As Sid (Caesar, not Abel) would say, the Show of Shows. We've all joked about some of Ron's broadcasts belonging in the Radio Hall of Fame, and this one truly does, along with his "farewell" show from February 1997:Momo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:09 pmAh, the infamous remote broadcast from Loui's Pizza. As a sign of the growth of this thread, this particular show only merited a few pages of contemporaneous posters. See pp 2-4.Bobbert wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:42 amJanuary 4, 2020 (Hour 1)
Open line with Ron and Luke (remote broadcast from Loui's Pizza in Hazel Park)
https://26533.mc.tritondigital.com/OMNY ... 1618260119
January 4, 2020 (Hour 2)
Open line with Ron and Luke (remote broadcast from Loui's Pizza in Hazel Park)
https://26533.mc.tritondigital.com/OMNY ... 1618260112
Ron opened the first hour by saying he "was not sick ... everything's good," then announcing he was broadcasting from Paulie's Restaurant. He was immediately corrected. He was doing the show "on the road now," a comment that did not age well. Loui's for the next couple of Saturdays with Denny & Lance Parrish as guests, & tomorrow's show at "the Blues Restaurant." He was corrected again, reminded that the next night he would be at Max Dugan's with Mark Wilson, who comes on "every 5-6 weeks." "Some good shows."
An unnamed restaurant representative was briefly interviewed. Then came Cowboy, but he was breaking up so much that Luke tossed it to Kurt, who brought up the then-recent passing of Don Larsen. Kurt told a story of Bob Feller, Denny & Larsen doing an autograph signing gig. "What's he doing here," Kurt reported Feller asking. "Denny???" Ron asked. No, Larsen, Kurt said. Ron then said how he, Feller, Bill Lajoie & Sonny Eliot were all scheduled to go on a cruise together until the cruise line went out of business.
Birthday revelers could be heard in the background, prompting Ron to say that the birthday greetings were not for him. though his birthday was coming up. Although he seemed to have trouble hearing what the callers were saying, Ron said all the background noise wasn't distracting.
Ron then went to take yet another call from Cowboy, only to be told by Luke that Cowboy had hung up.
"Where are the emails," a persistent question was asked by Ron during the first hour. We "usually have 3-4 emails now."
Cowboy finally got back on, welcoming back "Mark." In the background, Ron could be heard to say, "Mark?" Cowboy said that Thin Lizzy was his favorite rock group. The Patti Page-loving Ron had no idea what Cowboy was talking about.
Ron repeatedly asked if the show was on the air. "So, I can't look at this and tell if we're on the air or not ... We're not on the air?!" Luke brusquely responded, "You're on the air!" "Oh, don't have to be so sarcastic about it," Ron countered. "What are you doing to me, Luke?" To which Luke said, "Keeping you on the air." "Oh, oh, oh, oh, ... a low blow there, baby," Ron said. "What are you doing to all my callers?" "We got none on the line right now," Luke stated. Unimpressed, Ron said, "You're a big help. Probably hanging up on them." Having likely reached his limit with Ron, Luke said, "Maybe."
Emailer Brian asked, "Where have you been?" "I'm here," Ron responded, adding "they, we had a little issue at the station. That's all I'll say to that." Lest one think the issue related to his "explosive diarrhea," Ron further said, "I think everything's worked out for the best now. They gave me some concessions on this thing. We had a disagreement, I will tell you that. I searched around, but I ... I like the fact that it's AM and FM here and they have been treating me good. And they decided to give me a concession. I may be coming back for one hour, but it's going to be a different deal. One hour show, beginning next month. So it'll be two hours a week. They're making concessions with me and I, it's, I'll recover some of the loss. So I'll be okay. And right now I'm satisfied."
Ron talked about getting a loud speaker at the restaurant for next week. In part, so that the show could be heard in the restroom!
Mary in Sterling Heights called. Ron did not seem to grasp that her call was wholly Loui's-centric, as she said that Loui's was the best place, that she knew the chef, & that "Lori" was the best waitress. Ron called out to the powers that be to inquire if "Lori" would be there next for next Saturday's show. He told Mary she could ask him a question next week, but Mary had already hung up.
Mr. Positive called to tell Ron that he was "blowing up the Michigan Buzzboard." What Mr. Positive could not have known then was that Ron's "popularity" here then was only in its relative infancy.
Super R. concluded the first hour by wishing all a happy new year, causing Ron to question that since New Year's Day had already come & gone. Once again, Super R. self-identified as "Detroit's finest, I am your Highness.
Kurt called, again, at the start of second hour to call into question the HOF candidacy of Lou Whitaker. His stats, he said, did not compare favorably to some ballplayer named "Alan Tramble." Of course, Ron could not less this pass. "How can you ... you'll find a way to screw it up." Kurt did not mention Sandy "Kovacs."
Dan in Livonia emailed to say he "loves" the remote show. And who didn't?!
In yet another example of how Ron never listens, the recurring subject of Earle Bruce came up. On the 12/28 show, Ron had asked Matt to look up Earle Bruce's record against Michigan. When Matt later reported back that he had a 5-4 record, Ron said he thought he had a losing record. Notwithstanding, just one week later, Ron said during this hour that Bruce was fired because he couldn't beat Michigan.
And in further evidence that Ron had trouble hearing above the din, when Cowboy called again, this time to say that the soon-to-be-inducted Larry Walker would join his oft-mentioned cousin Fergie as the only Canadians in the baseball HOF, Ron said, "Join thirty?"
More of the same when Ron was told that "Larry from Berkley" was on the phone. "Mary from Berkley," he asked. Larry proposed a Drummond for Steven Adams trade. A prolonged discussion ensued. Only in Ron's interactive show would he ask the caller to look up Adamses age, stats & contractual relationship & "get back to me." This came after Larry suggested that one of Ron's callers might have this information. Ron said he needed "all the information in front of [him], so [he] can make a decision.
In what may have been one of his last times on the air with Ron, JJ called. He said he had an echo on his phone, but Ron seemed to think this was (continuing) evidence of a more widespread problem.
Ron was "so busy" with his restaurant plans. Maybe he would have an announcement in the next week. The time traveler in me wanted to go back to January 2020 to tell Ron that this was definitely not the time to think of opening another restaurant.
Ron announced that Vince Ellis of the Free Press had agreed to a buy-out. And that he would be a guest in the next couple of weeks. His successor at the paper, Ron said, was going to be Anthony Fenech. Ron liked Fenech's work because - like him (!) - he developed a rapport with the scouts.
An unnamed background voice (not Luke) - who was heard throughout the show this day - announced that the score of the Titans-Patriots game was 16-8. Leading Ron to say, "No such things as a two-point thing ... Guy, I think you blew it." Which brings to mind onetime Buzzboard member Vic Doucette's 1/7/20 post: "A friend who was engineering his show just quit after one weekend."
Luke gave Ron the "20 seconds" warning & so ended - regrettably - the one & only broadcast from Loui's.
https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... 8Part1.mp3
https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... 8Part2.mp3
This show also has historical value for students of the Chaos Theory, which one website says "deals with nonlinear things that are effectively impossible to predict or control, like turbulence, weather, the stock market, our brain states, and so on."
The surreal nature of the show was further enhanced by the occasional injection of Luke's disembodied, electronically enhanced voice.
And this show marked the final appearance of John McCulloch's "The idea...that..." introduction (John died in December 2020). When the podcasts resumed in July 2021, the new station promo was Darryl Wood's conversation with the nice lady who was calling from southwest Colorado but was really from Sterling Heights.
