The Kings of KROQ
A teen interviews KROQ DJs Kevin and Bean.
“”We look to Weird Al for all inspirations. We hold a shrine to him, and bow before it at the beginning and end of each show.” This was one of many joking answers I got from Kevin and Bean, who are kind of like the uncles that Mom tries to keep you away from because of their childish behavior.
I entered the KROQ studios with awe. Here I was in my music kingdom, about to interview two of the most enduring yet misunderstood hosts on radio. Their on-the-edge performance each morning is what makes the show so well-done! My interview was supposed to be after the show but suddenly I found myself asking my nosy questions on the air, live! Lucky me, huh?
“We don’t really like to talk about how we met, but Kevin and I were male dancers in San Francisco, on the meat circuit for just the summer really, where we worked at the White Swallow, actually Kevin was at the White Swallow and I was at the Hot ‘N Hunky, and we met at the Judy Garland film festival, stayed in touch through that, and by freak luck I guess we got lucky and got to do a radio show together.”
It was really hard to get a serious answer from these guys, which I guess I should have expected. “I was pretty popular in high school, you know, playing sports. I thought I was better than I actually was!” Kevin said after I had asked them what they were like in high school.
“I was so geeky in high school, I ran the audio visual equipment during the morning announcements, and saw Star Wars about 30 times in the theater,” Bean confessed.
“Do you guys have any intimidations due to KROQ and it’s influences in the music industry and how popular it is?” At this Kevin wanted to know what the hell I was talking about but luckily Bean knew and saved me from more humiliation.
“Actually no, because once we came on board, KROQ instantly had no influences or audience. Yes, it had been popular for a while, but we killed it.”
Kevin jumped in, “We’re the chain around its neck!”
They have been sued by gay activists over their anti-gay comments and they’ve been plagued by weak ratings, but they’re still there. They may think that they “killed” the popularity of the world-famous KROQ but in my opinion they draw the audience to it. “Why don’t you guys advertise like Rick Dees does for KIIS? That could help.”
“We’re not allowed to. I wish we could though, it would help,” Bean replied.
I think the best parts of the show is when they get serious about topics that annoy them somehow. For instance they hate Channel 4 News because of the topics they promote that just really aren’t news. “I mean who cares?!!” Kevin said during the civil trial of O.J. Simpson. “Have you seen what they’re doing, they now have VERDICT WATCH ’97, what is up with that!!! They have cameras set up the instant any movement comes from the court building.” Anything phony to them is a no-no, and deserves negative attention from them on the air.
The threat of Mötley Crüe making a comeback has gotten them to create a Scrüe the Crüe campaign. They actually made a petition which has over 3000 signatures. They plan to take it to the Governor of California to make sure Mötley Crüe does not make a comeback. I mean, come on, if the Crüe comes back, what’s next? 80s hair, ugly clothes, Ronald Reagan?
Tommy Lee from the band who USED to have a good rap with Kevin and Bean, heard about their campaign. He called them up and left a four-word message, “You guys are fags!!!” They now play his recorded insult over and over on the air. Even during my interview I was interrupted several times with that line. They definitely have guts!!!
“What was the best and worst show you guys ever had?” I asked.
“This show we’re on right now was the best until you showed up!!” Bean replied jokingly. “Naw, I’m only kidding. The worst show had to be the Shriner show. We had a bunch of Shriners in and we were going to entertain them throughout the show because we figured, our ratings were kind of small but if we could get all the Shriners, we’d take it to the next level right? And we would try to entertain them, but throughout the whole morning they would slip out as if they were going to the bathroom and leave, and come 9 o’clock we had one Shriner left. We tried to appeal to 65-year-old men that day, and it just didn’t work for us. The best show I couldn’t put my finger on in a million years, they’re all good for different reasons, one day you have Pamela Lee on the show and you go ‘it can’t get better than this’ and then another day you get a fax from her saying she’ll pray for us.”
Next I brought up the issue of going too far on air. “Nah, I don’t think we go too far, you know every once in a while on accident you kind of step over the line but then you know…” Kevin answered.
I’ve found that in the couple years I’ve listened to their show they’ve become part of my, I don’t know, family? I totally relate to them and I really admire their attitude about the show. The ratings could be better but no matter what their show is #1.
You can catch Kevin & Bean, weekday mornings from 5:30-10 a.m. on 106.7 FM KROQ.”