The Regular Guys: Resurrected!

The dead live!

No, I don't mean in that George Romero movie... I'm talking about Atlanta's infamous Regular Guys. The Regular Guys were Atlanta's answer to Howard Stern in that they had edgy humor and stunts involving drinking, women, and flatulence. They were obnoxious, and they were the only real reason to listen to 96Rock in the mornings.

Unfortunately after the whole Janet Jackson Super Bowl fiasco, the freedom-haters were gunning for people like the Regular Guys, and it just took one screw-up from their engineer to seal their fate. First they were suspended, then they were fired.

And yours truly stopped listening to 96Rock out of personal protest.

Usually when a radio personality is censored by the moralists, they become radio outcasts. They either have to make the move to satellite radio, online radio, or just get out of the business completely. Mancow ended up moving to Fox News. Opie and Anthony went to XM Radio. Howard Stern hasn't been kicked out of radio yet, but he knew the writing is on the wall so he's signed to go to Sirius satellite radio right after his contract expires.

Well it turns out that Larry Wachs and Eric Von Hessler will be back on the air later this month. That's the good news. The bad news is that they will STILL be working for the most oppressive Borg-like radio conglomerate in America, Clear Channel. They will be hosting the morning radio show for WGST... an AM talk radio station whose biggest audience are the very moralists who hated everything the Regular Guys did.

Well it's good that they're getting work in the business again, and that they will be back as a team act, but the fact that they're going to an AM talk radio station does not bode well for the kind of material that made them who they are. Clear Channel expects squeaky-clean broadcasting to placate their moralist watchdogs, and I just don't see them allowing the duo to bring back the FU line or the pregnant beauty contest, never mind the "skins" golf tournament.

As for me listening to them... well it depends on whether my car radio will be able to pick it up. WGST has one of the weakest broadcasting towers in the area! I might tune in when they go live, but if they start sounding like the Regular Wusses, then I'll be turning back to AM750!

But you know what? I still refuse to listen to 96Rock.