Good day and welcome back true believers. What brings the Salty Dog to his keyboard today? Is it this mess that happened last week with the "Government Shutdown"? Is it the Yankees losing 2 out of 3 to the hated Red Sox? Is it "you got your chocolate on my peanut butter"? Nay nay! What brings me out today is local outrage. For those of you who do not live in (or have not visited) the greater Hampton Roads, Virginia area...you may not be familiar with the topic of today's blog, but I believe that many of you can empathize.
The local "alternative rock" radio station here in the 757 has the most popular set of DJs. Their names are Mike Powers and Bob Fresh (Frantz). They host a show called, strangely enough, the Mike and Bob Show. This show was the most popular "afternoon drive time" show in the entire area. They were young enough to be in touch with the "club crowd", yet old enough to be in touch with the over 30 crowd (which includes your friend and humble narrator). They could fill 4 hours of radio without skipping a beat. They had interns that became famous around town..their producer was known to all by name...their program director was a local celebrity. The show was so popular, the station did away with a nationally syndicated show (ManCoward) and moved the boys to the mornings to take down the local juggernaut in that time slot. A mission that they not only accepted, but took on with zeal. No question as to what happened...they buried their competition. For ten years this crew ruled the airwaves in this area. Until Friday.....
96X has decided (once again) that they need a format change. Even though they have tried this in the past and failed miserably...they are going to Top 40 (douche bag radio). I am sure that MD is out there somewhere on the left coast laughing at the station, yet crying for Mike and Bob. Too many good people have fallen under the mighty machine that is Sinclair Communications. MD, Fan of the Game, Manny, and now the Bread Winning Brothers...Mike and Bob. This is the radio equivalent of Sony deciding to abandon the Playstation and go to a cartridge based gaming system. Do you remember the Punk Show on Sunday nights? MD and Justin playing your punk requests (damn you Justin and your Mr. Coffee!!) for 3 hours...that was awesome...alternative even. Or the Fan of the Game and his Debacle. These were quality shows, and great people....kind of like the Mike and Bob show. Quality show...and great people.
I understand that I may be biased since I know all of the people that I have mentioned in the blog, but look around...take a poll...these were all great shows and better people. For a radio station to take a proven formula and throw it (and the people who made the station famous) away is unspeakable. So for all of you that loved 96X and even more...loved the Mike and Bob Show...let yourselves be heard! Get on your Twitter accounts and use the hash tag #boycottsinclair. Send your letters...yes I said "LETTERS" to the address below. Let Mr. Sinclair know that he is making a huge mistake...tell him how much the Mike and Bob Show means to you. Hell, tell him that nobody wants to listen to douche bag radio...bring back the alternative! And let me know when he starts to listen, because I will be listening to Backspin....all XM all the time from this point forward. Until I hear from Mike or Bob telling me that they are back on the air, I am boycotting 96X. Until next time kiddies...Stay Salty
-Salty Dog
Send your letters to:
Bob Sinclair Sr
5th Floor
999 waterside drive
Norfolk VA 23510
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Bob (Sinclair) is an idiot! I used to work for 96X when he tried making it a hip hop station. It failed. Really surprises me he is a successful business man considering some of his ideas.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the plans for Mike & Bob? SiriusXM? Podcast? I doubt (and hope) this isn't the end of their radio career. Any info?
ReplyDeleteThis is obviously a completely bias blog but I agree the format changes are upsetting. In all honesty how many phone games, movie polls and sex humor can the 757 airways take? I think on and off 10 years is enough.
ReplyDeleteYes "anonymous", this is a biased blog, and I believe that I stated that quite clearly. It is a rally by the fans..and stating that we are fans obviously states our bias. Would someone who is not a fan of the show want them back on the air? I am glad that you at least agree with the format issue...why not have 103 JAMZ start playing country music? Or The Fox start playing Hip Hop? It is a travesty.
ReplyDeleteSalty Dog:
ReplyDeleteVery well written. I wrote a letter this morning and composed it with the most positive, yet heart-felt words that I could choose. I'm hoping that Sinclair will put creativity and good-judment back into their business. True shame.
the format chinge was the dumbest thing ever and thats all i got to say about that
ReplyDeleteI'm 48 and enjoyed the show. I think they were spread thin over a wide demographic, and therefore, the imprecise rating system couldn't provide the meaningful numbers to impress advertisers, meanwhile the customer loses out. Marketing/sales...produces more excrement than all organic digestive systems combined.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately most of us have experienced Mr Sinclair's erratic behavior in the past. From Howard Stern to Mike and Bob to Mancow(ard) to Mike and Bob to Mike and Bob in the morning to Mike and Bob in the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThere's only so much crazy a person can take dammit!!! It's the only radio show that I actually listened to on the net in the mornings. I am stuck in Oklahoma and Mike and Bob were one more tenuous link to the real world. Thanks for taking that now Bob (Sinclair).
What a Jackass! Hopefully 96X's ratings will drop faster than my high school prom date's thong so we can get the boys back on the air.
Hey if anyone wants to help the fight against 96suX and try and get our beloved DJ's back on the air go to facebook and join "The Justice for the Mike and Bob Show League"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_159716917420904&ap=1
Lets show Bob Suckcair we mean buisness!
Well said Jessi. I would have posted that within the blog, but it was written about 2 hours before I joined the group. There were 24 members when I joined on Monday morning..there are now over 1,000! Keep fighting the good fight!
ReplyDeleteI did a post about this as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://martynozz.blogspot.com/2011/04/radio-free-norfolk.html
Viva La Revolution.
bring back mike and bob!
ReplyDeletei for one will not be tuning in to 96x with this awful format change.
i will turn them on for a few hours if they bring back Mike and Bob
I have banned 96x from the land until Mike and Bob are back on the radio. I remember the first time the format changed...it was bad then...this is even worse. It truely feels like an end of an era. My one question is...if morning talk shows are losing ratings...why didn't they put Mike and Bob back on from 2-6? This is where they truely did their best radio. After reading articles and comments Bob Sinclair has posted none of this really makes sense. He wants to appeal to a larger audience...with top 40 music? There is enough of those stations already out their to keep those listeners happy. Mike and Bob were truely the only thing that made 96x special.
ReplyDeleteOnly reason the station is programmed in my radio, is because of the Mike and Bob Show! The "NEW" format sucks!
ReplyDelete