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 February 28 2002 WWSO announces new PD Barnstable Broadcasting names Dave Anthony PD of WWSO since flipping from urban oldies 'Soul Classics 92.9' to 70s & 60s oldies 'Oldies 92-9'. He replaces market vet Steve Crumbley. Anthony, with 24 years of radio experience comes, to WWSO from a very successful oldies outlet in York PA... Pioneer Broadcasting's 'Oldies 96.1' WSOX. His previous stints included the launch of WQXL, KOLI 107 FM Ann Arbor MI, KIX-FM Raleigh NC. Anthony will start on March 11th. The difference between these oldies outlets are that WSOX concentrates in the 60s and early 70s where as WWSO plays more tracks from the 70s with some 60s music..... February 28 2002 Central Virginia lagged behind the rest of the country in Winter Olympics ratings NBC's national prime-time rating for the 17 days in Salt Lake City was 19.2. Richmond's DMA did a 17.5 [Hampton Roads' WAVY (10/NBC) garnered a 18.6] but WWBT (12/NBC) isn't complaining at all. Channel 12's Marketing Director Paula Hersh said 'We got great response from viewers and advertisers... NBC did a terrific job.' Local to national comparatives... Figure-skating, WWBT had a local high of 25.1 (compared to a national best 26.8) for the women's long program last Thursday night.... Opening (22.0 to 25.2) and closing (17.0 to 22.3) ceremonies... Men's hockey final, which did a 10.7 nationally (highest, including NHL, since the 1980's gold medal game) but 8.1 on Channel 12..... February 28 2002 Modern rocker 'Y-99.3' is looking for a full-time On-Air Personality  VARTV received the following email from Bill Michaels the Promotions Director for country '93 WFLS' , 'Y-99.3' WYSK and classic hits '96.9 The Rock' WWUZ... On-Air Personality (Full-time)...99-3 WYSK...99-3 WYSK has an immediate opening for an experienced on-air personality. Complete digital studios and team-like atmosphere. Public appearance and production skills necessary. Digital experience a plus. 99-3 WYSK is a modern rock station with a first-class facility. If you have the experience, personality and drive to keep us on top, send air-check cassette/CD and résumé to: Human Resources 99-3 WYSK Radio 616 Amelia Street Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Air-check cassette/CD is required to be considered for this position. Applications are available at 99-3 WYSK, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 or our North Stafford office, 616 Garrisonville Road, Stafford, VA 22554. 99-3 WYSK is an equal opportunity employer.....February 28 2002 'Star 107.3' names OM  Radio vet Jack Alix has been named OM (Operations Manager) for 80s-90s hits 'Star 107.3' WBBT. Alix's 30-year career in radio has included both on-air and management positions in radio stations around the country. In the late 70s through early 80s, he was host of and helped develop "Rock and Roll Roots," a weekly syndicated radio show produced in Richmond at 'Q-94' WRVQ.....February 27 2002 Updated radio market rankings for the new Winter 2002 ratings period  Arbitron recently released new population estimates for the new Winter 2002 ratings period. How do these changes affect VARTV markets? Hampton Roads stays at number 38 up 23,100 listeners to 1,264,600 (+1.83% increase). Richmond stays at number 58 up 2,800 listeners to 850,600 (+0.33%). Fredericksburg drops one place to 165 with 1,700 additional listeners to 227,700 (+0.75%). Down in NC, the Elizabeth City-Nags Head market jumps six(!) spots to 243 with 6,000 additional listeners to 122,100 (+4.91%). Here's the complete list of all 283 markets from Arbitron.....February 26 2002 93FLS' audience is three(!) times as large as B-101.5s  The Winter Arbitrends Phase I (November/December/January) for Fredericksburg released shows country '93 WFLS' WFLS at number 1 with a 20.1 share (+2.9 from the Fall Book). 2nd Hot AC 'B-101.5' WBQB... 7.2 (-2.1), 3rd news WTOP AM/FM... 5.4 (-0.3), 4th alternative 'DC101' WWDC... 3.3 (+0.2), 5th a three-way tie between talk WJFK-FM... 3.0 (+0.5), rhythmic WPGC-FM... 3.0 (-0.4) and modern AC 'Z-104' WWZZ... 3.0 (-0.7), 8th a tie between urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX... 2.7 (-0.4) and oldies 'Virginia's Rockin' Oldies 95.9' WGRQ... 3.3 (-1.0), 10th a tie between urban '106.5 The Beat' WBTJ... 2.4 (+0.3) and urban WKYS... 2.7 (-0.4), 12th a three-way tie between talk/nostalgia 'The Memories Station' WFVA-AM... 2.1 (+0.1), rock 'XL-102' WRXL... 2.1 (+0.7) and modern rock 'Y-99.3' WYSK... 2.1 (+0.1), 15th a five-way tie between 'Classic Rock 94.7' WARW... 1.8 (+0.1), 'Oldies 100' WBIG... 1.8 (+0.1), country 'Thunder 104.5' WGRX... 1.8 (+0.6), urban AC WHUR... 1.8 (-0.2) and classic hits '96.9 The Rock' WWUZ... 1.8 (-0.2), 20th a tie between soft AC 'Soft Rock 97.1' WASH... 1.5 (+0.3) and country '98.7MZQ' WMZQ... 1.5 (+0.4), 22nd a five-way tie between contemporary Christian WAVA... 1.2 (E), classical 'Classical 103.5' WGMS... 1.2 (E), mainstream CHR 'Hot 99-5' WIHT... 1.2 (+0.1), country 'Your Place In The Country' WJMA... 1.2 (+0.1) and 'Smooth Jazz 105.9' WJZW... 1.2 (-0.8), 27th a tie between mainstream CHR 'Q-94' WRVQ... 0.9 (-0.2) and AC 'Lite 98' WTVR... 0.9 (+0.1), 29th a four-way tie between country 'Cruisin' Country C103' WCUL... 0.6 (-0.2), mainstream CHR 'Hot 101.9' WHTE... 0.6 (E), urban AC 'Majic 102.3' WMMJ... 0.6 (NEW) and rock '3WV' WWWV... 0.6 (+0.6). The biggest gainers were country '93 WFLS' WFLS (+2.9), rock 'XL-102' WRXL... 2.1 (+0.7) and country 'Thunder 104.5' WGRX... 1.8 (+0.6). The biggest losers were Hot AC 'B-101.5' WBQB... (-2.1), oldies 'Virginia's Rockin' Oldies 95.9' WGRQ... (-1.0) and 'Smooth Jazz 105.9' WJZW... (-0.8). Cluster totals... 1st Free Lance-Star 22.2 (+3.0), 2nd Clear Channel 16.2 (+1.6) , 3rd Bonneville 9.6 (-0.9), 4th Mid-Atlantic Network 9.3 (-2.6) and 5th Infinity 7.8 (+0.2).....February 26 2002 TV turn-off week? The Virginia Senate killed a resolution to designate April 22 through 28 as 'Virginia TV Turn-Off Week 2002.' The annual TV Turn-Off Week is sponsored by the Washington DC -based TV-Turnoff Network (formerly TV-Free America), a group that uses Nielsen Media Research viewing numbers and other statistics to try to encourage viewers to pull the plug for one week per year. The Virginia House had voted 52-43 to support the week and "encourage all citizens of the commonwealth to find alternatives to watching television during this week." A rep for TV-Turnoff Network knew of no state legislature that has adopted the resolution, although he said some have in past years..... February 25 2002 Big congratulations to Radio One's 'Kiss-FM', 'Power 92 Jamz' and Russ Parr  The Gavin Awards (Gavin Magazine) were given out over the weekend for radio's music formats (Best Label, Best OM/PD, Top Station... in a format). Anyways, in the Small Market Urban AC category Radio One's 'Kiss-FM' WKJS snagged two awards... a tie for the top 'OM/PD' Kevin Kofax and Top Station and 'Power 92 Jamz' snags the same awards in the Small Market Mainstream Urban category... Lamonda Williams (OM/PD) and Top Station. Russ Parr takes the Mainstream Urban Radio Air Personality of the Year award. His syndicated morning show can be heard on 'Hot 102.1' WWHV in Hampton Roads, 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX in Richmond and of course 'KYS' WKYS in DC... his homebase. All the winners can be found at Gavin.....February 25 2002 Times-Dispatch reports on the Fall Arbitrons Yep, that's right the Fall Arbitron's for Richmond that were released almost five weeks ago on 1/23/2002. People complain that the Washington Post is slow with their media news. It gets worse... The Virginian-Pilot nor the Daily Press have reported on Hampton Roads radio numbers. They were issued the same day as Richmonds. Augh. If you're interested here's the article at the Times-Dispatch..... February 25 2002 Arbitrends for the VARTV markets  The Arbitrends for Fredericksburg will be released tomorrow (2/26/2002). Shouldn't see any surprises. Richmond and Hampton Roads numbers are released on March 6. For Hampton Roads, there's a lot to keep an eye out for. First is WWSO. These Trends cover November, December & January. WWSO flipped from urban oldies 'Soul Classics 92.9' to 70s & 60s oldies 'Oldies 92-9' dead smack in the middle of these Trends... December 16th. Eventually, where are the 'new' listeners going to come from? Very few probably stayed thru the switch. Rumor has it that country WCMS will lose some of their audience to the new WWSO. This would be bad news... WCMS tumbled last book from 6.3 to 4.4... ouch! Where will the old listeners that didn't stay thru the switch go to? More than likely to the two urban AC outlets... Entercom's '95-7 R&B' WVKL and Clear Channel's 'Vibe 105' WSVY. WVKL's audience is twice as large as Vibe 105's. The folks at Clear Channel have no immediate plans to mess with the format on WSVY. They feel they can chip away at WVKL's audience. I wish them luck! The second story is new urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV. They moved and increased their tower height in October of last year to greatly improve their coverage area. Remember, their targeted audience lives in the very immediate Hampton Roads area NOT in say... Poquoson or Suffolk. Hot 102 had just a .4 rating in the last book. I have a good feeling that will increase. Their on-air line-up continues to fill in and word-of-mouth helps too. I'm curious what the Trends have in store for Hot 102. For Richmond, does AC 'Lite 98' WTVR continue to enjoy it's new crown as number one? Just a gut feeling... I think so.....February 25 2002 Joe Hoppel news  Longtime(!) morning DJ Joe Hoppel of heritage country WCMS has had a roller coaster life recently. Not too long ago he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After successful surgery, he was off the air for a while just recently returning this month. Now comes news that he has been elected to the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame. It is a well-deserved honor. Each inductee must have served at least 25 years in country radio and contributed to radio's growth as well as helping develop and preserve the enhancement of country music. Joe will be inducted on June 27th. Joe has been waking up WCMS listeners on the station's 'Wake Up Crew' for 47 years. He came to this area from WLOW in Pennsylvania when he was 18. As Joe would say 'Have yourself a nice day, why don't ya? Ya got a nice day for it.' Congratulations, Joe!February 22 2002 CBS & UPN to start cross-programming   Cross-programming (repurposing) between Viacom-owned broadcast networks CBS and UPN will begin on Friday March 15, when repeats of the reality series The Amazing Race 2, which will air on CBS earlier that week, will be rebroadcast on UPN. The Amazing Race 2 will premiere on UPN with back-to-back episodes on March 15th from 8PM to 10PM. Those same episodes will have aired on CBS on Monday March 11th and Wednesday March 13th. Beginning on Friday March 22, The Amazing Race 2 will air in repeat every Friday night on UPN at 9PM, following the first-run episode on CBS, which will air Wednesday nights at 9PM. "When we first brought the complementary assets of CBS and UPN together, we said we would look for unique opportunities where each would benefit from the association," said Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer, CBS. "We think this is an exciting win-win opportunity for The Amazing Race, for both networks and for their respective viewers." Hampton Roads... (3/CBS, 27/UPN) Richmond (6/CBS, 65/UPN) and Fredericksburg (9/CBS, 20/UPN).....February 22 2002 Atlanta Braves dump 'SportsRadio 910'  Having dumped the Richmond Braves after 17 years, 'SportsRadio 910' WRNL in turn has been dumped by the parent Atlanta Braves - and Clear Channel management doesn't like it one bit. Station boss Randall Bloomquist actually went on the air yesterday (2/20/02) afternoon to vent his displeasure, saying the Atlanta Braves backed out of an agreement to broadcast their 2002 schedule on 'SportsRadio 910.' He suggested the team was treating local fans like second-class citizens, saying it was all about money and our wallets aren't fat enough. Last night, Bloomquist said he signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves flagship station WSB but learned earlier this week that the team hadn't given its approval. Remember, that the Richmond Braves games will be on WXGI (AM 950) this season, and there is only so much advertising to go around. So why should the organization, in effect, compete against itself? (Richmond Braves games being broadcasted at the same time as Atlanta Braves games.) Bloomquist stated the station was looking at 'other options' about carrying major-league baseball this summer. 'Who - remains to be seen".....February 20 2002 LIN TV going public  The parent company of WAVY (10/NBC) had filed plans on Wednesday for a $300 million stock sale with the SEC. Based in Providence RI, LIN owns 26 network affiliate and independent stations across the country. In Hampton Roads, LIN also manages WVBT (43/FOX). LIN TV is currently owned by the New York investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc.....February 19 2002 Betty Bodine returns to 'Q94'!  Bodine, a popular radio personality on Clear Channel's 'Q-94' WRVQ who left almost two years ago, is returning tomorrow (2/20/2002) as co-host of the "Wicker in the Morning Show" with Jeff Wicker. She's replacing Gia Moretti who quit several weeks ago for a morning radio show in Sacramento CA. Bodine left in April 2000 after 10 years on WRVQ's various morning shows and 17 years with the station to spend more time with her family. Her child who was three at the time, is now in kindergarten. In addition, Bodine says "turns out my marriage was a bad joke" and she needed her job back. Bodine, who has been featured in phone-in segments during her two-year hiatus, said she's both excited and nervous to be returning. "It's been two years. They say it's like riding a bike, but it's not." Should listeners expect anything different? "More of the same..." She holds the prestigious distinction of ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ given to her by the Richmond Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1999.....February 19 2002 Must Radio One PDs get permission to add new spins? From the Radio Business Report (RBR)... InsideBlackRadio.com writes that Radio One PDs have been effectively neutered and/or spayed: "Inside Black Radio sources hear that Radio One has made it official, "PD's are not allowed to add any new music without checking with corporate first. A memo was sent to all label executives." Apparently, there was no such letter. The responses: "That is absolutely not true," Radio One DC GM Michelle Williams tells RBR. "I don't know where that came from. We are bringing our research in-house since Strategic went under. And so we're kind of changing some of our systems, but that's not true." "We tried to help Strategic stay afloat last year and it didn't work and so we've been moving towards moving our research in-house," adds Radio One COO Mary Catherine Sneed. "So we're going to change the system around a little bit. We've had some conference calls since we've been involving the PDs in it. So I don't know what that's about. I mean that would be crazy-yeah, we're now going to let our CFO add all the records to the station!" Radio One has four stations in Richmond, urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX, hip-hop 'Hot 99-3' WRHH, urban AC '104.7 Kiss FM' WKJS and urban oldies 'Magic 105.7' WJMO plus stations in the DC area..... February 19 2002 Lisa McKay is on the move... again McKay the former PD and afternoon drive host at CHR 'Q94' WRVQ last year jumped ship to recently flipped 80s-90s hits 'Star 107.3' WBBT as their new PD. Now she's on the move again to Curtis Media's country powerhouse '94.7QDR' WQDR down in Raleigh NC as their new PD. They put out a huge signal reach and cover all of central North Carolina very well. We wish you well Lisa!.... February 19 2002 Several media websites are revamped  The biggest is wvec.com. The new site looks good and is very imformative and easy to navigate through. But I have to laugh... the reason is the last several weeks, wvec.com has been taking a survey of online readers asking for their input how to improve the website. Of course many folks filled out this survey out. "Your opinion counts!" But wait... there's nothing new about the layout of their new webpage. Belo Interactive, a subsidiary of Belo Broadcasting and owners of WVEC (13/ABC), has been using this same 'layout' for their hand-full of Texas properties for awhile now. This instantly reminds me of 'Survivor Radio' in DC (former WJMO)... the public will have an input in a brand new radio station right? Nope, the format was already determined just like the 'new' layout of wvec.com... And Hot 102.1 is getting things together... slowly! They also have a revamped website at hot1021.com... Finally, 'UPN27' WGNT revamped their website several weeks ago. All UPN O&Os - which WGNT is - got new makeovers plus WGNT is now using their new domain name of upn27.com.....February 19 2002 WWHV announces new GSM William Reed is now the General Sales Manager for 'Hot 102.1'. Reed has 30 years of media advertising experience, having worked at WNWV in Cleveland OH, WAPE & WHJX in Jacksonville FL and WTMP Tampa FL..... February 18 2002 Is Clear Channel Norfolk reading VARTV? A loyal reader, Parris B Wood, brought it to my attention back on October 25 2001 that Clear Channel's hip-hop '92.1 The Beat' WBHH was not giving a 'legal' top-of-the-hour ID. Their city of license is Moyock NC which is just over the border of Virginia. WBHH was just using 'Norfolk' as the city of license in the IDs. Now Parris tells me and it's confirmed that they have 'fixed' the ID's by dubbing 'Moyock-Norfolk' over the portion of the old IDs that just stated 'Norfolk'. Here's a sample of their new top-of-the-hour ID I recorded at 6PM on 2/18/2002. If you listen closely you can hear the 'dubbed' voice. You can listen to the old WBHH IDs further down this page on October 25 2001..... February 17 2002 The 'Pilot' gets around to announcing new channels coming to Cox Reported here three weeks ago, Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot writes about the three new channels coming to Cox Cable subscribers; Oxygen, The Hallmark Channel which evolved from the Odyssey Network last March and The Filipino Channel. Larry writes that Oxygen will be available on March 1st... it has already been available since February 1st on channel 248. He did have some interesting facts that there are 47,000 Filipino families in Hampton Roads and about 1,500 subscribers to The Filipino Channel already by satellite..... February 17 2002 Sinking to new lows  Bonko also writes that sometime last week, NewsChannel 3 at 6 (WTKR/CBS) pulled an anemic 3.4 rating! How bad is a 3.4 rating at 6 o'clock in Hampton Roads? Well, that's behind the news on WAVY (10/NBC) and WVEC (13/ABC), 'Judge Judy' on 'UPN27' WGNT and reruns of 'The Simpsons' on 'WB33' WTVZ and 'The Steve Harvey Show' on 'Fox43' WVBT. Bonko went on to say 'In my memory, never before has a local newscast at 6PM registered such a low household number'. By the way, Larry has been with the Pilot for a very very long time. This isn't good news at all for Channel 3. This is in the same time period that WTKR pulled Tom Randles and replaced him with market veteran Ed Hughes (read farther down for that news story). I betcha Tom is smiling ear-to-ear and maybe has Ed Hughes thinking it's time for retirement.....February 14 2002 News BURSTS! 'Hot 102.1' has new top-of-the-hour IDs. A lot of stations just cram them somewhere in their stop sets about 10 minutes before the hour and if you don't listen hard enough you'll miss it. WWHV's has always been at the top of the hour. The following 'WMA' file is a sample of those IDs. The first two are brand new that they started using this month. The third is the original one used since sign-on back in August of 2001 and is still used today...  The University Of Richmond has revamped it's radio station (WDCE 90.1) website http://www.student.richmond.edu/~wdce/. I like the old logo they were using, that's the one on the right. They stream their audio over the Internet at 56K (near FM quality). Remember, they are commercial-free and play all kinds of music so check them out!.....February 13 2002 Braves broadcasts move up one notch on the AM dial Rumors confirmed... AM 950 WXGI will broadcast all 144 R-Braves games including the Triple All-Star games for the next three years. The Braves and Clear Channel's 'SportRadio 910' WRNL severed a long-term relationship last week. Robert Fish, voice of the R-Braves since 1996, will announce the games. The big disadvantage for the games being broadcasted on WXGI is their nighttime coverage... it's an anemic 45 watts. WXGI, at night, is best heard in the immediate Richmond city limits. Outside these limits the signal drops off fast the farther one goes from Richmond. WRNL, for the most part, didn't have this problem at night. Additional comments about this subject can be found a couple of articles down this page..... February 13 2002 'Hot 102.1' and 'Z-104' sound better Both stations have new(er) jingles and imaging. I noticed and so did a loyal reader of VARTV (Mr VA Radio) that 'Z-104' was using new packages. To me, they now sound like a CHR a la 'Hot 99-5' in DC as far as jingles go not a rhythmic station. As far as 'Hot 102', I heard new spots from Pezo Coconut; Hot 102's new night-slammer. He will be coming back to Virginia and joining WWHV Monday thru Fridays from 6PM to 10PM..... February 11 2002 From the "How weird is this' file  CNN's voice-imaging guy is well-respected James Earl Jones (This is...CNN). MSNBC also wanted a distinctive voice and now has one. Dee Snider, yes, Dee Snider of 80's band 'Twisted Sister'. Val Nicholas, MSNBC's vice president of advertising, promotion and marketing, said "We'd been looking for a voice for a while - something that would cut through the clutter, and we needed something distinctive so people would know where they are... Dee has a voice that speaks to people - it's a forceful, no-nonsense, no b.s. voice that was talking to me when I heard it." Snider can be heard on MSNBC about every 15 minutes during station breaks. Listeners in Richmond have also gotten a chance to hear Dee. 'XL102' WRXL late last year picked up his weekly morning syndicated radio show out of Connecticut and also carries his 'House Of Hair' syndicated show - two hours of 80's metal. Dee has also done voiceover work for the New York Lottery and Sony. NOTE: The 'House Of Hair' radio show can also be heard on '95.3 & 96.7 The Rock' WOBR//WKJX Sundays 6PM-8PM in the very southern parts of Hampton Roads and NE North Carolina.....February 11 2002 WRNL drops Richmond Braves broadcasts  'SportsRadio 910' won't be broadcasting Richmond Braves baseball games this season after the Braves and WRNL couldn't come to terms on a new contract. Though the Braves are looking for a new radio home, GM Bruce Baldwin said "We left the door wide open for any future considerations." Rumor has it that 'AM 950 WXGI' might pick-up the games for this year. As reported here before, ¿Entiende usted el español? Because if you do, 'La Primera' (AM 1320 WVNZ) will broadcast all 12 home Sunday games at The Diamond starting April 7th with the Charlotte Knights. Juan Ruiz will call the games for 'La Primera'.....February 11 2002 WVEC-DT 41 comes to life over the weekend 
WVEC-DT conducted a low-power test of their digital transmitter and related systems on Saturday, February 9 2002 from 8-11 PM. The test was conducted with regular programming provided by the ABC Network. The featured movie for the night was the James Bond movie "Goldfinger". With this test, WVEC was the second station in Hampton Roads to broadcast a digital signal. The first was WAVY-DT 31 on 3/22/2001. Also on that day from 3-5 in the afternoon, WVEC hosted an 'open house' at the transmitter site for the public who were interested in seeing the transmission side of this technology and discussing it with the WVEC engineering staff. WVEC-DT's transmitter site is located at 5225 Nansemond Pkwy (Route 337) in Suffolk. Speaking of new DTV towers, WHRO's is very near completion. This tower will be the 'base' for WHRO-DT (channel 16), the new home for WHRO & WHRV-FMs and five other TV stations for Hampton Roads. You can follow the the progress of the project including viewing construction pictures here.....February 10 2002 News Q-U-I-C-K-I-E-S I finally heard a local ad on AM 1450 WBVA. Is ad time really that hard to sell on the 'FOX Sports Radio' outlet. Sister station 'CNN Radio AM 1550' WVAB sounds like they have no trouble at all selling local ad spots..... Who will be the new co-host on 'Q-94' WRVQ's 'Wicker In The Morning'? The answer comes on Wednesday the 20th (2/20/2002). Stay tuned..... Here's a question to the owners of contemporary Christian/talk WRJR AM 670 in Claremont (Hampton Roads). Are you 'Praise 670', 'Rejoice Radio 670' or both? WRJR is owned by Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting who also own 'Christian Talk Radio' AM 1010 WPMH and 'AM 1270 The Light' WTJZ. They are in the process of selling a fourth property, WHKT AM 1650, to ABC/Disney..... Well, I also heard for the first time DJs on new urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV Virginia Beach. On Friday & Saturday evenings they offer a 'mix' show as does all the other urban-oriented stations in this market rhythmic 'Z-104' WNVZ, urban '103 Jamz' WOWI and sister hip-hop '92.1 The Beat' WBHH. I really don't listen to any of these 'mix' shows but can tell you that the guys at 'Hot 102' have a long way to go..... WVEC has hired a new ND. He's Michael Valentine from ABC affiliate 'News 25' WEHT in Evansville IN. Valentine moves up the Nielson market-size ladder from #97 to #42. He has a challenge in front of him...dethroning market leader WAVY (10/NBC). He starts March 4th..... February 8 2002 New urban Hot 102.1's on-air line-up is shaping up They have been jockless since sign-on back in August 2001. Just last week, they have added the Russ Parr with Olivia Fox Morning Show 6AM to 10AM weekday mornings. I just received an email from On Top Communications, owners of WWHV, that new PD Parish Brown will be on-the-air from 2PM to 6PM. If you remember Parish is not new to this market; he held the APD title at Barnstable's urban oldies 'Soul Classics 92.9' WWSO but was let go when they flipped formats to oldies. Pezo Coconuts, from highly-rated urban 'Hot 103.9' WHXT in Columbia SC (market size #88), will fill the 6PM to 10PM slot weekdays. The email went on to say 'more to come'..... February 6 2002 Let the Games begin...  NBC is set to broadcast 375½ hours of Olympic coverage beginning on Friday (2/8/2002) over three networks... NBC, CNBC & MSNBC. In the VARTV area, the Games will broadcast over-the-air on Channel 12 WWBT in the Richmond area, Channel 4 WRC in the Fredericksburg area and on Channel 10 WAVY in Hampton Roads. Do you have an HDTV tuner? For most Virginians, there will be an HDTV signal for the High-Definition broadcasts. To see the Games in high-def in Fredericksburg tune to WRC-DT (channel 48), in Richmond WWBT-DT (channel 54) and WAVY-DT (channel 31) in Hampton Roads. For other areas around the Commonwealth, folks in SW VA will be able to see the high-def broadcasts on Channel 28 WCYB-DT and for people far east of Bristol, far south of Petersburg and far west of Hampton Roads might be able to pick-up WNCN-DT channel 55 from Raleigh NC. NBC's complete HDTV telecasts can be found at nbcolympics.com.....February 5 2002 What's going on at WBVA? When AM 1450 WBVA dumped Radio Disney, they simulcasted 'CNN Radio' with sister station AM 1550 WVAB. During national commercial breaks, both WBVA and WVAB filled those spots with local ads. WVAB had one set of ads while WBVA was running a totally different set. Since flipping to FOX Sports Radio, WBVA hasn't run one single local ad. We just hear promos for certain shows on FOX Sports Radio... sometimes twice... during a stop-set. Is WBVA having trouble selling ads? Is FOX Sports Radio just a temporary format? WBVA's top-of-the-hour ID is the same one they used when Radio Disney was the format. Stay tuned..... February 3 2002 Ed Munson of WAVY picks up additional duties The GM of Channel 10 will now oversee programming at two stations in the Providence RI market... 'CBS 12' WPRI and 'FOX Providence' WNAC (channel 64). LIN Broadcasting, the owners of WAVY, recently signed a MSA or Management Service Agreement with the owners of Sunrise Television Corp (channels 12 and 64). Munson's plate is getting full. Not only is he 'seeing over' these two new stations, he also programs WAVY, WVBT (43/FOX) and has a JSA with 'PAX 49' WPXV in Hampton Roads. GM's here are not new to overseeing other stations in other markets... Meg LaVigne of 'UPN 27' WGNT also has WUPA in Atlanta and Scott Sanders of 'WB33' WTVZ oversees 'FOX35' WRLH in Richmond.....February 3 2002 Carolyn Castleberry gets the nod  As reported last month on this page, Thomas Roberts who had anchored the 5PM newscast on WAVY (10/NBC) since December 1999 has made the move to HOT-lanta to join CNN Headline News. Cahnnel 10 has made the decision to team up Carolyn Castleberry with Alveta Ewell for the 5PM timeslot. With this pairing, this is the second all-female news anchoring team in Hampton Roads. The other is over at WVEC (13/ABC) at the same time... Regina Mobley and Sandra Parker.....February 3 2002 'W-A-V-Y News 10 at 11' will still be on at 11PM during the Olympics... ... but on a different channel. The owners of WAVY (10/NBC), LIN Broadcasting, have a JSA or Joint Sales Agreement with 'PAX 49' WPXV. For awhile now, you can watch the 5 and 5:30PM newscasts live and rebroadcast of the 6PM newscast at 7 and 11PM newscast at 11:30PM of WAVY on 'PAX 49'. Did you get that? So during the Olympics and not to miss a successful beat (number 1 at 11PM 64 out of the last 68 ratings periods), a viewer can watch LIVE the 11PM news by WAVY on Channel 49. NBC is wrapping up Olympic coverage at 11:30PM and WAVY will also do a LIVE newscast at that time on Channel 10. Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot points out that weather reporter Don Slater and sports director Bruce Rader pull extra duties. Besides being 'on' live at 11 and 11:30 PM they also appear on WVBT's (43/FOX) 10PM newscast. So let me get this straight, Don and Bruce can be seen at 5, 5:30, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 11:30... AUGH! February 1 2002 Z-104's website gets a face lift  Their website went from 'very lame' to 'lame' with their recent makeover. Since I visited, I'll never go back... there's no reason to. Z-104 is owned by Entercom who has three other stations in the market... AC '2WD' WWDE, urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL and Hot AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE. All three of those station websites are all alike... boring. A website CAN be a great additional advertsing tool in the sense of listener involvement. There is nothing on any of their websites that make me say "I'm going to check back". Check out Z-104's revamped website at z104.com.....January 31 2002 The Russ Parr with Olivia Fox Morning Show debuts in Hampton Roads Rumor had it early on that 'Hot 102.1' was going to carry the 'Russ Parr Morning Show with Olivia Fox'. Steve Hegwood the president of On Top Communications (owners of WWHV) came from Radio One and worked with Washington DC based Russ Parr (urban 93.9 WKYS-FM). Steve still consults for Radio One. Several times this morning, Russ mentioned his new affiliate on-the-air. There was a funny piece about rapper Timberland acting all stupid calling from Virginia Beach. Now with Russ Parr on 'Hot 102.1', the urban-orientated morning show scene here gets a little crowded... there's Doug Banks on Clear Channel's hip-hop '92.1 The Beat' WBHH, Tom Joyner on sister station urban AC 'Vibe 105' WSVY and popular local shows like Clear Channel's 'The Supreme Team' on urban '103Jamz' WOWI..... January 28 2002 Cox Cable Hampton Roads will add three new channels    On February 1st, the Oxygen network (the channel by women for women) will be added to the Cox Digital Cable 'Variety Package' on channel 248. They compete for the same audience as the 800-pound gorilla of women's networks... Lifetime (the 'woman in distress' network). Oxygen had a very slow start with alot of internal problems but seems to have overcome their early hurdles. The following month on March 1st, The Hallmark Channel will be added to the same package on channel 249. Hallmark offers family entertainment and is the exclusive home of the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. Also on March 1st, The Filipino Channel will be added as a premium service costing additional $10.95/month for Cox Digital Cable customers on channel 392. With the exception of the West Coast, Hampton Roads has the largest concentration of Filipinos in the country especially Virginia Beach. TFC has a potentially big audience here. Cox has recently been more diverse ethnically with recent new channels of MBC Network & NUE-TV geared towards African-Americans, HBO Latino and now The Filipino Channel....January 27 2002 That didn't take long!  As reported on this page several times, ABC/Disney has purchased AM 1650 WHKT Portsmouth for somewhere around $1.2 million from Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting who also owns 'Rejoice 670' WRJR-AM, 'Christian Talk' WPMH-AM 1010 and 'AM 1270 The Light' WTJZ. WHKT was broadcasting a standards format until flipping to Radio Disney in December 2001. The sale should be finalized around April 1. At that time, they will exclusively broadcast Radio Disney... no more sports including AAA baseball team Norfolk Tides & the AHL Norfolk Admirals. The Tides have already found a new home on 'ESPN Radio 1310' WGH this Spring with WHKT fulfilling their contract with the Admirals through the playoffs. WGH has made it known they are interested in picking up the Admirals local broadcast rights. After Radio Disney switched from AM 1450 WBVA to WHKT, it didn't take long at all for Disney to make their move. Since Radio Disney came on-the-air in Hampton Roads, it has been one of the most successful markets for them. WHKT broadcasts 10kW during the day and 1kW at night. I suspect that Disney will change the calls shortly.....January 26 2002 WJYJ-FM Fredericksburg is sold   WJYJ and WJYA-FM Emporia which were broadcasting Christian contemporary 'Joy-FM' are sold to CSN International for $3.32 million. CSN International, founded in 1993, is a non-profit organization, an outreach of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls ID which broadcasts biblical teaching and praise and worship music 24 hours a day to communities throughout the United States and the world. The main station of the 'Calvery Satellite Network' is KAWZ-FM in Twin Falls. WJYJ was the main station in the 'Joy-FM' network. They also operated a dozen translators throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia including ones in Richmond & Williamsburg. Did this sale spell the death of the 'Joy-FM' network? I tried to listen to 'Joy-FM' online and their audio streams are no longer in service. CSN has already had a 'little toe-hold' in Virginia. They own the 19 watt matchstick 91.3 W217BC in Fredericksburg.....January 25 2002 COX High Speed Internet wants us to understand Apparently the conversion from the '@Home' network to the 'COX.net' network isn't going as smoothly as Cox officials would like. Here's a copy of an email the fine folks at COX High Speed Internet sent me this morning... As you may know, we are in the midst of converting over half a million customers nationwide to our new Cox High Speed Internet service this month. This aggressive timeframe creates a tremendous amount of activity for our customer care centers, which can lead to extended hold times when calling for conversion support. If you have experienced long hold times when calling in for conversion support, we offer our sincere apologies. We understand that long hold times can be frustrating, and we will continue to add resources and alternative communication channels to better support you throughout this process. We expect to return to normal call volumes within the next few weeks. Many of our customers have found that their questions can be answered via our support site. Please click http://email10.flonetwork.com/cgi-bin10/flo?y=eN750DnojM0GYq0eO50Ap for a quick tour of the site and overview of available conversion information. This site can also assist you with the conversion process... Finally, we want to thank you for your patience during this conversion. We're confident that the new features and the nhanced reliability of Cox High Speed Internet will be worth your effort in making the switch. Cox High Speed Internet Team..... January 23 2002 103 Jamz and 2WD make strong gains in the 'Fall' book  Arbitron's Fall book for Hampton Roads released puts urban '103 Jamz' WOWI at number 1 with an 9.5 share (+1.9 from the Summer book). 2nd AC '2WD' WWDE... 8.3 (+2.4), 3rd active rock 'FM99' WNOR... 6.4 (+0.4), 4th sister classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX... 6.1 (-0.2), 5th rhythmic CHR 'Z-104' WNVZ... 5.3 (-0.7), 6th country 'Eagle 97.3' WGH... 5.2 (+0.1), 7th talk '790 TalkRadio' WNIS... 5.0 (+0.5), 8th black gospel 'Star 94.1' WXEZ-FM//WFOG-AM... 4.6 (-1.3), 9th a three-way tie between country 'Country Legends & Today's Favorites' WCMS... 4.4 (-1.9), hot AC '94.9 The Point' WPTE... 4.4 (-0.6) and urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL... 4.4 (-0.1), 12th smooth jazz 'CD 107.7' WJCD... 3.0 (+0.4), 13th former urban oldies 'Soul Classics 92.9' WWSO... 2.8 (+0.1), 14th alternative '96X' WROX... 2.6 (E), 15th a tie between hip-hop '92.1 The Beat' WBHH... 2.4 (+0.1) and urban AC 'Vibe 105' WSVY... 2.4 (+0.5), 17th AAA '93-7 The Coast' WKOC... 1.6 (-1.0), 18th nostalgia 'Joy' WJOI-AM... 1.5 (-0.5), 19th news/talk '850 NewsRadio' WTAR... 1.4 (+0.1), 20th sports 'ESPN Radio 1310' WGH-AM... 0.8 (E), 21st oldies 'Surf 92.3' WSRV... 0.6 (+0.1), 22nd gospel WPCE-AM... 0.5 (-0.8), 23rd a tie between urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV... 0.4 (NEW) and AC 'Xtra 99.1' WXGM... 0.4 (-0.2). Biggest gainers were AC '2WD' WWDE... (+2.4) and urban '103 Jamz' WOWI... (+1.9). The biggest losers were 'Country Legends & Today's Favorites' WCMS... (-1.9), black gospel 'Star 94.1' WXEZ-FM... (-1.3) and AAA '93-7 The Coast' WKOC... (-1.0). Cluster totals... 1st Entercom 22.4 (+0.1), 2nd Barnstable 17.8 (-2.9) and 3rd Clear Channel 17.3 (+2.9). Note: This is the first book that new urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV showed up in. Time will tell what impact they will have.....January 23 2002 Power 92 Jamz continues to fall; Lite 98 stretches its lead in Richmond  Arbitron's Fall book released for Richmond shows shows AC 'Lite 98' WTVR at number 1 with a 11.3 share (+2.6 from the Summer book). 2nd urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX... 7.5 (-1.5), 3rd country 'K95' WKHK... 6.5 (-1.1), 4th a tie between classic hits '96.5 The Planet' WKLR... 6.0 (+1.0) and news/talk 'NewsRadio 1140' WRVA... 6.0 (+0.3), 6th urban AC '104.7 Kiss FM' WKJS... 5.6 (+0.7), 7th sister urban oldies 'Majic 105.7' WJMO... 5.5 (-0.2), 8th mainstream CHR 'Q-94' WRVQ... 5.4 (-1.1), 9th urban '106.5 The Beat' WBTJ... 4.8 (-1.2), 10th hot AC 'B103' WMXB... 4.6 (+0.3), 11th sister alternative 'Y-101' WDYL... 3.4 (+0.6), 12th rock 'XL-102' WRXL... 3.0 (-0.4), 13th 80s & Beyond 'Star 107.3' WBBT... 2.2 (E), 14th nostalgia 'Unforgettable 1320' WVNZ... 1.8 (+0.4), 15th hip-hop 'Hot 99-3' WRHH... 1.7 (-0.4), 16th a tie between 'Smooth Jazz 93.1' WJZV... 1.6 (-0.6) and classic country/bluegrass 'AM 950 WXGI'... 1.6 (E), 18th sports 'SportsRadio 910' WRNL... 1.5 (E), 19th a tie between talk 'Hot Talk WHAP 1340/Hot Talk WLEE 990' and WHAP-AM//WLEE-AM... 1.1 (+0.5) and adult standards 'EZ-100.5' WZEZ... 1.1 (NEW), 21st black gospel 'Star 94.1' WXEZ... 0.9 (+0.3), 22nd a tie between gospel 'The Light' WFTH-AM... 0.7 (E) and religious 'Rejoice Radio AM 1540' WREJ... 0.7 (-0.2), 24th a tie between classic hits '106.9 The Fox' WAFX... 0.6 (NR) and gospel 'Your Gospel Connection' WGCV-AM... 0.6 (+0.1) and 26th urban oldies 'The Heart & Soul Of Richmond' WCLM-AM... 0.6 (+0.1). Biggest gainers were AC 'Lite 98' WTVR... (+2.6), adult standards 'EZ-100.5' WZEZ... (+1.1... never rated before) and classic hits '96.5 The Planet' WKLR... (+1.0). The biggest losers were urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX... (-1.5), urban '106.5 The Beat' WBTJ... (-1.2), country 'K95' WKHK... (-1.1) and 'mainstream CHR 'Q-94' WRVQ... (-1.1). Cluster totals... 1st Clear Channel 32. (-0.5), 2nd Radio One 20.9 (-1.6) and 3rd Cox 20.5 (+2.6). Also to note, as a noncommercial station, WCVE (88.9 FM), Richmond's public radio station, isn't included in the ratings book but acccording to figures supplied separately to WCVE, however, the station received a 5.1 share of the 12 and older listeners, which would place them 9th overall. Morning drive numbers put AC 'Lite 98' WTVR first by a wide margin, followed by urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX and urban AC 'Kiss-FM' WKJS. Lite 98 dominated afternoon drive by even more, followed by Power 92 and country 'K95' WKHK.....January 23 2002 WWBT-DT is on-the-air Chip Kelly's 100000watts.com is reporting that WWBT-DT is broadcasting its regular schedules. The digital station is located on channel 54 but you'll need a digital ready television set to view programming. They're broadcasting in SDTV, not true HDTV. On channel 54-1 you'll find... NBC, on 54-2... The WB and on 54-3 local weather. It is unsure right now if WWBT plans to broadcast in true HDTV during prime-time hours, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno or the XIX Winter Games at the Olympics or continue with their multicasting in SDTV... Stay tuned..... January 22 2002 Check Cox.net's system status online To expand on the piece below about problems with Personal Webpages and outages, you can check the status of the Cox.net system online. Access it here at http://status.cox.net/..... January 21 2002 Wolf raps TV liquor ads plan Peter Hardin of The Richmond Times-Dispatch takes a look at Virginia congressman Frank R. Wolf's plan to have NBC reconsider its decision to air hard liquor ads on TV. Read the article here..... January 20 2002 Cox high-speed customers in Hampton Roads frustrated by changeover After Excite@Home slipped into its financial black hole, Cox sped up plans to build its own $150 million high-speed Internet network. They mailed conversion kits out to its 550,000 customers, who need to convert to the new network by February 28 when @Home disappears. But this hasn't gone without hitches. Local Cox officials said, from their end, the problem lies in the intricacy of the changeover. Hampton Roads was the company's first market to adopt the infant Cox.net system. So it's the first to work out its kinks. Yippy for us! Colette Jelineo, vice president of marketing, said 'You just cannot anticipate every issue that's going to come up... It's like building a new Internet.' Read the entire article online by Vandana Sinha of the Virginian-Pilot. Editor's note: I have experienced the same problems mentioned in Vandana's article about several outages lasting for several hours in the afternoon. I'm also using their 'webspace' but haven't been able to upload anything to it (almost a week now!) since I uploaded my original files just shortly after switching over to Cox.net... augh!..... January 19 2002 An anchor shake-up at 'NewsChannel 3'   WTKR (3/CBS) shook up its low-rated 6PM newscast by replacing Tom Randles with Ed Hughes, who has been with 'NewsChannel 3' for over 30 years (1967). ND John Wessling said 'We see it as an opportunity to have two local broadcasting icons in Ed and Barbara on the same newscast' and the move was 'not related directly to the ratings'. On-air promos are now taunting the 6PM newscast with almost 60 years of experience. WTKR's management looked to the Randles-Ciara 'combo' to lift the ratings at 6PM ever since Ciara started on-camera July 25, 2001...hired away from WVEC (13/ABC). It never happened. In the November 2001 TV Nielsens, Channel 3 was 4th at 6PM, behind top-rated WAVY (10/NBC), WVEC (13/ABC) and Judge Judy(!) on 'UPN-27' WGNT. You have to go back to November of 1995, to find a time when WTKR came close to challenging WAVY for the No. 1 spot at 6 o' clock. Randles will go it alone at 5PM and be joined by Barbara Ciara at 5:30. As far as Ed Hughes is concerned, as Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot puts it 'His number has come up again'. Hughes is a Navy veteran who's usually at the forefront of WTKR's military coverage. In returning to the 6PM newscast, he's on familiar turf, having co-anchored there in the past with Jane Gardner (remember her?) and Randles, shortly after Randles signed on with Channel 3 over nine years ago from Miami. With the February sweeps fast approaching, we'll see if any of these moves will change Hampton Roads' TV news viewing habits.....January 18 2002 New survey methods change local TV ratings in Richmond Last week Douglas Durden reported on what was found in the local news November TV sweeps. For the first time, the ratings were based not only on viewing diaries kept by participants, but even more so on information gathered from in-house meters installed in October..... January 18 2002 Local TV news runs amok! Details right now! Dave Addis, a Virginian-Pilot columnist, makes some funny jabs at the always 'over-hyped' TV newscasts. Read the entire article online from the Virginian-Pilot..... January 16 2002 Does Hampton Roads have a second sports station?  Doing a radio scan today on the AM side, I found that AM 1450 WBVA has ended their simulcast of sister station 'CNN RADIO - AM 1550 WVAB' and are now doing FOX Sports. I spoke with the owner, Ronn Cowan, several months ago about bringing something brand new on WBVA after they dropped Radio Disney. He was referring to some sort of FOX News but that hasn't materialized. Checking the Winter 2002 station information form on file for WBVA with Arbitron also lists them doing FOX Sports Radio. They will go head-to-head with Virginia's only all-sports station 'ESPN Radio 1310' WGH. As Radio Disney, WBVA never showed up in the ratings but was one of the most successful Radio Disney affiliates in the country. Maybe with the right mix of local/state sports and national games, WBVA might be able to get a small share of the pie. In the latest Arbitrends, "ESPN Radio 1310' only managed to garner a 0.9 share. I'll put in an e-mail to the owner and maybe he can shine some light on his plans for WBVA.....January 15 2002 FLS almost doubles its radio share over B-101.5 Arbitron's Fall book released for Fredericksburg shows country '93 WFLS' again at number 1 with a 17.2 share (+1.7 from the Summer book). 2nd Hot AC 'B-101.5' WBQB... 9.3 (-3.1), 3rd news WTOP AM/FM... 5.7 (-0.2), 4th a tie between oldies 'Virginia's Rockin' Oldies 95.9' WGRQ... 3.7 (+1.2) and 1/3 mainstream CHR - 2/3 modern AC 'Z-104' WWZZ... 3.7 (+1.2), 6th rhythmic CHR WPGC-FM... 3.4 (-0.6), 7th a tie between urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX... 3.1 (+1.9) and alternative 'DC101' WWDC... 3.1 (+0.3), 9th urban WKYS... 2.8 (-0.5), 10th talk WJFK-FM... 2.5 (-1.8), 11th a six-way tie between urban '106-5 The Beat' WBTJ... 2.0 (+0.4), talk/nostalgia 'The Memories Station' WFVA-AM... 2.0 (-0.2), urban AC WHUR... 2.0 (+0.4), 'Smooth Jazz 105.9' WJZW... 2.0 (-0.5), classic hits '96.9 The Rock' WWUZ... 2.0 (+0.1) and modern rock 'Y-99.3' WYSK... 2.0 (+0.4), 17th a tie between 'Classic Rock 94.7' WARW... 1.7 (+0.1) and 'Oldies 100' WBIG... 1.7 (NR...+1.7), 19th rock 'XL-102' WRXL... 1.4 (-0.5), 20th a nine-way tie between soft AC 'Soft Rock 97.1' WASH... 1.1 (+0.5), contemporary Christian WAVA... 1.1 (NR... +1.1), classical Dub-JewGMS... 1.1 (-0.1), country 'Thunder 104.5' WGRX... 1.1 (-0.1), mainstream CHR 'Hot 99-5' WIHT... 1.1 (NR... +1.1), country 'Your Place In The Country' WJMA... 1.1 (-0.5), classic rock '96-5 The Planet' WKLR... 1.1 (NR... +1.1), country '98.7 WMZQ' WMZQ... 1.1 (+0.5) and mainstream CHR 'Q-94' WRVQ... 1.1 (+0.2), 29th a three-way tie between country 'Cruisin' Country C103' WCUL... 0.8 (-0.1), Hot AC 'Mix 107.3' WRQX... 0.8 (-0.8) and AC 'Lite 98' WTVR... 0.8 (-0.8), 32nd a four-way tie between mainstream CHR 'Hot 101-9' WHTE... 0.6 (E), Hot AC '92.5 WINC-FM' WINC... 0.6 (NR... +0.6), news/talk WMAL-AM... 0.6 (-0.3) and finally sports 'SportsTalk 980' WTEM... 0.6 (NR... +0.6). The biggest gainers were urban 'Power 92 Jamz' WCDX (+1.9), country '93 WFLS' WFLS (+1.7), 'Oldies 100' WBIG (+1.7) and oldies 'Virginia's Rockin' Oldies 95.9' WGRQ (+1.2). The biggest losers were Hot AC 'B-101.5' WBQB... (-3.1), talk WJFK-FM (-1.8), Hot AC 'Mix 107.3' WRQX (-0.8) and 'AC 'Lite 98' WTVR... 0.8 (-0.8). Cluster totals... 1st Free Lance-Star 19.2 (E), 2nd Clear Channel 14.6 (+2.3), 3rd Mid-Atlantic Network 11.9 (-1.9), 4th Bonneville 10.5 (-0.9) and 5th Infinity 7.6 (-0.2).....January 13 2002 What will January bring to the tube? The Virginian-Pilot takes a look at what 2002 will bring us on the 'Boob-Tube'..... January 12 2002 Richmond Braves on radio? . . . hablo Espanol? The Richmond Braves still don't have a radio home for next season, but some of their games will be heard locally in Spanish. La Primera Radio (AM 1320/WVNZ) "will carry select games for the Hispanic community," said Braves General Manager Bruce Baldwin. Now, about that alleged extension with 'SportsRadio 910' WRNL... it was thought that it was a done deal. With the season only three months away, is there any chance the team will have a new air address?..... January 11 2002 The first 'adult' R&B radio war casualty  Nia Ngina Meeks of the Virginian-Pilot wrote an article of the format flip of 'Soul Classics 92.9' to 'Oldies 92-9' WWSO. Don London, director of programming for Entercom Norfolk which includes urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL said "Things just got too intense and someone had to bail out...unfortunately it was them...or, you could say fortunately, for us." Former PD Steve Crumbley of WWSO said that in addition to the ad dollar crunch, listeners lean toward a diversified R&B format. Soul Classics 92.9 played hits from the 60s, 70s and early 80s. Crumbley said that African-Americans also wanted to hear from newer artists like Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys and Usher. That's how '95-7 R&B' and 'Vibe 105' have thrived...mixing it up. Both of those stations did slip in the summer 12+ Arbitron ratings but reps from both stations said the more important point is remaining strong among the adult market...listeners aged 25-54; '95-7 R&B' was fourth and 'Vibe 105' was 16th. Operations Manager for Clear Channel Norfolk, Daisy Davis, said that the Vibe plans to 'pluck' Soul Classics listeners left homeless. She went on to say "We haven't reached our potential...there's still a lot of room for growth with that station (Vibe 105/WSVY). And we plan to take some numbers from 'VKL (95-7 R&B/WVKL)." They have a long way to go to catch '95-7 R&B'. We won't know for awhile what the impact will be with the demise of 'Soul Classics 92.9' but time will only tell.....January 10 2002 Richmond's Bobalou (Norm Freedlander) passes away Richmond's Bobalou (Norm Freedlander) passed away yesterday. For many personalities he was a true friend and mentor who was totally unique in the industry. Bobalou worked at mainstream CHR 'Q94' WRVQ in Richmond and, at times, a few other stations in the area, plus a stint at 'B96' WBBM in Chicago in the early 80's. Read the entire article online from the (Richmond Times-Dispatch). Services were held on Friday January 11th..... January 9 2002 Cox High Speed Internet As you may know, if you receive your Internet access through '@Home' they are ceasing operations on February 28th and migrating everyone to 'Cox.net'. You'll receive a 'toolbox' looking kit in the mail including a CD, user manual and quick reference guide. I have been through the process and it is fairly easy. If you have multiple email accounts and/or webpages it is a little more involved. Anyways, if you are completely overwhelmed, tune your TV to channel 78. Cox is running a continuous loop of a 10 minute video explaining the conversion process. Because of this, we're losing PIN - Product Information Network... it won't be missed..... January 9 2002 Norfolk Tides find a new home on radio dial  The Norfolk Tides are moving their radio broadcasts down the dial to sports 'ESPN Radio 1310' WGH after signing a three-year contract. The Tides broke ties with AM 1650 WHKT after WHKT flipped from nostalgia to Radio Disney. The Norfolk Admirals hockey team, which also broadcasts on WHKT, is in the final year of a three-year contract and may opt to go elsewhere on the dial, team sources said. If Disney has its way, the Admirals won't return to WHKT. With the addition of the Tides during the summer months, they fill a gap that 'ESPN Radio 1310' had trouble filling. WGH-AM bills itself as 'Virginia's Only All-Sports Station'. Read the entire article online from The Virginian-Pilot or from the Norfolk Tides.....January 4 2002 TV and 'The Snowstorm' Man, did we get clobbered by the snow or what here in Hampton Roads. About 12 hours before the event started, the three main local stations had their weather personalities trying to predict when, what, where and how much snow we were going to get. Here in Virginia Beach it is a little harder to predict snow because we are so close to the warm Atlantic waters so I'll use us as the example. The folks over at WAVY (10/NBC) were forecasting a 'mix' (basically no accumulation) right along the immediate coast. After 10 inches of a 'mix' and Virginia Beach reportedly, as of this story time, spending $350,000 on snow removal, Channel 10... BLEW IT! Sorry Don, Fred and Jim... Jon Cash is spared... he's on vacation. Channel 3 (WTKR/CBS) was better. Dave Parker and the gang also predicted 'some mix' but they also stated we would receive 2 to 5 inches... well short of what we really got. I have to tip my hat off to Jeff Lawson over at Channel 13 (WVEC/ABC). Jeff came on the air and didn't use his "I'm going to go out-on-the-limb" speech and gave us three possible senarios for the entire coverage area. Basically they were all the same... EVERYONE would receive a good amount of snow but each senario varied slightly on amounts and where. Jeff, Craig, Evan and Jude were right-on! And more kudos for Channel 13... they didn't run ANY closings what-so-ever during the Rose Bowl... no 'crawls', 'bugs' or cropping the video to squeeze-in station logos and sponsors... THANK YOU! January 1 2002 Roberta T Vowell of The Virginian-Pilot wrote of LeAnne Rains…the former WTKR anchor Rains has one more reason to savor her role as stay-at-home mom... she gave birth to her third child, Marco Benedetto, on Aug. 13. "Two toddlers were a breeze,'' she said with a laugh. "A baby is tough.'' Rains-Benedetto, 36, left the news business in May after 15 years as a television reporter and anchor. "I'm smart enough to know I can't have everything,'' she said at the time. There were rocky moments for the whole family -- LeAnne, Marco, pre-schooler Allie, toddler Juliette, and husband Michael Benedetto, who works in his family's recycling firm. "If you have been making good money all your professional life, making no money is a big adjustment,'' she said. "It's not that we're poor. Far from it. It's just that it was my money.'' Then there was the business of actually keeping house, in Virginia Beach. "I had no idea how dirty my house was,'' Rains-Benedetto said. "I can't believe how much I had to tune out to keep going. . . What your floor looks like. Your cobwebs. I didn't spend that much time here. I was in motion, either going to work or picking the kids up, in and out.'' To relax, she's turned to yoga. "Very calming,'' she said. She's done a few free-lance jobs, but finds that most people don't understand how few hours she wants to work. "They'd call and say, 'I have three days I need you for this week, and 40 hours next week.' I've got to put my family first. “I actually started feeling a sense of sorrow for my spouse. I see how much he's missing. This definitely was the right decision."..... January 1 2002 News blurbs from VARTV area newspapers The (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star... "Businesses Had Ups and Downs" has a little blurb about all the complaints the Newspaper received earlier this month about Adelphia cable, The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch "Surviving on 'Survivor' - Virginian has chance at winning on show" talks about 'Big Tom' on CBS' show 'Survivor' and The (South Hampton Roads) Virginian-Pilot "TV tastes reflect dose of reality" and "The year in Hampton Roads TV" take a look at the year in review..... News Archives.....  |
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