacy that The Pirates, Tigers, Orioles and Indians – to name a few all made moves to sports talk related stations in the last three years. That is hardly old school in fact they left more tradional talkers like KDKA, WJR, and WBAL all because their audience no longer listened to those stations. They found the cross promotion was better. Perhaps the person who wrote this might want to do their homework.) 7) Nothing is going to change with the affiliate base until the nationals get rid of their current VP of Broadcasting & Marketing. He is not proactive; he is at best reactive and unattentive. It was two years ago that Pat Sajak was approached about flipping WNAV from an O's affiliate to a Nats affiliate. There was no follow-up. A list of 25 -to- 30 possible affiliates, stretching from Ocean City to the Carolinas, was put together three years ago. Again, nothing has been done about it. The team needs to hire someone dedicated to broadcasting. Their choice, if they know anything about this radio market, would be to stay where they are on 1500 AM, expand the Virginia and Eastern Shore affiliate base, and make sure that Nats Talk Live airs after every game. They would also pony up the money for Phil Wood to take over Nats Insider & do a nightly show starting at 7 PM when the Nats (and for that matter the Caps or anyone else on 1500 AM) weren't playing a game.(That is a point that I agree with and started. I do think that the Nationals need to work at expanding their network. As to the broadcast director post I can only feel that this insider knows that information. I also agree on Phil Wood. As to staying with 1500AM that still would require a commitment to air Saturday morning baseball talk year round and to be more creative about being the Nats partner. I want what is best for their fans and right now I see someone blaming the team while defending 1500AM – So the fact that the ratings were so bad is all the teams fault and 1500AM had nothing to do with that? That is priceless! ) And finally, as to the post a few scrolls down from Jim Williams --- if you have to explain it, you didn't present your case properly in the first place.( Unlike some writers I like an open discussion and so if people make a point I want to either embrace it and explore it. If they challenge my work I take the time to explain it or in some cases defend it. Look this is not life or death it is entertainment. I am big enough man to admit if I made a mistake or if someone has a good point like the Phil Wood item, or the Nationals expanding their network I am all for it. But for some one to say that 1500AM produced three shows before Spring Training and that counts as programming when in most cities they have a regular Saturday morning show, or that WTOP's ( which I listen to and think is the best news station in the country by the way) drives numbers on 1500AM that is simply silly – because if it were true then Nationals rating would not have been such a sad story. Is WJFK the answer? Maybe, it is worth the time for the team and the station to explore. Is there a better answer? There has to be because right now the team has numbers that defy sports logic. Thanks for the feedback – to those who agreed and to those who did not. I respect you and I hope we can meet again here on Dave's boards. You are a lively and interesting crowd. JW (12/15/08) Clear Channel could easily copy KIIS's 102.7 KISS-FM onto Baltimore's 102.7, just different call letters and commercials. (12/15/08) Dave's response: And CBS could put LA's KROQ 106.7 on the DC area's 106.7. Ha ha ha..... Elliot suspended? Publicity stunt. No one cares. Paul (12/15/08) Regarding AM signal strength...the relatively level terrain of the Midwest enables many "heritage" stations' signals to go far beyond their market area. When I went to grad school in Iowa in the '80s, for example, it was easy to pick up 670, 720, 780 and 890 in eastern Iowa during the daytime, and with a good radio you could do likewise as far west as the Ames-Des Moines area. From Ames, one had no trouble getting the signal of KNAX out of Yankton, S.D. Similarly, in Cleveland it's easy to pick up 760 (WJR) and 800 (CKLW) from Detroit and Windsor; even WWJ can be heard well there, and that's not a 50,000-watter. -- Vincent in Triangle (12/15/08) Driving back from SW MI on I 80/I 90 last Thursday, I surprised to hear WLS & WBBM Chicago and Chicago's Sport talk station AM 670 as far east as the Cleveland area. What a strong signal! (12/15/08) Dave's response: Chicago's WMAQ (670), WGN (720), WBBM (780), WLS (890), and WCFL (1000) are regular AM radio catches in the DC-Baltimore area at night. I know, I'm stuck in the 1970s when it comes to call letters..... (Dave's response: Hell, there's no live people on QSR. Just a transmitter and a CD player, pretty much.....) Pretty much sums up Baltimore radio, eh?? (12/15/08) (“Elliot Suspended? - 12/15 - DCRTV hears that those "best of" "Elliot In The Morning" shows on DC101 last Thursday and Friday aired because the host, Elliot Segal, was suffering some sort of suspension from station owner Clear Channel. Something he said? More as we hear it.....”) Great news!!! Hope it’s indefinite. (talentless &$^*#@) (12/15/08) Dashboard DXer Alert: One day last week, while cruising through the "x-band" from classic Rock-ville, I landed on 1640 khz, which is normally occupied by KJI955, reputedly located at a top-secret facility deep off the George Washington Parkway in Langley, Virginia. Sure enough, their loop tape was cranking away, but underneath their signal, I could hear another signal, which signed "KFC-942". Any clue what this might be? Another secret agency, like the Ministry of Silly Walks? Or maybe Col. Sanders, reaching out from the great beyond…finger lickin' good! Any clues? Mike in Frederick and the DDXS. Klaatu barada nikto on yo' big behind! (12/15/08) (" ... What we do, by the nature of what we are, is look for people in power in Washington who are making public policy," said 'Fox News Sunday' executive producer Marty Ryan. "So that means the best place to start is the 535 members on Capitol Hill and the administration that is in power at the current time. That's kind of our base of who we interview.") In other words, the Sunday news shows pander to the ruling class and their cronies in D.C. Ms/Mr Ryan let out the truth to the San Francisco Chronicle for an article published at the weekend. www.sfgate.com (12/15/08) Let's get right to the meat of Jim Williams article concerning his fantasy of moving the Nationals from WFED to WJFK. 1) "the bright & talented Byron Kerr" doesn't host the pregame. Charlie Slowes & Dave Jageler host every pregame. At best, Byron assembles a bunch of prerecorded interviews once a week during the season for Nats Insider and has his turn weekdays on Nats Talk Live. I will agree with previous posters that Byron is fine with GW basketball, but out of his element with baseball. I doubt even MASN will use him next year. 2) In the off-season WFED presents a Nats World Series special, an MLB Winter Meetings special and a pre-Spring Training preview. If Jim took the time to do his homework he'd see that the bulk of the programming after 7PM and on the weekends at WFED (and previous to that on 3WT) iss devoted to the Capitals, GW and AU basketball, DC United and Navy football and basketball when the Nationals aren't on the air. 3) Does Jim Williams have proof that the Z104/WFED combination of stations in the first season was the direct cause of selling more XM radios than any other city in the US? Impossible to prove and another bullshit line of reasoning. 4) On Washington Post Radio and 3WT there is proof that the ratings for the Nationals in those two years equaled or surpassed the Tony Kornheiser ratings in the key Male 25-54 and Adults 25-54 demos. Those are the money demos where people can afford to bring their enirte family & spend on concessions and merchandise. The first year at Nationals Park they reached the 2 million mark in atttendance quicker than the year before by almost a month. Jim seems to think 12 year old boys are the target demo. 5) The cross promotion by the most listened to station in the city, and the use of WTOP sports anchors as postgame hosts for the Nationals and the Capitals, is priceless. Ted Leonsis thinks so and so does Stan Kasten and Mark Lerner. As to WJFK's ability to deliver an audience - their signal is spotty as even they admit on the air, the Sports Junkies are in the lower 1/3rd of the ratings with PPM measurement and if you listened at all to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Caps games on WJFK last year they screwed up their end of the broadcast, even though all they had to do was put in spots and IDs. Not a big confidence builder for any team. It's also a well known fact that Johnny Holliday has expressed great interest in finding Maryland a home on 1500AM. 6) Jim Williams is of the old school midset that you have to have a sports oriented station in order to carry game broadcasts. It's a falacy. 7) Nothing is going to change with the affiliate base until the nationals get rid of their current VP of Broadcasting & Marketing. He is not proactive, he is at best reactive and unattentive. It was two years ago that Pat Sajak was approached about flipping WNAV from an O's affiliate to a Nats affiliate. There was no follow-up. A list of 25 -to- 30 possible affiliates, strecthing from Ocean City to the Carolinas, was put together three years ago. Again, nothing has been done about it. The team needs to hire someone dedicated to broadcasting. Their choice, if they know anything about this radio market, would be to stay where they are on 1500 AM, expand the Virginia and Eastern Shore affiliate base, and make sure that Nats Talk Live airs after every game. They would also pony up the money for Phil Wood to take over Nats Insider & do a nightly show starting at 7 PM when the Nats (and for that matter the Caps or anyone else on 1500 AM) weren't playing a game.And finally, as to the post a few scrolls down from Jim Williams --- if you have to explain it, you didn't present your case properly in the first place. (12/15/08) Clear Channel needs to put Heaven 600 on 104.3 or 102.7. Ray Hoffmann (12/15/08) "The problem is that the Post can't credibly pay homage to Obama one day then objectively cover him the next one. Independent news media outlets should not be in the business of paying homage to anyone. Everett W." - You, Sir, sound like a racist. --- ThePenisMightier (12/15/08) Didn't the Post go from 35 cents (vs. 25 cents) to 50 cents to today, 75 cents? They are shooting themselves in the foot. (12/15/08) What does the swap mean for QSR? I have to say how much I enjoy Jack, especially the 9 at 9, for at least one whoa! moment a day. Maybe this is more a comment on the sad state of radio, but I'd be sad to see it go... (12/15/08) Dave's response: Hell, there's no live people on QSR. Just a transmitter and a CD player, pretty much..... With all due respect to Jim Williams, what he overlooks is the fact that WFED’s sister-station powerhouse WTOP does a tremendous amount of programming in support of the Nationals, from doing sportscasts live from the ballpark during home games, to re-running play-by-play calls in sportscasts (especially morning drive), to hosting “Ask The” programs with Nats players and management (as they also do with the Caps). That kind of exposure on WTOP is priceless. Plus, WFED just hosted an exceptional hour-long special on the Winter Meetings with Jim Bowden, Ryan Zimmerman and others. Between WFED and WTOP, Bonneville does quite a bit to support the Nats and gives them much wider exposure than WJFK with its limited signal ever could. (12/15/08) It's too bad about WQSR. I'll miss the re-runs of 80s AT40 - something worth tuning in to Sunday nights. - JC in Arlington (12/15/08) Doesn't President Bush have Secret Service protection when he is overseas? What if one of those shoes had been a hand grenade? (Sorry for the non-media related post) (12/15/08) Dave's response: I'm sure the SS searched for grenades - not shoes..... Regarding Clear Channel getting 102.7 in Baltimore and your Rant: Why wouldn't Clear Channel just simulcast 99.5 from DC on 102.7? Perhaps a Baltimore based AM Drive show, but why program anything else differently? Aren't all of the Clear Channel "Hot" stations basically the same? Mike in Fairfax, VA (12/15/08) Elliot said this morning that he was suspended, but was forbidden by management to discuss the reasons why on air. Supposedly there was a baby-sitter (the latest PD) posted outside the studio to kill the show if the discussion ventured toward anything close to the reason why. They also announced that they were cancelling a promo trip in conjunction with Ronnie Mervis -- not sure if it was related to the suspension or not. LO (12/15/08) Come on Everett W. .... I am guessing you are old enough to remember a few inaugurals. Major newspapers, no matter which way they lean politically, publish page upon page of laudatory and celebratory topicality, and endless puff piece articles surrounding EVERY presidential inauguration, regardless from which political party the president has come. I am sure the Washington Times will be replete with plenty of inauguration coverage, which wont all be cold hard reporting. You want to make the argument that the Post needs the ten bucks from saps who want to get in their two cents, fair enough. The rest of it is pretty cynical, and doesn't comport with history. I think the negative comments, outside of the shillery of charging 10 bucks, are pretty weak. I have a copies of the Washington Post's inauguration coverage from the Reagan inaugurations, and it's the same deal, lots of puff piece articles with high-fives and ass slapping all the way around. This is the time winners get to celebrate and crow, it's tradition and for many it is a moment of unity. It is a celebration of the our political process and democratic tradition, this is undeniable, no matter what the Washington Post decides to do. If you only choose to celebrate when your candidates win, that is your business. It's clearly just another reason for some to display their poor sportsmanship and grasp at the thinnest of all straws. (12/15/08) The Washington Post's "congratulatory" section is not about national unity, it's about a struggling newspaper attempting to cash in on the mania now surrounding President-elect Obama. The problem is that the Post can't credibly pay homage to Obama one day then objectively cover him the next one. Independent news media outlets should not be in the business of paying homage to anyone. Everett W. (12/15/08) Gang let me explain my column for those who do not understand. First off Phil Wood is a friend and I would love for him to be the Nationals pregame host. Secondly the reason that I brought up WJFK-FM over WFED is that they need each other. The Nationals suffer from a lack of promotion and WJFK is in the need of a drastic format change. It make sense that the two sides explore a relationship. Many who post here are fans of the Nationals and that is great! However, WFED is just not the right match for the Nationals. They do not do enough promotion for the team during the regular season - they love airing the games - but do little support programming. Having a strong signal is a plus but baseball teams more than any other sports teams need a partner that will help promote them. It is VERY important that Nats players, and management be on the air om a regular basis to promote the team. A true radio partner would have programs to showcase the team helping to cultivate and expand the fan base. That is something that WFED and 3WT did not do. WJFK has the ability to reinvent the station at this point. Perhaps as Washington's #2 all sports talk station or perhaps a combination good quality male oriented talk along with a healthy dose of sports talk. There is no question that WJFK would have to improve their format but with the Nats and the other sports they could have they could do exactly what their sister station WJZ-FM 105.7 in Baltimore did and that is go to an almost all sports format. The reason the team left WBAL was because the CBS station was willing to talk plenty of Orioles and have team related shows both in season as well as during the off season. On the point of more affiliates for the Nationals again I agree having WNAV in Annapolis would be a good start and anything out at the beach would be a help. The team needs help in Virginia where the entire state is a must and of course the Maryland burbs around the DC area. There is still a year on the contract between WFED and the Nationals with an option for a second year. It is possible that they just might be able to right the ship but I see no movement on WFED's part to be more Nationals oriented beyond airing the games and that simply is not enough. So in closing my goal was to fight for what I think Nats fans want - more quality baseball programming year round and a better more supportive partner. (12/15/08) Dear Dave: Just read your front page news about the newsstand/retail price of the Post going up to 75 cents today. For some reason, the price scanner at the local Exxon where I purchased my copy of the Post this morning still was registering it at 50 cents. I'm not going to say a word, but it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for them to catch this. It's also interesting that they had two price hikes within the past year. The times are-a-changin'. Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (12/15/08) Dave's response: I used to pick up a pile of Monday papers on the newsstands. I no longer do that. With USA Today at $1, the NY Times at $1.50, and the NY Post at $1, that would be $3.50, in addition to my DC Post, which I get delivered to my doorstep. Now, I usually read-without-buying the newspapers at Barnes And Noble or go for the "freebie pile of used rags" at the Silver Dinner. Sometime I "luck out" and even find a Wall Street Journal there. If I can't find a paper, I'll just catch-up on the internet..... How can people keep saying they love Wendy Reiger? She's not that good lookin'(I've worked with her). She has no on-air personailty and seems to not give a crap about what she's reading. I JUST DON'T GET IT! (12/15/08) Dave's response: You're right about Wendy Reiger. I was talking about Wendy Rieger..... Dave, I don't get why you'd list the death of Tim Russert as a good thing on your BW2008 list. Pretty much everyone will tell you that he was a class act among class acts -- one of the hardest workers in the business, one of the toughest yet fairest moderators out there, and above all, a supremely good family man, too. Your proclamation seems awfully crass, in the vain of ThePenIsMightier, if not greater. I definitely lost some respect for you with that one. Sincerely, Mike in Kensington (12/15/08) Dave's response: Whoops. Completely bungled up the wording. I do apologize. I meant to include the brilliant Tim Russert as a "best" thing, with his way too early death and his overblown funeral as "worst" things..... Any idea what happened to Elliot during his suspension on Thursday and Friday? Something from the 101 suits so he said this morning. Thanks for any info, Kris (12/15/08) Let's accept the proposition that the Post has a liberal bias, and has been in the bag for Obama since day one. However, Inauguration Day is a celebration of our democratic tradition, and to welcome a new president into office. We currently have lot of problems in this country, caused by Democrats and Republicans alike, and Obama is the guy who is charged with sorting them out, an unenviable position. There is going to be a lot of arguing and sparring as we move forward, with plenty of time for the loyal opposition to take their shots and be critical of Obama. I would simply suggest that a section of the Post dedicated to congratulating Obama at ten bucks a pop, ISN'T the place for those who already disagree to vent and post political diatribes. It would be unseemly and bush league, and any newspaper would reserve the right to edit, even if you have paid you ten bucks. I can see it now...Welcome to Washington..." You pinko, socialist, Marxist sympathizer"..... I mean come on... There are million places you can vent and post your thoughts for free, such as right here, and to use this one issue as an argument to illuminate a liberal bias, is pretty thin gruel. There are many solid arguments that can be used to make the case for a liberal bias, but this isn't one of them. Why would anyone propose a section to Welcome the President to the White House, and then open it to potentially hateful or critical comments? I would expect the same treatment from the WP for John McCain, had he won. It's an obvious puff piece that comes with a price tag, but like a previous poster has said, we can let Obama have his moment, and let the partisanship begin on day two. (12/15/08) RE: the Nats to WJFK... The question is not should the Nats seek out WJFK as their new radio partner. The question is, should WJFK accept? And that answer is clearly "no." This is not NYC, Detroit, Boston, or even Milwaukee. No one cares about the Nats right now, and the ratings would be just as bad on radio as the MASN ratings. The Nats are the 4th or 5th tier of DC sports. That's why they're on WFED to begin with. (12/15/08) On the question of the WaPo limiting the ads in the commemorative inaugural section to "congratulatory messages only," I'd contend it actually follows a very long and very bipartisan tradition at the paper. On inauguration day 1969, Herblock, who could by no stretch of the imagination be construed as a friend to the Nixon administration or the GOP in general, ran a cartoon showing a clean-shaven Nixon in a barber's chair, with the words "This shop gives every new President of the United States a free shave, H. Block, Proprietor." That's EVERY new president, and it's the classy way to do it. Let the partisan sniping start again on day 2 - inauguration day is supposed to be a national day of unity and celebration, no matter who the new president is. (12/15/08) Shall we dedicate the next play of "The Christmas Shoes" to President Bush? (12/15/08) Why do DC broadcasters call the Cincinnati Bengals the Cincinnati Bang-Gals. (12/15/08) /\ December 15 Messages /\ \/ December 14 Messages \/ Hey Penis! Did you ever think Greaseman may not want to go on the air with Mike O'Meara? (12/14/08) I agree with the previous poster in regards to Byron Kerr and his knowledge of Baseball. He has none! Bonneville would be smart to move Phil Wood into Kerr's spot as post game host. Might create some phone calls and a few more radio listeners. As for Jim Williams and his Examiner story..consider the source. No way should the Nats move from Bonneville to a station has limited listening areas and ranks what 23rd or 24th in the market. If Williams did any reasearch he would know that! (12/14/08) What a great line: "The only way radio will cut through in the future is by creating great CONTENT." Indeed. Hey WMAL and Cheap Channel and other companies, running the same lame Rush and Sean and Laura and Dr. Laura and Levin and Savage and the Norry alien crap overnight is really, really bad. Boring. Let's get creative. Yes, that is still a word: C-R-E-A-T-I-V-E. There is certainly very little creativity going on around the country on talk/news-talk radio stations. With smaller or no news staffs, what's in the paper is on the AP/Reuters wire and then someone reads it on the "alleged" local radio airwaves. Come on radio people, get radio back where it should be. And guess what will happen? Take a guess. Did somebody say advertising will increase with "local" programming? Did I hear that? Did I? (12/14/08) If you're a regular reader of dcrtv.com, Jim Williams, then you might know that giving Byron Kerr any props for his baseball coverage is considered a joke by any knowledgeable baseball fan, which I'm assuming you're not. Byron's grasp of the game is slightly less than Debbi Taylor's, and that comment should speak for itself. I just assume that the DC broadcast market managers assume that baseball is a temporary thing, therefore they can stick anyone on the air to talk about it. Byron's at his best on basketball, and his absolute worst on baseball. It's embarassing. He clearly doesn't even know the rulebook. (12/14/08) No, its not media, but it could be local. One of your ads mentioned that the audience groaned at the green theme of the day the earth stood still. Here is one of a small but increasing number of articles that discuss the not always justifyable nor necessary high cost of going green. www.alternet.org. Note also the hypocristy here, that green grocers think they should be exempt from food safety laws. I guess Communist China is their standard bearer for product safety. And ask Obama about the use of heavy metals in solar power and hybrid cars. (12/14/08) Dave's response: I saw the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" today and that was my Twitter post. Basically, the aliens are Earth's landlord and decide to "evict" mankind because we're destroying the environment for the other creatures. That differs from the original 1950s film in which the "policeman" aliens threaten to destroy mankind because of its nuclear weaponry, which could threaten other planets. Interesting to see John "Monty Python/Fawlty Towers" Cleese playing "the scientist" in the latest flick..... The Post's "congrats only" policy on Obama messages gives one to question if perhaps we need a fairness doctrine for the print media, rather than the broacast media. But, Merry Christmas to the GOP...see what you can do with this, for it proves what we all know. The W-P is an organ of the DNC and its liberal elite have supported Obama from the start and refused to objectively research or neutrally report his campaign. Liberal bias proven in a full page ad! (12/14/08) To the poster looking for the list of 10 jazz albums accompanying the WAPO story Sunday on the Web: The list is there, it's just not obvious. The link is named for the first item on the list, the Duke Ellington album. www.washingtonpost.com (12/14/08) The Washington Post recently announced that it plans to eliminate the Sunday Source feature from its print and web editions. In today's Post, there is an article called 'Primed For Jazz' by Chris Richards. The article states: "The genre's sprawling 100-year history is a cauldron of categories -- from swing to bebop to free jazz -- each of which has spawned countless recordings. With the newcomer in mind, I've put together a list of 10 jazz recordings on Page 4 that should provide a fast track to transcendence." I don't have access to the print edition of the Post and it seems as if the Sunday Source is being cut a week early - beginning with this list of ten recordings - since I've been unable to find it anywhere on the Post website. www.washingtonpost.com... Perhaps one of the DCRTV mailbaggers will post it here. (12/14/08) Here is the column on WJFK taking over the Nationals from WFED - I t could be a good match if JFK is willing to make the moves that WHFS did in Baltimore. www.dcexaminer.com... Cheers, Jim (12/14/08) Dave's response: And again I say - JFK needs to move to 94.7 so that it can better cover all the DC metro, including the northeastern suburbs. "Sports & More 94.7 WJFK" with the Junks and O'Meara, "Real Progressive Rock 99.1 WHFS" with Cerphe and Weasel, "El Zol 1580 WLZL," and "The Big Talker 106.7 WBTW" with what's now on 1580..... A clarification on the earlier post about Equity Media and RTN. Equity sold RTN (with an option for repurchase back in June. It i currently owned by Henry Luken. (12/14/08) Nice to see that others are seeing what some of us knew immediately…Penis Mightier is a “DICK” (12/14/08) The pen is mightier. The problem is that any boor can get one. (12/14/08) It is hard to imagine any mailbag submission more racist, more unfunny, and more pointless, than ThePenIsMightier's paragraph this morning where everyone is identified by race and then categorized and stereotyped. Some of these posters, I believe, lead very sad and lonely lives. ACH (12/14/08) 1) "Do any of the local radio stations have Continuity Departments or at least someone who is in charge of this? I was listening to WJFK around noon today an they ran a spot from MSNBC asking us to tune in tomorrow for their presidential election coverage." Here's another good one: WBAL radio has been running a promo for the WBAL Kids Campaign in the middle of the night since at least July in which the announcer is buried by the music bed. I hope this screwup hasn't hurt the fund drive. It's pretty hard to hear the announcer or the donation address. 2) I am watching the WBAL-TV 11 pm news (Saturday) and the audio is about a half-second out of synch with the video. It's weird hearing sounds coming out of Deborah Weiner's mouth when her lips aren't moving, and vice versa. The audio on the spots is out of synch, too. Can a TV pro explain to me how this happens? (12/14/08) /\ December 14 Messages /\ \/ December 13 Messages \/ "I was listening to WJFK around noon today" - My question is why? Are you retarded? Did anyone see the WaPo article today about failed city efforts to sterilize gingko trees? Home Rule was a big mistake. The only colored I would trust to run DC is the NightOwl, Marion Barry. L'il Adrian at least did the right thing by hiring an asian to run education. Those people like school. We have a black president (our second one, the first one got impeached), so why not a white mayor? --- ThePenIsMightier (12/13/08) ("which was famous enough to be featured in "The Day the Earth Stood Still"! Has an alien civilization been communicating with us over the years by way of WEAM? Are the many thousands of jocks who were on the air, part of the conspiracy? DCRTV should be investigating this plot to control the minds of the many! Was Johnny Dark the leader or but a platoon leader? Pat Murphy, often mentioned in reverant whispers, may have been taking orders from afar? Jim Nabors was a stock name, but was it really? Jack Alex, long rumored to be "different", may have been in ways we can't imagine! What is the connection? ") Actually the truth is out, Spike was the alien. (12/13/08) Do any of the local radio stations have Continuity Departments or at least someone who is in charge of this? I was listening to WJFK around noon today an they ran a spot from MSNBC asking us to tune in tomorrow for their presidential election coverage! Wasn’t the election about 6 weeks ago? Of course WJFK isn’t the only offender. I clearly remember another station, maybe WTNT (but them screwing-up is nothing unusual), running ads in the blazing hot days of August for Ovalteen (sp?) HOT; so when our little cherubs come back home from playing in the cold, ice and snow they can warm-up. Geez. Unlike with the computers that run many radio stations now, without much human oversight, at least with live board operators if something like this happened (and they were paying attention, which may be questionable in itself) at least someone could ask if this is right and maybe have more recent/correct ads run in the future so the advertiser isn’t embarrassed. I believe that this is called “looking out for the customer” who in this case pays for the station’s operation. Now I’m sure that MSNBC will get an invoice saying that one of their ad ads ran on WJFK at this particular moment and they will be none the wiser, but running outdated material - whether spots or days old news/business updates sure does reflect badly on the radio station. (12/13/08) Scary food for thought: If Channel 9's ratings continue to drop, do you think the Allbritton Family would be interested in purchasing them? Or NBC buying them and moving into Broadcast House? Look what is happening in Miami. Total twist of fate, the possibilities are endless, and not so ridiculous anymore. (12/13/08) Dave's response: I wouldn't be surprised to see either Fox or Allbritton to buy 9 from Gannett and operate a 5 & 9 (selling 20) or a 7 & 9 duopoly in DC. I also wouldn't be surprised to see CBS buy 4 from NBC, with DC getting a CBS4 and an NBC9. Or, heck, maybe a MyNetwork9 and an NBC20 with the way NBC's sinking. Or how about a Telefutura 50 and a Daystar 20? Hmmm..... “F*ck Colin Powell, how can he talk about ANYBODY saying ANYTHING” Powell is if nothing else an opportunists. Rush has been preaching his line for years. It didn’t seem to bother Powell when the Republicans were in power and he was working for Bush. But now the Democrats have taken over and suddenly Rush is evil. I frankly don’t care what side Powell is on but I’ve lost a lot of respect for him because like many of the chameleons in this town, they don’t stand for any one thing. It all depends on who can give them their next job. (12/13/08) The odd, yet unexplainable coincidences, noticed by a poster of the WEAM mic flag on the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, does make one wonder if there isn't more at play here, than imagined. No question, the posters who worked at WEAM are at best "unusual" and act "other-worldly". I remember the jocks on WEAM had an unexplainable influence on people of my generation, and had us lined up at "TOPPS Drive Inn's" for hours, for second rate burgers and fries". I think this post, may have hit upon something more sinister than at first thought. It deserves more thought and attention. Odd too, that none of the former WEAM people, who seem to be very prevelant any other time the call letters are mentioned, seem unusually silent about this coincidence being pointed out publicly! How far a cry from reality is it that Harry Averill was an evil creature from another planet? Terry Harrell - Fairfax (12/13/08) I don't know about you folks in the DC area. Up here, it seems Maryland Public Tv and WITF in Harrisburg have been begging for money for well over a month now. How about down there? JohnnyuinHanover,Pa. (12/13/08) Tuesday afternoon around 4:30 I'm listening to the Lionel Show on 1260 AM. The usual cluster of multiple simultaneous audio events took off and kept going for six minutes: network news into a stopset, then Lionel returned but with an extended stopset playing on top of his audio. The cherry on this sundae: the continuing problem of liners playing twice in a row, like the bad old days when a cart's cue tone wouldn't sense and the cut came around a second time to play again. This time I'm not going to lower myself and grouse about professionalism, attention to detail, et al... the portion of my brain that handles pity has just taken over, and instead I want to ask to whom I should send a resume, so I can assist the PD, engineer and traffic director in helping them iron it all out. A major market AM simply should not sound like this. (12/13/08) Was watching the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on AMC the other night, and noticed the mic flags in certain shots. The TV mic flag was WMAL. But the radio mic flag when Klatuu and the boy were being interviewed on the rope line around the saucer was WEAM! It appears that there is a clear connection between "Visitors from outer space" and WEAM and people who worked at WEAM. They all appear to be "other worldly" and it would be interesting to review all the DC radio people who have worked at the legendary rock station, which was famous enough to be featured in "The Day the Earth Stood Still"! Has an alien civilization been communicating with us over the years by way of WEAM? Are the many thousands of jocks who were on the air, part of the conspiracy? DCRTV should be investigating this plot to control the minds of the many! Was Johnny Dark the leader or but a platoon leader? Pat Murphy, often mentioned in reverant whispers, may have been taking orders from afar? Jim Nabors was a stock name, but was it really? Jack Alex, long rumored to be "different", may have been in ways we can't imagine! What is the connection? Commander Bunny - WBNY Radio (12/13/08) Dave's response: I've watched the original version of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" more than a dozen times and never noticed the WEAM mic flag. Will have to watch harder, next time. Oh, how about "Aunt Bea" (Frances Bavier) living in that "group house"..... Anyone notice that on Sat Dec 13 at about 7:30am, WJLA-TV production managers had no idea what they were broadcasting? From about 7:30am to about 7:40am, WJLA was broadcasting various unrelated photos, some were holiday scenes, others were spring/summer scenes. The mic on either a production assistant or one of the morning anchors was being broadcast live and you could hear his reactions to various things he was reading or seeing, but which didn't match the photos being broadcast. Luckily for him he didn't say anything that would haunt him. Somebody finally flipped a switch to take the video to the ABC live feed, but the sound was not corrected for another 3-4 minutes. Somebody was alseep at the boards at WJLA. (12/13/08) (""and talking about spending more time with his new bride" Ah yes. How long before he has a kid and then starts up a ranch out west somewhere. Stern Ranch Turquoise Buffalo tortilla chips and salsa. yum yum... Dave's response: Or a two-week stint on an Ocean City radio station.....") Howard Stern... is that a radio personality? Seriously, and all you Douchey Douchertons from Douchtown can just sit down and shut up for a minute: The people who get called Howard imitators on this board (cough, Don Geronimo) are not. They carved out their own path in the territory that Howard opened up, and generally (definitely in the case of cough, Don Geronimo) admit it freely. Howard's act has become old and I grew tired of it before 9/11. Nothing's shocking. Artie Lange, while occasionally amusing, is a waste of oxygen. Like heavy (obese) opiate abusers before him (Sam Kinison, Jerry Garcia, Root Boot Slim) he will eventually get clean and then pass away in his sleep. BETHANN MCBRIDE: BOOK THE GREASEMAN!!!!! GET IT DONE!!! MIKE O'MEARA HAS EXPRESSED THE WISH!!! EFF ANY CBS SUITS WHO ARE AGAINST IT ( cough, Michael Hughes). --- ThePenIsMightier (12/13/08) ("An internal Washington Post email from WJLA News VP Bill Lord to staffers: "Reporters, This seems like a good time to remind everyone that their appearance on television is very important. Our studio is now in High Definition. Soon our live shots ...") He's getting ready to fire someone and can't justify it in such a way as to avoid a cost to the station. --- ThePenIsMightier (12/13/08) F*ck Colin Powell, how can he talk about ANYBODY saying ANYTHING when he lied to everyone while at the UN. If he was any part of the man that most thought he was, he'd come out and say he knew he was lying about what was going on in Iraq. But now he's against Bush, voted Obama and is ragging on Rush he's to be consider a honorable man, to add; I could care less and Bush and Rush. JD Fairfax (12/13/08) Another chapter in the DC formatic execution train wreck: Heard tonight on Big 100.3 was a segue from Layla (Eric Clapton) to Something (The Beatles). Now on a couple levels this is actually an excellent segue. But here's what happened... Before the bird sings, Something comes crashing in, and a voice tells me Something is George Harrison's only #1 Beatles composition. He may have hit the intro but I really don't remember because I was cursing out the radio and turning it off. Now WHY would anyone be stupid enough to do this? All they had to do was let Layla play out and go into Something with no talk. That would have been a much more satisfying listener experience. (12/13/08) /\ December 13 Messages /\ \/ December 12 Messages \/ Anything Jim Williams has to say in the Examiner about the Nats moving from WFED to WJFK means nothing until he actually attends a game...any game, any sport...he does almost all of his writing based on short phone interviews & opines based on the wishful thinking of a few broadcast mavens who have his ear. He doesn't fact check. He consistently gives either the wrong broadcast time or call letters. He's never met an interview subject he didn't like (keep a kleenex handy to wipe that smooch off your butt). He writes for a number of Examiner issues around the country and has little or no respect in the press boxes around town where they keep an empty seat should he ever actually show up. har-de-har-har He's a hack and should the Examiner be in need of a few staff cuts to keep the doors open, I'd nominate Williams for early retirement. Ahhhhh I feel better now. (12/12/08) With all of these layoffs takening among at the networks and other news media, I heard today there is actually one part of the media that is doing quite well now...those supermarket tabloids like The National Enquier, Star, Globe, National Examiner, In Touch, People and so forth. Today I heard all of them are experiencing record sales. Wonder if the ratings for such shows like TMZ or Entertainment Tonight reflect that? If so, maybe its a case of people whose own lives suck so much much right now they look up to the celebrities for "comfort" like those whose care more about what David & Victoria Beckham had for dinner last night than that hungry family who lives down the street or "worry" more about Madonna's kids than their own. Like that grandmother in Pennsylvania who I read about a few months back who spent $1000 ( despite being on a fixed income ) buying Madonna's daughter Lourdes a TV set, radio, DVD player and gift cards from stores like Kohls and Target. Yeah, Like Madonna would shop at Kohls !! And considering that Madonna herself over the years had called TV and radio "poison" and "trash ( think about that the next time you play Madonna on the radio )", I doubt Madonna's kids would ever see those gifts. Or that McDonalds manager some place out in the midwest who after reading in US ( or was it People? ) that Tom Cruise's daughter "..has never had a happy meal", this guy sent Tom Cruise a $200 gift card so Tom's daughter could have a "happy meal". I have doubts his daughter would get that gift card either. Talk about a waste of money. (12/12/08) Could the end be coming? I just saw on NBC Nightly News that both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press will now only offer home delivery three days per week (Thursday, Friday and Sunday) and suggest that people go to the newsstand or the web the rest of the week. It’s pretty obvious that newspapers across the country are struggling. The Washington Times has already eliminated their Saturday print edition, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see what’s happening in Detroit to start happening in other cities (perhaps even here) in the near future. Brian in Fairfax (12/12/08) The national phenomenon known as “Bowling for Dollars” began locally on WBAL in 1964. Created by Bert Claster (who had many television successes, including “Romper Room”), the show was originally known as “Duckpins and Dollars” based on Baltimore’s bowling preferences, but became “Bowling for Dollars” with its first foray into the national market via Milwaukee in 1971. Los Angeles and a score of other cities soon created their own hometown versions of the program. Initially, it ran once a week, but as stations scrambled for local programming between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. (as a result of FCC regulations that stipulated that network programming could only take place after 8 p.m.), the show ran every day. In Baltimore, it was taped live. “Bowling was very popular,” explains John Claster, Bert Claster’s son and a retired television production executive, and contestants could apply to be on the show through their local bowling centers. Eventually, lanes were installed at the WBAL studios on TV Hill to create a studio for taping. Each night, seven contestants would walk through the set’s sliding door, engage in a one-minute interview with the show’s nattily dressed emcee, Tom Cole (or Ron Riley or Dennis Murray), introduce up to six family members or friends in the audience, and take a chance on bowling a strike for the jackpot, which began at $200 but grew by $20 with every missed strike. Then there were the Pin-Pals. Viewers at home sent postcards to the station, and if their name was chosen, they would win the same amount as the studio bowler. With the success of “Bowling for Dollars,” Claster Productions created a version of the show for younger competitors called “Pinbusters.” John Bowman (who’d hosted an earlier TV dance program, “Teen Canteen”) was the host of the show for most of its run, later being replaced by Royal Parker. Six four-frame games took place during the broadcast with kids in various age categories. The winners took home trophies, rather than cash. “Bowling for Dollars” left the Baltimore airwaves in the late ’70s, but remained in syndication until 1981. It had run in 36 markets nationwide. (SOURCE: "Baltimore On Air"... by Mary K. Zajac) (12/12/08) If CBS Radio is thinking of flipping WJFK, they are complete idiots. Listening to today's "Dysfunctional Family Friday" was an incredible experience. WJFK is the best they have been since the Stern, Liddy, D&M days... and getting better. You want to do sports talk? Do it on 99.1 or 94.7. There's no way that either of them are generating the revenue that WJFK is. And if you think that the future of radio, in this Ipod/streaming audio age, is WASH and HOT 99.5, you're crazy. The only way radio will cut through in the future is by creating great CONTENT... like WJFK did today. Dan Mason, are you reading this? (12/12/08) Dave's response: Still waiting for Don Geronimo, El Jefe and J Dubs, Ron and Fez, and G. Gordon Liddy to show up at the "dysfunctional family" party on 106.7. Oh yeah, and Peter Rosenberg..... To my knowledge, no Washington DC TV studio has a hair & makeup person. When I started at the old WMAL-TV we all did our own. WRC-4 was the last studio to have a hair & makeup person. Also, the last to run a full kitchen with hot lunches. I think that ended around 1969. Tom Gauger (12/12/08) Dysfunctional Family Friday: This has featured some moments of radio gold! The opening junkies segments had some great "guy" talk. Big O and Dukes: I don't often get to hear them having to work, but they are really good. The Oscar and Chad meltdown was raw radio bitterness/goodness. Mike O'Meara and Robby really do shine the brightest when they can act as sidekicks and goof off others. I think we take all these shows for granted, but they really are unique and cool shows and people. (chuck from Upperville VA) (12/12/08) Dave's response: I know. They'll all be missed in January when CBS flips 106.7 to Christian contemporary. Ha ha ha. Yeah, good radio today. A good idea - now and then. If they did it every Friday, it could get a bit "old"..... Ed Graham's thoughts on the industry and what happened to it are totally accurate. Back when radio was a "friend" the jocks talked WITH the audience, they SHARED thoughts, HUMOR (clean too) and INFORMATION with the listeners and played great music too. Jocks cared about those that listened and called in. The entire broadcast day was filled with "GREAT PERSONALITIES" they became a part of your everyday life. For example Johnny Dark, Harve Moore, Johnny Holliday, and so many others too numerous to mention.They all LAUGHED, LIVED AND SHARED their moments with their friends, YOU, the AUDIENCE. Those types of broadcasters were efficiently deleted by flip cards, liners, rigid formats, time limits on the spoken word and BEAN COUNTERS. Thus the DEATH OF PERSONALITY AND RADIO. Ed, said change is coming and he can't wait. I hope he's right, I can't wait either. PLB:0) (12/12/08) Does Jeanie Ohm realize that she's gone from MSNBC? There she was, big as life, reporting from the White House on Norah O'Donnell's 3:00pm show today. Someone must have forgotten to tell her she's not there anymore. -- Bobbie (12/12/08) Dave's response: Her last day is probably later this month..... To see the new HD open for Channel 7 visit: www.youtube.com (12/12/08) C'mon- nothing on the WJFK Dysfunctional Family Friday! Chad Dukes calling out JP, calling him as a** telling him he's a piece of crap. Great radio- just a little tidbit on the WJFK awesome day would be great! (12/12/08) Look out! It's Internet Tough Guy! "Michael Fitzgerald of Bowie MD" has challenged "Dave in Sterling," calling him a coward for not signing his "real name!" What that has to do with local TV and radio, I'm not sure....seems more like an 8th grade flame war to me. (12/12/08) here is a link ... on the impending break-up of equity broadcasting which will affect WJLA's RTN digital channel...at some point: Creditor Files to Liquidate Equity Media, Claims Company Cannot Meet Payroll Obligations www.arkansasbusiness.com (12/12/08) If you are not listening to the 'JFK dysfunctional family 13 hour show today you are missing something special. Chad and Oscar just had a genuine meltdown. Omera is at the top of his game. Junks are credible filler. Great radio stuff. Screw ratings or CBS executive decisions- these guys are our guys and they are terrific. (12/12/08) Listening to the "argument" on the Dysfunctional Family broadcast on WJFK. Chad just put on display something that should have been obvious to all by now -- that Oscar is the more professional of the duo. Blowing up over Oscar visiting Arizona this weekend (and leaving the marathon broadcast three hours early to go... until he decided to leave tomorrow instead just to shut everyone up), as though he's a traitor to their show, and to the station? What about all those other accusations? If Oscar and Chad end up being casualties of the CBS Radio shake-up, there's no question who would find on-air work first. (12/12/08) "and talking about spending more time with his new bride" Ah yes. How long before he has a kid and then starts up a ranch out west somewhere. Stern Ranch Turquoise Buffalo tortilla chips and salsa. yum yum (12/12/08) Dave's response: Or a two-week stint on an Ocean City radio station..... Interesting that Ed Graham should write about radio personalities alienating their audience. I noticed exactly the same effect when I had a Soupy Sales weekend at my house. On the old TV shows, he played directly to the audience. Sure, the people in the studio were obviously having a blast, too, but it was all aimed at the audience. Then when I listened to one of his later radio shows, he was playing only to the co-hosts in the studio. Same person, practically the same jokes, but it wasn't about the audience anymore. It just left me wishing I hadn't wasted money on the aircheck. Surely Ed Graham is right about the same effect across other radio shows. ~~CA in BC (12/12/08) Dave, I think that you find this interesting. Washington has the highest penetration of HDTVs according to Nielsen in the largest people meter markets. www.mediaweek.com (12/12/08) Wow -- three days after I said it doesn't matter if people sign their names to posts or not, somebody declares that makes me "the 'super-hero' of cowards-who-refuse-to-use-their names!...the center of the Universe and...the receiver of all wisdom that pours forth and...the 'Chosen one' to explain it all...the King of the 'throw and insult and run for cover' crowd..." There's a reason they make decaf. Dave in Sterling (12/12/08) TO Michael Fitzgerald: STFU u MOFO! LMAO ROTFL -- Patrick Fitzgerald ( BRB... got bigger fish to fry TTYL :-D ) LOL (12/12/08) Happy Anniversary **Today** to Radio: www.wired.com (12/12/08) And the poster said "Ohm Leaves MSNBC", I wonder if there was um, any resistance?" Well, watt's it matter? It won't impede her next job. (12/12/08) Is there a new TV network coming on line in DC in the new year? [A well-known DC community website] is busting with Maslow recruitment ads. Anyone know whatzup? (12/12/08) Dave's response: You can reveal the website..... As for the WJLA news director sending out a memo regarding staffer's appearance, am I to assume that the station has no hair and makeup person on site??..Also, it's all well and good that this exec is concerned with appearance, but when you have your reporters, for instance, out in inclement weather such as a drenching rain, how good do you expect them to look??..Now, on the other hand, when it isn't inclement weather, some of the field reporters could do a little better on their appearance..One person in point is Allison Wilson on FOX5..When shes out in the field (and even in studio), she just appears to be disheveled most of the time..And her hair (as well as Jackie Benson on NBC4) routinely looks as though it needs attention..And talking about appearance, JC Hayward looks like she's about to perform in the circus with all that hair and make-up she has wears on a daily basis..But all in all, I'd be curious as to just how professional the news director who wrote the memo looks on a daily basis.. (12/12/08) ...and another thing. As I slowly watched radio climb above a reasonable commercial load, it occurred to me that ARBITRON didn't really measure the effects of the long breaks. When the ridiculous Howard and D&M shows started to do 10 minute (and longer before the top of the hour) breaks, their ratings didn't suffer. Everyone who listened knew how long the break was going to be and tuned out to a secondary station - - tuned back to D&M in ten minutes - - or maybe liked what they heard on the other station and forgot to tune back for a while. They wrote their favorite in the diary, but left out the backup. I understood how management, or a pathetic PD would use this flaw in ARBITRON to diss (crap on) their audience. If you want to know how some radio owners killed their PPM numbers, this is a good start. |#| ...and another thing. Radio, developed as a place where you could tune in a friend. The personality talked directly to you. I used to know that the person I was talking to might be alone in the car, working, in bed, anywhere. Radio was intimate and it really worked. In recent years, the trend has be to put two or more people in a studio and have them talk to each other. It turns radio into a Show that you eavesdrop on and not a conversation that included you. Totally perverts the medium. Sucks. Started with bad morning zoos and now includes most programming. No loyalty to the listener, so the listener feels no loyalty to the station. Change is coming - - can't wait. Ed Graham (12/12/08) I have heard from reliable sources that CBS radio in Baltimore is hurting big time... Everyday management appears to drop another bomb... First all LSM's were demoted to AE's... Two GSM's have doubled up and now manage two radio stations each with no Local Sales Manager. ( the DOS still doubles as the GSM for MIX) Just recently CBS eliminated all National Sales Manager positions who are salaried ( this is said to be nationwide) and now these reps are commissioned account execs... CBS Baltimore has gone from the top market ( per Stanley kaplan) to dead last... Word is morale is at an all time low and micromanaging is at an all time high. (12/12/08) An internal Washington Post email from WJLA News VP Bill Lord to staffers: "Reporters, This seems like a good time to remind everyone that their appearance on television is very important. Our studio is now in High Definition. Soon our live shots from the field will be in HD. Viewers will be seeing a great deal more detail as we move into the future. We need to make sure we present ourselves in a positive fashion. Please make sure you are dressed professionally and appropriately. Please make sure your hair is managed as well as circumstances allow. Please take the time to make the correct use of makeup. You should always look like a studio professional when you do on set and in newsroom stand-ups. You should always do your best in the field to overcome the elements. I don't expect miracles, but there have been occasions where it appears little if any attention has been paid to the image we are sending into viewer's homes. Please see me if you have questions." (12/12/08) So let me be sure I understand this. The Obama supporters at Post, Gannett, NBC and Albritton are cutting salaries and phasing out jobs while adding duties,,,but Fox is not? The Emporer has no clothes. All of the Obama supporters sound far more Republican than does the so called Right Wing station. I wonder how those union members feel now about their jobs being protected by the incoming admin? Your dues may have been misspent, but at least with a salary cut you are still making at least 2X the median average for a trade job. Yes, despite what you think, the Federal government classifies journalism jobs as a trade, not a profession, which is why you get to have the collective bargaining unit. Businesses see what is coming with the promises of the gneu administration and they are beginning to make cuts now. Fox is probably keeping people because they know that conservatives are going to be very busy keeping checks on the corruption in the new administration, that has already begun. (12/12/08) To Shawn in Bethesda...It was Ron that hosted "Bowling For Dollars."...Johnny Dark (12/12/08) Will the last person leaving the news business please turn off the lights? - P. (12/12/08) Regarding the post, "Ohm Leaves MSNBC", I wonder if there was um, any resistance? JS in CT (12/12/08) Help me out here, please!! In the past two days, I've tried to listen to ESPN 980, specifically Doc and Kevin's show and I've found a new method to getting rich. If someone gave me a penny for every- time Doc said the word "boy or dawg," I'd be taking early retirement. I don't understand how people like Dan Snyder or Bruce Gilbert can tolerate this bad programming. This is the problem with Snyder's awful reputation, hiring poor talent which represents the "proud" Redskins name. That's why 980 is between 20-25 ranked in the market. At this point, don't blame Doc...he doesn't know any better and don't blame Kevin, he's too busy selling mexican food. It's exactly why Bonneville should start another sportstalk station in the market!! (12/12/08) Yes, WBAL-TV 11 actually did an ON-AIR obituary news story for one of their biggest advertisers, a sleazy car dealership's owner. That's sort of why WBAL-TV no longer does car repair investigative reports nor do most local TV stations anymore. The Bottom Line rules. Now, you know the REST of the story. Paul Harvey (12/12/08) Please settle an argument for me. Bowling for Dollars was a popular show that ran in almost every major city in America back in the 70's. I say Johnny Holliday was the host in Washington and Ron Riley the host in Baltimore. My friend claims it was Johnny Dark that hosted the Baltimore edition. I don't think so!! Best wishes to Mr Riley who just retired from News Channel 8. We miss him. Shawn, Bethesda (12/12/08) What going on with Elliot? Something is wrong. What are your thoughts? (12/12/08) Thank God "Dave in Sterling" setting us all straight about those pesky "anonymous" posters, and somehow, with his bas-akwards logic, made himself the "super-hero" of cowards-who-refuse-to-use-their-names! We can thank the stars that Dave in Sterling set us straight about how things are on the "Internet". As we all know, "Sterling" is the center of the Universe and Dave in Sterling is the receiver of all wisdom that pours forth, and is the "Chosen one" to explain it all, to us lowly mortals! But lets be serious now, to justify your cowardice by comparing the world to "sports-talk-radio" is one of the more pathetic attempts ever seen on DCRTV. Typically, the people(and I'm being kind) who hide behind phony handles (names) have insulting and nasty things to say about someone else, and don't have the cahon's to put their name to their opinons. It reduces DCRTV to the bathroom wall of blogs! And "Dave in Sterling" is the King of the "throw and insult and run for cover" crowd. But thank you Dave in Sterling for your self professed superiority in this arena, and for setting the record straight and bringing the rest of the DCRTV world down to your incomprehensible level of how everything works in "sports talk radio". If it weren't for the naifs on DCRTV, for which Dave in Sterling speaks, there'd be no one to laugh at!(and we are laughing AT you, not with you) Without the cowards and nit-wits, DCRTV would be informed opinons, by people who aren't afraid to put their names behind their opinons. Michael Fitzgerald - Bowie, MD (12/12/08) /\ December 12 Messages /\ \/ December 11 Messages \/ RE: "Direct government funding to NPR ended over 25 years ago. " What a load of shit meant to do little more than obfuscate the truth. NPR received, as recently as 2004, a percentage of its operating budget through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which received huge chunks of cash from the federal government. Just because Uncle Sam didn't write the check made out to NPR didn't mean it wasn't the source. Currently, several government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, have "underwritten" NPR programming. Instead of playing word games why not address the need to get rid of more of the fat that exists there and run it more like a business? By the way, that local station radio reporter covering the sniper trial mentioned a few days ago probably filed twice an hour while the NPR crew likely did a grand total of two packages -- one for that evening and one for the next morning. Apparently the only thing they didn't bring with them to ease the incredible burden of the workload was a massage therapist and a chef from Citronelle. John Muhammad (12/11/08) Dave, you say that Jerry Stautberg was the spokesperson for Jerry’s Chevrolet, which was true, but he was also the owner. Jerry’s Chevrolet really made its name in its original location on York Road, where it was known as Jerry’s Govans Chevrolet. Anyone who grew up in Baltimore in the 60’s or 70’s probably still remembers the famous radio tagline: “Jerry’s Govans Chevrolet, 5600 York Road at Bellona, best place to become a Chevrolet owna.” Roddy Freeman (12/11/08) An unsigned poster wrote. "...Living in College Park, I can't listen to WJFK due to their lousy signal..." Back on 10/30/07, Dave Loudin wrote, "Anybody try listening to WJFK's broadcast of the UM Terps football game at the stadium Saturday? Notice anything different? CBS got an STA approved on Friday for an on-channel booster not to exceed 10 watts at 50 meters somewhere near the stadium." When I was on campus two weeks ago, I received a loud and clear mono signal of WJFK, presumably from their booster. Not a sermon; just a thought. (12/11/08) For those of you who read the media accounts of NPR's budget troubles, you will note the absence of any mention of government funding. That is because National Public Radio, Inc. doesn't receive government funding. Instead, it receives its money from dues and fees charged to member stations and from corporate sponsors. Direct government funding to NPR ended over 25 years ago. NPR doesn't do on-air fundraising because it has no air to do it on. NPR does not own any radio stations. Stations that air NPR programming are owned by universities and non-profit organizations. I know it's hard for some of you to understand and for many of you to let go of your prejudices, but them's the facts. (12/11/08) "Verizon Wireless has teamed with Clear Channel to sponsor HD Radio multicasts on 21 of the broadcaster's stations, including DC's Hot 99.5, Philadelphia's Q102, Boston's Kiss 108, and NYC's Z100. "Verizon New Music," a block of songs and interviews featuring new artists, runs 24-hours a day and is updated throughout the week....." THEN IT'S NOT REALLY HD IS IT? IT IS WIRELESS STREAMING! HD is done as I have said many times. This is wireless streaming which will become the new way to broadcast in the next upcoming months. (12/11/08) Poor Silvie has come down with a case of Obama Derangement Syndrome. I'm sure Obama had Caylees bones stashed somewhere just in case some scandal arose. It's going to be a long four years, I really feel for you. -JR (12/11/08) “On the other hand, saving print media is probably beyond anyone’s capability.” You mean Obama is losing the magic already? He’s the Messiah! He can do anything just by virtue of being the anointed one. People faint at the site of him. Surely he can resurrect the print media too. (12/11/08) RE: Verizon brands CC HD-Radio channels. Verizon gets a 50% “added value” credit for each dollar that it spends on commercials. The stations usually end up giving them free spots or sponsorships equal to half of the cost of their media buy because this is the easiest way to handle it. My guess is that CC figured out a way of giving them their added value without having to give up spots on their regular radio stations - which they can then sell for revenue. Verizon spends a lot on radio buys, and the amount owed to them as added value can be a very high amount. The stations can put a high dollar value on the branding of the HD and be done with it. (12/11/08) Seems like the honeymoon is over already for Mr. Obama. As a result of the sleazy gov of Illinois and the Jesse Jackson Jr. press conference, the media is now starting to do what they should have done during the campaign and that is investigate this guy's background and connections. Obama came up in the slimiest state in the country politically and you slop around in the pig pen, you get crap all over you. The fun is just beginning. (12/11/08) A familiar icon of Baltimore TV advertising is gone-- Gerald Stautberg, of the "Jerry's Chevrolet" commercials of the past few decades, died this past Sunday at 79. Here's WBAL's story by Rob Roblin: www.youtube.com... And the Sun article here: www.baltimoresun.com (12/11/08) Dave…. I thought you might like to pass this along – it has been getting tremendously positive response. Produced entirely inhouse and shot by our own Mac Nelson, who is the long-time director of our video unit. holidaygreeting.umd.edu... Also more photos at: flickr.com... Dave Ottalini, Senior Media Relations Associate, University of Maryland (12/11/08) Hmmm.... this whole Gov. Blago, Sen. Obama, Jesse Jackson, Jr. thing has been exploding for the past 3 days and all of a sudden today the (alleged) body of little Caylee Anthony of Florida is found. I'm not blaming any of these individuals on little Caylee's disappearance, but isn't it just coincidential that she is found today, when the news is all about Blago & Crew? Who's next, Natalee Holloway? -Silvie- (12/11/08) If this is real, if this is O'Meara...I think the caption "I am the walrus" fits! (12/11/08) Does anyone know what happened to Elliot In The Morning today? (12/11/08) A depressed rightwing poster asks “So just how does Obama expect to create jobs and redistribute the wealth when party organs such as Post-Newsweek are cutting jobs and cutting circulation?” Yeah, Obama does have his work cut out for him with the Bushies leaving American capitalism in a shambles. It must kill you conservative crazies to know that your Grand Experiment has proven to be such a dismal failure. But have faith. Having a president who can read, write, count, and think—for a change—will have a very positive impact on nearly every aspect of American life. We’ve survived the worst. On the other hand, saving print media is probably beyond anyone’s capability. Post-Newsweek is no worse off than any print media company—just closer to home. (12/11/08) I think it was only fitting that Mike O'Meara had 'Nearer My God to Thee' playing the other day. That song was the last tune played by the orchestra on the deck of the Titanic before it listed and began its final plunge into the cold, dark abyss. Rather eloquent. JA (12/11/08) To the poster who asked about what the analog shutoff means to satellite and cable subs the answer is little to nothing. DISH and DirecTV are already using digital feeds of the DC locals. I am unsure if Cox and Comcast are but they can continue to supply their current analog tier as they always have. It is possible that over time the cable companies will move everything to a digital tier but they are obligated to provide SOME programming as analog for awhile. All that is really shutting down is the analog OTA broadcasts. But everything on the analog 9 will be at the new digital 9 and the carriers will likely just provide that----as I said DISH and DirecTV are already using the digital feed. BTW I also understand that the reference the other day to 9 not showing ET and the Insider in HD is outdated. It seemed to come form a post on a message board back in September. It may have ben true then but 9 seems to be providing the shows in HD now. (12/11/08) Regarding Czaban on both Fox and ESPN980. Al Galdi (sp?) does local sports updates in the morning on ESPN980, and top of the hour updates on the National Fox Sports show, oddly enough, Czabans' show, so I guess it isn't an issue. (12/11/08) "FYI, it would make a lot more financial sense for a sports talk WJFK to just dump the overbloated Junkies and carry Steve Czaban's national show off Fox Sports Radio." Wouldn't that necessitate Czaban himself jumping from WTEM to WJFK? I don't see how he could continue to co-host Sports Reporters on 980 if his syndicated show's being carried by a competing sports talk station, although stranger things have happened in the radio business. There's also the question of Tony Kornheiser's next radio outlet - perhaps the hypothetical all sports WJFK would make a bid for him as well. Signing on with Dan Snyder's stations would appear to pose a conflict of interest problem if Mr. Tony wanted to continue doing Monday Night Football on ESPN, as at the very least he'd probably have to recuse himself from any telecasts involving the Redskins. Mike, Fairfax (12/11/08) With CBS owning both WJFK 106.7 AND WWMX 106.5, I've always wondered why they haven't tried to improve WJFK's DC to Maryland suburbs signal. Baltimore's MIX 106.5 has such a clear signal advantage in Maryland as its transmitter is on a tower that is nearly 500 FEET TALLER than WJFK's in northern VA, on the other side of DC. Not to mention WJFK has a directional signal while WWMX is omnidirectional. You would think that with owning both stations, they could tweak the WWMX signal directional and less to DC without really affecting the station's value or coverage. Or CBS could go into a partnership with possibly a TV station to build a significantly taller tower. Face it, DC has the worst / shortest broadcast tower height situation of ANY major market. No FM station in DC broadcasts from a height of over 800ft while several stations in smaller market Baltimore broadcast from 1000 foot to 1200 foot towers with substantially better signals. (12/11/08) Dave's response: Years ago, when Howard Stern was on DC's 106.7 and Baltimore's 1300, I ranted that CBS should "pair" the 106.5 and 106.7 signals and offer a common "station" with Stern on both signals..... So just how does Obama expect to create jobs and redistribute the wealth when party organs such as Post-Newsweek are cutting jobs and cutting circulation? Some great confidence in the messiah is being shown by the apologists at Post-Newsweek. Oh that's right, Obama is going to create massive federal employment by massive public works projects. And how will those be funded? By employment and sales taxes,,,which won't be collected on the decreased employment, decreased circulation and decreased advertising. I don't think Post-Newsweek editors were among the 67% who approve of Obama's performance thus far. But what a good laugh to see Democrats acting like Republicans. If the Post and Newsweek actually stood behind their politics beyond merely bashing Republicans, they would do more than just pay cuts for executives. They would redistribute the wealth in the company so that people keep their jobs and continue to pay taxes. What cuts has the Washington Times made,,,or perhaps they are actually hiring? (12/11/08) How great is it that the most recent controversy regarding the Deadskins (i.e. the Portis/Zorn showdown) has been propogated by Little Danny's radio station. Little Danny wanted to provide nauseating 24/7 coverage of his failed hobby and its done nothing but show what a Mickey mouse organization he is running. There is only so much analysis that can be done, so the shows become rampant with rumors, allegations, and dirty laundry. Of course, Little Danny's shoeshine boy Vinny will be on tomorrow to tell Deadskins Nation "Nothing to see here. All is calm. Move along." (12/11/08) Re: "CBS has been hot on FM sports for a long time, just not as an entire format. At one point when the Skins were on JFK, I believe CBS had PBP for over hald of the teams in the NFL. I think PPM is just confirming what they’ve known for a long time, not providing them with new information." Well, except for the fact that CBS Radio had reportedly been scaling back on PBP sports (pre-PPM) due to hefty rights fees. It appears that with sports looking really good in the PPM numbers, they're diving back in, big time. It's believed that the Dallas market's plum radio contract, the Cowboys, will end up moving from sports talker "The Ticket" to the new CBS FM sports outlet in 2009. I would not at all be surprised if CBS starts an FM sports talker in DC in the next few months, though I'm not sure it's a given that it'll be on 106.7... (12/11/08) I have no problem listening to the Terps. Living in College Park, I can't listen to WJFK due to their lousy signal, but I do have the Web where the games come in loud and clear. WJFK, WTOP, ESPN 980, none of those stations really matter when you can go to UMTERPS.Com. For Terp fans who have XM, remember they carry all the home game broadcasts of Maryland as well as every other team in the ACC. (12/11/08) RE: [ " Or will the cable and/or dish company simply duplicate digital programming on the analog tier to reduce customer complaints? " ]......... I noticed that Comcast of Baltimore County has been testing a slew of SD digital local channels in the channel 78-# range on the QAM band (meaning any HDTV set can receive them). These are 480i standard def digital versions of the analog locals that are already on analog channels, hence there are 2 versions of locals currently on Comcast Baltimore county, one analog, one digital, same picture quality roughly. Does this mean that Comcast is going to only offer SD locals as part of basic cable and that to get even your OWN LOCAL stations in HD, you'll have to upgrade to digital cable and pay for a converter box? That's a scary thought. And it's yet another thing the FCC has to step in and put a stop to. Why on god's earth would anyone want to pay EXTRA for HDTV locals when they can already get it for FREE on the brand new $1000 HDTV set they just purchased? I smell a rat and its got COMCAST's name written all over it once again. The FCC is clearly asleep at the switch as to what sleazy plans some of the cable companies have ready to put in place come Feb '09. And we think the FEDS can run 3 car companies ??? HAha! (12/11/08) CBS has been hot on FM sports for a long time, just not as an entire format. At one point when the Skins were on JFK, I believe CBS had PBP for over hald of the teams in the NFL. I think PPM is just confirming what they’ve known for a long time, not providing them with new information. (12/11/08) I was watching Florida TV this morning. They reported that one of their old weathermen was being released from jail this week and will be in a halfway house in PA. Some guy by the name of Bill Kamal. Any job openings? (12/11/08) The up and coming February transition, otherwise characterized as THE BIG TURNOFF, where over-the-air broadcasting using the NTSC system cease, with few exceptions, means what? First, those who are not hooked to the cable and are not hooked to the dish and who have no digital-to-analog convertor box will receive no programming. Second, those who are on cable and who are on dish will find a whole slew of formerly populated channel numbers empty. Or will the cable and/or dish company simply duplicate digital programming on the analog tier to reduce customer complaints? (12/11/08) /\ December 11 Messages /\ \/ December 10 Messages \/ Three things will stop WJFK from being a success with a Sports format. 1) Signal with holes in it. 2) No flagship sports other than Maryland (and Johnny Holliday has expressed to more than a few people he'd love to have the Terps on 1500 AM, and 3) They don't have another ratings giant in the cluster to cross promote them, like WTOP does for the Nats, Caps, DC United, GW and American basketball and Navy football & basketball on 1500 AM. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Bonneville can out sell them, out promote them, out produce them and have every decent sport but one locked up. I'd trade Navy basketball for Maryland any day. (12/10/08) I got a phone call from a friend of mine who works for CBS News and said that the hatchet man went to Moscow, Tel-Aviv today closing the bureaus, and will arrive at the London bureau tomorrow and gut the place but leave it open. (12/10/08) Ive said it before, I'll say it yet again: why cant we have TV commercials like this here? www.youtube.com (12/10/08) For those wondering about WJFK's future chances...read this from the blog of a producer of KLLI/Dallas' "Russ Martin Show", dumped in that station's change to sports: "The station had been trying to implement more sports broadcasts at night and on the weekends, and the new ratings system has favored sporting events early on. CBS feels going all sports is their best chance at success with the new ratings system, and The Russ Martin Show wouldn't be a part of it." blog.myspace.com... There are differences here between KLLI and WJFK, and even between Martin and JFK afternooner Mike O'Meara. (For one, Martin has been in a LOT of high-profile legal hot water recently.) But CBS really likes the FM sports idea, for the reasons mentioned above. It's a whole new world with PPM. (12/10/08) RE: Media and the recession. I’m sorry the news media makes EVERYTHING seem worse than it really is, and they always will. Fear mongering creates ratings. If you talk to someone who just lost their job or have been foreclosed on and they’ll tell you the media doesn’t cover it enough. If you talk to someone who is doing well (Rush Limbaugh) they’ll tell you “they’re not participating in the recession” and the media dwells on it too much. If you really want to have a discussion on media and the recession, let’s talk about how major media companies over leveraged themselves during the deregulation land grab in the late 90’s and now they’re forced to sit back and pay off loans rather than invest in product. That’s the real problem, Ace. Jerry in Columbia (12/10/08) I have never worked for NPR (not for lack of trying!), and it may very well be true that they are "a bloated organization"--as the recent poster charged. However, let's look at the example given. What did the poster provide to his/her local radio station while covering the sniper story, and what did the NPR team provide? NPR programs typically run features that are full of sound from many sources and last several minutes apiece. Is that what the local reporter was providing--or was it instead a series of live cut-ins and recorded reports of limited length (as they used to say, it has to fit on a 40-second cart)? NPR also decided the story was important enough to send an anchor to the site--indicating that there would be several of these labor-intensive reports each day. Yes, I have heard stories that the NPR anchors can be prima donnas and therefore may insist on that producer, sound person and runner. But it's also possible that the team was working together to provide a lot more. (12/10/08) Dave, Have you listened to The Spectrum on XM/Sirius? -- Its really a cool little station. If the globe had the guts to use half the playlist and variety of the spectrum, it might be alive and kicking today. Drew from Fairfax (12/10/08) Dave's response: No, I haven't. I'll have to give it a try..... I'm not at all surprised by the staffing cuts and the big budget deficit at NPR. That is such a bloated organization that it's only surprising that it took so long. Several years ago I covered the DC Sniper trials in Virginia Beach for a local radio station. I was sent there with several mini-disk recorders, a laptop, a Zephyr and a bag full of cables and connectors. It all fit neatly into one leather bag. I shared my "broadcast table" in the gym next to the building where the trial was being held with a radio reporter from one of the big three networks. Our table was next to one marked "National Public Radio ONLY". The NPR crew showed up a day after the trial got underway and by crew I mean: 1) an anchor, (2) a producer, (3) a sound person and (4) a runner whose job it was to grab tape from the various pressers that were held each day. That's right, NPR sent four people to cover an event that only required one capable radio correspondent to feed her entire network. As I understand it, the runner and the producer shared a room but the anchor and the soundperson each had their own rooms. The cost for those three rooms and the expenses for the four persons to cover this one story is something that should be better explained to listeners when NPR spends all that airtime begging for contributions and taxpayer dollars to stay afloat. (12/10/08) Mike in Waldorf, you have bad information. Under the old Diary system, about 430 people per week determined Arbitron ratings for DC. Under PPM, the full panel of 1300+ people participates each week. More people determine the ratings each week in this new world and the ratings ARE more accurate. (12/10/08) Re: Media causing the recession....this may be the silliest premise of all time. Silliest statement yet: "I remember seeing ads on TV in this region and online for housing developmentsand various mortgage companies in Las Vegas and Phoenix telling people they could be approved for a mortgage to get a house in those cities with no money down, no credit check and not even having a job lined up in those places..." Please explain how companies advertising legal (if unwise) mortgage deals makes the recession the media's fault....? Seriously, has Rush so corrupted people's mind's that they can't even think through that simple little puzzle....?!? (12/10/08) Hey Dave....to use a well worn phrase from the just concluded election : "you can put lipstick on a pig . but it is still a pig". If you flip JFK to sports...just calling it a sports talker and keeping the same line-up intact ain't gonna fly in this day of PPMs...I think you would have to shake up the ENTIRE CBS station cluster... 94.7 seems the logical place for an FM sports talker given its coverage area. but I don't know if you keep O'meara and Big O and Dukes...maybe not even the Junks.....I like the idea of putting HFS back on 99.1 and it has always made sense for EL Zol to move to the more friendly confines of 106.7...let's face it radio these days is a total crapshoot...so we can all speculate and theorize ...but no one really knows what is going to work down the line! (12/10/08) Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I recall in this very forum, as well as other news outlets, the PPM system isn't fair to a lot of stations because a small percentage of people are using this system to measure who listens to what. Regarding Don, I am not sure it was a buyout, at least from what he said on the air earlier this year and last year, that he talked to the CBS suits about getting out of his contract in some way but isn't he in a non-compete clause which is why he was kicked off in Ocean City? Mike in Waldorf (12/10/08) Dave's response: From what I understand, Don Geronimo was able to retire early under two conditions: 1) that he stay under contract to CBS through 2010, which prohibits him from working in markets where CBS owns stations (like DC and Baltimore) without CBS's okay, and 2) he's not getting paid, or getting paid a lot less than he used to..... That's right, Mike O'Meara. When the ratings are down, you blame the crummy signal! (12/10/08) While accepting that the ratings do not look good for them, my hope would be that WJFK could keep the talk trio of Junkies/BigO and Dukes/ Mike O'Meara. I like their shows and think they offer something unique to the DC radio scene. The rest of the WJFK schedule is disposable, and with the stations signal strength, it would be a great home for DC sports events. Daves idea of WJFK "leaning" in the sports direction could be a good one. But WJFK's "trio of talkers" are (or ought to be) a real asset for the area radio scene. Only other thing to add is that I wish a DC station could carry Steve Czabe's "First Team" morning show. . .it was (is) so much better and more entertaining than Mike and Mike. (12/10/08) Did anyone hear "Nearer My God To Thee" playing softly in the background during the opening half-hour of the Mike O'Meara Show on WJFK today? Man, if that show doesn't have the stench of death hanging over it . . . I don't have any inside information, and I won't claim to, but there's no mistaking the tone of who-gives-a-damn creeping into the voices of the on-air "talent" on JFK, as if they can see the giant blade descending ever closer to their collective necks. Sincerely, TMU (12/10/08) Dave's response: Hmmmmmmm. Also, I know I'm the only one listening to 106.7 with an HD Radio. But JFK's digital also sucks. Low volume and mushy. Worse than the analog signal. Been that way for weeks..... God Bless Bob Prosky. Not only an outstanding performer, but a truly great human being. Walt in Lewes (12/10/08) Hello dcrtv, My name is Rahul Bali and I am a reporter over at WTOP. I actually came from Atlanta, where I worked at WSB Radio for 10 years. Five of those were directly with former WASHer Mike Kavanagh. I do appreciate that you post the news of his passing and would like to pass on the information about this funeral. wsbradio.com (12/10/08) Re: recession...one thing most people tend to forget is that America is always in a recession. Maybe not the country as a whole but there will always be someplace that is hurting. When was the last time Buffalo had a booming economy? Look at Maryland and Virginia..sure the DC and Baltimore suburbs have had their share of good times..yet look at the other cities in those states like Cumberland or Danville, their economies have been poor for so long and often the media in those states overlook them. Within the last few months I noticed some newspapers ( and even TV ) interviewing people who were around the the Great Depression of the 30's and I myself have heard reporters asked them how does our current "depression" compare to what happened back in 1933. What a stupid question !!! Sure we have had our share of failed banks recently but back in the 30's, when a bank failed..your money was gone !!! That is not the case today. Yes, the mortgage crisis is one big reason why there is a recession today and with that being said, I wonder if some of the blame for the recession could be placed on the media? After all I remember seeing ads on TV in this region and online for housing developmentsand various mortgage companies in Las Vegas and Phoenix telling people they could be approved for a mortgage to get a house in those cities with no money down, no credit check and not even having a job lined up in those places. I can remember after seeing those ads saying to myself "...this will be a big problem down the road". I wonder how many people took up the offer such as young people who wanted to get out of this area and live in Vegas. I bet its many of those same people whose houses have been foreclosed. (12/10/08) (the last two weeks of December really don't factor into any ratings book, including this so called weekly stuff which is proving to have it's own problems) BUZZ. First, exactly what "problems" is this "weekly stuff" proving to have? Second - in the "PPM world" all weeks are rated, as there are no longer ratings "books". There are 13 "months", 12 months and the "holiday" time. All times are rated and factored into time buys for media. This isn't the "old days". (12/10/08) Hey, Mike in Waldorf , why the anger at me? All I did was ask a question about whether Mike taking off for 2 weeks in the PPM world is crazy. Never did I profess to have any knowledge in THAT email. However, in this one I am calling you an idiot for claiming that JFK is still paying Don. He left, they negotiated to let him out of his contract early at his request. why on earth would they continue to pay him? Haha - still not signing my name (12/10/08) As someone who tries to make a go of selling items on the web, I _do_ think that the media scares people into making the recession worse. Stories of bank failures coincided perfectly with extreme drops in sales, even though nobody was supposed to lose any money in those failures. And the media can be VERY irresponsible. Just yesterday the insufferable Ron Chapman, during the Paul Harvey news program (and isn't that still the most-listened-to news program on radio?), reported that Anheuser-Busch and 3M BOTH filed for bankruptcy, even though it wasn't true. THAT painted a scary picture. Doesn't anybody check these "news" stories before they get blurted out? ~~CA in BC (12/10/08) Hey, can we stop the silly griping about who does and does not "sign their name" on their Mailbag posts ("Since you think you know it all, that is why you wouldn't leave your name...")? Writing "Mike in Waldorf" or "Dave in Sterling" or "Skippy The Wonderdog" at the end of an email gives it no more and no less credibility than leaving it blank. For one thing--and I don't claim to speak for "Mike in Waldorf"--my given name is not "Dave in Sterling." Either way, we're dealing in anonymity, and if you can't deal with that, you aren't ready for the Internet. I thought this was a lesson anyone claiming to have listened to call-in sportstalk shows would understand already. Dave in Sterling (12/10/08) "What I DO think is interesting is that WJFK is allowing O'Meara to continue his 2 weeks of vacation every quarter commencing this Monday and ending in the new year. In this PPM world, is that crazy?" Since you think you know it all, that is why you wouldn't leave your name, the last two weeks of December really don't factor into any ratings book, including this so called weekly stuff which is proving to have it's own problems. You are forgetting that Mike has been in the DC since 1985, you don't think he gets a lot of vacation time? Going back to the Don and Mike days, they always took this much time off at the end of the year so this isn't a surprise. Who knows, maybe he is tying the knot with Carla before the year is out. What would be interesting to know is how the contracts of all 3 shows are written, can they get canned at any time because of poor ratings? One other factor, I believe Don still is being paid for a while since his contract technically didn't run out. Mike in Waldorf (12/10/08) WJFK 106.7 doesn't have broadcast rights to enough major sports teams to make a credible switch to sports talk. The Maryland Terrapins are legitimate but aren't matched correctly to the signal. To make a SportsTalk 106.7 work, CBS Radio should buy WFED or at least its associated Nationals & Capitals rights. On the flip side, Bonneville could buy out WJFK and launch its own sports talker there. FYI, it would make a lot more financial sense for a sports talk WJFK to just dump the overbloated Junkies and carry Steve Czaban's national show off Fox Sports Radio. Everett W. (12/10/08) Sorry, but the guys who think "that SOME, not most, not all, but some of this recession is being caused by media hype" don't have a clue about economics. And citing a couple of poorly written recession stories -- which were written months AFTER the recession started -- hardly proves your point. The credit crunch was caused by thousands of defaults on mortgages, NOT by local TV reporters misstating unemployment statistics. (12/10/08) Big O and Dukes talk about football at least every Monday, so I don't think that today's sports-related segments were unusual. Redskins are a common topic with Chad and today there are big rumors floating around so they addressed it. Not an issue. What I DO think is interesting is that WJFK is allowing O'Meara to continue his 2 weeks of vacation every quarter commencing this Monday and ending in the new year. In this PPM world, is that crazy? (12/10/08) After reading your rant today about digital radio, I figured you might like to know about an alternative that doesn't need new frequencies but also doesn't interfere with adjacent channels. All it does is replace the part of the FM station's signal used for RDS (and, optionally, stereo as well) and puts a digital signal there. I'm told it's much more robust than IBOC as well. It's called FMeXtra, and it appears to me to be superior in almost every way, including a lack of royalty fees. Wikipedia has a good article on it. (12/10/08) If CBS-DC did anything they should play with 4 of the stations. The Big Talker can be O'Meara's new home & swtich the calls to WJFK-AM, then simulcast El-Zol on 106.7 for 1 week with constant liners of the move to 106.7 over the music at 99.1 at the same time 94.7 flips to sports then so the the sports format can reach all around the DC area giving the sports formatted station a leg up on Red Zebra by beating the coverage of Red Zebra on a single frequency. A week later 99.1 becomes WHFS again playing Alt Rock serving both DC & Baltimore, 106.7 becomes El-Zol 106-7 WLZL, and 94.7 is WJFK-FM Just for Kicks with the Sports Junkies in the morning, Big O & D in the afternoon and sports talk all around those time slots. CBS-DC's current setup on all three stations isn't the best programming or the best places either. 99.1 comes in good all the way to a little north of the MD/PA Line like the Baltimore stations except 105.7, yet El-Zol definitely does not appeal to Baltimore listeners. 106.7 is DC only so put the DC only El-Zol there. 94.7 will never beat out 100.3 and if it did it wouldn't be by much and then is the numbers respectable enough to keep the format? Also fans of DC sports reach beyond the DC Beltway by a good bit im sure which is why 94.7 is the spot for it. Baltimore has 105.7 so why does there need to be sports on 99.1 that's going to reach 105.7's coverage area and beyond? I personally love the Alt Rock format but between the VT DJ's & the half job CC did on the playlist of 104.3 it isn't quite what the Alt-Rock could be and is part great and part total crap. As for 98 Rock they're usually talking and the morning show couldn't possibly be any more annoying, they make you lose brain cells period, and constantly talk over each other. As much as Jack uses the liner of 98Rock is 98Talk it's more than just a liner because it's true. (12/10/08) Dave's response: Yes, O'Meara (right), at a recent WJFK picnic, is definitely a BIG talker..... Radio: How come it's always "what WE wanna talk about" and "what WE wanna play?" When will radio owners think about "what the listeners want" to talk about or hear? (12/10/08) Dave's response: Too many stations, a la the Globe, are programmed for advertisers first and listeners second. That may get you some initial ad dollars, but in the long run it'll result in low ratings and fewer ad dollars..... "There is a huge 'hole' in the DC market for a well-programmed, good-signaled FM sports talker." With every passing day, ESPN 980 serves notice that sports radio competition on the dial is badly needed. You almost suspect that the station puts its Redskin guests up to making controversial comments for the purpose of stirring things up and even getting some national play, case in point being Clinton Portis ripping on Jim Zorn during yesterday's John Thompson show (earlier in the season he'd gone after co-host Brian Mitchell without warning). Meanwhile there are 26 metropolitan areas in North America with major league baseball and in 25 of them, local sports talk radio would treat rumors about the hometown team being interested in signing Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez as a red meat topic tailor made for going to the phones. Unfortunately, DC appears to be the lone exception - while Kevin Sheehan did bring a guest on his show to discuss an earlier report by ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons that the Nationals might be looking to make a splash by going after Ramirez, the only calls he took were Skins related (and that was before Portis unloaded on Thompson's show). Needless to say, neither of the other two local programs on 980 saw fit to invite listeners to weigh in on Ramirez or any other hot stove league topic - but Andy Pollin did find time to call Washington a "non-baseball town" on Sports Reporters. I'm sorry - you can talk all you want about attendance and TV ratings falling short of expectations for the first year at Nationals Park, but the fact remains that the team ended up with the worst record in the majors and showed little or no sign of improvement at any point of the season. We don't know for sure how DC would respond to a consistently winning baseball product as there hasn't been one in anyone's memory, but the examples of other sports suggest that support would be phenomenal. Yet I understand why hosts on a Redskins owned station would make ridiculous statements like that - it gives them a convenient excuse not to spend much time keeping up with sports outside their narrow comfort zone. Mike, Fairfax (12/10/08) From a previous post...."I am convinced that SOME, not most, not all, but some of this recession is being caused by media hype"..ah I couldn't agree with you more. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if HALF of all the recession stuff that is being reported IS hype and its hardly a "new" thing. After watching some of this recession coverage, kinda makes me wonder if the reporters & anchors have some knowledge about history? Like the one news report I saw recently out of Indianapolis that appeared on You Tube. The reporter said "..and I can remember when Indianapolis had a ZERO unemployment rate". WTF ??? When was that? Not even the smallest of towns can claim they ever had ZERO unemployment...much less a big city like Indianapolis. What gets me is how the media goes into overdrive reporting all these layoffs and such and fact is many of these very same companies have been laying people off for YEARS, CBS for example I belive has laid off a large number of people over the years and didn't NBC do some major cutting about 10, 15 years ago? Come to think of it wasn't that the reason why WRC got rid of weatherguy Andrew Humphrey? And this was a time when the overall economy was booming. We are talking about a biz whose main goal was always "trying to save bucks", so why are people so shocked when they read things like "Viacom had laid off some employees"? Then you have those reporters who try to tie the recession to every other news story. A psycho-woman who kills her cats by throwing them onto a busy interstate highway...it was the recession that made her do it !!! My girlfriend was telling me yesterday she saw a newscaster recently saying that the current economic downturn could be due to the upcoming rapture ( the return of Jesus ) and that is why California, Arizona, and Florida rejected gay marriage. Now I have heard everything !!! Well as they say "..if it bleeds.. it leads", so yeah while the ecomony really is bad, a good chunk of the reporting of it..it is hype. (12/10/08) Whether or not WJFK flips, they ought to dump the Junkies. They're paid WAY too much and they've never built a sizable audience. It's that simple. Dave in Sterling (12/10/08) WTOP-FM (yes, FM) will break its news format for the EagleBank Bowl game, matching Navy & Wake Forest on December 20 from RFK Stadium. WFED has a Capitals broadcast that same early afternoon. Everett W. www.federalnewsradio.com (12/10/08) Big O&D spent the first 2 hours of their show talking sports, mostly Redskins stuff. Coincidence? Even though they do include segments on sports each week, I think not. Demonstrating that they can be a sports-oriented talk show might prove helpful very soon. (12/10/08) “f WJFK flips to a sports format, will the station allow the Junkies to continue to talk about non-sports topics, or will they have their content reigned in to fit a larger sports oriented audience?” If 105.7 THE FAN can keep Ed Norris & Maynard (who professes to despise sports and continually says so on-air) when they are “all-sports”, then I suppose it’s possible. (12/10/08) I remember seeing the late Robert Prosky in at least one Navy training film. It was about hearing protection, and I had to run it 3-4 times a week on the USS AMERICA's TV system from 1992-1995. The Navy's audio-visual command is at the old Anacostia Naval Station in DC across the Potomac River from National Airport. Al McGilvray (12/10/08) If WJFK flips to a sports format, will the station allow the Junkies to continue to talk about non-sports topics, or will they have their content reigned in to fit a larger sports oriented audience? What happens to Big O & Dukes and Mike O'Meara, if WJFK goes to all sports? Can Rob Spewak host a sports show? JOHN IN STAFFORD (12/10/08) Dave's response: My advice would be to take JFK a "few steps toward" a sports talk format, but keep some of the guy talk, like O'Meara and BO&D. My slogan would be - "WJFK, Just For Kicks. Sports and whatever the 'f' else we wanna talk about"..... Matt Connor was truly a genius. I worked with him when my company owned WKYS-FM in DC (Albimar Communications 88-95). Matt had been the Chief Engineer at rock formatted WNEW-FM in NY where I lived at the time and it was easily the best sounding technical facility on the East Coast. I convinced him to join us in DC--which, thanks to his family being from nearby Ocean City, he agreed to do. Matt is solely responsible for we and NBC's building that new tower at WRC-TV with the circularly polarized, stainless steel antenna with the ability to host 8 high power FM stations. That was quite a feat back in those days because the English built antenna's cost of over $260,000 was about 8 - 10 times adequate variations--and well worth it. Matt ripped out the entire audio chain and completely re-processed the WKYS signal that provided it with a signature sound. He was one of the first local engineers to embark upon the design and construction of custom audio processing boards, usually purchased from manufacturers. Matt left us for the Disney company; we were glad to have had the benefit of his skills and I was honored to work with him. Quite often radio CE's are affectionately likened to 'geeks'--but Matt Connor was indeed a Rock Star and I'll miss him. I enjoy your site. Skip Finley, Vice Chairman, ICBC Broadcast Holdings, Inc. (12/10/08) Can anyone explain why my Dish Network hooked up tvs failed this morning's DTV test? Neither 4,5,7 or 9 came in when tuned to either their respective numbers or their respective 807x listings. Obviously, I'll be calling Dish but I'm wondering if anyone else noticed it and can provide me with an explanation in case I receive "Dish speak." - Bob from College Park (12/10/08) Regarding your blurb about Fox Business Network HD, it's also already carried locally by Fios on channel 617. (12/10/08) Hey Dave… “booster” stations are on the same frequency (calls would be WETA-FM1). The station you mention is a translator. WETA has a big signal but does it have issues in Frederick? Hope all is well… Bob (12/10/08) Dave's response: You're right. I was using the layman's term of "booster" - not the technical one..... What, are you people totally stupid? CBS is flipping their talk stations that have a sports (NFL, NBA, College, Local) foundation to all sports. Makes sense! Think about it. In this recession, people will give up fast food, dining out, driving to a buddies house to get high, going to a bar to get drunk and pork a fat chick.... But they won't give up their SPORTS. They will never give up their HOME TEAMS, Redskins, Ravens, Orioles, Nationals, Caps, ESPN, FOX.... They will listen to FREE RADIO. Sports fans are unlike any other! The Junkies will Zoom! Big O and Dukes will do the same if they go back to their roots... Chad...Live 1057 - ESPN. The time is now. Sports Master - Out! (12/10/08) I sure hope the FCC steps in and STOPS COMCAST from running its new DESPICABLE HDTV AD CAMPAIGN, which basically tells new HDTV set buyers & consumers that their brand new HDTV sets cannot receive HD programming without a Comcast HD receiver. Talk about despicable false advertising! Meanwhile, at the same time, Comcast is running ads saying your cable TV won't change at all in Feb '09 as long as you have Comcast, ALSO A LIE (Comcast is busy deleting analog channels and preparing to force costly converter boxes on consumers at higher prices!). And VERIZON appears to be following suit, just minus the despicably deceiving advertisements that Comcast has been running, which seem at odds even with each other. The FCC really needs to step in and put a stop to this kind of DTV misinformation from COMCAST and prevent the cable companies from deliberately price gouging and pigeonholing consumers into buying or renting HD equipment they really do not in fact need. Otherwise, so many consumers spending over $1000 on a brand new HDTV set this holiday season thinking it can receive HD content are going to be quite mad come Feb. '09 with the current combination of both false promises and unnecessary threats and actions being taken by cable companies that are so anti-consumer as to be illegal. Please FCC, stop worrying foul language and content and start worrying about the impending anti-consumer HDTV MELTDOWN that appears to be secretly unfolding in the cable TV industry. (12/10/08) /\ December 10 Messages /\ \/ December 9 Messages \/ OK, I’ll confess… I’m a frequent listener to Tom Leykis on KLSX. During the PM commute here, I bounce between KNX, KBRT (With Rich Bueller who did PM drive on WAVA in its early Salem days…), KLSX, and KRTH-101. Now, obviously there’s quite a contrast between Rich Bueller and Tom Leykis! Tom Leykis is as raunchy as Howard Stern. (Perhaps even more…) But, he’s not trying to push the vocabulary or content envelopes like Howard. Having said that, as long as Kevin Martin is in charge of the FCC, I seriously doubt Tom Leykis will air anywhere near D.C. After Martin goes? It’s anybody’s guess. As to audience? Good question. As one who has long considered himself a Californian (OK, so “South Street” in Hollywood does a credible cheesesteak. But, if I want good wings, I have to do 'em myself!), I can say that there are vast differences in quality between radio in the Southland and that in D.C. From my years in the Washington area, I think one advantage that Howard Stern always had going for him when syndicated in D.C. is that he was in a sense local having worked at DC101. Tom Leykis is more resonant with the “laid-back” attitude so typical of Southern California. Just remember, it’s not just the weather! OK, so the remote thermometer on my lanai read 56 when it was 21 at Dulles a few nights ago. Then again, while we were having supper Friday evening, we had a tremblor from a 5.5 aftershock of a quake from 4 years ago. Fortunately, it was centered in Ludlow, about 150 miles east of Pasadena. John Pinckney (Care to guess where? Any idea how much I miss having to de-glaciate the car windows before the morning commute here? Not!) (12/9/08) "I personally don't think WJFK will flip if only because A) O'Meara is syndicated, making it a bit harder to do B) by doing that they're essentially ending "hot talk" as a format nationwide, and do they really want to do that yet? C) presumably while anything they replace it with will be cheaper, it could take years to rebuild whereas the current line-up could just refocus as the market adjusts to the use of the PPMs." A) Not really CBS does not care if a bunch of stations that are not owned by them lose a show that they don't pay salaries for. B) Not really, it does nothing more then ends "hot talk" on 106.7 in dc for a while. KLSX in LA is much more important to the format then JFK in LA they have Leykis and Adam Carolla who are really the only ones keeping syndicated "hot talk" around. Also did you get nothing from the massive failure and embarrassment that was Free FM? "Hot talk" has been dying since then. C) Yes it will be cheaper and it won't take a while when you factor in the lack of a listener base that JFK has (if they had one they would not be flipping) also the two most likley formats would be sports talk (980 is even less listenable then JFK) or rock and bottom line is most men like sports so you have a listener base and if it is to be a rock station it will probably be WHFS which also has a base. In summation I disagree with everything you said. Also the only show I see surviving the inevitable doom of JFK is the Junkies. Right now the Junkies are the only show getting ratings and they practically are a sports show that has proven themselves as a morning show on a rock station. (12/9/08) To the know it all who called Limbaugh an admitted felon and that people who listen to him know nothing, take a look at your buddy Al Franken, making up the fact that they found "lost or :"hidden votes in trying to win the Senate seat in Minnesota. Seems not long ago Air America filed for bankruptcy and stiffed a lot of its creditors out of some big money. Someone should write a book about Franken, the big fat moron. (12/9/08) If the WUSA broadcast of the Insider is not in HD it is a darned good stretch job. (12/9/08) I am convinced that SOME, not most, not all, but some of this recession is being caused by media hype. When you have reporters sticking microphones in shoppers faces asking them why they aren't spending as much this Christmas it reminds me of 1973 with the "gas crisis". Yes there was television in 1973 and the more they stuck reporters in front of gas stations the more people rushed out to buy gasoline. What we need is about ten snowstorms and a lot of this will go away. (12/9/08) Taking from your most recent WJFK news item Dave, did you hear the end of Big O & Dukes today? If not check out the podcast entitled "Paranoia-o-Plenty", where basically they refer to the Dallas station that flipped formats and that through the rumor mill they've heard of a meeting planned for Thursday attended by all the local CBS radio execs. They then kept throwing out their myspace adresss because "that's what those Dallas station hosts probably would've done had they known the end was coming." I personally don't think WJFK will flip if only because A) O'Meara is syndicated, making it a bit harder to do B) by doing that they're essentially ending "hot talk" as a format nationwide, and do they really want to do that yet? C) presumably while anything they replace it with will be cheaper, it could take years to rebuild whereas the current line-up could just refocus as the market adjusts to the use of the PPMs. Just my two cents. - Jason (12/9/08) Dave's response: I wouldn't be surprised to see WJFK flip to sports talk with the Junks remaining in mornings and O'Meara remaining in afternoons. The Junks could easily go back to their Sports Junkies roots, and O'Meara could tweak his show to include more sports stuff. (Remember, for many years the non-sportsy Don Imus was on a sports talker in NYC.) With Maryland and Virginia university sports, perhaps JFK could land the Nationals next season (from Bonneville's Federal News Radio) and, later, the Caps and Wizards. Skins owner Dan Snyder has fumbled badly by buying 980 - it's an AMer in a heavily FM market and its night signal ain't so great. There is a huge "hole" in the DC market for a well-programmed, good-signaled FM sports talker. Bonneville could have done it with 104.1/103.9 a year or two ago, but it chickened out. I'd have to say that CBS would be "silly" if it didn't capitalize on the sports talk format for 106.7. "WJFK - Just For Kicks"..... Time for the Wayback Machine: I used to listen to The Howard Stern Show on DC101 and then later on WJFK. Whatever happened to that guy? I thought he was pretty good, but he seems to have fallen off the planet. (12/9/08) LOL... Good to hear that this 'morning joe' radio program kinda sucks; No offense to 'joe' but he has to get away from that shallow, useless-comments, annoying, listen-to-me 'mika'. 'mika' seems to drag down an otherwise interesting morning cable show like 'morning joe'. Please, lets get rid of 'mika' (12/9/08) Sorry, but the vast majority of Limbaugh listeners I run into ARE "mind-numbed robots." I've heard them repeat Rush stories that make NO sense at all as if they were facts. The great thing about Limbaugh, from their point of view, is that they no longer have to pay attention to the world around them and they no longer have to read "lefty" newspapers...they just accept Limbaugh's words as gospel. The fact that Limbaugh is a drug-addled, thrice-divorced, admitted felon doesn't seem to bother them in the least. Nor does the fact that he's been proven a liar on more than one occasion. They enjoy the hate. Once upon a time Limbaugh was kind of interesting, a little bit funny even...but he's gone absolutely apeshit over the years and sounds about as believable as George Noory. Limbaugh has no credibility, and neither do the MIND-NUMBED ROBOTS who listen to him. (12/9/08) If you want to see local TV do hi-def news AND if you can get WNBC Ch4 New York, you’ll be amazed. It’s gorgeous. Beauty shots from the “Top of the Rock” looking out at Manhattan, news tape in hi-def, etc. And Chuck Scarborough is still there. NBC is spending a ton of money re-doing its studios and their local team just moved into the new location. Really nice. Tom Gauger (12/9/08) I just want to register a complaint about the low-IQ ape-human, monkey-boy who claimed that "PLB is Commander Bunny" in a recent mailbag. This is so absurd, that it really does bring into question the need for medication of the lip-drooling, slack-jawed, knuckle-draggin, monkey-boy who in a childish and cowardly manner, anonymously wrote this slanderish trash!! Just for you, chicken-shit-won't-post-his-name-monkey-boy, Commander Bunny is smarter, better looking, loaded with money and able to post his own mailbag notes, without the help of his "mommy" as you obviously do! As monkey-Dave can attest, the IP from which Commander Bunny emails come from are thousands of miles from PLB's IP. Even a driveling idiot monkey like you, Coward-Clown, should be able to understand this reality! The fact that you are obsessed with PLB's every post, that you have photo's of PLB in your bathroom and hang upon his every word, is only further testimony that you, not PLB are in serious need of a life and strong, serious medication. To become so fixated upon one posters persona, that you start to ascribe every post, your teeny-little monkey-brain can't understand to one person, is both troubling and revealing as to your lack of self control and moronic reasoning ability. Lets be clear, so clear that even a little live-at-home-with-mommy-monkey-boy can understand, that COMMANDER BUNNY is a unique and highly intelligent poster to DCRTV. You really need to find an new hobby, this one is causing you to expose your idiocy to millions of people, and eventually you will be publicly humiliated and found! In the meantime, VOTE COMMANDER BUNNY 2012, America Needs a Hare Transplant. And as evidenced by this very stupid ape-human, monkeys need to be thrown in to cages and beat twice daily! Commander Bunny, WBNY Radio (12/9/08) It's good to see Congress taking on the head of the FCC for abusing his power, now if we could just get them to declare the FCC itself as Unconstitutional, that would be a move in the right direction. "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech..." is part of the First Amendment, yet the FCC is a government organization, created by Congress, whose major purpose is to determine what can and can not be said or seen on the public airwaves. And Dave, it's good to see that some liberals are indeed against the "Fairness" Doctrine...just like there are some conservatives who are against the Patriot Act. Greg in Reisterstown (12/9/08) “I would like to know why we have to have the ridiculously bad IBOC digital radio system shoved down our throats.” Simple! Because the decisions are made by policy wonks (lawyers) who could care less about the technical ramifications. (12/9/08) I visited my in-laws in Grand Rapids, MI for Thanksgiving. For the first time, it truly sunk in how much of a black hole DC area radio is. I spent a lot of time flipping the dial around. Grand Rapids has NPR stations that play jazz and classical, there is a station that plays music much like WHFS did in the ‘90s, a classic rock station, and decent sports coverage (albeit much of it Detroit sports), a couple of talk stations, and even a Spanish language station. My point—a city of plus or minus 500K has something for everyone on the radio—with great signals to boot! And it’s probably not even a top 20 market! DC has too much talk, weak AM stations and restless format changes. Why does it have to suck so much? It’s not like Grand Rapids radio isn’t run by corporate suits, so… Chris in Alexandria (12/9/08) Regarding HD Radio - "It doesn't help a struggling medium to be technically unavailable for hours at a time." - which is precisely why I gave up. Stations off the air for stretches of time, stations that are technically unlistenable, programming that is next to horrible. Why bother... It is a novelty to have, but that is about it. The potential *was* there - such a shame. (12/9/08) Read Street Sound and Video, co-owned by Paul Bicknell and Jay Harrison has relocated to a 3000+ square foot location in Pasadena Maryland. The company is now capable of on premise Video Shooting and Production and will continue to be a national Audio production facility. This has been a truly eventful year for Bicknell and Harrison, tremendous growth has been the by-word of the Company. (12/9/08) The people pushing digital radio knew they could never have won approval for their interfering signals if they had been honest at the outset as to how much power is needed to get good reception. That was a killer reason against digital as to why analog signals would continue to be just fine. Remember, unlike the conversion to digital television, there is NO regulatory or legislative mandate to mess up existing, popular reception as the industry has done to both AM and FM. (12/9/08) WETA-FM is moving its 88.9 Frederick translator from its Gambrill "mountain" site into the city. In doing so the transmitter is increasing power to 170 watts on a shorter tower and going non-directional. Should be a nice signal boost in the targeted city. Also I read some mailbag conversation on the lack of a central Maryland/central Pennsylvania website. While the sites are gone I've continued the list-serv where updates and information continue. Check it out at groups.yahoo.com... Travers (12/9/08) (Dave's response: Limbaugh and his ilk like to stereotype us liberals as marching in lock-step a la our collective "support" for the Fairness Doctrine. A lie.....) kind of like how limbaugh's listeners get called "mind-numbed robots". (12/9/08) Another bad week of PPM ratings for WJFK. Arbitron is 9 weeks into the 12 week ratings period and The Junkies, Big O And Dukes and Mike O'Meara continue to place between 13th and 18th place in most of the key demos. CBS continues to drop salaries and kill off dying radio stations. Another former Free FM station flipped yesterday in Dallas. That leaves Los Angeles and Washington DC. Good bye WJFK, good bye Junkies. (12/9/08) Dave, your rant on Greta is almost right-on. But you missed Nancy Grace. For the last few months, her show has been entirely devoted to this Casey Anthony case down in Orlando. At least Greta is doing something different. When I come across Grace, I'm not sure if I'm watching a re-run or not. JA (12/9/08) Dave's response: Not my Rant. It was Mike James of News Blues..... I was expecting some mention of this yesterday from this site, but apparently, I may very well have been the only one to notice. WTOP's HD-3, the traffic and weather only station, was stuck replaying a traffic report from the wee hours of Saturday morning on Monday. The weather reports were being refreshed at a reasonable rate, but weekend traffic reports pretty much cease being relevant when the weekend's over. I like that WTOP is trying to do something viable with their HD streams with the indie rock on HD-2 and the traffic/weather on HD-3, but they seem to shut off the HD equipment for long stretches. It doesn't help a struggling medium to be technically unavailable for hours at a time. (12/9/08) Dave, First, I commend you on a site run with passion and apolmb- it is obvious you really enjoy what you do and you do it as well as anyone I have seen! I have been a very loyal reader for many years and really enjoy all you publish. I had a few observations on the channel 7 HD news broadcast yesterday. I am very aware that there is a bit of a learning curve when launching such an endevor but I am also very dissappointed with the quality of the broadcast, the direction and what appears to be a lack of homework. I was unable to watch earlier broadcasts so my observations are based solely on last nights 11 o'clock production. I was initially thrilled to have a 2nd local station broadcasting news in HD, but my excitement quickly turned to mirth as I watched. Camera shots on the newscasters were way too tight- having someone in my living room that looks like they are 8 feet tall is just a little laughable. I did not see one field clip that was in HD- it all appeared to be SD upconverted and not very well at that. The framing of the picture was too tight as the channel 7 logo was clipped in the lower right hand corner of the screen. And finally, even though the studio shots were some level of HD, they were no where near the quality of channel 9's production. In short, I was sorely disappointed. I believe that if the producers and directors has spent a little time looking at what channel 9 has done, especially with camera angles and zoom, they could have pulled off a much better premier of a much anticipated implementation of technology. Anyway, thanks for listening!! Regards, Ken (12/9/08) Not huge news, but I noticed WETA applied for and received FCC approval to move their Frederick translator on FM 88.9 actually to right NEAR Frederick. Previously, the signal was way out to the northwest and just did not cover the city of Frederick very well. radio-locator.com... The new signal will be more omnidirectional and completely cover Frederick with local signal strength, so Frederick... You'll soon have more static free classical music! :-) fjallfoss.fcc.gov (12/9/08) In case any of your media connections wants to help out the only good part of the defunct KMS Show…………………. www.linkedin.com (12/9/08) Dave, About my mailbag e-mail yesterday...the Fairness Doctrine conversation was directed at some of your readers, not at you. I didn't make that clear in my e-mail...my bad. I know how you feel :-) Keith Thompson, WCTR (12/9/08) Dave's response: Limbaugh and his ilk like to stereotype us liberals as marching in lock-step a la our collective "support" for the Fairness Doctrine. A lie..... I would like to know why we have to have the ridiculously bad IBOC digital radio system shoved down our throats. Now they're going to triple the power of it? Doesn't it matter that NPR already did a study on increasing the power, and concluded that it would cause "significant interference" to other radio stations? (www.broadcastlawblog.com) Like the current power levels already don't cause significant interference... PLEASE let's stop trashing the radio bands and work on a new, GOOD digital system for a change. ~~CA in BC “Why doesn’t radio offer more viewpoints?” Spoken word radio formats are made up of only two formats. One format is all news, which mostly based on facts, and the other is talk which is designed to entertain. Whichever station has the most entertaining format gets the highest ratings. Viewpoints and balance are irrelevant. (12/9/08) Dave's response: How's that explain Chris Plante? He's like a dull earache..... Remember six years ago when Cox Communications was digging up our lawns for their digital upgrade? At least they weren't THIS dumb: www.ilovebacon.com (12/9/08) Why don't radio stations provide more varied viewpoints in their programming? Because the central reason people listen to talk radio is to validate their viewpoints. Hearing, say, Stephanie Miller back to back with Bill O'Reilly validates no one's viewpoint, a fact learned the hard way at the late 3WT Radio. (12/9/08) Dave, have you heard if WJLA will be getting an HD set soon? Your front-page newsblurb yesterday mentioned something about an updated set with the HD debut. WJLA looks great in HD (especially their new open), but the added quality makes their 7-year-old set look very dated. The poinsettias behind the anchors doesn't help them either in regards to visual clutter. Maybe they could move the logo bug over to where they had it before so SD viewers could see it. I guess WTTG will be HD soon, especially since other FOX O&Os (KTTV, WNYW and I think a few more) are now in HD. Hopefully WRC will have HD news and an HD set by 2028. DLP in Woodbridge (12/9/08) Dave's response: My source told me that they'd be updating the news set, but I know nothing more than that. Yeah, we reported last spring that Fox's Channel 5 was on the verge of going HD - and they it never happened. Anyone know what's up with them?..... Hi, DCRTV. GrandyandAndy (GrandyandAndy) is now following your updates on Twitter. Check out GrandyandAndy's profile here: twitter.com... You may follow GrandyandAndy as well by clicking on the "follow" button. Best, Twitter (12/9/08) Dave's response: Golly! Oh, I was getting ready to pen anther rabid Rant against WMAL this morning. Still in bed, I was listening just before 7 AM and 630 went off the air. Or so I thought. After several minutes of "dead air" I looked over at the portable radio and saw the "battery empty" icon flashing. Damn, no Rant..... /\ December 9 Messages /\ Jump to the Mailbag Archive Index.....