Posted by
AJH on Friday, February 20, 2009 8:21:48 PM
Tom Leykis is leaving the airwaves, at least for the moment. It's nice to hear some good news during the economic downturn. One never thinks about or hears in news reports how some of these people laid-off or fired actually deserve it. Unfortunately, Leykis is still under contract and will continue to be paid.
I don't think much of Leykis or his show. I have only listened to a few of his shows usually after inadvertently leaving my radio tuned to 970 The Talker or when other stations have preempted their regular programming with some inane garbage such as pledge drives on public broadcasting.
I tried listening to his last show, but his show is so boring. He was taking several callers and each one was dull beyond belief. All appeared to be part of the Leykis cult.
The only things worth listening to on 970 are The Dennis Miller Show and The Onion Radio News. For awhile there was some very strange top-of-the-hour news using an automated system named the NewsBot 2000 or something. It apparently had a computer-generated voice, much spookier than Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The signal strength is so weak at times that stations from Alberta outdo it repeatedly. There almost always seems to be some interference. Static and other programs regularly cut into it.
“One way or another you will see me,” he said. He mentioned a possible book deal or even television. I don't want to give him too much coverage here because he really is a pompous a** most of the time.
Leykis will be doing some major farming I guess. At least that's what he says. I hope he stays there, out on his farm and away from sending out such stupid programming over the air.
The infighting at the station in Hollywood is reminiscent of a NewsRadio episode where Phil Hartman's Bill McNeal has renegotiated his contract with a substantial raise and confidentiality clause, which plunges WNYX into budget chaos.
Another similar incident occurred at KVI in Seattle when host John Carlson was fired. Michael Medved went on the air to discuss the situation, but not much could be done to tamp down the controversial nature of Carlson's dismissal and subsequent outrage by listeners. The bottom line is that John Carlson should never have left the air. His firing was plain ridiculous.
AJH