PJ In The Morning

PJ In The Morning is a college radio morning show established by Robert Suhr on station WPPJ in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the summer of 2005.

The show was hosted by Robert Suhr and Jessica Levo (who also serves as station's weather personality) until Robert graduated in the Spring of 2007; they are joined by Jaymes Progar* who acts as sports commentator as well as comic foil, as well as on occasion Ashley Murray, who is the news anchor on certain days. The show is a news variety show that is personality driven rather than content driven and also has some interaction with its listeners. During the show, news and sports segments are the primary focus as well segments including, but not limited to, Word Of the Day, Today In History & Today In German History, The Entertainment Block, the Impossible Question and the latest news worthy deaths.

*Recently, Jaymes Progar informed the staff of PJ In The Morning that he will be taking a sabbatical from the show for the Fall semester of 2007 while he lives in England. Jaymes has not ruled out the possibility of returning in the spring of 2008.

Awards
*In Fall 2007 Robert Suhr was chosen as Pittsburgh's "Best College Newscaster" at the 2007 Pittsburgh A.I.R. Awards.
*In Fall 2007 Robert Suhr & Caitlin Franz were finalists for Pittsburgh's "Best College Radio Commercial" at the 2007 Pittsburgh A.I.R. Awards.
*In Spring & Fall 2006, PJ In The Morning was named WPPJ Best Overall Show, the station's highest honor.
*In Fall 2006, Robert Suhr was awarded WPPJs Best DJ.
*In Spring 2006, 'PJ In The Morning was awarded with the Best Show Promo Award.
*In Fall 2006, PJ In The Morning was a March of Dimes Pittsburgh A.I.R. Award finalist for Best Morning Show.
*In Fall 2006, Robert Suhr was a March of Dimes Pittsburgh A.I.R. Award finalist for Best Newscaster.

Former co-hosts
Robert Suhr is the only original member of the show still remaining since the shows premier in August 2005, other co-hosts include...

*Laura Alberghini (Fall 2005)
*Cori Shetter (August 2005)
*Kim Kweder (August 2005)
*Chris Wagner (Spring 2006)
*Kevin Reitmeyer (Fall 2006)

=="Friends of the Show" (frequent guests)==
The show features near-daily in-studio or telephone appearances by other students, Point Park Staff, and sports or other notable figures.

*Ben Cole
*Rockin' Rob Roseen
*Justin LaBar
*Annie Perri
*Catlin Wojtkowski
*Caitlin Franz
*Casey Leech
*Caleb Shivley
*Kevin Reitmeyer

*John O'Connell
*Steve Maffai Jr.
*Jesse Helfrich
*Steve Jabs
*Paul Hennigan
*Karen Weaver
*Ashley Dalton
*Sam Kosanovich
*Brian Gulish

*Jim Struzzi
*Ron Ahern
*John D'Amico
*Ian Scanga
*DJ Exquisite
*Katrina Greco
*Ed Eagle
*Jeff Ekiert
*James Walsh

Public service
PJ In The Morning is well known for their charitable work, as well as being active members in the community. Some of the shows work includes...

*Contributions to the Pittsburgh Area March of Dimes which funds researchers working in biochemistry, microbiology, developmental biology, genetics, pediatrics, and many other fields.

*Active involvement in WPPJ's Rock-a-Thon which is a 67 hour live broadcast to benefit the children at The Early Learning Institute ().

Contests

PJ In The Morning has a number of call-in contests where callers have a chance to win an assortment of prizes, usually donated by the shows sponsors. Here is a list of some of the contests, past and present.

*The Impossible Question is the first of the morning trivia quizzes, it usually airs between 7:18am and 7:25am. The prize is usually some sort of certificate that can be redeemed at a local bagel or doughnut shop for a breakfast treat. As of late, the impossible question has become sort of an anomaly of sorts because either the show receives no calls from anyone trying to answer the question or one of the hosts guesses the correct answer which in turn infuriates Robert.

*Know Your Current Events is the other call in contest for listeners. This contest is almost never used unless the show has some sort of large prize to give away such as movie passes, fright night passes etc. Rumors have know your current events only airing 3 times so far in the shows history.

Segments Unique To The Show

PJ In The Morning has been groundbreaking in the way it has incorporated other shows and media outlets into its own format to further enhance the quality of its own product. Here is a list of some of the segments.

*The Globe Preview originated in the Spring of 2006 as a way to give a sneak peek as to what students were going to be reading when tomorrow's issue of The Globe student newspaper hit newsstands. The segment started out slow but quickly grew legs and took off to become one of the most popular segments on the show. After a few episodes, the actors on the segment, Andy Coleman and Jesse Helfrich changed the name to "The Globe: In Stereo!", though it became affectionately known as "Old Timey Radio. The segment continued to gain popularity, even getting to the point where it was podcast on the Globe's own web page. Andy graduated in the Spring of 2006 and was replaced by Steve Jabs for the Fall of 2006, the segment continued to do well, but some said it never had the magic that Coleman and Helfrich had. Unfortunately, conflicts grew between new members of the globe and the old timey staff to the point where they were shut down and aired their final episode on March 14, 2007.

*Ron & John's Twisted View of History was an extension to the daily today in history segment. Ron & John, hosts of The B-Side with Ron & John on WPPJ came up with the idea in the Spring of 2007. However due to problems with their own scheduling the segment only ran two times.

*The PJ In The Morning NFL Shoe In Picks Of The Week is currently the longest running segment on the show. The segment airs every Thursday during football season and pins the hosts of the show against each other for football supremacy.

*This Day In Wrestling History was a segment that aired during the Spring of 2006 and was done by Chris Wagner. Chris would dig deep into the wrestling archives to bring some interesting information about the world of professional wrestling. the segment usually opened with a various wrestlers theme music.

*The PJ In The Morning Baseball Preview was created in the Spring of 2007 to fill the void left by the football picks. It ran from January 11 until April 5. Catlin Wojtkowski hosted the segment and broke down each major league team and their chances for the up and coming season as well as who would make the playoffs and win the world series.

*Creepy Song Day is second, only to the Football picks in runtime on the show. This segment was created to spotlight the darker side of music and to point out subliminal messages that were hidden in music. Some songs included were about, masturbation, incest, suicide, bestiality and more.

Special Editions Of The Show
Being a news based program, every now and then the show and its personalities took a step back from comedy and focused on the issues at hand. The following are some of the "Special Editions" of PJ In The Morning.

*Election Specials aired on the day of, or the day after the primary or general election. These shows broke down the races and featured interviews with in studio political annalists. One of the most memorable election shows happened in the Fall of 2006 when Democratic annalist James Walsh got into a heated debate with Point Park College Republicans President, Angelia Meiers. The two waged war on each other and forced the show to run a record 22 minutes over schedule. The Fall 2006 Election Special also was first media outlet in the Pittsburgh area to correctly call the final senate races in Montana and Virginia which were "too close to call" the previous night. The shows on occasion also held student government debates with interaction from the student body.

*Severe Weather Mode / The Storm Center were both terms used when severe winter weather effected the region. This changed the format of the show drastically. School closings and delays were read after each newscast and Traffic & Weather reports were given every 10 minutes as opposed to the top and bottom of the hour. During storm center mode all segments of the show were canceled and information was given out to help people get through the event. Live reports from out in the storm were also broadcast several times an hour as well as airport conditions. Even when the school shut down because of heavy snow, PJ In The Morning was on the air.

*Memorial Editions were the most serious type of show that aired. They focused on a tragic event or major death that had recently occurred, such as...

Mayor Bob O'Connor Tribute Show
This show aired Monday September 4, 2006 and was entirely dedicated to the life and times of the late Mayor of Pittsburgh, Bob O'Connor who had died the previous Friday. The show featured appearances by Professor Edward A. Meena as well as Point Park University President Paul Hennigan who once worked with O'Connor. The show also gave information on viewing times as well as a chance for the hosts to look back at a mayor whose time was cut way too short.

September 11th Memorial Shows
These shows aired on the date of the September 11, 2001 tragedies. They focused on how the United States has changed as a nation since that awful day. The shows featured clips of reports from that day as well as appearances in studio by guests discussing terrorism and the war on terror. The shows also got the accounts from the hosts as to what they were doing when the chaos broke out.

Virginia Tech Massacre Show
This show aired April 17, 2007, the day following the ungodly events that happened at Virginia Tech. The Point Park campus security director joined us to break down how the school would react had that happened here. In the 8:30 segment, an actual Virginia Tech student joined the show over the phone to recall everything that had happened as well as to take questions about how the campus was and forever will be changed.

Taking the show on the road
Due to the stations lack of money the show has mostly had to stay in studio, however their have been a few remote broadcasts or outside reports.

*Chris Wagner was live in New York City during a 2006 snowstorm and gave us updates on the conditions of the roads and such.

*Jess Levo reported several times from outside the university if adverse road conditions were effecting road conditions.

*Robert Suhr reported from the Outer Banks of North Carolina during the first week of April 2007

*The Show has been live from the hallway in Lawrence Hall during Rock-A-Thon twice.

PJ In The Evening
PJ In The Evening was an unsuccessful spinoff to the morning show. It only aired a few times to either fill the void of a canceled show or to create original programming while the station did not have a set programming schedule. The show was almost the "bizarro" PJ In The Morning (like The Bizarro Jerry episode of Seinfeld) to the point that it was its exact opposite. The show had no news, very little talk and focused primarily on simply playing music. As stated earlier it only aired a handful of times.

PJ In The Morning On U-VIEW
*U-View, Point Parks long anticipated inter campus television station, chose PJ In The Morning to be the first live show aired on the channel. At the time it seemed like the perfect fit, and a chance for the show to continue to grow and gain more popularity. However paranoia by certain faculty members about some of the content on the show led to the shows demise on the channel and much to the disappointment of the viewers. In the end, both parties agreed it was the best thing to do. PJ In The Morning was last broadcast on u-view on February 20, 2007 after only 13 episodes.

Controversy
*In the beginning, the show was notorious among the employees of WPPJ for never ending on time. This caused massive problems in scheduling. By PJ in the Morning refusing to stick to the conventional practice of ending their program at precisely the top of the hour, it caused DJs of following shows to have to sit and wait several minutes each day after they should have been done for the signal that the program is over and their show can begin. This was resolved by having Stewie Griffin from Family Guy say "Oh Yea That's The Good Stuff".

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