Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > July
July 2007
7/31: GMA’s Robin Roberts has breast cancer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts, who worked as a morning co-host at V-103 and a WAGA-TV sports broadcaster in the 1980s, announced today that she has breast cancer but she said she caught it early.
“I will have surgery on Friday, begin treatment and move forward as millions of people do when they hear this,” Ms. Roberts said, noting that she, like 80 percent of the 250,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer every year, has no history of the disease in her family.
I interviewed Roberts (above) when she came into town April for a book signing at the Margaret Mitchell House. She was unmistakably gracous and conversational.
Diane Sawyer today used Roberts’ recently published book about seven rules to live by to wrap up the segment.
“The woman who gave us seven rules for our lives has demonstrated every one of them for us through this and more to come,” said Sawyer.
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7/31: Project 9-6-1’s Vick jersey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Project 9-6-1 is selling a Vick jersey, since they are no longer available in most stores.. But Vick fans probably won’t be too pleased.
7/30: Fallon replacing Conan? Bye Bye “Simple Life”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry, Carson Daly. NBC late-night chief Rick Ludwin confirmed to Broadcasting and Cable magazine that former “SNL” cast member Jimmy Fallon is the lead candidate to replace Conan O’Brien in 2009 when O’Brien is slated to take over for Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.”
Fallon certainly isn’t as bland as Daly. Any other viable ideas for an O’Brien replacement?
And I’m sure this will generate howls of pain and sorrow: E! has finally canceled “The Simple Life.” The show starring overexposed “stars” Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, has seen pitiful ratings this season, with just about 800,000 viewers per fresh episode on average and a low of 493,000 July 10. The finale is August 5.
In the meantime, Comic-Con in San Diego is becoming increasingly important for TV, with the Heroes panel packed with fans.
TV shows have an almost bigger stake to be at Comic-Con than the film side, since fan support, or lack of it, is easily quantified and needed over a long-term period.
“If you don’t like the finale, you won’t watch the season premiere. If you don’t like episode five, you won’t watch episode six,” “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof said to those gathered at Thursday’s “Lost” panel, according to Hollywood Reporter. “We need to make ourselves accessible to you guys, and it might get brutal, but it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
7/29: On Hell’s Kitchen, the Coreys
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Waffle House cook Julia Williams was ousted last Monday as part of the final four on Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” but Gordon Ramsay took a liking to her. She clearly isn’t ready in terms of her experience in fine dining but she has great instincts and Ramsay not only gave her a free ticket to culinary school but a return invite to “Hell’s Kitchen 4.” Of the final three, it will likely come down to Jen and Rock.
Not much new coming up on TV this week. “The Two Coreys” on A&E tonight at 10, is purely a diversion only if you really gave a dang about Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, who co-starred with former 99Xer Steve Barnes in that classic film “No Witness.” Haim ends up coming across as pathetic and desperate.
If you are into reality, though, check out Bravo’s “Flipping Out” starring Jeff Lewis, an obsessive-compulsive real-estate flipper who has an interesting cast of characters surrounding him. But like a lot of these reality shows, his friends are his paid staff. That’s kind of sad. Still, it’s a fun show and he’s self aware he’s kind of nuts, that he needs psychics to help guide him through the day, plus an assistant who looks like a dead ringer of Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It’s far more fun than the show Bravo debuted last week “Welcome to the Parker,” which feels more like a grind.
Rumors are that Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd will the replacements for Star Jones and Rosie O’Donnell on “The View.”
And sure, Val Kilmer isn’t exactly in “Top Gun” shape anymore but he is appearing on the upcoming “Numb3rs” season premiere. The episode will be shot by Tony Scott, who directed “Top Gun.”
Plus, here are some teases for “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’a Anatomy”
7/27: Stews on XM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The 2 Live Stews will be joining XM satellite radio on the Power 169 starting August 13 as part of a Radio One syndication deal.
The Stews were on Sirius satellite radio from 2003 into 2004 or so.
And speaking of satellite, the two sides are trying to make a potential merger more palatable by proposing a more a la carte programming option.
One option will allow subscribers to choose 50 channels for just $6.99 — nearly half the price of the current standard subscription rate of $12.95. Under this option, customers will also be able to include additional channels for as little as 25 cents each. The second a la carte option at $14.99 will allow subscribers to choose 100 channels. There will also be an option for Sirius customers to get some XM programming and vice versa at $16.99 a month. There will also be family-friendly packages.
Does this seem reasonable? Would this make a merger more palatable?
Here are the details..
7/27: Kimmel’s victory lap in the ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After ignoring him for more than four years, WSB-TV embraced Jimmy Kimmel Thursday, flying him into Atlanta to meet and greet staff and clients at the TV station, feeding him at Blue Ridge Grill and plying him with drinks at Twist in Phipps Plaza. That’s where we caught him with his agent and various ABC reps for a victory toast. WSB-TV was the last major market station to add “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” his late-night talk show, to its lineup a couple weeks ago.
When WSB-TV invited him to come, he took two days off to do so. And the station kept him and his staff at the Four Seasons, where Jon Bon Jovi was staying, too. At the party, he opened by jokingly saying, “You may not know me but I’m Jimmy Kimmel. And I’m the new quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons.”
At Twist, a WSB-TV “Hot Topics” cameraman followed him around as he shook hands with various fans and non fans who had never really seen him before.
“I have no idea who he is,” acknowledged Whitney Pelletier (below), a hairstylist from Marietta, who nonetheless got her photo taken with him.
Another drunk woman, while I spoke with him, came up and said her daughter knew him and said he was Johnny Carson. “Oh, I’m not Johnny,” he said patiently. “He’s dead.” (A publicist eventually shooed the woman away after he signed an autograph on a napkin for said daughter.)
Others did know him and congratulated him for finally arriving in Atlanta.
Mark Borders (below, with his wife Kristi) had emailed WSB-TV a few years ago complaining about the absence of Kimmel. Amazingly, management saved the email and invited them to hang out at Twist Thursday night to meet him. He sat and spoke with them for a few minutes, then went out of his way to make sure they got pictures. While some of his staff drank heavy, he nursed an Amstel Light before cutting out at about 12:20 a.m.
Michael Canali (below) just moved from D.C. to Chamblee a month ago and brought his fiance Candice Dandurand to the table to give Kimmel props.
Among his entourage was the head of late night programming for ABC, his agent and Uncle Sal, a regular on his show who is actually Kimmel’s cousin. Oh, and Larry Wachs, formerly of the Regular Guys, who befriended Kimmel when Wachs worked in Los Angeles. Wachs is still seeking a job in a tough environment for edgy talk-show hosts like him.
7/26: Hot Ghetto Mess a mixed bag
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the end, “Hot Ghetto Mess,” inspired by the web site wasn’t quite the mess some African Americans anticipated. In fact, that wasn’t even the name of the BET show, which, at the last second, became “We Got To Do Better.”
At Fox Sports Grill in Atlantic Station Wednesday night, about 50 mostly African Americans invited by the national Rainbow/PUSH Coalition screened the debut hosted by comic Charlie Murphy. About half the folks liked the show, a few hated it and several were in the middle.
In recent weeks, several people online protested the show’s title and supposed intent, leading two advertisers — State Farm and Atlanta’s Home Depot — to request not to have their commercials on the show. While the executive producers and BET executives defended the show, the network didn’t provide a preview episode to TV reporters, a normal practice. The explanation: they weren’t finished with it until the last second.
“It’s really a social commentary show,” said co-executive producer James DuBose over lunch at the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead Wednesday afternoon. (He’s in town shooting second season of “The Keyshia Cole Show.”) “We’re trying to take responsibility and become more accountable for our actions by putting up a mirror. The show is trying to start a dialogue.”
If anything, the network did change the title of the show at the last second to placate critics, though on the show, it’s clear they had not changed Murphy’s commentary because he references “hot ghetto mess” several times.
The show itself is a blend of Jay Leno’s “Man on the Street” segments and “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” It attempts to show people’s ignorance of black history facts.
This is “the show you never want to see your mama on,” Murphy said, opening the show. “I mean, whether, you are black, white or otherwise, we can’t continue to do this.” By showing idiotic behavior on screen, he added, or as he said, people, “acting like damn fools, you’ll be less likely to replicate the behavior.”
Among the videos including bad singers such as a bunch of blacks in a farm setting eating candied yams and watermelon with flies on them and a dude with missing teeth who botched the “Star Spangled Banner.”
The “man on the street” segments, some of which was shot in Atlanta, weren’t nearly as entertaining as those Leno does because the comic working with the people (who only went by Sidney) wasn’t as witty and the answers weren’t nearly as amusing. In fact, the first question, when he asked folks “Who is richer: Bill Gates or Jay Z?” mostly got the right answer: Bill Gates. He got a couple of folks to say, if Jay Z released another album, he’d be closer to Gates. That still wasn’t funny. Ditto with the question about which one came first: blacks fighting in the military or getting the vote. Almost everyone got it correct. Sadly, most folks couldn’t identify Clarence Thomas, the only black on the Supreme Court.
Later, the show asked people to identify the acronym to NAACP. Most folks did not know that, but does that really matter? The fact is, even the NAACP will admit the acronym itself survives because of the meaning behind it, not the actual words because people don’t use the phrase “colored people” anymore, as in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. As
The most interesting one was asking people what the unemployment rate was among blacks. It was 8.2 percent but folks would say 45 percent or 55 percent. Naturally, the unemployment rate itself is misleading because it only identifies people actively looking for jobs.
While a majority of the videos featured blacks, there were also white folks doing stupid things like a car salesman falling off some mattresses on top of a car onto the ground and a redneck blowing a condom off his head. In fact, there was video of white folks at the Redneck Games, held each year in East Dublin, Ga., plopping into mudpits.
Janice Mathis, vice president for legal affairs for Rainbow/PUSH, organized several viewing parties in cities such as Los Angeles, Detroit, New York and Washington D.C. She said before the show she would be happy to cheer the show if it was any good but also ready to contact advertisers if it was offensive. In the end, she wasn’t sure what to think.
“I thought the history lessons were intriguing,” she said. “It’s nice to get that in an entertainment format without being too preachy. On the other hand, some of the videos were disturbing — even the [white folks] mudflopping.”
Most of the attendees were outside the 18-34 demographic BET is going after.
Dexter Porter, a 38-year-old mortgage broker from Decatur, called it a “minstrel show.” And even with whites in the act, “white folks can be minstrel, too,” he said, citing MTV’s “Jackass” show. “The purpose of BET is to dumb down the population.” Some criticized the show for featuring buffoonery.
“This takes blacks who are at the bottom of the barrel and we laugh at them and make fun of them,” said Rodney Coleman, a 35-year-old real estate developer from Atlanta. “It’s revised Jerry Springer for the new millenium. It’s ludicrous to think intellgent black people will learn from this. Intelligent black people aren’t even going to watch this show.”
Shelley Wynter, an afternoon talk show host on WAOK-AM known to be more conservative than most on the station, said he thought the show had plenty of redeeming value. “The show is not designed for you. Don’t look at it from your eyes but BET’s viewers’ eyes. It’s brilliant for them. How many watched Tavis Smiley when he was on BET? It was the network’s lowest rated show.”
“What they’re doing is saying, ‘If you don’t know this, find out about it,’ ” he added. “If you won’t find out about it, we’ll tell you about it. That’s a positive message.”
“This is something that wakes up your consciousness to how far we’ve fallen,” said Samuel Mosteller, a 49-year-old minister in Atlanta at the Good Shephard Community Church.
“It’s not offensive content,” said Latron Price, a 32-year-old consulting marketing firm owner from Ellenwood. “I thought it was designed to be comedic. I think it had a realness to it.” (He was happy they did change the show’s name, though.)
“Let’s not overthink this,” said Rhea Posey, a 33-year-old who works for a nonprofit. “We must do better. I agree. This will provoke thought.”
Ironically, this morning, VH1 is expected to announce yet another season of “Flavor of Love,” a show featuring Flavor Flav in a “Bachelor” style show. It has been the network’s most popular show ever but has been criticized for showing women (mostly black) being gold-diggers. “This is the show that sets blacks back 10 years,” said Wynter.
7/25: On Lost, Saving Grace, Big Love
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABC’s Stephen McPherson told TV critics Wednesday morning that Michael (actor Harold Perrineau) is coming back to “Lost” next season. No word on Walt.
TNT’s Holly Hunter drama “Saving Grace” opened huge Monday at 6.4 million viewers, holding 90 percent of the audience from “The Closer” at 9 p.m. And bury Treat Williams and “Heartland.” It drew just 2.1 million in its new 8 p.m. slot. (Then again, that’s about how much Fox’s “On the Lot” drew. “On the Lot” is the lowest-rated reality show on broadcast TV this summer — half the numbers of shows such as “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Age of Love.”)
HBO’s “Big Love” is moving back to Sundays after the finale of “John From Cincinnati” on August 26 for its final two episodes. “Big Love” ratings slipped about 30 percent on Mondays (though repeats will continue to air on Mondays.) The polygamy drama already has been renewed for a third season.
And here’s scoop on the seventh season of “24”, which might be based in New York or D.C. instead of Los Angeles. (It’s about time!)
If you’re a Jorja Fox fan on “CSI,” the chances of her character Sara getting out of that car wreck are looking might slim, if this TV Guide story is to be believed..
Here’s that Homer Simpson intro for Leno’s Tonight Show where he jokes that NBC stands for “Never Been Crappier.”.
Speaking of Jay Leno, he was merciless after Lindsay Lohan cancelled at the last second:
“We had Lindsay Lohan booked on the show tonight, but apparently she was already booked,” he said Tuesday. “It’s too bad about Lindsay. I thought our competition was ‘Nightline’ and ‘Letterman.’ Turns out it’s ‘Cops’ and ‘America’s Most Wanted.’
“I guess you’ve all heard the story by now,” he continued. “Early this morning, Lindsay Lohan was arrested on suspicion of DUI and possession of cocaine. She told cops she was just researching a role for a movie, in which she will play herself.”
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7/25: Star’s Cindy & Ray contract extended
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Star 94’s afternoon hosts Cindy Simmons and Ray Mariner (known of course as Cindy & Ray) have been given a multi-year contract extension. The pair started in early 2003 as one of the few personality-based drive-time shows in Atlanta and they’ve done as well, if not better on occasion, as the morning show Steve & Vikki. Their show sets aside about as much time as a typical morning show for talk, mostly pop-culture related.
The current contract is up in February of 2008 so they’ll be here at least through 2011.
“They do very well among women 18-49,” said Norm Schrutt, Cindy & Ray’s agent since early 2005. “It was wise for them to lock up afternoon drive because there’s going to change in morning drive.” (Vikki Locke has previously announced she is departing at the end of the year due to health reasons.)
Could Cindy & Ray go morning if need be? “That’s a remote possibility. The contract is open to that, but Star is comfortable having them do afternoon drive.”
Other stations have gone for more personality in the afternoons, too; notably, Ryan Cameron on V-103.
7/24: TV updates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Can you picture Drew Carey as the host of “The Price is Right”? It’s not a bad selection but he’s definitely going to bring a different vibe to the show, a smart alecky tone that isn’t terribly offensive but distinct from Bob Barker’s warm persona. Clearly, he’s a more acceptable choice than Rosie O’Donnell.
And [here’s an interesting story]http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i78ed7fdd05f8f5f53c3edbd23e2717ac) about that popular reality show on Discovery “Man v. Wild” in which host Bear Grylis is supposedly airlifted into a tough terrain (say, the Everglades or Iceland) with just a few survival items and a camera man. But there’s evidence he has occasionally bunked out overnight in motels and staged some of the survival tactics (like wrangling “wild” horses). Will this cause Discovery to abandon him? I doubt it. I always wondered how the camera guy managed to get around on some of that terrain, like crossing a freezing river, and such.
FX’s latest hard-edged drama “Damages” debuts tonight and it opens with Ellen Parsons, bloodied and battered, exiting an elevator and wandering the streets of New York City. What happened to her? Flashback six months and we start to find out. Unfortunately, the actress Rose Byrne, who plays the naive lawyer hired by powerhouse litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), conveys no depth, no feeling that she’s all that brilliant or all that interesting. While she’s the weakest link, Close is the bulwark in this affair. She’s amoral, she’s tough, she’s well aware she’s a bad mom. It’ll be interesting to see if viewers will find her an acceptable weekly presence like FX fans have embraced Tommy Gavin on “Rescue Me” or Vic Macky in “The Shield.”
And that BET show “Hot Ghetto Mess” that nobody has seen yet but are raising a fuss about? The network just changed its name to “We Gotta Do Better.” The web site mocks “ghetto” stereotypes but some feel glorifies them. The show debuts tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m.
Shows that have been renewed: a fourth season of both Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Hell’s Kitchen.” Plus, “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” was given 13 more episodes.
HBO has renewed “Big Love” for a third season, too.
7/24: March of Dimes promo this morn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every major Atlanta radio station this morning solicited money for the March of Dimes. I wanted to visit at least three locales where radio stations were raising cash.
Some stations put more effort into it than others. Star 94’s Steve & Vikki gave it a lot of airtime and had call ins from bacon-lovin’ Tom Sullivan at the White House restaurant in Buckhead. V-103 had its entire morning show at Gladys Knight’s Waffle & Chickens. Dave FM’s Orf and Holly Firfer hit a Starbucks in Marietta. “Southside” Steve Rickman at Eagle went to four different Chick Fil A restaurants. B98.5’s Kelly & Alpha stayed in the studio and directed people to the Web site and auctioned off some Airtran tickets for $4,000. 99X and Q100’s the Bert Show were on vacation and playing “best of” tapes this week so the March of Dimes wasn’t able to leverage the talent there.
I figured once I left my home at 7:40 a.m., I’d be lucky to hit three spots given the traffic — and I was right. I first hose Hot 107.9’s A Team at the Camp Creek Parkway Chick Fil-A in East Point first, but only Griff (below) was there. He said the station couldn’t get an ISDN line there, preventing a full live remote show.
Later, I dropped by Gladys Knight’s in Midtown, where Frank Ski and Wanda Smith were interviewing some dude who was ousted from “Making the Band 4” the night before. Ski said he’ll be leaving for the trip to the Galapagos Islands with 11 kids later this week, followed immediately by a trip to Mexico with a bunch of V-103 listeners.
At another corner of the restaurant, sister station morning host Lorraine Jacques-White (the longest-running personality on WAOK-AM) was at the helm promoting the “Breakfast for Babies”promotions.
And with only a few minutes before 10 a.m., I caught Lance Houston, afternoon jock at 94.9/The Bull, at the corner of 10th and Piedmont outside of Flying Biscuit where several March of Dimes volunteers were soliciting funds on the sidewalk.
As of early afternoon, the stations had raised more than $40,000 through a common Web site. This doesn’t include donations through the various participating restaurants.
7/24: Sidekick for Project 9-6-1? (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I got passed along an audio of an XM show called Ron and Fez where a contributor of theirs by the name of Perrynoid announced last week that he was joining “Giant” Brian Carothers on Project 9-6-1, presumably sometime next month. Here’s the audio.
(Oddly, boss Chris Williams sent me an email Tuesday morning denying this guy is coming to Atlanta or even joining the Giant Show. So if this was some elaborate trick or joke, it sure doesn’t seem to have any real payoff.)
Perrynoid endeared himself immediately by saying, “The Giant Show is doing mornings in Atlanta. We’re going to wake up the [expletive] hillbillies.”
He then botched the radio station name, calling it Project 1-9-6. Ron and Fez did note that syndicated shows in Atlanta haven’t done well and Stern has never been here (at least locally.)
“We’re going to sneak in undercover and under the radar, we’re going to take it by storm.” Perrynoid said.
He then sent a message to 99X: “When the Giant show rolls into Atlanta, all you [expletives] better pack your bags! The mad dog is loose! I have a chain and a collar and we’re all going to eat [expletive] and drink [something I can’t print.].”
A caller came in and told Perrynoid: “Tell that retard he got his numbers wrong. It’s 9-6-1.”
Ron and Fez gave Brian a good word, then Perrynoid added: “It’s really cool to hear a program director [Chris Williams] take a chance on something new in the morning.”
A starting date has not been set but it will likely start sometime next month.
7/24: Breakfast for Babies promo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every major radio station in town is participating in the March of Dimes “Breakfast for Babies” promotion Tuesday morning, in an unprecedented case of cooperation among competitors. Several are doing special remotes from various locales around town.
Here’s the latest list of appearance locales:
WUBL - The Bull 94.9 - Flying Biscuit-Midtown (1001Piedmont Ave, Atlanta 30309), 7-10 am
WBZY - El Patron 105.3FM & WWVA 105.7 FM - Doce Sabor 1360 Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30067
WSTR - Star 94 — White House, 3172 Peachtree Rd, Atlanta, 30305, Tom Sullivan only on site
WJZZ - 107.5 Smooth Jazz — McDonald’s on Roswell Rd (4326 Roswell Rd, Atlanta, 30342) Greg Fitzgerald on site
WPZE - 97.5 FM - Praise 97.5 — Chick Fil A on Wesley Chapel - (2445 Wesley Chapel Rd, Decatur, 30035) Promotions Staff onsite
WAMJ- 102.5 FM- Grown Folks Radio 102.5 — Chick Fil A on Wesley Chapel - (2445 Wesley Chapel Rd, Decatur, 30035) Promotions staff onsite
WHTA - 107.9 FM - Hot 107.9 — Chick Fil A on Camp Creek, (3410 Camp Creek Pkwy, East Point 30344) Morning Show A-Team on site
WWWQ - 100.5 FM - All the Hits Q100 — The Flying Biscuit (3515 Northside Parkway NW, Atlanta, GA 30327) Promotions staff onsite
WKHX - 101.5 FM - Kicks 101.5 - Chic-Fil-A 2975 Cobb Parkway, Atlanta, 30339 / Chic-Fil-A 2485 Cumberland Pkwy, Atlanta, 30339 / 2460 Windy Hill Road, Marietta, 30067 / 170 Cobb Parkway, S, Marietta, 30060
WYAY - 106.7 FM - Eagle 106.7 — Chic-Fil-A 2975 Cobb Parkway, Atlanta, 30339 / Chic-Fil-A 2485 Cumberland Pkwy, Atlanta, 30339 / 2460 Windy Hill Road, Marietta, 30067 / 170 Cobb Parkway, S, Marietta, 30060
WVEE - 103.3 FM - V-103 — Gladys & Ron’s Chicken & Waffles (529 Peachtree St. Atlanta, 30308)
WZGC - 92.9 FM - Dave FM — Starbucks at Merchants Festival (1401 Johnson’s Ferry Rd, Marietta)
WAOK- 1380 AM- 1380 News & Talk — Gladys & Ron’s Chicken & Waffles (529 Peachtree St. Atlanta, 30308)
WQXI - 790 AM - 790 The Zone — Waffle House, 1825 Pleasant Hill Road
WEKS 92.5 The Bear - Chic-Fil-A in Peachtree City, Newnan, LaGrange, McDonough, Griffin, Carrolton and Fayetteville.
7/23: Arrgh… Pirate Master is over… board
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Did anyone watch CBS’s “Survivor” ripoff “Pirate Master”? Anybody? Nope, me neither. But in case you did, you’ll have to catch the final five episodes on cbs.com. “48 Hours Mystery” is taking over starting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10 p.m.
Ratings were worse than last year’s “Rock Star,” and though some folks seemed to like it, the show to many seemed so derivative and pointless as to render even reality-show fans like me comatose. The show opened at 7 million viewers and had sunken to about 4.6 million last Thursday with very poor 18 to 49 ratings figures for a reality show.
Mark Burnett, who created “Survivor,” executive produced this dud, but still has “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader:” under his belt along with the resurrected “The Apprentice.”
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7/23: TV user factoids
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nielsen recently came out with some interesting facts about TV viewership you could wield to your buddies at work:
111,400,000 households in the U.S. have TVs, virtually the entire U.S. population of about 113 million. And yes, I do know a couple of folks without TVs. They do exist!
Of those households with TVs:
99 percent have color TVs
82 percent have two or more sets
52 percent have three or more sets
85 percent have a VCR
84 percent have a DVD player
64 percent have wired cable
32 percent have wired pay cable (such as HBO and Showtime)
Given my job, it’s not surprisingly, I can check off yes on all of the above.
Boob tube habits:
Peak viewing day for primetime: Tuesday at 112 million viewers. Lowest viewing day is Saturday at 88 million viewers.
The average person in the U.S. watches 4 hours and 18 minutes of TV per day.
The average woman 18+ watches 5 hours and 1 minute of TV per day.
The average man 18+ watches 4 hours and 15 minutes of TV per day.
The average teen 12-17 watches 3 hours and 3 minutes of TV per day.
The average child 2-11 watches 3 hours and 6 minutes of TV per day.
The stat sheet only broke down African Americans and Hispanics (not any other ethnicities.). The average African-American woman 18+ watches 7 hours and 14 minutes of TV per day; the average African-American male 18+, 6 hours and 15 minutes. The average Hispanic woman 18+ watches 4 hours and 14 minutes per day while the average Hispanic man 18+ only 3 hours and 35 minutes a day.
In the first quarter of this year…
3 percent of people 12 and older used a mobile phone to view videos.
8 percent of teens 12-17 used a mobile phone to view videos.
The top 10 local TV markets in order, in terms of number of TV households, are:
New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Philadelphia
San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose
Dallas-Fort Worth
Boston
Washington, D.C.
Atlanta
Houston
Atlanta has 2,205,510 households with TVs, only about 67,000 households behind Washington D.C.
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7/23: Atlanta’s Cumulus wants to go private
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta-based radio conglomerate Cumulus Media, which owns Q100 and 99X, is seeking to take the company private at a value of $1.3 billion. That’s equivalent to $11.75 per share, 40 percent higher than the Cumulus closing price Friday.
Businesses in general are on a private equity binge and with radio out of favor with investors, going private is a temptation. Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio company, is also seeking to go private. Lew Dickey and the family, according to my colleage Scott Leith’s story is working with Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. Cumulus owns or operates about 344 stations nationwide, mostly in smaller markets, generating $334 million last year on a net loss of $44.6 million (which included an impairment charge of $63.4 million to reduce the carrying value of certain broadcast licenses and goodwill.)
Generally, this means down the road, we’ll know less about the financials of Cumulus stations over time. It doesn’t necessarily bode ill or well for any particular station. Q100 and 99X used to be owned (until last year) by a privately-held company named Susquehanna. And Star 94 has been privately held for decades. Most of the major stations in town are owned by publicly traded companies: Cox (the Beat, B98.5, WSB-AM, the River, Kiss), Citadel (Kicks, Eagle), Radio One (Smooth Jazz, Grown Folks Radio, Hot, Praise), Clear Channel (El Patron, Viva, the Bull, Project, WGST-AM), Salem (e.g. the Fish, WGKA) and CBS (V-103, WAOK-AM, Dave FM). The Zone operates through a contract with Lincoln Financial, which owns Star. The Fan is privately held through Dickey Broadcasting, which is not owned by Cumulus despite the Dickey connection.
7/23: Fox 5’s new ‘Road Warrior,’ weekend weather gal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fox 5 has stayed internal to find a replacement for its “Good Day Atlanta” “Road Warrior.” Mark Hyman, a former WSB-TV reporter, who has been at WAGA-TV since 2004 has gotten the job, replacing Bret Martin, who left under murky circumstances in early June. The Road Warrior handles quirky, human-interest stories in the morning and under Martin, was the “American Idol” expert.
Here’s Hyman’s bio.
WAGA-TV also has hired a new weekend meteorologist: Joanne Feldman. Orelon Sydney, who had been doing weekends, was a free-lance fill in and will still pop in on Fox 5 on occasion.
Here are excerpts from her bio from her old TV station in Charlotte:
She grew up in Marietta and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia with a bachelor of science degree in Geography with an emphasis on Meteorology, Climatology, and Cartography. While attending UGA, she was named Phi Beta Kappa and worked in the university’s Climate Research Lab studying the climatology of convective windstorms. She also worked behind the scenes at the Weather Channel.
She headed north for the highly-regarded graduate program in Meteorology at Penn State University - which she attended on a scholarship from the American Meteorological Society.
Her broadcasting career began when she was one of two graduate students selected to present weathercasts on the University’s daily weather magazine, “Weather World”. She was then offered a job as the weekend meteorologist at KMPH in Fresno, California.
She remained in Fresno to work at KFSN, the ABC-owned station, as the weekend meteorologist. But her duties soon expanded to include anchoring the news for the station’s top-rated morning show. She then moved to WTVD-TV in Charlotte.
In her spare time, she can be found sharing her fascination with weather in Triangle classrooms, at one of the many area ice rinks attempting to perfect a toe loop or a camel spin (no double Axels just yet), in a ballet class, on the driving range with her son, or out jogging with her baby girl in tow.
Joanne and her husband, Chris, are the very proud parents of Cameron, born in 1997, and daughter, Carys (pronounced Care-iss), born in 2005.
7/22: Vick and the Zone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Matt Edgar called me last week and I forgot to post it but after the Mike Vick indictment, the station personalities were inundated with requests for “expert” voices about the situation from dozens of other radio stations nationwide as well as all four local TV stations, CNN, Fox and ESPN. For the Zone (and the Fan), this is a monster story, one they’ll be covering heavily for weeks to come.
Too bad we don’t have the “people meter” measures yet which would enable much more accurate daily and weekly ratings measurements. That way, we could see a big jump in listenership for both stations. But we’ll never really know. Currently, under the old system of Arbitron diaries, you can’t really track ratings in a given day or week. With Arbitron, you are lucky to get semi-accurate “monthly” numbers and passable quarterly figures. (The spring book is out in about 10 days.) The new “people meters” aren’t coming to Atlanta until fall of 2008. So far, only Houston and Philadelphia have the people meters and they indicate much higher “cume” levels, meaning people listen to a lot more stations than they indicate in a paper diary. But time spent listening isn’t quite as robust either. Rock, adult contemporary and oldies stations seem to benefit under the new system. Hispanic and black stations, not as much.
7/20: Ramona out at Hot 107.9 (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Long-time mid-day jock Ramona DeBreaux is no longer at Hot 107.9. Hot just let her go Thursday, no explanation given beyond the standard “we want to go in a different direction” routine. Her name has been wiped off the Web site though her page hasn’t yet been completely eliminated.
Above is her photo off her myspace page.
I got a hold of her Friday afternoon (though her boss Wayne Brown hadn’t gotten back to me as of 5 p.m. Friday). She’s been at the station since the beginning in 1995, first doing overnights, helping out Ryan Cameron a bit as morning co-host in the late 1990s, then mid-day gal the past seven-plus years.
Amazingly, on a top 10 station in a top 10 market, DeBreaux did not have a contract until last year. Although she wouldn’t say how much she had been paid over the years, she admitted she was probably underpaid compared to other jocks in town. She only got a contract when another station she wouldn’t name wooed her. (My guess is it was V-103) To justify the fact Hot kept her around with no contract for so long, she said enjoyed the experience of learning radio, that Hot enabled her to do all sorts of amazing things like fly to London to interview people at Live 8 like Bono and attend both the Republican and Democratic conventions. “It wasn’t about the money,” she said, on why she turned down other opportunities at higher pay. “Just give me a fair salary.”
And she felt some level of loyalty to Hot for helping her get her start.
“There were definitely individuals who made a lot of positive things happen for me,” she said, including Mary Catherine Sneed, former Radio One COO who started Hot 107.9 12 years ago and hired her. (Sneed left more than a year ago.)
DeBreaux didn’t have a clue the firing was coming. She said her ratings have been solid, outperforming mornings and afternoons.
“I didn’t feel burnt out,” she said. “It seemed like second nature for me. It became philanthropy for me. Wow! I can help people get past a lot of problems. That really became a big thing for me.”
She’s done voice work, self-published a relationships book and has some TV deals cooking. DeBreaux overall sounded very upbeat, not upset at all. “For me,” she said brightly, “the skies the limit!”
7/19: Mad Men worth catching
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AMC’s very first original drama “Mad Men,” about suave, casually sexist ad executives in the early 1960s, is worth checking out tonight at 10 p.m. I wish I had had time to write a more detailed review of it, but it captures a time when women were still in the steno pool and not much more and Jews and blacks were marginalized by the bigwigs on Madison Avenue. It’s a beautifully shot series, capturing the smoky haze and fashion of the time, and based on the first episode, seems to revel in more style than substance.
The lead adman Don Draper (Jon Hamm) has to figure out how to market Lucky Strikes just as people are realizing that cigarettes are bad for you. But it is amusing to watch people smoking everywhere and anywhere - heck, even the gynecologist puffs away as he examines a patient, a new secretary (Elizabeth Moss) who figures out quickly that sex is power.
Oh, and on a completely different note, MTV is cancelling MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” hosted by Xhibit after the final eight episodes in favor of “Trick It Out,” another car makeover show starring former “American Idol” semifinalist Becky O’Donohue.
7/19: Turner Emmy nominations
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had some time this afternoon to scan the entire list of Emmy nominations and Turner Broadcasting didn’t do too badly.
TNT took home 11 nominations, Cartoon Network (including Adult Swim) grabbed three and Turner Classic Movies, one. (TBS was shut out.)
In the most major category, Kyra Sedgwick, who has already won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of transplanted Atlanta detective Brenda Johnson on TNT’s “The Closer,” nabbed her first Emmy nomination for best actress in a drama series.
“Robot Chicken,” the manic sketch comedy show featuring action figures on Adult Swim, is vying for best animated program airing an hour or less, while “Camp Lazlo” and “Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends,” both on Cartoon Network, are nominated for best animated program airing an hour or more.
TNT’s “The Ron Clark Story” received nominations for both best made-for-TV movie and outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie, courtesy of Matthew Perry, who portrayed Clark, an educator building the private, non-profit Ron Clark Academy in south Atlanta.
On a sidenote, in the best musical number category, the SNL short/Internet sensation “[Gift] in a box” with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samburg was nominated. And you know what the gift is, right?
The very funny musical cuts from the “Scrubs” musical episode, “Guy Love” and”Everything Comes Down to Poo” also generating noms.
And sniffing around the Web, some other Emmy omissions critics are opining about include Lauren Graham (again) for “The Gilmore Girls,” Michael Hall in “Dexter,” Kyle Chandler for “Friday Night Lights,” Michael Chiklis from “The Shield,” Terry Crews for “Everybody Hates Chris,” HBO’s “Deadwood” and “Rome.”
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7/19: Emmys embrace The Sopranos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Emmys in September will likely be a farewell fest for HBO’s seminal series “The Sopranos.” The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gave the departed drama 15 nominations this morning. Nobody is shocked by that.
Edie Falco, James Gandolfini, Aida Turturro and Loraine Bracco all were nominated in their respective categories.
In the best drama category, “The Sopranos” joins expected nominees “House,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and newcomer “Heroes.” A mild surprise: ABC’s “Boston Legal,” which beat out previous nominees such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost,” which bounced back from a shaky second season. James Spader is a favorite of the academy, though, having won best dramatic actor in 2005. Past winner “24” had a subpar season so its absence isn’t going to cause any tears. “The Sopranos” will win.
NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” a critics favorite but ratings disappointment, could have used any boost, even a modest one like an Emmy nomination, but it came up short. Other possibilities that could have made the grade over “Boston Legal” included HBO’s “The Wire,” Showtime’s “Dexter,” SciFi’s “Battlestar Galactica” and FX’s “The Shield.”
Over in the comedy category, freshman NBC series “30 Rock” did sneak into the fold despite relatively poor ratings while bigger freshman success “Ugly Betty” on ABC also made the cut. The others that got in included last year’s winner “The Office,” followed by HBO’s “Entourage” and CBS’s “Two and a Half Men.” Given the general paucity of great comedies in general, it’s hard to say if the Academy really left anything out here. “Scrubs” has seen better days and “My Name is Earl” wasn’t quite as endearing the second time around. “Ugly Betty” could win this category but “The Office” in its third season deserves the victory.
Spader, as noted, was given another nomination for best actor. That man can chew scenery! Despite the problems with “24,” Kiefer Sutherland was nominated again as well, as was Hugh Laurie for “House” and Denis Leary for “Rescue Me.” But naturally, Gandolfini is the instant favorite to win it all. All are repeat nominees. Someone had leaked a “short list” on the Web a couple weeks ago that had also included Eddie Izzard of “The Riches,” who I would have voted for.
Ricky Gervais (“Extras”) did nab his first Emmy nom as best actor in a comedy series, joining another newbie (in a sense) Alec Baldwin, for his hilarious, Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock.” The other three were usual suspects: former winner Tony Shalhoub for “Monk,” Charlie Sheen for “Two and a Half Men” and Steve Carrell for “The Office.” Baldwin is the conventional favorite.
Six nominees managed to land in the best female in a drama series, including Golden Globe winner Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”), 2006 winner Mariska Hargitay on “Law & Order: SVU,” 2005 winner Patricia Arquette for “Medium” and 2003 winner Edie Falco (“The Sopranos.”) Favorite actress Sally Field (“Brothers and Sisters”) joined the fray and she deserves it. Another actress who made a big name for herself in motion pictures Minnie Driver is the other nominee for “The Riches.” I hated her performance at first but she did improve as the season went along. Sedgwick or Field will probably vie for the victory in this category.
On the comedy actress side, favorite America Ferrara from “Ugly Betty” naturally got a nom and will likely win, as she did at the Golden Globes. Tina Fey in “30 Rock” got a nom, too, though she didn’t capture her comic timing until later in the season. 2005 winner Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) and 2006 winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”) also made the cut. Mary-Louise Parker grabbed her first nomination in this category for “Weeds,” a Showtime comedy that’s starting season three next month. There weren’t a lot of repeats from 2006 because the four actresses from last year besides Louis-Dreyfus were on shows that are no longer airing fresh episodes.
Over in the female supporting roles, “The Sopranos” (Bracco, Turturro) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (Katharine Heigl, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh) hogged the drama series category, with Rachel Griffiths of “Brothers and Sisters” the only other nominee. Two “Two and a Half Men” ladies (Conchata Ferrell, Holland Taylor) joined repeat nominees Jaime Pressly (“My Name is Earl”) and Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”), first-time and deserving nominee Jenna Fischer (“The Office”) and equally deserving Vanessa Williams (“Ugly Betty.”) on the comedy side. I’m rooting for Fischer though Pressly and Williams could take it home. It’s hard to say who could win the supporting female role though it could go to Turturro or Bracco.
For the men, 2006 winner Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”) and repeat nominee Jon Cryer (“Two and a Half Men”) welcome three newcomers: Piven’s mate Kevin Dillon (“Entourage”) and Rainn Wilson (“The Office.’) and Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”). And on the drama side, 2005 winner William Shatner (“Boston Legal”) and repeat nominee Terry Quinn (“Lost”) also bring up three quality newbies to the game: Masi Oka (‘Heroes”), T.R. Knight (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Michael Emerson (“Lost”). I’d say Oka and Emerson both have a solid chance of overcoming the Academy’s love for Shatner.
For the full list of nominees, go to www.emmys.org
7/18: ABC News Atlanta, Boortz items
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
According to several broadcast news web sites, including subscription-only www.newsblues.com, the ABC News bureau has been downsized.
The bureau chief, two photogs, an editor, a soundman/sat truck operator, two people in the business office, and the entire NewsOne (affiliate feed) operation were cut. A correspondent, a producer, a desk person, and a tech manager survived.
Meanwhile, WSB-AM’s Neal Boortz has been nominated for syndicated personality of the year for the third time vying for a Marconi Award, a prestigious honor from the National Associaton of Broadcasters. He has yet to win. He’s up against Delilah (heard locally on B98.5); Kidd Kraddock (he’s based out of Dallas and does a top 40 show which Bert Weiss used to be a part of many moons ago.); former WGSTer and current WSB-AM talker Sean Hannity and TV star and standup comic Steve Harvey (heard locally on Grown Folks radio 102.5). Winners will be announced in September.
And folks who are wondering where Ms. Mary the Sports Diva has gone on 790/The Zone’s 2 Live Stews show, she’s also the Stews behind-the-scenes manager and she decided to focus on that rather than the glory of mike time.
7/18: Engvall opens big
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“The Bill Engvall Show” on Atlanta’s TBS opened big last night, at least big by basic cable standards, bringing in 3.9 million viewers. That’s not quite as big as “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” a few weeks ago, which started at 5.5 million but has since fallen sharply, averaging 2.3 million last Wednesday.
TBS, after failing with insufferably bad reality fare (“The Real Gilligan’s Island,” “Outback Jack”), has begun doing its own scripted sitcom fare. Last year’s so-so “My Boys” did just okay, opening at about 1.8 million. The other semi-scripted show “10 Items or Less” didn’t do particularly well but got a second season of 8 episodes. That’s expected to come back early next year.
Engvall actually did better than I had expected. I think if he settles around 3 million viewers a week, TBS will guarantee him more episodes beyond the eight that have been taped. If he drops to 2 million viewers next week, TBS would have reason to be worried but if he loses 20 percent or less, the network will likely give him a quick green light.
In other ratings news, NBC’s “The Singing Bee” dropped about 20 percent its second week, finishing last night at about 11 million viewers. That’s not atypical for a new show but among 18 to 49 year olds, it fell nearly 30 percent. NBC can’t be too thrilled with that.
And only 5 million people bothered to check out the one-hour special Monday following Victoria (yawn) Beckham around.
And “Heroes” fans, Masi Oka, who plays Hiro, told critics at the Television Critics Association press tour I’m not at that he will remain in feudal Japan for at least eight episodes and meet his childhood samurai hero as well as a princess. More here. Mark your calendar: “Heroes” returns Sept. 24.
7/18: Chuck Smith is out at the Zone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former NFL player Chuck Smith is out as mid-day host at 790/The Zone, according to Neal Maziar, the station director. He left Friday after two years at the station.
To many Zone listeners, the mid-day show never quite gelled with Smith and Matt Chernoff. In fact, the Zone recently added back Chuck Oliver to the mix.
The timing of Smith’s departure coming so soon after Oliver’s return fueled speculation that the two didn’t get along. Maziar said that wasn’t the case. “I don’t think there was bad blood between the two guys,” he said. In the end, Maziar said the split with the station was amicable and “he had a nice run.”
Smith, Maziar said, will continue to run his defensive lineman university camp and a separate camp for high school students.
I haven’t been able to get a hold of Smith yet but if I do, I will update this entry.
His bio is no longer on 790/The Zone but it’s cached on google. Here’s that bio, verbatim:
While attending Clarke Central High School in Athens, GA, Chuck’s abilities on the playing field pushed him to the forefront of the high school level and awarded him a full athletic scholarship to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. His willingness to play hard and make big plays allowed him to be honored as an All American and All Southeastern Conference. Chuck played in the Sugar and Fiesta Bowls during his college career and in his senior year he was selected to play in the College Senior Bowl, his awesome performance earned him the title of Most Valuable Player.
After entering the NFL draft in 1991, Chuck was selected in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons where he played for eight years. As team captain of the 1998-1999 Atlanta Falcons, Chuck helped lead them to Super Bowl XXXIII, their first in team history. In 2000, Chuck became a free agent and moved to the Carolina Panthers where he retired. Chuck’s athleticism earned him numerous awards and honors during his professional football career including being voted “Best Defensive Lineman in Team History” by the Atlanta Falcon Fans, NFL Quarterback Award, NFL Unsung Hero Award (1998), Howie Long Tough Guy Award, 4 Time Pro Bowl Defensive End (Alternate), Sporting News Football Digest All Pro Team (1997) and 1998 Super Bowl XXXIII Captain. Chuck retired from the NFL in 2001 to pursue a career in broadcast journalism but will always remains a part of Falcons history as the #1 player in fumbles recovered and the #2 player in sacks with 581/2.
7/17: Engvall’s show debuts tonight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘
Here’s Bill Engvall visiting the Dave FM studios July 13. CREDIT: RODNEY HO
I wrote a story for the print edition today about Bill Engvall’s new TBS show.. It debuts tonight at 9.
Engvall, best known until now as Jeff Foxworthy’s bud on Blue Collar Comedy Tour and “Blue Collar TV,” is known as a “clean” comic and this show reflects his on-stage act. It’s family friendly and incredibly innocuous with Engvall playing a Denver family counselor with a sweet wife (Nancy Travis) and three kids ripped straight out of casting central. There’s the semi-slacker middle son, the neurotic, smarter-than-thou younger son and the mildly rebellious oldest daughter. It’s not going to win any critical acclaim and it’s nothing special per se but Engvall has a sweet, laidback quality about him that’s easy to take. And Travis is inherently likable. My biggest objection is the youngest son, who is given lines that no actual person would ever say unless they were on a sitcom.
Engvall himself is a truly nice, down to earth guy. While he might be perceived as a man who has lived in Foxworthy’s shadow, this show should give him a chance to break that image.
7/17: Is this “talent”?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two words: Boy Shakira.
Yes, this chubby guy made it through for simply dressing up kind of like Shakira and wiggling his money maker in a way that inexplicably mesmerized judges Piers Morgan and Sharon Osborne but rightfully repulsed David Hasselhoff (and me.) He didn’t even sing badly (like Shakira herself.)
Yet he is one of the 20 acts competing tonight to win $1 million on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
Seriously, there are some talented folks in this bunch, mostly singers and dancers who wouldn’t qualify on those other reality shows for various reasons. But there is an impressive [singing ventriloquist Terry Fator]http://www.lizgregorytalent.com/Terry%20Fator.htm), some cool martial arts dancers called Sideswipe, a rope slinger named Johnny Lonestar, plus-sized burlesque group the Glamazones, an incredible magician named Kevin James (and wasn’t on “King of Queens”) and a beatboxing gal named Butterscotch who isn’t quite as good as Blake Lewis of “American Idol” but got more airtime than virtually anybody. Here’s Butterscotch’s round two audition.
Some of my favorite musicians include Cas Haley, the Texas acoustic guitarist and singer; Manuel Romero, a sexy 18-year-old singer guitarist who could actually do well on “Idol”; a unique teen Rockabilly group Jonny Come Lately; and sweet and talented 14-year-old Julienne Irwin, the youngest in the top 20.
Then there’s another headscratcher: Mohammad Kashif, the Indian dancer who is oddly interesting but certainliy not worth being in the top 20. I would have preferred the Redneck Tenors, who made the final 35 but not the top 20.
Clearly, the judges wanted a couple of ridiculous entries just to get people talking.
Good news: not a Bianca Ryan in sight. Phew! That was last year’s irritatingly precocious winner who made me doubt America’s taste— at least those who watch this show.
You can check out most of the acts on YouTube. I’ve linked to a few of them.
7/16: Trump, Isaiah are baaack; Patinkin gone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Like “7th Heaven” a year ago, “The Apprentice” has made a miraculous recovery from near oblivion. When NBC announced its 2007-08 schedule to advertisers in May, “The Apprentice” was nowhere to be found after six seasons of progressively weaker ratings. (see below). Donald Trump even released a statement saying he was moving on. But when NBC’s new entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman came in, NBC’s tune changed. Today, the network announced a (gasp!) twist of stupendously groundbreaking proportions: a celebrity edition for midseason.
Yes, Trump will have teams of celebrities vie for… something. The press release wasn’t very clear what the stakes are for these famous folk, who have not been selected. I don’t quite see Danny Bonaduce or Donny Osmond overseeing Trump’ Towers Atlanta. “[C]elebrity contestants will vie for Donald Trump’s attention in what will be the highest-profile competition,” the publicists wrote vaguely. NBC did tell reporters and critics today that it will be for charity and run 13 episodes, fewer than normal to accommodate the celebrities.
Andy Dick and Pauly Shore: call your agents! Oh, and isn’t Rosie O’Donnell available? (Her rep told AP: “It will never happen in this lifetime or beyond.”)
And for a point of reference, watch Trump’s ratings fall!
Season one: 20.7 million
Season two: 16.14 mil
Season three: 13.96 mil
Season four: 11.01 mil
Season five: 9.73 mil
Season six: 7.5 mil
NBC justified bringing it back because it brings in “upscale” viewers, at least a higher percentage of them than most shows. That’s what we in the business now call the “West Wing” defense.
The show, even with “Survivor”-like twists last season in Los Angeles, just couldn’t perk up buzz or ratings. I didn’t think it was awful but the tasks all start looking the same after awhile, especially the ones shilling corporate products. I did get an amusing trinket from Renuzit(r) Super Odor Neutralizer(r), a fake bottle which has a button in which Trump utters “That stinks!” “You’re neutralized” and “You’re fired!”
Do you all think this is even remotely a good idea or should NBC just move on?
Meanwhile, over at CBS, here’s an even bigger shocker: CBS’s “Criminal Minds” lead actor Mandy Patinkin has quit. Here are the statements released by ABC studios and CBS:
ON BEHALF OF ABC STUDIOS AND CBS PARAMOUNT NETWORK TELEVISION:
Last week, Mandy Patinkin asked to be released from his role on Criminal Minds. We have honored this request, which was not in any way connected to contract renegotiations or salary issues. His departure from the series will be explained to audiences in an episode to be filmed in the near future and broadcast early next season. We thank Mandy for helping to make Criminal Minds a strong and successful series, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. A new character will be added to the series for next season.
ON BEHALF OF MANDY PATINKIN:
Due to creative differences, Mandy has asked not to return to Criminal Minds this season. Mandy would like to thank the studios and network for releasing him from the series and he wishes the cast and crew continued success in all of their endeavors and looks forward to continuing to work with the Disney and CBS companies in other capacities in the future.
Here’s some sketchy info from Hollywood Reporter.
This is a massive blow for this show, which build audience its second season and became a reliable hit among CBS’s huge stable of crime dramas. I didn’t watch the show but it had a strong following. Do you think this is a fatal blow for the show?
And Isaiah Washington quickly found new employment after being dumped by “Grey’s Anatomy.” He will be joining NBC’s “Bionic Woman” this fall.
“He’s a wonderful actor and a great performer, and he became available,” said Silverman to reporters at the Beverly Hilton today during the Television Critics Association press tour. That elicited laughter from the scribes.
A press release sent by NBC called Washington’s character “a mysterious person who is brought into the enigmatic scientific organization that is responsible for creating the bionics that turn Jaime Sommers into the ‘Bionic Woman.’ “
7/15: Net radio gets a break
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you were worried your favorite Internet radio station might be forced off the air today, you’ve been given a reprieve.
SoundExchange, a nonprofit organization which is assigned to collecting royalties for song copyright owners, was supposed to start collecting sharply higher royalties today. But late last week, with a lot of pressure from Net radio fans, SoundExchange told Congress it will continue with the status quo since “good faith” negotiations are continuing.
“For the people who want to comply with the law and are in bona fide negotiations with us, we don’t want those people to be intimidated,” said SoundExchange executive director John Simson to Kurt Hanson, who has his own Net radio operation and newsletter following the business. “And we don’t want them to stop streaming.” Simson qualified his statement by noting, “That’s just so long as they’re continuing to pay under the license they had.”
More information is available here at Kurt Hanson’s site..
7/14: Winner of Star’s car promo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Star 94’s third “live in it and win it” type contest called “Wheel World Atlanta 2007,” Jesika Wehunt, 19, outlasted seven other contestants to take home a 2007 Mercury Mariner, a place she called home for 33 days.
Sitting in the main court at North Point Mall, Wehunt only got 10 minute breaks every three hours plus an occasional reprieve to compete for prizes.
I shot the photo above on June 30. Evony Butler, who was ousted that following Monday is with Jesika on the right.
Wehunt beat out Cyndi Rafus, a stay-at-home mom from Loganville. Star 94 had only two contestants left Friday when they had the pair pick out letters and numbers randomly until the first one spells out Star 94.
Wehunt, a chipper Delta Zeta sorority gal who is a rising sophomore at the University of Georgia, became buds with Rafus and they plan to stay in touch. (Rafus got a three-day trip to Cancun as a consolation prize.)
Over 33 days, she said she actually lost 3 pounds despite the relative inactivity though she said in the last few days, her legs would start aching more while she tried to sleep upright in the Mariner. “It scared me,” she said.
She said she ate Chick Fil-A every day, especially the fries with honey barbecue sauce. Her mom Zandra drove 45 minutes from Smyrna most days and when she couldn’t make it, Wehunt’s sorority sister came by. About 30 different women visited her, she said.
The toughest part of the contest? “It was having no control, not being able to eat if I get hungry, to go to the bathroom when I wanted to. And having to wake up every three hours was tough.” (The rules required they leave the car every three hours, even in the middle of the night.)
Wehunt also won a lifetime subscription to Tivo and a Tivo, and a $500 gift card from Macy’s. Her first post-car meal was a home-made meat loaf with mac and cheese, green beens and squash.
Wehunt’s beat-up 1990 Builk Sklylark (sans air conditioning) broke down before the contest. This will be quite an upgrade. And her dad offered to pay the $1,700 in sales tax for the $22,000-plus vehicle.
She’s back to work Sunday at Italian restaurant Provino’s in Douglasville. (“A double shift!” she said.)
Do you think this type of contest is a net gain for a radio station?
7/13: Bits for the weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TVNewser reports that former CNN Headline News anchor Rudi Bakhtiar has not had her conract renewed after 18 months at Fox News. Bakhtiar had quite a cult following in the past.
Lifetime’s “Army Wives,” which includes several Atlanta actors in secondary roles, got a nod for a second season, not a surprise given how strong its first six episodes have performed. It is easily Lifetime’s biggest show ever, averaging more 3.6 million viewers each Monday.
For fans of “Grey’s Anatomy,” TV Guide reports that the George/Izzie fling is dead in the water after 95% of fans in a focus group rejected it. Who knew that focus groups wielded so much power? In this case, this is a good thing.
And for the handful of you who cared about Fox’s “Drive,” the show’s final two episodes will go online Monday rather than air on Fox itself.
And here’s a fake story about watching too little TV being bad for your ability to make cogent pop-culture observations, courtesy of the Onion.. Yet it is so true, so true.
7/13: Casting call for Top Chef
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the first time, Bravo’s delicious reality show “Top Chef” is casting in Atlanta. There were three Atlanta contestants on Fox’s current season of “Hell’s Kitchen” but no Atlantans have been on “Top Chef” the first two seasons.
OPEN CALL: Sunday July 15 / 12pm-4pm
Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta
215 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404)-688-7625
Download the application at this site.
7/13: Can oldies return to Atlanta?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CBS in New York City, after two years, brought back its classic oldies station WCBS-FM Thursday. The interim format, something called Jack, was jockless and ran a variety of music, mostly from the 70s, 80s and 90s with a heavy emphasis on rock. It drew significantly fewer viewers than CBS and lost a lot of revenue but ratings had started to improve before CBS reverted back.
Here’s an MP3 of the actual switch back.. It ends with Journey’s “Dont’ Stop Believin’” like “The Sopranos,” then does a long retrospective of the 1960s and ’70s with old soundchecks and news clips. First song: “Do It Again” by the Beach Boys.
Atlanta has not had an oldies station since 2005 when Cool 105.7 switched to Hispanic. Does New York’s move mean oldies isn’t as dead as a commercial format as many people think? And can it come back to Atlanta?
The problem: the closest to a heritage “oldies” station in Atlanta was Fox, which lasted from 1989 to 2003. It had huge numbers and revenues in the early to mid 1990s as the Baby Boomers gorged on the Beach Boys, the Supremes and the Beatles. The Ultimate Fox oldies concerts would fill the Georgia Dome.
But those listeners aged out of the desirable demos advertisers tend to favor. And Atlanta is far younger than New York. So formats such as hip-hop, rock, top 40 and country work better. Fox started losing steam here in Atlanta in the late 1990s when radio consolidation began and the station went through a series of owners. Cox was the station’s final owner but its effort failed to perk up ratings or revenues with more focused playlists. Listeners complained that it had gone from “good times and great oldies” to “good times and eight oldies.” Nowadays, advertisers don’t value the core oldies listeners (who are mostly over the age of 50 now) as much as younger listeners. So even a decent number of listeners doesn’t necessarily translate into commensurate dollars. And that’s why oldies stations have disappeared nationwide.
97.1/The River is the closest to an “oldies” station but its core music is the 1970s, not the 1960s. And as we noted a few days ago, it keeps a far tighter playlist than most oldies stations.
Even stations in the ‘burbs which have more potential oldies listeners than downtown Atlanta have dropped the format e.g. Sunny 100 in Canton, Lake 102.3 out near Gainesville.
One theory why New York brought CBS back: Arbitron, which measures ratings, is starting to drop those decades-old paper diaries for a “people meter,” which is a pager-like device that can “hear” what people are actually listening to, rather than relying on them to write it down. In Philadelphia, the first city to get these meters, rock and oldies did much better than under the old system.
Interestingly, WCBS in New York always had a tradition of playing 70s and 80s cuts and the new version skews a bit more toward those decades than they did a few years back. But plenty of ’60s cuts survive, too. You can scan the playlist here..
7/12: Mara’s “Palm” arrival
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Getting a drawing of your face on wall of the Palm restaurant in Buckhead is kind of like the Atlanta version of getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — Â except you don’t have to pay any money for the privilege.
Mara Davis, Dave FM mid-day host, got hers last night at a party and she was thrilled. “This is better than my bat mitzvah!” she joked, grinning ear to ear. She signed her drawing with the words “Extra Cheese Please!” referencing her daily “cheese” during her all-request, thematic lunch hours. (At 12:25 p.m. every day, she’ll play a song that doesn’t fit Dave’s format and she’ll often sing along, too, in cheese-like fashion.)
Oddly, the team of Chicago illustrators who do all the Palm headshots made Mara look blonde, when in fact, her hair is very dark. Apparently, the photo they used made her hair look a lot lighter than in reality. Has Mara ever actually had blonde hair? “No way!” she said. “Never!”
7/11: Court TV’s new name, Singing Bee buzzes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Welcome to my 1,000th entry since I started this blog in September 2004!
Turner’s Court TV has changed its name to reflect a changed mission: starting on January 1, 2008, it will become truTV. This is yet another network that has tried to “broaden” its mission by obscuring its original cable name. (Remember when A&E acutally mean “arts and entertainment” and MTV actually meant “music”?)
As an MBA student, I’m highly amused by the press release Court TV came out with because it uses all those silly buzzwords I hear all the time in class. The headline alone is a hoot:
New Name is Latest Step in Major Branding Initiative Targeting Highly Coveted “Real Engagers” Psychographic
Wow! The PR people should get points for including the word “psychographic” in the headline. (At least my marketing professors will appreciate it.)
According to Broadcasting and Cable, a team of seven Turner executives in New York and Atlanta considered some 4,000 names before settling upon three finalists in April. After that, Turner conducted focus groups with viewers and the overwhelming majority of them picked tru.
Basically, since Turner took over Court TV, the network has cut back on its bread-and-butter news coverage of actual trials. Instead, it appears to be focusing on tons of reality TV-type programming. Trial coverage will now be from 9 to 3 p.m. The Star Jones show will start at 3 p.m., featuring Jones gabbing with “top guests from the worlds of pop culture, entertainment, crime and justice.”
Other upcoming shows include yet another show about bounty hunters: this time, four women in Miami. There’s reality life-or-death rescue show called “Most Daring.”
And here are shows “in development,” which means they may or may not make it on air at some point. They all sound like shows the Discovery Channel has had success with along the lines of “Man v. Wild” and “Deadliest Catch”: macho men and women doing macho, dangerous things. There’s “Neighbors 911” about a Green Beret going into people’s homes to resolve differences. There’s “Ski Patrol” about, well, folks who patrol the slopes. And “Black Gold” is about wildcatters in Texas prospecting for oil. Finally, there’s “Outlaw Chasers” featuring storm junkies who track twisters just like the film.
Sing it loud, sing it proud! The ratings last night for karaoke “fill in the lyrics’ show “The Singing Bee” on NBC are in and wow, people swarmed to it. The show buzzed in at 13.1 million viewers, the most viewers for any TV show in six weeks. That’s also possibly more than the baseball all-star game last night on Fox, based on preliminary numbers. We’ll see how copycat “Don’t Forget the Lyrics’ does tonight on Fox.
7/11: Welcome to Kimmel!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At 12:05 a.m., “Jimmy Kimmel Live” arrived in Atlanta for the first time, a mere four years and six months after he debuted on ABC in most other markets.
Kimmel wasted no time, welcoming Atlanta by quoting, well, Jermaine Dupri’s “Welcome to Atlanta.”
Welcome to Atlanta where the players play/ And we ride on dem thangs like ev-ery day
“Can you imagine the suffering these people have been through?” he said. “This is our 894th show.” He introduced Atlanta to his band, his announcer, his security guard and his family. Then he had the “mayor of Atlanta” give him a plaque and the key to the city: our very own Emmanuel Lewis, best known as “Webster”!
Kimmel, after the commercial break, said that “we’re like the pickle in the Chick Fil-A sandwich” and noted Lewis is in fact not the mayor. Shocking!
His first guests for us had nothing to do with Atlanta: Nick Lachey, NFL player Reggie Bush and Rich Boy.
7/11: Thompson at Hannity concert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was in class last night (sixteen days and I’ve got my MBA!) and skipped the sold-out Freedom Concert at the Arena at Gwinnett. Fortunately, my colleague Ben Smith was there. Here’s his story.
The big news: possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson showed up.
Thompson’s last-minute Georgia visit was launched after midnight Monday when the unannounced candidate told an aide that he would accept Hannity’s invitation to attend the concert. The conservative Fox News talk show host made the offer to Thompson on Sunday afternoon, said Joel McElhannon, a staffer for Thompson’s exploratory committee.
McElhannon also arranged for a “meet and greet” session with nearly 200 supporters, local officials and business leaders at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce before the concert. The chamber is adjacent to the arena.
Our photographer unfortunately had problems getting access to take shots of the concert and didn’t get any. I’m sorry. I would have loved to have seen some myself.
Besides Hannity, guests included the Charlie Daniels Band, Lee Greenwood, Larry the Cable Guy and Montgomery Gentry. WSB Radio has photos and audio on its main site right now but I can’t figure out the URL for the galleries. For those who did go, how was it?
7/11: BET show spurs early controversy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BET has had its fair share of critics for content that perpetuates negative aspects of hip-hop culture. And that is being raised again with an upcoming show called “Hot Ghetto Mess,” scheduled to debut July 25 at 10:30 p.m.
BET has not sent me an advancer of the show but according to this Hollywood Reporter story,, at least two advertisers have requested not to have ads during the show. One of those advertisers is Atlanta-based Home Depot. The other is State Farm.
“Mess” is a compilation of viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced man-on-the-street segments that exhibit blacks in unflattering situations that typically illustrate the excesses of so-called hip-hop culture. Also drawing some fire is “Mess’ ” 10 p.m. lead-in, the new hidden-camera series “S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior),” as well as the logo for “Mess,” which appears to be an animated blackface character depicted with a red slash through the image.
Here’s the BET page featuring the show and the logo..
And there’s a comment area on the BET site where some folks are not taking kindly to the show’s premise..
Plus, here’s a petition to try to stop the show from airing before it even debuts.. As of this posting, Latrice Janine has collected about 2,126 signatures.
And in a related topic, Al Sharpton and his National Action Network is holding a 20-city tour to protest the word “ho” in popular culture. Hey—that’s my last name! Thanks, Al!
7/10: Most spun out songs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here are the most popular songs a sampling of staitons have played since March 1998 through July 3, 2007, according to Mediabase 24/7. Songs with an asterisk are still on the current playlist.
99X
Fuel “Hemorrhage (In My Hands) 3,162 spins *
Incubus “Pardon Me” 2,887 spins *
Fuel “Shimmer” 2,869 spins *
Collective Soul “Heavy” 2,715 *
Lo Fidelity AllStars “Battle Flag” 2,690
Project 9-6-1 (going back to 96rock)
Aerosmith “Dream On” 3,531 spins *
Aerosmith “Sweet Emotion” 3,342 spins *
Jimi Hendrix “All Along the Watchtower” 3,108 *
ZZ Top “La Grange” 3,084
Guns n’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” 2,800 *
Dave FM (going back to Z93)
Steve Miller “Rock’N Me” 1,846 spins
Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing” 1,781 spins
Aerosmith “Sweet Emotion” 1,765 spins
Rolling Stones “Miss You” 1,756 spins
Supertramp “Logical Song” 1,699 spins
Police “Roxanne” 1,691 spins * (top song Dave is still playing)
Star 94
Goo Goo Dolls “Slide” 5,677 spins (that’s an average of 12 spins a week) *
Lifehouse “Hanging By a Moment” 4,942 spins *
Santana “Smooth” 4,613 (haven’t played since October 9, 2005)
Nickelback “How You Remind Me” 4,193 *
Calling “Wherever You Will Go” 4,107 *
Q100
Usher “Yeah” 3,869 *
Linkin Park ‘In the End” 3,717 *
Kelly Clarkson “Walk Away” 3,579 * (The song has only been played the past two years so this is quite extraordinary)
Lifehouse “Hanging By A Moment” 3,232 *
Nickelback “How You Remind Me” 3,187 (last played 11/5/06)
95.5/The Beat
Usher “Yeah” 5,988 (that’s nearly three straight weeks of playing the song) *
Lil Jon “Get Low” 5,100 *
50 Cent “In Da Club” 4,917 (last played 6/7/07)
OutKast “Hey Ya” 4,802 *
R. Kelly “Ignition” 4,700 *
V-103
Jagged Edge “Let’s Get Married” 3,004 *
R. Kelly “Ignition” 2,622 *
50 Cent “In Da Club” 2,583
Lil Jon “Get Low” 2,378 *
Youngbloodz “Damn!” 2,349 *
Hot 107.9
David Banner “Like a Pimp” 3,255 (last played 6/17/07)
Youngbloodz “Damn!” 2,718 *
T.I. “24’s” 2,712 (last played 6/21/07)
Lil Jon “Get Low” 2,688 *
DJ Unk “Walk It Out” 2,644 *
Kicks 101.5
Tim McGraw “Something Like That” 3,605 *
Travis Tritt “It’s a Great Day To Be Alive” 3,485 *
Brooks & Dunn “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” 3,385 *
Jo Dee Messina “Lesson in Leavin’ ” 3,076 *
Jessica Andrews “Who I Am” 3,057 *
Eagle 106.7
Alan Jackson “Chattahoochee” 2,677 *
Tim McGraw “Where The Green Grass Grows’ 2,470 *
Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places” 2,427 *
Kenny Chesney “How Forever Feels” 2,357 *
Brooks & Dunn “My Maria” 2,317 *
Kiss 104.1
Marvin Gaye “Sexual Healing” 1,965 *
Maze “Before I Let Go” 1,938 *
Marvin Gaye “Let’s Get It On” 1,861 *
Maze “Can’t Get Over You” 1,802 *
Gap Band “Outstanding” 1,781 *
B98.5
LeAnn Rimes “I Need You” 3,950 *
MercyMe “I Can Only Imagine” 3,409 *
Natalie Imbruglia “Torn” 3,407 *
Matchbox Twenty “Unwell” 3,405 *
Shania Twain “You’re Still The One” 3,386*
Historical data unavailable for the Fish or Smooth Jazz. Sorry.
7/10: 24 delayed, Apprentice back?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“24” producers scrapped the plotline for season seven and production will be delayed at least a couple of weeks as they start over, according to TV Guide..
TV critics in a TV Week poll ranked “24” as the second worst show of the past six months partly because of the lofty expectations build the previous season. The worst? ABC’s painfully cliched “October Road,” which was shot in Atlanta and renewed for a second season (which won’t be shot in Atlanta.). “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” shot in Atlanta, came in as the seventh worst show and “Nancy Grace” of Atlanta’s CNN Headline News came in eighth.
Top shows? “The Sopranos,” solidified by that finale followed by the comeback kid, “Lost,” which redeemed itself with a run of exciting, riveting shows near the end. Critic’s baby “Friday Night Lights,” with its cinematic feel and achingly deep characters, came in second. That show got a renewal based on critical acclaim, not its poor ratings. No. 4 was my personal favorite “The Office,” which is one of those sitcoms worth seeing multiple times for the multiple pleasures the characters bring to the table. I also loved “Ugly Betty,” which came in fifth for its snappy dialogue and the colorful characters. “Heroes” would have come in higher but that lame finale dropped it to sixth.
Also, “The Apprentice” may be back after all, according to Reuters. The show was not on the NBC fall schedule announced in May and its future was bleak. But management changes at NBC have given the stumbling reality show a possible new life. The show averaged just 7.5 million in its sixth cycle this past spring despite a move to Los Angeles to jazz things up.
7/10: Dan Patrick leaving ESPN radio 8/17
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Syndicated sports talk guy Dan Patrick, heard locally on 680/The Fan, is leaving his long-time job at ESPN. His final radio show is August 17. David Dickey, president and general manager of 680/The Fan, said he will see who ESPN’s replacement and decide to go with that or someone local.
“I’m not losing any sleep over it,” Dickey said. “Dan wasn’t there that often. He had so much going on with the NBA and television. He wasn’t a full-time guy, which has been frustrating.” Dickey used Patrick from 2000 to about 2002, then went with Bill O’Reilly from 1 to 3. He returned to Patrick about 18 month ago.
Dickey said Patrick’s ratings paled in comparison to Colin Cowherd, another ESPN syndicated talker earlier in the day; Chris Rude & Perry Laurentino in the morning; and Buck Belue & John Kincade in late afternoons.
More about Patrick’s resignation here..
7/10: Kimmer update
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I get more emails asking about Kim “the Kimmer” Peterson than any other former talk show host by a large margin.
Here’s an update:
After a long run on the Atlanta airwaves, Kim “The Kimmer” Peterson, 61, was fired from WGST-AM in November, announced his retirement in March and left Atlanta for good in mid-June.
He bought a place with his older brother Gene in western Massachusetts in the Berkshire mountains, where Peterson can play golf and ride his Harley. Given his conservative political views, it’s ironic he’s living in Massachusetts. “I can’t carry my guns in my car!” he said, after shooting a 77 on the golf course Monday.
Peterson also purchased a place in Palm Beach, Fla. to play golf in the winter. “I can’t stop smiling,” he said. “It’s such a load off my back. I used to read stuff and have to write things down. Now nobody cares what I think!”
And being in Massachusetts, “I’m nicely anonymous.”
He will keep his www.kimmershow.com Web site up for a bit longer and still answers emails. “I’m amazed and overwhelmed by the sentiments I’ve gotten from fans since I left,” he said. “I’m a lucky guy.”
7/10: Changes to ‘Cavemen’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clearly, the ABC network honchos didn’t like the “Cavemen” pilot either.
They not only are bringing the trio of cavemen back to Atlanta from Norfolk, Va., but they have dumped the actor playing the easygoing younger brother with another (Sam Huntington, who played Jimmy Olsen in “Superman Returns”) playing a new younger brother, who visits Atlanta after breaking up with his girlfriend.
Here’s a bit from The Hollywood Reporter.
Inspired by the popular Geico insurance commercials, “Cavemen” will continue to revolve around three modern cavemen — Joel, Joel’s younger brother and Joel’s cynical best friend Nick (Nick Kroll) — as they struggle to fit in the human-dominated society.
The ABC Studios-produced “Cavemen” will not launch with the pilot but with another yet-to-be-filmed first episode, which is said to be delving more into the cavemen’s backstories.
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7/9: Kimmel debuts on WSB-TV Tues night
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A reminder: “Jimmy Kimmel Live” makes his belated debut in Atlanta Tuesday night (technically early Wednesday morning) at 12:05 a.m. His guests will be Nick Lachey, Reggie Bush and the Flight of the Conchords. I did a Q & A with Kimmel that’s here.
His show debuted in January of 2003. Atlanta was the last top 20 market to add his show. WSB-TV management up to this point has said it makes more money airing repeats of “Entertainment Tonight” and the 11 o’clock news. But Kimmel’s ratings have been rising steadily and ABC has been fully supporting the comedian. He’s been given primetime specials, hosts the upcoming game show “Set For Life” (on ABC July 20), hosts the ESPY Awards next month on sister staton ESPN and did a bunch of facetious “dancing” lessons on “Dancing With the Stars” this past spring.
7/9: Porsche Foxx starts again today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
V-103’s Porsche Foxx “is back to rock the box” today after a two-and-a-half year involuntary break.
Foxx, nee Stephanie Calhoun, was arrested for a DUI and marijuana possession in December 2004. She initially denied to the AJC she did anything wrong, was subsequently fired by V-103, then pled guilty, agreeing to rehab, a fine and a three-year probation. She laid low for awhile, then announced her return a few weeks ago. She showed penance, saying she has learned a lot, is drug and alcohol free and plans to work hard again on community-service projects.
Foxx was enormously popular while she was on in afternoons over six-plus years, but her departure enabled V-103 to grab Ryan Cameron away from Hot 107.9. Under the current lineup, including Frank and Wanda and Greg Street, V-103 has held on to its solid No. 1 spot in key ratings demographics. But V-103 has been fishing for a mid-day personality with the stature of the rest of its lineup. Management dumped Magic Man after several years of solid work (he has since moved to Grown Folks 102.5) but he never achieved that A list-level power.
V-103 gave Osei the Dark Secret a chance just over a year ago. Osei did fine ratings wise, but clearly, management was seeking an additional female voice and went back to Foxx, who had not found an on-air DJ job during her recovery.
The station, despite plenty of competition, now has a superstar-laden lineup, a virtually impregnable wall of personalities.
But Yalanda Lattimore, editor of urban news site dryerbuzz.com, said she feels V-103 is actually playing it too safe and could use younger, fresher personalities. Do you agree?
7/8: Clark on Lucky Yates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lucky Yates, an actor and puppeteer who does a monthly talk show at the Laughing Skull Lounge next to the Midtown Vortex, brought in Clark Howard as his lead guest Saturday night.
Here’s Clark with Yates on stage. CREDIT: Rodney Ho
Naturally, Howard and Yates combined were a hoot.
“Everybody knows this man,” Yates introduced Howard. “Everybody loves this man. He has a super hot wife sitting in the second row. [That’s Lane Carlock.] You are a ladies man!”
Bart Hansard, Yates’ sidekick and an actor on “House of Payne,” cracked, “In this city, it’s not just the ladies!”
“The toast of Midtown!” Lucky exclaimed.
They talked about how his syndicated show is now in 227 stations. “The best part?” Clark said. “I own the show!”
“I own this show!” Lucky said. “I make tens of dollars a month. I can pay a bill!”
Then he got to the subject everybody was thinking:
“Where are you going from this point, mayor of Atlanta?”
The full house of a crowd applauded loudly.
Clark said Creative Loafing broke the story a few weeks ago about him pondering a mayoral run after Shirley Franklin steps down after her mandatory two-term limit in 2009. Then the AJC called to ask about it. Howard said, “That’s news to me.” He said he considered it in 1997 when Mayor Campbell was around. But he admitted “I might run for mayor someday.” And there was the headline.
Naturally, he said if he ever announces any political campaign, he has to give up his lucrative radio career due to campaign rules.
Howard then said he is considering lieutenant governor, which didn’t impress Yates. “Come on! he said. “Shoot high man! You’d get elected governor.”
“Nobody knows me in south Georgia,” Howard noted.
“Start with the mayor, turn the city around, then move higher,” suggested Yates.
Clark then outlined some priorities. He wants to split the police department into a traffic/safety division and true cops working on real crimes. He also would like more help for the homeless. And he’d get smart traffic lights that would sense when a car is there so you won’t sit there at a red light when nobody is on the cross street. And he’d cut the Atlanta city employee base, which he said is one of the fattest per capita in the country. “It’s like a make-work program,” he said. He also would like to improve the city schools, which he calls “a jobs program” not meant to serve the public. But he admitted a lot of these issues are not easy to resolve.
On a less serious note, he admitted being a lightweight with the liquor, saying one and a half beers and “I’m DUI city!” He noted this after talking about an early date he had with his current wife Lane Carlock. They met at Mellow Mushroom and he bought a $1.99 pitcher of beer. By the time he was done with the second beer, he was buzzed big time. “I’m a cheap drunk!” he said. So tonight, he drank one Heineken, then switched to a Diet Coke.
Someone in the audience asked that classic question: boxers or briefs?
“Definitely briefs,” Howard said. “They’re a lot cheaper.” Then he noted he buys them at Wal-Mart during a “tax-free holiday.” Nine briefs for $6.84, no tax.
“Lord help me!” his wife said, shaking her head.
Another audience member asked how he and Lane met. She was working as a producer for Gary McKee back on June 17, 1994 and Clark said he was taken off the air because of O.J. Simpson being chased in his Bronco. They got to talking and “that was it!”
“Thank you O.J.!” Yates joked.
7/7: Project 9-6-1’s new morning host
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It took Project 9-6-1 and program director Chris Williams seven months to find a morning host. His name? “Giant” Brian Carothers, a sidekick and producer for the classic rock station 102.9 WMGK-FM morning show in Philadelphia led by John DeBella, is joining Project 9-6-1, according to The Philadelphia Daily News. It’s the last item.
Carothers, a Pittsburgh native, is a standup comic.. He worked on a morning show on WBZZ-FM in Pittsburgh earlier in the decade.
Here’s his myspace page.. And he appears to have a holding page for his Giant Show which has the date August 6, 2007 on it, possibly his start date since he leaves his Philly show July 27. Since he has never been a solo morning host before, presumably he wasn’t a budget breaker for Project’s bean counters. He did have a weekly podcast, the last one from May 3, but as of July 10, he had taken the podcasts down..
I just text messaged Williams for his thoughts. He first joked to me about Giant’s height. “How do you say no to a giant!!! The guy is like 7 feet tall!” he texted me at 12:40 a.m. Saturday morning. When I asked him whether the guy will do a personality-based morning show or merely focus on music and what is it about Carothers that made him so special, Williams opted to be coy. “Those are great questions that I cannot wait to find out the answers, too. Lol! But seriously, in the meantime, it does me no good to broadcast my programming moves to the rest of the Atlanta programmers. The audience will meet Brian when the time is right.”
He says August 6 “isn’t an official date but sometime before the fall book to be sure. When we set a date in stone, I will give you plenty of notice.” (The fall book starts September 20, 2007).
Here are a couple of shots of Carothers at a Veteran’s Radiothon for Philly’s WMGK-FM from the station Web site.
Here he is with George Lopez. I think he’s more like 6 foot 4 not 7 feet, as Williams joked.
And an image from his Web site:
7/6: UGA on XM, the Nine, Clark Howard
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fans of XM radio and UGA sports should be thrilled to find out XM is picking up football and basketball games this fall.
Here’s the story from colleague Tim Tucker..
Also, ABC is burning off the final six episodes of hostage drama “The Nine,” which started out with a promising pilot last fall but never quite found its way in subsequent episodes. It starts up again August 1 at 10. The drama starring Tim Daly (“Wings”), Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”), Chi McBride (“Boston Public”) and Kim Raver (“24”) involved a bank robbery gone awry and the aftermath for the survivors. The gimmick: meting out what happened in the bank a small bite at a time. ABC aired seven and the producers created 13. But don’t expect closure because they had expected the show to go a full 22. It simply failed in the ratings. Personally, I’m surprised ABC is even bothering considering how long it’s been since ABC dumped it. “The Nine” opened October 4 at 11.9 million and by November 22, its final airing, it had fallen to 4.1 million. More info here.
Clark Howard of WSB-AM will a guest at the Lucky Yates Talk Show located in the Laughing Skull Lounge next to the Vortex in Midtown off 8th and Peachtree. The show starts at 9 p.m. and costs just $10 for general admission and $13 for VIP seating. Here’s where you can buy tix.. I’ve been to the show both at its old incarnation at Dad’s Garage and at the Laughing Skull and believe me, it’s a lot of fun. The last time Clark guested on the show, he sang Captain & Tennille off a karaoke machine. Clark will readily admit he has no talent in that arena!
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7/6: The most static station in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
97.1 The River has not added a single new song since November of 2006, according to data collected by Mediabase 24/7.
In other words, the station has kept the same 325 songs or so on its playlist for seven consecutive months without a single change, not one tune. That’s about as close to autopilot as a station can go, eh?
Chris Miller, the program director, emailed me his explanation:
“We survey the target audience once or twice a year. We find the immensely popular stuff doesn’t change much … and since the average listener has maybe an hour a day to listen to the radio, changing the music doesn’t drive success for us. The true classics are the true classics. We work on keeping the non-music stuff really fresh — giving away a classic car, tying in with huge concerts, associating with audience lifestyle events, and so forth.”
The top 5 songs spun since July 1, 2006, when Mediabase 24/7 started tracking the River’s airplay are:
Doobie Brothers “Black Water” 763 spins, or about twice a day
Steve Miller “The Joker” 749 spins
Aerosmith “Dream On” 742 spins
Steve Miller “Rock’N Me” 734 spins
Queen “Killer Queen” 731 spins
The River has not aired a single specialty program or theme day or week in the past 12 months.
The most recent song the station has played is Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’ ” from 1989.
The oldest song? Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” from 1964
Since July 1, 2006, the station has played 23 different Beatles songs, 18 different Eagles songs, 10 different Fleetwood Mac songs, 13 different Elton John songs and 14 different Rolling Stones songs. Those were the only acts that had at least 10 unique songs played.
7/6: Survivor radio
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I wrote a blog entry a couple months back about 920/WGKA’s Hub Radio Show, which features local citizens gabbing about politics and other topics and listeners voting people off if they don’t think they can hack it. It airs on Saturdays at 6 and Sundays at 7. Here’s a story that ran in the Friday’s print edition..
7/6: ABC says Cavemen back in ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The producers for ABC’s upcoming sitcom “Cavemen” based on the Geico spokesmen have changed their minds again.
Pilots are often changed before airtime and a spokeswoman for the production company Thursday emailed me after seeing my item a couple of days ago about this topic and wrote, “It’s actually back in Atlanta.” I called her and she said she had no clue about why there was a change in the first place. I’ve requested to talk to a producer about this.
Originally set in Atlanta, according to the original press accounts, the show’s original pilot sent to TV writers had the show based in seaside Norfolk, Va. The opening scene in the pilot shows a newscast referencing a robbery on Dominion Ave. and the caveman weather forecaster doing a report for Norfolk. Plus, the promo photo above shows the cast standing by a bunch of yachts that are clearly in some sort of harbor. That same background is also apparent briefly about six minutes into the pilot as the three main characters walk toward their station wagon.
7/6: Analog Comcast customers lose CMT, Hallmark
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Comcast Atlanta, which is in 800,000 households in metro Atlanta, has been pushing folks to move to digital cable for years now and the cable company just gave another incentive to do so by recently dropping Hallmark and CMT from the analog basic cable lineup.
Hallmark, once on Channel 77, is now at Channel 137 for digital cable customers. CMT used to be on Channel 78 and is now at Channel 168. Basic analog customers now get nothing on 77 and 78.
Comcast spokesman David Williams said about 1/3 of its customers remain on analog but he has seen an “uptick” in transfers to the digital side since the change a month ago. He said Comcast made this move to clear up bandwidth for HD channels.
Tthe pricing is the same for basic analog cable ($49.99) and basic digital cable so there is really no excuse not to switch over. Basic digital cable now provides Hallmark, CMT and the following that analog does not get:
C-Span2, MoviePlex, NBC Weather Plus, Azteca America, Telefutura, Daystar, Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, 47 digital music channels, Comcast On Demand and an On Screen Programming Guide.
For folks who use rabbit ears, the FCC is going to make analog transmission obsolete on February 17, 2009 and will force people with older TVs to buy digital converters or new TVs that take digital signals only. According to the FCC site, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a part of the Department of Commerce, can provide up to two coupons per household worth $40 each toward the purchase of digital-to-analog set-top converter boxes for analog TVs.
7/5: 27 stations helping March of Dimes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In an unprecedented charity event for March of Dimes, virtually every radio station in Atlanta will be helping out March of Dimes on July 24 in an event dubbed “Breakfast for Babies.” The current total is 27.
The following Atlanta radio stations are participating:
WZGC - 92.9 FM , WSTR - 94.1 FM , WUBL - 94.9 FM , WBTS - 95.5 FM , WKLS - 96.1 FM , WLTM - 96.7, WSRV - 97.1 FM , WPZE - 97.5 FM , WSB - 98.5 FM, WNNX - 99.7 FM, WWWQ - 100.5 FM , WKHX - 101.5 FM, WAMJ- 102.5 FM, WVEE - 103.3 FM, WALR- 104.1 FM, WFSH - 104.7 FM, WBZY - 105.3 FM, WWVA - 105.7 FM, WYAY - 106.7 FM, WJZZ - 107.5 FM, WHTA - 107.9 FM, WDWD - 590 AM, WGST - 640 AM, WSB - 750 AM, WQXI - 790 AM, WGKA- 920 AM, WAOK- 1380 AM, WGKA-920AM, WAOK-1380AM
Many stations are currently finding breakfast spots to place their morning personalities. Star 94’s Tom Sullivan, for instance, will be at the White House restaurant that day collecting money.
“I think all of us put our individual agendas aside for the greater cause of the March of Dimes,” said Rick Caffey, general manager of V-103, WAOK-AM and Dave FM.
It appears all the major FM stations are included. David Dickey, preident and GM for 680/The Fan, said he needs to get more details before he commits to the event but he expects the station will participate. Atlanta radio has worked with March of Dimes for years holding an annual charity event called the AIR Awards in December.
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Georgia Radio Hall of Fame
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.grhof.com
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7/4: Station’s unique songs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here are the top songs a sampling of local radio stations are playing that nobody else on Atlanta AM/FM played the past week. Stations such as 99X and Project play plenty of songs nobody else touches but Kicks, Eagle and the Bull have so much overlap, it’s hard to find much uniqueness.
Station, ranking at station over past seven days, artist, song, spins
Star 94
Amy Winehouse “Rehab,” 37 spins
Nickelback “Rockstar” 30 spins
Boys Like Girls “The Great Escape” 20 spins
Q100
Rob Thomas “Little Wonders” 73 spins
Rihanna “Shut Up And Drive” 14 spins
Yellowcard “Ocean Avenue” 10 spins
Britney Spears “Toxic” 10 spins
V-103
J. Holiday “Bed” 41 spins
Bobby Valentino “Anonymous” 27 spins
Diddy “Through the Pain” 12 spins
95.5/The Beat
Bow Wow “Shortie Like Mine” 26 spins
Danity Kane “Show Stopper” 20 spins
Jermaine Dupri “Welcome to Atlanta” 11 spins
Hot 107.9
Da Fam “That Good” 13 spins
Pretty Ricky “On the Hotline” 9 spins
Snoop Dogg “That’s That” 6 spins
99X
1-T. Satellite Party “Wish Upon a Dog Star” 35 spins
1-T. Bravery “Time Won’t Let Me Go” 35 spins
2-T. Sick Puppies “All the Same’ 34 spins
Project 9-6-1
1-T. Godsmack “Speak” 47 spins
1-T. Korn “Coming Undone” 47 spins
1-T. Nickelback “Animals” 47 spins
Dave FM
6-T. Crowded House “Don’t Stop Now” 13 spins
8-T. Travis “Closer” 12 spins
8-T. Robert Randolph “Love Is the Only Way” 12 spins
Kicks 101.5
Sara Evans “As If” 9 spins
Brad Paisley “Online” 9 spins
Gretchen Wilson “One of the Boys” 5 spins
94.9/The Bull
Steve Mariner “Holes in the Floor of Heaven” 5 spins
Clint Blank “Desperado (Live) 5 spins
78 Trisha Yearwood “How Do I Live” 5 spins
- Alabama “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time With You” 5 spins
Eagle 106.7
Mark Chesnutt “I Don’t Want To MIss a Thing” 6 spins
Montgomery Gentry “Gone” 6 spins
Travis Tritt “Drift Off To Dream” 5 spins
Alabama “Feels So Right” 5 spins
97.1/The River
ELO “Don’t Bring Me Down” 15 spins
Supertramp “Breakfast in America” 15 spins
4-T. Heart “Straight On” 14 spins
7/3: Cavemen not Atlantans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the day before July 4th, there’s not too much happening.
I’ve seen the pilot for ABC’s “Cavemen” sitcom, based on the GEICO cavemen. This is not a final version and not meant for review but the show was originally supposed to be set in Atlanta. An ABC spokewoman had no explanation but the show is now based in Norfolk, Va. It’s probably just as well (and maybe they just wanted a Southern city with an ocean view as shown in the promo photo above). The version I caught is sorely lacking in laughs and the jokes are often painfully obvious allegories for racism. Stick with the ads. Here’s a trailer
DJ Red Alert is going to be doing a mix show for Grown Folks Radio 102.5 on Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. He debuts on July 4th in the evening. He’s a popular DJ on the radio in New York City.
B98.5 will be playing songs that made the top 4 from the 70s through the 90s tomorrow for July 4th, going off “playlist,” which is rare for a station known for being incredibly conservative. For instance you’ll hear “One Bad Apple” by the Osmonds, “The Reflex” by Duran Duran, Marky Mark’s “Good Vibrations” and “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” by Vicki Lawrence. This is the first time outside of Christmas B98.5 has dabbled in a specialty theme. The station used to do regular all-70s and all-80s weekends and in the late 1990s, had a Saturday night dance party.
And if you miss “The Office,” enjoy this youtube tribute to Michael Scott via the song “Mr. Roboto”.
I also have to give props to College Park’s Julia Williams, the former Waffle House cook who is proving to be a formidable presence on Fox’s delightful guilty pleasure “Hell’s Kitchen,” outdistancing two other metro Atlantans, one with far more experience than she. Despite her lack of experience in fine cuisine, she has gained the respect of her fellow contestants thanks to her ability to work a kitchen. Unlike “Top Chef,” deep knowledge of haute cuisine or high-end ingredients isn’t necessary to get very far with Gordon Ramsay. To simply work not screw up and get yelled at by Chef Ramsay is a good thing and she even got praise last night.
7/2: ABC fall show screenings 7/9
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thie “ABC Red Carpet Screening” promo event isn’t bringing in stars along the levels of Matthew Fox or Katherine Heigl. It’s not even bringing in stars along the levels of Jim Belushi. But ABC is holding a free screening of two of its more promising shows Monday July 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Atlantic Station in the “Central Park” area, which is about 1/1000th the size of the real Central Park in New York City.
WSB-TV’s “Hot Topics” host Kimberley Kennedy will host and a couple of “Dancing With the Stars” dancers will stop by. They’ll be plenty of ABC promo giveways, a chance to apply to be on “Supernanny” and screenings of “Pushing Daisies” and “Carpoolers.”
“Pushing Daisies” is a whimsical drama in which a man can revive a dead person’s life with a single touch, but the arbitrary twist: if he touches the person again, they die forever. I watched the pilot and though this is not necessarily the finished product you’ll see in the fall, I have to say I was mostly enchanted with its Alice in Wonderland motif. It reminded me quite a bit of the film “Big Fish.” Whether it can maintain this tone without viewers quickly tiring of the schtick week in and week out is the big question.
The other show you’ll get to see is a 30-minute sitcom called “Carpoolers” starring Jerry O’Connell as a recent divorcee, Jerry Minor as a henpecked hubby, Fred Goss as a neurotic husband and Dougie as the bright-eyed bushy-tailed newlywed. And they carpool. The pilot is a bit broad but there are plenty of laughs, especially from Minor and O’Connell. It’s not the next “Seinfeld” but it sure beats “According to Jim.”
