99XWatch.org

Did Toucher and Rich Break ATHF "Hoax"?

While Toucher and Rich may not have actually broken the story on the nature of the "suspicious objects" found around Boston today, they certainly managed to trace the devices to Aqua Team Hunger Force at at time when coast guard ships were still closing off the Charles River.   

Jimmy Baron has told me that Rich is one the best people he's ever met at sniffing out a hoax.  Maybe the Boston police should hire him as a consultant. So much for "more intelligent" part.

Update  1/31/2007  9:39 PM

Andisheh Nouraee makes a pretty good point in his blog:

Except it wasn't a hoax. A hoax is intentional trickery. Turner's ad people obviously did not intend to make passersby think that it's Aqua Teen ad gizmos were bombs.

Update 2/1/2007 2:31 PM

Toucher is quoted in the Atlanta Journal Constitution's take on the story (registration required).

Maybe that's why some concerned Bostonians didn't get it. Fred Toucher, a former radio personality at Atlanta's 99X, now works for rock station WBCN-FM in Boston. Toucher said that when he and another former 99X jock saw photos of the so-called "bomb" Wednesday, they instantly identified it as a character from "Aqua Teen."

"One of our listeners said that they had been up around town for weeks," Toucher wrote in an e-mail after the brouhaha died down. "It is a big deal here, even though it seems pretty dumb now."

Update 2/4/2007 8:23 AM

Put put quotations around the word "Hoax" in the subject line of the story.  As Andy observes above, a hoax implies intent and has criminal implications. 

Jimmy on 790 The Zone

In what marks his second time back on the Atlanta Airwaves since his departure from 99X, Jimmy Baron will be filling in for Mike Bell  Wednesday Thursday on Mayhem in the AM.  He's not here to start no trouble.

Update 1/30/2007
Jimmy wrote to say that he'll actually be on The Zone on Thursday, February 1.
 

Crash Circa 1979

In response to my email about the picture, Crash writes:

Make sure you mention that it's a picture of me since moving up to Boston. Its a recent photo that's living proof how I've been getting in shape up here, Rocky IV style. I figure a few more months of fresh air, good clean living and my serious work out regiment and I'll be ready to reclaim Atlanta. Okay it was about 1978-80 I think I'm about 12-14 but not sure, maybe less since I look like a total dork.

via ToucherAndRich.com

Lewis

The high road:

The low road:

Why is that images of partiers at Jack Rabbit Lounge make me vaguely ill?  Perhaps it's because they bring back bad memories.  At least JRL has managed to maintain its classy image.

34 Seconds of Barnes

99X #1, Sort Of...

99X grew its share of men, 18-34, by more than sixty percent to become the #1 non-ethnic station in that demographic (it was ranked #5 among all stations in the market).  Leading the ratings increase was the New Morning X which grew its share of men, 18-34 by 340% to become the #2 non-ethnic (#7 overall) morning show in the demographic.  The station and The New Morning X also performed well in persons 18-34, increasing their ratings share by 50% and 230% respectively. 

Meanwhile, AJC Radio and Television writer Rodney Ho blogs "99X rebounded from its worst-ever book over the summer but was still 20th overall, nothing to write home about," referring to the Station's 12+ ratings.  Technically, in 12+ ratings, 99X is tied for 20th place with the beleaguered talk station WGST.   So why are the folks at 99X pleased with their ratings while WGST is well...beleaguered?   The answer comes down to ad revenue.  Advertisers  don't usually buy based on 12+ ratings, nor are all demographics equally profitable.  One of the most lucrative radio demographics is...drum roll...18-34 year old, non-ethnic males.

Interestingly, the #1 non-ethnic morning show in the Fall Book among 18-34 men was the now defunct The Regular Guys.  While I think it's unrealistic that the New Morning X will appeal to the majority The Regular Guys listeners, it's certainly reasonable to expect that a good number might land on 99.7 in future books.

Weekend, Non-99X Blog

There's a great story in today's New York Times about the triumph the human spirit over adversity, set in Clarkston, Georgia. 

CLARKSTON, Ga., Jan. 20 — Early last summer the mayor of this small town east of Atlanta issued a decree: no more soccer in the town park.

“There will be nothing but baseball and football down there as long as I am mayor,” Lee Swaney, a retired owner of a heating and air-conditioning business, told the local paper. “Those fields weren’t made for soccer.”

In Clarkston, soccer means something different than in most places. As many as half the residents are refugees from war-torn countries around the world. Placed by resettlement agencies in a once mostly white town, they receive 90 days of assistance from the government and then are left to fend for themselves. Soccer is their game.

But to many longtime residents, soccer is a sign of unwanted change, as unfamiliar and threatening as the hijabs worn by the Muslim women in town. It’s not football. It’s not baseball. The fields weren’t made for it. Mayor Swaney even has a name for the sort of folks who play the game: the soccer people.

Caught in the middle is a boys soccer program called the Fugees — short for refugees, though most opponents guess the name refers to the hip-hop band.

The story isn't about how Southerners suck,  It's about a group of kids, refugees from unimaginably bleak circumstances, finding normalcy, even excellence through sports, despite the obstacles put in their path by some.

You can learn more on the Fugees Family soccer team website.

Barnes Talks About Prison Break Stint

From Peach Buzz:

When the Fox drama “Prison Break” resumes at 8 Monday night, fugitive brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows have a new nemesis to worry about —Atlanta actor and former Dave FM morning man Steve Barnes.

“I play a Secret Service agent named Drucker,” Barnes said Friday. So far, Barnes has flown to Dallas to shoot two episodes of the addictive drama.

“Essentially, I come in and keep giving [another agent] bad news, and he’s not happy about it.”

Barnes, a big fan of the show, is having a blast.

“It’s a total roller-coaster ride of a show,” he said. “So far, I’m just shooting on a soundstage office set in Dallas. The joke on the set is you don’t want to get a script where you’re running around outside shooting [exteriors]. That usually means you’re dead!”

Barnes’ episodes air Monday and Jan. 29.

Happy Birthday Toucher

Toucher turns 32 today.

Jimmy Gives More Clues...

In last weekend's Sunday Paper, Lisa Baron writes:

Every time Jimmy visits the West Coast without me for an extended period of time, creatures enter my home to challenge my newfound but short-lived independence....This time around, Jimmy had been in Los Angeles for just three hours when I returned from a quick errand to find his beloved Bassett hound being sodomized by a strange black dog...Jimmy, our crisis management counselor, was taking meetings out in Los Angeles.

Today (a few minutes ago, actually,) Jimmy writes:

I was in LA concerning a matter I've been working on for the past few months and it appears at this point to have paid off.  I'm not comfortable talking about it until the i's are dotted and blah blah blah, but I'm told that will probably be in the next five days. Nevertheless, things went extraordinarily well. Better, quite frankly, than any of the players involved ever expected.  Stay tuned.

Move over David and Victoria, here come Jimmy and Lisa?