As you probably know, I’m writing a memoir and occasionally post pages here. That's what this is, one of those pages. The other day an old pal from my time in San Francisco, Tim Bedore, sent me this photograph (above). It sparked a residual memory but… not enough to really recall the entire context. So I asked Tim, who now lives in Minneapolis and works as a standup comedian, podcaster (An Agnostic's Guide to Heaven) and occasional radio essayist.
The last I recalled was that he was working as a comedian on cruise ships. He told me that he hasn’t worked that circuit for years— "Awful way to live and work. I did a weekly feature on the Bob and Tom Show (at its peak on 160+ radio stations nationwide) for 13 years called Vague But True and because of that repeated exposure got to work in those markets, mostly one off shows in theaters or other venues… just did a theater in Oshkosh Wisconsin."
Anyway, this is how he explained that photo. (I’m the one of the right in the striped jalaba I brought in Morocco in 1969 and that’s Tim right next to me):
In that picture I sent are L-R Oz Medina, Dan St. Paul, Jed "The Fish" Gould, me and you. This might be a tad long but context is needed. I hope you enjoy-- As soon as I took an offer to do afternoons at KLOL Houston I regretted the decision. A year later I was languishing, personally and professionally, desperately plotting a divorce from them and Texas. Salvation came in an offer to do 2-6PM at a new radio station in San Francisco. Hallelujah! Back to California.
KQAK, the Quake, was setup to be unique. Management wanted the air staff to sound unlike anyone else on the air and to cause a stir, producing instantaneous high ratings (in theory, anyway). And that’s why and how I met Howie.
Not too many days after the Quake kicked off I started getting phone calls from Howie, who I had never met and did not know of, on the studio’s hot line. Like the man himself those hotline calls were unique.
Every radio station control room has a phone number called “The Hot Line,” reserved exclusively for management to berate the air staff for something said or done on their airwaves. Giving out the hot line’s number to a girlfriend or use it to makes calls constituted high treason because a busy signal would prohibit management from giving an instantaneous tongue lashing to their wayward disc jockey whenever needed. The idea that management wanted us to push the boundaries and take chances, yet occasionally get irate when you did, is just one of the reasons they were called “the suits.” Guys in ties are never totally on your side.
But Howie was, right from the start. Just one question— who was he and how did he get the hot line number? And why was he calling me? When I asked management about it they said he was a very important part of our plan to gain traction in San Francisco because Howie Klein was the Godfather of Punk, the acknowledged leader of the hipster underground, our conduit to the gate keepers of musical taste in the Bay Area.
OK, but music is rarely what he wanted to talk about. Typically, Howie wanted to say something positive about what I had just said or done on the air. It got to the point where the hot line would flash as soon as I turned off the mic, after having said something I hoped to be funny and daring, and it was almost always Howie on the other end. It got to the point where he didn’t need to say anything. I’d answer the phone, hear his unique cackle of a laugh, and then click. That call soon came to mean a lot to me. If I saw the hot line flashing I knew I had hit the mark.
Howie especially liked politically daring, barely disguised left leaning jibes, snark and stabbing comments but most of all he loved The Bible According to Tim.
Most afternoons, in the 5-6 PM hour, I did a written piece and Howie’s favorite was my version of the Bible. The subtitle of the bit might have been A Catholic School Boy’s Revenge or An Agnostic’s Reflections on the Absurdity of Catholicism and this particular bit got way out there. How many radio stations openly allow an announcer to question the very concept of religion? Our guys in ties did let me take chances.
The Bible bit was a fan favorite with some people who had access to cameras and a studio and wanted to make a video version of the installment I had some apostles playing poker (fish were used instead of chips, for betting) and the table talk was that Doubting Thomas couldn’t believe Jesus had arisen. I am pretty sure the essence of the hoped for comedy was Jesus appears and invites Thomas to stick his finger in the nail wounds in his post crucifixion hands to prove this truly was Him, but in my version, unlike the Bible’s, when Thomas does Jesus shrieks in pain, and chastises poor Thomas. Turns out, it was just another practical joke from Jesus. The man loved a good laugh at others expense.
Well, if we’re shooting a video version of the Bible bit it’s number one fan had to be in it. Howie, also had his own authentic Middle Eastern looking garb, as opposed to the rest of us who were wearing bed sheets, and not only did he look best but also proved to be the most natural performer in the cast.