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5/13: “Survivor” winner Parvati Shallow interview, Boortz, nixed & renewed TV shows
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Parvati Shallow, her voice hoarse from talking all day with media, checked in with me at about 5 p.m. EST today, about 19 hours after she was crowned the winner of “Survivor: Micronesia.”
Shallow, a graduate of Sprayberry High School (2000) and the University of Georgia (2004), now lives in Los Angeles. She gave kudos to her fellow players, who she dubbed “fierce competitors.” She herself was a fierce competitor, a tough cookie with a cute smile who left her real emotions at home and played to win.
Why do you think Amanda lost to you?
I think they thought she was faking [when she cried before getting rid of Cirie.]. She had just pulled off an Academy Award winning performance [the week earlier to save her own hide.]
Honestly, do you think Amanda was faking the crying?
No, I think she was genuine.
How come she didn’t just point out to the jury that she had gone 78 days back to back in two consecutive “Survivors” and make that a selling point?
I don’t think she was thinking straight. She wasn’t clearheaded. She was ready for it to be over.
How about you? Were you clearheaded at that point?
My head was in the game all the way until that final question Ozzie asked. Then as soon as it was done, I went all to pieces… I was walking down that bridge and at the camp, they give you water and candy. I just started bawling. Every emotion that had been pent up in me came pouring out. I don’t even remember what candy I ate. I was just shoveling it in my mouth.
And what was it with Natalie’s question about your sex life?
I was so confused. It was a weird game. I don’t know what she was trying to do. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to shake me up or ask me on a date!
Why did they cut out the fact you found the immunity idol on Exile Island but didn’t bother to bring it back?”
They had so much to put in that one episode. It was such a huge episode with Erik and the [immunity] necklace. It didn’t work with the story.
How did it all play out that you came up with that ridiculous story to bamboozle Erik?
We were all sitting around. Natalie was saying you guys will tell me if it will be me. We knew if Erik hadn’t won immunity, he’d be gone. Cirie said, what if Erik gave Natalie the necklace. We all put in our two cents and came up with this elaborate plan. Natalie at first thought we were making fun of her. We said, if anybody could pull it off, it’s you. Natalie could sell ice to an Eskimo! Once she was given a chance to play, she really pulled through. I give her a lot of credit.
You said you felt you had no choice but to play a more aggressive game than you did on Cook Islands. Why?
If I hadn’t, I would have been the first one voted out! Jonathan was trying hard to get me out the second we landed in Micronesia. We had played together in Cook Islands adn he had an alliance. I convinced his alliance to vote him out before me. He wanted to outlast me and get me out. He knew I was good at convincing people to do things.
You were lucky Jonathan had to leave because of that knee injury!
I told him yesterday in New York when I saw him that I voted for him to win the $100,000. [James got that prize again!] He would have made my life so much more miserable if he had stuck around. He was out to get me. He was a fighter. It was hard to see him out that way.
Same with James, right?
I was super upset when James got taken out. It was so out of nowhere with his infected finger.
I spoke with your friend Kelly Basinger [she dated him at UGA and they’re still friends.]. He said you had a much harder time in Micronesia compared to Cook Islands.
It was so much worse [in Micronesia.] Cook Islands was beautiful. Micronesia was nasty. There were bugs, bats, rats. It was raining all the time. You could never be dry. It was much harsher.
We saw your legs got pretty beat up!
It was disgusting. They showed a shot of me on Exile Island panning up my leg. That was so gross. It was not sexy seeing that puss coming out.
How do your legs look now?
There are still scars from all those bug bites. Battle scars! I’m proud to show them off.
Any clue what you’re going to do with the $1 million, or $550,000 after taxes?
I don’t now yet.
Did you think you were going to win?
I thought I had a chance. I had calculated the odds. I thought it might have ended up as a tie. [She beat Amanda 5 to 3.]
It was close with Amanda. Did you have any idea what would happen if it had been a tie?
I don’t know. They keep that a secret. I have no idea!
Let’s get back to Erik. You said at the time that this was the biggest blunder in Idol history. Still believe it?
Absolutely! The guy made some blunder! He took the cake. It was way worse than Ozzy.
So who voted for Amanda?
Ozzy, James and Eric. She was a lot closer to Ozzy and Eric than I was. And James, too, because they both were on China. [That’s “Survivor: China” last fall.]
But you were close to James until you ousted Ozzy, right?
James honestly felt a kindred spirit in Amanda. He felt he owed it to vote for her.
You got all the girls!
I think those girls appreciated that I played a very aggressive game. I didn’t make any apologies for the moves I made: outwit, outlast, outplay. That’s how I worked.
Any boxing for you since the taping ended?
I’ve been doing PR for the boxing charity I helped start. We provide scholarships and boxing training for underprivileged girls. I haven’t been training very hard myself. I’ve been kind of taking it easy.
Can you blame her?
In other radio/TV news:
-Neal Boortz is being harassed.
-Fox cancelled Kelsey Grammer’s sitcom “Back To You.”. Grammer believes the show was on the wrong network. Indeed, it should have been on CBS. And “New Amsterdam” gets no new life either.
-On the CW, “Aliens in America” is cancelled but “Reaper” was renewed..
-CBS has renewed “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Unit.”.
-On ABC, “Miss Guided” joins “Cashmere Mafia” and “Women’s Murder Club” on the nixed list. Too bad about “Miss Guided” though I was no fan of “Cashmere.”. Good news for “Eli Stone:” the sweetly strange drama featuring a prophet-lawyer got a renewal, along with David E. Kelley’s “Boston Legal.”.
-“The Electric Company” is coming back!.
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5/12: Former Atlantan Parvati Shallow wins “Survivor: Micronesia”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sprayberry High School and UGA grad Parvati Shallow Sunday night won “Survivor: Micronesia,” the first person with local ties to win the long-standing CBS reality show. She pockets a neat $1 million.
This was arguably the best “Survivor” season in years, thanks to a series of strategic blindsides during tribal council, more than any other series to date. This culminated in what is now known as the dumbest move in the show’s history, as Parvati noted: doe-eyed Leif Garrett lookalike Erik Reichenbach believed that giving up his immunity idol would help him gain respect with the ladies when in fact it simply exposed him to being voted off last week.
Parvati, 25 and now living in Los Angeles, came in sixth during “Survivor: Cook Islands” in the fall of 2006. She was known as the flirt and was popular among viewers.
So when producers were compiling a list of “fan favorites” to compete against “Survivor” fans, she made the final list and came back, planning to play a more aggressive, strategic game.
In the end, she did. She quickly set up an alliance with two other favorites: “Panama” fourth-place finisher Cirie Fields and “China” third-place finisher Amanda Kimmel. And she stuck with it, although she also hooked up with two popular, physically imposing players James Clement and Ozzy Lusth.
Partway through the game, though, Parvati realized Ozzy and James were real threats to her making it to the final three. So when the opportunity came to get rid of Ozzy, she ran with it and Ozzy was blindsided — with an immunity idol tucked in his bag, unused. She had done the flirt-thang with James but was also ready to throw him over the boat when necessary. Fortunately for her, James had an infection in a finger and had to be medically taken off the show.
Near the end, Parvati helped orchestrate the infamous Erik blindside. And though she made some enemies, her moves ultimately helped her win five of the eight votes from the tribal jury over Amanda, despite the fact Amanda won the last two immunity challenges. I personally thought Amanda had the votes but was wrong. Clearly, her weaker ability to socialize and connect with the other players compared to that of Parvati hurt her in the end. It’s the same problem Amanda had in China when she only got one vote from the jury.
UGA fans had to love the fact she wore a Georgia cap for much of the final episode. There, she was a broadcast journalism major, class of 2004, with a specialty in public relations. She was part of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She became a boxer and waitress in Los Angeles afterwards and has since become a charity organizer, according to her label on the show. She moved to the Atlanta area at age 11 after growing up on a commune in Vero Beach, Fla. and graduated Sprayberry High in 2000.
Here’s Parvati’s MySpace page..
Amazingly, “Survivor” has been on eight years and gone through 16 incarnations, spawning dozens of imitators, from “The Apprentice” to “Big Brother” to “The Amazing Race.” Ratings have been drooping in recent years with this season averaging about 13 million viewers, down from 21 million three years ago. But CBS has given the show a green light for another two cycles in 2008-09 and it’s still a top 15 show.
I plan to interview some of her friends and hopefully, Parvati herself, in the next couple of days and will post their reactions.
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5/9: Real Housewives coming to Atlanta?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tthere have been rumors galore that camera crews are floating around Atlanta for a possible spinoff of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” reality show. So far, the show has focused on rich women from Orange County and New York, with New Jersey forthcoming. Bravo’s publicists haven’t been terribly forthcoming though they say they do test out shows by shooting material that may or may not become an actual show.
R&B singer Monica is possibly one of the housewives, according to Mediatakeout.com..
If anybody has seen or heard anything, email me at rho@ajc.com.
-WSB-AM’s Neal Boortz is recovering from knee surgery and says he’s now “hopped up” on pain meds. Boortz joked that callers are wondering if they can help him get him more pills.
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5/9: Alton Brown’s Variety Playhouse appearance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Good Eats” host and “Iron Chef America” commentator Alton Brown was worried he’d not get much of a crowd for his book signing because past signings in Atlanta have been underwhelming.
But not to worry: more than 600 people showed up at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points Thursday evening to ask him questions, meet the Marietta resident, buy his book “Feasting On Asphalt” and prove him wrong.
Here are photos I took during the signing:
ABOVE: Puppeteer and entertainer Lucky Yates, who helps out Brown on “Good Eats” on occasion, goofs around with Savannah and Fred Woodruff of Southern Pines, N.C. The family drove down six hours to see Brown for Savannah’s 13th birthday.
During the Q&A, Brown was his typical droll self, using his quick wit and faux exasperation to mine laughs. Many of his answers were self deprecating.
“What’s your take on Food Network?” “I don’t really watch,” he answered. “I don’t know anything about the television business. [That’s not true!] I make the gosh darn thing, I see a check. End of story. I make ‘Iron Chef.’ There’s lots of smoke, I got home. They make shows people want to see. I’m not going to second guess them, especially with a microphone in my hand!”
Someone asked him if her father adding salt to coffee was something worth doing. “Your father was doing drugs, clearly!” he said, noting he had never done it. Then several others in the crowd backed her up, vouching a pinch of salt improved coffee, saying it was a Southern thing.
“I’ve heard that if people from the North add salt,” Yates joked, “they’ll explode!”
On audience member noted, “Didn’t you say salt makes everything better?”
“So does butter!” Brown noted.
*ABOVE: “Good Eats” contributor Bart Hansard gabs with Brown fan Danny Woodruff
One person in the audience noted her eight year old was obsessed with the Food Network and was wondering how to get her on the network.
“She should open her own restaurant,” he said, in his usual tart way. “She sounds like she already has the skills. She can do better than the Food Network.” Pause. “At least Oxygen.”
His tongue-in-cheek advice? “If she can complete your family’s Thanksgiving dinner al by herself by the time she’s 10, she’ll get her own food show. A child’s place is in the kitchen. Children give us heartache until we die. I say they should be cooking our food!”
ABOVE: Brown hands a book back to Daniel Irvin, a roofer from Valley, Alabama.
At one point, he spied a guy yawning. “You’re yawning!” he said sternly but without anger. “Get him an expresso!”
When someone asked what he would do if he competed on “Iron Chef America” instead of providing color commentary, he rationalized why he shouldn’t: “Riddle me this. Who would get my job? I got to tell you. I don’t want anybody to have a shot at that job. It’s a sweet gig! So long as I don’t compete, no one will have that shot.”
ABOVE: Brown hands Danny Woodruff a souvenir.
One person asked why couldn’t the show be added to an education curriculum. “Good Eats is better for you than homework,” he deadpanned. “Pull your kids out of school, get them the full DVD set!”
Another wondered what his background was: “I’m a Nobel-winning chemist,” he joked.
“How much chemistry background do you have?” she followed up.
“I failed chemistry twice in high school. I dropped it twice in college,” Brown said. “I used to blame myself. But now I blame the teachers. It was their fault for not making the information more compelling.”
A young gal asked him if he liked the Scottish dish haggis, something he made on an episode of “Good Eats.”
“If there’s no other food anywhere,” he said dryly, “and it hasn’t been for some number of days, it’s very good indeed… I’d eat the haggis before chitlins.”
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5/8: Hannah Montana’s ratings, The Hills coming back, casting call for MTV show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is Miley Cyrus already passe among the tween set? Her first new “Hannah Montana” in two months last Sunday drew 3.1 million viewers, 14 percent fewer viewers than the last new episode in March. Cyrus has been doing a virtual nonstop publicity tour since then, showing up on “Idol,” on talk shows, in Vanity Fair, et. al. She got a top 10 hit “See You Again” that Star 94 and Q100 play frequently. As we all know, tweens are extremely hard to keep around. They’re always on to the next best thing. Maybe Miley is already trying to find an exit strategy to adulthood, even at the tender age of 15. Or it may just be because it’s spring and fewer people tend to watch TV in the evenings than in the winter.
-Shocking no one, MTV has renewed the misadventures of Lauren, Spencer and Heidi on “The Hills” even before the third-season finale. And AMC has given a second season to “Breaking Bad,” the dour dark comedy/drama starring Bryan Cranston as a chemistry teacher dying of cancer who works the crystal meth route to raise some cash for his family before he dies.
-And when is a gift too much to take? When it’s an “Extreme Makeover” home given to a dude who lives on a small pension. Victor Merrero, in Pennsauken, N.J., can’t afford the taxes and briefly put the donated home up for sale.
-Former Star 94 traffic gal Wendy Threatt is now working with WSB-AM.
-Former WAGA reporter Doug Richards, in his “Live Apartment Fire” blog, has been harping on the fact WXIA lacks enterprise reporting compared to WAGA-TV and WSB-TV. They pretty much cover crimes and meetings, he says.
The weird thing is this: WXIA presents fewer minutes of news each evening than any other station. Its staff, all smart folk, can barely wedge its way into its two half-hour shows (compared with two hours each for WAGA and WSB). WXIA has the resources to come up with cool, one-of-a-kind stories every night. So, why doesn’t it?
Any fans of WXIA-TV’s news coverage? Is this a fair observation?
-Q100’s final day for its “Who Do You Know?” celebrity contest in which the person who gets a big-name celeb to call in wins $10K and the celeb gets $5K for their charity. Today, they got Jennifer Garner, Bette Midler, Chase Crawford, John Schneider and right under the wire, Ben Affleck (they interrupted Paula Abdul for Ben). They are going to have to compete with the likes of Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman and Sean Connery. Not a bad list! Bert is supporting Muhammad Ali.
-Check out “Oprah” today to see Cher and Bette Midler at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. Mara Davis of Dave FM nabbed front-row seats and told Richard Eldredge her story in today’s Peach Buzz..
-We received this email from Shannon Powers, casting director of MTV’s new show “Model Maker.”:
I am working on a new show for MTV called Model Maker. Basically we are seeking girls who are 30 - 70 lbs overweight who would like to shed the pounds “boot camp” style and walk away with $100,000 cash prize as well as a possible modeling contract. I feel very close to this particular show as I have just shed 67 lbs and I feel great. These girls will be provided with the best of the best. Nutritionists, dieticians, stylists, trainers and so on to help these girls be the best that they can be and potentially walk away with a new life.
BTW, the show is produced by Cris Abrego who is the Exec.Producer of Surreal Life,Flavor of Love, Rock of Love and I Love New York.
We are having an open call:
Monday, May 12, 2008, 2pm - 5pm, Torrid , Towne Center Cobb, Kennesaw
If people want to pre-interview with us and cant make the casting call… please have them email MTVModelMaker@gmail.com.
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5/7: What’s on Jovita Moore’s purse? And WABE-FM’s spring fundraising results
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Although sweeps are more or less irrelevant in Atlanta now that advertisers can get accurate local ratings 12 months a year, the TV stations still reflexively bring out the wackier stories in February, May and November.
Right now, WSB-TV is heavily promoting a story called “How Clean Is Your Purse?”
They swabbed women’s purses to see what was on them? Here’s the online story.
“We had several of them that came back with fecal contamination,” said Beau Rollins, a microbiologist with Nelson Labs.
You read that correctly. Fecal matter was found on a lot of the purses we tested, including Jovita Moore’s. Needless to say, the women who let us test their purses were shocked to hear that.
Gotta love it, eh?
-Despite the shaky economy and rising gas prices crowding out spending, WABE-FM’s listeners came through this spring and pledged the stated goal of $920,000, even exceeding it by a few thousand dollars, according to general manager John Weatherford.
“We’re deeply gratified by the generosity of our listeners,” he said. He was also happy to see a record spring number of new members — 2,200.
A year ago, WABE-FM cut its pledge days from 10 to 9 and fell short of its pledge goal for the first time in several years. Since last fall (WABE does pledges twice a year), the station went back to 10.
The most popular pledge gift item? The recyclable grocery totes.
-While the Steve & Vikki and Cletus T. Judd TV ads keep airing full force, Q100 recently rolled out a bunch of ads for its Bert Show. It features a fans (or actors pretending to be fans) saying how much they love the show, then the quartet turning pieces of paper saying the Bert Show 99.7. Then they laugh uproariously. Do you like the ad if you’ve seen it?
Speaking of the Bert Show, they are holding a contest that Steve & Vikki did many years ago — get celebrities to call in for a chance for money for their charity. So far, the Bert Show has gotten Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery, Muhammad Ali and Jimmy Carter as the biggest names I’ve heard so far. Others who have called so far include Trisha Yearwood, Dallas Austin, Big Boi, Melissa Etheridge, Dan Akroyd, George Takei, Fran Drescher, JIm Davis (founder of Garfield) and Jessica Biel. Thursday is the final day.
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5/7: Alton Brown coming to Variety Playhouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the biggest Atlanta-based TV stars is Alton Brown from the Food Network. But despite his long-time ties to the area, he doesn’t do as well here with book signings compared to other major cities.
“I can do shows to standing-room-only crowds in St. Louis, but not here,” he said, calling in from a gourmet food show in Las Vegas earlier this week. “I’m not sure why.”
So he decided to jazz things up for Atlanta to promote his new “Feasting on Asphalt” travelogue/recipe book, based on the Food Network series last summer. On the show, he rode a motorcycle along the Mississippi River checking out mom-and-pop shops along the way.
Instead of holding his signing at A Capella Books, he’s hosting it at Little Five Points’ Variety Playhouse, a far bigger venue than a bookstore. Check him out at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 8. The $29.50 ticket includes a copy of the book.
How is this going to be different from your typical book signing?
They’ll be a talk, a lot more questions and answers, a lot more interaction with the crowd. People will be able to take pictures with some of the motorcycles from the trip. They’ll be food available, video from the show. And since it’s a school night, families with school children will get to the front of the line. Typically, 25 percent of the people at my events are kids.
Why do you think you draw so many kids?
I’ve been doing “Good Eats” for 10 years now and our kid audience has grown and grown. This show wasn’t designed for kids but it really appeals to them. I’m proud that we cover such a wide demographic.
Last November, you weren’t sure if you were going to sign a renewal with the Food Network. What happened?
They asked me back. I was kind of up in the air last year because I never assume anything will ever continue. It wasn’t done until it was done. I’m glad they still want me. I’m old guard now.
Any new shows on the horizon?
We’ve got a very open-ended deal. I’m still doing “Good Eats” and “Iron Chef.” We’ll start new shows when I have the capabilities to do so. We will continue the “Feasting” brand. This year, I shifted from “Feasting on Asphalt” to “Feasting on Waves.” We traded in our motorcycles for sailboats. We went to the Caribbean. It’s a very different type of show. It’s still about real people. My goal was to discover what Columbus discovered. The Caribbean was the first culinary melting pot on the planet. [The series is set to air again in September.]
What’s your favorite recipe from the “Feasting on Asphalt” book?
I really love the Kool-sicle, which I found in the Delta. That’s a dill pickle cured and concentrated in a Cherry Kool-Aid solution. It sounds hideous. It makes these pink things that look like they came from somebody’s body. But when cold and placed on a stick and eaten like a popsicle, you won’t believe how good they are!
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5/5: Men in Trees cancelled, Deadliest Catch story
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TV Guide reports that ABC’s “Men in Trees,” which has been moved around the schedule numerous times, has been canned.
Creator Jenny Bicks believes that two years of schizophrenic scheduling ultimately did the cherished dramedy in. “I wish the show had not been moved six times and put onto two long hiatuses,” she sighs. “No show could survive that.”
-I wrote a story about Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” after interviewing fisherman Phil Harris last week at Hooters downtown. He was a funny guy, very quotable.
-Oh, and following on the heels of Britney Spears guesting on CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother,” Lindsay Lohan is doing a guest stint on ABC’s “Ugly Betty.” Ratings ploy? But of course! And Britney is back on May 12 on “How I Met.”
-And have folks caught the northbound billboards on I-75 (near I-20 in Marietta) and I-85 (just before Beaver Ruin) featuring Dagmar Midcap, the very fetching weather forecaster on WGCL? From far away, you can see the huge words “DAGMAR” and her photo, with just a hint of cleavage. I’m going to have to call WGCL and get a bit more about this ad campaign. I don’t recall a billboard campaign centered around a weather gal before, at least in this town, eh?
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5/2: Arbitron ratings— Regular Guys up, new morning shows have slow starts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Radio went through some headspinning changes earlier this year and the first ratings results are in.
Not surprisingly, in the period covering January 20 to April 2, the brand new morning shows took a hit while the Regular Guys came back with a vengeance on the new Rock 100.5. In other trends, Hot 107.9 (and the “A” team above) had its best book in years, the primary season fueled WGST-AM’s numbers, and Q100 on its new signal beat Star 94 in the overall 12-plus ratings for the first time ever.
Take note that typically, new shows lose listeners faster than they gain new ones in the short term so the shaky opening numbers for Dave FM’s Zakk Tyler, Star 94’s the Morning Mess and the Bull’s Cletus T. Judd can be discounted. The spring ratings book, occurring now, should be more indicative of how things are going and we’ll see those numbers in July.
Here are some notable trends. (Email me at rho@ajc.com if you want any other breakdowns or comparisons.)
-In the sports radio world, 680/the Fan continues to beat up 790/The Zone in mornings and the Zone’s new Afternoon Saloon was dwarfed by the Fan’s veteran Buck & Kincade, though the move of 2 Live Stews helped their mid-day numbers. (More specific breakdowns are available Monday.)
-Grown Folks 102.5 had another great book. Believe it or not, despite the weak signal, Steve Harvey tied Tom Joyner for third in mornings.
-And watch out for Hot 107.9: The A Team ranked 2nd among 18 to 34 year olds on Hot 107.9, driving the entire station to 4th overall, its best performance in years.
-The RIver continues to flow strongly despite the arrival of Rock 100.5, which didn’t do particularly well outside of the Regular Guys when playing rock music. For instance, mid-days, the River ranked 3rd while Rock 100.5 ranked 25th.
-Speaking of The Regular Guys, despite arriving partway through the quarter, the return of this male-oriented talk show made a strong impact, landing top 5 among 18 to 34 year olds and top 10 among 25 and 54 year olds.
-As a result, Project took a hit, with the new Giant Brian show ranked 19th among 25-54 (compared to 14th in the fall) and 13th among 18-34 (compared to 7th in the fall).
-And Dave FM didn’t take advantage of 99X’s departure. Its numbers were slightly down in mornings where Zakk Tyler debuted. But on the bright side, his numbers among 25 to 54 year olds were flat compared to the summer when the show was led by Holly Firfer and Orf.
-The presidential campaign is helping both WSB-AM and to a great effect,WGST-AM. Both stations saw numbers improve in the winter. It appears Rush Limbaugh especially helped the mid-day numbers for GST, which nearly doubled among 25 to 54 year olds from the fall and the station ranked 7th in that key demo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Again, more specific breakdowns won’t be available until Monday.)
-Eagle 106.7’s departure is only reflected partly through the book but the new True Oldies and Imus appear to have done poorly across the board in the single month that was polled in March.
-Kicks 101.5 didn’t appear to be hurt or helped immediately by Eagle’s departure. And 94.9/The Bull doesn’t seem to have been helped either with numbers down in mornings where the new Cletus T. Judd show was first introduced. (The Bull ranked 14th in mornings in the fall, 18th in the winter.) Its mid-days were slightly down while afternoons were up.
-The Morning Mess had a tough opening quarter, as expected. It ranked 14th among all listeners, down from 7th last summer, the final full book with Steve & Vikki. Among 25 to 54 year olds, Star dropped to 13th from 6th in the summer. With 18 to 34 year olds, Star fell from 10th in the summer to 15th this past summer. The only bright spot: among teens, the show was 4th, same as Steve & Vikki last summer and the only demo the team was ahead of the Bert Show at Q100.
-Indeed, the Bert Show at Q100 survived the move to the stronger signal unscathed. Its ratings were up across all demographics, landing 5th overall and among 25 to 54 year olds and third among 18 to 34 year olds.
-But Star 94 should be thrilled by the strong performance of its afternoon show Cindy & Ray, which beat the new Johnny O over at Q100. The show ranked 5th among all listeners (up from 11th in the fall), 5th among 25 to 54 year olds (up form 9th in the fall) and a whopping third among 18 to 34 year olds (up from 9th). So if the Morning Mess fails to gain traction, Star has a great option for mornings.
-Smooth jazz stations nationwide have been taking a dive in the past year or two. Atlanta is no exception. Smooth Jazz 107.5 had its worst ratings in nearly three years., ranking 14th overall.
-In its debut, Classic Country 96.7 just barely showed up in the ratings, ranking 28th.
The top 5 stations in terms of “cume,” or number of different listeners per week:
1- WSB-AM 847,000 (in fall of 2005: (813,300)
2- V-103 837,500 (in fall of 2005: 739,400)
3- 97.1/The River 565,400 (didn’t exist in 2005)
4- 95.5/The Beat 564,900 (in fall of 2005: 496,600)
5- Kiss 104.1 506,800 (in fall of 2005: 400,900)
For those who keep track of ownership, four of those stations are Cox Radio, with B98.5 ranked 7th. Q100’s cume of 432,100 is a huge increase from 251,400 in fall of 2005. And Grown Folks with the talk format has more than doubled its cume from fall of 2005, from 187,100 to 397,800. The Fan has seen its cume grow from 159,400 to 194,500 while the Zone’s cume was flat at about 130K. WGKA-AM saw its cume jump from 64,700 to 90,200 over just over two years. And as the black population grew, virtually all stations targeting blacks saw major increases in cume. Hot 107.9 had a cume of 381,000 in fall of 2005 and 491,300 in winter of 2008.)
The top 5 stations in terms of “time spent listening”
1- El Patron 12 hours, 15 minutes per week (didn’t exist in 2005)
2- La Raza 102.3 10 hours, 30 minutes (same as fall of 2005)
3- WAOK-AM 9 hours (11 hours, 45 minutes in fall of 2005)
4- V-103 8 hours, 45 minutes (9 hours in fall 2005)
5- Kiss 104.1 8 hours, 15 minutes (8 hours in fall 2005)
(Worst? 95.5/The Beat at 4 hours compared to four hours 15 minutes in fall 2005)
Here’s the top 10 morning shows 25-54, 1/10-4/2/08
Rank, show, station (fall rank)
1- Frank & Wanda, V-103 (1) Down slightly
2- Scott Slade, WSB-AM (2) Trending upward
3- Tom Joyner, Kiss 104.1 (3-tie) Down
4- Steve Harvey, Grown Folks 102.5 (3-tie) Up
5- Bert Show, Q100 (5) Up
6- Kelly & Alpha, B98.5 (6-tie) flat
7- Lexie Kaye, 97.1/The River (8) up
8- Yolanda Adams, Praise 97.5 (6t)
9- Cadillac Jack & Kristen//Cadillac & Dallas, Kicks 101.5 (9-tie)
10- The Regular Guys, Rock 100.5 (new)
Here are the top 10 morning shows ages 18 to 34
Rank, show, station (fall rank)
1- Frank & Wanda, V-103 (1) a bit of a falloff
2- The “A” Team, Hot 107.9 (3) a huge increase
3- Bert Show, Q100 (2) up, just not as strongly as Hot
4- Regular Guys, Rock 100.5 (new) Note—they were not on air the entire quarter
5- Scott Slade, WSB-AM (6)
6- Murph Dawg & CJ, 95.5/The Beat (11) Best book since they started a year ago
7- Steve Harvey, Grown Folks 102.5 (8) Flat
8- Yolanda Adams, Praise 97.5 (17t) A bit fluky in terms of strength
9- Los Patrones De La Manana, 105.3/El Patron (9)
10- Kelly & Alpha, B98.5 (12) Numbers held flat from the fall so they didn’t benefit from Steve & Vikki’s absence but will certainly be hurt when S&V take over their jobs July 1.
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5/2: Wachs quotes on Southside
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Regular Guys called me this morning so co-host Larry Wachs could complain that my story on “Southside” Steve didn’t include a quote from him but had one from Eric Von Haessler.
So here’s what Larry had to say about why Southside does so many appearances, some of it serious, some of it facetious:
I think he’s deeply in debt and he needs the money. [Seriously,] I think he’s a very hard working man. His breezy attitude and devil-may-care lifestyle is a false front of a very deeply committed individual who entertains Atlanta. Steve is the ambassador of goodwill.
*Actually, it takes money off our plates. He hogs the spotlight. We’re a little jealous. If I’m nice, he’ll give me some crumbs.”
There’s little difference between Southside Steve and Hugh Hefner. All differences are cosmetic.
I don’t see him ever slowing down. If he slows down, he’ll be fired.
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I think this is a terrible mistake. Steve and Vicki were the most annoying people ever to hit the Atlanta Airwaves. I don’t always listen to Kelly and Alpha, but I know they are there, and they are very easy to listen to.... read the full comment by robert | Comment on 4/15: UPDATE: Steve & Vikki TV ads have already started, Star 94 not pleased Read 4/15: UPDATE: Steve & Vikki TV ads have already started, Star 94 not pleased
I thought Parvati is a horrible role model and it just shows that Alexis doesn’t care one whit about young girls when she votes for her “role model” pal Parvati who uses flirtation and sex to get what she wants. How disgusting. Speaking... read the full comment by Karen | Comment on 5/12: Former Atlantan Parvati Shallow wins "Survivor: Micronesia" Read 5/12: Former Atlantan Parvati Shallow wins "Survivor: Micronesia"