Music and memories intertwine in this deeply personal episode that takes us from the polo fields of Golden Gate Park to the fictional radio station that sparked a lifelong career.
Pat shares his transformative experience attending Dead & Company's 60th anniversary concert, where among 60,000 fans, he discovered a profound new respect for John Mayer's musical abilities. Watching Mayer channel Jerry Garcia's distinctive guitar style with such authenticity created one of those rare moments where past influences and present experiences collide in unexpected ways.
As the musical journey unfolds, news of Loni Anderson's passing creates another bridge between past and present. Pat reflects on how the beloved sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" fundamentally shaped his path into radio broadcasting. Anderson's portrayal of receptionist Jennifer Marlowe represented part of a fictional world that made radio seem like the most exciting profession imaginable.
Most revealing is Pat's connection to Tim Reid's character Venus Flytrap, whose nighttime DJ persona directly influenced Pat's approach to his evening radio show. The special intimacy of nighttime broadcasting, the privilege of musical freedom, and the loyal audience that comes with the evening slot all trace back to those early WKRP inspirations.
The episode weaves together concert highlights, childhood television memories, and professional insights about radio broadcasting that reveal how deeply our passions are shaped by the cultural touchstones we encounter. Through these reflections, Pat invites us to consider our own inspirations and how they continue to ripple through our lives decades later.
Don't forget to visit patspeepscom to check out Pat's businesses and look for the upcoming Pat's Peeps Mall with merchandise launching soon!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Well, hello there, my friends, Welcome.
How are you?
Hey, it's the Pat's where weare 310 peeps podcasts.
Thank you for listening to evenone of them.
I appreciate that.
Hope you're doing well as webegin another week.
(00:36):
It is a Monday.
It is the fourth day now ofAugust 2025.
Looking out the studio windowsinto the beautiful foothills of
Northern California, it's a hotone.
I do see some leaves rustlingin the breeze out there Not much
of a breeze.
It's hot, all right, it's hot.
It's not extremely hot, butit's warm, all right.
(00:58):
I did do a little bit outside,not much, but anyhow, wherever
you're listening, thank you somuch much.
A couple of things here today totalk about on, uh, pat's peeps
310.
Number one is I will alwayscontinue to say uh, please keep
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Now, I get it.
If there's nothing there quiteyet that you need, if you keep,
(01:21):
if you just keep listening,pretty soon you're gonna go oh,
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Now that's something.
I think that's my impersonationof you going, oh, realizing
there's something up there thatyou actually need, and hopefully
the businesses up there aregoing to be businesses that you
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Anyhow, patspeepscom, check outthe Pats Peeps Mall which we're
(01:42):
building and merchandise.
Coming this week I'll announcethat.
I can't believe it in terms.
We have a little store that Ican't wait to share with you.
A lot of people have beenasking me about shirts and hats
and, you know, mugs and thatkind of stuff.
So, yep, I'm excited and I'lllet you know about that as soon
as we have, uh, the exact daythat we're going to be doing
(02:04):
that From the weekend.
Let me just start by saying thisso Friday at 2,.
By the way, I'm the host of thePat Wall Show, kfpk Newsradio
93.1 FM, 1530 AM in Sacramento.
The Pat Wall Show 7 to 10 PM,the nighttime slot.
More on that.
Momentarily, I want to talk alittle bit about the nighttime
(02:26):
position on a radio station.
I'm going to tie it intosomething that I'm going to be
talking about, but I want to saythank you to robin, thank you
to her goddaughter, madison,thank you to kurt for letting
robin go what a nice guy.
And to Robin's friend, joe, forgetting us the tickets and
(02:50):
getting us down to San Franciscowhere, on Friday night, as I
say, I took the night off.
Thanking to Sky Robinson forfilling in, we went down to
Golden Gate Park and saw DeadCompany, the 60th anniversary.
I talked about this on aprevious podcast and on my show.
(03:11):
So we get down there and I tellyou, thanks to Madison, who was
apparently I didn't even knowit at the time she was our
designated driver.
I mean, to be completely honest, I didn't really need a
designated driver.
I think I had one beer.
I don't know if I'm living upto the standards of the
(03:33):
deadheads there, I don't know.
Oh my God, but I'll get to thatin a second.
But yeah, thank you for theride.
It was awesome because I'musually the one driving places.
So the opportunity to actuallyand I apologize to my friends
there to nod off on the way homewas actually quite pleasant.
(03:56):
I have to say I took advantageof that.
I don't remember how long Inodded off, but it seemed like
quite a ways.
But the dead were so good.
Now, 60,000 people can youimagine that's the biggest crowd
that I've ever been in in mylife in terms of a concert.
I mean, I was at the EdwardJames Dome when the Rams played
(04:19):
Tampa Bay in the NFCChampionship game in 99, the
greatest show on turf in StLouis.
I don't know what the crowd was.
I don't know, maybe that was60,000.
I don't really know.
It was a lot of people.
That was the only time.
That was the only crowd, by theway, where I could not hear
myself.
I remember screaming into myhands just to see if I could
(04:40):
hear myself.
I couldn't hear it.
It was like it was deafening.
Of course, the Rams won theSuper Bowl I'll just throw that
in the mix as I divert but it'sthe most people that I've ever
been to a concert with, for sure, and I've been to a lot of
concerts, but 60,000,.
I was watching it on YouTube.
(05:02):
Anyone see the coverage onYouTube Unbelievable it was just
, but we pegged out a good spotwe were able to see.
It was a blast and I am so gladthat I went.
(05:23):
To be honest, I'm not really aguy that loves all the time
going down to San Francisco.
Like I mentioned that beforethere's a few times I do like
going, though, and on thisparticular day it was overcast.
It was when we got out of thecar, when we got dropped off.
How nice is that.
People say, well, where did youpark?
Oh, my God, 60,000 people,where'd you park.
We got dropped off and Madisonwent off and had lunch, went to
(05:47):
the beach how nice is that?
Perfect Came back, picked us up, let her know hey, and picked
us right up at the same spot.
It was beautiful.
So there was no issuewhatsoever.
And I come away with a couple ofthings here.
I've never seen dead in company, although I've seen the dead
(06:12):
many times.
I've never seen dead in company.
I'd seen Mickey Hart's band andI'd seen some variations of the
dead over the years.
But I came away.
I'm not a big fan of Not FadeAway and I'm gonna tell you it's
gonna be.
You're gonna give your love tothat guy.
(06:32):
It was a Bo Diddley sound.
I like Bo Diddley, that song,it doesn't matter who does it.
But guess what?
They even did that?
One good, not Fade Away, notFade Away.
One good, not fade away.
And I'm not fade away.
Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump.
The whole crowd, 60,000 peoplehead bopping.
(06:52):
Then they break in and I toldthe friends that I was there
with.
I said here's what I hope theydo I hope they play Terrapin
Station.
I'm big on the song TerrapinStation but, moreover, estimated
Profit, which Bob Weir sings onthere.
I'm not going to go too deepdown this rabbit hole.
(07:13):
I know I already talked aboutthe debt.
I'm just going to give you anoverview, though, of what I
experienced there.
And sure enough, they got thebolt of those songs and I'm here
to tell you wow, estimatedprofit, it was so good.
They did Tennessee, jed.
Let's Get Back.
(07:33):
I'm sorry I'm not going to keepsinging, but everyone in the
crowd knew the lyrics, the treesaround the polo field, which,
as I understand it, I could bewrong, but I think, as I read it
, it's the first time theyplayed the polo field at Golden
Gate Park, the first time since91.
And to hear people singing allthe words Althea and bopping up
(07:55):
and down and being cool for themost part, by the way, I'm just
going to say, just for therecord, 99.9% of people of
60,000 that I witnessed werecool.
For those who were there in mylittle area for a split second,
(08:21):
you'll know that there was amoment, but then it went away
Anyhow, literally went away.
So beyond that, it wasbeautiful.
And now here's the othertakeaway, and then I'll get off
this topic.
I have a profound new respectfor John Mayer.
(08:41):
To be perfectly blunt, I haveseen John Mayer in concert and
thought he was really good, andthis was a few years ago at the
Golden One Center.
And during the show he broughtout Bob Weir and I thought, well
, that's interesting.
And at the time I think thiswas probably 10 years ago, so
(09:03):
this was probably 2015,something like that, somewhere
in that area which I found outtoday is when John Mayer it was
that year, apparently, when hejoined up with the dead Well,
with dead and company, and he'sbeen doing Jerry Garcia's guitar
work and a lot of his vocalssince then I didn't even know he
(09:30):
was in the band and on the waydown, someone mentioned I said
what I said John Mayer is in theband Dead and company.
Huh, really.
I said, yeah, well, I'm here totell you.
One of the first bumpers that Iplayed on my show, I remember,
(09:51):
was a John Mayer song that I'dheard on satellite radio or
something.
I was unaware of it.
It's called oh yeah and home.
Oh geez, what is it?
I got to look it up.
Oh gosh, I forget the name ofit.
Anyhow, it was so good.
Oh gosh, what is it?
(10:16):
Anyhow, it doesn't matter, justfor the sake of arguments.
Space is off because I'mtalking about the dead, but I
was fully unaware of how greatthis guy is.
Again, profound new respect forJohn Mayer Playing the Garcia
parts.
I'm just going to play a littlebit of it for you, all right.
So you get what I'm saying here, and this is right, as we
(10:39):
walked in to the concert.
Here we go.
All right the dead are gettingready to play.
Look it, he's got a Celticsjacket Getting ready to start.
Look's got a Celtics jacketGetting ready to start.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Look at that Celtics jacket.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Oh yeah, nice Celtics jacket up there.
So here we go, getting ready tojam.
I mean, talk about timing,literally we walk in there.
20 seconds later they startjamming.
(11:11):
Listen to John Mayer on DoingJerry.
So the thing about it to me isthat jerry garcia's guitar.
(11:39):
You know how everyone says oneof the signs of a great
guitarist is that they're unique.
They have their own style,whether it's Santana or Jeff
Beck or Jimmy Page, whoever itmight be, but Jerry Garcia
(12:01):
definitely has his own style.
It's very unorthodox, I don'tknow how to describe it.
Those of you who know Jerryknow what I'm talking about, but
it's very unorthodox, I don'tknow how to describe it.
Those of you who know Jerryknow what I'm talking about, but
it's very different.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That's not.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And John Mayer just has it down.
I'm like I can't believe thisdude man, this guy.
Now Billy Strings opened up forDead Company.
Anyone know Billy Strings?
He's very bluegrassy, which wasreally nice, very nice.
There was just a little bit ofthe opening of the show right
(12:45):
there.
I'm going to play a little bitmore, but Billy Strings opened.
There was just a little bit ofthe opening of the show right
there.
I'm going to play a little bitmore, but Billy String's opened
and I'm accustomed to bluegrass,so I know good bluegrass from
bad bluegrass.
I'm not going to comment on hisbluegrass stylings because of
this, because of the fact and Isay that in a snobbish way, as
(13:07):
if I really know what I'mtalking about Well, here's the
fact about and I say that in asnobbish way, as if I really
know what I'm talking about.
Well, here's the fact about it.
I do.
Not only did I grow up withbluegrass and know a ton of
bluegrass artists and all that,not to get away from the topic
here but I just know it okay,and I've seen more bluegrass in
my lifetime so far than mostpeople will ever see, and so I'm
(13:28):
not going to judge him on that,because here's what the thing.
Here's what I think he's tryingto do.
He's trying to cross over and hedid a great job of this from
going to like bluegrass intokind of a rock, bringing the
rock people into bluegrass,which is beautiful because I
love that crossover and deadfans are very accepting of that.
(13:49):
They may not be accepting ofother kind of music.
It was very pop or whatever.
I doubt they'd be really intoRick Astley, for instance.
Maybe I'm wrong, but bluegrassthere's a.
You know, jerry Garcia startedwith bluegrass, old in the way
you know.
I mean, just go back and studysome of the stuff that he did
and that's kind of where hecomes from.
So they're accepting of it.
(14:11):
But Billy Strings, I think, istrying to kind of transcend
bluegrass and go into rock in away and attract this audience,
this crossover audience.
So I really appreciate it.
All right, a little bit more ofJohn Mayer here.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I don't want to be a hero.
I feel like I'm a champion.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Althea, oh well.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
I mean it just sounds so good.
I'm very, very impressed byJohn Mayer.
I really enjoyed it.
Now he's not the only one,though.
Phil Lesh's son came out andplayed Box of Rain, a Phil Lesh
song from American Beauty Deadmembers Bob Weir, mickey Hart,
(15:19):
bill Krutzman, joined by JohnMayer, jeff Cimenti who was
great on the keyboards, andOtele Burbridge who was on bass.
Fantastic doing Phil Lesh I'm aPhil Lesh fan.
And Billy Strings came outtowards the end and did Warfrat
Great version Awesome.
Graham Lesh is his name, Son toPhil Lesh.
(15:43):
Boxer Rain with Graham playinghis dad's big brown bass.
They also did Playing in theBand Great song.
Wow.
Sturgill Simpson Trey AnastasioBand played the Next Days Okay,
well, that's awesome.
I didn't know that.
Anyhow, they were very good.
I was very impressed.
Just a little bit more, andthen I'll get off of this
(16:13):
pressed.
Just a little bit more and thenI'll get off of this.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I just kind of want you to hear john mayer's guitar
for a moment with the lightedtrees surrounding the polo field
(16:36):
.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It was just really, really, really trippy, glad I
went.
Very sad news today as lonnieand Anderson passed away.
Lonnie Anderson, the wonderfulLonnie Anderson Boy guys had a
crush on her back in the 70sFarrah Fawcett, lonnie Anderson
(16:59):
was one of those that we ValerieBertinelli, but we all loved
Lonnie Anderson WKRP inCincinnati One of the great
shows that really inspired me todo radio.
Quite frankly, saw this on TVwatching with the family.
I thought, man, I can work inradio.
(17:19):
Where they have rock posters, Ican play music on the radio.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I can talk on the radio.
I can talk on the radio Town totown, up and down the dial.
Maybe you and me were nevermeant to be.
Just maybe think of me once ina while.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Oh my gosh, I loved this show, lonnie Anderson.
I mean, I already wanted towatch the show because I loved
it, because it was about radio,but Lonnie Anderson was another
reason to watch that show.
She was so beautiful.
Her name was Jennifer Marlowe.
She was the receptionist.
(18:17):
Herb Tarlick and his plaidpants and a white belt, always
hitting on Lonnie, alwayshitting on Jennifer, and she
would just rip on him.
It was hilarious.
What a great character sheplayed.
I know she was so much more,but she's so beloved in WKRP in
(18:39):
Cincinnati, certainly from mychildhood and many others.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Morning, jennifer, morning Herb.
Any calls?
No Messages, Nope, mail, none.
Okay, how about lunch?
No lunch either.
Dinner Busy, okay, how aboutlater at my place?
You're married, herb.
Oh yeah, what's it going totake with you, jennifer?
I mean you're talking to thesales manager here.
What do you want?
Watches, jewelry, a side ofbeef?
(19:08):
Fully dressed, I can fixanything.
You wanna meet Burt Convey inperson?
I mean, they'd all call me MrKickback for nothing.
Howdy, I'm Andy Travis, the newprogram director, but kickbacks
are wrong.
Hello, got a meeting.
We'll talk later if you lastthat long.
Nice fellow, one of the best.
(19:28):
Would you like to see the bigguy, the big guy, the skipper,
the chief, the head, honcho, thejerk who runs this place?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
yes, yes, would I love their sarcasm.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And she'd get away with it because she was so
beautiful.
Then you have nothing to worryabout.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yes, he's still here, Les Nesman, of course, oh.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Les, this is Andy Travis, our new program director
.
Well, howdy, so you're Travis.
Yeah, that's right.
Oh, les is in charge of newsweather sports.
The last program directorlasted 30 minutes before the big
guy fired him.
Traffic and what else, les?
Award-winning farm reports.
Watch your step, mister.
Well, that's a great guy too.
(20:31):
Of course, he's no bird, buthe's still one of the best wkrp.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I mean this show um, about this fictional radio
station, this, this AM radiostation in Cincinnati.
This was based on Hugh Wilson'sexperience.
He was created by him too, buthis experience is observing a
top 40 radio station.
(20:56):
It was WQXI in Atlanta.
Matter of fact, many of thesecharacters that we have become
to love over the years, one ofthem being Jennifer Marlowe,
were based on people at thatradio station.
Hugh Wilson telling theCincinnati Enquirer one time
that he selected WKRP as thecall sign for KRAP, to stand for
(21:21):
CRAP.
You had Gary Sandy, as you heardin there, as Andy Travis.
You had Howard Hessman.
Dr Johnny Fever loved him.
Gordon Jump was Arthur Carlson.
Lonnie, the beautiful LonnieAnderson, as I said.
Jennifer Marlowe Tim Reed was aVenus flytrap.
(21:44):
More on him in a moment.
Jan Smithers, bailey Quarters.
A lot of people liked BaileyQuarters.
A lot of guys had a crush onBailey Quarters, let's not
forget.
She was more of a down-to-earthshall we say kind of.
Whereas Lonnie was kind of abombshell-looking beautiful
woman, bailey Quarters was moreof a oh, I don't know tomboyish.
(22:05):
I don't want to really saytomboyish, but maybe that might
be a description of her.
You know, not such a bombshellbut still beautiful.
A lot of people liked herRichard Sanders, les Nesman Of
course we remember the turkeydrop at the Pinedale Shopping
Mall on Thanksgiving and HerbTarleck, played by Frank Bonner,
(22:25):
who is the sales guy, like Isaid, wearing his white patent
leather shoes, his white patentleather belt, his plaid slacks,
always trying to hit on thebeautiful Lonnie Anderson.
She played the struggling radiostation's empowered receptionist
.
She passed away after a longillness.
(22:48):
Well, the show aired.
Believe it or not, some ofthese shows are so iconic but
they were only on the air.
For instance, this one was onthe air for four years, from 78
to 82.
They were trying to inventitself with rock music.
She was blonde, she had thehigh heels, she deflected the
(23:10):
unwanted business calls for herboss, mr Carlson.
She was very efficient.
She kept the station running inthe face of everyone else's
incompetence, straight-upincompetence.
It earned her two Emmy Awardnominations and three Golden
Globe nominations.
You know, it happens, I guess,that you do a role so well that
(23:33):
you are remembered for that role.
I mean, how many times do wesee that People played the roles
, especially when it came tohalf-hour comedies in the 60s
and 70s?
I mean, if you go back andthink elizabeth montgomery,
whether it's bewitched or what,what you know?
Uh, fred gwynn as hermanmunster or bob denver as
(23:54):
gilligan, whatever, whoever itmight be now, but but she, but
she was so much more than justJennifer the receptionist at
WKRP.
We also, by the way, rememberher.
She was also married to BurtReynolds.
I remember that for a whilethere.
I don't know whatever happenedthere, who knows, not for us to
(24:16):
know.
She actually, I think she was inthat movie Stroke or Ace, maybe
I think she was in movies likethe Lonely Guy, maybe with Steve
Martin.
She was in some movies I'm notgood with movies, honestly, so
I'm not really going to try toeven remember what they were.
(24:36):
But suffice it to say, I guess,unless I'm missing the target,
that her main thing she's goingto be remembered for, at least
in terms of entertainment forthose of us who didn't know her
as the person that she was,we're going to remember her in
that iconic role, didn't she?
(24:58):
I think she was also, I don'tknow, it seemed like she was in
a movie, or not a movie, but asitcom with Burt Reynolds.
Wasn't she in some kind of asitcom?
Or Evening Shade?
Maybe?
I don't know if she was forsure she was born May 17th.
I just saw that I didn'trealize that May 17th my
birthday is May 16th, oh my gosh.
(25:19):
She married musician Bob Flick,one of the founding members of
the Brothers Four.
Rest in peace.
I'm going to talk about Lonnieon my show tonight because I
know that people will want totalk about her.
This is on another note, as I'mthinking about WKRP too.
You know Venus Flytrap, playedby Tim Reed.
As I mentioned, he was theevening and early nighttime DJ
(25:43):
at WKRP.
He also at one point became theassistant program director.
But as a kid growing up I lovedthe inner workings of the radio
station.
I loved noticing the differenttime slots of the DJs.
Even as a teenager I wouldreally notice that.
I would notice Les Nesman doingthe news and doing these other
(26:04):
reports, having his imaginaryoffice walls, this beautiful
receptionist at the face of theradio station, at that desk up
in front keeping us all togetherlike Lonnie did, us all
(26:25):
together like Lonnie did.
But as I watched that show froma personal standpoint, one of
the things that I really likedwas Venus Flytrap had the
evening show.
He was very smooth and Inoticed like Dr Johnny Fever was
in the daytime, maybe themornings, but at the daytime at
some point, and it was alwaysvery upbeat.
Hey baby yeah, you know we'regoing to play this man, but I
(26:46):
play the music.
They'd actually play the actualmusic and they'd have the
actual rock posters on the wallin the office and in the booth
in the studio, which was awesome, and so they would be like that
, just like it is now, even intalk radio, whereas in the
evening, when it's now dark,venus would come into the
(27:06):
building and he'd be smooth andgot us like this amen and doing
his thing, venus Flytrap.
His DJ name, gordon Sims by theway, his real name was not
revealed until late in theshow's first season, but the
fact is I gravitated towardsthat because it was like man.
He was the most relaxed, likehe could just kick back, and he
(27:31):
had the studio dim.
I can't remember if he had alamp I think he did Candles or a
lamp or something.
Maybe someone could tell me buthe made the studio really nice
and cool.
He made it feel at home and youknow what?
I was influenced by that andwhat I do on my show.
(27:53):
He got to pick the musichimself.
So do I.
You know how rare that is, butjust like Dr Johnny Fever, they
got to pick the music themselves.
No one gets to do that in radioanymore.
I do.
It's amazing, it's remarkable,it's so rare.
They were on the air and thetime slots it didn't overlap, so
(28:15):
it must have been.
Dr Johnny Fever must have beenon earlier in the day, not right
before the evening, and hewould play things like Earth,
wind and Fire, stuff that otherDJs during the day wouldn't play
, and it's funny.
And he went by mood.
So do I on my show.
So, anyhow, I guess what I'mtrying to say is I was greatly
influenced by him on this show.
(28:36):
That was always the coveted spot.
Sure, you could go during theday, in the morning, whatever,
maybe get more listeners interms of total, and they're
living their life and doingother things as they're
listening.
But at nighttime you're blessedto have an audience that if
they do tune in while they'redriving or while they're working
or if they're at home, thatthey're actually very loyal, not
(28:57):
to say the other audiencesaren't loyal, but they're the
cumulative.
You've got the cum, which istime spent listening.
I mean, you've got the cum,which is the most people.
Then you got the TSL, which istime spent listening, and the
TSL is very important andbecause of you we have that,
because you guys listen.
Heck, you guys will call me thethird hour and say, yeah, you
(29:19):
know, in the first hour you weretalking about this.
Well, my gosh, that means youwere listening to the whole time
.
That's amazing.
I don't expect that, but tohave that coveted time slot is
an amazing thing to me.
So thank you to WKRP, you know.
Thank you for my family forletting us watch that.
I just loved it.
(29:39):
It really influenced me, like Isaid.
So thank you, and thank youeveryone for listening.
Like I said, I think I'll goout here today with a little
more dead John Mayer on theguitar.
Thank you to Robin, thanks Joe.
Again.
Thanks to Madison.
We're going to add morebusinesses, food and donuts and
(30:03):
things like that coming upshortly, so that kind of stuff's
coming your way at patspeepscom.
Thank you for listening.
We'll see you on the radio.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Thank you.
Well, hello there, my friends, Welcome.
How are you?
Hey, it's the Pat's where weare 310 peeps podcasts.
Thank you for listening to evenone of them.
I appreciate that.
Hope you're doing well as webegin another week.
(00:36):
It is a Monday.
It is the fourth day now ofAugust 2025.
Looking out the studio windowsinto the beautiful foothills of
Northern California, it's a hotone.
I do see some leaves rustlingin the breeze out there Not much
of a breeze.
It's hot, all right, it's hot.
It's not extremely hot, butit's warm, all right.
(00:58):
I did do a little bit outside,not much, but anyhow, wherever
you're listening, thank you somuch much.
A couple of things here today totalk about on, uh, pat's peeps
310.
Number one is I will alwayscontinue to say uh, please keep
looking at patspeepscom for ourbusinesses.
Now, I get it.
If there's nothing there quiteyet that you need, if you keep,
(01:21):
if you just keep listening,pretty soon you're gonna go oh,
oh, now.
Now that's something.
I think that's my impersonationof you going, oh, realizing
there's something up there thatyou actually need, and hopefully
the businesses up there aregoing to be businesses that you
will need at some time and wejust like to point you in that
direction.
Anyhow, patspeepscom, check outthe Pats Peeps Mall which we're
(01:42):
building and merchandise.
Coming this week I'll announcethat.
I can't believe it in terms.
We have a little store that Ican't wait to share with you.
A lot of people have beenasking me about shirts and hats
and, you know, mugs and thatkind of stuff.
So, yep, I'm excited and I'lllet you know about that as soon
as we have, uh, the exact daythat we're going to be doing
(02:04):
that From the weekend.
Let me just start by saying thisso Friday at 2,.
By the way, I'm the host of thePat Wall Show, kfpk Newsradio
93.1 FM, 1530 AM in Sacramento.
The Pat Wall Show 7 to 10 PM,the nighttime slot.
More on that.
Momentarily, I want to talk alittle bit about the nighttime
(02:26):
position on a radio station.
I'm going to tie it intosomething that I'm going to be
talking about, but I want to saythank you to robin, thank you
to her goddaughter, madison,thank you to kurt for letting
robin go what a nice guy.
And to Robin's friend, joe, forgetting us the tickets and
(02:50):
getting us down to San Franciscowhere, on Friday night, as I
say, I took the night off.
Thanking to Sky Robinson forfilling in, we went down to
Golden Gate Park and saw DeadCompany, the 60th anniversary.
I talked about this on aprevious podcast and on my show.
(03:11):
So we get down there and I tellyou, thanks to Madison, who was
apparently I didn't even knowit at the time she was our
designated driver.
I mean, to be completely honest, I didn't really need a
designated driver.
I think I had one beer.
I don't know if I'm living upto the standards of the
(03:33):
deadheads there, I don't know.
Oh my God, but I'll get to thatin a second.
But yeah, thank you for theride.
It was awesome because I'musually the one driving places.
So the opportunity to actuallyand I apologize to my friends
there to nod off on the way homewas actually quite pleasant.
(03:56):
I have to say I took advantageof that.
I don't remember how long Inodded off, but it seemed like
quite a ways.
But the dead were so good.
Now, 60,000 people can youimagine that's the biggest crowd
that I've ever been in in mylife in terms of a concert.
I mean, I was at the EdwardJames Dome when the Rams played
(04:19):
Tampa Bay in the NFCChampionship game in 99, the
greatest show on turf in StLouis.
I don't know what the crowd was.
I don't know, maybe that was60,000.
I don't really know.
It was a lot of people.
That was the only time.
That was the only crowd, by theway, where I could not hear
myself.
I remember screaming into myhands just to see if I could
(04:40):
hear myself.
I couldn't hear it.
It was like it was deafening.
Of course, the Rams won theSuper Bowl I'll just throw that
in the mix as I divert but it'sthe most people that I've ever
been to a concert with, for sure, and I've been to a lot of
concerts, but 60,000,.
I was watching it on YouTube.
(05:02):
Anyone see the coverage onYouTube Unbelievable it was just
, but we pegged out a good spotwe were able to see.
It was a blast and I am so gladthat I went.
(05:23):
To be honest, I'm not really aguy that loves all the time
going down to San Francisco.
Like I mentioned that beforethere's a few times I do like
going, though, and on thisparticular day it was overcast.
It was when we got out of thecar, when we got dropped off.
How nice is that.
People say, well, where did youpark?
Oh, my God, 60,000 people,where'd you park.
We got dropped off and Madisonwent off and had lunch, went to
(05:47):
the beach how nice is that?
Perfect Came back, picked us up, let her know hey, and picked
us right up at the same spot.
It was beautiful.
So there was no issuewhatsoever.
And I come away with a couple ofthings here.
I've never seen dead in company, although I've seen the dead
(06:12):
many times.
I've never seen dead in company.
I'd seen Mickey Hart's band andI'd seen some variations of the
dead over the years.
But I came away.
I'm not a big fan of Not FadeAway and I'm gonna tell you it's
gonna be.
You're gonna give your love tothat guy.
(06:32):
It was a Bo Diddley sound.
I like Bo Diddley, that song,it doesn't matter who does it.
But guess what?
They even did that?
One good, not Fade Away, notFade Away.
One good, not fade away.
And I'm not fade away.
Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump.
The whole crowd, 60,000 peoplehead bopping.
(06:52):
Then they break in and I toldthe friends that I was there
with.
I said here's what I hope theydo I hope they play Terrapin
Station.
I'm big on the song TerrapinStation but, moreover, estimated
Profit, which Bob Weir sings onthere.
I'm not going to go too deepdown this rabbit hole.
(07:13):
I know I already talked aboutthe debt.
I'm just going to give you anoverview, though, of what I
experienced there.
And sure enough, they got thebolt of those songs and I'm here
to tell you wow, estimatedprofit, it was so good.
They did Tennessee, jed.
Let's Get Back.
(07:33):
I'm sorry I'm not going to keepsinging, but everyone in the
crowd knew the lyrics, the treesaround the polo field, which,
as I understand it, I could bewrong, but I think, as I read it
, it's the first time theyplayed the polo field at Golden
Gate Park, the first time since91.
And to hear people singing allthe words Althea and bopping up
(07:55):
and down and being cool for themost part, by the way, I'm just
going to say, just for therecord, 99.9% of people of
60,000 that I witnessed werecool.
For those who were there in mylittle area for a split second,
(08:21):
you'll know that there was amoment, but then it went away
Anyhow, literally went away.
So beyond that, it wasbeautiful.
And now here's the othertakeaway, and then I'll get off
this topic.
I have a profound new respectfor John Mayer.
(08:41):
To be perfectly blunt, I haveseen John Mayer in concert and
thought he was really good, andthis was a few years ago at the
Golden One Center.
And during the show he broughtout Bob Weir and I thought, well
, that's interesting.
And at the time I think thiswas probably 10 years ago, so
(09:03):
this was probably 2015,something like that, somewhere
in that area which I found outtoday is when John Mayer it was
that year, apparently, when hejoined up with the dead Well,
with dead and company, and he'sbeen doing Jerry Garcia's guitar
work and a lot of his vocalssince then I didn't even know he
(09:30):
was in the band and on the waydown, someone mentioned I said
what I said John Mayer is in theband Dead and company.
Huh, really.
I said, yeah, well, I'm here totell you.
One of the first bumpers that Iplayed on my show, I remember,
(09:51):
was a John Mayer song that I'dheard on satellite radio or
something.
I was unaware of it.
It's called oh yeah and home.
Oh geez, what is it?
I got to look it up.
Oh gosh, I forget the name ofit.
Anyhow, it was so good.
Oh gosh, what is it?
(10:16):
Anyhow, it doesn't matter, justfor the sake of arguments.
Space is off because I'mtalking about the dead, but I
was fully unaware of how greatthis guy is.
Again, profound new respect forJohn Mayer Playing the Garcia
parts.
I'm just going to play a littlebit of it for you, all right.
So you get what I'm saying here, and this is right, as we
(10:39):
walked in to the concert.
Here we go.
All right the dead are gettingready to play.
Look it, he's got a Celticsjacket Getting ready to start.
Look's got a Celtics jacketGetting ready to start.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Look at that Celtics jacket.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Oh yeah, nice Celtics jacket up there.
So here we go, getting ready tojam.
I mean, talk about timing,literally we walk in there.
20 seconds later they startjamming.
(11:11):
Listen to John Mayer on DoingJerry.
So the thing about it to me isthat jerry garcia's guitar.
(11:39):
You know how everyone says oneof the signs of a great
guitarist is that they're unique.
They have their own style,whether it's Santana or Jeff
Beck or Jimmy Page, whoever itmight be, but Jerry Garcia
(12:01):
definitely has his own style.
It's very unorthodox, I don'tknow how to describe it.
Those of you who know Jerryknow what I'm talking about, but
it's very unorthodox, I don'tknow how to describe it.
Those of you who know Jerryknow what I'm talking about, but
it's very different.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That's not.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And John Mayer just has it down.
I'm like I can't believe thisdude man, this guy.
Now Billy Strings opened up forDead Company.
Anyone know Billy Strings?
He's very bluegrassy, which wasreally nice, very nice.
There was just a little bit ofthe opening of the show right
(12:45):
there.
I'm going to play a little bitmore, but Billy Strings opened.
There was just a little bit ofthe opening of the show right
there.
I'm going to play a little bitmore, but Billy String's opened
and I'm accustomed to bluegrass,so I know good bluegrass from
bad bluegrass.
I'm not going to comment on hisbluegrass stylings because of
this, because of the fact and Isay that in a snobbish way, as
(13:07):
if I really know what I'mtalking about Well, here's the
fact about and I say that in asnobbish way, as if I really
know what I'm talking about.
Well, here's the fact about it.
I do.
Not only did I grow up withbluegrass and know a ton of
bluegrass artists and all that,not to get away from the topic
here but I just know it okay,and I've seen more bluegrass in
my lifetime so far than mostpeople will ever see, and so I'm
(13:28):
not going to judge him on that,because here's what the thing.
Here's what I think he's tryingto do.
He's trying to cross over and hedid a great job of this from
going to like bluegrass intokind of a rock, bringing the
rock people into bluegrass,which is beautiful because I
love that crossover and deadfans are very accepting of that.
(13:49):
They may not be accepting ofother kind of music.
It was very pop or whatever.
I doubt they'd be really intoRick Astley, for instance.
Maybe I'm wrong, but bluegrassthere's a.
You know, jerry Garcia startedwith bluegrass, old in the way
you know.
I mean, just go back and studysome of the stuff that he did
and that's kind of where hecomes from.
So they're accepting of it.
(14:11):
But Billy Strings, I think, istrying to kind of transcend
bluegrass and go into rock in away and attract this audience,
this crossover audience.
So I really appreciate it.
All right, a little bit more ofJohn Mayer here.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I don't want to be a hero.
I feel like I'm a champion.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Althea, oh well.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
I mean it just sounds so good.
I'm very, very impressed byJohn Mayer.
I really enjoyed it.
Now he's not the only one,though.
Phil Lesh's son came out andplayed Box of Rain, a Phil Lesh
song from American Beauty Deadmembers Bob Weir, mickey Hart,
(15:19):
bill Krutzman, joined by JohnMayer, jeff Cimenti who was
great on the keyboards, andOtele Burbridge who was on bass.
Fantastic doing Phil Lesh I'm aPhil Lesh fan.
And Billy Strings came outtowards the end and did Warfrat
Great version Awesome.
Graham Lesh is his name, Son toPhil Lesh.
(15:43):
Boxer Rain with Graham playinghis dad's big brown bass.
They also did Playing in theBand Great song.
Wow.
Sturgill Simpson Trey AnastasioBand played the Next Days Okay,
well, that's awesome.
I didn't know that.
Anyhow, they were very good.
I was very impressed.
Just a little bit more, andthen I'll get off of this
(16:13):
pressed.
Just a little bit more and thenI'll get off of this.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I just kind of want you to hear john mayer's guitar
for a moment with the lightedtrees surrounding the polo field
(16:36):
.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It was just really, really, really trippy, glad I
went.
Very sad news today as lonnieand Anderson passed away.
Lonnie Anderson, the wonderfulLonnie Anderson Boy guys had a
crush on her back in the 70sFarrah Fawcett, lonnie Anderson
(16:59):
was one of those that we ValerieBertinelli, but we all loved
Lonnie Anderson WKRP inCincinnati One of the great
shows that really inspired me todo radio.
Quite frankly, saw this on TVwatching with the family.
I thought, man, I can work inradio.
(17:19):
Where they have rock posters, Ican play music on the radio.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I can talk on the radio.
I can talk on the radio Town totown, up and down the dial.
Maybe you and me were nevermeant to be.
Just maybe think of me once ina while.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Oh my gosh, I loved this show, lonnie Anderson.
I mean, I already wanted towatch the show because I loved
it, because it was about radio,but Lonnie Anderson was another
reason to watch that show.
She was so beautiful.
Her name was Jennifer Marlowe.
She was the receptionist.
(18:17):
Herb Tarlick and his plaidpants and a white belt, always
hitting on Lonnie, alwayshitting on Jennifer, and she
would just rip on him.
It was hilarious.
What a great character sheplayed.
I know she was so much more,but she's so beloved in WKRP in
(18:39):
Cincinnati, certainly from mychildhood and many others.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Morning, jennifer, morning Herb.
Any calls?
No Messages, Nope, mail, none.
Okay, how about lunch?
No lunch either.
Dinner Busy, okay, how aboutlater at my place?
You're married, herb.
Oh yeah, what's it going totake with you, jennifer?
I mean you're talking to thesales manager here.
What do you want?
Watches, jewelry, a side ofbeef?
(19:08):
Fully dressed, I can fixanything.
You wanna meet Burt Convey inperson?
I mean, they'd all call me MrKickback for nothing.
Howdy, I'm Andy Travis, the newprogram director, but kickbacks
are wrong.
Hello, got a meeting.
We'll talk later if you lastthat long.
Nice fellow, one of the best.
(19:28):
Would you like to see the bigguy, the big guy, the skipper,
the chief, the head, honcho, thejerk who runs this place?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
yes, yes, would I love their sarcasm.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And she'd get away with it because she was so
beautiful.
Then you have nothing to worryabout.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yes, he's still here, Les Nesman, of course, oh.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Les, this is Andy Travis, our new program director
.
Well, howdy, so you're Travis.
Yeah, that's right.
Oh, les is in charge of newsweather sports.
The last program directorlasted 30 minutes before the big
guy fired him.
Traffic and what else, les?
Award-winning farm reports.
Watch your step, mister.
Well, that's a great guy too.
(20:31):
Of course, he's no bird, buthe's still one of the best wkrp.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I mean this show um, about this fictional radio
station, this, this AM radiostation in Cincinnati.
This was based on Hugh Wilson'sexperience.
He was created by him too, buthis experience is observing a
top 40 radio station.
(20:56):
It was WQXI in Atlanta.
Matter of fact, many of thesecharacters that we have become
to love over the years, one ofthem being Jennifer Marlowe,
were based on people at thatradio station.
Hugh Wilson telling theCincinnati Enquirer one time
that he selected WKRP as thecall sign for KRAP, to stand for
(21:21):
CRAP.
You had Gary Sandy, as you heardin there, as Andy Travis.
You had Howard Hessman.
Dr Johnny Fever loved him.
Gordon Jump was Arthur Carlson.
Lonnie, the beautiful LonnieAnderson, as I said.
Jennifer Marlowe Tim Reed was aVenus flytrap.
(21:44):
More on him in a moment.
Jan Smithers, bailey Quarters.
A lot of people liked BaileyQuarters.
A lot of guys had a crush onBailey Quarters, let's not
forget.
She was more of a down-to-earthshall we say kind of.
Whereas Lonnie was kind of abombshell-looking beautiful
woman, bailey Quarters was moreof a oh, I don't know tomboyish.
(22:05):
I don't want to really saytomboyish, but maybe that might
be a description of her.
You know, not such a bombshellbut still beautiful.
A lot of people liked herRichard Sanders, les Nesman Of
course we remember the turkeydrop at the Pinedale Shopping
Mall on Thanksgiving and HerbTarleck, played by Frank Bonner,
(22:25):
who is the sales guy, like Isaid, wearing his white patent
leather shoes, his white patentleather belt, his plaid slacks,
always trying to hit on thebeautiful Lonnie Anderson.
She played the struggling radiostation's empowered receptionist
.
She passed away after a longillness.
(22:48):
Well, the show aired.
Believe it or not, some ofthese shows are so iconic but
they were only on the air.
For instance, this one was onthe air for four years, from 78
to 82.
They were trying to inventitself with rock music.
She was blonde, she had thehigh heels, she deflected the
(23:10):
unwanted business calls for herboss, mr Carlson.
She was very efficient.
She kept the station running inthe face of everyone else's
incompetence, straight-upincompetence.
It earned her two Emmy Awardnominations and three Golden
Globe nominations.
You know, it happens, I guess,that you do a role so well that
(23:33):
you are remembered for that role.
I mean, how many times do wesee that People played the roles
, especially when it came tohalf-hour comedies in the 60s
and 70s?
I mean, if you go back andthink elizabeth montgomery,
whether it's bewitched or what,what you know?
Uh, fred gwynn as hermanmunster or bob denver as
(23:54):
gilligan, whatever, whoever itmight be now, but but she, but
she was so much more than justJennifer the receptionist at
WKRP.
We also, by the way, rememberher.
She was also married to BurtReynolds.
I remember that for a whilethere.
I don't know whatever happenedthere, who knows, not for us to
(24:16):
know.
She actually, I think she was inthat movie Stroke or Ace, maybe
I think she was in movies likethe Lonely Guy, maybe with Steve
Martin.
She was in some movies I'm notgood with movies, honestly, so
I'm not really going to try toeven remember what they were.
(24:36):
But suffice it to say, I guess,unless I'm missing the target,
that her main thing she's goingto be remembered for, at least
in terms of entertainment forthose of us who didn't know her
as the person that she was,we're going to remember her in
that iconic role, didn't she?
(24:58):
I think she was also, I don'tknow, it seemed like she was in
a movie, or not a movie, but asitcom with Burt Reynolds.
Wasn't she in some kind of asitcom?
Or Evening Shade?
Maybe?
I don't know if she was forsure she was born May 17th.
I just saw that I didn'trealize that May 17th my
birthday is May 16th, oh my gosh.
(25:19):
She married musician Bob Flick,one of the founding members of
the Brothers Four.
Rest in peace.
I'm going to talk about Lonnieon my show tonight because I
know that people will want totalk about her.
This is on another note, as I'mthinking about WKRP too.
You know Venus Flytrap, playedby Tim Reed.
As I mentioned, he was theevening and early nighttime DJ
(25:43):
at WKRP.
He also at one point became theassistant program director.
But as a kid growing up I lovedthe inner workings of the radio
station.
I loved noticing the differenttime slots of the DJs.
Even as a teenager I wouldreally notice that.
I would notice Les Nesman doingthe news and doing these other
(26:04):
reports, having his imaginaryoffice walls, this beautiful
receptionist at the face of theradio station, at that desk up
in front keeping us all togetherlike Lonnie did, us all
(26:25):
together like Lonnie did.
But as I watched that show froma personal standpoint, one of
the things that I really likedwas Venus Flytrap had the
evening show.
He was very smooth and Inoticed like Dr Johnny Fever was
in the daytime, maybe themornings, but at the daytime at
some point, and it was alwaysvery upbeat.
Hey baby yeah, you know we'regoing to play this man, but I
(26:46):
play the music.
They'd actually play the actualmusic and they'd have the
actual rock posters on the wallin the office and in the booth
in the studio, which was awesome, and so they would be like that
, just like it is now, even intalk radio, whereas in the
evening, when it's now dark,venus would come into the
(27:06):
building and he'd be smooth andgot us like this amen and doing
his thing, venus Flytrap.
His DJ name, gordon Sims by theway, his real name was not
revealed until late in theshow's first season, but the
fact is I gravitated towardsthat because it was like man.
He was the most relaxed, likehe could just kick back, and he
(27:31):
had the studio dim.
I can't remember if he had alamp I think he did Candles or a
lamp or something.
Maybe someone could tell me buthe made the studio really nice
and cool.
He made it feel at home and youknow what?
I was influenced by that andwhat I do on my show.
(27:53):
He got to pick the musichimself.
So do I.
You know how rare that is, butjust like Dr Johnny Fever, they
got to pick the music themselves.
No one gets to do that in radioanymore.
I do.
It's amazing, it's remarkable,it's so rare.
They were on the air and thetime slots it didn't overlap, so
(28:15):
it must have been.
Dr Johnny Fever must have beenon earlier in the day, not right
before the evening, and hewould play things like Earth,
wind and Fire, stuff that otherDJs during the day wouldn't play
, and it's funny.
And he went by mood.
So do I on my show.
So, anyhow, I guess what I'mtrying to say is I was greatly
influenced by him on this show.
(28:36):
That was always the coveted spot.
Sure, you could go during theday, in the morning, whatever,
maybe get more listeners interms of total, and they're
living their life and doingother things as they're
listening.
But at nighttime you're blessedto have an audience that if
they do tune in while they'redriving or while they're working
or if they're at home, thatthey're actually very loyal, not
(28:57):
to say the other audiencesaren't loyal, but they're the
cumulative.
You've got the cum, which istime spent listening.
I mean, you've got the cum,which is the most people.
Then you got the TSL, which istime spent listening, and the
TSL is very important andbecause of you we have that,
because you guys listen.
Heck, you guys will call me thethird hour and say, yeah, you
(29:19):
know, in the first hour you weretalking about this.
Well, my gosh, that means youwere listening to the whole time
.
That's amazing.
I don't expect that, but tohave that coveted time slot is
an amazing thing to me.
So thank you to WKRP, you know.
Thank you for my family forletting us watch that.
I just loved it.
(29:39):
It really influenced me, like Isaid.
So thank you, and thank youeveryone for listening.
Like I said, I think I'll goout here today with a little
more dead John Mayer on theguitar.
Thank you to Robin, thanks Joe.
Again.
Thanks to Madison.
We're going to add morebusinesses, food and donuts and
(30:03):
things like that coming upshortly, so that kind of stuff's
coming your way at patspeepscom.
Thank you for listening.
We'll see you on the radio.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Thank you.
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