The End: Rodney on the ROQ

Despite the string of goodbyes, in an interview last week with The Times Bingenheimer stressed that he's not retiring from doing a radio show. Rather, after KROQ gave him his walking papers in late May, he has been looking for a new home.

"There's been a couple offers from various stations and stuff. I have a manager now, so he's taking care of that,” Bingenheimer told The Times. (It's pure speculation, but SiriusXM's garage-rock station Little Steven's Underground Garage would seem a natural fit.)

No matter where he lands, it'll be a better fit than KROQ in 2017. The station, which Bingenheimer helped put on the map, has downplayed his departure, declining to offer an explanation other than a polite, and gracious, statement from program director Kevin Weatherly.

KROQ's website has already scrubbed Bingenheimer from its roster of on-air personalities, and its playlist page shows an absence of tracks during Bingenheimer's final slot. (We've reached out to KROQ representatives to ask about a stream of the show, but have yet to hear back.)

Rod is God. I’ve read terrible, evil, malicious things about him here but it’s DL so in a way when the catty queens DON’T have shit to spew it’s insulting so I won’t bother to defend him. But even the angry divas here would agree that KROQ totally screwed him royally especially since he was told right before the firing it was going to be his final show. Now that’s downright devious. Thankfully that’s all in the past. Now it’s all about his SiriusXM show where EVERYONE gets the honor of finally hearing the master in all his glory. Plus he gets to finally play bands he couldn’t even mention on KROQ like Titty Twister and Hurray for Unga Bunga. Well the later not so much unless some kind of neanderthal but I doubt Trumps listens to the show ;)

Kevin Weatherly Makes a lot of money for failure. I programmed in LA, so I know this.

Well getting rid of Ralph Garman on that Kevin and Bean show wasn’t the worst move of Weatherly, not that I minded his little jabs and impressions of Rodney. It’s his damn voice on the Family Guy that drives me off the walls. Not sure if he’s on the Underground Garage but I know Little Steven was a fan of his, Jim Ladd, came to mind today with the death of Rodney’s old pal Peter from the the Monkees. The guys hates everything. He is such a grumpy old fart with no sense of humor what so ever. I always thought of him as the bizarro Rodney cause he hated the music of today and he would go on for hour long rants about it instead of actually playing his precious playlist. He would play NEW music but it was always from other hasbeens like John Fogerty, Steve Earl, Bonnie Raitt etc. Anyway he LOATHED the Monkees and instead of playing them, would opt for this terrible psychedelic show called “Headsets” with a 30 minute intro that he thought was some genius psychedelic mind fuck . It was probably the NEWEST music he’d play but from acts like Concert Blonde, Radiohead and Porcupine Tree. He wouldn’t shut up about how “free form” his show was and there was NOTHING on the radio like him and of course he blames the corporate honchos because his show was so PROGRESSIVE and how he was a victim of his own “art.” Just really unbearable and pretentious. Even the snobs at KCRW would probably be rolling their eyes especially the whole“free form” part. Rodney on the other hand embraces music past, present and especially future and he’s endearingly shy so he keeps it short and keeps the music going. This week for the example he’ll tell a pretty short story about Peter and his time with the Monkees, no 80 minute rants about how things were so much better back than. Short and sweet just like Rodney himself. I’m pretty sure KROQ replaced him with some machine of pre recorded generic, manufacturered new music and the top 40 stuff they’ve been playing since the Richard Blade days. I’ll still take that any day over that old goat Jim Ladd. Fuck HAVE MERCY!!!! IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

What Sirius station is like KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic. I moved from LA and miss it.

Haven’t lived in LA for 10 years. Does KROQ still play Sublime songs every 5 minutes?

Sublime , Green Day and The Foo Fighters.

I loved the early 80's...Sunday nights were Rodney from 8:00 to midnight, then Loveline with Poorman and Dr Drew.

They even got rid of Loveline :( They say Kat Corbett’s Locals Only is like the one saving grace in all of station. The only time I listen to SiriusXM is for Rodney’s show. The only other times was when my mom was sick and in radiation. I’d play the oldies for her and it would calm her down a bit. Good variety but I was going from station to station so the there was no ONE station I’d keep it on. I think New York’s big oldies DJ was named Cousin Brucey, he has a pretty good show. When I was strolling through the indie/alternative stations there was nothing that really caught my ear. And even when they’d play a legend like say PJ Harvey, BIG SUPRISE, it was Down By the Water so, meh, nothing out of the ordinary.

Rodney is a fuckin legend. he knows more shit bout the rock gods than anyone on earth. his book will be awesome .

The morning show is better without Ralph. I'm surprised I'm even saying it, but it's true. I'm glad Lisa May found another radio home. Her station has higher ratings than KROQ, incidentally.

His documentary was sad.

Can you imagine having to write that name out every time you sign a check?

Rodney hated the documentary to the point he had a falling out with the late George Hickenlooper and even Chris Carter who got him a new GTO for his bday. What’s crazy is Carter has a popular show on the Underground Garage that at one point was the lead in to Rodney’s show before Slim Jim Phantom took over. I think Carters show was prerecorded so I’m not sure if they’ve ever had an awkward interaction since Rodney’s started his show. Its pretty likely Little Steven has parties especially around the holidays. I know he invited all his crew and DJs in Los Angeles to see KISS the other night. So they’re gonna bump into each other eventually if they haven’t already. Then again Rodney loathed Kevin, Bean and Ralph and if you’ve ever seen a group picture especially during a big KROQ show like Almost Acoustic Xmas, Rodney was standing as far away from them as possible. So he can hold a grudge but he did thank them during his Walk of Fame induction. If sure Weatherly is near the top of his shit list now and whoever’s in charge of Clear Channel. They deserve it though the way the totally screwed him over.

[quote]What Sirius station is like KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic. I moved from LA and miss it.

None. Happily you can listen to the real thing through their app whenever and wherever you want.

I listened to KROQ 24/7 when I was in LA - 86 to 92.

Haven’t been a fan of the station’s current iteration for over a decade - but KROQ2 on Radio.com is great. All the 80’s / 90’s playlists for us old farts.

Other than Rodney’s show I remember around 2000 KROQ started to play a lot of the band Travis....between 2 in the morning and 7am or around the start of Kevin & Bean. I lost so much sleep trying to stay awake to hear what the next Travis single they decided to play. I always thought that was so strange of all bands to play so often but ONLY at the wee hours of the early morning. I always heard on the radio there were times early on when the programmers would play the more radical, loud music like Zeppelin, Sabbath, The Stooges and MC5 at those twilight hours, but Travis? I think it’s was a little after the time they had Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLaughlin, Garbage, The Cardigans, Republica, Jewel, Poe and Tracy Bonham etc. playing their Almost Acoustic Xmas. In fact that show inspired McLaughlin to come up with the idea for Lilith Fair. A decade later, not a female artist on the station whatsoever. KROQ? More like K-COCK ;) And when they did (it was the Distillers) Rodney would ALWAYS bring it up because he was so dedicated to playing female fronted acts. He pushed so hard for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to get played and they almost got completely passed up until their last Fever to Tell single was starting to get noticed all over. It was Maps :( Good song but of all their amazing songs KROQ picks their only ballad? Than it was Evanescence, Paramore and Katy Perry. I think Rodney played them once in a blue moon but they weren’t at the top of his radar....SO DON’T BLAME HIM for their success. He was pushing harder for PJ Harvey, Sleater-Kinney, Duke Spirit, the Kills, the Gossip,even Savages. But I guess Weatherly was vetoing those selections cause I noticed KROQ started doing their own awful things towards the end of Rodney’s run. Now he’s so much better off. They say Carters whole reason behind the documentary was to push KROQ into giving Rodney his old hours back, I THINK he had Saturday’s before Jason Bentley, (or did Jason Bentley take over on Saturday nights?)and Sundays about 2 hours before Loveline and than 2 hours after but I might be mistaken, not too sure. Ironically now he’s playing a lot of Gary Calimar who’s KCRW show is on at the same time as Rodney’s. Weird how things turned out.

I loved listening to Rodney from 12am to 3. It was nice way to prepare for the week. One last bit of relaxation.

I was listening to him the night Bowie died. Rodney already had a birthday show planned so it just worked out that he had an incredible Bowie playlist ready.

Think his arch nemesis Bean from the morning show just his announced his departure from KROQ. Don’t think Rodney will be too shaken up but I’ll bet he had a quite a chuckle when KROQ actually fired Ralph Garman. Ironically Bean might be going over to England which was Rodney’s plan once he hung up the headphones. KROQ really is falling apart. “It’s All Happening” in front of Weatherly’s very eyes. Oh well! It was great while it lasted...at least the Rodney and Rodney inspired programming. Now it’s just a shell of what it used to be.

He’s the last person to ask about anything internet or even computer related but the person in charge of his Facebook page is saying he wholeheartedly supports the Gofundme page for former KROQ dj April Whitney who’s suffering from medical issues. I would post it here but I don’t think it’s allowed. Just go to Rodney on the Rock’s Facebook group. I don’t remember her but although Rodney’s music was as beyond Godhead as usual, Richard Blades synthy pop playlist kind of ruined the 80s for me but it wasn’t all atrocious. So thank you Rodney for the GOOD portion of the 80s, R.Blade, not so much.

End of an era, I balled like a hormonal 14 year old.

R19 KROQ hasn’t been interesting since Rick Carroll programmed it. He sadly died of AIDS in 1989.

The KROQ theme song

Anyone else a big wrestling fan and saw WrestleMania last week? Being a huge fan of Rodney, pro wrestling and of course being of the LGBT community I always wondered if there was a connection between the three....Than Ronda Rousey’s music hit ;) I know it was only to perform “Bad Reputation” but I’m surprised Rodney didn’t plug Joan Jett’s WrestleMania performance. Weird cause even when his artists or groups/bands perform at an event like Gay Pride, like Lauren Ruth Ward last year, he still let’s us know on his show about their upcoming performances. Oh well, maybe if Mania was in LA, cause sorry NYC, for once LA can claim a legend of their own. It doesn’t get more LA than Rodney. Enjoy your old fart Howard Stern fart jokes and your Wendy Williams.....*YAWN!* We’ll give you Jim Ladd. Take that old goat off our hands ;) Actually a well known goatface pro wrestler, (Daniel) Bryan Danielson is a notorious indie music lover btw. Have fun at Coachella D. Bry....is what I would have said maybe 15 years ago ;)

Oops! Forgot this.

That's when I turned away from KROQ -- when Rick Carroll died.

Rick

KROQ was in Pasadena in its early years, and bands would just walk up, knock on the door, and hand tapes in.

Kevin and Bean were the laughing demons on Rick Carroll's grave

KROQ -- the real story

I was programming a competing LA radio station when Rick Carroll was on and off at KROQ. It was an exciting time.

The new manages of KROQ in r29 are quite contemptuous of the people who set the stage for their profits and careers

And then:

@radioinsight

Cumulus Media Sells KLOS To Meruelo Media;

I knew a certain genius KROQ reptillian in Phoenix, having been one of the engineers of his notorious pirate station. Nice and very talented fellow...and back on ROQ's HD2 if my sources are correct.

Also PRE-ROQ, KPPC's great (and sadly deceased) Ted Alvy, and likewise Les Carter. Loved those guys

Spill it, R30. There's no NDA's on DL...evah!!

KLOS will continue to rock.

@Phantomphan1974

Richard Blade Hollywood Star Campaign has started and was announced at the The 2019 Smiths Morrissey Convention this past Sunday. If your a fan of OG KROQ, New Wave, Sirus XM 33 and Richard start...

Rodney opened my eyes to punk rock/new wave when I was a young teen living in Pasadena. I remember you could go own to the station and try to meet band members. I still remember when he had Blondie on before they had their major hit record. Rodney asked Debbie if she knew she had missed dying a patch of her dark hair blonde and she was annoyed.

Does Sirius still offer FREE monthly subscriptions per email address? I “know someone” ;) that had dozens of email addresses and got the free trial every time he or she made up a new one. Well Sirius forgot all about this friend of mine and instead of giving them just a month free for their new email they got NINE free months 😝 I guess Sirius finally got wind to this and every time they try to get another free subscription with a new email they came up with it never goes through and there’s some kind of error. We’re only listening to RODNEYS show to support him and nothing else on Sirius. 70 year old Stern with his same old fart jokes and thinking he’s badass cause he can say “fuck” whenever he wants? No thanks. Richard Blade? No, not even in the actual 80s, plus I’d moved on to Nic Hartcourt. Cousin Brucy? Whatevs!!!! Never been a fan of New York or anything NYC related. Just in it for Rodney and only Rodney. I don’t have a car and I have Spotify but still it’s his show that I want to hear and look forward to hearing live. I know i can check out SOME of his playlist on Spotify but it’s not the same, he has these quirks and mannerisms and style that I find so endearing and you can only hear on his show.

His KROQ show was really something for a little suburban dweeb like me. While the other stations were playing Supertramp and the Steve Miller Band, Rodney might start with Joy Division, segue into a live tape of the Bangles back when they were the Bangs, then some ska band from Orange County and finish up with Annette Funicello (whom he worshiped).

Rodney would come up with these wonderful one-off singles. I loved this one.

The Bangs to Bangles was still terrible.

Thanks Rodney for the cool tunes.