Ron Cameron

[Momo]

Ron's going to be getting a guest every week now. Promises made, promises kept. Must be that his oppressive work load has abated.

[Momo]

Dean Miller.

[wtfdetroit]

One thing I noticed is how when he reads the ad for Loui's pizza, he says how packed they are. I don't know if advertising a packed restaurant at this time is a good idea but Ron is oblivious.

[Momo]

That reminds me of the old joke about a diner complaining about the bad food & the small portions. Just what you want, lousy food & plenty of it. In this case, Covid & plenty of it.

[Bobbert]

In my basement, I found a cassette tape marked "Ron Cameron, 2/18/97"

It was Ron's "last" show in Detroit before he went to California to host a national sports talk show that would be syndicated to 30-100 stations. He said he'd always wanted to go to California but he never had the guts, but now he had the guts. He said that the Detroit radio business was full of "wooses." He remarked, "They can't control me. I'm uncontrollable!"

The show, which was a weeknight show on Honey radio, had more advertising than now, a mixture of live and taped ads. The callers included our old friend Ken from Livonia, as sardonic as ever. Another caller, who said he taped 10 hours of CNBC programming every day, spent at least 10 minutes free-associating through several topics. The last caller said "Just one more question" about four times.

At that time, Ron apparently considered himself a radio station mogul, similarly to how he now considers himself a restaurant mogul. He said he got out of his ownership of a Bradenton, Florida radio station because of problems with his partner. He vowed to never partner with anyone again in owning a radio station, and said he would come back to Detroit only if he found the right deal to buy a radio station.

I searched Newspapers.com to get some more information about this career move. I found two interesting columns by the TV/Radio columnist of the Detroit Free Press, Steve Crowe.

2/21/97

GOING . . . GONE: It appears that longtime Detroit sportscaster Ron Cameron, among my favorite unashamedly obnoxious people, is gone for good this time. After 13 weeks of producing his weekly show for Channel 20, Cameron is packing for Banning, Calif., where he has signed a three-year lease on radio station KMET-AM. Cameron said he intends to eventually turn the 1,000-watt country-music station into an all-sports format. Banning is near Palm Springs, San Bernardino and Riverside. "I decided to take the Channel 20 show off after 13 weeks because I wasn't making money," Cameron said. "It was a pain in the neck." According to Cameron, he has been hired by the Nostalgia radio group, based in Portland, Ore., along with former NBA star Rick Barry, to host a Saturday show to be syndicated nationally on 30 to 100 stations. "I just hope that a Detroit station eventually picks up my show," he said. "But the way I'm thought of around here, that might not be the case. Besides, Detroit's not the same sports town. I'm not in love with the media here; they're too milquetoast on the air. Too many homers."

One Year Later...

3/6/98

Here He Goes Again: Several times now, the guy has stormed out of town vowing never to return, then returned. But having helped raise obnoxiousness to a radio art form, Ron Cameron is not to be ignored. The longtime angry man of Detroit sports-casting is back with "Sports Talk," 6-7 p.m. Sundays beginning this weekend on Windsor's CKLW-AM (800). To yell and or swear back at Cameron during his show, listeners are encouraged to call 1-313-961-2559 or 1-519-792-2559.

[wtfdetroit]

Anyway you can upload the tape so we can hear it?

[Momo]

Yeah, would love to hear Ron’s “last” Detroit show. And his big plans to take the nation by storm with a syndicated show. That succeeded as well as all the other hare-brained restaurant/boxing/oldies show ideas that I’ve been hearing from in the maybe 10 years I’m guessing I’ve been a faithful listener.

[313sports]

Been listening since then on and off and I remember Ron sounding like the same used car salesman he does today. Trying to own these obscure radio stations in Florida and California was going to make him a star..yeah sure.

[Momo]

Maybe Ron has stumbled on to the truth about Bea Arthur. Go to 1:45:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ay-k3dIvk

[Momo]

Ron’s concern for the well-being of George Blaha is so sincere. Yet another no-show.

[Momo]

Yeah, Ron, I think you are wrong about people making more now on unemployment. The supplemental $600 weekly payment ended months ago.

[Momo]

“Don’t talk about other stations.” What about all the talk over the years about WJR & WWJ?!

[Momo]

No question today. Ron, who clearly has an issue with time management, is just too busy.

[Momo]

What happened to the “calls” Ron mentioned? Only Mr. Positive called.

[Bobbert]

Anyway you can upload the tape so we can hear it?

I'll see what I can do. I've got a whole shoe box full of cassette tapes from the 1980s and 1990s that I should transfer to digital, as soon as I can figure out all the knobs and buttons on my Crosley multi-function player.