By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday November 2, 2015
It appears nothing too crazy happened on radio while I was on vacation the past two weeks. Here's a quick compilation of stuff that did occur:
Denis O'Hayer, who will be inducted into the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame Thursday, took over today as new local morning host for "Morning Edition " at 90.1/WABE-FM. He replaces Steve Goss, who retired in early September.
"These are enormous shoes to fill," O'Hayer said. "Everyone who listened in the mornings were big Steve Goss fans including myself."
O'Hayer, a long-time TV broadcaster at 11 Alive before joining WABE in 2009 as local host of "All Things Considered" and 'Marketplace," took over the new "A Closer Look" early afternoon show earlier this year with co-host Rose Scott.
Bringing O'Hayer on in the mornings makes sense because he is their most experienced host and "Morning Edition" is the station's highest rated show.
Jim Burress, a senior reporter at WABE, had been subbing in mornings but replaces O'Hayer's spot on "A Closer Look."
"Denis' knowledge of Atlanta and the state is astounding. He's like a walking encyclopedia of state and city facts. Denis will use that experience to help listeners better understand our city. He'll bring gravitas and a wry sense of humor to the morning," said news director John Haas.
O'Hayer couldn't comment without clearance from Haas, who was in a meeting when I reached O'Hayer. I'll add a comment from him probably later this afternoon.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Steve McCoy, in a podcast last week with his former Star 94 radio host colleagues Tom Sullivan and Vikki Locke, apologized for trying to pimp an old Donald Trump interview as new. That ill-fated move, caught by a Trump tracker at Buzzfeed, led him losing his gig at Newsradio 106.7 after seven months as the morning host.
He said he even wrote an apology letter to Trump. "I didn't mean to do anything reprehensible but I guess I did," he said.
Sullivan noted that interviews are often massaged in entertainment radio, then created his own fake interview with Trump, which was pretty darn funny.
Here's the podcast:
He also talked about is recently disclosed Parkinson's disease, which he has had since 2009 and noted that it does affect his voice. (Listeners have noticed his voice change prior to the announcement last month.)
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Larry Tinsley, long-time Sunday gospel morning host at V-103 and WAOK for the past two decades, was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame last month at an awards ceremony held at the Strand in Marietta.
Tinsley has been the No. 1 host on radio Sunday mornings for many years. "I am overjoyed," he said today. "This is my 48th year doing radio. Just for the mere fact they honored me, I'm truly blessed. It's an honor to lift up Jesus on those radio stations every week."
Retirement, he said, "is not part of my vocabulary. I'll do this as long as the Lord allows."
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Rock 100.5 quietly began calling its morning show the Rock 100.5 Morning Show with Bailey and Southside, referencing the two remaining lead guys Jason Bailey and "Southside Steve' Rickman. For ten months, the show was generically called 'Rock 100.5 Morning Show." (There is even a new url: http://baileyandsouthside.com/)
This happens just a few weeks after Tim Andrews was let go. Andrews briefly joined former Regular Guy Eric Von Haessler on the Von Haessler Doctrine show on News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB every Sunday. But Cumulus, which owns Rock 100.5, told Andrews he was under a six-month non-compete clause from a contract he was no longer under. (He had been working with Rock 100.5 without a contract since 2011) For now, he remains off the air as the behind the scenes legal shenanigans go on.
Rickman was nominated for the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame but didn't get inducted last month.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Ready for Christmas? Sirius XM is! It starts two of its holiday channels today at 5 p.m.: Channel 13 (Velvet) becomes Holly, a mix of Christmas music from current and past artists. The temporary Channel 18 take son the Holiday Traditions, which focuses on all older Christmas music, mostly for the 1940s through the 1960s.
Several other holiday channels will debut later this month.
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Adele's "Hello" debuted on Friday, October 23, while I was overseas. It had a huge impact though less so on Atlanta radio so far. It was spun 90 times on four local stations the past week, good for 39th place. Power 96.1 has been most ambitious, placing it in mid-rotation immediately (41 spins). Q100 (16), Star 94 (26) and B98.5 (7) have been more cautious. The song is No. 19 already on the national Mediabase 24/7 top 40 chart and No. 11 on the Hot AC chart. The YouTube video has been viewed 190 million times already!
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Clear Channel's El Patron 105.3 will pick up 22 Hawks games this year, up from eight last year. This is a clear effort to draw more Hispanics in the fold. Veteran announcer Jose Manuel Flores will again serve as El Patron's play-by-play voice of the Hawks, a role he previously filled with the Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves.
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