Bob Madden and Brian Nelson have been hosting mornings on Saga Communications Rock WWHG/Milwaukee, known to listeners as The Hog, for nearly forty years. The show has been based in Milwaukee since the duo was hired away from a station in Florida to return to their hometown — a fact Brian says the General Manager at the time, Dave Crowl, wasn’t even aware of when conversations started.
“I don’t remember how it came up but when I said we were from there it was like a light bulb came on over his head,” remembers Brian. “He tried to nail me down on what I meant by being ‘from there,’ and I said we grew up watching local TV and rooting for the Packers, Brewers and Bucks.”
That moment essentially sealed the deal and brought them home, where they have been hosting a truly local morning show for nearly four decades. To this day, they still follow the advice Crowl gave them before their first show. “He gave us two orders. One, be funny. Two, don’t piss off the clients,” Bob recounts. “Those are the directives we still basically work with today because it’s remarkably simple, effective advice. And because no other general manager has come in and told us anything different yet.”
The Local Advantage
While some people in the industry debate the necessity of local hosts by pointing to the success of syndicated shows, Bob and Brian see two distinct advantages that being local provides for them.
The first is what a lot of local morning shows will point out: being there is important. “If you’re going to talk to people in Milwaukee, I think you better be in Milwaukee,” says Bob. “There is the component of just being in town. The camaraderie of dealing with bad weather in the winter. And there’s that pothole that’s on this street, or the question of ‘when are we going to tear down that mall that’s on fire again.’ I really don’t think you can replace that from outside the market.”
The second advantage is essentially the same observation as the first — being there is important — but in a vastly different context. “There is something about being together, forced into that room for five hours every day that I think is a big part of being successful,” Bob says. “Maybe you can do it remotely using Zoom or whatever where you get to see each other’s faces, but I really love the ‘here we all are again’ component of the show.”
A Team Built Over Decades
The “we” Bob refers to includes the rest of the team, like Producer Eric Jensen, who joined in 1996, and news person Carrie Wendt, who joined in 1999. They also talk regularly with Rock n Roll Insider Gary Graff, whose weekly reports became part of the show in the early 2000s — making him a relative newcomer by comparison. However, the true baby of the bunch is sports reporter Tim Murray. “He’s the same age as my middle daughter,” notes Bob. “There are things we were at that are history for him.”
Another cast member, Fireman Jim, really puts a fine point on the show’s longevity. “When he started with us he would come in and give fire safety tips on the air because he was a cadet going to the academy,” Bob recounts. “Now he’s retired. He’s been around for so long he did his full hitch with the fire department. Now, since he happens to be a big baseball fan, now he comes in and we talk baseball once a week.”
Another way to contextualize how long the team has been at the station, Brian points out, is that not only have they seen one branding change from Lazer 103 to The Hog, but “the building has been remodeled twice since we’ve been here. How many shows can say that?” he asks.
Everything Is Content
While being local and having a great team are easy to talk about, the toughest question is defining what exactly the show is about. “The show can be anything,” Bob says. “It’s sports, current events, we talk about everything. We even talk about things we don’t know anything about like brain surgery. For five minutes we’ll be experts on Brain Surgery.”
Brian adds that talking about everything includes the topic many shows avoid: politics. “We talk about it every day. It’s always been part of the show,” he says. “Though a lot of the national stuff is wedged into our showbiz news under the premise that politics is just a big show anyway.”
Furthermore, when everything is content, it means anything that happens to them can wind up on the show. “I think all of us on the show are always gathering potential content,” explains Bob. “Like if I’m getting bad service somewhere, in the back of my head I’m thinking this is going to be a great story. Go ahead give me the worst service you can. I can’t wait to talk about it on the show.”
No Script, No Plan, No Problem
While many shows have plots, characters, and extensive preparation, Bob and Brian are at the other end of the spectrum. They explain that it’s simply people getting together and talking every day. There is no outline, no script, and no plan. There never has been, and there probably never will be.
In fact, Bob recalls that Steve Goldstein, Saga’s former Vice President of Programming, used to tell them their show was exactly what he told other shows not to do — but that it worked for them, so he didn’t argue with it.
The Secret to Their Success
Ultimately, Bob and Brian agree that the reason the show works is the relationship they have with each other and the team. “If you want to be successful, find somebody who can stand you. Who can put up with all your shit and sit in the studio with you five hours a day,” Bob explains. “I’ve been through wives who couldn’t stand being in the same house as me so if you can find somebody who can stand sitting in the same studio, breathing the same breath that you breathe in that small room for five hours a day, cling to that person.”
Of course, not every day is smooth sailing. Over the course of 39 years, there have been some bumps. “We get asked a lot about what we do if we’re mad at each other,” Bob says. “And the joke is that you have the length of a commercial break to get over it because nobody cares. Listeners don’t tune in to hear our problems unless our problems are funny.”
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Mike Stern is a Classic Rock columnist and Features writer for Barrett Media. He has been with Jacobs Media consulting stations in the Classic Rock, Rock, Alternative and AAA world for more than a decade. Prior to that he programmed stations in Chicago, Detroit, Denver Las Vegas and other markets. He also worked as News/Talk Editor for Radio and Records, wrote about Top 40 Radio for Billboard Magazine and had his own radio talent coaching business called Talent Mechanic.
