Honestly, other than meeting Don Imus, who was a complete di*k, I can't recall ever running into talent that was aloof or a jerk.
Yeah, in radio, most of the encounters have been positive. Some local TV guys who'd been drinking their own bathwater, plus Robert Goulet and Jerry Lewis were nightmares, but that's about it.
I don't know if I ever shared my Imus encounter on this board.
It's the summer of 1988 and I'm working for the ABC television affiliate in Phoenix. We've just taken delivery of our new satellite truck and decided to show it off with a month-long roadtrip in July we're calling "Arizona USA", where we do the newscast from a different town or city in the state every night. A skeleton crew stays behind in Phoenix for breaking news, but I'm part of the roving crew.
On July 5th, we're at the Grand Canyon. We've taken over the presidential suite at the El Tovar Lodge, with the rooms being used for writing, editing, makeup, and the like and the portable anchor desk set up on the balcony overlooking the canyon.
I'm with an editor, putting the finishing touches on my piece when our weather guy, the only other team member who'd been in radio, comes in and says "Hey, Mike---Don Imus is downstairs by the canyon."
I wrap up, go down and sure enough---it's Imus. At this point, he's still doing mornings on WNBC. It hasn't sold to Emmis, hasn't gone Sports. I recognize him from pictures in the trades.
I walked up, introduced myself and mentioned that I was with the TV station.
"Oh, yeah---I was wonderin' what was up with all the lights and that sat truck."
I explained the tour to him and asked what he was doing there. He's standing with a very expensive camera, tripod and several bags of film and lenses.
"Well, my brother Fred is over on the north rim of the canyon. We do this every summer. We come out half an hour before dawn, stay until half an hour after sunset, move the cameras every few minutes, take a picture and we figure by the time we die, we'll have a shot of the canyon from every angle in every kind of light."
I'm considering mentioning that one day every summer doesn't get you every kind of light, but decide to go with: "That's cool, Don. Why does a New York disc jockey care?"
"I just work in New York. Fred and I are Arizonans---born and raised in Ash Fork and Prescott."
Well, the night before, our road show had been in Prescott---for the Fourth of July celebration. My then-wife had driven up to join me and I mentioned to Don that it was a neat little town and it would be nice to live there if you could figure out a way to make a living.
Don, totally deadpan, takes a beat and says, in that trademark drawl:
"Well, isn't there some sort of local drug problem you could exploit?"
One of the most impressive radio-specific celebrities I had the chance to hang with was Wolfman Jack (Bob Smith). Some of his stories coming up through the business were priceless.
I never had the opportunity, but know several who have---in fact, I have a friend who worked for Wolfman. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Wolf.
radioinsight.com
