18 APR 07: THE DAY THE MIKE DIED
"I THOUGHT YOU HAD THE SCOOP ON EVERYTHING.... BUT....!!!" When this is the title of an e-mail to the blog (well, leaving out a few exclamation points), I feel like I've let a reader down. But then again, I know I can't "have the scoop on everything." Ben and Jerry's never even told me about their free ice cream cones Tuesday.
BLOG EXCLUSIVE: So what has this e-mailer stunned by my silence? The news we're apparently breaking here (so is it still technically a scoop?) -- thanks to tips from a couple of people:
Robbie Watson was terminated Friday(THE 13th......Just as Antonio Carter and Doug Kellett was last October Friday THE 13th) and TALKLINE(A show that has been on for more than 30 years)has been cancelled!!!!! A lot of folks in the area ....including myself are to going miss the program.ARCHWAY BROADCASTING EXECUTIVES need to back north where they came from.
Thanks Richard!
OH......by the way ....I did not enjoy the documentary of your bathroom escapades...
nuff said!!!!!!!
Stephen King
My apologies all around, Stephen. But the way Monday's news events played out, it was either talk about my illness or try to joke about what happened at Virginia Tech - and that other option probably would have been even more disgusting.
Yes, your blog confirmed late Tuesday that WRCG AM-1420 has pulled the proverbial plug on "TalkLine" - the only news-centered daily local talk show in Columbus. We're now waiting to see if the station will change its slogan to "ONE-Way Radio."
"I want to thank the people for being so receptive to me, " former TalkLine host Robbie Watson told the blog by phone Tuesday night. Watson noted she moved to WRCG radio from TV sportscasting, and "I didn't know jack about politics." She quickly learned, of course, who Councilor Jack Rodgers was.
(By the way, Robbie Watson told me politics is a "step below sports," and "sanitation workers" place above politicians in her view. That's despite the fact that both of those areas have "trash talk" in common....)
Robbie Watson didn't know Friday would be her last day at WRCG until TalkLine was off the air. But she had a sense of timing - because she knew co-host Antonio Carter was fired exactly six months before, which was also a Friday the 13th. So who knows? Maybe on Friday, July 13, WRCG will sign off completely.
But Robbie Watson could see the end was coming at WRCG. She compared the last few months to being aboard the Titanic -- "and they finally pushed me overboard." Watson isn't sure where she'll find work next, so she apparently suspects the managers missed the lifeboat.
Robbie Watson is looking at her old job with a cutting sense of humor. She told me she was lucky to have a job where "I was paid to talk to myself for several minutes a day." After that, of course, WRCG switched to a full-power daytime signal.
Yet Robbie Watson is disappointed at the direction WRCG seems to be going. She noted TalkLine had a history of well-known local hosts, ranging from the Ledger-Enquirer's Richard Hyatt to former mayoral aide Ed Wilson. I'm not sure the short stint of Doug Graham really counts in there.
But Robbie Watson also feels calm and at peace about leaving WRCG. She says she's had a lot of calls at home in recent days, and "feels the prayers lifting me up." But to be fair, she ended our conversation a few minutes later by joking about having to go harm her children....
I've personally watched Robbie Watson undergo quite a transformation in the last decade - from a flirty, sometimes foul-mouthed sports anchor to a mother with a growing Christian faith. In fact, she says her last segment on WRCG last Friday dealt with "the Golden Rule." So did anyone call, to remind her that Phenix City barbecue restaurant is closed?
Even with the end of TalkLine, there still will be a local talk show on WRCG. Robbie Watson told me "Takin' It to the Streets" on Saturday morning will continue, because Columbus NAACP President Bill Madison "works for free." So at least the usual TalkLine callers will have several days to compile notes, and prepare their rants.
"I was extremely surprised," Antonio Carter told me Tuesday night when we talked about the cancellation. Carter indeed was cut from the WRCG lineup last October - but when you're trying to start a civil rights organization, at least you have a second gig.
But Antonio Carter admitted from a business standpoint, he doesn't know what WRCG's managers faced in making its decision about TalkLine. Perhaps the advertising income was down, he speculated. Or perhaps the managers counted up all the "Sound Off" comments in the newspaper, for and against the host.
What does Archway Broadcasting have to say about the end of TalkLine? I called the Columbus office Tuesday afternoon, but a manager did NOT return my message. Avoid the media, and they might go away - just like the WRCG audience has done.
So how did I miss the big change at WRCG? I tried to hear the start of TalkLine Monday morning at 7:05 - but I heard nothing after Your Weather Channel Forecast. I didn't consider that very unusual. I presumed I couldn't hear the station, because its predawn signal was as wimpy as usual.
A change of routine Tuesday meant no early-morning AM radio for me - so I only found out something had changed when I checked blog e-mails Tuesday afternoon. Quickly I jumped to the WRCG web site - only to find the site is down. You'll recall it took the staff months to remove Bill O'Reilly's picture, after his show was canceled.
The cancellation of TalkLine leaves Columbus radio with only one local daily talk show - and it's Mike Vee and Rachel Bearbeau's sports talk show in the afternoons on WEAM-AM/WIOL-FM. If Paul Olson wants to vent about city government, he'd better have some good football analogies ready.
A couple of options remain, if you want to talk about local news in Columbus. The biggest winner in WRCG's change seems to be Calvin Floyd, who takes calls on WLTZ's "Rise-N-Shine." Of course, callers will have to struggle to wake up an hour or two earlier - and remember to avoid the days when they're focusing on gardening.
I heard a bit of another radio talk option Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday is the day State Senator Ed Harbison and Gloria Strobel appear with Edgar Champagne on WAGH "Magic 98.3." Harbison was on the phone from the final days of the Georgia General Assembly session - making it the perfect time for Republicans to bring up bills he doesn't like.
Ed Harbison ended his three-hour program on WAGH with a short "moment of meditation" on the power of forgiving others. It left me wondering if he's done that with Reginald Pugh, in the wake of last year's election.
Tuesday could become the "talk radio" day for Columbus listeners. Before Ed Harbison appears in the afternoon on WAGH, Mike Gaymon from the Columbus Chamber of Commerce has his morning "Viewpoint" program on WDAK. The day Gaymon has Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Director William Howell as a guest, I'll truly know we're approaching One Columbus.
I mentioned a couple of people had sent us e-mails about the end of TalkLine. Here's the other one:
Richard, I'm surprised that yesterday's blog had no mention of WRCG's cancellation of the "Talkline" show.
Monday morning us regular listeners had to listen to Dr. Bill Bennett's syndicated show.
So what's up WRCG? This local program has been on for many years. The hosts through the years (since 1980) have included J. Edward Wilson, Richard Hyatt, Doug Kellett, Doug Graham, Russ Hollenbeck, Robbie Watson, Robbie Watson & Antonio Carter, and Robbie Watson & Friends.
Not one word from WRCG to the station's faithful listeners. Not one word about it in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, although they did have front page stories when Antonio Carter (a black man) was added as co-host about two years ago. Then another story about a year ago when he was let go.
Was it because of the ratings? If so, you would think that before canceling such a long-running program the station management would have polled their longtime listeners and advertisers about suggestions to improve the program.
As I recall when Doug Kellett hosted the program for years it was the number 1 rated local program in Columbus.
Since the new ownership purchased the station from the McClure family it seems they have done just about everything possible to get rid of their listeners. Moving Braves baseball to one of their other stations is another example of their poor judgment. Why don't they just sell the station? Maybe another owner would improve the station (including erecting a better tower).
The Columbus area (in my humble opinion) does not need yet another syndicated talk show but a show where real local people can ask questions and express their opinions about local issues.
What do you think Richard?
A member of the Talkline Family
Let me tell you first what Robbie Watson thought, when she heard Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" on WRCG in her place: "I can't believe he costs less than I do."
Even if I had heard Bill Bennett on WRCG Monday, I might not have concluded TalkLine was canceled. WRCG expanded Neal Boortz's talk show for a few weeks several years ago, when Russ Hollenbeck had to leave the air for a family emergency. And remember, the station couldn't do this time what it did twice before - and fall back to airing Don Imus.
To be fair to the newspaper, Robbie Watson HAS talked with a reporter there -- but she believes the TalkLine story was put on the shelf Tuesday, for extended coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. If that disaster can change the President's schedule, why not a news item about a little talk show?
It's interesting that this e-mail suggests selling WRCG, because rumors are floating around that Archway Broadcasting might do exactly that. One story has AM-1420 being sold to Beacon University -- and then the talk shows might be more conservative than ever.
Maybe it's time the talk radio fans put a little pressure on the Clear Channel stations, to have a local talk show for "real local people." As if Chamber of Commerce executives aren't....
(Trouble is, I'm hearing Clear Channel laid off several afternoon personalities several months ago. Edgar Champagne somehow kept his job - so you wonder if he's now limited to sparkling water.)
There was one other radio item Tuesday, which also involved Archway Broadcasting. Former WRBL news anchor Blaine Stewart gave a live report from Virginia Tech to WCGQ. It apparently happened because Stewart is a good friend of Q-07.3's "Spikey Mike." But if I start hearing the Norfolk morning news headlines in Columbus, I'll know this friendship is too close.
So what happened away from the radio Tuesday? Let's dial around and see....
+ Speaking of Antonio Carter, he told me his National Joshua Generation had several meetings Tuesday. Carter admits the group had a slow start after announcing its launch last August, but he expects bigger and better things this year. Even two news conferences would be an improvement....
+ The Phenix City Council passed a resolution opposing Russell County's proposed five-cent beverage tax. Mayor Jeff Hardin explained he's concerned people will drive to Columbus for their soft drinks, the way some already do to save on grocery sales taxes. If only Phenix City could add extra Sundays to the month, for more beer sales.
+ Aflac executive John Amos was inducted in the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. He truly was an amazing man - selling all those insurance policies for years without a duck.
+ Columbus State University decided Doug Branson should be the permanent men's basketball coach. Branson was interim coach this past season, but then
C.S.U. did a lengthy outside search. Perhaps all the other candidates decided to apply at Arkansas instead.
+ The New York Rangers trashed the Thrashers 7-0, and can eliminate Atlanta from the N.H.L. playoffs in four straight games tonight. The outlook looks grim for Atlanta hockey fans - great for the league's TV ratings, but grim for area fans.
+ Instant Message to St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Phenix City: About your sign asking for the Lord's mercy on our world - was that put up because of what happened at Virginia Tech? Or are you tired of Sanjaya's singing on "American Idol," too?
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UPDATE 1....