The Larry Kane Report

It was February of 1963 when I first met George Michael. I had just arrived at WIL Radio in St. Louis. George, a lanky and energetic young man from St. Louis, was a deejay at the station, and at the age of 20, I was the afternoon news anchor and evening street reporter. Three years later, we would team up with a brand new team to launch Famous 56, a new format of contemporary music for WFIL Radio in Philadelphia.

George was the nighttime deejay. And I did the news the same hours he was on the air. His engineer was a young man named Howard Eskin.  Those of you who came of age in the late sixties and early seventies will remember that George became an instant radio star by embracing two appealing subjects of the time – pop music and high school sports. George was a big football fan and embraced the high school football scene with up-to-the minute reports on all the teams. It was a very exciting show. You had “King George,” as he was called, spinning the “hot hits”, and giving you the straight news from the gridiron through the sources of his vast personal reporting network.

We had many interesting personal moments, sharing the joy of working  and achieving in a new community. When I started making the move to TV in 1967 and 1968 at Channel Six, George issued a warning. He said, “Stick to TV. You’ve got a face for radio.” And I replied, “So do you.” Little did I know that we would both wind up on TV. I never saw George as a TV star, but who knew what hard work and fierce determination would bring. His star was  one of the brightest in the nation.

George was the hardest working broadcaster I had ever met. He prepared his programs with meticulous research. I’m talking about hours of preparation for each hour he was on the air. His voice rang with a high-pitched energy and excitement that made you want to listen. He was not to be denied in anything he wanted to accomplish.

And so it was that the animated, effervescent and determined young man wound up in Washington DC as that community’s biggest sports superstar. His years on WRC TV, over thirty of them, made him the most successful local sports anchor in the nation. He was so big that he was featured on his own national program,  “The George Michael Sports Machine.” I tell you that a generation of sports broadcasters followed George’s lead! George was ESPN before there was ESPN.

What a great success story. And now he’s gone. First he was a fast legend here. And then he was sports in Washington.

The memories live on. They are vibrant. They ring true to all who were there, to those who listened, and to those who worked at that wonderful radio station during a golden era of radio broadcasting. I was proud to have been part of it, to have walked into that building on the first day, and to have watched the young broadcasters, who brought Philadelphia the sound of the sixties. George was a key part of it, and I can still hear his voice echoing through the summer air, from Allentown to Pottstown, from Devon to Avalon, his powerful delivery punctuating the dial at WFIL 560:

“This is King George, and this is Famous 56 in Philadelphia”

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What an outrage –not that Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman finally “deeply apologized” to the Asian students who were terrorized at South Philadelphia High, but that she took eight days to do it and once again set a horrible example to the students by again blaming the news media. This was the report in the Inquirer:

She again lashed out at media coverage of the event, saying she and students thought it represented “an unfair telling of their story” and said stories mischaracterized some racial groups.”

Message to the Superintendent: Blaming the media for your cynical early reaction to this episode exposes a clear lack of understanding of the role of free speech in our society. The fact is that no one, regardless of color, ethnic background, or political persuasion ,should allow fear to stop them from learning, and when institutions, such as the Philadelphia School district, fail to react quickly and decisively, in behalf of any one being intimidated, it a sad moment in our society.

Superintendent Ackerman became, in the process, an obstructionist and motivator for even more fear by taking her good time to show the terrified students that she and the principal at the school really cared about them.

She also blamed the media last week for exacerbating the problem, a typical response from public leaders who have failed to deal with crisis. In fact, if the reporters of this town didn’t report the truth, nothing would have been done. That, Superintendent, is a fact that you know very well.

I have two suggestions. The Principal should be assigned somewhere else. And Arlene Ackerman should go to the Constitution Center at 5th and Arch, and read the First Amendment.

That would be a positive learning experience.

Crises demand leadership, not blame assessment.

Comments(81)

What a news cycle! I mean, we are either living a strange dream or a novelist is writing the script for our lives. Would you have imagined two weeks ago that, among other things: Two celebrity-seeking, and financially challenged people could actually crash a White House state dinner, without an invitation? Is this possible in a nation with our levels of protection? And the Secret Service is taking the blame, even though the White House social office didn’t follow procedures.

Could you have imagined that Alan Iverson would be coming back to play in Philadelphia? Not me, but let’s face it, Iverson has always been worth the price of admission, hasn’t he?

And Tiger. Tiger is the victim of his own chain reaction collision, a real one. It is amazing how a real collision could unleash a series of events, including the tabloid outing of the greatest golfer ever. Tiger Woods a lover? The surprise story has all the makings of a reality show, and it really is. There’s an angry wife, apparently angry lovers, the tabloid titans, press agents, and even a mother and mother-in-law on the scene. But for all the money in the world, the talented Tiger wound up with some poor advice, or maybe the advice was really good, and he didn’t take it. The big mistake was not admitting his transgressions early enough. Tiger Woods is right about one thing – his personal life is his business. The problem remains that when you own the public domain, like he does, the public, the people, really own a piece of you.

It is a pity that we were distracted by these news diversions, because as we speak, the war in Afghanistan is stepping up and the health care overhaul is in mid-debate. These are two stories that will have direct impact on our lives, much more than the perils of Tiger, the strange White House crashers and the return of Alan.

Of course, there was one wacky story I forgot. Rogue Sarah Palin suggested that Barack Obama’s nation of birth might still be an issue. Sorry Sarah. That is so 2008!

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