I was a pre-teen Glicknick.

not_on_display — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:26:47 -0800

This man kept me awake at night as a child, As I stared, bleary-eyed, at my flip-card style analog alarm clock, willingly watching the hours go by, thinking, "How am I going to be able to wake up for school tomorrow?" And laughing, laughing. I place the blame for my night-owl-ness squarely in his lap. Larry Glick, aka The Godfathah Lorenzo Glickiano ("Do me a favor." "A Favah's a favah, what is your favah?" "Shoot me off the air, Godfathah!"), aka Commander Glick. He held down the late evening and overnight shifts for most of his career - primarily at WBZ AM 1030 in Boston - from the 1960's until the cusp of the 1990's, a golden era in AM Talk radio. He would scat out the sports scores, snapping his fingers. He'd spin discs: Spike Jones, Orson Bean's Baloney Song, and "Who Stole the Kishka?". He'd read articles at random from the National Enquirer. And Larry would chat with anyone about anything, if they could get through the busy signal at 254-5678. Callers would recommend interviewees: boxers, politicians, what-have-you, for the chance to receive a Glick University T-Shirt, should Larry have their guest on the air. People would relate stories of UFO encounters. Larry would interview psychics without the least bit of condescension. It was Larry's mission to keep you awake at night, to listen to him and the wide range of insomniacs whom he'd keep company with... and of course, his sponsors. (At that hour, with his listenership spanning 30+ states and provinces, the station would run as many ads as on the daytime drive.) Anyway, it was Larry Glick that I was listening to, after my parents had fallen asleep, in the years before I discovered Dr. Demento. Just Larry, his crazy callers and interviewees, and me, under my blankets, rueing missed sleep -- but not much. I even called up, twice. (First-time callers got a round of applause.) I was a pre-teen Glicknick. So if any of you remember Larry, you'll probably feel his presence is missed on the AM waves. (He's not dead, though, just comfortably retired in Boca Raton, FL, in some role as an ambassador to Legal Seafoods down there). To you, I present many links, in case you want to reminisce, or to hear Larry's avuncular voice again. A thread on someone's blog attracted a lot of appreciative nostalgia for Larry. A June 18, 1965 TIME magazine interview with Larry. Airchecks (via NortheastAirchecks.com) from: 1975: part 1, 2, 3. Larry, by now on the mid-afternoon shift, during WBZ's 65th Anniversary: Part 1, 2. From 1986 RealMedia Links Via Staffannouncer.com: .wma format From 1975 From 1975? Four shows from 1979 are available as links in .mp3 podcast format, via this link to http://larryglick.podomatic.com/ An interview from 1979. Here's a youtube link of someone sitting in his car listening to classic Larry. (Somewhat anachronistic, but I'll take it.) A links to clips of classic calls, which Larry would often play at the request of a listener: The Orangutan RealMedia The Cop in the Graveyard .mp3 The Guy Who Shot the Vending Machine .mp3 The Champagne Lady .mp3 And that's about all I could find for you. Now download those files, arrange them in your various media players as you wish, hit play, turn out the lights, crawl into bed, and stay up with Larry.

MetaFilter posts tagged with AMTalkRadio

I was a pre-teen Glicknick.