The Adam Carolla Show (radio program)
The Adam Carolla Show was a morning radio program that was syndicated, starring Adam Carolla, which began airing on January 3, 2006 and ended on February 20, 2009. The show was produced by CBS Radio as part of its Free FM format, and was based out of KLSX in Los Angeles. On February 20, KLSX changed format from hot talk to Top 40 (CHR) as KAMP-FM, and The Adam Carolla Show was canceled along with several other programs. The Adam Carolla Show was heard in a number of major metropolitan markets on the West Coast of the United States.[1]
This article is about the 2006-2009 radio show. For the later podcast incarnation, see The Adam Carolla Show (podcast).Genre
4 hours (including commercials)
Mike Dawson
Mike Lynch
Angie Fitzsimmons
January 3, 2006 –
February 20, 2009
"Theme from The Naked Gun" (a.k.a. "Theme From Police Squad!", "Frank Drebin's Theme")
by Ira Newborn
Overview[edit]
The show featured Adam Carolla and Teresa Strasser.
The supporting cast included sound effects guy Bryan Bishop, producer Angie Fitzsimmons, writer Mike Lynch, announcer/technical producer Mike Dawson, technical production assistant Mike Cioffi, production assistant David D. Keller and board operator Bill Mahoney. Jimmy Kimmel served as creative consultant in the first year, and hosted the show on June 7 and June 8, 2006, while Carolla was with his wife for the birth of their twins[2] and April 26, 2007, while Carolla was at New York City for the Tribeca Film Festival to see the premiere of his movie The Hammer.[3]
Controversy[edit]
Asian American community[edit]
Carolla's morning show became the subject of a minor controversy within a few weeks of airing when on January 24, 2006, Carolla played a segment which spoofed the upcoming Asian Excellence Awards.[14] The spoof consisted of what sounded like a typical excerpt from an awards show, except that the dialogue of the actors consisted only of the words "ching" and "chong", repeated.[14][15] The National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), and The Center for Asian American Media publicly objected to the spoof, calling it racist and threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station did not issue an apology.[16][17] On February 22, 2006, Carolla without fanfare read a brief apology for the segment, in which he said that his show had regrettably "crossed the line".[18] On April 26, 2006, Carolla invited the head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Guy Aoki, and Teddy Zee, co-chair of the Asian Excellence Awards, to further explain[19] that when he aired the bit, he had no idea that "ching chong" was a racial slur. Mention of the bit was removed from the official show blog.[20]
Cancellation[edit]
On February 18, 2009 it was confirmed that The Adam Carolla Show had been canceled and the last show would air on February 20, 2009. The cancellation came in effect of a format shift at the Los Angeles flagship station (KLSX) from hot talk to a Top 40 (CHR) format.[21][22] The show would continue to be made available via Westwood One in a 'best-of' format.[23]
The Adam Carolla Show was heard on the following stations, and broadcast weekdays from 5:00am–10:00am PST (with the 5am hour a "best of" compilation of the previous morning's broadcast), for around a month CBS Radio will provide a "best of format" to give time for the affiliates to fill their morning slot:
Podcast and live internet stream are popular among listeners in markets where show is not broadcasting, which was mentioned on air numerous times.
Listeners have called from Midwest, East coast, Hawaii, Canada, Japan, Spain and England among other areas.[24]
Most of the show was available for download via podcast through Free FM. The format varies depending on the station providing the RSS feed.
Future of the show[edit]
Carolla remained under contract to CBS Radio until December 2009, and was bound against hosting another radio broadcast program until the contract expired. However, beginning the following weekday after the final broadcast of The Adam Carolla Show, the host started a new incarnation of the show at carollaradio.com as a free daily podcast.
Originally recorded nightly at his home, the podcast eventually moved to be recorded in a studio and features conversations with many of the same guests who appeared on the radio show. In the inaugural podcast, Carolla stated that if the venture proved to be successful he would move forward with ambitious plans to expand it commercially upon the expiration of his CBS contract. The show quickly garnered a large audience, as the first episode was downloaded over 250,000 times in the first 24 hours of its being made available on the site. Soon after, the show was made available on iTunes and in its first week the podcast was downloaded over 1 million times, making it the number one iTunes podcast in the US and Canada.[28] The broadcast is now known as The Adam Carolla Show and has been consistently ranked among the top 15 podcasts on iTunes since its inception on the site.
As of June 3, 2010, The Adam Carolla Podcast was renamed The Adam Carolla Show, though it is still only available for download on the internet and is not broadcast. Though Teresa Strasser acted as Carolla's sidekick for a time, she left in August 2010 to join The Peter Tilden Show on KABC (AM).[29] Bald Bryan still supplies sound effects, though he's not always on the show. The show has returned to its old radio format, bringing back produced segments and regular phone calls.