Gene Burns MIA?

[Laurence Glavin]

The San Francisco Board has been wondering where Gene Burns is hiding. A substitute host has not only been doing his shift, but the KGO-AM website does not include his name in the schedule. Could be a health issue, or could he be longing to return to BOSTON? It's been claimed that his politics no longer match those of the rest of the station. Perhaps such an erudite and learned gentleman doesn't feel at home with the snake-handlers on ultra-conservative right-wing radio.

 

[raccoonradio]

Burns might be considered more of a libertarian. It would be interesting if he did make it back
to WRKO, etc. He has claimed he likes San Fran, though.

 

[Deleted User]

He was syndicated for a while not a huge hit. He was on 1060 with a bunch of other talkers and he didn't do well and he was also doing his KGO shift at the same time. As much as I respect the guy his brand of talk radio is dead. The only remnant of it is Avi Nelson sitting in for Carr. Gene also has a long term degenerative nerve disorder that may be part of his being awol

 

[raccoonradio]

Burns had a show out of WOR for awhile which WRKO picked up (7-10p at the time?). He had some kind of contract dispute and walked off the show; for awhile there was a substitute host--I'd like to say it was Gil Gross but it may have been Jay Severin. Jay would later wind up on RKO doing a late night show; when WTKK went talk in 99, Jay was in the lineup from the beginning (and soon started referring to his former AM station as "fart radio")

Then Gene indeed was part of the 1060 talk lineup which briefly had Jerry W. too, Marge Clapprood--it was a bit of an RKO reunion. Avi indeed is similar, at least in terms of decorum
(though he can get heated with callers on occasion--passion, some would say, something Donna brought up during my interview with her) and proper use of language.

Once in awhile Gene has been interviewed on WBZ with Morgan White Jr filling in

 

[raccoonradio]

Indeed see below: a host is being groomed to replace him. He's out due to health problems and may retire/take a buyout anyway. (A page on the KGO site for Burns does say he'll be part of a cruise in August though)

http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/kgo-grooming-thurston-to-replace-ailing.html

>>(He broke his back in early December and most recently suffered a fall which resulted in broken ribs)

 

[raccoonradio]

And it was Jay Severin who'd taken over Gene Burns' syndie show in the 90s. Here's a post
I turned up from boston-radio-interest, by me:

http://lists.bostonradio.org/bri/v02/msg07332.html

MARCH 1999:
>>For the past few weeks, various people...have been filling in WRKO's 11 pm- 1 am
slot (formerly held by Tai). ..the new permanent host for that slot will be MSNBC's Jay Severin, as of a week from Monday (April 5). Severin had done fill-ins for WRKO before, including recent fill-ins for Tai. Also, I remember him taking
over the show that Gene Burns had done for WOR in New York (the daily syndicated show that WRKO had also picked up; Severin took over when Burns quit
abruptly).

From a cached page:
http://74.6.238.254/search/srpcache...6&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=TaYLhwScVhkO0nHjTnjynw--
>>
July of 1993 brought Gene Burns to the WOR Radio Network as an afternoon drive time host. Burns offered a Libertarian viewpoint that was unique in the Talk Radio industry. In October 1994, Gene Burns left the company and was replaced by Jay Severin, a Republican political consultant. The show replaced Burns on the WOR Radio Network as well.