It was artist Andy Warhol who said that one day everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame.
On Monday and Tuesday, Illinois’ beset Gov. Rod Blagojevich seemed to want to take the 15 minutes allotted to all Americans and use them all up himself.
He skipped his own impeachment trial for his biggest media blitz yet, two-days of appearing all over the tube, and the general consensus of some commentators who watched was that there must be some way the United States could find some political Preparation H and apply it — and then maybe Blagojevich would somehow go away.
So what do you do with someone who is caught on tape saying…inappropriate things..someone who’s largely discredited, yet people will tune in to see him and he has one major attribute that keeps him going called “his mouth”?
You offer him a radio talk show:
WGN, a big Chicago radio station owned by Tribune Corp. has offered the governor and his wife, Patti, its afternoon slot, currently vacant after the previous host switched to mornings. “We’ve been impressed by the mastery of public policy, newshound-like familiarity with the events of the day, and remarkable facility with banter displayed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich,” program director Kevin Metheny said on air after the governor’s press conference Friday.
“Some may feel this is a cynical gesture in pursuit of publicity, but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Metheny, labeling the governor “ratings gold.” He also touted all the benefits that come with a job at WGN, including health insurance. “In all probability the governor will soon be unemployed… and frankly, he could use a good medical plan to defray the expenses of psychiatric care.”
Is that how talk radio recruited Sean Hannity?
A competing radio station, WLS, was first to offer Blagojevich a job, for the Sunday afternoon timeslot.
Read this roundup about Mr. Hair’s big TV blitz.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.