“Celebrity Apprentice” went off the rails last week when Donald Trump inexplicably did not fire Clint Black for his, um, self-congratulatory video. Black put the rather silly, rather unfunny video together with virtually no imput from his teammates and was rejected by the All detergent execs for its suggestive nature.

What do you think really happened? I suspect the producers needed to get rid of two boring personalities (sorry, T-Boz) and keep the Joan Rivers-Clint Black clashing dynamic going. Total silliness, totally arbitrary.

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This time around, the Powers That Be focused Sunday’s episode on the two Rivers (the most quotable pair on the show) and poker player Annie Duke (upper left). And …

Continue reading 4/13: Celebrity Apprentice recap – Brian McKnight quietly departs »

Kaedy Kiely, veteran radio host now heard on mornings at 97.1/The River, had surgery yesterday to treat breast cancer. She said it’s “the best case scenerio” right now, with the doctors optimistic they got it all though results won’t be in until next week. Then she’ll know what type of treatment she’ll need in terms of chemo and radiation.

She said she discovered a lump a month ago and thinks she caught it early enough.

Kiely, 49, worked at both 96rock and Z93 for more than 20 years, then was off the air for about four years until the River hired her last year.

You can send her a note through the WSB Web site where the station wrote the following:

Our beloved morning host Kaedy Kiely announced on her show Thursday Morning that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer as she left for her lumpectomy.

Kaedy has been a friend to many and a familiar voice on the Atlanta Airwaves for years and we all just want to wish her well through this personal issue that she wanted to …

Continue reading 4/10: Weekend mash with the River host Kaedy Kiely’s breast cancer, Praise man CoCo Brother’s syndication deal »

Just as curiously as it arrived on the scene, hip-hop station Streetz 102.9 seems to be off the air. Neither its live stream at www.streetz1029.com or the FM signal is working this morning.

The whole ownership issue with Streetz is murky and I have yet to reach anybody who has taken responsibility for the hip-hop station. Rumors online had former Radio One exec Steve Hegwood attached to the station so I went over to what I thought was his office yesterday in downtown Atlanta and he denied any involvement. Curiously, within a few hours of that encounter, the station disappeared.

I’ll update if I learn anything new.

-Here’s a press release I got about the casting call for Oxygen’s “Bad Girls Club.”

Bad Girls Club is looking for seven women to star in season four of the hit Oxygen reality show. From Bunim-Murray, the groundbreaking producers of The Real World, Bad Girls Club is Oxygen’s highest-rated original series ever.

Season four will bring together an all-new cast of …

Continue reading 4/9: Morning Mash with lights out for Streetz 102.9? “Bad Girls Club” casting in Atlanta »

If you’re flipping channels today and hit 102.9, you might hear some hip hop music. It’s a new station called Streetz 102.9. It’s actually a simulcast of the HD2 channel on 105.7 and has no jocks or commercials for now. (Hardly anybody, though, listens to secondary channels on HD since few people have HD radios.)

The signal is far weaker than that of rivals Hot, 95.5/The Beat or V-103 but based on spot listening by readers of radio-info.com, they can hear it in West Cobb and Lithonia. I was able to hear it okay in East Lake but it’s fuzzy in the office here in downtown Atlanta on my headphones. Steve Hegwood, a former exec at Radio One (which owns Hot), is rumored to be involved but I just got his response from the intercom at the entrance of his office in downtown Atlanta: “I have nothing to do with it.” He then hung up.

They have a web site up at www.streetz1029.com with no details but a live stream.

Tom Taylor, who writes a daily radio newsletter for radio-info.com, …

Continue reading 4/8: Morning Mash with new hip-hop station Streetz at 102.9, WABE-FM fundraising, Zone’s latest promotion »

Former Praise morning host Sonya Hamm passed away last month of cancer.

Praise 102.5 and the Radio One will host a local memorial service for her tonight April 7th at World Changers International, 2500 Burdett Road, College Park, GA 30349 at 7p.m. Special guests include Dottie Peeples, Dorothy Norwood, Canton Jones, JoAnn Condrey and Christopher Lewis.

Continue reading 4/7: Sonya Hamm local memorial set for today at 7 p.m. »

Don Imus was always an awkward fit with True Oldies 106.7.

So Citadel, which owns True Oldies and Don Imus’ syndication deal, found a new home for the veteran morning talk-show host: 1160/WCFO-AM starting Monday April 13.

True Oldies will bring Spiff Carner and Fred Brooks, currently in afternoons, to mornings.

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“I’m going over the instruction manual with the alarm clock,” Spiff cracked. “I haven’t used it since 2007.” That was when he was let go from WGST-AM, where his former morning show partner Randy Cook remains as morning host. (Randy & Spiff were a mainstay in the Atlanta market for about 18 years in Atlanta on three different radio …

Continue reading 4/6: Don Imus moves to 1160/WCFO-AM from True Oldies, Spiff and Fred move to mornings »

With so much bad economic news floating around, WXIA-TV has begun airing regular “good news” features during its evening news. It’s actively soliciting viewers for imput and ideas. This is similar to what NBC’s Brian Williams recently began doing on his nightly news program.

So far, it’s too early to say if it’s had any real impact, said WXIA-TV General Manager Bob Walker.

Plus, he’s a bit weary of the use of “good news” to characterize it.

“Good news is a term that insinuates ’soft,’ ” Walker said. “That is not what we are intending to be. We intend to be a solid news organization but provide a more balanced look at what’s going on in and around our community. And we want to invite our customers to be part of the process.”

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For instance, …

Continue reading 4/6: Morning mash with WXIA’s “good news” emphasis, WGCL’s Adam Murphy, “ER” finale ratings »

This was a big week of “Huh?” Twice.

“Never volunteer for execution,” Donald Trump proclaimed during episode six Sunday night.

Tionne “T Boz” Watkins volunteered to be in the boardroom to support Melissa Rivers, who was likely to get fired. But instead, Trump fired T Boz because she placed herself before the firing squad. It’s odd logic but to Trump, volunteering is plain stupid and he had fired a contestant many moons ago (some dude named Bradford) for that same reason.

“I lived my whole career on the edge and that speaks within itself,” said a befuddled T Boz in her farewell. Basically, T Boz didn’t do anything badly at all during her entire run. She was well liked and worked hard. She even won her challenge for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia last week, winning the group $20,000. But she did absolutely nothing interesting from a TV viewer’s perspective.

“I want to see my daughter grow old and be a grandma,” T Boz said earlier, after giving the $20,000 check to the …

Continue reading 4/5: Celebrity Apprentice recap: Atlanta’s Tionne “T Boz” Watkins cut »