This month's topics include:

Greg Budell Alive & Kicking, Annual Radio Awards, Toast Of The Nation, Tavis Smiley, Jon Sommers To Emcee Chris MacDonald Elvis Tribute, Mickey and Donald Not On Radio Disney, Radio Web Site Awards, Rick Shaw Bobblehead, KISS Chili Cookoff, and more!

Greg Budell at local Lexus Dealer

Budell had been coping with multiple health problems since his accident in January 2004: oral surgery, migraine headaches, sleeping problems, sciatica, and short-term memory loss ... "senior moments" at age 50!

"Donald and I would discuss during a song what would go next" explained Budell. "The song would end and I would go blank." Then Don Agony devised hand signals so listeners wouldn't know Greg Budell had a memory problem.

"Donald is a genius" says Budell, "the most talented person I've ever worked with." Then in September, after 13 months at WJNA, Budell was too weak to work. He was then notified by certified mail on September 15 that he was fired.

So Budell was extremely surprised to see the quote from James Crystal's George Johns in Tom Jicha's Q &A in the November 7 edition of the Sun-Sentinel stating that he was on a "voluntary personal leave of absence."

We haven't been able to learn anything about the situation from WJNA yet.

With anxious fans awaiting his return to the airwaves, Budell is honing his writing skills as he recovers. He writes a monthly column for Parkland Life magazine and is considering other publications. [See his story, Parton Me!.]

We're hoping to see Greg's recollections as an addition to South Florida Radio History when he feels up to it.

What? You really want another agonizing Agony pun? How about calling it The Pain And Agony Show when Greg Budell returns?

(Miami, FL -- December 28, 2004) ... NPR's annual Toast Of The Nation will welcome 2005, the fifth year of the millenium, with live jazz originating from every time zone, from the Big Apple to Alaska, starting at 7 PM Friday.

If you really must watch that boring ball drop in Times Square, I'd recommend turning the TV volume off and listening to WLRN (91.3) while you watch. (Yes, they do a countdown for every time zone, but I've never tried to stay awake 'til the Pacific Time countdown.)

Featured in the 2005 edition will be a tribute to Ray Charles. For more info, see the Detailed Toast Of The Nation Schedule.

(Miami, FL -- December 24, 2004) ... From now until Sunday January 2, WMXJ (102.7) will be playing The A To Z of Rock And Roll, hundreds of oldies in alphabetical order. It started on Christmas eve.

Enjoy it while you can, because many (most?) of these songs aren't on Majic's severely truncated regular playlist. You can download a list on the Majic web site, majic1027.com.

"It's that time of year again," they say "when the weather turns cooler and South Florida begins to get downright CHILI!!!!"

Hank Williams, Jr., Keith Urban, Montgomery Gentry, Big & Rich, and Katrina Elam will be featured.

Tickets are just $30 in advance and $35 the day of the show. Tickets are available at: south Florida Albertson's stores, Grif's, KISS appearances, and many other locations.

Elvis: A Celebration : Images of Elvis Presley from the Elvis Presley Archive at Graceland No Synopsis Available

McDonald, who looks and sounds like Elvis in his prime, will be returning from his annual birthday performance at Graceland January 7th and 8th. He hosts Chris MacDonald's Memories of Elvis on WJNA (640), from 9 'til 10 PM Sundays,

"Jammin" Jon Sommers, who hosts an oldies request show weeknights on WJNA, will be the emcee.

For more info about the show, see the Chris MacDonald Announcement. Also see ChrisMacDonaldsElvis.com.

Iron On Patch

(December, 2004) ... Now that Budell's away, the imaginative folks at WJNA (640) have paired the Donald (Agony) with the Mickey (Miller), giving us ... groan ... Mickey and Donald.

Mickey Miller and Donald Agony ... together ... A really Goofy idea!

Best Web Site For a Local Brokered Program ... Steve Kane's stevekaneshow.com is kinda artsy and kinda strange. You could read the articles and explore the media links for hours, maybe days.

Most Useless Web Sites ... The James Crystal Stations and their convoluted connected sites, with minimal info, bad links, last month's events, empty pages, and no schedules, listing a few featured programs if any. The sites are designed to provide additional ad space to advertisers without going to the trouble of sharing any worthwhile info with listeners.

Most Annoying Web Sites ... The Clear Channel Stations and their cookie-cutter sites, which have much more info than James Crystal's, but also much more BS to wade through to get to the info.

Kermit Schafer Presents Blooper Tube: Based on Radio-Tv's Most Hilarious Award-Winning Bloopers

2nd Annual Radio Awards

Best Overnight Success After A Decade Trying ... Randi Rhodes, formerly on WJNO (1290) only, who is now the star of the Air America Radio Network, which includes WINZ (940). Congratulations, Randy! (Also see Randi Rhodes, Goddess of Gab, the latest addition to South Florida Radio History.)

Cheesiest PR Stunt ... WKIS (99.9), which spread rumors that it was going "Urban" and replaced its web site with such a message, just to promote a concert with Keith Urban. (I was conned because I had never heard of Keith Urban!)

Best Station Slogan ... "Call us cool. Call us hip. Just don't call us smooth!", heard on serious jazz station WDNA (88.9), to decisively distinguish their lively mainstream and ethnic jazz (all flavors) from the sleep-inducing smooth jazz played on Clear Channel's WLVE (93.9). To paraphrase Mark Twain, the difference between jazz and smooth jazz is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Worst Station Slogan ... any slogan using "relaxing" on moribund classical station WKAT (1360). If they can't distinguish the difference between relaxing music and classical music -- and the respective audiences for each -- it's no surprise that nobody listens to the few hours of music that remain on the station. WTMI treated us to classical music for 31 years (1971-2001); WKAT won't even make it to three. It'll be sold as of January.
See The New News/Talk WKAT 1360.

Keep Reading! More Winners Follow...

Stupidest Format Change ... WFLL (1400), which (after two call letter changes) dropped local and syndicated talk early in a presidential election year (really irresponsible timing for an entity that's supposed to serve the public) to become a sports station, the redundant third sports station in the Miami market. Bill O'Reilly was scheduled to appear at Office Depot Center and broadcast from the station the week of the change! (I considered saying Worst-Timed Format Change, but decided tact is not appropriate in this instance of Clear-Channel-like greed overcoming service to the listening public.)

Best Public Service Project ... Tom Joyner's Take A Loved One to the Doctor Day,, in association with his local affiliate WHQT (105.1), Hot 105.

Most Missed Local Talk Show ... Joyce Kaufman, after the demise of WFTL 1400's talk format. This excellent liberal talk-show host (and proud former flower child) helped balance conservatives Hannity and O'Reilly and gave listeners the opportunity to intelligently discuss local and national issues, without resorting to the intolerance and cliches heard on some syndicated talk shows of the right and left. Now you can just hear Joyce talk between songs on WJNA, if you like listening to dreary commercials and tortured segues. Someone give Joyce a talk show!

Best and Worst Unintentional Left-Wing Political Talk Show With No Callers on a Music Station ... Don Agony (sans the balancing talents of Greg Budell), who doesn't play nearly enough music.

Best Station Switch ... Howard Stern, who was dropped from Clear Channel's WBGG (whose ratings then dropped)

Worst Bad Rap ... Claims that Clear Channel has a conservative programming bias, disproved this year now that it carries extreme liberal "progressive" Air America round-the-clock on WINZ but only has conservative talk on WIOD for half the day and wackos the other half -- Hendrie and Coast to Coast, that is. CC's principal bias is not political; it's bias towards gobbling up more stations and more money. Not that they aren't open to lots of criticism on other issues, though!

Keep Reading! More Winners Follow...

Biggest Waste of Talent ... WFTL's newsman/commentator Dave McBride, whom we only get to hear a minute or so at a time. This educated and entertaining man from Chicago should have his own talk show on a more powerful station.

[Now you can order your own copy of Dave McBride's CD, A Nail in the Head, a compilation of the 32 most-requested classic commentaries from his years on Chicago radio.]

Most Dishonest Radio Commercials ... The "527" political groups, especially the ones with outright lies such as claims that President Bush allows oil drilling off of Florida's coast. (What the president approved in 2001 keeps drilling at least 100 miles from the gulf coast. That's farther from Florida than Cuba is.)

Most Obnoxious Use of Sound Effects ... Clear Channel's talker Todd Schnitt, heard locally on WIOD (610) and amazingly on three other CC stations. If you're listening and you hear his buzzer, you might as well grab a snack and then hit the bathroom or walk around the block; you won't miss a thing and he'll be buzzing for the 200th time when you get back. (Does he really think this is entertaining?)

(December 20, 2004) ... Do the people who schedule commercials pay any attention to the order in which they're played? Last month on WJNA, after one of Joyce Kaufman's spots announcing Chuck Zink' impending retirement, the next commercial was for ... a cemetery. Now cut that out!

(December 28, 2004) ... Rick Shaw, who has been nominated for induction into the Radio Hall of Fame, was the inspiration for the WMXJ Bobblehead Doll during the Christmas season.

• 7 PM - Live from Boston: The Donald Harrison Quintet at the Berklee College of Music -- in association with WGBH Radio, Boston. New Orleans alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and trumpeter Christian Scott play an hour of swinging jazz and Crescent City funk from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
• 8 PM - From the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC: A Tribute to Shirley Horn. An all-star lineup of jazz singers pay homage to Washington native Shirley Horn, the grande dame of velvet vocals and swinging piano. Horn will sing, and be seranaded by such admirers as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sheila Jordan, Kevin Mahogany, and Lizz Wright.
• 10 PM From New York: 'A Great Night in Harlem: The Apollo Theatre Tribute to Ray Charles' is a memorial concert sponsored by the Jazz Foundation of America. Pianist Kenny Barron and violinist Regina Carter team up for a soulful version of "Georgia on My Mind," actor/singer Danny Aiello fronts the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra in "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" and Dianne Schuur does her own take on "Hit the Road Jack" in a very special tribute.
• 11 PM - Live from New York: Cyrus Chestnut and Friends at the new Jazz at Lincoln Center
• 12:15 AM - Live from Clarksdale, Mississippi: New Year's Eve House Party at the Ground Zero Blues Club, a genuine Delta juke joint! The James Mathus Knockdown Society and special guests celebrate the new year in a club co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman that exists to celebrate today's Mississippi blues.
• 1:15 AM - Live from Denver: Latin Giants of Jazz with Special Guest Eddie Palmieri - in association with KUVO, Jazz 89. Former Tito Puente Orchestra mambos and cha chas its way into the New Year playing music by Latin Jazz masters Machito, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Tito Rodriguez.
• 2:15 AM - Live from Yoshi's in Oakland, CA: Joshua Redman Elastic Trio with Sam Yahel, organ, and Brian Blade, drums -- in association with KCSM. Stretching the sound of the traditional jazz organ trio, the Elastic Trio calls to mind Weather Report, James Brown and John McLaughlin. They perform groove-based electric jazz for a California midnight.
• 3:30 AM - Live from Paris (Encore): In association with Le Jazz Club and Radio France, NPR goes to a legendary Paris jazz spot -- Club Sunside on la Rue des Lombards -- to ring in the New Year Parisian style. Saxophonist Olivier Temime's band includes trumpeter Stephane Belmondo, whose recent CD Wonderland celebrates Stevie Wonder.
• 5:00 AM - A Great Night in Harlem (Encore)
• 6:00 AM - Go to bed, already!

This past summer was established as the official 50th Birthday of Rock-n-roll commemorating Sun Records release of Elvis Presley's song "That's all right Mama". With recent number ones on Billboard and Great Britain's charts, Elvis once again proves he is gone, but not forgotten. Keeping the memory alive at countless venues throughout the country Chris MacDonald lovingly brings back the magic of the "King of Rock-n-Roll" with his tribute Memories of Elvis. An energetic and experienced entertainer, MacDonald has performed in the famous Legends in Concert stage productions in such cities as Branson, MO, and Las Vegas, NV, and has even appeared with Elvis Presley's original back up group The Jordanaires as well as D.J. Fontana, Elvis' original drummer.

Not only is the charismatic MacDonald superb in performing as Elvis, this versatile performer has an extensive repertoire spanning from the 50's through today including contemporary country music tunes in addition to some of his own original music. MacDonald's solid vocals have also earned him Broward County's Florida Country Music Association's (FCMA) Male Vocalist of the Year award and a feature track on The Deuces Wild compilation CD which received the FCMA Best CD of the Year award. With a new original country CD entitled Take Me Back, just released, MacDonald is looking forward to a busy year.

Direct from his appearance at Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel in Memphis, TN, January 5-8 2005, during the annual Elvis Birthday Week festivities, MacDonald will return to Fort Lauderdale to perform his full production tribute show at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts.

Tickets are available through the Coral Springs Center for the Arts Box Office at 954-344-5990 or online at CoralSpringsCenterForTheArts.com.