The Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot, a local radio show focused on old
timey Americana music, recently went off the air at its longtime home,
KTHX. The show’s host, Don “Dondo” Darue, is still
producing the show as an online podcast for his website, web.mac.com/feralradio, and hosting
a music night at Great Basin Brewing Co., 846 Victorian Ave., Sparks,
355-7711, every Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Tell me about the Risky Biscuit Hayseed
Hoot.
It started in 1990 when the X first went on the air. … One
Saturday morning—when we first went on the air we didn’t
have any part-time people, so we worked during the week, and also on
the weekends, and I switched places with Bruce [Van Dyke, KTHX on-air
personality and RN&R columnist], because he had to go do something.
And on my way out the door, I grabbed some Ozark Mountain Daredevils
and some Pure Prairie League and some John Prine and stuff like that,
and put it on the air that day, and Bruce actually heard it, and he
said, ‘Hey man, you own Saturday with that stuff.” And I
said, “Well, then, I’ll make it a show, and we’ll
come up with a name,” and Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot kind of
stuck. It was on the air for 19 years and one month. The format was
basically Americana stuff, like bluegrass and folk, and a lot of twang
in there. Some spoken word, some humor. That’s pretty much it in
a nutshell.
What prompted the decision to cancel the
show?
Well, I was called into the general manager’s office at the X
in August actually, the first time around. And they said,
“We’re not going to carry the Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot
anymore.” And I said, “You’re crazy! Why? It makes
money. It’s real popular.” And they said it’s not a
local decision, it was a national decision at that time. But the
general manager at that time put up a fight for it, and they said,
‘OK, we’ll keep it on for now,” and then last month,
they came in and said, “Well we’re not going to carry it
anymore.” It doesn’t really fit in with the profit
structure for the company.
What’s the name of the company?
Wilkes Broadcasting.
How big of a company is that?
They have radio stations in a few markets: Reno, Fresno, Denver,
Kansas City, and there’s a couple other ones in there. But
they’re based in Georgia.
Now that the Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot is
off the air, are you staying with the X?
That’s up in the air for me right now. What I want to do right
now—I own the Risky Biscuit Hayseed Hoot. It’s my own thing
and my company. So my plan is to put that back on the air, and
I’ve had a couple people talk to me about doing that. …
It’s just hard because I need this job right now to support my
family, but I don’t want to stay there. I really don’t have
faith—I just don’t think these guys really care, this
ownership. They just look at everything from a business standpoint,
from a profit standpoint. This show makes money, even in this economy,
but it just wasn’t enough.
It seems like it’s a decision to lose
some local character …
Yeah, and for me, personally, I just think it’s really
reflective of this consolidation of ownership of media, whether
it’s magazines or radio or TV or anything. If you’re owned
by somebody out of town, they don’t have a connection to this
show that people have. I mean, I’ve literally gotten hundreds of
emails. … It’s been pretty overwhelming. I know the
show’s popular—it’s been on for so long—but the
nice thing is I get emails from people who tell me their kids grew up
listening to the show. I’ve got a lot of people who listen
online—or used to listen online—from all over the place,
from all over the world. It’s their little piece of Nevada, their
little piece of Reno, and they like it.