Riki Rachtman returns to KLSX with ‘The Ball’

Riki Rachtman’s “The Ball” debuted on talk outlet KLSX-FM (97.1) this week, returning the tattoo-covered rocker to the station where he was fired in 1997 for punching a fellow host.

Starting at midnight Saturday, “The Ball” will feature two hours of heavy metal, thrash and punk, spun by the former host of MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball.”

“Everything that’s loud and fast,” Rachtman said. “It’s the ultimate Saturday-night, hard-core party show.”

It’s also different from his 1990-95 MTV show, and the three-hour nightly talk show he was host of on KLSX. He gets to pick his own music and can talk about it and other topics as little or as much as he wants.

“This was an idea that Riki and I have talked about. His desire was to do a show that combines the music with pop culture,” KLSX program director Jack Silver said.

The station fired Rachtman in September 1997 after he punched fellow KLSX host Doug Steckler for insulting his girlfriend. The pair had traded barbs on their respective shows.

Now Rachtman says he did “something stupid,” but he also brought KLSX a ton of publicity. “I am completely shocked they haven’t had me come back much earlier. I had great ratings.”

He much prefers picking records to coming up with talk-show topics. Plus, he joked, “every time I talked, I would get myself into a lot of trouble. This is a little bit safer for me. I’m not going to end up in jail.”