Preston and Steve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Preston and Steve Show | |
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| Genre | Comedy, Talk |
| Running time | ~4 hours |
| Country |  United States |
| Home station | 93.3 WMMR |
| Starring | Preston Elliot Steve Morrison Casey Foster Nick McIlwain Kathy Romano |
| Executive producer(s) | Nick McIlwain Casey Foster |
| Air dates | February, 24 2005 – Present (with WMMR) |
| Website | http://www.prestonandsteve.com |
| Podcast feed | http://prestonandsteve.libsyn.com/ |
The Preston and Steve morning show, originating at Y100 Philadelphia, features radio DJ's Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison. After radio station Y100 was shut down, the show moved to 93.3 FM WMMR, a Philadelphia mainstream rock station. The show broadcasts live on the radio as well as streaming audio via the station website from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. EST, Monday through Friday.
Contents |
[edit] History
After four successful years of (then known as) The Y100 Morning Show with Preston, Marilyn, and Steve, Marilyn Russell left the morning show on March 1, 2002 due to family reasons. She has worked part time on many stations in the Philadelphia area since then, including WMGK, and SoJo 104.9, and at this moment, broadcasts part time from the current rival of WMMR; WYSP. Preston and Steve called Marilyn on on their last Y100 broadcast, but unfortunately couldn't reach her. Although they rarely mention Marilyn, she has contributed to the Camp Out for Hunger over the years and they remain friends. WPLY's onwer, Dan Lerner, one of the last independent owners in the Philadelphia market, sold the station to Radio One, a national broadcasting corporation, in 2001. Ironically, Radio One was the same group that bought Preston, Marilyn & Steve's previous radio station 103.9 WDRE. Radio One and Preston and Steve did not successfully negotiate a new contract, and the personalities agreed to a deal with local broadcasting group Greater Media. Preston and Steve's contract with Radio One expired on February 24, 2005 and Y100 changed format and became WPHI The Beat at 11:50 p.m. EDT that same day.
After a legal battle between Radio One and Preston and Steve over their Non-compete clauses, they were no longer in competition with WMMR. The show first aired on WMMR on Monday, May 16, 2005.
[edit] Current Cast and Crew
- Preston Elliot - Serves as one of the show's lead men, always on air.
- Steve Morrison - Serves as one of the show's lead men, always on air.
- "Caseyboy" (Casey Foster) - Serves as the show's producer, always on air.
- Kathy Romano - Serves as the news and traffic woman, always on air.
- Nick McIlwain - Serves as the show's associate producer, always on air.
- Marisa - Serves as the official phone screener for the show, sometimes on air. However, does fill in when Kathy Romano is not present for an extended period of time. Also know as "M.C. Tic Tac", a title affectionately tagged to her for being small and white.
- Intern Joe - One of the current (2006-07) interns for the show, on air as the "stunt monkey" and other assorted jobs.
- Intern Mykal - One of the current (2006-07) interns for the show. Has been sent out for some public contests which involve Mykal's humiliation (similar to Intern Joe). Also has an avid foot fetish as demonstrated by sucking on Kathy's toes.
[edit] Former Cast and Crew
- Marilyn Russell - Former lead woman of the show, left March 1, 2002 due to family reasons.
- Gina Crash - Former news and traffic woman from June 2002 through July 2003. Ironically, was on the morning show "Philly Guys" for WMMR until Preston and Steve replaced them, and Crash was moved to the late-night weekend shift. Worked for 97.5 'The Hawk', a short-lived classic rock station, for a time.
- Lauren Dragan - Former associate producer for the show, left the show shortly before Y100 went off air. Currently a writer and voice actor in Los Angeles.
- Rick Del Gado - Former associate producer for the show, left in 2004 for New York's Hot 97.
- Jim Johnson - Former intern (known as Intern Jim) for the show, currently a successful stand-up comedian.
- Sherri Lee Stevens - Former news and traffic woman, left early on.
- John Von - Former Y100 DJ and occasional contributor and visual archivist. Directed their documentary Kill Casey! The Month of Stunts; currently a filmmaker and producer.
[edit] Frequent Guests
- Jose Lucero - Former WPLY Y100 Philadelphia janitor, star of "What You Say Jose?".
- Frank the Diet Guy - Local diet expert and personal trainer.
- Psychic Susan - Local psychic, also gives advice to listeners of the show.
- Cecily Tynan - Meteorologist for Action News on WPVI-TV, and a professional duathlete.
- Matt O'Donnell - Early morning anchor and field reporter for Action News on WPVI-TV
- Bam Margera - Local skateboarder, star of Jackass and Viva La Bam.
- Phil Margera and April Margera - Parents of Bam Margera.
- Terry O'Quinn - Actor and star of the TV series Lost (the crew are fans of the show and discuss on Thursday mornings following new episodes).
- Shirley the Lunchlady - Local lunchlady who would call in to discuss the finer points of Philadelphia cuisine.
- Rob VanBeek - Forward of the Philadelphia Wings indoor lacrosse team.
[edit] Prize Games
On the show, numerous promotional items are available to be given away to listeners of the show. While these items can range from a simple case of this month's beer sponsor (such as Bass Pale Ale and Miller Lite) to concert tickets to minor and major bands.
5 in 10 The rules are simple. When the caller is finally put on the air, they will be prompted by one of the cast members to give them 5 examples of a given subject in 10 seconds, i.e. "OK, in 10 seconds give me 5 Nicholas Cage movies... go". Despite the apparent ease of this, the cast has been reduced to asking for "five examples of grunts" or at the worst of it "5 seconds of silence". Thankfully, both of those were won.
Crackshot In this game, each of the participating show regulars claims to be an expert in a certain category. Categories include 80s Movies (Preston), Sci-Fi Movies (Steve), Phish (Casey), Pearl Jam (Nick), and The Simpsons (Marisa). A listener calls and asks a question related to the category (the listener picks the expert). If the listener stumps the expert, he/she gets a prize and designates a regular as the shooter. The stumped expert must bend over while the shooter shoots him/her in the rear with a bb gun. There is usually an element of randomness to how many "pumps" the gun gets before firing. Kathy usually refuses to play, although she has been allowed to be a shooter even when not playing.
Porno, or No-no A game based on a simple yes or no style answer from the listener, Preston will read of the name of an Adult Movie, and the listener will have to decide if that title is the name of an actual adult film or not. This takes from the fact that many adult films will have names from popular culture, such as "Shaving Ryan's Privates" and "Poke-her-hot-ass".
1-800-your-name Possibly the most original styled game in their arsenal, the cast will tell listeners to call in and give up to 7 letters in their name. For example: John Walsh would give them J-O-H-N-W-A-L. They would then dial the corresponding letters on the phone with the 1800 extension. The caller will win a prize (sometimes of their choice) if they reach a real person. The first time a listener happened to hit a sex line, they were so impressed they set the precedent of giving two prizes instead of one.
Assword Played similar to the game show "Password", callers pick their team-mates among the cast and are given one word clues to give them the clinicalterm for the sexual term they're hinting at.
ex. Center could be for "nipple". Evacuate could be for "urinate".
Toddler Theater Occasionally Preston will record his two children saying lines from well known movies, and will have callers attempt to name the movie. Often the lines will have obscene language that is censored out, leaving many listeners wondering whether they actually do drop the cusses or whether Preston has them substitute other words.
Butt-Plug Karaoke Casey-boy will insert a butt plug into his mouth and will sing a line or two from a song. Callers-in must figure out what song Casey is singing.
What-you-say Jose? The original version of "Buttplug Karaoke", Jose (their janitor friend from their original building) will perform a spoken-word version of a song in his best English (which in itself, is the actual challenge).
[edit] Preston and Steve Show Events
[edit] Camp Out for Hunger
The Preston and Steve Show has for several years held an annual "Camp Out For Hunger", in which both Elliot and Morrison live in a trailer for one week in December to raise food for the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank. The show awards prizes to individuals and groups that donate the most food. Since 1998, the event has raised close to 400 tons to feed the hungry around Philadelphia. 2005 saw the show collect a record 87.4 tons of food for the "Philabundance" organization. And in 2006 they managaed to shatter that record by raising 151 tons of food. This is the largest single location food drive in the history of the state of Pennsylvania.
[edit] Month of Stunts
In April 2002 and 2003, the show performed a month-long publicity stunt called "Casey's Month of Stunts". During the month, sidekick and producer "Caseyboy" performed various stunts on the streets of Philadelphia, or in the broadcast studio. One stunt was performed every day, until Casey was injured nearing the end of the second full month. The stunts were varied, but always involved inflicting some sort of physical harm upon "Caseyboy" while he held either a station microphone or his cell phone, and were broadcast live over the air. Stunts included: Rolling down the Art Museum's stairs while wrapped in bubble wrap, driving a car into a pond, being towed around an ice rink by a Zamboni while sitting down with no pants, and having a pitching machine fire baseballs at his genitals. The stunts were also filmed and the video was posted on the show's website. A short film directed by former Y100 DJ and current filmmaker John Von titled Kill Casey! was created from footage of the 2002 version of "Casey's Month of Stunts", and a DVD of Kill Casey! was released with Y100's Sonic Sessions Volume 8 CD.
In May 2006, Preston and Steve reprised the "Month of Stunts", in a lesser frequency (three per week instead of one per day), and using Intern Joe instead of Casey. Intern Joe completed a number of stunts, including receiving a tattoo on his "taint", driving around in a pick-up truck covered in horse manure (called the "Poop Coupe"), standing between two sumo wrestlers while they were fighting, partaking in an activity known as the "Human Piñata", being pulled by a horse across a farm, being fired upon by a woodchipper with various objects inserted, and also towering over the ground on a toilet for 24 hours (mocking magician David Blaine's attempt to live in water for a week.)
[edit] Public Service Announcements
The Preston and Steve Show has another annual tradition known as their "Public Service Announcement", which typically occurs on the last weekday before the 4th of July weekend. In the first Public Service Announcement show in 2004, news and traffic woman Kathy Romano got drunk live on the air. This particular show is cited as one of the listeners favorite shows, as well as one of the cast and crew's favorite shows. For its second incarnation, both Romano and producer "Caseyboy" got drunk live on the air. The tradition continued in 2006, this time featuring Romano and associate producer Nick McIlwain drinking live on air.
[edit] Painfully Single Mixers
The Preston and Steve Show hosts these mixers for listeners at different locations. Occurring roughly every two months, single listeners of the show can reserve a spot at the mixer by providing their personal information to the jocks. Elliot and Morrison make the final decision as to who gets to attend; those who get in get a chance to meet others, start a relationship, possibly hook-up, and meet the cast and crew of the show. There have been several weddings that have resulted from the mixers.
[edit] Philly's Hottest
Preston and Steve have reinstated another tradition from their Y100 days on WMMR, the "Philly's Hottest" Competition. Selecting a category, such as "Philly's Hottest Student", or "Philly's Hottest Healthcare Worker", female listeners that qualify for the category that submit their pictures will have their photographs posted on the radio station's website. Listeners and visitors to the station's website then vote (a process that takes normally one to two weeks), after which a winner is decided.
[edit] Morning Show Trivia
- The Preston and Steve Show was briefly heard on the second episode of Season One on Viva La Bam. In the episode, the camera shows a picture of a radio tuned to the 100.3 frequency (WPLY Y100 Philadelphia), and the duo are heard talking about the concept of the episode, which is "Don't Feed Phil" day.
- "Caseyboy" is a huge Phish fan, and he co-designed a T-shirt which came in second place in the Coventry T-shirt Design Contest. The design can be seen here.
- Preston Elliot, and his wife Rachelle, were featured in the first episode of Season Five on Trading Spaces. Elliot and his wife traded homes with their neighbors, and over a period of two days, both families renovated a room in each other's homes. The entire Preston and Steve Show cast and crew broadcast live from Elliot's house for two days, and were briefly featured in the episode itself. In that time frame, Preston's fellow cast members pranked him by making him believe his house was on fire.
- Kathy Romano regularly did the traffic reports for NBC 10 before joining the show. She still fills in on NBC 10 occasionally.
- Casey Foster's nickname, "Caseyboy" derives from the early days at Y100. There was a female employee at the station also named Casey. To distinguish the two, she was called "Caseygirl" until she left the station.
- Preston Elliot has narrated various "Sports Disaster" type shows for the TLC Network.
- The Preston and Steve Show is partially known for the phrase "You Guys Rock." For years, when most listeners call in, before talking about the actual topic that the show is discussing, listeners will tell the crew "You Guys Rock!". When listeners say this, a clip of Homer Simpson saying "Rock and Roll" is played.
- Bassets Ice Cream has recently released a "Gadzooks! created by Preston & Steve" flavor. Created by consensus on-air, the flavor features chocolate ice cream, a caramel swirl, solid chocolate chunks and peanut-butter brownie points. "Gadzooks!" debuted at the WMMR Spring Break '06 concert, on Friday April 4, 2006, with all proceeds going to "Philabundance."
- Some jokes that have been started on the show and are now ongoing are the rumors about Kathy's perfect vagina, and the ongoing joke about Preston being a closet Amy Grant fan.
- One of the newest ways to say hello, much to the dismay of the radio hosts, is saying "OFFICE." This comes from an incident when Preston off-handedly said "office" instead of "awesome" while talking to a visitor in the studio.
- Preston provided the voiceover narration to a commercial for THP Properties, which aired exclusively for the Super Bowl.
- "Caseyboy" and his wife Diane were featured on an episode of the HGTV show Save My Bath, which premiered on October 17, 2006. The episode featured the crew renovating a worn-out bathroom in Casey and Diane's house, with the total estimate of the renovation costs being around $30,000.
- Kathy Romano had appeared on an episode of the third season of The Simple Life, commenting that the producers present on a Greyhound bus had to "spoon-feed" every line of dialogue to Paris Hilton.
- Antes Cookie Express has produced a cookie entitled the "Gadzookie", which was created by the Preston and Steve cast. The cookie is comprised of a "chewy chocolate base, meltaway peanut butter cup chunks and the added crunch of pretzels" according to the Moma Antes' webite. It developed from a conversation held on air over which type of cookie was best. Twenty percent of the sales from the cookie go toward a Philadelphia charity group, Philabundence.
- More recently sound bites have been played on the show where Kathy says things like "That idiot can't even get me off" and "I like semen". The second sound bite is of Kathy's voice but not of an actual sentence she has spoken. Instead, listeners have taken words that Kathy has said and strung them together to form the comical phrase.
- New tease on Preston is to say "work" instead of "rock". This came about when Preston said "93.3 WMMR Everything That Works." instead of "93.3 WMMR Everything That Rocks."
[edit] Achievements
The Preston and Steve Show was voted "Modern Rock's Best Local Morning Show" in the FMQB 2004 Leaders Poll, and over the years, the show has made serious inroads in the Philadelphia radio market. In the Summer 2004 Arbitron book, Preston and Steve landed a 6.4 share of persons 18-34 (4), and a 6.3 share of men 18-34 (2), beating out Howard Stern on WYSP Philadelphia. During Both David Lee Roth's and Opie and Anthony's tenure at 94.1 WYSP since January 2006, Preston and Steve claimed #1 in the key demographics. They continue to rank number one in the ratings board as of January 2007.
The Preston and Steve Show has also won various Philadelphia Air Awards, including the "Best Weekday Morning Team" award for 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005.
Recently, the show was named the Best Morning Show by Philly Style Magazine. They were also named Hometown Heroes by the Philadelphia 76ers.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Phila Mag article - an article from Philadelphia Magazine
