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 Henry 'The Bull' Del Toro dead! — 6/29 — Henry 'The Bull' Del Toro, once a popular and controversial figure in Hampton Roads radio, was found dead Friday evening. He was 44 years old. The entire article is online at pilotonline.com..... Off the air — 6/28 — Just after 2 o'clock this afternoon, urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV has been off-the-air. The T-1 line between the station and the tower is down. It was supposed to be up by 5 but that didn't happened. Finally, just before 8:30 in the evening they were back up..... 
Hampton Roads radio Phase II Arbitrends — 6/28 — 103 Jamz falls from number 1! Now, a full share separates the new #1 AC '2WD' WWDE and WOWI. Entercom's urban AC '95-7 R&B' WVKL is just three-tenths out from '103 Jamz.' Where has WOWI's audience gone to? Not to sister hip-hip '92.1 The Beat' WBHH. They slid down to a 2.0. And not to 'Hot 102.1' WWHV. They dropped a notch to 1.2. Questions. Questions. For the most COMPLETE and DETAILED 12+ rankings anywhere for Hampton Roads click here.....
Richmond radio Phase II Arbitrends — 6/28 — Status quo in Richmond... 'K95' WKHK had a good month - up one full ratings point to take over second place. For the most COMPLETE and DETAILED 12+ rankings anywhere for Richmond click here.....Ch-ch-changes coming to AT&T Broadband Richmond — 6/28 —  Country Music Television is being added to AT&T Broadband basic channel line-up beginning Monday on channel 79. With CMT now on channel 79, it's bye-bye to The Game Show Network, at least on standard cable, where it aired part time on 79. The Game Show Network is already available on AT&T's digital lineup on 83. It will remain on digital basic but move to channel 161. AT&T is also adding a major new package to its digital tiers - the Hispanic Tier, offering nine channels of Hispanic programming. Included are Discovery en Español, Fox Sports World Español, VH1 en Español and CNN en Español. This tier will cost $6.99/month for customers who subscribe to AT&T's digital service. With this new Hispanic programming, AT&T is adding HBO Latino to the digital premium package. These are some of the many changes being made to AT&T's lineup between Monday and sometime in August. The digital tiers are getting an overhaul. Right now, digital customers can order three tiers of channels in addition to Digital Basic: Movies & Music, Sports & Information, and Family & Variety. Those three are being merged into two: Variety tier (which adds Nicktoons, MBC, NUE, The Word Network and Great American Country) and Premier tier (which includes three new Fox Sports packages). MBC offers programming aimed at African-Americans, The Word Network offers urban ministries and gospel music, and NUE considers itself a competitor to BET. Even though the new Variety tier offers most of the music channels on the old movies and music tier (MTV2, VHI Country, MTV Jams, VHI Classic Rock and VHI Soul), MuchMusic and BET on Jazz are on the Premier tier. The new tiers will be offered to new customers beginning Monday. Existing customers will see the changes in their August billing cycle. Three new channels are being added to Digital Basic: G4 (focuses on the latest information about electronic games), Wisdom (focuses on personal growth and healthier living) and ShopNBC (a home shopping service formerly ValueVision. AT&T is adding three additional 'screens' of Showtime... Next, Family and Women. Along with programming changes, there are price changes. The Digital Platinum service, the highest level, is increasing from $79.99 to $82.99/month. The price of the other digital packages all remain the same.....Watch-out Cox! — 6/28 — DirecTV announced the other day that it will be offering local channels to the Hampton Roads market by late August of this year. The Hampton Roads market will receive local channels from DirecTV's satellite at the 119- degree West Longitude (WL) orbital slot, requiring the use of a multi-satellite capable DirecTV System, which includes a single 18-by-24-inch dish and receiver. The press release did not state exactly what 'local' channels were going to be offered. In Raleigh and Nashville for example, DirecTV is even carrying independents. Will they carry independent 'Sky4' WSKY? 'PAX49' WPXV? How 'bout PBS 'UNC-TV' WUND? The company does not know how many local channels it will carry because DirecTV sends out letters to area broadcasters asking for their participation, and they are asked to respond within 60 days. A company spokesperson said that "Typically, most stations in a market with a strong enough signal say yes." The 'locals' package costs $5.99/month..... UPDATE: From unnamed sources… WVEC (13/ABC), WAVY (10/NBC), WTKR (3/CBS), WVBT (43/Fox), WSKY (4/Ind) and WHRO (15/PBS) are a ‘go’ for the DirecTV locals line-up. These stations will ‘fiber’ from their studios to a site in VA Beach where the signals will be multiplexed together into one signal to be fibered to El Segundo CO. ‘Sky4’ WSKY will microwave their signal from Currituck County NC to the VA Beach site. ‘PAX49’ WPVX will not be on the Norfolk feed – which I can’t make sense of. A national PAX feed is available to all markets on 255. Also heard, ‘UNC-TV’ WUND (2/PBS) in Columbia NC will not be on the Norfolk feed. The decision to be carried again is up to the local broadcaster and I can’t figure out why WUND would not want to be. They ‘pushed’ Cox Communications to have signal added to the Cox system. This would mean more EYEBALLS! No word yet at ‘WB33’ WTVZ or ‘UPN27’ WGNT. However, the WB and UPN stations are on most ‘locals’ that DirecTV carries..... 95-7R&B rumblings — 6/27 —  Derrick Corbett (DC) -- PD of Entercom's urban AC '95-7R&B' WVKL has been out of the post for 3 weeks now and is out of the building. No word why though. His afternoon slot is currently being handled by Charles Black (a part-timer). Paul Lewis is out as Assistant Promotions Coordinator. He was bumped about a month ago, again top secret. He will not be directly replaced. 3 part-timers are filling his slot. Mitch Allen (formerly middays of 'blown-up' oldies Kool 95.7) is out as of this Friday. He has been swing and production since the Kool flip to '95-7 R&B' last year. He joins Clear Channel's 50s-70s oldies '3WS' in Pittsburgh for APD/Nights as well as some other duties..... 
The shuffling at the Barnstable cluster continues — 6/27 — Fans of the new 60s-70s oldies ‘Oldies 92-9’ WWSO might have been wondering why Dale Murray has been off the air. VARTV hears that Murray got the PD post at sister black gospel or as they called it ‘Contemporary Inspirational’ ‘Star 94.1’ WXEZ. Carla Isaac (formerly Carla Clarke from defunct Soul Classics 92.9) handles mornings, Mark Rawlison moved back to afternoons. Karla Fox was their former PD but left in April. As of now, both Isaac and Rawlison are pulling long shifts – Isaac 6AM-12N and Rawlison 12N-6PM. Once Murray settles in, possibly mid-days could be in his future but Barnstable is in no hurry to staff up a station that does well without a staff. As my source says “Problem is, they can't sell the station.” I’ve heard the gospel format is a very hard sell. Over at ‘Oldies 92-9’, Amy York moved from afternoons to mid-days as her new permanent post. They’re currently on a search for a PD/Afternooner, which is why they are having Guest DJ's fill the slot – Kurt Williams from WTKR (3/CBS) and Kerri Mattson from WAVY (10/NBC). My source and I agree that someone may have already been inked. Nights over at WWSO are wide-open. Maybe they’ll get that spot filled before their one-year anniversary. Barnstable is the slow in getting things done.....
Listen to Hot 102.1 — 6/26 — Listen to new urban 'Hot 102.1' WWHV live on the Internet. Goto hot1021.com and click on the Listen Live link. You need to have Windows Media player installed on your computer. It helps too that Windows Media player is your default player for audio streams that start with "mms://..." These audio streams are encoded in the WMA format.....Primetime TV ratings — 6/26 — Click on the following link for the complete prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of June 17 to June 23 2002..... Where's Dale Murray? — 6/25 —   Dale Murray can longer be heard on Barnstable's 60s 'Oldies 92-9' WWSO. They have shifted Amy York from nights to middays. She really doesn't have that 'oldies' sound. Right now, WWSO is featuring guest DJs. Heard yesterday and today is Kurt Williams from early mornings on WTKR (3/CBS), Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe will be on Friday (6/28). Next week, WAVY's (10/NBC) Kerri Mattson will be in the hot seat all week long. According to their website, WWSO has 'exciting' things in the works for the afternoon drive.....
Joe Hoppel — 6/24 — Reported here back in late February, longtime personality Joe Hoppel of WCMS is being inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame this Thursday June 27th. 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 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.' Again, Ccngratulations, Joe!
Music Choice will revamp line-up — 6/24 — If your cable company carries Music Choice then you’ll notice big changes coming to their line-up starting Wednesday July 24th. On that day, Music Choice will be adding formats, changing the names of formats and completely dropping others. This comes on the heels of a brand new graphics scheme just recently launched. The service is adding Mainstream Rock, New Wave, Bluegrass, R&B and Hip-Hop, Rhythmic AC, Opera, Show Tunes, Rock en Espanol and Latin Love Songs. Getting new names are Showcase (now only one channel), Americana (former American Originals – Bluegrass now gets its own channel), all the R&B formats, Power Rock, Electronica, Big Band & Swing, Smooth Jazz, Reggae, Soundscapes and Salsa Merengue. A handful of ethnic programming is dropped. VARTV editor’s favorite channel is Light Classical now on MC33 (was MC30). However, that channel might get a run from the new New Wave channel (MC22). Out of all the different types of 80s music (dance, rock, rhythmic, European etc), my favorite is Euro-rock/pop as I call it. This format was called Retroactive and only programmed in 3-hour blocks a couple of times a week. Now it’s 24/7. The main reason I don’t like 80s stations is that they are programmed towards a ‘rock’ lean. For the most part, Star 107.3’ WBBT in Richmond suffers from the same draw back. That’s my two-cents worth. Cox has listed the new line-up on their Hampton Roads page.....Not local but cool — 6/21 — If a movie's original soundtrack had 5.1-channel audio, Showtime Networks will broadcast it with Dolby Digital 5.1 on ALL 32 of its channels. They include all time-zone feeds of SHO HDTV as well as all those of the standard-definition channels: Showtime, Showtime Too, Showcase, Extreme, Beyond, Next, Women, FamilyZone, The Movie Channel, TMC Xtra, Sundance and Flix. That's pretty cool! Here we go again — 6/21 — The Suffolk City Council voted Wednesday to revoke the city’s cable franchise, Charter Communications, if it can't show within 60 days that it has improved service. This is not the first time that the City Council has made this threat. Since buying the Falcon Cable system two years ago, customers have complained about numerous cable outages, snowy channels, disappearing channels and even switching channels along with poor customer service. During an hour-long public hearing, most came out to support the cable provider – the 4th largest in the country. However, council based their decision on staff reports citing persistent complaints about customer service and repair schedules. Also at the meeting Charter was disputing $340,000 in fines imposed on them by the City. Within the past two years, the company said it has spent $10 million on rebuilding the city's 17-year-old cable system with over 9,000+ subscribers. Councilman Thomas L Woodward Jr said, "They don't deliver basic cable service the way they're supposed to... It's time for Charter to go.'' He went on to tell council members, "It's the same routine over and over again… How many chances are they supposed to get? Let's do the right thing and get rid of Charter Communications.'' ’The Gold Mine’ picks up syndie — 6/21 —  Classic country ‘The Gold Mine’ WBYM-AM (1490) has picked up Colleen’s Classic Country USA syndicated 3-hour show. Colleen Addair doubles as MD/midday jock at Citadel’s country WIVK Knoxville. Classic Country USA is a weekly syndicated show that features country hits from the 50's through the 80's. WBYM does stream their audio over the Internet (classichitcountry.com) but as of this writing nothin’ was coming outta the speakers....."Walk-on Week" talk-show host — 6/21 — Douglas Durden of the Times-Dispatch talks to 'SportsRadio 910' WRNL's first walk-on talk show host - Ryan Alger. He did quite well. Read the entire article online from the Times-Dispatch..... Fredericksburg Arbitrends — 6/20 — The Spring 2002 Phase II Arbitrends were released to Fredericksburg today. This trend covers March, April and May. Not much changes from last month at all. The top 5... 1) WFLS 2) The B 3) WTOP 4) WJFK and 5) WFVA-AM. For the most COMPLETE and DETAILED 12+ rankings anywhere click here..... 
Fred Yco found GUILTY! — 6/20 — WAVY (10/NBC) meteorologist Fred Yco pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single misdemeanor charge of larceny by check. Yco who lives in the 2700 block of Broad Bay Road in Virginia Beach, was charged last month with three counts of grand larceny by check. Yco cashed three checks totaling $10,500 at a Wachovia bank in April, according to court records. He 'said' the charges stemmed from a dispute between his bank and credit-card company. He could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Yco paid back the money, according to a spokesman for the commonwealth's attorney's office. Yco was not prosecuted on two of the felonies, and the third charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, the spokesman said. A judge gave Yco a six-month suspended jail sentence, unsupervised probation for 12 months and is required to take a financial responsibility class. Yco, 35, joined WAVY in 1998.....WBOC-TV: Muzzle WHRO-DT — 6/20 —  CBS affiliate WBOC-TV (16) in Salisbury MD has asked the FCC to power down or shut down non-commercial WHRO-DT (16/PBS) in Norfolk saying that interference from the digital station is degrading its signal to both over-the-air and cable customers. In its complaint, WBOC-TV said the interference is causing "the severe impairment or destruction of the local [service], CBS network and other highly valued service." The station said it has received complaints from viewers and from cable provider Comcast, adding that the interference is widespread and exceeds the FCC’s interference standard. WBOC also said WHRO’s interference study "dramatically underestimated" the level of interference. If the FCC does not act immediately, the station said, it would be caused "irreparable harm." WHRO stands by its engineer’s interference study. I'll keep you updated.....Two new 'Stars' — 6/20 —  Richmond's 80s-90s Hits 'Star 107.3' WBBT and Hampton Roads' Black Gospel 'Star 94.1' WXEZ have made-over websites. The 'Star 107.3' logo has changed slightly. The webmaster's email address has an '@richmond.edu' extension. Did a student from the University Of Richmond design their new website? Star 94.1's website is now being redesigned by the same folks that their sister station 'Oldies 92-9' WWSO is using... Nettek. With WWSO and WXEZ using Nettek are the new country 'Eagle 97.3' WGH and heritage country WCMS' websites next in line? When I visited WXEZ's website they describe their format as 'contemporary inspirational'. I like that. That SOUNDS good. Just like a garbage man is a 'sanitation supervisor'.....Primetime TV ratings — 6/19 — Click on the following link for the complete prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of June 10 to June 16 2002..... 
UPN unveils new logo — 6/19 — Recently, the UPN network which now does NOT stand for United Paramount Network (the United part 'broke-off') unveiled a new logo - the one on the right. There was talk in the past to rename the struggling network to 'The Paramount Network' but that fell through. Even though this logo has been introduced, it's hard to find. The O&O 'UPN27' WGNT, 'UPN65' WUPV and 'UPN20' WDCA aren't using it; either is any other UPN affiliate. Expect to see more of it in the upcoming weeks. UPN is owned by Viacom who also runs CBS.....
Did you know — 6/19 — Ed Munson who not only runs WAVY (10/NBC), "FOX43' WVBT and has a JSA with 'PAX49' WPXV, he's also overseeing operations at 'CBS12' WPRI and 'FOX Providence' WNAC in Providence RI. It doesn't stop there. Recently, the suits at LIN TV gave him even more responsibility in overseeing 'NewsChannel 8' WTNH (ABC) and WCTX (59/UPN) in New Haven CT. Talk about frequent flying miles.....Did you know - Part II — 6/19 —   The median salary for a TV reporter in a market size like Hampton Roads is $32,250 according to a survey of newsrooms by the Radio And Television News Directors Association... For anchors it's $65,000. Aren't both Tom Randles and Barbara Ciara over there at 'NewsChannel 3' WTKR (CBS) making over $200K a year??? Is that why they're smiling in these photos???AT&T Broadband plans tiered service — 6/18 — AT&T Broadband, which provides cable Internet service in Richmond and several surrounding counties, said it plans to begin offering tiered service as soon as this summer. Whether Richmond will be among the first markets hasn’t been decided. AT&T spokesperson Julia Torres Barden said, "We'd like to create three price points that are most accommodating for our customers… We're going to approach the tiered-pricing scenario in a 'fast, faster, fastest' scenario so we accommodate customers across the board. “Analysts expect all cable Internet providers nationally to move toward tiered pricing. AT&T is not alone. Folks in Chesterfield County likely can expect to have a range of price plans from Comcast in the future. Comcast spokesperson Jenni Moyer said, "We've not announced any plans. But like others, it's something that we're looking at." By the way, AT&T Broadband and Comcast plan to merge in the near future. Charter has offered tiered pricing for a couple of years. In Suffolk, Charter charges $24.95 for 256 kbps downloads/128 kbps uploads. That compares to about $20 for most dial-up connections, which have maximum downloads of 56 kbps. Not a bad deal at all. Charter also charges $34.95 for 512 kbps downloads/128 kbps uploads and $44.95 for 1 Mbps downloads/256 kbps upload. The second tier will increase to 768 kbps for downloads and the third tier to 1.5 Mbps this summer. At this time, Cox Communications in Hampton Roads and Fredericksburg and Adelphia don’t offer tiered pricing. Tiered pricing is nothing new to DSL providers like Verizon and Cavalier. Verizon currently offers two speeds and prices for your home while Cavalier offers three. Covad too will start offering tiered options in the near future..... Sky 13 vs Chopper 10 — 6/17 —  Starting October 15th, WVEC (13/ABC) will have their helicopter ‘Sky 13’ all to themselves. Until then, WVEC will continue to lease the chopper from HeloAir, which also operates helicopters in Richmond, Atlanta and DC. As of now, it’s on a first come-first served basis meaning the chopper is not always available. Response time will be quicker. WAVY (10/NBC) purchased their chopper in 2000 – a Bell 206-L3 Long Ranger. Sky 13’s is a Bell 206 Jet Ranger. WAVY said, ‘It (Chopper 10) has enough cutting edge technology to make NASA green with envy.” Both stations finished in a virtual dead heat at 6 o’clock in the latest news ratings. The stations are searching for the slimmest advantage over the other. As a viewer, I don’t like how WAVY presents their news – it’s over-sensationalized, in-your-face, scared-to-death-watching-their-promos-to-stay-tuned-at-11… BUT I do admit their chopper is a big asset to them. As a fan of the newscasts on WVEC, Sky 13, full-time, will be a great addition. The comment coming out of WTKR (3/CBS) about a helicopter is "We're looking at our options". Like WVEC, they too lease a chopper but with another service.....Colonial Downs on ESPN2 — 6/17 — ESPN2 is coming to our little corner of the world July 13 to telecast the fifth running of the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. The $500,000 Thoroughbred race will be seen only slightly delayed on ESPN2 as part of its "NTRA 2Day at the Races." This is the first time the Derby will be seen on national TV. Post time is 5:40PM with ‘The Deuce’ picking up the replay during the 6PM show. Host Chris Lincoln will preview the Derby on his weekly "Wire To Wire" program (July 10th at 2PM) then spotlight the 1¼-mile race for 3-year-olds on turf in a special "At The Track" segment of the July 17th edition. "Wire To Wire" attracts a weekly audience of more than 650,000 viewers. This should good exposure for the Track. The only other time the Derby was on TV, it was 1998 when regional HTS (Home Team Sports now Comcast Sports Net) taped the event. Later that year, ESPN was there for harness racing's $3.2 million Breeders Crown..... 
12 'Joe Blows' take host offer on WRNL — 6/17 — An Army officer, a bartender, a computer training expert and a financial analyst are among the 12 ‘SportsRadio 910’ WRNL listeners to plunk down $100 for the chance to serve as hosts of their own hour of a sports talk show. "Walk-On Week" starts at 7PM tonight. Additional shows are scheduled for 8 and 9 tonight; tomorrow and Wednesday at 7; Friday at 7, 8 and 9PM; Saturday at 10 and 11AM and June 24th at 7PM. "We provide the signal, you provide the smack," is how 910 promoted the opportunity, promising to provide everything else needed for a radio show. "The guest host should bring strong, informed opinions on whatever they want to talk about," said PD Randy Bloomquist. A portion of each $100 fee goes to benefit the Richmond Police Athletic League, according to Bloomquist, who also pointed out that a typical hour, if sold to a business, would cost approximately $500.....WCDX gets a new PD — 6/17 — Radio One’s powerhouse urban ‘Power 92-1 Jamz’ WCDX names Terry Foxx as its new program director. Foxx will report directly to GM Bob Rich. Foxx, who replaces departed Lamonda Williams, comes from the West Coast via Clear Channel’s urban AC ‘V101.1’ KHYL. Before that, he spent two years at Cumulus' urban 92Q WQQK and 'Kiss 106.7' as Operations Director in Nashville. He has also held different on-air shifts such as afternoon drive at Infinity's 'B96' WBBM-FM in Chicago from '93-99, middays for Service Broadcasting's urban 'K104FM' KKDA in Dallas from '91 to '92, late nights for ABC's WPLJ in New York from '90 to '91 and overnights for Nationwide's 'BJ105' in Orlando from '86 to '88. GM Bob Rich said, "We're very excited to have Terry Foxx join the WCDX team in Richmond. In addition to his obvious talents and abilities, Terry brings an infectious enthusiasm everyday. He has worked at great radio stations, and Power 92.1 will benefit from his experiences." He puts the PD name badge on starting June 24th..... Richmond's own... — 6/13 — Look for Nick Broughton, assistant special agent in charge of the Richmond office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, on today's "Montel Williams Show" airing at 4PM on WTVR (6/CBS)..... Red Wings! — 6/13 — The Detroit Redwings take, I mean earn, the 2002 Stanley Cup beating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in Game 5 taking the series 4-1. Commentators Gary Thorne and Bill Clement of ESPN/ABC in my book did an outstanding job calling the games.....
Hot 9-9-3 gets a new PD — 6/13 — JD Kunes, the Operations Manager for Radio One’s Dayton OH cluster takes over as PD of hip-hop ‘Hot 9-9-3’ WRHH. He replaces Darrell Johnson, who left for Nashville to the Cumulus cluster. Big Nat will remain as the music director for WRHH. JD will continue to oversee urban ‘Power 92 Jamz’ WCDX as well as Louisville sisters modern rocker ‘105-1LRS’ WLRS and Hot AC outlet ‘102.3 The Max’ WULV..... Freddysburg's city council approves Cox rate hikes — 6/13 — Cox Communications Fredericksburg customers will see an increase in their cable bills starting Aug 1st. The director of operations for Cox, Ed Riley, said the company must raise prices to balance out the rising cost of providing services. He said quote, "Programming costs have increased, and we have invested money in carrying a lot of additional channels that we have added throughout this year." The price of basic cable will be increased from $11.55 to $12.70, an increase of $1.15. Expanded service will go from $20.95 to $22.25 - an increase of $1.30. Premium channels, HBO, Cinemax, STARZ! and Showtime will cost an extra $1 each. The largest rate increase is for "The Big Deal" package, which includes all the channels in expanded service, digital cable plus a greater variety of PPV offerings. Its price will go up $5.70, from $76.49 to $82.19. The Fredericksburg City Council gave its ‘blessing’ to the price increase Tuesday night. These changes will affect 17,275 Cox customers in Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford. All of this information about the new pricing scale will be mailed out next month to customers in their billing statements..... Help wanted — 6/12 — There's a new classified ad listed on VARTV. Check out all of VARTV's classifieds on our Opportunities page..... 
Dave Parker to speak — 6/12 — Meteorologist Dave Parker of WTKR (3/CBS) will be speaking at the Great Bridge Baptist Church about a special Hurricane Readiness meeting. The church is located at 640 S Battlefield Blvd in Chesapeake – just south of Mt Pleasant Rd. Joining Dave will be Hui’shan Walker of the Chesapeake Crisis Management office. A light lunch will be available for a fee. Reservations are needed for this meeting by Friday the 14th – 757-463-6525.....Primetime TV ratings — 6/12 — Click on the following link for the prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for June 3 to June 9 2002..... More value — 6/12 — Cox Communications announced late last month that if you are a digital cable/single premium customer, you will now get ALL screens of that premium channel at no additional cost. See the chart below for the complete multiple screen line-up...  Motorola digital cable set-top box advisory — 6/12 —  If you have a Motorola digital cable converter (DCT-2000) and it was installed between March 1 and May 31, 2002, your box may be defective. What exactly is the problem? Well, when removing the power cord from the back of the converter boxes there's the possibility that a pin in the power supply may become disengaged from the converter box, remaining attached to the power cord. If the cord hasn't first been unplugged from the power outlet, there is a 'potential' shock hazard. General Instruments also produces a very similar looking converter - it is NOT included in this advisory. Cox Communications, one of several major cable companies using the boxes, is reporting about a dozen and a half markets being affected by this. Hampton Roads and Roanoke are included - Fredericksburg is not. A complete FAQ has been posted on Cox's homepage. Comcast released a press release on the 7th as did Motorola.....Cox, TV stations launch info campaign — 6/12 — Cox Communications hopes to begin providing high-definition programming to cable customers by the first half of next year, said Cox General Manager Frank Bowers. Bowers joined the managers of seven local TV stations and two electronics retailers at a press conference Monday at WHRO, Hampton Roads’ public broadcasting station. The event ‘kicked-off’ a campaign to inform people about the advantages of hi-def TV and other aspects of digital technology. Bowers said Cox is working with Motorola to develop the boxes for use in cable customers' homes. The cable company probably will offer a tier of digital and analog programming, he said. The press conference received a lot of media attention. All four stations with newscasts ran stories on the conference along with newspaper coverage in the area’s two largest papers, The Virginian-Pilot and The Daily Press. ..... Don Bentley Sr passes — 6/10 — Condolences to friends and family of former radio broadcaster Donald Michael Bentley Sr, who died this past Saturday at the age of 69 at his home in Williamsburg . Bentley moved to Williamsburg in 1965 as general manager of WBCI-FM (96.5) and WMBG-AM (740) radio and later was general partner of Williamsburg Broadcasting Limited, which owned the William and Mary Sports Network. and also did color commentary for William & Mary's football games. Don also served as a past President of the VBA (Virginia Broadcasters Association)..... WUPV-DT — 6/10 — TV 65 Broadcasting's WUPV-DT was granted an extension for their digital TV station to be located on channel 47. This CP extension is good for six months. WWBT-DT is still Richmond's only digital signal. For those of you keeping track, Hampton Roads has eight..... Good Luck — 6/10 —  Several VARTV-land personalities/stations have been nominated for the Radio & Records Industry Achievement Awards. They recognize the excellence in both the radio and record industries. The awards process begins each February, when R&R's readers nominate those industry professionals, radio stations and record labels to the annual ballot. The top six vote-getters in each category then make it to the final ballot. At the end of April, the final ballots were mailed to all R&R subscribers. The winners will be announced at R&R Convention 2002 held this year on Thursday June 13th through Saturday June 15th in Beverly Hills. The following are the categories with local nominations.....
 
It’s a horse race! — 6/10 — That’s how Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot and the exes at WVEC (13/ABC) and WAVY (10/NBC) call it. The May sweeps have come up big for ’13 News’. WVEC took both the 5 and 5:30PM newscasts and came within two-tenths of a ratings point at 6PM. Channel 13 is also up at 6AM and on their noon newscasts. In the early morning hours, WVEC recently added Janet Roach from Baltimore. They still trail powerhouse ‘WAVY News 10 Today’ by 3½ points. At 6PM since WVEC hired David Alan to replace Terry Zahn (who passed away), they have shaved almost four points off WAVY’s lead. At 5:30PM, WVEC is the leader by two-tenths of a point. For David Alan as Larry puts it “He does the news in shirt-sleeves, strolling the newsroom for one-on-one chats with reporters. It’s a little hokey, but it works.” All three stations, including WTKR (3/CBS), have a newscast at 5:30. WVEC’s by far is the newest of the three. At 11PM and in the early morning (5AM-7AM), WAVY is still king. WAVY has won 66 of the last 70 ratings periods. Including weekend newscasts, Channel 10 came on top eight different times. For WTKR, well much can’t be said. They were last five out of their six daily newscasts. Only their noon news placed first with a great lead-in from ‘The Price Is Right’. I use the word ‘last’ and not ‘third’ because at 6PM, Judge Judy on ‘UPN27’ WGNT consistently beats their newscasts. At times, they also are beaten by ‘The Simpsons’ on ‘FOX43’ WVBT. Here are the May sweeps results.....
Could Hampton Roads LOSE a radio station? — 6/7 — Some very interesting information coming from the FCC today. Apparently, Sinclair Telecable, the owners of alternative ‘96X’ WROX Cape Charles and 106.1 WEXM Exmore (currently simulcasting ‘93-7 The Coast’ WKOC) wants to amend the FM Table of Allotments for Exmore and Belle Haven. Both of those localities are located halfway up Virginia’s Eastern Shore – out of the Hampton Roads market. Here’s what they are proposing. They want to move WEXM’s community of license to Belle Haven – a couple of miles up the road from Exmore. This would be Belle Haven’s first local aural transmission service. Secondly, they want to reallot Channel 241B (96.1) WROX from Cape Charles to Exmore to maintain the community’s sole local aural transmission service. WROX’s license would, too, reflect the change in communities. As far as Cape Charles goes, they still would have Contemporary Christian ‘K-Love’ WAZP as a local voice. These changes have the blessing of the FCC but are seeking objections from the public for the next six weeks. What all this means is that Hampton Roads would lose the signal at 96.1. Then what would happen? Does 96X just go away? 96X is more successful than sister AAA ’93-7 The Coast’. Could the format now heard on 96X replace the Coast’s on the 93.7 blowtorch? What happens to the translator at 106.1 that 96X uses for downtown Norfolk coverage? Will they keep that to relay the new WROX located in Exmore? This is going to get interesting later this summer. Read the FCC statement online about the proposed rulemaking.....Richmond's 4M Communications is profiled — 6/7 —  Douglas Durden of the Times-Dispatch profiles Richmond's 4M Communications. Their properties include 'Hot Talk & Sports 990 WLEE' WLEE//WHAP-AM 1340, adult standards 'Unforgettable 1320' WVNZ and Richmond's #1 gospel outlet 'Rejoice Radio 1540' WREJ. They will have a fifth station coming online in the next few months at AM1480. No call letters yet. Speaking of AM 1480, Jim Jacobs tells RTD that the format is still undetermined... hmmm. He wants suggestions from the public. How about all-Spanish/ethnic? Hampton Roads just got one - 'Radio Vida' WRJR-AM 670. Could Richmond support one? Move all of the ethnic programming and sports (R-Braves Spanish broadcasts) on WVNZ-AM 1320 to the new 1480. WVNZ-AM does quite well with its MOYL format. Expanding it 24/7 definitely couldn't hurt. Just my two cents worth. Anyways, the entire article can be found online at timesdispatch.com.....
The 'Don & Mike' saga — 6/7 — As you have probably been reading, the big question is what's up with Don & Mike? To be updated with their whereabouts please continue to read the DCRTV mainpage and mailbag. For now the 'Best Of...' can be heard in Hampton Roads on 'AM 1450 The Buzz' WBVA.....Is the 'Dance' format radio's next hottest format? — 6/5 — About 18 months ago, Chicago was the first market to get an ALL dance formatted station. This was thanks to Clear Channel flipping the 103.5 frequency to their KISS jukebox. It forced Big City Radio's WDEK/WKIE/WKIF trimulcast to flip to dance as Energy 92-7&5. Fast-forward to December 2001 when Cox Radio Miami blow-up a classical station to start up 'Party 93-1' WPYM. Just a couple of weeks '92-7 Party' KPTI in the San Francisco area came to life after breaking off a trimulcast. Now dance fever has hit Denver. After a very unsuccessful sign-on of rhythmic 'U102', KXUU spun the format wheel to '102.1X - Denver's Pure Dance Channel' KXDC. What makes these stations different from the aforementioned is that they are PURE dance stations - not hybrids like KTU in New York, '95-3 Party' Orlando and 'Power 96' Miami. I can think of several frequencies here in Hampton Roads that should be contemplating a format change..... Condolences to Daisy Davis — 6/5 — VARTV extends our deepest sympathies to urban '103 Jamz' WOWI's PD Daisy Davis on the loss of her brother, Robert McCow from brain cancer at age 34. The funeral will be held tomorrow at the Cathedral of Joy, 1918 Kedzie, Flossmore IL 60422 (708-957-9555). You can email your condolences to Daisy at ezadd@aol.com..... Route 58 — 6/5 — Reporter/columnist Bill Lohmann and senior staff photographer Bob Brown of the Richmond Times-Dispatch are on a road trip, and they want you to come along with weekly installments chronicling their travels along US 58, the common thread that winds some 500 miles across southern Virginia from the Atlantic Ocean to the Cumberland Gap. Every Sunday starting June 2nd until the end of October, they’ll show you and tell you about the people and places they encounter along the way. They started their journey right here in Virginia Beach. Follow their entire expedition “Common Thread: Route 58” online..... Atmosphere playing tricks — 6/5 — If you haven’t noticed already, the atmosphere this morning was playing havoc on local radio stations. I noticed if the station’s tower wasn’t in the immediate area, it was subject to interference. I think the hardest hit was alternative 96X WROX. They were getting over-run by the blow torch rocker ‘96 Rock’ WBBB out of Raleigh NC. The ironic thing is that 96X has a downtown translator at 106.1 to help reception in Norfolk and many times can be used as an alternative. Not today. It was being clobbered by another Raleigh rocker, ‘106-1 RDU’ WRDU. WROX wasn’t alone. Classic hits ‘106.9 The Fox’ WAFX with their stick out in Suffolk had a static signal as to did black gospel ‘Star 94.1’ WXEZ with their tower on the Peninsula. And poor WODC. The Contemporary Christian outlet has a translator at 103.7 for the residents of Chesapeake. Instead, this morning they got a booming signal from CHR ’The Carolina's #1 Hit Music Station - The Hot FM’ (WRHT//WCBZ) in eastern North Carolina. A great CHR by the way. It seems that most of the signals were coming from Raleigh, eastern North Carolina and even as far south as Myrtle Beach SC. Hot AC ‘Mix 97.7’ WWXM was coming in quite well from there. I’m sure the situation was different depending upon were one was but it was quite a unique morning..... Primetime TV ratings — 6/5 — Click on the following link for the prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 27 to June 2 2002..... Thank you — 6/4 — Many thanks goes out to Ted Hand of WTKR-DT. He recently sent his digital station's logo to VARTV. I like it. It has a classy, simple look to it. It definitely works. Thanks again. If there are any other station 'suits' out there that has a special logo for the digital TV station, please email them to VARTV.....
WCDX bounces back to second overall — 6/3 — Not too many changes in the Richmond Arbrtrends which cover February, March and April. AC 'Lite 98' WTVR is the clear leader but with a drop of 0.5 and 'Power 92' WCDX' gain of 0.9 the distance between the two shorten. View the complete and DETAILED numbers for Richmond..... Entercom calls a complete halt to streaming, ASAP — 5/30 —  Too much uncertainty, not enough return and now it's getting out of the pool completely. Entercom will concentrate on reaching listeners by mail, e-mail and loyalty marketing. Entercom's Internet chief Amy Van Hook tells the RAIN newsletter "We can reach multitudes more people with our weekly newsletter" and loyalty marketing program. Entercom has four stations in the Hampton Roads area – modern AC ’94.9 The Point’ WPTE, AC ‘2WD’ WWDE, urban AC ’95-7 R&B’ WVKL and rhythmic ‘Z-104’ WNVZ. This decision doesn’t affect these stations. They had already suspended their audio streams a while ago.....
B-101.5 has new night jockette? — 5/30 — Mid-Atlantic Network’s Hot AC ‘B-101.5’ welcomed Nikki Landry back in March(!) to their 7PM to midnight slot but AllAccess.com finally gets around to announcing it now. Anyways, she came from Citadel’s ‘Cat Country 96’ WCTO Allentown PA when she co-hosted their morning show under the name Cat Collins. WCTO is a very sucessful country station in that market - usually placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Allentown is #69 in market size according to Arbitron, Fredericksburg is #165.....AT&T Broadband plans Internet service fee increase Aug 1st — 5/30 — High-speed Internet service will become more expensive for some AT&T Broadband customers. They plan to raise the rate of cable Internet service by $7/month across the country. For modem owners, the monthly subscription fee will change from $35.95/month to $42.95/month beginning on Aug 1st. To help ease the transition, AT&T Broadband plans to credit modem owners $7/month for six months. Folks who lease cable modems $45.95/month won’t change. Legg Mason analyst Timm Bechter believes that AT&T is interested in having more control over what kinds of cable modems are in subscriber homes. He went on to say, "Clearly, AT&T Broadband wants people to lease rather than own the modem." Newer versions of cable modems can support more advanced features, including tiered pricing. A new option in just a few areas now, tiered pricing means cable Internet customers have different download and upload speeds from which to choose. Faster links would cost more. ATTBI plans to introduce tiered pricing in the Richmond market in the summer. AT&T offers cable TV and high-speed Internet services in Richmond and several surrounding counties. It has more than 17,000 Internet customers here, and more than 150,000 TV subscribers. Comcast offers the same services in Chesterfield County and said it doesn’t have plans to raise Internet service fees or modem lease rates. They don’t disclose the number of high-speed Internet customers but has about 77,000 cable TV customers. A cable Internet connection in Chesterfield costs $39.95/month for those who also subscribe to cable TV. The monthly fee is $15 higher for those who do not subscribe to cable TV. This is also similar to Cox Communications in Hampton Roads. Comcast modem leases are $5 per month for all customers..... Primetime TV ratings — 5/30 — Click on the following link for the prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 20 to May 26..... Jon Reed - PD of WYSK is profiled on AllAccess.com — 5/29 — Shawn Alexander a writer for the 'Alternative' section of AllAccess.com chatted with PD Jon Reed. Here's how it went... TITLE: Program DirectorWWSO’s website goes live today — 5/29 — Well its been five and a half months since WWSO jettisoned urban oldies ‘Soul Classics 92.9’ for 70s-60s ‘Oldies 92-9’ and they have finally gotten around to put up a website. As of this writing, there were only three photos of the jocks that they currently have on-air... that’s it. The music sounds great - now Barnstable needs to do something with this station. Acting PD Randy Brooks has his hands full with two other stations in the cluster, which he has done a great job with by the way and those are new country ‘Eagle 97.3’ WGH and heritage country WCMS. They need a PD given flexibility to give this station some direction. The honeymoon is over and now it’s time to get down to business.....
What happened to Fred Yco’s case? — 5/29 — Reported here earlier this month, WAVY-TV (10/NBC) meteorologist Fred Yco was charged Thursday with three counts of grand larceny by check. He was released on a $3,500 unsecured bond and had a scheduled court hearing for a May 17th. I haven’t heard anything about the outcome. Yco said he expected the matter to be resolved within a week. Who knows…? I’ll contact The Virginian-Pilot and follow-up on it. Maybe I’ll call WTKR (3/CBS) and WVEC (13/ABC) while I’m at it.....
Here's an interesting blurbs — 5/29 — Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot reported... So great is the flux at WTKR (3/CBS) that Peninsula reporter Nate Custer has seen 12(!) news directors come and go since joining the station back in 1966 when it was known as WTAR-TV. Custer lives in Yorktown and is married with two children... The 'Survivor: Marquesas' had a big draw in Hampton Roads. WTKR (3/CBS) garnered a 16.1 for the season finale - 18th highest rating in the country. What market had the highest? Cincinnati's Channel 12, CBS affiliate WKRC. They posted a 28.3 rating - tops in the country.....Sinclair Telecable shuffled AM line-ups — 5/29 — With the addition of Bill O’ Reilly’s “The Radio Factor” talk show earlier this month, Sinclair Telecable’s ‘NewsRadio 790’ WNIS and ‘TalkRadio 850’ WTAR had to realign their skeds. WNIS airs O’ Reilly from 5PM to 7PM. That displaced Ken Hamlin’s show, which now can be heard from 3PM to 5PM on WTAR. Now on WTAR, it’s Dr Laura Schlessinger at noon followed by Hamblin at 3. On WNIS, it’s Sean Hannity at 3 followed by O ‘Reilly at 5..... Late TV sign-ons could get new digital allotment — 5/28 — I received this email from the President/Managing Partner of independent ‘Sky4’ WSKY in Manteo NC about late TV sign-ons getting a separate digital TV allotment… It is a passed house bill (expected to be passed by the Senate and signed by Bush) that could allow those of us that did not get a second "digital" channel in the first pass of allotments to launch DTV sooner than the end of 2006 (actually 18 months from when the bill is enacted). Winners of Auction 25 and other license holders that received their licenses after a date in 1997 were not given a second DTV channel to work with and were expected to use our existing analog allocation to convert to DTV. It’s interesting in that the law change is buried in a Bioterrorism bill. It reads: "Subtitle C (a) Pair Assignment required-In order to further promote the orderly transition to digital television, and to promote the equitable allocation and use of digital channels by television broadcast permittees and licensees, the FCC, at the request of an eligible licensee or permittee, shall, within 90 days of the date of enactment of this act, allot, if necessary, and assign a paired digital television channel to that licensee or permittee provided that…This bill could help Channel 4 get on-the-air with a digital channel much sooner than 2006. This same Bill would affect Robert Copeland's newly awarded Channel 21 in Virginia Beach..... Brokaw to stay with NBC through 2004 - Williams then will succeed him — 5/28 —  Tom Brokaw has signed a new contract that will keep him as anchor of the NBC Nightly News through the Nov 2004 presidential election, at which time Brian Williams will succeed him as anchor. At that point, Brokaw will continue to be affiliated with NBC News, doing primetime news specials. Williams, who currently hosts a nightly news program on MSNBC and CNBC, immediately will take on a larger role for NBC Nightly News, not only filling in for Brokaw as anchor, but also covering more news events, which will give him more exposure to the broadcast audience. Williams' nightly news program will now air only on CNBC at 10PM. Neal Shapiro, president of NBC News, said a decision was made to no longer split the Williams nightly news show between the two cable networks, choosing CNBC because it was felt that the audience was a better fit. Brokaw can been seen on WWBT-12 in Richmond, WRC-4 in Fredericksburg and on WAVY-10 in Hampton Roads.....WRAR-AM wants to move their tower — 5/28 — WRAR-AM 1000 licensed to Tappahannock wants to move their tower from their current location - dead smack between Warsaw and Tappahannock - to their FM counterparts tower WRAR-FM 105.5 - about 7.3 miles to the southeast. To do this, they are also requesting a decrease in power from 500 watts to 300 watts to protect adjacent channels (WLEE 990 Richmond VA, WPMH 1010 Portsmouth VA and WOLB 1010 Baltimore MD). The computed 5 mV/m daytime contours shows that the proposed WRAR-AM operation encompasses over 90% (FCC rules) of the city limits of Tappahannock... 94% to be exact. Right now, that contour covers the entire town. WRAR-AM has a nostalgic/big band format... 'Music Of The Golden Years'..... Walk-On Week at WRNL — 5/28 — From Jerry Lindquist of the Times-Dispatch… So you think being a sports-talk host is a snap? You know you can do it better than some of the national and local call-in yappers. Just about, anyone can sit and run off at the mouth about games people play. Do it all the time, right? How tough can it be? For a price (of course), ‘SportsRadio 910’ WRNL is going to give you the airtime. WRNL is calling it "Walk-On Week," where listeners will have the opportunity to be the host for a one-hour program and satisfy their curiosity. From June 17-22, a limited number of evening and Saturday hours will be available to sports-talk wannabes on a first-come, first-served basis. The cost is $100, "a portion of which will benefit the Richmond Police Athletic League," according to a station news release. "We provide the studio and the signal. You provide the smack," station program director Randall Bloomquist said. First come, first served? It would be a hoot if Al Coleman, Bob Black and Robert Fish, not to mention some other local favorites given the boot by Clear Channel and Bloomquist, would apply. If Kathleen Willey comes up with 10 sawbucks, could she get another chance? Oh, never mind.....
WTKR shifts Mahaffey — 5/28 — Lee Mahaffey has been shifted out of WTKR's (3/CBS) early morning newscast. ND John Wessling says, "In her new assignment, she's one of three reporters working out of the Virginia Beach office... We've made a heavy commitment to covering Virginia Beach." Mahaffey will now work nights gathering stories for 'NewsChannel 3 News @ 11'. Mahaffey joined WTKR in March of 2000.....Ex-WAVY ND gets a new gig… quickly — 5/28 — Jim Turpin who abruptly resigned from the WAVY (10/NBC) newsroom April 15th, two days later seals up a job in Memphis TN. In advancing a notch from market #42 to # 41, Turpin will have an uphill battle… literally.  Out of four stations in that market his is fourth. He will now oversee ‘ABC 24 News’ WPTY. How bad is their news operation? Tom Walter of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper describes WPTY’s news operation as the pits. “Below the pits, if that’s possible.” This will be a big change for Turpin. His newscasts at WAVY were all rated number one (except at noon… that belongs to WTKR [3/CBS]). WPTY crews produce a 5, 6 and 10PM newscasts plus the 9PM news for UPN affiliate WLMT, ‘UPN 30 News’. Turpin was asked why he left WAVY so quickly and politely responded “It was time to go… To say more would create hurt feelings. I’ll not respond to rumors about my leaving. I wish only the best for those at WAVY I leave behind. It’s a powerful, successful news operation. A side note Turpin said the Hampton Roads real estate market is bullish… his home sold in one day…..New faces at Channel 12 — 5/24 —  Jefferson-Pilot's 'NBC12' WWBT has a couple of new faces. First is Tracy Lynn - she is Channel 12's new traffic reporter, who comes to the station after seven years doing Richmond radio traffic reports for Metro Traffic and Lisa Scullin - Channel 12's new Nightside reporter, who was formerly anchor-reporter for CBS Affiliate WBOC (16) in Salisbury MD.....Fredericksburg Arbitrends — 5/23 — The Spring 2002 Phase 1 Arbitrends were released to Fredericksburg today. This trend covers February, March and April. For the most COMPLETE and DETAILED 12+ rankings anywhere click here..... Popular PD Steve Crumbley finds a new home — 5/23 —  Steve Crumbley who made a name for himself here in Hampton Roads with stops at urban '103 Jamz' WOWI and most recently with now defunct urban oldies 'Soul Classics 92.9' WWSO (flipped to 70s-60s oldies ‘Oldies 92-9’) has found a new home in the deep South. Cumulus' urban AC ‘Smooth 98.3’ WDLT Mobile AL has named him their new PD. Even though the Mobile is smaller than Hampton Roads #38 to #92, ‘Smooth 98.3’ is a powerhouse there, consistently placing second in the Arbitrons behind sister urban station ’93 BLX Jamz’ WBLX.....Broadcasters named to Hall of Fame — 5/22 — John Ogle of the Richmond Times-Dispatch; longtime news anchor Gene Cox; and the late Norman "Bob-a-lou" Freedlander, a familiar radio presence until his death earlier this year, were recipients of the Frank Soden Lifetime Achievement Awards at Monday’s induction by The Richmond Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In their 10th year, The Lifetime Achievement Awards are given to local radio and television broadcasters with at least 10 years of experience in the Richmond market. This year's Broadcaster of the Year award went to Adam Stubbs, APD and afternoon jock at AC ‘Lite 98’ WTVR-FM. Stubbs, who has been with WTVR since 1994, is also the senior promotions director for the Clear Channel Richmond Radio Group. Freedlander, known as Bob-a-lou on the air, had a broadcasting career spanning more than three decades when he died earlier this year at the age of 52. As a high school student, he ran errands for WEET-AM in Richmond. His first on-air job was with WTVR-AM and FM and WGOE-AM. Other stations he worked for in his lengthy career included Richmond's WLEE-AM, WTVR, WKIE-AM and WVMX, plus WBBM in Chicago. However, he was most closely associated with’Q-94’ WRVQ, where his positions included MD and PD, as well as popular on-air personality.....
Hot 102.1 completes their weekday on-air line-up — 5/22 — Well after nine months, new urban sign-on 'Hot 102.1' WWHV has finally filled their weekday on-air slots. This is their current line-up...6AM-10AM... Russ Parr Morning Show w/ Olivia Fox and Ray Jeezy morning show producerSaturday's major dayparts shape up like this... 10AM-2PM... BurgandiThis up coming weekend is big for 'Hot 102.1'. They will have a major presense at this year's Afr' AM Fest 2002 at Towne Point Park in Norfolk which usually is dominated by Clear Channel outlets - urban '103 Jamz' WOWI, 'Vibe 105' WSVY and 'CD 107.7' WJCD..... Primetime TV ratings — 5/22 — Click on the following link for the prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 13 to May 19..... Thank you — 5/21 — A big thanks goes out to Ted Hand of WTKR-DT for his help and insight on his station's DTV status and background information on some Hampton Roads media properties..... Super Doppler Sun Warning Alert! — 5/21 — Today in the Virginian-Pilot letters to the editor section I saw this comment from Brian Carrera of Norfolk. I got a laugh out of it..... HD Update — 5/19 — It's been quiet the last couple of days. I want to personally thank John J Heimerl of WHRO-DT for his help and insight on his station's DTV status. I reported on the 9th about the DTV status here in Hampton Roads but was unaware that his station is also on-the-air. It has been on since March 22nd. This is what he wrote back to me... WHRO-DT operates with 950 kW at 1192 feet (center of radiation) above sea level, which is the highest-power DTV on-the-air in the Norfolk market. At this time, the PBS 1080i HD loop is being shown, and HD/SD specials in prime-time, some with 5.1 Dolby surround sound. So at the moment, WHRO may be the only digital channel in Hampton Roads with continuous 1080i video and part-time 5.1 audio at this time... The channel is identified as 80-3 on most receivers. WHRO plans to begin local origination in the fall, and plans are to multicast SD during the daytime and program full HD at night, when the digital studio is completed.In Hampton Roads, there are EIGHT stations broadcasting in digital... WAVY-DT 31... NBC (10-1, 10-2, 10-3)This is pretty impressive. That leaves only 'UPN27' WGNT (granted a 6-month extension) and recent sign-on 'independent 'Sky4' WSKY (they're not required until 2006) as the only TV outlets not broadcasting a digital signal. (In Richmond, there's only ONE station broadcasting digital - WWBT-DT 54... NBC (12-1, 12-2, 12-3). Here's the downside... the general public is unaware of this and it's a shame. I think an awareness campaign needs to come from ALL sides. The TV stations themselves should let the public know that there out there. Set up demonstrations at a Best Buy or Circuit City... maybe short blurbs on your analog channels. I personally, have only seen ONE instance of anything related to digital TV on any of our local stations and that is WTKR (3/CBS) has added "WTKR-DT" to their station ID... that's it! Here in Hampton Roads, Cox Communications, the dominant cable provider, will play a big part. I'm sure stations are already in discussions with Cox to get their digital signal on the system. Here's a kink in that. Is Cox (or any cable provider) going to carry ALL the multicasted channels a station offers or just a TV station's main HD channel? Running 24/7 radars, to me, is NOT 'value TV'. With eight digital channels now on-the-air multiplied by (up to) six multicasting channels per station... that's (up to) 48 new channels that would potentially be added to the Cox system. Wow! Primetime TV ratings — 5/16 — Click on the following link for the prime-time TV ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 6 to May 12..... Fire at WXGI yesterday morning? — 5/16 —  No quite… Yesterday, during his ‘SportsPhone’ call-in show on WXGI-AM 950, ‘Big Al’ Coleman had one of his ‘fine sponsors’ in the studio, cooking on an open grill. Next thing they knew the fire alarm went off, and the Richmond fire department answered the call. “He was in a little side room. There was no ventilation, and he had a lot of good, hot flame, cooking beef, and it got to smoking a whole lot," Coleman said. "The hook and ladder showed up with three firemen. I apologized and told them we could offer them a steak burrito if they wanted it.".....Tides games on two frequencies — 5/15 —  If you’re a loyal Norfolk Tides radio listener you might already know this. When ABC/Disney agreed to buy AM 1650 WHKT and flip that format to Radio Disney, the Tides had lost their local outlet for their broadcasts. However, it wasn’t for very long. Barnstable’s ‘ESPN Radio 1310’ WGH agreed to carry them. One problem though, as far as Barnstable was concerned, was market coverage. They thought just having the games on WGH wasn’t enough. Their solution was to simulcast every Tides game on AM 1050 WFOG. Since WFOG flipped to ‘Music of Your Life – AM 1450 – The Fog, it’s a better fit than what was on… black gospel. Maybe the folks over at Barnstable know something that I don’t. Looking at the ‘predicted’ daytime and nighttime coverage patterns of both stations, they are very similar. My point? If you can’t get the games well on WGH, you have an alternative… WFOG.....WTKR-DT has received a new STA — 5/14 — WTKR-DT just received a STA (Special Temporary Authority) from the FCC. The output power of the antenna in Driver VA has increased from 400kW to 725kW. Their antenna tops out at 1273' above sea level. The digital channel is also still working on ‘Closed-Caption’ for channel 3-1 but have so far been unsuccessful. This from Ted Hand…Domes Satellite at 109 Volvo Pkwy in Chesapeake is having a Technology Nite on Thursday May 16 and Friday May 17 from 7-9PM. Reservations are required. This is NOT a sales pitch but a presentation of information / Q&A forum concerning DTV and HDTV. Fujitsu, Crestron and WTKR-DT will be presenting sessions. If you have questions concerning DTV, HDTV or WTKR-DT, please feel free to attend. Call 548-2020 or e-mail: bev@domesav.com for more info..... 
Mayor yields on TV coverage — 5/14 — "Monday Night Live" will remain on air for now in Richmond. Mayor Rudolph C McCollum Jr says he no longer wants to cut the funding for televising City Council meetings. Last week, he proposed taking the council off the air to speed up its meetings and make them more focused. Fellow council members and city residents persuaded the mayor to back off his proposal. The show provides more access to city government, the mayor said, and it serves handicapped people, single parents and the elderly who cannot come to City Hall. "I've talked to a number of my [council] colleagues and it doesn't seem there is support," McCollum said. The city pays WCVW-Channel 57 $32,000 annually to broadcast the show every second and fourth Monday. Some residents of the city and neighboring counties say they watch the show strictly for entertainment. The meetings have featured satirical speeches, verbal sparring and emotional ramblings.....Richmond beat reporter Arthur Willis chats with Jim Jacobs — 5/13 — I spoke with Jim earlier today, and we were chatting about the arrival of Tony Kornheiser, O' Reilly, and Sean Hannity (to WLEE). While the conversation did not go exactly like this here's the gist of it : AW: Will the Sports Junkies run any longer on WLEE?
Radio Richmond files to modify a CP — 5/13 — Radio Richmond, which holds a CP for facilities at AM 1480 in Glen Allen VA (Richmond), wants to increase the power from 5kW/1.8kW to 10kW/5kW. This application was 'accepted for filing' by the FCC but not 'granted' yet. Radio Richmond's other holdings include 'Hot Talk & Sports' WLEE//WHAP (990//1340), 'Unforgettable 1320'/'La Primera 1320 AM' WVNZ and urban gospel ‘Rejoice Radio 1540' WREJ. No word yet what will be on 1480 but speculation has the ‘format wheel’ stopping on some sort of sports format. Time will tell.....The Weather Channel fell far short... for me — 5/13 —  Was it me or did The Weather Channel's 20th anniversary special that aired last night at 8PM fall short? It ended up being just one big plug for them. Where were the interviews with past and present OCM's (On-Camera Meteorologist)? I wanted to see more old footage of OCM's on the air. Instead, they counted down the top 11, yes 11 events of The Weather Channel history, useless interviews from people on the streets and endless plugs how important their service has become to people and other organizations. Where were Dave Schwartz and Jim Cantore??? As several readers pointed out and I agree the Bill Cosby bit about the female anchors becoming pregnant, leaving and coming back after a few months with no mention whatsoever if their child was a boy or girl or who the father is?Larry Bonko talks with Scott Sanders, GM of WTVZ and WRLH — 5/12 — Scott Sanders is the GM of both Sinclair Broadcasting’s ‘WB33’ WTVZ in Hampton Roads and ‘Fox Richmond’ WRLH (35). Larry Bonko of the Virginian-Pilot recently chatted with Sanders about the May sweeps. His questions were geared towards Channel 33 and the Hampton Roads market. To be brief, Bonko asked why the May sweeps are important with Sanders answering “We sell for Christmas based on the May numbers.” An interesting fact of the article was out of the 648,000 TV households in Hampton Roads “How many of them have meters and diaries?” Sanders responded back with “In this market, we have 400 metered households and 1,190 with diaries.” That’s not a lot but Nielsen will tell you that, statistically speaking, it’s fair. Sanders noted that Hampton Roads is a young skewing market where approximately 60% of the adults are between the ages of 18 and 49. WTVZ is among the top 10 WB affiliates in women 12-to-34, 18-to-34 and 18-to-49 age groups with Channel 33 No. 1 with adults 18-to-34. Sanders also made a comment that there is too much local news here. Maybe… The ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS affiliates here have at least one newscast with WAVY’s (10/NBC) recycled on ‘PAX49’ WPXV and WVEC’s (13/ABC) recycled on Cox Cable’s ‘LNC5’. Sanders should go to LA. EVERY affiliated station (7 in all) there has at least one newscast plus three in Spanish and one on an independent KCAL-TV 9. Needless to say, don’t expect WTVZ with a newscast anytime soon. His station in Richmond WRLH has one because Sanders says “Fox wants that for its affiliates.” The ‘FOX 43 News at 10’ on WVBT does very well here. If you remember, for a very short time back in the late 90s there was ‘UPN27 News at 10’ on WGNT and produced by WTKR (3/CBS). It failed miserably. On a final note, Sanders said he has acquired ‘Will & Grace’, ‘Dharma & Greg’ and ‘Home Improvement’ (previously on WTKR) from syndication for this fall..... Top cable networks — 5/11 — Click on the following link for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks for the week of April 29 through May 5 2002..... A new classified ad from Salem — 5/10 — Salem Communication's NOVA radio cluster is looking for a part-time traffic assistant. As always, you can find that ad and others in VARTV's Opportunities section.....
WAVY weatherman facing charges of grand larceny — 5/10 — WAVY-TV (10/NBC) meteorologist Fred Yco was charged Thursday with three counts of grand larceny by check, police said. Yco turned himself in to authorities. He was released on a $3,500 unsecured bond and is scheduled for a May 17th court hearing. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine for each charge. Yco said the charges resulted from a dispute between his bank and credit card company. The three checks totaled $10,500 and were written last month. Yco said he expects the matter to be resolved within a week. Yco joined WAVY in 1998 does weather on weekend mornings, fills in during the week and is seen during severe weather.....
Adelphia up for sale in Virginia — 5/10 — Troubled Adelphia Communications, the country's sixth-largest cable-TV provider, wants to sell several of its cable systems, including those in North Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. Adelphia, in a statement, announced plans Wednesday to sell the cable markets in Virginia, Southern California, Florida and the Southeast. There are 575,000 customers in Virginia, including about 41,000 in the local area. Cox Cable serves customers in southern Stafford County, Fredericksburg and portions of Spotsylvania close to the city line. Cox could buy some Adelphia markets, but Cox spokesperson Amy Cohn would not comment. She did say "We've said repeatedly that we're very comfortable at our present size, but we are interested in growth…we are looking at a lot of opportunities out there." Adelphia, based in Coudersport PA, bought Prestige Cable in the Fredericksburg area in 1999. Locally, Fredericksburg-area customers have expressed dissatisfaction with Adelphia, especially its high-speed Internet service. Most complained that the Internet service repeatedly shut down and was staying down for long periods. A stern letter sent to Adelphia in December by Spotsylvania County Administrator Anthony Barrett warned that the problems could be breeches of the franchise agreement. In a letter of response, the local Adelphia GM, Lisa Cash, stated that the Internet access agreement states that there is no guarantee the service will be error-free.
"Presumably, by agreeing to this language, customers of the service understand they are getting a residential-level, best-efforts service," she wrote. Wow!Don & Mike spice up the Spring book — 5/10 —  Don & Mike will spice Arbitron's Spring book by sharing the microphone with TV sitcom star Leah Remini. She’s 'Carrie Heffernan' on CBS-TV’s “The King of Queens”. A little Viacom/Infinity synergy. It makes for natural cross-promotion — since Don & Mike have done guest turns on two episodes of “The King of Queens.” Remini is between seasons on the TV show so it gives her an opportunity to co-host Westwood’s Don & Mike show for the rest of the Spring book. She starts on Monday May 13th. Don & Mike can be heard in Hampton Roads on 'AM 1450 The Buzz' WBVA and in Fredericksburg and NOVA on of course 106.7 WJFK.....
O’ Reilly coming to Richmond — 5/10 — 4M Communications’ simulcast twins ‘Hot Talk’ WLEE//WHAP (990//1340) has announced on-air that the new Bill O’ Reilly show has been added to their line-up. With this addition, their schedule has also been shifted. Starting Monday May 13th, their new on-air line-up is as follows…Imus In The Morning — 6AM-10AMNo word at all about Mike Gallagher. If dropped by WLEE, would Salem’s WBTK-AM (1380) pick him up? By the way, O' Reilly can be heard in Hampton Roads on 'TalkRadio 850' WNIS..... 
WPER Hits Goal, And Then Some — 5/10 — Culpeper Contemporary Christian outlet WPER (89.9 FM) conducted a three-day early May fundraiser and netted $218K, $8K above its goal. The station even received a $60K anonymous donation, not included in its "Share-A-Thon" total.....WCVE gets top honors — 5/10 — WCVE-Channel 23's 'Virginia Currents' won top honors in the recent 23rd annual Telly Awards competition. The awards honor outstanding non-network productions. The weekly newsmagazine received a Silver Telly Award for its "Roosevelt Deployment" segment. Bronze Telly Awards, the second-highest, went to three additional segments: "Ralph White," "Horse Logger" and "Nursing Home Elvis." 'Virginia Currents' also won a first-place station award from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters for its "Melvin Fensom" segment..... Live music returns to Hampton — 5/10 — Live-music fans were disappointed to hear that Mill Point Park in Hampton won't host Wednesday evening concerts this month. AAA '93-7 The Coast' WKOC moved them to the nTelos Pavilion in Portsmouth. But here's good news. In conjunction with a new exhibit called "Amazing Music Studio," the Virginia Air & Space Center and 'The Coast' will present a set of concerts at Carousel Park next to the museum. Rock band Dishwalla will kick off the series on Friday May 17th. Tickets are 10 bucks and they're already on sale from Ticketmaster. For more information, visit the museum's Web site at www.vasc.org or call 727-0900..... 
NBC to add HDTV in prime time — 5/9 — NBC will do more of its prime time lineup in high-definition next season, according to network officials. They have been criticized as lagging behind CBS and ABC in HDTV offerings - only one prime time show, Crossing Jordan (They broadcast 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' in hi-def). NBC officials said no final decisions have been made on which shows will be offered in HDTV, but the orders will be made soon after Monday's upfront. Privately, NBC officials were a little touchy on the criticism they've received over their HDTV offerings. Sure CBS and ABC offer most of their prime time in high-definition, they said, but NBC has been a leader in sports, which, along with movies, is expected to be a better driver of HDTV viewership than regular series. In partnership with Mark Cuban's HDNet (the outspkoken owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks), NBC has carried the Olympic Games, several NBA games and now the Triple Crown in HD. More high-definition sports programming is on the way, as well, network officials said. In VARTV land, NBC-HD can be found on WAVY-DT 31 in Hampton Roads, WWBT-DT 54 in Richmond and WRC-DT 48 in Fredericksburg and NOVA.....More digital signals in Hampton Roads — 5/9 — According to 100000watts.com, 'WB33' WTVZ-DT (38) and 'PAX49' WPXV-DT (46) have signed-on. That leaves only 'UPN27' WGNT (granted an extention), PBS affiliate WHRO (15/testing to commence shortly) and recent sign-on 'independent 'Sky4' WSKY (they're not required until 2006) as the only TV outlets not broadcasting a digital signal. Here's how the digital landscape looks like in Hampton Roads... WAVY-DT 31... NBCRichmond radio notes — 5/9 — Junie West's popular 'Race Talk' will return to radio on May 17th on WXGI-AM (950). 'The Frammin and Bammin Show' will be on location at Extra Billy's Barbecue every Friday from 4:05-5:45PM. Sometimes the program will be preempted for Winston Cup qualifying, but West will be there... The 'Hot Talk' twins WLEE//WHAP-AM (990//1340) are adding ESPN Radio's 'Tony Kornhiser Show,' a morning gabfest previously heard on Clear Channel's 'SportRadio 910' WRNL-AM... College sports... 1. WWBT (NBC 12)Well, there's my long (but informative) synopsis of the Richmond coverage of the storm….. Channel 23 to air Louis Rukeyser — 5/3 — Starting this Sunday at 10:30AM, Channel 23 WCVE (PBS) will air "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street," a weekly repeat of the series Rukeyser recently launched on CNBC. Rukeyser was let go by MPT - Maryland Public Television who hosted the PBS show "Wall $treet Week". WCVE will continue to air "Wall $treet Week" with a new host at 8:30PM on Fridays..... Big storms blow through Hampton Roads — 5/3 — It’s that time of year for severe weather and Hampton Roads was no exception yesterday afternoon. All three major news outlets [‘Triple Doppler’ WTKR (3/CBS), ‘Super Doppler 10’ WAVY (10/NBC) and ’13 News WeatherLab’ WVEC (13/ABC)] devoted much more time to weather during the regular newscasts (5, 5:30 & 6PM) and weather segments. At 6:30 during the national news, all three stations were constantly breaking in updating us on Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings. They were doing this without any regard what was being broadcast at the time — during a commercial or interrupting Tom Brokaw.
Power 92 dives to 4th!... WRVA rises to 2nd — 5/2 — The Winter 2002 Arbitrons results for Richmond...
103Jamz & The Fox plummet... WWSO audience up 104%... WOWI and WWDE 0.1 share difference!... the 'Star' rises — 5/2 — The Winter 2002 Arbitrons results for Hampton Roads...
Transmitter maps coming — 5/2 — Well VARTV's Transmitter Maps page is starting to shape up. Many thanks to Parris Wood in getting these maps together. The Southside of Hampton Roads and NE North Carolina maps are in the works..... WTKR-DT update — 5/2 — Ted Hand of WTKR-DT tells us that they have expanded its broadcast day. They will now sign-on everyday at 6PM (with NewsChannel 3 News at 6) and sign off at 11PM as before. WTKR-DT also has filed a new STA with the FCC to increase power from 400 kW to 725 kW. They should hear something from the FCC in mid-June. Hand went on to say, “We are still working on the close-caption issue with Channel 3-1. I am waiting on CBS for some information on setup… still no word from CBS concerning HD sporting events in the fall. Upcoming HD movies: May 5… 9-11PM… Hallmark Hall Of Fame: Little JohnHand also passed along some technical info… WTKR-DT broadcasts on Channel 40 (Digital channel 3-1 and 3-2). Channel 3-1 is 1080i, 16x9 showing CBS HD programming or upconverted SD programming depending on time and day. Channel 3-2 is 480i, 4x3 showing Triple Doppler real-time radar images. Our transmitter is located in the Driver section of Northwest Suffolk, with an antenna height of 1250'….. Winter 2002 book for Richmond & Hampton Roads — 5/2 — Arbitron's Winter 2002 radio ratings (12+) will be released later today for the Richmond and Hampton Roads markets. The complete break down will be listed here. It will be interesting to see if a couple stations that are on life-support can get out of the 'IC' unit. Check back this afternoon for all of the details..... WCVE exceeds fund-raising goal — 5/1 — 88.9 WCVE-FM's membership drive topped its goal of $100,000, bringing in $103,769 in on-air and website pledges, according to Sarah R. Bartenstein, director of communications for the station. The annual public radio fund-raising effort ended last Saturday the 27th..... News Archives.....  |
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That wasn’t long — 5/7 — I guess Randall Bloomquist, 'NewsRadio 1140' WRVA's program director, had enough of on-air "ums," "uhs" and "I means," and canceled Kathleen Willey's radio talk show after just four shows. Bloomquist said "She just wasn't ready yet for a station at our level…What I heard was what you would hear if you plucked anyone off the street and put them on a 50,000-watt radio station.” Ouch! Willey came across on-air as sincere but often tongue-tied and at a loss for the right word. She counters with that she didn't get much help from the radio station. Willey said "I'm certainly disappointed - not devastated, but disappointed…I had a good time, but I don't think the audience that WRVA is trying to draw now is interested in the kind of guests that I was able to bring on the show." Hmmm. If you remember, Willey, 55, figured briefly but prominently in the investigations of former President Bill Clinton's involvement with other women. Willey became a household name after stories circulated that the president allegedly fondled the former White House volunteer and Democratic activist during an unscheduled November 1993 meeting in the Oval Office. She went on to describe the ordeal on national television in a "60 Minutes" interview but undercut her own credibility because of conflicting statements she gave to various federal grand juries. In the meantime, WRVA will go back to their original programming during the two-hour block… 'The Best of Dr. Laura’. The Times-Dispatch asks the question “Should Willey's collapse discourage other talkative prospects like Reva Trammell, Sa'ad El-Amin or former City Councilman Chuck Richardson? Bloomquist replies "Not by any means. Tell'em I'd be interested"…..
Viacom's MTV networks has launched two new 24-hour digital video channels: "MTVHits and MTVJams." The two add to MTV's "MTV2" (launched in '96) and "MTV Espanol" (launched in '97). The channels will give MTV's CHR and Urban audiences music videos, harder and harder to find on the original MTV. By the way, Cox Communications Hampton Roads carries NONE of these channels.....
Regina Brayboy has been named COO (Chief Operating Officer) of WHRO (15/PBS). She has had a 20-year career in public administration. Right now, she's the patient financial services manager at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Hampton. She starts at WHRO June 3rd which will have her overseeing Channel 15's daily operations and with some additional duties.....
