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Monday, January 28, 2008
1/29: Analyzing the Regular Guys
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Regular Guys — led by Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler — bring a complicated history for Rock 100.5. They still possess brand equity in this market and a past history of success. But over the past four years, they’ve been taken off the air twice for infractions. It’s amazing they have even been given a third chance. It’s amazing they are even back together.
The good points of this move:
The Regular Guys brings Rock 100.5 a drawing card, unlike the new Dave FM show with Zakk Tyler or the Morning Mess over at Star 94, which are fresh to the market.
They built a hugely popular show from 1998 to 2004, becoming one of the top shows among a broad men ages 18 to 54. Their formula, the closest to Howard Stern in Stern-less town, worked well and brought in huge bucks for 96rock. Wachs’ irascible nature and Von Haessler’s bemused observations off the news, on top of regular characters such as DUI lawyer George Stein and marble-mouth Ben the Bunnyman, provided an amusing tableau of male-friendly gab with no music. They became the face of the station and Cumulus is counting on the same situation here at a likely reduced price.
“Southside” Steve Rickman, who recently quit Eagle 106.7, is part of the team again. He was not included in Regular Guys 2.0 in 2005-06 and his absence hurt the show. The ponytailed Atlanta native was the Southern voice, the man of the people willing to make eight to 10 appearances a week at bars, car dealerships and strip clubs. He was the unmarried ladies man, the glad-hander and the one guy willing to be tortured by Wachs. And it’s nice to see the talented Tim Andrews land on his feet. He had landed a minor job at 99X, biding his time, and it worked to his advantage. (Listeners might remember him as “Porn Czar” on the Regular Guys but he may not use that moniker for the new incarnation.)
They are filling a void left by their own departure. There has been no real successful new male-oriented rock morning show in the Regular Guys’ absence. Dave FM had been in a holding pattern itself since it took Steve Barnes off the air in September 2006. The River has opted for a benign more music morning show with Lexie Kaye. And Project 9-6-1 just launched its new show in October with two unknowns, Giant Briant and Shaffee. Ironically, it was the failure of the second incarnation of 99X’s Morning X that paved the way for this change (as well as the massive success of the Bert Show at 100.5 which led to the signal swap.)
And after being off the air for 15 months, they could be hungry and willing to go the extra mile to ensure the show hits the ground running.
The potential sticking points:
Of the four rock stations, the Regular Guys will now be on the weakest signal, placing them at an instant disadvantage, especially for fans in Gwinnett County and the outer edges of the metro area.
Can the Wachs/Von Haessler coupling work again? The pair have had trouble finding radio jobs on their own and are back together despite the fact they aren’t exactly buddy buddy. In fact, after they lost their jobs the first two times, they both vowed never to work together again. But it’s safe to say this is all about the benjamins as the pair are more valuable together than separate.
Diminishing returns: the ratings when they first came back to 96rock in 2005-06 were only about two-thirds what they were getting during their peak days of 2001 to 2004. You could say if the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident hadn’t happened, 96rock might still exist instead of Project 9-6-1. Wachs in March of 2004, just a few weeks after the FCC began clamping down on sexually-explicit talk, decided to mock that by taping a porn star talking dirty, then airing it backwards. But a technical snafu led to the talk airing over an ad and the ensuing bad publicity forced Clear Channel’s hand. (Despite a few complaints, the FCC never fined 96rock.) The company yanked the Guys off the air, but paid out their contracts. Once the dust settled in 2005, the Regular Guys returned, briefly, to WGST-AM (a bad fit), then quietly stuck them back on 96rock. At that point, the show had to dispense with virtually anything sexual. In one sense, the show had already backed off on the stripper aspects even before 2004, but they still felt a bit neutered. They also failed to find a good replacement for Rickman, who had been working afternoons but lost his job at 96rock in the summer of 2006. In September, Wachs was wooing Rickman back but then the show hit another unforeseen snag: Wachs taped and aired sister station Viva’s morning team Yogi & Panda in the bathroom stalls at the station. The Hispanic comedy duo didn’t find this funny and sued Wachs and 96rock, demanding the Regular Guys be fired. This worked. Clear Channel fired them with cause and nixed their contracts. Oddly, this incident didn’t even have to do with an FCC violation. And lax management failed to nip what could have been an easily solvable problem in the bud.
Ultimately, Cumulus is going to have to make sure it has the right program director to delicately guide the Regular Guys. They can’t be too hands off or another Yogi & Panda incident could happen. But if they are hands on and don’t treat the pair with kid gloves, sparks could fly behind closed doors and possibly stifle the on-air product.
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1/28: Booted from the Regular Guys studio! (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sorry that I end up having to insert myself into the story but the Powers That Be at Q100/Rock 100.5 seem to have a knack for this:
Tim Andrews and the Regular Guys invited me to the radio studio this morning on the first day of the show’s third incarnation so I came up at about 8:30 a.m. I took a few pictures (below), then got kicked out by Cumulus Atlanta Market Manager Gary Lewis.
ABOVE: Eric, with a hat to hide his thinning hair.
ABOVE: “Southside” Steve, happy to be back home after a year at the Eagle.
ABOVE: Larry, wearing a wig.
The bosses decided it would be too distracting for me to be there - or something like that. In fact, I can’t even talk to Larry & Eric until they deem it okay. Eric was peeved and got into Gary’s face but Larry decided to play referee, apologized about misunderstanding Gary’s original missive and I was gone. (Larry said he only thought he wasn’t supposed to talk to me Sunday night.)
The first few songs on Rock 100.5 after the Regular Guys ended, by the way, were the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” the first song when 96rock launched more than 30 years ago. That was followed by “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith, “Paradise City” by Guns ‘n Roses, “Panama” by Van Halen and “Shine” by Collective Soul. In other words, the format is pretty much the old 96rock, no surprise there. They are playing four decades of music, from Jimi Hendrix in 1968 to 2007 hit by Daughtry “It’s Not Over.”
Gary Lewis (right) used to run Z93 from 1996 til around 2000. He was the man who dumped the Greaseman, and brought in Gary McKee and Charlie & Company. When I asked why he never brought in Howard Stern, he said Mel Karmizan simply told him no and he doesn’t really know why. (Conspiracy theorists have at it!)
Since I was the cause of the first tiff between management and the Regular Guys, I asked how they were going to manage the Regular Guys, who have been taken off the air twice already with Clear Channel. His response: “They are radio professionals. I believe there’s a definite understanding. We’ll give them all the latitude they need to make great radio.”
Will there be diminishing returns for a show that didn’t quite get back its ratings when it came back a second time at 96rock? He said the show, with “Southside” Steve back, is much better for it and he expects ratings will do as well as they did on the stronger 96.1 signal. “The whole signal issue gets overplayed,” he said.
The Regular Guys modus operandi is to mock the bosses. “I’m willing to take it,” Lewis said. How much leeway will they really have to do that? “This is not a show to be micromanaged,” he said. “From an artistic standpoint, we brought them in because we like what they do.”
Ben the Bunnyman is back. So is homeless karaoke and the FU line. DUI lawyer George Stein will return, too, later in the week.
The Regular Guys are in Bert’s old studios while Bert is over at 99X’s studios.
I just spoke with John Dickey. He said he’ll make Larry & Eric available next week once they get settled down and get used to their surroundings. Whatever.
He did say there is a new mid-day person coming from outside of Atlanta but he wouldn’t say who. Axel will do afternoons and Matt C & Lewis evenings. “This station is picking up where 96rock left off,” he said. Then Dickey mocked rival Clear Channel after asked what he felt when 96rock was killed in late 2006 in favor of Project. “I was shocked, disappointed, saddened. And just puzzled. It just spiraled from there. They blew up Peach [Lite]. They disemboweled GST. They proved they can destroy brands and quite frankly, disenfranchise listeners.”
As for the Regular Guys, Dickey is on the top of th e world: “They’re excited to be back. I don’t anticipate anything but great radio out of these guys — and a great run for the next 10, 15 years.”
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1/28: Regular Guys 3.0 back again, this time on Rock 100.5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So much for my alarm clock. I missed the first five minutes of the Regular Guys. I’m sure someone at www.radio-info.com will have it to soon on MP3. Someone in fact has made the 6 a.m. launch available for download here.
But in what Eric Von Haessler said was the “fake veil of secrecy,” the quartet of Eric, Larry Wachs, Tim “don’t call me Porn Czar anymore” Andrews and “Southside” Steve Rickman are indeed back this morning. Mark Owens is doing traffic. They are on the new Rock 100.5. (That’s where Q100 was for seven years. In case you were wondering, Q100 is now at 99.7, with the Bert Show on the stronger signal. 99X has now been relegated to the Web only - oh, and HD radio for the seven of you who own HD radios.)
Larry early on told about the time he went to court and prison after being arrested for that radio bit in which he taped Viva’s then morning team Yogi & Panda in the bathroom and mocked them. The two Hispanic men sued and 96rock fired the Regular Guys in October 2006. The pair have not found a radio job until Cumulus saved them from unemployment last month and gave them a third chance. (They were taken off the air the first time after that backwards porn bit went all awry back in 2004.)
Wachs called the Dickey brothers, who run Cumulus, the “Schindlers.” “They have resued us from a holocaust of bad radio vibes,” Wachs said.
“Stop kissing up,” Von Haessler said.
“I spilled the beans,” Wachs said. “And I lied to Rodney Ho to cover it up.”
Yes, two weeks ago, that’s what happened. But I figured it was true a few hours later and that’s what we’ve been assuming ever since. Wachs had no choice but cover up. The bosses told him to do so. Read that January 11 blog entry if you want the full details of the amusing cat-and-mouse game that occurred that evening.
Oh, by the way: the FU line is back. “That’s the ‘faith and understanding’ line,” Larry said. But while it was called the “Foo” line the second time around. Larry is able to say “F U” again. And, the Web site is www.atlantasrockstation.com. As of 7:30 a.m., it’s just a photo of the Regular Guys, with Larry wearing a wig, but there is a button to listen to them live online.
The first caller is Joe. He mocked Giant Brian over at Project 9-6-1, saying he looks like he has Down’s Syndrome.
Larry quickly gave his old employer’s replacement station a new monker: “Project 9-Sucks-One.”
“I know people who work there. They’re cutting budgets to the bone” at Clear Channel, Wachs said. “They’re down to retards.”
And who knows how long the Regular Guys will last this time around.
As Wachs noted, “What is Wachs going to do to screw it up?”
“Every show could be out last,” Eric said.
They had to use the “dump” button for a caller saying something FCC-unfriendly at 7:49 a.m. “Come on people,” Larry groaned. “Don’t blow it for us. We can do it ourselves, thank you.”
“We don’t need a caller to get us kicked off the air,” Eric said.
They do sound thrilled to be back. And surely, a lot of their fans are, too.
If you want to hear how I was summarily booted out of the Regular Guys studio this morning by their new boss, it’s here.. Apparently, I wasn’t supposed to be there but Larry misunderstood the missive and had invited me in.
