Inqlings | Familiar voice is now hard to hear
Chris McCoy, let go from B101 in early January after 121/2 years, returns to radio Thursday - but you'll have to go on the Internet or to central New Jersey to hear him.
Chris McCoy
, let go from B101 in early January after 121/2 years, returns to radio Thursday - but you'll have to go on the Internet or to central New Jersey to hear him.
McCoy signed a two-year deal as morning man at WMGQ (98.3) out of New Brunswick, N.J., whose format is similar to B101's. "Magic" is hard to get near Philadelphia, as WOGL is just one click away at 98.1; the station is streamed at www.wmgqfm.com.
McCoy, who'll keep his South Jersey home, says he doesn't mind the 3 a.m. wake-up call. "I hear Exit 9 is lovely this time of year," he says.
Meanwhile, Allentown radio alumna Samantha Layne has started on B101, sidekicked in mornings with Tiffany Hill, McCoy's former on-air partner. B101 is easing in Layne before launching "Tiffany & Sam" on Aug. 13.
Roll 'em
M. Night Shyamalan
picked an auspicious day to begin filming
The Happening
: Aug. 6, his 37th birthday and the eighth anniversary of the release of his hit
The Sixth Sense
. Shyamalan and company will be all over the city in the next two months, but don't look here until
next
week. Tomorrow and Tuesday, they'll be in New York shooting exteriors, and the rest of the week they'll work indoors here. Twentieth Century Fox expects to release
The Happening
on June 13. Meanwhile, star sightings:
Mark Wahlberg
, with girlfriend
Rhea Durham
and their two kids, meeting Abby Cadabby at Sesame Place on Thursday, and
Zoey Deschanel
, recognized that night having sushi with two other women at Morimoto.
Briefly noted
If the walls at 712-714 South St. could talk, they'd moan. The property - which last housed Kama Sutra, a swinger's club shut down last year by the city - is on the market. Asking price is $1.6 million.
A magical first the other day at the 34th annual Miss Crustacean hermit-crab race in Ocean City, N.J.: The winner, dressed in Harry Potter style by Rachel and Dan Louviaux of Mohnton, Berks County, waddled unassisted down the entire flower-bedecked runway as onlookers sang "Here It Comes, Miss Crustacean." All previous winners had to be nudged or carried, organizer Mark Soifer says.
Andie Summers of WXTU (92.5) and her husband, Eagles exec Leonard Bonacci, are expecting their first child in January. Summers, 33, spilled last week after morning-show partner Scott Evans "called her out" for eating several doughnuts during the show.
Another reality casting call coming up. Not only will Fox's American Idol be hunting here Aug. 27, but NBC's The Biggest Loser will scout Aug. 25 at Dave & Buster's. (Can Pier 19 handle the stress?) Go to www.nbc.com for details.
Talking sports
The Palm, inside the Bellevue, will unveil a caricature of late Phillies coach
John Vukovich
at noon Thursday. Family and team folks are expected. Palm manager
Jim Haney
is a Phils fan.
The Eagles' Jon Runyan landed two promo deals: spokesman for Barb's Harley-Davidson in Haddon Township, and, since he wears No. 69, regional pitchman for McDonald's 69-cent coffee. The McDonald's commercial, launching early next month, was shot in the visitors' locker room at Soldier Field, says his rep, Craig Kaplan.
Russia's national baseball team, on a U.S. tour as it preps for the Beijing Olympics, will visit Friday to play a 1 p.m. game against the Greater Philadelphia Men's Adult Baseball League Stars at La Salle University. Two players are from Philly's sister city of Nizhny Novgorod, so the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia will extend an official welcome. Golden Gate restaurant in the Northeast will host a postgame dinner, and the IVC seeks a "vodka sponsor" to donate 45 bottles. Tax-deductible, says the IVC's Nancy Gilboy (215-683-0997 or nancy.gilboy@phila.gov).
Tune-ins
WPHT (1210) has a bunch of fill-ins, starting with "The Crime Guys" (CBS3's
Walt Hunter
and The Inquirer's
George Anastasia
), from 8 to 10 p.m. today. Sportsters
Sal Paolantonio
and
Dick Jerardi
will talk from 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow, followed by comedian
Joe Piscopo
till 10 p.m. and former City Councilman
Franny Rafferty
from 10 to midnight. (Rafferty will also be on from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 18.) Long-ago Philly talker
Richard Hayes
will guest-host
Remember When
from 10 p.m. to midnight Saturday. Lawyer
Lynne Gold-Bikin
will handle 6 to 8 p.m. the week of Aug. 13.
Colby Colb of WPHI (100.3) plans to interview former Beat morning personality Jonesy at 4 p.m. tomorrow about her tell-all book, Have You Met Miss Jones? This would be their first chat since 2003, when the station bounced Jonesy after an 18-month career punctuated by two suspensions and a lawsuit in which a listener contended Jonesy had slandered her. Radio One settled out of court.
Ashley Williams, 21, a part-time Denny's waitress living in Brookhaven, will do intros to CW57 shows Wednesday as the winner of its "Free to Be Famous" casting call.
Havertown's Patrick Boyle and Cathy Lotz, and their 91-square-foot kitchen, show up on HGTV Network's Spice Up My Kitchen (next on at 8:30 p.m. Saturday). One small point, though: Boyle is referred to as Pat Lotz.
Singled out
Fox29's
Kerri-Lee Halkett
last week was giggling at the e-mail in-box of her steady, NBC10's
Jamison Uhler
, while they vacationed in rural Canada. Uhler says that just for kicks, he had agreed to be included in the Philadelphia Daily News' annual "Sexy Singles" feature. The crop of "I'd like to get to know you" e-mails included several bikini photos. Keepers? "Kind of tough to top, since Kerri-Lee is walking around in one right now," Uhler said by phone. Asked for proof, Uhler generously sent along a photo - of some boring lake.