Heard or seen something on the pop culture landscape that appalled/delighted/enlightened you? Of course you have. That's what Station Break with Paul Farhi is here for. Local stations, cable, radio shows, commercials, pop culture -- they're all fair game.

Farhi was online Tuesday, July 25, at 1 p.m. ET.

Recent Stories:

Men, Signing Off ( Post, July 23 )

WTWP Radio Gets Off to a Slow, But Game Start ( Post, July 22 )

Farhi is a reporter in the Post's Style section, writing about media and popular culture. He's been watching TV and listening to the radio since "The Monkees" were in first run and Adam West was a star. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Los Angeles, Farhi had brief stints in the movie business (as an usher at the Picwood Theater), and in the auto industry (rental-car lot guy) before devoting himself full time to word processing. His car has 15 radio pre-sets and his cable system has 75 channels. He vows to use all of them for good instead of evil.

A transcript follows.

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Paul Farhi: Greetings, all, and welcome to our mid-summer's chat, early dog days edition....Local radio ratings out last week were not kind, particularly, to my employer's own personal radio venture, WTWP AM-FM (in case you missed the news, the story was in Saturday's paper; maestro, please put up that link for the nice people). Any suggestions for WTWP? I'm sure the station's management would love to get your feedback (okay, maybe not). Meantime, let's go to the phones...

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Washington, D.C.: Realizing that it just started but how will Dan Snyder's Red Zebra radio broadcast late games and post game shows when their radio signals reduce after dark? And, is it only me that finds "the First Team on Fox" irritating that early in the morning? Of course I had a problem with their spending a half hour on the Wei, the teen golfer, and their sexual innuendos and crassness.

Paul Farhi: Well, they'll still have their under-powered FM signals (92.3 and 94.7) for the post-game. Two out of three ain't bad, although I guess it depends on whether you can get ANY of the three...

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Bethesda, Md.: Hi Paul,

Thanks for the chats. Isn't the real problem in the Comcast-MASN debate, not whether or not Comcast should carry the channel, but that Washington team's television rights are now controlled by a a different team in Baltimore?? Shouldn't the FCC look into that first or does MLB's anti-trust exemption protect it from the FCC?

Paul Farhi: I noticed in today's Post that the FCC is getting into this mess, and may possibly order MASN and Comcast to arbitration. Better than nothing, I guess, but it will be at least 45 days before this arbitration might start. At which point, even assuming that this would lead to a resolution, the Nats will be 107 games out of first and no one will want to watch them on TV.

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Clifton, Va.: Which ratings really matter? For instance, the Junkies came in something like 13th overall in the morning (up from 17th, I think), but were 2nd in males 24-54. If you look at just the 13th overall, that seems pretty unsuccessful -- but the 2nd in what I assume to be a prime demo is encouraging. What do these numbers mean for the health of the show?

Paul Farhi: Yes, some ratings are more important than others. And you're right--men 25-54 is an important segment for the Junkies. I'm sure they'd like to have great numbers 12-plus, but WJFK-FM, as a station, shoots for the adult (25-54) audience and the male audience. Advertisers will pay more for this target group than a large audience of unlike people.

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Washington, D.C.: Paul: I have enough news now between the newspaper and on-line updates. An epiphany. If I just drop my subscription, I can then get my news from WTWP and online without spending any money. Wow. If enough people follow my example, ratings should surge.

Paul Farhi: Great idea! I'll tell management to push its top-secret drop-your-subscription-now promotion. Brilliant!

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Potomac, Md.: An open note to Melwood, from many, many people:

Your ads on WTOP are terrible--and they make people cringe. The combination of people reading sappy stories with corny music with a no-segue, abrupt move to desperately begging people to, of all things, donate their cars, is absolutely horrible.

If people don't laugh at the ads, which is somewhat sad considering the work that the place does, they cringe at them.

Find a new ad campaign!

Paul Farhi: They sure do run a lot of those ads on WTOP. I wonder, does Melwood pay for 'em, or is that some sort of public service donation on the part of WTOP?

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Office Somewhere in D.C.: Long time reader, first time writer.

I'm funny, educated, informed and growing increasingly bored with the 9 to 5 grind. Where do I sign up to get my own irreverent afternoon drive-time talk radio show? Honestly. How does a mid-level professional break into talk radio? Your sage advice is appreciated!

Paul Farhi: Have you tried the Columbia School of Broadcasting?*

*(Not affiliated with CBS, though possibly with CVS...)

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The Male Exodus from TV news: Paul:

I'm writing in early about your great story on the decline of men in the TV news business. I happen to be a white male who formerly worked in the TV news business as an on-air anchor (not in the D.C. market) and got out several years ago for most of the reasons you cited. Quite simply, most news directors and agents weren't interested in promoting my career or those of other white men. It was simpler and more to their liking to find and promote women of various ethnic backgrounds. Some might call this whining or sour grapes, but it happens to be true. The other problems with TV is that you were asked to do more shows each without commensurate pay raises. And to start with, the pay wasn't that great. Finally, news kept getting more superficial with each passing year. As your story points out, local TV management is reaping what they sowed, starting many years ago. And that ridiculous comment by the female news director that "a woman may be a sharper judge of 'news' content than a man," is the kind of arrogant BS you have to deal with in the biz.

washingtonpost.com: Men, Signing Off ( Post, July 23 )

Paul Farhi: Well, I'm dim on the racial politics of all this, but I must say that several people I talked to for that story said they see many, many women from minority groups in the applicant pool. Not a comment, just a fact. It could be that the broadcast business is more hospitable to minority women than other businesses (a so-called "Oprah Effect"). Whether this means that white men are being crowded out, I don't know...

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Washington, D.C.: Paul: I'm sure someone has with this topic before, but I haven't seen it, so I'll ask: why must George Michael's sports highlights include FAKE sound?

Paul Farhi: One of the great George mysteries. Others:

-- Why the random use of slo-mo on the highlights?

-- Why all the rodeo highlights?

-- And does he get the oil changed regularly on The Sports Machine?

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Oakton, Va.: Paul,

Sunday night Channel 4 had three black men (James Adams, Charlie Neal, and Clay Anderson). Could that be a first for TV in the area and perhaps the country?

Paul Farhi: Very interesting. This has passed by almost unnoticed (you and I noticed, I guess). I don't know for sure, but I bet it is a first...

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Hello, Paul, your column on Sunday "Men, Signing Off" does not alarm me, as a guy. I have known for years that women are generally smarter than men, and if they could all look like Shannon Bream on Ch.4 (WRC), life would be good, indeed. I predict that Ms. Bream, a great mix of brains (law degree), looks, and professionalism will be the next big break-through from the local to the national stage.

Paul Farhi: There seems to be a Shannon Bream fan club on this chat channel. Or maybe it's just one guy in Gaithersburg, Md.

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Falls Church, Va.: My new "favorite" ads are the political commercials for Josh Rales. They show him on the screen speaking about all the great stuff he's going to do and then at the end, they show him saying "I'm Josh Rales and I approved this ad."

No, really!?!?!? You approve of all the words YOU just said!?!? Aren't those, "I approve" messages supposed to be when you have a voice over guy doing all the talking?!!?

Paul Farhi: Yeah, ridiculous. But the Federal Election Commission, subject to section 409, subsection 12, Part A, of the Federal Code, requires candidates to say obvious stuff like that.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Can word somehow get out to one of the WTOP afternoon anchors that he reads every news item with an over-dramatized, overly-exaggerated tone that makes it appear that every news item is about the end of the world? He also o-ver-e-nun-ci-ates e-very-syl-la-ble as if the entire listening audience is stupid.

Condescending, talking-down to the audience, snottiness, and overly enunciating words are all things that any newscaster should know NOT to do in 2006.

Make it stop, please.

Paul Farhi: You have my solemn oath on that...

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Rosslyn, Va.: Hi Paul. As the arbiter of all things media, do you have any insight as to why ESPN fired Harold Reynolds from "Baseball Tonight"? He seemed less obnoxious than every one else.

Paul Farhi: I am surprised by that. I always thought he was a very good, non-hypish analyst. Maybe that was his problem. Maybe he needed to develop a catch-phrase. Let's see: "Boo-yah" is taken. How about "Sweet sassy molassy!"

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McLean, Va.: My problem with WTWP is that you don't know what's going to be on. For example, I like hearing the interviews with the sportswriters, but I don't know when they're going to be on. (Maybe they have a regular time, but it's not on the Web site.) Maybe if there a certain number of regular features at regular times, people would tune in for those and stay for the other stuff.

Also, instead of running syndicated programming in the evening, they could rerun some of their best stuff.

Paul Farhi: Yes, better promos of upcoming segments would help. I mean, it's kind of a grab-bag. I was on the other day talking about female anchors on TV, right after Robin Wright called in while covering Condi Rice's trip to Lebanon. Perhaps more formatting and organization, a la the newspaper, would help...

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Woodbridge, Va.: Paul,

What is the link between having a law degree and reading the news on TV?

Paul Farhi: (This sounds like a set-up to a joke, which normally I shouldn't encourage, but since I'm kind of curious about the punch line, I'll play along):

I don't know, Woodbridge. What IS the link between having a law degree and reading the news on TV?

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Re: Rodeo: I'm as confused as the other poster. Did we suddenly move to Oklahoma ?

Paul Farhi: I think George just likes the horses. In which case, couldn't he just run some tape from Pimlico?

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Severna Park, Md.: "Sweet Sassy Molassy" was the last Saturday Night Live skit that made me laugh out loud. How many years ago was that? Where did my youth go?

Paul Farhi: Loved that one, too. (For the uninitiated: Guest host Ray Romano plays a "SportsCenter" anchor, with Tim Meadows as the Stuart Scott-ish co-anchor. Much to Tim/Stu's consternation, Ray tries out his bizarre new highlight call: "Sweet Sassy Molassy!") That had to be about seven, eight years ago. Amazing how fast these things fly by...

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Re-Baseball Tonight: Everytime Steve Phillips opens his mouth I know why he is no longer a General Manager.

Paul Farhi: I was listening to him give his prescription for A-Rod's throwing problems the other day. It sounded a bit like "more cowbell."

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Alexandria, Va., and I approved this message: I was in Connecticut on vacation a month ago, and the Lieberman and Lamont political ads were fascinating. Lieberman's were depressingly typical nasty attack ads, while Lamont's were more positive and encouraging. The best part: Lamont finishes by saying "I approve this message," followed by a cross section of citizens, each saying "and so do I."

Paul Farhi: I think that's the first of what should be a long line of tongue-in-cheek plays on that requirement. I won't bore you with the reasons for the "I approve" rule--it has something to do with the FEC wanting candidates to distinguish their ads from the third-party, Swift Boat type groups--but they are very ripe for parody, or at least a variation or two.

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Office Somewhere in D.C., cont.: Columbia School of Broadcasting? Surely you jest! I actually visited one of their schools in NoVA a few years back and was given both the sales pitch and "voice" test. I was convinced at the time that CBS was more concerned with lining their pockets than teaching me to be a DJ or just sound like one. Was I mistaken?

Paul Farhi: I have no idea whether CSB is good, bad or indifferent. But I'm guessing that most talk-show hosts came up like most newspaper reporters: They honed their craft (if any) on the job, working their way up the ladder, market by market.

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Rockville, Md.: Tina Fey announced that she's leaving Saturday Night Live. Are a few us (guys and girls) the only ones who never, ever, really liked her? We didn't think she was funny on "Weekend Update," the items weren't funny, and she seemed snarky. And this includes her working as head writer, too, as the show hasn't been funny in at least 10 years.

Paul Farhi: Yes, this could be a trade that helps both teams, as they say in baseball. If you think "SNL" was hilarious these past several years, give her much of the credit. If you don't--and I happen to think the Fey years will be remembered as a particularly fallow (not Fallon) period--you can blame her. Fresh blood could be a good thing for the show. Or it could just get worse (and Lorne Michaels was saying some ominous things the other day about how draconian the budget cuts at NBC and SNL have been lately...)

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Law Degree: What is the link between having a law degree and reading the news on TV?

Seems obvious to me: you get to wear the Smart Girl glasses.

Paul Farhi: Ah, yes...So, did Tina Fey and Ashleigh Banfield both go to law school?

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CNN pet peeves: I'm watching a lot of CNN these days and starting to develop a couple of serious phobias. One is to Anderson Cooper, who always looks like he's posing for the J. Crew catalog instead of working. I "love" his "Reporter's Notebook" dispatches, where he gets to be all world-weary while they show still photos of him looking over some tragic scene. Which means CNN assigns a still photographer to cover Anderson Cooper covering the news. Sheesh! Also, Kyra Phillips, their midday anchor, loves to say "The news keeps happening, we'll keep bringing it to you." Gosh, I thought they were allowed to stop if they felt like we'd had enough for the day.

Paul Farhi: Hahaha. "We're CNN. We need a little nap right now..."

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Herndon, Va.: More cowbell!!! That's what WTWP needs!!

Paul Farhi: Well, some of our reporters probably should explore the studio space a little more...

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Bethesda, Md.: It should be noted that several very talented, very hard-working and influential entertainers recently passed away, unfortunately: Red Buttons, Jack Warden and Mako. All three had long, satisfying, award-winning and impressive careers. A moment of silence for these talented performers.

Paul Farhi: Yes, RIP all. But I wasn't much of a fan of Red Buttons (the more talented Red was Skelton), and couldn't tell you a thing Mako did. As for Warden, he was a supremo character actor. Always the gruff, tough guy. In fact, he did gruff and tough as well as anyone--and in this I would include him with John Wayne (though Warden was obviously far less iconic), George C. Scott (though no one will touch "Patton") and Clint Eastwood (see previous qualifier about iconic). Yes, he was that good.

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Would-Be Talk Show Host: Another angle might be to buy a block of time (believe me, it's available on the weekends on a lot of stations) and try it out. It's a lot harder than it sounds, and if you fall on your butt, nobody will know. Then, when you have a little practice under your belt, you can make a play for a regular gig. Which you can do when you're not busy selling ad time to pay for your gig. Welcome to radio, kid.

Paul Farhi: Not a bad idea! Or you could save the money and just practice in your basement...

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Winston-Salem, N.C.: I think budget cuts would do SNL some good. That show has been too fat 'n' happy and too pleased with itself for too long.

Paul Farhi: Yeah, well, I'm frankly not sure whether more (or less) money would make the show better. Maybe more money would enable them to hire better writers. But maybe money is irrelevant one way or the other. I mean, during its best years, did SNL have more money than in some lesser period?

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Potomac, Md.: I'm a "Station Break" poster from Potomac, and I approved this post.

Paul Farhi: Hahaha!

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Baltimore, Md.: Did you know you're on opposite Jewel right now? Who will save your soul, Paul?

Paul Farhi: I can yodel, too. I swear I can. Stick around...

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Anderson's Stills: Those reports are all shot on digital video, which makes it easy to pull out a single "frame" for those moody, evocative, "I'm Mr. J.Crew" shots.

Paul Farhi: Yes, that's right. The digivideo makes it much easier for him to frown at many tragic scenes around the world.

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Richmond, Va.: Wasn't Mako the guy who did the disco version of the "Star Wars" theme?

Paul Farhi: And he was an actor, too? So much talent, just one little name.

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East Lansing, Mich.: An earlier poster wrote:

"And that ridiculous comment by the female news director that "a woman may be a sharper judge of 'news' content than a man," is the kind of arrogant BS you have to deal with in the biz"

If you look at most of the recent studies on quality and quantity of work, the consensus is that women are better performers at virtually every profession they work in. Sorry, but it's the truth.

Paul Farhi: Fascinating, if true.

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East Herndon, Va.: What I find comic about CNN is its original purpose of being a continuous 24 hour news channel. Analysis and shout shows became more profitable, so they spawned off Headline News to do 24 hour news, while CNN could run a news/talk mix. Now Headline News has shout shows itself. When I had cable TV I stayed away from the non-news on the news channels, but I was obviously very alone in the process. Serves me right for not scoring for a Nielsen box.

Paul Farhi: This is true of virtually every cable network on the air (or, I guess, on the wire). The Learning Channel isn't much about learning anymore. Bravo was supposed to an arts channel. Sundance was supposed to be about independent films. MTV doesn't have all that much M anymore. The only channels that seem to have stayed close to their original purpose are BET (although the E is often lacking), and Home Shopping Network.

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Washington, D.C.: Well, if you're a would-be talk-show host, I would imagine that streaming a show via the Internet would be an option too..

Paul Farhi: If you want even fewer viewers/listeners than buying time on a radio station over the weekend...

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Silver Spring, Md.: Maybe The Post reporters on WTWP should attend the Columbia School of Broadcasting!

Paul Farhi: A prize for weaving two of this chat's threads, Silver Spring!

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Talk Show Host: The web allows anyone to be a reporter/journalist. Can't someone just do a radio-like show and host it on a Web-page? See how many hits you get and then go from there.

Paul Farhi: Well, the web allows anyone to a be a BAD reporter/journalist. So I guess, in this democratized media world, being a bad talk-show host is your right, too.

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Chroma, Ky.: Hey, maybe Anderson's still in the studio all these times. No reason why he couldn't do standups in front of a green screen. Let's get a look at those passport stamps!

On a semi-related note: why all the abuse of Katie Couric for declining to go to Israel? Not like she could possibly add anything to the coverage, and she is a single mom of two or three chimplets.

Paul Farhi: Kind of an unfair shot at Katie. She made her original comments about not wanting to go while she was on the Today Show, and in the context of Iraq and Bob Woodruff's wounding. She has since said she would go, as part of her anchor job at CBS.

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Arlington, Va.: I gave up o n Tina Fey when she was paired with Amy Poehler for the Weekend Update. Part of the humor of Weekend Update is that it is supposed to be delivering absurd "news" stories in the same solemn, deadpan demeanor as a legitimate news broadcast. To have Tina and Amy mugging and giggling at how funny their lines are as they're delivering them just stomped all over that segment.

Paul Farhi: Agreed. They were often their own best audience.

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Martinsburg, W. Va.: As far as men leaving the news business - you can see it out here where we get the Hagerstown NBC station. Strictly fresh-out-of-school type reporters. Right now, other than sports and weather, they have one male anchor who will likely stick around awhile, and one male reporter. All the other entry level reporter jobs are held by women. Not that that's a bad thing

Paul Farhi: Yes. Hagerstown is one of the smaller TV markets, and as such it's a starting place for young TV news people. It's got to be a little disconcerting in places like that when the turnover is so high. I imagine you turn on the local news a lot and wonder, "Who's that guy/gal?"

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Re: WTWP: Paul, I am a news junkie, and I like the fact that if I am not interested in what WTOP has to offer at a given moment, I can hit the button for WTWP. But, as an earlier poster said, it is a crap-shoot. Sometimes a cogent story, other times a stammering, high-pitched voice of a writer who should stick to writing and avoid broadcasting. Do the Posties have any say in the matter, or does management say "We have air time to fill. Get over there and talk about your column." I have not heard you on the air, but Marc Fisher has a good radio voice. I will spare the not-so-good by not mentioning names.

Paul Farhi: Oh, please dish!...Actually, talking on the radio is optional here. Most people will do it when asked, but there is no requirement. There's also been minimal training, so that may explain the whininess. Another explanation: We're PRINT reporters...

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Louisville, Ky.: I enjoyed your non-performance on the Don and Mike Show last week. You should know they had glowing things to say about you on yesterday's show.

Paul Farhi: They called me up and asked me to go on the air, and I said no. I love Don & Mike, but they eat guys like me for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. It takes a certain over-confidence, I think, to believe that you can go toe-to-toe with those guys. Not sure I want to try.

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Herndon, Va.: Ref WTWP - aren't we making a big assumption if we believe station management knows 24 hours ahead of time who's going to be on and at what time?

Paul Farhi: Well, not 24 hours. But they do set up the radio lineup after our 6 p.m. story conference, so it's more like 12 hours. In other words, enough time to cut a few promos plugging who's coming on.

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Washington, D.C.: Early impressions of Triple X? Larry Michael's hour long Redskins infomercial is worthless outside of the player interviews, but Riggo has a nice presence and sounds like he could keep a fine show.

Paul Farhi: I was impressed by Riggo's show, but maybe I didn't have very great expectations. He's a natural on the air. I kind of cringe when the topic isn't football, but he handles himself pretty well there. As for Larry Michael, I don't really expect much in the way of independent journalism from him.

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Saving WTWP: With the exception of the morning guy (who was a holdeover from WTOP), the weekday hosting staff seems to be way in over their heads. The weekend crew like Levey and the guy who hosts Saturday morning seem much more like radio professionals and at ease in the studio. I think if they switched around some of these anchor positions, ratings would definitely improve.

Paul Farhi: I think some lineup changes could be in the offing. Stay tuned*

*NOt to be construed as a plug for WTWP, as Station Break is an independent media entity and a Delaware-registered LLC.

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Paul Farhi: Folks, it's been great, but I'm moving on to the important part of my day (lunch). Let's try this one more time. In two weeks. Same place. We should have it down by then. Aloha to all!

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