Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > November > 02
Friday, November 2, 2007
11/2: Star staff says goodbye to Steve & Vikki
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Above: the lobby features this monster-size version of the Atlanta magazine cover story about Steve & Vikki during their peak days in 2000
Steve & Vikki this morning wanted to do a regular morning show with minimal histrionics about the departure. They aired an interview with Steve Carell and brought in comic Kathleen Madigan like any other day. They didn’t take calls from listeners wishing them good luck and kept the goodbye brief and poignant. Radio is a cruel business and Steve isn’t leaving on his own terms, but at least Star gave them a chance to say goodbye to their listeners (unlike, say, the Regular Guys or Jimmy Baron or countless others.)
Their boss Mark Kanov wanted to give them a surprise. So he gathered about 25 people from the Star 94 staff into the lobby and brought them upstairs and held up signs saying “Star 94 will always love you Steve & Vikki.”
While Madigan (in studio to promote her Punchline appearance Friday and Saturday) was gabbing about “Cops” and “American Idol,” the staff walked into the studio. Here’s the audio.
Long-time news guy Rob Stadler opened with a speech. “You wanted today to be kind of low key,” he said. “It’s the end of an era.”
Steve offered a few words: “It’s kind of like being at your own funeral and you’re alive. It’s with mixed emotions. We understand the nature of the business. We hope we will be able to get by this. We thank you one and all that have been part of our lives at work and will continue to be friends, I hope.”
Vikki simply said, “Thank you.”
At about 9:30 a.m., I asked the pair if they’d like to talk but they both said they are worried about a clause in their contracts that says if they say anything disparaging about Star, they could lose their remaining pay and benefits (or worse). They don’t want to take any chances because they aren’t sure what could be construed as disparaging if they do talk to me. And they are under a six-month noncompete once their contracts are up at the end of the year. So they won’t feel comfortable talking until July. When I told them that Kanov said it was okay to talk, they passed. In this emotional situation, caution prevailed.
The final goodbye came at 9:43 a.m. Steve ended it with a live verson of “Your Song” Elton John did at Star a few years back.
“This is not the way I envisioned leaving,” Steve said, getting emotional. “I have no plans to retire.”
“Tragedy plus time equals comedy,” he later said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to laugh again.”
“We’ll going to be greeters at the Wal-Mart in Roswell,” Vikki joked. She handed Steve a poem by Kipling “If.”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much, If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Night-time jock Nudge even stopped by to wish them luck.
11/2: Tom Joyner Sky Show in Atlanta w/Cameo, Sinbad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is the fifth Tom Joyner Sky Show I’ve attended and they are revelation because Joyner turns the Civic Center into a huge party… at 6 a.m. in the morning. There are more than 3,500 people in this venue right now and as people cycle in and out, probably 5,000 plus end up popping by before 10 a.m. The parking lot is packed and as I arrived at 5:55 a.m., there was barely any spots left. Cameo is up on stage right now playing the group’s big crossover hit “Word Up.” Larry Blackmon, the lead singer and briefly the morning host at Kiss earlier this decade, is wearing a red hat, a shiny purple suit and a big red plastic plate over his crotch. It’s 1986 all over again as the entire crowd yelps “W-O-R-D Up!”
“There is no sleeping at the Sky Show,” Joyner pronounced. “If you’re tired, take your bad a** home!”
“If you’re out of school, this is old school, an old school party!” Joyner said.
Joyner remains hugely popular among older African Americans, pulling in 8 million listeners weekly on about 120 stations nationwide. Locally, on Kiss 104.1, he averages about 250,000 listeners a week and is the city’s third biggest morning show, behind only WSB-AM and V-103. Even the arrival of Steve Harvey last year hasn’t hurt him nearly as badly as you might think. Normally, his staff works out of different cities with Joyner helming from Dallas. But 20 times a year, they all get together on stage in different cities, also providing free entertainment. When I came by to pick up some media credentials yesterday at 5 p.m., there were already several people camping out to get the best seats this morning in the front. The front rows are dominated by women, Joyner’s primary audience.
“Some people have been up since the Stevie Wonder concert!” J. Anthony Brown cracked.
Joyner notes the water shortage. “This means you all need to shower together!” said Sybil Wilkes.
Other entertainment later this morning includes Angie Stone and comic Sinbad.
This show is no longer televised so “if you’re not supposed to be here, it’s okay,” Brown joked. The cameras are only for the room, Joyner noted.
The commercial breaks are packed with entertainment for the crowd. There’s never a break in the action for Joyner. His staff goes into the audience and holds contests to give away T-shirts and other memorabilia. He also uses this as a venue to get corporations to donate money to historically black colleges and the companies get to tote out those oversized checks for the grip-and-grin photos. This month’s beneficiary is Savannah State University.
A major sponsor of this show is Southwest Airlines, which is always amusing to me because this is one of the biggest cities in the country this airline does not serve.
