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Smokey the Hare. and That’s No Joke
This week, I will abbreviate my
patented Radio Daily News piece,
instead helping friends return
to their incinerated homes, and
salvage what little is left. Wednesday, the 31st, I begin a series of internet radio shows, hosting a two hour talk/music – Newsic - radio show from 1p-3p. PDT on SignOnRadio.com. The station has been launched by the San Diego Union-Tribune. I will be playing the broadest swath of music in radio history. They have granted me full sway, including the right to make sweeping claims. I am generally known among radio cognoscenti for a style wherein I play music and dash out every three minutes or so, say something snappy, and then scamper back into the shelter of the music. This time, I will stay publicly exposed with no hiding place, tasked with covering a number of topics in a compelling manner. That’s the plan. My lead-off hitter/guest on this week’s internet show will be Jerry Coleman,* who will appear just a few days before he goes to Chicago to cop another award, this time induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. That’s a threefer for Jerry this year. He was recently awarded the Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding sports announcer, and earlier this year, inducted into the Marine Corps Hall of Fame. One thing I can’t mention on the show is that he is a war hero, flying a Douglas Dive Bomber in WW11, and a Corsair in Korea. Scroll down to my previous Jerry Coleman piece, “Oh Doctor! Hang a Star on Jerry Coleman!! ” and read about his amazing accomplishments. If I try to bring up his brilliant war record during the interview, he will suddenly remember that he is due to umpire a little league game in Potrero, and “see ya later.” He is an all time great second baseman, playing for the Yankees during the Mantle era. In fact, Jerry was Mickey’s designated room mate, assigned to the kid in hopes that he would have a leavening effect on the fun-loving Mantle. Coleman said it didn’t work. He is at the top of the batting order on my show at 1 pm PDT. Try to hear him, in my opinion one of the greatest living Americans. Meanwhile, as a preview for you, I do have some time-sensitive stuff to relate as you read this. It fits in perfectly with one of the goals of this new show. That is, to tell things that might not have been generally known, inspiring stories that put a new spin on the known. Few know that Southern California would have been paralyzed by a total blackout, were it not for the Navy. Towers were crashing, and power lines were melting in the fierce heat of the inferno. Disaster was imminent when the Navy stepped up, and plugged in its war ships’ immense nuclear power, sending a massive surge of electricity into the county, without fanfare In port, our giant warships lie idle, but their generating capacity has the potential to light up an entire city. The Navy, without being called upon, asked San Diego Gas and Electric if they could help. There was no bureaucratic red tape, no letters of intent, no documents to get things all tied down and legal, SDG and E. said, well, you can imagine what they said. The result: our city remained lit. Hospitals and vital services did not have to switch to their emergency generators. This ties in with another Navy allegory. There was a recent international conference of engineers in France, which was going along smoothly until a French engineer rose in the meeting and said to the international assemblage, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?" A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly, "Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people. They are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities. They have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day. They can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?” It was one of the worst fire disasters in California history. Avoidable blunders were committed, mainly on the first day of the fire when the aerial fire bombers should have been in the air, but had trouble locating the gear, such as the giant water buckets for the planes, and worse, the state’s six aerial fire spotters were out of pocket. There has to be a spotter for each plane, but valuable time was being lost. Harried state officials waived this requirement, releasing the available spotters to lead the tankers over the fires. Governor Schwarzenegger was remiss. He had been funded to buy 150 state fire trucks but has, up till now, bought 19. He had the sense to be recessive when he appeared with the president at one of Bush’s usual post disaster pep rallies. I am told by one of the reporters who was present that before Bush went on mic, the governor whispered to him, “Mr. President, when you get up to speak, don’t turn around and tell me, ‘You’re doin’ a heckuva job, Ahnie.’ ” * Jerry Coleman has finally run out of honors. He has garnered all of the others. Once he receives his National Radio Hall of Fame induction November 3nd in Chicago, that will about do it…..maybe.. |
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e-mail Hare
hare@happyhareonline.com
Hare's Biography |
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Previously ...
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