Dale is gone..at least from 93.7 (Austin: buy, college, live)

[Trainwreck20]

I really hadn't thought about how long the Dudley and Bob show has been tracking along in the background of my life. I wonder if he will end up elsewhere?

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...arly-35-years/

[DashRiprock]

Oh wow, didn't even realize he was still on.

I was a regular listener back in the 90's through the early 2000's. He and I are nearly the same age and I identified with a lot of his stories growing up in small town Texas. At some point, though, the schtick got stale with me, especially the chemical dependency and mental illness stuff. There was only so much of that I could stand.

I remember a few years ago when they had him doing an afternoon talk show on the AM side, right after Rush Limbaugh. He'd spend the first segment or two complaining about Rush and the rest of the time trying to convince us/himself that of course HE, the Great Dudley, was objectivity personified, the very opposite of a partisan ideologue. Yet somehow he ended up espousing liberal positions on pretty much everything. I tried several times but it was just unlistenable.

In any event, 35 years in the morning drive slot at the same station seems like a pretty good run in radio. Best of luck to Dale Dudley in his next venture.

[Trainwreck20]

Yeah, I was never personally a huge fan of the show - I kind of outgrew it around his type of show about the time I graduated college (this was pre-Bob); however, he did seem to have a huge following and it was hard not to be aware of the show.

[austin-steve]

I came to Austin in 1985 age 23 and was a regular listener of Dale and Bob on KLBJ FM shortly thereafter. We're about the same age. I even remember stopping at a pay phone a few times between pizza deliveries to call in and try to win a contest.

By the mid-1990s, married with 2 young kids, working hard in my business, I guess I had matured or something because I came to find his material asinine and juvenile. I switched to KGSR and Jody Denburg, as was the right of passage for many of us former hard partying 20-somethings once we became married 30-somethings with kids. We mature. Dale never did.


Fast forward to a few years ago and I'd catch Dale trying to do the afternoon talkshow thing on KLBJ AM and I remember wincing a few times as it seemed a heavy lift for him to connect with that audience, which is not underpopulated by right-wingish hick-types.

And I wish him well. He was very transparent about his mental illness and other shortcomings. That takes a lot of courage. I hope he saved for retirement as I don't think anyone gets rich, outside the exceptions like Bobby Bones who go National, as radio "disc jockeys".

[atxcio]

I listened to him when I first came to UT in 1989. Everyone listened to KLBJ. He was the one who informed me (over the radio) of Stevie Ray Vaughan's death in 1990. Listened a few years after that and stopped.

Fast forward about 20 something years, and when Jeff Ward got fired I started listening when Dudley and Bob w/Matt when it was on in the afternoons. I got hooked and started listening to the podcast when they returned to mornings.

He was unique, and a great main host of the show -- interesting and painfully open about his life. But near the end, he certainly did himself no favors. I was listening when Matt walked off the show because Dale was over medicated. He seemed to have some opportunities there to save his job but he didn't seem to want to. So this wasn't really a surprise. Honestly I thought it was 50/50 when they went on holiday break, and closer to 90% that he wouldn't get renewed when his contract ran out in June 22.

Monday morning Matt comes back and the rest of the show is staying. So I'll probably still listen. If Dale does another show or podcast, I'll listen to that too.

I don't care at all for Waterloo Media, however. I think they've destroyed 2 Austin institutions at least IMO. I wish anyone else would buy that station. It will probably be worth a fraction of what they paid for it soon anyway.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by atxcio

I listened to him when I first came to UT in 1989. Everyone listened to KLBJ. He was the one who informed me (over the radio) of Stevie Ray Vaughan's death in 1990. Listened a few years after that and stopped.


...

Same. I heard about SVR on KLBJ FM then went down to the Rock at Zlker for the vigil. Austin was pretty cool in the 80s/90s. I think the real change started with dot com, though the groundwork for that had been laid way earlier.

[10scoachrick]

I haven't listened to an over-the-air radio broadcast since our second week here(in 2008).

[ScoPro]

Never heard that show.
Quit listening to talk radio 25 years ago and tuned to 91.3 exclusively.
That saved my life (along with the cardiologists at Austin Heart).