American radio show
Nights with Alice Cooper was a radio show hosted by Detroit born rock and roll artist and shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper. It was syndicated by United Stations Radio Networks and broadcast on a wide variety of affiliate radio stations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Oman, and Europe.[1] The most recent show is also streamed online in a continuous loop by Radionomy; this stream is also used for the official Nights with Alice Cooper app for iOS and Android, which additionally offers "exclusive content" as well as interaction with other fans.[2]
During the program, Cooper played requests as well as his favorite songs (most of which are from the classic rock genre), answered emails from his fans, and interviewed celebrities. Celebrities he has interviewed on his show include Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Brian Johnson of AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Meat Loaf, Rob Zombie, Glenn Danzig, Def Leppard, Peter Frampton and Jerry Springer. The show also plays rare tracks from classic rock artists, along with blues, early punk rock, and psychedelic music.
In 2005, The Guardian described the program as "a distinctive music show... Cooper makes an entertaining host with some unique one-liners".[3]
History
The show debuted on January 26, 2004, on 16 stations, including its flagship station, KDKB in Phoenix, Arizona (later moved to sister station KSLX-FM following its switch to alternative rock).
Nights with Alice Cooper features many segments, including "Tuesday Bluesday", "Freaky Facts", "Movie Music Madness", "Cooper's Covers", "Same Name" (two different songs with the same name), "Closet Classic", "The Quiet Room", "Lockdown Rockdown" (songs for Cooper's jailed listeners), "Monster Prog", "Throwback Thursday", "Hey Superstar Clean Out the Garage", "The Best Band You've Never Heard In Your Life" and "Songs We Just Don't Understand". Alice also plays his own rare songs and tells the stories behind them in the "Alice's B.O." (Beyond Obscure) and "Alice's Lost Hits" segments.
Holidays are big events on Nights with Alice Cooper, especially Halloween. The radio show has offered numerous contests and giveaways, including a flyaway trip to see Cooper in concert; a trip to see Led Zeppelin in London; and in October 2008, the giveaway of a signed ESP guitar. Alice is also a huge trivia buff, and gives away signed pairs of his own pants to listeners who correctly answer his questions, which mostly relate to rare rock or movie trivia.
The show is also known for Cooper's humorous self-deprecating one-liner outros to commercial breaks: An announcer often tells Cooper's listeners that they are listening to (among many things) "a man for whom even Dr. Phil has no cure", "a man who is not afraid to look like a fool--and demonstrates so regularly", and, possibly most famously, "a man with a face made for radio", and other things mocking and/or questioning Cooper's intelligence, wisdom, talent, career, activities, looks, etc. in such ways.
In the early days of the show, the program featured several scripted comedy skits which centered around Alice and his life and were written by Kristine "Kiki" Valentine Rakowsky who played Alice's counterpart Mistress Kitty on the show. Many of these featured Alice getting into arguments with rock musicians who asked Cooper for money he allegedly owed them for shows. These arguments would ultimately result in Cooper getting beaten senseless by the artists, who would often yell "and THIS is for making fun of RUSH!" (which was a common joke of Cooper's at the time.)
Nights with Alice Cooper is produced by music journalist and former Rockline producer Katherine Turman.
Nights with Alice Cooper ended its syndicated run on September 8, 2023. Radio and Television Business Report stated that Cooper would be continuing in radio in some form after the show's end but that creative disputes with United Stations, which had changed ownership earlier in the year, prompted him to sever ties with the network.[4]
