REBE
Four UNL students
take the air in shorts
i
Photos by Lane
Hickenbottom
§
Junior broadcasting majors Klaus
IMarre and Matt Boyd (below),
David Pedersen (far left) and Jay
L Gish (left) announce the KRNU
| 90.3 FM show “Three Men and a
f German” in their boxer shorts on
1 Mondays from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00
3 a.m.
By Jeff Randall
Assignment Reporter
Many psychologists will tell you there is a common dream
- usually related to fear of public speaking - in which the
dreamer finds himself performing for an audience and then
realizes he is stark naked. And even though this nightmare is
rarely brought to fruition in the real world, for four University
of Nebraska-Lincoln students, it is a weekly reality.
Well, sort of.
Matt Boyd, Jay Gish, Klaus Marre and David Pedersen
spend two hours every Monday night performing for an audi
ence that runs campuswide and beyond; and last Monday
night, they did it in their underwear.
“I’ve got the ‘wife-beater,’ (a ribbed men’s undershirt, for
the uninitiated). I’ve got the boxers; it’s show time,” Boyd says
as he stands in the considerably chilly newsroom in the KRNU
studios.
Soon the other three hosts of “Three Men and a German”
will join Boyd in his half-nakedness, and take their positions in
their respective booths. But for now, it’s all about the pre-show
routine.
For those who are unfamiliar, “Three Men and a German”
is Lincoln’s only no-topic talk radio show. The show airs from
11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Monday nights on KRNU, 90.3 FM.
The show, a brainchild of Gish, started last spring after a
failed attempt to pitch the show to station manager Rick
Alloway. It took some talking, but Alloway eventually gave in.
Boyd surrendered his solo air shift to the rest of the group;
and the rest, as some might say, is history.
“We had to do this (no-topic) format because none of us are
smart enough to come up with good topics every week,” Boyd
says.
And in this format, that means the show’s hosts have to fill
two hours of air time by relying only on listeners’ calls, and
their own ability to make conversation or - in some cases -
snappy comebacks.
“It’s just a lot of confusion at first - it’s like that every
week,” Boyd says. “It just takes a while to get started.”
And once the foursome does get started, the conversation is
bound to go anywhere. Past topics have ranged from women in
the military to Pepsi Week to somewhat pointless discussions
of how stupid the show’s hosts truly are.
“We don’t mind when people insult us,” says Marre, the
show’s eponymous “German.” “It gives us a chance to insult
them back.”
Gish agrees.
“We insult each other more than any listeners ever could,”
he says.
In fact, the show’s only two restrictions are swear-words
and sports.
“The show that’s on right before us is a sports show, so we
leave that up to them,” Pedersen says.
As far as swearing goes, the show’s hosts often have to
check themselves - but when it comes to the callers, Marre is
the only line of defense.
And it’s a job he enjoys.
I m the phone Nazi, Marre says with a smile. When
people call and get too annoying or start swearing, I get to hang
up on them.”
Depending on how soon Marre hangs up on callers, the
show gets an average of between 30 and 40 phone calls each
week, Boyd says.
Translated, that means “Three Men and a German” has a
lot of listeners -especially for a late-night college radio station
- and the show’s hosts have a good idea why.
“People get to say whatever they want and we don’t care,”
Marre says. “It’s like we’re giving them the opportunity to
speak out.
“And plus they get to hear their voices on the radio.”
And so, it’s back to Monday night at 10:50 p.m., and
“Three Men and a German” is just about ready to begin.
Boyd rushes into a studio to record the show’s three-minute
introduction with only six minutes left before air time, and
Marre offers an explanation of what “Three Men and a
German” is really all about.
“Something always goes wrong,” he says as he heads for his
own studio. “That’s our trademark.”