Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - February 3 to February 8, 2009 Latest messages listed first..... \/ February 8 Messages \/ Hey there Steve Ray! Saw your response to Dave's comments regarding the Nats signal coverage to Northern Virginia. Appreciate the insight on the duplication necessity on 107.7. And while it's true that there are alternatives available on 820 AM and 1050 AM, their nighttime signals to Northern Virginia are, in a word, lousy. I am fortunate to live near Leesburg where WAGE carries the play-by-play, but for Virginia fans, that's it. I have XM, so I can also follow the games there. However, in this metropolitan area, the coverage map to follow any of the local representatives of the four major sports shouldn't resemble a pound of swiss cheese (especially the Washington Capitals...forget about listening to any of their games on 1500 AM at night out here). Steve, this isn't a criticism of you. This is more a reflection of the antiquated signal patterns in this area. Perhaps more affiliates will sign on. Anyway, I've got my RED ready and am looking forward to listening to Charlie and Dave this summer at home and in section 417 and enjoying your production work! Again, Dave, a great site! Pitchers and catchers report in seven days! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (2/8/09) Broadcasters, cable companies and satellite services are quickly being relegated to irrelevant in the content production and delivery process. Music and video producers have learned they can reach people directly through the Internet (whether via broadband, WiFi or mobile) and bypass traditional media. Consumers, meanwhile, are demonstrating they like this new system. It's cheaper for producers and more liberating for consumers. Social networking is allowing consumers to discover new product faster than the traditional media can advertise it to the mass audience. Why watch TV or listen to radio when it is little more than a promotional tool for the entertainment you've already found on your own (and doesn't even bother promoting the cool, niche stuff that never had a place in mass media). I've already downgraded to "limted basic" Comcast cable TV; I only keep it all because the bundle price of broadband and limited basic cable is the same as broadband alone. So I miss all the bloviating on FOX and MSNBC; on second thought, I don't miss that at all! (2/8/09) The harmonic of 630 is 1260. While I do hear a small amount of interference from 630 on 1260 on the the beltway near I-270 it does not interrupt the 1260 signal. Bob Fairfax (2/8/09) RE: [there are many outlets for left wing media opinion, starting with the three major television networks and most of the major newspapers.] You know, I would get a chuckle out of that tired old conservitive chestnut if it weren't so pathetic and at the same time so dangerous. Statements of this type are often followed by the wild claim that everything and anything to the left of the WMAL/FOXNews/Conservitive talk radio slant is to be deemed "Liberal" and therefore a lie, and it is often concluded with the tired and overused Limbaugh/Hannity/WMAL meme that "you can't trust the MAINSTREAM/DRIVE-BY media." At heart, these ideas are intended to cause conservitive listeners to believe that everything they hear outside of conservitive speak is an orchistrated lie and as such, WMAL/FOXNews/Conservitive talk radio are a logical counter voice to everything else, and viewers/listeners must trust the conservitive opinion alone - no one else. How is this so dangerous? Here's a quote to ponder: "The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”. Why is that so dangerous? It was said by Joseph Goebbels. We all know where that form of single mindspeak got us. Listen to everything. Read all that is available. Digest everything and use everything you learn to form your own opinions. Raise questions. =2 0Be open to and respectful of the beliefs of others, and for goodness sakes, DISCUSS rather than ATTACK. Through THAT path, and ONLY that path, we all have the opportunity to become "Great Americans". (2/8/09) Hey Dave...nice to see you've got 3 or 4 big issues churning the mailbag this weekend. Allow me to offer up a few notes on the Nationals radio deal, since I have a stake in this issue. First, to the Leonardtown fan & those in smaller outlying areas who want to hear Charlie & Dave...I've developed a complete system of automation tones (now including rain delay cues) so that stations can walk away and the game will run tightly. The folks at Skyview Networks are happy to work with any station in the region to get the Nationals on air with you. Have your local station call John Guagliano at the Nationals to get an affiliation deal done before early March. Secondly, WTOP's 107.7 feed needs to sustain 100% duplication under the new Arbitron PPM system - a split is not going to happen for sports. More people need the news & traffic in that signal area than those clamoring for baseball. Jim Farley was correct to make the return to WTOP on 107.7. Dave missed one point in his rant...you can listen to all primary sports broadcasts on not only 1500, but on 820 in Frederick & on 1050 as well. I was surprised to hear the improved signal at night since they moved 1050 to the 1500 tower in Wheaton. There is always the concourse speaker air feed at Nats Park as well. It's not perfect, but it can get better with Annapolis, Eastern Shore and outlying Virginia stations stepping up to become affiliates. Welcome to NatsTown - Get your RED on starting February 26th at 1:00PM! - SR (2/8/09) Dave's response: I have no problem with WTOP relaying on 107.7. That's a good move for everyone except baseball fans in Virginia. But you still won't be able to hear the Nats on 820 or 1050 in much of the Old Dominion. The former is a Frederick regional that gives some night coverage in parts of Loudoun, and the latter still has no after dark coverage in Virginia. It would be nice if the Nats could line up a Virginia FMer as an affiliate, like WINC 92.5 and/or WBQB 101.5. But both music stations would probably see a ratings decline by running the Nats. Maybe let CBS's WJFK 106.7 run the Nats as an affiliate. Great for the Nats, bad for Bonneville..... Forgot to Say: GNATS games are easily heard in zip 07023...even better than the Phils on 1210. Either have to be tanked or totally bored to listen to the Mets. Will not listen to the Yankees until Phil Rizzuto, Fran Healy and Bobby Mercer return to the broadcast booth. And the O's are on RedZebra's 92.7 in Prince Frederick. Did email the Gnats to mention the black hole in SoMd. There was not problem listening to the O's or Senators when the SoMd area was served by 500 and 1k AM'ers in the past century. In fact my f-in-l would worry about license revocation or a stiff fine when a certain board op was so engrossed with a game that he would keep the station on past signoff. (2/8/09) Maybe one of the old timers will be able to answer a technical question for me. I was listening to a recording today from 1956 of the Long John Nebel radio show "Party Line". He is interviewing a guest on the phone and every 15 seconds a short beep is heard. I remember something about this being required to alert the caller that he/she is being recorded (or broadcast). How was this tone generated? And, in what year was this requirement/practice discontinued? I remember it still being used into the mid-1960s, though I could be fuzzy on the timeframe. If I had to guess at how the repeated beep was done, I'd say that it was on a tape cartridge and fed through the phone and on the air, but I'm not sure just when broadcast tape cartrigdes began being used. 1956 somehow seems too early. (2/8/09) What the hell is this opt-in nonsense for newspaper features? Isn't this the system we already have? I send them a "coupon" every so often (a personal check) that tells them that I want them to continue sending me their godforsaken newspaper. If they want to cut the TV-Guide, man up and do it. If they want to charge extra for the TV Guide, man up and do it. But don't play these goofy stunts that make you look foolish. (2/8/09) Dave's response: Yeah. Maybe there will soon be a way to "opt-out" of the mediocre Style section. Are folks who don't "opt-in" for TV Week getting a break on their subscription rate? They should be. They're getting less than the full paper. "Less paper for the same price"..... Per AAR on WLIB: Always had a hard time receiving WLIB w/ GE Super Radios in zip 07023. Could hear it well on Rt 95 in Philly though. 1600 was/is much worse even though the owner of the 500 watt station on 1590 in the next town (07060) got a mil to take the station dark when 1600 went to 25k. Per the Gnats on 1500: Not a good night-time signal at the plantation Leonardtown. 107.7 wouldn't help as WNNT 107.5 blankets the area. Will try WXTG @ 102.1 or WXGI @ 950. Somar is so cheap that it probably would never consider carrying either the Gnats or O's as that would require another instruction or two on the automation system. (2/8/09) Dave's response: 1500 puts in an excellent signal to Baltimore, day and night. So, O's owner Peter Angelos will be better able to hear Nats games at night than Nats fans in Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland will be. Kinda ironic..... With the higher and higher costs of Digital TV, both satellite and cable, and the increase in online video downloads and streaming, I'm starting to think we really are coming up on a turning point in radio/video/TV/movie watching technology. There's talk of Blu-Ray DVD failing, the satellite radio companies (ooops company!) are in trouble, HD Radio is a failure, the cable companies are raising prices and reducing basic cable services, all in a slowing economy. Soon more people will be listening to a terrestrial radio station via WIFI on an iPhone than actually listening to the station over the air and the sound quality will be better too! You can SlingPlayer your local DC TV station from a location in Miami now! More and more people are downloading TV shows to watch later on iTUNES or HULU.com, and many for free. Add to that the DMCA Act by Congress which to this day pisses consumers off and calls them thieves first and foremost with no fair use rights and consumers second and what do you have? Guess what? You're going to end up with a society of internet thieves who steal all their music, TV shows, and movies instead of actually paying for them. This current economic crisis at this time along with the DTV BIG SWITCH, Blu-Ray DVD, & failed HD Radio transitions is possibly the perfect storm for such a sea change to happen. I'm not saying any of my predictions are a good thing in the least, I'm just saying I can see it all happening easily soon given the current economic conditions and I can see lots of media companies going under. :-( (2/8/09) Dave's response: Rather than "going under," big media companies will merge. And get even fewer. What do you have now? Time Warner, News Corp, NBC Universal, Disney ABC, Clear Channel, CBS, Comcast, Gannett, Sony, a few other biggies. Could easily shrink to a half dozen or so, with those remaining biggies swallowing up even more mid-sized media companies a la Tribune, Citadel, Discovery, and Sirius XM. Not good..... As many know the Washington Post web site allows readers to comment on just about every article, column, letter to the editor, and commentary. Guess which LTE/commentary today did not include a comment section? The one where Bill Press was whining about no one listening to his boring show and the right wing conspiracy against "progressive radio". Now why in the world would the Post not allow comments? Could it be that readers would tear Press a new one for his ridiculous claims of another right wing conspiracy? (2/8/09) WaPo dropping the TV guide? Here's a money-saving idea: they could drop the front page, metro, business, sports and style sections - make readers "opt-in" for that content. That would save a few bucks. The Washington Post (to paraphrase Dick Cheney) is in its death throes. (2/8/09) My guess is that Schultz or his network is paying for the WTNT clear. (2/8/09) I know I'm spitting in the wind, but to anybody out there who run, manages, control, owns a web site - when I see an ad for any products, that splashes across the page and covers up what I went to the web site to see in the first place - I am going to make it a point NOT to buy that product. Do these advertisers really think this is the way to win firends and sell product? And thank you Dave, for not doing this - and I hope that you dont. Mel W - Columbia, Md. (2/8/09) Dave's response: Advertisers, in a very real sense, provide many of the funds needed to keep DCRTV coming to you on a daily basis. But I've always made it a priority that those ads do not "intrude" on your experience. No pop-ups, no pop-unders, no pop-overs, no sound, and no flying pizzas shooting across editorial "space"..... The NY Times online today, looks at Porter McConnell, a DC resident (and others) who are making Pay TV executives lose sleep lately. "She gave up on pay TV last summer after noticing that monthly rates kept creeping up. Now with no satellite or cable TV, she watches her trusty old TV set with an antenna or she goes online to catch her favorite programs. Once in a while, she buys shows from Apple Inc.'s iTunes service. McConnell also upped her subscription to Netflix Inc.'s movies-by-mail service so she gets two DVDs at a time instead of one, for $15 a month.'Part of it is, I've got to economize,' said the 30-year-old Washington, D.C., resident who works at a nonprofit. McConnell is the kind of consumer who makes cable and satellite TV operators lose sleep. While a weak economy invariably makes people pinch pennies, this is the first time that viewing shows online has become a viable competitor to pay TV, making cutting the cord easier." Here's the link to the story: www.nytimes.com (2/8/09) Hi, folks: Did you know that the latest Sunday Washington Post cutback is to "drop" their "TV Week" section, effective Mar. 1, to all Alexandria & Arlington readers not calling them or mailing a coupon by Feb. 23! There's only one problem: Although the Post prints the daily TV schedule 6 days a week in the Style section they do NOT print the Sunday TV schedule in the Style & Arts section! At a minimum, the Post should consider doing this as the daily schedules are more accurate than the weekly one to begin with. Frankly, I'd like to know in advance when Fox 5, for instance, will cancel its 6 PM weather report for a NASCAR or MLB marathon. They should now be able to carry the 6 PM news & weather on a digital feed whenever this happens. John (2/8/09) Dave's response: Just got the Front Page blurb up. They're not doing that out here in Fairfax County - yet..... The TV Week edition delivered to Alexandria/Arlington subscribers today informed us that we will no longer receive TV Week starting March 1 unless we “opt in.” (2/8/09) Dave: your front page blurb about Bank of America and Wells Fargo running those full-page ads was right on target. That was the first thing that went through my mind when I saw those. What was the point of wasting whatever dollars it cost to run those things. I'm sure it wasn't cheap. F'n unbelievable. (2/8/09) Dave: Good points about the National Radio and TV coverage. First get the games back on 107.70 FM at night (don't interfere with drive time news and traffic). Keep the games on 1500 am for years to come. like to hear them up and down the east cost at night). The whole MASN thing SKINKS. The Nat's should be on Comcast sports Net with the Caps and Wizards. The Learners should go to court and break the bad contract with MASN. People in Washington won't support and watch a network owned by Baltimore. Twenty games only on over the air channel 50 is a joke for a major league city and team. Forty games would be better. Channel 50's signal is weaker than channel 20, don't get it with my converter box. The team needs big improvement on the field and broadcast department if they are going to stay here. Looks like the 1960's with the Senator's over again. Patrick (2/8/09) The AM 1260 in Delaware has been on STA low power or dark for most of the last 10 years. Several other area AM 1260s are also on STA low power and probably will stay that way due to failing facilities that there is no money to fix or re-build. If the FCC just yanked some of the weak links on the AM dial, it's possible a station like WWRC 1260 could be 10-25kw or more day and night and properly cover the Washington DC market. However, the FCC never enforces its AM tech rules anymore so advice like this will fall on deaf ears because it would make sense and the FCC rarely makes decisions that make any sense these days. :-( (2/8/09) Well, Ted Bundy did blame pornography for his murder spree, so therefore, if conservative talk radio is "like pornography" as Sen. Schumer once said, then Bundy would've had a future in a) liberal talk radio or b) running for the House or Senate or c) "reality" TV, like subbing for Harvey Levin on TMZ TV. P.S. Feliz Cumpleaño, Dave! I hope you have a splendid day! -Silvie- (2/8/09) There are a lot of reasons why conservative talk radio is much more successful than liberal talk radio. For one thing, people like Limbaugh, Hannity and Ingraham are ENTERTAINING TO LISTEN TO. Meanwhile, the Bill Press's of the world are deadly dull. Also, there are many outlets for left wing media opinion, starting with the three major television networks and most of the major newspapers. Which apparently is enough to satisfy the need for left wing opinion. I mean, if Press and his ilk couldn't hack it during the Bush years when they had a multitude of things to rant about, how can they possibly compete when their guy is in and the lefties are all going to be holding hands and singing "Kumbaya"? Bottom line: Press, your ratings sucked and you got cancelled. Live with it. (2/8/09) Regarding Bill Press' diatribe and all else: in an era when "Mike-O" is doing ads for Pro-Flowers and all else in the news/talk/sports radio industry are praying to hold onto their jobs, Press is a little hard Pressed to be crying about the status of uber-liberal radio given the supposed popularity of Obambi. One would think that Obambiradio would be doing well-rnough on their own without the crybaby treatment by the likes of Bill Press, who, for years, enjoyed big money contracts with CNN. Bill, you can always rely on the profits from you wife's scarf business if things get bad enough. Just like Limbaugh's ties.... (2/8/09) Regarding your rant about Nats radio & tv coverage: I think you miss the point of the Nationals radio deal. Regardless of the team's performance, in my opinion they have a sweetheart of a deal that can't be matched. From year one they have had the advantage of irregular MASN coverage / a change in on-air personnel every season / and a broadcast schedule on channel 20 or 50, MASN1 or MASN2 that you need a sherpa guide to follow. Nats radio has been the constant. They also have one of the best sounding broadcasts. Charlie & Dave are like friends to the listeners and the content, in & out music, highlight show & play-by-play is most enjoyable. It's the content not the signal. And finally, the cross promotion every hour, twice an hour on WTOP is priceless. The most listened to station I can ever remember gives the team a constant plug during the season. What needs to happen to improve the conditions for the Nationals? Certainly not moving them off of 1500. The team needs to step up it's affiliate efforts and secure stations in the VA suburbs beyond the beltway, in Annapolis and out to the Eastern Shore. I may live just north of Baltimore (where I have no problem hearing 1500 AM), but I work in DC every day and attend at least 20 games a year as a partial season ticket holder for the Nats. And for the record, I agree Angelos needs to hand back the TV rights to the Nats. - Jerry (2/8/09) why don't the NATS go on CSN, all their games will be in HD, they're more DC than MASN anyways, they keep the O'S, NATS go to CSN, fans are happy. But angelos and MLB are complete idiots and think letting one team control another's TV rights is correct, which I guess if why this is the way it is right?? (2/8/09) Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is a joke. With so much of the media pro-Obama, especially NBC, conservative talk radio is needed more now than ever. Someone needs to call out the Democrats and Liberals, keep them in check. Who else is going to do this? Certainly not the knitwits like Matthews or Obermann. (2/8/09) Concerning Bill Press’s opinion piece: Does Houston really need four Sports outlets (one of which [KGOW] is locally owned)? How about San Diego, which has three Sports stations (two of which [Mexican-licensed XESPN and XEPRS] are programmed by local companies)? Does South Florida really need at least that many Sports stations, as well? (However, despite his assertion, WINZ hasn’t apparently yet flipped [back] to Sports—although it’s been heavily rumored that it will very soon.) And, why hasn’t Boston’s Sports/Progressive Talk WWZN gone full-time Progressive—even though it competes against two full-time Sports outlets (one of which [WAMG/WLLH] is locally owned)? Perhaps Mr. Press should instead be calling on the FCC and/or Congress to limit the number of Sports-formatted stations in each market. (Just in case, the sarcasm here is indeed completely intentional.) (2/8/09) It's interesting the lefties want to dump the label "liberal" and take the label "progressive" when all this advocacy of the so-called Fairness Doctrine is neither liberal nor progressive. "Orwellian" is the only appropriate word that comes to mind. But with Obama increasingly showing that he can't take criticism, it seems we are going to have to deal with the re-imposition of said doctrine, never mind that no thinking person could ever be in favor of government interference in program content. But this is a new society now--damn, but I just can't get Orwell out of my head--and maybe it's time to fully embrace the unFairness Doctrine: Forget that namby-pamby "lefties- need- government- bailouts- because- they- can't- get- ratings" approach, get the government involved in ALL program content--we already have local governments suing Arbitron because they don't like what the PPM ratings show, so it's not much of a stretch. What of the alt-rock stations that NEVER EVER play a cut by Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester? That's not fair. And when was the last time you heard some full force rap on a "country" station--isn't rap a part of the same country? And all-news stations should really have music and comedy segments! Then there are all the religious stations--talk about one-sided approaches to issues! We need our Big Brother government to correct all these inequitable situations! ~~CA in BC... Goodthink Forever! (2/8/09) Dave, bravo to you for wanting to sustain 1260 in one form or another ("Red Zebra needs to take 1260 and WTNT's also flawed 570 and 'combine' them as 'one station'"). Except for WTNT's tendency to get splashed by that Cuban cuckoo-clock radio station also at 570, it's DC coverage is not all that awful. But would the region really suffer that badly if 1260 just folded up and went dark? Thanks to crappy receivers already in the market, you can't hear 1260 anyway if you live anywhere near WMAL's towers. If I woke up tomorrow and there was just background hiss at 1260, I think I'd get over it. Your thoughts? (2/8/09) Dave's response: The brutal reality is that there are about a dozen AMers in the DC-Baltimore area that could go off the air for good tomorrow and no one would miss 'em. Including 1260..... Re: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't AIR AMERICA on a very strong NYC signal, yet STILL FAILED MISERABLY in a very liberal market? Yep, maybe thats a problem in DC, but signal is NOT your best excuse overall for liberal talk failures." WLIB/1190, Air America's first NYC outlet, wasn't a "very strong" signal. It wasn't a total dog, but it's not quite up to WABC/WOR standards. Still, it had some modest success (within the format's measure of success) early on, and AAR's Randi Rhodes even crowed about beating Sean Hannity for a book or so. And O'Reilly on WOR, but A) his show isn't great (and is going away now), B) it was delayed, and C) WOR has its own ratings problems. After all the publicity faded, WLIB faded, but still had some modest numbers even till the end, when the agreement fell apart and AAR moved to the worse 1600 signal. Anyway, I do agree that blaming the 1190 signal isn't cut and dried...most of the AAR programming wasn't that great. If they'd have put Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz on 1190, maybe they'd have kept traction and gained. (2/8/09) I enjoyed the rant by the anonymous DC "radio insider" about Bill Press' complaints. And you know what? As someone in the business, I agree with most of the "insider's" points. But if he/she really is an "insider", they know full well that comparing WWRC/1260's signal with WMAL/630 is a non-starter. You need only to drive around the DC area to figure that one out, let alone look at a coverage map for both stations. The biggest problem is that the market has basically outgrown the 1260 signal. The other big problem is that, per numerous reports here in the Mailbag, 1260's signal isn't even performing up to its own standards after years of neglect. Everything else the "insider" wrote is spot on. Bill Press is the liberal radio version of Salem's Bill Bennett - a boring host with a mediocre morning drive show. His conspiracy theories are ludicrous. And if Red Zebra's Dan Snyder were so against liberal talk, why did they move Ed Schultz to 570? (Another dog signal, by the way.) They didn't move Press because they don't think he can attract an audience. Period. (I do wish someone would pick up Stephanie Miller, but I can understand why she didn't get moved to 570 in this situation.) The "rest of the story" (apologies to Mr. Harvey) with Mr. Press' interview with Congresswoman Stabenow is that the lawmaker is married to liberal talk radio executive Tom Athans (Democracy Radio, Air America, etc.). A bit self-serving there, Mr. Press. (2/8/09) One of the reasons conservative talk radio enjoys a stronger presence is because many in the audience need to be told how to think. Liberal listeners need a lot less convincing that their views are right, so when they get that affirmation it's like, "yeah, ho-hum." (2/8/09) Bill Press' self-serving piece in support of the Fairness Doctrine wasn't worth a first look, never mind a second one. Replacing one batch of syndicated programming with another batch of syndicated programming on a station that can't be fairly heard anyway isn't a travesty, it's an irrelevancy. Before anything else happens, the FCC needs to start pulling licenses of stations that aren't properly maintained. WWRC would be near the top of any such list, regardless of format. Everett W. (2/8/09) Dave's response: WWRC is an AMer with a crappy signal. It will never get ratings, despite its format. Red Zebra needs to take 1260 and WTNT's also flawed 570 and "combine" them as "one station." And even that will have a tough time generating ratings traction. But it'll, at least, have a slightly better chance than 1260 on its own..... Regarding the Nats and Orioles on MASN HD--I'm a Nats fan in Howard County, so if they did it by markets (Nats only HD in DC; Orioles only HD in Baltimore), we'd never get to see them in HD. The bottom line is that since Peter Angeles owns MASN and he Orioles, he doesn't care about the Nats--even though good ratings would benefit him monetarily. If I'm not mistaken, the Nats are the only team in baseball whose TV contract is tied to another team. (2/8/09) Dave's response: I think the only true solution is for MASN to create separate networks, including HD, for Washington and Baltimore. MASN-DC would have ALL Nats games in HD. MASN-Baltimore would have ALL Orioles games in HD. And both networks would be offered in counties like Howard and Anne Arundel, which have substantial fan bases for both teams. Then, there could be a common MASN-Plus channel which would be seen in both markets and feature a mix of Nats games for Baltimore viewers and Orioles games for DC viewers..... A sports talk station on Delmarva would be great but it would have been a foolish move for the company that put on the new country station, Great Scott Broadcasting. Sports Talk is a male oriented format and Great Scott would have only succeeded in pulling numbers from their other male oriented stations. Not a smart move. They own the male demo outside of country fans so it only made sense to go country and maybe..just maybe...if all of the planets are aligned and the arbitron gods look their way, they might just pull a share or two from the country audience and do it at the expense of WWFG and WICO......the new station certainly will not win but I doubt that was the plan. I suspect they just want to be a thorn in the side of the market dominating country stations. To hell with the fact that the market could actually use a good sports talk outlet. Okay so Great Scott made their move to country. You missed my point. I suggested that the next station on Delmarva to make a format change consider going to sports talk. Burt in Denton (2/8/09) Yesterday at 3:52pm my wife and I were driving around listening to 94.7fm. When we hear a commercial add for 106.7 on 94.7. Is this normal? (2/8/09) Dave's response: They both have the same owner, CBS. And CBS has been running that "multistation contest" Dominican Republic trip thingo on all four of its major DC FMers. You know. The winner of the WJFK contest could be an El Zol listener..... Bill Press please stop whining. One of the reason your shows have failed is because you are b-o-r-i-n-g!!! And it's interesting how you omit any reference to the most liberal of them all on the airwaves -- NPR. But, while NPR is blatantly liberal, I will listen because it is generally well done. All the fairness doctrine will do guarantee more mediocrity on the air. ARGH! (2/8/09) It makes no difference how I feel about how many conservative stations there were during the Bush admin, as there were very few. First of all, Republicans did not have the lock on government that the Democrats have. We have had FOUR, maybe even FIVE tax-evasion scandals out of the Obama admin, and it hasn't even been in power a month yet!! So there sure is a need for more conservative talk radio because we have lots more vetting to do. I think Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas should each have a radio program to talk about how one researches an appointee. Second, there are at least 3X more liberal stations on the air than conservative, and an entire liberal radio network, Air America. Those stations were on during the Bush admin. and did a pretty good job of calling him out. They remain on. Look what they achieved with all their propaganda..or have you not heard about the Messiah? Fairness and Balance will only happen when there is a like number of conservative stations. There should in fact be tax breaks so that the minority voice, the conservative voice, is encouraged and given adequate financial support. I am going to chuckle at the outcome of lawsuits if the FD returns. Remember, be careful what you ask for...the Washington Post might not get it. (2/8/09) With regards to the Guest Rant: While I am not advocating bringing back the Fairness Doctrine there are some points I'd like to make. First: Any engineer will tell you that at any given RF Power the lower the frequency the further it travels. Example: 5KW on 570 or 630 will go a lot further than 5KW on 1260. Just look at the contour map of the station's coverage. Second: Many people have written on this page about the poor signal of 1260 including myself. Most have made comparisons between now and several years ago when the signal was a lot better. It is apparent that CC let the maintenance on this station go south for whatever reason. They were probably glad to get rid of it. It was probably a packaged deal with 980 and 570. Unless RZB puts some money into fixing the transmitter sight any programming will fail. It would be interesting to see what would happen to the ratings if RZB made 570 progressive talk and give it a better signal. Right now 570 has to compete with WMAL for conservative listeners. 570 has a much better signal than 1260 in the daytime and it's ratings were not that much better. It should be interesting to see how Ed Shultz does on 570 as compared to 1260. Bob Fairfax (2/8/09) RE:..."The only 'fairness' we need now is a strong CONSERVATIVE media to carry that out in the same spirit as the press kept Bush in check. There is no need for liberal talk radio now as the liberals are in power." That is an interesting argument. I'd like to know if the person who said this felt the same way about conservative talk radio when Bush was in office. I doubt it. (2/8/09) Re:"Yes, Mel did answer a question, from an employee at an all staff meeting, with the comment that they either find new investors to erase debt, or Feb. 28 they will declare bankruptcy." Where and when was this meeting?? At a January all-employee meeting in DC, Mel said that they were exploring all avenues. He did not discuss erasing debt, he said they were exploring all avenues to raise cash to pay debt and renegotiate with lenders on terms, due dates, etc. The bankruptcy question was met with the answer that it was "possible but not probable." (2/8/09) Here is a new definition of hypocrisy. Bill Press. A reliable source tells me during the big Obama radio event at GW last month Air America's Richard Greene went out of his way to show up to participate in the celebration of progressive talk radio. Guess who repeated refused to let him even make a cameo appearance with the rest of the guests? Bill Press. I'm told that even when the PD of WWRC suggested Greene be allowed to join all the hosts during a final, short appearance, Press strongly objected. Come to think about how many Air America hosts were on stage with Bill Press? Is that his idea of "Fairness?" Me thinks this isn't about the fairness doctrine at all. It's about ego and denial. Denial that he just can't ratings in DC. As an earlier post noted, WAMU gets HUGE ratings 6 - 9 a.m. More than doubling WMAL, WTNT and WWRC added together. (2/8/09) (RE:Just what the Delmarva area needs, another country music station. There is no variety of stations on the shore. Other than the country stations, you have all those adult contemporary stations such 104.7, 96.7 and others. There is but one real oldies station, 92.1 the Wave. Why not try something different. such as sports talk, some local and some national? The next station to dump a format on the shore should try the above format.) Burt in Denton, A sports talk station on Delmarva would be great but it would have been a foolish move for the company that put on the new country station, Great Scott Broadcasting. Sports Talk is a male oriented format and Great Scott would have only succeeded in pulling numbers from their other male oriented stations. Not a smart move. They own the male demo outside of country fans so it only made sense to go country and maybe..just maybe...if all of the planets are aligned and the arbitron gods look their way, they might just pull a share or two from the country audience and do it at the expense of WWFG and WICO......the new station certainly will not win but I doubt that was the plan. I suspect they just want to be a thorn in the side of the market dominating country stations. To hell with the fact that the market could actually use a good sports talk outlet...in the immortal words of Christopher Walken.....I need more cowbell baby! (2/8/09) Is it just me, or have there been more tests of the Emergency Broadcast System lately? I could swear it's been years since I've heard one of those tests, but in the past couple of weeks, I think I've heard it once while listening to WTOP, and just saw/heard one last night on channel 50 during a Family Guy rerun. So, am I just crazy, and I've just been missing all these tests, or has there been an increase? (2/8/09) ("Yes, I always thought Ted Bundy had the face and temperament for shock-jock radio stardom too. -Silvie-") Well, I don't know about that Silvie, but I bet he could have done fill-in for your #1 guy. (2/8/09) Re: "I am a regular listener to Limbaugh. When he is on vacation I hate it because the fill-ins, with the exception of Mark Davis, positively suck." Yep, Mark Davis is great. Home bred (PG County) too. I enjoy listening to Jason Lewis also. That guy who was on last week with the British accent was terrible. It was bad enough to start another tea party. (2/8/09) /\ February 8 Messages /\ \/ February 7 Messages \/ Excuse me, but didn't Marx say that where the press is free none ever will be? Did he not point out to his comrades the danger of a free press? Did he not point out that the role often assumed by the press, or what we call media, is to question authority? Therefore, in keeping with Marx's advice, since the Democrats control the White House and BOTH Chambers of Congress, it falls to the press to keep them in check. The only 'fairness' we need now is a strong CONSERVATIVE media to carry that out in the same spirit as the press kept Bush in check. There is no need for liberal talk radio now as the liberals are in power. Liberal talk radio would be nothing more than a propaganda tool, you know like the liberals have kept referring to Limbaugh during the Bush years. There is every need for more than one conservative voice to check on their abuse of power. See the THREE, or is it now FOUR, tax-evasion scams of Obama appointees and other democrats for more on why we need fairness of this sort, and not the suppression of free speech that they would have. Bill Press is a sore winner and a sorry whiner. (2/7/09) Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't AIR AMERICA on a very strong NYC signal, yet STILL FAILED MISERABLY in a very liberal market? Yep, maybe thats a problem in DC, but signal is NOT your best excuse overall for liberal talk failures. (2/7/09) CBS, do us all a favor and turn 94.7 back into what it was before. Get the WARW calls back and ressurect 94.7 The Arrow. The classic rock version of the Globe downright sucks and needs to be abolished...WARW's DJ's knew the music, and they had the eclectic lunch and the nightly boxed set....which i would love to hear again. WARW played some deeper cuts, and they played alot of newer songs by classic artists. Also, please to god get rid of jerry hoyt for evenings! WTGB should sound more like 94.7 WCSX in Detroit, who are wayyyy better. If only CBS knew how to program the Globe.... (2/7/09) Liberal talk on poor signals VS Conservative talk on good signals. I am a regular listener to Limbaugh. When he is on vacation I hate it because the fill-ins, with the exception of Mark Davis, positively suck; they say the same points many times but it's the delivery. I do not agree 100% with him on every issue but I listen, because as someone else said, he's entertaining. I also love when he has discussions on success, drive and ambition; I LOVED his interview with Tony Dungee last week. If he were on 1260 or a crappier signal, I would do whatever it takes (new antenna, listen on the internet/podcast, pay some kid to stand in a tin foil suit for three hours, to improve reception) to make sure I was able to listen to him. I can't think of anyone on the "left" side of the dial that I would make that much of an effort to listen to, nor do I think there are many of those hosts that engender that kind of desire to hear them. Just my $0.02. (2/7/09) Here in Atlanta...WYAY-FM airs Imus in the Morning but, since January, has been airing 10-15 minute snippets per hour of the show, devoting the rest to music, ads and local content. Details here... www.accessatlanta.com (2/7/09) Barry Richards - I was an intern for the "Real BR" on his Rock N Soul tv show (while I was at GW). Did you hook up with him in Malibu last summer? What's he up to? Thanks, Ken (2/7/09) Here in Atlanta, the Citadel True Oldies FM is now playing about 9 songs an hour in the morning, with several Imus segments mixed in. The entire reason for Imus being aired in DC as well as Atlanta is that network radio buyers want to see an affiliate in all the large markets. The new more-music format accommodates all of Imus’ national spots. So Citadel is trying to provide DC and Atlanta coverage to Imus advertisers while attempting to get ratings. Roddy Freeman (2/7/09) RE:..."Move Imus to WMAL in the morning. Put Kathy Whiteside on Oldies in the Morning a Win/Win and a money saver!"...Better yet, team Kathy with Ken Merson...two of the best Baltimore/DC talents ever. Both are available (although Merson voice tracks some out-of-state stations ) and would be a hand-in-glove fit. (2/7/09) RE: [Lefty stations get poor ratings for three reasons...most of their hosts suck and any able minded listener can see the flaws in their logic, there are too many of them, so the listeners are spread out rather than listening to only a few and frankly, and they are cheap, the hosts, the networks and their advertisers dont want to spend the bucks to be on the better signals, so they get poor signals, poor ratings and boo hoo, poor listerners.] I must say that your diatribe was spoken with all of the sanctimonious bile and false self-superiority of your average "true believer" right-talk devotee. It is easy to spot their type: they are the ones who consider themselves to somehow be worthy of the self-anointed title of "Great American" solely based on what radio program they faithfully devote their entire afternoon listening to. I surmise that by your fractured sense of logic, we can also agree that Right-talk prospers simply because their devoted listeners are clearly NOT able-minded enough to see through the gaping flaws in right-talk logic. I must say, I couldn't agree with you more on that. Thanks for clearing that up for us and at the same time providing such an excellent example of what is wrong with right-wing talk radio, and why conservatives in America currently find themselves "in exile". - Jeff in Bowie (2/7/09) Lefty stations get poor ratings for three reasons...most of their hosts suck and any able minded listener can see the flaws in their logic, there are too many of them, so the listeners are spread out rather than listening to only a few and frankly, and they are cheap, the hosts, the networks and their advertisers dont want to spend the bucks to be on the better signals, so they get poor signals, poor ratings and boo hoo, poor listerners. (2/7/09) ("Three-for-the-price of one" at 'TOP . Will the last one leaving the "news" business please turn out the lights) What the hell does that even mean??? (2/7/09) Damn you, Dave. Now I'm picturing Cerphe doing HIS show nude [except for his clogs], sitting in a leather chair. HOW am I supposed to sleep tonight? Paul (2/7/09) Yes, I always thought Ted Bundy had the face and temperament for shock-jock radio stardom too. -Silvie- (2/7/09) At least DJ Prolapse is still going strong in the 434 www.youtube.com (2/7/09) When Imus came back from his temporary exile, his voice did have something of a beaten-down weakness. And putting him on FM, you can really hear the creak of age and bu health when he speaks. Signing him for mornings on 'JZW was a mistake from the start. In fact, putting him on any FM in any market is going to be a slug decision: he just sounds too feeble to be relatable, even on an Oldies station.The fact he's on an AM in his own home market should be a clue. What 'JZW needs (besides a new set of calls - too much legacy at work here holding them back) is a true *local* morning entertainer and I hope that is what is in motion here. With Jackie D across the hall holding down Mix 107.3, it would give Citadel a much-needed 1-2 punch to dominate the town. (2/7/09) Move Imus to WMAL in the morning. Put Kathy Whiteside on Oldies in the Morning a Win/Win and a money saver! John T. Henneman (2/7/09) Heard a promo this morning (Sat.) on WJZW, "The New Oldies Channel with Music In The Morning. Check it out Monday on your way to work." So, is Imus and his .0 ratings finally out? Last week he and McCord went on and on and on about how, if you shake hands with a guy who doesn't wash his hands after a trip to the loo, it's like shaking his wet penis. Then, the next day, I-Man was complaining that he couldn't clear his throat and his meds make you commit sucide. Quick! Somebody cue up "That's Entertainment! What's da story? (2/7/09) Did I miss the news that Imus is off at JZW? They're advertising "music in the morning"... (2/7/09) Dave's response: Didn't someone post earlier that they're now mixing oldies tunes with Imus show segments? Anyone know more? (Re: "Finally got around to seeing the PPM numbers for the first week of January. Here are the WJFK ratings: 18-34: Junkies 12th place... Big O And Dukes 15th place... Mike O'Meara 11th place... 25-54: Junkies 14th place... Big O And Dukes 13th place... Mike O'Meara 10th place... ") Convient that you transparently chose to cite a demo that's not the station's target demographic. Next are you going to cite Men 35-54 to prove Hot 99.5 sucks? Their target demo is obviously Men 25-54, the money demo. That's all WJFK, WTEM, and WMAL care about. And O'Meara jumped to 3rd in that demo, and Big O and Dukes 8th, way up from the previous books. (2/7/09) With the recent FiOS postings on here I repeat a warning -- DON'T LET THEM TAKE YOUR TELEPHONE. Verizon has a secret agenda to abandon the traditional telephone wire system to your neighborhood and your house. They want to save maintenance costs. So when they sell you fiber optic service, they have a real hard-on to peddle you "bundled" TV-internet-phone. They even use the buzzword "digital" as if the telephone quality magically improves. Instead, when the lights go out, or that single little piece of glass fiber gets broken, you lose everything. In a power failure, the telephone lasts a few hours on YOUR battery, instead of electricity customarily supplied by the phone company. When it runs flat, you're SOL. That battery does not maintain internet service. Demand a "data only" line, which provides television and internet. Those I praise highly. Keep your existing phone line. (2/7/09) (Re: Tony Perkins on Fox 5 makes the frozen potted plant on my deck look exciting. Is this guy as uninterested in his job as he appears to be?) I've felt the same way about Tony Perkins for years. I mean he seems like a nice guy, but he has no charisma, charm or personality at all. Sort of like Steve Rudin. Both of these two seem more suited to be bank managers and both can put you to sleep. (2/7/09) Yes, Mel did answer a question, from an employee at an all staff meeting, with the comment that they either find new investors to erase debt, or Feb. 28 they will declare bankruptcy. As for nobody listening to a nude show, perhaps nobody cares. You can get all the nude you want on the Internet, who needs to imagine in the theater of the mind. (2/7/09) (Re: On the Mike O'Meara show Buzz said that " Sirius/XM Ceo Mel Karmazin said that if they don't find money in the next two weeks. Sirius /xm will go in to bankruptcy. Is this true?) Gee, perhaps Mel can ask his boy Howard for a bailout loan. Stellar business management, Mel. What target for your deft touch is next on your list? (2/7/09) " ... and the viewer got to know him too - and he is soft-spoken, loves puppies and was just super nice!" Oh, wow, peachy keeno, Silvie. I heard that Ted Bundy was soft-spoken, loved puppies AND kittens and was super nice in person too. (2/7/09) (Re; Tony Perkins on Fox 5 makes the frozen potted plant on my deck look exciting. Is this guy as uninterested in his job as he appears to be?) They say those who can't teach, those that really can't, don't have an effing clue. You are the latter. (2/7/09) What's sad is how email and electronic communication is killing off the use of proper English. RE: "Kids are don't go outside anymore and they become adults who've never even run or thorwn a football or baseball or climbed a tree. It's VERY sad." I know at least one person who uses Twitter to communicate with his family. He has ALS and can't speak except through electronic means. Why should we not support as many means of communication as we can get? Kudos to you Dave for embracing this new technology. Eventually, more of us will learn how it fits into our daily lives. Steve (2/7/09) On the Mike O'Meara show Buzz said that " Sirius/XM Ceo Mel Karmazin said that if they don't find money in the next two weeks. Sirius /xm will go in to bankruptcy. Is this true? (2/7/09) Dave's response: I have heard rumblings that Sirius XM could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it can't refinance some of its debt by early 2009..... /\ February 7 Messages /\ \/ February 6 Messages \/ Dave, Why should I give a rats ass about Twitter? It is the dumbest site I've ever seen. Is it for people who can't communicate in person or who have lost all ability to speak? We are becoming a people who forget what it's like to use a pen and pencil and write cursive. No one communicates face to face anymore. Kids are don't go outside anymore and they become adults who've never even run or thorwn a football or baseball or climbed a tree. It's VERY sad. D (2/6/09) Dave's response: I'm using Twitter to attract people to news updates on DCRTV. And, so far, I've noticed an uptick in the site's traffic..... It is so sad when a woman broadcasts naked and nobody notices. www.947theglobe.com (2/6/09) Dave's response: I hear that Albie also did his show naked..... Here’s an easy way to make sure June 12 is truly the date for the digital switchover. Allow, or encourage, the local stations to begin running a crawl 24 hours a day on their analog feeds that says “If you can read this, you need to do something now or you will not be able to watch TV after June 12.” To this point, they have been doing these little one or two minute tests. Just run the crawl over and over and over. If people start calling the station complaining about how they are sick of seeing the crawl, or how it’s messing up their recording of programs, they can be told, “It’s time to switch.” Charles in Winchester (2/6/09) Instead of fighting over Fairness Why not authorize USA political parties to buy Radio Stations (AM band lower power stations only) to have talk /political discussion. at least it be obvious that its slanted political talk and it would put something worth listening on the dieing AM Band.John T. Henneman (2/6/09) Outta market, but of interest: KDKA fined $6k for faux $1mm giveaway. www.post-gazette.com... Mark/CharmCity (2/6/09) I find it funny that no one on this mailbag mentioned that 100.7 The Bay was off the air for hours today. This truly shows that no one listens to the station!! (2/6/09) RE: [Re: "The so-called 'mainstream' media gives you NEWS. NEWS is defined as the things that you NEED to hear." I'm sorry to hear you drank the kool-aid, fella.] Interesting opinion, but in the future, it would be far more professional if you would consider signing your name to your posts, Mr. Plante. - Jeff in Bowie (2/6/09) Interesting post in All Access… a nut job here or for real? - "I'm working on bringing the first All Black Gospel FM Radio station to the D.C.Market. A huge viable niche that has long been ignored for years. This will be a FM station. Check back for openings in the near future and D.C. get ready for the "All New Gospel 10? FM." (2/6/09) WOW!!! Today while at my new gig (Voice Of America a radio engineer) I was on my way from one language service assignment (engineering the board for the Korean radio show) to lunch when, I happened to pass by a studio where the show, "Boarder Crossings" originates and who do I happen to see but, saxman, BONEY JAMES! Having just interviewed him on the air in the closing months of Smooth Jazz, 105.9 (WJZW-FM), I poked my head in and said "hi". We talked a bit about what we'd been up to since last we spoke and then I hung out as he played a few tunes from his latest CD and was interviewed by the show's host, Larry London. Imagine... Boney James, broadcasting to the entire globe on VOA! In the words of a tune, closely associated with WJZW-FM's one time owner, the Walt Disney company, "...it's a small world, after all..." federAL SANTOS (2/6/09) This book is one of the most interesting that I have ever read. "The Day The Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens" I own it and have read it three times. Details of the last tour, why they flew instead of using the tour bus, photos of the crash scene, lots of stuff that never appeared anywhere else. Its available on Amazon in paperback but the hardcover is still available on assorted used book sites. (2/6/09) Suuuure liberal talk radio has no following, Riiiight. That is, unless you consider the fact that mega-radio corporate ownership works to lock it out of a number of major-metro markets regardless of performance. For one example, in 2006, Clear Channel Radio announced it planned to dump the liberal talk-show format on WXXM-FM, replacing it with an all-sports format from Fox Radio Sports. The announcement by Clear Channel came after the radio station posted a solid gain in the Arbitron ratings, going from a 2.3 share in the summer of 2005 to 3.7 in the summer of 2006, placing 11th in the market. In the majority of markets across the U.S., stations with stronger transmission power are all corporate-owned. Most, like Clear Channel, refuse to consider expansion of liberal talk programming, even in areas sporting heavily liberal demographics. In effect, this locks a counter voice to right-wing talk completely out of the competitive market in most major metropolitan markets. When you consider the popularity that liberal talk programs like Stephanie Miller, Bill Press and Ed Schultz carry in a number of major metropolitan markets, you have to wonder how much corporate ownership is playing a part in limiting the market share, and why. - Jeff in Bowie (2/6/09) "Content center producers" at ch. 4, "Digital journalists" at ch. 9, "Albritton 3.9% wage cut slaves" at ch. 7/8, "The floggings will continue until morale improves" at ch. 5, "You'll get nothing and love it" at the Post and "Three-for-the-price of one" at 'TOP . Will the last one leaving the "news" business please turn out the lights? (2/6/09) Paul, I'm a loyal listener of the "Grandy & Andy" program in the a.m. and don't intend to switch to Mancow, but I still want to reply to your post. I like Mancow but didn't know him that well and actually found him quite annoying at times - until I saw an episode of the Anthony Bourdain food show on the Travel Channel. Tony was in Chicago and was a guest on Mancow's show and he didn't know quite what to make of the host. Mancow then invited him to a local deli and Tony got to know him - and the viewer got to know him too - and he is soft-spoken, loves puppies and was just super nice! The two hit the The Silver Palm restaurant for the house specialty: “Three Little Pigs,” a gigantic sandwich made with three kinds of pork, toped with an egg. It looked so good! -Silvie- (2/6/09) Finally got around to seeing the PPM numbers for the first week of January. Here are the WJFK ratings: 18-34: Junkies 12th place... Big O And Dukes 15th place... Mike O'Meara 11th place... 25-54: Junkies 14th place... Big O And Dukes 13th place... Mike O'Meara 10th place... (2/6/09) Ain’t gonna be no return to the Fairness Doctrine. Liberals are champions of free speech, and the last thing (as in, it won’t happen) the new administration has on its mind is limiting personal liberties in any way. So why is it an issue? It began about six months ago when it became apparent that the GOP was going to get hammered in the election and rightwing talkers needed something to fill their three-or-four hours a day. They needed some red meat to get their P-1 crazies all riled up and willing to chalk up 60 quarter-hours a week of glued-to-the-speaker radio listening for Rush/Sean/Bill-O et al. So they started pushing this notion that once the Dems got in power, they would ram through the ol’ Fairness Doctrine and Rush/Sean/Bill-O et al would be banned from the airwaves. And they managed to do such a good job of selling their Urban Legend that a few Dems equally starved for the limelight (Press, Stabenow) picked it up and started to run with it from the Left. But for anyone who actually takes ten minutes to think it through, it makes no sense—because (Gasp!) it would be every bit as damaging to the liberals—Keith/Rachel/Stewart/Colbert—as to the conservatives. And, thankfully, there are plenty of thoughtful Democrats (including the Prez) who would be quick to grasp this, should the notion ever get past the Talk Radio Filler stage. Stabenow? Please… (2/6/08) "NBC Nightly News....why would they make their political director, Chuck Todd, the Chief White House correspondent? He is not a journalist" Neither was Tim Russert, George Stephanopolos, or Chris Mathews. (2/6/09) Am I the only one who noticed that WTOP was falling into and out of delay most of the day yesterday? Usually people post to the mailbag the most minor of problems in the DC area but I can't find any mention of this. If I had to guess, it sounded like a problem with the HD radio crap. They have to delay the analog signal about 7 seconds so that it will be in time with the digital carrier. This means that no one on the air can listen to the off air signal. Since the audio didn't go away, the silence sense didn't trigger. It was kinda disconcerting. I can't believe no one called them to say there was a problem. I first heard it around 6 AM. I stopped listening about noon and it was still doing it. I had to get on a plane and go to Florida for a few days. (Bite it, bitches!) John (2/6/09) In mid-January T-Mobile aired a commercial in the UK that had been shot at the Liverpool Train Station. It’s remarkably done and , although it has nothing to do with Washington, it’s well worth watching. There are some related videos on how it was done. Go here: www.youtube.com... Tom Gauger (2/6/09) May I be the first to give a hearty ''Fuck You'' to Mancow. May your stay at WTNT be brief. You're a fraud, a phoney and a hypocrite. Paul (2/6/09) Re: "The so-called 'mainstream' media gives you NEWS. NEWS is defined as the things that you NEED to hear." I'm sorry to hear you drank the kool-aid, fella. (2/6/09) Dave, Too funny. The other day WFSB/3 the Merideth owned CBS station in Hartford, CT was doing a story about a suspect in the murder of a 16 year old girl, well when they showed the picture of the suspect it was a picture of a hamster with the suspects name next to it. www.youtube.com... Marc (2/6/09) dave said: "Basically, what you have here are folks on the right stereotyping the entire left on the comments of one half-baked senator. Typical Limbaughesque bullshit....." Nothing to worry about. Just another figment of our paranoid wingnut imagination, same as it was when Pelosi mentioned it and Durbin mentioned it and Bingaman mentioned it and Schumer mentioned it. It's not an isolated incident anymore. This is a pattern. and liberal talk radio has struggled not because of weak signals, but because there's so much liberal opinion out there in the rest of the media. If anything, it's oversaturation. (2/6/09) ESPN was first with the pilot of the Airbus he put down in the Hudson River. Rick Reilly interviewed Sullenberger during Super Bowl festivities, making also-rans out of everyone else. (2/6/09 Not that this is a radio topic, but as long as it came up: Jack Eden was more than a man of a different time. He wasn't part of the eco-nonsense of which we're so enamored right now. Millions of lives were saved by DDT and similar pesticides, far far more than were ever remotely threatened by them. The ratio of lives saved to lives lost is probably 100,000 to one. You can't tree hug malaria and related diseases away. Yes, we could use new, more target-specific pesticides, but the notion that pesticides per se are bad is just total bullshit, and so in keeping with some of the vacuum heads in charge right now. (2/6/09) QUOTE: "As Dave says, as long as you understand that it is only E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-M-E-N-T, then it is harmless. The moment that you begin to believe that the things you hear on 'MAL have any connection whatsoever to the truth is when you're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy...it is the point where you enter bizzaro-world, where in is out, up is down, black is white, and the sitting president of the United States is a closet muslim who forged his birth certificate, pals around with terrorists, and wants to convert our nation to socialism because he secretly hates America." UNQUOTE I agree - it is entertainment. It is entertaining to hear these lunatics get their panties up in a bunch over things that, in all likelihood, do not affect them directly. Not exactly INTELLIGENT entertainment but then again most of what Hollywood produces isn't intelligent either. HOWEVER... the problem is when we have ignorant and uneducated people who actually believe the tripe those 'morans' spew. All one needs to do is to go onto YouTube and watch and listen to the vids of those McPalin rallies. Listen to those pathetic people being interviewed and it will become apparent that their only source for news is what the fools on righty talk radio and Fox Snooze dish out. AND, if that isn't enough, you have these pansy-assed politicians such as Rep. Gingrey who stood up to Limbaugh but then wimped out when the dittohead army flooded his VM with angry diatribes. He ended up going on all the righty shows basically kissing the hosts' asses. Pathetic. Now you and I may consider those jokers to be 'entertaining' because we possess above-average intelligence and we can see right through their BS but to many other people these shows and their hosts are almost on par with God. They are not intelligent enough to know better. THAT is what is disturbing about talk radio. I think we can all agree that we have serious issues facing this nation and we really don't need this garbage being spewed. Think about it, folks. Mike in Manassas (2/6/09) Did you hear Bill Press this morning? He want on a rant on how local NPR stations don't appeal to progressive listeners and then shouted "I Don't listen to NPR because it is BORING! He went on to say, quote "I would rather listen to right wing radio than NPR!" Gee Bill wonder why have NEVER had any ratings in DC? Let's see the latest numbers show WAMU with a 9.2 share and nearly 250,000 listeners between 6 - 9 a.m. What did the Bill Press Show have 6 - 9 a.m.? Zip, zero. And now he insults all potential listeners. Gee, does the Fairness Doctrine cover stupidity? (2/6/09) There isn't going to be a return to the fairness doctrine, but the argument that the spineless, mainstream media is the liberal equivalent of talk radio is specious, Dave's amen not withstanding. None of the outlets Greg listed exist solely to spread one point of view (the Sun publishes Ron Smith every week and the Post is consistently pro-Iraq war, for gosh sakes). Turning the dial to avoid hearing Limbaugh is not the same as being able to turn the dial to someone arguing for a different point of view. Instead, one must turn the dial and listen to sports, or bad music. rtegardles of the playing field, though, liberal talk radio will never be as popular as conservative talk just simply because the majority of liberal voters just aren't that interested in listening to talk radio. Liberals should just let the actuarial tables take care of conservative radio. Howie (2/6/09) Dave's response: You know, while there are a plethora of popular righties in "AM talk radio" like Rush, Hannity, and Savage, many radio personalities are lefties. Stern leans left on many issues, Don and Mike were always solid Dems, Diane Rehm, Kornheiser, three out of four Junks, Tom Joyner, anything on NPR or Pacifica, etc. They may all not be doing "red meat talk shows" like Rush and Beck, but there's a lot of lefty talk out there - and it's quite popular. There is NO shortage of lefty talk on the radio and there's no need for the Fairness Doctrine or the government to get into the business of mandating the content of radio or TV shows. Basically, what you have here are folks on the right stereotyping the entire left on the comments of one half-baked senator. Typical Limbaughesque bullshit..... Thanks to all who have sent e-mails and postings regarding my 25th anniversary at WBAL. WOW,Johnny Dark, my childhood radio idol posted. I remember laying in bed after getting my tonsils out and listening to Johnny intro "Big Girls Don't Cry". I was 7!!! My best to Colleen and your gang! Thanks to Aaron who has hit the big time at KDKA, Love "Charlie Hustle". Thanks to whoever brought up Mad radio 13 and the press box at Memorial Stadium. We had some great times at 13 E. 20th street from Orioles baseball to Eckman and his Chevis Regal to Mike March grilling steaks in the vending machine room while he was on the air.Since this is my first posting, Dave, great Web site! Thanks, John Patti (2/6/09) Dave's response: John Patti - one of the local radio greats! I see CNN has that fruitcake Richard Quest on again. Wasn't he the guy that was busted in Central Park for illegal drugs and, didn't they find he had a string tied around his neck and nut sack? (2/6/09) Dave's response: Come on! At least half of the WJFK air staff has found themselves in the same predicament..... Reinstatement of the "Fairness" Doctrine is a violation of the 1st Amendment rights limiting the Congress's power to suppress free speech. It's just another example of government limiting information and/or opinions that get to the people who oppose what the government is doing. You may not agree with Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Hannity, or Laura Ingram, et al, but you don't have to listen to them either. There is already a fairness doctrine in place, it's called the radio dial. There are plenty of left wing views out there as well, PBS, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, AP, Reuters, etc. But oh no, Fox News, WMAL, and WBAL are too big a threat! Once you let the government decide what can and can't be heard by the people, you've given up your freedom of speech. Greg in Reisterstown (2/6/09) Dave's response: Amen! Maybe "the day the music died" is a little melodramatic, but let's recall what happened to the major artists of rock'n'roll shortly after 2-3-59. Elvis was in the Army and didn't quite have the same massive cultural impact once he was discharged. Chuck Berry ran into legal issues and did jail time. Jerry Lee Lewis married his 14-year-old second cousin and his career tanked. Little Richard fell off the map as well. For every Del Shannon or Ventures or Roy Orbison, there were dozens of formula acts who did little to stand out. From early 1959 thru the end of 1963, rock'n'roll wasn't dead, but it may have been on life support by the time the Beatles came along in '64, who always said one of their major influences was...Buddy Holly. Put that in your pipe and smoke it - but keep it away from Michael Phelps! - - - - - Larry in Luray (2/6/09) Tony Perkins on Fox 5 makes the frozen potted plant on my deck look exciting. Is this guy as uninterested in his job as he appears to be? (2/6/09) Dave's response: Checked the Cracked Crystal (Koons) Ball. The O'Meara and Perkins morning show on 106.7 is the number-four rated morning show in the DC radio market (tied with Lori Loo on WASH) in 2010. If CBS Radio was smart. Sigh..... This issue Bill Press is pushing on his web site. Talking about "fairness". How fair is he being by neglecting to include his rating history over the last couple of years on WWRC and other stations in Washington DC. How fair is he being by suggesting there is no progressive voice in DC when WAMU beats all spoken word stations in the market excluding WTOP. Isn't Ed Schultz still working in DC? Does Bill think that is unfair? (2/6/09) Dave's response: I'm a lefty and I don't listen to Bill Press's show because it's simply not very entertaining. People listen to talk radio to be entertained. Not because they agree with or like the host. Although they might. But many don't, too..... RE: "If Buddy Holly was such a BFD, how come we mark his death instead of his birth?" Same reason we thiink of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22. (2/6/09) (More Holly) Buddy Holly ... was one of the first to double-track his guitar parts at a time when stereo or multi-track recording wasn't available in the west Texas area that Buddy recorded in. (end) That's hardly a revelation. Why not celebrate the first musician who ever recorded with electricity in that West Texas area? Why not a tip of the hat to the guy who sat in front of Buddy and threw the "solo" switch on his guitar for him cuz he was too busy banging out the rhythm line for "Peggy Sue"? *Everybody* who's ever cut a record was the "first" to do something interesting or unusual, otherwise he wouldn't be on a damn record now, would he?. Look, Buddy's dead and I'm sorry. But its his death that made him a legend, not his accomplishments. If he were alive today he'd own the Buddy Holly Theater in Branson and that's about it. Now can we be please done with it, or should we stop and observe today's anniversary of the death of Jesse Belvin? (look him up, ya lazy bastids...) (2/6/09) Let me clear up a confusion so many 'MAL listeners and even 'MAL cheerleaders like "you-know-who" have about the difference between the words WANT and NEED. The so-called "mainstream" media gives you NEWS. NEWS is defined as the things that you NEED to hear. Rightie loons like Plante and Sliwa make their living feeding the far-right fringe the things that you WANT to hear. REAL news makes you think. What passes for "news" on 'MAL is people who spoon-feed you propaganda, and then tell you how much smarter you must be for listening to what they tell you (One even tells you that listening to him somehow makes you a "Great American") As Dave says, as long as you understand that it is only E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-M-E-N-T, then it is harmless. The moment that you begin to believe that the things you hear on 'MAL have any connection whatsoever to the truth is when you're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy...it is the point where you enter bizzaro-world, where in is out, up is down, black is white, and the sitting president of the United States is a closet muslim who forged his birth certificate, pals around with terrorists, and wants to convert our nation to socialism because he secretly hates America. But then again, that's what you WANT to hear...not what you NEED to hear. Understand the difference now? (2/6/09) Dave's response: Grandy, Andy, and Nehman are the modern-day radio version of the Three Stooges. They're silly..... re: "Okay, so if Buddy Holly was such a BFD, why do his fans commemorate his death instead of his birth?" -- You have to understand the impact of the tragic event. Sure Glen Miller, Patsy Cline came before but this was entirely different. These men represented a whole new genre, an entire new and fresh, vibrant spirit. New "idols" of various degree's of respectability and credibility, Holly was seen as having a promising future eclipsing his already far reaching accomplishments. In one horrific instant....gone! Impacting a generation like never before. In the days following yes it would seem to a lot of people/fans that February 3rd, 1959, that awful day in their minds, a big portion of the music had indeed died. Literally? No, their music lives on as do their brief but brilliant legacy's. Make no mistake it was a major, landmark event in the history of Rock 'N Roll music and "pop culture" in general. Those countless Hall of Famers and others that Holly influenced stand in testament to his "genius". Annual commemorations of "The Day The Music Died" are in a small way acknowledgements to the pain and emptiness of a generation while at the same time celebrations of their gifts they left behind and even more so of Rock 'N Roll music itself as an art form. It's implied that everyone understands that "the music" didn't actually die and that everyone won't be so freaking picky and technical. :-) MF (2/6/09) Just now, on the "CBS Evening News", I saw a snippet of an interview of Capt. Sullenberger with Katie Couric. Basically, it was a tease for a full interview that will be on "60 Minutes" this week, but Katie referred to it as "the very first interview" with him. I thought the "Today Show" grabbed the first TV interview shortly after the incident, with Matt Lauer. I know the spot was initially canceled because the NTSB asked that the air crew not speak publicly until they had been fully debriefed at the start of the investigation, but Lauer said at that time, that the "first" interview would happen shortly after that. I had read that Sullenberger promised the first interview to Lauer and NBC, weeks ago. So, did Sully stiff NBC or did Couric scoop 'em? (2/6/09) Re: Verizon VIOS lines being put down from a few weeks ago in the mailbag-My grandparents live in Catonsville and my mom told me that they are putting down lines in the community, I thought I heard they had started first in Anne Arundel County...Congrats to John Patti, I guess I have been listening to his newscasts for 18 of his 25 years, back when I remember my dad waking up to Jones and West on WBAL after Johnny Walker went off of WFBR...To Johnny Dark/Ken Merson-This week I have been doing Noon-6pm since my PD is on vacation instead of my normal 2-7pm shift which means I get to host my old 12 O'Clock Whatever hour where we mix it up with music from the 70s-Now, I play old Top 40 jingle type drops ins, use the old chime drop in for the time, come on after a sweeper-reliving old top 40 radio and having a real blast. Thought you would get a kick out of a couple of my Turntable Songs of the Day (forgotten 45s) that I dug up and that haven't been heard at least on Delmarva in years-Ol' 55 from the Eagles, Rupert Holmes-Him, David Naughton-Makin' It, Candi Staton-Young Hearts and Odyssey-Native New Yorker. I know you spun those hits a few hundred times -Michael Popovec (2/6/09) A poster wrote, "Buddy Holly...stereo or multi-track recording wasn't available in the west Texas area that Buddy recorded in." Holly's hits were recorded in Clovis, New Mexico. (2/6/09) "Dave's response: I agree. Jack Eden was a man of a different time - a time when pesticides were widely used in gardening. Not really his fault. The Post's obit kind of painted him as somewhat evil and misguided..... Dave: I think the problem with poor Jack was that even as he moved into a time when the use of pesticides was rapidly declining and everything pointed to their adverse effect on the environment, he quite stubbornly refused to accept that and continued to advocate their use. My guess is that he was paid handsomely by certain sponsors of his show to heavily promote their line of pesticides (and herbicides) and that po'd the management of the Post and 'TOP to no end. Obviously, someone at the Post had an axe to grind, even after his demise. (2/6/09) /\ February 6 Messages /\ \/ February 5 Messages \/ Dave, Murdoch is wasting no time in swinging the axe following today's bad profit (or lack thereof) report: NEW YORK -- The Wall Street Journal is cutting roughly 25 positions in its newsroom on Thursday. A spokesman for the newspaper said the cuts were made through a combination of layoffs, buyouts and elimination of job openings. The Journal has about 760 newsroom employees. The Wall Street Journal is published by Dow Jones & Co., which also publishes this newswire. Dow Jones is owned by News Corp., which will report its fiscal second-quarter earnings after the closing bell. (2/5/09) I am not a fan of the mixed programming (music and yesterday's interviews) that the new oldies 105.9 is trying to pull off this week during the Imus in the Morning Show. Any thoughts? Kevin (2/5/09) Hey Mr BFD, the reason Buddy Holly fans celebrate his death is because it happened in such a spectacular fashion in a plane crash. Holly was not only a great musician, but was one of the first to double-track his guitar parts at a time when stereo or multi-track recording wasn't available in the west Texas area that Buddy recorded in. Enough of this sh*t from you youngsters who don't appreciate the contributions of those who came before you. Pull your diapers up Junior and be grateful we old farts let you listen to our music collection. (2/5/09) Okay, so if Buddy Holly was such a BFD, why do his fans commemorate his death instead of his birth? (2/5/09) Regarding WJZ's error on Justice Ginsburg-- it's no surprise. WJZ is the most careless, sloppy news broadcast, often full of errors. It's shameful, really. (2/5/09) "Dear Dave, could you please include "sarcasm" and "sense of humor" as mandatory in mailbaggers' DCRTV dues or something? Obviously Mike in Manassas has neither. I was being sarcastic about the 'thought-process' thing. Sheesh, do I have to explain EVERYTHING I write to you people? -Silvie-" So, Silvie, Mike in Manassas "has neither"? Neither what? He can't "have sarcasm." Obviously, #1 girl, you DO have to explain EVERYTHING you post in the mailbag because what you continue to post doesn't make any friggin sense to ANY of us. (2/5/09) That obit on Jack Eden was a bit heavy handed. (2/5/09) Dave's response: I agree. Jack Eden was a man of a different time - a time when pesticides were widely used in gardening. Not really his fault. The Post's obit kind of painted him as somewhat evil and misguided..... "WJZ Channel 13 just ran a story about Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg's hospitilization. The video footage they used was of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Come on, people!"...It was a dumb mistake to put an O'Connor clip from Inauguration, but I also love how someone had a mailbag post about a five second tease!! I bet 99.9% of the people didn't even process it, but leave it to DCRTV posters to catch it. I find it quite humorous. (2/5/09) Reply to Rant - Its amazing that MASN is running ads today that all O's and Nat's game will be in HD. Thanks! Scott Faust (2/5/09) Dave's response: Look, MASN announced last fall that they'd be launching a fulltime HD channel in the spring. And when DCRTV today reported a launch date and a rumbling that there'd be 200-ish HD games this season (100-ish Nats, 100-ish O's), all heck broke loose - requesting that I remove the newsblurb and the resulting Rant which attempted to explain the suddenly missing newsblurb. Memo to MASN - decaf from now on..... Hey Silvie, I always think people should follow through on their impulses. (2/5/09) Dear Dave, could you please include "sarcasm" and "sense of humor" as mandatory in mailbaggers' DCRTV dues or something? Obviously Mike in Manassas has neither. I was being sarcastic about the 'thought-process' thing. Sheesh, do I have to explain EVERYTHING I write to you people? I'm hungry. Bye! -Silvie- (2/5/09) "CHANGE"----wink, wink, wink!!!!!!!!!!!! (2/5/09) Hmmm....losing $6.4 billion is about as bad as it could get for News Corp. (online.wsj.com). Here's hoping Rupert Murdoch includes Bill O'Reilly in his list if cost cuts and then throws himself off a bridge. (2/5/09) Re Curtis Sliwa... BEGIN SNIP "(although perhaps his "thought-process" might've lapsed for a few seconds when thinking that the bridges into DC from VA were all still closed down from the Inaugural, thanks to thoughful decisions made by law enforcement officials.)" END SNIP Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Silvie. So Sliwa had a momentary 'lapse of thought process' but when Nancy Pelosi had a similar 'lapse' with her '500 million' gaffe she gets tarred and feathered by Drudge and all your buds on WMAL who, of course, take their cues from Drudge. Rightwing hypocrisy on display indeed. You wanna call Pelosi a 'moran' then the same applies to the beret dude too. The previous poster was correct - WMAL is a sewer - and I'll go even further, screw the PC BS... you righties should appreciate that btw, those who religiously listen to and buy into that sewer of a station have sewer minds. Mike in Manassas (2/5/09) WJZ Channel 13 just ran a story about Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg's hospitilization. The video footage they used was of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Come on, people! (2/5/09) 1 - Curtis Sliwa was talking last night about commuter traffic in general, from Pr. William County to the District, and not generalizing in terms of only pointing out the commute between Pr. William and Arlington (although perhaps his "thought-process" might've lapsed for a few seconds when thinking that the bridges into DC from VA were all still closed down from the Inaugural, thanks to thoughful decisions made by law enforcement officials.) 2- I wanted to kill myself today watching Allison, Holly, Gwen & Tucker in the segment where they talk about stuff (Fox 5 Nrews @ Noon) and they went about on the issue between Etta James & Beyonce and a catfight between Hillary Duff & Faye Dunaway. In the meantime, Tucker couldn't get a word edgewise because the three women on the panel were going on... and on... and on... Run, Tuck, Run! -Silvie- (2/5/09) A few DTV answers on pressing questions: The "delay" bill does NOT include new funds for the converter coupon program. It will end the expiration dates on those not yet used, so they will become indefinitely redeemable, and also will allow those who let their coupons expire to re-apply for new ones. If new funds are needed, they would only come from whatever stimulus bill becomes approved by Congress. As for the so-called "deadline", keep in mind the word's meaning... It is just that--a deadline on June 12th. The new bill does not interfere with any station choosing to shut off analog anywhere from Feb.17 forward. If a station is technically ready to proceed on 2/17 as planned, then they can do it. Or in March, April, or May, if they wish. Just as long as they meet the June 12th date. So I don't get why so many are up in arms about supposed "extra expenses" being incurred by a station to keep analog going until June...they aren't being required to! Now with that in mind, does anyone know what position the Baltimore affiliates are taking? Feb.17 or later? For some reason, their websites (WMAR, WJZ, WBAL) make no mention if they are delaying or not....? (2/5/09) So there's been a delay in converting to digitial t.v. to June because of the large amount of people who are "not ready" for the conversion..So, come June, if there's still a bunch of people not ready, what then?..I think it's crazy to delay the conversion because for whatever reason people don't have the converter box or digital t.v.'s..At what point are they going to just say, if you're not ready, you don't watch t.v.. (2/5/09) NBC Nightly News says that it is America's number one network evening newscast. If this is so, why would they make their political director, Chuck Todd, the Chief White House correspondent? He is not a journalist and sounds very amateur-ish during his news packages. (2/5/09) FYI: Eden lives on - at least for now - through his web site, JackEden.com. (2/5/09) Does anyone even know if Congress re-funded the DTV coupon program that ran out of money? There is currently $650 million in the "Stimulus Package" Interesting that I seem to remember reading that there are 6.5 million households still getting over the air signals. That's $100.00 per household. I thought you were allowed 2 coupons max per household. That means it costs $20.00 per household to process the coupons. Seems like a lot of overhead, don't ya think? And congrats to John Patti. I remember him being a fixture in the press box at Memorial Stadium back in the O's Golden Era of the late 70's - early 80's when John was w/WFBR. I hope the mere mention of WFBR doesn't get Joe in Essex started!! (2/5/09) RE: Rush's IQ…. I think the poster has Rush confused with Glenn Beck. (which is easily done since their big fat heads are about the same size). Beck is the one with a Mensan level IQ. Not Rush. (2/5/09) Dave's response: I bet Beck measures his IQ with a rectal thermometer..... I have no problem with Chris Core doing commercials. Doing spots is a great way to make some money and he's hardly doing anything else on the air anymore anyway. But WTOP would do itself and its listeners a big favor if it would stop merging spots into editorial and completely ban the growing habit of dropping client names into news reads. There is no line between spot and editorial during AM rush and I'm guessing that doesn't change much the rest of the day. Talk about a Glass-Enclosed Conflict of Interest. By the way, I haven't seen it in a while now, but if you ever want a laugh, catch Dave Johnson doing the ultimate whore-out: standing outside one of those air mattress stores at the mall....dressed in his pajamas and shouting out his "sleep number." The guy might want to look up the word "dignity" in the dictionary. (2/5/09) Dave's response: For most radio personalities, there's no problem with doing personal ad pitches. Except, if you're in the news or news commentary business. Then you risk a loss of credibility. I do think it hurts Chris Core if, one minute, you hear him doing a testimonial for a gutter service and then, the next, hear him doing a "Core Values" commentary on WTOP on some weighty political topic. Dave Johnson, being in sports, can probably "get away" with doing those mattress ads. But, if he in the remotest aspect considers himself a journalist, he really shouldn't be doing them. As for any WMALer doing ads - what the hell! They have no credibility to begin with. Bryan Nehman, who does come across the most "journalistic" MALer as the morning show newsman, really shouldn't be shilling for a car dealership. But I guess he needs the extra cash with what those cheap bastards at Citadel are probably paying him. I forgive him..... TV stations are filing applications for Legal Special Temporary Authority to terminate analog operations prior to new deadline (most are for 2/17) and updating their DTV Transition Reports to reflect their plans. You can search the FCC's site for them, or check out a rabbitears.info page (rabbitears.com) that is tracking this information. I know of several cases where stations claiming 2/17 terminations have already done so due to equipment failures, so any list will not be 100% accurate. Regards, Dave Loudin (2/5/09) I am so tired of hearing Chris Core’s commercial on WTOP. He truly is the prostitute of commercials. I get the feeling he will sell anything just to earn a buck. He talks about “Core Values” well he should look at what he is doing for a living. He is constantly trying to sell the listeners anything he can. I am now at the point, I changed the station when I hear his commercials. WTOP, please help and stop the commercials!! (2/5/09) Dave's response: Hey, advertisers love "personal endorsement" ads. You hear Chris Core and Dave Johnson doing them on WTOP. Andy Parks, Fred Grandy, Bryan Nehman, and Chris Plante doing them on WMAL. Plus the Junkies, Buzz Burbank, and Robb Spewak on WJFK. And they're not going away..... Since when is passing the buck called "CHANGE" ??? Sounds like business as usual to me. All Congress has done with this DTV bill is sleazily remove the blame from itself and attempt to shift it to others. If the station ownership groups were smart, their corporate suits would begin making market by market deals to shut off ALL the analogs in as many large markets as possible. In most large markets, most people are prepared for the DTV transition largely. Obviously, no station wants to be the only one without an analog signal for 4 months, but with a little cooperation, I can't see why many of these broadcasting companies, especially in large markets, couldn't come to agreements that would save all the companies involved a bundle of money. Otherwise, in this struggling economy, the DTV delay will really just result in more company layoffs as most of these companies are already laying people off. The unexpected cost of keeping these analog signals on 4 months longer has got to come from somewhere. Certainly, Congress isn't paying for it. Does anyone even know if Congress re-funded the DTV coupon program that ran out of money? Regardless, what geniuses they are in Congress, NOT! (2/5/09) Seeing John Patti celebrate 25 big ones at WBAL makes me feel old. I remember when he was an intern at WCAO. We knew then that he was going to do well in this industry. John, you've done us all proud. My sincere congratulations to a true professional!....Johnny Dark (2/5/09) Dave, I'm in Potomac listning to Arlington's TIS on 1700. There is some noise but no problem understanding the good quality audio. This station has better coverage than WWRC. Bob Fairfax (2/5/09) Congrats to John Patti of WBAL for a quarter century of broadcast excellence! I was blessed to be able to listen to him every day when I was in Baltimore, and I not only enjoyed his stuff, but I learned from it too. I once referred to him as the “Charlie Hustle” of Baltimore radio in this mailbag; but apparently he didn’t like that. So I won’t do it again. I’ll just offer best wishes to one of the nicest and most professional guys in the business. Keep kicking tail, John! Thanks, Bill “Aaron” Rehkopf, KDKA-Pittsburgh (2/5/09) "The Washington Post focuses on former WTOP radio gardening expert Jack Eden's frequent recommendations for the use of pesticides and weed killers in its Thursday obituary." That's why WTOP replaced him with an organic garden expert, Mike McGrath. Former Editor of Organic Gardening Magazine. (2/5/09) re.: "Nobody read past the first two lines of the DTV Delay bill, did they? Stations can VOLUNTARILY continue to air an analog signal all the way to June IF THEY WANT TO. Otherwise, they are all welcome to go ahead and scrap the old transmitter on the 17th just as they had planned to do. Channel 5 et al are not being told they *must* keep their analog line alive, just that they *can*." Absolutely. This way, it's not the FAULT of GOVERNMENT if one day before the new "transition date", you suddenly can't get your favorite station. It's the FAULT of the individual STATION. This is most definitely an end to politics as usual, and CHANGE!! (2/5/09) The DTV delay may be a joke or a bad idea but not for the reason cited in an earlier post. Several local stations including 5, 20 and 26 have already said that they will continue to broadcast an analog signal past 2/17. (2/5/09) Our esteemed lawmakers have totally f^(#ed up the DTV transition and shown us how they really feel: screw you if you run a business, screw you if your job depends on the DTV transition, screw you if you bother to prepare yourself, screw you if you believe anything they tell you the first time around, in fact screw EVERYBODY because now any problems there may have been from the transition CAN'T be fixed until June PLUS there will now be a 4-month slush period in which nobody knows what's final and what will go away after the real transition. As the only person in the entire country (apparently) who stands to gain new channels when our lovely gummint decides the last impoverished illegal alien is ready for the analog shutdown, I would be very interested to know if you, Dave, can find out if WNVC and WUTB can reach an agreement to allow WNVC onto the air. Or do I have to do a channel scan every day for the next 4 months? I fear that the sentiment expressed by WETA will be shared by all analog broadcasters. ~~CA in BC (2/5/09) Just my $.02 on Stu Sutcliffe. What were his musical contributions to the Beatles? Well...almost nil. But his other contributions were very valuable. He is the one who actually came up with the name "Beetles" based on Buddy Holly's Crickets (the master of wordplay, John Lennon changed the spelling to "Beatles" to emphasise their music in conjunction with the Holly connection). He was also the Beatle who appealed to the more artistic crowd in Germany and was the first to adopt the now famous "Beatles haircut". I believe that Sutcliffe's art school background rubbed off on the rest of the band (especially John and Paul) and I'm rather certain that Sutcliffe's influence can be felt in the Beatle's impact on fashion and in their avant garde interests. Sutcliffe's presence opened the Beatles' willingness to be open to artistic ideas which can be seen in their album covers, fashion, movies and videos. Great musicians and bands tend to have as much influence on pop culture as they do on music and that's where Sutcliffe's influence lies. Keith Thompson, host of "Lunch With The Beatles" Saturdays at 12:15 on WCTR. (2/5/09) Coming out of a break last night, Peter Schmuck went through the WBAL lineup, and ended with, "and Sportslne w/Peter Schmuck, for the next week or so." I suspect he's going to Spring Training, but is it the end of his run already? Anyone have any ideas as to what's up? All Syndication after 6:00? Personally, I would hope that they would bring Gerry Sandusky back. (2/5/09) What's the opposite of PROgress? CONgress! Another carbon-based system failure. The people who are not ready now won't be ready in 4 months! Or 40 months! It's a lifestyle! Nothing is certain until it happens! They'll deal with it then! We came SO CLOSE!! Now we're stuck with a system from the 1950s! Does this mean a bailout for the local TV stations? Even among the less-affluent, it's the second and third television sets in the home, and television sets in the work break rooms, and similar places that will be affected. It's time to just bite the bullet and go! There better not be any more delays. This is silly! We simply don't have time to wait for all those old analog TVs to give up the ghost! (2/5/09) Nobody read past the first two lines of the DTV Delay bill, did they? Stations can VOLUNTARILY continue to air an analog signal all the way to June IF THEY WANT TO. Otherwise, they are all welcome to go ahead and scrap the old transmitter on the 17th just as they had planned to do. Channel 5 et al are not being told they *must* keep their analog line alive, just that they *can*. (2/5/09) Regarding a previous post; is it considered within the bounds of normalcy for a man in his mid 40's to listen to "Love Line?" I am not sure about that. (2/5/09) Moving the MOM show to mornings would be perfect. It's a better fit. I would even turn off my Sirius to listen. Beating Elliot and JD wouldn't take much effort. Especially Elliot. WJFK SHOULD see this as a common sense move. Does any else find Rachel Maddow and her whole ''act'' getting a little old? She's talented and kinda goofy but not every single thing that she says doesn't HAVE to be funny. Paul (2/5/09) [Curtis Sliwa's 'new' start hour on 630 WMAL (starting at 9 p.m. ET since 2/2) is tailored for WMAL listeners] Yeah...I just love how Sliwa "tailors" his broadcast for D.C. listeners, Silvie...like the part of his rant on traffic in California being worse than in D.C. I especially enjoyed the part where he reminded us how Prince William commuters take 45 minutes get to their jobs across the Potomac River......in ARLINGTON. 'MAL is a sewer, and the tank is about to overflow. I predict Plante will be gone by the end of the summer. (2/5/09) www.nydailynews.com - Joe Buck replacing Bob Costas on HBO (2/5/09) THIS DTV DELAY BILL IS A COMPLETE JOKE!........ Why would any sane broadcaster CHOOSE to delay ending their analog broadcasts during this current economic crisis and choose to pay to run TWO SIGNALS instead of ONE when they don't have to??? Even with this vote, only those stations not prepared for the switch or with technical troubles will not turn off the analog as most stations will still be on cable TV regardless. What a complete joke this DTV delay bill is! (2/5/09) Another retarded move by the DEMS. Come on folks, 2+ years isn't enough time to get your damn TV straightened out? 4 extra months is really gonna work? Maybe OBAMA will keep his promise and not appoint any "lobbyist" to his cabinet too, oh wait he's already done that. Good to see he's keeping his promises. Well at least the treasury head pays his taxes, oh yeah he doesn't. Glad we have CHANGE, douchebags. (2/5/09) I feel so special, Dave. Curtis Sliwa's 'new' start hour on 630 WMAL (starting at 9 p.m. ET since 2/2) is tailored for WMAL listeners as well as for 790 KABC in Los Angeles listeners only. The rest of the stations carrying him start his show at 10 p.m. ET. Judging by many of his callers, listeners nationwide listen to his first hour via the WMAL web site. In typical Sliwa style, he gets better and better as the years go by and now my talk radio listening addiction has come full circle with my favorite daytime & evening radio hosts. -Silvie- (2/5/09) Just what the Delmarva area needs, another country music station. There is no variety of stations on the shore. Other than the country stations, you have all those adult contemporary stations such 104.7, 96.7 and others. There is but one real oldies station, 92.1 the Wave. Why not try something different. such as sports talk, some local and some national? The next station to dump a format on the shore should try the above format. Burt in Denton (2/5/09) /\ February 5 Messages /\ \/ February 4 Messages \/ Arlington County has an emergency info station at 1700 AM, which actually is one of the best sounding low-power info stations I've heard. Announcers are articulate, the signal is clear with no hum or lousy frequency response, and damn! they are loud. I had a readable signal all the way to where Gallows Road ends in Annandale. They have a good webpage too at arlingtonva.us. The page says their facilities are "secure" (secret?) but does anyone know where programming originates from? (2/4/09) Dave: While this item isn't strictly DC-related, it is about the bookselling segment of media and it does have a DC-connection. The NY Times web site reported on Tuesday that New York City's reportedly oldest gay bookstore will be closing at the end of March - yet another victim of these recessionary times. According to the article, the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in Greenwich Village originally opened in 1967. In recent years, it has nearly closed down several times, but was kept afloat by a series of new owners. In 2003, DC gay activist and entrepreneur, Deacon Maccubbin (who opened the Lambda Rising bookstores in DC and other areas, as well as Earthworks, which was a popular "headshop" in the 70s), rescued the venerable NYC shop. Here's a link to the NY Times article www.nytimes.com and a link about 1724 20th Street NW, the original location of both Lambda Rising and Earthworks www.rainbowhistory.org (2/4/09) Dear "Now that I got my final check"... didn't anyone ever tell you NOT TO BURN BRIDGES!? Oh sure, you may never work for Clear Channel again (not in this area, anyway after that post) BUT, any other broadcast company might think twice before hiring someone who may badmouth THEM in a public forum at some point down the road when they might have to terminate you... do you see what I'm getting at? When Citadel Communications terminated me last February it would have been so easy to come on here and rant and rave like you did but, while not in the happiest of moods at the time (and for quite a while thereafter) I just took some time to rethink my new situation and ironically was hired by Citadel to work as a board operator for their True Oldies format. While not paid the amount of money I was making when nuked, the job got me outta the house, put a few bucks in my pocket and got me plugged back into the 'network' of what's left of radio. The radio/broadcast universe is much too small to go burning bridges... not a sermon, just a thought! federAL SANTOS (2/4/09) Let this be the definitive conclusion to the whole Buddy Holly discussion: If "The Music Died", why do we still have it? (2/4/09) ref; "NBC4 website got hacked... At least I sure as hell hope it did. If they actually printed this article on marijuana I'd be shocked. The article says regarding the smoking of the weed, "The youths smoke these monster sticks to get high, which makes them go crazy, grab their automatic weapons, and kill all humans and animals within a 500-yard radius" ... Hello? That is a comment that was posted underneath the news story. Channel 4 has no moderation and no registration and people can post whatever they want. (2/4/09) Well Dave, now that I got my final check,I wanted to tell you what a Shitty place CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO is to work for. Anyone who actually gives a shit has been givin' the boot.. No chance to say goodbye to those thankful listeners that we once had/got to know. Also to our friends who actually still have a job(at least for now)..Not only do they fire people who care but also who live this stuff everyday. Doesn't matter to them who you are or what you have talent wise or how fucking long you've been there, it's all about doing the best job for the least amount of money. So the same asssssholes who run the place @ least down here on the Eastern Shore are the same asssholes advertising for sales people who they need to work/replace a lot of good people who got fired..... (2/4/09) Dave, I watched the Petey Greene special last night and felt that it was very good. It used interviews with various folks who knew him and who had been on his show to paint a picture of him. There were also plenty of clips from the shows themselves. There is a clip of Howard Sterm in "black face" make-up on Petey's show and of a young Robin Quivers in the audience. At the start of the program, it said that the video from his shows were thought to have been lost, but were found and worked into the program. Thank goodness they found them. I was in early elementary school when Petey's show was on and wouldn't remember seeing it. From watching last night's program, I would love to see more of Petey Greene's shows. Original, local, hard hitting, topical and connected with the community. That is what radio and TV should be about. It looks like that is exactly what Petey Greene was able to do. Last night's program is another example of what broadcasting was and should still be, but probably never will be again. Mike/Fairfax (2/4/09) I have to agree, Rush Limbaugh is very entertaining. Unfortunately, he's on vacation until next Tuesday. P.S. - I hear Rush has a pretty high IQ -- anyone know what it is? (2/4/09) Dave's response: Don't equate "glibness" with intellect..... Buddy Holly's work, in his less than two career, was as influential on rock musicians that came later as Chuck Berry's, Elvis' or anyone else of that era. THAT is why his loss is still deeply felt. It has nothing to do with his being or not being a superstar at the time of his death or Don McLean's song " American Pie". A list of prominent rock artists who were influenced by Holly is practically a who's who of 60's and 70's rockers, led by the Stones, whose cover of "Not Fade Away" was one of their first hit records and the Beatles, who covered "Words of Love" and whose primary writers, Lennon and McCartney, often credited Holly with being a huge influence on them. Lennon later covered "Peggy Sue" on a solo album. McCartney purchased the rights to Holly's catalog and may still own them for all I know. John Fogerty has cited Holly as an influence for CCR. The Beach Boys covered "Peggy Sue" and Brian Wilson has cited Holly as an influence. The Hollies were named after him, and some say that the Beatles name was a play on Holly's band the Crickets. Bob Dylan paid tribute to him in a Grammy acceptance speech and saw him play in concert just a few days before the plane crash. One could go on and on. And that is just the rock and roll world, let alone the country and western world where his unique style was a considerable influence as well. His influence on rock and roll can't be underestimated. (2/4/09) (quote) tragedy at times brings talent to the forefront (end) Or, like the New York Mint, they're just "not going to print any more". Even mediocre music becomes like gold when the artist won't be producing any more material. To continue, where are the tributes for Kyo Sakamoto ("Sukiyaki", died in a plane crash), Otis Redding ("Sitting at the Dock of the Bay", plane crash), Falco ("Der Komissar" and "Rock Me Amadeus", bus crash), Sid Vicious (every bit as revolutionary in his genre as Holly et al, died from heroin OD)... even John Lennon deserves something better than "Empty Garden" and "All Those Years Ago." So once more, were Holly, Bopper and Valens capable entertainers? Absolutely. And I'm sorry they've been dead for HALF A CENTURY NOW, but "Legendary" for any other reason? Not IMO. When Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis clocks out, call me. (2/4/09) OK, I'm in that same demo -- I'm in my mid-forties and make $65K -- and I never listen to WJFK. NEVER. Just a few years ago I would listen to Stern from 7am until he went off the air and never missed a minute of D&M if I could help it. That was almost 100% saturation in morning and pm drive time, and I'd usually catch some of the midday stuff as well. Even after Stern left I was still addicted to D&M. But I can't listen to the moronic "Junks" (who have never figured out how to speak into a microphone...and never have anything interesting to say anyway) and -- God knows I tried -- I get nothing from the MOMS but boredom. So I don't have WJFK programmed on any of my radios and, frankly, I never even drop in to see what's shaking anymore. Problem is, 94.7 is so awful that I took it off all my presets too...and WTOP is a joke unless you want to find out time and temp...so I mostly listen to CDs. And I pray for God to perform a miracle and return WHFS 102.3 to the airwaves. There are more dead stations on Washington radio than live ones. (2/4/09) re: "WHY-THE-FUCK? DOES FOX"News" waste air time showing the entire Robert "goofy/never answer a question" Gibbs 'White House Press Brief'...why do I have to watch this crap when I'm trying to see some NEWS?" This is at least the second time you've asked the question. Maybe you should....change the freakin' channel, maybe? FOX is a pretty weird place to look for news anyway. Cartoons? Yes. News? No. (2/4/09) WHY-THE-FUCK? DOES FOX"News" waste air time showing the entire Robert "goofy/never answer a question" Gibbs 'White House Press Brief'??? -It makes NO sense??? I never saw this much coverage of that air-headed, flight steward blonde Dana Perino? Why do we care, and why do I have to watch this crap when I'm trying to see some NEWS? (2/4/09) Over the weekend, I saw an item about Limbaugh at NewsFromMe.com, Mark Evanier's great blog, which focuses on TV, movies, comics, theater, news, politics, and other forms of fantasy. It's a daily stop for me on the Internets (right after my morning visit to DCRTV.com, of course) Here's the link he posted, to a thoughtful and accurate piece on Rush Limbaugh, by radio vet and busy voiceover artist, Beau Weaver. www.newsfromme.com (2/4/09) Dave: re: your rant about reprogramming WJFK. There's a reason none of your previous ideas were stolen.... there was always that one little thing that made it a bad idea. This current idea is bad through and through. I'm mid-forties, and make $60K a year. You have described a station I would never listen to, as opposed to 10 hours a day now, 13 if you include Loveline. The more sports, the less listeners, because sports shows are funded by the athletic bunds (incl. UMD and the Redskins, oh, getting the Nationals would be a real coup... why has no station snatched you up?) so the stations don't have to care about advertisers. And there's nothing that someone who's syndicated enjoys enjoys more than being on on delay and not being able to take calls from listeners in, say, Sacramento. If WJFK wanted to take advice from a bearded creepy camo-wearer, they could have kept Wendell. -- ItReallyIsMightier!!! (2/4/09) Dave's response: Oh yeah, Wendell. Look, I'm about the same age as you and I spend a lot less time with JFK than I did when Stern and Geronimo were on. I tend to "graze" more now - listen for shorter periods - like 10 or 15 minutes at at time with the Junks, BO&D, and MO'M. Maybe an hour-ish in total per day with JFK. Flipping over to WAMU, WMAL, WTOP, and XM for talk and news elsewhere..... NBCWashington.com's marijuana article was likely (a poor attempt at) satire, not a hack job. The author is one of the bloggers that the NBC O&O's have hired to generate Web hits. Quite frankly, it is beneath WRC/4 to run such nonsense but the NBC station group is clearly desperate. Everett W. (2/4/09) NBC4 website got hacked... At least I sure as hell hope it did. If they actually printed this article on marijuana I'd be shocked. The article says regarding the smoking of the weed, "The youths smoke these monster sticks to get high, which makes them go crazy, grab their automatic weapons, and kill all humans and animals within a 500-yard radius." Here is a link: www.nbcwashington.com... I also screen capped it for ya and put it on my site because it's a lock they will change it once word gets out. www.pwnewsnow.com... Enjoy! (2/4/09) ["Dave's response: Look, I'm a lefty (and voted for Sharon Bulova this morning, thank you) and "love" listening to righty talkers. I frequently listen to Rush and Hannity, and catch O'Reilly. Why? Because they're E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-I-N-G. That's why you come to DCRTV. Not because you love me or my politics, but because it's F-U-N. Yeah, it's may make you mad. But, deep down, you love getting all angry. It makes you feel "alive"....."] Exactly, Dave. And that's why conservative talk radio has been a success overall (Autin Hill and Chris Plante not withstanding). They have shows because they get the job (E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-G) done, not because of their views. I would love to hear a good liberal talk show. WAMU I listen to after Mike O'Meara goes off the air and I'm on the subway so can't listen to Savage (a trainwreck, but entertaining) on the multiple AM stations on which he appears in this market. WAMU brings me Prairie Home Companion (a left wing show) and the Big Broadcast; otherwise it might as well not exist. -- Air America failed because they couldn't get listeners, because they weren't entertaining. I wanted to listen to them but they were largely unlistenable. Where is the left wing Dennis Miller? Ou sont les negres d'antan? (that's an homage to Thursday's Jack Johnson special on WETA ch. 26 -- they will never get my money no matter how many Grateful Dead specials they play. This Deadhead says try bringing back I, Claudius.) Sorry I forgot about the little black child on South Park; when a poster said "the only black character" I quite rightly went with Isaac Hayes. Hot Butter. ---ThisPenIsMightier (2/4/09) Where are all these voiceover voices coming from? Is there a heavyweight agency in the DC area I can send a demo to? I can do that stuff. I really can. Chantilly, VA (2/4/09) Re: "Holly's calling was innovation, he brought strings into rock, he established a 'new' Sound as did Brian Jones, Stu Sutcliffe or Les Harvey...." Please elaborate on the "new sound" established by Stu Sutcliffe, a guy who had never touched a musical instrument before joining the pre-fame Beatles, often stood on stage with his back to the audience and his bass unplugged, never played anything other than the root or (occasionally) a short walking bass line, never recorded a note in a studio and who left the band two years before the band ever had a hit. (2/4/09) (Dave's response: Psssssst. All those lefties in Bethesda, Rockville, Georgetown, and Reston - they're listening to WAMU. The second-highest-rated radioer in the DC market. Way higher than WMAL.....) Yeah, Dave, you’re right, of course. WAMU at #2—how ‘bout that! But, in a normal market, commercial broadcasters would see that (a public radio station whipping some of the biggest names in the radio industry in a Top 10 market) and say “Hey, if they can do that well with that kind of programming, we can make a shitload of money doing it ourselves… because we have much greater resources, access to the best talent, and can afford to do the kind of promotion that American U. will never approve—for fear that their fine little radio station will cost them their much more valuable non-profit tax exemption.” Duh. Besides, as much as I appreciate the brands that “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” have become, much of the rest of WAMU’s schedule is well, uh, very hard to listen to. Fingernails on a blackboard. And, frankly, even “ME” & “ATC” have become pablum ever since the GOP scared the hell out of NPR (& PBS) by threatening to de-fund the CPB unless they backed off and became more “fair & balanced.” So it’s not as though progressives are thrilled with WAMU and/or NPR, it’s more that it’s the only game in town (well, counting WWRC, the only game you could hear). Again, most competitive broadcasters would look at WAMU’s numbers and say “Shit, we can beat THESE guys.” And, right now, beating those guys is worth a #2 ranking in market #9. And where are the two biggest AM sticks in town? Citadel is thrilled with WMAL at #17? And Bonneville is happy as can be with whatever they’re calling 1500 now at… where? C’mon, man. This ain’t rocket surgery! (2/4/09) jason linkins of huffingtonpost's eat the press blog has a pretty funny interview here: www.washingtonian.com (2/4/09) Ch 9 Seems to of gone to black around 12noon today on Cox cable????? (1/4/09) Dave's response: 9's HD signal is coming through fine via Comcast in the noon hour. You're missing JC and her purple-tinted wig..... I can't believe this. Some of you guys don't "get" Holly? Boy, you don't know Buddy. He may not have been big on the charts for very long, but then Nirvana/Kurt Cobain weren't either. FYI, Charles Hardin Holley was not merely popular; his music has had a profound influence throughout rock history. He crafted a uniquely distinct rock 'n' roll sound, one is guitar-jangly, lighthearted, carefree, fun, youthful, passionate, is complemented by Buddy's hiccuping vocals, and floats ten feet higher than anything else around it. It has been copied by many, many singers and groups--the ones that immediately come to mind are the Hollies (obviously), the Beatles, and Tommy Roe. And actually, Buddy's basic style goes beyond rock. Listen to such gems as "Everyday," "Raining In My Heart," "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "True Love Ways." Personally, I believe these four classics display it more than his rock hits do. It makes no difference that the only instruments used in them are orchestral strings and a music box; you still feel like you're listening to a rock record. The term "genius" applies to Buddy Holly as much as Ray Charles and Phil Spector, and more than guys like Syd Barrett, Burt Bacharach, John Williams, or McCartney-Lennon. People wonder, perhaps more so than with any other rock artist who died so tragically, how many other genuine and enduring masterpieces he would have come up with if he were still here. KOF (2/4/09) RE: "...I never thought superstar status really applied..." While that statement might ring, somewhat true for RITCHIE VALENS and a whole lot truer for THE BIG BOPPER... you have to keep in mind that when Buddy Holly was making music, the artists had very little input into the music they made (ie: Brill building writers churning out hits galore etc) Mr. Holly, however (in my opinion), was one of the first that not only wrote and performed his own music but was producing it as well.... a very talented artists in deed. Being just a kid in Ludlow, Massachusetts back in those days, I can recall the impact the news had on ME personally... Here were three artists you'd hear on the radio with regularity, killed in an instant... pretty heady stuff to fathom, for someone in their early teens... In retrospect, I don't recall back then, anyone thinking for a second that "the music died" on that date or on any other date with other rock 'n' roll deaths that followed. Don McLean may have, in fact, coined the phrase, "the day the music died" in the epic tune, "American Pie" yet, he goes on to sing about countless other performers who came and went, supposedly after, the music died. When I worked for Steve Allan at the very first incarnation of Oldies 100/WBIG, Dion performed at our 1st anniversary concert and on stage, introduced his big hit, "Abraham, Martin & John" with these words, 'You can kill the dreamer but, you can't kill the dream', and so too it is with rock 'n' roll. (Commercial radio?... now, THAT's a different story!) Just some thoughts from federAL SANTOS (2/4/09) RE: "Love Unlimited Orchestra/Barry White", A bio in one of the Joel Whitburn Top Pop Singles books reads as follows, "LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA: 40 piece studio orchestra conducted and arranged by BARRY WHITE. Formed to back LOVE UNLIMITED; also heard on some of White's hits. KENNY G was a member at age 17." federAL SANTOS (2/4/09) Brian Jones, Stu Sutcliffe and Les Harvey may have been great musicians whose lives all ended prematurely, but none were lead singers, which may contribute to the reason why they never sparked the same public fascination as the loss of Buddy Holley. I want to thank the poster for mentioning them, as I did get off my lazy ass and looked up Sutcliffe and Harvey. Can't believe I never heard of Sutcliffe, or at any rate, his name has slipped my aging memory. Also agree that J.P Richardson and Ritchie Valens would have been minor footnotes had they not been on board the plane with Holley. But, although both have become more than footnotes, it would be a stretch to say that either are regarded as superstars. As for Buddy Holley, if he wasn't a real superstar of his time, perhaps he would have become one had his career not been cut short. That is a question no one can answer. The "shitty solo" in Peggy Sue is a reflection of his style and rockabilly influences of the period. To the ears of fans during the late '50s, the solo may not have sounded so shitty. :) Tragedy and the amplification of media attention may have played some part in Holley's importance in music and definitely played a major role in how Richardson and Valens are remembered. Bob in sunny Tampa (2/4/09) Last night I viewed the Maryland/UNC on WNUV-TV14 from Baltimore through Verizon FIOS in Howard County and it was in HD throughout without any audio or video issues. (2/4/09) Good move to dump "Joe" for country. However, Mitch Scott is going to the right church, so to speak, but he's sitting in the wrong pew. The Delmarva area now has 6 HOT COUNTRY choices (7 if you count the simulcast of Cat) where we can hear the same regurgitation of "we're better than the other guy across the street". How? Mitch... want to stand out, actually be better in a "UNIQUE way" and go after the dedicated and loyal country listener and actually pull some numbers in a way that won't just fragment the market, making radio even weaker than it already has become? Want that evasive double digit share? Stick with country... go TRADITIONAL country... yep... REAL OLDIES COUNTRY. Go ahead and laugh... think about it... the traditional country fan, mostly 45+, strong 55+, grew up with "Buck Owens, Haggard, Pride, Patsy, Conway, Tammy... and so on. I call them "fence riders". Yeah... they'll listen to one of the 6 hot country stations, because they're country. They won't listen to anything at all similar to ROCK... they'd rather listen to Lawrence Welk... "thankya boys". They simply can't find what they really want on terrestrial radio. So, now they have another choice for the HOT same ole, same ole. How refreshing! Give them what they really want... Real Country! They will flock to 107.7 like seagulls to french fries at a Hardees' parking lot. Sure... mix in some current stuff, but only ones with the traditional country sound. Go back and play a Hank Williams (Sr.), Web Pierce, Hank Snow, etc. once an hour, heavier on the late sixties sounds with Buck, Merle, Faron, throw in the 70's & 80s with Alabama, Judds, Reba. Froggy tested the waters with a few hours on the weekends and did quite well. ABC used to have a format called "Real Country" on the bird. If not them, I'm sure one exists or program it yourself. Want to make $, grab share and knock Froggy & Cat off the top 5 ratings perch, break new ground in a way that will actually mean something to the residents of Delmarva? Then see above, now that I've got your attention. Oh... more first hand info... this was done once before about 15 years ago on your now BIG 98.5 in Seaford. It lasted about 6 weeks because Greene believed in it long enough to sell... JP didn't believe in it more than his "oldies simulcast" plans at the time. He was advised then if he didn't keep the Real Country format he'd end up selling... and behold... he ended up selling to... YOU. (2/4/09) "Where're all the tributes for Brian Jones, Stu Sutcliffe or Les Harvey? " The British psych-industrial band Psychic TV did an entire LP theme album as a tribute to Brian Jones called "Godstar" back in the late 80's. Stu Sutcliffe's biggest contribution to music was quitting the Beatles; thus forcing Paul McCartney into playing the bass, since George and John refused to do so. (2/4/09) Why, why do some of you have such a grudge on the early "rockers"? Holly's calling was innovation, he brought strings into rock, he established a "new" Sound as did Brian Jones, Stu Sutcliffe or Les Harvey. I guess the BIG QUESTION is: What did these sarcastic posters contribute to music? READ ON: There are few musical legends who accomplished as much in a short period of time as Buddy Holly. Only 22 at the time of his death, Holly had already recorded the hits that would establish his legacy in rock 'n' roll. For true fans, a pilgrimage of sorts might be in order to trace the landmarks and milestones of this incredible man's life and career from Holly's birth to "The Day the Music Died." The same goes for JP and Richie Valens. True they didn't chart before the crash...but tragedy at times brings talent to the forefront. (2/4/09) Music history for the uniformed: Buddy Holly was the first rock n' roller to write, record, and produce his own music. Glenn Miller was the Beatles of the Big Band era. Class dismissed. Ham Boy (2/4/09) Addition to the Redskins/Loudoun County Deal. The proposal was compiled and presented to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors by Buddy Rizer. Yes, that Buddy Rizer. He now works for the county's Economic Development Department. (2/4/09) I have to tangentially agree with the original Buddy Holly poster. Musically, OK, he had it going on - except for that shitty solo in "Peggy Sue". But I never thought superstar status really applied for any reason other than he died young. Sorry to say the same goes for the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens - barring other novelty tunes here and there ("Running Bear"), BB had the one hit "Chantilly Lace"; and if you look back and see how mediocre Valens originally charted with his tunes, you'd really have to wonder what the fuss is about. All three owe a huge debt to Don McLean for "American Pie", because without that song, their place in rock history would have been very different and all three would be low-bar questions in Trivial Pursuit. Where're all the tributes for Brian Jones, Stu Sutcliffe or Les Harvey? (Go look him up, ya lazy bastids...) (2/4/09) Dear Dave: Regarding the UNC/Maryland broadcast on channel 20 last night. It started out in HD (at least the intro and pre-game), with a beautiful picture but with choppiness on the audio feed. After the commercial break leading into tip-off the broadcast went to standard definition. A scan of email postings on a Tar Heel chat board this morning from fans within and outside the state of North Carolina revealed that some people received the broadcast in HD from beginning to end, some started with standard definition before it switched to HD, and others (like this area) started with HD before it switched to standard definition. Along with that were comments regarding sudden increases or decreases in volume, black or green lines quickly appearing on the screen, and the audio not synching with the action on the floor. My initial reaction last night was someone at channel 20 being asleep at the wheel but, with these other observations, I'm wondering if it was a Raycom issue? Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (2/4/09) Somebody wrote regarding Buddy Holly, "I'm sorry, but even after googling Buddy Holly I still don't "get" why some people think he was a big deal 50 years later. There are plenty of more significant musicians, who have passed away in today's world, who deserve more than the short run Holly had way back in history." Perhaps this music authority will post his list of "more significant musicians" so we can all conform to his musical tastes. Bob in sunny Tampa (2/4/09) One of my sources tells me that Charter Communications is about to go into a "structured" Chapter 11. I dunno if they own anything hereabouts, but they do in rural parts of VA which are still D.C. market. Word is they missed a big interest payment a couple of weeks back and creditors want their dough. The whole thing was started in large part by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen buying crap cable systems that Comcast, Cablevisin, Cox, etc, didn't want on an ever-increasing mountain of debt that is now estimated at $20B. Supposedly, if the structured 11 is a no-go, they'll go 7. Likely buyer? Time-Warner as they're about the only ones able to get that kind of capital cheap and face less FCC scrutiny. (2/4/09) Skip antennaweb. The best site for determining potential TV reception is tvfool.com. The site will calculate point-to-point propagation from every station, including low-power, in the area to your location using actual data about transmitters and terrain. The site also has detailed coverage maps for use with Google Earth. (2/4/09) I'm sorry, but even after googling Buddy Holly I still don't "get" why some people think he was a big deal 50 years later. I saw a lot of links to Glen Miller and him, so maybe its just the premature death people want to dwell on. There are plenty of more significant musicians, who have passed away in today's world, who deserve more than the short run Holly had way back in history. (2/4/09) Gotta respond as to why the Baltimore Sun keeps boring us to death with the Marc Steiner saga and how nobody really cares. Steiner's shows have been marginally interesting but completely boring in the NPR way....just a snore fest about local issues. He was replaced by the vanilla stylings of Sun columnist Dan Rodericks, who is almost as dull. Ever notice how corporate always replaces the vanilla with more vanilla? That's because radio as we know it today is run by corporate idiots who have no talent whatsoever and no balls to change a format into something new, creative and ENTERTAINING. The only programs are about politics and issues and sports. All day long you can listen to Rush, Sean and these other blowhards. It's the same show for 12 hours. Only the hosts change. Same thing with sports formats. Same boring crap all day long. How about a political or sports show that actually showcases radio TALENT? How about a show that covers politics with humor and creativity? Sorry, but listening to all of these right-winged hacks is just boring. At least if they were entertaining, their shows might show some merit. Unlistenable: Imus, Kirk & Mark, Big O & Dukes.....Not funny or past its prime: Mike O'Mara, Robbay, Mickey & Amelia..... Where's something different? Where's some edgy radio that will have people talking? Where's the buzz about any of these programs? Howard Stern and Don Geronimo are the only two talents that actually are funny and creative. If we had decent folks running things, you would not have original music programming, but you would also stop syndicating the drelb of Glenn Becks, Smerconishes, Savages, Ingrahams, and put on people that will not bore you daily but will entertain. Isn't that why we used to like to listen? (2/4/09) (regarding a previous post) According to this website www.buddyhollycenter.org in August 1957, Buddy Holly played DC's Howard Theater, Baltimore's Royal Theater and NYC's Apollo Theater. All three catered to Black audiences and performers at that time. This website cinematreasures.org and this one en.wikipedia.org seem to indicate that the Royal Theater that the poster was asking about, is the same one that he/she had in mind. (2/4/09) /\ February 4 Messages /\ \/ February 3 Messages \/ re: Super Bowl ratings -- Again, Jim Williams shows his questionable grasp on his subject. He e-mailed that Super Bowl 43 has "beaten MASH" to become the most-watched show of all-time. But in the very press release he posted on the Examiner site there is a list that shows that Super Bowls 42 and 28 also topped MASH's total audience figure of about 122 million. (And I'm sure there are even more than that) What has yet to be challenged -- and probably never will be, given the current TV environment -- are MASH's 60.2 rating and 77 share (Sunday's game did a 42.0 and 64) Steve in Lanham (2/3/09) Yes, Jack Eden held a degree in chemsitry. Before his gig at WTOP, he was on WAVA back when they were all-news, and also did a show on KYW in Philly. He was indeed a decorated military hero, like so many men of his generation became when they answered the call of their country. (2/3/09) Once again, WDCA is unable to show a Raycom ACC game in HD. This has to be the 3rd time this season this has happened. They also had numerous problems last year showing MASN games that were in HD. Why is it so hard for this station to get it right? (2/3/09) (Psssssst. All those lefties in Bethesda, Rockville, Georgetown, and Reston - they're listening to WAMU. The second-highest-rated radioer in the DC market. Way higher than WMAL.....) What about all the lefties in Takoma Park? :) (2/3/09) On this 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper & Richie Valens, I've got a question... Info I found online says that Holly played the Royal Theater in Baltimore in 1958. Is that the same Royal Theater that once sat on Pennsylvania Ave.? And did he ever appear in any other local venues? Well, nonetheless, recently a woman discovered that she has the only known images of that last concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, just a few hours before "the music died"- www.kare11.com (2/3/09) (RE WJFK) Dave i like your rant. But, won't happen. (2/3/09) Dave's response: Right. CBS won't do what I recommend because it would be way too humiliating for those all-knowing radio execs to take the advice of a creepy, bearded, camo-wearing webdude..... The decision by The Danny to ditch lib-talk on the Unlistenable 1260 is actually an enormous opportunity for the decision-makers at Citadel, who have to be getting tired of hitting their heads with the hammer we know & love as WMAL. Washington is America’s most liberal market. For evidence, read the November election results. Dedicating that blowtorch of theirs on 630 to radical rightwing diatribes all of these years netted them 6.5 percent of the vote in DC. Six-point-five percent. SIX AND A HALF PERCENT. And, yeah, the suburbs voted two-thirds for Barack, too. Nothing against the wonderful Rush and Sean and the rest of them, but this is THE WRONG MARKET. Okay, now everybody grab their calculators and see if we can think of a better direction for talk programming on 630/WMAL. That’s right, Progressive Talk! All sarcasm aside, it really doesn’t take a brilliant programming, sales, or general management mind to figure it out. And, guys—now is the time. (2/3/09) Dave's response: Psssssst. All those lefties in Bethesda, Rockville, Georgetown, and Reston - they're listening to WAMU. The second-highest-rated radioer in the DC market. Way higher than WMAL..... Channel 9's Monday news at 11 p.m. being #1 was almost certainly a function of having a far superior network lead-in with "CSI: Miami," not anything to do with WUSA news itself. Everett W. (2/3/09) John in Delmarva.. Your charge that the GOP should blame the voters for the shortage of black republicans in Congress is right on the money. Not in the way you'd hoped, though. It was hilarious in it's simplistic cluelessness. (2/3/09) WUSA9 running ads saying they were number 1 at 11pm last night.. Truth? (2/3/09) Dave, The NBC broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII has beaten MASH and is now the most watched TV show of all time. www.dcexaminer.com... Cheers, Jim (2/3/09) I just had to write in about the statement on the man who sang the "Shaft" theme song behind the "Love Unlimited Orchestra". First off, Issac Hayes, RIP, was never backed by the "Love Unlimited Orchestra". That was Barry White's band. Issac Hayes was backed by the Memphis Horns, the Bar-Kays were his rhythm section, and the Issac Hayes Movement, as well as the background singing of Hot, Buttered and Soul, which consisted of Pat Lewis, Telma Hopkins and Rose Williams. Please do not confuse Barry White and Issac Hayes...Hayes career was just a little deeper than White's. Hayes was a charter member of the Stax session musicians, starting in the mid-1960's...and co-wrote "Soul Man" for Sam and Dave, along with David Porter. He also played piano on some Otis Redding tunes. Barry White's first hit was actually the girl group "Love Unlimited's" song "Walking In The Rain (With The One I Love)", where Barry had a cameo speaking part near the end of the song...and that was around 1972, and was before White released his own single "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" in 1973. Signed: Music History Buff--Jimbo. (2/3/09) There are plenty of reasons that the Washington Post and other newspapers are watching their subscriber base tumble, some of them no fault of the papers themselves, but after getting on a WP blog this morning I have to think the sheer arrogance of even the lowliest WP writer is adding to the downfall. J Freedom du Lac, who writes reviews of CDs and concerts, was in pure attack mode during the online conversation with readers. He actually kept score of the number of times he "slammed" readers. At one point he told a guy who had a question about one of his reviews "I'm going to say this as gently as possible: You are an idiot." In what other business could you lash out at paying customers that way and keep your job? (2/3/09) (SNIP) Dave wrote: "I do think it's rather ironic that you have an African-American as the chairman of an American party that does not have a single African-American representative in Congress. Are they any Republican blacks in the House or Senate? JC Watts was it, and he's gone....." To claim Steele is a token black is racist and shame on you or any other left-wing nut job to suggest otherwise. The burden is on you to prove it and you can't. And who's fault is it that there aren't any black conservatives in Congress? Maybe the voters? It could be the first step to getting more conservative blacks in Congress. And why did you fail to mention that it was DEMOCRATIC LIBERALS that tried their best to keep the black Senator from Illinois from being seated just a few weeks ago? You should be celebrating the fact that the GOP has elected an intelligent black to run their party, something the Democrats have NEVER done! MLK would be ashamed of you and the Democrats. John on Delmarva (2/3/09) (END SNIP) I have known Michael Steele personally for 20+ years. I am a card-carrying democrat, and I probably disagree with him on 90% of the issues, but he's one of the most honest, straight-forward, and decent guys around. He's also a little more moderate than some of the old (white) farts who have been running the GOP, he's universally well-respected, and has a demonstrated ability to deal well with those he disagrees with. I expect that's why he was chosen. He's sure as hell not a racist. sbf (2/3/09) If I may-- an open question related to the DCRTV item last week coinciding with Dennis Edwards' being let go... Did I read correctly that CBS changed the locks on the station? What exactly makes a move like that necessary? Was there some kind of inference that Mr. Edwards' situation required it, or is this a common practice at broadcast facilities every so often? I'd expect that most stations, especially network-owned ones, are well guarded and secure round the clock. And for that matter, outside of management, and some essential staff, there can't be a lot of keys floating around to begin with....what gives? (2/3/09) Jack Eden--That couldn't have been his real name. Or was it? KOF (2/3/09) My condolences to Jack Eden's family for Jack's recent passing. I really enjoyed his show on WTOP and he really taught me gardening secrets that otherwise I would have never known. RIP MR Eden. Scott in Alexandria (2/3/09) Correct me if I’m wrong…was it not Ronald Reagan that wanted to use “Born In The USA,” as a campaign song? (2/3/09) "Have you LISTENED to the lyrics of 'Born in the USA"? or many of his other tales? Or just rocked to the beat while sucking on a weed so the sound in the headphones is a drone? The song is a criticism of the USA, it does not at all celebrate the USA...." YEAH....and I CAN'T BELIEVE the things the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES had to say about such an ANTI-AMERICAN SONG and that COMMIE PINKO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN who sang it: He said, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." But there's one rub...the President of the United States said that in 1984, and that President was RONALD REAGAN. Oh well...I guess the Gipper was...how did you put it? "sucking on a weed so the sound in the headphones is a drone." Just goes to show you that one man's " Great American" is another man's "Commie Pinko Liberal". So endeth the lesson. - Jeff in Bowie (2/3/09) I'll give Jordan Wertlieb lots of credit for being a stand-up guy. Let's put aside the politics or Springsteen fans or detractors for a second or whether it was a good performance or not or even whether you wanted to see it at all. Basically, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest TV ratings days of the year and WBAL TV just bungled it and I'm glad the GM came clean on that. We need more honest people in the world like WBAL GM Jordan Wertlieb. I'm not gonna hold my breath though, hehe. :-) (2/3/09) This morning, Chris Plante asked the question “what grade would you give Obama on the economy?” Chris cited a survey that said Obama’s approval ratings were down from 85 to 65%. The first two callers gave Obama an “A,” which outraged Chris so much that he threw in that Obama’s plan would give millions to ACORN. That statement is bunk. There is no part of the package that will give money to ACORN. There is a part that will give grants to community investment groups for neighborhood stabilization, which Republican mouthpieces have twisted in the past to deceive by using the term “like ACORN,” but there is nothing in it to single out ACORN. By leaving out the weasely word “like,” Chris this morning elevated a republican deception to a downright lie. WMAL should be ashamed of this clown. (2/3/09) February 1st has come and gone, any word from Kirk & Mark? I believe their contracts started on Feb. 1st when they signed on with HFS originally and if they were bought out (which would include a gag order) I assume it was only thru 1/31. (unless CBS was truly shortsighted enough to give them more than a one year renewal)... Have you heard anything, Dave? Only reason I ask is because I heard Mark doing one of those pre-programmed Sea Pap commercials on the station this morning and it came to mind. (2/3/09) Dave's response: Haven't heard a word. You have to realize that even if K&M's contract expires, there also may be a "non compete" clause that could keep them off the Baltimore airwaves for another few months..... Gather the WaPo can't write a local story about news in Edgewater. (Especially if a PG County employee does good?) Off-Duty Officer Leaps Into Frigid Waters During Rescue, Associated Press, Monday, February 2, 2009; 3:01 PM... An off-duty Prince George's County firefighter jumped into the frigid waters of the South River near Edgewater to rescue a 61-year-old man who had fallen in. www.washingtonpost.com (2/3/09) Re: "WWRC's demise was not the message -- but instead it was a coverage problem???" Well, yeah, that's certainly a basic issue. I already said their going to all-yak killed my interest in the station-- and it doesn't matter if they're broadcasting left-wing nutcases, or right-wing nutcases, or Wall Street shills, I am sick of all the worthless blather that pollutes the radio dials. But even if you like having someone yak at you all day, if you can't hear the station, they may as well not exist at all. And "a Democratic broadcaster with some bucks needs to step up to the plate" -- that shouldn't be hard; they seem to have saved a lot of money on their taxes.~~CA in BC (2/3/09) Dave's response: Look, I'm a lefty (and voted for Sharon Bulova this morning, thank you) and "love" listening to righty talkers. I frequently listen to Rush and Hannity, and catch O'Reilly. Why? Because they're E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-I-N-G. That's why you come to DCRTV. Not because you love me or my politics, but because it's F-U-N. Yeah, it's may make you mad. But, deep down, you love getting all angry. It makes you feel "alive"..... Dave ... an old-time DC + Philly radio guy here. You might want to put the news of Jack Eden's death on the NY/Phila. page; he did garden reports on KYW for years. -- Bill Smith... Quickie track record: WGTS on-air late 60s; WHFS/102.3 board op 1969; WINX on-air late 70; WEEL 70-72; WLMD, WNAV(AM) 72; WHAG 72, 73, then off to Philly. WRCP/1540+104.5 eng + jock 73-76; WPGR/1540 + WEAZ + Shadow/Express Traffic (all on air) late 80s; WKXW/WBUD 90-96 on air + engr (was 1st CE of NJ 101.5); WHWH + WPST 96, 97. Now in Florida. (2/3/09) So, let me get this straight. The nation’s most liberal political market, Washington, DC, is soon to lose its only liberal talk radio station, 1260/WWRC, so that the Republican-donor-owner, Dan Snyder, can return the station to a business news-talk format that attracted zero audience and zero billing during its first incarnation on 1260 in pre-Air America days. As other posters have noted, 1260 is undoubtedly Washington’s worst radio signal, and assigning progressive talk to that station may have been Bush-supporter Clear Channel’s subtle way of thumbing its nose at the Democrats who dominate DC. (“Here’s your stinking programming—now try to hear it on this piece of sh*t!”). On the other hand, it is also obvious that when Red Zebra bought CC’s AM trio last summer, the only one they wanted was 980. They just had to take 570 & 1260 off Clear Channel’s hands in order to get WTEM. And as a result, they have absolutely no idea what to do with these stations—and no real interest, either. There is no doubt that owning “that liberal station” horrified The Danny. Must have been hell at the club. Here’s hoping that some well-financed liberal broadcaster buys 570 & 1260 from RZ and puts the WWRC progressive lineup on 570 and uses 1260 as a repeater—to shore up the night signal—and perhaps adds another signal or two in VA to fill-out the metro coverage. Liberal-talk radio has enormous potential in Washington. But in order for it to happen, a Democratic broadcaster with some bucks needs to step up to the plate. (2/3/09) Dave wrote: "I do think it's rather ironic that you have an African-American as the chairman of an American party that does not have a single African-American representative in Congress. Are they any Republican blacks in the House or Senate? JC Watts was it, and he's gone....." To claim Steele is a token black is racist and shame on you or any other left-wing nut job to suggest otherwise. The burden is on you to prove it and you can't. And who's fault is it that there aren't any black conservatives in Congress? Maybe the voters? It could be the first step to getting more conservative blacks in Congress. And why did you fail to mention that it was DEMOCRATIC LIBERALS that tried their best to keep the black Senator from Illinois from being seated just a few weeks ago? You should be celebrating the fact that the GOP has elected an intelligent black to run their party, something the Democrats have NEVER done! MLK would be ashamed of you and the Democrats. John on Delmarva (2/3/09) Dave's response: I wasn't claiming anything. Just pointing out the facts. Sorry if they hurt..... Austin Hill... My apologies for getting you mixed up with another Sacramento-based talk show host. Not to go Tom Daschle on you, but it was reckless and inexcusable on my part. And having it all cleared up, I do wish you the best with the radio business these days being what it is. I mean it, man, I'm sorry I trashed you like that. (2/3/09) "Have you LISTENED to the lyrics of 'Born in the USA"? or many of his other tales? Or just rocked to the beat while sucking on a weed so the sound in the headphones is a drone? The song is a criticism of the USA, it does not at all celebrate the USA...." Really? What song are you talking about? Because the "Born in the USA" I've heard is a celebration of American PEOPLE and the ways they survived despite the way many of them were scarred by the Vietnam war. It has some criticism of the policy of sending convicts into the military and points out that it was/is often hard for veterans to find jobs when they return to civilian life; how you can hear the lyric as something anti-American (and simply ignore everything Springsteen has ever said in interviews) is mind boggling. America is more than YOU, my friend, and there are plenty of disagreements. That hardly makes everyone other than YOU anti-American. I suppose that if you think America is defined by its government institutions, then you'll find the song insulting; if you think America is defined by its people, you'll find it to be a celebration. So....welcome to America, where you are allowed to criticize the government, not everybody agrees with you, and you just have to learn to accept it. Only Fidel Castro and his ilk think everyone must agree with them and voice only praise for the government. (2/3/09) "So criticism of the US is un-American. And because Mr. Springsteen wrote a song commenting on the condition of the nation and its citizens, he hates his country." If the song in question is "Born in the USA", ex-Raven Wally Williams (filling in for Scott Garceau on the Baltimore radio show with Anita Marks that MASN simulcasts every afternoon) seemed bent out of shape that it wasn't part of Springsteen's Super Bowl halftime program. But since the Janet Jackson fiasco of several years ago, the NFL has gone out of its way to avoid any risk of controversy in its entertainment decisions - so it's highly unlikely that the Boss would have been allowed to perform a song containing a line that could be construed as antiwar or anti-military. Of course the participation of Gen. David Patraeus in the pregame ceremonies is interesting in light of the bitter division in the country regarding whether going into Iraq was such a great idea, but I guess a league with a long history of unapologetic flag waving during times of war is much more comfortable taking the risk of upsetting liberals than conservatives. Mike, Fairfax (2/3/09) So Springsteen's "anti-American" because he sings a song critical of the United States? Thanks for the civics lesson, comrade. I thought Joe McCarthy was dead. (2/3/09) re: "How many of you bellyaching about Jennifer Hudson's anthem performance .... are also yelling "OH" during the song at local sporting events. You don't think that's disgraceful? Talk about hypocrisy." The record should reflect the bellyachers do not yell "OH". They may yell "O," but never "OH." Bob A. in Pikesville, Maryland (2/3/09) Re: "Refresh my memory "PenIsMightier", but which political party freed the slaves and which party consisted of the most people opposing desegregation in the South? Let's see, oh yeah, it was the Republicans who freed the slaves and the DEMOCRATS who were mainly the Confederates and opposed the Civil Rights Act (George Wallace, Al Gore, Sr, etc.)...get your history right before you insult and entire group of people (which is racist in and of itself by the way). GK in Timonium (2/3/09)" I thought this was a forum for Washington area radio and TV, not some half-assed 19th century history class....? (2/3/09) Not long ago Examiner.com launched their national online version's of the paper www.examiner.com is the Citizen press where many long time writers are working with first time writers. This was one of the Clarity concepts that has paid off big time. The site draws over 3 million people a week and that number increases weekly. There are 60 cities and a national edition all with writers that post their stories. It is like a local newspaper online written by community journalists. This is not like the print version of the DC or San Francisco papers but there are some quality people writing for everyone one of the local Examiner's as they delve into the future of online journalism. (2/3/09) So Greg Tantum says the ratings for WTNT "nearly doubled" while Arbitron says WTNT's ratings have been .4-.4-.3 -- in the real world that translates to a loss of 25%. In any event WTNT's total showing is probably within the statistical margin of error so in fact their ratings may well be 0. (2/3/09) Dave's response: It doesn't bother me all that much that Tantum, who is promomoting his station, made that claim. What bothers me more is that the increasingly slipshod Howie Kurtz reported the quote without putting it in context. Going from 10 to 20 listeners is a "massive" 100 percent increase. But you've still got only 20 listeners..... Refresh my memory "PenIsMightier", but which political party freed the slaves and which party consisted of the most people opposing desegregation in the South? Let's see, oh yeah, it was the Republicans who freed the slaves and the DEMOCRATS who were mainly the Confederates and opposed the Civil Rights Act (George Wallace, Al Gore, Sr, etc.)...get your history right before you insult and entire group of people (which is racist in and of itself by the way). GK in Timonium (2/3/09) To the guy in Shepherdstown: Enter your address at www.antennaweb.org to get some info on what kind of antenna you'll need to get the stations you want. Plus you can check the predicted coverage area for various stations at www.fcc.gov. Looks to me like you're out of luck for WRC, but you can get NBC from WHAG (but it's not yet at its full post-transition power). ~~CA in BC (2/3/09) www.DelawareTalkRadio.com, an internet only news/talker, has gone dark claiming "Delaware Talk Radio will be going off the air while we re-structure our business and move to another location." DTR featured former WUSA producer Randy Nelson. (2/3/09) say that ess about South Park to Isaac Hayes's face. Tell the man who sings the Shaft theme song backed by the Love Unlimited Orchestra that he's a "token". And he's called "Chef'"" - That would be kind of tough since the man who sang the Shaft theme song in the 1970s and hypocritically left South Park over fake outrage three decades later, died several months ago. And not to get all meta, but the other poster wasn't even talking about "Chef" - the lone black child character in the South Park world's name is "Token" - and that poster wasn't even the first person I had read make the comparison to Michael "Let's Bus In Black People From Pennsylvania for a Photo Op" Steele. (2/3/09) So criticism of the US is un-American. And because Mr. Springsteen wrote a song commenting on the condition of the nation and its citizens, he hates his country. Welcome back to the 1950's, the McCarthy hearings will resume at 11am. Asshat. (2/3/09) Director of the Maryland State Lottery, Buddy Roogow was on WBAL Radio w/Peter Schmuck last night to talk about the situation during the Super Bowl. While he classified it as a "miscommunication", he pretty much passed the buck to WBAL. Said that he was at a party, and was surprised to see the drawing taking place during halftime. To paraphrase, he inferred that WBAL should have considered the situation, and that there is no iron-clad, must broadcast at specific time, contract. Has anyone heard/read any explanation from WBAL on this yet? (2/3/09) Jack Eden was fun to listen to. Yes, long drawn-out answers were part of his bit, but you couldn't find someone more interested in trying to help someone with a problem with the plants in the yard. He was a big proponent of modern chemistry, and could recall and recommend (or warn you against) all manner of bug sprays, fertilizer and soil treatments. I saw him at a Veterans Day ceremony in DC a few years ago. Many are aware of his military record as well. (2/3/09) Sorry to hear about the passing of Jack Eden. Jack was one of the two reasons that WTOP didn’t stay format pure (the other was the Orioles) back in the 70’s and the 80’s and early 90’s. Each Sunday morning Jack would host a 3 or 4 hour call in show to discuss gardening, and the like although there were many times when Jack could drag a single call on, and on for 20 to 30 minutes to makes his point. The Garden of Eden show survived solely because of the sales department, and it was hated by the programming heads. Everything Jack would recommend was chemical based which was his ultimate demise, and he was very tight with the shows main sponsor Roozen Nursery, and Ortho. I believe at one time the show represented almost 5% of the stations revenue annually. (2/3/09) "Let's be honest. Conservative radio is racist! Let's just call Neocons the NEW Confederates! Just because Mr. Steele is the new RNC chairman, it means nothing. He reminds me of the only black character on the show South Park. He's called what?.... TOKEN! If you can explain to me why I'm wrong, I'd like to hear it.....I'm waiting....I'll still wait..." I'll tell you, d'ush. It's because "neocon" is a codeword for "Jew" which makes YOU the racist. I myself like 'em all, grape, orange, pineapple....oh yeah, say that ess about South Park to Isaac Hayes's face. Tell the man who sings the Shaft theme song backed by the Love Unlimited Orchestra that he's a "token". And he's called "Chef'" ya d'ush. Gordon Liddy calls Thomas Sowell "America's foremost intellectual." Yeah, racist. Do you KNOW any black people? --- ThePenIsMightier (2/3/09) Regarding "Probably because most media types are Left-Wingnuts!!", I merely recalled my conversation with Mr. Duckworth. I did not paint anything with an awfully wide brushstroke. I had issues with Chris P calling people felons - when they havent been convicted of anything and saying the left murdered 120 million people. I consider myself ultra left and have not murdered anyone. There certainlty are alot of artists here though that do use the double extra wide brush. (2/3/09) I just don't get it. Why is it that every time Marc Steiner opens his mouth, he gets more press coverage and exposure than he's ever had in actual ratings and listeners? I mean, seriously, who cares whether Steiner listens to WYPR? Nobody ever listened to Marc Steiner on WYPR either and even LESS people listen to him NOW! HAha! Does this guy pay The Baltimore Sun and DCRTV to write phony PR stories about him??? The way The Sun covers Steiner, you'd think he was the Howard Stern of Baltimore radio or something! Please stop, this guy's way over his 15 minutes of fame. Maybe The Sun should try covering radio stations that people actually listen to? Hmmmm, that's a novel idea. :-) (2/3/09) listening to fox sports radio tonight + noticed that they cut out andrew siciliano and late night ben maller. also apparently cut late-morning shemon + j-dub, according to one article that I read. xm was still running sicilliano's tag and the fsr site still hasn't been changed (2/3/09) Wow! What a Super Bowl! I listened to much of th game on three radio stations (WBAL 1090AM; 92.7FM-not sure what calls; 1500 something AM in the DC/VA area). Jennifer sounded great to me, sent chills up my spine. Bruce sounded a little rough, from what I heard (which was very little-they hardly played anything of half-time show on the box). Maybe he'd had a tough night or something. He usually does a stellar performance. The lottery has to televise the drawing to show that no hanky-panky takes place, so they weren't being ignorant, just paying the bills and following the rules. The past is all that's gone/The future is yet to come/Now is forever!-7 East Lexington Rat (2/3/09) I've been listening to DC's AM-1260 signal for over 40 years, and while it was never good, it used to be a lot better than it is now. A LOT better. The problem? Nobody is willing to dig up the pavement and tear down the buildings at the Brookville Road transmitter site in Silver Spring and replace the tower radials, which date to the Jurassic Period. In the old days, the FCC would have said "fix it or lose the license". Today it says....nothing. (2/3/09) RE: Hot Country 107.7. Mitch Scott has been wanting a country station for quite some time. I really don't see it making a dent on Froggy, considering the signal stregnth. Plus, 107.7 is running 100% off the bird, via Dial Global. Nothing live or local. So, they are just running a format that is duplicated 6 times in the market. I give it a year before they flip it again. An FM Sports would be better! (2/3/09) Hey, Purchased a digital converter box, but the only channel that I can get is MPT CH31. I live in area of WV near Shepherdstown where cable is not available. Is it possible that 4,5,7,9 etc... digital signal are not at full strength yet? It is appearing more likely that the gov't is mandating that I get a dish. How f'd up is that? Believe me I am not the only one. My nephew lives within a mile of the beltway and has informed me that he has to adjust his antenna for each channel. This going to suck at the very least...could be a firestorm at the worst. Can you enlighten us in any way? Thanks, Bernie (2/3/09) "In the theater of talk radio you are allowed to paint with an awfully wide brush stroke when describing things such as the left." Paul Duckworth of WMAL???? Painting with "a awfully wide brush stroke" is akin to "propaganda," Mr. Duckworth Once Silvie writes that thank you note to Media Matters, she will be "a Great American." (2/3/09) Mark, regarding your rant on WMAL. Have you ever heard the Unabomber referred to as Left-Wing by the mainstream media? NO!!! Do I really need to point out all of the crazies that the media refers to as Right-Wingers? I will..the militia groups, the Oklahoma City bombers, etc...Why can't the media just be unbiased and call them for what they are...F*c*ing Crazy!!! Probably because most media types are Left-Wingnuts!! (2/3/09) Hey Dave...It wasn't Austin Hill (A.K.A. "The A-Hole") who called V-Techers "cowards"...it was another neo-con rightie out-of-town screamer named Mark Williams flamethrowing on a cover shift at 'MAL that said it. I quote from the May 6 2007 mailbag: "Hey WMAL, nice job letting some hack from Sacramento piss all over the students at Virginia Tech by calling them cowards and fairies on your airwaves today. Do you really want Mark Williams telling your target audience that their kids, who those of us around here know put up more of a fight than this hack is willing to admit, are victims waiting to happen? That they're just sissies? Even more pathetic is that when called on it he gave no answer as to what he'd do in the same situation. There's a line between provocative radio and offensive obnoxiousness, and while the line is subjective, that piece of crap in California should stick with talking about things he might know about. There's a difference between some drunk trying to break into his home and someone with a pair of guns blowing people away. Can't wait to hear what this hack has to say again tomorrow night filling in for Plante. Betcha he doesn't piss on the Tech students again though. Just another right wing wuss with a big mouth." While there are MANY reasons to be happy that the "A-Hole" will no longer be spewing his neo-con filth on the DC airwaves on a daily basis, this isn't one of them. Silvie, I sincerely hope that one day you will wake up enlightened, and finally realize that what you get on 'MAL isn't "news"...it's right-wing infotainment severely devoid of any relationship to reality or fact. It's like a "Romper Room" for people who hate their lot in life and need an excuse to blame others for how much their lives suck. It gives them a reason to live: they enjoy screaming at their radio. - Jeff in Bowie (2/3/09) Yeah, I conflated Barry White and Isaac Hayes. My bad. Tragically, white. -- ThePenIsMightier (2/3/09) Dave - the links are: Army Band - bands.army.mil... Navy Band - www.npc.navy.mil (2/3/09) With the thought process on this board, I guess the State of Maryland is racist for not electing Steele to the U.S. Senate? Also, regarding your Drudge rant. The headline should read...Rush most listened to Afternoon AM Radio Show in Liberal Central (MD- BLUE, DC-Very Blue, NoVA- Purplish). Pretty good ratings for a conservative. Where do the liberal shows rank in this area?...Oh, that's right...they don't show up in the ratings. Excuse me while I throw away my 2008 tax forms...I don't feel like paying them this year. (2/3/09) WWRC's demise was not the message -- but instead it was a coverage problem??? I occasionally listened to 1260, mistaking it for the comedy channel. The free market determines the viability of a station -- except for NPR. (2/3/09) Ok, so you really are that stupid and easily led. This is no surprise. Have you LISTENED to the lyrics of 'Born in the USA"? or many of his other tales? Or just rocked to the beat while sucking on a weed so the sound in the headphones is a drone? The song is a criticism of the USA, it does not at all celebrate the USA. Bruce has become all politics, and very un-American about it. He sows hate. Reality check. He has become a drug that people take, thinking it makes them feel good, while it actually rots their brain and soul. (2/3/09) Caught the blurb on the front page about Jack Eden and happened to see his obit in the Post on Sunday. I remember his show on WTOP. I think it aired on Sunday mornings. He used to take a number of phone calls during each show, but the poor guy just had this habit of going on and on and on ... forever it seemed with each caller. I mean he would talk for 30 straight minutes on how to fertilize an azalea bush. It was torturous and bordered on embarrassing. I read somewhere that he did not have a degree in horticulture (he did have a degree but I think in an unrelated discipline) and now find it curious that he taught that subject at the College of William and Mary, although I'm sure not as a credentialed educator. I thought his knowledge was impressive but I think somewhere along the line he did a lot of reading and research and ultimately became a pseudo-expert in the horticulture community. Some of the recommendations that he handed out on his show about seeding, type of seed to use, fertilizing, etc. were later debunked, even by himself on later shows. As much respect as he attained in his career, I took every bit of his advice with a grain of salt. (2/3/09) Dave's response: Years ago, I'd often drive over to visit my grandmother in Silver Spring's Leisure World on Sunday mornings, and I'd often listen to Jack on WTOP. One morning, he really slammed a caller for the use of potting soil, which he said would kill plants. Quite funny, actually. I believe Jack taught at the adult education division of W&M..... /\ February 3 Messages /\ Jump to the Mailbag Archive Index.....