Who was Al Brumley? Al Brumley was the radio critic for the Dallas Morning News, and a good friend of the show. Al wrote many times about Russ and the show, and being the professional journalist that he is, did not let his friendship with the show get in the way of an objective media piece.

 

Al had repeated problems with tumors in his brain, and just recently (near 7/15/2003) had yet another one removed. Al was eternally optimistic about the whole thing, and consistently worked hard to be rehabilitated back to full functions after each crippling operation. Al once pointed out that the Russ Martin Show was the only group of radio personalities that stayed in contact with him, even when he wasn't writing (unlike other shows, that only talked to Al when he could help or hurt them through his column), which speaks volumes about how loyal the guys are to those they call friends.

 

Sadly, on 10/28/2003, at 1:20pm, Al Brumley lost his battle with cancer. Eternally positive and upbeat even when he was told that the tumor was at long last inoperable, Al was a living lesson in seizing the moment and living every moment to its fullest. His sense of humor and love of life never failed to add to the show, and even those of us that never had the pleasure of meeting the man in person should learn from his example. He will be forever missed.

 

(On a personal note from the author of this entry, to those of you calling the show to bitch at Russ for teasing Brumley, and "being disrespectful", why don't you get a clue. Brumley was a long-time fan of the show and all of the gang's antics. Anyone who has listened to the show long enough knows that the more the guys plague/tease/prank someone, the more they truly like them. The RMS gave Brumley something he desperately needed in his time of crisis. Laughter. -Mordaris)

Big Stacy is, well, big. Weighing in at over 570 pounds, he's a regular caller to the show. He also works for a Dallas  area transit company (go ahead, you figure it out.) and is a member of the band.

Russ has tried many times to get a company to pay for a procedure to help Stacy lose weight, however, no one has been willing to do so. Currently, (as of 05/2008) Russ is weighing Stacy on Thursday's. If he doesn't lose 2 pounds a week, then he gets shocked with a taser.

Stacy enjoys throwing programming directors around, and breaking chairs.

As of 08/14/2008, Stacy's on air weight was 562.

 

Billy Lee Davis some how managed to work his way on the show around 2002. (If my memory serves correct.) Somehow, he managed to play his country music hit, "Call Me" in studio on more than one occasion. In fact, Billy Lee Davis performed at the 2004 White Trash Party.

 

Bob is the former program director for KLLI, who apparently rode the Rotowhackulous in late September 2003 for reasons as yet unknown. Bob likes golf. Bob likes to drink. Bob likes to drink and golf. A popular tactic with Bob is to leave his spare pair of glasses upside down on his desk so he can leave early, and people will still think he's in the building someplace. Bob commented on the RMS that it doesn't fool Dave Siebert. Bob will tell you nearly anything you want to know if you get him plowed enough, including the salaries of people at the station. Did I mention Bob's love for drolf and ginking? Uh.. drilf and gonking.. dolf and grinking!.. Oh never mind.. Makes one wonder how Bob can even manage to play golf. One would think that staggering around those 18 bases while completely blasted would be very difficult.

08/2005 - Bob calls into the show, and reports that he's doing okay. Sadly, I didn't write down what he was doing, so I can write it down here. However, he was happy with what he was doing.

 

If you've ever wondered where the phrase, "I've already been to McNeil for you" comes from this is it. (Amazingly, I can't remember how it got started.)

Brad was the call screener for The Russ Martin Show starting sometime 2006 through June 28, 2007. He left the show to take a job with Univision in south Texas. Seems that Brad had a degree in engineering, but never bothered to tell anyone, despite Russ' repeated calls for one when things went wrong.

 

Calvert became a part of the show in mid-August, 2005. One day, Russ and the gang were looking at people who had been arrested, and their pictures then posted on the DallasPolice.net web site. They couldn't help but laugh when they got to Calvert's picture. After a few weeks of trying, they got him to call into the show. He explained his story, and Everett, who was there for a change, decided he would help, pro bono. As of this writing, Everett reports that they have done some legal maneuvering, and Calvert is out of immediate danger. Calvert also authorized his likeness to be used on a T-Shirt, the proceeds of which will go back into the foundation.

 

In June of 2006, Everett called the show to say that he was able to clear Calvert of all charges.

Chris is owner, operator, and grand high poohbah of Virtbiz.com, the single most excellent webhosting company in the whole of creation. Chris is also the webmaster extraordinaire of most of the guys' websites, and a fine job he does at it, too. Chris is known for his wit, kindness, intelligence, prowess with women, and incredible generosity. Besides running the finest web-hosting organization on this or any other planet, Chris is also a really amazingly clever guy.

 

Man.. I suddenly feel so dirty for some reason.

Cindy Coyle was the promotions manager for KYNG until she lost her battle with cancer. She was a good friend of the show, and one of the reasons that Russ made the move to 105.3.


The obituary from the Dallas Morning News is posted here.
CINDY COYLE ACHBERGER

ACHBERGER CINDY COYLE, beloved wife of Rick Achberger and mother of Danyell Williams, passed away February 11, 2002, after courageously battling cancer for the last two years. Cindy was born in New Orleans on April 30, 1957 to George and Patricia Turner. She spent her early life in New Orleans before moving to Dallas. Cindy touched many lives as she moved through her work in the radio promotions business. She was known for her strong work ethic, winning smile and loving heart. She will be dearly missed by her family and many close and loving friends. She is survived by her husband: Rick Achberger; Daughter: Danyell Rene'e Williams; Mother: Patricia Turner; Sister: Melodie Meek: Brothers: Blake Turner and George Turner. Services will be 12:00, Friday, in the Sparkman/Hillcrest Northwest Hwy. Chapel. Interment in Hillcrest Memorial Park. Rev. Kay Hunter officiating. Cindy and her family would like to personally thank her employer, KYNG - 105.3 FM and Its staff for standing firmly by her with their continual support and encouragement while she fought her disease. Cindy and Rick would like to give a special thanks to Scott and Haven Baime for their love, support and, most of all, their love. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice. Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home Cemetery Mausoleum 7405 W. Northwest Highway Dallas (214) 363-5401

 

Obituaries, Notices - The Dallas Morning News - 02/14/2002

Crazy Eye Fred is really Fred Barnhill, weekend news anchor for a Dallas/Fort Worth TV station. He's had a lazy left eye since birth, and it's only gotten worse with time. Fred is a good sport about it, even called into the show once to talk about it. Russ offered to find someone who would fix the eye for him, if Fred didn't mind. Of course, before the surgery, they want to make public service announcements with his picture. The obvious choice being, "Crazy Eye Fred says, 'Look both ways before crossing the street!'" A doctor was found to fix his eye, however it does not appear as if the surgery will be performed. The TV station that he works for may have told him he shouldn't talk to the show, for when they went to call him back, he said he didn't have time to talk. Too bad. That station isn't the highest rated, and pissed away a good chance of getting better ratings.

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Da Juana has been with the show since way back in the days of the Eagle. She comes on now and then to provide insight into people's lifes for them. Of course, Russ has noticed that so many of her predicitions are very generic that it's sometimes just funny. You can find more information about her at her web site, Ghost'sTalk.com.

Dan joined the show during the Eagle days. He followed Russ over to KYNG/KLLI in April 2000. Dan left the show on October 2002. He went to do his own overnight show, which was canceled a short time later, a fact that Russ never lets a single breathing soul forget. (As an aside, the author was rather fond of Dan's show, but such is life.) Dan now earns his living riding rides at Six Flags. How cool is that? He also portrays that villain of villains, Black Bart, in the Six Flags gunfight show, dazzling the crowd with his riding skill astride his mighty, rare, black redwood mustang stallion. Dan's new gig requires him to endure many hardships on a daily basis, such as dealing with mouth-breathing idiots, being shot at by co-workers, and performing silly stunts. Come to think of it, it's not unlike being on the Russ Martin Show.

After the firing of Trey Trenholm, Dan was brought in for one day to read news. After showing a complete inability to follow the directions he was given, it was determined that he would never return to the Russ Martin Show. As of late April, 2004, he is broadcasting an overnight show on another AM station. Sadly, you can't hear the signal anywhere in North Texas, since it's crappy AM station. (Mark Davis, from WBAP calls it CB Radio.) [Update: I've had this line commented out since the start of the web site, but here it is, "Dan also does an amazing impersonation of Jonathon Dodge."]

In August, 2004, Dan was deleted from the show. A kid who worked with his daughter said some things about Russ, that he got on tape, and sent them to Russ. After airing the transcripts of the tape, Dan came to the store to threaten the kid. Tim, the kids name, managed to get that on tape as well. Those transcripts were also read on the air. Dan then sent an email to Russ, and a lot of other people within Infinity/Viacom, and demanded that Russ stop using his family on the air. Since he didn't admit to any fault, Russ decided to delete Dan from the show, ordering that any Best Of's with Dan in it be deleted as well.

Spring, 2005 - My memory fails me as to how Dan was brought up, but somehow the show learned that Dan was working in a production of "Jack and the Beanstalk." The show threatened to buy every remaining ticket for the final production. That caused the theater owner to call Channel 8, (WFAA-Dallas/Fort Worth) about the whole ordeal. Brett Shipp wound up doing a story on the situation. This is where Russ got the sound clip of Brett going, "That's your job to find out, Newsboy."

August, 2006 - Dan makes it onto Fox4 News. Seems that he was unable to get his kid to school on time, and as such was called into truancy court. The interview showed that Dan has gained about 30 pounds, and still has that smug attitude he always had with the show. A caller reports that Dan Lewis now works as an assistant manager for Bass Pro Shops in Rockwall. He can occasionally be heard doing news weekend overnights on WBAP.

Dr. Natasha Terry is a sex therapist who has built a business telling people how to have sex. I personally forget how she made her way on the show the first time. Russ had declared that's she stupid, which always gathers much laughter when she hears it. She usually finds a way to make Russ' comment come true. You may have heard references to her having a monkey baby. She wants to have kids, but needs help from science to do so. Her husband does something related to checking some kind of tanks, for something. Anyway, Russ joked once that she would have a monkey baby due to the fumes that her husband inhales all day.

When the show returned to KEGL in 2010, Dr. Natasha made an appearance on the show. We learned that she did have a child, and that she has written a book.

The good doctor has been friends with Russ since his days back at the old KEGL Sunday night talk show.

During the summer/fall of 2006, Russ invited Dr. Thornton back on the show one day per week. The doctor provides his insight into the dynamics of the show and how Russ interacts with his fellow employees.

At some point in time he simply stopped coming in on Wednesday's. To the best of my knowledge, it was never mentioned on the air why he stopped coming.

Dr. Thornton returned to the air when the show made the move to mornings. We learned that his wife had passed away during the time. (Sorry for the loss, sir.) Dr. Thornton currently (as of 08/2010) makes semi-regular appearances on the show.

Former Assistant Producer (recently promoted to Producer) for the Russ Martin Show, Eddie writes the lion's share of the bits you hear on the show, and nearly all of the game-questions. Eddie is also Russ'...uh.. "Enforcer". Eddie himself admits that he lacks a conscience, and he has even said that he feels bad that he doesn't ever feel bad about things. Seriously, the less you know about Eddie, the healthier you will likely stay, as Eddie's hobbies include anything that shoots, explodes, stabs, dissolves, or digs deep holes. Logic would dictate that Eddie's dream is to find something that shoots exploding spears that convert to molecular acid when exposed to blood, and leave 6-foot craters.

 

Eddie's last day on the air was 01/23/2004, and has not been heard from since. At this writing (01/27/2004) it is unknown why he left.

 

Update: May, 2005: Eddie was seen in a local news report. He's working at a nursing home, and from what we could see on the screen appears to be in good health. That's about all we know.

Starting late Summer, 2004, Eddie started to call the show. Eddie calls up often to voice his opinion on various topics. In the beginning he called to tell JD it was okay to drop the "N" word. After that, the just called to give JD a hard time about various topics. (Of course, he has no problem dropping the "N" word on the air.) Another time he was used to berate Gavin on the air, trying to get Russ "N" money. (This from the parade, when people smashed up chairs and tables that Russ had to pay for.)

 

In 2006 Black Eddie joined The Russ Martin Show Experience.

 

About 2 years after his first call in, it was revealed that Eddie has been blind for the majority of his adult life. This was known to the show for the longest time, but never mentioned on the air until Eddie was ready for it to be mentioned. 

While the show in on the air in the mornings, the guys have TV's tuned to the local news media, just to keep an eye on what's going on. One day the noticed a weather personality on FOX4, and couldn't stop talking about her.

Turns out the weather personality was none other than Fiona Gorostiza.

You can read her full bio here.

Gail was the traffic reporter for the show from Dan Lewis' departure until June of 2008.

 

She left the Russ Martin Show for her own morning show on another Dallas / Fort Worth station. 

 

Gavin Spittle was the program director for KLLI. He came to KLLI from the Las Vegas area, where he seemed to have worked for a few stations. On his first day on the job, he told the shows that he wanted aircheck sessions from them, and they would review the show. This had the Liz Wilde show scared. In conversations with JD, Gavin seems to be a fairly normal guy, and doesn't to the radio thing. (Cans, Stick, bit has legs, etc.) Russ isn't sure if he is going to keep him around. (Previous paragraph from 2003-2004 time frame.)

08/2004 - Gavin has managed to, so far, keep his job as the Program Director of Live! 105.3. Currently, he has a girlfriend named Rachel, that Russ would like to have sex with. Obviously, Gavin isn't to fond of this, and goes to great lengths to keep the two of them apart. G-Man isn't a big fan of Russ calling Rachel, and yelled at O'Malley once when he gave Russ the number.

10/2004 - Gavin has made it past one year at the station. He is no longer dating Rachel.

10/2005 - Two years, and Gavin is still at the station. However, as of 10/05/2005, he is working without a contract. (It expired on 09/30/2005.) Over the past few months, Gavin has started to come up with silly/stupid sayings regarding his working out.

In late 2005 or early 2006 Gavin took over programming duties at KRLD.

Summer 2006 Gavin moves from his supposed home in Irving to a location reportedly in Dallas. Oddly enough, he's moved close to Jagger.

December 08, 2008 - Gavin is the Program Director who goes down in history as having ended "The Russ Martin Show" on KLLI. According to various message board postings, many people report that JD is claiming this was not Gavin's call, and he shouldn't be harrased over the incident.

"Happy The Clown" was a man by the name of Melvin Hall, who died in a fire at his trailor home in southeast Dallas County, near Balch Springs. It must have been the fact that he went by the name "Happy The Clown", or that he his Boston Terrier was named, "Dog." Yet something caused them to absolutly lose it each time it was mentioned. One day Russ had decided to do a eulogy for "Happy The Clown.

 

This is also explain why you will hear laughter anytime Russ plays a snippet of the pipe organ version of Amazing Grace.

Janet St. James is the medical reporter for WFAA TV, who calls into the show from time to time, usually during sweeps. Janet does a halfway decent job with putting up with Russ' antics although you can tell she's not 100% comfortable with being on the show. The exact date she began making appearances on the show isn't known.

 

JD Ryan was a member of the show cast when The Russ Martin Show was on CBS.

JD was raised in the Dallas area, and graduated high school from the area as well. Honestly, I don't have much about his early radio career. He worked stints at KSCS, KPLX, and KEGL in both on air and management positions. There was a time when he was the Program Director at KEGL.

Sometime between February and December, 1998, JD left KSCS because of an illness that took his voice from him. Over a period of time, his voice started to fade away. He went to various specialists, none of which could figure out what the problem was. Going to one last doctor, JD was about to leave the waiting room thinking that it was a waste of time, when he was called back. This doctor, however, was able to find the problem. Turns out one of his vocal cords was infected, which was causing the problem. The only way to solve the problem was to have surgery, which could have potentially kept him from ever talking again. With therapy, he was able to regain his voice. On April 3, 2000, JD joined Russ Martin on the air at KYNG. His voice that first morning was a bit shaky, but has gotten stronger with time.

At the White Trash Party, 2004, JD hurt his shoulder after falling off the stage at Cowboys, sober. It required a trip to the hospital, and many months of therapy.

May 09, 2004 - JD has stopped drinking! He's tried many times in the past, but hopefully this time he will be able to stick with it.

June 2004 - JD has recently had eye surgery which has let him get re-certified by the FAA to fly planes.

Janurary, 2005 - Infinity Radio is wanting to sign Russ to another 3 year contract. They've given him the money he wants, but JD, well, isn't getting what he thinks he deserves. He want quite a bit more money than he is getting now, and a lot more than the company seems to be willing to pay. He's reportedly going for half of what Russ makes. However, Infinity came back with an offer it was much lower than he was expecting. In fact, it was lower than what Gavin had mentioned a few days eariler.

June, 2005 - JD buys a house, somewhere near Russ. Shortly after that he falls down his own stairs, resulting in a large brusie on his backside.

January, 2006 - JD trips over a suitcase in the middle of the night, and tears the opposite rotator cuff from his 2004 White Trash Party injury.

12/08/2008 - The Russ Martin Show is dropped from Live105.3 due to CBS flipping the station to "The Fan."

On 07/12/2010 The Russ Martin Show returned to the Dallas airwaves without JD. In conversations heard on the show we are told that Russ and JD have not exchanged words since 12/05/2008. As for why he's not on the show, we just don't know. (The author hopes that JD is doing well, though.)

Johnnie England was the executive director of Operation Kindness, a no kill animal shelter in Carollton, Texas, until early 2008. A new board of directors decided that her services were no longer needed.

She now works for Dallas Animal Services.

Jonathan Dodge is the former traffic guy for the RMS. Jonathan began his young life as a aeronautics major with a minor in socio-economic theory. His stellar grades led him to a lucrative, but short-lived career with Lockheed Martin as head of Research and Development, eventually formulating the fuel that is still used in today's modern guided missiles. At the tender age of 25, he joined the Marines, distinguishing himself as a pilot over the jungles of Vietnam, and was single-handedly responsible for airlifting his entire squad of men out of heavy enemy fire in his over-burdened Huey chopper. Flying on a damaged rotor, with a gunshot wound in his left shoulder, he managed to reach base with every last man, earning him a purple heart and the Congressional Medal of Honor for Valor. Shortly after that, he accepted an appointment to the Secret Service, and became president Lyndon Johnson's most trusted bodyguard, and stayed with the White House general staff for another 7 years. Jonathan is a cunning linguist, speaking eleven languages fluently, which helped him in his duties to President Ford, serving as his personal interpreter. Retiring entirely from the services in late 1976, Jonathan still performed various functions for the Secret Service until contracting throat cancer in 1988. His voice now crippled, Jonathan began a teaching career at Yale University, but left under a shadow of controversy involving top secret information, and the Kappa Kappa Pi sorority. Destitute, Jonathan turned to old friend Russ Martin, whom he met in Vietnam, who offered him the position as traffic reporter and handed him the keys to White Lighting, KYNG's state-of-the-art traffic chopper. Early in 2003, Jonathan vanished once again from the public eye, citing loss of license, but rumor has it that he was approached by the secret service under the shadow of the looming Iraq conflict, to once again serve his country. [Update: I've had the following line commented out since day one, but here it is, "Or he could just be Dan Lewis."]

Russ was pulled over after the White Trash Party in 1999 on suspicion of DWI. He was arrested and bailed out by Dan, as J.D. was far too drunk to do so. Russ was found "Not Guilty" of DWI, but was found "Guilty" of "Obstruction of a passageway" and received 3 months probation. Someone told Judge Cofey that Russ was talking about alcohol on the air (which had nothing to do with his probation) and they extended his probationary sentence to a full year. Using his amazing super-powers (anyone else remember "The Brown Hornet"?), Russ naturally escaped unharmed. In other words, Russ crawled up his ass every day on the air until Judge Cofey agreed to call everything even, donate $250 to Operation Kindness, and pose with the RMS as a pimp, becoming "PimpDaddy Cofey".

Russ contacted Larry North in August 2003 in order to get ready for an appearance at LaBare. Russ continued to work out after the appearance in the gym that he had installed at the station, and going out to Larry's Southlake location one a week. Larry calls up from time to time to ask about various health related issues. In the spring of 2004, Larry offered to take JD and Russ to South Beach, Florida if they lost a certain amount of weight.

The trip was never taken.

When the show returned to KEGL, Mr. North continued his presence on the show. He showed up in studio at least once during the first two weeks on the air.

Unless you are referring to the Japanese movie monster with a cult-following(in which case, you are on the wrong site), Mothra is the name given to protect the identity of a woman that Russ took out a couple of times.

After inviting herself to spend the night for an additional night, bringing her dog to Russ' house and allowing it to run rampant, spending the entire night of one of their dates complaining(mostly about not being the center of attention) Russ told her to leave. His words were direct, simple, and to the point. She wanted to "talk about it", but Russ didn't, so Russ asked her to just go on and get into her car. Russ went back inside and left to ride his motorcycle. He came back to find that this psychopath had pulled his flowers up from his yard, tossed said flowers into neighbors' yards, ran her car into his garage door, damaging it severely enough to warrant replacement, jerked his alarm company sign out of the ground and used it to beat repeatedly on his wooden front door, putting deep gouges in it.

Russ was lenient, declining to press charges, and accepting a fraction of the cost of repairing the damage she did as recompense.

Rich Berra was brought on the Eagle Morning show at the height of the ratings. They think that Rich was told to get everyone on his side, and they would push Russ out, as he was starting to get to much power. Thus, Rich began his quest. Started making changes to the show, even once cut a promo that said, "The Rich and Russ Show!" That, of course, was one of the things that started to turn people against him. Up until that point he had started to get Dan on his side, and for a short time, Everett and Valerie. As people started to turn against him, things started to go downhill. When Russ left the Eagle in March of 2000, Rich took over mornings, and lasted all of 4 months or so. So that, my friends, is why Russ and crew doesn't like Rich Berra. Pictures of Rich and Family - Link 1 - Link 2Rich's Bio.
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Rob took over as the Promotions Director after the death of Cindy Coyle. (She died of cancer. See this.) The show had a great time messing with him, drilling holes in his office and such. He left for KEGL in 2003. In June 2004, it was announced that he had returned to Live! 105.3 as the Producer for the Russ Martin Show.

August 7, 2006, it was announced that Rob had not shown up for work that day. No phone call, no email, no show. Speculation was rampant all week as to his whereabouts. On Friday, August 11, that he was no longer with the show. Russ said on the air that he was not allowed to disclose why for legal reasons.

August 28, 2006 - It's announced on the air that Rob is now working at Jaguar's Gold Club, in Dallas, Texas. 

August 29, 2006 - Based on comments made on the air, Rob is now the marketing manager at Jaguar's Gold Club. Russ also mentioned something about Rob making better money, and no longer having to worry about a contract. Russ also mentioned that he has shown great restraint in the matter, but that might be coming to an end.

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Ronnie is a regular call-in to the show that has participated in so many games-of-the-day that Russ almost banned him from calling in at all, and most times won't let him participate in the games. Ronnie has no job, and only marginally less of a life than the contributors to this site. ;) Jovial and cheerful, Ronnie nagged Russ for some time to be given the opportunity to be the show's producer, and that smoldering hole in the wall behind Ronnie would be the bullet that he dodged in that instance. (See:Trey Trenholm)

Valerie was currently the morning news and traffic chick on Live 105.3. However, she has a history with The Russ Martin Show. While the RMS was on the Eagle in the 90's Valerie did the news, as well as general back and forth banter on the show. Known for her ability to go nuclear in an instant, she would often throw dandy temper tantrums. Some of them would be on the air, others would be off the air.

At one time she was dating Everett Newton, however, that ended some time ago, with no details EVER given on the air as to the reason. (Note, I don't recall exactly when it was. I want to say it was early 2003 or so.)