[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

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[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?

[LongWayHome]

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

[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.

[SpaceBar]

Bummer. Gene Burns was, aside from Wattenburg, a breath of fresh air on an otherwise bolshevik station (KGO). RIP Gene.

[Jabba the Nutt]

I thought he was libertarian.

[ssaftler]

Got to meet Gene Burns about 10 years ago, while working at the local Art & Wine Festival. Gene liked to do his Saturday “Dining Around Town” shows live from the local Art, Wine and Food festivals in the Bay Area in late spring and early summer. The biggest challenge we faced was that Gene had mobility problems (a result of his strokes, perhaps) so we had to find an area in our park that was easy to access but not in the middle of traffic.

What I do recall about setting him up was that he was quite nice about it and, in spite of everything, not overly demanding. Wish I could say the same about a number of other celebrities I’ve met and worked with over the years...

RIP, Gene. We’ll tip a glass of wine in Walnut Creek next weekend in your memory!