Detroit Radio Battle 2010: And the winner is...

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It was madness in March, that's for sure. Metromix's inaugural Detroit Radio Battle -- the NCAA-styled elimination tournament featuring 16 of metro Detroit's top radio shows and most colorful personalities -- has a winner: 89X's Mornings with Dave and Chuck "The Freak."

Netting more than 60% of the final round's tally and registering more than 25,000 votes by Metromix users throughout the tourney helped lift the CIMX-FM (88.7) morning show to the big victory.

"It’s incredible -- there’s a lot of amazing talent in the city and a few of the finalists (were) in our own company, so to even be considered among that group in the first place was a big deal for us. Then to win the whole thing is just the icing on the cake of a great year for the Dave and Chuck 'the Freak' show," " Dave Hunter says to Metromix after learning of the victory.

The tournament was completely unscientific (Metromix + beer = fun? -- see, what do we know??) and designed to be friendly fun in a usually cutthroat, extremely competitive business. The 89X morning show isn't for everyone (sorry granny) -- nobody's going to argue that -- but their fans that tune in everyday, who ultimately bombed their social networking sites and encouraged people to vote are an extremely loyal and passionate bunch.

"This may sound a little cliché, but Chuck, Lisa (Way) and I truly feel that we have the greatest listeners in Detroit and Windsor! They are so genuinely into the show, follow us on Facebook and Twitter and come out to support us at all of our events," Dave says. "The amount of people who email us on a daily basis to say how much they love the show or how they almost got into an accident because they were laughing so hard truly blows us away – I can’t tell you how much we appreciate them and what they do to support us."

Dave and Chuck have been holding down the far left side of the FM radio dial for nine years now, and while this last year may have had some controversial moments at times -- okay, many times -- there is momentum building as the Detroit morning show radio landcape continues to evolve. That whole Dick Purtan retirement -- it was because of Dave and Chuck... right??

"...It seems like over the past year it has really blown up – with more and more people listening. We hit No. 1 with 18-34 year olds (one of the industry's/advertisers' desired target demos) for the first time last year and we really feel like we’re a part of something special," Dave, who also serves as 89X's program director, says.

"If you asked us a few years ago if we’d ever win the Metromix Detroit Radio Battle we would have laughed in your face, but to see it actually happen is pretty amazing. The bottom line is the three of us are truly like family, we connect on many levels and genuinely find each other funny -- and you just can’t fabricate that. I think that is what has brought a lot more people to the party and hopefully they stick around and get wasted with us for years to come!"

Dave, Chuck and Lisa -- congratulations from the Metromix crew on winning the inaugural Detroit Radio Battle. And a very special thanks to all of the users who spent time voting, leaving comments on the site, campaigning for your favorite hosts on Twitter and Facebook. And for all of the radio show hosts, marketing people and radio industry insiders who helped organize the battle, Metromix was very proud to work with all of you on this. Thank you.
 
To revisit the last few rounds and all the stories and interviews from the original 16, just click the DRB.