Things start to go bad a month or so in...

[DONNIEP]

The whole radio show was one big train wreck. The first few days were so boring I couldn't believe they didn't pull the plug immediately. Sure, there were some interesting pieces here and there, but the majority of it sucked. Remember when Dave started ranting about how the station wanted to bring in some sort of sidekick and Dave whined about it on air, saying he didn't want a Robin Quivers on his show? Yeah, he should have embraced the proposed change. Remember when he was - what was it, "suspended?" for a few days and then came back and acted like a petulant child, speaking in a complete monotone? Yeah, another genius move on his part. Real "rock star" behavior there.

The worst part though was when he tried to sing, it was just horrible. I'll never forget the interview with Brian May and Dave says he can still hit the high note and I cringed, hoping he didn't try to prove it. Cause the high note he hears inside his head ain't what the rest of us hear.

Now, having said all that you'd think I wasn't a fan at all. Not true. I just realized really quickly that spending hours and hours listening to Dave ramble on is nothing like spending 12 minutes reading a giant interview the guy did in 1985 or watching a three minute Mtv interview - Dave is best in small doses. And if there had been anybody guiding the ship while Dave was on the air they would have structured the show to reflect that.

If you listen to some of the newer Roth Shows, you'll hear a lot of music mixed in between Dave's talking. It spaces things out and makes it more listenable than a straight 40 minute diatribe on the history of wrestling. Excuse me, 90 minutes of the history of wrestling. Now, if Dave's radio show had been more structured and maybe have some music tossed in - songs, not Dave screeching over whatever loop is playing - things might have worked out better for the short time the guy was gonna be on the air.

Sometimes freewheelin' isn't such a good idea.

[Terry]

It was just...look, I'm a longtime fan of Dave's. I dug his autobiography. He has a history of giving funny and insightful interviews as far as rock stars go.

4 hours at a shot of Roth rambling on about subjects outside of the music business, something that Roth actually knows about, was just a bad decision. Especially in terms of hosting a morning radio talk show in 2006. By that point, Roth was 2 decades past his career peak. And as mentioned in the posts above, Roth didn't exactly have a solid cast surrounding him on his radio show. If anything, the type of radio show Roth COULD have done well with would have been a rock-centric/themed show that should have been on a satellite channel with a specialized or narrowly targeted audience in mind.

It's one thing for those of us at this site to appreciate what Dave did on his radio show, but we're not really representative of the broader public who listened to morning radio in 2006...who for the most part probably hadn't even thought of Roth for a couple of decades by the time 2006 rolled around.

[Seshmeister]

4 hours of anyone talking with no music and few guests 5 times a week is impossible. How could that ever work ever?

The only question at this point is was CBS incredibly fucking stupid or was he set up to fail?

[cadaverdog]

4 hours of anyone talking with no music and few guests 5 times a week is impossible. How could that ever work ever?

The only question at this point is was CBS incredibly fucking stupid or was he set up to fail?

It seems like CBS was more concerned with not pissing off Howard Stern than replacing him with someone or something that might actually interest listeners. As if they were worried Howard would turn them into public enemy number one with his fans. Since Roth and Stern were friendly if not actually friends they probably assumed Howard would hesitate to bad mouth Roth and turn his (Stern) fans against him and his show. I wonder how much influence Stern had on Roth while he was actually doing the show and if he purposely turned Dave against CBS to kill the show without looking like he back stabbed Dave.

[twonabomber]

The only question at this point is was CBS incredibly fucking stupid or was he set up to fail?

CBS was stupid to think that talk could work once Stern left. They would have been better off syndicating more morning zoo shows.

One of Dave's on-air crew told me "absolutely!" when I asked if he felt they were set up to fail.

[twonabomber]

It seems like CBS was more concerned with not pissing off Howard Stern than replacing him with someone or something that might actually interest listeners. As if they were worried Howard would turn them into public enemy number one with his fans. Since Roth and Stern were friendly if not actually friends they probably assumed Howard would hesitate to bad mouth Roth and turn his (Stern) fans against him and his show. I wonder how much influence Stern had on Roth while he was actually doing the show and if he purposely turned Dave against CBS to kill the show without looking like he back stabbed Dave.

Stern didn't really talk much about Dave early on, other than reporting on the bad ratings and reviews. He sent his "news team" to deal with it.

AND CBS wasn't too concerned about pissing off Stern, they sued him around the same time he started at Sirius. He did go off on CBS about that. Once they settled there wasn't a word spoken about it.

[Terry]

CBS would have been better off just turning over the various local stations Stern had been on over to local or regional "morning zoo" crews.

Because that's what people would have adjusted to with much more ease than transitioning to Roth. Plus, while you would have lost a percentage of Stern's audience, you would have picked up some listeners in those areas who never listened to Stern but would have given a locally-based morning zoo crew a chance, solely based on content. The content being a substantive amount of TMZ-style commentary over wacky local crime log police happenings, + promotions for local upcoming events. Then a couple of segments of national celebrity news and take a few listener phone calls. You have a primary host (or maybe two co-hosts), a sidekick, an underling, an on-air producer and a chick in terms of the cast. It is the same template in terms of casting for virtually every morning radio show. A template that Stern basically invented.

Wherever Stern was career-wise in terrestrial radio by 2006 (if he had 'peaked' years before or whatever), Stern was still the gold standard in 2006. You don't replace him with David Lee Roth. Mostly because David Lee Roth likes to talk on and on and on about one thing: himself. Stern is no humble wallflower, but Stern also knew when to let guests talk, when to let his supporting cast chime in and riff, etc.

I suppose the money that was being offered was something that Dave couldn't pass up, but I thought it was a bad idea from the day it was announced. Mostly because you have to be a REALLY diehard Roth fan to WANT to hear him talk for hours on end. Like, as I said I think Roth is perhaps one of the most entertaining rock star interview subjects ever, but you keep it in moderation: you give him his hour to talk, then you move on. Somebody at CBS confused Roth's ability to talk and talk and talk with being enough to sustain a radio show that immediately followed Stern's departure, but there's more to hosting a decent morning radio show than the ability to talk nonstop.

[twonabomber]

I think WNCX is on their 8th morning show since Stern left. I'd have to look it up to verify.

[Terry]

I think WNCX is on their 8th morning show since Stern left. I'd have to look it up to verify.

There are so fucking many of them, but not that many good ones. Lot of 2nd, 3rd and 4th rate Stern wannabes and even the ones that aren't trying to be the next Howard Stern show are pretty lame. Plus you have all these lame-o podcasts and internet chat shows. Too many people talking to the point where sifting through it all to find a good one really isn't worth the bother. It's seemingly fairly easy to start up a morning show/podcast when thinking of some of the ones I've heard, but apparently not so easy to develop a good one.

I mean, honestly, how many different mediocre morning zoo shows with a white male in his mid 40s talking about sex, boobs and farts in a manner that only a 12 year old male would find funny does America need? Even Stern slowly grew out of that shit with the turn of the millennium.

[twonabomber]

I mean, honestly, how many different mediocre morning zoo shows with a white male in his mid 40s talking about sex, boobs and farts in a manner that only a 12 year old male would find funny does America need? Even Stern slowly grew out of that shit with the turn of the millennium.

And that's funny about Stern. He's gone full-blown animal activist since he got remarried. Doesn't eat meat any more, and gives his staff a hard time for eating meat. This, after years of bashing Don Imus for running a ranch where sick children go to play cowboy. Others get all wound up because Stern only works three days a week, when he once said that not being on the air live five days a week "is a disservice to your listeners." And don't get some of the fans started on "Hamptons Howie."

[Seshmeister]

Ironically considering the fan wars at the time, I now listen to the Opie show sometimes...

[Seshmeister]

And that's funny about Stern. He's gone full-blown animal activist since he got remarried.

His trophy wife looks a bit like Beavis sister...

[twonabomber]

I mean, honestly, how many different mediocre morning zoo shows with a white male in his mid 40s talking about sex, boobs and farts in a manner that only a 12 year old male would find funny does America need? Even Stern slowly grew out of that shit with the turn of the millennium.

I checked, WNCX has had six different post-Stern morning shows. Seems like eight because the lead guy was replaced a couple times.

On November 7, 2011, radio personality Slats (Tim Guinane), formerly heard on WNCX rival WMMS and WNCX sister station WXTM (now WKRK-FM), took over the WNCX morning shift. Slats' program is the sixth different morning show to air on WNCX following Stern's move to Satellite in 2006.

I don't listen to terrestrial much. Slats does some commercials for a local RAM dealer and every sentence ends with "man." "RAM trucks are great, man!"

Ironically considering the fan wars at the time, I now listen to the Opie show sometimes...

I hear it's better without Anthony but I don't listen. If I'm on my week off of work, if Stern isn't on, I'm listening one of the music channels. I'm regressing into my New Wave origins, been listening to First Wave a lot.

[Terry]

And that's funny about Stern. He's gone full-blown animal activist since he got remarried. Doesn't eat meat any more, and gives his staff a hard time for eating meat. This, after years of bashing Don Imus for running a ranch where sick children go to play cowboy. Others get all wound up because Stern only works three days a week, when he once said that not being on the air live five days a week "is a disservice to your listeners." And don't get some of the fans started on "Hamptons Howie."

Well, the words "Don Imus" have always been a sparking point with Stern. Any time those words were mentioned, I'd start laughing because you knew Stern was gonna lose it and just go ballistic.

Stern realized ten years ago that terrestrial radio was getting too clogged with pale imitations of his show, so he went to satellite. I'd have to imagine he's got enough "fuck you" money now not to care, and he's only still doing his show because he WANTS to. And Howard's going to do the show HE wants to do, like he always has. Some fans whine about Stern hosting American Idol and selling out, or claiming Stern has become too pc, or whatever. But he's just getting older. He's not the same Stern he was in the early 1980s. That's not necessarily a criticism - if Stern were still doing poop jokes and going on at length about how he likes to watch lesbian strippers get it on, fans would bitch about how Howard has been doing the same thing forever rather than bitching about how he has changed. So fuck the fans.

I mean, personally I think the show lost a bit of edge when Artie left, but Stern still pulls off some good interviews now and then. Even beyond that, Stern has nothing left to prove...or to innovate. There's not much left TO innovate within that morning radio talk show template anyway. In the end, it just boils down to what it always has: the show is about Stern talking about himself and his views on whatever. And you either find that of interest or you don't.

[Terry]

His trophy wife looks a bit like Beavis sister...

I guess that means I want to fuck Beavis' sister, cuz I think she's hot.