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Thursday, July 17, 2008
7/17: Catching up with a post-election Dale Cardwell, Steve Craig’s farewell on 99X.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former WSB-TV investigative reporter Dale Cardwell, who lost in his bid for a Senate seat in the Democratic primaries Tuesday, spent yesterday responding to emails and phone calls from supporters and well wishers.
“I’m very satisfied,” he said, of his third place finish behind Jim Martin and Vernon Jones, with about 77,000 votes or 16 percent of the state’s voters. “I worked very hard to bring people the truth and stand up for every day Georgians. I didn’t take PAC money. I actually did far better than anybody could have imagined.”
Cardwell, 45, left WSB-TV in June 2007 and immediately ran for office. His name recognition didn’t hurt although he had a very limited budget to run ads. In January, in a bid for publicity, he spent a month on top of a tower, like a radio DJ. He ended up raising about $166,000, a relative pittance compared to Martin or Jones.
He has endorsed Martin over Jones. Martin, he says, “has a 35 year of public service and moral integrity.” Jones, in his opinion, “has a lengthy record of a lack of integrity.”
His next step? He’s not sure. “I have no golden parachute, no deals,” he said. But he is pondering ideas because he has two mortgages and a family to feed.
Former WAGA-TV reporter and blogger Doug Richards mused that Cardwell’s quest was a bit quixotic since he never struck him as overtly political. And Cardwell was never a fan of Jones.
“Cardwell did numerous stories with a common theme: Vernon Jones is a menace. When Cardwell jumped in the race, it almost seemed to stem from his professional antagonism against Jones, extended to the political arena,” Richards wrote.
-And it was bittersweet to hear Steve Craig’s final “Retroplex” today on 99x.com. The specialty program was actually dropped last year from 99X a few months before the station itself was moved off the FM dial and online only.
Craig sat out for a few months but was still under contract with Cumulus Broadcasting so recently, he’s been doing a shift at 99X.com as the clock ran out. He now has a gig doing mid-days at WRXP-FM in New York, run by Leslie Fram. His first day there is July 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“I’m fighting back the tears,” he told online listeners today. “I never thought I’d be the last of the original cast sitting here.”
The Retroplex, in its various forms, aired from 1992 to 2007 on 99X during the noon hour. It was definitely Steve’s signature show, one he had complete freedom over, one that many people loved long after they lost their love for the rest of the station.
On Thursday, he started his final 99X ’80s/’90s nostalgia trip through alternative music with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. Like the old days, he played old clips from classic ’80s films such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Die Hard.
He spun his final “Wheel of Ramones.” It landed on… “Rockaway Beach.” “And now I get to see Rockaway Beach!” he noted. He did a “what happened on this date” from 1997 when Lollapalooza was launched. Among the songs he chose included “Kiss Them For Me” by Siouxshie and the Banshees; “Forgotten Years” by Midnight Oil; the first song he ever played on 99X in 1992 “All Together Now” by the Farm; and “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds, a definitive ’80s song.
Craig finished the two hours with Sid Vicious’ take on Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” then used Oingo Boingo’s “Goodbye Goodbye” for his departing credits, so to speak, just like in the film “Fast Times.”
“Literally, this was the highlight of every day I got up,” Craig said, before thanking all his past interns and bidding adieu to the Retroplex once and for all.
The cool thing about his new job at WRXP-FM: he’ll be one of the few jocks in a major market who will get to program his own show. That’s a true coup for him.
I was curious about how 99X.com has been doing so I asked the boss Gary Lewis what the numbers are. But he said they are “between counters” and don’t have a current number. He says most recently he said they were getting 50,000 people a week worldwide, which isn’t half bad. 99X had 250,000 to 300,000 mostly local listeners a week toward the end of its life on the FM dial.
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7/17: Dexter, Damages and Mad Men break through in Emmy noms
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While there were plenty of usual suspects in the Emmy nominations, a few newer shows in cable land snuck through, including Showtime’s “Dexter,” FX’s “Damages” and AMC’s “Mad Men” for best drama.
In fact, this is the first year ever that this many best drama nominations were from cable, not broadcast TV, which only got in Fox’s “House,” my favorite ABC’s “Lost” and perennial Emmy favorite “Boston Legal.”
Four of the six lead actor nominations in drama were also from cable: Gabriel Byrne for HBO’s “In Treatment,” Bryan Cranston in the excellent AMC show “Breaking Bad,” Michael C. Hall in “Dexter” and Jon Hamm from “Mad Men.” Past Emmy winners Hugh Laurie (“House”) and James Spader (“Boston Legal”) also made it in.
ABC favorites “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” were locked out of major categories, save for supporting actress for Chandra Wilson and Sandra Oh in “Grey’s.” And last year’s favorite “Ugly Betty” was blocked out this time around for best drama.
HBO’s “John Adams” had the most nominations with 23, followed by “30 Rock” with 17. Although HBO failed to get a drama series nomination for the first time in a decade but did get the most overall nominations with 85. (“Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage” did grab best comedy series nominations.)
Full nomination list available here.
Atlanta’s TNT received 10 nominations, the most of any local network. The two most prominent ones were Kyra Sedgwick in “The Closer” (her second nom) and Holly Hunter (“Saving Grace”) for best female actress in a drama. They face off against the formidable Sally Field, last year’s winner from “Brothers and Sisters,” Glenn Close in “Damages” and previous winner Mariska Hargitay from “Law & Order: SVU.”
Dunwoody High School grad and “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest was naturally nominated in the new category, best host in a reality show, competing with Tom Bergeron (“Dancing With the Stars”), Heidi Klum (“Project Runway”), Howie Mandel (“Deal or No Deal”) and Jeff Probst (“Survivor”).
Atlanta’s Kenny Leon should be thrilled, too, because his film version of “A Raisin in the Sun” was nominated for best made-for-TV movie and Phylicia Rashad nabbed a nomination for best female actress in a miniseries or movie.
Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken” was nominated for best animated program (under an hour.) The Cartoon Network also was nominated in a minor category for “Camp Lazio” and “Chowder.” TNT’s “The Company” was nominated for six categories including best casting, best music composition, main title design, best directing and outstanding cinematography for a miniseries, movie or special. HBO’s “John Adams” will probably win a lot of those categories.
“Saving Grace” from TNT also was nominated for best original main title theme music. And TNT nabbed a nom for outstanding music direction for “Christmas in Washington.”
The female actress in a comedy category was fairly predictable with Christina Applegate (“Samantha Who?”) a newbie with her new ABC series taking Felicity Huffman’s spot from a year ago. The other four were repeats with America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”), Mary Louise-Parker (“Weeds”), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“New Adventures of Old Christine”) and Tina Fey (“30 Rock”).
The big surprise in the male actor in a comedy is the delightful Lee Pace in the new ABC show “Pushing Daisies.” He took the spot filled by last year’s winner Ricky Gervais in “Extras.” The other four were the same as a year earlier: Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”), Steve Carell (“The Office”), Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”) and Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”).
The five reality shows were the same as the previous year: “American Idol,” “The Amazing Race,” “Dancing With the Stars,” “Project Runway” and “Top Chef.” “The Amazing Race” has won every year since the category was created.
Amy Poehler (“Saturday Night Live”) was nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy, a rare accolade for someone in a sketch comedy. I’ll post more as I dig through more categories.
