Elliot in the Morning

Elliot in the Morning is a morning radio talk show hosted by DJ Elliot Segal. It airs weekdays from "5:48 until 10-something" on WWDC-FM in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, WRXL in Richmond, Virginia and on WBWZ in the Hudson Valley of New York . The program was simulcast on WOSC in Ocean City, Maryland from 2003 to 2004 and on WCHH in Baltimore, Maryland from May 2008 to November 2009. Beginning in January 2014, the show was briefly simulcast on WOR-AM, while continuing to simulcast on the DC and Richmond stations, with the show originally planning to leave the DC101 studios in January 2014.^[1] However, after citing that "significant changes" would be needed for the show to succeed in NYC, it was announced that the show would no longer be carried on WOR-AM.^[2]

The format covers a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from in-person or telephone interviews with well-known celebrities, to gross-out stunts involving much of the show's supporting cast. The show has regular telephone interviews with Patricia Murphy (from Politics Daily), Mark Steines (from Entertainment Tonight) during sweeps and Brandon Noble (former NFL player) during football season.

As of 2005, Elliot in the Morning had been the cause of the fifth largest amount of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fines since 1970, with $302,500 worth of fines leveled at the show.^[3] As a result, while the show still frequently involves euphemistic mentions of sexual topics, it is broadcast with a short tape delay, and is occasionally "dumped" to canned music for profanity.

Cast (The Class)

Elliot Segal

Lead personality. This shortish (5'6") 46-year-old is a native Canadian who was raised in Houston, Texas. He attended Houston Baptist University for one trimester, where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. His career in radio started at KKBQ in Houston, Texas as producer of John Lander's "Q-Morning Zoo" show. He also produced Scott Shannon's program on Pirate Radio in Los Angeles before working with Danny Bonaduce at WEGX in Philadelphia. By 1994, Elliot was a part of the "Morning Zoo" at Z100 in New York. Priding himself on toilet humor and gross-out jokes, he came to Washington in 1999, with his trademark maniacal laugh. He is married to wife Jacquie, and has two sons—the elder born in February 2004, and the younger born in August 2006. He also had an American Bulldog named Molson, whose name was likely a nod to his Canadian roots. Sadly, Molson had to be euthanized in early June 2007. In 2008, Elliot adopted a 150-lb Great Dane named Deuce. Elliot frequently uses catchphrases (each with its own colorful origins) such as "Rub the Phone against IT!", "Smell My Face!", and "Do What?". Superfan of Rush, Marilyn Manson, Nickelback, and Wayne Gretzky.

Diane "Momma" Stupar-Hughes

Newswoman, diva, and original member. She previously worked for Washington, D.C.'s WPGC and Metro Traffic. "Diane's Dirt" is a popular segment at the end of each show, where she covers the latest celebrity gossip. She often does celebrity impressions of Britney Spears and US Senator Larry Craig. She is married to Scott Hughes. The two have a daughter, Marley, born in 2005. Diane is a proud graduate of Radford University, located in southwestern Virginia. During a bit in 2003, she admitted that she lost her virginity on a ping pong table. She went skydiving once and said she will never do it again. Diane claims that while a junior in college, she would regularly stay up from Tuesday mornings through Friday afternoons without any sleep.

Tyler Molnar

Producer. A graduate of Georgetown University, he is in charge of sound effects and music played on the show. He was married to his wife, Lindsey Urbaniak, in July 2009. The couple had their first child in the Summer of 2011. Elliot frequently makes jokes implying Tyler is homosexual, which Tyler often ignores or sometimes plays along. Tyler also claims that his voice can be heard on the Christina Aguilera album, "Back to Basics," on the track "Thank You (Dedication to fans....)" His 4th grade anti-drug song called "Everybody Say No" gained popularity amongst listeners and is featured on YouTube. In an on-air discussion on March 24, 2014,^[4] Tyler recounted the unplanned birth of his second child in his home.

Kayleigh Gelles

Associate Producer. She is a graduate of Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She began her radio career at DC101 as a part-time promotions intern. In September, 2010, she took over Kyle's position as a full-time member of the show. She is a fan of Dave Matthews Band, the Boston Red Sox, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Former Members

Bryan "Flounder" Schlossberg

Former Creative Services Director. Left the show after being fired on July 29, 2011. Flounder was part of the original cast, and started as Elliot's stunt boy/intern. He is a high school dropout, but a proud recipient of a GED. He has a reputation for getting lost, vehemently blaming others for his mistakes, and is known for fighting with callers, as well as station employees. Flounder used to get annoyed when Elliot leaked his personal information on air, such as his real name, address, local hangout spots, and his marijuana use. He is a proud member of MySpace and a former supporter of Dog The Bounty Hunter. He is the two-time winner of the "Smell My Face Beltway Race," first in 2006 against Hélio Castroneves and again in 2009 against NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Flounder's show, "Mash Ups," was heard Saturday nights on WWDC-FM. Superfan of the band Of A Revolution, Hulk Hogan and John Stamos. Flounder is currently a DJ and imaging director at DC's 1073 (WRQX) and operates his business, FM Entertainment.

Kyle "K-Dog" Benham

Former Associate Producer. A graduate of George Mason University. Left the show on September 17, 2010 to pursue a career in California. He resides in Newport Beach, California, and works for the Premiere Radio Networks syndicated technology-oriented talk radio program, Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy.

Craig Henderson

Former Producer, who resigned on-the-air on August 15, 2007 after a brief argument with Bryan "Flounder" Schlossberg. Henderson now works for Public Broadcasting Service.

Other former members: Dan Hoffman, Brett Haber, Jared Stern, and David Brody who is credited with giving Flounder his nickname (Because he looked liked Flounder from Animal House) and worked with Elliot at WHTZ.

"Smell My Face!"

The show's most prominent catchphrase has an unusual origin. The technically clean but inexplicably lewd-sounding phrase was conceived when the cast of the show was observing mug shots on the Frederick News-Post website (a local newspaper) for persons caught soliciting prostitutes. One picture that caught their eye was a badly disheveled man with a huge, bushy grey beard named Ronny Kline. Imagining what such a man might say to a woman after performing cunnilingus, the phrase "smell my face" immediately sprang to mind.

The phrase became a kind of "battle cry" and has been heavily integrated into the show's promotional material, with bumper stickers, signs, and highly coveted T-shirts. The show's cast and crew have also solicited (or tricked) numerous celebrities into saying the catchphrase for recordings used to promote the show. So far, there are recordings of Aaron Neville, Marguerite Perrin, Hélio Castroneves, Brittany Murphy, Mark Hoppus, Joe Frazier, Paul Stanley, Perry Farrell, Constantine Maroulis, Plain White T's, The Pussycat Dolls, Hulk Hogan, John Basedow, Josh Kelley, Sebastian Bach, Timbaland, Juliette Lewis, Pat McGee, Stephan Jenkins, Chyna, Night Ranger, Jeffrey Ross, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Chris Cornell.

Controversies

'Lobster' story

In February 2000, Elliot related a lewd urban legend involving a woman who performed a sexual act with a live lobster. The show continued uninterrupted, but a message from General Manager Mark O'Brien was repeatedly played on the station later in the day condemning the story and announcing Segal's 'indefinite suspension'. Segal returned to the airwaves two days later. The episode has been replayed on "Best of..." versions of the show, with the offending portions censored.

White House Stunt

On the morning of February 8, 2001, Elliot Segal sent Bryan "Flounder" Schlossberg to the south fence of the White House, where a gunman had been shot and arrested the previous day, offering passersby to a "free shot of bush." The "bush" in question was an anatomical reference in connection to a spread of porn magazines that were on display. Flounder was connected to the airwaves via cell phone when the Secret Service surrounded him and demanded that he hang up the phone. In the end, Flounder avoided being taken into custody, but was however banned from the grounds of the White House indefinitely.^[5]

Bishop O'Connell High School

The morning of May 7, 2002, on D.C. metro area disc jockey Elliot Segal's radio program, DC101's "Elliot in the Morning", two sixteen-year-old O'Connell students called to be considered in a contest whose winners were to be cage dancers at an upcoming Kid Rock concert at George Mason University's Patriot Center. Instead, goaded by Elliot, they discussed alleged sexual activity at O'Connell. The students claimed to be eighteen. The two discussed giving oral sex to lines of boys in the hallway and having intercourse in stairwells and closets.^[6] They implied these acts occurred during a typical school day. The students, who had used false names on air, were suspended the same day for their comments.^[7] The principal addressed the student body on the PA system and discussed the immorality of Mr. Segal's radio show. The following day (May 8), Mr. Segal, angered by the students' suspension, personally insulted the principal on air, making lewd remarks about his family and his sexual activity. He also mocked the school's mission statement, specifically what he considered to be a hypocritical statement that their educational environment is "rooted in the life of Christ."^[8] The two days of broadcasting were ruled indecent by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). As a result, in October 2003, sixteen months after the incident, DC101's parent company Clear Channel Communications was fined $55,000.^[9]

Lance Armstrong prank call

In the summer of 2003, Segal conducted an interview with someone he believed to be famous cyclist Lance Armstrong. In reality, the caller was Chad Dukes, currently the co-host of The LaVar Arrington Show on WJFK-FM in Washington, DC. Dukes stayed in character as Lance Armstrong for over seven minutes on-air without arousing the suspicions of Segal or his co-hosts. When Segal asked Dukes – still in character as Armstrong – what the greatest moment in his career was, Dukes responded that it was "when the The Junkies moved to HFS in the mornings you jack-tool-ass-f, I can't believe you thought this was Lance Arm...!" Segal abruptly hung up on Dukes in mid-sentence and laughed it off before going to commercial break.

Dan Patrick

On November 8, 2007, Elliot Segal announced that Dan Patrick would no longer be contributing to the show. Patrick, a former ESPN anchor, had commentated on Fridays during football season, but failed to call for two previously scheduled interviews. Elliot said, "The Dan Patrick thing just didn't work out and that's fine."^[10]

December 2008 Suspension

The show was suspended on December 11 and 12, 2008. As part of an agreement to resume broadcasting, Elliot was barred from discussing the reason behind his suspension.

The "Monkey Wrench" Incident

The show was pulled off the air on August 30, 2010 as Elliot spoke on the telephone with former Clear Channel employee, Jon Ballard, who was fired from sister-station WBIG-FM Big 100.3 earlier in the morning. The conversation abruptly ended when the show was pulled off the air and replaced with music, most notably, "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters. The show returned the next day and Elliot blamed the incident on upper management.

References

1. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/124976/wor-to-add-elliot-in-the-morning-plus-rush-hannity
2. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/126922/no-more-elliot-in-the-morning-at-wor
3. ↑ Largest FCC fines graphic from The Washington Post, November 10, 2005
4. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/EITMonline
5. ↑ DC101's Elliot Stages White House Stunt Day After Shooting
6. ↑ Quirk, Matthew. Air Pollution. The Atlantic Monthly: May 2004.
7. ↑ Dortch, Marlene H. et al. (2003-10-02). "Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture" (PDF). FCC 03-233. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2007-12-08.  CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
8. ↑ Quote taken from O'Connell Website's Mission & Beliefs page.
9. ↑ "Commission Proposes Statutory Maximum Forfeiture of $55,000 against AMFM Radio Licenses for Apparent Violations of Indecency Rules" (Press release). Federal Communications Commission. 2003-10-02. Retrieved 2007-12-08. 
10. ↑ Broadcast on November 8, 2007

External links

• EITM Facebook
• DC 101
• XL102