Each weekday morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30, a red camera light winks on in the newsroom at WJZ-TV, and two men set off to explore the parameters of info-tainment.
One has the calm, friendly demeanor of an airline pilot; the other seems to alternate moods between that of the folksy host of a backyard barbecue and a Chihuahua on Dexedrine.
For the next 90 minutes, they bring you news, weather reports, traffic updates, school lunch menus, a question of the day ("Does it smell like spring yet?"), local birthday announcements, a Medical Minute, out-of-town newspaper headlines, interviews with interesting Baltimoreans who do everything from hurling manure to micro-brewing beer, and lots of conversation -- funny conversation, pointed conversation, aimless conversation.
It's news you can use delivered coffee klatch-style, yet the whole thing has an adrenalized, seat-of-the-pants feel, as if any minute now a unicyclist juggling machetes could wheel up and everyone on the set would think: "Well, it's not in the script . . . but, hey. Let's see where it goes."
This is "Rise and Shine/The Morning Edition" with Marty Bass, best known as the weatherman with the 50,000-watt personality, and Don Scott, the steady, veteran anchor. And if there is an underlying philosophy to their work, it's this: Let's enjoy ourselves. Tomorrow we could all be hit by a bus.
"It's morning radio from the '50s and '60s translated to television," says Mr. Scott. "To get you going, it has to be fun."
"But people know us, too," says Mr. Bass, anxious to avoid the perception that this is all one big frat party on Tequila Sunrise Night. "They know that if a major news story breaks, we'll be there to tell them."
But perhaps Rick Lias, 30, the associate producer, puts it best when he says: "Some days I think: Are we in journalism? Am I Ziegfeld?"
Whatever it is, the show, now in its 12th year, is by far the longest-running and most popular locally produced morning program on Baltimore television, as well as the one that elicits the most emotional reaction, pro and con, from viewers.
The numbers it pulls down are impressive: a 6.0 rating and 34 share in the 5:30 a.m.-6 a.m. time slot in the most recent ratings book, a 9.9 rating and 38 share from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. This beats the combined numbers for its two morning competitors at WMAR-TV, where Rudy Miller and Jamie Costello hold forth, and WBAL-TV, anchored by Liz O'Neil. (A rating measures the percentage of television households watching a program. A share measures the percentage among homes where the TV is in use.)
Last year, Broadcasting magazine rated "Rise and Shine" the No. 2 local morning news show in the entire country in the 6 a.m.-to-7 a.m. time slot.
However you crunch the numbers, it has a large and devoted following.
Mr. Bass calls the show "viewer responsive." On certain mornings, the phones at WJZ ring off the hook with viewers passing along jokes, observations, criticisms and instructions to "Tell Marty it's snowing in Bel Air."
"I find it very informative," says Karen Kicklighter, 42, of Baltimore, who watches the show before heading off to work at her Eastern Avenue beauty salon. "It's pretty funny, and Marty Bass and Don Scott work well together."
Another long-time viewer is Kathy Allen, 46, a legal secretary from Perry Hall, who says: "I like Marty Bass. I just like his humor. The whole show is entertaining."
Here's how big "Rise and Shine" is with some viewers: The show's 28-year-old producer, Mark "The Blade" Brodinsky, was vacationing in Atlanta recently.
A huge Orioles fan, The Blade (they call him that because he's so sharp -- really) and his friends take in the Birds' exhibition game against the Braves.
On this day, there happen to be lots of Baltimoreans in the stands. And more than a few recognize Mr. Brodinsky from the brief on-air segment he does from the control room each morning to "tease" upcoming highlights of the show.
So in this homely bomb shelter of a stadium, you have the spectacle of excited "Rise and Shine" fans approaching a trim, quiet man in an O's cap who is some 750 miles from home and saying: "Hey, aren't you The Blade?"
And The Blade's Atlanta friends are like: Yeah, yeah, he's The Blade. Now sit down, pal, you're blocking my view.
See, The Blade's friends are not even mildly impressed. Because this happens to The Blade all the time.
And this is the show's producer!
Subtle chemistry
If there is a secret to the sustained popularity of "Rise and Shine," it lies in the subtle chemistry between the co-hosts. Marty Bass, 41, and Don Scott, 44, have been together for 10 years now, and their interaction on the air has the comfortable, expectant feel of two men who genuinely enjoy each other.
In Mr. Bass' office, there is an old picture of a slim Oprah Winfrey and a smiling Marty Bass, with a head of hair thick enough for an eagle to nest in.
Ms. Winfrey was Mr. Bass' first co-host on the morning program; then she fled to Chicago and started making money like she was printing it herself in the basement.
But the move was the best thing that could have happened to the show. In short order, Mr. Scott arrived, bringing with him impeccable credentials as a newsman and, perhaps as important, a well-developed sense of the absurd.
Whereas the gregarious Mr. Bass sometimes arrives in your living room with all the subtlety of a safe dropping 15 stories, the bearded Mr. Scott plays it strictly relaxed and low-key, although not without his own brand of wry humor.
"Deep inside, Don is a wild man," Mr. Brodinsky insists.
Mr. Bass, a natural talent, is all machine-gun patter and homespun chit-chat in a soft Kentucky drawl, given to creative flights of lunacy that give the show its energy.
"I'm a balance for Marty, in a sense," says Mr. Scott. "When I take flight, people are so taken aback."
Whatever the yin and yang of their on-air relationship, it works.
Staying in flight
"Working with Don is like flying a 747," Mr. Bass says. "It's big and it's smooth. I have absolute confidence in him. If I stumble and fall, Don will never let me hit the ground."
Although the show is tightly scripted, with regular stops for news,weather, traffic, the popular interview known as "Coffee With . . ." and the like, there is ample time for improvisation and conversational meandering.
In the midst of a spirited discussion about the Orioles, for example, Mr. Bass may suddenly -- away from the anchor desk and pretend to wake a dozing Al Sanders in his office -- prompting dozens of letters and calls the next day from the show's more dim-witted fans wondering: Is Al Sanders really in there?
What's never, ever rehearsed is what the two will talk about at the top of the show.
Free-wheeling start
Both arrive at the studio each morning around 5 and barely speak to each other as they prepare for their various segments, although Mr. Bass' preparation is a little less, um, strenuous than Mr. Scott's.
"The total caloric expenditure for putting together the weather forecast is maybe 83 calories," Mr. Bass says. "Anybody tells you differently, they're full of it.
"I'd love to tell you it's like rocket science -- it ain't."
By consciously avoiding each other first thing, they also bring freshness and spontaneity to the show's opening. When they initially greet their viewers, they're also greeting each other for the first time.
Although he can project the frenetic image of a man permanently hooked up to an IV drip of Folgers, Mr. Bass swears: "I only take a sip of coffee for the first time when I sit down with Don."
"I have no problem getting up at 3:15, 'cause I know I'm gonna have a great time," says Mr. Scott. "It's always a blast."
A welcome irritant
To be fair, "Rise and Shine/The Morning Edition" is not everyone's cup of tea.
There are a goodly number of early morning risers who would rather be tortured than sit through five minutes of Bass/Scott's caffeinated musings.
Other viewers seem compelled to turn to it every morning for the sheer pleasure of being annoyed.
"I find Marty Bass extremely irritating," says long-time viewer Janet Schurman, 40, a registered nurse from Cockeysville. "He doesn't let Don Scott get a word in edgewise. He can also be extremely rude to the guests on 'Coffee With . . . .' "
And, Ms. Allen, the legal secretary and big Marty Bass fan, says: "I'm not crazy about Don Scott."
"There are always going to be critics," says Jim Dorsey, 45, the show's long-time director. "But the [ratings] numbers speak for themselves."
"Some people tell me: 'You guys are a little too much for me in the morning,' " Mr. Bass says. "I respect that. Mornings are fickle."
No, what gets the "Rise and Shine" crew lathered up is when the criticism comes from their competition.
'Silly' gets a rise
Two years ago, Tom Hauff, the former news director at WBAL-TV, called the show "silly" in a Sun feature story on all three local morning news shows, a quote that still causes tiny puffs of smoke to emanate from the ears of "Rise and Shine" staffers.
Joe Lewin, WMAR-TV vice president and general manager, says of "Rise and Shine": "It's been a successful program for many, many years."
But when asked to comment on the quality of the show, Mr. Lewin says quickly: "Oh, let's not get into that."
Mr. Bass seems to have no desire to engage in a verbal Tong War with his rivals.
Yet he gets so upset at criticism from the other stations that his eyes moisten. "In the words of Lewis Grizzard: 'If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.' Those people are just tired of getting their rear ends beat. It's nothing more than sour grapes."
The shots from the local competition are especially galling, say the "Rise and Shine" folks, because those shows consciously imitate what Mr. Bass and Mr. Scott do.
Mr. Lewin categorically denies that charge. But Mr. Lias says of the WMAR morning team of Rudy Miller and Jamie Costello: "They're painful. They try to do what we do."
Copycats
"It's obvious to me that other people borrow things from us," Mr. Scott says delicately. "But we're really copied all over the country. I travel all over, and I'll tune in [the local morning shows] and think: They're doing our program. But something's missing."
What's missing, in addition to the by-play between Mr. Scott and Mr. Bass, may well be a well-honed sense of irony that compels the show to seek out such stories as the one about the 6-year-old who got in his mom's car and actually drove it 6 miles before he was pulled over.
There is also a sense of adventure on the set of "Rise and Shine," a willingness to try just about anything in the name of fun. The crew's mantra, repeated over and over, is: "There are no mistakes, only opportunities to ad-lib."
The Blade calls it a David Lettermanesque approach to morning news, a loose, irreverent, viewer-friendly show that people can have some fun with before getting smacked upside the head with the seriousness of daily life.
"All I know," says The Blade, "is that we have [viewers] who get up when they don't have to go to work to watch the show. "To me, that's the ultimate compliment."