Background In October 2004, Stern announced his departure from terrestrial radio for the subscription-based
satellite radio service
Sirius Satellite Radio, starting in 2006. Stern had been at
WXRK-FM in New York City, the country's number one radio market, since 1985, and moved to morning drive in February 1986. In the same year Stern's show entered national syndication, and aired to peak of 60 stations in the US and Canada. The
Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy spawned a government crackdown on indecency in television and radio by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), prompting Stern to leave for Sirius, a platform exempt from its regulations. Shortly after Stern's announcement, his employer and WXRK-FM owner,
Infinity Broadcasting, began the search for a replacement. In March 2005, Roth auditioned by hosting the morning show on
WZLX-FM, a classic rock station in Boston, for one week. This was followed by a stint on
KLSX-FM in Los Angeles. Roth had been an American pop culture icon since the late 1970s, first as the original frontman for
Van Halen, and later as a solo artist. In July, news reports speculated that Roth had signed a deal with Infinity, with the prospect of launching the show as early as September, as Stern considered the possibility of leaving terrestrial airwaves three months early. Roth signed a deal worth an $4 million, and was announced as Stern's replacement on October 25 during a surprise appearance on the show. Roth was set to replace Stern in the majority of east coast-based stations, with others replaced by
The Adam Carolla Show and
Rovers Morning Glory. Stern's final live terrestrial broadcast aired on December 16, 2005, after which WXRK switched call letters and formats to WFNY and
Free FM, a new, mostly talk-based format emphasising the free-to-air service in comparison to the increasingly popular Sirius and
XM Satellite Radio services. In addition, Infinity was reorganized as
CBS Radio.
Launch and run The David Lee Roth Show launched on January 3, 2006, and was simulcast to six other CBS-owned stations:
WBCN-FM in Boston,
WNCX-FM in Cleveland,
KLLI-FM in Dallas,
WYSP-FM in Philadelphia,
WRKZ-FM in Pittsburgh and
WPBZ-FM in West Palm Beach. On February 27, 2006, less than two months into his stint, Roth took a one week vacation which prompted speculation about his future. Tom Herschel, general manager of his Cleveland affiliate, assured Roth would return and that the break had been planned for weeks, but questioned why Roth needed to take time off. On the same day, the monthly
Arbitrend ratings were published which revealed that in January, Roth's first full month on the air, WFNY's morning share among its target audience of 18-to-34-year-olds fell from 13.8% to 1.3%. Audiences also fell sharply in Los Angeles and Chicago. On March 7, WFNY station manager Tom Chiusano and programming vice president Mark Chernoff held a meeting with Roth to discuss ways for Roth to improve the show. According to Roth, the pair asked him to stop playing "foreign" and "ethnic" soundbeds and appeal to "a 35-year-old white male who likes
Lynyrd Skynyrd". Roth spent most of the following live broadcast criticising Chiusano and Chernoff and their suggestions, claiming they wanted him to "copy Stern" which he refused to do, and stressed that he was hired to deliver something "unique". Rother later said management issued him four letters in five days, and predicted his show could end before May 2006.
Cancellation On April 21, around 20 minutes before the show went live, Roth was told that the show was being cancelled after the day's broadcast. On his last show, Roth said: "I was booted, tossed, and it's going to cost somebody", hinting legal action towards CBS for full compensation of his reported $4 million contract. The announcement came shortly before the quarterly Arbitron ratings were published. On April 24, CBS announced
Opie and Anthony as Roth's replacement on all seven affiliates, starting April 26. The New York-based show had been exclusive to
XM Satellite Radio since 2004, but the deal granted CBS to pay XM a license fee to carry the program and for XM's advertisements to air on FM. From 6:00–9:00 a.m., the show was compliant with FCC regulations but remained uncensored for XM listeners, after which it was XM exclusive. This marked the show's return to terrestrial radio since August 2002, when Infinity suspended it indefinitely for a segment which allegedly involved a couple having sex in
St. Patrick's Cathedral. In 2009, following the introduction of the
people meter ratings system and a declining FM radio audience, CBS dropped
Opie and Anthony and switched WFNY to a
contemporary hits and
Top 40 format. == Criticism ==