Morning radio shows

[cjk374]

All of the talk about AM radio fighting for survival got me to thinking about the morning radio shows I've heard over the years.

My 1st exposure to "shock-jock" radio was Magic 105 in Little Rock, AR with "The Outlaw" Tommy Smith and Big Dave.  They had a cast of characters that would make appearances during the show (Crawford & Fat Ass were a couple of characters on the Magic 105 show) and would talk about some of the damndest topics ranging from sexual behavior to local sports and politics.  It was all talk, no music, on this rock-music-playing station.

Now I'm subjected to a couple of nationally syndicated shows:  Walton & Johnson out of Houston, TX and The John Boy & Billy Big Show out of North Carolina.  Walton & Johnson are all conservative politics talk...& that gets old quick (even if I do agree with some of what they say).  The Big Show is humor with music played in between the skits (much more tolerable, especially when the music is classic rock! )

I've listened to other national shows:  Bob & Tom (always good for a laugh); Lex & Terry (boring); Kid Craddick (not the same since Kid passed over a year ago).  But I usually enjoy the local station's morning DJs with mostly music with the occasional news, weather or traffic report.

What about y'all?  What do you have locally?

[1995hoo]

I used to listen to John Boy and Billy when I lived in North Carolina, but they aren't on here. (The day Raiford used the word "Negro" in one of his monologues pretty much confirmed no station here will air the Big Show.)

I hardly ever listen to AM or FM radio except for the traffic and weather or if I want to listen to a baseball or hockey game when the Nationals or Capitals are on the road. (Home games, I can listen on XM, but XM only carries the home team's feed, so if they're on the road and I'm not, I listen via FM.)

Elliot in the Morning originates from DC-101 (WWDC 101.1-FM). The Greaseman used to originate from that station, replacing Howard Stern after he went to New York, and later moved to another local station, 94.7-FM, but was fired there after a comment about dragging blacks behind trucks.

[vdeane]

Every morning when driving to work I listed to the FLY Morning Rush (WFLY 92.3).  They include such wonderful weekly segments as Text Fail Theater, First World Problems (self explanatory; my favorite of all time is when a listener called in saying he didn't have time to uncover the pool at his house because he was spending too much time at his second home on Lake George), and Phat Tuesday (usually a freestyle rap about a listener; the one I linked too is a little different).  Occasionally they'll have a really whacky contest.  The "pooing is cool" crowd should enjoy Emoji Flashcards.  The best clips from the week are rebroadcast Saturday and Sunday morning as the "FLY Weekend Rush".

I love my morning commute.

[bing101]

Armstrong and Getty on KSTE-AM Sacramento

Sarah and Vinnie on KLLC-FM Alice San Francisco.

[Scott5114]

I never got why the morning dial is near-devoid of music. Everyone's gotta blab. I really don't care for Bob & Tom especially, since their humor is a bit too obvious for my tastes. At least these days you have the option of MP3s if you want music.

Back when I worked graveyard, I would listen to NPR Morning Edition on my morning commute home. At least if I had to listen to talk, it was something bearing more of a resemblance to actual useful content than morning shock jock radio.

[02 Park Ave]

The best morning show is The Happy Gang on Zoomer Radio in Toronto.

They have friendly conversation and play nice music.

[bing101]

I never got why the morning dial is near-devoid of music. Everyone's gotta blab. I really don't care for Bob & Tom especially, since their humor is a bit too obvious for my tastes. At least these days you have the option of MP3s if you want music.

Back when I worked graveyard, I would listen to NPR Morning Edition on my morning commute home. At least if I had to listen to talk, it was something bearing more of a resemblance to actual useful content than morning shock jock radio.

NPR Morning Edition in My area happens to be both on KXJZ Sacramento and KQED San Francisco since I am in Solano County.
and I listen to that the most on my Morning drive to Sacramento. 

Renel does a morning drive on KISQ-FM the Oldies station in San Francisco, KFBK Sacramento does Drive Time news. Ryan Seacrest had the Number one Morning drive in Los Angeles on KIIS-FM.

[allniter89]

I enjoy Coast To Coast in the early morning hours. Initially I listened at a low volume to help me fall asleep, I'm one of those that lies in bed and thinks instead of falling asleep Often I find the topic interesting and listen for a couple hours.

[Pete from Boston]

I never got why the morning dial is near-devoid of music. Everyone's gotta blab.

I listen to a variety of 7-8am music shows on MIT's WMBR on my morning drive to work, including French Toast (odd variety of French-language pop), Pontoon Palace (odd variety of new and old more mainstream pop/rock), and The Scene (wired-in collection of psychedelic and garage rock from two friends of the station broadcasting out of England). 

If I have a later morning, there's the more hip Breakfast of Champions, with their 80s-now band of the week feature with a few songs and a little backstory at 8:30. 

All this drifts into the harder punk/garage/hardcore Late Risers' Club at 10.

And there are several other all-music options, all without commercial interruption.  We're kind of blessed with institutional support of good radio here, but you can take part too online.

Honestly, we all deserve better than commercial radio, and in the smartphone era, there's no reason to endure it.  Countless people are putting on great music radio shows every day.

[bing101]

What about Democracy now by Amy Goodman on Pacifica radio and seen nationally on Free Speech TV. What do you think of her show?

[Dr Frankenstein]

Any morning show hosted by Ted Bird on CHOM (97.7 Montreal) was great. Lots of good talk and jokes, mixed with a good choice of classic rock. The show changed names several times as his co-hosts came and went, and it all came to a sudden stop when he never came back from Christmas vacation a few years ago, due to disputes with the station's new owners.

I think he was replaced by Pete Marier, but he also ended up slamming the door later.

The current morning show there, hosted by Terry DiMonte, is pretty good, but it's just not the same.

[golden eagle]

We have a good local morning show in Jackson on Y101 named Nate and Murphy. I also listen to the local ESPN station's morning show, as well as the nationally syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show.

When I lived in Atlanta, I enjoyed listening to the Bert Show on Q100.

[cjk374]

Does "Moby in the Morning" still exist?  That was played when I was in college in the mid 90s.

[cpzilliacus]

I recall Howard Stern in his younger days in the early 1980's on WWDC-FM, 101.1 ("DC 101").

At first, he was funny, but he soon became repetitive and boring.

I have Sirius XM, but I do not pay extra for Stern.  He's just not worth it.

[OracleUsr]

I live just north of Charlotte, so we have the flagship station of John Boy and Billy (99.7FM) as well as two stations carrying Woody and Wilcox (106.5FM and 105.7FM).  I like the W&W show except for that "Fun with..." segment (they basically edit sports clips to make them sound dirty).

I lived in DC for just short of a year and couldn't stand Greaseman's voice.  It was like fingernails on a chalkboard.  Because of the proximity to Baltimore 98 Rock had Kirk Mark and Lopez, which was usually pretty funny (can't remember the frequency...97.9 maybe?).

[roadman65]

I miss Dave Herman on WNEW in NYC back when it was the place that Rock Lived.

Now I live in Orlando and we do not have much here.  I never was into that John Boy and Billy Big thing and the station who syndicated them here also a few weeks before picking them up stated that they loved their all music mornings with no shock jocks like WDIZ at the time had with Baxter and Mark and were proud to profess that.  Plus their laugh sounds more like a track than live anyway.

I used to like Z 88's morning show before Ellis and Tyler when that Scott Smith was co host with Teresa.  Teresa left abruptly and Tyler (who seems stupid as all she does is agree with her male partner and never offering opinions of her own and she does not know what it means to treat a signal out as a four way stop either) took over.  Then the male (I hate when I cannot remember a name that was always with me) left for California to become a DJ near Sacramento for Ellis to take over his spot.  I will edit it when it comes to me.

[jeffandnicole]

I was never one to care for the person who called in complaining about so & so, or wanted to play a practical joke on them, so the DJs would call the person up and pretend to be someone, and get the other person all worked up.  Granted, they're funny on occasion, but generally they become the same thing day in and day out, just a different subject.

I prefer music myself, where the XM comes in handy (and they have increased the morning talking on some of their music channels...which I thought is what people were trying to avoid by getting XM).  Or KYW1060 News Radio, whose morning team actually does have some playful banter on occasion. 

[cpzilliacus]

I lived in DC for just short of a year and couldn't stand Greaseman's voice.  It was like fingernails on a chalkboard.  Because of the proximity to Baltimore 98 Rock had Kirk Mark and Lopez, which was usually pretty funny (can't remember the frequency...97.9 maybe?).

Greaseman (Doug Tracht) was also unfunny and repetitive.  His voice did not especially bother me.

I liked the late Bob Lopez, a fixture on Baltimore radio for many years.  Yes, his station, WIYY ("98 Rock") is on 97.9, and it comes in well in many parts of the Washington, D.C. media market. 

[ET21]

Morning radio in Chicago (Talk radio in general) is complete shit.

I listen to Steve Dahl's podcasts instead. Much better entertainment

[golden eagle]

Does "Moby in the Morning" still exist?  That was played when I was in college in the mid 90s.

He's syndicated, but I think he's still based in the Atlanta area, though not on Kicks 101.5.

[cjk374]

I was never one to care for the person who called in complaining about so & so, or wanted to play a practical joke on them, so the DJs would call the person up and pretend to be someone, and get the other person all worked up.  Granted, they're funny on occasion, but generally they become the same thing day in and day out, just a different subject.

Roy D. Mercer by God!!!      

[roadman65]

I miss Dave Herman on WNEW in NYC back when it was the place that Rock Lived.

Now I live in Orlando and we do not have much here.  I never was into that John Boy and Billy Big thing and the station who syndicated them here also a few weeks before picking them up stated that they loved their all music mornings with no shock jocks like WDIZ at the time had with Baxter and Mark and were proud to profess that.  Plus their laugh sounds more like a track than live anyway.

I used to like Z 88's morning show before Ellis and Tyler when that Scott Smith was co host with Teresa.  Teresa left abruptly and Tyler (who seems stupid as all she does is agree with her male partner and never offering opinions of her own and she does not know what it means to treat a signal out as a four way stop either) took over.  Then the male (I hate when I cannot remember a name that was always with me) left for California to become a DJ near Sacramento for Ellis to take over his spot.  I will edit it when it comes to me.

Scott Smith was his name.  God I must be getting old if I cannot remember a simple name like Smith lol!

[realjd]

I passionately hate morning radio. No matter what city I'm in, the morning radio crews are either syndicated hosts reading reddit headlines or local idiots reading reddit headlines. Why did the radio industry decide that people don't want to listen to music on the mor img commute?

[cjk374]

I passionately hate morning radio. No matter what city I'm in, the morning radio crews are either syndicated hosts reading reddit headlines or local idiots reading reddit headlines. Why did the radio industry decide that people don't want to listen to music on the mor img commute?

I'd rather listen to music in the morning myself.  But somehow the syndicated morning show business makes $$, so we must be in the minority.