Post by musicradio77 on Aug 31, 2005 22:50:05 GMT -5
From the Daily News:
Kiss newsman on mend from kidney transplant
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Back when Judy Ellis was running WRKS (98.7 FM), she once joked about newsman Bob Slade being asleep at his desk.
That didn't sound like a good thing for the boss to say about an employee, but Ellis explained that in this case she didn't mind because Slade would work 18 hours, sleep six, then work another 18.
Just listening to Kiss, it wasn't hard to believe he kept that schedule.
Slade was the newsman on the morning show and then would stay around for news stories that developed through the day. He was co-host of two Sunday talk shows, "Open Line" in midmorning and "Week in Review" at night. Sunday night he was also heard on "Soul Beginnings," which he co-produced and taped during the week.
That's more than one job for anyone. What makes it more remarkable, as many Kiss listeners found out for the first time this weekend, is that for the last seven years he'd been doing it while battling complete renal failure.
"I'm not sure anyone can appreciate how extraordinarily hard he's had to work," said Judge Bob Pickett, an "Open Line" co-host. "You don't realize his tenacity until you've worked alongside him."
His routine for the past seven or so years was to get up every weekday for morning show preparation, which begins by 3 or 4 a.m., then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday go for dialysis, which would last from 4 p.m. until 9 or 10.
Then he'd go home and start over.
"That tells you everything you need to know about his character and work ethic," said Pickett.
Slade never kept his kidney ailment secret, but neither did he dwell on it, so many listeners never knew. Then, last Thursday, he got the call everyone "on a list" waits for: A kidney was available.
He had the transplant on Friday, and as of yesterday everything seemed to be going well.
The station said it expects him to be out for eight weeks, but no one would bet against his checking in now and again.
Jeff Foxx's morning team and Slade's weekend partners, who also include James Mtume and Charles Etheridge, all joined in wishing him well, as did a lot of other people in radio. Slade has been working at 98.7 FM since 1975, when it was WXLO, and he could return to the air almost in time for his 30th anniversary on Oct. 15.
STERN SAGA CONTINUES: The Chicago Sun-Times said yesterday that Infinity has ended its negotiations with morning host Mancow Muller about taking over at some of Howard Stern's Midwestern stations when Stern leaves for Sirius Satellite Radio in January.
That could be good news for Bob and Tom, a syndicated morning show out of WFBQ in Indianapolis that has built a big following in the red states. Bob and Tom would also love a shot at New York.
The real issue, of course, isn't who gets Stern's stations. It's who gets his listeners - and no one in New York is working harder on that than morning host Star of WWPR (105.1 FM), who says "Coward Stern" is fleeing and listeners are ready for a new morning conversation.
Star and his team started yesterday in Savannah, Ga., and Star marked the occasion by not being in the studio. He called in.
He also told listeners in new cities like Savannah and Richmond, Va., to "give us two weeks before you start protesting."
AROUND THE DIAL: WABC morning newsman George Weber led into his Katrina stories yesterday by playing Bob Dylan singing, "Here comes the story of the Hurricane...."... WFUV (90.7 FM) features Van Morrison today.
Kiss newsman on mend from kidney transplant
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Back when Judy Ellis was running WRKS (98.7 FM), she once joked about newsman Bob Slade being asleep at his desk.
That didn't sound like a good thing for the boss to say about an employee, but Ellis explained that in this case she didn't mind because Slade would work 18 hours, sleep six, then work another 18.
Just listening to Kiss, it wasn't hard to believe he kept that schedule.
Slade was the newsman on the morning show and then would stay around for news stories that developed through the day. He was co-host of two Sunday talk shows, "Open Line" in midmorning and "Week in Review" at night. Sunday night he was also heard on "Soul Beginnings," which he co-produced and taped during the week.
That's more than one job for anyone. What makes it more remarkable, as many Kiss listeners found out for the first time this weekend, is that for the last seven years he'd been doing it while battling complete renal failure.
"I'm not sure anyone can appreciate how extraordinarily hard he's had to work," said Judge Bob Pickett, an "Open Line" co-host. "You don't realize his tenacity until you've worked alongside him."
His routine for the past seven or so years was to get up every weekday for morning show preparation, which begins by 3 or 4 a.m., then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday go for dialysis, which would last from 4 p.m. until 9 or 10.
Then he'd go home and start over.
"That tells you everything you need to know about his character and work ethic," said Pickett.
Slade never kept his kidney ailment secret, but neither did he dwell on it, so many listeners never knew. Then, last Thursday, he got the call everyone "on a list" waits for: A kidney was available.
He had the transplant on Friday, and as of yesterday everything seemed to be going well.
The station said it expects him to be out for eight weeks, but no one would bet against his checking in now and again.
Jeff Foxx's morning team and Slade's weekend partners, who also include James Mtume and Charles Etheridge, all joined in wishing him well, as did a lot of other people in radio. Slade has been working at 98.7 FM since 1975, when it was WXLO, and he could return to the air almost in time for his 30th anniversary on Oct. 15.
STERN SAGA CONTINUES: The Chicago Sun-Times said yesterday that Infinity has ended its negotiations with morning host Mancow Muller about taking over at some of Howard Stern's Midwestern stations when Stern leaves for Sirius Satellite Radio in January.
That could be good news for Bob and Tom, a syndicated morning show out of WFBQ in Indianapolis that has built a big following in the red states. Bob and Tom would also love a shot at New York.
The real issue, of course, isn't who gets Stern's stations. It's who gets his listeners - and no one in New York is working harder on that than morning host Star of WWPR (105.1 FM), who says "Coward Stern" is fleeing and listeners are ready for a new morning conversation.
Star and his team started yesterday in Savannah, Ga., and Star marked the occasion by not being in the studio. He called in.
He also told listeners in new cities like Savannah and Richmond, Va., to "give us two weeks before you start protesting."
AROUND THE DIAL: WABC morning newsman George Weber led into his Katrina stories yesterday by playing Bob Dylan singing, "Here comes the story of the Hurricane...."... WFUV (90.7 FM) features Van Morrison today.