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February 2008
2/29: Kicks & Eagle staffs blown out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: Cadillac will remain. Kristen, who was with him as the Kicks morning team for two years, is out.
ABOVE: Rhubarb Jones is out after 22-plus years. Dallas McCade survives, though she might end up at Kicks.
I spoke too soon about it being a quiet day. (See my previous blog entry.)
Instead, we’ve got what is already being dubbed the Leap Day Massaacre.
Management at Eagles and Kicks Friday dumped nearly the entire on-air staff in what appears to be a severe cost-cutting measure.
The only major survivors: Cadillac Jack, Dallas McCade and Bill Celler. I hear traffic guy Greg Talmadge will remain, too.
Gone? Veteran Kicks news man Jim Vann, Eagle morning man Rhubarb Jones, Kicks morning co-host Kristen Gates, Kicks afternoon DJ Wylie Rose, Eagle afternoon jock Steve Mitchell and Eagle mid-day gal Sandy Weaver, Kicks night-time jock Scotty O’Brien, and promotions guru Buck in the Truck, to name a few. I also heard former “Kimmer” sidekick Wayne “No Offense” Kitchens is out as Eagle morning producer after just a month.
It was ugly and quick. It also looks like Eagle 106.7 will be toast very very soon, replaced by something else. My sources say Citadel, the new owners, are interested in bringing Imus on air at 106.7 and perhaps turn it into a talk station. Another format change could be oldies. I presume they have to keep NASCAR around regardless.
No word yet from Rick Mack, the general sales manager who had to dole out the bad news. I’ve also tried to reach Weaver, Buck and Rhubarb. I’ll post comments from them if I get them. KIcks is now using some weekend jock while Eagle is now being automated with no jocks at all.
“It’s horrible but it’s the radio business,” Mitchell said, matter of factly. He was not under contract and is ready to work anywhere else Monday. In preparation for this, he already has built his own production company.
Citadel, the Kicks/Eagle owner, yesterday reported a nasty loss nationwide and promised swift changes. Well, here is one of them, an obvious major cost-cutting measure.
“I’m glad I’m on the outside looking in,” said Moby, who worked as morning host at Kicks from 1991 to 2002 and now runs his own syndication deal. He is heard on the Bear in Griffin, South 107.1 in Rome and WNGC-FM in Athens.
Rhubarb Jones was on the air for more than 22 years, the longest running morning jock in town. Mr. Charity is also one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet. He’s got a good heart but even he knew things were winding down for him at Eagle. They cut his hours a few months back to boot.
“Rhubarb Jones is the second person I ever called about getting into radio and he gave me great advice,” said Cledus T. Judd, the country parody singer and new morning host at rival 94.9/The Bull. “He’s an absolute class act and radio legend. For all the good he’s done in radio, he’s twice as good a person. Kristen is a good friend of mine, a class act as well. I absolutely hate with a passion to see those people lose their jobs.”
“It breaks my heart for Rhubarb,” said Mike Stiles, who worked at WYAY back in the late 1980s. “This looks like another let’s-get-rid-of-talent affair. I have no idea how you win that way.”
What do you think? I’ll add more to this blog entry as I get more details and more reactions. This is just more insanity in Atlanta radio, which has also featured a major station move signals, four new morning shows and the return of the Regular Guys and Steve & Vikki (in July) on new signals.
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2/29: Interview with WSB’s Jamie Dupree
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is the first genuinely quiet week of the year so far in terms of radio/TV news. No format changes. No signal swaps. No anchors leaving. No new morning messes.
So I decided to do a quick phone interview with Jamie Dupree, WSB-AM’s Washington correspondent, who has been a fixture at the station for 20 years, covering everything from the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, the 1992 Clinton campaign, the Clinton impeachment hearings, the Florida post-2000 election brouhaha, 9/11 and yes, this year’s fascinating presidential race.
Since 9/11, he has been doing his ten-minute daily gab with Neal Boortz at 12:05 p.m. EST every day, raising his profile nationwide on Boortz’s 250 affiliates. “It’s done more for my visibility than all the news work I’ve done,” he said. “It’s taught me a lot. It took me awhile to get used to, but it’s a lot of fun. People like the fact Neal is going to say something outrageous in an effort to get me to stand up to him.” He said they never prepare and he has no clue what Boortz will say.
Dupree figures they do it at that time to go up against Rush Limbaugh and in some markets (including Atlanta), Boortz beats Rush in that quarter hour. “It’s made me a much better reporter and on the air,” he said. “It’s one thing to be asked questions by a morning show host. It’s another to be asked by Neal.”
He is the consummate journalist in his sense of objectivity. He won’t tip his hand what his political views are. “I simply want to give listeners insight into what’s going on in Washington. They can draw their own conclusions. I get emails accusing me of being a sop for the left. I get emails accusing me of being a Republican hack. I get emails saying I’m the most impartial journalist ever. So I get it from all sides.”
He’s a workhorse (“I’ve been well known to drive three hours for a news conference.”) and loves the primary race, traveling to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and on Tuesday, Texas. “I’ll be at Hillary’s rally Monday in Austin,” he said.
Dupree, who is also heard on Cox stations in Dayton, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tulsa and Stamford, Conn., is 44 and married with two young children. He began his career as a page in 1980 on the Hill. His dad was a Ford lobbyist and both parents worked as staffers for Congressmen. He could have followed that path but preferred journalism. He worked as a DJ at the University of Florida in the early 1980s and for a time, considered sports, but opted for news instead.
He said he prefers radio over TV, because “there’s no one between you and the final product. You are responsible for it. I’ve done some TV news. You have a camera man. You have editors. The anchors. The graphics person. There are too many things between you and the final product. I like radio for its immediacy. It’s all you. Nobody’s worried whether you’re wearing your tie correctly.”
He works out of tiny broadcast booths in the House and Senate capital buildings, hanging out with the other Washington journalists. His neighbor for 15 years was CBS News’ Bob Schieffer.
“Covering Congress is a lot of fun,” he said. “A lot of people enjoy hearing the inside baseball going on. I also do live shots with [WSB-AM morning man] Scott Slade and all the other stations. Sometimes, with the campaign, I’ll do stuff at night for Herman Cain. Since January 2, I do every station every morning at least once.”
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Project Runway: Rami’s dark victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s get to it right away: We feel like Chris should have gone to Fashion Week. Based on the three designs he and Rami showed the judges, his collection expressed more of the ever-important point of view, was more innovative and still cohesive, and demonstrated growth as a designer. Chris’ Goth-fabulous designs elicited an actual visceral reaction. All that jet and panne velvet and yes, even the fringe of the human hair triggered the inner dialogue: How can I get that look?
On the other hand, Rami, who racked up more wins over the season, created designs, like the black-and-white strapless dress, that were pretty but hardly clever, or that even made us say, “Gotta have that.” They didn’t seem to leave the judges wanting more, as Tim Gunn suggested earlier. Rami’s black floor-length gown – and apparently he’s known for red-carpet designs – was lovely but didn’t show any ingenuity. At the very least it could have been accessorized better.
Also, did it seem like the judging was kind of wimpy? In the last couple of episodes they complained that Rami couldn’t get past his horse-blinder vision of draping; on Wednesday they celebrated it. Nina Garcia mentioned that Rami’s dress was a fantasy dress, but somehow she couldn’t extend the courtesy to the lovely creepiness of Chris’ designs.
And funny enough, it seems like the museum trip from the last competition episode turned on a light bulb for everyone. Our three finalists have all taken, to some degree, a cue from the Middle Ages, meaning exaggerated sleeves, tight breeches and a retro (reaalllly retro) military aesthetic. Should be an interesting finale.
Remember, the last five designers, including Chris March and Kathleen “Sweet P” Vaughn, went to New York Fashion Week. If you want to see all five collections, you can go to Bravo’s “Project Runway” site and get a jump on next week. If you’d rather be surprised, view only Sweet P’s and Chris’ collections here. They won’t be broadcast.
At the final judging, Chris made a valid point: that his is a perspective from outside the fashion world. So maybe it’s not him who’s been living in the “monkey house” after all; maybe it’s everyone else who’s stuck there.
Do you agree or disagree? Is Rami the right choice, and why or why not?
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2/27: Live at “America’s Got Talent” auditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta crowd booed Santa.
Blasphemy? Not in the world of “America’s Got Talent.” On Wednesday, several hundred people watched live auditions of the hit NBC reality show at the Cobb Energy Centre.
Act I
And a guy dressed as Santa and calling himself Kris Kringle and the “Singing Santa” gave everyone the creeps as he talked about his work during the summer:
“I have a wonderful bathing suit. I visit children.”
Bad juxtaposition there, Kris! The boos started and Judge David Hasselhoff uttered, “Background check!”
His singing didn’t help matters and he was buzzed off within seconds. “I think Mrs. Claus warned me about this and she was right,” he said forlornly.
“Seeing you in the middle of the summer doesn’t seem right,” judge Piers Morgan said. ” So it’s a no.”
“If you landed on my roof, I’d move,” Hasselhoff said.
Act II
The acts who came on Wednesday afternoon were a mix of the surreal and the sublime. Besides Santa, the audience was “Live at the Apollo” tough on a dorky-looking magician who threw out lots of umbrellas, a Prince impersonator who couldn’t sing Prince songs (because they weren’t cleared by the show) and a dance/acrobatic crew from Orlando that lacked pizazz.
During the portion I watched, two people won tickets to the semifinals in Vegas: a 19-year-old blonde gal named Sarah did a rather good imitation of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.” And the sword swallower made it through although Hasselhoff was more scared than entertained and questioned whether he could sustain an hour-long Vegas act. He did seem kind of one note but certainly good TV at least one time.
Like a lot of TV shows, not every sound you hear is spontaneous. The producer felt the crowd reaction to the sword swallower was inadequate and asked them to do gasping and cringing sounds again.
Is this TV?
Three other observations: the “X” buzz sound the judges press is even more aggravating live. Jerry Springer was missing in action on stage, doing most of his camera work backstage. And the acoustics here are quite good.
Last year’s winner, singing ventriloquist Terry Fator even stopped by during a break. He said he was doing a private corporate gig in town and heard about the taping so he came by to say hey and tell everyone he will be back in Atlanta for a public show October 11, coincidentally at the Cobb Energy Centre.
If you have time, definitely stop by tomorrow to check it out. There are two tapings: one at 11 a.m. and another at 4 p.m. It’s free and they have plenty of seats available. Today, they had to do some recruiting for the early shift, bringing folks in from senior citizens homes and kids from local schools.
Q&A with the judges
I wasn’t allowed to talk to the contestants but I did have a few minutes with Hasselhoff, Springer and Morgan. Here’s the story we’re running in tomorrow’s print edition:
When David Hasselhoff arrived at DeKalb Peachtree Airport Tuesday, he had his driver go directly to his childhood home in the Chamblee Dunwoody area.
It was gone, torn down for a new home. But that didn’t stop the “America’s Got Talent” judge from walking up his old driveway and waxing nostalgic.
“I used to ride my skateboard up and down that street,” Hasselhoff said Wednesday morning before the start of two days of auditions for the hit NBC summer reality series at the Cobb Energy Centre. “I had a go kart, which became the Knight Rider. I was a terror!”
The “Hoff” — known for “Knight Rider,” “Baywatch” and strange YouTube videos — recalled mowing lawns for $5 an hour and performing a play as a child for the family of Martin Luther King.
But alas, he had work to do and he joined host Jerry Springer and fellow judges Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan on the stage at noon, greeted by cheers from the Atlanta audience.
“What’s not to love about the Hoff?” Morgan said. “We call him ‘Breaking News Hasselhoff.’ Every ten minutes, there’s some sort of breaking news about the guy.” He then noted how Hasselhoff recently made headlines after wrangling an elephant tusk from his ex-wife’s home. “I used to work for a tabloid. We wouldn’t have had a newspaper without him.”
Morgan then did a fine imitation of Hasselhoff reacting to a lousy act: “That was awesome! Awesome!” he said, eyes bugged out, hand slapping the table.
Springer, Hasselhoff and Morgan were all thrilled that last year’s winner Terry Fator, the singing ventriloquist, is doing so well. Fator nabbed a regular gig at the Las Vegas Hilton and is pocketing $100,000 a pop for corporate events.
“Terry is a true rags-to-riches story,” Springer said.
“We’re getting a lot more varied cats coming to casting calls,” Morgan noted. “He proves the unusual can win this show. It’s not ‘American Idol.’ You don’t have to just sing for your money.”
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2/26: Raisin in the Sun ratings, Organic Sundays survives, WSB award noms, radio station ages
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry. Not much to go on today. I tried to reach Chris Krok to see what he’s up to but caught him once changing diapers, then caught him again eating dinner with the kids. In both cases he wasn’t set up to talk. I also wanted to do something with Jamie Dupree, WSB’s Washington correspondent and what life is like during a hot election year. Hopefully I’ll catch him tomorrow.
Atlanta’s Kenny Leon should be happy that his film version of “Raisin in the Sun” Sunday night did well in the ratings for ABC, finishing with 12.7 million viewers, based on preliminary Nielsen numbers. The only show that did better Monday night was “Deal or No Deal” with 15.3 million at 8 p.m. And if you’re into CBS’s “Welcome to the Captain,” it won’t last. It was down to 5.3 million viewers last night.
Matt “Organic” Jones has not only survived the transition from 99X to Rock 100.5 but it appears his Organic X (now dubbed Organic Sunday) has survived the move as well. He’s been doing this “softer side” of rock on Sunday mornings for more than a decade, creating a devoted following for folks nursing a hangover.
And WSB-AM has been nominated as Radio & Records news/talk station of the year while both Neal Boortz and Clark Howard were nominated for syndicated personality of the year.
I’m really scraping, eh? This is as good a day as any to provide the latest median ages of listeners for each radio station.
The youthful ones from last fall, according to Arbitron:
95.5/The Beat and Hot 107.9 (22.2)
Project 96.1 (28.1)
99X (29.1)
105.3 El Patron (29.2)
Viva 105.7 (30.5)
Q100 (31.5)
La Raza 102.3 (31.5)
V-103 (32.7)
In the middle:
Star 94 (36.7)
Fish 104.7 (38.2)
The Zone (40)
Dave FM (40.6)
Grown Folks (40.9)
The Fan (41.3)
Kicks (41.5)
The older set:
B98.5 (45.3)
97.1/The River (45.6)
Praise 97.5 (46.9)
Kiss 104.1 (47.7)
94.9/The Bull (48.9)
Jazz 107.5 (49.3)
Eagle 106.7 (51)
WGST-AM (52.1)
WSB-AM (55.4)
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2/25: 2008 Academy Awards ratings drop 20%
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Academy Awards last night hit its lowest ratings numbers in at least 33 years, drawing a preliminary Nielsen estimate of 32 million viewers. (Nielsen has been tracking this show’s ratings since 1974.)
That’s down from 40 million last year and the worst since 2003, when an average of 33 million viewers watched “Chicago” take home the best movie Oscar. Most Academy Awards this decade have drawn around 40 million people, typically the second biggest telecast of the year behind the Super Bowl. But this year, the premiere of “American Idol” drew more viewers.
In Atlanta, the numbers were even more dismal, falling 30 percent year over year, to about 600,000 viewers from nearly 900,000 last year. Of the 55 biggest markets, Atlanta ranked 38th in ratings for the telecast. In fact, “American Idol” in a typical telecast, draws more viewers locally.
People may have been turned off because the best picture nominees (including the winner “No Country For Old Men”) were not huge blockbusters and most of the actors in the big categories were not A list types. In fact, the four major acting categories went to foreigners for the first time in more than four decades. All the montages, interviews and pre-recorded “best” moments from past Oscars (yes, a montage to periscopes and binoculars in film!), clearly set up before the strike helped elongate the show well past three hours.
In other ratings news, people appeared to be hungry for fresh “Saturday Night Live” episodes. This past Saturday, SNL had its best ratings in the major markets in two years, which extrapolated will equal about 10 million viewers nationwide. This was the first post-strike live telecast and featured Tina Fey as host, Steve Martin and Mike Huckabee making surprise guest appearances and Carrie Underwood singing. This Saturday, “Juno” star Ellen Page will host.
USA’s “Monk” also had its best ratings ever this past Friday, the season finale in which he played fugitive and solved how he was framed for murder. “Monk” pulled in 6.9 million viewers. That’s impressive for a show that’s in its seventh season. It helped that none of the regular networks had any fresh scripted shows available Friday night. “Monk” actually beat a repeat of CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” and an ABC “20/20” and wasn’t far behind a “House” repeat or the new NBC game show “Amnesia.”
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2/24: Rock 100.5 lineup complete w/ Erin Watson, English Nick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rock 100.5 has found its mid-day jock: a gal from Columbus, GA’s Rock 103 named Erin Watson or as she was called there, the Mid-Day Mistress. You can check out her myspace page here.. She’s clearly a big fan of Metallica and also sings and models. She starts Monday.
Erin joins the illustrious list of very attractive female jocks in town, including the new Hot 107.9 jock Maria More, who starts the same day as she does. Of the 17 major market English language music stations in Atlanta, 11 now have mid-day female jocks. The exceptions are Star 94, the Bull, the River, 95.5/The Beat, Kicks and Smooth Jazz.
And good news for English Nick, still recovering from a car accident that mess up his hip: Rock 100.5 gave him the full-time evening jock slot, replacing the very short-lived Matt C and Lewis show (Gary Lewis said Matt C is off to PR and Lewis will segue to 99x.com with Jillian.). English Nick has worked part time at 96rock and 99X for years. Glad to hear a great British voice full time!
Where did I hear this info? Well, we radio dorks gathered for a special Radio-info party Friday at Manuel’s Tavern, courtesy of radio buyer Roddy Freeman and regular contributor to that board. Radio-info is a place to gab about radio, populated by both radio folks and radio wannabes. Surprisingly, a few real radio people showed up, including Southside Steve Rickman and Seabass from Rock 100.5, who taped some material for videos they post on www.regularguys.com. Christopher Calandro, former producer of the Regular Guys and the Morning X (& Don Miller), popped by in a kilt, too. And Southside Steve’s bosses Rob Roberts and Gary Lewis even mixed it up. It was a fine night had by all.
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2/22: Where is WSB-TV’s Pam Martin?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On January 4, Pam Martin was bumped out of the early morning anchor chair. She was to keep her noontime anchoring and add some reporting duties for the 5/6 p.m. time slots. Carol Sbarge took her over Martin’s early morning duties.
But Martin hasn’t appeared on air since. No word yet from Marion Pittman, her boss, or Martin herself. Martin has had some health problems, including a wrist injury. Some folks at the station are speculating that she might simply be riding out her contract.
Martin has been at the station since 1989.
The press release at the time went like this:
“I’m pleased to be returning to the job I created for myself. It allows the best of all possible journalist worlds,” said Martin.
“When needed, Pam responded to the morning shift like the veteran she is,” said Pittman. “She rearranged her life for the grueling morning news schedule and took ownership of her role. She anchored the show as Atlanta commuters shifted their news viewing to earlier and earlier in the morning.”
“Pam leaves the show in a dominant competitive position. We appreciate her leadership, dedication and great stewardship of this important newscast,” Pittman added.
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2/21: Hot 107.9’s new mid-day host Maria More, update on Moby
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wow. That Pezo dude didn’t last long in the mid-day role. He wasn’t even there eight montjs after replacing Ramona Debreaux (now working part time at V-103) Hot has found a new female voice for mid days in Maria More from Gainesville, Fla.
She starts Monday. A Florida A&M grad with an MBA at Florida State University, she last worked at Blazin 102.3 in Gainesville. Check out her Web site. She describes herself as the “perfect blend of sight and sound.” She’s a model and a singer. Her myspace page says “Maria More, Poetess and Lyricist, embraces musical artistry through a passionate release of thought invoked words over smooth instrumentals.”
Pezo in Da Crib (right) has been bumped to the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift. In the hip-hop world, that’s a popular time slot.
Also, I wrote a Sunday Living piece about Moby, the former Kicks personality now doing his own syndicated show heard on South 107.1, WNGC and the Bear locally. Check it out here.
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2/21: Las Vegas nixed, ER survives
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After five respectable seasons, “Las Vegas” appears to be a goner on NBC. This past Friday’s two-hour season finale is apparently its last, according to TV Guide.. The show wasn’t a blackjack by any means but I watched it loyally the past three seasons. It was always best when criminals tried to rip off the casino. And the show lost a bit of its elan this season without James Caan though Tom Selleck and the gal who played Piper were good additions. Ratings had fallen off, though being on Friday didn’t help matters.
Surprisingly, veteran show “ER” survives despite slipping ratings (it’s barely drawing 9 million viewers nowadays vs. 25 million in its heyday).
Anybody still watching “ER”? Does it deserve a 16th season?
NBC is seeking options to keep “Friday NIght Lights” alive by working with other networks sort of like “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” with USA Network.. In other words, spread the costs over multiple airings on different networks.
In other NBC show news, “Law & Order” actor Jesse L. Martin is leaving to be replaced by Anthony Anderson, whose “K-Ville” is a goner over at Fox.
And “Lost” fans: another great “reveal” at the end when we find out Kate is pretending to be the mom of Aaron, Claire’s mom. Where is Claire? And is Aaron the fifth of the “Oceanic 6”? I presume so. And favorite line, courtesy of Hurley to Kate: “You just Scooby Doo’ed me!”
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‘Project Runway’ post-mortem
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: Wednesday night’s lunar eclipse. Seriously - it was the last one till 2010.
The low: Oh, wait - the “Project Runway” reunion show! Highly unsatisfying.
Wrapping up Season 4 was sort of like the waning days of summer camp, when you feel a little sad that it’s over but ultimately you’re sick of your cabin, your bunkmates, the mess hall and everything camp-related.
The post-mortem on Season 4 broke down like this: a bunch of tangentially acquainted people issue minor complaints and try to eke out a few laughs. No one exhibits any chemistry; everyone looks mildly uncomfortable.
No revelations took place in this hour-long special - not even a truly thought-provoking comment surfaced, though a few behind-the-scenes clips gave the show a little life. Meantime, we rediscovered that Victorya is uptight and Christian is arrogant: Who knew?
Though Tim Gunn is generally a class act, even he and Heidi Klum gave semi-Stepford performances, not really engaging in conversation with the designers but still asking some dumb viewer questions (“Ricky, why do you cry so much?”).
The last word: Season 3 winner Jeffrey Sebelia drives a Saturn in a “Project Runway” promo. The tatted-up, bad-attitude rock ‘n’ roller drives a vanilla vehicle? Wonders never cease.
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2/20: Do you like Cledus T. Judd’s accent? Also: Jenners’ new job, V-103/AOK town hall meeting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Wednesday morning, Cledus T. Judd on the Bull read an email he received from a listener complaining about his accent, that it was too strong, too redneck for today’s Atlanta. It’s a familiar complaint. It’s part of the reason Moby was let go from Kicks back in 2002. (I’ve written a story updating the world about Moby for the print edition of Sunday Living this weekend.)
Cledus defended himself, said he’s not going to subsume is Cartersville accent for anybody. I was out and about and not jotting notes down so I don’t have his exact defense but he said he’s proud of being Southern and having said accent.
“I can’t change my accent. This is where I am and if they don’t like it, punch the button,” he said after the show in an interview. “I’d never judge anybody by the way they talk. That’s not fair.”
“I think he is who he is,” said Clay Hunnicutt, his boss. “He’s not putting on a persona. You can’t change him. You either like him or not. He’s real. He’s genuine.” To him, feedback to the six-week-old show has been great and 99.9 percent called in to defend him and be who he is.
What do you think? Do you like him and/or his accent so far?
And Rob Jenners, who was part of the new Morning X for just over a year until last month, has found a new job at another Dickey-affiliated station: 680/The Fan. Let him explain himself:
I’m the new Production Director for 680, which means I’m responsible for commercial production, imaging of the station, and I’m trying to produce some stuff for Chris Rude and Buck & Kincade to help them out however possible. I started last Wednesday. It’s a great team and a really positive environment here. I’m excited about the future at this station, it’s a station I listen to all the time (I’m a talk radio guy) and the crew is a blast. Good stuff, and in hindsight I’m glad things worked out the way they did, I’m really happy.
And V-103/WAOK-AM are holding a combo town hall meeting later today from 6 to 8 p.m. about school violence. Frank Ski and Lorraine Jacques-White will preside. “We had been wanting to do it for awhile,” Ski said. “With the recent incident at McNair High School, we figured it was a good time.”
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2/20: Steve & Vikki to B98.5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve & Vikki, formerly of Star 94, are off to B98.5. They start July 1, after their noncompete agreement with Star is over.
The popular pair left Star in November after 17 years. Management at Star felt their audience had gotten too old and replaced them with the more youthful Morning Mess morning team from Indianapolis.
This is the most obvious place for Steve & Vikki since B98.5’s listeners are basically a slightly older version of Star 94’s listeners. In fact, it was the only realistic place for them to go unless another station changed format to accommodate them.
Strategically, B98.5’s move was both offensive and defensive. Offensive because the station, already doing very well without a direct format competitor, simply solidifies its power in the mornings with a known brand in Steve & Vikki. Defensive because this keeps away other stations tempted to compete directly against B98.5. Sure, B98.5 was the only existing station that fit with Steve & Vikki, but everyone in town knew that a rival could have easily picked up S&V and gone head to head with B98.5 in the soft rock world just as Cumulus as done with Rock 100.5 and the Regular Guys.
Kelly & Alpha will stay on until June. They were here nearly a decade, doing a very quiet, low-key, minimalistic show with lots of music. It worked well and they did their jobs, pulling in adequate ratings. And without Lite 94.9, they have done even better in the past year.
Cox Radio is not known for local personality FM radio in this town. It’ll be interesting to see how much latitude B98.5 will give Steve & Vikki compared to what they did on Star.
For those who only heard that Vikki had health issues last June, when news leaked of her impending departure from Star, she is fine now and ready to go. When they left Star in early November, it was 100% clear Steve would be seeking a new job on air and about 98% sure that Vikki would join him. Steve by himself would be like Jimmy Baron without the Morning X or Larry Wachs minus Eric Von Haessler. The value of these teams are far greater in the eyes of radio execs than individually.
My colleague Richard Eldredge broke the story over in Buzz land. And given their cautious natures, they are not going to talk until the noncompete is over.
“I think them coming back is going to make life very hard for Star 94 in conjunction with Bert doing his thing,” said Jake Ray, S&V’s former producer 2002 to 2005. “It’s a great move for Steve & Vikki.”
I’m not sure if Will Gara will stay on as producer or if Tommy Sullivan will be able to re-join them. I left messages with both.
“I’m so excited,” Sullivan said. “I am happy where I am and am working on a future in television.” (Sullivan is still doing off-air remotes for Star 94 in conjunction with his job at WXIA’s “Atlanta & Company.”)
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2/19: Flip Spiceland leaving WXIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Veteran meteorologist Flip Spiceland at WXIA-TV is leaving the station after seven years. He was at CNN for 21 years prior to that.
It’s not clear whether it was budgetary or strategic or whatnot. WXIA general manager Bob Walker said they negotiated but couldn’t come to an agreement. “I chose not to accept the offer,” he wrote in an email, without specifying whether it was lower than his last contract or simply inadequate in his mind. He wrote he doesn’t have another job lined up.
Flip has always been a smooth operator on screen and his name is arguably the most memorable in town among broadcasters. Chris Holcomb is going to cover for Flip when he leaves Feb. 27 or 28, Walker said. Then they are going to search for a replacement. Holcomb is in the running.
The station recently lost Blair Meeks to Jackson Spalding PR. It’s unclear how they are going to fill Meeks’ spot.
And Walker said his four “backpack journalists” are doing a great job and have helped WXIA place more people in more places on the streets of metro Atlanta.
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2/19: Dancing With the Stars latest lineup
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABC has put together what looks like a fun crew for the latest “Dancing With the Stars,” including the first deaf performer, Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin. Take that, Heather “missing a leg” Mills! ABC introduced the dozen during the finale of “Dance Wars” tonight.
“Deaf people can do anything except hear. My deafness will limit my ability only if I let it,” says Matlin, to USA Today.. Matlin is currently on Showtime’s “The L Word.”
“Seeing as I haven’t let my it affect my acting, I don’t think I’ll have more difficulty than other cast members,” she says. “You try to imagine what it’s like when you can’t hear the music. I’ll let my partner be my music.”
Some other big names include Priscilla Presley, the elder stateswoman at age 62; R&B hottie Mario, magician Penn Jillette, Olympic gold medal winner skater Kristi Yamaguchi (an immediate favorite, right), tennis star Monica Seles and “Police Academy’ star Steve Guttenberg.
The others include Tony winning actress Marissa Jaret Winokur. Radio personality Adam Carolla should provide comic relief. “American Pie” actress Shannon Elizabeth should provide eye candy. Latino actor Christian de la Fuente is also eye candy and Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor.
The show premieres March 17.
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2/18: An offbeat CBS casting call, “Kid Nation” dead?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Most casting calls in town from TV shows are of the more frivolous category: dancers, singers, the next Trump “Apprentice” and the like. “America’s Got Talent” is at AmericasMart this Sunday and Monday.
But CBS has posed a new one for this Wednessday. No name yet for the show itself. The pitch verbatim:
Have you been a victim of a crime in the Atlanta & Clayton County area? Do you want help?
Are you still fighting to get justice against the offender?
A new CBS television series is coming to town, and looking for families, individuals, or organizations with real problems in need of real solutions.
Our team of the nation’s leading law enforcement officials can solve crimes, clean up neighborhoods, and bring bad guys to justice.
If that’s what you need, tell us your story! Bring photographs, legal documents, police reports and any other information you may have.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20th, 2008, 9AM-9PM
Renaissance Concourse Hotel 1 Hartsfield Center Pwky Atlanta, GA 30354
If you are not able to attend, please call anytime: 323-595-0712
In other CBS news, the show that got all sorts of gratuitous ink last fall “Kid Nation” appears to be a goner. Newsday reports that the show, which featured several delightfully fun Georgia kids, isn’t on the 2008-09 lineup. The show didn’t do particularly well in the ratings, averaging 7 to 8 million a week. That’s relative to CBS’s other shows. I got a kick out of it, especially spoiled but always quotable Taylor and amusing Jared. It was Divad’s parents that complained about the show’s treatment of th ekids and helped generate all that pre-show ink. There were questions of labor laws broken and injuries sustained. In the end, it was much ado about not much and viewers shrugged their shoulders, too.
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2/17: Limbaugh tops radio talker ranking
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Talkers magazine ranks the top 100 most influential radio talk-show hosts each year and Rush Limbaugh lands on top for the second year in a row.
The purely subjective criteria: courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, revenue, service, talent and uniqueness.
Limbaugh has been the king of talk radio for nearly two decades and still draws more than 14 million listeners a week though he is not king here in Atlanta on WGST-AM. In the fall book, WSB-AM (Neal Boortz and Clark Howard) easily beat him and so did Colin Cowherd on WCNN-AM among men 25-54.
No. 2 is Sean Hannity again, no surprise there. He’s heard from 4 to 7 here in Atlanta on WSB-AM
And No. 3 remains conservative talker Michael Savage, who was just bumped on WSB-AM from 7 to 10 p.m. to 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in favor of Herman Cain.
No. 4. is again Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who has not been heard in Atlanta for five years since GST dumped her. I have yet to get a reason why she hasn’t gotten a new station here.
Glenn Beck moves from 10 to 5. He returned to Atlanta last year on WGST from 9 to noon and has seen some success (and a bigger profile) with his CNN Headline News show.
Laura Ingraham holds at 6, now on WGKA from 9 to noon. Don Imus, who had a bit of controversy but managed to get a new job last year, moves from 14 to 7. He has yet to find an outlet in Atlanta this time around. Ed Schultz is a liberal syndicated talk show host not heard from here and moves from 11 to 8. Mike Gallagher, on WGKA from noon to 3, drops from 8 to 9.
And syndicated Atlanta WSB-AM talker Neal Boortz, whose latest “Fair Tax” book came out this past Tuesday, slipped from 9 to 10.
WSB’s Clark Howard, the other Atlantan on the list, fell from 27 to 30.
Among others: WGST’s Dave Ramsey jumps from 21 to 12, helped no doubt by his new Fox Business News Channel show. Sirius talker Howard Stern, who fell from No. 1 in 2006 to No. 12 last year, falls to No. 13 this year. WSB-AM weekend law analyst Bill Handel moves from 17 to 19. GKA’s Michael Medved jumps from 29 to 20. WGKA morning host Bill Bennett holds at 25. WGST’s George Noory moves from 28 to 26. WGKA’s Dennis Prager is at 35 while WSB’s Kim Komando is at 36, down from 24. GKA’s Hugh Hewitt is at 65.
There is an unranked 101 to 250 which includes the 2 Live Stews on the Zone. So is Colin Cowherd and Dan Patrick, heard on the Fan. Ditto with Martha Zoller, heard on WDUN-AM in Gainesville.
2/15: On Lost, Survivor, B98.5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don’t read this if you haven’t yet seen the ep:
Another great “Lost” episode! Plenty of action and double crosses plus that great reveal at the end. I’m loving these flash forwards.
Sayid gets his first flash forward. We learn quickly he’s part of the Oceanic Six, along with Hurley, Jack and Kate. Nobody should be surprised he’s playing hired assassin. That’s his primary skill set! But we never find out who Sayid’s target is and he has to kill off a similar agent set to find out who Sayid’s boss is. Neither achieves their objectives once he kills her. It was sweet to see Sayid fall for her, yet it’s the second woman he cares for (after Shannon) who dies. Tough Karma…
The gal Sayid killed shot him too, but it’s not fatal. The big reveal at the end: he is being treated by the almighty Ben! And Ben is playing like Jack with the medical equipment! We also learn Ben is quite the travelin’ man when Sayid checks out his secret closet back on the island and sees a stash of passports Jason Bourne would envy. Sayid was also shockingly betrayed by Hurley, of all people, who was used by Locke as a shill to lure him, Kate & suspicious ghost whisperer Miles into captivity. Sayid trades Miles for Charlotte. Sawyer, under Locke’s command, watches over Kate but convinces her to stay because she has nothing to go back to — like him. Yes, that Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle goes on and on and on. We also find out on the island that Sayid, by giving Frank Charlotte, can fly off the island in the repaired helicopter with physicist Daniel (and the dead body of Naomi.) Bizarrely, this is one episode where Jack was kind of left out of the action.
Any interesting clues or observations? Next week is going to be Kate-centric and we find out how she was free for that big reunion with Jack in the first flash forward last May.
Now onto Survivor:
Sadly, one of the more interesting and divisive characters on the show, Jonny Fairplay, decided to bow out so he can be with his pregnant wife. Huh? Anyway, it’s embarrassing how long it took the fans to make fire with flint. And the way they split up by age was irritating. Lots of romance in the air, too. In fav land, Atlantan Parvati and study James bond. Amanda and Ozzy get busy, too! But the favs win immunity so the focus goes on the fans. Chet did poorly so he’s a target. But Joel is chafed by Mikey’s effort to be the lead man and tries to convince folks to target Mary (right) instead of Chet. Joel’s gambit works and Mary is out. As Jeff notes, she was totally blindsided and Mikey looks confused and shocked. So much for that so-called “younger” alliance! Good job, Joel! Now let’s see how the consequences of that move play out next week.
Over in radio land, if you’re a regular listener of B98.5, you’ll notice things began getting awfully soft on Thursday — in celebration of Valentine’s Day. It’s rare for B98.5 to do a thematic shift on a workday. So you hear songs that Peach used to play like Dan Fogelberg’s “Longer,” Dan Hill’s “Sometimes When We Touch,” Peter Cetera and Amy Grant’s “Next Time I Fall” and David Soul’s “Don’t Give Up On Us.” (right) It’s not all sap, though. There’s Huey Lewis’ “Power of Love,” Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” EMF’s “Unbelievable” and Diana Ross’ “Upside Down.” There are no current songs. But hey, we can all use a break from Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5, right?
2/15: Biggest Loser, America’s Got Atlanta auditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The writers strike is over, but reality shows are still scouring the country for unscripted talent.
Los Angeles and New York are the easiest sites for casting calls, but shows do stop by Atlanta on occasion. In the past year, “So You Think You Can Dance,” “American Idol,” “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” and “Top Chef” have come by.
In the next couple of weeks, two NBC shows will be here: “The Biggest Loser” Saturday and “America’s Got Talent” on Feb. 24 and 25. See if either show is calling your name:
“America’s Got Talent”
Premise: Anything goes. Sing? Dance? Juggle? Mime? If you can entertain an audience for a couple of minutes, have at it! Last year, a singing ventriloquist won the $1 million.
Ratings: Top show last summer, averaging more than 11 million viewers.
Casting for: This summer
Audition site: AmericasMart, 240 Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta
When: Feb. 24 and 25, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Casting director says: “There’s no age limit. We welcome novices who have never performed outside their living rooms. Tell jokes. Play the spoons. We’re open to anything!” — Roz Taylor Jordan, senior casting director.
Preregistration? Preferred. Go to www.nbc.com/AmericasGotTalent/ to print and fill out forms.
Bonus fact: The judges (Piers Morgan, David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne) and host Jerry Springer remain the same. If you want free tickets to see a taping of the early rounds at Cobb Energy Centre Feb. 27 and 28, call 1-888-258-0661 or go to www.ocatv.com.
“The Biggest Loser”
Premise: Are you dangerously overweight? Are you willing to strip to your skivvies in front of millions? Do you have a TV-friendly personality and the desire to win $250,000? This show is for you. But you’ll also need to partner up with a friend or family member since “Loser” is now doing the competition via couples.
Ratings: The current fifth cycle is averaging about 8.5 million viewers, up a million from the fall.
Casting for: This fall
Audition site: Wild Bill’s, 2075 Market St., Duluth. First 500 people guaranteed to be seen. Bring photos.
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Casting director says: “We’re looking for all sorts of combinations: mother-daughter, married couples, siblings. We’d love to have firefighters or police officers or former athletes. Just two people with a close connection. Unlike other reality shows, most come to audition who don’t want to be on television.” — Allison Kaz, who has cast all six seasons.
Preregistration? No. But you can go to www.nbc.com/casting if you want to send in a videotape submission instead.
Bonus fact: Last fall’s competition featured Bryan Washington, a cheerful high school music teacher from Riverdale. He lost a whopping 122 pounds.
Project Runway: Life imitates art
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: An unexpected trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The low: We’re normally not fans of bloodletting, but we felt like victims of false advertising. If you say you’re going to auf two designers, then auf two designers. Tonight’s “tie” felt like a gimmick.
In the three months since we were first introduced to the Season 4 designers, Rami Kashou has draped his way through 12 episodes. Come on, Rami. No. More. Draping. Or we will attack our televisions with pinking shears.
This week, the draping was reason enough for him to go home, but moreover, the lilac dress was hardly the grand statement that you would expect to come from a museum.
Chris March went for same-old same-old and got away with it too. But Christian and Jillian’s outfits were gorgeous, though, especially Christian’s puffy but not overdone sleeves.
Meantime, Sweet P finally did herself in with a kind of kooky homage to a peacock. It looked less like the elegant fowl in the painting and more like the cartoon bird that used to be NBC’s mascot. (You know, the one with the exploding tail.) She could have had a lot of fun with that dress, maybe something with a giant train, something royal looking, something that splayed out when the model walked.
She was a nice lady, though, and we’re sorry to see her go.
In case you hadn’t heard, all five of the remaining Project Runway designers presented collections at New York Fashion Week, though only three collections will be broadcast on the show. Since Sweet P is out of the running, here are two pieces from her collection.
She did include versions of her standard daytime dress, as well as the more sophisticated designs you see here.
The last word: “Project Runway” will air a special next week (their opportunity to gripe), and Season 4 will end with a two-part conclusion Feb. 27 and March 5.
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2/14: Neal Boortz’s Fair Tax book signing, NBC return dates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spent a few minutes gabbing with WSB-AM’s Neal Boortz, at a local Borders off Ashford Dunwoody Wednesday night to promote his latest “Fair Tax” book, which is a guidebook for fans of the Fair Tax to face off against critics (including Jay Bookman here at the AJC). Harper Collins, he said, wanted him to finish in three months. It took him five. So it’s coming out this week a little later than he would have liked in the presidential campaign cycle. But at least Fair Tax supporter Mike Huckabee has not dropped out of the race. Boortz doubts Huckabee will win the nomination but perhaps he could get the vice presidential slot and bring the Fair Tax to the White House.
Boortz had a skin cancer removed recently from his scalp and the stitches had not disappeared so he wore a cap. But otherwise, he was in good spirits.
His first 2005 “Fair Tax Book” with Rep. John Linder hit the top of the New York Times bestseller list. He hopes to do the same this time, though he said he has to face off against “Eat, Pray, Puke.” (Actually, Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love.”) “I don’t think Oprah is going to get her sewing circle to recommend a tax book,” he said. He doesn’t know how many of that first book he sold but he knows Harper Collins is making more copies upfront this time. He says he just takes the royalty checks and gives them to charity.
So far, the House of Representatives has about 70 supporters of a Fair Tax. Boortz hopes if the book hits it big on the best-seller, it would keep the subject top of mind inside the Beltway.
Plenty of folks have doubted the viability of a revenue neutral consumption tax. He said the book responds to critiques such as the depth of the tax’s effect on prices, the end of the mortgage deduction and its impact on the poor and middle class. Boortz feels many lobbyists whose jobs are to “game the tax system” and tax experts on the staffs of congressmen are actively against it. And politicians use the tax, he said, to “manipulate votes” by offering up special interest deductions and breaks through the current tax system. The Fair Tax, he says, “would be a massive transfer of power from the government to the people.”
While the Fair Tax would end the IRS, he admits there would have be government compliance of retailers who collect the tax and a way to dispense and track “prebates” given to each household to help the poor.
He isn’t doing a full-fledged book tour for this version. “I just don’t want to do it,” he said. “I’m lazy.” He did fly to New York Tuesday to promote the book on Neil Cavuto and Sean Hannity and locally is doing a couple of Atlanta book signings, including a second one tonight at 7 at a Barnes & Noble at the Ave @ West Cobb in Marietta.
Boortz is now on 230 stations nationwide.
He then jumped on stage to greet more than 100 people for a book signing that wasn’t even finalized until last Friday. He first wore a big black cowboy hat and said, “Am I hot or what? I’m from Texas so I can get away with this.” Then he swapped it out for a red “Fair Tax” cap.
You can buy it on Amazon.com here.
Here are some other photos I took:
ABOVE: Boortz’s right hand woman Belinda Skelton and his relative new producer Cristina Gonzalez
NBC also announced return dates for new episoes of its scripted shows. ER comes back to life April 10, same day as “30 Rock,” “The Office” and “Scrubs.” “Law & Order: SVU”? April 15. “My Name is Earl”? April 3. “Heroes,” “Chuck” and “Life” come back this fall.
And interestingly, ratings for late-night shows which went without writers the past six weeks weren’t affected. Leno continued to beat Letterman and “The Daily Show” held its own, while “Colbert” edged up slightly.
2/13: Strike is over! How this will play out…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now that the writers have officially approved the contract with the producers, Hollywood is back in gear and scripted shows will start coming back.
Already, the talk shows are in gear and starting today, you’ll start seeing Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Leno and Letterman back in full gear. (I thought Conan did a great job without his writers though there are only so many times we could watch him spin his wedding band on a desk.).
Next up: “Saturday Night Live” will be back Feb. 23 with Tina Fey as host. And the Academy Awards with Jon Stewart as host is set to go as normal (which is good or bad depending how your tolerance level for that show.)
Some of the sitcoms will probably hit the air with new episodes in mid-March, according to the New York Times. That includes top sitcom “Two & a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” set to start again March 17. Chuck Lorre told the Times he hopes to pump out nine episodes for each show, working seven days a week. (Ditto with “How I Met Your Mother”) Most shows, though, will at most do five or six. “The Office,” the first show to run out of episodes in mid November, won’t be back until April 10 at the earliest.
Dramas take longer and it won’t be until April before we see “Grey’s,” “Desperate Housewives,” “House” or “Ugly Betty.” Two series won’t be back this spring: “24” and “Heroes.” Ditto for “Pushing Daisies” and “Chuck.” “CSI:Miami” will be back, though, on March 24 and will air a whopping eight new episodes while “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” will get seven starting April 2. “CSI” and “Without a Trace” are set April 3 for six more episodes each. The CBS Friday night lineup power back April 4 with six each for “Ghost” and “Numbers” and four for “Moonlight.” On Sunday, “Cold Case” re-starts March 30 for five more episodes. “Shark” has four more but a re-launch date hasn’t been announced.
Several shows appear to be dead and won’t come back at all: “Journeyman,” “Big Shots,” “Bionic Woman,” “Cane” and “Friday Night Lights.” (Fans are trying to keep FNL alive.) The futures of “ER” and “Scrubs,” two shows expected to be over, are not firm. Ditto with “Boston Legal.”
TNT”s “The Closer” and “Saving Grace” are three weeks behind schedule and will launch in later June. HBO’s “Big Love” and “Entourage” have been pushed back.
“Lost” will air 13 instead of 16. The show has eight in the can. There will be a gap of about a month before its final five episodes. The other three not episodes will air at some later date. More info here, courtesy of Mike Ausiello of TV Guide.
TV Guide has the most comprehensive update guide here.
2/13: Whatever happened to… CNN’s Lynne Russell?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CNN’s Lynne Russell was a ubiquitous presence on CNN Headline News for 18 years from its launch until 2001.
She moved to Toronto three years ago and sells homes. (She briefly worked for the CBC, a Canadian news network.) She’s always been a woman of diverse interests: she’s a licensed detective with two black belts and makes hand-sewn lampshades.
The National Post interviewed her recently. Here are excerpts:
Q: And now you’re a realtor. How’s that treating you?
Russell: I really love it. Over the years I’ve bought and sold houses and I have managed some of them as rental properties. It’s funny, because I grew up in the army and we never, ever owned a house.
Q: Do you get clients who will scratch their heads and say, “Wait a minute, I know you from somewhere”?
Russell: It does happen. What are you going to do?
Q: You also have two blackbelts. What are they in?
Russell: It’s a martial art called Choi Kwang Do. It’s kind of Korean street fighting. It moves a lot like Tai Chi.
If you had to throw down with Wolf Blitzer, you could take him, right?
Russell: I don’t know. He’s little, but the whole part of martial arts is that you don’t have to be big. There are a lot of big stupid people out there. Wolf is a friend. I don’t think I’d ever have to do that.
2/12: Rocker breaks steroid news to Regular Guys & Kincade, Axel & strike updates, saving FNL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Rocker, the former Braves pitcher, has been a friend of the Regular Guys for years. On Monday morning, he spoke with them and fessed up about steroids.
Former major league pitcher John Rocker said Monday that baseball commissioner Bud Selig knew he failed a drug test in 2000 and that doctors for the “league” and the “players association” advised him and several Texas Rangers teammates on how to effectively use steroids.
Rocker, no stranger to controversy, made those comments on Atlanta radio station Rock 100.5.
John Kincade and Buck Belue got more from Rocker later that day.
“Bud Selig knew in the year 2000 John Rocker was taking the juice,” the former pitcher said Monday of the baseball commissioner on Atlanta radio station 680, according to the Associated Press. “Didn’t do anything about it.”
This differs from the story he told ESPN a year ago when he downplayed steroid use by baseball players.
At the Van Halen concert last night, I also ran into Axel Lowe, the most prominent survivor from the transition to Rock 100.5 from 99X. He’s always been a metal head so he’s happy to play Motley Crue and Guns ‘n Roses. He figures Steve Craig will land at an adult alternative station (Dave perhaps?) once his eight months on his existing contract are up. Leslie Fram had no real effective control over programming the last two years anyway. Now, she can write her own ticket. He said given Matt Jones’ schedule and his wife’s job, he prefers the overnight schedule over middays. (He doesn’t know who that mid-day job will go to yet but thinks it will probably be a woman.)
Axel himself once wanted to do mornings (and subbed in briefly after Toucher left and before Demery showed up) but realizes that afternoons is a more stable gig with better hours. He was also very upbeat about 99x.com and the future of the Internet on the car radio. I namedropped the new gal Jillian but he didn’t make any comments about her specifically, positive or negative. Then VH was about to start so we had to abruptly end the conversation.
The writers strike is nearly over. E! has compiled a nice update on what will happen to your favorite shows..
Beloved but ratings challenged “Friday Night Lights” aired what could have been its last episode last Friday. Now several campaigns are trying to save it after comments by NBC exec Ben Silverman that its future was in doubt. The show has been pulling in only 5 to 6 million viewers a week on Friday nights its second season. Folks are hoping to emulate “Jericho,” which came back after a concerted effort by fans for seven episodes.
The key site is www.savefridaynightlights.tv. Or sign a petition here.. As of my writing this, there are 2,238 signatures. I would think they’d need at least 50,000 for network execs to even take notice. “Best Week Ever” at VH1 is even trying to help out here..
2/11: Kicks raises $752K for St. Jude’s, Boortz book out tomorrow
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kicks 101.5 raised $752,483 in pledges for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital late last week. That’s up from $735K a year ago but way down from 2005 and 2006 when the station raised $1.2 million each. On the bright side, Kicks got its numbers up from 2007 despite the economy. On the downside, the huge dropoff from earlier fundraisers may indicate the Bull’s presence siphoning off listeners from Kicks who might otherwise have pledged money. (Similar fundraising efforts by WSB-AM and Star 94 last year did not see such a fall.)
Meanwhile, over at WSB-AM, Neal Boortz has his second “Fair Tax” book to promote and the one presidential candidate Mike Huckabee who is promoting it is still in the running. The book is out tomorrow and I’m trying to procure a copy and interview the host. I’ll post it later this week when I get it. You can buy the book here at amazon.com..
Oh, and reporter Blair Meeks left WXIA-TV last Friday. I hear it’s for a PR job.
2/9: The magic of Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne” (and TV writers strike is nearly over)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One thing I learned Saturday about Tyler Perry at a special panel for TBS’s “House of Payne:” his employees call him Mr. Perry, not Tyler.
That’s respect, which Mr. Perry has earned.
On top of his plays and films, he has taped a whopping 100 episodes of “House of Payne” in less than a year. The show began airing last summer and the 100th episode is scheduled for August.
Most traditional sitcoms take more than four years to reach 100 episodes.
When they told folks in Hollywood their plans, “you can imagine folks just laughed. ‘No way! You guys are crazy!’ ” said Roger Bobb, supervising producer. “Now some of those same people are asking me for jobs.”
He and a few players for “Payne” dispensed advise to more than 120 members of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at Grand Hyatt in Buckhead.
“The thing is, we don’t have to answer to a network,” said head writer Kellie Griffin. “We answer to one person: Mr. Perry. He has total creative control of the show.”
It’s a tough grind of an environment where scripts have to be written quickly and shows produced in a day (as opposed to a week.). “Payne” started with 11 writers last year and only seven made it to the end.
ABOVE: Panel moderator and WXIA-TV morning host Karyn Greer poses after the session with “Payne” actor Larramie ‘Doc’ Shaw, who plays Malik Payne. CREDIT: Rodney Ho
One person asked Roger Bobb if Perry plans to tape before a live audience, but Bobb said the way they tape the shows isn’t conducive to do so. “Our schedule changes so often and we don’t do one run through,” Bobb said. He later told me that he didn’t think the 100 shows suffered creatively by doing them in such a condensed time period but there were some technical compromises and he would have preferred live audiences if that had been possible. But he was still happy with the final product and says the show improved over time.
And Perry, who directed all 100 episodes of “Payne,” never stops. He’s already filmed 10 pilot episodes of a sitcom version of his upcoming film “Meet the Browns.” He’s also tested out a talk show and is considering an animated series as well.
Finally, he’s moving from his Kroq Street studios to a new much bigger 30-acre space near Greenbriar Mall dubbed Tyler Perry Studios. Bobb said they plan to build five soundstages, a 400-seat screening theater and backlot. It is set to open near the end of this year. They also will have public tours, creating a new tourist spot. “This is Atlanta’s Universal Studios,” he promised.
Over in Los Angeles, the Writers Guild has reached a tentative agreement with the producers that paves the way to end this writers’ strike, possibly as early as Monday. That is nothing but good news for everybody involved, including the viewers.
2/8: Whole World Theatre alum’s new VH1 show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a preview story I wrote for the print edition today about Lance Krall, a Shiloh High School grad and Whole World Theatre improv co-founder. He has a new show “Free Radio” on VH1 tonight at 9:30 p.m. His doofus morning host interviews celebrities and makes a jerk of himself. I doubt it’ll garner “Flavor of Love” type numbers for VH1 but it’s kind of quirky funny. You never know if viewers will embrace this or not but it was so low budget, VH1 isn’t really taking that much of a financial risk airing it. Krall told me he really knows very little about how an actual radio station works but given the context of the show, that probably doesn’t matter much. He uses a Burbank voiceover studio and it looks convincingly like an actual rock station, at least a low rent one. The guy he supposedly replaces is a Howard Stern type named Rip Rebel. The photo features the actual guy who runs the studio.
By RODNEY HO rho@ajc.com/Staff
In 2001, actor Martin Short created fictional talk show host Jiminy Glick —- an arrogant, ignorant fool disarming the likes of Ray Romano, Tom Hanks and even Dick Cheney.
Former Atlantan Lance Krall takes a similar approach in his new VH1 show “Free Radio, ” debuting tonight at 9:30. He plays a fictional radio host —- an immature, ignorant fool disarming the likes of Ray Romano, Kiefer Sutherland and Tony Shalhoub.
“This is a weird hybrid of a talk show and a behind-the-scenes ‘Office’ type show, ” Krall said. His character (also named Lance) was an intern for a Howard Stern-type jock who left for satellite. Lance subs in and becomes so bizarrely popular, he gets a permanent job as Los Angeles’ “Moron in the Morning.”
For celebrities, being on “Free Radio” is a goof, a way to test their improv skills.
For VH1, it plays off the network’s obsession with “celebreality.” Famous folks, usually of the C list variety, date (“Flavor of Love”), lose weight (“Celebrity Fit Club”) and do silly stunts (“Surreal Life”).
For Krall, “Free Radio” is a second chance at stardom. In 2005, Spike TV aired eight episodes of his self-named sketch comedy show. Spike didn’t renew it.
“It did well ratings-wise, not amazing, ” he said. “Then the president was fired at Spike and a new regime came in. My show got lost in the shuffle.”
Jim Ackerman, VH1 senior vice president of development, loved Krall’s show. He told Krall to come up with a new concept with a celebrity component. Out came “Free Radio.”
“They gave me about a nickel and a half to do a five-minute presentation, ” Krall said. Instead, he taped a 30-minute pilot with Angela Kinsey of “The Office” and Jack Coleman from “Heroes” as guests.
“He completely overdelivered, ” Ackerman said. “We brought it to an off-site screening and it bowled people over.” VH1 gave him eight episodes.
Krall hired a bunch of his buddies who used to work with him at Atlanta’s Whole World Theatre in the 1990s, including his radio sidekick (Anna Vocino), the receptionist (Sarah Baker) and his intern (Kalen Conover).
Atlanta entrepreneur Sara Blakely even shows up to talk up Spanx, her footless pantyhose. (Blakely took improv classes at Whole World.)
Lance was befuddled by Spanx, which makes his sidekick’s butt look smaller. “That’s faking me out!” he complained, comparing it to guys who put socks in their pants.
Befuddled, Blakely looked at Lance and said “Are you, like, for real?”
Fortunately, no.
FAST FACTS
Krall’s mom was a spy for the CIA and FBI and his dad, a Navy pilot.
Graduated Shiloh High School in Snellville (same school as “American Idol” finalist Diana DeGarmo).
Helped found improv company Whole World Theatre in 1993 and built his comedy craft there until 2000.
In 2001, he came to Hollywood and nabbed a role in an NBC sketch comedy show produced by Steve Martin and co-starring Wanda Sykes. It was cancelled after four episodes.
He played a gay Cuban character on the delightfully funny reality show spoof in 2003 “The Joe Schmo Show,” which led to his brief sketch comedy show in 2005 “The Lance Krall Show.”
His hero is Andy Kaufman and he is obsessed with SciFi Channel’s “Ghost Hunters.”
2/8: The belated Regular Guys interview
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eleven days after I was booted from the Regular Guys studio, Gary Lewis & the Rock 100.5 folks welcomed me back to do my belated interview this morning. You can listen to the 20-minute interview at www.regularguys.com, which provides plenty of on-air material from the show in case you missed it.
I don’t think they said anything they hadn’t already about their situation. Larry Wachs apologized for the misunderstanding day one. He had asked Gary Lewis, his boss, if he could call me the prior Sunday night about the upcoming show and Gary said no. He didn’t realize that meant no media the entire first week. So when I arrived, Gary had to come in and pull me out, causing a scene. Eric was especially agitated but he was all content again today, a dutiful company man.
And since it was radio, they were more facetious than factual at times. For instance, when I asked what they were doing on their off time, they didn’t really provide any real genuine details. I knew Larry played lots of golf and tried out at different radio stations by himself, including an FM talk station in New York. And he started an “Daily Show” type video on Comedy Central’s Web site. Eric Von Haessler worked a bit for the Sunday Paper. Eric freely admitted he did this out of pragmatism, the realization that they were wanted in radio only as a team and hell, he needed the cash. And Larry said the show was better with “Southside” Steve and that’s why they got him back from Eagle 106.7.
At the end of the 20 minutes, “Southside” Steve Rickman dissed his former boss at Eagle Victor Sansone without any specifics. Larry & Eric also admitted that they weren’t close friends and proceeded to defile Clear Channel radio and their former bosses at 96rock. Given a chance to bury 99X, Larry was kind and complimented Leslie Fram. Who would have thunk it? (Eleven days ago, Leslie’s office still had a lot of mementos in it but this morning, I noticed it was completely empty. And there’s a list of phone numbers on the wall in the Rock 100.5 studios that is so outdated, Jimmy Baron’s name is still on it.)
One thing I forgot to mention last week is that Larry “officially” made “Southside” Steve a “Regular Guy.” He had always been part of the team but when the Regular Guys are references, it has always just been Larry and Eric.
And if you think “Shoot Steve” is “theater of the mind,” nope, Larry really does shoot “Southside” with a BB gun and he got him good — twice — in the butt. The show seems loose and everyone appears really happy. Now we wait to see how quickly their fans jump back aboard.
2/8: Hot’s Ramona Debreaux goes to V-103, early Zakk opinions, TV strike update
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ramona Debreaux, who worked at Hot 97.5/Hot 107.9 for more than a decade but was let go last July, has found a new home at V-103. But unlike Ryan Cameron, who was able to land a great afternoon gig there, Ramona has had to settle for now with part-time work on weekends. I caught her at the CBS Radio advertising luncheon at Maggiano’s. She said she’s just happy to be part of such a hugely successful operation as in V-103.
Dave FM management introduced Zakk & Jane at the luncheon, too, but Miss Sophia and Wanda stole the show giving away door prizes and requiring people to leap up and scream in excitement after winning $50 Macy’s gift cards and such. I just read some comments on the Radio Info board and wow, the critics there are already ready to bury the show. Some people say Firfer and Orff, even as a temporary team, was better. Many hate Zakk’s voice, comparing it to Professor Farnsworth from Futurama. Another harsh (anonymous) opinion from the site: “He’s been in Atlanta for almost 2 months preparing for his debut and we get this kind of adolesent, small market, hackneyed schtick, not to mention a fingernails on chalkboard voice .. D.O.A. is being kind. Does anyone at CBS ever listen to a demo tape of someone before they hire them?” They also found his efforts to sprinkle in “local” references insincere. Why not just say you’re new and trying to figure things out? In other words, just be yourself and not pretend you’ve been in Atlanta for years.
Agree? Not agree? Is it completely unfair to make judgment calls less than a week into a new radio show?
I’ll be stopping by the Rock 100.5 studios again tomorrow morning. I’ve been promised I won’t get kicked out this time. I’ll blog about the experience later Friday.
At that CBS Radio luncheon, I got stats from the fall 2007 Arbitron book. I’ll be ladling the stats out over the next week. Unfortunately, the “consent rate” keeps on dropping to the lowest ever. Only 42.3% of those reached was willing to keep a diary. Arbitron exceeded its goal of 3,740 diaries by ten but down 6.2 percent from fall 2006. Each diary represented 1,138 people in metro Atlanta. And Arbitron had serious trouble reaching Hispanics, only getting about half the number they needed. And demographically, they had trouble as usual reaching men 18 to 44 and women 18 to 34.
Also, time spent listening to radio keeps falling. Last fall, the average listener caught 18 hours and 43 minutes of radio a week. This past fall? 18 hours and 17 minutes, a 2.3 percent drop. I’ll be providing some age, race and income breakdowns of various stations.
This fall in Atlanta, Arbitron is set to transition from paper diaries to people meters, which should be more accurate for advertisers. It’ll be interesting to see how this will impact ratings but we’ll be talking about that more later this year for sure.
As for the writers’ strike, the Writers Guild is meeting Saturday and the odds now are pretty good that it may end soon. TV Guide has already compiled a list of what the future holds for many TV shows in terms of coming back or not. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be until late March or early April before fresh episodes of most shows even begin.
The info below is very tentative.
For instance, “24” may come back in the fall but certainly not this spring.”30 Rock” and “The Office” could shoot anywhere from 5 to 10 more episodes for airing in April and May. “Chuck,” “Moonlight,” “Pushing Daisies” and “Life” are done for this spring but will likely be back this fall. “Bionic Woman” is a goner and so is “Life is Wild.” The CBS dramas all could potentially shoot four to seven episodes to air in April and May. ABC dramas “Grey’s,” “Ugly Betty,” “Desperate” and “Brothers & Sisters” may shoot four or five more eps for springtime airing. Sadly, fans of “Friday Night Lights,” the future of that show looks grim. Enjoy the last episode Friday!
Project Runway: Designers and divas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: Thirty minutes in Spandex House? A dream come true!
The low: The show had barely started, and Rami was already busy draping.
Hmph. “Project Runway” mysteriously disappeared last week, leaving us to sulk, sort of, in the blooming mushroom cloud of prim, society-girl couture that is New York Fashion Week for Winter 2008. While we were waiting for our weekly TV fix, we had plenty of time to peruse the runway shows – sadly, from a distance, because our employer did not offer to send us to New York for on-the-scene blogging.
A word to the aspiring designer: Everything old is new again. Imagine that! Designers such as Nanette Lepore, Isaac Mizrahi and “PR’s” own Michael Kors outfitted female models in fun-house colors, modest lengths and ladylike midcentury silhouettes. Think “Mad Men” without the men. Think “Far from Heaven” without the domestic horror. So maybe there’s a hint of what we might see when “PR” presents its final four to the Big Apple. Or are the designers so cloistered that they have no clue what the outside fashion world is offering?
Whoever the four may be, they were joined by a recent “PR” alum – New Yorker Victorya Hong, whose na•be label staged a show during Fashion Week. She presented an extremely understated, almost monochromatic collection of separates last Friday. Since Victorya’s out of the running, we won’t spend any time discussing her Fashion Week designs, but you can check out her collection by clicking here. (Thanks to our commenter Molulu for providing that link.)
Back to the show. WWE divas: Is there any way that Chris could not have won? And hot on the heels of Ricky’s big denim win came Ricky’s orange-and-fishnet ouster. Sentiment seems to be running high against Ricky anyway, so he probably won’t be missed. Good night, and good luck!
Sweet P is the show’s broken record. She gets herself into the same predicament every week, with a design that goes off on a wild hair and which can’t be wrangled. How does she survive?
The last word: On Monday, “PR’s” benevolent spirit Tim Gunn appeared on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and talked about how he often disagrees with the judges, the role of fashion in society (a definitive answer to that perpetually bothersome question, “Who cares?”), and whether he really knows the outcome of this season’s competition. In case you missed the segment, watch it here.
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2/6: Brother Esmond Patterson tribute, Fish vows, Zone promo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Brother Esmond Patterson was a mainstay in the Atlanta gospel community for more than a half century (mostly at WAOK-AM) until his death in 2003. His daughter Edna wants to keep her dad’s memory alive by holding a benefit concert in his memory. Mark your calendar for March 9, 2008 at 4 p.m. It will be at Christ Tabernacle United Church of God in Christ at 2649 McAfee Road, Decatur featuring the Christianaires, the Gospel Four, the Gospel Gents and Russell Wright, to name a few. Tix are $20 and $25 day of show. Call 770-598-6741 for more info.
And here’s a warm and fuzzy promotion that would never fly at Rock 100.5: Fish 104.7 on Saturday is renewing the vows of 75 couples at the Duluth Festival Center with Fish artists Bethany Dillon and Nicol Sponberg helping out.
Steak Shapiro called me to note that tomorrow morning, “Mayhem in the AM” is doing its show in John Smoltz’s backyard. Will Steak and the gang be playing badminton or will Nick help tend to his roses? Actually, they’ll play some pickup basketball.
2/5: Ben the Bunnyman dies, Wayne “No Offense” Kitchens goes to Eagle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Regular Guys beloved contributor Ben the Bunnyman (real name: Benjie Conner) passed away Sunday from complications stemming from heart surgery he had last Thursday. He was part of the Regular Guys stable of characters for the past decade, a blue-collar guy who was teased by the Guys for his marble-mouthed speech. There’s a loving tribute to him on his site www.benthebunnyman69.com You can sign the guest book there.
According to the site:
Ben’s funeral services are being handled by the Sam Clark Funeral Home located at 4373 Atlanta Highway in Hiram, GA.
Visitation will be Thursday, February 7th from 4 - 8 p.m.
Services will be Saturday, February 9th at 11am at the Funeral Home Chapel.
The Regular Guys held a tribute to him this morning. He was in the studio the first day and I got to say hey to him but not for long since I was booted moments later. I always had a soft heart for him. He took all the ribbings he got from the Regular Guys with a smile. It was great Ben got some recognition thanks to the Regular Guys’ return.
Meanwhile, Eagle, where “Southside” Steve Rickman had worked until a couple of weeks ago, found a new producer for its the Rhubarb Jones and Dallas McCade morning show: the Kimmer’s former sidekick Wayne “No Offense” Kitchens (right). He had been doing odd jobs around Eagle for a couple of months but was named the producer yesterday, replacing Todd Veal, who is now working in Nashville for the new GAC night show on Eagle. Wayne said he’s enjoying his time there so far, that it’s night and day vs. working at Clear Channel. “People here actually smile at work!” he said. Rhubarb continues to work part-time so Wayne will have a chance to gab a bit, especially in the 5 to 7 a.m. hours. He said his Kimmer cohort is working at an art gallery and the pair are writing a movie script. He also heard from the Kimmer, who is playing plenty of golf in his retirement.
Also, New York City today at 4 p.m. has a new “adult rock” format at 101.9 called RXP that has some similarities to Dave FM but the bosses at the station say the on-air personalities will actually get to pick some of the music. 99X used to give its jocks some leeway but most stations provide virtually no say to its DJs. (An exception: Mara Davis at Dave has discretion for her themed lunch hour.) You can check the station’s first hour playlist here. The first hour included Dave staples such as Tom Petty, U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as the Flaming Lips and its first song, the Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll.” It sounds like a fun station for rock fans 30 to 49.
2/4: Biggest ratings ever for Super Bowl
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An average of 97.5 million sports fans watched the thrilling Giants upset of the Patriots, the most ever for a Super Bowl. Nearly two-thirds of homes with TVs on were tuned to the game.
Atlanta football fans were average in terms of Super Bowl fervor. About 1 million metro Atlanta households and 64 percent of TVs in use were tuned into the game, up 4 percent from a year ago. (Nationally, the increase was 5 percent.)
About 148 million people caught at least a few minutes of the game. The game peaked in ratings between 9:30 and 10 p.m. with 105.7 million viewers. These are preliminary figures and may change slightly when final results come out.
Fox drama “House,” which aired after the game, drew more than 33 million viewers, its best performance ever.
This isn’t the most popular TV telecast in history. You have to go back 25 years to the finale of “MAS*H” in 1983, which drew 106 million viewers. Back then, most people were still using rabbit ears and watching the three big networks. On a percentage basis, that was a whopping 45 percent of the U.S. population.
The Super Bowl Sunday night, in comparison, drew only about one-third of the U.S. population. But in today’s environment, people often have 200 or more other choices, not a handful, so that total is still very impressive.
The pre-game show, which included more of an entertainment component, drew 16 percent more women ages 18 to 49, so from Fox’s standpoint, bringing in Ryan Seacrest and the red carpet treatment.
2/4: Dave FM’s Zakk Tyler launches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dave FM has taken the earlier is merrier approach to mornings.
Rather than the traditional 6 to 10 a.m. time slot, its new Zakk Tyer Morning Show airs from 5 to 9 a.m.
This isn’t unusual. Hardly anybody locally airs 6 to 10 anymore. Cletus T. Judd at the Bull and Giant Brian at Project also go from 5 to 9 a.m. The Bert Show starts at 5:30 a.m. and runs til 10 a.m. Ditto with the Morning Mess at Star 94 and Kevin & Taylor at the Fish. Frank & Wanda at V-103 and the Regular Guys at Rock 100.5 stick with the old clock. Both Kelly & Alpha at B98.5 and Cadillac & Kristen on Kicks technically go from 5 to 10 a.m. but the stations focus on music after 9 a.m.
I digress. Zakk launched today with a parody of “New York, New York.”
“Start spreading the news. Zakk’s coming today. He’s bringing his twisted point of view to Atlanta GA. That skinny short dude. Yah, he’s heading our way. And he’s gonna stay no matter Petrino and Arkansas promised to pay. You’re going to wake up this screwball and Sweet Baby Jane who’s kinda neat. Just keep him away from you sister and Ponce de Leon streets. If he can make it here, without an 5 a.m. beer, you’re going to love Zakk and Jane on Dave. That’s 92.9.”
Sweet Baby Jane introduced him: “And now the man who’s coming to Atlanta is depriving some village of their idot. It’s the Zakk Tyler Morning Show on Dave FM.”
“Its our first day,” Zakk said. “We won’t dwell on that much.” He then gabs about the Super Bowl for about 30 seconds and goes into the Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life” and “Handle With Care” by the Traveling Wilburys.
The pair’s first lengthy talk break came at about 5:10 a.m. goes on for about five minutes. They talk a bit more about the Super Bowl, focusing heavily on Dave FM artist Tom Petty, who was the halftime show.
Noting he’s a big fan and owns all CDs, he critiqued Petty’s looks: “He looks like he’s missing a chromosome or perhaps, if someone was a professional blood donor, they’d look like Tom Petty.”
They relate a story in which Zakk met Petty a year ago backstage in which Zakk hands him a proclamation in Chicago (where he and Jane had worked) making it Tom Petty Day. ” It was awkward, they said. “There was this weird moment of silence when I handed it to him. I don’t know if he was too stoned. I told him I’m a big fan,” Zakk said. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I’ve got earplugs in,” Petty said, then gave him a combo pat and handshake as if to say, “Move along.”
Zakk notes that Petty sounds the same, with or without the Heartbreakers and said it’s smarter to just be solo like John Mellencamp rather than be like ELO or Chicago because you get to keep all your money.
Denzel does traffic, which is oddly sponsored by the CMT show “Gone Country.”
The second major break at 5:30 a.m. features news, including more on the Super Bowl, the Brian Nichols trial and the end of the TV strike read by Jane, with Zakk commenting. His second parody song plays at 5:50 a.m. in which he mocks Tiki Barber for quitting the Giants, then critiquing them prior to them upsetting the Patriots in which Barber is a talking doll.
Some dude named JV at 6:35 a.m. did a “man on the street” bit at Piedmont Park asking folks who they are going to vote for. It was dull.
His first interview is Orson Swindle, who was with John McCain when McCain was a POW.
2/3: Writers’ strike may be over! Hallelujah!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
[According to the Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood’s striking writers have worked out a tentative agreement with producers after three painful months. A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild as early as Friday. The strike would officially end if the board gives the proposed contract a thumbs up, resolving issues over writers getting paid for airings of shows in new media land such as the Web and iPods.
If the contract is cleared by the Guild, we could soon be seeing regular monologues again from Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and the like (though Jay has been doing them himself all this time.) I anticipate sitcoms such as “The Office” and “Two and a Half Men” will be back within a month and dramas such as “CSI” and “Grey’s Anatomy” within six to eight weeks. And this also means we’ll probably get all 16 episodes of “Lost” after all. Halellujah! Plus, most of the summer series such as “Burn Notice,” “Army Wives” and “The Closer” will be able to air on schedule.
What this means for Fox’s “24” is a big question mark since that show only produced eight episodes and Fox chose not to air any of it this winter.
And yes, the overly dull and overly long Academy Awards will be back in its full glory Feb. 24 if all goes well.
2/2: New Dave FM morning show starts Monday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: I snapped a couple of shots of Jane Monzures and Zakk Tyler, the new Dave Morning show. Monzures literally flew in Friday to Atlanta at 10:30 a.m.
I got an interview with Dave FM Zakk Tyler and his sidekick “Sweet Baby Jane” Monzures Friday at CBS Radio studios in Colony Square, with PD Mike Wheeler sitting in. Tyler’s show will air from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., moving Mara Davis to 9 to 2, Sully to 2 to 6 and Margot, 6 to 10. Orff will do late nights.
Based on our 30 minutes, it’s still hard to tell exactly what his show will be like though at first, he will play six-seven songs an hour, which leaves a decent amount of time to talk and do bits. I suspect his show will evolve over time and whatever we hear next year won’t be necessarily what the show will be in 12 months. The good thing for him is he brought Manzures in from the Loop so he’ll have some comfort level there. Dave FM took its time putting this show together. Zakk’s been around two months, tried a bunch of sidekicks (including Holly Firfer) but stuck to someone he was familiar with in the end. Want to know more about Sweet Baby Jane? Here’s a bio online..
This is the story I wrote about Zakk Tyler that is set to run Monday in the paper:
WZGC-FM is like that hard-luck restaurant that changes cuisine every two or three years.
Since 1989, the rock station has seen 11 morning shows come and go, including shock jock Greaseman, veteran DJ Gary McKee, country man Moby and former 99Xer Steve Barnes. None stuck around for more than three years.
Welcome to morning show No. 12 Monday: Pittsburgh native Zakk Tyler, with Jane Monzures (“Sweet Baby Jane”), who worked with Tyler in Chicago at rock station the Loop and arrived Friday in Atlanta.
Here’s are a few bits of info about Zakk:
Real name: Dominic Joseph Zaccagnini. As a kid, he went by either D.J. or Zakk. Professionally, he opted for Zakk. “Using D.J. on the radio would be like calling a dog Spot,” he said. Tyler came from Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler in 1994.
Past cities where he worked: Louisville, Ky., Memphis, Greenville, S.C., San Jose, Calif., and Chicago.
His shock jock past: “In San Jose, we prided ourselves on being controversial. On Halloween one year, we sacrificed a virgin. An adult film star did the job on a very happy guy.”
Not anymore: He’s now 39 “and I’m bored with that stuff.” He’s still into sports, and he’ll talk about pop culture and whatever’s in the news. He also might do parody songs and comedy bits, based on samples he had on his Web site www.zakkster.com before they were taken down.
On the competition, including the return of the Regular Guys at Rock 100.5 last week “I’m happy those guys didn’t have to uproot their families. But the competition is irrelevant to us. I’m just going to do the best show I can for the Dave FM audience.”
The boss’ spin “I like Zakk’s work ethic, his listener-focused approach. I’m confident we have the right show,” program director Mike Wheeler said.
No more “Rock Without Rules” or “Where Music Matters” Dave FM has ditched all slogans since Wheeler came aboard last summer: “We have a little respect for our audience. We don’t have to spoon-feed them a line every time we open the mike.”
That last comment was a bit of a dig at former PD Michelle Engel (who I hear is no longer in radio). Engel, Dave’s original program director from 2004, was big on the slogans before she was relieved of her duties last summer.
2/2: 99X final farewells
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been a busy week and I neglected to link to a lovely column by our business columnist Maria Saporta about 99X from last week. Here it is, belatedly.. Here’s an excerpt:
Since Cumulus bought the station two years ago, my children and I felt change coming. One of our favorites — Jimmy Baron — went off the air. And the playlist seemed less daring and more tame. It didn’t help when Steve Craig’s Retroplex, a show with music from the ’80s and early ’90s, was discontinued.
Leslie Fram, the face for 99X in the community since its inception, explained to me last week that indeed there had been a shift. “I wasn’t able to champion as many baby bands as I used to,” she said.
Thanks to Fram and the station, bands from all over the country were discovered by listeners. I can’t remember all the times at concerts when musicians would make a point of saying that 99X had been instrumental in their success.
“I don’t believe people understand the ramifications of not having a ‘new music’ channel out of Atlanta,” Fram said. She talked about all the artists who have contacted her since she’s gone off the air using the same word — “devastating.”
And an Emory University student lamented 99X’s demise, too.
Gary Lewis, Cumulus Atlanta market manager, in an interview with the Emory Wheel, partly blamed Arbitron and the difficulty in reaching 18 to 24 year olds. (Yet that didn’t seem to hurt the ratings of Project 9-6-1, which targets a similar audience.). Speaking of 9-6-1, he downplays that station’s impact on 99X despite evidence on the contrary:
“There was some going back and forth on what to play at times,” he said. “However, [Project 9-6-1] was not one of the primary concerns or influences affecting this decision.”
Finally, Fram held a 99X farewell party at her boutique 1FiveO on Thursday night. My colleague Richard Eldredge was there to cover the festivities.
2/1: DeAnna Pappas next “Bachelorette”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Adorable Newnan realtor DeAnna Pappas is getting a second chance at TV love.
Texan Brad Womack dumped both her (and that other gal) during last fall’s “Bachelor.” She was naturally heartbroken and befuddled. The feedback about DeAnna must have been pretty darn good because ABC has picked her to be the “Bachelorette” this summer. None of the bachelors over the years have ever married the gal he picked, making a mockery of the whole concept. But one “Bachelorette,” Trista Rehn, found her man and is not only married to firefighter Ryan Sutter but has a child with him. So maybe DeAnna will have more luck than the guys.
Informing ABC’s decision for sure, this past fall’s “Bachelor” pulled in the show’s best ratings in at least a couple of years. I don’t recall any “Bachelor/Bachelorette” airing in the summer before but ABC almost universally struck out last summer with an array of poorly rated reality shows.
If you think you’re marrying material for DeAnna, go to www.thebachelor.tv or call 1-866-739-3150.
Fans even put together a lovely montage of DeAnna on YouTube:
