Russ Martin is the host and lynchpin of The Russ Martin show, on 105.3 fm, the pre-eminent radio show of the Dallas-Fort-Worth Metroplex. A ratings powerhouse, it has been known, on at least one occasion, to violate what is largely presumed to be an absolute law of ratings, simultaneously gaining both intermittent listeners, or listeners who only tune in for a while during the course of the show, and permanent listeners, or listeners who tune in for the whole show(Note: these are not technical terms. Don't use my words or you'll just sound stupid).
Russ, a lifelong Dallas resident approaching middle age, has spent many years in radio, and even a few on television: his resume includes swimming in the Trinity river, hosting a TV show, laying tile for for his father for several humiliating years afterwards, and a posession of comedic genius. His sense of timing, his setups, the puns, the bits-- they're an excercise in comedic mastery every minute from 3 to 7 in the postmeridian. Which isn't to say this is sophisticated stuff, though. Content is just as often Russ burping or taking a swig of vodka as it is making fun of news stories and riding a motorcycle through the halls.
The magic of the show, however, lies in the interactions among Russ and the people around him. Russ's friend of more than 25 years, J(ohn) D(avid) Ryan has long been a mainstay of both the radio show and the TV show before that. Although he doesn't posess the sheer comic skill of Russ, some of the funniest moments of the show occur when the two of them just break out into laughter together. Another long time character is Everett Newton, a defense lawyer who generally comes to the show every wednesday and friday, and proved entertaining enough that he even get a show on the same station on saturdays (I haven't listened to it in a while, but my favorite game they play is "Senator or Serial Killer?").
Despite his unusual success, and even calls for syndication (which he has rejected) he remains a humble man, saying he doesn't even understand why people like his show. To the extent you can judge someone you'll never meet, he seems to me to be, for the most part, private outside of his radio life, preferring to own his large house, drive his batmobile, and dance at a stripclub on his birthday in peace. A fairly conservative man, he will not hesitate to give a married working mother the third degree about how she raises her children. He's not mean about it, but you do get the sense that it offends him.
Russ hosts several annual events: as mentioned, he and the whole show dance at the strip club "La Berre"(sic) on his birthday in October; he hosts the White Trash Party, which is more or less a concert during which the whole show gets drunk and Russ gets to play the guitar; and a parade celbrating the police. He also has created a foundation which relays donations to the families of police officers who have been killed in the line of duty.