Al Dukes
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Al Dukes is a former radio producer who is best known for working on the Ron and Fez Show on WNEW-FM in New York City. He left the show after losing a boxing match to another producer in 2002. In 2004, he joined Chris Booker's program on K-Rock. Al also served as Programming Coordinator for Infinity Broadcasting and was the producer of the now-defunct David Lee Roth Morning Radio Show. He is currently the Assistant Program Director for WFNY-FM, 92.3 Free FM, serving under Program Director John Mainelli. He also mans the "dump button" for the Opie and Anthony show. (See below) On September 5, 2006, Al Dukes appeared on the Ron and Fez Show on XM Satellite Radio for the first time in several years, and spent nearly an hour in-studio.
Al was often portrayed as being gay, although he denies this claim and has been on several heterosexual dates, most notably with "Stalker Patti", a formerly homeless woman. Al would often get drunk on the show which would lead to him performing crazy stunts such as kissing "Gay Randy" and destroying Anthony's (of the The Opie and Anthony Show) fooseball table, in which he later replaced with a Rolling Stones pinball table that was smashed by Opie on-air. Al was also known for his frank discussions of his standards in choosing female companionship. Generally, the more sexual partners a woman had, the less likely Al Dukes would consider dating them. Al was removed from his producing duties after losing in a boxing match to producer Rory Hamptons on May 31, 2002.
[edit] The Fight
Dukes was removed from his producing duties after losing in a boxing match to Rory Hamptons on June 14, 2002. The fight was a "loser leaves the show" match, with the stipulation that the whoever lost the fight would be removed from his position and never be allowed to appear on the air with Ron and Fez again. The fight took place outdoors in a makeshift ring on a rainy night next to Hooters on 56th street in midtown Manhattan. The match was fought thunderdome style where "two men enter, one man leaves!" With no judges, the fight would go on until one man quit or was knocked out.
Dukes, who had trained for the fight after poor performances at two other Ron and Fez Show events, more than held his own against Hamptons.
No longer producing the show and banished from appearing on air with Ron and Fez following the fight, Dukes was reassigned to working the "dump button" at WNEW for the rest of the show's tenure in New York. He was sometimes invited by Ron or Fez to phone in and give an opinion or what not but it was always a ruse and he would be cut off in mid sentence by Ron. Ron would then say "Sorry Al you're banned from the show". He was manning the dump button during Opie and Anthony's "Sex For Sam 3" incident. On September 5, 2006, he was an in-studio guest on Ron and Fez. In early 2007, Ron mentioned on the air that the fight was staged, and that Dukes had already requested and received a work transfer and was leaving the show anyway.
[edit] Free FM
Al is currently the "dump guy" for the terrestrial radio (and FCC compliant) portion of Opie and Anthony show, originating from the WFNY-FM studios in New York City. Al controls the "dumps" for the entire network feed, which goes to all the syndicated affiliates of the show, which include stations owned by CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting. It was once stated "Nothing gets past The Wall". Opie and Anthony have mentioned numerous times on the XM portion of their show, that Al was responsible for not "dumping out" on the infamous Sex For Sam 3 show. There is currently no problem between Al & Opie and Anthony, outside of occasional on-air ribbing.
