Originally posted Wednesday, May 29, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
DJ Scream, the veteran producer and radio jock, recently moved to afternoons from evenings on 96.7/The Beat.
“I think there’s a part of my brand that obviously matches with the night time,” he said. “I come from the streets. I come from mix tapes, new music and new artists.” But he understands the import of the afternoon drive time. “People are driving, people are working out,” he said. “I’m grateful to the all the listeners.”
He was the Beat’s first hire after it debuted in November, 2016.
Ratings have been relatively modest on a modest signal in a very crowded field of hip-hop options including Streetz 104.5, Hot 107.9, OG 97.9 and V-103. In April, the Beat ranked 27th place with a 0.7 share, tied with the soon-to-expire Talk 106.7.
He isn’t fazed by that.
"We have a good station with some good talent and a good brand," DJ Scream said. "We get good feedback from the community and through the phone lines. I stay down and do what I do."
He also underrstands that many younger people now stream almost exclusively but he feels there is a hunger for a human connection, for a personality.
“We are like the seasoning on the food,” he said. Every day at 5 p.m., he does a live mix on the air as if he’s at a nightclub, the type of human touch he believes keeps local radio relevant.
He also has a deep Rolodex and his interviews with the likes of 2Chainz, Future and Janet Jackson are archived on www.thebeatatl.com.
He admires SiriusXM radio legend Howard Stern, who just released a book featuring his most notable interviews. "I learned from observing Howard Stern for so many years," DJ Scream said. "You need to prepare and know what you're taking about to them. You can never predict how it will go. The audience knows when it's real and authentic conversation."
DJ Scream, who worked for a time at Hot, also does a Saturday night mix for the SiriusXM’s Hip-Hop Nation channel.
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Credit: Jesse Grant
Credit: Jesse Grant
Former soap star Victoria Rowell, who is playing a major role in Saturday night's Lifetime movie "Pride & Prejudice Atlanta," is thrilled to start season 3 of her show "The Rich and the Ruthless" about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a fictional soap opera.
“I’m most proud of the level of production that we have been able to present to the public and the cohesiveness of our cast and crew,” said Rowell in a recent phone interview. She also is proud that not only is the cast in front of the camera African American but many behind the scenes are as well.
The series returned Thursday, May 23.
It airs on the Urban Movie Channel, the only streaming service focused on African Americans.
Rowell comes back each year to shoot a Christmas movie for Atlanta-based Swirl films on top of “Pride & Prejudice Atlanta.”
She plays an aunt of Will Darcy named Catherine in this modern re-telling of the 1813 Jane Austin classic novel. "She's overbearing and will stop at nothing to make Darcy a Senator," Rowell said. "The modern-day version blends comedic and dramatic themes. I think the audience will enjoy the levity."
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Credit: Emma McIntyre
Credit: Emma McIntyre
Actress Carla Gugino will play former Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs in season two of the anthology series "Manhunt: Lone Wolf." It will air on a new streaming service Spectrum Originals for Charter subscribers.
The season will focus on the manhunt for Eric Rudolph, who bombed Centennial Olympic park, two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar. He was a fugitive for many years and was found seven years after the Olympic bombing. He plead guilty in 2005 and received life in prison.
Scruggs, who is now deceased, is described by the show as "a hard-drinking, tough-talking crime reporter for Atlanta's biggest daily newspaper who gets a once-in-a-lifetime scoop that Richard Jewell may be the Olympic Park bomber. Breaking the biggest story in the world makes Kathy a sensation - but her life unravels as evidence starts pointing against it being the truth."
The first season of the anthology series featured the Unabomber and was shot in metro Atlanta.
This second season is being shot in Pittsburgh despite the Atlanta ties.
Gugino - known for a variety of roles such as the "Spy Kids" films and "San Andreas" with the Rock - has shot the Netflix horror drama "The Haunting of Hill House" in metro Atlanta.
This project is happening as Clint Eastwood prepares a film focused on Jewell that's set to shoot this summer and is produced by Warner Bros. Casting has not been announced.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Westminster grad Sallie Patrick has voluntarily stepped down as showrunner after two seasons of helming the CW's "Dynasty," which is shot in Atlanta.
She will remain as an executive producer who will focus more on development in a deal with CBS TV Studios.
Josh Reims, who joined the show season two as a co-executive producer, will take over. His past executive producing credits include short-lived soapy dramas like "Mistresses" and "Dirty Sexy Money."
The show has not been much of a ratings success but the CW has held faithful to it, giving it a third season.
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