kylie - Real good point. When the show first started, I wanted to like it. My initial problem was the oh-so-cute name. Kind of like saying "I sent you a Tweet". As an adult, I cringe at the goofy stuff. I'm old enough to be Burbank's daddy but have always had a young look at life and ready toi try about anything. One problem was that the suits at KIRO seemed to equate youth with talent. Just because they all sounded like Archie & Veronica didn't mean it was entertaining. Also, as posited by Marshall McLuhan (sp?) - radio is a "hot" medium and TV is "cool". Over the top is good on radio because our mind gets to fill in the gaps. But can you imagine Doris Monson on TV? Have mercy! The little, unattractive loud man would not translate well. The old line about having a "face for radio" is there for a reason - myself included, btw.
And then, as I tried to give the show time, Burbank kept disappearing. Like you said, he treated it as a hobby. And that miserable gal pal would fill in, sounding like a dug-up Valley Girl to the max ... it was hideous. He'd come back a few nights later nd they'd go one about their weight for a half hour. Completely vapid radio.
So Friday night my 12 yr old and I are headed home from the HS football game and I want to listen to Coast to Coast but stop at KIRO-FM as Burbank is signing off. I'm a sap so his emotional goodbye moved me a bit (even tho that, like EVERY thing else with that show, was way inside and unrelatable) but when they started singing along to "Don't Stop Believing", it became a sad satire. It went on for the length of the song and my kid was literally begging me to turn the caterwauling off. I didn't. Like a car wreck, I was perversley fascinated with a Ship of Fools, sailing off into the void and acting as if being booted out of port was a an excuse for a party. And it was his party and he could cry if he wanted to, I guess. He might be a good guy and I'm sure I'd enjoy having a beer with him but, man - KIRO made a good decsion on this one.