February 4, 2008
Don Geronimo Leaving The Don & Mike Show
Don Geronimo (a.k.a. Michael Sorce), has confirmed on-air that he will be leaving "The Don & Mike Show" at the end of May. The move has been publicly discussed for what seems like forever, especially with Don's consistent rants against CBS Radio and WJFK management (the show debuted on WJFK in 1991, though a previous incarnation ran on WAVA for six years before then). In the end, the decision to move on boiled down to spending more time with his girlfriend, his son Bart who is about to graduate from Clemson (and who once cried on air that he couldn't participate in a marshmallow and buttock-related contest), and his three grandchildren.
Don & Mike was the first D.C.-area radio show that I discovered when I moved here in 1999. It's always had a spot in my heart for that reason, in spite of the waxing and waning of my maturity. The defining moment for the show for me came in the fall of 2005, when Don returned to the air for the first time after his wife Freda's death. I'll always remember sitting in my office and listening to the webcast, trying to hide tears from my officemate as Don candidly relayed what having a true soulmate and life partner was all about.
Mike O'Meara, Don's longtime partner, will step up to host to "The Mike O'Meara Show", flanked by longtime D&M personalities Robb Spewak, Buzz Burbank, and Joe Ardinger.
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WHAT?!?!?
oh, my heart is breaking.
now i bet don wasn't really sick on friday!
Oh no! Where will I now turn for unfunny ranting? The "shouting-equals-funny" style of comedy is a dying art, friends.
Screw Mike O'Meara. He tried to buy Sign of the Whale and turn it into a goddamned fake-ass Irish bar, as if there were any shortage of those.
I remember Don and Mike from way back when I first entered the working world. They were a great way to pass the time while doing brainless entry level work and I looked forward to afternoons to hear them. I fell out of listening to them after Freda died, as you could tell that Don's heart was not into it. I'm surprised it took him this long to quit.
Will this mean no more porch sit'n? or Elvis death day?!
I don't even know what to say. I've been listening to that show since I was 15, so almost 11 years now. I remember when Freda died. I didn't live in the area at the time, but a friend of mine sent me the audio file of the show he did when he returned. It was the most gut-wrenching 3-4 hours of radio I have ever heard. It was beautiful, and I was definitely in tears listening to it.
I know Don has been threatening to leave for a good while now, but this is just a tough pill to swallow. And I know some people say it's just a radio show, but whatever...
I think we need a Buzz and Homo Joe Show.
Like the author, I first moved to the area at about the same time, and Don & Mike instantly became the must-listen show for my drive home. Hell, all of WJFK was great back then, even that complete wackjob G. Gordon Liddy. Except for the extremely funny Absinthe shows when Don, Mike and Buzz would proceed to get hammered on-air, and the feuds between Dennis Murphy and Tom Gavin, the show just started going downhill. For me, they lost something around the time they returned to PM drive from afternoons.
O'Meara is a funny guy, and with a few tweaks, it will once again be worth tuning in.
I'm a little surprised at all the love for Don & Mike, I've been in Metro DC since I was a teenager and always found their show to be unfunny in the extreme.
can we beg for Ron & Fez back?
Buy some Bill Hicks CD's and turn off your radios. Their shit was un-funny in 1995 and it's still un-funny.