Originally Posted by Steven Holzinger
There are times when the airboss AND the tower are in control of an airshow's flying activities - however, that's rare. There is ALWAYS a TFR in place at a show site that exists from the surface up to about 15,000 feet, out to 5 nautical miles. When that TFR is in effect, the airboss is in control and not the tower. The tower can help by making sure no other aircraft other than the aircraft participating in the airshow breaks that cylinder of airspace.
Usually, the airboss will operate under a frequency that's NOT any of the frequencies for the show site. Sometimes it's the ground frequency, sometimes it's not. There are airbosses who operate on their own frequency regardless of the show site. As a side note, callsigns are sometimes forgotten to make the show run smoother (for instance, "Eagle Demo" instead of "First" for an F-15 from Langley AFB).