From The AJC on 10.20.09…

Dave FM’s program director Scott Jameson had a wacky idea after former 99X morning host Leslie Fram was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday: how about getting his current host Jimmy Baron back together with Fram and Steve Barnes? The trio were the heart and soul of the most successful rock morning show in Atlanta in the 1990s called the Morning X at 99X.

Well, the reunion just happened this morning for a few minutes – albeit Leslie and Steve were on the phone.

For those of you who were fans, it was probably very amusing. For folks who are newer to Atlanta and knew nothing about the Morning X, it was more like going to a high school reunion for a high school you’ve never been to.

Anyway, I listened to the show for much of its run back on 99X from 1993 to 2004 and it clicked — until it didn’t. “It didn’t end well,” Baron noted. “It was ugly, There were lawsuits.” [In 2006, after Barnes had a film out called "No Witness," he sued Jimmy and Leslie, as well asFred Toucher, for defamation after holding a screening without his permission and mocking it. The case was eventually settled in 2007.]

As ratings went down in the 2002-03 period, relationships deteriorated between Barnes and Baron. Though the two have since become civil, Baron noted the trio had not talked together for six years.

At 7:23 a.m., Baron played a snippet of the old Morning X opening jingle. It was surreal, to say the least. He noted that Barnes left 99X six years ago this week. (Leslie and Jimmy stuck around a bit longer.)

Baron gave a history of Fram and why she’s such a legend in rock radio, helping break artists and building 99X to its mondo status in the 1990s. A phone snafu forced Baron to take a break for a few minutes.

Returning at about 7:32 a.m., he introduced Barnes. Baron admitted he had no idea how this reunion would sound. Barnes congratulated Leslie for her award. “Jimmy and I will never even sniff that. I’m glad one of us got it and you deserved it the most,” Barnes said.

Gracious as always, Leslie said, “Part of it should be shared with you guys since we spent so much time together.”

“That’s what I told the committee,” Jimmy joked. (Leslie calls him “JB.” I am trying to stick with the formal use of Jimmy’s last name but keep typing in  his first name. For some reason, the show always called Barnes by his last name and the other two by their first. So let me just call him Jimmy from here on in.)

“You spend more time with people you work in radio than your own family,” Leslie noted.

“You spend so much time with one person you wonder why the marriage fails,” Barnes mused.

Jimmy said he talked to folks about the pending reunion the night before and they asked him if they were going to fight again. Then Barnes threw out the funniest line of the conversation:

“Is this like an on-air booty call?”

“You realize you just can’t stay mad at people with whom you shared a lot of good memories with for a long time,” Jimmy noted.

“You’re like Jerry Springer,” Barnes cracked.

“I see myself more like Ghandi,” Jimmy said. “A peacemaker. That’s how most people see me.”

“Not a day goes by, I don’t go somewhere to eat,” Barnes said. “They say, ‘How’s Leslie? How’s Jimmy? When are you going to come back on the air?’ Well, I don’t know.”

Jimmy plugs Leslie’s radio station in New York, WRXP-FM. Then Barnes throws in his own promo, his appearance on an upcoming film “The Jones” starring Demi Moore.

“When it comes out,” Jimmy said, “I’ll review it.” [That's a total inside joke related to the "No Witness" mess referenced earlier.]

Afterwards, Jimmy noted that this was emotional and “weird.” He had major anxiety the night before. He compared the Morning X to a marriage with lots of good times. “You have kids. You have beautiful years. It falls apart. You hate each other for a long time. After awhile, you realize it wasn’t that bad. We had good times. We gave each other a lot of joy. Once you get past the hurt and anger, it’s nice to reconnect.”

Interestingly, Jimmy’s current cohost Yvonne Monet also worked at 99X for many years, though not with the Morning X.

Barnes worked at Dave FM under a different program director from 2004 to 2006 so it was intriguing to hear his voice on the station again.

Jameson, the program director, said afterwards that he wanted to honor Fram because she is no longer on Atlanta radio and couldn’t do it herself. “She’s an iconic woman in radio broadcasting,” he said. Even though he was not in Atlanta during her heyday, he knew about her and people in radio nationwide respected her.

“Drop Dead Diva” tells the story of a shallow model-in-training who dies in an accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney, played by newcomer Brooke Elliott, the network said in a news release. Margaret Cho plays her assistant.

“Drop Dead Diva” is produced by Sony Pictures Television and is to premiere on Lifetime starting July 12th. Diva is being filmed in Peachtree City and is written by Josh Berman of CSI and Bones fame.

UPDATE 7/27/09: Check some of it out here…

What a blast to shoot this commercial with Peter Graves from AIRPLANE. It is a commercial for the new GoGo WiFi Internet Service on all AirTran Airways flights. There are some more funny spots here.

Steve Barnes (Austin) and Heather Smith (Reese) visited with Suchita Vadlamani on FOX to promote the season 1 finale of HIGH RISE

By KRISTI E. SWARTZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Comcast likes Atlanta to the point that it’s started an entire on-demand network focused on the city and the people in it.

Real City TV/Atlanta, which starts next week is the first time the cable provider has built an entire lineup of reality programming — 25 shows — around a major city. Should the network prove successful, Comcast has plans to create other ones in other cities, said Larry Schweber, a Comcast spokesman.

Cousins Properties The new show ‘High Rise’ is set at the Terminus condo and office complex in Buckhead.

“We’ve always had a real strong focus here on the local community, and we had had a very robust local on-demand content that was successful,” Schweber said. “The reality is a lot of people are still really enamored with reality shows.”

The lineup includes “Bodies of Art,” set in the Little Five Points neighborhood; “Hard Courts,” a feature on playing tennis at some of Atlanta’s most exclusive clubs; and “High Rise,” shot at the Terminus condo and office complex in Buckhead.

Steve Barnes, executive producer and one of the actors in “High Rise,” said he developed the idea for the series, broken into short, 5-to-7-minute pieces, while driving by the building each day on his way to work.

The scripted show features a mix of actors as well as residents of the Terminus building, which sits at the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont roads.

“I thought it was a good property to use,” Barnes, former morning show host on 99X and Dave FM, said. “I could have easily come here and made it some fictitious building, but I didn’t.”

HIGH RISE is Atlanta’s newest drama, filmed at Terminus in Buckhead and coming to Comcast Ch. 1 March 31.
HIGH RISE is Power. Money. Seduction. Love. Deception.  And Heartbreak.
This season on HIGH RISE Love changes, Friendships fail, ambition destroys and DRAMA ELEVATES at the corner of Peachtree & Piedmont.