1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: Live Wire is a production of iHeart Podcasts and Modulator Media. 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: Previously on live Wire The Loud Life and Shocking Murder 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: of Alan Bird. 4 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 2: By nineteen eighty four, talk radio had become quite the 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 2: phenomena phenomenon in the United States, so prominent that sixty 6 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 2: Minutes did in January eighty four a show on some 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 2: of the rising talk show hosts. They chose Allenberg to 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: be on that program. 9 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 3: Isn't there something a little dangerous about this kind of broadcasting? 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 3: There is a danger. I agree with you. I guess 11 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 3: the danger that we exhibit an all free all rights 12 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 3: of free expression. Be a columnists who write newspapers. Yeah, indeed, 13 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 3: But you say yourself, you often go on there. You 14 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 3: don't know quite what you're going to say. Hopefully my 15 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 3: legal training will prevent me from saying the one thing 16 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 3: that will kill me. I've come awfully close. 17 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 4: I'm pretty upset about what the government is doing as 18 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:00,959 Speaker 4: far as bringing you know, the repuge. 19 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 5: You know, like people, because they're showing a work ethic 20 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:05,839 Speaker 5: that's better than most Americans. 21 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 6: God bless them. 22 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,479 Speaker 5: Well, I'll make a shake up and do something and 23 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 5: work and earn something and not want a free ride sweetheart, 24 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 5: mind what you're on KOI. 25 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 7: As his. 26 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 2: Radio career was progressing, the radical right in the United 27 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 2: States was sort of gearing up through you, through younger people. 28 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 8: Hard to believe. I'm in a bar with a guy 29 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 8: named Charlie Martin and the light beer guy comes in 30 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 8: and says, they just tried to co Allen. 31 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 9: However, I don't know about the Nazis. They didn't like 32 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 9: him very much. They hated him. It wasn't that he 33 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 9: was Jewish, it was that he was so outspoken. It 34 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 9: could have been that he was anything else, but he 35 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 9: was outspoken. 36 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: After years of growing into one of the most divisive 37 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: and popular radio pressonalities in the nation, Alan Berg had 38 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: earned a reputation for tweaking his beliefs to benefit his show. 39 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: His producer, Susan Ryman, loved him for it. 40 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 4: You can't go on the air and not be one 41 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 4: hundred percent determined to take your stand and either be 42 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 4: on this side or not. And that's where a lot 43 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 4: of talk show hosts failed is because the audience could 44 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 4: smell that. They smell that. But Alan on the other hand, 45 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 4: would take topics that he didn't even believe in and 46 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 4: make the audience believe he did. 47 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: Alan enjoyed amping up the outrage, doubling down on the disbelief, 48 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: all in service to stirring up as frantic a furor 49 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: as possible. Essentially, he was the maestro of Mayhem, looking 50 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: to antagonize callers into an absolute symphony of rage. 51 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 3: I all think they hate may I think they hate 52 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 3: the fact that. 53 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 5: Someone speaks differently than they do. Dobbs, you couldn't hate 54 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 5: the person you. 55 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 3: Don't know the delicten to you to make say. 56 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 5: Well, there's also a certain degree. I think a lot 57 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 5: of the people who really say they hate. 58 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: Me actually love me. 59 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 10: Oh yeah, they love you. 60 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 5: And I love them what they don't understand if they're 61 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 5: as wacky as can be. I love those people because 62 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 5: they make entertainings. 63 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 6: Arc Oh, I agree with you. 64 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: You give me a. 65 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,959 Speaker 5: Bunch of people like you? So far? What do we 66 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,119 Speaker 5: get out of this call with you? 67 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 11: Not? 68 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,799 Speaker 8: And I love you for liking you. I love you 69 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 8: for liking me about day. 70 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 3: True, though I did this all day, I'd be out 71 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 3: of work. 72 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 8: In a month. 73 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: But there were certain topics that got alan Berg so incensed, 74 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: so rapid, so reactive, that they were clearly a genuine 75 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: core part of his personality. Certain topics that got host 76 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: and color are like so riled up that there was 77 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: no way the exchange could be mistaken for a cynical 78 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: attempt at boosting ratings. And without question, religion and race 79 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: were the two topics that continuously got alan Berg and 80 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: his callers really heated. 81 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 5: I mean, if there's a morality of all these people, 82 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 5: the reborn Christians they claim they are, then you know 83 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 5: what if they all took care of all the underprivileged 84 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 5: like Christians are supposed to do, we wouldn't need a 85 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 5: welfare state. 86 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 6: That's true. 87 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 12: And another thing I daking PRIs it's. 88 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 13: On it's like a free enterprise is his ideas of 89 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 13: what free enterprise is is simply the large, huge corporations, 90 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 13: in rich corporations being able to take a free hand 91 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 13: into anything they want with no regulation and no cost 92 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:30,239 Speaker 13: or pull of concern whatsoever. 93 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 12: In other words, is left of an opening. 94 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 5: Hey, as mister Stockman said, the very Reaganomics exclusively and 95 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 5: almost exclusively worked for the rich and was a trickle 96 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 5: down theory, the benefits flowing almost exclusively. 97 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 14: To the richer. 98 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 6: Well, that idea of trickle down, I just don't think 99 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 6: it works. 100 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 5: I mean, it trickles down to so little I'm lucky 101 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 5: to get a drop of water at the end of it. 102 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 6: Yeah, you've got literally literally people that have been at 103 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 6: work for for generation. They grow up knowing they're gonna go. 104 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 3: Well, I don't believe that at all. 105 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 5: I don't think that's I think that that See, that's 106 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 5: a very alse immage to create. 107 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 8: I can't believe. 108 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 5: You can't believe that. 109 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,559 Speaker 15: There's been so many specials, but document and proof how 110 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 15: how the. 111 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 5: Father don't workfare, the son goes. 112 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: Up to being warfare, that son's son goes up to 113 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: being warfare, unemployment, whatever, it's ridiculous. 114 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 5: Well again, I don't know if I can inctually document 115 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 5: in that fashion. But then if that be true, that's 116 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 5: a cultural problem, an educational problem, an opportunity problem, as 117 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 5: much to do with minorities who aren't apported a chance 118 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,720 Speaker 5: to work. Oh, I know, that's that's garbage. Can it's 119 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 5: not garbage plaitnte. 120 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 6: You go down, you go down in the ghetto. Okay, 121 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 6: I'm a white middle class a watch you go down 122 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 6: in the ghetto. 123 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 5: You the was wants to blame everybody else in the world. 124 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 6: Let me finish. 125 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 15: I'm not blaming anybody for an You. 126 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 5: Got every advantage going for you because you are a wash. 127 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 5: Wait a minute, Wait a minute, let me finish what 128 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 5: I'm saying. 129 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: And when alan Berg found the nexus point between race 130 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: and religion, the temperature got raised considerably, as did the stakes, 131 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: and the results could be nuclear. That is where certain 132 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: individuals on the fringes of American society went from seeing 133 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: alan Berg as an entertainer and an instigator to seeing 134 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: him as a threat and a target. I'm filmmaker and 135 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: journalist Talpinchewski and this is episode five the Danger Zone. 136 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: There were a number of things that made alan Berg 137 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: such a trailblazer as a radio host, and one of 138 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: the things he truly championed was bringing on anyone and 139 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: everyone as a guest, so long as they could get 140 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: the phone lines buzzing. Berg might host an author promoting 141 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: their latest book, a local politician, and a Rondom individual 142 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: claiming they had received a message from Jesus Christ, all 143 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: on the same show. He wanted to talk to all 144 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: of them and, if possible, antagonize all of them. He 145 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: even had a notorious run in with movie star Gloria 146 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,359 Speaker 1: Swanson when she called into his show to promote her memoir. 147 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 3: This is so silly. 148 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 5: Why don't we talk about something more important? 149 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 4: What's not being in the world? 150 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 15: Oh? 151 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 6: What would you like to talk about? This one? 152 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: I do like to talk about children? 153 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 16: Go ahead, what a dreadful part and we're leading them 154 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 16: and we're. 155 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 8: The bulls and worthy ideals of were the manic and 156 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 8: words of it out? 157 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 5: Excuse me, miss Watson one moment. Now, are you going 158 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 5: to tell me about the morality of our day. 159 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: And our time? 160 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 5: Oh? I'm not going to tell you because I don't. 161 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 5: I don't think you. Excuse me, excuse me, miss Wanson. 162 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 5: I do not believe that your book necessarily. 163 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: Spoke of such high morality, did it? 164 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 16: I don't know what you're talking about. 165 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 5: The talking about the book that you wrote, not. 166 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 16: Children having a chance in life to have a wonderful 167 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 16: body instead of having the make believe make. 168 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 5: Believe food, food morality or sexual morality. 169 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: I'm not doing okay, then, knows are you in the 170 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: food right now? 171 00:07:58,320 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 3: All right? 172 00:07:58,680 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 13: We apparently don't have good ear? 173 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 6: I gad children? 174 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: Do you want to bring it around to something else? 175 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 5: Mis Watson? 176 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 7: Not there? 177 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 6: I excuse me? 178 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 5: All it here one second. I know you're a famous lady. 179 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 5: I know you were on Tom Snyder's show last night. 180 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 5: I attempted to do and initiate this interview on a 181 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 5: friendly basis and covers the ground as to your filmmaking career. 182 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: I don't think what. 183 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 5: I've asked you thus far has been rude or offensive 184 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 5: or wasteful to you. Now get now, dear, we hold it, 185 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 5: Hold it, dear, You're not going to push me around 186 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 5: on my show? Now, what point did you want to make? 187 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: You couldn't blame listeners if they accused alan Berg of 188 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: being some sort of satirist, a character engaging in a 189 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: series of antagonistic exchanges that got everyone worked into a ladder, 190 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 1: no matter how low the stakes actually were. Here's Allan's 191 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: old colleague at KOA, Don Hartenoff. 192 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 7: They just don't understand alan you know, and they might 193 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 7: hate him. It's kind of like, but it's it's it's 194 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 7: a show. And we always told people, remember it's entertainment. 195 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 7: It's not it's not realistic and realism and a real program. 196 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 7: It's just entertainment where people people want to wanted to 197 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 7: listen because they didn't know what was going to happen next. 198 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 7: And that's some of the best radio that you can find, 199 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 7: is when there's unexpected activity going on and people go, wow, 200 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 7: did he just say that? Or did that caller just 201 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 7: say that? Or I can see why he hung up. 202 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,319 Speaker 7: That guy was dumb, you know. I think that's what 203 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 7: you find going on in a lot of places like that. 204 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: But these arguments touching on religion and race, they were 205 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: the real deal, and alan Berg knew it. It's the 206 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: main reason he brought on guests like Richard Butler, the 207 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,679 Speaker 1: Idaho based leader of the Area Nations and a spiritual 208 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: leader of the white supremacist movement in America. 209 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 4: He always wanted to interview Richard Butler, and Richard Butler 210 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 4: worried me because Ellen would humillion this man, completely humiliate 211 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 4: Richard Butler. 212 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: Guests like Richard Butler made for explosive episodes on alan 213 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: Burg's show, which made Berg even more insistent that his 214 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,839 Speaker 1: producers book more of these devout white supremacists on his program. 215 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 4: He was so brave, he just would not back down. 216 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 4: But it was so easy for him to go out 217 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 4: him because they're just idiots. They were just insane. When 218 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 4: it came to what they were doing. 219 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: Here's Allen Berg's former colleague Tom Martino. 220 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 17: I remember thinking this is a little weird. 221 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 10: You know. 222 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 17: Now he felt very strongly about that, but even that 223 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:53,679 Speaker 17: person in the studio, he wouldn't be nasty to them 224 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 17: during the breaks or anything, or if they were on 225 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:01,560 Speaker 17: the phone. He really did feel, you know, he did 226 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 17: feel disdained for white supremacy. 227 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 10: And all that. 228 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 7: Of course he did. 229 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 4: Yeah, but. 230 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,439 Speaker 17: That wasn't why I had him on the show. I mean, 231 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:11,719 Speaker 17: he had him on the show because he knew it 232 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 17: would be interesting. He wasn't even feeling strongly about that. 233 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 17: I mean, I'm not saying he was in favor of it, 234 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 17: but he just you know, it could just as well 235 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:25,080 Speaker 17: be somebody else that he was rattling on. 236 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: But there was a darkness that permeated these interviews, something 237 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: way more sinister than Alan Berg and a caller disagreeing 238 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: about how the United States government should function, and that 239 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,079 Speaker 1: morbid energy deeply concerned Burke's colleagues. 240 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 4: He said to me, so you're suggesting I don't do 241 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 4: these shows because I should be afraid, that I should 242 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 4: be shut up, that I shouldn't bring this to my 243 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 4: listener's attention about how crazy these people are and how 244 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 4: wrong they are, and I just said, no, I'm just 245 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:00,319 Speaker 4: saying I'm scared. It's really I don't know that that 246 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 4: was a bad interview. Ellen, was that was a bad interview? 247 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 4: He said bad because I did a bad interview. And 248 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 4: I said, no, you just humiliated this man, Ellen. These 249 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 4: people are crazy. They're crazy, They're not right in the head. 250 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 7: For two or three months before they murdered him, I 251 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 7: kept saying, Alan moved to a gated community. Please, you're 252 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 7: getting too popular and there's too much angst about your 253 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 7: show and the aggression and the you know, the extremist right. 254 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 7: We knew they were out there, and we said, why 255 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 7: don't you move into a gated community. No, he wanted 256 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 7: to live in Capitol Hill where it was all the 257 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 7: you know, the action and it's like, you know it. 258 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 7: Ultimately was his downfall because he was an easy mark. 259 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 5: Right. 260 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 7: If he was in a gated community, they couldn't have 261 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 7: gotten him that easily. 262 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: Through all these live on air humiliations of people espousing 263 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,320 Speaker 1: the most startling hate speech, not to mention the angry 264 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: letters and threats that inevitably followed, alan Berg remained defiant. 265 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: He never wavered, even when he handled the latest hateful 266 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: letter with all the urgency of your standard junk mail. 267 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 1: Here's Berg's longtime friend and colleague, Peter Boyles. 268 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 8: He would open the letter. We'd be sitting this a 269 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 8: little office and he'd open it and he'd flip it 270 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 8: on the back, and if it wasn't signed, he threw 271 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 8: it out. Never read it. He taught me that. And look, 272 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 8: look on a back or at the bottom, if there's 273 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 8: a signature, read it. And eighty nine out of one 274 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 8: hundred letters that we got, they hated us, or they 275 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 8: hated him, or whatever it was. And he would We 276 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 8: was sit there and he'd just take his fingers open 277 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 8: the mail pulled out all right, and I figured it 278 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 8: wasn't signed. 279 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: And it's probably not a coincidence that all of this 280 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: was happening at the same time. As Alan kept insisting 281 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: on booking and humiliating white supremacists, his ratings absolutely exploded 282 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,599 Speaker 1: and the mountain of hate mail grew. Remember this is 283 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: around the same time that Allenberg appeared on Sixty Minutes 284 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: and said these chillingly prophetic words. 285 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 3: Hopefully my legal training will prevent me from saying the 286 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 3: one thing that will kill me, and I'd come awfully close. 287 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: It all came to a head in early nineteen eighty 288 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: four with an appearance by two individuals who would forever 289 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: be tied to Alan Berg. 290 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 10: The pair of. 291 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: Guests appeared to be just a couple more white supremacists 292 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: jumping at the opportunity to espouse hate on whatever media 293 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: outlet would have them. The first was Jack Moore, a 294 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,479 Speaker 1: popular preacher and author who dealt in white Christian identity 295 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: as the leader of the Citizen Emergency Defense System, an 296 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 1: anti Semitic, malicious subgroup of a larger, more influential organization 297 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: known as the Christian Patriots Do de Fence League, a. 298 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 6: Great many of the Jewish leaders of fact through the years, 299 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 6: the is the mom Jewish leaders will very proudly have 300 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 6: lit in the fact that communism was a Jewish was 301 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 6: a Jewish thing. 302 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: The second guest was Reverend Pete Peters, a minister from 303 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: nearby Laporte, Colorado, who also used his pulpit to espouse 304 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: white supremacist views, including what he believed was biblical proof 305 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: that Caucasians were God's chosen people. 306 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 6: Look before everybody, let me say this, huh I have 307 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 6: been on programs like this many many times before, and 308 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 6: I run into dromos like you know that, interrupt and 309 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 6: try to stop. 310 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 3: Now, Jack, you have barely been interrupted, albar Jack, So 311 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 3: don't give me that. Don't give me that, guy, But 312 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 3: you haven't been interrupted at all. 313 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 7: Man. 314 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: In his signature fashion, Allenberg attempted to publicly flog the 315 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: pair over the airwaves during their nineteen eighty four appearance 316 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: on his program, But it was when More dealt into 317 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: the theory that communism was a Jewish creation that things 318 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: suddenly escalated and the results were incendiary. 319 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 3: Moore says, the Jews aren't conspiring to take over the world. 320 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 3: When you hear these lines, I wanted what you think? 321 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 5: Do you believe that. 322 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 6: Kind of stuff? Do you have any evidence? 323 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 5: Or did his take it? 324 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 3: Because Nitwitz like this, throw this out for the meror's 325 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 3: sake of throwing it out, because I think he said 326 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 3: he was a I guess he said. 327 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 5: It was a prisoner of war. 328 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:21,440 Speaker 3: It was always a prisoner out there. I don't know 329 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 3: what they did to his mine, but it becomes quite. 330 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: Evident by every measure. This was just another angry bout 331 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: of yelling between Berg and a couple of white supremacists, 332 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: an exchange that by now have become commonplace on Berg's show, 333 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: allowing the popular shock job to feed his dueling passions 334 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: for lighting up the airwaves and verbally abusing racists. But 335 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: the tenor on this episode seemed a little different. A 336 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: little darker disappearance by Moore and Peters, coupled with previous 337 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,560 Speaker 1: appearances from Richard Butler and the very real in person 338 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: death threat made by Fred Wilkins, had upped the temperature 339 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: around alan Berg to an uncomfortable high, and his colleagues 340 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: at KOA were starting to get concerned, including producer Susan Ryman. 341 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 4: I don't know, I think back to the I think 342 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 4: about back to Richard Butler more than anything, because that 343 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 4: eventually wasn't who carried that out, But I think it 344 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 4: was the beginning of bringing attention to being so voraciously 345 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 4: opposed to white supremacists and the Arian Nations and Hayden Lake, 346 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 4: Idaho and everything they represented and their hatred for the Jews. 347 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,879 Speaker 1: Ryman wasn't just concerned about providing a platform to white supremacists, 348 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 1: after all, for years now, alan Berg had made it 349 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: imperative that they offer a sounding board to even the 350 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: most reprehensible individuals in American society. She was worried about 351 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: Alan's safety as well as her own. 352 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:58,359 Speaker 4: I was frightened for my own life. But they didn't 353 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,399 Speaker 4: know who I was, you know, they weren't out for me. 354 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 4: But it was a really scary time, I think. I 355 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 4: think for me now, the stocking wasn't what it is 356 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:16,360 Speaker 4: now that for me it was unheard of what happened 357 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 4: to Allenberg, that people would actually kill an on air 358 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 4: personality for whatever reason. It was always next. That's the 359 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 4: one word that I always remember about Alan was next, 360 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 4: Someone's always going to dislike me, Someone's always going to 361 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 4: hate me. I'd always say, not necessarily, Ellen, But he, uh, 362 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 4: he wasn't going to change because of it. He couldn't. 363 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,159 Speaker 4: And in the end a bunch of crazy people took. 364 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,200 Speaker 9: His life for it. And it makes me so angry 365 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,280 Speaker 9: that he got himself killed because he had a big mouth. 366 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,360 Speaker 9: How did they know him on the raid? They knew 367 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 9: him from the radio. 368 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: Thatttsburgh's ex wife, do you Udith Burgh? As you'll recall, 369 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: Judith was out with Alan Berg enjoying a pleasant dinner 370 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: at Jefferson four forty on June eighteenth, nineteen eighty four. 371 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,879 Speaker 1: By every measure, it was a pleasant and memorable evening. 372 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 9: So we stopped over here, picked up dog food brought 373 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 9: on sixth Avenue, and we went back to the house. 374 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: Judith left to visit a friend and Alan started to 375 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: go into the house to feed the dog. Then the unthinkable. 376 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 15: Bord of a tragic and shocking story tonight that apparently 377 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 15: Kawa talk show host Alan Berg was shot and killed 378 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,360 Speaker 15: tonight in downtown Denver. Stanning Brye Live now with more 379 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,919 Speaker 15: on this. Wendy Bergen is at fourteenth and Adams in 380 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 15: downtown Denver. 381 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 11: Yes, Linda, apparently it happened just a short while ago. 382 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 11: When we arrived here, there was a man lying outside 383 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 11: of a volkswagon in front of this apartment of the 384 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 11: Lear Condominium complex at fourteen fifty five Adams. Police tentatively 385 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 11: identified him as Kowa talk show host Alan Berg. As 386 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 11: you said, he apparently died from multiple gunshot wounds. We 387 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,919 Speaker 11: do not know whether they have a suspect, and they 388 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 11: are still investigating it. We should have some more details 389 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 11: later on this evening. 390 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: Even with all the fiery exchanges and the death threats 391 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,360 Speaker 1: and the escalating rhetoric. The events of that night were 392 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: truly unimaginable. One of Denver's most popular media personalities violently 393 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 1: gunned down outside his own home, and word of his 394 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:36,200 Speaker 1: death spread swiftly among his radio colleagues. Here's former KOWA 395 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 1: station manager Lee Larson, and I. 396 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 18: Was watching the evening news getting ready to go to 397 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:47,200 Speaker 18: bed when they broke into the newscast with a breaking 398 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 18: headline that talk show host Alan Berg had been shot. 399 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,679 Speaker 18: I was obviously stunned because that was our talk host, 400 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,640 Speaker 18: that was my friend, that was somebody that I had 401 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:04,600 Speaker 18: been working alongside of. So I immediately ran to the 402 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 18: phone called the radio station newsroom to find out what 403 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 18: they knew about it, and they were just finding out 404 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 18: about it at the same time because the police were 405 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 18: putting it out. I think there was also chatter on 406 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 18: the police channel about a shooting and all of that, 407 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 18: and as the pieces were falling together, I got as 408 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,879 Speaker 18: much information as I could from our newsroom, continued to 409 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 18: watch television to see if they had any updates, and 410 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 18: immediately got on the phone with my bosses at the 411 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 18: company headquarters to make sure that they knew what was 412 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 18: going on. 413 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: As news broke of alan Berg's murder. There was a 414 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: bizarre balance being maintained over at the radio station where 415 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: the popular shock jock had enjoyed such incredible success. The 416 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: staff at KAWA were simultaneously grieving their fallen colleague while 417 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: also reporting the latest detail of his shocking murder, all 418 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: in real time. 419 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 10: Ten thirty nine KO wait time, and I'm still trying 420 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 10: to piece information together Off the air. I'm finding out 421 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,959 Speaker 10: that Channel seven has issued a report that said the 422 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 10: best investigative efforts of the DPD has indicated that someone 423 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 10: passing in a vehicle using a semi automatic weapon or 424 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 10: an automatic weapon. I'm not sure which fired upon alan 425 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 10: Berg when he was exiting his vehicle in front of 426 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 10: his home. Ten or more shellcasings, to the best of 427 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 10: my ability, or a number that would indicate an automatic 428 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 10: weapon was found in the at the scene. And alan 429 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 10: Berg has in fact passed on. He is no longer 430 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 10: with us. He'll always be with us, though I think 431 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,640 Speaker 10: he's touched each and touched each and every one of us. 432 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:06,120 Speaker 10: He touched me and and Lee Larson and Jim Hawthorne 433 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 10: are on their way into the station now, and Jim 434 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 10: is program director. Lee uh Lee Larson is the station manager. 435 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 10: And it's a it's a shock. It's to describe how 436 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 10: I feel right now. I've got a high pitch, winging 437 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 10: sound in my ears. My head is thropping, and I 438 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 10: can't believe it. Somebody tonight, somebody out there. I can, 439 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 10: I know I can. I can feel your presence. I 440 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 10: can feel your presence listening to KOWA to feel the 441 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:51,199 Speaker 10: result of your handywork. You're a loser man, You're a 442 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:59,440 Speaker 10: loser talk show host or a diamond dozen. If Allenberg 443 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 10: was anything before you blew him away, he was nothing, 444 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 10: and you made him immortal. He made him a part 445 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 10: of me, and you gave value to everything that ever 446 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 10: justified your sick act tonight. 447 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: It was Allan's longtime friend and colleague Ken Hamlin who 448 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: initially broke the news of the murder. But while Hamlin 449 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: somehow found a way to fill the air with this 450 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: shocking news, his KOA colleagues were swiftly dispatched to the 451 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: crime scene, launching their ohso important investigation into the violent 452 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,080 Speaker 1: crime that was about to become a public fixation across 453 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: the country. 454 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 11: Most of the country has never heard of Alan Berg. 455 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 5: Who called himself the man You Love to Hate. 456 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 3: Last night, Alan Berg was shot to deell. 457 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 6: It is possible that Berg style may have contributed to 458 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:51,680 Speaker 6: his death. 459 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 7: Acid tongue talk show host Alan Berg was ambushed outside 460 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:56,680 Speaker 7: his hull last night. 461 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 6: I have been here about fifteen or twenty minutes. Placer 462 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 6: still a pretty tight mouth about the situation. They are 463 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,399 Speaker 6: busy canvassing the neighborhood right now, trying to find witnesses 464 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 6: to what happened here about an hour ago. They have 465 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,959 Speaker 6: also called for a Chinese interpreter. They aren't saying for 466 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 6: what reason, whether it's to talk to a witness or 467 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 6: you know, who knows what they haven't told us. They 468 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 6: will be telling us a little while. Bill Buckley, who's 469 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,920 Speaker 6: an assistant District attorney Deputy district attorney for city in 470 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 6: County of Denver, is also at the scene, as is 471 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 6: the corner. It looks as it looked as if Allen 472 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 6: had just stepped out of his car right in front 473 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,200 Speaker 6: of his apartment. He was driving his little Volkswagen today 474 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 6: when we saw him, and that was the car that 475 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:45,439 Speaker 6: where his body is near and witnesses purportedly have told police. 476 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,200 Speaker 6: The only witnesses that we've heard of told police that 477 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 6: they had heard tires scream about the time the shots 478 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 6: were fired. There were a number of shots in rapid succession. 479 00:25:56,359 --> 00:26:00,720 Speaker 6: Police did find about between eight and eleven shell casings 480 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 6: lying on the ground near Alan's car, which would indicate 481 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,879 Speaker 6: that with some sort of an automatic weapon, although police 482 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 6: haven't said exactly what why, But as we said, there's 483 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 6: very little known here as to what happened. Allen apparently 484 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 6: just arriving home in his car, stepping out of his 485 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 6: automobile and was gone down. They have not moved the 486 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 6: body yet and will probably not move it until all 487 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 6: of the forensic laboratory people have had an opportunity to 488 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 6: go over to crime scene thoroughly. 489 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 1: Over the days, weeks, and months that followed. KAWE wasn't 490 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: just a major news organization following a shocking story. The 491 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,439 Speaker 1: radio station soon became a key part of the Denver 492 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: Police Department investigation into the death of Alan Burg. Every 493 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: episode of Bergs show, every angry exchange with a caller, 494 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,159 Speaker 1: every threatening letter mailed to his attention at the station 495 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: potentially offered a clue and to who could have possibly 496 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: committed this heinous crime, all in the. 497 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 12: Normal course of an investigation such as this is around 498 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 12: a person who routinely got death threats. It'll be a 499 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 12: procedure now to go into those records, especially of the 500 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:13,640 Speaker 12: most recent threats on Alan's life, perhaps to follow up 501 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:15,800 Speaker 12: on possible leads. 502 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 6: That is true, mark it. There could be a clue 503 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,639 Speaker 6: to who the murderer is in the recent threats and 504 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 6: the records that we have at the station and the 505 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 6: police might have. But then again there may not be. 506 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 6: Alan was constantly joking about the threats that were made 507 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 6: on his life. I don't really know how seriously he 508 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 6: took them. Maybe he did, but he never appeared to 509 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 6: on the surface. 510 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 14: Mister Burg was found on the sidewalk with what appears 511 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 14: to be numerous gunshot wounds. No definite eyewitness is known 512 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 14: at this time. Some people were in the neighborhood and 513 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 14: heard shots and heard the car leaving. At this time, 514 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,200 Speaker 14: the police are canvassing in the neighborhood trained to find 515 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 14: another witnesses. 516 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,680 Speaker 1: All of this happened while Brook's colleagues and friends grew 517 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 1: more and more terrified that one of them could be next, 518 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: a very real fear that was only exacerbated by the 519 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 1: fact that local police didn't have a single tangible lead 520 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: in to who could have committed this crime. Here's burg 521 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:23,120 Speaker 1: biographer Steven Singular. 522 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:32,959 Speaker 2: Their investigation went on and on. Somebody interviewed the police 523 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 2: officer who was in charge of it, the detective in 524 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 2: charge of it. He was in his office and they said, 525 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,719 Speaker 2: you have any suspects, And he pointed to the Denver 526 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 2: phone book and said, well, they're probably two million suspects. 527 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 2: This guy, at one time or another aggravated everybody, and 528 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 2: so they cast a wide net looking for suspects, and 529 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 2: they essentially it came up with absolutely nothing. And time 530 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 2: went on and they pass along information to the FBI. 531 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: Practically overnight, one of Denver's most popular radio stations descended 532 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: into chaos, honoring their slain colleague, reporting on his murder, 533 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: and fearing what could happen next, all while the FBI 534 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: assisted Denver Police with what was already the biggest and 535 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: most high profile investigation in the department's history. All that 536 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: in the next episode of live Wire, the Loud Life 537 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 1: and Shocking Murder of Alan Berg. Live Wire is a 538 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Podcasts and Modulator Media. For more podcasts 539 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: from iHeart Podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 540 00:29:52,800 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.