Sundays With Snyder - Number 26

A fascinating hour with Tim Phelps, one of the authors of Capitol Game, all about the Anita Hill - Clarence Thomas scandal which almost precluded Thomas's ascent to the Supreme Court. The interview is complete, and is followed by a partial hour of open phones.




or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 25

Tuesday Jan 21, 1992.

In 1970, attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington filed suit in a U.S. District Court in Texas on behalf of Norma L. McCorvey (under the alias Jane Roe). This broadcast of The Tom Snyder Show features Sarah Weddington as the 20th anniversary of the still-controversial decision that legalized abortion approached. The story of McCorvey, who interrupted the confirmation hearing of Sonia Sotomayor as as part of an anti-abortion protest, is sad and startling.

In the second hour, actor Alan Rachins (L.A. Law) is interviewed (The recording ends slightly before the conclusion of the interview).



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 24

Aug 12, 1992. Jay Leno is involved in a dispute with another late night talk show host. The more things change...

An interview with Bernard Asbell, author of The Book of You, a compendium of curious and marginally interesting statistics. Following Mr. Asbell (who also wrote What They Know About You, which sounds like the exact same book) is an hour of open phones where nearly all callers sound like they're part of the crowd waiting outside the studio for Jerry Langford. I swear, one call after another, it is the night from radio talk show hell, and you can hear Tom struggle to make either sense or entertainment out of it. Tom's day didn't start well, apparently. Something's wrong, and it's not just that Tom's show was to be dropped by WABC-AM in New York. Tom is flustered. Tom gets the year wrong at one moment... and gets his own toll-free call-in number wrong shortly after that. He blames his busy day ("my mind is a bowl of guava jelly") but does not elaborate as to what might have happened. We once again hear - albeit briefly - about the charms of Snapple Lemonade and Wheat Thins. The breakfast of champions, folks.



or download.

Just discovered a nice appreciation of Tom that I hadn't seen before. Recommended if you're a fan.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 23

From June 25, 1992. Stock up on Wheat Thins and Snapple Lemonade - here's Tom taking phone calls for about forty minutes.

Unemployed? Tom feels your pain. Conspiracy theorist? Somebody tell Ross Perot. Otherwise, Tom seems uncharacteristically crabby with callers. Maybe looking forward to his vacation. You might also cue up your copy of Harry Nilsson's "Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore."



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 22

Friday, 16 November 1990.

First, an quick interview with Michael Josephson, from The Institute for the Advancement of Ethics, who talks about Charles Keating and the "Keating 5" savings and loan scandal. Then some phone calls, including one from Tom's NYC co-worker and weatherman extraordinaire Dr. Frank Field... and one from "Harmonica Man."

Then, an interview with the daughter of the only comedian who appears in the Bogart classic Casablanca.

That would be Joan Benny, daughter of Jack Benny. Some radio clips from The Jack Benny Show are played, and as usual (sorry) the entire interview is not quite there.

What? You say you didn't know that Jack Benny appears in Casablanca? Well - and this is breaking news - his daughter thinks he does. The debate rages on at this very moment.



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 21

If you're a TV person, you know Lois Nettleton as the woman who responds to a shift in the earth's orbit by perspiring heavily in "The Midnight Sun," a Twilight Zone episode from 1961.

If you're an old radio time radio person, you know Lois Nettleton as the third wife of Jean Shepherd. Or maybe from one of her roles on CBS Mystery Theater. Or Maybe from her endless list of TV guest shots. She was a charmer. Wish more of the interview was here; it's joined in progress.

Included in the Lois Nettleton segment, at no extra charge - a Folgers commercial that channels Bruce Springsteen to sell coffee. Included in the Nightside Hour - an incredible, thoroughly disgusting anti-drug commercial narrated from the coffin by a Debbie, a dead teenager. Moral: don't buy coke from anyone named Junior.

The Nightside Hour is a memorable one, because it marks the debut of a joke/prank, told/pulled by a listener, "Steve in Philadelphia," which went on to become a running gag Tom Snyder used over and over ever after. It has to do with what a tuna hears.

or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 20

This Sunday, we have an interview with Jack Haley Jr. about The Wizard of Oz. It's joined in progress - Jack is talking about the ways in which CBS shortened the film's running time for its yearly airings. It's actually been posted here before, and is here simply because more of the same show has been found. Not more of Jack Haley Jr., but the hour that follows it.

This second hour begins at around 00:31 and is spent with the colorful and somewhat puzzling Mayor Joseph Alioto, who is  to San Francisco as Ed Koch is to New York City.




or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 19

Tom's first guest is an author who would not deny that his most famous book is rubbish.

William Rathje deploys a terrific sense of humor during his hour with Tom from July 21, 1992. as he discusses Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage, his book first published in May of 1992 and reprinted in 2001. Rathje is an archeologist who digs into landfills and extracts garbage that has been buried for as long as 40 years. Bill admits that he and his crew don't always use their facemasks, because "after ten or fifteen minutes, the smell goes away."

That may be true, and no disrespect to Mr. Rathje, but maybe he and his compatriots should have kept those masks on. I can't remember anyone coughing while on Tom's show, but Rathje hacks his way throughout the entire interview, with one bout of coughing so serious-sounding that Tom playfully asks Bill if he'd like to have some oxygen brought in. I'm pleased to report that Mr. Rathje seems to still be alive and, presumably, well. That's amazing; based the audio impression given by this program, you wouldn't have given the guy six months.

Tom's guest for the second hour (in an interview that's nearly complete) is legendary CBS newsman Robert Trout. Trout began working in radio when announcers wore smocks and were selected, in part, on elocution, vocal timbre, and authoritative delivery. Trout's final assignments were retrospective pieces for NPR, which probably had to make an exception to bring him on board. (I love and support NPR, but suspect they select male announcers based on level of affectation, inappropriate folksiness, wryness, and execution of thoughtful pauses/ability to convey mock surprise).




or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 18

When a new kid plops down next to Tom in the sandbox, you can count on him to be welcoming and polite, even when he's not completely thrilled with the new arrival.

Deborah Norville made the announcement that she would soon be added to the ABC radio sandbox on this day. The key achievement of Norville's life seems to be her failure on the NBC "Today" television show, where her brief stint was bookended by the long and successful reigns of Jane Pauley, who preceded her, and Katie Couric, who followed her. For quite some time, she adopted the persona of the puzzled yet plucky underdog. ("What did I do wrong?")

She lasted a year as an ABC radio host. Tom didn't like her much, which is evident in the interview despite his statements to the contrary. Perhaps Norville is not as disingenuous as she sounds.

In the second hour, Tom is joined by Robin "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" Leach. A man who can be trusted, obviously.

For your information - let's get this straight - there were hidden self-promotional motives in neither Norville's tasteful People Magazine breast-feeding photo nor Leach's graphic-but-also-tasteful presentation of a celebrity C-section. No further discussion, please, on these selfless acts that bring important information to the public. And let's not even mention Tom's TV show that featured a naked encounter group.



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 17

An hour (actually less, commercials have been removed) with Stephen Rebello, author of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. This is preceded by the end of an interview with Don Drysdale. This was a "Best Of" rebroadcast, which accounts for some of the unusual edits.

Why post the end of the Drysdale interview? Because the beginning might show up someday. That's what happened with a previous program posted here with guest Anthea Disney, editor of TV Guide; that program will be updated shortly with the missing segment.

And if you want to see TS with Hitch...



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 15

It's a slimefest! It's a deathfest! It's about as low as the Tom Snyder Radio Show would ever go! And somebody... let's hope not Tom... thought the program was good enough for a rerun!

Gravelly-voiced John Austin (author of More Of Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries) rattles off the deaths and the dirt at breakneck speed. Seems he knew everyone and has the low-down on every Hollywood scandal and murder ever.

While I was listening, I was thinking, "Boy, I've already heard all of these, and I probably know this stuff as well as this guy does, but I wouldn't talk about it in polite company, let alone on the radio." At that moment, a caller asked which Hollywood star had a restaurant and was mixed up with the mob. Austin is at a complete loss. No idea. I'm here thinking "That guy is asking about Thelma Todd, her Sidewalk Cafe, and her unfortunate connection to Pat Di Cicco, connected in turn to Lucky Luciano's mob. I guess I do know this stuff better than this guy does."

Later in the show, Tom brings up Thelma Todd... and Austin has the whole story. He's wrong, but he has the whole story.

P.S.: does Austin use a racial epithet just before one of the commercials?



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 14

May 1, 1992.

This is Tom Snyder's Radio Show from the day after the worst of the riots. A semblance of order has been restored in Los Angeles and wild-eyed fears of country-wide "race warfare" seem to be diminishing.

At right: A cross section of wood with veneer finish. Caption: "Many man-made boards are ugly to look at and veneers (very thin layers of real wood) can be stuck to them to make them look solid..."

The country is left to reflect upon the durability and thickness of the veneer that makes civil society look solid... and how deep and how ugly it might be just below that surface.



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 13

April 30, 1992. I've been looking for this edition of The Radio Show for quite some time - and here it is.

Tom Snyder broadcasts live from Los Angeles as the city suffers through the violence and rioting that follows the acquittal of the policemen who beat Rodney King. If you don't have a sense of what that day was like, you will after you hear this recording.

It is an historic Tom Snyder program, incredible in so many ways, not the least of which is Tom's insight, compassion and ability to convey the horror of what's taking place while remaining, as ever, the consummate host and reporter. Forget Tom's Charles Manson interview, essentially just a freak show with a person who's insane - this may be Tom Snyder's most impressive achievement, as he works to make sense of a city gone insane.

This is history - a sad day in the history of the country - and  it happened less than twenty years ago. It is well worth your time.

As the program begins, the rioting is spreading throughout the city, phone lines are down, and Tom announces that he may have to end his broadcast prematurely and "send it back to New York." What follows... seems unreal.

At the very end of Tom's interview with one of the jurors is a bizarre moment of unbelievable, unintentional gallows humor which escapes both "Madam Juror" and Tom, though a caller later points it out. Listen carefully to the last sentence spoken by "Madam Juror."

This is a partial program which contains the full first hour and the majority of the second hour, with most commercials and local segments deleted. I've left portions of newscasts in, as well as a few commercials which seem to provide unintentional oblique or ironic commentary.



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 12

Abortion. That's the topic that begins this program, which offers much insight into Tom's personal opinions upon religion and the notion of a secular state. Michelle McKeegan is the guest for the first hour, then phones, then tennis star Tracy Austin.

This is the program where I decided I had had enought of Mr. Buullock, so his commercial as heard here is not exactly as aired. This episode was broadcast at the time of the Republican convention in Houston. The guest for hour two is Rand LeBon, reporting for KLIF in Dallas, who's in Houston covering the Republican National Convention.

Tom has a memorable problem pronouncing "Scud Stud" Arthur Kent's name.

Tom announces that "The Radio Show" will end in November.



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 11

This is mostly a "Nightside" hour of listener calls, but it does contain the end of an interview with Sarah Purcell. The reason so many segments are joined in progress is the haphazard nature in which cassette tapes were either saved or discarded. (I used to tape The Radio Show and listen to it in the car on the following day). Sarah Purcell co-hosted "A.M. Los Angeles" with Regis Phibin from '75 to '83.

In this clip, we learn about Tom's primary source material vis-à-vis the facts of life; we hear Tom's warning about how not to visit Disneyland; and some comments about the impending last episode of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show

or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 10

June 16, 1992. Guest Ed Meese, President Reagan's ex-Attorney General. The interview is joined in progress. Then we have the Nightside Hour for phones.

Don't think Tom was terribly fond of Mr. Meese. If you remember the Hanna-Barbera character "Mr. Jinx," his signature phrase springs to mind...

Commercial breaks are included from the Meese interview - some seem germane, some were just funny or interesting. Once again, the topics still seem current, although many of Meese's positions have not stood the test of time... deregulation, for example. I love the caller who was "disenchatized" with Meese's handling of Oliver North.

There's quite a bit of the Snyder philosophy available in the Nightside Hour.



or download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 9

August 25, 1992: Tom takes a live feed from a newsman awaiting Hurricane Andrew ("Will New Orleans come away clean from this?"), interviews political pundit Eleanor Clift and actress Dana Delaney.

We're in the beginning of the Bush/Clinton campaign, post conventions, which Tom covers with Eleanor. (The more things change...)

Dana Delaney is, in a word, delightful.

(Photo: 1968)



Or Download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 8

Tom is ready for his interview with Martin Gross. You can hear it - he calls Gross's book terrific; he's laughing as the interview starts; he likes the idea that someone has documented waste in Washington.

But - very quickly - Martin Gross says things that strain Tom's credulity. Tom's smile disappears; he asks Gross to repeat a statement. For Tom, the answer is totally overboard. Tom realizes that he's got nearly an hour to go with this wacko. The tone of the interview changes; Tom starts taking shots at the guy... well, listen. You'll hear it happen.

Also - a partial (sorry) interview with comedian Rita Rudner.

June 22, 1992

Or Download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 7

This time out, an interview with Al Gore, who's promoting his book Earth In The Balance and the Nightside hour, featuring calls from listeners.

During Nightside, Tom can't seem to figure out how the then-new VCR Plus automatic VCR programmer works. Listeners try to explain it, but Tom still doesn't quite get it.

A notable hour because Tom - completely befuddled as to how the VCR Plus works - leaves the microphone for a minute or so while he searches the studio for the day's newspaper, which he believes will solve the problem once and for all. (It doesn't). While he's gone on this fool's errand, the control room plays an old TV theme (Holiday for Strings).

December 20, 1990

Or Download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 6

Tom Snyder in Philadelphia circa 1965.

According to a radio hall of fame, Tom Snyder was a bit of a wiseguy back when he was doing the local news at noon in Philadelphia. One day, the sports reporter at the station couldn't make it back to the studio in time, and Tom said he'd cover. Tom's sports report, in total:. "A partial score just in: Philadelphia 5. Now, turning to the local news..."

Tom often repeated two curse words over and over right up to his on-the-air cue. This required the audio man to keep Tom's microphone closed, which complicated the job of simultaneously managing the opening music, the opening announcement, and Tom's mike. If the audio man had ever opened Tom's mike too early, both he and Snyder would have lost their jobs.

A different Sunday With Snyder - in this half-hour interview of Tom early in his career. Recorded February 1967 at the student-run station at Temple University.



Or Download.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 5

The television business I know is over. Gone. Kaput. Finiti.
- Tom Snyder March 27 2003

June 26, 1992.

John Gotti's in jail. Roe versus Wade has been challenged. Murphy Brown has been challenged, too, by Dan Quayle, who doesn't like the single character deciding to have a baby. Meantime, there's a real newswoman in Boston who's doing the very same thing.

A bunch of guys are riding around in the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile documenting Roadside America - including places like Carhenge - Stonehenge recreated with half-buried used cars.

And Tom decides to write his very own version of The Vermont Teddy Bear commercial.

A complete 3-hour Radio Show which runs just under two hours in this version without most ads and newsbreaks. A good one.




or Download MP3.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 4

Snyder's career began in Milwaukee in the 1960s as a radio reporter. He then moved into local television news and anchored newscasts in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York before moving to late night.

Paul Friedman, a senior executive at CBS News who worked with Snyder on local news in New York, said he was a first-rate newswriter. He'd "read all the wire copy and then throw it away and write the story, quickly, in his own conversational, made-for-broadcast style. It always worked," Friedman said.

Ed Hookstratten, Snyder's longtime agent, said Snyder was one of the best local anchors in the country, but he loved interviewing "and always wanted his own hour. He loved to dig down and do his homework on whoever his guest was." - Article in USA Today, 7/31/2007

This is our fourth Sunday With Snyder: every Sunday, ILT "rebroadcasts" Tom Snyder's ABC Radio Show.

Tonight: September 4, 1992: Lawyer Melvin Belli (partial; joined in progress) and TV Guide Editor Anthea Disney.(NOTE: This is a new, significantly expanded file added on Dec. 21, 2009 which includes segments that had been missing).

Listen...



or Download the mp3.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 3

As a young man I attended Marquette University. I never did graduate, which nearly broke my Mom and Dad's hearts. I was short ten credits because some professor claimed I copied another student's book report. This professor had a morning class and an afternoon class. I was in the morning session, the other student in the afternoon. I never met him. Or her. I tried to convince the guy that if we were both reviewing the same book, as turned out to be the case, our reports would be similar. He didn't buy it and flunked me. I was a senior and so pissed off I moved to Savannah, Georgia to start my television work. - Tom Snyder, April 9, 2003 (Picture: TS in bit part on The Rifleman, 1961 - From Videowatchdog)

This is our third Sunday With Snyder: every Sunday, ILT "rebroadcasts" Tom Snyder's ABC Radio Show.

Tonight: August 26, 1992: Making Schools Better with Larry Martz and British Entertainer Des O'Connor. Tom's hour with Des O'Connor is terrific.

Listen...



or Download the mp3.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 2

Some investment advice in today's rocky economy. If you had bought a thousand dollars worth of Nortel stock a year back, today it would be worth about forty six bucks. If you had bought a thousand dollars worth of Miller Light (the beer, not the stock), and drank all the beer and redeemed the cans at the redemption center, you'd have about a hundred and five dollars. Given the current volatility in the market, my advice is to drink heavily and recycle! - Tom Snyder, July 30, 2002.

This is our second Sunday With Snyder: every Sunday, ILT "rebroadcasts" Tom Snyder's ABC Radio Show.

Tonight: From May 20, 1992: TS with guest John Astin (partial) and Nightside hour. John Astin talks about the Addams Family (recording sessions for the animated version) and with a member of his own family. Also: acting with Charles Laughton. On the Nightside hour: Dan Quayle has attacked sitcom character Murphy Brown, who chose to have a child outside marriage; Tom creates a yogurt controversy.

Listen...



or Download the mp3.

Sundays With Snyder - Number 1

In 1987, Tom Snyder filled-in as occasional guest host on Larry King's Mutual Radio show. He enjoyed the work and was good at it.

In 1988, the ABC Radio Network gave Tom his own nationally syndicated call-in program. Known simply as "The Radio Show," it ran for three hours every weekday night for five years. The first hour was usually a news maker or political guest; hour two featured someone from the field of entertainment, and the third hour, the "nightside" hour, was "...you and TS, all alone on the telephone."

This wasn't confrontational radio. It wasn't partisan political radio. It was simply the world filtered through Tom Snyder's intellect. He was sympathetic to guests and callers alike, connecting on a basic, "common sense" level. When common sense seemed an impossible goal, Tom would give an exasperated "Sheesh!" Not "Sheesh, this person is ridiculous," but rather "Sheesh, how far am I going to have to go in order to have a conversation?"

It was easy-going and personal. Tom would swap stories with guests rather than formally interview them. It almost didn't matter who the guest was - listeners tuned in for Tom. Tom gave them great radio.

If these shows are archived somewhere, I haven't found them. So Sundays With Snyder will be a regular feature here on Isn't Life Terrible until our finite supply of programs saved on audiocassette runs out. Some shows will be "joined in progress," some will be incomplete, some will have static, and some will suffer from a buzzing sound generated by a nearby appliance. Others will be screwed up professionally by WICC-AM, the local affiliate, where the board op would frequently miss cues or played two feeds at once. WICC also provided long periods of dead air... but those, like commercials and newscasts, have been cut out. Commercials and newscasts are retained when there's historic or entertainment value.

Tonight: From Feb. 18th 1992: TS with guest Gloria Steinem. The country is smack dab in the middle of a recession, and it's the day of the New Hampshire primary when Tsongas beat Clinton and Bush beat Buchanan. (We do not know how provocatively TS was dressed for this show).

Listen...



or Download the mp3.

The Mouseketeers (And A Mooseketeer) on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show, 1975

The original Mickey Mouse Club presented five new hour-long episodes each week during the 1955-'56 and 1956-'57 TV seasons.

In '57-'58, the show started slipping away, cut to five half-hour programs per week.

In '58-'59, the lights were still on in Mickey's Clubhouse, but nobody was home.

Production had shut down, and Disney resorted to re-cut half-hour reruns. The loyal viewers who remained to watch the repeats had the unusual opportunity to relive a portion of their childhood while they were still children.

By the Autumn of 1959, these kids had no idea what to do with themselves at 5 p.m. on weekdays. It was in that forlorn condition that they entered the sixties, mere months later, which might just explain the entire decade.

After three years of clublessness, reruns of the show again became available through local syndication, and MMC ran in this manner for another three years, from 1962 through 1965.

If you were eight when the show had premiered, you were a teenager by the second go-round, and distinctly embarrassed if not appalled by how much you used to love this juvenile entertainment. It was left to a new group of eight-year-olds to pick up Mickey's fallen banner.

As the Mickey Mouse Club returned to the air in September of 1962, the Beatles went into the studio with their new drummer, Ringo Starr, to record six tracks. By the time the MMC "went dark" again, the Beatles had played Shea Stadium and received their MBE's.

The show then made a strong bid for obscurity, remaining "dark" for ten long years. Depending on my math skills - and the month of our fictional eight-year-old's birthday - the kid is now 28.

Not old - but not feeling so young, either. "The Sixties" really began in '63 or '64 (the Kennedy assassination or The Beatles, take your pick) and really ended in '74 or '75 (Watergate or the draft, your pick once again). This third time around elicited acute nostalgia from the original audience, now fueled by memories of what, in retrospect, seemed a far simpler time. Some of them were watching as the Club reconvened on January 20th, 1975, when the second series of reruns began.

That same evening, The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder videotaped an episode featuring original Mouseketeers Darlene Gillespie, Sharon Baird, Lonnie Burr, Cubby O'Brien, Tommy Cole, and Cheryl Holdridge (who died earlier this month at 64). For the many original viewers who were now allowed to stay up late and watch people smoke, the hour-long Tomorrow Show was the electronic equivalent of a grade-school reunion. And, especially for those who were watching their first rerun, it must have been something of a shock.

You see, each morning, you get up, you look in the mirror, and, barring misfortune, you see almost exactly the same face you saw yesterday and will see tomorrow. You never see yourself age. You only come to realize how old you are obliquely, by encountering some other face you haven't seen in a long while. At that point, logic kicks in: I don't feel older, but if that person is older, then I must be older.

If it weren't for those damn Mouseketeers, and those damn memories of winter days when the fading sunlight in our TV rooms imperceptibly accomplished a cross-dissolve with the blue glow from our black and white sets, we could have stayed young forever.

The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder Jan. 20, 1975, Part 1

The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder Jan. 20, 1975, Part 2

As always, I suggest a visit to The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show fan site.
Why? Because I like you.

Late Late Show with Tom Snyder and Harlan Ellison

Tom Snyder always seemed to get a kick out of Harlan Ellison, who here looks amazingly good for a guy only seven weeks past open-heart surgery in April 1996. Ellison has always been as outspoken as he is talented... and he's very talented, which makes him an ideal talk show guest.

His lawsuits are written with the same gusto that infuses his books - a recent one described Ellison as "...a famous author, screenwriter, commentator and public speaker. He is the winner of countless literary awards..." and described the person he was suing as "...a scheming pathological liar and little more than an obsessively vindictive and petty man trying to be a mover and shaker."

If you ever need to sue someone, try to get Harlan and his team on retainer. (He usually wins).

Alas, the Edgeworks series promoted in this appearance, which promised to be for Ellison what the Atlantic Edition is for H.G. Wells, ceased publication after only four volumes. But here is the highly entertaining Late Late Show appearance (30m), smacked and cracked into three bite-sized chunks.

Part 1 is above Part 2 is below

Part 2 is above Part 3 is below

Tom Snyder Radio Shows With Norman Lear And Bonnie Hunt

Here's why I like Tom Snyder, right here.

The hour he spends with Bonnie Hunt.

Tom Snyder falls head over heels in love with Bonnie Hunt right on the air. You can hear it happen. It can't be anything else.

And, of course, why not? Bonnie's beautiful, funny, talented, easy-going... and Tom means no harm; he just lets himself fall completely under her spell, and it's lovely. Tom and Bonnie recall their respective strict Catholic upbringings, and Tom makes a couple of remarkably intimate and revealing statements about his life and philosophy.

First up is a segment with Norman Lear, followed by some "open phones" calls. The Lear show is from May 29, 1991 and the Hunt show is from April 19, 1992. And no, we never do get to hear how Norman Lear got through to Danny Thomas.

Two shows, both a little incomplete (The Lear segment is joined in progress, as is the Bonnie Hunt interview), but still a treat. Just under an hour and a half in total; commercials have been painstakingly removed. This program will stream in Box.net's audio player, or you can download it.

Link

More Of "The Radio Show with Tom Snyder"

I've had requests for additional episodes of The Radio Show with Tom Snyder, and I'm happy to make four additional episodes (complete with commercials; we're talking nearly 12 hours here) available for download:

09-14-90 - With guests Irwin Schiff and Donald O'Connor. In case you're swayed by any of Mr. Schiff's "Don't Pay Your Taxes" philosophy, may I point out that Mr. Schiff is currently in prison and won't get out until 2016. (This one will play in Box.net's player) about 3 hrs.

10-01-91 - With guests Curt Gentry, author of a J. Edgar Hoover biography, and Elayne Boosler. (This one must be downloaded first; and it's joined in progress) 2hrs, 45min

10-09-91 - With guest Molly Ivins plus a discussion of the political correctness, or lack thereof, in Amos and Andy. (Will stream in Box.net's player) about 3 hrs.

10-10-91 - With guests Joe McGinniss (Cruel Doubt) and Dr. Demento. (Will stream) about 3 hrs. (Remind me to tell you about my dinner with Joe McGinniss in Saratoga, or I guess you could look it up in The American Spectrum Encyclopedia, which seems to have every fact known to man between its covers)

Great listening; The Radio Show is one of the greatest radio talk/call-in shows ever.

More Tom Snyder Audio - and Video

Some more Tom Snyder for those of us still in TS withdrawal. These won't play in Box.net's player, you'll have to download first.
1) With Jack Haley Jr. on Wizard of Oz (joined in progress; this is a good time to remind you to take Isn't Life Terrible's Impossible Wizard of Oz Quiz.)

2) With Tim Conway.

3) The Nightside Hour. Tom reserved the final hour of his three-hour radio show for audience members who wanted to call in. This is from Sept. 8, 1992.

And for those of you who may have missed it, from The Tommorow Show, a favorite episode featuring Disney animator Ward Kimball that somehow survived the years on my 3/4" video copy, taped off the air.

Tom Snyder - Tim Conway / Leslie Nielsen

Two more great Tom Snyder Interviews:

Tom Interviews Tim Conway, Leslie Nielsen.

For those of you who don't want to scroll down to see what Tom Snyder Radio Shows are online from Isn't Life Terrible - here's the list:

Stan Freberg
Jay Leno
Gary Shandling
Soupy Sales
Ray Bradbury (Radio)
Ray Bradbury (CNBC TV)
Jerry from Tipton, IN (Excerpt)
Show closed on account of lightning (Excerpt)
Call It A Century (Excerpt - See post below)

I'm learning to encode at 44.1, because those MP3 files will 'stream' through the Box.Net player. For others, you'll have to download the file and play it in your own MP3 player.

Tom Snyder - Live from Summerfest

Harmonica man calls; show closed on account of lightning.

Tom broadcasts from the great outdoors and literally shares the stage with his audience in his home town of Milwaukee.

Tom Snyder - A Memorable Call

Tom Snyder's "Call it a Century."

Tom Snyder, R.I.P.

I was just informed by Mark Evanier, via his blog, that Tom Snyder has passed away at the age of 71.

The post below was added before I had heard.

I'm a strong believer in coincidences... coincidences and nothing more. The fact that I've been posting old Tom Snyder interviews here for the past couple of weeks is a coincidence, and whether it is a sad coincidence or a happy coincidence, they're here and will continue to be posted here because - even though he hasn't been on the air for a while - I've never stopped listening to my buddy Tom.

Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax and listen to the sounds I've posted here... or watch the pictures I've posted to YouTube... now, as they fly through the air.

Life was a little bit less terrible when we had Tom Snyder around. He was the real deal. I've always believed that his work on radio was every bit as good as his best work on TV. We miss you, Tommie.

MOB becomes MTR and then WPCFM; Tom Snyder Interviews Ray Bradbury - 1992 and 1996

First it was simply The Museum of Broadcasting. Then, it became "The Museum of Television and Radio." This year, the name changed again, and it's now "The Paley Center for Media."

Anybody else think that the new name is awful and meaningless, especially when compared to the older appellations?

It's like we had "The Museum of Ketchup," changed it to "The Museum of Tomatoes, Sugar and Spices," and finally got to "The Heinz Center for Redness Enclosed by Glass."

Who's responsible for the latest name change? We'll never know their names.

From the New York Times:

"‘Museum’ is not a word that tests really well with the under-30 and 40-year-olds,” especially in the context of radio and television," said Pat Mitchell, the Museum’s President and Chief Executive.

Don't you love that they called Pat "the Museum's president" in a quote where she knocks the word "museum"?

I guess we should be grateful that they maintained some small level of control over the process, because "The William S. Paley Center for Free Beer" would have been equally uninformative and misleading, and it would have tested off the charts.

On the plus side, they're changing their policies about releasing footage from their seminars - check this page for a list of recent ones and a link to full-length DVD's with the creators and casts of Lost, Boston Legal, and Desperate Housewives, or this link to see a clip from a Conan O'Brien seminar. I only hope they release a DVD of an event they hosted quite a few years ago about NYC kid's TV that reunited Chuck McCann, Soupy Sales, Captain Jack McCarthy and others with their grownup audience.

But all of this is neither here nor there.

I went to see Ray Bradbury at a personal appearance and book signing at the Museum of Television and Radio in 1996. Ray took questions at the end of his presentation, and there were the usual cringe-inducing fanboy questions, asked not to get an answer, but rather to show off the questioner's vast knowledge of completely insignificant aspects of Bradbury's career and writings.

But I will never forget Bradbury's response to the final question. "What advice would you give to the people in this audience," someone shouted out.

And a split-second later, Bradbury gave his four-word answer.

"Don't watch local news."

It got a laugh; it got applause, but Ray was 100% sincere. And when Bradbury speaks, I listen: I have not watched local news since. He left it to the audience to figure out why local news is a brain-sucking waste of time.

You won't hear Ray offer that advice in either of the Tom Snyder interviews below, perhaps because Tom was a local TV news anchor for a portion of his career, although Ray does say a few things from which one could reasonably deduce his belief about the valuelessness of local TV news.

He might as well have said TV in general, however, because the 1996 CNBC TV interview with Snyder (joined in progress) is, at times, an amazing word-for-word recreation of the conversation they had four years earlier on ABC radio.

I guess Bradbury perfects his stories for interviews as carefully as he does his stories for print. Four years apart, promoting two different books, yet some of the same topics are spoken about in the same words. (I wonder if Tom and/or Ray have changed any political opinions since these two programs were broadcast?)

Tom Snyder / Ray Bradbury Radio Show 1992
Tom Snyder / Ray Bradbury CNBC TV Show 1996

Tom Snyder interviews Jay Leno - 1990

According to Wikipedia, Tom Snyder now lives up in northern California, retired from show business. Justly famous for his television work, he was equally great fun on radio. I saved some of his radio shows on cassette, and I'm working my way through "TS and the comedians."

The hour with Jay Leno (33m) is especially entertaining - mostly stories from Jay's youth and his days as a struggling comedian. This show was recorded at the time when Jay was "permanent guest host" for The Tonight Show on Monday nights. I remember at the time - and this is sacrilege, I know - avidly looking forward to the Monday night shows, because Carson had been coasting and Jay Leno was actually funny.

My all-time favorite moment from The Tom Snyder Radio Show? Easy. The two calls he got from "Jerry, in Tipton Indiana." (6m) HINT: It's not Jerry, it's a fellow talk show host pranking Tom in the grand tradition of the great Peter Cook, (5m) who used to call a radio talk show late at night claiming to be someone named "Sven."

GS on TS

More from the Tom Snyder Radio Show archives: Gary Shandling (36m) describes the 'living hell' of portraying Gary Shandling - and discusses his comeback. Not in his own voice, of course. We learn, among other things, the reason they stopped making new episodes of "It's Gary Shandling's Show," and which flowers sell well in hot weather. Gary enjoys the experience, so he doesn't implement the early-escape plan he set up with Tom's staff.

Stan Freberg with TS

Stan Freberg spends an hour with Tom Snyder. (36m) This dates from November 1991 - the time of Stan's one-shot NPR special. The feed for the interview came from WICC-AM, and they had the "D" team running the board this particular night, as you'll hear during those moments when the program is drowned out by extraneous material. And speaking of extraneous material...

The interview includes clips from the special, including one that would have been much more funny had Freberg simply performed it without introduction. Instead, fearing that his audience had no familiarity with Stephen Foster song titles, he carefully and painfully sets up the sketch with background material the audience 'needs' to get the jokes. Not only is this condescending - it's annoying. This is my gripe with later Freberg material - he started talking down to his audience, became more concerned with his 'message' (usually quite obvious) and lost track of what was funny. It's almost as if he came to believe than anything he said was funny, so long as he said it with a sneer and dragged the pronunciation out.

The interview is far more fun than the NPR Special (59m) itself.

Imagine if Stan's great record, "Wun'erful, Wun'erful!" [Side Uh-1 (4m), Side Uh-2 (3m)] had started with a detailed explanation of who Lawrence Welk was, what kinds of music he featured on his show, that he always thanked his audience for the cards and letters they sent, and the manner in which Welk created the sound of a champagne cork popping by using a finger in his cheek.

Why did Soupy look DOWN when the naked lady came to the door?

I've had a few remarkable experiences in my life. One was somehow getting onto the set of The Soupy Sales Show at WNEW-TV in New York in 1965. Another was finding the pictures I took on that occasion nearly forty years later (that's one of them above). I've posted Soupy videos here and here on YouTube, and to the available Soupy on the 'net, I now add Soupy Sales on The Tom Snyder Radio Show (36m) - an old hour-long interview (minus commercials) in which Soupy reveals why, in that famous NSFW outtake, he was looking down when he opened the door.