August 28, 2026 • 37 mins
For nine years, Bernie Fratto has been a granite countertop of weekend overnight radio on Fox Sports Radio — dependable, durable and somehow still standing after years of exposure to the radioactive waste known as the broadcasting business. A longtime pinch-hitter on the Ben Maller Show, Bernie drops by the Audio Sweatshop before taking a sabbatical from professional gasbaggery. Bernie and Ben unlock the Nostalgia Vault, dust off the broadcasting fossils and swap you-can’t-make-this-up tales from the Radio Wars — strange bosses, stranger decisions and enough broadcasting malpractice to fill a Costco. It’s a Fifth Hour exclusive! Climb aboard the Nostalgia Train as we travel back to radio’s wonderfully dysfunctional past, where common sense went to die and every hallway had a story.
All aboard!
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, 1,200 minutes a
week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole bastion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the rich
pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The clearinghouse of hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now. In
the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with me, Ben Maller.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
And you as I toss my two cents into the
audio dojo on this Friday, the day before the big event.
You say, well, what is the big event? Well, the
Maller meet and greet in Lost Wages, Nevada. Unless you've
been living under a rock or been comatose, we've been
(00:57):
promoting the hell out of this thing pretty much every
hour for the last month. We've been lining up the
date for tomorrow. And you are cordially invited. And it's
likely too late if you haven't already made plans to
be part of this thing.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
But the Big Mallard meet and greet.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thanks to our buddy Slug, who is making this a possibility.
And the whole gang will be there. Me and Lorena
and Coop, everyone there here tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Now, today's the 28th.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Tomorrow, the 29th at the Steakout Bar and Grill from
3 o'clock till 5 o'clock in Vegas. We'll be hanging out.
Can't wait to see everyone. A lot of you come
to this thing every year. We'll be some new people.
We'll see some new people who are going to be there.
So we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow.
I wanted to do something a little different today. Big
(01:51):
news in radio, everyone yapping about it. If you miss
the announcement, our guy, my guy, Bernie, Bernie Frato, longtime
colleague of mine at Fox sports radio and a radio friend, uh,
Known Bernie for a while.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Great storyteller.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And he is stepping away from the microphones of Fox
Sports Radio. He announced it earlier this week on social media.
And so we're going to say hello to him on
his way out the door. He's heading to Michigan to
enjoy some time with the family. And we welcome in
now to the 5th Hour Podcast. Something we don't do
(02:32):
very often anymore. My friend Bernie Frato joins us here.
And Bernie, let's start with this.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Why?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Why did you decide? I know it's very difficult.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Why did you decide to hit the pause button on
the radio show?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, first of all, pleasure to be on with the incomparable,
inimitable Ben Maller. And I've been very fortunate to have
been with Fox for nine years and been in the
radio industry for 32 years. CBS Radio in Detroit, 10
years lying free in post. ESPN here in Las Vegas.
Started out in Ann Arbor back in 94. Cut my
(03:06):
teeth during the baseball strike. Got to do a lot
of work. The direct answer to your question is, Ben,
you get to sometimes a point in life and you
realize you can't climb two mountains at the same time.
And in my nine years at Fox, my life's changed
a lot. I lost both my parents inside of 11 months.
I have six grandkids now. And the fuse was lit
(03:28):
two years ago this month when I got a call
from my grandson, Jackson, 27, eight years old. I said,
pop up. I'm going to play football this year. I said, man,
that's great. Jackson, you're going to be a wide receiver.
That's what his dad was. That's what I was. No, no, no.
Pop up. I'm going to be QB. Eight weeks later,
I find out he scored 10 touchdowns and had a
pick six. I didn't see one game. He's in Grand Rapids.
(03:50):
I have three grandkids in Grand Rapids and three in Houston.
And that was a flag. And I realized over the
next few months, I'd missed funerals. I'd missed weddings. I'd
missed one-in-a-lifetime events. So I vacated my Friday show, keeping
my Saturday show. And then the intensity of my schedule
started to continue. And... My wife and I said, why
(04:15):
don't we spend the fall in Michigan? I said, yeah,
I'll buy a Comrex NX. We'll just do the show
from back there. And so last April, I was putting
everything together and I hooked it up at the resort
where it wasn't working. And I called Kearse, our engineer,
great guy. And he was on with the engineer of
the resort, giving him codes for the firewall. And it
(04:39):
wasn't working. And I'm like, okay, what's going on here?
And then I started to look at the logistics and
all the things we're going to be doing while we're
back there. I'm going to go see the Lions play
Buffalo in a new stadium, go to the Hall of Fame.
I said, oh, my God, it's hitting me in the face.
I'm not going to be able to do both. So
over the next few months, we started to put the
pieces together. And I had a great talk with our
(05:02):
esteemed boss, VP Scott Shapiro, about six weeks ago. He
completely understood. I said, I'm treating this as a sabbatical,
and we'll see what happens in January. I'm not thinking
about that right now. So I hope that answers your
question without being too long-winded. But those are the details,
my friend.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Well, yeah, and I know from doing the shift and
just doing radio in general, as a fellow radio professional,
you've got to be there.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It's very important to be there.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
And I know from doing the weekend overnight show, and
you're one of, I was thinking about this when I
was chatting with you about coming on the podcast.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I know you've been on before, but you're one of
a handful.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Of people who, That can relate to doing the weekend
overnight shift. And it got to the point where I
started doing that. I began my tenure at Fox Sports Radio.
I think I was like 25 or something like that.
And I used to get invited to parties. And a
lot of the parties in LA were, believe it or not,
(06:02):
I mean, why would anyone invite me? But I would
go like on Friday and Saturday, you know, and I
was working Friday and Saturday doing the overnight shift at Fox.
And eventually people stop inviting you. Now, fortunately, family generally
does not stop inviting you unless you piss them off.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
But people would stop inviting me to things. And I
was like, oh, man, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And I, you know, it's, listen, there are worse problems
to have, right? These things, you have to balance everything
in life. And you learn that as you get older and.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
What's important, what's not important, all that.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
But the weekend overnight cuts a little different because that's
when most people are doing things. And there's sporting events
for your, as you said, your grandkids and things like that.
And so the amount of things you have to give up,
step away from, I think it's. It's just something people
don't understand because it's like it does not end. You
have to be there. And if you're not there, you know,
(06:52):
it's like, well, you know, us people on radio, very paranoid, right, Bernie?
The people that do this for a living, that are
old school radio guys, you're like, I got to be
there and I'm not there. It's a nightmare. So I
totally get what you're saying. I feel like you're my
radio brother from a different mother, Bernie. I feel like that.
You've worked the.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Radio dial all these years. You've been in longer than
I've been in.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Well, I think actually we've been about the same, but
it's been a long time. We've both been in the
business a long time, and I'm excited for you. And
probably you'll be back. You know, it's in your blood, right, Bernie?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's in your blood.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well, it's very much in my blood. I would say this.
You just took people behind the curtain just between me
and you and no one else. Any person who's ever
gotten behind the mic... is not being honest with themselves.
If they don't have a little bit of that Wally
Pip in the back of their, hey, I better be
on today. They're always looking for your replacement. There's millions
of people that would kill to do this job, blah, blah, blah.
(07:48):
And you bring up a great point about, you know,
you weren't able to go to those functions. You weren't
able to go to those parties because you've got an obligation. And,
you know, all people, you know, there's dignity in every job.
I don't care where you work. But if you don't
show up on time on radio, you might have a
million people here. You're not there. And that's not good. Now,
there's one other aspect to this, Ben, and I know
(08:09):
you can relate to this as anybody. It's not just
doing the four-hour solo. You've got to prepare. If you
want to provide content and you want to be a
keen observer and a great storyteller and build an audience
and keep that audience, because we have one unique aspect
about overnight radio. I don't think we have people tuning
in and tuning out every 15 minutes like regular radio.
(08:32):
In lunar times, there are people that will lock on
for the whole four hours, and they'll let you know it.
So you got to prepare. And I always wanted to over-prepare.
So that means in addition to doing a four-hour show, honestly,
I prepare on average about 10 hours a week. And
then you have to have your energy. You can't get
to that third or fourth hour and sign on and
(08:54):
sound like you just took 10 Valium and washed it
down with some Crown Royal. You can't sound that way.
You have to bring the energy, right? So it's an
acquired profession. Not everybody can do it. And the other thing, too,
is my wife was a trooper because it pretty much
killed our weekends for about seven years. Well, actually, I
only did two shows the last four years, but I
(09:16):
did the Saturday night show eight years. So I got
my pregame meal, get a little nap, get a little nosh,
and it kind of kiboshed whether you could go to
a concert on Saturday or a ballgame or something. And
I don't begrudge any of that. This is all 1,000%
my choice. But to your point, in addition to being
there on time, Because you have an audience, you're on stage.
You also have a situation where you don't just flip
(09:39):
on the mic. I know you and I don't, some
people might. You don't just flip on the mic and
start talking. You're going to be found out pretty quickly
if you're half-assed in it, right? It's like cheating and solitary.
You're not fooling anybody but yourself. So in addition to
all the things you mentioned, there's preparation, which is all
part of the labor of love, but those things take time.
(09:59):
And once again, you can't be in two spots at the.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Same time yeah 100 and that's the thing you bring
up a good point because i've had people invite me
to like listeners have said hey people work at restaurants
and they're very kind very polite they're like come out
have a meal like i'll do the show from certain cities.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
And i'll travel around be like hey come on out
You know, you don't go on the air till late.
You can have a nice meal. We can go out,
have some drinks.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
And I try to explain, I'm like, I don't just
roll into the studio five minutes before and crank the
mic on.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
That's unfair to my bosses. That's unfair to the people
that are listening to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And all that. And a lot of people think the magic,
it's the theater of the mind, Bernie, that you would
just roll in. I would just roll in there two
minutes before crank on the show. And I have, as
you alluded to, I have worked a long time in radio.
I've worked around people that do that. And you can tell,
(10:55):
you can tell they're just ripping off whatever's on ESPN.com
or whatever. And they didn't do any research and they
didn't find anything unique and you always put so much
work in you you did something different than I do
like I normally just get on and rant and rave
but you lined up people to come on with you
you had a regular stable of people that would join
you on the on the weekend overnight show which is
(11:17):
a lot of work Bernie and I just too much
I give you credit because I don't you know I
don't really have anybody to do that and you did
it on your own and you were able to pull
it off and get those people lined up I I
I just gave up. I used to try stuff like
that years ago, and I was like, ah, it's.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Too much work. I'll just do my own thing, and
then that's it. People loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
It's a unique thing that you got there. How much
time did you spend having to track down the various people?
I know you've had a small group that you've had
in your rotation there, but how much work was that?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Fortunately, not a lot, because I have a cadre of
people who wanted to come on, and it was always
germane to a topic that that that that was prevalent
that weekend so i wanted him one of the rules
i've always had in radio is if you're going to
sign on and talk about a topic you say to
yourself okay why are we talking about this today why
(12:11):
are we talking about this today and so whenever i
would have a guest on that would be a rule
i would give myself why are we talking about this
today So usually I had a cadre of people that
wanted to, but one of the other things that evolved,
and by the way, you don't need to because you
have a provincial locked-in audience who've come to acknowledge and
(12:33):
really look forward to your brand. You take them on
a journey, and you are a harbinger for people who really–
and listen– I had lunch with Jim Lampley, named Rob,
many years ago. He had a midday show, and I
loved it, and I used to drive those 405 freeways
when I lived in California, and it would pass the time.
So the truth of the matter is you're actually providing
(12:53):
a public service. I know that may sound self-aggrandizing, but
it's not. So you don't really need to have those
guests to fulfill your brand. Because I'm on once a week,
I want to have as much meat on the bone
as I could. One evolution that I had in the
past few years– that I was kind of dragged into
kicking and screaming. I had a producer, Ethan Miller, four
(13:16):
years ago. He goes, Bernie, you do a lot of
gambling stuff. Let's see if your listeners, fans, whatever, can
stump you or beat you in betting. So he created
this thing called Bernie's Backyard Bunkin' Bets. They didn't beat
me in betting, but they tried to stump me in trivia. And, and,
and I would only take five or six calls. So
it ended, it had like a 12 week run and
ended and the kid, somebody got a prize and Ethan
(13:38):
took care of that. He goes, all right, you're going
to have to start doing calls at midnight now because
people used to call it. And I said, well, I
don't really want to do that. He goes, no, you're
going to have to. I said, well, I'll try it once.
We got 21 calls the first show. So then I
created a thing called the midnight hour. which is a
formulaic for, you know, you got the last word. So
I would have three, usually very provocative topics that are
(14:01):
more subjective than objective that would get people's ire. So
we could call in and I would say, listen, the
most boring conversations are when we all agree. So listen,
you don't have to agree. So it would always be No,
that's not the right word. It would always be topics
that were highly charged to people they would have opinions on.
(14:22):
And I'll be son of a gun and it works.
And then it was spilling over to one o'clock. So
I did a thing called overtime. And I evolved for
that as well, too. So you kind of find your
own high watermark as you have so effortlessly done over
the last 25 years. And I ended up kind of
doing that as well. And you see what works and
(14:42):
what doesn't work. But at the end of the day,
I wanted it just like you to be a radio
show with commentaries and be a keen observer and have
a situation where you maybe make a cogent point, give
an opening monologue, justify with relevant specifics, use humor, know
(15:03):
when to be irreverent, when not to be irreverent, quotes, stories,
whatever the case may be. And that would feed off
sometimes what would lead in to the midnight hour conversation.
having to do with getting other voices involved. So, yeah,
that part, lining up guests, wasn't too bad. But to
your point, you're taking the audience behind the scenes of
(15:26):
what it takes to create and produce and deliver a
top-notch radio show every time. You're only as good as
your next show.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And there's a communal aspect, as
you referenced here.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
And we share, obviously, you know, your show on Fox
Sports Radio all these years, my show. And so people
that are up at night, a lot of people working
overnight don't stop staying up all night on the weekends.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
And a lot of people are working every day.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Like I've heard from people over the years that they
don't get days off.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
They don't have a weekend.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
They're working overnight and they have a second job on
the weekends and all that.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
And so there's a communal aspect.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
And since you've started taking calls, I have gotten the feedback, Bernie,
from you because a lot of my guys are your guys.
You know, obviously we share this this thing, the opener.
And so it's all mixed into a blender, including Poppy,
who I always.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, San Diego.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah. Well, Poppy's out here. I always hear stories about
Poppy with Bernie. I get those stories. And there's a
couple other guys as well, but Papi's the big one
who loves you.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I tell you, Ben, Manuel and Gardena was a riot.
I got to the point where his calls were so
over the top, I said, I might need to create
an open for this guy. What I would say, every
time he'd call, all right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
please be seated for the entire performance. Here he comes.
He's got balls. I don't want to see him, but
(16:51):
he's got balls. Manuel from Gardena. And he would start
singing my open. That's great. And then he'd not. So, yeah,
what you're really doing is you're providing a vehicle, Ben.
Radio is a very personal medium, as you know. And
we both have listeners on the East Coast, and they
get off their jobs at a bar or they're driving
(17:12):
home or whatever their reasons are, wherever they may be listening.
And I bet you get the same. I thought about
this the other day. Not the other day. I thought
about it a while ago. I've actually gotten calls from Japan,
South Korea, Australia. Several spots in Canada, London, Ireland, and
I always joke, even Detroit. So we got people you'd
(17:35):
never know who's listening in this crazy world we're in
now all around the world.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
And the bully pulpit, too, that at Fox Sports Radio
where it's heard everywhere, it's on the American Forces Network.
We have a lot of listeners on military bases everywhere.
I've gotten many correspondence, whether they call the show or
they'll email me and they're like, hey, you know, I'm
not in the military, but I'm a contractor and we're
staying on the base, you know, in Germany or wherever.
(18:02):
And we listen to your show on the American Forces Network.
And for some reason, I've never quite figured this out.
Nobody at the company has told me. But they put
Fox Sports Radio programming at night, I'm sure your show's
on as well, in places like Perth, Australia, and these
other random places, which is very odd. They put American
Sports Radio on in the evenings. And we've had a
(18:23):
lot of feedback during the week from places in Australia
to the point where I'm like, maybe I should just
go to Australia and see if I can do a
Mahler meet and get Perth, Australia or something crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
You probably could. It's crazy. I had this one guy
from North Carolina, I forget his name. Uh, and then
he moved to London and he said, Hey Bernie, this,
I go, wait, is this the guy from North Carolina?
He goes, yeah, I moved to London. I go, you're kidding.
I go, it's nine 30 in the morning there. He goes, yeah,
it's easier for me now. I can call your show now.
And I said, good. Tell everybody I'm drive time in London.
(18:55):
You know?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
No, I know who that is.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Legally blind.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Christopher.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Is that legal?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
That's him.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
That's him.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
He must love, he must love you. Cause he's from,
he's a Michigan guy, right?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
He's a, Yeah, and I still had a lot of
my old Michigan audience call me, too, because I was
part of the Lions pre- and post-game for 10 years.
It's a small world. Of course, as Stephen Wright would say,
I don't want to paint it, but it's still a
very small world. And there's one other aspect I want
to make sure we get to. I was fortunate over
the last five, six years to be able to sit
(19:29):
in for you 21 times and do your show. And
I consider that to be a privilege because you have
a very discerning audience and you have a very interesting audience.
And it was a privilege for me to do that.
And it was the type of show you got to
be extra on your toes. And it was always a
blast for me to do that when you know, you're
off doing some of the things where you couldn't be
(19:51):
two places at the same time.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And I do appreciate that for a couple of reasons,
because there have been people, Bernie, that have filled in
for me. And I openly admit, unfortunately, many of my
guys do not like when I'm not there and they
they don't handle.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Whoever's in for me very well.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
They there can be kind of douches. And I don't
like that, but they do it. And you've been able
to be great. And there have been people over the
years that have not been able to handle it, that
have run to management screaming and shouting.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
I'm never filling in for Mallory. People are wackadoodles, you know,
the whole, the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
So the fact that you, you were dated a bunch
and I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
I don't take a lot of time off.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So when I do take some time, usually it's forced,
whether it's you know, I've, family commitment I have to
go to, or my wife will be upset with me,
or I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and
I have to take some time off, or whatever it
might be.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
But I do love that you did that.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
And the other thing, too, I wanted to mention this,
because you've, again, you're one of the few people that
can relate to this, Bernie, because you've lived the life,
the weekend overnights, You're not getting garden variety. You're not
getting cookie cutter callers. You know, sometimes let's be honest,
a lot of the shows don't take calls anymore on
radio anyway because the consultants are.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Like, don't talk to the average Joes. Don't talk to
the people, the unwashed. And I love it.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
There are so many great characters out there, but especially,
like I get a lot during the week, but on
the weekend overnights, it's just a different breed.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
On the weekend overnights, the people that.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Call you up and, As you pointed out, everyone's got
a story and all that stuff, and it just cuts
a little different. I know you've done a lot of radio.
You did the Lions postgame. I'm sure people called up
screaming and shouting after the Lions lost by a gazillion
points to the Vikings.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
But to me, it's not the overnight, especially on the weekends.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
And I did that shit for a long time. you're
not getting a bunch of Jags, just a guy. You're
getting something special there.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Whether it's alcohol-infused Bernie or chemically infused by some kind
of drugs or whatever, just a lot of characters. They
gravitate to the radio at night. I know you've taken calls.
You just talked about it.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Any calls in particular that you remember?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You mentioned a couple, Manuel and Gardena and some of
the others there. But is there somebody that called like once?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yes. That stands out?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Well, first of all, you're not wrong about initially you're
going to be introduced to an audience that's completely violating
the laws of circadian rhythms. They're up when they're supposed
to be sleeping, okay?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
And to your point, they may have been heavily into
grandpa's cough syrup that day. They may have been hooked
up to a blender since lunch. And you have that.
But what I found is I think you have too
is that over time– your callers start to mirror your discourse.
And I was shocked at a lot of the really
(22:54):
intelligent callers I would get. Uh, and they would, you know,
some humor, thought provoking things like that. Then I had
my regulars, uh, Jim and Massachusetts. I think another guy,
Andrew in Bakersfield, he's a preacher. He calls your show. Right.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Oh yeah. I've, I've heard.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And, uh, Yeah, yes. And so we have some of
the same regulars. But over time, because I only do
it for the hour, and unfortunately, this always used to
bother me. We were turning calls away. But we'd usually
sneak in about 20 and do the best we could.
(23:34):
You do have some that leave you scratching your head.
But as time went on, that became actually less and less,
believe it or not. And it had been a while
since I'd gotten one that, you know, the FCC would
raise an eyebrow. Really interesting. I got kind of lucky
after a while. Honestly, it didn't happen. I wish I
(23:57):
had a better answer for you. I know there's probably
one or two out there that were off the charts. Occasionally,
not very often, maybe once every six months, someone would
start to say something really ridiculous and you'd say, okay,
thanks for the call. They'd be cut off, right? Because
otherwise you're going down a rabbit hole. So I wish
(24:19):
I could remember more of a distinctive one call. I
know it's going to probably think of it after we,
we terminate this broadcast, but podcast, but it was more
of the people, some of the same people that, that
call your show as well. Some of the ones, uh,
that I've, that I've just, just mentioned. And so, um, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I tell you, I am such a loser. Like with
these people, they're like my family. I know about their lives. I,
when they stopped calling, I get worried. We, we had
for probably 15, maybe not 15 years, but it was
a long time.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
This couple from Bradenton.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Florida, Jack, the judge and Leslie and sweet old couple, Jack, Jack,
the judge, a former federal judge. Leslie was a federal prosecutor.
They lived in Bradenton floor.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
They're from New York and, They'd go visit the grandkids.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I knew when it was time for the Jewish holidays,
they'd be visiting the grandkids.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
And I knew their whole schedule. Almost met them.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
I was visiting my brother in New York a few
years back, and they happened to be on Long Island.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So I was like, hey, let's get together.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But if you know New York, it's not exactly easy
to get from Manhattan to Long Island or vice versa
in rush hour.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Even with the trains and all that. So I didn't
meet him.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
And then about a year ago, Leslie said, hey, we're
going on vacation.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
We're going to like Europe or something. We'll be back.
She felt really bad. And she said, we'll be back
in a couple of weeks. I haven't heard from him.
I've tried to track him down. I feel like it's
this kind of stuff. Like, I don't know what happened
to him.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
I had an email contact for Leslie.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Can't get a hold of her. And certain people stop calling.
You're like, what happened?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
No, no.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
That's very true. And I find out sometimes I can't
get in. I got a guy, Tony, in Miami. He
runs nightclubs. Really a sharp caller. He was the real regular.
And he'd dip in and out. And he'd just say, hey,
I can't get in half the time. His calls were distinctive.
I got this guy, Hugh, on the 5. He's really
a sharp guy. The first time he tried to call,
he was on the 5 freeway. And I get to
(26:16):
him as fast as I can, but sometimes we're on
hold for half an hour. And by the time he
got off the freeway, he said, I'm not on the
freeway anymore. No, you're going to be Hugh on the five.
No matter when you call, you're going to be Hugh
on the five. And he became a regular. Then this
other guy, Spock's Weed in Oregon. He may follow you
on Twitter. Does he call your show, Spock's Weed?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
I don't– he is on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I don't think– He calls in, and his gig is
he knows all these exotic drinks. And so the first
thing I'm saying, what are you drinking tonight? And he'll
come up with this concoction. He must have been a bartender. Hilarious, right?
Crazy stuff. And then I had this guy, Mark in Minnesota,
which is a great caller. And then his brother, Paul,
(26:57):
in North Carolina. It took Paul a year to figure
out his brother was calling my show. So he, when
he'd hear Mark call, he'd call. He goes, oh, Mark's brother.
But I just finally thought of one call that was
out in left field, Ben. Thank you for bringing it up.
We go back to the Olympics in 2024. And there
was a story about a boxer. And this boxer apparently
(27:18):
identified as a female, but was a man and won
a gold medal. So I started to talk about it
on the air, and this guy calls in and goes, well,
you're going to– he got all mad. He goes, you're
going to put your foot in your mouth. It turns
out you need to do some research because this guy
(27:39):
was actually born a woman and passed a DNA. He
starts going off. I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I
could give a flying horse's patoot, buddy, about your life story.
You got something to say, say it. Otherwise, I ain't
got time. And I let him talk for a minute.
That stuck out of my mind. I had a similar
call recently because I ripped the WNBA unmercifully. First of all,
(28:01):
I always say unabashedly, please don't confuse it with a
professional sports league. It's merely an advocacy group, and their
players are activists, okay? So I call this one guy up.
He wants to just rip on Kaitlin Clark. And I said–
he goes, ah, she's nobody. I go, really? She's got
14 WNBA records. Oh, yeah. Well, sure. That's why they're
(28:24):
backcourts leading. It's number two offense. Oh, yeah. He just
repped her. And then at the very end, he goes, well,
Angel Reese is the one with the championship. I said, buddy,
he just wasted a minute and a half of my time.
Why did you say you hate Kaitlyn Clark? I can
deal with that. I don't care. I don't care. So
every now and yeah, it's what I call pacing because
(28:48):
you know what? The people who are out there that
are your fans, they're like, yeah, you know, don't be,
don't be a stooge and just say it and pat
and push and say the most convenient thing. You've got
to be extemporaneous. You got to be authentic and be yourself.
Otherwise people see through that as well.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah, I'm right there in lockstep with the WNBA stuff,
and it's come up a lot the last year or so,
and I agree with you. I think that's a great
way to describe it as their– what you say about
the players, their.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I said don't ever confuse it with the professional sports league.
I mean, they only lost a billion dollars their first
30 years, and thanks to the largest– the four letter
network that writes some big checks and they force feed
them down. You know, it's kind of like the Canadian
football league without the glitter. Who cares? I really, I don't.
And I, I mean that. So what I said, and
I stand by it and I've tweeted it, tweeted it out.
(29:36):
Don't confuse them for a professional sports league. They're merely,
an advocacy group, and their players are activists. Spot the lie.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
No, you're right.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I've said it's like a battlefield for the culture war.
People don't tune in for the games because the games
are not very good. They tune in to hear what
political issue Hot potatoes going to be tossed around the
court and all that. So what is on? You said
you're going to take a break here. Hopefully we'll see
you in January. You'll be back and we can have
you on again and say welcome back. And where did
(30:10):
you go? What is on Bernie's bucket list? You have
like a places you said you're going to do a
lot of traveling with the wife and you're going to
go around and all that. Are there a few places
you're dying to get to that you haven't been to
yet that you've got planned or you're thinking about planning
here coming up?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
In the next four months, the two main ones are
the Hall of Fame, which we're going in Cooperstown, which
shame on me. I've never been to. We're going September
29th and a couple of days in that week, the
Lions are opening up the new stadium in Buffalo. My
wife and I are going to go to go to
that game. But this trip will be primarily family. I
(30:45):
know we're planning a trip to Italy next year, late 2027.
And there's some other places around the globe, et cetera.
But for these 40 months, check that, four months, it's
primarily going to be just family stuff. And it's going
to be kind of like, well, I lived 17 years
in Michigan, loved it. Actually, I was born there, moved
to California when I was five. My dear mother went
(31:06):
to the University of Michigan. And then on a fluke,
had a chance to go back in 93, opportunity couldn't
pass up, stayed 17 years. So I always joke, I've
lived a third of my life in California, a third
of my life in Michigan, and now a third of
my life in Vegas, or half my life, whatever the case.
So the next four months, not a lot of bucket
list stuff other than the Cooperstown and the Buffalo and
(31:27):
family stuff. But one last thing, if I could digress,
because I'm glad you brought up the WNBA. That was
one of my topics just this past week. Two or
three years ago, Clay Travis offered a million dollars for
a high school team to play the Las Vegas Aces,
and the Aces refused. And he upped it to 10
million recently, and the Aces won't play him. And I said,
(31:49):
I know why. They'll lose by 20. They're not going
to beat a high school boys champion. They're not going to.
So I put that out there, and there were actually
some people. I don't know if you have Jerome and
Charleston calls you. Does he call you? Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
He's very angry.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
He hates anyone that makes any money, and he's very
angry about a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
He's one of my regulars, and he said, Bernie, there
are pros. I go, there are women. What's wrong with you, Jerome?
I said, Jerome. Jerome, were you raised– were you homeschooled
by a day drinker? They're not, and what happened was
(32:28):
it kind of formed this relationship because I talked back
to him, but I'd always let him off the hook.
So out of like all the calls we took, he
was the only one who said he thought the women
would win. Most of them said, come on, Bernie, this
is a joke. The one caller said, why would they
play him? It doesn't prove anything. I said, oh, contraire,
I think it would. If they beat Bishop Gorman here
(32:50):
in Las Vegas, they're not even state champs. They'd shut
some people up, and I would actually give them their due.
The thing is, they ain't going to do it. It
ain't happening no way, no how. The boys' team would
beat them by 20. The U15 soccer team beat the
Alex Morgan team back in 2015 5-2. it's been reported
(33:13):
on since people can find it. And Alex Morgan, they're
actually pretty good about it. They go, yeah, you know what?
They were better than us. They actually kind of made
us better and exposed some flaws. So a U15 boys
team from Dallas, club soccer team, beat the World Cup
women's soccer team featuring Alex Morgan. This state high school
championship team would be worse, okay? They'd be worse. Ben,
(33:37):
you're in SoCal. You really think modern-day football wouldn't beat
or Sierra Canyon. I can name 20 schools, St. John Bosco.
You really think they wouldn't beat the aces?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
Not, not you. I, yeah, I mean, I would, I
would be surprised based on what I've seen. If that
were to be the case, I got a great Jerome
and Charleston brief story. So a couple of years ago,
This guy, Barry, who's a big fan of mine and
he lives, I think he just moved out of South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
I think he's moving to Tennessee, but he was.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Living in South Carolina. My niece graduated. She lives in Charleston.
She went to school there. So she graduated. We had
a big celebration.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
So I was in Charleston.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
So usually what happens is when I travel somewhere for
family stuff, I'll try to squeeze in a Malheur meet
and greet or something like that and meet some fans
of the show. And It's my barnstorming thing that I've
been doing for a long time. So the hardest part
is to find a venue. So this guy Barry put.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
A venue together. It's a nice bar there in Charleston,
really cool spot. So I invited all listeners.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
And Jerome in Charleston lived a couple, like a mile
maybe away from the establishment. So I'm like, hey, Jerome,
you got to come down here. I'll buy you a sandwich,
you know, come on down and hand to God here.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Bernie, he did not show up.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
I was literally like less than a mile away from
where he lived, and he didn't show up. He said
it was like too much hassle for him to show up.
That's the beauty of Jerome and Charleston, though. He's a curmudgeon.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
And and all that. And that's how he rolls. All right.
And you're still going to be on X.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Right. But I know you're taking the sabbatical and hopefully
you'll be back in January or down the line at
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
But you'll still people can still see you.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
You'll be sending out we'd be sending out firebombs on
social media. Are you going to shut that down also?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I will be all over Twitter like a hobo on
a ham sandwich. And Jason McIntyre, Colin's sidekick, every year
right before the NFL season starts, he has me on
to do an NFL preview show from a betting standpoint.
We're going to do that next Monday. I just talked
to Rob G. And I'll be around, my friend. I'm
just going to be off in the shadows. And it's
(35:43):
really funny because your life starts to flash before your
eyes a little bit. And I'll never forget– WTK in
Ann Arbor in 1994. I'm just getting started. My first
credential is in my book. We're watching the OJ chase
with no sound. And the press box at Tiger Stadium.
(36:05):
And I'm like, what's going on? And then David Gascon
comes on, and I can't hear what he's saying. So
that night when I got home, I heard it, and
then lo and behold, David Gascon, your producer, right? Funny
how it works. So I started out doing features because
I mentored under Dick Schaap for three years, and I
wrote a lot of features, and we corresponded on a
lot of projects together. And that was my start that
(36:26):
I started covering baseball. Then I pitched a Sunday show,
and my first PD, Mike Solon, was an old crusty guy.
And he looked at me and he says, you know,
you've done some good work, but why should I give
you your own show? I said, Mike, if a priest
can be a marriage counselor, I can have a radio show.
And he said, OK, we're going to give it a try.
(36:46):
And it worked. And we went from there. So your
life starts to flash for you. No, I don't want
to be done like that. So but like I said,
now that we've come full circle, as you all know, Ben,
you're a family guy, too. You get it. People get it.
People have been wonderful people. But as far as Twitter
and all the other stuff, yes, sir. And I'm very
appreciative and humbled by the fact you would have me
(37:10):
on today.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Well, I appreciate it, Bernie. I love you, man.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
And I'm happy for you. Enjoy Michigan. Enjoy the grandkids.
And we will chat, I'm sure, again. And we'll hopefully
hear you back on Fox Sports Radio down the line.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Thanks for your time, Bernie. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
God bless you the best. That's right, you heard the man.
The Ben Maller Show keeps rolling right along. My name
is Ben Maller. My name is sheesh. Good night, folks.
You've been a great audience. My name is Bernie Fratto.
I'm in for Ben Maller.
If you thought four hours a day, 1,200 minutes a
week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole bastion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the rich
pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The clearinghouse of hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now. In
the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with me, Ben Maller.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
And you as I toss my two cents into the
audio dojo on this Friday, the day before the big event.
You say, well, what is the big event? Well, the
Maller meet and greet in Lost Wages, Nevada. Unless you've
been living under a rock or been comatose, we've been
(00:57):
promoting the hell out of this thing pretty much every
hour for the last month. We've been lining up the
date for tomorrow. And you are cordially invited. And it's
likely too late if you haven't already made plans to
be part of this thing.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
But the Big Mallard meet and greet.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thanks to our buddy Slug, who is making this a possibility.
And the whole gang will be there. Me and Lorena
and Coop, everyone there here tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Now, today's the 28th.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Tomorrow, the 29th at the Steakout Bar and Grill from
3 o'clock till 5 o'clock in Vegas. We'll be hanging out.
Can't wait to see everyone. A lot of you come
to this thing every year. We'll be some new people.
We'll see some new people who are going to be there.
So we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow.
I wanted to do something a little different today. Big
(01:51):
news in radio, everyone yapping about it. If you miss
the announcement, our guy, my guy, Bernie, Bernie Frato, longtime
colleague of mine at Fox sports radio and a radio friend, uh,
Known Bernie for a while.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Great storyteller.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And he is stepping away from the microphones of Fox
Sports Radio. He announced it earlier this week on social media.
And so we're going to say hello to him on
his way out the door. He's heading to Michigan to
enjoy some time with the family. And we welcome in
now to the 5th Hour Podcast. Something we don't do
(02:32):
very often anymore. My friend Bernie Frato joins us here.
And Bernie, let's start with this.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Why?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Why did you decide? I know it's very difficult.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Why did you decide to hit the pause button on
the radio show?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, first of all, pleasure to be on with the incomparable,
inimitable Ben Maller. And I've been very fortunate to have
been with Fox for nine years and been in the
radio industry for 32 years. CBS Radio in Detroit, 10
years lying free in post. ESPN here in Las Vegas.
Started out in Ann Arbor back in 94. Cut my
(03:06):
teeth during the baseball strike. Got to do a lot
of work. The direct answer to your question is, Ben,
you get to sometimes a point in life and you
realize you can't climb two mountains at the same time.
And in my nine years at Fox, my life's changed
a lot. I lost both my parents inside of 11 months.
I have six grandkids now. And the fuse was lit
(03:28):
two years ago this month when I got a call
from my grandson, Jackson, 27, eight years old. I said,
pop up. I'm going to play football this year. I said, man,
that's great. Jackson, you're going to be a wide receiver.
That's what his dad was. That's what I was. No, no, no.
Pop up. I'm going to be QB. Eight weeks later,
I find out he scored 10 touchdowns and had a
pick six. I didn't see one game. He's in Grand Rapids.
(03:50):
I have three grandkids in Grand Rapids and three in Houston.
And that was a flag. And I realized over the
next few months, I'd missed funerals. I'd missed weddings. I'd
missed one-in-a-lifetime events. So I vacated my Friday show, keeping
my Saturday show. And then the intensity of my schedule
started to continue. And... My wife and I said, why
(04:15):
don't we spend the fall in Michigan? I said, yeah,
I'll buy a Comrex NX. We'll just do the show
from back there. And so last April, I was putting
everything together and I hooked it up at the resort
where it wasn't working. And I called Kearse, our engineer,
great guy. And he was on with the engineer of
the resort, giving him codes for the firewall. And it
(04:39):
wasn't working. And I'm like, okay, what's going on here?
And then I started to look at the logistics and
all the things we're going to be doing while we're
back there. I'm going to go see the Lions play
Buffalo in a new stadium, go to the Hall of Fame.
I said, oh, my God, it's hitting me in the face.
I'm not going to be able to do both. So
over the next few months, we started to put the
pieces together. And I had a great talk with our
(05:02):
esteemed boss, VP Scott Shapiro, about six weeks ago. He
completely understood. I said, I'm treating this as a sabbatical,
and we'll see what happens in January. I'm not thinking
about that right now. So I hope that answers your
question without being too long-winded. But those are the details,
my friend.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Well, yeah, and I know from doing the shift and
just doing radio in general, as a fellow radio professional,
you've got to be there.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It's very important to be there.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
And I know from doing the weekend overnight show, and
you're one of, I was thinking about this when I
was chatting with you about coming on the podcast.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I know you've been on before, but you're one of
a handful.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Of people who, That can relate to doing the weekend
overnight shift. And it got to the point where I
started doing that. I began my tenure at Fox Sports Radio.
I think I was like 25 or something like that.
And I used to get invited to parties. And a
lot of the parties in LA were, believe it or not,
(06:02):
I mean, why would anyone invite me? But I would
go like on Friday and Saturday, you know, and I
was working Friday and Saturday doing the overnight shift at Fox.
And eventually people stop inviting you. Now, fortunately, family generally
does not stop inviting you unless you piss them off.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
But people would stop inviting me to things. And I
was like, oh, man, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And I, you know, it's, listen, there are worse problems
to have, right? These things, you have to balance everything
in life. And you learn that as you get older and.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
What's important, what's not important, all that.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
But the weekend overnight cuts a little different because that's
when most people are doing things. And there's sporting events
for your, as you said, your grandkids and things like that.
And so the amount of things you have to give up,
step away from, I think it's. It's just something people
don't understand because it's like it does not end. You
have to be there. And if you're not there, you know,
(06:52):
it's like, well, you know, us people on radio, very paranoid, right, Bernie?
The people that do this for a living, that are
old school radio guys, you're like, I got to be
there and I'm not there. It's a nightmare. So I
totally get what you're saying. I feel like you're my
radio brother from a different mother, Bernie. I feel like that.
You've worked the.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Radio dial all these years. You've been in longer than
I've been in.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Well, I think actually we've been about the same, but
it's been a long time. We've both been in the
business a long time, and I'm excited for you. And
probably you'll be back. You know, it's in your blood, right, Bernie?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's in your blood.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well, it's very much in my blood. I would say this.
You just took people behind the curtain just between me
and you and no one else. Any person who's ever
gotten behind the mic... is not being honest with themselves.
If they don't have a little bit of that Wally
Pip in the back of their, hey, I better be
on today. They're always looking for your replacement. There's millions
of people that would kill to do this job, blah, blah, blah.
(07:48):
And you bring up a great point about, you know,
you weren't able to go to those functions. You weren't
able to go to those parties because you've got an obligation. And,
you know, all people, you know, there's dignity in every job.
I don't care where you work. But if you don't
show up on time on radio, you might have a
million people here. You're not there. And that's not good. Now,
there's one other aspect to this, Ben, and I know
(08:09):
you can relate to this as anybody. It's not just
doing the four-hour solo. You've got to prepare. If you
want to provide content and you want to be a
keen observer and a great storyteller and build an audience
and keep that audience, because we have one unique aspect
about overnight radio. I don't think we have people tuning
in and tuning out every 15 minutes like regular radio.
(08:32):
In lunar times, there are people that will lock on
for the whole four hours, and they'll let you know it.
So you got to prepare. And I always wanted to over-prepare.
So that means in addition to doing a four-hour show, honestly,
I prepare on average about 10 hours a week. And
then you have to have your energy. You can't get
to that third or fourth hour and sign on and
(08:54):
sound like you just took 10 Valium and washed it
down with some Crown Royal. You can't sound that way.
You have to bring the energy, right? So it's an
acquired profession. Not everybody can do it. And the other thing, too,
is my wife was a trooper because it pretty much
killed our weekends for about seven years. Well, actually, I
only did two shows the last four years, but I
(09:16):
did the Saturday night show eight years. So I got
my pregame meal, get a little nap, get a little nosh,
and it kind of kiboshed whether you could go to
a concert on Saturday or a ballgame or something. And
I don't begrudge any of that. This is all 1,000%
my choice. But to your point, in addition to being
there on time, Because you have an audience, you're on stage.
You also have a situation where you don't just flip
(09:39):
on the mic. I know you and I don't, some
people might. You don't just flip on the mic and
start talking. You're going to be found out pretty quickly
if you're half-assed in it, right? It's like cheating and solitary.
You're not fooling anybody but yourself. So in addition to
all the things you mentioned, there's preparation, which is all
part of the labor of love, but those things take time.
(09:59):
And once again, you can't be in two spots at the.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Same time yeah 100 and that's the thing you bring
up a good point because i've had people invite me
to like listeners have said hey people work at restaurants
and they're very kind very polite they're like come out
have a meal like i'll do the show from certain cities.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
And i'll travel around be like hey come on out
You know, you don't go on the air till late.
You can have a nice meal. We can go out,
have some drinks.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
And I try to explain, I'm like, I don't just
roll into the studio five minutes before and crank the
mic on.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
That's unfair to my bosses. That's unfair to the people
that are listening to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And all that. And a lot of people think the magic,
it's the theater of the mind, Bernie, that you would
just roll in. I would just roll in there two
minutes before crank on the show. And I have, as
you alluded to, I have worked a long time in radio.
I've worked around people that do that. And you can tell,
(10:55):
you can tell they're just ripping off whatever's on ESPN.com
or whatever. And they didn't do any research and they
didn't find anything unique and you always put so much
work in you you did something different than I do
like I normally just get on and rant and rave
but you lined up people to come on with you
you had a regular stable of people that would join
you on the on the weekend overnight show which is
(11:17):
a lot of work Bernie and I just too much
I give you credit because I don't you know I
don't really have anybody to do that and you did
it on your own and you were able to pull
it off and get those people lined up I I
I just gave up. I used to try stuff like
that years ago, and I was like, ah, it's.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Too much work. I'll just do my own thing, and
then that's it. People loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
It's a unique thing that you got there. How much
time did you spend having to track down the various people?
I know you've had a small group that you've had
in your rotation there, but how much work was that?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Fortunately, not a lot, because I have a cadre of
people who wanted to come on, and it was always
germane to a topic that that that that was prevalent
that weekend so i wanted him one of the rules
i've always had in radio is if you're going to
sign on and talk about a topic you say to
yourself okay why are we talking about this today why
(12:11):
are we talking about this today and so whenever i
would have a guest on that would be a rule
i would give myself why are we talking about this
today So usually I had a cadre of people that
wanted to, but one of the other things that evolved,
and by the way, you don't need to because you
have a provincial locked-in audience who've come to acknowledge and
(12:33):
really look forward to your brand. You take them on
a journey, and you are a harbinger for people who really–
and listen– I had lunch with Jim Lampley, named Rob,
many years ago. He had a midday show, and I
loved it, and I used to drive those 405 freeways
when I lived in California, and it would pass the time.
So the truth of the matter is you're actually providing
(12:53):
a public service. I know that may sound self-aggrandizing, but
it's not. So you don't really need to have those
guests to fulfill your brand. Because I'm on once a week,
I want to have as much meat on the bone
as I could. One evolution that I had in the
past few years– that I was kind of dragged into
kicking and screaming. I had a producer, Ethan Miller, four
(13:16):
years ago. He goes, Bernie, you do a lot of
gambling stuff. Let's see if your listeners, fans, whatever, can
stump you or beat you in betting. So he created
this thing called Bernie's Backyard Bunkin' Bets. They didn't beat
me in betting, but they tried to stump me in trivia. And, and,
and I would only take five or six calls. So
it ended, it had like a 12 week run and
ended and the kid, somebody got a prize and Ethan
(13:38):
took care of that. He goes, all right, you're going
to have to start doing calls at midnight now because
people used to call it. And I said, well, I
don't really want to do that. He goes, no, you're
going to have to. I said, well, I'll try it once.
We got 21 calls the first show. So then I
created a thing called the midnight hour. which is a
formulaic for, you know, you got the last word. So
I would have three, usually very provocative topics that are
(14:01):
more subjective than objective that would get people's ire. So
we could call in and I would say, listen, the
most boring conversations are when we all agree. So listen,
you don't have to agree. So it would always be No,
that's not the right word. It would always be topics
that were highly charged to people they would have opinions on.
(14:22):
And I'll be son of a gun and it works.
And then it was spilling over to one o'clock. So
I did a thing called overtime. And I evolved for
that as well, too. So you kind of find your
own high watermark as you have so effortlessly done over
the last 25 years. And I ended up kind of
doing that as well. And you see what works and
(14:42):
what doesn't work. But at the end of the day,
I wanted it just like you to be a radio
show with commentaries and be a keen observer and have
a situation where you maybe make a cogent point, give
an opening monologue, justify with relevant specifics, use humor, know
(15:03):
when to be irreverent, when not to be irreverent, quotes, stories,
whatever the case may be. And that would feed off
sometimes what would lead in to the midnight hour conversation.
having to do with getting other voices involved. So, yeah,
that part, lining up guests, wasn't too bad. But to
your point, you're taking the audience behind the scenes of
(15:26):
what it takes to create and produce and deliver a
top-notch radio show every time. You're only as good as
your next show.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And there's a communal aspect, as
you referenced here.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
And we share, obviously, you know, your show on Fox
Sports Radio all these years, my show. And so people
that are up at night, a lot of people working
overnight don't stop staying up all night on the weekends.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
And a lot of people are working every day.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Like I've heard from people over the years that they
don't get days off.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
They don't have a weekend.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
They're working overnight and they have a second job on
the weekends and all that.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
And so there's a communal aspect.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
And since you've started taking calls, I have gotten the feedback, Bernie,
from you because a lot of my guys are your guys.
You know, obviously we share this this thing, the opener.
And so it's all mixed into a blender, including Poppy,
who I always.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, San Diego.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah. Well, Poppy's out here. I always hear stories about
Poppy with Bernie. I get those stories. And there's a
couple other guys as well, but Papi's the big one
who loves you.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I tell you, Ben, Manuel and Gardena was a riot.
I got to the point where his calls were so
over the top, I said, I might need to create
an open for this guy. What I would say, every
time he'd call, all right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
please be seated for the entire performance. Here he comes.
He's got balls. I don't want to see him, but
(16:51):
he's got balls. Manuel from Gardena. And he would start
singing my open. That's great. And then he'd not. So, yeah,
what you're really doing is you're providing a vehicle, Ben.
Radio is a very personal medium, as you know. And
we both have listeners on the East Coast, and they
get off their jobs at a bar or they're driving
(17:12):
home or whatever their reasons are, wherever they may be listening.
And I bet you get the same. I thought about
this the other day. Not the other day. I thought
about it a while ago. I've actually gotten calls from Japan,
South Korea, Australia. Several spots in Canada, London, Ireland, and
I always joke, even Detroit. So we got people you'd
(17:35):
never know who's listening in this crazy world we're in
now all around the world.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
And the bully pulpit, too, that at Fox Sports Radio
where it's heard everywhere, it's on the American Forces Network.
We have a lot of listeners on military bases everywhere.
I've gotten many correspondence, whether they call the show or
they'll email me and they're like, hey, you know, I'm
not in the military, but I'm a contractor and we're
staying on the base, you know, in Germany or wherever.
(18:02):
And we listen to your show on the American Forces Network.
And for some reason, I've never quite figured this out.
Nobody at the company has told me. But they put
Fox Sports Radio programming at night, I'm sure your show's
on as well, in places like Perth, Australia, and these
other random places, which is very odd. They put American
Sports Radio on in the evenings. And we've had a
(18:23):
lot of feedback during the week from places in Australia
to the point where I'm like, maybe I should just
go to Australia and see if I can do a
Mahler meet and get Perth, Australia or something crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
You probably could. It's crazy. I had this one guy
from North Carolina, I forget his name. Uh, and then
he moved to London and he said, Hey Bernie, this,
I go, wait, is this the guy from North Carolina?
He goes, yeah, I moved to London. I go, you're kidding.
I go, it's nine 30 in the morning there. He goes, yeah,
it's easier for me now. I can call your show now.
And I said, good. Tell everybody I'm drive time in London.
(18:55):
You know?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
No, I know who that is.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Legally blind.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Christopher.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Is that legal?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
That's him.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
That's him.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
He must love, he must love you. Cause he's from,
he's a Michigan guy, right?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
He's a, Yeah, and I still had a lot of
my old Michigan audience call me, too, because I was
part of the Lions pre- and post-game for 10 years.
It's a small world. Of course, as Stephen Wright would say,
I don't want to paint it, but it's still a
very small world. And there's one other aspect I want
to make sure we get to. I was fortunate over
the last five, six years to be able to sit
(19:29):
in for you 21 times and do your show. And
I consider that to be a privilege because you have
a very discerning audience and you have a very interesting audience.
And it was a privilege for me to do that.
And it was the type of show you got to
be extra on your toes. And it was always a
blast for me to do that when you know, you're
off doing some of the things where you couldn't be
(19:51):
two places at the same time.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And I do appreciate that for a couple of reasons,
because there have been people, Bernie, that have filled in
for me. And I openly admit, unfortunately, many of my
guys do not like when I'm not there and they
they don't handle.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Whoever's in for me very well.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
They there can be kind of douches. And I don't
like that, but they do it. And you've been able
to be great. And there have been people over the
years that have not been able to handle it, that
have run to management screaming and shouting.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
I'm never filling in for Mallory. People are wackadoodles, you know,
the whole, the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
So the fact that you, you were dated a bunch
and I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
I don't take a lot of time off.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So when I do take some time, usually it's forced,
whether it's you know, I've, family commitment I have to
go to, or my wife will be upset with me,
or I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and
I have to take some time off, or whatever it
might be.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
But I do love that you did that.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
And the other thing, too, I wanted to mention this,
because you've, again, you're one of the few people that
can relate to this, Bernie, because you've lived the life,
the weekend overnights, You're not getting garden variety. You're not
getting cookie cutter callers. You know, sometimes let's be honest,
a lot of the shows don't take calls anymore on
radio anyway because the consultants are.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Like, don't talk to the average Joes. Don't talk to
the people, the unwashed. And I love it.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
There are so many great characters out there, but especially,
like I get a lot during the week, but on
the weekend overnights, it's just a different breed.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
On the weekend overnights, the people that.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Call you up and, As you pointed out, everyone's got
a story and all that stuff, and it just cuts
a little different. I know you've done a lot of radio.
You did the Lions postgame. I'm sure people called up
screaming and shouting after the Lions lost by a gazillion
points to the Vikings.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
But to me, it's not the overnight, especially on the weekends.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
And I did that shit for a long time. you're
not getting a bunch of Jags, just a guy. You're
getting something special there.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Whether it's alcohol-infused Bernie or chemically infused by some kind
of drugs or whatever, just a lot of characters. They
gravitate to the radio at night. I know you've taken calls.
You just talked about it.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Any calls in particular that you remember?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You mentioned a couple, Manuel and Gardena and some of
the others there. But is there somebody that called like once?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yes. That stands out?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Well, first of all, you're not wrong about initially you're
going to be introduced to an audience that's completely violating
the laws of circadian rhythms. They're up when they're supposed
to be sleeping, okay?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
And to your point, they may have been heavily into
grandpa's cough syrup that day. They may have been hooked
up to a blender since lunch. And you have that.
But what I found is I think you have too
is that over time– your callers start to mirror your discourse.
And I was shocked at a lot of the really
(22:54):
intelligent callers I would get. Uh, and they would, you know,
some humor, thought provoking things like that. Then I had
my regulars, uh, Jim and Massachusetts. I think another guy,
Andrew in Bakersfield, he's a preacher. He calls your show. Right.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Oh yeah. I've, I've heard.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And, uh, Yeah, yes. And so we have some of
the same regulars. But over time, because I only do
it for the hour, and unfortunately, this always used to
bother me. We were turning calls away. But we'd usually
sneak in about 20 and do the best we could.
(23:34):
You do have some that leave you scratching your head.
But as time went on, that became actually less and less,
believe it or not. And it had been a while
since I'd gotten one that, you know, the FCC would
raise an eyebrow. Really interesting. I got kind of lucky
after a while. Honestly, it didn't happen. I wish I
(23:57):
had a better answer for you. I know there's probably
one or two out there that were off the charts. Occasionally,
not very often, maybe once every six months, someone would
start to say something really ridiculous and you'd say, okay,
thanks for the call. They'd be cut off, right? Because
otherwise you're going down a rabbit hole. So I wish
(24:19):
I could remember more of a distinctive one call. I
know it's going to probably think of it after we,
we terminate this broadcast, but podcast, but it was more
of the people, some of the same people that, that
call your show as well. Some of the ones, uh,
that I've, that I've just, just mentioned. And so, um, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I tell you, I am such a loser. Like with
these people, they're like my family. I know about their lives. I,
when they stopped calling, I get worried. We, we had
for probably 15, maybe not 15 years, but it was
a long time.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
This couple from Bradenton.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Florida, Jack, the judge and Leslie and sweet old couple, Jack, Jack,
the judge, a former federal judge. Leslie was a federal prosecutor.
They lived in Bradenton floor.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
They're from New York and, They'd go visit the grandkids.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I knew when it was time for the Jewish holidays,
they'd be visiting the grandkids.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
And I knew their whole schedule. Almost met them.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
I was visiting my brother in New York a few
years back, and they happened to be on Long Island.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So I was like, hey, let's get together.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But if you know New York, it's not exactly easy
to get from Manhattan to Long Island or vice versa
in rush hour.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Even with the trains and all that. So I didn't
meet him.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
And then about a year ago, Leslie said, hey, we're
going on vacation.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
We're going to like Europe or something. We'll be back.
She felt really bad. And she said, we'll be back
in a couple of weeks. I haven't heard from him.
I've tried to track him down. I feel like it's
this kind of stuff. Like, I don't know what happened
to him.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
I had an email contact for Leslie.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Can't get a hold of her. And certain people stop calling.
You're like, what happened?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
No, no.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
That's very true. And I find out sometimes I can't
get in. I got a guy, Tony, in Miami. He
runs nightclubs. Really a sharp caller. He was the real regular.
And he'd dip in and out. And he'd just say, hey,
I can't get in half the time. His calls were distinctive.
I got this guy, Hugh, on the 5. He's really
a sharp guy. The first time he tried to call,
he was on the 5 freeway. And I get to
(26:16):
him as fast as I can, but sometimes we're on
hold for half an hour. And by the time he
got off the freeway, he said, I'm not on the
freeway anymore. No, you're going to be Hugh on the five.
No matter when you call, you're going to be Hugh
on the five. And he became a regular. Then this
other guy, Spock's Weed in Oregon. He may follow you
on Twitter. Does he call your show, Spock's Weed?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
I don't– he is on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I don't think– He calls in, and his gig is
he knows all these exotic drinks. And so the first
thing I'm saying, what are you drinking tonight? And he'll
come up with this concoction. He must have been a bartender. Hilarious, right?
Crazy stuff. And then I had this guy, Mark in Minnesota,
which is a great caller. And then his brother, Paul,
(26:57):
in North Carolina. It took Paul a year to figure
out his brother was calling my show. So he, when
he'd hear Mark call, he'd call. He goes, oh, Mark's brother.
But I just finally thought of one call that was
out in left field, Ben. Thank you for bringing it up.
We go back to the Olympics in 2024. And there
was a story about a boxer. And this boxer apparently
(27:18):
identified as a female, but was a man and won
a gold medal. So I started to talk about it
on the air, and this guy calls in and goes, well,
you're going to– he got all mad. He goes, you're
going to put your foot in your mouth. It turns
out you need to do some research because this guy
(27:39):
was actually born a woman and passed a DNA. He
starts going off. I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I
could give a flying horse's patoot, buddy, about your life story.
You got something to say, say it. Otherwise, I ain't
got time. And I let him talk for a minute.
That stuck out of my mind. I had a similar
call recently because I ripped the WNBA unmercifully. First of all,
(28:01):
I always say unabashedly, please don't confuse it with a
professional sports league. It's merely an advocacy group, and their
players are activists, okay? So I call this one guy up.
He wants to just rip on Kaitlin Clark. And I said–
he goes, ah, she's nobody. I go, really? She's got
14 WNBA records. Oh, yeah. Well, sure. That's why they're
(28:24):
backcourts leading. It's number two offense. Oh, yeah. He just
repped her. And then at the very end, he goes, well,
Angel Reese is the one with the championship. I said, buddy,
he just wasted a minute and a half of my time.
Why did you say you hate Kaitlyn Clark? I can
deal with that. I don't care. I don't care. So
every now and yeah, it's what I call pacing because
(28:48):
you know what? The people who are out there that
are your fans, they're like, yeah, you know, don't be,
don't be a stooge and just say it and pat
and push and say the most convenient thing. You've got
to be extemporaneous. You got to be authentic and be yourself.
Otherwise people see through that as well.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah, I'm right there in lockstep with the WNBA stuff,
and it's come up a lot the last year or so,
and I agree with you. I think that's a great
way to describe it as their– what you say about
the players, their.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I said don't ever confuse it with the professional sports league.
I mean, they only lost a billion dollars their first
30 years, and thanks to the largest– the four letter
network that writes some big checks and they force feed
them down. You know, it's kind of like the Canadian
football league without the glitter. Who cares? I really, I don't.
And I, I mean that. So what I said, and
I stand by it and I've tweeted it, tweeted it out.
(29:36):
Don't confuse them for a professional sports league. They're merely,
an advocacy group, and their players are activists. Spot the lie.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
No, you're right.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I've said it's like a battlefield for the culture war.
People don't tune in for the games because the games
are not very good. They tune in to hear what
political issue Hot potatoes going to be tossed around the
court and all that. So what is on? You said
you're going to take a break here. Hopefully we'll see
you in January. You'll be back and we can have
you on again and say welcome back. And where did
(30:10):
you go? What is on Bernie's bucket list? You have
like a places you said you're going to do a
lot of traveling with the wife and you're going to
go around and all that. Are there a few places
you're dying to get to that you haven't been to
yet that you've got planned or you're thinking about planning
here coming up?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
In the next four months, the two main ones are
the Hall of Fame, which we're going in Cooperstown, which
shame on me. I've never been to. We're going September
29th and a couple of days in that week, the
Lions are opening up the new stadium in Buffalo. My
wife and I are going to go to go to
that game. But this trip will be primarily family. I
(30:45):
know we're planning a trip to Italy next year, late 2027.
And there's some other places around the globe, et cetera.
But for these 40 months, check that, four months, it's
primarily going to be just family stuff. And it's going
to be kind of like, well, I lived 17 years
in Michigan, loved it. Actually, I was born there, moved
to California when I was five. My dear mother went
(31:06):
to the University of Michigan. And then on a fluke,
had a chance to go back in 93, opportunity couldn't
pass up, stayed 17 years. So I always joke, I've
lived a third of my life in California, a third
of my life in Michigan, and now a third of
my life in Vegas, or half my life, whatever the case.
So the next four months, not a lot of bucket
list stuff other than the Cooperstown and the Buffalo and
(31:27):
family stuff. But one last thing, if I could digress,
because I'm glad you brought up the WNBA. That was
one of my topics just this past week. Two or
three years ago, Clay Travis offered a million dollars for
a high school team to play the Las Vegas Aces,
and the Aces refused. And he upped it to 10
million recently, and the Aces won't play him. And I said,
(31:49):
I know why. They'll lose by 20. They're not going
to beat a high school boys champion. They're not going to.
So I put that out there, and there were actually
some people. I don't know if you have Jerome and
Charleston calls you. Does he call you? Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
He's very angry.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
He hates anyone that makes any money, and he's very
angry about a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
He's one of my regulars, and he said, Bernie, there
are pros. I go, there are women. What's wrong with you, Jerome?
I said, Jerome. Jerome, were you raised– were you homeschooled
by a day drinker? They're not, and what happened was
(32:28):
it kind of formed this relationship because I talked back
to him, but I'd always let him off the hook.
So out of like all the calls we took, he
was the only one who said he thought the women
would win. Most of them said, come on, Bernie, this
is a joke. The one caller said, why would they
play him? It doesn't prove anything. I said, oh, contraire,
I think it would. If they beat Bishop Gorman here
(32:50):
in Las Vegas, they're not even state champs. They'd shut
some people up, and I would actually give them their due.
The thing is, they ain't going to do it. It
ain't happening no way, no how. The boys' team would
beat them by 20. The U15 soccer team beat the
Alex Morgan team back in 2015 5-2. it's been reported
(33:13):
on since people can find it. And Alex Morgan, they're
actually pretty good about it. They go, yeah, you know what?
They were better than us. They actually kind of made
us better and exposed some flaws. So a U15 boys
team from Dallas, club soccer team, beat the World Cup
women's soccer team featuring Alex Morgan. This state high school
championship team would be worse, okay? They'd be worse. Ben,
(33:37):
you're in SoCal. You really think modern-day football wouldn't beat
or Sierra Canyon. I can name 20 schools, St. John Bosco.
You really think they wouldn't beat the aces?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
Not, not you. I, yeah, I mean, I would, I
would be surprised based on what I've seen. If that
were to be the case, I got a great Jerome
and Charleston brief story. So a couple of years ago,
This guy, Barry, who's a big fan of mine and
he lives, I think he just moved out of South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
I think he's moving to Tennessee, but he was.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Living in South Carolina. My niece graduated. She lives in Charleston.
She went to school there. So she graduated. We had
a big celebration.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
So I was in Charleston.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
So usually what happens is when I travel somewhere for
family stuff, I'll try to squeeze in a Malheur meet
and greet or something like that and meet some fans
of the show. And It's my barnstorming thing that I've
been doing for a long time. So the hardest part
is to find a venue. So this guy Barry put.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
A venue together. It's a nice bar there in Charleston,
really cool spot. So I invited all listeners.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
And Jerome in Charleston lived a couple, like a mile
maybe away from the establishment. So I'm like, hey, Jerome,
you got to come down here. I'll buy you a sandwich,
you know, come on down and hand to God here.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Bernie, he did not show up.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
I was literally like less than a mile away from
where he lived, and he didn't show up. He said
it was like too much hassle for him to show up.
That's the beauty of Jerome and Charleston, though. He's a curmudgeon.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
And and all that. And that's how he rolls. All right.
And you're still going to be on X.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Right. But I know you're taking the sabbatical and hopefully
you'll be back in January or down the line at
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
But you'll still people can still see you.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
You'll be sending out we'd be sending out firebombs on
social media. Are you going to shut that down also?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I will be all over Twitter like a hobo on
a ham sandwich. And Jason McIntyre, Colin's sidekick, every year
right before the NFL season starts, he has me on
to do an NFL preview show from a betting standpoint.
We're going to do that next Monday. I just talked
to Rob G. And I'll be around, my friend. I'm
just going to be off in the shadows. And it's
(35:43):
really funny because your life starts to flash before your
eyes a little bit. And I'll never forget– WTK in
Ann Arbor in 1994. I'm just getting started. My first
credential is in my book. We're watching the OJ chase
with no sound. And the press box at Tiger Stadium.
(36:05):
And I'm like, what's going on? And then David Gascon
comes on, and I can't hear what he's saying. So
that night when I got home, I heard it, and
then lo and behold, David Gascon, your producer, right? Funny
how it works. So I started out doing features because
I mentored under Dick Schaap for three years, and I
wrote a lot of features, and we corresponded on a
lot of projects together. And that was my start that
(36:26):
I started covering baseball. Then I pitched a Sunday show,
and my first PD, Mike Solon, was an old crusty guy.
And he looked at me and he says, you know,
you've done some good work, but why should I give
you your own show? I said, Mike, if a priest
can be a marriage counselor, I can have a radio show.
And he said, OK, we're going to give it a try.
(36:46):
And it worked. And we went from there. So your
life starts to flash for you. No, I don't want
to be done like that. So but like I said,
now that we've come full circle, as you all know, Ben,
you're a family guy, too. You get it. People get it.
People have been wonderful people. But as far as Twitter
and all the other stuff, yes, sir. And I'm very
appreciative and humbled by the fact you would have me
(37:10):
on today.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Well, I appreciate it, Bernie. I love you, man.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
And I'm happy for you. Enjoy Michigan. Enjoy the grandkids.
And we will chat, I'm sure, again. And we'll hopefully
hear you back on Fox Sports Radio down the line.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Thanks for your time, Bernie. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
God bless you the best. That's right, you heard the man.
The Ben Maller Show keeps rolling right along. My name
is Ben Maller. My name is sheesh. Good night, folks.
You've been a great audience. My name is Bernie Fratto.
I'm in for Ben Maller.
Host
Ben Maller
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