After Ross and Wilson, The Next Generation on
Z100/NY sadly imploded, it was back to Atlanta; back to Talk Radio -- PM Drive
on Jacor-owned WGST. With all the talking and phone bits I had done over the
years on music stations plus the three transitional years on WABC/NY, getting
back into Talk Radio was exciting. The Ross
and Wilson Zoo experience proved to me that the creative freedom that once
flourished in Music Radio was decomposing into micro-managed mediocrity at the
hands of incompetent programmers, consultants and the search for the lowest
common denominator for an audience.
When I
started my first show on WGST, I was not at the top of my Talk Radio game. But
most everyone at the station and in the listening audience still had fond
memories of Z-93's wildly popular Ross
and Wilson show, so content and form weren't all that noticed. For the
first few weeks, most of the callers just wanted to say, “Welcome back” and
reminisce about their personal favorite R&W story from “back in the day.”
It was fun and funny – unless you had arrived in Atlanta after our 1980
departure for WABC. Now 12-13 years later, there was a crowd of new listeners
in a different format with no clue what a Ross
and Wilson was. Getting off Memory Lane and onto current issues took some
effort but, eventually, my prodigal son status wore off and I was just another
horse in the Atlanta Talk Radio stable.
Two very
interesting things happened during that brief stay -- one was Rush Limbaugh,
the other was Talk at Nite, my
second journey into TV.
First --
Rush.
WGST was
Atlanta's perennial #2 talk station, forever in the shadow of WSB, the 50,000
watt Cox O&O. It wasn't so much that WSB had the better talent than it was
WGST had such a lousy signal, even after a frequency change. WSB could be heard
in several states. WGST, with a southerly-directed signal, couldn't be heard in
some of the northern Atlanta suburbs where all the white-collar Talk Radio
audience growth was taking place. Tough to get ratings when your audience can't
hear you.
Duh.
The one
bright programming light WGST could exclusively claim was the brash, new Rush Limbaugh Show, syndicated out of
WABC. Still in his early growth phase, Rush did a series of Rush to Excellence Tour promotions,
airing his show from affiliate studios in markets around the country, followed
by a stand-up and Q&A appearance in a venue large enough to hold an SRO
crowd of new and dedicated followers. One of those tours brought him to Atlanta
and WGST.
The way it
was supposed to work: Rush would do his
regular show from our studios, take a break from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., then appear
at a local venue circa 7 p.m. How it actually came off in Atlanta was
different.
Rush and I
met in the studio as he was leaving at the end of his show. He had heard of my
years at WABC and we played the “who-do-you-know” game, as radio types always
do. I made a half-serious comment: “You
ought to stick around for my show; we can call it Rush and Wilson.” He thought that was hilarious and perfect. And so
he stayed -- for the next three hours! Despite being total strangers, the show
was superb! We played off each other as well – if not better – than Ross and I
did after our first meeting in Baton Rouge 16 years earlier.
When it was
over, I drove him to his speech and stand-up show. Traffic gave us an
additional 45 minutes to chat about radio, politics, programming philosophy,
future plans for the show, etc. Inside, Rush went off to freshen up, long
enough for me to get drafted into greeting the house and introducing them to
Rush.
On stage, I
introduced myself to some very nice applause, got off a few one-liners and
thanked everyone for listening to WGST.
And now,
with half his brain tied behind his back just to be fair, Rush Limbaugh!
The crowd
went nuts! Standing O! Whistles! Yells! Everything except flying panties and
hotel room keys! I watched most of the show backstage, then hit the road.
The next
morning, perusing the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, I noted that one of their liberal columnists had
ripped into Rush as well as WGST and conservative Talk Radio in general. Just
before noon, I received a call from the PD:
Rush wants
to know if it would be OK if he did the show again with you today. He's really peeved
at what the paper said and he wants to get his licks in, something he won't be
able to pull off on his national show.
Would it be
"OK" to do another show with the number one talk show host in the
country? Hmmm, lemme think about that for a nanosecond or two.
And so it
came to pass: Rush and Wilson lived to play and fight another day against the
evil forces of the liberal elite media! And a good time was had by all, with
the possible exception of a certain AJC
columnist whose "opinion" was thoroughly shredded from 3 p.m. to 6
p.m.
For my
posterity and the historical record, Rush Limbaugh never did another
"two-man" show anywhere with anyone after Rush and Wilson on WGST. How about that!
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