The Philips Phile

The Philips Phile is a talk radio program that airs in the metro Orlando, Florida area weekdays from 3-7pm (EST) and can be listened to on the [http://www.wtks.com/cc-common/streaming_new/launchpage.html "Real Radio" 104.1] WTKS website. The program is also broadcast on XM Radio channel 152 on a tape delay basis. [cite web|url=http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelguide.xmc?ch=extreme_xm|title=Extreme XM schedule|accessdate=2007-09-19] The host of the program is Jim Philips. Other members of the cast include Moira, Oddo, Jana, and producer Jack Bradshaw. A variety of serious and frivolous topics are discussed, though many of the show's topics are specific to the Orlando area.

Regular Cast

Jim Philips - The host and namesake of the program. Previously a radio news director for WKIS, Philips began the talk show more than a decade ago on WKIS 740AM and later it moved to a relatively new station in Orlando Florida, WTKS-FM 104.1FM. Since this time, Jim and his ensemble cast have risen to become one of the highest rated radio programs in the area and, as he phrases it "the most listened to talk show of its kind heard anywhere." Philips excels at a variety of different skills including skeet shooting, cattle rustling (for which he earned the cowboy moniker "Lips"), didgeridoo playing and the ability to discern truck brands simply by hearing their horns (which he employed for a number of years in a game known as "Whatcha' Haulin'?").

Jim takes serious interest in politics and will actively berate his listeners if the opportunity arises, though many topics are discussed on the program most of which are meant strictly for entertainment. He has used his local celebrity in the past to have various subjects investigated by the local media.

Philips is also known as the "Commodore". A reference to his early show days when his listeners joined The Commodore Club. Membership cards were given for discounts at local businesses. One of Jim's proudest physical assets is his left thumb which is uncommonly larger than his right. Jim attributes this extraordinary phenomenon to his being left-handed and asserts that in fact all left-handers possess a larger left thumb.

Moira - (Lynn Levine) Jim's right-hand woman and second-in-command, Moira (also known as Big Mo, much to her chagrin) is a talkative member in charge of a brief news segment at the beginning of each program (known as the "Laa Dee Daa") as well as hosting duties if Jim is away. Due to her quirky and talkative personality, Moira is consistently the receiving end of jokes, especially ones regarding her age (Jack and Oddo randomly claim she is somewhere between 80-2000+ years old). Moira is Jewish, and will occasionally entertain callers in a segment known as "Ask a Jew," answer their questions regarding the religion. Much like Jim, Moira is a Democrat, but seems to display a stronger left lean than Philips himself. Moira often shows her bad habit of using her favorite intra-sentence (thought) hurdle of "Annnnndd-Ummmmmmm", especially when she is hosting.

Oddo - Show rocker and wild-man, Oddo is the most aggressive and antagonistic member of the Phile. In the past Oddo involved himself in music and videogaming, but more recently has taking up a heavy addiction to poker, both on-line and off-line. Oddo is the resident voice-actor for the radio program and will occasionally grace the show with an impersonated celebrity or stereotypical foreign accent. For a number of years he had a regular schedule of recording raunchy and embarrassing monologues as the newscaster Ted Koppel. Oddo also tends to be the cast member to participate in radio bits, including dressing up in a Viking helmet and being lassoed by Jim Philips in the parking lot and stripping for Moira on her birthday. On the program Oddo tries not to chime in on political topics, as he would rather participate in the ribbing of other cast members, normally alongside Jack Bradshaw.

Jack Bradshaw - Resident joker and New York Yankees fanatic, Jack Bradshaw adds more light conversation to the program as well as runs a variety of effects and processes in the background as the program producer. Aside from producing, Jack is also the resident sports fan and even ran a segment known as "The Yankee Update," specifically intended to update listeners on the progress of his beloved sports team. Sadly (for him anyway), Jack lost his privilege to perform this when he lost a bet to Jim regarding the outcome of the World Series final. Bradshaw can be heard piping in with random commentary. He occasionally gets involved in serious debate. He also co-hosts his own radio show on Saturdays from 2 - 4pm called "Two Guys, One Sports Show" with Cabin Boy from the Shannon Burke Show.

Jana "Banana" - The most recent addition to the Phile, Jana originally came on as an intern and was eventually offered a regular spot on the program. Jana proudly hails from the state of Kansas, and tends to comment on the difference between metropolitan city-life and the rural area she grew up in. Though many people contend that it is a well-performed act, Jana says and asks about some very strange and/or dumb things. She has mentioned so many weird things over the years that the other members joke that she is from Mars and does not understand earth culture. Aside from adding air-headed comments, leading cheers and inserting the occasional unintended sexual innuendo ("I just got corn-holed!"), Jana regularly mentions stories about her husband, Jason, and their dog, Sassy, whom she loves more than anything else in this world, since she believes she is her reincarnated grandmother. Although the Phile makes no mention of, and refuses to take any calls about it, Jana is wheelchair bound. [cite web|url=http://janabanana.com/BananaBio.asp|title=Jana Banana's bio from her personal website|accessdate=2008-06-19]

Program Content

The Philips Phile has a very regular rotation of games and guests on the program based upon the day of the week. The only game played every day for a prize is "What'd I Say," in which Jim asks a question near the end of the show relating to something that was discussed earlier on that day's program. To win a prize, listeners call in at the designated time and the first person with the correct answer to the question wins.

Monday
The [http://wanzieanddoug.com/wad/reviews/index.html Monday Movie Review]
Local gay celebrities [http://wanzieanddoug.com/ Michael "Wanzie" and Doug] review films currently in theaters and regale the Phile with tales of their activities over the last week, normally involving their involvement with local theater and any gay-friendly events in the coming days.

Tuesday
"Insert Game Name Here"
Originally created so that listeners could create their own games for the Phile to play, it is currently cycling between two games, Who's The Smarty, a game in which members try and answer a difficult question with clues that gets easier each round, and Todd's Top Ten, a game where the Phile splits into two teams and tries to guess the top ten on a variety of different lists.

Wednesday
Scott Maxwell's Takin' Names
A respected gossip and political columnist for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, Scott Maxwell spills the beans to Jim and crew regarding local events, celebrity encounters and political misshaps. [cite web|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-nt-maxwell-bio,0,1987904.story|title=Scott Maxwell's bio|publisher=Orlando Sentinel|accessdate=2007-09-19]

Closest to the Pin
One of the most popular games on the program, this involves callers challenging one of the members of the program. The Phile member and the caller must then answer five questions as closely as they can to questions with varying (and usually large) numbers as fast as possible. Callers who beat the Phile can collect a prize. Regardless of the question categories for every other member, Jim Philips also begins the game and the category is almost always "It Happened This Week," regarding various famous events in history.

Thursday

Friday
Sports Talk with [http://www.wesh.com/station/2419376/detail.html Pat Clarke]
Sports Director for WESH-2 Channel 2 News and friend of the Philips Phile, Pat Clarke calls in to voice his opinion regarding news in the sports world, especially regarding local sports teams such as the Orlando Magic and University of Florida Gators (Jim's favorite team and his college alma mater). Occasionally Jim will keep Pat on the line to discuss other topics with him, including his culinary creation, the [http://www.americanpiepizzaco.com/pdf/AmericanPie_menu.pdf Goop Dog] .

So You Wanna' Winna'
The most popular of the games hosted by the program, this involves listeners calling in and successfully passing three rounds of questions. The rounds include a True or False question, Common Bond, in which players must state the link between three seemingly separate things and a survival question, answering a question related to survival through an incident. After every answer given by a player, an audio clip of Regis Philbin from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire asks, "Is that your final answer?"

[http://www.eddietheshaman.com/ Eddie the Shaman]
A friend of the Phile, Eddie comes in each week to both act as a life-line for "So You Wanna' Winna'," but also to give his spiritual guidance to the program and its listeners, doling out cryptic words of wisdom and ending with his mantra "peace, love and the Philips Phile!"

Trivia

*Jim Philips was news director at WKIS from 1974-1986, and made his talk show debut in 1986 when he took over the afternoon spot after Dick Norman was fired. In 1998, Talkers Magazine named him one of the top 100 talk show hosts in the U.S.

* Philips was once interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service after a broadcast in which he stated that former U.S. president Ronald Reagan should be "tied up and shot."

*Philips was once caught naked on Pompano Beach after his clothes were stolen.
*Philips had a cameo role in the movie Olive Juice.

*Philips was once at odds with the Opie and Anthony Show and the O&A Army when he claimed that their show was lacking, and his show was the highest rated on the XM Radio Platform. The Pests, as they are called, struck back and bothered his show for many days, eventually subsiding and erecting a billboard on his projected morning route to the radio station stating "Mr. Philips, The Pests win, you lose! Good day, sir! The Opie and Anthony Army, commemorating the Patbattle of O'Town!" [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb274007.htm] [http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/assault-on-the-media-oa-army-billboard.html] [http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=108439]

*StumpRick - Long-time show regular started as a regular caller, playing games like So You Wanna Winna and TV Tuesday...One day Oddo declared that he knew every infomercial on late night TV so Rick took it upon himself to challenge Oddo in a weekly bit called Stump Oddo. His love of trivia led him to create 300 Seconds when Phactual Phil announced he was going to quit his weekly trivia game. When Rick finally decided to end 300 Seconds after nearly 100 weeks, he started appearing in the studio periodically to just sit and generally annoy the gang with his Kermit/Ray Romano [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d255PBZxyvg] 'impression'. Rick once gave Jim a Brass Hose Nozzle (During the Heart of another of Jim's hobbies)that ended up being just a plain old hose nozzle that had been spray painted gold. After a trip to Belgium, Rick brought the Phile a small statue of the Manneken Pis. It was eventually broken and subsequently fixed...but, Rick had another small Pee Pee boy brought back and delivered it to the file. Rick introduced the gang to the Ever-Popular backyard game that is Cornhole....and even made a custom set for the Phile.

*Jana Banana auditioned for the morning traffic reporter for WKMG-TV Local 6 in mid 2007. She made it to the top 5.

External links

* [http://www.cflradio.net/jim_philips_bio.htm Jim Philips biography] at Central Florida Radio History
* [http://www.digitalstoryteller.com/YITL/Tom%20Burton/april30.html How Moira came to the Phile] at Digital Story Teller
* [http://www.americanpiepizzaco.com/pdf/AmericanPie_menu.pdf Goop Dogs] (.pdf) at American Pie Pizza Company
* [http://philips.wtks.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.wtks.com/ WTKS-FM's website]

References