Philadelphia Sessions - Spring 2014

Spring 2014

The Official Publication of the SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local

Photo courtesy of Helen Chong

SAG AWARDS PHILADELPHIA VIEWING PARTY

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Photo courtesy of Jeanette Hartunian

NE HUNDRED -plus members and guests filled the IATSE Ballroom on Jan. 18 to view the annual SAG Awards telecast.

Local member Jeanette Hartunian won two tickets in the SAG Awards Holiday Auction to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles. She is pictured here with her date, Lou Shaw.

Photos by Bonnie Wireback

President’s Message

MOTION PICTURE PLAYERS WELFARE FUND ASSISTS MEMBERS IN NEED

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ellow Members, We have faced many challenges together and through merger: retaining our local office, negotiating local broadcast contracts and continuing to provide services to our members.

However, our fight is not yet over. We continue to face so-called “right-to-work” legislation that threatens to destroy unions in our area.

SAG-AFTRA and our local industry allies are also challenged with proving the benefits, effectiveness and success of the Pennsylvania Film Tax Incentive every year. I urge you to contact your local legislators and make your voice be heard! Let them know they should vote against so-called “right-to-work” proposals. Tell them uncapping the film tax incentive will provide employment opportunities for their constituents. With your help, we can continue to fight, endure and win!

In solidarity, John Wooten, President SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local

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he Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund is an emergency financial assistance fund of SAG-AFTRA and serves members in Philadelphia and in all locals east of Omaha, Neb. , which includes Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Florida. This includes members in Louisiana, Nor th Carolina, Puer to Rico, Georgia, Nashville, New York and Washington-Baltimore. This program is administered through the Actors Fund of America, (212) 221-7300, Ext. 119.

The Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund is designed to assist eligible members who are struggling with a financial, personal or medical crisis. Financial assistance is available for rent, utilities, mental health and medical care as well as other basic living expenses. For more information, please visit:sagaftra.org/mppwf.

Regarding Your Agent

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o franchised agent may charge a rate of commission higher than 10 percent. Typically, when an agent successfully negotiates your fee above scale, or in other words, “scale plus 10 percent” the agent is entitled to collect commission for initial compensation on that job. In some cases, an agent may still be able to commission a job that is paid at scale for initial compensation. You should always contact your local office find out if you owe your agency commission on initial compensation for any job.

The ability to commission residuals is even more complex. Do not automatically assume that your agent is entitled to commission residuals for any individual project. Please take a look at the legacy AFTRA commission chart here and the legacy SAG commission chart here and be sure to contact the office closest to you (or the national office) for assistance in determining what, if any, commission is owed to your agent for residuals on any project in which you appear.

Also, please note: Agents may not charge up-front fees of any kind.

They may not require you to attend a specific school or use a specific photographer as a condition of representation. If the agent does have some suggestions on these subjects, you should be supplied with a list of several schools or photographers from which you can freely choose the person or entity which could best serve your needs.

SAG FOUNDATION CATASTROPHIC HEALTH CARE FUND

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he Foundation’s Catastrophic Health Fund provides grants to eligible SAG-AFTRA members and their dependents who suffer from catastrophic illness or injury and are unable to afford the Health Plan’s Self-Pay Program. The Fund ensures that every eligible member and his or her family can depend on continued health benefits when they need them most. The Fund works closely with Pension and Health to ensure that everything that can be done will be done to help our members in times of distress. For more information, please contact Lisa Schwartz, emergency assistance administrator, (323) 549-6773.

AFTER HOURS SET EMERGENCY HOTLINE If you are on the set outside of business hours and believe there is an emergency requiring immediate attention, you may call the emergency phone number that is on the back of your membership card. Los Angeles: (323) 954-1600. New York: (212) 517-0909.

SESSIONS

SAG-AFTRA LOCAL STAFF

LOCAL BOARD MEMBERS

Executive Director:

CAST & CREW

President ­— John Wooten Vice President Actor/Performer — Sylvia Kauders Vice President Broadcast — Catherine Brown

National VP Broadcast Secretary — Sam Clover Sara Jane Blazo Mike Kraycik Paul Kurtz Gail Lewis Susan Moses Rob Charry Ed “Skip” Fisher Dick Sheeran Meagan Hill Harvey Jaffe Chuck Varesko National Board Member — Helen McNutt

Official publication of SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia www.sagaftra.org/philly

Editor: Shelley Figures Contributing Editors: Stephen Leshinski Chuck Varesko

SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia 230 South Broad St., Suite 500 Philadelphia, PA 19102 (215) 732-0507 Sessions Archive sagaftraphila.com/issuu.html

Stephen Leshinski

Associate Executive Director:

Shelley Figures

Contracts/Signatory Administrator:

Lynn Koenigsberg

Benefits & Membership Administrator:

Michele Dooley

Executive Director’s Report

By Stephen Leshinski, SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Executive Director

SAG-AFTRA: Entertaining and Informing 24/7, Wind, Rain or Shine

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was reminded during the most recent snowstorm that while schools are closing and people are staying home, the professionals who are telling us about the roads, the weather and the news are SAG-AFTRA members. This includes the traffic reporters at Total Traffic Network; the writers, producers and reporters at CBS3 and NBC10; the producers, editors and reporters at KYW-AM; the producers at PHT; the announcers at WIP sports; and the DJs at XTU, WMMR and Q102. In order to make sure our members are safe while performing these duties, we have a system of shop stewards in place: members who act as shop representatives and, with management, coordinate transportation issues, securing hotel rooms, appropriate clothing, etc. This system ensures that our members are protected while working in bad weather or other unconventional conditions.

Whether it’s during a blizzard, over the weekend during the summer, Christmas Day or some other time when many of us are home with our families, these dedicated SAG-AFTRA members are informing and entertaining the entire Philadelphia region.

And speaking of entertaining, did you see The Roots on Jimmy Fallon, or Will Smith or any of the celebrities who welcomed his new show? All SAG-AFTRA members. Jay Leno even celebrated the end of his run, remarking that he was proud that he always did a “union show.”

At the end of last year, I was on the set of Franny while they were

filming a scene at a local club in Philadelphia featuring hundreds of people dressed up for a night of clubbing — in other words, not very dressed at all. The problem was, it was a chilly December evening when the scene was being shot, and lots of doors were being opened and closed, causing drafts throughout the building. Being on set helped ensure that our members would be warm between takes, that the smoke machine being used was safe, that the breaks happened when they were supposed to and that the contract was being maintained in general. Working with national, we recently introduced a new “on call” protocol that will connect our 24-hour hotline with locally trained staff so that if there is a problem, either overnight, a holiday or weekend, local staff can respond within a few hours and make sure no situation gets out of hand.

We’re fortunate in Philadelphia that many of the local production staff are familiar with SAG-AFTRA and follow our contracts as a general rule, but this profession is not a 9-5 office job (unless that’s your role!) and our contracts and contract enforcement protocol reflect that.

Whether it’s the broadcast shop steward making sure there are enough hotel rooms, the local staff person making sure actors get “wet pay,” or the office staff ensuring that the SAG Awards screeners are delivered, being a member of SAG-AFTRA provides support, protection and advocacy for all SAG-AFTRA members, the people who inform and entertain America.

Annual Film Auditions

or the last 17 years, SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local member Barry Brait (pictured left, standing), has produced an annual film audition open to any student (of any university) or independent filmmaker. Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Art & Design, with the support of program director Karin Kelly, hosted the annual audition on Nov. 2.

Student filmmakers from Drexel, Temple and University of Pennsylvania were in attendance. Also, members of Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association came to cast a special project: Love Philadelphia, Hate Philadelphia.

Approximately 44 student films were made since 2011 under SAG-AFTRA contracts as a result of these auditions.

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Photo by Victor Miller

Project Twenty1

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aunched in 2006, Project Twenty1 is a 21day Philadelphia filmmaking competition that promotes the work of filmmakers and performers.

SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local Board member Susan Moses (second from left) joined other judges to present awards at the awards event on Sept. 29, 2013. Moses presented the best acting award to Team Pure Genius for its union-covered short film Cellophane.

Photo by Lee Rosenfeldt

Conservatory Presents Program for Independent Producers — Navigating SAG-AFTRA Agreements

SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Honors Anjelica Huston

Photo courtesy of Dana Michael

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hiladelphia’s winter was harsh and took its toll on local SAG-AFTRA Conservatory programs. On March 24, after being canceled due to snowstorms, the seminar Navigating SAG-AFTRA Agreements finally took place at the International House Philadelphia. Over 30 independent producers attended the event organized by SAG-AFTRA member Dana Michael.

Presenters Leif Larson, manager of theatrical contracts in New York, and Stephen Leshinski, SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia local executive director, spoke about the importance of SAG-AFTRA working with independent producers, and the union’s goal of combining the accessibility of the local office with the support of national office.

Larson reviewed the signatory process as well as the most commonly used contracts.

Leshinski urged attending producers to contact the local office for more information on using SAG-AFTRA contracts.

Plans are being made to present this type of seminar on a regular basis. Many thanks to co-sponsors International House Philadelphia, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association, PhillyCam, Producers Association of Philadelphia, and Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

Seminar organizer Dana Michael with Leif Larson.

SAG-AFTRA’s First-Ever Personal Manager Code of Ethics and Conduct Ready for Signing

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Photo by Bob Kravitz

AG-AFTRA has finalized its Personal Manager Code of Ethics and Conduct, a voluntary agreement that is designed to promote honest and ethical relationships between the union’s members and the managers they choose to represent them.

As a sign of commitment to its burgeoning relationship with the personal management community, SAG-AFTRA’s Agency Relations Department is now known as the SAG-AFTRA Professional Representatives Department.

To learn more and view a copy of the Personal Manager Code of Ethics and Conduct, click here.

Members Can Soon Combine SAG-AFTRA Earnings to Qualify for SAG-PHP Plan II Coverage

From left, SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local Executive Director Stephen Leshinski, SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local Vice President and Vice Chair of the National Seniors Committee Sylvia Kauders, SAG-AFTRA member Anjelica Huston, and National Board member Helen McNutt.

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n December, the trustees of the SAG-Producers Health Plan (SAG-PHP) announced a new way to meet the needs of members who do not qualify for coverage under either the SAG-PHP or the AFTRA Health Plan (AFTRA HP). At that time it was announced that beginning July 1, 2014, members with earnings under SAG-AFTRA contracts may be able to combine their earnings reportable to each plan in order to meet the dollar earnings requirement for SAG-PHP Plan II eligibility (currently $15,100).

We are pleased to announce that more information regarding this benefit has now been announced by SAG-PHP, including how and when to apply. To learn more, please review SAGPHP’s Special Edition Take 2 newsletter found online at sagph.org.

The union’s primary goal is for the merging of the SAG and AFTRA plans, and we continue to support the efforts of the trustees to find ways to qualify participants for health coverage through their combined earnings under SAG-AFTRA contracts.

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n Nov. 21, members and staff from the SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local gathered at the Philadelphia Free Library to honor member Anjelica Huston for her invaluable contribution to the entertainment industry. Huston was appearing at the library to speak about her book, A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London and New York.

SAVE THE DATE!

The Annual Meeting is May 19, 2014 at the IATSE Ballroom.

it had a great time. Check his website, Joeconklin.com, to find out about upcoming dates with WIP’s Big Daddy Graham.

Finally, thanks to all the SAG-AFTRA members for their unwavering support during our recent contract negotiations, which were completed in December. Thanks, as always, to Steve Leshinski, who went above and beyond once again to help get it done.

BROADCAST BEAT Sports Radio 94WIP

By Rob Charry, Shop Steward

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hough the Eagles fell a few games short of the Super Bowl, SportsRadio 94WIP’s signature event, Wing Bowl, came up big for the 22nd straight year. Kudos to Angelo Cataldi, Al Morganti and Rhea Hughes for all their hard work once again.

With the new year comes a new lineup at WIP from 1 p.m. through late night. Rob Ellis joins Anthony Gargano for the 1-6 p.m. afternoon shift. Josh Innes is new to WIP at night. And working late nights now is our imaging guy, Brian “Sludge” Haddad. Glen Macnow continues his Saturday midday show with Hall of Famer Ray Didinger and adds duties at sister station KYW-AM as one of the reporters on Reporters Roundup.

As you read this, WIP’s Ricky Ricardo has escaped the cold for Clearwater, where he will be spending six weeks filing reports for WIP and KYW from spring training.

Though WIP did not send anyone to Sochi for the Winter Olympics, congratulations are in order to WIP update anchor Sue Shilling’s 4-year-old daughter Jessica, who participated in her first Special Olympics.

Heartfelt condolences to the great Bill Campbell on the loss of his wife Josephine from everyone at WIP and his many friends at KYW Radio. Jo, who passed away in January at 94, was the woman behind the legend, and the story goes that they met at WIP when it was in the Gimbel building at 8th and Market in the 1940s — and she asked him out first.

Condolences, as well, to WIP’s morning show contributor and comic, Joe Conklin, who lost his mother Kathleen, the beloved matriarch of the Conklin family, Jan. 30. Since the show must go on, I don’t think Joe, would mind us plugging his regular Wednesday night gig at Parx Casino in Bensalem, where he performs and brings in nationally renowned comedians. Joe’s show was the entertainment at the after party for our SAG-AFTRA holiday party at Parx, and all who made

Total Traffic & Weather Network

By Sam Clover and Randy Chepigan, Shop Stewards t is relatively calm here at the Philadelphia/Pittsburgh Total Traffic & Weather Network shop, as we enter the second year of our current three-year CBA. We continue to work with management toward improving equipment and method to ensure that our members can more efficiently continue to provide great product. A few months ago, we welcomed another new shop member, Kathy Paterson, who joined our part-time staff. We recently celebrated the career of longtime SAG-AFTRA member John Brown, who retired from our shop on Oct. 31 after a 40-plus year radio career. With that, veteran part-timer Randi Ellis was promoted to a full-time position, and we’re counting on welcoming some new shop members soon, as management bolsters our part-time staff.

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WPHT

By Clinton Petty, Shop Steward

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ichael Cerio and Eric Strain are preparing to break out of winter on trips to Florida for broadcasts from Spring Training ... Greg Stocker and Nikki Marra begin the first full year of the Dick Morris program looking to build off last year’s success ... and Ian Cohen and Joe Gaines are preparing for another season of Phillies baseball.

Leaders Look to the Future

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ore than 25 leaders of the SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local met on Oct. 19 to discuss plans for 2014. Using the momentum of the convention and building on the activities of the past 18 months, members of the local Broadcst Steering Committee, Conservatory Committee, and past and present executive board members discussed member mobilization, new work opportunities, professional development, communications and area partnerships, among other topics. The event was ably facilitated by Eastern Region Organizing Director Jennifer Peat.

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he 2013 Country Music Awards Major Market Personalities of the Year was given to WXTU Shop Steward Andie Summers, co-host Doc Medek and producer Kevin Crockett.

From everyone on the board and on behalf of SAG-AFTRA, to Doc, Andie and Kevin, a SAG-AFTRA congratulations!

Member Profile — Molly Daly

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olly Daly, a Philadelphia native and former QVC show host, has worked at KYW Newsradio since 1996, voicing commercials, anchoring and reporting. She also voices on-hold messages for Spectrio. She started in KYW’s sales department in a transparent attempt to get her foot in the door — and it worked — but strong presentation skills and easy relationships with clients couldn’t make up for her inability to close a sale. “When prospects told me they couldn’t afford to advertise with us,” says Daly, ”I believed them. In sales, you’re supposed ask three times before you take no for an answer, but once was enough for me. So after a year, my bosses had no choice but to give me the boot.”

Not long after, former sales co-worker Randi Gewertz recommended her to then-new Program Director Steve Butler, who was looking for someone to voice the traffic tens, the brief sponsored messages that run after the traffic reports. “Up until that point, the anchors read the spots live,” says Daly. “I called Steve, we talked a bit about my background and what he was looking for, and I offered to send him my demo. He said not to bother, that I had the job.That was my first audition-free audition.” So every Thursday night, Daly drove from her advertising sales job (she still couldn’t close) in Wilmington to KYW to record the traffic tens. Although she loved the people she worked with in Delaware, she was miserable. “I was having lunch one day with Steve,” says Daly, “when he suggested I try anchoring. It kind of freaked me out, but I had to try.” She’s been anchoring since 1999.

In 2010, Daly added reporting to her duties. It was a revelation.

“I had no idea how much I’d love it: the variety, from manning the storm center to covering breaking news, human interest and nature stories, the deadline pressure — sometimes you have just minutes to get a story written and on the air — the challenges, [such as] doing live shots, boiling a complicated story down to 45 seconds, and the privilege of being trusted to tell someone’s story,” says Daly. “It’s a rare and wonderful thing to get paid to be creative.”

Q: What do you do for fun?

A: I’m a birder, like Miss Hathaway in The Beverly Hillbillies, but without the pith helmet. I bird pretty much everywhere, even while I’m driving. I’ve seen eagles, ospreys and falcons over the stretch of I-95 between the airport and the Linc.There’s a lot of nature in Center City. In the spring and fall, songbirds, which migrate at night, use urban green spaces to eat and rest during the day. I’ve seen thrushes, warblers, orioles and hummingbirds in and around Christ Church Cemetery. A red-tailed hawk often perches on Independence Hall’s weathervane.

Q: Have you always lived in the Philadelphia area?

A: For all but about six months of my life, when I lived in London. My then-boyfriend was (and still is) English. I couldn’t get a work permit — my career as a nanny last- Daly with Willie Nelson. ed two weeks — I ran out of money and went home to East Falls. I moved to Chester County a few years after I got the host job at QVC. Q: How did you get that job?

A: In 1986, a former coworker at the Singing Telegram Company dared me to try out for the host job when I told her I was gonna go for the account executive gig. I did the audition, in which I had

to sell a pencil and then a telephone. I was offered the job on the spot, standing right by the outline painted on the floor where the rotating stage would go.

Q: When did you start performing?

A: I started doing singing telegrams not long after I’d dropped out of Temple in my senior year. I’d already failed at two waitressing jobs and was working as a videographer for a commercial performance class taught by Gene Shay. The guy who owned the business sent me to videotape the grand opening of Stanley Green’s Hollywood, and while I was there, a woman dressed in a bellhop uniform came in and delivered a singing telegram specially written for the occasion. Her voice was fantastic. We talked, I got a card, contacted the owner, Bob Rush, auditioned, and got the job with The Singing Telegram Company of Philadelphia. That bellhop, Carole Schmickle, and I became roommates and good friends. She’s classically trained and I’m a belter; we had a blast delivering a duet telegram at Eugene Ormandy’s 80th birthday party. I also sang at Henny Youngman’s Bar Mitzvah at Resorts International Hotel Casino in Atlantic City.

Really — he was 73; he said his first one was canceled when his cousin died.

Q: Were you ever in any bands?

A: A couple. The first was Keith Jones and the Scam, fronted by Jim Salamone; Carole and I were backing vocalists. We played Stars a few times; that was one of restaurant mogul Stephen Starr’s early businesses. We also opened for and backed up Chuck Berry at Alexander’s in Browns Mills. He never traveled with a band; he’d go to the club where he was booked and play with local musicians, but only after getting the money up front.

Around the same time, I also did some jingle work with Jim and Carole. We did the “Saving time is Gimbels time,” “Gimbels is the place” and “It’s beginning to look a lot like Gimbels” spots. In 1982 and ’85, I did backing vocals with Fairport Convention at their annual reunion festival in the Cotswolds.

Q: What’s this we hear about your having famous family connections?

A: Grace Kelly was my first cousin once-removed; her father and my maternal grandfather were brothers. I met her a few times and, when I lived in London, talked to her on the phone a couple of weeks before she died. She was a really lovely person. But Grace wasn’t the first Kelly to take the stage. My great-uncle Walter was

a star vaudeville monologist billed as The Virginia Judge. His younger brother George was an actor, director and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. My paternal grandfather, T.A. Daly, was a journalist, poet and humorist who wrote a column for the Evening Bulletin.

Q: What are your ambitions?

A: I have a few. I’d love to keep anchoring and reporting for KYW Newsradio. I’d Daly rocking out on stage in the ‘80s. like to narrate nature documentaries. And I’d love to be a guest programmer for Turner Classic Movies. I’d pick a couple of Grace’s movies: High Society and The Country Girl; for Uncle Walter, it’d be an early John Ford movie he was in, Seas Beneath, and McFadden’s Flats, in which he starred; for Uncle George, it’d be the 1926 silent version of his play, The ShowOff, which has some great location shots in Philly and featured Louise Brooks in a supporting role, and Craig’s Wife, adapted from the play for which he won the Pulitzer. My personal picks would

be Sherlock Jr., It’s a Wonderful Life, The More the Merrier, Kiss of Death, They Were Expendable, A Face in the Crowd, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I would have to include Blow Out, since I worked on that as a back- Daly with Singing Telegram Co. founder Bob Rush. ground performer.

Q: What does union membership mean to you?

A: A lot. Without my union, I doubt I’d be able to pay a mortgage on a part-time salary. I wouldn’t have been able to afford good health insurance all these years, and I doubt I’d have vacation and sick time. All those things, plus knowing I’ll have a guaranteed pension, give me a sense of security I wouldn’t have otherwise — something that’s incredibly important for a single woman. There’s also the sense of being part of something larger, of a more than century-long movement that’s improved conditions and led to protections for workers, and helped build the middle class.

SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Does Read Across America

On March 10, a group of SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local members participated in the National Education Association’s Read Across America annual reading motivation program. The member volunteers traveled to Sharon Hill School, located in the Philadelphia suburbs, and read Dr. Seuss books to the students.

Karen Vicks Gives the Keys to Powerful Auditions

By Carol Anne Mueller, SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Member

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t November’s conservatory, about 80 Philadelphia SAG-AFTRAns took par t in a lively workshop that focused on one of the key challenges actors face: the audition. One of Philadelphia’s finest actors and teachers, Karen Vicks, a longtime SAG-AFTRA and Equity member, shared her wealth of knowledge about the audition process and offered insights and techniques to guide actors as they prepare.

Vicks detailed the need for an actor to be clear about the construct of the audition ahead of time: Do I need a monologue? Will it be a cold read? Will I be receiving sides ahead of time? Will I be called upon to improvise? The answer to all those questions is

yes. Be prepared to do all of it, because at any given audition, an actor might be called upon to do it all. And if an actor is prepared for it all, she will perform with confidence, honesty and power.

Another key Vicks shared with the group is that many actors often overlook the vast amount of information a script

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Local SAG-AFTRA members held the 2013 Holiday Party at Chickie’s & Pete’s in the Parx Casino in Bensalem on Dec. 11, 2013.

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Karen Vicks...

The Return of “Ratboy” & “Staypuff”

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provides to allow the actor to effectively find the real story and guide one’s character development. She stressed that it is of utmost importance to read the entire script, not just the scene one is slated to perform at an audition, not just the scenes in which one’s character is featured. If it’s a new production and an entire script is not available, do some research and look up other scripts by the writer to get an idea of how that writer draws characters.

A third important task the actor needs to undertake to prepare for the audition is to create a character biography in order to identify with the character, Vicks said. Being thorough in detailing the character’s history, relationships and emotional life will empower the actor to make powerful and authentic choices and emotionally connect with the scene. As part of the presentation, some lucky participants had the opportunity to perform a monologue or a cold read and receive feedback and direction.

Vicks offered valuable insights and suggested new approaches to the performers, which provided lessons for the entire group.

Vicks has established herself as one of Philadelphia’s finest actors. She has performed with The Philadelphia Theatre Company, Delaware Theatre Company, Act II Playhouse, Interact Theatre Company, Society Hill Playhouse and Freedom Theater, among others in Philadelphia. She also has performed in Los Angeles, New York City and the Baltimore/D.C. area. Her latest projects are Paranoia, with Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford, and The Permanent Collection, with InterAct Theatre Company.

As one enthusiastic attendee said of the workshop, “If someone who was here tonight failed to walk out with a great deal of extremely useful information, they’re in the wrong industry!”

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102 Philly announced the return of station veterans, Jeff “Ratboy” Daly and Josh “Staypuff ” Foreman as its new afternoon drive hosts, beginning Feb. 14. The Rat and Puff Show airs weekdays from 3-7 p.m. They have returned to Philly from Tampa, where they hosted evenings for the past seven years.

“It’s hard to leave palm trees and sun, but not when it comes to a station that has been part of our lives since we were kids,” they said. “We are beyond excited to give everything we have to our new show. Get ready, Philly, we’re coming home!”

“Jeff and Josh started as interns and part-time on air talent at Q102 calling themselves ‘Ratboy’ and ‘Staypuff’ before they came to us at WFLZ in Tampa,” said Tommy Chuck, program director, WFLZ. “This opportunity is really a dream come true for them and they earned it — at FLZ they have been No. 1 for 10 out of the last 12 ratings books.”

“Jeff and Josh are so entertaining and so Philly, they bring a whole new energy to Q102,” said Brian Check, vice president of programming, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Philadelphia.