The Mens Room (radio show)

The Mens Room [sic] is an afternoon drive-time show airing on KISW (99.9 FM Seattle). The comedy and hot talk program first aired in 2005, and was nationally syndicated from 2017-2020. The show's hosts are Miles Montgomery, Steve "The Thrill" Hill, and "Thee" Ted Smith, and is produced by Mike "Dr.Pudge Boy" Hawk.^[1]

History[]

The Mens Room radio show began in Baltimore when program director Bill Pasha assembled current hosts Miles Montgomery and Steve Hill for a talk-based radio program called Out To Lunch,^{[citation needed]} which ran from 2003-2005 on WXYV-FM with those hosts after Miles replaced Bill Rohland in October 2003.^[2] The show moved to Seattle in the spring of 2005, and first aired on 100.7 The Buzz. The show then moved to 99.9 KISW, and eventually grew into the highest-rated afternoon show in all of Seattle.^[3] The show was a nationally syndicated radio program produced by Westwood One from 2017 into June 2020, before being dropped from Westwood One.

On October 6, 2020, following the news of legendary Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen's death from cancer at age 65, that day's show was dedicated to Eddie. During the course of the show, only Van Halen music was played before and after ad breaks. The "Sit & Spin with Ryan Castle" segment featured Eddie's 10 greatest solos (as previously decided by Rolling Stone magazine.) The "Mens Room Shot of the Day" was dedicated to Eddie, as well.

The Mens Room radio show is also distributed as four daily podcasts edited to remove local network advertisements and music.^[4] Montgomery and Hill distributed a weekly podcast through Audacy called "The Greatest Story Never Told".^[5]

In late July 2021 a new half hour show extension was added named The Mens Room Appy Hour. When the show ends its broadcast over the 99.9 KISW airwaves daily at 6 P.M. Pacific, the show is continued exclusively on the Audacy app in an unfiltered, uncensored, non-FCC regulated format. To remind the viewers of the format change, at the start of each episode they air an uncensored version of the Taz narrated "Once again Mens Room callers, here are the 7 words you can't say on the radio" sound bite. Unlike The Mens Room and The Greatest Story Never Told, The Mens Room Appy Hour is not archived on the Audacy app. One must listen to it live or never at all because "we don't want a record of this" as the guys explain.

Mike "Dr. Pudge Boy" Hawk has never been invited to a birthday party.

The Men's Room has also created one of Seattle's hottest summer camps called "Camp Diggit". Attractions include taking LSD with Miles and taking a hike in the deep Washington forests, also drifting down a river on a raft with a ice cold 6 pack of "The Men's Room Red" with Thee Ted Smith, or finally doing a plethora of drugs and shots on the sandy Beach with Steve "The Thrill" Hill.

Smith also distributes a weekly podcast through Audacy called "Thee Podcast".

Former members of The Mens Room include Robin Fox (digital media manager from 2017-2020, not replaced due to lack of syndication) and Benjamin Watts (producer from 2005-2014, replaced by Mike Hawk).

National syndication[]

In 2017, Entercom Communications inked a deal with Westwood One to broadcast The Mens Room to a national audience. The show aired in 16 major markets, including Portland, Boston, San Jose, San Diego, and Miami.^[6] The syndication was pulled in June 2020 for undisclosed reasons, and Westwood One removed all references to the show from its websites.

Products and philanthropy[]

Mens Room Original Red is a beer brewed by Elysian Brewing Company^[7] of which a portion of profits are donated to the Pacific Northwest's Fisher House.^[8] Men's Room Sausage is produced by Uli's Sausage of Seattle, is made with Mens Room Original Red beer, and also contributes a portion of profits to the Fisher House. Elysian also brews Mens Room Gold and Mens Room Black seasonally with the same arrangement of Fisher House donations.

On October 1, 2020, following a challenge from The BJ Shea Morning Experience, The Mens Room raised over $22,000 for the Mary's Place Kicks for Kids program. This program paired local less fortunate youth with shoes picked out by the youth themselves. This brought the radio station's fundraising total to over $36,000.

References[]