As everyone knows by now, the Hot Morning Mess at Hot 99.5 is no more. Through much speculation and blog/media uproar, the beloved Mark, Kris, and Teapot Tim said goodbye to the Washington Metro area a little over a month ago.

Enter Kane, the transplant from Florida who just moved (back) here with his fiancee, and I think, a few pets. Now, Kane is a nice enough guy it seems, especially since he’s been giving away lots of Kane Kash.

But, something bothers me about Kane. OK, so he lacks the sidekick and the funny banter that the previous mess had, but they’re working on that. However, I would have to say that his fiancee calling in and him talking to her on the phone, does not substitute for much of anything (as I heard one morning). Kane is trying, but frankly he kind of annoys me. Much of his show that I’ve heard has featured sob stories from people with deadbeat spouses who need money for Christmas (OK, so I can’t hate on that) and also weird stories such as the one today.

Today’s show had a story about a man who apparently suffered a heart attack on a plane from Heathrow, London to Boston. The man died 3 hours into the flight, and passengers were left to share space with his grieving wife and his body for the remaining 3 hours of the flight. A tragic, sad story was turned into an almost kind of joke and discussion about dead bodies on flights. Completely inappropriate.

For me, Kane is just a little too much to handle before 9:00 am. I don’t want to listen to heavy, sad stories, and I don’t want to be all depressed before I go into work (which is depressing enough as it is).

So, my advice is lighten up, Kane. The beltway is bad enough to deal with, we don’t need to further want to gouge our eyes out while commuting to work by listening to sad talk-show quality stories that are better suited for Geraldo or Maury.

Update: Well, maybe I’m just partial to Mark & Kris because of what they gave me. Haha.