The BJ Shea Morning Experience
| Other names | The BJ Shea Experience (1999-Present) |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy talk radio |
| Running time | 4 hours (6am-10am) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | KISW 99.9 FM |
| Starring | BJ Shea Steve Top Shelf Reverend EnFuego |
| Produced by | Steve the Producer |
| Recording studio | Seattle, Washington |
| Original release | October 23rd, 1999 – Present |
| Opening theme | Collective Soul - Heavy |
| Website | BJaDay.com |
| Podcast | [1] Daily Podcast |
The BJ Shea Morning Experience is a morning drive time radio show on 99.9 FM KISW in Seattle, Washington, owned by Entercom. The show airs Monday through Friday, 6:00 am – 10:00 am PST and is also available as a stream and a downloadable podcast from the station's official website.
About the show
The show is geared towards men and helping them become stronger by offering advice and real life examples of dealing with life. They refer to themselves as H-Holes. What is an H-Hole? "An H-Hole is someone who is brutally and beautifully honest! It's the kind of honesty that will sometimes make people call you an A-hole! But you're not... you're an "Honest-Hole" or H-Hole for short."
KQBZ era (1999-2005)
The BJ Shea Experience started as a two hour show on KQBZ "The Buzz" (100.7 FM), middays between syndicated shows by Kennedy and Tom Leykis.[1] The primary theme of the show is relationships, primarily from a male point of view, though it has tackled some highly controversial topics of sex, politics and religion.
In 2000, Shea was dismissed from the station due to controversial comments made on air.[2] Shea successfully appealed the decision in an arbitration hearing, overturning the dismissal.
In 2004, in the wake of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, Shea used his show as a platform to speak out against the attempts to increase censorship on broadcasting.[3] "I think this is totally from the White House," said Shea. "I think that George Bush is trying to pander to the extreme Christian Coalition he thinks will back him in this election. I hope it's a huge failure and he gets kicked out of the White House."[3]
In May 2005, Entercom Seattle LLC, parent company of KQBZ, was sued by morning show host Robin Erickson of the Robin & Maynard Morning Show, on charges of gender discrimination and creating a hostile work environment, based upon remarks made during BJ Shea's show. Shea however was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
KQBZ's promotional slogan at the time was "Radio for Guys," and the suit contended that it was part of the problem. "The Shea program regularly features verbal attacks on women," the suit claimed. "These attacks repeatedly and crudely attack women in general and specifically in the workplace, claiming, among other assertions, that women are bad employees whose presence in the workplace is bad for men." The suit also claimed that Shea attacked Erickson on air on the basis of her gender and age, promoting The Howard Stern Show even though it ran during Robin & Maynard's time slot on KISW, (a station also owned by Entercom,) and criticized other female Entercom employees on the air.[4] Shea was disciplined for his on-air comments, though the suit contended that the punishment was not severe enough.
KISW era (2005-Present)
On November 30, 2005, KQBZ changed its format from FM Talk to Country music.[5] BJ Shea's show, newly rechristened as "The BJ Shea Morning Experience," would move to KISW on January 3 to fill the timeslot vacated by The Howard Stern Show's move to satellite radio.[6][7] No details were given as to the status of the Robin & Maynard show, or the ongoing litigation, except that the show would not be picked up by KISW.
The show has become one of the few shows across the United States to succeed in maintaining and growing its listenership after the departure of Howard Stern. In the ratings book that immediately succeeded the move, KISW and Shea's show both placed at or near the top in their target-demographic audience, primarily men 18 to 49[8]
During breaks, the show occasionally plays a song that is typically played during the normal programming.
Crew members
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BJ Shea
BJ Shea was born September 1, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts. Shea self-describes himself as a "proud sci-fi, baseball-loving, epicurean geek." He has worked in the radio industry for more than 20 years, and in many different formats, under the names "Bobby J. Shea" and "Bob Ravenous". His stage name "Shea" comes from his wife Kathy's maiden name, while his actual surname is Zappelli.[9] He also has two children, Joey ("The Prodigy") and Sara, who he is currently trying to support in her future career in show business.
Before hosting his own show, Shea worked with Brother Wease in Rochester, New York.
A significant amount of the show's content involves BJ engaging in explosive rants often covering perceived injustices, gender equality issues, proper familial behavior and various sports/entertainment related themes. BJ also frequently derides his co-hosts and supporting cast for their gaffes and incompetence. However, BJ has essentially admitted that his short fuse with his co-hosts is at least somewhat shtick.
On March 1, 2010, Shea challenged fellow talk radio host Anthony Cumia (of Opie and Anthony) to a Star Trek reference challenge, as both are big fans of the original series. Shea won the challenge over Cumia by 1 point on Tuesday March 2, 2010.
Top Shelf
Top Shelf (whose real name is Scott) is the show's sound engineer. He has a hearty appreciation for alcohol, especially Crown Royal. He has a hyena laugh that has become his signature, and can unleash said laugh upon the slightest provocation. In an interview, it was asked if the crew could stop "playing that laugh". BJ revealed that it was indeed a real person and that, in the earlier days of the show, people didn't believe it was real and would get angry at how often they played it. "Toppy", as he is often called on the show, graduated from Woodinville High School in Woodinville, Washington in the upper two thirds of his class, and is the longest-standing Entercom employee on the show and in Seattle. Top Shelf's avid fandom of the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL franchise is a frequent point of derision, particularly during the NFL season. Additionally, several of Top Shelf's unsuccessful personal relationships have been fodder for the show (Babybunny).
Top Shelf drives a Camaro and has a deep appreciation for muscle cars, especially the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard and the GTO Judge from films such as Sex Drive. His only requirements for movies are that they feature at least one muscle car and at least one hot chick.
Some of Top Shelf's favorite things are Seann William Scott, large breasts, Crown Royal and classic cars. A regular feature on the show is called A View From the Shelf, in which Toppy gets drunk on Crown Royal during an event and then drunk-dials BJ and leaves an often incoherent message, which subsequently is played on the show.
Steve the Producer
Current producer and main co-host for the show, and one of just two major crew members not to have come from the KQBZ show. Originally from New York City, he produced "The Andy Savage Show" prior to his assignment to the Morning Experience.
Steve the Producer is an avid music fan, and plays drums for Seattle band "New Originals". Steve was the drummer of popular 90's Seattle band, Peter Parker. In addition to his production duties, Steve is usually tasked with giving an on-air rundown of current news items (during which he is referred to as Steve the news tool or Creepy Uncle News Tool),Beat the Producer, providing introductions for show guests, and maintaining a daily blog of the show on the KISW website.
Steve was in an independent film released in 2006, called Jerkbeast, based on a public-access television cable TV show in Seattle. He played a radio DJ named "Slammin' Sammy".
Steve has a sushi roll named after him at Trappers Sushi -- The STP Roll.
Steve, Topshelf, The Rev, and Mono Nick are all members of Steve's podcast, aka the STP-cast, which is the #2 podcast in Western Washington. They would be #1 if it weren't for Luke Burbank, who called Steve and crew "Titanic Douches". This term has been embraced by the podcast, and their listeners are referred to as "Douches" for short.
In May of 2014, Steve announced plans for a future podcast with KISW afternoon personality, Thee Ted Smith (from the Men's Room), called "The Mega Cast".
Steve is an avid hockey player, he is the goalie for the RHL champions, the Tacoma Donkeys. Steve also plays in the Seattle Thunderbirds annual Hockey Challenge for the Ronald McDonald House. He plays alongside former pros (Jamie Huscroft, Brendan Witt, Danny Lorenz, and more).
Steve has unsuccessfully campaigned to rename Meridian street in Puyallup (where he lives) to "Steve".
The Reverend En Fuego
Current call screener for the show, upholding the show's longstanding running gag of letting callers through that most call screeners would consider unqualified for air. Often he acts as the scapegoat when a call somehow fails to meet standards. The Reverend is also notorious for suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which enticed the show's hosts to play fart sound effect drops when the Reverend spoke. This was later changed to a duck's quacking sound as part of the Reverend's theme when the regular fart noises were deemed too offensive. His theme is background music similar to the type played during radio news bulletins, and is almost always played when he speaks on air, along with En Fuego bookending his statements with the phrases, "Well thanks, BJ," and "back to you". This is partly done as satire in line with BJ's usually tongue-in-cheek assertion that an "update from The Rev" will most likely not be newsworthy or relevant, although in many cases these updates are factual reports related to the topic at hand. He is known to be a regular player of World of Warcraft and avid fan of the zombie film genre. En Fuego also hosts a weekly podcast, also on the show's website, called Undead Radio. Just like with his Irritable Bowel Syndrome, when the crew found out that En Fuego was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, they decided to play a sound effect drop pertaining to the disease. They will play the drop when mentioning the Rev, which is a sound byte from a South Park episode called Elementary School Musical, where a character named Scott Malkinson says, "Hey, don't make fun of my diabetes."
The Reverend's real name is Justin Robinson, as revealed on a late February 2009 show.
Mono-Nick
Nick Martel, formerly known as "Nick the intern,"(and frequently compared looks-wise to Jason Lee) Mono-nick became a fan favorite due to his under-enthusiastic deliveries during on air promotions and at KISW listener parties. Nick has found a voice on the show and is usually paired and berated with the Reverend En Fuego for doing incredibly monotonous promotional announcements. He is often scolded by BJ and other cast members for doing such deplorable work, though clearly the irony of Mono-Nick's voiceovers has appeciable comedic value. Before becoming a somewhat regular persona on the show, Nick did work off-air as an intern and as BJ's personal assistant. His tasks included embarrassing moments like taking a bra back to a store. When not working on the show Nick can be found playing games like Halo 3, MLB 2k8 and GTA IV on Xbox live and is a fan of alternative and hard rock as well as the Beatles. Before working for KISW he worked for Tully's Coffee.
Vicky Barcelona
The newest member of the show, working behind the scenes as an assistant producer. The first woman on the show in the ten year history of the show.
She was originally called Vicky the Intern, but was dubbed Vicky Barcelona after the film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Former crew members
- Arik (with the "Bob Rivers Morning Show" on KJR-FM 95.7 in Seattle)
- Brad The Producer From Hell ("What a Dick!" was how he was also referred to before increased on-air studio censorship rules forced disuse of the term),
- Short Bus Sean
- "Mama's-Boy" Troy
- "That Guy" Ty Rosenow (Sports Desk from "The Ron & Don Morning Show")
- Gary (aka Intern Spock)
- Jarrod "That's Jarrod" (former show intern, who frequently served as call-screener so that Double-R could more-closely interact with BJ and Top Shelf; much to the chagrin of the show's host as Jarrod wasn't much better at it even though he claimed otherwise. When Jarrod would make a mistake, a short clip from a local Seattle jewelry store's commercial would be played on-air, hence "That's Jarrod".)
- "Double R(U KIDDING ME)" He went to be a comedian at the comedy underground in Seattle. http://comedyunderground.com
- Glen The Toolbox - former "Freak on the Street" winner. Teamed up with The Reverend En Fuego for "Tard Center" sports when Double R was out.
Fan communities
The show's website, http://www.bjaday.com, features content related to show, including the weekly Hot Shots provided by RadioVixens.
During the KQBZ era, a change in policy prevented hosts from promoting websites other than the station's own website. At the time, a fan community had already been established using the Yahoo! Groups service. BJ circumvented this restriction, by instructing listeners to send an E-Mail to a given address, which was to be responded with a "super-secret URL" to access the Yahoo! Group. Since that time, the community switched from a Yahoo! Group to a forum hosted at http://www.supersecreturl.com.
H-Hole Army
The H-Hole Army is the station's currently supported fan club. Members receive advance info on BJ Shea events, exclusive private parties with the BJ Shea Morning Experience, and special members only giveaways.
The group is a referral-based structure, with more benefits based upon the number of successful "recruits". Once a member joins, they start as a "Private" and receive a free BJ Shea dog tag in the mail. By recruiting people to join, members rise in rank, (Corporal, Sergeant, Colonel, etc.) and earn free stuff such as T-Shirts, hats and hoodies.
BJ Shea's Geek Nation Podcast
This weekly podcast, released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, is dedicated to all things geek. The show is hosted by BJ, The Rev, Vicky B, comic-writer Brandon Jerwa and board game expert Chris Walker. Along with discussing topics ranging from sci-fi to comic books, they answer listener emails and talk to industry insiders about upcoming products, movies and events.
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/bjgeeknation
Podcast Link: http://www.bjgeeknation.com
References
- ^ Virgin, Bill (1999-11-18). "Bob Rivers Twists The Dial - Does It For A Shocking 10 Years". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
BJ Shea has joined the station in the 1-3 pm shift, bumping the Howie Carr syndicated show. Shea most recently had been with a station in Rochester, NY.
- ^ Virgin, Bill (2000-03-16). "Ghost Story Pays Tribute To 'Hump' Pilots". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Talk show host BJ Shea was fired Tuesday by KQBZ-FM because of remarks he made on his afternoon program last week.
- ^ a b Zahn, Theron (2004-02-26). "What's Considered Indecent?". KOMO-TV.
- ^ Virgin, Bill (2005-05-04). "KQBZ host sues station charging hostility". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ "Tom Leykis out, Gretchen Wilson in at 100.7 FM". The Seattle Times. 2005-12-01.
- ^ Virgin, Bill (2005-11-30). "On Radio: BJ Shea gets Stern's KISW slot and The Buzz goes country". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ "100.7 KQBZ becomes "The Wolf" KKWF". FormatChange.com. 2005. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ Virgin, Bill (2005). "On Radio: Loss of Howard Stern shows virtually no effect on KISW ratings". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/sara.zappelli