A status update, first…Life is Intervening(tm) much less than it was, and we should be back to more regular blog updates soon.
We’re still mulling around a regular schedule, but for now…let’s delve in…
ROVER’S NEW GLORY: As posted below this, Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7 morning doggie Rover has been in the legal doghouse as of late.
But instead of his court schedule being on the TV news, the man known on his driver’s license as Shane French is getting attention for something much more positive.
The show’s annual “RoverFest”, which again drew thousands to Cleveland’s Voinovich Park, drew one visitor who got national attention…Amanda Berry.
Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are known worldwide for surviving 10 years being held captive in a West Side home, then escaping to safety.
Two days after the womens’ now admitted captor accepted a plea agreement that basically gives him a “life-plus” sentence (1000 years), Amanda decided to enjoy herself at “RoverFest”.
Here’s the video, from the Rover Radio YouTube channel:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofOzpfvHBwY&w=560&h=315]
Beaming throughout, Berry’s appearance – apparently not scripted by the show or Rover in advance – got positive reviews.
And yes, if you believe Rover talking to the Plain Dealer’s John Caniglia on Monday, Amanda Berry’s RoverFest visit was unplanned:
Shane French, who uses the Rover tag for morning drive-time show, said he had mentioned on-air in the weeks leading up to RoverFest that the three women should go to the show to enjoy themselves. About 6 p.m. Saturday, three security guards told him that Berry was at the show.
“I was as surprised as anyone,” he said.
He said he asked a family member if Berry would want to go on stage. The cousin, however, said no. He asked Berry if it would be OK to tell the crowd that she was there.
“She asked me, ‘If I go out there, will you if you go with me?’ I said, ‘Sure. We can bring your family and friends, too,’ ” he said.
After her appearance, Berry returned after being called upon by rapper Nelly, dancing with her sister.
How is the RoverFest appearance going with her attorney? Caniglia has a quote:
“She looked happy,” said her attorney James Wooley. “She went to a concert. That’s it. People are asking me if she is breaking her reclusiveness. There’s nothing to it. She’s happy. She had a huge smile. And I loved seeing it.”
The day after RoverFest, Gina DeJesus and her mother talked to Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 reporter Stephanie Ramirez about a newly constructed privacy fence at their Cleveland home.
It appears that with the fate of their captor being sealed, at least two of the women he held captive have made moves to get their lives back….
KIDD PASSES: The big news nationally in the radio business is the unfortunate passing over the weekend of nationally syndicated morning host Kidd Kraddick, whose YEA Networks show airs on dozens of stations from its Dallas-area studio, near flagship station Clear Channel top 40 KHKS/106.1 “Kiss FM”.
The Dallas Morning News reports that it appears Kraddick died of cardiac disease, an enlarged heart according to a preliminary autopsy by an area coroner.
Kraddick, according to his Wikipedia page born in Northwest Ohio (Napoleon, outside Toledo), never had a huge presence on the radio in the Buckeye State.
A quick check of our archives places him in the past on the old top 40 WZOO/102.5 “102 Zoo” in Ashtabula, and on Cumulus top 40 WTWR/98.3 Luna Pier MI/Toledo. (102.5 is now Media One Group classic hits “Magic Oldies 102.5”, and WTWR is now AC WMIM “My 98.3”, aiming at Toledo’s Michigan suburbs.)
But make no mistake…David “Kidd” Kraddick, who died while attending a charity golf tournament in New Orleans on Saturday, made a huge impression on the radio industry as a whole.
Saturday on various Twitter feeds and Facebook pages, and in media stories covering reaction to his death, it was clear that Kidd Kraddick was a talented, hard working air personality who went the extra mile to make life better for children facing terminal illness (“Kidd’s Kids”)…
DAVE’S MOVE: We’ve probably received two dozen questions about this, and only put this here to end the questions.
Yes, we’re well aware of the involuntary departure of host/producer Dave Ramos from Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.
We have heard numerous stories about “what happened”, but can verify very few of them.
About all we’re willing to say is that his departure comes amid rumblings that he may not have seen eye to eye with some of his colleagues at Oak Tree, particularly elsewhere in the cluster.
We reported earlier on Twitter that we hear Ramos has landed, as a part-time “20/20” sports update anchor at CBS Radio sports WKRK/92.3 “The Fan”, but we haven’t heard him there yet…
Kidd and his crew were also seen on “Dish Nation,” a syndicated show where different radio teams across the nation discusses entertainment news. Rickey Smiley, heard on WENZ Z107.9 in Cleveland, is also on the show, which had been airing on WUAB 43. It’s supposed to be on WBNX 55 this fall.
Dave Ramos was so talented and witty so of course he was let go! WTAM mornings are not the same without him, and Faith can never fill his shoes. Shame on you WTAM ! As far as the Spew, I am so tired of hearing Frantz and Trivisonno on 24/7 !!
well…actually I was only filling in for Pat while he was on vacation, but i agree that Dave is talented and witty. That is part of the reason i hired him as an intern years ago.