| GARTV |
| Georgia Radio and Television |
| This site is dedicated to providing information regarding the media outlets available within the state of Georgia. This site is still under development. Please check back for latest updates and new features. This site will rely mostly on information verifyed by media websites, news articles, observation from watching Georgia local television stations, listening to local radio and internet research. We ask that if you have any information, submissions and/or corrections, please e-mail them to me. |
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| Macon, Georgia Albany-Atlanta-Columbus |
| What I have to say... |
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| Local News Expansion: (March, 2005) Middle Georgia News, the local news on WMGT-41 (NBC) in Macon is expanding their news programing. The morning news will begin at 6:00 am starting April 4th and will run for an hour. WMGT has grown to become the second largest TV news operation in Macon, surpassing the offerings of WGXA "Fox-24". While WGXA offers only a 30 minute newscast, followed by a 30 minute local talk show every weeknight at 10pm, WMGT now offers 2 hours of news plus local cut-ins during the "Today" show during the week. The leader, WMAZ-13 (CBS) offers 4 hours of news daily, plus WMAZ is still the ONLY local station to offer local news on the weekends. Local ABC station, WPGA-58 does not offer a local newscast, having tried unsuccessfully a few years back. Johnnie Cochran's Atlanta Connection: (March 30, 2005) Famed Attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr dies at his Los Angeles home at the age of 67. He died of an inoperable brain tumor. His Daughter is Tiffanie Cochran, an anchor-reporter at WXIA-11(NBC) in Atlanta. From Macon to Miami: (March, 2005) Tom Johnston who was a metorologist for WMAZ in the late 1990's is now on WSVN-7 (Fox) in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. His bio on www.wsvn.com says that he has been on the staff at WSVN since September, 2003. And your GARTV editor regrets that he may have some inaccurate timeline information. GARTV reported this year (2005) that Tom Johnston was at WFTV in Orlando and was not aware that he had already moved on to the Miami station. And since your GARTV editor frequently spends a lot of time in his native South Florida, he did not watch WSVN that often and never noticed that Tom Johnston was working there. You can watch Tom Johnston online during the WSVN newscasts via their website (www.wsvn.com) Tom Johnston went from WMAZ-TV 13 (CBS) to Tucson Arizona's KOLD-TV 13 (CBS) and then to Orlando Florida's WFTV 9 (ABC) and now to the top rated WSVN-TV 7 (FOX) in Miami. editors note: WSVN channel 7 in Miami has long been a station with a tabloid style of new reporting. They are a cross between the National Enquirer and Entertainment Tonight. Either you love them for it or you tryly hate them for it, and this South Florida native did not care for the WSVN style of broadcasting. However, WSVN is a very popular station in South Florida partly becasue of their newscasts, which took on a more controversial style after losing their NBC affilation in 1989 and becoming a FOX affiliate. Whenever I travel to visit family in South Florida, I just naturally tune to the stations that I preferred when I lived there. And even those stations now model the WSVN style. It is the sign of the times. And maybe we need that option in Macon? Anything to wake this area up.....just a thought! Anyway, congrats to Tom Johnston for moving up to a large big city market and to a top station in that market! From Macon to Augusta: (March, 2005) For almost a year, viewers of WAGT "NBC-26" in Augusta, Georgia have watched Shannon Myers as an anchor of "WAGT NEWS" evening newscasts. We remember her as Shannon Espinosa when she had her first "on air" job at WMAZ in Macon in the mid to late 1990's. She left Macon for stations in Texas and Florida before coming to Augusta in April 2004. She anchors the 6 and 11pm newscasts and a 10pm newscast that the station produces for local station WBEK-16 in the Augusta Georgia area. |
| TV Anniversary: (April, 2005) WGXA-TV Channel 24 became the Macon area THIRD network affiliated television station in April, 1982 becoming the first exclusive ABC station in Macon. Prior to that, ABC programing was picked up by other local stations in Macon, mainly WMAZ (13-CBS) or could be seen full time on distant stations in Atlanta or Columbus. On January 1, 1996 WGXA switched networks with WPGA-TV 58 and became a FOX affiliate. WGXA has always offered a local newscast previously called "News 24". Now, "FOX-24 News" is seen only at 10pm. Happy Anniversary to the staff and management of WGxA-TV "Fox-24" from GARTV Radio Anniversary: (April, 2005) While some listeners thought it was an April Fools Joke, the joke is really on us. Macon's WMKS "BLAZIN' 92-3" is now a year old and one of the most popular radio stations in the area. This urban hip-hop station is living up to its name, their ratings are "blazin" and every other station in the Macon area got burned in some way. All of the other urban or R&B stations in Macon lost some listeners and even a couple of the pop or rock stations lost a few people to "Blazin 92-3". But despite their popularity 92.3's limited signal may prevent them from ever becoming the number one station in the market. The leading stations are still Urban WIBB (97.9) and Country WDEN (99.1) as they always trade positions as the number 1 and 2 station in the market. And both stations have strong signals and reach far more listeners than 92.3. Still, the success of "Blazin' 92-3" should be noted as a great achievement. Congrats and Happy Anniversary to Cumulus Broadcasting and WMKS "Blazin' 92.3" from GARTV Prior to April Fools Day 2004, 92.3FM in Macon had changed formats several times in a decade. They were country "kissin 92.3" and a couple times as "Rock 92.3" or "Eagle 92.3" with formats changing from "rock" to "classic rock" or "classic hits". None of those formats could compete with leading country WDEN or leading Rock "Q-106". |
| Chris Smith leaves WMAZ: (April, 2005) Chris Smith, Chief metorologist on Macon's13-WMAZ Eyewitness News for 7 1/2 years has left the station. There is no word of any replacent but the station still has plenty of people to staff the weather department. Rob Still from the morning show, Andy Wood from the weekends and WMAZ's backup metorologists Tami Tesch-Jarrells and Ben Jones who often fill in when others are on vacation. Ben Jones was the metorologist for the morning newscasts prior to Rob Still and is also the host of WMAZ's local version of "Survivor". According to Chris Smith's farewell message on 13WMAZ.com he will stay in the Central Georgia area for a while possibly working for volunteer organizations in the area. NO word on any future plans in the media. Radio Changes in Columbus: (April, 2005) Another April Fools Day Joke for radio? Not really. WKZJ-FM 95.7 "K-95.7" has swapped frequencies, call letters and format with WIOL 92.7 in Eufala, Alabama. Now, the Audlt R&B music and Tom Joyner Morning Show move to 92.7 and Classic Rock comes to West Central Georgia as "95-7 The River". |
| 96.7 Turned back on: (June 6, 2005) Not that anyone noticed, but Clear Channel has turned signal back on at 96.7FM in Cochran. The former "97 Country" is on the air as "96Q" and running a pop music format. Also returning to the air is the AM 1440 in Cochran as a simulcast of the FM station. These two stations in Cochran were shut down last year after a brief stint simulcasting Macon's 96.5 "the Buzz" and and years as the local Country music station. The King of oldies radio dethroned: (June 4, 2005) Now comes word that the legendary oldies station in New York City has had its 34 year old format changed. WCBS-FM 101.1 changed to "Jack-FM" which is another creative format with a range of rock music with some funk R&B and country occasionally thrown in. It is another new trend in radio programing that has appeared in many cities. Viacom-Infinity broadcasting, which owns WCBS Radio in NY also flipped their Chicago oldies station to the new "Jack" format. But the folks in New York are angry about this change, and they certainly should be. "CBS-FM" in New York was truly a legend. Its personalities were legendary and real. The loyalty between the station and the listeners itself was one of a kind. This station started in 1971 and held a loyal following right to the end. And this station proved to be the benchmark for oldies radio stations across the country. But now the King of oldies radio has fallen along with others around the country (see below about Georgia's oldies radio losses). Management changes: (June, 2005) News Director Dodie Cantrell has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager of WMAZ-13 (CBS) in Macon. She moves into this position when GM Don McGouirk when he retires later this year after 23 years with the station. Both Ms. Cantrell and Mr. McGouirk are longtime vetrans of the Macon television scene. Both have previously worked at other stations in the market. Also Matt Miller, former News Director and Anchor for WGXA-24 (FOX) has moved to WCPO-9 (ABC) in his hometown of Cincinnati as a producer for the stations news department. Death of Oldies Radio?: (June 2005) Stations around the United States have been dropping the "oldies" music format of playing Top 40 hit songs of the 1960's and 1970's in droves. The latest casualty is Macon's WAYS 105.5 fm. The Cumulus Broadcasting station is now broadcasting Sports Talk as "105-5 the fan" with ESPN Radio programs including the nationally popular Jim Rome Show. This moves from AM 1500, the former WDEN AM signal. Where to find your oldies? Well, if you can get it, the oldies format was moved to AM 1500, now known as "Oldies 1500- WAYS" and not likely to be heard by anyone outside of Macon's city limits or inside many buildings within the city limits thanks to the computer you may be reading this from along with other electronics. And that is when the signal is running full power during the day. At night, you may recieve the distant 50,000 watt signal of News station WTOP 1500 AM from Washington, DC The Macon market is the latest to kill off the oldies format. The usual "reasons" are declining ratings. It happened in Atlanta for the second time in three years with the demise of Clear Channel owned "Cool 105.7" which is now the latest in a growing number of "regional mexican" or "hurban" stations, a spanish language Latino music format targeting the growing hispanic community. Atlanta currently has no known local "oldies" station. They lost "Fox 97" in 2002 to a rather loud outcry and Clear Channel replaced a low rated station with the Oldies format, "Cool 105.7" and even hired the former "fox 97" personalities. Now Clear Channel pulls the plug when ratings for the oldies began to wane. Some of the personalities were moved to other Clear Channel stations in the market. If you want to find oldies music on an FM station near Atlanta, you can try 88.9fm, a station based in Griffin, Georgia. Birth of Hurban Radio: (June, 2005) It is not limited to just the large cities in California, Texas, New York or Florida. A national trend in radio broadcasting is a format being called "Hurban". It's when you decide to turn a once popular oldies or rock station into a Spanish language station to target the long neglected hispanic audience. They recently shut downf popular rock stations in Washington, DC and Miami for this new format. And in Atlanta, the casualties were both Rock and Oldies. Welcome VIVA radio to Atlanta! It is officially Clear Channel's "Viva 105.7" which began as "Viva 105.3" a few months ago replacing a low rated FM TALK station. The new spanish station was well recieved but the signal was not as strong as the Clear Channel station at 105.7. Also the ratings for "Cool 105.7" were not as strong as the potential ratings for "Viva". So Clear Channel moved "Viva" to 105.7 in May and has simulcasted "Viva" on both signals so that listners can get used to the new home at 105.7. Now VIVA 105.7 is being simulcasted on THREE signals that should cover all of the Atlanta metro. The 105.7 signal based in Canton, north of the city along with 105.1 in North Georgia and at the former 96.7 The Buzz signal that covers mostly South of the city. And Atlanta's musical chairs continue: (June, 2005) Atlanta's 96.7 The Buzz has moved to a new home at 105.3. This is the latest in the signal swapping in Atlanta over the past couple months. It started with the creation of the new Latino station Viva 105.3 replacing Talk Radio at that signal. Then they moved VIVA to 105.7 replacing oldies and VIVA could be heard on 105.3 and 105.7. After a week, 96.7 made the transition to 105.3 leaving 96.7 in stunting mode for a while then VIVA appeared on 96.7 as well as 105.1 Confused yet? Anyway, the "new" 105.3 The Buzz is intended to compete with longtime alternative station Atlanta 99X. It should be noted that none of Clear Channel's Atlanta stations have been ratings leaders of any kind. Their signals are not the strongest and then there is this bad habit of changing stations around without much regard to the wishes of the listener. 96.7, 105.3 and 105.7 have had format changes several times in the past 5 years, with each station not lasting more than a couple of years before yet another change. And Satalite Radio Sales continue to grow. The Regular Guys are really back!: (May, 2005) The Regular Guys are back on 96Rock in their original morning time slot. They were fired by Clear Channel in 2004 after an on air incident that was deemed obscene at a time when Clear Channel was cracking down on alleged inappropiate or obscene programing to match the crackdown on such programing by the FCC. All of this was during the aftermath of the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" incident a the 2004 Super Bowl. (You can read more in the GARTV archives) Clear Channel bought back "The Regular Guys" to talk radio station WGST a year later. Happy Anniversary Kenny B: (April, 2005) In 1997 radio station WMAZ at 940AM recently changed their call letters to WMWR and began a local morning radio talk show hosted by local personality "Kenny B". And today the station is WMAC and their now 10 year old morning show is where Macon talks about local, national and world issues. The succesful program is "Kenny B and Jami G". And they represent both sides of an issue with intelligent conversation that is entertaining and thought provoking. The program can be heard from 6-9am weekdays. GARTV wishes a happy anniversary to Kenny B! The Macon Metorologists keep a Movin': (April 17, 2005) Ok that was a lame little tongue twister but here is the story about the Macon weather guys (and girl). First Chris Smith leaves WMAZ after 7 years and says he is not leaving the area. Then a couple of weeks later Mike Fuori leaves FOX 24 for a new TV job at the NBC station in Savannah and days later Chris Smith appears on WMGT as the new morning metorologist replacing Ashley DeBeltrand who's husband has accepted a new job in another city and they are moving away. GARTV wishes Ashley DeBeltrand all the best of happiness and career success! Ben Jones is now the Chief Metorologist on WMAZ, returning him to a full-time status with the Gannett owned station. Rob Still and Andy Wood remain in their current Weekday morning and weekend positions and Tami Tesch-Jerles remains on staff as a fill in as needed. She and Ben Jones were "Fill-in's" on WMAZ's weather staff for many years. The newcomer is on WGXA "Fox-24" and his name is Ross Crumbley and you can watch him on the "Fox 24 News" at 10:00 pm weeknights as well as an online weathercast anytime on www.fox24.com. And as I already mentioned, Chris Smith is now the morning metorologist on WMGT "41NBC"'s recently expanded newscasts. Editors note: In many areas, on air broadcast personalities usually have a clause in their contracts that would forbid them from working for any competing station within the market for a period of time that usually ranges from 6 months to a year. Chris Smith leaves WMAZ and appears on WMGT in less than a month. One can assume that WMAZ never expected anyone would leave them for another station in the same area. For decades WMAZ has been THE leading Television station and all of the other stations have never been able to catch up especially in local news. Even today, the other stations with TV news do not program against the mighty WMAZ. Each station's evening news has the timeslot to itself. Noon and 5pm is exclusively WMAZ, 5:30-6 is WMGT, 6-6:30 is WMAZ again and WGXA is the areas only 10pm news station. The only direct competing is in the early morning and at 11pm. Macon TV Personality Dies: (April 14, 2005) Doris Martin, a Macon TV pioneer has died of a heart attack at the age of 80. 13-WMAZ announced her passing on evening newscasts with rememberances from local residents including another local TV legend, Del Ward. Mrs. Martin worked at WMAZ-TV 13 (CBS) from 1959 until 1990 as a host of various programs on WMAZ including telethons, public affairs, news and weather reports. She also was active in local activities. GARTV offers condolences to the family and friends of Mrs. Doris Martin. (1924-2005) Anchors Away: (April, 2005) The news on two Macon news anchors is that Lori Johnson of WMAZ-13 is on maternity leave (second child) and WGXA "fox 24" anchor Matt Miller is leaving for a new job in Cincinnati. More details when they are available. Best wishes to both! Mike Fuori leaves WGXA: (April 14, 2005) Fox 24 Chief metorologist is leaving Macon for a metorologist position at Savannah's WSAV-TV 3 (NBC). This comes less than a couple of weeks after WMAZ's Chief metorologist Chris Smith left that station but indicated that he was not leaving the area. (So who will fill the weather vacancy at WGXA?) If you can't compete against them, then join them: (April, 2005) "The Morning News with Jim Fisher", a morning radio talk show on WMWR-1670AM in Macon is no more. The show was an attempt by Clear Channel to compete for the local talk radio audience in the morning. They replaced its only local daily show with the nationally syndicated "Morning in America". Jim Fisher has moved across town to Cumulus Broadcasting and provides local news reporting for his former competitors "News Talk 940" WMAC and for the other Cumulus stations including WDEN, WPEZ and WAYS. More Talking: (April 2005) Central Georgia has gone from one talk radio station to four in less than a year. The latest to move to a talk format is WQSA 99.9 FM based in Perry with a signal that reaches areas south of Macon. This was formerly WCOP with christian oriented programing. The new format is christian friendly with carefully selected conservative and christian oriented talk show hosts. The new daily lineup includes Dr. Laura, Michael Medved, Mike Gallagher. All of which have been on other stations in the area. This change means that the evening news simulcast from WMAZ-TV is no longer available on the radio. The two other talk stations to come to the area in the past year are 1670AM WMWR and WRPG 103.9FM. Here are some interesting facts about all three new talk radio stations. First the call letters, AM 1670 uses call letters that were short lived on AM 940 in Macon, the former WMAZ-AM (now WMAC). The call letters WMWR may stand for the area of Macon/Warner Robins, but the joke in the past was that the letters stood for "We're mean White Republicans" as if that the bulk of the audience for talk radio at that time. 103.9's call letters WRPG were the original call letters for AM 1350 and stand for "Warner Robins-Perry Georgia. And 99.9 recently changed from the call letters WCOP which were also previous call letters for AM 1350. All three new talk stations carry many shows that were previously cherry picked and heard at different times on 940am in the past and now Central Georgia can now hear most of the popular national radio talk shows. All of the programs target a conservative audience. Also many of the programs are repeated among the four stations. Sean Hannity is on two of the stations and "Morning In America" is heard simultaneously on three stations, all competing with the leading local show on 940am "Kenny B and Jami G". Also The Atlanta Braves baseball games can be heard on two of these stations. |
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| GARTV Archives Page one 2003-2004 Page two 2004-2005 |
Peter Jennings (1938-2005) Peter Jennings dies of Lung Cancer: (August 8,2005) ABC News "World News Tonight" Anchor Peter Jennings died of Lung Cancer at age 67 at his home in New York. Jennings was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in April and immediately went into treatment. His last appearance on television was his taped announcement of his illness. He never returned to the air. Jennings worked for ABC news for 40 years and was an anchor for ABC's evening news more than once. In 1978, Jennings was part of a three man anchor team with the late Frank Reynolds and the late Max Robinson, each broadcasting from a different city.. The three person "World News Tonight" lasted a couple of years, then Frank Reynolds became the solo anchor. Jennings took over as anchor of World News Tonight after Frank Reynolds died in 1983. Jenning's passing now means that all of the "big three" TV Broadcast network newscasts have lost their longtime anchor. Both CBS' Dan Rather and NBC's Tom Brokaw left their respective news anchor positions after 20+ years each. The future of the evening NETWORK newscast may be uncertain. |
| Macon TV Mass exodus Report: (July 2005) There are several changes to post here. Chris Smith has left WMGT "41NBC" and is now the weekend meteorologist at WGCL "CBS46" in Atlanta. Chris once interned at channel 46 in Atlanta when the station was known as WGNX. He worked at WALB-10 (NBC) in Albany and at WMAZ-13 (CBS) in Macon for several years before working briefly at 41NBC as the morning meteorologist. At WGCL Chris Smith will be working with another former WMAZ alum reporter Adam Murphy who worked at WMAZ in the late 1990's. Rob Still of 13-WMAZ has moved on to CBS Affiliate WBTW-13 in Florence, South Carolina. Andy Wood has replaced Rob as the meteorologist for the weekday"Mornin'" newscasts and Autumn O'Neill replaces Andy Wood on the weekend newscasts. Pete Cataldo has left Macon's FOX 24 for Jacksonville, Florida. GARTV wishes Chris Smith, Rob Still and Pete Cataldo all the best in their new positions. New Positions: (July, 2005) When people move on, new faces appear. Derek Kinkade is the new weather anchor for the morning newscasts on WMGT "41NBC". Chris Porter is a new reporter for WMAZ-13 and Autumn O'Neill is new to the 13WMAZ weather team. WGXA-FOX24 Reporter Perry Swanson is the new 10pm co-anchor for "Fox 24 News" filling the spot left vacant by the departure of Matt Miller earlier this year. Dan Kilday is the new sports director for FOX 24. he comes to Macon from WCYB-TV 5 (NBC) in Bristol, Virginia-Tennessee. gartv welcomes Derek Kinkade, Chris Porter, Autumn O'neill and Dan Kilday to the area. |
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| GARTV Where are they now? |
| Fight leads to firing: (July, 2005) Former 13-WMAZ meteorologist Tom Johnson, who has been mentioned on this website as having recently worked at stations in Florida has reportedly been fired from his position at WSVN-7, the FOX affiliate in Miami. He and a fellow staffer Jonathan Novack had an arguement leading to a fist fight. Johnston was fired and his bio removed from the WSVN website. There was no report of any disiplinary action against Novack who assumed the former position that Johnston had as the weekend meteorologist for the station. Also, there were no reports of any charges being filed in this unfortunate incident.. Mayor RECALLED: (July,2005) NO, not the Mayor of Macon Georgia C. Jack Ellis, but the "Mayor of Macon Radio" Greg Roberts on WRBV-101.7 "V-101.7". Clear Channel Radio terminated the popular radio personality and he has been replaced with Chris Williams in the afternoon "Drive Time" slot weekdays from 2-6pm. "The Mayor of Macon Radio" as Greg Roberts was called was a long serving personality in the area on 97.9 WIBB and later on its sister station "V-102" later to be called "V-101.7". He also appeared in a few local stage productions, mainly within the popular gospel play genre. His departure follows the departure of another popular radio personality JJ Davis. More on JJ Davis later. BTW: For those who may not know, there is an effort to recall the Mayor of Macon, Georgia, C. Jack Ellis. The main group working on this recall effort has a website- www.recallellis.com BIG DADDY JJ. DAVIS: (July, 2005) Another popular V-101.7radio host, JJ Davis has moved on to Dothan .Alabama and the afternoon time slot at a new R&B oldies station, WBBK 93.1 (Blakely, Georgia/Dothan, Alabama). Your GARTV editor found this by accident while driving in Southwest Georgia and called JJ Davis at the station and he confirmed that he accepted this permanant new job in Alabama and was happy with his decision. WE at GARTV wishes JJ Davis all the best in his new job and beyond. JJ Davis was the local host of the Tom Joyner Morning Show on V-101.7 as well as the station's main personality to host public events as an emcee or with other promotions. He also hosted a local weekly event at a local night club. His departure from V-101.7 was the result of the Clear Channel owned station wanting to lower their expenses by going more automated with its programing. A trend that continues to spread like a fungus throughout the industry. (ie: not wanting to pay their local human broadcasters more money.) For the first time since 1998 the station no longer has a "local" morning host with the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show. |
| Thanh Truong WMAZ-13 Early 2000s Moved to New Orleans and is currently a reporter for CBS affiliate WWL-TV Channel 4 (2004) |
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