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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
10/29: Sandra Golden leaving the Zone, Chuck Oliver interview
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sandra Golden’s last day is Thursday after four years with “Mayhem in the A.M.”
She is starting her own athlete/PR/imaging company Golden Media Inc. with www.goldentvimage.com upcoming as a Web site. “Waking up every day that early was getting tough for her,” said the Zone’s Steak Shapiro.
“Me and Nick may do the updates for now. But we’ll do an open search,” he added.
He noted that they had 11 full-time on-air staff and with Chuck Oliver out, that’s still 10 full timers.
“It’s going to be a great adventure for me,” she said. “I want to coach athletes off the field about media and image consulting.” She’s done some test runs with some athletes already confidentially. She has her own in-home studio.
“It was a lot of fun. I know this will sound corny, but I’ll be now laughing in the car instead on the air,” Golden said. “I miss MIke Bell. I’ve told them all that. They are very talented crew. We were a nice mix.”
She said she’s planning to bring in champagne on ice on her last day and requested coffee cake pancakes from IHOP. “This is celebration mode,” she said. “I wanted to set the tempo.” Expect the on-air farewell to start in earnest after 9 a.m.
By the way, she will stay on with CSS’s “Sports Night.”
-Chuck Oliver, who just left 790/The Zone after eight years, said he will be at the Fan but isn’t sure what he will do specifically. “I did have a contract with a noncompete but when it got within the 30-day window of that contract expiring, 790 offered multiple contract offers. I didn’t like the terms of any of them.”
He ended up working without a contract since Sept. 14 and without a contract, the non-compete clause lapsed. “We were both trying to come up with a deal” since Sept. 14, “but we couldn’t reach an agreement.” He was talking as recently as last Friday with the Zone but got a call from his agent Jamie Bendall that the Fan was interested.
He signed with 680 Monday. He went to the Zone that day and told Steak, “I’ll stay here as long as you want. I don’t want to leave with any bad taste.” Steak said, “As management, from point of view as an on-air guy. I don’t blame you a bit. You’ll be able to take that next step. I hate this. I wish we had been able to get a chance to match. We would have done it.”
Oliver said he felt the 680 deal was too good to pass up. “There were aspects of the contract the Zone could not match. Not just signal strength but 790 have almost no history of giving someone their own show. I would like my own show. There’s no promise of that happening at 680. But it could not happen at 790. 680 also has a stronger signal.”
Oliver, a college-football expert, said he loved his time at the Zone. “I do want to say specifically that Steak Shapiro as an on-air guy or management, he was nothing but great to me,” he said. “Some see him as abrasive. But he was awesome. Working at the Zone was a blast.”
“It’s better if this were Crips and Bloods,” he added. “The story is I worked with Chevy and got an offer from Ford.”
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10/29: Real Housewives of Atlanta episode recap 4
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: NeNe and DeShawn promote DeShawn’s fundraiser on “Good Day Atlanta” featuring host Mark Hayes.
I almost want to feel bad for DeShawn Snow because this episode revolves around her “Night Under a Thousand Stars” benefit for her self-named foundation.
Almost.
Instead, it’s easier to define why this benefit was doomed from the start. First of all, she wanted to raise one million dollars. (Yes, just like Dr. Evil!) That’s a difficult task even for seasoned charities that have been around for years. Second of all, the charity has sort of a vague mission of helping inner-city teen-age girls raise their self esteem. That isn’t exactly the same as raising money for muscular dystrophy or the March of Dimes.
Third, she decided not to charge any money but expect people to show up ready to shell out cash on Jimmy Choos or pricey jewelry or better yet, donate $20,000 to have lunch with LeBron James or some other live silent auction item. (Her husband Eric Snow is captain of the Cleveland Cavaliers, which helped. We didn’t get to see all the live auction items. Was BIshop Eddie Long’s lunch part of this?)
On the night of the event, it appears a lot of people show up to her home, though it’s unclear if this is the type of crowd that has tens of thousands (or even thousands) to give. Kim appears to spend $12,000-plus on jewelry (in which a portion goes to DeShawn’s charity.). But when Mark Hayes of “Good Day Atlanta” and NeNe start the live auction, disaster strikes: nobody bids on much of anything. The LeBron James auction item starts at $7,500 and we watch as Mark and NeNe haplessly try to get somebody, anybody, to bid. Nope. In fact, some folks aren’t even paying attention. DeShawn looks embarrassed as auction items go down in flames.
The result: she spent $30,000 for a soiree that raised $10,000. In other words, she actually lost $20,000. Her poor husband, who is straining to look supportive during the show about her fundraiser, appears even more chagrined by the end of the episode as he tries to make DeShawn feel better (even as he may be internally seething about seeing $20K disappear into the ether.)
Sheree and Kim both criticize the fundraiser on camera but not in front of DeShawn. As usual, Lisa is sweet as pie and is the most sympathetic character on the show.
Also, seeds of dissension between NeNe and Kim are sown as Kim cozies up to Sheree. Kim has a spa day in which she tries to bring the two together but NeNe refuses to show up because Sheree is there. We see previews showing the relationship between these two once buds get even worse.
DeShawn, in her blog on the Bravo site, admitted she should have charged tickets but naturally kept it positive and she gives props to her poor hubby:
Well as you can see I did not reach my goal at the diamond gala! As I mentioned in my last blog, I always reach for the stars. And if I fall, Eric is always there to catch me. As you witnessed, I have a very strong support system. My husband is AMAZING, and I am blessed to have him.
I recognize that it is more important to try and fail and to learn, then it is to not try at all.
What did you think of the episode? Did DeShawn deserve what she got or do you feel sorry for her?
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10/29: Bob Carr (AKA Willis the Guard) has died
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: Gary McKee, Yetta Levitt and Bob Carr.
Bob Carr was never a household name in Atlanta radio. But back in the 1970s and ’80s, everyone in the city knew his radio character Willis the Guard.
Mr. Carr created the redneck good ol’ boyin 1973 at WQXI-AM and became part of Atlanta’s biggest morning team from the mid-1970s through late 1980s, mostly at sister station 94Q (now Star 94).ing.
The Alabama native who graduated high school in Columbus died Monday of lung disease at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was 66.
His funeral services are at H.M. Patterson & Son at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
You can hear a sampling of Willis working with McKee here.
Bob Carr with Gary “Red Neckerson” Corry.
“I would have just been another morning jock if it hadn’t been for him,” said Gary McKee, who led the morning show. “He was Larry the Cable Guy before there was cable. He was able to walk the thin line between self parody and lifestyle parody. Everyone has a little bit of redneck in them.”
Mr. Carr’s real voice was resonant and absent any Southern accent at all. “He actually had a real soothing radio voice when he wasn’t doing Willis,” said his wife of 39 years Judy, who met him while he was in the Air Force in Biloxi, Miss.
In fact, Mr. Carr’s low-key persona was nothing like the higher-pitched drawlin’ Willis the Guard, who brought an exuberant blue-collar touch to the show. “Some days I had to sit down after the show, I was laughing so hard,” Mr. McKee said.
And even when 94Q added a female sidekick to the show, Carr never expressed any jealousy or threat.
“He never sensed I was usurpiing his role,” said Yetta Levitt, who joined the show in 1978. “We did spar a bit. I represented the liberal female. Willis was conservative. That was part of the schtick.”
The show itself was sometimes likened to a local radio version of “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” not too raunchy or edgy but always fun.
Mr. Carr would never break out of character on the air and in public radio appearances, donning a big beard and cowboy hat and boots to complete the image.
“Appearances would be so crowded, I’d have to go on the air and say, ‘Don’t come now. There are too many too people here!’ “
Mr. Carr’s son David Carr said he got to feed of his dad’s fame growing up, taking special pride when Bob showed up to David’s fourth-grade career day. “I remember the first thing he said to the students was, “Don’t ask me how much money I make!’ Naturally, that was the first thing they asked.”
“Looking back,” David added, “I appreciate his desire to look at things through a comedic lens. He could be sarcastic and cynical but that’s where good comedy comes from.”
When the Gary McKee show disbanded in 1988, Mr. Carr never returned to the airwaves and retired Willis the Guard. “It was a big blow to him when they let him go.” said David, who is the drummer for popular Atlanta Christian rock band Third Day. “I never heard him do Willis ever again.”
Mr. Carr was a lifelong movie buff with a special love for the Western “How the West Was Won,” “He loved the technical side of projection and the rawness of film,” David said. Even while working at 94Q, Mr. Carr would do projection work at the now defunct Columbia Theatre downtown.
ABOVE: A newspaper story about Gary McKee and Willis the Guard. This is probably too small to read, though.
After radio, Carr spent the next 17 years as a projectionist at the Midtown Cinemas (now called the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema) before lung disease forced him into early retirement.
Carr is survived by his mother Cleo; his wife Judy; his son David; his daughters Ryan Gausman and Ashley Walter; and two grandchildren.
