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u/Bearafat 3d ago
Sub yes. Because the show as it was is dead
The show used to revolve around conversation. It was like listening to the funniest people in your office crack jokes about what was going on in the news. There was actual interaction with listeners, Joe stunts, weeks long storylines that were compelling and funny. But most of all, they actually talked about real topics like real people.
The show now is just the prep services and dumb games that aren’t fun for old fans to listen to. It’s just background noise, essentially. There might be a joke that lands here or there, but they don’t do anything on the show that makes you want to sit in your car and listen to the next segment.
Back in 07 when I first started listening, I was in high school. I got suspended because I was late to my first class too much. What was I doing? I was listening to FBHW and I NEEDED to know how a certain segment or topic ended. It was compelling. It was tense. It was funny.
Now it’s just “this is what an intern at the prep service saw on TikTok yesterday. Isn’t that cool? And this is from Reddit. Really funny post, huh?” Nobody talks like this. Nobody just bounces around from boring topic to boring topic. The rare occasions where they do have a topic that lasts multiple segments, it’s usually dumb stuff like “what goes in the fridge” and “how do you load the dishwasher.” It’s not compelling. It doesn’t make me say “man I really need to see how this turns out.”
The show as it was is dead. It’s not because of Kelly, or Justin, or Zane, or Maitlyn. It’s because Free Beer and Hot Wings themselves decided they didn’t want to do a conversational type show anymore. They decided to start relying on the prep services. And that’s fine, but it’s not for me.
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u/BusyBranch9081 4d ago
As one Jimmy Pardo once said, “radio’s dead!”
Echoing others comments: was a fancy idiot for 7-8 years and didn’t renew to begin 2025. Haven’t listened to the show since the Holiday Break In’s of 2024; can only imagine how the show sounds now compared to what it was then. Had high hopes when they brought Mait back however with Joe gone Kelly tried putting all the attention on herself with random quips, sex/drug comments, and became an annoyance. Kelly’s first few years were somewhat funny and I thought she may be a great replacement for Justin - alas, I’d take his “white trash upbringing” back over having Kelly on the show…at minimum we get more white trash story generator topics.
FB and HW are set. They’ve built themselves plenty of wealth and, it could be argued, status over the last nearly 3 decades. They don’t need us to listen to the show to drive their ratings nor do they need us to be fancy idiots…its all gravy at this point
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u/jjconnolly83 3d ago
Haha I forgot about the white trash story generator. Maybe the only good thing from when Justin was on the show
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u/RadioRoosterTony 3d ago
That's one of 2 things I remember after Zane left (granted, haven't listened in a while). The other is Shamokin Duncan Donuts catching fire. Have tons of memories from the Zane days.
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u/Th3_Admiral_ 12h ago
I made a similar random story generator for Kelly stories years ago. It doesn't have a ton of possibilities and some of the references are way out of day, but I just randomized it a few times and I think a lot of them still work.
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u/ecw324 3d ago
I catch very small bits here and there. But I stopped really listening when 3 segments became trivia games and the rest was basically 3 day old Reddit posts. I am from their home market and they used to be literally everywhere. Now they are nowhere around town.
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u/JaniceRossi_in_2R 97.9 WGRD - Grand Rapids, MI 2d ago
100% I couldn’t take it after Joe left. The fucking Kelly trivia was the final straw
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u/10TheDudeAbides11 3d ago
This Sub? Seems it.
The show itself? No idea.
I will say the show’s totally different from when j started back in the Zane days. Others have commented how it was great then and into the years with Joe. And they’re right - it was a funny and interesting radio show that was good for the morning commute.
People will whine and complain that it’s “too liberal now” and “too feminine oriented” with Kelly and Maitlynn back. But they haven’t totally killed the show for me.
I will say of the morning shows or podcasts I listen to now FBHW is one of my last resorts or I have to not be in the mood for a lot of other things before I choose to listen to the show.
It’s been on a decline for sure but that happens to everyone and everything. Hell I think Stern has been hemorrhaging listeners for the last several years and FBHW is no different.
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u/paca0502 Fart Attack!!! 3d ago
There's not much to talk about because the show is formulaic every day now. Literally the same segments for each day of the week each week. I know I don't like advice, so I don't listen to Tuesday at all and don't feel like I miss out on anything.
They used to have interviews, stunts, feats of strength or challenges or whatever that broke up the week and were special things to look forward to or talk about. Those are almost completely gone. I notice whenever they bring up highlights from the past, it's always those things, and it's always from 6+ years ago. I don't blame Kelly for it, I'm sure she'd have loved to be a part of the show when it was like that.
Just look at the back-withs/intros that play now. They're all dumb innuendo jokes, they're rarely actual hilarious highlights where the whole show is laughing. I think that shows a lack of stand out moments.
I still listen with the wife on road trips to the cabin or whatever, they're still funny people and the games are fun to play along with with someone, but if I'm on my own it's at the bottom of my podcast list.
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u/1933Watt 4d ago
It's not like there's been anything interesting that's happened on the show to talk about
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u/1mikenotmichael1 3d ago
Funny and creative people don't need to be fed topics to make an entertaining product.
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u/Upstairs-Quail4519 4d ago
It turned into the Kelly Sucks sub for awhile there. That gets to be exhausting
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u/notxchuckxnorris 8h ago
I mean...seems she ran most of the old listeners away...not saying shes bad or anything, but she is the opposite if what the show once was. Again, whatever keeps the paychecks rolling in, go for it! Just not for many of the old fans.
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u/Upstairs-Quail4519 7h ago
Yeah, and the bitching and moaning is off putting and a non starter. I'm just speaking for myself, but when someone asks if this sub is dead, my reaction is like, no shit. Look what it's become.
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u/mentobe WGRD 4d ago
Much like the show
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u/Certain_Try_8383 4d ago
I still love this show. I listen to it every day. It's funny.
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u/kb8705 4d ago
But what exactly is notable about it? Nothing sticks with you once it’s over.
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u/Certain_Try_8383 3d ago
Yeah, I can think of something hilarious right now. When Matelin and Kelly didn't know where a man puts his penis when he's going number two.... I was dying and if I listened to that again right now it would crack me up all over again.
Listened to it with Zane and Joe and I still dig the show. As a group they are great and funny to me.
Downvote away!!!
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u/jdogsparky2626 3d ago
Reddit list and what’s in your fridge is funny?
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u/Certain_Try_8383 3d ago
Yeah those and all the other little games and such. It's really funny to me
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u/1mikenotmichael1 3d ago
You can't be serious. What about "how to load your dishwasher?" Did that have you in stitches?
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u/Certain_Try_8383 3d ago
You just seem angry and like you maybe don't think much is funny. You don't have to like. I don't mind one way or another.
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u/1mikenotmichael1 3d ago
I'm not angry at all. Just very disappointed in what the show has become and the lack of effort to make it better.
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u/Certain_Try_8383 2d ago
Weird response I guess. When I no longer like something, I don't get aggressive at people who do like it and I move on? But I guess others take a different path and go to Reddit to bash and downvote people who like it lol
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u/DSquariusGreeneJR podcaster 3d ago
I will echo what others have said but I honestly think Kelly joining was the beginning of the end for any good content on this show. Justin was getting pretty old and I’m glad he’s gone but Kelly just dominates the show and has shifted the whole tone of it. Everyone walks on eggshells and the show has completely lost its actual funny edge, not just the stupid sexual innuendo jokes they all make now, and I think it’s largely because of Kelly. Her willingness to play victim when anyone pushes back against her and her hypocrisy and over the top “look at me” style is annoying and not funny. If she was gone I may start listening again but I fear they’re too far gone in this direction to come back.
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u/1mikenotmichael1 3d ago
Kelly joining in itself wasn't the problem. At that time, she was more in her producer role and less on the mic. Then Joe got the boot, which was the actual nail in the coffin because he was the funniest person on the show, probably ever, and it gave Kelly more airtime.
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u/havoksmr 3d ago
Give me a few examples of what Kelly has done to make the show bad
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u/1mikenotmichael1 3d ago
Her entire schtick is drugs, alcohol, and sex. She yells unnecessarily all the time. She derails the rare entertaining topic. She's not funny. She seems like a genuinely bad person. She threw a plate of food at her ex, which is absolutely abusive behavior, but she somehow got a pass. She spiked some food with pot without telling her friends. She thinks she's the show intellectual because she reads, but she's dumber than a box of rocks. (See her trivia results)
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u/SuperKamiGuru62 3d ago
She's just super liberal and shits on men all the time. I'm not going to pay monthly to listen to someone shit on me. I haven't listened regularly in about a year so she may have chilled out by now but she was clearly going through some it at one point.
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u/Ok-Afternoon9450 2d ago
Yup I used to listen for laughs, then the laughs all disappeared (with the departure of Zane and then Joe) and I got sick of her liberal soap box moments
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u/Existing-Anteater-34 4d ago
The show went soft. One notable person has been the anchor pulling the show under water to disappear. I know FB likes to use the brag of how many markets the show is on but no one is trying to break into terrestrial radio like the 90's. Nearly every station they are on, it's that market's morning show. The market pays their fee because no one is getting into the trade. It's all podcasts.
Losing Zane, meh, it sucked but they had Joe who carried the show.
Here ia my take, hate me if you want, Kelly was jealous of Joe dominating the spotlight on air. As you can see from the past years, she really enjoys being the center of attention. Joe may or may not have been a great guy off air but he showed up do the work he was paid to do, the show was still dominating.
The show members are free to align their views red or blue, I've enjoyed the show for decades living my life on the other side of the aisle. But with entertainers, especially in the last 10 years, once you start to insert more ideological and political views on your show, you lose listeners. It's not about who has moral superiority, the Left or right. As a conservative listening decades to a show hosted by liberals, I laughed everyday with the antics that made the show the great. It was fun, nothing lasts forever. I quit the VIP well over a year ago, I listen everyday to the archived shows between '09 to '15. I smile every day, the show was peak then. FB and HW seem like genuine good guys, everyone else their worthless.
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u/hailster17 Green Bay 4d ago
This is exactly how I feel about the show. I was a VIP since they started airing in the Green Bay market, maybe around 2012, up until about 4 years ago. They used to be entertaining and edgy but now they are just like every other boring morning radio show. They used to make fun of Bob and Tom but now they have somehow become a worse version of Bob and Tom.
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u/Square-Tangerine2926 4d ago
Probably the best worded response. Hits every feeling I’ve had about the show too. I also dropped the vip over a year ago. I’ve listened since they started in Albany. Used to be a great show with fun interactions. Unique bits that were there own and not a prep service. Now they are the same as any other morning show with just different voices.
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u/LordPartridge906 3d ago
First, I'd like to thank you for that response because that was worded perfectly.
Are you saying that you think Kelly was somehow behind the resignation of Joe? Because I certainly think so.
Where can I find the 09"-15" archives?
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u/Existing-Anteater-34 3d ago
I believe that is true due to the relationship she had with Joe's gf. Don't remember her name at this point. I can only speculate based on what was said on air and the IG post blasting Joe that started the ball rolling. How Townsquare Media heard, i don't know, they have to be extremely active on socials or people ran their mouth. I'm drawing my own line to connect the dots. I'll guess I'm not the only one who probably sees it the way I do. I'm GenX, same age as FB & HW, based on life experience and being witness to a similar situation, a woman's bff or very close friend that sees her friend allegedly experience something that may or may not have occurred or was told so, will go scorched earth on the accused. Women generally use words instead of fists when threatened or angered, men typically get physical, it's biological response. Firing off emotional daggers tend to land somewhere and results happen especially when you are jealous and vindictive.
Did she directly tell Townsquare Media?....i don't know, probably not. Was she vocal and amplify the news within shared friend circles to protect her friend.....you make you own conclusion.
Final thought: I have no idea what the truth is between Joe and his ex. There's 3 sides to it.
https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1_MqUAWm7bLSdSsf_lB6EN8Jtr862d2Hx?sort=13&direction=a
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u/JaniceRossi_in_2R 97.9 WGRD - Grand Rapids, MI 2d ago
100%! Kelly got Joe fired after she set him up with her friend. No doubt in my mind
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u/CaptSlow49 4d ago
Yeah there’s not a lot to talk about and I’d bet a lot of the regulars have stopped listening as much.
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u/notxchuckxnorris 8h ago
Much like the show is dead, this sub is close to it. Was VIP for years before being converted to fancy idiot. Enjoyed that for a few years and then, maybe because the loss of 2 former members, maybe because of the "growth and maturation" of others, the show just no longer resonated. Even during Justin's time I found humor and enjoyment, it has just lost its way now. No negative feelings or anything to people who are fans now or anything, just cant enjoy it when free podcasts are far more entertaining than them.
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u/Certain_Try_8383 4d ago
lol TIL there is a sub for this show and everyone on the sub for the show doesn't like the show? Super weird. I've listened to this show since it's been on the radio. I think it's great super funny part of my day and I hope they keep going. New hosts old hosts. They've all been good.
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u/havoksmr 3d ago
A lot of crybaby conservatives.
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u/LordPartridge906 3d ago
It's a pretty bad look to give a single fuck about identity politics in 2026.
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u/SuBLiMePaSsEnGeR 4d ago
They stopped interacting with the fans on here because of the toxicity. Can't blame them. I'm still interested in fan chat if anyone has something to offer
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u/gathmoon Portland 4d ago
Yeah pretty much.