By Rick Kaempfer
GETTING CAUGHT UP WITH 97.1 FM THE DRIVE ’ S BRIAN SHERMAN
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ou ’ ll be hard-pressed to find a more approachable morning radio show than the Drive ’ s ( 97.1FM ) Sherman and Tingle . They don ’ t just talk to the listeners on the phone , they do it in person . How many radio shows regularly go out to the bars with their listeners ? Sherman and Tingle do it every week for a feature called Thirsty Thursdays .
“ Yeah , if it ' s not every Thursday ,” Brian Sherman says , “ it ' s every other Thursday . We go out and we go to all these different locations and hang out for a couple of hours . It ' s very cool to see different people in different areas and hang out and buy some beers from time to time and you know , just have a great time . This is not a dig on other radio stations by any means , but I think it ' s a little rarer now than it used to be . And I ' m not exactly sure what the reason for that is . But yeah , we ' re very fortunate that we get to do that . It proves that we ' re just regular dudes . It ' s not like we ' re pulling up in our Lamborghinis . No , I ' m pulling up in my Honda Civic . I ' m showing up to the bar just like anybody else . And you know , we have a great time just like anybody else .”
That ’ s part of Sherman and Tingle ’ s appeal . They also don ’ t try to sugarcoat their flaws . “ You ’ re exactly right ,” Sherman admits with a laugh . “ You ' re exactly right because that ' s what ' s relatable because everybody has their own little quirks . Having those quirks makes you much more human and relatable to everybody else too . What you hear on the air is the real Sherman and Tingle . Just two guys talking and sharing things from their lives .”
Most of the time , those things are played for laughs , but two years ago , Sherman shared something with his audience that most certainly wasn ’ t funny . His wife Katie was going through breast cancer treatment . “ Yeah , my wife started up this website , it was called Katie Speaks , and it ' s still up ,” he says . “ She just documented everything she was going through to help other people who were also going through it . And it ' s a lifelong struggle . When we would go out to these Thirsty Thursdays , that ' s when I could really see how much it was helping people because there are so many other people that had gone through it or have a family member going through it . I mean , it was two years ago , and at the last Thirsty Thursday , I had two people come up and say , “ Tell your wife that I love her so much because I just went through it , or I went through it last year .” I mean , that ' s even a bigger deal than us being funny . If you could relate in that way where it could actually help . That ' s even better .”
Sherman and Tingle have now been a radio duo for 17 years at two different radio stations . “ To be honest , I ' ve only had this a few other times in my life where the other person that I was doing comedy with or improv just knew where I was going . And I knew where they were going . And I guess that ' s called chemistry . Yeah , I don ' t know how or why it happens . I ' m sure some people wish it would happen more , especially if they ' re ever teamed with anybody , a comedy troupe or in a radio station . In 2007 , ( Q-101
The Drive ’ s ( 97.1FM ) Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle
general manager ) Marv Nyren had the idea to put us together , which I give him all the credit in the world for doing because we would have never gotten together had he not suggested it . We got on a phone call and talked for about three hours .
Our philosophy , our work ethics , and they were dead on , and we just hit it off . We started from there and just kept running .” Sometimes duos drift apart , but Sherman says they are going in the other direction . “ We are different , and we will disagree , but I will say we definitely see more eye to eye and have a mutual respect more than we ever did . We ' re older , we ' re more mature . He and I are in this together .”
Now they even have their own beer : Sherman & Tingle ’ s Driver Nation . “ Yeah , that ' s pretty cool ,” he says . “ Crystal Lake brewing . They ' ve been awesome with us since it started a little over a year ago . And I ' ll be honest , I had plenty of it about a week ago . We took about a case to Michigan with our family . It ' s pretty cool to drink a beer with my name on it . No , I do not get a discount , nor do I get any money from it . A very good portion of the proceeds goes to a great cause , the American Veterans Service Dog Academy . They help raise dogs and train them for service members needing service animals . So that ' s where that money goes .”
If you ’ re thinking that you must be a ratings juggernaut to have your own beer , you are correct . Sherman and Tingle are consistently one of the highest-rated morning shows in Chicago . Sherman says he doesn ’ t pay attention to that sort of thing .
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