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Q&A With Bob Levey
Bob Levey
Washington Post Columnist
Tuesday, June 03, 2003; Noon ET
"Levey Live" appears Tuesdays at noon ET.
Your host is Washington Post columnist Bob
Levey. This hour is your chance to talk directly to key Washington
Post reporters and editors, local officials and people in the news.
Today, Bob's guest is Dave Hughes, editor of dcrtv.com, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area
Radio and TV.
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Dave Hughes
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Hughes said he has been “a radio and TV freak since childhood.” He grew up in the New York City and Philadelphia areas in the 1960s and early 1970s. At that time, he was a big fan of top forty WFIL and WIBG, as well as powerhouse WABC. In the early 1970s he moved to the Washington, D.C. area and became a WPGC and WEAM fan.
He said that his musical tastes transformed from contemporary hits to progressive rock. He subsequently switched to then-WGTB and the old WHFS. Over the years he did considerable "DXing" on the broadcast and shortwave bands as well as on his travels throughout North America and Europe.
He has a bachelors in communication arts and political science from James Madison University, where he worked at the college radio station (WMRA). He has worked as a court, politics, and police reporter for Times Community Newspapers, a Northern Virginia newspaper chain and for the Associated Press. He was a news editor at Radio World and TV Technology newspapers in Falls Church, Va. and the Washington bureau chief of New York City-based PSN Publications. He has also written for Television Broadcast, Government and Military Video, Videography magazines, and the Radio Digest website. He currently operates a writing, reporting and research service.
He started dcrtv.com in 1997.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests
and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Bob Levey:
Good afternoon, Dave, and thanks very much for joining us today on "Levey Live." Let's begin with the hot story of the day--the FCC decision to change the way the media table is set. Effects on DC?
Dave Hughes: I don't see any immediate effects here in the DC market. As for newspaper cross-ownership issues, I doubt that the Washington Post will try to buy a local TV station. If you're old enough, you may remember that the Post used to own Channel 9 (then WTOP-TV). Up in Baltimore, we may see the Sun try to do a deal to to get a TV station. But it won't happen in the near future.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Is dcrtv.com your full-time job or just a hobby? If it's a job, how does the site produce revenue? If it's a hobby, what is your day job?
Dave Hughes: I'm single and don't have a lot of expenses. I worked at various trade publications in the 1980s and early 1990s and saved up (and invested) a nice chunk of change. Plus, I currently do freelance work that helps to pay the bills. The kind contributions from DCRTV visitors do help pay my expenses for the site, but I'm not yet earning a "living wage" from dcrtv.com.
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NoVa:
Were you the one that reported or posted that Don Geronimo had died?
Dave Hughes: I reported that some had claimed that Don Geromino had died. About a year ago, someone started a rumor that Don had a brain tumor (the size of a grapefruit) and was being treated at Fairfax Hospital. In fact, someone even had posted a webpage that looked eactly like it was part of DCRTV. Don was a bit angry at the fake story, but he did get a good laugh out of it on the radio show.
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Bob Levey:
You must work 24/7/365 to keep DCRTV as current as it is. What does your time card actually say?
Dave Hughes: I usually can't sleep through the entire night. I often wake at 2 or 3 AM and work on the site. And then go back to bed at about 4 and sleep until 7 or so. I then update the site, and the mailbag, many times a day as I'm doing other things. Having an "always on" cable internet connection helps.
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Springfield, Va.:
Other than Don and Mike, WJFK is the pits. Rerun after rerun... Why can't they get decent programming? Is it the constant turnover there?
Dave Hughes: WJFK-FM is one of the great mysteries of DC radio. They have killer drivetimes - Howard Stern in the AM and Don and Mike in the PM - but the rest of the station needs help. Now that the Junks are on HFS, the evenings are hosted by Ron and Fez, who still have some work to do to get their ratings up. And Bill O'Reilly, as talented as he is, just doesn't "fit" the station's "shock jock" format. Plus, the weekends are a huge waste of time with all their infomercials and reruns.
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Bob Levey:
Eddie Gallaher--the best I've ever worked with. The nicest, the smoothest, the most professional. You agree?
Dave Hughes: I've never met Eddie. But he is truly one of the greats of DC radio. I was saddened when DC's only nostalgic radio station, WGAY/1260, was silenced a few years ago. Eddie did the morning show with another radio great, Bob Duckman. Both deserve to be back on the airwaves. And DC REALLY needs to have a big band, nostalgic formatted station again.
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Vienna, Va.:
Concerning your reply to another caller, I am old enough to remember when the Post owned WTOP (and the Star owned WMAL). The big question is: why did these stations have to change their call letters? Today you have WUSA and WJLA ... for no apparant reason than just for the sake of change. This is annoying. I'm not denying the owner's rights to change the call letters (subject to FCC approval, of course), but WHY do it just for change's sake?...it makes no sense.
Dave Hughes: Well, Channel 9 used to be WTOP-TV. The Post swapped it to the Detroit News back in the late 70s or early 80s, and it became WDVM. The Post's radio station was also sold, but it retained its WTOP calls. I guess the TV calls were changed to indicate that it was no longer co-owned with the radio station. And, yes, the Washingon Star used to own Channel 7 (then WMAL-TV) and 630 (still WMAL-AM) and 107.3 (once WMAL-FM).
Eventually, Gannett bought Channel 9 and changed the calls to WUSA to reflect its co-ownership with the company that owns USA Today.
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Fairfax:
I love the bluegrass and "real" country music played weekly on 88.5. Are there any other stations that play this type of music?
Dave Hughes: WKCW in Warrenton VA (1420 on the AM dial) used to do some bluegrass and traditional country. I don't know if they still do.
If you really love that kind of music, try the satellite radio services like XM (www.xmradio.com) and Sirius. Also, area cable companies (Comcast and Cox) offer MusicChoice, which provides 40-ish channels of digital audio, including bluegrass and traditional country.
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Bob Levey:
A station executive told me last week that of the top 50 markets, DC Ranks No. 50 in time spent listening to the AM band. Why?
Dave Hughes: DC is NOT, repeat NOT, a good AM radio market. There are only three half decent AM signals here - with good daytime AND nighttime coverage - WMAL/630, WTEM/980, and WTOP/1500. And all three STILL have coverage problems. For example, WTOP "aims" its nighttime signal to the northeast and southeast (to protect stations in the Midwest) so you can hear 1500 really great in places like New Jersey and Maine but not in upper Montgomery County or in Loudoun. That's why the station has relays on FM (107.7) and on 820 AM for the western suburbs.
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Bob Levey:
Best young talent on a DC radio station, according to Dave Hughes, is.......?
Dave Hughes: I don't know how YOUNG they are (my age, probably), but I'm really impressed with the "Girl Talk" show on WASH on Sunday evenings. I believe the hosts are Debra Leigh and Erica Hillary (I hope I got their names right). It's a talk show with a female perspective - something radio REALLY needs. And guys can have fun listening to it, too. If I was programming WJFK (or another talk station in the market) I'd seriously consider giving "GT" a daily airing.
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Arlington:
Why do they play so many commercials on DC radio stations? You never here two songs in the row, on the way to work in the morning at 7:30 am, I am lucky if I hear 2 songs in my 15 minute drive.
Dave Hughes: Simple. Money makes the radio world go around. Sometimes you'll even think that the music is just an occasional interruption to the solid stream of ads. Kind of like WARW.
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Rockville, MD:
Dave, you have a great site. BUT... I do have a problem with the way you report radio "news." You often post things in your news section that are merely rumors, and you sometimes interject your own opinions. Why don't seperate the real news from rumor and opinion better? I know you'll take this to heart... Rupert Murdoch would be thrilled at the way you report the news. Ok, cheap shot, but give it some thought.
Dave Hughes: As I often say, I am NOT the New York Times or the Washington Post. I do report rumors and I label them as such. You can decide whether they're worth believing. I do try to only report rumors from credible sources. Believe me, most of the stuff I hear I do NOT post on the site.
But many (!) of the rumors I've posted have become fact. Back in December I posted a rumor that Scott Brady would soon be leaving the morning show at WASH. And just last week it happened.
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20016, Washington, D.C.:
What is going on with WAMU and WETA? Why have they given up their good stuff only to duplicate each other? And how can we get the music back?
Dave Hughes: It's a terrible waste to punch up 88.5 and then flip over to 90.9 and hear THE SAME THING. Often an NPR talk program. But research indicates that talk and news programming on public radio stations generates ratings - and donors. Many public radio stations around the country have dropped music (jazz, progressive rock, and classical) for talk and news. WAMU no longer runs any music (bluegrass) on weekdays. And I'm sure that WETA would love to drop the classical music, but the audience would probably storm their south Arlington studios if they did.
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Bob Levey:
When will WJLA-TV hire a male anchor? And who will that lucky guy be?
Dave Hughes: There have been MANY MANY MANY rumors of JLA getting a male anchor for the 11 PM newscast. That's ANOTHER great mystery of DC radio and TV - the way Channel 7's news department functions. For all the good people working at WJLA, you'd think the station would do far better in the ratings. Go figure.
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Chevy Chase, Md.:
What are your opinions of Channel 20 and Channel 50 now that they're network affiliates? Think either one will have news in the future?
Dave Hughes: The Tribune Company owns Channel 50, and Tribune runs newscasts on its Philadelphia and NYC stations. WBDC did run a Channel 4 newscast a while back and it did really horribly in the ratings. So maybe that scared the station away from news.
As for Channel 20, probably not. It's now owned by Rupert Murdoch's Fox network, which also owns WTTG/Channel 5, which has a lot of news output already.
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silver spring, md:
Any inside info on the future of the WMAL Morning News?
Dave Hughes: I'd like to see more humor and less hard news. Andy Parks is great. My choice for his co-host would be David Burd, who hosts MAL's Saturday morning show. Dave's funny, but in a dry sort of way. 630 needs to be a little less brash sounding in the morning, when people are waking up. I did not like hearing those heated political debates between Jane Norris (righty) and Bill Press (lefty) first thing in the morning. Bill's gone, and Jane may soon be shifted to evenings.
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Fairfax, Va.:
Dave:
When would you say that DC radio really jumped the shark? When Jim London & Mary Ball were canned? When Salem bought WAVA? When Harden and Weaver were silenced? Trumbull left Core? When Clear Channel came to town?
Dave Hughes: Definitely when Salem bought WAVA. I loved WAVA. It was a great station. When it was a rocker in the 80s it played one of my all-time favs, "Love Is A Battlefield," at least once an hour. Then it became more of a top 40 sound. With Don and Mike. But it was owned by Emmis, which was having deep financial problems in the early 1990s and the station was sold for quick cash. And religious-based Salem was willing to pay. While I have nothing against Salem's mainly religious talk programming, it would be nice if 105.1 could go back to (non-religious) music.
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DC - Capitol Hill:
Any local stations have programming specifically for gay people or of gay interest? Seems to me to be an underserved audience locally.
Dave Hughes: I agree. But, sorry, no. However, NYC's Sirius satellite radio has just started OutQ, a gay talk and music channel. You can check it out at www.sirius.com. I wonder if DC's XM plans to do the same? I could make a tasteless joke about one of XM's former employees at this point, but I won't......
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Baltimore, Md.:
What do you make of the constant rumors about B104.3 in Baltimore?
Dave Hughes: Well, the station needs a ratings boost. That's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go to a rhythmic contemporary hit format over the summer. Maybe it'll become a clone of DC's "Hot 99.5".....
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Southwest, Washington, D.C.:
Hello Dave --
What's the plan for WRC 1260AM. They are running CNN news full-time, and some local business-related programming on the weekends.
Are they planning to have any local business programming during the week. The website shows only CNN info. and no local WRC programming/scheduling information.
Thanks for your great website!!!
Dave Hughes: Ahh, 1260. Another great mystery of DC area broadcasting. I just wish that Clear Channel would restore the big band/nostalgic music that it killed off in the spring of 2001. The older folks in the DC area need a station they can call their own. Plus, many of us younger folks really dig the cool counds of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Nobody (!) listens to 1260 right now - according to the latest ratings. I don't understand why the flip can't be made.
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McLean, VA:
Dave, what was your assessment of Bob Levey's stint subbing for Paul Berry last week on WTNT? I thought he did a pretty good job.
Dave Hughes: I didn't get to listen to Bob. At 4 or 5 PM I'm usually listening to 106.7. Or if I'm in a really masochistic mood, 630. Sorry.....
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Silver Spring, MD:
When is a GOOD local station going to get Doug (Greaseman) Tract? That puny AM signal from Walkersville is a joke.....and even worse, the station arrogantly did away with the free "Listen Live" on the Internet....you have to pay for it now, which is outrageous.
Dave Hughes: I'd like to see Doug Tracht drop the "Greaseman" thing and just be himself. And do something on a more major talk station like WTNT (no jokes please). He needs to "grow up." The Grease was great in his day, but he needs to show a new side of himself.
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Tyson's Corner, VA:
Dave, you take constant shots at the Washington Post for its pathetic lack of radio coverage, and its dated radio listings. So far it's earned you ... a slot on Levey's chat! Congratualtions.
Do you think your criticisms of the Post will make their way through Levey, to the people that actually make the decisions about the Post's radio coverage and listings?
Bob, are you listening?
Dave Hughes: I still can't figure out why the Post stopped running the twice monthly "Radio Listener" columns that Frank Ahrens used to do. Yup, there is very little local radio coverage in the Post. And, yes, Lisa de Moraes could do more local stuff too. Another great mystery. Ah, the great John Carmody. Too bad he couldn't live forever.....
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Bob Levey:
You ranted recently about WUSA-TV as follows: "The problem now and forever at Channel 9 is interference from the (Gannett) corporate staff in McLean." What if I told you that the problem is that Glenn Brenner is no longer there and Gordon Peterson still is?
Dave Hughes: Well, Glenn Brenner tragically died of a brain tumor in early 1992. I'm sure that if he was still alive he'd still be at Channel 9.
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Bob Levey:
Many thanks to the one and only Dave Hughes. Be sure to join us next Tuesday at the same time for another edition of "Levey Live."
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Bob Levey:
That wraps up
today's show. Thanks to everyone who joined the
discussion.
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