The John and Jeff Show
 | |
| Genre | Hot talk |
|---|---|
| Running time | 4 hours |
| Country | United States |
| Starring |
John Boyle Jeff Carroll |
| Air dates | January 1999 to March 30, 2012 (last live show podcast: February 22, 2012[1]) |
| Website | JohnJeff.com (no longer exists) |
John (Boyle) and Jeff (Carroll) were the hosts of the John & Jeff Show based in Los Angeles, California, United States. John & Jeff also streamed the show live from their website, www.johnjeff.com. The show was syndicated by Fisher Entertainment. Talkers Magazine has named John & Jeff to their list of Heavy 100 talk show hosts on numerous occasions.[2] As of April 2012, the John and Jeff show ended its national syndication after over a decade on the air.
Cast and show history
John grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and Jeff grew up in Southern California. Both were born during the mid 1960s. John started in radio through his management position at Power 106 in Los Angeles during the early 1990s. It was here where he met Jeff who was doing on-the-street promotions. He was nominated for the Billboard Major Market "Marketing & Promotions Director of the Year" award in 1994 and 1995. Jeff's brother, artist Larry Carroll, is widely known for designing album art for the heavy metal band Slayer. John and Jeff began recording their shows on a karaoke machine for practice, and submitted one of these recordings to a 1998 comedy contest put on by national radio personalities Mark & Brian, and won the $2500 cash prize.
The pair began calling KLSX program director Jack Silver to get him to produce their show. Silver invited them to an on location radio broadcast of The Tom Leykis Show, where they entertained the crowd. Three months later, the two were given their own show originally called Buried Alive from 3-5am, which was renamed The John and Jeff Show when they became a permanent fixture on the station in January 1999. The show was also known as "The Third Shift Free-For-All" on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
The show had a wide variety of topics with a particular focus on society and politics. John and Jeff have moderate political beliefs (though John tends to be more liberal than Jeff) and are known for being extremely opinionated and often had heated arguments with callers. One of their oft-stated opinions is that the criminal justice system is too lenient, as they believe that all violent criminals (including sex offenders) should be sent to prison for life, with no possibility of parole.
During the early years, the show would focus on one different topic per hour. Then starting in 2005, the format was changed to open phones where callers could discuss anything they want or choose from a variety of news stories that were brought up by the hosts. Adam Carolla had made several guest appearances throughout the years.
John and Jeff also gave advice about relationships. They believe that no one should get married until the age of 30. John was known for often mentioning that he only dates Asian women and as of June 2007 is dating the current(?) Ms. Thailand.
Past cast members
There were only four people who managed the show: Besides John and Jeff there was a producer (screener) and an engineer. Occasionally, these two join the hosts for a small discussion over the air that usually lasts less than a minute. Over the years there had been several producers and engineers:
Little Phil "Bucket of Fries"-1998-2000(Producer)
Christa - 2000-2003 (Producer) She contributed to many over the air discussions and arguably considered as the third host. The stories of her personal life as well as titillating discussions with John and Jeff and callers sparked a lot of attention on the show. After her departure, none of the producers who came afterwards got as much air time.
Eugene- 2000-2002 (Engineer)
Wedge - 2003-2004 (Producer & Engineer) Elliott - 2003-2005 (Producer) Michelle -(2004?-2012) Engineer. Yvonne -(2005) Producer. Chris - 2005-2012 (Producer)
Past Events and Features
At the top of the 1 AM Pacific time hour, Jeff read the names of show listeners who have requested "shout-outs" on the show's website. They usually include the person's name, what they do during the night and what city they are in, occasionally including personal short messages to someone whom the listener knows and thinks is listening to the show.
The show rarely had guests, but there have been exceptions to this, including psychic Kenny Kingston, and a divorce lawyer.
The magic 8-ball was first introduced by Jeff in the early 2000s. Callers would ask a question and Jeff would shake the ball until it gave an answer which was usually "most definitely" or "cannot predict now". Its popularity faded in early 2005, with it only more recently being referenced maybe once every 3-6 months.
The concept of "The Third Shift Free-For-All" was introduced in 2002 to allow callers to talk about anything. It was originally on Thursday nights but was extended to Wednesday nights in early 2005. A feature of the free-for-all was a trivia question posed by Jeff called "stupid useless trivia", which had become a part of the show on most nights. Originally, it was billed as "the only contest in America where you would win absolutely nothing if you got the answer right", however, since late 2005, John and Jeff gave away a Third Shift t-shirt to the caller who answered the question correctly.
Final Broadcast on 97.1 KLSX-FM
On the night of February 19, 2009, the John and Jeff Show aired its final broadcast on its flagship station, 97.1 KLSX-FM due to the format change to top 40 music that would occur the following day at 5:00PM PST. Although dropped from its home station of over ten years, the show continues in national syndication on about twenty radio stations across the country; however, Los Angeles listeners would only be able to listen to the show online at johnjeff.com. Their final show on KLSX was broadcast locally and the hosts thanked the listeners for their support and encouraged them to continue listening online beginning February 22. On September 8, 2009 the John and Jeff Show moved its syndication to CRN Digital Talk Radio Networks; as of early 2011 the show was syndicated by Fisher Entertainment and the Genesis Communications Network until it ended its run in April 2012.
Post-Syndication
Although no official reason was given for the show's ending, John and Jeff continue to occasionally fill-in for various talk stations throughout the country, most frequently on KABC-AM in Los Angeles. However, the "John and Jeff Show" moniker is never mentioned.
John also hosts a weekly radio infomercial called Power Trading Radio, sponsored by a stock trading seminar, heard throughout Southern California.
References
- ↑ The John and Jeff Show podcast page
- ↑ "Heavy 100". Talkers Magazine. Retrieved 2008-04-21.