Randy Michaels Charged with OVI in Middletown

[FRR]

Guess he got picked up around 2:05 AM near Middletown. Article said he was "forced to resign last year for personal misconduct"


What was that all about????

 

[jry]

It was wild freewheeling times at the Trib....

Benjamin Homel?!?!

Really? I never knew and i'd have changed my name, too.

Must have been too much "power pigging" eh?

 

[raccoonradio]

Wikipedia doesn't give details about being forced to resign last year though it said in 08 "Under Mr. Michaels, The Tribune Co. was widely reported to have undergone a negative change in atmosphere, with instances of profanity from executives and strange memos being issued from management, as well as a controversial private poker party in the Tribune Towers"

 

[microbob]

There were also accusations of sexual misconduct in the Tribune tower involving Michaels as well.

 

[TANKSBACK]

"Your honor, I wasn't driving drunk, I was simply thinking outside the cones. Creative driving, if you will. As for the alcohol smell, I was wearing "Essence Of Willie's", which I was sprayed with in the restaurant men's room. It's right next to the "Jade East" cologne sprayer. And please, in the future, refer to me by my rapper name "Ben-Ho". I plead "no contest" but will be glad to gove you some great prizes if you just hit me with a light sentence. Thank you, your honor." ;D

 

[jry]

i am not going to kick dirt in his face.
No doubt, he is a talented guy.
One wonders if he is starting to crash. Problems at the Trib., Merlins new style of FM talk didn't take like he thought it would (i think the high debt doesn't allow the time for this to percolate, the format takes time) and the pressure to perform, may be taking its toll.
Not the time to melt down or get overwhelmed.
They probably should have held on and given the new format time. Its tough to get folks to leave their favorite station, regardless of how "NEW!" and "FRESH!" the new "talker" is. It doesn't matter that its so dynamic that listeners will run to it. They won't and don't. It just takes time and patience. Its pick and shovel work.

 

[Element9]

and please, in the future, refer to me by my rapper name "Ben-Ho."

Ben-Ho. Funny stuff. He's lucky he didn't wrap himself around a pole or t-bone another driver. This guy's lived large for years (as witnessed by his picture) and he's handled all kinds of pressure, so it's not a matter of "starting to crash." He's always craved attention. This is just another episode of The Randy Show. Half the viewers/readers want to be him, the other half loathe him. Unfortunately, it's just a case of a highly paid radio exec acting like an Active Rock overnight jock after a bar party. Dumb. Dude, was your driver off that night? Call a cab.

_________________________________________________
His name is Ben-Ho / He's the king of ray-dee-o.
Got busted in his ride / And the picture hurt his pride.
Told the judge he wuzn't drinkin' / But what the hell was he thinkin'.
Now the man could do some time / For drivin' outta line.

 

[Frank Ferreri]

Too much ado about nothing. Michaels didn't rob a bank or molest a child. He wasn't even driving according to the report. OVI?? Wow, now they have a new one. His attorney advised him correctly. Do not give a breath test.

 

[Element9]

Michaels wasn't "not driving," either, meaning the vehicle was not in motion prior to being approached by a police officer. According to one published report, the vehicle was stranded in mud and water up to the frame in a construction zone. A competent attorney might try to make a case for Michaels being the occupant rather than the operator of the vehicle, but if Michaels was sitting in the driver seat and the keys were in the ignition when the officer approched, such a defense wouldn't pass the laugh test and might even set off the official courtroom bullshit-o-meter (patent pending), requiring evacuation of the courthouse.

In many states, the act of refusing to take a Breath-O-Lizer can be cause for conviction of DWI/OVI. Not being an attorney, I wouldn't venture a guess in this case. More than one police officer has advised that if a driver wants to sleep it off in his/her car after a night of drinking, he/she should pull far off the road, take the keys out of the ignition and get out of the driver's seat. Does beaching the vehicle in a construction zone at 2 a.m. constitute pulling "far off the road?" I guess that's why defense lawyers make the big bucks.

Rumor has it that when one of Middletown's Finest pulled up, the radio was on and ZZ Top's "Arrested For Driving While Blind" was playing. Already the urban legend has begun.

 

[oldschoolgal]

Nobody has asked about or commented on this question yet: Where was Randy that evening before the accident? Couldn't have been anything in Middletown, could it?

 

[nicomp]

Wikipedia doesn't give details about being forced to resign last year though it said in 08 "Under Mr. Michaels, The Tribune Co. was widely reported to have undergone a negative change in atmosphere, with instances of profanity from executives and strange memos being issued from management, as well as a controversial private poker party in the Tribune Towers"

Wikipedia? There's some good reportin'

 

[uncamark]

Wikipedia doesn't give details about being forced to resign last year though it said in 08 "Under Mr. Michaels, The Tribune Co. was widely reported to have undergone a negative change in atmosphere, with instances of profanity from executives and strange memos being issued from management, as well as a controversial private poker party in the Tribune Towers"

Wikipedia? There's some good reportin'

Googling of Robert Feder's blog posts at WBEZ (and later Time Out Chicago) will pretty much confirm Wikipedia (although the wacky memos were more Lee Abrams' doing than Michaels').

 

[tcsnrayp]

wickipedia? that there is a credible source. if you can't believe what people write about themselves what can you believe?

 

[del_griffith]

What's the latest and greatest on this?

 

[techie2]

Pretrial hearing scheduled for 12/14. The case number is 11TRC05804 and is searchable on the Middletown Municipal Court website.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

I'm new to the Cincinnati board. I'd been searching for some news about WDJO 1480, which I thought I heard today around 2:30 PM, on a good radio, just west of Pottsville. Several years back we'd lost oldies WISL 1480 Shamokin, and so it's a pretty open channel nowadays.

My question here asks who blew the whistle on 'Randy Michaels'? Was he the one to explain the identity? His license would have read Benjamin Homel. If not through him, how was the connection made? Vanity plates? Bumper stickers? Bobbleheads? Maybe a construction permit to be in that zone?

 

[KFodor]

I'm new to the Cincinnati board. I'd been searching for some news about WDJO 1480, which I thought I heard today around 2:30 PM, on a good radio, just west of Pottsville. Several years back we'd lost oldies WISL 1480 Shamokin, and so it's a pretty open channel nowadays.

My question here asks who blew the whistle on 'Randy Michaels'? Was he the one to explain the identity? His license would have read Benjamin Homel. If not through him, how was the connection made? Vanity plates? Bumper stickers? Bobbleheads? Maybe a construction permit to be in that zone?

Steve - Randy is not exactly "unknown" to news people in the area. Certainly more than a few who've worked for him know his "real" name. Others in media have known him for decades, with Randy having been the former CEO of Jacor Communications, prior to his association with Clear Channel. And, I would suspect, anyone at the police station in Middletown certainly recognized WLW's Bill Cunningham who, so the story goes, supposedly sprung Randy from jail. I'm would also suspect his identity and his line of work would come out in a police interview.

So, as to "who blew the whistle"? It could have been an enterprising reporter, or maybe just the poor guy who calls the "cop shop" every morning to ask "what's up?"

 

[jry]

Or someone with a police scanner app on his i phone.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Randy has always been a kind and caring guy despite whatever someone might think. Most people that meet him like him for life unless they have some agenda.
I can't recall a better time in my life than when I was at WLW with Dusty, Burbank, Trumpy, and others. (Except for my ex-wife. )
Any radio person that isn't his competitor has to admire the man. I do anyway.

 

[jry]

Randy has always been a kind and caring guy despite whatever someone might think. Most people that meet him like him for life unless they have some agenda.
I can't recall a better time in my life than when I was at WLW with Dusty, Burbank, Trumpy, and others. (Except for my ex-wife. )
Any radio person that isn't his competitor has to admire the man. I do anyway.

Certainly he is accomplished. He has that Maverick style that folks either like or hate. I think what may have given him a bad reputation was all of that "Power Pig" stuff from many years ago.
I have a hard time believing that this will be a big problem for him. Especially if they don't have anyone who will testify that they saw him driving drunk or impaired.
Here is the defense...... I had just been shopping and was tired. I went the wrong direction and got stuck. In my desperation, i reached into my grocery bag and pulled out a bottle of booze that i had just bought..... No bottle in the back of the car, hmmm, well, a nice jogger was running by and happened to have a flask full of Jack Daniels.... Well, of course this is all just a joke.
Thankfully, no one was hurt including Randy.