Kathleen Willey gets Radio show in Richmond VA.

Apr 08, 2002

A new voice hits local airwaves
Willey discusses Clintons on show
BY SHAWN COX
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Times-Dispatch
NBC12 Poll

Did you listen to Kathleen Willey's radio show Sunday?
Yes
No

It began with a gush of Rush.
"Did you know Kathleen Willey has got her own radio talk show now?" asked Rush Limbaugh in a recorded snippet that kicked off the first "The Kathleen Willey Show" yesterday.
"She's going to talk about her experiences with [Bill] Clinton, she's going to have guests, and she's going to talk about the news of the day."
Willey did all of that, indeed, in her talk-radio debut, fielding more than a dozen calls from listeners who took turns praising and pelting the Richmonder who's widely known for an alleged sexual encounter with Clinton nine years ago.
'An interesting life'

She also talked current events with guests Sean Hannity, co-host of a weeknight talk show on the Fox News Channel, and David Schippers, author of "Sellout: The Inside Story of President Clinton's Impeachment."
"There's some people out there that think I have no right to be here," Willey said at the start of her two-hour program, which airs Sundays on WRVA (1140 AM) from noon to 2 p.m.
"I don't have a degree in journalism, I don't have a degree in mass communications . . . [but] I've had quite an interesting life, and the last four and a half years have been very, very interesting, to say the least."
If Willey, 55, had wondered how long it would take for a listener to fish for details about her infamous encounter, the show's first caller settled the question.
Described encounter

"You said that your interview with President Clinton was pretty uncomfortable," said Joe, referring to Willey's fleeting mention of the incident in her opening remarks. "I was just wondering if you could elaborate on that a little bit."
Willey went on to describe the encounter again (prefacing with, "I've told this story a lot, so bear with me") before adding that she never intended to go public with her story.
"I was going to take it to my grave," she said. "I never wanted this to become common knowledge. But I had told some girlfriends - you know, women talk, and we trust our girlfriends - and it got out, and it just went from bad to worse."
Earlier, Willey had said her show was not about bad-mouthing the Clintons - "I'm not here to bash the Clintons. I want to make that very clear. That's not what this show is all about." - yet she couldn't resist a few swipes at the former first couple.
"He gets himself in trouble a lot," said Willey, who revealed that she voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 election. "I'm not the first person, I won't be the last. I've heard some real funny stories about some of his antics in New York that sometime I hope I can share with you - they're just funny."
And as for Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2004?
"I know she'll run for president," Willey said. "She says that she's not going to, but she's already got people out in Iowa. . . . I think that would be pretty horrific for this country. She's not a very nice person, and she'll do anything to get her way."
Some callers blasted Willey - including one woman who chided her for "not pushing [Clinton] away" - while others expressed admiration for her courage.
"I had a few irate people, and that's OK," Willey said at the end of her show. "I like a good argument. My little Irish grandmother told me once, 'Kathleen, when you get married, don't go to bed mad - stay up and fight like crazy.'"
Source at the RTD

May 07, 2002

Willey's radio talk show canceled
Two-hour Sunday program aired four shows

Richmonder Kathleen Willey's flirtation with the microphone will be a brief one.
The aspiring radio talk show host has been canceled after four shows, WRVA (1140AM) radio said yesterday.
"We'll go back to 'The Best of Dr. Laura,'" Randall Bloomquist, WRVA's program director, said. The former Clinton figure occupied a two-hour-long, after-church slot Sundays, beginning April 7.
Willey's failure was one of mechanics, Bloomquist said. "What I heard was what you would hear if you plucked anyone off the street and put them on a 50,000-watt radio station.
"She just wasn't ready yet for a station at our level."
Full of on-air "ums," "uhs" and "I means," Willey came across as sincere but often tongue-tied and at a loss for the right word.
She said yesterday that she didn't get much help from the radio station.
"I'm certainly disappointed - not devastated, but disappointed," said Willey, who added she was pleased with the caliber of the guests she interviewed, including Ken Starr and Dick Morris. "I had a good time, but I don't think the audience that WRVA is trying to draw now is interested in the kind of guests that I was able to bring on the show."
"It just didn't fly," Willey said. "I thank Randall and WRVA for the opportunity. I wish we could have continued on, but we couldn't, so I wish him all the best with all he wants WRVA to be now."
Willey, 55, figured briefly but prominently in the investigations of former President Bill Clinton's involvement with other women. Willey became a household name after stories circulated that the president allegedly fondled the former White House volunteer and Democratic activist during an unscheduled November 1993 meeting in the Oval Office.
Willey described the ordeal on national television in a "60 Minutes" interview but undercut her own credibility because of conflicting statements she gave to various federal grand juries.
"Really, it was a low-risk shot at giving a local notable with some interesting life experiences and good connections a chance at being a talk show host," Bloomquist said.
Willey said she had no immediate plans but is willing to give talk radio another shot. She added that once while she was talking to Bloomquist, he called an executive at the Talk America Network, which syndicates Oliver North, to see if the network had any interest in her.
Should Willey's collapse discourage other talkative prospects like Reva Trammell, Sa'ad El-Amin or former City Councilman Chuck Richardson?
"Not by any means. Tell'em I'd be interested," Bloomquist said.
Source

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