Front Page - Mailbag - News - Rants 2006 - Rants 2007 - Rants 2008 - Support DCRTV By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com 7/7 - Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but podcasts and internet streams are just not the same - don't have the same "reality" - as being live on the local radio waves. And it's good to hear Mike O'Meara back on the real DC radio this morning. His podcasts, with his old WJFK buddies Robb, Buzz, and Oscar, are good, too. But, by their very nature, they're not live. You're listening to something recorded earlier today, last week, or whatever. When Mike signed on 105.9 The Edge this morning at 5 with another local radio vet, Kirk McEwen, it was during pre-dawn darkness and Mike made reference to that. So, today is "Day One" of Kirk and Mike. Lotsa questions remain. The least of which is whether the two will "gell" on the air. I think so, at first impression. Mike can be an emotional volcano, as your trusty webmaster can attest to via some very very early morning phone calls I've received from him over the years. But that quality can make him very engaging to listen to. The big question is whether a talkish morning show on a classic rocker will generate enough Portable People Meter ratings for the "new" (almost a year old, ha ha ha) 105.9 The Edge. The PPMs were not all that kind to the old "guy talk" WJFK when O'Meara was there, but there is a "hole" in this market for a not overly political/sports morning (and afternoon) humor-based talk show aimed at middle-aged guys. Good luck Mike and Kirk. I think that this could be the start of something very cool on the DC radio dial..... 7/6 - DCRTV hears from some sources on Jenifer Street that former WJFKer Mike O'Meara paid a pre-debut visit Tuesday to the studios of 105.9 The Edge, WVRX, where he'll be starting tomorrow morning with Kirk McEwen. And a fly on the wall tells us that Mike has a "big head" and seemed to think that he's the "savior" of not only the classic rock station but also Citadel's entire Washington radio cluster, including WMAL and WRQX, too. "He came across like he's the big star that is going to save the company," we're told. However, another Citadel DCer begs to differ: "I didn't get that at all from Mike O'Meara today. He was very cordial and funny. I spoke with him briefly. I think unemployment tends to humble a lot of people." More Edge news: We hear that middayer Suzie Ansilio may get moved to afternoon drive to fill McEwen's old slot. Last Friday, DCRTV broke the news about O'Meara joining WVRX..... 7/5 - A well-placed radio source tells us that Don Geronimo has been talking to Dan Snyder-owned sports talker WTEM, ESPN 980, about carrying his new radio show during afternoon drive. Geronimo just started doing a midday show for Sacramento sports talker KHTK from his Ocean City condo. Due to the time difference, the show would air live on WTEM in PM drive, if WTEM decides to replace the afternoon "Sports Reporters" show. Not likely, other sources tell DCRTV. Maybe a more likely DC landing spot for Geronimo: Redskins owner Snyder's non-sports talker WTNT, 570 AM. Question: Would CBS, which owns KHTK, allow Geronimo's show on station - WTEM - that's the primary rival of its DC sports talker, WJFK, 106.7 The Fan? Hmmm. Stay tuned..... 7/3 - OK, so now 105.9 The Edge has got the legendary Mike O'Meara for mornings, to be partnered with the legendary Kirk McEwen. Citadel is well on its way to making the station "way cool." But it's not quite there yet. We love Suzie Ansilio in middays. But what about the afternoons that McEwen in vacating? How about another rock radio legend - Cerphe Colwell? He's been off the local radio airwaves since CBS flipped 94.7 The Globe from classic rock to Fresh chick pop last spring. Since it launched late last summer, The Edge has been focusing on mainly hardish classic rock from the 1970s - Led Zep, the Stones, AC/DC. And that's cool. And we're also hearing some Bowie, Springsteen, U2, Talking Heads, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Cars. Great! But why not "mix it up" even more with some of the great bands that progressive rocker WHFS played "back in the day" like the Cure, New Order, Simple Minds, Blur, the Smiths, Elvis Costello, XTC, Oasis, Iggy Pop. Hell, many of those tunes are well more than 20 years old! Don't play the same three Stones songs over and over, either. Deep tracks, please. Give us "wow tunes" that we haven't heard on the radio in many-a-moon. Clear Channel's plug-and-play generic DC101 is OK, but DC hasn't had a great rock radio station since WHFS started disintegrating around 1999 or 2000. It's been 10 years "wandering" the local radio desert, looking for DC's next great rock station? Sure, Annapolis's WRNR-FM, Baltimore's 98 Rock, Towson's WTMD are cool, but they're not DC stations! With the morning team of McEwen and O'Meara, the seeds have been planted. Citadel and Kenny King, please don't fumble the ball like CBS did back in 2007 with the launch of 94.7 The Globe. That station, despite its promising birth, was allowed to die on the vine. Not given enough "love" to bloom. Is corporate radio capable of such "rock radio nurturing" in this PPM, bean counter-crazed, recessionary radio environment? Probably not. Surprise us, Citadel..... 7/2 - Dave Dickenson has left his operations manager/program director gig with Howard University's adult urban contemporary WHUR (96.3 FM). No word about where Dickenson's going or about his replacement at WHUR. More soon..... 7/1 - DCRTV hears that former Channel 45/WBFF news anchor Jennifer Gladstone has been seen at Harrisburg's Channel 27/WHTM, which is owned by DC-based Allbritton, which owns Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8. WHTM's morning news anchor will be leaving soon, we're told. Anchor Gladstone left WBFF, Baltimore's Fox45, in May 2009 after a Sinclair budget cut..... 7/1 - After almost two decades of running the Washington Redskins, Annapolis news talker WNAV (1430 AM) will instead be carrying the Baltimore Ravens this season. The decision was made based on the results of a survey of listeners and advertisers in addition to other market data, according to the station, which is owned by "Wheel Of Fortune" host Pat Sajak. The outcome "overwhelmingly favored" a transition to the Ravens. "The move had been contemplated for a few years," says WNAV General Manager Steve Hopp. "As a community based radio station, we are dedicated to listening to the needs and interests of our audience." WNAV will also air pre-season games and coverage of Ravens training camp. WNAV also carries Navy football, basketball, and lacrosse, as well as the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Wizards. Sajak's Westminster station, WTTR (1470 AM), is also a Ravens affiliate..... 7/1 - DCRTV told you a while back that CBS's sports talk WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, would be ending its DC market deal to carry University Of Maryland Terrapins' football and men's basketball, and that the games would be moving to Red Zebra's rival sports talk WTEM, ESPN 980. Well, the official announcement came at noon today..... 6/30 - Like DC's Channel 7/WJLA and Channel 9/WUSA, Baltimore's Channel 11/WBAL moved its digital signal from UHF to its old VHF channel in June 2009 with the USA's all-digital TV conversion. But, all three stations found that their original VHF power levels were too low, with some viewers having reception problems. All three stations had applied to the FCC for temporary power hikes which they're now asking to be made permanent. However, WBAL is running into trouble from Nexstar, which owns a TVer in Scranton PA that also broadcasts on channel 11 and is claiming some interference from WBAL's stronger signal. But, Nexstar also owns Hagerstown's Channel 25/WHAG, which is a rival NBC affiliate for the state of Maryland. Nexstar is asking WBAL for a payment in order to accept the interference at its Scranton station. However, in FCC filings asking for a waiver of interference rules in its case, WBAL suggests that Nexstar is actually trying to unfairly limit the signal reach of the Baltimore NBC affilate in favor of the Hagerstown NBCer, which is already in the line-up of Verizon's Fios systems in the DC suburbs of Northern Virginia, along with Dish Network on the Eastern Shore..... 6/29 - The USS Citadel was taking on water yesterday, literally! That line of big boomers that blew through the DC area at about 3 PM unleashed heavy rains causing ceiling tiles to fall and part of the roof to collapse at the Jenifer Street northwest DC complex that houses WMAL, WRQX, and WVRX. Although the on-air studios of all three Citadel stations were not affected, the business office, traffic office, the newly-dedicated Andy Ockerhausen conference room, and other areas were filled with many inches of water. A restoration company was called in to help clean up the mess..... 6/29 - Former 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM afternoon show co-host Anita Marks can now be heard on Sirius XM doing "Sirius XM Fantasy Football" with John Hansen. It airs 2 PM to 5 PM on Sirius-211 and XM-147. DCRTV's already tipped you that Marks has moved to NYC (actually North Jersey) and will be covering the NY Giants for CBS's WFAN radio this fall..... 6/29 - DCRTV hears rumblings that soon-to-be-former WBAL radio show host Shari Elliker (right) is not a happy camper with her move, starting July 1, to a host position on the news talker's new afternoon news block. We're told that longtime local radio vet Elliker, who has been hosting her WBAL show since 2007, is taking a big pay cut, along with the cancellation of her 9 AM to noon program. That late morning slot on 1090 AM will be filled by current afternoon driver Ron Smith. WBAL is launching an afternoon news block from 3 PM to 6 PM, much like the Dave Durian-hosted news block it recently started in mornings..... 6/28 - Bonneville's Federal News Radio, WFED, 1500/820 AM, will air the Baltimore Ravens this season. That bolsters the station's sports line-up, which also includes the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals, plus three college teams. In the event the Ravens play at the same time as a previously scheduled play-by-play broadcast on WFED, the Ravens will air on Bonneville's WBQH, 1050 AM, a newly-leased Spanish outlet. Says Ravens Corporate Sales And Development VP Mark Burdett: "It's outstanding to have such a well-established station and station group as Bonneville become our network affiliate in Washington DC. We are pleased to be able to serve our many and growing number of fans in DC and to complement the already outstanding lineup of live play-by-play team broadcasts." The Ravens flagship stations remain Baltimore news talker WBAL-AM and sister Hearst rocker WIYY, 98 Rock. Washington's Redskins do not have a Balimore radio affiliate, but their games can easily be heard in the Baltimore market on the 980 AM signal of ESPN 980, WTEM..... 6/28 - DCRTV gets confirmation that Radio One's Majic 102.3, WMMJ, is hiring a new airstaff for a relaunch of the urban adult contemporary station. Over the weekend, we told you that Radio One had placed a "help wanted" ad for three on-air personalities. Last week, the station fired its entire local airstaff, keeping the syndicated Tom Joyner in mornings. Still no announced time frame for the debut of the new airstaff. The new program director, Jammillah Muhammad, is a "dynamic and experienced leader who has a clear vision how to put Majic back on top with refined urban AC playlist and talent," we're told. "Staff is super excited about her ability to increase the ratings with WMMJ and (gospel) WPRS on her shoulders"..... 6/28 - DCRTV hears that another personality is gone from Baltimore sports talker WNST (1570 AM). We're told that Ray Bachman is out after 14 years with the station. More soon..... 6/27 - During a chance second encounter in Baltimore in 1945, Bob Davis, 89, and Henry Schalizki, 88, met and fell in love. More than six decades later, the couple finally legalized their union. Davis was "Mr. WGMS" for decades and their "man about town." He covered theater and movies, hosting a lunchtime interview show at the Kennedy Center for the longtime classical music station..... 6/26 - DCRTV gets confirmation on our earlier exclusive report that traffic, news, and lifestyle reporter Erica Hilary has given her notice and will soon be off WRQX, Mix 107.3's Jack Diamond morning show. And that the Citadel station is seeking her replacement. Hilary is a longtime DC radio personality, having once hosted the "Girl Talk" show on WASH and the now-defunct Z104..... 6/26 - A correction in Saturday's Washington Post: "A June 25 page one article about President Obama expressing confidence in his leadership team on Afghanistan in the wake of the firing of General Stanley A. McChrystal incorrectly referred to Robert M. Gates as secretary of state. He is the secretary of defense." Hey, that's a pretty major screw-up for a Washington newspaper, to misidentify the secretary of defense in a front page piece. Another step down the road of bad editing and shoddy journalism for the Post and its clueless publisher, Katharine Weymouth. When will her reign of incompetence end? Hmmm..... 6/26 - DCRTV hears that former Channel 9/WUSA reporter and anchor Audrey Barnes (right) was seen on Channel 5/ WTTG's 10 PM news Friday doing a short package with an on-scene stand-upper on how the DC area remembered Michael Jackson on the anniversary of his death. And, DCRTV hears that former Channel 7/WJLA weekend sports anchor Greg Toland presented WUSA's 11 PM sportscast Friday..... 6/25 - DCRTV technical guru Dave Loudin tells us that Channel 7/WJLA has asked the Federal Communications Commission to make permanent its previous temporary power hike from 30,000-watts to 52,000-watts because some viewers were having reception difficulties since the all-digital TV switchover in June 2009. WJLA claims that the power increase has had no adverse effects on nearby stations' reception..... 6/25 - DC radio veteran Olivia Fox (left) has issued a statement regarding Wednesday's firing of the entire local airstaff - including herself - at adult urban contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3. "I am no longer employed by Radio One. However, I would like to thank Radio One for giving me yet another opportunity to work in one of my favorite places, the Washington DC metro area." She also writes: "Majic 102.3 was a wonderful station to work for, with a close knit on air staff and sales team, it truly was an amazing place to work for the past three years." And she vows that she'll be back on the DC airwaves very soon. "Many of you have followed my 22-plus-year radio career and have seen me in this situation before, and each and every setback has always been a set up for a new wonderful beginning. This shall be no different. I ask that you continue to follow me at OliviaFox.com, and, after taking a month or so off to enjoy my family, I will be announcing my next move." As DCRTV has reported, Fox has been battling a serious kidney disease..... 6/24 - DCRTV told you a few weeks ago that the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network is planning to carry the new John Riggins (right) radio show in afternoons come July. Riggins launched his afternoon show on Bonneville all-newser WTOP 103.5's digital HD2 signal in April. A key source now tells DCRTV that Riggins will be getting the "prime later spot" of 4 PM-ish to 6:30 PM-ish on MASN, with Scott Garceau airing from 2 PM to 4 PM-ish. Garceau's radio show from Baltimore sports talker WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan, currently airs on MASN from 3 PM to 6:30 PM. MASN believes that Riggins would be more effective counter programming to Comcast SportsNet's "Washington Post Live," which runs from 5 PM to 6 PM, we're told. The Riggins addition is actually a return to MASN, which aired his old Triple X sports talk show in afternoon drive from 2006 to 2008..... 6/23 - DCRTV hears rumblings that traffic, news, and lifestyle reporter Erica Hilary will soon be off WRQX, Mix 107.3's Jack Diamond morning show. And that the Citadel station is seeking her replacement..... 6/23 - It sounds like Bonneville has replaced the temporary relay of all-news WTOP on its 1050 AM with Spanish programming. We're told the new calls are WBQH. A group called United Media has entered a lease agreement with Bonneville, we hear. Some sports events that Bonneville has already penned deals for will still be carried on 1050. The Silver Spring station had relayed Air America under a lease deal, until the lefty talk network went out of business earlier this year..... 6/22 - The proposed merger between cable TV giant Comcast and entertainment giant NBC Universal was heavily criticized Monday by some rival media companies and consumer advocacy groups that are trying to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to block the $30-billion deal. The LA Times has more. Locally, Comcast owns cable TV systems serving much of the DC-Baltimore area, plus Comcast SportsNet, while NBC owns DC's Channel 4/WRC. Although there was no shortage of complaints to the FCC about the proposed merger, the bulk of big media stayed quiet. Viacom, Time Warner, CBS, and News Corporation, which owns Fox, all indicated they would not file comments on the deal. Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, was also expected to refrain from commenting. There is talk that many of the above companies, which own TV stations and/or cable networks, are scared of Comcast's retaliation if they go on the record against the merger and it is eventually approved. Even the Washington Post, which is a cable system and TV station owner and would have to negotiate carriage deals with a combined Comcast-NBC, is downplaying its coverage of the potential merger and its critics, DCRTV notes..... 6/21 - Will Don Geronimo (left) be a success in market number 27, Sacramento, with his new radio show, which launches Monday? Will Don's trademark "zoo-type" show work on a sports talker on the West Coast? Or will Don make his show more of a sports show for KHTK's audience? How will Don sound without his longtime partner Mike O'Meara at his side, or any of his old radio gang, including Buzz Burbank and Robb Spewak? Has Don "lost it" after more than two years away from his gig at the DC area's WJFK? Is he too old - 51 - to do the same old "zoo-type schtick," if that's what his new show will be? Will Don's new show "work" even though it's being done from a studio in Ocean City, Maryland, some 3,000 miles away from his new station? Why didn't Don just move out to Sacramento to do the show from there? Will Don's new show attract an appreciable audience nationwide, especially from the DC area, where he's still well-known? Will Don find the right local/national "balance" on the show, so that it will attractive to the syndication market in other cities? Will Don put his new wife on the show? Will Don create a new "radio gang" from among the KHTK staff, including his new show producer? We'll know the answers soon. The DC radio veteran, who spent 20+ years doing "The Don And Mike Show" at WJFK and WAVA, along with a stint at then "top 40" WPGC before that, can be heard at khtk.cbslocal.com from 3 PM to 7 PM ET (noon to 4 PM PT) starting today, June 21st. Podcasts will also be available. Stay tuned..... 6/19 - More of the "brilliance" of Comcast. In an ad in Saturday's Washington Post, the area cable TV giant says that it's reconfiguring its Spanish language "Cable Latino" packages into something called "MultiLatino." You'll get a batch of Spanish networks - 15 channels in Reston and other Northern Virginia locales, 19 in Arlington and Alexandria, and 23 in DC - all for the same monthly fee of $16.95. Isn't that somewhat of a rip-off in Reston, where you'll be getting eight fewer Spanish channels for the same price as DC? What's that, Comcast math? Hmmm. Also, did Comcast's PR people even bother proofreading the ad, which indicates that the $59.95 "MultiLatino Max" and the $76.90 "MultiLatino Ultra" packages are exactly identical? If Comcast can't get its own bureaucratic "mumbojumbo" right, how does it expect its subscribers to figure it all out? Maaaaaan. Muy tonto..... 6/19 - DCRTV hears about some changes with DC TV's news and traffic copters. Apparently, the Sky 9 helicopter being leased from Metro Traffic by Channel 9/WUSA is going to Miami. We're told that that bird has also been recently feeding news video to Channel 7/WJLA, which wants out the deal. Instead, 7 will now get its copter video from Channel 4/WRC's Chopper 4. In fact, we hear that the WRC bird is providing video for all of DC TV's news stations - 4, 5, 7, and 9 - via the new joint news consortium. "We were calling it Chopper 495, but we're not sure how to work 7 into it and still have it come out cutsie," a local TV news source tells DCRTV. "I find it amazing that in the DC market, one helicopter is going to provide video for everybody." With Sky 9 heading south, "veteran traffic reporter and videographer Bill Michaels (real name Bill Goldstein) has decided that 25 years in radio is enough. He declined the offer to take a just-vacated traffic reporter position in one of the planes," we're told..... 6/18 - DCRTV hears that CBS Radio in Baltimore planning to turn its morning show with Ed Norris on 105.7 The Fan into more of a sports show. Frequently, Norris, a former Baltimore city top cop, talks politics and other non-sports topics. We're told that Steve Davis (left), former sports anchor for Channel 45/WBFF and WBAL radio, will be paired with Norris to give mornings more of a sports feel. And Davis may even eventually get top-billing. However, our sources say that Davis is not popular with Orioles' management, and 105.7 is the Orioles' radio flagship. Hmmm. Also, we're told that Ken Wienman is being taken off the 105.7 morning show come July, and will be sent back to nights. DCRTV already told you that Norris's producer and sidekick, Maynard Edwards, is out. WJZ-FM, 105.7, flipped to sports talk in late 2008, and its ratings have been sagging of late. Could this be bad news for Dave Labrozzi, who is the top programmer for CBS Radio's Baltimore cluster? Stay tuned..... 6/16 - Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington, a left leaner, and CNN GOP pundit Mary Matalin, a righty, will launch a national radio show on 6/26 to give the female view on various political issues. No word on a DC affiliate for the one-hour weekly Saturday program, "Both Sides Now"..... 6/16 - OK, so let's say the foolhardy and misguided FCC approves the Comcast merger with NBC, and the cable giant gets control of NBC's Channel 4/WRC. And somewhere down the line, Channel 7/WJLA owner Allbritton wants Comcast to carry the new HD version of NewsChannel 8, or whatever it will be called after the remake. Comcast says no, but Allbritton fires back with a threat to yank Channel 7 from area Comcast systems. But, now Comcast owns Channel 4, a major rival of 7. Theoretically, Comcast could benefit with higher ratings for NBC4 by having 7, and its ABC programming, go missing for a time - days? weeks? - on cable TV line-ups throughout the Washington area. And there are other things Comcast-NBC could do to "mess" with 7 - and Washington's other major rival broadcast stations like Fox's 5 and Gannett's 9. It could give its Channel 4 a better "dial position" on the cable box. Ditto with its various subchannels. It could run promos all over its cable systems hyping 4's shows and newscasts. If the FCC allows the Comcast-NBC merger, it's giving Comcast an unfair interest and advantage in the local TV market - and in TV markets where Comcast has systems and will own the local NBC broadcast station. One possible remedy for this is for the FCC to force Comcast to either sell its cable systems or its NBC station in markets where it owns both. Like DC, NYC, its hometown of Philly, and dozens of other markets across the country. Or, the FCC could just say that the Comcast-NBC pairing would just make a complicated mess of the increasingly contentious relationship that local broadcasters have with cable systems and soundly reject this terrible idea. If the Comcast-NBC marriage is approved, the only winners will be the top execs and investors at both firms. Viewers and cable subscribers will be the losers - with higher rates and more blackouts - in the ramped-up battle of way-too-big Comcast-NBC with other rival networks and programmers..... 6/15 - McLean-based Gannett Broadcasting and digital outfit DataSphere Technologies are partnering to launch community-focused news websites in 10 markets where Gannett owns a station, including Washington, where the firm has Channel 9/WUSA. We wonder: Channel 7/WJLA owner Allbritton better get off its butt and launch its long-awaited TBD.com local news site. Or is it having second thoughts about spending all that dough on a staff of so many young elite cyber weenies? Hmmm..... 6/14 - A Washington Post promotion for a free poster of Washington National's phenom Stephen Strasburg's first pitch has drawn the ire of some WTOP listeners. The promotion says that the poster is only available in the Sunday copy of the Washington Post sold at retail locations, and that subscribers will have to specifically request the poster, and wait for two to three weeks for delivery. Callers to the WTOP Talkback line were incensed that the poster was not being sent to them along with their regular paper. That's WTOP's David Burd, at right, showing how "big" the poster is..... 6/14 - Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise announced on his WJFK, 106.7 The Fan midday show today that he married his girlfriend over the weekend. Last week, Wise pretended on-air to publicly propose to her, but he later admitted that he'd asked her long before that. Wise added that local jeweler Mervis Diamonds - a WJFK advertiser - is the "official sponsor" of his wedding ring..... 6/13 - Sunday's Washington Post features a piece about last week's news that the weekly Herndon Observer newspaper is shutting down after 25 years. However, there's no mention in the article that one probable and major factor in the drying-up of advertising for the Observer was the recent refurbishment of the Fairfax County Times, which, these days, seems to be loaded with ads. Missing from the Post's piece today is not only that, but also the fact that the Washington Post Company owns the FCT, which is based in neighboring Reston. There's no doubt, in my estimation, that the Post's Northern Virginia newspaper aided the Observer's demise, and is also probably responsible for a severe ad thinning-out at the Connection newspapers, which also serve Northern Virginia. Might that have been worth at least mention in the Post's Sunday piece? I think so..... 6/11 - We just got word that Citadel head Farid Suleman has penned a five-year deal with his just-out-of-bankruptcy radio company for an annual base salary of $1.25 million, with a potential first-year bonus of $2 million. So Farid, with your refurbished company now flush with cash, how about giving us a decent morning show on your new 105.9 The Edge classic rocker here in Washington? And the perfect person for it - longtime "guy talk" radio vet Mike O'Meara, who has been off the Washington area airwaves since getting bounced from WJFK last summer. While Mike's new one-hour-per-day podcast is nice, it's just not the same as a "real radio" show, as he reminded us this week with his guest hosting shot on Baltimore's 98 Rock. There were rumors last fall that 105.9 was "this close" to putting O'Meara in mornings, but Citadel was just then entering its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Now that the firm has emerged, and obviously has got some fresh cash to throw about, why not send some O'Meara's way? While 105.9 with its hardish classic rock format has not done gangbusters in the overall radio ratings since its August 2009 debut, its has showed some impressive gains in attracting middle-aged men, even beating O'Meara's old station, CBS sports talker WJFK. Having a live and local morning show hosted by O'Meara would be the perfect formula for a "male dominated" station to complement Citadel's Mix 107.3, which is already the market's top "female dominated" station with Jack Diamond in mornings. Come on Farid, and Kenny King here at Citadel DC, it's time to make the move. Put O'Meara on 105.9!..... 6/11 - DCRTV hears rumblings that CBS Radio has cut loose producer and sidekick Maynard from the Ed Norris morning show on Baltimore sports talker 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM. More soon..... 6/10 - DCRTV hears that there are "no plans right now" to make Mike O'Meara (right) a permanent part of the 98 Rock, WIYY, on-air team. "We are just having some fun," a top exec at the Hearst-owned Baltimore rock station tells DCRTV. DC radio vet and former longtime WJFKer O'Meara is co-hosting the Mickey and Amelia morning show Wednesday through Friday this week, with DC and Baltimore radio vet and former 98 Rocker Kirk McEwen having done the same thing on Monday and Tuesday. "I am just glad that I work for a company that will let (the station) do things like this," we're told by a WIYYer. "I am equally as glad that Mike and Kirk are cool enough to play along." McEwen does afternoons on DC's 105.9 The Edge..... 6/10 - Here in Reston, if you plug the Comcast cable directly into your digital TV, you can get EWTN, the Catholic religious TV network. But if you subscribe to any programming tier with a cable box, EWTN is nowhere to be found. I've contacted the system's manager, Abe Jennings, and Comcast PR lady Alisha Martin, but no one will provide me an answer as to why. There are lots of Catholics living in Reston. The community has two Catholic churches. But, for some reason, Comcast doesn't want to provide cable-wide local distribution of a major Catholic TV network, even though Comcast does carry two somewhat fundamentalist Christian channels - Daystar and Inspiration. Comcast is hyping the "diversity" of its programming in hearings regarding its merger with NBC, but apparently that claim is just a lot of meaningless chatter when it comes to its local cable line-ups, like Reston..... 6/9 - DCRTV hears that Baltimore rocker 98 Rock, WIYY, has put the signal of its Hearst sister news talker WBAL, 1090 AM, on the digital HD Radio HD4 channel of its 97.9 FM signal. Along with the already established digital 98 Rock main signal on its HD1, Classic 98 Rock on the HD2, and Indie 97.9 on the HD3..... 6/8 - Hey, look at Lisa de Moraes! They've held a gun to her head and forced her to start covering local media news. The longtime Washington Post TV columnist, who is still based in LA from all we know, has pretty much been a national TV news writer for, well, her entire time at the Post, which is many years. It always seemed like DC media news - you know, a new weatherman at 4 or another longtime reporter leaving 9 - wasn't "big enough" for her and got covered by an underling at the pompous rag. She was out there in La La Land, hanging out with the superstar network suits and flacks, writing snarky stuff that interested TV viewers in places like Seattle and Miami and Long Island, along with metro DC, too. But now, as DCRTV tipped you a few months back, Lisa will have to "limit herself" to covering news that only folks in places like Beltsville and Annandale will care about. Ewwwwwwww. Like today's column which features news about a new general manager and weatherman at 4, and a new reporter at 7. Wow, how the mighty have fallen. Go take a shower Lisa and pretend that it's all just a bad dream. A tip of the old rabbit ears to you, dear. "Lotsa dots." Maybe make a long distance call to your man servant, Paul Farhi. Perhaps he can whisper a comforting word or two. It's not that bad. DC's radio ain't as good as LA's, but it's not a bad place..... 6/8 - Sure, Don Geronimo has landed a gig in market number 27, Sacramento. But, is Mike O'Meara flirting with a gig in market number 22, Baltimore? We hear that O'Meara, the former "Don And Mike Show" radio god who got the boot from WJFK last summer, will be filling in for the vacationing Amelia on the 98 Rock, WIYY morning show with Mickey Cucchiella on Wednesday through Friday. O'Meara, who can still be heard via a daily podcast at mikeomearashow.com, recently spent a day visiting the 98 Rock and sister WBAL radio staffers in Baltimore. Oh, filling in for Amelia on Monday and Tuesday of this week is former 98 Rocker Kirk McEwen, who now does afternoons on DC's 105.9 The Edge..... 6/8 - As DCRTV reported, local TV veteran Morris Jones has taken over the evening newscasts on NewsChannel 8, as he debuted Monday evening. Jones, who anchored the Channel 5/WTTG newscasts for many years, and then went to Baltimore to do national newscasts for Sinclair's News Central, recently got hired by Allbritton, which is in the process of making over its NewsChannel 8 along with the upcoming launch of its new TBD.com local news website..... 6/8 - The Capital Weather Gang at washingtonpost.com has more on yesterday's big news that Doug Kammerer from Philadelphia has been picked to be Channel 4/WRC's news chief meteorologist, replacing Bob Ryan, who recently jumped to Channel 7/WJLA. "The hiring of Kammerer suggests management at NBC4 prioritized injecting youth into its evening news team of veterans Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, and Dan Hallie. Kammerer just celebrated his 35th birthday last month which will make him the youngest chief meteorologist in the DC area by a long shot. He is young enough to be Bob Ryan's son... and younger than any of the meteorologists at NBC4 who will be under him"..... 6/8 - DCRTV hears that Hartley Adkins may not be head of Clear Channel's DC radio cluster for much longer. We're hearing rumblings that San Antonio-based execs from the radio giant are unhappy about recent news leaks that a company ad rep had been physically assaulted by another employee at the Rockville Pike complex which houses DC101, Hot 99.5, WASH, WBIG, and WMZQ. Sources say that a big factor in the company angst is the extremely low morale among CCDC's ad sales reps following a relatively large number of allegedly "without cause" demotions and firings in the past year..... 6/7 - DCRTV reported the rumors last week. Now, we get confirmation from station owner Nestor Aparicio that longtime midday host Bob Haynie is gone from Baltimore sports talker WNST (1570 AM). "Despite our love of Bob and his excellent radio show, sponsorship to Bob Haynie's radio show on WNST was down significantly and despite our best efforts to change that in partnership with Bob, we couldn' reach terms on an arrangement moving forward," says Aparicio..... 6/5 - DCRTV hears that Emily Gracey, who recently did a short fill-in weather stint at Channel 9/WUSA, was seen doing Channel 45/WBFF's weather Friday night. She did weather for Channel 2/WMAR up through 2009..... 6/6 - Imagine if you went into a grocery store wanting to buy potato chips and you couldn't buy them unless you also bought pea soup, cat food, and diapers - three items you don't want or need. Well, that's exactly the way the cable/satellite TV business is run today. You have to buy expensive packages of channels, chock full of programming that you don't want, in order to get the handful of channels that you do. On my Comcast system, you have to buy a package of networks that includes the Tennis Channel in order to watch World War II documentaries on the Military History Channel. Want Fox News and CNBC? OK, you'll have to buy the package that has channels offering cooking shows and cartoons for pre-schoolers. This giant consumer unfriendly fraud should be one of the top topics this summer in the FCC hearings on the Comcast-NBC merger. Comcast is the largest cable company in the country and if it's planning to merge with one of the largest broadcast TV networks maybe it should be required to become an honest broker of TV services and give its subscribers exactly what they want to pay for. No more pea soup with the potato chips, huh..... 6/4 - Today marks the end of Dave Statter's (right) remarkable 25-year news reporting career at Channel 9/WUSA. "He is a reporter's reporter. Fair. Ethical. Dedicated to truth, process, and product," his wife, WTOP news anchor Hillary Howard, tells DCRTV. "Here's to a great run, honey - and the start of another. Cheers." DCRTV told you a few weeks ago that Statter was taking a buyout from the Gannett-owned CBS affiliate. No word as to whether Statter will jump to Channel 7/WJLA, where all the local TV news greats seem to end up eventually..... 6/4 - If you were listening to WMAL this morning, you heard a lot of talk that President Obama has done a lot of talking since he took office early last year - but he's done very little "doing" about many issues. On the media front, Obama promised more diversity and local ownership. But we're sitting here facing the very real possibility that the nation's largest cable TV operator, Comcast, could merge with NBC, one of the largest TV network and movie players. Despite all the promises made by Comcast and NBC execs at recent Capitol Hill hearings, the only "winners" in the marriage will be the execs and stockholders at both companies. Cable subscribers and TV viewers will be big losers if these big, impersonal companies unite to become one even bigger, more impersonal company. Just look at one local aspect of the merger. Comcast will most certainly merge its Comcast SportsNet/Bethesda operations with the sports department of NBC's Channel 4/WRC in DC. You just know that there will be pink slips on both sides after the consolidation. Over the years, certain elements of NBC's TV and cable programming will probably become exclusively available on Comcast cable - for a hefty price. Do you really think your cable TV rates will go down with a Comcast-NBC union? Heck, a giant news organization, NBC, will now be intertangled with your Comcast internet service. Is that good? No! Obama can still get something "done" besides his questionable healthcare campaign. Don't let this evil marriage be consumated, Mr. President..... 6/3 - DCRTV hears rumblings that Anita Marks (right) is headed to NYC for a series of radio and TV sports gigs that will probably have something to do with NY Giants coverage. Maybe via CBS's WFAN radio. More as we hear it. Marks and CBS didn't agree to a contract extension last January for her afternoon co-hosting gig with Scott Garceau at the firm's WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan, in Baltimore..... 6/2 - With the launch of Allbritton's TBD.com local news site still somewhere in the future, the Washington Post relaunches its local news WashingtonPost.com site section as PostLocal.com, which, as the Post touts on its print front page today, debuts new features to "supplement our round-the-clock coverage of news in and around Washington." Including "The Daily Gripe," where readers can report problems in their neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Allbritton's TBD, which is headed by former Postie Jim Brady, continues to be little more than a series of self-centered blog entries from its newly-hired staff. The official launch date for TBD is still to be determined. Allbritton also owns Channel 7/WJLA, NewsChannel 8, and the Politico..... 6/1 - A source tells DCRTV: "Clear Channel corporate executives and human resource managers are slated to fly into the area on Friday to conduct in-person interviews among sales staff witnessing the wrestling match between a top-ranked market manager and another account executive at 1801 Rockville Pike (right) in May, causing the account executive to have surgery for a dislocated shoulder. Other salespeople who did not appreciate the hush-money - in the form of premium accounts awarded to the maligned account executive for keeping quiet - are looking forward to what is to be anonymous interviews and inquiries. The results of these anonymous interviews could well result in a termination of one of the market's top-ranked radio managers. Between this latest scenario and the upcoming compensation cuts - yet again - morale be at an all low as managers fearful of their jobs take out their frustration on account executives"..... 5/30 - A source tells DCRTV that Clear Channel's top suits are formally investigating a late April or early May brawl at the the firm's 1801 Rockville Pike DC market radio complex, home to DC101, WASH, WMZQ, WBIG, and Hot 99.5.On May 5th, DCRTV reported that during office hours one top exec "beat-up and wrestled down to the floor" a top ad sales manager, who, we hear, "had to have surgery on his shoulder." We're now told that an investigation into the incident has been launched..... 5/29 - DCRTV has told you that a number of key talent contract for CBS's sports talk WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, are coming due this summer, with the new format's one year anniversary. Now, we're hearing rumblings that Mike Wise has been re-signed and will continue doing middays with Holden Kushner. Most likely, Lavar Arrington will also be back for afternoons, we're told, but still no word yet about Chad Dukes. And we assume that there'll be no changes in mornings with the Junkies..... 5/29 - The Washington Post will now charge subscribers 15-cents for each issue of its weekly TV Week publication, which is delivered on Saturdays or Sundays. The added fees will be applied to your subscription bill, unless you "opt out." The Post is also scaling back the TV Week edition supplied with its Sunday newsstand paper, and adding a few pages to the new pay-extra subscription version. Last year, the Post, aiming to cut costs for the largely ad-free TV listings booklet, required subscribers to "opt in" if they wanted to continue to receive it. Also recently, the Post added the Monday Capital Business tabloid that costs subscribers $49 a year extra to receive. The Post used to offer a Monday business tabloid section for no additional charge..... 5/28 - Lynchburg's Liberty University pays $145,000 cash to buy the construction permit for a new 88.3 (not 89.3 as we earlier reported) FMer in Spotsylvania VA, licensed to Mariamante Academy of Fredericksburg. The new WHMM is expected to relay Liberty's WRVL in Lynchburg. The school, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, runs seven WRVL relays in Virginia and North Carolina..... 5/28 - Jamillah Muhammad will be named program director and operations manager at Radio One's urban adult contemporary WMMJ (102.3 FM). She comes from Clear Channel's like-formatted WMXD in Detroit, and had previously worked for Radio One's radio clusters in Milwaukee and Chicago. Muhammad replaces Kathy Brown, who exited Majic 102.3 last month..... 5/28 - Baltimore's Sinclair-owned Channel 45/WBFF's 11 PM "Late Edition" newscast will re-air 90 minutes later, at 12:30 AM, on Sinclair-operated Channel 54/WNUV..... 5/28 - Baltimore radio veteran Brian Wilson (left), who is program director and afternoon host at Toledo, Ohio news talker WSPD, told listeners Thursday that he was forced to move out of the area because living there was making him sick. Wilson has been doing his show from WSPD-owner Clear Channel's facilities in Lynchburg, Virginia, some 500 miles away, where he and his wife, Carolanne, paid $340,000 for a new home last December. "If you have known people who have moved in from other areas, there is something in the air, in northwest Ohio and the Toledo area," he says, according to Radio-Online.com. "What I have been told is that there is a residual of Toledo having been constructed on the former Black Swamp and if you're not born here, you don't enter the world with, I don't know, the immunities or you grow up being able to deal with it." He said he saw doctors who told him to move out of Toledo or he would "have a severely truncated career." Back in the 1980s, Wilson co-hosted the Brian and O'Brien show with "Big Don" O'Brien on Baltimore's old B104..... 5/26 - DC radio great Mike O'Meara visited Baltimore on Monday via Hearst's news talk WBAL and 98 Rock, WIYY. "When I left Maine for Maryland some 20 years ago, Mike O'Meara was one of the first people I heard on the radio," writes WBAL reporter Scott Wykoff on his blog at wbal.com. "It didn't take long for me to become a big fan. Mike's enthusiasm and creativity on-the-air is what I have admired the most over the years. While we have shared the airwaves in Maryland over the last two decades, our paths have never crossed in person. That's until our meeting this week." That's O'Meara (left) and Wykoff (right) in the pic..... 5/25 - DCRTV hears from an inside source at Channel 7/ WJLA that station owner Robert Allbritton has the checkbook open and is ready to "bury" longtime DC TV news leader Channel 4/WRC "by buying away their talent." He is willing to pay big bucks to nab both Lindsay Czarniak (left) and Doreen Gentzler (right) when their contracts come due at the NBC station - Czarniak's this summer. With Gentzler up for renewal in two years, she could be wooed with a $1 million Allbritton offer, we're told. Allbritton just stole Bob Ryan from 4 for a rumored $600,000 a year..... 5/25 - DCRTV hears that DC radio veteran Don Geronimo (right) has landed a gig with Sacramento sports talker KHTK, one of the national affilaties of his "Don And Mike Show," which originated at WJFK before Geronimo left the show in April 2008. Geronimo starts June 21st and will do the noon to 4 PM slot, which is 3 PM to 7 PM on the east coast. The show will be streamed and podcast on the internet, and national syndication is a possibility. KHTK is owned by CBS, and Geronimo's contract with CBS's WJFK prohibits him from landing a gig elsewhere on the DC radio dial before October 2010. Having been based in Ocean City since leaving WJFK, Geronimo has done two short radio stints there - a gig with rocker WOCM in the summer of 2008, and one with talker WGMD in the summer of 2009. Geronimo says he'll initially do three weeks a month of the show from a radio studio in Ocean City, and one week per month at KHTK. But plans to relocate to Sacramento "eventually"..... 5/24 - Random Rants... The clueless Washington Post unveils redesigned movie listings today. Worse than the old ones. Takes up a whole frigging page of the increasingly worthless Style section. Maybe that's a good thing. And who goes to the movies on a workday Monday? Why devote a whole print page to that? Man... That new TBD.com local news website from Allbritton is looking more and more to be a much larger whole-metro remaking of the WaPo's failed LoudounExtra. And what happened to LE? Gone! Not a bad little experiment for blogging local news, but never made any money. Allbritton would be smarter to ditch TBD and take NewsChannel 8 and make it Politico TV and launch it on a national basis... Local "radio god" Don Geronimo, who's been off the DC airwaves more than two years, keeps Tweeting that he'll be back on the air real soon, despite his CBS non-compete, which runs through October. Which makes me think he's taking to his old employer about a new gig. How about him doing the morning drive on a cool new oldies outlet on 94.7. Fresh can't be doing very well revenue-wise - going head-to-head with WASH and Mix 107.3 - with the recent turnovers on its ad staff... C'mon Citadel. Relay WMAL on 105.9 FM. You should have done it two years ago... Ditto with WBAL radio. Needs to get on FM. I like the rumored changes of Ron Smith to late mornings and an afternoon news block coming in July..... 5/24 - DCRTV hears that local writer Buzz McClain has started a rugby blog at NBCSports.com. It will preview a first-ever USA Sevens Collegiate Championship Invitational tournament in June. The NBC blog is accompanied by McClain's own rugby website at rugbybuzz.com..... 5/24 - Bonneville's Federal News Radio, WFED, can now be heard on the HD2 digital radio subchannel of WTOP's Warrenton - technically Manassas city of licence - relay on 107.7 FM, WWWT. That will make the Nationals a bit easier to hear in parts of Northern Virginia, which doesn't get great night coverage from WFED's 1500 AM and 820 AM signals, which are both based in Maryland..... 5/24 - The Maryland Attorney General's office has ruled that the Bob Ehrlich show on Baltimore's WBAL radio (1090 AM) is not an "in-kind campaign contribution" from the Hearst station to Ehrlich's campaign for governor. The letter from Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Darsie to Elections Administrator Linda Lamone comes in response to a request for legal advice after a letter was submitted to the State Board Of Elections by the Maryland Democratic Party alleging that the former governor, a Republican running for re-election this year, and WBAL had violated Maryland's campaign finance law. Ehrlich has said that once he files formal paperwork for his candidacy in early July, he'll stop doing the Saturday morning WBAL show, which he co-hosts with his wife, Kendall..... 5/23 - Nearby news. Philadelphia radio and TV legend Bill "Wee Willie" Webber (left) passed away Sunday morning from a heart attack, BroadcastPioneers.com reports. Webber, just a few days shy of his 81st birthday, was hospitalized a few days ago for tests and preparation for open heart surgery this coming week. During his 62-year career, Webber worked at numerous Philadelphia TV stations, including the old WFIL (now WPVI), the now-defunct WKBS, as well as WPHL. He also worked at many radio stations, including WIP, WPEN, WHAT, and WVLT. Your friendly webmaster, who lived in the Philadelphia area in the late 1960s and early 1970s, remembers Webber when he did a radio show at then Metromedia-owned adult contemporary WIP (610 AM) as "Bill Webber" and also did a kiddie show on Channel 17/WPHL as "Wee Willie Webber"..... 5/22 - DCRTV hears that a Citadel board op in his 30s died during the past week. Some sources say that he was found collapsed in a studio at the Citadel DC radio complex on Jenifer Street (right), which houses WMAL, WRQX, and WVRX, and that an ambulance was called and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. However, other sources say that the man did not collapse at the station, and died elsewhere. He leaves behind a wife and young child. One source tells us that he was a former board op for WMAL, but may have been still doing overnight shifts for WRQX and WVRX. "I guess there was some confusion that it was an actual current employee. That's probably because even when he did work in the building, it was overnights and weekends, and most people didn't know him," we're told. Other sources tell us that he was a former employee at all three stations, but had returned to work there. More as we hear it..... 5/22 - Mark Segraves (right), on his Saturday "NewsPlus" show on Channel 50/WDCW, pointed out that guy talker WJFK had higher afternoon drive ratings with Mike O'Meara (left) than it now does as a sports talker with Levar Arrington in afternoons. O'Meara, talking to WTOP veteran Segraves, says that he's getting 15,000 to 17,000 downloads per day for his mikeomearashow.com weekdaily podcast, which was launched last December. O'Meara got the boot from CBS-owned WJFK with the format flip last July. "We all are working hard to make the financial thing a success," O'Meara says of his Manassas living room-based radio show. But it's not the same as collecting a paycheck from a big company, he adds. "We're doing all the legwork ourselves," says O'Meara, who is still working with WJFK veterans Robb Spewak, Buzz Burbank, and Oscar Santana. "We're building a small business." After the interview with O'Meara, Segraves talked to DC TV veterans and married media couple Maury Povich and Connie Chung..... 5/21 - Neci's back. The longtime WHFS DJ, back when the legendary alt rocker was on 99.1 up until 2005, is doing the morning shift on the resurrected HFS via 94.7 WIAD's HD2 on Friday from 7 AM to noon. Listen at whfs.com..... 5/21 - A source tells DCRTV: "Brian Van de Graff of ABC7 (WJLA) 'Good Morning Washington' has been demoted to sister station NewsChannel 8 or whatever they are going to call it. This change will occur this coming Monday. Adam Caskey will be filling in, but the word is that a search is on for a new face. It's said that this occurred because of the horrible ratings that the show has. It's also rumored that there may be more big changes to come"...... 5/20 - New WMAL operations manager and defacto program director Drew Hayes, on-loan from sister Chicago news talker WLS, took calls from listeners this morning who are trying to figure out "what the f*ck" has been going on at 630 AM during the past month or so. Jested newsman Bryan Nehman, who is now paired with Fred Grandy on "The Grandy Group," they should change the call letters from WMAL to "WTF." With longtime morning host Andy Parks gone, and a few weeks where late morning man Chris Plante was doing mornings with Grandy and then sailed on solo. With no explanations from station management during all these changes. Hayes said that the restoration of Grandy and Nehman was, in part, a reaction to the dumbfounded queries of many listeners. "This is a powerful station in the most-powerful market," said Hayes, who did not directly address listeners who wanted Parks back, at least temporarily to say goodbye after all the years he'd worked at the station. Other listeners questioned the dismissals, years ago, of Michael Graham and Chris Core. Grandy said he hoped he could answer listener's questions, "if not their prayers"..... 5/19 - "Armed American Radio" debuts Sunday at 8 PM on Salem's just-acquired WWRC (1260 AM). The gun rights program is hosted by pro-gun activist and author Mark Walters and has 37 radio affiliates nationwide. Walters hosted his April 18th broadcast from Salem Radio Network's Arlington studios, a day prior to the 2nd Amendment March, and says he is committed to visiting with his program's new listeners in DC and will be broadcasting from WWRC in the near future..... 5/19 - After more than a month of talk radio musical chairs at Citadel's WMAL, who are the winners and losers? Well, former morning show co-host Andy Parks and former Program Director Paul Duckworth are losers because they're out. Yeah, bankrupt station owner Citadel saves some salary money, although we hear that longtimer Parks is still probably collecting a paycheck. The winners are Fred Grandy and Bryan Nehman, who are back holding court in mornings as "The Grandy Group." Chris Plante, who got moved from late mornings to mornings and back to late mornings, is more or less a loser. He proved that he's just not ready for "prime time" if you could consider a move to mornings at DC's main righty talker - by default - "prime time." More losers - WMAL's listeners (are they any left?) and advertisers for having to be put through this Keystone Cops comedy of local radio ineptitude. And the biggest loser - WMAL President/General Manager Jeff Boden. The past month's craziness is a tribute to his mismanagement of what was - long long ago - a Washington radio institution. Congrats, Jeff. You're the butt of a lot of local and national radio jokes today..... 5/19 - "It was all just a terrible dream," so jested Chris Plante this morning at the 8:59 AM hand-off from the new "The Grandy Group" WMAL morning show, as he prepared to start his reinstated 9 AM late morning show. Plante had been doing morning drive at the Citadel talker since April 26, with the demise of the "Grandy And Andy" team. "Everything is back to normal, sort of," Plante added at the start of his show today. "We'll just gloss over all of this. Order has been restored"..... 5/18 - DCRTV hears that Fred Grandy is returning to Citadel talker WMAL (630 AM) to be paired with newsman Bryan Nehman. "The Grandy Group" debuts Wednesday in the 5 AM to 9 AM slot. Chris Plante, who had been shifted from late mornings to mornings a few weeks ago, goes back to the 9 AM to noon slot. The latest morning line-up comes from new Program Director Drew Hayes, who is doing double duty from Citadel's WLS-AM in Chicago. WMAL recently dumped its Grandy and Andy Parks morning show and replaced it with Plante, who had been paired with Grandy for a few days, but Plante soon went solo. In related news: WMAL, WRQX, and WVRX owner Citadel, the third-largest radio station owner in the US, won court approval yesterday to exit bankruptcy over the objections of shareholders who said the company is worth more than executives assert..... 5/18 - Sinclair-operated Channel 54/WNUV in Baltimore will launch a new digital subchannel on 6/1 with music network Cool TV. More at thecooltv.com..... 5/18 - You've got to feel sorry for Bryan Nehman, the former newsman on WMAL's now-defunct Grandy and Andy show. He's now been drafted as some sort of odd appendage to new WMAL morning man Chris Plante, who's pretty much a rambling idiot. You can tell that Nehman just hates to be there, politely putting up with Plante's unfunny jests about his allegedly swishy sexuality - ah, the youthful and good-looking Nehman's straight with a wife and a kid - and his questionable racial heritage - an American of Lebanese descent. Not Lesbian heritage, as Plante stupidly suggested last week. Ha ha ha. Not! You sometimes feel that Nehman should just haul off and gut punch Plante for saying some of this crap and take over the show. Save your station, Bryan!..... 5/17 - I like Bob Ryan. He's seems like a friendly chap and all that. But am I gonna watch Channel 7/WJLA's 11 PM newscast just because he's there, delivering the weather forecast? Nah. About 98 percent of the time, the Washington area has fairly dull, ordinary weather. Partly cloudy tomorrow. High 73, low 58. Big whoop. And any weathercaster can give me that. Topper on 9, Sue on 5, Veronica on 4, Bob on 7, WTOP, the Weather Channel, or the Capital Weather Gang at the Washington Post. And even if it's two feet of snow tomorrow,or killer thunderboomers, all of the local weathercasters will give me a competent forecast. Some, including 7 (naturally), are making such a big deal about Bob Ryan jumping from 4, after 30 years. Honestly, in this day and age the internet can give me a fully-functional forecast when I want it - at 7:45 or 9:21. I don't have to wait around for Bob at 11:23. There's a lot of bad in today's TV "journalism." But if we've reached a era when we've become enlightened to the point that it doesn't really matter which local "superstar TV weather guesser" we get our nightly forecast from, that can't be a bad thing, can it?..... 5/17 - Five years ago this week, 98 Rock lost legendary morning show newsman Lopez to cancer. In tribute, the Hearst rocker is running its Lopez-voiced legal ID for "WIYY Baltimore" at the top of each hour..... 5/16 - DCRTV recently tipped you that it looks like ESPN 980, WTEM, is going to steal University Of Maryland football and basketball from sports talk rival 106.7 The Fan, WJFK. Well, Jim Williams chats with WJFK Program Director Chris Kinard about the CBS station's acquisition of Virginia Tech football and basketball - and it does look like 106.7 won't continue to carry Maryland sports..... 5/14 - "This is a week that could end and it would be OK with me." So said new WMAL morning man Chris Plante this morning after rumblings surfaced that more changes are in store for his talk station after a new Chicago-based program director was named and paid a visit this week. WMAL recently canned its longtime morning show hosts Fred Grandy and Andy Parks and replaced them with former middayer Plante..... 5/13 - So, what should the new program director do at WMAL? If the longtime DC talker wasn't owned by a bankrupt company with severe budget restrictions, here's what I'd do. First, restore a full news department at the station, probably under WMAL veteran John Matthews. No more outsourcing to Metro Traffic for newscasts. Second, I'd restore a live and local afternoon drive show, as the station had many years ago. The main foundations for WMAL should be live and local morning and afternoon drive shows. The shrill and immature Chris Plante alone in the mornings doesn't work. He'd be OK as a co-host. Perhaps pair him with former WMAL veteran and more stable Chris Core. The "Chris And Chris" show has a nice ring to it. I'm not sure who could host WMAL's local afternoon show - maybe lefty Mike O'Meara paired with a righty woman - Beth Ann McBride, the former O'Meara show producer at WJFK? I dunno. In any case, WMAL needs to have more women on its staff, which is currently all-male. The problem with establishing a local afternoon drive show on WMAL is what to do with the syndicated Sean Hannity. He could be tape-delayed to the 6 PM slot, but that would bump Mark Levin from his live 6 PM slot to later in the evening. And, for sure, those moves would generate angst from many WMAL listeners. Which makes me think that the problems at WMAL are not easily "fixable," and perhaps might even be impossible to resolve with a bankrupt station owner. It might be better for Clear Channel to flip one its area FMers - 100.3 or 98.7 - to its conservative "Rush Radio" and let Citadel implode WMAL - or sell it. Heck, the Bethesda real estate housing its transmission towers is probably worth much more than the station itself..... 5/13 - From the Politico: The Washington Post appears to be back in the game of hosting exclusive meetings of high-ranking public officials and journalists, though this time the paper has largely avoided the controversy that arose over last year's ill-fated "salons." The event in question - a Washington Post Live discussion entitled "The Business Of The Beltway" that will be attended by Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and White House economist Austan Goolsbee - has drawn fire from media watchdog groups. The discussion next Tuesday in Tyson's Corner will also feature Hilton President Christopher Nassetta and Post columnist Steven Pearlstein. The event, which was advertised in Wednesday's Post, has been billed as a live webcast with reader questions. But what the newspaper advertisement didn't say is that the general public is not invited to attend. Rather, a select group of civic, business, and political leaders were invited to plunk down $175 to rub elbows with the high-ranking officials as well as Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Editor Marcus Brauchli. The event comes almost a year after the Post was forced to cancel a salon that would have charged guests up to $250,000 to attend an off-the-record dinner with Post journalists and policy-makers at Weymouth's home..... 5/12 - Comcast head honcho Brian Roberts on his proposed merger with NBC: "The single most awesome asset that comes from this deal is NBC News," he said, "NBC News will help define Comcast." With heat from Washington about what the merger of the country's most powerful cable company with a content giant would mean to consumers, Roberts opened his Tuesday session at a big cable confab in LA with a display of Comcast's latest On-Demand capabilities that will offer subscribers as many as 11,000 available movies. The test markets are its hometown of Philadelphia and Washington DC, where the lawmakers and regulators who will decide the fate of the Comcast-NBC deal reside. More from latimes.com..... 5/12 - DCRTV hears that former Channel 9/WUSA weather anchor Kim Martucci announced via Facebook that she is expecting a baby and is due on October 1st. Before her WUSA contract non-renewal at the end of 2009, Martucci's husband-to-be proposed to her on the air..... 5/12 - According to RadioTVDeals.com, Brunswick MD's WTRI (1520 AM) is up for sale. The station, owned in part by former DC101 and 98 Rock personality Buddy Rizer, currently relays Thurmont MD talker WTHU (1450 AM). In the past, Frederick County's WTRI has featured "Vegas Radio" nostalgic tunes, "Radio Earl" classic country, and brokered Spanish. Five acres of land at the transmitter site are included in the sale. Asking price: $1.2 million. Rizer currently works for the Loudoun County Economic Development Authority..... 5/11 - Red Zebra is making a few changes to talker WTNT (570 AM) come Monday. Middayer Jeff Kuhner moves to the 5 PM to 7 PM slot, with Jerry Doyle airing from 3 PM to 5 PM, instead of from 3 PM to 6 PM. Ray Lucia moves his noon to 3 PM show over from WWRC (1260 AM) to the same slot on WTNT. As DCRTV has already told you, business talker WWRC gets transferred to Salem next week and will take on a righty talk format..... 5/11 - So, you have two highly-paid guys hosting a morning show on a local radio station. And your company is going bankrupt and you need to get rid of them. Rather than just fire them after their show one day and start a new show the next day, you do what Citadel did here at Washington's WMAL. First, you announce a future end-date for the show, which prompts Guy A to leave the show for a few weeks, while Guy B keeps things running solo. Then you actually fire Guy B, dropping hints that he's "no longer with us," and bring back Guy A with the guy who hosts the late morning show, Guy C. But after two more weeks, you have Guy A go missing and then quit, with Guy C now taking over the show. You then yank the program director, who we'll call Guy D, and then drop rumors that the new program director, who we'll call Guy E, will shake up the morning show and may even get rid of Guy C. Simple as "ABC," right? And we all just sit here dumbfounded, watching the hacks from Citadel destroying a longtime ABC-owned Washington radio institution. Ponderous, man, ponderous..... 5/11 - So, Comcast has added the Military History Channel and C&I channel here in Reston, but you can't get them unless you cough up $7 extra per month for the Sports Entertainment Package. That's right - the Sports Entertainment Package! And that's on top of all the fees for Comcast's other digital channel packages. These two channels, one which shows Hitler documentaries and the other which shows criminal investigative shows, have nothing remotely to do with sports. The sports tier features channels that deal with tennis, football, basketball, hunting, and the like. Is Hitler a sport? In Comcast's crazy world, he is. Apparently. More of my cable TV rantings and ragings are at Dave's Cable Page..... 5/10 - Earlier today, DCRTV told you that CBS's WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, is picking up Virginia Tech football and basketball come this fall. Now, we're hearing rumblings that WJFK's arch rival, Redskins owner Dan Snyder's WTEM, ESPN 980, may nab University Of Maryland Terapins football and basketball from WJFK. WTEM's 980 AM has its transmitter in Hyattsville, and provides excellent signal coverage of the College Park campus. WJFK is based in Fairfax, and provides spotty coverage to College Park. Stay tuned..... 5/10 - DCRTV hears that former Clear Channel DC veteran Vasco Bramao has been named general sales manager at CBS's 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD. Cindy Friedman, a 20-year ad sales veteran, was recently ousted from the position..... 5/10 - CBS sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, signs a multi-year deal with Virginia Tech to air the school's football and basketball games starting this fall. WJFK will also carry the weekly "Tech Talk Live" shows, hosted by Bill Roth, and featuring Virginia Tech Head Football Coach Frank Beamer, and Basketball Coach Seth Greenberg. The football Hokies will kick-off the 2010 season on Labor Day with a primetime game against Boise State at FedEx Field..... 5/10 - Late last week, DCRTV reported a rumor that Fred Grandy had quit his morning show gig at talker WMAL (630 AM). Today, he's wiped from WMAL's website, which lists Chris Plante as solo host for the entire 6 AM to 10 AM slot. This comes two weeks after Grandy's former morning show partner Andy Parks was given the boot by Citadel, which is in the midst of budget cuts related to its bankruptcy proceedings. A former "Love Boat" star and a former Republican Congressman, Grandy had been paired with Plante from 6 AM to 8:30 AM for the past two weeks. Plante, who, as DCRTV reported, did not like co-hosting with Grandy, soldiers on with newsman Bryan Nehman and producer Ann Wog. More: DCRTV hears from WMAL sources that the station will most certainly be making more changes to its morning show before the end of May. Stay tuned..... 5/7 - DCRTV hears rumblings that Fred Grandy quit his morning show gig at talker WMAL (630 AM) today. This comes two weeks after his former morning show partner Andy Parks was given the boot by Citadel, which is in the midst of budget cuts related to its bankruptcy proceedings. A former "Love Boat" star and a former Republican Congressman, Grandy had been paired with Chris Plante from 6 AM to 8:30 AM for the past two weeks. Expect Plante to soldier on from 6 AM to 10 AM with newsman Bryan Nehman and producer Ann Wog come Monday. More soon..... 5/7 - In his Radio-Info newsletter, Tom Taylor tells us that Salem's suits are "looking forward to getting (their) conservative talk lineup from Salem Radio Network into the Washington DC market with the $3.1 million purchase of the current biz-talk WWRC (1260) from Red Zebra" come May 15. Ah, let me make a prediction here. The new righty talk format on WWRC will not even show up in the Washington Portable People Meter ratings. First, 1260 has a crummy signal, especially at night. And DC is not an AM-friendly market. Second, none of the recent talk formats on 1260 - not the current biz talk or the old "progressive talk" - has ever shown up in the ratings. Third, there's too much righty talk already on the DC AM dial. The dominant WMAL gets OK - just OK ratings. WTNT, the second most-powerful AM righty talker, gets lucky when it hits 30th place. The "Big Talker" 1580, WHFS-AM, even with Fox News superstar Glenn Beck in the line-up, never ever ever ever ever ever even shows up in the ratings. So Bill Bennett on 1260 will? What are Salem's suits smoking? Yes, putting its righty talkers on 1260 will give them "bragging rights" about being "on" in the Nation's Capital. But ratings? Don't even dream about it, Salem. Look at your Christian talker WAVA-FM, 105.1. One of the best signals in the Washington market and you can't even make it into the top 20. Lately it's been floundering at 25th place..... 5/7 - DCRTV hears that Anita Marks (left) was back on the Baltimore radio airwaves today. For the first time since leaving 105.7 The Fan in January - she insists that she rejected CBS Radio's contract extension - Marks co-hosted Friday's Stan "The Fan" Charles' noon show on Fox 1370. Marks is spending a few weeks in Baltimore after returning from Miami, where she's been filling-in on sports talk WQAM. We're told that Marks is in "final conversations" with execs in two top East Coast markets for a new radio and/or TV gig. A source tells DCRTV that there's a move afoot at 1370 to keep Marks in Charm City..... 5/6 - So let's take a gander at Allbritton. Its Channel 7/WJLA is having serious news ratings problems in mornings and in late evenings. It's NewsChannel 8 gets very little audience, still "stuck" in standard-def, and in need of a long-awaited makeover. It's pretty successful Politico is about to get head-on challenges from both the National Journal Group and Bloomberg. Not to mention the Washington Post and its new Capitol Hill news page. So, what does Robert Allbritton plan to do? Why he's going to focus, instead, on starting a local news website with a dumb name - TBD.com - that'll compete directly with the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, WTOP, WRC, WTTG, WUSA, the Washington City Paper, WAMU, and at least a dozen more radio and TV stations in the local ad arena. While TBD's going to be trying to wrestle the Rosenthal Fairfax Honda account from WJFK, the WaPo is going to be nabbing those Northrup Grumman ad dollars from Politico. Should Robert be worried? Ah, yeah. And don't believe all the suck-up press you read about you, either. They're gonna love it even more when you fall..... 5/5 - A source tells DCRTV that there's been some out-and-out fighting going on at Clear Channel's 1801 Rockville Pike DC market radio complex (right), home to DC101, WASH, WMZQ, WBIG, and Hot 99.5. During office hours, one top exec "beat-up and wrestled down to the floor" a top ad sales manager, who, we hear, "had to have surgery on his shoulder." Our insider adds: "When will the suits in San Antonio stop looking away and deal with the problems at CCDC?"..... 5/5 - Holy sh*t! The Washington Post actually gets around to mentioning something about some pretty major news at one of Washington's major radio stations. In Tuesday's "Pop Culture" Q&A at wapo.com, someone asks media writer Paul Farhi about all the crazy changes at WMAL's morning show. He pens this snarky response: "Andy is out. Cost-cutting move by Citadel Broadcasting, which owns WMAL. Chris Plante ('the other clown') is in as his (presumably cheaper) replacement." That's it. In a local radio soap opera that's taken the past four weeks to unfold, that's all the Post can muster - 24 words. I'm not saying that the Post should have put the "Grandy And Andy" controversy on the front page, but it's really saying something sad about a major daily newspaper when a mere 24 words is all it can give to a relatively important local media story, doncha think? Oh that Post! Update: Farhi e-mails us to say that he did respond to a question about the Grandy and Andy situation in his 4/27 "Pop Culture" Q&A session and the issue was mentioned, with a DCRTV credit, on 4/26 in the Post's Breaking News Blog. However, the Post has yet to do an actual article on the WMAL morning show changes, a point that Farhi does concede..... 5/4 - No Fred Grandy (right) this morning on the new "Plante And Grandy" morning show on WMAL. Or on Wednesday or Thursday, too. Dealing with "family issues." DCRTV hears rumblings that more "red meat" righty Chris Plante, who got moved from late mornings to early mornings last week with the break up of the old "Grandy And Andy" show, would prefer to work alone, without a co-host. After dismissing Andy Parks, WMAL brought Grandy back, after he'd been missing for more than a week, when it moved Plante to the 6 AM to 10 AM slot. Usually, Grandy is only there from 6 AM until 8:30 AM, after which Plante hosts solo. The rumblings say that Grandy was only back temporarily, and that Plante will be on his own for the four full hours soon. Station owner Citadel is in the midst of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and is making cuts, including at the WMAL morning show. Grandy and Parks had been very well-paid, we hear. Stay tuned..... 5/3 - A big change at CBS Radio's DC cluster. We're told that 20-year ad sales veteran Cindy Friedman was ousted this morning, replaced by Lauren Sapienza on an interim basis. Friedman had been general sales manager of WIAD, 94.7 Fresh FM. Sapienza gets upped from her gig as WIAD's internet sales manager..... 5/2 - Why does a newspaper like the Washington Times, which is so far behind on some bills, buy not one but several tables at the White House Correspondence Dinner last night? Moreover, why does a up-for-sale paper that has abondened local and sports coverage have the Washington Redskins' owner, coach, and new QB there? What could Skins owner Dan Snyder, who owns also ESPN 980 and has often espressed his extreme dislike for the Washington Post, and Texas Governor Rick Perry possibly be discussing? Wonder if the tables were paid for in advance or if the WHCA bills them. Oh, Snyder does carry the Washington Times' morning radio show on his WTNT talker. Hmmm..... 5/2 - DCRTV hears that DC radio personality Jason Veazey had said adios to his production gig with sports talker WJFK and is heading up to NYC for something new in the TV/film arena that he can't yet discuss. Meanwhile, he'll be doing voice gigs from a studio at his new Brooklyn digs. Connect with Jason at jeveazey@gmail.com. Over the years, Veazey's worked at a batch of DC area radioers, including the old Z104..... 5/1 - Who the hell would want to buy the Washington Times? It's a shell of a newspaper. Even back when it was subsidized-in-full by the Reverend Moon, it never made any money. After all its cuts late last year, there's literally nothing much left. It's practially a Monday-thru-Friday $1 pamphlet with a little ditty radio show. Perhaps some rich righty tycoon would want to buy the politically conservative Times as some sort of vanity project so he can say: "Look, I own a newspaper in Washingon DC, the capital of the free world." But there's no way the Times will ever make any money, especially in this recessionary economy. Could the Times' former Executive Editor John Solomon be a contender? Sure, he has newspaper-owning aspirations and financial connections, but investing in the Times would be pouring your cash down a rathole. I seriously think the most-likely buyer is Phillip Anschutz, the Denver billionaire who owns the Washington Examiner, the right-leaning freebie tab that has pretty much pushed the Times "over the edge." He could nab it up it to "get it out of the way." Maybe symbolically "merge" it with his rag, as the Washington Times-Examiner, and use the radio show to make his DC rag - a sort of Washington version of the righty screamer NY Post - more of a "national brand." It would definitely set up Anschutz as the official "loyal opposition" to the left-leaning Washington Post. And cement his rep as one of the top righty editorial forces on the national "news biz" stage. Look out Rupert Murdoch..... 4/30 - A source tells DCRTV that veteran DC radio personality Don Geronimo, aka Michael Sorce, is eyeing the purchase of a radio station in his new hometown of Ocean City. We're told that he wants to pick up talker WQMR, 101.1 FM. Geronimo moved to Ocean City after leaving his longtime afternoon talk gig at the DC area's WJFK in 2008..... 4/30 - I don't much care for events like the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. You know, there isn't all that much quality journalism out there any more, despite the exponential explosion of websites and cable TV channels. The news business has pretty much become entertainment, and this weekend's Washington schmoozefest is symptomatic of what's wrong with today's "journalism." A bunch of beautiful celebrity news "personalities" hanging out with a bunch of beautiful celebrity politicos and beautiful celebrity Hollywood-types. News organizations, which are cutting back to the bone in this recessionary economy, still manage to cough up some serious dough for pricey tables at the dinner, and the even more expensive after-parties. Why? A giant corporate news biz pissing contest. Sad, but true. But, if you absolutely must know what's going on at the WHCD, the old DC Post provides as good a preview as anyone. DC's E!, C-SPAN, will cover the event live tomorrow night. And the increasingly dippy Joe Scarborough, with his low-rated radio show cancelled, er on "hiatus," will provide post-hoopla coverage at 8 AM Sunday on MSNBC. A good morning to sleep-in, whether you've been at the dinner and the parties or not..... 4/29 - Jennifer Ryan, former news anchor at Channel 9/WUSA, had a baby girl yesterday. "I'm sure mothering is a lot better than being at WUSA," a former colleague tells DCRTV..... 4/29 - There have got to be tears at CBS sports talker WJFK today after the Washington Capitals' loss last night - after leading the first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 at one point. It took four games to win the series, and the DC hockey team came up short following three losses in a row. Even though 106.7 The Fan was not the Caps' flagship station (that was AMer WFED), they were running the late season and playoff games in glorious FM stereo and hyping the hell out of them. While CBS suits say that they aren't worried about WJFK's ratings since flipping from "guy talk" last summer - they claim that it's doing just fine among the age 25-54 male demos - it still ranks an anemic 20th or 21st in the overall age 12+ ratings "beauty contest." And gets regularly beaten by rival WTEM, ESPN 980, in many dayparts. I don't think there's any chance that WJFK will drop sports talk any time soon, since the dictate to switch to the format came from corporate in NYC and was a national move at building an FM sports talk radio chain. But there are rumors-a-plenty of personality and line-up changes, particularly in middays and afternoons. Something that the Caps' collapse, and the resulting ratings loss, only makes more imperative for JFK and CBS..... 4/27 - Yesterday we learned that the Washington Post's paid print circulation dropped 13 percent in the half-year ending in March. On an annual basis, that's 26 percent. That's kind of massive. Honestly, even though I'm print news junkie, I've entertained the thought of pulling the plug on my daily Post print fix and saving some recessionary dough. I am deeply disappointed with the weekend editions. Saturday's news section is usually thin, and Sunday is, more and more, lots and lots of big pictures and less and less copy. The Sunday paper is a surprisingly lightweight read for its size. On the weekdays, I can usually make it through the unappealing and largely big-pictured Style section in less than five minutes. A whole page devoted to movie listings on Tuesday? Who goes to the movies on Tuesday? The Reliable Source gossip column is usually a couple of paragraphs surrounded by a batch of more big pictures. Practially no local media coverage. Scant TV listings. Lots of fluff! No more business section, however you can pay extra for a new biz tab on Mondays - rip off! Didn't the Post's Monday business tab used to be free? And a sports section that advertisers regularly avoid. The paper needs more shorter stories to grab readers - sorry to sound so USA Today-ish. And I'm tired of seeing stuff that was available free yesterday on the website "repurposed" the next day in the print edition. That reinforces the notion that print is old, recycled news. I'm staying with the dead tree Post for the usually excellent "A" news and the solid Metro sections. But back during February's big snowstorms, with my print paper missing, I did surprisingly well with my Post fix coming solely via its free website. Hey, if the print paper keeps getting more unappealing and they jack up the price again, I'll most-likely say "Adios WaPo" some day soon..... 4/27 - Michael Schaffer gets named top editor of the Washington City Paper. He replaces Erik Wemple, who recently flew the coup to join Allbritton's new and still under-development TBD.com local news website. Schaffer, a 36-year-old DC native and City Paper alum, currently lives in Philadelphia but he'll be moving back here. Schaffer says one early priority will be filling some of the holes caused by a spate of previously announced staff departures, including several City Paper stalwarts, such as managing editor Andrew Beaujon, senior writer Jason Cherkis, and Loose Lips columnist Mike DeBonis..... 4/27 - DCRTV hears that Radio One has let go veteran Kathy Brown. Over the years, she's handled programming responsibilities for a number of the Lanham-based firm's DC, Baltimore, and Richmond radio stations. Most recently, she served as program director of WMMJ and operations manager of the entire DC cluster, which also includes WKYS, WOL, WYCB, and WPRS. Neke Howze, who programs WKYS, will fill in until a permanent replacement is named, we hear. Just a few weeks ago, Michelle Williams, longtime general manager of Radio One's DC radio cluster, left the company..... 4/26 - DCRTV hears about the new WMAL morning schedule, starting today: 5 AM Bryan Nehman's "News And Notes," 6 AM Fred Grandy and Chris Plante, 8:30 AM Plante solo, 10 AM to noon Austin Hill, filling-in while a host for that slot is sought. Grandy's partner Andy Parks is gone. WMAL's website at wmal.com has been updated to confirm the new schedule, with the "Plante And Grandy In The Morning" at 6 AM. The newcomer gets top-billing over the old-timer? DCRTV wonders: It looks like Plante is the main morning man, while Grandy is just hanging on for a transition period. We've been told that Plante is paid a lot less than either Grandy is or Parks was. More: ABC newscasts at the top-of-the-hour during the morning show are gone, as is "traffic and weather on the 5s." Nehman now does the top-hour newscasts, with traffic before and weather after. The station still hypes 20 minutes ad-free from the top-of-the-hour during morning drive..... 4/26 - Most newspapers continue to post big declines in their print circulation numbers. The Washington Post and McLean-based USA Today are each down 13 percent for the six months ending in March, more than the average 8 percent drop. The Baltimore Sun saw a 3.9 percent drop..... 4/26 - There are going to be a lot of WMAL (630 AM) listeners who aren't going to be happy with the morning changes at the Citadel talker. No more Andy Parks, and probably, soon, no more Fred Grandy. So, why doesn't Bonneville take its low-rated WFED (1500/820 AM) and pair Parks with longtime WMAL veteran Chris Core, who now does commentary pieces for Bonneville sister all-newser WTOP? The new morning show would focus on politics and fit the Federal News Radio "format." Keep the current FNR morning team and integrate them into the new show. WFED, which placed 42nd in morning drive (overall age 12+) in a recent radio ratings round-up, has nowhere to go but up..... 4/26 - With Andy Parks gone from WMAL, after at least two decades at the DC talk station, will he land a new gig on the local radio dial? Sources say he could be heard next on Baltimore news talker WBAL. That would mean a shorter commute for the Carroll County resident. Stay tuned..... 4/25 - In Sunday's Washington Post, the paper's ombudsman, Andy Alexander, criticizes the journalism of a Post story which appeared the previous Sunday on the companies that control the coal mining industry. Yet, he neglects to mention the authors of the original piece, Kimberly Kindy and Dan Eggen, in his piece. Alexander does mention the name of the editor of the piece in question, Barbara Vobejda, but not its writers. You know, in its daily corrections on page A2, the Post often leaves out the author(s) of the articles its feels are deserving of a "clarificaton." Why? The Post is quick to report reporters' names when they win awards, but not when they make errors, some of them significant. Maybe the Post's ombudsman needs to look into that, including his own reporting..... 4/24 - Like him or not, Obama is our president. And what better way (ha ha ha) to get the Obama administration on the side of your cause to merge with NBC than to go on Fox News, which is pretty much anti-Obama-all-the-time. And that's exactly what local cable TV giant Comcast honcho Brian Roberts did on Thursday. (Mediaite has more.) And it wasn't just an interview with a reporter, but a guest shot with - and involving praise of - anchor Neil Cavuto, a harsh critic of all things Obama. Take that along with other recent news that Comcast is flirting with a potential ownership stake in a righty talk network and you might just wonder why anyone in the federal government who likes or supports Obama would do anything to move the proposed Comcast/NBC merger closer to reality..... 4/23 - Strike one: There is no pressing consumer demand or recessionary ad base for yet another local news and commentary website for the DC area. Strike two: A really dumb, pointless name: TBD.com. What? The Big Disaster? Maybe owner Allbritton could change its DC TVer, Channel 7, to WTBD. Those calls might actually be available for a TVer. Jump on 'em. Hey Erik, you missed the opportunity to call it WBD.com, for Wemple's Big Dick. Oh, wait, that URL's already been taken. Hey, Allbritton, three strikes and you're out. Burn through the seed money, Bob, and have some fun because it won't last long. This ain't no Politico, baby!..... 4/23 - Even by WMAL standards, things on Jenifer Street seem to be a mess. An inside source from the bankrupt Citadel talker tells DCRTV that morning host Andy Parks was seen packing his things and saying goodbye to colleagues after his airshift on Friday. So apparently, as we hinted, this was his last day. Curiously, his co-host on the "Grandy And Andy Morning Show," Fred Grandy, has not yet cleared out his desk, but has been MIA since G&A were told they were "fired" late last week. Could it be that Parks was fired and Grandy was not? To make matters more confusing, DCRTV hears that former WMALer Austin Hill will be on Monday from 10 AM to noon. But that shift is Chris Plante's, who has been hosting the 9 AM to noon slot. So is Plante going solo for five hours on Monday, from 5 AM to 10 AM? Is Grandy coming back to host with Plante? Is Grandy going solo from 10 AM to noon eventually? Is anybody sane at the helm on Jenifer? Stay tuned, this could get even more strange..... 4/22 - Channel 4/WRC launched its local news high-def broadcasts Thursday, starting with the 11 AM show. DCRTV has reported that the NBC station has a new HD-friendly news set. NBC4 is the last of DC's four major TV news operations to go high-def. Expect other productions at WRC's Nebraska Avenue complex, which doubles as NBC's Washington news bureau, to soon go HD, including Sunday's "Meet The Press"..... 4/21 - More WMAL rumors. DCRTV hears that the end of the "Grandy And Andy Morning Show," which has been Fred Grandy-less since late last week, could be coming sooner rather than later. DCRTV reported last week that the owner of the righty talker on 630 AM, Citadel, has secretly set an end-date for the G&A show in order to cut costs related to its recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. We hear that the odds are less likely that WMAL will replace G&A with Don Imus piped-in from sister WABC radio in NYC, and more likely that WMAL late-morning man Chris Plante, who gets paid a lot less than Grandy and Andy Parks, will get shifted to the morning drive slot. Stay tuned..... 4/21 - "I read it every morning. It's a great website." So said newsman Bryan Nehman this morning on WMAL's "Grandy And Andy Mourning Show" about DCRTV.com. No, wait, his comment was about the DailyCaller.com. Oh, still no mention that Fred Grandy has left the show, which has been given a unspecified termination date by morally bankrupt station owner Citadel, as DCRTV reported last week. Grandy is still being mentioned as if he's away on vacation from the righty talker. There's something really perverse about pretending that someone is still on a show when he's obviously not. And continuing to blissfully do your show when you know the ax is awaiting, just around the corner. A great way to end your radio career, Andy Parks, with a "big lie" for your listeners. Be a man, Andy, tell us what's really going on and and walk off the show, too. Tell your Citadel manipulators where to "stick it." Return the "favor." Oh, just as I posted this Rant at 7:30 AM, WMAL ran an ad for the Shakespeare-like play "The Liar," playing now in DC. With Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" as bumper music at 7:40 AM. Signs from God? Hmmm..... 4/20 - First the good news. Comcast here in Reston has added a batch of about 25-ish high-def channels overnight. All those thousands of subscribers who were demanding to see the cadaverous Don Imus in glorious HD on Fox Biz-HD have got their wish. Plus Spike-HD, Comedy Central-HD, Bravo-HD, and more. Still no TCM-HD (wah). But now the bad news. Comcast is jacking up its rates (again) here in Reston come June 1. Looks like a 3-to-5 percent hike for most channel tiers and services, including the internet. But, even with the "mostly digital" conversion of Reston, there's still a long way to go to catch up with Verizon's Fios service, which still offers more standard-def (a la Sleuth, Fox Movie Channel, MTVU, Military History Channel) and HD channels, including all of the premium channel extras in HD (a la HBO2, Showtime Beyond, Starz Cinema). Comcast only offers the main channel of each premium service in HD. Many of my Reston neighbors have dropped Comcast for Fios, but I can't since it doesn't serve my condo complex..... 4/20 - "I try to listen to (sports talk) WJFK, I really do. But outside of the Junks, and sometimes Mike Wise, it's hard. I just don't care about the Redskins' fifth-round draft choice prospects enough, I guess." Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi in his Pop Culture Q&A Tuesday at washingtonpost.com..... 4/20 - Anita Marks (right) is Baltimore-bound. The former 105.7 The Fan afternoon co-host told Stan "The Fan" Charles today on his PressBox noon show on Fox 1370 that her temporary three-month-long afternoon drive co-hosting gig at Miami sports talker WQAM ends at the end of April. And she'll be heading back to Baltimore for the month of May to plan her career. She hinted that she's entertaining offers from sports talkers in a number of major markets, including NYC. CBS's 105.7, WJZ-FM, did not renew her contract back in January..... 4/20 - DCRTV hears that the resurrected HFStival will take place on September 18th at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia MD. Confirmed acts include: Third Eye Blind, Fuel, Presidents Of The USA, Marcy Playground, Billy Idol, Better Than Ezra, and the Fixx. "Kind of a weird lineup. Not sure this is going to work," a local ad guy tells DCRTV. Legendary alt rocker WHFS ended its fulltime regular radio run on 99.1 in 2005, only to be reborn parttime on 105.7 for a few years. It's now a stream on 94.7's HD2 and via whfs.com..... 4/19 - DCRTV hears that "super senior" Radio One account executive Andre Tillman celebrates 25 years with Radio One's DC sales. Tillman started with Radio One at the very beginning of the company. "In this era of sales people coming and going at radio stations, there are still some people who work with integrity, consistency, and longevity," a colleague tells DCRTV. "Plus, it's Andre's birthday today, too!" Radio One's DC radio cluster includes WKYS, WMMJ, WOL, WYCB, and WPRS..... 4/19 - The Washington Post launches its Capital Business tabloid today. The 40-page Monday weekly is a direct challenge to the Washington Business Journal. Full-week Post subscribers will get the publication for free each Monday through May 10. And then it'll cost $49 for a year. More at washingtonpost.com..... 4/19 - The one real weak spot on ESPN 980, WTEM's schedule is the morning Mike and Mike show, which is syndicated nationwide and just doesn't deliver the best ratings here in DC. How about the station putting together a local show for mornings? Right now, WTEM is live and local in middays and afternoons. Why not mornings, too? I did postulate a while back about WTEM hiring a high-profile talent like Don Geronimo for 980's mornings come the end of his CBS deal in October, but I think the Dan Snyder-owned sports talker should go young, instead. Geronimo is over 50 and would probably cost a lot. Look, the Junkies at CBS rival sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, are aging, too. They're in their 30s and getting fatter by the minute. Ouch! Why doesn't WTEM hire a bunch of sports freak dudes in their 20s and go after the both the Junkies on JFK and Kane over on the highly-rated contemporary hit Hot 99.5? They'd work a lot cheaper than the Junks/Kane and may be just the ticket to boost WTEM's morning ratings and its appeal with advertisers..... 4/19 - There are rumblings that if DC lawyer James Weitzman gets FCC approval to hike the power and move the transmitter of now-dark WAGE (1200 AM) in Leesburg to Ashburn, he'll probably relauch the former local news talk station as a brokered ethnic outlet, a la his New World Communications brokered ethnic outlet in DC, WUST (1120 AM). We also hear that WAGE's studios would probably be co-located with WUST's in Falls Church. DCRTV has told you that Weitzman wants to shut down his Baltimore biz talk WBIS (1190 AM) to give WAGE more spectrum "room" for expansion..... 4/19 - From the Roanoke Times: At least half a dozen police officers and the Rockingham County commonwealth's attorney raided the offices of James Madison University's student newspaper Friday, confiscating hundreds of photos of an off-campus riot last weekend. Katie Thisdell, editor-in-chief of the Breeze, said Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst came Friday morning armed with a search warrant after Thisdell refused Thursday to hand over newspaper photos of the April 10 brawl. At least 30 people were arrested and more than 40 injured when the off-campus Harrisonburg VA spring gathering of more than 8,000 people turned into a melee, prompting police to don riot gear and launch tear gas at the crowd. About 200 officers tried to quash the rioting, which lasted for several hours. Police officers were injured, property was damaged, and JMU's president issued a statement saying the incident was "an embarrassment"..... 4/19 - DCRTV hears that some Comcast systems lost the high-def feed for Comcast SportsNet during the third period of Saturday night's Washington Capitals playoff win against the Montreal Canadiens. Comcast subscribers in Baltimore, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County had to watch the rest of the game via the standard-def feed of CSN, we're told..... 4/19 - Last week, DCRTV told you that Fred Grandy's absence from talker WMAL's morning "Grandy And Andy" show on Thursday and Friday was no vacation coincidence. We're told that he went missing to protest the termination date given him and Andy Parks by station owner Citadel, which DCRTV exclusively reported early last week. And he was gone again on Monday. Is he gone for good? Apparently yes, we hear from a reliable source. Citadel is in the midst of a wave of bankruptcy-related cutbacks, we're told. Parks and show newsman Bryan Nehman have apparently agreed to work up until the show's unspecified end-date. Before the radio gig, Grandy had been a Republican Congressman from Iowa and a Hollywood actor, appearing on "The Love Boat" and "Maude" in the 1970s..... 4/16 - DCRTV hears that Fred Grandy's absence from WMAL's morning "Grandy And Andy" show on Thursday and Friday is no vacation coincidence. We're told that he went missing to protest the termination date given him and Andy Parks by station owner Citadel, which DCRTV exclusively reported earlier this week. Citadel is in the midst of a wave of bankruptcy-related cutbacks, we hear. Parks and show newsman Bryan Nehman have apparently agreed to work up until the show's unspecified end-date..... 4/16 - AP changes its ruling on "Web site" to "website." Finally! One of my pet peeves. As usual, the DCRTV website was ahead of the curve. More from mashable.com..... 4/15 - Well, Andy Parks and newsman Bryan Nehman were there today, but Fred Grandy was absent. No more news about yesterday's bombshell that DCRTV first broke about the WMAL "Grandy And Andy" morning team getting "fired." A reliable source told DCRTV that the talk station's owner, Citadel, has set a termination date (we don't know when) for the highly-paid G&A to end their show due to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy-related cutbacks. And, apparently, the show will continue until then, or until listener reaction forces some sort of change in Citadel's plans. DCRTV sources tell us that Citadel, which also owns WRQX and WVRX in the DC area, is in serious financial trouble and could soon be selling stations, perhaps all three in DC, and even shutting down some money-losing operations in smaller markets..... 4/14 - From consequenceofsound.net: "Today, compliments of Billy Idol's newly announced US tour dates, we have received confirmation that the HFStival will indeed by returning in 2010. The English musician, who previously performed at the festival in 2005, lists a September 18th date at the HFStival on his upcoming itinerary. A quick glance at our calendar reveals that September 18th is a Saturday, which would be a perfect day for a music festival. E-mails to WHFS have not been returned, so we currently have no confirmation as to a date (will it be two days?) or a location (Idol currently lists Gaitherburg MD). Once we receive more details, we'll be sure to update you." DCRTV has told you that legendary alt rocker WHFS, now a webstream at whfs.com and a digital HD Radio subchannel of WIAD on 94.7 FM, is planning to resurrect its annual HFStival concert this year. Could it be at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds? Hmmm..... 4/14 - Another one leaving Red Zebra. This time it's Senior Vice President Steve Johnson, who resigned today. "The place is falling apart," a source tells DCRTV. Redskins owner Dan Snyder owns RZ, which owns ESPN 980, WTEM, plus talkers WTNT and WWRC. RZ is in the midst of a round of budget cuts, with more to come..... 4/14 - DCRTV hears that Channel 7/WJLA is working on a promotional campaign for Bob Ryan's arrival. Earlier this year, DCRTV told you that Ryan is planning to join the ABC affiliate to do the 11 PM weathercast. He left his longtime DC TV home of NBC's Channel 4/WRC in February, and is currently sitting-out a contractual "cooling off" period. After Ryan's arrival, Doug Hill will continue doing 7's early evening weathercasts..... 4/14 - Bonneville is adding Nationals coverage to the WTOP low-power relay in Leesburg on 104.3 FM and on a digital HD Radio subchannel of its WTOP relay on 107.7 FM in Warrenton. This comes after complaints that Nationals radio coverage is difficult to hear after sunset in Virginia via WFED's 1500 AM and 820 AM, which are both based in Maryland..... 4/14 - DCRTV broke the news just before noon today. DCRTV hears from a reliable source that Fred Grandy and Andy Parks (right) have been fired as the morning team at Citadel news talker WMAL (630 AM) - but, oddly, they may continue doing their show for a few more weeks until a drop-dead termination deadline is reached. Both morning newsman Bryan Nehman and the show's producer, Ann Wog, are still there - for now. A source tells DCRTV that Citadel, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, can "get out of" talent contracts, and the highly-paid Grandy and Parks have been given an end-date for their service. However, even though Grandy and Parks have been canned, they may still continue to be heard on the station for a short time, we're told. Might WMAL eventually be moving late morning man Chris Plante to the morning slot? Or might WMAL pick up Don Imus from sister WABC radio in NYC for mornings? Citadel is "desperately trying to please that bankruptcy court," a source tells DCRTV. Which makes DCRTV wonder - what other highly-paid personalities could Citadel cut loose in DC, where the firm also owns hot adult contemporary WRQX, Mix 107.3, and classic rocker WVRX, 105.9 The Edge? Should RQX morning man Jack Diamond be worried? Stay tuned..... 4/13 - BET founder Sheila Johnson was a big supporter of Bob McDonnell last year during his campaign for Virginia governor. Hey, Sheila, check out the editorial in today's Washington Post. Ah, how do you like him now? Last week, Johnson slammed the new gov's Confederate month proclamation for not initially mentioning the horror of slavery. Hmmm..... 4/12 - DCRTV is hearing more rumblings of instability in the radio department of the struggling Washington Times. We're hearing that Amy Holmes, the new co-host for the Times' radio show, "America's Morning News," has been missing of late. Is she gone, or on the way out? The promos for the show, heard locally on WTNT (570 AM), now only mention John McCaslin as host, a listener tells us. We hear that there may be some layoffs on the show, including some behind-the-scenes people. The show is syndicated nationally by Talk Radio Network..... 4/9 - DCRTV hears that Tim Davis, 27, a radio personality at Charlottesville adult alternative rock outlet WNRN, died Friday after being shot Monday on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. A man has been arrested in connection with the shootings of Davis and an 18-year-old female, who were reportedly watching the sunset at a parkway overlook. Davis reportedly fell 150 feet down a cliff after being shot. Davis, known on-air as DJ Prolapse, also served as WNRN's operations manager. He had been listed in critical condition at Charlottesville's University Of Virginia Medical Center. The female victim was listed in fair condition. WNRN board chairman Maynard Sipe said in a statement at wnrn.org: "All of us at the station understood over the past few days that Tim's condition continued to be critical, but news of his passing is still a shock. Everyone associated with the station is grieving"..... 4/8 - DCRTV hears that members of the NABET union have voted to approve a contract with DC-based National Public Radio. According to the union, 84% of the April 7 balloting was in favor of the contract proposal. The five-year contract, which affects engineering and technical workers, calls for: 2.5% wage increases per year, beginning January 1, 2011; a 25% cap for temporaries; provisions where all buyouts must be offered before layoffs could occur; the restoration of a "no layoff" provision; and a seniority-based structure for layoffs..... 4/8 - Karl Magenhofer leaves VerStandig news talker WSVA (550 AM) and sister contemporary hits WQPO (100.7 FM) in Harrisonburg VA for a like news director gig at Pat Sajak's news talk WNAV (1430 AM) in Annapolis..... 4/7 - Yesterday, Virginia's new Republican Governor Robert McDonnell proclaimed April as Confederate History Month. The Washington Post editorializes today that while the Confederacy is an important chapter of history that merits study and draws tourists to Virginia, any serious statement on the Confederacy and the Civil War would at least recognize the obvious fact that slavery was the major cause of the war, and that the Confederacy fought largely in defense of what it called "property," which meant the right to own slaves. Instead, McDonnell's proclamation chose to omit this, the Post reports. DCRTV told you that one of McDonnell's major supporters during his campaign last year was BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, a Democrat. Back in the 1980s, she and her then-husband Robert Johnson formed what became the largest US TV network geared to African Americans, DC-based BET. Ah, Sheila, how do you like McDonnell now?..... 4/7 - Former Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich jested this morning that he's probably the first Maryland candidate to officially announce his candidacy - to run again for Maryland governor - in Virginia. On Wednesday, the Republican was in the Fairfax, Virginia studios of sports talker WJFK (106.7 FM), doing the Sports Junkies show. Ehrlich and the Junks have long been friends, ever since the four morning radio guys had Ehrlich on as a frequent guest on their old show on the old alt rock WHFS, which was based in Lanham, Maryland. "The governor is back," Ehrlich proclaimed this morning on WJFK, and he said he hopes that some Washington Post reporters were listening. More: Ehrlich did a phoner with righty talker WMAL (630 AM) this morning, but didn't grace the DC station with his presence..... 4/6 - DCRTV hears that the top suits from Bonneville DC, which owns all-news WTOP, were seen basking in the lunchtime warmth and sunlight at the Sequoia restaurant in Georgetown with the top suits from Allbritton, which owns Channel 7/ WJLA and the Politico. We're told that those among the assembled group, including 7's top weather star, Doug Hill, were "renewing" their news partnership. DCRTV wonders: Was former 4er Bob Ryan there incognito? Apparently not. Hmmm..... 4/6 - Another one out at ESPN 980. Chris Owens was the imaging director for Red Zebra sports talker WTEM, which is owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder. We hear that Owens was handed his pink slip today. More RZ/WTEM cuts coming..... 4/6 - Andy Barth (left), a Baltimore area television reporter for more than 30 years who unsuccessfully ran for Congress, has signed on to be press secretary for Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich. Barth has been a reporter for Baltimore's Channel 2/WMAR and, for a much shorter period, at DC's Channel 5/WTTG. In 2006, he ran for the House Of Representatives seat vacated by Senator Benjamin Cardin. A registered Democrat, Barth lives in Columbia..... 4/5 - DCRTV hears that Jack Murray, director of ad sales for Radio One's DC cluster, left as expected on Friday. After 11 years in that position, he's off to start a new lead generation business - Fix Media. Also on Friday, Michelle Williams surprisingly gave up her DC cluster general manager job at the Lanham-based urban radio giant after 10 years. In the interim, we're told that Chris Wegmann, the newly-installed regional vice president, will oversee day-to-day operations, with Mary Egan, Karen Jackson, and Samuel Tatum still in-place as sales managers for WKYS, WMMJ, WOL, WPRS, and WYCB..... 4/5 - DCRTV hears that WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, is tinkering with its line-up, now that it's approaching its one-year anniversary as a sports talker with not-so-great ratings. The CBS station officially moves evening man Holden Kushner to middays, paired with Mike Wise. For the "Mike Wise With Holden Kushner" show. Also, Bill Rohland moves from middays to evenings. However, there's talk that former Redskin Brian Mitchell, who does a Saturday show for the station, could get moved to weekday evenings or could replace Washington Post sports columnist Wise in middays once Wise's contract with 106.7 is up. With the "Kevin And Rock" show getting moved from weekends to weeknights. Stay tuned..... 4/5 - Look, with the Capitals and the Nationals, and now with John Riggins' new afternoon drive show, WTOP owner Bonneville has its sports "pieces" spread all over the place. The two teams plus some college sports on Federal News Radio WFED, 1500 and 820 AM, and Riggins on WTOP 103.5's digital HD3. Maybe Bonneville should put all of its sports in one place - on a 24/7 sports talker. Take the WTOP HD3 on all of its three FMers - 103.5, 103.9, and 107.7 - and make it sports fulltime, with the Caps, Nats, and Riggo. And put the sports signal, branded as "TOP Sports," also on 1500 AM, bumping Federal News Radio over to 1050 AM, which has been a relay of all-news WTOP since lefty talk network Air America went belly-up a few months back. FNR would remain on 820 AM and via the web. Without buying any new signals, Bonneville would "up" its DC radio cluster from two "stations" to three "stations"..... 4/5 - Your friendly webmaster, DCRTV Dave, shoots the bull with Tom Shankle, host of local internet radio show Off-Topic Radio, about a whole bunch of local radio topics, including WJFK (as usual), Mike O'Meara, WTOP, and the new "radio" show from John Riggins. At offtopicradionetwork.com. Click on "archived shows"..... 4/4 - Republican Robert Ehrlich, who confirmed last week that he will run again for Maryland governor, said on his Saturday radio show on WBAL (1090 AM) he will remain on his weekly program until July, when he becomes an "official candidate." He told listeners: "BAL has asked, and we've agreed that I stay on this show... until you become an official candidate... And that's when under the law, I guess, you become a formal candidate. And that date is sometime in July"..... 4/3 - Local media greats Lee Shephard and Chuck Langdon interview DCRTV Dave Hughes (wearing an old WHFS 102.3 t-shirt) in the latest edition of their Fairfax public access TV show about nostalgic Washington radio and TV, "Out Of The Past." Check it all out at vimeo.com..... 4/3 - It looks like Ocean City area rocker 96 Rock, WOSC, has flipped to sports talk as "95.9 The Sports Animal"..... 4/3 - Former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich will continue his Saturday talk show on Baltimore news talker WBAL (1090 AM) through mid-summer. Even though the Republican just announced that he's re-running for the job against current Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat. WBAL will probably end the former governor's radio run in July, due to the FCC's equal time rules, as the November election approaches. However, a top WBALer tells DCRTV that if O'Malley and other candidates are also offered time on the station, Ehrlich might continue his show into the fall..... 4/3 - Yesterday's Washington Post did a big article about WPGCer Big Tigger's new Channel 50 TV show, which debuts today. And, today's Post again hypes the show in its TV listings. But when WAMU's Diane Rehm won a Peabody earlier this week, the article it ran in Style didn't even bother to mention her - even though she was the most prominent local winner of the prestigious award. And, so far, no update or correction from the often clueless Post. I'm wondering if the Washington Post is biased against older white ladies? Hmmm..... 4/2 - DCRTV hears that Columbia MD-based radio ratings firm Arbitron has issued an apology to Bonneville's WTOP radio for obviously inaccurate numbers in the latest weekly radio ratings that showed the all-newser in 19th place on the weekend. The problem involved coding for the Portable People Meter electronic devices. The first full-week of March ratings had the all-newser in its usual first place, despite the weekend anomaly. The problem also depressed WTOP's ratings in the late February numbers. Arbitron reportedly says it will use the corrected numbers to calculate the March monthly ratings..... 4/1 - The new budget year starts today at the Washington Times and there is worry all over the building. A source tells DCRTV: "While the final details are not known to all, a few more people are leaving as a result of layoffs and the rumors of a possible sale have morale at an all-time low. Many are worried that the 'Bank Of Moon' is is not going to continue with the usual 'Stimulus Package' and the weak circulation and lack of local coverage is not attractive to many potential advertisers. While many think a smart buyer with vision could make TWT a viable voice again, we think we know what's coming. While the sale rumors and the Examiner's jabs were entertaining reading, the final chapter doesn't seem far off"..... 4/1 - Thursday's Washington Post runs an AP piece on page C6 of its Style section on the announcement yesterday of the winners of the prestigious Peabody awards. However, the article the Post ran leaves out probably the most important local winner, WAMU talk show host Diane Rehm. DCRTV first reported yesterday that Rehm was honored for her national NPR radio show, which features "truly reasonable, civic discourse of issues of pressing concern." Her name was included in a "complete list" of Peabody winners from AP at washingtonpost.com, but not in the print edition..... 4/1 - Bonneville all-newser WTOP adds Andrew Mollenbeck as a morning drive reporter. He spent the past three years at CBS Radio all-newser KNX in Los Angeles. It's a homecoming for Mollenbeck, who was an intern at WTOP five years ago. He is fluent in Spanish and recently spent a week in Haiti reporting on the devastation from the earthquake for CBS and KNX. He joins WTOP in early June after wrapping up an adjunct gig teaching broadcast news writing at Biola University..... 4/1 - Looks like CBS Radio is bringing back its traditional HFStival rock concert for 2010 as hinted by the last few seconds of a video posted at Facebook. Alt rocker WHFS, now mainly automated and available on 94.7's digital HD2 and on the web at whfs.com, has been hinting about a big announcement coming in April. Stay tuned..... 4/1 - Towson University and its radio station, adult alternative rock WTMD (89.7 FM), have dropped a proposal to buy Baltimore's historic Senator Theatre (right) and transform it into a venue for music and performing arts. "Due to the continuing economic pressures faced by the state of Maryland and thus Towson, we have determined that it is best not to take on this complex new venture," says James Sheehan, Towson's vice president of finance and administration..... 4/1 - Today's annual DCRTV April Fool's Day gag newsblurb: CBS Admits Mistake, "Guy Talk" Returns To JFK, D&M Back - 4/1 - CBS Radio head Dan Mason says he made a "huge mistake" by flipping WJFK from "guy talk" to sports talk last summer and will be flipping it back on Monday, 4/5. "We really goofed," Mason tells DCRTV. "Ever since we took it to The Fan, the ratings have tanked." But there will be some big changes. The Junkies are out - as a money-saving move. And Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara are back - but not together. Geronimo (joined by old producer Beth Ann McBride and call screener Joe Ardinger) will do mornings and O'Meara (with Buzz Burbank and Robb Spewak) will do afternoons. Both have agreed to return to the station at approximately half their former salaries. Oscar Santana and Chad Dukes will be reunited for middays, and Ron Bennington and Fez Whatley's Sirius XM show will be piped-in for evenings. Also out, along with Junks: Mike Wise and Lavar Arrington. CBS is bringing back Michael Hughes to program the station. Current Program Director Chris Kinard will become music director and develop an alt rock show that will air in overnights and on weekends..... 3/30 - A source tells DCRTV that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic could move its studios and offices from Bethesda to NBC's Channel 4/WRC in northwest DC if the merger between Comcast and NBC/Universal is approved. "The second floor is now vacant, it was cleared out for the American University deal which fell through due to the Comcast talks," we're told. Last year, there was talk of NBC selling its Nebraska Avenue broadcast complex, which includes the Washington bureau for NBC News, to neighboring American University for a tax break, and then leasing-back the space. It remains to be seen how much consolidation will take place been CSN and WRC's sports department if and when the merger occurs. Stay tuned..... 3/30 - More Channel 4/WRC news. Look for the debut of high-def local newscasts on 4 during the last week of April. "Rehearsals are now underway with the new set and control room, they are expected to be ready to go by then," we hear. The switch would make Channel 4 the last of DC's major local TV news operations to go HD..... 3/30 - Baltimore sports newspaper PressBox joins Baltimore sports talker Fox 1370, WVIE, to produce an hour-long sports talk show weekdays at noon. "PressBox Sports Radio" will be hosted by longtime sports radio personality and PressBox founder Stan "The Fan" Charles (right). It'll launch on Monday, 4/5, and cover local aspects of sports, from high school to professional. PressBox publishes a monthly free newspaper, printing 70,000 copies per month and distributed at more than 650 locations, operates the PressBoxOnline.com website, and produces a half-hour sports TV show, "Inside PressBox," which airs weekends on Channel 2/WMAR, along with a nightly sports update for 2's 11 PM newscasts. "I am thrilled to be on the air again every day," says Charles. "Baltimore's sports fans seem to have an insatiable appetite for local information and news on their favorite teams and events." In related news, DCRTV reported yesterday that Fox 1370 will launch a two-hour baseball show hosted by former Oriole Chris Hoiles with Adam Gladstone, former director of operations for Ripken Baseball, at 1 PM..... 3/29 - What's your definition of "cruel reality"? Maybe getting cancer or losing your legs in a car wreck? But does that term apply to a few days of rain and showers? According to weather forecaster Jason Samenow at the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang it does. You know, I get tired of weather over-hype. Why do a few springtime showers have to been verbalized as something terribly negative? OK, sure, no one wants it to rain on their wedding day, but a few raindrops on a workday Monday is certainly not something that's even remotely close to being "cruel." Especially not to the plants that can use the moisture. Come on..... 3/27 - Wasn't that local TV veteran Del Walters (left) anchoring on all-news WTOP Thursday evening? Sources say that the former Channel 7/WJLA and Channel 2/WMAR anchor starts a "regular presence" on WTOP this week. A top TOPer says that Walters will be doing "fill-in" work. Also, we hear that WTOP has brought in CNN veteran Jamie McIntyre on a fill-in basis. Plus, anchor WTOP anchor Bub Kur will be be moving to part-time starting next month, as part of his contract renewal. He'll be doing just three nights a week, with Nathan Roberts and Veronica Robinson handling the other nights..... 3/26 - DCRTV hears that the NABET union and DC-based National Public Radio have reached a "tentative agreement" in their negotiations. Among the "significant details": The contract term is for five years; 2.5% wage increases per year, beginning January 1, 2011; 25% cap for temporaries (not including leave time); Double time pay for seventh day restored (sixth and seventh day for NOCTs); Participation in the Benefits Task Force restored; Buyout terms, including provisions where all buyouts must be offered before layoffs could occur; "No layoff" provision restored (same as current language); Maintained seniority-based structure for layoffs. A vote among union members has been scheduled for 4/7..... 3/25 - Crazy Rant Round-Up, Spring 2010. Here goes! 1) Don and Mike (left) get back together to do a syndicated radio show and internet podcast when the former's contract with CBS ends this fall? Mike's been doing his own podcast, but what if Don were to jump on-board? Hmmm. 2) A connection between 9's Howard Bernstein and the Sun's David Zurawik, who both had back problems and back surgery at about the same time? Hmmm. 3) Some JFK line-up changes as the one-year anniversary of the struggling CBS sports talker approaches? Hmmm. 4) Lots more cuts at Dan Snyder's sports talker, WTEM? If your contract's up soon, you're pretty much gone. Could be seeing some big names walking the plank as the station struggles with low revenue? Hmmm. 5) Might Bonneville cobble together its "sports pieces" - the Nats and Caps on 1500 and Riggo's new show on 103.5's HD3 - and make a fulltime sports talker? Hmmm. 6) WMAL on 105.9 by fall? Hmmm..... 3/24 - DCRTV hears that today, March 24, 2010, was declared Kate Amara day in the city of Baltimore. Also, Charm City's Channel 11/ WBAL has announced that reporter Amara will be heading south on I-95, to WBAL parent Hearst's Washington news bureau..... 3/24 - Former Washington Times executive editor John Solomon, who left the stuggling newspaper in November, becomes the first journalist-in-residence at the Center For Public Integrity..... 3/24 - We're getting an official start date for the new John Riggins (right) afternoon drive radio show. Monday, April 5th, the Redskins great will start doing the 4 PM to 7 PM weekday show on WTOP's 103.5 digital HD3 signal. DCRTV hears that local sports veterans Lou Holder, of Fox5, and Kevin Stanfield, who'd produced for Tony Kornheiser's old 3WT radio show, will be joining Riggins in the endeavor. Riggins will be doing his show from a studio at WTOP's Idaho Avenue DC broadcast complex. Also, there'll be a Riggins website coming, and there's talk of a local regional TV sports network simulcast of the show. Stay tuned..... 3/24 - DCRTV continues to hear rumblings that Clear Channel is planning bring its "Rush Radio" conservative talk format to the Baltimore-Washington area. The radio giant has started conservative-only talk stations in a number of markets, most recently in Boston. And we've reported that Clear Channel has been constructing a mysterious new studio at its Rockville Pike broadcast complex. Some speculate that Clear Channel could use the studio to feed a righty talker on Baltimore's 102.7, currently "Jack" classic hits WQSR. We hear that Clear Channel could nab the Baltimore market rights for Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity from Mangione talker WCBM, and then heavily market the "Rush Radio" format in both the Baltimore and Washington markets, and directly compete with Citadel talker WMAL, which carries Limbaugh and Hannity in the DC market. The Baltimore 102.7 signal covers much of the DC metro..... 3/24 - A source tells DCRTV: "Many hard financial decisions coming to the Washington Times" with its new fiscal year starting on 4/1. "There are many budget meetings going on to discuss what will be included for the new year, including more possible budget cuts, jobs and ways to salvage and increase advertising. The biggest rumors swirling are on whether acting president John Slevin can make the Times profitable and remain an important conservative voice," we're told. "Right now, the paper is just a shell of what it was a year ago. Other whispers are that Preston Moon is ready to close or just sell the paper outright. A lot of people are on pins and needles and many think that the Times needs a competent savior to make it work. A number of people believe that the Times is on 'death watch,'" we hear. More soon..... 3/23 - DCRTV hears that Dennis Glasgow, vice president of programming at sports talk WTEM, ESPN 980, is out. A budget cut at Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra outlet, we're told. More soon..... 3/23 - DCRTV hears that Ryan O'Halloran has joined Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. The former Washington Times sports reporter will focus on the Redskins, covering the team exclusively for the Bethesda-based regional sports network's digital media portfolio, highlighted by its CSNwashington.com website..... 3/23 - DCRTV hears that Allbritton's new and yet-to-be-named local news website is partnering with American University's School Of Communication. There'll be student-produced news content, as well as internships. The Allbritton venture is being led by Jim Brady, an AU alum. Look for the new news site's launch later this year, as well as a related makeover of Allbritton's NewsChannel 8. Allbritton also owns Channel 7/WJLA and the Politico. AU owns public radio news talker WAMU..... 3/23 - DCRTV hears that Channel 9/WUSA weatherman Howard Bernstein is having surgery today for a very painful back condition. He's expected to be off the air through early April..... 3/23 - Tuesday's Washington Post has more on Monday's farewell show for former radio voice of the Redskins Frank Herzog on his retirement from his morning news anchor gig at WTOP. And the calling-in of Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff, Herzog's old Redskins radio partners. After the show, Herzog told the Post that Redskins owner Daniel Snyder wasn't behind his firing as the voice of the Skins. When he was replaced by Larry Michael, who still calls the games. Herzog says he was dumped by WJFK, which then held the rights to broadcast the Redskins. "It was a money thing," Herzog said. "They wanted to use one of their employees, who had other responsibilities, so they could save one salary." As for Snyder: "He did all he could. I saw him later, and he looked me in the eye and shook my hand and said: 'I don't interfere with the decisions of other companies. It's their call to make.'" Other call-iners on the tribute show: John Riggins, Joe Gibbs, Darrell Green, Wes Unseld, Gordon Peterson, James Brown, and Johnny Holliday. More in DCRTV's 3/22 newsblurb..... 3/22 - A bunch of local sports and media notables called in to WTOP's farewell show for Frank Herzog (right) at 10 AM today. As DCRTV has told you, the longtime DC sports radio and TV veteran is retiring at the end of March from his most recent gig, morning news anchor at the Bonneville all-newser. Among those paying tribute to Herzog this morning: Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff, who partnered with Herzog for several decades as the "Sonny, Sam, And Frank" team covering the Redskins on local radio, including via WMAL and WJFK..... 3/22 - If you've been anxiously anticipating former Redskin John Riggins' new show on WTOP's digital HD Radio signal you'll have to wait a bit longer. DCRTV told you earlier this year that the Bonneville all-newser was planning to put Riggins on 103.5's HD2 or HD3 in afternoon drive come March, with a possible TV relay on one of the regional sports networks like MASN. But, with March almost over, still no word about the Riggins show. We hear that WTOP is not producing the proposed Riggins show. WTOP is leasing studio space and airtime to local radio veteran Tod Castleberry, who is in charge of the show. Riggins does Redskins commentary for WTOP..... 3/20 - Not to brag or anything. But DCRTV first tipped you on January 12th via a news item now on our Rant page that WPGC was considering moving Big Tigger from afternoons to mornings. And that WPGC was talking to longtime morning man Donnie Simpson about getting him to retire from the airwaves early. The Washington Post didn't report the news about Simpson for three more days! And, to make matters worse, many of the radio trade pubs got the news even later by merely quoting the Friday Post piece the following Monday. Simpson's last day at PGC was January 29th. And Big Tigger's first morning show at PGC will be this Monday, March 22nd. DCRTV has long reported rumor and gossip, but we always label it as such and let you decide whether you want to believe it. Yeah, not all of DCRTV's rumors materialize. But if we run a rumbling, there's a pretty good chance that it's being seriously considered in a radio boardroom somewhere. Just so you don't forget, if you're looking for DC and Baltimore radio news first, there is no better place than DCRTV..... 3/19 - DCRTV hears that Channel 13/WJZ health reporter Kellye Lynn is a victim of recent cuts made by CBS-Baltimore both on the TV and radio sides..... 3/19 - Superstar cyclist Lance Armstrong phoned-in to Tony Kornheiser's ESPN 980, WTEM show today do discuss Kornheiser's recent jest that there are too many cyclists on the roads and that car drivers should "run 'em down." Writes Williams: "It was an educational 15 minutes that allowed both Armstrong and Mr. Tony talk about all aspects of cycling. They also talked about how things can be blown out of proportion in the new world of new media and things can really go global in a matter of minutes"..... 3/18 - Cycling champ Lance Armstrong has attacked Tony Kornheiser (right), who recently jested on his ESPN 980, WTEM show that that motorists should run down cyclists. Armstrong branded Kornheiser a "complete fucking idiot" on his Twitter page, saying the comments were "disgusting, ignorant," and "foolish." Kornheiser, who has recently returned after being suspended for criticising a female colleague for "dressing too young," launched into a radio rant about cyclists while discussing a new cycle lane in Washington. "The last time I looked, the roads were made for automobiles," he said. "We're going to be dominated as if this was Beijing by hundreds of thousands of bicyclists"..... 3/18 - We recrunched those BIA Financial 2009 radio ad revenue numbers from yesterday (see DCRTV's 3/17 newsblurb) by station ownership and find that Bonneville, with its revenue coming mainly from one station, WTOP, is the dominant corporate player in the DC market, with a total of $54.4 million. Bonneville's only other station in the market, WFED, produces just $3.4 million in revenue. In 2nd place is Clear Channel, with its five FMers (WWDC, WMZQ, WASH, WIHT, WBIG) producing $50.5 million. CBS places 3rd, with its five stations (WPGC, WJFK, WIAD, WHFS, WLZL) nabbing $44 million. Radio One, with five stations (WKYS, WOL, WMMJ, WPRS, WYCB), places 4th with $31.7 million. Citadel, with three stations (WRQX, WMAL, WVRX), places 5th with $31 million. On the sole strength of its WHUR, Howard University ranks 6th with $15.3 million. Red Zebra, with four outlets (WTEM, WTNT, WXTR, WWRC), is 7th with $13.4 million, and Salem, with two stations (WAVA-FM/AM), places 8th with $7.8 million. Up in Baltimore, CBS is the dominant player with $26 million from its four stations (WLIF, WWMX, WJZ-FM/AM). Clear Channel takes a close 2nd with $24.7 million with four stations (WPOC, WCAO, WZFT, WQSR), and Radio One, also with four outlets (WERQ, WWIN-FM/AM, WOLB), nabs $24.5 million for 3rd place. Hearst, with two stations (WBAL-AM, WIYY), has $17.2 million. Shamrock (WZBA) and Mangione (WCBM, WVIE) each get $3.5 million, with Peter And John (WRBS-FM/AM) at $1.7 million..... 3/17 - Once again, today's Washington Post print Sports section sports no, count 'em, no ads in it. Three or four times a week, the section runs with no or maybe just one or two smallish ads. And sometimes, like today, zilch. It's gotta be a money-loser for the paper. Like the Business section was. So, back in 2008, the Post demoted the stand-alone Biz section to just a few pages in the main news "A" section. But the laugh is now on you, the print edition reader. The Post says it's gonna start a weekly business publication and subscribers will have to pay more to get it. Ha ha ha! But then there's always the wonderful stand-alone Style section. Today: A giant Shakespearean pic on its front, almost a half-page "scoop" on Peter Graves the clarinetist, and a so lengthy piece on assisted suicide. Ugh! Perhaps both Style and Sports could become just a few pages inside the "A" section, too..... 3/17 - With Montgomery and Loudoun counties already converted to mainly digital, area cable TV giant Comcast has set it sights on three more DC area cable systems for the conversion, which will allow the firm to add a batch of new high-def channels and more broadband services branded with the Xfinity moniker. This spring, Washington DC, Prince George's County, and Reston are being switched over to digital, except for the most basic tier of local broadcast and public access channels. DC and PG will be done in a two-step process in March and April, while Reston will have a three-step process through May. Comcast is providing up to three additional digital devices for free to subscribers of those three systems. They'll need the gear to continue watching most expanded basic channels, a la ESPN and CNN. Comcast will make an announcement soon about the digital conversion of other DC area systems, including Arlington, Alexandria, and Prince William County..... 3/16 - So, DC "radio god" Don Geronimo (left) Tweets today that he's in DC interviewing for a potential new gig. Well, let's assume it's a radio gig and not something like a greeter at WalMart. So who might he be talking to? Bonneville? Nah, no place for him at WTOP or WFED. Citadel? Bankrupt and no money to spend for talent. Radio One? Come on! Clear Channel? Mornings at WBIG? Slim but doubtful. Back to CBS? When Hell freezes over. XM? Wouldn't he be heading to Sirius in NYC for that? That just leaves Red Zebra. Something at ESPN 980, WTEM? Hmmm. Station owner Dan Snyder has the dough that a star like Don would require. And Snyder would sure like to "stick it" to CBS's sports talk rival and Geronimo's former station WJFK, now 106.7 The Fan. That's my bet. Come October, when Don's contract ends with CBS, he could be doing morning drive at ESPN 980, leading into Tony Kornheiser's 10 AM show. Stay tuned..... 3/16 - DCRTV hears that Erik Haase and Jennifer Touchette, two top radio sales forces in the DC market and the Mid-Atlantic region, are forming Pulse Advertising. Haase, who calls himself "The Hardest Working Guy In Radio," has worked at Clear Channel-DC and, most recently, at Bonneville's WTOP. Touchette's worked at CCDC and CBS-DC, most recently heading digital sales at the latter. Both WTOP and CBS are seeking replacement for Haase and Touchette, we hear. Haase explains that Pulse will "focus on today's changing media tying in digital and SEO internet campaigns together with broadcast - radio/tv - and other customized plans adjusted to each client"..... 3/15 - DCRTV is hearing about some CBS cuts in Baltimore today. Not sure if it's on the TV or radio side. CBS owns Channel 13/WJZ, plus four radio stations in Charm City. A source tells us: "Know of at least one radio person who Tweeted that he got laid off today. Said it was restructuring." More soon..... 3/15 - Look at Bonneville all-newser WTOP's dominance of the DC radio market. It's almost always in the top spot. And lately, with all the snow we had in February, it's got something like double the audience of the number two station in the market. Plus, more importantly, it's far and away the top ad revenue biller in the market. In fact, it beats many stations in much larger markets, like NYC and LA. So, wouldn't it make sense for some local radio rival to "go after" WTOP's huge pot of listeners and ad dollars? I realize that Citadel is kind of fucked-up right now and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, but it's probably in the best position to make a direct challenge to WTOP with its news talker WMAL. Old 630 AM needs to move to a better signal on FM, and Citadel's got the perfect place, low-rated classic rocker 105.9. And it could put together a decent news department - which it once had in its ABC days - that could feed morning and afternoon drive local news blocks, with talk at all other hours. Yeah, it would cost some money, but think of all the ad revenue it could take from WTOP! Or, what about CBS putting a headline news service on its lowish-rated 94.7, WIAD? I've said it before and I'll say it again. Call it "News 24/7 On 94.7" and feature nothing but news headlines, weather, and traffic over-and-over in 10-minute cycles. Couldn't cost all that much, considering the ratings and revenue gains it could achieve. CBS runs all-newsers in NYC and Philly, why not use that expertise in DC, too? Or what about Clear Channel using one of its many area FM signals for a DC-Baltimore mega news talker - maybe 102.7? WTOP is simply raking in the ad dough, and nobody - apart from non-commercial public radio talker WAMU - is giving it a serious challenge. Some direct competition to WTOP would only make it an even better station. Come on DC radio! Let's get some serious competition going here. WTOP's big juicy news plum is mighty ripe for a pickin'!..... 3/14 - A source tells DCRTV: Things not all that great at Red Zebra. Four sales people were fired from Red Zebra Broadcasting last week and a few weeks prior, Greg Reynolds, the CFO abruptly 'resigned.' Hmmm. Stay tuned." Red Zebra, which is owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, owns sports talk ESPN 980, WTEM, Spanish sports talker WXTR, plus political talker WTNT and biz talker WWRC..... 3/13 - More PGC info. A well-placed local radio source tells DCRTV that the plan is for Big Tigger to do mornings on CBS's urban 95.5, but talks continue on his financial compensation. If both sides can come to terms this weekend, he could start next week. There's talk that PGC middayer Michele Wright won't be joining Tigger in mornings, but instead moving to CBS's co-owned 94.7 Fresh FM, to do middays. PGC's Anji Corely moves to middays on 95.5, we hear. Also, negotiations continue to find a female morning co-host for Big Tigger, but a BETer recently passed on it..... 3/12 - More mystery from PGC. The big Big Tigger (right) announcement at 5:55 PM Friday on WPGC: He's leaving PGC afternoons and being replaced by Lil' Mo. Today is his last day in the 2 PM to 6 PM slot on 95.5. Still no official word if BT is heading to PGC's mornings, as DCRTV has rumored, but he did say: "Something big is headed to PGC mornings." Which again fuels the rumor that BT is eventually heading to mornings at the CBS Radio urban contemporary outlet, replacing the legendary Donnie Simpson, who left PGC in late January. BT did say that he'll be doing a show for Channel 50/WDCW, DC's CW station, "Direct Access With Big Tigger," come April. More: DCRTV hears that Michele Wright also announced today that it's her last day in PGC's midday slot. Could she be joining BT in mornings? Hmmm..... 3/12 - Andy Parks wasn't happy, to put it mildly. Republican mastermind Karl Rove bailed on a long-standing, highly-hyped WMAL interview on Friday morning. Parks, with a half-hour of radio time to fill, even suggested that a WMAL listener call in to impersonate Rove and go on the air. But never fear, righty talk WMAL is monitored closely by Washington's Republican establishment and GOP top dog Mike Pence, a Congressman from Indiana, called in to take Rove's place - at least for a few minutes. He was followed by "Karl From Springfield," who attempted an impersonation of Rove..... 3/12 - DCRTV tipped you a while back. Now, we're hearing more. A source tells us that, as we predicted, Channel 9/WUSA sports reporter and sports anchor Sara Walsh (right) will be jumping to ESPN. Details, including her final day at 9, are still being worked out, we're told..... 3/12 - DCRTV hears that CBS Radio sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, adds "Talkin' Baseball" with Tim Donner and Phil Wood to its Sunday line-up, from 4 PM to 6 PM. Wood will also contribute to JFK's weekday shows..... 3/11 - A group of Democrats has started an e-mail campaign to get Frederick County Commissioner Blaine Young (left) off the air at Frederick news talker WFMD (930 AM). According to the Frederick News-Post, Republican Young was sworn in as a county commissioner on March 3. He has been an on-air personality for WFMD for 13 years and currently hosts a three-hour call-in political talk show at 3 PM weekdays. Since his nomination to fill the remainder of the term of Commissioner Charles Jenkins, critics have said he should not be allowed to have a political show when other commissioners and future political opponents do not..... 3/11 - DCRTV hears that local radio vets Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller have made it into the weeknightly rotation at Baltimore sports talker 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM, in the 6 PM to 10 PM slot. Also, look for the pair to be doing Sundays from 4 PM to 7 PM on the CBS station. More as we hear it..... 3/11 - DCRTV hears that former WERQ morning host Marc Clarke (right) and DC singer Precious Joubert have joined former WKYS Russ Parr show personality Marcel Thornton on "The Marcel Show," middays on internet radio station WMAR-FM at wmarfm.com..... 3/10 - DCRTV has tipped you. And now the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network officially announced today that Mike Flanagan will join the Orioles TV broadcast team as a color analyst. Flanagan, who spent more than 30 years with the Orioles as a player, coach, front office executive, and broadcaster, will debut on the April 15th game against the Oakland Athletics. Flanagan will join Gary Thorne in the TV booth for approximately half of the Orioles games during the 2010 season, replacing Buck Martinez, who jumped to the Toronto Blue Jays' TV team. Jim Palmer will continue to provide color commentary for the remaining Orioles games on MASN..... 3/8 - DCRTV hears rumblings that Baltimore sports talker Fox 1370, WVIE, talked to former 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FMer Anita Marks about jumping over to them. She said no, we're told. Since leaving CBS Radio's WJZ-FM in January, Marks has been hanging around her hometown of Miami, doing work for sports talker WQAM. Update: 1370 afternoon driver Jerry Coleman says he has no knowledge that his station talked to Marks..... 3/8 - DCRTV hears that there's a lot of pressure on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network about which local DC sports radio show to simulcast in afternoons. DCRTV told you last month that Bonneville all-newser WTOP was planning to launch an afternoon show in March from Redskins veteran John Riggins on its digital HD Radio signal. And that show would be also aired on MASN. Now, we hear that Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra-owned ESPN 980, WTEM, is putting pressure on MASN to carry Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin's "The Sports Reporters." DCRTV wonders: Without MASN carriage, would the Riggins show be a viable entity with it airing only on WTOP's digital signal? Might Riggins be put on the signal of Bonneville sister talker WFED? Update: DCRTV hears that the new WTOP Riggins show is not a Bonneville project. Riggins and his producer, DC radio veteran Tod Castleberry, are leasing time on WTOP's digital signal. WTOP does use Riggins for pre- and post-game Redskins game commentary and analysis..... 3/7 - DCRTV hears that Red Zebra suits are popping their buttons with pride over the great numbers for ESPN 980, WTEM's afternoon drive "Sports Reporters" show. In the latest radio ratings, the Steve Czaban-hosted program placed second, behind only all-newser WTOP, in the key demo of men aged 25-54. Over on rival CBS sports talker WJFK, Lavar Arrington with Chad Dukes placed "a respectable" 5th, we're told. So, despite the somewhat anemic numbers in the overall "beauty contest" age 12+ numbers, both DC area sports talkers appear to be attracting sizeable chunks of the testosterone demo that many advertisers, from carv dealers to beer marketers, like. And it looks like DC will be a two radio sports talker town for the forseeable future..... 3/4 - DCRTV told you that some Washington Capitals games will be heard on CBS Radio's WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, starting with Saturday's game. Then, on Thursday morning, we heard that only the Caps games that don't conflict with WJFK's coverage of the Wizards and Terps will be carried on 106.7. Now, on Thursday afternoon, we also hear that the games that will air on WJFK are those which are conflicted with WFED's coverage of Nationals games. WJFK's games start with this Saturday's outing against the New York Rangers, along with games on 3/10, 4/1, and 4/11..... 3/4 - USA Today tells us: In a breakthrough of sorts for female announcers, Lindsay Czarniak will this season host TNT's pre-race and post-race shows. Czarniak is a sports anchor at NBC's Channel 4/WRC and has worked as a TNT NASCAR pit reporter. She replaces Marc Fein, who now works on the TNT-managed NBA-TV channel..... 3/3 - The Frederick News-Post tells us that Blaine Young will be sworn in Wednesday to begin his official duties as a Frederick County commissioner. When he does so, he should end his 3 PM weekday radio show. So far, Young and his bosses at Frederick news talker WFMD (930 AM) have said he will continue on the air until he files as a candidate. Both are taking advantage of a loophole in the Federal Communications Commission's "equal time" rule. Had Young officially declared his candidacy, he would be off the air right now, the News-Post adds..... 3/1 - DCRTV hears about another cut at the Washington Times. A source tells us that the paper's marketing manager was let go on Friday. "She was at the paper less than a year and had relocated from Minnesota," we hear. "When you think about it, one could argue that there is not really a lot to 'market' at the Times these days. Talk amongst employees, both current and former, is about the severance package she was given." Also: As DCRTV has told you, there are more rumblings that the Times could sever its relationship with its morning radio show, "America's Morning News," which is heard on WTNT (570 AM). Syndicator Talk Radio Network could seek a new media partner for the show, we hear..... 3/1 - DCRTV hears that Video Vault, the Old Town Alexandria video shop that claims to have the worst movies in town, is closing due to the bad economy and, of course, Netflix, the increasing trend toward downloading films on the internet, and watching via cable TV's on-demand service. The Vault opened in 1985, back when VHS tapes were king, and has sported a wide range of foreign, indie, offbeat, and horror titles..... 2/28 - A DCRTVer wonders: "Did Mike Brooks and Bootsy Vegas get released by WPGC from the morning show?" Another DCRTVer tells us: "Angie Corley and Mike Brooks both have been removed from WPGC's website, Bootsy Vegas was never on it." The three had been doing urban contemporary PGC's morning show since longtimer Donnie Simpson left about a month ago. Stay tuned..... 2/27 - Bob Ryan says goodbye (right) to Channel 4/WRC after three decades at the NBC station. He bid farewell on NBC4's late Friday (early Saturday) news, after Olympics coverage. Video at nbcwashington.com. DCRTV has told you that Ryan is planning to jump to Channel 7/WJLA, but must sit-out a contract "cooling off" period first. No official word yet about his widely-speculated move..... 2/27 - DCRTV hears that Channel 9/WUSA is moving up the start time for its morning news to 4:30 AM, come 3/8. Also, it's replacing the 9 AM half hour of local news with "Inside Edition"..... 2/26 - "The Kendel And Bob Show" has become a Saturday morning fixture on Baltimore's WBAL talk radio (1090 AM), offering Maryland's former first lady and former Republican governor a weekly forum to share their thoughts on everything from international affairs to domestic matters. Could "The Katie And Martin Show" with the current Maryland first lady and the current Democratic governor soon be airing on the same station? It's one of several ideas that have been kicked around by WBAL radio programmers in the likely event that Robert Ehrlich announces next month that he wants a rematch with Martin O'Malley. Ed Kiernan, general manager of WBAL, said he would like to keep the Ehrlichs on the air as long as possible and has asked some "terrific lawyers" to look at the station's options for complying with the Federal Communication Commission's equal time rule should Ehrlich decide to run. The Washington Post has more..... 2/25 - From NewsBlues: Tony Kornheiser "may be a rotten bastard, but his ESPN bosses are idiots for suspending him," writes Jack Shafer in Slate. "Kornheiser is one of those guys whose ugly side is his only side. But the fact that ESPN has suddenly taken to punishing (him) for being an oozing bag of pus and venom raises more questions about the network than it does about the employee... Much - but not all - of sports radio relies on frat-boy humor to carry the freight between serious discussions about teams, games, and players. If Kornheiser's TV network bosses are genuinely upset about what their employee said about another employee on the radio, they should fire him. But they won't fire him, because they aren't actually upset. The ESPN brass is punishing Kornheiser for being Kornheiser when they should be punishing themselves for running their network like a high-school locker room." Despite his two-week ESPN suspension, Kornheiser continues to do his 10 AM radio show on DC's ESPN 980, WTEM..... 2/25 - Paul Farhi at the Washington Post tells us that the reason Channel 7/WJLA isn't annoucing Bob Ryan's jump is because the longtime Channel 4/WRC weatherman has to sit out a non-compete clause in his contract. DCRTV first broke the news yesterday that Friday will be Ryan's last day at NBC4. His contract is expiring and there have been rumblings for weeks that Ryan will move to 7, but, as the Post reports, Ryan may have to stay off the air for several weeks, and potentially several months, due to a "cooling-off" period that can run anywhere from 60 days to six months. The Post adds that Ryan has been unhappy with an increased workload on the air at Channel 4, and his diminished presence on the station's website. NBC's WRC has been using weather data supplied by the NBC-owned Weather Channel's Weather.com on its site, which has reduced Ryan's profile online..... 2/24 - When I talk to people I don't hear: "Gee, we really need another local news website." If you want local news, you can get it on the web in plenty of places. Of course, there's the gigantic Washington Post and the up-and-coming Washington Examiner. (The Washington Times just dumped local news, finding it unprofitable.) Five local TV stations, plus at least three radio stations, including the all-inclusive WTOP, as well as WMAL and WAMU. Along with a batch of suburban newspapers like the Gazette, the Times, and the Journal-Messenger. Not to mention a flurry of local news websites and blogs, a la dcist.com and washingtoncitypaper.com. So, you've got to wonder, like soon-to-be-former City Paper top editor Erik Wemple did last year, why Allbritton, which owns 7, NC8, and the Politico, is spending a whole lotta bucks to start a new local news website. Even if it is a relative success, it's gonna have a lot of local competition for ad revenue and eyeballs. And, unlike the launch of the national political news-based and highly successful Politico a few years back, it's not aiming at a big national audience (and defense contractor advertisers), but instead a much smaller local media pond. Hey, Wemple, who'll now be a top editor at the new Allbritton local news outfit, just because Allbritton stumbled onto a good thing with the Politico, it doesn't mean it's got a winner with yet another local news website. In fact, it's probably got a long, tough slog ahead of it, especially if this recessionary economy continues. Good luck, you'll need it..... 2/23 - Sporting News is reporting that Tony Kornheiser (right) has been suspended as host of ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" for comments he made on his radio show last week about Hannah Storm's wardrobe. Kornheiser apologized to Storm after making the remarks. An ESPN spokesman says he will be suspended "for some time," which is expected to translate into a few days. Kornheiser said Storm was wearing "a horrifying, horrifying outfit" and a "very, very tight shirt... She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body," he added. "I know she's very good, and I'm not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won't... but Hannah Storm... come on now! Stop! What are you doing?... She's what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point." The columnist and broadcaster opened his ESPN 980 radio show the next day by saying, "I apologize, unequivocally... I'm a sarcastic, subversive guy... I'm a troll, look at me. I have no right to insult what anybody looks like or what anybody wears. That, I think, should go without saying." The suspension will not affect his ESPN 980 10 AM to noon show because the station, WTEM, is owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, not ESPN. More: Kornheiser's ESPN suspension is reportedly two weeks..... 2/20 - DCRTV hears: "Congrats to WTOP 'Sprawl And Crawl' reporter Adam Tuss. Listeners to the station learned during the recent snowstorms that Tuss was not only covering the wild road conditions and snow-clearing operations, he and his wife were awaiting the birth of their first child. Much to the relief of dad, baby Annabelle waited out the storms and was born on Saturday morning. Tuss, his wife, and baby are all doing great"..... 2/20 - Who needs stinking radio? Mike O'Meara, who got jettisoned last summer when guy talker WJFK flipped to sports, started his own internet podcast in December. And he gets profiled by Mike Musgrove in Sunday's Washington Post..... 2/19 - DCRTV hears that former Channel 7/WJLA reporter Andrea McCarren is joining Channel 9/WUSA as a "multimedia journalist." She starts Monday at "9News Now." With 17 years of reporting experience in Washington, McCarren worked at 9 in 1991 before gigs at NBC News and ABC News, and later at 7. She left Channel 7 during a budget cut about a year ago..... 2/19 - The trade pubs are reporting that CBS honcho Les Moonves went on and on in a Thursday call with financial analysts about his "rebounding" radio group, after a 12 percent revenue drop during the final quarter of 2009. "Radio is a really strong story... Nowhere is the recovery more apparent than at our TV and radio stations." Yadda yadda yadda. He said that radio stations in CBS's top 10 markets are showing "plus-signs in the first quarter" revenue-rise. And Moonves is even happy to talk about the ratings: "CBS Radio stations had the number one audience share in five of the top 10 markets." Those are New York, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Boston. But what about DC, a top 10 market? CBS has four major FMers here and, frequently, none are among the top 10 stations, ratings-wise. Urban WPGC, which just ditched longtime morning man Donnie Simpson, has seen a year-long slump and is on the verge of a major format tweak. Hot adult contemporary WIAD is denting its female-oriented rivals but still a long way from overtaking them, almost a year after going Fresh. WJFK is posting lower numbers as sports talk than it did as "guy talk," and is losing out in many dayparts to rival sports talker WTEM. And Spanish WLZL is getting plastered by a low-power-TVer than pretends to be a radio station, 87.7 WDCN, a Spanish outlet that just signed DC United. C'mon Mr. Moonves and CBS Radio prez Dan Mason! We're still waiting for the CBS "fix" here in DC..... 2/19 - Jim Williams at washingtonexaminer.com tells us that Jennifer Royle (at right in pic at right) is at the top of the list to replace the departed Anita Marks as co-host of 105.7 The Fan's afternoon show with Scott Garceau. Royle is a nationally known and respected baseball writer and broadcaster for the YES sports network in NYC as well as a columnist for MLB.com. She sat-in with Garceau on Thursday's WJZ-FM show..... 2/18 - DCRTV hears that DJ Spice, who was heard on Baltimore's 105.7 when it had an urban contemporary format as "X1057" back around 2003-ish, is the first jock signed to Clear Channel's new Charm City contemporary hit outlet Z104.3, WZFT. Doing weekday mixes and weekend on-air shifts..... 2/18 - Ohio Media Watch tells us that Rob Kruz will be joining Hot 99.5, WIHT, as evening host, replacing Grooves, who left last year. Kruz comes from hot adult contemporary WQAL in Cleveland, where he was on night duty for the past four years..... 2/18 - Some Washington Times news. DCRTV hears that while honcho John Slevin is still working out the details to move the shunken paper's skeleton staff from the Times' expensive and now too large New York Avenue building, he has been told to keep his search confined to office space in downtown DC. There had been rumblings that the Times may move its offices out to the less expensive suburbs, perhaps to Maryland or Virginia. Look for a move this spring, perhaps in April, we're told..... 2/16 - The Baltimore Media Blog tells us that DC area sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, has applied to the Federal Communications Commission to be the first area FM station to increase its HD-Radio signal. HD Radio has been a failure due to the low power of the digital signals and poor distribution of digital radio receivers. Recent FCC rules allow many FM stations to increase digital power. DCRTV has told you that WJFK may soon be relaying fellow CBS sports talkers from Baltimore, NYC, and Philadelphia on 106.7's HD Radio subchannels..... 2/16 - DCRTV hears that Aaron Gilchrist, a morning news anchor at Richmond's NBC affiliate, Channel 12/WWBT, is heading north on I-95 to NBC-owned Channel 4/WRC to be a weekend news anchor. Gilchrist has been at WWBT for 12 years..... 2/16 - DCRTV is hearing rumblings that CBS Radio might be eyeing something new, er, old for DC's 94.7 if the ratings for hot adult contemporary Fresh FM don't improve soon. The female-oriented Fresh format debuted on 94.7, now WIAD, last April, and the mostly jockless station had yet to come close to displacing rivals WASH and Mix 107.3, although it has dented the ratings of both, particularly the latter. We hear that CBS is eyeing an oldies/classic hits sound like the high-rated formats it's running in NYC on WCBS-FM and in Philadelphia on WOGL. Stay tuned..... 2/15 - Dave McKenna at washingtoncitypaper.com wonders who might be buying the DC Sports Fan message board at dcsportsfan.com. He says that a thread appeared over the weekend that the site, which has been the premier clearinghouse for local prep sports news and gossip, was about to be sold to a big media outfit for big bucks. Who would buy a local high school sports website? The Washington Post? Allbritton, which is currently building a new local news site? Redskins owner Dan Snyder? Stay tuned..... 2/15 - The radio trade pubs are reporting that Citadel is planning to simulcast an AM radio talker it owns in Birmingham, Alabama, on an FMer, which will soon be a former rocker. Hmmm. You know, we've suggested that Citadel do the same with its DC AM talker WMAL on the FM frequency of 105.9, which currently sports a very low-rated classic rock format. DC has been an FM dominant market since the 1970s, and one reason for the continued stellar ratings of Bonneville all-newser WTOP has been its move from AM to FM a few years ago. Seems it could only help WMAL to make the move to FM as soon as possible. Keep it a 630/105.9 simulcast for a year or so, and then sell off the AMer or flip it to showtunes as Grandy's Broadway Greats..... 2/13 - DCRTV hears that Channel 5/WTTG news anchor Laura Evans had a baby boy at 4:30 this morning at Sibley Hospital in DC. The bundle of joy was three weeks early..... 2/12 - Washington home electronics staple MyerEmco pulls the plug after more than 50 years. Blame Best Buy..... 2/11 - DCRTV hears rumblings that Channel 9/WUSA sports reporter/anchor Sara Walsh could be heading to ESPN soon. She "came to DC (about) the same time as rival Lindsay Czarniak (on Channel 4/WRC) but never made the same impact on the local sports market," a source tells us..... 2/11 - A DC TV source tells DCRTV: "News4 (WRC) retains the title as the winter weather powerhouse for the Washington DC market. The ratings from Wednesday are out and News4 at many times had twice as many viewers as its nearest competitor. Morning hours show News4 in first place, followed by Fox5 in second, and ABC7 and CBS9 at a distant, yet close tie for third and forth place. The noon news has News4 grabbing the top spot, ABC7 in second place, Fox5 and CBS9 in last place. 5 PM and 6 PM news ratings rank News4 at #1, ABC7 in second place, Fox5 in third and CBS9 in 4th. 11 PM news race: News4 #1, CBS9 in second, ABC7 in third and Fox5 in 4th. Twice as many people watched News4 at 11 as did ABC7 news. In DMA P25-54, ABC7 News was in last place at 5 PM, 6 PM and 11 PM. Washington's News Leader: NBC4. RIP Channel 9"..... 2/10 - All-newser WTOP's grizzled longtime traffic reporting veteran Bob Marbourg (right) was even more grizzled this morning, having spent the night at the Idaho Avenue-studioed radio station - and not shaving. He said on the 103.5/103.9/107.7 FM airwaves this morning that it was his first time ever not going home after his afternoon drive traffic shift - and he's covered some pretty bad conditions over the years - because the forecast was so horribly dreadful. "We had two dozen staffers in hotels last night but Bob would not take a room. He slept in his studio," WTOP VP/Programming Jim Farley tells DCRTV. "Not just hanging around (but) been gathering info and doing liveshots until he starts his traffic reports this afternoon. What an incredible pro." Marbourg just celebrated his 35th anniversary with WTOP..... 2/9 - Look, Washington and Baltimore. We ran a 30 mile marathon on Saturday. With 30 inches of snow across much of the area. Today and tomorrow, we're going to do barely half of that - 10 to 15 miles, with another foot or so of snow. You know the drill - batteries, toilet paper, road salt. Turn off the "scareclowns" on the local TV hypecasts, and simply deal with it. We're Americans, dammit. We sent men to the moon, we won two world wars, we still pretty much run the globe with the biggest economy. And we're gonna a let a little more snow get us down? Spring is just around the corner - and Topper and Bob and Sue and Doug will be putting on their Jason masks again to scare us with severe thunderstorms and F5 tornados. They get paid astronomical salaries by their corporate media controllers to get big ratings, and scaring you is how they nab you! Chin up, DC and Baltimore. As Dan Rather used to say at the end of his CBS newscasts - "Courage." Turn off the TV. Enjoy Snowmageddon..... 2/8 - While all-newser WTOP, already at the top of the DC radio ratings, will benefit from many thousands of additional listeners over the weekend due to power outages during the snowstorm, the PPMs may not record all of WTOP's additional listeners. We're told that the electronic Portable People Meter devices must be placed into a dock that is connected both to electricity and a landline phone. The meter will work until it loses power. But, with a power outage, the dock is not working and that's what sends the data to Arbitron. The meters have batteries recharged by the dock. Oh, if you rely only on your cell and don't have a landline phone? Arbitron will pay to have one installed at your home during your term as a PPM device carrier..... 2/7 - As always, WTOP radio did a great job during the big snow that dumped between 20 and 35 inches on the DC-Baltimore area from early Friday to late Saturday. I loved having father Frank Herzog "holding my hand" early Saturday, as the darkest portion of the scary storm descended on the DC area. I had to put up with a power outage of five whole minutes early Saturday, and was afraid it might go out longer. But it didn't. But Frank was there with his comforting voice to let me know that a lot of people were far worse off than I was, there sipping tea in my heated condo with my battery-powered radio, even though I could have used a plugged-in model. And ditto with the TV stations, which provided a nice, comforting high-def (except for NBC4) window on the world for those who had power, like me, during the storm. Even Ailes5 was doing a good job. But, you've got to admit, the TV coverage was repetitive. Over and over again, the same info. Filling hours with little new to report. Memo: Simply providing more coverage of the same stuff over and over is not necessarily better coverage. You could easily watch each TVer for 10 minutes, get all the storm news you need, and then go on to a good book. It's a shame that hardly any people have battery-powered digital TVs, so there was no way folks without juice could get their storm news from 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, or 45. Also, digital TV signals don't work on those old TV band radios, so radioers WTOP and WBAL (few other local radioers did storm coverage) were the only storm news choices of the power-less. If you had power and an internet connection or a battery-powered mobile device capable of surfing the web, then you had a variety of choices, including probably the best source of local weather news, the Capital Weather Gang at washingtonpost.com. Kudos to them. Sure, I was full of "oh come on, we're not going to get 2+ feet this weekend" when reading the CWG guys last week, but they were right on the money. And they have been all winter. Frequent updates and interesting to all levels of weather lovers/haters, from the casual to the fanatic. Look, I slam the Post a lot, but when it comes to storm-related weather news, they're the best. In conclusion, we need to figure out ways to deliver all this wonderful storm news to people who lack power during a storm - or, even more importantly, during a terror attack or other emergency. A battery-powered radio just doesn't cut it in this techie age. We need to have better distribution of battery-powered gear that can provide internet and digital TV access. Folks without juice shouldn't be left pretty much "in the dark" information-wise, as they are now. Oh, two days (so far) without the print Washington Post and I'm discovering that I could go without that expensive home delivery option without too much withdrawl. To the Post's suits, that's got to be much more scary than a feet of snow! Pic at right: Me and my buried car..... 2/5 - Amber Theoharis (right) has become the target of CBS Radio Baltimore sports talker WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan, as the replacement for afternoon show co-host Anita Marks, who could not come to terms with the station on a contract extension. But, she says she won't be joining the show, so reports Jim Williams at washingtonexaminer.com. Theoharis will do some fill-in work on the now-dubbed "Scott Garceau Show," which airs on 105.7 from 2 PM to 6 PM. The show is simulcast from 3 PM to 7 PM on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. Theoharis serves as an in-game reporter on MASN's Orioles broadcasts, as well as the host of "Ravens Xtra." MASN spokesman Todd Webster says Theoharis is staying right where she is at MASN. "As one of the premiere sports journalists in the country, it is understandable that Amber would be actively sought-after by many media outlets. The reality is she is doing a one-day special appearance on 105.7 on Monday, as she will be covering the Orioles fulltime for MASN again during the 2010 season," Webster tells DCRTV..... 2/5 - DCRTV hears that Bonneville has gotten numerous offers and inquiries about putting replacement talk or music programming on 1050 AM, a la a lease agreement like it had with the now-bankrupt Air America. Stay tuned..... 2/5 - DCRTV hears that the new John Riggins afternoon radio show that was announced yesterday will most-certainly have a local TV component. As we first reported, Bonneville's WTOP is putting the Redskins great on the HD Radio digital HD3 signal of 103.5 come March. And now DCRTV hears rumblings that TV engineers have been seen in the first-floor studio at 3400 Idaho Avenue NW, where Riggins will be doing his show, installing HD gear plus lights and cameras. DCRTV wonders: Could Comcast SportsNet or the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network be interested? Probably MASN, we're told. Stay tuned..... 2/5 - It's racially derogatory to call an African American man a "boy." So, how is it any different when Rush Limbaugh calls President Obama a "man child" - as the talk radio host did again today? If you're a DC area advertiser, do you really want your spots to be heard on a station - like DC's Citadel-owned WMAL - that broadcasts such shameless crap? WMAL and its sponsors, like the Home Depot, who should be openly condemning such garbage talk rather than supporting it with their ad dollars, should be deeply ashamed..... 2/5 - The Washington Post is reporting that top weatherman Bob Ryan (right) is considering leaving NBC-owned Channel 4/WRC and jumping to Channel 7/WJLA. Ryan has held talks in recent weeks with WJLA about teaming with its veteran meteorologist, Doug Hill, on its evening newscasts. Channel 7 hasn't completed a deal with Ryan yet, and negotiations could fall through, the Post adds. But with Ryan's current contract expiring in early March, he would be free to change stations after NBC's telecast of the Winter Olympics this month. The Post adds that Ryan would probably be a good fit with a new local news venture that WJLA's owner, Allbritton, is planning. As DCRTV has reported, the company intends to fold resources from its local cable news operation, NewsChannel 8, and its political news publication, Politico, into an all-local website and TV channel later this year. The venture, which is under the direction of former Washingtonpost.com editor Jim Brady, is expected to have a major local weather component. One reader comment to the Post's story: "This is nonsense. Bob's just looking for more money from WRC. Doug and Bob have never gotten along"..... 2/4 - A DCRTVer tells us: WJFK morning Junkie JP Flaim announced on yesterday's show that he and his wife are divorcing, after being separated for six months. JP says that he's now living in "a small apartment"..... 2/3 - The Tuesday edition of "Hardball" on MSNBC, in which Chris Matthews interviewed Washington Post Style section scribe Paul Farhi (right) about the recent Oscar movie nominations, came in dead last among the cable TV news network shows in the 5 PM hour. According to the stats at TVNewser, Glenn Beck on Fox News won the hour, with more than eight times the audience of MSNBC's DC-based "Hardball," which placed a distant fourth among the four news networks at that hour..... 2/3 - Condolences to Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8 anchor Doug McKelway on the January 31 death of his father, Dr. William Prentiss McKelway, 87, a native Washingtonian and longtime obstetrician. Dr. McKelway was a veteran of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Dr. McKelway's father, Benjamin, editor of the Washington Evening Star and president of the Associated Press, was selected by General Eisenhower to cover the liberation of the Nazi death camps. Dr. McKelway graduated from George Washington University Medical School in 1950 and became a clinical professor in 1974. He founded Foxhall OB-GYN Associates..... 2/2 - Deejay Rico (right), who got canned last week by urban contemporary WPGC (95.5 FM) for playing a tune that was not approved by the CBS Radio station's management, is launching a Facebook campaign against his former employer. "GET THOSE EMAILS OUT REMEMBER TAKE 955 WPGC OFF YOUR RADIO... HELP WITH THIS PROTEST AND EMAIL MICHAEL.SAUNDERS@ CBSRADIO.COM, REGGIE.ROUSE@CBSRADIO.COM & SAM.ROGERS@CBSRADIO.COM... TELL EVERYBODY... TAG IT OR POST IT!!" Longtime morning man Donnie Simpson, whose last show was Friday, had asked Rico to do a mix on the air, including an unapproved Prince song, we're told. Rico had been a longtime production assistant at PGC..... 2/2 - Bonneville has resurrected the WTOP call letters on 1050 AM, as its top-of-the-hour ID now includes "WTOP Silver Spring." Since Air America went bye-bye last week, 1050 has been switched to a relay of all-news WTOP, but the WZAA call remained until yesterday. WTOP's main signal of 103.5 remains "WTOP-FM Washington"..... 2/1 - DCRTV hears that Clear Channel is building new studios on the 6th floor at 1801 Rockville Pike for what could be a six signal for its DC cluster. Yet, Clear Channel owns only five stations in the Washington market. Just recently, DCRTV reported that Clear Channel named Dave Wellington, who is already program director of DC alternative rocker DC101, as PD also of Baltimore's jockless classic hits "Jack FM," WQSR. Might Clear Channel be planning to make WQSR a more DC-oriented signal, with its programming coming from the DC HQ in Rockville? And why studios for a jockless format? The 102.7 FMer has decent coverage of the DC metro. What's the Rush? Hmmm..... 2/1 - DCRTV hears that Red Zebra sports talker WTEM (980 AM, 92.7 FM, 94.3 FM) will be re-running Tony Kornheiser's live 10 AM to noon show from 7 PM to 9 PM the same evening. And from 4 AM to 6 AM the following weekday on Red Zebra sister talker WTNT (570 AM). That's according to Kornheiser's show banter this morning. He's the top-rated host on Redskins owner Dan Snyder's ESPN 980..... 2/1 - Anji Corley and Mike Brooks are doing the WPGC (95.5 FM) morning show this morning, with longtime newsman Guy Lambert. No official CBS Radio announcement about a post-Donnie Simpson morning show on the longtime urban contemporary outlet. As for Simpson, DCRTV hears rumors that he's been taking to Oprah Winfrey about a spot on her new OWN network with Silver Spring-based Discovery Channel. OWN will debut early next year, just about the same time Simpson's CBS Radio contract ends. Also, there's a rumor floating around that Simpson may do a syndicated national TV show for Oprah's organization. Her broadcast TV show, seen locally on Channel 7/WJLA and Channel 11/WBAL, ends in fall 2011..... 2/1 - DCRTV hears more about Politico TV, which could very well be replacing NewsChannel 8 later this year. It'll basically be a political news channel, based here in DC, with national, Capitol Hill news, plus local political news, possibly via cut-ins. And we're hearing that the channel, to be launched by Allbritton, which owns the Politico website and print rag, plus WJLA and NC8, could be taken nationwide, unlike local news NC8, which is only available in the DC area. No firm launch date for Politico TV, but late summer or early fall is a likely time-frame. Update: A Politico PR person denies all of the above, but, when pressed, would not say just what Politico TV or Allbritton's new local news venture will be or when they'll launch..... 1/30 - DCRTV hears that Patricia Guadalupe is leaving her reporting gig with all-news WTOP radio to join the DC-based National Association Of Latino Elected Officials as its communications chief. "It's been a great ride, but the allure of more focus on political issues, and no holidays or weekend work and more money... was too good to pass up," she writes on her Facebook page..... 1/29 - Comcast has added Howard University's Channel 32/ WHUT in high-def on its DC area systems - channels 202 and 802. Also, you'll need a digital box or a TV with a digital tuner to continue receiving WHUT's standard-def signal in the "limited basic tier." The analog cable TV feed of the PBS affiliate has been dropped, and will no longer be available to subscribers with pre-digital cable-ready sets and older, non-digital boxes..... 1/28 - DCRTV hears that CBS Radio's urban contemporary WPGC (95.5 FM) has cut loose Deejay Rico. A source tells us: "Wednesday, Donnie Simpson asked him to do a mix on the air during his show and the new program manager, Michael Saunders, felt he needed to be fired for doing a mix when there wasn't one scheduled." Outgoing WPGC morning man Donnie Simpson stayed off the air Thursday to protest the dismissal of one of his longtime production assistants. Rico reportedly said he was fired for playing music, including a Prince song, that Simpson had asked for on Wednesday, but had not been approved by the station's management..... 1/28 - In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams wonders if area cable TV giant Comcast will join forces with former AOL mogul Ted Leonsis, who owns the hockey Capitals, to obtain the basketball Wizards and Verizon Center. Comcast owns a batch of sports networks, including Comcast SportsNet and Versus, plus the Comcast Center arena in Philadelphia. Just yesterday, the holding company that owns a majority of the Wizards and the Verizon Center says it has the right to put the franchise and arena on the open market, throwing into question attempts by Leonsis to take full ownership of the sprawling regional sports empire..... 1/28 - The "journos" at the Daily Caller's State Of The Union party last night prove what an unattractive bunch-o-douchebags they are, via FishbowlDC. Let's all hope that most of these hack clowns land out on the street on their asses once they burn through the investment capital on yet another political news and commentary website that nobody needs or wants. And to think we actually once liked Marc "Nigel" Sterne. What a pathetic suck-up. Wow..... 1/27 - The University Of Maryland has reached a deal to buy the Washington Post's printing plant in College Park for about $12 million. The purchase should allow the University Of Maryland to relocate some facilities and services from its growing east campus to the shuttered 300,000-square-foot plant that sits on more than 18 acres. The deal needs approval of the Maryland Board Of Public Works, which is expected to vote on 2/10. The Post's Maryland plant was shuttered last year, with most printing now taking place at its Springfield, Virginia plant..... 1/27 - DCRTV hears that Channel 7/WJLA will lose the Martha Stewart show to the Hallmark Channel come September. And, with Oprah Winfrey's last show set for June 2011, DC's Allbritton-owned ABC affiliate will have "two fill two huge gaps in programing." A local TV guru wonders: "Could it mean more local news? With all the NewsChannel 8 (and) Politico rumblings, 10 AM and 4 PM news show do not sound out of the question" for 7. DCRTV has told you that Allbritton is developing a Politico-based local news website and TV operation that could be seen on the firm's NC8 and WJLA. Stay tuned..... 1/27 - A DCRTV tech guru tells us that Baltimore sports talker WVIE, Fox 1370, has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to triple its night time power to 24,000-watts, more than three times its current post-sunset power level. WVIE already sports a 50,000-watt daytime signal, which gives it decent coverage even thoughout the DC metro..... 1/26 - DCRTV hears that WDMV (700 AM), the Birach-owned Frederick area station that returned to the airwaves earlier this month, is now playing Spanish language oldies. Before leaving the airwaves last summer, the station had been airing brokered talk..... 1/25 - DCRTV told you over the weekend that classical WETA-FM (90.9 FM) has launched an HD2 digital HD Radio subchannel playing more classical music - generic, so far. Now, we hear that the station will put Viva La Voce, a radio channel featuring choral, opera, and art song, on its HD2 come February. VLV, which was carried by the HD2 of the old classical WGMS back when it was on 103.5 FM (right), will share hosts with WETA-FM and "will provide additional opportunity for classical music enthusiasts to hear the vocal music they love," we're told..... 1/25 - The Washington Post is planning to launch a new local weekly business publication -"Capital Business" - to directly compete with the Washington Business Journal. Last year, the Post eliminated its daily Business section, making it part of the main "A" news section, except on Sundays..... 1/25 - Just listened to WMAL's 8 AM hour of "Grandy And Andy" and its "new" morning show tweak of phone calls from listeners for the whole hour. Kind of tedious. I kinda liked the old hourly format with a mix of news, commentary, and calls. The new "mainly calls" hour sounds "done on the cheap" and makes me more likely to flip over to all-news WTOP for something other than a bunch of mainly idiotic, Heritage Foundation-ish callers. You know, WMAL's owner is an a heap-o-trouble here in DC. WMAL is not doing great in the ratings, paricularly in drive times, and still has no local content in afternoon drive. Re-installed later morning guy, Chris Plante, has got to be one of the dumbest talkers on the air in the Washington market - period. The guy's a complete idiot, even for a conservative. And putting an overnight trucking show on a signal that barely reaches outside the Beltway after dark is mindnumbingly stupid. WMAL's Citadel sister, WRQX, Mix 107.3 is getting slammed by the slow growing, but growing (!) WIAD, 94.7 Fresh FM, from CBS. And the new turgid classic rock 105.9 The Edge, WVRX, seems stuck in the mud at 20th or 21st place almost a half year after its launch. Rather than try to fix its DC cluster mess, it might be better for bankrupt Citadel to simply sell its three DC stations. To WTOP owner Bonneville? Hmmm..... 1/25 - DCRTV hears that this morning's heavy winds took out WTNT (570 AM). A tree branch fell on a power line at the Red Zebra talker's Germantown transmitter site. Repairs are expected to be made by late morning, we're told..... 1/25 - DCRTV hears that Washington's Air America station, WZAA (1050 AM), will go back to a simulcast of all-newser WTOP after the lefty radio network, which filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings last week, discontinues programming later today. Air America had been leasing the Silver Spring-based AMer from WTOP owner Bonneville. WZAA will continue carrying its local sports committments. "We have had some very intriguing offers and or suggestions (for a new format), but that's the plan for now," a top DC Bonneviller tells DCRTV. We've reported that WAVA owner Salem is looking for a DC AMer to air its righty political talk format on, but so far no rumored talks with Bonneville. Stay tuned..... 1/24 - In the listing of "Afghanistan War Deaths" on page A14 of Sunday's Washington Post, two soldiers named "Mark Juarez" are listed as being killed on the same day, 1/9, in the Helmand provience - a Mark A. Juarez, 22, of Bakersfield, California, and a Mark D. Juarez, 23, of San Antonio, Texas. However, MSNBC reported on 1/13 that the Pentagon made an error regarding the like-named Bakersfield-based soldier, who has since returned home to visit his family..... 1/24 - Northeast Radio Watch czar Scott Fybush selects WTOP's "Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center" as his mid-January "Tower Site Of The Week," ah, er, even though it's not really a tower site. Whatever. At fybush.com..... 1/24 - A DCRTVer tells us that classical WETA-FM (90.9) has finally added a second HD Radio signal, airing classical music with no announcers on its HD2 subchannel. Even though HD Radio has been around for several years, WETA has refused to join the party - at least subchannel-wise. Its major public radio rival, news and talk WAMU (88.5 FM), has offered two HD Radio subchannels - bluegrass and more news and talk - for the past few years..... 1/23 - You may be seeing your favorite band this summer at "Jiffy Lube Live." InsideNova.com reports that the Washington Area Co-op, a group of 13 Jiffy Lube franchisees that run auto service centers in Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, has purchased the naming rights for seven years to what had been called the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow VA. The facility is owned by Live Nation..... 1/23 - Last weekend, the sports radio and TV listings in the Washington Post told us that a batch of NFL playoff games would be on WHFS, 94.7 FM. Of course, the WHFS calls have never been on 94.7, which was WTGB and is now WIAD. Now, this weekend's sports media listings in the Post tell us that the NC State-Maryand game is on WHFS via Baltimore's 105.7 FM, which, OK, was WHFS but is now WJZ-FM. Fellow Baltimore outlet 1300 AM, which is also carrying the game, is still listed by the Post as WJFK-AM, but that's now WJZ-AM. Memo to Posties: The WHFS calls still live, but only on talker 1580 AM. Got it? Hmmm..... 1/22 - Channel 4/WRC news anchor and colleague Jim Vance and former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs eulogized legendary DC sports anchor and "Sports Machine" host George Michael in a memorial service Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. Their words portrayed Michael as a hard working, enthusiastic, and passionate journalist who touched the lives of everyone he met. "George Michael was the first man to tell me he loved me," Vance explained. Upon telling Michael that those words made him uncomfortable, Michael replied: "Get over it." Michael died on 12/24 after a two-year battle with leukemia..... 1/21 - The Baltimore Sun tells that that after almost 14 years as the voice of the Baltimore County Police, Bill Toohey will leave the department on Friday, take a week off, and start a new job on February 1. Toohey, a former radio reporter and spokesman for two US senators, is to be the communications director for the Maryland Governor's Office Of Crime Control And Prevention, which coordinates programs, grants, and research for public safety and corrections agencies..... 1/21 - This morning, a DCRTVer told us that WJFK's morning Junkies announced that former Redskin Brian Mitchell will be in for Mike Wise and will have "a special announcement." Middayer Wise is attending the memorial service for former Channel 4/WRC sports anchor George Michael. DCRTV has reported that WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, might be giving Mitchell his own show. He currently does fill-in work for the CBS sports talker. Now, via a big noon announment, we hear that Mitchell will indeed be getting his own WJFK show - on Saturdays from 10 AM to 2 PM. Starting 1/30..... 1/21 - Citadel news talker WMAL (630 AM) plans to make some tweaks to its "Grandy And Andy" (right) morning show come next week. The 8 AM hour will focus on listener calls, there'll be more "in-depth" news stories in the 7 AM hour, more of a newscast feel to the 6 AM hour, and G&A's "top 5 at 5" news stories in the 5 AM hour. While WMAL's ratings are great in middays, with the syndicated Rush Limbaugh, the station has struggled to hold on to a youthful, non-geezerish audience in its locally-based morning drive, and with the syndicated Sean Hannity in afternoon drive..... 1/20 - Spanish WDCN will carry DC United soccer games this season. The station, which is dubbed "La Nueva 87.7 FM," uses the audio carrier of a low-power channel 6 TVer. Says DC United Senior VP/Marketing Doug Hicks: "La Nueva has quickly shown value in its ability to reach a large audience and will be a great partner of the club in our efforts on and off of the field." WDCN will also host an hour-long, live pre-game tailgate party for every home game. During the season, La Nueva will feature a 30-minute weekly show hosted by station Sports Director Herbert Baires, who will be the play-by-play announcer. Baires called DC United matches from 1999 to 2005..... 1/20 - DCRTV hears that local radio veteran KT Harris is filling in this week, via the miracle of voice-tracking, in the midday slot on Citadel's turgid classic rock 105.9 The Edge. Does this mean that Suzanne Ansilio from LA classic rocker KLOS, who was doubling as music director at 105.9 WVRX, is out as midday gal? Not so, says another source. Ansilio is back to the left coast for a few days. Regarding Harris, we hear from a source: "There is a hope, amongst those of us that know her, that her personality and reputation will get her a fulltime gig. Who knows, they still need a morning host." We hear that Harris does have a fulltime job in the wine business. DCRTV has reported that WVRX is close to naming a morning show host, something it hasn't had since it launched back in August. Stay tuned..... 1/19 - "There was evil there," so said Buzz Burbank on today's podcast at MikeOMearaShow.com about last summer at WJFK, which canned his boss, Mike O'Meara, as part of a format flip to sports talk. O'Meara, Burbank, Oscar Santana, and Robb Spewak (right) talked today about the last days of "the old station," as O'Meara called it, "guy talk" WJFK. O'Meara started his daily podcast in early December, after waiting out the end of his contract with CBS Radio, which owns WJFK. "My friend Donnie Simpson (is) apparently going through the same thing right now," O'Meara added. DCRTV broke the news last week that CBS is negotiating to buy out the contract of the highly-paid morning man at urban WPGC..... 1/19 - DCRTV hears that Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra has hired a new engineer - Ed Cole, who used to work at Clear Channel. RZ owns ESPN 980, Spanish sportser WXTR, biz talker WWRC, and political talker WTNT..... 1/19 - DCRTV hears more rumblings of "complete and utter chaos" at the Washington Times, including the possibility of more cuts this month. "Just eight weeks under new management and they are terrified that they and the paper will not survive and are now trying to do anything to deflect attention from what appears to be a sinking ship," a source tells DCRTV. As DCRTV told you, there's a flurry of lawsuits between the paper's ownership and some of its now-former management. With arrival of 2010, the Times dumped most of its local coverage, including sports, in order to focus on national and political news on weekdays, with no Sunday edition. There are also rumblings that the paper may sell its New York Avenue headquarters building and relocate to much smaller space in the suburbs..... 1/17 - What a "fun" weekend. I've been treated to at least a half dozen e-mails from Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi, who's basically calling me a liar - again and again. So, what started all this? Well, on Friday evening, Farhi wrote a short piece that got posted on the Post's website reporting that WPGC's Donnie Simpson is involved in negotiations with his employer, CBS Radio, to buy out his contract and end his association with the urban station. I, and several others, noticed that the piece did not credit DCRTV for reporting the same news three days earlier, on Tuesday. On Friday evening, I e-mailed Farhi requesting credit, and, within minutes via return e-mail, he assurred me that it would be coming in the final, longer version of the story that was to be posted on the Post's website early Saturday and in the Saturday print edition. Well, that led me to assume that Farhi saw my deserving request and was simply fulfilling it. Not so, Farhi has insisted in his many e-mailings to me on Saturday and Sunday. I got it oh so wrong. He claims that he was planning to credit DCRTV all along, in the final version of the story, even before he received my Friday request, despite the fact that the credit was not featured in the first edition of the story. Still, Saturday is the first time I can remember Farhi giving DCRTV print credit for being first with a story, despite the fact that DCRTV's been here for more than a decade and has featured many hundreds of "scoops" during those years..... 1/16 - On Tuesday, 1/12, DCRTV exclusively reported rumors that longtime WPGC morning man Donnie Simpson (left) has begun negotiations to terminate his contract with ratings slumping urban outlet WPGC, a move that could bring Simpson's 32-year career on Washington's airwaves to an end. On Friday, the washingtonpost.com also reports the news - three days later. Simpson has more than a year left on his current two-year contract with the CBS-owned station but appears likely to leave before March 11, the anniversary of his hiring by WPGC, according to the Post. DCRTV has reported that WPGC afternoon man Big Tigger would likely be moved to mornings, replacing Simpson. DCRTV also broke the news that WPGC Program Director Robert Scorpio was replaced last week by Michael Saunders, as well as the resignation last summer of Simpson's sidekick Chris Paul after 16 years on the program - which the Post reported in its latest piece..... 1/16 - Holy cow. In today's Washington Post print Sports section, page D2, Saturday's two NFL playoff games are listed as being carried on "WHFS" 94.7 FM. We knew that CBS recently flipped the calls of Fresh-FM from WTGB, but we thought that they were now WIAD. Hey, maybe the Post knows something we don't know. Last we checked, those legendary progressive rock calls are still wasting away on righty talker 1580 AM. Did a CBS Radio source meet with Paul Farhi in a dark parking lot somewhere to tell him some other secrets, besides those involving Donnie Simpson at WPGC? Might we wake up some morning soon with the glorious HFS back on the regular DC radio dial, not just a ghostly digital automated echo on 94.7's HD2? If it's in the Post it MUST be right, huh?..... 1/15 - Dave Wellington, program director of DC alternative rocker DC101, WWDC, will also be program director at classic hits Jack-FM, WQSR 102.7 FM, in Baltimore. Both stations are owned by Clear Channel. DCRTV wonders: What's there to program at QSR? The station is pretty much jockless..... 1/14 - Some news from Citadel's DC radio HQ. First, we hear that 105.9 The Edge, turgid classic rock WVRX, will soon announce a morning personality. The station did fill its afternoon slot with local rock radio veteran Kirk McEwen back in November. And, we also hear that some of the contest winners at hot adult contemporary WRQX, Mix 107.3, are reporting that their checks have bounced. Citadel has announced that it's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More soon..... 1/13 - Former WJFKer Mike O'Meara (right) tells DCRTV that his new one-month-old internet radio show is going gangbusters. "I'm very happy with the numbers from the podcast," which is done from O'Meara's Manassas home and is available weekdays at mikeomearashow.com. "We have had interest from former (WJFK show) affilliates and we are in talks with some of them right now to pick up the show," says O'Meara, whose WJFK show got yanked last summer when the station flipped to sports talk. He had to sit out his CBS Radio contract until December 1st. So far, only one radio station is carrying the new one-hour show, KCJJ in Iowa City, Iowa. O'Meara adds: "My new venture is in its early stages, but I can't believe how much fun doing the podcasts is, and I can see this being something my listeners and I can enjoy for a long time." He says his new website has sported more than quarter-of-a-million unique visitors in the first month, with almost half-a-million podcast downloads. A Facebook podcast app is up, with an iPhone app coming soon. Oh, regarding rumors of tension between him and other top local radio personalities, O'Meara says: "I have a very good relationship with Jack Diamond, and communicate with him regularly. I also have spoken with Don (Geronimo) recently and we both enthusiastically follow each others' careers"..... 1/12 - DCRTV hears rumblings that longtime DC morning radio legend Donnie Simpson (left) could be in the process of being eased out at troubled urban contemporary WPGC. As DCRTV told you last week, CBS Radio brought in a new DC radio cluster operations manager, urban radio veteran Michael Saunders from Orlando, who'll be programming DC's 95.5, attempting to get it back on track after a year-long ratings slump. Now, we're hearing that big changes could be taking place at PGC soon, particularly in the morning slot, including the "retirement" of Simpson, via a buyout of his contract. Talks are taking place now, during Simpson's vacation, we hear. One source tells DCRTV that PGC afternoon man Big Tigger (right) would be moved to mornings. There's also a CBS corporate move to "share" with PGC some of its on-air and programming talent from the company's urban stations in Atlanta, Orlando, and Charlotte, we're told. A local radio guru tells DCRTV: "Donnie Simpson - really good guy, really huge salary. In the PPM world, very few music station jocks can justify the huge bucks that used to be fairly common... The two big ratings stars on DC urban stations are both syndicated - Steve Harvey (on WHUR) and Tom Joyner (on WMMJ)"..... 1/12 - DCRTV hears that Washington Times is auditioning another female to replace Melanie Morgan on its "America's Morning News" radio show, heard locally on WTNT (570 AM). She's Amy Holmes, a conservative commentator who's appeared on Fox News and CNN. Last week, as DCRTV exclusively told you, Times congressional reporter Kara Rowland was being auditioned to pair with John McCaslin, the show's surviving male host. Also, we're told that it appears that the Times' "acting" president and publisher, John Slevin, has appointed himself "permanent" president and publisher. Recent Times statements and other media articles have not used the "acting" title and no one has corrected the omission. And, yet more news. We hear that several of the Times' "higher profile writers are in late stage negotiations with a cross-town rival" and could be leaving this month. Hello Washington Examiner? Stay tuned..... 1/12 - WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Dave McConnell (right) celebrates 45 years at the DC all-news radioer this month, and has no plans to retire anytime soon. McConnell began his career at WTOP in 1965 when it had a full-service news, talk, and music format station. He replaced the legendary Arthur Godfrey when WTOP began a news and talk show in morning drive in 1967. McConnell was the first news anchor on the air in the morning when WTOP switched to all-news in March 1969. He often covered Congress and, in 1981, became WTOP's fulltime Capitol Hill correspondent - the position he still holds today. WTOP Vice President/News And Programming Jim Farley says, "Whenever I have gone to the Hill with Dave, senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle make a point of telling me that Dave is incredibly fair and balanced in his reporting." As far as his plans to retire, McConnell says, "As long as I have a seat covering the greatest show on earth, and can witness history being made, I'm going to keep on reporting. I get to cover statesmen, scalawags, gentlemen - and gentlewomen - and scoundrels, issues, drama, and histrionics." Adds Joel Oxley, who heads WTOP-owner Bonneville's DC radio cluster: "Dave is an institution in this town. From Howard Baker to Harry Reid, Dave has reported on it all and explained to listeners throughout Virginia, Maryland, and DC just how what they do up there affects all of us down here. And above all, Dave is a true gentleman. He is a treasured resource here at WTOP"..... 1/11 - DCRTV hears that local radio veteran Ken Merson (right) will officially join the parttime airstaff of CBS Radio's hot adult contemporary Fresh 94.7, WIAD, starting Monday 1/18, when he'll be filling in for afternooner Nikki Landry. Merson had been doing fill-in work for the station during the holidays..... 1/11 - It's baaack. The Frederick area's WDMV (700 AM) has returned to the airwaves, playing a mix of classic oldies. The daytime-only station, owned by Michigan-based Birach Broadcasting, left the airwaves in early 2009. It had been running brokered and ethnic talk, and a right-leaning talk format before that with the WGOP calls. Tom Taylor, of Radio-Info.com, reminds us of this filing Birach made with the FCC last year: "Due to a dispute with local management and in order to retain its required control of station WDMV, Birach Broadcasting Corporation was forced to take this station off the air on February 6, 2009. Birach Broadcasting Corporation is attempting to resolve the management problem and will restore the station to the air as soon as possible"..... 1/8 - Yesterday, a source told DCRTV: The firings by Redskins owner Dan Snyder continue beyond the football team. Word out of Snyder's Red Zebra, which owns ESPN 980, WTEM, is that Allison Butler, promotions/marketing director, and Frank Hanrahan, Redskins reporter, were both given the boot. "Cost cutting measures" supposedly. Although there's plenty of other fat to trim, why these two lowish salaries were picked is a mystery, someone wonders. More: Today, we get confirmation from Hanrahan that he is indeed out. "It came totally out of the blue and needless to say it was extremely disapointing. At least now for a little bit I can spend more time with my 11-month-old son"..... 1/8 - DCRTV hears that Washington Times Congressional reporter Kara Rowland (left) is being auditioned today for her newspaper's radio show. As a potential co-host for "America's Morning News," heard locally on WTNT (570 AM). DCRTV has reported that Melanie Morgan, suffering from a health issue, left the Talk Radio Network-syndicated show on Monday, leaving John McCaslin to temporarily go it alone. Rowland is "young, pretty, and is in for Round 1" of the auditions, we're told. Look for an announcement for a new co-host next week..... 1/8 - A source tells DCRTV: More budget cuts for Fox-owned Channel 5/WTTG. Including Mary Talley, regional vice president of human resources. She was with WTTG since the early 1990s. Her position was eliminated, we hear..... 1/7 - So, it looks like CBS Radio is committed to keeping an urban contemporary format on WPGC with the announcement today that Michael Saunders, who's programmed urban stations in other markets, will replace Robert Scorpio as the programmer of the DC heritage outlet. Still, CBS will have to make some big changes to the one-time top five ratings performer, which has now sunk to the upper teens among local radioers. Of all major corporate radio owners in DC, CBS is probably in the most trouble as 2010 starts. Clear Channel's five FMers frequently populate the top 10, Bonneville's powerhouse WTOP out-revenues everything in the market. Even bankrupt Citadel peforms well with WMAL and WRQX. But CBS, frequently, has none of its four major FMers in the top 10 here. All of its stations underperform. WPGC sounds tired and worn. WLZL is on the wrong signal for its Hispanic audience. WJFK still has problems in middays and afternoons. Woefully automated WIAD is pretty much stuck in the mud in its quest for females up against WRQX and WASH. And the heritage gem of alt rock WHFS just sits there unused, waiting to sparkle again. If CBS Radio honcho Dan Mason is pretty much signaling that it's pretty much "formats-as-usual" on his four DC FMers with Saunders' appointment, it's gonna be a long, tough slog for the firm in this market in the new year. Perhaps Mason should have sent market manager Sam Rogers packing along with PGC programmer Scorpio. Pathetic CBS doesn't need a Band-Aid here in DC, it needs major surgery to fix its cluster. Like his DC stations, Mason proved today with his move that he's also an underperformer..... 1/6 - DCRTV is getting confirmation that the reason Melanie Morgan resigned from "America's Morning News," the Washington Times' radio show, is due to a serious health issue she is facing. There had been some talk that she was forced out because she didn't fit the format of the show, but those rumors are being discounted. Morgan is married to Jack Swanson, the program director at Citadel's San Francisco news talk KGO-AM. However, the rumblings about Morgan's poor interaction on the show won't die. A source tells us: "The chemistry was awful and it was apparent to everyone involved. Tensions were beginning to show. (Morgan) gave proper notice that she was leaving the show in mid-January. She showed up for work on Monday and was told to leave. A person who is newly associated with the show asked her to go home." More in DCRTV's 1/5 and 1/4 newsblurbs..... 1/5 - DCRTV hears that Ben Gossling, formerly of the now-defunct sports department at the Washington Times, is joining the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network fulltime, where he'll do on-air Washington Nationals baseball coverage and blog via its website. He was the TWT's Nationals beat writer and had been doing occasional work with MASN in past seasons..... 1/5 - More on the news that DCRTV broke yesterday that Melanie Morgan has resigned as co-host of the Washington Times' radio show, "America's Morning News," for alleged personal reasons. DCRTV now hears that all promos for the nationally syndicated show, heard locally on WTNT (570 AM), have been recut to mention only John McCaslin. We're also told that the Washington Times' acting president, Jonathan Slevin, is consulting with newspaper owner Reverend Moon's son, Preston Moon, on what direction they should take with the show. "We should see some new direction by February 1," we hear. Show syndicator Talk Radio Network has told DCRTV that it will continue producing and distributing the show even if the troubled Washington Times pulls out of the venture. DCRTV has reported that TRN may be shopping around future partnership for show, which is now produced at the Washington Times New York Avenue HQ, to other political news organizations, a la DC's Politico. More: DCRTV hears that several female guest hosts will sit-in with McCaslin, to see if there is "better chemistry than what was lacking between him and Melanie," we're told..... 1/5 - DCRTV hears that nationally syndicated DC-based righty talker Laura Ingraham is gone from Baltimore news talker WBAL (1090 AM) during late evenings. The Hearst station is running local sports talk from 6 PM to 9 PM, and a new replay of Clarence M. Mitchell IV's afternoon show from 9 PM to midnight. Might Ingraham be moving to WBAL talk rival WCBM (680 AM)? Stay tuned..... 1/5 - DCRTV hears about some news changes at Baltimore's Channel 13/WJZ. Mary Bubala will now anchor the 4 PM and 5 PM newscasts for the CBS station. Jessica Kartalija will anchor the noon broadcast. And Gigi Barnett will anchor weekend mornings. All three will continue to do reporting duties on a daily basis for 13, as well..... 1/3 - My local radio "wish list" for 2010: The Washington area gets a full-fledged, fully-staffed alternative-based adult rocker on a regular frequency. Preferabily a resurrection of WHFS as it was pre-2000. CBS could do this on 94.7 or 99.1. Or Citadel could to it with a revamp of new classic rocker 105.9 The Edge..... Both DC and Baltimore's dominant political talk stations, WMAL and WBAL-AM respectively, get FM coverage. WMAL possibly via 105.9 and WBAL via the Hearst purchase of one of the for-sale CBS FMers. These stations need to be on FM to remain competitive. Having two frequencies would allow WBAL to put all-news on one while having a news talk format on the other..... Dan Snyder's Red Zebra needs an inside-the-Beltway FMers for his ESPN 980, WTEM, and Salem's 105.1 would be the best bet. Let's hope that Snyder and Salem can do a deal that would allow all three of WTEM's current frequencies, including 980 AM, go to Salem, and maybe 570 and 1260, too..... Look, I love C-SPAN as much as the next "wonk," according to the DC radio ratings, WCSP 90.1 gets no measurable audience. We get C-SPAN's three video channels and one audio channel just fine on our cable TV systems and via the internet, we really don't need it on DC broadcast radio, too. How about C-SPAN sells the signal to WETA, which can either program public talk or, better yet, a "World/alternative" format on it, a la Philadelphia's WXPN..... Federal News Radio is cool, but does it really need to be on a 50,000-watt signal that reaches from Maine to Florida at night? Bonneville should keep WFED on a mix of internet and FM HD Radio channels, plus 820 AM locally, but take 1500 AM and do something "new" with it. How about a big band/standards format or real rock and soul oldies, or classic country..... WPGC has had a good run as a contemporary hit and an urban outlet. Now, it's sagging in the ratings and due for a major revamp. CBS needs to turn it into urban hit oriented Amp 95.5 and go head-to-head with Clear Channel's top-rated Hot 99.5. CBS needs to get one of its four major DC area FMers back into DC's top 10 stations on a regular basis, and this change would probably do that..... Frederick's country WFRE, 99.9, is one of those stations that Clear Channel has put in its "Aloha Trust" and will probably be spun off someday soon. The station puts such a good signal into the DC area, that it could be marketed as a full-market signal, not just a regional Frederick one. As a DC signal, it could feature a format currently missing in the DC area, a la smooth jazz, real jazz, adult alternative, real oldies, or classic country..... Likewise, Winchester's WINC-FM, 92.5, covers all of Northern Virginia great, including the DC suburbs. How about a "Northern Virginia Talk" format on the signal, with some of the former guy talkers from WJFK like Mike O'Meara. A re-oriented signal aimed at Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties would certainly have a bigger ad base than that of tiny little Winchester..... 1/1 - Another great year for DCRTV, the best source of DC and Baltimore media news and gossip. Our financial goal for 2009 was 20 percent higher than 2008, and we reached it in December, despite the recession and all the competition! Thanks to the generous donations from our wonderful visitors and contributors, and our fantastic advertisers. Our biggest traffic day of the year? That August day when we reported that WAMU's Diane Rehm fell and broke her pelvis. No, not the WJFK flip to sports talk. This year, we'll be working to expand our memory-packed DCRTV Plus section, including lots more audio and video features, and flesh out our NYC and Boston news pages. Plus an expanded classified ads section aimed at the job market. And maybe even a podcast and, finally, a big party for all our amazing DCRTVers. As I always say, even after 12+ years, I still love doing this website each and every day. And I treasure all the friendships I've made! You guys and gals are magnificent! Onward and upward for 2010. Fasten your seatbelts..... Rants July To December 2009 Rants January To June 2009 Rants July To December 2008 Rants January To June 2008 Rants 2007 Rants 2006 Rants 2005 Rants 2004 All original material on this website is copyright by Dave Hughes/DCRTV.