MY HERO: TOM LEYKIS

Yesterday radio station 97.1 (free talk) FM in Los Angeles California changed it's "hot talk" format to a sad, top 40 music with little or no commercials. Format changes in radio stations happen all the time, but unfortunately this change also threw one of my personal heroes, Tom Leykis, off the air.

I had heard Tom many, many years ago when he was syndicated here in the Flint area, and liked what I heard then. When I was fortunate enough to make something of a living working in my basement in front of my computer (for the most part), one of the first podcasts I added to my "favorites" was the archive page from 97.1 and the Tom Leykis Show.


Tom is (or at the moment at least, "was") a very unique performer in that he spoke his own mind and tried his damndest to share those thoughts and guide others with his wisdom, which made for VERY unique and entertaining radio. Mostly non-political, mostly relationship related, though he was airing some financial topics lately and other newsworthy subjects as they came up in the media, Tom was always worth listening to, even if you didn't agree with his point of view. Me, I agreed with him 99.5% of the time, but I totally understood where he was forming his opinions ALL of the time, and that makes him an extremely rare form of entertainer.

Below I have included a documentary about Tom and his program that was posted on Google Video last year. It does a much better job of explaining Tom, his audience, his objectives, and his impact upon society than I could ever hope to cover. It is a bit of a watch (45 minutes long), but well worth your time to do so:



The most recent version of the 97.1 Tom archive is still up and available for anyone who can find it to listen to. Like I mentioned above there is VERY little of it that most anyone of the same mindset as me would NOT find interesting. I recommend a quick bookmark and some listening for at least as long as the 97.1 folks leave the page up- believe me you will thank me for turning you on to Tom if you don't know of him by now, even if you HATE everything he stands for. His genius IQ against most any of his callers is amazing to say the least:

http://www.971freefm.com/pages/4096.php

Like I mentioned, I'm not sure how long that page shall remain up, so if you like what you hear, I suggest some quick downloading.

I'm sure that this is not the last we've heard from my hero, Tom Leykis. He'll be back in whatever form he chooses to spread his point of view; a book is said to be in the offering, and it would not surprise me if he lands another syndication gig VERY quickly, especially given the durability of other radio hosts like Don Imus. In the meantime Tom is being paid to finish out his contract with CBS for I believe the next three or four years, by doing nothing but enjoying his 20 acres in California wine country.


So in closing, here's a toast to Tom, Thanks pal for the literally thousands of hours of entertainment that you gave this artist-monkey listening to your west coast rantings and philosophy. If you never return to the air again rest assured that you touched many lives, influenced many a young mind, and actually helped some of us grow up a little, no matter what age we were. Salute!



Wake Up!