The Roth Radio Countdown Begins

[POJO_Risin]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
updated December 24, 2005

David Lee Roth Taking over for Stern in Eastern and Midwestern Markets
10 days until Diamond Dave rolls onto FREE FM
(A.P.) Hell, Mich. - Roth Army World Headquarters


On January 3rd, David Lee Roth ventures into a new land, a place quite a bit different from Rock and Roll hero. Or is it?

Roth rolls into the New York studios formally inhabited by Howard Stern to take over his radio shows in the big Eastern and Midwestern markets. That's right, the innovator of Rock and Roll frontmen takes over for the innovator of shock jocks. And since that day in early November, many questions have popped up. Will Roth follow the same format as Stern? Will Roth be able to hold a conversation for four hours every day that aren't about, well, Roth? Can Roth bring his singular wit from millions of interviews into the booth every day? Can Roth last longer than a month before blowing up? How long before Roth brings in 3 midgets with Ed, Al and Michael nametags on? Is Roth done as a lead singer for a solo career...or even in a reunion with the VanHalenellis?

The answer to all those questions? Who the fuck knows. But what we all know...and haven't said...is...this move fits Roth for many reasons. Remember, this is the same guy that fronted Van Halen when they actually meant something. This is the same guy that's traveled the globe climbing mountains, skydiving and banging bush women in Africa. This is the same guy that stopped doing his normal gig as successful lead singer of a rock and roll band to put together a Vegas show a la Sinatra. This is the same guy that brought MTV to it's knees in 1996 by walking out with his former band and showing the world that just showing up for Roth was bigger than any other band's performance. This is the same guy that toured with the one guy (Bette Hagar) that he said he'd never tour with just to make the Van Halens (and ultimately Hagar) look like morons. This is the same guy that took the call to arms as an EMT in NY, because he wanted to. This is the same guy that played with the Boston POPS on the 4th of July. This is the same guy that is currently trying to get his helicopter pilot's license because of the movie MASH. This is the same guy that does whatever the fuck he wants to, whenever the fuck he wants to. No, it doesn't always work, but nobody's ever going to say that Roth died without living his life his way.

So, with less than 2 weeks until Dave rolls over the airwaves every day, we here at the Roth Army World Headquarters are done wondering whether this is a good thing...a bad thing...or something in between. We'll leave that to the rest of the mobs, who some surprisingly (including me over the past months) think this is a mistake for Roth. Well fuck it, what we are going to say is this. David Lee Roth is entering a land that for some fucking reason, seems to fit him. Whether it's because Stern's on air persona always reminded us of Roth in some fucked up way, or whether it's because Roth's on and off air persona just fits this style of DJ to a T. Whatever it is, Roth being chosen for this gig is neither a surprise, nor something that seems to be a strange fit.

The only thing we can say here at the Army is we're about to come out of a long, dry spell of Roth news smack into 4 hours daily of Dave FM. And any of you that caught a glimpse of the 80's Dave TV knows, this is going to be one fucking wild ride. And c'mon...Roth on air for 4 fucking hours a day? How long will it be before he starts spouting off about a certain band, and a certain singer, who all just can't find a way to keep their mouths shut. Well, guess what, the biggest mouth in the business has 4 hours a day. So I guess you could say...game on...

You know...there is something oddly familiar about Roth doing "his show standing up. Wearing army boots..." as he said in a New York Times Interview...

Something oddly familiar indeed...

For Links to News on Roth's new DJ career, click the links below:

New York Times Article by Robin Finn

Eddie a rumored guest?

MTV Article on Roth taking over for Stern

Brief article on Roth and the NY Times article and Entertainment Weekly

Akron-Beacon Journal's article on Howard leaving, and Dave taking his place

[Rebel]

I hope all the best for him, wish him all the success, because if this is what he wants, I hope he does well.

Just sucks that he won't be on out West. If it takes off, maybe new markets will open up for him.

[POJO_Risin]

We'll just have to wait and see...

you'd have to believe that if there's anyone of the many that are taking over for Stern that will bring back Stern fans...

it will be Roth...

We'll see though...

[Rebel]

Yea, I agree on that.

One thing I read somewhere, is that they don't want a single DJ to gain a "monopoly" of sorts like Stern did. DLR is a loooooong way from anything like that, but I really hope it doesn't limit the markets he'll get exposed to.

I just find it very strange that he won't be on the West coast, I figured that would be the first place they would put him on.

[POJO_Risin]

Funny though Reb...I think that Roth's mentality fits the NorthEastern mentality more than the Left coast...

I really do think there will end up being only a couple of DJ's when it's all said and done...but we'll see...

[Rebel]

Yea, maybe so, I just always think of VH, DLR and all in that "West Coast" mentality or whatever. I guess VH's popularity doesn't have much to do with deciding Roth's markets.

[DLR7884]

I'm not a huge fan of this move for Dave, but without a doubt I support his decision and look forward to getting my ass out of bed to listen to him every morning.

DLR7884
Gotta find a station in my area though.

[POJO_Risin]

You can get it streamed online...I'll have to get the link...

but his show will be online...

[Northern Girl]

Re: The Roth Radio Countdown Begins

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
For News on Roth's new DJ career, click the link below:

New York Times Article by Robin Finn

The article has already been archived. If you don't want to register to read it, here it is:

A Studio for the Coolest Guy in the Room

By ROBIN FINN

Published: December 16, 2005

LIVE large. Vent large. David Lee Roth, attired in several layers of urban black outerwear and very much at home in this penthouse suite at the W New York hotel, is doing both. And no, that's not the air-conditioning that's inexplicably cranked up: He has, on purpose, left the door to the patio wide open to admit the frigid evening air. Bracing! Similar to a large dose of him.

No wonder the prognosticators at Infinity Broadcasting are giving Diamond Dave with his singular pair of lungs - he calls his voice the audio version of ripped, wrinkled and rowdy vintage blue jeans or, in Japanese: wabi-sabi - a crack at reinventing himself next month behind a microphone in Howard Stern's kingless kingdom.

"The Hollander brothers are adventurous, danger-loving visionaries for hiring a guy like me," Mr. Roth announces. "I'm getting total control! Such an aberration in this industry! As an artist, this is a pre-eminent performance!" (Yes, he's excited about the new job.)

Would it be uncool to ask how come the wintry temperature en suite? Or to ask why the heck the former mouthpiece of Van Halen, the now-estranged assemblage known for hits like "Jump," "Panama" and "Runnin' With the Devil," slaps on a baseball cap and a moderately menacing headset before he acquiesces to having his picture taken? Maybe, but who cares? Not him. Turns out he is a tad sensitive about his unkempt mousy brown hair; the headset is a leftover from helicopter flying today in proud pursuit of a pilot's license he has craved since he read and watched "M*A*S*H."

Between bouts of self-generated hysteria - refreshing to see a guy from the jaded, celebrity side of the coin still able to get such a kick out of himself - he is a virtual open book, and even offers up, unsolicited, his bedside manner: "It's not who you sleep with," warns the never-married Mr. Roth, "it's who wants to sleep with you again." No fooling.

Best to get back to the weather in here. The patio door to the Great Outdoors is open because Mr. Roth, effervescent and vociferously verbal at 51 despite being 20 years past his rock-star prime, is a fresh air freak, even with the temperature hovering at freezing. Press him and he is liable to display slides of his treks to the Himalayas, New Guinea and other exotic spots.

To fend off the chill, his sips from a glass mug of black coffee are interspersed with giddier gulps from a tiny bottle of Courvoisier: Mr. Roth is no stranger to the joys of minibars. Besides, he has protocol on his side: "Oh please, it's Happy Hour," he rasps.

It is terminally clear who the coolest person in the room is: him, even if he did chop off his peroxide gold, titan-of-old-school-rock mane last year when the enlistment bug hit and he joined up, in quasi-anonymity, as an emergency medical technician. Talk about your unanticipated career segue. Now, he's metamorphosing again. Only this time, he's banking on his rocker reputation and talk is his new currency.

Same voice: "I think I'm the one single voice who has united the liberal left with the Nascar voting bloc," he says of the audience for his music, which encompasses six multiplatinum Van Halen albums and eight solo releases. Different gig: Mr. Roth is just a few weeks from taking over what he describes as "the hottest seat in American radio," Mr. Stern's at WXRK-FM, a job for which he deems himself uniquely qualified: Sure he can sing, but as a conversationalist, just wait, he will knock your socks off.

Not to digress - a specialty of Mr. Roth's, whose conversation has much in common with a ricocheting bullet - but his willingness to ingratiate himself with his not-as-hip interlocutor is less flattering than might be expected.

"Come on, I can bond with a fire hydrant," he says, explaining his faith in his conversational prowess. "I can interview a Dalmatian," he adds. "It's about the capacity to entertain, like at a really good Algonquin table. I've got a fourth-degree black belt in conversation; I think in bold caps!" Obviously.

HE is not, by the way, out to attempt anything so gauche as to replace Mr. Stern. "I'm not the new Howard," Mr. Roth says. "Your editorial bias is entirely based on your memories, and I couldn't think of more diverse backgrounds than between the two of us. The only thing I have distinctly in common with Howard is a wicked sense of humor. And Hanukkah."

Mr. Roth grew up in Indiana, and after his father attended medical school on the G.I. Bill, the family moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he encountered the Van Halen brothers and attended integrated schools, his explanation for cultivating a voice that "on a good day sounds like it belongs to a 75-year-old black guy." Muhammad Ali, James Brown and Errol Flynn (because he always got the girl) were templates; so was the Scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz." Mr. Roth, who has an East Side apartment and an East Village office, values his brain.

His 6-to-10-a.m. slot starts Jan. 3 at the newly dubbed FREE FM, his home studio in New York City. (The first guest is his Uncle Manny Roth, who ran the storied Cafe Wha in Greenwich Village.) His only diva-esque request for revamping Mr. Stern's space was the installation of a 10-by-10-foot patch of parquet floor. He is an incorrigible pacer - "I call it Dave's famous walk to nowhere" - and plans to do his show standing up. Wearing army boots.

Go figure.

[diamondsgirl]

I am pretty excited about this and you just know Dave is too. He knows how tough it will be to follow Stern, and he is up for the challange and the risk. Gotta love that about Dave.

After hearing his show here in Boston, I can't wait for folks to hear what Dave can bring to any topic. And thats the cool thing. We get to hear whats going on inside his head on all sorts of stuff.

[jero]

Dave can do that!

[bantonelli]

PoJo....What a brilliant way to some it all up - I applaud your article...ALL ABOUT DAVE.

I, too, have felt somewhat reserved about Radio endeavor, but let's see. Assuming this is all part of his Huck Finn Adventure....
I applaud Dave and will try to stream Dave on the internet since he won't be reaching our airwaves here in the west.

Buh Bye to Howard Stern and HELLO MR. GIGOLO !

[POJO_Risin]

I do what I can...

[fuckhowardstern]

My prediction: Dave is going to be HUGE on the radio and eventually this site is going to slow down due to the massive increase in the number of hits it will receive and influx of new members posting on the boards.

[POJO_Risin]

You know...it's interesting...if this show is a hit...the Army could be as busy as it EVER was...