Regular Guys back on radio, at 640 GST (Rush warm-up act)

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | March 2, 2005 | Rodney Ho

[buckeyesrule]

Regular Guys back on radio, at 640 GST

> By RODNEY HO

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

> Published on: 03/02/2005

The Regular Guys will be back - minus the raunch.

Taken off the air a year ago at 96rock because the pair inadvertently aired porn over an advertisement, the popular morning show will return on sister news/talk station WGST-AM/640.

The show will run from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays starting Monday, March 21, replacing the poorly rated syndicated political talk show host Glenn Beck. Tom Hughes' morning news/talk show will be pushed back to 5 a.m. to 8 a.m.

"I'm excited," said Eric Von Haessler, who with Larry Wachs made up the heart of the Regular Guys team that ran from 1998 to 2004 on 96rock. "I always wanted to go to talk radio. I didn't want to end up being an aging rock shock jock. We can now talk more about serious issues."

Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio company, are basically giving the Regular Guys a second chance. "They have a strong brand name," said Jerry Del Core, general manager for Clear Channel Atlanta. "And they were already basically a talk show on 96rock."

Del Core did expect bits such as the pregnant bikini pageant and homeless karaoke to be scaled back or dropped in favor of more discussion of the daily news.

On WGST, "we won't have that part of the audience expecting the kind of wacky hijinks that lumped us in with the other rock morning shows," said Wachs, who spent the past year playing golf, blogging, auditioning for new jobs and spending time with his family.

The Regular Guys on 96rock regularly finished in the top 2 among men 18 to 49 before they were taken off the air in March, 2004. Though known for being edgy, they had ironically cut back on the porn star visits in their final couple of years. (They were paid through the end of 2004 due to their contract.)

The trouble started a few weeks after the Janet Jackson Super Bowl fiasco, which led to the Federal Communications Commission cracking down on obscenity and indecency. The FCC fined Clear Channel for bits done by Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge. Clear Channel took both of them off their stations and created a strict indecency policy.

Wachs, last March, as a satirical statement, brought in a porn star to speak sex talk, which they planned to run backwards on the air. But a producer aired the explicit dirty talk live over a Honda ad while they were taping.

Clear Channel yanked the Regular Guys off the air and replaced them with a syndicated show Bob & Tom, who have not maintained the same level of ratings as their predecessors.

Ultimately, the FCC did not act on the handful of complaints the agency received about the accidental porn talk last year.

This move and the addition of the Atlanta Braves help bolster WGST-AM, a consistent also ran to WSB-AM, the No. 1 station in the market. WGST has been home to powerhouse political talker Rush Limbaugh and local afternoon drivetime yuckster Kim "The Kimmer" Peterson.

The Regular Guys will face off against WSB-AM's syndicated Libertarian flamethrower Neal Boortz.

"The fact Clear Channel hired them back is remarkable," said Chris Wegmann, market manager for Cox Radio Atlanta. "Can they make the transition? They're pretty smart guys. I'll be curious to see if they can do it."

WSB-AM is owned by Cox Radio, whose parent is Cox Enteprises, which also owns the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

Von Haessler last spring talked about leaving Wachs and doing his own political talk show. But he said he under-estimated the hold the show had on listeners. "It was a real eye opener how badly people wanted us back on the air," he said.

Martha Zoller, a morning talk show host on Gainesville's WDUN-AM and a regular on-air guest on CNN and Fox News, said Clear Channel clearly "over-reacted" last year by letting the Regular Guys go. "They're a great radio show," she said. "Now can they tone it down?"

[buckeyesrule]

****The show will run from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays starting Monday, March 21, replacing the poorly rated syndicated political talk show host Glenn Beck.****

Good. I'm glad they are cancelling Glen Beck. There are times when I think he's trying to be funny and it just doesn't make any sense at all.

[buckeyesrule]

****Martha Zoller, a morning talk show host on Gainesville's WDUN-AM and a regular on-air guest on CNN and Fox News, said Clear Channel clearly "over-reacted" last year by letting the Regular Guys go. "They're a great radio show," she said. "Now can they tone it down?"****

Martha certainly knows what she's talking about.

[GeorgiaFreeper]

This show may be interesting. I would catch their 96Rock show every now and then flipping stations. They had a definite pro-conservative bias when they were not being highschoolish. I usually listen to Boortz when I am driving, but he sometimes gets on my nerves.

[Quixotical]

Did i read that correctly? Glenn Beck is cancelled? Is this referring just to that market or nationwide?

[I still care]

Rush had a replacement guy while he was in Afghanistan that was the best sub he ever had. His name is Mike Rosen, and he was logical, erudite AND interesting to boot. I would like to hear more of him.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"And they were already basically a talk show on 96rock."

Yeah...no kidding.

[Atlantian]

I've pretty much quit listening to Boortz. I've listened to him for 30 years and have heard his same opinions hundreds of times.

Now I listen to Laura Ingraham, but sometimes her voice is a bit too whiny.

I'm going to check these guys out. They have to be an improvement over Glen Beck.

[FreedomPoster]

Just the ATL market, I'm sure.

[FreedomPoster]

What station is Laura on, locally?

I listen to her some on XM, but that's from 12 or 1 to 3, and I only have XM in my car.

[Atlantian]

Laura Ingraham is on 920 AM from 9-12 here in Atlanta.

920 AM has a great lineup: 6-9am Bill Bennet, 9-noon Laura, noon-2 Dennis Preager, 2-4 Dave Ramsey, 4-6 Michael Medved, 6-9pm Hugh Hewitt. I quit listening at 9pm when Mike Gallagher comes on.

[FreedomPoster]

Thanks, that's an impressive lineup. I just linked-in an older Prager article earlier this AM, FWIW.

[kAcknor]

I'm glad they are canceling Glen Beck. There are times when I think he's trying to be funny and it just doesn't make any sense at all.

I like Beck. You do have a point, but the reason is that he is the only one out there on a cutting edge with his show. Like the old Saturday Night Live, there are time it doesn't work, but when it does it's absolutely great.

'More-on Trivia', The 'Gloat Fest' and the fact that he isn't 100% politics are good reasons to listen.

[GOPaul]

I can only think of two people who will be happy about the Regular Guys coming to WGST besides, of course, Larry and Eric.

The first one is the 'brainchild' behind "Planet Radio." He/She's got to be thinking, "Finally, someone has had a bigger boneheaded idea than me!"

The second one is Neal Boortz. His ratings will continue to climb out of sight.

This is like throwing an underhanded softball to Barry Bonds. Over the fence, over the stands and outta the park.

I, for one, will not be listening to the Howard Stern wannabe's, Larry and Eric.

[simpleman31]

I and thousands of others are glad that clearchannel is bringing back larry and eric.They are not howard stern wanna bes.I hate to see homeless kareokee go or the wiffle ball bat challenge.It would be nice to have steve join um sometimes.I'm looking forward to hearing the fellas back on the air.