Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > November > 30
Friday, November 30, 2007
12/1: Zakk looks to be the Dave morning host
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I heard from a good source that Chicago’s Zakk Tyler will indeed become the new Dave FM morning host. He was introduced to the Dave FM sales staff earlier this week.
Why the Powers That Be have not officially announced it yet, when he’ll actually start or whether Holly Firfer will be part of it is unknown to me. I haven’t gotten a callback yet from Wheeler.
Check out my Nov. 27 blog entry about this news here.
11/30: Atlanta Achievement in Radio Awards 2007
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta radio community honored 99X program director Leslie Fram Thursday night at the Achievement in Radio Awards for the March of Dimes at the Intercontinental Hotel.
ABOVE: Leslie poses with her husband and usually photo-shy Lanny West
Former 99Xer Jimmy Baron, possibly auditioning for a job, introduced Fram and brought down the house with a very funny presentation. Here are some highlights:
“I’m here to present the lifetime achievement award. Let me just say this: class, poise, intelligence, humility, talent and also throw in a good head of hair and a sexy, sultry voice. Those are the qualities one must possess to stand up here to introduce Leslie Fram.”
“In my career, I’ve spent a significant amount of flying around the country to banquets presenting Leslie with plaques. She has more trophies under her arm than a Dickey at a Halloween party. [He is referencing the Dickey brothers who run Cumulus Broadcasting, owners of Q100 and 99X as of last year. It’s an inside joke and got a big laugh.] Now wait — I kid the Dickeys but these guys have game. Come on— they’re good looking, they’re rich, they’re smart. They’re successful. They possess that one thing every woman wants: Bert’s soul.” [That is, Bert Weiss of Q100.]
Baron then reviewed how Fram helped change top 40 station Power 99 to 99X in 1992. He noted that as they went to record stores, folks weren’t talking about Wilson Phillips, Color Me Badd or C&C Music Factory, but Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Crash Test Dummies. (He was kidding about the poor Crash Test Dummies.) He noted that “these were all unresearched bands! This is about as likely to happen today as Neal Boortz not telling you how many airplanes he owns.”
Baron joined the Morning X around 1993. He had been working in Chicago. “I was looking to leave Chicago,” he said. “I was working for a guy who was temperamental and irrational and a raging jerk. I couldn’t wait til I came here so I didn’t have to deal with that type of personality.” [This got a big laugh because it’s well known Baron and Steve Barnes, who was not in attendance, didn’t get along. Oh, wait. Barnes—he wasn’t making even the remotest allusion to you. At least that’s what Baron will say.]
Baron noted that normally it would be awful to have the boss on the morning show. (“It’s counterproductive — like going to a strip club with your wife.”) But with Fram, he said, that wasn’t a problem at all.
Then he alluded to an earlier moment in the evening when someone wanted a moment of silence for a recently deceased radio person. “I would like to go off script for a moment. If we could have a moment in silence: earlier, somebody paid $4,500 for a trip to Aruba and Clark Howard dropped dead.”
Seriously, he said Leslie “set the standard for class and generosity.”
Later, Fram’s husband Lanny West put together a lengthy tribute video to her in the guide of a “Behind the Music.” Fram got shout outs from Jane Fonda, Elton John and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. as well as staffers like Axel and Steve. (Somehow, Chris Williams wasn’t included.)
The stations individually voted for the person on staff they felt contributed the most to the respective radio station. These appear to be folks who are well liked and well respected. Most of the winners are listed below:
Greg Fitzgerald, morning host, Smooth Jazz 107.5, Jordan Graye, mid-day host, B98.5, Chris Krok, night-time host, 750/WSB-AM, Steak Shapiro, morning co-host 790/The Zone, Diane James, mid-day host on 95.5/The Beat, Sonja Hamm, mid-day host on Praise 97.5, Randy Cook, morning host, WGST-AM, Cindy Simmons and Ray Mariner, afternoon drive hosts, Star 94, Rashan Ali, morning co-host, Hot 107.9, Sully, afternoon host, Dave FM, Matt Jones, “Organic X” host, 99X, Taylor Scott, morning co-host, 104.7/The Fish, David Clapper, promotions director, 97.1/The River, Cadillac Jack, morning co-host, Kicks 101.5, Silas “Si-Man” Alexander, night-time host, Grown Folks 102.5, Lorraine Jacques White, morning host, 1380/WAOK-AM, La Duranguense and El Tigre, morning hosts, 105.3/El Patron, Greg Street, night-time host, V-103, Marjorie Coley, newscaster, Kiss 104.1 (also B98.5), Dallas McCade, morning co-host, Eagle 106.7.
The event added a live auction but ended the silent auction before dinner began and before the libations loosened wallets. And Ryan Cameron was sorely missed. They wanted to make sure people stayed in the ballroom while they raised thousands more doing a fine live auction with a pro auctioneer caller and getting big-dollar pledges from the dais. So it all worked out and the auction checkout process ran smoother. The radio folks raised about $110,000 for the March of Dimes, $10,000 more than the goal.
ABOVE: 99X’s Mark Owens (right) gets some faux love from WSB-AM talker Chris Krok.
ABOVE: Matt Jones (left) from 99X and former 99Xer Jimmy Baron
11/30: Grown Folks 102.5’s van swiped
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The folks at Grown Folks 102.5 noticed yesterday that one of its promotion vans was swiped from its parking lot downtown at 101 Marietta St. this week and would like it back.
It’s a 2003 Ford E-150 Van wrapped in blue with Steve Harvey’s mug on it. So it’s not that hard to identify — much less keep incognito. If you have any info about it, call 404-765-9750 or the Atlanta Police Department.
There is a prize if you provide info leading to the recovery of the vehicle: tix and limo to Steve Harvey’s March 1 Philips Arena appearance.
11/30: Falcons, “Dancing” bring home ratings bacon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TV RATINGS
WATL-TV, which now airs barely-seen shows such as “Decision House” and “Jail,” managed a rare top 10 appearance because it was able to air the Thanksgiving evening Falcons game, bringing in 386,000 post-turkey viewers. Too bad the Falcons lost again.
In the meantime, “Dancing With the Stars” remains a huge hit, pulling in season-high numbers locally and nationally. In fact, the performance show Nov. 19 landed at No. 1 nationally thanks to the fact Thanksgiving stunted ratings for typical No. 1 “CSI.” In fact, “CSI” ranked 14th nationally and just 41st locally where many were catching the Falcons.
And the biggest Atlanta audience of the year for the city’s No. 1 show, Fox’s “House” Nov. 20 (558,000 people) helped fuel Fox 5’s 10 p.m. news show into the top 10 as well with 334,000 viewers.
After ABC’s “The Bachelor” Brad Womack rejected both women in the finale Nov. 19, including Newnan realtor DeAnna Pappas, the “After the Rose” post-finale show Nov. 20 actually pulled in more viewers, finishing at 12.3 million viewers nationally and 262,000 locally.
Plus, the CW’s “The Game” brought in an unusually high rating in Atlanta, ranking 45th, with about 150,000 viewers Nov. 19, even more than usual top-ranked CW show “America’s Next Top Model.” In comparison, the sitcom ranked just 105th nationwide with 2.4 million viewers.
And CBS’s supposedly trendy sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” isn’t trendy in Atlanta. Its Nov. 19 episode ranked just 77th locally, a lower rating than a “Friends” repeat Nov. 23 on Peachtree TV.
As for the trashiest show on cable TV, it’s a competition between “Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” on MTV and “I Love New York 2” on VH1. Both are compiling jaw-dropping numbers, at least for cable. “New York” Nov. 19 attracted 4.4 million viewers, the most since last season’s finale, while “Tila Tequila” Nov. 20 hit another series high at 4.2 million after a nasty catfight between two contestants.
Rank, program, network, date, viewers, national rank
1 - “House” Fox Nov. 20 558,000 6
2- “Dancing With the Stars” ABC Nov. 19 476,000 1
3- “Dancing With the Stars (results)” ABC Nov. 20 410,000 3
4- Patriots/Eagles NFL game NBC Nov. 25 402,000 2
5- “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” ABC Nov. 25 400,000 10
6- Bears/Broncos NFL game CBS Nov. 25 386,000 n/a
7- “Desperate Housewives” ABC Nov. 25 383,000 4
8- Falcons/Colts NFL game WATL Nov. 22 377,000 n/a
9- “Fox 5 News at 10” Fox Nov. 20 334,000 n/a
10- “60 Minutes” CBS Nov. 25 317,000 7
SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research
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