Posted on 04/26/2005 5:07:15 AM PDT by cyclotic
I just read on broadcasting forum that Michigan talk radio pioneer Mark Scott has died of an apparent heart attack. Haven't seen any other sources.
Mark Scott was a strong voice for conservative talk radio on WXYT in Southfield, MI. Those of us who listened either loved him or hated him, sometimes both at the same time. We could never fault his love of America or his virtues of right and wrong.
He ended each show with a hearty EXCELSIOR!
Excelsior Mark.
Like Hanoi Jane on Mitch Albom the other day? I listened for a couple of minutes just so I could keep my disdain for the both of them passionate.
"Like Hanoi Jane on Mitch Albom the other day?"
I listened to a little of that, too......Albom goes to great and transparent lengths to create the illusion that he is fair or balanced.....a true clone of alan colmes who is fit for nothing but sports and "entertainment".....he is soooo frivolous with politics and "current events" that Mark Scott would eat him alive in about 5 minutes with only a few questions, LOL. His character has recently come to light with his suspension as a lying writer for the liberal Detroit Free Press.
Yes, it's a sad day, and I'm gonna quit scrolling. First, I read of Earl Wilson's death, then Laura Ingraham's breast cancer. Now this... Oh, man...
Mark Scott was a lot of fun to listen to. I followed his career in the earlier WXYZ/WXYT days, before he left for Washington, and welcomed his return.
Then WXYT abandoned the talk format after so long, and he did the internet broadcast. He resurfaced on WXDX 1310 with a 2-hour show in the afternoon in 2004, and repeatedly became enraged with the horrible engineering on that station -- minutes of dead air, promos coming on at the wrong time, etc. He didn't suffer incompetence well...
He liked to antagonize his employers, frequently taking his contract disputes to the airwaves. The last time I heard his show on WXDX, he was upset for some reason and called someone in the studio a "dickhead." My impression was that he thought the mic wasn't live, but it was. He was gone the next day, but I'm not going so far as to say that this is what caused it. I really don't know. He was also very politically at-odds with network owner and drivetime, mostly-liberal talking head, Dave Scott.
And, please -- let's spell David Newman's name correctly, out of respect for the most eloquent extemporaneous speaker I have ever heard.
We miss you David, especially on April 1st and at "banished words" time....
Art Roberts on Chicago's WLS did the same 40 years ago. Must have been a radio thing.
Remember the famous GovernmentAid April Fools Spoof?
He had a beurocrat on who claimed that government workers were poorly paid and that there was going to be a LiveAid type benefit concert to give money to the poor government workers. I was running around the shop I was working at then in a lather. Callers were just trashing this guy. No one got it until about one minute before the end of the show when David and his buddy fessed up. Radio at its absolute finest. This was on the same level as War of the Worlds.
David Newmans Memorial Day History Quiz was also can't miss radio.
What those who are reading about David for the first time don't realize is that he was often criticized as being too intellectual and "stuffy", because of his magnificent baritone voice, precise grammar and diction, and the generally serious nature of his presentation.
This is what made his April 1st shows all the more effective. He'd take a premise that sounded almost too ridiculous to be true -- meaning that it's something you'd expect to hear a liberal ACTUALLY PROPOSE -- and run with it, with the help of very convincing interviewees. Wonderful stuff that proved that he, indeed, possessed a great sense of humor.
Anybody remember his interview with Timothy Leary? That's the one time I remember where David truly lost it...
I was a huge listener of the Mark Scott show when I lived in the Detroit area in the mid to late 90's. I even called into the show a few times. He turned me on to Ayn Rand and I read all of her books. However, I never was able to take on Objectivism as my own philosophy.
I would credit Mark with transforming me from a liberal to a conservative over the course of about a year.
Thanks Mark!
As far as I can remember, David Neuman was not removed from his 10 am time slot until after he suffered a stroke a few years ago. Much of the scheduling changes after that were as a result of WXYT going "all sports"...XYT used to carry Rush in the afternoon until then. He (Rush) is now on WJR in Dr. Laura's old time slot.
Did you hear the show about Hillary's health care plan? The "expert" was defending her plan and answering most hypothetical questions posed by an increasingly furious audience with the phrase: "You would go to jail!" He had me for about 45 minutes until I figured out it had to be a spoof. But it was so well done and so plausible. He is/was the greatest!
Mark Scott is a legend in the business, especially among gun owners. He will be missed.
I remember that one as well.
My first listen to Newman was one day when he had some enviro-fruitcake on. Using his incredible grasp of vocabulary, he verbally pilloried this intellectual neophyte and emasculated him over the airwaves. (sorry, I just had to use a bunch O'big words)
The cool thing was, this idiot guest didn't even realize he was being ridiculed.
David Brudnoi from Boston and now Mark, both helped greatly in my journey away from Liberalism.
Mark was way ahead of his time.
Does anyone remember his rallyeat Freedom Hill just before the 94' elections> If you went you knew a big change was coming.
I remember one program on my ride home with the topic being Terrorist Attacks and Extremist Fundementialist Islam, this may have been in the 96' to 98' time frame, I remember it scared the heck out of me.
Does anyone know where and when we can pay respects?
I think I was at that rally. Was Dr. Walter Williams the keynote speaker?
He was great back on WXYT in the 80's, when he was taking on Coleman and the others. When I got back to Michigan in 1999, he sounded like he'd turned a little flakey (as in Art Bell flakey).
Is that right about him bringing Rush here? I thought Scott didn't care for Rush (I remember he didn't care much for Reagan either - too "statist" and too religious).
I'm almost positive. I know for a fact that Rush was loyal to being on his station and turned down WJR until WXYT changed.
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