It was 66 years ago that we were first introduced to Rocky and His Friends. Rocky debuted on this day in 1959 along with his friend Bullwinkle, the evil Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and even Aesop! They debuted on the ABC Network.
The show was sort of a variety show which featured Rocky and Bullwinkle on an adventure that always ended in a cliffhanger. Their portion of the show was surrounded by Fractured Fairy Tales (narrated by Edward Everett Horton), Peabody’s Improbable History, and the adventures of Dudley Do-Right. The show has been described as “a radio show with pictures” and I would tend to agree.
While the animation isn’t all that great (it was done by Gamma Productions in Mexico and there were plenty of mistakes), the series is still held in high esteem. The show was fun for kids and adults. The humor consisted of puns, satire, and characters poking fun at themselves.
Production on the show began in 1958 with voice work being done by the amazing June Foray, Bill Scott, Paul Frees, Hans Conried and William Conrad. Conrad acted as narrator for the show and his frantic narration was a highlight for me. Wiki says at the end of the episode (at the cliffhanger) he would announce two humorous titles for the next episode that typically were puns of each other (and usually related more to the current predicament than to the plot of the next episode). For example, during an adventure taking place in a mountain range, Conrad would say, “Be with us next time for ‘Avalanche Is Better Than None,’ or ‘Snow’s Your Old Man.'”
In between the various acts of the show, we’d be treated to Bullwinkle as Mr. Know It All. He would claim to be an authority on just about any topic. Things never seem to go his way in the segment.
Then there was a segment where Bullwinkle would tell Rocky he was going to pull a rabbit out of his hat. Often times it would be a rhino or a lion. Bullwinkle would then say, something about the hat.
As a kid, I loved that the characters would break the fourth wall. They either spoke to you, the viewer, or interacted with the narrator, which was always funny…
I used the music from Fractured Fairy Tails as an open to my radio show. I had Richard D, my program director, do a hokey British accent and say, “WHND now cautions you that the following program may contain extreme silliness, ridiculous situations and partial nudity. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Keith Allen Experience.”. The music made it sound even more ridiculous.
The Rocky and Bullwinkle show was a groundbreaking. And though there have been many attempts at rebooting the cartoon, and movies based on the characters, nothing tops the original!
Today is a day to celebrate the Disc Jockey. I was lucky enough to be both a radio DJ and a Mobile DJ. I have mobile DJ stories, but they aren’t as interesting as my radio DJ stories. This is an adaption of an earlier blog. If you are a newer follower, these will be new to you. If you’ve been around since the inception of this blog, enjoy these again.
In my over 30 year radio career, I have (like all of my radio friends) a gazillion stories. There are some that I just can’t share here. But, here are some that I’ll share off the top of my head. I am sure there are plenty more, but for now – enjoy these:
WKSG –
My career started here. I was a lowly intern ripping news and sorting it. I then started to intern with Paul Christy, the morning guy. He eventually was responsible for me doing overnights full time.
Keith Who?
I only used my real name once in my entire career – and almost didn’t. Every hour at the top of the hour we had to play our Legal ID. The FCC requires the station to identify itself and where the signal originates from. Our Legal ID had was what we called a “donut” in the middle of it. The voice guy gave the station slogan, followed by the Station ID. After that there was a 2-3 music bed where the DJ would say what time it was and their name. I’d heard it a hundred times. “It’s 10 O’clock and I’m Jim McKenzie”, “It’s 3 O’clock and I’m John Bailey”, “It’s 7 O’clock and I’m Johnny Molson” – every jock did it. My first night ever on the air, I hadn’t decided what name I was going to use yet. The ID played and I had no choice – “It’s midnight and I’m … (brain fart – and real name)”. I really had no intentions of using my real name, I just hadn’t decided on my on air name yet. A gal I went to high school with was listening that night. I remember her calling and asking if I was Keith (real name). It freaked me out. She told me that she heard my that first night and thought that I had said my real name. I used Keith Allen every day after that and have never been anyone else.
Thinking Inside the Box
Speaking of those live ID’s, Johnny Molson was on before me each night. It seemed that he and his crew always were trying to mess with me when the ID played. They would make weird noises, bang on cart racks, or knock over my music stack. They would do all kinds of things to try to get me to mess up when I turned on the microphone. . Sometimes they’d get me to crack up and sometimes I was able to keep it together.
One night, the time was ticking away to the ID and they were all out of the studio. The ID started and I heard the studio door behind me open fast. They had found a huge box and as I started to talk, they threw it over my head. My hands, thankfully, were still by the mixer board so I could see what button I had to push next. I didn’t know what to do, so I just continued to talk with the box was over my head. Listeners heard nothing but a muffled voice and the music bed. Johnny was cracking up the whole time. He told me, “I can’t believe you just kept going”!
Saturday Snooze
At one point during my time at Kiss-FM, I was doing Friday night and Saturday mornings. This consisted of me being on air from 12a-6a doing my own show. Then running Paul Christy’s show on tape from 6a-10a.
I don’t recall why I hadn’t slept much the day prior, but I was tired. I finished my show at 6. I got about an hour into Paul’s show, and I was feeling exhausted. I had started a song, put my elbows up on the board, my fists to my cheeks, and nodded off. About 20-25 minutes later, my head fell from my hands and I was startled awake. I had no idea where I was. The phones were all lit up, and nothing was on the air!
In a panic, I grabbed the first song on the music stack and jammed it into the machine. Fittingly, the song was “You’ve Got Your Troubles” by the Fortunes. Once the music started, the phones stopped ringing. I, however, knew that Paul was always listening! I dreaded the call that I knew was coming. I was sure to get fired for messing up his show! 10 minutes later the “PC hotline rang”.
I answered it and as usual, Paul was chomping on something (he was always eating when he called). “How’s it going?”, he asked. There was no way he didn’t hear the silence! He had to have heard it, I knew he did. Why wasn’t he saying anything? I finally blurted out that I had fallen asleep for a couple minutes and awaited the verbal beating. Nope. Not Paul. He laughed and said, “You Asshole! I remember this one time I fell asleep while I was at Super CFL in Chicago….” and told me his sleepy story. That was the kind of guy Paul was … a damn cool dude!
Hot Java
One more Paul story for you. He drank coffee all throughout his shift. He liked it black and hot! One time he had Vince, a morning show member, get him some coffee. It sat next to him for awhile while he was doing other things. He finally grabbed it and took a sip. He was disgusted.
He yelled, “What the hell is the matter with you guys?! You call this hot coffee?! I could piss warmer than this!! Get me some fresh stuff and make sure it is hot!” So Vince went to the coffee pot, filled the cup and then put it in the microwave for about 2 …or 10 minutes. I don’t remember, but it was in there for a good while. He took the steaming cup to Paul. Well, rather than setting it down as he normally did, put it to his lips and took a sip. Needless to say, it burned the hell out of his tongue and lips! Paul yelped, “Jesus! What is wrong with you?!” Holding his tongue in pain, he continued, “I use this thing for a living!!” I think every one of us broke a rib laughing so hard. I can still see him holding his tongue with one hand and fanning it with the other!
WMXD
I followed Paul here to do some part time work after being let go from Kiss-FM. The format started as a mix of Urban/R&B music and Pop. Eventually it went all R&B and Urban. It was here that I met The Electrifying Mojo.
Keef
I had known of Mojo for years. He was a Detroit legend. He had this mysterious persona on t he air. I don’t know that there were any photos of him anywhere. So when I saw him for the first time, I was taken aback. He was much shorter than I had imagined.
I have to say, Mojo was one cool dude. He played most of his stuff off vinyl records. The thing I remember most about Mojo was that the studio was always like a sauna! It was always SO hot when I came in. I don’t know how he was able to work with it that hot.
The studio was always a mess, too! Not garbage messy, but music messy. There were always vinyl records all over the studio. He’d have them stacked on the reel to reel tape machine or on the counter tops. Sometimes, there were stacks of them on the floor of the studio. With the records everywhere, it was hard for me to get in and gather the first hour of music for my show. You could barely move in the studio.
He always called me “Keef” or “Baby Keef” when he got ready to wrap up his show. He had a signature line that he always said at the end of his show:
“Hold on tight. Don’t let go. Whenever you feel like you are reaching the end of your rope – tie a knot. Don’t slide off. Keep hanging. Keep remembering that there ain’t nobody bad like you.”
I had heard him say this on the radio many times, but to watch him say it live in the studio … I was in awe.
WHND
Honey Radio! I grew up listening to this station and I was honored to have the chance to work with radio legends! Richard D, Jon Ray, Boogie Brian, Ron Tavernit, Bill Stewart, Greg Russell, and so many others were such an influence. Honey was the first oldies station in the country – and I got to be there as they turned out the light…..
Worst Five Minutes of Detroit Radio – EVER
You can read all about my buddy Rob in a previous blog. I am not sure if I tell this story in that blog or not, so I apologize if I did. It was the last week Honey was on the air – the week of Thanksgiving 1994. Our listeners knew that this was Honey’s last week and we had been given free reign to have fun.
We had a listener who used to call up and his name was Mitchell. I had gotten to the point where I could do his voice pretty well. I had been doing a character based on the real listener and I called him “Mitch”. True story – Mitch would call and talk to us and really never have anything to say. He’s jump from topic to topic. If you let him, he’d never stop talking. So I decided to prerecord some calls as Mitch where I just rambled about nothing and then hung up. Afterward, we’d say something like “He’s a nice guy, but ….” kind of a thing. It was ridiculous.
So now it’s the last week we are on the air. It had become clear that some people were upset the station was going off the air. They were calling us in the studio and calling the managers to voice their anger. I said to Rob, “I bet Mitchell is really angry about the station.” He said, “They better lock the doors, man. That guy is likely to come in here with a gun or something. That was the idea. So we planned a bit.
I was going to do the character live on the air. I was going to come in and say how upset I was the station was going off the air. I would yell and scream and (using the theater of the mind) pull out a gun and start shooting it (keep in mind this was 1994 and public shootings were not as prominent). At this point in the bit, our bouncer character (loosely based on Charles Bronson) was going to come in and grab the gun. He would then beat up “Mitch” and throw him out the studio window. To accomplish the bit we needed sound effects (to make it sound real on the air).
To help you understand what happens next, here is a picture of a studio. It is not the WHND studio, but the Cart machines in the picture are like the ones there.
If you look at the left side of the picture, you will see the machines above the headphones. There are three machines on the left, a stack of carts in the middle and three machines on the right. At Honey, the machines went like this:
1 4
2 5
3 6
Ok, now to the mess.
We had these 6 cart machines and every song, commercial, or sound effect was on its own cart. So in cart player #1 was the song we just played. Cart #2 had the door closing sound effect for when Mitch comes in. Cart #3 holds the gunshot sound. Cart #4 is the “fight scene” – the sound of two guys beating each other up. Cart #5 is where the sound of glass breaking (the studio window) for when Mitch gets tossed out . Finally, Cart #6 had our first commercial.
The plan was that after Mitch was thrown out the window, we would go to a commercial break. I would have already put the commercial we were going to play first in Cart player 1. Once the glass breaks and we wrap up the bit, go to commercial and proceeded with the show. That however, is NOT how it happened on the air.
As soon as I began to do the character live on the air, I saw Rob crack a smile. That is all it took. Seeing him smile made me start to laugh hard. As his Elvis character, Rob tries to save the bit. So I once again try to do the “Mitch” character – which only made me laugh harder. By this point we are both laughing so hard that we have tears in our eyes. Rob, as Elvis, says “That takes care of that bit, man!”
Because we are totally losing it on the air, my first thought is PLAY THE COMMERCIAL! I go to start the commercial, but the commercial never made it to the machine! So the button I pushed was the gunshot sound effect, which only made us laugh harder….you hear us dropping carts and shoving the commercial in the machine and finally we went to commercials. I have often called this the worst 5 minutes of Detroit radio. To me it is also the funniest 5 minutes of our show.
Update: I found the Audio and made a YouTube Video:
My apologies ahead of time …
Becoming The President
The late Richard D was one of the funniest men I ever worked with. He gave me lots of direction and I have talked about him in previous blogs, as well. I was producing his show the Top 12 at 12. This was an hour of his show which featured the Top 12 songs in Detroit on that day. They found those 12 songs from local charts from radio stations and newspapers. Each day featured a different year.
It was a fun show to produce. It included new stories, TV and movie clips, old commercials, info about how much things were from that year, etc… Richard had to play that day’s 12 songs from the chart. Every now and then there was extra time because of short songs. We would then give him songs that were on the charts from that week to play as “extras.” Usually it was a song that was just being released or had been a hit earlier in that year.
On one show, the countdown was from 1966. I had put a Dean Martin song in there as an extra and he played it. After the song, he made some comment about it not being the greatest song or something and moved on. So I went into the studio, as I often did, to give him crap. I said something along the lines of “Why are you messing with Italians! Dean was Italian and so I am I! Look here you “old bastid (a term of endearment), If I were you, I’d watch what you say about Dean Martin … and Frank Sinatra for that matter!” The whole time he laughed. I left the room as he continued to laugh hysterically.
I thought that would be the end of it, but Richard loved an opportunity to make me the butt of a joke. After the next song he said on the air, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I must offer an apology. A little while ago I played (whatever the song was) by Dean Martin and made some negative remarks about it. Immediately after that, Keith Allen came in here with about 12 goons who roughed me up a bit and told me that my comments were distasteful. So I must now publicly apologize. I really had no idea that Keith Allen was the President of the Dean Martin Fan Club!”
From that day on, I always tried to find a way to sneak a Dean Martin song into my show. After each of those songs I would say I was President of the Dean Martin Fan Club.
Related side story
When Honey went off the air, I received a package from a listener named Sandy. She and I remain friends with to this day. The package was a complete surprise and it was awesome. Sandy had sent me a membership to the REAL Dean Martin Fan Club! To make things even better, there was a note in the package. It read: “I thought you might actually want to be a member of the Fan Club you claim to be President of….”
The Sign Off
For years I listened to Boogie Brian rhyme as he talked up song intros until he nailed the post (where the vocalist starts to sing). He would do this with no effort at all. His energy was constant and the smile in his voice was ever present – until November 25, 1994. That was the day Honey stopped broadcasting locally before eventually signing off. My partner Rob and I were listening to his sign off from the other room. The day had already been full of listeners wishing us well and many tears were shed. The biggest tears came as Boogie signed off that day. A powerful memory that I will never forget.
WWWW
My Worst Prediction
In 1994, I had just come back from working on the west side of the state. It was there that I did country radio for the first time. After I was hired at W4 Country, there was a change in management. The new PD, Tim Roberts, would take the chair and offer some advice that I still use today. Every year, Tim was responsible for booking acts to the Downtown Hoedown. It was a huge three day festival with many stages and many acts. At the time took place in Hart Plaza in Detroit.
We worked at the Hoedown in shifts as I recall and mine was over. I was waiting in the blue W4 Country Suburban to go back to the station with Tim Timmerman. The Dixie Chicks were an up and coming act who had a very traditional sound. Their music was really not like anything on the radio at the time. While I loved it, I didn’t think it would do as well as it did. Tim looked out the window of the Suburban and said “Dude, it’s the Dixie Chicks! We should go get a picture!” I was exhausted and I told him that he could go if he wanted to. I then said something about them being way too traditional and that “they probably won’t go anywhere”. Boy, was I wrong! There’s an opportunity I missed and regret to this day!
Thanks for reading, it’s always fun to share radio stories. There are plenty of my DJ Heroes mentioned above, too. That’s fitting for National DJ Day!
While surfing Facebook today, someone posted that it was Lorna Luft’s Birthday. Why did that strike a chord with me? As soon as I read it, I could hear my old morning show partner saying her name in his Elvis voice. We were talking about her birthday on the air and it jogged the memory. 30 years ago today – it was the beginning of the end.
What follows is an update of the blog I wrote five years ago:
Monday, November 21, 1994. 6:00 AM.
My partner Rob Main and I walked into the studio of WHND to begin what would be the last week of live broadcasts from Honey Radio. We had heard the news weeks prior to this that the radio station was going off the air in favor of Spanish programming. When the station was not broadcasting from our studios, we were airing satellite programming from the Cool Gold Network, which was no longer going to providing services. Honey was no longer financially viable.
At the time, Honey Radio was the oldest Oldies station in the country. While there were stations that played oldies in the Detroit market, none were focusing exclusively on the “first decade of rock and roll”. We primarily focused on the songs that were hits from 1955-1965, while occasionally playing some of those earlier songs from the 1950’s, too. I think that was one of the reasons I loved working at this station so much. When you think of the music from that decade it included rockabilly, doo wop, surf music, Motown, British Invasion music, songs from the “Brill Building”, and early soul and R&B.
We not only played the hits from this decade, but we also played songs that were local hits from local artists that were not being played anywhere else! We played music from Nolan Strong, The Dynamics, Gino Washington, Jack Scott, and so many other local acts. We did a daily show (The Top 12 at 12), which focused on a different year of the decade and counted down the Top 12 songs in Detroit from that particular day. We always used a local chart to count down the hits. Those charts could be from The Detroit News, WJBK, WKNR, WXYZ, or other charts. It was unique to our station!
Today’s radio is what many refer to as “liner card radio”. (Update: In the last five years, radio has now lowered itself to using AI DJ’s with generic content. Can it get any more boring?) The DJ’s on the air rarely have any content and read things from cards in the studio (usually promoting station events, station appearances, or sponsor information). The most entertaining DJ’s are usually the morning show hosts, but even they are overloaded with sponsor reads and liners. One of my radio mentors, Jay Trachman, used to say “People say that DJ’s talk too much. This isn’t true. The truth is that DJ’s tend to waste their listener’s time by not having anything to say. They don’t have any REAL content to share.” This is where Honey was different.
Honey Radio DJs were “personalities” – each unique. Boogie Brian was the “Bard of Lincoln Park” and often spoke in Rhyme. Richard D. was the “Silly DJ from Savage Minnesota” who now lived on Lack Of Drive in Warren with his wife Oldielocks and kids Doo Wop and Bee Bop. Other personalities included Bill Stewart, Ron T., Greg Russell, Dr. Bob, “Young” Jon Ray, Scottie OJay, Rob (and every one of his characters), and me. Each of us had our “features”. Scottie hosted the “Soul Patrol” show, Richard had the “Off the Wall Record” and “Poor Richard D’s Almanac”, Boogie had “Cruise Casts” and “Boogie’s Forgotten Favorites”, and the list goes on and on. There was always something fun and unique happening on Honey.
Another thing I loved about Honey was the jingles. Our jingles were PAMS jingles. They were many of the same tracks/jingles that were used by local radio stations all across the country during the 60’s. They were just re-sung with our call letters. These jingles were just awesome! Today, you can hear many of these same jingles on Sirius XM’s 50’s on 5 and 60’s on 6. I am lucky to have many of these jingles that were taken from the master tapes on CD in my collection.
With Honey going off the air, many of us would be out of a job. Rob and I had been working together off and on whenever I was on air for a while. After Honey went off the air, we hoped to find a job doing mornings somewhere. In order to do this, we needed some more “tape” of us together. Richard D gave us permission to go on the air instead of the satellite show in the morning that final week. We had free reign to “play around” and have fun on the air. At the same time, we’d be getting hours of material that we could potentially use to try to get a show somewhere.
(Updated) 30 years ago today, Rob and I hit the studio with a few ideas, many voices, many characters, some great music, and had the best week of our career! It was Thanksgiving week. Music was scheduled for Monday-Wednesday and Friday. Thursday we were supposed to air satellite programming. Instead, we were on for 6 hours that Thanksgiving and played songs with a different theme each hour (Number songs, Songs with girls names or guys names, Instrumentals, Songs with body parts in the title, etc…) Originally, those shows were recorded to cassette tapes. Those tapes were called “Skimmers”. The tape recorded only when the microphone was turned on. Some time ago, I took those tapes and recorded them digitally and transferred them to CD. I still pop them into my car and listen to that final week whenever I need a laugh. I am guessing, I will need to pull them out to honor the 30th anniversary of Honey’s end.
The only CD I have a difficult time listening to is the last show, from November 25, 1994. It was the last day of live broadcasting. We had friends visit us in the studio (South Bronx Johnny, Helen & Beverly, my dad, and others). The calls we got from listeners that day were very emotional. They made us feel so loved. The last break of our show, Boogie’s wife had recorded a message for him that we played right before he went on the air. He did the final four hours of live programming. He had prerecorded a sign off that lasted about 15 minutes with his personal reflections on the station, the staff, the listeners, and the end. I remember Rob, his girlfriend Mary, and I all listening to this and just sobbing. Boogie expressed what everyone was feeling and it was the perfect ending to an amazing station.
It is hard to believe that it has been 30 years since that last broadcast. When I look back, I can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with those legends! I can’t believe I was lucky enough to be a part of such an amazing station. I had only been in radio about 6 years when I started at Honey, and I learned SO much from watching and talking to Boogie and Richard! What an honor to have had them as coaches, mentors, and friends.
(2024 Update) I believe my buddy Rob had already passed away when I wrote that blog. South Bronx Johnny passed away shortly after that. In 2022, Richard D passed away. I am so glad to have those tapes to hear them all again.
The Late, Great Richard D!
The one thing that I will always remember about working at Honey – is the laughter. There was always laughter whether you were in or out of the studio. There was laughter whether you were on air or off air. I always seemed to leave the building with my cheeks hurting from smiling and my sides hurting from laughter. Today, I can pop those shows in (or some of the Richard D shows I have on tape), and still laugh!
(Update) 30 years later, Honey is no more. That makes me sad, because the world could sure use some laughter!
Tuesday was National Radio Day! This is not to be confused with World Radio Day which is celebrated on February 13th every year. On Facebook, many of my radio friends posted old photos and listed the call letters of all the stations that they worked at. I did the same, but neglected to do an entire blog about it. I think the reason for that is that I have written a lot of blogs about radio, radio mentors, radio friends, and radio listeners. If you are new to this blog, I will share a link or two after today’s photo, which ties into “radio.”
I have never really grasped just how lucky I was to land my first few radio jobs in a major market. I spent a lot of time on the airwaves in Detroit. One of those stops was at WWWW-FM (W4 Country). Many remember that this was the station Howard Stern worked at in the early 80’s. It played rock at the time, but so did a few other stations in the market, so they switched format to Country. They actually wanted to call him “Hopalong Howie!” You know the rest of that story.
When I worked there, I was there in a part time capacity and had a lot of fun.
The above picture was taken while I was out at a station appearance. I believe one of my listener friends took this photo of me. This must have been taken around 1997. I was still wearing glasses, so I had yet to have my Lasik surgery. I am also much skinnier!
I loved the station apparel we got to wear. The station logo on that yellow always seemed to “pop” to me. I wish that I had thought like some of my other radio friends and saved something from every station I worked at (logo items). I think some stuff got lost in a move or went to Goodwill. I may still have station coffee mugs somewhere!
I don’t want to sound egotistical, but this is one of my favorite radio pictures. I don’t recall if this was an a concert (which it probably was) or at some type of remote broadcast, but I like it. I haven’t had a goatee since I got married to Sam. She loves my full beard (and I love that I don’t have to shave every day). The beard here is much darker than it is today. There’s a whole lotta grey in there now!
The baseball cap is one that I bought at the ballpark. It was the only one that I ever owned that was fitted. What a difference between those and the ones with the snappy things on the back. It fit SO good. I loved that hat.
I can’t help but laugh at the size of my eyebrows! I once told a joke on the air that my eyebrows had their own Facebook page! I did create one (Keith Allen’s Eyebrows), but deleted it some time later after it had brought about as many laughs as I could milk out of it.
I also have to laugh at the “Nokia” banner behind me. Why? Because at the time, me and half the world had THAT Nokia phone!
Even though Covid forced me into “radio retirement,” I still look back at those days with many memories. You can read more of those memories below. First a compilation of a few radio blogs here:
Finally, after many blogs praising one of my favorite bosses and mentors, I was shocked to hear of the passing of one of them. Here was my tribute to Richard D.
I suppose this was a lot for a simple “Photo Flashback,” but radio is and will always be in my blood. It is something that I love to talk about and always brings about so many memories…..
As we welcome 2023, let me pause to thank each of you for reading my blog. Since I started this blog, I have come to know many of you as friends.
For those of you who have followed from the beginning, you’ve been with me through good and bad times. Your kind words of support through it all will never be forgotten.
I never anticipated having even 50 followers, so the fact that I have like 6 tines that baffles me. My silly ramblings, my musical opinions, my reading and television favorites, and constant bragging about my wonderful wife and family are things that YOU actually find worth reading. Thank you.
There was a time when I would go out to ring in the new year. It has been a long time since I’ve done that. I joked on Facebook last night that I had “counted down to 9pm” and I was off to bed. Sam and I were up talking for a bit, but we were both asleep by 10:30pm. I slept so soundly that the normal barrage of midnight fireworks didn’t even wake me up.
I woke up this morning to about 15 “Happy New Year” texts, many Facebook comments, and a few Snapchat wishes. It was almost 7 hours into the new year before I woke up.
As I have done in the past, this morning I looked at my yearly stats for my blog. Honestly, I was surprised. The most read blog of the year has consistently been in my top 3 since it was written. I’m not sure why, but I love that it is.
Comedian Red Buttons was a hit at many roasts with his “Never Got A Dinner” bit. The jokes are so dates, but they still make me (and obviously others) laugh. It was my #1 blog. Here it is if you missed it:
The second most read blog was simply a list. As a music guy, I found a list of most “hated” and “overplayed” songs to be interesting. I know many other music folks read the blog, so I posted the list. Here is that blog:
The most surprising blog to appear in the Top 3 speaks volumes of an amazing man. Just after Christmas, one of my radio mentors passed away. I wrote a small tribute to him and shared it on Facebook. I tagged him in it, which meant any of his friends and family would see it, too.
The fact that this blog is barely a week old and shot past one of my Top 3 Year End staples (A Year Without a Santa Claus), shows just how many people loved Richard D. Now I wish I had spent more time on it. Here is that blog:
In my radio career, I have been lucky enough to work with some fantastic people. Pictured with me above are two of them. Sadly, I received word just after Christmas that the silly guy holding the coffee pot, passed away. Richard D. Haase was one of a kind.
Readers of this blog may remember that I have blogged about him in the past. Last year, I posted the following:
Richard was a fantastic mentor to me. His guidance, advice, and coaching made me a better on air personality. His love of humor, bad puns, old jokes, and silliness helped us to become instant friends. I used to love sitting in the Honey Radio office listening to him on the air. I would anxiously await the “Keith Allen” joke of the day. Sometimes there were more than one. “My part time secretary and full time airhead, Lulu, said the last time Keith was on the air he sounded funny. She thought he had a worm in his Adam’s apple!”
Later in the same show he quipped – “I’m pretty sure the year that song came out was the same year that Jon Ray (pictured to my left in the first picture) got kicked out of grade school. He was caught drawing naked pictures of Wilma Flintstone on his Etch-A-Sketch”
In past blogs I have written about Richard:
From the blog “World Radio Day Thank You” written 2-14-2018:
WHND – Honey Radio
Before I say any more, let me say that working at WHND was not work at all. It was like play. We had so much fun. Anyone who tuned in and listened to this station could tell that the DJ’s were having as much fun as the listeners. Honey was the first “Oldies” station in America. I was honored to work here and honored to work with everyone here.
Richard D. Haase: Richard D. remains to this day one of the guys who offered me some of the most amazing advice. I was probably a big pain in his ass. I was always asking him something. I had this want and need to be better. I wanted to be the best. I was forever asking him to listen to my show tapes and offer criticism and advice, which he did always.
One of the things I learned from him, was the importance of talking to one person. To create the illusion that it is just me and you listening to our favorite songs and hanging out together. I understood what he meant, and began to drop phrases like “everyone”, “all of you”, and “out there”. He also connected me with a mentor who would take that premise and continue to grow into a better personality, the late Jay Trachman.
Richard’s show was full of “benchmarks”. Poor Richard D’s Almanac (This Day In History), The Off The Wall Record (a rare song that he played each day), and “The Top 12 at 12” (His countdown of the top 12 local songs from a specific year). He also featured many characters on the show that were sometimes referred to and never heard (another gimmick of old time radio).
His show was also filled with insanely bad jokes. I often kidded him that even Milton Berle (who was known for stealing others jokes) wouldn’t touch his stuff. He often poked fun of the other DJ’s on the station, which I found to be a unique way of cross promotion.
There were many days that we’d sit in his office and talk about radio, computers, and life in general and we’d laugh until tears rolled down our faces and our sides hurt. Richard was a legend who had been on the air for many years, a far cry from being young! Yet, when we worked together, we were like a bunch of elementary kids laughing and hooping it up.
From the blog “Some Old Radio Stories – Part 1” written 8-21-2018:
Richard D was one of the funniest men I ever worked with. He gave me lots of direction and I have talked about him in previous blogs, as well. I was producing his show the Top 12 at 12, which was an hour of his show which featured the Top 12 songs in Detroit from local charts from different years. It was a fun show to produce. It included new stories, TV and movie clips, old commercials, info about how much things were from that year, etc…
Richard had to play the 12 songs and sometimes there was extra time and we’d give him songs that were on the charts from that week to play as “extras” if he needed them. He was doing a countdown from 1966 and I had put a Dean Martin song in there as an extra and he played it. He made some comment about it not being the greatest song or something and moved on. I went into the studio, as I often did, to give him crap.
I said something along the lines of “Why are you messing with Italians! Dean was Italian and so I am I! Look here you Old Bastid (a term of endearment), If I were you, I’d watch what you say about Dean Martin … and Frank Sinatra for that matter!” and left the room as he laughed hysterically. After the next song he said on the air, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I must offer an apology. A little while ago I played (whatever the song was) by Dean Martin and made some negative remarks about it. Well immediately after that, Keith Allen came in here with about 12 goons who roughed me up a bit and told me that my comments were distasteful. So I must now publicly apologize. I really had no idea that Keith Allen was the President of the Dean Martin Fan Club!”
From that day on, I always tried to find a way to sneak a Dean Martin song into my show, so I could say I was President of the Dean Martin Fan Club. When Honey went off the air, I received a package from a listener named Sandy (who I remain friends with to this day), who sent me a membership to the REAL Dean Martin Fan Club with a note that read: “I thought you might actually want to be a member of the Fan Club you claim to be President of….”
From the blog “More Musical Memories” written 3-2-2018:
WHND
Richard D. used to have a feature called The Off-the-Wall Record. He’d say, “To my right is a wall. On the wall is a peg. On the peg – records. When I take one of the records of the peg on the wall and play it on the air, it becomes a Tricky Dickie Off-The Wall Record”. When he did this feature it usually consisted of rare or obscure tunes. One day I gave him Stormy Weather by the Spaniels to play. He LOVED it. He told me that was one of his favorites.
He often spoke of the group the Hi-Los and told me about the “tight” harmonies that they had. He was right. Good stuff! As a fan of the big bands, I let him listen to The Spitfire Band’s version of Cherokee, which featured an AMAZING trombone part. Again, he loved it and I think of him when it plays on the iPod.
Tying in with the Dean Martin story above:
After his last show on Honey Radio, a listener suggested I play a Dean Song in Richard’s honor….I chose “I Will”. The first line of the song is “I don’t wanna be the one to say I’m gonna miss you, but I will…” it fit the somber occasion.
I found this article was posted on the Motor City Radio Flashbacks page and is from the Detroit Free Press. It is from March of 1981, one year after he took the reigns of WHND.
There were things in that article that I didn’t even know. He mentioned his accident briefly in a conversation once, but he didn’t want to dwell on it. He spoke a lot of his days at CHUM and WXYZ. I loved listening to those stories! I remember the young Keith sitting there in awe of the legend. He spoke of long lines for autographs at remote appearances, hanging with celebrities, and performing magic with vinyl records and reel to reel tape machines. I hung on his every word!
Every day, listeners tuned in to “The Richard D Wireless Act” to hear The Top 12 at 12, Tricky Dickey Off the Wall Record, Tricky Dickey Trivia, facts from the Poor Richard D’s Almanac, and hoped to be Richard D-clared a winner. Watching him work in the studio was like watching a kid in a candy store. He was constantly moving, constantly writing, constantly thinking. He often laughed to himself just before cracking the microphone because of whatever line popped into his head. He was a master.
I’ve said before that the man you heard on the air was also the man that he was off the air. His quick wit and ad-libs were brilliant. I marveled at how his mind was able to come up with those things. In later years, I found myself mimicking his on air delivery because it was just so “personal.” He understood talking to one person and connecting with his listener. I took away a lot from his coaching and from listening to him.
Honey Radio went off the air in 1994. I was lucky enough to keep in contact with Richard through Facebook. As the years went on, life offered many changes for both of us. For me – a divorce, second marriage and new life. For him – the sad loss of his wife Pam. He spoke of her often on the show (calling her “Oldielocks”) and off air, too. In our last phone conversation, it was obvious that he missed her very much.
My heart breaks for his children and grandchildren. As a fellow Honey co-worker stated when I shared the news of his passing, “He is now reunited with the love of his life in heaven.” There is comfort in knowing this.
I hope that his family and friends will always remember the fun he had. I hope that they recall the happiness that filled a room when he was there. I hope that they remember the love that he had for each of them.
Thankfully, there are many recordings of his show available online. His voice will live on. His memory will live on. His jokes will live on (this could be a good thing or a bad thing!). You can enjoy some of them here:
What a blessing it was to have shared the same studio with Richard. I am thankful for the many laughs we shared over the years. I am forever grateful for his guidance and support. I only hope that he knew just how much he meant to me.
I’d like to think that there was an opening at God’s radio station and he needed Richard’s talent for the heavenly airwaves. I am going to miss my friend very much, but I will look back on our friendship fondly.
One of the things I love about the Facebook Memory Feed is every now and then something pops up I forgot about. Today is one of those instances.
I am sure that I have the letter referenced in this writing somewhere in a box at home. I don’t know where it is off the top of my head because it is a letter of recommendation for a radio job. Since I am no longer working in radio full-time, I packed it away as a reminder of a good friend.
11 years ago, (7-1-2010) I wrote the following:
He’s Been Off The Air For Years, And He Still Makes Me Laugh
Cleaning up the basement, I found a box of old cassettes. Most of them are my old radio shows from my Honey Radio days. In the box was one labeled, “Another Crappy Richard D. Show” – I probably labeled it. You must understand that Richard is a legend. He was one of the greatest bosses I ever worked for. The atmosphere in that building was constant fun, mainly because of his attitude. We all joked with each other, and each one of us was the butt of someone else’s jokes. It was an experience I’ll never forget.
I had to go to the college today and so I brought the cassette with me. In listening to it, I was reminded of a time when radio was fun. It was brilliant magic, and Richard was the magician. Richard knew personality radio and was a master at it. As a listened, I heard many of the familiar phrases he’d use:
“I’ve got the monocle on my mind’s eye, and you’re looking good today”.
“I brought my cerebral compass, which is here in case I lose my train of thought, I can find my way back”
“I’m the silly DJ from Savage, Minnesota….where they just decorated the town square….they bought him a suit”
“To my right is a wall. On the wall is a peg. On the peg, records. When I take one of the records off the peg and play it on the air, it becomes a Tricky Dickie Off The Wall Record”
“If you will allow me to open up Poor Richard D’s Almanac…” (which looked at famous birthdays and This Day In History). After reading his facts (and jokes) it would be followed by some kids saying, “Wow, we didn’t know all that stuff Richard D”…to which he would respond, “Of this (long pause) I am aware”
Then there were references to his family and residence.
“Hurricane Hazel” – his mother in law
“Bee-Bop” and “Doo Wop” – his boys
“Oldielocks” – his wife.
“Lack of Drive in Warren Michigan” – where he lives
And of course, there were plenty of Keith Allen jabs…..”That was Drag City by Jan and Dean…Keith Allen went there once in a dress”, for example.
Radio brilliance from a time long since gone.
During my time at WHND, I pestered him constantly for advice and for stories from his CHUM and WXZY days. I was probably a big pain is his neck, however, I never had to wonder what he thought of me again after reading his letter of recommendation for me. Honey Radio was going off the air and I asked him to write something I could use in my search for my next radio gig. Here is his letter:
November 29, 1994
To Whom It May Concern:
In contemplating what I might write about one of the best employees ever to pass through these doors, my mind focused on qualities one might use to measure any worker. Some, though not all, are listed below.
Attitude: Keith Allen is one of the most cooperative, cheerful, and positive people I have ever encountered in the workplace. I never had to talk to him about attitude adjustment. He seems to be upbeat by nature, and is a pleasure to be around.
Work Habits: Keith is self starting and self directed. Rarely, during his tenure here, did I have to steer him. He accomplished voluminous amounts of work in short time spans, and his energy level was high. He always did what I asked him to, without complaining, even when the task was not something he enjoyed.
Dedication: During Keith’s time here, his total focus was on Honey Radio, and how to make it better. He displayed a fierce pride and loyalty toward WHND. More often than not, he came in early for his shift, and stayed hours after it, contributing in whatever area he was needed. One of Keith’s strongest assets is his total love of and commitment to radio broadcasting.
Talent: Unless Keith Allen’s motivation level changes, he will be one of the great radio personalities of the future. He has the innate tools to master the art: a sense of what’s funny and what is not, great timing, a fantastic music background, and a good voice. If Keith doesn’t become a major talent someday, I’ll be very surprised.
Add it up: A person with a great attitude and disposition, a self starter with a high energy level, a person who loves the medium, an individual who is dependable and reliable, and a person with enormous talent. The sum is someone, I’m sure, you will want to add to your operation.
Sincerely, Richard D. Haase Program Director, WHND
Richard is still working in radio … as a tech guy now. I’m sure the atmosphere in his presence is still the same. (Very rarely was he in a bad mood.) He is like a 12 year old trapped in an adult body! Perhaps that’s why we got along – neither one of us have grown up. I’m honored to have worked for him and more honored to call him a friend.
Over 20 years later, and you still make me laugh, pal. Thanks!
11 Years Later – 2021
Richard is still around, though retired. Life has certainly changed for both of us over the years. I think of him often, and recently caught up with him on the phone. Though he is a bit older, his voice is still as strong as ever. In the time we chatted, it was obvious that his wit was quick as ever. It was great to just pick up where we left off.
Amongst the many boxes of radio stuff, I have some of Richard’s old WHND shows. The last time I listened to them was probably about 7 years ago. A mutual friend and co-worker and burned them to CD for me and I listened to them on my way into work. With every Keith Allen joke, every bad pun, and every silly laugh, I found myself back in 1994 and laughing at jokes he probably wrote in 1964! I’m sure if I popped those shows in today, I would still laugh….all these years later!
Sandra Boynton writes some of the best children’s books. They are perfect reads for Ella right now. They have great pictures, fun verses, and many of them are actually songs. I would say that they are just as fun for us to read as they are for Ella to listen to! This week, Sam was reading “Barnyard Dance.”
She came to the lyric that read “…with a BAA and a MOO and a COCKADOODLEDOO, everybody promenade two by two.” She looked at me and asked me what “promenade” meant. I told her it was a term used in square dancing. She looked at me funny when I answered. Without her saying a word, I knew her facial expression was asking, “How in the world do you know that!?”
(In square dancing, and in particular modern Western square dance, when a promenade is called it is understood to be a “couples promenade” involving all four couples. The couples assume a promenade position, each turn to the right as a unit, and walk counter-clockwise around the ring.)
Promenade
I explained that i knew what it meant because in high school gym class we had a few weeks were we danced. This led to an even more baffled look from my wife. I looked at her and said, “You didn’t have to square dance in gym class?” Matter of factly, she said, “No. We did things that you normally do in gym class!” I was surprised and angry at the same time.
We were the only students forced into promenading, circling left, allemande lefting, and do si do-ing with members of the opposite sex?! Of all the things we did in gym class, this was the ONE thing that every one (at least everyone I talked to) hated! We were teenagers and we were being forced to hold hands and stuff! It was SO uncomfortable. I remember Mr. and Mrs. B (our gym teachers were husband and wife) making us “rehearse” these square dance moves over and over. It was torture!!
They would play the music for the dances off of an old turntable with a microphone placed by the speaker so we could hear it. The one song that I remember square dancing to the most was Dean Martin’s Houston. I am sure that Dean was not singing on the song that they played. Instead, the lyrics were changed to give the various square dance calls. When it was time to promenade, that was where the chorus (“Going back to Houston. Houston. Houston.”) would be sung.
For years, I tried to block the traumatic weeks of square dancing from my mind. I eventually succeeded, until a day in 1993. I was filling in on Honey Radio for Richard D and doing his Top 12 at 12 show which focused on the year 1965. In the countdown that day was Dean Martin’s Houston. It all came back! The Do Si Do’s, the Promenades, and Ladies In, and Men Sashay! Who square dances in gym class?!?
To this day, whenever I think about square dancing, three things immediately come to mind
First, the 1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon Hillbilly Hare and the famous Square Dance number in it.
Second, The Dean Martin Show with Roy Rogers. (Funny how there is another Dean Martin connection to square dancing, huh?) Dean never rehearsed his show. So when they taped this square dance number, the dancers are literally pushing and pulling him around and showing him where to go. It is just awesome to watch….
Dean Martin, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans Square Dance
And finally, Gym Class!!!
For whatever it is worth, I learned how to do the Hustle and the Bus Stop in gym class. Thanks to Mr. & Mrs. B, I can line dance at wedding receptions….well, the Hustle, anyway.
The above is the cover of a journal you can buy off Amazon to write down your crazy dreams. I have often thought about keeping something like this on my bedside table. I actually had a weird dream last night and wrote it down. As you know, you have to write those things down almost immediately or you are gonna forget them.
I looked back over what I wrote and it is just bizarre. So much of it doesn’t make sense at all. It makes me wonder why I dreamed about these things and the people in it. The dream itself is an unstructured mess. There were so many things, I wrote them in a hurry, because I didn’t want to forget about them.
There is really no beginning of the dream. It starts in my house and my grandpa (who passed away in 1994) is there and he wants to take a shower. He can’t figure out how to use body wash, so he is standing in the hallway in a towel asking for a bar of soap.
As I am getting the bar or soap, the doorbell rings and it is my friend, Margaret.
In the dream, I know she is coming over to baby sit Ella. I talk to her through the speaker on the doorbell and say, “Be right there you Old Bastid.” As soon as I say that, my phone rings.
I answer it and my old boss from Honey Radio, Richard D is on the phone. We often called him the “Old Bastid” at work. I answer the phone and that’s exactly what he says to me, “Uh, I believe that I am the only one worthy of the title, “Old Bastid” and he starts laughing. I’m not even sure how he knew I said this!
Now, I am in the kitchen. I’m making pasta for the boys. I am also aware that I need to hurry because I need to leave for work. My son, Dimitri, looks at me and tells me not to use the sauce I used the last time I made pasta. This in itself is weird, because he doesn’t eat spaghetti sauce. I asked him what sauce he was talking about and he pointed to a jar of salsa!
I am suddenly aware of the time and know I have to leave. Sam is in the kitchen doing the dishes and I go to grab a cup of coffee. I notice that the coffee pot is not in its normal spot and ask Sam where it is. She tells me it is on the kitchen counter (which is literally spotless – so I know this is a dream!). I look at this new “coffee pot” and it looks like a humidifier!
It was PINK! Just like the one above. It has lines on it to show how much coffee is supposed to be in there. I am staring at this thing wondering just how in the heck I am going to make coffee. I don’t even know how to fill the dumb thing! I ask Sam to show me and I am suddenly aware that I am at my dad’s house. This counter isn’t ours at all!
I then notice I am holding an empty salsa jar (so I guess I used it again). I am going to go outside and put the jar in the recycle bin. As I open the door to the garage, I realize that I am now in my grandma’s garage. I know this because it has her old gold olds cutlass in it!
I will always remember it was gold with a white hard top on it.
For some reason, I am now laying on my belly in the garage looking for something that must have rolled under the car. I can see whatever is going on in the front of the house from the garage floor because the garage door isn’t open all the way.
So the dream ends with me laying on the garage floor, in my scrubs. I am watching Margaret and her daughter (my Goddaughter) and maybe her son, all climb into their car to leave. I am waving from under the garage door and then wonder who’s gonna babysit Ella, if she left?!
My partner Rob Main and I walked into the studio of WHND to begin what would be the last week of live broadcasts from Honey Radio. We had heard the news weeks prior to this that the radio station was going off the air in favor of Spanish programming. When the station was not broadcasting from our studios, we were airing satellite programming from the Cool Gold Network, which was no longer going to providing services. Honey was no longer financially viable.
At the time, Honey Radio was the oldest Oldies station in the country. While there were stations that played oldies in the Detroit market, none were focusing exclusively on the “first decade of rock and roll”. We primarily focused on the songs that were hits from 1955-1965, while occasionally playing some of those earlier songs from the 1950’s, too. I think that was one of the reasons I loved working at this station so much. When you think of the music from that decade it included rockabilly, doo wop, surf music, Motown, British Invasion music, songs from the “Brill Building”, and early soul and R&B.
We not only played the hits from this decade, but we also played songs that were local hits from local artists that were not being played anywhere else! We played music from Nolan Strong, The Dynamics, Gino Washington, Jack Scott, and so many other local acts. We did a daily show (The Top 12 at 12), which focused on a different year of the decade and counted down the Top 12 songs in Detroit from that particular day. We always used a local chart to count down the hits. Those charts could be from The Detroit News, WJBK, WKNR, WXYZ, or other charts. It was unique to our station!
Today’s radio is what many refer to as “liner card radio”. The DJ’s on the air rarely have any content and read things from cards in the studio (usually promoting station events, station appearances, or sponsor information). The most entertaining DJ’s are usually the morning show hosts, but even they are overloaded with sponsor reads and liners. One of my radio mentors, Jay Trachman, used to say “People say that DJ’s talk too much. This isn’t true. The truth is that DJ’s tend to waste their listener’s time by not having anything to say. They don’t have any REAL content to share.” This is where Honey was different.
Honey Radio DJs were “personalities” – each unique. Boogie Brian was the “Bard of Lincoln Park” and often spoke in Rhyme. Richard D. was the “Silly DJ from Savage Minnesota” who now lived on Lack Of Drive in Warren with his wife Oldielocks and kids Doo Wop and Bee Bop. Other personalities included Bill Stewart, Ron T., Greg Russell, Dr. Bob, “Young” Jon Ray, Scottie OJay, Rob (and every one of his characters), and me. Each of us had our “features”. Scottie hosted the “Soul Patrol” show, Richard had the “Off the Wall Record” and “Poor Richard D’s Almanac”, Boogie had “Cruise Casts” and Boogie’s Forgotten Favorites”, and the list goes on and on. There was always something fun and unique happening on Honey.
Another thing I loved about Honey was the jingles. Our jingles were PAMS jingles. They were many of the same tracks/jingles that were used by local radio stations all across the country during the 60’s. They were just re-sung with our call letters. These jingles were just awesome! Today, you can hear many of these same jingles on Sirius XM’s 50’s on 5 and 60’s on 6. I am lucky to have many of these jingles that were taken from the master tapes on CD in my collection.
With Honey going off the air, many of us would be out of a job. Rob and I had been working together off and on whenever I was on air for a while. After Honey went off the air, we hoped to find a job doing mornings somewhere. In order to do this, we needed some more “tape” of us together. Richard D gave us permission to go on the air instead of the satellite show in the morning that final week. We had free reign to “play around” and have fun on the air. At the same time, we’d be getting hours of material that we could potentially use to try to get a show somewhere.
25 years ago today, Rob and I hit the studio with a few ideas, many voices, many characters, some great music, and had the best week of our career! It was Thanksgiving week. Music was scheduled for Monday-Wednesday and Friday. Thursday we were supposed to air satellite programming. Instead, we were on for 6 hours that Thanksgiving and played songs with a different theme each hour (Number songs, Songs with girls names or guys names, Instrumentals, Songs with body parts in the title, etc…) Originally, those shows were recorded to cassette tapes. Those tapes were called “Skimmers”. The tape recorded only when the microphone was turned on. Some time ago, I took those tapes and recorded them digitally and transferred them to CD. I still pop them into my car and listen to that final week whenever I need a laugh. I am guessing, I will need to pull them out to honor the 25th anniversary of Honey’s end.
The only CD I have a difficult time listening to is the last show, from November 25, 1994. It was the last day of live broadcasting. We had friends visit us in the studio (South Bronx Johnny, Helen & Beverly, my dad, and others). The calls we got from listeners that day were very emotional. They made us feel so loved. The last break of our show, Boogie’s wife had recorded a message for him that we played right before he went on the air. He did the final four hours of live programming. He had prerecorded a sign off that lasted about 15 minutes with his personal reflections on the station, the staff, the listeners, and the end. I remember Rob, his girlfriend Mary, and I all listening to this and just sobbing. Boogie expressed what everyone was feeling and it was the perfect ending to an amazing station.
It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since that last broadcast. When I look back, I can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with those legends! I can’t believe I was lucky enough to be a part of such an amazing station. I had only been in radio about 6 years when I started at Honey, and I learned SO much from watching and talking to Boogie and Richard! What an honor to have had them as coaches, mentors, and friends.
The one thing that I will always remember about working at Honey – is the laughter. There was always laughter whether you were in or out of the studio. There was laughter whether you were on air or off air. I always seemed to leave the building with my cheeks hurting from smiling and my sides hurting from laughter. Today, I can pop those shows in (or some of the Richard D shows I have on tape), and still laugh!
25 years later, Honey is no more. That makes me sad, because the world could sure use some laughter!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 