Walton & Johnson Show

Infobox Radio Show
show_name = Walton & Johnson Show


imagesize = 220px
caption =
format = Comedy, Talk
runtime = 4½ hours (7 hours in Houston)
creator = John Walton
Steve Johnson
writer =
executive_producer =
starring = John Walton
Steve Johnson
Billy Ed Hatfield
Mr. Kenneth
Mr. Eaux
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = flagicon|United States United States
first_aired = February 2, 1983
last_aired = Present
num_episodes =
website = [http://www.waltonandjohnson.com www.waltonandjohnson.com]
home_station = KPRC-AM
podcast =

"The Walton & Johnson Show" is a syndicated morning radio show currently broadcasting from KPRC-AM, a talk radio station in Houston, TX. Five other stations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Kansas also broadcast the show.

History

John Walton and Steve Johnson are co-hosts of the show and have been working together almost 100% of the time since February 2, 1983 at many flagship stations and markets including Dallas, New York City and the longest in New Orleans from 1983 to 1986 at WQUE-FM and again from 1988 to 2002 at WEZB-FM, WCKW-FM and WRNO-FM. "The Walton & Johnson Show" has consistently done well in ratings among the 25-54 men demographic. The morning show's focus is humor and politics commented on by John Walton and the various personas created by Steve Johnson, which are detailed below.

1983 - WQUE New Orleans (Clear Channel Communications): "The W&J Show" came together for the first time. After replacing "Scoot in the Morning", W&J took the morning show to #1 in adults from the station's usual outside of the top 10 position. CCC offered a multiyear contract but W&J wanted to try the show in larger markets.

1986 - KTKS (Kiss 106) Dallas/Ft Worth (Gannett Comm): W&J had the good fortune to have a choice between 3 major stations the CBS O&O FM in Los Angeles, KZPS, or KTKS both in Dallas. They chose KTKS to work with Gerry DeFrancisco and Jay Cook. W&J took the CHR station from out of the top 10 to #4 in the market 12+ behind only Chapman, Joiner, and Dorsey. In key demos such as 18-34 the show was often #1 or #2. Gannett pulled the plug on the format as the performance of the whole radio station never measured up to that of the morning show.

1988 - WQHT New York (Emmis Comm): W&J were brought in for a 3 month tryout by Rick Cummings and Jeff Smulyan for the hybid dance CHR in New York City Emmis wasn't sure that a southern bred show would play in New York. Not only did it play it seemed that it was going to thrive. Negotiations however fell through when then agent Saul Foos urged W&J to do mornings on a Houston move in. The boys thought they enjoyed a large equity position in this property so passing on NY seemed a no brainer at the time. As luck would have it EZ Communications offered a lucrative deal to return to New Orleans.

1988 - WEZB New Orleans (E Z Comm): W&J replaced Ken Cooper and immediately vaulted station to the top where it would stay. W&J were #1 over a 5 year contract that produced an estimated 12 million in morning only billing.

1993 - Syndication: W&J formed MasterVox Media in New Orleans and syndicated the show independently without a flagship station. Immediately signed WEZB New Orleans and WTGE Baton Rouge to carry the show. Having no major corporate affiliation, money problems began almost immediately. John and Steve feuded over how to save the network. The disagreement resulted in the team going their separate ways in the spring of 1994. Walton teamed for a while with Rick Rumble and carried on with MasterVox and B-97 mornings, later gathering as many as 26 stations in syndication before throwing in the towel. Johnson left MasterVox during the tiff and teamed with Gary Spears to do afternoons quite successfully on B-97.

1994 - WCKW New Orleans Reconciliation: W&J now realizing that the whole of the show was better than the sum of its parts decided to give synergy another try. It turned out to be the best possible move. The burnout that many team shows face was now behind them. Their roles were more clearly defined than at any other time in the history of the show. The show was now more comfortable, productive and powerful than it had ever been. The metamorphosis they had gone through had transformed the show into smooth machine that far surpassed anything it had ever been during its very successful past. The show was now so good in fact that many people were approaching them to put the show back into syndication.

Jan 1, 1999 - WRNO New Orleans: The rebirth of the legendary "Rock of New Orleans" with W&J as the cornerstone and a new syndication deal which both the small Centennial Broadcasting and Beasley Broadcasting gave little more than lip service

2004 - Before its run on KIOL, "The Walton & Johnson Show" was broadcast on KLOL, another rock radio station at the time. However, in November 2004, KLOL was flipped to an Urban Spanish format and the show was subsequently dropped from the Houston airwaves. For a time the show was broadcasting to cater to the New Orleans and Baton Rouge stations. The show would resurface on the rock radio station KIOL, which attempted to reunite the original jocks and listeners of KLOL.

July 23, 2007 - Walton & Johnson left KIOL in Houston and announced on their website that they will begin broadcasting from 950 KPRC, their new flagship station located in Houston, TX, beginning July 30. The new station is called Radio Mojo.

Callers

Listeners are encouraged to call into the show and voice their opinions, as long as it is in a semi-intelligent and articulate manner. Callers who don't do so are regularly ridiculed and shortly cut off. Callers are also encouraged to refrain from excessively using phrases such as "like" and "you know". Callers are also asked to get straight to the point by not uttering the opening phrase "I'd like to make a comment on XYZ" and/or "How are you doing?". Refusal to do so results in the caller being cut off or the hosts literally saying how they are really doing (thus eating into precious response time). The morning show tends to lean towards socially conservative values, although both liberals and conservatives are often criticized. However, in the most recent presidential election the show supported George W. Bush as the least worst candidate. However, after Bush took office in 2001, the hosts regularly and faithfully supported President Bush. The show also appeared to be supportive of Kinky Friedman as Governor of Texas in 2006.

One basis of the show is that only the top 10% of the population will "get" it; therefore, loyal listeners to the show are called "ten percenters". Another group of listeners, who claim to be the elite listeners, have unofficially referred to themselves as "two percenters"

Recurring Topics and Themes

* W&J has developed the weight loss diet plan "Eat less, move around more". Periodically, listeners call in with their testimonials. This idea predates the local ad campaign in Louisiana called the [http://www.louisiana2step.com Louisiana 2 Step] . W&J referred to this as the "Jesus Diet".

*Bits on the show include "Bible Time", Mr. Eaux's "Sports Report", Mr. Kenneth's "Celebrity Report", and Billy Ed's infamous "Taser Report". Former bits included: "The Movie Ninja", "Joke Du Jour", and having Billy Ed's dog "Sex" in the studio every Thursday morning.

*On Thursdays at 7:30 AM, "Amos" The Storyteller stops by with his tall tale story of a featured celebrity. Amos had been in retirement for many years until his return in 2007.

*On Fridays, song parodies and comedy shorts are frequently played. The parodies and comedy shorts are from the likes of: Henry Phillips, Willie P. Richardson, and Shirley Q. Liquor.

*Every morning show is concluded with the phrase "Say Bye Bye Billy Ed 'Bye Bye Billy Ed'" as well as "And don't forget, boys and girls, to ......Eat it, everyday!".

Current stations

* KPRC-AM 950 AM Houston-Galveston
* WKBU-FM 95.7 FM New Orleans
* WDGL-FM 98.1 FM Baton Rouge-Lafayette
* KZMZ-FM 96.9 FM Alexandria, LA
* WCPR-FM 97.9 FM Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
* KFH-AM 1240 AM and KFH-FM 98.7 FM Wichita, KS

Cast

*John Walton
*Steve Johnson
*Producer: Sarah Esenwein

Characters

*Billy Ed Hatfield: a redneck from Clute, TX, who is an engineer and served in the US Army Special Forces during the Vietnam War. He occasionally talks about his wife, Praline, his son, Billy Ed Junior and his daughter, Polly Esther. Billy Ed used to have a dog named "Sex", which was run over and killed by an 18-wheeler the Friday after Thanksgiving back in the '90s. Billy Ed and family currently reside in a double-wide trailer in 'God's Country' trailer park in South Houston.
*Mr. Kenneth: a homosexual who runs his own business, the "Head Shed". He lives in Montrose, Houston, a well known gay friendly district. Born on Valentine's Day, 1969, Mr. Kenneth has a dog named "Richard" (Fr. - "ree-shard") that he refers to as "my little Dick." He used to own a Wang computer that he would use to retrieve celebrity birthday information.
*Mr. Eaux (pronounced like the letter O): a militant black male from New Orleans. Mr. Eaux has two nephews, named Orangelo (or Orange Jello) and Lemongelo (Lemon Jello).

Each of these characters is voiced by Johnson.

External links

* [http://www.waltonandjohnson.com/ The Walton & Johnson Show official website]