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.
RADIO'S STAR SCRAMBLE
=95 Losing Howard: CBS struggled to develop shows that could replace
broadcasting megastar Howard Stern.
=95 Talent Shortage: Industry consolidation has thinned the ranks of
radio hosts who can succeed on a national level.
=95 Star Search: Radio titans are finding it increasingly difficult to
replace a big national name.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.
Write to Sarah McBride at sarah.mcbride@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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