Bob’s reading the news, looking over the issue of the day, and it all just confuses him. He’s confused about immigration, the President, Chicago politics, and about what other people seem to think is important. His callers don’t really help. They’re confused too.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
Bob reaches the logical conclusion that people who want to exclude gays from the military, adoption, etc., don’t really think homosexuality is immoral - they just don’t like gay people and want to punish them. He asks, how far would you be willing to go for those punishments? People aren’t honest, and Bob gets frustrated.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
Bob’s biggest controversy in Chicago was his ripping on “Lawnheads”: the people who live out in the suburbs and become obsessed with their lawns, wasting space and wasting money on maintaining that space. It inspires lost of angry calls, and even Johnson the Journalist gets in on the action. A great show.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
Pretty much an “Anything Goes” show, as long as you’re (1) talking about the war, and (2) not asking Bob foolish questions that he can’t answer. That said, things can get pretty heated, and Bob is quite prickly this evening.
DOWNLOAD - War Talk Saturday Night
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
This brief clip of “Open War Talk” is primarily concerned with President Bush 41 and his possible motives for going into Iraq. Oil? New World Order? Machismo? Or is it really the battle between God and the Devil? (God, this show could have been done yesterday!)
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
All of that packed into less than an hour. It starts with Bob interviewing the “Parowan Prophet,” Leland Freeborn, about the coming war with the Soviet Union and Armageddon, continues with him reading some hilarious letters from outraged listeners, and concludes with talk about the week-old war in the Persian Gulf.
DOWNLOAD - Parowan Prophet, Letters, and War
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
You may remember Michael Pool’s 1996 article on Bob Lassiter, in which he described Bob’s battles with WLS. One of those descriptions was:
When told to curb his usual vulgarity and verbal abuse, he developed a code of secret insults which sounded like glowing compliments, and made the list available to listeners.
This Saturday Night show is the one in which Bob introduced Mad Dog Lassiter’s Secret Word List. And he uses it often on the crazies who call him this night. Don’t miss this one.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
Lassiter’s notion of “radical” in talk radio: talking to people. Yes, it’s another “Get to Know the Audience” show on the Lassiter Saturday Night Special. No arguing here, no real monologuing either…but it’s a surprisingly compelling show anyway. How does he do it?
DOWNLOAD - Get to Know the Audience, Again
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
Bob’s last Saturday Night Special - he was fired from WLS after his show on the following Friday night. Although he’s providing “updates on the Miss America contest,” it’s really an open phones show. You can hear the toll that WLS has taken on Bob: He’s testy, quick to get mad, and much less humorous than the man we know and love.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
As only he could, Bob is punishing the audience. Callers have two possible choices: They can either give their personal testimony about finding God, or they can call the line that nobody answers and just listen to the phone ring. Both lines fill up surprisingly quickly - especially the one nobody answers.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
Nobody quite understands that Bob is defending God: it’s the Bible that accuses God of monstrous behavior. Callers are invited to say whether they believe God is a monster - what they are not allowed to do is quote the Bible. Complete Saturday Night Special show.
Courtesy of Keith Newman & the General
George and I have received some very cool email from many of you about the Airchecks site. We’re glad to hear your feedback, and appreciate your compliments very much, but we have a small request: since we’ve switched to a blog format for this site, why not leave your thoughts here, as comments?
Don’t get us wrong, it’s great to hear from you. But what we’d like to accomplish with BobLassiterAirchecks.com, as well as providing a permanent and free library of Bob’s work, is to build a community of Lassiter fans and, perhaps, onetime associates. We’d like all of our readers, listeners, downloaders (and whatever else you get out of this site) to be a part of that community, and to participate in it by leaving your thoughts, feedback, comments, etc., here on the site.
Bob always wanted people to join in the conversation - here’s your chance!