Here in southeast Michigan, it seems like every single radio station has a morning show that pairs a fairly normal guy with someone who is, shall we say, not exactly a high-wattage bulb. I’m sure that Dopers in my area will recognize the following morning shows:
101.1 WRIF, the local rock station, has The Drew and Mike Morning Show. Mike is a pothead with plenty of opinions, none of which are very informed. Drew is the straight man.
Alice 106.7, the 80’s music station, has The Davis and Darla Morning Show. Darla is this really airheaded woman, and Mark Davis is her straight-man partner.
Oldies 104.3, the (wait for it) oldies station, has Dick Pertin (sp?) and Pertin’s People. Dick Pertin is a radio guy who’s been on the air since Andrew Jackson was president. He surrounds himself with a bunch of lackeys who seem to exist mainly to set up jokes.
Do other Dopers see this same Smart Guy/Stupid Guy pattern in their areas? Is this the standard format for all radio morning shows, or did all of the radio stations in my area just steal the idea behind one successful show?
Here in Savannah (and a lot of the southeast) we get The Lex and Terry Show. Basically, “The Man Show” for the radio: sex, sports, sex, fart & dick jokes, sex, etc. Not bad for the most part, but during the time I listen (on the way to work), it’s always the sports segment for which I do not give a flaming rat’s ass.
Before that was The Ron and Ron Show. Basically part-Man Show/part-Howard Stern. The show was unceremoniously cancelled when their syndicator was bought out.
I think the fact that almost all morning radio shows seem obliged to follow this pattern (sometimes mixing it up in terms of gender)–as well as a ton of other “joke” features, promotions, contests, “wacky” antics, etc.-- is the main reason I only listen to NPR in the morning. Oh, and the fact that this this horsing around usually means less music.
I think it is more of a straight man-comedian thing. But sometimes you get two guys who both do the bits or the news reader (usually female) plays the straight man role. I guess they got that idea from Stern.
Don and Mike: obnoxious jerk and laid back lackey. Not funny. Are they still around?
Tuttle and Klein (in Birmingham): two smarmy guys. Can’t tell them apart. Not funny.
Johnboy and Billy: Redneck and nerdy guy. Not funny.
Rick and Bubba: good ol’ boys who talk about how fat they are a lot. Can’t tell them apart either. Not funny.
I hate wacky morning zoo crew shows, no damn originality. When I listen in the morning, less and less, it’s on NPR. I’m with you ArchiveGuy.
I listen to Morning Edition, but the guy at the next desk has Lex & Terry on - every once in a while, he turns it up to share a tidbit. It’s like eavesdropping in a junior high school locker room - and those guys get paid for that?? Whatever…
There’s a classic rock station here that makes it a point to play music in the morning, with minimal DJ time. I listen to that most of the time, esp. the Beatles commute. The other rock stations have their own schlock jocks and they suck as bad as the pablum music they play. I tried listening to some talk shows, but after a month or two of Imus in the Morning, I realized he wasn’t saying much of anything and was always trying to hock some crap, plus I didn’t understand his whole urban cowboy schtick. NPR is touch and go too, sometimes good, sometimes bland. I pretty much thank my stars when the commute is over and the radio is off.
We get “The Spud Brothers” on one of our rock stations. This is also a sort of “Man Show” for the radio. Since I leave for work just before it starts, I get to hear the snippets that they air from the previous day’s show.
On the alternative rock station we get “Byl and Doug.” (yes, that’s how they spell “Bill”). I can’t really compare them to much of anything else that more people would be familiar with. They cater to the college-age twentysomething crowd (I’m 32 but I still listen to them since I get turned off by the “Man-Show”-esque theme of the other show.)
Our classic rock station airs Bob and Tom. I personally don’t see what’s so funny about these guys. A friend of mine loves them and has a huge collection of MP3 excerpts from the show. To be fair I listened to a few of them, but I just couldn’t get into it. The constant chuckling I found to be rather annoying.
If I had to pick one of the three it would be the Byl and Doug show.
Ugh, I’ve heard Lex & Terry before. They actually caused me to find another radio station. My husband felt the same way, so I know it wasn’t just a girl thing. I don’t like morning shows because they’re rarely funny.
I hate “buddy radio”. In Chicago, anyone who truly listens for the music listens to WXRT. There’s some light chit-chat between the morning guy and the news girl, but none of that canned, phony crap. Mostly music and discussions about music. It’s the best station around. We also have a classic rock station that goes easy on the commercials. I listen to that a little too.
Wow, Dick Purtan is still on the radio? I remember him on 95.5 when I was growing up in the Detroit area in the '80’s, and even then he had been around forever.
Anyway, I hate morning radio shows. I don’t like talk radio in general, but I especially hate morning shows with a passion. Plus, I’m not a morning person so I’m usually pissed off and in no mood to listen to their inane chatter. They are all the same - usually called “the morning zoo” with two main hosts, and a bunch of peripheral characters (the intern, the traffic girl, the sound engineer, and a few other hangers-on with no clear role at the station). I hardly listen to my car radio in the morning. I turn it on and go through the stations and if all I hear is talk, I turn it off again. Repeat every ten minutes.
I gave up listening to morning-drive radio when I realized I was only getting three songs an hour, with half of the rest being commercials and the other half moronic DJ bibble-babble.
Charlotte has Bob and Sheri. They’re syndicated nationwide. They’re both funny, and the team’s unusual in that Bob’s the longtime radio guy who’s a bit of an asshole sometimes, while Sheri’s definitely his equal and sometimes his superior in wit. They’re cool.
Agree with you about John-Boy and Billy. Not funny and sometimes disappointingly nasty, like their parody of “It’s Hip to be Queer” (sung to the Huey Lewis song)
Living in southwestern Ontario, I’ve heard all of these guys. I’d say Drew and Mike are both idiots.
You know, I’ve been listening to Alice recently, and I haven’t heard Davis and Darla. Not that I’m complaining, as Darla’s laugh threatens to liquefy my brain.
A question (ok, hijack): are all of these shows (the ones that truly fit the mold that we’re sketching out here) just knock-offs of the Howard Stern show? That is, did Howard come up with this oft-imitated format? I know many of the key aspects of the shows (they attempt to come off as a couple of guys just hanging out in the studio, cracking jokes, as opposed to the way that the broadcasters of old acted, for instance) are said to have originated with Howard’s shows, but did he really inspire all these other shows?
That’s what Howard would like you to believe. But does it really matter who was the first wacky DJ? Does anyone outside of the dj’s themselves really care? I don’t, and I’ve gotten really tired of Howard spending half his show complaining about how he invented this particular radio format and how all the other dj’s in the country have stolen all of their bits and routines from him and have never given him the proper credit or respect that he deserves.
having conquered both morning drive and afternoon drive-time slots, Don & Mike have moved to the late morning-early afternoon time slot 11:00-3:00PM, although some stations do the show on tape delay.
I think they aren’t that bad, and I love Buzz’s news and comment.
Yep Don And Mike are still around they are syndicated to many stations anc can be heard in NYC on 102.7 WNEW in the late morning/early afternoon between WNEW’s morning show (Some sports show) and Opie and Anthony.