The first time was in the early 90s, after he had retired from the radio business. I was working with Brant Miller on his KidsRadio program and we had just recorded a segment not too far away from Larry's house. Brant said: "Let's go over and say hi." When we got to Larry's house, he was in the backyard. He had rescued an injured squirrel and was nursing it back to health. The entire visit consisted of squirrel talk. (When I spoke to him on the phone for the Illinois Entertainer article more than twenty years later, he remembered that day.)
The second time I met him was at a live remote for the John Landecker show. He came to our miniature golf outting, and was absolutely hilarious on the air that day.
But even though I talked to him in person a few times, and on the phone a dozen or so times to book him as a guest, I didn't really get to know him until the book "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" came out. When I talked to him about appearing on Windy City Live to surprise John, we brainstormed bit ideas. He called me back about five times until he was satisfied that we had a good one.
I remember my son Tommy answered the phone one time.
"Do you know who I am, kid?" Larry asked Tommy.
"Yes," Tommy replied, "You're Larry Lujack the radio legend."
"I'm worried about you, kid," Larry said.
During our conversations that day we really bonded. I asked if he would mind doing an interview with me for the Illinois Entertainer. I said I've interviewed just about every radio personality in Chicago radio history, but the one glaring hole was that I had never interviewed him. He hated doing interviews, and told me he still had a bad taste in his mouth from the book "Superjock" (which he hated), but he finaly agreed.
On the day of the interview I spoke to him a good solid hour. I got so much great stuff from him (he had me laughing until I cried), that I considered making it into a two or three part series. Here's the original Illinois Entertainer column. I never quite did get around to doing parts 2 and 3.
I went back to the tape this morning and got several more quotes and stories from Larry that didn't make the final article. I hope you enjoy them...
His early pre-Chicago radio days...
“I never had a problem with ratings, but they kept firing me because I didn’t sound friendly enough. I had humongous ratings in Spokane, so I thought I could get away with anything. There was a commercial for Volkswagen and it started out in German (“Achtung! Achtung!”) and I thought it was funny—it reminded me of those old WW2 movies. And I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I apparently said something that made them think I was implying this dealership was a cover for an underground Nazi movement in the United States. It turned out that the Volkswagen dealer was from Germany, flew for the Germans in WW2, and his employees were all German and they were highly offended. They were going to sue me and the station, so the station fired me to get him off their back.”
Coming to Chicago...
“WCFL let me do whatever the hell I wanted to do on that overnight show, and it was a lot of fun. I was trying to be who I was, and that had been getting me fired all over the place; in San Bernandino, Spokane, Boise, you name it. I was just glugging down the coffee, pitcher after pitcher of the stuff. When I got the call from WLS four months later to do afternoons, I thought—that beats the hell out of staying up all night.”
The WLS/WCFL Battle...
“At that time the battle between WLS & WCFL was a big deal. Obviously loyalty was not one of my strong suits, because I kept switching back and forth, but I remember the first time WCFL beat WLS in the ratings and it was a HUGE deal. It was a real battle. Very exciting. If I were to count up the number of guys who went through CFL and LS in the 60s and 70s I’d need an adding machine. With millions of dollars riding on those ratings, if you didn’t cut it, they didn’t mess with you. They just got someone else. It was a very stressful business in those days.”
The worst time of his career...
“That last year at WCFL (1976) was the worst, after they changed formats and became beautiful music. They fired everyone but me, because I had a no-cut contract. That was the worst year of my professional life. They were trying so hard to get me to do something that would get me fired, or make me so miserable that I would quit. Everybody had been instructed to note everything I did wrong. Thirty seconds late for work—duly noted. I was coming on the air every fifteen minutes saying ‘The World’s most beautiful music. All day. All night. WCFL.’ If I screwed up and gave the wrong time, or didn’t say the words exactly right, they wrote it down. They were trying to build a case against me. People I considered friends were suddenly afraid to be seen talking to me. It was really really horrible.”
His radio influences...
“I think the Real Don Steele is the best pure rock and roll disc jockey of all-time—he was from Los Angeles at KHJ. That guy was incredible. I never really considered myself a disc jockey—and I didn’t imitate him, but he was the very best. He was like Landecker or Brandmeier—pure high energy. I didn’t do that kind of radio, but I admired how good he was. The best thing that has ever been on the radio though, in my opinion, was Paul Harvey. We used to ride up on the elevator every morning together—we got to work around the same time. He was the best that ever was and the best that ever will be. He was a brilliant writer, and had an unbelievably fantastic delivery. Most news guys go in one ear and out the other. He was way more than that. He reached through the radio and grabbed your throat and said ‘Hey, listen to this. This is important.’ He was so commanding. Everything about it. I just idolized that guy. There will never be another one like him.”
Rush Limbaugh...
“I understand he doesn’t like me anymore. I heard him do one of the cruelest things on the radio once—he was praising how attractive the Bush twins were, while ripping the looks of Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton. I thought that was just unbelievable. They were kids! And I said I was appalled by that, and it got back to Rush. So at the NAB Hall of Fame induction a few years back when I was being inducted, they asked Rush to introduce me because they knew about how he felt about me. Well, Rush said he would only do it if he was assured that I wouldn’t rip him, and of course they couldn’t promise him that—so he passed.”
After I told him that he really WAS charming and delightful...
“I’m so good at fakin’ it. I plead guilty to being moody and easily depressed. I spent a lot of time in a down mood—so that stuff is basically accurate. But I also knew that nobody wanted to listen to someone who was always down, so I faked this whole charming and delightful thing. Very successfully I might add.”
After the interview I asked if he could send me a photo we could use to accompany the article. He sent me a recent photo his wife took of him, wearing an Elvis shirt, along with a copy of Clark Weber's book about radio because I told him that I didn't have a copy of it. His note said: "Tell Landecker that I loved his book but I didn't need to read about the catheter in his dick."
