Posted on 02/29/2008 3:46:56 PM PST by milestogo
WMAL Fires Chris Core, D.C.'s Longest Running Talk Host
Three years ago, I started a profile of Chris Core, the longtime talk show host on WMAL, like this: "In three decades on the radio in Washington, Chris Core has survived five station owners, four general managers, six program directors and a revolution in talk radio."
But Core didn't survive his sixth station owner. After 33 years on the air here, Core was let go this afternoon in a massive nationwide bloodletting by Citadel Broadcasting, which last year bought ABC Radio, including three Washington stations.
Citadel, which reported big losses last quarter and blamed the deteriorating audience for radio, also scrapped the format of one of its other D.C. stations, Smooth Jazz 105.9 FM, which at 3 p.m. became True Oldies, with a heavy 60s emphasis.
Core, whose morning talk show on 630 AM changed its political colors in recent years, moving to a more emotional flavor of conservatism to match the station's syndicated talk lineup of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, was remarkably sanguine about the move when I spoke to him just now.
"It is what it is--business," he said from his Maryland home. "Nothing personal. If the station had their druthers, they wouldn't do this. But they didn't have their druthers. Over time, you can see where this business has been heading."
AM radio listening has been in decline across the country, but especially in Washington, and especially since all-news WTOP moved from its longtime home at 1500 AM to 103.5 FM. For many younger listeners, AM radio is a relic, something they might use to listen to an occasional ballgame, but that's about it.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.washingtonpost.com ...
oops.
I am sorry to hear that Greaseman is back in town. Disgusting pig, IMO. A shame, too, because he really is a comedic genius.
Wow, you’re an encyclopedia of DC radio.
My humble comments then are merely that Chris Core was great, a truly “balanced” and fair man who actually seemed to enjoy talking with his callers. I hope he shows up somewhere else quickly.
A couple DC radio memories are:
WGTB (Georgetown Basement) which I must admit in my noodlebrained teen hippe-dippie days was an incredibly brazen station and played the best 60s/70s rock ‘n roll ever. They’d play an entire album side nonstop start to finish. Cutting edge stuff at the time. And they had that college “revolutionary” thing going full-steam, which I recall is why Georgetown finally shut them down.
There was another hippie-type AM (!!) rock n’ roll station I think out of Baltimore, can’t remember the call letters but it was a remarkable assault on AM radio of the time. I vaguely recall hearing Eric Burdon’s “Spill The Wine” on it for the first time, and Allman Bros. “Whipping Post”, and even Aerosmith’s first album. The station’s announcers sounded something less than completely sober after about 9PM.
About your Bangor story, here’s an opposite. When I lived in Boston I’d drive down to DC several times a year for various events. It was usually pretty easy to keep Boston’s WBZ and certainly NYC’s WABC tuned in clear as a bell all the way to Baltimore.
I wouldn’t call myself an ‘encyclopedia’ of DC radio, or any radio market for that matter, but having worked in the industry I probably paid more attention to the comings and goings of people, programmers, station managers, etc., than the average person.
I had forgotten about WBZ coming in pretty clear in D.C., and I actually picked up Wolfman Jack (not on an outlaw Mexican station) but on WNBC in New York, I used to sneak down to my Dad’s radio room when I was a kid (he was a ham operator at one time) in the wee hours and just scan the dial, that was one of many things that got the radio bug into my veins, I never made it to the real ‘big time’, just worked small to medium markets but when someone tells me I’m a ‘has-been’ (I’m retired from radio now), I tell them it’s quite alright, because I’d rather be a has-been, than a *never was*, lol
Your analysis of Chris Core is right on the mark, regardless of his own views, he genuinely enjoyed his callers and treated them with respect, which is the mark of a great broadcaster.
During one of my tenures at a small country station in North Florida (literally a single-wide mobile home in a cow pasture with a 3000 watt transmitter), I learned one of the ‘secrets’ of radio from the music director (and later, close friend) who told me “all you have to do when you’re talking on the microphone, is to forget about all the thousands of people that might be listening, and picture yourself broadcasting to just one special friend, and that one friend only, and simply have a conversation with them in between the records and EVERYONE listening will think you’re talking just to *them*”, he did that and I emulated his example and for a small market, we were as successful as we were able to be for a little ‘pig-whistle’ of a radio station. ;)
Say, we need a ping list for Metro-DC radio, is there one to your knowledge?
Enjoy your weekend!
Best,
MKJ
I am a woman who thinks that testosterone is a good thing, but that ungentlemanly men are not attractive.
BTW, your comment about Chestertown apparently went over my head....
Ahhh c’mon now, Grease is one of the most gentlemanly souls you could ever encounter. A bit rough around the edges perhaps, but that’s what years of living the life of Nino Greasmanelli can do to you, and not to worry about Chestertown, I’m sure it’s a lovely little burg, no matter that part of the name rhymes with another less than appealing noun, but who’s keeping score, right?
Hope you enjoy your weekend! :)
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
I actively avoid Citadel Radio Stations, and will not listen to them after they deep-sixed John Batchelor in September of 2006.
I bet you even drove on the circumferential highway.
More like dodged insane drivers all the way around the circumferential highway, lol
Anyone up for buying a small radio station to do conservative talk and surf music?
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