AIR APPARENT? A CLEANER GOMEZ AND DAVE TARGET HOWARD STERN'S LISTENERS.(CNY)

Byline: William LaRue Staff writer

As the clock ticks past 8:45 a.m., TK99/TK105 radio hosts Dave Coombs and Glenn "Gomez" Adams have nearly completed a morning checklist scrawled on a board along a studio wall.

They've interviewed two Syracuse Crunch hockey players.

Station interns have turned hot dogs into musical instruments.

The hosts have done their unscientific "insta-poll," which gets 10 calls from listeners all saying they don't think the Destiny USA mall project, as proposed, will ever get built.

Before they leave the airwaves at 10 a.m., "Gomez & Dave" will also take time, among other things, to quiz listeners about movies and chat about differences in slang between men and women.

Spend any time with this radio duo, who first teamed in 1995, and a few things stand out about their show on classic rock station WTKW/WTKV-FM in Syracuse.

They tend to laugh at the same things.

They don't play a lot of music.

They think often about shock jock Howard Stern.

In fact, "Gomez & Dave" has made a point over the past eight months of trying to lure listeners who used to tune in Stern's syndicated radio show until it disappeared from Syracuse late last year.

But unlike some disc jockeys, Adams and Coombs say, they didn't make themselves into clones of Stern, who relies on humor that's often graphic and sexual.

What they have most in common with Stern is a program that's essentially a talk show with a middle-aged male point of view.

"We've always kind of described our show as adult, but not necessarily dirty," says Adams, 45, following a recent radio shift. "We can talk about a topic or bring up a subject but do it in a way where everyone knows what we're talking about without having to go right to the gutter with it."

Coombs, 46, puts it this way: "There is a line (to get into) sleaze that I think we just don't feel comfortable crossing, and he (Stern) wallows in it."

The approach seems to be working for TK, which is owned by Syracuse-based Galaxy Communications. Arbitron ratings for "Gomez & Dave" are way up, just as numbers are down dramatically for Syracuse album rock station WAQX-FM (95X) since it dropped Stern.

Among men ages 25 to 54, for instance, "Gomez & Dave" was No. 1 in the ratings this summer with a 14.2 percent share of these listeners, compared with a 5.3 share a year ago.

In this same demographic group, 95X dropped from a 22.4 share with Stern to 5.5 share with his replacements, Guy "Beaner" Patton and Ken Heron.

When 95X stopped airing Stern, Galaxy owner Ed Levine says, he saw a "once-in-a-millennium chance" to attract a lot of listeners needing a new radio show in the mornings.

In March, Levine rehired Coombs, who had left Syracuse about a year earlier to host a show at sports-talk station KFNZ-AM in Salt Lake City.

Levine also launched TV advertising for "Gomez & Dave" that featured monkeys performing in parodies of the TK morning hosts, Stern and others.

Tom Mitchell, 95X operations manager, credits that campaign for TK's recent ratings surge. The homespun but slightly irreverent TV spots made TK seem like a "comfortable" alternative to Stern, Mitchell says.

"They really seized an opportunity by all the TV advertising they did. They were something familiar, and they did a great job marketing it," he says.

Mitchell argues, though, that 95X remains a better fit for listeners who want a funny and topical morning show that's "highly prepared, timed and edited."

Despite their relaxed banter, Adams and Coombs say, their show is also highly prepared. There are so many comedy bits, song parodies, interviews and other content that they typically only have time for about two songs an hour.

Adams remembers when the show used to play as many as eight songs an hour.

"Yeah, I think it's a faster-paced show with far more content," he says. "I think it's a function of, we're all getting older and, hopefully, still getting better at it."

On a recent Tuesday morning, the TK studio has a festive feel, thanks partly to some quirky flea-market decor. In one corner is a plastic bust of Elvis Presley with antlers tied to his head next to a bunch of balloons. Near that, for a Halloween promotion, is a giant cardboard coffin leaning against a wall.

A large tray piled with cheese sits on a table between the hosts and news reader Lisa Chelenza. During commercial breaks, someone in the studio almost invariably grabs a chunk to nibble on.

"That one has a little spice to it," Adams says with the tone of a cheese connoisseur. "It has a little jalapeno in it."

While Adams operates the control board, Coombs is often staring into a computer screen and using the Internet to look up a fact or to retrieve sound clips to run with a bit.

Each Thursday, one of their favorite segments is "Bob the Builder," where they make fun of delays in constructing Destiny USA by interviewing someone pretending to be developer Robert Congel.

Coombs is also a fan of "The Yes Game," in which they ask listeners to identify themselves on the air and then answer "yes" to embarrassing questions, even if they're not true, in order to win prizes.

One comedy bit that didn't go over as well as expected was a mock interview earlier this year with a Stern impersonator making fun of 95X for dumping him. Coombs says some die-hard Stern fans saw it instead as making fun of their idol.

Levine says he also wasn't a fan of the morning show's recent parody song about West Virginia college football that contained some "graphically sexual" lyrics.

He says he was pleased listeners called to complain about that one, too.

"These guys (Adams and Coombs) don't do Howard Stern. It's not their act," Levine says. "The good news is that their audience is so aware of their show that they call and give them negative feedback before I even come to work in the morning."

Mostly, though, it's Adams and Coombs keeping listeners in line. During one bit just before 9 a.m., they ask for listeners' help to make a list of phrases that only men tend to use, such as "dialed in," or ones used mostly by women, such as "That's hot!"

A man calls with sexually suggestive golf slang that draws a brief chuckle from Coombs.

Chelenza asks what it means.

"Move on," Coombs says quickly.

Without missing a beat, Adams takes the next call.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Dick Blume/Staff photographer

GLENN "GOMEZ" ADAMS (left) and Dave Coombs have successfully targeted many former Central New York listeners of Howard Stern's national radio show to switch over to their local morning show on radio station TK99/TK105.

Dick Blume/Staff photographer

RADIO HOSTS (from left) Dave Coombs and Glenn "Gomez" Adams, along with newscaster Lisa Chelenza (far right) interview Dave and Beezie Madden about an upcoming horse show at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

GRAPHIC: Stern vs. Gomez & Dave. TK Morning teamThe Post-Standard. Note: For text see microfilm.