Posted by Drews Combover's Over on March 09, 2011 at 00:13:21:
It�s been a year since Top 40 radio icons Eddie Volkman and Joe Bohannon (pictured above) reunited on the air and tried their luck as talk show hosts by filling in for afternoon personality Roe Conn on news/talk WLS-AM (890).
Their one-day tryout went so well that Eddie & Jobo landed a regular gig on the Citadel Broadcasting station, where they�ve been holding forth every Saturday night since June. And all this week, the lovable rascals are filling in again during afternoon drive while Conn and partner Richard Roeper are away. The highlight of their show Tuesday, an interview with Donald Trump, was both newsworthy and entertaining.
For a couple of guys who spent the better part of 20 years spinning records and cracking jokes on a youthful FM station � CBS Radio rhythmic Top 40 WBBM-FM (96.3) � the transition to talk show hosts on an older-skewing AM station has gone more smoothly than anyone could have imagined. As far as Eddie & Jobo are concerned, the past year has redefined who they are.
�I remember when we were taken off [B96], people said: �Good, they were too old to be talking sex to teenage girls!�� Volkman recalled. �But unless it was a bit about Halloween candy, we never put anyone under 18 on the morning show. We had a lot of serious discussions about adult issues, but that wasn�t the perception of us.
�We�ve gained so much credibility in just a year. People take you seriously on AM talk. I don�t know what it is, but you just feel it when you�re on WLS. Now the perception is that we�re grown up, and we actually might know something. It�s a very rewarding experience.�
Bohannon, whose real name is Joe Colborn, called the opportunity to fill in this week for Roe & Roeper �an honor and a privilege,� adding: �After less than a year, for WLS to trust us with the No. 1-ranked talk show just makes us feel tremendous. We feel like we�ve grown, and the audience seems to be sticking with us. As [program director] Drew Hayes said, we�re �part of the family now.� And that really, really makes us feel good.�
But all of that soon may be coming to an end if Eddie & Jobo accept a job they are believed to have been offered to host a Monday-through-Friday show elsewhere. A written confidentiality agreement prevents them from confirming the offer or disclosing the company. �The best I can tell you is I have mixed emotions,� Jobo said. �Because WLS is great. They�ve been so cool.�
Their agent, Steve Mandell, declined to comment.
If they do leave for the security and money of a full-time gig somewhere else, it will be on the best of terms with their current bosses.
�We�d love to keep them,� said Michael Damsky, president and general manager of WLS. �But as a friend, I�d like to see them go on and find their place. As long as it�s noncompetitive, it made us better to have them, it made them better to be on our station, and we wish them nothing but well. Potentially, we�ll meet again sometime.�