Re: Leykis.

[ASchinella@aol.com]

 rac_cooney@yahoo.com writes:

<< 
 Haven't heard enough to Tom's show (now) to judge. I
 heard part of it once on WCAP, and once C-SPAN did
 one of their "set up the camera in a radio studio"
 deals with him, from his flagship station in L.A.
 
**I can't listen to him anymore. The last time I heard his show he was talking
about nonsense; a little girl who is 9 who wants to be president but can't
because she wasn't born in America. He spent two hours on that. Sheesh, now
that really effects us all doesn't it? I called in and said if they repeal the
Constitution to remove the "born in America" to be president provision, that
would allow leeches like Rupert Murdoch run! Just what our nation needs. I
also asked why she couldn't run for a lesser office and be happy with that. I
mean, she's 9! Foolish talk. Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix did a hit piece
on the Boch stations last year and he said that Leykis was talking about the
joys of doggy-style sex. Kennedy closed with something like 'boy, he really
lost what he had.' Leykis used to do real populist issues; dealing with
workers rights, corporate consolidation and other stuff. The Nation did a
piece on him saying he would be the savior of liberal thought on talk radio,
then he switched gears and took the Stern route. The last time I ventured to
NY I tried to listen to him on WGN and I couldn't bear it; it was all the same
trash. 
 
<<More on Tom Leykis: once on WRKO he "blew up" Barney
 the Dinosaur. Some kids were listening and got upset,
 but Tom kept saying, "he's a fictional character,
 fuh goshsakes!". I remember something else Tom did:
 he said "some people only half-listen to the radio.
 If I said something like 'Gene Burns would turn over
 in his grave if he weren't still living', someone would
 call in and say, 'Gene Burns is dead?'"
 To prove his point, Tom said, "if you're the first
 caller right now at 266-6868, I'll give you absolutely
 nothing". Sure enough, someone called and asked
 what they'd won, and Tom said, "well,were you listening? I said I'd
 give away absolutely nothing..."
 Sort of trivial, but I remember it. Despite what went
 on in his personal life , you can't say he wasn't entertaining. >>

***The Blowup Barney bit was great! One lady called in and said at her house
they sang the Barney song with the words switched around; "I hate you, you
hate me, we're a disfunctional family..." Leykis would also get swamped with
calls from little old ladies or angered Catholic men (because Leykis gleefully
went after the church) and they would say "we are going to run you outta
town!" and he would push and taunt them "I'm not goin' anywhere!" Little did
he know they he would be gone soon. 
One last note: WRKO used to have a free *68 line for free cell phone calls
into the station. The tab was picked up by NYNEX but they were deluged with
calls from outraged WRKO listeners because of Leykis' marital problems. WRKO
refused to pull Leykis and NYNEX pulled the free line proving consumers do
have some pull sometimes. 

Tony

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