Interviewing celebrities, breaking national stories, blogging daily, and offering candid commentary on pop culture is just a small sample of what he does. Ralphie Aversa is the relentless, tireless, non-stop-always-go host and executive producer of “The Ralphie Radio Show.”
Check out his links above, and his blog below - and thanks for swinging through!
thanks to everyone for e-mailing me pictures, and it's not too late... ralphie@97bht.com
mariah caught drake on the guitar and myself on the mic... sara left a happy person... mannat shows a little creativity... lindsay sent in a couple shots...
krista didn't want drake to feel bad, so she took a picture with him as well haha...
kim made drake laugh with a funny pick-up line...
kelsey and friend rocked out with drake...
jordan snagged a few shots with his sidekick...
dawn's daughter harley met drake at the radisson... annika left the mall happy... gracias abby!
A crowd of tweens and teens gathered around the center stage at the Mall at Steamtown Saturday afternoon, welcoming singer and Nickelodeon television star Jared Drake Bell with deafening screams and chants. But there were far fewer people and much less commotion made for the 21-year-old “Drake & Josh” actor than when the downtown Scranton mall hosted Emily Osment, the 15-year-old actress from the “Hannah Montana” program, in August.
The result this time around was an orderly event — if, that is, 3,500 children yelling “We want Drake” can be called orderly.
Jill Kelly, of Scranton — who brought her 5-year-old smiling “Drake” fan, Marisa, to get an autograph — said things went much more smoothly than August’s fan event.
“That was a disaster,” Mrs. Kelly said. “But this, this was great. It went much better.”
It also helped that Mr. Bell arrived on time. Miss Osment, stuck in traffic, was a half hour late for the event in August. The same amount of security, including Scranton city firefighters and police officers, turned out for both events, said Jim Walsh, general manager and vice president of the mall. He said it was the “sheer number” of people who came out for the “Hannah” event that made the difference.
About 3,500 people came out to see the “Drake” star, Mr. Walsh estimated, down from the 7,500 children and parents who thronged the shopping center when Miss Osment came to Scranton.
The mall also limited the number of fans who could personally meet Mr. Bell, giving out free “Golden Tickets” prior to the event, Mr. Walsh said.
“We caught fire with the free-for-all last time, so this time we used tickets,” Mr. Walsh. “I think it was a phenomenal success, though I wish more people could have turned out.”
Despite the fewer numbers, there were die-hard fans in the crowd. A group of children, all of Scranton, wearing “Drake & Josh” T-shirts arrived at the mall around 7:30 a.m. to be the first in line to meet Mr. Bell.
Two of them, Maritza Cherry, 10, and Sarah Williams, 10, hoped to get the star to sing happy birthday for them. Their birthdays are this month. Another girl, Brooke Rowlands, 10, hoped she would have the chance to give Mr. Bell a kiss.
Sarah said she woke up around 3 a.m. she was so excited.
“It’s Drake Bell!” the girls screamed when asked why they woke up so early on a Saturday.
Ralphie Aversa, a night show radio host for BHT 97 FM who emceed the event, said it was fun to be on stage, getting the fans ready for when the pop star showed up.
“This is a demographic that is passionate about who they like, and they like Drake,” he said.
Contact the writer: cschillinger@timesshamrock.com
It seemed like a typical mall appearance by a tween idol — in this case Drake Bell, known mostly to the thousand or so people packed inside the Mall at Steamtown for his Nickelodeon show “Drake & Josh.” After four successful seasons, both actors walked away to pursue other gigs, with Drake set to hit the silver screen in March with “College” and a month later in the spoof flick “Superhero!”
However Drake’s subtle smiles, occasional cheek-kisses and melodic, catchy sounds weren’t the only eye-catchers inside Center Court Saturday.
Before any of the aforementioned, FeFe Dobson caught eyes — or at least mine.
Yes, that FeFe Dobson. “Take Me Away.” “Everything.”
As I stood onstage hosting the event, I noticed her to my left and immediately thought, “Wow, she really looks like FeFe Dobson.”
How awkward would that announcement have been over the PA?
“You look familiar,” I inquisitively stated to her about 20 minutes later, after Drake had finished performing two songs, including the MySpace über-spun “Makes Me Happy,” which is closing in on 1 million plays, and “I Know,” which has almost twice as many listens.
She responded, “Yeah, I think we’ve met.” Which we had, back in at a Buffalo, NY, radio concert in 2003.
“Wait a minute …”
“Yeah, yeah it’s me.”
Dobson flew in from Toronto to see Drake. The Canadian-born singer is currently working on new material in T-Dot, which she assured me I would be listening to early next year.
“By the way, can you give this to him?”
Yes, I even passed a note to Drake from FeFe. Lined paper, folded in fours, written with blue ballpoint pen. Feeling like I had re-entered high school, I obliged and brought the message to Drake. FeFe took off for her flight immediately after I walked away. Drake opened the note, looked it over with an exasperated expression across his face — folded the note and placed it under a stack of promo photos.
Drake’s day began at the crack of dawn on the West Coast, where he’s finishing up production for “Superhero!” in Hollywood. After landing in Scranton around 8 a.m., he headed to his hotel, where about 100 adoring fans were treated to a special breakfast with Bell. Conveniently enough, the renaissance man brought his guitar, and at the request of a few kids, performed a song right in the banquet room. Parents eagerly snapped photos and assisted their children in snagging an autograph or three from their child’s Nickelodeon hero. And the breakfast food itself didn’t disappoint either.
From the hotel, Drake, along with his entourage of none and mall officials, drove down the street and inside the mall. Fast forward through two-hours of meeting and greeting, another four songs, and a special half-hour question-and-answer session, and almost every screaming 12-year old and their exhausted parent headed back on the Scranton Expressway and I-81 satisfied, to say the least.
During our impromptu Q&A, which came about only because Bell greeted hundreds in a seemingly record time, I asked Drake who was the most famous person in his cell phone — an iPhone no less. After he responded with Jesse McCartney (to the cringing of most), I asked if there are any other celebrities he chums up with.
“Yeah, Zac Efron sometimes.”
“Does he bring Vanessa (Hudgens) around?”
“Nooooo, that’s just a front.”
A moment of awkwardness later, and Bell quickly retracted, backtracked, sidestepped, and changed topics.
Drake Bell — actor with two movies coming out early next year, musician with a new album slated for April, and as we found out at the end of his appearance Saturday, an accomplished dancer.
(everyone at 97 bht would like to thank the mall at steamtown, the scranton police and fire department, and everyone who showed up saturday and made this such a great success!)
really, who would be so jealous of mr. timberlake and so bored as to hack into his myspace? maybe it was j.c. chasez? whoever needs to throw britney into the top friends, asap...
i woke up early in anticipation. i arrived at the station with an inordinate amount of time before my show. i prepped and learned many things about the person that i didn't originally know.
did you know drake bell appeared in jerry mcguire at age 10?
neither did i. but i leaned of this and other facts before four, when drake was supposed to call into the bht studios and tape an interview to air later tonight.
it's 6:12 as i type this. no drake. apparently he's in los angeles shooting a movie and is stuck on set. bummer.
i'll give you more updates as i find them out. in the meantime, listen tonight to win drake bell breakfast passes.
what drake actually eats for breakfast to come soon...
the paps caught her on the street at 5am screaming for help. at one point earlier this year, everyone thought amy winehouse was poised to be this year's biggest breakout star.
instead, she's turned herself into one of this year's biggest disasters/headlines.
you want to be listening during tonight's top 8 at 8 for details on how you can win two tickets to eat breakfast with drake bell this saturday morning before he performs at the mall at steamtown.
11.30.2007
tmz's michael hundgen joined the show thursday night (11.29) with details on the break up of "dancing with the stars" champ helio castroneves and his fiance. (hundgen can be seen weekdays on "tmz tv", airing at 6:30p on channel 38 the cw. )
people magazine reports that lindsay lohan FINALLY dumped boyfriend riley giles, and she made the move over thanksgiving. i can't believe it took her this long to realize that she could do waaaaaay better.
- we're working on obtaining more v.i.p. passes to meet drake bell next saturday at the mall at steamtown. stay tuned!
- all this week - win breakfast with drake! i know, ridiculous. details monday night.
- the meet and greet is NOT open to the public. only people with a pass will be able to go on stage and get a picture with drake. however - drake will be performing in the mall - and we'll also have a ton of giveaways, including SIGNED drake bell guitars, photos, and tons of other swag!
here are the round-about times i'll be asking for caller 20 tonight to win that v.i.p. pass to skip to the front of the line on december 8th at the mall at steamtown and meet drake bell (phew, long sentence)... - 7:26 - 8:32 - 9:37 - 10:04
saved a ton of money monday. and no, i didn't switch my car insurance to geico.
all the credit is due to this website that gathers the best on-line deals/coupons to one place. i spoke with co-founder brad wilson about it on wednesday night.
of course, drake bell is coming to the mall at steamtown in scranton on december 8th. tonight caller 20 with the phrase that pays snags one v.i.p. pass to skip to the front of the line and meet drake. i'll announce when to call in - and tonight i'll be doing so AROUND these times...
could it get any worse for the hogans? brooke's career isn't taking off. nick is a criminal. hulk and linda are getting divorced (or atleast, we finally found out about it).
let's just pile more on... the st. petersburg times released the 911 tape of the nick hogan accident. click here to listen.
update: more bad news. brooke hogan's gained a considerable amount of weight.
britney spears's next song-to-radio (or as us radio people call it, her next "single") will be "pieces of me." i think there are better songs on the cd, such as "hot as ice," but i don't work for jive.
thankfully.
turns out the next california disaster that is britney's video shoots will take place tomorrow. while many artists dedicate days to their music videos - the mother of two will spend a whole two hours on set. if that.
even supermodels are insecure. but apparently for tyra banks, it's what she doesn't have on her body, not what is already there.
while tyra is confident with her body, she lacks confidence in her hair. to the point where she will not take off her wig in bed - even if she's with a guy.
sorry for going m.i.a. during the holiday vacation. things became extremely hectic around here, and then i headed home to niagara falls to spend thanksgiving with the family. i also partook in my first black friday since my days of collecting kenner starting lineups as a kid. i then one-up'd myself, shopping through websites today in my inaugural "cyber monday."
for the record, i enjoyed carusing e-store fronts at noon from the comfort of my own apartment much more than waking up at 7am to a frozen-over western new york with stores sold out of any decent deals.
despite this - i am proud to say that i am closing in on a personal-record for completing christmas shopping. hopefully i didn't just jinx myself.
right before i left, the people in clarks summit gave me something to be very thankful for - charity. street teamer jason and i drove up to gerrity's in clarks summit to participate in a little "celebrity bagging." basically, we bag your groceries. you tip us. all money is donated directly to the weinberg regional food bank.
jason and i raised more money in clarks summit than at any other bht celebrity bagging stop. so thank you.
hope you enjoyed your time with friends and family - along with all of the amazing food. now to your frivolous news....
performing two songs, including the MySpace über-spun “Makes Me Happy,” which is closing in on 1 million plays, and “I Know,” which has almost twice as many listens.
