My first clue that Dickie and Angel on KODJ (alias "Oldies 94.1") don't comprise an ordinary radio show was when Angel called Dickie "honey" with the firm affection that only a wife can convey.
"Married With Microphones" is the title of their 6-9 weekday morning show. Not only is their married aspect a delight to observe, but as radio personalities, the two have 50 years of broadcasting experience between them and certainly know how to have fun on the air.Although sometimes separated in two small studios with a glass window between them, the Shannons - Dickie, 48, and Angel, 38, - form a rare husband-wife radio team. (Todd and Erin of "Fisher, Todd and Erin" on KISN-FM are the only other local equivalent.)
Dickie started at KODJ about three years ago. Four months later, he got to hire Angel to do news - with no hint the two would ever become more than colleagues.
They grew up on opposite sides of the country. Dickie is from Massachusetts. He started out in radio at the University of Kansas during 1967, having wanted to be a DJ since age 14. (Today with the station's oldies format, he gets to play a lot of music from that era.)
"I hung around the studio a lot," he said of college radio.
He worked at 14 different stations in many states, until he had three job offers at once in 1994. One was from Utah, and after spending the night here in March, he decided he liked the great scenery and mountains.
Angel, from Myrtle Creek, Ore., has been in radio 20 years. She was playing in a band in 1977 while working as an executive secretary, when a radio station manager inquired if she had any interest in the industry. She worked a six-month internship and then became a full-time DJ.
She's worked as a program director in Dallas and Louisiana but decided she had to return to mountain country to snow ski and feel at home. She was on her way back to the Northwest when the Utah job opened and she applied.
The romantic relationship was a gradual one. Both were divorced. They were married March 18 of this year and decided to use the husband-wife angle as a good focus for their show. Angel also decided later to change her last name from DeVille to Shannon because some listeners thought the two were "living in sin."
The Shannons live in Kearns and have to rise by 3:30 each weekday to get to work. Since Dickie is also station program director and Angel is involved with promotions, they don't get off work until about 3 p.m.
Radio may be a topic of conversation on the drive home, but the two have plenty of other common interests outside broadcasting. They cook together and both race at autocross. Dickie ia also into collecting toy cars - automobilia - while Angel loves to shop - mostly for bargains.
You'd think they see enough of each other, but they openly kiss in the radio studio and admit they'd even like to spend more time together.
"This lady is my very best friend," Dickie said.
He leaves the studio at 9 a.m. for programming duties each morning and Angel remains for a one-hour solo show.
NO. 1 FOR YOUNG ADULTS: "Kerry, Bill and Gina" of KXRK (alias "X-96," FM) have created what many young adults believe is the most entertaining morning show in all Wasatch Front radio.
The show is estimated by Arbitron Co. to have the No. 1 audience for young adults ages 18-34 and it also ranks fourth among the age 12-plus general listening group.
The DJs rely on a wide variety of entertainment, and that may be why some older adults - including doctors and lawyers - reportedly listen to their show, despite not liking the alternative music the station plays.
"We just try and produce an entertaining show," Bill Allred said. "We don't consciously say, `Let's do this.' "
Allred also credits program director Mike Summers for his music lineup, which attracts the bread-and-butter young adult audience for the station.
He said the show's comedy goes from a social commentary to the broadest of slapstick routines.
Kerry Jackson, another member of the morning team, agrees. "We just try to amuse ourselves," he said.
He said anyone can do outrageous radio that relies on belching and other disgusting actions, but he hopes the KXRK morning team has raised the bar a bit in terms of creativity.
Jackson said all three team members are fans of different styles of comedy and that helps the variety level too.
From "Space Elders" to the chatter from regular correspondents like "Louise" and "Kyle," the show has a little something for everyone.
Admittedly this is not a family show, nor is it among the milder morning shows on the radio dial. But there are others that are much more risque.
Allred and Jackson have been together at KXRK since Oct. 18, 1993. That makes them the third-longest surviving morning team in the market, behind "Fisher and Todd" of KISN-FM and "Allen and Wheeler" of KLO-AM.
- BACK ON THE AIR - "Kidd Cassidy," formerly the morning DJ on KKAT (FM-101.9), is back on the radio waves, though not in Salt Lake City. Cassidy, who is now using his real name of John Potter and doing a morning shift on WODS-FM in Boston.
Cassidy was fired from KKAT last summer, but said WODS sought him out for the new job.
- RADIO HAPPENINGS - "Uncle Nasty" and "Hammer" on KBER kicked off a new crosswalk awareness campaign Wednesday, to help make drivers aware of school zones and safety. The DJs also got the state to proclaim December as "Crosswalk Awareness Month" . . . "Frankie C" of the KZHT morning show tried living homeless in a box on the street for 94.9 hours this week. He wanted to call attention to the needy . . .
Jon Carter on KRSP gave away Outback Steakhouse dinners this week . . . "Mick and Allen" on KURR staged another NFL night at the Rascals Club Monday, offering a pick the score contest.