Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2006 > October > 02
Monday, October 2, 2006
10/3: Phil Terrana to join 99X morning show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just as an added aside that I didn’t have time to address yesterday, Phil Terrana AKA Mark Owens, the stunt dude at Q100, is going to take over as producer of the “new” Morning X in a couple of weeks. He has some leftover obligations under the name Phil Terrana but will be using his real name Mark on the 99X morning show.
10/3: Hartman, the way he sees it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Someone posted some negative comments about Jeff Hullinger’s return to Atlanta radio under the name “Bill Hartman,” the Channel 2 sports guy. It was not the actual Bill Hartman but an imposter. That happen fairly often on this blog but he’s the first prominent person to call us on it. (Randall Bloomquist, PD of WGST-AM, and the Kimmer for some reason have not…) Hartman gabs about this on his blog here.
If you read some comments attributed to me on an AJC.com blog last week, be assured they weren’t my words. Rodney Ho of the newspaper invited readers to comment on the return of Jeff Hullinger to Atlanta. My former co-worker at WAGA-TV will become a news anchor for WSB radio soon.
Someone used my name and wrote nasty things about Jeff. I would never do that.
The more I think about it, the madder I get.
Anyone who would write such hurtful words should have the guts to put their name behind it and not someone else’s. And AJC.com should be ashamed of itself for allowing such malicious comments to be posted without accountability.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to injure someone’s reputation.
This amounts to identity theft. I doubt very much that Pam Martin and Forrest Sawyer wrote the comments that were attributed to them, either.
See ya…
10/2: Sean Demery returns to 99X
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In possibly the worst-kept secret in Atlanta radio land, former 99Xer Sean Demery is back, helming the “new Morning X.” At 6 a.m. this morning, he kind of flubbed around and after a false start, announced “I’m back home. My name is Sean Demery. Once again, I’m 99X.” Then he played “How Soon is Now” by the Smiths, the last song he played when he left 99X about six years ago. (I got a shot of Sean above at about 7:20 a.m.)
Afterwards, they announced “the new Morning X with Sean, Leslie and Jenners.” That’s Rob Jenners, who I figured out last week. They introduced themselves and the fourth person was not Yvonne Monet or Jamie Massey as guessed but someone named Monti (photo below). Here’s Monti’s myspace page.
Jamie is still doing traffic for both Q100 and 99X. Here’s a shot of Jamie giving me the “Why are you taking my photo?” look: 
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Joey Mills is the second caller. He is buds with a lot of 99Xers and a regular blogger here. He noted a few weeks back that Sean told him straight out he wasn’t going to come to 99X. In fact, Sean told me the same thing when the rumors first came out here.
But apparently, Sean changed his mind. He said he had quit his job in San Francisco was the program director of Live 105 to deal with family issues. He said he talked to Leslie all the time anyway and they began discussing the rumors.
“We thought about it. What would that be like? What would I do? Would anyone give a rat’s [arse]?”
“I always thought Sean was the sound of 99X,” Joey said.
“Do we pull numbers to kiss Sean’s [arse]?” joked Jenners. (Here’s a photo of Jenners)
Sean noted that he was part of the original morning show on 99X back in late 1992-93 before he swapped jobs with afternoon man Steve Barnes. “I was the most miserable morning man,” he noted, honestly. But he promises he’s changed: “I’ve lost more hair. I’ve bulked up and I’m ready for this… My shorts are riding high in my pants just thinking about it.”
They then introduce the two new names in the room: Jenners, who is Rob Jenners, a stunt guy for a “Regular Guys” type morning show at Big 105.9 in Miami. “It was a boy’s club,” Jenners said. As a result, “I’m a jaded and angry individual… It’s a good change… It’s a new step. I already don’t like you all,” he joked.
The one person we here on the blog couldn’t figure out was Monti. And her radio name is Monti Carlo. A standup comic who has performed at the Punchline, she said she worked at Z93 for a couple of years but didn’t specify what. (I asked her later and she apparently did traffic for Dave Marino’s show in the 2001-02 era) She said she came from West Palm Beach, where she was doing mid-day DJ work at a top 40 station. (The operations director Rob Roberts for Q100/99X came from south Florida.)
Here’s Leslie (l) with Monti. 
The very first phone guest is Kiefer Sutherland, who has started a record label but better known for that Fox show “24.” And since this is the world of radio, this is actually a taped interview, not live but they pretend that it’s live.
Early on, Jenners is clearly the spiciest element in the bunch. Monti has been relatively quiet in the early going and she has to read sports though admitting minimal knowledge of it. Leslie is doing the news as usual but sounds more comfortable than when she was on with Toucher. She’s old buds with Sean so that makes sense. Sean hasn’t done on-air stuff in years but it’s like riding a bike. He’s back and he sounds good (though noting that they are No. 2 in a particular city every time one is namechecked got old fast.)
Their first “street” bit at 8:40 a.m. was Monti going to Smith’s Olde Bar and quizzing drunk folks about 5th grade level questions. Is this an original bit? Not in the least but I guess it’s better than “Battle of the sexes.”
At 9:55 a.m., they resurrected Toucher’s “What I learned today” bit. Jenners? “I learned Rodney Ho’s a good guy but if he writes anything negative about me, I’ll find him and beat him.” Sweet!
Then they ended the show with “Peanut Butter Jelly Time,” some oddball song that I can’t imagine will last because it doesn’t fit in what should be an alternative rock station morning show. It might work okay on the Disney Radio channel but not here. Sean danced, which was amusing — for folks in the studio.
Is the show as “edgy” as the Toucher show? Nope. It’s clearly meant to be more female friendly. But aren’t those listeners already over at Q100? If anything, the station is trying to turn back the clock, regain the listeners from their heyday in the 1990s. Is that even possible given that the competitive environment has changed? We shall find out the answers to these questions soon enough.
