Gene Burns: Longtime radio host dies at 72

Orlando Sentinel ^ | May 25 2013 | Desiree Stennett

[WilliamIII]

Gene Burns, a long-time political talk show host and food critic whose sharp wit and eloquent speech garnered the respect of listeners for decades, died Saturday in San Francisco.

[caltaxed]

Gene did the Dining Around show every weekend.

He loved food and wine and always looked like he did too much of both.

RIP

[Gay State Conservative]

I used to listen to him when he was on in Boston and it seemed as if he had his head on straight but I read fairly recently that he re-joined the Rat Party.As a prominent Rat he was my enemy and the enemy of my country.

Sorry,that's the way I feel.And there's no changing my mind on such issues.

[raccoonradio]

RIP—longtime at WRKO Boston (libertarian in many ways?) and out in San Fran etc.

“We have transited the meridian and entered the afternoon incarnation of the broadcast”

Howie Carr list ping

[raccoonradio]

[raccoonradio]

yeah someone sent me a KGO aircheck and it seemed like he went to anti-war liberal in some ways, though here in Boston he may have tilted libertarian

[Andy'smom]

That’s a shame. He used to have a lot of common sense.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[raccoonradio]

[Stepan12]

I used to argue with Gene Burns about the Middle East. I did disagree with him, but as the obit stated, I did like his quick wit. He was with the Libertarians then.

I do feel a pang of sadness reading this post.

[gaijin]

I REMEMBER YOU LEE RODGERS.

—>GREAT GUY<—

[AU72]

I believe he ran for President as a Libertarian.

[kingcanuteus]

Gene Burns you say? Wasn’t he that funny guy with the long microphone on The Match Game?

[muleskinner]

He lost his religion at some time in his life, lost his Libertarian bearings and joined the Rat party before Obama’s 1st victory. He was fairly evenhanded during most of his tenure at KGO. Unfortunately, during his last years of broadcasting during Afghanistan and Iraq, the ugly roots of his Fortress America, anti-Republican and especially anti-Bush rants became more frequent and more virulent. He was anti-Israel, but always denied it. He became a champion of the far-left anti-war crowd, which is a good chunk of the KGO audience. A sad transition between the start and the end of his career.

Be that as it may, may God have mercy on your soul, Gene.

[LongWayHome]

I only remember Gene as a libertarian from his Boston days. At that time he was a sharp guy.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I believe his shtick was “the sun has transited the meridian.” At least that is (slightly) more accurate astronomically. Afternoon begins when the fictitious mean sun transits the time zone’s central meridian.

[rfp1234]

That was Gene Rayburn.

[Rockingham]

In Orlando in the 1970s, Burns would latch onto local controversies and blast the principals he saw as at fault and rant on with much emotion and inadequate regard for the facts.

At the time, this was a new and exciting style of radio. With the country stuck in a sour mood due to Watergate, a weak and inflation-ridden economy, and the discontent and malaise of the Carter years, Burns rapidly built an audience. Burns seemed to be a radio version of the fictional TV commentator Howard Beale, the "mad prophet of the airwaves," who was the main character in the movie "Network."

Yet, Burns was at heart an idiosyncratic liberal, and his appeal faded as more conventional Left-Right political divisions reasserted themselves and again dominated public opinion. The election of Reagan in 1980 and his success in office put Burns' adrift and left him unable to fully connect with a large radio audience.

[LongWayHome]

Burns was big in Boston with the other (smarter) on-air libertarian David Brudnoy. I remember a caller once arguing with Burns for half an hour that he knew Burns was having gay sex, Burns went nuts on-air. They fought & fought. At the time I thought the caller was full of it, but as the call went on I started to suspect the caller just might know something.

[skeeter]

I remember Gene kicking Nixon's ass on the occasion of Nixon's death.

Didn't really listen to him much after that.