Gotta smoke that cigarette !!!

[gr8oldies]

If I were to be transported back in time to visit the stations I worked in from 1975 to about 1995, I probably couldn't stand to walk into any of them because I seemed to be one of the few non-smokers. I don't remember ashtrays being built into the consoles, but there were definately ashtrays everywhere.

Even Sherriff Andy smoked on TV. I remember an episode which featured him smoking in bed (someohow I'd imagine that's been edited out for current airings). Didn't Johnny Carson always have a cigarette burning?

 

[rickradio]

Didn't Johnny Carson always have a cigarette burning?

Well, don't know about "always," but yes, he kept an ashtray in the top desk drawer and would smoke during breaks, snuffing it out when about to go back on the air.

 

[amfmsw]

Tom, I think you need to explain to the youngin's.

W.C. Fields was always thumbing his nose at authority at the networks, Paramount Studios and sponsors. He wrote a character into his national radio show. It was his no-good, lazy son, Chester.

W.C. Fields' show was sponsored by Lucky Strike.

This went on for months until the sponsor figured out his snipe "Chester Fields", their direct tobacco competitor.

 

[Aljr]

Fields was an onery SOB. He and John Barrymore used to get tanked up,hide in the bushes in front of Barrymore's house and snipe at people on "star tours" with a bb gun.

Desi Arnaz smoked 20 cigars a day and inhaled the SOB's. The lil' guy could sing though.

I born with a voice in the Barry White range. Good for radio but got me in all kinds of trouble in school. I couldn't say so much as word to any of my buds w/o catching crap. I'm a cigar smoker but I have to keep to a couple a week or my voice gets too raspy.

Nearly all of the lesser endowed announcers smoked cigarettes when I started out.

I remember watching NBA games as a lil' kid and players smoking on the bench.

 

[nightfly61]

Cigs weren't all we were smokin' back then!

 

[raedizzle2008]

And sadly it comes as no surprise that many of those great jocks from the past have since died from cancer or heart attcks.

Most notably, the ever-popular dee-jay "Wolfman Jack" comes to mind. He was a devoted smoker, and died in 1995 of a heart attack in his 50's, I remember.

 

[raedizzle2008]

Even Sherriff Andy smoked on TV. I remember an episode which featured him smoking in bed (someohow I'd imagine that's been edited out for current airings). Didn't Johnny Carson always have a cigarette burning?

I saw Andy Taylor (Griffith) smoke on at least a couple episodes, once right in the close presence of "Opie." (Dang, Andy, don't you know what horrific diseases you're exposing your boy to? lol) I heard that the late Johnny Carson was indeed a heavy smoker, but I've not seen him actually in the act of doing such. But I did see another erstwhile NBC late-night personality, Tom Snyder (who died about a year ago from leukemia), smoke a lot during interviewing segments with guests on his "Tomorrow" show, which ran right after Carson in the 1970's-early '80's. (I was a little kid back then, but saw some clips of this on YouTube) Of course, when Snyder got another late gig on CBS in the late '90's, no cigarette was to be found on him...at least on TV. Guess by this time, many peoples' attitudes toward smoking on TV (and elsewhere) had become pretty much in opposition of it. I used to dip snuff, but I don't think I'd want to have smoke wafting in my face while I'm talking to someone asking about my life's details...as though anyone will (or should) care to do that! ;D

 

[nightfly61]

I chain smoked in the studio when I first started in radio. The engineer who smoked a pipe & I were the only 2 in the building that smoked(tobacco). I smoked so much back then that now the only time I have a smoke is with a beer. I saw an episode of Scrubs the other night where they were laying in bed smoking. I also regret it now, but a friend told me that "Swingtown" had a pretty good soundtrack so I watched it for the 1st & ONLY time the other night & there was a lotta dags gettin' sucked down. The show wouldn't have been so foul if it didn't include, well swingers! Dean Martin usually had a coctail glass in 1 hand & a cig in the other, like Jackie Gleason. Nat Cole & Rod Serling too. Funny you never see women with those long cigarette holders anymore.

 

[mleach]

I guess cigarettes are STILL very much a part of radio. Recently ( November 2010 ) a buddy of mine had an interview with some very known stations in Denver. First question at the interview..."do you smoke?" "lets go out and share a smoke together.."

He didn't so therefor he did not go outside to share a smoke with the PD ( or whoever did the interview ) and not only did he NOT get the job but the radio station in question actually went as far as sent out a rejection letter to him saying that he did not get the job because..well he did NOT smoke cigarettes since the station felt that cigarette smoking was still an important part to the voice of the announcer.

The stations in question..KXKL and KIMN "KOOL 105" and "MIX 100".

 

[Ultimajock]

Dean Martin usually had a coctail glass in 1 hand & a cig in the other, like Jackie Gleason. Nat Cole & Rod Serling too.

...and, over in the UK, Dave Allen. By the time Dave Allen at Large was syndicated in the States, it was unusual to see cigarette smking on video; although Johnny Carson had that cigarette box on his desk (famously broken by Don Rickles one night circa '76 when Don was pinch-hitting), he'd installed a sliding ashtray under the surface of that desk and was conscious to only puff during a commercial...

 

[deltas69]

growing up with the tonight show..johnny did indeed smoke on camera back then as did most of his guests..he eventually did stop..but that show where he finds his cig case broken on the desk is priceless..he drags a cam and mike over to the next set where don rickles is filming his sitcom "CPO SHARKEY"...and confronts him live on the set..funny as hell.i smoked on the air for years until i quit in 1999..and it didn't make one difference in my voice one way or another...legend has it beer is supposed to make your voice lower..having drank way more beer than cigs..didn't do that either..your born with the pipes...or not...smoking can only damage your voice box...over the years...hoarseness, coughing, etc just a by product of the habit..as well as cancer, and other diseases..and yes i know not everyone that smokes gets cancer..just like everyone that drives doesnt have a wreck you take your chances in life.........

 

[mleach]

i smoked on the air for years until i quit in 1999..and it didn't make one difference in my voice one way or another...legend has it beer is supposed to make your voice lower..having drank way more beer than cigs..didn't do that either..your born with the pipes...or not...smoking can only damage your voice box...over the years...hoarseness, coughing, etc just a by product of the habit..as well as cancer, and other diseases..and yes i know not everyone that smokes gets cancer..just like everyone that drives doesnt have a wreck you take your chances in life.........

To those who really believe that if one smokes cigarettes then their voice will suddenly go from Tiny Tim to Wolfman Jack...ah...they really should spend some time watching the wonderful work of the late great Paul Lynde. I quit smoking several years ago myself and no matter how many packs I or anyone else would go through in a single day..Paul smoked more !!

One classic line I can recall hearing on E several years ago during a Paul Lynde bio was that "...Paul Lynde didn't smoke....HE SMOKED ! ! !" Also wasn't Charles Nelson Reily a big time smoker too? Of course neither man hardly had a deep voice despite their smoking habit.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I never smoked and don't have a deep voice. Lots of people in radio smoked in the '70s and the control room ceiling was a dull shade of yellow because of it, almost brown really.

These days to be in radio you don't want a really deep voice anyway. It makes you sound too old. My voice has gotten a little deeper with age but that's because being on the air made me project my voice more.

 

[Preacherdude]

Radio still smells like stale cigarettes and burnt coffee to me, because that's what we had at my first station, WRAQ-AM in Asheville. The PD chain smoked cigarettes and Swisher Sweets, and the sound board, while supposed to be white, was kind of a dull yellow. That old building still reminds me of the smell of a cheap used car lot. While I admit that the smell is somewhat repulsive, it is still very nostalgic, and reminds me of good, more carefree times when my greatest dream was to work a full-time airshift and make at least $200 per week!

 

[schmave]

Radio still smells like stale cigarettes and burnt coffee to me, because that's what we had at my first station, WRAQ-AM in Asheville. The PD chain smoked cigarettes and Swisher Sweets, and the sound board, while supposed to be white, was kind of a dull yellow. That old building still reminds me of the smell of a cheap used car lot. While I admit that the smell is somewhat repulsive, it is still very nostalgic, and reminds me of good, more carefree times when my greatest dream was to work a full-time airshift and make at least $200 per week!

I remember my first internship at WLQR in Toledo, in 1999, the AM studio reeked of cigarette smoke. Everyone smoked in there (and to a lesser extent in the larger FM studio next door), especially the legendary Don King (who many from Toledo probably will remember). I never bothered to shower or wear much nice to work if I was going to be board-opping on the AM side for a Tigers, Buckeyes or local high school game because I knew I'd come home stinking! I smoked regularly my first 2-3 years of college but had cut back seriously by my senior year and the smell drove me nuts. But it does bring back memories.