When I got into radio, I asked one of the DJ’s if he had any advice for me. “Don’t get involved with a listener!” was his reply. I asked him why and his response was, “Haven’t you ever seen Play Misty for Me?”

I hadn’t. So I rented it. It starred Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walter and it scared the heck out of me!

The film came out on this day in 1971. The movie in a nutshell:

Popular radio show host Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) becomes restless in his relationship with his girlfriend (Donna Mills). Impulsively, he goes out and sleeps with a woman (Jessica Walter) he meets at a nightclub. After the fact, he finds out she was not an anonymous hookup, but an obsessive fan who has called in repeatedly to request he play the song “Misty.” Garver soon discovers extricating himself from the woman will be no easy feat as she becomes increasingly psychotic.

In my radio career of over two decades, I thankfully never encountered a listener like this! Naturally, we were all leery of any food or drink that was brought to the radio station. You never knew what might or might not be in it.

Most DJ’s had “groupies” who followed you around to your appearances. Many just wanted to chat with you. They always treated you like you were a “big star” or “famous.” I always told them I was just a guy doing a job. Still, there were plenty of folks that followed me around or always called the station. Off the top of my head: Gary, Dawn, Ann, Dan, Marie, Jennifer, Heather, Don, Tracy, Michelle, Lee, Kortney, Shelley, Pat, Sandy, Joe, Deatta, and many more all connected with me at various stations and throughout my career. Many of them became friends afterward. None of them ever attacked me violently.

Errol Garner composed Misty in 1954. It would be recorded by many artists including Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin and Johnny Mathis. It would become Mathis’ signature song.

Here is the Garner version.