On The Air
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
www.bradyresidence.com/channelsurfing.html
May 19, 2006

With another school year coming to a close, it’s time to hand out awards to our local television and radio “students.”

BMOC (Big Man on Campus): Michael Barkann, Howard Eskin and Angelo Cataldi.

Homecoming Queen: Leslie Gudel.

Mr. Congeniality: Vai Sikahema.

Promising new students: Jade McCarthy and Don Bell.

Needs improvement: Keith Russell and Jamie Apody. Russell has at least one cringe-worthy moment each sportscast. Apody isn’t as bad, but she needs to stop mentioning that she is in the media in almost every package.

Successful transfer student: Phil Andrews, who seamlessly moved from 6ABC to CSN last summer.

Reunion: Joe Conklin and Steve Martorano.

Most spirited: The pride of Fox29, Don Tollefson.

Extracurricular activities: Michael Barkann does the U.S. Open on USA Network; Al Morganti and Keith Jones do NHL on OLN; and Dei Lynam reports on the NBA playoffs for TNT.

Sabbatical: Jim Jackson and the other hockey announcers returned after a one-year absence.

Learned scholar: Bill Campbell of KYW 1060-AM began his broadcasting career in 1940.

Incomplete: Erick Weber’s CSN career lasted about a month.

Class bully: WIP 610-AM.

98-pound weakling: Sports Talk 950-AM.

Expelled: Mike Missanelli, Garry Cobb and Matt Biondi.

Oh, my nose!   

Aaron Rowand’s amazing catch turned into the most famous broken nose since Marcia got conked with a football on “The Brady Bunch.” Could this also be a turning point for maligned Phillies announcer Scott Graham, who received raves for his call of the play?

Channel flipping   

Jim Bachman is no longer part of the “700 Level Sports Fanatics” show on Sports Talk 950-AM. Various candidates will get a chance to audition. ... There are a few sports offerings on the networks’ fall schedules. The NFL takes over Sunday on NBC. College football will air on Saturday on ABC. And high school football will be depicted in the new show “Friday Night Lights” on (pause) Tuesday night on NBC. No wonder NBC is in fourth place.