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October 2007
11/1: Tom Joyner’s Sky Show this Friday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tom Joyner’s annual Sky Show comes to the Atlanta Civic Center this Friday with Cameo (“Word Up”) and comic Sinbad. It’s free and seating is open, first come first serve. Some folks will camp out overnight for a good seat but it’s not hard to find a decent spot to sit since many folks will be coming and going over the four hours. You’ll be able to listen live on Kiss 104.1.
Parking is $5 at the Civic Center, which is at 395 Piedmont Ave. in downtown Atlanta. Monies raised this month will go to Savannah State University in Savannah.
This is pretty fun despite the early hour. Past years, I’ve gotten to see Jeffrey Osborne, the Gap Band, Al Green and the Whispers.
Participating sponsors include Budget Car Rental, State Farm Insurance, Tracfone, Johnson & Johnson, Choice Hotels and McDonald’s.
10/31: The Fish goes xmas for a day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re hearing Christmas music today on 104.7/The Fish, it doesn’t mean they are staying Christmas for the next eight weeks. No, it’s a day-long stunt of Dean Martin and Mel Torme action for Halloween. Here’s the note I got from the Fish GM Mike Moran:
It’s a trick and a treat! We thought it would be a fun idea to take advantage of the ‘oddity’ of playing Christmas music on Halloween to remind everyone that starting on Thanksgiving 104.7 The Fish is the station to listen to for all-Christmas Music.
Another cool thing is that Kevin and Taylor in the Morning challenged listeners to get in the Christmas spirit and donate to help repair Travelers Rest Baptist Church which was damaged by vandals yesterday. By the end of the morning show Fish listeners had given raised almost $7,000 to erase racist graffiti and help repair the church van.
With Lite gone as the Christmas station, that still leaves two. B98.5 is certain to start Christmas, too, though I’m told they won’t be doing any previews before Thanksgiving, the typical time when xmas stations go full time.
10/31: 99X’s Mistle Toe Jam lineup - Modest Mouse, the Shins et. al
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
99X has put together another solid Jingle Jam lineup with Modest Mouse (“Float On,” above), the Shins (“New Slang”), Silverchair (99X was one of the U.S. radio stations to play this Australian act in the mid-1990s) and Silversun Pickups (“Lazy Eye”) at the Gwinnett Arena December 16. Tix prices are $10 to $65 and are on sale now. Show starts at 5:30 p.m. and you can buy tickets here..
99X’s new Live X 12 is coming out, too at Best Buys on November 20. 99X buddy Kiefer Sutherland did the cover art and the release party is November 7 at 7 with Kiefer’s band Rocco Deluca at Smith’s Olde Bar for $10. The CD, which provides monies to charities, includes acts such as Rocco Deluca, Plain White T’s, Satellite Party, Sick Puppies, the Bravery, the Shins and Silversun Pickups.
Last year’s Mistle Toe lineup included the Killers (who postponed due to illness like the Smashing Pumpkins tonight), OK Go, Plain White T’s and Jet. AFI covered for the Killers at Philips.
In 2005, the lineup was far weaker over two days at the Tabernacle: O.A.R and Coheed & Cambria/Our Lady Peace.
And back in 2004, the show featured Velvet Revolver, Jimmy Eat World, Muse and Keane.
10/30: Q100 needs more letters/ Keyshia Cole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q100’s Bert Show has fallen about 75,000 letters short of its goal to reach 375,000 hand-written thank you letters for U.S. overseas troops in time for Thanksgiving. They will likely start to send out letters soon anyway, guaranteeing fighting men and women in battle zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan will get letters for sure. But the station would still like to hit 375K and is giving listeners another day or two to get pen and paper out.
Host Bert Weiss said he was frustrated they didn’t reach the goal but he’s hoping people will rally and finish up the final 75,000 by Wednesday. You can get more info here.. This idea was spawned earlier this month and it took only 10 days to compile 300,000 letters, still an impressive total.
The national Fox News Channel visited the studio Wednesday morning to report about the effort. “If this doesn’t get us over the hump, nothing will,” Bert noted on the air. Bert said they’ll be hanging in for hours.
And an fyi: I wrote a couple of stories for the print edition about the BET show “Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is.” The second season of the show about the R&B singer and her family starts tonight. Keyshia lives in Alpharetta so you’ll see plenty of Atlanta sights during the show.
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10/30: A talk with Nip/Tuck’s John Hensley
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Hensley’s character Matt McNamara on FX’s “Nip/Tuck” (which comes back tonight for its fifth season) has already dated a transsexual, romantically tussled with a neo-Nazi gal and dabbled in Scientology.
But Hensley told me recently that Matt isn’t getting a break this season as he and his wife Kimber move to Los Angeles where his real dad Christian and legal dad Sean have translplanted their plastic surgery practice.
“Both of us are well in the throws of crystal meth addiction,” Hensley revealed during a break at the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School at Road Atlanta in Braselton where he was boning up on his motorcycling skills. (He looks far scruffier than he does on the show.) “And they’re in a loveless marriage. The pregnancy brought them together.”
His character, which started at age 16 in 2003 and is now technically 20, has always seemed much older than his years. This year, since Hensley himself is 30, “we’ve sort of abandoned the idea of attaching an age to Matt. I just can’t do it. It’s not within me to portray a character so significantly younger than I am.”
Hensley said the bizarre plot twists each year makes playing Matt “like coming into a new job.” But he doesn’t question it: “I don’t concern myself in the least with Matt’s story. It’s my job to tell it.”
This season, he said, “I’ve had the most fun. We get to play with hallucinations and fantasies playing in Matt’s head.”
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10/29: Young & Restless screen test Thursday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I know zip about soap operas but I’m told “The Young & the Restless” (WGCL, 12:30 p.m. weekdays) is doing an open casting call for a woman 18 to 30 (as of Dec. 1, 2007). I’m not sure how serious this really is or whether it’s some elaborate marketing scheme. Then again, the show is ranked No. 1 among soaps.
If you think this could be your big break, go to AmerciasMart, building No. 1 this Thursday from 9 to 4 p.m. Callbacks for participants advancing to the second round of auditions and on-camera test with scene partner for finalists will be held on Friday, November 2.
One of the actors, Michael Graziadei (who plays Daniel Romalotti since 2004) will be coming by.
Releases and registration forms are available on www.theyoungandtherestless.com and www.cbs46.com.
10/28: Talking with “Survivor’s” Sherea Lloyd
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are several ways to get far in “Survivor.” You can connive, fashioning alliances with artful dodges, feints and occasional lies. You can stay likeably under the radar. Atlanta fourth-grade teacher Sherea Lloyd, eliminated this past Thursday, tried to be indispensable at immunity challenges.
But her tribe Zhan Hu wasn’t strong enough and they tended to lose despite her efforts. She chose not to play mind games, and her A-type personality clashed with some other tribe members, especially Dave Cruser. So when rival tribe Fei Long kidnapped her two episodes ago, she became vulnerable. (“I got screwed in the switch,” she said.) What’s worse: Frosti, another kidnapped Zhan Hu member, accidentally spied the immunity Idol this past Thursday, protecting his survival for now.
Lloyd could have survived if Zhan Hu had thrown the immunity challenge a second time this past Thursday, but they weren’t sure if she was trustworthy once the two tribes merged. She hurt herself when she chose not to talk to Zhan Hu member Peih-Gee Law during the reward challenge.
But overall, Lloyd told Buzz she had a good time despite the lack of food and sleep. “I made it as far as I could and I’m proud of that,” she said. At this stage of the game, she thinks big planner Todd Herzog has the best chance of winning.
“I did try to go with the flow,” she said. But she admitted that “I wasn’t connecting with all the people day by day. You never knew what was going on.” (And she got to go sightseeing around China during the rest of the competition.)
Lloyd came across a bit tough, always willing to speak her mind, even if it wasn’t always polite. “I don’t have a problem with the way I was portrayed,” she said. “That was me. It was okay.”
10/26: An hour of Steve & Vikki
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With just a week left for Star 94’s Steve & Vikki, I decided to listen to an hour of the show this morning just to see how content is carved up.
During the 7 a.m. hour today, Star 94 aired 22 minutes of Steve & Vikki gabbing over five segments (including an eight-minute excerpt from an interview Thursday with Jason Schwartzman), three minutes of news with Rob Stadler over two segments, 16 minutes of advertisements in four stop segments, four traffic breaks taking about three minutes and four songs eating up 16 minutes.
Also, as I prep a farewell story about the show November 2, I’d love your input. If you have a heartfelt opinion about the pair’s 17 years on Star for the print edition of the paper, email me at rho@ajc.com.
6:59 a.m. Rob Stadler news
7:02 a.m. Ads: Nissan, Rooms To Go, Shane Co.
7:05 a.m. “Rockstar” - Nickelback
7:09 a.m. Steve & Vikki gab about sports and a free taco promo
7:11 a.m. Traffic with Shannon Holly
7:12 a.m. Promos for Vikki’s “Quickies from Vikki” celebrity news, then “Chick’s Picks.” Vikki promotes Spa Spydell’s 25th anniversary. Shannon talks about a Sona anti-snoring pillow from Brookstone. Steve jokes, “I sleep at Brookstone every night, just before they close up. Security wakes me up so I can come here.”
7:14 a.m.: Star 94 private concert with matchbox 20//Mercedes Benz//Encore nightclub and Star 94 concert with Plain White T’s and Gym Class Heroes///Home Depot//Airtran//Toyota
7:19 a.m. Excerpt of Thursday’s interview with Jason Schwartzman, promoting his film with Owen Wilson “The Darjeeling Limited.” When Vikki asked him about Owen Wilson, who went into rehab recently, Schwartzman skirted the issue, saying “I’m not going to talk to you about that stuff. I just know he’s doing very well.” Tommy Sullivan quickly moved it along with no awkward pauses and changed topics to no ill effect. After the excerpt aired, Steve noted that Schwartzman’s mom is Talia Shire, Adrien from the “Rocky” flicks and namedropped AJC colleague Richard Eldredge’s “Peach Buzz’ interview with Schwartzman.
7:28 a.m. traffic into Rob Stadler news
7:30 a.m. WATL-TV ad//Cindy promoting Oust//D. Geller & Sons//Neiman Marcus
7:34 a.m. “Who Knew” Pink
7:37 a.m. Steve & Vikki talk about the weather, then read off a bunch of surveys from US magazine such as “Which superpower would you like to have?” with choices such as the cheerleader’s invincible powers on “Heroes,” the Bionic Woman, the dude from “Pushing Daisies” who can revive the dead and Dr. House’s “deadly sarcasm.”
7:41 a.m. Traffic
7:42 a.m. An ad with Steve & Vikki for Verizon Wireless//Atlanta Ballet//Peachtree TV//Cindy & Ray’s Encore promo//Carey Paul Honda
7:47 a.m. Quickies from Vikki with items about Britney Spears, Daniel Dae Kim’s DUI, rumors of an Ellen/Portia breakup Carrie Underwood’s possible new boyfriend, a J.K. Rowling autographed book going for $40K. Steve brings up a TMZ story about how a papparazzi sold a sock with tire marks caused by Btirney for $585 on eBay. The pair also promote an upcoming interview with a CSI actor after 8 and chances to win free cash.
7:51 a.m.: “Wake Up Call” Maroon 5
7:54 a.m. “Bad Day” Daniel Powter
7:57 a.m. More promotions about the “Big Money Cash Game” and the CSI interview
7:58 a.m. Traiffc
7:59 a.m. Rob Stadler news
10/26: Q100 Bert’s Big Thank You letters to all military
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bert Weiss and the folks at Q100 have done big charity efforts before, including backpacks for all the students in New Orleans a couple years ago. But this one is in many ways a bigger logistical challenge: 375,000 letters to each and every U.S. military person overseas. The deadline for writing and delivering the letters to Taco Mac or Q100 is Friday October 26.
As of Thursday evening, Q100 operations manager Rob Roberts said he has no idea how close they are to the goal given that most letters are piling up at the many Taco Mac locations around metro Atlanta and have yet to be vetted and counted.
They’ve even taken a Third Day song “Thank You” as the theme of the effort.
If you’re feeling ambitious, here are instructions on how to go about writing the letters. It’s got to be kept to one 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper, no political messages, no attachments of any kind. I’ll report back as soon as I hear whether they hit their mark or not.
10/25: Hot ratings for BET Hip Hop Awards in the ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thousands of Atlantans partied like rock stars during and after the BET Hip Hop Awards earlier this month, and many more enjoyed the festivities on TV when it aired a few days later.
The awards show, taped here in Atlanta, tied for the 17th most popular show of the week locally — cable and broadcast shows combined — bringing in 235,000 viewers when it aired Oct. 17. That’s a hugely disproportionate share of the 3.28 million people who caught the show nationwide.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” took the top slot for the first time, aided by the fact typical top-ranked show “House” was pre-empted for baseball playoffs on Fox. And new Christina Applegate sitcom “Samantha Who” on ABC showed promise in its debut, ranked 17th in Atlanta, 10th nationally.
CBS’s “Survivor: China” inexplicably popped up in the top 10 for the first time this season in Atlanta with a 30 percent jump in ratings week over week. (Atlanta teacher Sherea Lloyd is still in the hunt after being “kidnapped” and switching teams in the Oct. 18 episode.)
Nationally, “Survivor” ratings were stable from the previous week at about 14 million viewers.
TOP 10 ON TV
Rank, show, network, date, viewers, national rank
“Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, October 18, 438,000, 5
“Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, October 15, 375,000, 2
“Desperate Housewives,” ABC, October 21, 336,000, 4
“Dancing With the Stars (results),” ABC, October 16, 325,000, 7
“CSI,” CBS, October 18, 305,000, 1
“College football: Michigan at Illinois,” ESPN October 20, 292,000, N/A
(tie) “Boston/Cleveland baseball playoffs, game 7” Fox, October 21, 276,000, 3
(tie) “Survivor: China,” CBS, October 18, 276,000, 11
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” ABC, October 21, 275,000, 2
“NCIS,” CBS, October 16, 274,000, 6
SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research
WINNERS
USA’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” - Sure, this show only gets a fraction of the viewers in its original airing compared to when it was on NBC. But over five airings last week, the show actually pulled in more than 13 million viewers, including 4.5 million at 10 p.m. last Thursday.
ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” — The sturdy reality show hit a season high with 21.4 million this past Monday, the night Marie Osmond fainted. And it was indeed time for goofy Mark Cuban to go back to Dallas and manage his millions.
ABC’s “Samantha Who” — This was a shocker to me given how much I hated this sitcom. In its second outing this past Monday, it lost only five percent of its opening audience with 13.7 million viewers, an amazing retention and lost none of its 18 to 49 audience, the only new show this year to do so. So far, so good for Christina Applegate and her character’s bum memory.
ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” — Although this whimsical show is hardly a big hit after four episodes, ABC gave it a full-season order. It brought in about 9.5 million viewers this past Wednesday.
LOSERS
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” — No Vick, few viewers. That’s what happened when poor ESPN had to contend with a Falcons/Saints matchup and received 8.5 million viewers, the lowest in the program’s long history.
NBC’s “Journeyman” — This time traveling show is on the verge of cancellation as it hits a series low Monday of just 6.1 million viewers.
CBS’s “Viva Laughlin” — As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, this crappy musical drama was axed quickly after two frighteningly low-rated airings. Sunday’s airing ranked 68th locally, 71st nationally.
CBS’s “Cane” — Jimmy Smits might have to get ready for another job soon. This family drama has lost viewers five episodes in a row, opening at 11.2 million and dropping to 7 million this past Tuesday. CBS, after killing “Viva,” will likely go after this one next.
Fox’s “The Next Great American Band” — This “Idol” spinoff flopped in its opening but given that it’s created by the “Idol” producers, Fox will probably keep it on through its entire run. And it’s on a Friday so the risks are fairly low to let it run its course. And who knows? Maybe it’ll catch on with the DVR crowd, which is propping up shows like “Gossip Girl.”
10/25: Satellite radio listening stats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are a lot of satellite radio fans who post on this blog. So this is for you!
For the first time, Arbitron has released national ratings for Sirius and XM satellite radio and its individual channels.
In the spring, Sirius drew an estimated 6,595,000 listeners in a given week while XM had 10,332,900. That reflects XM’s larger subscriber base though it’s a bigger gap than I would have anticipated.
Not surprisingly, Howard Stern is the king of all satellite radio, bringing in 1,225,100 listeners a week. That’s a small fraction of the 10 million-plus listeners he commanded on free FM radio back in the day. But it’s still an impressive figure given the modest size of the Sirius audience.
Here are the top 10 non-music stations for Sirius in terms of cume with average no. of listeners at a given moment in parentheticals
1- Howard 100 (the primary Stern channel) 1.225 million (96,700)
2- Howard 101 (Bubba, Scott Ferrall, west coast Howard feed) 502,000 (30,700)
3- Blue Collar Comedy (Foxworthy, Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, et. al) 311,200 (6,400) Notably, that’s by far the most popular of the four comedy channels on Sirius
4- Sirius NASCAR 177,600 (8,600)
5- ESPN Radio 147,100 (5,300)
- Fox News 133,300 (4,000) Yes, Fox beats CNN even on the radio! 7. Sirius NFL Radio 112,100 (4,300) 8. CNN 84,200 (2,100) 9. Sirius Left 59,100 (3,000) 10. Sirius Patriot (conservative talk) 46,800 (1,700)
NPR’s two stations only cumed 82,600 total nationwide, not even a quarter of what WABE-FM draws locally. Playboy Channel gets 1,400 listeners at any one time with a total of 51,200 a week.
The top 10 XM non-music stations
1- Fox News 485,400 (15,500)
2- XM Comedy 422,200 (9,300)
3- ESPN Radio 262,600 (9,100)
4- The Virus (Opie & Anthony) 216,800 (20,800)
5- CNN 211,800 (5,200)
6- Laugh USA 174,700 (3,000) 7. Radio Classics 155,700 (5,800) 8. Talk Radio (Glenn Beck, Dave Ramsey, et al) 154,800 (8,700) 9. America Right 132,400 (5,000) 10. Oprah & Friends 115,800 (3,200). Air America comes in at No. 11 at 109,600 with 7,200 listeners at any one time.
The top 10 music stations on Sirius based on avg. listeners at any particular moment (total week listeners in parentheticals) Sorry, I changed the rankings in midstream but this seems to make more sense than ranking by cume and I didn’t feel like starting all over again above.
1- New Country 20,400 (455,900)
2- Sirius Hits (top 40) 17,700 (653,200)
3- Octane (active rock) 17,600 (357,600) This station, which is kind of like Project 9-6-1, does far better than Alt Nation, the alternative rock station.
4- The Pulse (pop music, 90s and today) 14,300 (405,000)
5- Big 80s 12,300 (450,000) I love this station! 6. Sirius Gold (40s, 50s and early 60s) 12,100 (295,800) 7. Hair Nation (80s hair metal) 12,000 (337,700) Wow! Ratt lives on! 8. 60s Vibrations 10,700 (322,100) 9. Classic Vinyl (60s/70s rock) 10,400 (325,400) 10. The Roadhouse (classic country) 10,000 (239,800)
’70s was the least popular decade channel (8,600). The Elvis Channel (4,600) did only slightly worse than 80s alternative First Wave (4,200), one of my personal favs.
The top 10 music stations on XM
1- The Blend (soft rock) 27,100 (548,000)
2- Flight 26 (modern adult hits) 25,100 (713,700)
3- Willie’s Place (traditional country) 24,900 (437,000)
4- Top Tracks (early classic rock) 22,900 (607,900)
5- Top 20 at 20 (top 40) 21,800 (1,055,300)
6- The 60s on 6 21,700 (619,600) 7- Watercolors (smooth jazz) 19,500 (364,400) 8- The Heart (love songs/soft pop) 19,100 (489,200) 9- HIghway 16 (new country) 18,600 (554,100) 10- Escape (beautiful music) 18,000 (268,600)
The 90s channel (6400) was by far the weakest decades channel. 90s alternative Lucy (11,300) beat new alternative Ethel (5,900) and classic alternative Fred (3,600). XM seems to skew a bit older than Sirius based on the lister base. I mean, beautiful music in the top 10????
For more stats, check this out. Tom Taylor of radio-info.com first posted this info.
I’ve been unable to extract local figures from Arbitron or the respective satellite companies, but if you extrapolate 1.5 percent of listening to Atlanta (based on our population vs. the entire U.S.), those numbers get mighty small. Atlanta, under this estimation, has about 250,000 satellite radio subscribers. That’s about how many people listen to 99X or WGST-AM in a typical week and would rank satellite radio at No. 20 overall in listening if you aggregate all 200-plus stations. And given that Stern wasn’t ever in Atlanta, the percentage of those 1.2 million listeners from here is probably fewer than 18,000 listeners while a station such as XM’s the Blend draws maybe 8,400 listeners from Atlanta.
10/24: 99X’s 15th anniversary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Exactly 15 years ago on October 24, 1992, top 40 station Power 99 became 99X. Leslie Fram and Sean Demery were on air back then helping with the transition. And amazingly, they’re still on air.
Five years ago, the station held a low-key 10th year anniversary celebration. Mid-day jock Steve Craig played songs during the now defunct Retroplex from the original 1992 playlist and the Morning X team of Steve, Leslie & Jimmy reminisced. This time around, there will be no acknowledgment of this milestone on the air at all, according to Fram, the program director who has been at the station since its inception.
That’s just as well. With 285,000 listeners a week over the summer, 99X brings in about half the ratings from its peak and “time spent listening” ranks just 28th, among the worst in town. It lags way behind Project 9-6-1, an active rock station with 18 to 34 year olds. And for all listeners, it’s fourth among four rock stations behind Project, the River and Dave FM. Bottom line: the alternative rock format is not nearly as popular as it used to be and the station has struggled to adjust to the competition and crummy circumstances. (Revenue hasn’t dropped off as quickly as ratings but the trendline can’t be good for the sales folks.)
This isn’t to say 99X’s first decade wasn’t notable. It was. Back in the fall of 1992, management saw top 40 going through serious Color Me Badd-level doldrums and the Nirvana-driven grunge era was capturing the imaginations of Gen X. So they dropped Power 99 and created 99X.
The station gradually built buzz around town. By 1994, it had became a true phenomenon, eventually becoming one of the most revered and popular alternative rock stations in the country. Leslie Fram was canonized as a brilliant programmer and a “voice of reason” on 99X’s buzz-worthy Morning X morning show. The station possessed a fine lineup of great jocks and a lock on the hot music of the era.
When Chris Williams was program director in the early 2000 period, he was the mastermind behind making the station edgier to appeal to a younger male audience, incorporating more Korn-like music (which was becoming more popular at the time) and moving Fred Toucher to co-helm the morning show. Females fled, many to sister station Q100. Plenty of younger males opted for hip-hop. After Williams was let go, the station around 2004 veered to a middle ground, eventually calling itself “Everything Alternative.” It couldn’t quite let go of its heritage but still wanted to draw younger listeners.
Unfortunately, this path hasn’t worked well as former fans continued to go elsewhere. The station changed ownership last year and has attempted to tap its past glory of the 1990s by bringing back Sean Demery and creating the “New Morning X.”. So far, the show has not gained much traction. It ranked 20th among 25-54, 14th among 18 to 34 year olds and 20th overall.
If you want to hear part of the 1992 transition, here’s an audio clip available online.. Among the acts on air at the time were Toad the Wet Sprocket, Depeche Mode, U2, Love & Rockets, INXS, Nirvana and the Cure. Unfortunately, this doesn’t include the six-hour talk show that preceded the actual change that morning.
How do you feel about the station as it enters its 16th year?
10/23: WABE reaches fall pledge drive goal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After missing its last pledge drive goal for the first time in many years, noncommercial station 90.1/WABE-FM redoubled its efforts earlier this month and hit its goal of $1 million, plus another $50,000 for a separate online drive.
The station, which airs a blend of classical music and public affairs programming such as the popular “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” had cut its spring pledge drive to nine days and fell about $65,000 short of its $900,000 goal. General manager John Weatherford said they did a follow-up mail and online campaign and “ended up getting that made up and even a bit more. It’s all evened out.”
The fall pledge went back to 10 days, which apparently is a better amount of time to capture more of the WABE’s regular listenership.
As of Monday evening, the pledge total was $1,052,663. (Given that 93 percent of the pledges were paid via credit card and only 7 percent by check, the station will get virtually all the pledges.)
General manager John Weatherford said he was worried given the state of the economy and the housing market but the station made it. “I was particularly heartened this time around,” he said. “The listeners really came through.”
The money is used exclusively to pay for programming, be it NPR programs or local reporters. And of course, if you pledge a certain amount, you get pledge gifts, be it a Bruce Springsteen CD or “Car Talk” T-shirt for $120. The most popular gift? The “I Heard it on NPR” travel tumbler. For $250, you could meet “Morning Edition” co-host Steve Inskeep, who is coming to Atlanta Nov. 9. Weatherford said 44 percent of people turn down the gift, asking that all their money go to programming instead.
10/22: Viva Laughlin canned, Amazing Race back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CBS’s ill-fated and ill-conceived “Viva Laughlin” pretty much guarantees actors breaking out in song are not going to be making a comeback on broadcast TV anytime soon.
The so-called drama, which featured the likes of Melanie Griffith and Hugh Jackman humiliate themselves, was cancelled after two airings, including just one last night in its regular time slot of 8 p.m. The overall viewership numbers were bad enough at about 6.8 million but the 18-to-49 year old demo figures were so miniscule, CBS must have had to haul out a microscope to read them.
With “Viva” gone, “CSI” repeats will air it its place until November 4, when Emmy-winning reality show “The Amazing Race” makes an early return visit. The 12th edition of the show was originally supposed to air early next year but it’s good to have it back sooner. It’s definitely one of my top 5 reality shows.
10/22: The Bull can’t kick Kicks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Bull can’t quite get a full head of steam in the country music ratings game.
Kicks remains the dominant leader in the country music scene, according to the summer Arbitron ratings book, covering the time period June 28 to Sept 19. The impact of the Bull’s arrival last December has been modest on Kicks so far after the station suffered a brief dropoff in the winter. Kicks is ranked 8th among 25 to 54 year olds and 4th overall.
In comparison, the Bull is ranked 17th among 25 to 54 year olds and 18th overall, which hasn’t changed much since its launch. Its overall audience in a given week is 362,400 vs. 477,600 for Kicks. And it had one of worst rankings for “time spent listening” among all stations, ranking 28th with the typical listener checking in for 4 hours and 15 minutes a week. The Braves helped the station’s night and weekend numbers a bit but it won’t have that benefit this fall and winter.
The station does skew younger than its predecessor, soft rock Lite 94.9. For most advertisers, that’s perceived to be a good thing.
Eagle beat the Bull in overall listeners, ranking 16th, but brought in a much older audience, which isn’t a surprise given its older music mix.
Here are some other notable results:
V-103 remains top dog As usual, V-103 is truly the people’s station, a solid No. 1 in virtually all key demographics. Porsche Foxx’s first appearance in several years didn’t immediately bump up the ratings, but the station is still a solid No. 1 during the middays among 18 to 34 year olds and 25 to 54 year olds.
Long-time leader slips For years, WSB-AM has been a regular No. 2 behind V-103 among 25 to 54 year olds and would often beat the R&B/hip-hop station among all listeners. But for the second quarter in a row, the news/talk station slipped to third (behind Kiss) among 25 to 54 year olds. The station has also lost steam among 18 to 34 year olds, ranking 18th vs. 5th a year ago. And it had one of its weakest overall ratings (a 7.8 share) in recent years.
Bert Show rocks Q100’s Bert Show has been the biggest start-from-scratch morning show success story this decade in Atlanta. And what’s amazing is it keeps improving in viewership numbers. The show has been a regular top 5 presence among 18 to 34 year olds for a couple of years (No. 2 this past summer) but its appeal has expanded over time. It now has landed top 5 among 25 to 54 year olds for the third time in four quarters, hitting fourth place for the first time. It doubles the numbers of the rest of the station (though the station is #2 middays among women 18 to 34 and #3 from 3 to 7 p.m.)
Fish floundering Christian pop station the Fish has been struggling the past year. Among 25 to 54 year olds, its ratings have dropped four quarters in a row to its worst performance in several years. It now ranks just 17th overall and 12th among 25 to 54 year olds. Mid-days are the biggest problem right now, where the station ranks 22nd compared to 8th a year ago.
Rock competition remains the same There was no real change in the battle for rock listeners. Classic hits 97.1/The River is still the winner among 25 to 54 year olds while active rock Project 9-6-1 has kept its dominant role for younger listeners. 99X and Dave FM battle over the scraps. 99X’s strongest daypart is Axel’s afternoon show while Dave FM’s weekend numbers are far stronger than its weekday figures.
Randy & Spiff’s final figures Before Spiff Carner was fired earlier this month, news/talk station WGST-AM’s summer numbers were very weak, hamstrung as always by a horrible signal before the sun rises. (But that impact is a lot worse in the winter.). The station ranked only 27th in the mornings compared to 22nd a year ago with Tom Hughes.
I’ll update this later when I get some gender breakdowns, which weren’t available when I got these numbers Friday.
The overall ratings can be found here.
Among 25 to 54 year olds, the top 10 are: V-103, Kiss, WSB-AM, the River, B98.5, Grown Folks, Praise, Kicks, Star, Project. (Cox Radio has four of the top five stations.)
Among 18 to 34 year olds, the top 10 are: V-103, Hot 107.9, El Patron, 95.5/The Beat, Project, Q100, Viva, Grown Folks, 99X, WAOS-AM (this is a quirk because the AM Hispanic station didn’t even chart the previous three quarters)
Among morning shows, 25-54: V-103’s Frank & Wanda, WSB-AM’s Scott Slade, Kiss’s Tom Joyner, Q100’s the Bert Show, Grown Folks’ Steve Harvey, Star 94’s Steve & Vikki, Praise’s Yolanda Adams, The River’s Lexie Kaye, B98.5’s Kelly & Alpha, Kicks’ Cadillac and Kristen
Among morning shows, 18-45: V-103’s Frank & Wanda, Q100’s The Bert Show, Hot 107.9’s The “A” Team, El Patron’s Rosy & El Tigre, Grown Folks’ Steve Harvey, Viva’s Panda & Brenda, Kiss’ Tom Joyner, 95.5/The Beat’s Murph Dawg & CJ, Project’s music morning show (this was before Giant Brian came along), Star 94’s Steve & Vikki
Note: Arbitron polled 3,761 metro Atlantans using paper diaries, each covering one week. The company struggles to get enough 18 to 34 year olds to participate and as a result, those numbers tend to be more volatile. And like all polling companies, Arbitron is hamstrung by the fact it can’t reach people who only own cel phones.
10/19: Kitchen Nightmares hot in the ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gordon Ramsay’s reality show “Kitchen Nightmares” has held up surprisingly well against very tough competition on Wednesdays. In fact, it outdelivered “Criminal Minds” on CBS, the stumbling “Bionic Woman” on NBC, the CW’s “Gossip Girl” and ABC’s touted “Private Practice” in Atlanta and was the highest ranked show of the week among the new series.
Better yet, Fox has given the show a green light for a second season already. I think it’s the first show of the year to get that honor.
Nationally, the show has seen growth four consecutive weeks and hit its series high in its fifth episode last night with nearly 7 million viewers. It’s not quite pulling in the numbers of his summer series “Hell’s Kitchen” but the competition is far more fierce.
In other TV news, CW’s “Online Nation” show (which featured YouTube-style clips) was the first official cancelled show of the year after pitiful ratings in its first three outings averaging about 700,000 viewers.
Jon Stewart extended his contract with Comedy Central for two more years through 2010. It coincides with the end of David Letterman’s latest contract. Rumors are that he is positioning himself to take over for Letterman.
And Jimmy Kimmel may not necessarily be banned from “Monday Night Football” after a NYT story reported he had upset the MNF producer by joking about Joe Theismann’s departure as a host during a moribund Falcons/Giants game. (“I’d also like to welcome Joe Theismann, watching from his living room with steam coming from his ears.”). This from sportsillustrated.com:
He said ESPN’s executive vice president for content John Skipper reached out to him in a phone call on Wednesday in an attempt to smooth things over. “I got a call from John Skipper who I like a lot,” said Kimmel. “He was apologetic. The unfortunate thing for people who did not see the broadcast is now it looks like I exposed myself on national television. Really, I wasn’t even making fun of Joe. I just thought it was a funny and inappropriate but harmless thing to bring up in the booth.”
Finally, if you like “Damages,” which ends its first season Tuesday, renewal is still up in the air after mediocre ratings, according to the LA Times.
Here are the top 10 shows of the week in Atlanta:
Show Date Network Viewers Natl. rank
“House” Oct. 9 Fox 531,000 5
“Dancing With the Stars” Oct. 8 ABC 435,000 2
“Grey’s Anatomy” Oct. 11 ABC 346,000 3
“CSI” Oct. 11 CBS 323,000 1
“60 Minutes” Oct. 14 CBS 319,000 6
“Dancing With the Stars” (results) Oct. 9 ABC 313,000 7
“Desperate Housewives” Oct. 14 ABC 301,000 4
“Bones” Oct. 9 Fox 292,000 42
“MNF Cowboys/Bills” Oct. 8 ESPN 282,000 N/A
“Heroes” Oct. 8 NBC 270,000 24
Source: Nielsen Media Research
And here are a few winners and losers so far for the past week or so:
WINNERS
ABC’s “Samantha Who?” — The debut of this Christina Applegate sitcom (which I hated) managed to hold nearly all the “Dancing With the Stars” audience, a promising sign. Now we’ll see how it does in week two. A drop of more than 25% would be considered alarming. Less than 10 percent? ABC will be breaking open the bubbly.
Several CBS veteran shows — “Two & a Half Men,” “CSI: Miami,” “NCIS,” “The Unit,” “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” this week all hit season highs in their fourth outings. That shows these show fans, after sampling the competitors, have returned to the familiar. (For many of these shows, a similar pattern happened a year ago.)
USA’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” -Â The original airing of this show on October 4 brought in a solid 3.8 million viewers, followed by 3.4 million last week. That’s way down from its 10 to 12 million viewers a year ago on NBC. But if you consolidate the four airings of “CI” over the week, USA’s audiences is fairly close. And that’s certainly good news for Dick Wolf & Co.
The CW’s “Smallville” — A new Supergirl has surprisingly given this aging scifi show new life and it has actually gone up slightly in ratings from a year ago (averaging about 4.8 million viewers). That’s heady stuff for the seventh year of any show and a rare bright light for this struggling network.
LOSERS
VH1’s “I Love New York 2” —Â Good news for folks who can’t believe how popular this show and its predecessors have been: while opening at a solid 3 million this past Sunday, this is actually way down from 4.4 million earlier this year for the original “I Love New York.”
NBC’s “Bionic Woman” —Â As noted earlier, this remake of the ’70s hit is doing poorly, losing audience three weeks in a row and pulling in less than two-thirds of its opening numbers. This past Wednesday, it drew just 8.5 million viewers compared to nearly 14 million in its debut.
CBS’s “Cane” —Â Similarly to “Bionic Woman,” this Jimmy Smits drama continues to shed vieweres in its fourth week Tuesday, bringing in 8.5 million viewers compared to 11.2 million its debut. That’s not as sharp a dropoff but its 18 to 49 numbers are very low for CBS.
10/19: Hullinger new WSB-AM drivetime anchor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Hullinger, the former WAGA-TV sports anchor from 1984 to 2002 who has also worked at WGST-AM, Z93 (now Dave) and 96rock, has been doing some anchor and reporting work for WSB-AM the past year or so, mostly weekends and fill-in. But with Lisa Campbell bowing out as afternoon drivetime news anchor for the top news/talk station in town, Hullinger now has her job.
“WSB is a special place,” he said. “I viewed it that way a long time from the outside and even more so from the inside. I’m grateful WSB has given me this opportunity.”
Hullinger, who has also worked with the Falcons and ESPN, had a humbling experience doing sports in Tampa and he and his wife came back last year when WSB-AM promised him a slot.
He said he now plays (using a basketball metaphor) “a fast break offense where everybody touches the ball.” As anchor, he squeezes traffic, news and weather in three minutes and 25 seconds at the top of the hour and just 90 seconds at the bottom. He said at 5 p.m. today, he managed news from four different reporters as well as three traffic reporters led by Capt. Herb Emory and weather with Kirk Mellish. While TV reports often last 90 seconds, a radio report seldom goes longer than 30 seconds.
He said although he hasn’t been on TV here in Atlanta for five years, people still come up to him at Publix or the convenience store and say they like him on WAGA. “It’s a little awkward,” he said.
Pete Combs, in the meantime, will become the lead breaking news reporter from noon to 8 p.m. after co-anchoring with Lisa (and doing spot reporting.)
10/17: New Star 94 morning show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just a couple of weeks after announcing Steve & Vikki’s departure date of November 2, Star 94 has found a new replacement, a trio from Indianapolis called Marco, Shannon and Mikey.
ABOVE: On the left is stunt guy Superphat Mikey, middle is Shannon and right is Marco.
They come from WNOU-FM/Radio Now 93.1, a station that changed formats a week ago, leaving the threesome high and dry. The name of the new Star show is not known yet but in Indianapolis, they were called the Morning Mess. Here’s info about them.. And there are plenty of youtube videos featuring them. Here’s a good one to start with..
Mark Kanov, Star 94’s general manager, said since Vikki Locke announced she was leaving at the end of the year for health reasons, the station has been on the hunt for a replacement for her and Steve McCoy. He liked the trio from Indianapolis but they were under contract with Radio Now until May 2008 so he wasn’t sure he’d be able to nab them. Then Emmis Communications (which owns the signal) dumped Radio Now for news/talk. Kanov swooped in and grabbed Mikey, Shannon and Marco as quickly as possible.
Kanov said he will bring them in December 1 under contract but won’t start them on air until January 2, 2008. In the interim, he will give them a grand tour of Atlanta, have them meet with advertisers and even force them to drive down I-75, 400 and I-85 during rush hour to get a feel for what a lot of Star’s listeners have to go through. “I want them to experience what Atlanta experiences,” he said. “I want them to know what Buckhead is about. I want them to know what Midtown is about.” He also wants them ready on air to pronounced local cities and streets and towns correctly.
The future of Rob Stadler, Shannon Holly and Tom Sullivan is unclear. “We’ll figure it out in the next couple of days,” Kanov said.
“Change is always a little bit stressful,” he noted. “Some people embrace change. Some people don’t. We’re really excited about it. This is a young team. It’s going to put some new energy and life into the radio station and Atlanta radio.”
All of them are relatively young, 30 and under. None are married.
Star will air a best-of Steve & Vikki in November but hasn’t decided how it’s going to deal with December.
The top 40 station Marco, Mikey and Shannon were on before it changed formats actually looks like it had good ratings. The only numbers I have are 12-plus but the station was fifth overall in the spring.
Apparently, they regularly did that classic radio bit “War of the Roses,” which Q100’s the Bert Show used to do years ago in which the station, pretending to be a florist, offers to send free flowers to whoever the target wants. If he sends it to his wife or girlfriend, all is good but if he sends it to his mistress or some lady on the side, the fireworks go off! (That bit, which Bert Weiss freely admitted was not his original idea, did give his show traction early on but like any gimmick, it got old.)
10/17: New Dallas Austin “Drumline” reality show on Peachtree TV
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dallas Austin is leveraging his successful 2002 film “Drumline” into a reality series featuring the prestigious Southwest DeKalb High School Marching Panthers band for Peachtree TV. The eight-episode show starts November 20.
This show will be the first original series for Peachtree TV, which launched October 1 and effectively replaced TBS for folks with rabbit ears. The series will start with band camp and run through the fall football season.
“I’m excited that Southwest DeKalb is going to get this shot,” Austin said Wednesday. “They deserve the recognition.”
The show will be dubbed “Dallas Austin’s Drumline: SWD.” The 300-member band was featured in “Drumline,” which starred Nick Cannon and was Austin produced in 2002. According to imdb.com, the film, which focused on a cocky drummer recruited to a fictional Atlanta college to join the band, grossed a respectable $56.4 million with a budget estimated to be $20 million.
But Austin said 20th Century Fox, the film company, refused to do a full-budget sequel, so it never got off the ground.
Later, Austin said he thought about doing a marching band competition show, but when he saw MTV’s “Two a Days,” a documentary-style program about high school football players, he decided reality would be a better route.
The well-connected Austin got cooperation from Don Roberts, music coordinator for DeKalb schools who helped choreograph the film sequences, and Vernon Jones, DeKalb County’s chief executive.
Austin said he’s wanted to work with Turner Broadcasting for years because it’s based in Atlanta. When he ran into Turner consultant Ryan Glover, he told him about the concept of “Drumline,” and there was instant interest.
Peachtree TV general manager Jonathan Katz said Austin and the station hammered out a deal in a mere 48 hours after seeing the trailer Austin already had created. “We believe it’s a fantastic opportunity to work with Dallas Austin and bring Atlanta viewers a network quality production about a truly amazing local high school band,” Katz said.
10/17: Q&A with Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe has broken two toes and two ribs, suffered a slipped disc, gotten dozens of stitches and melted his contacts from a furnace while working with a blacksmith. Then he points out where a shark tooth got wedged into his leg a year ago and hasn’t fully recovered. The Baltimore native, who stopped by a Lowe’s in Woodstock Tuesday to promote a new line of Whirlpool washers and dryers, suffers for his art but he seems unperturbed about it.
“The rule is whatever the person is doing, I try to keep up,” said Rowe in a quick sitdown in the training room at the Lowe’s.
He said he has talked about ending the show at various points, thinking he’s run out of ideas but viewers keep offering up more jobs for him. So he’s celebrating his 150th dirty job on October 23 at 9.
Rowe said the idea of doing “dirty jobs” stems from an homage to his dad and granddad, both of whom had plenty of these types of jobs over the years. “Those two made fun of me. They were guys with real jobs. I sang opera. I did infomercials. A long line of crap. I wanted to do something that they’d be proud of.”
In fact, his dad now calls after every new episode and critiques his performance. “He’d say, ‘You went into a coal mine without a mask. That was real smart!”
He said he did a few test episodes of “Dirty Jobs” on Discovery in 2003 and 2004 and the shows did so well, the execs at Discovery decided to turn it into a full-fledged series. At first, Rowe said Discovery wasn’t sure it fit the brand but since then, the network has embraced it. (Good ratings certainly changes a network’s tune.)
One change in recent episodes is he’s generally spending more time with each job, doing one or two per show instead of three. “That way, you get to know the people,” he said.
Rowe gave his standard line about the show: “In the end, ‘Dirty Jobs’ is not really about dirt or jobs but about people who just go about their business and work.” Later, he noted, “It’s a simple show with big themes. Beyond the poo and animal husbandry, it’s about good humor, human diligence and persistence and the Puritan work ethic.”
What’s interesting about the show is Rowe treats the workers, be it a roadkill picker upper or ditch digger, with equal respect. “If there is ever a joke, it should be on me,” he said.
He said his olfactory system “shuts down” after a few minutes whenever he enters place that smells bad such as the San Francisco sewer or a pig farm. He’s only thrown up twice on camera and four times total. One time, it was off a shark boat, the consequence of gin and cheese fries the night before. The other time, it was a grease pit at an elementary school in 104 degree heat in which they were sucking out 100 tons of baby poo and uneaten food out of a giant hole.
He also differentiates himself from Bear Grylls of “Man Vs. Wild” or Les Stroud of “Survivorman,” who are outdoors experts. “I’m not here to impress anybody with my knowledge. I can’t add a column of numbers. I can barely tie my shoes! I’m not going to save your life in an extreme situation.” (He did do the Heimlich maneuver one time on a woman and she spit out an oyster.)
His conclusion on the show’s appeal: “You show people yourself covered in crap and see you at your worst, they’ll trust you.”
10/15: Road Warrior Brett Martin goes to CBS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Good Day Atlanta’s” long-time “Road Warrior” Brett Martin, dismissed by WAGA-TV in late May, has found a new home across the dial at WGCL-TV helping out its fledgling “Better Mornings” program. The show, which airs from 5 to 7 a.m., provides the usual weather and traffic info but nixes hard news for soft features. “Good Day Atlanta,” whichs airs from 7 to 9, is more like “The Today Show,” blending soft and hard news along with traffic and weather.
Martin is the film critic and reporter for “Better Mornings” and his prepackaged reports will eventually show up on other WGCL news shows. He said he travels frequently to Los Angeles and New York for junkets. His first report was a one-on-one interview with Robert Duvall and Mark Wahlberg for “We Own the Night.”
Here’s Martin’s bio on the “Better Mornings” page, which conveniently avoids reference to WAGA.
Why Martin was cut from WAGA has never been publicly revealed but while he was there, he was a popular figure on that highly-rated morning show as energetic comic relief promoting local events and being the show’s resident “American Idol” expert.
“I have signed a legal agreement and I can’t discuss what happened,” he said. “I loved working over there, but I’ve moved on. There’s no hard feelings. It’s the nature of the business.”
After his dismissal, he said he received thousands of emails from a specific email he posted on the Fox 5 Web site, brettmartintv@yahoo.com. He’ll be happy to take some more.
10/14: Ted Allen at Taste of Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a story I wrote for Monday’s paper about Ted Allen (“Top Chef,” “Iron Chef America,” “Queer Eye For the Straight Guy”)
ABOVE: Ted Allen offers up a wonderful shrimp dish for a fawning audience. CREDIT: Rodney Ho
“Queer Eye,” the Bravo surprise breakthrough hit makeover show earlier this decade, is about to bid the world adieu for good in a few weeks, and cast member Ted Allen is cool with that.
“I don’t want to wax people’s backs for the rest of my life,” Allen joked over coffee outside of Dolce before doing a food demonstration Saturday for Mondavi wines at Taste of Atlanta in Atlantic Station.
At the same time, the New York food and wine expert is proud of what “Queer Eye” (which was originally called “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) accomplished during its moment in the zeitgeist, enabling the world to see gay people in an entertaining yet nonthreatening light.
“The show defused a lot of tension over gay issues without getting political,” he noted. “Little grandmas in Des Moines would watch. High school boys picked up pointers to impress girls. Military people and police officers were fans.”
And for people like Mike Tropp, a 28-year-old Atlanta financial analyst, the show helped him while he was coming out a few years ago to his family. “The show really made a difference in my life,” he told Allen after the AJC interview. Later, Tropp said, “it was really a way for my family and I to bridge that gay-straight gap and opened a dialogue between me and my parents.” (Tropp later hung out with Allen at Wet Bar Saturday night.)
Ironically, Allen hated the show’s name given the controversial nature of the word “queer.” “One of the funniest things early on was watching Matt Lauer try to wrap his mouth around the words ‘Queer Eye,’ “ he said. “To this day, I don’t think my mom likes the name but she likes the show.”
Although “Queer Eye” is no longer the big hit it once was, it created “the Queer Eye unified field theory,” Allen said, meaning all subsequent Bravo shows from “Project Runway” to “Kathy Griffin” fell under at least one of five subject areas the show delves into: fashion, food, beauty, design and pop culture.
And for Allen himself, “Queer Eye” turned him into a high-demand personality, helping him nab book deals and gigs as a judge on both Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” and Bravo’s “Top Chef” as well as host of a PBS show “Uncorked: Wine Made Simple.” He’s currently in production in Chicago for season four of “Top Chef,” which features at least one Atlantan. He can’t say much about the upcoming cycle but promises there’ll be plenty of fun characters.
And while in Atlanta, Allen said he grabbed dinner at Rathbun’s Friday night after meeting Kevin Rathbun during a recent taping of “Iron Chef America.” He sampled a delicious shrimp and okra dish, carpaccio with parmesian, salmon croquettes, beef strip steak and a super crispy flat pizza with proscuitto and gorgonzola.
“It was,” Allen said, “off the hook.”
10/13: Rocco Dispirito at Taste of Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spoke with New York food expert Rocco Dispirito earlier this week by phone before Taste of Atlanta at Atlantic Station. Here’s what I wrote for Peach Buzz (this is an extended version):
After his dispiriting experience with Rocco’s 22nd Street, documented by the 2003 NBC reality show “The Restaurant,” Rocco Dispirito has stayed out of the restaurant business, opting to be more of a food personality.
This means writing books (“Rocco’s Real-Life Recipes” out November 6), making TV appearances (“The Today Show,” “Top Chef”) and doing food demonstrations at events such as Taste of Atlanta at Atlantic Station Saturday.
Buzz talked to him by phone earlier this week:
On his book: “We found that Americans don’t use the recipes for soups, salads and side dishes as much as entrees. So this book is all entrees focused on America’s favorite proteins, 10 ingredients or less and done in under 30 minutes.”
What he learned from “The Restaurant”: “You can only do so many things and do them well. I was stretched too thin.”
Shortcut foods: “Frozen peas are good. Frozen corn is horrible. Chicken stock is good. Canned beef froth is horrible. Chopped garlic in a tube is good. Chopped garlic in a jar is bad.”
On the “Top Chef” winner Hung Huynh and accusations by rivals he lacked heart: (Dispirito guest judged for one episode and did sous chef work for Hung during the finale.) “He’s all heart all the time. He might have too much passion. But he reminds me a bit of what I was like when I was 29. I was pretty fearless and so is Hung. He’s a major talent. I’ve had two or threee Hungs in my life out of thousands I cooked with. It’s the magical combination of skills and a real strong point of view plus the courage to face any challenge.”
On the favored “Top Chef” contestant Casey Thompson, who choked on the finale: “Some people don’t know themselves or have developed a point of view. They can perform well when options are limited but when it’s opened up the way they did on the finale, her plan simply wasn’t well thought out.”
On Saturday morning, I’m meeting with Ted Allen, another “Top Chef” host best known for his role on Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” He’s also doing demonstrations at Taste of Atlanta. I’ll post a fresh blog entry about him later this weekend.
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10/13: TV ratings - Practice up, Bionic down
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An alarming 42 percent of Atlantans who sampled the debut of NBC’s “Bionic Woman” skipped out the second week.
The remake of the ’70s drama drew a solid 363,000 Atlantans two weeks ago but only brought in 211,000 on Oct. 3. Nationally, the show — which has received mixed reviews — dropped to a lesser degree, from 13.9 million viewers to 11.1 million.
But ABC’s “Private Practice,” the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff that aired at the same time as “Bionic,” saw its audience grow from 223,000 week one to 247,000 Oct. 3. The show finished at 12.5 million, down from 14.4 million week one, a fairly typical dropoff for a new show.
ABC also got good numbers out of its critically acclaimed new series “Pushing Daisies,” which ranked 14th nationwide with 13 million viewers, landed at No. 9 locally , finishing with 290,000 viewers.
Here are the top 10 primetime shows in metro Atlanta from the week of Oct. 1, 2007:
Show Network Date Viewers (national ranking)
“House” Fox Oct. 1 496,000 (6)
“Dancing With the Stars” ABC Oct. 1 467,000 (2)
“College football (Florida at LSU)” CBS Oct. 6 448,000 (48)
“Grey’s Anatomy” ABC Oct. 7 400,000 (3)
“Dancing With the Stars (results)” ABC Oct. 2 334,000 (8)
“CSI” CBS Oct. 4 320,000 (1)
“Desperate Housewives” ABC Oct. 7 318,000 5)
“Law & Order: SVU” NBC Oct. 2 295,000 (21)
“Pushing Daisies” ABC Oct. 3 290,000 (14)
NFL Sunday Night Football NBC Oct. 7 289,000 (4)
Source: Nielsen Media Research
Nationally, here are some other winners and losers:
WINNERS:
Bravo’s “Top Chef” — The finale pulled in 3.1 million viewers, down from the 3.6 million of the finale from season two, but still an excellent total for Bravo. Hung Hunyh beat Casey Thompson, the favorite coming into the finale, after she basically choked. He may not have been as likable as Casey or the other finalist, Dale, but he definitely brought his A game to the last challenge.
NBC’s “The Office” — The hilarious sitcom in its fourth season is one of the few that has seen any ratings growth year over year, averaing 9 million viewers vs. 8.5 million a year ago at the same point. Although the one-hour episodes so far seem a bit bloated (there’s one more next week), the show is doing amazingly well considering it’s up against top 5 shows “CSI” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” —Â This rapidly aging game show has seen a spark of life recently thanks to the show adding extra $1 million cases in the mix in hopes of getting someone to that vaunted $1 million level. The show drew 12.5 million viewers Wednesday, its best performance since March.
LOSERS
NBC’s “E.R.” —Â This decrepit drama is in critical condition, its status falling fast as it hit yet another record ratings low of 8.6 million last night. Ouch. Even “Big Shots” did better on ABC.
**Bravo’s “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style” — Gunn is hot on “Project Runway” but this makeover show saw its audience evaporate last week to just 278,000 viewers from 911,000 on Sept. 20 before broadcast competition started taking its toll.
CBS’s “Kid Nation” — Four weeks in and ratings have fallen off every week from 9.1 million the first to 6.9 million last night.
NBC’s “Chuck” — The preposterous conceit of this dramedy isn’t sticking with audiences as the show dropped from 9.2 million Sept. 24 to just 7 million this past Monday.
10/12: Avril, Elliott Yamin on Star’s Jingle Jam lineup
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Avril Lavigne, who has cranked out a fairly consistent stream of hits the past five years, will be the headliner for this year’s Star 94 Jingle Jam Monday December 10 at the Gwinnett Arena.
“Idol” finalist Elliott Yamin (“Wait For You”) starts at 7, followed by Colbie Caillat (“Bubbly”) at 7:45 a.m., the Jonas Brothers at 8:35 p.m. and Avril at 9:50 p.m. I guess it’s not surprising why Star has been promoting Colbie so heavily in recent weeks. Star 94 was the first station in town to play Lavigne’s breakout hit “Complicated” in 2002 and had her as a performer on “On the Bricks” in the summer of 2003.
Tix are $27 to $57 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday October 20 through www.star94.com, the Arena or Ticketmaster. The concert has sold out the past couple of years so grab them quickly or you’ll have to try to win them free or go to a ticket broker.
For comparison, last year’s Jingle Jam lineup was K.T. Tunstall, Hinder, the Fray and Goo Goo Dolls. In 2005, the lineup featured Jason Mraz, Switchfoot, Gavin DeGraw, Howie Day and James Blunt.
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10/12: Rhubarb says all is good
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rhubarb Jones said the recent cutback in his hours at Eagle was a mutual agreement between him and his boss Victor Sansone. At age 56, he wanted to spend more time with his young children and after 36 years in radio, “it’s giving me a break.”
Sansone got angry when I speculated yesterday that this was a sign of Jones perhaps being “phased out” and leaving the scene eventually.
In a sense, that’s not true. But Jones today said he isn’t even sure if he’ll re-sign a new contract when the time comes. “I don’t know if I would want to do another five years,” he said. “What do I have to prove at this point in my career?” As for Sansone, “he’s been terrific to me, just terrific.”
Rhubarb — who has been on the 106.7 signal for 22 years as Atlanta’s longest-running morning host and was recently inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame —Â didn’t get back to me yesterday because he was at an event at Kennesaw State. Usually he gets back to me pronto so that made me wonder what was really going on.
Rhubarb noted that Eagle is choosing to play more music even when he is on live because “there’s so much bloody chatter going on” on other stations. “We’re tightening it up, making it sound better.”
In yesterday’s blog entry, I dubbed this a “strange” arrangement, at least strange to me because I hadn’t seen it before in this town. Although WSB-AM’s Scott Slade ends his show at 8:30 a.m. and cedes to Neal Boortz from 8:30 to 1 p.m., those are separate shows. Ditto with the Bull’s Big D and Bubba from 5 to 8 and Paul Koffy from 8 to 2. In this case, the show on Eagle is advertised as the Rhubarb and Dallas show from 5 to 10 a.m. and I found it unusual that Rhubarb isn’t actually on the entire time.
Former Eagle radio consultant Joel Raab (who has 20 clients and 7 in top 20 markets) said while this isn’t an every day occurence, it’s been done before to accommodate veteran radio jocks. In fact, Raab is working an arrangement out with a country morning host in another market.
“Johnny Carson wasn’t on half the time the last 10 years he was on,” Raab noted. As for Rhubarb, “this speaks to his star status by giving him an easier schedule.”
10/12: Rhubarb being phased out? (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’ve noticed a recently reduced role for Rhubarb Jones on Eagle 106.7, your ears aren’t deceiving you. He is now only doing the show live from 7ish to 10 a.m. He does some taped bits for the 6 to 7 a.m. hours. “Southside” Steve is in the studio live from 5:30 to 8 a.m. and doing street bits as usual. Dallas McCade is on the entire four-plus hours. Victor Sansone, the boss, said he simply wanted to give Rhubarb an extra hour of sleep and this is nothing alarming. “He’s part of the woodwork,” Sansone said. “He’s been doing this for 25 years. He deserves to come in an hour later.”
The show has also started playing more music and cut back on talk, although the show was never known to be heavily talk anyway.
No word from “Southside” or Rhubarb. This is a strange arrangement and it’s unclear how tenable it is long term. I’m also not sure how much time Rhubarb has left on his contract but this certainly doesn’t bode well for a contract renewal next year. Rhubarb is the longest-running morning host in the market at 22 years. Many of his peers have left or are leaving the scene. Kimmer and Tom Hughes were cut from GST last December. Spiff Carner was let go from the same station Wednesday. And Steve & Vikki are gone from Star 94 November 2.
After I posted this entry, Sansone sent me an angry email, saying I interpreted this situation wrong. I initially wrote it appears Southside and Rhubarb are being separated. Sansone denied that and he also said Rhubarb is not being phased out. He said some morning shows are split from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. He wrote that this is “very common when you have a long tenured institution.” Seriously, I have never heard of such an arrangement, at least in Atlanta or during the time I’ve been covering radio since 2001. “Maybe you shouldn’t bother calling if you’re going to write your own version,” he wrote. “Southside is on the street, it might not be sexy enough for you, but its the truth. Don’t call me if you write what you just feel like writing.”
10/11: 99X/Project comparision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
99X is throwing the gauntlet down with its advertisers by providing comparision clips between the Giant Show and the new Morning X at this Web site.. The headline: “The difference has never been greater. Your choice has never been clearer.”
The sample Giant Show clip features Giant and Shaffee gabbin’ about Pamela Anderson’s marriage and STDs.
The sample new Morning X clip features talk about a redneck wedding.
The implication is: do advertisers want to be associated with the Giant show vs. the new Morning X?
Project 9-6-1’s Chris Williams isn’t too impressed. Based on those samples, “we are funnier and more topical,” he wrote me in an email.
I interviewed Sean Demery last week on the 1st anniversary of the new Morning X, which showed some ratings promise in its fall but slipped off in the winter and spring. (Summer numbers are coming in a couple of weeks.)
Demery isn’t the type to obsess over ratings. “For me, the most important thing is to have a good time, being able to show up and giggle at people and play fight, having someone to rip on while being ripped upon. You don’t get enough of that.”
He said the Atlanta-based Cumulus management has treated them well. “They’ve pretty much left us alone,” he said. “They’re very supportive and very fun.”
As for the ratings, he noted correctly that new morning shows often take two to three years to work — or fail. “It’s a long fight,” Demery said. “It always is with morning shows. It takes time to aggregate an audience.”
Personally, he and his wife have had a commuter marriage the past year. He visits every other week or so. They had lived in San Francisco but she recently moved to Utah working for an artist community group. The plane ride is now 3.5 hours instead of five, he notes.
He notes that he, Leslie Fram and Rob Jenners have different interests. He still goes out and sees bands twice a week and isn’t into the pop culture stuff the other two are into. Leslie is out four times a week, does a lot of community work. Jenners loves sporting events, he said, and does family stuff.
Sean, who used a schticky bullhorn a lot early on, said he hasn’t used it recently. “Year two will be a lot about shaking hands and kissing babies,” he said. “More conversation, less bits. I think there are great ways to build rhythm and timing to get used to one another, Morning shows are more about people, conversation and lifestyle.” They are trying to get more quirky listener stories, he said, less Lindsay Lohan.
10/10: Spiff let go, Randy remains
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just saw Randy & Spiff at the Dave Ramsey event last week and everything seemed hunky dory. But behind the scenes, WGST-AM program director Randall Bloomquist had other plans and fired Spiff today, leaving Randy behind.
Randy & Spiff, as a team, have been in Atlanta on four different radio stations over 18 years. Randy Cook has always been the straight guy and Spiff Carner the wisecracking jokester.
ABOVE: Spiff Carner introducing Dave Ramsey October 4 at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel
“I have no comment,” said the usually loquacious Spiff, who is still under contract and can’t talk (unless he doesn’t want to get paid.).
Bloomquist said Spiff wasn’t a good fit for the news-intensive morning show. Did Spiff know this was coming? Who knows at this point. Bloomquist said there was no precipitating event that caused Spiff to lose his job.
Last week, while gabbing with Spiff at the Beck event, he noted that he often had to restrain himself on the air from wisecracks that would have worked fine on Fox 97.1 but wouldn’t work interviewing a politician on GST.
For several years on Fox, Randy & Spiff were a dominant presence and fueled that station to great heights. But after jarring ownership changes, shrinking ratings and aging demographics, Fox 97.1 played itself out and by 2002, Randy & Spiff were out of a job and Fox was gone.
Soon after, Clear Channel created oldies Cool 105.7 and hired Randy & Spiff. But that only lasted a couple of years before that station became Hispanic music. Randy & Spiff were moved to sister station Lite 94.9, which played soft rock. They lasted there for a couple of more years, until that format was blown up for country last December. And yet again, they were able to find another job at Clear Channel with the news/talk station WGST-AM as the morniing team this past February. But that one only lasted eight months for Spiff.
Randy will still have David Hull and Mitch Evans to talk to but for many people, splitting up that team is going to be quite jarring.
Jerry Buckner, who worked for Randy & Spiff from 1989 to 2006 as a comedy writer and player with the late Bill Hoger, said he isn’t surprised. “The way GST tried to make Randy & Spiff a serious show was just ludicrous,” he said. “That makes no sense. Why not let them do light comedy and satire instead of compete with Scott Slade and Neal Boortz?”
But he said at least Randy is more attuned to this type of show, that it’s up his alley. He also doesn’t think Spiff would be resentful or jealous at all. “Spiff will be okay,” Buckner said. “I’m sure he’s happy for Randy. He and Randy were great friends. These are not arrogant, headstrong people. They were nice, down to earth folks who treated each other with mutual respect.”
10/10: On Sullivan, Stews, Wachs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I caught up with Star 94’s Tommy Sullivan last week before my vacation break to talk to him about his new full-time gig with WXIA’s “Atlanta & Company.” “I wanted the job since I started doing it” as a sub for Ryan Cameron a couple years ago, he said. “I thought Ryan would never leave.” (Ryan got his own talk show on Starz, which debuts next month.)
Sullivan, who has been with Star 94 for three decades and will likely stick around when Steve & Vikki are out November 2, said he had an advantage over many of the possible replacements WXIA tried out because he’s used to the prompter and the situation. And he said the West Coast satellite interviews are especially tough because of the 1.5 second delay. “I had a good sense of peace there,” he said. “I was more relaxed.” He did watch his competitors and said he liked Jimmy Baron and even Brian Jordan. And he was nervous about the late-second test of “Major” Tom Clark, who had once hosted WXIA’s “Peachtree Mornings” talk show in the 1990s.
He admits Cameron was able to get folks like Ludacris and Warrick Dunn on the show. “I don’t have that star power potential or access to those people,” he said. But like Cameron, he’s a native Atlantan and brings a lot of energy to the table.
In other news, the 2 Live Stews syndication deal with Radio One is over at the end of the year after airing on about 20 stations. It wasn’t the right fit mixing the Stews with political talk, said Andrew Saltzman, GM for 790/The Zone, which is involved in the syndication. The Stews are talking with other syndicators and will likely be pitched to sports talk stations. This won’t affect the Stews locally on the Zone since that’s a separate deal. Radio One’s Grown Folks 102.5 is reviewing all options, including keeping Warren Ballantine and Al Sharpton in Atlanta.
Here are promos for former Regular Guy Larry Wachs’ new Adult Swim online video show, “What’s Your Story.” “News: It’s not just for old people!” he says. The show starts online a week from Friday on the 19th.
http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/series/whatsyourstory
10/8: Gone fishin’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m off today, relaxing on a quiet beach far far away from Atlanta. (I did catch a few minutes of VH1’s “America’s Most Smartest Model” in which they forced contestants to come up with as many answers to topics such as “things that are round” and “U.S. states” while doing a runway walk. To one model, Seattle and Memphis are U.S. states. Ben Stein mocked one gal for saying there is an umbrella tree when naming types of trees. But in fact, there is an umbrella tree. Who knew?)
So enjoy my colleague Richard Eldredge’s interview with “The Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder here. The second season of the Peabody Award-winning animated series returns tonight on Adult Swim.
10/5: BET’s “College Hill” shooting in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over 19 seasons and 15 years, MTV’s seminal reality show “The Real World” has hit the obvious city targets such as Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. I can totally see Miami, Las Vegas and New Orleans, too, and even Paris and London. But then they started placing the kids in Philly, Austin, San Diego, Key West and Denver. Each of those cities have a certain appeal, the historical mileau of Philadelphia, the college vibe of Austin, the beaches of both San Diego and Key West and perhaps the mountain vistas of Denver. But MTV has inexplicably bypassed Atlanta despite favorable demographics and the city’s thriving music scene.
Fortunately, BET’s “College Hill,” that network’s equivalent to “Real World,” has started shooting its fifth season in Atlanta. It helps the city has a major African-American presence, is the hub for hip hop and has several respected historically black colleges. BET is also shooting its upcoming hip-hop awards at the Atlanta Civic Center and the Keyshia Cole reality show here.
ABOVE: The logo from season four in the Virgina Islands.
Four male and four female college students are rooming in a local house I hope to visit soon. BET has already shot at a local hair salon and Young Jeezy’s birthday party. I’ll post more details as I get them but this next season is set to tape through November and air in the spring of 2008.
“College Hill” has been one of BET’s most successful original series to date. The fourth season typically drew 1.3 million to 1.5 million viewers a week earlier this year, with the finale surpassing 1.8 million.
10/5: Dave Ramsey in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Syndicated debt-fearing consumer talker Dave Ramsey (heard locally 3 to 7 p.m. on WGST-AM) weekdays) visited Atlanta and held a free workshop Thursday evening for 500 people at the Waverly-Renaissance Hotel off I-75 and I-285 next to the Cobb Galleria.
He’s in good spirits. Ramsey, who made his early money in real estate, at age 47 has seen his career trajectory gradually grow. More than a decade after he started syndication, he’s now up to 337 stations and has a new show on the upcoming Fox Business Channel that launches October 15. (I first interviewed him in 2001 when he had just 35 stations.)
“It’s kind of exciting,” Ramsey told me before his seminar. “I’ve got a lot of learning to do.” He said his face betrays his thoughts and he has to restrain himself when someone says something he doesnt like while on TV. “I could never win a poker game,” he said. Otherwise, he hopes to have some regular segments but won’t be playing off the news very much. He just hopes his radio show, in which he helps solve people’s financial problems with a faith-based foundation, can translate on TV.
During the talk with the WGST listeners, in which he walked through his life history, he mentions that he’s “the Clark Howard of Nashville.” After the crowd laughed, he said, “I’d just like a little piece of his world here.” And knowing that getting ratings, it’s all about branding so he asked the crowd: “What station am I on?” “WGST!” the crowd responded. (He said he and Clark are competitors but “have mutual respect.”)
“I’m riding from the airport with this guy. I ask him, ‘You ever listen to Dave Ramsey?’ He responds, ‘I love WSB!’ “That’s brand confusion,” he said.
Later, he notes, “I’m not Tom Cruise doing TV. I’m not any smarter. I’m a B student, maybe a C student depending on what class I was in. I didn’t quit. The only redeeming character I have his I tell the truth, sometimes brutally. Other than that, I don’t quit. Ever. You can do it too!”
His show is not corporate owned. He runs his own syndicated show and it’s taken a lot of time for him to build respect in the business. “I’m going to show up every day,” he said. “I’m going to help people every day. If you kick me off, when your replacement comes in, I’ll be back. I will outlast you.”
As for the mortgage crisis, Ramsey says it’s overblown, that problems are primarily focused on the subprime market. “Regular mortgages are just fine,” he said. “Rules are still the same. Nobody is freaked out except the news media. The mortgage meltdown is in the subprime market. It’s horribly constructed loans with high interest rates and prepayment penalties given to people already struggling with bad credit.”
ABOVE: WGST’s morning hosts Randy Cook and Spiff Carner introduced Ramsey at the workshop. Carner notes the physical resemblance between him and Ramsey.
Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” event at the Gwinnett Arena is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. November 8, followed by two smaller events on Friday November 9. Get more info here.
10/4: Final day for Steve & Vikki 11/2
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Star 94 today announced November 2 as the final day for the Steve & Vikki show after more than 17 years on the air.
The press release included a quote from Vikki Locke:
Locke announced her departure earlier this summer, citing health concerns. “My husband and I agree that my health is the most important thing,” Locke said. “My doctor says a low-key schedule and more sleep will help get me back to 100%.”
Curiously, there was no quote in the release from Steve McCoy, who is also leaving. Their contracts are up at the end of the year.
Mark Kanov, their boss, told me that Tom Sullivan and Shannon Holly will stick around while the station seeks a new morning show. They have sifted through hundreds of tapes and traveled to different cities to meet potential replacements, resulting in three strong potential candidates. He hopes to announce their replacements within 30 to 45 days.
“It’s all about that chemistry and what fits right and what the audience can feel comfortable with,” said Kanov, who has been at the station for 39 years. “This is not a science. It’s still an art.”
For about three weeks after Steve & Vikki leave November 2, the station will air “best of” bits from the 17 years the pair have been on. Kanov said he’s not sure what the station will do per se between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but they will probably just keep Shannon and Tom on air before the new team joins them. He said they have been around so long, they have bits in four different mediums: reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes, CDs and digital hard drive.
He proudly noted that over 34 years, 94.1 has had just two morning shows: Gary McKee and Steve & Vikki, a rare stability in such a volatile market. The 92.9 signal, for instance, since 1989 has churned through at least eight morning shows including the Greaseman and Moby. (UPDATE: Kanov conveniently forgot a brief morning show disaster from 1989-90 led by Jack Murphy and Terrence McKeever that aired after McKee and before Steve & Vikki’s arrival.)
Unfortunately, Kanov said with consolidation, the pool of talent is a lot shallower than it was 15 or 20 years ago. “Stations aren’t willing to grow and develop talent in these middle markets.”
He’s not making Steve & Vikki available for comment until later this month.
10/4: Top syndicated radio talk shows
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Talkers Magazine twice a year ranks the top talk radio hosts in terms of audience size. There probably aren’t any major surprises here. Amazingly, No. 4 ranked Dr. Laura still is not on the air here after several years absence. This is partly based on Arbitron numbers from the spring of 2007:
Here’s the top 16:
1- Rush Limbaugh (heard locally on 640/WGST-AM, noon to 3 p.m. weekdays) 13.50 mil +
2- Sean Hannity (heard locally on 750/WSB-AM, 4 to 7 p.m.) 12.50 mil +
3- Michael Savage (heard locally on WSB-AM, 7 to 10 p.m.) 8 mil +
(tie) Dr. Laura 8 mil +
5- Glenn Beck (heard locally on WGST-AM, 9 to noon) 5 mil +
(tie) Laura Ingraham (heard locally on 920/WGKA-AM, 9 to noon) 5 mil +
7- Neal Boortz (heard locally on WSB-AM, 8:30 am. to 1 p.m.) 4 mil +
(tie) Mark Levin 4 mil +
(tie) Dave Ramsey (heard locally on WGST-AM 3 to 7 p.m.) 4 mil +
10- Mike Gallagher (heard locally on WGKA-AM , noon to 3) 3.75 mil+
(tie) Michael Medved (heard locally on WGKA-AM, 3 to 6 p.m.) 3.75 mil+
12- Jim Bohannon 3.25 mil+
(tie) Clark Howard (heard locally on WSB-AM, 1 to 4 p.m.) 3.25 mil+
(tie) Bill O’Reilly (heard locally on 1230/WFOM-AM and 1340/WALR-AM, noon to 2) 3.25 mil +
(tie) Ed Schultz 3.25 mil+
(tie) Doug Stephan
10/3: Dave FM auditioning new morning show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dave FM is auditioning morning show personalities this week from 1 to 4 a.m. A regular comedic contributor to Glenn Beck’s CNN Headline News show Brian Sack has been involved. Last night, former 99Xer Jimmy Baron tried out. “It was a ton of fun,” Baron said. “I’m thrilled to go on the air there.”
Dave has attempted to work the 99X pixie dust before, using former Morning Xer Steve Barnes as morning host for two years to less-than-rousing ratings. He was dumped about a year ago. The station has gone the past year with Barnes’ co-patriot Holly Firfer and a dude who goes by the name Orf. Ratings have been about the same. New program director Mike Wheeler has said he has plans to revamp the morning show at some point. (I’ll update this entry when I get a callback from Mike.)
Baron, out of radio since March of 2006, is developing a couple of TV shows he’s executive producing and recently tried out for WXIA’s “Atlanta & Company.” (He’ll likely play backup to Tommy Sullivan.) He’s also podcasting with former Regular Guy Eric Von Haessler.
10/3: Dancing W/Stars top show in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The weekly Atlanta ratings for the week of Sept. 24 mostly reflected what happened nationwide. “Dancing With the Stars” held its own while the Fox shows did better than the national average, especially Jeff Foxworthy-hosted “Are You Smarter.” Most CW shows did only slightly better than they do nationally but “Smallville” outperformed. CBS shows usually don’t do as well locally but “Survivor” and “Two & a Half Men” showed huge disparities. Oddly, “Heroes” did relatively poorly while “Bionic Woman” did slightly better.
Rank. Show. Network. Date. Rating/Share (national rank)
“Dancing With the Stars” ABC Monday Sept. 24 15.1/22 (2)
“House” Fox Tuesday Sept. 25 14.7/22 (6)
“Dancing With the Stars” ABC Tuesday Sept. 25 13.1/20 (5)
“Grey’s Anatomy” ABC Thursday Sept. 27 12.0/18 (3)
“Desperate Housewives” ABC Sunday Sept. 30 11.9/18 (4)
“Dancing With the Stars results” ABC Wednesday Sept. 26 11.5/18 (8)
“CSI” CBS Thursday Sept. 27 10.8/16 (1)
“Bionic Woman” NBC Wednesday Sept. 26 9.5/14 (15)
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” ABC Sunday Sept. 30 9.4/14 (13)
“Private Practice” ABC Wednesday Sept. 26 9.3./14 (12)
Some shows with major disparities compared to national ratings:
13- “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” Fox Thursday Sept. 27 8.1/13 (54)
17- “Bones” Fox Tuesday Sept. 25 7.8/12 (48)
18- “K-Ville” Fox Monday Sept. 24 7.3/10 (61)
21- “Prison Break” Fox Monday Sept. 24 6.9/10 (56)
24- “Heroes” NBC Monday Sept. 24 6.7/9 (7)
26- “CSI: Miami” CBS Monday Sept. 24 6.6/11 (10)
42- “Survivor: China” CBS Thursday Sept. 27 5.6/9 (14)
44- “Smallville” the CW Thursday Sept. 27 5.4/9 (76)
76- “Two & a Half Men” CBS Monday Sept. 24 4.1/6 (18)
Each ratings point represents about 23,000 households. The share is the percentage of Atlanta TVs that were on that show at that time.
SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research
Some cable network shows held up okay in the face of new broadcast TV shows, especially serialized soaps and reality competition shows (e.g. .“Rock of Love,” “Top Chef,” “The Hills”). But some shows took a big hit such as Atlanta designer Vern Yip’s HGTV show “Deserving Design” (1.4 million to 712,000 week over week) and MTV”s “Celebrity Rap Superstar” (1.44 mil to 732,000).
Plus, there’s no obvious breakout new hit so far despite good performances by both “Bionic Woman” (13.9 mil) and “Private Practice” (14.4 mil) against each other last Wednesday. Those were the top two new shows of the week. We’ll see how much erosion there is this week. Anything less than 10% is excellent (and growth even cooler). Anything more than 25% is worrisome and 40% is an early death knell.
WINNERS
ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” With DVRs now in nearly 20 percent of homes, most existing shows are seeing big drops in viewers. This older-skewing reality show is holding up as well as Wayne Newton, bringing in 20 million-plus its first two Mondays and another 34 million-plus combined the other two nights last week.
VH1’s “Rock of Love” - VH1 viewers seem to have an insatiable appetite for cheeseball “Bachelor” shows. First, it was Flavor Flav (and the New York spinoff) and now it’s Bret Michaels. His finale drew an amazing 5.4 million against fresh broadcast competition, bigger than “I Love New York” and “Charm School” but short of the 7.5 million Flavor Flav’s last series drew.
The CW’s “Smallville” This aging sci-fi drama actually held its own last Thursday, more or less with the same opening figure (5.2 million) as last year. That’s a superhuman feat in this day and age.
LOSERS
TBS’s Braves-Astros game - The final Braves game ever on nationwide TBS under its current contract Sunday brought in a modest 468,000, but the team was out of contention and there was plenty of football competition.
FX’s “Damages” - The Glenn Close series, up against new eps of “Law & Order: SVU,” the new series on CBS “Cane” and “Boston Legal” was damaged greatly, with a series low 1.16 million viewers Sept. 25. But the show is repeated multiple times on FX so many viewers probably decided to opt for broadcast shows that weren’t going to be immediately repeated. It’s the same issue with “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” which drooped to under 1 million viewers on Sept. 27 after opening at about 2 million two weeks ago before the broadcast networks had debuted fresh episodes.
Fox’s “K-Ville” Despite a good showing in Atlanta, this post-Katrina cop drama is taking a beating against “Heroes,” “Dancing With the Stars” and the CBS sitcoms, down more than a third from its opening. It finished at 5.6 million this past Monday in its third outing.
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10/3: Changes at night for Eagle 106.7
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eagle 106.7, working with ABC Networks and Great American Country cable, this week launched a new 7 to midnight country music show featuring GAC hostess Suzanne Alexander (above) out of Nashville. Eagle will be the pilot “test” station.
The new show will feature interviews with country artists and slightly more current music than Eagle’s normal mix, which has already gotten more modern in the past couple of years. It will air Monday through Friday, which means the Southern Fried show on Fridays from 9 to midnight is moving this week to Saturdays. Former 96rockers Steve Mitchell and “Southside” Steve Rickman remain as hosts. That show has done well since its launch earlier this year, mixing southern rock by David Allan Coe and Hank Williams Jr. with ZZ Top, Bob Seger and Creedance Clearwater Revival.
This also means Country Gold with Rob Lee, featuring mostly classics from the 50s through 70s, loses its Saturday night slot but Lee (above) will stay on Sunday night and get an extra hour so it runs from 6 to midnight instead of 7 to midnight.
Mark Richards, the Eagle program director, said this is a “soft opening” for the new evening show which can hopefully become a syndicated show starting in 2008 available to stations across the country. He says the show currently is partly taped, partly live but he hopes to see it fully live five hours a night at some point, much like Blair Garner’s “After MidNite” syndicated overnight show heard locally on Kicks 101.5.
Until this week, Kevin O’Brien has been holding fort at nights for Eagle, but O’Brien (above) was “voicetracked,” not live.
10/3: Cavemen review
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you want to bet money on which shows are guaranteed to die before Christmas, place your moulah on “Cavemen.” While movie studios will often shield films from critics they consider dogs or flicks that don’t need reviews (e.g. horror movies, anything starring Pauly Shore), TV studios usually send out most anything, no matter how decrepit. But in this case, ABC didn’t bother with “Cavemen,” at least the one that aired tonight. They did send out a pilot in June that was so abysmally bad that ABC dumped it and started over again. They haven’t even been able to keep the fictional locale straight, moving it from Atlanta to Virginia Beach to Atlanta to San Diego. We in Atlanta should be grateful.
So ultimately, how was the revised “Cavemen”? The humor is less physical, less broad and less tied to black stereotypes than the one nobody will ever have to see. But it’s also not any funnier. Actor John Hurt is gone, too. Lucky bastard. The only notable thing is that it will be a fine time capsule of 2007, with references to text messaging, James Blunt, the Wii game system, panini presses, online passwords, R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet,” wikipedia and sudoku. Oh, and they play squash and order biscotti and cafe machiatto. But they face discrimination, too. Someone says “Yabba Dabba Doo” to their face. A real estate agent with a Southern accent who knows Joel and Nick can’t differentiate the two. An employee at a fake Ikea, watching Nick get angry, says, “You’re not going to bite me, are you?”
There are three main cavemen characters: Nick, a writer dating a “sape,” meaning a non-caveman. There’s Joel, the skeptical, cynical date-your-own-kind one (“Crave the cave!” he burbles at one point.). And there’s a new character Andy, who has moved in after breaking up with his girlfriend. In the pilot, they had kind of a doofus caveman character but replacement Andy is smart. In fact, none of them are stupid, as if to prove that cavemen are not truly Neanderthals. Isn’t this the pointless “point” that was already revealed in much wittier fashion in the Geico commercials?
UPDATE: Ratings were better than I expected: 9 million viewers. But the key is how it does the next couple of weeks. If it maintains at least 8 million viewers a week, it will survive. If it drops below 6 million by week three, it’s a goner.
10/2: Larry Wachs has a new job
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This doesn’t like a full-blown, full-time job, but former Regular Guy Larry Wachs just told me he has worked out a deal to do some sort of online-only “Daily Show” satirical news show for the online division of Turner’s “Adult Swim.” It starts online October 12 and will be dubbed “What’s Your Story?” He said he’ll give me more details next week closer to the first air date.
10/2: Casting calls for 35+ models, Supernanny help
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are you having trouble with your kids and need the help of Jo Frost and ABC’s “Supernanny”?
“Supernanny” casting producers will be interviewing moms and dads on Saturday, October 13th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Atlanta Parent Magazine’s Family Block Party at Mercer University, Atlanta Campus. Here are directions.. Jo Frost won’t be there, by the way but she’ll be back in Atlanta for the shoot. (She came by about two years ago for a couple of tapings.)
And if you have modeling ambitions and are 35-plus in age, TVLand has a TV show coming up called “She’s Got the Look” with casting calls Wednesday October 3. Supermodel Beverly Johnson and style guru Robert Verdi will be there. The show will air in the spring of 2008. The winner gets a modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models, Inc. For more details, check out TVLand.com.
The locale is Hyatt Regency Atlanta, 265 Peachtree St., starting at 9 a.m.
10/2: Future of Steve & VIkki
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since Vikki Locke made a surprise announcement in the spring that she was leaving at the end of this year for medical reaons after more than 17 years at Star 94. With three months to go, it’s unclear when she will actually depart and what will become of Steve McCoy, her long-time morning show partner. McCoy, now in his early 50s, has reached the age where many a top 40 DJ has been given their walking papers.
Mark Kanov, their boss, said news about Locke’s impending departure date and possible replacement could be announced as early as this week.
Back in June, my colleague Richard Eldredge reported that Locke was hospitalized last year after doctors detected a blood clot that had traveled from her arm to her shoulder. Despite weekly tests and monitoring, Locke’s doctors have been unable to completely dissolve the clot or diagnose its origin.
10/1: Christy Henry out at B98.5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Lite out of the picture this year, B98.5 has enjoyed a resurgence in ratings and revenue as the only true soft rock station in town. But that hasn’t stopped the bean counters from finding ways to cut costs. Thus, Christy Henry, the news woman on B98.5’s morning show Kelly & Alpha for the past five years, was recently cut loose, replaced by sister station news director Marjorie Coley at R&B station Kiss 104.1.
“We found greater efficiency using Marjorie,” said Chris Wegmann, market manager for Cox Radio Atlanta. “She’s well respected in the community. She had time on her hands. Christy did a fantastic job but we looked at the resources we had and decided, let’s use our resources better.” (The station also got rid of a board op, who screens phone calls and editing, and is using producer Will Gara.)
Other radio clusters regularly share traffic and news people. Art “Mad Man” Mehring, for instance, does traffic for GST, the Bull and Project. And Jamie Massey does the same for Q100 and 99X.
“It did surprise me,” Henry told me. “I was having a great time. I desperately miss my morning show with Kelly, Alpha and Will. I’m heartbroken. It’s the radio business. The only regret was it didn’t last longer.” She’s now looking for a job and freelancing with CNN. She was also Randy & Spiff’s morning producer from 2000 to 2001.
I can pass on her email if you want to send your regards. (Email me at rho@ajc.com)
Cox Radio is part of Cox Enterprises, which also owns ajc.com.
10/1: In studio with Project’s new show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Giant” Brian Carothers and Shaffee finished their first morning show today at Project 9-6-1 intact with no apparent FCC violations, no apparent tensions between the pair and me wasting several minutes of airtime.
Here’s Brian Carothers sitting in the same spot that Larry Wachs used to be during his first show at the Clear Channel building this morning:
And this is Shaffee, who possesses a gravelly voice (though not nearly as grainy as Scott Ferrall) sitting in “Southside” Steve/Tim Andrews’ old spot. Note the “99Sux” bumper sticker behind him.
Overall, it was a fairly soft opening with Shaffee and Brian still feeling each other out. Except for a 30-minute audition, the pair had spent virtually no time together. Shaffee in fact just arrived a couple of days ago and is staying in an extended-stay suite while he finds a place to live. Besides a segment called “You stink” in which they insulted a couple of sports teams (the Detroit Lions and the New York Mets, for instance), they didn’t do anything remotely gimmicky. They took a few calls and gabbed mostly about sports. They do plan to add an on-the-street person and find characters as they go along.
*”We’re the new show on the Project,” Brian said on air near the end of the show. “I really love being here. If you think this first show has been okay, tell your friends. If you don’t like it, I’m Sean Demery.” (That’s the host over at 99X.)
Brian, 27 and married, is much thinner than he looks in photos. He’s been in Atlanta the past two months learning the city and helping boss Chris Williams find his on-air partner. After 900 applicants and five in-studio auditions, 29-year-old Shaffee got the call after five radio gigs in eight years in Michigan. Brian himself has interned at David Letterman’s show and worked with now-XM radio hosts Ron & Fez.
Shaffee, described as a pro wrestler on the Giant Show MySpace page, doesn’t look like one. He said he’s been in a few wrestling matches but actually manages a wrestler named Sabu. His primary focus, though, is career. “We’re at the same point in our careers. This is our first shot at morning radio in a major market where it’s our show. This is what I’ve been working for since day one.” Like former 99Xer Fred Toucher (now in Boston), Shaffee first did a morning-style show at night in cities such as Flint, Detroit and Kalamazoo.
Chris Williams, the boss, used to be program director at 99X and when he wanted to create a more aggressive younger-male station, Leslie Fram resisted and he lost his job. He eventually joined Clear Channel and launched Buzz 105.3, a successful alternative rock station, then segued last year to Project 9-6-1. the station he probably wanted 99X to be. So far, so good.
“The circle of life continues for him,” Brian says. “Here he is several years later, with a show he wants on that’s young, fresh and real.”
“He was willing to take a chance on us without a proven track record in mornings,” Shaffee said. “That speaks volumes.”
There’s probably some financial pragmatism in hiring two newcomers with modest backgrounds to the table. With their experience, they are probably getting salaries that are a small fraction of what Larry & Eric of the Regular Guys were getting. And for now, they will be playing a lot of music, along the lines of eight songs an hour. They are ultimately going to have to earn more airtime over the next couple of years with good results, and if they are ultimately successful like the Regular Guys, the financial rewards could be substantial.
Brian says he’s heard good things about the Regular Guys and expects to be compared to them. “I know we’re not the Regular Guys. I feel bad about how they left here. But they hate each other. They’re never coming back.”
Brian has had time to check in with 99X’s morning show and other competitors. (“I like Rude [at the Fan] and Bert [at Q100] is hitting it out of the park.”). As for 99X’s morning show, he said he likes Rob Jenners and Sean Demery but thinks Leslie Fram is past her prime. “I feel like they’re being held back by one particular female,” he said. “I’d like to hear more Sean Demery. I feel bad for Jenners. He’s trying to sell an angle. They’re staring at him like deer in headlights.”
John Dickey, who oversees programming for Cumulus, which owns 99X, said he’d never publicly criticize any individual at the station, much less Leslie. “We’re trying to get better every day,” he said of the New Morning X. “It’s a pretty good show. It can always strive to be more compelling, more entertaining, more relevant. We are holding ourselves to an extremely high standard.”
He said he feels Atlanta listeners can now better differentiate the “clean witty” show on 99X to the younger, more “locker room” humor of Project.
10/1: Hour one for Project’s Giant Brian
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a summary of hour one of the Giant Brian show with Shaffee on Project 9-6-1 featuring eight songs, two commercial breaks, two traffic reports and four talk segments totaling about 14 minutes.
5 a.m.: “Cult of Personality” Living Colour
5:05 a.m.: Chris Williams introducing the show from Friday afternoon followed by a drum roll and a theme song.
“Welcome to the Giant Show,” Brian Carothers said. “Here on Project 9-6-1. It’s been 11 long motnhs without a show. That’s what Chris said. That’s audio from Friday, the work-release party. My only question… there was 25 cases of beer. There were like 100 really hot chicks and sales guys. Everyone was shaking our hands. Thanks for coming here. We love you. We don’t really love you. Here we go. Not a soul in the building. Where are all the people?”
“We have to give them a reason to love us,” Shaffee said.
Carothers teased Shaffee about his name and said his mom thought he was Middle Eastern.
“I’m from Michigan, man,” Shaffee said.
“Just admit you are a descendent of Osama Bin Laden and move on,” Giant Brian joked.
5:10 a.m. “The Dope Show” Marilyn Manson
5:15 a.m. “So Hott” Kid Rock
5:20 a.m. First call with Shane, who congratulates them.
5:21 a.m. Supercross series promo, Just Brakes ad, Vick’s Dayquil, The Sarah Silverman Show,” Subway, Ford Lincoln Mercury dealerships
5:25 a.m. “Loser” Beck
5:29 a.m. A second caller, a semi-coherent person complaining that they didn’t start the show with “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss and said he has lived in Atlanta for 13 years but can’t wait to move back to Detroit. Then they air audio of a video of a Florida TV station showing a dude in a wheelchair fighting cops in a courtroom while talking about a paralyzed football player Kevin Everett.
5:32 a.m. “Animal I’ve Been” Three Days Grace
5:36 a.m. “Dream On” Aerosmith
5:40 a.m. traffic with Art “Madman” Mehring
5:41 a.m. ads with Starship, Sarah Silverman again and Shane Co.
5:44 a.m. “Scar Tissue” Red Hot Chili Peppers
5:49 a.m. Giant Brian thanks Art “Madman” Mehring for mentioning the show and that he was so nervous coming on the show and wonders if that is the case every morning with Mehring.
Then Shaffee and Giant Brian gab about boxing for awhile, followed by VH1’s finale of “Rock of Love” as a promo to the Atlanta woman on the show.
5:55 a.m. “Animal” Nickelback
5:59 a.m. traffic report with Art “Madman” Mehring
In the second hour, some dude Dennis complains that they aren’t playing music. “I don’t like that guy’s attitude,” Giant Brian said. “Here’s your music.” Shaffee: You let him boss you around,man… Dennis made you his bitch.”
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