March 2nd Blog
For those of you who are fond of the genre of talk radio you can catch me next week on 590 KLBJ-AM on Monday-Wednesday (March 5-7) from 3-6 pm. Those are the hours normally occupied by Jeff Ward.
Hosting a live call-in talk show is an absolute blast. But it is also one of the more difficult jobs out there. You must be prepared (well-read), be able to think on your feet (or seat), have strong opinions, and above all else, you’ve gotta have a sense of humor.
When I host Ward’s show on KLBJ (normally about 15-20 times per year) I am constantly reminded of the diversity of thought that exists in the radio world of Austin. Of course there’s the ditto-head Limbaugh crowd whose feet are proudly set in the intellectual cement of the far right. And there’s a smattering of liberals as well who think Bush is the anti-Christ and that Barrack Obama is the savior of the day. But I’m sensing a growing number of listeners who feel that conventional party politics is crap: nothing more than tasteless pabulum fed to a nation desperate for something to believe in. They believe that today’s politicians are like the crew of the HMS Titanic, walking the deck and informing those about to drown that the Carpathia would be there within minutes. Do we call these listeners libertarians or cynics? I don’t know, but they’re out there. And the political world would do well to take note.
In my dual role as weekly restaurant critic and occasional fill-in talk host, I get some interesting mail. There are those who tell me to stick to my main beat: talking about restaurants. Of course those are typically the ones who vehemently disagree with my sometimes pointed comments on politics or social issues. I had a guy actually call me at my office one day to ask me how I could have possibly discussed a plan for dealing with Iran’s Amidenijad when I didn’t even know how to pronounce bruschetta. And strangely, even when I politely informed him that bruschetta was correctly pronounced brus-ketta, his antipathy did not dissipate.
Anyway, there’s almost always some food commentary worked in when I host Ward’s show. So even if you think I am in league with Satan (as several of my fans from the religious right have suggested) you really should listen on because chances are, somewhere in the show, I’ll be commenting about new restaurants that have opened and ranting once more about how the Driskill’s David Bull got jobbed by Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s Iron Chef.
As for me, I’m heading to La Traviata on Congress tonight. Marion Gilchrist doesn’t listen much to talk radio but my-oh-my can that woman cook. My wife recently ran into THE Paul Mitchell at the Le Madelin in Westlake. (He prefers to be called John Paul.) They got to talking about food and she tried to find one of my cards to give him. As luck would have it, she was out and had to scribble my name on a napkin and ask him to Google me. But she had independently recommended La Traviata to the titan of hair as well. Perhaps we’ll see JP there tonight. Have a great weekend, and as always, bon appetit!
