Jeff Suess, jsuess@cincinnati.com

Editor's note: This story was first published in 2016 for the 25th anniversary of the radio station's promotional stunt.

Betting on the Bengals was not a smart move in 1991.

Just ask Dennis “Wildman” Walker. The former WEBN-FM sports reporter was stuck living on a billboard for two months until the Bengals won a game.

They started the season 0-8, prolonging Walker’s torment.

“It was 61 days,” Walker said of his exile beneath the WEBN billboard on the roof of the ST Publications building at Eighth and Broadway.

The idea came out of the WEBN station manager’s office, recalled Walker, now a DJ on ClassX Radio FM.

WEBN’s parent company, Jacor Communications, had a station in Denver, so when the Bengals played the Denver Broncos to start the season, the stations made a wager: If the Broncos lose, their guy goes up on a billboard until the team wins; if the Bengals lose, Walker goes up.

The Broncos beat the Bengals 45-14.

“They got tromped out there,” Walker said. “It was bad. So, little did I know going up there on the billboard, I didn’t think I’d be up there 61 days.”

The stunt was one of the brighter moments of the Bengals’ “lost decade.”

Though the team was only two seasons removed from playing in the Super Bowl, and a few months earlier had won a playoff game, team founder Paul Brown had died in August and things started falling apart. They would finish the season 3-13 and not have another winning record until 2005.

While the Bengals kept losing, Walker wasn’t going anywhere. “I had my mail forwarded there it was so long,” Walker said.

Every morning, five days a week, Walker did his radio show under the billboard. Bengals safety David Fulcher climbed up to be on Walker’s show, and then-Mayor David Mann brought him the key to the city.

When the weather turned, they tarped off the roof, creating a man cave for him. Firms donated food, beer, Bengals memorabilia, even a Barcalounger and a pinball machine. It all made for great publicity.

“Morton’s Steakhouse would come up every Wednesday,” Walker said. “The general manager would climb up the ladder, come through the roof and ask how many steaks I wanted. They’d bring china, knives, the whole bit.

“I drank like a king and ate like king, but at night it was a pain in the ass,” Walker said.

“I had a porta-potty, but I had no access to a shower. There were two or three times that I snuck out under the cover of darkness to take a shower. It’s not like it was prison.”

He was allowed to come down to announce the Cincinnati Cyclones’ opening night game, then it was back up to the billboard as week after week the Bengals couldn’t find a way to win.

“The one game that stands out to me is the Monday night against the Bills and the Bengals intercepted Jim Kelly three times in the first half and only got three points,” Walker said.

“I had never seen a team play so bad. I thought they were losing just to keep me up there.”

Finally, on Nov. 3, the Cleveland Browns all but tied the game up in a bow.

With the Bengals guarding a 23-21 lead, Browns receiver Brian Brennan dropped a sure-thing touchdown pass. Then, on the last play, the Bengals’ Eric Thomas blocked Matt Stover’s field goal attempt.

The ball bounced down the field, players chasing after it, and Walker envisioned another heartbreaking ending … but the Bengals held on for the win.

“There was 20 seconds of silence, then suddenly there’s this big pile on me,” Walker recalled of watching the game with friends in his billboard cave. “We could hear the roar of the crowd from the stadium.”

“I’m free, I’m free!” he shouted to the streets below. The fire department brought a ladder to bring Walker down, but he declined. He had one more show do to from the billboard the next morning before he could return to terra firma.

“To this day it was the greatest promotion in the history of WEBN next to the fireworks,” Walker said. “I’m still hearing about it.”

“I’m glad I did it,” he added. “To me it is probably what everyone remembers me for.”