Both Rich Shertenlieb and Fred Toucher were historical markers during 99X's 16-year run as the market's alternative rock station.
Shertenlieb spent his early formative radio years doing bits for 99X's Morning X in the early 2000s, some of them classics in an annals of the station's history. The one that generated the most publicity? His mock "Iron My Shirt" protest at the Augusta Masters tournament in 2003 to counter the feminist groups trying to get the Augusta National Golf Club to allow women as members. Several news organizations fell for it.
Toucher started at 99X as a night jock, who had the temerity to go after rednecks in the South and mock musical acts the station played, especially Limp Bizkit. In 2004, he was promoted mornings after Steve Barnes left and lasted two years, honing his edgy grouch persona.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The two joined Christopher "Crash" Clark in Boston as an afternoon talk show on rock station WBCN-FM. Their special irreverent kind of humor clicked with the Boston crowd. They took over for Opie & Anthony's morning show and kept on getting bigger. CBS Radio (which owns 92.9/The Game and V-103 in Atlanta) then moved to the new 98.5 the Sports Hub in 2009 when the rock station died.
They were able to take their rock morning show, segue it into a sports talk show and excel. They are now beating their rival sports hosts and establishing themselves as part of the new generation of Boston talkers.
At its best, Toucher & Rich is both silly and sly. Sophomoric features like "Drunken Red Sox Recap," in which a sloshed fan gives his take on that night's game, are balanced out by passable interviews with beat writers and athletes — and clever, perhaps totally insane, bits like "Do You Know the Fro?" which involves ginger-haired Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy's talking afro. The program also thrives on subversiveness, or more specifically, a willingness to do things "serious sports reporters" just aren't supposed to.
Fred Toucher is a quintessential caustic wit, while Rich Shertenlieb is a production whiz who can mine laugh-out-loud humor out of almost any scenario. But together, the whole exceeds the sum of their vast individual skills, and that's extremely hard to find.
Shertenlieb said they had been approached twice to come back to Atlanta. They turned it down both times. He didn't say where but it's not hard to guess that Chris Williams, formerly PD at 99X, then Project 9-6-1, spent years hunting for a good morning show for Project. He would have loved to have had Fred and Rich. But Toucher had no real desire to return down south.
"They both love it up there," said Crash, who was let go (not by their choice) when the show moved to sports in 2009. "They'll be there for a long time."
"Boston was thirsting for new sports talent," Crash added. "They struck while the iron was hot. They are good at what they do. Between all of Rich's bits and production and Fred's vast knowledge of sports, they really connected, not just on the sports side but the entertainment side."
Jimmy Baron, who hired Shertenlieb at 99X back in the day, said he considers Shertenlieb and Toucher two of the five most talented people he's ever worked with. He called them "the perfect pairing in the perfect city. Everyone always knew for Fred it was going to be a matter of time to find the right market for his brand of humor. He would be the first to tell you that it wasn't Atlanta. In fact, he had radio executives here who shall remain nameless tell him he had no talent and would never succeed."
Fram, in a Facebook text, lauded them both for being fearless. "I was never surprised by their success," she said. "They would be a hit in any market. It's like watching 'Funny or Die' on a daily basis!"
I did email interviews with both men recently to see how life has been since they left Atlanta.
Here are some bits from each interview:
What Rich learned from the Morning X: I learned how to treat the people who work for me. Steve Barnes, Leslie Fram and Jimmy Baron were very generous to me behind the scenes. Here I was this dumb kid with no money and they took care of me by giving me tickets, throwing appearances my way, etc. It really meant a lot.
What he specifically picked up from Fram: "She was always the first one there in the morning, and usually the last one to leave. Her work ethic was relentless. And she made an effort to be cordial to everyone. I don't think I've ever met a person in radio who made more friends in the industry than Leslie Fram, and when we needed something like a band to play a concert, or a guest for the show, her friendship with those people paid off dividends."
Rich's' favorite 99X bits: His weekly movie reviews done to the theme song of "Magnum P.I." It was my first ever official weekly segment, and it was the first time I heard a bit that I had created, the Musical Movie Review, ripped off by other radio shows. That was pretty cool.
Also, I look back at being buried alive under all that concrete for 48 hours as something I still can’t believe we legally pulled off. We may have collected a tractor trailer’s worth of Toys For Tots, but there’s no way in hell I’d ever do that again
Fred, on doing the night show at 99X and slagging Limp Bizkit: It's still talked about in radio circles. I was on an aggressive night show and wouldn't play Limp Bizkit. Management thought it was great. My opportunity at 99X on the night shift was incredible and made it possible for me to still do this at 38.
Fred, on mocking rednecks: If you are making fun of a stereotypical southerner, I think you are OK. People from Atlanta think of themselves as much more urbane. Plus I was on the "cool" station so i got a pass.
Fred's take on his 99X morning show with Fram and Baron: When they paired me with Leslie and Jimmy, I felt I would have to move eventually. That show was never going to work and we all knew it. They paid me a lot of money and helped me get established.
But Fred has good memories of his time there: I did things on that show that would get me fired in ten seconds now. I wasn't ever suspended. I was too aggressive. However, when I listen to those shows, I think they are great. When I spoiled the ending of the Harry Potter book.....I'll play that for my grandkids.
Rich's time with the late Kidd Kraddock after 99X and before Boston: He was a manic genius. He taught me how to do syndication correctly. He was a master at surrounding himself with people who were talented yet completely unlike himself. I tried to do that when putting together the original lineup of "Toucher & Rich". He was also someone who had all the success, all the money, all the accolades, yet still had that fire to do radio every day. I never saw him phone it in. Not once.
How Rich and Fred became friends at 99X, according to Rich: We're about the same age, and both hungry to do more. I remember listening to Fred when he did nights at 99X in awe. He wasn't intimidated by bands, he made fun of redneck callers, and flat out refused to play Limp Bizkit when they were one of the biggest bands of the format. He was everything DJ school taught you not to be. Just a few trips to the Clermont Lounge, and we clicked immediately.
How they got a job in Boston with Crash Clark, according to Rich: Fred and I had always talked about doing a show together. In 2005, when Howard Stern announced he was going to satellite, we knew that it would open up a lot of radio jobs. I told Kidd I was leaving his show at the end of that year. I wanted Crash to be a part of the new show. Crash to this day is still the wittiest person I've ever heard on air. We had made friends with a couple of people at CBS, and they flew Fred, Crash, and I to Phoenix to record three nights of our show. After they received the tapes, we got a call a week later saying "How would you like to work in Boston?"
How long it took Boston to embrace them, according to Rich: Our first show was June 5, 2006. In September we held our first "Toucher & Rich" party at a bar downtown. We had no idea what to expect. I'll never forget pulling up to the club and seeing a line of hundreds waiting to get in because the place was at capacity. The party was chaos. For Halloween people were dressing up as characters from our show. Our listeners had made internet soundboards, went drinking together, would attack other shows that would talk trash on us. I'd never seen anything like it. So, yeah, we loved Bostonians.
Low expectations when they switched to sports, according to Rich: It's pretty well documented how much I hated the sports talk format. So we figured that we were going to do the show the way we wanted to do it, and if it failed then we went down doing it our way. EVERYONE was waiting for us to fail. Every article written about the launch of the station had us lasting 6 months until our contract was up, and then we'd be replaced by a "real sports show". Our program director had stacks of resume letters saying the same thing…"When you fire your morning show…" It was the best possible motivator.
Fred's take on whether they changed their show much when they went to sports: Our humor is the same. The format switched was actually great because it forced us to be more focused and created more structure. We most likely sound more mature. However, we still get called immature all the time so maybe not.
Their love for sports, according to Fred: Rich is a huge NBA fan. We had a great relationship with the Bruins because I love the NHL and NOBODY else in the market was talking hockey. WBCN had the Patriots so we knew their players. However, it took a lot of work to catch up on a lot of little things you don't have to know as an average fan.
How Rich sees how he and Fred work together: Fred and I usually know exactly where the other one is going. If something is bothering Fred, I know the right buttons to press to get him to launch into an epic slash-and-burn tirade. He knows that if I have scheduled a bit, I will have put time, thought, and production into it to make it a quality one. We also aren't afraid to call ourselves out when we suck, which we do a lot.
How Fred sees how he and Rich work together: Rich is the best production guy in radio. He also comes up with great big ideas for bits, promotions etc. I am more spontaneous. I won't listen to the stuff Rich makes or finds until it is on air so we get an organic reaction. That takes great trust in each other.
How the press in Boston has treated their show: The press here has been great to us. Boston sports media can be stodgy and egotistical. Some people in local media act like they are covering matters of life and death. I think a lot of the media likes that we make fun of that attitude.
What keeps Rich motivated: I'll always have a chip on my shoulder. I'm proud of what Fred and I have accomplished but I'm still not 100% happy. I'm terrified that one day I'll wake up and lose my desire to do radio. I never want to get lazy. There's a lot of people who still want us to fail, and I don't want to prove them right
Fred's take on Atlanta sports: I loved the sports in Atlanta. I loved being able to get into Braves games for a buck. As part of my 99X morning contract I had season tickets to the Thrashers and loved it. When I worked at Jocks and Jills I got to see Georgia Tech basketball all the time. I don't love SEC football or NASCAR but I could come around.
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