Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2008 > January
January 2008
1/31: Lost is back!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Lost” has been fascinating and infuriarating, exhilirating and exasperating, fantastical and frustrating. And that’s why we still watch. The last half dozen episodes last season led up to the show-stopping finale in May that many arguably say was the best episode ever.
Finally, after eight months, in the midst of a writers’ strike, “Lost” feeds us a satisfactory return episode with a fair share of drama and pathos. It by no means compares to the finale but provides just enough revelations to keep fans hungry for more. (I also got to see the second episode, which is even better!)
We learn that there is such a thing as the “Oceanic Six,” implying that six of the islanders make it back to the mainland. The writers appear to have ditched flashbacks and will continue with the flashforwards they sprung on us in May. That’s definitely a good thing and will drive the story forward to its conclusion 48 episodes from now. It appears the time frame of Hurley’s fast forward is not long after they got back but before Jack’s flashfloward last May, before Jack grows his beard and becomes addicted to OxyContin. So we know Jack and Kate made it back, and Hurley, too. Plus, an unknown dead person from the May episode.
With Hurley running from the ghost of Charlie at a convenience store, he becomes the target of a huge 10 cop car chase. I’m still not clear why his departure from that store merited a cop car chase, though. But it got him back into a mental institution, a sanctuary he seemed to crave. Jack seems okay at this point (though he’s already drinking) and he even visits Hurley but things turn dark quickly when he asks, “What are you really doing here Jack? You were seeing if I went nuts, whether I was going to tell.” “Are you?” Jack asks. We of course have no clue what they’re hiding.
Charlie’s ghost pops in for a visit: “Now you have to do something but you’re hiding from me. That’s the real reason you ran when you saw me in the store. You knew I was here to tell you…” We don’t find out what he has to do — yet. Hurley seems to yearn for a return back to the island before Jack is ready to accept it. And that mysterious visitor pretending to be part of the Oceanic Airlines seems to be connected with Naomi and the “rescuers.”
Speaking of Naomi, she somehow not only got away from Jack and Kate (and creating a dummy trail) despite the fact Locke last season gutted her with a knife. How that happened, I have no clue! Then she manages to climb a tree, get the phone away from Kate, fix it and then die. That seemed a bit script convenient and not terribly organic.
The best scene is when Locke splits the group between those who believe the “rescuers” will truly rescue them and Locke’s belief that they are evil. Ironically, he’s now on the side of Ben, who shot him. Locke, who is pretty convincing, manages to get Hurley, Claire and Sawyer to join him and go to the barracks on the belief it’s better on the island than off of it. (The Sawyer/Kate fans can’t be happy about that!) Jack and most of the group stay overnight in the fuselage. The rescue helicopter arrives and Farraday parachutes down. The “rescuers” have arrived. It’s game on!
Well, what did you think? Worth the wait?
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1/31: Reax to Regular Guys return
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sure a lot of you are psyched to have the Regular Guys back and I’ve already spilled a fair amount of cyber-ink on them. But here is my last entry of the week about them— just reactions from various folks around town:
WSB-AM’s Clark Howard, via email: “I think you know that I like both Eric and Larry. I was so bummed when the two of them said they could never work together again because they are definitely a pair that the sum is better than the parts. They are extremely bright and love, love, love radio. This is such a puzzle though. Here you have a start-up station with a well known morning show vs. well known radio stations with people no one has ever heard of. My money is on the Regular Guys. But then again, I hope the Giants beat New England.”
Dick Wybrow, now at CNN Radio and formerly part of 96rock’s “Dick & Justice” afternoon team from 2002-2004 or so: “I love those guys. I really do. Some of their stuff, though, might be feeling a bit passe. But they bring a lot to the table and have really bright players. Tim Andrews is great. I had him on our show a couple of times. A very funny guy. And he can be dark. It’s also great to have ‘Southside’ Steve back. There was always so much tension between Larry and Eric. Every time they hit him, all that pressure would be released from the room. They need him.”
JImmy Baron, formerly of 99X.: “If Cumulus leaves them alone and let them do the show they know how to do, I think they’ll be enormous. It was a hiring coup.”
Marshall Chiles, runs the Funny Farm Comedy Club: “I had no idea how good they were until I had to listen to other shows while they were gone. It’s quality entertainment. I disagree with them politically but I still find them entertaining. Funny is funny.”
Fred Toucher, who used to compete against the Regular Guys at 99X but is now at WBCN-FM in Boston: “The Regular Guys were the best show in Atlanta when I lived there. I am friendly with Eric and Rich [Shertenlieb, former 99Xer and his co-host in Boston] is with Larry. However, I fear that they may have a nervous breakdown if they get sat on by whatever ‘programming genius’ Cumulus has let limp into the building. However, the owners of Cumulus are in Atlanta so everything will be fine.”
Jamie Bendall, co-owner of the Punchline Comedy Club: “I’m a big fan. I’m glad they’re back. It sounds like everybody is loose and enjoying themselves.”
Tim Rhodes, former Regular Guys member, now at Bulldog 103.7 in Athens, in an email: “I think the RG’s sounded strong. Sure didn’t seem like they’ve been off the air for 15 months. I think that Steve adds so much to the show. He is such a great 3rd mic. No one pulls off the one liners like he does. His line about “Throwing away his cowboy hat” when Eric got pissed was a classic. With the RG’s in the morning, Axel in afternoons, the only thing missing is me in middays. :) I would love to get the call but if it doesn’t happen I’ll keep working. I’m very grateful to Kevin Steele at Bulldog for giving me a radio avenue.”
MIke Rose, who worked with the Dickeys at 1340 as a program director and is now in mortgage banking: “I think it’s a very smart move by Cumulus and the Dickeys. They will take audience away from 96 and with 99.7, they’ll go after Star. It’s a good strategy. They’ve always been very perceptive in that way. 99X was well beyond its prime. The Regular Guys believe in what they are doing. The Dickeys will have to grin and bear it.”
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1/30: On Ryan Cameron, Tom Joyner, Clark Howard
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With all the brouhaha over the Regular Guys, I’ve left other radio tidbits on the wayside. But here’s stuff for folks who are sick of reading about them:
— V-103’s Ryan Cameron has a new talk show on Starz debuting on Feb. 4. I’ll be talking to him and his producer later this week and will provide more details closer to launch date. He produced, hosted and taped the shows back last fall and had a bunch of big stars including Big Boi and Ne-Yo on.
— Kiss syndicated star Tom Joyner was in town last night at Morehouse to promote PBS’s “African American Lives 2,” the sequel to the 2006 special in which Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. (sponsored by Atlanta’s Coca Cola) explores the genealogy of African Americans and finds out interesting family stories and the breakdown of where their family came from. He joins the likes of Morgan Freeman, Tina Turner, Don Cheadle and Chris Rock.
I asked him a completely off-topic question. Why is his daily soap show “It’s Your World” off the air? Apparently, the show was financed via sponsors and they had lost their sponsor. So it’s basically on hiatus until new sponsors can be found. The show is produced by 15 people in Los Angeles and it’s a fairly elaborate affair for radio, very old school that way. The feature has been with the Joyner’s syndicated show for 13 years and has been a beloved component.
— A reader asked what happened to Joanie, who had been part of Clark Howard’s team for many many years. Here’s Clark’s answer, which includes his current personal odds on quitting radio in a couple of years to run for political office:
Joni decided to retire last September (2007) after 16 years with me. We wanted to do a big “to do” for her on the air and with a party off air, but she insisted that she wanted to go out quietly. I guess that she wanted to keep her options open so if she wanted to she could come back which she did once before in the mid 90’s. She and Hal bought a house in the mountains of North Carolina and coming back to Atlanta for the show became a drag for her.
Kevin went to graduate school and got a masters degree so he could teach. I think he wants to teach at the college level or teach and coach at the high school level, but isn’t teaching right now as far as I know. He has a promotional products company and I think that is what he is doing. He has been gone since October of 2006 and I did announce it at that time.
Kellie McMaster, our webmaster, who was with the show for 6 years, left to go to graduate school at UGA to get a masters and then a doctorate in Psych.
Laura Reed, my TV producer, left me last summer after four years to go to work as a senior producer at Channel 2.
If I were to guess, people have headed to the exit as they figure I am going to run for office and thus am a short termer in radio. It is such a unique experience for me because my team is traditionally more stable than of late.
By the way, I would say there is only about a 33% chance that I am going to run for anything except dessert. I look at my kids and have trouble picturing not seeing them much.
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1/29: Analyzing the Regular Guys
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Regular Guys — led by Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler — bring a complicated history for Rock 100.5. They still possess brand equity in this market and a past history of success. But over the past four years, they’ve been taken off the air twice for infractions. It’s amazing they have even been given a third chance. It’s amazing they are even back together.
The good points of this move:
The Regular Guys brings Rock 100.5 a drawing card, unlike the new Dave FM show with Zakk Tyler or the Morning Mess over at Star 94, which are fresh to the market.
They built a hugely popular show from 1998 to 2004, becoming one of the top shows among a broad men ages 18 to 54. Their formula, the closest to Howard Stern in Stern-less town, worked well and brought in huge bucks for 96rock. Wachs’ irascible nature and Von Haessler’s bemused observations off the news, on top of regular characters such as DUI lawyer George Stein and marble-mouth Ben the Bunnyman, provided an amusing tableau of male-friendly gab with no music. They became the face of the station and Cumulus is counting on the same situation here at a likely reduced price.
“Southside” Steve Rickman, who recently quit Eagle 106.7, is part of the team again. He was not included in Regular Guys 2.0 in 2005-06 and his absence hurt the show. The ponytailed Atlanta native was the Southern voice, the man of the people willing to make eight to 10 appearances a week at bars, car dealerships and strip clubs. He was the unmarried ladies man, the glad-hander and the one guy willing to be tortured by Wachs. And it’s nice to see the talented Tim Andrews land on his feet. He had landed a minor job at 99X, biding his time, and it worked to his advantage. (Listeners might remember him as “Porn Czar” on the Regular Guys but he may not use that moniker for the new incarnation.)
They are filling a void left by their own departure. There has been no real successful new male-oriented rock morning show in the Regular Guys’ absence. Dave FM had been in a holding pattern itself since it took Steve Barnes off the air in September 2006. The River has opted for a benign more music morning show with Lexie Kaye. And Project 9-6-1 just launched its new show in October with two unknowns, Giant Briant and Shaffee. Ironically, it was the failure of the second incarnation of 99X’s Morning X that paved the way for this change (as well as the massive success of the Bert Show at 100.5 which led to the signal swap.)
And after being off the air for 15 months, they could be hungry and willing to go the extra mile to ensure the show hits the ground running.
The potential sticking points:
Of the four rock stations, the Regular Guys will now be on the weakest signal, placing them at an instant disadvantage, especially for fans in Gwinnett County and the outer edges of the metro area.
Can the Wachs/Von Haessler coupling work again? The pair have had trouble finding radio jobs on their own and are back together despite the fact they aren’t exactly buddy buddy. In fact, after they lost their jobs the first two times, they both vowed never to work together again. But it’s safe to say this is all about the benjamins as the pair are more valuable together than separate.
Diminishing returns: the ratings when they first came back to 96rock in 2005-06 were only about two-thirds what they were getting during their peak days of 2001 to 2004. You could say if the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident hadn’t happened, 96rock might still exist instead of Project 9-6-1. Wachs in March of 2004, just a few weeks after the FCC began clamping down on sexually-explicit talk, decided to mock that by taping a porn star talking dirty, then airing it backwards. But a technical snafu led to the talk airing over an ad and the ensuing bad publicity forced Clear Channel’s hand. (Despite a few complaints, the FCC never fined 96rock.) The company yanked the Guys off the air, but paid out their contracts. Once the dust settled in 2005, the Regular Guys returned, briefly, to WGST-AM (a bad fit), then quietly stuck them back on 96rock. At that point, the show had to dispense with virtually anything sexual. In one sense, the show had already backed off on the stripper aspects even before 2004, but they still felt a bit neutered. They also failed to find a good replacement for Rickman, who had been working afternoons but lost his job at 96rock in the summer of 2006. In September, Wachs was wooing Rickman back but then the show hit another unforeseen snag: Wachs taped and aired sister station Viva’s morning team Yogi & Panda in the bathroom stalls at the station. The Hispanic comedy duo didn’t find this funny and sued Wachs and 96rock, demanding the Regular Guys be fired. This worked. Clear Channel fired them with cause and nixed their contracts. Oddly, this incident didn’t even have to do with an FCC violation. And lax management failed to nip what could have been an easily solvable problem in the bud.
Ultimately, Cumulus is going to have to make sure it has the right program director to delicately guide the Regular Guys. They can’t be too hands off or another Yogi & Panda incident could happen. But if they are hands on and don’t treat the pair with kid gloves, sparks could fly behind closed doors and possibly stifle the on-air product.
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1/28: Booted from the Regular Guys studio! (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sorry that I end up having to insert myself into the story but the Powers That Be at Q100/Rock 100.5 seem to have a knack for this:
Tim Andrews and the Regular Guys invited me to the radio studio this morning on the first day of the show’s third incarnation so I came up at about 8:30 a.m. I took a few pictures (below), then got kicked out by Cumulus Atlanta Market Manager Gary Lewis.
ABOVE: Eric, with a hat to hide his thinning hair.
ABOVE: “Southside” Steve, happy to be back home after a year at the Eagle.
ABOVE: Larry, wearing a wig.
The bosses decided it would be too distracting for me to be there - or something like that. In fact, I can’t even talk to Larry & Eric until they deem it okay. Eric was peeved and got into Gary’s face but Larry decided to play referee, apologized about misunderstanding Gary’s original missive and I was gone. (Larry said he only thought he wasn’t supposed to talk to me Sunday night.)
The first few songs on Rock 100.5 after the Regular Guys ended, by the way, were the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” the first song when 96rock launched more than 30 years ago. That was followed by “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith, “Paradise City” by Guns ‘n Roses, “Panama” by Van Halen and “Shine” by Collective Soul. In other words, the format is pretty much the old 96rock, no surprise there. They are playing four decades of music, from Jimi Hendrix in 1968 to 2007 hit by Daughtry “It’s Not Over.”
Gary Lewis (right) used to run Z93 from 1996 til around 2000. He was the man who dumped the Greaseman, and brought in Gary McKee and Charlie & Company. When I asked why he never brought in Howard Stern, he said Mel Karmizan simply told him no and he doesn’t really know why. (Conspiracy theorists have at it!)
Since I was the cause of the first tiff between management and the Regular Guys, I asked how they were going to manage the Regular Guys, who have been taken off the air twice already with Clear Channel. His response: “They are radio professionals. I believe there’s a definite understanding. We’ll give them all the latitude they need to make great radio.”
Will there be diminishing returns for a show that didn’t quite get back its ratings when it came back a second time at 96rock? He said the show, with “Southside” Steve back, is much better for it and he expects ratings will do as well as they did on the stronger 96.1 signal. “The whole signal issue gets overplayed,” he said.
The Regular Guys modus operandi is to mock the bosses. “I’m willing to take it,” Lewis said. How much leeway will they really have to do that? “This is not a show to be micromanaged,” he said. “From an artistic standpoint, we brought them in because we like what they do.”
Ben the Bunnyman is back. So is homeless karaoke and the FU line. DUI lawyer George Stein will return, too, later in the week.
The Regular Guys are in Bert’s old studios while Bert is over at 99X’s studios.
I just spoke with John Dickey. He said he’ll make Larry & Eric available next week once they get settled down and get used to their surroundings. Whatever.
He did say there is a new mid-day person coming from outside of Atlanta but he wouldn’t say who. Axel will do afternoons and Matt C & Lewis evenings. “This station is picking up where 96rock left off,” he said. Then Dickey mocked rival Clear Channel after asked what he felt when 96rock was killed in late 2006 in favor of Project. “I was shocked, disappointed, saddened. And just puzzled. It just spiraled from there. They blew up Peach [Lite]. They disemboweled GST. They proved they can destroy brands and quite frankly, disenfranchise listeners.”
As for the Regular Guys, Dickey is on the top of th e world: “They’re excited to be back. I don’t anticipate anything but great radio out of these guys — and a great run for the next 10, 15 years.”
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1/28: Regular Guys 3.0 back again, this time on Rock 100.5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So much for my alarm clock. I missed the first five minutes of the Regular Guys. I’m sure someone at www.radio-info.com will have it to soon on MP3. Someone in fact has made the 6 a.m. launch available for download here.
But in what Eric Von Haessler said was the “fake veil of secrecy,” the quartet of Eric, Larry Wachs, Tim “don’t call me Porn Czar anymore” Andrews and “Southside” Steve Rickman are indeed back this morning. Mark Owens is doing traffic. They are on the new Rock 100.5. (That’s where Q100 was for seven years. In case you were wondering, Q100 is now at 99.7, with the Bert Show on the stronger signal. 99X has now been relegated to the Web only - oh, and HD radio for the seven of you who own HD radios.)
Larry early on told about the time he went to court and prison after being arrested for that radio bit in which he taped Viva’s then morning team Yogi & Panda in the bathroom and mocked them. The two Hispanic men sued and 96rock fired the Regular Guys in October 2006. The pair have not found a radio job until Cumulus saved them from unemployment last month and gave them a third chance. (They were taken off the air the first time after that backwards porn bit went all awry back in 2004.)
Wachs called the Dickey brothers, who run Cumulus, the “Schindlers.” “They have resued us from a holocaust of bad radio vibes,” Wachs said.
“Stop kissing up,” Von Haessler said.
“I spilled the beans,” Wachs said. “And I lied to Rodney Ho to cover it up.”
Yes, two weeks ago, that’s what happened. But I figured it was true a few hours later and that’s what we’ve been assuming ever since. Wachs had no choice but cover up. The bosses told him to do so. Read that January 11 blog entry if you want the full details of the amusing cat-and-mouse game that occurred that evening.
Oh, by the way: the FU line is back. “That’s the ‘faith and understanding’ line,” Larry said. But while it was called the “Foo” line the second time around. Larry is able to say “F U” again. And, the Web site is www.atlantasrockstation.com. As of 7:30 a.m., it’s just a photo of the Regular Guys, with Larry wearing a wig, but there is a button to listen to them live online.
The first caller is Joe. He mocked Giant Brian over at Project 9-6-1, saying he looks like he has Down’s Syndrome.
Larry quickly gave his old employer’s replacement station a new monker: “Project 9-Sucks-One.”
“I know people who work there. They’re cutting budgets to the bone” at Clear Channel, Wachs said. “They’re down to retards.”
And who knows how long the Regular Guys will last this time around.
As Wachs noted, “What is Wachs going to do to screw it up?”
“Every show could be out last,” Eric said.
They had to use the “dump” button for a caller saying something FCC-unfriendly at 7:49 a.m. “Come on people,” Larry groaned. “Don’t blow it for us. We can do it ourselves, thank you.”
“We don’t need a caller to get us kicked off the air,” Eric said.
They do sound thrilled to be back. And surely, a lot of their fans are, too.
If you want to hear how I was summarily booted out of the Regular Guys studio this morning by their new boss, it’s here.. Apparently, I wasn’t supposed to be there but Larry misunderstood the missive and had invited me in.
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1/25: On the writers strike, Country Fair, Dylan Sprague, Sean Demery
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good news for fans of AMC’s “Mad Men” and Showtime’s delectable comedy “Weeds.” Lionsgate, which produces both shows, signed an interim deal with the Writers Guild (similar to one that was given to David Letterman’s production company) so those two shows will now be able to move forward.
In the meantime, with the writers strike in its 12th week, the recent agreement between producers and directors strike some hope that the strike itself might nearing an end. The writers are now informally talking with the producers again, mostly about digital media residuals, after taking off the table an effort to unionize animated and reality-show writers. Most networks, to trim costs, are cutting development deals left and right and potential series are falling by the wayside.
And more scripted shows run out of episodes. Thursday night, for instance, featured the final original episodes of “Ugly Betty” and “Chuck.” There are still three “House” episodes. “Brothers and Sisters” has two. “CSI: NY” has one. Otherwise, most of the top 20 scripted shows are out of fresh episodes, including the two other CSIs, “Grey’s,” “Two & a Half Men,” “Desperate,” “Heroes,” “NCIS,” “Without a Trace,” “Criminal Minds” and “SVU.” TV Guide tracks the coundtown here..
“Price Is Right” ratings are down 9 percent with Drew Carey vs. Bob Barker. And poor Carey—his primetime game show “Power of 10” was yanked after two tries vs. “Idol” and horrible ratings results.
That fascinating History Channel two-hour doc “Life After People” about what the world would be like if we all just disappeared pulled in a network record 5.4 million viewers earlier this week.
“The Moment of Truth,” the show following “Idol” Wednesday featuring people being asked increasingly uncomfortable personal questions while tied to a lie detector for cash opened huge, hauling in 23 million viewers, the biggest new show of the year. It held more than 80 percent of the “Idol” audience. Personally, I thought the show was a bit slow and the first contestant irritatingly smarmy but the second contestant was a lot of fun to watch. Overall, the show wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped and it’ll be interesting to see if people stick around for by the 10th or 12th episode.
Star 94’s Morning Mess raised $13,100 for the DeKalb County Police Heroes’ Fund to help out the two cops shot to death last week. They did so by auctioning off tix to see the Jonas Brothers Saturday night.
The Kicks/Eagle Country Fair lineup has been announced. Friday May 16 will feature Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. (Excellent!). And Saturday will feature Clay Walker, Pat Green, and hometown boy Travis Tritt (right). More info here. Tix go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. and you better buy them cos this show has sold out in recent years. Ticket prices range from $15 to $50 for each day. Last year, Luke Bryan was on the side stage while the lineup featured Billy Currington, Jason Aldean, Gary Allan, Eric Church, John Anderson, Gretchen Wilson and Trace Adkins. This will be at least the fourth appearance by Pat Green at Country Fair, Clay Walker’s second (1st time was 2002) and Tritt’s first appearance since 2000.
Dylan Sprague, let go last month by Q100 as late afternoon host and program director, has quickly gotten a job as PD at a Denver top 40 station named Alice. Congrats Dylan! Some dude from Jackson, Miss. named Johnny O (right) started today at 3 p.m., taking over for Dylan.
And if you’re a fan of Sean Demery, the man is in Utah snowboarding and chopping wood. He left 99X last month just before it was blown up. He finally got around to writing his memoirs on 99X here in his weblog..
It’s very comprehensive and he talks about how the station lost its footing in the 2000s.
Here’s an excerpt. And being a close friend of Fram’s, he defends her strongly:
By the mid 2000’s, at least three different consultants had their fingers in 99X’s pie. The result of this guidance from three converse advisors was something I call “programming by consensus”. By doing this you get a down the middle compromise which ends up not serving any one listener with anything they really want. I’m guessing that it drove Leslie Fram crazy. She’s a smart programmer who had to spend daunting hours in meetings and on conference calls listening to multiple pundits postulate about what the station needed to do. Leslie spent much of 2000’s having to deal with outside help that management wanted as a pacifier, help she didn’t need. What she needed was to be left alone in the same way as when she helped create the station in the first place.
The more unfocused the station became the more the station took on a defensive posture. Defensive posturing is boring. No one throws a punch they just hold their hands in front of their faces and wait for the fight to end… and it has.
He felt when Cumulus took over, they programmed the station older but still sought the younger audience.
Looking from a music stand point it seems like Cumulus couldn’t understand the fact that Bush, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and their ilk were the bands of yester year, and were not the building blocks for the current music generation. It felt like that they were trying to recreate the 90’s. The 90’s are gone. They couldn’t understand what bands like the Shins, Silversun Pickups, Band of Horses, Arcade Fire, The Bravery, Interpol, Spoon, Against Me, Rise Against, etc had to do with 99X. These are bands that sell out medium sized venues in Atlanta with little or no airplay; they have massive internet and magazine prominence.
And one more bit:
Pertaining to the frequency switch and demise of 99X, I had no idea of the events that were about to unfold when I left. I just figures that they would lumber along long after my exit. And contrary to the many e-mails I have received, I do not believe my leaving prompted Cumulus to give up on 99X. I made very little difference in the molding of 99X over the last year, and my appearance on the New Morning X was benign at best. I merely thought that my leaving would create a slot for someone new to infuse the team with a new spark into a smoldering fire.
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1/25: 99X ends with Green Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was being facetious when I suggested last week that 99X on FM should end with Green Day’s wistful “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” but that’s how the station indeed closed its doors at 5:30 a.m. Friday morning after 15 years and three months on the air.
“It’s such a cliche song,” Bert Weiss said now that 99X is Q100. True, but apropos. In the station’s honor, I am wearing my original “Resurrection Sunday 99X” T-shirt I won in 1994 at American Pie from Yvonne Monet after IDin’g the most ’80s music caricatures in a contest she held.
Officially, the once gloried station moves to 99x.com, which means most of its audience will disappear without the 100,000 watts on the FM dial.
“We got to cut the cord people!” Bert said, when told he was still on 100.5 at 5:38 a.m.
At 6 a.m., they did so. 100.5 began running a loop of Bert telling people to move to 99.7 while a bit of Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” played (“To the left, to the left”)
From 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m., 99x.com simulcast the Bert Show but at 6 a.m., it began the same loop playing on 100.5.
Axel Lowe ended his shift last night at 7 p.m. with another cynical song, R.E.M.’s “Radio Song.”
When I got to the show Yo ho ho I could tell that you had been crying, crying Its that same sing song, and the dj sucks It makes me sad I tried to turn it off To say goodbye my love That radio song Hey hey hey
At about 4:50 a.m., 99X’s final jock Doug Harding actually finished up his shift with “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” did a nice verbal goodbye to the station, nostalgically namechecking all the major players at the station over the years, then leading into U2’s “One.” Then the final 30 minutes of 99X, according to yes.com, before Green Day, included “Radio Song,” Stone Temple Pilot’s “Dead and Bloated,” Nirvana’s “All Apologies,” Soundgarden’s “Fell on Black Days,” Pearl Jam’s “Black” and Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye.”
Meanwhile, the new 100.5 format will be introduced at 6 a.m. Monday. At 10 a.m., 100.5 began looping a fake contest offering eight format choices they want listeners to “vote” on, none of which will likely be the actual format. Most are redundant or not commercially viable anymore though a couple could possibly do fine in this market. The eight “formats” are “Trickle,” a soft soft rock station, an oldies station, yet another country station, a “death metal” station, an FM talk station, a comedy channel (cue satellite radio!), a “silence” channel and an all-sound effects channel. Somehow, polka and all-Elvis didn’t make the cut.
Seriously, the station will be a rock format on Monday. Realistically, Rock 100.5 could sound like the old 96rock and straddle between Project and the River. That would fit the Regular Guys the best. Or they could go classic alternative and go after Dave but that’s a long shot.
Dave, in fact, has been doing a tribute to 99X at the top of the hour, a very classy and smart marketing move, basically saying, “Hey, former 99X lovers, we’re here for ya!”
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1/24: Dave’s Zakk Tyler mornings start 2/4, new WGKA early morning show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The long-awaited Dave FM morning show featuring Zakk Tyler starts Feb. 4, according to a promo that aired at 12:35 p.m. after Mara Davis’ cheese. The show will air from 5 to 9 a.m. The station plans to focus more on a grassroots campaign rather than billboards the way Star is pushing the Morning Mess. “We’ll earn each listener one at a time,” Dave FM’s GM Rick Caffey said. “I think he’s going to be a great ambassador for Dave FM. He’ll spend as much time outside as he is inside the studio. I’m very excited to have an on-air personality who will be out and about.”
Obviously, this isn’t to say Holly Firfer wasn’t out and about. She was. But he might be alluding to some other past personality. Take your guess.
I’m set to talk to Zakk next week when his co-host Jane Monzures comes into town. They worked together at the Loop in Chicago.
Since the station went rock as Z93 in 1989, this would be WZGC’s 12th attempt at a morning show.
Here’s the complete list:
1989: Barry Chase.
1989-1992: Chase & Woodside. I spoke with Scott Woodside yesterday. He said the pair worked at Z93 when it was a top 40 station, the very first FM morning team in Atlanta back in 1974. Managemtent thought it would be cool to bring them back together as a team. He recalls that their ratings were moving up (No. 3 25-49 at one point) until management told them to pull back on talking about themselves and shortening bits and such. Ratings went down and they were soon goners.
1992-93: Slats. Does anybody remember him and what happened?
1993-96: The Greaseman (Above, WZGC’s only syndicated show) He was a grating, loudmouth shock jock type who often got in trouble. He split the audience. Some loved him; too many hated him.
1996-98: Gary McKee (right). After a long illustrious run in radio, he was at the tail end of his career and was burned out. He has since retired from the business.
1998-99: Charlie & Company. This was a comedy-oriented show that wasn’t quite ready for primetime.
1999-2002: Dave Marino. He’s a talented guy who was never utilized properly or given room to breath. He’s now doing imaging at 790/The Zone.
2002: Moby. After a long successful stint at Kicks, Moby simply didn’t fit well in the classic rock mode and lasted only a few months. Management shoved him to traffic to try to get him to leave but he stuck around for several months getting a big paycheck and doing traffic while the “Mission Impossible” theme played behind him. He’s now doing a syndicated morning show heard on country stations in Rome, Athens and Griffin.
2003-04: Mara & Dunham; This was a quick fix after Moby. The pair was just starting to congeal as a team when CBS pulled the plug on Z93 and switched to Dave.
2004-06: Barnes & Firfer: Hoping to resurrect the magic of 99X, CBS hired Steve Barnes (right) but without Leslie & Jimmy, it wasn’t quite the same.
2006-07: Firfer & Orff: This was a stopgap show, which actually did as well, if not better, than the Barnes days.
2008: Zakk Tyler. We’ll learn soon enough about how this guy will connect with the Dave audience.
This will be the fourth new morning show in town over the past four months, following Project’s Giant Brian & Shaffee, the Morning Mess at Star and the Bull’s Cledus T. Judd show. I don’t think Atlanta has faced this much morning turmoil in ages.
And technically, there’s a fifth new morning show. WGKA-AM, which has relied on syndicated programming on weekdays since its inception, will debut its first local early early morning show which starts at 4:30 a.m. and runs through 6 a.m. starring Joel Aarom. The 27 year old has done their fun weekend “Hub” talk show, with a rotating crew of opinion makers. Bill Bennett will continue from 6 to 9 a.m. Joel’s show starts Monday January 28.
ABOVE: I took this shot of Joel last year for a story about the Hub Show.
“Joel hits the target demographics (males 25-54),” said Jeff Carter, WGKA program director. “We want to give him a daily live program and see what happens.” And if there’s breaking news, Joel can do cut-ins from 6 to 9 a.m.
WGKA’s strongest shows are Bennett and Laura Ingraham from 9 to noon. It’s good to see WGKA finally investing in some local weekday talent, even if it’s well before sunrise.
Project Runway: Denim Nation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: High fashion takes on the working man’s brand.
The low: Sweet P’s dirty foot.
It doesn’t take a lot of thought to pull on jeans or a jean jacket in the morning, but it takes more than a little savvy to reinvent them for the runway.
This was the challenge that tripped up Victorya this week. Trying to reinterpret a classic denim jacket showed that some items that just can’t be reinterpreted successfully. When all was said and done, it was still a denim jacket.
Dana Legette-Traylor, dean of fashion marketing at Atlanta’s American InterContinental University, told us that because of Rami’s embellishments — he added zippers and a double row of buttons — his dress had the most potential to be turned into an actual collection. “This is a season for accessories,” Legette-Traylor said. “Zippers, labels, brass buttons … are an extension of the accessory, more so than a handbag or a shoe.”
So the designers who reshaped their denim into svelte little dresses and trendy skinny jeans were more successful … right?
Not quite. Innovation doesn’t automatically translate to retail success in this case, Legette-Traylor added.
Even though the super-fitted denim designs might have looked adorable on the runway, they probably have a limited audience. “Particularly in the United States, given the number of body types we have, I’m just not sure how the little denim dresses would sell,” especially without some Spandex stretch, she said.
In light of that, it’s even more impressive that Ricky could score a limited-edition deal to sell his winning design through Levi’s Web site. Not only does it give Ricky worldwide exposure, but it could help Levi’s rebrand itself in a retail environment where premium denim price tags are comfortably settled in the three figures.
Cheap or costly, denim is here to stay. This American classic, said Legette-Traylor, is still (relatively) inexpensive, it’s resourceful, and it wears well. Plus, workplaces are more accepting of denim throughout the week.
Even though Victorya went home, we thought that Jillian’s dress looked more muddled and unfinished. And while we were impressed by Sweet P’s workmanship, the patchwork called to mind some unfortunate fashion moments from the 1970s. All that was missing was the white bolero jacket and the espadrilles — and the Dorothy Hamill haircut.
The last word: Would you wear a “little blue dress” or Christian’s high-fashion motocross jeans?
Permalink | Comments (25) | Categories: Project Runway
1/23: Steak Shapiro rants about John Kincade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning, 790/The Zone Steak Shapiro went on a rant against 680/The Fan’s John Kincade for dubbing the Zone as “an urban station” in a blog entry on the Fan’s Web site here.
Shapiro accused Kincade, without naming him directly, of being “racist” for using the term “urban,” which is a common euphemism radio professionals have used for years for “African American.”
Kincade was upset that the NHL is putting its promotion dollars with the Zone instead of the Fan, which is home to the Atlanta Thrashers. Here’s a key excerpt:
So the NHL brings the showcase event of the sport to Atlanta and decides to “partner” their marketing effort with a station that does not promote or discuss the sport on a regular basis. The NHL chooses to “partner” for the event with a station that has a majority urban audience. There are NHL fans all over, but the vast majority of the fans of the sport are not following it or getting their information from urban stations.
Kincade, in fact, is not even talking about the NHL All Star game at all as punishment. (The Fan is airing the play by play of the game itself Sunday.)
I have data from the spring of 2007 breaking down the racial audience of each station. The Zone had 48.1 percent black listeners, not quite a majority. The Fan had 15.9 percent in the spring. (David Dickey, who runs the Fan, said the fall 2007 Arbitron numbers indicated a 50% black listening audience for the Zone and 33 percent for the Fan. He noted that the Fan among all radio stations has a listenership most reflective of the racial makeup of the metro area.)
The Zone’s African American audience has flocked to the 2 Live Stews, the most successful black sports talk duo in the country. (Dickey said about 73 percent of the Stews audience was black in the fall vs. 26 percent for Mayhem in the AM and 23 percent for Buck & Kincade.) The bulk of the rest of the Zone’s current lineup is white.
The Zone for a period was regularly beating the Fan in ratings. But in the past year, the gap has disappeared. In fact, the Fan just had its best ratings book ever this past fall while the Zone struggled a bit. The station’s biggest winner was the 2 Live Stews, which edged out Buck & Kincade in the target demo ratings but it got creamed in other dayparts. The Fan ranked no. 6 among men 25-54 while the Zone ranked No. 17.
I got a hold of Steak at about 3:15 p.m. and he repeated what he said on air, with more specificity:
“680 the Fan characterizing us as an urban station is racist,” Steak told me. “The NHL chose us to promote the All Star game because we’re the promotional experts. We dominated the sports scene for 10 years… we are just better at partnerships than 680… Calling us an urban station is bringing race into it. You can have black talk show hosts without being urban. It’s disrespectful and racist… they pulled the race card. They are the NHL station and the NHL turned its back on them. That shows what kind of partner they are.”
The Zone does have about 50 percent black listeners so what’s wrong with being called “urban”? Steak: “We’re not an urban station. We’re a sport station with black hosts and white hosts. There’s nothing wrong with being urban. It’s a great format. If we could get 1/4 of V-103’s audience, we’d be thrilled.”
He saw Kincade’s blog comments as “irresponsible” and sour grapes. He acknowledged that the Fan had a great fall ratings book. “Our job is to be humble and deal with that,” Steak said. “We can deal with it. We can’t deal with lies and racist bull.”
Kincade was surprised by the vehemence of Shapiro’s comments, which he did not hear.
“I think when ratings slip and audience size goes down, people get a little tight under the collar,” Kincade said. “Him attacking me personally on the air or anyone is just childish. It’s sophomoric. It’s so Steak. And the funny thing is I really like him. He’s a really good guy… is he trying to do something to gain attention for his sagging morning show?”
“He’s a brilliant businessman as the success of 790 the Zone has shown. But he knows what urban is. What he’s counting on is his listenership won’t. He’s rabble rousing. He flat out deceives his audience… For him to besmirch me and my station is a desperate move from a desperate guy.”
I emailed an NHL publicist, who said he’ll try to find someone to explain why the league chose the Zone over the Fan. The Zone is helping promote an Usher concert at the Tabernacle and a post-game party at its restaurant Stats.
So is this much ado about nothing? What does the word “urban” mean to you and does it really matter? And should the NHL be marketing with a station that has less of a hockey-listening base as the Zone?
1/23: Top Chef Chicago features two Atlantans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last year, Bravo’s “Top Chef” came to Atlanta for the first time for a casting call and ultimately found two Atlantans. The fourth-season starts March 12.
Here are the bios provided by Bravo. Nimma’s bio is pretty thin compared to Richard’s so that makes you wonder who made it further. Hmmm…
NIMMA OSMAN, AGE: 26, HOMETOWN: Peachtree City, GA - currently resides in Atlanta, GA. PROFESSION: Chef at Repast, CULINARY EDUCATION: Culinary Institute Of America FAVORITE SPRING RECIPE: Grilled freshly caught fish with some amazing olive oil and sea salt
A native of Peachtree City, GA., Nimma earned her culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America and is currently working as a chef at Repast restaurant in Atlanta. Her favorite thing to cook is pasta and she says she always has salt, pepper, green tea, coffee, and butter on hand.
ABOVE: Richard Blais back in 2005 when he worked at One Midtown Kitchen. CREDIT: Kimberly Smith
RICHARD BLAIS, AGE: 35. HOMETOWN: Uniondale, New York - currently resides in Atlanta, GA. PROFESSION: Chef, culinary designer, Trail-Blais. CULINARY EDUCATION: AOS Culinary Arts, CIA, FAVORITE SIMPLE SPRING RECIPE: Lamb meatballs with rhubarb & strawberry
Richard is not only a chef, but also a culinary designer, working all over the east coast. He and his wife reside in Atlanta, Georgia with their two weimaraners and are expecting their first child in the spring. He is known for his innovative and personal take on classical cuisine and has studied under luminaries such as Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and Ferran Adria. Richard believes cooking is an art and a craft and food is meant to stimulate on many levels. He incorporates global ingredients, modern cooking methods, wit and a sense of humor to all his food. He says if he were a food he would be an artichoke. “It’s tough, difficult to work with, even dangerous at its core; but when you come down to it, it’s simple, beautiful and delicious.”
Meredith Ford, our esteemed food critic, wrote a bit more about both of them on her Table Talk blog.. Check it out!
1/21: What rock format will 100.5 be?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the astute readers of this blog found that 99X and Q100 owners Cumulus has recently registered several Web addresses including www.rock100atlanta.com, www.1005atlanta.com, www.rockatl100.com and www.rock1005.com. All those addresses temporily jump to a Cumulus station in Cincinnati.
This doesn’t really clarify what type of rock music will be played. With the Regular Guys as the opener (and they are generally averse to playing music at all), it won’t be soft rock, that’s for sure. The two most obvious formats would be one similar to Project 9-6-1, which is in the business called “active rock,” targeting males 18 to 34. It would rock harder than 99X. Or they could go older and try to go after the River with a harder sounding classic rock sound with a focus on the 70s and 80s. Less likely but certainly possible could be a format that guns after Dave FM with a “classic” alternative sound focused on 80s and 90s.
What type of rock music do you think this market needs? And would it make more sense to call it Rock 100 or Rock 100.5 since Q100 will remain the same even at the 99.7 frequency.
And it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility that Cumulus set aside these Web site addresses as a feint and it could end up a completely different name. You can never tell in radio land!
And it’s not clear whether Cumulus will “stunt” with a silly format for a few days before going to their new “permanent” format or switch immediately on Friday morning. The switchover is supposedly going to happen at about 5:30 a.m. but that’s certainly not written in stone.
Some of you might be tired of 99X remembrances by now, but Jimmy Baron did one in today’s op-ed pages if you want to check it out.
I also spoke with Rick Caffey, GM for Dave and V-103. He said they should have an official launch date for the Zakk Tyler morning show by the end of the week. I expect an early February launch at this point. He said both stations are launching “e-mags” online, which are still in testing stages at www.edave.com and www.v103webmag.com. Both are interactcive, featuring videos, audio, games and advertising.
1/18: WSB’s Jovita Moore gets more anchor time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rising WSB-TV newscaster Jovita Moore will be taking over the 5 p.m. anchor desk from Monica Pearson. She already is handling the 5:30 p.m. duties. This is a clear indication that Moore is being positioned as Pearson’s heiress apparent. The move happens January 31. Pearson will continue to anchor 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
“It surprised me,” Moore told me Friday evening. “I didn’t think anything would be happening anytime soon. I thought it would be another good year or two.” She’ll continue to do reporting dayside and be Pearson’s primary sub at night. She said Monica uttered, jokingly, “Finally!” when the news came out. She also didn’t know when Justin Farmer would arrive from Dallas to possibly co-anchor with her at 5 p.m. but his contract in Dallas is up in August. “It’s a very exciting time,” she added. “This newsroom has great momentum internally and externally.”
Here’s part of the memo news director Marian Pittman sent out to staff:
I am very proud to announce Jovita Moore will now anchor the 5:00 hour. The move comes after years of hard work and tireless hours at public speaking engagements representing WSB. Jovita has been with us for almost 10 years and is ready for her next big step. Jovita has never said no to an assignment even if it was during her vacation, on the weekend or even early morning. She has proven herself over and over and this promotion is well deserved.
Monica was elated when I asked her if she was ready to pass the baton. She has been a true WSB soldier and has anchored the 5:00 show for 18 years. Monica has played a tremendous role in solidifying our ratings dominance at 5 p.m.
The plan was to groom Jovita and then promote from within the newsroom. It worked!
What do you think? Good move?
CREDIT: Kimberly Smith
Also, fetching Dagmar Midcap (above), morning meteorologist for “Better Mornings” on WGCL-TV may be taking Gene Norman’s job as he goes to Houston, according to newsblues.com.
1/18: Atlanta Fall Arbitron ratings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The fall radio ratings reflect the calm before the storm of changes that have occurred in recent weeks.
Here are some of the notable trends:
A Christmas story: B98.5, without the Lite competition, had a holly jolly Christmas after its fall ranking jumped to 4th compared to 10th a year ago. Its cumulative weekly audience was 602,200 vs. 448,100 a year ago. Although the replacement for Lite, country station the Bull, also opted to go Christmas (albeit with a country twang), its ratings were virtually flat from the summer. Ratings for the Fish, which also went all Christmas, edged up slightly from the fall but was slightly worse than a year ago.
Gotta love Steve Harvey Talk/R&B station Grown Folks 102.5 is doing gangbusters, finishing 5th among 25 to 54 year old. This despite a relatively weak signal compared to most of its peers. And the station did well across all dayparts, including Steve Harvey in mornings and Michael Baisden in the afternoons.
Fanning the flames 680/The Fan kicked not only its rival sports station 790/The Zone in virtually every time period, but it also easily defeated once glorious 640/WGST-AM — even its strongest personality Rush Limbaugh. The Zone’s strongest show was the 2 Live Stews, who edged out Buck and Kincade at the Fan for the second book in a row. Both shows easily beat up on Dave Ramsey on GST. But the Fan’s Rude Awakening morning show ranked a solid 6th among men 25 to 54 compared to 17th a year ago. The Zone’s Mayhem in the AM struggled, tied for 20th. (The Zone recently moved its schedule around.)
The country wars rage on Eagle had one of its strongest books in ages despite the new Bull competition. The station, which recently lost “Southside” Steve Rickman, finished 15th among 25 to 54 year olds, up from 21st a year ago. Sister station Kicks was more or less flat and so was the year-old Bull, which hasn’t shown a lot of traction but recently added a new morning show with Cledus T. Judd.
News/talk slippage WSB-AM, the city’s top news/talk station, has been losing some steam the past year across the board. The station used to beat V-103 among 25 to 54 year olds on occasion but hasn’t done so in awhile and has even slipped to third behind Kiss. Even among men in that demo, V-103 won. The station, which recently dumped Chris Krok in favor of Herman Cain at night, is probably hoping the Presidential elections will give it a boost in the winter.
Farewell 99X 99X’s pending departure shouldn’t be surprising given its ratings, which were the lowest overall among the 100,000 watt stations in town (Those would be Dave FM, Star 94, Project, the River, B98.5, 99X, Kicks and V-103). The alternative rock station, whose last day is Jan. 25 on the FM dial, ranked 20th among 25 to 54 and 11th in its target demo of 18 to 34. That latter ranking is actually its best in a year but a far cry from its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s when it was regularly a top 5 18-34 performer.
If you follow particular companies, none of Clear Channel’s five stations landed in the top 12 among 25 to 54 year olds. Its top-rated station was Project, tied for 13th.
Top 10 morning shows, 25-54
1- Frank & Wanda, V-103
2- Scott Slade, WSB-AM
3- Tom Joyner, Kiss 104.1
4- Steve Harvey, Grown Folks 102.5
5- The Bert Show, Q100
6 (tie) Yolanda Adams, Praise 97.5
6 (tie) Kelly & Alpha, B98.5
8- Lexie Kaye, 97.1/The River
9 (tie) Cadilla Jack & Kristen, Kicks 101.5
9 (tie) Steve & Vikki//Nudge, Star 94 (They weren’t down much considering all the changes)
Top 10 morning shows 18-34
1- Frank & Wanda, V-103
2- The Bert Show, Q100
3- The “A” Team, Hot 107.9
4- Panda & Brenda, Viva 105.7
5- Cadillac & Kristen, Kicks 101.5 (Their numbers have bounced around quite a bit the year)
6- Scott Slade, WSB-AM
7- Giant Brian & Shaffee, Project 9-6-1
8- Steve Harvey, Grown Folks 102.5
9- Los Patrones in the Morning, El Patron 105.3
10- Tom Joyner, Kiss 104.1
SOURCE: Arbitron, Sept. 20-Dec. 12, 2007
If there’s a specific show you’d like rankings for, email me at rho@ajc.com. Because of rules from Arbitron, I can’t release actual ratings outside of 12-plus.
1/18: Dave’s new cohost, J. Anthony Brown in ATL, Leslie Fram update
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dave FM’s new Zakk Tyler morning show has a new co-host, his former traffic gal from the Loop in Chicago, Jane Monzures (right, below), known as “Sweet Baby Jane,” according to the Chicago Sun Times.
Start date still hasn’t been announced.
Tom Joyner’s J. Anthony Brown will be at Ebenezer Baptist Church (407 Auburn Ave. Atlanta) from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday morning if you want to stop by for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebration. Joyner will be in Miami and other cast members will be in other Southeastern cities. Brown will also be at the Punchline for a special show that evening.
And yes, we have heard back from Leslie Fram. She chose not to speak to me but did offer her take on the situation with my colleague Rich Eldredge and he wrote this Peach Buzz item:
Leslie Fram called us to discuss her unexpected departure from the 99X airwaves. Cumulus Media, the owner of 99X, has announced upcoming changes in content and a frequency alteration.
On Thursday, Fram told us that Cumulus chose not to renew her contract “in its current state.” The veteran Atlanta program director and morning show co-host told Buzz she remains under contract to Cumulus through the end of March and is due to have a meeting with station execs to discuss a possible future role with the company.
Now off the air, Fram says she’s grateful to longtime listeners who have reached out to her about her 17 years on the air in Atlanta.
Fellow female broadcasters Vikki Locke and Mara Davis sent her flowers and well wishes, while concert promoter Peter Conlon phoned to thank her and to reminisce about the many concerts the two have helped bring to the city.
“The outpouring of support has been unbelievable,” Fram told Buzz in an exclusive chat. “Sometimes in radio, you don’t stop and have a chance to look back on what you’ve done. I realize, reading e-mails from 99X listeners, that we had a real impact on people’s lives, and that’s really nice to hear.”
While she sorts through her future in radio, Fram is staying plenty busy with her interests in the downtown boutiques Luxe and 1Five0 Atlanta and the monthly “Live at 1Five0” parties at the store that feature local musicians performing and creating apparel for fans (for details, go to 150atlanta.com).
And on Thursday night, she was busy primping Layla, her rescued cocker spaniel, for her debut as a fashion model at the “Doggies on the Catwalk” benefit at Grady High School.
Cracked Fram: “Being Layla’s stage mother may be my next job! I’m just hoping she doesn’t become a diva and start demanding [concert contract] riders.” If you’d like to e-mail Fram, you can reach her at lesliefram@mac.com.
1/17: Catching up with Holly Firfer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Holly Firfer, who worked at Dave FM from summer of 2004 until the end of 2007, continues to be a cohost at WXIA’s “Atlanta and Company.” She said she enjoyed her time at Dave but has no bitterness about moving on. And she’s loving sleeping in.
She praised “Atlanta & Company” new cohost Tommy Sullivan, who recently left Star 94 after three decades.
For now, she’s sifting through unspecified opportunities and in fact, she only had a 30-day noncompete clause so she is free to join another radio station if she wants on Feb. 1. “It’s amazing how many people will come out and make offers,” she said. “I’m not ruling anything out.” She’s also helping her husband’s educational consultancy.
I have not heard a launch date yet for Zakk Tyler, the new morning guy at Dave.
Project Runway: Trench warfare
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: Christian gets another big win!
Note to self: Do not reach for hat on bad hair day; let it inspire avant-garde outfit.
Excited by last week’s prom action, we wanted to talk “Runway” with a longtime viewer – George Tolbert, president of Legends in Roswell, a store that specializes in va-va-voom prom, pageant and after-five dresses (and we’re pretty sure none of them are bubble-shaped with plastic jewels glued to the neckline).
We’ll revisit prom in a minute, but in the avant-garde challenge, Tolbert said he saw in Team Fierce – that is, Christian and Chris (who’s been playing his hand verrry cleverly ever since his ouster a few weeks ago) – a salute to the movies. The ready-to-wear look: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” The avant-garde look: “La Cage aux Folles. A drag queen would kill for it,” he said brightly of Team Fierce’s multilayered masterpiece. So would Nina!
And what about that wildly sexy black trench coat by Victorya and Jillian? We loved its pink tartan lining and standup collar, and had a difficult time choosing between the trench and La Cage.
Because Tolbert designs and sells dresses every day, he has insight into the fashion industry, especially when it comes to time management. As on sitcoms and soap operas, “Runway” time seems to flow much faster than in real life. Two days isn’t enough to put together a dynamite design, Tolbert said: “No one can do this and be at their best.” In fact, he wondered if the designers’ bickering and grumpy attitudes could spring from poor time management and lack of sleep.
(Note to self: Must find out if poor time management and lack of sleep are causing my own grumpiness and bickering.)
And since we’re playing fast and loose with time, let’s travel back a week and briefly talk about prom again. Just for the record, Tolbert said teenage girls rarely ask for short prom dresses in Atlanta. “Prom girls want to look older. They don’t want to look like they’re 17. Their bodies are different, their attitudes … They’re more body-conscious, and they want to show that.” Of last week’s designs, only Sweet P’s languid sluice of charmeuse would have sold, Tolbert said.
“Project Runway has as much to do with fashion as Andy Griffith has to do with law enforcement,” he added.
Say it ain’t so! Please, Mr. Tolbert, a few words of wisdom as we near the final four.
All right, then. “You want to shock at Bryant Park,” he said.
Game on!
The last word: What’s it going to take for the designers to make it to Fashion Week? Will Rami need to master another technique besides draping? Can Sweet P move on without a single win? Does Christian need an attitude adjustment?
Permalink | Comments (15) | Categories: Project Runway
1/16: Toucher, Crash and Wally reax to the end of 99X
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That’s Crash (l), Rich and Toucher above.
In the next few days, I’ll be posting a few reactions from past 99Xers about the pending demise of the station, at least as an FM entity. Here’s Fred Toucher’s thoughts. (The man is having a ball up at WBCN-FM in Boston with Crash Clark and Rich Shertenlieb.)
I knew it was bound to happen. I just think it is funny that they would fire two people that started the whole thing as if the failure of the station was their fault. It wasn’t. I’m glad I “got out” when I did. I have a hard enough time getting my head out of my own [butt] let alone others. By the way my “dirty show” that “people hate” seems to be working.
I still talk to Steve, Axel, Leslie, Jay Harren and Jimmy not to mention my current team of Rich and Crash. I love all those people and for that the experience at 99X was great.
Wally (above), his producer during that 2003-06 period, is now doing a surprisingly edgy, honest night-time syndicated Christian radio show called “Total Axxess.”. It’s on more than 100 stations and he said his audience is about 600,000. He’s been at it for 10 months and is enjoying the gig though he hasn’t been able to sell his home in Atlanta and his wife and daughter are still here so he has to do a weekly commute. That part, he said, is a grind.
“They haven’t made a single good decision since taking over the company,” Wally said, of Cumulus Media, which took over in 2006, about the time he was canned. “They killed a heritage station.” Sure, it’s self serving, but he thinks if they had kept Toucher and him, the ratings would have been a lot better than they were with Leslie, Jenners and Demery.
He does acknowledge that the return of the Regular Guys would be a good move for Cumulus and provide Project 9-6-1 some genuine competition. His thoughts on Leslie’s future: “She has a great reputation, deserved or not. She’ll get a job somewhere and be fine.”
And he remains a huge fan of Toucher and thinks he could be the next big “Howard Stern icon guy.”
Here’s the note I got from Crash Clark, part of the show with Toucher:
I feel for everyone I knew who worked there, when your life is suddenly and dramatically altered it’s not easy. Do you think I really wanted to move to Boston? Now that I’m here I look back and say, Thank you Fred and Rich for making me part of your highly successful show.
I never dealt with the Dickey’s so all I know about them is a reputation for bad business decisions. The Bert Show was huge and now it’ll be the biggest show on the planet. I wish all of them the best even though Bert won’t return my phone calls.
99X didn’t deserve to die the way it did though, that was wrong. Leslie, Steve and Axel are among the best talents in the country and despite being fired three times I wish Leslie all the best, she’s been more than a boss through the years. Steve should have a gig within days, he’s that good but no allowing him to say goodbye on the air was bush league.
The Regular guys should easily recapture their loyal audience, if they can be heard with the toaster signal. Southside Steve and I always had a good relationship so I truly wish him well.
Atlanta just doesn’t seem to be too stable right now, the radio industry in upside down, the real estate market sucks, owning a bar inside the perimeter is risky and they have no water. All in all, Boston seems to be a great place and I’m enjoying my bonus for our last ratings book.
Good luck ATL, let me know when you need Crash D back. Until then I’ll be here on WBCN 104.1 Toucher and Rich from 3p-7p.
Jimmy Baron is going to be writing something for the op-ed page about the legacy of 99X and I’ll post that link when it happens. He’s currently working on TV production deals for a possible reality show concept and a possible game show concept, both with major production companies.
The end of 99X on the 99.7 signal appears to be 5:30 a.m. on January 25. Some folks on radio-info.com are speculating over the final song. A Nirvana song? Green Day’s “Time of Our Life (Good Riddance)?” What would be apropos?
1/16: Strike takes its toll
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Finally, the 99X/Q100 brouhaha has settled a bit so here’s a quick TV update:
“American Idol” is back but the scripted well is drying up. Already, several key shows are out of episodes, including “CSI,” “NCIS,” “CSI: Miami,” “Heroes,” “The Office,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Others that are goners for the time being with the strike in its 10th week include “The Big Bang Theory,” “Two and a Half Men,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Gossip Girl,” “Private Practice,” “Pushing Daisies” and “The Unit.”
This Friday will be the final original night for CBS’s drama lineup.
And sadly, neither side has made any move to re-start negotiations, which ended in acrimony just before Christmas.
Not only is this spring a potential goner but so is the summer and fall if things don’t get resolved soon.
Anyway, of the current crop of reality shows, Bravo’s “Wanna Be a Supermodel” has been a supreme bore so far, no tension, no quick-witted people, just lots of posing down catwalks. Yawn. NBC’s “American Gladiators” is a lot more fun than it deserves to be and it smartly sticks to the ’90s formula. ABC’s “Dance Wars” is somewhat in between. While some of the kids are talented, the so-called “war” between Bruno and Carrie Ann is so manufactured, there is truly no tension. Both have become more like Paula Abdul than they are on “Dancing With the Stars” and it sucks the life out of the competition. And while Bravo’s mainstay “Project Runway” is still fun, there is also a relative lack of breakout characters who burst through the screen, save for Christian and Chris. NBC’s gasping “Celebrity Apprentice” is fairly pointless, though Gene Simmons is always worth a laugh given how pseudo-serious he always is. Finally, I caught a few minutes of “Scott Baio is 46… and Pregnant” and it was a perfectly amusing way to waste a few minutes on the treadmill at the health club.
I am looking forward to CMT’s “Gone Country,” having seen the first episode (debuting January 25.) Dee Snider’s search for caffiene, an unlikely alliance between Bobby Brown and Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) and amusing commentary from Carnie Wilson make this one a keeper. And that Fox game show “The Moment of Truth” in which people are asked increasingly uncomfortable questions about their lives for money could be a delightful train wreck when it debuts after “Idol” on January 23.
And upcoming AMC series “Breaking Bad” (10 p.m., January 20) is worth checking out, too. It’s kind of like “Weeds” with a chemistry teacher dying of lung cancer deciding to raise some cash for his family by running a crystal meth lab. Some of the plotting is a bit lazy and predictable, but Bryan Cranston (“Malcolm in the Middle”) as the teacher shows he can truly act.
1/15: WAGA’s first 11 p.m telecast, bits on Eagle/Kicks, Vikki
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WAGA-TV’s very first 11 p.m. telecast last night went smoothly. Tom Haynes (above) from Miami (he worked at CNN here in Atlanta before) was the lone anchor and he did it standing up, rather than sitting behind a desk. He had two live reporters, Ken Cook as meteorologist and Ken Rodriquez on sports. He referred viewers to his blog twice though it has not been updated since Friday.
Doug Evans opened with an “exclusive” hit-