Hell Froze Over; Dave Benson Joins The Rocker For Mornings
Back in the early days of The Rocker, this would have been unthinkable. But between Congress changing some laws, and a business marriage of convenience, here I am, Dave Benson, doing mornings on The Rocker, with my friend Bobby Guy. Hell has frozen over.
We got an app message this morning that said it best. "Who is Benson"? (Side note: Get the RKR app on your phone. It good any number of reasons. The link is below.)
Well, I was the afternoon guy on that station down the dial at 103.3. For 34 years.
Wow, Dave, that's a long time. Not very ambitious, are you?
Yes, it is. Ambitious? Well, I did the radio gypsy thing for a while and that got old. And then kids came along, and it really wasn't fair to them to pull up and move every time Dad got a job offer. Plus we liked it here. Had no idea where Kalamazoo was before I got the offer to come. Kalamazoo was just some eastern outpost in the IHL. (You long-time K-Wings fans should know I worked a year or so in Peoria, and was the back-up PA guy at the Civic Center there, the year the Rivermen won the Turner Cup, and I got to drink from it, a few years after the K-Wings did it here. That might also explain why i like going to Nisker's so much.) Battle Creek was the tag line to a Kellogg's TV commercials after the Beverly Hillbillies came on. But I learned
So you got here in January of '87. Was there even electricity back then?
I started here two days after Walter Payton played his last football game.
You sure do make a lot of Chicago references.
Well, that's where I was born and raised. And the blood of Chicago sports flows through my veins. So, while the Lions story is epic, I can match that and then some. And while I love Chicago hot dogs, I put the Coney Dogs from Coney Island downtown right at the top of my comfort foods. And Michigan beer is the best.
So you played Justin Bieber, and New Kids on the Block, and.....
Ok, stop. When your boss tells you to do something, you do it. But, know that I grew up with a lot of the music on The Rocker playlist. And my friends are sick of hearing it, but REO and Styx used to play at my high school at after game dances. And I played golf next to Rick Nielsen's house at the last place i worked before I came here. And Terry Kath was the guitar god. (There's that Chicago thing again. Get used to it. I'm really not a bad guy.)
What about your signature thing at that last place?
You mean Friday Festivities? Yeah, sure we'll do it, but on Friday mornings. And we can play a lot of the stuff that kind of aged out of the other place.
Anything else you want to say?
Nah. We'll just let it unfold as we get to know each other. Like they say in radio, "tune in tomorrow."
And check this gallery out that put together from the Classic Car show in Quincy a couple of years ago.