Fez Whatley Announces Retirement From Radio, End to Ron and Fez Show

FEZ WHATLEY RETIRES 3

The Ron and Fez Show has done it again.  They’ve left their listeners wondering, is it or isn’t it real?

Yesterday on April 1, 2015 on the Ron and Fez Show, Ron Bennington started the show with the shocking announcement. “The Ron and Fez Show is coming to an end. Friday will be our last show. It’s something that Fez and I have been talking about for awhile, and it’s been a long long run for us.”

Fez Whatley then made the announcement that he is retiring from radio, and that Friday April 3rd would not only be his last day on the air, but would also be the last day of the Ron and Fez Show. A tearful Fez told the audience, “I am retiring from radio. Not just radio, but the most important thing ever in my life, the Ron and Fez Show.” Fez has been one half of the Ron and Fez show for the past 17 years and prior to the inception of Ron and Fez, was a producer on the Ron and Ron show in Tampa, Florida. Fez has been suffering for the past ten years from a number of health problems, both physical and emotional, including multiple heart attacks, stents, anxiety and depression, which have made doing his job a daily struggle for him, prompting the decision to step down.

Because of the date of the announcement and the history of the Ron and Fez Show, some callers and fans on Twitter and Reddit questioned whether the announcement was an April Fool’s joke, while other fans reached out to the show to express sadness and good wishes for the radio team who have always felt like family to many listeners. But if the announcement is real, there will be a week of “Best of” shows airing after the show wraps, and then Fez will be returning to Florida to live with his family. He will not be returning to radio. As he put it, “I’m retiring, this isn’t just taking some time off, or going away for awhile. It’s calling it a day on my radio career.” Whatley thanked the audience, and especially Bennington for all the years over the run of the show:

“When I walked into that comedy club so many years ago, I didn’t know that night how much it was going to change my life and what a wonderful experience it was going to be after I met Ron. Doing this show and being able to do radio this long has been great but getting to do it with Ronnie has meant the world to me. It has meant absolutely everything and that night I met you, two people couldn’t have been more opposite and yet kindred spirits, and you were the one who saw that. And I just thank you for everything, absolutely. You’ve been my friend, my partner, my brother, and you’ve obviously been my magic genie because you made every one of my wishes come true in this business. Thank you. So Friday will be my last show in radio. Thank you everybody.”

Bennington didn’t talk much about his plans after the show wraps on Friday other than to say that there is no definite plan in place right now, but he hinted that there were possibilities being discussed.

The Ron and Fez Show has aired on SiriusXM’s Raw Dog Comedy Hits channel for the past 15 months. Prior to that, the show had been airing on the Opie and Anthony Channel since the show came to XM Satellite Radio in 2005. Before joining Satellite Radio the show had a long history that included New York’s WNEW, Free-FM, Washington D.C.’s WJFK, and WKRO where Ron and Fez got their start on August 24, 1998.

You can listen to the entire incredibly emotional episode, on SiriusXM On Demand, but here’s a clip.

Twitter wasn’t sure what to believe about the April 1 announcement.

https://twitter.com/SpongeSteve/status/583301729535528960

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