Contact us if you're interested in advertising on a relevant page!
(You wouldn't want your show to be cancelled because nobody knows about it!)
Entire site copyright 1996-2007 by David Citron
More Majic... Just after this edition
was figuratively "going to press" it was announced that Bruce Kelly, formerly of
96X and Y-100, would be the Majic 102.7's morning host, replacing the
retiring Rick Shaw. Welcome, Bruce! More about Bruce and WMXJ in May Radio News.
A Big Shout Out... to all the fine folks who went to the
WFUN and 96X reunions.
(April 10, 2007)... New Times Broward-Palm Beach and its Miami
counterpart are having their annual plebiscite. "In the year 2007,
It's time for our favorite secret agent to go through a radical
makeover." says New Times Broward-Palm Beach. "So we turned to Pussy
galore, that iconic figure from Goldfinger, loose on the best
restaurants, cool clubs..." and so on.
You can also vote for Best AM Radio Personality, Best FM
Radio Personality, and Best Radio Station.
But, best of all, you can VOTE FOR THE BEST LOCALLY GENERATED
WEB SITE!
Sammy Figueroa and his Latin Jazz Explosion on WLRN
(Miami, FL -- April 23, 2007) ... Legendary percussionist Sammy
Figueroa has performed and recorded with the greatest names in Jazz
and Pop music for decades such as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and Whitney Houston,
On Friday April 27, Figueroa will perform live on Ed Bell's South
Florida Arts Beat, from 1 'til 2 PM, on WLRN 91.3.
Sammy's last recording,
And Sammy Walked In,
garnered a Grammy nomination. His current band is made up of the cream
of the crop of South Florida talent performing on his latest CD,
The Magician.
Eric Brandon Now On Beasley's KISS-FM
(Miami, FL -- April 23, 2007) ... Former long-time Majic 102.7
oldies deejay Eric Brandon can now be heard Saturday nights on country
station "Kiss" WKIS-FM, 99.9.
He had a great debut the night of
April 7th. ABC-TV had rerun his Wife Swap show the night before!
(Read Eric
Brandon on Wife Swap: What Happened? in section 4 of October
2006 Radio News.)
Brandon still also has his Saturday morning show, The Weekly
Fisherman, from 7 'til 9 AM on Beasley's WQAM 560.
WJNO's Dave McBride Comments on (Yet Another) Foulup
in Palm Beach County Elections
(West Palm Beach, FL
-- March 2007) ... WJNO Newsman Dave McBride was victimized by 'county
government's slight glitch' that ruined the credibility of his
election night reporting. Aa a professional newsman, he's not happy
about it. So he wrote about it in the Palm Beach Post. Here's an
excerpt:
"I was the co-anchor of election night coverage on NewsRadio 1290,
WJNO, and from the time the results began to arrive at the Web site of
the elections office, I delivered (as I have done in scores of
elections) the numbers released by those whom we take on faith to be
the unimpeachable source for vote totals - vote totals that were
flawed in the extreme. My station became a conduit in the
dissemination of erroneous information to thousands of listeners."
Jere Sullivan, Broadcast Pioneer
Remember Jere Sullivan from your favorite station? He's now honored
on the web site of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.
BACK ISSUES OF SOUTH FLORIDA RADIO NEWS
As part of a lengthy description of Sullivan's career, the
Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia web site recalls "After several
years at NBC, Jere left New York for the sunshine of Miami, where he
spent many years programming a variety of radio stations as well as
running the radio network operations for The Miami Dolphins and The
University of Miami Hurricanes. In the 1980’s, Jere programmed Miami
radio stations such as adult standards WVCG and WYOR; news/talk/sports
WIOD and contemporary 97A1A; oldies WMXJ and soft AC WJQY and WTPX."
Info about Sullivan seen and heard on the Broadcast Pioneers of
Philadelphia web site at Jere Sullivan Speaks 12/21/05.
History of WIOD
Clear Channel's WIOD web site has an abbreviated version of its
The South Florida Radio Pages need your support!
Please click the button above to donate via PayPal.
Thank you!
Unfortunately, the narrative only
goes up to 1941. Except for photos of Sally Jesse and Larry King, the
rest of the page is mostly p.r. for its current line up. Clear
Channel's predecessor Paxson is not even mentioned.
(Bob Gordon's the guy who always says "I was in Miami radio when
Rick Shaw was a foreign car. He's the author of Invisible Tears: How Do You Keep the Music Playing?
and he'll be announcing his second book soon.)
The First-Ever WFUN Reunion
From the first moment, I could tell that this first-ever
WFUN Reunion wasn't going to be just any old a Ricky Nelson-style
garden party. As I stepped into the stately Russ Oasis mansion, a
camera flashed in my face and I was presented with gift of a WFUN logo
T-shirt (just like the one seen elsewhere on this page) and an
official commemorative bottle of WFUN hot sauce. (It seems that WFUN
veteran Bob Harris is in the hot sauce business -- HotSauceHarrys.com -- just like
Y-100's Footy!) I was already overwhelmed, and I was still in the
foyer!
That's just a preview. More about the WFUN people in a future
edition, but here are some quotes from a few of the WFUNners who
were there:
"For me, it is crystal clear that WFUN was much more than a job, much
more than a radio station. It was a watershed moment in my life that
cannot be fully understood until enough time had passed to look in the
rearview mirror with perfect clarity" said host Russ Oasis. "Over the
years, I had said to Tom Kennington, that WFUN was a special
experience. Bonding with those who I did not work with, but had the
same experience that I did, proves the point. Those of us who were
lucky enough to have worked at FUN 79, have been sprinkled by 'magic
dust' and changed for the rest of our lives... The reunion was as
magic as the station. In fact, nobody could deny that the station was
alive again, for 6 hours, on April 21, 2007."
" What an incredible evening to be with so many people whom I know
and love. Hollywood screenwriters and set decorators couldn't have
created a more perfect setting" said Bud Connell. To everyone he said,
"Thank you for contributing bits and pieces of your precious lives to
mine, to the business we loved (which really was much more than a
business)... and to each other.
Of course the WFUN Reunion deserves more coverage. Watch for more
about the reunion in a future edition. There will be stories by some
of the people there, too.
"I’m tired of illegals getting free medical care when the
middle class in this country can’t afford health care."
... Joyce Kaufman
WFTL’s Joyce Kaufman Needs Your Old Shoes To "Hold Their Feet
to the Fire" And Stop Illegal Immigration
(Fort Lauderdale, FL: -- April 26, 2007) ... For more than two weeks,
WFTL’s local South Florida talk show host,
Joyce Kaufman, collected shoes
and boots and sandals and sneakers of all kinds at station events and
elsewhere to take with her to Washington, DC with her message that our
government should enforce immigration laws. "It’s a way for people to
join me in the fight to take back America. The soul of America is at
risk, so I need your sole," said Kaufman.
This campaign is definitely audience driven. After experiencing one
of those frustrating "Press 1 for English" phone calls, Joyce began
ranting on the air and then the floodgates opened up.
In WFTL's web site poll about illegal immigration, the most
popular answer as of the evening of April 23rd was "All illegals should be
thrown out of the U.S. immediately and our borders closed" with 61% of
the votes.
"English is the glue that holds our melting pot together. If we
don’t insist that it be the language of commerce, we are lost" says Kaufman.
REPLACE THOSE OLD SHOES YOU SENT TO DC WITH JOYCE
KAUFMAN
Joyce Kaufman on Fox News Channel (above) and channel 33 (below)
and channel 5 (bottom).
She says the new immigration bill will cost $10 billion of taxpayer funds and
grant amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens, totaling about 50 million since they
will then be allowed to bring their families to the US.
"I’m tired of illegals getting free medical care when the middle class in
this country can’t afford health care. And my listeners have told me, they feel
the same pain" adds Kaufman, one of about three dozen talkers from all over the
country who participated in the rally. "We need a unified voice to pressure
Congress and the President to strengthen our borders, enforce our laws, and not
grant illegal aliens amnesty."
The shoe collection has been very successful, more so than most WFTL
promotions. "We can't get people to go out of the way to remotes where we're
giving away cruise packages" said Joyce on Saturday's show, just hours before
leaving for Washingdon, But the number of people coming, to drop off many
thousands of shoes and boots have been overwhelming.
Joyce Kaufman was one of thirty-odd talkers to participate in the
event promoted as Join America's best Talk Radio Hosts Live On
Radio Row on April 23rd-25th, but her shoe collection arguably may
have been what put the the whole Hold Their Feet to the Fire event on
the map. When it comes to news coverage of an intangible issue, like
immigration, a pile of old shoes makes an excellent good photo op, as
demonstrated by the videos of TV coverage on the right.
"Hold on to those shoes" Kaufman tells listeners. Now that she has returned
from the Washington rally, she will start working on Florida legislators, who
are just as irresponsible.
Thursday, back in Fort Lauderdale, she spoke of "25-year old snot-nosed kids
[in congressional ofices] who don't know how to spell immigration -- 'one M or
two?' -- and he's the expert."
What happened to all those shoes? They went to the White House and
legislator's offices, and ultimately the Salvation Army. From April
23-25, Joyce broadcast her show live from Washington as part of the
drive for immigration reform. I hope one of Al Bundy's extra-smelly
shoes went to Senator Nelson and one to Senator Martinez, for their
lack of attention to this issue.
More information on the rally and the week's events can be found at
fairus.org and in Joyce's Blog.
Joyce Kaufman can be heard weekdays from 2 'til 4 PM and Saturday
from noon 'til 2 PM on WFTL 850.
(April 25, 2007) ... Dr. Laura Schlessinger read a letter about the
death of a U S Marine, that should have an effect on anyone in the
media, specifically for this excerpt near the end: "His death occurred
at the same time as Anna Nicole Smith, a drug using person with a 7th
grade education of no pedigree who dominated our news for two weeks
while Jared became a number on CNN."
Boy Do I Hate Long Commercials Masquerading As
Interviews
(April 2007) ... I really hate long commercials masquerading as
interviews. Recently I heard one on KISS about some timeshare in Las
Vegas, with Tanya Roberts. (I thought she was the Olympic skater,
but I guess not.)
Her regular "can you say high roller, baby" radio commercials are
annoying enough.
At least with a brokered program you know with it
is beforehand and you can change stations immediately.
You know how
they say someone has "a face for radio" -- well, Tanya Roberts
certainly has a voice for newspaper. So I looked her up and
wondered... Why is a hot looking woman like her doing radio instead of
TV commercials?
So the second time I heard
that "interview" begin I changed the station IMMEDIATELY.
That's why radios have knobs. Sorry about the KISS-OFF!
RadioInsight.com Celebrates Birthday
(April 27, 2007) ... The RadioInsight.com bulletin board celebrated
its first birthday this week, just a year after a hostile takeover of
their old board (now known as "Brand X") forced them to start a new
one very quickly
When asked if he had anything to say about that day, one of the
founders, Sam Buca, said " Yeah...at my best friend's wedding
reception smashed out of my mind and my phone rings. It's Lance with
the news."
RadioInsight.com includes
dozens of boards on a number of topics, for different audiences. There
are boards for listeners and radio professionals and radio hobbyists,
for different formats and different markets, in addition to nationwide
boards.
Use the link at right to go to the board for the Miami and Palm Beach markets:
Happy Birthday!
MJ / Schnitt And His MJpedia
(Tampa, FL) ... WIOD's Todd Schnitt has his own version of Wikipedia, called MJPedia. It's called that because MJ Kelli
is the name of his other radio show, not heard in south Florida.
The Schnitt Show, originating at WFLA in Tampa, is heard from 3
'til 6 PM on WIOD 610.
El Zol's Santos and Ferrero Quit On The Air
(Miami, FL -- March, 2007) ... Everyone in the radio business has
heard the stories of malcontents who quit abruptly on the air. Well,
now, it's happened here in Miami.
Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero, hosts of the WXDJ (El Zol)
morning show "El Vacilón de la Mañana," quit on the air Monday, March
5, just before their show ended, shocking listeners and the station
management.
Santos and Ferrero may be best known for their crank calls to Fidel
Castro and Hugo Chavez. Kind of like Opie and Anthony en Espanol?
