rushgedlife

ON THE BEAT
Sunday, January 8, 2006
Dan Kane - Canton Repository

A DULL DIAMOND

David Lee Roth was nothing if not entertainingly brash and boisterous
back when he was frontman for Van Halen. I was skeptical but intrigued
when he was announced as the replacement for Howard Stern's morning
show in seven radio markets, including Cleveland. If nothing else,
Roth's show promised to be engrossingly obnoxious, at least in small
doses. Or the radio equivalent of a car wreck on the highway.

How surprising then that Roth's show, which debuted last week and
airs from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays on WNCX-FM 98.5, is such a yawn. Rather
than big celebrity guests on his first week of shows, Roth chatted with
his 86-year-old uncle Manny, his flight instructor and a paramedic. The
bombastic rock god rambled at length about parenting, gun control,
renewable energy sources and labor unions, with only the occasional jab
at his Van Halen replacement, Sammy Hagar.

Diamond Dave, where art thou? (Where are the strippers?)