If It Hadn't Been for Dennis

I want to tell you about when I first met Dennis Prager. I was living in Cleveland, although I'm from here, and I did a show called Morning Exchange, which was a live show, like a Today Show. I think one of the longest-running regional Today-type shows in the country at the time. And there was a host named Fred Griffin, who was very good. And I would come in from time to time to be a lawyer to explain the Supreme Court case in lay terms. I was on a number of times. So, one day I came in to talk about sexual harassment in the workplace and there's this big guy sitting in Fred's chair. And he's introduced to me and I did the segment and I was good and Dennis complimented me. It's a live show, by the way, about a 2-hour morning show. And as I'm taking off my earpiece to leave, I overheard somebody say, "When are you going back to LA?" I turned around and said, "You from LA?" He goes, "Well, not originally, but I live there now." And I said, "I'm from LA." He said, "What are you doing in Cleveland?" I said, "Well, I'm a lawyer, but I left. I started a business and—" I write, not getting anything published, but I'm a writer. What kind of stuff do you write? Well, I'm a conservative. And I thought Dennis was a liberal since he was from LA. And Dennis said, well, I am too. When are you going to be back in LA? I said, well, I come home around Christmas time. This is like June or July. And he said, when you come, contact me. I'll have you on my radio show. And I said, fine. So, that night I'm talking to my mom. Who's in LA, and she loves talk radio. I should tell you, she— KABC, where Dennis and I work, was the first 24/7 talk station in the world, 1965, if I'm not mistaken. And in 1965, she had it on and never had it off. So she knew Dennis from Religion on the Line, which was a weekend show Dennis had for a while. And then, of course, Dennis's regular show. So, my mom and I are talking about family stuff. At the very end of the conversation, I remembered meeting Dennis. I said, Mom, before you go, I want to tell you I met somebody. I know you'll know who he is. He's a talk radio host out of LA. His name is Dennis Pearson, Dennis Popper, Dennis— She said, Prager? Almost blew off my ear. She said, He is by far my favorite host. He had a show called Religion Online, and she walked me through his whole career. He's asked you to be on his show? I said, Yeah. She said, He doesn't have very many guests. It's so, it's so, it's so— What an honor. So fast forward to Christmas. I call Dennis. He doesn't call me back. And Alan, I'm thinking it's a Hollywood thing. You know, you call me, I'll call you. He didn't really mean it. It wasn't sincere. And my mom said, call him again. Yeah. Little did you know it was a Dennis thing. Yeah. And no, I called him again. He picked up the phone. He had me on that night. I'm shortening the story, but the general manager, George Green, heard the show. I was on for almost an hour, I think about an hour and a half. I'm flying back to Cleveland now. Plane lands. I walked to my office. Phone rings. It's George Green. I heard you on Dennis' show. You were amazing. I said, I was? Oh my goodness. Have you ever thought about doing talk radio? Come back to LA. I'll give you a 2-day audition. So, I fly back. After 1 day, he says, do you want this job? I said, I think so. He said, well, have a good time. Have fun. Don't speak so damn quickly. And Dennis recommended me to George Greene before this happened. When the show was over, after I did my thing with Dennis, Dennis said, you were amazing. I said, Dennis, I'm thinking about doing talk radio. I had a little experience sitting in for somebody for a week a couple years ago, but nothing came out of it. Would you introduce me to management? He said, I get these requests all the time. I have never in my life introduced somebody to management. In your case, you're that good, I will do so. And if it hadn't been for Dennis, I wouldn't have been on radio. And if it hadn't been for Dennis, I wouldn't have run for governor.