Posted on 04/21/2006 6:09:30 PM PDT by ovrtaxt
Well, that didn't take long. Rocker-turned-radio host David Lee Roth, who accepted the no-win task of replacing ratings king Howard Stern in January, was bounced from the airwaves Friday after barely three months on the air in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and four other markets.
"I was booted, tossed, and it's going to cost somebody," Roth said on his last show, intimating that his lawyers would go after CBS Radio for the full compensation due from his reported $4 million contract. The timing of the move was interesting: It arrived just days before the Roth show's first Arbitron numbers.
CBS Radio spokeswoman Shavonne Harding said the company would have an announcement soon on its plans. She declined any other comment, and would not say who will replace the former Van Halen frontman on Monday's morning drive time shift.
Roth said he was only told about the syndicated show's demise while riding in a car to the WFNY-FM studios in Manhattan.
His replacements, in a hiring fraught with bizarre subplots, will be shock jocks Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia - currently available only to the 6.5 million listeners on XM satellite radio.
"Apparently we can talk about it now. So much for keeping a lid on this," the pair said Friday on their show's Web site. "The Opie and Anthony show will be replacing David Lee Roth in several markets on CBS Radio Free-FM stations."
Opie and Anthony's syndicated show was yanked from terrestrial radio in August 2002 after airing a live account of listeners having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral. The company that silenced the duo was the same one that just hired them back, CBS Radio.
It also puts the pair in the slot long dominated by Stern, who feuded with Opie and Anthony for years before leaving for Sirius Satellite Radio. And it reverses the trend of satellite looting traditional radio for talent. Instead, CBS Radio is reaching out to satellite radio for syndicated programming.
"What they're doing is switching to a proven act," said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. "This is a group with a pedigree. I would think the stations involved are very happy about this."
There is no word on when the Opie and Anthony show will debut on CBS Radio. The Associated Press was told the pair will do three hours on both XM and CBS, and two additional hours exclusively for the satellite audience.
In addition to New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Opie and Anthony will reportedly air in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Dallas.
Further proof of how strange the O&A move was: Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, who demanded the pair's dismissal after the St. Patrick's scandal, issued a statement wishing the pair well.
"(They've) made it clear they regretted the St. Patrick's stunt," said Donohue, who appeared as a guest on the pair's XM show. "In short, the Catholic League hopes Opie and Anthony have a great run on CBS Radio."
Roth had a 2 year guaranteed contract of $8 million. Those CBS guys are geniuses.
Boppity-boppity-boop!....Ditty-boo-- *whitenoise*
That's a good contract for him but it's no big loss to CBS. They had planned on Roth building an audience faster. It never materialized. Opie and Anthony are a riot.
And FWIW... listening to Anthony or Jimmy talking about politics you get a lot of things you'd hear on FR. They're not afraid of muslims or charges of racism.
Frankly, I'm looking forward to O&A. They usually were good for some laughs. Roth was boring and until recently, his entire show ran with a bed so it sounded like a commercial. Not to mention they got rid of that illiterate guy "Animal" who talked like he had 3 toofthes and a thiread grud educamition.
(SIC)
As unnecessarily crude as he was, I still think Bubba the Love Sponge was the best shock jock I ever heard.
Just a gigolo
on the radio
and everywhere I go
people know the part
I'm playing
Paid for every glance
selling out to chance
every day my heart was
hardened to real lovin
There will come a day
libearals will pass away
then what will they say
about it
When the end comes I know
they'll say again no no
as the lieing goes on
without me
'Cause I aint got job
nobody nobody cares for me
I'm so rich and homely
rich and homely rich and homely
Won't some sweet mama
come and take a chance with me
cause I aint so bad
Get along with me babe,
been lyin in the mic
All of the time
Even only me, oh i gotta pee
Bop bozadee bozadee bop zitty bop
I ain't got nobody cept money and love
Hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla boobuhla
hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla bop
I ain't got nobody, nobody,
nobody cares for me
Nobody , nobody
I'm so rich and homely,
rich and homely,
rich and homely,
Won't some sweet mama come
and take a chance with me
cause I aint so bad
Get along with me babe,
been lying in the mic
All of the time
Even only be, honey only, only be
Daaaaaaaaave's so sad and lonely....
Funny, but poetically sad. Eminem you aint!
:)
What bugged me about DLR's show was I couldn't tell when it was him or the woman talking on the show. :P
I thought Dave was going to be America's Favorite Game Show Host.
Guess i'll never be a rapper oh well no loss on my end
I hate that stuff anyway
Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth?
I'll take Eddie casually noodling around on his guitar on a lazy afternoon first. Singers are only there so chicks will buy the CDs too.
You're right overtaxt... Eddie's the band... The singer makes no difference.
Well, my comment about chicks buying the CDs was tongue in cheek- but really- Eddie and Alex pretty much make the whole thing fly.
Hagar was a lot different than Roth, and the music reflected that. I would expect any singer to bring a bit of themself to the mix- but overpowering Eddie's musical presence is a lost cause.
I saw them both with Roth and Hagar, and I think the band was greatest with the original group.
They probably all need to retire... both Eddie and Roth look like a couple miles of bad road. They used to be so cute ;~D
Probably Bush's fault.
lol!!!!
Maybe Les Moonves can work for Homeland Security.
Put together the finest minds in order to solve that sticky situation on the So. border.
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