Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “,….. proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community….
Today is an anniversary, the 30th anniversary of this feature or this segment on the radio.
On Thanksgiving Monday in 1991, the erstwhile Bayshore Broadcasting Sales rep Barry Brick came to the upper level of the station and told me there was a new sports oriented feature, originally called ” Bench Talk “, that was to air on K 106.5 & CFOS.
I’d heard rumblings about such an opinion oriented feature and I gently asked Barry who the sponsor was and when the feature would commence.
I can’t remember the original sponsor, but I do remember Barry telling me it started later that hour, which, as you can imagine, was a bit of a shocker.
And so from humble beginnings, here we are 30 years later, maybe not going strong per se, but certainly outlasting virtually every other presentation on CFOS, except maybe ” Birthdays ” & ” Dial A Deal “.
Oh sure there have been issues inside and outside of the company through the years.
In the very early years I was threatened with dismissal a variety of times for a variety of reasons, not always related to the actual content of the commentary
As for the content, that too has periodically offended or struck a raw nerve prompting listener calls of complaint, letters of protest and in this era, shots on social media.
Still, after 30 years of ” Bench Talk ” cum ” Off the Wire “, whether you like the viewpoint or not, you’ve got to admit there’s never been a shortage of topics to discuss.
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.