Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Mobile radio’s loss may be Tinseltown’s gain.

Longtime WABB FM radio personality Cherish Lombard has left the station’s morning show to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. She has been part of the Matt, Jay & Cherish show for the past several years, but has decided to pursue a lifelong dream of acting.

“Since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to get into acting,” Lombard said. “Ever since I got out of high school, I wanted to go to L.A. I went right after high school, but I was just getting started at the radio station, so I stayed.”

Lombard said she fell in love with Los Angeles and decided to make the leap after going out there earlier this year to cover the finals of “American Idol” when Alabama’s Taylor Hicks won the singing contest. She got to know “Idol” contestant Anthony Federov and he encouraged her to give show biz a shot.

Lombard said she has been fortunate enough to get an agent already – one she says handles fellow Alabamian Courtney Cox.

“She was concerned about my accent,” Lombard said. “So I’m working on my accent, listening to some tapes.”

Lombard, 24, spent the past six years at WABB, working a variety of jobs along the way, including running the board and reporting traffic. And while she is grateful for the opportunities her radio career provided, Lombard says she is finished with radio.

“I’ve always wanted to be in front of the cameras,” she said.

Lombard has made a few friends in the entertainment industry, including Richard Tyson and David “Shark” Fralick, both who are from the Mobile area. She says they will help keep her grounded.

Lombard hopes to act in films, but said she would also be interested in television. As for WABB, she says her years at the station helped her get to the point where she could make such a “leap.”

“I’m very fortunate to have had that. It really gave me a lot of confidence,” Lombard said. “This is a big jump, I’ve never really left home. But I didn’t want to have any regrets.”

Fauxternative announced

After a couple of starts and stops, the Mobile Press-Register finally announced what we reported here months ago – that it will soon offer its own “alternative” newspaper, as well as a glossy lifestyles magazine. The P-R ran a story Nov. 26 announcing their new “niche” publications.

According to the story, the daily newspaper’s alternative newspaper will be a weekly called Current that will be aimed at young readers 18-35 in age. Those familiar with the projects say Current will be heavily aimed at covering the downtown music and arts scene. The P-R pegged its circulation at 20,000-24,000.

The P-R will also produce a lifestyles magazine called ‘Zalea that appears to be designed to compete with of Mobile Bay Monthly. The P-R will also produce another magazine called BayFamily. All of the “niche” publications will be headed up by Mike Rossetti, a recent import from south Florida.

The new publications are part of a national trend of dailies offering alternatives to themselves in a effort to staunch the bleeding of declining circulation, while also trying to convert some younger folks into newspaper readers. The efforts have met with poor results nationally, as few of the “fauxternatives” as we like to call them, have achieved profitability.

The P-R plans to launch ‘Zalea in February and Current in March.

TV food police

Our local TV journos have turned into regular food cops. Varion Walton’s weekly “Restaurant Scorecard” has become must-watch TV for many of us (yours truly included) as she runs down some local restaurants’ health ratings.

Last week, WKRG got back into the act with its report on restaurants’ claiming to serve Angus beef. Reporter Tiffany Craig took meat samples from several area restaurants, including Hardee’s, Bilotti’s and McGuire’s Irish Pub to a lab to have it DNA tested. The results were mixed, with some restaurants proven to be serving what they advertise and others caught feeding the public a bunch of bull.

WKRG did a similar report last year during “sweeps,” testing red snapper. The food reports seem to be pretty popular with viewers.

Last reminder

I’ve flogged this thing as much as I can. The Mobile Press Club’s Christmas Party is Dec. 7 at the Skyview Lounge in the Lafayette Plaza Hotel from 7-10 p.m. If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing Mel Showers singing Christmas carols, this might be your only chance.

Mea Culpa

In reporting last issue WPMI meteorologist David Glenn’s decision to take a new job in Chattanooga, I cheated the man out of an “N” in his last name by spelling it incorrectly. Doh! David, please accept my apologies.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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