Paul Harvey, a Chicago-based broadcaster who was a fixture on radios for decades with his folksy stories and commentary, died today at the age of 90, according to news reports.

Network spokesman Louis Adams says Harvey died Saturday at his winter home in Phoenix, surrounded by family. No cause of death was immediately available.

He used to be on WGST-AM here in Atlanta for several years and moved around to a couple of other stations. He was heard by millions daily. And that, as he said, is “the rest of the story.”

Here’s the Washington Post’s take:

“Paul Harvey News and Comment” was a distinctive blend of rip-and-read headline news, quirky feature stories and, usually, a quick congratulation to a couple in Topeka or Omaha or Sarasota who had been married for 75 years or so. The news stories, and Harvey’s distinctive take on them — usually, but not always, from a conservative political perspective — flowed seamlessly into commercial messages for products Mr. Harvey himself …

Continue reading 2/28: Radio legend Paul Harvey dies at age 90 »

Rush Limbaugh, not surprisingly, is the most influential talk show host in America for the third year in a row, according to Talkers magazine.

Given how often he gets quoted by politicians and media, Limbaugh remains the Man. He has been for two decades and still draws more than 14 million listeners a week. Locally, on WGST-AM, he gets beaten by WSB-AM’s Neal Boortz and Clark Howard and sometimes loses to sports radio among men 25-54.

(Four people from Georgia did make it on the top 100 — Howard, Boortz, Allen Hunt and Martha Zoller.)

The purely subjective criteria: courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, revenue, service, talent and uniqueness.

Sean Hannity is No. 2 again. He has 13 million-plus listeners and locally, he draws strong numbers for WSB-AM from 4 to 7 p.m.

Michael Savage holds at No. 3. He isn’t very popular here, having been bumped on WSB-AM a year ago from 7 to 10 to 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in favor of Herman Cain.

No. 4 is also the …

Continue reading 2/27: Rush Limbaugh tops talk radio rankings again »

Brett Martin, former Road Warrior at WAGA-TV, has time to kill. He’s now doing painfully bad white boy rap songs to the news:

If anything, he put a lot of effort into writing the rap and matching the video.

Continue reading 2/26: When former TV journalists have way too much time on their hands »

“Radio Free Georgia” at 89.3 FM is like that old hippie cousin of yours. He’s always living hand to mouth, possibly staying in a friend’s basement. He loves to spout old left-wing ideology. He’s not quite in touch with mainstream America but doesn’t care.

For more than 35 years, WRFG-FM has been Atlanta’s quirky home for bluegrass music, world music and liberal talk (liberal talk that would make WABE-FM seem like Rush Limbaugh in comparison.) On weekends, you can hear Caribbean, Celtic, Indian and Zydeco music. Jocks work for nothing but the love of what they do. The studios in Little Five Points are a bit beaten down, a bit ratty, like a college radio station.

But even its modest budget has suffered in these economic downtimes. WRFG-FM has begun a $20,000 in 10 days campaign. While WABE-FM can raise $1 million in 10 days, WRFG has to scrounge for 1/50th that amount to get by.

So far, according to its Web site, it has raised about $7,000. It needs $13,000 more.

Due to a …

Continue reading 2/26: 89.3/WRFG-FM is in financial trouble »

Donald Trump probably knows TLC as the cable network, not the biggest female group of the 1990s.

In fact, the host of “Celebrity Apprentice” (season two debuting Sunday on NBC at 9 p.m.) had trouble pronouncing Atlanta’s own Tionne “T Boz” Watkins’ first name. Watkins said he kept saying “T-own” instead of of the proper “T-on.” So after awhile, he just called her “T.”

Hip hop “is probably not part of his world,” she mused in a phone interview Tuesday.

But Watkins said she did not go out of her way to kiss his tuckus. Plus, “I didn’t Omarosa it,” she said, turning one of the most infamous “Apprentice” contestants of yore into a verb. Compared to the likes of Andrew “Dice” Clay and Dennis Rodman, “I made boring TV.”

Rather, she focused on making sure the Sickle Cell Foundation was front and center, not her ego. What makes her charity hit so close to home is she was born with Sickle Cell and has had to cope with the fatigue and a weak immune system all her life. See her video …

Continue reading 2/24: Talking with Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of TLC about “Celebrity Apprentice” »

Welcome to the new blog software and new look. We have switched to Wordpress, which has one major advantage: almost immediate posting of comments. The old system had a delay which caused some folks to press the button several times and repeat entries and slowed the conversation. 

Otherwise, it should be the same content. This is a new URL, too, so please change your bookmarks!

Continue reading 2/24: New blog software but same Radio & Talk blog! »