Black Hills Pioneer (www.zwire.com) has issued the following report:

It's an "ancient question," ALICE COOPER says with a chuckle: Why did Vincent Furnier change his name?

There are many myths: that Alice Cooper was a medieval witch summoned one day by band members messing with a Ouija board; that it was supposedly the name of a blonde folksinger or it was a tribute to the gender-bending rockers of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Or perhaps it's a lot simpler than that. "I think that it was a good way to piss off the most parents," Cooper said with a laugh during a telephone interview last week.

Cooper angered, frightened and puzzled parents during his heyday in the 1970s, but he was more than a shock rocker who landed a few hits on the radio. He was a talented singer, songwriter and musician who has fronted bands, acted in movies and TV and now hosts a radio show.

Cooper's syndicated radio show airs on Classic 100.3 The Fox from 7 PM to midnight five nights a week. Nights With Alice Cooper started to run on the station in April, according to Charlie O'Douglas, operations manager for Rushmore Radio.

No ratings results have been gleaned yet, but O'Connor said "we're planning on a long-term relationship with Alice."

He said the show features classic rock, humor and Cooper's outrageous and humorous personality. "Alice has got the background and he knows the people and has the stories to tell," said O'Connor, who has not met Cooper but once spoke with him on the phone.

Jake Michaels, program director for The Fox, said she thinks the show is being well received. "I think people really like it. He's rather funny," Michaels said.

Cooper is part of a platoon of old rockers who now host radio shows. BOB DYLAN has one on Sirius online radio, DEE SNIDER of TWISTED SISTER does a show and several other musicians are now performing behind a different kind of mic.

"You're seeing more and more of these people," O'Connor said. "It's certainly not a put out to pasture type of opportunity. Alice still tours and draws really good crowds."

Cooper said he launched the radio show three years ago because he had songs he wanted to play and stories he longed to tell to a bigger audience.

"I did it because there was so much music that wasn't being played," he said.

He tapes the show a week ahead of time and plays old favorites like early PINK FLOYD songs, the YARDBIRDS, RUSH and songs he enjoyed as a kid. Cooper tells stories about his old drinking companion, JIM MORRISON.

The Lizard King remains a rock icon 35 years after his death, but Cooper can recall how bad he smelled. Morrison wore the same leather pants for two years at a stretch, he recalled, and friends could smell him coming a half-mile away.

"People don't know that about Jim," Cooper said.

He said knocking stars off their pedestal and telling behind-the-scenes stories is one his favorite parts of doing a radio show. The show started with five stations and now has 100 and is on top of the ratings in several cities, Cooper claimed.

While he remains devoted to classic rock, Cooper also listens to new music and favorably mentioned bands like the WHITE STRIPES, JET and PANIC AT THE DISCO.

"I like them because they sound like a drunk party band," he said of Jet, an Australian band. He distrusts music that is overdubbed - "I start to wonder about the band."

Groups that are "sloppy but good" remind him of a more honest time in rock and roll.

Cooper was there to take advantage of that time. After playing in high school bands in Phoenix, he and some musician friends moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

They jammed in bands and turned some heads. Cooper said they looked and sounded outrageous and were known as "the most hated band in Los Angeles" but they couldn't get to the top of the rock world.

Cooper and his band moved to Detroit, where he was born and a thriving Midwestern rock scene was under way. The act changed slightly, becoming more wild and violent in its appearance and myths soon spread about the outrageous stage show they did.

Once the band had people aware of it, Cooper launched his secret weapon: short rock tunes that landed at the top of the charts. '18', 'School's Out', 'Under My Wheels', 'Billion Dollar Babies' and other hits made Alice Cooper a household name.

His bizarre makeup and wild show scared adults and enchanted kids. In a few short years Alice Cooper was one of the biggest acts in rock.

The hits kept coming for most of the 1970s before tastes changed and Cooper stopped selling as many records. But he hit the charts again in the early 1990s with the hit song 'Poison' and has remained a steady draw on the concert circuit.

"Classic rock is bigger now than it's ever been," he said during the telephone interview as he prepared to do a show in Dayton, Ohio.

He said when he sees kids in malls they're wearing LED ZEPPELIN, Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper T-shirts. New generations of rock fans are discovering classic songs, bands and artists and keeping the music alive.

That's what keeps Cooper on the road, he said. He's still headlining and playing to sold-out houses every night.

He's 58 but said he doesn't know how old Alice the character stage is. When he sings '18', he's a teenager lost in the reverie of youth again, Cooper said.

He has no plans to leave the road. Cooper will be at the Buffalo Chip on August 5th and said he will play the hits his fans have loved for more than three decades.

"I've played those songs a thousand times," Cooper said. But he said he still gets an adrenaline rush when the intro to 'Million Dollar Babies' or '18' starts and the crowd roars in approval. It's like "tossing gasoline on the fire," he said.

Cooper has performed during the motorcycle rally many times and said his hard and heavy music is perfect for the crowd. "It's a classic rock audience," he said. "They know every lyric of every song."

100.3 The Fox is trying to have August 5th declared Alice Cooper Day in Rapid City. Cooper cackled when he was told that and said he was recently honored when a small North Dakota town was named Alice, N.D., for a day.

"I tried to sell it," Cooper said.