Wake Up With Whoopi made its debut today on WKTU/New York before launching nationally on August 14. Day one of the program found the celebrity turned deejay getting an introduction to prank calls from the competition. At least three different calls from the "Pests" of XM Satellite Radio's Opie & Anthony program made their way on air, dropping references to the duo's program in the process.
Upon finding out that the callers were from the O&A program, Whoopi said, "There are other folks out there, some of them are good and some of them are not. We are no threat to anybody. We just doing a show that we want to be doing. Howard [Stern] understands that. That's my friend. These other people, they're not worth the dust Howard walks on." After another "Pest" made it through, Whoopi warned, "Know that we're going to screen better."
Meanwhile, the Opie & Anthony program continues to spread across terrestrial radio with WCKG/Chicago the latest addition. Expansion will also reach KIFR/San Francisco, where the O&A program will air from 10am-1pm. Both stations start broadcasting the program tomorrow (8/1).
"The Opie & Anthony enterprise brings a full arsenal of weapons to the Chicago morning battle field," said CBS Radio Chicago SVP and Market Manager Rod Zimmerman. "With O&A in the anchor position leading off the day, coupled with Radio Hall of Fame nominee Steve Dahl in the afternoon and market veterans Stan Lawrence and Terry Armour handling midday’s, WCKG’s unmatched and entertaining lineup will be a force in Chicago."
The expansion to WCKG comes at the expense of Rover's Morning Glory, which moves back to Cleveland and will call WXRK its flagship station. The station had previously been the flagship of Rover’s syndicated show from 2003 through January of this year.
"K-Rock will once again be a great home base for the show," says Rover. "We have a great working relationship with management there – they really understand the show. We’ve enjoyed our time in Chicago, but the station just wasn’t a good fit for us. That’s not an indictment against them, it’s just that they’re skewed to a much older audience than what we target. We were also concerned that they wanted to focus exclusively on Chicago, which was detrimental to our affiliates. It was a mutual decision, and there is no ill-will between us whatsoever."
"We’re excited to have Rover back in the building," said WXRK VP/GM Tom Herschel. "Rover has consistently been number one even while based outside Cleveland, and I anticipate this move will deliver an even larger audience – if that’s possible!"
Along with WXRK, Rover's Morning Glory will continue to be heard on WKRK/Detroit, KPNT/St. Louis, WAQZ/Cincinnati, WAZU/Columbus, WMFS/Memphis, WZNE/Rochester, and WPXY/Cape Cod.
