Bit it wasn't Limbaugh and it didn't happen in the '90s

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

The first network-syndicated call-in talk show wasn't 
Rush Limbaugh's and it dates back to the 70s--if not the 
60s. Sure, back then, the distribution was by land 
lines, not the bird, but I think Limbaugh's use of 
satellite distribution is quite irrelevant to his place 
in radio history.

Maybe you want to credit Limbaugh with hosting the first 
network-syndicated, call-in, political talk show that 
aired during the day. But with that many qualifiers, why 
should anyone care? Because Limbaugh is credited with 
saving (or postponing the demise of) AM? Why would you 
feel that was worth a place in history--given that just 
about everyone on this group except Marty Waters and me 
(and Bob Bittner, I guess) has given up on AM. 

I'm not sure who first hosted a network-syndicated talk 
show--might have been Long John Nebel on Mutual; it 
wasn't Larry King who took over the slot on Mutual 
shortly after Nebel's death. Nebel's wife (Candy Jones?) 
carried on Nebel's show for a while before King took it 
over. Or it might have been Joe Pyne or Ray Briem. I 
believe that both were on KABC and Briem's show, at 
least, was syndicated via ABC.

If you want, you can eliminate Nebel from the discussion 
because he didn't usually discuss politics; he was kind 
of the Art Bell of his era. Both Pyne and Briem _did_ 
discuss politics, though, and their views were rather 
similar to Limbaugh's. I don't think I ever heard Pyne, 
but I did hear Briem quite a few times. He certainly 
wasn't the comedian that Limbaugh is, but he ran a very 
listenable show and I think he was a real radio pro.

Another pioneer of the two-way-talk genre was Herb Jepko 
(spelling?) who ran a decidedly non-issue-oriented 
syndicated overnight talk show back in the 60s, I 
believe. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the show 
(might have been Night Light), but if somebody mentions 
it, I'll recognize it.

And you can trace the two-way talk genre back even 
further. For example, to Jack Eigen and Barry Gray, who 
took listener calls while they were on the air but, 
because the tape-delay scheme hadn't yet been invented, 
had to paraphrase what the caller said to let the 
listeners in on the other side of the conversation.