The David Lee Roth Show

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The David Lee Roth Show was a short-lived syndicated morning radio program in 2006.

1 History
2 Criticism
3 Conspiracy Theories
4 Show Cast
5 Roth Radio Guests
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

It began airing on January 3, 2006. The show was produced by CBS Radio as part of its Free FM format, and was based out of WFNY-FM in New York City. The show replaced Howard Stern's show in many of its east coast markets following Stern's move from the FM dial to Sirius Satellite Radio at the end of 2005. Host David Lee Roth was best-known as the former lead singer of Van Halen and his ensuing solo career.

The David Lee Roth Show aired in seven markets on CBS owned and operated stations, WFNY-FM in New York City, WBCN-FM in Boston, WNCX-FM in Cleveland, KLLI-FM in Dallas, WYSP-FM in Philadelphia, WRKZ-FM in Pittsburgh and WPBZ-FM in West Palm Beach. There was mass speculation regarding cancellation or format change when Roth took an unexpected one-week vacation in March, after having been doing the show for only two months. Following weeks of mounting tension between Roth and CBS Radio management (which Roth often expressed on-air), and several (corporately ordered) changes in format, the show was abruptly cancelled without fanfare on April 21, 2006.

On April 24, 2006 CBS Radio Chairman & CEO Joel Hollander announced that The David Lee Roth Show was being replaced starting on Wednesday April 26th with The Opie and Anthony Show on all of Roth's former affiliates except for Cleveland affiliate WNCX. WNCX opted to produce its own local morning show and air Opie and Anthony in afternoon drive-time.

As a result of the cancellation of his radio show, Roth reportedly retained the same law firm that Howard Stern is using in his lawsuit against CBS Radio, its parent CBS Corporation, and CBS Corp's Chairman Leslie Moonves. Roth has stated publicly that "Someone will pay" meaning his reported salary of $4 million dollars and that if he and CBS cannot come to an agreement regarding his salary, a lawsuit will ensue.

[edit] Criticism

"Roth's show is ... skin-crawlingly awful. ... In these days of bland Clear Channel/Infinity corporate radio, it's bracing to hear a guy who has no idea what he's doing. ... Listening to Roth, you feel actual physical pain." - Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone

"He's a mess, and he's a loudmouth punk." - syndicated radio host Don Imus

Critics and fans alike generally concluded that Roth was unprepared for a radio show, and close to the demise of the show, Roth himself suggested on the air that he agreed with this assessment. He also stated on-air at least once, in response to a caller's complaint, that he thought the show "sucked", although this was in reference to the new format forced upon him by Free-FM management.

Roth mentioned several times that his show was a work in progress, and that near the end of his run, he felt that he was getting the timing down. He also felt that he was trying to develop something "unique", quite different from the generic "morning zoo" programs that would replace him. He conceded that his show would take time to mature.

[edit] Conspiracy Theories

In the April 28th edition of the Boston Herald^[1], reporters Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa wrote that conspiracy theorists say that Roth was never intended to successfully replace Howard Stern. Supposedly, CBS Radio wanted to hire Opie and Anthony all along but could not because...

Stern dislikes Opie and Anthony, and would have spent the last six months of his show slagging on them
Stern liked Roth, and approved of his take-over
Management at CBS Radio (then called Infinity Broadcasting) believed that whomever replaced Stern was doomed. An insider at CBS Radio was quoted as saying to the Boston Herald reporters that, "He (Roth) looked good to Wall Street and they gave him a real shot. They would have loved for him to succeed but he wasn’t a radio guy, and it turned out to be a disaster."