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Is Free FM Turning Into Free XM?
Great content wins, poor content drifts away...looks like RothRadio offically fits the later. And this billboard at the left now is a sign of nostalgia.
Thursday (4/20), it was announced the David Lee Roth morning show on Free FM will soon end and get replaced by radio bad boys Opie and Anthony (currently on XM Radio). For months, the blogs and online radio forums have been busy posting their opinions -- (mostly) slamming CBS Radio and the awfulness of Roth Radio. So have the newspaper tabloids tracking the radio beat. But the worse critics often are Free FM's own radio jocks, making it almost a subversive inner-family soap opera we get to witness as listeners.
UPDATE: This morning (4/21), Roth wrapped up his show for the final time, saying “It’s official, today is my last day." That's how DLR opened his show...by saying goodbye. He continued to say he was informed of his dismissal “in the car on the way to work today,” Diamond Dave also said the parting was not amicable: "I was booted, tossed and it’s going to cost somebody.”
According to Billboard Monitor, Roth quipped that he and his “legal team of Darth Vader” planned to meet today with CBS officials to “settle like gentleman or start World War 9.” Roth said he has retained the same legal team employed by Howard Stern, whom he replaced on January 3rd. Laying his legal case, Roth claims he gave up considerable touring money to take a job with CBS, but also said he wanted to continue in radio, hinting that television or satellite radio are future possibilities. “I have a shout-out to Sirius," Roth said.
Finally, mercifully, it is done.
Roth Radio really has been car wreck radio. And Free FM's jocks have been "freely" agreeing.
Wednesday morning in the 2am hour (4/20), overnighters Jake and Jackie were reading all the articles in the New York Post and Wall Street Journal, inviting listers to make their comments. Meanwhile, Jake and Jackie continued their regular pointed criticisms and insults to their own employers, including CBS CEO Les Moonves and CBS Radio CEO Joel Hollander. While they are expected to be edgy and "free" with their opinions, it's amazing the station's own talent are allowed (even encouraged, perhaps, from lack of controls) to define entertainment as "biting the hand that feeds you." Maybe they simply are following the lead of defacto mentor CBS's David Letterman -- he's been playfully making Moonves his foil for years.
Listening to the Booker Show this hour Thursday night (4/20), I heard this from a listener, wondering: "When Opie and Anthony start on Free FM in mornings, does that mean the station's new name will be called 'Free XM'"?
Good question...
Another question...can FM radio and XM radio (old media and new media) mate and produce healthy ratings? One to watch...
One last question here...is this the first visible step regarding those rumors of CBS acquiring XM?
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, April 20, 2006,
1 Comments:
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At 7:56 AM,
said...
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Making fun of your employer might be okay for some, but basically it means the talent has probably run out of real stuff to talk about....Letterman brings in millions (as did Stern), doubt any of these wannabes could command much more than ROS spot placement on their own.
But then, expecting entertainment from today's on air "talent" is asking a lot anyway.
Forget nostalgia for the "old days", how about performers (there's an implication there) who have something real, relevant, and maybe truly worth listening to AND talking about?
