The Regular Guys

"The Regular Guys" (Larry Wachs, Eric Von Haessler and Steve Rickman) is the morning show on Atlanta radio station Rock 100.5.

The Regular Guys were on WKLS 96 Rock in Atlanta, Georgia. Their first run was from 1998-2004 and a 2nd time from 2005-2006. The show was cancelled twice due to being fired 1st [cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0406/09/lol.02.html |title=CNN Transcripts |accessdate=2008-03-14] and 2nd [cite web |url=http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2006/10/23/daily8.html |title=Regular Guys fired after Yogi and Panda lawsuit |accessdate=2008-03-14] to a lawsuit. They are presently (since January 2008) on the new Rock 100.5 The show's demographic targets are men from age 25 to 49.

The Regular Guys were hired in 1995 by KLSX 97.1FM in Los Angeles. They were fired in 1997 after Eric and Larry had a hilarious meltdown on the air over station interference of their show. While just a bit, the management failed to see it that way and fired them.

The Regular Guys were hired after a period of time by Atlanta station WKLS in 1998, and created one of the most memorable and influential shows in Atlanta radio history.

The show was voted "Most Likely to Be Fined by the FCC" in an Atlanta "Creative Loafing" survey. Ironically, and much to their critics' disappointment, the Regular Guys were never fined by the FCC, in spite of their two "extended vacations".

The Regular Guys were first fired on April 9, 2004 at the height of their Arbitron ratings success when a graphic interview with pornographic movie actress Devin Lane was accidentally aired over a Honda commercial. That interview was intended to be played backwards when they returned from the break, mocking the FCC indecency crackdown at the time. Upon their dismissal, their sidekick Southside Steve Rickman was retained by Clear Channel because he had a different contract.

The station immediately suffered ratings losses after the duo's termination.

The Regular Guys were rehired by Clear Channel in early 2005. They returned to the air on March 21, 2005 on their sister station, WGST Newsradio 640 AM. The format of news radio did not fit with their narrative style, and so they returned to 96 Rock in May, sans Rickman who was doing a different shift.

The Regular Guys had recovered about 3/4 of their previous audience by mid-2006. On September 25, 2006, "Southside" Steve Rickman returned to make guest appearances on a nearly daily basis. On October 17, 2006, the Regular Guys Show mysteriously went into reruns, eerily reminiscent of the three weeks prior to their firing on April 9, 2004.

On October 23, 2006, Larry Wachs and Eric von Haessler were dismissed from Clear Channel, due to a lawsuit by Viva 105.7 morning DJs Yogi and Panda. The suit against The Regular Guys claims that Larry Wachs recorded them without their knowledge while having a discussion in separate bathroom stalls. Eric von Haessler's Mad Pundit Radio program which was broadcast Saturday afternoons on WGST was also dropped. That recording was part of a bit that was played on the show which Wachs said was approved by station management.

In March 2007, the criminal case against Wachs in the Yogi and Panda controversy that forced the show off the air in October 2006 was dismissed by the Fulton County, Georgia district attorney for having no merit. Consequently, Clear Channel agreed to settle Wachs' breach of contract claims against them in an agreement under which terms were not disclosed.

The Regular Guys returned to Atlanta airwaves on January 28th, 2008 at 6:00 a.m. on a new rock station 100.5 FM, which is not owned by Clear Channel but by Cumulus Media.

The line up of the show features:
*Larry Wachs – Co-host, various voices/characters
*Eric Von Haessler – Co-host
*"Southside" Steve Rickman - Third regular Guy
*Tim Andrews – Executive Producer, various voices/characters and occasional sidekick.
*Mix-Master Mark Owens - Producer, traffic reporter/board operator.
*Sebastian "Sebas" Daskawicz-Davis - On-air Contributor, Video Producer for SouthSide Steve TV.

Past staff/line-ups on the show included:

*The Critic-(former producer/sports)
*Christopher Calandro (a.k.a. "RadioBoy")-(former producer)
*Tim Frasier (a.k.a. "Virgin Murray") - Producer
*Garrett "the 40 Year-old Intern" - Intern
*"Church Chick" (real name Nicole Campbell) - Intern
*"Rerun" (Tom Erickson) - Intern
*Heather "the Tiny-bouncy-breasted Intern" - Intern
*Tim Rhodes - Daily Sports Brief
*Roni "The Topless Intern" Frescone - Intern*
*Alfie - past intern
*Mid-Day DJ Fin (As Duke LaCrosse [sic] ) – Daily Sports Brief during version 2.0
*A Boy Named Lucy - Intern during version 2.0
*Kelly "Race Card" Brown - Phone Screener during version 2.0 and extreme racist; heros include Al Sharpton and OJ Simpson
*"Creepy" Nicholas Plagman - Intern during 3.0 known for creeping out women at Regular Guys' public appearance. Nick was fired for excessive creepiness after repeated warnings.
*Martin Von Haessler Jr. - Intern during 3.0. Martin was from Germany. He left to return there.

Regular guests on the show include:

*Tommy from Roswell
*Slim Mackerel - Current wearabouts unknown
*"Larry Munson Jr." - Sports
*George Stein - DUI Lawyer
*The Singing Psychic
*George Lowe - voice of Space Ghost
*Nancy Wachs(Larry's sister)
*Larry's Parents
*Ben Connor (a.k.a. "Ben the Bunnyman") - During his tenure with The Regular Guys, Ben The Bunnyman wrestled Yucko the Clown, performed severely mangled versions of rock songs, called plays for a Braves game, and welcomed the crowd to several live WWE performances in Atlanta and Duluth, Georgia. Ben died on Feb. 4th, 2008 from complications from heart surgery.

Aggravators to the listening public

There are recurring bits that were added from time to time. In such segments of the show, the hosts take calls from people who are allegedly affiliated with certain organizations or high-profile figures. Sometimes repeat callers are often heard. Some of these repeat callers add to the wackiness of the show are as follows:

* "Ricardo": The Latino caller who enrages listeners regarding Latino related issues.

* "Terrell": The African-American caller who enrages listeners regarding African-American related issues.

* "Zebulon": the ultra-conservative Christian, associate Pastor-Rev. of Popular Creek Church of God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost, who sometimes has enraged listeners regarding ultra-conservative Christian related issues. Such as the fact that he felt 'Harry Potter' books caused children to turn 'queer'.

* "Herman from Dunwoody": A fan obsessed with host, Eric, who often calls up and harasses Eric because he perceives Eric as being 'arrogant'. Other listeners have even called in and offered to be Eric's 'body guard' to protect Eric from this obsessed fan. Recently they made up and are now friends.

* "Curtis Washington": An associate of Cynthia McKinney who would call discussing updates and schemes for her 2006 re-election. Many callers would call the show aggravated questioning the illegality of the schemes and the intelligence of Washington. Mr. Washington has since moved on to run the "Georgians for Hillary" campaign.

* "Travis Elliot" and "Lester Chalmers": Various "governmental figures from around the metro Atlanta area, most notably Cobb County Board of Education advisor who mandated a "Gay Studies" class for all Cobb County high school students.

* "Norma Lee": A country music singer who released a cd called "Back To Our Roots." She was for a time banned from the show for stalking Larry online. The Regular Guys have her now call in from time to time with updates on current events such as the 2008 Summer Olympics and Presidential Debates.

Bits from the show

* "The Wiffle Bat Challenge": Various porn stars or strippers insert a wiffle bat into their private region.

* "Make Southside Cry": Listeners call in and insult "Southside" Steve.

* "Pot Talk with Malibu Dan": Callers ask California stoner marijuana questions.

* "Beat Steve": Steve and the callers compete in various trivia questions. If Steve misses the question, he is beaten by his daddy's fingerless arm.

*"Shoot Steve: Steve and the callers compete in various trivia questions. If Steve misses the question, he is shot with a BB gun.
* "The FU Line": Callers call in and tell others to Fuck off.

* "News Jog": Eric reports on the daily news.

* "The Scan Gwinnett Drinking Game": Larry, Eric and Steve drink to various latino offenders from the Gwinnett County mugshot website.

* "Love In An Elevator": Southside Steve hits on various women while in an elevator.

* "Regular Guys Squares": Callers compete against Eric using the Hollywood Squares theme. Larry, Steve and Tim provide the characters.

* "The Regular Guys Smoke Break": Steve plays a song of his choice and debates it afterwards with Eric.

* "Homeless Karaoke": Larry and Eric compete trying to guess the song.

* "Calls From The General Public": Larry, Eric and Steve talk to the listeners.

* "Stump The Hand": The artist formerly known as Spaceghost takes song requests and plays them with his fingers.

References

http://www.regularguys.com/

External links

* http://www.regularguys.com
* http://regularguys.libsyn.com/
* http://regularguys.typepad.com/regularguysarchive/