» If you have any news, updates, additions or corrections... e-mail them to editor@VARTV.com. A dawn of a new station... Clear Channel recently blew up new country 'J93' WJLM Roanoke for one of it's "Sunny" clones - an AC format. They're now known as 'Sunny 93.5.' WJLM has an anemic signal compared to sister country WYYD and the mega blowtorch that Mel Wheeler has '94.9 Star Country' WSLC. CC has now pitted 'Sunny 93.5' up against another Mel Wheeler blowtorch - #1 rated AC 'Q99' WSLQ. Good luck..... (12/31/02) Three CSI repeats leads to a CBS ratings win... The top 10 shows for the week of December 23rd thru the 29th according to AC Nielsen were... (show, network, rating) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 13.0; "NFL Monday Night Football: Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay," ABC, 11.6; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" special, CBS, 10.6; "NFL Post-Game Show," Fox, 9.3; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 9.0; "Friends," NBC, 8.7; "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 8.5; "Without a Trace," CBS, 8.4; "NFL Monday Showcase," ABC, 8.3; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 8.1. For the week, CBS averaged 9.9 million viewers (6.4 rating, 12 share), ABC 8.3 million (5.1/9), NBC 8.2 million (5.3/10) NOTE: NBC's rating was higher than ABC's despite fewer viewers, an indication that more people were watching NBC alone, FOX 7.1 million (4.3/8), UPN and The WB 2.9 million each (1.8/3 each) and PAX 1.1 million (0.8/1). A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (12/31/02) Recent sign-on settles on simulcast... MainQuad's brand new WYTT-FM (99.5) Emporia VA signed-on doing an all-holiday format. Now it's after Christmas and they have settled on simulcasting sister station '97Q The Beat' WLGQ-FM (97.9) Gaston NC. '97Q' is exactly what sister station WBBT-FM (107.3) Powhatan VA was - dance and party hits of the 70s and 80s. WBBT was known as 'Dance Hits 107.3.' NOTE: MainQuad has also been simulcasting WSMY-FM (103.1) Alberta as '97Q The Beat' with a legal ID as WLGQ Gaston, WYTT Emporia, and WSMY-FM Alberta all together in the same break. Right now 103.1 is off the air. What's a little puzzling about this simulcast is that both frequencies - 99.5 and 97.9 - have almost identical coverage areas. 97.9's signal is a little father south than 99.5's. Maybe this will be a short lived. For now, the WLGQ/WYTT/WSMY website is at 97qthebeat.com..... (12/31/02) Slow news... I was trolling around the web today and ended up at MainQuad's 80s-90s 'Star 107.3' WBBT website. On it, I found something interesting - well I thought so. They have an online "Advertising Presentation;" a Macromedia Flash file on why you should advertise with them and sister station 'Smooth Jazz 93.1' WJZV. When you go to star1073.com, click on the link on the right side of the screen. The Flash file is quite large (~5.57MB)..... (12/31/02) Lindquist's thoughts... Jerry Lindquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch gives us his thoughts from this past weekend's sports. One piece he wrote about and which I too saw is worth rewriting... Yesterday, while "The NFL Today" on CBS was using animal puppet Alf to explain the AFC playoff picture (forced laughs all around), "Fox NFL Sunday" had comedian Jimmy Kimmel poke at rival network panelist Deion Sanders - and his pregame show - with a big, sharp stick. "Who does he think he's kidding with this comeback nonsense?" Kimmel said. "When he retired, Deion Sanders was a below-average player on a [bad] team. If you switch channels right now, you'll see he still is."..... (12/30/02) Where in the world is Tal White? VARTV reported back on 12/17/02 that WTKR's (3/CBS) "This Morning" program seen 5AM-7AM had a new meteorologist - Patrick Rockey. Rockey comes from 'News 4' WYFF (NBC) Greenville SC where he anchored their weekend weather segments. With Rockey's arrival, the morning show now has been completely revamped. I speculated where former "This Morning" meteorologist Jeffrey Prior was. He's still with NewsChannel 3 as their new #4 person behind Dave Parker, Mike Simon and Rockey. So what happened to Tal White the former #4 weather guesser? He appears to be out - of weather anyways. VARTV saw a new weather department on-air promo this weekend and White wasn't in it. He's still on their website but is now listed in the reporter's section. Hmmm..... (12/30/02) Allen Price is off the air! The Richmond Times-Dispatch is reporting that Allen Price, the afternoon drive-time host on Clear Channel's 'NewsRadio 1140' WRVA, has been replaced. PD Randall Bloomquist made the announcement on the air yesterday and said, "We thank him for all of his contributions to the station and hope he will stay with the Clear Channel family." Hmmm. Sounds like it was Price's decision. Price stared at WRVA in April 2000 where his criticism of Richmond council members Bill Johnson, Sa'ad El-Amin and Gwen Hedgepeth, and Richmond's Sheriff Michelle Mitchell garnered a lot of his attention. It was the feud with council member Reva Trammell that made headlines. It began when Price started calling her "Reva Trampell" on-the-air and ended with Trammell filing criminal charges against him for making harassing phone calls to her house. He said there were ONLY three phone calls she said there were five. Even though the charges were just a misdemeanor, a judge eventually dismissed them. Bloomquist said that Michael Graham would be the new afternoon-drive host; the same duties he had at sister station WTNT from 4-7PM in Washington for the past year. He'll be live from Richmond on January 13th. In the meantime, a show called "Local Richmond Talk" will fill the gap. On that same day, the nationally syndicated Michael Savage's show "The Savage Nation" comes back to WRVA - last heard here in 2001- will replace Lionel weeknights 10PM-1AM. Lionel's Saturday afternoon show remains untouched. Savage is a nutritionist and herbalist who founded the Paul Revere Society, which advocates making tax cuts permanent, closing the country's borders, deporting illegal immigrants and requiring all immigrants to sign a loyalty oath. According to Bloomquist, Savage "makes (Rush) Limbaugh sound like a liberal"..... (12/28/02) FCC business... International Religious Society Inc filed with the FCC today for a "License to cover" for their outstanding CP for WXRE-LP (channel 250L1 - 97.9 @ 100 watts) Danville VA. When licensed, WXRE-LP will be only the third LPFM in the state. The very first was WKJV-LP Bristol VA owned by Belle Meadows Baptist Church. They were licensed on August 12, 2002. There are two other LPFM stations holding CPs including one in Williamsburg - WJRX-LP (channel 273 - 102.5 @ 100 watts). Owned by the Christian Life Center, their CP expires in mid-February 2003. Now for a little "LPFM-101"... LPFMs (Low-power FM) operate with an ERP (effective radiated power) of 100 watts or less. There are two classes "L1" - 100 watts/"L2" - 10 watts with max facilities of 100 watts ERP at 100 feet HAAT (antenna height above average terrain). The approximate service range of a 100 watt LPFM is 3.5 mile radius; up to 7 miles if "conditions" are right. LPFM stations are available to noncommercial educational entities and public safety & transportation organizations but aren't available to individuals or for commercial operations..... (12/27/02) National and local HDTV news... The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) has reported that DTV product sales totaled 304,920 units in November 2002. This pushes the yearly total to almost 2.2 million units in 2002. The November unit sales were up 56% over the last year. CEA projects that 2.5 million units will be sold in all of 2002 and 4 million in 2003 - reaching 10.5 million by 2006. Note: The CEA defines DTV products as integrated sets and monitors. In local HDTV news, WVEC-DT (41/ABC) has decided to start their broadcast day at 11AM on New Year's Day with of the Tournament of Roses Parade. The parade though will not be broadcasted in high-def by the network..... (12/27/02) Musical chairs at the #1 spot for Hampton Roads radio... This time its Barnstable's new country '97-3 The Eagle' WGH-F; the #1 radio station (6.5 rating/12+) according to Arbitron which released the numbers earlier today. The Fall Phase II period covers September, October and November. Saga's active rocker 'FM99' WNOR who was alone at top last month drops to second with a 6.4; that's up 0.1 from last month though. Third is Entercom's urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL with a 6.1 - up 0.5, 4th is CC's urban '103Jamz' WOWI at 5.9 down 0.1, 5th is Entercom's AC '2WD' WWDE at a 5.8 down 0.4, 6th is sister 'Z104' WNVZ at a 5.2 down 0.4, 7th is Barnstable's Inspirational Contemporary at a 5.0; up 0.1, 8th is Saga's classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX with a 4.8 down 0.1, 9th is Barnstable's heritage country WCMS staying even from last month at a 4.7 and 10th is Entercom's modern AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE down 0.1 to a 4.6. One notable this Trend is the 1.2 increase over at 'NewsRadio 790' WNIS, up to 4.5. That's good news. The rest of the cluster had an "off" month. Alternative '96X' WROX and AAA '93-7 The Coast' WKOC, with its blowtorch signal, each mustered only a 2.2 with talker continuing to hover around a 1, this Trend a 1.1. The entire 12+ ratings can be found at radioandrecords.com..... (12/26/02) 'Lite 98' still on top in Richmond... Arbitron's Fall Phase II numbers for Richmond were released earlier today. CC's AC 'Lite 98' WTVR retains the top spot with an 8.5 rating up 0.2. Radio One's urban 'Power 92-1 Jamz' WCDX is second again at 7.9 up 0.2. Cox Radio's country 'K95' WKHK has leveled off and stays even with a 7.4 for third. 4th is CC's 'NewsRadio 1140' WRVA with a 6.3 up 0.4 and 5th is Cox's classic rocker '96-5 The Planet' WKLR with a 6.1 up 0.1 from last month. A notable, MainQuad's 80s-90s hits 'Star 107.3' WBBT continues to "hold its own," bucking a trend around the country that sees a lot of these stations flipping to some kind of Hot AC. Also, it was recently announced the MainQuad has purchased 'Cat Country 100.3' WARV Petersburg. Will they keep it country? The last two Trends they've garnered a 0.5 with their rimshot Richmond signal. The entire 12+ ratings can be found at radioandrecords.com..... (12/26/02) Taking a closer look at the annual good, bad and ugly... Jerry Lindquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch looks at radio and TV locally and nationally for the year 2002. Read the whole thing at timesdispatch.com.... (12/26/02) Two Channel 16s come to a compromise... WBOC-TV (16) Salisbury MD and WHRO-DT (16) Norfolk VA announced on Christmas Eve that they have set aside their differences and settled an interference dispute. Here's the deal, WHRO-DT licensed to Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association Inc has agreed to cut power levels to 25% (temporarily) in order to eliminate interference caused to WBOC-TV's analog signal operating on the same channel. The dispute was one of several interference problems reported by analog stations when nearby digital stations began service. So far, all of the identified conflicts are in areas with large bodies of water. A well-known phenomenon called "ducting" boosts the range of broadcast signals when transmissions carry over water. Anyways, WHRO-DT is authorized to operate at 950kW. For now, they will only operate at 237.5kW of power during the digital-TV transition. WBOC-TV licensed to Draper Communications will withdraw its objection to WHRO-DT’s license application. Back in June 2002, WBOC-TV asked the FCC to cut WHRO-DT's authorized power in order to eliminate interference it created when they signed on their digital-TV service. WBOC objected to the grant of WHRO-DT’s license application to operate on channel 16 at its maximized power of 950kW. Under the compromise, WHRO-DT will be able to operate at full power on channel 16 when WBOC-TV's analog signal goes dark and switches to digital-only broadcasts on a separate signal - channel 21. The agreement between the two stations still needs the blessing of the FCC..... (12/26/02) Survivor finale leads CBS ratings win... The top 10 shows for the week of December 16th thru the 22nd according to AC Nielsen were... (show, network, rating) "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 13.5; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.9; "Survivor: Thailand Reunion," CBS, 11.6; "Raymond," CBS, 11.3; "Monday Night Football: New England at Tennessee," ABC, 11.2; "Friends," NBC, 10.6; "Judging Amy," CBS, 10.1; "Law & Order," NBC, 9.7; "Still Standing," CBS, 9.5; JAG," CBS, 9.2. For the week, CBS averaged 12.7 million viewers (8.2 rating, 14 share), NBC 9.2 million viewers (6.2/10), ABC 9.1 million (5.9/10), FOX 6.4 million (4.0/7), UPN 3.8 million (2.3/ 4), The WB 3.4 million (2.1/3) and PAX 1.4 million (0.9/2). A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (12/24/02) DirecTV coming to Richmond? It appears so anyways. There has been some discussion on two websites including lyngsat.com that the Richmond locals are being tested. At Lyngsat, it shows the channels on DirecTV 5 located at 119° West. The channels listed are: 920-WTVR (6/CBS)   921-WRIC (8/ABC)   922-WWBT (12/NBC/WB)   964-WCVE (23/PBS) 965-WRLH (35/FOX)   966-WCVW (57/PBS)   967-WUPV (65/UPN). Nothing official has come from DirecTV so there's no timeline when it will be rolled-out - maybe January or early February 2003. In Hampton Roads, all the locals except independent 'SKY4' WSKY Manteo NC are already available on DirecTV. And speaking of WSKY, they will be included in the "Norfolk Locals" but there has been a delay in doing so..... (12/24/02) Beach media firm eyeing another TV station... Virginia Beach based Max Media has its sights set on a TV station in Portland ME - the 76th largest TV market in the US. Max will have a financial interest in WMPX; currently a PAX O&O but soon to be a FOX affiliate early next year. (UPDATE: WMPX dropped PAX programming right after Christmas). Max is the same company who recently took part ownership in four former Ray-D-O-Biz radio stations in NE NC - Hot AC 'Beach 104' WCXL Kill Devil Hills NC, 'Water Country 94.5' WWOC Hatteras NC, country WQDK Ahoskie NC and full service 'NewsRadio 560' WGAI Elizabeth City NC. Their other TV holdings include 'ABC 18/28' KWYB-TV/LP Butte/Bozeman MT (market #195), 'NBC 16' KTGF-TV/DT Great Falls MT (market #187) and 'ABC 23' KTMF-TV/DT Missoula MT (market #169) and is currently in a deal to buy a TV station in Bowling Green KY (market #180). Back in '97, Max Media had 17 radio and TV properties, including four in Hampton Roads, before selling to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1998. After a quiet year, Max picked up the five TV stations in Montana. The company is owned by John A Trinder, Gene Loving, Chuck McFadden and Tim Robertson..... (12/23/02) A new and improved Weather Lab... Belo's WVEC (13/ABC) is now airing on-air teasers that a new and improved '13 News Weather Lab' will be unveiled on Super Bowl Sunday - January 26. The promo didn't say exactly when or what we'll see. There could be a brief news segment within the halftime show of the football game but that's speculation on my part. The show "Alias" gets the sweet time slot right after the Super Bowl festivities then the local news will air. It might not be until then we'll get to see to new on-air "look." In VARTV's personal opinion, they already have the best weather department in Hampton Roads with Jeff Lawson, Evan Stewart, Craig Moeller and Julie Wilcox. In a close second is The Triple Doppler folks including Dave Parker and Mike Simon over at WTKR (3/CBS). As for WAVY (10/NBC)... never mind..... (12/23/02) Financial picture looks good for Hampton Roads TV market... Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot reports that TV stations in the market will be bring in an estimated $103.1 million in 2002, up from $98.2 million in 2001. The year 2000 was a big one partly due to political advertising - $110.4 million in local TV revenue. This is according to BIA Financial Network, a company based in Chantilly that estimates revenue for US TV stations. BIA is predicting an increase of 5.1% in revenue for 2002 which could pushed the local intake to $105 million. Larry passes on a little fun fact. WNBC-TV (4), the NBC affiliate in New York, is estimated that it will take in $320 million in 2002. That's three times what ALL of the Hampton Roads TV stations will take in combined..... (12/23/02) Humorous Holidays... From our sister site PBRTV, a humorous look at what things might be like if Clear Channel could actually own the holidays..... (12/23/02) Expanded hours... Effective January 2nd, New York Times owned WTKR-DT (40/CBS) will be on the air from 5PM-11:35PM (the end of the 11 o'clock news) daily. Their current schedule is 6PM-11PM. Come March 2003, WTKR-DT will expand from 12N to 12:37AM (the end of "The Late Show with David Letterman")..... (12/23/02) More reasons to fire up your new HDTV from Christmas... RCA has stepped up as a sponsor of CBS high-definition-TV broadcasts of the NFL's AFC Divisional Playoffs January 11th and 12th and the AFC Championship Game January 19th. The three telecasts will be a unified broadcast meaning that the commentary and analysis will be the same on both the HD and standard-definition broadcasts. Previously, the high-def broadcasts would have a complete different staff including on-air commentary. Remember, I you do get a new HDTV "monitor" for Christmas, you'll also need a STB (set top box) to receive the OTA signal. Those games will be available on WTKR-DT, WTVR-DT and WUSA-DT..... (12/23/02) WVBT news... First... LIN TVs 'FOX43' WVBT has ended their search for a co-anchor for their 10PM newscast. Beginning January 2nd, David Nelson will join Nicole Livas to co-anchor that newscast. Nelson replaces Kelly Wright whose contract was not renewed earlier this year. Nelson comes from CBS affiliate 'Eyewitness News 3' WFSB Hartford CT - the 27th largest TV market in the country. While there, he anchored the top-rated morning newscast at WFSB. In addition to his anchor duties, he'll work as a weeknight reporter for sister station WAVY (10/NBC). Nelson was born and raised in Nashville TN. He spent seven years working as a broadcaster at several different radio stations in the Nashville area. His first TV job was as an associate producer at WSMV, the NBC affiliate in Nashville. He has worked as a reporter in Panama City FL and as an anchor in Carbondale IL, Amarillo TX and Knoxville TN. Some quirky side notes... Nelson is a huge basketball fan. Not only does he like watching games, at 6' 6", he also likes to play the sport. He's also a big Beatles fan. He still owns every Beatles album ever released on vinyl. I'm not sure how the folks at WAVY/WVBT came across Nelson but there is a station in the Hartford market owned by LIN TV - WTNH (ABC). Lastly, to expand on the November TV sweeps, WVBT's 10PM newscast received a 2.8 rating vs LNC5's 0.7 (0.5 for May 2002)..... (12/23/02) Hampton Roads has two traffic reporting firms; soon to have three... (UPDATED 12/23/02) Deborah Markham of the Virginian-Pilot takes a look at the area traffic reporting networks in today's Virginian-Pilot Business section. Right now, there are two. Metro Networks, based in Houston TX, is the nation's largest traffic information provider with offices in Virginia Beach (and Richmond) has 23 radio stations and three TV stations. Metro, in some markets, use the name "Shadow Broadcast Services." The other provider is "Hampton Roads Traffic Network" which is heard on five stations the Hampton Roads Radio Group (WWSO, WXEZ, WGH-F/A, WCMS & WFOG-A) started. Note: WFOG doesn't provide on-air traffic updates. Starting January 2nd, a third player will enter the Hampton Roads market. "Clear Channel Traffic" will start with the local CC stations - WBHH, WOWI, WSVY & WSVY with intentions to pursue others outside the CC set as well. That shift will drop Metro's stations to 19. Clear Channel Traffic started in 1997 in Atlanta as Total Traffic Network. It's now in 59 cities across the country with new cities opening every month! CC Traffic will be headed up by Brian Kelly, a 26-year radio vet, who will continue as morning personality on CC's smooth jazz/NAC 'CD 107.7' WJCD. The Director of Operations for Metro Norfolk and Richmond is Leila Rice. Almost every major station in Hampton Roads "subsrcibes" to a traffic reporting network. The entire article can be found online at pilotonline.com. Below is the Hampton Roads break-out... In Richmond, CC Traffic is already heard on the CC cluster - WRVQ, WTVR-F, WRXL, WBTJ, WRVA-A and WRNL-A. The operations in Richmond is overseen by Scott Stevens, a long time area radio vet, and Paul Richards..... (12/23/02) KM Broadcasting's LPTV W60BR (25) Cheaspeake VA has filed with the FCC for "License to cover construction permit." They were previously located on channel 60. That section of the TV band is being auctioned off. Besides moving to channel 25, they have been reclassified as a "Class A" licensed facilty. W60BR currently broadcasts MTV2 at 20kW using a directional antenna..... (12/20/02) Alden Aaroe stories live on... Ray McAllister of the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently wrote two columns about the late Alden Aaroe who was Richmond's voice of the morning on WRVA-AM. After two columns, he didn't intend to write anymore on him but readers seemed to have "decreed otherwise." For more go to timesdispatch.com..... (12/20/02) Afternoon slot filled... Clear Channel's alternative '102.1 The X' WRXL Richmond has a new afternoon jock - Alyssa. The 2-6PM drive had been voice-tracked. Not only will Alyssa be doing afternoons, she is the new Promotions Director for "The X"..... (12/19/02) Two stations battle for the hearts and minds of Nirvana fans... Greg Weatherford of Style Weekly Richmond writes an excellent article about WRXL's shift to '102-1 The X' and going up against Cox Radio's 'Y101' WDYL. Greg contacted me last week for input on the story and I appreciate the VARTV blurb in his article. The entire article is online at styleweekly.com..... (12/18/02) Suffolk likely to yank cable TV franchise... This rarely happens with both sides usually coming to some kind of agreement. It's gone passed that for Charter in Suffolk. The Suffolk City Council is expected to move ahead with the revocation of Charter's franchise with the city. The council is being asked to adopt an ordinance that says Charter violated both the city cable TV rule and the franchise settlement agreement it struck with Suffolk two years ago. The company was supposed to have completed a $12-million digital rebuild of the city's cable system by June 30th. This same ordinance gives the city manager the authority to initiate the search for a new cable provider. Charter officials have said the project was finished by the final deadline. The city says the company failed to meet time limits throughout the process..... (12/18/02) CSI was the week's most popular show... The top 10 shows for the week of December 9th thru the 15th according to AC Nielsen were... (show, network, rating) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.1; "ER," NBC, 14.7; "Friends," NBC, 14.5; "Law & Order," NBC, 13.0; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 12.2; "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 11.1; "Monday Night Football: Chicago at Miami," ABC, 10.7; "Scrubs," NBC, 10.7; "Will & Grace," NBC, 10.7; "The West Wing," NBC, 10.2. For the week CBS averaged 12.07 million viewers (7.8 rating, 13 share), NBC had 12.04 million viewers (7.9/13) NOTE: NBC's rating was slightly higher because more people were watching alone in their homes, ABC 9.1 million (6.0/10), FOX 8.4 million (5.1/8), The WB 3.7 million (2.3/4), UPN 3.2 million (2.1/3) and PAX 1.3 million (0.9/1). A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (12/18/02) NewsChannel 3's new morning show weather guy... It looks like WTKR's (CBS) "This Morning" program seen 5AM-7AM has a new meteorologist - Patrick Rockey. Rockey comes from 'News 4' WYFF (NBC) Greenville SC where he anchored their weekend weather segments. According to his bio, Rockey was born in Virginia where he eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Christopher Newport University. Later he earned a Masters of Science degree in Communications from Murray State University in Kentucky. He first came to WYFF in 1995 as a reporter but it was his fascination of weather to lead him to receive his Meteorology certificate from Mississippi State University in 1999. As a reporter there, he was honored with several awards including a Southern Regional Emmy. With Rockey's arrival, the morning show now has been completely revamped. With this new show in place, the ratings last month during "sweeps" actually went down. The unanswered question is "Where is former morning show weather guy Jeffrey Prior?" He was only at the station for a year and a half previously working in Florida. In my opinion, Prior never seemed to "click." When he first arrived, the station had him doing these ridiculous live reports from the Virginia Beach Boardwalk reporting if it was sunny, hot or windy outside. His delivery was less than smooth - embarrassing is a better choice of words..... (12/17/02) Fredericksburg Fall Phase I ... Arbitron's Fall Phase II ratings (September/OctoberNovember) for Fredericksburg were released earlier today. First was Free Lance-Star's country '93WFLS' with a 14.2, down from a 15.6 in the 12+ demo. Second, Mid-Atlantic Network's Hot AC 'B-101.5' WBQB creeps up to 10.4 from a 10.2. Infinity's talker WJFK pulls away from Bonneville's news WTOP, 6.5 vs 6.2 (they were previously tied at 5.4). Note: WTOP-FM received a 5.9 and WTOP-AM received a 0.3 for a total of 6.2. Howard University's urban AC WHUR, ABC's 'Smooth Jazz 105.9' and a surprise from Free Lance-Star's alternative '99-3 WYSK' round out the Top 5 - tied at a 3.0. Other local notables... Telemedia's country 'Thunder 104.5' WGRX and Free Lance-Star's 'Classic Rock 96.9' WWUZ are tied at 8th with a 2.7, Mid-Atlantic Network's adult standards/talk 'The Memories Station' WFVA-A is tied at 11th with a 2.1 from a 2.7, Telemedia's "Virginia's Rockin' Oldies" WGRQ is tied at 14th tumbling from a 3.0 to a 1.8, Piedmont's country WJMA is tied at 17th with a 1.5 down 0.3 and Joyner Radio's country 'C103' WCUL & Mega's tropical WBPS are tied at 32th with a 0.6. Who had the best trend? WJFK and WBTJ up 1.2. The worst? WFLS down 1.4. One of those quirky side-notes, a total of 37(!) stations made this list of rated stations this trend. The entire 12+ ratings can be found at radioandrecords.com..... (12/16/02) Team Broadcasting's WDLZ-FM (98.3) Murfreesboro NC files with the FCC to "License to cover." They had been off-the-air due to a collapsed tower. The new tower is taller to maximize their HAAT (the reason for a new CP and eventually a new license). WDLZ is a Class A with 3kW of power @ 328'. WWDR-AM also shares this tower. WDLZ is on now with all-holiday music and will settle on a new format after the holidays..... (12/16/02) Clear Channel's struggling hip-hop '92.1 The Beat' WBHH Moyock NC has new on-air imaging. The previous package was done by Fatman Scoop. Sister station urban '103 Jamz' WOWI got a new imaging package last month from Pat Garrett..... (12/16/02) November ratings are in for Hampton Roads TV... As in Richmond, Hampton Roads' NBC affiliate WAVY (10) is the news king here. The Nielsen ratings for the area newscasts were release recently with really no surprises. Out of the six daily newscasts broadcasted, LIN TV's Channel 10 was on top five of those with the noon news going to WTKR (3/CBS). The tightest race last ratings period was at 5PM where Belo Broadcasting's Channel 13 (WVEC/ABC) had the 5 & 5:30 time period and was just one-tenth of a point behind WAVY at 6. That's all gone now. WAVY now leads WVEC at 5PM by one-tenth of a point, has signifcantly pulled away from them at 5:30 (9.0 vs 7.2) and has a comfortable lead over 13 at 6PM (10.0 vs 8.5). The suits over at New York Times owned Channel 3 must be disappointed. They saw their low numbers at 6AM go even lower and this is with a brand new morning team of Chris Hopkins and Cynthia Brooks. The other stations remained nearly steady. 'WAVY News 10 Today' has been the ratings leader in the morning now for over 10 years. With the exception of the 6AM hour, total viewership of the news is up..... (12/16/02) Bad Redskins bring out best in radio crew... Jerry Lindquist of the Times-Dispatch says Sonny, Sam and Frank are at their best when the Redskins are at their worst. The trio, who do the radio side of the Washington Redskins games, are based out of Infinity's WJFK-FM (106.7) and is heard throughout Virginia on various affiliates. Read the entire piece at timesdispatch.com..... (12/16/02) Bruner exits NewsChannel 3... Portia Bruner who served as WTKR's (CBS) consumer affairs reporter left the station last week. She's now in Atlanta where her husband has a very successful dental practice. There was no word if she was going to seek employment in Atlanta TV..... (12/15/02) Comcast Richmond to raise cable TV rates... Comcast plans to raise the monthly cost of its basic television package by $2.59 to $42.21 on January 1st. The cost of its higher-end digital TV service, which offers several digital packages that range from $55.95/mo to $85.95/mo, will increase by $5/mo. Though Comcast and AT&T Broadband are now a single company, they don’t yet have uniform programming packages or pricing structures. AT&T Broadband's customers will continue to operate on their existing programming packages but those prices are also going up. AT&T Broadband's "full standard" basic cable monthly rate is increasing to $37.21 from $34.49. AT&T digital TV packages increases aren't available because the offerings and price structure are being examined as part of the Comcast merger. Both companies say that rising operational expenses, including plant maintenance costs and vehicle expenses as factoring into the rate increases. By the way, with the merger complete, Comcast plans to expand services, such as VOD (video-on-demand) that were only available in Chesterfield County, to the former AT&T system. Read the entire article at timesdispatch.com..... (12/15/02) Just shortly announcing the acquisition of KNOU-FM (104.5) in New Orleans, Steve Hegwood, President/CEO of On Top Communications, has more major news coming out of 'The Big Easy.' Lamonda Williams has been tapped to be PD for the station. She was most recently with Radio One's urban 'Power 92-1' WCDX as their PD and midday personality until she exited in March of this year. On Top owns 'Hot 102.1' WWHV Virginia Beach and has other properties in the Jackson MS and Albany GA markets..... (12/14/02) Hoyt exits The Fox... Saga Communications' classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX announces that night jock Jerry Hoyt is leaving to pursue other professional and academic opportunities. Hoyt tells me that he will be pursuing a master's degree in communications at Johns Hopkins University, teaching part-time at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, as well as continuing his part-time air weekend air personality duties at Bonneville's modern AC 'More Music 104' WWZZ in Washington DC. Mike Beck, the PD at The Fox, tells VARTV "We thank him for his many contributions to the Fox over the past 18 months, and we wish him the best." For now, Pat Bankssss will be filling in 7PM-12M until a replacement in found. Pat is a "strong" candidate for the position as well. Beck went on to tell me that "We are accepting applications effective immediately for the 7-12mid position. This is a rare opening at one of the strongest stations in Hampton Roads, including the opportunity to fill-in for Market Icon Mike Arlo and PM Driver, Mike Anthony. Interested professionals should email me at mgbeck@1069thefox.com"..... (12/13/02) UPDATED (from 12/11/02): Raycom Media's WTVR-DT (25/CBS) files with the FCC for "License to cover construction permit." They will be broadcasting at 400kW of power instead of 410kW as stated in the CP..... (12/13/02) Olivia Fox will be online today... Olivia Fox formerly of the Russ Parr Morning Show will have a live web-chat today. Olivia claims she was “abruptly terminated” from Radio One while they were trying to work out a new contract. Her old one wasn’t up for another year. Fox says she’d accepted Radio One’s offer to increase her pay for next year, but she wanted further hikes in the out-years. That’s when she says Radio One halted the talks and blew her out says InsideRadio.com. She’s hosting the live online chat at 1PM on oliviafox.com..... (12/13/02) FCC activity... William & Mary's WCWM filed an application for a booster station on channel 215 (90.9). Here's what they want to... They are licensed on 90.7. They have a CP to move for a full broadcast station on channel 215B1 (90.9). The antenna for this location (in Charles City County) is much farther west than 90.7's (in Williamsburg) but will increase their coverage area significantly. But at the same time, the signal around Williamsburg will be reduced somewhat. Once the new facility is constructed for 90.9, they want to use the old facility (their current one now at 90.7) for the booster station. Right now, 90.7 is at 1.6kW @ 125'. The power would be reduced to just 25 watts when the 90.9 frequency comes alive. The booster station's 60dBu contour line will not go outside of the main facility's 60 dBu contour line. The 90.9 frequency will be directional with 13.5 kW of power @ 269' ... On Top Communications files to shift voluntary control of all its stations (including urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV Virginia Beach) from Steve Hegwood (President/CEO) to MMG Ventures LP..... (12/12/02) CBS threatens to stop HDTV... Faced with a hostile reaction to the broadcast industry’s preferred copy-protection method, Viacom-owned CBS is threatening to cease all high-definition programming during the 2003-2004 season reports Broadcasting & Cable. A CBS boycott of HDTV would be a blow to the government’s effort to generate consumer and equipment-maker interest in the switch to digital transmissions. Besides airing all 18 of its prime time comedies and dramas in HD, CBS has offered an impressive lineup of HD sports. That includes the 2001 Super Bowl, the NCAA Men’s Final Four and the Masters Golf tournament during the last three years. A variety of industry groups, including Silicon Valley companies and consumer-equipment makers, argued that the so-called broadcast flag will not be effective in preventing unauthorized streaming of copied programming over the net and is not necessary to ensure that high-quality digital programming is made available for free over-the-air broadcasts. CBS-HD can be seen on WTKR-DT, WTVR-DT and WUSA-DT..... (12/12/02) RDS being used by 96X and 93-7 The Coast... Several weeks ago, Sinclair Telecable sisters AAA '93-7 The Coast' WKOC and alternative '96X' WROX implemented the RDS (Radio Data System) feature for car radios. Entercom's 'Z104' WNVZ is the only other station in Hampton Roads ulitilizing RDS. Z104 just displays "Z104" on receivers. With this feature, which is available on most newer cars now, it allows you to read the title and artist information for most of the songs on The Coast and 96X. It also has a whole bunch of additional features like traffic alerts, station moniker etc. I stumbled upon an informative article on the 96X website at 96x.fm explaining the features available with RDS..... (12/12/02) Another successful food drive... Barnstable's heritage country WCMS and 13 News WVEC teamed up for the "Feed the Hungry Food Drive." The Drive collected over 93,000 pounds of food - enough to make over 71,000 meals. Congrats to everyone involved especially Jack Prater, Joe Hoppel and Jennifer Roberts of WCMS and Craig Moeller and Evan Stewart at WVEC..... (12/12/02) A change of heart in Fredericksburg... John Parker has decided to put off his retirement a while longer and will remain as morning co-host of WFVA - The Memories Station AM 1230. VARTV had reported back on November 14th that he would will be retiring in early 2003. A month later, he has changed his mind. The legendary Parker's career has already spanned 55 years, including radio and television stints in Michigan and Las Vegas, prior to coming to Fredericksburg 21 years ago. At sister station Hot AC 'B101.5' WBQB, Heather Harwood has been named permanent co-host of the popular 'B101.5 Breakfast Flakes' with Alan Baxter and Robert Workman. Heather has worked in Dayton OH for 'Lite 99.9' WLQT-FM and for 'Mix 107.5' WUMX-FM in Charlottesville prior to joining WBQB in November..... (12/11/02) 97-3 The Eagle listener appreciation concert ... John Shomby, Director of Programming and Operations for the Barnstable Norfolk cluster, told AllAccess.com that '97-3 The Eagle' WGH is "gearing up for their first ever listener appreciation concert to be held this Saturday (12/14) at the Beach House. Pinmonkey will be the headlining act for the event and the two openers will include the local winner of USA Networks "Nashville Star" competition and WGH's morning show band, The Ill-Eagles featuring co-hosts Jimmy Ray and Jay"..... (12/11/02) November ratings are in for Richmond TV... Things continue to look very good for the folks over at Channel 12 (WWBT/NBC). WWBT's decision to program Dr Phil at 3 and local news at 4PM seems to be paying off. The good doctor is beating both "Guiding Light" on WTVR (6/CBS) and "General Hospital" on WRIC (8/ABC). And the 4PM newscast paired with Inside Edition at 4:30 not only beats the competition, it is doing better than Oprah did in that time period a year ago. WWBT's local newscasts win all their time periods except the noon news, where WTVR's CBS daytime strength has always pulled them to the top. With the exception of that newscast and at 5AM, WWBT's audience is either the same or more than Channels 6 and 8's audiences - combined. In the November book, it appears WWBT continues to close in on WTVR at noon, now only one rating point and one share point behind..... (12/11/02) Around the Hampton Roads radio dial... It sounds like that 'Hot 102.1' WWHV Virginia Beach is using their old antenna. When they first signed on, they used an antenna located on top of the Dolphin Run Condominiums at Rudee Inlet, literally right on the beach. If this is the case and you're located outside of Virginia Beach, you're out of luck. With an antenna height of just 167', the signal basically just covers Virginia Beach. I was in Chesapeake this morning (I-64) - the signal there was unlistenable (but it was there). On I-264, the closer I got to the beach, the signal greatly improved. On the AM band, Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting's Spanish variety 'Radio Vida' WRJR Claremont was off the air this morning. ¡Dios mio! ..... (12/11/02) NBC wins weekly TV ratings race... The top 10 shows for the week of December 2nd thru the 8th according to AC Nielsen were... (show, network, rating) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 18.0; "Friends," NBC, 15.8; "ER," NBC, 15.2; "Prime Time" Special Edition, ABC, 13.7; tied: "Monday Night Football": New York Jets at Oakland, ABC, "Scrubs," NBC, and "Will & Grace," NBC, 12.2; "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 12.0; "Law & Order," NBC, 11.2; "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 11.1. Claiming six of the top 10 shows, NBC took the week with 12 million viewers (7.9 household rating, 13 share), CBS 11.1 million viewers (7.4/12 share), ABC 9.7 million viewers (6.3/10), FOX 7.7 million viewers (4.7/7), The WB 3.7 million viewers (2.3/4), UPN 3.3 million viewers (2.1/3) and PAX 1.5 million viewers (1.0/2 share - one of their stronger showings). A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. But perhaps the week's most remarkable ratings coup was by HBO with "The Sopranos." The season finale was seen by 12.5 million cable viewers, beating all the broadcast networks in its time slot. If the cable program were included in the Nielsen rankings, it would have claimed 19th place - even though HBO reaches only about one-third of all the nation's TV households. Wow! The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (12/10/02) Hot 102.1 now on the air at reduced power... UPDATE: At 3PM, they are on the air but not at full power. My Sony Walkman, which picked 'Hot 102.1' loud-and clear before, is now barely audible. PREVIOUS: Sometime before noon yesterday (12/9), On Top's urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV started experiencing problems - being off the air. I heard midday host Burgandi at noon saying something to the effect "We have been experencing some problems..." and started to go into the "Top 5 at Noon." Shortly after the countdown began, the station was going in-and-out again. Around 12:30PM, it was off for good. As of this writing (9:30AM-12/10), they're still off-the-air. If I'm correct, I believe the ratings period just finished up. This wouldn't be good way to wrap up the Fall ratings Book..... (12/10/02) Richmond HDTV news... Two stations - WRIC-DT (8/ABC) and WRLH-DT (35/FOX) - began beaming digital signals last month. WTVR-DT (6/CBS) should begin airing a digital signal in the next month or so reports the Times-Dispatch. WTVR-DT recently installed its digital transmitter and is testing it now, said Matt Heffernan, director of operations and technology. The station received another six-month extension from the FCC but Heffernan says "…I would think we should be up in the next month, unless something happens". These stations join WWBT-DT (12/NBC) which has been broadcasting a digital signal since January of this year. The aforementioned stations didn't meet the original deadline because of construction delays. They and Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, which operates WCVE (23) and WCVW (57), formed a partnership to have a digital tower built next to public broadcasting's building in Chesterfield. SpectraSite completed it this fall. The FCC deadline for the public TV stations is May 2003 but Channels 23 & 57 aren't likely to meet that deadline. WCVE (23) should be on the air by midsummer, while WCVW (57) is looking at alternatives - low power - to reduce costs. The cost for Channel 23 for example to go digital is estimated at $2.4 million. Even though WUPV-DT (65/UPN) wasn’t included in the story, they too have been working at the site in Chesterfield County..... (12/10/02) Successful radiothon... Entercom's modern AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE morning show hosts "Chuck & Jenna" raised more than $261,000 for The Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters during a radiothon held over the weekend. The pair kicked things off last Thursday (12/5) and broadcast a total of 50 hours through Sunday (12/8) taking pledges from Point listeners..... (12/9/02) Showing the 'Skins game was the right call... The Tampa Bay Buccaneers handedly beat the Atlanta Falcons and Mike Vick or is it Michael on Sunday. It was debated if area FOX stations were going to carry that game or the Redskins vs. NY Giants game. Hampton Roads' 'FOX43' WVBT, DC's 'FOX5' WTTG and 'FOX Richmond' WRLH didn't give it a second thought. 'Skins all the way. It turns out that the Washington game was the good game and the Tampa/Atlanta match-up was a blowout. Stations aren't bound by what games to air. Example, Roanoke. 'FOX 21/27' WFXR/WJPR chose to air the Tampa/Atlanta contest instead of Washington/NY. In hindsight, not a good move... not only was the game a blowout, I'm sure the station heard "about it" from a lot of angry 'Skins fans..... (12/9/02) AT& T Broadband not to “broad” in Henrico... Complaints about less than stellar Internet connection speeds have come mostly from western Henrico County but other local subscribers say they have experienced problems so says the Times-Dispatch. AT&T Broadband said "unprecedented demand" for its cable Internet service is bogging down some local subscribers, who have complained their high-speed connections are performing worse than dial-up modems. AT&T's basic cable Internet service offers download speeds of up to 1,500 kbps (or 1.5 mbps) and upload speeds of up to 300 kbps. It also markets a higher speed service. The company on Friday said it is in the process of upgrading a significant part of its local network to add more capacity and "it should relieve the current pressure on the system." Henrico County Supervisor Richard Glover plans to ask the county manager to put AT&T Broadband "on notice" that its recent customer service performance is unacceptable. "I think we're back to probably the level of calls where it was six months ago when AT&T was just totally lax at following up on service," Glover said. Back in February, the county sent AT&T a letter demanding that the company improve its customer service or face fines. The threat of fines was removed in April..... (12/9/02) Shocker! Olivia Fox exits morning show... The syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show, heard on 28 radio stations around the country, lost it's co-host Olivia Fox. According to her website oliviafox.com, her departure is to due the decision of management of Radio One. She says on her site, "I'm no longer employed by the Russ Parr Morning Show... Look for me on a new station coming real soon." Fox's last day Friday the 6th. It's been reported that she had at least one more year left on her contract with Radio One. Russ Parr is heard locally on 'Hot 102.1' WWHV Virginia Beach, 'Power 92-1 Jamz' WCDX Richmond and Parr's home station 93-9 WKYS in DC..... (12/7/02) ODU men's basketball on cable TV... Flipping through the channels, I stumbled upon the ECU Pirates vs ODU Monarchs men's basketball game on COX Cable channel 71. This channel is the "Cable Marketplace" designated for local informercials. The game was being televised by Pirates Sports Television Network with local spots being filled by CableRep. This is the first time I've ever heard of this. Was it on channel 71 because someone was broadcasting a game involving the Monarch's or maybe ECU sports matchups will be picked up by COX? ..... (12/7/02) On Top picks up another station... Steve Hegwood's On Top Communications has completed the purchase of urban 'U104.5' KNOU New Orleans from JP Broadcasting. On Top owns new urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV Virginia Beach. The New Orleans market is dominated by CC's urban 'Q93' WQUE. Along with closing on KNOU, On Top has completed a $20 million recapitalization. Hegwood told AllAccess.com, "The acquisition and financing gives the company the resources to realize our goal of creating dominant urban format clusters in our markets." Along with KNOU and WWHV, On Top also has 'Hot 97.7' WRJH//WJXN Jackson MS and 'Hot 106 Jamz' WFFM//WRXZ Albany GA. On Top's world HQs are located in Lanham MD just around the corner of his former employer's HQs - Radio One..... (12/7/02) The late Alden Aaroe... Ray McAllister of the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an excellent article today about the late Alden Aaroe who was a WRVA radio icon for 47 years. Aaroe passed in 1993. McAllister had an article on him yesterday (12/5) which prompted many reader responses (12/6). Here's the original article published December 5th and reader reflections on December 6th..... (12/6/02) Vibe has found their new afternoon drive jock... Jerry Carter formerly middays at urban AC 'Vibe 100.1' WVBE-FM/AM Lynchburg/Roanoke will fill the vacant slot in the afternoons at CC's urban AC'Vibe 105.3' WSVY Norfolk. If you recall, 20-year radio vet Double D was fired from 'Vibe 105.3' a week before Thanksgiving. He served as their production director and on-air talent - heard Monday-Saturday 3PM-7PM. Rumor had it that Double D was let go because of ratings. Vibe's chief competiton is Entercom's urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL which is doing quite well. Quite frankly, I didn't think Vibe was going to last. But, WSVY's ratings have been on a steady increase ever since they swapped frequencies with sister smooth jazz/NAC 'CD 107.7' WJCD. Janet stuck with 'em..... (12/6/02) WGRQ announces new PD... Telemedia Broadcasting's 'Virginia Rockin' Oldies' WGRQ Colonial Beach has recently promoted Jim Herring to be their new PD. Herring was Director of Sales & Marketing for Telemedia the past two years. Jim will also have future on-air duties. Herring’s programming experience covers a number of years serving as an air personality for Richmond’s classic rock '96.5 The Planet' WKLR, former rocker 'XL-102' WRXL, WVGO, former modern rocker 'The Buzz' WBZU, 'The Bear' WKIK - remember those last four - and country 'K-95' WKHK as well as Charlottesville’s '3WV' WWWV, WOBR Nags Head and WFLS. “With the addition of our new country station, Thunder 104.5 (WGRX-FM), Rockin’ Oldies 95.9 has needed to have a little more focus,” states WGRQ/WGRX GM Tom Cooper. “We believe that Jim’s programming background will enable us to fully utilize his talents in this area in order to serve the needs of Telemedia Broadcasting, Inc. in an even greater capacity.” There are currently plans to launch a new afternoon drive or midday shift in early January with Herring serving as host. Telemedia Broadcasting is based out of Annapolis with their local office in Fredericksburg..... (12/6/02) Shore radio news.. On Saturday November 30th, Bay Broadcasting's 'Mix 106.5' WKHW flipped back to oldies from classic/modern rock. Now imaged 'Oldies 106.5 - Delmarva's Great Oldies Station', WKHW will primarily play the 60s & 70s along with some hits from the 50s. When owned by Great Scott, 'KHW was a satellite oldies station - Oldies 106.5 - the Bay Broadcasting incarnation will be live & local. Owner Mike Powell does mornings, Adam Riggins & Mike Deane round out the day so reports ESRTV. WKHW will soon mix in some holiday tunes with the oldies. Sister station 'Bay Country 96.9' WBEY Crisfield will go all-holiday on December 24th..... (12/5/02) Channel 35 chooses Redskins over Vick... This comes under the heading of: "You've got to be kidding me!" says Jerry Linquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Sunday at 1PM, FOX will carry four games including Atlanta-Tampa Bay and the NY Giants-Washington. In Richmond, who's bigger: Michael Vick or the Redskins? The folks at 'FOX Richmond' WRLH don't have to ask. They know. That's why, as popular as Vick has become nationally, he's no match for three lousy QBs and a disappointing 5-7 record when it comes to area interest. Given a choice between the two games, Channel 35 went burgundy and gold. Station Manager Bille Lane said "We are the Redskins' station... you HAVE to air the Redskins here." OK, so he knows he'll be on the receiving end of some complaints by not opting for the 8-3-1 Falcons (Vick etc) and 9-3 Buccaneers (Sapp etc) . After all, Channel 35 went out of its way to make sure as many Vick . . . sorry, Falcons games as possible (five) could be seen in Richmond this season. But . . . through games of November 11, the average local rating on WRLH for the Redskins was 14.5/26.5 share. Atlanta games did a 7.7/14.8. We're talking a 188% gap in ratings and 179% in share. Talk about a no-brainer. By the way, Hampton Roads' 'FOX43' WVBT and DC's 'FOX5' WTTG are both scheduled to show the NY-'Skins game. Will any of these stations and/or network switch the game?..... (12/5/02) FCC Daily Digest... WRLH-DT (26/FOX) is granted a 6-month extension to the CP to build out their DTV. They are already on the air - at low power. Over at WTVR-DT (25/CBS), their request for an extension to build out their CP for the DTV is dismissed. No indication why. They too are on-the-air. And finally, WRIC-DT (22/ABC) is back on the air after a couple of days being dark for equipment replacement and they're back with "rave" reviews..... (12/5/02) "How do you rate local news coverage?" That's the question purposed at PilotOnline.com. Rate each station at the following links...       WAVY (10/NBC)       WVBT (43/FOX)       WTKR (3/CBS)       WVEC (13/ABC) Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot is taking the survey of readers and will publish the results in a later column. A year or two ago, he asked readers to put together their "Dream Team" news team - the best of the best in news anchoring, weather and sports. Pretty cool. The reason for this new poll is that according to a survey of over 100 NDs, the "cheesy" side of local TV news is expanding. Read the entire article at pilotonline.com. You can also leave your personal comments at that link. Gotta go..... (12/5/02) Local winter weather... Of the local channels here in Hampton Roads, all were pretty much in agreement what was going to happen today - as to who was going to get what and when. As usual, I tuned to Channel 3 (WTKR/CBS) and 13 (WVEC/ABC) for my winter weather forecasts. The best are from the NWS (forecast dicussions). Both Jeff Lawson & Evan Stewart at WVEC and Dave Parker & Mike Simon at WTKR gave solid forecasts that had me watching. Parker and Simon are a solid team; just on the "wrong" channel for me. Does anyone watch Channel 10 (WAVY/NBC) for solid, in-depth weather coverage? Not me..... (12/5/02) Dwayne Edwards of WPER featured... AllAccess.com this week chats with MD/morning co-host Dwayne Edwards of Contemporary Christian 89.9 WPER Culpeper. He answers AllAccess' weekly feature called "10 Questions With..." in their Christian programming section. By the way, Edwards first gig in radio was an internship and later a job in 1997 at WXCY. He's been at WPER for almost three years now..... (12/4/02) The DC City Council unanimously passes a bill banning non-competes... From InsideRadio... Yesterday afternoon’s tally was 13-0 — despite months of lobbying by players like Radio One, Sinclair and the Maryland-DC-Delaware Broadcasters Association. AFTRA Washington-Baltimore Executive Director Pat O’Donnell tells Inside Radio the “Broadcast Industry Contract Freedom Act of 2002” should affect several hundred workers in the District — anybody who works in radio, TV, cable and some related vendors who’s got a personal services contract. The bill’s language pointedly includes entities that supply news, weather and sports to broadcast stations — meaning Westwood’s Metro/Shadow. The bill goes to Mayor Anthony Williams for his signature, and then a mandatory 30-day review by Congress. O’Donnell believes the bill will be law by early January 2003. She says “I’m pleased the DC Council has recognized the importance of prohibiting non-competes, and allowed all broadcasters in DC the freedom to work.” AFTRA targets Maryland next, then Virginia. No wonder Radio One’s Cathy Hughes was urging the District Council to spike the “Contract Freedom Act” — Radio One’s corporate office moved out of the District several years ago to new quarters in Lanham, MD. That’s the next state that AFTRA’s eyeing for passage of non-compete legislation. They’ll start the drive in the House of Delegates in January. Then it’s on to Virginia. AFTRA’s strategy has been to wage the fight using a state-by-state battle plan. Last year’s victory in Illinois — overturning Governor Ryan’s veto — gave AFTRA significant momentum..... (12/4/02) CBS has top three shows; wins TV week... The top 10 shows for the week of November 25th to December 1st according to AC Nielsen were... (show, network, rating) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 13.0; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 12.4; CBS Sunday Movie: "The Christmas Shoes," CBS, 11.4; "Monday Night Football" (Philadelphia at San Francisco), ABC, 11.4; "Law & Order," NBC, 10.7; "Still Standing," CBS, 10.4; "Judging Amy," CBS, 10.3; "JAG," CBS, 10.1; "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.9; "Frasier," NBC, 9.8. CBS wins the week with 13.4 million viewers (8.2 household rating, 14 share), NBC 11.9 million viewers (7.1/12), ABC 11.4 million viewers (6/10), FOX 9.2 million viewers (5/8), UPN 4.9 million viewers (2.1/4), The WB 4 million viewers (though it beat UPN with its 2.7 rating, 4 share) and PAX 1.3 million viewers (0.9/2). A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (12/3/02) BT goes to New Hampshire... When Clear Channel's rocker 'XL102' WRXL segued to alternative (102-1 The X), BT (Brandon Terry) didn't quite fit-in with the new format. But CC didn't won't to lose him either. Since the flip, BT was helping PD Casey Krukowski during the transition. He has now landed afternoons at sister rocker '100.3 WHEB' in Portsmouth NH. Even though it's a smaller market (#56 to #116), WHEB is second in the 12+ ratings behind a powerhouse country outlet. BT told AllAccess.com back in October, "Clear Channel is a world class organization, and they have treated me like an important member of the team, but sometimes you aren't a part of the vision and such is the case with 'New Rock 102.1 The X.'" WHEB is exactly what WRXL was! BT will continue to voicetrack nights on '98 Rock' WACL Harrisonburg and afternoons on '99.3 The Fox' WFQX Winchester. He starts at WHEB Monday, December 16th..... (12/3/02) HDTV update in Richmond... VARTV "hears" that WRIC-DT (22/ABC) will be offline for most of this week due to encoder problems. There has been audio and video drop-outs when WRIC-DT has been on the air. They're getting a new encoder from their vendor. Over at WTVR-DT (25/CBS), for the next three months or so expect them to be "on" only during primetime hours and maybe weekends when the network is beaming HD programming (i.e. football games)..... (12/2/02) West End cable subs getting answers from the web... When their high-speed Internet connections slowed to a crawl, AT&T Broadband customers called the company for answers. When they got answers that didn't satisfy them, they turned to the Web. Consumers of all kinds of products and services are going online to discuss their common experiences, malfunctioning products, and good and bad stories. The Internet has become a reliable center for problem solving and a staging area for consumer action. In this case, the group of AT&T subscribers, many of them in western Henrico County, created a discussion topic at BroadbandReports.com, where they commiserated over their broadband problems and analyzed responses from the company. There, they shared and parsed the answers they got from AT&T customer support, reviewed options and planned their next move, as individuals and as a group. McGregor McCance has the rest of the story at timesdispatch.com..... (12/2/02) Mayflower Marathon is a huge success... Saga's classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX held their 6th annual Mayflower Marathon ended up with some great results. Over 250 tons (or 375,000 meals) of food and still counting! You can check 1069thefox.com for all information and pictures. This has become the largest food drive in the state of Virginia and per capita, one of the biggest in the country according to GM Dave Paulus. The 53-hour food drive was 'hosted' by The Fox morning "Jeff & MC"..... (12/2/02) FLS' Annual Shoe Fund Auction starts Monday... In what has become a Fredericksburg tradition, WFLS will begin its Annual Shoe Fund Auction Monday at 5AM with 25-year veteran morning man Brian Strobel and Penny Wack. Items include autographed items from country artists like Trace Adkins, SheDaisy, The Dixie Chicks, Kathy Mattea and others to autographed footballs from Washington Redskins players and scale cars from Bobby Allison and 2002 Winston Cup Champion Tony Stewart. There are also two tickets (club level) to the December 29th Washington Redskins game vs Dallas Cowboys up for bids. All items and when they can be bid on can be seen at wfls.com Just look for the Shoe Fund Auction items..... (11/30/02) UPN Richmond back to normal... We're you having trouble watching Richmond's Channel 65? You weren't alone. The station had a fire in its transmission line on Wednesday the 20th. WUPV continued to be available to most cable customers but not to OTA (over-the-air) viewers. The problem was fixed the next day - almost said GM Gerald Walsh. "Viewers in outlying households might have experienced 'diminished' reception. Work was done on the tower Wednesday and Channel 65 was back to full power on Thanksgiving..... (11/29/02) Cat Country to be sold... 'Cat Country 100.3' WARV Petersburg is being sold to MainQuad Communications. Charles Giddens owned it as Honolulu Broadcasting but passed away from cancer in September 2001. The station is being sold by his widow Joanne to MainQuad for $1.2M. Cox Radio has had a joint sales agreement with WARV. MainQuad also owns 'Smooth Jazz 93.1' WJZV and 80s-90s Hits 'Star 107.3' WBBT in the Richmond area along with four other stations. Way too early to tell if the format will stay..... (11/27/02) Morning show co-host/anchor-reporter wanted... Mid-Atlantic Network is still looking for a morning show co-host for 'The Memories Station' WFVA-AM 1230 Fredericksburg. Their looking for an 'experienced' news anchor/reporter who will not only co-host the morning show on WFVA but anchor the show's newscasts. This person will also serve as a reporter for WFVA and sister station Hot AC 'B101.5' WBQB. It was announced that longtime host John Parker at WFVA will be leaving in early 2003..... (11/27/02) Oldies 92-9 looking for a PD... Ironically, they already have one... Randy Brooks. If you remember, Brooks used to program sister stations new country 'Eagle 97.3' (now known as 97-3 The Eagle) WGH and heritage country WCMS. About six months after Barnstable flipped urban oldies 'Soul Classics 92.9’ to 'Oldies 92-9' (WWSO), Randy took on the additional responsibility of PD/afternoon drive at WWSO. Shortly after that, his sole responsibility was to WWSO with John Shomby overseeing things at the country outlets. Yesterday at AllAccess.com, an ad was placed by John Shomby himself for a PD position at Oldies 92-9. So what's happened to Brooks this past year? Was he forced to go to WWSO to be forced out? Will he stay with Barnstable cluster at all? ..... (11/27/02) More Christmas music... Contemporary Christian WODC-FM 88.5 "Your Lighthouse" (88.5 Virginia Beach, 97.9 South Norfolk, 103.7 Chesapeake and 103.9 in Norfolk) will begin mixing in Christmas music beginning Sunday December 1st and increase it's frequency until December 15th when it will go all Christmas during regular format and end the Christmas music on December 26th by taking requests of favorite Christmas music. They'll be "Keeping the Christ" in Christmas!..... (11/27/02) CSI gets knocked down to fourth... The top 10 shows for the week of November 18th to 24th according to AC Nielsen were... (show, network, rating) "Friends," NBC, 17.0; "ER," NBC, 16.5; "The Bachelor," ABC, 16.3; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.2; "Will & Grace," NBC, 15.5; "Will & Grace" (special), NBC, 14.5; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 12.8; "Law & Order," NBC, 12.1; "Frasier," NBC, 11.8; "Monday Night Football: Chicago at St. Louis," ABC, 11.7. Last week overall, CBS led with 13.2 million viewers (8.8 household rating, 14 share), NBC 13.17 million viewers (8.7/14), ABC 12.5 million viewers (7.7/12), FOX 9.1 million viewers (5.5/9), The WB 5.4 million viewers (3.3/5), UPN 4 million viewers (2.5/4) and PAX 1.2 million viewers (0.9/1). A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (11/26/02) The Shore's '103.3 The Shore' WESR will be adding holiday tunes to their music mix starting after the day after Thanksgiving. WESR will increase the frequency of holiday music until December 23rd when its back-to-back all-holiday music thru Christmas..... (11/26/02) New software releases... Do you have AOL's Instant Messenger, MusicMatch Jukebox, RealOne Player? Well, all three have recently been updated with new versions. AOL Instant Messenger, the stand alone version outside of the AOL service, has released version 5.1. MusicMatch has released version 7.5 of its JukeBox. Open the MusicMatch JukeBox, click "Options" then "Update Software." The RealOne Player from RealNetworks has a new 'build' (6.011.830) for Version 2.0. Open the player, click "Tools" then "Check for Update". Remember besides emailing us at editor@vartv.com, you can also reach us on Netscape, AOL, Compuserve (via your Instant Messenger) at screenname VARTV Mobile or on the MSN Network/Windows Messenger at screenname VARTV..... (11/26/02) Radio One Richmond fills OM/PD slot... Kevin Gardner joins Radio One's urban oldies 'Magic 105.7' WJMO and urban AC '104.7 Kiss FM' WKJS as their new OM/PD. Gardner comes from Cumulus Tallahassee (gospel 'AM 1410 The Light' WHBT, urban '96.1 Jamz' WHBX & oldies 'Groovin 102' WWLD), where he was PD/MD and afternoon-drive talent. Gardner began his career doing the morning-drive at WOKB Orlando in 1986. For the next four years, he held positions at WWPD Florence SC, KDKO Denver CO and back to South Carolina to WWDM in Columbia. Later, he moved to Washington DC in 1990 to serve as AMD/afternoon-drive for WDJY & WJZE. After spending three years in DC, Gardner headed to his hometown of Philadelphia to work on the morning show at Clear Channel's urban AC WDAS-FM..... (11/25/02) A fourth Hampton Roads station to belt-out holiday tunes... Saga's adult standards 'Joy' WJOI-AM 1230 will switch to all-holiday music the day after Thanksgiving. WJOI has a loyal following with it's format geared to the older audience. Is cross-town 'competitor' Barnstable's adult standards 'AM 1050 The Fog' WFOG (1050), who uses Jones Radio's Music of Your Life, going to do the same? (11/25/02) Virginia Broadcasting's 'NBC29' WVIR-DT 32 Charlottesville VA has been in a testing mode since mid-October. Expect regular programming by the end of this week. Their high-power transmitter (1000 kW) won't be installed until Albemarle County approves a new tower. They hope to be on the air with their high-power transmitter by the end of next year. Right now they're only at 6.5 kW at 1005'..... (11/25/02) Veteran jock is fired from a Clear Channel station... Suprised? VARTV has learned that 20-year radio veteran Double D was fired from urban AC 'Vibe 105.3' WSVY. Double D was their production director and on-air talent heard Monday-Saturday 3PM-7PM. Was it ratings? They just came off of a great Trend. In his bio, which by the way you can't read because it has already been taken down at vibezone.com, he stated he began his radio career back in 1982. He was first hired by Vibe in 1997, moved to Philadelphia to do radio in 1999 and came back for "round 2" in June 2000. Here comes the irony. In his bio under the question "Career Accomplishments"; his answer was "Being in radio for 18 years and never being fired." Happy Holidays from Clear Channel Norfolk..... (11/24/02) Hampton Roads might have THREE full-coverage ALL-holiday music stations... When is the last time that this has happened around here? Never. Starting tomorrow (11/25), Barnstable's 'Oldies 92-9' WWSO will go all-holiday music for the next "31 days." Entercom's AC '2WD' WWDE was to switch to all-holiday music after Thanksgiving but got wind of Oldies 92-9's planned switch on Monday. So at 5PM last Friday, 2WD decided to start the holiday tunes earlier. Note that the Delilah program heard on WWDE weeknights 7PM to midnight is already in holiday "mode" too. Usually around these parts, it was WWDE adding holiday music to their regular playlist and slowly increasing the frequency of holiday tunes towards December 25th. The rimshot signal from Maranatha Broadcasting's Contemporary Christian 'Praise 105' WFMZ (104.9) played 24/7 Christmas music from Christian artists last year, BBN's WYFI (99.7) featured Christmas music as did Peninsula/Middle Peninsula/Northern Neck area AC 'Xtra 99' WXGM. This might be the first time ever that two full market coverage stations (non-satellite fed) went all-holiday music. As I write this, Clear Channel's urban AC 'Vibe 105.3' WSVY is playing back-to-back holiday tunes from Black artists - "Christmas Hits and Jammin' Old School." Are they going all-holiday too? Holy cow! This is getting out of control. SVY might have something here - playing holiday tunes from Black artists. If you're in the VARTV listening area and hear a station playing partial or all-holiday music, let us know! Email us at holidaytunes@vartv.com..... (11/24/02) WUPV'a OTA signal nowhere to be found... If you used to watching 'UPN Richmond' WUPV over the air, you may have noticed that they have been MIA for the last several days. VARTV heard that earlier last week there was a fire at the station in Ashland and haven't been seen since. Emails have been sent to Channel 65 and were returned back to VARTV as undeliverable..... (11/24/02) Richmond, the land of wrenchheads... Anybody who doesn't think this is the land of wrenchheads, think again so says Jerry Lindquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richmond finished ninth among metered markets in NBC's (WWBT/12) Winston Cup coverage this year with a 12-race average rating of 7.5 (15 share). That's 34% better than 2001 and made the Richmond market the second most-improved, trailing only Chicago's 38% to a 3.3. Final national numbers came out earlier today. In overnights of 53 top-metered markets, NBC/TNT combined did 4.5, up 13% over a year ago - the first of the $2.4 billion, six-year NASCAR deal shared with FOX. Greensboro (12.9) and Charlotte (11.1), NC, remained Nos. 1 and 2. No surprise there. Quoting NASCAR-on-NBC/TNT analyst Benny Parsons: "I think being Winston Cup champion is going to be a tough thing for Tony Stewart. It will be interesting to see how [he] handles his role as the sport's leading ambassador..... (11/23/02) Virginia now has a state-wide Amber Alert program... Governor Warner said reports about abducted children will be broadcast immediately on radio & TV and posted on highway message boards under a statewide "Amber Alert" program. Warner said, "With the Amber Alert plan, in the event a child is abducted we want to make sure the public can assist you in the most rapid and coordinated fashion." Police activate the Amber Alert after determining that a child 17 or younger has been abducted and is in danger. Information about the child is sent to radio & TV stations, which interrupt regular programming to report the abduction. VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) also will use electronic message signs along major highways to tell motorists to be on the lookout. Warner's initiative expands on regional programs already operating in the Richmond, Northern Virginia, Spotsylvania and Roanoke areas. Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said Wednesday that creation of a statewide Amber Alert will be part of his 2003 legislative agenda. Warner said he does not oppose asking the General Assembly to convert the program from an administrative policy to a law. The Virginia Amber Alert program's website can be found at vaamberalert.com..... (11/23/02) It's been reported today that WTVR-DT (25/CBS) was on the air around 5:30PM. WTVR would be the fourth DTV in Richmond to sign-on. At 9:30PM, all four of Richmond's DTVs were on the air..... (11/22/02) Richmond will have at least two all-holiday music stations... It looks like Hoffman's adult standards 'EZ 100.5' WZEZ Goochland will be going to an all-holiday music format starting either the day before or the day of Thanksgiving. They have a countdown clock on their website at wzezradio.com. They went all-holiday last year at this time with much success ratings wise. Clear Channel's AC 'Lite 98' WTVR will also go all-holiday this coming Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, at 9AM..... (11/22/02) Lite 98 back on top in Richmond... Arbitron's Fall Phase I numbers for Richmond were released earlier today. CC's AC 'Lite 98' WTVR regains the top spot after plummenting in the Summer book (12.1-7.7) to a 8.3 rating. Radio One's urban 'Power 92-1 Jamz' WCDX is second again at 7.7. Cox Radio's country 'K95' WKHK falls from the top perch in the Summer book to third at 7.4. Cox's classic rocker '96-5 The Planet' WKLR shoots up to fourth with a 6.0 with CC's 'NewsRadio 1140' WRVA rounding out the Top 5 at 5.9. The entire 12+ ratings can be found at radioandrecords.com or insideradio.com..... (11/22/02) FM99 has the #1 spot all to itself... Saga's active rocker 'FM99' WNOR is all by itself at the top (6.3 rating/12+) according to Arbitron which released the numbers earlier today. The Fall Phase I period covers August, September and October. WNOR was in a tie with Clear Channel's urban '103Jamz' WOWI for the Summer book. No longer. '103Jamz' slides to 4th with a 6.0 rating. 2nd is Entercom's AC '2WD' WWDE with a 6.2 with 3rd going to Barnstable's new country '97-3 The Eagle' WGH at a 6.1. Rounding out the Top 10 is Entercom sisters urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL & rhythmic 'Z104' WNVZ at 5th... 5.6, 7th is 'Oldies 92-9' WWSO... 5.0, 8th is Contemporary Inspirational 'Star 94.1' WXEZ & classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX... 4.9 and 10th country WCMS & modern AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE... 4.7... Top 11 25-54 all persons demo... 1. WGH & WAFX... 7.5 3. WNOR & WVKL... 7.3 5. WWDE... 6.8 6. WWSO... 6.0 7. WPTE... 5.9 8. WXEZ... 5.6 9. WOWI... 5.5 10. WNVZ... 4.0 11. WSVY & WNIS... 3.6 The entire 12+ ratings can be found at radioandrecords.com or insideradio.com after 5/6PM..... (11/22/02) Anchor Ed Hughes treated for colon cancer... Ed Hughes, the anchor who’s been with WTKR (3/CBS) for over 34 years, has colon cancer and underwent surgery this week to remove a tumor from his intestines. Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot says he’s resting comfortably at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and expects a full recovery. Hughes who’s 64 said, “I'm upbeat and optimistic.'' He will undergo chemotherapy once a week when he recovers from the 4 1/2 -hour surgery. He expects to be off the job for five to six weeks. Hughes said he’s drawing support from his family and co-workers at WTKR – even WVEC, his competition, sent him flowers..... (11/22/02) Marathon broadcast... On Monday morning, November 25th at 5:30AM, the morning duo Jeff and MC of Saga's classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX will begin their annual 53-hour marathon broadcast to benefit hungry families in Hampton Roads. "The Fox Mayflower Marathon" is the largest food drive in Virginia and one of the largest in the nation. Donations can be dropped off at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach and Coliseum Mall next to Bennigan's in Hampton..... (11/21/02) Cable TV denied... Amy Johnson of The Virginia Gazette reports on one family's trouble of simply wanting to get cable TV for their 9-year-old daughter. But never imagined how difficult it would be with Cox Cable. The family lives in Williamsburg. The entire article is online at vagazette.com..... (11/21/02) LPTV to be sold... LPTV WVBN-LP (19) Virginia Beach VA files with the FCC to "Voluntary Assignment of License" from Izzo Family Trust to JBS Inc. The selling price is unknown. JBS Inc has two other LPTVs in Hampton Roads - W31BG (19) Yorktown VA and W39BW (39) Newport News VA - that simulcasts each other with locally produced (it looks like a high school production) religious programming and ShopNBC. Channel 19 broadcasts MTV2 with a highly directional antenna off Salem Rd that is only receivable in Virginia Beach. They also hold a CP to move WVBN to channel 18..... (11/21/02) Don London interviewed... Barry Fiedel and Pat Martine of Hitmakers Magazine interview Don London the Director of Programming at Entercom's rhythmic 'Z104' WNVZ, AC '2WD' WWDE and urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL. Modern AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE, the other station in the cluster has its own PD - Steve McKay. Get the entire scoop on Don here at hitmakersmagazine.com..... (11/21/02) There's a new classified ad today. Click on the "Classified Ads" link on the left navigation panel..... (11/20/02) VCU sports media news... VCU's 'Ram Replay,' a taped-delayed telecasts of men's basketball home games, enters its second season with a new home. Last year, the games were seen on 'UPN65' WUPV. This year, they'll on Sundays on WCVW (57/PBS). That's correct: a public broadcasting station, no commercials, etc. "But our sponsors were OK with PBS-style 'acknowledgments' in lieu of regular 'call to action' style advertising," said Associate AD Tom Shupe. "It will be a full-blown, five-camera production of the games in their entirety." The first of 16 will be this Sunday (10AM-noon) of Saturday's exhibition matchup with Virginia Union. Robert Fish calls the action, with Joe Cantafio the analyst. On the radio side, Terry Sisisky begins his 23rd season (WLEE/WHAP) with yet another broadcast partner - John Moreau, who is retiring as a college hoops official after 32 years..... (11/20/02) Public television in a money war... The bad blood between Virginia's public television stations has come to a boil says Gregory Robertson of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The issue is state money and who gets how much. On one side is the Richmond-based Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corp which operates five TV stations - including WCVE Richmond and WHTJ Charlottesville, WCVE (88.9) Richmond. On the other side of the dispute are competing stations aligned with the “Virginia Association of Public Television Stations” - WHRO Norfolk, WVPT Harrisonburg, WBRA Roanoke and WETA Washington DC. "They want money and they don't care who get hurts in the process. The bottom line is in hard times, people tend to be greedy," said Westwood Smithers, executive VP of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting. Smithers said WCVE and its affiliate stations are threatened with losing more than $875,000 in state funding under a proposal being pushed by the state's other public television stations. The money would then be redistributed to other public broadcasting stations including WETA, which would receive its first infusion of state money, amounting to about $200,000. The rest of Robertson's article can be found at timesdispatch.com..... (11/20/02) NBC wins Nielsen week, ABC second... The top 10 shows for the week of November 11th to 17th were... (show, network, rating) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 18.3; "Friends," NBC, 15.8; "ER," NBC, 15.7; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 13.3; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 12.9; "Law & Order," NBC, 12.7; "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 12.5; "NFL Monday Night Football: Oakland at Denver," ABC, 12.4; "Scrubs," NBC, 12.4; "Will & Grace," NBC, 12.1. Last week overall, NBC averaged 13.6 million viewers (9.0 rating, 14 share), CBS 12.7 million viewers (8.4, 13), ABC 10.6 million (6.8, 11), Fox 7.7 million (4.7, 7), The WB 4.7 million (2.9, 5), UPN 4.2 million (2.6, 4) and PAX 1.2 million (0.9, 1). Remember, a ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (11/19/02) HDTV coming to Cox Cable Hampton Roads... And the date looks like February 2003 according to John Chester from A/V dealer Domes in Chesapeake. Last Friday, Domes was visited by several Cox Cable personnel with all kinds of POP (Point Of Purchase) materials; stating "Cox HD Coming Soon!". They told Domes employess that they will not be renting the converter boxes but selling them through local retailers for $499 (That's the same rate for COX customers in Phoenix and Omaha who have the HD service already available to them). John describes the new converter as silver, with composite video, S-video, Sub-D 15 video and component video outputs with Firewire upgradability. Motorola is supplying the converters. Planned stations... all of the local DT stations, HBO-HD, Showtime-HD, Discovery-HD, ESPN-HD (starts in April). Domes can be found online at domesav.com..... (11/19/02) FCC grants Bell Broadcasting's WUPV-DT (47/UPN) Ashland VA request for an extension of time to complete the construction of their DTV station. They filed as a precaution just in case they couldn't get on the air by December 4th (which they anticipate they will be). The December 4th date is from the first extension they filed last Spring. 2WD to play Christmas music... UPDATED: (originally posted 11/12/02) Entercom's AC will go ALL "holiday" music starting Friday November 29th. If you lose track, there's a countdown clock on their website at 2wd.com. 2WD never played "holiday" music 24/7 but would increase the frequency of holiday tunes in its playlist the closer it got to Christmas. This year they're switching gears. VARTV hears too that WWDE is avoiding the term "Christmas" to not offend or exclude those who observe Hannukah or Kwanzaa. We also hear that an additional 50 new artists will be added to this year's holiday format... This will give 2WD a great whole market sampling with 13 days left in the ratings period..... (11/19/02) Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting's Spanish 'Radio Vida' WRJR-AM 670 Claremont VA files with the FCC a "Petition for reconsideration and admendment" for a CP on a new experimental station WR2XJR (nighttime only). Right now they hold a CP for 7 watts (0.007kW) nighttime coverage. The experimental station would increase that to 700 watts (0.700kW) at night. Protection needs to be given to "clear channel" stations in the Northern Hemisphere. Their biggest concern is the blowtorch in Chicago - WSRC-AM 670 Young Broadcasting's WRIC-DT (22/ABC) Petersburg VA files with the FCC to "License to cover construction permit." NOTE: The only other licensed DT in Richmond is WWBT-DT (54/NBC/WB) Problems at WTKR-DT... If you're a fan of Hi-Def programming from CBS and live in the Hampton Roads area, well you're poop out of luck. The New York Times owned WTKR-DT (40/CBS) will be off the air for the next few nights. They're having encoder/STL problems. Ted has his hands full. Remember, all of CBS' HDTV programming can be found at cbs.com/info/hdtv/..... (11/18/02) Sky4 to added to DirecTV line-up... The question is when. Independent 'Sky4' WSKY Manteo is installing a microwave link from their distribution tower in Moyock to the DirecTV site on VB Blvd. The equipment is in and ready to go up but they've run into a structural snag with the tower at the DirecTV site which could be will be resolved this week. What WSKY wanted to do is run fiber from their microwave feed at Cox but that caused too much "heartburn" for the people over there. By the way WTKR (3/CBS), WAVY (10/NBC), WVEC (13/ABC), WHRO (15/PBS), WGNT (27/UPN), WTVZ (33/WB), WVBT (43/FOX) and WPXV (49/PAX) are already available on DirecTV. On a second subject … the "little" station just bought a new EFP microwave live truck that you should start seeing around in the next month or so. I say it is new but they purchased it off the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles CA where it was being used for the next Jim Carrey movie called “Bruce Almighty” … Sky4 plans to use it in their local programming effort in 2003. This isn’t an ENG type news van … much larger … VARTV will be getting pictures of the truck when it is done … still waiting artwork. Finally, has anyone noticed the much smaller "bug" WSKY superimposes on your screen. "Bugs" are those transparent network and/or local station logos in bottom right-hand corner of your TV screen so you know AND don't forget what channel you're on. Sky's previous bug was quite large..... (11/18/02) WODC's website gets fresh paint... UPDATED: (originally posted 11/12/02) Christian Contemporary '88.5 Your Lighthouse' WODC has finally gotten around to throwing fresh paint on their website. They have been promising it for awhile now. The Lighthouse can be heard on 88.5 in Virginia Beach and on repeators at 97.9 South Norfolk, 103.7 Chesapeake and 103.9 in Norfolk. Their website can be found at wodc.com. Speaking of WODC, they're also increasing the power on their 97.9 translator in Portsmouth and have already increased it in Norfolk on 103.9..... (11/17/02) More Max Media rumblings... VARTV hears that two former Ray-D-O-Biz stations - Hot AC 'Beach 104' WCXL Kill Devil Hills NC and 'Water Country 94.5' WWOC Hatteras NC - could be getting new LIVE morning shows in the near future. Right now it's the Carolina Virginia Show that's heard on both stations (Editor's opinion - they're awful). As I've said before, I'm really interested to see what happens to WCXL. They put a really good rimshot signal here into Hampton Roads (if "a really good rimshot signal" makes any sense). When owned by Bill Ray, the name "Hampton Roads" was included in the top-of-the-hour ID. By no means do I think they would be a Top 10 station (who knows?), but if the right format was on AND marketed well, they could make an impact here in Hampton Roads. One suggestion - lose the "Beach 104" moniker. Come up with something "catchy." (11/17/02) Just "Comcast" please... When it was announced that AT&T Broadband and Comcast were going to merge, the chosen name for the new company would be "AT&T Comcast." That's been scratched. Not to confuse current and future investors in the company, it's been decided to just call themselves "Comcast Corporation." Good-bye forever the AT&T Broadband name..... (11/16/02) Another revamped website... The #1 radio station in Hampton Roads - Saga's active rocker 'FM99' WNOR - has redone their website at fm99.com. Looks good..... (11/15/02) Some say they can't hear Admirals hockey games... Tris Wykes of the Virginian-Pilot reports ever since the games switched from WHKT-AM 1650 (now a Radio Disney O&O) to Ronn Cowan's Hot Talker/Sports '1450 The Buzz' WBVA, some people just get static when trying to tune in. Admirals fans in Western Branch, Deep Creek, Bowers Hill, Suffolk and portions of the Peninsula say they generally had few problems receiving WHKT's signal. Their tower was and is located near the Chesapeake-Portsmouth border not far from Chesapeake Square Mall beaming out 1kW at night. WBVA broadcasts at 1kW from a tower near the intersection of Newtown and Diamond Springs Rds in Virginia Beach - much farther east. Cowan fires back with “there’s always going to be a gap in coverage, and there always was in the past. There were a lot of people in Virginia Beach, myself included, who couldn’t get the games the last few years.’’ The VARTV HQs is near Mt Trashmore in Virginia Beach and WHKT IS hard to pickup. Read the entire 'debate' at pilotonline.com..... (11/15/02) Congrats to Julian Nieh... Part-timer/fill-in man Julian Nieh of Entercom's rhythmic 'Z-104' WNVZ won "Best New Talent" in the Washington DC market at the Washington DC 2002 AIR Awards given out on Novemeber 13th. He received this award for performing similiar duties at Clear Channel's CHR 'Hot 99-5' WIHT..... (11/15/02) NASCAR's ratings continue to grow... Rain or shine, NASCAR's ratings continue to grow. With Sunday's race from Homestead FL, bringing down the curtain on the 2002 Winston Cup schedule, Nielsen numbers for NBC/TNT's share have grown 13% percent. In Richmond, they've improved 34% to a 7.5 rating (15 share). That makes Richmond, among 50-some metered markets, ninth best in viewership to date say Jerry Lindquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. From all indications, the NBC/TNT gang of rain-delay specialists were much-improved from 2001 when, with the notable exception of pit host Bill Weber, they seemed out of sync. Having to follow, and being compared to, the zanies on FOX (WRLH 35) didn't help, of course. The bar was simply set too high - but the gap is closing. "We're having a lot more fun [this year]," booth analyst Benny Parsons said Thursday, "[and] that has helped our broadcasts." One thing Wrenchheads tuning into Sunday's telecast starting at noon on WWBT (12/NBC) can be sure of - NBC will be concentrating on Tony Stewart and Mark Martin, running 1-2 for the championship..... (11/15/02) Fredericksburg Fall Phase I ... Arbitron's Fall Phase I ratings (August thru October) for Fredericksburg were released earlier today. First was Free Lance-Star's country '93WFLS' with a 15.6 in the 12+. Second, Mid-Atlantic Network's Hot AC 'B-101.5' WBQB edging up to a 10.2. Infinity's talker WJFK and Bonneville's news WTOP tie for third at 5.4. Telemedia's country 'Thunder 104.5' WGRX rounds out the Top 5 at a 3.6. Other local notables... Free Lance-Star's alternative WYSK is tied at 6th with a 3.3, Telemedia's "Virginia's Rockin' Oldies" WGRQ is tied at 8th with a 3.0, Mid-Atlantic Network's adult standards/talk 'The Memories Station' WFVA-A is 10th with a 2.7, Free Lance-Star's 'Classic Rock 96.9' WWUZ is 11th with a 2.4, Piedmont's country WJMA is tied at 15th with a 1.8 and Joyner Radio's country 'C103' WCUL is tied at 29th with a 0.6. Who had the best trend? WGRX. The worst? WWUZ and WGRQ. The entire 12+ ratings can be found at radioandrecords.com..... (11/14/02) Cox in the news... again. Virginia Cox bandwidth "abusers" are receiving letters warning them of their gluttony, but more interestingly listing the actual limits of the service (2GB/day and/or 30GB/month of downloads and 1GB/day and/or 7.5GB/month of uploads). While the letter itself lists the hard limits, the Cox website does not and the company's acceptable use policy is traditionally vague: "You must ensure that your activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user's use of the Service, nor represent (in the sole judgment of Cox) an unusually large burden on the network itself...." Staying with Cox, in Hampton Roads, customers are blaming the $1 million tax error in Chesapeake for the recent rate hikes starting November 1st. Cox officals say "No." They go on to say that this is a traditional time of year for rate hikes - to cover increased programming costs etc. They're getting almost an extra $10/month from yours truly. Robert McCabe of the Virginian-Pilot has the complete story..... (11/14/02) Morning host at WFVA to exit... John Parker, long time morning host on 'The Memories Station' WFVA-AM (1230) will be retiring in early 2003 after 21 years in Fredericksburg, and 55 years in the business. John has had an illustrious career in radio and television. He got his first big break doing play by play for the Michigan State Spartans football team in the 50s. From Lansing MI, John did evening sports on WWJ-TV in Detroit. In the 60s, John did television and radio broadcasts for the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Chargers. In the 70s, John did basketball play-by-play for University of Las Vegas and gave UNLV its famous nickname - “The Runnin’ Rebels.” While in Vegas, he hung out with Robert Goulet and frequent interviews included Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Betty Grable. John Parker will be greatly missed by all. Speaking of WFVA, they now have their own website at am1230wfva.com, a brand spanking new logo and revamped webpage..... (11/14/02) FCC approves AT&T Broadband, Comcast merger ... The FCC today approved the proposed merger of AT&T Broadband and Comcast Cable, bringing the creation of the country's largest cable TV firm one step closer to reality. The deal still needs approval from the US Department of Justice. The combined entity would serve about 27 million subscribers in 17 of the country's top 20 markets. The next-largest operator, Time-Warner Cable, serves about 13 million subscribers. Since the merger would not eliminate competition in any of the cities affected, analysts expect it will pass review by Justice, which examines whether combinations violate antitrust laws. There was no indication when Justice might rule. Both companies have systems throughout the VARTV coverage area. The largest impacted area will be Richmond. Read all about in the Richmond Times-Dispatch..... (11/14/02) Cox decides to just 'eat' a $1 million tax error ... Cox Communications has paid $1 million in back taxes to the City of Chesapeake and won't try to recover any of that money from customers. The $1 million is the guesstimate cost of a glitch discovered last month in which Cox residential telephone customers were underbilled for a local consumer utility tax for 2 1/2 years. Somehow at Cox, "25%" became "25 cents.'' A decades-old law mandates that companies offering residential phone service in Chesapeake charge a utility tax of 25% on the first $50 of a monthly bill, up to $12.50. The news is almost too good to be true for a cash-strapped city that only a few months ago weighed an array of tax increases and is still dealing with the impact of budget cuts says Robert McCabe of the Virginian-Pilot. The mistake within Cox was made in early 2000, when they began its residential phone service in Chesapeake and continued until last month. Cox has about 17,000 residential digital telephone customers in Chesapeake..... (11/13/02) A bigger 'Hampton Roads'... The federal government is redrawing the country’s 280 metropolitan areas from No. 1 New York to No. 280 Enid OK. Under one plan, Hampton Roads could add five counties with nearly 95,00 residents. That would boost the area’s population to almost 1.7 million humans. It could move Hampton Roads up the list of biggest metro areas - becoming 27th-biggest in the country - moving past Orlando, Indianapolis and San Antonio. Two things are for sure. First, our the area will get a new official name – “Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News VA-NC'' It has been “Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News VA-NC.” Still undecided is whether “Hampton Roads'' will be part of that name. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission endorsed the official name “Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (Hampton Roads), VA-NC.'' Historically, there’s never been an official metropolitan area name that included a nickname - Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill NC never has been officially known as “The Research Triangle'' and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point NC never has been officially “The Piedmont Triad.'' Lastly, the government will definitely add at least one more area - Surry County. The feds also will create two new “micropolitan statistical areas'' in North Carolina - the three counties around Elizabeth City (Pasquotank, Perquimans and Camden) and the county surrounding Kill Devil Hills (Dare County, which includes nearly all of the Outer Banks). Those four counties also might be combined with Hampton Roads into a single Combined Statistical Area as mention above with Surry. The last time Hampton Roads grew was when Mathews and Isle of Wight Counties in VA and Currituck County in NC were added. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget will make the final decision, with local input in the spring of 2003..... (11/13/02) Battle of Brains returns... Students and schools participating in the newly revamped "Battle of the Brains" come from as far away as Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and Williamsburg. That means they can't even watch the television show they will be on. But this interest that the students are showing is one reason the program is back on the air. The show, which pits students from two high schools against each other in a test of knowledge, was canceled earlier this year by WCVE (23/PBS). Ratings were low, but students, parents and faculty called for it to reappear somewhere on TV. Hello RICH TV (formerly BLAB-TV) - available on channel 7 on AT&T Broadband and channel 8 on Comcast. "Battle of the Brains" will air tonight the season's first two half-hour shows at 9. The show has a new hostess, Michelle Gary, a new theme song, a new set (constructed by technical school students) and a new format..... (11/13/02) CSI rules the Nielsen ratings... The top 10 shows for the week of November 4th - November 10th were... (show, network, rating) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.2; "Friends," NBC, 17.0; "ER," NBC, 15.5; "Will & Grace," NBC, 13.4; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 13.1; "Monday Night Football: Miami at Green Bay," ABC, 12.8; "Law & Order," NBC, 12.6; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 12.1; "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 11.6; "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 11.3. Last week overall, CBS led with 14.2 million viewers (9.3 household rating, 15 share), NBC 13.3 million viewers (8.6/14), ABC 10.5 million viewers (6.7/11), FOX with 7.4 million viewers (4.5/7), The WB 5.0 million viewers (2.5/4), UPN 4.2 million viewers (2.5/4) and PAX TV 1.2 million viewers (0.9/1). Remember, a ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1% of the country's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. The entire prime-time TV ratings list for the week can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle..... (11/13/02) Verizon outlines plans... Verizon is counting on the appeal of a single bill. Today they outlined their plans to offer long-distance telephone service in Virginia. It emphasized the benefits of "bundled" services that give customers one bill. That bill might include Verizon telephone, high-speed Internet, corporate data and wireless phone services. Verizon offers just one such bundle now, combining local and long-distance telephone services, but it plans numerous combinations. McGregor McCance of the Richmond Times-Dispatch spells it all out. Here's the Daily Press slant..... (11/12/02) Ray-D-O-Biz employess now Max Media employees... It's final! The papers have been signed between Ray-D-O Biz and Max Media. It became offical at noon today as all the employees now work for Max Media. Also Mike Smith has just been announced as the new GM for all 4 stations - Hot AC 'Beach 104' WCXL Kill Devil Hills NC, 'Water Country 94.5' WWOC Hatteras NC, country WQDK Ahoskie NC and full service 'NewsRadio 560' WGAI Elizabeth City NC. He's worked in Greensboro and just recently for the Entercom cluster in Hampton Roads. Still no word on when the 'Carolina Virginia (morning) Show' hosted by previous owner Bill ray will be going... it should be very soon..... (11/12/02) FCC grants "Voluntary Assignment of License" of WCKO-AM 1110 Norfolk VA from Metropolitan Group to Word Broadcasting Network..... (11/12/02) Video-on-demand on Comcast in Chesterfield... Comcast spent more than $3 million in the past year to add VOD (video-on-demand) to the Chesterfield County cable system. VOD lets subscribers rent movies and other programming for a 24-hour period but it requires no disc or tape. Movies and shows are delivered digitally with the same functionality as a regular VHS or DVD rental. They can be paused, restarted or stopped as much as the customer likes within the viewing period. Though Comcast doesn’t release figures for subscribers, new servers let Comcast store 800 hours of VOD programming, up from just 250 a year ago. Without error, the equipment must handle "transactions," which refers to every instance a customer hits "pause," "rewind" or another VOD function. Cable industry analyst Mark Kersey of ARS Inc said Comcast is among the most aggressive companies at rolling out VOD. In Chesterfield, movies recently released for rental cost $4.99 for 24 hours of access. Other VOD programming, including kids' shows, ranges from $1.99 to $2.99. Some say early factors that may affect VOD's early popularity is that movies that leave theaters make a stop in video rental stores before becoming available either through cable company pay-per-view channels or VOD. Whether VOD will be a service added quickly to Richmond-area AT&T Broadband subscribers after the company merges with Comcast is unknown. Oddly, Comcast has emphasized the ongoing importance of VOD as part of its national strategy not AT&T Broadband's fast-selling service – digital telephone. Chesterfield digital cable subscribers have access to two flavors of VOD. One includes movies and other programming that costs for each 24-hour rental. The second is available to those who pay for HBO or Showtime. Each channel includes an inventory of programs available at no extra cost in VOD format. HBO subscribers, for example, can access a limited number of back episodes of "The Sopranos" through video-on-demand..... (11/12/02) fredericksburg.com was recently redesigned ... ...and I must say as a daily reader it is much improved. The site is run by the same fine folks at the Free Lance-Star..... (11/12/02) A cool article on Skywire Communications based in the West End... Holly Carroll of the Richmond Times-Dispatch interviews Jay Silvio and Casey Quinlan, the husband-and-wife team that operates SkyWire Communications Inc, a mobile satellite uplink company that helps TV networks broadcast the news. The entire article can be found at timesdispatch.com..... (11/11/02) World Series didn't do well in Richmond... Richmond viewers were even less interested in the all-California World Series than the rest of the country. Nationally, the Anaheim Angels-San Francisco Giants matchup did an all-time low 11.9 rating/20 share. In Richmond, the Series finished with a 9.8 rating/15 share. The seventh game did a 13.1/19 kept it from being worse locally..... (11/11/02) Channel 13 news... After a trial run, Janet Roach of WVEC's (ABC) "13 News Daybreak" will continue as co-anchor of the 5:30PM newscast as well. That means working a split shift. Her day starts around 4AM. How is she coping with the long hours? asks Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot... "Naps and vitamins,'' said Roach, whose bosses feel the need to showcase her before a larger dinner hour viewership. More from WVEC... Bonita Harris, co-anchor of LNC5 (Local News on Cable) is off the job until January for maternity leave. Congrats to Bonita..... (11/11/02) Tom Randles... the musician... Tom Randles, the WTKR (3/CBS) anchorman who's also a recording artist, tells Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot his second album, "Starting From Scratch'' is about 50% complete. Want to see him jammin'? "Occasionally, I've been sitting in Friday nights at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub Restaurant in downtown Norfolk with a local band called Big Daddy,'' said Randles..... (11/11/02) Ralphie is whacked! If you caught last night's episode of HBO's Sopranos, it was a shocker to see that Ralph Cifaretto was whacked at his home by Tony himself. This is exactly what the critics have said was lacking from this season..... (11/10/02) Lisa, Liz... Someone posted in the DCRTV mailbag that Lisa Carr of Hot AC 'B101.5' WBQB sounded like and looked like Liz Kelly over at Hot AC 'Mix 107.3' WRQX. VARTV did some 'checking' around and well, they are one in the same. Lisa tells me at 'BQB, she's their MD and midday personality and over at 'Mix' she's on Sunday mornings from 6:30-10AM and also fills-in for night girl Amy Paige during the week. Lisa has been in the business for almost 10 years starting out in Tucson - interning - while she earned her BA at The University of Arizona at Tucson. Lisa has come a long way and now is on radio in a Top 10 market. Congratulations! (11/8/02) Updated logo for WBQB-FM 101.5 Fredericksburg VA in the station description..... (11/8/02) The latest technical/background changes... Added station logo for Radio One's Urban AC WKJS-FM 104.7 Crewe VA... FCC grants "License to cover construction permit" for Paxson O&O 'PAX49' WPXV-DT 46 Norfolk VA... FCC grants "Voluntary Assignment of License" to Hubert N Hoffman Jr Family Trust for WZEZ-FM 100.5 Goochland VA and WGGM-AM 820 Chester VA. Hubert N Hoffman Sr is deceased... Added a WGAI-AM 560 top-of-the-hour audio clip in its station description... WRLH-DT (FOX/26) in 480i (low-powered) then WRIC-DT (ABC/22) (testing) signed on October 31, 2002. Richmond now has three digital signals - WWBT signed on in January... Willis Broadcasting based in Norfolk is in the process of dumping more radio stations - this time two in Virginia and one in North Carolina... LIN's FOX affiliate WVBT-DT and Belo's ABC affiliate WVEC-DT were granted "licenses to cover construction permit" for their digital TV stations ... Religious/Shop NBC W39BW (39) Newport News VA files with FCC to increase its ERP to 150kW (now 50kW), change to non-directional and lower the height of antenna... Added Delmarva Broadcasting's WXMD-FM 92.5, University of Maryland - Eastern Shore WESM-FM 91.3 Princess Anne MD and WKHW-FM 106.5 Pocomoke City MD to the VA's Eastern Shore market page... Have decided to add WLSA-FM 105.5 Louisa VA to the Fredericksburg market page... Added W05BQ (5) Norfolk VA which is a translator of WJGN-CA (5) Norfolk VA to the Hampton Roads market page... Class A WXOB-LP (17) Richmond is granted "license to cover" by the FCC... Mark Bradley back in town? VARTV hears that Mark Bradley who once was did mornings at Entercom's Hot AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE is back... But in a completely different capacity. We hear that he'll be in sales within the Entercom cluster with nothing to do on the programming end of things. Bradley left The Point to become the PD up in Baltimore on Clear Channel's classic hits 'B104.3' WOCT (now WXFB). He got fired. VARTV is still in the process of getting more details... Stay tuned...... (11/8/02) Oops... Yesterday morning there was a little gaffe heard on Clear Channel's 'NewsRadio 1140' WRVA. During the "Richmond's Morning News with Jimmy Barrett," a Rolling Stone magazine writer had just started a phone interview with Barrett when all of a sudden the sound dropped out. Listeners were 'treated' to several minutes of commercials for local businesses like "Carpets on Call" and "BOS - Blinds Our Specialty," followed by a lovely interlude of "techno bumper music." When Barrett came back on the air, obviously embarrassed, he explained the problem was a glitch in their "Prophet Systems" machine..... (11/8/02) Classic rock in Richmond... If you're a regular listener to Cox's classic rocker '96.5 The Planet' WKLR, you can hear them use the on-air liner "Richmond's ONLY classic rock station." Well, not to be out done, the folks at Free Lance-Star's 'Classic Rock 96.9' WWUZ now has a liner "Fredericksburg's ONLY classic rock station, Richmond's OTHER classic rock station..." I like that! Rich