Ron Bennington
| Ron Bennington | |
|---|---|
 Ron Bennington (Left) | |
| Born |
12/31/59 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Show | Ron and Fez |
| Station(s) | The Raw Dog on (XM channel 99) |
| Time slot |
12:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET Monday - Friday |
| Show | Unmasked |
| Station(s) | XM Comedy on XM Satellite Radio |
| Time slot | Saturday's at 8:00 - 9:00 PM ET |
| Style | Host |
| Country |
 United States Canada Brazil Cambodia |
| Website | RonFez.net The Interrobang |
| module | |
Ron Bennington, born December 31, 1959, is an American radio personality and comedian. He is the primary voice of The Ron and Fez Show, and a stand-up comic. Ron and Fez can be heard Monday through Friday 12 PM to 3 PM EST on The Raw Dog XM 99 and Sirius Radio
Radio career
In the mid-1980s, stand-up comedian Ron Bennington joined Ron Diaz to create a wildly popular and raunchy morning radio program, The Ron & Ron Show, at Tampa Bay's WYNF-FM, known as 95YNF.[1] The show had huge ratings success and Ron & Ron then partnered with their agent Ross Reback to form The Ron & Ron Radio Network to own and syndicate the programming. The show's final broadcast for WYNF was on March 12, 1993. Within thirty days, Reback had successfully negotiated a deal for the newly formed network to launch on three radio stations in Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville, FL with another approximately dozen markets soon following (including a new, more lucrative deal in Tampa). Fez Whatley along with "Fast Eddie", Billy "The Phone Freak", and "Flipper" rounded out the cast. The Ron & Ron Show regularly interviewed celebrity guests and Ron & Ron made national headlines after engaging in a screaming match with apparently inebriated actor Don Johnson (Miami Vice, Nash Bridges) which was highly chronicled in the press, on many TV entertainment news shows, and was featured in People Magazine and on Inside Edition amongst many others.
Reback successfully negotiated a divestiture of The Ron & Ron Radio Network through a sale to Paxson Communications Corp., then a publicly traded company headed by Lowell W. Bud Paxson, the co-founder and former president of Home Shopping Network (HSN). At the time, Paxson Communications owned a large number of radio properties and was also the largest owner of TV stations in the country. Ron Diaz announced his departure on-air from The Ron & Ron Show in early 1997 as Paxson prepared to relocate it from the network’s studios in St. Petersburg, FL to Hollywood, FL. Without Diaz, and under Paxson, the show soon floundered, and on September 29, 1997 after a successful 11 year run (the last few months of which featured several replacement hosts, all of whom took the name "Ron" in a failed attempted replacement of Diaz). The Ron & Ron Show was promptly canceled when Clear Channel Radio purchased the radio division of rightsholder, Paxson Communications, and opted not to continue the show.
In 1997, after The Ron & Ron Show disbanded, Bennington teamed up with Fez Whatley to create The Ron and Fez Show. After several short stints in Daytona Beach, FL, New York City, and Washington, D.C., the show was broadcast from New York(originally briefly called "Ron and Fez dot com" as it was devoted to discussing Web sites) on 102.7 FM WNEW-FM from 2000-2003, and syndicated to additional FM stations toward the end of the run, until the station ended the talk format, and eventually moved to 106.7 FM WJFK-FM near Washington D.C. where it aired live from 2003–2005, a station that had been simulcasting the WNEW-based show since 2000.[1] Bennington and Whatley moved back to New York and debuted on XM Satellite Radio on September 12, 2005.[2]
Bennington currently hosts 3 radio shows, The Ron and Fez Show, Unmasked, and Ron Bennington Interviews all of which air on Sirius XM Radio. Unmasked is an interview-based show in which Bennington talks with leading comedians of the past and present. Bennington interviews comedians to understand their creative process, inspirations, and the person behind the comedy. Unmasked is broadcast on Sirius XM Radio, airing Saturdays at 8 pm on XM Comedy - XM 150 and Sundays at 2 pm on XM 103 The Opie & Anthony Channel.
Appearances
Bennington is a cigar aficionado. Bennington has also done an interview with Cigar Magazine[3]
Bennington has his own cupcake at Molly's Cupcakes in Chicago, Illinois and now NYC called the "Ron Bennington's 'I've Got My Own Cupcake' " cupcake, which is made with a combination of peanut butter, butterscotch and chocolate. It is the best selling cupcake at Molly's.[4]
Ron Bennington and his long-time business partner, Fez Marie Whatley, and Chris Stanley née 'Pepper Hicks' moved to the McGraw Hill Building in Rockefeller Center, leaving the old XM studios on West 57th Street. The first show was broadcast April 14, 2009, 11A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
On January 9, 2011, Ron pointed out that his birthday is actually New Year's Eve, not the 9th, as most people believe.
Ron Bennington claims to be a long retired gator wrestler from a Florida league, where his record of 12-0-1 remains unbeaten.
Bennington continues to hold the record for yards gained in a season at Chichester PA High School of 432 yards. He has stated that his out pitch during his high school baseball years was the Cuban palm ball.
Ron claims he was raised Pilgrim until the age of 12. He often cites this as the reason Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday.
- ↑ Baker, Chris (11-JUN-03). "The Washington Times Channel Surfing Column.". Washington Times.
- ↑ "Look Out, Howard!". Washington Post. pp. D03.
- ↑ "In The Humidor » Cigars 101 - The Basics". In The Humidor.
- ↑ "No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner: Chicago Cupcake Run: Molly's Cupcakes". No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner.
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