(I used to write a bi-weekly column, RadioRadio, for Players magazine in the Tampa Bay area. The following story appeared in 1990.)

Favorite? DJ Contest

By Bob Andelman

Filled out your "Favorite DJ" ballot yet for the St. Petersburg Times contest yet?

What a joke.

SportsRadio 910's Bob Hewko & Scot Brantley? NewsRadio 970's Al Gardner & Tedd Webb? What discs do they spin? At least they're personalities. What about Mix 96's Hugh Smith, a veteran of 30 years as a TV newsman with three months experience on the radio? And WTKN/CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer? Wolf Blitzer?

Obviously, the newspaper's skimpy and irregular commitment to covering radio has slipped into its corporate marketing department. Wolf Blitzer?

Amy Rowe, of the Times corporate marketing services promotion department, says 24 Tampa Bay area radio stations were invited to participate in this year's contest; 22 responded. She says each station was then asked to nominate a DJ from its morning drive shift.

"Mix 96 chose Hugh Smith," she says. "I guess with all the attention Hugh Smith was getting, they thought he was a good choice. It was a last-minute change. It was going to be Mason Dixon. I don't know what changed their minds."

(Neither Mix 96 General Manager Jon Pinch or Dixon returned repeat calls for comment.)

Most glaring on the ballot is who is missing, not who's listed. Tampa Bay's top-rated personalities, 95YNF's Ron & Ron, are nowhere to be found. And the fast-rising Mix 96 duo of Dixon and Bill Connelly are also no-shows.

Talk station WEND 760 AM, flagship of the Sun Radio Network, is not participating, but Program Director Karl Moore says that was due to an administrative snafu. "The info came in to our general manager," says Moore, "and he thought it was a contest for DJs."

Community and essentially non-commercial station WMNF 88.5 FM is an uninvited no-show, although Rowe says the station is getting votes.

As such, it's no contest.

Charlie Logan, program director at YNF, says his station wanted no part of the contest, which is now in its second edition.

"We found last time it was a paper-stealing, ballot-stuffing competition that had nothing to do with people's favorite DJ," says Logan. "It was such a pain in the ass. We didn't feel it to be a context to accurately reflect the feeling of Tampa Bay. If they weren't going to put valid controls on (the contest), we weren't going to promote it.

"We know how hot our morning show is," adds Logan. "There's a space for 'Other.' If people want to write us in, go ahead."

Scott Robbins won the first competition two years ago, stunning the marketplace with an aggressive campaign. It wasn't that Robbins was unknown, just that he was toiling at the time for WHBO, an oldies station with such a tiny listenership it barely showed up in the Arbitron ratings. He worked hard to win at HBO and he's off and running again, now as PD and morning man at U92.

"The race is on!" he jokes.

Being named "Tampa Bay's Favorite DJ" in 1989 was a giant career boost for Robbins. "There's no question about it," he says. "After being in this market for nine years, I got a little notoriety, a little publicity. The promotional capability that I and my group demonstrated was influential in getting me hired here at U92."

Robbins wants to win again, but he has as many doubts about the contest as Logan does about it being a "paper-stealing, ballot-stuffing competition."

"He's absolutely right," says Robbins. "The fact is, all I did was follow the rules. I didn't create the contest. This came from the St. Petersburg Times, one of the the top 10 newspapers in the country! Of course I stuffed the ballot box.

"Is the thing gimmicky? Yeah. But I think it's fun," he adds.

The reigning champion thinks the ballot itself, not just the rules, are skewed.

"It's so weird what the Times did," says Robbins. "I think the contest is somewhat difficult without the two major morning teams entered, Ron & Ron and Mason Dixon and Bill Connelly. And what if Hugh Smith wins? It says 'Favorite DJ.' Not 'Favorite Newsman.' Wolf Blitzer? He doesn't even live in the area. God bless him if he wins. I hope CNN can afford to send him down to pick up the award."

Voting continues through Aug. 9; winners will be announced Aug. 12. Each station is representing a particular charity which will receive $5,000, $1,000 or $500 if the station's "DJ" finishes first, second or third.

Just in Time for the Tampa Bay Mariners! You read it here first six weeks ago: Nanci Donnellan, the Fabulous Sports Babe, is leaving WFNS SportsRadio 910 for KJR in Seattle.

Frustrated when WFNS failed to renew her contract several months ago, Donnellan has been shopping her services around all summer. Miami and Boston nibbled but Seattle - where the station just went all-sports - won her over.

"They made me an offer I couldn't resist," says the Babe. "You know they had to make a pretty interesting offer to get my ass off the beach and out to Puget Sound. It's more money than I thought I'd be making in my lifetime. I'm really ecstatic about it."

Donnellan will debut on KJR on Aug. 12 at 10 a.m. The station is owned by the same corporation that owns the Seattle Supersonics.

Is this the last Tampa Bay will hear from the Fabulous Sports Babe?

"Nothing is forever," she says. "Mother needs a break, hon. Mother needs a vacation from all this baseball shit."

She'll be back.

Program Notes! August guests on 95's Thursday night (11 p.m.) "In the Studio" show are: Rush (8/8); Grand Funk (8/15); Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (8/22); and Yes (8/29). .... Chef Miles, Tampa Bay's rising star of culinary chatter, is adding radio to his print and TV appearances. Cheffy Baby can now be heard Wednesday through Saturday on U92 at 8:40 a.m., 12:40 p.m. and 5:40 p.m. ... Howard Hewes is back at the oldies, spinning discs on U92 every Sunday from 7 p.m.-midnight. ... August race action on WFNS SportsRadio 910 includes: Budweiser at the Glen (Watkins Glen, 8/11); Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan, 8/18); Busch 500 (Bristol, 8/24); and the Gatorade 200 (Darlington, 8/31). ... Upcoming topics on WMNF 88.5's "The Women's Show" are: Jewish Women (8/10); Return of the Goddess (8/17, 24); and a call-in with author Diane Stein. ... The Branford Marsalis Quartet is featured on WUSF 90's "American Jazz Radio Festival on Aug. 10.

Coping with Success! Guessing that 98Rock PD Greg Mull must have wet his pants about its major Arbitron gains, we asked his assistant, Charlene, for the inside scoop.

"We put a Depends on him before he saw the ratings," she reveals.

Walking in Memphis! Or wherever you are, send us a line. The address: RadioRadio, c/o Players, PO Box 1867, Pinellas Park, FL 34664. Or fax us: (813) 577-1414.