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Regular Guys losing steam?

J

jckkwf

According to the latest ratings report, The Regular Guys fell from 6th to 18th (25-54) and 4th to 19th (18-34) within the last 6 months.

On the last show of the year before vacation, Larry Wachs mentioned the show signed on for another 3 years with Cumulus. (I wonder how negotiations would have went had the current ratings book been out at that time?).

How concerned do you think Cumulus is with this show right now?

The show's biggest appeal came in the early part of the 2000s when they were a niche 'shock-jock' product that appealed to an audience who appreciated a well constructed alternative to the more mainstream, established and politically corrected shows like the Morning X.

The Regular Guys were great at filling the void and creating the 'shock' product in a city that never air Howard Stern. It's latest incarnation has been over focused with conservative political slant (which seems to alienate the average fan tuning in for comedy - see Phil Hendrie during the late 2000s). Another noticeable difference seems to be the reliance on repeating the same bits on a weekly basis with little or no difference in comedic payoff ('Regular Guys Squares' and 'Shoot [whomever]').

Do you think Cumulus would want to Regular Guys to revert back to the edgier, unpredictable niche content of their earlier days to rejuvenate the show's appeal or will they continue to produce the kind of controlled, more mainstream show they've been so great at being an alternative for in the past???
 
"The Regular Guys have never been innovative nor unique." ~ A KSLX Listener that heard all TRG had to offer in 1995 (AKA Robnoxious)
 
This one isn't hard to figure out. A prescription, which WON'T be followed (hey, Rob, Larry works for YOU and not the other way around as below);

  • Remove George Stein. As entertaining as a colonoscopy. Totally useless in terms of radio content. As entertaining as my last IRS audit. Sure, Larry gets to hang out at his St. Martin condo, but.....meh.
  • Remove the guys from Accidental Financial. Or whatever their name is. As entertaining as a colonoscopy. Again I will say: the show is supposed to be FUNNY. This crap belongs on Sunday mornings, barter time.
    • Re-orient the show where it should be. So glad that Southside has his damn bar, but, guess what: he's a professional idiot. That's his claim to fame. He can't spell, can barely talk, etc. Exploit THAT. He's a dunce, totally. So, back to basics, Steve: in my stall, for example. More of this, and less of that.
    • The show is still too political. Eric's bias is there for all to hear, particularly in the news updates. Back up on that. No one is listening to the show for politics, as much as the people involved thinks they are. NO ONE CARES.
      • Lose stuff that sucks, like Steve's silly John Travolta imitation. There are numerous examples of this inside self indulgent nonsense heard daily, and that's just one. The only guy on the show who seems to have a damn clue in terms of voices is Tim.
      • Sense of urgency and localism: there is none.


      If I was the PD, I'd be looking, NOW for a replacement show. So I'd say these guys have about 5 minutes to figure out how to fix things. At the very least, I'd burn George Stein and the financial guys; talk about ratings killers!
 
ck dexter haven said:
This one isn't hard to figure out. A prescription, which WON'T be followed (hey, Rob, Larry works for YOU and not the other way around as below);

  • Remove George Stein. As entertaining as a colonoscopy. Totally useless in terms of radio content. As entertaining as my last IRS audit. Sure, Larry gets to hang out at his St. Martin condo, but.....meh.
  • Remove the guys from Accidental Financial. Or whatever their name is. As entertaining as a colonoscopy. Again I will say: the show is supposed to be FUNNY. This crap belongs on Sunday mornings, barter time.
    • Re-orient the show where it should be. So glad that Southside has his damn bar, but, guess what: he's a professional idiot. That's his claim to fame. He can't spell, can barely talk, etc. Exploit THAT. He's a dunce, totally. So, back to basics, Steve: in my stall, for example. More of this, and less of that.
    • The show is still too political. Eric's bias is there for all to hear, particularly in the news updates. Back up on that. No one is listening to the show for politics, as much as the people involved thinks they are. NO ONE CARES.
      • Lose stuff that sucks, like Steve's silly John Travolta imitation. There are numerous examples of this inside self indulgent nonsense heard daily, and that's just one. The only guy on the show who seems to have a damn clue in terms of voices is Tim.
      • Sense of urgency and localism: there is none.


      If I was the PD, I'd be looking, NOW for a replacement show. So I'd say these guys have about 5 minutes to figure out how to fix things. At the very least, I'd burn George Stein and the financial guys; talk about ratings killers!
Click to expand...


    • I agree.... being fired two times + age = be as safe as possible so we don't get fired again.
      Eric is doing it for the paycheck and a chance to speak his political mind. He has ZERO interest in doing "Shock" radio.
      Steve is Steve... he hasn't changed. He's great at what he does, so come up with a new way to exploit him.
      Tim Andrews is a very talented guy too... Find ways to use him more.
      And LAY OFF the politics unless it's something that's being discussed everywhere.

      Being funny 4 hours a day, 5 days a week is not easy. But that's what people want to do on their way to work... laugh!
 
ck dexter haven said:
This one isn't hard to figure out. A prescription, which WON'T be followed (hey, Rob, Larry works for YOU and not the other way around as below);

  • Remove George Stein. As entertaining as a colonoscopy. Totally useless in terms of radio content. As entertaining as my last IRS audit. Sure, Larry gets to hang out at his St. Martin condo, but.....meh.
  • Remove the guys from Accidental Financial. Or whatever their name is. As entertaining as a colonoscopy. Again I will say: the show is supposed to be FUNNY. This crap belongs on Sunday mornings, barter time.
    • Re-orient the show where it should be. So glad that Southside has his damn bar, but, guess what: he's a professional idiot. That's his claim to fame. He can't spell, can barely talk, etc. Exploit THAT. He's a dunce, totally. So, back to basics, Steve: in my stall, for example. More of this, and less of that.
    • The show is still too political. Eric's bias is there for all to hear, particularly in the news updates. Back up on that. No one is listening to the show for politics, as much as the people involved thinks they are. NO ONE CARES.
      • Lose stuff that sucks, like Steve's silly John Travolta imitation. There are numerous examples of this inside self indulgent nonsense heard daily, and that's just one. The only guy on the show who seems to have a damn clue in terms of voices is Tim.
      • Sense of urgency and localism: there is none.


      If I was the PD, I'd be looking, NOW for a replacement show. So I'd say these guys have about 5 minutes to figure out how to fix things. At the very least, I'd burn George Stein and the financial guys; talk about ratings killers!
Click to expand...

    • I agree with getting rid of George Stein and Occidental Financial. BOOOOORRRRINNG. I don't like listening to the patrol car audio of someone getting popped for DUI, and I don't like listening to Handel On The Law or Dave Ramsey, let alone a wannabe.

      I like the politics--they always brought a vaguely conservative, everyman perspective you didn't get on more wonkish shows like Beck or Boortz (who has his own show problems IMO) or Rush.

      What they need to do is quit playing it so safe, get edgier and when you do politics, do it like you mean it and don't pontificate.
 
What's really irritating to me is that they have all the ingredients to be a dominating show, but their priorities are obviously screwed up.

First of all, they've lost track of the roles the cast play. Steve is the best example. Steve is, or at least used to be and should be, the "everyman" representative of the audience who listens. He literally used to "talk" back to Larry and Eric from the audience's standpoint. But as he's gotten more successful, due to hard work on his part (no slam on that), his success has created a different character the audience can no longer relate to. The average person doesn't understand how someone can go from a professional dunce/good ol' boy/womanizer to an entrepreneur/bar owner/$300k per year plus guy. And his on-air antics have changed, drastically, as a result. Now, Sebas is the guy who fills the Steve role. But Sebas is an obvious weirdo (forget about being a jerk)--MENSA, but lives in a trailer behind the Pink Pony, and everyone on the show hates his guts? He's not a good ol' boy and no one relates to him. He's the replacement for Steve? Riiiiiight.

Second, they're ahead of themselves by more than half. They've been overly worried about crap that doesn't matter, like being syndicated. Who cares? We don't. They do. Or at least, did; it's all we heard about during their brief Dallas foray. So now they have Macon. Congratulations. Meanwhile...

Where did the entertaining stuff go? The only guy on the show providing regular laughs at this point is Tim Andrews. I'm sure that George Stein and the Occidental people are all very nice, but jeez: in my PD days, if you came to me and told me that 50% of the time the average person would tune in, they'd hear a DUI lawyer or tax people giving advice, on a ROCK station? I'd kick you out of my office.

They need to cut bait FAST or they'll be out of work, again, and soon. My 2011 prediction is that if they DON'T make changes, and quickly, they'll be DONE. TOAST. Sure, they may have a contract payout, but that will be the end of it.
 
Steve is (or was--maybe it is now Sebas) was the "butt" of the show--the target of all the jokes--the Steve McCoy*. Now, Steve is taking himself too seriously, and Sebas not seriously enough. Steve always had enough dignity to keep it funny--but now he's gotten too big for his britches. Sebas has no dignity and it looks pathetic, not funny.

Somebody has them on a short leash, and when they do take a chance it comes across as juvenile. For example, during "Regular Guys Squares", there are too many dumb impressions like E.T., George Bush, Satan, and some random gay celebrity of the week--no originality. What was funny was when they make fun of locals like Rhubarb Jones, or my favorite--Neal Boortz. Their impression of Neal, with SSS (?) doing Royal and Eric doing Belinda (oh NEALLLLLL...), is hilarious. That takes a little more moxie...because someone might actually get offended.

*As in the time when TRG called Steve & Vikki it the Ikki & Heave Show--Steve's only purpose on the show was to give Vikki someone to cut the cojones off of. Not a comment they would make today, because 1) someone might get offended and 2) one of the two listeners in Macon might not get the joke.

I agree, if they don't quit worrying about syndication they won't have a show to syndicate.
 
I saw today they they've been renewed for 3 years. What in God's name is Jan Jeffries thinking?

The slow show decline will continue, I think, as the renewal provides them more confidence in the direction they're currently taking. What was the recent PPM numbers in their demo? Pretty low ranking, I think.

But then again, I'm sure they're right and I'm wrong. I'm hoping now to hear more George Stein, and Oxygen Financial -- hey, let's expand them to daily, and why not?--, and, Sebas trying to be Steve, Eric's Libertarian pontificating, Steve doing John Travolta badly, etc. etc.

Depressing. I'll be listening less, for sure, so long as the formula remains the same. And I USED to listen for 90 minutes plus, straight through, daily, the first incarnation of these guys back on 96 Rock, because I have a helluva commute into town every day.

Meh...
 
I thought that the Regular Guys lost all of their STEAM in about 2003!!! And even then, it wasn`t too much STEAM that they had to work with-LOL! Southside Steve saved their butts many times...-LOL
 
GoodTimesandGreatOldies said:
I thought that the Regular Guys lost all of their STEAM in about 2003!!! And even then, it wasn`t too much STEAM that they had to work with-LOL! Southside Steve saved their butts many times...-LOL
Click to expand...

ROFL
 
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