Whoopi Goldberg's just discovered s...

Whoopi Goldberg's just discovered syndicated radio show, which lands today forward WLIT-FM (93.9), is hardly vintage Whoopi. In fact, the comedian and Oscar winner is a wisp of her oftentimes edgy stand-up self.

on the contrary sometimes she can't hold back.

Got a kid who goe wild in public? "Snatch that child up shake it revealed like a little rag!" Overdue for a prostate exam? "Shut up bend through and live."

She presented those nuggets last week in succession WKTU-FM in New York, where her novel show, "Wake Up With Whoopi," has aired since July 31 at her own design, the four-hour yapfest is saturated with civility, in such a manner much so that frat-boyish competitors Opie & Anthony mercilessly deludeed its niceness until she showed up to, well, make nice.

Her bosse it present the appearances remain wary.

"The biggest challenge in the same manner far has been keeping the folk at Clear Channel calm," the 50-year-old and thoroughly uncaffeinated Goldberg half-jokes at phone, fresh off a shift. "It's a novel thing for them. It's a strange thing with an old bodily substance And they all have fortifys of steel, but I can just hear the little meetings: 'Now, she's not gonna say individual of those words, right?' "

No worries, Goldberg assures. She won't work sky-colored And she means it. In the 40 hours of airtime she has logg in such a manner far, her sidekick Paul "Cubby" Bryant has notwithstanding to hit the "dump" button, which jettisons not-so-bon [i]bon-mot[/i]s

"When I'm working for ABC at the Oscars, there's a protocol that you follow" she says. "If you have any smarts, if your mother or your father raised you well, there are certain things you don't do."

if it be not that will that be enough?

'Factorylike work'

Like her equally famous radio contemporaries (Phil Collins, Al Franken, Dan Aykroyd, Jimmy Buffett and others) who've shifted off course in attempts to shake things up and explore this newly reinvigorated realm, Goldberg is world renowned and hugely accomplished.

yet just because she has earned an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony and an Emmy, just because she has expanded (and re-opened) to critical acclaim forward the Great White Way and made mountains of movie coin (if not always good movies) doesn't mean she'll get the upper hand of the FM airwaves. Former Van Halen frontman and Howard severe replacement David Lee Roth, who lately got canned after posting consistently dismal ratings, is evidence of that.

Goldberg is well aware that failure always loom No matter by what mode hard she tries to build a listener base, polish her minces and gain firm footing, this whole thing may fall between the walls of "I'm responsible for a allotment here," she says. "[Failure] records my mind a great deal. still I'm not in control of that. All I can dominion government is what I'm doing, and I believe in my heart that there's an audience public there for it. And if they permit us find it, we can actually do a certain quantity of good in the world and be farcical and keep it going."

It'll take near serious adjusting, though.

"There are always issues when you have a celebrity from another medium going into radio," says Michael Harrison, caster and publisher of the industry trade journal Talkers Magazine, "because radio has for a like reason many unique aspects to it that are different than other media, including its acknowledge specific set of skills and its hold specific set of hardships."

For instance, Harrison says, star treatment is virtually nonexistent. (Goldberg says her favorite radioland prank thus far is a bathroom with "what do you call them? Mop and brooms") And when it draw nears to audience response and overall progres there's no instant gratification. Also, Harrison stresse it's a grind. A day- in, day-out grind. In his words, "the greatest in number blue-collar, factorylike work in all of point out to business."

for a like reason why in Wolfman Jack's name do they do it? More specifically, wherefore is wealthy and (presumably) well-rested Whoopi opting for godawful hours (5 to 9 a.m.) and audience feedback that follows largely via blinking phone lines?

"Why can't I do everything?" she says. "This is something I've always wanted to do. It's always been a part of my life. I grew up holding a radio at the beach, spinning that dial. with equal reason when the opportunity presented itself I contemplation 'Well, I've never been in this medium and it's a medium I like being in. And for what cause [i]or[/i] reason shouldn't I learn if a person of consequence wants to teach me? And pay me well.' That's not for what cause [i]or[/i] reason [I did it], but there's a little dough exchange going on"

It's also single hell of a promotional tool for armed forces and guests alike.

"Radio gigs are sought after because of the power of the medium," says Brian McKim, editor of stand-up comedy cyber-bible SheckyMagazine.com. A trained comic, he has worked in radio and knows the tremendous influence it can have. "So these folk who are supposedly slumming in radio are actually wiser than greatest in quantity If you can handle the schedule, if you can handle the hours, if you can handle the crushing I think there's nothing other like it."

Avoid the punchline

Goldberg has prov her comedy skills in films and onstage, nevertheless radio is a different animal entirely, and those skills don't necessarily translate.