Ron Cameron

[Momo]

Reading more about Ted Simmons, it's pretty evident that he doesn't suffer fools gladly. No wonder Ron found him to be so difficult.

https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/video/ted ... hof-speech

[Bobbert]

Reading more about Ted Simmons, it's pretty evident that he doesn't suffer fools gladly. No wonder Ron found him to be so difficult.

https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/video/ted ... hof-speech

A lot of people found Ted Simmons difficult. Roger Angell of the New Yorker once asked Simmons a casual question about antiques, which Simmons collects. Simmons said, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to go in that direction...just talking like this for a few minutes before a ballgame, you can't ask me a question that would let me say anything about it that would make any sense. OK?"

[Bobbert]

For most people, it's the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

For Ron Cameron, it's the 40th anniversary of two big things that started him on the long and winding road of independence that he continues to travel today:

• Getting fired from WXYZ radio after three years.

• Opening his first restaurant.

From the Detroit Free Press archives on Newspapers.com:

August 16, 1981

(Bob Talbert column)

And isn't Ron Cameron, co-host with George Blaha of WXYZ's afternoon sports/talk show, nervous about keeping his job? He's opening up a fast-food and pizza restaurant at Nine Mile and Harper in St. Clair Shores next month. He's also acquiring the Home Plate bar near Tiger Stadium, and says it's all to "protect himself" from the "ups and downs of radio ratings." Right now, they're down.

August 30, 1981

(Bob Talbert column)

WXYZ-AM Sportstalk co-host Ron Cameron has changed sites and will open his first restaurant—Sports Fans' Delight—in the old Casa Mia (formerly China City) spot on Woodward north of Fourteen Mile in Birmingham on Sept. 12.

Sunday, September 13, 1981

(Joe LaPointe article)

The morning after learning his radio Sportstalk show had been canceled, controversial sportscaster Ron Cameron was still talking sports—and about his future.

"Let's be honest: I've been fired," Cameron said Saturday while working at the sports-oriented restaurant he is about to open in Birmingham. "They said the reason was ratings. They signed me to a new contract two or three months ago and our ratings have gone sky-high. They are dumping the only men's show they have."

WXYZ operations director Michael Packer said the change is being made because the popularity of the three-hour, drive-time afternoon sports call-in show was limited "to a narrow audience." He agreed that ratings are up, but said "Sportstalk didn't attract enough women listeners."

September 20, 1981

(Bob Talbert column)

WXYZ talk-radio programmer Michael Packer says, "With Dr. Sonya Friedman's show ranked No. 2 in our target audience (adults 35 and older) before it and Kevin Joyce's show ranked No. 2 following it, we'd have been foolish to keep Ron Cameron's Sportstalk, which was a weak ninth, on the air."

[Momo]

A lot of people found Ted Simmons difficult. Roger Angell of the New Yorker once asked Simmons a casual question about antiques, which Simmons collects. Simmons said, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to go in that direction...just talking like this for a few minutes before a ballgame, you can't ask me a question that would let me say anything about it that would make any sense. OK?"

Roger Angell's 101st birthday is next Sunday. Ron should try to get him as a guest. To give a fuller picture of Angell's take on Ted Simmons, here are some of his related writings:

"A wonderful catcher and hitter. I couldn't get anything out of him. I knew how smart he was. I kept talking to him. He was, among other things, a collector of American furniture, while he was playing in the major leagues. He had a distinguished collection of American furniture. So one day I mention American furniture. I'm talking to him and he is not giving me the time of day. He said, "Hold it right there. I don't know you. I don't know if you know anything about American furniture. But let’s say maybe you did and maybe if you did and I do, we might say something interesting about American furniture. But I don't know if this true. Okay?" I said, "Okay." Then there is a pause. And then he says, "My insurance agent has told me not to talk about my furniture collection anymore." About a year after that I'm in Sun City, he's playing with the Brewers, and I want to get him to talk about hitting. I was doing a piece about hitting. I'm sitting alone in the clubhouse he comes off the field and again he was stiffing me, nothing had happened. And I said, "Ted, you're a switch hitter, I notice you are a better batter left handed then you are right handed which is your natural side. Why is that?" And he said, "Why do you think it is?" I was grasping for something, "Maybe it's because you keep throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Maybe your right arm is too strong?" His expression changed and he said, "I didn't think you'd have noticed." And then he was mine. He trusted me. I knew enough to watch baseball so that I was okay to be trusted. And then I couldn't shut him up. He talked about hitting, talked about catching. I wrote a long piece about catching and he had a major part in that."

"Some of these guys were great talkers. Ted Simmons, who was with Milwaukee then, was one of the great baseball talkers. I saw him in spring training again [in 2006], and I thanked him for his paragraphs."

"Ted Simmons, I should add, is one of the most convincing men in baseball. He is a sixteen-year man in the majors – the last three with the Brewers, the rest with the Cardinals – and is one of the prime switch hitters in the game: in 1975 he batted .332 for the Cards and drove in a hundred runs. He is known for his intelligence and knowledge of the game – splendid assets, but what I most enjoy about Simba is his passionate way of talking baseball. He talks the way Catfish Hunter used to pitch – feeling for the corners early on and then with a widening flow of ideas and confidence and variation in the late going: Cooperstown stuff. When we sat down together at Sun City last spring, I asked him about the difference between National League and American League pitching – almost an idle question, I thought, since I was pretty sure I knew the answer: a lower strike zone in the National League, and more breaking balls in the A.L."

[Momo]

Is there any possibility that Ron has even heard of Roger Angell, who, unlike his “good friend” Howie Haak (who Ron, falsely, has persistently insisted is in the HOF), IS in the HOF?

[radiofan1974]

First week of the NFL I expect a action packed show with a lot of newspaper page turning

[Mr.Transistor]

First week of the NFL I expect a action packed show with a lot of newspaper page turning

Easy decision for me tonight fellas. Ron has some competition. Do I listen to Ron read off the box scores constantly, repeat the phone number numerous times, do play by play watching Stafford's Rams against the Bears?
Caputo!

[Momo]

Good start!!

[radiofan1974]

Good start!![/quote

I thought I heard some fumbling to start the show

[Momo]

Yes, keep a good guest on hold while reading the scores as if it was 1970.

[Momo]

I thought I heard some fumbling to start the show

He was carrying on some conversation off-mic.

[Momo]

Re: this upcoming interview with the pharmacist who knows all his customers' names, I'd love if he calls Ron "Don."

[radiofan1974]

Such a interesting interview for sports talk

[radiofan1974]

Ron-I have a big following in Wyandotte

[Momo]

He couldn't have done this "interview" before Mark called in?!