The Adam Carolla Show (radio program)

Last updated
The Adam Carolla Show
Genre Hot talk
Running time4 hours (including commercials)
Country of origin United States
Home station KLSX
Starring Adam Carolla
Teresa Strasser
Bryan Bishop
Dave Dameshek
AnnouncerMike Dawson
Created by Adam Carolla
Written byMike Lynch
Produced byAngie Fitzsimmons
Original releaseJanuary 3, 2006 
February 20, 2009
Opening theme"Someday I Suppose" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Ending theme"Theme from The Naked Gun " (a.k.a. "Theme From Police Squad! ", "Frank Drebin's Theme")
by Ira Newborn
Website AdamCarolla.com
Podcast The Adam Carolla Show Podcast

The Adam Carolla Show was a morning radio program that was syndicated, starring Adam Carolla, which began airing on January 3, 2006 and ended on February 20, 2009. The show was produced by CBS Radio as part of its Free FM format, and was based out of KLSX in Los Angeles. On February 20, KLSX changed format from hot talk to Top 40 (CHR) as KAMP-FM, and The Adam Carolla Show was canceled along with several other programs. The Adam Carolla Show was heard in a number of major metropolitan markets on the West Coast of the United States. [1]

Contents

Overview

The show featured Adam Carolla and Teresa Strasser.

The supporting cast included sound effects guy Bryan Bishop, producer Angie Fitzsimmons, writer Mike Lynch, announcer/technical producer Mike Dawson, technical production assistant Mike Cioffi, production assistant David D. Keller and board operator Bill Mahoney. Jimmy Kimmel served as creative consultant in the first year, and hosted the show on June 7 and June 8, 2006, while Carolla was with his wife for the birth of their twins [2] and April 26, 2007, while Carolla was at New York City for the Tribeca Film Festival to see the premiere of his movie The Hammer. [3]

History

On August 4, 2005, Carolla announced that he would leave Loveline to pursue a position in morning radio. Adam's last night on Loveline was November 3, 2005, to allow him to have time to prepare for his morning debut at the beginning of 2006. He stated that he would love to continue to do Loveline, which seemed to fly by while doing it, but the show would not be a possibility.

On October 25, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting officially announced that it would be replacing the popular syndicated Howard Stern Show , (which was making a leap to satellite radio) with Carolla's new show in several western United States markets. On January 3, 2006 The Adam Carolla Show debuted in twelve of the 27 markets in which Stern had been broadcast, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix and Portland, Oregon. [4]

Replacing Perry

Former MuchMusic and VH1 video jockey Rachel Perry served as the original news reader on the show. [5] On March 27, 2006, the show noted that Perry was absent for a few days to work on a TV pilot (a show titled Beyond). However, a few days stretched into a few weeks, during which the show featured several fill-ins, including Strasser, former MSNBC anchor Claudia DiFolco, and actress Tracy Metro. The show also had guests and a few of their recurring characters fill in. In late April, Perry's pictures and bio were removed from the show's website. Finally, on May 1, Carolla announced that the show had taken the opportunity to use Perry's absence to drop her from the show, as they felt that the chemistry wasn't quite there. On May 8, Strasser was named as Perry's official replacement. [6]

Firing of Dameshek, Brusca, and Newcomb

In a December 17, 2006 message on the Adam Carolla Show message board, sports broadcaster Dave Dameshek wrote that he and the show's producer Jimmy Brusca had been fired. Dameshek also wrote that Danny Bonaduce would be his replacement. Tad Newcomb, also known as Fat Tad or Big Tad, was a regular on-air contributor to the show, and has also confirmed that he was fired via his MySpace account.

CBS Radio released a press release on December 21, 2006 announcing Bonaduce as a featured member of the show starting January 2, 2007, but did not confirm or deny any firings.

On December 28, 2006, Carolla posted to the show's message boards and wrote that network executives had wanted to replace Dameshek because of the show's poor performance in Los Angeles. Carolla said the show's Arbitron ratings in the city shifted from 1.2 to 3.3 to 0.7, and CBS used this as an excuse to "strip the show". On the January 2nd show, Carolla commented on the firings and confirmed his posting that they were due to low ratings. He said that he had no say in the decision, and while he was upset about the firings he expressed a desire to move on. [7]

Departure of Bonaduce

On December 12, 2007, it was announced on the air that Adam had come down with an illness and would not be coming to host the show. [8] Danny and Teresa continued the show with Bryan taking a more active role as an on-air talent. On-air talent remarked many times that this was an unusual situation and that Adam has attended work while sick many times before and that he would have to be very sick in order to stay home. KLSX Program Director Jack Silver stated, "I have to take Adam’s word. When an employee says he's sick, short of going to his house with a doctor, I have to take him on his word." [9] That afternoon, Adam phoned into Dr. Drew's radio show [10] and re-stated that he was sick, but would see how he would feel the next day before making a decision on whether to go into work or not. Adam proceeded to stay on the phone for over an hour.

Adam's absence continued throughout the end of the week, including missing the 2007 Ace Awards and the live remote broadcast of the yearly "Christmas Carolla" holiday special from the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA. During this time, Danny Bonaduce informally appointed himself head of the show until Adam returned, touching off the start of a very long messageboard thread (see below) calling for his removal from the show.

On December 17, 2007, the Official Adam Carolla Show message board was removed from the website, including all threads related to Adam's illness. The Adam Carolla Show went on scheduled hiatus following the Christmas episode. [11]

On December 21, 2007, CBS Radio issued a press release concerning the future of The Adam Carolla Show and creation of Danny Bonaduce's new show:

"...contributing show member Danny Bonaduce will relinquish his role on THE ADAM CAROLLA SHOW and begin hosting his own program on KLSX. Positioned between the highly rated Frosty, Heidi & Frank Show (10:00AM-2:00PM) and Tom Leykis' program (3:00-8:00PM), BROADCASTING BONADUCE: THE DANNY BONADUCE SHOW will premiere Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008 on-air and online from 2:00-3:00PM, PT. Teresa Strasser will continue to contribute to the station's morning drive program with Adam Carolla." [12]

On the September 12, 2008 show Carolla confessed that the reason for him missing the last shows in 2007 was because he had come down with "The Red Flu", referring to being sick of working with the red headed Danny Bonaduce. It was also during Adam's weeklong absence that the show's messageboard became flooded with messages calling for Danny's removal from the show. (Danny had already been unpopular with many listeners, which was reflected in a large number of messageboard messages.) The messageboard thread addressing this quickly gained over 1300 posts, and many people posting were new users who'd never posted a message before. Adam himself (his official screen name) was spotted reading the messageboard several times, but did not post. [13]

Controversy

Asian American community

Carolla's morning show became the subject of a minor controversy within a few weeks of airing when on January 24, 2006, Carolla played a segment which spoofed the upcoming Asian Excellence Awards. [14] The spoof consisted of what sounded like a typical excerpt from an awards show, except that the dialogue of the actors consisted only of the words "ching" and "chong", repeated. [14] [15] The National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), and The Center for Asian American Media publicly objected to the spoof, calling it racist and threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station did not issue an apology. [16] [17] On February 22, 2006, Carolla without fanfare read a brief apology for the segment, in which he said that his show had regrettably "crossed the line". [18] On April 26, 2006, Carolla invited the head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Guy Aoki, and Teddy Zee, co-chair of the Asian Excellence Awards, to further explain [19] that when he aired the bit, he had no idea that "ching chong" was a racial slur. Mention of the bit was removed from the official show blog. [20]

Cancellation

On February 18, 2009 it was confirmed that The Adam Carolla Show had been canceled and the last show would air on February 20, 2009. The cancellation came in effect of a format shift at the Los Angeles flagship station (KLSX) from hot talk to a Top 40 (CHR) format. [21] [22] The show would continue to be made available via Westwood One in a 'best-of' format. [23]

Syndication

The Adam Carolla Show was heard on the following stations, and broadcast weekdays from 5:00am–10:00am PST (with the 5am hour a "best of" compilation of the previous morning's broadcast), for around a month CBS Radio will provide[ needs update ] a "best of format" to give time for the affiliates to fill their morning slot:

Podcast and live internet stream are popular among listeners in markets where show is not broadcasting, which was mentioned on air numerous times. Listeners have called from Midwest, East coast, Hawaii, Canada, Japan, Spain and England among other areas. [24]

Most of the show was available for download via podcast through Free FM. The format varies depending on the station providing the RSS feed.

Show content

Frequent guests

Recurring characters

Future of the show

Carolla remained under contract to CBS Radio until December 2009, and was bound against hosting another radio broadcast program until the contract expired. However, beginning the following weekday after the final broadcast of The Adam Carolla Show, the host started a new incarnation of the show at carollaradio.com as a free daily podcast.

Originally recorded nightly at his home, the podcast eventually moved to be recorded in a studio and features conversations with many of the same guests who appeared on the radio show. In the inaugural podcast, Carolla stated that if the venture proved to be successful he would move forward with ambitious plans to expand it commercially upon the expiration of his CBS contract. The show quickly garnered a large audience, as the first episode was downloaded over 250,000 times in the first 24 hours of its being made available on the site. Soon after, the show was made available on iTunes and in its first week the podcast was downloaded over 1 million times, making it the number one iTunes podcast in the US and Canada. [28] The broadcast is now known as The Adam Carolla Show and has been consistently ranked among the top 15 podcasts on iTunes since its inception on the site.

As of June 3, 2010, The Adam Carolla Podcast was renamed The Adam Carolla Show, though it is still only available for download on the internet and is not broadcast. Though Teresa Strasser acted as Carolla's sidekick for a time, she left in August 2010 to join The Peter Tilden Show on KABC (AM). [29] Bald Bryan still supplies sound effects, though he's not always on the show. The show has returned to its old radio format, bringing back produced segments and regular phone calls.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Carolla</span> American comedian (born 1964)

Adam Carolla is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by Guinness World Records in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Bonaduce</span> American professional wrestler, actor and radio/television personality (born 1959)

Dante Daniel Bonaduce is an American radio personality, actor, television personality, and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce. Bonaduce became famous as a child actor of the 1970s on the TV sitcom The Partridge Family. He co-starred as Danny Partridge, the wisecracking, redheaded middle son of the singing family band, and he portrayed the fictional pop group's bass guitar player.

Loveline is a syndicated radio call-in program in North America, offering medical and relationship advice to listeners, often with the assistance of guests, typically actors and musicians. Its host through most of its run was Dr. Drew Pinsky who was paired with a radio personality.

CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadcasting since the 1970s. The broadcasting company was sold to Entercom on November 17, 2017.

Ching chong and ching chang chong are ethnic slurs used to mock or imitate the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese. The term is a derogatory imitation of Mandarin and Cantonese phonology. The phrases have sometimes accompanied assaults or physical intimidation of East Asians, as have other racial slurs or imitation Chinese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNX-FM</span> Radio station in Los Angeles, California

KNX-FM is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, United States. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an all-news radio format in a full-time simulcast with KNX. The station has studios at the intersection of Wilshire and Hauser Boulevards in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, and the transmitter on Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KALV-FM</span> Contemporary hit radio station in Phoenix

KALV-FM is a commercial radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and it airs a top 40 (CHR) format. KALV-FM's studios are located in downtown Phoenix, and its transmitter is in South Mountain Park. For its first 20 years, the stations went by the call letters KHEP. From 1992 - 2016, the station used the callsign KZON.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free FM</span> Short-lived talk radio brand

Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air, instead of requiring a subscription fee like satellite radio services. Launched on October 25, 2005, Free FM was phased out over the course of 2007, with the final station using it, KLSX, dropping the brand in November 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNDD</span> Alternative rock radio station in Seattle

KNDD is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an alternative rock radio format. Its studios are located on Fifth Avenue in Downtown Seattle. The station broadcasts with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 68,000 watts. It transmits from a tower 707 meters (2,320 ft) in height above average terrain (HAAT) near Issaquah, Washington, on Tiger Mountain.

The David Lee Roth Show was a nationally syndicated American radio show hosted by musician David Lee Roth that aired from January 3 to April 21, 2006. It was the replacement of The Howard Stern Show following its departure from terrestrial to the subscription-based Sirius Satellite Radio. It was simulcast on seven stations owned by CBS Radio, who launched the show as part of its Free FM radio format. Notably different from Howard Stern's program, or corporate "morning zoo" and "shock jock" formats which dominated morning radio at the time, Roth's show sounded similar to pirate radio, featuring ethnic and non-commercial rock music integrated with personal stories, occasionally uncomfortable debates on intellectual matters, and interviews with people Roth admired, such as guitarist Brian May, baseball player Johnny Damon, and Roth's uncle, Manny Roth.

William David "Funny Dave" Dameshek is an American television writer and radio personality. Dameshek is a football analyst, writer and podcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresa Strasser</span> American writer and television personality (born 1970)

Teresa Lynn Strasser is an American writer and television personality known for hosting the first season of the home makeover show While You Were Out on TLC. She also co-hosted The Adam Carolla Show.

Josh Gardner is an American comedian and writer, Gardner is best known for his role as Saul Malone, a Gee-al-agist, on Adult Swim's cult-classic Saul of the Mole Men. Gardner first appeared on TV under the name Gerhard Reinke, the German host of the Comedy Central travel show, Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust, in 2003. Gardner also wrote for Comedy Central's The Man Show, and the Fox series A Minute With Stan Hooper. Aside from comedy, Gardner wrote for television game shows such as You Don't Know Jack and Sports Geniuses. He was also a regular contributor as the character Deaf Frat Guy on The Adam Carolla Show, and continues to appear on The Adam Carolla Podcast. Josh is a graduate of Salisbury School and Hamilton College. On April 6, 2011 Josh released his album of original songs on iTunes titled Mr. Stinkfinger. On the February 22nd episode of the Adam Carolla Podcast, Josh announced his forthcoming album "Winterbush", which will feature a much more "wintery" feel after the "autumnal" vibe of his last album. Nat Faxon is Gardner's cousin.

Brian David Whitman is an American talk radio host and voice impressionist. Whitman was born on Staten Island, New York and graduated from Wagner College in May 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Brian attended New York City Public High School and graduated from Tottenville High School in January, 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFRC-FM</span> All-news radio station in San Francisco

KFRC-FM is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It currently simulcasts sister station KCBS, which carries an all-news format. The station transmits its signal from Mount Beacon atop the Marin Headlands above Sausalito, California, while studios were shared with formerly co-owned CBS O&O station KPIX-TV in downtown San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Leykis</span> American talk radio personality

Tom Leykis is an American talk radio personality best known for hosting The Tom Leykis Show from 1994 to 2009, and April 2012 to 2018. The show follows the hot talk format, which brought Leykis much success, particularly in the Southern California radio market. Due to the provocative nature of the show, Leykis has often been described as a shock jock. The show's best-known feature is "Leykis 101", in which he claims to teach men how to get women while spending the least amount of time, money, and effort.

<i>The Adam Carolla Show</i> (podcast) Comedy podcast

The Adam Carolla Show is a comedy podcast hosted by comedian and radio-television personality Adam Carolla. Its first episode went online on February 23, 2009. The show is the flagship program of Carolla Digital.

Carolla Digital is an American podcast network. The flagship program of the network is The Adam Carolla Show, which is released daily. The network also produces several other shows that are released on a weekly basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSON (FM)</span> Radio station in California, United States

KSON is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts a country music format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina Grad</span> American actress

Gina Grad is an American radio personality and voice-over artist in the United States. She hosted "Andy and Gina in the Morning" weekdays on KSWD 100.3 The Sound and co-hosted The Adam Carolla Show.

References

  1. "Official website". Adam Carolla Show. Archived from the original on 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  2. "Jimmy with Jack Silver, Christian the 13-year old comedian, Joe Rogan and the Carolla family". Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  3. "Fake Adam - Jimmy Kimmel – with Super Dave Osborne, Deaf Frat Guy, George Lopez, Greg Fitzsimmons, Teri Hatcher, Billy West, and Joe Pesci– April 27, 2007". Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  4. Thomas, Karen (October 25, 2005). "Infinity signs Roth and Carolla". USA Today . Archived from the original on December 23, 2005. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  5. "The Official Adam Carolla Show Blog". Free FM. 2008-01-05. Archived from the original on 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  6. "Adam with Stever Werner, Jay Thomas". The Adam Carolla Show. Los Angeles. 2006-05-08. KLSX 97.1 FM. Archived from the original on November 19, 2006.
  7. "Adam with Perez Hilton and Giuliana Depandi". The Adam Carolla Show. Los Angeles. 2007-01-02. KLSX 97.1 FM. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009.
  8. Podcast. "Ace, The Absent." December 12, 2007
  9. "Carolla a Go Go". LARadio.com. 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  10. "Podcast Audio". 1260.am. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008.
  11. McBride, Sarah (2008-05-03). "The Next Howard Stern?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  12. CBS RADIO - Press Center Archived 2007-12-24 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Podcast. "More How Say You" September 12, 2008
  14. 1 2 Carnegie, Jim (January 2006). "Adam Carolla gets ire of 3AF, AAJC over Asian awards parody".
  15. "Radio host Carolla insults Asian group". UPI. 31 January 2006.
  16. "Radio Show Mocks Asian Awards Ceremony". Asian American Journalists Association. 27 January 2006. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010.
  17. "A Letter to Adam Carolla". Center for Asian American Media. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007.
  18. "Adam Carolla Show Audio (February 22 2006)". angryasianman.com.
  19. "Adam Carolla Show Audio (April 26 2006)". angryasianman.com.
  20. "Archive for January 24th, 2006". adamradio.wordpress.com. 24 January 2006. Archived from the original on 19 November 2006.
  21. LYCAN, GARY. "Tom Leykis among KLSX hosts going off air". Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  22. theKCRAchannel.com (2009-02-19). "Adam Carolla Show' Canceled". MSNBC.com . Retrieved 2009-02-26.[ dead link ]
  23. "Westwood One". www.westwoodone.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  24. "Adam with Christian the 13-year old comedian, Robert Schimmel and Toad the wet sprocket". Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  25. Diamond, Jamie (2006-08-13). "Is a Scallop an Animal?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  26. "HGTV & DIY with Eric Stromer of Over Your Head". www.askafloorguy.com. 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  27. "Adam and Dave Foley". Archived from the original on 19 November 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  28. ""The Adam Carolla Podcast" jumps to #1 spot on iTunes in 1 day". www.edibleapple.com/. 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  29. "Teresa Strasser Joins Mornings at KABC". LA Radio. 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2009-03-12.[ permanent dead link ]