Chances are the ping list will take a vacation next week; no live Howie shows and prob. no columns
Posted on 12/22/2006 8:37:09 AM PST by raccoonradio
Today's Howie Carr column follows. Howie's last show of this year is today--I believe he's taking all of next week off to go to Florida (including a Christmas Day gig on Fox and Friends, IIRC). Maybe fill-ins and best ofs next week.
WRKO listeners: I've heard Mo Lauzier is scheduled to play Jerry Williams' reading of A Child's Christmas in Wales tomorrow (Sat 23rd) between 9 and 10 am. I don't know if Howie would play it though he may have in the past. (It's 22 minutes long)
Today's Howie Carr column from the Boston Herald
In Frank vs. Stevie, truth lies in Salemme
By Howie Carr
Boston Herald Columnist
Friday, December 22, 2006
My money’s on Cadillac Frank.
Granted, there’s no honor among thieves, especially geezer gangsters who’ve pleaded guilty to 18 murders between them. But if it ever comes down to a polygraph battle to determine which multiple mob murderer is more truthful, I’m with Frank Salemme over Stevie “the Rifleman” Flemmi.
Oh what a tangled web they weave when first they practice to deceive. Even before they start lying, it’s confusing enough. Here’s just one example: Frank’s middle name is Patrick, and he’s half-Irish, yet he was the head of the Mafia. And Stevie, who is a full-blooded Italian, was sometimes described as an “Irish gangster,” because that was the gang he ran with.
They were pals back in the ’60s. They wiped out practically half of Charlestown together. Stevie was the “spontaneous reactor,” as Frankie told congressional investigators in 2003, and he was the master electrician. He bugged the phones, he ran the garages in Roxbury where they fixed the cars for crooked FBI agents. As for Stevie, he only cared about two things: “his money and his women,” as Frank put it, “not necessarily in that order.”
There was another difference between the two hoods. Stevie was a rat for the FBI, and Frankie wasn’t. When they both got indicted for a carbombing, can you guess which one did 17 years, and which one had all the charges dismissed and got to run free, making millions, killing and raping to his heart’s content.
Frank was cut loose for seven years, and then he got locked up again, this time with Flemmi. It was then that Flemmi learned that his dear chum had been playing footsie with the feds. At this point,let’s have Cadillac Frank describe his next interaction with the smaller Flemmi:
“I took him downstairs and grabbed him and threw him against the wall and started choking him, and the marshal saw, but they didn’t come in to stop it, they wanted to see what was going on, and I said you SOB, you can’t even tell the truth (about the bribed FBI agents) . . . They were going to testify for you, weren’t they?”
Shortly thereafter, Stevie “remembered” another murder he’d seen back in the early ’90s. Guess who he pointed the finger at. Stevie’s doing life anyway, so whatever he says is no skin off his rear-end. Stevie’s sinking his old pal Frank one final time, which is why Salemme has challenged Stevie to the lie-detector match.
Here’s the tale of the tape:
Girlfriends strangled by Whitey Bulger at request of gangster: Flemmi 2, Salemme, 0.
Brothers currently doing time in federal penitentiary after disgracing their police badges: Flemmi 1, Salemme 0.
Numbers of arsenal/houses owned by parents next to the home of then-Senate President William Bulger: Flemmi 1, Salemme 0.
Number of FBI agents gangster has admitted bribing. Flemmi 6, Salemme 0.
Do you begin to get the point? Salemme was bad, Flemmi was evil. Just ask Salemme. In his 2003 testimony to House investigators, he couldn’t stop talking about how Stevie had Whitey murder two of his girlfriends.
“Debbie Hussey,” he recalled of a 1985 victim of Whitey and Stevie. “She was like a niece to me, she was his stepdaughter, molesting her at 13 and killing her at 26. I mean, I used to take this kid to the beach with my daughters.”
Frank, I know it’s not going to happen, but I hope you get your lie-detector test. One bit of advice, though: If they ever do have you hooked up, don’t resurrect that slur you used with the congressional probers, when you mentioned how Stevie said he was “jewed” out of some informant money by a bent G-man.
Don’t go there, Frank. If you don’t believe me, just ask Judith Regan.
We've been talking on a radio board about the Air America situation and someone pointed out that in a town like
Boston, AAR didn't have success because--among other reasons--there are more than enough liberals around here,
including in political offices, and they "don't need to have their opinions validated" (total Dem. domination) by the likes of Franken.
Here was my reply:
Very good point, but there have been a few liberals who anxiously pounced on AAR because it was "at last,
a station for us!"--they didn't like Rush, Hannity, et al, but hearing their own opinions re-inforced was what they wanted. But yes Boston is SO Dem/liberal based that the "alternative" of a Howie Carr or Jay Severin (and
the various national hosts) caught on with disgruntled conservatives/Republicans/Right-leaning independents.
>>more likely to want to have their personal opinions reinforced by a talk show host they agree with if they are in surroundings where the prevailing attitude disagrees with them
Precisely. Example: outgoing Republican governor Mitt Romney tries to take down Turnpike tolls. He finally gets to put people who agree with him on the Turnpike board, and they vote to do so, but not so fast: now the new
Gov. is a Democrat, Deval Patrick, who says that due to various reasons, this is out of the question. Result:
the likes of Carr get on the air to take calls from angry motorists who feel they've been cheated, again, and
Carr points out that patronage (he says many toll takers are "hacks", related to politicians) is a big reason
why Patrick doesn't want to take the tolls down. So you have an issue which stirs people up.
Supposed AAR Boston (now gone) were to have a local host. They could argue, "We need to keep the tolls
up to keep the road in good repair," etc. Yes, they too could make their point and take calls, but again
the prevailing political mindset in MA is liberal/Democrat--and like you say these people don't really need
to have their opinions validated (or, do they?)--while someone of the opposite viewpoint can get
good ratings by challenging the status quo.
BTW, how many markets is Air America still airing in? Just Madison?
Finally, at the prodding of an e-mail, Howie has gloated about the loss of Air America in Boston. "Why would people want to hear crappy left-wing radio on two small stations in Boston when they can hear crappy left-wing radio on a powerful
FM station, on the LEFT side of the dial, fittingly enough,
instead?...The libs already have their own network, and it's
taxpayer-funded. It's called NPR."
Here's why:
List of remaining AAR/prog talk stations--including many that are only running one show--is here.
Look on the right side of the page: "Radio Stations Featuring Left-Leaning Programming NOTE: The following is a listing of radio stations across the country that air at least some liberal talk shows. Some of these stations may air other types of programming as well."
by the way with regards to the left wing station in Madison,
be aware it's on FM and probably a lot more powerful and they probably made an effort to do local shows, sell local ads,
etc. And they had a big organizing effort to convince Clear
Channel to keep prog.talk
In Boston there are some rumblings (not rumba-lings) about
trying to get another station to put AAR on, or convince
AAR to maybe put it on the weaker (but closer to Boston)
1430 signal.
Couldn't they have listed WRKO too? Isn't there one weekend show that teams a conservative and a liberal? Surely that counts as "some" liberal programming? ;-)
What is this "rumba" radio? I never heard of it (and may be sorry I asked!).
It's all in Spanish--tropical music and a bunch of other stuff.
http://1200rumba.com
If you click the "escuche ahora" link (listen here), you'll
hear it. (Insert the "la cucaracha" horn here...)
I doubt I'll hear it on my old dial-up with broken speakers, so I'll take your word for it. :)
Gee, do you suppose they'd have to run Air America in Spanish too? ;-)
Howie's on Niphong now -- anyone who's interested that much in that story is probably on the 700 post Niphong thread.
Howie's good on it though!
I just kind of have it on in the background and not really listening to it (Howie)...don't forget the Yuppie Christmas
(er, "hhhhhhhholiday") letters are coming up.
For any DePetro fans out there, there's talk on the Providence radio-info.com board that DePetro is trying to get back on
Clear Channel's WHJJ--yes, the same company that just got
rid of AAR in Boston and laid off quite a few people in Providence. Right now WHJJ has one local host, Helen Glover;
maybe he's trying to convince them they'd be better off
with him. (WHJJ has: Imus, Quinn and Rose, Helen Glover,
Hannity, Levin, Savage, and Bohannon. They did used to
carry a couple Air America hosts but when the ratings
plunged, they were dumped and gradually they started going back to conservative talk...)
Oh, I forgot the yuppie Chrismas cards. I'm going to have to go out for a bit about 4:45 -- for 1/2 an hour or so. If there's anything good on them (and I miss it), please post! Thanks.
lead story on Ch 7 news at 4: Romney expected to file paperwork for prez run on Jan 2 and, as we've heard hinted,
would declare at a "flag-draped announcement ceremony"
around Jan 8
well 4:45 is about when I leave for work at the post office
(I leave early due to heavy traffic at the malls nearby!)...hopefully someone can post
Well, I caught some of it: "Bob had some problems, including involvement with some younger women. . . . I'll be changing my name again for the last time." Christmas card as soap opera! ;-)
Avi on the right in this pic.
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