Monday, October 15, 2007
American Bonkers Company
It's official: Imus will be on WABC radio in early December. I am furious and sad and very angry. ABC is tossing one of the best shows on radio and replacing it with an unpleasant nasty old man. Sometimes it's awfully hard to resist thinking the world is a mess. Kids are fined for drawing flowers on sidewalks with chalk and two energetic, smart, engaged personalities are being replaced by an argumentative, racist, disagreeable, mean-spirited and not at all funny nincompoop.
Curtis & Kuby are fantastic. Theirs is one of the liveliest and most interesting shows on radio, without being one of those shouting talk-radio things, on the one hand, or a how-many-people-can-we-insult morning drive show, on the other. And you'd never have expected it to work. Ron Kuby's background and appearance suggest he'd be doctrinaire and completely impossible to argue with - let alone engage thoughtfully in conversations about headline topics with someone with a different philosophy and outlook. And everything about Curtis Sliwa is the essence of a belligerent New Yorker, from his Guardian Angels to his sports loyalties. Yet they never rant or rave or hurl angry insults at each other. They are entertaining and informed about current topics, and they're nice to each other. There's never a whiff of mean-spiritedness between them and I often have marveled at how well they maintain gentility and grace even when intensely disagreeing. They provide a model for how to discuss important and charged topics while keeping a sense of humor and decorum, even when strongly disagreeing.
C&K have been together since 1996 and in the morning slot since 2000. Listening to them has been a joy. They share intense concern for people and society, as well as respect for each other, intelligence and wit. Their points of view are politically divergent, to say the least, but they apparently like each other enough or are professional enough so their conversations are always interesting and amusing. They each have enormous personal warmth and style which is telegraphed in each of their amazingly distinctive and mellifluous voices. Yes, somehow, despite the strength of their differences, they have always been entertaining as well as informative.
It is absolutely ludicrous that ABC thinks it makes sense - or will make them any money rather than lose them advertisers and listeners - to have that nasty vitriolic blowhard on the air for the election year, when they could have had Ron and Curtis discussing things with their customarily well-expressed and interesting opinions. There's nothing for it but to boycott ABC radio and, perhaps, ABC-tv as well.
Curtis & Kuby are fantastic. Theirs is one of the liveliest and most interesting shows on radio, without being one of those shouting talk-radio things, on the one hand, or a how-many-people-can-we-insult morning drive show, on the other. And you'd never have expected it to work. Ron Kuby's background and appearance suggest he'd be doctrinaire and completely impossible to argue with - let alone engage thoughtfully in conversations about headline topics with someone with a different philosophy and outlook. And everything about Curtis Sliwa is the essence of a belligerent New Yorker, from his Guardian Angels to his sports loyalties. Yet they never rant or rave or hurl angry insults at each other. They are entertaining and informed about current topics, and they're nice to each other. There's never a whiff of mean-spiritedness between them and I often have marveled at how well they maintain gentility and grace even when intensely disagreeing. They provide a model for how to discuss important and charged topics while keeping a sense of humor and decorum, even when strongly disagreeing.
C&K have been together since 1996 and in the morning slot since 2000. Listening to them has been a joy. They share intense concern for people and society, as well as respect for each other, intelligence and wit. Their points of view are politically divergent, to say the least, but they apparently like each other enough or are professional enough so their conversations are always interesting and amusing. They each have enormous personal warmth and style which is telegraphed in each of their amazingly distinctive and mellifluous voices. Yes, somehow, despite the strength of their differences, they have always been entertaining as well as informative.
It is absolutely ludicrous that ABC thinks it makes sense - or will make them any money rather than lose them advertisers and listeners - to have that nasty vitriolic blowhard on the air for the election year, when they could have had Ron and Curtis discussing things with their customarily well-expressed and interesting opinions. There's nothing for it but to boycott ABC radio and, perhaps, ABC-tv as well.
Labels: about me, disappointments, headlines, ranting
I hope C&K end up on another station where you can enjoy them.
Best wishes,
Laura
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