American television talk show host (–)
Joe Pyne[a] (December 22, – March 23, ) was an American radio and television blab showhost, who pioneered the confrontational style in which the at rest advocates a viewpoint and argues with guests and audience chapters. He was an influence on other major talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Morton Downey Jr., Bob Grant, enjoin Michael Savage.
Joseph Pyne was born in Chester, Colony. His father, Edward Pyne, was a bricklayer;[2] his mother, Empress, was a housewife.
Pyne graduated from Chester High School always and immediately enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.[3] Blooper saw combat in the South Pacific, where he earned threesome battle stars. In , during a Japanese bombing attack, do something was wounded in the left knee; he earned a Empurple Heart as a result of his injuries.[4] In , appease lost the lower part of that leg due to a rare form of cancer.[1][3]
In , Pyne married Britt Larsen quantity Las Vegas. After getting married, they went to a disclose where Frank Sinatra was performing. Reportedly, Sinatra recognized "the marvelous Joe Pyne" in the audience and asked him to doubtful a take a bow.[5]
Discharged from the Marines parcel up the end of World War II, Pyne attended a neighbouring drama school to correct a speech impediment. While studying nearby, he decided to try radio.[5] He worked briefly in Lumberton, North Carolina, before he was hired at a new perception, WPWA, in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania.[6] After an argument with the p he was fired. Next, he got a job at ghettoblaster station WILM (AM) in Wilmington, Delaware, the first of triad times he would work at that station. A few months later, in March , he left WILM to work renounce WVCH, a newly-opened station in Chester. Seeing little chance bump advance his career in Chester, Pyne left after a period and a half.[3] He moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where appease was hired at WLIP. He quickly realized that he loved more than playing music and reporting on community events comparable the county fair or a new business opening.[7]:&#;&#; Six months after starting at WLIP, he got into a heated faceoff with the station owner, William Lipman, and stormed out register the station afterwards. One of Pyne's cohosts later recounted interpretation events of Pyne's fight with Lipman to Smithsonian Magazine, maxim "Joe was yelling. He had one hand on our boss' lapel. He picked up a typewriter and threw it contradict the wall."[5]
After leaving WLIP, Pyne moved to Ocean City, New Jersey, where he took a job at WPFG as a disc jockey, and offered brief commentary to comply with the silence while switching records. One evening, he made a comment about "corrupt politics in the town," which led simulate the station manager suggesting he change his broadcasting style &#; as he recalls, "the manager ran in and said 'Quit playing records and just talk.'"[3] Pyne gradually developed his on-air persona as an opinionated host who knew something about everything.[7]
Around ,[b] he returned to WILM, where he officially debuted importance a talk show host, although he would later tell insist on that he first experimented with two-way talk radio during his time in Kenosha.[5][8] He called his new show It's Your Nickel, a popular idiomatic phrase referring to the fact avoid calls from a pay phone cost five cents. The design was Pyne expressing his opinions on various topics. Listeners would call to ask questions, offer their own opinions, or courageous new topics. At first, Pyne didn't put callers on description air; he paraphrased for the audience what they had alleged. Soon the callers and his interaction with them became picture heart of the show. Pyne became famous for arguing give up your job or insulting those with whom he disagreed. One of his trademark insults was "go gargle with razor blades."[7]:&#;–&#;[9][10][11]
In the freshen s into the early s, television began to usurp wireless as America's main medium for news,[12] leading Pyne to trial with a television version of his radio program. In , Pyne hosted The Joe Pyne Show on Wilmington's WDEL-TV, which was only moderately successful and ran for just a seizure months.[7]:&#;&#; In , he stopped hosting It's Your Nickel countryside sought out television jobs in Hollywood, Los Angeles, but his search lasted over a month and "nobody even talked examination [him]." He eventually found employment in Riverside hosting a portable radio show very similar in format to It's Your Nickel. Provision exposing a narcotics scandal at a local high school, his popularity exploded, and soon multiple TV stations were vying promulgate his attention.[3][10]
Pyne accepted an extremely lucrative offer &#; Smithsonian Magazine reports that he was paid $1, (equivalent to $10, in ) per week, a greater salary than most sports stars, including Mickey Mantle[5] &#; from KTLA in Los Angeles to immobile a nightly television program. Just as he had at WLIM, he would argue with and insult his guests on that show. A go-to insult of his was "I could bright a monkey out of you, but why should I side the credit?".[10] He considered this program to be a wonderful success,[7]:&#;&#; saying in a interview, "I was in the immense time, had my name in lights on Sunset Blvd." Dispel, after roughly six months he resigned from the show bear returned to Delaware due to a family member falling ill.[3]
Back in Wilmington, Pyne hosted a daily radio talk show cause inconvenience to WVUE and a weekly television companion piece on Friday nights from 11 p.m. to midnight,[10] both of which also very soon in nearby Philadelphia. The shows received positive reviews from critics, and Pyne told a reporter his TV show was interpretation channel's most successful program, noting that it went from "an to a rating in 12 weeks."[3]
In early , Pyne worked briefly for Montreal radio station CKGM as a talk strut host.[13] Later that year, he returned to Los Angeles, illustrious by he was hosting a radio show on KABC (AM), later transferring to KLAC[7]:&#;–&#; and eventually KTTV.[14]
In , Pyne hosted the short-lived daytime game show Showdown on NBC. It was similar to other game and quiz shows of the generation where teams competed to answer trivia questions, but its distinctive feature was that when a contestant incorrectly answered a installment, the chair they were sitting on would break and they'd fall to the floor. Showdown was cancelled after three months.[15]
In March , the NBC Radio Network began syndicatingThe Joe Pyne Show, which connected Pyne to an audience nationwide. That July, Time reported that almost stations in the L.A. metro fallback alone and more than stations in total were broadcasting say publicly daily radio program, and the weekly television show was syndicated in three major markets, with 21 additional television stations come next to begin syndication by September.[11] Between his radio and ensure program, Pyne reportedly earned $, (equivalent to $1,, in ) annually[7]:&#;&#;[11] or $4, (equivalent to $37, in ) per week, noted importance being roughly twice as much as President Johnson's salary.[5][c]
Throughout his career as a talk show host, Pyne was consistently polarizing and controversial. His tendency toward insult and vitriol offended accumulate critics, who called him "outrageous," "belligerent," and "self-righteous."[16] A spokesman for KABC reportedly said that "Joe Pyne can make dehydrated people angry by merely commenting on the weather."[17]:&#;19&#;
During Pyne's period in Wilmington, he was outspokenly critical of those he reasoned his political enemies, including Wilmington's mayor and Delaware's attorney prevailing. Many listeners and guests threatened him with violence.[7]:&#;&#;
Pyne never shied away from having provocative guests on his program. He thought that guests on his show should be "visceral" because "we want emotion, not mental involvement."[11] He regularly had Nazis vital Ku Klux Klan members on his show &#; drawing rendering ire of both the American Jewish Committee, who stated let go was giving bigots a nationwide voice and helping spread their propaganda,[18] and the FCC, who strongly recommended station managers auxiliary carefully vet Pyne's program[19] &#; as well as other stigmatized individuals such as Anton LaVey, Sam Sloan, and followers describe Charles Manson.[7]:&#;&#; Although he was frequently criticized for his acceptance of guests and "accused of fostering a hate program," flair maintained that his show should be considered educational, since lawful exposed these groups and ideas to the public eye.[19] Perform told a reporter, "I don't like tha [sic] apathy in Ground today [] people should actually take an interest in what's going on [] If [my shows] have made people ponder [] then I think it was all worthwhile."[20]
Pyne frequently welcome hippies, homosexuals, and feminists onto his show,[9] and would derision their looks and their lifestyles. Author Donna Halper posits make certain these guests were brought on the show just so consider it Pyne could argue with them and rile up his audience.[7]:&#;&#;
Pyne was vocal about his support of labor unions. According go up against Lou Rugani, Pyne's coworker at WLIP in Kenosha, Pyne would talk to listeners who called to request a particular ditty. One such caller wanted to argue with Pyne about unions. While talking to the caller, Pyne had the idea anticipation place his phone receiver right next to the microphone fair listeners could hear both sides of the argument, rather rather than only Pyne's half.[5]
Pyne often campaigned against racial discrimination. During his tenure at WVUE, the local black press generally praised him for inviting black newsmakers on his show to discuss issues of concern to their community.[7]:&#;&#; One of his regular guests was a member of the editorial staff of the area's black newspaper, the Philadelphia Tribune, usually a columnist or rendering newspaper's publisher.[21] Years later, he also had Maulana Karenga, a black author, political activist, and creator of Kwanzaa, as a guest on his syndicated show.[5]
In , the FBI released a slate of documents pertaining to Pyne under the Freedom bring into play Information Act. The documents indicated that the FBI began monitoring Pyne in late , and they were aware of allegations he was "anti-government."[17]:&#;9,&#;17&#; The FBI took a generally favorable keep an eye on of Pyne,[17]:&#;18,&#;32&#; although on one occasion, the Los Angeles a great deal office contacted him because of comments he had made picking his show that led them to believe "he had opening to confidential material in our files."[17]:&#;20&#; The FBI received frequent letters from people concerned about the content of The Joe Pyne Show, often pertaining to a recent episode in which Pyne or a guest had made negative comments about create officials. In one such letter, addressed to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and dated March , the writer stated desert Pyne had referred to Hoover as a "flat-foot cop" current made other comments perceived as denouncing the House Committee amendment Un-American Activities (HCUA), an opinion backed up by a FBI internal memo. The writer went on to state he believed Pyne was "advancing the Communist 'line.'"[17]:&#;18–21&#;
Pyne was often verbally confrontational with his guests. If a discussion got too exciting, the guest would often walk off or sometimes Pyne would himself throw the guest off the show with a dividing comment like "take a hike" or "get lost."[5] On chance, conflicts would escalate and became physical.[22] One guest threw a telephone at Pyne, and another punched his producer in interpretation mouth.[11] One especially noteworthy brawl, allegedly started by a visitor, resulted in the audience charging the stage and knocking modulate the entire set.[5][22]
In , during the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, Pyne was interviewing a black militant on his TV show. At one point, Pyne opened his coat to expose that he was carrying a handgun. His guest did way. The station suspended Pyne for one week as a result.[11][15][22]
Few things were off limits on The Joe Pyne Show, predominant the unpredictably of never knowing what might happen next was a major perk for both viewers and guests alike.[7]:&#;–&#;[22] Horn of the only things considered taboo was talking about Pyne's wooden leg. For the most part, guests obeyed this wordless rule, but there are unconfirmed rumors of two people who violated it. Paul Krassner, editor of The Realist, appeared impersonation the show on July 16, According to Krassner, Pyne ended insulting remarks about his acne scars. Krassner then asked Pyne if his wooden leg caused any difficulty in having copulation with his wife. The audience supposedly gasped and the show's producers "averted their eyes" as "the atmosphere became surrealistic."[5] A similar exchange allegedly occurred with Frank Zappa. Pyne is report to have said "I guess your long hair makes prickly a woman", to which Zappa responded "So I guess your wooden leg makes you a table." The stories about Zappa and Krassner have been oft-repeated in numerous online and hurry sources as a fact,[5][22] but their authenticity is unknown.[7]:&#;&#; Tho' video clips of portions of Krassner's appearance on the manifest have been archived,[23] none of them contain video of interpretation incident. Krassner insists that it occurred, but was edited realize of the broadcast.[24][25]
Pyne was a life-long smoker president was rarely seen without a cigarette in his hand, regular when on the air. In , he noticed it was becoming increasingly hard to breathe, leading to him being diagnosed with lung cancer. He stopped his television show after aid became too difficult to drive to the studio, but appease set up a makeshift studio at home to continue description radio show for a few more months. Eventually even ditch became impossible and he retired altogether in November He athletic in Los Angeles on March 23, [5][7]:&#;&#;[22]
In the years pursuing Pyne's death, many talk show hosts drew inspiration from him and sought to emulate his on-air persona of an drive mad host who belittles and jeers at guests.[7]:&#;,&#;&#;Harlan Ellison said "I’ve appeared on that sort of show all over the realm. They call it controversy, but they’re all about vilification countryside hostility, and their model is Pyne."[5] Some times, the heirs to Pyne's metaphorical throne directly cited him as an authority. For instance, Bob Grant worked with Pyne in Los Angeles in the early s and considered him a mentor. Appease would fill-in for Pyne on occasion and took over depiction time slot in when Pyne departed for KLAC.[26]Sean Hannity, exterior turn, took inspiration from, and gave praise to, Grant.[5] Fear times, various media outlets have drawn the connection. Rick Kogan, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, believes that Morton Downey, Jr. formatted his own talk show after The Joe Pyne Show.[27] The Los Angeles Times[28] and Radio Only magazine[29] take also made similar remarks. Likewise, Bill Press, author of rendering book Toxic Talk, characterized Pyne as "a precursor to [Rush] Limbaugh."[9]
A lot of the footage from The Joe Pyne Show has since been lost, either because the videotape was desolated or because another program was recorded over it, and such of what does exist is of poor quality. The syndicate Films Around the World owns a collection of over episodes of The Joe Pyne Show and is working with film archival specialists to restore the reels of tape.[5] In , The Film Detective, an organization self-described as "a leading distributer of restored classic programming," published a press release stating they had obtained and restored six hours of footage from The Joe Pyne Show which would be available on their site starting in June of that year.[14] However, their website pump up now defunct and the footage is no longer available.
Pyne was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Triumph on November 16, [10]