John “Couchburner” Denning was near the end of his Friday
talk-radio shift at WNIR and he was in no mood to let a caller rant about labor
relations at an area company.
“I absolutely hate unions, I’m sorry,” Denning said during
his 10am to 3pm shift..
The guys at WNIR 100.1-FM will tell you that listening to
their talk-radio format is like chatting over the fence to a neighbor, reports Akron's Beacon-Journal.
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| John Denning |
They do it for fun and profit.
The laughs come easily and few topics are too serious for
making fun.
But there is an edge.
When late-afternoon 3p-7p host Bob Golic discusses the 2012
attack on the U.S. embassy
in Benghazi , Libya
When midday talker Denning refers to the lawyers
representing the man accused of bombing the Boston Marathon, he calls them
“bleeding-heart liberals.”
When the news summary included an item about homosexuality,
Denning facetiously claimed to be a lesbian and the newsman adopted a falsetto
voice.
Denning and Golic start their shifts with monologues
offering talking points, but the callers turn the conversations wherever they
want.
 |
| Bob Golic |
Most of those issues are in the news but Denning and Golic
don’t want to be called journalists and don’t want to be held to the same
standards of civility expected from more serious television and radio shows.
“We use techniques to be entertaining, yes,” said Bill
Klaus, chief executive officer and station manager. “We use sarcasm. We are
satirical like Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart. We use entertaining ways, humor
and exaggeration to elicit a response to point out something. Sometimes extreme
exaggeration sheds light on an argument.”
The humor is similar to The Daily Show, but the presentation
is different.
Stewart labels his show “Fake News” but the WNIR hosts say
they do their best to get the facts right. Denning and Golic keep a laptop
computer nearby for reference. Denning often shakes a newspaper near the
microphone so readers know the source of the story he is citing.
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