Wcbm

Charley Eckman has called his last cab.The former sportscaster, referee, National Basketball Association coach and raconteur whose trademark "call a cab" and tell-it-like-it-is views endeared him to Baltimore sports fans for 40 years, died yesterday of cancer at his Glen Burnie home. He was 73.Mr. Eckman was known for his rubbery-faced, cigar-waving, iconoclastic antics delivered in a raspy-voiced style that sometimes was short on correct grammatical usage. He was credited with using an expression so often that it quickly became a cliche.

Having co-hosted a pre-game radio show with John Unitas for four years while producing the radio broadcasts on WCBM for the Baltimore Colts, I think John would be laughing over the family feud about Joe Flacco portraying him in a movie. John would probably remark that Joe is a little too tall for the role. John had a great sense of humor, and I think he would have approved of Joe Flacco's own "golden arm. " As a Ravens season ticket holder, I can attest to both quarterbacks "coolness quotient.

Samuel Hopkins Houston, who as an engineer for radio station WCBM arranged remote broadcasts from the White House and was given lunch by Eleanor Roosevelt, died Saturday of heart failure at Manor Care Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Towson. He was 84.Mr. Houston, who was a licensed pilot, joined WCBM in 1932 and retired in 1975.While on assignment to the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt discovered him in the library, playing with Fala, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's dog."He was in the library where FDR delivered his 'Fireside Chats' when Mrs. Roosevelt came in," recalled his wife of 59 years, the former Katherine Bennett.

State Del. Pat McDonough's news release alleging that "black youth mobs terrorize" downtown Baltimore has certainly set off a firestorm of debate. But what about the nature of that discussion, particularly as it relates to race? Without an inclusive, candid and wide-ranging conversation about race, such discussions tend to inflame rather than enlighten. And instead of getting smarter as a community about our feelings on race, we can get more confused and polarized. One thing that has bothered me for several days is the way that various parts of the community tried to silence McDonough in the immediate wake of his Wednesday news release.

Hold that cassette -- the job is Bob Kwesell's.Mr. Kwesell, who has been host of talk shows in Washington and Raleigh, N.C., adds Baltimore to his resume beginning Monday. Mr. Kwesell will be at the helm of WCBM-AM's afternoon show, program director Sean Casey said yesterday."He certainly is very opinionated and articulate," Mr. Casey said.Earlier this month, Mr. Kwesell auditioned before WCBM's estimated 25,000 listeners any given quarter hour during afternoon drive-time. The station's search for a new host included "public at-large" auditions last week.

State Del. Pat McDonough told the Sun last week that he wasn't going to back down from claims made in a press release that 'black youth mobs terrorize" downtown Baltimore. And in his Saturday night radio show on WCBM (AM-680), he not only made good on that pledge, he ratcheted up the rhetoric ripping Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake while vowing to bring the issue of downtown public safety to the front burner of public consciousness with a "news conference" Tuesday -- and other actions to follow.

Stan "The Fan" Charles has announced that his "Sports Exchange" talk show will leave WCBM (680 AM) next year.Charles, host of the six-nights-a-week show, will drop his Saturday program after the Jan. 28 show and will leave the station after the March 24 program."

He's back where he began in Baltimore radio. Syndicated conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, canceled on WBAL-AM in March after a decade on the Baltimore station, joins WCBM-AM's talk-show lineup June 1. Limbaugh, who will still be heard on WBAL until May 31, replaces talk show host G. Gordon Liddy on WCBM in its noon-to-3 p.m. weekday time slot. "Limbaugh is an icon. He represents conservative talk radio," said WCBM General Manager Bob Pettit, who had the challenge of programming against Limbaugh.

William Donald Schaefer, former mayor and governor.Provocative? Definitely.Controversial? Often.Ill-tempered? You betcha.William Donald Schaefer, radio talk-show host.Boring.At least that's what the Powers-That-Be at radio station WCBM thought of the Power-That-Was at City Hall and the statehouse when they took away his drive-time slot.Since late last year, Schaefer's talk show aired Thursday afternoons between 5 and 7. But, Sean Casey, WCBM's director of programming, said the station decided to give the first hour of Schaefer's time slot to Bob Kwesell, whose show runs from 3 to 6 p.m. every other weekday.

The Carroll County Commissioners approved an ordinance yesterday restricting clusters of communications towers to industrial land, a move that effectively kills a six-tower project proposed by WCBM-AM Radio for a South Carroll farm.The Owings Mills station has faced stiff opposition from neighbors of its proposed tower site on Hoods Mill Road near Route 97 and the Howard County line.WCBM Vice President Louis Mangione had planned to build six 350-foot radio towers on about 55 acres of a 400-acre farm owned by Harold and Esther Mercer.

State Del. Pat McDonough told the Sun last week that he wasn't going to back down from claims made in a press release that 'black youth mobs terrorize" downtown Baltimore. And in his Saturday night radio show on WCBM (AM-680), he not only made good on that pledge, he ratcheted up the rhetoric ripping Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake while vowing to bring the issue of downtown public safety to the front burner of public consciousness with a "news conference" Tuesday -- and other actions to follow.

Republican Senate candidate Dan Bongino begins airing the first radio advertisement of his campaign today, a largely introductory spot that focuses on his outsider status and criticizes “career bureaucrats.” Bongino narrates the minute-long ad, which the campaign said begins airing on WCBM in Baltimore today. “Can we all agree that politicians aren't getting the job done?” the former U.S. Secret Service agent asks in the ad. “I refuse to accept that the current crop of D.C. bureaucrats is the best we can do.” Bongino is running against nine other Republicans in the April 3 primary, including former Pentagon official Richard J. Douglas.

The whole dustup surrounding Rush Limbaugh is decidedly not rated G. Slut this. Prostitute that. So when confronted by a critic, the station that airs the Limbaugh show locally understandably attempted to point to something even worse than a talk show host that calls a Georgetown law student a "slut" on air. What could be worse? In the opinion of Bob Petitt, the general manager of WCBM 680 AM, it might be 98 Rock's "Jugs for Plugs" feature, where women eagerly volunteer to flash themselves before the morning disc jockeys in exchange for air time to promote their businesses.

Though national advertisers are fleeing Rush Limbaugh after he called a birth control activist a slut, Baltimore seems immune to the exodus. Executives at WCBM, 680 AM, the affiliate that airs the Rush Limbaugh show locally, said Tuesday that not a single advertiser has dropped out. According to promotions director Eddie Applefeld, the worst that's happened is the station has fielded "about 30" phone calls. And traffic to the station's website spiked about 25 percent -- if that's a problem.

Others may think I am some kind of nut, but I just think that headlines like "Arundel councilman kills controversial zoning plans" (Sept. 7) is inappropriate in these times where there is unfortunately so much killing going on. The Sun is not alone in this. I once complained to WCBM because I turned on the news and heard "Dutch Ruppersberger was shot down today in his bid…" I spoke to the producer and he agreed it was an unfortunate introduction to a very benign story, but it really gave me a start when I first heard it. Shelley Sarsfield, Gettysburg, Pa.

George E. Dail, a retired businessman who was a talk-radio host and newspaper columnist, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at Stella Maris Hospice. The longtime Aberdeen resident was 80. Mr. Dail, the son of a Ford Motor Co. executive and a homemaker, was born and raised in Norfolk, Va. Mr. Dail dropped out of high school, lied about his age and enlisted in the Army when he was 16 years old. He was stationed in Germany, where he played in an Army band. After being discharged from the Army in the late 1940s, he earned his General Education Development diploma.

Although a newly drafted county ordinance might make the project illegal, the Board of Zoning Appeals continues its hearing at 9:30 a.m. today on a WCBM Radio proposal to build six towers on a South Carroll farm.The county has scheduled a public hearing at 9 a.m. Monday on the ordinance, drafted after the tower project was made public. It would limit multiple towers to industrial land.The owners of WCBM-AM radio plan to build six 350-foot towers on the Mercer farm on Hoods Mill Road, near Route 97 and the Howard County line.

Beginning Tuesday, fans of Good Morning Maryland, the wake-up show on WMAR's Channel 2, won't have to interrupt their viewing of the program as they head off to work. They can turn on their car radio and keep listening. A new partnership between WMAR and radio stations WCBM-AM 680 and WVIE-AM 1370 will mean not only a daily two-hour simulcast of Good Morning Maryland beginning at 4:55 a.m. on WVIE but weather reports and, as the occasion warrants, news stories shared among all three stations throughout the day. "It helps us expand our Good Morning Maryland team and expose them potentially to more viewers and listeners," said Bill Hooper, general manager of WMAR, who was promoted to the position two weeks ago. "Both of those radio stations are news-talk and information-based, and their audiences are the kind of people who are going to be looking for that in television."

Rockford Rampage @Blast Time: 7:35 p.m. at 1st Mariner Arena Radio: WCBM (680 AM) (also Webcast at RockfordRampage.com) Outlook: The Blast goes for its fifth championship in seven years against a team it defeated three times during the regular season. Rockford (10-8) gained the final by defeating Monterrey LaRaZa on a golden goal by Enrique Tovar after they split two games. The Blast won the regular-season title with a 14-4 record. Tovar leads the Rampage with eight points in four games against the Blast; Machel Millwood, a first-team All-NISL pick, had 10 points against Rockford.