Posted by chicagomedia.org on May 04, 2008 at 11:46:37:
The Next Howard Stern?
Turning Adam Carolla into a radio star
proves very tricky for CBS.
By SARAH MCBRIDE
May 3, 2008; Page A1
LOS ANGELES -- Two weeks before Christmas, radio host Adam Carolla woke before dawn and called in sick. Jack Silver, program director of Mr. Carolla's popular morning show, didn't buy it. "The dude's not sick," Mr. Silver recalls thinking.
Mr. Carolla was sick -- sick of his sidekick. Danny Bonaduce, the former child TV star and self-described "freak show," had been brought on board early last year to juice up the act. Thanks partly to Mr. Bonaduce, the show's ratings were rising.
But Mr. Carolla had had enough of the frenetic Mr. Bonaduce: his interruptions; his over-the-top anecdotes; his suggestions, which included climbing into a tub of live snakes. If Mr. Bonaduce didn't go, Mr. Carolla would.
"I just decided the show wasn't right," says Mr. Carolla, a tall and lanky 43-year-old. If he got fired, "so be it." Mr. Bonaduce says he thought he was adding "a quick wit, a reasonable knowledge of current events, a good sense of humor" to the show.
The Carolla-Bonaduce standoff is one front in what is perhaps the $21-billion industry's biggest challenge: developing long-term radio franchises.
Radio veterans say the talent to support such franchises is in short supply, partly due to massive consolidation over the past couple of decades. In the old days, station program directors would spend hours each week helping hosts develop their comic timing and shape their sound bites. Now those same program directors lack the time because they often oversee several stations each. And typically when someone shows promise, he or she is quickly simulcast to several markets, reducing the chances for others to blossom.
"There aren't many people coming up that are heirs apparent, and there used to be," says Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers, a trade journal focused on talk radio.
So when radio stations lose a big national name, as happened in late 2004, when CBS found out it was losing Howard Stern to a satellite network, a scramble ensues for a replacement. The industry has experimented with Hollywood celebrities, but even veteran entertainers like Whoopi Goldberg can struggle in the unfamiliar medium. The shortage may explain why disgraced hosts like Don Imus, fired by CBS Radio last year for racially insensitive comments, was snapped up by rival Citadel Broadcasting Corp. six months later.
Citadel Chief Executive Farid Suleman says Mr. Imus was no more disgraced than many other radio hosts and was hired for his immense popularity with audiences.
Talent is hardly the radio industry's only problem -- the medium is now competing against mobile phones, iPods and Web sites. But some industry executives say that an overreliance on syndication and the resulting lack of a farm team has created a staleness in radio programming, contributing to recent declines in listenership and stagnating revenue. The average American adult listened to 18 hours and 30 minutes of radio each week last year, compared to 22 hours and 15 minutes in 1997.
CBS doesn't dispute that Mr. Carolla staged a sick-out, but strongly rejects any notion that it's suffering a shortage of talent. In the past couple years, and particularly since Chief Executive Dan Mason took the reins last April, the company says it has been focusing more on local programming, and steering away from nationally syndicated shows led by big-time stars in the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. morning time slot.
A CBS spokeswoman notes that less than 10% of its 140 stations rely on national programming during that morning time slot and points to popular local shows like "Boomer and Carton," which replaced Mr. Imus on WFAN in New York and is attracting a younger audience than Mr. Imus's show did. With revenue of $1.8 billion last year, CBS Radio generates 12% of parent CBS Corp.'s total sales and is the second-largest radio titan behind Clear Channel Communications Inc.
Painful Search
But few dispute that finding talent has been particularly painful for CBS Radio because of the shoes the company had to fill: those of shock jock Mr. Stern.
Notorious for his raunchy, sex-soaked brand of comedy, Mr. Stern is a broadcasting megastar. His program was syndicated on 37 stations around the country, generating about $50 million in annual cash flow. In late 2004, Mr. Stern announced he was leaving for Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., effective January 2006.
CBS's struggle to replace him shows how much heavy lifting goes into creating radio franchises. The company considered dozens of replacements with the potential to hang on to Mr. Stern's core audience of young male listeners. Finally, in October 2005 CBS decided to divide Mr. Stern's turf into three different radio shows. Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth would cover most of Mr. Stern's East Coast stations. Shane "Rover" French, an up-and-coming radio host in Cleveland, would get the Midwest. The West Coast slots would go to Mr. Carolla.
Special Promise
Mr. Carolla was viewed as particularly promising by CBS. Often attired in track suits, with the air of an overgrown college student, the comedian had made his name partly by exploring material akin to Mr. Stern's. Mr. Carolla worked for a decade on Loveline, a successful national radio show where he and Dr. Drew Pinsky parried questions on sex and relationships. From 1999 to 2003 he and close buddy Jimmy Kimmel co-hosted Comedy Central's "The Man Show," a televised male humor romp that regularly featured beer chugging and buxom women on trampolines.
But Mr. Carolla's comedy isn't all lowbrow. He also dissects the hypocrisies of everyday life, from deep-fried "healthy" fish tacos to the relentless enthusiasm of Oprah's studio audiences. "The Adam Carolla Show" was launched in January 2006 with Mr. Carolla and a small cast, some of whom came from the comedy posse Mr. Carolla shared with Mr. Kimmel.
Within a few months, it became apparent CBS's triumvirate plan wasn't working, CBS acknowledges. Mr. Roth, panned by critics as unlistenable, was quickly shown the door. Mr. French gradually lost markets and is no longer on any CBS stations. A spokeswoman for Mr. Roth declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Clear Channel, Mr. French's current employer.
Mr. Carolla's show wasn't clicking, either, Mr. Silver says. Scripted pieces -- like taped interviews with a fake right-wing congressman -- fell flat, he says. In the four-hour free-form environment, Mr. Carolla's rants on topics like people failing to turn right on red seemed to drone on.
The ratings told the story. In the fall of 2005, Mr. Stern's last season, CBS station KLSX was riding high with about a 6.9% share of the morning Los Angeles radio market for men ages 18 to 49, a key target audience. By the fall of 2006, Mr. Carolla's share was at 2%.
Initially, the message from the bosses at CBS was, "no pressure, we're sticking with you, no one expects you to be the next Howard Stern, this is a marathon, not a sprint," recalls Mr. Carolla, who believed listeners needed time to get used to his style. "And then four months later, it was like, 'Holy s-, this is a disaster.'"
"With any show, any talent, it takes some time to develop the loyalty of the audience," says Chris Oliviero, CBS Radio's head of talk programming.
Program Director Mr. Silver, a hardboiled radio veteran, says he was determined to make the show work. He recalled considering Mr. Bonaduce when searching for Mr. Stern's replacement, and in late 2006 invited him to appear on Mr. Carolla's show. "This is the sound of the morning show," Mr. Silver told KLSX's General Manager Robert K. Moore during Mr. Bonaduce's appearance. "Energy, testosterone."
Mr. Bonaduce, 48, has plenty of both. The red-headed moppet from the 1970s TV show "The Partridge Family" had grown into a beefy, profane sometime-boxer whose checkered past includes periods of homelessness and drug addiction. Mr. Bonaduce also had a fan base from his reality TV show "Breaking Bonaduce," which followed Mr. Bonaduce as he struggled with the fallout from cheating on his wife and checked into rehab.
Soon after, Mr. Silver sent Mr. Bonaduce a note thanking him for "the shot of rocket fuel this morning."
Start Date
"Thanks," Mr. Bonaduce swiftly replied. "When do I start?" He started in early 2007, and Mr. Silver fired much of Mr. Carolla's crew.
"I was in no position to argue" with CBS, says Mr. Carolla. "I like cashing their checks, and I can't say, 'Leave me alone man, I've got to do my own thing.'"
Mr. Bonaduce, meanwhile, imagined a show that would run for years. "I thought Adam and I would make a lot of money together." CBS declined to reveal the salary it pays either host.
For the first few months, Mr. Bonaduce energized the show with crazy tales of his past drug- and alcohol-fueled adventures and his marriage, which fell apart shortly after he joined the show.
Mr. Carolla also seemed to find his rhythm. Instead of scripted pieces, a series of ad-lib features evolved. Mr. Silver encouraged Mr. Carolla to develop regular features like "This Week in Rage," when Mr. Carolla rants about things that have recently annoyed him. Mr. Silver also encouraged Mr. Carolla to take more listener calls, playing to his improvisational strengths.
Listeners responded. Ratings started creeping steadily back up, hitting 3% and 2.8% among the target male audience in the last two ratings periods of 2007, better than at any time since Mr. Stern's departure.
But Mr. Carolla was unhappy. Mr. Bonaduce's wild energy didn't fit the more mellow atmosphere Mr. Carolla favored. Mr. Bonaduce frequently interrupted Mr. Carolla and guests, often to tell a story he had told previously.
"Danny is not the kind of guy who's just going to sit there quietly while you interview the guy from 'Two and a Half Men,'" says Mr. Carolla, referring to the TV show. "Danny Bonaduce is a whirling dervish." Mr. Bonaduce responds that Mr. Carolla's rants went on too long and by cutting them off, he was preserving the "special quality" of Mr. Carolla's speeches.
"Neither one is a second banana," says Mr. Kimmel, Mr. Carolla's close friend who hosts a late-night show on ABC.
Tension emerged. Teresa Strasser, the show's newscaster and sidekick, says Mr. Carolla would occasionally catch her eye, eyebrow raised, when Mr. Bonaduce started talking, and joked with her about how many times they'd heard variations of the same story.
To Mr. Silver, the tension only added to the show. When Mr. Carolla complained, Mr. Silver told him that most shows would "give their eye teeth" to have a partner as well-known as Mr. Bonaduce.
"Suck it up. Toughen up," is the way Mr. Silver sums up his attitude.
Mr. Bonaduce says he thinks good stories deserve to be retold, particularly since different people tune into the show at different times. He adds that he was oblivious to Mr. Carolla's growing frustration. One day, Mr. Bonaduce overheard Mr. Carolla complaining to Mr. Silver that the show had "two Eddie Van Halens," a reference to the lead guitarist of rock band Van Halen. Mr. Carolla's point was that the stage wasn't big enough for both of them, but Mr. Bonaduce interpreted it as "quite the compliment."
With Mr. Carolla's contract up at the end of 2007, talk turned to the future. Mr. Silver made it clear he wanted to keep Mr. Bonaduce on board.
Mr. Carolla's entreaties to do the show without Mr. Bonaduce fell on deaf ears. So in mid-December, a few days before a holiday break, Mr. Carolla -- who had taken only two days off when his twins were born the year before -- began calling in sick.
Mr. Silver considered firing Mr. Carolla. Consulting his own bosses, Mr. Silver says he pondered several possibilities, including handing the whole show over to Mr. Bonaduce.
Complicating matters, Mr. Carolla admits he wasn't taking calls or responding to e-mails from anyone. Mr. Kimmel's and Mr. Carolla's mutual New York-based manager, James Dixon, enlisted Mr. Kimmel to drop by Mr. Carolla's home and urge him to return Mr. Dixon's calls.
As the two men sat in the den and played with Mr. Carolla's twins, Mr. Carolla explained he didn't want to get into debates or talk to anyone at CBS until the situation was resolved. Mr. Kimmel says he left convinced his friend would quit unless he could do the show the way he wanted. Mr. Carolla did decide to start talking to Mr. Dixon, his manager.
Meanwhile, streams of listeners phoned in to say they missed Mr. Carolla. Mr. Bonaduce says he seized Mr. Carolla's absence as "a moment to shine."
Big 'Investment'
In the end, Mr. Silver, along with CBS's New York management, concluded they had too much invested in Mr. Carolla to throw in the towel. Plus, he decided the show had evolved to the point where it didn't need Mr. Bonaduce as much. A few days after Mr. Carolla first called in sick, Mr. Oliviero, CBS's head of talk programming, called Mr. Dixon to say Mr. Carolla could do his show without Mr. Bonaduce.
And Mr. Silver called Mr. Bonaduce with the news that he would be moving to a slot from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. to lead his own show called "Broadcasting Bonaduce."
The gamble seems to be paying off. On April 28, Arbitron released its latest data showing that Mr. Carolla drew 3.5% among the target male audience, his highest ratings yet. Mr. Carolla likely got a big boost from "Dancing With the Stars," the television show where he was a contestant for several rounds this season.
"There's nowhere to go but up," says Mr. Silver. He predicts that all of Mr. Carolla's big rivals for the male, English-speaking market will eventually confront their own changing of the guard.
The "good thing about Howard Stern leaving our station is that it already happened to us," he says.