The Daily Planet Morning Show on 100.1, The Planet

By BETHANY GORDON

Staff Intern

"I have kitty litter in my underwear today," complains co-host Amy Bates. The morning show news anchor explains that her cat has been sleeping in her bed and spreading its litter around.

"But I don’t know if it’s all bad— I’m feeling much dryer today."

WPNH disc jockeys Rick Ganley and Amy Bates do not mince words. It’s their job not to beat around the bush. Ganley and Bates, better known as Rick and Amy from The Daily Planet Morning Show, entertain thousands of listeners from Central NH to parts of Maine and Vt. with their risqué brand of humor.

Virtually nothing is beyond the scope of casual conversation for the morning show hosts. Whether it be an unusual personal problem, hygienic issue, national headline news, or even a dead celebrity — Rick and Amy will find a way to have their audience chuckling to themselves amid the stand-still traffic of a morning commute.

The four-hour morning show offers the latest in music, news and sports, as well as satirical news segments from "The Onion Radio News." The Entertainment Guide provides information about concert, club and television listings, and weekly film news from Amy Diaz, a professional movie critic from Hippo Press and much more.

A popular Daily Planet Morning Show pastime is minding the legendary "Death Pool." Rick and Amy continually build a list of celebrities who they believe are close to passing away. When a celebrity on their list dies, Rick and Amy will usually dine on cheese steaks after the show.

"It’s not competitive or anything, just for fun," remarks Rick, referring to his mildly twisted guessing game. "But it can’t be anyone from New Hampshire, they have to be a well-known celebrity."

"It’s just an excuse for cheese steaks," explains Amy. "I love cheese steaks."

The recent death of movie-mogul Marlin Brando was especially traumatic for Rick and Amy — he wasn’t on their list.

Rick admits that the Morning Show has been forced to tone down some of its content due to the stricter FCC regulations that have been introduced since The Superbowl Half-time Concert involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake.

Rick and Amy have openly objected to the new regulations, and their protests have been an eye-opening perspective for many listeners.

"One nipple has changed radio — these people need to lighten up!" Bates remarks. In addition to stricter regulations, the FCC has started to implement large fines to media companies found in violation.

There is even a link on The Daily Planet Morning Show’s Web site where listeners may write an e-mail to the FCC, and tell them what they think of the changes.

"When I’m reading the news on some of the other stations I have to be more careful about what I say," she said. Each of the stations have different formats, and audience tastes tend to vary.

The Planet targets an audience who is in their 20-30s. "We are trying to capture an audience that usually avoids radio," he said.

Amy is the news anchor for five stations, and divides her time between stations.

"I spend most of the time chatting with Ricky though," said Amy. She finds that her newscasts generally run longer on The Planet, and she finds that they are "more fun."

Amy never expected to have a career in radio. "And now I can’t imagine doing anything else. How can you beat a job where the biggest responsibility is not to swear on-air!" she jokes.

The Rumney resident became involved with WPNH in 2001, when Ganley was scheduled to make a remote appearance at a Plymouth service station.

"A friend of mine from the gas station wanted me to come down and check it out and I really wasn’t even planning to go."

Amy admits that she was eventually bribed into attending. "Free hot-dogs," she chuckles. "They said there would be free hot-dogs ... so I was like cool"

She applied for the vacant news position at WPNH, and was pleasantly surprised when she was hired in November of 2001.

Rick, who is also the Operations Manager at the station, has been in professional radio for a number of years. He began his career doing a late-night radio show in Portsmouth, and eventually became a co-owner at a station in Northern Maine which was later sold to author Stephen King.