Murphy’s Law – The Mike O’Meara Show (and common sense) fall victim to WJFK
Joel Murphy |
In April 2008, when Don Geronimo left the Don and Mike Show, I was quite heartbroken. The only silver lining was the fact that the rest of the crew was continuing on with the Mike O’Meara Show.
However, I was skeptical about the new show. Don was the person I related to the most and he had always been the glue that held the Don and Mike Show together. I wasn’t sure how things would work without his larger-than-life presence.
It took a while for everyone to settle into their new roles, but Mike O’Meara eventually became a formidable leader and both Buzz Burbank and Robb Spewak found a comfort zone with their increased air time.
Bringing back Beth Ann McBride as the show’s producer helped to secure big name celebrity interviews and it gave Mike an entertaining foil. The show’s dump button operator, Katie Powers, proved to be a charismatic on-air talent and a welcome addition to the show. Along the way, the gang even created a new game, The Power of 10, which swept the nation.
The Mike O’Meara Show had a completely different vibe from the Don and Mike Show. Don always brought an intensity and edginess to the show. He didn’t play well with others. Don would absolutely destroy callers who challenged him. He spewed venom on management and other DJs working for WJFK. Under his tenure, the show had quite a few memorable feuds with on-air personalities at the station, including Opie and Anthony and G. Gordon Liddy. It was riveting radio.
But when Mike took over, the show lost that venom. There was a much more positive energy to the new show. The crew made friends with Big O and Dukes, the midday show, and often invited them in for their BYOB Fridays. WJFK even did a cross-promotional gimmick where the Mike O’Meara crew, Big O and Dukes and the Junkies spent a whole day together on-air, broadcasting on each other’s shows. WJFK finally had what radio stations always strive for (but rarely achieve) – synergy.
So naturally, the powers-that-be went and fucked things up by announcing that WJFK was switching formats and becoming a sports talk station to compete with Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s cluster of local sports stations. The Junkies will revert back to being The Sports Junkies and Chad Dukes (minus Oscar Santana) will co-host a show with former Washington Redskin LaVar Arrington (presumably to rein in the former athlete in case he freelances as much on-air as he did on the football field). Management decided that the Mike O’Meara Show doesn’t fit with the new format, so the show has officially been canceled.
It’s the type of decision that makes sense on paper to a bunch of talentless suits, but in reality is a terrible idea. They believe there is more money to be made in sports talk radio since the shows are cheaper to produce. Also, going to sports talk allows them to stick it to Dan Snyder, who they’ve had a pissing match with ever since Snyder decided to purchase his own cluster of stations to broadcast Redskins games instead of keeping the deal he had in place with WJFK.
Never mind the fact that they had a good thing going with the current lineup. Never mind the fact that the Redskins are the only team in town worth talking about, which makes it tough to fill a day with nothing but sports (especially during the offseason). Never mind the fact that Don and Mike helped put WJFK on the map. Never mind the fact that you are alienating loyal listeners like myself who have been listening to Mike and Co. on your station for nearly 18 years. Apparently, all that matters is the bottom line.
Making matters worse, WJFK announced the format change while everyone from the show is on vacation, which means they are robbing them of the opportunity to do a farewell show. DCRTV is reporting that a pre-taped “special goodbye segment” may run on Friday, but that’s hardly the fitting farewell the show deserves.
This decision truly marks the end of an era. Radio has already become increasingly homogenized and boring over the years, but WJFK had always been a welcome oasis in a sea of mediocrity. They’ve destroyed that to become just another sports station. Even though I like sports, I can promise you I won’t be tuning in to listen to the new format. And it’s not out of spite or loyalty to the Mike O’Meara Show; it’s because I couldn’t possibly care less.
Last October, I was lucky enough to interview Buzz Burbank about his illustrious radio career and the transition from the Don and Mike Show to the Mike O’Meara Show. I asked him how long he thought he would continue to do the new show.
“Until Mike’s heart attack,” he joked. “Then we’ll call it something else.”
Then he gave a more serious answer.
“No, for as long as we’re having fun,” Buzz said. “Mike said this going in and I really liked this philosophy a lot. He said this to me off the air before we started the show. He said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go in there and we’re going to do our job and we’re going to have fun. Then we’re going to go home.’ He said, ‘We’re going to keep doing that for as long as it’s fun and is any kind of acceptable level of success.’ So I think that’s the plan and so far, so good because we’re having fun and the numbers indicate success, so I guess we’re going forward for as long as we can get away with it.”
Here’s hoping that the show gets picked up by another local station so that they can get away with it for just a little bit longer.
Joel Murphy is the creator of HoboTrashcan, which is probably why he has his own column. He loves pugs, hates Jimmy Fallon and has an irrational fear of robots. You can contact him at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.
This is so sad — I couldn’t believe what I was hearing this morning when the Junkies were talking about it. Mike, Buzz, Robb, and even BA deserved better.
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Stay tuned for riveting Nationals talk..
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this is truly a sad day. i cant imagine driving home without listening to Mike! i was crying my heart out during those last two segments that Don had but atleast i had something to look forward to. a sports talk show station??? you can’t freakin talkin about sports all day there. the junkies do quite a bit of sports (the big o and dukes show does the same). I’m just mad and i would definitely be goin off to XM to get some interesting radio.
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We will miss the show out here in NorCal too. Just heard a commercial for the replacement show, so I guess it really is official. So sad.
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Been listening to them out here in NorCal for about 14 years, heartbroken is about all I can think to say….
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I, too, have been listening to Don & Mike, then the Mike O’Meara show for about 14 years. This show helped me through the worst period in my life (similar to Don’s loss) and I always found it unique and excellent (well, not quite as excellent since Don left) radio. Heartbroken is, strangely enough, a perfect word for how I feel about this. I guess good radio doesn’t sell at CBS. Cheap (i.e. sportstalk) radio does. I hope I get the chance to listen to Mike, Don, Buzz, and Robb again someday.
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I can’t believe after WJFK had found such an amazing synergy among 3 shows, dj’s that all worked and played well with each other, and little good DC sports to talk about they would make a move like this. Stupid! I now have no reason to listen to this station.
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I’ve been a listner back to WAVA days. Truly a unique show and great drive time entertainment. Here’s hoping that some smart GM at another station will join on them (and Big O, too). WJFK just lost the number one spot on my preset.
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Washington has never and will never be a sports town. This is a boneheaded move by mindless suits who think they know what people want.
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Mike – Head for Ocean City!
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You all seem to be overlooking the fact that the Mike O’Meara show was awful.
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WOW! How sad. I have been listening to WJFK for years because of Don and Mike and then MIke and the new gang and Big O and Dukes. I hate sports and will never listen to sports radio.
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I really wanted to like the MoM show but just never found it half as entertaining as the Don and MIke Show. This was bound to happen, especially given Mike’s salary. I hope they are happy in their next ventures, whatever those are.
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This ruined my day today. I thought our local station was cancelling the scheduling for the show…and then found out the entire production was canned. I listened to these guys live (as much as I could during work hours) and finished them through their podcast for years. I’ll miss them.
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Who are the friggin’ idiots that made the decision to kill his show? Money grubbing suits. Mike’s gonna go to Sac. now… hahaha
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This decision was inevitable. The show has lacked the level of energy and excitement it had under Don’s leadership. The team (Rob and Buzz) did little to help Mike go in a positive new direction. Mike should have little trouble finding a new position. Rob and Buzz will need lots of help and likely a career change.
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Lavar Arrington? Are you serious? He is a has been that never was in this town. Add to the fact that Arrington is just another one of many first round draft busts by the Skins in recent years. I can hear Arrington’s show now, Snyder is evil, blah, blah, blah. They sat me on the bench in my last season WHINE!!! We all know by now that Snyder as an owner sucks.
The Junkies are also a joke with their blatant bias of the Redskins being a playoff and Superbowl team year after year. Oh the Skins are gonna go 12 and 4 this year with Campbell, they are complete morons entrapped in the bodies of almost 40 year old men. JFK has lost me as a listener come tomorrow morning.
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Great, so now the only talk radio I have left to listen to in DC is NPR? Ugh, so boring! This is so sad. All three of those shows made me laugh on a daily basis, especially the Big O & Dukes show. I could give a damn about sports and aren’t there enough of them already? WJFK used to be unique. This is a very sad day indeed!
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I am a Washington commuter…I commute, every day from Devil Town to Bethesda and back. I loved the Junks…because they mixed it up…and gave me enough sports that made it interesting…Does this mean and end to “Whore or Bore” and all the other hijinks?? That’s what made the show great. Now, for the Mike O”meara Show…that was my lifeline for coming home. This is a sad day for the Washington Commuter. If I want ESPN, I can turn on the TV, not the radio…Thank God I have XM Radio…Goodbye WJFK!!
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What a shame, indeed. I turned on the Mike Wise show on my way to/from lunch and it’s miserable. Big O and Dukes was a great show. I’ll check out the afternoon show on my drive home, but I’m not optimistic. I like Lavar as a fan, but that doesn’t mean I’d give him his own show – maybe Dukes can be his set-up guy. Ugh.
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What a terrible decision. The Mike O’ Meara show will be sorely missed.
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man….i was about to tune in then….BLAM!No,mike’s show wasnt the best but WHAT IS THESE DAYS? One day these corprate assholes will get the point.this country is ALL about money….and it’s starting to show it’s true colors.Thanks mike (and don for that matter too)i hope we will hear from u again…soon. =)
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Will truly miss Mike, Rob, Buzz and BethAnn.
Been in the NoVa are since 1995 and have been a listener to the show since then.
I will never ever tune in to 106.7 ever again.
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I started listening to ‘The Don and Mike Show” back in 1997 on there Rochester, NY affiliate WHTK. I was quickly hooked. I spent many an afternoon listening to my radio chuckling; my wife thought I was an idiot. When Don retired, I was excited Mike was keeping the show together with Buzz and Rob. The show is not as sardonic as before, but the boys have meshed well, and I love the show as much as ever. I hope and pray that they will find another station to pick them up, just as WJFK did so many years ago.
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This is just what this town needs, another sports talk station. What are they going to talk about how bad the Redskins, Nats and Wizards are year in and year out? How Lerner is destroying the Nats? How Snyder is destroying the Skins? Heck, the Skins cannot even hire a first rate coach because any decent coach, Mike Shanahan for example, would be out of his mind to coach under Snyder.
This is going to be a disaster move for WJFK, mark my words. JFK just lost a morning drive and an afternoon drive listener, WTOP, here I come.
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Omg, what a sad day. Don & Mike have been part of my life since the WAVA days when I was just a little kid. It was sad to see Don go but it’s heartwrenching to see the rest of the crew given a big FU by the new WJFK the FAN (more like the FAG).
Mike, Rob & Buzz were the only reason to listen to that station. All the other dbags on that dial apparently thought Swingers was the coolest movie ever & ten years later are still trying to emulate it. How old are you tools?? There another movie from that era you flunkies should check out… it’s called Suicide Kings.
Best of luck to the whole MoM crew, I wish you all the best if you’re reading this. Hope to hear you guys real soon on a station that will treat you the way you should be treated! FUCCCCK WJFK!!
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I decided to give this new format a chance. I listened to Lavar Arrington talk about himself and Chad Dukes fawn over it. It was awful. DC radio is on life support. First KRock. Now WJFK. DC 101 is our last hope and even they are marginal at best.
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I really hope this new station tanks, and tanks fast… The best scenarioe is that CBS takes a bath on this stunt!!
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Good Luck Mike.
Good-Bye WJFK
Beep!
(That’s the sound of my preset button on the radio)
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Decided to give the new format a chance this week. So far, not impressed at all. Listened to The Mike Wise Show today at work and they were contemplating bringing Vick to the Redskins. Snooze, like that is ever going to happen. It won’t be long until they run out of things to talk about. All I can say is this station is now PAINFUL to listen to.
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Some people just don’t like good radio. The Mike O’Meara Show was great. I hope they get back on the air and Wichita picks them up again. WJFK just plane sucks!
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Wow that was really a shock.
I will miss listening from work on my computer – used to live in DC area now in FL. Bad day all around when this happened.
V
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What a joke….Let’s be different and be a sports radio station…Uhhh DuuuHHH. Too many…I hope Mike and the gang find a new home and i hope rochester, ny gets the show again….
Love you all…GOOD BYE WJFK…YOU SUCK!!!
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I never switched to satellite when Howard left WJFK but I just paid my subscription this week. What a mess this station is! It is worth my $10 a month to get my entertainment elsewhere instead of listening to mindless sports talk all day.
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MoM show, please come back. I can’t listen to Micheal Weiner (Savage) another second!
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Wow…I too have listened since WAVA…back and forth from mornings to afternoons..Good luck Guys….Does anyone know if Don is on the radio anywhere, or is he just enjoying retirement? Maybe this is the chance to get the band back together…
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MoM was replaced in Wichita by “Kevin & Bean” or whatever… it was B-O-R-I-N-G in comparison. What’s wrong with the people at WJFK???
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Wow, I’ve followed them since WAVA
days, Don’s gone, now the whole crew.It’s almost as sad as when obama got elected.
The world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Turn back time, get rid of obama and bring back don
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Sad day indeed I’ve followed the show since the WAVA days. Don left last year, now the whole crew is out. Its almost as sad a day as when obama was elected.
If I could turn back time, I would get rid of obama, and bring back don and mike
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I’m heartbroken..They made me laff out loud in a frustrating commute.BIG mistake whoever made this decision.
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Will miss Mike and crew. How great to hear Lavar slaying the english language. Good bye WJFk.
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This was such a shame. I’ve been listening to D&M for 12 or more years. I listened to WJFK long enough on that Friday to hear their taped goodbye and then removed them from my pre-sets. They’ve lost a loyal listener forever now.
I’m sure Mike, Rob and Buzz will show up soon on another station.. and the ratings they steal from JFK will be their icing on the cake.
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THis really really sucks! While Don and Mike made for a “edgy” show that most times I could not listen to with my wife, the new Mike only show was truly funny with a great cast of characters. I thought Mike was really hitting his stride without Don. I will really miss the show. BOOOO on WJFK. Sports radio.. .give me a break. Let’s do everything everyone else does.
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Someone above complained that if they want talk radio now, they’ll have to listen to NPR. It seemed like Mike’s show pretty much was NPR. I did not listen to the show very often after Don left, mainly because when I did, it seemd like all I heard was Mike and the gang crapping all over anything Republican or conservative.
That’s their perogative; it’s their show after all. And it’s my perogative not to listen. And maybe Don hates all things conservative just as much as Mike does, maybe even more. But when I listened to Don and Mike, even if Don was goofing on Bush or something, it felt like it was all in good fun. When Mike does it, it felt like he was crapping all over you, and had an almost venomous dislike for anyone who might not be hardcore left.
Others say the old Don and Mike show was so dark, and the new Mike show is a light-hearted romp. I think the old show was fun and the new show was preachy and mean-spirited.
When you’re in the business of radio, and life or death depends on ratings, telling roughly half your potential audience that you think they’re worthless, evil, and stupid is just bad business. Why would Mike do that?
I think he confused popularity with agreement. He had a great audience with extremely high loyalty coming with him from the old show. That audience was based on people who had a fun time and some laughs. And the show was popular, definitely. However, politics is serious to people.
Mike took the popularity of the Don and Mike show to mean that everyone who listened not only thought they were funny, but also had the same feelings about politics that Mike had. Unfortunately for Mike, even if someone thinks you’re funny, if you treat them like crap, they won’t want to be around you any more. And they start looking for something else to listen to when they drive home.
That these strident views came so forcefully to the fore once Don left tells me that Don knows how to run a show. He’s a better general than Mike. He knows how to make a show that will appeal to audiences. Mike’s show was as low as 15th in January, and even if he came up to 7th or 8th in the ratings more recently, 7th or 8th is not 1st or 2nd or 3rd. How often has the number one or two or three show in DC been canceled? I mean the station canceled the show, not that the personality got a better deal in a better market.
Yes, you’re heartbroken and yes you loved the show, but do you really think it would have been cancelled if it had been 1st place? CBS is making what they think is a sound business decision for them in this market.
Mike is immensely talented. Buzz and Rob also proved their worth on the old show. But it’s like once Don left, everyone got promoted above their pay grade into jobs they weren’t ready for or couldn’t handle. Buzz and Rob ended up being better in smaller doses, and as good as Mike is, running a show is not among his better gifts.
None of this is a slam on these guys. You can be the best chef in the world, but no one’s going to want you to do brain surgery on them. Mike is a great wingman, tremendous voice talent, a go to guy, and an asset as a part of a show.
Don could use the tools of Mike, Buzz, and Rob judiciously, putting them on stage as needed and keeping them in check at other times. He didn’t give them too much air time or let them go over the top with personal indulgences. Mike can’t restrain Buzz and Rob, and he can’t restrain himself. It hurt the show.
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This truly is sad.
This move is the deathnail of what I consider a Golden age of talk radio that started with Howard Stern and Don and Mike, and got stronger with Opie and Anthony. These shows appeared in several markets furthering format which is nauseatingly called “guy talk.” This phenomenon survived even after Howard left, on the strength added by the Junkies and Big O and Dukes.
But now it’s gone gone gone.
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I WILL MISS THE MIKE O MERA SHOW. AND ALSO BIG O AND DUKE.I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO THIS SPORT CRAP.GOOD BY TO THE BUTTON ON MY RADIO.
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Have been wondering what had happened. It definatly made the afternoons bearable in NorCal. Hope they find a new home. As far as WJFK goes, neveragain. Same for 1140 here in Sacramento. What a loss.
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OK, I admit it, I have given the Lavar Arrington Show a chance over the past few weeks. Guess what? The man cannot speak proper English even with a Penn State education. Chad Dukes carries the show. The problem with this show will be in the long term after Skins season and finding topics to talk about.
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Thanks WJFK, you have officially made me jump to a PAID SUBSCRIPTION for Sirius XM radio for my talk radio fix.
And guess what?? I love it. Howard in the morning & Jason Ellis drives me home everyday. Red Dragons!!
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Okay!!!!!! Enough time has passed and I am ready for Mike, Rob, Buzz, Beth and Katie to return!!!!! Where can I find them????????????
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