99X at 98.9, owned by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, is grabbing the active rock mantle from Project 9-6-1, which switched to top 40 Wednesday evening.

“We are the saviors of rock,” proclaimed John Dickey, head of Cumulus programming. “We ran Clear Channel out of format. We are going to save rock for all Atlantans.” He noted that they picked up the Regular Guys after 96rock dumped them. “Clear Channel tried to kill off rock. We’re going to save it.”

The station made the switch at noon Saturday with references to Green Day, Offspring, Linkin Park and Godsmack. The first song was Volbeat’s “Warrior’s Call,” followed by the Foo Fighters “Rope.”

Atlanta-based Cumulus, the second largest radio company in the country behind Clear Channel, has reserved 989thebone.com,which is just a black screen right now. The company has a rock station called the Bone in San Francisco. Someone found a Facebook page for 98.9 the Bone, too, with the logo above right.

(As for Clear Channel’s move to top …

Continue reading 99X at 98.9 becomes 98.9/The Bone, grabs Project 9-6-1’s hard rock mantle »

Katie Couric will be on WSB-TV at 3 p.m. starting Sept. 10. CREDIT: AP

Welcome Steve Harvey, Katie Couric, Ricki Lake and Jeff Probst to the busy daytime talk show world.

All three very different personalities are entering a very crowded field that is still very much in flux since Oprah Winfrey left the field in 2011.

The most widely anticipated is Couric, who has now done morning TV, evening news anchoring and talk shows. Her show will air locally at 3 p.m. on WSB-TV after “General Hospital,” which moves back an hour for the first time in decades. She starts Sept. 10 with her first guests Jessica Simpson and Sheryl Crow. Her second episode, on Sept. 11, features Aimee Copeland, a Georgia graduate student who lost parts of all her limbs to a rare flesh-eating bacteria. Copeland is facing a rigorous recovery process and learning to use her prosthetics.

(While I was out of town in July, my Buzz colleague Jennifer Brett sat down with Couric for an interview while Couric visited …

Continue reading Changes in local daytime schedules: ‘Steve Harvey,’ ‘Katie,’ ‘Jeff Probst,’ ‘Ricki Lake’ »

In possibly the strangest interview I’ve ever had in more than 20 years in this business, I did a phone interview last week with “Patti,” the “wife” of A. Zombie, a fictional creation cooked up by AMC, which is trying to get back on Dish Network.

Dish and AMC Networks are embroiled in a nasty battle, likely connected with a previous lawsuit. (Read the gory details here.) But Dish is saying AMC is asking for too much bloody money and as a result, won’t air their programming (which includes WE and IFC, too.) This dispute has been dragging on for weeks.

So AMC Networks has had A. Zombie run for “president” with one primary issue: pressure Dish to bring the network back, where “The Walking Dead” will return October 14 – or convince Dish subscribers to go elsewhere. He has traveled to Tampa for the Republican National Convention and will be at Dragon*Con starting this evening.

Here’s his appearance schedule:

Friday, August 31

• 8:30 pm: Dragon*Con Zombie Walk: A. Zombie and Patty …

Continue reading Interview with ‘Walking Dead’ A. Zombie (or his wife, actually), running for President »

Kim Zolciak in April, pregnant with her son Kash, who was born on August 15, 2012. CREDIT: Getty Images

Kim Zolciak’s mother Karen has filed a petition for visitation with the Superior Court of Fulton County this week to gain access to her grandchildren.

Kim, who has been a cast member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” since 2008, has two daughters from past relationships: nine-year-old Ariana and 15-year-old Brielle. She married Falcons player Kroy Biermann last year after she birthed her first son with him, Kroy Jagger Biermann Jr.

In the complaint, Karen said her daughter has not allowed her to visit her grandchild Kash since he was born on August 15. “She won’t let us see our granddaughters (or our grandsons),” Karen wrote. “We understand that’s because Kim and Kroy are married and living under the same roof that we don’t have the same visitation rights & that’s okay. Since we’ve we’ve had a strong bond with our granddaughters, we would like that to continue.”

Karen said …

Continue reading Kim Zolciak’s mom says she can’t see her grandchildren, files a request for visitation »

Randy Jackson appears to be off the judges' panel. CREDIT: AP

TMZ says Randy Jackson is off the judges panel but will stay on as a “mentor.”

Given that Jackson helped get his client Mariah Carey on the panel and that he is the last remaining original judge left, the producers feel he should remain at least another season in some capacity. Though I can’t quite see him doing a particularly good job mentoring with the very effective Jimmy Iovine, I guess it’s a relatively harmless spot for him to be in.

TMZ says the Nicki Minaj deal is close but still not quite done. I can’t imagine how complicated that contract must be!

And yes, “Idol” is going for four judges. Boo that. And TMZ says Diddy and Kanye West are not happening but a country artist is in the running.

Please, please, please, give us a judges panel soon. This speculation is so so tired.

- My wife Helen and I attended the Dragon*Con media party last night to briefly meet Lou Ferrigno. Ferrigno looks incredibly good at …

Continue reading TMZ: Randy Jackson is leaving judges panel; Lou Ferrigno talks up Clay Aiken »

Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis now spends far more time raising her three young children than acting.

So it’s notable that she flew to Atlanta late last year to shoot A&E’s “Coma.” The four-hour miniseries, which airs over two nights Sept. 3 and 4, also features other illustrative actors Richard Dreyfuss, James Woods and Ellen Burstyn.

Davis, 56, plays the head of psychiatry at the fictional Peach Tree Memorial Hospital where patients land in comas at an inordinately high rate. She may or may not be part of an appalling conspiracy.

A young medical student played by Lauren Ambrose (HBO’s “Six Feet Under”) works with a surgical resident, played by Steven Pasquale (FX’s “Rescue Me”), to unravel the mystery.

“I’ve gotten really spoiled by having some great parts,” Davis said in a recent phone interview, citing films such as “Thelma & Louise,” “League of Their Own” and “The Accidental Tourist,” in which she won an Academy Award. “So I tend to take my time trying to …

Continue reading A talk with Geena Davis about Atlanta-based A&E miniseries ‘Coma’ Sept. 3-4 »

UPDATE 9:48 p.m. August 30, 2012: Good news for Honey Boo Boo! Ratings were up 20% over last week, hitting almost 3 million viewers. Among 18-49 year olds, it was the No. 1 cable show of the night.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is all about bodily functions.

While other shows will edit out moments when the subjects sneeze, throw off phlegm, cough or fart, this TLC show does not. It’s hard to say if the producers are leaving these moments in to show that Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her family are “real” or whether they are giving viewers a reason to mock them. Or both.

Otherwise, this was an episode featuring much ado about not much.

- Anna “Chickadee” Shannon, Honey Boo Boo’s 17-year-old sister, went to the hospital due to early contractions. They stabilized her, since she’s still five weeks from her due date for her daughter Kaitlyn.

- While Mama is trying to lose weight, Pumpkin, the 12 year old, is trying to gain weight. And she succeeds in spades! She goes from 164 …

Continue reading ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’ recap, episode 6: forklift foot! »

[UPDATE: August 31, 2012: Cumulus is shifting its 98.9 signal to a Project-like sound starting at noon on Saturday, Sept. 1. It has been 99X at 98.9, an alternative rock station. The signal is relatively weak but at least it can fulfill the desires of active rock fans inside the Perimeter.]

With pop music having a powerful year, Clear Channel Atlanta has dropped active rock station Project 9-6-1 for a top 40 format it’s dubbing Power 96.1.

The change happened just after 7 p.m. The final song that Mediabase 24/7 reported as a Project song was at 7:02 p.m.: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” That’s when the station began playing a bunch of top 40 hits before making an official announcement at 8:05 p.m. and launching with LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem.” It promised 9,600 songs in a row, which equals about four weeks of commercial-free music.

Dunwoody High School graduate and media mogul Ryan Seacrest made a surprise appearance at the Jennifer Lopez concert Wednesday night at Philips …

Continue reading Project 9-6-1 becomes Power 96.1, a top 40 station »

Atlanta dancer George Lawrence II sensed he was in trouble last Wednesday when judge Nigel Lythgoe gave him a negative critique.

It was the first time a judge had anything negative to say about him since he got there. And since he had been in the bottom before, he figured he was in trouble.

But at least he made the top 10 and will be on tour, coming to Atlanta at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Dec. 1. And he’s happy with his performances. “I went above and beyond what I ever thought I could do,” he said.

He plans to perform the contemporary dance he did week one on tour while he was most proud of his fox trot. “I had no training in ballroom whatsoever,” he said. “After Tiffany and I performed it, we didn’t get any bad critiques at all.”

Lawrence, who is back in Atlanta and teaching dance classes, was also happy how he adjusted to the cameras. “Early on, I felt very camera shy,” he said. “As I got the hang of things, I started playing to the cameras more. Still, it was …

Continue reading A talk with George Lawrence II, cut last week from ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ »

CREDIT: TBS

Atlanta-based TBS is bringing back “Are We There Yet?” for a third season but not in prime time.

Instead, starting Sept. 17, the family-friendly sitcom starring “Expendables” star Terry Crews will air at noon on weekdays. The show in 2010, after a short test run, was rewarded 90 episodes, a formula created by Tyler Perry. About 34 aired last year. So there are 56 more, so they could potentially air all of them over about 10 weeks.

In the past, this show has been paired with a Perry series targeting African Americans, but this is a different strategy, opting for a day-time crowd. Perry’s two family-friendly series “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne” have ended production, leaving his more adult-oriented “For Better or Worse.”

This move may also indicate a lack of confidence in the ability of “Are We There Yet?” to draw a big audience in prime time, where TBS has been thriving on most nights thanks to repeats of “The Big Bang Theory.” Perry’s sitcoms have been …

Continue reading TBS returns ‘Are We There Yet?’ Sept. 17 at noon »