Former Atlantan and Dunwoody grad Jason Pullman joined Kristen Gates at 94.9/The Bull, taking over for Cletus T. Judd, starting Friday morning at 5 a.m.

Pullman is an active “voice over” talent, meaning you’ll hear him doing promos for shows such as CBS’s “New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Two and a Half Men.” Listen to samples of his work on his site www.jasonpullman.com.

His last radio gig was on Star 98.7 in Los Angeles from 2003-05. He took over for fellow Dunwoody grad Ryan Seacrest (now on 102.7/KIIS FM). In a strange coincidence, Pullman went to high school with Seacrest. He graduated in 1991, two years before the “Idol” host. That makes Pullman about 35 years old.

The Bull has dubbed the show “Caffeinated Radio.” At 5:12 a.m., the pair introduced themselves in a modest fashion. “Neither of us has slept,” Pullman said.

“We’re punchy,” Gates said. “We have Pop Tarts and Diet Pepsi.” (Kristen– Diet Pepsi? In a Coke town? Really?)

“I have done this before but I’m …

Continue reading 3/12: Dunwoody HS grad Jason Pullman joins Kristen Gates as morning hosts at 94.9/The Bull »

As expected, Cindy & Ray are moving to mornings on Star 94 after a successful five-plus years in the afternoons, according to program director J.R. Ammons. They replace the Morning Mess, who were let go after 14 months last week.

Start date is March 23.

In recent years, Cindy & Ray had the strongest ratings at Star, beating both Steve & Vikki (when they were at Star) and the Morning Mess.

Star’s ratings in general have flagged in recent months (as Q100’s star has risen under the new “people meter” measurement technology). And even Cindy & Ray’s numbers were relatively weak in January, the most recent ratings available.

Among 25 to 54 year olds, Cindy & Ray ranked 11th (the top 10 stations in that demo: V-103 & Ryan, WSB-AM, Kiss, Q & B98.5 tied for fifth, Grown Folks, Praise, Kicks, Dave and Project tied for 9th)

Among 18 to 49 year olds, Cindy & Ray ranked 9th, behind V-103, Kiss, WSB-AM, Q100, Project, 95.5/The Beat, Hot 107.9 and Praise.

Cindy Simmons and Ray Mariner …

Continue reading 3/13: Cindy & Ray moving to mornings on Star 94 »

I don’t know where Greg Fitzgerald and Dave Kosh are going but former Smooth Jazz host Rene Miller has found a new home at Jazz station WCLK-FM 91.9. Miller was cut for budget purposes last year from Smooth Jazz 107.5, which died in January in favor of Majik 107.5, playing all R&B.

Miller will be doing Sundays from 11 to 3 p.m. It’s not exactly a full-time gig but it’s work. I’ll add comments from Rene once I get a call back. Or just post a new blog entry Friday.

From the press release:

“We are happy to have Rene Miller join us as we continue to provide true Jazz,” says Wendy Williams, general manager, Jazz 91.9 WCLK. “The addition of Rene is a strategic effort to pull in all the listeners displaced by the exit of Smooth Jazz in Atlanta last month. Jazz 91.9 WCLK has always been inclusive in
our music offering and now we are able to complete the Jazz Spectrum.”

Continue reading 3/12: Jazz station 91.9 picks up former Smooth Jazz talent Rene Miller »

Glenn Beck at the Cobb Energy Centre last year. CREDIT/Rodney Ho

In his first two months at Fox News, Glenn Beck has been a bonafide hit at 5 p.m., often bringing in more viewers than MSNBC, CNN and HLN combined.

On Monday, according to TVNewser, Beck drew 2.1 million viewers compared to 770,000 for Wolf Blitzer at CNN, 687,000 for Chris Matthews on MSNBC and 222,000 for HLN.

Among news hours, he is only behind Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly.

Beck fits with the Fox News brand and is making the most of it by taking on the Obama administration. He’s doubled ratings in that time slot compared to a year ago.

In fact, overall, Fox News is seeing major ratings spikes since Obama took over while CNN’s numbers have fallen. In February, Fox was up 29 percent.

Here are some of Beck’s comments about the nation’s direction told to the L.A. Times:

“If I told you what I really believe was going to come — I’ve made people cry,” he said in an interview. “I think we’re headed for real …

Continue reading 3/12: Morning mash with Glenn Beck, Cold Case, AnnaLynne McCord, Jimmy Baron, Michael Stipe, local ratings »

Sure, TV already has “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Top Chef.” NBC stuck its fork into this genre with “The Chopping Block” tonight featuring yet another brutish British host (Marco Pierre White) — plus two Atlanta contestants.

Michael Holmes, executive chef at Parkside Café & Deli not far from Lenox Mall, told Buzz he was scanning craigslist.com for jobs last year and saw a new show called “The Chopping Block” seeking couples, one who can run a restaurant and one who can cook.

He happened to be engaged to Panya Rice, who works the front of the house at Maggiano’s at Perimeter Mall. “This was meant to be,” he said.

The winners get $250,000 to open their own restaurant, a dream the Atlanta couple has had for years.

Pierre White comes across as a more humane version of Gordon Ramsay and a penchant for simple, yet flavorful food. “We were definitely initimidated by him at first,” Rice said. “But once we started to work with him, we realized he is very …

Continue reading 3/11: Morning mash with “The Chopping Block,” “Dancing With the Stars” ratings »

I spent 30 minutes gabbing with Larry the Cable Guy, whose real name is Daniel Whitney. He was analytical and confident yet humble.

His character on stage is more a goofy, happy-go-lucky Southern good ol’ boy in cutoff plaid shirts and is now considered one of the biggest comedy draws in the country this side of Dane Cook.

But he says he and the character are now melded together in a sense, not separate people. “I’m half and half,” he said by phone last week. “In the beginning, it was just a character. But I’ve had a wife and kids. I’ve started incorporating more of myself into Larry so it becomes more real.”

Larry — we’ll call him Larry since that’s who he is better known as — is going to be on stage for two shows at Fox Theatre Saturday at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and will be the target of a Comedy Central roast which was taped earlier this month and airs Sunday at 10 p.m..

On his own simple comedy philosophy: “I read Steve Martin’s book. I noticed …

Continue reading 3/10: Interview with Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central Roast Sunday!) »

What the E happened in episode No. 2?

Last week was a relatively simple task of raising money with cupcakes. This week is a more creative one in which the teams have to create a superhero character for the Web site Zappos.com.

The Kotu team led by skater Scott Hamilton somehow decided to focus on the letter “E” instead of “Z,” which is the letter focused on Zappos.com. That was Hamilton’s undoing. Trump fired him for that one reason although Hamilton was a nice guy across the board.

Actor/comic Tom Green questioned Hamilton incessantly. In fact, the two celebrities clashed big time. Many on the Kotu team had a hard time taking Green seriously, though it appeared Green really wanted to win the task.

“I think [Scott] had a hard time keeping the group under control,” Green said.

Tom “was divisive and undercut us every step of the way,” Hamilton said.

“Too many chiefs,” said Brian McKnight.

“I just wanted to win,” Green said. “E made no sense. I went through Z names.”

Jesse …

Continue reading 3/9: “Celebrity Apprentice” recap – skating on thin ice »

The fifth housewife was bound to leak out since the show started taping two weeks ago: Entertainment Weekly has found out that Kandi Burruss, a former singer-songwriter for the 90s R&B group Xscape, will take over for DeShawn Snow.

Burruss is undeniably the most notable member from Xscape. Since the group parted ways in the late ’90s, she had a somewhat successful solo singing career (her biggest hit: “Don’t Think I’m Not”) but has seen ever greater successes with songwriting. Along with [Tameka] Cottle (who’s engaged to rap superstar T.I.), she wrote TLC’s 1999 smash hit “No Scrubs.” Burruss has also penned jams for Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, Boyz II Men, Alicia Keys, and Faith Evans. The singer-songwriter has a daughter, 6-year-old Riley, from a previous relationship, and a boyfriend.

Not surprising they would go for someone in the music field since Atlanta is such a mecca for R&B and hip hop. Xscape in the 1990s had three albums (all which went platinum) and five top …

Continue reading 3/7: EW reports fifth “Real Housewife of Atlanta” is Kandi Burruss of group Xscape »

TVNewser reports that CNN’s attempt at a humorous news show starring comic D.L. Hughley is ending at the end of the month. Hughley apparently wanted to move the show to Los Angeles and CNN deemed it too cost prohibitive. The show had been drawing 200,000 viewers among 25-54 in recent weeks on Saturday evenings. The show launched last November.

Here’s the CNN statement. The publicist said the show as NOT cancelled:

“D.L. approached CNN about being permanently based in Los Angeles, where his family lives. To accommodate this, we agreed upon a new role where he will be a contributor for the network based in Los Angeles. We are eager to continue our relationship with D.L., who is a tremendous talent and a valued colleague.”

Atlanta-based TBS has cancelled the Frank Caliendo sketch comedy show “Frank TV” after two seasons, according to Broadcasting & Cable. I personally like Caliendo. I’ve seen his live show and he can be very very funny. The sketch show had its moments but it …

Continue reading 3/6: Weekend mash with D.L. Hughley, Frank Caliendo, Taylor Swift »

Star 94 let go of The Morning Mess morning show this morning, according to General Manager Rick Mack. He said they are now looking for another morning show. He didn’t say whether Cindy and Ray, the successful afternoon show, would take over.

Norm Schrutt, who represents the Mess and Cindy & Ray, said Cindy & Ray could take over but he has no insight whether that will happen.

Schrutt thinks in retrospect that the Morning Mess skewed too young for the station.

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“I think I made a mistake,” Schrutt said. “I put them in a place where they shouldn’t have been… We got caught up with the economy and the fit wasn’t right. I think the team really understood it before I did. They figured Star wanted a little older demo and they played a little younger and that was their comfort zone. It’s like a stone in your shoe. The shoe is a …

Continue reading 3/6: Star 94’s Morning Mess canned (poll included) »