“They just axed me, dude,” said Gold during a recent conversation concerning the whereabouts of the Funk. “The reason I got was because they were trying to sustain a market share and they considered my show a fringe show. This past year, I had one bad season and didn’t bring in as much, but it used to be one of the top programs and raise the most amount of money. I volunteered my time there for 4½ years—I’m a free show, it didn’t cost them anything—and now they’re paying for a syndicated show during that slot.”
Aside from the radio show, Gold also co-owns the coffee and pancake joint Funk N’ Waffles, 727 S. Crouse Ave. on the Syracuse University Hill. Apart from the flapjacks and the java, Funk N’ Waffles is adorned with vinyl LP jackets of soul classics past and regularly hosts live funk, which has included performances by James Brown luminary Fred Wesley, among others. Gold also performs in the band Sophistafunk that tours in and around Syracuse as well as throughout the Northeast, so it’s no secret the dude loves his funk. And if he had his way, he’d still be funking it up.
“It’s one of the reasons I stayed in Syracuse after college and opened a restaurant called Funk N’ Waffles,” continued the SU graduate Gold, “because my persona is ‘Adam Gold of The Funk Show.’”
Gold believes the biggest hit the show took was in August 2008 when, he claimed, with only a few days notice, he was told the show was being moved from its 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. slot to later in the day from 5 to 8 p.m. He didn’t have the chance to alert listeners of the switch.
“People used to wake up on a Saturday jamming to the great delicious funk music I played,” continued Gold. “Then one day they just said the show was moving six hours later. If they cared, they would have given me a month’s notice so I could tell my thousands of listeners about the time switch and that move scenario seemed like it cut my audience in half. I went from getting 20 phone calls an hour to zero.”
Because of Gold’s involvement with Sophistafunk, the 5 p.m. hour impeded weekly radio commitment. “Saturday nights are good nights for musicians so it was hard to always be able to do the show,” he admitted. “There were a couple shows I couldn’t do because I was playing a gig, and the guy I had fill in for me was a 35-year-old black dude {Kevin Dames} who knows and grew up with the music, and I’m a 20-something white boy. The station mentioned something about consistency, which could have only meant my voice, because ultimately, {Dames} was playing music right out of my CD book.”
An inquiry to WAER regarding The Funk Show gained no specifics, with general manager Joe Lee stating in an e-mail that there’s not much to discuss. “WAER makes periodic programming changes based on program performance,” he wrote. “The Funk Show averaged 500 listeners an hour {this past year} between 5 and 8 p.m. Saturdays. By comparison, the program preceding it, Beale Street Caravan, is over 1,000.”
He declined further comment on whether or not there was any consideration about negotiating with Gold the possibility of moving his show to a different time slot or why a nationally syndicated show replaced one with a local bent. “WAER has spent the last year adjusting the broadcast schedule to serve the interest of our core audience. Those changes started last summer by eliminating some programs from the schedule and adding new programs like Thistle & Shamrock, Weekend Edition Sunday, The Grateful Dead Hour and moving some programs around on the schedule. As a result, we’ve seen good growth in audience estimates.”
As for the future of funk, Gold said he plans to make archival podcasts of his Funk Show available on his Web site, www.sweatyfunk.com, so fans will still be able to access it. That, he said, is of utmost importance. “When I was in the studio doing the show, I’d get phone calls from 86-year-old women, 12-year-olds, people on the South Side and everywhere else in the city,” he reminisced. “It was an experience and a happening for many people—not just me.”
But ultimately, Gold said if there are any stations willing to get on the good foot—including WAER if they wanted him back—he’d jump at the chance to spin those vinyls once again. “I’d do it any night of the week,” he said regarding his availability, “or because of the commitment to my band, I’d even love to prerecord it and have it on Saturday nights and have people be able to throw a house party to it.”
—Tom Kahley
Adam Gold: Is going to have to get his funk on away from WAER.
