A Radio Pioneer Part Two

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to city, Stumpo, toughest nails on WBZ and Sammy,
how are we doing tonight?

Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm good? How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:06):
She's another like, what's going on with your last two weeks?
She working too hot?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
She said, too many group texts.

Speaker 4 (00:13):
All I am she's an awe of her host, of
her guest.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yes she is, I am.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're what I'm thinking about this when you were here
last week, that like if I go back to my
age at twenty twenty nine, like I was a hot
mess and like you had had the whole world in
your hand and you weren't see I think.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
You were a hot mess. I think you were coming
out of your hot mess by twenty I was a
hot mess at twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
No, but coming out of that. But like he's being
handed like an entire radio station to run at twenty nine.
You would never have handed me your business at twenty nine.
You would have said get away from me.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
At twenty nine. Yeah, no, I would have thrown you
out head for us, to be perfectly honest, you just
made her point. But the point is you loved Richie.
You love going to Richie's, you love being at Richie's,
and you love that Richie treated like the princess because
you'd come backstage in a limo to go to the
concerts and come out like some big shot like you know,

(01:04):
with the limo could come in the back. Yeah oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You spoiled them.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Oh well, you spoiled the kids.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Too, I know you did. So anyways, you were talking
last weekend, you're so like this Boston Pops thing. I
have no clue to go again.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
We're talking about how Richie basically invented kiss on eight,
invented concerts as we know here in Boston. But there's
like we have stories like I guess when walk in
the hallway, people talk about the good old days when
you when you were here.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
But there's one story that was so.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Hard to create shows like jingle Ball and kiss Concert,
but you got the Boston Pops to come just to
convince an artist to also come.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
All right, I'll tell you the story. This is my
favorite story because it involves my favorite singer, Luther Vandros,
who who, by the way, I think still is the
greatest singer ever had great voice. I mean, obviously we
lost him years ago, but.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
By the way, we never missed a constant Boston with
Richie with Luther. Okay, I love that.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
She found some pictures. I told Sandy, I found a
bunch of old pictures which I'm going to get to
her in the Factor's there. There's one backstage with Luther
at the.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
One at the Garden anyway.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
So I'm Polly Anthony was ahead of Epic records, and
she was a good friend, and she was wonderful, and
I kept saying, Paula, you got to get me Luther
for my concert. She goes, Richie, Luther doesn't do anything
for anybody. We can't get him to do anything. And
I said, well, it's not it's like for me. This
is like I'm it's like my bar misfah. I'm not

(02:31):
even you gotta get him for me. So she says,
I said, look, if you get him to meet with me,
I'll and he says no to me, I'll never bother
you about it again. She says, well, when he comes
to the office next, he's going to be in a
couple of times this month, I'll let you know. You
come down to New York and we'll I'll arrange to
have you of coffee ten minutes together. So she calls

(02:55):
me on a I don't know, whatever day, and she says,
Luther's gonna be in here tomorrow. Can you come down?
So of course said, of course course. So I fly down,
I get a place to the Four Seasons. They're on
fifty fourth Street and fifty fifth Street, and I'm at
the Four Seasons at fifty seventh and so they parayed
in Polly Luther, Luther's handler whoever that is, and his manager,

(03:16):
and he's like, he's got this look in his face, like,
oh God, why did I have to come to this thing.
So he's sitting there with me and I don't know,
I don't know if everybody knows, but Luther was very gay,
and he was very you know, he had very he
was he emoated, he had a lot of gestures, but
he had a lot of looks. So I'm talking to

(03:37):
him and he's looking the other way and he's totally
like not wanting to be there. So I said, look, Luther,
I said, I need you to play my concerts. You're
my favorite artist. I said, I've had everybody at the art.
I mean I've had every big artist there is for
the Kiss concerts, but I want you, I said, what
it's going to take for you to do the Kiss
concert and he says, I'll do the Kiss concerts if
you get me the Boston Boston Pops to be my

(03:59):
backup band. What God, isn't that amazing?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Because is that a big ask at that moment in
your Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
But the fact of the matter is as timing is everything.
So I had had a dinner with my buddy Robin Brown,
who ran the Four Seasons, and with Keith Lockhart a
couple of people two weeks prior. And I had never
met Keith before, and he loved Kiss and we comit.
We talked and he he gave me his number, and
you know, and I so I go, I excuse myself
for a minute and go in the lobby and I

(04:30):
called Robin. I said, Robin, you're not gonna believe this.
I tell him the story, and I said, Keith gave
me his number. I don't want to bother me. I
won't even want He says, well, he gave his number,
call him. So I called him and he answers the phone.
It's his cell phone. And I said, Keith Richie bows By,
now if you remember me, oh, Richie, Yeah, we have
great dinner. I said, Well, listen, here's what's going on.
I tell him the story. He goes, well, when is
the concert? I tell him today, and he goes, hold on,

(04:53):
comes back to the phone. He says, we can do that.
I said really, He said really, I said, hold on him,
and I take the phone. I give it to Luther
like turns white and he's like m he was so
he was so not wanting to do it. He thought
he thought he gave me the request I couldn't do.
And so now Luther is going to play the Kis concert, right,

(05:13):
so with the Boston Pops, which they they practiced. Now
that cost me a lot of money because the recovery
didn't pay for the Boston Pops. But they got me Luther,
and so we had like all these things played for him.
Now it was skinny Luthor. He had lost one hundred
pounds and he wouldn't stay at the Four Seasons where
everybody else was. He wanted to be at the Ritz

(05:33):
where he was just him, because he was really a diva.
So we had a dinner that the Thursday night before
at Sancy and we were a little late to getting there,
and he was like pissed. And Greg DeAndrea or no, Eddie.
Letessa was there and Eddie was entertaining him, if you
can imagine. So so he's like talking to Luther and

(05:53):
Luther's given him the looks.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
We get there and Eddie's holding the conversation down with
that Rhode Island accent too.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
When I got there, I think Luther thought it was
like crazy, But I get We get there and I
had Lauren, my daughter with me, who was young. It
was like, I don't know, young, twelve or thirteen, eleven, twelve,
I don't know. And so she's there and he was
the only one. She was the only one he really
wanted to talk to. So or sitting there and he
won't order anything at Saucy. He goes, no, no, I'm

(06:20):
not needing that. So he gets some lettuce with some
vinegar on it or something, goes back to the hotel.
He does a great concert. He had four wardrobe changes
and he did four songs. And my daughter Lauren, he
had her pick out the jackets he was gonna wear.
They were all sparkly. One was bright blue, bright red.
I mean it was incredible. It was like a spectacle,
and so then you know the show was great. It

(06:42):
was worth everything. That costs and I and I get
the bill from the from the Ritz and I said, wow,
that's awfully high. I wonder what that is. I had
to deal with him and I said, get me the
backup to this bill. And I look at it and
there was like two pages of stuff from the mini bar. Yeh.
He had liked twenty things of cashews, like twenty five
milky ways. He ate everything in the bar but the

(07:04):
playing cards and.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
The condom that they put in.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
He was a closet eater.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Anything at Sancy.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
He didn't any Sancy, but he ate all the crap
at the you know, from the mini bar. But anyway,
the Luther Vandersery, he was spectacular. He is spectacular. I still,
if I ever want to relax, I listened to Luther
and I did get him to play the Kiss concert.
So that's my big achievement there.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now here's what I get upset about. Okay, so let's
let's go.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
So now we should be upset about.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
When I come into the studio. This should be a
picture or a painting of mister Richard Balls. Yeah, I do.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
I'm old, but you know that old news.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
I said, I will say your story when I walked
this holler right here, Richie. You'll see all the kiss
contents over the years, and I think everybody credits them
to what you created.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
I don't want the legacy to die. That's my point, right.
So okay, so Richie decides in what year you are
going to sell out all your radio stations.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Well, I mean it had to. It was ninety six.
And what happened really was a convergence of things. One
was I was I had just gone through a divorce. Uh,
and it was it was it was you know, absolutely,
you know painful. Radio was changing. They were deregulating radio,

(08:30):
and that means you were able to own more ams,
more fms, and everybody was getting involved with investment bankers.
And I just saw the business changing and I said,
I don't want to be a part of that business.
I try. I went to vest Or, I went to
my Capital Partners and tried to get them to change
their deal. All worked.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
All that we got to go to break Sidney Stumble
and you listen to have his nails on WBZ. We'll
be right back and welcome to Cindny Stumpo. To have
his nails on WZ sounded like you said, w RC.
Was that sounded like you said w r C not
w B Did I say w BZ? I don't know.
Out of though, I said what I said? How's that
We're back? Go ahead?

Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, so let me see where was I?

Speaker 1 (09:10):
I was singing the song in my head. So I'm
gonna push you to mabe it was changing.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
You didn't like where it was changing.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
And the person that you think.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Is not Richie, who was like the original inventor of
kiss and everything good about radio in Boston. But you're
talking about the error, the error when you decide to sell.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
That's what DJ's made real money to. And DJs became
really celebrities, real local celebrities. They were least lips.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Well, I say, well, I said, I say that. People
say would you miss it? And I say yeah, I
mean I miss what it was, but not what it's become.
And I said, I the only thing I don't miss
is negotiating with.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Matt Siegelt about that too, but which he built Matt, Yeah, okay,
he built me in the morning.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
Let's Matt will only on rare occasions will admit that.
But at any rate, So well, the business was changing,
and I and my and the radio quit. Our radio
stations were just they were all performing very well, and
I looked at it. I looked at the mirror. One
day I said, I'm not going to become a different well.
I had partners investor are Capital Partners, and I went

(10:20):
to them. I said, look, we changed the way our
deal works and you can be at the point where
the value is right now, but we change it because
it was based on revenues and if we were going
to buy radio stations to build a bigger company, I
didn't want the revenues from the stations I already had
that were so well performing to be affected by negative
revenues of stations I was going to build and turn around.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
And what you're saying right now is you know an
issue that happened to radio all time. Currently lately, a
station like KUS still builds a ton of money as
they were profitable, but there are other stations across the
country that I would own that would bleed.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
So that it was changed.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Now, Oh, completely different because it's still a very profitable entity,
but other properties make it.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
At that time, I had all good radio stations for
me to go forward and build a company with all
the new deregulations they would have had to infuse it
with a lot of capital. I would have been taking
over stations that were losing money, adding them to the
portfolio of the stations I had that were making money,
and my accretion of what I was worth, my value
of what my part of the company was, would be

(11:23):
cregatively impacted by the lower things. So I said, okay,
you want to build a bigger company, we're going to stop.
We're going to well right now where we are with
the stations I have, we'll freeze the amount of money
you have there, and we'll change the deal going forward,
because we're going to buy other radio stations and I'm
going to be working my rear off to make them
into successful radio stations. And they said, oh, we can't
change the deal. We have investors. I said, okay, then

(11:45):
I'm out. They said, well you can't be out. I
said no, no, Read the contract. It says I can
I can trigger a sale. And that's when I said
we're out.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
So how old are you know?

Speaker 4 (11:54):
What year is that? That would have been ninety six, okay,
in like forty five, wow.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
And he sold it for.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Sixteen and a half million dollars.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Three hundred and six but hold on, it gets a
little better than that, because he sells it for three
hundred and sixteen million to whatever half and half and
then hold on. Then he calls and he says, when
the tax season came, because I just went in the
bathroom and threw up, right, so everyone even go there.
He literally was sick to his stomach.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
Right, it was the highest tax rates. When I sold,
I had the red checks that were unreal.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
He said, he went to the bathroom and threw up.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
You know what, I got over myself.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Then hold on. Then he realized, what is networth? But
that was in what year? And you sold that to
ever whatever?

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Green ninety six? I sold it to Evergreen. I didn't
want to sell it to them. I didn't really like them.
I didn't like the people there.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
But here's the kick in the ass. Evergreen then holds
it for how long it turns it over? How much?

Speaker 4 (12:51):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
I thought when they they held a flight two years,
they may we google that. I'm trying, and then everything
I don't know, because you know what like another one
hundred million off.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Don't let me explain somebody to you. When you make
a deal and you decide you're gonna you're gonna leave.
You just can't look at what you'd left on the table.
You have to look at what you got. And people
that do it that way are like, you're never going
to be happy. In as far as I'm.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Concerned, I trying to sell stock at the highest advice
made my deal.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
I'm happy with it. Good luck. If they can make
three times more, great, good for them. That's the way
I look at it.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
So literally, we took an investment. I didn't like them
very much, But you took an investment of fifteen million, right,
thinking of this fifteen million in what year?

Speaker 4 (13:35):
In eighty two you're sold.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Out by what ninety six? What do we call that?
One hundred x? Cant right? Seen three and sixty million?
This is a three hundred ten.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Ten Now it's like thirty, it says.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
In April nine ninety seven, Ganet Broadcasting agreed to sell
all its radio stations, including wgc I a m FM
in Chicago, Dallas and Houston, to Evergreen Media, but basically
for two point five eight billion in acquisitions.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
That acquired more radio stations and built it up high.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
And then yeah, it was fourteen years you spent in radio.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
Before then from ownership, Yeah, ownership ownership fourteen.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Okay in two years, and.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Then to two and a half when I was running him,
and then eight or seven years with the night stations.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Okay, But here comes my big question. You get all
this money, but then as time goes on, here's the
problem when you sell your company. This is why, no
matter what, I'm not selling ce Stumbo, because it gave
me a purpose. You get all this money, but Richie's
purpose was he was the man of Boston. And then

(14:51):
you get all this money, but then you got to
lose that power to avenge.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
An identity for anybody in any career.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
I would say, knowing you as well as I do,
you missed that part of the business.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
Oh yeah, I do, God, no question. I would never
never say that I didn't. Of course I do.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
And I saw him build a lot of guys up.
I remember when this guy Scotty Slambrino, he came in.
He had one one limo right. Dave El was a driver,
came in and said to Richie, I'll drive for you
for what.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
I don't even remember.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
Nothing.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
Well, and then I doubt that I ever let him
do it for nothing.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
But you paid him. But The point is he took
a one limo company. Because of you, he turned many
men have made their careers off of it. He doesn't
take credit for any that, which drives me crazy. But
and you started giving him all the kids concerts, all
the events, all the parties, all the people coming in.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
There's no rich There's no question that many people have
taken advantage of the fact that I helped him out
without much.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Who would you ever say no to Richie? I need
I need to tickets. I need to make it to
my kids. I've seen Richie go out and buy tickets
for people's kids, Okay, which you would say, I go,
rich you don't own the station anymore. Why are you
buying tickets for their kids? But he would because that
was Richie.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Care a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
No, he's just generous, generous to a fault. That's Richie.
That's what I love.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Well, let me put you. I wake up every morning
a smile on my face, and I'm happy about I'm
happy to be me. So that's that's That's what I
got out of it.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Mostly that you're happy to be you. But it's so
funny how and I think that we can all say
this at our age that you also find out later
on life who were your real friends and who weren't
your real friends. When you're flying high, everybody's your friends,
right and everybody needs something from you, and it's like, Cindy,

(16:45):
can you fix this, Cindy, can you do this? Yeah, yeah,
I'm sending guys over. Yeah, yeah, I'm sending guys over Richie.
Same thing. Then one day you wake up and you're like,
where they'll go?

Speaker 4 (16:54):
That's a five hour telecharacter. Yeah, it's a very that
may be the own. That may be the one thing
which I think I like the least about giving up
the power and the whole thing is the fact you
find out who your friends are, and you find out
the son that you thought were really good friends are,
you know, and then you find that others that you

(17:14):
weren't really sure where such good friends are.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
So and then some and those people turned out to
blow your mind to become really good friends, right, sometimes
the ones you at least expected.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
That's life in general. That's just that that you know,
it happened to be more plaignant with me because of
the fact that I had the power of the the
tickets and the skyboxes and all.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
That stuff, the power of everything, Richie restaurants, take kids, Celtics,
this that the box is the I mean, what life
weren't you living? Traveling? Going right?

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Well, yeah, I have no regrets.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
A one night we go to Grammys. I'm like, why
am I here? Why? Oh my god? That was like
the worst Grammys. Richie, come on, remember that.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Now getting you on the plane to get us there?

Speaker 1 (17:58):
We got where, we took the private plane and I
brought Richie Moe back with us on that private plane.
And I'm panicking now, most panicking, and now we don't
want to get on this.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Private You must have had them go down the run
right like fifteen times.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
But I swore to rich I wouldn't make it there.
As we're flying over the Empire State Building, fort can
tell them having a heart attack. He stays up the
four Seasons, obviously the Saint Regions. We stayed at the Fourties.
We did because of Richie. We went to the same regis.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
There it is again, thank you for slumming.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Okay, I like nobody, but wait, hold, I thought would
be right back. I'm sney stumbling you listen toughest Nails
and w BZ and welcome back. To the Toughest Nails
on w BZ. I'm Cindy, I'm here with Sammy and
I'm here with Richie. So would we leave off? That's
called the menopause moment.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
We're talking about friends and yeah, yeah, yeah, who are
your friends when you're riding high versus not when you're up.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
And when you're down the whole way?

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Okay, oh no, we were We're talking about going the Grammys,
and I'm going, yeah, but.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
You started talking about the Grammars. Were we on air
when you were talking about it?

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, we're on there.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
So we go to Grammys and that's when the East
Coast the West coast was some bad.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Scenes going on the wrapper gangs and oh, bad.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Bad, bad bad, and I'm out.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
Of THEA was hanging out there was great.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
I'm out here like this is. I remember being I'm
going back to the four season and hang out with
the kids. And I said, then I'll meet you at
the parties. And then we went to all the Sony parties.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
Well those were good. The parties were the party.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
After the Grammys.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yeah, the Grammys used to be great in the old days,
but they you know, I went like twenty some straight years.
But then they got Then they became very much more commercial,
and you know, everything has you.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Go off the commercial. They were all by the bar
fighting with each other. I didn't know if I was
gonna get sharp blown away. It was.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
I wasn't out there watching that, so I don't.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Know you out front still, but I'd go out to
the barrier. Not that I'm drinking. I wanted to watch
the action. I should have drink.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
I should have been it would have been better.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
I don't know about that. It'd be great. I don't
know music, you know, I.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
Mean the the old days of the great It's funny
because it's almost like all like the Kiss Concert. Yeah,
when I created the Kiss Concert. First of all, the
beginning was was hard. You know, I did it at
a nightclubs and two nights.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
She hates talking about.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
Then when it became then when it you know, it
was the Boston Garden, the Great Woods, and I'd have
the backstage and I'd be able to have all my
friends and all the family and all their kids and
everybody hanging out and running around with the artists and stuff,
and the Great.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Woods in the back to me was Infinity Center. It
was I called great Woods called it was a tweeter center.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
But the food was back, all the people were back.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
Everybody knew everybody, and I had not not high end food,
but I had you know, uh, you know, cafeteria kind
of food for everybody. Everybody hung out and eating and
just you know, had a great time. In general.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
It was I have great stories and what.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
But anyway, how about.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
The party at La Papion Okay, not La Papillon at
the Hilton, Oh, the.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
One the one when Mendez the whole hotel and the
club downstairs.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's was that called Papion's.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
I forget it was called. But the was fun was
happening happening up in the in the store room right
because I had Sergio Mendez playing and I had all
these people jump on stage with him, Al Jiro and
Natalie Cole, people that weren't even at the concent They
weren't even at the concert, they were just in town.
It was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
But that that one was a great.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Boy George was with yeah, boy George in the bathroom.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
And took everybody's coke and stood everybody's coke and like
none you can't make this up. Then We're walking by
Natalie Cole and your dad goes, oh, you know, we
got married to your father. I don't care, like right,
I don't care. And the best one was White Snake.
I walk by him and go, hi, not yet, but
I'd like to be come on, think about these days.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
Rachie Marvin Hagler beat up a limo driver. That was
pretty nuts. But but anyway, but those but see, there's
so many. There's a story. I'll tell you one more story.
That's kind of funny that that was it that year. Yeah,
it might have been that year.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
And David Lee Roth talking to Nana Popper and my
father's going, can you get here? He doesn't. He won't
leave Nier alone. He was bop wopping everybody's bopp And
back then.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
I had to get I had to get a bunch
of hotel rooms around the Hilton, you know. And I
did try to do trade deals to get to put
up all these people, to try to mitigate my costs.
And I had the uh, what's the one across the street,
the Colonnade, And the Colonnade was owned by that guy Drunker, right,

(22:22):
he would not do a trade deal with me. And
he said to me. He said, look, Rich, I don't
want those the element of people in my hotel. It's
a high end hotel. I go, geez, dude, I said,
I've done it at the four Seasons the risk. I said,
come on, and I said, just do a small trade.
I'll put only like you know, really like advertising agency
people and some people at the hotel. So he acquiesced
and we did a deal. And Dottie Jones was my

(22:45):
secretary then if you remember her, and Dottie. Dottie got
overwhelmed with what was going.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
On, so she she took very quick care of her
when you when you sold.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
But anyway, so you're jumping around so anyway, so the.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
I'm just giving the facts here.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
I know that's right.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
I'm blowing your horn because you're not doing a very
good job.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
I'm not trying to do that anyway. So we so
we had the thing there and the Gap band was
when I love the Gap band, and they were they
were playing and they were it was the garden was
where the where the concert was the last one I
had the garden the Gap man went and rehearsed there
and somehow Dotty because she got overwhelmed with all the
people and stuff put the Gap band in the Colonnade.

(23:24):
So they were in their white cowboy suits rehearsing on
a Friday or whatever day it was. I don't remember,
maybe Friday at the concert Saturday, and I got this
frantic call. Apparently they all came back to the lobby
of the Colonnade where they had that big table, that
big glass table, and they were they had piles of cocaine.
They were snorting on the table and Druker went crazy.

(23:46):
He called me. He didn't talk to me for ten years.
I apologized. I said, I didn't know. I mean, we
got him out. It was terrible. It was actually, I mean,
my fault, obviously, But but can you imagine they don't No,
we won't put any any any you know, griff raffing
your hotel and there snorting cocaine while the regular customers
are checking in.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Oh, it was all crazy days. Rod Stewart, we're having
did the four scenes with Richie with Rod Kelly Hamberg,
that's who were seeing at the time. They broke out
in a massive fight. Richie's trying to get that under control,
like that was after he did his concert. Come on,
I mean, we saw such crazy stuff. Well, we had
a lot of good das together to but a good
thing that our cell phones now didn't exist.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Then.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
Oh, it's an absolute blessing.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
It's an absolute blessing.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
I'll tell you.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
So when you look back now, Richie, you just said
you're happy. You get up every day. You love your golf.
You loved your golf for how long?

Speaker 4 (24:40):
Oh for fifty years.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Are you proud of your accomplishments?

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Yeah, very proud. Oh yeah, extremely proud.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Still not gonna be happy till they make a movie. Well,
because I think we are after everything's going back to
retro right now. These kids out of the West Coast.
On my social media, I'm following these kids and everything
they're dancing to, whether they're dancing or rollerblading, they're dancing
to that music that was being played on Kiss when

(25:10):
in the seventies and early eighties.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
I have some people that I'm talking to about it,
but they've they've got to make it. I'm not going.
Let me just say there are some things that are
there happening, but I don't want to talk about them.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Unless okay, well I want to be an investor, all right.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
I don't know that I'm in need investors, but but
I want to but the the you know, look, it's yes,
I mean, if you if I really want to be honest,
those were the glory days of my life. But they
will take.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
You with the glory days for a lot of people
that you've created.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
Because nobody does the things that they that they do
today in terms of drugs, in terms of you know,
the wretched excess, in terms of limousines and all this stuff.
I mean, it was crazy and it was it was normal.
It was it was normal, So that was it was.
It was just crazy. But yeah, but yeah, I miss it.

(26:00):
But I reminisce a lot. I have a lot of pictures,
a lot of I have the Chromhart's big photo albums
with all the different things. I mean, I've got with
my arm around Michael Jackson at the at Rex and
at the Grammys, and I've got Lauren sitting on Paul
Abdul's lap with John Stamos sitting behind him. I got
all these great pictures.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
I remember the year that I didn't even know who
Glory Estevan was. She had come to.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
One of the CAUs she did the garden.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yes, she said, the garden. I had no clue, like
she was just kind of new.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
She was a new artist, sal machine. Then that's when
the boy George did Bad Bad Boys with her on
stage and.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Seven with them. But what about I don't remember. Did
you mix gem and ninety four with the Kiss partties
with rock and Roller?

Speaker 4 (26:43):
No?

Speaker 1 (26:45):
No, you never missed.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
Jim Jam. I did things with Jam and the were separate, separate, Yeah,
but no kiss kiss. You know, kiss was the jingle
ball in the Kiss concert.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Right, And if you walk down the right when you
leave my studio, all you're going to see is jingle
ball kiss things Witchie. That's all you know. That's all
you All those pictures that you'll see. I'll take you
down the right side, right, they wouldn't be here today
if it wasn't for you.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Which you have to understand that that my ego.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Is is bigger than you. I was.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
But I don't I know, I know what I did.
I don't have to have other people. Everybody know it.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, but we want to know it.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
Well, I'm telling you that's why I'm here.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
I know the story. I live part of it with them.
But that's not the point. The point is you don't
want to blow your own horn, and I'm blowing your
horn all the time. I appreciate it, and every time
I walk in the studio I get really pissed. So
then I'm gonna bring my own picture and blow it up.
I'm gonna put it right here.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
You got it right there, just well picture of you?
Oh well, well's we can not do that.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yes we can because I got some great I got
some great pictures, but and you got some great pictures.
We have to share those pictures.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
We will. I told you I'm trying to put waching.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
You change Boston period. You know, I interviewed Charlie Walk
a few weeks ago here and your name came up
ten times. Remember Charlie started as you know, exactly for
who me exactly? And then he turned and then he
turns out to be what president epic? Okay, so look

(28:16):
at how many lives you don't even have any clue.
You don't have because you know, you're not thinking about
how many lives you've changed along the way. And Charlie
and I were talking about that all that thought. I'm
Sindy Stumble you listen Toughest Nails on WBZ, and welcome
back to Toughest nails. I'm Cindy and I'm Sammy and
Richie Sammy, we're on our last segment with Richie. Is

(28:40):
there anything you want to say to Richie? Knowing Richie
since you can pretty much walk and talk.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
Well, thank you for everything you did for me as
a kid.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
It was a pleasure, my pleasure. You guys are always great.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
With some of your best memories out there going, I
gotta go to the concerts. I gotta do. Yeah, it
was the best.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
All my friends got to come, and it.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Was great hanging at Richie's house. Like to me, that
was normal.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
That would never be normal to somebody else.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
But think about this, Richie, your pool, your backyard, were
all playing back gam and Joey McIntyre and Sam's going,
Joey McIntyre is by the pool, right. What did she knows?
She didn't. She just knew was Joey McIntyre right, and
were just all playing backgam and like, so we deal.
But imagine how starry eyed even your kids had to
be at some point my kids, she was, well.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
Yeah, yeah, I mean my kids, my kids weren't.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
We just grew up and they.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Got used to it. Yeah they didn't. They weren't really uh,
Lauren had gotten a big fight with Joey McIntyre. Were
the skyboxing before the first time. When they were, they
were a different box. I took her over to meet him,
and he was like watching the game and he was
kind of like dismissive, and she got pissed, excuse me mad,
and she and she was, how old you do At

(29:54):
the time, she must have been like ten or something
she was, so she said, no, Dad, I don't want
you ever to play that again. He's not a nice guy,
not a nice person. And so, I mean, Joey did
everything but gravel back to the other suite to say
could hide her and talk to her. Laura Lauren had
a lot of power that she didn't even She was

(30:14):
funny Lauren. She'd loved it. She worked. She worked at
the radio station. It's funny because she I'd bring her
into work and she'd work down a promotion and she'd do,
you know, all kinds of things. And she was a
terrible speller, but she'd write me notes and everything was misspelled.
It was just so funny. But she was there for
like three days and I'd give her like five dollars,
you know, just you know, And I get this thing

(30:36):
typed in the typewriter with all misspelling that she does
more work than the people that work for me, and
she thinks she should get a raise to ten dollars
she'd do. And I have all this stuff and I
actually put it in a framed picture with old pictures
of her, gave it for one of the Christmases. But yeah,
I mean, you know, the kids, my kids, my friend,
my friend's kids. You know, that was that was the

(30:58):
most enjoyable thing to have everybody enjoy it. You know,
that was fun because everybody participated. Everybody enjoyed it. It's fun.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
And then Papa Bobb would be like, which should be
cleaning out his closet? And Papa would be like loving
his cashmere sweat is which he'd be like to Yeph, heh, Bobby,
take this, yeh, Bobby, take that right, Bobby. Yep. Papa
loved Richie. Well, Richie. My questions is what legacy do
you hope to leave in the media industry.

Speaker 4 (31:28):
That's a hard one to answer. I never thought about it, really.
I think maybe I just get off well, yeah, I
never I never thought about it. I guess that I
would just like to be thought of as an innovator
and a risk taker who did things that other people
were afraid to do.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
And that's what you yea.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
I created things that people never would have done. I
did the concertate the things that people never thought could
be could be done, and I enjoyed doing it. I mean,
people say, you hear so many people say I'm so lucky.
It's not like I feel like my whole life has
been enjoyment, not work. I don't feel like I go
to work like ballplayers and things like that. Truly my

(32:06):
life was was enjoyment.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
I mean I say it every day. If you enjoy
what you do, it's not a job.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
And truly, I did you enjoyed what you people? Yeah,
I had I mean Charlie Minor, who was my best buddy.
I mean I had times with him, I you know,
unfortunately he was gone twenty some years ago. Those memories
I still laugh to myself and smile thinking about them.
So I have a lot of wonderful, fond memories and
they still live in my in my my strange mind,

(32:35):
I think about them all the time. So I have, Yeah,
but the legacy would be that I was an innovator,
a risk taker and good at what I did.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Did you ever think today that podcasts, right, podcasts, it
could be sometimes speaker than radio. Did you ever had
even when I started hearing about podcasts right where, people
are coming to me going, why you would I have media?
Why aren't you doing your own podcast? You can be you,
you don't have to be squeaky clean, blah blah blah.

(33:06):
I always thought like podcast was beneath radio, and now podcast.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
Well, you're absolutely right, and I'm old school and I
always felt the same way. I'm still having a hard
time grasping it. It is the new it's a very
new medium.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
That's very you can make a lot of money, one percent,
we'll make it out there. The podcast Well, well, right, so.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
I don't, yeah, because I've never really kind of I will.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, I try to follow who the leaders are on podcasts.

Speaker 4 (33:32):
But Joe Rogan's doing okay.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Joe's from Newton, Massachusetts, and I'm the Boston kid, right.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
He's doing okay, And those Kelsey brothers are doing good.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, but again there's how many people trying to be that.

Speaker 4 (33:45):
Well, yeah, that's true. Yeah, you're right. I'm not advocating
for podcasts. I've done a couple of them, but not
you know, just a couple of them. But I you know,
I never thought that it'd be what it was ever.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Well, radio, ever, in your opinion, be obsolete.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
You don't believe so.

Speaker 4 (34:04):
No, because of localization, particularly with news, sports and personality.
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
So you think radio will hang on?

Speaker 4 (34:13):
I do? I think not. I think the top.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
You don't think these devices where people can only you
know this generationally as an attention span of like a
flee right, they can only watch something for fifty seconds
and they've done.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Me too, I have the same.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Well that's happened because we're getting older, but we used
to be able to sit down.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
Mean that's down. No, I'll tell you what it's funny. Well,
just you know, for your edification, I listened to Soul
Town on on you know, I'm serious.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Okay, So but you said you're paying for paid radio.
I'm listening to my paid radio. I know.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
So that's me and and but I don't listen around
the dial. I just the one thing because I love
at music and I don't know how to put it
on my eye. So what's your which I don't even
think they have any What is.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Your favorite no we download to our phones. What's your
favorite genre of music? Will it be so rock? With
disco soul?

Speaker 4 (35:12):
Old soul?

Speaker 1 (35:14):
So used to like Bobbing Gay, Timmy Chuell, Diana Ross.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
And also things like the Intruders, the Stylistics.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
That Intruders. I will always love my mama. Yeah, the Delphonics,
the del Did I blow your mind this time?

Speaker 4 (35:25):
That's right?

Speaker 1 (35:26):
That It's funny how we can remember music like some
of us can just remember music. Right then? If you
ask me what aday for breakfast yesterday? Why, I might
have to really think about that three times. But you
say the Delphonics, and I'll come up with did I blow.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
You on this time?

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Right?

Speaker 4 (35:40):
Well, I'll tell you this. I'll always love my way
to remember.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
And that wasn't my music, Richie, that was my parents music.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Oh yeah, but that's such great music. But if you
if you want to remember we had for breakfast, just
have the same thing everything.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Then you have to forget right, Yes, I had high
boiled eggs, but I don't know what I've seen. A
big life, a Jenny's man, a man that was giving
a man that you're a good man, Richie, you've always
been a good well, thank you.

Speaker 4 (36:06):
It's very very sweet of you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
And I want nothing but great happiness for you and
you living a healthy, good life. And sometimes we all
get caught up working. Who would think, I mean, think
about this, Richie. Did you ever think that from the
time you met Cindy she'd end up on HGTV and
Nasha Radio show and build a career I've built, right,

(36:30):
I think it's incredible.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
I think you deserve a lot of credit too. I
mean you've really built You've built a brand. It's amazing.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
But I can't quit if I stop working. If you
have golf, so you love golf, you love to go
to Nantucky, you love to go to Florida. You're back
in here. What am I going to do now? In
my life?

Speaker 4 (36:47):
I are all made up differently, and that if that's
what works for you, that's great.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
It is you see your mom not working? No, that
would be a very big way, right well, I.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Mean, as long as you know it and as long
as you embrace it, that's all about And you know.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
Like we love you to death, right, I always love you.

Speaker 4 (37:04):
Thank you that I always loved my moment.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
I always love you.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
He's my favorite girl.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
But there's probably one more question I really want to
ask you, and that is, if you had one jew
over in life, would you have changed anything.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
I've been asked this question before. I know there are
probably things that I would have done differently, but I
look at it as the whole package, and I will
tell you that the answer is I wouldn't change anything
because everything turned out the way it should have. Children,
even divorces, as bad as they were or whatever, they
were still great experiences. All the things I did at

(37:42):
kiss I did luckily didn't do anything which landed me
in jail or anything.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
That's a good thing, right, something I would have changed.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
But no, I actually I really would I wouldn't change anything.
You know, for all the all the things that might
not have been the best, there was something that good
came out of them. And that's not an answer that's
supposed to sound good. That's kind of true because I've
thought about that.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Question, and everybody always asked me that question, would you
change one thing? And would we say you? Never say
you would change I married the same man, you know,
even if I knew the results, because I wouldn't have
Sam and Chad and life is what it is. And
I went and made the friends I made. So if
you take a right, you end up down this road.
You take a left, you end up down this road.
So I agree with you. Give me a fist pump

(38:26):
because we ain't changing anything wrong.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
Hey, you know you could go That's see, that's the
thing when people ask that question, if you go down
the wrong road, if you could change something, it takes.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Any changes everything. Yeah, all that thought. I'm sitting stump
and you listen to His Nails on WBZ News Radio
ten thirty and welcome back to Tough his Nails on WBZ,
And I'm here with Sammy, and I'm here Richie. Richie,
what are you working on? Well that you really can't
tell us.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
Well, I'm not going to tell you because it's not
far enough along. But basically, I had been working on
a TV show a while ago which kind of win
could put. But now it's been re energizing a different
f I have some meetings coming up in within the
next two weeks, and I will know if it's real
or not. If it is, I will let you know.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Deal. Okay, folks, that's Richie Bolsburg Kiss Oneaway Chamber ninety
four started all in Boston and went across the country. Everybody,
have a great, safe weekend and we'll see you next weekend.
I'm Citdney Stumpo and you're listening to WBZ ten thirty
on Tough as Nails.