Flashback: 1999.( August/September) ,I had just celebrated my first Anniversary as Manager of the Park Avenue Showroom (30th and Park). I have always been a fan of "talk radio". not the screaming, noisy repetitve Sports talk, nor the looney "right wing" type, I always appreciated the more "thoughtful" funny type like WABC's Lynn Samuels,Lionel, Jay Diamond and Alan Colmes..and like many I was a BIG fan of "self proclaimed King of all Media", Howard Stern. I was one of his earliest,earliest listeners, on 66 WNNNNNNBC. at around this time I found a "new" show. .WNEW had recently hired Opie and Anthony. and I was rapidly becoming a big fan of them, than this legendary NY radio station went "all talk".
now the thing you need to remember here, is that as a "manager" I essentially "ran my own business". I worked alone, from roughly 10AM, ( I often came in at 9:30, and on occasion as early as 9). till 9pm. 9 back in those days you were permitted to leave for maybe a half hour if you wanted but I seldom did. I would take 5 or 10 minutes at a time to go to the deli or newsstand, but most of the time I never left). I ordered food from an awesome little burger place on 32nd so often they gave me a free meal one Christmas!
The other part that is important here is the Store. it was NOT a typical location,
the customers were "upscale" and lived in the area, but there were not a lot of them, and the store was located
UNDER Park Ave. there was a "street level" entrance and you had to go down 2 flights of stairs, so a lot of others did not want to work there, it quickly became "My little Kingdom" "MY Underground Lair". and man, I knew how to "work" that place, I learned how to "make more and do less" and others never understood how I did it, lol. but I am getting off track.
11 hours a day, plus very few customers, = LOTS of free time.
I read books, tabloids,every magazine on the rack, comic books, and 2 Newspapers a day,
but my "best friend" from the minute I woke up to the minute I walked into my apartment around 10:15
was 102.7 WNEW. 3 terrific, funny as hell talk shows! all day long. I dont recall the time-slots of the original line up oddly. but the best, longest run of the many chaotic changes over the next 2 years was "The Radiochick," "O and A", and" Ron and Fez". 2 of those are now on Sirius/XM, (at least I think R&F are still there). MY personal favorite has had a" cursed" history nearly as mixed up and confusing as my own,
I have NO idea why I fell in love with this dopey little show.maybe I always root for the underdog,
it certainly had lot to do with the awesome chemistry between the 3 people behind the mic,Leslie Gold, Paul "Butchy" Brennan, and Chuck "Mr know it all" Nice, I was hooked for life. I nearly never called in, something I regret to this day. I guess I was intimidated by the 3 most "naturally funny" people I had heard in ages,
the difference I guess between them and the others was the "sharp wit".any host can do "dick jokes" and strippers, and the show had more than it's share. but these guys often made sharp, incisive FUNNY points, and really seemed "a cut above" while still having a blast, I now know just how much fun they had, as well as how many levels of Hell they were sent through.over the years. one time I did call in, it was very spur of the moment and the only thing I recall was the nervous feelingin the pit of my gut, and the fact I needed a dopey caller "nickname". on the fly, I looked around the room and thought of the nickname "mattressman".
that nickname has kind of stuck around in some circles ever since. I have a few more thoughts on "The Radiochick Show" and I don't want this post to run forever,
so tune in later for Part 2.
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