Current Mailbag - Mailbag Archive Index - DCRTV Front Page - Support DCRTV DCRTV Mailbag - February 17 to February 24, 2009 Latest messages listed first..... \/ February 24 Messages \/ Yo Dave, I think the once great but was forced inevidably to HD Radio and net streaming WHFS2 (which was kinda sorta the long lost WHFS from 99.1) is on hiatus. No longer able to stream it, the website is now a complete blank, and since I don't have an HD radio, I can't tell you if they're still playing songs over the HD air. Anyways... maybe, just maybe, we'll see the station come back in one form or the other. KeninGlenBurnie (2/24/09) John Sanders was fired so that WBAL could save some money. This was a golden opportunity for the station to get rid of a low level air personality that was likely making decent money all the while making it look like the station is doing the right thing by firing him. Mr. Sanders put this on himself. Being the technology reporter you would think he would know better. Hopefully he learns from his mistake and gets picked up elsewhere. OK, so now that WBAL has all of this extra money in the bank are they ever going to replace Neal Estano in the morning? I really enjoyed that morning it was icy and John Collins was brought in to do the weather from the studio and Sandra Shaw was back out in the field again. Any chance WBAL will go back to the good old days of less Sandra in the morning? (2/24/09) A previous poster made some good points about WCBS. I have thought for a long time that WTOP has too many commercials (WTOP did at one time devote a full 2 minutes to business at :25 and :55, but the second minute got cut in favor of more commercials a while back). One interesting note: I was driving to New Jersey overnight Sunday night, and I was able to pick up both stations north of Baltimore. The person doing the weather on WTOP was Mike Lussini (sp?) and he started and ended his forecast with “From the ABC7 weather center…” Well, the same Mike Lussini was also doing the weather at the same time on WCBS, so I doubt he is part of Doug Hill’s crew. They must have kept some of the Weather Channel folks during the off hours and they just make them say ABC7 instead of the Weather Channel. (2/24/09) THIS clip shows why George Michael will always be the King www.youtube.com (2/24/09) Hello, what happened to Channel 54 in Baltimore? It seems to be showing only infomercials in Spanish. I don't see the change listed in your front page listings. Stephanie Codrea (2/24/09) Dave's response: Yeah, we reported that Channels 45 and 54 discontinued their analog signals for digital-only on 2/19. The old analog signals now feature digital TV switchover info, and, I guess, some of that's in Spanish..... I disagree Dave... If John Sanders annotated the video prank as he stated publicly as a joke, then he shouldn't have been fired by WBAL-TV. Now if he lied to management about it and then got caught in the lie, then that would be grounds for being fired immediately. But the bigger question is, do I trust these half-ass loser blogger sites and FAUX news websites that spam this shit around all the time as point of fact and believe them when they say it was not annotated ? Ummm, guess what? NO! Because it's so easy to mess with cool video like this and make a quick name for yourself or your blog or your FAUX news website. Hell, I don't even trust everything I read on Wikipedia and no one should blindly. I'd kind of like to know the truth on this, but of course WBAL TV's GM will sweep this quickly under the rug. But, I guess in hindsight, its nowhere near as bad as WJZ-TV ignoring Marty Bass's soliciting a prostitute arrest many many years ago, then claiming he was doing an investigative report on prostitution which of course was probably unlikely since Bass never did a serious investigative report in his entire life that I know of. Now that was rug-sweeping at its finest! Marty even swept his toupee under the rug after that one AND KEPT HIS JOB! PS: Somewhere up there, Jerry Turner is smiling. :-) = (2/24/09) RE: "You're embarrassing yourself. Encouraging listeners to harass the management of your old station is no way to endear you to a new boss" Didn't pass reading comprehension did you? (2/24/09) "As DCRTV already told you, a recent report on Fox News about a monkey that escaped from a Seattle zoo described the primate's "bright blue scrotum" in an effort to help residents identify the escapee." Dave, we know your distaste for all things Fox is legendary, but I hope that's your attempt at color commentary, and not exposing the Ninth Circle of Journalistic Hell. I'd think if anyone sees anything swinging through the trees (including me coming home after an all-nighter), they wouldn't need Fox (or any other news outlet) to help you ID it to law enforcement by the color of it's applesack. (For the record, mine's more of a wheat, with sienna undertones - not bright blue. Unless Mr. Beam took me somewhere I normally wouldn't tread.) (2/24/09) Re: "I bet John Gibson even thought it was funny!" If he's laughing, he's doing it on the way to his lawyer's office. Look, I think Gibson is a major tool, has very little talent and is one of the lesser lights of Fox News...but Dave's right, Mr. Sanders crossed the line, and had to be shown the door. (2/24/09) John Sanders also did weekend anchor fill-in work and was pretty good on WBAL-TV anchoring. I hardly think he tarnished WBAL-TV's news reputation any with this. In fact, I think it's just insane that they fired him over a harmless and very funny prank. Ya know with all the really dangerous media bias out there both left and right and inaccurate reporting and outright LYING BLOGGERS making all kinds of false accusations daily, you would think WBAL-TV's GM would have better things to do than to watch youtube and overreact to this ridiculous media attention of this harmless prank. I bet John Gibson even thought it was funny! Only uptight media elite & pundits took this as anything more than a harmless joke or a prank from a geeky tech reporter. WBAL's GM has been making some really bad personnel decisions lately, first canning Neil Estano, now this. Maybe Hearst should show him the door next for his latest, a dumb paranoid nutjob personnel dept. move. Just my 2¢. (2/24/09) Dave's response: Hey, I thought it was funny as hell. John Gibson is a big dumbass. But, Sanders crossed "the line." You simply can't do that kind of video pranksterism and also report/work for a major-market TV station. Hearst/WBAL had no choice but to can him..... "Al Santos' short story about Smooth Jazz in DC needs a little bit of additional background info." It also needs a LOT of editing. Face it, Smooth Jazz as a format is over, and so are the glory days. You're embarrassing yourself. Encouraging listeners to harass the management of your old station is no way to endear you to a new boss. They would rightfully expect that you'll pull the same thing on them when they blow you out. (2/24/09) Christian, DJ's NEVER listen to their audience. No one WORKING at radio stations listens to the listners. Stations may claim they listen but that's just another line of bullshit for you to swallow. That's why DC 101, 94.7 and all those stations play the same songs every single day at the same time. IF stations actually cared about what people actually wanted to hear, you wouldn't hear the same Aerosmith or Tom Petty or Greenday song every day. Radio stations think the listners are dopes and will continue to spoon feed their audience the same mind numbing drivel for years to come. Paul (2/24/09) Leykis really, REALLY needs his ass kicked. Have you ever listened to that show? He's a cocky windbag with absolutely nothing to feel superior about. JFK-FM deserves him. (2/24/09) Dave's response: CBS just yanked Leykis from their LA guy talker, KLSX. And the format. You think they're gonna want him on their DC guy talker? Stranger things have happened, I guess..... Dave: I ran into a Fox Sports Radio exec. last week that told me about the slow make-over and how Czaban may not be in their future plans. I don't understand why it's taken so long for radio people to make changes for the better...this includes Snyder and his Red Zebra company. It's pretty funny when you publish the weekly people meter standings and ESPN980 is usually between 17-20 overall in the market. If you really want good sportstalk radio, try going to itunes and listening to the other stations outside the Washington, DC market. It's come to the point where I don't listen to Doc and Kevin.... someone should take those guys to the ultimate fighting ring and let them kill each other and now, the "Sports Reporters" are just plain old boring. Can someone lend Bonneville some money to put sportstalk on 107.7? (2/24/09) Dave's response: Sports talk for Bonneville might just work if they pair 107.7 back with 1500 (a la the old 3WT and WaPo Radio) and move FNR back to 1050. But 107.7 alone won't cut it. It doesn't reach DC and most of suburban Maryland..... O and D hitting on all cylinders today on WJFK powering a great show covering Redskins committing another glamor bust signing of D Tackle Haynsworth from the Titans (all old injury-prone payday free agents come to DC to retire and coast into luxurious nonproductive millionaire retirement), and also covering the possible legalization of marijuana in California. If you don't know anything about talk radio, listen to whatever segment they replay at 8pm tonight and understand what an entertaining short time edge these guys are.P. (2/24/09) Al Santos makes Unsigned Corporate Suit seem thrifty with words by comparison. (2/24/09) You idiots! WJFK is clearing 7:00pm to 10:00pm for Tom Leykis. Get ready for Leykis 101 bitches. Paulie G. (2/24/09) RE: "As for Smooth Jazz, Calarco noted the failure of Jazzy 100, WBIG's predecessor on 100.3 to draw a non-ethnic (white) audience, and killed that proposal." Apparently 7 consecutive #1 ARBs for the Sunday Brunch didn't motivate enough curiosity to investigate what was going on in THAT W-Lite daypart... and the "brunch" numbers stayed strong even with the arrival of the fulltime Jazzy 100. Perhaps the failure of both jazz stations were due to both playing TOO MANY of the WRONG songs... but, hey, what do I know? ("...stand by mic 4...") (2/24/09) (Did Post Aid In Chandra Suspect's "Arrest") is now "Will Washington Post Series on Chandra Levy Lead to Suspect's Arrest?" www.poynter.org... Hey Dave. Check out the website now. Looks like some people complained. (2/24/09) Dave, sorry to bore Mailbag readers with a novice question from a longtime radio listener, but I was thinking about radio requests, and whether they matter any more -- if they ever did to begin with. With today's stations focused on tight playlists, do they bother to field requests from listeners? Do listeners bother to call in with requests? I sometimes hear about how radio requests propelled a song onto the charts, but that seems like a phenomenon that ceased a long time ago. Now programmers test the songs and play whatever fits the station's sound/mood/whatever. When I was a kid, I used to call WPGC and Q-107 with my requests. In my teenage years, I called DC-101 with requests. But I doubt they played what I asked them to play, unless it was already on the play list. Can other Mailbaggers chime in with their views on radio requests? Are requests just part of the job? A nuisance? Do requests make any difference, in any market, as to what gets played over the air? Thanks. Christian (2/24/09) Al Santos' short story about Smooth Jazz in DC needs a little bit of additional background info. In early-1993, local management at then-WLTT pitched both Oldies and Smooth Jazz to CBS corporate as possible successors to the Light Rock format. Rod Calarco, then President of the CBS FM group nixed both ideas. He felt an Oldies format on 94.7 couldn't beat Xtra-104. (This was pre-WBIG.) As for Smooth Jazz, Calarco noted the failure of Jazzy 100, WBIG's predecessor on 100.3 to draw a non-ethnic (white) audience, and killed that proposal. At the same time, KCBS-FM in Los Angeles flipped to the Arrow format, the genesis of today's Classic Hits. Arrow 93 made a Top 5 debut in L-A. In the meantime, Oldies 100 launched in D-C, and handed Xtra-104 its ass in its first book. Xtra-104 PD Bob Duckman, realizing the station was out-signaled and out-reseached by WBIG, called Arrow 93 PD Tommy Edwards and made some inquiries about the format. Tommy gave Bob enough info to make him go away happy. Then Tommy reported the phone call to his GM, Dave van Dyke. van Dyke passed the story along to Calarco. CBS corporate made the decision to airlift the Arrow format in D-C (as well as Dallas and Houston), and launch it on November 22, 1993, in an attempt to flank WBIG and WCXR. WCXR was crippled when Viacom acquired the station from Group W in a swap of properties in D-C and Houston under the FCC's new duopoly policy. Viacom cleaned out the old programming staff, replacing it with a PD and full-time airstaff with limited experience/knowledge of Classic Rock. WCXR's numbers never got above a 2 share after that. After a year or so, Viacom made the call to flip 105.9 to Smooth Jazz. (2/24/09) Jillian Michaels (female trainer on NBC’s The Biggest Loser) is coming to Crystal City Marriott as a keynote speaker at the “Get Radical” annual conference. There’s also a five-time Ironman Triathlete, Barbara Stanny, and other driven professionals scheduled to speak as well. The conference organizers are offering VIP tickets that include a luncheon, photo op and autograph session with Jillian Michaels. VIP pass or not, it’s a great chance to learn from the pros and network with driven professionals. The event is March 28th, but early bird registration ends this Sunday, March 1st so hopefully you can get the word out to your audience quickly and help them save a few bucks on the registration fee... You can find more info here: www.getradicalconference.com. (2/24/09) Hey Dave---the demise of corporate,commercial radio as we know it has been well documented and much discussed here in the 'bag.--let's face it..the Clear Channels, Citadels, Cumulus-es and the like never bought radio stations with the intent of actually running and programming them.They were bought with the goal to eventually turn 'em at a profit..Well guess what? You cannot run radio stations like they were McDonald's franchises.Radio is/was unique to each individual market. Regional and national "VPs of Programming" --voice tracking, feat of falling stock prices, feat of FCC regulations and fines, lack of innovation in both sales and programming, failure to understand the internet and podcasting..all of these things contributed to the state we are in now..and with the advertising market drying up..and the economic doldrums we find ourselves in..radio is truly on its last legs. as we know it---the only hope may be the resurrection of individual stations by groups of "investors" who maybe lease the license from the corporations..cut them in a little of the dollars and then return to complete LOCAL programming.. it might work...otherwise look for more robotic "ryan seacrest" type shows beamed to all part of the country..ughhhh. (2/24/09) "Did Washington Post series on Chandra Levy lead to suspect's arrest?" Julie Moos promised to fix that today. DCRTV gets results. (2/24/09) Dave's response: At last check, the DC police still hadn't arrested that Levy suspect. Once again, I fear, the press is being irresponsible by reporting that somebody's a suspect when they haven't been formally charged yet..... Yet another victim of the budget cut wave that has swept across almost every radio market in the country over the past year… PD and Morning Drive Jock Smokin’ Joe is gone from 97.7 The Rocket, Southern Maryland’s Rock Station. Now they sound like my Zune when I put the shuffle on Active Rock meets Classic Rock that really Rocks! FM rock radio without a DJ is really not compelling but then neither is any station in DC/Baltimore/Richmond and surrounding areas other than the bright spots: WTMD (Towson), WRNR (Annapolis), WNRN and WCNR (Charlottesville), WTYD (Williamsburg), WOCM (Ocean City), WXJK (Farmville), and WCTG (Chincoteague). Dean in Southern MD (2/24/09) I have two nine inch color monitors. On the left I have MSNBC. On the right I have Fox News. If I stare at both of them simultaneously, I think I get a clearer picture. (2/24/09) Dave's response: I tried that. All I got was a headache..... In response to (If anything else they could run the WHFS Alt-Rock 7-12 and then overnights and since weekend programming is the waste of air time infomercials and Best ofs, etc. all that goes along with talk stations. ) It would make sense to run music on WJFK after hours... If CBS would pay for the BMI & ASCAP licenses. Those aren't cheap. If WJFK can't afford to promote the station with TV commercials or Metro Bus billboards do you think CBS Corporate would shell out for music licenses for a station that's doing "okay" without it now? I don't. (2/24/09) Just a quick note on the whole WJFK dumping Rome for station re-runs, I do recall a few months back when J-Dubs of Hideout fame officially ended that show he also said he is still in contact with CK who had told him that future involvement with the station was definitely an on-going possibility. Maybe "Dubs After Daytime?" coming soon to 106.7? 5000 - Jason (2/24/09) To the poster re: WJFK and 300-400 people showing up at their appearances, you nailed it! They're like the neocons in the Republican Party, very loud, but relatively, very small. Don't be fooled! (2/24/09) Just for the record, Ray Frager wrote about in today's Sun -on Fox 1370 Sportsradio - and if you go to www.sportswithcoleman.com - you can hear a pretty good interview with the Former Ravens CB Chris MAcalister, on his parting with the Ravens and his coach - and hatred for steeelers !! ...Good stuff, as opposed too the dribble and sympathy we hear from him last week. marc , rosedale (2/24/09) Dave... because I'm pretty much done with commercial radio (and after this post they may be pretty much done with ME) I just wanted to weigh in on the Globe/CBS topic which is quite frequently a HOT TOP on your DCRTV. Shortly after Citadel terminated the Smooth Jazz format at 105.9, a letter writing campaign was started (directed at Citadel) to return Smooth Jazz back to WJZW-FM. Below was my attempt at a possible shot of returning the format to the Washington, DC airwaves (obviously with no success). What follows is a portion of a letter written to the hundreds of ex-JZW listeners who'd contacted me in the subsequent months following the format's demise: [QUOTE] "I applaud the efforts of the many who took the time to email, and I’d like to believe this show of support would have resulted in a phone call from Citadel apologizing for their decision and re-hiring all of us back to continue on with the Smooth Jazz tradition and the REAL Sunday Brunch; however, the emails sent to the decision makers (especially Citadel Broadcasting) may have fallen on deaf ears. *** My tactic is a bit different… *** A little ‘back story’: My very first exposure to doing jazz radio came in early 1987 when the CBS owned WLTT-FM (94.7, W-Lite) here in DC hired me to do “Night-Lite Jazz”, an evening show inspired by the phenomenal ratings success of the W-Lite Sunday Jazz Brunch”, a show which in August 1987, I inherited and guided to even greater success. *** My dismissal from W-Lite, occurred in early 1993, coincidentally, around the time that station was struggling in the ratings and looking for a new direction. *** Being a CBS owned station (which also owned the very successful New York City oldies station, WCBS-FM), smart money was on W-Lite switching to an oldies format and easily beating the only other oldies station in town, the difficult to hear, WXTR-FM (Xtra-104) OR change to an ALL Lite Jazz format (the phrase ‘Smooth Jazz’ was still a few years away) based on the success and ratings of their Sunday Brunch. *** Well, W-Lite did neither! *** Instead, they bumped along for a while longer as W-Lite… *** Meanwhile, around June 1993, “Oldies-100” made its debut on Washington’s radio dials and the hand-writing was on the wall for “Xtra-104”. Oldies-100, with its far superior signal was able to cover the entire DC area and quickly defeated “Xtra-104 to become THEE oldies station in town… *** Ironically, in retrospect, it was “Oldies-100” that took the place of “Jazzy-100”. Being out of work at the time, I was hired by “Oldies-100”, but that’s a story for another time… *** I’d lost track of what W-Lite was doing around this time but think they had switched to a Classic Rock format called, “The Arrow” and continued plugging along. It was a decision I didn’t quite understand seeing the Classic Rock station WCXR-FM (105.9) was not doing all that well in the ratings. *** Moving forward a few more years to the Spring or Summer of 1995: 94.7 (formerly the old W-Lite and now simply called WARW for “The Arrow”) continued to duke it out with a few other rock stations for market dominance when one of them decided to drop out of the battle in order to step to the beat of a different drummer. That station was WCXR-FM (105.9) and thus, in the summer of ’95, Smooth Jazz 105.9 (WJZW-FM) was born! *** If it seems as though I am picking on W-Lite (94.7 will always be W-Lite to me), I am NOT! My time at that station was some of the best time spent on the radio. I was given the responsibility of programming the hugely successful Sunday Brunch, and under my guidance, made it an even bigger ratings force. *** Since my departure in 1993 until just recently, 94.7, W-Lite (now called “The Globe”) has undergone several changes but has never realized the ratings potential they may have deserved had they switched format (FIRST) in 1993 to Oldies or (SECOND) in 1995 to Smooth Jazz…. Ahhhh but hindsight is 20/20. *** The letter you have just finished reading is being sent to every person who took the time over the past 3 months to write me with words of support and encouragement for which I am very grateful! I am undertaking this project solely on my own lest it blow up in my face and somehow Jay Lang and Van Niece Johnson catch some of the fallout. *** I think the only chance of hastening the return of Smooth Jazz to the airwaves of Washington, DC will be by bringing the music we love so much to the attention of the corporate owners of stations who may be considering a format change." [END QUOTE]...and once again, CBS/the Globe finds itself at yet another crossroad but, radio has changed so much in the past several years that it probably doesn't even matter what they do at this point... I just wanted to get the above off my chest. For those who were the countless Smooth Jazz fans who for so long kept the station (and especially the Sunday Brunch) in the Top5 over the many years of its run, I did what I thought would help return it to DC. Funny how the station's consultants were allowed to continue consulting 'til the bitter end... federAL SANTOS... ("...stand by Navigator!") (2/24/09) How'd you like to be the copywriter who got the task of writing the radio-commercial version of this ad? www.ilovebacon.com... I don't think I could stop laughing! (2/24/09) WJFK should put Joe Radio on starting at 7:00 pm and running until he passes out. I mean hey, Joe's already in studio, so he won't be late. Do a Joe and Katie show even, they can talk about. . .whatever and take calls and whatnot! I'd listen to THAT! ;) (2/24/09) Dave's response: Exactly! Have Joe host "The Joe Show" from 7 to 10 weeknights. He can play "best of" clips from other JFK shows. He can do his own thing. Why not? Come on, CK. That is, unless CBS is eyeing infomercials for evenings..... What happened to Leonard Roberts at WBAL-AM? Did he retire? Get fired? Cut in Heart's move to make its nighttime broadcast as national and boring as possible? Haven't heard him or local news after 8 p.m. in the last two weeks. (2/24/09) Maryland House Bill could eliminate funding for PEG stations (and eliminate cable company customer service accountability!) ... This bill was slipped in late last Friday (2/20) and there have been several meetings to organize a plan of action before the hearing. We NEED everyone's help if PEG access is to survive and we need it by Thurs. (2/26) If people can't go to Annapolis for the hearing then we need EVERYONE possible to call by Wed. (2/25). Below are some of the details. Again I can't stress to you how critical and potentially devastating this truly is for all of the PEG network. The hearing is set for Thursday at 1p.m. in Annapolis at the Ways and Means Committee. Please call your delegates and senators asap to say you oppose HB 1182, Statewide Cable Franchising. We need people to show up for the hearing. We want to have a crowd that spills out into the halls. We are checking to see if cameras will be allowed in the hearing room and will let you know as soon as we find out. (2/24/09) CBS has to give up on WJFK at some point. You know it's pretty sad if your best programming from the 7pm-12am is a best of programming. With so many options they haven't done anything with that time slot since R&F and TPRS. If anything else they could run the WHFS Alt-Rock 7-12 and then overnights and since weekend programming is the waste of air time infomercials and Best ofs, etc. all that goes along with talk stations. Let the music play instead. If not the WHFS Alt-Rock they could do a Jack format of playing everything. Doing something like that would probably help their ratings at least a little bit. Either way IMO it's time to shove a fork in 94.7, 99.1, and 106.7 and if it doesn't happened someone should be firing Michael Hughes and the rest of the CBS DC Management. Hopefully with any luck with CC taking over Baltimore's 102.7 they will leave it alone and not change formats or cut the music down. But knowing CC, that's probably wishful thinking. (2/24/09) This actually happened yesterday on the "Scott and Anita Show". Scott was,talking about how Wednesday is a big day. We have the 1st O's Spring Training game, Tiger is coming back and playing in a Match Play Tournament, and we have Maryland-Duke at night. Before he is finished with his thought, Anita chimes in with, and we've Tiger Woods coming back. To which Scott replies "I just said that" Sadly, Scott is a true gentlemen. Sure would have made for better radio if the host went off on her. And you all wonder why so many people can't stand her. You listening, Jim Williams? Look, many have implied she's nice off the air. Someone last week posted that she rides a motorcycle. What any of this has to do with her on-air talent escapes me. (2/24/09) (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Seasoned radio pioneer/veteran - a victim of job elimination last year - in search of full-time production work in the Baltimore/DC area. Currently hosting a specialty show which I want to continue to do...so I will be more than happy to do behind-the- scenes work and do so gratefully. Too experienced to be an "intern" but not so experienced that I cannot learn more. I welcome any offered opportunity. I run a tight board, I've screened calls for TV and for radio, and have been an unpaid shrink for many an ego in this business. It's all good! Contact me at BunnyFromBandstand@yahoo.com (2/24/09) HAHA!!! 'morning joe' WAS ALL EXCITED ABOUT SUCKING UP TO THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE; MSNBC/NBC = PROPAGANDA NOW LOOK AT THEM FREEZING THEIR ARROGANT, SUCK UP ASSES OFF!!! IF 'morning joe'/MSNBC-NBC"NEWS" SUFFERS, IM HAPPY. ~ART. S. VA BEACH, VA USA (2/24/09) Dave's response: The whole MSNBC crew is in town today for Obama's non-SOTU speech..... Is the Religious Spanish station at 87.7 FM, that I pick up very loud and very clear from my apartment dwelling , a fairly new station? I don't recall a station being below 88.5 WAMU on my radio dial here in toothless fairfax. Did WJFK give any consideration to playing the Best of Don and Mike instead of Jim Rome, or is that not aloud? (2/24/09) Dave's response: The Spanish programming on 87.7 is the audio from a low-power Channel 6 TV station based in Arlington..... The BBC's Katty Kay is co-authoring an upcoming book with Claire Shipman, Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success. (2/24/09) I don't think JFK's decision to replay an hour of each of the 3 shows at nights is a terrible decision. That being said I also don't think it was a good one. Before about 2004 if you missed a part of a show the only way to hear it was best of. The rise of podcasting means this is no longer an issue. If you miss any part of any of the JFK shows you can listen to them on the website if you care to. So the move to air best of at nights kind of baffles me. I understand Rome did not do too well in DC but he did bring a different audience to the station. By this I mean that JFK will not add any listeners with this decision, it will however lose some. All things considered I do not see how anyone could come to make this decision. If I miss a segment of the junkies or a want to listen to a segment again I will listen to the podcasts. The podcasts have several advantages over the best of you can listen to them whenever you want, you can listen to whatever segments you want, and you do not have to wait for commercials. This does not even bring into the account the quality of the best of. JFK will most likely air segments that fit their timing well, meaning you will not actually be getting the best of that days show. Another point on the quality of the best of, the JFK weekend rewinds are not always very high quality and that is with a weeks worth of shows, not just a days. The only way I would support this show is if JFK did actual best of and aired segments from any point in the shows history. (2/24/09) ("In part that's proved by their success in the multi station trip giveaway the past few weeks. WJFK has accounted for approximately 80% of the winners in that contest among all the DC station involved. Not bad for a "struggling" format with "limited" listeners. There has been no "reporting" on the number of people they may or may not have at any of their appearances. Wouldn't that be newsworthy? If they had no folks show up, then that would folo with the trend of sluggish ratings, if many people show up (as they claim on air) then maybe the PPM's are wrong, or not telling the whole story about listeners.") The fact that JFK listeners are winning a contest proves nothing more than someone is listening. The fact is JFK has more dedicated listeners than the other stations in the contest. No one will argue that talk radio has a much more passionate fan base than music radio. It is the core fans that are winning the contest and they do not make up a large group of listeners. As for people showing up to appearances if Big O and Dukes have a UFC PPV viewing and they pack the place maybe 300-400 people showed up. 300-400 people showing up at a restaurant does not prove a large fan base it is however good for the show and will be called a good appearance. WJFK is a radio station and radio is a mass communication medium therefore the goal is to have massive amounts of people listening and the DC metro area has over 5 million people living here. With such a population the goal for mass media is to have hundreds of thousands of people listening. Now I am not claiming that all of JFK's listeners show up to appearances or even most of them, but the fact is that using 300 people to prove the existence of hundreds of thousands of people is completely and utterly insane. (2/24/09) In reference to the typo in the WHFS post. I meant WJFK not WKFK. This is what happens when you're too pissed off to see clearly! (2/24/09) I am from DC, in the media business, but live out of the area. I do try and check on the happenings in DC TV/Radio/etc regularly, including your site. Along with solid reporting on some of the TV news information, it seems to me that you take some pleasure in announcing any problems at or rumors about one particular radio station, WJFK-FM -- but seem to ignore any positives. While it is true that the new PPM's have not been great for the station (which could lead to another debate about the new ratings system) they still have numerous listeners. In part that's proved by their success in the multi station trip giveaway the past few weeks. WJFK has accounted for approximately 80% of the winners in that contest among all the DC station involved. Not bad for a "struggling" format with "limited" listeners. There has been no "reporting" on the number of people they may or may not have at any of their appearances. Wouldn't that be newsworthy? If they had no folks show up, then that would folo with the trend of sluggish ratings, if many people show up (as they claim on air) then maybe the PPM's are wrong, or not telling the whole story about listeners. I would be interested to know if they are fudging their own numbers or actually drawing a significant crowd at their large events. (The Boo Bash, Junkette Searches, Big O and Dukes fast food tour, the Junkies Poker Open). There was also no mention when the Mike O'Meara show had Howard Bernstein from WUSA on the show Friday. You would think that might deserve a mention on a blog/information site directly related to DC Radio and Television. I also don't recall how much if any coverage Tony Perkins hosting the MOM show recieved. I admit I am a podcaster of WJFK, and have enjoyed many of their shows over the years, including Don and Mike, who you did not seem to have a good relationship with. But I am also someone who has to trust on blogs like yours to get information of what is truly happening behind the scenes in ALL forms of local media. And as a newsperson myself, like you seem to want to be, I would hope some objectivity would go into the site, and I believe many times it does, just not in this case. I enjoy the fact I can catch up on DCRTV news through your site, but wanted to mention the trend that I noticed rearing its ugly head recently, and hoped it might change, or at least draw your attention to what may be a unfortunate but unsuspected slight. Keep up the information! (2/24/09) Dave's response: CK, that you? I did cover the Tony Perkins subbing for O'Meara thingo, anyway. Exclusively, in fact. I didn't know that Howard Bernstein was on O'Meara. I don't usually listen to the whole show. Don't know how newsworthy that would be, anyway. Hey, all publicity is good publicity. It's when they don't talk about you that you gotta start worrying. I generally like JFK or I wouldn't listen as much as I do. A lot of my Ranting is because I really think that CBS's suits (more NYC and not so much Lanham) are fucking up a pretty good station. That's what CBS does best, it seems, when you look at how they've trashed countless cool stations over the years, from WHFS, KLSX, and WNEW, to WXRK, WYSP, and WTGB/WARW. And don't get me wrong - CBS is not alone. Clear Channel and Citadel do their share of screwing things up, too. Too often today, radio is not being run by people who love radio. It's being run by corporate beancounters. I suspect that if we had lunch, mystery poster, that we'd find ourselves agreeing on much more than disagreeing. Including JFK. In my humble opinion, WJFK should have been making a big batch of changes in late 2008 and they'd be doing stronger in the PPMs, including a better weekend line-up, with no infomercials. Maybe even music. And some sort of local evening weekday show. Way fewer reruns of its three signature shows. Better promotions, etc. I do think that CBS DC head Michael Hughes cares deeply about the people who work at JFK and he's fought hard to keep the "guy talk" on 106.7. But I also think that there are some CBS suits who are more than ready to replace it with something a lot more "cost-effective." That industry give-and-take is what's making its way to DCRTV. I agree that not every "rumor" I report makes it to reality. But if you're reading something here, you can better bet that it is being seriously talked about in those fancy corporate radio boardrooms in Manhattan or San Antonio..... Was in NYC last week and heard WCBS for several hours. God, do they sound good. A much lower spot load than TOP; fewer breaks, and shorter breaks. The 880 business news is a full 2:00 at :25 and :55, including lots of good biz news and stock prices for companies in the news . . . I think much of it comes from the Wall Street Journal, a much better choice with much more air time, than TOP gives the WashBizJournal. The 880 top of the hour billboard is also much smoother and easier to execute than TOP's . . . with a smooth, cold ending at 59:58, the system cue and top of the hour time tone in the clear with just the announcer giving the time check. The stupid musical button that TOP uses at the end of the hourly billboard causes fumbles, hurries, missed cues, and competes with the time tone at the top of the hour . . . and the level is never quite right. BTW, they use Pat Garrett for promos much more heavily than TOP, which uses him only for the top, bottom, and quarter hours. The only downside listening to WCBS was the compression on the CBS hourly. It sounded like the Audimax was set for WCBS-FM, with huge compression and EQ boosts at the top and bottom end. Made Harley Carnes sound like Cammie McCormick. YIKES! (2/24/09) Dave's response: Whoo hooo! You've used our BG secret word of the day - "yikes." Give me your address and I'll send over Pat Goss with a can of BG motor oil..... Dave, you misconstriculated my post about 94.7 and 100.3, and you are wrong when you say: "As mediocre as 100.3 is, 94.7 is so much worse that it makes 100.3 look not so bad." No, 100.3 is uniformly bad; 94.7 only seems bad when you keep listening to it. If you only dip into it from time to time, it's actually pretty good, as things go these days. 100.3 IS ALL BAD ALL THE TIME. It's the worst station on the FM dial. You're right when you say "Don't do a limited "tired" playlist. Engage the audience. Feature cool on-air personalities. Mix it up. Make it fun. You're programming a radio station, not running a discount shoe outlet. Sheesh....." but it's never going to happen, sad to say. 100.3 is the station of fat retail managers. And "sheesh" is a verbal crutch of yours, "indeed". Gotta go now, time to make love in my Chevy van. (2/24/09) Dave's response: Bill Clinton, that you? To follow-up on the observation by U.C.S.: Barbara Coleman left WMAL-TV 7 quite suddenly in May of '69 when management caught wind of her plan to syndicate "Here's Barbara" nationally. (Johnny Batchelder and George Wilson took her place for a while. Was Tom Gauger put to work there as well?) The syndicated version, "Window on Washington", was produced at Alexandria's Tele-Color Studios and directed by the former director of WTOP-TV 9's "Ranger Hal" show, Woody Robertson. It debuted in the autumn of '69 and was picked-up in DC by WTTG-TV 5 who continued to use the "Here's Barbara" title. The folks at Channel-7 filled the void left by Barbara's departure with a new salt & pepper presentation "The Now Women!" with Claire Kleess and Gwen Dillard. Eventually the time slot became a solo effort titled "Claire". Although Claire Kleess Lyons passed away three years ago, Barbara Coleman is now happily retired on the left coast and writing a book about her life. If you think you have anything to contribute to her effort, write Ms. Coleman at MemoriesOfBarbara@gmail.com (2/24/09) /\ February 24 Messages /\ \/ February 23 Messages \/ How far are we away from WJFK giving each of the 4 junkies their own 4 hour time slot starting at 6 am, and then running colon cleanse commercials from 10pm until 6? I putthe over/under on that as 4 months........yeeech (2/23/09) Dave's response: Oh, I get it. The 7 PM to 10 PM reruns are just "place fillers" until evening infomercials can be sold. Colon cleanse at 8 PM anyone? John Sanders has disappeared from WBAL TV web page. Guess they didn’t care for the publicity he got for them with his little “edit Job" (2/23/09) A couple of thoughts about the current DCRTV+ Flashback… The “Claire Kleess” on WMAL-TV’s “The Now Women” was the “Claire” of the former “Claire and CoCo” kids show on WMAL-TV. The syndie “Girl Talk” on WMAL-TV was originally hosted by Virginia Graham and was supposed to be their busted budget version of the locally-originated “Inga’s Angle” on WRC-TV. Finally, “Here’s Barbara” was another show with a former WMAL-TV “star”, albeit over at WTTG. Ahhh… the days of local TV. At least for the most part. I think that’s what really has radio’s syndie talkers sacred about all these purported comebacks of the “Fairness Doctrine” and "equal time". Good locally originated programming. What I best they really fear is stations actually having to dump syndie shit in favor of locally-originated programming. The horrors of it all! Just think, new talent may be developed at the local level! Can the syndicated hate/fear-mongers see the beginning of the end of any relevancy they may have had? -Unsigned Corporate Suit (2/23/09) I actually don't mind putting the 3 rerun shows on WJFK in the evenings instead of Jim Rome, whose style just grates on me. But I would prefer a live, local show. Joe Radio might be a good idea. I never get a chance to listen to Joe's show on Sat. nights. I really miss Ron and Fez. (2/23/09) Dave's response: I remember Geronimo addressing this. He said that it can actually hurt a show by overexposing it. You run it too much - on weekends and in overnights - and it cheapens the overall value of the show. If JFK is going to stay guy talk, it needs to get a decent evening show. Maybe give Robb Spewak or Joe Ardinger the 7 PM to 10 PM slot. JFK needs to do fewer reruns and infomercials - and more original programming..... JFK Ousts Jim Rome For Reruns: One of Big Dave's "gay" lover, lost. Sorry Dave, he just couldn't make the grade. Always room in Dave's mother's basement though. I welcome Junks/MOM rereuns: saves me from downloading podcasts. (2/23/09) Dave's response: (1) Rome is better looking than most of the men at JFK, except for two Junks and, of course, Buzz. (2) Ma passed away in 2004. Her "basement" was sold in 2005 to a Nicaraguan architect and his family..... I am beginning to see why No radio show wants the 7pm - 10pm at WJFK. It's a tough slot but I am tired of the short lived shows on the 7pm - 10pm. The only show that I liked during that slot during the years were " The Junkies", "The Hideout" and "The Peter Rosenberg Show". Put on the "Joe Radio" in the evening!! James from Centreville, VA (2/23/09) Dave's response: "Joe Radio" in evenings would be cool..... A month ago I posted something to the effect that a downturn can be a great time to take a chance and make a move. Tonight, for anyone looking to get out of the news business, but discouraged and afraid to make a move, I offer this list that always encourages me. Maybe it's dumb, but it always keeps me going. I call it "WHAT I’VE LEARNED": 1) Do not wait for ideal circumstances; they will never come – nor for the best opportunities, 2) Everything is secondary to hard work; 3) The greatest risk is not taking one – you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take; 4) Leap and the net will appear; 5) Successful people: have a vision / use information and analysis / take action; 6) Underpromise but Overdeliver; 7) P5: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance; 8) Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration; 9) Tap into people’s dignity and they will do anything for you. Ignore it and they won’t lift a finger; 10) Move out of your comfort zone; 11) Stick up for your beliefs, speak with conviction and remember that people respond to the truth; 12) Be resilient, optimistic and passionate – the qualities researchers say are the secrets to aging well; 13) Practice aggressive salesmanship and strategic risk-taking; 14) Stop living in the past. Stop dwelling on mistakes and failures. Live for today! Dream/plan for tomorrow!; 15) Hope is the most precious of treasures; 16) It is continuous effort, not strength or intelligence that is the key to unlocking our potential; 17) Show up early. Study the situation. Visualize. Prepare. Focus. YOU CAN ALWAYS DO BETTER! NEVER GIVE UP! (2/23/09) I have waited for CBS to return WHFS to the FM airwaves and now that there is a hint of that happening it's looking like it will be 94.7 or WJFK NEITHER of which can be heard in northeastern Maryland.WTGB is drowned out by WDSD and WKFK is overrun by Mix106. THANKS CBS,you never let a chance to alienate a fanbase go by. Is it my imagination or is WLZL at just about the ratings level HFS was at before the flip? (2/23/09) was just surfing and noticed that someone has conveniently registered 1027ampradio.com anonymously this past weekend. Could AMP be coming to Baltimore? Thanks JOE (2/23/09) Dave's response: Well, it was CBS that started the "AMP" contemporary hit format in LA. And CBS is selling Baltimore's 102.7 to Clear Channel. A better bet would be "AMP" coming to NYC's 102.7, which CBS does own - and isn't selling..... You have identified WNAV 1430khz Annapolis as a full service talker. This is wrong. The station is a community based variety format (combination talk/music/news/sports). Please try to make a note of that now. (2/23/09) Dave's response: I'll put an "and" in between the full service and talk. Is that OK? (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Radio Sales Professionals - The Star Radio Group, located 50 miles south of Washington D.C. in Fredericksburg, VA, is looking for motivated and experienced sales professionals to join our team of Radio Marketing Consultants. Develop and maintain new business and grow existing accounts with successful marketing campaigns. This position comes with an established list with good billing and very high potential. The Star Radio Group is the number one radio group in the region. The ideal candidate will have at least 3 years sales experience with a proven ability to generate client marketing campaigns. Broadcast sales experience is preferred. Candidate must possess strong sales skills, communication skills, organizational skills, and the ability to work in a competitive, diverse market. Join a family-owned company that offers an excellent compensation and benefits package! Qualified applicants should send cover letter, résumé, and salary requirements to: WFLS/WWUZ/WWVB Radio, ATTN: Human Resources, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Fax: 540/374-5449... jobs@freelancestar.com (2/23/09) Listening to Johnny Holliday with the Junkies this morning made me yearn for the days of Billy Bicepts, Guido, The Answer Man, The Eastern Union Singing Telegraph Company, David B, Howard Cossell, Jimmy Carter, As the Morning Turns, Jack Kent Cooke, crazy phone calls, Mr Dirty, Sirells the security guard, Louie Willard with the weather, Captain Dan with the traffic..Boy was Radio fun to listen to!! (2/23/09) ONLINE POLL: Does America still need labor unions... If it weren't for unions, we wouldn't have 40 hour weeks, or weekends off, lunch breaks, vacations, in some places medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, YES bathroom breaks! Unions kept small children in school instead of in the workplaces, kept our workplaces safe. Yes, I believe America needs unions to provide a voice for the working families, please vote in the Parade magazine poll - www.parade.com. Moe the Union Guy (2/23/09) Interesting move by WJFK. If they are considering switching to a sports talker, why remove the only sports oriented program on your station? I understanding Rome's ratings were low, but couldn't they move the show to overnites, it already was airing on tape delay. (2/23/09) Dave, It's bad enough that the Sun has already shrunk content and now they're shrinking the pages to give us even less content. The Saturday paper is now down to 2 sections and reminds me of the old News American Saturday paper or some later editions of the Evening Sun. I get home delivery of the Sun, which is going up again, and buy the Washington Post most days on my way to work. I'm thinking about dropping the Sun and the Post delivered to my house. The price would be about the same as I'm spending now. Frustrated Newspaper Reader! (2/23/09) Note the change to the WJFK lineup. Heard one promo for this over the weekend, but thought maybe I’d misunderstood. Looks like Jim Rome 7-10p is being replaced by “WJFK Overtime” – one hour same day “best of” from Junks, Big O & Dukes, O’Meara. (2/23/09) If Fox is to be examined, I volunteer to give Alison Seymour a full body cavity search. Paul (2/23/09) (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Part Time News Anchor/Reporter... Contact: WNAV Sajak Broadcasting Corp... Job Description: Full service AM station in Maryland’s capital city has an opening for a part time news anchor/reporter. Duties include on-air newscasts, outside news reporting, remote assignments, generating and researching local news stories, interviews, and production. Tapes/CD’s and résumé’s (NO CALLS) to: Herma Percy, News Director, 1430 WNAV, Radio Park, PO Box 6726, Annapolis, MD 21401. Or a résumé and a short (2 minutes, max!!!) mp3 to jobs@wnav.com. (2/23/09) Dave, I would like to take a moment and contradict an earlier posting regarding Centennial Broadcasting in Winchester. In these down economic times, Centennial Broadcasting has, in fact, shown a commitment to Rock 104-9/105-5 by continuing to reinvest in this product. This commitment will soon be very evident. Furthermore, there is no favoritism to the amount of commitment in regard to one station over another. Ron Baker, Program Director, Rock 104-9/105-5, WWRT/WWRE, Centennial Broadcasting (2/23/09) Did you see that Washington Post, starting today, has ended the www.mywashingtonpost.com? Are they trying to get all of us loyal readers (the few remaining) to totally give up on them? Here is the message I got when I tried to log into my personalized web page: "Thank you for being a loyal reader of washingtonpost.com and a user of our customized mywashingtonpost.com page. Over the years, washingtonpost.com has developed new technology and methods to customize the delivery of our news, features, multimedia and more. As a result, we will be discontinuing mywashingtonpost.com as of February 23, 2009." No warning at all. Ugh. -David (2/23/09) WHFS2 (Whfs2.com) is now a black whole of a website, with the the link to the web stream being removed and nothing but a black background left. Is it still playing on 105.7 HD2? Common CBS - - bring it to the 94.7 the Globe! (2/23/09) Regarding the earlier post: "...except maybe for WOR New York there IS NOT ONE (emphasis added) AM today that stands on its own feet and runs a proper business without help from an FM sister or other corporate benevolence." I gave you 36 examples to the contrary of AM stations which far more than stand on their own feet and run a proper business. In the cases I cited, and many more, with or without any FM sisters, the AM is still the dominant revenue generator in the cluster, and are hardly carried by "corporate benevolence". (2/23/09) Saturday night on the WMAL News at 8:04 PM (not ABC News) they said Levy was an intern "for Condit." She was not. Before that, they played a soundbite of someone saying ACORN was getting money from the stimulus bill. They are not. Mark Levin on Friday said he wasn't for bailing anyone out because it doesn't help people like him. They then played an IRS debt reduction service add. OK? My point is, there is other crap on WMAL besides Chris Plante. (2/23/09) /\ February 23 Messages /\ \/ February 22 Messages \/ "Dave's response: As mediocre as 100.3 is, 94.7 is so much worse that it makes 100.3 look not so bad." Reminds me of my fat manager at Ritz Camera in Bethesda who insisted that 100.3 be the store soundtrack. When I turned on one of our teenage employees to Exile on Main Street, the fat manager said "I like the Greatest Hits album." 100.3, the station of fat managers. There is no station worse. (2/22/09) Dave's response: Classic rock/hits doesn't have to be a boringly bland format, as witnessed by DC's 94.7 and 100.3. You have three or four fascinating decades of rock music to work with. Play deep "wow" tracks. Don't do a limited "tired" playlist. Engage the audience. Feature cool on-air personalities. Mix it up. Make it fun. You're programming a radio station, not running a discount shoe outlet. Sheesh..... KGO in San Francisco is indeed that rarest of beasts, an AM standing on its own feet (alongside another AM, KSFO) with no co-owned FM or TV. (Remember that Disney kept its TV operations, including KGO-TV, when it sold ABC radio to Citadel; the only relationship KGO radio now has with KGO-TV is tenant/landlord.) The nature of clustered ownership these days means it's rare to find other large-market, stand-alone major AMs; any owner who could afford to run a big-market AM could usually get loans to buy a bunch of additional AMs and FMs to keep it company. Only a handful of broadcasters, such as Buckley in NYC at WOR, resisted that temptation and stuck it out with only an AM. Head down to medium and small markets and you'll find others making a go of it, too - isn't WCBM beating WBAL in some ratings periods these days? WGDJ in Albany is doing local talk with some success and no FM/TV sisters. Ditto for WKNR in Cleveland and its sports format. (2/22/09) Reading all the recent comments about the Washington Post in here, yes I agree that paper has gone downhill quite a bit over the years but with that being said, ah yeah..there are a number of other newspapers across the country that are even worse that our Washington Post. For example take "the voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire"..The Denver Post for example. Last year that paper pubished a photo in their sports section of two local high school football quarterbacks. Ok...nothing wrong with that but did the Denver Post really had to show those two 17 years olds shirtless and making a comment in the article about their "fur" as in chest hair? Not to mention showing those with their multiple body art ( massive black tattoos up and down the arms ), shaved heads, full beards and turning THAT into more of a story than how they play on the field? Oh The Denver Post actually in that same photo had one of those guys ( well kids..since at 17 one is still considered a minor ) smoking a cigar !!! When I saw that pic in a local paper in Ohio, I actually thought they were two gay porn stars, much less high school football players. Has the Washington Post ever done this? Meanwhile in Indiana, some of their papers for a time actually refused to do stories on the recession. Why? The new football stadium in Indianapolis !! The papers felt that running such stories would give people the idea that the new Lucas Oil Stadium was a waste of money which isn't a good thing during the current recession. Closer to home, there is the Hagerstown Herald-Mail. For a number of years, every so often that paper would run a story that was "anti-Virginia". In other words if something bad would take place in the commonwealth, front page in Hagerstown's paper. That would be like some anti-Baltimore bias in the Post. If that paper ever did such a thing ( not talking about sports ), I never notice it. The Winchester Star and Northern Virginia Daily both have been accused of being way too conservative, in the Star's case I can see that. Some of their editorals and news stories does sound like they were written at a local Baptist Church. Dittos with the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record ( which for the record is owned by the Winchester Star ). Ah..the way some of the other papers are..I would take the Washington Post anyday. (2/22/09) To the poster who was trying to find the Maryland game on the FM band; There is such thing as AM and UMD has a network of stations. I'd suggest WFMD, 930 AM, in Frederick. It has a nice strong signal that should be easily received in College Park and most places in Maryland. I was listening to in Perry County, Pa yesterday. (2/22/09) RE: C-SPAN: Go back and read it again! Nothing was said negatively about "earnest college students" or "newbie" shooters. What I said was that they were "grossly underpaid." They deserve MORE, much more. Not to mention that NABET-CWA has been in the front on training for its members in the BURST (burst-training.info) program, working with IA, IB, TNG, and the Print Sector, our union members continue to upgrade and improve their job skills. CWA offers their CWA-NETT Academy (www.cwanett.org) courses in Internet technology among other things. Union members do not sit on their butt wistfully remembering the "good old days" of broadcasting. This union funds non-linear training and has an on-site a Final Cut edit suite. We use our members' monies to help them keep jobs. For all these enhancements and efficiencies, doing much more for much less, the industry is still in a death spiral as audiences find better alternatives on the Internet. (2/22/09) i did love 94.7's classic rock format when it came back last August, but since December or so, as many have said, it started to get too repetitive and boring. I recently took 94.7 and swapped its preset number (#1) with 100.3's #2. I must say that 100.3 are slightly getting better by day.....and i dont care anymore if 94.7 switches formats. Hopefully, we can see HFS return to DC's dial...that is a move that will pay off. using the WHFS calls for some talk station nobody listens to is just a shame. I am kind of wishing that The Globe should have just sticked with their World Class Rock format though, because of all the cool deep tracks they did. OH the radio industry is such a joy (2/22/09) Dave's response: As mediocre as 100.3 is, 94.7 is so much worse that it makes 100.3 look not so bad. DC is a plain awful rock radio market. Classic or otherwise..... Dave, you might want to add to my post (below) about the AM stations, that despite how many stations are listed, most of them are owned by four groups...Clear Channel, CBS, Citadel, Entercom. (2/22/09) How convenient that the poster did not include KSL-AM in their list. Isn't that housed with KSL-TV? How come 1500 here in DC is not included? Um, yeah, that's right, no longer a viable station on its own. Now, about your other stations that you claim are stand alone. Did you figure this out from DX'g all night? Almost all of them are owned by large corporations with other affiliated media in the same market, often in the same building. None that you listed are stand alone except possibly KSDO. As I don't habla espanol, it is hard to determine the exact nature of their operation. How come you did not list any of the small and medium markets that you are so sure are surviving, viable businesses? Whereas there are stand alone FM and TV facilities in nearly every market. Allow me to show the couplings of your listed 'stand alone' stations. I noted a few that are with TV or newspapers, but mostly, for brevity, I only listed the AM and FM sisters in each market. KGO w/ KSFO & KGO TV. KCBS w/ KFRC-FM. KFI w/ KOST-FM. KMOX w/ KMOV-TV and Y-98FM. KDKA w/ 3 FM, KDKA TV & WPCW TV. WCCO w/ WCCO-TV. WTMJ w/ WTMJ-TV. WCBS--hello, guess who they are owned by!! Along with 3 FM, WFAN and WINS AM and CBS-TV in that market. WABC w/ WPLJ-FM. WBBM w/ CBS-2. WGN is rather wholly dependent upon its relationship with a certain Tribune company and all its affairs in that city. Hardly a stand alone. WLS s/ WLS-FM. WLW w/ 3 AM and 2 FM. WHAS w/ 2 AM and FIVE FM. WHAM w/ 3 AM and SEVEN FM. WBZ w/ 3 FM. WRKO w/ 3 FM and an AM. WRVA w/ 4 FM and an AM. WPHT w/ 2 FM and 2 AM (including KYW which you left out, why?). WBEN w/ 3 FM and 3 AM. WJR w/ 2FM. WWJ w/ 4 FM and an AM. WSB w/ 4 FM. KEEL w/ 4 FM and an AM. WBAP w/ 2 FM. KRLD w/ 5 FM. KTRH w/ 5 FM and 2 AM. WOAI w/ 5 FM and an AM. WHO w/ 4 FM and 2 AM. KFAB w/ 4 FM. KOA w/ 5 FM and 2 AM. KKOB w/ 4 FM and 2 AM. KFYI w/ 5 FM and 2 AM. KEX w/ 3 FM and an AM. KSDO appears to have only a transmitter site and shares common programming with 2 other stations in a small group. Hard to determine how viable they are. There are no AM stations except maybe WOR that exist without an FM, TV or newspaper sister, as a viable business, paying all of their bills and following good engineering and business practices. WOR qualifies because in spite of group ownership, it is by itself in NYC. You can bitch all you want about how CBS, Clear Channel, Citadel etc may handle their employees, but the fact is, it is those large corporations that continue to keep these ungodly expensive AM facilities On-The-Air and serving the public. They should get a tax break for keeping these stations on. If Obama ever really gets his green initiatives, these AMs, especially the 50kW DAs, are in for a world of hurt. (2/22/09) “C-SPAN itself has also been very anti-union and anti-worker in its corporate policy” You, sir, are a liar. C-SPAN may be anti-union, and I don’t blame them, but as for anti-worker, nothing could be further from the truth. In my 25 years in broadcasting, I never had a better benefit package than when I was there. I’d take it back in a heartbeat over the AFTRA package I have now. (2/22/09) No fan of unions here. However, the cuts about C-SPAN non-union crews being less than able is bullfeathers. I have worked with C-SPAN crews since the late 1980s. Sometimes under less than ideal conditions of weather, crowds, time of day. I have always felt they performed equal to the folks at ABC, CBS etc. Frankly, some of these 'college kids' are better trained in the overall craft than the adults. Because some of them started at home and in high school, they CAN actually do the job of 2-3 people, and sometimes do it better except for the best of the union guys. THAT is what the union should focus on, how come their members and their dues did not pay for continuing education that would keep their skill set fresh. Back off of C-SPAN, they are not the problem, your union is. (2/22/09) How can Terp Fans get a good powerful radio station to carry there Football and Basketball games? I had to leave the house yesterday during the 2nd half of one of the most exciting games Maryland has played in some time. I tuned in Johnny Holliday and Chris Knoche, as I always do when I'm in the car. Trying to pick up WJFK where I live in College Park is nearly impossible and very frustrating. Yesterday took the cake!! The signal faded in and out during the most critical time of the game. Don't the powers that be at the University care about supporters like me who would much rather listen to Johnny and Chris than the commentators on Television, even though the delay of 10-15 seconds drive all of us crazy. As bad as WMAL is these days, it sure would be nice to get the Terps back on that station where at least we can hear the broadcast from start to finish. Any suggestions? (2/22/09) (There'd be no way "CBS NewsGlobe 94.7" would beat TOP. Just suck away some of its ad revenue and audience in the top radio news market in the country. Dropping TOP to, oh say, 5th or 6th place, with the Globe rising from 20th to 12th or so. The goal would not be to defeat TOP, just take some of its pie.....) Suppose you're right, Dave (and I don't think you are). 94.7 moves up to 12th place but CBS loses a big affiliate in DC and all the influece of reaching the Washington power brokers; Metro loses it's biggest traffic and sports customer. And maybe Bonneville launches an FM all-newser against the anemic KFWB and KNX in L.A. Sound like a good trade? So for CBS in Washington it might be a good decision but globally (pun intended) when you get the whole picture, it's a terrible decision. (2/22/09) Dave's response: Gee, I'm sorry for being a capitalist who believes in competition. You're absolutely right! Washington should have only one all-news radio station, which is the market's only full-fledged commercial radio news operation. I shall now face west and bow to Bonneville. How could I have been so wrong? "Except maybe for WOR NY there is not one AM station today that stands on its own feet." Oh? Unless you might wanna consider KGO, San Francisco; KCBS, San Francisco; KFI, Los Angeles; KMOX, St. Louis, KDKA, Pittsburgh, WCCO, Minneapolis; WTMJ, Milwaukee; WCBS, NY; WINS, NY; WABC, NY; WBBM, Chicago; WGN, Chicago, WLS, Chicago; WLW, Cincinnati; WHAS, Louisville; WHAM, Rochester; WBZ, Boston; WRKO, Boston; WRVA, Richmond; WPHT, Phillie; WBEN, Buffalo; WJR, Detroit; WWJ, Detroit; WSB, Atlanta; KEEL, Shreveport; WBAP, Dallas; KRLD, Dallas; KTRH, Houston; WOAI, San Antonio; WHO, Des Moines; KFAB, Omaha; KOA, Denver; KKOB, Albuquerque; KFYI, Phoenix; KSDO, San Diego; KEX, Portland and more medium and small market stations than I care to list. No, they may not be the wave of the future, but they're damned sure still the wave of the present. (2/22/09) Is Silvie a Carl R. Grossman in training, simply just a Gladys Kravitz, Or Plante's "Marty?" (may he rest in peace). Only time will tell. I remember an intern on a morning show back in the late '80's. On Friday, they said goodbye to her on the air when the semester was over, and on Monday she shows up for work at 5:30 AM and goes berserk in the lobby in front of the morning crew because she "cant live without being on the show." Sometimes these people get creepy after they feel they have become "part of the show," and need to defend or fight to keep their stature. (2/22/09) I know this is not broadcasting but of interest. I just got a notice from Verizon that "We regret to inform you that effective March 31, 2009, Verizon will no longer offer Voice Wing". That is their VoIP service. After going from Vonage to SunRocket which were very non- customer service unfriendly, the land-line's service actually worked and has a unlimited plan like the others. Charlie / Springfield (2/22/09) Silvie=Dennis Murphy=Tom Gavin. Sincerely, TMU (2/22/09) "Albert Flasher"??? WOW....one of their better tunes! My first concert (almost age 15) was the Guess Who in 1971 at Godwin Hall at what was still called Madison College (the JMU name change didn't happen for another year or two) and that was one of the songs they performed...at least what I can remember of the show, as that was also my first exposure to, ummmmm, quasi-sorta-well-not-quite legal substances (which I don't condone BTW)! Randy Bachman had just left the group and Burton Cummings had the dual lead guitarists in the band by then. I don't even remember the opening act but the show was most excellent! - - - - - Larry in Luray (2/22/09) Dave's response: I went to JMU from 1976 to 1980. It was Madison College my first year, and became James Madison University during my sophomore year, 1977. If my memory serves me..... Dave, hasn't this topic been beaten to death? Do you really need to take up valuable space with this person and the comments (either way) about her and Mr. Plante? It's really getting too soap-operaish. (Shawn in DC) (2/22/09) RE: "The Washington Post's...young and inexperienced reporters...unchecked facts..." This particular instance is probably true, but why restrict your criticism to the Post? There is slop every day on channels 4,5,7,9, slop every day on WTOP and slop every day on WAMU. The poster, I think, is trying to make a broader point about the decline of journalism in general. The waning economic fortunes of newspapers, television and radio stations are such that bad journalism has, sadly, become as much the rule as the exception (I'm not referring to the current economy either - it is a secular decline that has merely accelerated in the past two years). Editors don't exist, and reporters are under such pressure to crank out the sausage that they aren't given the time to check the facts, make that extra phone call, etc. It is more superficial by the day. Plus, and I know this sounds arrogant, but the overall level of intelligence of folks entering the business seems to be declining as well. Many years ago I was a copy editor who supervised dozens of newswriters at a big TV news network (doesn't matter which one, they're pretty much all the same) and as all the copy flowed in, I quickly realized that most of them came into the job with minimal knowledge of politics, civics, foreign affairs, history, geography, business, etc. Why don't we be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that the business doesn't pay enough to attract, much less retain, smart people? Why are we surprised and outraged when the print or on air product is so poor? (2/22/09) So, C-SPAN wants to be a big time pool player! It seems that the networks have now colluded with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb to create exclusive access pools on Capitol Hill for all hearing coverage. They are quite bold to hail this move as a great cost saving to all of them, while they employ earnest college students and newbie shooters at abysmal pay rates in a major market and thereby eliminate union-represented workers’ jobs in the process. As you may know, C-SPAN was created by the large corporate cable operators, such as the demonstrably anti-union Comcast. C-SPAN itself has also been very anti-union and anti-worker in its corporate policy, no doubt reflective of the views of its major shareholders. C-SPAN has been trying for years to get into the TV pool business to legitimatize its “news” operation. It would seem that economic hard times in the broadcast business has given them an opening. Under current labor law, the so-called “secret ballot” process, C-SPAN employees not long ago signed cards to hold a union representational election. These grossly under paid employees fell victim to Mr. Lamb’s not-too-secret internal corporate scare and bribery campaign to dissuade them from their rights, not unlike the unremitting union-hate environment at Wal-Mart and Home Depot. This would not have happened if the proposed Employee Free Choice Act legislation now before Congress had been the law instead of the current, perverted labor law that is easily circumvented by these very same cable companies. The anti-union efforts of C-SPAN coupled with the recent NLRB-revealed anti-union efforts of CNN highlight the need for the Employee Free Choice Act to be passed in this Congress to once again guarantee union representational rights for all Americans. “EFCA would give unions the option to have federal arbitrators write the terms of a binding contract, setting wages, benefits, hours, work rules, and all other terms of employment if negotiations between the employer and union fail,” wrote Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus in Business Week. … The end of the world? These employers should “get the union they deserve. (2/22/09) Jesus Christ, don't you people have a f*cking sense of humor?!? The "AM band" post is a F*CKING JOKE!!! UGH!!! Everybody knows I listen to WMAL 24/7 and am their # 1 Prima Stalker.... oh Dave, please make it stop! And now back to my OCD medication.... -Silvie- (2/22/09) TV3 Winchester's (ABC sister-station to WHSV in Harrisonburg, VA) new GM (put in-place as of July 2008) has terminated/forced-to-leave/not-renewed-contract of five (5) male employees in the past 7 months, all of whom she had a power struggle with. The remaining employees are walking on eggshells, wondering who will be next. GM has no prior management experience. No prior news experience. Used to be account executive at WHSV and was put in-place by previous GM (they are very good friends)... (2/22/09) Hi Dave. I can't say that I'm surprised to see another changing of the guard in Winchester. In a recent conversation with an employee there, they mentioned the fact that they didn't think that the head man would be there for much longer. While the employee mentioned the fact that they thought their tenure was soon up there in a round of cost cutting, he mentioned that Mr. Smith made frequent trips to his home in Texas and was driven to the airport and back to Winchester in a station provided Limo. Is this radio equivalent to Bank Execs being rewarded for our failing bank system? Along that same lines, I understand that High School Football will be on the radio on 1400 in WINC this fall. This is something that has been missing for years and I'm glad to hear of this positive change. It's about time someone steps up and does this. It is my prediction that the Rock Station, despite being the best sounding rock station in the area, will meet it's demise in a year. What a concept! Everything that rocks! However, they aren't putting much effort or resources into promoting this product and it appears to be a hard sell in Winchester with the Clear Channel Rock station. They have the right idea, they sound good, they are presenting it correctly, but I just don't see them putting what they need into it when they have their money maker to try to keep at the top of the heap. They never have regardless of ownership. Having been a business owner and having one of their representatives visit me. I would specifically mention advertising on the other stations and they would always pitch 92.5 and offer the other stations for free. As for WINC. I agree with Elliot at 101. They do "WINC" an awful a lot. Hey...Mr or Mrs Program Director, that stuff was kind of cool when we were kids, but, we are adults now. I'm tired of hearing, Traffic in a Winc, winc time, winc weather, winc plays a sucky song now. Winc, Winc, Winc. Of course, I only listen to that station when I have the wife in the car. Gary. (2/22/09) Anyone that's been on the air for any length of time recognizes the type. Calls the show a lot, seems nice so you put them on. Depending on the format, either for phone bits or to support a point of view. Sometimes, that person is invited to the studio, most of the time to reward a solid fan (sometimes because the jock wants to take a look at the goods...but that's another creepy story.) Unfortunately, that person now considers themselves a star and, yikes...your friend. The line becomes blurred to this person, sometimes encouraged by the person behind the mic (again, another creepy story.) In the case being discussed in the mailbag, this person's discrediting all personalities on the AM band as not up to her standards speaks volumes. We all know what brought that on. Trouble in paradise? How did it go from Plante worship to "I have my standards"? Not sure I want to know the answer... (2/22/09) (RE: Twitter) Albert Flasher?!?! Your subconscious really knows how to reach beyond left field. LOL! Next up, Broken, Rain Dance, and Sour Suite. :>) Ken Merson / mersonperson (2/22/09) Dave's response: My dream got stranger. I then thought I heard "Glamour Boy" on WBIG..... So lightning does strike twice. For the second time, the Washington Post has allowed young and inexperienced reporters to play with information provided by the FBI. This time fortunately we can harness the Internet to check the facts. The last time their unchecked facts, leaks and inuendo did lasting damage to this nation. Now they only enforce their reputation as an embarrasment to the nation. And they wonder why people don't subscribe. Because we can check the facts and the conclusion is the WP is a yellow journalism swamp rag whose reporters can only catch a scoop if it contains dog poop. (2/22/09) " ... But seriously, why would I even bother stalking someone who broadcasts on the AM band? Even I have a set of standards." Then why, Stalker Silvie, do you keep calling Plante's show and go on air with him? Apparently you DO listen to the AM band. You're not only a stalker, you're as dumb as a box of rocks. (2/22/09) Regarding the sloppy article about Jack Valenti; This is just another example of young and inexperienced reporters being rushed into jobs that they are not prepared for. A few days before Obama's inauguration some bozo reporter wrote that Obama and Biden rode to Washington in an "antique blue caboose" when in fact it was a private passenger car. The comments section under the online version was overwhelming critical of this error but I never saw a correction. I even wrote a letter to the ombudsman about this and have yet to see it addressed (do they even have a new ombudsman?). Then last Sunday a rookie reporter tried to write an article about a double murder in Staunton, Virginia. The story was a disaster and even a careful reader would not have been able to decipher what really happened. This is what happens when a major newspaper cuts experienced staff and rushes in young and/or inexperienced reporters. (2/22/09) I was hoping to write real small cuz then Silvie from wherever cud read it Geeeezusss ckrist already. Enuf of Silvie from wherever. Lets get back to RADIO and T.V. for cryin' outloud..........DUI...... (2/22/09) /\ February 22 Messages /\ \/ February 21 Messages \/ Here is the answer to why CBS does not buy WTOP off Bonneville and run it themselves. "The president of CBS Radio, Dan Mason, says he has not seen an AM radio in a hotel room in a year, according to Inside Media Music. Across the nation, the news and programming of heritage AM stations is now offered on FM, including KIRO 710 Seattle, KSL 1160 Salt Lake City, KTAR 620 Phoenix, WWL 870 New Orleans and WTOP 1500 Washington. In Washington, WTOP, now at 103.5 FM, ratings have grown substantially, including among younger 25-to-54 year old listeners. In Canada, 5 CBC 50,000 watt AM stations have been moved to FM, including CBL 740 Toronto; CBM 940 Montreal; French language CBF 690; CBJ 1580 Chicoutimi, Quebec; and CBA 1070 Moncton, New Brunswick. Also, CBU 690 Vancouver is now being simulcast on FM" that was from thirteen.org daily media briefing, sept 24, 2008. As I have said before, except maybe for WOR NY, there is not one AM today that stands on its own feet and runs a proper business without help from an FM sister or other corporate benevolence. Incidentally, while Dan did work at WPGC, when was he ever at WTOP? (2/21/09) ["(regarding the Silvie/Chris Plante “thing") What she - and most of the folks out there in Radioland - don't get, is the complete disdain with which many broadcast personalities hold members of their audience. In fact, the more fervent the adulation, the greater the contempt and the more condescending the “star’s” attitude toward the “fan” is. I’ve even seen it happen with some of DC’s most legendary and heretofore beloved media personalities. “Groupies”, “fixated fans” and “prize pigs” are all looked upon as the absolute dregs. It's even worse with programmers and station managers - something you'll all do well to remember, next time a favorite station switches formats on you."] ---- "Groupies" go for the board ops, those with time to talk on the phone. "Fixated fans" show up for appearances and get a welcome, even if it's a feigned welcome. "Prize pigs" are universally scorned on the air, so you aren't bringing any new information. Who would talk to a programmer or station manager, and which one kicked you to the curb after he had his way with you? You sound damaged. I've met Chris Core (not at one of his creepy mattress promotions), Chris Matthews, Ted Kopple (ok, tv guy), the old (before your time Dave) WHFS crew, Don Geronimo (Seacrets) and Oscar Santana (Barking Dog). They were all nice, and guess what, it's radio, it's not real. I once shouted "Paint your bald spot?" at Larry King outside the Palm. He never broke stride. (2/21/09) RE: THE PICTURE OF SILVIE AND CHRIS PLANTE - After submitting this photograph to a panel of professional digital imaging specialists, it has been determined that a pixelized "haloing" surrounds the image of "Silvie", which may be consistent with photoshop manipulation. Further, image analysis conducted on measurements based on a mathematical model of male and female facial structures has determined there is a 99.65% probability that the facial features on "Silvie" are a mirrored and feminized digital manipulation of Plante's face - look close - the shadows don't even line up! Finally, we checked the date stamp on the photo against National Weather Service records, and on that day, the Washington area was covered with low clouds and scattered rain, yet the sky in the photo appears sunny. Why? Was this image created in an attempt to refute those of us who believe that Plante and Silvie are the same person? Why won't Plante release the "Original" image for analysis? What is he hiding? Why am I phrasing every sentence as a question? Are these questions ridiculous? of course they are. Did I make all of this up? Of course I did. But it is a perfectly accurate satire of the nutty "Obama Can't Be President Because He Forged His Birth Certificate" and "Barack Obama Pals Around With Terrorists" and "Michelle Obama said she isn't proud of her country" pure unadulterated bullshit that Plante and his cohorts at WMAL float on the air every day of the week. What is clear is that WMAL seeks to appeal to the loopiest of the far-right "Librul" haters, and they do it because there is an audience out there that craves this crap. Is it a good business decision? Maybe. Is it good for America? I say no. Thank God Americans are starting to see through this sort of blatant deception and manipulation. WMAL should be ashamed. Plante should be ashamed. Silvie, I have nothing against you, but you really need to open your eyes, girl! (2/21/09) (CBS runs its own all-newsers in NYC, LA, and Philly. Why not DC, too. Does it need Bonneville to be middleman? Just headlines, traffic, and weather in 10-minute segments. Nothing else. Couldn't be that expensive.) A) it is expensive. KOMO in Seattle ran a bare bones all-news operation and last year had to throw in the towel and add midday talk. All-news 24/7 is just too expensive. B) Here's how network radio works. WTOP runs a lot of commercials that CBS sells and keeps the dough for. If they switch those to 94.7 the commercials are heard on a 2+ share station instead of a 9 or 10 share station in a top ten market. The CBS Radio Network would lose a lot of revenue. CBS Radio is not just a group of radio stations. Its network business is big. And the network business end (affiliation and sales) is handled by Westwood. Westwood would not want to antagonize WTOP and lose their traffic and sports business on top of the CBS affiliation. Besides, Dan Mason, who runs CBS Radio (and at one time ran WTOP) knows what kind of competitor he'd be up against: a fortress on a network of 3 FM sticks. (2/21/09) Dave's response: There'd be no way "CBS NewsGlobe 94.7" would beat TOP. Just suck away some of its ad revenue and audience in the top radio news market in the country. Dropping TOP to, oh say, 5th or 6th place, with the Globe rising from 20th to 12th or so. The goal would not be to defeat TOP, just take some of its pie..... The announcement of furloughs at Media General (as opposed to the layoffs favored by ABC, NBC, Cheap Channel, and (Are you) Sirius) doesn’t surprise me too much. It does make me wonder whether the Bryan family (Which controls the superior “Class B” stock at MG.) is flexing its power, as opposed to Marshall Morton and other non-family members. I say that because of my long association with the since-deceased David Bryan. D.Tennant Bryan to his employees, stockholders, and the public. One of the stories that he told me was his philosophy on layoffs. He felt that as long as you had adequate staffing during prosperity, you needed to take “other measures” in “hard times” to keep your people on-board so that they’d be there to support you when prosperity returned, as it inevitably would. The worst part of a layoff, as he put it to me, was that “you not only lose talented people for your own benefit, you run the risk of sending them to your competition where they'll be working to put a stake through your heart”. He cited the example of his father who, as a director of the old Norfolk & Western Railway during the last Great Depression, used furloughs and other tactics to keep intact the workforce at its Roanoke locomotive shops. The result was that when WWII came along, the shops were not only ready to a higher degree than those of almost any other railroad in the country, they went on to design and build for themselves what were supposedly some of the finest steam locomotives ever built. I think that the leadership of this fine gentleman (who I recall once shared a bottle of scotch Christmas Eve 1944 (After returning from war in the Pacific due to the sudden death of his father in order to run the company. Not unusual, Henry Ford II was released from WWII service for similar reasons.) with loading dock workers at the Richmond Time-Dispatch/News-Leader) should serve as an example during this Depression. Yes, times are bad. And, I’m certain they are going to get worse (perhaps much worse) before they get better. But, they will get better. Yes, as in the recovery from the last Great Depression, there will be companies that will no longer be with us. But, the ones that survive have the potential to be larger and stronger than they were before this started. God Bless You, David Tennant Bryan wherever you may be this day. I lift a glass of The Dalmore to your memory, my friend. -Unsigned Corporate Suit (2/21/09) "Apparently, righty media baron Rupert Murdoch, who owns the NY Post, is "livid" at the allegedly racist cartoon published by his NYC rag this week. And we learn from Journal-isms that Murdoch is actually kind of fond of Obama and is tending to trend liberal in his advancing years." Actually we learn from Michael Wolff based on slightly educated speculation. Journal-isms is a column quoting a guest on "Countdown" and not actual journalism. The sad thing is there is not a single quote by Murdoch nor will there be. The truth comes down to the fact that Richard Prince is trying to advance an agenda of forced racial diversity. We saw how that went with Jayson Blair at the Times. So please don't call Journal-isms a source because it is not. That sort of thing is tabloid well below the New York Post. Paulie G (2/21/09) The problem with 980 isn't that they hosts won't criticize the Redskins, it is that they are constantly jamming the team down listeners' throats to the exclusion of other sports. And I'm a life long Redskins fan. But I also want to hear about the Nats, Caps, and Wiz, DC United and college sports. What is the old saying about it doesn't matter what they are saying as long as they spell the name right? I think Snyder has figured out that negative talk about the Redskins is still publicity and his lemming employees at 980 act accordingly. (2/21/09) When does 1027 JACK FM switch over to CC control? I don't know if CC can use the Jack moniker or if they would even want to. Maybe they will flip to top 40 ala Hot 995. (2/21/09) Hold up, Dave... I'm still catching up on these posts with my name being thrown around like a tennis racquet, or an ice cold drink. But seriously, why would I even bother stalking someone who broadcasts on the AM band? Even I have a set of standards. On another topic, why is it that some local newscasts reported on the death of Socks the Cat first, rather than on the latest breaking news regarding the Chandra Levy case? Priorities! -Silvie- (2/21/09) The last I checked, I don't believe anyone is in line to replace Mike Walter at WUSA. With cost cutting considered a necessity, I'd be surprised if a replacement was hired anytime soon. Of course when journalists who still have TV jobs find time to doctor videos such as John Sanders @ WBAL/11, maybe a few more people could stand to be cost cut. Everett W. www.examiner.com (2/21/09) "But what about taking 94.7 and turning it into fast-paced, no-nonsense 'headline news' with nothing but traffic, weather, and news/sports headlines, putting it into direct competition with 'cash cow"'TOP? If I was running CBS-DC, I'd seriously consider it." In other words, have 94.7 play WINS to WTOP's WCBS-AM. Not a bad idea, I suppose...as long as WTOP doesn't then acquire Nationals rights and inflict us with John Sterling, the Ted Baxter/Kenny Bania (pompous/hack) of play-by-play -- Vincent in Triangle (2/21/09) Dave's response: I can hear it now. WINS voice Paul Anthony telling us - "You're listing to WTGB! News, traffic, and weather 24/7 on 94.7. Give us 10 minutes and we'll give you the Globe"..... (regarding the Silvie/Chris Plante “thing") What she - and most of the folks out there in Radioland - don't get, is the complete disdain with which many broadcast personalities hold members of their audience. In fact, the more fervent the adulation, the greater the contempt and the more condescending the “star’s” attitude toward the “fan” is. I’ve even seen it happen with some of DC’s most legendary and heretofore beloved media personalities. “Groupies”, “fixated fans” and “prize pigs” are all looked upon as the absolute dregs. It's even worse with programmers and station managers - something you'll all do well to remember, next time a favorite station switches formats on you. (2/21/09) It would really hurt CBS to compete with WTOP. First, doing news is the most expensive format in radio. Second, the CBS Radio Network would lose their biggest non-owned-and-operated affiliate. WTOP not only makes a lot of money for WTOP, they make a lot of money for CBS. (2/21/09) Dave's response: CBS runs its own all-newsers in NYC, LA, and Philly. Why not DC, too. Does it need Bonneville to be middleman? Just headlines, traffic, and weather in 10-minute segments. Nothing else. Couldn't be that expensive..... As far as the alleged changes at WJFK and WGTB, it might not work out the way everyone expects. Watch what happens at WPGC. Change is a comin'! And who do you think WPGC would go after? Hi HOT...Bye HOT! I'm just sayin....! -Hate me now, love me later (2/21/09) Dave's response: PGC (with Albie?) wouldn't take too much tweaking to put it in direct competition with Hot 99.5. And, I've had this crazy dream before. But what about taking 94.7 and turning it into fast-paced, no-nonsense "headline news" with nothing but traffic, weather, and news/sports headlines, putting it into direct competition with "cash cow" TOP? If I was running CBS-DC, I'd seriously consider it. That's a mighty big pot of ad revenue that TOP's just "sitting on." Someone should go after it..... re: One question: Does Plante ever sign off by playing "Misty" ? ...I have wondered that since the very beginning. Her obsession with Plante is creepy. It went from frequent caller (that poor screener) to 'look, I'm on the air with him' (yikes!) to going cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs frequently here in the mailbag. I get a feeling this doesn't have a happy ending... (2/21/09) I don't listen Chris Plante, but he seems to generate a lot of interest in the Mailbag, especially in relationship to a certain 'bagger who loves to defend him via her whimsical and devil-may-care postings. One question: Does Plante ever sign off by playing "Misty" ? (2/21/09) Dave's response: Silvie and Chris (right)..... This was one of the headlines on FOX5's website regarding former mayor Marion Barry's kidney transplant..It would've been fine if they had identified the correct hospital (Howard University Hospital) at which he had the transplant performed ..Did they even edit the story before they posted it?? "Barry's Kidney Transplant Successful - Doctors at Washington Hospital Center say a healthy kidney has been successfully transplanted into D.C. Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry" (2/21/09) ("Dave perhaps you should listen to WJFK weekends before firing off a laundry list of suggestions. To say they provide no live content on the weekend is simply ridiculous. By my count there is Goss' Garage, Terps and Cavaliers Basketball/Football (you should be a fan of this what with all the promise in December of WJFK being a week away from flipping to sports talk), MMA Nation, Joe Radio, Mediocre Poker Radio, BDK movie Show, Oscar's tech show, the Tasting Room. Perhaps a bit more time spent listening to the station instead of coming up with wild scenarios that have no factual basis") Out of all the shows you mentioned none(except mediocre poker radio, which is taped) have a set time. These shows consistently move around or are not on the air some weeks. Also The Tasting Room has not been on WJFK for about 3 months. Maybe you should listen to the station on the weekend you tool. (2/21/09) "It's a shame WJFK won't use the weekend airtime to try out some young new talent. People have to be out there who want to get a shot and would work for cheap. They could hype new people during the week and perhaps generate some interest for people to tune in on weekends." What are we: potted plants? We're trying to break through on weekends on WJFK and we couldn't work cheaper: for free! Love: BDK & Joe (2/21/09) Silvie thinks her obsession with Chris Plante is amusing, but I doubt she'll receive much support from anyone in this mailbag. Most psychotics don't realize they're psychotics. Silvie, you're sick and there's nothing entertaining about your posts. (2/21/09) /\ February 21 Messages /\ \/ February 20 Messages \/ Ownership & potential advertisers/supporters should consider demographics of the Primary signal of AM 950 www.viennava.gov... en.wikipedia.org... I realize that its 2008 but its current format makes demoraphic sense based on the Primary signal of AM 950. John T. Henneman (2/20/09) Regarding "if hannity had known stanford was a crook from the beginning, then your point might be valid." Hannity knew Hammesfahr was a fraud still had him on his show over a dozen times. Hannity knew Paul Guckert was a fraud and still had him on his show until he was outed in several ways. Everyone knows both Oliver North and Dick Morris also have fraud in their backgrounds and they are on Hannity’s show a lot. Is it such a stretch, given Hannity’s track record of hanging out with frauds, to suspect Hannity knew this new guy was not on the up and up? (2/20/09) Dear Dave: You write "...WCTN has a good daytime signal in the Reston area...." You can broaden that to include Ashburn, with one of the better daytime AM signals you can receive here. Nice to hear a local station playing American popular standards again. I fear it won't last long, though. Great site, Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (2/20/09) For those who’ve asked, there have been many radios over the years that would tune TV audio. The better ones even had detent tuners for VHF & UHF to make tuning easier for the blind. (RCA had a really neat one back in the early 1970’s which was also marked in Braille.) What I cannot understand is why the FCC is so hot on closed-captioning TV, but forgets that the blind also have a right to some form of access to TV audio. With DTV, it’s gone. What the hell was the FCC thinking? (Or, were they?) To answer a couple of questions from anon posters: No, present “digital” scanners will not demodulate the ATSC audio. Different protocols. And, with the shape the economy is in, this would be a good time for non-commercial TV’s (and FM’s for that matter) to sell-out and petition the FCC to de-classify their allocation as non-commercial. I know of some non-commercial VHF TV’s that sold out to commercial UHF broadcasters, usually getting the commercial UHF channel in addition to cash. Not to mention New York City selling WNYC-TV, ironically to Bloomberg! I agree that putting on PBS-type fare at 3 AM would be a reasonable condition for such a re-allocation. After all, with TiVO’s, DVR’s, etc., the importance of real-time transmission is dead. What makes this a non-starter is that with DTV as it currently is, over-the-air delivery of broadcast content is an unwise and potentially unnecessary investment. Fiber-optic feeds to cable headends or a DBS uplink site are very attractive prospects compared to the expense of the miniscule coverage of the average DTV station. You also don’t have to deal with the FCC and its suddenly unnecessary rules and regulations. Until the FCC revisits DTV –as it inevitably shall given enough uproar from viewers, broadcasters, and advertisers- broadcast TV properties after the transition will be only slightly more viable an investment than oceanfront property in North Dakota. What kind of uproar, do you ask? As one who recalls the “TV Freeze” of the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s (It took those idiots almost five years to clean up the mess!) when the FCC did stupid shit like putting channel 4’s in D.C., Lancaster, PA (WGAL) and New York, -not to mention Columbus, OH, Cleveland, and Detroit and channel 7’s in D.C., Wilmington, DE, and New York, amongst other idiocy. So, why were we surprised at the dawn of the DTV era when the FCC put a DTV channel 9 in Detroit (Forgetting the analog station south of the border in Windsor, Ontario (The FCC forgot to include its database of Canadian and Mexican stations in making the first round of DTV allocations!)) and put a lot of DTV’s on channel 37 (Which is allocated internationally by treaty (Of which the U.S. is a signatory…) for Radio Astronomy…)? In closing, I will say one thing positive about the FCC: It functions as logically, coherently, compassionately, and truthfully as one can expect of any governmental entity. I sometimes think DMV’s are organizationally modeled after the FCC!–Unsigned Corporate Suit (2/20/09) Well Dave this is what you are going to need for your battery power portable TV news.cnet.com (2/20/09) Dave perhaps you should listen to WJFK weekends before firing off a laundry list of suggestions. To say they provide no live content on the weekend is simply ridiculous. By my count there is Goss' Garage, Terps and Cavaliers Basketball/Football (you should be a fan of this what with all the promise in December of WJFK being a week away from flipping to sports talk), MMA Nation, Joe Radio, Mediocre Poker Radio, BDK movie Show, Oscar's tech show, the Tasting Room. Perhaps a bit more time spent listening to the station instead of coming up with wild scenarios that have no factual basis, if even half of what you "had heard from reliable sources" was true most of the talent on air right now wouldn't be on air. (2/20/09) Dave's response: You forget "The Business Of Government" on Saturday mornings. Woo hoo! I do like Pat Goss. But, according to the latest PPMs, WJFK ranks somewhere between 27th and 30th place on weekends..... Ah yes, one of Mark Levin's loyal fans dubbed me a few years ago as "Silvie from Waldorf - Stalking Chris Plante since 2006".... the stories I could tell about my Plante obsessions could fill up a book.... and don't even get me started on my psychotic & compulsive obsessive stalkings of Jerry Klein! -Silvie- (2/20/09) RE:[The difference between Obama/Ayers and the Hannity/Stanford issue is that Obama did his best to set the record straight over and over again.] I wholeheartedly agree. I firmly believe that the main reason that none of the Ayers - Wright - Birth Certificate - Illegal Aunt - attacks ever got any substantial traction for the McCain campaign was because of right-wing talk radio. On every single one of these issues, if people like Hannity, Limbaugh, Levin and Plante had stuck to the facts, there may have been some traction, regardless of the truthfulness of the accusation. However, in every instance, every single one of them strained the facts beyond believability. The perfect example is when Hannity tried to push a minor association with Ayers into the repeated phrase "Pals around with a terrorist", and when he attempted to characterize a neighborhood political meet and greet into "Launched his career in the living room of an unrepentant domestic terrorist". The moment that Hannity goaded Sarah Palin into using the "Pals Around With Terrorists" line was the moment McCain lost the election. Liberals in America owe right wing talk radio a big thank you for their part in getting Obama elected. - Jeff in Bowie (2/20/09) There is a word to describe someone like Silvie who seems to have an overwhelming and unnatural interest in someone who has achieved celebrity (albeit diminutive) status . That word is "stalker." Her constant posts about Chris Plante probably have more than me wondering what her intentions are. If I were her #1 guy, I'd have someone cover my back. (2/20/09) WJFK had the opportunity to provide a local show latenight or on the weekend but they refused to bring back The Hideout. Instead they hired hacks like Rosenberg and Unzipped. It is not difficult to understand the problems they are having currently. Charrua5000 (2/20/09) Dave's response: 99.1 WHFS's alt rock format floundered for years (!) before getting yanked in 2005 for El Zol. The alt rockish Globe launched two years ago with such promise and fanfare, only to be allowed rot on the vine. And now talker WJFK, with the PPMs storm raging, just kinda sits there - like a beer-guzzling couch potato. I just don't get CBS-DC. There are some nice people working over there, but do they know what they're doing? Hmmm..... WCTN will play music only until some foreign language outfit comes in and brokers the station. Then its back to pay for play. (2/20/09) I am glad WCTN has returned to the airwaves . " The Wayward Wind Station". Give it al least a solid year Till July 4th 2010 to catch on. "The Wayward Wnd " AM 950 serves Potomac,Cabin John in Maryland , McLean and Vienna in Virginia (don't sell your self short by not including Virginia where you have a good signal as opposed to most of DC and PG where there is no signal).. I put it back on my car radio on day one Welcome back,I enjoy listening from Nebraska Ave to Vienna during my commute each day. John T. Henneman (2/20/09) Dave's response: WCTN has a good daytime signal in the Reston area..... Dave got any inside to channel 9 to see if they are going to flip back? Also i wonder if they're going to replace Mike Walters since he's gone. Jeff (2/20/09) Dave's response: Anybody know? There were a lot of portable radios that could tune all the TV channels. I had one that tuned through UHF Channel 83. This became especially cool when the FCC chopped channels 69-83 and gave some of it over to "cellular telephone." The DC area was one of two pilot programs (Chicago, the other) in 1981 or so to get cellphone service. I listened to a lot of interesting calls, including two very brief calls. A guy called I presume his wife about having to stay late at the office, and then made another call to tell a different woman he was on his way. You could use any "older" television set that tuned through Channel 83 to do the same thing. If you lived near a cell phone tower, the signal was plenty strong to hear the calls coming through. (2/20/09) Dave, isn't there way too much clutter on vitually all shows. Between the bottom billboard and logos the NFL is the worst. (2/20/09) Dave's response: The most annoying logo I've recently encountered is an animated one used by Starz HD in the lower right corner. If it was a static image you could stand it - and possibly ignore it. But it keeps swirling, with a orange/yellow glow, which makes it absolutely impossible to pay attention to the movie. And the logo keeps swirling, again and again and again, over and over and over. Then it disappears for a few seconds, and it's baaaaaack. Ahhhh! Why do that on a fucking premium channel you have to pay extra for? Man..... I've always suspected that the Talkers list is a sort of "vanity press" kind of operation, at least on the local level. Marr and Kinsolving used to make the list regularly when absolutely no one listened to that station. I always guessed that they either campaigned or paid for the privilege. I may well be wrong, but it doesn't seem likely that the magazine would have a clue as to what impact these local hosts actually have. Howie (2/20/09) Dave's response: Exactly. If I was making the "DC Talkers" list for the local radio market I'd have to include the following personalities as those with the most impact (in no particular order) - Grandy and Andy, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Kojo Nnamdi, Mike O'Meara, the Junkies, Tom Joyner, Diane Rehm, Donnie Simpson, Steve Harvey, Kane, Elliot Segal, Russ Parr, Steve Czaban, Jack Diamond, and Michael Baisden. Interestingly, none are on top-rated WTOP, which downplays its talent in favor of the "march of news, traffic, and weather." And, more interestingly, of the above, only three are ultra-righties (and I don't mean Grandy). I don't include anyone on WOL or WTNT, or Imus, because their local audience is so small..... Re: WCTN and standards: If Parris is really serious about standards, he'll consider making a deal with Bonneville and put the format on 1050. Maybe even bring back the WGAY calls! I can't see 950 being much of an asset. (2/20/09) Dave's response: To do the format right, you're gonna need a signal that reaches most of the DC area day AND night. And that's something you're not gonna get with 950 and/or 1050. Although, if the latter is transmitting from Bonneville's 1500 complex just off Georgia Avenue in Wheaton, it might be receivable in Montgomery County's Leisure World at night. Good for a nostalgic standards station..... (From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) 950 WCTN is looking for a motivated sales person or two, to sell our new Adult Standards format. In the beginning, you'll be on a commission only basis, but once we see what you can do, we may be able to bring in a small base as well. 950 WCTN is looking to focus on businesses in Montgomery County and beyond - both small and large. Maybe you were just let go by that big company over on the "Pike" and are looking for something to do. Maybe you are looking for that first sales job. It's a tough economy, but our comission structure is fair, and our spot rates are great for customers - looking to market their business. Send us an email at 950wctn@gmail.com with a resume and an introduction, so we can talk. 950 WCTN, WIN Broadcasting is an Equal Opportunity Employer. (2/20/09) Mike in Fairfax makes some good points regarding WTEM. It's why if Bonneville or CBS ever sets up a rival sports talk station, no former D.C. athletes or coaches should be hired as hosts to avoid possible conflict of interest. Washington needs a sports-talk radio station with no sacred cows -- that's one reason WFAN is such a success. -- Vincent in Triangle (2/20/09) Big O & Dukes totally trashed our Boy Dave (ala Don Geronimo's "King of Comedy" metaphors about DCRTV's Dave) during their opening monolouge Friday morning over his WJFK diatribes of late: way funny & true. Don't expect to see this e-mail in the old "Mailbag" but his readers might want to know Big O & Dukes say everything is Okie Dokie at WJFK. (2/20/09) Dave's response: Hey, I'm just reporting what I'm hearing from local ad sources (who talk to JFK's own ad reps!!!) about possible changes at JFK. I've always said I like BO&D and JFK's guy talk format in general. Gee, I thought they were "above" simply "blaming the messenger"..... It's a shame WJFK won't use the weekend airtime to try out some young new talent. People have to be out there who want to get a shot and would work for cheap. They could hype new people during the week and perhaps generate some interest for people to tune in on weekends. I will listen to WJFK occassionaly on the weekends when out running errands, just to hear repeats of BO&D who I normally cannot listen much to while working during the week. WJFK could perhaps survive in its pure talk format, but they gotta spice up the weekends. A way to do that would be to take some chances with some new people, keeping it live and local. (2/20/09) A CBS o and o in Chicago considering getting out of the local news business?????? The world is upside down!!!! Holy shit. www.suntimes.com (2/20/09) "Dave, I made green chiles enchilada suiza last night and was thinking of you as I was 'prepping' it! -Silvie-" Silvie, you have to stop thinking of Dave as a sex object - - it would be like Chris Plante lusting after Jane Fonda. Ed Graham (Bring me little water, Silvie. Every little once in a while.) (2/20/09) Suddenly the General Manager's e-mail address was disabled on their web page. Come on Alan, you don't want to give your viewers the ability to reach you by e-mail? What a sad, sad story what has happened to this place. America's only Public Access CBS station, WUSA-TV. (2/20/09) The difference between Obama/Ayers and the Hannity/Stanford issue is that Obama did his best to set the record straight over and over again. Hannity will make one vague comment about Stanford (if that) and then start ranting again about something else. And McCain dodged the question on the Letterman Show about HIS pal-ing around with convicted terrorist/felon and rat eater GGL! (2/20/09) The reason Plante can't crack the heavy 250 is pretty straightforward: nobody listens to his show. That's a fact. The reason nobody listens, in my opinion, is because the guy isn't very interesting and is too blatant in making crap up. Rush may be a lair, but at least he puts on a good show. Plante is just a boring hack. Dave in Sterling (2/20/09) www.wusa9.com - try this one Dave...it worked for me and goes to the forum that the poster talked about. I'm guessing there was a simple error getting you the url, as opposed to WUSA blocking it. (2/20/09) I long ago removed 106.7 from the presets on my radio. I think those weekend colon cleansing infomercials are actually more entertaining than O'Meara. But you're right Dave, the weekend is God awful. I guess it brings the station much needed revenue but there is absolutely no reason to listen to JFK on weekends. Regarding DeMint's Broadcaster Freedom Act, I'm sure all the good liberals who keep assuring us there will be no return of the Fairness Doctrine will throw their full support behind this...hehehe (2/20/09) Dave's response: When you run a radio station, you actually harm yourself by telling your listeners to "fuck themselves" on weekends and on nights. You've got to be there for your listeners all the time, not just non-holiday weekdays from 6 AM to 7 PM. Especially in this new era of PPMs. It's like having DC101 playing rock from 6 AM to 7 PM and then airing paid-preachers during the overnights and on weekends..... Christian, the last Plante cruise (to Alaska last summer), was full of WMAL listeners and was so successful that it's one of the reasons why the one to the Mexican Riviera is planned in a few weeks. Somewhere on Chris' page via the station's web site are photos of the Alaska cruise. -Silvie- (2/20/09) "Should the Justice Department investigate Sean Hannity for his financial ties and close business relationships with Stanford Coin & Bullion? I mean if Obama went to Ayers' house once, and sat on a community board with him, and that was enough for Sean to label him a friend of a terrorist, what about Sean being in his own words "good friends" with Stanford Coin & Bullion?" in fairness, do you really think hannity knew stanford (a democrat, by the way) was corrupt? i'm sure he was as surprised as everyone else. and obama didn't just go to ayers' house once and sit on one board. he had his "coming out" party at the ayers' residence, and also worked *for* ayers, as well as serving on the same board. the difference is everyone there knew who ayers was and what he was all about, and yet the messiah still associated with him and said he was part of chicago's mainstream (and scrubbed that part off his website after their connection came to light). if hannity had known stanford was a crook from the beginning, then your point might be valid. (2/20/09) You were asking about portable digital TV's. This article I found on MSNBC mentions this issue, and has links to a variety of portable DTV's: www.msnbc.msn.com (2/20/09) Dave's response: I may not be brilliant, but I'm smarter than the average FCC commissioner..... Have you heard about the WUSA early morning news screen format change fiasco? The show is unwatchable now and reminds me of an the SNL "NewsForce" parody of a news program with too much screen clutter. So far, viewer comments are unanimously against and you have to wonder what focus group thought this was a good idea: www.wusa9.com... Pam (2/20/09) Dave's response: When I click on the wusa9.com link I get an error message. Hmmm. Have 9's suits conveniently killed the negative commentary? Dave you missed a local radio host that was named to Talkers Magazine "Heavy Hundred" list. Baltimore's Larry Young on WOLB was # 86 on the list. I also noticed that the likes of Ron Smith, les Kinsolving, and Tom Marr used to be perennial names on this list, but neither of them made it this year. Interesting! (2/20/09) Okay, points taken. I do wake up every morning smelling the Puerto Rican coffee - and I would think that the editors of Talkers Magazine would do the same thing. It was only 6 months ago that WMAL won the NAB's Major Market Station of the Year (or whatever that title was), yet no local hosts from said station are in the Top 100 (Grandy & Andy are barely cracking the Top 250). Plante has been a host there since the summer of 2006 and has been doing mornings since last March. It makes no sense to me that he's not on at least the 250 list. (Off Topic: Dave, I made green chiles enchilada suiza last night and was thinking of you as I was 'prepping' it!) -Silvie- (2/20/09) "Snyder's radio station talent (Mitchell, Pollin, Sheehan and Czaban mostly) never backs off the Skins and calls it like it is more often than not. Riggins did the same thing." Perhaps Snyder finally came to the realization that waving burgundy and gold pom-poms while spinning everything in a pro-Redskins direction may not exactly be a surefire recipe for ratings success on his stations. I'm a bit surprised that Red Zebra's airwaves aren't being overloaded with manufactured Skins fare during the offseason, but that's an encouraging sign. On the other hand, Sports Reporters seems to have an unhealthy addiction to sordid and disagreeable offbeat topics - not sure there's a crying need to hear about bathroom techniques while fly fishing, for example. Not only that, but those tawdry gossip items involving entertainment figures as well as athletes that keep cropping up - I once heard Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo remark that he and Mike Francesa (on their WFAN drive time show in New York) always steered clear of that garbage out of respect for their listeners. Pollin and Czaban would be well advised to try and make their show a bit more family friendly. If you want to hear candid analysis regarding the Georgetown basketball program (which has underachieved thus far this season), the John Thompson show is definitely not the place for it. Thompson has remarked more than once that commenting on his son's team would put him in an awkward position, and even when he's not there his sidekicks Koken and Mitchell seem reluctant to open up that can of worms. Mike, Fairfax (2/20/09) "Re:'those who could listen to TV audio on TV band radios can no longer receive the WBFFs and WNUVs of the world.' Show me a TV band radio that could receive WBFF and WNUV before the switchover. I never saw one that picked up more than channels 2-13." I owned one about 12 years ago; bought it at a Radio Shack in NYC when I lived in New Jersey. It was designed along the lines of the General Electric Superadio, with AM, FM, and audio from both VHF and UHF (up to channel 69). Okay, there weren't many models of radios with UHF audio out there, but at least one did exist. -- Vincent in Triangle (2/20/09) Dave's response: That is a very real concern that the FCC has not addressed - being able to use battery-powered "TV band" radios after the digital changeover. And battery-powered TVs. I have yet to see an inexpensive and widely-available battery-powered portable DTV set. After June, people simply won't be able to access local TV newscasts during extensive storm-related power outages. Not good. Yeah, here in DC we have an excellent all-news radioer with WTOP, but in some places folks rely primarily on local TV for their news and emergency info..... As Silvie predicted, the Plante haters have launched another Mailbag crusade against the host, his station, and against Silvie herself. I don't listen to Plante very much, but I do listen to WMAL all the time. Here's a question that Silvie might be able to answer, and about which I am genuinely curious. Plante has advertised cruises on which he's the honored guest. This is becoming more common. Political magazines host cruises, musicians do as well. But I wonder if Plante has enough of an audience to fill a cruise ship. Does he? I'm not trying to open up another avenue for the WMAL ranters out there, but if this leads to more Plante-bashing, so be it. Maybe someone will be able to provide an answer to my question. Christian (2/20/09) Silvie wants to know why Plante can't crack the heavy 250? I'll tell you why in two words, Silvie: Show Topics. The fact that Plante dedicated an entire broadcast day to discussing the flat out fabrication that Obama can't be president because he forged his birth certificate is proof enough for me that Plante seeks to appeal to the lowest common denominator of right wing conspiracy theorists - the total kooks. Wake up and smell the coffee, Silvie - The only reason that 'MAL cut Core and kept Plante was economics: Plante works cheap, and if pushed, will work even cheaper. Frankly, Chris' career has been on a slow downward spiral since he left CNN a decade ago, and it is nearing its death throes. Time and time again, he has taken to the microphone to prve himself to be little more than two sheets of tin foil away from becoming the Mel Gibson character in "Conspiracy Theory", except the government isn't after Plante - he is just plain old bat-shit paranoid and delusional. (2/20/09) With the management changes at Winchester's Centennial cluster, I wonder what will happen to Jeff Adams, WINC-FM's afternoon drive-time personality, who is (or was) operations manager for the Lewis brothers. (2/20/09) It's official, there is no more HFS2 online stream. WHFS2.com is just a blank black page and now CBS Baltimore is streaming Mix 106.5 HD-2 (Mix 2-Rhythmic CHR). It's a shame they don't offer the oldies of WQSR-HD2 online. Hopefully with any luck if CBS Washington does flip formats of Both 94.7 & 106.7, hopefully El-Zol will get put on 106.7. As another posted said 106.7 is by far a better signal for that format with the Washington only Spanish & Washington only signal. That free two of their best DC signals for a new format. I actually have a hard time believing that a WHFS-FM is not in the works. Why else do you suddenly pull the plug on a perfectly very good sounding well put together online stream (other than their confusion of whether they were 105.7 WJZ-FM HD2 or WHFS-FM HD2) that was better than WCHH? If it was going to be an HD-2 of one of CBS's DC stations then couldn't they have just removed anything that had 105.7 or WJZ-FM in it and put it in their DC station streaming list? Also they had the full website but again all they had to do was remove anything that had 105.7 in it. (2/20/09) Kudos to Sportstalk 980 and Kevin Sheehan for not backing down to Vinny Cerrato yesterday. Cerrato stumbled his way through the easiest and most obvious questions and seemed to be upset they were asked. Snyder's radio station talent (Mitchell, Pollin, Sheehan and Czaban mostly) never backs off the Skins and calls it like it is more often than not. Riggins did the same thing. Keith in Fairfax (2/20/09) This is an excerpt from Peggy Noon's article in the WSJ "Remembering the Dawn of the Age of Abundance", ... "I end with a hunch that is not an unhappy one. Dynamism has been leached from our system for now, but not from the human brain or heart. Just as our political regeneration will happen locally, in counties and states that learn how to control themselves and demonstrate how to govern effectively in a time of limits, so will our economic regeneration. That will begin in someone's garage, somebody's kitchen, as it did in the case of Messrs. Jobs and Wozniak. The comeback will be from the ground up and will start with innovation. No one trusts big anymore. In the future everything will be local. That's where the magic will be. And no amount of pessimism will stop it once it starts"... Normally, I don't agree with...ANYTHING she has to say. However, when she says, "In the future everything will be local", that ties into radio perfectly. The radio business is really a microcosm of today's economic and political climate. Huge corporations, (i.e. Clear Channel), have done their best to destroy what many still love. Each town, each city has its own particular flavor. Radio, (if done right), is art, not McDonalds! So many empty suits in charge, continuing to fail up, following research and marketing methods that clearly don't work, has taken it's toll on the business. But there shall be a comeback, and it WILL be from the ground up. Radio must die, to rise like a phoenix! -He Hate Me (2/20/09) RE: "If WJFK does change formats I know where I'm going, away from terrestrial radio, never to return." Let me 2nd that! WJFK is the last of its kind in the DC area, putting on regular/real people who will talk issues or just talk about anything at all. Junks, BO&D, and MOM are not slick, are not plastic, nor are they self-important, they are the last regular joe's on the radio. (2/20/09) Dave's response: I think WJFK can be fixed. Maybe move Mike to mornings and the Junks to afternoons, to do a sports-ish show. Don't run reruns on workday weekdays - two live Junks is better than four taped Junks. Hype that! Get a decent night show. And invite listeners back to the weekends - maybe with music. Quit "whoring out" Saturdays and Sundays. And, duh, maybe do some promotions. How about a headshot of Mike O'Meara in a wig on the back of buses - "Your MO'M's On 106.7." CBS spends too much time trying to win over advertisers when they haven't done enough work to target listeners, first..... Should the Justice Department investigate Sean Hannity for his financial ties and close business relationships with Stanford Coin & Bullion? I mean if Obama went to Ayers' house once, and sat on a community board with him, and that was enough for Sean to label him a friend of a terrorist, what about Sean being in his own words "good friends" with Stanford Coin & Bullion? Is Sean a friend of a alleged felon and financial fraud conspirator? As in all cases of talk radio people involved in using the radio for financial fraud, Sean should given a leave of absence until a Federal investigation is complete. Hannity's crap can be heard locally on WMAL from 3:00 PM-6:00 PM, weekdays. (2/20/09) Re:"those who could listen to TV audio on TV band radios can no longer receive the WBFFs and WNUVs of the world." Show me a TV band radio that could receive WBFF and WNUV before the switchover. I never saw one that picked up more than channels 2-13. (2/20/09) With President Obama snubbing Baltimore's indicted mayor and Baltimore being the ONLY Top 25 city not represented at a recent meeting with the president in the news, I noticed this interesting media conflict of interest story regarding WBAL-TV 11 which quite surprised me in today's Baltimore Sun........ www.baltimoresun.com... "On WBAL-TV, Deborah Weiner not only noted that Dixon was in the crowd but that the mayor just charged with accepting furs from a city contractor was dressed in, you guessed it, fur. If Dixon didn't appreciate that shout-out, perhaps her defense attorney did. I asked Arnold Weiner if he took pride in his newswoman-daughter's attention to that particular detail. He said he'd been out of town that day and missed the broadcast." HAha! So WBAL TV has the daughter of the Mayor of Baltimore's DEFENSE ATTORNEY covering her criminal case? Wow. Just bad on way too many levels in my opinion and I really like Deborah Weiner too going back to her Fox 45 days, but that situation just shouldn't happen. That's what a good GM is for, to prevent that. She just shouldn't be covering that story, PERIOD! Geez. :-( = (2/20/09) With the digital TV conversion already in place for two of the Baltimore area stations and other stations across the country, those who could listen to TV audio on TV band radios can no longer receive the WBFFs and WNUVs of the world. Could one of the broadcast engineer types tell me if digital TV audio can be received on the new digital public service (police) scanners on the market. (2/20/09) At a local Baltimore electronics store the clerk mentioned something about WMAR, WBAL, WJZ and some of the Washington stations retuning to their VHF dial positions as digital stations after their June transition date. I thought there was some discussion here about this same subject back in May of 2008. Dave, do you remember this and is this correct? (2/20/09) Dave's response: Come the June DTV-only deadline, channels 7, 9, 11, and 13 will be returning their DTV signals from UHF to their current VHF analog dial positions. Channels 2, 4, and 5 will stay in the UHF band, although 2 will be moving to a new UHF spot..... Dave, Michael Graham has posted his mug shot on his website, and is planning to go for a jury trial. I'm inclined to agree with him on a lot of topics, so perhaps you wouldn't consider this fair and balanced, but perhaps in the spirit of bipartisanship, you'd like to post a link to his site? --- ThePenIsMightier (2/20/09) Dave's response: We already reported the above, and ran the mugshot. If he'd like to drive traffic to his site, perhaps he could buy an ad on DCRTV. Ha ha ha..... I have been Hannatized, and I only get my news from Sean Hannity. Does anyone here know the phone number for that Stanford Coin & Bullion that Sean buys all his gold from? Last week, Sean said he was getting ready to purchase gold from them again, they were "good people," they were "good as gold," and Sean and Stanford Coin & Bullion were "good friends." That endorsement was good enough for me, so I cashed in my 401 K to buy gold from Stanford Coin & Bullion because of Sean Hannity's glowing endorsement. I was even going to mention "Sean" to get a free guidebook from the "great guys at Stanford Gold & Bullion." But now, I can't find their phone number and Sean hasn't mentioned them in the last couple of days. The guys that run Stanford Coin & Bullion are Great Americans, just like Sean. (2/20/09) Silvie, Oh Silvie. I wonder if I even need to write this because it has been said so many times before but here we go again. Chris Plante is a horrible talk show host. Cable news channels are also full of horrible people such as Hannity, O'Reilly, Olbermann, D.L. Hughley, etc. The fact that he appears sometimes on a cable news channel just puts him in company with these other ridiculous people. WMAL is a station that is not even a shell of its former self. It used to be a great station with great talent that was a great asset to the DC area. Now, it's a place where a loser like Plante can work and work cheap too. (2/20/09) /\ February 20 Messages /\ \/ February 19 Messages \/ Interesting that Chris Plante is not anywhere near the Top 100 Heavy Hitters (nor the Top 250), which is total bullsh*t! Before I get the wrath of the Plante haters on this mailbag, suffice to say that Chris has been a guest on nearly every cable newschannel news show in recent months and for a fact is listened-to throughout the nation by users of the WMAL web site and Radiotime.com. Well, at least Steve Malzberg made it to #74 and Grandy & Andy made it on another list. Just my two cents' worth... no need to get all of your panties in a bunch! -Silvie- (2/19/09) RE: "Just out of curiosity, if WJFK does change formats, where might Loveline go?" If WJFK does change formats I know where I'm going, away from terrestrial radio, never to return. (2/19/09) "I asked my son what he noticed as differences and he even noticed it..."fatness" has overwhelmed us...me some too :)" one reason for this is the number of households where both parents work nowadays, whether it's to make ends meet or to feel "empowered". many nights, there isn't enough time and/or the parents are too tired to make a healthy meal, so fast food and pre-made foods high in fat and sodium are the easy way to go. other things that existed back then (but not today) are self-control, common sense and accountability. we eat the foods that are bad for us because they taste good, are more affordable, and are ready to eat sooner, not because some big brother type said "eat this or go hungry". you have to have an IQ of 50 to not know eating at mcdonald's every day is bad for you (morgan spurlock and people suing mcdonald's not withstanding) or that smoking is bad for you, or rarely exercising isn't healthy. we've become a nation of whiny, "not my fault" people who need common sense spoon fed to them. (2/19/09) If 94.7 and 106.7 will change formats, here is an idea (this has been said before, i know), but they need to move El Zol away from 99.1, thats just a huge waste of a good signal, and resurrect our heritage WHFS there. then El Zol moves to 106.7, which is a MUCH better signal for it! Now, i am a big fan of the Mike O' Meara Show, and i dont want to see that just disappear, so move it to 94.7, where that worn out classic rock WTGB is, where washington's new sportstalk 94.7 would debut, keeping MOM in afternoons, and i dont care what they do with The Junkies, which just SUCKS and isnt funny. i don't mind BO&D though. Another good idea is take 94.7, and make THAT WHFS's new home, and flip 106.7 to sports, keeping the MOM show, still in afternoons. There are some great ideas for CBS.... (2/19/09) So let's see if we got this straight ... you suggest that MPR buy TWO commercial FMs in Washington, DC, and propose making those stations into Non-Comms? Tell you what ... the next time you have a hankering to share your ridiculous pipe dreams with the rest of the DCRTV community, type it up, read it, and then hit DELETE before you send it. In the meantime, HERE'S YOUR SIGN! (2/19/09) RE: heavy hitters. A little off topic but something that struck me a few months back. PBS was running a documentary on Allistair Cooke...and his time spent in America from World War II on, reporting on the US for newspapers back in the UK. He shot a bunch of home movies through the 50's and 60's (at least guessing from their content)...all slices of Americana stuff - him on the road with his family traveling along Route 66, etc. Meat and potatoes America from that time period (although some hollywood stuff in it too). My 12 year old son and I watched with interest - and while it was all entertaining, the one thing that really stuck out to me was that EVERYONE was skinny - I mean, skin and bones. Not an obese person or even someone overweight in any of them...Again most of it was unproduced, "home" movie stuff with no sound, just bystanders as his family visited various touristy places...I asked my son what he noticed as differences and he even noticed it..."fatness" has overwhelmed us...me some too :) (2/19/09) I heard Nestor telling people to send in resumes if they want an on air gig from 2-6 (on WNST). He said he won't be on the air forever. He also said he won't accept a resume if you don't "friend" him first on Facebook. (2/19/09) Just out of curiosity, if WJFK does change formats, where might Loveline go? (2/19/09) About an hour ago I sent a post to the Mailbag about a Post item that said - in error - that Conan O'Brien will become the 4th host of The Tonight Show. (He'll be the 5th host). The Post has now posted a correction. (2/19/09) It's official: Washington Post TV reporter, Lisa de Moraes, has no idea what she's talking about! In her column today about Conan O'Brien's upcoming move to The Tonight Show, she writes: "On June 1, Conan becomes "The Tonight Show's" fourth host, replacing Jay Leno ..." Anyone who knows anything about late night TV on NBC, knows that The Tonight Show has been hosted by Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. Conan will, of course, be the fifth host of the show. Actually, the show that preceded The Tonight Show, was a network effort in that late night slot called Broadway Open House, hosted by Jerry Lester and Morey Amsterdam. In between Steve Allen and Jack Paar's tenure, NBC tried something in that timeslot called Tonight! America After Dark, which was hosted first by Jack Lescoulie and then by disc jockey Al "Jazzbo" Collins, with interviews conducted by columnist Hy Gardner, but that incarnation didn't last long. Also, when Paar quit, Carson was still under contract with his afternoon game show Who Do You Trust? at ABC, and wasn't able to begin his Tonight Show duties until October 1962. In the months-long gap between Paar and Carson, there were dozens of hosts, who kept the seat warm. www.washingtonpost.com (2/19/09) Rush tops the heavy hundred? C'mon, Dave...Give him credit. The pic you ran has to be from well before Rush-bo quit the "Cracka-Smack" cold-turkey. Heavy hundred? It looks more like he's pushing the north side of the heavy three fifty by now! It appears poor Rush could even be nearing the point where he might have serious challenges grasping his stimulus package. (2/19/09) Another burning-brakes opening for the Mike O'Meara Show -- the show-stopping (and I don't mean that in a good way) antics of Tom Gavin, in the first FIVE MINUTES. iPod time. Sincerely, TMU (2/19/09) Dave's response: Imagine Mike O'Meara being wheeled into his next surgery and his final glance before the anesthesia kicks in is of a smirking "Dr. Tom Gavin" looking down, branding a scalpel and wearing surgical scrubs. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh..... "Interesting that The Junkies make the Heavy Hitters...". Dave's right zero logic to the list and ratings. Last year the Junkies called the guy who compiles the list (Michael Harrison) on air and bitched about not being included. Harrison caved and said they should have been included. Ordinarily, you'd say: "Good bit Junks", but, er, they did this just a few weeks after Opie and Anthony called Harrison and did the same bit on air!! On another topic, it is curious that Mike O'Meara was excluded from a list with the word "Heavy" in the title - but that's gratuitous, shooting fish in a barrel...is that a ticking sound you hear Mike, Buzz, Rob, Beth Ann? (2/19/09) Joe Madison 12 on Talkers Heavy Hitters. I guess ratings don't count. WOL is tied for 37th in DC with a 0.1 share. (2/19/09) Dave's response: He does occasionally do "Hardball"..... One more thing about the FCC site... the stations that show up in orange (weak signal) and in some cases even red (no signal), would be receivable to some extent via analog according to my tests on the FCC site and the stations I've previously received from my home. However, according to FCC coverage maps, I should be able to get WGAL 8 from PA like I can now with an outside antenna (not well but watchable), but I know thats going to be near impossible on DTV. So, the stations list is more accurate than the actual FCC coverage maps. Those are a complete joke because anywhere near that coverage line, forget it with DTV unless you've got a very tall antenna highly trained on that station's signal. That's why the FCC's signal plot maps are very overly optimistic if not just BS. I think the FCC should recalculate all of their signal plots to be more realistic as no one with an indoor antenna is going to get half of these stations based on the current plot predictions. The list of stations receivable (ie: Green) is far more accurate but still not that great. The only reason a lot of people aren't going to be disappointed is because most are on cable or satellite and won't notice any of this. (2/19/09) I typed in Laurel, MD just for the hell of it on the FCC site on 2 different occasions and got 2 DIFFERING RESULTS! Must be a rather interesting calculation model the FCC has. See for yourself HAha!... (2/19/09) Hopefully they will change the format at WJFK. Looks like CBS radio's profitability in the recent quarter has decreased. From the NYT yesterday : "Two of the other major business units at CBS, radio and outdoor advertising, also suffered sharp declines. Revenue from radio declined 18 percent, to $366.7 million, and the outdoor unit reported a 15 percent decline in revenue, to $526 million. As for profitability in radio and outdoor, the picture was even bleaker. Though both are still profitable, radio had a 56 percent decline in operating income, and outdoor had a 75 percent decline." Here is the link: www.nytimes.com (2/19/09) I'm writing to inquire whether or not you might be able to help me find a radio broadcast on WWDC in 1960. The program was called the Steve Allison Show. Specifically, 1/25/60. i'm interested in his interview with a black woman name Mary Cardwell Dawson. Thanks, Sam Perryman (2/19/09) Any Idea where Tom Leykis will be headed now that his station is flipping? Will he be the only remaining shows on KLSX? Thats terrible news for WJFK as and KLSX both have long running shows. (2/19/09) 1) Yup, I meant CBS. Would have edited the post if that was an option, didn't think it warranted another email. Thanks for the insult! 2) MPR = Minnesota Public Radio, who were looking to get into the DC market not long ago via GTS. I admitted it isn't especially realistic, these days for sure, but it seems a demand for live/local is there - witness AMU PPMs - and this is a niche that non-comms are often best able to fill. (2/19/09) adam carolla fired www.gather.com (2/19/09) Dave's response: If I was Mike O'Meara I'd be nervous..... Interesting that The Junkies make the Heavy Hitters list but not Mike O'Meara. I listen and like both shows, but shouldn't the MOM show get more credit becuase it is heard nationally, while the Junkies failed in other markets. The Junkies are a show only the DC area could like, MOM is well-liked in other states, including CA, which seems to like MOM almost as much as the DC area. (2/19/09) Dave's response: Yeah, take the Talkers list with a grain of salt. Not a lot of logic behind many of its rankings..... I think the O and Dukes intro music is from "The Departed" not "Last of the Mohicans" (2/19/09) After plugging in my address at the FCC DTV link and comparing actual reception I find the FCC results to be spot on. Using an amplified indoor VHF/UHF combo antenna I currently get 30 and 66 at 90%, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 20 at 80-85%, 14, 26, 32, and 50 at 70%, and 2 and 13 at 50%. All other Baltimore broadcasts come in around 25-35%, too low for the tuner to lock in. Nothing from the north (25, 31, 60) and nothing from the west (WVPY-42). Considering that I live in a first floor apt. with no outdoor antenna and no tall buildings nearby I am very satisfied with the results. Still would like to get MPT digital though - comes in loud and clear on analog for now. Screw cable! Mike in Manassas (2/19/09) Ray Frager at baltimoresun.com: Talkers magazine, a radio trade publication, has compiled its top 250 talk show hosts. The highest-ranked sports yakker, at No. 29, is Jim Rome, heard locally on 1370 AM. However, in keeping with his style, I should have written that as: "The highest-ranked sports yakker (interminable pause) is Jim Rome. (another long pause) Classic." Also of note: Terps fan favorite Boomer Esiason came in at No. 40 with his partner for their show on New York's WFAN. ESPN's Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg were at 45. The Junkies of Washington's WJFK-FM rated No. 84. Former Oriole Jim Traber, host of a show in Oklahoma City, made the sports talkers listed between 101 and 250. Aubrey Huff probably would be glad to hear Bubba the Love Sponge ranked No. 52. (2/19/09) (snip) How about CC give up on WTGB and WJFK, sell them to MPR (snip) That would be the radio equivalent of MPR buying the Brooklyn Bridge as both WTGB and WJFK are owned by CBS, not Clear channel. IDIOT! (2/19/09) Let me see if I understand this. You want the State of Maryland, which is furloughing employees at the broadcast facilities it already has, to buy up two commercial frequencies, easily costing $60M and operate them with underwriting? Wow, what a wonderful fantasy land you live in. That is just the sort of tax and spend without accountability thinking that has led to the mess our economy is in now. Not every person can afford house, thank you Bill Clinton and not every format can afford a radio station. Why would you have the state take on an increasing burden when both tax and underwriting revenue is down? Even in a boom economy, there is no justification for government to take on such a burden. A better approach would be for Maryland to sell its stations to a commercial broadcaster who gets to finance at .5 point above prime and write off the operating cost in exchange for keeping some 'public' content. That would be an economic stimulus that would help both private and public enterprise while fulfilling your desires. (2/19/09) Nova M radio network is toast: newsbusters.org (2/19/09) The KHZ webstream is up and running... just checked - amber.streamguys.com... I'm reasonably sure that WYRE/WKHZ are *not* going to be running the standards format from WCTN. However, I did hear Paul Bicknell on WCTN last night...sounding good as always! (2/19/09) How about CC give up on WTGB and WJFK, sell them to MPR, which turns one into live and local talk and the other into a DC-style version of The Current? Judging by the success of live and local in the PPMs these should be able to get some generous underwriting and loyal listeners...dream on, right? (2/19/09) Not only are some radio station web sites some of the worst on the internet, but why are the stations so stupid as to abandon existing addresses and allow them to go to cybersquatters or, like WTNT, put up a dead page that doesn't even forward to their current site? Don't they realize the value of a web address? What is wrong with "www.wtntam570.com" that they couldn't use it now? Their dead site comes up #1 in a Google search; their current site is #6. Just as bad as WTNT is "www.1230amwith.com": a totally out of date page, and again no forwarding to the current site. Is anybody out there in radioland actually thinking about these things? Know of any openings for web site design and maintenance for radio stations? I couldn't do a WMAL.com all by myself, but look at www.Kimba.US and tell me I couldn't do better than half the radio web sites out there. (2/19/09) Dave's response: That's from Craig Andersen, the new "curator" of DCRTV Plus, who is helping us update the nostalgic site. By the way, sign up or renew today. We've got some big stuff planned for Plus this year. I'll still give you the $39 for 2 years discount if you do the PayPal thingo or mail a check before the end of February..... "AMP RADIO will debut with the broadcast of 10,000 songs in a row with limited commercial interruption." Will that be 400 burned-out songs repeated 25 times? (2/19/09) Hi Dave, KHZ took down their webstream, so a flip may soon be coming. I've listened to it overnight, and got suspicious last week when Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" played about 6 times in the 1AM hour, with no jingles. Too bad, they had a nice mix of music. Keep up the great work, Travis (2/19/09) From the FCC coverage map using WDCA Channel 20 as an example: "TV Station WDCA • Analog Channel 20, DTV Channel 35 • Washington, DC... Expected Change In Coverage: Post-Transition Appendix B Facility... Appendix B (solid): 500 kW ERP at 227 m HAAT... vs. Analog (dashed): 3980 kW ERP at 235 m HAAT"... According to the map, coverage is nearly identical. How can the coverage area be almost the same when the digital power is 1/8 (-9dB?) the analog and 8VSB modulation spreads its power out over a wider spectrum than NTSC? Not to mention that the DTV frequency is about 90Mhz higher and the transmitting antenna is about 25 feet lower than the analog. Not one aspect of the post-transition data lends itself to predicting at least equal, much less better, coverage. The other channels seem to have similar properties. Is DTV ERP different from analog ERP? (2/19/09) With Dan Snyder having 3 sports talkers in DC non of which get any ratings even with having the Redskins. How much can a sports format change WJFK exactly? Snyder will not air the games on a competing sports talker and do you really think Bonneville will let go of the Nationals? Doubt it. Sports has been the favorite for CBS but all it's done for 105.7 has taken it further down now to the level of the former WJFK-AM. I honestly doubt that the trend for 105.7 will ever change with the sports format. (2/19/09) Streaming revenues - From the "boring but important" file: www.bloomberg.com (2/19/09) Re: "The height of optimism? Or, absolute total bullshit?" Well, the FCC's calculations are based on post-transition conditions, which won't exist for 4 months. As it is, I get every station listed in green and yellow, except WPXW, which will change in June. I'm a bit worried about getting WUSA, which will move back to Channel 9, because of a local FM station's harmonics that create interference on the analog 9 now. I wonder how the digital signal will work through that. ~~CA in BC (2/19/09) The Big O and Dukes bagpipe intro is from the soundtrack to "Last of the Mohicans". Nice CD. (2/19/09) We're still getting analog over the air broadcasts of 45 and 54 here in Columbia, MD as of tonight. Maybe somebody forgot to throw a switch? I get an overly optimistic estimate of viewable DTV station if I just enter my ZIP code into www.fcc.gov. OTOH, when I enter my street address, I find that all the [much fewer] "green" stations and about half of the "yellow" stations have viewable signals. (2/19/09) Dave's response: That FCC DTV "local viewable" website is a joke. I can get reliable reception of about half of the stations listed in green for my location..... Two things 1. Imus does provide automation relay closures. Netcue V20 is for the 10 second legal ID. V21 is for the local breaks and V22 is for the 10 second bumper rejoin. I know of 3 stations that are automating Imus. 2. Concerning the FCC DTV coverage map, I entered my address in PA , It shows I should only expect to get 7 channels. I do in fact get all 7 listed PLUS about a dozen more from DC and Baltimore. Maybe Unsigned Corp needs someone who knows a bit more about DTV reception to install a proper antenna. Can't wait for the analog interference to go away (like it was planned) so I can maybe enjoy more digital channels! (2/19/09) www.950wctn.com - WCTN has reverted to Adult Standards - the Korean programming has ended. Please promote on your fine site. Thank you. (2/19/09) /\ February 19 Messages /\ \/ February 28 Messages \/ RE: [ " The height of optimism? Or, absolute total bullshit? Compare DTV reception at your address with what the FCC says " ].......... I'll vote BS and borderline fraud. I've not read any technical data or opinions anywhere that suggest that DTV reception over the air will have better coverage than analog in general. Now, of course, there are tons of exceptions and many stations that are maximizing DTV facilities or moving transmitters to different locations that will have better coverage than previously on analog, but the fact of the matter is the FCC's coverage maps clearly are fudged and completely false advertising due to one simple fact....... DTV is hit or miss completely and the FCC should have taken this into account. No one on the fringes is going to get any signal at all via DTV while they would get possibly a watchable signal in analog. The FCC really needs to come clean on this before June 12 but I doubt they will. (2/18/09) Dave, All Access is reporting that the KLSX swap is now official: As ALL ACCESS was the first to report, CBS RADIO's KLSX/LOS ANGELES is dropping its Talk format on FRIDAY, and now comes official word that the station will flip to Top 40 as "97.1 AMP RADIO" at 5p PT FRIDAY afternoon. AMP RADIO will debut with the broadcast of 10,000 songs in a row with limited commercial interruption. (2/18/09) Dave's response: That leaves WJFK as CBS's last non-sports-oriented guy talker. CBS's suits obviously want out of the format..... Why did WQMR drop Imus for Mancow? Money! I know that before Imus was dropped by WFAN and Westwood One they were paying $1,000 a month for Imus, and they had to have a board operator, because Imus didn't have closures to automate the program. I suspect they got a better price from ABC, but Mancow is free!!!! I worked at one of the stations that ran him on the shore, and have a friend at another station that ran him and his syndicator offer a barter for a year or more. Also I heard from a very good source that one Ocean City station (licensed to a nearby community, but with beuautiful studios overlooking the water) is selling spots for a dollar each. Spots run on a 24 hour basis, so they may be at 1am or 3pm. (2/18/09) "Citizen Journalist" - Definition: untrained, irresponsible amateur. Glad to clear that up for you all. (2/18/09) The height of optimism? Or, absolute total bullshit? Compare DTV reception at your address with what the FCC says your results should be at www.fcc.gov -Unsigned Corporate Suit (2/18/09) Dave, I wanted to take moment to send a note of thanks and acknowledgment. Your links have driven a huge amount of traffic to The Baltimore Spectator. (too bad I make ZERO revenue from it)... New media/citizen journalism is taking the Baltimore Washington media market by storm. Thanks in a big way to DCRTV and now The Baltimore Spectator! Our combined efforts are totally shaking up the local media scene up here in Baltimore. I've been overwhelmed with comments and kudos from many local reporters who wish to remain anonymous. At a press conference with Mayor Sheila Dixon and Police Commissioner Bealefeld, I even had a well known local TV reporter come up to me and literally pat me on the back, not saying a word, then walked away. Clearly he knew who I was and had seen my work. Even local city officials, wishing to remain anonymous have approached me and commented on my work. Although they won't publicly acknowledge us, I know for a fact from first hand account... THEY'RE ALL WATCHING US. We're even affecting stories ran on TV, radio and in print. It's a new day in media.. Congratulation friend, A.F. James MacArthur, Managing Editor, The Baltimore Spectator (2/18/09) Dave's response: Cool..... To TMU: I hear you about Mike O'Meara. I still get plenty of yucks from the show, mainly I guess because I've just come to know/like the cast over the years. After a rocky start to the new show, I think the MOM show has gotten better. Also I've come to sort of accept it for what it is now, and not comparing it to Don and Mike in their best years. I would totally miss it if it were gone, just cause I'm used to hearing their voices. Love me some Katie too! (2/18/09) Obama's Elf - So THAT'S what Eric Carmen was singing about! www.youtube.com (2/18/09) www.youtube.com some old school ear candy! (2/18/09) The Mike O'Meara Show has done it to me again -- compelled me to turn the radio off after less than 15 minutes. Dear Lord in heaven, work on the openings -- can we get a HINT of entertainment in the first few minutes? You know, some small flicker of hope that it's not just going to be a barren wasteland of Mike complaining about the dust in the studio and his knee? At this point, my allegiance to the MOMS is just a residual twitch left over from umpteen years of listening to D&M; every so often, there's a tiny spark of the show that used to be, and (apparently) will be no more, but the show ROUTINELY starts horribly, and it's hard to stick with it when that happens. Oh, well, off to the iPod. Time for "The Bugle"! Sincerely, TMU. (2/18/09) Apparently Ch 45 and Ch 54 didn't really sign off. At this moment, they are both airing the same Infomercial-type program describing the conversion to DTV, showing conversion boxes, instructions, coupons, etc. It has both English and Spanish sub-titles too. Regular programming is only available via a converter box for over-the-air reception. (2/18/09) And then you come out with "Already fixed. Or is it fixxed?" Oh my. One thing leads to another….. KOF (2/18/09) RE: [Mankind can get along just fine without the annoying "boom-tss-boom-tss" from headphones heard clear across the car on the Metro, and might live a year or two longer if it got off its collective ass and turned off the TV for an hour. These are nice toys to have, but can't-live-without technologies? Hardly.] Darn tootin, Elmer...and I thought I told you pesky kids to keep your dagburn ball off my lawn too!!! (2/18/09) In the Kevin Klose item, correct "emetius" to read "emeritus." "Emetic" is an agent used to induce vomiting which is what a lot of folks felt like doing when he was Director of the International Broadcast Bureau in the 1990s. (2/18/09) Dave's response: Already fixed. Or is it fixxed? holocaust museum better place to work than the Washington Post? So says one reporter: www.washingtonian.com (2/18/09) Psst! Hey meester! You wanna start a pirate TV station? www.rasmus.com (2/18/09) Dave - Do you or does anyone else know about Jack Marks' (Baltimore ad agency owner) death about a week and a half ago? I just heard that he took his own life and have been unable to find anything except an obit. at the Baltimore Sun. Very sad and I wonder if this is the result of the current economy. My thoughts and prayers are with his family... By the way, have you thought about adding a search feature to the site? (2/18/09) Dave's response: Anybody know more? By the way, we do have a Search DCRTV feature..... There's a partial "old" WBFF-TV 45 sign-off at the conclusion of this vintage clip: www.youtube.com (2/18/09) (from an earlier post) I need to have my IPod, my computer, my cell phone and my TIVO (end). When did an IPod or a TIVO become "needs"? These are entertainment devices, not oxygen bottles. Mankind can get along just fine without the annoying "boom-tss-boom-tss" from headphones heard clear across the car on the Metro, and might live a year or two longer if it got off its collective ass and turned off the TV for an hour. These are nice toys to have, but can't-live-without technologies? Hardly. They're right up there with that Satrad receiver. (2/18/09) this is a pretty good read...... mediabait.com - Satellite radio is nice to have but not required to have for far too many current subscribers. The fact that many customers feel it is a want and not a need is going to create huge problems down the road for Mel Karmazin. I need to have my IPod, my computer, my cell phone and my TIVO. I certainly can live without a $12.95 per month Sirius invoice. The technological differential between satellite radio and other “can’t live without” technologies is just too great a divide. I also believe satellite radio is an already outdated technology. Commercial free streaming of music via mobile technologies will one day make satellite services obsolete. Will you pay for in-car satellite service when you can plug your cell phone into your car and receive digital quality uninterrupted customized music for free? The early adopters already have their home computers wired into their home stereos. These same people will have their cell phones plugged into their cars and wired for the world wide web of music. And these early adopters are the core subscribers to Sirius/XM services. They will soon be gone. Finally “free” is an outstanding business model. Napster created one of the largest technological leaps in history when they offered free music file sharing with a click of the button. Free radio still commands a lions share of music listening. Sirius and XM have a combined subscriber base of 20 million listeners. That reach barely exceeds the radio listenership in New York City alone. Total radio listenership in the US is around 230 million. Free music is a strong need. Paying for music is a luxury. (2/18/09) "in the all-important male age 25-54 demo....." Most important demo is persons (both men and women) 25-54 Second most important is women 25-54, because women make most purchasing decisions. Women even buy most male underwear. Men 25-54 is a good niche but it's not all-important. (2/18/09) Dave's response: And men buy womens' underwear, right? I can just imagine Mel Karmazin in a pair of pink panties..... Roumor has it that KLSX could end up as a CHR. Just something to keep an eye out for. Rumors are swirling now how true or how far fetched I don't know but people are saying the CBS will be flipping a station in every market to CHR. It may be far fetched considering that's a lot of stations for it to be every market or top ten market and it sounds like a false rumor but you never know. DC may be exlcuded since there is WPGC "Rythmic CHR", CC's 99.5, and Mix 107.3 but, if true it makes one wonder if one of CBS's 3 poorly performing DC stations could end up being switched to CHR? Also maybe Baltimore's 106.5 could finally make the full transistion. Lord knows the only reason it's not on my presets is because it is Female leaning Hot-AC not full blown CHR. (2/18/09) This is a great feature half hour special tonight as the CSN 360 profiles with Ted an then comes the game with Montreal at 7:30pm. Then the Caps take on the Pens on NBC in the NHL GAME OF THE WEEK - SUNDAY ON NBC... Cheers, Jim - www.dcexaminer.com (2/18/09) Dave, Some news: Talk Radio 101.1 WQMR in Ocean City has dropped Imus in the Morning for Mancow. It happened on Monday. Doesn't make a lot of sense, Imus was a much better fit. (2/18/09) A genuine question for those in the know: is there any "FED effect" for AAA? In other words, WFED gets tiny ratings but is profitable because it speaks to a coveted audience. How much is this is play for progressive commercial AAA stations, like WRNR? It would seem to me that this audience would be in demand by advertisers.... (2/18/09) What going on with Randy Rhodes ? She has not been on radio show for almost two weeks. (2/18/09) Does anyone know the name of the Bagpipe intro to the Big O and Dukes show? (2/18/09) Dave, re: "Oh, I got your point. Right. In the Post this morning - "Presbyterian Robs Bank," "Baptist Cheats On Taxes," "WMAL Hires Athiest." Oh, nevermind....." The beheading of ths poor woman by her husband has - accordingly Islamic experts, as reported by about every major news service - all the hallmarks of a muslim honor killing. This type of murder (male relative killing wife or daughter through beheading, burning or stoning) is uniquely muslim (and more unique to a few specific sects of Islam, apparently) as far as I've read and understand. "Presbyterian Robs Bank" is not even close to a reasonable analogy, as bank robbing is not uniquely Presbyterian. However if we're talking about burning a cross on a lawn, I bet you'd have no issue making the leap that the KKK or white supremcists were involved because that is an act which is basically unique to those groups/people. Sometimes you have to physically stop the knee from jerking in order to understand what is happening around you and understand the causes and implications. Being so quick to intimate racism (religiousism?) or stereotyping without (apparently) understanding what actually occurred says a lot more about your sensitivities than it does the original writer's. I don't agree with indicting a whole religion because of the acts of a small percentage, but your response was way off the mark. Bob in Forest Hill (2/18/09) Dave's response: History tells us that many religions, over the centuries, have beheaded people, not just Islam. But that's another big topic that I won't get into here. That's why I go to the Church Of Stephen Hawking..... I hear that WBFF 45 shut down its regular analog service by running an old sign-off. Did anyone happen to capture that? ~~CA in BC (2/18/09) Re: "Why is Stephanie Miller no longer on Air America?" Stephanie Miller is not a part of air America, as she's explained on her own show dozens of times. She's syndicated by Dial Global (formerly Jones Radio). If by "Air America", you mean DC-area station WWRC/1260 ("Obama 1260"), that station changed to a business news format recently...an event reported extensively right here on DCRTV.com. Did someone give you Dave's Mailbag address out of nowhere, and were you just not paying attention otherwise? (2/18/09) Purchased a t.v. converter box the other day, did the auto channel scan (which surprisingly picked up waaay more channels than I had before) but today, FOX5 has no signal..And unforunately since there's no signal, doing another auto scan won't help..Any ideas?? (2/18/09) Dave's response: Reoriented your antenna. Get a rooftop antenna. Move your TV and antenna to another part of the room. Move to a new house/apartment. Get cable or satellite..... Supposedly, at least 5 stations in Baltimore changed over to digital at midnight. I haven't seen any change to Comcast's lineup. What am I missing? (2/18/09) Dave's response: Only two Baltimore stations were due to go digital-only at midnight - WBFF/45 and WNUV/54. You will not see anything different via Comcast since the cable firm either gets a landline fiber feed from the local TVers or switched to the over-the-air digital feeds weeks or months ago. You'll still get 45 and 54 on the analog basic cable service in down-converted standard-def and via cable's digital basic tier in high-def..... Shortly after President Barack Obama signed the Stimulus Bill, the President spoke with Syndication One News-Talk Network's Talk Show host Attorney Warren Ballentine. The President spoke with Attorney Ballentine about the Stimulus Bills' benefits to the African-American Community and All Americans. The full interview with President Barack Obama airs today on the Warren Ballentine Show at noon. Atty. Ballentine states: "While we have had the President on during the campaign for President, we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to get an interview with the President at such a critical time in history. President Obama opened up and gave our audience as clear a picture as to exactly what the Stimulus Bill will do for them immediately and in the near future." (2/18/09) Actually Dave, the media does go to great pains to let us know whenever a felony is committed by a Catholic, or a Republican. You missed the point, so never mind. The thoughts now on my mind are,,,1. Anybody laying bets how many months until Mel makes an adverse run at taking control of Liberty, as he did with Westinghouse and Viacom? How the hell can Malone be this stupid. Mel continues to dupe, its amazing. 2. WHUR makes money for Howard. Quite a bit of money in fact because of its low overhead. They are quite proud of both. It is not likely to be sold. 3. Perhaps what Obama should do is have a conflict of interest / ethics review for all these journalists that are now working for the people they formerly were supposed to check on. The folks who used to criticize government now want a safety net there as they present an increase in government employees and increase in the tax burden. Wow. Those prima donnas couldn't possibly be subject to the realities of the middle class, the working class, the class that listens to trucking shows. Oh the humanity! (2/18/09) Dave's response: Oh, I got your point. Right. In the Post this morning - "Presbyterian Robs Bank," "Baptist Cheats On Taxes," "WMAL Hires Athiest." Oh, nevermind..... ("First of all it's overnight and unrated, so who gives a shit") BUZZ. This is the PPM world, and overnights *are* rated, so - *you* don't give a shit. (2/18/09) WHUR doesn't do well in the ratings???? Before silly statements are made; one should know the FACTS....hence the front page update on DCRTV....I guess WHUR's 3rd place versus WJFK's 20th place is equal???? (2/18/09) Ummm, judging by the number of calls from over the road haulers (not just short hauls out of Wilmington) to the show, truckers LIKE Coast to Coast AM. And isn't the term "whitie" just a tad racist, or is it one of those words that one can safely use if one belongs to that group? There's another word like that, I just can't remember it, it's on the tip of my toe... ah well, just let it go.... --- recently friended on Facebook by Robb Spewack, ThePenIsMightier (2/18/09) Re: Format Changes on 947 HD2 - 947 has been running this bipolar, cluster#$*@ music format for months on their HD2 subchannel. Weekends are filled with 80s only music, while the weekdays are filled with a mix of hard rock, AAA, alternative and classic rock. Nothing new there. Just very, very frustrating. I can't imagine any listerners staying on the station for long with so many different formats. Interesting enough, the post from dclocalmusicscene.com that started these speculation rumors about whfs2 has been taken down. Anyone know the Men 25-54 ratings for WTGB? That maybe the best indicator on whether changes are afloat. (2/18/09) Dave's response: Silence from my Globe source on men 25-54. I guess that means "not good"..... RE:WHFS/WJFK...why not put them on 96.3 or 95.5? Neither WPGC or WHUR does all that well in the ratings ( one reason why neither station is mentioned very often on this site ). A 96.3 WJFK would be a super success, far better than anything WHUR ever did. Besides isn't Howard University cutting back? They could sell HUR to any interested party. (2/18/09) Dave's response: With the slumping economy and ever-tightening credit, Howard would not now get a top price for 96.3. But, if WHUR was for sale, I would guess that WTOP owner Bonneville would be first in line to buy - not JFK owner CBS, which is selling stations in other markets, including Baltimore..... Just a few things since I haven't posted anything here in awhile. I was on vacation in Kansas City in January (one of my hometowns) and listened to their "oldies" station KCMO FM. They fired all of their weekend announcers, their midday and evening announcers, and retained their morning and afternoon drive announcers. Their play list is basically 70's and 80's, with very little 60's music. However on Sunday nights, they have a golden oldies show which showcases hits from the 50's and early 60's which is 5 hours in length. I believe, (this is ONLY an opinion) that if Baltimore should bring back an "oldies" station with that same format, this will cure our oldies fix here; rather than having a "flashback weekend" and having a high def station. (Just make the format more 60's and 70's, with a 50's and early 60's specialty show) If Baltimore should get an oldies station, it shouldn't be like KCMO FM where there are virtually no air personalities. They should bring back any legendary announcers that are willing to be on the air there. I can't get 105.9 True Oldies on my radio. I've listened to them only once; although their play list is somewhat wider than BIG's just before they changed formats, I wasn't impressed with the presentation. (My opinion) Samantha Davies will be missed, although she was on channel 11 for a short period of time. Ahh, Jason Kidd is back on MIX 1065. Will he still be doing the morning show on 102.7 Jack FM? I'll have to listen to Jimi Roberts on 101.9 Lite FM. It would seem that he would sound out of place on that station, but I'll have to check him out. Ed Jones, Bel Air MD (2/18/09) I had a dream recently that oldies radio stations reappeared in the Washington/Baltimore market. Back were Xtra 104....WQSR with one of the best oldies programs of all time...Alan Lee...and Johnny Dark was back on the air in Baltimore as well. Then reality set in...Just a dream, just a dream! (2/18/09) Broadcast journalists, as well as print and on-line, the deadline is Friday to enter the Society of Professional Journalists Dateline Awards. Details are at: www.spjchapters.org... If you have questions, contact contest coordinator Brooke Kenny at witwer52@hotmail.com. (2/18/09) A truckers show on 1500 better than Jim Bohannon & Phil Hendrie? First of all it's overnight and unrated, so who gives a shit. Secondly, it's a truckers show in an age where the on-board entertainment ranges from iPods to to satrad to DVD players. Unless you're doing short hauls from the ports of Wilmington or Baltimore, nobody's listening... (2/18/09) Another fine example of the benevolent religion of Islam. Owner of Bridges TV Network beheads wife in honor killing. This network is carried on FIOS in the DC area. Wake up America. hosted.ap.org (2/18/09) Dave's response: Oh, I get it. We should blame religion for causing crime. If a Christian commits a murder or robs a bank we should somehow blame his religion? So, you're saying that a nation without religion would be a better place. Hmmm. OK. I know that's not what you meant. Hey, how about taking that "half of your brain tied behind your back" and start using it, too..... 94.7 HD-2 - As of this (Tuesday) evening, they are streaming a totally different playlist from the 80's format they were playing last week. Yesterday tired old repeated oldies playlist. Tonight is newer, harder stuff mixed with old stuff and stuff which I don't know the name for. Changes going on... And waste of airspace WMAL trucker program. If they're only going broadcast a small bit of CtC, please stop!! Give the program to another station. Used to be on 570 (?) AM wasn't it? It's a great program for overnight AM radio. ...OH... I get it... this is good, creative quality radio programming that listeners WANT TO LISTEN TO. Better get it off the radio right now!!! So we can get back to complaining that the crap we're broadcasting, that nobody wants to listen to, justifies our "downsizing" Anybody know what CtC ratings were? Robert in Arlington (2/18/09) Dave's response: As we've reported, could be the beginnings of the WHFS2 format on 94.7's HD2. Hmmm..... All you people talk about " Sports Radio" Scott Ferrall is real sports talk. (2/18/09) /\ February 18 Messages /\ \/ February 17 Messages \/ David Zurawik should re-write that story title to "More Pain for Liberal Nutjobs!" (like him) Maybe MPT's technical issues explanation is less than candid to save face, but you gotta wonder....... Why is The Baltimore Sun going under ? The Sun's David Zurawik sorta trying to claim MPT is like a conservative TV organization is beyond hysterical. IS HE ON CRACK??? HAha! Seriously, what are these people ON that run The Sun that they hire these nutjobs with conservative conspiracy theories!? It's fucking Maryland Public Television for christ sake, the entire state is run by liberal Democrats! Does David Zurawik really believe it's an effort on MPT's part to be more conservative? If so, maybe he should take THEIR ADVICE instead of the OTHER WAY AROUND! Last I checked, MPT was in ok financial shape. David Zurawik will probably be outta his job by the summer! HAha! Too funny! :-) (2/17/09) Re: WMAL and the truckers show: 1500 should take a hint and pick up a truckers show! Moreover, they could carry the entire five-hour show rather than the two or three hours that WMAL is currently doing. It'd be a helluva lot better than what they're doing now and maybe it could be a "stepping stone" in trying to reestablish itself in the market as a viable broadcaster. I think WMAL could serve the community better with something else. FTR, as I understand it WHAN is 1kw only during the day and 31 watts at night; not a very useful signal for a truckers program. Speaking of WHAN, do they still have plans to go to 650 khz daytime only with 50 kilowatts directional power? (2/17/09) Last night I had a dream I still had a tv with rabbit ears. And the knob broke off. (2/17/09) "The station reaches rural viewers who may not otherwise have access to severe weather warnings" so says Pat Baldwin GM of KTUL-TV in Tulsa. (as quoted in the Post for explaining why KTUL's analog signal won;t be removed early as had been planned) So, what magic will allow rural viewers (and anyone else for that matter) to suddenly receive emergency weather nulletins via ATSC after June 12th? Face it, after June 12th you better have a NOAA weather radio with the alert feature (Preferably SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) equipped...) as DTV reception cannot be counted on during average reception conditions, let alone those of extreme weather. As was so politely stated awhile back on DCRTV's front page regarding ATSC, "The shit don't fuckin' work." What's been left out of the process is consideration of the fact that since DTV's reception is so poor that people could die in a weather emergency because of that. And, don't say "get cable" as many rural viewers are beyond the reach of a cable system. And as for satellite, ever hear of "rain fade"? ATSC would've made a nice supplement to analog as a "premium" or "prestige" service. But, it's currently too immature a technology to be given the status of a lifeline broadcast service. -Unsigned Corporate Suit (2/17/09) RE: Samantha Davies - All I can say is THANK YOU DALLAS. The girl made watching the weather the most uncomfortable experiences. She had poor timing, kept repeating herself and used the phrase "As I said", "As we talked about" too much. It was almost like she was giving the forecast to her stoned Sorority Sisters.... CYA (2/17/09) Some funny comments about MPT's constant "satellite" problems and pre-emption of politically charged programming: weblogs.baltimoresun.com... ("For the record, MPT had satellite receiver problems Friday night. We weren't able to record "Inside Washington" for broadcast that evening. There is only one feed of "Inside Washington" offered and no "evergreen" is available to substitute. We can't air the show from the previous week due to a short rights window and the timely nature of the program. MPT apologizes to our viewers for this glitch and we hope it doesn't occur again. Also for the record: The Frontline program "Inside the Meltdown" is scheduled to air on MPT Select for tonight. You might remember that today (February 17) is the day all TV broadcasters were expected to go all digital. It was expected when the schedules were originally set a couple of months ago, that we'd be all digital by today and all viewers properly equipped, would be able to see that feed. In the future, I would hope that Mr. Zurawik would call to get MPT's side of the story. Hello Michael, Thank you for the comments. For sake of transparency, I should tell readers you are the spokesman for MPT. Let me start with your second point, which speaks to the issue of the moment: Channel 22 not airing the outstanding Frontline program "Inside the Meltdown" tonight. The reason you give is that the TV industry was supposed to have switched to digital tonight, and so, MPT put this excellent program on Channel 22.2 (MPT Select) thinking everyone would have access to it because of the switchover. There is only one problem with that explanation. As the Page 1 story in today's Sun (wrritten by me and Sam Sessa) says, the switch was not scheduled to take place until 11:59 tonight. How could your viewers have seen it at 9, the time for which you scheduled it on digital, if the switch was still three hours away? Since I know and respect you, Michael, and do not want to believe you would lie to me, I can only assume the "mad programmers" atr MPT are also very poor planners. As to your other explanation of "satellite receiver" problems fas the reason for not showing Inside Washington last Friday, I have to say this sounds like a newer version of the "technicaal difficulties" sop the industry has been giving viewers since 1949. Wasn't it the night of the big Potomac Primary when MPT announced that it would offer llive news coverage, only to air a program that looked like travelogue for Norway instead? When I called you about that one, you said again it was "satellite" problems. For a station that boasts of its engineering and technological expertise, MPT has a lot of "satellite problems." More important, in neither case cited, did MPT tell its viewers what was going on -- either with a crawl on the screen or an over the air announcement. Michael, I have talked to you and the programmers at MPT many times about pre-emptions and technical problems. When I do get answers, they are often as questionable as these. i do appreciate very much the chance for us to have this discussion in this forum where readers can see and judge for themselves. I hope we can continue it. Thanks.") Z (2/17/09) I hope Dave will permit me a bit of induldgence here - I collect "last" issues of newspapers, and am trying to get my hands on a copy of Sunday's Baltimore Examiner to go alongside my Evening Sun and News-American and Washington Star...does anyone have one sitting around (or perhaps in a neighbor's driveway) they'd be willing to part with? (Will trade for Tower Calendar!) Contact me at scott at fybush dot com if you can help...thanks! (2/17/09) Anita wanted Scott, but she sounded better on her own show. You guys are like boys that threw pencils at the girls you liked in 6th grade. Let her walk past you or sit with you for lunch and you will know that this chick Anita is pretty darn cool. You would brag if she was your girl. And she rides a Harley. The problem is the talent that does not recognize the need for sports to become a lifestyle conversation (not just salary cap issues and idiot non role models acting irresponsible). There is too much one dimensional “jock” sports talk. It’s got to become hybrid, like Jim Rome or the Playmakers on 1057. Dan Patrick does it best. Talking heads are just not relevant. There’s too many of them. HFS? Does anyone really care anymore? Not trying to be mean but come on dudes. You want Radiohead, Squirrel Nut Zippers et al all day? And name me one “modern rock” artist these days that matters? Those days are sadly over. When the world (and your cars) are wifi, then we can have exactly what we want, when we want it. By the way, the noon mix today on MIX1065 had Depeche Mode, Erasure and New Order. Boosahy must read these threads about wanting that style of music back. p.s. mean people suck. Signed: The Cheap Seats. (2/17/09) Dave's response: In a very real sense you're right. Today's music just ain't what it was 20 years ago. Back then we had more locally-owned radio stations and a plethora of local record/CD shops, plus Tower. They're all gone. Today it's pretty much corporate radio and only the top hits from Best Buy/Wal-Mart/Target..... "--------Cincinatti on 700 am WLS-------" 700 am is WLW. WLS is in Chicago. (2/17/09) LOL... -if you say anything 'bitter/honest' you are "banned" from MEDIABISTRO.COM/TV NEWSER -bunch of stuck-up losers :-) (2/17/09) Dave's response: It's simple. Mediabistro is evil..... Re: "has anyone heard of this Analog Nightlight bill and FCC rulemaking?" The analog nightlight rule means that couch potatoes who still haven't figured out that their analog sets can't receive digital TV won't be left completely "in the dark" (ha ha). The "nightlight" system permits eligible full-power analog stations to broadcast emergency news and information in both English and Spanish, along with information about the transition and where to get help--like they haven't been told already--for a month after supposedly transitioning to digital. ~~CA in BC (expecting the one-month "nightlight" plan will become mandatory, until the end of time) (2/17/09) Does any radio show duo have worse on air chemistry than Scott Garceau and Anita Marks?. Sure. Almost any other duo in the Baltimore Sports Talk Market. Viviano and "The Bulldog" I once heard some caller refer to him as Bull Dung, which I found funny. The Fighting Ungers. Coleman and whomever the guest du jour is. Coleman's delivery is such that it sounds like a really old man. Very deliberate. Can't listen to it. Jeremy Conn and whomever he was/is with. ( I don't listen) The current mentality seems to be that no one is capable of doing a show on his/her own, so we ABSOLUTELY MUST have two. Although not sports, Nitwit Norris and "Maynard" aren't any good either. Bruce Cunningham does a good job as a single. Rob Long, in his new gig, seemingly now has to have someone with him everyday. Forrester now relies on his producer, or whatever he is, so much he may as well be a co-host. Nestor would never let anyone else talk without interrupting, so there is no need for another voice there. No comment on Bob Haynie, and "The Bob Haynie Show" with your host Bob Haynie., and now, here's Bob Haynie. Morning Everyone, I'm Bob Haynie... I guess it could be worse, We could have 4 (Junkies). In short, Baltimore Sports talk is every bit as bad as Washington Sports talk. At least I think it's as bad as Mike in Fairfax makes DC out to be. (2/17/09) Does any radio show duo have worse on air chemistry than Scott Garceau and Anita Marks? They are terrible together. Dave, have you gotten any skinny on the state of their business relationship? I had heard that there was some initial animosity when she got second billing on the show but listening to them is becoming difficult due to them talking over each other and cutting each other off. Dave, Hunt Valley, MD (2/17/09) Not only will WBFF and WNUV be losing their analog signals today, but WBAL applied for extended low power analog operations until June due to the fact that the delay decision was so late in coming that they'd already done work for the transition that can't be undone without added cost or undoing the progress. So don't count on WBAL 11 until June if you're out in the sticks and not on cable/sat. In other FCC news WWTD-LP has gone dark claiming its lost its program source. Oh, and more on Birach and WDMV being silent is here. Apparently they are requesting a remain silent authority due to the rumored dispute and I'm sure the FCC will give it to them since the FCC has let the AM 1260 in Delaware stay silent or low-power STA for over a decade! fjallfoss.fcc.gov... One last thing... has anyone heard of this Analog Nightlight bill and FCC rulemaking? I noticed WRC 4 has applied to stay on analog 4 for even 30 days PAST JUNE 12! When will this ridiculous extension madness end? GEEZ Fund the damn coupon program and get this switch over with. There is nothing the FCC can do now to fix its previous years of mistakes with regards to HDTV. It's time to stop delaying to save a face that's still gonna be ugly come Feb 18 or June 12 or July 12 or whenever! Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in The Shining... "What good's a little more time gonna do ya Wendy?" :-) fjallfoss.fcc.gov... (2/17/09) WANT ADS: PROFESSIONAL MARTYR FOR RENT; CHEAP! - Resume includes: wore "INS" tee shirt to Hispanic amnesty rally to orchestrate "free speech" battle; Called everyone who practices Islamic faith "terrorists" to boost my own media airtime; Claimed Hillary Clinton deserves to be "whacked" mob style on national television. I have even sunk to historic gutter depths by insulting Columbine murder victims to get my name in the papers. Currently employed scamming a ticket for running red light on suspended license into a jury trial in a blatant attempt to turn Massachusetts courtroom into media circus for my own benefit. Willing to work cheap, or for solely self-promotion if needed. No fabrication too low for this mouth - just give me a shot! Would even consider changing last name to "Obituary" if it will get me mentioned in the papers daily. Send all employment inquiries Attn: M. Graham, WTKK, Boston. (2/17/09) Any chance of MPR or another public radio entity giving another shot to enter the market now that some stations might be available at firesale rates? Obviously live and local is in demand if you take a look at the PPMs. (2/17/09) "WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!" Give me back my David Stein you rat-bastards at WJFK. (2/17/09) (earlier post) I worked at 92.7 during most of 1973. Back then it was WESM-FM and the format was middle-of-the-road. The board in the studio and production room appeared to have been home-built, as did the transmitter. (end) Show us some pics! (2/17/09) (.......the truckers are the people who bring us all the things we need.....). Yeah, like booze and porno. It's funny. I can no longer hear 700 am WDMV, but late at night, I can hear the Trucking Bozo out of Cincinatti on 700 am WLS. All they talk about is beer, condoms, and teenaged girls. (2/17/09) PPM this week - Good week for WHUR....25-54 they are # 2 behind WTOP and ahead of WAMU (2/17/09) On the satrad bailout, what are we missing? They get a loan at 15% interest to shore up a dead company. They depend on car sales to impact their subscriber numbers for a biz model that has not taken off in the years it has been offered. I realize there is a loyal (although small) nationwide audience - but its not growing enough to fund the model as it sits. ie its not cable tv. So, what's next for satrad?-- since this is only a band aid on a huge wound. (2/17/09) Dave's response: Basically, it "buys time" for Sirius XM, with the hope that the economy will recover later in 2009 and that the credit spigot will start flowing again..... Where the hell did this crap come from twitter.com ? Sean Hannity’s crap can be heard locally on WMAL 630 AM from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM, weekdays. (2/17/09) Yesterday's changes at CBS Baltimore probably had more to do with 102.7 getting ready to be transferred over to CC and that CBS is keeping Jason Kidd with them so they had to find a spot somewhere, and Jimi to 101.9 and Jason to 106.5 I guess made the most sense. It also sucks that HFS-2 was pulled from 105.7 HD-2 Nece did a great job and the music was better than what's on WCHH. Hopefully CBS washington has plans for something with moving HFS-2 to The Glob HD-2. 94.7 will probably always be beaten out by Tiny playlist-100.3 anyway so they might as well take advantage of the call letters & the HD-2 Alt rock and do something worthwhile on the HD-1. Then again wouldn't 99.1 be the better station for the HFS content? CBS seems to forget that it's Washington only formated El-Zol also blankets the Baltimore & B-More metro area pretty well. You gotta be pretty damn stupid not to realize that EL-Zol is better off being placed on 106.7 than 99.1 and at some point you got to let go of your pride and place the nail in the coffin of WJFK. As for the nationally syndicated O'Meara, he could easily be placed on 1580 and that might help 1580 get a little more noticed or better ratings at least. (2/17/09) Dave, The Washington Post errored in their report about the retirement of Sam Donaldson from ABC News. The picture of his wife was correct. Her name however was Jan Smith not Fox as reported in the Post. She was a reporter at WTTG, Fox television in DC. By contrast; Jan Fox was a long time WUSA Consumer reporter who often reported on beauty tips and nick nak bargains. For the record: Donaldson took the solid reporter for a bride. (2/17/09) Why is Stephanie Miller no longer on Air America? Just as I was getting into the habit of listening to her. Thanks, Jeff (2/17/09) Did you see the TV/Radio listings on the bottom of page 2 of ther Post sports section? They show WTEM and the X's carrying the Wizards at 7 and then Maryland at 7:30 tonight. (2/17/09) Frankly, it's no surprise to me at all that the geniuses at "White, Male, Anti-Latino" would jump on the trucker bandwagon. Actually, when you think about it, the vast majority of their hosts do have a lot in common with the trucking community; Ever since they let Chris Core go, every one of their personalities from Parks to Plante has been hauling loads of Bullshit through D.C. daily. FEAR THE WRATH OF SYLVIE! (2/17/09) Random comments. Regarding "Jason Lacanfora of the wash post is filling in on Fox 1370 am Sports", it was mentioned that Coleman was taking some time off in Florida. Last night on WBAL, Peter Schmuck had an interview w/the O's mgr., Dave Trembley. Since last year the Orioles pretty much restricted any interviews to the CBS Radio Properties, this seemed strange. So did Angelos force 'BAL to pull Steve Davis, who tended to be critical of the team, in a trade-off for the more O's friendly Schmuck?? Either way, the Schmuck show was on for 1 hour, then they went to Sporting News Radio @ 7:00. So for the next whatever hours they have Arnie Spanier (sp), another screaming host, followed by the great voice of Laura ingraham. Local Sports, Nat'l Sports, delayed conservative talk. What's going on over there?. Midnight Trucking Radio www.midnighttrucking.com shows a station in Ashland VA, WHAN 1430. Maybe MTR plans on covering I-95 5000w at a time.Meanwhile, it is on WJR, 50,000 watts out of Detroit, strangely, another Citadel Property. (2/17/09) Dave's response: "Midnight Trucking" would get better coverage via Citadel's 105.9, which has its transmitter in Virginia and puts a better signal up and down Virginia's northern chunk of I-95 than does old 630. Remember, old 105.9 was once based in Woodbridge. I think that's still its primary city of license..... " ...WMAL just plain disgusts me. There is nothing of revelance for the citizens of PG County or District of Coumbia on AM 630." Hey, how about this: let's give Bobby Rush a program on MAL. I'm sure he could round up a lot of guests from his former Blank Panther days. (2/17/09) Dave's response: It just hit me. I guess that's how righty whitie WMAL figures it can get any listeners at all in PG - truckers on I-95, which runs smack-dab through the largely black county. Hmmm..... The greater Washington DC area has forgotten how really valuable at least one trucker was. Do you remember the snipers that terrorized the area? Wasn't that case solved when truckers realized the sniper was probably using truck stops to rest, and began paying attention and talking among themselves. The sniper was arrested at a truck stop. Truckers were instrumental in helping the police stop traffic, block all exit routes and communicate what was happening in the truckstop parking lot as police surrounded the place. While some credit should be given to WLW's overnight trucking program for broadcasting information about the blue Caprice that was heard by those truckers and the employees of truck stops, much of the credit for getting something done goes to the truckers. The rest of the area was still looking for a white van and cataloging all the times those two had been stopped before but let go because they didnt fit the profile! They fit a profile all right. You can sleep tonight thans to an alert trucker overnite. (2/17/09) I have read here that the Sinclair stations WBFF and WNUV will turn off their analog signals this week and that WBOC is being forced to leave their analog up, but I have not heard about the others here in the Baltimore Washington area. What's the word on the others? (2/17/09) Dave's response: All other area TVers will be keeping their analog signals running until June, with their digital signals. However, Northern Virginia public TVer WNVT dropped its analog signal for digital-only a while back. And its sister, WNVC, turned off its analog signal last September, and had hoped to start its digital signal today on channel 24. But it obviously can't, since that's where Baltimore's WUTB runs its analog signal. Still, WNVC and its handful of MHz international networks are available on local cable systems..... Except for the bogus "hick" accent truckers seem to prefer when speaking, I've got no problems with WMAL running a truckers' program. I covered a drivers protest last year in DC against high diesel fuel prices, and from the interviews I got a sense of real workers, real problems, and "normal" concerns. Even if it's actually the railroads that bring us everything we eat at 467mpg. Just quit insulting us southerners by trying to talk like us. It's like mocking an urban accent when you're not from the 'hood. (2/17/09) Hey Marty Madden…..remember "Wet Wednesday's? :-) - Bob from College Park (2/17/09) I must say that I’m disappointed with WMAL for cutting off the last 2 hours of "Coast To Coast AM" with “Midnight Trucking Radio.” Often C-to-C AM has interesting interviews (and not just about space ships) which last several hours and go into the 3 and 4am hours. But that said, “Midnight Trucking Radio” isn’t a bad show and I have been listening to it recently from WJR in the comfort of my bed. I can tell you that “Midnight Trucking Radio” comes out of Texas (I believe) and IS NOT all about gear-jockey truckers, unlike another trucker show you may hear on WLW. Sure you will hear commercials for trucking companies trying to hire drivers and products to make a truck run more efficiently but they do try to address issues that are important to people who work overnight and not necessarily just truck drivers. And believe me I know what it’s like working overnight – I did it for 15 months as a disk jockey. (2/17/09) (regarding some previous posts) I worked at 92.7 during most of 1973. Back then it was WESM-FM and the format was middle-of-the-road. The board in the studio and production room (closet) appeared to have been home-built, as did the transmitter. The owners then were connected somehow to a radio engineering consulting firm in Falls Church and the son-in-law ran the station. In mid-1973, the station became WMJS-FM when the Gollubs bought it and changed the format to easy listening. They upgraded the board in the studio to a better quality home-built one and also ripped out the old transmitter, replacing it with a professional model. The turntables and cart machines were old, but adequate. Several months after he bought the station, Mel changed to a country format during the day and at night, he ran complete Broadway & Movie musical soundtracks. There apparently was a following for this material and he traded ad time on the station with the magazine, Forecast FM, who ran the nightly lineup of the soundtrack shows. That programming was on cassette tapes which were run on a deck hooked to an equalizing box. Most nights, Mel would call in from his Silver Spring home, with intricate instructions for tweaking the sound, for each soundtrack. Back then, 92.7 was pretty much a Mickey Mouse operation, though I heard later that the Gollubs unloaded the place for a mil or two. He also owned a station somewhere near the beaches and resorts in Delaware, which was later owned by former CBS corespondent and Channel 7 anchor, David Schumacher. (2/17/09) To the person who complained about the trucking program on WMAL....you clearly need to get a life. If you don't like it..then don't listen. Just remember, the truckers are the people who bring us all the things we need. Without them you might not have anything to eat. Take your whining and go listen to some worthless program..like Howard Stern or Imus. (2/17/09) About WMAL's new "Trucker Show", I find it worthy to point out that for years many truckers used to call what was once the Chris Plante Evening Show, and until recently they also used to call the Austin Hill Evening Show. These were mainly truckers on I-95 heading north, but there were others headed west towards West Va. I always found them quite amusing & funny and very up-to-date with the news of the day. -Silvie- (2/17/09) /\ February 17 Messages /\ Jump to the Mailbag Archive Index.....