Posted on 12/14/2012 1:54:09 PM PST by mgstarr
Ray Briem, the longtime KABC-AM talk show host who ruled all-night radio for nearly three decades with his phone calls to the famous and the quirky and his opinionated banter slamming liberals, championing conservative causes and extolling the big-band music he loved, died Wednesday at his Malibu home. He was 82.
The cause was cancer, said his son Bryan.
Briem spent most of his life on the radio, reaching his largest audience as the host of a popular midnight-to-5 a.m. talk show on KABC from 1967 to 1994. During those 27 years he helped set the mold for what has become a major radio genre.
"We consider him one of the most important radio talk-show hosts of all time," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the main trade publication for the talk radio industry
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Briem was a class act. He was a great advocate during the Clinton nightmare. His bumper music was the best ever, 1930s swing, jazz, and other. I will continue to miss him being on the radio.
During the years of my divorce, I spent a lot of time listening to Briem in the middle of the night. His slot was midnight to 7:00am.
RIP, Ray Briem. You were really something.
I talked with him a couple times on the air, and saw him in person at the fundraiser for Rogan’s reelection campaign.
He was one of the good guys.
I listened to him mostly when he moved over to KIEV.
George Putnam and now Ray. Sad.
Those two owned KIEV at the time.
Briem was widely respected in LA when he was on KABC. He was an institution.
BTW: Yes, very sad...
It’s been years since I thought of Ray. What a talent.
RIP my friend.
Oh, my. I met Ray and got started with political limericks on his show. One night he asked for a limerick about Paula Jones. So I got this on the air:
That Paula, he thought, was some filly
When pants dropped, she thought him quite silly
But then later she’d file
And he soon lost his smile
He shouldn’t have whipped out old Willie
I then did a limerick almost every day incorporating his word of the day and he read it on the air.
RIP, my friend. What a great voice he was for truth and freedom.
Include me in this also. I still have a radio from Ray's advertisment from C Crane (The yachtboy 3000) or something like that. Also include Jim Healy & Chick Hearn. Those were the days.
I always looked forward to your calls to George and Ray and the limericks. It was there that I was introduced to a crazy website called FreeRepublic in the late 90’s.
And here we are.
Godspeed Ray
Sorry to hear this. He was one of the greats. (Great bumper music too.)
OH MY i listen to him in the 60’s as a kid
Because I listened to his show after getting off work at midnight, I heard him talking about the place one night and I called him to tell him what it was all about. That led to our first 2AM meeting in KABC's studios in the mid-80's.
He was a lot of fun to talk to, and was among the greatest of all politically active conservatives.
I think of him every once in a while. He and George Putnam were great guys. It’s sad to see them go. RIP indeed...
I remember your limericks!! Always looked forward to them.
Ray was the first of a long line of conservative 'talkers' - few of which have been near as good as he was.
I didn’t realize you had a friendship with him RonC. I always felt like I knew him, because I spent so much time listening to him, and then met him a few times.
Sorry for your loss bud. I will share it with you.
Radio gets pushed to the back most of the time, but guys like Briem and Putnam made it clear there is still a big need for radio, especially talk radio.
Briem did it better than just about anyone. He was a gentleman. Didn’t get quite as passionate on the air as others, but he sure got his point across.
IIRC, he was also big on amateur radio, RIP, Mr. Briem, SK.
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