Howard Monroe And The Morning Show

It's a sad day for Ohio Valley talkradio.

A legend has passed to his greater reward.

George Kellas passed away this morning at the age of 53. He battled--and seemingly won--a fight with cancer a couple of years ago, but recently lung cancer was diagnosed with no real hope of a reprieve.

I worked with George at WOMP-AM, WTRF-TV, and here at WVLY. ALways a gentlemen, passionate about sports and his personal beliefs, George was a talk show host that made our profession proud. No, we didn't always agree, but I never doubted his sincerity nor his desire to make sure his opinion was founded in fact.

It is sad for a family at any age, but George leaves behind 2 young twins and his namesake George III as well as his loving wife Sherrie. To them my prayers and deepest sympathy. Take heart that he leaves behind a lasting legacy for good in our area.

Sleep well, my friend. You will be missed.

It was one of those topics where the listeners surprised me.

NY Post ran an editorial cartoon that the Rev. Al Sharpon called racist. When I first heard about it, I thought the cartoon made no sense. I didn't understand it. Certainly did not believe it was intentionally racist. But as soon as I started taking phone calls, I knew I missed something. EVERY call---100%--said they immediatley perceived it as racist. I had black callers and white callers. Women and men. Old and young. Even my friend former Congressman Bob Ney said he immediately thought it was racist (says when he was in the federal pen in Morgantown, he often heard gaurds refer to African-Americans as "monkeys").

The Post  has apoligized.

And I've learned --once again--that my audience can sometimes see things I can't

In a post below I talked about the WLTV show I'm involved with.

Another excellent show each week is On Money with Pete Holloway. Pete brings in local guests to discuss financial issues.

This week he has a particularly worthwhile program. He has gathered together several sets of young married couples who have left the Ohio Valley and then chosen to return here to work. We spend a lot of time talking about how to keep young people in the area. Maybe we can learn something from what makes them come back.

Remember there's a link to WLTV's online stream in the sidebar to the right on this page. It's broadcast on Comcast Cable channel 14.

Capitol Music Hall resurection is underway and some downtown buildings are coming down.

I've been gently poking my pal the Mayor of Wheeling, Andy McKenzie, about the fact that he promised some big changes in the City when he ran for office (nearly a year ago) but we haven't seen much activity since he took office. Things seem to be picking up pace a little now.

And McKenzie tells me to be on the lookout for more announcements to come soon.

On The Morning Show this week, McKenzie alluded to some additional changes coming that would compliment the new plans for the Capitol Music Hall. Wouldn't be surprised at a staff addition to Wesbanco Arena now that Denny Magruder and his team are going to be running the Capitol.

I also expect an announcement coming soon about taxes, fees, and permits. Council began kicking this around a couple of months ago and may be ready to streamline some of the processes and maybe reduce some of the fees.

  Just taped our weekly TV show At Issue. Wheeling newpaper editor John Mccabe and I reviewed all the week's big local stories....from MoJo's State of the State to the Burger plant problems, busses, and Ohio County School's superintendent search.

The show airs numerous times throughout the week on Comcast cable channel 14 (if you don't have Comcast, click the on-line link in the column to the right and you can watch the station on your computer).

WLTV is a community/educational resource operated by West Liberty State College and is fast becoming  a focal point for Ohio Valler viewers to get a dose of local news and information that isn't available elsewhere. I get positive comments almost daily from folks who enjoy At issue as well as the many other offerings.

Steve Mazure has a weekly show that looks at Community events, WLSC basketball is on, a weekly sportstalk show hosted by the Voice of the Hilltoppers--Reid Amos. Numerous documentaries on local history are among my favorites.

Check it out when you can.

What a day!

The high winds last night knocked out power to our transmitter.

 It came back quickly, but our audio connection between the studio and transmitter site was foorschtuuk.

We managed a quick "work around" to get us on the air, when we discovered that our entire satellite reception system was knocked out and NONE of our national networks (CNN, O'Reilley, Dennis Miller, Stephanie Miller, Doug Stephan....etc) could be aired.

We ran some precorded shows to keep us on air and got our back-up audio connection system working by evening.

All was well, when the computer that hosts our OUTGOING audio stream (both on-air and internet) was "fried" in brief power outage in the afternoon.

So....if you try to listen on line and can't, you know why.

If you listen on air and the quality is poor, you will know why.

And if all is working perfectly by morning on Friday, it means our team did a hekk of a job!

Wheeling Mayor Andy McKenzie sees the pruchase of the Capitol Music Hall as a major event for the Friendly City. I think McKenzie's expectations are a little overblown, although it will be a big assett to the arts and cultural scene in Wheeling. McKenzie was a guest on The Morning Show. You can listen to several parts of the interview here.

She waited in an airplane---sitting on the tarmac--for over 9 hours. And her story is far from unique. Kate Hanni is founder of a group fighting for a passengers bill of rights in the airline industry. Today she testifes to a Congressional committee, but before she did that, she spent time on The Morning Show.

You an visit her website flyersrights.org

Wal Mart shoppers are a bad credit risk.

That's what American Express thinks.

When Kevin Johnson returned from his honeymoon last year he got a letter from Amex saying, “Other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped have a poor repayment history with American Express.”(Mother Jones)

Managing credit is a critical job in these economic times, to be sure, but there's something wrong when a company takes action against you on the assumption that the people who shop certain stores are bad credit risks.

President Obama hit all the high points in his press conference.

Making the need for an immediate stimulus clear, encouraging new ideas but clearly dismissing a return to the failed old ideas, and calling otr the GOPers who are playing politics.

You will hear some right wing pundits claim that Americans are not supporting the bill.

LIE.

New Gallup poll says 80%--that's a huge number--of us support the stimulus. Obama's personal numbers are dramatically high, and Congressional Dems are picking up as well. The GOP crew declining in public support.

There are plenty of right wind talk hosts and politicos who can whoop and holler and make a loud noise, but in the end they're in a SMALL minority.

Let's get this thing done.