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WOW !! GEORGE CARLIN DIED!!

B

BIG2

Guest
The originator of "The HI Fi Club "on KXOL136o in 1959, Comedian George Carlin Died of heart failure at age 71. He was admitted to Cedars Sinai Hosp. in LA this afternoon complaining of chest pains. He died 11:30p Dallas time. Carlin was inducted into The Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He was well known for the "hippy Dippy weatherman", "Wino Radio" and the 7 words you can not say on radio, and TV. What a shock and a loss. He also was the very first host of a new concept TV show on NBC in 1975 called Saturday Night Live"
Man this was a surprise!.
 
Mike you have to play an EXTRA Special Hi-Fi For your
Last Show on Retro Radio now. [With 3 hours anyway ;)].
Or Maybe Schedule a Special Weekday One
 
I just wanted to point out one interesting fact from the Houston board, where the question Is There Life After Radio? has taken on major importance, leading to a big radio "reunion" bash in July:

I always loved former KXOL-Ft. Worth radio host George Carlin for his standup comedy in the years after he got out of radio, because like him or not, his comedy was 'way ahead of its time. His ear for the incongruities and ironies of life was phenomenal.

But he was really ahead of his time with his reason for getting out of radio...as I heard him say in an interview with Bob Costas back in the '90s, he felt radio had become too much "formula;" creativity, he said, was becoming less valued.

Sound familiar? And that was 1959-60.

For Carlin, I guess getting out of radio was the beginning of real success. Y'think?
 
I'm going to work on some stuff ASAP...it won't happen today, however. I'll try to locate my tape of Carlin's videotaped appearance at the KXOL reunion from 2001. He sent in a videotape to play at the reunion, which addressed every last detail of his time at KXOL, including names and situations and funny moments (talk about an uncanny memory for details! Wild stuff for something he did only briefly, and over 40 years earlier.) I'll see about gathering some Carlin comedy routines (the screening process will take the longest, I'm sure) and will play those as well. I may dump the afternoon music (after the GenX replay) for a couple of days to do a proper tribute.

This is really a sad day. My buddy John Lewis, who does the www.kxol1360.com website, will be devastated. He made friends with Carlin several years back, and George was a big help to him providing old pics and info for the site. Check out the site for more info. John was my original co-host of "The Hi-Fi Club," and was really proud of the fact that I decided to pay homage to the station (and George) by bringing back the old name. John got hold of Carlin on our very first show (two years ago last week) and asked him to come on the air with us...Carlin was in the middle of things and didn't have time, but promised us he would do so later. Unfortunately, we never followed up. When Carlin was at Bass Hall just a few months ago, none of us could afford the tickets...and we missed out on the last chance to ever meet him in person.

I'll see if John will tell the story here of how Carlin ended up in Fort Worth, and what made him leave and try his luck in L.A.
 
Kevin McCarthy says on his board that Carlin and Jack Burns were given a "radio or nightclubs" ultimatum by the GM. They quit and a couple of months later were on Jack Parr's show.
 
That's pretty much it; GM Earle Fletcher was a hardnose by most accounts, and was tired of Carlin coming in tired, hung over, etc, after doing his evening shift THEN performing at The Cellar until the wee hours. But it was more like 8 months...Carlin and Burns left KXOL in Feb 1960 (the replacement evening jock played Marty Robbins' "El Paso" for them several times as they headed west out of town) then appeared on Jack Paar in October.
 
BIG2 said:
The originator of "The HI Fi Club "on KXOL136o in 1959, Comedian George Carlin Died of heart failure at age 71. He was admitted to Cedars Sinai Hosp. in LA this afternoon complaining of chest pains. He died 11:30p Dallas time. Carlin was inducted into The Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He was well known for the "hippy Dippy weatherman", "Wino Radio" and the 7 words you can not say on radio, and TV. What a shock and a loss. He also was the very first host of a new concept TV show on NBC in 1975 called Saturday Night Live"
Man this was a surprise!.
Click to expand...


They're doing a tribute to him on XM Radio....all day today.i'm hearing some old radio jingles...i heard one from a 1480 khz....station.not KXOL...must be some other station he worked at.
 
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