DC and the Family

DC and the Family, originally The Steve and DC Morning Show, was a radio program that began broadcasting in 1991 on WMLL radio, St. Louis, Missouri. Hosted by radio personalities Steve Shannon and DC Chymes (real name Isaiah Wilhelm), the program followed a standard "morning show" format, featuring current news stories, entertainment industry gossip, games, phone shams, current affairs debates and personal stories from the program's staff and their families.

Controversies

The duo was fired by WKBQ (104.1 FM) in 1993 after using a racial epithet at a black female caller; after some months and "racial sensitivity" classes, they returned to the air.[1]

One year before, the duo had been involved in a highly-publicized morning show stunt called "The Wheel of Whoopie", which had several city locations listed on the wheel. The winning couple would take a cell phone, go to that location and engage in sexual relations, with the audio from the act being broadcast live over the air. Chymes told Kidd Kraddick's "The Morning Mouth" magazine that the audio was mostly 'an occasional groan or grunt but mostly it was (things) you had to imagine.' The FCC became involved but the station managed to avoid a fine by firing the station's program director (who was in Canada for the World Series and had no knowledge of the stunt) and the show's producer as a show of good faith.[2]

In March 1994, Chymes and Shannon aired an interview with a woman who was being harassed by a St. Louis weatherman, Bob Richards, after she ended their extramarital affair. The interview aired several times. Though the affair and subsequent harassment was already public knowledge, Richards, who had heard and was reportedly devastated by the interview, committed suicide two days later. Shannon and Chymes were widely condemned by the media for airing the interview.[3][1][4]

End of the show

On April 23, 2008, Shannon announced he was leaving the show[5] to pursue a career in Birmingham, Alabama, hosting the morning news program on Clear Channel station WERC 960 AM.[6]

Following Shannon's departure from the program, as of May 2008, DC continued to host the syndicated radio show, renaming it DC and the Family, until 2011.

References
  1. Wilson, D. J. "The Worst of D.C." Riverfront Times. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  2. "St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri on November 6, 1992 ยท Page 83". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  3. Kramer, Staci D. (1994-03-24). "St. Louis TV Weatherman Apparently Takes Own Life". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  4. Linsalata, Phil (2019-03-22). "Was it news? 25 years ago some soul searching after the death of weatherman Bob Richards". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  5. Deitz, Corey. "A Profile of Radio Personalities Steve and DC" (Biography). About.com. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 2011-10-17. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  6. Steve and Leah at WERC.com Archived July 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.