Larry King Live -- 50 years in broadcasting -- brings back many memories. I used to date him, but

[Radio_Lady]

didn't marry him. (Of course, he didn't ask me, either.) It's a long story. Does anyone want to hear it?

Larry King began in radio on May 1, 1957. I didn't know him then, because I was dating a young fellow I had met at the M & M Cafeteria in downtown Miami, whom I met during high school.

I started in television a few months before Larry started on the radio. Looks like it was Monday, January 7, 1957.

I was in the first semester of college at the University of Miami. I was taking a survey course in Radio and TV, taught by Dr. Sidney Head, my first TV professor. I sat in the first row of the class, and was a very good student, with an "A" average. I had been on the debating team and in the drama club in high school. I was voted the "Most Sophisticated" student in my class, and had almost a straight "A" average. During my high school career, I played the lead female role in the play "A Man Called Peter" -- the role of Catherine Marshall. It was a defining moment in my life. I found out that I loved applause and was attracted to performance and to medicine. (Medicine lost, and so did other careers such as teaching...)

Radio Lady and her first boyfriend

At the North Miami High School Senior Prom, May 1956 held at the Fountainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach, FL


WTVJ, Channel 4, had contacted Dr. Head to see if he had a student who wanted to help with the live children's audience at their new program, "Popeye Playhouse." It was aired from 5 PM to 6 PM every weekday, right after "Days of Our Lives" and before Ralph Renick and the news.

I was interviewed in late December by announcer Chuck Zink, who had moved to Florida from Pennsylvania, where he had been an all around announcer and children's host in Lancaster, PA. Chuck was essentially a booth announcer, but he also did weather breaks and other announcing at the station. The plan was to team us up as "Skipper" Chuck and "First Mate" Ellen, and wrap that around the Popeye cartoons and others in the Warner Brothers package.

Lloyd Gaines was on the production staff for the new show, and he later told me he hired me because I looked like an old girlfriend of his. Ray Gaber was the show's director and Dick McCarthy, one of the technical people, was asked to be the clown. I'll always remember the telephone call telling me to get down to the station and go over costuming. This picture was probably taken during the first month the show was on the air.

Popeye Playhouse crew in 1957 -- Skipper and First Mate -- and Glumbo Despair, the clown
(This was twins' day, so you may think you're seeing double!)


Chuck and I became involved with many causes in Dade and Broward County, Florida. We did "Safety and Manners" presentations at local elementary schools. We took part in the Labor Day appeals for Muscular Dystrophy.

I don’t recall the exact details, but somehow I met Larry King -- probably it was one of the radio sales guys who introduced us. Larry asked me out on a date. He was in his early 20s at the time and working for an AM station as a disk jockey. He was a fun broadcaster with a gift for gab who did filter microphone comedy bits using his own voice in one mike and talking to himself as Captain Wainwright, the crooked policeman who would fix your ticket, on another mike. He played popular music on the station and I frequently listened to his show.

We had one date – out to dinner but I don’t recall exactly where. The next thing I knew, he took me out to a well-known lovemaking spot on the North Bay Causeway, located between Miami Beach and Miami. He tried to play what we used to call "Roman hands and Russian fingers" (you’ll figure it out). I brushed it off, and told him to take me home. I didn’t get together with him again – until decades later…

(To be continued...)

[Book Lover]

1. Coaxing ... coaxing...

does chocolate help?

[Radio_Lady]

4. Yum, do I love chocolate... or what? Keep checking the OP please!

Thanks, SG.

[Book Lover]

9. I love those dresses!

You sure do pay off! Many thanks for sharing.

[Radio_Lady]

11. The black and white one with the geometric design was Lanz...

That prom dress was aqua on the top, and made of a very scratchy metallic fabric. I took it off as soon as I could... the silver shoes, too.

Um... you know... maybe it's better that you don't know everything about that night, but it was wonderful. I can't remember whether the dance was in Harry's American Bar but it was the night space for all seasons.

My first guy's was named Al. His older brother, Maurice, owned a 1956 Oldsmobile convertible -- gray and white. I loved that car. The seats were leather, as I reall, and wide enough for two.

(This car was a year later, and I'm just including this picture for background from the period... we listened to Patti Page, so the theater, an Oldsmobile... New York where I would live much later. Also, WTVJ in Miami was a CBS station.)



Anyway, Al and I stayed out all night and I barely got home at dawn. Mom and Dad weren't happy about it, as I recall.

[RetroLounge]

28. That's a 1958 Oldsmobile 88 convertible...

(I have an original of that ad framed).

Thanks for the story and pictures! You were gorgeous (and still are). :D

RL

[Radio_Lady]

29. Right you are. Wow, thanks for the compliment. Here are some more recent photos!

(By the way, those friends of mine from Portland we discussed a few months ago -- they moved to MEQUON, Wisconsin. Is that near you?)

Studio shot when I won a sales award with Clairol, the haircoloring company


Marco Island, Florida, on a visit with my husband of 34 years.


London, England, after seeing the play "Guys and Dolls" -- Summer, 2006


New York City, in front of the Museum of Television and Radio -- a fascinating place for me. I didn't have enough time there!


Thanks for the memories. We're headed to Europe and the U.K.

"I'll speak with you again soon -- and until then, peace to you all."

[RetroLounge]

30. Mequon is about 20 minutes from here

on the north side of Milwaukee. Very nice place...

Thanks for the story...

:hi:

RL

[Radio_Lady]

31. Duh! Just tried your link! Looks good!

We're tentatively planning a trip to Chicago (which we had to scrub earlier this year because my hubby got sick) and drive to Milwaukee to visit our friends).

Maybe I'll stop by sometime?

Now Ellen is fading into the western sunset... got to pack for Paris!!!!

Manhattan Canyon sunset, Summer 2006, when the sun lines up with the east to west streets

[Ptah]

2. I like pictures.

Please?

[Radio_Lady]

5. Check the OP... OK?

[SeattleGirl]

3. Will flowers help? Please, pretty please????

[Lilyhoney]

6. You are so beautiful.

I never would have guessed that was Larry King.

Life took you where you need to go and it was not with him.

Be well

Lilyhoney

[Radio_Lady]

7. Thanks for the compliment, but that is NOT Larry King.

The story is still unfolding at the original post.

[Shine]

8. Great pix, Radio Lady!

You're a true Beauty. :hug: :loveya:

Good thing you didn't marry Larry. He doesn't have the best track record, in that particular dept. :eyes:

:hi:

We just got back from seeing Spidey Man 3 with the kids. It was OK. I'll leave it at that. :D

[SeattleGirl]

10. Great pics! More, more!

And I love the dress in the first pic!

[Radio_Lady]

12. Next chapter of the story of Radio Lady ---------------->

The job at WTVJ lasted until October 1958. Then, I was really determined to go to school in Los Angeles, where my grandmother lived. I applied and was accepted at U.C.L.A., where I was in the Theater Arts department. Some of the people I remember there were Neil Blanc (son of Mel Blanc, the voice of many cartoon characters), Tom Pincu (who I have never contacted, but he appears to have had a career in the movie lighting field, which was his prime interest), Mervyn Goldsmith and a funny, funny guy named Lew Horn.

I also met my second husband, Peter R., while at U.C.L.A. We dated extensively, but then my cousin Sandy, a young doctor in Miami, introduced me to Richard P. who was also a doctor, on Christmas break in Miami. He was a breathtakingly handsome man with dark hair and blue eyes. I fell for him instantly!

The next semester, I had to leave school abruptly and I went back to Miami. Richard and I had conceived a child. We married in March 1960, after knowing each other just a few weeks. I became quite ill, and we moved to Hartsdale, NY, so Richard and I would be close to his widowed mother. He took a residency at Grasslands Hospital. Later, I would deliver a stillborn girl on November 30, 1960. Richard and I had separated during the pregnancy and we got divorced as quickly as we had married.

It would take me until 1961 to get back to college. I finally graduated from the University of Miami in February 1962. I had a brief job at Miami's Channel 10, WPLG, the ABC affiliate, but it didn’t last. I also worked as a copywriter at McCann-Marschalk, an advertising agency with offices in downtown Miami on Biscayne Boulevard. But I didn’t want to stay in Florida, because I had decided to make a dash for New York City. I moved to New York, just before Thanksgiving and lived for a while at the YWCA. Only women stayed there. How quaint!

Meanwhile, Peter from U.C.L.A. had graduated and went into the Army. I still have his letters of love and support during that difficult year. Peter was an SP-4 in communications. He was stationed in Korea, where he fell deeply in love with a young Korean woman and her daughter. Their names were Sumi and Suki. However, Peter was unable to get them visas, and so he returned home to New York. These are some photos of him from younger days.

Peter R. in younger days. Sadly, he passed away on 12/1/2006


My friend from UCLA came back to New York City, and we resumed our relationship. Peter had been very supportive of me during some dark days in my life. We picked up our relationship from school, and decided to marry on December 21, 1963, almost exactly a month after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In New York, I had worked for Barry Gray, and for the "Tonight Show" unit with Dick Carson, Johnny’s brother, and also for WPIX TV, Channel 11. We had a beautiful daughter -- aptly named Linda -- on 10/09/68. But Peter's career at ABC took a turn for the worse. The only job he could pull together was back in Miami. We returned to Florida in 1969, and moved in with my parents. In Florida, Peter started a job with Reela Films, a division of the same company that owned WTVJ. I had a second child, David, on 12/10/69. With just fourteen months between these children, there was a lot of pressure on my young husband and myself. He found consolation in other women's arms (including one I had confronted at her job when I was heavily pregnant with my son). We separated when he told me he didn't love me any more in August 1970.

We made several attempts at marriage counseling, but finally divorced in March 1971. Peter married his paramour Allie just a few weeks later, moving in with her and her two children in a beautiful SW Miami home, and leaving me with two kids, a dog, a house and a mortgage...

(To be continued...)

[Radio_Lady]

13. This is the final chapter about Larry King and Radio Lady --------------------->

After I was divorced from my ex-husband in the 1970s, I had a job that took me from Miami to Miami Beach. One night, I was listening to Larry’s broadcast. He was on WIOD (“Wonderful Isle of Dreams”), a radio station which owned a building on the causeway where he had tried to pet with me many years earlier! Larry's show was on from 11 PM to 1 AM.

One night in the summer of 1971, Larry made an appeal for coffee and Mallomars, a chocolate-and-marshmallow goody made by Nabisco. Anyway, I took some food to the station and started hanging around the studio, screening his talk show calls before they went on the air.

I told people my name was Ellen (the last name omitted for privacy). One night, a guy exclaimed, "Oh, Ellen Rainbow! What a beautiful name!" And so, Ellen Rainbow was born, at least for a few months! (I went back to my maiden name later!)

Larry and I started dating (sort of, kind of...) and doing the show together a couple of nights a week, along with the help of a talented young guy named Gary (whose last name is forgotten, sorry). Eventually, I would give Larry hour-long cassette tapes with my mall interviews. I talked for 50 minutes with people around Miami on current issues. The radio engineer would run my tape, and we all went home at 4 AM to catch an extra hour's sleep.

Four days before Christmas, much to my shock and surprise, I found out that Larry was arrested. (You can read about it now -- it was about some money that was supposed to change hands -- but didn't.) I had nothing to do with it, but volunteered to do the show for the duration, until they could find another male host. Sadly, Larry lost his TV, newspaper, and radio jobs. (All charges were eventually dropped in this financial matter.)

Not a very flattering mug shot of the King, I'm afraid.


However, Larry's bad luck was my good luck. I took over his show that night, met the program director of the station, Biggie Nevins, now deceased. I also began getting a salary of $50 a night, which I needed desperately. I was told I wasn't going to get the job full-time nights, because of child care issues.

The long and short of it, a DJ in Boston named Bruce Lee, working for WEEI-AM, called me one night. We patched together with wide-area telephone service (WATS lines) to do a combined Boston-Miami show with callers from both cities on the line. We did that a lot in those days, and I also remember doing a spectacular show with Larry Johnson from Chicago. But Bruce Lee in Boston called me a few days later, said he had made a tape of the show and had given it to the program director, Dan Griffin. They were looking for a woman to do the 10 AM to 2PM shift. They flew me to Boston for a beautiful day (April 28, 1972) and I ended up getting the job.

Hopped a train, with the car and the dog -- left the kids temporarily with a my ex-husband and his new wife – and made my way to Boston. My first day on the air was May 15, 1972. A couple of weeks later, I answered my present husband’s little ad in the Boston Globe’s Sunday edition. (This is before personal ads became popular.) He was looking for a housekeeper, and I answered his ad. Today, he says that I sounded a little desperate.

Well, the rest is history! I married the widower in the ad. His first wife had died of cancer at age 34, leaving him with three children, ages 13, 11, and 8, plus a very nice home that was empty when I met him. We combined our families and well… it’s been REAL, as my mother used to say! We’ve been through thick and thin, and next February 4th, we will celebrate 35 years of marriage.

Taken on Mother’s day in the 1970s


Larry has become a very important celebrity with five children of his own, and I hope he has found a good life for himself. Here he is with his own family:



Radio_Lady/Ellen

PS. Although I'm not heard in 200 countries, and I don't earn millions, I have a pretty good life. My husband and I do a lot of traveling in retirement. Also, I host a weekly radio program at Oregon Public Broadcasting. Go to my journal page and read all about it in the right column.

I'll end this with my radio sign off that I've used since the 1970s, "I'll speak with you again soon, and -- until then, peace to you all..."

Radio Lady with her husband in Florida

[DesertRat]

15. Thank you for sharing your story

I especially like your radio sign off. :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

17. I appreciate the comment, DR. A couple of DUers questioned my sincerity, but I assured

them I'd been using that "sign off" on at least two Boston radio stations in the 1970s, during the Vietnam War. Somewhere along the way, I adopted that phrase.

People don't seem to remember that there WERE liberal "talkmasters," at least in the New York markets and Boston markets, years ago. One person who inspired me in the 1960s, and with whom I worked briefly, as an assistant to his assistant (!), was Barry Gray, WMCA. He is purported to be the first person to integrate called in telephone calls with a radio show.

Also, Len Lawrence (birth name: Leonard Libman) was my lead-in from 6 AM to 10 AM when I moved to Boston. He was a newscaster with a deep, smooth voice.

Other liberals I remember, or radio reporters and talk show hosts who seemed much more neutral than evident today: Jerry Williams, Paul Benzaquin, Les Woodruff, Bruce Lee, plus many others. At CBS-owned WEEI, we had to play the "devil's advocate" -- present the other side of the question with as much clarity as we could. That was quite hard at first, but my parents were Florida Democrats, and I'd had a backround in debating, so I took it on with gusto.

Miami had just one very conservative guy during the time I was there. His name was Alan Courtney, who was assisted by his wife, Bernice, screening calls.

Last time I checked, many of these folks had passed away or were deceased.

Thanks for your comments.

In peace,

Radio Lady in Oregon

[seaglass]

20. Radio Lady I would take a right-winger like Jerry Williams any day

over the crap on the radio today - unfortunately he was the one who gave Howie Carr his start in radio :-(

Did you know Gene Burns, I used to love him.

[Radio_Lady]

21. Well, the last I knew, Jerry was a liberal Jewish man -- his show followed mine at WMEX

I was on 10 AM to 2 PM, and Jerry was on 2 PM to 6 PM.

He was firmly opposed to the imposition of a seat belt law and fought it all the way. Other than that, I think he would have objected to having been called a right-winger, but that's just my humble opinion.

The real right-winger with whom I clashed regularly was my lead-in, the insufferable Avi Nelson, on WMEX. That man regularly ripped into me and I was listening to it as I drove to the station every day. He once told his audience that I should be at home making cookies for my children instead of working. One day when the program manager, Pat Whitley, was away, I drove in early and confronted him on mike. Basically, what I said was, "Get off my case, you stupid and insensitive man. Don't you ever tell me what I should do with my life. I am a divorced woman who was the sole support of two children for more than two years. I got this job due to luck, but I'm keeping it due to my own talents, not because I am a woman.! Don't you ever talk about me behind my back again." That was a reference to my first job in Boston, where CBS was responding to affirmative action demands that they have a woman talk show host.

I also did not have much in common with David Brudnoy, and never really listened to his show because it was on in the evening. I rarely went out in the evenings due to personal commitments. I had remarried in 1973 with a widower in the suburbs, my third husband, who brought three kids for a total of five kids in our home.

Once, maybe in jest, I referred to Brudnoy as a "pasty-faced, acne-laid windbag." Later, I felt very badly and when I reflected on that day, I offered him an on-air apology. That may have been before he "came out" as a homosexual and revealed that he had AIDS. He was a very bright guy, all right, and much loved in Boston. By the way, I have no problems with homosexual men and women in theater, and would go on to work for Clairol. That job involved calling on 3,000 hair styling salons, encountering people with many varieties of color and sexual orientation, believe me!

In 1980 to 1982, I had the tables turned! I founded a national support group for non-custodial mothers called Mother Without Custody, Inc. I was their spokesperson and then the tables were turned as I appeared as a guest on local and national radio and TV shows. My first foray was with my friend Paul Benzaquin, then Phil Donahue's producers heard about me, and flew me to Valley Forge, PA, where I appeared with other women from Boston and Washington, D.C. who had their own stories to tell.

My "press junket" led me to appear with David Susskind, and PBS's Charlie Rose (I wish I had those transcripts or kinescopes, but it's too long ago.) I was also interviewed by Oprah Winfrey when she was working with a morning show with a male co-host. An appearance with Dr. Sonia Friedman in Detroit jumpstarted a local group in that area. In Boston, Judy Foreman wrote a long article on me that appeared on Mother's Day in 1981. It was in their archives for a while, but it may now be gone. If it's there, you'd have to pay to see it. That same year, I had national coverage in the Christian Science Monitor, based in Boston.

My radio career merged into a regional sales job with the Clairol Professional Products Division of Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1983 -- 1992. I went back to radio production as the Radio Sales Manager for LoJack Corporation in 1995.

My favorite station at that time was not WEEI, WHDH, or WBZ. Mostly, I listened to WCRB, the commercial laiden classical broadcasting station, and I thoroughly enjoyed both Ron Della Chiesa, who played American music and Norm Nathan, the sweet curmudgeon who was really into REAL jazz. After all this time, I can't recall their affiliations...

[seaglass]

24. Yep, I know about the seat belt law but I'm not sure that would

be considered a "liberal" position. Maybe more libertarian.

I listened to him in the mid to late 80's. I was in the travel business at the time and I remember him going on a week long rant - I thought it was in support of Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers but I could be wrong. I just remember that it was negative towards the industry I was in, he didn't understand what he was talking about. In addition his support of Howie Carr and Barbara Anderson :puke: led me to see him as on the right. I think he changed a lot over the course of his career or maybe he just wasn't that easy to pigeon hole.

[Radio_Lady]

25. I think we all resisted "pigeon-holing" because of values differences.

I accepted that any one person could have a variety of views, in constant flux, depending on the circumstances.

For example, I was on the air when Gary Gilmore was executed. At the time, I was a flaming liberal on the subject of capital punishment -- the state had no right to put anyone to death, no matter how grevious their crime. Any prisoner should at least have a shot at pardon or release.

While Gilmore watchers started to called, I began to auction off his body parts to the callers who wanted him executed. I was in a tearing rage! The switchboard lighted up and I was off and running on a radio rant! Paul Benzaquin called me during a break and told me to try and calm down -- I sounded like I was going to expire right there! I was ripping!

After that, I got many thoughtful letters. (No email then, in the dinosaur age), including a touching hand-written, multi-page missive from a widow who had lost her husband while he was on duty at Walpole State Prision. He had been killed by an inmate using a gun put together with scattered pieces -- was it a Zip gun? I can't remember. I read her letter on the air, but still didn't change my position.

It was not until later, perhaps starting with attacks on people I really cared about and loved, names such as John Lennon -- Jeffrey Daumer -- that I began to think it through.

I've come to the conclusion that there are some people who do deserve to die for their crimes. I would prefer to think that a life sentence would actually be harder than being put to death by injection like we do to our beloved pets, but the cost of a lifetime of supervision and care by the government may not be worth the effort.

One thing I know. I could never be a witness or pull the trigger or give the shot at an execution. But I can begin to understand the thinking of some of my critics. Today I have a more gray, depends-on-the-circumstances, a more moderate position.

[Kat45]

44. I remember Avi Nelson. I couldn't stand him!

But I always did like Jerry Williams. I grew up in the Boston area--still live there--and my mother always had the radio on. She listened to all the talk shows. I was in high school in the early seventies. My mother's always been conservative, and still is, and I've never been of that disposition. We'd always argue about the talk show hosts: of course she loved Nelson and hated Williams. I remember she used to listen to Paul Benzaquin too. No, Brudnoy was not publicly "out" back then. He was an inteligent man, but I did not share his views and I found him annoying. I honestly can't remember hearing you on the radio. I'll ask my mother if she remembers you, since she was the one doing most of the talk radio-listening. Since she's now 85, she may not remember, but I'll ask any way.

[Radio_Lady]

46. I was on WEEI and WMEX in the early 1970s, but it was a morning slot --

10 AM to 2 PM.

Later, I went on to do other jobs after I got married -- so it's entirely possible she didn't hear me.

Hey, some days I feel like I'm losing my mind, and I'm only sixty-seven.

Good to meet-chu on the DU!

Radio Lady in Oregon

[regnaD kciN]

14. So, you weren't the woman in the story about the Belafonte record...

Oh, well.

:evilgrin:

[Radio_Lady]

18. Please enlighten me. I am not familiar with that history. You are speaking about Harry Belafonte?

I enjoy Harry Belafonte's music, and know that he has been politically active, but beyond that, just music.

"Day-oh -- daylight come and I wanna go home..."

I still have at least one of his CDs in my collection.

In peace,

Radio Lady

[regnaD kciN]

45. The story about the Belafonte record...

(This is one of Larry King's classics.)

One evening, while King was working the overnight shift, he got a call from one of his lady friends, who lived a few blocks from the station, to "come up and see me sometime." Back in those days, radio stations still had those huge 16 R.P.M. records that could hold a whole L.P. or more on one side and play uninterrupted. King had just received the recording of "Belafonte at Carnagie Hall" on such a record, so announced to his audience that he was going to make a special event of playing the whole concert without commercial interruption. He put the record on, figuring he was good for at least an hour or so, then hightailed it to the lady's apartment, where they put on the radio (so he'd know when he had to get back to the studio) and got down to business. Things were just getting interesting, when...




...the record started skipping. :rofl:

[blue neen]

16. Radio Lady, what an interesting life and career story!

You will have many more chapters to add to it, I'm sure!

Sometimes you look back and wonder how you made it through some of those tough spots.

I can remember a guy in high school who sat next to me in Social Studies class who used to talk about his "Roman hands and Russian fingers." :)

[Radio_Lady]

19. "Roman hands and Russian fingers." Yep. Let's not go there, however,

because -- I'll never tell.

Recently, I reestablished contact with my first boyfriend, (age 71), and his older brother (age 81) who owned retail camera stores in downtown Miami until very recently.

My husband and I hope to visit with them when we get to South Florida this December. It will be the first time I've been back to Florida's East Coast, and the Miami area -- since my mother passed away in the early '90s. (Our 50th High School reunion last October 2006, took place in Orlando, not North Miami, where the high school was. Pretty much everyone has grandkids, and we all though the centralized area would be the best place to hold the event.)

I've "snail-mailed" my former boy friend a couple of pictures so he'll recognize me! Regrettably, neither of these fellows use the Internet.

[fortyfeetunder]

22. Wow, what a story!

Another part of your interesting life!

[Radio_Lady]

23. Yes, it's all real, and "YOU WERE THERE..."

If not then, you are NOW!

Thanks for listening (reading).

You saved me some psychiatric visits! :sarcasm:

[Awsi Dooger]

26. Great thread

I was growing up in Miami during that period. My parents are UM grads Class of '55. I especially enjoyed the picture of Chuck Zink. I was on the Popeye Playhouse as a kid in the late '60s. My parents always kid me that they told all their friends to watch, and my dad turned on the TV in the class he was teaching, and when the camera was on me I picked my nose. Oh well. It probably needed it.

Years later Chuck Zink sponsored junior golf tournaments in Miami during the summer and I won several trophies in them. He was still visible in Miami TV for decades. He had a stroke and died about a year ago, if I remember correctly.

I remember Larry King on WIOD. Also he had a column, I think in the Miami News. Everyone was shocked when that monetary scandal broke and he lost everything. Then he got a big break in the mid '70s when WIOD brought him back. That was the best radio I ever heard. They had funny routines between King and Big Wilson and Bill Calder. King did the early AM show for a few years before being hired away by Mutual, and also hosted Sports a la King earlier in the evening on WIOD.

There were so many wacko callers they embraced it and started a special show called Wacko Night a couple of times per year at the Ring Theatre at UM. I played the guy who wanted to be put on hold. I would tell the producer that my dream was to be put on hold, that I bragged about it to all my friends. The station loved that every time. Larry would push the button and bring me on the air briefly and I'd tell him I was desperate to be put on hold, so he'd say, "OK, I'll put you back on hold," and the live audience would roar. Then he's repeat it maybe 15 minutes later. "Let's see if he's ready to talk or still wants to be on hold."

[Radio_Lady]

27. Wow! Awsi Dooger --- what an awesome post! Larry King's episode tonight (Saturday)

at 6 PM as well as 9PM and 12 Midnight.

See it if you can. They have assembled lots of old footage of the Miami the way we remember it. Details filled in about Larry's career.

Larry helped me inadvertently -- but I never remember him as mean or ugly -- I can't say I ever heard him say a dirty word. He had a lot of quirks, and went through a bunch of wives -- but apparently he's found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. His kids Chance and Cannon are younger than most of my grandkids, and that's a challenge, at age 73.

He certainly is a very unique fellow!

Yes, Chuck Zink died on 1/03/06. He had a little stroke, and then the one that took him. My high school friend sent me a clipping in the mail. I was devastated. I went on line to read literally hundreds of posts. I don't know if they are still there.

Here's a photo from Pennsylvania, before he moved to Florida.

I found this on the Internet, after he passed away. He was a talent!

[Awsi Dooger]

32. Thanks; I didn't realize it was tonight

I'll make sure to watch. Your thread brings back great memories. I even got a laugh about the Alan Courtney reference. He was the one I couldn't stand, even as a teenager.

A month or two ago I did a Google search for Bill Calder, another host on WIOD in the mid '70s. He had many gag routines with Larry King like the Man on the Street Interview and The Secret Phrase Game. I'm not sure if he was working in Miami before you left for Boston. But I found a site started by his son and I left a long comment praising his father's radio work. He appreciated it and said he was going to forward it to the Calder Clan.

Chuck Zink always seemed like a great guy. I remember sheepishly walking up to him and shaking his hand when he presented me with the golf trophies. One time he had to stay for about an hour late when there was a long playoff for the winner of the oldest age bracket, but he did so and joked with everyone as the playoff continued.

[Radio_Lady]

33. Chuck and his wife were married on August 2, 1945. He was still with her

when he died in January 2006. He never had children; he had contracted malaria as a young soldier and ran a very high fever, which rendered him sterile.

I fantasized about having his baby, but that was impossible. (Heck, I was only 17 -- and turned 18 on the show -- May 31, 1957. I really had a wild imagination.) It would have been Cheryl Denise, a little blond baby girl. Or maybe a little blond cowboy, like this:



There's a whole backstory about him and me, but it's not for publication. I can't tell it here.

I'll try to PM it only to you. It's really the stuff of soap operas -- but all real.

In peace,

Radio Lady in Oregon

[Radio_Lady]

34. UPDATE: Also repeat on Sunday night, 6 PM, 9 PM, 12 Midnight.

I hopw you get to see it.

God, you remember Alan Courtney. When I took over Larry's show, he finally shook my hand after many months of him walking right by me. Bernice had been cordial, but not warm.

"You're good!" he said. I must have been the first woman he had ever heard in the talk format.

I don't have time to research this, but what ever happened to them (besides dying, of course)?

Here's kind of an aside comment:

Lee Vogel (I don't know this name...)
KQV 1959
WQAM 196?
WKAT 196?-1970

DWoodw6945(AT)com reports: "Lee Vogel died from cancer in 1970 (maybe 1971) after spending his last years in broadcasting in Miami. He was on WQAM and WKAT, but could never beat Alan Courtney."

I guess he originated in New York. Look at this:

Alan Courtney had originated WNEW's "1250 Club" in 1937. (1937? That's before I was born!)

[wildhorses]

35. i think you are the coolest thing going

*sigh*

are you going to write a book? you should:loveya:

[Radio_Lady]

39. Naw, I'm going to spill my guts on the Democratic Underground only.

[Awsi Dooger]

38. Thanks, I only got to see part of it last night

I'll watch the rest tonight. I was hoping they would feature old radio cronies on the show, not recent TV guys like Bill Maher and Dr. Phil, etc. That's when I got accustomed to staying up into the wee hours, listening to Larry King on the radio. I remember his first guest on Mutual was Jackie Gleason.

Sure I remember Alan Courtney. A girl I went to school with had the last name Courtney and her younger brother was an aspiring broadcaster who idolized Alan Courtney, mostly due to the shared last name. He was a nice guy so I couldn't get myself to tell him he was idolizing a moron.

I have no idea what happened to most of those guys. I left Miami to attend college in Los Angeles (USC, not that thing you mentioned :)) in 1980, then I returned to Miami for only a year and a half after college.

Wow, a WKAT reference. That's a station from Miami Beach that I used to listen to a lot, even though it had a comparatively weak signal that I could barely get at times in the Tropical Park area, where we lived. They had a nightly sports show hosted by Sonny Hirsch who also ran the local minor league baseball team that played in Miami Stadium. He later went on to become radio sports voice of the Miami Hurricanes football team, including in their heyday in the '80s. I think he died many years ago, maybe of cancer. They also had the Herald sportswriter Luther Evans who hosted a Sunday night sports talk show. He had such a smooth relaxed style. I can still hear him doing the commercials for Becks Beer every Sunday. He covered Canes football for the Herald then switched to the horse racing beat in his later years. He died two decades ago or more.

The young guy on that station was Chris Myers, who started with the station when he was something like 15. There were Cuban callers who couldn't pronounce his name and it came out more like cremiah. So that's what Sonny Hirsch called him as a gag and it stuck. He used cre for short. Chris Myers later went to New Orleans and then on to prominence on ESPN and now FOX Sports.

[Awsi Dooger]

40. I guess there were two 50th anniversary shows on CNN

One with Bill Maher and other celebrities, the other hosted by Anderson Cooper and looking at King's career in relation to what was going on at the time. I finally got to see them last night, high preference to the latter although there was too much news-of-the-day info as opposed to spotlighting King's career.

I thought the focus on Elvis' death was interesting. I remember that night very well, hearing it on the radio while my family drove back to Miami from San Diego. We were just pulling into a Motel 6 in San Antonio when we got the news. I stayed up all night listening to the coverage with an ear piece, the Long John Nebel show on Mutual. It was the one and only time I listened to him at length. I thought he was okay but definitely showing age and poor health and the show wasn't as sharp or as brisk as it could have been. Nebel died about six months later and King got the big break, replacing him on Mutual.

[Radio_Lady]

41. Bill Calder! I just realized that I went on one date with him! Honest injun!

He had a little sports car and he drove about 100 mph. I was scared to death.

The name just clicked for me a few hours ago!

I think the first time I was actually on radio was on WQAM in Miami. They had a show in which school competed for prizes. Was that "Quizdown"? Some older geezer moderated it. That must have been in about eighth grade. Also, at just about the same time, I went to Pittsburgh to visit my cousin. We went downtown to KDKA, where a young fellow named Merrill Panett (not sure of either of those names) showed me around the station. I never knew what became of him, but years later, I appeared on KDKA-TV to discuss the organization I had founded, Mothers Without Custody, Inc.

[Awsi Dooger]

42. Here's his son's website

See if it looks like the same guy: http://www.calder.tv/bill/

That's the site I sent the long comment to about a month ago.

If you check the stations he worked at, he was all over the place. But he did work at WINZ in '61-'62 and also at WIOD sometime in the '60s.

Sorry if I'm tardy responding to a PM. I just finished a trip to Hawaii, intentionally avoiding the internet throughout, but now I'm swamped catching up to 600+ emails and PMs on many sites.

[Radio_Lady]

43. Yep, that's him. He had more hair when I went on that date. We're off to Paris Tuesday.

Talk again soon!

Nice to meet you on the DU!

Radio Lady in Oregon

[El Fuego]

36. Who cares about King -- SKIPPER CHUCK!! SKIPPER CHUCK!!!

I grew up in South Florida, and I'm in nostalgic childhood memory overload from your story! :bounce:

[Nevernose]

37. You know what's really sad?

I read your whole post. It was good and brought back a few memories of my own (I remember my mom buying the first VCR manufactured for the public so she didn't have to miss an episode of "Days of Our Lives" back in the 70s, since she hadn't ever missed one, and didn't miss one until the early 90s). It's also nice to know that I wasn't the only who ever had Roman hands and Russian fingers ;).

The cool thing about old pictures -- yours, mine, whoever's -- is that everyone always looks so happy in them. Pretty neat, and yours are neater than most.

And the sad thing? My first thought upon reading this entertaining, interesting, and well-written post was a puerile, "Hey, that Radio Lady chick's pretty hot."

Can't wait for the second part :hi:.

[Radio_Lady]

47. The full story, as much of it as I want to post -- is at #12 and #13.

See you later -- we're off on our European trip tomorrow (Tuesday) -- to Paris, Brussels, London and Edinborough, and then home.

In peace,

Radio Lady in Oregon (but not for long)