FULL SHOW: Family Values; Times Square fun.

Curtis Sliwa fills in for Mark Simone and shares some of the important values his family taught him, like always picking up and properly disposing of trash. With the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration happening tonight, Curtis offers some humorous advice for anyone planning to see the ball drop in person: you might want to wear some Depends diapers! Curtis takes calls from listeners about family values, New Year's Eve traditions, and more. Curtis continues as guest host for Mark Simone, paying tribute to two hard-working legends in the entertainment industry: the late, great Regis Philbin and talk radio icon Bob Grant. He discusses Regis Philbin’s remarkable journey through television and reflects on how Bob Grant influenced talk radio for generations of broadcasters. Curtis takes your calls on Regis, Bob Grant, and other topics.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the guardian Angel of talk radio is here. Curtis
Leewah guest host the Mark Simone Show on seven to ten.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Woo oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
My responsibility as being on Mark Simone's turf, the best
talk radio host in our region bar none. And I'm
sure Greg Kelly was listening over there at WABC doing
his show prep as he always did by listening to
Mark Simone. Hey, why not? He had good stuff and

(00:42):
always says good stuff. He'll be back on the fifth
on Monday, but I'll be back on Friday. And the
kind of talk radio I do is different than most
because I believe that we have this opportunity to speak
to all of you now because of the technology, not
just throughout the Try State area, throughout the United States,

(01:04):
but all over the world, because any radio station can
be picked up virtually anywhere. And I've heard from a
lot of people listening to me on wor my place
to be seventy ten never again at WABC, which the
acronym stands for always blaming Curtis, for Zara Mandami being

(01:25):
the mayor and always bashing Curtis even to this day.
You think they would give it up, right, Ain't coming back?
There never I'd rather live in a homeless shelter. I'd
rather be stuck on the number four train and going
round than round. They're out, is he? You think people
understand that. And this is a much better station in

(01:46):
a lot of different ways. But this thing of ours,
talk radio, it requires that you pay homage to it. Now,
Mark Simone does because nobody knows more about radio and
television then March some mom and he talks about it regularly.
I listened to his show, and as you know now

(02:07):
you have the benefit. Doesn't have to be appointment radio.
You can always get it on the podcast. But I
want to touch on a few things before I do
my homage in these last two days, for the reason
that many of us have the opportunity to speak to
all of you, whether in live form or if you

(02:29):
wanted to listen to three four days, a month later,
a year later on these podcasts. First off from Nancy
and yours, truly, we have a special message. New Year's
message will be posting to all of you, the many
hundreds of thousands who have now become followers all over

(02:51):
the world on all the platforms. So whether it's TikTok
that most of you know nothing about. Oh you gotta
be on TikTok and just trust me. He didn't get
elected because he was on TikTok. Two years ago. President
Donald Trump is saying this is a red Chinese strit
to take over America, and then all of a sudden

(03:12):
he discovered, hey, maybe I can get a few votes
with this, and then all of a sudden, yeah, we
love TikTok. TikTok does not get you elected to anything.
So whether it's TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, where you're putting
on there what you had for beakfast this morning at
the local diner. Do I need to see you having

(03:34):
eggs and pancakes, you know with toast? Yeah? Yeah, you
post what you had for lunch and then a mad
on ami. Your life must be so miserable? Is that
all you compose? And of course Ellen musk x, Twitter
so many different ways to get you a message out.
But our message to everybody listening right now and they'll

(03:57):
be posted later on at Curtisley, which have a way
you can get that social network. Is that? All Nancy
and I want for this New Year's is for all
stray and shelter animals to have a loving home. And
I know for some of you we're like, oh, there
it goes with the animal welfare stuff. Yeah. And again

(04:19):
as we welcome in a new year, it doesn't get
any better than Mahatma Gandhi again a victim of an
assassination because of his beliefs, but a man who said,
is society that does not take care of its animals
does not take care of its people. And on my
way here to Wor seven ten to do this broadcast

(04:41):
to all of you, I had to pass the homeless
people and emotionally disturb persons in the subway because the
hawk is talking out there it's cold, and talk with them,
many of them that I know, And see all the
flots and jets. As I came up top to the street,

(05:03):
I was picking up the garbage. It was flying all
over and people are looking at me. You pick up
garbage too, and so what is it? That's where I
was raised by my grandfather, Fidela Biangino from body Italy.
On my mother's side, Francesca side. He said, one young
which means young man, young boy, you see garbage? Yeah,

(05:25):
like you heard Eric Adams say, we're gonna talk about
him a second, A Mama, luke. But anyway, you see something,
you see something. Hey. Long before they ever quantified that statement,
my grandfather would tell me, Hey, you see garbage, you
pick it up. If you can't find a can and
put it in, you put it in your pocket until
you can find a can. That's where I was brought up,

(05:50):
and many of you listening now were brought up. And
it used to be the sanitation department. After they pick
up the garbage, it had brooms on the truck. Remember one,
They would have brooms, wear the brooms. Now, huh, they
pick up the garbage and that's it, not my job.
Then we have these business improvement districts. They hire mostly
mental women who have been down on their luck, and

(06:12):
they go out there and they change the trash can
bags and they do a little sweeping and that's all good.
We never needed that. Years ago, everybody picked up the garbage.
So people were looking at me this morning on my
way here to w oh, like I believe, like I
belong in the Museum of Natural History, Like here is

(06:36):
a species from a different era that actually believes if
you see something garbage on the ground, you pick it up.
The problem is that the police commissioner Jess Katsh who
you all fall and over. When she was sanitation commissioner,
she took half the baskets off the streets. Well, if

(06:56):
there are less baskets, there'll be less garbage. Ugh, past
the great poupon jescatage. Maybe Jeeves or a limit driver
on Park Avenue can get you to one police plaza.
That was a disastrous program. Some of the folks in
the MTA money taking agency, you know, they were having
the press conference. Ye, it's the end of the metro

(07:18):
card and now all of a sudden you're gonna have
to tap and go the omni card, debit card, credit card.
There will be nothing left the beginning of the year
on your debit or credit card. So good luck. And
I'm saying to myself, are these people delusional? One third
of the people don't even pay their subway fair to
begin with, and that's gonna increase with zor on Mondamique.

(07:39):
One half don't even pay the city bus fare. They
don't do a tap in go, they don't have a
metro card, and if you say anything to them, they
give you the finger. They're defiant. So they're all mourning
the loss of the metro card. What are you talking about?
Half the people didn't even use a Metro card to
get in on a bus, one third on the subway. Oh,

(08:03):
because of the crime that never gets dealt with. It's
called fair evasion. That's a crime. Let's face it. Let's
not make any arrests. Let's not make people pay the
fair even though they are all kinds of programs. If
you're down on your luck, half fair, one third fare,
but you gotta go out and get that right. We're

(08:25):
not gonna bring you to eat. So that's my first observation.
And then all of a sudden, I'm on the subway
platform and I'm trying to give tourist directions because naturally
the token booth clerks who do nothing now it's like
a feather bettered job. They should be out of the

(08:45):
booth giving instructions to people at the machines to be
able to pay their fare because he's getting scammed by
every hustler in the world. But they should also be
telling people how to get around town. So I'm helping tourists,
many of them already know me. Hey, Curtis, I'm trying
to get down to where else the World Trade Center.
That's where they want to go. See the battery, want

(09:07):
to see the Statue of Liberty, all the places that
we folks, we don't go because we know that's where
all the tourists go. Like, if any of you are
schmucks or Puttses and you're gonna go down to Times
Square to watch the ball drop, did you not hear
Jessica Tish say, Oh, they're gonna be double screenings. They
took all the garbage cans away. There's no porter sands,

(09:30):
there's none of that. They cattle cars, and you're gonna
start mooing at three o'clock. That's when they're gonna start
letting you in. And once you're in, you don't get out.
You get out, you don't come back. So imagine you've
already been drinking a few. It's three o'clock. The ball
doesn't drop until until all of a sudden the new

(09:55):
year comes in. Right, say, let me, I'm not too
good at nine hours, nine hours? You think you could
hold it in nine hours? Have you been drinking a few,
hoisting a few? That's why on my way over here,
I stopped at a few Dwayne Reid's and CVS's wiped
out of depends wiped out because people live their whole

(10:17):
life to come to watch the ball drop on Times Square.
And they come from Monta, Mexico City, and they come
from Kye Town, South Africa. They come from everywhere because
they want that experience. But if you happen to be
living in this Tri state area and you're stupid enough
to show up because you want to be able to
talk about it, don't waste your time. But make sure

(10:44):
you have depends on. Yeah, because remember, we come into
this world with diapers at some point, and most of
us when we go out of this world, we'll be
wearing diapers. So get ready. And here's Jessica to saying, yeah,
there'll be two screenings. Okay, jess good, you'll keep talking
and then of course, uh, there's a boss. But thank god,

(11:09):
just the final day that Mama Luke, what a cry baby.
Eric Adams the most corrupt mayor in the history of
New York City, and that is saying a lot. The
swaggerman with no plan and the nightlife mayor. All he
ever did was hang out in clubs till they break
of dawn. And a man who just waited to be
wind eying them pocket lined, and if my sources are correct,

(11:31):
decided to drop out a running for mayor when the
price was right. Uh you remember that show the price
was right? I think I think he settled on twenty milt.
I think time will tell.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
Because then he was like, well, should I go to
the inauguration at CEO?

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Should I ain't not go?

Speaker 4 (11:52):
I wouldn't have made asked me to go and tell
your peepsers an Easterns, don't yell at me, don't shout at.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
What a mama, lukee, what a baby? And so I
guess the mayor had a conversation with him, the incoming mayor, Yeah, yeah,
you should be there. Oh I'm gonna be there, Like wow, Wow,
Eric Adams, He's the reason this is sore. Had Mandami,
had he done anywhere of a decent job, halfway job,

(12:21):
he would have been the Democratic incumbent mayor running for reelection.
I would have been the Republican candidate, and hey would
have been tough. It's tough for a Republican to begin with.
He failed, and then they resurrected that political Some beat Cuomo.
By the way, has anybody seeing Cuomo? Will he be
at the inauguration, of course, not is he anywhere other

(12:43):
than hanging out with his billionaire friends as he's slithered
under his rock in the Hampton's where he loves to be.
Maybe he can launch it after the run for mayor
of Southampton. So here was Eric Adams. You were talking.
I'm gonna write a book. I got the title ready.
I didn't do nothing wrong. He's gonna get involved in cryptocurrency,

(13:05):
which is bitcoin, crime coin, and he wants to teach
a new generation of how to become criminals, because that's
what blockchain cryptocurrency is. It's a scam. We'll talk about
that on Friday, my last day here. We're gonna talk
about AI. Oh my god, what a headache. And also
robotics because the masters of the universe are all telling

(13:26):
you to worry about it. We're gonna take your jobs,
but we're gonna give you a universal high income of
about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. You're
not gonna have to do nothing. You just sit at home,
scratch your belly button. We're going to take care of you.
You trust any of them, We'll get into all of that.

(13:47):
These are subjects many of which don't get discussed and
talk radio. And then of course there is Eric Adams
on his way out, who has decided, hey, you know,
there is things I'm going to do to try to
make amends. He said, signing an executive order today. I

(14:10):
always had breaking news, right, Hey, this is Mark Simon's turf.
It's not my turf. I had breaking news. He's using
an executive order in the waning moments of his horrible
mayoralty to have charter revision. Now what that is, ladies
and gentlemen. He's going to assign people to actually put

(14:31):
on the ballot this coming year, the gubernatory year, the
midterm elections on the back of your ballot, things that
you as citizens can vote on. I think the chairman
is I gotta check my sources on this, but got
it on pretty good authority. My husband and lawd David Patterson,

(14:52):
the former governor, a man who needs adderall. In this
last mayoral election, first he was Farrick Adams, and he
was for and then he was for Eric Adams, and
he was for Como. He gave me vertigo and I said,
do me a favor and don't endorse me. It's a
kiss her death, and it was so give him some
adderall he'll be on the charity commission. I guess the

(15:13):
Mayor's going to have some others. And there should be
the question of sanctuary city up there, which I talked
about during the campaign. Let the people vote. Let the people, boy,
A lot of people will come out to vote in
an election on that issue, whether you're for it or
against it. You can have town hall meetings, you can
have spirited debate. You will have a lot of people

(15:36):
coming out to vote, if nothing more because of that issue.
Let's see what Eric Adams is going to do. And
how about putting on the initiative and referendum for twenty
twenty six, once and for all, voting on the horse
joint carriage issue. Let the people decide. And on that note,

(16:00):
it's gonna lead us into a homage coming up to
the man who was considered the father of talk radio,
and he started right here on WOR. Yeah, Yeah, our
new favorite station here in the sleeper household, Nancy, yours truly,
and yet our six cats we listen to seven to

(16:23):
ten WOR and so shit, all of you, our numbers
one eight hundred three to two, one zero seven ten.
That's one eight hundred three to two one zero seven
ten The Pulse of New York On the Voice of
New York.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Curtis Sleewad guest hosts from Marks them All on sevent
ten wor.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Oh you're not gonna want to miss Friday one, I'm back.
We talk about artificial intelligence, like that Stephen King novel
what was that? That collection of his works? Like em
You remember that song?

Speaker 5 (17:11):
Is?

Speaker 3 (17:11):
He certainly doesn't remember that. That wasn't his playless the
End of the World as we know it? Right? We'll
discuss that because it affects everybody, everybody, and it's moving
too fast, and too many of you may end up
losing your jobs unfortunately as a result of what they

(17:34):
call artificial intelligence. But let's talk about the homage to
talk radio, of which many of you loved. You grew
up with it as I did, and the father of
talk radio is rarely, if ever recognized now, and it
started all here at war seven ten. Who is a guy?
Barry Gray? Barry Gray was from my believe it was

(17:56):
red and Lion New Jersey got a job a disc jockey,
bat then spinning stacks of wax. I think he was
playing a Woody Herman song, and then Woody Herman called up.
And then right after Woody Herman hung up, instead of
going back to playing records, Harry Gray crushed over that

(18:20):
maginal line and started to take people that were calling
up on the request line and having conversations with them.
So the suits at w R some of them were saying, wait, wait,
you're just supposed to be playing stacks of wax occasionally,
you know, you talk to Benny Goodman or Woody Herman.

(18:40):
You don't be taking calls. And others said no, that
was so fascinating. That's how talk radio was invented, because
talk radio is really about the conversation that we have
with all of you. It's not so much guest oriented,
it's you. The call is your turn to be hurt,
give you an idea in the golden age of radio.

(19:03):
He then is hosting an overnight show at the Copa Cabana.
I mean that was the place you wanted to be.
I know you recognize that is the Barry Manilo the
song Copa Cabana East sixtieth Street, right off of Fifth Avenue.
Everybody wanted to go there, couldn't go. Mob controlled by
Frank Costello and he had like the first interview with

(19:25):
Dean Martin who was from Stubenville, Ohio, and the team
that was put together Jerry Lewis, so as Martin Lewis.
Jerry Lewis was from newer And boy, if you're gonna
watch one movie, you gonna watch one movie over this weekend.
You gotta see one of my favorites, The King of
Comedy with Jerry Lewis and Robert de Niro. It is

(19:48):
absolutely outstanding. Never gets the credit that it's due. But
Barry Gway was such a listen to radio broadcast again
the father a talk radio, doing live talk radio out
of the most popular nightclub in America, the Corporate Cabanam.

(20:10):
And it was Walter Winshew who was despising him. Walter
Winshew who was the columnist at that time. Ed Sullivan
was a columnist and they would do battle with one another.
But the one guy Walter Winshew hated the most was
Barry Gray. And apparently when Walter Winshell died penniless, he

(20:33):
was out there on Hollywood Boulevard. He was mimeographing what
would have been his column for the day. Because nobody
wanted to syndicate him any longer. Nobody wanted to print
it in the newspaper he'd handed on the corner. Died penniless.
But apparently when they cleaned out his office after he

(20:53):
passed away, I think only his daughter and maybe two
or three people attended his way, the most powerful on
Sunday nights walk to Winchhill. Uh you ever see the
replays of the Untouchables, but Robert Stacked after that's the voice.
Well it's all so many anyway. So they're cleaning out
his office and apparently he had up pinned to the

(21:18):
wall a photo of a bloodied Barry Gray who was
beaten up by mobsters on his way out of the
Copacabana after hosting overnight radio, the most listened to in
the nation. And that just shows you the intensity of

(21:41):
this thing of ours. Now, why shouldn't we, I know,
Mark Simonde's why shouldn't we all pay tribute to these
men and women who paved the way and made it
so that we could talk to all of you all
over the world like we're doing right now on our
new favorite station here. And it should be yours seven

(22:02):
ten wor But it is your turn to be heard
up next the format created by Barry Gray unexpectedly right
here at seven ten WR our number is one eight
hundred three to two one zero seven ten. That's one
eight hundred three two one zero seven ten. And then

(22:24):
in a stream of consciousness, I had a conversation with
Tom Cuddy, our program director, who knows so much and
has dealt with so many people. And the next home,
we're going to talk about the hardest working guy ever
in radio and the hardest working guy ever in TV.
And they have a lot in common, and they had

(22:47):
a lot of impact on all of you right here
in the Tri State area. And yeah, one of them
worked right here at seven ten wor.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
The voice that fights for New York literally Curtis Leewad,
guest hos for Mark Simone on sevent tenor.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Artificial Intelligence Aisy, You're gone. If I remained at talk
radio show hosts, I'll be gone. There won't be jobs anybody,
because let's leave it to the masters of the universe.
Elon Musk and the other billionaires trillionaires said, don't worry,

(23:34):
we'll have universal high income. We'll take care of all
of you from the cradle to the grave. You're on
one hundred and fifty five thousand dollars a year, and
you can play with your belly button lint at home. Yeah, well,
you're gonna trust any of them before we go to
the folds. I went through Times Square earlier this week,

(23:55):
and they have what they call their wishing wall. It's
mostly for tour rus who are dumb enough to show
up and want to wait for the ball to drop.
Remember today, the rules are three o'clock. That's when you
got to get into your cattle pens. All the depends
have been cleaned off the racks at CBS and Dwayne

(24:16):
Reid because you met a you met a double bundle yourself.
Imagine you got to be there from three to twelve
when the ball drops nine hours. You've been drinking a
little bit, right, you know you're gonna have to go,
and you can't squeeze your legs forever. But if you
leave the cattle pen, you can't come back. Now, why

(24:38):
would anybody in their right mind who lives in the
Tri State area want to venture into that. Normally they'd
start loading up the cattle pens at six. But Jessica
Tis she wants everybody search twice. It's like taking the
list and then checking it twice. Ridiculous. But then again,
you gotta be ridiculous to be there. That's why you

(24:59):
notice it's all Taurus. But anyway, so they're putting up
these pasties on this wishing wall. I got about two
hundred thousand that'll be shredded up put with the confetti
that drops with the release of the ball to welcome
in twenty twenty six. And there's one paste it stood
out to me. It said, no more AI. Oh, we're

(25:21):
gonna get into that on Friday, and we're gonna talk
about bitcoin, crime, coin and driverless vehicles. A lot of
you driving right now, not gonna need you if you're
doing this for a profession. The masters of the universe
don't want to have to pay any of you. They're
gonna they're gonna take care of you from the cradle

(25:43):
to the grave. Yeah, yeah, right, don't trudge them. Let's
go if we can to Bill, who's calling? Your turn
to be heard here at seven to ten wor.

Speaker 6 (25:53):
Billy Good Morning. Curtis comment on Walter Winstle's radio shows,
he had there was a major plumbing league in the
White House between nineteen thirty three and nineteen forty five,
and that leak went right to Walter Winch's radio show.
The League was the president.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
Himself fdr Right.

Speaker 6 (26:15):
Every one had been because of that league. He my god,
he had. Walter Wischell had more enemies after forty five.
Truman hated Winchell, so after forty five his radio net
just collapsed on him.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
Well, let me tell you one thing. When I was
over at WABC, no longer my place to be, we
had a crown jewel in broadcasting on Sunday night who
just wanted to be like his mentor, Walter Winchell. His
name was Mad Trudge. The guy loved talk radio. I
know because when I met him in LA for the
first time, he was behind the seven and eleven serving

(26:53):
not chosen slurpies. He was not the Mad Trudge that
he became. And he would go and listen to Kiev
George Putnam. I would be a guest there, organizing Guardian Angels,
and we got to know one another. And George Putman
was sort of like the Bob Grant of LA and
he would regale us with stories. He wanted to be

(27:14):
just like Walter Winchell. He had to hat the whole
nine yards. Lynn Samuel's another great hostess and talk creator
never gets recognized, was his board operator. On Sunday nights,
they had ratings that nobody ever had. And you know
what happened. Bill, the program director at the time, Phil Boyce, goes,
the network wants to syndicate you. You're doing so well

(27:37):
Monday through Friday from six to nine. And Matt Judge said,
all they want to do is Sunday nights. Just like
my mentor, Walter Winschell, I don't want to do radio
five days a week. And then Phil just kept pressing him,
and you know, sudden, he picked up, he left, he
went down to Miami. The rest is history. The person

(27:58):
who got hired to fill that boy because they were
so hoping that Matt Drudge would get those same ratings
from Monday through Friday. Uh, take a guess somebody who
also his mentor when he was listening on Hiatus to
Bob Grant at WWB, Mark Levin, who grew up outside

(28:19):
of Philadelphia, and that's how his radio career started. If
only they had left Matt Drudge alone with Lynn Samuels's
board operated. Both of them very eccentric, but it was
some of the greatest radio of all time. And the

(28:40):
ratings were through the roof. The other trick they use
over there at WABC, they had this thing they say,
look at the stream on my phone. Look at the stream,
Look how my ratings are going up. That's not ratings.
It's like the Wizard of Ours. It's like snake oil salesman.
And they all buy that. You want real ratings. Boy,

(29:03):
I never seen ratings like Matt Drudge got on Sunday
nights imitating his mentor Walter Winschew, who would do only
one radio show a week on Sunday nights on the
ABC network. Thousands of radios would be tuned to him.
Thousands of radio stations carried that the golden age of radio. Well,

(29:29):
let's go back to the phones in honor today of
the father of talk radio, Barry Gray, who really created
the format of taking calls. Let's go to Maria, who's
calling from Westchester. Your turn to be heard here at
seven to ten WR Hello, Curtis.

Speaker 7 (29:45):
What an honor to talk to you. Can we ask
if Johan and Donnie will be taking his oath of
office with his hand on the Constitution.

Speaker 8 (29:55):
Well, one of his.

Speaker 7 (29:56):
Swearing inns be based on the Constitution. Will he respect
this Constitution of the United States.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
I wouldn't know because I haven't been invited. You know,
you saw them. I'm Alu carricatam to show up. If
you tell you a Zornista's not taboomy, oh my god.
I will try to find that out for you. Whether
he's taking it on a Koran, a Bible, based on
our United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights. I will

(30:26):
certainly let you know by Friday, because, as I told
my wife Nancy, if I'm not invited, I'm going anyway, right,
you know me, what are they gonna do? Stop me?
I'll go there for that. What are that street party
they're gonna have? What are they gonna do? Say you
can't come here? Yeah, I'm the only real New Yorker
who was in this race. Hey, look, he won fair

(30:48):
and square. But he says it's a block party for
people in New York City. Right, It didn't just say
a block party for those people who voted for him.
Am I correct on that? To be continued. That's why
you better be listening. On Friday morning, when I returned
for my final program here in substitute for Mark Simon.

(31:09):
Let's go to Tony, who's calling from White Plains. Your
turn to be heard here at seven to ten war
the voice of New York Tone.

Speaker 9 (31:16):
Yeah, Hi, Churs, Chris. Before you mentioned Salatto over there
on the other station, I thought of that before you did.
But you gave him the perfect name, Salato, because that's
exactly what he means.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Well, let me clarify for our listeners, Tony, I did
not give him that name. It was actually another caller,
who'll say. The Salazzo at WABC is Dominic Carter, Oh,
and he is. And the moo Green Greg Kelly, and
the Tessio who may have been the worst is Sid Rosenberg.

(31:52):
And you know on Friday what I do every year,
I always do a tribute to Bernard McGirk, who was
I mean, not only the hardest working guy in radio,
but took so much grief from don Nimus said. I
witnessed personally what a great radio guy he was. Died

(32:13):
way too early. If you're getting together with family and friends,
tell all the males get the PSA test, the prick
of the finger, a simple blood test. If Bernard McGirk
had done that, he'd be alive. Today and all the
nonsense that occurred against me a WABC, always bashing Curtis,
always blaming Curtis, would never have occurred if Bernard McGirk

(32:36):
were alive and well. But we'll do that tribute on Friday.
This boy, he was an iconic figure in this thing
of ours radio than now more.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
With New York's iconic straight shooter Curtis Slawah guest hosting
from Mark Simone on seven ten Woah.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
You on a minute Friday show My Life. I suppear
and see if Mark Simon will go heavy into artificial intelligence.
I'm not a supporter at all. Neither should most of you,
except if you're in the medical field like we just
brought up Bernard McGirk. Will do my annual tribute to

(33:18):
him on Friday. But probably had AI been available to
find localized cancers from medical imagery, it does a better
job than humans do, he might still be alive. I'll
give AI high five on that. But that's it, because

(33:44):
the list of things that is ruining is long. I
want to listen on Friday. But up next my stream
of Consciousness, based on a conversation I had with program
director Tom Cuddy, who i've known for years over at
the old WPLJ. The two hardest working guys in radio

(34:06):
and in television cross paths first in Los Angeles, but
their roots and most of what they did in their
lives were before all of you in our ChRI State
area and sometimes right here on sevent ten wor.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Now the Red Beret has returned to radio. Curtis Leewall
guest host the Mark Simone Show on sevent ten woors.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Yeah, oh boy, all these officials must cheat from one another.
You know, Eric Adams Swagerman with no plan. Thank god,
he's gone claiming crimeers at an all time load. Now,
if you're in the five boroughs of city in New York,
you don't know what city he's in. Well, that's right.
Most times he hasn't even been in our city. And

(35:06):
then I heard that broadcasts about ros Baraka, who, like
his father, hates cops. Who is his father?

Speaker 4 (35:17):
Is he?

Speaker 3 (35:17):
I know? Look, look from West Milford. What would you know?
You know, you didn't grow up in Newark. I know
more about Newark than most people listening to this radio station.
Spent a lot of time there. But ros Baraka's father
was Lee Roy Jones, who then changed his name to
a mirror Baraka poet, self described communists and hater of

(35:41):
everything white. If it was white, it wasn't right and
the lifelong enemy of Tony Imperiali, who at the Northward
Citizens Association. He kept that area along Bloomfield Avenue from
burning down during the riots. Unfortunately, the rest of the
city estimated and no has not returned since crime is

(36:03):
high there. You want to go to Weekwake Park. You
want to go to Broad and Market by the way
broad and Market is he want you to go to
Penn Station in Newark. Yeah, they're all called Penn Station, Baltimore,
Penn Station, Phillip Penn Station, Washington Penn. I want you
to go to Penn Station in Newark. You got to

(36:24):
take the Path train there in New Jersey trans And
I want you to walk over the broad and Market.
You'll see the goldleaf Dome of City Hall there. And
you need to know they're back in about nineteen twenty
twenty two on the sixth floor of one of the
biggest retailers of all time, Bamburgers. Oh yeah, there used

(36:48):
to be all the big stores there along Broad and Market,
same as you had in New York's where wor R
got its license to broadcast, and that's where I think
the first of the three gamblings was broadcasting from Chick, Florida.
No longer Bamburgers, obviously. And to tell you how bad
things are in Newark, don't listen to Rasbaraca. He hates cops.

(37:14):
There used to be more Cadillac dealerships in NewART than
any other city in the nation, more than even in Detroit,
where the Cadillacs were coming off the assembly line. And
we go right into the assember, We'll go right into
the showcased halls, and you could get a Cadillac cheaper

(37:35):
there than anywhere. And my uncle's on the Italian American side,
the Bianchino side. They all love Cadillacs back then, or
Italian guys. That was the sign of success in El Dorado, Fleetwood, Seville,
you know where they went to buy their Cadillacs and

(37:55):
then trade it in every year for a new Cadillac. Newark.
Then the riots said, you can't even buy a used
Cadillac anywhere in newarth now, so stop this nonsense. Oh no,
it's safer than it's ever been. New York City is
safer than it's ever been who knows more about both
those cities than me. Yes, truly, Curtis Sliwa, get out

(38:15):
of here. Rise Baraka. The evil seed did not fall
far from the rotten tree of Leroy Jones aka Emira Baraka,
a self described communist. You know how that's been thrown
around Zoron Mondami. You know Kami Mondam. He's not a communist,
he's a socialists. But Leroy Jones was a communist. And

(38:41):
we'll get one guarantee. If you were white, you were
not right. All right, Just a little side note there.
I want to get back on tractoh, because we are
doing homage as oftentimes Mark Simone would do. Nobody knows
more about television, movies, radio and its history, Mark Simon.

(39:02):
But I was sitting with Tom Cuddy yesterday after the
show and the name of Regis Philbin popped up, and
without a doubt, Regis Philbin was the hardest working guy
in all of television. And I know for a lot
of people, they don't even think about Regis Philbin anymore.
Shame shame on you. Local guy Bronx Kid van Nass,

(39:27):
not far from Morris Park, went to Cardinal Hayes, a Hayesman,
by the way, like Bernard McGirk, who I'll be talking
about tomorrow doing my annual tribute. But uh, I gotta
tell you. Regis Philbin his father Irish named him Regis
because he wanted him to go to Regis High School
in Manhattan, which is the elite Jesuit high school. Can't

(39:49):
be elite if Fauci went there from Benson Hurts and
he is Udscratziata, he will burn in hell, if nothing
more for what he did in sending b eagles over
to Tunisia, third world country, to experiment on them at
our taxpayer's expense and torture them for no purpose other
than he's probably a satist, but anyway, just to divert

(40:12):
So Regis got his name Regis because his father said, oh,
you're going to go to Regis High School in Manhattan,
the eliti Eduit high school. And I would always say
to Regis, guys, because I went to Brooklyn Prep where
they kicked me out my senior year, you're not a
real high school because you don't have a football team,
and they didn't and they still don't. So he grows

(40:33):
up in the Bronx, goes to Cardinal Hayes and the
most in I think the interesting thing is he surfaces
in nineteen sixty seven with a member of the rat Pack.
Remember the rat Pack. Oh, you're all aware of that.
If you didn't grow up with them, you probably saw
the movie Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Peter Lawford,

(40:54):
and Joey Bishop. Joey Bishop, who I think had a
couple of call fee in the Bronx, was born there,
but I think grew up most of his life in Philadelphia.
By the way, that's where Dick Clark get it. Notice
how the synergy here. It's a stream of consciousness Dick
Clark American Bandstand, which eventually led to what you just

(41:18):
heard about, ABC's Dick Clark's New Yorkers Rocking Eve. You
know with Ryan Seacrest. I knew Dick Clark. Ryan, you
know Dick Clark, although he has worked radio Ryan Seacrest,
but he's milk toast. As you know, I don't have
time to be watching milk Toast. Regis, on the other hand,

(41:41):
was always a Wisenheimer, will always slip you a mickey,
and I first remember watching him on the Joey Bishop Show.
I'm sure some of you did it in competition, remember
with Johnny Carson and his sidekick was Ed McMahon, by
the way, a great actor, great actor, does anybody out
there know, was probably the very first vigilante movie about

(42:06):
the subways before there was Death Wish with Charles Bronson.
I mean, it was a classic and Eddery McMahon had
a great party in it. Great actor. He was a
barker on Atlantic City. He came up, became a sidekick
for Johnny Carson, you know the rest of that history.
And then of course you wanted him to come to

(42:26):
your door the publisher's clearing house. I don't know if
it was a battle they were elbowing one another. Was
it Dick Clark or was it Ed McMahon. But anyway,
because then if you bought all the magazine subscriptions you
might become a millionaire. Oh, by the way, that was
another show that Regis Philbin hosted later on, You Want
to be a Millionaire? Who was that it came to

(42:48):
your door? Was that Dick Clark was at Ed McMahon.
So anyway, it was Joey Bishop and sidekick was Regis Philbin,
and Regis was good It was a good company. And
then all of a sudden, Regis Philbmin was no more.
You know, because those shows they come, they go, and

(43:09):
all of a sudden, Regis Philbin showed up on a
TV station in Los Angeles midday. I think it was
Channel thirteen or Channel nine. They have like these independent
stations there. They all have talk shows, they do news,
many more than we have. And you know who he replaced.

(43:33):
He replaced the king of talk radio, Bob Grant, who
was on television at that time. Oh no, no, no,
there's so much more to delve into. Were ooh, but
this is a stream of consciousness, I said Dick Clark,
if I remember correctly, Dick Clark was from Mount Vernon,
went to high school in Mount Vernon. Radio guy was
up there in Utica, you know, with the brewery and

(43:54):
the little mafia there. It was a mafia town and
they went to Syracuse University did radio there. Then all
of a sudden he goes outside of Philly. He's on
a radio station. They're experimenting with like an American bandstand
format on the radio, and the host goes on vacation,
gets busted for duy chunkin driving and guess who takes

(44:17):
over the show if you're there at the right time,
in the right place. Dick Clark and they also had
an affiliate TV station, and that's how American Bandstand came about.
And boy, that was the time Philly was king. Oh
Man was Philly King. Remember Mike Douglas Show, Mike Douglas.

(44:38):
Roger Ailes was the producer. They filmed that. It was
late afternoon. That was in Philadelphia. I remember watching Mike
Douglas I think it was nineteen seventy two for a
full week. You know who co hosted with Mike Douglas,
John Lennon and your co owner four a full week.

(44:58):
This is mid after Nunes. They had forty million viewers
when the population was a lot less than it is now.
I remember there was George Carlin was on, Ralph Nader,
the Black Panther Leader there, Bobby Seal I think he
sells barbecue sauce so I Anyway, the point was it
was so good and then the FBI Jay Gil Hoover

(45:23):
muscled the Mike Douglas and said, hmm, you don't want
to be putting on television enemies of America, especially when
he heard him sing that song, which I think he sang.
I remember as a kid. Imagine nineteen seventy two. By
the way, John Lennon used to listen to talk radio

(45:47):
that's right into Dakota. He would listen to the old
talker WMCA. That's where our own Mark Simone got his start.
So Lennard be listened to the king of talk radio,
Bob Green and Go Nuts because obviously their politics couldn't
be any more different. And at times he would walk over.

(46:09):
And this is when you had celebrities walking all over
New York City on their own. They didn't have an entourage,
no bodyguards. I saw Mickey mannlhalf in the bag walking
around in the streets. For that broke my heart. I
saw a walll Clyde Fraser walking around on his own.
I mean, you got to see so many people and
then all of a sudden, you know, when Lennon was killed,

(46:30):
that era ended quick. But anyway before that, he'd be
listening to WMCA all the way down on the dial.
Now it's like owned by Salem Communication where you got
to pay if you're a holy roller or a preacher
a dollar a holler or they'll take your money and
then they'll put you on. But anyway, that was the
big talk station, our Peter Strauss ellen Strauss family owned.

(46:53):
I believe that's where Mark Simone got his start. That's
where he met Bob Grant. They were like commonion bleached.
He did not get along, but I will tell you
they had some of the greatest radio of all time.
So all of a sudden you have John Ranny going
over and I think these studios at w ABC at

(47:14):
that time was right across from Carnegie Hall. No security
at that time. He walk upstairs, he'd knock on the
door and he go, I want to go on and
I want to contradict what Bob Grant said. And the
board operator would look at it, Hey John Lennon and
go back to the hosts, and the host Nah, come on,

(47:34):
what are you half in the bag? What are you dropping?
LSD very popular at that time. LSD, you know Tim Leary,
and he would come in and he would rant about
Bob Grant. See that's when you could do that. No security,
you don't have to provide identification. Remember it was John
Lennon who got in trouble when he said, you know,

(47:57):
the Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ. Oh they
were radio stations wouldn't play Beatles music at that time,
Remember how popular? Remember and the guy would be listening
to talk radio. Do you want to be a bird?
Remember that song from Easy Rider? I wonder if any

(48:20):
of you know there was the theme song to the
guy at night that he would listen to. Who was
a radical, the complete opposite of Bob Grant in the
afternoon drive time. He was a total radical. Who when
the Sibonese Liberation Army SINQ General General listening was SINQU

(48:41):
declared war in America and either kidnapped Pathy, Patty Hurst
or Tanya joined them, he was praising them on the air.
Yeah at the old WMC. A. Let's see if we
can sort of massage any of your memories. Can get
back to our tribute to the hardest working guy ever

(49:02):
in TV reagis Philpin and the hardest working guy ever
in radio talk radio Bob Grant. I'll conflate both of
them as we do our homage to the greats, the
iconic figures who paved the way for all of us,
and little of any tribute has ever made to how
important they were to this thing of ours. I will

(49:25):
never forget. I know, Mark Simon, never forget. Unfortunately, there
are a lot of people in our business who get
their paycheck and they either don't know, or if they
do know, God forbid they give any credit to these people.
I'll tell you this much. Bob Grant. You know who
grew up listening to Bob Grant, the rock grabbed all

(49:47):
American conservative voice reagent from Franklin, Long Island, Sean Hannity.
You said him many times, and you catch him in
the afternoon drive here wor seven ten Bill O'Reilly. Oh,
he says it many times. Mark Levin, when Bob Grant
was exiled at WWDB in Philadelphia. I'll get into that
coming up next. They all attribute this now, how it

(50:09):
start to Bob Grant? How come now little if any
attention is paid to these folks who really paved the way,
took a lot of risks, got fired many times for
taking a principal stand, took a licking, only to come

(50:29):
back ticking our numbers one eight hundred three to two
one zero seven ten. That's one eight hundred three to
two one zero seven ten.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
Street Smart Straight Talk. Curtis leewa guest host for Mark
Simone on sevent ten wo.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
Wa as we don't take anything for granted, and we
paid tributes to Uh no doubt, hardest working guy ever
in TV. I had this conversation with Tom Cutty yesterday.
Regis Filman father, Irish mother I think was a combination
Italian Albanian, which is very similar to the makeup of

(51:06):
Vaness and Morris park Now in the Bronx. He was
a Hayesman, went to Cardinal Hayes. I think he was
best known for being on Live with Regis and Kathy Lee.
That was a great show. I think that went off
for like twelve years until the year two thousand. That
was the better one compared to when he was on

(51:27):
with Kelly. Uh. Nope. You know Regis would get up
and do his riff. That was something you waited to hear,
like with Bob Grant the opening riff of his show
when there was no podcast, there was no way to
recover it. It was great and then in the interim
he was doing the most watched TV program at that time.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Hard Working? According to

(51:53):
the Guinness World Record for the most hours spent on television,
the hardest working Man TV show Business, Regis Philbin without
a doubt. And by the way, you're going to be
some of you watching the ABC's Dick Clark's New Yorkers
Rock and Roll Eve right with milktoast Ryan Seacresa. That's

(52:16):
his sting, you know, sub student for Dick Clark when
he had that stroke. That was Regis Philbin. If I
remember correctly, two thousand and four to two thousand and five,
that first show was Regis Philbin. I mean, the guy
was all over TV and it's almost like nobody nobody
mentions him. I think the only one who mentions it

(52:37):
from time to time is Letterman. But now let's switch
to the hardest working guy ever in radio. We paid
our homage to the father of talk radio, who was
right here at War when he was spinning that first
stacks of wax that turned into taking callers, and that
was Barry Grade nineteen forty five, right here at War.

(53:00):
Bob Grant, the king of talk radio. My mentor the
reason that I'm in talk radio because nobody else wanted me.
He forced them on. He forced me on them at
WABC by saying, you gotta have Curtis. He knows who
all the bones are buried and who buried them? And
everybody knows that now, and they hesitate every time I

(53:22):
talk about their names. Is he going to reveal what
I thought it would take to my grave? Well? You
keep thinking out there, guys and gals, got one more
show to go on Friday. Could be opening up the
Pandora's box of many of those at WABC always bashing
Curtis now. But no, let's get back to Bob Grant.

(53:45):
He actually was the busiest guy in all the talk radio,
not here but out at KABC. By the way, he
gave me a call this morning, they want me to
do something for them. I had done a show for
al Rentel, unfortunately had broken his hip for a year.
I substituted for al Rentel from New York City, and
nobody knew that I wasn't in LA because I knew

(54:07):
LA like the back of my head. So I said
thank you, but no thank you, but a tribute to
a very iconic station by Grant was on that station
and he had three shows, open Line, Nightline which eventually
became a TV production, a Ted coppol on ABC, and
Sunday Line, and he was doing TV busy busy, busy,

(54:31):
and he interviewed Muhammad Ali, Ronald Reagan, first interview with
Ronald Reagan, and that Nutt who created Kwanza. That Kwanza guy,
ron Kurenge. What a story that is. Hey, he had
the first interview with him. He was the go to guy.
And then some executives said, you know, it's just too bad, Bob,

(54:56):
that the number one talk show hosts in America doesn't
want to come to the number one market in America,
New York. So I'm not interested in going to your
New York. I got a house, SI, I got four kids,
I'm on TV, I'm on radio. But you got to
go to New York. Cub and the guy named R.
Peter Strauss reached out to him and made him an offer.

(55:18):
He couldn't refuse the money. Although Bob came out here,
he didn't want to stay. He told me he'd I
hated New York. I wanted to go back to La
so desperately, where everybody knew me embraced me back there.
You know, they were more conservative here. They called me
a fascist. So I decided I would get on the
radio and be mean and it would force ar Peter

(55:39):
Strauss to break my contract. So that's where this raging
persona came from. And unfortunately for Bob at that time
and good for us, his rating skyrocketing. Ratings not streams.
You know, at the old WABC where I was, they
run around say, lo look, loah, my streamers up. A

(56:00):
million people were listening to me. I said, are you
out of your mind? That's not a rating, that's the
Wizard of Oz. You may like what you're being told,
but that does not give you a gauge of the audience.
Oh one last thing. Barry Farber, who had been a
fixture here for many years, decided to run for mayor.

(56:21):
It's nineteen seventy seven. Oh shades the Courtish sleep. When
he left wr he asked Bob Grant to substitute for
him overnight. And when Bob Grant did, out of every
four radios, two radios at night were listening to him.

(56:41):
Nobody ever had those kind of ratings. And then he
said something I'm trying to remember the words. Oh yeah,
she passed a gynecological and pigmentation test. I forget who
he was attributing that to. He got fired and exiled
out to WWDB, only to come back to WABC. That's

(57:03):
my homage. Hottest working guy in talk radio, Hottest working
guy in TV, Regis Philming and tomorrow you don't want
to miss my annual tribute to the best thing that
occur to WABC, which was Bernard McGirk one eight hundred
three to two one is zero seven ten. That's one

(57:23):
eight hundred three two one zero seven ten. Talk radio
with street crack.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Literally Curtis Leewad joined sevent ten wo R to guess
those from Mark Samo.

Speaker 10 (57:38):
Hottest Working Guys and Gals Television and Radio in his
book of World Records, Regis Film and none O the
Bronx guy proud of going to Cardinal Hayes Catholic High
School still open, thank god.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Unfortunately nearby all Hollows closing. Great School, Cathedral Heights School
this year for girls. Great school closing, and Preston was
on the cusp of closing in the Tremont section. Great
High School all girls. You know j Lowell maybe got
back Jenny from the block. Never contributed as far as

(58:18):
I know a nickel diamond penny to the alumni front
and keep them open. And they were kept open by Bally's.
I believe some arrangement was made. Who bought the Trump
golf course nearby? But think about that. He was Regis Philmen,
who appeared three times on the Celebrity Jeopardy. Again. The
guy was constantly working out there. He had the most

(58:40):
appearances and in one appearance he won fifty thousand dollars
and gave it right to Cardinal Hayes. That's what you
should do if you're doing well, and you realize that
these Catholic high schools, they gave so many an opportunity
they might not have had if they had to go
to their local neighborhood public high school. And like j Lo, hey,

(59:02):
j Lo, you forget your roots. Anyway, let's go to
the phones. It's Bob who's calling from San Diego. Your
turn to be heard here at seven to ten. Wo Abob, Hey, Curtis.

Speaker 5 (59:15):
Good to hear you on the are. Earlier you mentioned
the first subway vigilante movie. There would I think would
be the incident with Martin Sheen and Tony Mussanti.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Oh yeah, And if you haven't seen it, ladies and gentlemen,
you must. A great period piece, black and white, all
these different people getting on the number four train. You know,
coming out of the Bronx going down to Grand Central
and Masante is a complete psycho Martin Sheen. I think

(59:46):
that was like his debut. And remember the part that
Ed McMahon played.

Speaker 5 (59:52):
Yes, he actually he didn't want to take a cab
to Flushing from the Bronx, so he took the trains
and and he played the father of a young girl.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
And he was on the car with his wife now
arguing with his wife. Great piece, she's going, let's take
a cab. We got a baby with us that nah,
I take that train, you know. And oh boy, these
two psycho boys were in the car. He was like
cockwork Orange before his Cockwork Orange. I mean, really really

(01:00:23):
a great, great movie that's never really gotten it, Stue.

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
It really is a great movie. He just keeps building
and building until the climax. And by the way, you
can watch it free on YouTube. Just search on YouTube
for the incident.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
Yeah, please do. Especially during Hoghliday time. A lot of
people like to watch things. You gotta watch this movie.
Every station, a different group gets on her, a different
couple and they're all all of them went on to
become great stars and starlets. And they had their little cameo, rolls, Oh, man,

(01:01:02):
what a great, great movie. Let's go if we can
to John. Who's calling from? Is that old Japan?

Speaker 8 (01:01:10):
Curtis, what's up my brother? No, well, I just depend
on the New York side.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Oh okay, Curtis.

Speaker 8 (01:01:16):
I'm great to see it down in the South on
the dial there, very good. I was incorrect. I thought
Alex Bennett would have been the name you were.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
You were looking for you, You were absolutely correct. Alex
Bennett was the evening show host wmc A. Bob Grant
was Drive Time. You couldn't have been any more different.

Speaker 8 (01:01:40):
Yeah, hey, Curtis, listen, I'm trying. I know you're busy there.
If I want to ask this gum, you know why
I was a little bewildered. I used to be in
Manhattan detectives. We had a homicide in nineteen ninety two
fourteenth Street in the hole on the four train. A
young man, a hard working, stiff African American, Jerry Robinson,
on his way home at eleven o'clock at night. He

(01:02:02):
gets held up in the hall at fourteenth Street. He
pulls out a twenty five pops two guys kills one
of them. The third piece took off. They called him
the Blackbernie Gets. Barry Slotnik represented him at arraiments and
then an eighteen b attorney took it from there on.
He took a plea and I didn't do any time it.

(01:02:24):
It never got well. It hit the paper that night
they were down in raiments, but afterwards he never got
any play. I was wondering if you knew about that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
No, I do, because I followed those cases. It was
really the team that you had. Barry Slotnik was the
lead attorney, and I'm trying to remind Miller, I think
was his partner. He had to go. No Baker, Baker
was his partner. A great team, and they made themselves
available for those kind of cases. More often than not.

(01:02:56):
It was black victims fighting back again black Assallians. But
you see, it didn't have the ammonium bleach. It didn't
have what you needed, white versus black. I mean that
got you the headlines that kept the headlines going for days.
It was black on black crime. Nothing a mere mention.

(01:03:17):
By the way, you mentioned Alex Bennett. He was the
talk show host at WMCA at night. His theme song
was do You Want to Be a Bird? A classic song.
From Easy Rider and man, he would talk about coming
from concerts and he would be like be doing therapy
on himself before this guy did it Seagull remember a

(01:03:40):
channel seven. Oh there's anybody remember Seagull. I'm just gonna
give you a little hint there. And he would do
the same thing. And this guy supported radical causes. Do
you know who ended up taking over the apartment of
Alex Bennett, who went back to San Francisco where he
was from, to Radio Camel where they spun stacks of wax.

(01:04:01):
They're a little bit of talk. Bernard Yetz, who's still
in that apartment today right off of sixth Avenue and
fourteenth Street. Wow, the synergy is happening. Let's go if
we can to Stella in Quoes your turn to be
heard here at seven ten wr Stella.

Speaker 11 (01:04:22):
Hello, listen, Curtis. I'm glad to hear you back, and
I'm glad to hear your voice. I'm very concerned and
so are a lot of people in my neighborhood. And
Queen's about Mendanni taking over privately owned homes. Do you
know anything about that?

Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
Well, it's not just Mandami. This was the city of Yes.
I warned everybody about it. Eric Adams got windined and
pocket lined by the developers and realtors, as did Andrew
Evilize Cuomo. So they now have the authority because the
people voted this in to the law because everybody's for

(01:05:02):
affordable housing, and they thought, oh wow, affordable housing, I'm
for that. No no, no, no no. So if you
happen to live in a residential community and this is
coming to a neighborhood near you, they call it up zoning,
density housing. Kathy Hulkol tried that and realize that wasn't
gonna work out to get her elected against lees Helden,

(01:05:25):
so she dropped it like a hot rock. But the
whole idea was build high rise housing, claim it's affordable
near train stations along ther Metro North, and people in
residential area say, oh no, no, no, no, no, we
don't need any density housing. We don't need any up zoning.
There's zoning, there's elected officials, there's a process. So Kathy

(01:05:47):
Hoko recognized that was a third rail. But in New
York City, because the issue became affordable housing, costs of living,
they've pushed through this mandate. They give developers and realtors
the opportunity to come into your neighborhoods in the outer boroughs,
whether you live in the Bronx, Staten Island, Queens of Brooklyn,

(01:06:09):
and they can come into your neighborhood. They don't have
to go through any zoning regulations any longer. They don't
have to meet with the community board, they don't have
to even meet with the local elected officials. If they
want to put up a forty story high rise by
the way, with no parking and burden your infrastructure, they
have a right to do it. They've been given a
green light. Worse yet, they're putting up these lithium ion

(01:06:31):
battery warehouses, which is a real danger to the community.
They're in residential areas. They're supposed to be in industrial areas,
but then again, residential property is cheaper than industrial property.
Thirty eight in Staten Island, twelve in Brooklyn, eight in
Queens formed the Bronx none in Manhattan because we don't

(01:06:52):
have enough electricity. And wait, if you think it's bad now,
artificial intelligence is going to need double the amount of
electricity and double the amount of water to run their
filing centers. You haven't heard much about that, have you?
Of course, not talk too much of talk radio, as

(01:07:14):
are you? You see all those Somalian themes in Minnesota?
Could you repeat each other anymore like parrots? How about
actually talking about subject matter that affects everybody's lives. And
these AI Artificial intelligence filing center centers that are gonna
be built in a neighborhood near you, and they require

(01:07:36):
twice the amount of electricity that's available on the grid,
twice the amount of water that you don't even have
access to. And guess who's gonna pay for all of that?

Speaker 5 (01:07:46):
You?

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
What is anybody telling you that? Of course not. Oh
and you don't want to miss Friday, my annual tribute
to Bernard McGirt, best thing that ever happened at talk radio.
Oh my god, the guy had to take some much
abuse for from don Imus, without which don would never
have been able to function. And also a plead to

(01:08:08):
all of you to make sure whatever men folk you
run across this New Year's holiday, you let them know
to get that psa simple prick of the finger blood test.
If only Bernard McGirk had done that, he would not
have died a horrible death from prostate cancer. Look, I
had stage four I survived it. Some don't. The test

(01:08:30):
in most instances will help eliminate it. Though Beret is back.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Curtis Sliwa guest host The Mark Simone Show on seven
to ten.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
Woo don I'll be able to let you know my
last day substituting for Mark on Friday. What went down
at that block party for zorn Mondami. I haven't been invited,
but I'm going. Who's gonna stop me? You all need
to know. And then we're gonna discuss AI, artificial intelligence
and elon muskers Saint, don't worry about it. We're going

(01:09:03):
to create an income for all of you. You won't
have to work. You can listen to talk radio all day.
We'll take care of you from the cradle to the grave,
watch your back. And then obviously cryptocurrency, blockchain, what I
call crime coin, Bitcoin, the scam of our time. It's
a Ponzi scheme. And driverless vehicles. Oh, many of you

(01:09:26):
are driving as we speak now. Don't worry about it.
The masters of the universe at Silicon Valley. You say
you won't have to drive, and what are you supposed
to do to earn a living