dcrtv.com - Mailbag - December 16 to December 22, 2009

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DCRTV Mailbag - December 16 to December 22, 2009

Latest messages listed first.....
\/ December 22 Messages \/

Dear 'Pen. Please don't let the reckless accusations of "hate speech" stop you. Ever. Your clever and hysterically funny observations slay me every time. If the window lickin', mouth breathin', meatheads don't get it, tough. If the nerds hanging out in the basement of the science building have thin skins related to unresolved Mommy issues that make them Oh-so-sensitive to irreverant humor and politically incorrect free speech, F-em. They obviously take this stuff way too seriously, and don't understand the method to the madness. I've got a clue for you guys. ThePenIsMightier puts his tag at the bottom of every post. Unless there's a man holding a gun to your dog's head saying "Read this post or we'll kill your dog", then I suggest you take a gander at the end of the post, and if you see a poster you don't care for, DON'T F-ing READ IT, you morons. Jesus Tap Dancing Christ, people, how in the world can you be taken seriously when you post time after time that you're offended by the 100th post you've read by the same poster that you can't stand? Don't ban anyone, Dave, unless they're going to cause you legal problems. Time for these guys to put a pair in their pants and man up. And, Merry Christmas. -- John in Baltimore (12/22/09)

Steve Drepperd’s salient comments of a few days ago got me thinking about the importance of community broadcasters (and the community to support them) as opposed to what I like to call “repeaters” airing someone else’s format of brokered religion, ethnic, or infomercials… How about using the so-called “X-band” from 1610 to 1700 KHz for serious community information stations? And, I don’t mean the low-powered crap like Fairfax and Arlington currently have… Say 10KW non-directional into a true “Franklin” antenna. (Yes, I know the FCC’s current antenna modeling software can’t handle a Franklin. Have the FCC get new software!) But, at those frequencies, a Franklin will give better coverage than a conventional base-fed vertical. Allocate three non-adjacent frequencies in that range exclusively for this service and on a routine basis relay a major NOAA station and in an emergency local emergency management personnel would air road closings, school closings, etc. I realize that at 10 KW something like that around here would have to be run by COG or such. So be it. Although I consider every other station on the dial (Yes, even NPR and college stations.) to be a competitor of my air, I realize that not every region has even one station with the people, facilities, or budget to do this kind of service broadcasting. Thus, I’m advocating this type of station be built and operated by local and regional governments because with the demise of commercial broadcasting as we’ve known it, few existing commercial broadcasters can do this any longer. Even if they wanted to, the dollars do not justify it in the business plan of most of today’s “broadcasters”. While Steve Drepperd is correct about the situation he referred to, it’s not just limited to a “suburban” area. Look at D.C. If WTOP didn’t exist, which radio station would be relied on 24X7X365 in a crisis? Or, for that matter, what if something catastrophic happened to WTOP? Yes, I’m well aware of the LDS church (WTOP’s owner) and their teachings about emergency preparedness. However, even the most unthinkable or impossible can happen. A national network of stations of the type I mentioned would be comparatively inexpensive to build and maintain (being non-DA). While they wouldn’t be “broadcasters” in the commercial “full service” sense, neither are the stations running an automated sat-fed or brokered religious/ethnic/infomercial/whatever format. Nor are things like “Jack” in Baltimore, for that matter. While they may be profitable, they are not “broadcasters”. Indeed, it would be interesting to read on this board comments from a proponent of the “Jack” concept regarding Steve Drepperd’s thoughts about community service broadcasting with live people routinely at the mic so they can be there in an emergency. –Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/22/09)

Glenn Beck: Media Matters' 2009 Misinformer of the Year mediamatters.org (12/22/09)

SOC Per chance Tony Perkins might have some reflection on the Charles Gibson retirement and La Diane Sawyer taking over? Changing lanes but speaking of La's I don't believe I saw any of La Martucci during the snow storm coverage over the weekend. Has La Martucci been shown the door over at channel 9? And I don't believe I saw Dave Statter neither! I thought always got the inclement weather street gigs? Did see an old report of Bruce Johnsons from way back in 1979 during a snowstorm. Is my memory functioning right today and the name of school superintendant back then was Vincent Reed. I must say the video quality of the story was really quite impressive being 30 years old. Wonder what nuggets do the other stations in town have? Panorama clips? channel 9 later had a Bruce Johnson story on Saturday and shows him doing a little snow shoveling. Is that really wise in light of his health history? Adios Jim clarke, last of the real tv reporters not like most of the fluffy ones of today. And over at channel 4 they seem to be working Eun Yang into the ground ain't they? None of the other anchors on emergency duty or are they short an anchor since Keith Garvin got outta town? Do reporters get more pay when they anchor a "newscast"? do tv reporters get paid on a per piece basis or on contract or depends? Over at channel 7 wtf doug Hill sits nice an cozy in his den at home and can't be bothered to come into the station or spend the night at a Rosslyn Hotel to be there the next day, sheez. He has pictures of someone? and saw the inevitable tv station promo for snow coverage this eve on channel 7 and they show old count doug Hill out on the streets on a snow covered day. Old footage? And again wtf WMET really sold for $4million? that seems like a very good price for a nothing station. does that mean good things for the other stations for sale in town like wmal? And finally a big EFF You to Access Hollywood for chasing the lovely Kelly O'Dell away. Noticed they'd been phasing her out over the last year and now she quits, bummer! I didn't see the greek gal on the goodbye show for Kelly O'Dell? Well Merry christmas everyone. www.youtube.com. A favorite Redford movie of mine. www.youtube.com. Based on book "6 days of condor" written by James Brady D.C. area resident? Hey Mike O'Mirror doesn't the Greaseman do his Jacksonville show from his lovely abode in Potomac? (12/22/09)

Dave, on your comment regarding the dispute between Fox and Time-Warner Cable, don't be so sure about a last minute deal. IIRC, didn't one of the local cable systems here have to drop WTTG for awhile a decade or so ago in a similar dispute? I believe one of those "Starz" channels was put on in its place. (12/22/09)

Dave's response: A couple of years ago, Fairfax's Cox system dropped WTTG in a dispute with Fox for a week or two. I also hear that Cox could drop Viacom's cable nets (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Spike) by the end of 2009 in a contract dispute.....

Speaking of “spooks in the suburbs,” the late E. Howard Hunt (of Watergate fame and who the hell knows what else) lived in Rockville. He worked for the CIA from 1949 until 1970. Prior to the his death in 2007, Hunt provided his son with an audio tape, describing some of the circumstances of “The Big Event” (a code name for the JFK assassination). You can listen to a portion of Hunt’s tape and an interview with Saint John Hunt, by downloading it by pasting this web address in your browser and using Real Player’s “File” and “Open Location” pull-downs. www.blackopradio.com... There’s also a long article from “Rolling Stone” in April, 2007, which you can read, here: www.rollingstone.com... Given his lifelong profession as a spy, who knows if the so-called “deathbed confession” is the truth, or if it’s just a last bit of CIA disinformation or misdirection about the JFK case. Whatever it is, it’s quite fascinating! (12/22/09)

"Dave's response: Mr. Gneiser lived (and died) in the old Bradford Bishop house in Bethesda. Still creeps me out....." The people in that neighborhood like to refer to where they live as "Potomac". It's crawling with spooks. David Atlee Phillips, who was named by Howard Hunt as a Kennedy assassination conspirator lived nearby. Makes me no nevermind, I have no dog in that fight. But Brad, I mean Dave, it may be time to come in from the cold. You drove that station wagon as far as you could, all the way down to Caroline. Maybe when you get out you could get the old house back. Kidding of course. By the way something, Dear Reader, if you're reading this and you know the phrase "standard two-call system" you should be ashamed of yourself. I'm just sayin' --- ThePenIsMightier (12/22/09)

Dave's response: I call Potomac "South Rockville." Ha ha ha.....

So, the President called Gov. Kaine on WTOP. That's so nice. I wonder if he'll call Grandy & Andy or Chris Plante at WMAL tomorrow morning? **Sound of crickets** (He can pretend his name is 'Hussein from Fairfax'!) -Silvie- (12/22/09)

Dave's response: Farid Suleman owns WMAL. Isn't he Muslim? Maybe Obama should call.....

One of my sources tells me that Fox (News Corp) and Time Warner Cable are at an impasse in their re-transmission consent negotiations. If things don’t change between now and year-end, many of Time Warner’s 13 million subscribers, may usher in 2010 without Fox TV network programs because TW will be required to drop News Corp.’s O&O TV stations and some related cable networks due to a dispute over re-transmission consent payments. News Corp. wants a $1.00/month per subscriber payment for its owned-and-operated TV stations. Time Warner Cable does not want to pay anything to carry the Fox over the air TV signal to its 13 million customers. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. believes the $1.00 per customer per month is fair payment for the “value” of the Fox TV programming provided. Time Warner believes that without its audience of 13 million customers, the Fox TV and cable networks aren’t of much value to advertisers who would most likely pull their ad dollars out of costly programming such as NFL games and Fox TV programs such as “American Idol”. With recession-weary customers cutting back on their cable bills already, Time Warner would not be able to pass this cost to its customers at a time when they are already fighting customer erosion to competitors such as AT&T’s U-verse and Verizion’s FiOS. Cable industry insiders believe it is politically risky for broadcasters to be taking a hard line right now about getting cash compensation for cable carriage of their stations. They reason that an event like the one that will happen on December 31 would certainly get the attention of Washington, DC legislators, who already are re-shaping the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and how it regulates broadcasters using the public spectrum to broadcast their programming. There are reports that with some TV stations experiencing reception problems after the change to digital broadcasting, some cable operators may be in a position to instead charge broadcasters for re-transmission because of the reliable reception cable offers. Time Warner's carriage agreements for some News Corp. cable networks such as the Fox Regional Sports Networks, FX, Fox Soccer Channel and Fuel also expire December 31. So they also could lose carriage. This simultaneous expiration is due to “tying” requirements in which carriage of a desired channel is at least in part conditioned by the addition of either a newly-established channel or a lower overhead (more profitable) channel by the cable system. These “agreements” have been cited by both consumer advocates and some politicians as one reason cable bills continue to outpace consumer inflation, and advocate legislatively mandated “a la carte” selection being forced on both the cable companies and the programming providers. While universally criticized by the cable networks, cable operators have been resisting carrying additional networks as channel capacity dwindles as more programmers go to high-definition. Unaffected by this situation are Fox News Channel and Fox Business Channel which have their own separate carriage agreements with Time Warner. (12/22/09)

Dave's response: I saw a full page color ad in the NY Times (doesn't Fox owner Rupert Murdoch hate the NYT?) today that Fox bought regarding the dispute. They'll get oh so close to the 12/31 deadline, but it'll get settled. Trust me.....

Reggie Rouse is not running the day to day programming operations of WPGC that would be Rob Scorpio OM/PD he is the one responsible for what you hear on WPGC. CBS will take care of WPGC If It continues to be in 12th and 13th place it will be gone. Ask Baltimore V-103 and X-1057(CBS Radio owned) were done In I am surprised that it has not already happened give it time the black format will be gone and pop Top 40 will take its place. (12/22/09)

Here's a link to a story from the Seattle Times about Bradford Bishop Murder House seattletimes.nwsource.com. It originally appeared in the Washington Post in 2006. (12/22/09)

Re: Marty Bass Commercial - That commercial has been on for a while. Marty is still the solo weather person/co-anchor of Morning Edition, but, he shares duties at Noon with Bernadette Woods. I think they are just promoting the AMS certified Meteorologists, and of course Bob Turk. (12/22/09)

Ref; "Did you know that Comcast added a whole bunch of HD channel around the 800 channel for DC only" Sorry but I reported ten days ago that Comcast had added 90 new HD channels in Montgomery County and that the Comcast call takers had no clue about it and still don't. (12/22/09)

My sincerest apologies to the apparently very much alive Mrs. Clarke. Yes, it was Bob Gneisner I was thinking of... Senior moment early in the morning. -Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/22/09)

Dave's response: Mr. Gneiser lived (and died) in the old Bradford Bishop house in Bethesda. Still creeps me out.....

The Salahis, the notorious party crashers Dave loves so much, are more flash than cash. In Front Royal, VA, they were taken to court by their landscaper for unpaid bills. They claim they had no cash, so the judge gave the gardener Tareq's Patek Phillppe wristwatch. However, it turned out to be a fake, The Warren Sentinel: www.thewarrensentinel.com... What winners these folks are... (12/22/09)

Dave's response: Look, the party crash couple was a cutsie story for a week or two. But it's starting to smell like bad Limburger cheese as we head into the fifth week of non-stop coverage of this rather dultish couple. You can tell that they're having trouble filling the Post's Stale section of late, with a rather lame set of stories and lots of big graphics/pics. If I was running the Post, the Biz section would be back and Stale would be a page or two at the back of Metro. Today, we learned that actor Paul Giamatti was seen around town wearing jeans and a hoodie. Who cares!!!!!

Hi Dave, Hope all is well. Wanted to follow up with you after sending along the Times Square New Year’s Eve satellite coordinates to let you know that in addition to the free HD sat feed, the event organizers have partnered with Livestream for the first time to offer a new, international six and a half hour web event. Four co-hosts will cover all of the action in Times Square, including the hourly countdowns, ball raising ceremony, stage performances and special guests. Additionally, a free, non-commercial widget will be offered of varying sizes for online outlets to embed in their own sites featuring the Livestream video player and related social media tools. Additional information on the widget (including the official press release) is available here: www.timessquarenyc.org. Happy holidays Dave! Shelley (12/22/09)

GEEZUSS-WPGC still sucks. What a shame. A once great radio station that was a leader now being led by wanna be, FAILURES! Its long over due to FIRE Reggie, i have an ego bigger than me, Rouse,The screaming night show,Donnie,I'm past my prime,Simpson and It's all about me TIGGER! No one there knows how to build a real radio station. They only know how to kill one. (12/22/09)

Another showbiz icon from our childhoods has passed on: Arnold Stang, the voice of Herman the Mouse (Herman & Catnip) and "Top Cat", from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon machine. (12/22/09)

This kind of got quietly unnoticed because of the huge snowstorm, but not unlike many things about WNST 1570, hehe. But Nestor Aparicio announced on his Facebook page that he's quitting his afternoon sports talk show on WNST 1570 again. Quoting Nestor "Once again, I'm stepping down as an afternoon radio host so I can concentrate on growing the web side of WNST effective Feb. 8th" He also slammed WJZ & WBAL TV for stealing info about The Chicago Bears troubles flying into Baltimore. Here was his post... "If it weren't for the WNST Text Service, WBAL & WJZ would still be "in the dark" about the Chicago Bears being stuck in the Windy City. Thank god their staff & producers are on my service...lol!" He also criticized The Baltimore Sun for missing the story and claims he was in contact with the Bears PR department when no Baltimore media outlet had realized the Chicago Bears were not even in town before the storm. Originally, the Bears were to fly in Friday, but the flight was cancelled, but no area media outlet noticed that except WNST 1570. Having watched the morning news on Saturday, Nestor is correct that all area media outlets were quite late to find out the Bears were NOT in Baltimore on Saturday and his Facebook posts do prove him correct on all counts by the time of his posts. WNST was first, yet got no credit for the story. (12/22/09)

Dave--Time for you to rip the lid off the HORRIBLE job WTOP does with their traffic reporting. Considering it's one of the primary programming pillars of the #1 station in the DC market, it's high time someone (that'd be you!) holds them to a much higher standard. Case in point: Saturday morning at 8:00am, as the snowstorm was really intensifying...my primary concern (and probably everyone else's) was...how bad is it out there, and can I still get around to pick up a few things before we all get snowed in? WTOP (in the midst of the biggest weather event in many years here in DC metro) has their less-than-"B"-team on the air, and the traffic report starts with 20 seconds of information about one single wreck on Route 97 near Olney. Olney? Personally, I live near Dulles...so I couldn't give a crap about Route 97...a road I have never, nor will ever, travel. But that's all we EVER get from WTOP traffic--each report is nothing but a scatter-shot listing of various wrecks in random locations (the majority of which have ZERO impact on any one person, since the metro area covers a 50+ mile diameter) presented in no particular order. Bottom line: traffic reporting on the number one station in our Top Ten market is weak, sloppy, and ineffectual. Agree, or disagree? Wait. Don't answer yet. Have you ever listened to Chicago traffic reports (specifically WBBM)? I travel there frequently, and always marvel at how much specific, usable information is provided in their "traffic and weather together every 10 minutes." What you get there is exact travel times for every major artery in each report. The reports are precise, practical and full of information that is equally usable by every commuter in the metro area. Don't we deserve traffic reporting that's on par with "the Second City." Time to hold Jim Farley, Lisa Baden, Bob Marbourg and the Bonneville billionaires accountable for the sham they've been propagating for so many years here. Their work in this area is totally unacceptable, and they need to step up to bring us a product that is equal to the stature of the nation's capital. So, Dave, how about throwing a rock at the "glass enclosed nerve center" and shaking things up a bit? If not you, who? Thanks for listening. --Rick, Ashburn, VA (12/22/09)

"Funny; PLB, JC and ThePenIsMightier come to mine."--- JC? I don't recall seeing that signature in this forum before." SORRY. Got confused over the "Jimmy T./Jay Harrison/John Collings" battle of words amongst themselves and PLB that have appeared here recently. (12/22/09)

"Funny; PLB, JC and ThePenIsMightier come to mine."--- JC? I don't recall seeing that signature in this forum before. (12/22/09)

The shining up and comers who proved what they could do during the storm this weekend: Eun Yang, Charles Ball, Kris Van Cleave, Julie Parker, Steve Rudin and Mike Conneen. Wendy Rieger was fabulous, but she is no spring chicken. (12/22/09)

NEVER to listen to Redskins radio broadcast again! NEVER! After last night's alleged game, awful Larry Michael and Sonny J. were interviewing Jim Zorn. They DID NOT ask him, DID NOT ask him, about the playground play the Redskins tried at the end of the first half. Are you kidding me? Being a homer is okay but this is ridiculous? No excuse for not asking about that stupid play. And, by the way, the Redskins radio broadcast was between seven and 10 seconds behind the Giants broadcast on 660 AM, WFAN, in New York. 'Skins, always behind. (12/22/09)

From The Baltimore Sun's Z on TV column: "UPDATE 4:50 P.M. -- It looks like covering this storm is going to be marathon event. And while WMAR started two hours after WBAL and WJZ, by 4:30 p.m., it was the only Baltimore station still offering continuous coverage." baltimoresun.com... Did David Zurawik yank that info from DCRTV? For the record, WJZ 13 stopped continuous coverage at 1PM, WBAL 11 stopped at 4:30PM. WMAR ABC 2 News went from 7AM to 7PM! WBFF FOX 45 conversely ran infomercials most of the day in between making trips to the bank to cash the infomercial checks until doing an expanded newscast from 5PM to 7PM with virtually no added expense or extra personnel. Considering the limited staffing at WMAR 2 at the moment & bad timing of the storm and the cost involved in staying live all day long without running the normal infomercials, I give them a lot of credit for hanging in there with the longest coverage. WMAR was also on top of several breaking stories, like the plane at BWI where people were on the plane for over 6 hours. Both WJZ & WBAL were rotating anchor crews & meteorologists with most weekday anchors & meteorologists coming in on their day off. Tom Tasselmyer delayed his vacation by 1 day & even Bob Turk came in early. But WMAR's Jamie Costello, Megan Pringle, & Justin Berk pretty much hung in there for most of the day without much help. God, they must have been tired. KUDOS WMAR! By the way, The Sun's David Zurawik said of WBFF FOX 45: "It was very good coverage." & referred to the infomercials as "counterprogramming" What is that man smoking? (of course he refused to post my comments on his Z on TV blog again even though I didn't even criticize him that time or even make fun of his Jon & Kate + 8 stories! LOL) (12/22/09)

To Howie: Speaking of conflict of interest... The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik aka Z on TV is also on WYPR 88.1, Baltimore's NPR station, and he listed 2 people from WYPR as Baltimore's TOP 10 MEDIA PEOPLE and that's not even a Top 10 radio station let alone a Top 10 media outlet. And one is someone I've never even heard of! C'mon, that's just plain ridiculous. Honestly, between his bad CNN appearance discussing politics with WMAL's Chris Plante, not his forte (and especially bad when you make Chris Plante look smart on TV! LOL), his sports blogs, also not his forte (since he's admittedly biased against the Ravens and knows little about NFL TV coverage or sports), his unnatural fetish-like fixation with this Jon & Kate + 8 train wreck, and his ridiculous TOP 10 Baltimore media people list, I vote for Z on TV 's David Zurawik as "The Local Media Joke of the Year!" Oh, I noticed other people are starting to post Jon & Kate jokes on Z on TV's blog, so it must be catching on! I expect I'll be banned from BaltimoreSun.com for a very long time now. I wonder how many other people Z on TV is banning. LOL (12/22/09)

"When I think of "unbalanced," names like Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mark Levin immediately come to mind." Funny; PLB, JC and ThePenIsMightier come to mine. (12/22/09)

Please keep in mind, few people even look at the Sun anymore. Truthfully, I’ve never even heard of David Zurawik? Does that mean I’m banned from his BLOG? LOL (12/22/09)

"Nice to see you have no problem posting overtly rascist ...it wasn't an attack on WJFK, ... rascist statements." It wasn't an attack on WJFK, it was a mourning after the sad turn Chad Dukes's career has taken, with a take it while you can swipe at Howard Stern, King of All Douchebags. I would love to blow Chad some kisses, Fukerton-stylee, but am distraught at the turn his career has taken. Then again, he's on the radio, and last time I checked, I'm not. That's something that you, Johnny An0nymoso, might want to consider in your own life. Oh, by the way something, if you misspell "racist" twice in one sentence, it's not a typo, it's a lacuna in your edumacation. Another poster wrote: "About "When I think of "unbalanced," names like Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mark Levin immediately come to mind." Being in the middle politically, I think all of them including Olbermann are emotionally unbalanced." Being on the right politically, I would say they are ALL mentally unbalanced, with the possible exception of Olberman. He sucks so much as a broadcaster that I haven't given him a fair appraisal due to not watching him. But Levin? Anger issues. Lack of basic knowledge of the Constitution. Mooning over your dog buys no points with me. Savage? Again, anger issues, and lack of basic knowledge of the Constitution, but unlike Levin, he's not a lawyer. Also believes autism is overdiagnosed. Those who wish may go run with that. But on the other hand, he did wish on air that one of his callers, whom he deemed a Sodomite, should get AIDS and die. Talk about the passion (that's for all you REM fans out there). Glenn Beck wasn't an alcoholic, he just finished a really long binge and went crazy and converted to Mormonism, which is essentially a beta version of Scientology, but no one asks him about the underwear. People have no problem asking Ricky "Rick" Schroder from Silver Spoons about the underwear, why not Glenn Beck? --- ThePenIsMightier (12/22/09)

so sick of the Salahis - Just wanted to say I'm totally with you on this! I saw the piece this morning and was so disheartened. These people are weeks now from having been news. All they ever wanted was media attention, and man, they keep getting it, don't they, thanks to the Washington Post. Argh. Thanks for letting me vent, Julie (12/22/09)

I noticed that WJZ 13 has been running a new "First Warning Weather" commercial featuring Bob Turk, Tim Williams, and Bernadette Woods, BUT NOT MARTY BASS! Is Marty on his way out at WJZ 13? Seems very odd that he's not included in the WJZ weather-specific commercial. Or maybe Marty is no longer going to do weather on WJZ soon and just co-anchor? With all the stations making cut-backs lately, I found this commercial quite odd. WJZ has always previously featured Marty Bass prominently in its First Warning Weather commercials. This is the 1st one I've seen ever that he's not been in. Hmmm. (12/22/09)

Note to " LOL": Z certainly does seem to have thin skin. I did accuse him yesterday of being upset at Billick for not mentioning Kate once. And it's true, half of his blog posts are STILL about that dysfunctional relationship. Hey Z! That was like four celeb scandals ago! Remember, Z had his own ethical quandary back in the '90s. He use to be on Allan Prell's show every week until another TV station in town complained to the Sun that appearing on a Hearst radio station, then reviewing its TV station was a conflict of interest. Howie (12/22/09)

About "When I think of "unbalanced," names like Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mark Levin immediately come to mind." Being in the middle politically, I think all of them including Olbermann are emotionally unbalanced. And Keith Olbermann did quit ESPN & MSNBC in extremely erratic emotionally unbalanced ways and the rumor was he was mentally unstable. Beck is an admitted alcoholic who could probably use a sedative or drink in my opinion. I'm always amazed that people on one side of the political spectrum have such a narrow minded view and will excuse their favorite wackjob just because they politically agree with the person. Hypocrisy? I sometimes agree with Beck & Olbermann on some issues, but I still think they're both biased and nutty. And a major news organization should not be calling a Vice Presidential candidate a "wackjob" under any circumstances, anymore than a credible news organization should not report crazy stories that Pres. Obama is a Muslim, etc. Regardless of your political views, no credible news organization should put out this FUD. I stand behind what I said, NBC News should be embarrassed. I think even Tom Brokaw probably cringed when he had to sit next to Olbermann during the political conventions worrying what inappropriate thing the crazy man might blurt out. At least FOX News keeps O'Reilly and Beck penned in their cages and doesn't pretend that they are journalists. They are just talk show hosts. MSNBC uses Olbermann as an anchor and that's just off the charts crazy. HE'S A FUCKING SPORTSCASTER! LOL (12/22/09)

"I'm happy to hear via the Mike O'Meara Show that Chad Dukes is back on the air; I wasn't aware that WJFK was still in business. Are the Junkies still on the air in the area too? Hopefully Chad will find a home at a good radio show that people listen to. Maybe he should take a page out of Howard's book and get a colored partner. --- ThePenIsMightier" Nice to see you have no problem posting overtly rascist ("COLORED?") comments on your message board. I'm sure you would have censored this if it wasn't an attack on WJFK, but since it fits with your tired screeds against that station, you were happy to post it. I wonder how your advertisers and sponsors will feel about your willingness to post rascist statements. (12/22/09)

(regarding a previous post) "Huntley/Brinkley ... probably would have resigned from NBC News immediately rather than be associated with an emotionally unbalanced sportscaster turned talk show host like Olbermann." They'll need to update the next edition of the DSM ("Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders") if thinking that Sarah Palin is a wackjob, constitutes a sign of being emotionally unbalanced. When I think of "unbalanced," names like Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mark Levin immediately come to mind. (12/22/09)

Since The Sun's David Zurawik has banned me from his blog on BaltimoreSun.com and obviously doesn't like my Jon & Kate +8 jokes, I'll send my post to Z on TV here instead. Zurawik did a piece on the return of Brian Billick baltimoresun.com and of course completely missed the story because he knows so little about NFL football and it shows. In criticizing Billick, Zurawik says "Think of John Madden and the kind of color he brought to his analysis. And he didn't use Xs-and-Os-speak" Ummm, has Zurawik ever watched Madden? If I'm not mistaken Madden was the first color commentator to actually use and show Xs and Os & speak it and explain it to viewers. It was his trademark for christ sake! It's as if Zurawik had never watched a Madden game before. Zurawik also criticized Billick for not being critical of the Ravens. Of course Zurawik is a Green Bay Packers fan who just a few weeks ago penned a piece saying the ESPN Monday Night Football broadcast team were the best of all the NFL broadcast teams! Because he loved that they were overly critical of the Ravens & was rooting for the Packers! LOL Zurawik criticized Billick for mispronouncing a Ravens player's name in the beginning of his blog, then at the end said it was an advantage that Billick knew so many of the Ravens players so well! Which is it Z? LOL Z also criticized the Ravens for letting go Matt Stover "in an effort to save a few bucks". Once again Z is incorrect, it was the roster spot that the Ravens wanted, money was never an issue. Z also criticized Billick for predicting possible plays and then being wrong. Ummm, like Madden never did that 18,000 times?!? LOL The essential point that Z misses is that winning teams get favorable TV coverage and bad teams don't. The Bears were losing the entire game & are a bad team, therefor the TV coverage was decidedly slanted in the Ravens direction. In the Monday Night Football game, the Ravens got decidedly bad coverage because, ummm, they were losing. Who would have thunk it? Earth to Z on TV! About the only 2 things that David Zurawik got right in his column was the conflict of interest thing with Billick still being on the Ravens payroll and a mispronounced name, but the fact of the matter is that The Ravens have to pay Billick regardless of whether he says something bad about them or not and its entirely possible he's already been fully paid. Everything else said in the story only reinforces that Z knows little about NFL football and probably should stick to Jon & Kate + 8 stories, his first true love & unnatural fetish! :-) PS: No, you won't see this criticism on BaltimoreSun.com as Z on TV is apparently having a hissy fit about the Jon & Kate + 8 jokes about him on DCRTV! Waaaaaaaaaah. LOL (12/22/09)

According to the obituary for Jim Clarke in the Post, the list of those surviving him includes his wife. Perhaps UCS was thinking of the late Bob Gneiser's wife, who was killed in a car wreck, as I recall. (12/22/09)

Good to see the Redskins' incompetence extends to the staff at ESPN 980. Listening to the "Monday Morning Quarterback" show on ESPN980.com, and there's only been about three minutes of actual programming; the web stream keeps cutting to commercials. It's been an hour-plus of almost continuous ads. Hardly a surprise for a Dan Snyder operation. (12/22/09)

I realize FOX NEWS is rather biased, but I think MSNBC & Keith Olbermann have officially jumped the shark. The other evening, Olbermann was running down stories of the year and when he got to Sarah Palin, the caption underneath all of the Palin clips (that Olberman was interrupting for repeated insults) was "WACKJOB FROM WASILLA" I think that tops even theatrically unhinged Glenn Beck for The 2009 Record for Bias. NBC News should be embarrassed. Can you imagine what Huntley/Brinkley would think of that? They probably would have resigned from NBC News immediately rather than be associated with an emotionally unbalanced sportscaster turned talk show host like Olbermann. (12/22/09)

I remember when Jim Clarke first joined ESBC and git the airwaves on the old channel 7. Very sorry to hear of his passing. What needs to be said that he was a fine colleague to work with and that he was a journalist who was indeed true to his craft without any embellishment or tainting of a story with his own feelings whatsoever. A marked contrast to today's "journalists" (of all points on the political spectrum) who are outspokeningly proud that they tell the "truth" as they see it. IIRC, Jim lost his beloved wife several years ago in a car wreck. So, if there is any comfort to be found in the passing of such a nice guy as Jiim in this holiday season, is that he and is wife will be celebrating Christmas together once again. -Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/22/09)

I knew The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik was a bit thin-skinned, but didn't expect he was this nutty. He has officially BANNED me from commenting on his Z on TV blog! HAHA! I guess he didn't like my Jon & Kate jokes here on DCRTV. I suspected this a couple weeks ago, but then chalked it up to maybe a technical glitch, mail going in the spam folder or something like that, but after sending 3 comments to him yesterday regarding 2 different stories, the local TV snow coverage & Brian Billick & the Ravens, and him not posting the comments at all, it looks like it's a done deal, yep... JOE IN ESSEX IS BANNED BY THE BALTIMORE SUN'S DAVID ZURAWIK'S Z ON TV COLUMN! The funny thing is he gets a lot of his local TV column info from DCRTV and things posted here, some even by me! Too Funny! :-) (12/22/09)

I always knew that the "Rembrandt of Impressions" had a future in broadcast ownership. Perhaps Corporal Randolph Agarn can succeed with Channel 9 where Gannett failed. (12/22/09)

Did you know that Comcast added a whole bunch of HD channel around the 800 channel for DC only. (12/22/09)

Dave's response: Yes. We've reported that Comcast is flipping its systems to digital-only, with a batch of new and existing HD channels being added to the 800 range.....

I remember working with Jim Clarke in the beginning of the Clinton administration. At first he thought the Hillary Health Care plan might be good. BUT before he reported on it, he did something our current representatives and senators wouldn't do...he read it. He reported on what it was, not the spin the White House was putting out. What made Jim great was that his own ideology never made it on the air, only the facts. R.I.P. Jim. You've made your final deadline, and even then, helping out others. A classy man. A man reporters should study and emulate for content. Jim, you are missed. (12/22/09)

/\ December 22 Messages /\

\/ December 21 Messages \/

Jim Clarke = The last of the class act reporters. RIP, pal. (12/21/09)

(Dave said) In the spirit of John Bobbit... (end quote). You don't get to see many modern references to John Bobbit anymore. Its refreshing. Kinda reminds me of that rumor where Lorraine Bobbit got into a huge wreck on the Beltway: some dick cut her off! HA! (12/21/09)

(regarding a previous post) "love your snowman, Silvie, although I have no idea what 'Savage Nation' means. -- Bobbie" I'm pretty sure it means that Harold the Snowman isn't allowed into Britain. (12/21/09)

The bottom feeders at channel 9 have already started airing the promos patting itself on the back for its coverage of the 2009 Blizzard. It wasn't all that, folks. I may have been amused when Kim Martucci totally emasculated her husband on the air when she talked about sending him out to the hardware to find a ruler to measure the snow and all he brought back was a stick. But let's face it, Kim. Wendy Riegger has nothing to worry about when it comes to providing plenty of entertainment during a marathon broadcast like the blizzard.. (12/21/09)

I am not a fan of Barbara Harrison (Channel 4), I think she's long past her expiration date...as is Pat Collins. But I will give her credit for working hard...besides doing the early morning news, she's doing the 5:00 news this evening (and will be doing the early morning news tomorrow...yikes!). She said "good morning" to Chris Gordon instead of "good evening" on tonight's show, although she did acknowledge her error. She is a hard worker, for what it's worth. I also love Wendy Reiger...she has a good sense of humor and doesn't take herself seriously. I also want to add Eun Yang to the list of people on channel 4 who did a great job covering the weekend's snow storm. In closing...love your snowman, Silvie, although I have no idea what "Savage Nation" means. -- Bobbie (12/21/09)

(RE Jim Clarke:) I will NEVER forget his work back in the 70's when President Jimmy Carter was holding a public forum on civil service reform in Alexandria. Really complicated, esoteric stuff. He does this stand-up...without ever looking down at his notes- that totally captures all the nuance and detail the rest of us reporter-shmucks were struggling to understand... (12/21/09)

(RE Jim Clarke:) Jim took the BEST notes of any reporter I've ever seen. His notes from trials he was assigned to cover were practically verbatim testimony. He was a great reporter; he had depth, insight and a wonderful way of connecting to the viewer; and he was a wonderful person. (12/21/09)

There is word from WJLA that we’ve lost another icon in Washington news reporting. Jim Clarke is said to have died of heart attack this weekend after shoveling snow for a neighbor. A sudden and totally unexpected loss… Clarke was one of the best and he will be missed. Tom Gauger (12/21/09)

Dave's response: Very sad! We got our Front Page newsblurb up at about 9 AM.....

"Dear Penis [that's not what I call it, but hey], why don't you take you, your relatives and anyone else you know that you consider "fun to watch/listen to,and post on the WEBMD or other medical websites." I'm sorry, do my amputee relatives make you uncomfortable? I must have missed your nonverbal cue. I know they make me uncomfortable. What was your name again? Because the poster used the word "ass-hat" I will say "radi0godzforum.cum" sucks. You missed the fact that I mentioned a local news story that is being covered in the print edition of the Post and on local radio and tv news casts. And you may have noticed it was Martin & Lewis to the rescue. I'm just saying. In the future I will try to make my nonverbal cues more obvious. Bless your heart. --- ThePenIsMightier (12/21/09)

Dave's response: In the spirit of John Bobbit (which is also Johnny Holliday's real name, didja know that?), I am cutting off this penis thread. Finito!

(regarding a previous post) ThePenIs writes: "My quarrel is with people who use Aspergers or the claim of Aspergers or a relative who has Aspergers as an excuse for behavior which would otherwise be unacceptable, i.e. general douchebaggery. I do not offer that excuse." He's right. He has no excuse to offer - but there are lots of reasons for his "restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests." While I cannot advise what medical steps might be taken to help him, one immediate action by Dave Hughes, would at least, keep the DCRTV readers from being subjected to the continually stupid, inane, irrelevant, rambling posts by ThePenIs. Dave, please stop being an enabler for this guy! (12/21/09)

(OK that's their problem if they refuse to believe that Sajak is a station owner...) So out of curiosity I decided to see what I could find. The really sad thing is that, with minor googling, you can turn up 3 different references to Sajak owning the station and being involved in MD area media. The station's own website lists Sajak Broadcasting. They didn't have to take your word for it, they could have second-sourced it in, oh, 30 seconds. ...people on the internet suck. -Grant in Laurel (12/21/09)

Dear Penis, why don't you take you, your relatives and anyone else you know that you consider "fun to watch/listen to,and post on the WEBMD or other medical websites. This is a radio/TV site. Move on you ass-hat! (12/21/09)

"(regarding a previous post) 'I call pseudo-Aspergers. --- ThePenIsMightier' Aspergers, of course, is an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests." This is actually quite good. You've diagnosed me as a dcrtv poster, or possibly webmaster. What was your name again? And, given your obvious medical knowledge, what is the treatment for Aspergers? By both the DSM and Gillberg standards, I'm good to go as far as being negative on Aspergers. My quarrel is with people who use Aspergers or the claim of Aspergers or a relative who has Aspergers as an excuse for behavior which would otherwise be unacceptable, i.e. general douchebaggery. I do not offer that excuse. I have an uncle who got hit by a car when he was seven and has been retarded ever since, but I still laugh at the movie line "you don't play full retard", and another uncle with a cleft palate, and Baby Jesus it's funny to hear him talk. Don't even get me started on the amputees in the family. On another note, there's a bunch of videos on YouTube showing the DC cop with "significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests" going after the snowballers. And who doesn't like snowballing? Do I dare to eat a peach? --- ThePenIsMightier (12/21/09)

(WMAL ... Wasn't it a better station, serving its listeners and the communities of the Washington DC region, back when it was a locally-owned station?) First, WMAL hasn't been locally owned since the 1970's. However, it WAS a great radio station. In fact, until about 10 years ago or so it was the dominant news and trafic radio station in this region. But WTOP began to challenge them in the late 90's. By about 2002 or so, it became obvious that WTOP was taking the news and traffic image. But WMAL stubbornly kept on defending the news and traffic image even when it was clear WTOP was winning. What they should have done was play their own game, defining themselves as a talk station. Every previous PD until the incumbent made this mistake. They should have defined themselves as Washington's Conservative Voice......wrapped themselves in the American flag....and put Fox News on top of the hour. THAT would have been a winning strategy for them. They never defined themsleves, whereas WTOP did this perfectly, calling itself Washington's news, traffic and weather station. (12/21/09)

Dave, WUSA has put in a request for higher power (52 kW vice 12.6 kW) on an experimental basis. They will conduct a measurement program to document what, if any, additional interference to WGAL, Lancaster, PA, and WBPH, Bethlehem, PA. Hopefully, they'll be able to keep most, if not all, of that power on a permanent basis. It figures they would do this just as I managed to get the attic antenna positioned to pull in 7 and 9 while losing WRC and WDCA. Paperwork is here (fcc.gov). Regards, Dave Loudin (12/21/09)

(The local Citadel stations are bringing in money to operate, yes; but is there the outside chance that they might have to go dark temporarily to conserve resources?) No. Mix billed 19 million in sales in 2008. Even WMAL billed over 11 million. They still make money....just not enough for the greedy bankers and Farid. (12/21/09)

The ABCs of WMAL... Owned and operated by M. A. Leese from 1925 to 1934. Owned by M. A. Leese, but leased by NBC from 1934 to 1937. Operated by NBC under a managerial agreement from 1937 to 1942. Evening Star acquires M.A. Leese Radio Corp. in 1938. Evening Star Broadcasting acquired by Joseph L. Albritton’s Perpetual Corporation in 1976. WMAL and WMAL-FM spun off to ABC Radio in 1977. Capital Cities and ABC, Inc. merged in 1986. Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. Disney's ABC Radio properties (excluding Radio Disney and ESPN Radio) spun off and merged with Citadel Broadcasting Corporation on June 12, 2007. Citadel Broadcasting Corp. files for U.S. bankruptcy protection on December 21st, 2009. (12/21/09)

You all need to leave Wendy alone, any woman who says 17" is 7" too much is ok in my book. (12/21/09)

VERY RARE clip of Dick Dyszel as Bozo The Clown from 1972 starring in "Twas The Night Before Christmas" - exclusive on the Facebook page for EVERY OTHER DAY IS HALLOWEEN, the documentary about Dyszel's career and impact at Bozo, Captain 20 and Count Gore De Vol. Coming to DVD in 2010! www.facebook.com (12/21/09)

Our snowman, Harold, is a proud member of the "Savage Nation". -Silvie- (12/21/09)

Now THAT's is a tragedy if true - "In other words, ABC is dead in the water as an iconic radio network. Mark my words on that." - The Brand New Citadel insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com (12/21/09)

The "howling blizzard" sound effects Channel 5 used last night in the open to the news was one of the most hilariously lame "Blizzard of '09" hypes I've heard yet...and y'all leave Wendy be..... KJ, Laurel MD (12/21/09)

The local Citadel stations are bringing in money to operate, yes; but is there the outside chance that they might have to go dark temporarily to conserve resources? Much like that titan of industry, Birach Broadcasting? (12/21/09)

All Access is reporting this afternoon that radio group owner NextMedia has also filed for Chap. 11 bankruptcy. Does the fun ever end? www.allaccess.com (12/21/09)

"Does anyone know why Fox 5 didn't carry the Ravens game...") Ravens game was at 4:15 yesterday. Didn't realize it was ever at 4 before - they just switched it Thurs or Fri this week for the snow. I do know that a few weeks ago a Falcons game was listed as the early game on Fox in Baltimore on the Comcast program guide. The Falcons game didn't come on - another one did. Comcast told me to contact the broadcaster (starting with the local affiliate) since that was where their info came from. (12/21/09)

"With the bankruptcy of Citadel, my thoughts go to WMAL. Wasn't it a better station, serving its listeners and the communities of the Washington DC region, back when it was a locally-owned station?" When was that? Before Citadel it was owned by Disney. Before that it was owned by ABC. It has been corporately owned since.....what, the 1960's? How long since it was locally owned? Anybody know? (12/21/09)

I would like to apologize to Mailbag readers for my recent use of the term "pseduo-' when what I meant to write was "pseudo-". This was particularly egregious, occurring as it did in a post where I took another writer to task for poor spelling (typos, really). Cherry Binaca, anyone? --- ThePenIsMightier (12/21/09)

If you had to pick one local t.v. newser to handle more than 12”, you’d have to put Wendy Rieger high on that list. Sincerely, TMU (12/21/09)

"Does anyone know why Fox 5 didn't carry the Ravens game, as the WaPo, and every program guide had said they would (with the correct, updated time?) It appears everyone but WTTG master control got the message..." I would guess that as soon as the 49ers-Eagles game was shifted to 4:15, WTTG switched its plans; games involving NFC East teams invariably get a higher priority. (Not sure if Baltimore stations do likewise for games involving the Bengals, Browns or Steelers, the Ravens' AFC North rivals.) But what's strange is, the NFL schedule originally had Chicago at Baltimore as a 4 p.m. game. I presume several weeks ago it was shifted to 1, probably because the Bears have been a disappointment this season. -- Vincent in Triangle (12/21/09)

This morning WJLA-TV ABC7 is reporting that their former reporter Jim Clarke has died. He retired in 2003. (12/21/09)

(quote) WMAL ... Wasn't it a better station, serving its listeners and the communities of the Washington DC region, back when it was a locally-owned station? (end) Prob'ly. But dangle a big-enough bag of money in front of anybody, and watch those priorities change. That's what you had all throughout the mid-90s up to now. (12/21/09)

Good snow-covered morning - On New York Social Diary today we take a look at the Blizzard of '09, from a Georgetown perspective. Also, a 48 hour getaway to New York City and the reinterpreted Plaza Hotel. Read it here. Our next Q&A Cafe is Thursday, January 28, with NBC's Chris Hansen, host of the acclaimed "To Catch A Predator" series on Dateline. The location is the Georgetown Ritz Carlton. Seating begins at noon. The fee is $50, all inclusive and valet parking is available for a discounted $10. Please make your reservations at 202.912.4110. There's more about Chris Hansen here. Have a good week. Carol (12/21/09)

Not sure if you caught this story Dave, but there was a little controversy about Brian Billick covering the Ravens game for FOX this past Sunday. It's the only time Billick has ever covered a Ravens game as an analyst and it kind of raises a question about whether he should. Billick is still under contract to the Ravens and still getting paid until next year, so technically he's on The Baltimore Ravens payroll and is covering the game as almost an employee! (12/21/09)

Dave's response: In the sports media business, conflicts of interest are all too common.....

Not specifically about the DC radio market, but still, an accurate summation of the state of things from today’s 'Taylor On Radio-Info': “The fruits of deregulation are now clear – everyone loses”, says Connecticut station owner Dennis Jackson. He says “the big story of 2009 is the ultimate comeuppance of impending bankruptcy being earned by the big three plundering conglomerators. These folks, with our NAB as their mouthpiece, persuaded Congress to require the FCC to deregulate radio ownership using the ruse that the new Docket 80-90 FMs were not otherwise economically viable, just as PC-based automation was making it possible to run a station on a shoestring. The fruits of deregulation are now clear - Everyone loses. That’s the listening public, investors, lenders, advertisers, and thousands of broadcasters who once made radio great and were fired from jobs to which they were dedicated. For the most part, corporate radio is a hollow, bloodless shell replacing a medium that listeners once cared deeply about. Perhaps 2010 will be the year when real broadcasters are let back into their stations and we can begin to turn our medium around before it's too late.” (12/21/09)

(snip) Does anyone know why Fox 5 didn't carry the Ravens game (end snip) The game was moved to 4:15pm because of the storm. Al McGilvray (12/21/09)

no mailbag mentions of Sandra Shaw's battery operated socks?? She was apparently so proud of them she mentioned them several times and had to show them off yesterday on-air on WBAL. It happened at least twice on different occasions from what I heard. (12/21/09)

(regarding a previous post) "I call pseudo-Aspergers. --- ThePenIsMightier" Aspergers, of course, is an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Now there's an accurate diagnosis of ThePenIsMightier! It’s sad, really. He keeps getting a platform, when what he desperately needs, is treatment. Dave, you are nothing but an enabler for this poor, unfortunate bastard! (12/21/09)

Does anyone know why Fox 5 didn't carry the Ravens game, as the WaPo, and every program guide had said they would (with the correct, updated time?) It appears everyone but WTTG master control got the message... (12/21/09)

I would like to address the continued used of the term "Aspergers" in this mailbag by the reader "ThePenIsMighter". I have Aspergers, it is a diagnosed form of Autism not something I made up in my head. I find it quite dishearting seeing "ThePenIsMighter" insulting people with something that thousands and thousands of people suffer from ever day. You wouldn't insult someone by calling them "pseduo-Autistic" would you? Why do the same with another form of Autism? Dave, I would like to address you personally for a moment. I have come to enjoy the daily viewings of your website and the information it provides. But when your mailbag spews forth nothing but hate to those with mental illness of any kind by someone using something I suffer from every day as some sort of insult in a conversation, that isn't something I or anyone else should want to read. "ThePenIsMighter"s posts have nothing to do with radio, television or any form of media, but only have to do with criticizing someone and berating them with evil insults. I ask that you remove this users posts from your website as they bring nothing to the conversation, but do bring a sort of hate speech to your website. Let's get back to what DCRTV is about radio, television and media of all sorts. -- Thank You, Tybois Uphold (12/21/09)

What in the hell is the deal with ThePenis and his obsession with Asperger Syndrome? Time for new material, Shecky. (12/21/09)

Wendy Rieger was on NBC4 all day long on Saturday, covering the same story (the blizzard) and nothing else, so it was obvious that by 5pm she was tired. I don't know what the big deal is. She was adding her own stories & experiences from her radio days and early TV career into the mix. She remembered off the top of her head the Big Blizzard of 11/11/87. Would someone supposedly 'punch drunk' be able to recall that? Chuck Bell related his own college & career experiences. They were not reading from any TV prompters and were hardly going into commercial breaks, so I don't know what else they could've discussed that was not improvised, trying to fill air time. Mailbaggers need to chill. And, to NBC4 - please keep Wendy on-air during the next winter storm. She & Chuck made my day! -Silvie- (12/21/09)

When is WRC scheduled to begin televising its local news broadcasts in high definition? (12/21/09)

Dave's response: Early 2010, I'm told.....

/\ December 21 Messages /\

\/ December 20 Messages \/

With the bankruptcy of Citadel, my thoughts go to WMAL. Wasn't it a better station, serving its listeners and the communities of the Washington DC region, back when it was a locally-owned station? Maybe the state of the industry today serves as an object lesson - that the experiment of deregulation and mega station ownership - has failed miserably. (12/20/09)

"Wendy Rieger (might be) suffering from the stress-related fatigue, whatthe military M.D.'s call "battle fatigue". I've seen it before in air personalities who had put in too many hours on-aor without adequate rest... You might want to think about pulling that YouTube link out ofrespect for Wendy. I know you usually only do this when the person offended asks. This yime might be worth an exception." a) they haven't called it "battle fatigue" for years, but good try at appealing to authority; and b) your girl was tired after 30 nights...No person, even those of us who are superhuman, those of us with Herculean appetites for the diverse and the bizarre, even those of us who have shown an aptitude to fight the good fight and stay the good long battle...even those of us can get tired. "on-aor"? "yime"? I certainly don't respect you. Are the walls of room with your weight-bench papered with Wendy Rieger 8 x 10s? Cherry Binaca? I call pseduo-Aspergers. --- ThePenIsMightier (12/20/09)

Another local station bites the dust...Salem Broadcasting will be shutting down WAMD in Aberdeen in January, around the 8th. WAMD was purchased by Salem from First Broadcasting. Since the purchase, the station transformed from Oldies to a relay of WAVA in DC. (12/20/09)

Monday marks a big promotion for another visibly "battle fatigued" blonde... (12/20/09)

The only thing worse than Dave Brown on WTOP is Dave Brown with laryngitis on WTOP. It's gotten to the point that it's just embarrassing. (12/20/09)

Chainsman asked — "Hey, mailbaggers: Who is the news announcer and sometime talk radio host confined to a wheelchair after an aircraft accident who worked for The Voice of America for many years? Thanks in advance." Pretty sure Hockenberry never worked at VOA. I think you're thinking of Steve Shepard. He was a newscaster at VOA for a number of years and had previously worked (or maybe concurrently) for CBS radio, also as a newscaster, I seem to recall. He also wrote a thriller called "Murder of Crows" (1996). — Art at VOA (12/20/09)

Wendy Rieger (might be) suffering from the stress-related fatigue, what the military M.D.'s call "battle fatigue". I've seen it before in air personalities who had put in too many hours on-aor without adequate rest... You might want to think about pulling that YouTube link out of respect for Wendy. I know you usually only do this when the person offended asks. This yime might be worth an exception. (12/20/09)

Wendy Rieger looks like the ghost of Jessica Savitch has a new home = NBC4 (12/20/09)

Nice Nip Slip on the WRC webpage www.nbcwashington.com (12/20/09)

Dave's response: Damn, we can see both nips on that dude! Ha ha ha.....

Deregulation of ownership caused the price of stations to rise as conglomerates bought more and more stations and station groups. Since that day, they've been trying to bring expenses under control since revenues haven't grown. Thus, the cautious programming of the last decade and a half. To bring back better radio, limit station ownership. Sure, Clear Channel will take a hit. How is that a bad thing? -- GAB in the Airless Cubicle (12/20/09)

Thank God they are getting rid of Newschannel 8 and putting on Politico TV. When something like this snow comes along, it makes you remember how much you want... no... how much you need your daily political news and commentary. I hope they make it just a bunch of random politically themed programs that are just endlessly repeated over and over and over again. More old guys in suits! Inexpensive programming! Corporate Synergy! Playback on the video server! Bring it on! John (12/20/09)

Dave's response: In the old days of analog cable, NC8 was right there between 7/WJLA and 9/WUSA at 8 on the dial, and I frequently stopped by. Now, with HD, my Comcast system carries WJLA on 210 and WUSA on 212. And I don't hardly ever go all the way "down" to 8 to catch NC8 in SD. Looks like NC8's a loser via its old channel "location".....

Wendy Rieger's antics made YouTube. (12/20/09)

(QUOTE) Can someone explain how radio companies are so in debt and filing bankruptcy...I don't remember hearing about such financial distress (END) Overpaying for inflated properties and the loss of local businesses willing to advertise, driven out of business by massive corporate stores who had no need to buy spots. (12/20/09)

"Can someone explain how radio companies are so in debt and filing bankruptcy with so much syndication and vt'ing on the air? Years ago stations had full air staffs and bad economies, but I don't remember hearing about such financial distress." In a word, debt. Companies like Citadel and Clear Channel took on too much debt to expand during the good times. Then things went bad, they couldn't make their payments. Companies like Bonneville and Cox and Saga that did not take on a pile of debt weathered the storm much better with just a little belt-tightening. (12/20/09)

Well it snowed saturday. Looked out the window saw it snow. Don't need wall to wall news coverage telling me it's snowing it's getting deep don't drive and endless babble from news people standing in the snow. Kudows to those channels that went to regular programing. (12/20/09)

Dave's response: The one good thing about having such a big snowfall so early in the season is that it'll temper down the TV hype for future snowstorms this winter season. I think we'll see quite a bit less TV news "fearmongering" when that 6-inch storm strikes in mid-January.....

Can someone explain how radio companies are so in debt and filing bankruptcy with so much syndication and vt'ing on the air? Years ago stations had full air staffs and bad economies, but I don't remember hearing about such financial distress. (12/20/09)

Wendy Rieger is THE biggest GAS BAG on DC TV. She constantly interrupts anyone, anytime with mindless dribble. No one can get a word or thought in. She's always talking over everybody. Like what she has to say MUST be the MOST important. And, what’s with the “fingers thru the hair” routine? Perhaps she should use some shampoo and stop all that itching-scratching, utterly nauseous habit. (12/20/09)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Citadel will file for bankruptcy as early as today. GAB in the Airless Cubicle (12/20/09)

Bloomberg confirms: Citadel filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. (12/20/09)

To those who are complaining about Wendy Rieger on the news yesterday .... really? She has what most local news folk lost (or sold to the devil) a long time ago ... we like to call it "personality". Free enough, secure enough to be spontanious, tell real-life/ real-time storys and professional enough to realize that those of us stuck in the house all damn day were tired of listening to the same BS over and over again! So she shared a couple of stories back from her college days, big damn deal ... better that then "yup, still snowing... back to you Cookie Cutter Street Reporter" And while I'm at it ... Ashley Linder did an incredible job! From what I can tell, most traffic reporters blow when they have to kill airtime (no offense Lisa) but Ashley rolled with the punches being thrown at her! She was informative, professional and personable! Again, after a couple of hours of hearing about the morons who decided that a blizzard was a good time to go catch up on some Starbucks; Ashley Linder gave a real sense of what was going on! What I wouldn't give, assuming I will have to relive yesterday in ill-prepared for the snow Nations' Capital, to have Chuck Bell, Wendy Rieger and Ashley Linder all on at the same time ... the snow may fall, but that's local entertainment in every true sense of the word! Kristen (12/20/09)

(Poster asking about injured radio personality.) Steve Thompson was an airborne traffic reporter when WTOP was in the news business on 1500AM, and was severely injured when his aircraft crashed. He survived but not sure what path his career took him after that. Last I saw him, he was getting around with a cane. (12/20/09)

While David Zurawick wrote some nice comments about Baltimore TV coverage of the 2009 blizzard, I wonder how many folks actually saw coverage provided by CH2 and CH45. Their inconsistency in providing weekend news coverage would logically send viewers to the stations one can count on, CH11 and CH13. Some side notes; what’s with the beard on the CH2 weather dude? It makes him look really evil. Why didn’t some station do a story on the monumental effort done by the crews at the airport to get the runways, taxiways and gate areas cleared. (The answer is the airport won’t permit it. Come on Maryland get with it.) The Air Traffic Controllers also did an incredible job, not only keeping track of the air traffic, but of the snow crews on the runways. (12/20/09)

Does anyone know the current whereabouts of former Channel 9 Newser Mike Buchannan (& his traffic sidekick Stacy Binn)? Rusty Gibson WEBR RadioFairfax (12/20/09)

Yeah, Wendy Rieger was a tad punchy by that point in the snow coverage on 4 yesterday. It was FUNNY! Made for good TV in the midst of the storm, actually. The story about the college boyfriend concerned her (as designated driver) chauffering the guy and a couple others back to DC from a rugby match in Erie thru the snows of western Pennsylvania once upon a time. She was getting a little wacky...and if it didn't make you laugh, then you need a life. You go, Wendy! - - - - - Larry in (17" of white stuff) Luray (12/20/09)

www.nfl.com - The Bears conducted normal walk-throughs and Saturday meetings at Halas Hall and ultimately took off some time after 8 p.m. CT, arriving in Baltimore's BWI Airport late Saturday night, according to NFL Network's Jason La Canfora. The NFL, at the request of Baltimore city officials, already announced Friday that the Bears-Ravens game would be pushed back to a 4:15 p.m. kickoff to allow more time for crews to prepare M&T Bank Stadium... Mike in Alexandria (12/20/09)

So I finally get to email DCRTV without getting fired! This email concerns SAJAK BROADCASTING and WTTR in Westminster. At 7pm on Saturday, during the Blizzard of 2009, I'm listening to WTTR for closings and whatnot. You see, I was the first PD of WTTR when Shamrock bought it. Leonard Roberts and I sat in a small room and came to the conclusion that "our" radio station was to be called "Carroll Community Radio". Because "our county", is not like any other county in Mer-a-lan". Carroll County is made up of many "communities". The same "communities" that DEPENDS ON and SUPPORTS local radio. Pat, Dwight is spinning in his very beautiful urn right now, because your radio station is on auto-pilot. There is NO WEATHER. There is NO CANCELLATIONS. There is no PANCAKE SUPPER!... I have two sons, out-of-work, and we live right across the street... We'll do it for God's sake... We're broadcasters!... This "community" needs it's radio station. And you need our "communities" to survive. Call Tom Burnett right now and get him in there! (Just the PD in me talking). By the way the Pancake is postponed until next Saturday. Steve Drepperd - CBS Sports and Carroll Community Listener. (12/20/09)

When WRC took a brief break from the nonstop blizzard coverage, I flipped back and forth between 7 and 9. I wished I'd gone back to Channel 4 when they resumed coverage. I suspected something was going on earlier in the day when Eun Yang was anchoring. She kept whispering to somebody every time they did a phone interview with the VDOT spokesperson or something similar. At first, I thought maybe Eun had her kids there with her Now I'm wondering if Wendy Riegger was slipping her a hot toddy. Whatever it was, there was something that was going on that was distracting Eun offcamera most of the day. I agree, they should let them all drink and be merry during an event like this. It would help break the monotony that these type of marathon broadcasts eventually slip into after hours and hours of coverage. Kudos to WUSA for going all the way until 8 pm with their coverage, although I could have done without the red-headed amazon. She added nothing to the broadcast. i much preferred when they brought the blonde weekend sports reporter with the tony robbins tan and white teeth out on the weather terrace. (12/20/09)

"Hey, mailbaggers: Who is the news announcer and sometime talk radio host confined to a wheelchair after an aircraft accident who worked for The Voice of America for many years?" Are you referring to John Hockenberry? wikipedia.org (12/20/09)

Yo Channel 9 wtf? You are doing a news broadcast on a Sunday morning at 7:00am? Give it up, either you are going to do early news on the weekends or you are not. Everyone is watching Channel 4 as they Regularly have news on during the morning weekend hours. How are people going to watch their Magic Bullet, Colon Cleanser and Oreck XL Infomercials if you are trying to do a lame news broadcast? (12/20/09)

I know WRC, WJLA, WTTG, WUSA, WBAL, & WJZ all had more reporters covering the snowstorm, but I gotta give some credit to WMAR ABC 2 NEWS. They stayed on air LIVE for TWELVE HOURS STRAIGHT, 7AM to 7PM, AS LONG OR LONGER THAN ANY OTHER STATION IN THE DC/BALTIMORE REGION! And WBFF FOX 45 did like 2 hours at the very end & ran INFOMERCIALS most of the day instead. Disgraceful FOX 45! WJZ 13 was hampered by being CBS-owned, which forced them to cut away to network sports programming at 1PM. WBAL 11 later cut to NBC programming at 4:30PM, but poor old WMAR ABC 2 NEWS stuck in there all day long. KUDOS! And Thank You Jamie and Megan and others at WMAR, well done. Given the current resources from Scripps Howard, this was an amazing job to pull off for WMAR 2 and clearly shows a commitment to news coverage, despite the cut backs, lay-offs, and buy-outs. WBFF FOX 45 should be ashamed of themselves right now and I hope they fall into 4th place as a result of that lack of commitment to covering breaking news in Baltimore. I've previously criticized & even ridiculed WMAR 2 often, but I think this storm might be a game changer because WBFF FOX 45 News was basically AWOL throughout almost all of the storm. FACE THE FACTS FOX 45, WMAR 2 JUST KICKED YOUR ASS! -- Joe in Essex :-) (12/20/09)

WURA in the Fredericksburg area seems to have Spanish Language announcing. They are not doing legal ID anywhere close to the top of the hour. The music seems to be a mixture of Anglo and Latin Christmas music. The announcing seems "canned" How long can AM really survive? (12/20/09)

Dave's response: The only way an AMer of that type in that location can survive these days is by doing brokered something or other, most-likely Spanish or religion.....

At about 11:07 pm TV channel 4 broadcast a home video of a fellow with anger control issues, claiming to be one of DC's Faggiest, I mean Finest, identifying himself by name (you can see the video on YouTube) and title (Detective), and admitting to pulling his gun because he had been....wait for it... hit by a snowball. In the brief clip the uniformed officer called to the scene appears to be doing an excellent job of handling the situation. Maybe because he wasn't a dick whose first move was to pull a gun on a crowd of people having a snowball fight. Remember what Spiderman said about great power and great responsibility. On the Wendy Rieger front, what was that story she was telling about "the Rugby Jew" who she was sure had grown fat and bald? College boyfriend? --- ThePenIsMightier (12/20/09)

“The Chicago Bears flight to Baltimore's BWI airport was cancelled and they are NOT in Baltimore! It's possible tomorrow's Ravens/Bears game on WBFF FOX 45 could be cancelled. The game was already delayed to 4PM, but it's questionable if the Chicago Bears will be able to fly into BWI before late morning Sunday” As The Blues Brothers would say: “It's 106 miles to Chicago (or 700 miles from Chicago to Baltimore), we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.” Why don’t these pussy Chicago Bears just steal a few local school buses, get on I-90 and head east to Breezewood, PA (one of my favorite places on earth) jump on I-70 east and get their sorry asses to Baltimore? Sheesh: do they want to playing some fucking football or cry? Here’s a link for directions: www.mapquest.com (12/20/09)

I understand the history and the wording behind it all, but I still crack up when I hear WTOP talk about historic snow depths dating back to the 1870s, as measured at Reagan National Airport. Bet the folks who built the airport were pissed to find out they had to wait 30 more years til the Wright Brothers built the first airplane. (12/20/09)

Hey, mailbaggers: Who is the news announcer and sometime talk radio host confined to a wheelchair after an aircraft accident who worked for The Voice of America for many years? Thanks in advance. -Chainsman (12/20/09)

/\ December 20 Messages /\

\/ December 19 Messages \/

WUSA is using a satellite truck 'borrowed' from a sister Gannett station while their truck is undergoing major repairs. The mic is from their truck as it is likely she is also doing live shots for that station as well. Just and oops in the chaos. (12/19/09)

The WRC “Doll House”… “Dollars for Orphans” (Later “Dollars for Needy Children”) on channel 9 recall a time when broadcasters actually cared about the communities they served. Not to comply with an FCC Rule or Reg, but because they were indeed, “Broadcasters”. And, were indeed worthy of the name. –Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/19/09)

Citadel Broadcasting , third largest US radio broadcaster, to file for bankruptcy as soon as Sunday - Wall Street Journal. (12/19/09)

PLB devoted episode of "Out of the Past"? Can someone put him back in the past, please? (12/19/09)

Wendy Reiger is shitfaced and it's the best local TV...ever. ALL local anchors should be allowed to drink just before going on. Maybe get Angie Goff to pull her top off. WHEEEEEEEEE! Paul (12/19/09)

Thank you Wendy Rieger and Chuck Bell for the funny stories during your broadcast all day today... I laughed so much! These two together are a hoot! -Silvie- (12/19/09)

Re: the comment inquiring as to whether Wendy Rieger is drunk or just punchy, I was wondering the exact same thing..She's been talking all over Chuck Bell and has been acting quite giddy..Pat Collins was on the phone with a snow report and she introduced him by saying "How ya doin' Patty"..So I'm wondering if she's going to be doing the 6pm newscast as well..If so, I may have to switch to a movie. (12/19/09)

Watching Wendy Rieger around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon wondering if she is drunk or just punchy and tired. She is making the NBC4 newscast look like something out of East Topeka. Gotta love her giving out her e-mail address on the air. (12/19/09)

It's 4:30PM and WMAR ABC 2 NEWS is the only station in Baltimore to stay on with live news coverage since 7AM! WBAL TV 11 just switched to NBC at 4:30, WJZ broke away at 1PM for CBS basketball. I'm very impressed with WMAR 2 given the resources they have left for running news all day long. FOX 45, which supposedly beats them in ratings, has not had one news report all day long and FOX 45 keeps running a news crawl that says they will update you at 12 NOON on the weather story. One problem... it's 4:30PM! HAha! (12/19/09)

Snowy day viewing... PLB's recent interview on "Out of the Past"... (Plentiful WPGC images courtesy of www.amandfmmorningside.com) (12/19/09)

Earlier, Syvie mentioned Warner Wolf. Coincidentally, I saw Warner playing a commentator today in one of the films from the "Rocky" franchise. And a "Boo f The Year" to the Albritton team for showing Beverly the door just before Christmas. Dave has there been any word from the hospital regarding the nature of her illness and current condition? I hope the folks at NC8 at least had the decency to kiss her before they screwed her. Stay warm and safe everyone, Rusty Gibson, WEBR/RadioFairfax (12/19/09)

(RE a BW today:) Yeah...Whazzup with Julie not wearing the snowflake sweater. Pathetic. A travesty. I'm soooooo disappointed. Doc Stone (12/19/09)

Yeah, that was a WKYC mike flag Audrey Barnes was holding, which is an Cleveland NBC affiliate Gannett owns. Maybe WUSA just has these surplus mikes for all of Gannett's stations. (12/19/09)

Just listening to Topper Shutt show me on a map where Smithsburg is. Several other map and chart references. But I wasn't watching him on TV I was listening to 100.3. TV audio on radio does NOT work. After a few minutes of novelty, I switched back to WTOP here they do it right. Clear Channel cannot manage ot hire ONE radio news person for their entire DC cluster? Cheap bastards who do not care about serving the community they serve. (12/19/09)

(Snip) my Washington Post was on my snow-covered doorstep in Alexandria this morning (end snip) I remember when I lived in Hampton Roads about 10+ years ago, and a woman called a local talk show on WNIS to report that the Virginian-Pilot was delivered "on time" and placed where her porch "had been" before the hurricane tore it off. Hurray for newspaper delivery people! Al McGilvray (12/19/09)

Anybody know why I am hearing WTOP on 104.7 FM? (12/19/09)

Dave's response: WTOP has a low-power relay in Leesburg on 104.3. It dates back to the 3WT days. I believe it's technically a relay of 107.7, which is hard to get in the Leesburg area with a country outlet in Gettysburg on the same frequency. With WTOP easily receivable in Leesburg on DC's 103.5 and Frederick's 103.9, the 104.3 thingo hardly seems necessary.....

As first reported as a rumor by WBAL TV 11, it's now been confirmed by the Marriot Hotel... The Chicago Bears flight to Baltimore's BWI airport was cancelled and they are NOT in Baltimore! It's possible tomorrow's Ravens/Bears game on WBFF FOX 45 could be cancelled. The game was already delayed to 4PM, but it's questionable if the Chicago Bears will be able to fly into BWI before late morning Sunday. A mad scramble is in the works to possibly fly the team into Philadelphia and then get them by train to Baltimore according to Scott Garceau, who appeared on WMAR 2 this morning surprisingly by phone. By the way, FOX 45 has not covered the storm at all, they ran infomercials all morning. Despite all the cut backs at WMAR ABC 2, they're running continuous live news coverage all morning long and into the afternoon. FOX 45 should be ashamed for missing this huge historic story. WJZ, "Maryland's NEWS STATION" stopped coverage at 1PM. Interestingly, WJZ 13, Marty Bass & 105.7 The Fan's BullDog are all claiming the game will go on as scheduled & that the Bears will fly into BWI around 11am tomorrow. Hmmm, I think I might turn on the WGN News tonight. :-) (12/19/09)

Hey, Dave...like you, my Washington Post was on my snow-covered doorstep in Alexandria this morning. It was wrapped in yellow plastic, so I was able to see it in the snow...the Sunday supplement was delivered last night. I have no complaints about my Post delivery service...they do a good job. On the other hand, I have yet to see the mailman today. Unlike some others, I've been enjoying the coverage of this record snowfall on Channel 4, and I'm not a snow lover. I especially enjoy it because I'm in my warm, cozy home and not out in it. Bob Ryan made an interesting observation...it's not even Winter yet. -- Bobbie (12/19/09)

Anybody catch Audrey Barnes on Channel 9 doing a local hit...yet using an NBC 3 microphone flag? WTF?? This was around 3:15 Saturday afternoon... (12/19/09)

Someone responded to his own post: "I don't know if this is what you're seeking as a BEST... 2009 entry, but my vote for ...ThePenIsMightier..... maybe he'll take the hint and post his inside "jokes" and free-associating ... /// I second the motion, even though I know his microphallus is chubbing up at the mere hint of derision. Always ironic when a poster with a fake name lambastes another for an anonymous posting." Ah, derision. I'll have you know it's a full-on robot chubby, and I call it Lyl Wlld Stallyn. I'm not anonymous, I have a persona (Latin for "mask", think "pseudonym") and stand behind what I write. I don't respond to my own posts. And "lambastes" is such a harsh word; it puts me in the mind of what Mark Trail has in mind for l'il Rusty once he digs him out from under the station wagon. I prefer "quite rightly calls on the carpet for being a total puss." Some may disagree. Now, on to media. Chris Plante: I think I agree with him politically, but his radio show is an abortion. I would rather hear three hours of Air America; if I'm going to suffer through bad broadcasting, at least I want an intellectual challenge (not because AirAm requires intelligence, but because it's a different point of view). Get off my air, you nitwit! IF anyone really DID campaign to get this juicebox back on the air, they should be rounded up into Discpline Camps. Perhaps in Illinois. Dave, did I miss it or did DCRTV miss WMAL's recent Fisher House campaign? Started by now-disgraced-for-wearing-a-T-shirt-that-scared-alien-invaders host Michael Graham, unfortunately this year it was delegated to one weekend day with no discernible on-air publicity during the week before, and the results, though admirable, were anemic compared to those generated under the strong but greasy from eating pork hand of Michael "The Hammer" Graham. Apparently WMAL management doesn't really care about the wounded troops. Nonetheless, I'm sure you, Dear Reader, joined me in contributing. Didn't you? I know Dave did --- ThePenIsMightier (12/19/09)

"It's Eleven O Clock, Do You Know Where Your Children Are?". That sentence embedded itself into my brain so deeply that while I did not always hear the actual words I always 'took stock' of where I was at 11PM. My wife and I automatically followed the subtle but commanding act of parental responsibility without either of us ever voicing it out loud. Why 11 O' Clock? Why when the late news came on did one of us check on the kids? Why did we feel the need to let our parents know where we were? It didn't dawn on us until this decade. I was on another Aircheck kick,listening to all sorts of old commercials and station identifications when I blurted out "It's Eleven O Clock do you know where your children are?". My wife looked at me like I was nuts then remembered where she had heard it before. This is the power of media. Our oldest is 20 now and when 11PM rolls around we'd better damn well know where he is,what he's doing and who he's with. I wonder when that reflex will fade? How old will my children be when 11PM no longer brings that knee jerk reaction? I don't think I'll live to see that night. Donnie in North East. PS it is 11:21PM somewhere on the planet. Do they know where thier children are? (12/19/09)

So far, the winners in today's coverage have been WJLA and WUSA with wall-to-wall coverage all day. WRC and WTTG did cut away around noon, but they are back on now with continuous coverage. Speaking of WUSA, I noticed Audrey Barnes using a microphone where the flag has a "3" and NBC peacock logo on it. I'm sure she'll be on all afternoon, so perhaps someone else will notice this too. (12/19/09)

Does anybody know why WBAL TV doesn't air the NBC programming on the plus channel when they air the speical coverage on the main channel? Maybe its me, but enough snow coverage is enough. Also--on these terms. I wonder why Channel 11 does not air the 4th hour of today on the plus channel. Enjoy the snow! (12/19/09)

(From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Experienced TV/Radio guest booker available for contract/full-time opportunities. Very formidable and responsive rolodex with strong connections on Capitol Hill/poltics and business world. Can work frm home office or yours. Serious inquiries only, please. Email: theguestbooker@gmail.com (12/19/09)

On the Hall of Fame poster for Ed Walker, does anybody know if the photo (at the right top) was taken at WWDC-AM on Brookville Road? Thanks! (12/19/09)

So nice to see Ed Walker honored last night despite the approaching snow! And so many great old-timers! I wonder how many hit up Bruce Alan for Redskin tickets......... (12/19/09)

Eddie is a great guy and it's wonderful that he's being recognized this way. One of the highlights of my career was doing the news for the Joy Boys at WWDC. Of course, I had to work around the horns, slamming doors, bells and other things they had in the studio. Johnny Holliday did mornings, the Joy Boys afternoons. That was when radio was more than a researched playlist. It was a differen time. It was great. - Larry Matthews (12/19/09)

Warner Wolf was on WMAL this morning with Rick Fowler on "Saturday Morning Update". It was great to hear his voice. So Dave, what are your plans for TV viewing on this Blizzard-like day? -Silvie- (12/19/09)

Dave's response: My DVR is loaded with "Star Trek Next Generation" episodes recorded from Channel 50's 4 AM airings. So that'll do me through the day. Got to hand it to my Washington Post delivery guy. My Saturday paper and the Sunday bag were right there at my front door this morning, despite the snow.....

I'm glad the Studio Bleu Dance Center is closed..had me worried for a minute. Regards Biff (12/19/09)

Re:WBAL-TV The snow coverage live shots this morning look and smell like advertising product placement. Very tacky. Shame on WBAL-TV. (12/19/09)

Some Washington radio and TV legends gathered Friday evening at George Washington University to honor WAMU's Ed Walker for his recent induction into the National Radio Hall Of Fame in Chicago. Tom Buckley sent us these pictures.....

Joy Boys Door:

Bob Duckman, Ted Dorf:

Ed at work WAMU:

Hall of Fame Poster:

Ed, Dick Cassidy, Bob Duckman:

John Lyon, David Sproul WMAL:

Ken Mellgren:

Jim Bohannon:

Willard:

Bill Mayhugh, Ted Dorf:

Bruce Alan, Camille Bohannon:

Susan Scola (Ed's Daughter), Arch Campbell:

Michael Henry, Charles Grant, Chuck Howell (Library of American Broadcasting):

Ed and Willard:

Willard and Ed:

Fred Fiske:

Mac McGarry:

Ed and Willard's Table:

Bruce Alan:

John Lyon:

Chuck Howell, Arch Campbell:

Willard and Mac:

(12/19/09)

This just in: PLB was just run over by a reindeer. First reports indicate the reindeer was not hurt. (12/19/09)

The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik's fetish-like obsession with Jon & Kate continues LOL... baltimoresun.com (12/19/09)

Before WBAL-TV Channel 11 started using "Classical Gas" as the theme for "Thee 11 O'clock News," it was Bill Quinn (Michael Q Anthony) voicing the intro live on many occasions preceded by a live id & time check, "It's 11 O'clock..Do You Know Where Your Children Are?" Very nice to see the archive video here with anchor Don Harrison...the announcer track at the top sounded like an old school pre-record out of station thing that lacked the zip --- that radio stations had, that pioneered action news, pulsebeat news and fundamental news, ala Gordon McLendon and Bud Connell. (Thanks to Tom of DC...eyeontv for video) Let's remind Tony Oles (Scott Fitzgerald) and friends that it was Bill Quinn LIVE, who sometimes may be seen around Montgomery County and Baltimore...and if Tony still wears his star of life logo of an "EMT," it is Bill Quinn LIVE NOW! Should Tony or others read this and decide to creatively craft a reply in his inimitable fashion, please, please, pursue an entirely different tact------- an entirely different approach and subject matter. Happy Holidays will do--------Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! (12/19/09)

Anita Brikman announced on WUSA's 11:00 news that their morning coverage which starts at 6am will be simulcast on all six DC Clear Channel stations. That's something new to me.... (12/19/09)

Dave's response: Just scanned all FIVE (!) Clear Channel DC FMers on Saturday morning and they're playing their same generic music.....

Hey Dave: according to LOCAL WASHINGTON ALL NEWS STATION WTOP it is officially snowing. Any other LOCAL WASHINGTON news outlets confirming this suspicion? (12/19/09)

/\ December 19 Messages /\

\/ December 18 Messages \/

Thought...Instead of getting rid of someone who seems as nice as Beverly Kirk appears, how about get rid of some of the douchebags in the decision making departments, like the news director, VP of news, etc? (12/18/09)

Regarding FiOS QAM, you do not get all the locals in clear QAM. You miss all the MHz networks, all subchannels (basically all the channels in the 400s), and the channel numbers jump around. The original complaint about Comcast and FiOS was that you don't get all the channels on the lower tiers of the service. My point is that FiOS only gets you a subset of locals and not even all of them. Believe me, I got a dual-tuner TiVo Series2 and there is nothing in clear QAM worth watching. -Chainsman (12/18/09)

Heard the new WURA 920 playing The Chipmunks christmas in espanol today. I guess we ARE looking at another brokered spanish-language station? Although a scan of the AM dial found WPRZ, er now WKDL, 1250 calling itself Country Light or something like that playing what sounded like country / gospel / christmas music. Did the original owners of WPRZ purchase this station back or are they operating it under an LMA? Also anyone else notice how every song on 1310 AM sounds like The Carpenters singing in Korean? MLB4 (12/18/09)

With the potential changes coming to NewsChannel 8 does that mean another round of on air folks at Channel 7 being cut loose seems to have been some changes to reporters used in the mornings on channel 7 with the ladies like Courtney Robinson, Pamela Brown and the newer Kathy Park getting far less on air time. And ain't it curious that Doug McKelway has been filling in for Leon Harris this week in addition to working the morning gig? That seems a heavy workload. What no one else at channel 7 can do the anchor work in the evenings no more? Not even Gordon peterson or Maureen bunyan can't do the 5pm n"newscast" anymore? Has anyone seen a picture of Joe Albritton in years? What is he turnover rate at Politco? Seems like everyone who works at Politico is a nerdy white college frat guy. Did Chris Cuomo get the shaft at Good Morning America being jettisoned to 20/20? I guess not allowed to have 3 white guys together on tv no more on "newscasts"/entertainment shows. But Ju Ju chang? what an annoying pushy gosipy nitwit. Did Diane Sawyer help push Charlie Gibson out the door? So Mr. gibson wouldn't want to do the Sunday Morning show with Stephy going to GMA? Merry Chrismas everyone... (12/18/09)

What do you suppose would happen if every media outlet said something like: "Hey, looks like we're going to get some snow. Maybe even a lot. Might even hang around until Christmas. Isn't that great? Slow down when you're driving and enjoy. Now, to some real news ..." Of course, we wouldn't be treated to the sight of state trucks being filled with sand, idiotic shoppers loading up on toilet paper, and reporters shuffling their boots along the sidewalk to show snow is actually accumulating. But what a treat that would be -- just like we were all adults and lived in a real city. (12/18/09)

Just read on Kirk McEwen's Facebook page. "Thank you Citadel and Hearst!" "UNPRECEDENTED: I'll be co-hosting the 98 Rock morning show on the 28th and 29th while still handling afternoons at my new station, 105.9 The Edge!" (12/18/09)

To Angry WVRX Listener: I can only wince in sympathy,that sounds like pre-computerized console slackerism at its best! Good comment though....Asleep at the Wheel by Suicidal Tendencies would be a nice addition to a real Rock format!! (12/18/09)

GREAT ink for WTOP on JJ Green's trip to Afghanistan www.msnbc.msn.com (12/18/09)

Please tell me that WTOP is not planning on having Dave Brown on the air this weekend. If he's scheduled, I hope they can find someone...anyone...else. Listening to him read the short list of closings and delays back on the weekend of December 5 was bad enough. No matter how bad I need information tomorrow morning, if I hear his voice, I'm turning the station. -BG (12/18/09)

I Know im a little late. But find it so funny that the Capital weather gang (who i love btw) made fun of Accuweathers early prediction of a snow storm early in the week. Now look!!! as Bob Ryan said, this is going to be a Historical Major snow storm. And it sure is shaping up to be that! Jamie Brunswick, MD (12/18/09)

Re: I remind Comcast switchers that FiOS has not supported cable-ready QAM TV sets practically since its inception. For standard def you're going to need a little FiOS converter, and, let me tell you, it's cheaper and nastier than any converter you've seen yet. If you want HDTV, it's going to cost you a lot more. Neither is free. Naturally your "new customer" promotion makes these units "free" for one or two years, but it's the same deal you had with Comcast, and you'll pay for them after the promotion is over. I have FiOS with the coaxial plugged right in the back on my QAM enabled flatscreen, and receive all locals, WGN, and PEGs. - JC (12/18/09)

ABC News Shuffle-All the Wrong Moves, in the Examiner! www.examiner.com (12/18/09)

I don't know if this is what you're seeking as a BEST/WORST 2009 entry, but my vote for WORST goes to ThePenIsMightier..... maybe he'll take the hint and post his inside "jokes" and free-associating there - or anywhere else but here! /// I second the motion, even though I know his microphallus is chubbing up at the mere hint of derision. Always ironic when a poster with a fake name lambastes another for an anonymous posting. (12/18/09)

Let the fun begin. WBAL Radio has just announced (12:55) that all Harford Cnty Public School activities for Sat. and Sun. will be cancelled. I guess we'll hear that about 462 more times before noon on Sunday. (12/18/09)

Ten great things about radio in 2009: www.alltheexcess.com (12/18/09)

Sooo i was listening to WVRX this morning and noticed a couple glitches. STP's Interstate Love Song was cut off in the middle to go into Tom Petty's Breakdown.....and Ratt's Round and round was played twice within 3 hours. WHO THE F*CK IS PROGRAMMING THAT STATION???!!!!! whoever it is is asleep at the wheel and they need their ass fired!!!!! (12/18/09)

COMING SOON: www.TommyGriffiths.com ...more to follow. (12/18/09)

From what I recall, Bob Ryan's criteria in awarding "The Golden Snow Shovel" is based upon the accumulation count at Reagen/National Airport. And Sally Thorner, I've loved you from Day One (and still do). Despite having no access to WJZ here in Fairfax, you're truly an awesome lady. Especially after reading the piece about you in Baltimore Jewish Times. The world will always be an even more beautiful place with your mere presence. Rusty Gibson WEBR/RadioFairfax (12/18/09)

(From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) NewsChannel8 is currently seeking an innovative and entrepreneurial Local Sales Manager with overall goal of maximizing sales revenue. Develop NewsChannel8's sales strategy and unique opportunities against the broadcast market as well as the local sales cable interconnect. Monitor local sales team along with individual activity and performance against annual strategies and budget. Must be a coach and mentor who but loves generating new business directly with clients on the local level. Most be a creative thinker that "colors outside the lines." High visibility in local markets with clients and agencies. Managing and coordinating daily with commercial production team. Participate in the redevelopment of news8.net along with developing a sales strategy. Incorporating and monetizing with NewsChannel8 our digital channels Retro Television and Doug Hill Weather Now. Responsible for development of annual budgets for local revenue. Daily interaction with General Sales Manager. Motivating and training the local sales team a must. QUALIFICATIONS: A minimum of five years successful media sales experience and a minimum of five years of proven success as a sales leader. Bachelor's Degree. Direct sales experience in digital media. Must have strong communication skills in both person and in writing. Pr oven experience in forecasting and budgeting. Send resumes with a cover letter to: ABC7/News Channel8 Attn: Human Resources/LAM 1100 Wilson Blvd. 6th Floor, Arlington, VA 22209 or email to hr@wjla.com Fax to: 703-236-9536 (12/18/09)

On WTOP last night, Doug Hill said "this area" has had no "measurable snow" since March 2. I live in Fairfax City -- part of "this area," last time I checked -- and I was shoveling snow on Dec. 4, when we received at least 4 inches of the stuff. My mom informs me that Bob Ryan hasn't given out his "Golden Shovel" award for the first snowfall either. I guess "this area" means wihtin the borders of D.C. Christian (12/18/09)

I remind Comcast switchers that FiOS has not supported cable-ready QAM TV sets practically since its inception. For standard def you're going to need a little FiOS converter, and, let me tell you, it's cheaper and nastier than any converter you've seen yet. If you want HDTV, it's going to cost you a lot more. Neither is free. Naturally your "new customer" promotion makes these units "free" for one or two years, but it's the same deal you had with Comcast, and you'll pay for them after the promotion is over. -Chainsman (12/18/09)

On the TV station history section of +, WMAL-TV was D.C.'s original CBS-TV affiliate (ABC secondary) for almost a year and a half until WOIC hit the air... (12/18/09)

Dave: You and DCRTV got a mention on WNST this morning w/Glenn and Drew. I say "mention" because since no one listens to WNST, I guess it doesn't qualify as publicity. (12/18/09)

Only the Regal and AMC theaters are listed in the Post's "public service" movie listings today. These are the two firms that either backed out or threatened to back out of the Post's formerly paid listings. A great way for the Post to say thanks to the theaters, like National Amusements and the Cinema Arts, that had paid for their ads. The Post is run by complete morons! (12/18/09)

RE: [ "Supposedly, cable TV consumers want to pick and choose which channels they want to pay for and not pay for others. To enable that kind of arrangement, all channels would have to be scrambled and your Set Top Box would be programmed to receive only those channels you want to pay for. A la carte means the end of in-the-clear." ]....... To my knowledge there IS NO A LA CARTE via Verizon, Comcast, or the satellite companies other than for Pay Channels or certain packages, so that's a very LAME EXCUSE. Note that all of the providers are fighting tooth and nail AGAINST A la carte in fact if you've been watching the media news. So you can't have it both ways, sorry. The FCC needs to step in and make a decisive decision. If it's A la carte + box, I'm fine with that, if it's un-encrypted QAM signals & analogs all gone, I'm fine with that too. But there is no technical reason currently to encrypt any QAM signal, and I hate the clunky cable TV remotes & boxes all over the house. It's just not necessary. My HDTV set has far more features. I don't need a shitty remote from COMCAST to dumb down my HDTV set and remove some of its features. ENCRYPTING QAM SIGNALS = ANTI- CONSUMER = THE END OF CABLE READY TVs. It's just that simple. And that doesn't even get into the issue of parents not wanting their kids to see Pay Per View previews for sexual or violent material, all of which are available with a COMCAST box, but not available via a standard QAM equipped HDTV set. (12/18/09)

I don't know if this is what you're seeking as a BEST/WORST 2009 entry, but my vote for WORST goes to ThePenIsMightier. Allowing his inane (insane?) rants here only serves to encourage him. It wouldn't be so bad if anything he had to say made any sense, but I've heard more coherent, intelligible communication from heroin users nodded out in a corner! His posts aren't clever or funny or relevant. Hell, most of the time, they make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Dave, I don't know if you're someone who goes in for New Year's Resolutions, but if you are, PLEASE resolve to stop giving ThePenIs a forum here in 2010. He adds nothing - and actually, his drivel diminishes the quality of the Mailbag. Maybe if you do this, he'll take his nonsense somewhere else. I hear you can create a free blog on LiveJournal, so maybe he'll take the hint and post his inside "jokes" and free-associating there - or anywhere else but here! (12/18/09)

Re the sale of WMET--it appears to be more of an offer than a sale: on 12/17/09 at 4:22pm by Benzinga Staff... STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CTM Media Holdings, Inc. (OTC Pink Markets: CTMMA, CTMMB), today announced that on December 16, 2009, it executed a Letter of Intent to sell the assets of its WMET radio station for a sale price of $4 million in a combination of cash and a promissory note of the buyer that will be secured by the assets being sold. The sale is subject to regulatory and other customary conditions, as well as due diligence and the negotiation of definitive agreements. There is no assurance, however, that CTM Media Holdings will enter into any definitive agreements or consummate a sale of the WMET assets. (12/18/09)

"Don Geronimo:: Oh no he didn't! Finger snap. From his Twitter account, this twit tweets before the dead body is even cold "Question: If ChrisHenry had turned his life around, why did he jump into the back of a pickup his fiancee was driving after a domestic disp?" Mike Sorce dissecting another man's life during this holiday season. The 'yippy-kai-yay Motherfucker dj screw-up gift that keeps on giving & giving AHHHHHHHHHH!!" Kudos to Johnnie Anonymous for finding out Doni's real name. A, Don was right. B, he has a unique perspective on such incidents which give him all the latitude he wants or needs to comment. C, go eat a reciprocating saw you ugly bag of mostly water. On another note, DCRTV hears that Oscar "The Situation" Santana is on the outs with his galpal. Look for the Toasted Almond Lover at the Eagle for Friday Happy Hour. Maybe Gene Weingarten will take his annual shower and join us in the Pit; Tom Sietsema would be too much to hope for, but he is a mastur of disguise, and you can't spell "icon" without "Sietsema".--- ThePenIsMightier (12/18/09)

With this weekend's major snowstorm, I expect the locals to be on wall-to-wall coverage starting Saturday morning. Topper Shutt will be back at 9 tomorrow afternoon and is planning, based on current forecasts, to be on all day Saturday. Bob Ryan is calling for 6-12"+ as of 6pm, Doug Hill still harping on "possibility," and FOX5's McGrady indicating it will be a big one. The storm coverage 48 hours in advance of this storm makes me think it will be a blockbuster. "The biggest storm since 2003" and "The biggest storm we have seen in years" led off most newscasts tonight. Just observations... (12/18/09)

Dave's response: With the big snow, I bet WTOP honcho Jim Farley's thinking his all-news station might even beat XMASy WASH during the week before XMAS. That's the best present Santa could bring WTOP.....

/\ December 18 Messages /\

\/ December 17 Messages \/

RE: "By the way, those cheesy promos WTEM's been running ("on the first day of Christmas, Tiger slept with me" and similar stuff) seem like a big waste of production time - if you insist on treating that whole sordid business like a joke, at least show some creativity about it. Mike, Fairfax" Hear, Hear! Slow clap for you, good sir! (12/17/09)

If NC8 is "cable only", how can it have "airwaves"? -Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/17/09)

Shan Shariff (heard weekdays on Delmarva's ESPN Radio 1240 and Saturdays on 106.7 The Fan in DC) opened his Thursday show stating that despite Bruce Allen's connection with Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan will be the next head coach of the Washington Redskins. Shariff said he was told by a trustworthy source that Shanahan was "100 percent." He reiterated this is not just speculation that Shanahan is the number one target or the two sides are working on a deal, an agreement is already in place. No word on when the team will make a public announcement. (12/17/09)

"The DMCA law, cable-TV encryption, and THE END OF ALL CABLE-READY TV SETS is just plain anti-consumer ...." I don't disagree with you. However, there is another side to the coin. Supposedly, cable TV consumers want to pick and choose which channels they want to pay for and not pay for others. To enable that kind of arrangement, all channels would have to be scrambled and your Set Top Box would be programmed to receive only those channels you want to pay for. A la carte means the end of in-the-clear. (12/17/09)

RE: [ "Still available via open QAM (a feature I shopped for on my "rather new cable TV set[s]"): Everything that was Expanded Basic." ]...... A feature that may be short-lived, unfortunately, you might want to wish on a star. COMCAST refused comment to The Washington Post regarding whether they were going to encrypt QAM channels or not. So take what you want from that. At least with VERIZON FIOS, they told you going in you were going to need boxes all over the house and that your brand new HDTV remote was now useless. But I'm not gonna give VERIZON a break either since there is no technical reason why VERIZON needs to encrypt the QAM channels either, nor the satellite companies. Pay channels I understand, but the idea that a brand new HDTV set purchased at BEST BUY this Christmas will be totally useless on its own for Cable TV is just insane. No media outlets will cover this story as they are all in bed with COMCAST & the other cable/satellite companies. Hell, even Dave Hughes of DCRTV accepts COMCAST advertising and has downplayed the importance of this in my opinion. The FCC should step in and do something for the consumer for a change, not the corporations & media companies. The DMCA law, cable-TV encryption, and THE END OF ALL CABLE-READY TV SETS is just plain anti-consumer and against all previous FCC fair use policies of media. (12/17/09)

Interesting, Google doesn't even have that CBS Radio Mark Zinno blog entry cached, very strange, could CBS actually contact google and have the cache removed too? Anyway, I was able to get a snippet, it was a long quite angry blog though... "Karma will rear its ugly head at you one day my friend. There is no room for behavior like that in society. I don't know you" From what I remember of reading it (I don't have it saved unfortunately, had no clue the CBS suits would go nuts over it, but apparently they did), Zinno basically called out this "Steve in Belair" guy for pulling this useless stunt that got someone fired 10 days before Christmas and pretty much told him he hopes he never runs into the guy, for his sake or something like that. By the way, Zinno deleted all mention of it from his Facebook page too so it's clear the CBS suits are in full-frenzy mode up in Baltimore! LOL (12/17/09)

Don Geronimo:: Oh no he didn't! Finger snap. From his Twitter account, this twit tweets before the dead body is even cold "Question: If ChrisHenry had turned his life around, why did he jump into the back of a pickup his fiancee was driving after a domestic disp?" Mike Sorce dissecting another man's life during this holiday season. The 'yippy-kai-yay Motherfucker dj screw-up gift that keeps on giving & giving AHHHHHHHHHH!! (12/17/09)

"Nothing says Happy Holidays better than Comcast yanking all the TV channels from your Cable-Ready TV set." Yes, the 2nd part of their announced reduction of analog took place as scheduled. Remaining are analog ch 11-25 and 71-75. Still available via open QAM (a feature I shopped for on my "rather new cable TV set[s]"): Everything that was Expanded Basic. Not a fan of the STB? FiOS will require one, no relief there.. Mark/CharmCity (12/17/09)

I just finished reading 'I Used To Be In Radio,' by Larry Matthews, after seeing an ad for it on the DCRTV website. It was truly sad to read about the long-gone news departments of some once-great DC radio stations, where Larry worked. Even more shocking and tragic, is the story of how the government can so easily derail the life and career of a solid reporter. (12/17/09)

Hello. My uncle, Carroll Hebbel, passed away on December 4th of this year. He was the film lab for WMAR TV during the "pre-video" years. He was fondly known as "Big Lou from TV 2", and "Heb". I am putting together a memorial video documentary and wish to present it at a memorial dinner (possibly a crab feast, as that was his favorite past time) some time in March or April of this year. I am trying to contact everyone that knew him (and that is many, many people). If you have stories about "Heb", or wish to attend his memorial dinner, please leave email to gary0318@comcast.net. I would love to add you to the list, and possibly interview you about your friendship or business relationship with Heb. Your attention will be so greatly appreciated. This man was so kind and generous, and befriended so many, that he MUST be honored in this way. Thanks for your time, Gary (12/17/09)

Dave's response: My condolences! Anyone out there in Mailbagland have some memories to share with Gary?

To the person in Baltimore who is upset over to Contrast's digital move. My daughter in Clarksburg, MD just switched to Verizon Fios. With Fios you can't get any channels without their box. At least Comcast has kept the local channels plus a few more you can receive without a box. I am not a defender of Comcast, but in Montgomery County they didn't make their box absolutely mandatory. (12/17/09)

Re: Looks like 105.7 FM took down Zino's blog. I can't get to it via your link I tried; can't get to it either! Still looking to find out what's up with Fox 45's reception: are they just not putting out enough power to get here on the eastern shore? Tom in Denton, MD (12/17/09)

Mike O'Meara Show Podcast:: So which member[s] of the MOM stream think the donation link is unprofessional? Since O'Meara has now added the picture of Jerry Lewis next to the link, how about, for the sake of transparency, if this "telethon" adds a real time tote board to see how much money they are receiving? Speaking of money, how much money has Sorce donated? AHHHHHH!! (12/17/09)

"WTEM called in their big guns when the [Cerrato resignation] news broke. I understand that Andy Polie drove his car instead of using his bike." Apparently the Redskins had alerted the station last night that major news was going to be announced this morning, so Pollin and Kevin Sheehan were already in the studio and ready to go on the air within seconds of the announcement being made (one of the advantages ESPN 980 derives from being owned by Dan Snyder). Although wall-to-wall Skins talk can get tedious after a while, there's one really good thing about it today - the Tiger Woods story has finally been bumped off center stage. By the way, those cheesy promos WTEM's been running ("on the first day of Christmas, Tiger slept with me" and similar stuff) seem like a big waste of production time - if you insist on treating that whole sordid business like a joke, at least show some creativity about it. Mike, Fairfax (12/17/09)

(From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) FINANCIAL JOURNALISTS/BROADCASTERS WANTED: $75/HOUR. I need to hire one or two journalists to write a series of annual reports for a world-renowned Wall Street investment firm. Retail and/or institutional investment communications experience required. The work involves interviewing portfolio managers and analysts and creating, from a template, a series of 750-word articles. A few of these articles will also be the basis for podcasts. Equity funds include U.S., European and emerging markets, large, mid and small cap. Bond funds include U.S. government, corporate and municipals. This will take approximately 120 hours and has to be completed by the end of January. Resumes to: pbrandus@yahoo.com. (12/17/09)

"Dave's response: I just can't see where any LPFMers can be squeezed in on the already over-crowded DC-Baltimore FM band - and also have a viable signal." That part is true: the band is just too crowded to have LPFMs under current rules. However, "Take 105.5, the LPFMer in Great Falls that relays WAMU's Bluegrass Country...." and "That 104.3 LPFM relay of WTOP in Leesburg..." are Translators, not LPFMs. The are licensed under different rules and are allowed higher power than LPFMs. There are three types of less-than-full-power FM: Class D 10-watt (like WMUC-FM); LPFM (10- or 100-watt maximum power); and translators (whatever wattage causes just-less-than-complaints from adjacent stations). Oh, and FM encounters of the fourth kind like 87.7 WDCN which isn't an FM station but operates like one. (12/17/09)

Looks like 105.7 FM took down Zino's blog. I can't get to it via your link. It would be great if you had the contents of the blog to post. (12/17/09)

You go Mike O'meara! The podcast sounds great, and Oscar Mantana is a great addition. He was great on The Big O & Dukes Show, but with Mike, Robb & Buzz ... GOLD Jerry, GOLD! Even being unemployed, I was glad to make a donation to the cause for Mike & the gang. Entertaining, honest radio is a rare commodity these days. It's about time everyone gave the finger to corporate radio, who's quest for hiring and employing untalented hacks never seems to end. Speaking of that, my guess is that sometime in 2010, WJFK will decide they can't make money off of some of their minimum wage talent, that quite honestly would be better suited for a job as announcer at the local strip club. Backwards baseball caps and devil horn hand signs all around, with a side of mule kicks and back flips, right? Not. The Junkies are a DC institution for sports fans ... no question. Other that that ... blech. Thanks Dave, for getting the word out about Mike's new gig. Merry X-mas to you. (12/17/09)

Chris Plante to sub for Mark Levin on Wed., Dec. 23rd, from 6-9pm on 630 WMAL. Yeah. -Silvie- (12/17/09)

Dave reported 12/17 - "CBS sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, is in nuclear meltdown mode this morning with the breaking news bombshell that Vinny Cerrato has resigned as the Redskins' executive vice-president of football operations." At least they didn't call anyone in from home. WTEM called in their big guns when the news broke. I understand that Andy Polie drove his car instead of using his bike. (12/17/09)

(Per DCRTV Dave: Am I the only one who thinks the recently revamped print Post is much more "feminine" in its design and content?) If many of the comments online for today's WaPo - Woman abandoned in Fairfax as a baby finds her rescuers story are from men, then those males are missing a body part or two. Even "Bitter Bill" posted a wussy comment. I'm surprised I wasn't attacked for asking "Does anyone know where to get a newspaper that covers the important issues of the day?". (12/17/09)

RE: "Gee, maybe 105.7 needs to scrap that 7 second delay, and go to the 50+ second delay that they use for Maryland Terrapin Football and Basketball broadcasts." They do broadcast on AT LEAST a 30 second delay. And the funny part, the show comes from down the hall in the ESPN 1300/MASN studio. So the person sitting in 105.7 has no calls to screen, nothing to do BUT to run the commercials. There is NO REASON why he should have missed that comment, especially running on 20+ second delay! (12/17/09)

With all due respect to the sports talkers going crazy over Cerrato's resignation, he was just a manifestation of the problem. Unless Snyder gets out, the Redskins won't have success on the field. (12/17/09)

The donate button for O'meara's podcast should be for talent. He proves time and time again that he needs some. It probably wouldn't hurt to send a little to the other half of the over the hill duo either. Radio to podcasts......can latenight infomercials be in the near future? (12/17/09)

To save money, will Albritton mail Beverly Kirk's get-well card and pink slip in the same envelope? Newschannel 8 offers a refreshing alternative to the other local stations, especially to FOX5 in the mornings after 7am and also at 10pm. I hope they don't gut it... (12/17/09)

Dave wrote: "DC Sports Radioers Go Ga Ga Over Cerrato Resignation " Hey, I'm going ga-ga over the news, too, and I don't work for WJFK. Sometimes the news justifies the response. Redskins fans have suffered long enough. Christian (12/17/09)

Sweet mother of mercy . . . on ESPN980 this a.m., they just had that blowhard Rick "Schlock" Walker on TK's show, discussing (of course) Vinny's departure . . . and Schlock took a deep swim in Lake Me. "Oh, I told them weeks ago to bring somebody in to help with the offense . . . I told Vinny . . . . I knew . . . me . .. I . . . me . .. I." Unbearable. Schlock Walker is the reason that you can change the channel on the radio AND the reason that t.v.s have mute buttons. Sincerely, TMU. P.S. You can always tell when they put raisins in the tapioca at the Old Radio Guys home; the residents get cranky. (12/17/09)

Matt in Olney, WUSA pre-empted NCIS LA last week or the week before for a locally produced defense roundtable program with Vito somebody. NCIS LA, even a rerun, is one of CBS's most highly rated show's also. Only thing I can figure out is they can get more local ads sold in a prime time spot. BC (12/17/09)

Gee, maybe 105.7 needs to scrap that 7 second delay, and go to the 50+ second delay that they use for Maryland Terrapin Football and Basketball broadcasts. As far as the comment "Steve, I've got the IQ of a 14 year old pre-pub boy", that's what seems to be the target audience of most of what's on Sports Talk in Baltimore. You've got "Bulldog". Enough said on that one. Coleman, who can't go 2 minutes without hitting his collection of drop buttons, including the baby crying, "Yay-YAH", "Let's get ready to gamble", Old-Style Cash Register rings, etc. You've got Tom Davis updates on "Mike and Mike" and "The Herd", who will gladly tell you on Monday the result of the Ravens game. Note to Tom. MOST PEOPLE LISTENING TO SPORTS TALK ON MONDAY KNOW THAT !!. Drew Forrester, who has to let callers on such as "Merton", the fake caller from Indianapolis; "Old Man Martison/Mardison (sp?)", a take-off on the inabilities of Rex Ryan's replacement; "The Jerk"; Rick from Reisterstown, and so on. Then you have Nestor, who can't talk, but sure can YELL. (see Marty Bass). Let's not forget the Ravens show on Monday on 1300AM and 105.7 that wasn't bad with Scott, Tom Matte and Bruce Laird. Now it has morphed into a yuk fest with Tom Davis, Bruce Laird, Wally Williams, Mike Preston, and Ed Norris. (Note: maybe they should get rid of the chars, and get a small section of bleachers. Then next season, they could do the show with 11 experts. You want a less juvenile audience, try programming your product that way. For the most part, you're not hearing this junk on WFAN at nights. (12/17/09)

(From DCRTV's Classified Ads:) Recent College Grad looking for entry level work: Experience working in Triple A, Active Rock, Alternative, and News/Talk doing promotions, programming and production. I've Interned with WTMD, WIYY, WBAL, and Sirius XM. And was employed with WCHH as a promotions assistant. If you're looking for a self motivated and creative individual to become apart of your team contact Andrew at agnau1@students.towson.edu (12/17/09)

'bubble headed bleach blonde', is nothing new. The whole of what journalism is today was encapsulated very nicely in Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" www.lyricsfreak.com nearly 25 years ago, when those words were first used in a song. It is the theme song and the core teachings of just about every J-school. I know, I graduated from one. Before Don, the most advice we had was, "if it bleeds, it leads" and he included that concept as well. (12/17/09)

Mark Zinno hits the nail on the head. Because of "Steve, I've got the IQ of a 14 year old pre-pub boy, from Belair's" childish prank, a great young broadcaster has lost his job of 5 years. Matt is intelligent, dedicated, hard working, multi-tasker, who always showed up for work on time, has mad skills on Adobe, and understands all live broadcast operations. Unfortunately, is a victim of a radio industry that has so downsized, one person like him is charged to produce, run, screen phone callers, load and play spots, write down the times, get the traffic, schedule live interviews, take transmitter readings for several stations, back time into and out of a MASN-TV simulcast, record the segments for podcasts and answer to every whim of the less than prepared talent. Take it from his co-workers. If you need someone this good, get him now. He's worth the second chance and more! (12/17/09)

Re 105.7 Baltimore: Most phone systems in use at radio stations track Caller IDs. If the guy in charge of the BRB (Big Red Button) got fired, I move that management should also check the phone records and send a nasty letter to the owner of the phone number originating the call, threatening reciprocal legal action if the station gets fined. Place the responsibility at all levels of participation. Of course, if the BRB guy was texting or surfing for porn when he should have been monitoring the show, then f*** 'im. (12/17/09)

LPFM News: According to Inside Radio, the NAB and NPR have been working with sponsors to add protections to an LPFM bill and create an expanded service everyone can be happy with. That means after the bill moves thru the House, thousands of LPFMs can be added across the country. Since low-power FM had its genesis in the Reston-Herndon area way back when, does this mean there can actually be some new *legal* signals in the greater DC area? Are there any frequency 'holes' on the FM band where some new stations can be shoehorned in? (12/17/09)

Dave's response: I just can't see where any LPFMers can be squeezed in on the already over-crowded DC-Baltimore FM band - and also have a viable signal. Take 105.5, the LPFMer in Great Falls that relays WAMU's Bluegrass Country. Even though it's licensed to Reston, I still get that Berryville/Winchester rocker "The Bone" on the same frequency at many locations within Reston. That 104.3 LPFM relay of WTOP in Leesburg is barely listenable, being on the same frequency as a Baltimore station.....

As a middle aged man, the "pee-stream" comment got to me. It is pretty funny, but try it when a stairway is involved... (12/17/09)

Isn't it strange that WUSA would pre-empt CSI New York this evening to show an Alabama Christmas special that is 13 years old? What's up with that? Matt in Olney (12/17/09)

Possible things WIAD stands for: 1) Women in Agricultural Development, 2) Wireless Integrated Access Device, 3) Women In Aviation Day, 4) West Indian Association of the Deaf. Also, W + the airport code for Washington's Dulles International Airport. Why not WKRP? (12/17/09)

I checked another site, Alexa's Top 1 Million and discovered some differing data than Quantcast. In that list WMAR 2's website got more hits than Fox 45's although the data appears to be a bit dated. But, I also can't tell when Quantcast's data was collected either so it's worth comparing. As for TV ratings for 2 vs. 45, last I checked only FOX 45's News at 10 was highly rated, so if they're beating WMAR in the other dayparts now, then they are both probably a distant 3rd & 4th with neither of them close to WJZ or WBAL. WMAR is kind of at a disadvantage when competing with FOX 45 though since it's Sinclair's flagship TV station, so while Sinclair is slashing news altogether in other markets all over the country like there's no tomorrow, they seem to be still spending lots in Baltimore almost like it's a pride thing. Scripps Howard is not going to ever treat WMAR 2 that way sadly. As for WNST's website, on this list, they actually got more hits than FOX 45, WBAL Radio, & even 98 Rock, but not The Sun, WMAR, WJZ, or WBAL TV. Many of the Baltimore radio stations did not show up at all. Nestor's WNST.net website even also shockingly beat Danny Snyder's ESPN980.com as well on this list! So if that's where Nestor's getting his data, he appears to be pretty close on his assertion from this perspective, although some of these website rankings can be at least as iffy if not more than Arbitron and it appears the 2 lists are definitely very at odds with each other. Obviously BaltimoreSun.com was #1 on both for Baltimore. Oh, and WNST beat DCRTV.com too on this list, hehe, but not by much so hang in there Dave. :-) (12/17/09)

Dave's response: Many of those website ranking services fail to take into account that DCRTV is also available at dcrtv.org and dcrtv.net. I often find the Alexa info out of date and somewhat irrelevant. OK, so you get a link from Drudge and you get a shitload of crazy righties that visit your site and drive up your traffic count for one day. But they don't ever come back and don't click on your ads.....

Nothing says Happy Holidays better than Comcast yanking all the TV channels from your Cable-Ready TV set. If you have a cable-ready TV or HDTV set in Baltimore County this morning that does not already have a Comcast converter attached to it yet at extra cost, guess what? You either haven't been paying attention or you need to start running to suck up to Comcast this morning. Overnight, Comcast deleted pretty much all of the remaining analog cable TV channels in Baltimore County. Only channels left on my bedroom TV are locals, all PBS, the latino & black channels, WGN, HSN & QVC, oh, and Comcast Sports Net of course. Everything else gone including all the news channels & The Weather Channel. Is that really what you'd call "Lifeline cable?" God knows I couldn't survive a storm or a crisis without QVC or HSN. Thank You Comcast for this wondrous gift of soon paying you more for cable TV and rendering my rather new cable TV set useless for awhile. FIOS here I come! (12/17/09)

Here's MY favorite Elliot Francis ONN report (with participation by Politico.com) (12/17/09)

CBS Radio's Mark Zinno responds to the 105.7 The Fan Scott & Anita Dump Button Malfunction in his latest blog & yes somebody got fired over it 10 days before Christmas... cbsradiobaltimore.com (12/17/09)

/\ December 17 Messages /\

\/ December 16 Messages \/

Yeah, Allbritton, that makes a whole hellava lot of sense. Lay off a bunch of people who have worked for your company for years, and bring in Charlie Gibson. Of course that's basically the only way you can, you cheap bastard. "Attention EVERYONE who works for Allbritton, here is your Christmas bonus, BEND OVER AND GRAB YOUR ANKLES!!!!" Happy Holidays!!! (12/16/09)

In the WSB photo linked further down on the board, the Ford sedans are the “Custom 500” model. The hubcaps (as opposed to wheel covers) and the lack of chrome trim are dead giveaways as to identity. They were good cars in their time though the Galaxies and LTD’s were nicer. Every once in awhile I look around for a 1973 Galaxie 500 4-door, for sake of nostalgia. Alas, Nichole doesn’t quite understand why I’d want such an “old car”! Also, check out the Hughes 300 ‘copter in the photo. Another broadcast classic of the 1960’s and 1970’s! Would love to see photos on DCRTV of the vehicles the D.C. stations were using back then! I guess you could say that time was an “Endless Summer” for me, although one could say that in Pasadena it’s almost an “Endless Summer” compared to the cold back in DCRTV-land. John Pinckney, Pasadena, CA (12/16/09)

Former WJLA anchor Elliott Francis now 'anchoring' for the Onion News Network as character Damen Werner... www.theonion.com (12/16/09)

Hey Howie: I have to agree, 1370 is a pretty decent station. They are starting to build a nice little product. But, I have to disagree with Coleman. I think Rob Long is much better. Always thought he should be in PM drive.....Have to DIS-agree Howie, i prefer Coleman's style over Rob's but enjoy BOTH as well as Rome on 1370 -certainly much more than S &A, or even bruce/viv etc.& You are also correct the bickering between S & A has gotten worse, and FM is the ONLY reason their ratings are where they are...Mark (12/16/09)

"from your favorite local doesn't-get-the-bit guy: Did you mean to say "Oscar Santana?" -Chainsman" Don't know what you're talking about. Go screw, preferably in your home country. The Washington Post under Girl Publisher Katherine Widemouth continues to rape Rusty's dog Sassy from Mark Trail (that's "screw the pooch" for those of you in Rio LInda). Today's "goingoutguide" (the Post uses the edgy all lower case) tells us that local punk band Scream "reunite for their first show in decades" which may be technically true, as I saw them at the Black Cat in late December 1998. Fritz Hahn, Rhome Anderson, and David Malitz raped Sassy. And J. Freedom DuLac is as obsessed with saying "syncopation" or "syncopated" in his reviews as Mark Jenkins used to be about saying "Fugazi". The difference is that Mark Jenkins (who also sucks) could tell you what "Fugazi" is. --- ThePenIsMightier (12/16/09)

boy, the 7 nights a week of john batchelor seems a bit much on WMAL. he's sort of dropped the overdramatic end of the world shtick and seems to be turning the show into c-span radio light, kind of dull. I enjoyed Mr. Sliwa's humor and for not also following the right wing line. Guess he rubbed someone the wrong way. Even in the best of economic times weren't the Citadel deal really really stewpid? Merry Christmus everyone. www.youtube.com... I sure wish the Waitresses had made a video opf this song (12/16/09)

A couple of additional notes about the Comcast updates, as Comcast Richmond is rolling out the changes as well. We have the 800-series HD channels… but there’s another change that may have longer-term implications. The new DVR software allows for 4-digit channel numbers, and in Richmond a couple of 4-digit numbers are being tested, including a new Adult On-Demand channel 3317. This is part of the same rollout that has implemented MyDVR Manager for Comcast subscribers who have both cable and Internet through Comcast (you can program your DVR from their TV Planner website now), and HSN buy-by-remote (a bit of corporate synergy, naturally). – Rob Hoffmann, Richmond, VA (12/16/09)

The same people who brought you AM Stereo and ATSC TV now want to “protect” the sports fan. The current FCC should once again let the marketplace decide where sports programs are carried. If the FCC orders the cable companies to “sell” their locally developed regional sports programming to satellite and competing cable companies (and no doubt at a government mandated cost), then DirecTV’s exclusive on the “NFL Sunday Ticket” should likewise be nullified and availability ordered to those cable companies who want to carry it. Likewise, individual broadcast TV stations should be able to carry “local” sports regardless of network. Therefore, if the Redskins are being carried on the Fox network, WHMM-DT or any other broadcast TV station in the market should be able to carry it, if they wish. If the FCC isn’t smart enough to see behind this scam (Newcomers wanting to hitchhike on what others invested to develop.), you’ll see investment in new services shrink fast. After all, why be better than your competition at anything when you’re going to have to sell it to your competitor? Talk about an innovation killer! In the end, the only winners in this idea will be the trial lawyers and the lobbyists because I can see the lawsuits coming now! This is yet another case where the FCC should go back to its originally intended role as an RF spectrum manager, stay out of content management at all levels and simply go back to its corner, sucking its thumb and STFU! -Unsigned Corporate Suit (12/16/09)

Back in the days before Clear Channel fucked up radio, stations used to be owned by a much wider variety of companies. One of them was Shamrock Broadcasting, which was part of Shamrock Holdings, headed by Roy Disney, who died today. nytimes.com (12/16/09)

Re: WIAD on 94.7 - CBS cannot and willnot put top40/AMP on 94.7 as long as 95.5 stays rythmic hits. Too much crossover and not enough upside. The Fresh format is a moderate success on 947 and its cheap to run. It will be staying for a while....mark my words (12/16/09)

Seasons greetings from WSB... www.atlantatimemachine.com... Those look like 1970 Ford Galaxie 500s. LTDs would have an air-actuated door covering the headlights. When the lights were turned on, the doors rotated up. (12/16/09)

At noon today, the hourly ID on 94.7 HD2 changed, using calls "WIAD" instead of WTGB-HD2. (12/16/09)

According to the Baltimore Sun FOX 45 News beats WMAR in the morning,5:30 pm,10pm,and at 11pm things are bad at WMAR that is why i say that they are a distant 4th place(WMAR). A new ratings system was introduced to the Baltimore TV market in July and that helped WBFF in the ratings. (12/16/09)

'There's nothing wrong with MoM trying to locate another revenue stream.' Point taken as [we] highlighted a number of them throughout our comprehensive "Carolla" suggestions. However, ringing the digital paypal donation bell like an online Salvation Army volunteer in front of WalMart was not one of them. Now, not only has O'Meara failed to invest in needed state-of-the-art technology, his business model scratched out on an old O'Meara's Restaurant & Pub beer napkin is glaringly flawed - too. But again, as a middle-aged man, O'Meara is more concerned with the pee "stream" that has him up five times a night more so than his podcast stream. Damn shame as the countdown clock on this basement venture has started. (12/16/09)

Note to "Hey Howie": I, too, think that Long is better, I was just agreeing with a previous poster that Coleman is better than Scott and Anita. The entire S & A show has turned into callers attacking Anita while Scott chuckes softly (or eggs them on). The truth is FM dominates, so 105.7 will continue to as well. Howie (12/16/09)

Question: Is Mike Wise taping auditions this week for his replacement? (12/16/09)

Hey Howie: I have to agree, 1370 is a pretty decent station. They are starting to build a nice little product. But, I have to disagree with Coleman. I think Rob Long is much better. Always thought he should be in PM drive. I like how 1370 airs alot of local stuff, like the high school football and basketball games, UMBC, etc. (12/16/09)

DCRTV Dave scribed: “Just have a newsreader sitting in front of a blue screen and have him/her just do a solo no-nonsense 30-minute newscast. Bare bones, informative. No "personality."” Man!, give me: Bob Dalton, John Willis, Glenn Rinker, Frank Blair, or Julian Barber any day over how TV news is delivered today!!! (Now where did I put my Dec 16th, 1964 TV Guide at? I think “Countdown Carnival” is on). Signed: Hopelessly Stuck In B&W. (12/16/09)

[Webwise, "we're ahead of every radio station in the market and two of the four TV stations," Aparicio claims. And he advises DCRTV: "Why not write a piece about who is winning on the web - where the numbers are real and not the bought-off 'fiction' of Arbitron? Nobody is winning on the web this way".....] This expains why WNST isn't even one of my presets anymore. If they don't care about the on-air product-and Nestor obviously doesn't based on the number of rebroadcast hours the station now runs- why should I? So his argument is that we shouldn't count numbers in what is allegedly his primary business, but should instead search for numbers in a sideline activity in which none of the other stations in town are actively competing. If he's found happiness and profits in the internet venture, good for him and his banker! But it isn't radio...Howie (still hoping Bob Haynie gets a real job in radio someday) (12/16/09)

I think you should encourage DCRTV readers to run a Quantcast comparison of WNST.NET to the television station websites in the market. I’m not sure this “data cruncher” supports his claim. www.quantcast.com (12/16/09)

Beverly Kirk is the news anchor at newschannel 8. Not beverly Burke (12/16/09)

At least PBS and religious folk offer something for free with a donation. If you want me to pay Mike O - how about a vile of holy water or something, my brutha. (12/16/09)

NST and ARB. Blow hards like this guy kill me. I have a poor sounding AM station and they say I don't have any listeners...WAH, WAH, WAH. I assume he doesn't pay for/subscribe to ARB based on his rant? Therefore its bogus? Hell, I have worked at clusters with stations that subscribe that had 0.0 ratings. He's in Balmer? He's got his work cut out for him with PPM (12/16/09)

(Nestor Aparicio: "I can now prove that (radio ratings firm) Arbitron is a decades-long sick joke") You know, I've been wondering about this since the PPMs decimated WJFK. I've been asking everyone I know if they have ever been or have ever known anyone who was a part of a radio ratings process and in slightly less than a year I haven't encountered anyone. How is that possible if it's anything even remotely resembling a useful sample size that Arbitron uses? Are radio ratings complete fiction? They sure seem to be from the perspective of a consumer. -Grant in Laurel (12/16/09)

To ThePenIsMIghtier, from your favorite local doesn't-get-the-bit guy: Did you mean to say "Oscar Santana?" -Chainsman (12/16/09)

NC8 ''restructuring''? What they SHOULD do is vanish. BUT I do like watching Natasha Barret's legs on that awful ''Let's Talk Live''. Did Anita Marks answer the question about how much it WOULD cost? Paul (12/16/09)

There's nothing wrong with MoM trying to locate another revenue stream, but it's odd coming from a show which allegedly has the support of a broadcast station. Shouldn't that AM shack in Iowa be footing the bill for this? If not, what are they getting out of the deal? I don't mind contributing to cover the download costs for This American Life as it's a highly honored hour of solid interest. And, BTW, it took TAM several years of offering their podcasts for free before they decided to solicit funds. Does Mike really believe himself to be a national celebrity on par with Carrola?!? I think the suits at CBS knew that MoM was never going to be at that level when they put him down. Now if only Mike could get the message. There's a certain sadness to this, isn't there? The remnant of a strong, successful show refusing to believe that it's over. This is like Ed McMahon taking over the Tonight Show. It failed. Move on. –Jamesonian (12/16/09)

(Courtesy: Tom of DC.... eyeontv) From WBAL Baltimore, the first version of the Classical Gas Action News Open... (12/16/09)

(LIFTED) The problem is that the keepers of such a flame like Walter Cronkite (RIP) and my Dad are disappearing and being replaced by bubble-headed bleached blondes and Ken doll types with teeth. (END) #1: Let us PRAY they have teeth. I wouldn't want to watch someone gum the news in hi-def. And #2, those blondes and Ken dolls are not a recent phenom; they've been replacement plug-ins for decades. Remember the fluffed up hairstyle atop anchor Mike Hambrick back in the day? How about when the surprisingly blond Deborah Norville arrived on the scene and no one took her seriously? Relevance and competency count for a lot, yes. But people want to see a hottie on TV (and frequently comment on it here). (12/16/09)

It's not late-breaking news, but I wasn't certain until now whether this tower was for a land-moble service or belonged to a commercial broadcaster. www.rbr.com... The Ithaca Journal reports Federal workplace safety investigators are looking into what caused a radio tower to collapse in central New York, killing a member of a maintenance crew that was working on the structure. Backyard Broadcasting’s WRCE-AM's tower (Elmira market) was some 40 years old. (12/16/09)

I'll make a 50 dollar dcrtv donation if you can get the "suck my dick" audio posted... (12/16/09)

All TV news should go back to using "Classical Gas" as its theme. Howie (12/16/09)

Sad to hear about Katie Killen leaving Winchester's ABC 3, OK "TV3 Winchester" and yes she was quite good so I imagine she was went on to bigger and better things. However I have noticed one thing about TV3 Winchester, they sure don't like to hire people since I have noticed on their site the same classifed ads had been posted online for some time now say..several months.. www.tv3winchester.com, come to think of it I dont think they ever did replace Bill Duvall or Ryan O'Connor when they left either either Now before somebody writes in and say it's a "Winchester" thing and bring up the current economy well I have noticed the very same thing with Gray Television's other stations in other places too like in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville as well. The same "job openings" are posted and kept online for a very long time. Heck I know that WHSV-TV had an ad looking for master control operator for Harrisonburg AND a reporter on the site www.whsv.com for at least a YEAR. Is Gray really that bad of a company to work for? High turnover? Or could this be a case of one just being being slow in replacing somebody who had left the company? I myself had worked at such places who were like that in the past. Now I know that Gray's outlets in Harrisonburg, Winchester and Charlottesville may not be exactly high paying gigs and the economy in those three cities are still quite healthy but still it makes me wonder about Gray Television.... (12/16/09)

Dear Dave: You write "...Just have a newsreader sitting in front of a blue screen and have him/her just do a solo no-nonsense 30-minute newscast. Bare bones, informative. No "personality..." The problem is that the keepers of such a flame like Walter Cronkite (RIP) and my Dad (last newscast two weeks from today) are disappearing and being replaced by bubble-headed bleached blondes and Ken doll types with teeth. I'm with you. But I don't see this trend reversing itself. Sad. Great site Dave! Sincerely, Joe Kasell (12/16/09)

Now that WMAR-TV's news has crashed and burned, here is a golden opportunity to reinvent the wheel. Hire a news director and executive producer with some "out of the box" ideas on how NOT to do a cookie-cutter newscast. "Long-form" stories, instead of the 17-second sound bites; investigative pieces, etc. It may not be a ratings grabber, but it could bring in a different demographic that would entice an underserved advertiser base. If nothing else, it would create some positive buzz in the industry. Al McGilvray (12/16/09)

Dave's response: Or, my idea. Get rid of the stupid, Star Wars news sets, dippy music and graphics, and other chummy crap. Just have a newsreader sitting in front of a blue screen and have him/her just do a solo no-nonsense 30-minute newscast. Bare bones, informative. No "personality." If you want to fill an hour, do two 30-minute 'casts back to back with different news readers. You'll get back viewers like me who've given up on all the schmultzy garbage that local TV newscasts have become.....

(Snip) I missed the news about Katie Killen leaving TV3 Winchester (end snip) Ms. Killen left two weeks ago for a new job with a TV station in the Asheville, North Carolina market. Al McGilvray (12/16/09)

WMAR has not had a strong line up in the weather department since Stu Kerr. www.classictvhits.com (12/16/09)

Stuff: Norm Lewis could have been a professional country line dancer, but he knew that we needed his forecasts. Great guy. * * Interesting to see how much people have to say about Mike's podcasts. Very few have a clue. Podcasts should never be like a radio show. Most of the things that restrict radio (formats, FCC, tradition, etc.) should have NO bearing on a podcast. They have to be special, with no radio genes. You might get stuck in a car with only a radio and select the least boring station. You have to do some work to find and listen to a podcast. Good luck Mike and Robb, hope you find the formula. * * To: Mark in Perry Hall, Grow up. There is great human tragedy all over the world, but Mark heard "dick" on the radio. * * Years ago I told Arnie Kleiner at channel 2 that their news had to be better or different. Different would be even better now. For years all of the TV consultants have had all of the stations in the country running everything at the same time, weather was on 2, 11, and 13 at the same time. Same was also true of sports, news, features, commercials, and promos. Channel 2 could drop news and replace it with something the would get an alternative audience, but if the wrong shows are inserted, that would be a disaster. (See: NBC-Jay Leno) However, if Channel 2 has the balls to go for #1, there is an answer, but it would be costly for me to put that in print. * * PLB and Collings have been maniacally attacking each other. Both make some good points, and the misunderstanding will never be resolved. PLB is right about radio. It was great, when done right, at one time. Now it sucks because it doesn't serve the listener or the community. Collings is right about Internet radio. It is in the Wayne's World stage of development, and anyone who broadcasts on the Internet deserves to called a broadcaster and not a Webber. With hundreds of thousands of Internet broadcasts, just listen if you want, or not. Both radio and the web will have to find their destiny. * * I look for radio to decline in 2010. Looking to the future radio stations will thin out, AM will go away in its present form, owners will find out that music flow is not a format for radio anymore, and creativity will begin to happen. The medium is the message. Music has many messengers, but radio's strength is still a person intimately talking in your ear. Ed Graham (12/16/09)

Re: "(....Just heard on 105.7 the fan in Baltimore: Caller: "Anita, what would it take to suck Scott's dick?") ...that is just one of MANY reasons I prefer 1370 am" Yes, because prank low-life callers would never try to get something inappropriate on 1370AM! I'm sure that there will be a major meeting about this today and someone will have his/her knuckles rapped. BTW, I do think Coleman's show is better; the problem is that 1370 AM has way too many dead spots in the area for being a 50,000 watter. I get 1300AM better during much of my daily travel. Howie (12/16/09)

A young (and hairy) Stormin' Norm in 1982... when his forecasts still beamed from Television Hill. (12/16/09)

Here's Norm Lewis' announcement on WMAR-TV's 5 pm newscast Tuesday. (12/16/09)

I missed the news about Katie Killen leaving TV3 Winchester. Her bio is no longer on the station web site and Wikipedia lists her as a former employee. Any word? She was becoming a fine anchor and a really good reporter. (12/16/09)

(Dave said: "Each of O'Meara's daily podcasts is 2+ gigs. Times many thousands of listeners. That's a decent chunk of change your website/server provider is gonna charge you.") The MOM crew needs to lower their sampling rate. Right now they're releasing files at 44kHz and as a result their files at around 57MB per podcast. Adam Carolla, for comparison, releases at 22kHz and (as expected) comes in at half that size. So, MOM could halve their costs with a simple encoding choice tweak. On the other hand, this summer Adam talked about how hosting the podcasts was costing him $10k a month just in internet service charges. I doubt MOM pulled those kinds of numbers the first week, but I bet the costs aren't too far off from that. I listened to Mike talk about the donation button. Personally, I wasn't bothered by it as it came off as something listeners were asking for and, if you want to donate, now you can. Personally I'm very much enjoying the podcasts and are glad they're doing them. I don't enjoy them as much as I did O&Dukes on the air, but I find them to be entertaining...and that's a clear improvement over my other options. -Grant in Laurel (12/16/09)

The poster is to be forgiven for mixing up voices with various people on the air from the past. "Sorry you are having trouble," said the robot receptionist, sweetly and sympathetically, when a caller refuses to play the game of menu choice. Here's what -- the same synthesized voice technology now brings you the station IDs you hear places, and the commercials the "voice" reads between segments of newscasts on NPR. That's not a real person, it's a computer voice. The same box has a setting marked "nausea," that brings out the vomit voice that used to throw up on the radio between commercials when WTOP was doing news on 1500AM. At least that's gone. (12/16/09)

Interesting sounds this morning out of Triangle/Dumfries. 920 AM's continuing testing goes on with some R&B holiday tunes being added in -- no more "Hallelujah" followed by nuts being cracked. Also, between 7:15 and 7:45 this morning, audio dipped for a few moments, then came back a lot weaker and distant-sounding. This could mean they're testing night power, the directional antenna tuning, or both. No matter, there is some interesting listening going on at that frequency as they tune up for their debut. But they still need to ID their activities once in awhile to keep themselves legal (for example, "This is WURA, Dumfries, conducting transmitter testing at 920 AM.") Are any of our engineering regulars lurking today? Fill us in on the activities if you know anything, willya? (12/16/09)

Since Norm Lewis denied that he's taking a buyout like Mary Beth Marsden and Terry Owens from WMAR 2, it's kind of obvious his retirement announcement means 1 of 2 things: either his contract was up and WMAR chose not to renew it and/or he's fed up with WMAR/Scripps Howard management and wanted out of his contract before the ship completely sank. Anyways, Happy Retirement & Holidays "Stormin' Norm!" You were always my favorite "Let's hope the schools are closed" winter storm meteorologist in high school and college! :-) (12/16/09)

Nick Cannon on 94.7 eh? Does this mean CBS is finally admitting what a joke they are? Will WIAD have a "Yo Momma" format? Can I git a "whuuUUUUT??!?" Honestly I am not shocked at any dumb CBS decision anymore,I don't care what they do with 94.7 as long as they DO NOT put WHFS on that signal because it doesn't reach my area any better than 102.3 did. Logic would have 94.7 take WPGC's format, 95.5 take the Sports/Talk format,El Zol to 106.7 where it reaches more Hispanics and the labotomized,molested and waterboarded WHFS BACK to 99.1 where it once thrived as a Free Form station. Of course someone will have to sneak logic into a CBS board meeting as they have snubbed it for most of 2 decades. Donnie in FM Wasteland,MD (12/16/09)

Mike O'Meara Podcast Asks For Donations:: How Low Can You Go...Ho! Ho! God-Damn Ho! It's one thing for O'Meara to ignore the state-of-the-art Podcast Business Model that [we], on more than one occasion, played out for him. It's another thing for O'Meara, a millionaire, to attach a "donation" link to his site - low class & unprofessional. Forget about the Adam Carolla factor. At the very least, podcasting was designed as a grassroots, renegade, underground movement, a movement led by people who put on a show simply because they enjoyed doing it, because it is fun, because it is a hobby (and still a relatively inexpensive hobby at that). Less than two weeks out of the box, The Mike O'Meara Show Podcast is cheapened by their personal solicitation for money. [We] don't care if Spewak knits winter hats and sells them through their podcast. I don't have a problem if Elston hocks coffee makers, or if Ardinger sells advertising time to a legitimate business. Maybe it's wrong, but we just find it offensive when someone, especially a pro like O'Meara says "Here's my podcast. Now please give me some money so I can go buy a pizza." The whole thing just reeks of the panhandling, con-artist, money-grubbing, corporate radio culture that podcasting was rebelling against. And if you are one of the suckers who is thinking of giving money to O'Meara, please do us all a favor: Give it to Fisher House, the Red Cross, United Way, Salvation Army, ASPCA, your local soup kitchen, or some poor kid in Thailand. DAMN, SEND YOUR DONATION TO DCRTV! Hey O'Meara, we love you but If you ask someone for their hard earned money, then please offer them something in return. And your crappy [so far] 60 minute podcast, that [we] would like to think you produce for the sheer fun of doing it, doesn't count. Merry Fuckin' Christmas (12/16/09)

RE: [ " Too all of the Baltimore TV news viewers FOX 45 News is Baltimore`s 3rd rated news operation by a wide distance. WMAR is a distant 4th " ]...... That's not entirely true. I'm pretty sure WMAR beats FOX 45 in the morning news race with Jamie Costello and possibly at 5 & 6, but I don't doubt that WMAR 2 is a distant 4th at 11pm vs FOX 45's very well produced News at 10. But that doesn't excuse Sinclair sending out skipping and out of sync DTV signals both over the air and on cable TV on WNUV CW 54 or their phony duopoly and mismanagement of WNUV 54. Many people have complained about it too. The other thing about WMAR is, in this economy, could they have possibly kept that overpriced talent in any way whether they were in 3rd or 4th place? If you think about it, WMAR had 2 of Baltimore's longest running and highly paid anchors in Stovall and Marsden, not to mention the other anchor who's name escapes me at the moment. WMAR also had the longest running meteorologist in Baltimore TV history, no chump change there (no Bob Turk is not a meteorologist, sorry). And outside of Vince Bagli, the longest running Baltimore TV sports anchor in Scott Garceau. Regardless of what you think of those people, that all adds up to very expensive talent and salaries for a 3rd or 4th place news organization. Marsden was probably making twice what FOX 45's Jeff Barnd makes and Norm Lewis was probably making more than WBAL's Tom Tasselmyer. Scott Garceau had to be the highest paid sportscaster. Just no way WMAR could keep those numbers going and stay afloat. The interesting thing is that I've yet to hear that any former WMAR person accepted a pay cut or assignment change just to stay aboard. That kind of shows you the culture of defeat over there on York Road. Everyone just takes the buyout and gets the hell out because they clearly have no confidence in the management of the station and let's face it, it's been terrible for decades now. (12/16/09)

Happy Holidays Dave, An interesting new PPM article link www.nytimes.com (12/16/09)

“I have no problem with anyone sticking a donate button on their podcast /website.... but when its Mike Omeara, it just makes this little project seem even more pathetic.” Dat true: also, they don’t allow anything they don’t like in the comments section (for the first show’s comments I made some goofy remark about “Hey, where’s the OTHER Mike” and they nixed it the next day). Neither Don nor Mike (nor pretty much anybody associated with the show except maybe Joe) can take any chiding let alone criticism: you immediately become the enemy and a target for their infantile rage. Ask Dave “Rupert” Hughes. (12/16/09)

Dave's response: One reason I haven't got an audio podcast - OK, I don't have any radio talent - is the cost. Not so much to produce, but in the internet bandwidth charges to provide such a service. Each of O'Meara's daily podcasts is 2+ gigs. Times many thousands of listeners. That's a decent chunk of change your website/server provider is gonna charge you. Not much for a big media company like CBS, but if you're providing it on your own without a significant base of advertising income or subscription fees, someone's gonna have to pay it. A la Mike. Has he thought about running ads in the podcast? Gonna have to hire an ad sales person/team and ad production. More costs, up-front. Could be a while before he sees any profit with this new endeavor.....

According to a story in the NY Times, the PPM detects differences between what radio listeners say they're listening to, versus what they are actually tuned-in to. Can it be that more men are mellowing out to Air Supply these days? www.nytimes.com (12/16/09)

Is it my imagination or does WMAL's Sunday evening engineer/anchor around the news and the promos, whose name is Wes Lee, sound an awful lot like WAMU's former excellent engineer and fill-in announcer James White? If it is him, why can't he use his regular radio name? Then again, I could swear that NPR's Brian Naylor recorded the the bus stop announcements in San Francisco ("Next stop: 21st and Mission; please exit through the rear door!") -- Carl in Olney (12/16/09)

Accuweather backed off their snow forecast within hours of posting it on their site. (12/16/09)

Too all of the Baltimore TV news viewers FOX 45 News is Baltimore`s 3rd rated news operation by a wide distance. WMAR is a distant 4th FOX 45 News is well respected in Baltimore ask the news staff`s at WJZ and WBAL as well as the D.C. market stop raging on them people. (12/16/09)

(....Just heard on 105.7 the fan in Baltimore: Caller: "Anita, what would it take to suck Scott's dick?") ...."I ALSO HEARD THIS with my 9 yr old CHILD in car ....who can I contact to take action??? - CBS radio , or the FCC, it was ludicrous!!! ...HOW DOES THAT MAKE IT OPN AIR AND MASN ?? ..that is just one of MANY reasons I prefer 1370 am (in fact, only reason i heard that, was b/c Coleman was in commercials) not to mention, wjz fm's weak -nonsensical arguments between those 2 clowns ...But to hear that was IN-excusable and should be punished. It was simply Bush- lg & completely, shameful!....I am still wondering who is actually worse- scott or anita? - mark/ perry hall (12/16/09)

Dave's response: That's what the FCC's there for, supposedly. Go file a complaint. The form's gotta be somewhere at fcc.gov.....

What is the relationship with WURA and WPWC beyond the transmitter site? Pending/current ownership of WURA, Capital Broadcasting, has the same name of a person who was/is a chief engineer of WPWC / JMK Communications when they received a fine from the FCC a few years back for not powering down at the correct time and for public file violations. Didn't WTRI face similar fines under the ownership of JMK? Does anyone even know where the studios are for WPWC should one want to inspect the public file - Annandale or Woodbridge? The FCC address lists Los Angeles, CA. I remember a decade or more ago, taking the grand tour of WPWC with the late, great Cousin Ray in "downtown" Dumfries. My how times have changed! MLB4 (12/16/09)

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