Contents - Front Page - Mailbag - Recent Rants - News - Daveland - Support DCRTV By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com Rants from July to December 2010..... 12/30 - DCRTV hears that Orioles management is still seriously pondering a jump from flagship 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM, to WBAL-AM, 1090. This fall, most media sources in Baltimore had said that the team would be crazy to leave the CBS-owned FM sports talker to go to the Hearst AM news talker, which also carries the Ravens. But our sources now insist that WBAL is still really "in play" to land the baseball team come the 2011 season. Team owner "Peter Angelos just likes WBAL better," we're told. Stay tuned..... 12/30 - As the year ends, here comes DCRTV's list of "10 Bummers About DC Media": 10) The forced "retirement" of DC radio legend Donnie Simpson at WPGC. This man "is" DC radio and belongs back on the radio dial real soon. Are you listening WHUR?... 9) Redskins owner Dan Snyder spending too much time on his floundering Red Zebra radio arm, including ESPN 980, while his team continues to stumble and fumble... 8) The continued dumbing-down and over-commercialization of Silver Spring's Discovery Communications networks, plus the firm's questionable deals with Sarah Palin and Oprah Winfrey... 7) The FCC's blessing of the Comcast-NBC merger and the continued movement toward giving too much American media influence to giant, ever-larger companies. Obama's "hope and change" is the same old stuff... 6) The complete downfall of the pompous righty Washington Times, largely due to the success of the Washington Examiner, that scappy little freebie righty tab... 5) CBS Radio DC's failure, in many weeks of 2010, to have a single one of its four major DC area FMers in the DC radio "top 10," with new sports talker WJFK still desperately needing tweaks in middays and afternoons... 4) That bowtie must be cutting off the oxygen to the brain of Tucker Carlson, who said a bunch of stupid things this year and whose Daily Caller website is a complete waste of bandwidth... 3) Allbritton's trashing of its WJLA and NewsChannel 8 web brands to mis-launch the stupidly-named TBD.com... 2) More bumbling at Citadel talker WMAL, including the humiliating departure of Andy Parks and the continued lack of a local afternoon drive show... 1) The sad decline of the Washington Post, with great writers like Howard Kurtz and Michael Wilbon saying adios, an increasingly inept Style section, and embarrassing waves of stupid and silly "editing" errors..... 12/29 - As the year ends, here comes DCRTV's list of "10 Great Things About DC Radio": 10) DC101 is actually sounding pretty good these days. Lots of cool alt rock bands like Muse and MGMT... 9) Hit heavy Hot 99.5 is also actually sounding pretty good these days... 8) WTOP. What else can we say. Great news station. Always there when you need it... 7) WAMU's more in-depth news and really fair and balanced talk, like Kojo's show, that blanket covers the local region's issues... 6) 105.9 The Edge's talent - like Kirk McEwen, Mike O'Meara, and Cerphe Colwell. Shame the shallow moldy rocker's playlist sucks so bad... 5) Tony Kornheiser. An old fuddy-duddy, but damn fun to listen to on ESPN 980. As well as his radio crew, which props him up so well... 4) WHUR - What Washington really sounds like... 3) Classical WETA-FM: Calming road rage from Leesburg to Annapolis... 2) WJFK's Junkies raging on CBS Radio's idiotic management. Brilliant radio... 1) The resurrection of alt rocker WHFS on 94.7's HD2. Magnificent memories. Love ya' Neci!..... 12/28 - For the third straight season, Baltimore's Fox 1370 Sports will be broadcasting select Washington Capitals games. In 2011, 10 professional hockey games will air on WCBM's sister sports talker, WVIE, beginning with the nationally televised "Winter Classic" on Saturday, 1/1. Station General Manager Bob Pettit said: "We're excited to once again bring the NHL and the Caps to the Baltimore market." The Fox 1370 games include: 1/18 at Philadelphia, 2/8 with San Jose, 2/12 with Los Angeles, 2/21 at Pittsburgh, 3/1 with the New York Islanders, 3/3 with St Louis, 3/11 with Carolina, 3/16 at Detriot, and 3/22 at Philadelphia. And any possible playoff games. The Caps' flagship is DC's WFED, 1500/820 AM..... 12/27 - Earlier this month, DCRTV told you that Fred Grandy (right), morning man at Citadel news talker WMAL (630 AM), is "at odds with management over creative concepts and style." And, our source tells us, that "Fred badly wants out." Now, we're hearing that Grandy has set May 1, 2011 as his deadline for leaving WMAL. As we reported earlier, we're hearing that there's some talk that Grandy wants to move back to his native Iowa and run for the governor's office. Prior to his radio career, Grandy had been a Republican congressman from that state after his many years as an actor in Hollywood. DCRTV adds: WMAL shouldn't have a hard time replacing Grandy, with former Fox Newsers Major Garrett and Brian Wilson frequent guest hosts on the station's "Grandy Group" morning show..... 12/24 - Speaking of WTOP, we're getting listener reports about a batch of "new voices" on the Bonneville all-newser Friday doing the station's hourly "Santa Updates." Could they be some of the station's new traffic reporters, which will be heard in early 2011, when the station's contract with Metro Networks expires? DCRTV has known the identity of the new WTOP traffic reporters for some time. Bonneville pleaded with us not to report them until they actually go on air doing traffic reports February 1st, out of respect for the Metro Traffic reporters still doing WTOP's traffic on the 8s. But we hear that the full-time traffic reporters include Jack Taylor, Reada Kessler, Chris Roth, and Bob Immler - in addition to WTOP's 30-year veteran traffic reporter Bob Marbourg. Part-timers include Mike Burke, Randy Martin, Mary dePompa, Amy Freedman, James Hoeflinger, Sara Holcomb, and Graham Whaples. Most of them worked for WTOP Traffic And Transit Director Jim Battagliese either at XM Satellite Radio or Shadow Traffic. We hear others may be hired. A Bonneville source took great pains to stress that Metro still does "an excellent and thoroughly professional" job reporting traffic on WTOP, and the reason for WTOP taking traffic in-house was based on sales opportunities, not any unhappiness with the service from Metro..... 12/24 - Former Channel 9/WUSA weatherman Devon Lucie is being heard today doing weather reports on WTOP, provided by ABC7, WJLA..... 12/21 - DCRTV hears that Shari Gonzalez has been promoted to director of ad sales for CBS Radio's DC cluster. She will retain her general sales manager duties with WPGC. She will be filling the shoes of CBS-DC sales veteran Jeff Hedges, who, as DCRTV has told you, is being moved to a corporate sales management position in NYC. Besides WPGC, CBS owns WJFK, WLZL, WIAD, and WHFS-AM..... 12/21 - DCRTV hears that when Towson University takes on La Salle in basketball on December 29th it will be Spiro Morekas' 1,000th broadcast of the school's athletics. The game will be broadcast on WTMD (89.7 FM). Could Morekas have done more college play-by-play than anyone in the history of Baltimore radio? Ted Patterson was at Navy for about 15 years. Morekas is now in his 20th season at Towson..... 12/20 - After 30 years with Howard Stern, Robin Quivers renews for another five - but that's it. Quivers had been an Air Force nurse before she got the radio bug and was partnered with Stern at DC rocker DC101 in 1981. Following Stern's own suspenseful renewal at Sirius XM, Quivers, who was born in Pikesville and went to the University Of Maryland, says she'll also stay through December 2015, as will writer and cast member Fred Norris..... 12/18 - In Saturday's edition, the Washington Post runs a lengthy "Editor's Note" correction regarding multiple errors in a story about an extension of a military service contract in Iraq. Several times, the Post maintains that "the article incorrectly reported..." What? Can an article do research and write? Nowhere in the correction is the article's author, Walter Pincus, mentioned. The article didn't make the errors, Pincus did. Blaming an "article" for errors is like blaming a vehicle, not the driver, for a hit-and-run. It's time that the Post changed its policy and made note of the reporter who made the error when running a formal correction..... 12/17 - With FCC approval of the NBC-Comcast merger said to be just weeks away, San Francisco media blogger Rich Lieberman reports that NBC-owned KNTV-TV in the San Francisco/San Jose area will outsource its local sports programming to Comcast Bay Area SportsNet. DCRTV wonders if NBC's owned DC TVer, Channel 4/WRC, will eventually do a like sports outsource or sharing deal with Bethesda-based Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Stay tuned..... 12/17 - Some local cable TV changes and additions. DCRTV hears that Cox in Fairfax County will be carrying the new Oprah Winfrey Network, OWN, on channel 99 come early January. The new Discovery Communications network will replace the Discovery Health Channel and will be available on other area cable systems as well. Cox will also carry the new classic TV show network Antenna TV on channel 809 starting January 7. It'll be broadcast on a digital subchannel of Channel 50/WDCW. Expect other area cable systems to carry it, too. Also, Comcast is rolling out the Smithsonian Channel on channel 194 of its area systems. And, Comcast is adding Channel 25/WZDC's HD signal, a Telemundo network affiliate, to channel 796. Plus, Comcast is making CBS College Sports, channels 732 and 854, available to subscribers of its "digital preferred" tier, in addition to its "sports entertainment package"..... 12/16 - Still more from Tom Taylor in his TRI radio biz newsletter. Speaking of Annapolis - Annapolis daytimer WBIS (1190) goes silent to help DC area sister WAGE (1200). New World Radio's WBIS has 10,000-watt daytime power at 1190, and taking it silent - and eventually surrendering the license - will help WAGE, Leesburg VA build out its new 50,000-watt daytime signal. The reason is that WAGE will be moving down from 1200 to WBIS' old frequency of 1190. WAGE, in wealthy Loudoun County west of Washington, is also silent. Its current facility is 5,000-watts days/1,000-watts nights. The new signal would be 50,000-watts days/1,300-watts nights. From the FCC filing regarding longtime Baltimore-focused WBIS biz newser, it appears that program testing for the new stronger WAGE may not be far off. NWR also owns DC ethnic outlet WUST (1120)..... 12/14 - First here. DCRTV hears that fashion writer Robin Givhan and art writer Blake Gopnik are leaving the Washington Post. More soon..... 12/14 - DCRTV hears that Kristie McIntyre will join CBS Radio's chick rockish WIAD, 94.7 Fresh FM, as midday personality. Her career has included stops at the B102 and WQSR in Baltimore and at WPLJ in NYC. Most recently, she's been doing parttime work at Mix 107.3, WRQX, while devoting time to her voice-over business. She starts at 94.7 on 1/3..... 12/14 - DCRTV hears that the Metro Networks sports reporters heard on WTOP have became full-fledged WTOP employees as of December. DCRTV has already told you that, come mid-January, the Bonneville all-newser is ending its contract with Metro, and taking its sports and traffic reporting duties in-house. WTOP will still be using Metro's traffic reporters, including Lisa Baden, until its contract ends in January. However, they will not become WTOP employees. WTOP will unveil its new sports and traffic departments, including the names of its sports reporters (duh, you're hearing them on the air right now) and traffic reporters, later in January..... 12/13 - "If you crash and burn at a variety of careers, there's always radio." That's a quote from WMAL morning man Fred Grandy - a former actor and congressman - discussing the probable resignation today of GOP head Michael Steele with Daily Caller czar Tucker Carlson..... 12/13 - DCRTV hears that DC radio veteran Chuck Carroll (right) is getting back into the radio game as a talent on the Sports Journey Broadcast Network. The network, founded in 2005 by former ESPN radio personality Lake Lewis, provides 24-hour sports talk radio broadcasts with award-winning radio hosts and professional NBA and NFL players. Carroll, along with Lewis, co-hosts the network's three Washington Redskins player shows, which are broadcast live from area sports bars. Redskins players Phillip Daniels, Anthony Armstrong, and Brandon Banks each have their own broadcast. In addition, he will host "Football News Now With Chuck Carroll" which airs weeknights on the network. The shows are streamed live on SportsJourney.com. Program directors interested in carrying the network's content can email ceo@sportsjourney.com. Carroll worked for Clear Channel DC for six years as producer of "After Hours With Glenn Hollis" on WASH, producer of Jon Ballard on WBIG, and served as WBIG's online content director before founding FootballNewsNow.com and FNN Media..... 12/12 - DCRTV hears that freelance weather forecaster Devon Lucie is gone from Channel 9/WUSA, now that Anny Hong has joined the station's weather team (as DCRTV reported on 12/1). Hong will do weekend weather reports and weekday news reports for the Gannett CBS affiliate. When Lucie came to WUSA earlier this year, we're told that he was just a temporary fill-in for 9's weather staff, including Howard Bernstein, who was sidelined for several weeks after having back surgery..... 12/9 - Howard University's WHUR adds Doug Banks to the afternoon line-up on its HD Radio digital second channel, WHUR-World. Starting December 10th, Banks' nationally syndicated show can be heard on 96.3's HD2 from 3 PM to 7 PM and via whurworld.com. The addition of the Banks gives WHUR a major "leg up" in radio talent, says Jim Watkins, the adult urban contemporary station's general manager. WHUR's main signal is the DC radio home for Steve Harvey in mornings and Michael Baisden in afternoons..... 12/9 - DCRTV hears that Howard Stern (left) announced on his radio show at 6:40 AM today that he will remain with Sirius XM satellite radio under a new five-year deal. He stated that he was contacted by two terrestrial radio companies (Clear Channel?), however he said that he shut down those talks down immediately. Part of the new contract with Sirius XM will make his Howard 100 and 101 channels available via Smartphone apps. Stern left CBS Radio in 2005 for Sirius. Before that, he had been heard for many years on DC's 106.7 and Baltimore's 105.7 and 1300..... 12/9 - Updated from yesterday. DCRTV hears from an insider that there may be a big shake-up at troubled Citadel news talker WMAL. We hear that morning man Fred Grandy (right) "is at odds with management over creative concepts and style." More: "Fred badly wants out," we're told. "The place is a mess and Drew (Hayes) managing from Chicago is a disaster. It is a shame, but Citadel is a horrible company." Also, we're hearing that there's some talk that Grandy wants to move back to his native Iowa and run for the governor's office. Grandy had been a Republican congressman from that state after his many years as an actor in Hollywood. More as we hear it..... 12/8 - A source tells DCRTV that Capitol Hill veteran Fred Thompson is pulling the plug on his syndicated radio show as of January 21. More as we hear it..... 12/8 - From DCRTV's Twitter page: "WTEM mysteriously went off the air for about 5 min at 10:15 AM just when Tony K was slamming the Skins and Snyder. Hmmmm." Sports talker WTEM, ESPN 980, which is owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, lost the signal to all three of its transmitters this morning - 980 AM, 92.7 FM, and 94.3 FM. More: DCRTV hears that there was a Pepco power outage in Rockville this morning, but it didn't knock off the air any stations of Clear Channel, which is in the same Rockville Pike building as WTEM..... 12/7 - DCRTV has reported about some "friction" between Allbritton's Channel 7/WJLA and the new TBD.com, since the local news website was launched in late summer. Especially with TBD pretty much erasing the DC ABC station's web presence, which was at wjla.com. Now, Lost Remote picks out the "money quote" that former TBD General Manager Jim Brady, who recently quit (or was he pushed?), gave via an interview in the UK's Guardian about the "hardest thing" about his TBD gig: "Well, it was probably getting the Channel 7 folks to understand and support what it is TBD was doing on the web, and to be truthful, I don't know that we ever did while I was there... Frankly, it's a battle I'm not interested in fighting anymore. I want to be somewhere where everyone is pulling the same direction, a direction set clearly and uncompromisingly by senior management. That wasn't the case with TBD and Channel 7." Two years ago, Brady left his post as editor of WashingtonPost.com in part because he said he didn't want to play a role in the full integration of the print and online newsroom, Lost Remote adds..... 12/6 - DCRTV hears that some big ad sales management changes are coming to CBS's DC radio cluster, with the arrival of the new year. Our sources tell us that, come January, Jeff Hedges will be leaving his day-to-day ad sales duties for sports talker WJFK and his senior VP of sales duties for other stations in the cluster. He's being "appointed" to the position of VP of sales for CBS Radio in NYC - ending his local day-to-day oversights as director of sales for CBS Radio's DC cluster, we're told. That includes WIAD, WLZL, WPGC, and WHFS-AM, along with WJFK..... 12/5 - Twenty eight people spread themselves across the Mazza Gallerie theater in Friendship Heights Thursday night to watch Fox News personality Glenn Beck's movie theater simulcast kicking off the release of his new book, "Broke: The Plan To Restore Our Trust, Truth, And Treasure." The Politico has more..... 12/4 - DCRTV hears that DC radio veteran Chris Roth has bid farewell to his gigs at Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra radio arm. A budget cut, we're told. Roth was kind of a "jack of all trades" during his years at the Zebra, everything from defacto engineer overseeing the half dozen local transmitter sites, including sports talker WTEM's three, to defacto programmer for the Zebra's then-owned talker WTNT. He even put together a cool oldies format for WXTR just before Snyder sold the station. Heck, he probably also did landscaping at Snyder's Potomac mansion. No word on Roth's plans..... 12/4 - Whatever happened to the woman who hammered Comcast? Remember back in 2007 when Mona Shaw (right), a Prince William County resident, took a hammer to a computer monitor, keyboard, and telephone at the firm's Manassas cable TV office after getting poor service. She received a lot of media coverage, including an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show. Well, according to the Washington Post, she's doing just fine and still uses Comcast's internet service. "To tell you the truth, I have fewer problems with Comcast than I do with Verizon," she says..... 12/3 - Whoops! Channel 2/WMAR ran the picture Aaron Cahall, the editor of DaggerPress.com by mistake, claiming he's a member of the Harford County Sheriff's Department who was fired after facing multiple theft charges. WMAR News Director Kelly Groft apologized profusely for the error, Cahall says. "The story, in which my image appears three times, aired at 5 PM, 6 PM, and 11 PM, (Groft) said, and a version was on the web for about 12 hours. Fortunately for our pals at WMAR, I have a sense of humor. But what I also have is a pretty developed sense of journalism ethics"..... 12/3 - From DCRTV's Twitter and Facebook pages: "WMAL's Fred Grandy says his daughter doesn't like 'Glee' because it's 'too gay.' He and Mrs. Fred said: 'No more 'Glee' at our house'"..... 12/3 - A correction in Friday's Washington Post: "A November 30 Style article about Leslie Nielsen misstated the city in which the actor died. Nielsen died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, not Los Angeles." The correction did not mention that the piece was penned by longtime TV critic Tom Shales, who is rumored to be leaving the paper at the end of the year..... 12/2 - Channel 9/WUSA's Angie Goff gave birth to a baby girl this morning. Adora Kate Ellis arrived at 8:31. Pics at ohmygoff.tv..... 12/2 - Bethesda-based Comcast SportsNet will air Dan Patrick's national sports radio show - via an in-studio video feed - from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM weekdays starting December 6. Via Premiere's syndication arm, Patrick's program runs on more than 200 radio stations and numerous regional sports television networks. CSN's "SportsNet Central" will air immediately prior to Patrick's show, at 11 AM..... 12/1 - The Washington Post unveils a new weather page for its website that, "unlike previous versions of the Washington Post weather website and many weather websites elsewhere, ...will be curated each day by weather professionals rather than solely by a computer... The Capital Weather Gang is your website host"..... 12/1 - From Lost Remote: Allbritton's newly-launched local news TBD.com website, which is the online arm of Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8, will stop serving ads on partner blogs in its community network. "We have heard many enthusiastic accounts about how TBD links have boosted the traffic of network members," explained an e-mail to the partner publishers. "Unfortunately, the advertising aspect of the network has not taken off as effectively as the traffic and linking relationship." TBD has been serving ads on about 25 percent of the 200+ blogs in the community network, and the e-mail promised that TBD remains committed to the network model and is exploring "new approaches to sales in the network." The announcement comes a few weeks after the abrupt departure of TBD General Manager Jim Brady, who left after a disagreement in strategy with Allbritton brass..... 12/1 - DCRTV broke the news yesterday that former Channel 7/ WJLA anchor and reporter Doug McKelway is joining Fox News here in DC. Now, we hear that Peter Doocy, the 23-year-old son of Fox News "Fox And Friends" morning show anchor Steve Doocy, is also new to Fox's DC bureau. "Many DC staff see the new hires as yet another reflection of what gives Fox's straight news division a bad name. Cronyism, conservatism, and being a white male seem to be the main tickets to success or promotion," a source tells DCRTV. The senior Doocy was a features reporter for DC's Channel 4/WRC before joining Fox. The junior Doocy had been working in Fox's NYC bureau..... 12/1 - DCRTV hears that it's highly likely that the Orioles will return to CBS's 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM, for the 2011 season and beyond. There's been some talk that, with WJZ's contract up this year, the team could move to Hearst's WBAL-AM, 1090. But our sources tell us that probably won't happen. The main reason, we hear, is that BAL is the Ravens' flagship and that team's management doesn't want to "share" its station with its primary rival in the Baltimore sports media revenue pool. WBAL also airs the Ravens on sister WIYY-FM, 98 Rock..... 11/30 - A DCRTVer tells us that Eric "EB" Bickel, one of 106.7 The Fan's four morning Junkies, said today that Sirius XM has contacted them and is "interested" in them. Lately, the Junkies have expressed their on-air displeasure with CBS Radio, which owns their station, WJFK. Update: We're told that EB didn't mention Sirius XM by name, but it was clear from his words that he meant the satellite radio firm. More as we hear it..... 11/30 - Has former Charm City top cop Ed Norris, the morning man at CBS sports talker 105.7 The Fan, been talking to Hearst news talker WBAL? We hear that Norris's contract is up soon and there are rumblings that 105.7 would like to make its morning show more sports-centric by pairing co-host Steve Davis with someone else..... 11/30 - DC radio veteran Chris Core hits the Washington Examiner today with the print edition of his Core Values commentaries. Page 7 of Tuesday's edition. Core's commentaries will also appear in the Examiner's Sunday print edition. Core, who worked at talker WMAL for several decades, now does his commentaries and interview shows for all-news WTOP. More about Core at ChrisCoreTalks.com..... 11/29 - Steve "P90X" Czaban (right) signs a two-year contract extension with Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra radio arm. He will continue co-hosting with Andy Pollin the afternoon "Sports Reporters" on Red Zebra's WTEM, ESPN 980, and his new Sporting News Radio national morning show, which is heard on Red Zebra's WSPZ, Sportstalk 570..... 11/29 - DC and Baltimore area cable TV giant Comcast suffered a major internet outage affecting customers throughout the East Coast, and as far southwest as Texas, on Sunday evening. Here at the DCRTV HQ in Reston, which is served by Comcast, we lost internet connectivity at about 8 PM, with a restoration at least several hours later. When we attempted to call Comcast to report the problem, we repeatedly got a phone message that the line was jammed with other callers. Tech guru Rob Pegoraro at washingtonpost.com reports that Comcast was plagued by a major DNS fault - customers stayed connected to Comcast's service but they could not reach any websites. Internet service was restored to most Comcast customers in the 11 PM hour, reports baltimoresun.com. "Late (Sunday) evening, our engineers identified a server issue that was affecting only internet service in Greater Boston and DC/Beltway areas," a Comcast spokesperson posted, according to IEEE Spectrum. However, he could not say how many customers were affected, nor what the specific problem was with its servers..... 11/27 - Verizon's Fios announces that it'll be yanking Hagerstown NBC affiliate Channel 25/WHAG from its cable TV systems serving Washington's western suburbs - including Montgomery, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties. The station will go missing by the end of the year in those areas. WHAG is not carried by any other cable TV systems in the immediate DC metro. Verizon advises its subscribers in affected areas that they can continue to view NBC shows via NBC-owned Channel 4/WRC, the DC station which will soon be owned by Verizon rival Comcast after Comcast's merger with NBC is approved. WHAG, which is owned by Nexstar, will continue to be carried by most cable TV systems in the Hagerstown region, as well as on Dish Network in the DC area..... 11/26 - DCRTV hears that WTOP reporter Mark Segraves (right) will be working parttime for Channel 7/WJLA starting November 29, where he'll be a general assignment reporter on Mondays and Fridays. Segraves will continue his fulltime WTOP reporting work, including his "Ask The..." shows, as well as his weekend "NewsPlus" program for Channel 50/WDCW..... 11/26 - Some DCRTV local "Turkeys" for this Thanksgiving season! 105.9 The Edge: You've got a great morning show, Kirk and Mike, and a great afternoon man, Cerphe, now broaden and diversify the classic rock playlist and invite the listeners in. DC needs a great rock station. WMAL: Yeah, the ratings may be up (with the geriatric set), your local talkers still sound like they get their marching orders from the Heritage Foundation. And how about a live and local afternoon show? Comcast: How about some channel packages that target viewers' interests and give subscribers more of what they want - a la specific packages for news, movies, or even science documentary lovers! Many of your subscribers are tired of paying increasingly high prices for a huge bunch of networks that they don't watch or want. Allbritton: The launch of the TBD local news website wasn't a complete flop, but many mistakes were made. Including the name. Change it to "JLA Local" and restore the wjla.com branded website. And, the Washington Post: For showing an increasing amount of neglect for the print edition with a never-ending batch of silly "editing" errors, like running the wrong weather forecast or daily TV grid (like yesterday). Even with declining readership, that "dead tree edition" dough from subscribers and advertisers still pays the freight..... 11/25 - Yet another "editing" screw-up in the old Washington Post. Thursday's print edition of the Style section features the TV schedule grid for Friday..... 11/24 - Steve Kingston, whose Empire Broadcasting owns Annapolis adult alternative rocker WRNR-FM (103.1), forms Cortina Media with his wife, Patty Steele, and business partner Don Cavaleri. And the new firm buys WSJF-FM in St. Augustine Beach, Florida, for $500,000. The station features a Spanish tropical format. By the way, Steele is leaving her longtime NYC radio gig at WPLJ's morning show..... 11/24 - From the Redskins Insider column on page D7 of Wednesday's print edition of the Washington Post: "During his regularly scheduled appearance Tuesday on 'The Mike Wise Show' with Holden Kushner on WTEM (106.7 FM), Portis, who briefly returned to the lineup in the victory over Tennessee after missing five games, said he could play Sunday against the Vikings at FedEx Field if the swelling in his groin area decreases." The item was corrected - listing Wise's station as WJFK - on the posting via Post's website..... 11/23 - 'Tis the time of year for "conversations" with talent, including at Sirius XM, writes Tom Taylor in his Tuesday TRI radio biz newsletter. He adds: "The BBC's Chris Moyles has reportedly had conversations with Sirius XM (says the News Of The World). DC101, Washington's Elliot Segal, currently working without a contract, was spotted at Sirius XM over the weekend, says DCRTV.com. The biggest year-end mystery remains the whereabouts of Howard Stern on January 3, 2011. He and Sirius XM still haven’t announced a deal, though the broad outlines aren’t hard to imagine. Howard might work shorter hours and/or fewer days, and his pay package may not be structured like the exalted $100 million a year he signed for in October 2004. But with his last live show scheduled for Thursday, December 17, it's time for Stern and Sirius XM to start making choices. Does Sirius see either Moyles or Segal as a 'replacement' for Stern? No. As CBS found out, there is no one single replacement. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin did recently promise lots of fresh talent at the operation, no matter what. And with nearly $3 billion in revenue this year, he's got the dough to make it happen. Speaking of Stern, we should also be hearing something soon about Bubba The Love Sponge, featured on Howard 101." DCRTV reported Saturday that Segal was seen touring Sirius's NYC HQ over the weekend..... 11/23 - DCRTV hears Andy Parks will be back on the DC radio dial on Thanksgiving morning - but not via righty talker WMAL (630 AM), where he worked for several decades until being unceremoniously canned last spring. Last week, "America's Morning News" host John McCaslin announced that Parks and Jennifer Harper will be guest hosts on the former Washington Times morning radio show on Thursday. It airs locally on the newly re-launched righty talk WTNT (730 AM)..... 11/23 - Get ready for another CDLRS: Crazy DCRTV Local Radio Scenario. So what if Elliot Segal leaves Clear Channel rocker DC101 for Sirius-XM. Who'd replace him? How about the Junkies from CBS's sports talk WJFK? It seems fairly obvious from their on-air antics of late that the Junks aren't too happy working for CBS's DC radio czar Sam Rogers. They were on "in" with former CBS DC honcho Michael Hughes, who is cooling his heels at indie rocker WRNR in Annapolis, no longer with the firm. Lately the Junks have raged on CBS's management several times, including its decision not allowing then Maryland gubernatorial candidate and old buddy Bob Ehrlich to guest with them during the campaign. We also hear that they're not happy with CBS's plans to move JFK's studios from Fairfax to Lanham, which will occur next year. Heck, the drive to Clear Channel's Rockville studios would be a better commute for most of the four radio dudes. Currently, JFK does great ratings-wise in mornings with its target demo of young men, but it still ranks an anemic 20th or below among all listeners. Maybe Rogers (or maybe his replacement in 2011 - we can only hope) could be thinking that a new JFK morning team would be a good starting place to rebuild the station back into a "top 10" player like during its old "superstation" days when it carried Howard Stern, Don and Mike, and the Redskins. Hmmm..... 11/22 - A source tells DCRTV: "Ravens head coach John Harbaugh got into a public locker room confrontation with WNST's Drew Forrester after yesterday's game in Charlotte... Someone with me on the trip said security had to get involved but I didn't see that personally. But the person that just told me that did see it... All of us in the media party traveling back to Baltimore think it stems from an exchange the two had last week during Harbaugh's press conference in which Forrester challenged Harbaugh to explain the team's inept offense"..... 11/22 - DCRTV hears that former Clear Channel DC suit Jeff Kapugi is back in radio as a programmer, this time for CBS in St. Louis. He spent the past two years as a senior VP for Tribune Interactive in Chicago. While in DC, Kapugi programmed contemporary hit WIHT, Hot 99.5. In St. Louis, he'll be programming an adult contemporary outlet and a hot adult contemporary outlet..... 11/20 - A DCRTV source tells us that DC101 morning man Elliot Segal (right) was spied today at Sirius XM's NYC HQ. With Tim Sabean, who programs the Howard Stern channels on Sirius XM satellite radio. Also accompanying Segal - a few of the Howard 100 channel people. DCRTV wonders if Sirius XM might be thinking about using Segal as a morning replacement for Stern, who still has not signed a new contract. If no deal is penned, Stern's last Sirius XM show will be in mid-December. More as we hear it..... 11/20 - DCRTV hears that Dave Pugh, formerly head of Clear Channel's DC radio cluster, has received the ax as head of the firm's San Francisco radio cluster. You may remember that the previous head of CC's SF cluster first learned that she was being ousted from her gig by the DC-to-SF-bound Pugh by reading about it on DCRTV..... 11/18 - DCRTV told you a while back that Bonneville all-newser WTOP would be ending its contract for traffic reports and sports news with Metro Networks come mid-January. With WTOP expanding the traffic and sports departments at its Idaho Avenue "Glass Enclosed Nerve Center." Now, a source tells DCRTV that WTOP is engaged in a battle for sports reporters Craig Heist and George Wallace, who are currently Metro Networks employees. They will no longer be heard on WTOP once the contract ends - unless WTOP can hire them away. Update. A top WTOP source says: "There is no battle with Metro. They are being very professional." And, a source on the Metro side adds: "Both companies are working together to resolve the situation... It's a work in progress." Also, we're told that we'll know more about Heist's and Wallace's local radio fates by next week. Stay tuned..... 11/18 - Don Geronimo (right) was back on WJFK - for just today. The DC radio veteran reached out to current WJFK afternoon man Chad Dukes about his notorious Redskins rant from Tuesday, we're told. So, CBS Radio simulcasted both Dukes with Lavar Arrington via WJFK and Geronimo via KHTK at 5 PM. Geronimo currently does a midday show (3 PM to 7 PM ET) for Sacramento sports talker KHTK. He left his WJFK show with Mike O'Meara in 2008. The station dropped "guy talk" for sports talk a year later. Both stations are owned by CBS. In his chat with Dukes and Arrington today, Geronimo revealed that he did talk to Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra broadcasting arm (WTEM and WTNT) about returning to the DC market. But nothing materialized. After entertaining possible CBS Radio gigs at oldies and classic rock outlets in Detroit and Dallas, Geronimo says he decided to head to Sacramento's KHTK, one of the affiliates of his old "Don And Mike Show" on WJFK. "I used to be somebody," Geronimo jested at the end of his WJFK chat..... 11/17 - DCRTV hears that three DC FMers were silenced Wednesday morning by power problems probably due to the high winds hitting the region. WTOP 103.5, WPFW 89.3, and WAMU 88.5, all of which operate from a tower at American University in upper northwest DC, were knocked off the air this morning. We're told that WTOP came back on the air shortly thereafter via an auxiliary transmitter in Wheaton, at the transmitter site of its sister WFED, 1500 AM. WPFW, we're told, didn't come back on the air fully until after noon. WTOP has been cursed by the power gods of late, having its Idaho Avenue studio struck by a squirrel-in-a-transformer-induced blackout early Sunday..... 11/17 - The Washington Independent website says goodbye after three years. "But TWI was not just a journalistic experiment; it was also a financial one, and ultimately, the successes of the former couldn't sustain the strains of the latter," according to a farewell massage on the paper's website. "TWI has always relied on donations, primarily from foundations seeking to promote journalism in the public interest. Those donations began drying up long ago"..... 11/17 - Wow. Yesterday your friendly webmaster got interviewed by the Washington Post for a piece on a local TV news anchor due to run later this week. And, today FishbowlDC does a piece on today's high winds and pays me some "props" - saying that I "could scare small children in or out of a wind storm." Ha ha ha. Oh, in case you forgot, FishbowlDC readers voted me "most mysterious" media personality last year (right)..... 11/15 - Baltimore radio veterans Troy Johnson and Marc Clarke head to Howard University's WHUR (96.3 FM) to do "The Hang Suite" Saturdays at 9 PM. They call it "an interactive party with DJ Lonnie C mixing." Clarke and Johnson used to host mornings on Charm City's 92Q, WERQ. Since then, Johnson has had a gig on Baltimore talker 105.7, then WHFS, back before it flipped to sports talk. And Clarke did a morning TV show on Channel 24/WUTB..... 11/16 - From longtime Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales' washingtonpost.com Q&A today: "Berkeley, California: Just curious if you've ever watched 'Mythbusters'? As a math nerd, it's one of my favorite TV shows for me and my math nerd commrades"... "Tom Shales: No, and in fact the title is new to me. Is it on one of the niche basic cable channels - like maybe a Discovery spin-off channel?" He soon remarked: " It does sound familiar suddenly." The science show has been a mainstay of the Silver Spring-based Discovery Channel since 2003. Weeks ago, Discovery announced that President Obama will be a guest on a December episode of "Mythbusters"..... 11/16 - Yet another sorry Redskins season. Yeah, we'd all like to see Dan Snyder sell the team to someone who knows what he's doing. But, short of that unlikely possibility, it might now be the perfect time for Snyder to unload his local radio stations, which seem to be a major distraction to his running the team properly. OK, wait until the season ends in December - it's strongly unlikely that the Skins will continue playing in January, during the playoffs. Then sell the stations to Bonneville, which owns all-news WTOP. As part of the deal, the Redskins could move to the powerful WTOP for the next five years. Can you imagine what a money-maker WTOP will be! It's already far-and-away the market's radio ad revenue leader, and now with the Redskins? Wow! Bonneville could then take Snyder's signals - 570 and 980 AM, 92.7 and 94.3 FM - and try to salvage a sports talker or maybe launch a political talker to crush Citadel's evil WMAL. Even if we saw the demise of ESPN 980, we'd still have CBS's 106.7 The Fan, WJFK, in the local sports talk format. Yeah, it was a mistake for Snyder to get into the radio biz, now it's time to fix that. The Red Zebra must die..... 11/14 - A DCRTVer tells us: "A bit of weirdness at WTOP-FM this morning during the eight o'clock hour... There's a Pepco outage in their Idaho Avenue neighborhood and an announcement was made that a 'backup system has failed and if power isn't restored soon' they'll have to go off the air. Given Bonneville's penchant for having more backups than the toilets on an A340, I'm rather surprised. This illustrates the necessity of still having what other broadcasters consider an anachronism: engineers!" More: We hear from WTOP's Brian Oliger: "Pepco tells us the power outage that hit our neighborhood shortly before 8 this morning was caused by 'a very fat squirrel' that shorted a power distribution line. Our generator came on immediately as it is supposed to, but quickly overheated and shut down, leaving our studios and newsroom powered by only two 40KVA UPS systems. We had the staff power down all non-essential systems to conserve juice. Fortunately, Pepco had utility power restored in less than an hour, so other than a few systems like our traffic line not working, on the air we were mostly unaffected. It pays to have multiple back-ups, and this time it saved us. Great work by the cool-headed staff of WTOP and WFED in a difficult situation"..... 11/11 - Area cable TV giant Comcast runs an ad today on the front page of the Washington Post's sports section touting those Thursday NFL games starting tonight on NFL Network. The ad copy says: "Don't have Digital Preferred TV? Call..." Yeah, you can get NFL Network with Comcast's Digital Preferred package, but you can also get it with Comcast's less expensive Digital Starter package. Something that the ad doesn't say. By the way, tonight's Ravens game via NFL Network will also be carried free on Channel 11/WBAL..... 11/9 - DCRTV gets confirmation from WMAR News Director Kelly Groft about changes we earlier tipped you about. Jamie Costello is moving from mornings to nights at Baltimore's Channel 2. He's been on Sunday nights for a while but will move to the Sunday through Thursday spot in the coming weeks and will co-anchor the 11 PM news with Kelly Swoope. Also, as we told you, Charley Crowson has joined WMAR from a Little Rock TVer. He started Monday and will soon be joining the "Good Morning Maryland" team. He'll report with 2's "GMM" team next week and then hit the anchor desk with Megan Pringle on November 19th..... 11/9 - Former Orioles broadcaster Jon Miller is off ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball." He and Joe Morgan are done after a 21-year run. Miller might continue to handle play-by-play for ESPN, but it won't be in the Sunday night TV booth. Instead, he might call Sunday night baseball and postseason baseball on ESPN Radio..... 11/9 - The trade group American Cable Association claims that Comcast's proposed merger with NBC Universal could result in $2.4 billion in extra costs to consumers over nearly a decade. ACA represents small and medium-size cable service providers. With no conditions to the merger, the combined cable and media giant would be able to use its sheer size for "unrestrained pricing power." The commissioned report by former FCC economist William Rogerson said those costs would come from Comcast-NBCU potentially charging cable service rivals such as RCN, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision higher retransmission and other fees to carry NBCU content. The merger would also allow Comcast to charge higher fees to cable competitors who want its regional sports networks and other Comcast programming..... 11/9 - Lots of talk in DCRTV's 11/9 Mailbag about 106.7 The Fan, WJFK's Junkies (right) going on a rant against their employer, CBS Radio, this morning. A DCRTV tells us: "EB just went off on a rant, right now. WJFK signal dropped out again for five minutes. He's flaming on management for not caring. No engineer on duty..." More: "It's a surprise there is no podcast up of the Junkies last hour this morning with the rant? Don't want that sort of thing talked about I would suppose." And yet more: "The verbal abuse the Junkies gave CBS was quite entertaining this morning. It almost appeared as if they were looking for a reason to get released from their contracts or flat out be fired." More: That last hour podcast was later added to WJFK's website..... 11/9 - On Friday, TBD jettisoned its former Washington Post manager Jim Brady in what some suggest is the first step in a major makeover of the three-month old Allbritton local news site, which hasn't been such a success since its launch three months ago, replacing the site of sister WJLA. Well, somebody at TBD tipped off Betsy Rothstein at Mediabistro's FishbowlDC. Was it TBD top editor Erik Wemple, who has been the beneficiary of quite a few of Rothstein's puff pieces of late? Well, TBD oddly soon returned the favor and, in its story on Brady's departure, congratulated Fishbowl for scooping them on their own TBD news! Later on Friday, the Washington Post's somewhat mediocre media reporter Paul Farhi, who surfs the internet for story ideas and then doesn't credit the originating site, penned a web piece on the TBD cut that actually did credit Fishbowl for the scoop. Then, on Saturday, your trusty DCRTV webmaster posted a Mailbag response that Farhi's scoop credit to Fishbowl had gone missing from his print piece in Saturday's Post, and we also called for Wemple's firing - certainly something that won't generate any future potential TBD leaks from him. Well, Rothstein must have seen our Saturday comment on Monday, causing her to blow her stack, charging Farhi with outright theft of her site's "scoop." Farhi responded to Rothstein that the credit went missing because an editor at the Post questioned whether Fishbowl really did get the scoop. Come to think of it, DCRTV had the story up at about the same time Friday and maybe there was an honest doubt in the Post's editing department about who got it first. So, after Rothstein's rant on Monday, TBD's Wemple posted a few comments on Fishbowl also slamming Farhi for not properly crediting which site got it first. Wemple does spend a lot of time on Fishbowl. Maybe he's gunning for a job at Mediabistro when his TBD gig goes south..... 11/8 - DCRTV hears that Mix 107.3 evening man Tommy McFly is leaving the Citadel hot adult contemporary outlet. His last day at WRQX will be November 19. He's been there four years and hints that he has a new gig up his sleeve. Possibly something "Fresh" at CBS's chick rock 94.7, WIAD? More soon..... 11/8 - Tom Taylor, in his Monday TRI radio biz newsletter, looks at Saturday's induction ceremony for the Chicago-based National Radio Hall Of Fame. Cathy Hughes (right) broke glass ceilings and other barriers to create Radio One. She and her then-husband bought Washington's WOL 30 years ago and jokes that nobody told her how expensive it was to run a news/talk format. After the first month, a lot of her startup money was gone and the bankers said she needed to do something - so she saved on a morning show salary by taking to the airwaves herself. Radio One is the outgrowth of Cathy's desire to reflect the world of the District's African-American population. She became the first black woman to head up a publicly-traded company, and her son Alfred Liggins, now the CEO of Radio One, was gracious and funny while introducing "Miss H" to the black-tie crowd at the Radio Hall of Fame. Like others on Saturday night, Hughes talked about the family inside her company, and what that means to her. And, regarding the other local radio great inducted, Carl Kassel (right): He's is the autograph-signing "rock star" of public radio. To him, being the announcer for NPR's weekly news quiz "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" and being a roving ambassador to member stations isn't work. He didn't even think of his 30+ years as "Morning Edition" news anchor as "work" - though he confesses that he and presenter Bob Edwards would sit in Bob's office at 3 AM and ask what in the world they were doing. A joke at a Public Radio Program Directors conference got Carl the job on "Wait Wait" with Peter Sagal. Carl said he typically awoke at five minutes after 1am because "I like to sleep in." Producer Doug Berman, who also does "Car Talk," heard the audience reaction and pitched Carl on the announcer/scorekeeper job. Saturday night, it was nice to see Bob Edwards, now at Sirius XM, together with his former colleague Kassel one more time. And if you think the public radio folks are buttoned-down - the NPR table had the most fun after the induction ceremony, mugging for the snapshots..... 11/6 - I don't usually rerun Rants. But this one bears repeating since the big TBD shake-up of yesterday. It first ran on September 14th and makes you wonder if TBD owner Robert Allbritton isn't planning to do what he did with the Politico - create lots of original web content and pair it with a print product. The equation: TBD + City Paper (or a new local alt weekly) = success? No, it wouldn't have the Politico's ad "cash flow" from big defense contractors. But maybe Allbritton could manage to restore the unncessarily trashed WJLA.com web brand and build a possibly renamed TBD into something significant. Or maybe not. And now the rerun Rant: A reliable source tells DCRTV - "Overheard a high level conversation in the elevator over here in Rosslyn. City Paper is back on the block for sale. Chicago Sun-Times is the likely buyer. Allbritton was looking at it, but the price got too high, and now they will start their own weekly competitor. Maybe history repeating itself? Same thing happened when Allbritton tried to buy the Hill - 'price got too high,' so they started Politico instead." After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the Washington City Paper's parent company, Creative Loafing, last year got gobbled up by a big NYC hedge fund, which has apparently decided to put the freebie weekly tabloid on the market. Besides Politico, Allbritton also owns Channel 7/WJLA and the TBD TVer and website..... 11/5 - Just three months old, and there's already a change of direction in the works for TBD. DCRTV hears that Jim Brady is leaving Allbritton's local news TBD.com website. And that "a new round of investment in journalistic resources" for the site, which encompasses Allbritton's Channel 7/WJLA and NewsChannel 8, is upcoming. "In his positions at AOL, Washingtonpost.com, and now at TBD, Jim has proven himself to be a true visionary and a champion of innovation in the world of online journalism," writes Allbritton head Robert Allbritton in a staff memo. "As we talked about the next phase of our growth, it seemed clear to Jim and I both that we had some stylistic differences. So with mutual respect - and in my case a lot of appreciation for the work he has done across the company for the past year - we decided to shake hands and go in different directions." DCRTV hears that Erik Wemple, who is the top news editor of TBD, will assume Brady's general manager functions. Word is that Allbritton wants more "content" on the TBD site, not just technology and aggregation, which are Brady's alleged strengths. Someone comments on a DC area blog: "They have no traffic. There are no comments on virtually any of their stories. They launch discussion forums, and no one participates. The only people paying attention to TBD are in the media. The real world has not noticed it at all"..... 11/5 - It continually irks me that I pay Comcast about $100 a month for 300-ish channels, most of which suck. I regularly watch maybe a dozen cable channels, so why should I have to subsidize the 288-ish that I don't watch or want? And, even among the channels that I do like, most of them are starting to suck as well. For example, Discovery's Science Channel is in the midst of a major "dumbing down" and BBC America seems to be reorienting itself to attract young women - which I'm not. So, it's encouraging to see - via this AP article - that increasing numbers of TV viewers are "cutting the cable" and watching just what they want on the internet - for free or for a lot less than they're currently shelling out to Comcast, Cox, or Verizon. I'm sticking with my cable TV subscription - for now. But if I get that annual end-of-the-year letter from Comcast informing me that the mountain of video garbage I get from them will cost me more yet again, I may just join the "cut the cable" crowd, too..... 11/5 - A source tells DCRTV that low-rated Channel 2/ WMAR is shaking up its newscasts and moving Jamie Costello to evenings. And getting another morning anchor via a Texas headhunter. More as we hear it..... 11/5 - Sheldon Dutes joins Channel 11/WBAL as a general assignment reporter. He started at the Hearst NBC affiliate on November 1. Dutes comes from a TV station in Charleston SC..... 11/4 - DC-based righty radio talk host Laura Ingraham signs a few deal with Fox News. It's a multi-year extension for about $2 million a year, industry sources say. She will continue to serve as a fill-in host, including for Bill O'Reilly, and contributor to the network..... 11/4 - 105.9 The Edge morning man Mike O'Meara launches an animation series for his MikeOMearaShow.com daily podcast. The animation is done by StrineStudios.com and is currently only available at O'Meara's website. But the serialized cartoon, which officially debuts on Monday, November 8, will be coming soon to iTunes and Amazon.com. Along with O'Meara, it also features Buzz Burbank, Robb Spewak, and Oscar Santana. "We haven't started shopping it to TV but we are open to it should the opportunity present itself," says O'Meara's business manager, Marc Ronick. "We launched this project based on the huge response we received from our two pilots which can be seen on YouTube." You can check out those at YouTube.com..... 11/4 - Channel 9/WUSA traffic diva Angie Goff adds traffic reporting duties for Citadel classic rocker 105.9 The Edge, starting today..... 11/3 - A DCRTVer tells us that Towson University's adult alternative WTMD (89.7 FM) is running promos that Weasel is going to be hosting his own show on Saturdays. The longtime DC rock radio veteran, who is also known as Jonathan Gilbert, was heard on the old progressive rock WHFS for many years. He most recently did mornings at the old alternative rock WTGB, The Globe, until late 2008. That station flipped to its current Fresh hot adult contemporary format in spring 2009..... 11/3 - The Washington Post plans "a new crop of sites would be even more hyperlocal than the Patch sites that are now spreading around the region," according to TBD.com. AOL's new Patch sites focus on local community news, including school board meetings, politics, and high school sports..... 11/2 - DCRTV hears that Channel 7/WJLA has quietly moved DC TV news anchor legend Maureen Bunyan (right) back to co-anchoring the 11 PM news with Leon Harris. Starting last week. A permanent change, we're told. Probably due to 7's slumping late news ratings of late..... 11/2 - Former DC radio personality Don Geronimo says he plans to return to his Sacramento radio show at sports talker KHTK on Monday, November 8. He suffered head injuries on October 22 after he fell off a stage at the Cal Expo arena while doing an appearance for his KHTK show. Geronimo, who left the DC area's WJFK in 2008 after a longtime radio partnership with Mike O'Meara, spent several days in a Sacramento hospital with severe lacerations to his head..... 11/2 - Leesburg's WAGE (1200 AM) had planned to return to air on October 31 but financing and procurement snafus stalled the re-launch, so reports the Loudoun Times. WAGE went dark in August 2009 after more than 50 years as Loudoun County's local radio station. Immediately after shutting down, WAGE owner Potomac Radio began searching for a site for its new 50,000-watt towers - a ten-fold increase in the station's previous daytime wattage. The station's new, three 195-foot lattice-tower AM radio transmitter towers are now under construction on seven acres of the Loudoun Water site near Ashburn. The towers will cost Potomac Radio $2 million..... 11/2 - Tom Taylor, via his Tuesday TRI radio biz newsletter, tells us that Bruce Houston's Vienna VA-based Metro Radio will pay $1.5 million for Red Zebra's 730 AM - the new WTNT. The price excludes the Rockville studio complex and the Mount Vernon tower site. As part of a lease agreement with Metro last month, Red Zebra, which is owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, moved the WTNT calls and righty talk format from 570 AM, which flipped to sports as WSPZ, to 730, which used to be Spanish sports WXTR. The new 730 line-up includes Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, and Jerry Doyle, plus the former Washington Times morning show, "America's Morning News"..... 11/1 - DCRTV hears rumblings that Clear Channel might once again be using Metro Traffic. Talks are underway, we're told, between the Westwood One traffic and news provider and Clear Channel, which owns about a dozen radio stations in the immediate DC-Baltimore area. A few years ago, Clear Channel dropped Metro Traffic for its own in-house traffic reports. More as we hear it..... 11/1 - Last week, DCRTV told you that all-news WTOP aired a report of a suspect's vehicle that was instrumental in catching a crook. Now, a WTOP source complains about the Washington Post's "bush league" Metro section coverage of the incident, which made no mention of the WTOP angle, which even earned the praise of DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier..... 11/1 - DCRTV hears that the campaign of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has again been running a TV ad in at least the Baltimore market that contains Maryland Public Television footage of news anchor Jeff Salkin interviewing O'Malley opponent Bob Ehrlich. Back in September, MPT officials requested that a commercial using portions of that copyrighted MPT interview be yanked off the air. At the time, according to the Baltimore Sun, O'Malley's campaign aides insisted that they did nothing wrong in creating a spot that uses a public television interview in which Ehrlich explains the property tax increase and auto registration and "flush tax" fees imposed during his term by saying "there's a big difference between fees and taxes." But they did bow to MPT's request and stop running the ad..... 10/31 - Why did the Washington Post do backflips and give loads of coverage to the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert rally on Saturday? The news value? Heck, there are lots of rallies in DC and this one was staged by entertainers, not politicos. So why was this one covered up-the-wazoo? The Post's over-the-top coverage was because of demographics - the Stewart-Colbert Comedy Central shows and yesterday's rally attracted loads of folks, largely white, age 18-to-34. That's a key demo that advertisers love. This wasn't a political rally. It was a marketing rally. Increasing with today's internet-based media, old-fashioned journalistic values don't matter. It's how many eyeballs view your site and what are their demos. As we radio fans know, a big audience can spell doom for a station if it doesn't get the right youthful demos. Remember the old classical WGMS. Always a "top 10" station, but its listeners were too old for the station's owners to get the most advertising bang for the buck. That's why there's no "big band" or real jazz or older oldies or progressive rock on commercial radio any more. The audience is simply too old, and by "old" we mean 40-plus. And who reads the print edition of newspapers? Older people do. Duh! That's why we're seeing a definite "lack of interest" from newspapers like the Post in their print editions, and an overall move to the web. Even though the website doesn't generate subscriber fees like the print edition does, it attracts many more young demos that advertisers and marketers crave. If you're 40, 45, or 50-plus, you're now considered "old." And, as far as the media is concerned, you really don't "matter" any more..... 10/28 - DCRTV hears that Mark Miller will become director of news and programming at Baltimore news talker WBAL (1090 AM). That's a promotion from his former title of just news director. Later this year, he celebrates his 31st anniversary with the Hearst station, having started there as an intern..... 10/28 - If you plug the Comcast TV cable directly into your digital TV here in Reston you can get Catholic network EWTN. But the channel has not been available on the system's official channel lineup via its converter boxes. In a number of rants via my Dave's Cable Page, I've found that to be kind of strange, considering that there is no shortage of Catholics in Reston, which sports two Catholic churches. Well, imagine my surprise when I examined this week's Fairfax County Times, which features a rather smallish ad from Comcast saying that EWTN will added to Reston's "limited basic" digital service, a la converter boxes, in late November. Coincidence? Hmmm. Oh, in the ad, Comcast also says that it's moving ABC Family and the USA Network from "limited basic" to its "Digital Starter" package, which means that you'll have to pay more to watch them..... 10/27 - A WTOP report tipped us yesterday. Now, these "corrections" appear in Wednesday's Washington Post: "An October 26 editorial on local races in Montgomery County mistakenly said County Executive Isiah Leggett, a Democrat, is running unopposed for reelection. In fact, Mr. Leggett has a Republican opponent, Doug Rosenfeld. An editorial on that contest will appear in the coming days. The same editorial misspelled the name of Hans Riemer, a Democrat running for an at-large seat on the county council"..... 10/27 - When I was in high school, we'd get out of class because of "bomb threats" all the time. The principal would come on the PA system and say something like "we've had a bomb threat, please leave the school in an orderly fashion." The police would come and we'd be let back in in an hour or so. Eventually, school officials realized that the more they publicized the bomb threats, the more they'd get. Obviously from students who wanted to disrupt test taking and boring classes. So, you wonder, why did Paul Farhi and the Washington Post yesterday even report that NPR received a bomb threat on Monday? Big organizations - the media and the government - probably get them all the time. The vast majority are hoaxes. Unless there's an actual explosive device found or there's some sort of massive disruption, they're usually not even newsworthy. OK, the Post needs to attract traffic to its hype-heavy website and maybe NPR is looking for publicity that paints those who are angry about Juan Williams' firing as a batch of crazies who call in bomb threats. I don't know. But the threat probably should not have been reported. Now that it has, NPR should be probably be on guard for many more "security issues" which NPR itself, Farhi, and the increasingly "tabloid" Post's management have probably contributed to..... 10/26 - From wtop.com: An editorial in the Washington Post failed to acknowledge Doug Rosenfeld, a Republican candidate for Montgomery County executive, in the paper's local endorsements - one week before Election Day. In Tuesday's "Montgomery County Endorsements" editorial, the Post says incumbent County Executive Isiah Leggett, a Democrat, "is running unopposed" for the seat. Rosenfeld tells WTOP he "was shocked but not surprised" by the failed mention, and called the omission "an intentional action...The Post has been very good about not covering my campaign throughout this election cycle"..... 10/25 - The Washington Post sees a 6.43 percent daily print circulation drop and a 7 percent slump for its Sunday edition during the past six months. Gannett's McLean-based USA Today falls 3.66 percent. The average American newspaper circulation drop was about 5 percent..... 10/25 - Kenny King, who runs Citadel classic rocker 105.9 The Edge, took DCRTV's advice and put longtime DC radio radio veteran Cerphe (left) in afternoons, starting today - as DCRTV first told you on Friday. Any regular reader of this site knows that your friendly DCRTV webmaster has been advocating Cerphe's placement on 105.9 ever since King took DCRTV's advice and put another DC radio veteran, Mike O'Meara, in mornings, and paired him with former afternooner Kirk McEwen earlier this year. Now, King needs to do one more thing to make 105.9 a success, and that's to widen the playlist. The station currently airs a rather safe, well-tested selection of very familiar classic rock. Much the same as what rival Clear Channel is doing with WBIG, 100.3. King needs to make 105.9 more diverse and bold by playing more "deep" classic tracks, more classic alternative, some rockish reggae and soul, even some "newer" tunes from the late 1990s and early 2000s. The base artists should be U2 and REM - not AC/DC and Foreigner. And give Cerphe some freedom to program the music in his own show. He knows a thing or two about rock having played about a billion cool tunes over four decades on WHFS, DC101, and the old WAVA and WARW. Or maybe even make him the station's music director. Oh, one more thing, Kenny, if your conscience is bothering you, how about dropping a consultants' fee in the mail? Ah, I won't be holding my breath waiting for it..... 10/24 - Longtime DC radio personality Don Geronimo is out of the ICU and has been transferred to the trauma recovery center of the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The former WJFKer slipped and fell off the stage during an arena show he was holding Friday for his new midday program at Sacramento sports talker KHTK. He hit his head and received "a large laceration," according to KHTK, which also reports that docs say a full recovery is expected..... 10/24 - The Washington Post often puts large graphics and pictures on the front pages of its sections to disguise the fact that it doesn't have enough news or features copy to fill the space, due to the paper's many staff cuts over the years. Most of these are rather silly blotches of color and text to simply take up space, like one that consumes about 70 percent of the front of Sunday's usually useless Arts And Style section. But, also in Sunday's edition, there's a rather spectacular picture of some real news - a fire in a Suitland apartment complex that killed one person and left 24 families homeless. However, this powerful image, with flames shooting off the top of a line of apartment buildings, takes up only about two-by-three inches at the bottom right corner of the front of the Metro section, with the story inside on C4. OK, here's some real local news and the Post downplays it. The Post did the same thing with a huge fire in Manassas in late summer. Now, I'm not saying that the Post should hype fires and urban murders on its front page like some tabloids do, but it's clearly gone too far the other way, focusing too much on silly celebrity fluff, like entertainer Jon Stewart's upcoming rally, and not enough on the real hard news that impacts the local area - and not just wealthy northwest DC..... 10/23 - DCRTV tipped you earlier. Now, The Note blog at abcnews.com has more on that extremely graphic anti-abortion rights political candidate ad now airing on DC area TV stations, including Channel 7/WJLA..... 10/22 - Channel 2/WMAR, Baltimore's ABC affiliate, will move Richard Sher's public affairs show, "Square Off," to a new time - at 10 AM Sunday. The Scripps station will also launch a local newscast at 6:30 PM Sunday. More at baltimoresun.com..... 10/22 - Baltimore's Channel 45/WBFF has added The Country Network via its 45.3 digital subchannel. The channel is currently available only over the air, but will soon be added to the Baltimore cable TV systems operated by Comcast and Verizon Fios. WBFF parent Sinclair recently launched The Cool TV music network on the 54.2 subchannel of 45's sister, Channel 54/WNUV. Also, WBFF carries This TV, which shows classic movies and TV shows, on 45.2..... 10/22 - DCRTV tipped you last week. And now TBD.com has more about rumblings that Tom Shales (right), the Washington Post's Pulitzer-prize winning television writer, is on the way out. He says he's probably going to leave the paper when his freelance contract expires at the end of December. "It's been a long process," he tells TBD. Shales took the paper's buyout offer in 2006. Shales went on contract immediately after, remaining the paper's TV critic until last summer, when Hank Stuever was named lead TV critic..... 10/20 - Count Gore De Vol, the long-time-ago Channel 20/WDCA horror movie host who's also known as Dick Dyszel, stopped by this morning to see Kirk McEwen and Mike O'Meara on 105.9 The Edge (right) to promote the upcoming Spooky Movie Film Festival..... 10/20 - WBAL sportscaster Keith Mills has been inducted into the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall Of Fame. More from wbal.com. WBAL's Scott Wykoff has more in his blog, also at wbal.com..... 10/20 - The Junkies (left) revealed this morning that CBS Radio is not allowing former Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich (right), a Republican, to appear, as he often does, with 106.7 The Fan's morning radio guys. "Our company is scared," said one of the Junks. Ehrlich, who has regularly guested with the Junkies since their early radio days on the old alt rock WHFS, used the Junkies and their WJFK show to make the formal announcement over the summer that he was re-running for his old office. WJFK's studios are not even in Maryland, they're in Fairfax, Virginia. The Junkies said this morning that CBS's lawyers are concerned that the station will have to offer "equal time" to Ehrlich's rival, current Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, who the Junkies found time to bash on their show today. The FCC's campaign "equal time" rules do not apply to "news shows," but the Junkies do an entertainment-based sports show. "We should start a rumor that O'Malley hates crabcakes," someone at WJFK said on-air this morning. More: Moments after the Junks voiced their rage on their radio show, Ehrlich gave them a "shout out" during an appearance on Channel 5/WTTG..... 10/20 - You've probably heard that the Fox TV stations in NYC and Philadelphia are no longer being carried by Cablevision, a major cable TV provider in those northeastern markets. It's just the latest carriage dispute between a major TV provider and a major owner of cable TV systems. We've had several locally. Remember a few years back when Cox in Fairfax dropped Fox's Channel 5/WTTG for a week or so? But imagine what could happen when a major broadcaster is also a cable TV provider, like if the federal government approves the merger of NBC and Comcast. Comcast-NBC will actually have a financial incentive not to carry rival broadcast networks like ABC, Fox, and CBS if similar carriage disputes emerge. And they will. NBC's ratings will boosted if it doesn't have one or more of those competing networks carried on systems serving many millions of Comcast cable subscribers. If you think these broadcast/cable carriage disputes are bad now, just wait until Comcast and NBC join forces. And you'll only have the FCC to "thank"..... 10/19 - DCRTV hears that there's a "big shakeup" at La Mera Mera, the Mexican-formatted radio station on DC's 1050 AM. We're told that the station's entire staff was replaced. The station was born over the summer on a frequency leased from Bonneville. More soon..... 10/19 - DCRTV hears that Baltimore area business talker WBIS, 1190 AM, will be surrendering its license to the FCC this fall. The station's owner is planning to re-launch next year Leesburg's WAGE on 1190 AM from a tower site in eastern Loudoun and a signal covering much of the DC and Baltimore metros..... 10/18 - A DCRTVer tells us that Lisa Fletcher is the newest reporter for Channel 7/WJLA. She left ABC News earlier this year as part of a batch of job cuts. She joined ABC in late 2007 from KNXV-TV in Las Vegas..... 10/18 - DCRTV hears that WTOP commentator and local radio veteran Chris Core (right) is expanding his horizons. Core will be penning a weekly version of his "Core Values" for the Thursday edition of the Washington Examiner, starting November 4th. Core tells DCRTV: "I am thrilled for this opportunity, I really do read the Examiner everyday!" Core's work on WTOP won the national Edward R. Murrow Award for writing last year. Before joining WTOP, Core was heard for many years on WMAL..... 10/18 - Joel Oxley, who heads Bonneville's DC radio cluster, including WTOP, got married over the weekend. His beautiful bride is Erica Hilary, the longtime DC radio veteran who recently left her gig with Jack Diamond's morning team at Citadel's Mix 107.3. The funny thing is that Hilary once got canned by her now new husband when she worked at Bonneville's old Z104. DCRTV hears that after the honeymoon, Hilary will be looking for a new local radio adventure. Congrats to both..... 10/18 - Lance Venta of RadioInsight.com tells us that some other DC area AMers could soon be flipping format. Salem has registered a number of domains hinting at a new national business news network format for Christian talker WAVA-AM on 780 and/or righty talker WWRC on 1260. It has applied for MoneyRadio780.com, MoneyRadio1260.com, and MoneyRadioDC.com. More soon..... 10/17 - A DCRTVer says he heard that Salem righty talker WWRC (1260 AM) is adding Glenn Beck's radio show starting Monday. More as we hear it. Fox News personality Beck (right) had been heard locally on CBS's Big Talker WHFS (1580 AM) until he was dropped in late summer..... 10/17 - There are rumblings that Redskins owner Dan Snyder may be selling his 730 AM signal, which had been broadcasting Spanish sports as WXTR. The Alexandria station just recently flipped to Anglo rock, pop, and soul oldies. Snyder's Red Zebra broadcasting arm, which also owns ESPN 980 and fellow sports talker WTNT 570, recently sold talker WWRC, 1260 AM, to Salem. More as we hear it..... 10/17 - The recession and the resulting drop in advertising has forced the Washington Post to make bit cuts in its local reporting staff, which has resulted in less staffing in the suburbs - where most of its subscribers are. But, as ombudsman Andy Alexander reports, the paper's coverage of the District hasn't been impacted as much largely because that's where most Post reporters live. At washingtonpost.com..... 10/15 - Am I the only one who doesn't much care for Capital One's ad campaign to announce that it's swallowed up Chevy Chase's bunch of area banks. On the omni-present TV ads you see giant red pushpins violently slamming down in area neighborhoods. Obviously to mark all the "convenient" locations of their outlets. To me, these giant pushpins look like terrorist missiles. In the ads, which offer a street-level view with pedestrians, the pins shoot down in front of area landmarks, from the University Of Maryland to downtown Bethesda. At the very least, you have to hand it to the ad agency which developed the spots for not using the Pentagon as one of the pushpin landing locations. Boy, would that be tasteless! Heck, I almost expect to see the pins impale someone, with blood shooting out of their chest. And then the bank buys the first-ever front page ad in the slumping Washington Post and is also running these annoying five-second "what's in your wallet" sounders on area radio station. I don't have a bank account or a credit card with Capital One. And, you know what, I don't want one. To me, these ads scream that there's something really rotten about Capital One. Backfire!..... 10/15 - Brooke Ryan joins Jack Diamond's Mix 107.3, WRQX morning show on October 25. She spent five years doing the morning show on Charlestown SC contemporary hit outlet WSSX. Both stations are owned by Citadel..... 10/15 - One of the six corrections on page A2 of Friday's Washington Post: "Because of production errors, some October 3, 4, and 14 editions contained the weather page from the previous day"..... 10/14 - A posting on Facebook apparently by the longtime TV critic seems to suggest that Tom Shales (right) will be the latest to leave the Washington Post at the end of the year. There are rumblings that Shales in unhappy with sharing his TV reviewer power with the younger and thinner Hank Stuever, who seems to be the Post's "top dog" day-to-day TV show reviewer these days. With Shales left with doing more introspective pieces on nostalgic TV. For the past few years, Shales has been writing for the Post as a freelance employee, without a contract..... 10/14 - If you check out Thursday's weather on page B10 of the Washington Post you'll see "sunny" for "today." Then you'll realize that "today" was yesterday. And today will be actually be a rainy one. While the rest of the forecast stats appear to be for the real "today" - Thursday, the top five-day forecast is clearly from the day before. With all the stupid silly errors of late, including my weekend Rant which pointed out that the Post claimed that "Saturday Night Live" starts at 11 PM, you've really got to wonder whether anyone at the Post actually bothers to pay attention to what goes in the print edition. Maaaaan..... 10/13 - From the Politico: Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, the editor of the Washington Post's Metro section, has been moved to a new job as editor of strategic projects. No replacement has been named. According to newsroom speculation, the move was spurred in part by chairman Don Graham's dissatisfaction with the Post's local coverage, which Garcia-Ruiz has been in charge of since last year. During Garcia-Ruiz's time as Sports editor, he was seen as one of the most technologically-savvy editors at the paper..... 10/13 - DCRTV hears that former DC101er and XMer Kevin Kash has been hired to do the 3 PM to 7 PM shift on Winchester rocker 99.3 The Fox..... 10/11 - Former Fox Newser Rita Cosby is filling in for Fred Grandy Monday on WMAL's "Grandy Group." She's been heard on the Citadel news talker the past two Saturday afternoons. The next three Saturdays, leading up to election day, former Congressman and one-time talk show host JD Hayworth will host 630 AM's 4 PM to 7 PM shift, we hear..... 10/11 - DC radio veteran Don Geronimo (right) tells his Twitter and Facebook fans that he's bought a new home in Sacramento, where he's been doing a midday radio show for CBS Radio sports talker KHTK since summer. Until now, he's been doing the show from his Ocean City MD home via the miracle of an ISDN line, with several visits to his new radio hometown. Geronimo plans to keep the OC place, we hear. No word about whether Geronimo will get back on the air in DC, where was heard for several decades on WJFK, WAVA, and WPGC, but he's seen a ratings spike for his KHTK show, which can be streamed from 3 PM to 7 PM (ET) at khtk.cbslocal.com. Geronimo gave up his co-hosting duties with Mike O'Meara on WJFK in April 2008. O'Meara is now doing mornings on DC classic rocker 105.9 The Edge..... 10/8 - From Dan Steinberg at washingtonpost.com: On Wednesday, John Feinstein's weekly segment on ESPN 980's "The Sports Reporters" ended abruptly with a scream and a profanity, after Feinstein was sideswiped in a minor fender-bender. He was fine, but his segment ended early. WTEM dumped the moment, although online listeners apparently heard it. Feinstein was using a hands-free device at the time, as he always does for such interviews. DCRTV adds: Audio of the incident has disappeared from Steinberg's "DC Sports Bog" at the Washington Post's website..... 10/8 - William Marimow (left), the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is being replaced by the bankrupt paper's new owner but will remain on the staff as a reporter. Despite his national reputation as an outstanding print journalist, he did not have the background in digital media necessary to lead the paper going forward, the Inquirer's new management believes. Marimow, 63, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, will continue at the Inquirer as an investigative reporter. In 1993, Marimow joined the Baltimore Sun as metropolitan editor. He rose to managing editor and then editor of the Sun, which won three Pulitzers under his leadership. He was fired in 2004 after a dispute with his publisher. He then went to work in Washington for NPR as managing editor for news, and later served as vice president of news and the radio network's ombudsman before being hired as editor of the Inquirer..... 10/7 - DCRTV hears that when Comcast launches its Comcast SportsNet Plus HD channel in early November, it will also include a new HD version of The Comcast Network via area Comcast systems. TCN-HD will air when CSN Plus-HD is not running an "overflow" Capitals or Wizards game, due to schedule conflicts on parent Comcast SportsNet. DCRTV has already told you that all "overflow" games on CSN Plus will now air in HD. The TCN backing of CSN Plus will also occur with the standard def feed - and will occur only on area Comcast systems. Other area TV providers will make different arrangements for their carriage of CSN Plus and CSN Plus-HD, we're told. Last year, Comcast used C-SPAN2 as the "background network" for CSN Plus. That was switched to ESPNews when the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network ran its MASN2 overflow channel during the summer. CSN Plus-HD will appear on channel 844 on Comcast systems, where MASN2-HD had been..... 10/7 - DCRTV's "Boo Of The Week" goes to ESPN 980, WTEM, for rerunning Tony Kornheiser's Wednesday show on Thursday. I thought I was experiencing some heavy deja vu this morning when everything Tony was saying was stuff I thought I'd heard before. Yeah, like the day before. This is no way to treat your audience, ESPN 980. Besides Tony on the show, there's at least half a dozen talented "regulars," including the very funny Marc "Nigel" Sterne. Can't they manage to soldier on without Saint Kornheiser for one day in order to give us a fresh show? Tony's sidekicks already account for about 80 percent of the show's humorous moments. They'll be just fine, maybe even better, without him..... 10/6 - The Nationals and Orioles, despite their loss-plagued standings, saw dramatic audience growth in the 2010 baseball season in both Washington and Baltimore, as well as across the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network's seven-state television territory, according to year-over-year Nielsen television ratings. More than 21 million households watched the Orioles and Nationals on MASN in 2010. The biggest ratings growth occurred in Washington,where the Nationals doubled their television audience from 2009, probably due to in large part to the hype surrounding phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg..... 10/5 - Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra radio arm, which owns ESPN 980, WTEM, has signed former Washington Post sports columnist Tony Kornheiser to a two-year deal, for the continuation of his 10 AM to noon weekday show. Kornheiser will also contribute to the station's Redskins pre-game show. Kornheiser will continue doing his "Pardon The Interruption" late afternoon TV show for ESPN..... 10/5 - Sports columnist Mike Wise returns to the Washington Posttoday after sitting out a one-month suspension for posting fake news to his Twitter account, a stunt on his afternoon WJFK, 106.7 The Fan show. During his print sidelining, Wise also took some time off from his radio show to be with his wife for the birth of their first child..... 10/4 - Baltimore's Channel 2/WMAR will become the last major network affiliate in the Baltimore/DC area to start airing its local news in high-def with tonight's broadcasts, DCRTV hears..... 10/4 - Hearst news talker WBAL, 1090 AM, wants the Orioles back. And bad. And Rich Dubroff, in his Orioles Notebook in the Carroll County Times, says that WBAL is "aggressively challenging" CBS Radio's 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM, for rights to the team, starting next season. WBAL, which is currently the Ravens' flagship, aired the Orioles from 1988 to 2007. However, a source has told DCRTV that the baseball team is likely to return to 105.7, following the end of its current three-year deal, which concluded with Sunday's Orioles season-ender. Also, Dubroff tells us that Joe Angel, the Orioles lead broadcaster, is expected to sign a new three-year contract, and Fred Manfra, who has called games since 1993, is also expected to return. Greg Bader, the Orioles' director of communications, declined to comment on the state of negotiations, Dubroff adds..... 10/1 - "It's Academic" with host Mac McGarry (right) will return Saturday, October 9th, for its 50th season. The educational quiz show show started in 1961 and has asked more than 250,000 questions and featured nearly 15,000 high school competitors. The show counts some well-known journalists as contestants, including Donald Graham, David Ignatius, and Tom Boswell, all of the Washington Post. A few senators, including Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton. And actress Sandra Bullock, who was a local high school cheerleader. Giant Food has been the show's sponsor since 1967. "It's Academic" airs Saturdays at 11 AM on Channel 4/WRC..... 10/1 - DCRTV hears that WTOP picked up the award for best news talk station on Thursday night at the NAB/RAB radio show in DC. And it also won the Marconi Award honor as the top major market station of the year. Adds Tom Taylor in his TRI radio biz newsletter this morning: The 2010 NAB Marconi Awards leave the winners happy, and the crowd laughing. That picture (left) shows WTOP, Washington programmer Jim Farley accepting his second Marconi award of the night, thanking Bonneville CEO Bruce Reese for challenging the all-newser to think big and go after the big boys like the networks and the newspapers - and then Farley says: "We have stones." The audience loved it, and so did Bruce, Taylor adds..... 9/30 - Baltimore traffic reporter "Detour Dave" Sandler (right) is on the mend after a round of successful surgery this week to drain fluid collecting around his right lung. It's a complication from heart surgery he had in late summer of 2009, after he collapsed in a Baltimore area park while playing baseball. "It will allow me to run around and participate in sports again very soon," Sandler tells DCRTV. "And, (the surgery) should revive my energy on the air as well." Sandler is seen on Channel 11/WBAL, and heard on WBAL radio and 98 Rock..... 9/30 - Congratulations to top DC TV meteorologist Sue Palka (right) on her 25th anniversary at Fox's Channel 5/WTTG...... 9/30 - Speaking of quarter-century anniversaries, today is also Laurie DeYoung's 25th anniversary at Baltimore country outlet WPOC (93.1 FM)..... 9/29 - DCRTV hears that Tom Ringer is leaving his chief engineer job at Salem's WAVA-FM/AM. His last day will be October 1st. We hear that he'll be back "building stations" around the country with his Northern Virginia firm RnR Engineering..... 9/29 - DCRTV hears that CBS Radio sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, has hired Rand Gardner (right) as its commercial production director. He'd held the same title at Red Zebra, which owns WJFK's rival ESPN 980, and at the old Z104..... 9/29 - DCRTV welcomes a bunch of radio guys and gals to the annual fall radio show here in DC. The National Association Of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau have gotten together for "The NAB/RAB Radio Show", which begins Wednesday morning at the Grand Hyatt. DCRTV advises the participants not to bother listening to the area's broadcast radio stations for fear of being disappointed. Most of them are bland, copy-cutter music formats from corporate radio giants that you can probably hear clones of at home. Particularly DC's five Clear Channel stations, including contemporary hit Hot 99.5 and classic rocker Big 100.3. Of particular local radio note, there's Bonneville's WTOP, 103.5, the top-rated all-newser in the nation which, with its killer FM signal and friendly conversational style, completely dominates the DC radio ratings. The station is run by Joel Oxley and Jim Farley and they are the real "radio gods" in this market (not that former afternoon zoo guy who now does a show on a Sacramento sports talker from his Ocean City condo). You also might want to take a listen to public radio news talker WAMU, 88.5, which does a pretty good job with its HD Radio multicasts, especially Bluegrass Country, if that floats your musical boat. Along with the resurrection of a scaled-back legendary alt rocker WHFS on 94.7's HD2, and sports talker WJFK's collection of out-of-market sports talkers on its digital channels via 106.7, there's really not much to listen to on HD Radio here in DC. If you're looking for really cool rock or oldies music, great jazz, or a diverse line-up of talk, DCRTV recommends that you turn to Sirius XM, MusicChoice on your hotel room's cable TV system, or an internet stream. But, of course, you can do that at home just as easily as you can here. Oh, looking for cool "college" radio? You've come to the wrong place. Despite having some of the best universities in the nation, this market is completely devoid of freeform radio programming from youthful college kids. And, you won't find any "big band" or "older oldies" on the DC radio dial, or any commercial music formats geared to anyone over age 55 or so. Yup, that's radio's "public service" for you! Oh, like righty talk propaganda from white guys? We've got the usual suspects available a plenty on WMAL, 630 AM. Yeah, the Citadel talker pipes in Rush and Hannity and Levin. But, heck, you can hear them just as easily at home. Speaking of AM, scan down our band. If you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself in Mexico City. Well, welcome to DC! Now get drunk and flirt with some lobbyists..... 9/29 - Congrats to Channel 4/WRC weather woman Kim Martucci. Yesterday at 9:54 AM, she welcomed into the world a baby boy named Maximus Malachi, or Max for short..... 9/28 - Jeff Zrebiec at baltimoresun.com reports: With their deal with CBS Radio's 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM, expiring after this season, the Baltimore Orioles are fielding proposals from outlets looking to become the team's flagship radio station. WBAL-AM 1090, and 105.7 are two stations in negotiations with the club, according to a source familiar with the talks, and they would be the two front-runners because of what they offer, in terms of both signal strength and financial means. However, no deal is imminent, according to the source. The Orioles have been partners with 105.7 since the 2007 season. Hearst's WBAL had previously served as the Orioles' flagship station for 19 years. It's now the Ravens' flagship. More: A DCRTV source tells us that it's highly unlikely that the Orioles will leave 105.7 next season..... 9/28 - "It's time." That's the message posted on Kim Martucci's Facebook page at about 3 AM Tuesday. Looks like there'll be a new "bundle of joy" soon for the Channel 4/WRC weather woman, who used to work at Channel 9/WUSA. More soon..... 9/27 - Former Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett guested on WMAL's "Grandy Group" Monday morning. Just after Fred Grandy did a pitch for a full-body health scan service, Garrett jested that Grandy is the "capital's colon." Garrett said his writing for his new employer, the National Journal, will stay outside the Journal website's paywall, a trend that will continue at the DC-based Capitol Hill news organization..... 9/27 - I got a message from The Big Chief Upstairs last night. In a dream, he told me that he won't let the Redskins be a winning team again until team owner Dan Snyder sells his radio stations, including DC's ESPN 980, WTEM. Of course, it could go the other way, too. Snyder could sell the team and keep the radio stations. Or dump both. I just thought I'd pass along the message. Even though it's an AMer, WTOP owner Bonneville would probably like WTEM. WJFK owner CBS, too. Oh, The Big Chief is also not happy that new Skins QB Donovan McNabb has sold his soul to Capital One Bank..... 9/26 - A paragraph in a weather story on Saturday's continuing heat on page C3 of the Metro section of Sunday's Washington Post says this: "The forecast for Sunday calls for a high of 89 degrees and the Post's Capital Weather Gang projects a 40 percent chance that the temperature will nudge above (90 degrees) for a 68th time in 2010, breaking a record." However, when you turn to page C12 of the Post, the weather forecast page, it says that Sunday's high will reach "only the low- to mid-70s." Do the editors of the Post actually bother to read what goes in the paper? Sheesh..... 9/26 - From 1980 until 2005, Larry Shor hosted "Jewish Music Hall" on DC area radio. The hour-long show originally aired on the old WHFS, but then was heard on WEAM, WMET, WINX, WXTR, and WAGE, and lastly, on WZHF. Now, working with his son, Ben, Larry is back with "Washington Jewish Radio." To "provide a new insight into the minds and musical tastes of the younger generation of Jews," Ben tells DCRTV. "The show now has great back and forth banter, and plays the old vintage stuff in addition to new Jewish Music on the cutting edge of the industry." It airs on WCTN (950 AM) from 8 AM to 10 AM Sundays, and on the KHZ network, including WYRE (810 AM) in Annnapolis, with an encore on WCTN at 6 PM. The show's on Facebook and Twitter..... 9/25 - Thirteen years ago this week, back in 1997, a small webpage was first created. It was a personal page on Geocities (remember them?) that focused on one guy's recollections of listening to local radio. From WPGC, WHFS, WEAM, WEEL, and WGTB in the 1970s, until "today." And local radio lovers started discovering it and the Mailbag was formed. Within a few years, the site, now expanded to TV and other local media, was gaining in popularity and starting to become a major "headache" for those in the media business, who had grown used to communications going just one way - from "them" to "you." DCRTV turned the tables. "You" now had a "voice." And it wasn't just via any old blog from some guy's mother's basement. It was on DCRTV! And, by 2003, when the site went commercial, we'd become a major player on the media scene. Local DJs mentioned DCRTV on a daily basis. Some even became obsessed with us. Some corporate media firms even banned the site and set up software to block DCRTV from their employees. But DCRTV kept growing, and scooping big media outlets like the Washington Post. Even after being in existence for more than a decade, the Post has yet to do a full article about DCRTV, and its reporters are still hesitant to credit the site for all its scoops. Why? Because this still independent, one-man site has shaken things up in the local media universe. To hell with company press releases, we rely heavily on juicy gossip from the anonymous guys and gals in the local media trenches. And we will continue to do what we do so well - tell you what's going on to the best of our ability - in our 14th year. And it's all because of you, our wonderful readers, contributors, and advertisers. Thank you! Still, I absolutely love doing DCRTV. I get a huge kick every damn day! 9/24 - DCRTV hears that DC area radio veteran Bruce Kelly will start doing mornings on WZFG, AM 1100 The Flag, a righty talker in cold and snowy Fargo, North Dakota. He's also program director of the station's sister classic hits outlet, KEGK. Kelly recently got bounced from another Fargo station after relocating from a radio gig in sunny and warm Miami. Kelly has worked at a batch of DC area radio outlets, including WPGC and XM..... 9/23 - Last Saturday's HFStival attracted 7,500 at Columbia's Merriweather Post Pavilion, which has a crowd capacity of 19,316. Upwards of 90,000 attended previous HFStivals through 2006, which were held at venues like DC's RFK Stadium and Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium. Still, radio newsletter Inside Radio tells us that CBS, owner of the what's left of the real radio alt rocker, is pleased to have attracted that many fans wanting to see performers like Billy Idol and Third Eye Blind. WHFS remains alive as a digital HD Radio subchannel of DC's WIAD, 94.7, and via an internet stream at whfs.com. CBS pulled the plug on the traditional radio version of WHFS on 99.1 in 2005. It did exist parttime on Baltimore's 105.7 for short time thereafter..... 9/23 - DCRTV hears that the license of Harford County's currently off-the-air WAMD may have a new owner soon. And a proud resurrection. Christian broadcaster Salem recently bought the station and shut it down so that it could improve the night signal of a station in owns in New Jersey on the same 970 AM frequency. Stay tuned..... 9/23 - DCRTV hears that DC audio media veteran Mark Biggs has died. He'd been working for Al-Jazeera's English news network in Washington since 2006, where he was senior sound supervisor. More as we hear it..... 9/23 - Paul Duckworth cites health reasons for his decision to leave his two-month-old program director job at Dallas talker KLIF. Duckworth got canned from his second round in the program director chair at Citadel DC talker WMAL (630 AM) in May, during several months of station turmoil that also resulted in the ouster of veteran WMAL morning man Andy Parks..... 9/22 - A DCRTVer tells us that Fredericksburg's rhythmic contemporary WVBX, 99.3 The Vibe, has yanked its morning man, "The Entertainer" John Blaze. Just the latest in a round of changes at the Free Lance-Star's radio cluster, which also includes country WFLS and classic rock WWUZ..... 9/22 - Radio Broadcast Communications sells contemporary hits WKHZ (1590 AM) in Ocean City MD to Epcot Broadcasting for $45,000. We're told that Epicot owns WAMS (1600 AM) in Dover DE, which airs 1980s oldies. WKHZ has been carrying programming from Bill Parris's KHZ Network, which is based in Pasadena MD..... 9/21 - Nearby news. WAZR (93.7 FM), in the Shenandoah Valley's Woodstock VA for the Harrisonburg market, has flipped from contemporary hits Kiss to Alice 93.7, with 1990s hot adult contemporary tunes. "Looks like they jettisoned some syndication for local jocks in AM drive," a DCRTVer tells us..... 9/21 - Maryland Public Television officials are troubled by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's use of station footage in a campaign advertisement critical of Republican Robert Ehrlich's record on taxes, and have requested that the commercial stop running. According to the Baltimore Sun, Democrat O'Malley's campaign aides insist they did nothing wrong in creating a spot that uses a public television interview in which Ehrlich explains the property tax increase and auto registration and "flush tax" fees imposed during his term by saying "there's a big difference between fees and taxes." The commercial shows Ehrlich fielding a question from MPT host Jeff Salkin, then cuts to a series of unidentified people calling the former Republican governor a "typical politician" and saying they don't see the distinction between a tax and a fee..... 9/20 - Radio-Info.com tells us that the Federal Communications Commission will soon pass a rule that will require low-power TV stations to broadcast digitally, like their high-power brothers were required to do in June 2009. Since the digital TV deadline, low-power TVers have been allowed to remain in analog mode. The change will kill "radio" stations, like DC's Spanish WDCN, which operate on TV channel 6, which has an audio carrier just below the FM band, on 87.7. These low-power TV stations have been marketing themselves as analog radio stations, receivable on traditional radios. Once they switch to digital, however, they will only be able to be received by TV sets with digital tuners..... 9/20 - A DCRTVer tells us: "Jocks are back on WBIG. Heard Lisa Berrigan this morning. Don't know what they're doing for AM drive." Clear Channel's WBIG fired its morning man, Jon Ballard, and sidelined all of its DJs in early September, when it tweaked 100.3 from classic hits to classic rock, to better compete with Citadel's year-old classic rocker WVRX, 105.9 The Edge..... 9/20 - Dave McKenna at washingtoncitypaper.com: "Sam Huff is the best reason to listen to Redskins radio broadcasts. The Hall Of Fame linebacker and Redskins/Giant legend, who has been handling Skins games for about 30 years, has seemed wobbly in the booth for a while. But by now that wobbliness has reached a level of consistency that makes the audience stay tuned so as not to miss whatever wackiness will come next"..... 9/20 - "America's Morning News," the now-former Washington Times morning radio show, is now officially off the air in the Washington market. As DCRTV told you would happen, Red Zebra's WTNT (570 AM) flipped from talk to sports this morning, and Steve Czaban's new Sporting News Radio morning show is now carried on WTNT. DCRTV also told you that syndicator Talk Radio Network is now producing "AMN" from studios in Alexandria, having moved the show from the Washington Times' DC building. The John McCaslin-hosted show reportedly is heard on several dozen outlets across the country, but no longer in DC. We'll let you know if it lands a new local outlet. Czaban will continue to be heard on Red Zebra's existing sports talker, ESPN 980, WTNT, on his afternoon "Sports Reporters" show..... 9/19 - There's less news on the front page of your Sunday Washington Post this morning. As DCRTV tipped you earlier, the Post is running its first-ever front page ad. A pitch for the new Capital One Bank graces the bottom two inches of the front page. The Post joins many other struggling newspapers looking to use traditional "news space" for ad revenue. This Sunday's Post also features two front page Sports section ads - both pitches for Comcast, on the bottom of the page and in the upper right corner. The Post has been running ads on the front pages of its inside sections for at least a year..... 9/17 - Dave McKenna at washingtoncitypaper.com tells us that yesterday, during an interview on CBS's WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, guest Al Koken (right) urged listeners to stick with that station if it wanted to hear any Washington Capitals coverage, and to not bother tuning in to "Dan-Jazeera." Koken was referring to WJFK's rival sports talker in this market, Dan Snyder's WTEM, ESPN 980. Sportscaster Koken was a longtime host and the resident hockey guy at WTEM. His run there ended last year after Snyder bought the station and, in his first wave of personnel moves, fired Koken. From the sound of things, Koken's still bruised about getting cut by Snyder, McKenna adds..... 9/17 - DCRTV hears that Frank Hanrahan has joined Comcast SportsNet as "Wizards Insider" for CSNwashington.com..... 9/16 - DCRTV tipped you a while back. And now, Nassau's Key 103, WAFY 103.1 FM, in Frederick tweaked its "soft rock" format at noon today to be more hot adult contemporary-ish, kind of like CBS's 94.7 Fresh FM in DC. To better target young female demos, apparently. With artists like Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Colbie Caillat, Kelly Clarkson, and Coldplay. More at key103radio.com. More: We're told that the station is "hotter" than 94.7. More like Baltimore's Mix 106.5, CBS's WWMX..... 9/16 - DCRTV hears that Chris Berry has left his gig as head of ESPN sports talker KSPN radio in Los Angeles. He'd been there since January 2009, when he left Citadel's DC news talker WMAL, where he'd been general manager since 2002..... 9/16 - Baltimore's TV newsers and WBAL radio were on the scene of a four-hour standoff at Johns Hopkins Hospital's East Baltimore campus midday Thursday. A man suspected of shooting a Hopkins doctor fatally shot himself and his mother, who had been hospitalized, according to the Baltimore Sun. The story received wall-to-wall coverage on Channel 11/WBAL and Channel 13/WJZ for several hours. A DCRTVer tells us: "Don Scott, WJZ noon anchor and longtime reporter, gave good information on Hopkins while Ron Matz, another longtime Baltimore reporter for WJZ, was able to give information from the newsroom." And on the radio, via news talker 1090 AM: "WBAL radio reporter breaks news on WBAL-TV on further information on possible murder suicide in the hospital room." DCRTV hears that was WBAL radio's Robert Lang with WBAL-TV's Jennifer Franciotti. Screen shot (right) from WBAL-TV..... 9/16 - Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra isn't done with making changes on the DC radio dial. Earlier this week, we told you that the Zebra was flipping WTNT (570 AM) from talk to sports. Now, we're hearing that its Spanish sports WXTR (730 AM) will go to Anglo rock, pop, and soul oldies. In fact, it's playing those tunes this morning. Stay tuned..... 9/16 - Righty media maverick Andrew Breitbart paid an in-studio visit to WMAL's "Grandy Group" Thursday morning. Dishing dirt on lefties, Breitbart played a taped phone call of Democratic DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton touting her powerful connections in a fundraising call to a lobbyist. To which, a gushing Fred Grandy admitted doing much of the same during his Congressional days, but also suggested that Norton might be in violation of House ethics rules. At the end of the half-hour appearance, Grandy promised that WMAL would be a "safe harbor" for Breitbart, who runs biggovernment.com plus a host of other right-leaning sites, and his politically conservative compatriots. Citadel news talker WMAL then touted the Norton call and its Breitbart exclusive on its newscasts..... 9/15 - Howard Kurtz at washingtonpost.com: Veteran Fox News correspondent Brian Wilson is leaving the network - and the breakup isn't pretty. The former Washington bureau chief hasn't been on the air in six weeks and there are clearly some hard feelings. Wilson doesn't appear to have another job lined up. Nor is his contract believed to be up. Wilson cast the move as voluntary, telling colleagues in an e-mail, "After 25 years with the company, I have decided it's time to move on." He recalled starting out with the local Fox station here, WTTG. Fox insiders say Wilson has had temper issues. In one story involving guns, they say, Wilson was furious after a producer removed the sound of gunfire from his taped piece, even going so far as to knock over file cabinets..... 9/15 - There's been speculation that Citadel news talker WMAL might be interested in carrying DC-based Laura Ingraham, now that her local station, Red Zebra's WTNT, will be flipping from talk to sports on Monday. However, DCRTV hears that WMAL is very happy with its current local 9 AM-to-noon man, Chris Plante, who, we're told, triples Ingraham's late morning numbers in the local radio ratings. "Chris is an outstanding talk show host with a large and growing following and is a mainstay of WMAL," a top WMAL exec tells DCRTV..... 9/15 - Redskins running back Clinton Portis' controversial comments about TV Azteca's Ines Sainz and female reporters covering the NFL won't cost him his weekly radio gig with CBS's WJFK, 106.7 The Fan. "Mr. Portis has apologized for his comments and we expect he will be back on the air next week," Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio told USA Today. Portis' radio deal runs through the 2010 NFL season. WJFK signed Portis and teammate Chris Cooley to make weekly appearances on 106.7 this season. On Tuesday, Portis said on WJFK that female reporters working in team locker rooms would have some level of attraction toward the players..... 9/15 - I've long said that Citadel news talker WMAL should add more local talkers. It already carries too many nationally syndicated personalities. Everything from noon to 5 AM on the station is piped-in via satellite. But I think it's time to upgrade the late morning slot from the often wrong and idiotic local guy Chris Plante to Laura Ingraham (left). Even though she's syndicated nationwide, she's based here in DC. So she is "local." And now she'll be losing her local radio station, with Red Zebra talker WTNT flipping to sports on Monday. While I don't agree with her on many issues, she's an intelligent conservative and her late morning show would be a perfect fit for WMAL, which is dominated by men and in need of a female voice. I'm not saying that Citadel should fire Plante. He could be WMAL morning man Fred Grandy's man servant, or wash Citadel head Farid Suleman's limo when he's in town..... 9/15 - All Access fires "10 Questions" at Don Geronimo (right), the former DC radio god who now does a show for a Sacramento station from his Ocean City condo. One AA query: How do you prepare for the show? And Geronimo answers: "Masturbate. Compulsively. It relaxes and centers me." OK, just a joke. What makes you laugh? "Farts." DCRTV hears that Geronimo did approach Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra about carrying his new show via its talk-turning-sports WTNT, but he's still under contract to CBS and CBS wouldn't allow him to compete locally with its sportsy WJFK, Geronimo's old DC radio home..... 9/14 - A reliable source tells DCRTV: "Overheard a high level conversation in the elevator over here in Rosslyn. City Paper is back on the block for sale. Chicago Sun-Times is the likely buyer. Allbritton was looking at it, but the price got too high, and now they will start their own weekly competitor. Maybe history repeating itself? Same thing happened when Allbritton tried to buy the Hill - 'price got too high,' so they started Politico instead." After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the Washington City Paper's parent company, Creative Loafing, last year got gobbled up by a big NYC hedge fund, which has apparently decided to put the freebie weekly tabloid on the market. Besides Politico, Allbritton also owns Channel 7/WJLA and the TBD TVer and website..... 9/14 - DCRTV hears that CBS Radio is planning to move the studios and offices of sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, from Fairfax in Northern Virginia to Lanham in Prince George's County, where the rest of its DC market radio stations - WPGC, WIAD, WLZL, and WHFS-AM - are housed. The WJFK studios will be moving in about a year, we're told. The station has remained in Fairfax because 106.7's primary city of licence is Manassas, which is about 30 miles from Maryland's Lanham. Not long ago, CBS moved WIAD - previously known as WARW and WTGB - from Silver Spring to Lanham, too..... 9/14 - Last Sunday, the Washington Post ran a wrap-around ad that surrounded its main "A" news section. Now, we hear that the Post, for the time in its history, will run an ad at the bottom of its front page next Sunday. The Post already runs bottom-of-the-page and top-corner ads on the front pages of its inside sections, like Sports. Many other newspapers, including USA Today, have been running ads on their front pages for many years..... 9/13 - A DCRTV source tells us that Channel 4/WRC has not given up on its "Daily Connection." The infomercial and news show show, which used to air at 2 PM weekdays, will still be produced and will be seen on digital channel 4.2. NBC4 is getting ready to launch a new channel modeled on New York Nonstop, a channel at NYC NBC sister WNBC with news repeats, lifestyle segments, and news headlines. A new small studio is being built just off the WRC newsroom for the new channel. It is expected to launch in October, we're told..... 9/13 - It looks like NBC's Channel 4/WRC has put an end to that news-infomercial hybrid "Daily Connection" at 2 PM. Starting today, NBC4 is making a fall season change by plopping the syndicated "Nate Berkus Show" in the slot. WRC also adds "The Real Housewives Of Orange County," seen on NBC's Bravo, to its noon hour. Other fall season changes: Channel 5/WTTG adds "Swift Justice With Nancy Grace," the CNN HLN personality, to the 2 PM hour. Channel 50/WDCW puts HBO's "Entourage" at 10 PM and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" at 10:30. Expect the numerous utterances of "nasty language" to be bleeped in the broadcast versions of the two premium pay channel shows..... 9/12 - For the first time I can remember, the Washington Post is "selling out" its front page. No, no ads on the front page - yet, like many other newspapers. But today's Sunday edition does feature a "wrap-around" - a full back and a half front page that "covers" the main "A" news section. For credit card giant company Capital One, which is rebranding all the local Chevy Chase banks in its name. The front of the ad is just a half page, so it only partly obscures the front page of the Post. But still! We've gotten used to the Post "whoring itself out" via its website. Every couple of days the front web page is obscured by some annoying and disruptive animation that makes its news content seem secondary. Now, we're seeing ad promotional material on the front pages of other Post print sections, a la Sports. It's only a matter of time before they're on the front page of the Post's "A" section, too. Maybe Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth, who obviously inherited the journalistic DNA of her grandmother and former Post Publisher Katharine Graham, can find a way of working company promotions into the paper's editorial copy, too. It is sad watching a once great newspaper get sick and slowly, ever so slowly, die. With its very own management willingly - and quite cluelessly - contributing to its grand decline..... 9/10 - Redskins veteran John Riggins launches a postgame Redskins show on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network - live after every Redskins game. "Riggo's Postgame Xtra" starts September 12 at 11:30 PM, after the Skins battle Dallas. It'll also air on the digital HD3 channel of WTOP's 103.5 FM signal, where Riggins' weekday afternoon radio show airs. The new show will also be available at riggo44.com..... 9/10 - Mix 107.3 morning man Jack Diamond (left) celebrates the 20th anniversary for "The Jack Diamond Morning Show" via WRQX. DCRTV send congrats to Jack. By the way, Mr. Diamond he has the distinction of being the only local radio personality to have his parent company, Citadel, send DCRTV a "lawyer letter" in the site's 13+ year history. It was over a report regarding his contract negotiations a few years back. Stay classy, Harvey, er Jack..... 9/10 - A DCRTVer tells us that the Free Lance-Star has flipped the format of WYSK (1350 AM) in Fredericksburg from Spanish talk and music to English sports talk. There is a rumor that WYSK will soon get an FM relay..... 9/9 - The Washington Post reports that lefty public radio organization Pacifica, which owns five radio stations nationwide, including DC's WPFW (89.3 FM), is in talks to run English language newscasts and other programs from the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network. The Post piece, authored by Paul Farhi, fails to mention that Al Jazeera's TV newscasts are already carried locally by MHZ Networks, which runs Fairfax's Channel 30/WNVC. The station also carries the Al Jazeera English news network 24/7 on one of its digital TV subchannels, which is, in turn, carried by all area cable TV systems, including Comcast, Cox, and Verizon..... 9/9 - DCRTV hears that sports columnist Thom Loverro jumps to the Washington Examiner. He had worked at the Washington Times before it discontinued its sports section in late 2009. The high-voiced Loverro will continue co-hosting the noon "Sports Fix" show on WTEM, ESPN 980..... 9/9 - We're told that DC101 morning man Elliot Segal announced today that his associate producer, Kyle Benham, will be leaving "Elliot In The Morning" on September 17 after eight years with the show. Benham is moving to Orange County, California with his fiancé. More at EITMfans..... 9/9 - Washington Redskins Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis will join CBS sports talker 106.7 The Fan, WJFK, for special programming throughout the upcoming football season. "The Chris Cooley Show" will air from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM on Mondays following Sunday Redskins games. Cooley will also join the Sports Junkies every Friday before the weekend game for "The Cooley Zone," in a call-in segment at 8 AM. Portis joins the Mike Wise and Holden Kushner's midday show every Tuesday at 10:30 AM..... 9/9 - We're hearing about it from multiple local programming and advertising sources. Locally-based evening man Jeff Kuhner is even dropping hints about it on the air. DCRTV hears that there are rumblings that Redskins owner Dan Snyder is planning to drop the righty talk format from WTNT (570 AM) and install a sports format, via a relay of ESPN's national radio network, with Steve Czaban's new national radio show taking the morning slot. ESPN's Mike and Mike would remain in mornings on Snyder's sister Red Zebra sports talker WTEM, ESPN 980. And Czaban's local "Sports Reporters" show would continue in afternoons on WTEM. If WTNT drops its low-rated talk format, that would mean a host of nationally syndicated righty radio talkers would lose their DC perches, including Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Phil Hendrie, Jerry Doyle, Lars Larson, and Ray Lucia. There is some talk that some of WTNT's talkers, particularly the DC-based Ingraham and the intense Savage, would move to other area righty talkers, including Citadel's WMAL (630 AM), Salem's WWRC (1260 AM), or CBS's WHFS-AM, The Big Talker 1580. Also, if Snyder does flip WTNT, he'd be removing "America's Morning News" from its flagship station. The show, launched in mid-2009, had been produced by the Washington Times, but recently syndicator Talk Radio Network has taken control of the program and moved it away from studios in the Times building. WTNT, which was included in the deal when Snyder's Red Zebra bought WTEM from Clear Channel more than two years ago, has never generated significant ratings. And those numbers have dropped even further, we're told, with a recent ratings rise by WMAL, which airs righty talk titans Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh..... 9/9 - A DCRTV spy at a local sports venue tells us: "I overheard a very interesting conversation. A cameraman and producer from WUSA were talking about (sports anchor) Brett Haber (left) being on his way out and the station maybe consolidating the news department even further. They've been using Greg Toland on a freelance basis recently. Odds are they will be doing more of that." More: Another source tells us that Haber recently re-upped as WUSA's sports director via a multi-year deal. However, there is speculation that he might leave the Gannett CBS affiliate's sports department in order to be a morning news anchor, we hear..... 9/8 - Gail Huff started Tuesday as a part-time special projects producer at Allbritton's Channel 7/WJLA. Huff is the wife of Senator Scott Brown, the surprise winner of Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts US Senate seat. She will not cover politics. Huff had been working at Hearst's WCVB-TV in Boston...... 9/8 - DCRTVers tell us that Geoff Moore has been removed from his morning show co-hosting gig at Fredericksburg country outlet WFLS (93.3 FM) and moved to sister classic rocker WWUZ (96.9 FM). Leaving Jessica Cash all alone in FLS mornings - for now, anyway. More as we hear it..... 9/8 - Baltimore's Channel 2/WMAR adds Lynette Charles as a fulltimer to its "ABC2 News Storm Team." She started at WMAR as a freelance meteorologist, providing weather reports on "Good Morning Maryland" and WMAR's 11 PM newscasts..... 9/8 - If you check the Comcast electronic cable TV guide for MASN this week, you'll find that Redskins great John Riggins (right) is missing from the line-up. The listings only show the Scott Garceau show in afternoons. That got some to wonder whether MASN has dropped Riggins after just a few months and gone back to having Garceau, from Baltimore's 105.7 The Fan, being simulcasted for the entire 2 PM to 7 PM slot? Riggins and Garceau had been splitting the period. As of last week, Riggins was still doing his radio show, which launched in the spring. It has been heard on DC-based WTOP's digital HD3 signal. Show producer Tod Castleberry tells DCRTV that that Riggins and his show are on "vacation" until after the Redskins season opener this Sunday. "The John Riggins show returns full steam Monday (9/13)," says Castleberry, from a beach in Florida. "We haven't taken any time off since April 1. Things are going great." A local radio guru tells DCRTV: "Riggo is a quirky guy. I like him"..... 9/8 - I got this intrusive ad, which "grayed out" and obscured the entire front page (below), when I went to the Washington Post's website this morning. Despite increasing my level of utter contempt for silly Xerox, the sponsor, which provided a very annoying distraction, I also must again question the Post for feeling the need to continue to diminish its reputation as a reputable news source by whoring out its news brand for a few more online ad dollars. Publisher Katharine Weymouth is clueless and inept and she is ruining the once venerable Post. Sheesh. Hey Katie, you don't fuck with your front page like this..... 9/7 - A DCRTVer tells us that CBS's The Big Talker 1580, WHFS-AM, has dropped Glenn Beck from its 9 AM to noon slot, and replaced him with G. Gordon Liddy. No official word from the station, however Beck has been removed from the "On-Air" lineup at the 1580 website at whfs.cbslocal.com. DCRTV wonders: Might Liddy just be a temporary fill-in for someone who'll soon be off Red Zebra talker WTNT, 570? Stay tuned..... 9/7 - The Washington Post reports about the appearance of a conflict of interest of American University news talker WAMU (88.5 FM). Melinda Wittstock, the founder and chief executive of the parent company of DC-based Capitol News Connection, which provides news progamming for the station, is also the wife of Mark McDonald, the WAMU executive charged with determining which programs the station airs. WAMU spokeswoman Kay Summers said the station has been aware of the potential for "the appearance of impropriety" from the time it started purchasing CNC programming in 2007 and thus set up a "firewall" between McDonald and CNC. Although the station hasn't publicly disclosed the McDonald-Wittstock relationship, Summers said, "we always disclose it, if asked. It's not a secret." In addition to his duties at WAMU, McDonald also operates an outside consulting firm that offers "media coaching" services to clients, some of whom have been featured in WAMU's news programming, the Post reports. The business is called Pundit Media Consulting, which McDonald said is a separate entity from his wife's consulting company, Pundit Productions. More: After the Post story was published, Wittstock issued this statement to DCRTV: "As far as I know, I don't have any husbands at any of our other 50 radio stations and newspapers nationwide (that use CNC's services) – nor at NBC4, which also airs a TV version of 'Power Breakfast'," which is produced by CNC. "The work of host Elizabeth Wynne Johnson and the team at CNC speaks for itself"..... 9/5 - Just look at Sunday's Washington Post - it just screams mediocrity. A story about Craigslist banning adult ads at the top of the front page? That was the most important story in those nation/world this morning? Come on! And then there's a story on page C2 about the final section of the Fairfax County Parkway which notes that the highway starts in the "northeastern quadrant" of the county at Route 7. Ah, how about northwestern. Or how about that same recycled pic of DC Mayor Fenty and DC school's chief Rhee on B2. That same pic's been rerun about half a dozen times, or at least it seems so. How about a new shot? Oh yeah, more gigantic pictures on the front pages of Arts & Style, Business, and Travel. It's a cheap design trick to disguise the fact that editors of those sections don't have enough editorial copy to fill all the pages. And, OK, maybe it's just me. But yet more of that dreadful Robin Gihvan and her nearly nutty obscession about Mrs. Obama's fashion sense. So tired of that. And the ombudsman dude on another stupid "sin" by another smartypants Postie - this time Mike Wise. Also, technology correspondent Rob Pegoraro was too busy traveling this week, so he just cut and paste some stuff from his Q&Aer last week at the Post's website for his Sunday column. Lame! Increasingly, the Sunday Post is a "light read," and the weakest edition of the week..... 9/4 - Tribune Broadcasting, which owns Channel 50/WDCW, is set to launch Antenna TV, a network of classic TV shows, many of which were popular in the days before cable wiped out antennas. The network will air as a digital multicast channel on Tribune's stations beginning January 3, 2011, but will also be offered to other non-Tribune-owned stations. Some of the movies and TV classic that will air on the network include "Three's Company," "All In The Family," "Sanford And Son," "Benny Hill," "Maude," "The Nanny," "Married With Children," "Dennis The Menace," "The Donna Reed Show," and "The Three Stooges"..... 9/3 - DCRTV hears that "America's Morning News," the morning radio show from the sinking Washington Times, is no longer being done at the Washington Times building in northeast DC. The nationally-syndicated show has moved to new studios in DC area, we're told. It looks like syndicator Talk Radio Network has taken complete control of the show, which is heard on Red Zebra's WTNT (570 AM)..... 9/3 - A couple of interesting posts in DCRTV's 9/3 Mailbag indicate that Tony Kornheiser may be ending his 10 AM to noon show on Red Zebra's ESPN 980, WTEM. One post: "It must be contract negotiation time for Tony Kornheiser (right) because he's been making veiled references to not being around and played a special Billy Joel song at the end of today's show. Did he only sign a one-year deal last year when he came back?" And, another post: "Didn't hear today's show... But Tweets indicate this may have been TK's last show (until the next last show somewhere else)." It's no secret that Red Zebra, owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, has been the scene of some major exits and big cuts of late. The most recent is the departure of WTEM head Bruce Gilbert to CBS Radio in Dallas. Update: A Red Zebra suit tells DCRTV that Kornheiser will be back doing his show on Tuesday, and even will do some Redskins pregame show work for 980. Also, Red Zebra just built a new studio for Kornheiser..... 9/3 - A source tells DCRTV that former Channel 4/WRC reporter Debi Jarvis (left) will be among the casualties during a round of management and public relations cuts this fall at DC and Maryland electricity supplier PEPCO. "Many high-level executives to be impacted," we're told. Replacing Jarvis will be part of the company's efforts to completely change its "consumer communications plan" after several bouts of lengthy power restoration delays following summer storms. Update: Jarvis tells DCRTV that she's still a spokesperson for the company..... 9/2 - Yesterday, during the gunman incident at Discovery Communications, the Washington Post provided live video coverage on its website using a feed from Allbritton's TBD.com, which operates TBD-TV, formerly NewsChannel 8. There are are complaints that the Post obscured the rival TBD branding on the feed, which was co-branded with the NC8 logo. More at thenextweb.com..... 9/2 - A top Metro Traffic official downplays the loss of Bonneville all-newser WTOP, which DCRTV reported yesterday is ending its traffic and weather news deal with the Westwood One-owned firm come February. John Frawley, Metro's executive VP of broadcast operations, stresses that, while WTOP is a major client, his company has many other local and regional clients and will not need to perform any layoffs or cuts due to the loss of WTOP. In fact, we're told that a number of area radio stations have expressed an interest in acquiring morning traffic diva Lisa Baden (right), a Metro Traffic employee who is currently heard on WTOP. Frawley tells DCRTV that his firm survived the loss of about 1,000 radio stations a few years ago when Clear Channel switched to its own in-house traffic service, and it will survive the loss of WTOP, too..... 9/1 - DCRTV hears the DC rock radio legend Cerphe Colwell (left) was seen this morning at the offices and studios of Citadel's 105.9 The Edge, WVRX. Does Operations Manager Kenny King have Cerphe in mind for the currently vacant afternoon slot at the classic rocker? Cerphe's last DC radio gig was at CBS's 94.7, then WARW/WTGB, which dropped classic rock to become Fresh FM in April 2009. Cerphe's a vet of the old progressive rock WHFS, as well as WAVA when it was a rocker, plus DC101 and the eclectic WBMW, before it became talker WJFK..... 9/1 - No, it's not a rerun of an old show. Erica Hilary is back on Jack Diamond's morning show on Citadel's Mix 107.3, WRQX. Doing traffic and news reports for "a couple of days," we're told. She's still under contract to the station until November, we hear. So no word, yet, on a new local gig for her. Stay tuned..... 9/1 - Citadel news talker WMAL (630 AM) has not been known lately for interrupting its piped-in afternoon righties - Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity - to cover breaking local news. Well, things are changing. Newly-installed Assistant Program Director Bill Hess tells DCRTV that, with today's gunman and hostage crisis at the Discovery Communications HQ in Silver Spring, WMAL dropped the last hour of Rush (who was away on vacation, anyway) and all three hours of Hannity and "offered live and local coverage for four hours as events unfolded." Adds Hess: "Anchored by (late morning host) Chris Plante and (News Director) John Matthews, our coverage featured live updates from the scene and analysis from hostage negotiators and others." ABC Radio carried WMAL coverage on its national Special Events channel. And notorious conservative Plante even "unveiled the suspect's manifesto in the 3 PM hour," Hess says..... 9/1 - Radio One denies that it fired Anwar "Big G" Glover because he's supporting DC Mayor Adrian Fenty in the upcoming primary, so says today's Urban First newsletter at Radio-Info.com. WKYS (93.9 FM) Program Director Neke Howse also denies that the urban contemporary/hip-hop station's owner, Radio One, was feeling pressure from DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray - a fellow Democrat who is challenging Fenty for the top DC gig - to do something about Big G. But, Glover is off the air until after the September 14 Democratic primary. He's an actor who appeared in HBO's "The Wire," and he did a TV spot and personal appearances on behalf of Fenty. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that WKYS fired Glover..... 8/29 - I went over to my sister's place yesterday. Her Reston apartment complex was having a end-of-the-season pool party catered by Famous Dave's - great food - and there was a Comcast booth there. I kind of felt sorry for the Comcast guys, who pretty much talked among themselves most of the time. Ah, not far away, a DirecTV truck was in the parking lot, with a crew installing a dish for someone. And there were some Verizon Fios trucks parked nearby, too. Their crews have been wiring the complex and plan to start offering service in early fall. And then, of course, there's a whole slew of new TV services popping up on the internet every day, with loads of cool new ways to watch them. Way beyond the traditional TV set or any one company's control. You know, if Comcast wants to buy NBC, let 'em have it. NBC and broadcast network TV is already outdated. It's the past, baby. And, in couple of years, it won't even be here. At least not the way it is now. Ditto with "cable TV." CDs are already gone, with DVDs soon to follow. When we get cheap internet access to our cars, you can say goodbye to most traditional corporate-owned radio stations, too. Ah, competition and technology - strange and wonderous! As John Lennon sang back in the early 1970s: "Power To The People." Right on! So, hang on, the future's coming even faster than anyone can realize..... 8/27 - Months after three local DC TV newsers debuted 4:30 AM newscasts, Channel 7/WJLA is joining the early news party. The DC Post reports that "Good Morning Washington" will start at 4:30 AM beginning Monday, with "GMW" newscaster Alison Starling in the anchor seat..... 8/27 - Rebecca Sheir, WAMU's special features reporter, will be the new host of the American University station's "Metro Connection." She replaces David Furst, who has hosted and produced the program since 1999. Sheir has been with WAMU, 88.5 FM, since 2009, covering news. Before moving to Washington, she reported for KTOO in Juneau, Alaska, where she hosted and produced the "AK" show on for Alaska Public Radio. Furst has been with WAMU since 1997, working as a reporter and on local segments for "Morning Edition," as well as with "Metro Connection"..... 8/27 - DCRTV hears that Ron Bennington, co-host of the "Ron And Fez" show heard on Sirius XM and long long ago on WJFK, recently had an attack of appendicitis, and is back at work after docs ripped out the ruptured organ..... 8/27 - From DCRTV's 8/27 Mailbag: "On WTEM's 'Sports Fix' yesterday, Kevin Sheehan announced that Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb will have his own show for 45 minutes every Tuesday during football season. I assume the format will be similar to last year's Jim Zorn show with Sheehan and Thom Loverro being the actual hosts asking questions"..... 8/27 - The largest section in Friday's print Washington Post? The "E" Classified section, which is 44 pages, of which a staggering 43 pages are housing foreclosure notices. By comparison, the main "A" news section is just 22 pages. Makes you wonder just how "recession proof" the DC area really is. Hmmm..... 8/25 - The Washington Post reports Wednesday that just four years after giving the Washington Times to his eldest son, the Unification Church's leader, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, is considering paying millions of dollars to buy back the conservative newspaper he founded in 1982. Moon wants to buy the Times back from his son Preston Moon, who has threatened to shut down the foundering broadsheet altogether, said Charles Sutherland, the Times's former director of development and promotions, who was laid off in May. The Post mentions "an unsourced story on the media news and gossip website DCRTV.com Monday said that the site 'hears that the Washington Times is close to closing,' but Unification Church and Times sources said the paper's future is far from clear." Still, the Post's Ian Shapira piece adds that some former staffers who remain close to key Times executives said reports of an imminent shutdown last week were at least partly true. "I heard that they were moving to shut it down, but those reports could have also been disinformation coming out as a negotiating stance," said a former Times staffer. "No money's being spent on anything. Everything's frozen." The Post also reports that the Times' circulation has dropped from 80,000 to 40,000 since the Times' layoffs in late 2009, along with the elimination of home delivery, the newsstand price hike to $1, and the end of the weekend edition. The Politico has more, including the report of a preliminary sale agreement..... 8/25 - DCRTV told you yesterday that Nikki Landry is out as afternooner at CBS's 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD. Now, we're hearing that Maria Dennis, who does middays at CBS's Baltimore sister Mix 106.5, WWMX, will fill-in on Landry's old shift at 94.7. Meanwhile, Landry has started her own biz, Nikki Landry Productions, which handles voicetracking, voiceovers, and imaging, at NikkiLandryProductions.com..... 8/25 - Got $1.2 million? You can buy Brunswick MD's WTRI (1520 AM). "Don't think they'll get that much," says a local radio guru. New ground system and five acres of real estate at transmitter site are included in the sale, according to radiotvdeals.com. The station, which is owned by a group headed by former DC101 and 98 Rock personality Buddy Rizer, has most recently been relaying Thurmont MD talker WTHU. Over the years, WTRI, which is halfway between Leesburg and Frederick, has been airing classic country, big band/nostalgic standards, and brokered Spanish..... 8/25 - Major Garrett jumps from Fox News to the National Journal to be its Congressional correspondent, reporting and providing analysis across all of National Journal Group's publications. He's been chief White House correspondent for Fox, where he spent eight years. Garrett will join Sue Davis, recently hired from the Wall Street Journal, to lead National Journal's Congressional coverage. White House correspondents Wendell Goler and Mike Emanuel will assume joint coverage of the White House beat for Fox News..... 8/24 - The Federal Communications Commission hits Nassau classic hits WWEG (106.9 FM) with a $4,000 fine for a contest rule violation. The Hagerstown station known as "The Eagle" ran a Father's Day contest in 2008 which was announced to be open until June 13. But a listener who attempted to enter that day was told by a station employee that the winner had been picked the day before. The FCC says that the contest was not "substantially" as advertised..... 8/24 - DCRTV hears that Nikki Landry (right) is gone from her afternoon gig at CBS chick rocker 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD. Contract not renewed, we're told..... 8/23 - Another DCRTV exclusive. DCRTV hears that the Washington Times is close to closing. A source tells us that Reverend Moon's son, Preston, was prepared to close the Times as recently as last Friday. A press release was reportedly ready for distribution when an apparent last minute and revised offer to buy the paper was submitted, we hear. Sources say that the younger Moon and another board member of TWT are "finished" with the paper and that they couldn't care less about any amount of money that is offered. "It is now about showing Daddy Moon who has the bigger cajones," a source tells DCRTV. " If this offer - and it is a reasonable one - is rejected, the paper could close its doors this week, just shy of 30 years in the Nation's Capital." According to a source with knowledge of the situation: "The paper has large debt load but there is a buyer. Normally, this would be a good thing for a seller. In the zany world of the Moon family, and the son's disregard for the family's wishes, it looks like the final edition is imminent." More soon..... 8/21 - I like John Henrehan. He's not only one of the best reporters at Fox 5, WTTG, but one of the best on DC TV. Period. And I'm glad he's getting proper recognition from the rival news folks over at Channel 7/WJLA. Because the Allbritton TV station's new news website, TBD, is linking to Henrehan's myfoxdc.com story on Metro stranding some passengers in Greenbelt. So what? WJLA is incompetent and didn't send a reporter to cover the situation that it felt warranted top placement on its TBD website? WJLA is lazy and simply didn't bother covering it? Or that WJLA really thinks that WTTG is a superior news operation? Whatever. Allbritton's "honesty" about the lackings of its own WJLA local news operation is somewhat "refreshing." Let's see it it pays off with deservedly slumping news ratings for ABC 7. Ponderous, man, ponderous..... 8/20 - Heather Smith is the new producer of WMAL's morning show, "The Grandy Group." She replaces Ann Wog, who recently left for a producer gig at Boston talker WTKK. Smith has produced nationally syndicated talk shows with Laura Ingraham, G. Gordon Liddy, and, most recently, Lars Larson. She also worked with the late Tony Snow at Fox News Channel and handled other assignments at FNC..... 8/19 - We're hearing rumblings that a format change or tweak may soon be coming to Nassau's adult contemporary Key 103, WAFY, in Frederick. This year, the station celebrates its 20th anniversary and the birthday bash could signify a change to a "hotter" adult contemporary sound, possibly to better compete with CBS DC's ratings-rising 94.7 Fresh FM, WIAD, for more female pairs of ears, we're told. As "New Key 103"? Stay tuned..... 8/19 - Last week, Allbritton, which owns Channel 7/WJLA and TBD/NewsChannel 8, submitted a filing to the Federal Communications Commission requesting that it impose conditions on the proposed Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal, which owns WJLA's local TV rival, Channel 4/WRC. Comcast has responded to the Allbritton filing. According to a copy of the document obtained by TVNewser, Comcast tells the FCC that the Allbritton filing is "without merit" and says it violated the FCC's established procedures for submitting documents that take issue with the proposed deal: "Allbritton improperly seeks to use this proceeding to extract concessions from Comcast while refusing to engage in reasonable negotiations, as the parties have in the past. In support of this transparently opportunistic purpose, Allbritton concocts a theory of harm that is belied by several important details about the parties' business relationship and discussions that Allbritton failed to disclose. The Commission should reject this misuse of the transaction-review process"..... 8/19 - CBS DC sports talker 106.7 The Fan, WJFK, has dropped sister Baltimore sports talker 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM, from among the three out-of-market CBS sports talkers it carries among its digital HD Radio subchannels. The WJZ-FM signal has been replaced with KRLD-FM, 105.3 The Fan, from Dallas. "It's football season, so we shuffled our HD 'Fan Sports Network' to cover each city in the NFC East - Washington, Dallas, NYC, and Philly," says JFK Program Director Chris Kinard. WJFK continues its relays of Philadelphia's WIP and NYC's WFAN..... 8/18 - It's no secret that some WMALers would love to get on FM, a la the Citadel talker's sister 105.9, currently a classic rocker. Still, it appears that some top honchos at Citadel are willing to give 105.9 The Edge, with its new morning team of Kirk McEwen and Mike O'Meara, more of a chance to build ratings. That station, which turns one-year-old this month, hasn't shown much traction in the overall age 12+ numbers, but it has scored well with some key male demos, often even placing above DC's two sports talkers with men in some dayparts. Put there's pressure on Citadel to relay WMAL on FM. Just this week, Atlanta's longtime AM news talker WSB started an FM relay. While it ranks 3rd with an AM-only signal, it's hoping to "pull a WTOP" and jump to 1st with an FM signal, too. You'll recall that DC all-newser WTOP, which always got good ratings, jumped into the stellar ratings category with its move to FM. At first, it ran its signal on FM and via its old 1500 AM outlet. But eventually, it became FM only. And now it's got a huge first place lead in the DC radio market. WMAL, which usually places between 10th and 15th in the DC radio ratings, could become a solid "top 10" player if it added an FM signal, some say. Public radio news talker WAMU, which has always been on FM, is always among the top DC radio stations, and usually way ahead of WMAL. "I do acknowledge that DC is a FM dominant market," a top WMALer tells DCRTV. But it appears that he needs to sell that argument to his bosses at Citadel..... 8/17 - OK, so WMAL is bringing some "new blood" to its programming department (see newsblurb below). Here's what Bill Hess needs to do: 1) Create a live and local afternoon drive show. Sorry Sean Hannity, but you'll air tape-delayed after 6 PM. If WMAL is to regain its stature as the top radio talker in the Nation's Capital, it needs to do its own afternoon drive show. 2) Put some liberals into the mix, including on the "Grandy Group" morning show. Yes, WMAL is right-leaning station, but mix it up a bit. More lefties, more blacks, more women would make the station "more like Washington." 3) Get on FM. Washington is an FM market and has been since the 1970s. And the best place to do that is by taking over co-owned 105.9. Have the station air on both AM and FM! That move alone would boost WMAL's audience by 30 percent. People under age 30 don't even know there's an AM band. Sure, I like Mike O'Meara (lefty) and Kirk McEwen (black) on classic rocker 105.9's morning show, but, hey, they would be cool additions to WMAL's talk lineup. 4) Restore WMAL's fulltime news department. Don't "shop it out" to Metro Traffic, like the station now does on overnights and weekends. Revamp the WMAL website to make it look like a leader in DC news, traffic, and weather. 5) Do a deal with the Politico or the Hill and become "the official radio station" of one of those resource-heavy Capitol Hill news organizations. Hey, Bill, you've got your work cut out for you. Now it's time to perform. WMAL can a be a great station once again. It's not too late..... 8/16 - DCRTV hears that Chuck Sapienza has been named program director of ESPN 980, WTEM. He's been the producer of John Thompson's show..... 8/16 - Local cable giant Comcast is currently advertising "Digital Starter Service" plus HBO for just $29.95 a month. The catch is that it's only for new subscribers and only for a six-month introductory period. The same level of service for existing subscribers costs something like $100 a month, with HBO alone being $20 a month. Doesn't Comcast know that super sweet "teaser" offers like this create a palpable level of rage among its current subscribers, who only get "rewarded" with steep annual rate hikes? Sheesh..... 8/16 - Hagerstown's Channel 25/WHAG is adding daily local news programming to better cover its Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia service area. A total of 11 hours of news per week, including additional coverage weekdays at 5:30 PM, Monday through Saturday at 7 PM, Saturday and Sunday at 6 AM, and Sunday at 9 AM. The NBC affiliate is also expanding its noon newscast to an hour. In addition, WHAG is opening a news bureau and marketing office in Northern Virginia to further support its expansion of its local news, web, and mobile services to "key areas of the growing Washington DC market," a station statement says. WHAG is carried by Verizon's Fios system throughout Northern Virginia, including the close-in DC suburb of Fairfax County..... 8/15 - MASN Nationals commentator Rob Dibble apologized on-air Sunday for comments he made last week about a group of women behind home plate. "Those ladies right behind there, they haven't stopped talking the whole game," Dibble said in the sixth inning of Wednesday night's Nats broadcast. "They have some conversation going on. Right here," he said, circling the offenders on the screen. "There must be a sale tomorrow going on here or something... Their husbands are going man, don't bring your wife next time." More in Dibble's blog at masnsports.com..... 8/13 - The DC Post has more on that Allbritton campaign against the Comcast-NBC merger. In ads running on WTOP and in his Politico, Allbritton Chief Executive Robert Allbritton says Comcast and NBC have bought up influence in Washington and urged regulators to consider how the merger could affect local broadcasters - he owns WJLA and TBD/NewsChannel 8 - who depend on Comcast to carry them. Allbritton tells the Post that Comcast has "hired every lobbyist in town" to talk up the merger and a speedy review. Allbritton has a huge stake in the merger, as Comcast carries his broadcast properties WJLA and TBD/NC8 on its systems locally, and WJLA competes directly against NBC-owned WRC..... 8/13 - All Access is reporting that Mix 107.3, WRQX morning man Jack Diamond (right) "is being courted for a syndication deal." And that McVay Media, headed by Mike McVay, will handle the national radio spread of the DC radio veteran. McVay also syndicates Donnie Osmond's new radio show..... 8/13 - I like the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang. They are one of the best sources for local weather information. But, I cringed a bit this morning when a Washington Post Metro section article on yesterday's big storms used the CWG as a major source for the piece. And the article doesn't even mention the fact that the CWG is part of the Post. Come on! Isn't that lazy writing and editing when a newspaper uses people who also work for it as story sources when there are weather sources a-plenty out there who don't also work for the Post to interview? You got Topper, Doug, Veronica, Bob, and Sue to start with. The Post likes to think of itself as a "pillar of journalism," but there's a awful lot of lazy "shortcutting" going on over there that maybe its PR-ish ombudsman should take a good gander at..... 8/12 - This morning, the new TBD.com linked to local crime stories at Channel 4/WRC's nbcwashington.com and at Channel 5/ WTTG's myfoxdc.com. That's kind of amazing considering that TBD is owned by Allbritton, which owns Channel 7/WJLA. TBD has replaced WJLA's website. So, in a very real sense, WJLA is admitting that its news coverage sucks and that you should be going to its local TV news rivals to get local news. If I was a news biggie at WRC or WTTG, I'd be putting together some sort of promotional hype that "7 turns to us for news." Maybe Allbritton will get its wish and generate even lower ratings for WJLA's news with all of the TBD "endorsements" of its local TV rivals' news coverage. Wow!..... 8/12 - DCRTV tipped you yesterday. And now we get official confirmation from DC's Channel 50/WDCW that it will air three Baltimore Ravens preseason games, including the Ravens-Redskins match at FedEx Field on August 21, the Ravens-Giants on August 28, and the Ravens-Rams on September 2. The games were to have been shown in the DC market on MASN, but the Ravens ended their deal with the regional sports network in early August. The August 21 Redskins-Ravens game will also be seen on Comcast SportsNet and Channel 4/WRC..... 8/12 - Allbritton Communications, owner of DC's ABC affiliate Channel 7WJLA and TBD/NewsChannel 8 in Washington, has asked the FCC to impose conditions on the Comcast/NBC merger to protect its regional cable news channel and to delay its decision on the deal until it can fully vet the implications of Comcast's distribution power in markets where it will have NBC owned stations - like DC with Channel 4/WRC - as well as cable systems. B&C has more..... 8/11 - The Baltimore Ravens have added Bonneville's DC all-news WTOP's digital HD Radio 103.5 FM subchannels - not its main signal - and the main signal of Bonneville's DC news talker WFED, 1500 AM, to its roster of seasonal radio affiliates. Also, Tribune's DC TVer Channel 50/WDCW will carry the Ravens' three final preseason games now that the team has ended its deal with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. The team's first preseason game Thursday will air nationally on ESPN and on Baltimore's Channel 13/WJZ. The remainder of the games will air on Baltimore's Channel 11/WBAL, along with WDCW. Meanwhile, Ravens top exec Mark Burdett said the team plans to announce next week where their five weekly television shows will air since the MASN split. Comcast SportsNet and WBAL Plus, a digital channel of WBAL-TV, are among the top candidates to run the programs..... 8/10 - It looks like Doug "Greaseman" Tracht is officially out of his gig at Jacksonville classic rocker WFYV, as the station switched to a more music-intensive sound. Yesterday, DCRTV reported that Tracht was going to be taking some time off from WFYV. A lot of time, apparently. Tracht, who was a "top 40" DJ at legendary Jacksonville AMer WAPE in the late 1970s, moved to rocker DC101 in 1982 (and got suspended for making a tasteless joke in 1985). And, in the 1990s, he worked at the old classic rock WARW (where he got fired for making a tasteless joke in 1999) and had a syndicated radio show on a few area stations a few years back. With a return to DC101's Saturday mornings as his most recent local radio gig. There are rumblings that he might end up at Citadel's classic rock 105.9 The Edge, which has an opening for an afternoon personality. Last we heard, Tracht still maintained a mansion in the hills of Potomac MD..... 8/10 - Here's a crazy sports radio scenario that popped into my head last night. OK, we just learned that Bruce Gilbert, who heads Redskins owner Dan Snyder's sports talker, ESPN 980, WTEM, has been hired by CBS Radio to head its sports talker in Dallas. Fine. But that leaves Snyder's Red Zebra broadcasting arm without a top manager, or a management team, since they're all gone, too, with recent cuts. OK. And we can probably guess that Snyder is kicking himself for starting his local radio business, which has garnered low ratings and little revenue. So, what about this? Maybe next year, after the Redskins season airs on WTEM, CBS swoops in and buys Red Zebra, making 980's rival, CBS's 106.7 The Fan, WJFK, the top dog and sole DC market sports talker, which would clearly boost its not-so-hot ratings. CBS could then use 980 as a second sports talk signal to air the ESPN national radio schedule, like it does in Baltimore with 1300, which is paired with local sporter 105.7. Or it could move its righty talker from weak 1580 to stronger 980 or to some of RZ's other local signals. And CBS could bring back Gilbert to run 106.7 - with the Redskins. That would be part of CBS's deal with Snyder to buy his stations - a long-term deal to air the team. With two major signals - 106.7 and 980 - CBS would have plenty of room to run lots of teams, even the Nationals. And Snyder could focus on giving DC a winning pro football team. Hmmm. Stay tuned..... 8/10 - DCRTV broke the story on July 23rd. Now, the August 10th Washington Post finally reports the news that Channel 7/WJLA has "indefinitely suspended" anchor Doug McKelway after a dispute with station officials about his coverage of a Capitol Hill protest against BP for its Gulf Of Mexico oil spill. Only days ago, DCRTV criticized media reporter Paul Farhi and the Post for not covering the three-week-old story. In today's piece, Farhi fails to credit DCRTV for first reporting the story..... 8/9 - Verizon's Fios has a huge package of Spanish channels. So now Comcast will bolster its "MultiLatino" tier in DC, Montgomery, Prince George's, Loudoun, and Fairfax counties. About two dozen new Spanish language channels join the Comcast Latino TV service on September 8. Also, Comcast will cluster its existing Spanish language channels - including DC TVers WFDC, WMDO, WQAW, and WZDC, plus MPT's V-me - to be part of the package, which will go from cable channel 558 to 651..... 8/9 - DCRTV hears that Kenny King, operations manager for Citadel's classic rock 105.9 The Edge, WVRX, will be doing the midday shift today. Probably bumping midday vixen Suzie Ansilio to the afternoon shift. DCRTV has told told you that 105.9 is activiely looking for a new afternoon personality now that Kirk McEwen has moved to mornings, to co-host with Mike O'Meara. By the way, King was once heard on the air when 105.9 was classic rock in the 1980s and early 1990s as WCXR..... 8/9 - DCRTV hears that former WPGC midday host Michel Wright was seen in the offices of WHUR last week. Hmmm. Maybe soon starting a parttime air gig at 96.3? Also, is that her voice on those "drops" for the new Majic 102.3? Hmmm..... 8/9 - There's an old Stevie Wonder song - "You Haven't Done Nothin'" - that applies to the fine folks at TBD, the new Allbritton local news website. For weeks, we've been "treated" via tbd.com to a golden stream of pre-start-up posts from TBDers about the behind the scenes activities at TBD. And, now that it's launched, there's a cringe-worthy blog about TBD itself and all the magnificant press it's getting, and more yadda yadda yadda about TBD. And yes, the journalism weenies at sites like Romenesko and Paid Content are having heart flutters a plenty today now that TBD's launched. But so far, as the Stevie Wonder songs proclaims, you TBDers ain't done nothin' yet. Time to prove yourself, and not to spend time "Angie Goffing" in the mirror and marveling at how wonderful you look. I hope that as TBD gets its "legs" it realizes that it's not the center of the media universe, even the local media universe. Its readers want local news and they have lots of other places to get it. They don't want to read the self-centered, pretentious ruminations by/about TBD staffers who are also lining up to kiss Saint Allbritton's royal arse. Hey TBDers, if you don't get busy fast, you'll almost certainly end up on the local journalistic scrapheap along with Backfence.com, Washington Post's Loudoun Extra, Newsweek, the Washington Times, and NewsChannel 8. Good luck..... 8/9 - This morning on WMAL, Fred Grandy said he believes that men who suffer from erectile dysfunction problems don't deserve to be covered by health insurance. He says he doesn't think it's an important health issue, even if it affects procreation, the overall emotional wellbeing of the man suffering from it, and even the stability of a marriage. There are many things that can cause problems with a man's ability to "get it up," and some can be serious health issues. You know, Fred's turning into a nasty, grumpy old coot who probably can't "get it up" for the shrill "Mrs. Fred," who has sadly become a regular guest on his WMAL show. And now Fred's jealous of all us guys who still can use our penises for stuff other then peeing, which old Fred probably can't do too well any more, either. What a terribly sad sack you are, Fred. And you still call yourself a man? Maaaaaaan!..... 8/9 - Will the last suit at Redskins owner Dan Snyder's ESPN 980 please turn out the lights. DCRTV hears that senior sports marketing executive Scott Lebhar is leaving the Red Zebra sports talker for a gig at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Just last week, Bruce Gilbert left his CEO gig at Red Zebra for a job overseeing CBS Radio's sports talk and news talk stations in Dallas. There are rumblings that Snyder may sell ESPN 980, WTEM, early next year after the pro football season ends. Possible buyers: Salem, Bonneville, or CBS, which owns rival sports talker 106.7 The Fan, WJFK? Hmmm. Stay tuned..... 8/7 - According to Paul Farhi's Saturday Washington Post piece on the upcoming launch of Allbritton's new local news operation TBD, "the heavy lifting will be done by linking to other news sources, including direct competitors such as washingtonpost.com and wtop.com, the two most-popular local web news sources in the region." Well, if you bother to check Alexa, which has traffic data for all websites, the Post's washingtonpost.com is indeed far and away the top local news site. But, according to Alexa stats, the websites of the Washington Times, washingtontimes.com, and the Washington Examiner, washingtonexaminer.com, get more traffic than does WTOP's wtop.com. Even WTTG's myfoxdc.com site beats WTOP, which ranks 5th locally among news sites, according to Alexa. WRC's nbcwashington.com places 6th, with WJLA's wjla.com 7th, WUSA's wusa9.com 8th, the Montgomery Gazette's gazette.net 9th, NewsChannel 8's news8.net 10th, WAMU's wamu.org 11th, and WMAL's wmal.com 12th. If you consider Allbritton's politico.com a local news site, it would place 2nd, bumping everyone else down a notch..... 8/6 - Your friendly webmaster, DCRTV Dave, talks to Rockland USA's Craig Luecke about the trend of local radio personalities turning to the internet and starting podcasts. And speculates about whether Howard Stern will re-sign with Sirius XM. Listen at rocklandusa.tv..... 8/6 - We hear more about Allbritton's new TBD local news venture, which launches next week at tbd.com and via a makeover of the company's NewsChannel 8. As DCRTV already told you, former Channel 5/WTTG news anchor Morris Jones recently joined NC8 and will be anchoring a new 7 PM hour-long newscast on the new TBD-TV, along with an 8 PM business and government show, "Capital Insider." Jones will also continue anchoring a half-hour 10 PM newscast, will repeats through the night. Also, at 4:30 PM, TBD-TV will air what's currently being dubbed "TBD Mojo," a "Talk Soup" kind of show with offbeat and entertainment-type news, featuring Click gossipers from Allbritton's co-owned Politico plus longtime DC TV movie critic Arch Campbell, who is now seen on Allbritton's Channel 7/WJLA, and a rotating batch of TBD's staff and bloggers..... 8/5 -When I switch between Channel 7/WJLA and Channel 9/ WUSA these days on my Comcast cable system I find the Home Shopping Network in between them and not NewsChannel 8. That's because I'm watching TV in the "800s," where Comcast has all of its HD channels. Allbritton-owned WJLA's on 807 and WUSA's on 809. But if I want to watch Allbritton's NewsChannel 8 I have to go "all the way down" to cable channel 8 in the grunky old standard-def section. With the upcoming relaunch of NewsChannel 8 as TBD-TV, the new Allbritton local news venture, it might be smart to give the cable-only news channel an HD feed and beg those kind folks at Comcast, who soon will own WJLA's rival - NBC4, WRC-TV - for placement of the new TBD-HD on 808, where it'll get some audience in between WJLA-HD and WUSA-HD. But maybe Comcast doesn't really want another local DC TV HD news outlet to compete with its NBC4 on 804, and won't put it on 808 - where it should be. Hmmm. Hey, this Comcast-NBC merger is gonna be "fun"..... 8/4 - You've got to wonder: Has Ravens management gone completely bonkers? Yanking the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network's status as the team's "official network" just days before the first of four preseason games? What's up with that? My sources tell me that MASN was completely stunned by the decision, and that their relationship with the team was always good. And I'm hearing the same thing from folks who work on the Ravens side. MASN and the Ravens were a perfect media fit. The Baltimore-based regional sports network provided an outlet for Ravens TV productions throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, far beyond the limits of the rather gimpy Baltimore TV market - one county to the south and you're in the DC TV market and one county to the northeast and you're in Philly. MASN gave the Ravens exposure to DC, Northern Virginia, the Eastern Shore, plus Harrisburg, Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, and beyond. So, without MASN, what are the Ravens going to do now to get their preseason games and, more importantly, their stable of seasonal Ravens shows, carried regionally? The only other option is doing some sort of a deal with Bethesda-based Comcast SportsNet, which already has a major commitment to the run Redskins programs, including the DC team's preseason games. Would CSN even have room for Ravens programs during the regular season? If so, the Baltimore team would be a "second status" pro football team on CSN. Not like the "top dog" they were on MASN. MASN loses without the Ravens, but the Ravens come off as losers, too, without MASN. Ponderous, man, ponderous..... 8/4 - PBS's "Antiques Roadshow" reportedly makes its first visit to Washington. Three episodes will be taped at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on August 21st. The show, along with its British cousin, is seen on WETA and MPT..... 8/4 - DCRTV hears that Shari Elliker will be on vacation Thursday and Friday of this week, and all of next week. This was a trip scheduled before WBAL radio (1090 AM) made her host of its afternoon news block, which debuted in early July. Former Channel 2/WMAR news anchor Mary Beth Marsden (right) will be guest-hosting the 3 PM to 6 PM show while Elliker is away..... 8/4 - DCRTV hears that longtime morning host Tom Tucker is leaving Martinsburg WV news talker WRNR-AM (740 AM) as of August 27th..... 8/4 - A female NPR intern was stabbed by another woman Wednesday morning in DC's Chinatown neighborhood, an incident police have described as a random attack. The victim's wounds were considered non-life threatening, police said. She was taken to Howard University Hospital. The incident took place at 7th and I streets NW, at about 9:30 AM. A witness tells ABC7 News that he saw a woman, who was dressed in business attire, lying in a pool of blood. The witness says he ran after the assailant and captured her. He described the suspect as wearing jeans, a halter top, and 3-inch heels. Police took custody of the female suspect. She has not been identified, nor have any charges been announced, according to WJLA..... 8/4 - LaDawn Black (right), relationship expert, author, and 92Q radio personality, is a finalist for the African American Literary Award in the erotic novel category. Black's book, "Tease: Steamy Short Stories," is one of four titles that are being considered for the distinction. The African American Literary Awards will be held on September 23 at the Harlemstage Gatehouse in NYC. Black hosts "The Love Zone" on Baltimore's urban contemporary WERQ..... 8/4 - The Coalition For Competition In Media, whose members include Bloomberg, Free Press, the Writers Guild West, and Media Access Project, has asked state attorneys general to investigate the potential Comcast-NBC merger. As legislators seemed to be lining up this week to support the deal, the coalition publicized a letter it has sent to the National Association Of Attorneys General telling them the deal posed a "grave threat" to consumers and asking them to investigate its impact on their states. Multichannel News has more..... 8/3 - Amber Theoharis expecting? That's what some MASN sources are telling DCRTV. If true, congrats..... 8/3 - A new national morning radio show for ESPN 980 afternoon man Steve Czaban? Looks like that's in the cards for this fall. With Sporting News Radio, we're told. More soon..... 8/2 - The radio trade pubs are reporting that Citadel classic rocker 105.9 The Edge is actively looking for an afternoon personality to replace the recently departed Kirk McEwen. OK, he's not dead, he moved to mornings with Mike O'Meara in early July. There was some talk that middayer Suzie Ansilio might move to afternoons, but obviously WVRX Operations Manager Kenny King wants a dude for the job. DCRTV wonders: Hey, what about Cerphe Colwell? The veteran male rock jock has been off the DC airwaves since spring 2009's implosion of CBS's 94.7 The Globe. Stay tuned..... 8/2 - I was waiting for it. And there it was on Monday. That full-page color ad (page B5) in the Washington Post from Pepco not really apologizing for taking upwards of a week to get all of its customers back online after that 25-minute storm front a week ago Sunday. Expectedly, Pepco kisses the butts of the governor of Maryland and the mayor of DC. And thanks all of its wonderful customers for offering "encouragement" to employees of the electricity utility. Oooookay. And maybe the troubled company should have thanked the Post, too. Maybe the ad will buy some favors with future Post coverage and editorials, like other Post big advertisers seem to be getting, including BP, Toyota, Comcast, and Kaiser Permanente..... 7/31 - A correction in Saturday's Washington Post: "A July 30 Style article about the increasing popularity of 'the DMV' as a nickname for the Washington region misstated the former call letters of WUSA, Channel 9. The television station was once WDVM, which stood for 'the District, Virginia and Maryland'." Yesterday's Post piece, penned by Paul Farhi, incorrectly claimed that Channel 9 was once "WDMV"..... 7/30 - DCRTV hears that DC's Tribune-owned Channel 50/WDCW has added a second digital subchannel, 50-3, to go along with its This TV relay on channel 50-2. A DCRTVer tells us that it's New Tang Dynasty Television, "a Chinese language station which, according to Wikipedia, is affiliated with Falun Gong and shows human rights abuses in China. I think maybe Channel 50 now has the oddest mix of programming around, teenage soap operas on the CW, one-star TV movies from '70s and '80s on This TV, and now 24-hour Chinese oppression"..... 7/30 - Paul Farhi pens a piece on the increasing use of the term "DMV" for the DC-Maryland-Virginia region on local radio stations, particularly urban contemporary outlets WKYS and WPGC. But, Farhi gets it wrong when he claims in the Washington Post article that DC's Channel 9 used to be known as "WDMV." Nope. It was WDVM in between its WTOP and WUSA days..... 7/29 - Will Allbritton's new TBD.com local news website abuse bloggers like a lot of other sites do? Here's what happens at a lot of other sites like Huffington Post and Mediaite that rely heavily on third-party sites, often blogger-type sites, for their news. They put up a link on their front page which takes you to another page (!) on their site that summarizes the story that they "appropriated" from the blogger. This page features ads, comments, and, yes, an obligatory link - sometimes just some highlighted story text - to the original piece. But, there's almost no need for most readers to click a third time (!) to the site where the story originated. So, basically, they "take" your story and keep the traffic on their site. You get some credit and maybe a little extra traffic. And, of course, no payment for your hard work. Let's hope that the TBD model is more "blogger friendly" than most of what's out there..... 7/29 - Vickie Burns, formerly news director of NBC's Channel 4/WRC, gets named news director of NBC's LA TVer, KNBC. For the past 15 months, since leaving WRC, she's been vice president of local media content and audience development for NBC's NYC TVer, WNBC..... 7/29 - DC-based radio talk show host Joe Madison (right), heard on WOL and Sirius XM, has been listed in Talkers magazine's 20th anniversary issue among "The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts Of All Time." "It's an honor to be listed among the famous and infamous in this industry. I just hope my God, wife, children and country are proud of me, and in that order," he tells the Redding News Review. Other DCers making the list: Arthur Godfrey, Laura Ingraham, Jim Bohannon, Mark Levin, G. Gordon Liddy, Bob Edwards, and Diane Rehm..... 7/28 - Salon editor Joan Walsh slams the Washington Post for not giving enough credit to Salon's breaking the story of the Arlington National Cemetery scandal. Walsh says that the Post's reporting "insults readers by ignoring Salon stories, which provide news/context for Arlington scandal." Mediaite has more..... 7/28 - There are rumblings that CBS Radio in Baltimore might move Jeremy Conn from afternoons with Scott Garceau to mornings on sports talker WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan. To join new morning co-host Steve Davis, who is currently paired with old morning man Ed Norris. There are rumblings that Norris could be cut loose when his contract expires later this year. And, we're also told, former WNSTer Bob Haney is being eyed as Garceau's new partner, filling the seat of Anita Marks, whose contract was not renewed back in January..... 7/27 - The Washington Post, WTOP, and DC TVers must love all these companies responsible for oil spills and wildly accelerating cars because they buy loads of "apology" ads. You've seen them. Those daily full-pagers in the Post where BP touts how wonderful it is and how it's oh soooooo busy cleaning up the oily goo in the Gulf. Or those TV spots all over 4, 5, 7, and 9 where Toyota tells us how its soooooo focused on safety, spending something like $1 million a minute to protect "you." Awwwwww. Well, in light of all these "we're sorry" ad blitzes, I was surprised when I didn't see a like ad from Pepco in the Post this morning. A la: We're soooooo sorry that it'll take a week or so to get your power back on after that 20-minute thunderstorm front on Sunday. And I wonder how much extra money media outlets make from companies engaged in PR related "apology" blitzes. It's got to be a lot. I just bet that the Post is lusting after those potential Pepco "we're sorry" ad dollars. Maybe we'll see a full pager tomorrow - and well into next week..... 7/26 - Radio One's urban adult contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3, names Courtney Hicks (right) as the host of the 10 AM to 3 PM Monday through Saturday slot. She's worked at radio stations in Chicago, Detroit, and, most recently, Mobile, Alabama..... 7/23 - A Hot 99.5 contest promotion for an "oil free" cruise to Bermuda is drawing criticism from politicians and businesses on the Gulf Coast saying it spreads "misinformation" and "reinforces the widely believed idea that oil is everywhere." More from foxnews.com..... 7/23 - Last week, I wrote about a friend who moved to a new apartment in Reston but couldn't get TV. Comcast turned her down because she owed a previous balance during a period of recessionary unemployment. She was on the wrong side of the building for satellite and had no luck with digital TV reception in her place. Well, as fate would have it, she found a note on her door Wednesday from the complex's management that Verizon will soon be wiring her building for Fios. She's looking forward to TV again, and, even with a nice income from her new job, she says she will never forget how Comcast treated her during her period of temporary employment difficulties - like a deadbeat. Way to go, Comcast..... 7/22 - Comcast may have to sell some NBC television stations - including DC's Channel 4/WRC - to get US government approval for buying General Electric's NBC Universal. According to Bloomberg, these are among the remedies the Federal Communications Commission or the Justice Department may require to ease fears about keeping television markets competitive following the $28 billion deal, antitrust analysts said. Comcast, the largest US cable operator, would get control of the NBC television network and broadcast stations, plus its Comcast SportsNet sports networks, in Washington, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, six of the biggest US television markets. Comcast also would acquire NBC's national cable networks, including Bravo, USA Network, MSNBC, and CNBC, and national sports and Olympic Games programming. DCRTV wonders: If WRC got put on the market, who would buy? Neither CBS or ABC owns its affiliated stations (WUSA and WJLA, respectively) in the DC market. We could see an ABC4, with Allbritton's WJLA 7 becoming an NBC affiliate. Or a CBS4 with Gannett's WUSA 9 airing NBC programming..... 7/22 - Jeff Kapugi, who was the operations manager of Clear Channel's Hot 99.5 until 2008 when he left for Tribune Interactive, becomes the Chicago-based firm's chief operations officer. He'll be responsible for the company's publishing, broadcasting, and interactive websites. Most recently, he'd served as senior vice president of representation for Tribune Interactive. Kapugi spent almost 20 years with Clear Channel and its predecessor Jacor, including many years in DC and Baltimore. Locally, Tribune owns the Baltimore Sun and Channel 50/WDCW..... 7/22 - Chris Russell announces on his Facebook page that he's leaving CBS Radio sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, for Redskins owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra-owned rival WTEM, ESPN 980. "I am proud, honored, and excited to announce that I will be joining ESPN 980 and the Washington Redskins Radio Broadcast Team," he writes on FB. "My duties will include pre, halftime, post, and breaking news/updates during the games with the voice of the Redskins, Larry Michael, and the legendary Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff." Russell, a former Sporting News Radio host, will also be a regular on the afternoon "Sports Reporters" show..... 7/21 - Former WMAL Program Director Paul Duckworth heads to Dallas-Fort Worth to take the PD post at Cumulus talker KLIF-AM. He fills the position that was occupied by Steve Nicholl, who died in May. In April, Duckworth got canned from his second round as PD at Citadel talker WMAL during a period of turbulence with its morning show, which saw the departure of Andy Parks, Fred Grandy walking off the show and threatening to leave, the shift of late morning man Chris Plante to mornings for a few weeks, and the eventual birth of "The Grandy Group" with Grandy and Bryan Nehman. Before WMAL, Duckworth programmed talkers KVI in Seattle and KPAM in Portland, Oregon..... 7/21 - Shame on Dave McKenna, the Washington City Paper writer who freelances concert reviews for the Washington Post. A correction on page A2 of today's Post: "The July 19 Style review of a Jack Johnson concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion misstated the title of a Steve Miller Band song that Johnson performed. The song is called 'The Joker,' not 'Space Cowboy'"..... 7/20 - Last Tuesday, DCRTV's main computer crashed. It was only two years old, but the hard drive and the power supply were simply fried. So, we got out a grunky, slow 2002 backup system and plowed onward. Thanks to the donations from so many wonderful DCRTVers, we managed to get the funds to buy a new system. And we're back up-and-running at full power. As you probably know, DCRTV is a one-man, totally independent operation. And if it wasn't for the very generous support of our visitors and advertisers since 1997 we simply wouldn't be here today. Again, many thanks! Now, full steam ahead with DCRTV's main missions - to cover local media news and to give you a powerful "voice" in the increasingly corporate media environment. And to preserve the wonderful legacy of Washington and Baltimore radio and TV..... 7/17 - In an ad in Saturday's Washington Post, area cable TV giant Comcast reveals that it's hiking its payment by phone processing fee from $4.95 to $5.99. And is raising its reconnection fee from $4 to $5. I guess the firm needs a few more nickels and dimes from its captive subcribers so that it can make more contributions to politicos on Capitol Hill to get its merger with NBC approved. Stay classy Comcast honcho Brian Roberts! Sheesh..... 7/16 - A DCRTVer tells us: "It's easy to tell which station in DC is the news station. Coming out of the 7 AM news, WTOP was right on top of the earthquake story, with an informative report from the USGS, while WMAL was droning on and on about Obama. I'm half expecting to hear Fred and Mrs. Fred claim the quake was Obama's fault. WMAL is a joke!" The 3.7 magnitude quake was centered near Gaithersburg and was felt from West Virginia to DC, and throughout Maryland and Northern Virginia. Even here at the DCRTV World HQ in Reston at 5:04 AM. The local TVer newsers first reported the official confirmation from the US Geological Survey at about 5:15 AM. No reports of injuries or damage..... 7/16 - Maryland Politics Watch reports that the Washington Post-owned Gazette newspaper announced that it is combining its Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Wheaton, and Burtonsville editions into one edition. They promise that each neighborhood will "get the same amount of local coverage as they have always had." MPW adds: "But that is hard to believe given the fact that each edition in the past has carried stories not seen in the other editions. Unless the paper actually increases in size to accommodate all the stories, this is a difficult promise to keep - and that, of course, would reduce any savings from the change"..... 7/16 - Oscar "Big O" Santana and Chad Dukes revive their "Big O And Dukes" show on the internet via a podcast at bigoanddukes.com. You'll recall that Oscar and Chad got separated just about a year ago when WJFK yanked the duo's midday show as part of the 106.7 flip from "guy talk" to sports talk. Chad got moved to afternoons on the CBS station, paired with former Redskin Lavar Arrington. While Oscar's been doing a podcast with former WJFK afternooner Mike O'Meara (who now does mornings on WVRX, 105.9 The Edge) via mikeomearashow.com..... 7/16 - A source tells DCRTV that the Washington Post was developing a news website specifically for the business center of Tysons Corner - a pay site - and had hired a designer for about $90,000 to develop it. Lots of reporters and editors involved. They pulled the plug this week when the Fairfax County government launched the same service for free..... 7/16 - A source tells DCRTV that the Washington Post is waiting to get Apple's approval for a Metro app that will provide transit info, plus links to its entertainment pages so users can find restaurants and theaters near Metro stations..... 7/14 - DCRTV hears that Washington radio management veteran Bill Hess, once programmer of WASH, WBIG, WTNT, and Air America, was seen today hanging around Citadel talker WMAL. Might he be interviewing for the vacant program director position? Citadel recently recruited Drew Hayes from Citadel's Chicago talker WLS to be its operations manager..... 7/14 - DCRTV has told you that the Baltimore-based Mid-Atlantic Sports Network has been working to improve its sports coverage to the Washington market, with a jolted website plus the addition of Redskins great John Riggins in afternoons. Now, we're hearing rumblings that DC-based (actually Bethesda-based) Comcast SportsNet is getting ready to reveal big news that will bolster its Baltimore base. More soon. Stay tuned..... 7/14 - Jenny Glick joins WBAL radio's newly-launched "Afternoon News Journal." The Chicago native held a batch of Windy City radio and TV gigs before heading to California, where she was a reporter and anchor for KCBS radio in San Francisco. In 2002, Glick joined Channel 2/WMAR, where she was a general assignment, breaking news, and education reporter for more than six years..... 7/14 - DCRTV hears that former WHUR morning man John Monds will be the new afternoon drive personality on Majic 102.3, WMMJ. He starts today at 4 PM, just as the station's 102 hours of commercial-free music promo ends..... 7/14 - Domenica Davis, a former weather reporter at Channel 11/WBAL, jumps to NBC-owned WNBC-TV in NYC to do weekend weather. She's been in NYC doing the weather for Fox.... 7/14 - DCRTV hears that WAMU is asking the FCC for permission to move its 105.5 FM translator, which airs Bluegrass Country, from Great Falls to Bethesda. While the 250-watt power level will be reduced to 99-watts, the antenna will on a higher tower, one of our tech gurus tells us..... 7/14 - So, yesterday a court threw out the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast "indecency" policy. Even though it was always an unconstitional infringement on freedom of speech, for many years the FCC just went about and fined many radio and TV stations for airing nasty words. Including the speech of local radio personalities like DC101's Elliot Segal and national shock jocker Howard Stern, back when he was heard on WJFK. While many listeners may not like it, radio and TV stations have the freedom to air the "f-word" and the "s-word" if they want to. But you've got to realize that the FCC's nasty word policy is just one of many big blunders by the federal agency that regulates communications in America. Look at the Commission's ruling for digital radio a few years back. By allowing digital and analog signals to share the FM band, the FCC has created a giant mess known as "HD Radio." With analog stations suffering interference, and low-power, ineffective coverage for digital signals. Several years later, the FCC's digital TV ruling was also a giant blunder, essentially making it impossible for many viewers to continue to receive over-the-air TV without coughing up mucho dough to subscribe to cable or satellite services. Now the FCC is on the verge of making another huge gaffe - if it approves the merger of the country's largest cable system owner, Comcast, and one of the largest broadcast TV networks, NBC. Allowing the marriage of the two will create a host of unpleasant conflicts. For example, Comcast will own DC's Channel 4, but also be relaying DC's other rival TVers to many thousands of subscribers. It's putting too much potentially un-competitive influence in the hands of one gigantic company. Come on, FCC! Time for yet another huge screw-up? I hope not..... 7/12 - "Direct Access With Big Tigger," the Channel 50/WDCW show featuring the WPGC radio morning man, has been picked up for a 10-week run in Dallas, Philadelphia, and Hartford. The weekly TV show attracts among women aged 18-34 and adults aged 18-34, often winning its time period. "We are very excited by the success of 'Direct Access' and look forward to debuting in other markets," said Eric Meyrowitz, WDCW vice president and general manager. The show airs at midnight Fridays and 11 PM Saturdays..... 7/12 - I have a friend who has no television options. She has new apartment here in Reston but can't get television, other than what she can see via her DVD player and her computer. But, because of her apartment's west-facing location in the western suburbs of DC, she doesn't get decent digital over-the-air reception with an antenna. And since her unit doesn't "see" enough of the southern sky, there's no Dish Network or DirecTV either. Verizon's Fios doesn't serve her apartment complex. Since she got behind on her Comcast bill due to a recent period of unemployment, the cable giant won't even give her its basic lifeline service unless she coughs up a $500 security deposit - which she doesn't have. While she tells me that while she misses the newscasts on Channels 4, 5, 7, and 9, she can "make do" with old movies on her DVD player. In the "old days" of analog TV, she could have put a portable TV with rabbit ears just about anywhere in her apartment and received watchable, if not perfect, reception of the local TVers. But since the Federal Communications Commission pretty much outlawed "free TV" with last year's problem-plagued all-digital TV conversion, you pretty much can't even get the local TV channels without paying for cable. And if Comcast says "no," you're out of luck. Like my friend and, I'm sure, others like her. Comcast cares? Yeah, right..... 7/10 - Is Radio One transforming its adult urban contemporary WMMJ, Majic 102.3, into something more like its Charlotte outlet WQNC, with "R&B From The '80s '90s And Now"? In June, WMMJ discharged its entire local airstaff. We're told it's hiring new personalities and has been hyping "something big." DCRTV hears that 102.3 started 102 hours of non-stop tunes and no ads as of 10 AM Friday. Maybe even pre-empting Tom Joyner on Monday and Tuesday. The music has shifted to attract a core of African American females age 35-to-44, about a decade younger than the previous audience. With more music from the '80s and '90s, we're told. New music director and on-air personalities coming soon. "The best minds in urban radio are working to hard to put Majic 102.3 back on top of the urban radio landscape in Washington DC"..... 7/9 - The Washington Post takes a gander at the various conditions the "FCCC" - the Federal Corrupt Communications Commission - will likely place on Comcast in order to approve its merger with NBC. Yet, it appears that the giant, impersonal cable company's many subscribers - many in the DC-Baltimore region - will walk away with diddly squat in the deal. The FCCC and its new head, Julius Genachowski, who was appointed by Obama, is why so many Democrats, like me, are starting to become incredibly dissatified with our new president. Joining the crowd of Republicans and Independents who have already turned on Obama. All told, Obama is no different than most of the previous presidents who have - consumers be damned - allowed big media companies to get even bigger and more inhumane. Comcast is so powerful these days that many newspapers, like the Washington Post, and other major media players, like rival TV networks and cable firms, are literally frightened to comment on the Comcast-NBC marriage, fearful of the gigantic, many-tentacled firm's revenge. And this is BEFORE is gets even bigger with its NBC-Universal addition. As Comcast, which continues to raise its rates every year, forces its subscribers to waste their money by buying expensive packages of little-watched channels in order to get the handful of networks that they really want. At the very least, the FCCC should require Comcast to offer its channels via an "a la carte" option to subscribers as a condition for its merger with NBC. Something that would save consumers many bucks every month. Come on, Genachowski and Obama, deliver something for we long-suffering Comcast cable TV subscribers, too, in this merger deal..... 7/9 - DCRTV hears that there was a WRC-TV mini-reunion this morning on NBC's "Early Today" show, with Craig Melvin, who was anchoring from NYC. "Seems Craig is on the network's radar," we're told..... 7/8 - DCRTV hears that Hot 99.5, WIHT morning man Kane (right) will be moving to Tampa by the end of 2010 to do the morning show on WFLZ, come early 2011. Like Hot 99.5, WFLZ is a contemporary hit outlet owned by Clear Channel. He'll be taking the place of the retiring MJ at the Florida station, we're told. Kane is currently heard on WFLZ's afternoons via voicetracking. We also hear that, as of now, there are plans are for Kane to continue to be heard live in mornings on Hot 99.5 from Tampa instead of from the Clear Channel DC radio complex in Rockville, with national syndication plans. Kane on his Twitter page: "No truth to that rumor." Kane's Hot 99.5 show is regularly in the "top five" in the age 12+ DC radio ratings..... 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..... Click here to jump to the Recent Rants page. Jump to DCRTV's Front Page or to the Mailbag. All original material on this website is copyright by Dave Hughes/DCRTV.