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''Preston & Steve'' is a morning radio, comedy, and variety broadcast on
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
's
active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...
station 93.3 FM
WMMR WMMR (93.3 FM, "93-3 WMMR") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC and broadcasts an active rock radio format. ...
. The show features DJs Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison. The show originated at WDRE and then on Y100, both in Philadelphia, and features daily telephone interviews, in-studio guests, celebrity impersonations, unusual news stories, and numerous sound clips and running gags. It broadcasts live on the radio as well as streaming audio via the station website from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET Monday through Friday, and is a featured
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
in the comedy section of the iTunes Store.


History

Preston Elliot, Steve Morrison, and Marilyn Russell were among a group of radio personalities introduced to the
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
market through the now defunct radio station WDRE. With several of their WDRE co-workers, they departed the station for Y100 in 1997 when WDRE changed format. After four years of ''The Y100 Morning Show with Preston, Marilyn, and Steve'', Marilyn Russell left the morning show on March 1, 2002, citing family reasons. She has worked part-time on other stations in the Philadelphia area since then, including
WMGK WMGK (102.9 FM, "102-9 MGK") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station ...
, SoJo 104.9, WYSP, and joined morning personality Dave Cruise as co-host on "The BENFM Morning Show on 95.7 in 2007. In 2001, WPLY's owner, Dan Lerner, one of the last independent owners in the Philadelphia market, sold the station to Radio One, a national broadcasting corporation that acquired Preston, Marilyn & Steve's previous radio station 103.9 WDRE. Radio One and hosts Elliot and Morrison did not successfully negotiate a new contract, and the personalities agreed to a deal with local broadcasting group
Greater Media Greater Media, Inc., known as Greater Media, was an American media company that specialized in radio stations. The markets where they owned radio stations included Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and the state of New Jersey. The comp ...
. The hosts' contract with Radio One expired on February 24, 2005, and Y100 changed format and became WPHI "The Beat" the same day. A legal battle between Radio One and the Elliot and Morrison team over the hosts'
non-compete clause In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition again ...
was resolved by a ruling that they were no longer in competition with WPLY. On May 23, 2005, their new show debuted on
WMMR WMMR (93.3 FM, "93-3 WMMR") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC and broadcasts an active rock radio format. ...
. In 2006, Elliot and Morrison received a long-term contract extension and in 2008, the station gave them a new studio with their own production equipment. They signed multi-year extensions in 2011 and in 2019. In May 2022, their contract with WMMR was extended to 2030. On May 8, 2025, an on-air show announcement revealed that Kathy Romano would no longer be a part of the show or an employee of WMMR due to cuts by parent company Beasley Media Group.


On-air staff

File:Preston Elliot.jpg, Preston Elliot, co-host File:Steve Morrison.jpg, Steve Morrison, co-host File:Casey Foster.jpg, Casey Foster, executive producer File:Marissa Magnatta.jpg, Marisa Magnatta, executive producer File:Nick 9270.jpg, Nick Mcilwain, executive producer


Awards and ratings

The show has been named the "Best Morning Show" by '' Philadelphia Style'' magazine, and "Personality/Show of the Year" in the active rock category by
Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
trade magazine. Before switching to WMMR, the show won various Philadelphia A.I.R. Awards, including the "Best Weekday Morning Team" award for 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005, and was voted best local morning show in the country in FMQB's Year End Leaders Poll for 2004 and 2005 in two different formats. In the Summer 2004
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
ratings book, the show was rated fourth in market share for all people ages 18–34, and second for men in the same category. The ''Preston & Steve'' show's ratings surpassed
Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...
's during his last month on the air, and they outranked each of
David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Known for his wild and energetic stage persona, he was the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen for three stints: from 1974 to 1985, during 1996, and from 2006 to when ...
's, Opie and Anthony's, and Kidd Chris's tenures at WYSP. , ''Preston & Steve'' was the top rated show in Philadelphia, and over a four-year period, they had the #1 show in the
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
ratings for the 25–54 adult demographic a total of 42 times. In 2014, Elliot and Morrison were nominated by the National Association of Broadcasters as finalists for the NAB Marconi Radio Awards for Major Market Personality of the Year. On June 11, 2019, Elliot and Morrison were honored by The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation, receiving the 2019 Service to Community Award in acknowledgement of the Camp Out for Hunger On November 22, 2019 The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted the duo into their Hall of Fame. In August 2021, it was announced that Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison will be inducted to the Radio Hall of Fame, being nominated under the “Spoken Word On-Air Personality” category.


Publicity events


Camp Out for Hunger

Since 1998, the show has held an annual Camp Out For Hunger, in which both Elliot and Morrison live in a motorhome for one week in November to raise food for Philabundance. The show awards prizes to individuals and groups that donate the most food. Since 1998, the event has collected thousands of tons of food and raised millions of dollars to feed the hungry across the Delaware Valley. Results


10,000 marbles

To celebrate the anticipated 10,000th loss in
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
franchise history, executive producer Nick McIlwain rolled 10,000 marbles down the steps of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
as Bill Weston, WMMR's program director, looked on. After being cleaned up by the show's production crew, the marbles were donated to
Toys for Tots Toys for Tots is a program run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve which distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas. It was founded in 1947 by reservist Major Bill Hendricks. The Marine T ...
and
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, also known by its acronym CHOP, is a children's hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its primary campus is located in the University City, Philadelphia, University City neighborhood of West Philadelph ...
.


"Totally Office Calendar"

In 2006, Elliot had a slip of the tongue while trying to say "awesome" and instead said "office". Later that year they announced that they would be releasing a calendar featuring one (sometimes two) woman a month. Lauren Harris had been the only woman to appear in the calendar every year, until the 2015 calendar, when other commitments kept her from participating (she returned to appear in the 2016 Calendar). Release of the Calendar is typically accompanied by a "Totally Office Calendar Party", which can draw thousands of participants to see the women depicted in the Calendar in person and receive signed copies of the Calendar. There was no Calendar shoot nor a release party for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Instead, a 2021 "Totally Office Calendar" poster featuring past photos from previous Calendars was created and was given to anyone that made a drive-through donation at the 2020 Camp Out for Hunger. The Calendar poster was later made available through the station's "Rock Shop" store on their website for the apropos price of $9.33.


"I Bleed for Preston & Steve" blood drive

This annual blood drive is hosted by ''Preston & Steve'' in coordination with the
American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
. The event typically attracts a very large crowd, and various promotional items and free concert tickets are often given out. The 2011 blood drive, the sixth annual drive, collected a total of 1,174 units of blood, and gives them a 6-year total of 6,409 units. The 2016 (11th annual) drive collected a total of 1,297 units of blood.


In popular culture

* Elliot and his wife Rachelle were featured in the first episode of Season Five on ''
Trading Spaces ''Trading Spaces'' is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series '' Changing Rooms''. The first ...
''. * Morrison and his wife Claire were featured on an episode of the
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...
show ''Spice Up My Kitchen'' where their kitchen was redone for a budget of $40,000. * Producer Casey Foster and his wife Diane were featured on an episode of the
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...
show ''Bad, Bad Bath'' (later retitled ''Save My Bath'') which premiered on October 17, 2006. * Reporter Kathy Romano had appeared on an episode of the third season of '' The Simple Life'', commenting that the producers present on a Greyhound bus had to "spoon-feed" every line of dialogue to
Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...
. * Romano appeared in the 2009 film '' The Mighty Macs'' as a gate agent. The film is produced by Pat Croce and is about an all girl Catholic college basketball team. * Foster signed a one-day contract with the
Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...
. * Foster and McIlwain appeared in two episodes of ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...
,'' and Romano appeared in the season three episode "Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender." Both Elliot and Morrison appeared in season 4 episode 3, playing construction workers, alongside several Philadelphia Eagles. Steve's role was originally to include one line ("Uh, yeah... I guess?"), but was shortened ("What?"), Preston's role had no lines. They were also featured as themselves in the episode "Mac's Big Break". * Foster appeared in the 2010 documentary film ''Bazaar of All Nations'' about a unique and influential shopping center in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. * Morrison and Magnatta appear on an episode of
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives ''Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'' (often nicknamed ''Triple D'' and stylized as ''Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives'') is an American food reality television series that has aired on the Food Network since April 23, 2007. It is hosted by Guy Fieri, and in ...
in 2011, where host
Guy Fieri Guy Ramsay Fieri (, ; Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owned three now-defunct restaurants in California. He licenses his name to restaurants in cities a ...
visits the Memphis Taproom in the
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
neighborhood of
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
.


References


External links


Official site

''Preston & Steve'' archive site, including every podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston and Steve American comedy radio programs Culture of Philadelphia WMMR people