Neil & Stan...back together again!

       “I will spend the rest of my life...

trying to hire you back.”  Don Draper to Peggy Olson...MAD MEN

(PART ONE)

       So..this was just another chance to do a talk radio program...back in Miami...and back with my old comrade in arms...Uncle Neil.

I don’t know who called me at the family home on the farm.  I think it was WINZ Program director Mark Kuhn but I’m sure it was after Neil’s insistence.  I flew down...and Mark and I had lunch in the restaurant that overlooked Calder race track.  This too was representative of Neil’s influence.  Or maybe it was it the only decent eating and hiring place near the studios of WINZ.

I don’t even know why we met...just a formalty...as I it was obvious I had the slot after Neil’s show sewed up. and it just seemed to be a matter of salary...nothing else.

He offered...I accepted and history in radio was about to made.

---------------------------------

You can’t find a better friend (when you’re working with him) than Neil Rogers.  Congenial, friendly almost to a fault....but a good companion.

Now remember...he’s an out of the closet gay...and like I said in an early post (I like this quote) “I’m more obsessed with women than anyone on the planet!”  So..we were the odd couple in that respect.

It took me one or two shows...for him to convince me (or for me to see the writing on the wall) that  issue talk was to be...no more.

I heard Neil’s show a day or two and took his advice to forget that crap...politics...news stuff...guests...and just walk in sit down and shoot the shit with what seemed like the millions of Miami radio listeners that he left me with when he exited each day and I came on the air to do my thing.

Neil said just read the paper for the real stuff..the crazy...the stupid...whatever lights a fire for response and that’s what I started to do.  

We were going through the infamous “Monkey Business” scandal surrounding Senator Gary Hart...which actually happened in our area and both Neil and I jumped on it.  It was easy to do...everybody wanted to chime in and let the snobbish Senator, hoping to be President, get his just desserts.

Neil even came into my studio (he would often drop in) and we had a phone number for Donna Rice..Hart’s throb....but she never answered the phone.

Hart dropped out, of course, but we milked it for all it was worth!

Neil was still giving it to the old folks....with comic carts that he allowed me to use.  He was getting some good stuff....and I think it was mostly free of charge as the guys putting it together just liked the publicity of doing it.  Rogers was a superstar and if a little of that rubbed off on them (or me) so be it.

Miami Vice was the hottest show on the tube and they were filming in Miami when I hit the city.  I loved that show and it did influence me in a small way to come back to Miami to work.  So I started talking about it alot and would get tips on where they were filming and announce it on the air.

It didn’t take long for the cast and crew to start listening to my show.  Michael Talbott (Switek) told me they always had me booming out in the “grip truck” whatever that is.

Neil got jealous of all this (tongue in cheek) and as he hated the show he started ranting about it and me and Don Johnson etc. 

My producer made contact with the Miami Vice office and invited any of them to call in or come in if they had time.  Eddie Olmos (Lt. Castillo) and Michael Talbott (Detective Switek) along with the “Noog Man.”..Charlie Barnett...responded as studio guests and Don Johnson called in.  This was heaven. 

Neil was fit to be tied!  But it was ok...he was into other stuff and just made fleeting references to the “Major’s Vice obsession”.

While he was continually knocking Miami Vice he was playing the hell out of a comedy bit which was a take off on the two cops...Crockett and Tubbs busting some old farts for stealing sweet and low from the local diner.  The guy doing Johnson sounded just like him.

I found an IMDB webpage that lists all the cast members and guests on all the shows which is incredible.  Keep going down the list...you’ll be surprised at who did Miami Vice!  That included Julia Roberts and Helen Bonham Carter and about a thousand others.  G Gordon Liddy too!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086759/fullcredits

end Part One...return to Miami

stanmajor@aol.com

Phoenix was hot!

by the time I get to Phoenix....

The year I spent in Phoenix was filled with interesting developments...like WGN’s Bob Collins showing up in my control room unexpectedly (see earlier posting) and after several months on the air in the late morning shift...getting fired for using the word “arbitron” once.  

Arbitron was the rating service and on the air folks were not supposed to use the word for fear someone might fill out one of their diaries just because they heard me use the word.  Stupidity reigns!

My sharp lawyer earned his pay by challenging the station owner-manager’s decision to fire me...because this wasn’t “cause” for that.  So they backed down...kind of.

They wouldn’t let me work Monday thru Friday but they did give me weekend shows and at FULL salary!

I took advantage of those weekdays off with short trips to Las Vegas...San Diego and Los Angeles....all generally three or four hours away by car.

One time I was driving toward Vegas in the very early morning hours and approaching a small town on highway 93 when lo and behold what crossed the highway in front of me...a mountain lion...or cougar as they were called.  Now I’ve seen lots of wild life cross my path...deer, raccoons, possums, cats and dogs...but this was really something.  He paid no attention to my car...and seemed to be headed for the outskirts of the town.  I slowed and watched him for a minute...marveling at my luck in seeing him.  Something one never forgets!

How hot does Phoenix get in the summer?  Here’s an example.

I parked in the open lot at the station and went inside to do my weekend shift.  When I came out I opened the car door and saw that a throw away lighter had exploded from the heat (over 110 then) and bits and pieces of the red plastic lighter were all over the front seat!  Now...that’s hot!

My contract with KFYI Phoenix included a free roundtrip ticket from Philadelphia each month so Betty came out once and I flew back once or twice to Philly.

We went to dinner at the fanciest hotel-restaurant in Scottsdale and she was really impressed that they had Foie Gras (fresh) on the menu. 

As for myself...I ate a lot of great Mexican food...worked with a good guy (they are rare in this business) Charles Goyette...who is still going strong writing books on gold investing (see them in your library).
               
          go to:         http://charlesgoyette.com/ 
     
     When my one year contract expired I took my severance and headed away from the heat of Arizona back to the cool and green of our Stone House farm in Illinois.

Phoenix is another of those places I loved working and living in....despite the heat.  Add it too: 

Philadelphia 

Tampa(2 times), 

New Orleans 

Milwaukee (2 times)

Kansas City 

and Miami (2 times).

My forthcoming network show would be heard on KNXT in Phoenix for years!

stanmajor@aol.com

New York...New York!

My Barry Farber fill-in.....

...didn’t last long!

After leaving WWDB-FM Philly I took a week in New York City to fill in on WMAC for Barry Farber in afternoon drive.

This was not long after the infamous “subway vigilante” incident on a New York subway train.

As could be expected New Yorkers wanted to talk about that so we did....at least for a couple of days.

Then...I was told by management at WMCA that my fill in days had ended. Seems they disagreed with my then popular position that shooter Bernhard Goetz had taken acceptable action under the conditions so far described.

It was interesting to actually get on the air at WMCA.  The owner manager was...the same guy who years earlier had ask me to fly in from Chicago to meet with him and when I did...he wouldn’t see me!  Another weird management type.  

Same thing happened in St. Louis at the big KMOX.  There..I did meet with the big boss man who seemed impressed with me...enough that he pointed out places nearby where I should check apartments.  

A few days later he wouldn’t take my calls.

Such is our radio business.

I’ve been in hiring positions several times and have NEVER acted so impolite or discourteous as not to talk to a person I’ve showed interest in.  I still can’t believe either incidents.

Luckily for me...life goes on and better things did happen.

stanmajor@aol.com

More Philly...Betty and the Prez!

Philly, Betty and back to the White House

...Betty Berneman (News Director/WWDB) was very smart, pretty and presentable and very liberal.

So what do I do.....

I get her seated in the East Room of the White House and her luncheon companion to her left is none other than President Of The United States, Ronald Reagan. 

I was a few tables away...enjoying the scene which was put together smartly with invited members of the press from major cities in for lunch with the Prez.  This was great Reagan type PR and they had one of these every few months.      This was my second invite. 

They made the regular White House press cool their heels out side the room looking in...just in case the Reagan said anything really earth shattering.

What did the President have to talk about with the lovely Ms. Berneman at his side?  Football and movies...that’s what she said. 

So...for her...nothing earth shattering or evening news worthy...but she really enjoyed the moment in the spotlight.  She later became a big wheel at the VOA and may still be there...a happily married liberal working for Obama.

----------------------------------- 

In Philadelphia a bit later I was invited to dine with former mayor Frank Rizzo in his home.  I asked if I could bring Betty and he said “of course”.  It was quite a meal and despite Betty’s inner feelings about Rizzo as mayor (he had been and was thinking about running again...hence the dinner invite) all went very well.

As we got up to leave Frank whispered in my ear...that I could have a position in his administration anytime I wanted it.  That was the second time someone on high had invited me to change careers in favor of a high political position.

Alas...Frank didn’t run as the odds were long on him winning the mayoralty back.  Just too much negative press during his previous term as Mayor.

--------------------------------

As I said this was the second time someone had hinted that I could serve. The first was a man who should have become President...Wisconsin Democratic Senator William Proxmier.

“Prox” (press nickname) had appeared on my Milwaukee talk show a few times and we became first name friendly.  I had some phone conversations with him in the ensuing months when he was being urged to run...and he said if he did he hoped I would be available....but one night my phone rang at home and the Senator...sounding quite tired and depressed said: 

“I called to tell you, Stan, that I’ve decided not to run for President. I wanted you to know before the press got it.  I just wouldn’t get the union support.”  

The Senator had some rather bitter enemies because of his constant cost cutting efforts on Capital Hill.

I told him it was a disappointing but I understood.....and I added:

“Senator...you would have been a great President!”.

That seemed to perk him up a bit and he thanked me and said to keep in touch.

    What might have been.  

The saddest words in the English language.

stanmajor@aol.com

City of Brotherly Love...

City of Brotherly Love...

...and the sisters weren’t bad either!

I fled the Castro Cuban invasion in Miami for the calming shores of Philadelphia.

My Boston and Chicago friend, Jerry Williams, was Program Director of the country’s first FM all talk station there...WWDB 96.5.

All talk that is...except for Sid Mark and the two Sinatra shows on the weekend...Friday with Frank and Sunday with Sinatra.  Sid played only Frank’s records...and made a mint doing it each week.

At last report he was still doing it on a different station.  He let me fill in one weekend and I was honored.  It was a gas.  Of course I had told him about the Sinatra phone call when I was in Peoria and he was impressed more with Frank making it than me getting it.  But that’s ok.  

I never discussed my business plan about one of the rat pack members buying a Vegas radio station.  You don’t use that term... “Rat Pack” with Sidney.

Jerry was doing afternoon drive and then Howard Eskin (still going strong in Philly) did a sports show and my turn came after that.

I rented a brand new townhouse out on what is called the “Main Line”...in the city of Paoli.  The drive back and forth was great...huge mansions...in historic settings.  

Aah... to live near Valley Forge, Bryn Mawr and Villanova...to shop at the King of Prussia Mall!

I’ll give credit to Larry King who dubbed this area “undiscovered” and it seemed so.

DB as we called it had good folks on board. 

A nice (most of the time) lady named Dolly Banks owned the place.  Jerry ran programming and his News Director, Betty Bernamen were an “item”. 

Betty was class from head to toe. And very good at what she did....the news. You can sum up Betty by quoting actor-singer Robert Goulet. Upon meeting her he said  “I’d love to have you for lunch.” True story.

Irv Homer was rascal doing the Jerry Williams “warmup show” for three hours beginning at noon.

Susan Bray (see earlier postings) was the late morning gal and comfortably handling the morning drive slot was the incomparable Dominic Quinn....and the worst smelling Jamaican cigars he could find!

Jerry Williams left not too long after I arrived (no connection). I think they were into heavy pay with Jer.....he usually negotiated well.

Upon my recommendation he went almost directly to work with Neil Rogers at WNWS Miami.  And he hated it!

His afternoon slot fell into my hands.

Dom Quinn got the title of Program Director and I became Operations Manager.  Dom went home after his show so that, of course , left me to run programming.  

We had a good staff on and off the air and ratings were going up.  

The Sinatra shows were sold out at a premium each weekend and that helped offset any losses in sales for talk.

We promoted like mad...got the on air “stars” out in the city and some magazine and newspaper ad trades were helping us get on the map.

Richard Hayes drove in each night from his Long Island home to do our overnights...and God himself could not have found a better man. After the show...Richard would hit the turnpike and morning drive traffic in New York City.  That was in rain, snow, and ice.To this day I don’t know how he did it!

I promoted my afternoon drive show by doing some good deeds. (see early postings about Russian vodka and Vietnam Vets)

After a few months I was invited to the Reagan White House for a lunch with the President...along with about a hundred or so “out of Washington” news people.

The Reagan administration loved reaching out to press folks other than the dozen or so networks, NYC or DC news types who attended the daily news briefings.  

We would attend one or two briefings from top administrations officials...then be served lunch with the President..and then he would make a few remarks and take questions for a short time.  We’d spot the well known net names standing at the open doors getting the info just as we were....but they weren’t allowed in.

After the lunch...I went out of the huge dining room and looked around.  We were now on our own.  As we came in to the White House from the west entrance we had be “escorted” by individual types and were not allowed variance.  

But now I just wandered around the lower floor of the White House and enjoyed the moment.....taking my time...before exiting the famous front door and walking down the sidewalk to the gatehouse on Pennsylvania Avenue.

On the programming side I wanted DB to be more like WGN in Chicago where Wally Phillips had every female in Chicago and suburbs listening each morning.

I instituted the WGN policy of giveaways for good callers...laid a bunch of Phillies tickets to Dom, Susan and Irv plus other goodies to get the good callers paid off so to speak. It seemed to be working well.  Our ratings numbers constantly moved up while the AM talk stations were dropping or staying the same.

We worked a good trade with Disney World in Orlando and Susan and Irv would do a show or two from the Magic Kingdom.

Mickey Mouse actually came up to Philly to appear on Irv’s show to help promote the forthcoming broadcasts from Florida.  

Now...think about this...Mickey does not talk. 

Ha!  Irv really loved it...and he worked around that by getting Mickey to nod yes or no...to his questions. It was a gas!

King of the cowboys, Roy Rogers dropped in on Irv. (see early posting about Roy’s arrival an hour early.)

Stuff...good stuff kept happening and WWDB the Talk Station was humming right along and guess what.  Dolly Banks put it up for sale.  Or at least...she was being approached by outside parties to sell.  And money, big money, was tempting her.

This was after I had worked my butt off for a few years...and now had to wait for the ax to fall.

I loved Philadelphia and did not want change but I had to check if anything interesting was happening in talk radio.

Then a new General Manager came in and I saw the writing on the wall.  

Tom Lykis (see earlier postings) was programming KFYI in Phoenix...a really red hot talk station in a very HOT market.  Tom had heard me in Miami and wondered if I would be interested in a late morning shift there.  I flew out for meetings and was surprised at what they offered me...including a hefty salary and a no cut contact.

I signed on and left Philadelphia after giving my notice. 

I’ve been back to Philadelphia several times in the subsequent years...taking my new Miami family on vacations there.  I will always love it.  As Larry King stated...it is an undiscovered paradise!

stanmajor@aol.com

 

"Buy your new car from a REAL Watergate burglar"

Left over WATERGATE trivia....

On my first Miami talk program...before the Cuban invasion boatlift...I had one of the Watergate burglars on...Eugenio Martinez...also called Rolando Martinez.  

He came on with me because the former CIA officer, Grayston Lynch was on my Tampa show and Gray was like a God to the Miami Cubans.  

In addition to Watergate..Martinez was also on the Howard Hunt team that broke into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist office in Beverly Hills to find Ellesberg’s files.

He told the story of that break in on my show in detail and said they found nothing of significance on Ellsberg...the Pentagon Papers leaker.

However Martinez said Hunt, afterwards, was happy with the raid and even said something about celebrating later.

Martinez speculated that the break in was to coverup the fact that the White House actually had Ellsberg’s files...which could be illegal.  

He would say the same thing in his book published in later years. 

-------------------------------

When I booked Martinez on my show he was reachable at a new car dealership in Miami.  Weeks after his interview I called to arrange an appointment to see some cars.  He was very congenial, but I didn’t find anything I wanted.

  This has spurred me to write a short commercial for the “Mad Men.”

“Buy your next new car from a REAL Watergate Burglar!

  Get it financed by Tricky Dick’s Key Biscayne Bank.

Just call the bank and ask for “Bebe!  Tell him "Dick" sent ya!
And drive away happy!"

                --------------------------------

HUNT

E.Howard Hunt wanted me to cease talking about him in connection with the Kennedy assassination. He had his lawyer call and threaten me in no uncertain terms.

     That was 1979 before the Cuban boatlift.

On his deathbed in 2004 Hunt dictated a taped confession of sorts and you can read about it on JFK assassination investigator Mary Ferrell’s webpage here:

http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Confession_of_Howard_Hunt

“Before his death CIA master spy and convicted Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt confessed to being peripherally involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, and named several other participants.

In notes and conversations with his son Saint John, and in an audiotape he created in 2004 to be played after his death, Hunt described being invited into the "big event" at a Miami safehouse in 1963.”

And he names names....so much for “non-involvement, right?

stanmajor@aol.com

9-11 dudes who got away?

Three or four 9/11 dudes who got away?

        One might have been the real boss of the whole thing...not Atta.

         I live in a large apartment complex about a half mile from where the man identified as the lead 9/11 hijacker...Mohamed Atta resided on  west Atlantic Blvd...Coral Springs, Fl.  Atta was reported to have received a speeding ticket on the road at our entrance here.

I had been here for years...and having been in the news business...I knew important information when I picked it up around this complex.  

I  also personally witnessed some rather strange behavior by a middle-eastern type couple before the terror attack ...who apparently disappeared on or around 9/11.  I never saw them after that date.

I was told about three middle-eastern residents...young males, left here...moved out without notice and left there furnishings just before 9/11.

An excellent source presented me with a possible answer to the couple I had seen...take a strolling walk at 2 AM on more than one night. 

The first time I passed the man...dressed in a tan suit with white dress shirt but no tie...I said "hello”.  He didn’t not reply.  The man could have been a doctor...or lawyer...appearing confident, poised and well dressed...for 2am.

A few days later(again this is just prior to 9/11) he was accompanied by a woman...on this walk at that strange hour of night.

       I spoke to them both and this time the man responded and the woman in full Arab hijab nodded...as our paths crossed in the dark. 

Months later as I searched for any information on these visitors with the penchant for very late night strolls...I checked the time difference in the middle east...Egypt, Iran etc and discovered that at 1 or 2 AM our time...clocks in their homeland would be early morning by about six hours...or later depending.  My guess on all this was that this was some usual routine back home for them. And they weren't staying here long.

9/11 came and went and I never saw them again.

However, an excellent source “whispered in my ear” that there were three young men who had left their apartments here  (they never received mail) but another man (possibly my late night stroller) got large express envelopes frequently... appearing to be stuffed with “something”.

So...my newsman assessment of all this was that this walker in the night may have been receiving funds for the terror operation as the fully stuffed express mail envelopes were all (I was told) from overseas and he may have in fact been the actual “brains” of 9/11 and he got away. 

I never thought that Atta could be the brains...he was more brawn...and he and his team would have need of someone who could direct them locally and receive cash subsidies from overseas for the attack.

So...months after the attack and with my information gathered I decided I should at least make an effort to contact the authorities and let them decide if and how to proceed.

I dialed the FBI office in Miami...and let the phone ring for about a minute or so and as no one answered so I decided to try it a bit later. I did...and the same incessant ringing and ringing and no answer.  Busy is one thing but this was really annoying.

I dialed the FBI headquarters in Washington DC and they answered after the first ring. The operator switched me to a agent and I explained I was trying to reach the FBI Miami office but there was no answer so he said he would forward my call down there.

A woman came on the line in Miami and seemed perplexed at what I was doing and basically was short and rather rude to me saying they were very busy....and then either she hung up....or I took the hint and hung up on her....I don’t recall.  Anyway...I had made the effort.

After a few days I decided time was slipping away...the apartment complex had already changed managers and there would, of course, be a time consuming hunt for info on the “skippers” as they were called who checked out without giving notice.

I called the New York Times...the Washington Post...the Miami Herald and god only know who else to no avail.  I think I talked to a lot of “interns”.  

I had two contacts in the papers but didn’t get to talk to them.

ABC New’s Brian Ross (top investigatve reporter) had been at NBC News the same time I was (see Vietnam stuff) and I called him but didn’t get through.  I dug out his e-mail and sent him a “bullet” with just basic info...but I heard nothing back.  Another intern I’ll bet... checking the e-mails and deleting them.  I’ve witnessed how it works.

So...there I sat.  What would you do?

There was a freelance writer in this area who took an interest in the info but he didn’t pursue it past that.

     Now...I’m putting this out on the internet in my bio blog and wondering if any of those spy eyes in DC are going to take an interest.  But...it’s late in the game. Now you know.

The one’s who got away????? 

stanmajor@aol.com

Castro's Miami invasion...

 “Will the last real American leaving Miami please bring the flag!”

circa 1980

That was the slogan going around mainly among white citizens in south Florida.

Neil Rogers and I took to the airwaves to scream our dissent and demanded that President Carter or somebody...anybody in charge of protecting our shores put an end to it.

Despite of protestations in many circles...especially when it was discovered Castro was emptying his jails and mental institutions...the boatlift went on and on and on for about SEVEN MONTHS!

I was dubbed “the Joseph Gobbels” of Miami for my views...by the Mayor of Miami and we had squad cars in our parking lot when we were on the air to ward off any crazies who might want silence our free speech rights (something they didn’t have in their homeland of Cuba of course).

I remember Neil being so upset that he dug out an inside number at the White House and sitting in our office he started a rotation dialing...changing the last number each time.

“I’m going get Carter on the phone and ask him why he’s allowing this crap” was basically what Neil was saying.  

He kept at it for the better part of an hour...saying he was getting some weird answers...lot’s of military types...and I warned him that the Secret Service would be knocking on our door any minute.

He never reached Carter or anyone of substance but he had fun trying.

Meantime the drug dealers were busy using the boatlift as a cover...and the Feds were busy busting the biggest shipments of cocaine in history coming up highway 1 from Key West.

Dade County was not prepared for this invasion....and the whole thing was just one big mess.

In the midst of all the the goings on we received many death threats and inside the building our station manager, Dick Casper, a programming genius (famous for “Zeta” the top rock station) and I were battling over producers and, of course, all that didn’t help my head any either.

Finally...I had had it....and called WINZ in Ft. Lauderdale and accepted an early evening talk slot from them.

I made that move quickly...getting out of Miami and Dade County but it wasn’t enough of a move north...so after about six months there I contacted my old friend from Boston and Chicago, Jerry Williams, who was host and program director for a new Philadelphia FM talk station...WWDB. 
     Jerry had an early evening slot for me and I gratefully left... headed north for the relative “safe” confines of Philadelphia where I would remain for about five years...my longest stay on the radio merry-go-round.

My WINZ slot, by the way, was a lead in to the Alan Burke talk show.  Burke had made it big in New York City and had basically retired to south Florida. 

        I mention this in passing as Neil Rogers...my big “buddy” was displeased by my move and we didn’t speak again for years.  I thought that was weird but that was Neil.  If you were not with him you apparently (in his mind) were against him.  My friendship never faltered and of course we would make radio history in the late 80’s...when I joined him at WINZ Miami.

Neil was very insecure which was strange and if his phone lines weren’t filled with callers he got downright morose.  Even later when he was making millions of dollars a year and in top form he was uptight....and his famous “ripping” of station management on his show was only half in jest.

stanmajor@aol.com

Nixon answers the phone!

Havana North.....

WNWS Radio was temporally located in a old building on Flager Street...the main drag in Miami’s Little Havana district.  The building had bullet holes near the entrance...somebody didn’t like somebody inside I guess. (Neil Rogers and I would get a taste of that later during the Cuban boatlift) And there was no parking available despite the touristy location.  The building leaked so bad sometimes that we had to have umbrellas in the studio.  No repairs were planned as we were moving into new studios in the Kendall area of south Miami soon.

Two great things...Neil and I both smoke cigars... during our shows (no law against it yet) and the nearest cigar factory was across the street!  He smoked small skinny cigars and my preference has always been big maduros. Also...the Cuban coffee was just the what I liked to get me going.

Neil Rogers was an excellent issue oriented talk host and well known in the industry.  It would be a few years before he dumped the issues and become famous for lambasting the “old farts” for their sometimes strange habits in South Florida...a huge retirement area.

He was on his usual midday shift...the same hours he would work over the years with one infraction when he moved to morning drive for a year and it nearly killed him.  I followed him doing afternoon drive.  The station had a great daytime signal because the tower base  was out in the Everglades in several feet of water which resulted in maximum output capacity. 

All Miami radio stations on the AM band had crappie signals at night because of Castro.  He liked to put his propaganda on the air on the same frequencies of the Miami stations to keep the Cubans from hearing the truth...so if one of our stations went off the air...and Florida storms often caused that...you cold hear the Cuban official radio stations as if they were local!

Miami radio psychic Mickey Dahne did a couple of hours each day and felt so sad for the Nixons...(yes, the booted out Prez) that she had flowers sent to Mrs. Nixon for her birthday.  A few days later Mickey was waving around a telegram of “thanks” from the former first lady.  I spotted the telephone number from San Clemente and wrote it down.

As my show started the next day I warned my listeners to pay attention....and told my producer to start a tape for recording.

      I dialed the number direct.  It rang several times and then a sleepy male voice answered. I think I woke the former President as he was napping.

“Hello”

Hello....Mr. President?  Mr. President....this is Stan Major and we are on the air live in Miami.  Would you chat with me for a few minutes?

The rest is history.  No one had interviewed Richard Nixon as yet after he resigned in August (1974)...so my chat with him which lasted about ten minutes or so was historic.

After we said our farewells...the press calls started to come in....and all hell broke lose.

My producer ( sorry...can’t remember his name) started to work and called the major news organizations offering the interview but warning that “it was copywrited” so I, and the station would have to be credited if it is used).

That was bunk...we hadn’t had time to do that but it didn’t matter. Everyone around the world heard the interview...including Radio Moscow....and Toyko...Europe....and of course across the US.

Newspapers carried it world wide as we fed the tape to AP and UPI and they wrote text stories for the next morning’s papers.

About a week later I arrived for my show (In our new studios, thank heaven) and was handed a phone message from none other than Nixon’s Key Byscaine buddy Bebe Rebozo.  I returned the call and Rebozo inquired if he might get a copy of the interview.  I ask him where to send it....and he gave me his local address.  

I assumed...that the tape would end up in California.

         In the meantime Neil Rogers and I started hanging out alot.  Now Neil was openly gay and had stated that on his show...but I’m about the most female engrossed male on the planet so we were an odd couple.  Our new studios (we took over a closed down funeral parlor!) on South Dixie Highway was not far from the largest mall in Miami...Dadeland Mall and Neil and I would head over there after his show to eat.  

We’d choose a table where we could people watch....Neil checking out the young guys and Stan the girls.

Then...Castro in Cuba decided to empty his jails and “nut” houses and our serene life ended. 

stanmajor@aol.com