Bert Weiss was the biggest name inducted into the 2020 George Radio Hall of Fame in a virtual ceremony conducted over the weekend.
Weiss, who heads the Bert Show on Q99.7 and 20-plus other stations, has been hosting his own show for nearly 20 years with dominant ratings among local pop stations. He was nominated a couple of years ago but was inexplicably not voted in by members. In this case, the George Radio Hall of Fame board inducted him with a special Founders and Directors award. Hall of Fame co-creator John Long said he wanted to correct what he saw as a major wrong.
Here is the list of inductees who have passed away:
- Wade Medlock – WGST Atlanta. He was a veteran reporter and newscaster for 640/WGST-AM. Here is the AJC obit from March of this year.
- Brad Major – WAYS Macon. He was a long-time presence in the Macon radio market. He died in 2018.
- Jim Clemens – WPLO Atlanta He was a former jock and program director for country station 590/WPLO-AM. My obituary of his from April of this year.
- Lamar Studstil – WXRS Swainsboro. He owned radio stations in Georgia. He passed in 2019.
Credit: Sidney Wood in 2014. CR: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com
Credit: Sidney Wood in 2014. CR: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com
- Kenny Diamond/ Sidney Wood – WAOK - Atlanta - In the 1980s, he was known as Kenny Diamond on WIGO and V-103, where he was afternoon host and musical director. He later worked for Kiss 104.7 and 1380/WAOK. He died in February. Here is my obit.
- Norman Brooks – WGST - Atlanta. He was a program director for WGST. His obituary in the Baltimore Sun.
- Mac Beauchat – KIX 96 -Savannah. Known as “The Voice of Savannah,” he died in April. Here is his obituary.
- John “Jay” Edwards -WCLK-FM-Atlanta. He was a long-time jock at 91.9/WCLK-FM. Here is his obituary. He died in May of this year.
And here are the Career Achievement inductees:
- Randy Reeves – Z93 - Atlanta. He was a voice-over talent for Z93.
- Mark McCain – 96 Rock - Atlanta. He was a former morning guy for 96rock.
- Joe Sousa – Wave 104.1 – Brunswick He is a long-time morning host at Wave 104.1 in Brunswick.
- Mark Cooper – 96 ROCK - Atlanta. He was a marketing director at 96rock from 1983 to 1994.
- Miller Pope – WZGC FM - Atlanta. Atlanta Falcons game engineer for the past 25 years and Georgia Tech football for 23. He was also a long-time board op at Z93, among other stations.
- Greg Black – WYAY – Atlanta. He was part of the Fox 97 Randy & Spiff show and worked at CNN Radio and 106.7/WYAY-FM when it was news talk.
- Tim Bryant – WGAU - Athens. Long-time news director at WGAU.
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“Tenet," the Christopher Nolan thriller, drew $20 million in domestic box office, the first big-budget film released to movie theaters since the beginning of the pandemic.
The movie had very little competition but the 70 percent of theaters that are open nationwide are often at 30 to 40 percent capacity anyway. Indoor theaters in California and New York are still closed. The movie played in 2,810 theaters nationwide.
The Regal Mall of Georgia this past weekend showed the movie 51 times a day over at least 10 screens.
Globally, “Tenet” has taken in more than $146 million.
Brandt Gully, who runs the Springs Cinema and Taphouse in Sandy Springs, was happy to have a major film drive some traffic into four of his eight screens via “Tenet.” But he said for him to stay afloat, major studios have to keep feeding theaters big films people want to see. He holds pop-up drive in showings in his parking lot, but that is a stopgap measure at best.
He fortunately has some cash in the can. “With a big monthly rent payment, loan repayments, and trying to keep my team intact and paid, that cash isn’t going to last me a whole lot longer without more quality new films," he said.
The Plaza in Ponce de Leon Avenue, which just reopened, has repackaged itself with greatly reduced capacity, proper safety measures, more service and higher prices: $20 for matinee and $25 for evening showings. For that premium price, attendees get reserved seats, delivered concessions and menu items from the Righteous Room kitchen, as well as upgraded sound and 70 mm film.
The WB, which produces “Tenet,” is taking 63 percent of the ticket price so “we’re ending up with about as much as we normally do with a regularly priced older movie,” said Christopher Escobar, Plaza owner. “How ‘Tenet’ has helped though, is unlike the older, repertoire movie, this actually has a major active marketing campaign behind it driving awareness and demand.”
He is continuing to run the two drive-ins, one in his parking lot and another at Dad’s Garage. He said given current capacity, he can fit 242 people at a time counting the drive-ins compared to 485 before the pandemic inside the theater alone. And given that drive-ins require more staff, it means “we’re working three times as hard for at best half the business,” Escobar said. “That’s tough.”
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Credit: Adult Swim
Credit: Adult Swim
Atlanta-based Adult Swim has officially canceled “The Venture Bros.,” a long-time animated series that debuted in 2003 and ran sporadically over seven seasons.
Creator Christopher McCulloch announced the bad news on Twitter Monday.
According to Variety, Adult Swim would like to continue the story in some way with McCulloch and co-writer Doc Hammer.
The main characters were a riff on “Jonny Quest” with other comic book superheroes and villains thrown in. It was a low-budget affair that captured the early oeuvre of Adult Swim.
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