Ron Cameron

[Bobbert]

Midweek Memories

These are the last of my 2016-2017 recordings.

I'll do one more posting next week. It will be both parts of Ron's 2/18/97 farewell show before leaving for California. I've posted the second part already, but I later discovered I also had the first part.

Sunday, May 28, 2017 (Hour 1)

Open line with Ron and Alex.

Callers include J.J. from Lincoln Park.

https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... 817_OL.mp3

Sunday, May 28, 2017 (Hour 2)

Open line with Ron and Alex, after an interview with John Ogrodnick fell through.

https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... 817_OL.mp3

Callers include Ken from Livonia.

In the open-line hour, Ron was planning on the cancer-stricken Dave Strader's return to the show. That didn't happen.

Ron was anxious to test the market value for Verlander. I'm sure Avila wouldn't have pulled the trigger unless he got quite a haul.

With Ron's encouragement, Kurt put the nail in Jack Morris's HOF candidacy. As they both agreed, Morris was hated by his teammates, so there was no chance the Veteran's Committee would induct him.

And, of course, much of this first hour was used to promote Ogrodnick's ("Get me his stats, Alex") appearance the next hour. How often has this pattern played out, ending with the guest stiffing Ron? Always a highlight for me. Ron said Ogrodnick - who had been a no-show before, prior to being on his show - would be "by the phone." But after having Alex try unsuccessfully to make contact, Ron had enough. He wasn't "going to babysit these guys." You "can't play games with these guys." If he called, Ron said he'd put him on the air. But if not, he wasn't going to ask him on again. This would be his "second strike" & Ron wasn't "going to give him a third strike."

Ron repeated the Doris Day/Norm Drucker story he had just told the day before in his Jerry Green interview.

In this, ahem, defiantly sports show, Doris Day talk led to talk of Chuck Connors & Clint Walker.

When Cowboy ended his call with Memorial Day wishes, Ron responded verbatim. To his Canadian caller.

Ron then started reminiscing about missing callers. "I hope Walter's ok." "What about John?" Back then, he wasn't referring to him as "Stuttering" John. Ron wanted to ask John if the president was going to be impeached. In response to Alex asking about Gutterball Tony, Ron said, "Are you still alive, Gutterball?" "We miss hearing from you Gutterball ... Tony from Detroit." Interesting since, on 9/5/20, when asked about Gutterball, Ron casually said this caller was dead. I questioned then how Ron - of all people - would come into this knowledge. If he did, it was sometime in the intervening almost 3.5 years.

Sports Talk fan Denise from Royal Oak then called to ask Ron how many actors & actresses were alive over the age of 90. And are there any almost the age of 100.

Ron: We just lost Young, who played Wilbur in Mr. Ed.
Denise: Carol, Wilbur's wife just died.
Ron (shocked): Did she die?
Denise: We just lost her.
Ron (still shocked): I didn't hear that.

(In fact, the actress, Connie Hines, died 12/18/09.)

Ron went on to tell Denise that his was a sports show, "but nothing wrong about that." He then proceeded to talk about some of the older entertainers previously discussed, telling Denise that they were going to look this up for her. Denise was about to hang up, but Ron pleaded, "Don't go, Denise." He then asked Alex for some names. This discussion continued for some time. After it concluded, Ron said, "Interesting call. We need to change things up on the show."

Immediately after this discussion, a call from Ken elicited Ron's comment that Dan Dickerson "talks about things that nobody cares about."

When advised that the "Amazing" Al Albuquerque would be pitching for the Royals when they faced the Tigers the following week, Ron said that Dickerson & Price would be "on their knees."

Rich from New York called to ask Ron who the Tigers were playing the upcoming week.

Denise's call was very entertaining. If it had been a male caller—and not a sweet, friendly female—Ron would have jumped all over the caller. I was surprised that Cowboy didn't call later to correct all the mistakes that Ron and Alex made on who was still alive.

Both shows had a nice nostalgic feeling, with the calls from J.J. and Ken, and Ron's thoughts about MIA callers.

And near the end of the second hour, Ron once again teased us about his restaurant plans.

I'm almost glad my recordings stopped here, with the Tigers about to go into their years-long free fall.

[edj]

It just amazes me that...after one week on the station, Ron can go to management and makes unreal demands....and management caves in to him. This station must really need the money. I wonder if any of his advertisers can actually pick up the station.

The chocolate place should. The others would be spotty at best.

I think the only demand he got was the time slot change- and that’s probably because it was open. I don’t see a TV for his play by play or water.

[Majik]

Midweek Memories

These are the last of my 2016-2017 recordings.

I'll do one more posting next week. It will be both parts of Ron's 2/18/97 farewell show before leaving for California. I've posted the second part already, but I later discovered I also had the first part.

Sunday, May 28, 2017 (Hour 1)

Open line with Ron and Alex.

Callers include J.J. from Lincoln Park.

https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... 817_OL.mp3

Sunday, May 28, 2017 (Hour 2)

Open line with Ron and Alex, after an interview with John Ogrodnick fell through.

https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... 817_OL.mp3

Callers include Ken from Livonia.

And, of course, much of this first hour was used to promote Ogrodnick's ("Get me his stats, Alex") appearance the next hour. How often has this pattern played out, ending with the guest stiffing Ron? Always a highlight for me. Ron said Ogrodnick - who had been a no-show before, prior to being on his show - would be "by the phone." But after having Alex try unsuccessfully to make contact, Ron had enough. He wasn't "going to babysit these guys." You "can't play games with these guys." If he called, Ron said he'd put him on the air. But if not, he wasn't going to ask him on again. This would be his "second strike" & Ron wasn't "going to give him a third strike."

Of course with Ron he wouldn’t get the third strike. Ron must stay true to the Catholic High School League rules he spearheaded to save that league.

[Willie108]

With the time change, hopefully there will be podcasts.

[Majik]

With the time change, hopefully there will be podcasts.

The wpon web page doesn’t seem to offer podcasts.

[ShempLives]

WPON doesn't offer podcasts. Initially Ron's last stint at WDTK was greeted with encouragement as WDTK did have a podcast option. Mr. Cameron made a point to mention this upon his return to 1400 kHz. (Ron was incredulous when I told him that the podcasts weren't necessarily being posted.) Ultimately the podcasts stopped in November 2022 for reasons I am not privy to.

[Momo]

Midweek Memories

These are the last of my 2016-2017 recordings.

May 2017 Open Line

https://www.detroitmoviepalaces.com/ima ... ay2017.zip

Thanks again, Bobbert. As I've indicated this collection will serve as a vital tool in an understanding of Ron, the man, the myth & the legend.


This classic episode of Sports Talk with Ron Cameron, Starring Ron Cameron may have offered an explanation to future historians of the complete oeuvre of Ron Cameron: Whatever happened to the scheduled guest appearance of the Basin League alum Harry Safewright?

The unavailability of today's scheduled guest Ramon Santiago led Ron to unilaterally move Ramon to the next day, Sunday, supplanting scheduled guest Harry Safewright. Ron said he called Harry to see if he could take Ramon's place on this day, but got no answer. He later said he would move Harry to a later date. Since we know that never happened, one can only imagine that an aggrieved Harry Safewright vowed then & there never to talk to Ron again. As a postscript to this development, we now know - thanks to Bobbert's preserved collection of subsequent podcasts - that Ramon was not available that next day, either. So it is lost to history whether, if not bumped, Harry would have appeared as a scheduled guest. And been such a hit with audiences that he would, like Ray Scott, been a regular, recurring guest/cast member.

We heard from Ron that birthday boy Willie Mays (86) was, with his impaired vision, not doing well. A subject Ron has returned to every time the Say Hey Kid is mentioned.

If you don't have them already, you can add Virgil Trucks & Elden Auker to the list of those cursed nonagenerians who have died shortly after being in proximity to Ron. In Auker's case, he was on Ron's show "one week to the day" before his passing.

When informed about an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the then-96 year old Eddie Robinson (the oldest-living ex-Tiger & oldest living member of a World Series-winning team), Ron asked Alex to look him up to get his number. Maybe even contacting the paper. Robinson never appeared on Ron's show, no doubt enabling him to live until 10/4/21. 

Bob Welch was another who was "very, very close" to Ron. Ron, in fact, introduced him to the "Vodka & OJ" drink. He was going to be Ron's manager, so, along with scheduled pitching coach Ron Guidry & his association with Denny, Ron can lay claim to being close to baseball's winningest single-season pitchers over more than the last half-century.

When a discussion of then-Tiger Tyler Collins resulted in Alex saying that his "average was decent," the deeply consistent Ron, whose years-long campaign against Jack Morris's HOF candidacy was wholly based on his ERA (that is, when it was not due to his personal animus), erupted with, "Ah, quit the averages. You don't win on averages."

When JJ of Trenton called, Ron immediately informed him there was a "chance" that his new restaurant would be in Downriver. JJ was not impressed, telling Ron he had heard that "many, many, many times." No, Ron assured him, "We're at the nitty gritty here." Still not persuaded, JJ said, "Whatever. If you open up, I'll come in for free samples."

Ron introduced one of his Long Beach Strikers to Steve Howe. When Steve saw Ron he said, according to Ron, "What in the heck are you doing here?!" An obligatory hug followed. As an aside, I just don't see Ron as the hugging type. No mention of whether laughter also ensued.

Ron's personal phone kept ringing uninterrupted at one point.

At a time when he was regularly promoting the WDTK podcasts, Ron - as he always did, Alex's constant corrections notwithstanding - told his listeners to go the the "Store app." When Alex issued a correction, followed by, "I got your back," Ron said, yes, "When I'm on the air, but you don't have my back when I go to see people." Yes, the standard complaint about Ron being a "one-man operation."

[radiofan1974]

Looking forward to hearing the old episode before Ron heads out to California, I am thinking Ron is probably slamming the area and city on his way out? Would be my guess

[Momo]

With the death of Jim Brown, I’m thinking the chances are high that Ron will be telling his story about how the father of Barry Sanders thought Brown, not his son, was the best ever running back.

[Bobbert]

Here is one of Ron's distant relatives, with the same gift for hustling as Ron:

[Dan in Northville]

With the death of Jim Brown, I’m thinking the chances are high that Ron will be telling his story about how the father of Barry Sanders thought Brown, not his son, was the best ever running back.

How long until Ron let's us know................ "I never met him"

[Bobbert]

Jacqueline Kennedy's press secretary Pamela Timmins recently died (https://youtu.be/w6SjKoIJqO4?t=171).

Pamela set up the famous interview that Ron Cameron did with Jacqueline (https://mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 70#p663813).

It took many years for Jacqueline to forgive Pamela for not properly screening the questions for this interview.

[Momo]

Jacqueline Kennedy's press secretary Pamela Timmins recently died (https://youtu.be/w6SjKoIJqO4?t=171).
It took many years for Jacqueline to forgive Pamela for not properly screening the questions for this interview.

And how many years before Jackie forgave Pamela for her (alleged) affair with her husband?!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Turnure

[radiofan1974]

Interesting lead in to Ron’s show, did not think motlie crue was rocking oldies lol

[Momo]

No time to get a guest today, Ron is "fed up." A one-man operation.