by glaherty » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:16 am
I didn't know Al particularly well, although I obviously listened to him for
many years. I phoned him one time when I was in Brandon to apply for a job,
he listened for a few minutes, said I needed more experience before I was ready
for the "bigtime" kid. He ripped me a little bit on the air, when he was at OR',
saying I was a Dave Hodge clone, (Hodgey had of course hired me) and Al
was no fan of anything on NW at that point. I still remember being at the Unicorn
with Dave and Neil and Bob Mcammon, when all the b.s was going on between
Al and Mcrae, some classic lines for sure.
As for the Hall part: Absolutely, he was a broadcast icon, a personality
of the highest order and well worthy of that type of recognition.
Another funny Al story, and people can flesh out the details. He told somebody
on staff to F* off, was forced to apologize, and then while chomping on his stogie,
gave this heartfelt apology: Fill in the blank____, I'm truly sorry I told you to..
and then with renewed emphasis, F* off!!! Pretty classic. I missed some of
his battles with Pat Markley by several months. It was AL's departure that actually created the opening that brought me to the T. Dog. John, it sounds like you
respected him a lot even though you were rivals.