Ron Bennington

In 1986, Bennington opened Ron Bennington's Comedy Scene in Clearwater, Florida; he met Ron Diaz, on whose radio show he plugged his club, and quickly the two created the morning radio program The Ron and Ron Show{{cite news|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-08-26/entertainment/9408250126_1_ron-diaz-ron-bennington-ron-show|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219025326/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-08-26/entertainment/9408250126_1_ron-diaz-ron-bennington-ron-show|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 19, 2015|title=The Outlaws Are In|last=Rusnak|first=Jeff|date=26 August 1994|accessdate=19 February 2015}} at Tampa Bay's WYNF-FM, known as 95YNF.[http://www.95ynf.com/95ynf-history.html 95ynf Tampa Bay Radio History of WYNF FM 94.9 Radio Station] The show had huge ratings success and Ron & Ron known as "Radio's Bad Boys" then partnered with their agent Ross Reback to form The Ron & Ron Radio Network to own and syndicate the programming. The show's final broadcast for WYNF was on March 12, 1993. Reback became President and CEO of the newly formed network and quickly negotiated a deal to broadcast the show in Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville, with another dozen markets soon following (including a new more lucrative deal in Tampa). Ron Diaz announced his departure in early 1997,[http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ron-diaz-ane-madisyn-janeka/1114139878?ean=9786139151929 Ron Diaz] and on September 29, 1997 the show ended.

File:Ron Bennington.jpg

After The Ron & Ron Show ended Bennington teamed up with Fez Whatley to create The Ron and Fez Show. After stints in Daytona Beach, New York City, and Washington, D.C., the show was broadcast from New York City (originally briefly called "Ron and Fez dot com" as it was devoted to discussing Web sites) on 102.7 FM WNEW-FM from 2000–2003, and syndicated to additional FM stations toward the end of the run, until the station ended the talk format, and eventually moved to 106.7 FM WJFK-FM near Washington D.C. where it aired live from 2003–2005, a station that had been simulcasting the WNEW-based show since 2000.{{cite news|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6935186_ITM|title=The Washington Times Channel Surfing Column.|last=Baker|first=Chris |date= 11 June 2003|work=Washington Times}} Bennington and Whatley moved back to New York and debuted on XM Satellite Radio on September 12, 2005.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/30/AR2005073001213_pf.html|title=Look Out, Howard!|newspaper=Washington Post|pages=D03}}

On April 1, 2015, Fez announced his retirement, with their final show being April 3.[http://theinterrobang.com/fez-whatley-announces-retirement/ Fez Whatley Announces Retirement From Radio, End to Ron and Fez Show]{{Better source|reason=ibang is WP:FIRST, this needs a better ref|date=May 2015}}

In October 2014 he began co-hosting Bennington with his daughter Gail. The show initially aired on Opie Radio Friday 7–10:00 am time slot when Opie and Norton were off.{{cite web|url=http://emptylighthouse.com/ron-bennington-host-fridays-when-opie-and-jim-norton-are-504744224|title=Ron Bennington to Host Fridays When Opie And Jim Norton Are Off|date=9 October 2014|work=Lighthouse Magazine|accessdate=19 February 2015}}

In April 2015, following the retirement of Fez Whatley, Bennington began airing five days a week, in Ron and Fez's noon–3:00pm time slot (as of April 2023, 12-2pm), in addition to their Friday spot on Opie Radio.[http://benningtonshow.com/ Bennington Show]

Ron Bennington Interviews is a weekend program on XM which replays different interviews every week which Ron conducts.[http://ronbenningtoninterviews.com/about/ RON BENNINGTON INTERVIEWS] The show runs on Sirius XM Indie.[http://www.siriusxm.com/indie Indie Talk Radio-XL]

In 2007, Bennington began Unmasked, a solo venture which has one-on-one interviews with comedy legends and established and emerging comedic talents.{{Cite web |url=http://investor.sirius.com/releasedetail-XM.cfm?releaseid=329759 |title=Announcement of the program |access-date=2015-02-19 |archive-date=2011-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720065611/http://investor.sirius.com/releasedetail-XM.cfm?releaseid=329759 |url-status=dead }}

In the mid-1990s Ron Bennington assembled a comedy troupe to tour to the markets where The Ron & Ron Show was syndicated. Ron Bennington's Disciples of Comedy included several comedians who had previously toured as part of Sam Kinison's Outlaws of Comedy. The Disciples of Comedy were Ron Bennington, Carl LaBove, Jimmy Shubert, Mitchell Walters, Dan Carlson, Lou Angelwolf, Jeff Apploff, Ralph Williams, and Curtain Boy Warren Durso. The shows also included Fez Whatley and Fast Eddie Yarb. The tour was produced by Jeff Apploff, Ross Reback and The Ron & Ron Radio Network. The comedy tour sold out theatres of 2,000 to 3,000 seats.[http://www.laughstub.com/events/344917? Warren Durso, Esquire Magazine's Ugliest Comedian, as seen in movies "Cutoff" and "Even Money" with Chad Riden]

With Ross Reback he co-owned Ron Bennington's Comedy Scene, a comedy club in Clearwater. One of the comics he says "earned his chops" there is Jim Breuer.{{cite news|url=https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/stage/comedian-jim-breuer-returns-to-tampa-bay-roots/2113833/|title=SNL alum Jim Breuer earned his comedy chops in local clubs in the '80s|last=Geurts|first=Jimmy|date=10 April 2013|work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=19 February 2015}}{{cite book|last=Breuer|first=Jim|authorlink=Jim Breuer|title=I'm Not High: (But I've Got a Lot of Crazy Stories About Life as a Goat Boy, a Dad, and a Spiritual Warrior)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3dgkm70ECEC&pg=PT48|year=2010|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781101443804|page=48}}

Bennington is a cigar aficionado and has also been interviewed in Cigar Magazine.{{cite news|url=http://www.inthehumidor.com/cigars-101/|title=In The Humidor » Cigars 101 - The Basics|work=In The Humidor|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724115645/http://www.inthehumidor.com/cigars-101/|archivedate=2008-07-24}}

Bennington has a cupcake named for him at Molly's Cupcakes locations,{{cite book|last=Olvera|first=Jennifer|title=Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=crKsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA283|year=2013|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781493006625|page=283}} which is chocolate cupcake made with a combination of peanut butter filling, chocolate ganache, and crushed butterscotch topping.[http://www.mollyscupcakes.com/chicago/pdf/Chicago_Menu_1114.pdf Chicago Menu] In 2008 it was the best-selling cupcake at Molly's.{{cite news|url=http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-cupcake-run-mollys-cupcakes.html|title=No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner: Chicago Cupcake Run: Molly's Cupcakes|work=No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner}}

In 2015, it was revealed on the Bennington Show that an American racing greyhound had been named after Bennington and registered as "Ron Bennington". Owned by Melissa Skrivseth-Schmidt and Christopher Straka,{{Cite web|url=http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=ron+bennington&sex=&color=&birthyear=&birthland=|title = Pedigree of Ron Bennington}} "Ron Bennington" began her racing career at the Iowa Greyhound Park and raced her first official race at Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room.{{Cite web|url=http://www.trackinfo.com/dog-search.jsp?keyword=ron+bennington&x=0&y=0&by=dogname|title=Trackinfo - Greyhound racelines, breeding info}}

Bennington began abstaining from alcohol and drugs after periods of addiction.{{cite AV media|title=Ron Bennington talks about addiction and his past Part 1 of 3|medium=YouTube video|publisher=Vesperwow|date=17 October 2010|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHLNNvVf5qI|access-date=5 April 2024}}

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{{Ron and Fez}}

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Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:American male comedians

Category:American talk radio hosts

Category:Radio personalities from Philadelphia

Category:Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida

Category:20th-century American comedians

Category:21st-century American comedians

Category:People from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania

Category:Comedians from Philadelphia