Maybe a decade ago, Phil Hendrie and his cast of characters left late night radio when he was syndicated by Premiere from 7-10 PM Pacific time. The premise of his show was he would have on guests that would have really outrageous personalities and opinions. His Guest would talk into a real phone and with background noise to make it more convincing the guest was real.
The idea then was to entice people to call in (usually “offended” Oprah watchers who are offended at everything or redneck southern men. Should a caller be foolish enough to defend the “guest”, Phil would layer on more and more reasons to make their position unreasonable.
Phil left that job to pursue a Hollywood career. It didn’t last very long, and somewhere around this time his marriage broke up.
Out of work, he returned to radio, which he didn’t want to do – and especially not doing voices. Talk Radio Network (TRN) hired him with the idea he would do a straight conservative talk show from 10 PM to 1 AM Pacific time. One problem with that is Phil is not remotely a Conservative, no matter what definition you use. He was going to play a conservative character and fool his audience.
Like many Californians, he knows what he thinks he believes, but hasn’t thought very much about why he believes it – made all the harder since for all those years, he was playing all his characters. Like Rich Little, it became impossible to figure out who the real person inside is. The only consistent political view he has is wanting to legalize marijuana use.
So the “straight talk” lasted maybe a month before his characters started creeping back in to take over his show – but the show was too late to catch the random first time listener and lure them into calling an 800 number. There was no bringing back the magic.
So TRN has yet one more vacancy. Perhaps they’ll refeed Jerry Doyle at 1 AM…
These shakeups are a killer and really ripple through the programming across the country, as you know better than anyone, Art.
I have a Logitech internet radio with 6 preset buttons. (It also has unlimited number of favorite stations – like web bookmarks – but they are harder to get to than the 6 physical buttons on the outside of the radio for presets.)
I try to keep 2 of the preset buttons for my favorite music streams, and use the others for talk radio. It is a challenge to fit all my favorite programs onto those remaining buttons. I had to do some reprogramming just this evening when I found that the John Batchelor show was no longer on WIBC at 9 AM…. btw, I did find John Batchelor on WWIQ at that time and submitted it on this site.
I suspect that the reason that Phil was off the air for a year is that there was a non-compete in his contract to Premiere. When he came back with TRN the show was still interesting, but after a while of trying the straight talk show format, Phil brought the characters back. He was still luring in those idiot callers, but about a year ago he stopped taking outside calls, and hasn’t talked to anyone on-air besides himself and his characters since then. He blames it on TRN’s refusal to let him hire his own call screener, and he says he’s been frustrated with them for this entire time.
He also says he makes no money from his TRN show, and it only exists to promote his web site, which (in addition to his acting and voice work) make up his real income. He says he’ll continue to do a 2-hr daily show from the pay site and self-syndicate a version of it to affiliates that want to air it. It won’t be live, but there is virtually no difference if he’s not taking real callers. I like his site. He has a ton of exclusive content there, well worth the $10 a month he charges.
I suspected he was pre recording at least some of the shows or doing them earlier in the evening. It’s a long standing practice on TRN. Rusty Humphries talking to Suzanne Somers on Fridays about the size of her breasts are tapes. I didn’t realize that until. I visited his online chat room and he left for the night after the first hour. Savage did the same thing.
June 25th is when the show ends
So how will this affect overnight? TRN hasn’t even filled the 9PM-midnight ET slot
Clear Channel has Coast to Coast, Cumukus has the Redeye Trucking guys. Lots of stations just switch to sports talk when the sun goes down.
The up and coming voice I’m noticing is Jon Grayson, who was carried on the former Westinghouse AM stations owned by CBS – but he is picking up non-CBS affiliates. I’ve noticed Salem has started adding more Fox News Radio reruns overnight.
Kate Delaney has been doing an overnight live news show for as long as I’ve had this directory. It has virtually no listeners. It seems non viable, but it doesn’t go away.
I jokingly suggested that TRN would use Roy Masters’ Advice Line to substitute for Phil, but he mentioned on his show that that kind of thing would probably happen. Anyone who’s heard Roy Masters’ (the father of TRN CEO Mark Masters) show can tell you it’s pretty much just sub-Scientology mind control B.S., and not very entertaining…but who else they gonna put in the slot, Louie Anderson?
I did also consider that Phil might be taping some of his show early, since he doesn’t take calls anymore. Would make sense, I don’t see why not.
Roy started doing a Sunday night show maybe 18 months ago called “Finding God in Physics”. He has some innovative ideas and things, something along the lines of the reason we don’t fly off the surface of a spinning planet is we’re pushed and held on the surface by the vacuum of space. Oh my God!
To paraphrase the Firesign Theatre, it’s a good thing the Earth is spinning…because if it wasn’t, all the Chinese people would fall off.
Worst radio news ever. There will never be anything close to replacing Phil, I will truly will miss his shows and eye watering laughs he has given me thru the years. You were right the midnight show was to late for his casual listeners and he is more of an early evening show at best.
When Rusty Humphries moved to afternoons, I don’t know why they didn’t move Phil to 9 PM ET. The Washington Times news programming has been moderately successful at attracting affiliates and more important – advertisers
I hope that works out for PHendrie, I’d buy a year. I’ve listened to him on and off for 5 / 10 years – still fresh, still amazing. I’m sorry – I just stared to laugh out loud over the theme song for Ted’s of Beverly Hills. The only other over the air to webcast host that I know of is the ‘rooting-tootin’ Tammy Bruce. She has a voice made for the written word, can’t imagine listening to that for more than a short period of time. Some of the diatribes I remember bring to mind the phrase, Dry-Drunk.
Phil got blowback from Premiere on his Ted’s of Beverly Hills theme that Ted wants to put his meat in your mouth – proving that it doesn’t take “bad words” to convey naughty ideas. If that phrase means something to you, then you are old enough to hear it. If you don’t or you live in a convent, then it zings right over your head and it just sounds like a jingle. So Premiere made him bleep it.
What he should have done is alternated two versions – we want to put our meat in your [bleep] and we want to put our [bleep] in your mouth. Then people’s imaginations can fill in the bleep and make it even more naughty.
There was a censored version he was using just before he left Premiere. It actually sounded dirtier, because it left you to wonder what was being put in your mouth.
Also, Tammy Bruce and Phil have a history, yes? They apparently had a big fight because Tammy was hitting on Phil’s wife Maria at KFI back in the late ’90s.
TRN strikes me as a company that’s not particularly adept at keeping its air talent, or making sensible decisions to replace them after they’ve left. I personally like Jerry Doyle and am indifferent to Rusty Humphries’ song parodies, but as far as I’m concerned the company can crash and burn.
The degree to which there is a connection between Roy Masters and TRN isn’t very transparent. His son runs TRN and both TRN and Roy’s “religion” are in Grant’s pass Oregon. TRN owes Michael Savage something like $900k – I would be surprised if he ever gets it. When Reverand Moon died and the Washington Times drastically cut back spending, I expected that to put a big squeeze on their cash flow over at TRN
Roy’s own show buys brokered time from stations – for several years he has been saying he doesn’t have the money to keep buying time and he’s cut back to only a few stations. When TRN had Ingraham and Savage, he probably could cut a deal to have his own show on in the middle of the night for free (competing directly with Hendrie) as part of a package. Since both Savage and Hendrie had their incomes based on the station and ad revenues, I can understand why both were unhappy.
Then TRN decided to pick a fight with Dial Gobal who was repping their Shows to unaffiliated stations. Cumulus has dumped everything that isn’t their own programming. Clear Channel is moving in the same direction. Salem is distancing themselves from TRN. I don’t see a niche they’re going to fill
Yep. TRN’s statement mentioned that it was their decision, and Phil’s said it was his. I tend to believe him, since when a syndicator pulls the plug on you, it happens immediately. They don’t give you the opportunity to keep going on the air for over a month.
Also, Phil put up a Facebook post yesterday (which quickly disappeared) calling Mark Masters out as the scumbag he is. I’m paraphrasing, of course…I didn’t do a screencap.
We have a long term lurker (but not a blog poster) who moved to Oregon to work for TRN. I didn’t push for details – all I know is he left very unhappy. Phil Boyce leaving was even a bigger sign. Phil knows the radio business in major markets and going to TRN should have been a win-win if masters had given him a free hand. Boyce is now working for Salem
On Friday’s show, Phil said he entertaining offers from both terrestrial and satellite radio, and that he doesn’t want to do late nights anymore. SiriusXM would seem to be a logical choice…but they are all about exclusivity, and that would clash with Phil’s pay site. If he wants a syndicator, it will probably come down to Cumulus or Dial-Global. Salem probably wouldn’t be a good fit.
Since Phil is working for free, there is no particular reason to force him out the door. Phil surely watched Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham before him try to escape and how TRN is very quick to turn lawyers against their talent who try to leave early.
I loved Phil’s old shows. He was getting back on track in the last quarter of 2011. His ratings were actually climbing. The characters were more sophisticated and convincing with background tricks, and quality callers were being totally sucked in. Then Phil started over doing with Bud and Robert getting too silly. When he brought Margret Gray in as a “studio voice” it got stupid with an over-ranting gayness, and little or no callers. The Bobby Dooley show being mostly prerecorded was absolutely stupid. I’ve tried to let Phil’s handlers know he was losing it. I’m sure others have tried as well. The man or his network have really lost touch. The “magic” is there, it’s just not being used anymore. Hope he finds a network willing to work with him. Phil and his peeps need to stop over-complicating the formula and get back to basics!
Arbitron doesn’t include midnight to 6 AM in their ratings, so other than the west coast, it doesn’t matter – which is why most ads are response ads – call this 800 number – where advertisers are buying direct consumer actions that aren’t reliant on accurate audience demographics and ratings
Thank-you for expounding on the ratings system. I work in the hospitality industry, hotels and resorts. Phil was really catching on, again —before it took off on long convoluted rants. Allot of Airline Pilots including Delta (knowing Phil had a disdain for Delta), and many flight attendants would always ask what station is Phil on when checking into Hotels. They loved his later bits on Southwest and Northwest (former) airlines. Hotel and Resort Bars always had Phil on. The place was filled with laughter, and veteran pilots in the gag were coaching unsuspecting patrons on how to reach Phil’s show for comment. His traditional show worked with the public, and obviously XM radio would tragically limit that. It’s hard to understand Phil’s obsession with XM. Hope Hendrie gets on Cumulus and moves his show along in a realistic manner, his imagination isn’t doing him justice!
I first heard him on WELI which is the Clear Channel station in New Haven CT – I was in the fringe area and listening at night was sketchy. I heard this gay man and gay journalist named Doug Danger and groaned – here we go again… Then this annoying woman came on constantly saying “uh-huh”. It took me a couple days to realize what I was listening to. At some point, the geniuses at Premiere insisted that Phil give a disclaimer every night. Some of the more amusing calls were where Phil would tell the caller he was doing the other voices and the caller would keep arguing with the guest that they were real.
I think the warnings were for me.. after listening to CoasttoCoastAM since 1995, I thought the callers were real.
By the way, on the most recent episode of “The Office”, Angela and her baby were getting kicked out of their apartment and about to be homeless when co-worker Oscar lets them move in with him temporarily until she gets back on her feet. He has only a studio apartment but it has a large walk-in closet which he lets Angela and baby move into.
The Ricky Gervais humor is that Oscar is gay, and Angela is so down on her luck that she is living in a gay man’s closet. 😉
Who is Phil Hendrie and why should we care if he has left radio. Like a tree that falls with no one hearing it…did it make a sound?
There are many bright new young people who’ll be glad to take the gig.
Just sayin.
No one can do what he does. It’s not a stretch to say he does the funniest show on radio, terrestrial or satellite. He’s worth a thousand Howard Sterns or Glenn Becks. Seriously…there’s no other show on the radio like it.
I listened to Phil about 10 years ago and didn’t find him very funny. I think it was because I was too literal and at first didn’t realize it was comedy. The Three Stooges did that to me as a kid – I think I was the only kid in junior high school that didn’t find them funny at all.
I use Art’s site mostly for news related talk shows, but he has a great list of comedy radio stations that I have checked out from time time time…. be sure to remove your tin foil hats first, everybody. 🙂
http://streamingradioguide.com/streaming-radio.php?format=40&radio-format=Comedy&includeAM=on&includeFM=on&includeHD=&includeLPFM=&country=
My sister visited me on my 50th birthday. My vague memory is the premise was something from the grocer with the sex problem – something about him talking to female customers about handling the zucchini. She wasn’t amused