Radio Morning Shows
Created | Updated Sep 22, 2003
Radio goes a lot farther back than the 1920's and 1930's. It actually dates back to 1896, when the first experimental transmission of radio waves took place near Bologna, Italy. The experiment was concieved by a man named Guglielmo Marconi, an unassuming man who, though he didn't know it, was about to change history.
Upon the success of his first transmission, Marconi later filed for, and received, a patent for his "System of Wireless Communication". Later he was made famous for transmitting morse code signals over a 3 kilometer distance. Shortly thereafter, in 1899, the first long-distance radio communication was transmitted across the English Channel from Dover to Wimereux by Marconi himself. His success paved the way for the one thing that helps you get through your day with your sanity intact: Radio. Or, more specifically, the radio programmes.
Radio shows take four general forms: Political, informational, comedic, and pornographic (at least as pornographic as the FCC and other ruling bodies will let them be). Some radio shows fall into several of these forms, while others make a good go at being all at once.
The morning radio show was made extremely popular in 1985 when a disc jockey (the term for the people who handle the playing of music and other on-the-air events and shows, also known as DJ's) by the name of Howard Stern got fired from WNBC in New York and was hired by a competing radio station. The self-proclaimed "King of All Media" quickly made a name for himself as the premiere morning personality on WXRK-FM (or K-Rock) and upon surpassing rival "shock-jock" Don Imus in the radio ratings in 1986, he staged a mock funeral at Rockafeller Center in New York to celebrate the event.
Of course, not all morning shows are of the comedic kind, and do not always revolve around flatulence jokes or dominatrixes calling in to do the weather with whips and chains. Some, like Bob Edwards from National Public Radio's award-winning Morning Edition (R), set the standard for the morning informational shows. He is heard by close to nine million listeners on 545 NPR(R) stations, and is public radio's most listened-to program. During the 20 years since the program debuted, more than 5,000 programs and 10,000 hours of programming have aired. He does more than 800 interviews a year, and is widely regarded as one of the finest radio personalities ever.
Political Talk Radio came of age in the 1990's, after the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, which mandated that political radio time must be divided equally between Conservatives and Liberals. Soon after the repeal, a man came to political radio by the name of Rush Limbaugh, and set political radio up for its charge up the rating ranks. In 1988, WABC hired Limbaugh to be their chief political talker, and according to Bob Grant, who will celebrate 55 years in radio in May, Limbaugh "became an absolute phenomenon. There was no stopping him." Limbaugh helped WABC return to the political radio spotlight, and brought about lasting changes in talk radio format.
And, finally, we come to the pornograhic morning show. I only refer to it as pornographic because the overwhelming majority of the programming is intended for a more adult audience. Morning personalities in this genre of radio all have a special trademark, like a special segment in the program about who has the best breasts on TV, how big this man's wedding tackle is compared to this object, and so forth. A good example of a morning show of this genre is The Morning Stiffy, a morning radio show broadcast in the Inland Empire (see The Universe/Earth/North America/California/Inland Empire for more information on this region of the USA) on 96.7 fm, callsign KCAL. There are three personalities onthis show, Named Stu, Tiffany, and Jimbo. Some of their more famous antics include having an unfortunate staff member named Sack run down his street nude with a cell phone taped to his leg, and having Jimbo stand on a street corner in drag and advertise prostitution. Also a regular feature on their show is "Jimbo's Bedtime Story", a masterpiece of pornographic radio that takes a story from the pages of the men's magazine Penthouse and replaces all of the words you can't say on the radio with words from a specific catagory, such as golf, woodworking or religion. Right there with them is the world-famous Playboy Radio. Their faithful and dazzling radio rendition of Night Calls 411 has become their #1 hit, and their "alternative" courtroom programme Sex Court is a must-listen for those of you with an interest in sexual justice.
Upon the success of his first transmission, Marconi later filed for, and received, a patent for his "System of Wireless Communication". Later he was made famous for transmitting morse code signals over a 3 kilometer distance. Shortly thereafter, in 1899, the first long-distance radio communication was transmitted across the English Channel from Dover to Wimereux by Marconi himself. His success paved the way for the one thing that helps you get through your day with your sanity intact: Radio. Or, more specifically, the radio programmes.
Radio shows take four general forms: Political, informational, comedic, and pornographic (at least as pornographic as the FCC and other ruling bodies will let them be). Some radio shows fall into several of these forms, while others make a good go at being all at once.
The morning radio show was made extremely popular in 1985 when a disc jockey (the term for the people who handle the playing of music and other on-the-air events and shows, also known as DJ's) by the name of Howard Stern got fired from WNBC in New York and was hired by a competing radio station. The self-proclaimed "King of All Media" quickly made a name for himself as the premiere morning personality on WXRK-FM (or K-Rock) and upon surpassing rival "shock-jock" Don Imus in the radio ratings in 1986, he staged a mock funeral at Rockafeller Center in New York to celebrate the event.
Of course, not all morning shows are of the comedic kind, and do not always revolve around flatulence jokes or dominatrixes calling in to do the weather with whips and chains. Some, like Bob Edwards from National Public Radio's award-winning Morning Edition (R), set the standard for the morning informational shows. He is heard by close to nine million listeners on 545 NPR(R) stations, and is public radio's most listened-to program. During the 20 years since the program debuted, more than 5,000 programs and 10,000 hours of programming have aired. He does more than 800 interviews a year, and is widely regarded as one of the finest radio personalities ever.
Political Talk Radio came of age in the 1990's, after the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, which mandated that political radio time must be divided equally between Conservatives and Liberals. Soon after the repeal, a man came to political radio by the name of Rush Limbaugh, and set political radio up for its charge up the rating ranks. In 1988, WABC hired Limbaugh to be their chief political talker, and according to Bob Grant, who will celebrate 55 years in radio in May, Limbaugh "became an absolute phenomenon. There was no stopping him." Limbaugh helped WABC return to the political radio spotlight, and brought about lasting changes in talk radio format.
And, finally, we come to the pornograhic morning show. I only refer to it as pornographic because the overwhelming majority of the programming is intended for a more adult audience. Morning personalities in this genre of radio all have a special trademark, like a special segment in the program about who has the best breasts on TV, how big this man's wedding tackle is compared to this object, and so forth. A good example of a morning show of this genre is The Morning Stiffy, a morning radio show broadcast in the Inland Empire (see The Universe/Earth/North America/California/Inland Empire for more information on this region of the USA) on 96.7 fm, callsign KCAL. There are three personalities onthis show, Named Stu, Tiffany, and Jimbo. Some of their more famous antics include having an unfortunate staff member named Sack run down his street nude with a cell phone taped to his leg, and having Jimbo stand on a street corner in drag and advertise prostitution. Also a regular feature on their show is "Jimbo's Bedtime Story", a masterpiece of pornographic radio that takes a story from the pages of the men's magazine Penthouse and replaces all of the words you can't say on the radio with words from a specific catagory, such as golf, woodworking or religion. Right there with them is the world-famous Playboy Radio. Their faithful and dazzling radio rendition of Night Calls 411 has become their #1 hit, and their "alternative" courtroom programme Sex Court is a must-listen for those of you with an interest in sexual justice.
