In the mid-1980s, stand-up comedian Ron Bennington joined Ron Diaz to create a wildly popular and raunchy morning radio program, The Ron & Ron Show, at Tampa Bay's WYNF-FM, known as 95YNF.[1] The show had huge ratings success and Ron & Ron known as "Radio's Bad Boys" then partnered with their agent Ross Reback to form The Ron & Ron Radio Network to own and syndicate the programming. The show's final broadcast for WYNF was on March 12, 1993. Reback became President and CEO of the newly formed network and quickly negotiated a deal to broadcast the show in Miami, FL, Orlando, FL, and Jacksonville, FL with another dozen markets soon following (including a new more lucrative deal in Tampa, FL).Fez Whatley along with other cast regulars "Fast Eddie", Billy "The Phone Freak", and "Flipper" all made the show a wild and irreverent daily adventure. The Ron & Ron Show regularly interviewed celebrity guests and Ron & Ron made national headlines after engaging in a screaming match with apparently inebriated actor Don Johnson (Miami Vice, Nash Bridges) which was highly chronicled in the press, on many TV entertainment news shows, and was featured in People Magazine and on Inside Edition amongst many others. The Ron & Ron Show made international headlines once again when cast regular "Flipper" formed a rock band to play at the upcoming Ron & Ron Live Gig in Miami, FL and named his band The Dead German Tourists after two German tourists who had recently been murdered upon leaving the Miami International Airport in a rental car. The band's name caused an uproar and Miami city officials held an emergency meeting and voted to prohibit The Ron & Ron Show from holding their Live Gig within Miami city limits. The Ron & Ron Radio Network considered the city council's vote a form of censorship, and undeterred, Reback moved the Live Gig to neighboring Hallandale, FL at the last minute. An estimated crowd of approximately 10,000 fans attended the show. Ron Diaz's wife Debbie was diagnosed with AIDS in the early 1990s and Diaz began periodically missing broadcasts to care for her. Debbie Diaz died in November 1995. Ross Reback successfully negotiated a divestiture of The Ron & Ron Radio Network through a sale to Paxson Communications Corp., then a publicly traded company headed by Lowell W. Bud Paxson, the co-founder and former president of Home Shopping Network (HSN). At the time, Paxson Communications owned a large number of radio properties and was also the largest owner of TV stations in the country. Ron Diaz announced his departure on-air from The Ron & Ron Show in early 1997 as Paxson prepared to relocate it from the network’s studios in St. Petersburg, FL to one in Hollywood, FL. Without Diaz, and under Paxson, the show soon floundered, and on September 29, 1997 after a successful 11 year run (the last few months of which featured several replacement hosts, all of whom took the name "Ron" in a failed attempted replacement of Diaz). Due to low ratings after Diaz's departure, The Ron & Ron Show was promptly canceled when Clear Channel Radio purchased the radio division of rightsholder, Paxson Communications, and opted not to continue the show. Whatley also briefly co-hosted another of The Ron & Ron Radio Network's programs, the Hooters-on-the-Radio show with Brenda Lee (aka B.L.), Julie Williams and Hooters spokesperson and original Hooters girl (and Playboy's Miss July 1986) Lynne Austin in addition to his duties on The Ron & Ron Show.

• published: 12 Feb 2015
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