I Am Devoted To Kevin Carter's R&R Street Talk Daily

.. for heart-warming little tales like this one:

As the NFL playoffs head into the climatic “Final Four”weekend, CC/Denver Director/FM Programming JoeBevilacqua continues to stretch his 15 minutes of ST Daily fame — as long as his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers continue to win, that is. However, since he’s now living in the heart of enemy territory (Bronco fans), he’s been forced to downplay his Steel City allegiance, at least for business purposes: “So, after celebrating with many Patrón Silvers after the Steelers’ win over the Colts last Sunday, I had to go back into ‘serving the Denver listeners mode,’ so I’ve spent the week finding all kinds of ways to make fun of my beloved Steelers and the people of Pittsburgh,” he says, winking. Down the hall, KBPI is hoisting a Ford “Bronco” with a crane and will be dropping it on — you guessed it — “The Bus.” (Get it?) “Of course, I’ve also made many bets within the building,” Joe B tells R&R. “The most notable bet is the big one I made with KBPI PD/morning guy Willie B: If my Steelers win, Willie has to play the ‘Steelers Fight Song’ every morning, at my choosing, until the Super Bowl — plus, he has to fetch me breakfast. What he doesn’t know is that he’s going to have to call Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh for some overnight delivery. However, if the Broncos win, Willie — gulp — gets my Super Bowl tickets! Here we go, Steelers!”

In a related football tale, it’s no secret that KALC (Alice105.9)/Denver morning member Rich Stevens loves press— TV, radio, print — you name it, he friggin’ loves it. Stevens must have been head over heels this week when his voice and mug were plastered all over the local media when itwas revealed that he had been one of many victims of a Denver Broncos ticket scam that bilked him out of $600. With the Steelers in town this weekend to meet the Broncos for the AFC Championship, tickets are at a premium, so when Stevens spotted five tickets on eBay for $600, he pounced. “I got the confirmation e-mail telling me that I won the five tickets,” said Stevens, who, instead of using the recommended PayPal method [Ed. note: D’oh!], wired the money via Western Union to what he thought was a company called Square Trade. Oops. It soon became apparent that the $600 had actually been funneled to someone in London — and no tickets materialized. “When [morning cohorts] BJ and Howie realized it was a scam, they were amused,” says Stevens,who tried, unsuccessfully, to make them each cough up $200 to help defray his costs. “Suddenly, I’m getting calls from the Denver Post and every local TV station, wanting to do thestory,” Stevens says. “It was everywhere — people are suddenly recognizing me in public. I was in line at Target yesterday, and this lady said to me, ‘Hey, aren’t you tha tradio guy that got taken on eBay?’ then she started laughing. Then all these other people in line overheard, and everyone enjoyed a big laugh in Target! Geez!” Happy Epilogue: Sadly, while Stevens never did get his tickets, he did receive a more priceless gift: “That $600 bought me over 30 grand’s worth of TV time!” he says. “So far, the story has been on 19 times that we know of and will be onKDKA/Pittsburgh today!”

I love Kevin's headline: "Caller #9 gets invisible tickets." And, his take on the debut of the many ultra-niche HDRadio side channels yesterday: "Hybrid Polka/Klezmer HD channel debuts— no company will take credit."

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