The Booker Show

The Booker Show is an American radio program hosted by Chris Booker. It was originally on WXRK in New York City, where it was broadcast at night. After Chris Booker accepted a morning slot on WIOQ in Philadelphia, "The Booker Show" name continued to be used, but the surrounding cast of radio personalities changed.

WFNY-FM - 92.3 Free FM

The Booker Show first surfaced on WXRK (K-ROCK) in New York City in the early 2000s. Booker received the afternoon drive slot opposite Howard Stern, who was in the mornings. The show mostly played music with its producer Al Dukes. The show slowly moved from the music platform to a talk show, with less and less music being played. After Al left to work at CBS Radio headquarters, Booker was without a producer. Brad Maybe, a fellow DJ at K-Rock agreed to take the position of producer without any knowledge of producing a radio show. A listener and fan of the show, Nick Stevens, joined the show as official funny-man and sports guy of the show. During the show's afternoon spot on K-Rock, Stevens wasn't being paid by CBS and was showing up to the show daily out of the goodness of his heart. Danni, a friend of Booker's for more than ten years, who also worked on K-Rock, jumped onto the show late 2005 to ensure her position at the station, as the station flipped format (from music to talk radio) with Stern's departure. Danni worked on the show as co-host and weather/news reporter, delivering her dirty weather reports and her news reports daily. The show also received an intern, Jill, who was known as "Jill the barely 18 intern," even though she was much older than 18. Jill's role on the show slowly increased as she looked for a stable position on the show.

When K-Rock flipped format and changed its name to Free FM, an all-talk station, The Booker Show struggled to stay afloat on the station. The show moved to the 7-11 PM night slot, while the Radio Chick replaced them in the afternoons. Jill became the show's phone screener and associate producer to Brad Maybe, and Stevens was finally given a paid position.

With a full cast and stable audience, Booker expected a better slot. When David Lee Roth was fired from mornings, Booker expected the morning slot, but the position was given to Opie and Anthony. Booker became very unhappy with this decision and began to look for a new station to broadcast the show on. The Booker Show lasted on Free FM from January to April 2006. During this time, the show slowly improved and listeners caught onto the show. The show slowly was becoming a hit for the station, although management wouldn't change their time. Booker often complained about his "crappy" slot and how he wasn't respected at the station.

In late April, Booker announced the show was leaving the New York area for Philadelphia's Q102, as the morning show. On his last show, he announced that no one from the current cast would join in him after the move and he would be getting a new crew. Booker said he moved his show because he felt he was better than a night guy, and was more of an afternoon or mornings guy. Booker ended his 10 years at WXRK on April 26, 2006.

Cast

Personalities

* Booker was the host. He presents and conducts special contests and games, discussions of daily topics with callers, special features and interviews. Booker's "Southern Hospitality" (he was born and raised in the south ) charisma, professionalism and his friendly, courteous and fun loving personality are key to the success and popularity of "The Booker Show". Chris Booker is an award winning, well known television and radio broadcast journalist. "'

* Brad Maybe had no real specific job, and is often teased for "doing nothing and being useless". Despite the teasing, Brad is good-natured, friendly and humorous and an important member of "Team Booker" (Note: During many broadcasts, Brad has been referenced as being the show's actual Producer). It has also been mentioned that Brad is from Buffalo, NY.

* Danni was the erotic anchorwoman for "Danni's 'Dirty' Weather" and news segments for the show. Her news segment is introduced as "Danni's headlights...er, canlines...here's Danni". It is reported that Danni is attractive and well-endowed as well as a good-natured, humorous, and supportive co-host. Danni also grew up in Newton, Mass.

* Jill ( "The Barely Eighteen Intern") assisted with most contests and games and the important responsibility of screening all incoming phone calls, which comprise a large portion of the daily show. She is sometimes teased good naturedly by the cast and has demonstrated consistent poise, pluck and team spirit. Booker has necessarily been strict at times to help educate Jill in the highly competitive field of Professional Broadcast Communications and Journalism/Communications.

* Nick Stevens was an actor, writer, comedian and former contestant on the first season of ESPN's Dream Job, does the humorous Nick Steven's Daily Sports segment for the show. He co-hosts a comedy show called The Shark Show every weekend downtown at Mo Pitkins' House of Satisfaction.

* Caron was Booker's girlfriend and is commonly referred to as "The GF." Caron substitutes for Danni when she is unable to work due to illness or needs time off. She sometimes calls in to relay information about Booker's favourite television shows that he is missing during his show. Caron is an elegant and sophisticated former fashion model who was raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has a South African accent and is a wonderful team player.

Minor guests

Less frequent guests.

* Niko the 'Entertainment' Reporter was a character portrayed by comedian Nick Kroll. "Niko" is a wisecracking Argentinian entertainment reporter with sarcastic and "corny" jokes.

* Bob had a New York City Public Access Show on which he breathlessly "Rants" randomly about sobering and silly topics of the day. His segment on the show is referred to as "Drinking with Bob."

* Mike "The Cop" was Booker's cop friend and his go-to-guy on all things law-related. He is a frequent caller and in-studio guest who seems to surprise Booker with his views on any given subject. He would sometimes refuse to speak to Booker until his siren theme music was played.

* Weatherboy is a successful meteorologist who began his broadcast career as a teenager. While no longer in his youth, Booker often makes fun of his old age to which Weatherboy always responds "at least I'm younger than him." He too is a frequent caller and in-studio guest who supplies the show with weather forecasts, breaking storm news, and occasional content for show stunts and events. The current owner of a large meteorological services company, his wealth and his large home in the Philadelphia suburbs is often fodder for the show.

* Travis was one of Booker's streetwise friends who occasionally presents "News from the Ghetto" ("LEROIIIII!!!), or calls in to debate on racial and/or social problems that exist within the Afro-American communities of the USA. Travis's bold and sometimes outrageous humour is a welcome addition to "Team Booker" and adds a refreshing perspective to American racial politics.

* Nervous Girl was a frequent and always welcome caller to The Booker Show. Although they have never met, and do not know much about each other, Nervous Girl and Booker are very dear friends. Nervous Girl's real name is Kathy. Kathy considers Booker to be "her hero" for reasons some regular listeners and Booker are aware of. Nervous Girl is nervous when she speaks with Booker on the telephone because she has a serious crush on "Mr. Sweetness" (Booker). She has great difficulty saying "goodbye" to Chris after each conversation with him. Kathy is recovering from Breast Cancer and is grateful to The Booker Show Cast, especially Chris, for their encouragement and entertainment during this difficult time in her life.

* NNMaddox was a genius musician who often creates songs free of charge for the booker show. His most popular songs include "Booker Is A Fag" and recently "Shut Your Goddamn Mouth."

* Al Cocchi was a wannabe DJ/reporter who tries his hardest in order to make high quality reports on various subjects for the booker show. Unfortunately he is unsuccessful in his attempts, and is not that great of a reporter. Booker and his minions have been critiquing his reports, and over the few months that he has been sending these reports in, he has greatly increased in reportability.

* Al Dukes was a former producer who once worked with Ron & Fez, Booker, and later on the ill-fated David Lee Roth Show. He makes appearances in the show through he blog, called "Al's Boring Blog." He comes on talks about menial things that bother him such as deviled eggs and ear grease on cell phones. Booker plays his blog on the show because he was the only one on the station who would allow Al to put his recorded blog on The Booker Shows web page on free fm.com

* Chelsea was a high school girl with a big crush on Booker. Booker will often bring the show to a grinding halt and talk with Chelsea for more than 45 minutes at a time. She hasn't made much of an appearance since the show moved to the nighttime slot.

* Christina is a listener from a basement in NYC, who does not get radio reception or internet at work, a frequent caller to the show to listen in over the phone. Has started making an appearances on the Q102 show as well.

* Chloe Jo is an NYC based PR maven, who is referred to on the show as the resident fashionista. She calls in several Friday mornings a month on "Flossy Fridays", offering trend and lifestyle advice.

Recurring themes

* The Gay Bell
** An electronic "ding." There was also the Gay Gong.
** Anytime something was said that could be considered "gay," a "ding" would sound, signaling the gayness of the statement. Sample "gay" statements include "Brad kind of pulled me in the office." or anytime a male caller would say "I love you guys." Excessively gay statements would require the sounding of the Gay Gong, such as Nick Stevens mentioning (regarding Kelly Clarkson) "I'd like to stuff her sausage...er, I mean use my sausage to stuff her...aw, DAMN! ". There have also been rare instances of the "Reverse Gay Bell" when Booker has used his Executive Authority as host of the show to rescind an unneeded Gay Bell.

* Name Dropper
** Everytime Booker or his guests, or his callers mentioned that they knew a celebrity, a voice over announced "Name Dropper" over the radio.

WIOQ - Q102

In 2006, The Booker Show moved to Philadelphia's Q102.The program is broadcast on the internet. On his first show, Booker had a conversation/interview with Howard Stern (who was also live on the air on Sirius at the time). He can be heard weekday mornings from 6:00 am - 10:00 am Eastern along with Q102's Diego and Blaire. Although Q102 does not broadcast to most of the New York and New Jersey area, his morning show can be listened to on a live stream on Q102's website.

On Thursday, May 10, 2007 the Booker Show celebrated its first year in Philadelphia.

On May 28, 2007, Booker announced that Jil had been let go from the show and they will be replacing her ASAP with Angi Taylor, who had been a co-host for previous Q102 morning shows. In July Chris Booker officially announced that Angi Taylor would return to Q102 and become a new co-host to The Booker Show In the Morning on Q102. Angi does the segment "Hollywood Dirt," which is a show entertainment report, every morning.

Just about a year later on May 23, 2008, Q102 executives cancelled the Booker Show from the morning slot. The station was moving towards a music-heavy format and felt that the talk show format did not fit the bill. While Booker was retained as rolls of Clear Channel communications, the parent company, the co-hosts Angi Taylor and producer Blaire Galaton were let go. Diego Ramos, who has been with the station since the mid 90s was retained to host the replacement morning show, which would remain unnamed.

Booker still had a year left on his contract and will remain on Clear Channel's rolls. Booker commented that he had been fired for bad ratingsin the past, but this was the first time his show was cancelled after being #1.

As on June 4th, 2008, the fate of Booker Show remains in limbo.

Starting July 23rd, 2008 The Booker Show is being replaced on WIOQ by Elvis Duran in the Morning, a nationally simulcasted morning show orginating from Z-100 New York.