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Does he get his ideas from ASA?
August 14, 2003
Bob Welch: Radio spoof on KUGN hardly funny By Bob Welch Columnist, The Register-Guard Recently I was driving home, listening to a radio talk show, when I suddenly realized its gist: A caller representing a retirement center was defending seniors who wanted to get hold of a photo of Laci Peterson's dead baby. The folks at the center were placing bets on whether Conner looked more like his murdered mother or his father, Scott, who'd been arrested in connection with Laci's death. "The winners," the woman said, "get an ice cream social thrown in their honor!" The talk-show host acted disgusted. "There's a sickness in people who get grins from doing this stuff," Phil Hendrie said. Actually, Hendrie is grinning all the way to the bank. His Los Angeles-based talk show - it's all parody - is syndicated to more than 80 radio stations around the country, including, since January, KUGN. As a sort of radio ventriloquist, he plays both the talk-show host and the guest, spoofing the public with outlandish topics that range from "Spades Social, a club where white men can go, relax and make racial jokes" to a man who "claims that dog owners sexually abuse their animals because they want to create a subspecies of man beast." A small percent of listeners, who don't pick up on the parody, call in and, with help from Hendrie, tangle with the "guest." Hendrie expressed dismay, for example, at the woman who wanted to conduct sex workshops for underage girls in order to honor the sacrifices made by those who died aboard the space shuttle Columbia. And was so outraged by a "caller" whose child died when left in a car - and blamed it on auto makers - that he offered listeners the sound of sizzling bacon to make his point. Harmless audio stimuli? More like three hours of humankind at its worst. Give him this: Phil Hendrie is creative; at times, funny. But he's radio's answer to Jerry Springer, whipping people into frenzies that, despite their satirical bents, smack of human cockfights. But, then, maybe I just can't take a joke. (And maybe I'm not alone; Hendrie's latest Arbitron numbers for Eugene were a paltry 1.3 shares of adults ages 25 to 54.) "Here's the value of the show, besides its entertainment value: It allows us and him to go into areas and talk about things that are very difficult to approach otherwise," says G. Michael Donovan, market manager for Cumulus Broadcasting in Eugene, which owns KUGN. Things like, what, racism? (Hendrie says to one "caller": "Are you black, because you sound black - sort of an Aunt Jemima thing.") Things like, what, a "guest" who talks about a tour of Auschwitz followed by a boxed lunch and a day at an Octoberfest? Things like, what, a possible takeoff show, patterned after "The Bachelor," to be called "The Retard?" (About women taking care of men with disabilities.) Suffice it to say that Hendrie is not exactly Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes" when approaching these "very difficult" subjects. The irony is that KUGN added Hendrie on the heels of axing Michael Savage, whose caustic liberal-bashing rattled many. Local-oriented Dan Carlin is a definite upgrade from Savage in the afternoon slot. But with Hendrie on board from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., it's like King Kong left and Godzilla arrived, even if the less-political Hendrie has inspired little of the outcry that Savage did. "The difference between Phil and Savage is that Savage pandered to people's worst instincts," Donovan says. And, what, there's something deeply virtuous about a 2001 Hendrie show in which a woman, after returning from the salon with wet fingernails, asks her maid to clean her after she's gone to the bathroom? Last year, Donovan wrote that Savage was dropped largely because "(he) decided that the path to fame is paved with outrageous excess" and "bad taste." And earlier had said Savage didn't fit the Eugene-Springfield audience. If Phil Hendrie does, I'm living in the wrong place. |
#2
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Does he get his ideas from ASA?
Welch is an idiot. Anybody who is fooled
by Phil Hendrie for even the length of one of his skits has no imagination. And, what's Phil Hendrie have to do with sailing? www.philhendrieshow.com |
#3
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Does he get his ideas from ASA?
"Simple Simon" wrote in And, what's Phil Hendrie have to do with sailing? Exactly! |
#4
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Does he get his ideas from ASA?
"Simple Simon" wrote in :
Welch is an idiot. Anybody who is fooled by Phil Hendrie for even the length of one of his skits has no imagination. And, what's Phil Hendrie have to do with sailing? www.philhendrieshow.com |
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