Welcome to the fort.

You know, the fort - that place where the neighborhood boys go to get away from parents, teachers and sisters. That sacred, secret place where guys can burp, look at dirty pictures, pick their noses, scheme, dream and, you know, talk about girls and stuff.

A fort can be anything - a treehouse, an old barn, even some kid's basement. In this case it's a raggedy radio studio in North Dallas occupied by Russ Martin, J.D. Ryan, Dan Lewis and Eddie Boyd.

They gather each weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. at KYNG-FM (105.3) for another round of The Russ Martin Show, which has fast become one of the area's most popular radio programs - a celebration of guy talk featuring everything from giggly, adolescent sex banter to an endless supply of practical jokes.

In eight months, Mr. Martin and his crew have turned a dismal set of inherited ratings into radio gold. The most current monthly Arbitron trend placed the show No. 1 among listeners between the ages of 25 and 54 - a demographic coveted by advertisers - and No. 1 among listeners ages 18 to 34.

"The question comes up all the time - 'Why are people listening?'" says Mr. Martin, 40. "People call us and say, 'We feel like we're listening to friends on the way home.'"

One reason might be that all four of the primary players on the show grew up in the Dallas area. Mr. Martin and Mr. Lewis even attended W.W. Samuell High School together.

Reid Reker, KYNG's vice president and general manager, believes that adds a touch of legitimacy to the show that can't be duplicated by outsiders. "They know the very soul of the Metroplex and every single nook and cranny," he says.

There's more to it than that, though, and despite Mr. Martin's near-pathological modesty, the show is anything but a seat-of-your-pants operation. Each four-hour shift represents hours of work for him and his colleagues behind the scenes - gathering news, writing bits, tracking down guests, tossing around ideas.

But the show's success hinges on Mr. Martin, whose quick wit, disciplined work habits and gut instincts have resulted in ratings that even his bosses have trouble believing.

"When you consider that this radio station's marketing is pretty much based on word of mouth and some billboards," Mr. Reker says, "to see somebody do what he has done in seven months - it's nothing short of phenomenal."

Local boy

Mr. Martin grew up in Pleasant Grove and was by all accounts a popular, mischievous kid who did well in school and never got into any serious trouble. He acted in plays at Samuell, worked odd jobs and occasionally mooned people on Buckner Boulevard.

He latched onto the CB radio fad - the first hint of his coming occupation, according to his father - but wasn't obsessed with becoming a broadcaster.

Topics on The Russ
Martin Show, on KYNG-FM (105.3), range from dead firefighters, to heartfelt discussions about mutilated dogs, to his recently purchased replica of Speed Racer's car, the Mach 5.

Cheryl Diaz Meyer/Staff Photograper

Then came WKRP in Cincinnati. "It was just the opening with Johnny Fever whaling his arms around with the music blowing," Mr. Martin says. "And I thought, 'That ought to be a cool job.'"

At 19 he landed a part-time job at KGVL-AM in Greenville while working at Pizza Hut and taking classes at Eastfield College. Eighteen months later he was fired when a new program director told him he had no potential. "So I... smashed his clock radio against the wall," Mr. Martin says. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Four months later, the program director was gone, and KGVL hired Mr. Martin back.

After years of dues-paying, Mr. Martin landed at rock station "The Eagle" KEGL-FM (97.1) in 1992, where his fortunes became linked to Howard Stern's misfortunes.

In 1997, KEGL owner Nationwide Insurance fired Mr. Stern, and KEGL gave Mr.Martin the morning-drive shift. Mr. Martin asked Mr. Lewis to join him as producer, and together they defied the odds - and the industry's expectations - by quickly moving the show back into the top 10.

In April 2000, KYNG-FM (105.3) switched from country to talk, with Mr. Stern in mornings and Mr. Martin in afternoon drive. But with Mr. Stern and Infinity Broadcasting Corp. locked in a contract dispute, KYNG officials asked Mr. Martin to fill in on morning drive, where once again he pulled in top-10 numbers.

He finally took over the afternoon-drive slot in January.

Laughs last

Mr. Martin's entertainment philosophy is simple: "The biggest thing I say is, 'Don't let anything come off as shtick.' I can't stand radio shows that laugh just to fill air time."

His goal is to create an atmosphere of guys standing around talking. He wants the conversation to flow naturally, which means he rarely sticks to one subject for very long. "A normal talk show may have four topics," he says. "It's not unusual for us to go through 40."

Topics can range from dating problems to dead firefighters, from the latest in sex toys to heartfelt discussions of mutilated dogs, from breast implants to Mr. Martin's recent purchase of the ultimate toy - a real-life version of Speed Racer's car, the Mach 5.

Stunts have ranged from body-painting naked porn stars to Mr. Martin's live, in-studio vasectomy. They've even been known to hire private detectives to spy on other stations' talk-show hosts.

The racier parts of the show raise inevitable comparisons to Mr. Stern. But while Mr. Martin respects Mr. Stern, he sees clear differences between the two shows.

"Anybody that doesn't feel an obligation to Stern is an idiot," he says. "He tested the waters and pretty much found out what you could and could not get away with. But I think our show is a lot quicker-paced because I've got such a short attention span. And that's what makes the show hard to do. That's why I have to get up so early."

Meanwhile, Mr. Martin's impatience with callers who don't have a salient point is becoming legendary. "I just hate the suck-up host who is too polite to say, 'Shut up!'" he says.

As for his colleagues, Mr. Martin says, "I trust them, and that's really hard to find in radio. Dan's very talented, and he's a hard worker and very loyal. J.D.'s obvious strong point is our chemistry. He knows when to step in and out of conversations and feed me lines."

Mr. Boyd, the associate producer and newest member of the team, "brings an element of danger to the show," Mr. Martin says. Mr. Boyd has a talent for, among other things, making his own explosives.

They are joined daily by traffic reporter Jonathon Dodge and, on Wednesdays and Fridays, by Everett Newton, "The Rock 'n' Roll Attorney."

Mr. Ryan says Mr. Martin "thinks about the show 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even when he's on vacation he's thinking about what he can use for the show. People like to feel like they're part of a club, and that's what he
gives them."

Mr. Lewis says he believes the show works on several levels. "Basically it boils down to, they feel like they're listening to their buddies," he says. On the other hand, he says, women like listening to a bunch of guys who think they're cool but wind up more often than not looking like the goofs they really are.

Station management takes a hands-off approach to the show. "Our standard joke around here is, 'Play the commercials, don't lose the license, and see ya,'" says Mr. Reker.

But Mr. Martin doesn't need pressure from management - he puts enough on himself.

"You feel like if you're having a bad show, you're letting down the people who tune in every day," he says. "And as much as I say I don't care what you think, obviously I do."

HOME  |  RMS STORE  |  SERVICES  |  LINKS  |  PHOTOS |  VIDEO

LISTENER'S FOUNDATION  |  RMS MP3's  |  RMS NEWSLETTER
OPERATION KINDNESS  |  VIRTUAL TOUR
 RMS MEDIA  |  SPONSORS  |  CONTACT