> As I've said before, Rover certainly has some talent, but
> staying power?? That I'm not sure about. He's not as quick
> witted or daring as Opie and Anthony were - and his "cast"
> of characters are probably the worst in radio history. If
> the buying and selling of Rover's show includes Duji and
> Deter...than he's not going much further in this business.
I'll disregard your hyperbole about Duji and Dieter (even though they have alliterative names) and say that they are not all that bad. Granted, they are the reason I set my alarm clock to WXTM (I can only listen so long before the urge to get up and turn off the radio exceeds the urge to sleep), but I feel that, if properly utilized, they are okay.
Also, I doubt Dieter is non-negotiable (isn't he a replacement for some guy named Lunchbox?)
> Today's story (contrived bit alert, contrived bit alert) was
> that Deter's buddy was left $30,000 by a dying grandmother -
> and after he was asked for financial advice, Deter told him
> to enter the World Poker Tournament - th story ends with the
> friend losing all the money, and then calls of outrage from
> the listeners about how stupid Deter is.
Contrived as it may be, that bit got people to call. Chances are that those who called were also compelled to tell those they encounter about the radio show. To me (having never been employed in anything even remotely related to any media,) it seems that calls of any sort are a plus. I've heard that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
> Let me tell you,
> that stuff is just not going to work as a viable alternative
> to smart, creative radio. He definitely needs better
> writers...as everyone knows, much of Stern's show is
> scripted (sans the naked girls, and the news).
I don't think the content is off, I think that it is the delivery. I did not hear the bit of which you write, but I would guess that Dieter was too scripted in his pitch. I attribute this not to lack-of-talent -- I'd say that it is inexperience. Howard Stern is past 50 years old. Assuming that Rover's crew is close to his age, they are all young compared to other syndicated personalities. Given time, who knows, maybe the Rover show could be something.