Don Geronimo: It's Complicated

It might feel like a midlife crisis to listen to Don Geronimo at this point. I don't listen to corporate radio. Terrestrial radio is dying. Many iconic stations are being sold to religious organizations for next to nothing.

I am too busy working to listen to morning drive. Hearing about Don Geronimo's latest firing: he was referring to a sportscaster as "Barbie girl". She looks how she looks.

Listening to the exchange- it sounds like something he said off the cuff and there would be an apology later. After the previous regime with the Washington Commodes (their original nickname was the least offensive facet of this once proud franchise) there is less tolerance.

When my life come to its logical conclusion I still won't know it means to have a (posterior) like a wagon. That was not said on a radio broadcast where people try to be interesting. No, that was part of a culture where women were objectified.

Why do they have to mention Don Geronimo's real name? No one ever mentioned Wolfman Jack was not born with that name. When I started listening to the radio, The Don and Mike Show was engaging. My life was in shambles. It was interesting to listen to performers who had annoying bosses and were barely paid.

They had live remotes. It predated social media and "Connecting beyond the keyboard." The best events had such a hot crowd we stopped listening to the live broadcast.

It was at a Valentine's Day Show where the program jumped the shark. They hired Robb Spewak and he did not enhance the show. Sometimes the friends of friends are no one I want to be friends with.

At a table with an interesting group, Robb said the lady next to me looked like Brett Butler. The female comedian. She would have been less offended if he said she looked like Brett Butler from The Dodgers. One cheap reference ruined the credibility of a man who would receive more airtime and they degenerated into flatulence humor.

There was always a little. Suddenly that was the entire show. I stopped listening because- get this- I wanted to hear music on the radio. Before long radio playlists would shrink to the point or irrelevance.

I never spoke with Don Geronimo. I worked close to WAVA and met many of the behind the scenes staff. I spoke with Freda, Don's wife, at a remote at Chuck E Cheese.

Which is the hijinks I remember. I was late for work that day. Since I walked in with a piece of cake from one of their character's birthday parties many smiled at me. It was on this show where I learned about "Theater of the Mind." They could create a universe with little or no budget.

While I have barely listened for twenty-five years, I was shaken when Freda died in a car accident. That comes out of nowhere and there is no catharsis. There is a lot more to this man than wacky antics on the air.

He made fun of phony DJ's long before toxic positivity was a thing. He has been fired many times for many reasons and will end up somewhere. Hopefully he will think twice before objectifying a journalist. Is it any worse that when they were talking about A Different World before it premiered and he said the f word? They had the same conversation in the commercial.

They weren't wrong that Lisa Bonet was the weak link of that show. A seven second delay was incorporated after that. He might have been caught in the crossfire of the current culture change. While he did not use cheerleaders as escorts or filmed female employees changing clothes; he was a reminder of the bad old days. Even if he berated the owner who failed forward; he suffered a similar fate. Not sure if he can reinvent himself.