I'm Movin' On

I've put off moving this blog to Wordpress for a while. All of my other blogs are there and I kind of like it on that side of Blog Avenue.

So...in a few days I'm going to stop posting things here and will take the wheels off the trailer at www.jameytucker.wordpress.com

Ya'll come see us.

A Few Things 2

• Got another call about the aforementioned "wedding couple". Apparently it is true. A reporter from WREG and a reporter from WMC did exchange vows recently. I've known producers and photographers and directors to be married to employees at the competition, but this is a first as far as two on-air competitors doing the nuptials.
  
• I ran into a former co-worker this week. Kevin Osgood, who was known as Kevin Yodjas back when we worked together at WHNT in Huntsville in the '90s. Kevin is out of the business and working for a company that designs news sets for television studios. It caused me to remember what a magical time it was for our news team. We started as the #3 station in the market, but in two short years we were #1 in nearly every show. We had some great people working for us. Not only were we all dedicated to the station, we were having a blast.
  
• Speaking of WHNT, an older man walked up to me when I was at a doctor's appointment yesterday and asked "aren't you on tv?". I introduced myself and told him where I work, but he said..."yeah, but I remember you from when you were in Huntsville." The guy had no idea I was working in Nashville now but somehow placed me back at WHNT. That never stops surprising me.
• I covered the Presidential visit to Nashville this morning. Does it seem like it's been 8 years since George W was on the campaign trail for the first time? He came to Memphis about this time 8 years ago.
  
• Brooke White may not be the best singer or the most exciting contestant on American Idol this year, but if she gets the right songwriters and producers, she could be the biggest star from this group, even if she doesn't win it.
• Anybody else get the feeling that Governor Spitzer's wife might have had a grip on the waistband of his underwear during his news conference Monday? For her to stand there with this creep for television and front page photos, she should have been granted the right to give him a royal wedgie for as long as he made his speech. She could have hooked the edges over his Dumbo looking ears.
  
• My son's new little friend is the grandaughter of a singer who is half of a famous '70s pop group.
  
• Have you ever teared up a little just by hearing a favorite song that you haven't heard in a long long time?
  

A Few Things

Wouldn't it be cool if we got to set our clocks forward an hour Friday afternoon at 4 instead of in the middle of the night Sunday morning?

A quick poll this morning and I couldn't find anyone who's ever known a reporter from one station marrying a reporter from a competing station. I'm hearing that happened in the Memphis market last weekend. If true, congratulations to the happy couple. Anybody able to confirm this with a wedding cake photo?

I'm going to try the M.R.I again next week. This time, it'll be in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning. I'll stay up most of the night before and work through the day. I'm banking on being sleepy enough to relax with the medication. Insurance doesn't want to pay for the open-MRI so this may be the only way I can get it done.

Wal Mart is opening dozens of stores in small towns across America on Friday. Wouldn't it be interesting to follow a local mom and pop business for a few months to see what impact a supercenter has on these folks?

I'm glad Danny Noriega was voted off Idol this week. Same with the other guy, whathisname.
Too bad Asia'h Epperson sang first Tuesday night. I think she may have gotten lost in the crowd. None of the people leaving had a chance of winning so it really doesn't matter when they leave.

Paula either needs to double up her medication or cut it in half. Her current dosage isn't working.

I haven't had a dip of snuff in nearly two weeks. I'm jonesing for one tonight though.

Never mind what the publicist is saying, if Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer he is not doing well. I've known two people with that type of cancer. Both died within two months of being diagnosed.

Idol: Where the Boys At?

What is it about American Idol that seems to find the most sissyfied guys for the top 24? How many of the male contestants sing like girls? That may be fine for a lot of viewers and I'm not suggesting that feminine sounding guys should be tossed, but it's not for me.

Tonight was 80's night and several of the guys...er boys, took on some of the worst songs of that decade. Luke Menard sang "Wake Me Up Before you Go Go", a Wham song. Last time I head this song it was being made fun of in "The Wedding Singer". I haven't liked anything Menard has sung since Hollywood week. I didn't think this one was very good either. He could go this week.

Danny Noriega, the guy a lot of people are comparing to Sanjaya from last year, sassed his way through "Tainted Love", one of the songs that identifies the 80s music era. He sashays on stage more than any contestant since Katherine McPhee. His winks to the audience are creepy. I really think he's leaving this week. "Votefortheworst.com" thinks he should go too, so the website is encouraging people to vote for him this week. Votefortheworst aims to make a mockery of the show by pushing the worst singer every year to the finals. The site took a lot of credit for Sanjay's lengthy stay last year. Noriega is definitely the worst of the remaining guys.

I thought Michael Johns, the guy from Australia was rather ordinary again this week. But the judges really like this guy. I don't think I'd buy one of his cds but my wife likes him. I thought the last two weeks showed he isn't that good of a singer and is more style and look than voice.

David Archuleta, the 17 year old who sang "Imagine" last week, was really really good tonight at the piano. He sang "Another Day in Paradise" from Phil Collins and I thought it was great. The judges were a little cool on him this week, urging him to pick up the tempo and attitude next week. I think the kid is one of the best singers and song stylists that this show has seen in 7 years.

David Cook surprised me tonight. He came out with an electric guitar and rocked up a version of Lionel Richie's "Hello". I thought it was great and even told my wife that I'd buy a cd of that song tonight (and I probably will on iTunes). I liked the rock-style version even better than Richie's version from 1982.

Chikeezie was good tonight with a Whitney Houston song and Jason Castro's version of Hallelujah was okay. The judges thought it was great though so what do I know? I thought he was a bit off tempo several times and ran out of breath on the last line.

And I think Paula either doubled up on her medication or didn't take it at all. At the end as she was trying to give the guys a standing ovation she nearly stumbled or fell back into her chair. She was even more incoherent and annoying tonight than usual. I used to think the show wouldn't be the same without her cheerleading the contestants, but now she's too predictable. Hopefully though, they won't play her music video again.

Who goes? I think the worst this week was Menard and Noriega. Both should go but I think there's a chance that Noriega hangs around, sort of like Sanjaya did last year.

Billy Ray Cyrus To Host Nashville Star

Has it been 16 years since "Achy Breaky Heart" topped the charts? If you don't watch Disney Channel you probably won't know this, but Billy Ray Cyrus is back. He's as popular now with the Disney audience as he might have been with the country radio audience in 1992.

Now, he's going to host "Nashville Star". Cyrus will make the announcement on Leno tonight. The show will tape this summer in Nashville (duh) and BRC will be the man at the mic. I hope he does well. I've always liked this show, maybe even as much as "American Idol".

Oh, and Billy Ray and his daughter Miley will co-host the CMT Music Awards later this year too.

Now, if only the mullet would come back in style.

A Shocking Blooper

Thank goodness I wasn't on the desk when this story came on the feeds:

I dare you not to laugh.

Video of the Week

Video Shot the Radio Star

I love radio. From the first time I saw my first episode of WKRP in Cincinnati I wanted to be on the airwaves, spinning records and reading the news wire copy.

Like most teenagers I spent gobs of time listening to the local djs. Back home in Birmingham I remember Joe Rumore playing country. As I got older it was Rick Sisk and Dennis Deason at Q-104 in Gadsden. I even met those guys at a softball game one night. At the time, they were the biggest celebrities I had ever met.

Years later I made it on the air at three or four radio stations. Even though they were small (some am in fact) stations, it was everything I dreamed it would be.

But the reason for this post is not my love-affair with the radio booth, but on the people behind the mics. I don't know that I have ever met a radio dj personality who wasn't as nice in person as they seem on the air.

I interviewed Gerry House this morning for a story. He's the morning man at WSIX-98, the most popular dj in town and certainly one of the biggest names in the business. Gerry is as nice a guy as I've met in Nashville. I first met him back in '91 or '92 when I came to Nashville covering Fan Fair for WJSU-TV40 in Anniston.

I was a one-man band then too, covering fan fair for a couple of days and shooting and producing a 30 minute special on the growth of country music. I met Gerry backstage at one of the shows and asked if I could drop by his studio the next morning and talk to him about how country music was exploding in popularity. He didn't hesitate, even though I must have looked just like a kid with a camera asking to do a story for the local high school paper.

Same goes for other dj's I've met. Rick and Bubba in Birmingham are both great guys. I met Drake and Zeke from Memphis at a golf tournament. I heard one of them say something to somebody else and I said "hey...I recognize your voice". Drake said "hey...I recognize your face".

Maybe this goes to show that in the radio business, the popular djs are the ones who are the same on the air as they are off the air. They put in so many hours on their shows and so many hours at remotes, a phony would be called out quickly. I think it'd be tough for anyone to do like I've seen some tv people do, and be something they're not when the red "on" light is illuminated.

Or, maybe these djs have found a way to be "on" anytime someone is listening.

Anyway, as media people go...the folks in radio seem to be more real than people who work in tv or newspapers. I've met some great folks who work for the daily papers in every market, but I've also met a number of jerks too. I've known some newspaper reporters who seem to despise tv people. Reporters who've angrily turned and told my photographer to turn off the camera while he was asking a question, accusing us of trying to steal his interview even though we had already completed our interview and were just getting b-roll.

But I've racked my head today trying to think of any radio personality who's been a jerk and I can't think of one. Not one!