For the Australian radio station, see ABC NewsRadio

NewsRadio was an American sitcom, originally broadcast from 1995 to 1999 by NBC.

The series is set in a New York City news radio station, WNYX, and starts with the arrival of a new news director, Dave Nelson (played by Dave Foley). He finds a staff with often weird habits.

NewsRadio's scripts were usually fast-paced and often absurd, frequently reminiscent of screwball comedy. There was often a strong reliance on physical humor: "NewsRadio was already unlike any other television show in that its comedy relied more on the gag than the one-liner. It was even more unusual in that the gags were primarily visual." [1]

In addition to the often strange habits of the staff, the series also contained two finales far removed from the rest of the series, the first of which demonstrated what NewsRadio would be like if it were to occur in outer space. The second was a parody of Titanic.

Throughout the entire series, Newsradio had many references to the George Clinton musical group Parliament-Funkadelic.

Cast

• Dave Nelson (Dave Foley), the coffee-addicted, micromanaging news director.
• Jimmy James (Stephen Root), the station's multi-millionaire owner (who may have been famous skyjacker D.B. Cooper), who often places strange bets with his rich friends and is desperately looking for a wife.
• Beth (Vicki Lewis ) is Dave's perpetually gum-chewing secretary, whose work mainly consists of eavesdropping.
• The station's News anchors are the bombastic, ego-centric Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) and the unflappable Catherine Duke (Khandi Alexander), who left part way though the show's fourth season.
• The clumsy and not very bright Matthew Brock (Andy Dick) is a news reporter, while the ambitious and intelligent Lisa Miller (Maura Tierney), with whom Dave has an intermittent relationship, is promoted and demoted within the show's run, serving as reporter, producer and news director.
• Joe Garelli (Joe Rogan) is the station's electrician. He builds everything he needs, rather than purchasing them, and espouses various conspiracy theories.

After Phil Hartman was murdered in 1998, he was replaced by Jon Lovitz, playing Max Louis. Lovitz made two guest appearances on the show before becoming a regular: once as a patient in a mental institution and again as a jumper on the ledge outside the WNYX office.

Character facts

• The name "Dave Nelson" came from the Twin Towers. Each tower has a name, one being Dave, the other Nelson. In the opening credits, Dave Foley's name comes across the screen with the towers in the background.
• The name "Jimmy James" came from a Beastie Boys song with the same title.
• Maura Tierney and Joe Rogan's characters (Lisa and Joe) are modeled closely on their real life personalities.
• The character of Joe was originally named Rick, and was played by another actor in the pilot episode.
• Ray Romano was originally cast to play Joe, but had to pull out due to getting Everybody Loves Raymond.

External links

• NewsRadio & The Comedic Art