Ron Bennington

Ronald Lee Bennington[1] (born December 31, 1958) is an American radio personality and comedian, who is currently the co-host of Bennington and host of Unmasked. Additionally, he has been a co-host of a number of radio shows, including The Ron and Ron Show and The Ron and Fez Show.

Ron Bennington
Bennington in December 2016
Born (1958-12-31) December 31, 1958
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Career
ShowBennington
Station(s)Faction Talk on (Sirius XM channel 103)
Time slot2:00pm – 5:00 pm ET
Monday - Friday
ShowUnmasked
Station(s)Sirius XM On Demand
StyleHost
WebsiteRon Bennington Interviews

Radio career

Ron and Ron (1987–1997)

In 1986, Bennington opened the Ron Bennington's Comedy Scene in Clearwater, Florida; he met Ron Diaz, on whose radio show he plugged his club, and quickly the two created the morning radio program The Ron and Ron Show[2] at Tampa Bay's WYNF-FM, known as 95YNF.[3] The show had huge ratings success and Ron & Ron known as "Radio's Bad Boys" then partnered with their agent Ross Reback to form The Ron & Ron Radio Network to own and syndicate the programming. The show's final broadcast for WYNF was on March 12, 1993. Reback became President and CEO of the newly formed network and quickly negotiated a deal to broadcast the show in Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville, with another dozen markets soon following (including a new more lucrative deal in Tampa). Ron Diaz announced his departure in early 1997,[4] and on September 29, 1997 the show ended.

Ron and Fez (1997–2015)
Bennington in 2007

After The Ron & Ron Show ended Bennington teamed up with Fez Whatley to create The Ron and Fez Show. After stints in Daytona Beach, New York City, and Washington, D.C., the show was broadcast from New York City (originally briefly called "Ron and Fez dot com" as it was devoted to discussing Web sites) on 102.7 FM WNEW-FM from 2000–2003, and syndicated to additional FM stations toward the end of the run, until the station ended the talk format, and eventually moved to 106.7 FM WJFK-FM near Washington D.C. where it aired live from 2003–2005, a station that had been simulcasting the WNEW-based show since 2000.[5] Bennington and Whatley moved back to New York and debuted on XM Satellite Radio on September 12, 2005.[6]

On April 1, 2015, Fez announced his retirement, with their final show being April 3.[7]

Bennington (2014–Present)

In October 2014 he began co-hosting Bennington with his daughter Gail. The show initially aired on the Opie with Jim Norton Friday 7–10:00 am time slot when Opie and Norton were off.[8]

In April 2015, following the retirement of Fez Whatley, Bennington began airing five days a week, in Ron and Fez's noon–3:00pm time slot, in addition to their Friday spot on Opie Radio.[9]

Other radio ventures

Ron Bennington Interviews is a weekend program on XM which replays different interviews every week which Ron conducts.[10] The show runs on Sirius XM Indie.[11]

In 2007, Bennington began Unmasked, a solo venture which has one-on-one interviews with comedy legends and established and emerging comedic talents.[12]

The Disciples of Comedy

In the mid-1990s Ron Bennington assembled a comedy troupe to tour to the markets where The Ron & Ron Show was syndicated. Ron Bennington's Disciples of Comedy included several comedians who had previously toured as part of Sam Kinison's Outlaws of Comedy. The Disciples of Comedy were Ron Bennington, Carl LaBove, Jimmy Shubert, Mitchell Walters, Dan Carlson, Lou Angelwolf, Jeff Apploff, Ralph Williams, and Curtain Boy Warren Durso. The shows also included Fez Whatley and Fast Eddie Yarb. The tour was produced by Ross Reback and The Ron & Ron Radio Network. The comedy tour sold out theatres of 2,000 to 3,000 seats.[13]

With Ross Reback he co-owned Ron Bennington's Comedy Scene, a comedy club in Clearwater. One of the comics he says "earned his chops" there is Jim Breuer.[14][15]

Appearances

Bennington is a cigar aficionado and has also been interviewed in Cigar Magazine[16]

Bennington has a cupcake named for him at Molly's Cupcakes locations,[17] which is chocolate cupcake made with a combination of peanut butter filling, chocolate ganache, and crushed butterscotch topping.[18] In 2008 it was the best-selling cupcake at Molly's.[19]

In 2015, it was revealed on the Bennington Show that an American racing Greyhound had been named after Bennington and registered as "Ron Bennington". Owned by Melissa Skrivseth-Schmidt and Christopher Straka,[20] "Ron Bennington" began her racing career at the Iowa Greyhound Park and raced her first official race at Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room.[21]

References
  1. Bennington show, SiriusXM, July 31, 2017
  2. Rusnak, Jeff (26 August 1994). "The Outlaws Are In". Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  3. 95ynf Tampa Bay Radio History of WYNF FM 94.9 Radio Station
  4. Ron Diaz
  5. Baker, Chris (11 June 2003). "The Washington Times Channel Surfing Column". Washington Times.
  6. "Look Out, Howard!". Washington Post. pp. D03.
  7. Fez Whatley Announces Retirement From Radio, End to Ron and Fez Show
  8. "Ron Bennington to Host Fridays When Opie And Jim Norton Are Off". Lighthouse Magazine. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  9. Bennington Show
  10. RON BENNINGTON INTERVIEWS
  11. Indie Talk Radio-XL
  12. Announcement of the program
  13. Warren Durso, Esquire Magazine’s Ugliest Comedian, as seen in movies “Cutoff” and “Even Money” with Chad Riden
  14. Geurts, Jimmy (10 April 2013). "SNL alum Jim Breuer earned his comedy chops in local clubs in the '80s". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  15. Breuer, Jim (2010). I'm Not High: (But I've Got a Lot of Crazy Stories About Life as a Goat Boy, a Dad, and a Spiritual Warrior). Penguin. p. 48. ISBN 9781101443804.
  16. "In The Humidor » Cigars 101 - The Basics". In The Humidor. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24.
  17. Olvera, Jennifer (2013). Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 283. ISBN 9781493006625.
  18. Chicago Menu
  19. "No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner: Chicago Cupcake Run: Molly's Cupcakes". No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner.
  20. http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=ron+bennington&sex=&color=&birthyear=&birthland=
  21. http://www.trackinfo.com/dog-search.jsp?keyword=ron+bennington&x=0&y=0&by=dogname
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