Speaker 1: If you thought four hours a day, hundred minutes a
Speaker 1: week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of
Speaker 1: the old Republic a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
Speaker 1: crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
Speaker 1: pill poppers in the penthouse, to clearinghouse of hot takes
Speaker 1: break three for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben
Speaker 1: Maller starts right now in the air everywhere as we
Speaker 1: are back at it. A new weekend is upon us,
Speaker 1: and we are glad you have found your way into
Speaker 1: the podcast world. We are not restricted by the Federal
Speaker 1: Communications Commission because this is only available in the podcast format.
Speaker 1: A spinoff of the Ben Maller Shaw Heard five nights
Speaker 1: a week syndicated on Fox Sports Radio through My Heart
Speaker 1: all over the United States and a hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: five countries and ships at sea all over the globe.
Speaker 1: There because the American Forces Network. But this podcast is
Speaker 1: an interview podcast, and we are joined this weekend. Amazingly,
Speaker 1: I thought he wasn't gonna be here, but David Gascon
Speaker 1: in the house for these own ten sound effects. If
Speaker 1: he makes his way to the Mincros final, I mean,
Speaker 1: I got people that are here and near and dear
Speaker 1: to my heart. You've got some fan boys and boot
Speaker 1: liquors and sicko fans on the overnights. So it's a
Speaker 1: it's a perfect comment. I have people that respect quality radio.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's all that. Nothing more than that, nothing
Speaker 1: more than that. Yeah, they call it fanatics. Maybe if
Speaker 1: you were good, you'd have something. Maybe that I got that.
Speaker 1: I got lovers, that's all I got. I'm I'm excited
Speaker 1: about this guest today. We um, well, that really gets
Speaker 1: a friend of the podcast, friend of the part. We
Speaker 1: don't do guests. We have friends of the podcast people
Speaker 1: we like, people we want to talk to. And I
Speaker 1: figured like we we need to get back to our
Speaker 1: roots because now I love Dave Parker and that was
Speaker 1: great and flashback to my childhood with Dave Parker. But
Speaker 1: I love talking radio. You know the business of radio.
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm a radio nerd, and I love
Speaker 1: the great people that are on radio that do such
Speaker 1: a great job and having some of them on and
Speaker 1: people we know, and we are excited because not only
Speaker 1: do we get to talk to a colleague at Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio on the weekends, but also a guy I've
Speaker 1: known since I was a kid. I started in radio
Speaker 1: and I was nineteen years old and this guy was
Speaker 1: one of the big stars at the at the mighty
Speaker 1: six ninety when I started, and I didn't intern on
Speaker 1: his show. I interned on Lee Hacks on Hambleton's show.
Speaker 1: But we're talking about Steve Hartman, the man that has
Speaker 1: been the loose cannon of Southern California and syndicated radio
Speaker 1: for forever pretty much, right going back to the late
Speaker 1: eighties early nineties. He's been on on radio and so
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna catch up with Steve, which I'm
Speaker 1: excited about because a lot of stories with Steve, and
Speaker 1: Steve's been on television and radio and done it. Had
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame crew. He's actually in Uh maybe
Speaker 1: we'll bring this up. Maybe maybe not, but he's in
Speaker 1: the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. And it's
Speaker 1: funny because Arnie Spanier he's trying to get into that
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. He's very upset that he's not in it.
Speaker 1: We've had Arnie on the podcast and uh, I'm not
Speaker 1: in it either, But Steve's in there. He's a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. He had a verified bona fide Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer here. Yeah, he's joining us right now. He's a beast.
Speaker 1: I So I worked as an intern for him back
Speaker 1: in the day, back when I was at San Diego Stand.
Speaker 1: I think it was like two thousand four, two thousand five,
Speaker 1: and and I was one of those loggers. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you you did this back in the day, Ben,
Speaker 1: but I had a log tape, and this is when
Speaker 1: they did tape to tape editing. So whenever I was
Speaker 1: given a cassette tape or a VHS tape, i'd had
Speaker 1: to log the time from when like let's just say
Speaker 1: it's Major Baseball, I don the lot of the time
Speaker 1: from when a pitch was thrown to one the pitch
Speaker 1: or the play was over with. So I had logged
Speaker 1: times so when they did their television spots that they'd
Speaker 1: be you know, enough time in there for when they
Speaker 1: had obviously sound on tape. So I was logging all
Speaker 1: the buroll for them. So I knew Steve only from
Speaker 1: Afar because everyone said he was pretty much like the
Speaker 1: class nerd. He was just like in and out, perfectly
Speaker 1: parted hair. It was loud, he was he was just
Speaker 1: he was just that guy, and uh, pretty surreal to
Speaker 1: all of a sudden fast forward the clock a decade
Speaker 1: and a half later and I get to be working
Speaker 1: with him. That's pretty cool. And Steve is authentic. You
Speaker 1: know some of these guys in radio and I'm pretty
Speaker 1: quiet off the off the radio, guess and I'm pretty reserved.
Speaker 1: But Steven, he's he's non stopping and he doesn't look
Speaker 1: like it. That's I know he works every day and
Speaker 1: but it's just his personality. I try to kind of
Speaker 1: wind down and but he he does not. He does
Speaker 1: not believe in winding down. Enough of that, let's welcome
Speaker 1: in the man, the mid the legend fs R colleague.
Speaker 1: He's doing morning drive in San Diego. But he is
Speaker 1: the ultimate loose cannon, a man who has seen and
Speaker 1: done everything, Steve Hartman. So, Steve, it's great to have
Speaker 1: you on. We've been trying to get you on the podcast. Actually,
Speaker 1: Guesscott hasn't been trying to get anyone on the podcast.
Speaker 1: But let me begin with this. Now, you've had many
Speaker 1: great accomplishments. You've covered Super Bowls, all Star games, You've
Speaker 1: interviewed the biggest name in biggest names in sports. So
Speaker 1: where does this appearance on the Fifth Hour podcast rank
Speaker 1: in your hierarchy of career accomplishments. Well, this doesn't take
Speaker 1: a lot of thought then, because it is absolutely at
Speaker 1: the top. And let me say for the record, we
Speaker 1: make this perfectly clear for the record. And I say
Speaker 1: this in one honestly, and I've said this from the
Speaker 1: first time I've barked Ben Mallor on the radio. Ben
Speaker 1: Mallor is the best at what he does. Now, you
Speaker 1: can qualify it that in any way you want, but
Speaker 1: I believe that Ben Maller is the best at what
Speaker 1: he does. And I just want to state that for
Speaker 1: the record, so twisted anyway you want, you do what
Speaker 1: you do better than anyone else. That's it, period, exclamation
Speaker 1: point wow. As a ring endorsement. As you know, Steve,
Speaker 1: I started at the station you started. I was just
Speaker 1: a merely know lowly intern at Extra Sports six ninety
Speaker 1: and the Mighty six ninety and I interned for Hacks.
Speaker 1: We've had Hacks on the podcast a couple of times.
Speaker 1: But I remember i'd get there early because I was
Speaker 1: a radio nerd, Steve, and I would see you in
Speaker 1: check Fordy doing your thing. They're doing the show and
Speaker 1: I love the vibe and that whole thing. And obviously
Speaker 1: I've gotten into the business all these years and been
Speaker 1: in it and whatnot period. But what was it like?
Speaker 1: I want to know before I got there. I saw
Speaker 1: what it was like when I got there a few
Speaker 1: years after the station had launched. But what was it
Speaker 1: like when you guys first went on the year and
Speaker 1: launched that thing? Alright? So ben I, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't want to go ahole history listen, but we have time.
Speaker 1: It's a podcast. So um As you know, back in
Speaker 1: the eighties, I was working as a PR guy for
Speaker 1: the l A Raiders. I had no interest in being
Speaker 1: a broadcaster that I thought about being a broadcaster. You know.
Speaker 1: I was working as a PR guy and I got
Speaker 1: frustrated because Al Davis wouldn't give me a raise to
Speaker 1: thirty thousand dollars a year. This is literally why I
Speaker 1: quit the Raiders. As I asked. I wrote a letter
Speaker 1: to Mr Davis saying, you're you're paying me twenty four thousand,
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars. I'm doing a cropload of work paying
Speaker 1: me the thirty thousand, he said, thousand, we are five
Speaker 1: and tenders yere, you want me to give you a raise.
Speaker 1: That was enough done finished. I took a non sports
Speaker 1: job for four months. I had seen the movie Wall
Speaker 1: Street one too many times and I was convinced I
Speaker 1: was working for Gordon Gecko and I was Bud Fox.
Speaker 1: Four months later I quit that job, so I was
Speaker 1: back at ground zero. And as you know then, my
Speaker 1: radio career actually started at this little k Fox radio
Speaker 1: with my mentor but for Willa. But for my whole
Speaker 1: career is due to a man named but for Willo,
Speaker 1: the steam Namer, long time newspaper radio guy in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: He took me under his wing when I was twenty
Speaker 1: years old. He said, you're freaking kid. I don't know
Speaker 1: how you retained so much crapp in her head that
Speaker 1: I could use you. So I was working at this
Speaker 1: little radio station k Fox when but got contacted by
Speaker 1: a man named John Lynch. And it was amazing to
Speaker 1: me because this John Lynch was in San Diego. He
Speaker 1: had the station six. It was the flagship of the Chargers,
Speaker 1: and they had an afternoon radio guy named Lee Hacks
Speaker 1: on Hamilton's. And I've never heard of Hacks. So you know, Ben,
Speaker 1: how it is if you don't understand that's from the
Speaker 1: southern California standpoint. There are three distinct markets. There's l A,
Speaker 1: they're Sandy, Orange County, and they're San Diego. The well
Speaker 1: events of San Diego sports in l A is no
Speaker 1: different than Buffalo. There is no relevance of San Diego
Speaker 1: sports in Los Angeles. So I've never heard of this
Speaker 1: hacks I guy. So but calls me and he says, look,
Speaker 1: listen to this actor. You can hear the signal up
Speaker 1: in LA. So I'm listening the first time I hear HACKSA.
Speaker 1: I called back, but he goes, what do you think
Speaker 1: I said? I literally count of twelve things this guy
Speaker 1: made up, completely made up, Like there's he's he's stating
Speaker 1: things on the air that are not true. I mean,
Speaker 1: absolutely not true. So we went down to do an
Speaker 1: audition show on the weekend, and you can you can
Speaker 1: figure this one out. Then, So we drive down to
Speaker 1: San Diego. This is old Pacific Highway Studios and we
Speaker 1: do a Saturday audition show and Budded lined up all
Speaker 1: these guests and I was gonna do like updates that's
Speaker 1: the bed Folo show, right, And none of the guests
Speaker 1: showed up. It was a catastrophe. I mean it was
Speaker 1: the worst radio show ever. I show I had a
Speaker 1: tape of. This show was an absolute bomb. So we're
Speaker 1: driving back to l Igo whether it goes that opportunity
Speaker 1: in San Diego. But they stayed in touch and the
Speaker 1: next thing you know, I get called down to San Diego.
Speaker 1: They tell me, look, we don't want but we want you,
Speaker 1: and like, what are you talking about? But for a bullshow,
Speaker 1: Well we got this young guy, brad Cess matt Or,
Speaker 1: We're gonna put you with him. And I'm like really,
Speaker 1: So they hired me and then seven months later Brad
Speaker 1: was out and Chet forty shows up. How much interaction
Speaker 1: do you happen with Chet? Did you have much? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I only met him a few times. It was very nice.
Speaker 1: Uh little guy, right, A little guy remember, and uh
Speaker 1: you know I I talked to him a bit in
Speaker 1: the newsroom with a high speed sports wire in the
Speaker 1: sports tick, right. But yeah, I didn't talk to him
Speaker 1: too much. There's only a few times I talked to
Speaker 1: him back in those days. But he was great. You
Speaker 1: You and Chet were wonderful. He had all here. I
Speaker 1: don't when he was the money. I'm like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't like this novice Right, seven months on the radio,
Speaker 1: I'm still trying to figure out if this is anything
Speaker 1: I have any interest in doing, and they stick me
Speaker 1: with you know, Chet forty, and I'm thinking, didn't we
Speaker 1: interview him talking about how he was facing a prison
Speaker 1: sentence for federal tax evasion, like he was going to
Speaker 1: go to prison, And now we're gonna hire this guy
Speaker 1: to be my partner. And I remember John Lynch of
Speaker 1: the gather on ran our station, looked at me and
Speaker 1: he goes, you better make this work. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: so my whole career, as short as it was at
Speaker 1: that point, is writing on me trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to do a radio show with a guy that
Speaker 1: he had even less radio experience than I had. So
Speaker 1: we who are really two guys? And then, you know,
Speaker 1: back in those days, like sports talk radio was pretty mild,
Speaker 1: wasn't too much noise going on, but early on Chet
Speaker 1: Night just started screaming at each other like he wasn't
Speaker 1: ready for a young guy to challenge anything he had
Speaker 1: to say. I was like, if you say one more
Speaker 1: stupid thing, I swear to him a knock in tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I mean, we got so heated on the air. All
Speaker 1: I kept thinking is my radio career is going to
Speaker 1: end before even begins. And then there was an article
Speaker 1: in the Union Tribune Dwan in San Diego did this
Speaker 1: glowing review of our radio show. I'm radios think is
Speaker 1: this guy listening to what I'm listening to? And from
Speaker 1: that point on, and of course we got the name
Speaker 1: of loose Cannons from ax Off, who was getting inundated
Speaker 1: with phone calls on his show, which came on after ours,
Speaker 1: the people complaining about our show that these guys are
Speaker 1: off their charts, are ripping the chargers and everything else.
Speaker 1: And he called us a couple of loose cannons. And
Speaker 1: you know how nickname works, and like, you don't give
Speaker 1: yourself a nickname. So somebody called the facts that had
Speaker 1: said this, and the next caller said, hey, loose cannons,
Speaker 1: and that's how it started. I just want like wildfire
Speaker 1: from that point on, so those five years would said,
Speaker 1: it's hard to believe. Now it's going to be twenty
Speaker 1: five years since he passed away, coming up here on
Speaker 1: May eighteen, the team then, is the anniversary of Chet
Speaker 1: passing away. I can't believe that. I can't believe it's
Speaker 1: been that long and you guys did so well, and
Speaker 1: then you've you've kept the Loose Cannons brand going all
Speaker 1: these years. How many different Loose Cannons? I know you
Speaker 1: did the show after Chet passed away, you changed it up,
Speaker 1: and then you went to l A and you did
Speaker 1: the show with Victor Brick and Michael Thompson and Pat O'Brien,
Speaker 1: and uh, how many different incarnations have there been of
Speaker 1: the Loose Cannons. Well, let's let's be I I don't
Speaker 1: know if I have any real standing in the history
Speaker 1: of sports talk radio, but I can safely say that
Speaker 1: no one has hosted a show with more co host
Speaker 1: than I have in sports radio history. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: done shows with you who have a Night and on
Speaker 1: his show with in my career, so I guarantee you
Speaker 1: I hold that record without a doubt. But the true
Speaker 1: Loose Cannons after Chet forty was Philly Billy morn Dell.
Speaker 1: Then I came up to Los Angeles and Michael Thompson
Speaker 1: and Victor Brick, and then they got rid of it.
Speaker 1: When I did the National show with Chris Myers, it
Speaker 1: was Myers apartment. I hated that we went back to
Speaker 1: the Loose Cannons and we brought in Paddle Brian and
Speaker 1: then after I went down to San Diego, they brought
Speaker 1: the Loose Cannon brand back that you're not gonna believe this.
Speaker 1: You readed for this, Ben, So I get moved. In December,
Speaker 1: the Morning show in San Diego, the Fox affiliate got
Speaker 1: taken out by budget cuts, so sort of like when
Speaker 1: the pandemic began, and was sort of like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna flatten the curve for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: I like Boston San Diego said can you just temporarily
Speaker 1: fill in on the morning show. I'm still on the
Speaker 1: morning show and like partners rich Ornberger and John Shaeffer
Speaker 1: who did the afternoon they're still called the Loose Cannons.
Speaker 1: What so the lud Cannon so and people are like,
Speaker 1: where's horror? How can you have a show called the
Speaker 1: Loose Cannons without Hartmen? But that's that is right now.
Speaker 1: The afternoon show and I think thirteen six D in
Speaker 1: San Diego is called The Lewis Cannons with rich Overberger,
Speaker 1: John Paper and I'll do on the Morne Show. Oh
Speaker 1: wait wait see see see if I went on I
Speaker 1: went on the podcast. I was I went through the
Speaker 1: thirteen sixty page and I was like, all right, I
Speaker 1: want to see what's going on here and do my
Speaker 1: due diligence. And I saw the Louis Cannon's name, and
Speaker 1: I didn't see your picture, and I thought, well, maybe
Speaker 1: you just didn't want your picture used or something. I
Speaker 1: didn't I didn't realize that you weren't even part of
Speaker 1: that show right now. That's crazy. Yeah, it's it's unbelieving.
Speaker 1: People are confused, like and there are people like, have
Speaker 1: you left the stage and I got in there, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm on the mornings. You know how this works, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he'll got your audience. Then people people have a certain show,
Speaker 1: whether it's the mornings, mid day's, afternoons, late night, whatever
Speaker 1: that they're walking into. They don't necessarily know the entire
Speaker 1: line up at the station. They just know the shows
Speaker 1: that they listened to. And so they're people like you
Speaker 1: know my Twitter at cafase, but too if you let
Speaker 1: the stage, I go, oh, I'm on the morning. I'm
Speaker 1: doing a morning show now for six to nine. So
Speaker 1: it is. It is one of the great revelations though
Speaker 1: Steve and I learned that over the years being in radio,
Speaker 1: that you know, you think you're the most important person
Speaker 1: to somebody's life, but really it's just the time you're
Speaker 1: on they happen to be listening. And if you're not
Speaker 1: there there, you know they they might like you, but
Speaker 1: they're not gonna really most people are gonna go out
Speaker 1: of their way, you know that. It's it's like, if
Speaker 1: you're there, it's convenient, they'll listen. If not, sorry, I
Speaker 1: wonder what happened, but I'll move on. Its crazy today today,
Speaker 1: literally today on our text line during the morning show,
Speaker 1: I've been doing radio for thirty two years now, NonStop,
Speaker 1: thirty two years, much of this time, seven days a week, right,
Speaker 1: And somebody texted me and goes, I've never heard this
Speaker 1: Steve Harpin guy, but I really like what he has
Speaker 1: to say. So yeah, two years somebody today hit in,
Speaker 1: let's see in the morning show saying I've never heard
Speaker 1: this Steve Harpin guy before, but I really like what
Speaker 1: he has to say. Um, I think he's got a
Speaker 1: chance to make it. I think Steve Hartman can have
Speaker 1: a long career in a Hall of fame career in radio.
Speaker 1: That's what I think, yes, I guess I don't think
Speaker 1: it's great. You always think like everyone's followed your entire
Speaker 1: career oligiously. And you know, I've had people Michael Thompson,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, came in our show. I have
Speaker 1: Michael every once in a while, and he was upset
Speaker 1: that we were calling the show loose cannons. He goes,
Speaker 1: we were the original loose Cannons, and I'm like, actually, weren't.
Speaker 1: Michael forty was the original loose Gannon. He got hammered
Speaker 1: on social media. No, you're loose cannon history. Be sure
Speaker 1: to catch live editions of The Ben Miller Show weekdays
Speaker 1: at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at
Speaker 1: two aim eastern eleven pm Pacific. Guys, I I know
Speaker 1: a little something of something, but I'm gonna make an
Speaker 1: educated guest here, and I'm gonna say that guy that
Speaker 1: made that compliment to Steve was not was not Don
Speaker 1: Martin Martin moment, so I have to go third rails.
Speaker 1: So Steve like it's not been all like smooth sailing
Speaker 1: sun rainbows. You wouldn't Don Martin have had that, You
Speaker 1: guys have gone back in forth in year's rain Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's talk about the whole John Martin association. So
Speaker 1: here's what happened, guys. So we were sailing along at
Speaker 1: six ninety quite nicely, and they launched eleven fifty. Then
Speaker 1: you're obviously very familiar with the eleven fifty back in seven.
Speaker 1: Yet I'm sorry. In seven they launched Mark. What was
Speaker 1: Marty Mark was going to be the l A counterpart
Speaker 1: at six nine, and this is when JA Corp. Had
Speaker 1: acquired uh the from what was called was our original
Speaker 1: Stations for Dead anyway, you So this require did car
Speaker 1: eventually get swallowed up by Clear Channel. So the idea
Speaker 1: was they had a guy named Jack Evans, and Jack
Speaker 1: Evans was running the show, and he was saying that
Speaker 1: six ninety would be San Diego and eleven fifty was
Speaker 1: going to be l A. And I remember asking, why
Speaker 1: would they stop listening to six nine in l A
Speaker 1: because we had a huge l A Orange cadey audience.
Speaker 1: He goes, they will, Well, I guess what they didn't.
Speaker 1: So we get the two thousand and two and it's
Speaker 1: right around the time of the World Series when the
Speaker 1: Angels beat the Giants. I'll never forget this. So I
Speaker 1: had gotten a phone call a couple of months earlier
Speaker 1: from this Robin Berta Lucci, and she was running Camp five,
Speaker 1: but she was sort of overseeing the eleven fifty operation.
Speaker 1: There seemed to be transition, you know, like Dave Smith
Speaker 1: had been let go, and you know some of the
Speaker 1: guys you all know from those eleven fifty days. So
Speaker 1: we were assuming as soon as the season was over,
Speaker 1: because their contract with the Dodgers was running out, that
Speaker 1: that would be end of eleven fifty and at six
Speaker 1: Mammy would just hold as we had been before eleven fifty.
Speaker 1: But I get this phone call from this Robin Berta
Speaker 1: Luci and she says, yeah, could you fill in on
Speaker 1: the afternoon show on eleven fifty this week? And I'm
Speaker 1: like what. So we had our boss, Bill Pew, who
Speaker 1: happens to be the brother of Dan Patrick. Dan Patrick's
Speaker 1: real name is Dan Pew, by the way, as you
Speaker 1: guys know. So anyway, I go to a Bill pe Are,
Speaker 1: our programming guy at six man Ago I get the
Speaker 1: weirdest phone call from this Robin burta Lucien, she wants
Speaker 1: me to do the afternoon show. This will be line.
Speaker 1: I don't want to overstate my importance, but it was
Speaker 1: sort of like the Clippers calling the Lakers saying, can
Speaker 1: we ball Kobe for a game? You know, like you know,
Speaker 1: just good? He could he work for us, and his
Speaker 1: reaction was sort of like what do you think? I'm like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean? What I think? If you look
Speaker 1: at midday show here? You want me to do the
Speaker 1: afternoon show on that other station will never happened because
Speaker 1: they got into the World Series and everything else. And
Speaker 1: then the day will all remember was the day that
Speaker 1: it was Halloween two thousand two. Billy Wendell and I
Speaker 1: just finished doing our midday show and we finished the
Speaker 1: show and we get called into Bill Pugh's office and
Speaker 1: he tells us that day six nineties dead as we
Speaker 1: know it. We're gonna merge six fifty to create a
Speaker 1: superstation and right now, you guys are not a part
Speaker 1: of it. And I'm like, okay, so what are we
Speaker 1: doing here? When are we going to find out whether
Speaker 1: we're a part of it? He wanted to bring in
Speaker 1: a show he had created down in San Diego, Scott
Speaker 1: and b R, Scott Kaplan, Billy ray Smith. But when
Speaker 1: they notified the l A people, They're like, who the
Speaker 1: hell is Scott and b R? We want Hartman, we
Speaker 1: want the loose Cannons. So I got the call and
Speaker 1: then Philly Billy blindsides me because I thought hard to
Speaker 1: keep him on the show. He it's because John Lynch
Speaker 1: our old Bots at six ninety was starting a new
Speaker 1: station that was going to be based in San Diego.
Speaker 1: So the next phone call I get is sort of
Speaker 1: a guy who's just been hired to run the new superstation,
Speaker 1: Don Martin. Don Martin, So I've never met Don Martin.
Speaker 1: I find out that he's engaged to Robin Berto Lucci
Speaker 1: and we're gonna meet and I'll put this way. With Don,
Speaker 1: it was a challenge, no question, and obviously Don has
Speaker 1: had a highly successful career in radio management. But we
Speaker 1: did butt heads. If I didn't like things that were happening,
Speaker 1: I told him, and he didn't always react all that
Speaker 1: well to that. So that's just the way I've been
Speaker 1: throughout my career. I mean, I lived to my loose
Speaker 1: candidate Hannon Monicker, and we had episodes, many episodes over
Speaker 1: the years, we had good times, we had bad times,
Speaker 1: but that the bottom line is this is going to
Speaker 1: happen in any industry, guys. I mean I could give
Speaker 1: you one specific story. It's not exactly a secret story.
Speaker 1: It was a very public story, uh, where Don and
Speaker 1: I had it out at a Dodger game and it
Speaker 1: pretty much cemented our situation. But I'll also tell you this,
Speaker 1: Don Martin when he got back in a position of
Speaker 1: power wanting the network for Fox Sports Radio and no
Speaker 1: hesitance and bringing me back to do the weekend So um,
Speaker 1: the last time I saw it done was at the
Speaker 1: Southern California Sports Broadcasters luncheon. They were honoring VIC before
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Uh, and we were cordials. So everything is
Speaker 1: good as far as I'm concerned, and you know Ben
Speaker 1: as well as even Mr Dave gascon If you're in
Speaker 1: this business, if you want to survive in this business,
Speaker 1: you can't be making enemies. You can't be burning bridges.
Speaker 1: If you have disagreements, move on and just get back
Speaker 1: to the business of doing good radio. No, but I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, see, that's one of the great accompetitions.
Speaker 1: I remember that night and everyone was My phone was
Speaker 1: blown up. Did you hear what happened in the in
Speaker 1: the luxury box a Dodger stadium? No, I didn't hear
Speaker 1: what happened, and everyone had a different version. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like that that phone game where you you you
Speaker 1: passed the message along and all right, here, I'll give
Speaker 1: you a very quick what happened. So here's what happened.
Speaker 1: I was It was a Dodger Yankee game. Okay, so
Speaker 1: the Yankees were at Dodger stadiums. Even know it's a
Speaker 1: massive crowd of Dodgers stadium. I was actually at the
Speaker 1: Dodger game doing television work. So I was on the
Speaker 1: field doing a live shot and I run into Dave Us,
Speaker 1: emotions director and Brian Blackmore, you know, open working for
Speaker 1: the station. So I'm doing the national radio show at
Speaker 1: this point, and I don't have a whole lot of
Speaker 1: time in Burbank. Don had just been let go as
Speaker 1: running the Fox Sports radio network the week before, and
Speaker 1: I hadn't spoken to him since. So I asked Wete,
Speaker 1: not knowing if Don was going to be at the game,
Speaker 1: whether they had the Sweet there, and we said, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: go down and get some food. So I walk into
Speaker 1: the Sweet and as I'm in the sweet I see
Speaker 1: Don Martin and but he's got his back turn and
Speaker 1: he's getting some food. So I walk up to him
Speaker 1: and I manx us to find out what happened, right,
Speaker 1: And so I walk up to Don and he turns
Speaker 1: around and I said, what's up to mar And he
Speaker 1: looks at me. He goes, if I were you, I
Speaker 1: would turn around and walk out of here right now.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at him, like, you know, we'll face
Speaker 1: to face, like a why would I do that? He goes,
Speaker 1: I know. And basically what happened was this he was
Speaker 1: blaming Pattle Brian for his being outstit by the network.
Speaker 1: Obviously I had nothing to do it, I had, I had,
Speaker 1: I want no power at all. Zero. All I know
Speaker 1: is is that at the bosses at clear Channel at
Speaker 1: the time, I had decided to flip our show and
Speaker 1: make it really the Paddle Ryan Show again someday I
Speaker 1: had no control over and neither did John Martin. So
Speaker 1: but Don was angry and he took it out on me.
Speaker 1: And it was in front of a lot of people,
Speaker 1: a lot of people, and so you know, I can't
Speaker 1: I just I can get past all this stuff. It
Speaker 1: really doesn't phase me, but in reality it was. It
Speaker 1: was pretty much the end for me as far as
Speaker 1: working Monday through Friday at the network. And I feel
Speaker 1: fortunate to have continued my career after And it was
Speaker 1: it was just a very unfortunate situation. Steve, does this
Speaker 1: rival in comparison to when you you gas lit a
Speaker 1: colleague of ours a few years ago prior to the
Speaker 1: to the NFL draft. It was the draft that saw
Speaker 1: Baker may Field, Sam Donald's, Josh Rosen amongst many others,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen as well, and um, and you decided to
Speaker 1: poke and prod and and spearhead a knife into the
Speaker 1: side of Brady Papinga, thus catapulting him into my studio
Speaker 1: ready for a fist fight. Well, first of all, David,
Speaker 1: you I have nothing to do with that. That was you.
Speaker 1: And then let me let me take caskon. Is unbelievable
Speaker 1: about that? You talked about revisionist history. I had nothing
Speaker 1: to do with that. Now yet, m I ind antagonist.
Speaker 1: Ben's an antagonist. That's what we do. We if we
Speaker 1: if we see its spark, we put the blowtorch on it.
Speaker 1: And the thing was, I did get Brady for thing
Speaker 1: a former NFL linebacker, a big man, big man really
Speaker 1: agitated with Gascon then you could have he couldn't believe that.
Speaker 1: He literally walks out of the studio, right through the
Speaker 1: control studio, turns the corner into the update studio. I
Speaker 1: didn't get to see the expression on space from where
Speaker 1: I was sitting, said, they do you tell me? It
Speaker 1: was great? He was, He was standing, what do you?
Speaker 1: Brady Pepina is one of like the mellow when I've
Speaker 1: been around him, he's been mellow, and you know, and
Speaker 1: what did you do? What? He he goes from zero
Speaker 1: to sixty and the blink of a NYE, something just
Speaker 1: goes around and h we were talking about Josh Rosen
Speaker 1: and Baker Mayfield, and I said, Josh Rosen has been
Speaker 1: the better quarterback, you know, going through high school to college.
Speaker 1: It's not his fault that he's had an offensive line
Speaker 1: that's just been decimated. He's got no coaching staff. And
Speaker 1: you know, Baker Mayfields had all these thing the riches
Speaker 1: given to him in Oklahoma. And then I had seen
Speaker 1: Josh Rosen in high school and in college, and I
Speaker 1: knew Brady didn't monitor him like growing up. So he
Speaker 1: thought like Rosen was aloof and all these other things,
Speaker 1: and I pretty much said, like, you don't know what
Speaker 1: the hell you're talking about. And then we come back
Speaker 1: from break and he tries to start undressing me, saying,
Speaker 1: you don't know what defenses are, you don't know how
Speaker 1: to read coverage, and they starts asking me all these things,
Speaker 1: and I started answering on the air, but Steve continues
Speaker 1: to like poke at him on air. And then right
Speaker 1: after that he came into the into the studio on
Speaker 1: break and he got my face and I got right
Speaker 1: up at him too, and um and yeah, well and
Speaker 1: by the way, when he got back in study, I
Speaker 1: totally backed him up. You know that I wasn't gonna go.
Speaker 1: You were you were, you were gone. You were happy
Speaker 1: to me at that point, David, that's that point. I
Speaker 1: was all Papa, Steve. And now the one thing that
Speaker 1: we'll get behind you on is despite the fact that
Speaker 1: you're a couple of years older than both been in myself, Um,
Speaker 1: you look like a forty year old man with you
Speaker 1: look better than than I do. I know that, Steve.
Speaker 1: But it's amazing and so I believe and you have
Speaker 1: not you know, you've got a little. Uh Like. I
Speaker 1: was telling a friend I was watching on TV, and
Speaker 1: I said, you know, he's kind of become like he
Speaker 1: Jim Hill. You know, Jim Hill hasn't aged at all,
Speaker 1: exactly Hill five by tied for twelve years. So that's
Speaker 1: the whole point. Another way I learned from Jim Hill
Speaker 1: how to basically freeze yourself in time is what you
Speaker 1: do when Because I was looking the other day at
Speaker 1: a show that we did, Jim and I about fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago, and yeah, I have to admit both of
Speaker 1: us pretty much like exactly the same. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: it's amazing for those for those listening that aren't in
Speaker 1: l a. Jim Hill has been on TV since I
Speaker 1: was a kid, and he looked exactly the same as
Speaker 1: when I was like eight years old watching him on TV.
Speaker 1: And see if you know, as you said, you looked
Speaker 1: the same. So he let you in on the cheek code.
Speaker 1: He let you in on how to not use to
Speaker 1: stop it. Well, the one thing Jimmy used to always
Speaker 1: say to me all the time was keep fooling them,
Speaker 1: keep fooling them. I will say this about Jim Hill
Speaker 1: and just his hair, his frow. So I sat next
Speaker 1: to this man every weekend for twelve years in a row.
Speaker 1: Twelve years in a row. And let's see, Jim now
Speaker 1: is seventy I'm gonna say he's at least seventy three
Speaker 1: years old. But in the years that I sat next
Speaker 1: to him, I never saw a single gray hair, not one.
Speaker 1: So I if you know a little touch up that
Speaker 1: you know, that's it's sort of passable. But it was
Speaker 1: amazing to me. I kept thinking, there's gotta be one,
Speaker 1: Like what right you can see? I can see his
Speaker 1: whole air everything. Never once, Steve, did you never once
Speaker 1: with Jim Hill? Speaking of Jim Hill, did you ever
Speaker 1: enjoy the experience that Jim Ill had at night on
Speaker 1: those party butts? So when I started working with Jim,
Speaker 1: this is in the beginning. So I started working a
Speaker 1: channel two in and I'm a radio guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been doing l A t V now for it's
Speaker 1: gonna be twenty three years in June that I've been
Speaker 1: doing l A t V between cbsk CAL and kt
Speaker 1: L A where I'm now, and but I've never looked
Speaker 1: at myself as a TV guy. I'm a radio guy
Speaker 1: who happens to do a weekend gig on TV. It's
Speaker 1: stealing money. I can promise you that anyway. So Jim
Speaker 1: Hill immediately and I we we hit it off. Jim.
Speaker 1: Jim doesn't get buddy buddy with a lot of people, right,
Speaker 1: everyone knows Jim Hill, but he doesn't know everybody. If
Speaker 1: you actually hear him say your name, that's a miracle,
Speaker 1: Like even for me. It took probably a few months
Speaker 1: working on every week before he actually could say Steve,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, he's not great with names. So as
Speaker 1: soon as we hit it off though, we felt like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're pretty good together here. And in those days, Jim
Speaker 1: had the fun Bus. And the fun bus was exactly
Speaker 1: as advertised. It was one of those custom busses like
Speaker 1: celebrities have. You got to have some pretty serious coin
Speaker 1: to get one of those. And he would bring let's say,
Speaker 1: adult entertainment onto the bus with us, so it would
Speaker 1: be like me and a print of his and some
Speaker 1: girls and it was a fun bus. So we did
Speaker 1: this everywhere. I want to have fun times in a
Speaker 1: lot of different places at Jim Hill, and he's a
Speaker 1: really fun guy and knows how to entertain himself. So yes,
Speaker 1: we had quite a few excursions on the fun bus.
Speaker 1: Legendary stories to say the least, huh like Jerry Jones
Speaker 1: party bus, the Jim Hill Fund Bus. I remember seeing.
Speaker 1: I have a great Jim Hill story. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've told this before, but we
Speaker 1: were doing a remote at the eleven fifty when when
Speaker 1: I was doing eleven fifty from Bob's Classy Lady out
Speaker 1: in the valley of Strip Club, which they put us.
Speaker 1: They put us they put a sports bar behind the
Speaker 1: Strip Club and they wanted us to get people to
Speaker 1: go to the sports bar. Did not work out very well.
Speaker 1: But we go into you know, after the show, we
Speaker 1: go into Bob's Classy Lady. You know that's we were
Speaker 1: done with our shift and we're you know, enjoying it there,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was. It was so funny because the
Speaker 1: manager had come over and given some some gift cards out.
Speaker 1: And I guess the legend you know, to us, because
Speaker 1: we were, you know, we were the radio guys. But
Speaker 1: I guess the legend is and I don't think this
Speaker 1: is true because I think that was too far from
Speaker 1: where Jim lived. But the legend I heard was that
Speaker 1: they gave him like a gold Card. He was. He
Speaker 1: was yet the Hollywood Tropicana, which used to be right
Speaker 1: across from where CBS was. I remember back back in
Speaker 1: the day, not that I went there, Steve, unless I
Speaker 1: might have gone there a few times. But well, I'll
Speaker 1: put it this way now again, this is no secret
Speaker 1: about Jim and so yeah, he likes adult entertainment. Who doesn't.
Speaker 1: So um, But one night we were out on the
Speaker 1: fun bus and we made we made a stop to
Speaker 1: a uh a stript place that I've never seen before.
Speaker 1: I still to this day do not know if this
Speaker 1: place exists, Like it was a private club. We walk
Speaker 1: in it. Everything was really upscale, like not your typical place.
Speaker 1: And Jim was just classic, like he everybody knows Jim.
Speaker 1: Who doesn't know Jim Hill in Los Angeles. So basically
Speaker 1: he hold them uns to me, just take care of
Speaker 1: my boy Hartman over here. And to say that they did.
Speaker 1: They had like they had like a menu like you
Speaker 1: do you you order what kind of girl you want
Speaker 1: to be in the company of. You know, what kind
Speaker 1: of physical features do you find most appealing? And so
Speaker 1: I made my order and a girl came up to
Speaker 1: me that was so beyond it's like literally ordering a
Speaker 1: Hamburger and you get prime rip, like it was like
Speaker 1: whoa we wah wah yah yah um and and Jim
Speaker 1: took care of everything. And I just remember I was
Speaker 1: up there, you know, multiple dance of the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I was sudding, hear, hey, hardman, we gotta get going here.
Speaker 1: And of course I was in a fog. I don't
Speaker 1: know where I was at that point. Um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: to be in the company of Jim Hill is rarefied air.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've I've been insanely fortunate. I seem
Speaker 1: like accident after accident after accident in my career to
Speaker 1: be in the company of like really big time people
Speaker 1: and just started being dragged along to all their fun times.
Speaker 1: And I've never complained about it. It's always good to me,
Speaker 1: always work. I know, I know you gotta go, Steven
Speaker 1: in a couple of minutes, but I just wanted to
Speaker 1: get a good Al Davis story. I've heard you tell
Speaker 1: the tale about Irwindale and this is this is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite stories. Where the Raiders were for like
Speaker 1: two days gonna move to Irwindale when they were the
Speaker 1: l A Raiders. What went on? Give me that story?
Speaker 1: It's one of the greats. When when Al Davis went out,
Speaker 1: they had a news conference and what went on with
Speaker 1: that episode, Well, here's here's what happened to Irwindale. So
Speaker 1: if you don't know a Raider history, when the Raiders
Speaker 1: moved to Los Angeles, all kinds of promises are made
Speaker 1: by the Colosseum Commission that they were going to build
Speaker 1: luxury suites. We even had a prototype luxury suite at
Speaker 1: our headquarters in El Segundo. And then the Colosseum Commission
Speaker 1: came under new leadership up and they did the whole
Speaker 1: idea of luxury boxes. They wanted to go with a
Speaker 1: multi level parking lot. I know you guys have been
Speaker 1: with call seem Do you see any multi level parking
Speaker 1: lots that never obviously happened either. So, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: this guy named Zader her mass Celio Zaber, who is
Speaker 1: Zelia representing the city of Irwindale, had a presentation of
Speaker 1: the idea that they would build a stadium in Erwindale
Speaker 1: for the Raiders. Well, Al Davis's official reaction was no chance. Okay, no, no,
Speaker 1: we're not He didn't even know what Irwin, none of
Speaker 1: us knew where Irwindale was, like, it's north North Okay.
Speaker 1: So what ultimately happened here was is that her Masteria
Speaker 1: came back and said, I tell you what, We'll give
Speaker 1: you ten million dollars non refundable if you just consider
Speaker 1: our offer. And by the way, you know what happened
Speaker 1: with that ten million dollars. That's how we signed both Jackson.
Speaker 1: That's where the money came for the waiters to entice
Speaker 1: Bo Jackson to create a double life as a Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball player and as an NFL player. That money
Speaker 1: was probably used for that upgrade that our our stations.
Speaker 1: So yes, we had a press conference out in Erwendale
Speaker 1: to announce the Raiders were probably going to be making
Speaker 1: Irwindale our new home. When the bottom line was he
Speaker 1: had no intention of ever doing this. Ever, that whole
Speaker 1: is still there where they foundation of that stadium. You
Speaker 1: can drive to Irwindale. It's never been filled in. It
Speaker 1: is absolutely actual. Well I have an update now I
Speaker 1: go by this, do they actually did just recently fill
Speaker 1: it in? Finally finally filled the anycause I've end up
Speaker 1: in Irwindale years. Every time I used to drive up
Speaker 1: there was still big hole. No No, this was in
Speaker 1: the last during the whole COVID thing. The I think
Speaker 1: it was last year. They they go by there on
Speaker 1: my way home and they filled it in finally. But yeah,
Speaker 1: every time I drove by there, I thought of Al Davis.
Speaker 1: And I remember the news conference when somebody showed up
Speaker 1: with an Irwindale Raiders jacket. I still remember, like a
Speaker 1: silver Irwindelle Raiders jackett. Listen to me, they're going to happen.
Speaker 1: But once they handed him ten million dollars, he spent
Speaker 1: it immediately, of course, and all left there The following
Speaker 1: year in nine, and I remember telling him. I actually
Speaker 1: did a sit down Mr. Davis, and I said, look,
Speaker 1: I was like the only l A guy there. All
Speaker 1: these guys are people that came down from Oakland originally.
Speaker 1: And I told him flat out, I said, you're never
Speaker 1: gonna survive in l A if you don't start stepping
Speaker 1: up your game. It's not just about winning games. What
Speaker 1: do you do when you lose games? And then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, that's what was happening. We had lost
Speaker 1: about twenty thousand fans poor game after they had won
Speaker 1: that Super Bowl in l A. Because they were losing.
Speaker 1: Nobody l l A is going to support a loser
Speaker 1: and and unfortunately Raiders found out the hard way. All right, Steve,
Speaker 1: we love you, thank you. We gotta have you on again.
Speaker 1: You're wonderful. You're great. I have a million stories. I'm
Speaker 1: just getting started. But Ben, it's always very Mr Gascon
Speaker 1: Love you guys, Ben Keeper. I get to listen to
Speaker 1: you Sunday night. I leave Hollywood at midnight. It takes
Speaker 1: me two hours to get back to San Diego. I
Speaker 1: listened to every second, so shot out to you. That's
Speaker 1: Sunday night into Monday morning. I laughed my ass off
Speaker 1: constantly listening to your show. Best ever. Love you all right,
Speaker 1: the legend, the Great Steve. Be sure to catch live
Speaker 1: editions of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am
Speaker 1: Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of
Speaker 1: The Ben Miller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
Speaker 1: pm Pacific.