Image via Wikipedia

You have questions, I have answers.
It just may take a little time to get them.
I’m thankful that readers of stilltalkintv send me requests about things that I didn’t realize had happened.
Take the morning show at 97 Rock. A reader astutely noticed that morning man Larry Norton isn’t getting as much help daily from Rob Lederman and that Russ Burton has disappeared.
Program director John Hager couldn’t immediately respond because he was vacationing last week in North Carolina before Hurricane Irene hit.
But upon his return Monday, Hager confirmed that Lederman has cut down his duties on the morning show.
“He’s working on another project for the station,” said Hager. “We haven’t announced it yet. While he’s doing that, he’s less involved in the morning show. He still does a sketch or two every day. He also has had a lot of vacation in the summer and that has added to a noticeable reduction in his morning duties to a lesser degree.”
Hager added that Burton, who produced the morning show as well as appearing on it, left the station for a sales job with a different radio group in town. He hasn’t been replaced yet.
Many listeners may not realize that Norton does his job most of the year from Florida. He moved there about 2 and a half years ago to be with his father, who wasn’t in good health, said Hager. Hager added that Norton’s dad died late in 2010.
Hager said the station asked Norton if he would be willing to continue the show from Florida after he decided to be with his dad if “we still could make it work.” Norton agreed and the station made it work.
Norton does return to Buffalo during the summer to do his show from here but plans to return to Florida after that, said Hager.
The program director added that the station has mentioned on the air that Norton is doing the show from Florida. But Hager added “we don’t go out of our way to refer to it.”
Norton isn’t the first Buffalo radio personality to do his show from Florida. Chuck Dickerson used to do his WGR-AM sports talk show from Florida near the end of his run at the station.
* Now here’s a case for Perry Mason. A reader who is a fan of the classic TV station WBBZ noticed that on a few Fridays he’s been watching “Perry Mason” at 11:30 p.m. when an episode of “Mission Impossible” showed up halfway through “Mason” at midnight with an episode and that only half of “Mission” was carried, too.
Phil Arno, the owner of WBBZ, confirmed that he had seen that happen once himself and said he believes the problem has been straightened out by Me-TV.
“Once in a while, they sent down the wrong trigger,” said Arno.
Arno said the problem occurred because WBBZ is carrying the “B feed” of Me-TV until Sept. 6 when it gets the local rights to “I Love Lucy,” “Cheers” and “The Twilight Zone” from Channel 2. Then WBBZ will carry the “A feed” of Me-TV and everything should be fine, he added.
Arno added that once the digital conversion in Canada occurs Wednesday any interference problems with other channels will be eliminated and WBBZ can petition to increase its signal strength. That should allow the station to expand its reach into Toronto.
* Inquiring minds want to know: How did the tape delay airing of the Buffalo Bills’ 35-32 overtime win over Jacksonville score with Channel 7 viewers on Sunday night? The game had a 6.2 rating and out-drew the game between New Orleans and Oakland that was carried live on Channel 2 , the local NBC affiliate. The Saints win had a 4.3 rating. However, the head-to-head football competition meant that this year’s taped delayed Bills game took a big hit from the 9.8 rating that last year’s taped delayed game earned.
* A few people who commented on my Monday blog about Hurricane Irene coverage apparently were confused by some of my comments. I agreed with NBC’s Peter Alexander, who said whether you believed the coverage was overhyped depended on where you live.
Obviously people in Vermont and New Jersey, where footage of massive flooding has been carried, don’t think it was overhyped. But my relatives in Washington, D.C. and Long Island – who were spared from heavy damage – thought the pre-arrival coverage was overdone.
* Finally, ABC announcement of this fall’s contestants on “Dancing With The Stars” undoubtedly had many potential viewers asking about certain so-called celebrities in the cast: “Who is that?”
See how many you can identify: Ron Artest, Hope Solo, Robert Kardashian, Kristin Cavallari, Chaz Bono, Carson Kressley, Ricki Lake, Chynna Phillips, David Arquette, J.R. Martinez and Elisabeth Canalis.
And then there is Nancy Grace (see above), the legal talk show host who has earned the nickname Nancy DisGrace. If anyone wants to start a boycott of the show until Disgrace exits, I’m all in. There is one good thing about her participation. She can’t convict anyone while she’s dancing.
Channel 7 thought the cast announcement Monday night was worthy of being in its 11 p.m. newscast. You had to wonder what anchor Keith Radford was thinking when he read the list and how many of the so-called “celebrities” he could identify. The over-under is 5.
pergament@msn.com

Be Sociable, Share!

•