The phones weren't working. The 10-second delay machines, same story. Five minutes before airtime, Rover's chair was squeaking — loudly.
And no one was talking.
Rover, Chicago station WCKG-FM's new morning host, silently worked the control board while his co-hosts, female "voice of reason" Duji and muscle-bound daredevil Dieter, went over notes for Jan. 3's premiere broadcast. They had been off the air for a month preparing to take over Howard Stern's time slot, but no one mentioned this.
Finally, Duji broke the silence, a minute before airtime.
"Here we go," she said.
"Huh?" Rover replied, looking up from the board.
"The next journey in our lives."
His chair squeaked.
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The trio, under the banner of Rover's Morning Glory, replaces Stern in the Midwest, while comedian Adam Corolla and rocker David Lee Roth fill the shock jock's time slot on the West and East coasts, respectively.
Instead of filling the Stern void with one talent, CBS Radio is casting a wide net, experimenting.
"The interesting question is, will any be able to survive the obvious initial backlash?" said Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, a radio industry magazine whose corporate parent is Clear Channel Communications. "Some of these shows going in are going to be sacrificial lambs."
While Corolla and Roth have name recognition, Rover has a few things they don't: an established radio show and devoted fans. In the first hour, Rover's Cleveland listeners phoned in with a familiar shorthand greeting, "C.L.Y. (Cleveland Loves You)." Rover, 30, responded: "R-Bay (Right Back at You)."
Rover's show, which will not air in Arizona, follows a familiar format, with 30-ish Duji as the girl in the boys' locker room/newswoman (à la Robin Quivers on the Stern show). Confessed steroid enthusiast Dieter, 26, is at once the court jester and beloved younger brother who just can't turn down a double-dog dare.
Fridays feature a segment called "Dare Dieter," in which he performs stunts that range from death-defying (licking an electric bug zapper) to nausea-inducing (eating a live tarantula). "It's like opening up a Maxim magazine on the radio," said Kim Monroe, program director for Cleveland station WXTM-FM.
Monroe hired Rover in 2001, and he quickly built a following. Soon, his show started challenging (and occasionally beating) Stern in ratings. Things were good. Last year, he bought a house and signed a three-year contract.
Then, parent company Infinity Broadcasting came calling. Stern was transitioning to satellite radio. Would Rover be interested in moving to Chicago and taking his show into broader syndication?
Yes, and his move to WCKG is a homecoming of sorts for Rover, born Shane French of Glen Ellyn, Ill., in 1975. It's also the first time since graveyard radio shifts in Las Vegas, where Rover spent his teen years, that his mother will be in the broadcast area. His mom, Nancy Vinluan, lives in Valparaiso, Ind., with his stepfather and two younger sisters, ages 13 and 15.
In person, you might mistake Rover for an audio tech wandering around WCKG's studios in faded jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and an omnipresent Cubs hat.
Yet Rover is unmistakable on the radio: abrasive, funny and, above all, in control.
"Off the air, when you meet Rover, he's very silent but deadly," said Rachel Steel, who follows Rover's Morning Glory in Cleveland. "As soon as the microphone comes on, he comes alive."
He'd agree with that assessment.
"I'm more laid back and mellow in person. Everything on the air is true. It's not an act. I almost save up all my energy for those four or five hours. You can vent and let things go."
On the air, anything is fair game: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, his own cheapskate station manager, the love lives of the hosts — and their families.
Unlike Stern's show, however, you're unlikely to hear porn stars (though Rover did date one, Raylene, in his early 20s) or other shock-jock staple programming.
Rover hits Chicago's airwaves in a very different climate since the FCC crackdown on obscenity after Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl stunt in 2004.
"When all the FCC stuff happened, we were bummed out about it, just like everyone else was," Rover said. "What it has forced us to do is expand the appeal of the show and be creative in ways where you don't have to just tell another penis joke."
