Lionel (radio)

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Lionel

Michael William LeBron (born August 26, 1958), popularly known as Lionel, is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host based in New York City. He hosts a three-hour radio talk show six days a week (9 p.m.-midnight ET weekdays, and 5-8 p.m. ET Saturdays, from the studios of WOR 710 AM in New York.

The first two hours of the weekday show are carried live on WOR from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. Various affiliates carry from one to all three hours of the show, some of them live, others via tape delay.

The weekday show used to start at 10 p.m. ET. WOR moved it to a 9 p.m. start in November 2006, still carrying only the first two hours on WOR's radio signal. The syndication feed from WOR provides all three hours, and then repeats the first hour of the show after the third live hour, for benefit of stations that originally scheduled the live show from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET. Their listeners now hear the last two hours of the show live, followed by the first hour.

1 Career
2 Philosophy
3 In-Jokes and other Miscellany
4 External links

[edit] Career

Lionel graduated from the Stetson University College of Law and as an attorney worked as both prosecutor and defender. He began his radio career as a host at WFLA 970 AM in his hometown of Tampa, Florida from 1988 to 1994.

For years, Lionel had been a frequent caller to local shows, eventually becoming "a chronic", which is industry vernacular for frequent callers. His notoriety was such that he began resorting to using aliases and different personas to get on the air. His most enduring moniker is in honor of Francis Lionel "Lion" Delbuchi, the character played by Al Pacino in the movie Scarecrow. His calls were so entertaining that WPLP, WFLA's rival station across Tampa Bay, offered him a talk show; Lionel declined, both because WPLP paid very little and because he was afraid it would affect his law career. In the fall of 1988, however, WFLA management called and gave him an unbeatable offer to move behind the microphone, first as a weekend host and soon thereafter as part of the weekday lineup. When he did, he quickly became a ratings success, using a lively mix of humor and current events.

He was hired away by WABC 770 AM, a news-talk New York City when a former ABC network president heard Lionel's show during vacations in Florida and lured him to the Big Apple. As in Tampa, he set ratings records for WABC as its morning-drive host during the mid-1990s.

In the late 1990s, toward the end of his tenure at WABC, Lionel also hosted the CourtTV law show, Snap Judgment. In 2000, Lionel began his national radio show, The Lionel Show. It was originally syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, but was dropped in 2001. His show was syndicated by independent Rex Broadcasting until 2003, when it was picked up by the WOR Radio Network in New York City.

In 2000 and 2001, in addition to his radio work, Lionel was a morning host on an Internet-based talk radio site, eyada.com. The site suspended operations in 2001, but is still parked.

He has released a comedy album titled You Don't Look Like You Sound and fronted a bluegrass band called Lock 'n' Load.

[edit] Philosophy

Originally espousing a largely libertarian political philosophy, Lionel has arguably adopted a more progressive stance, and his show has become increasingly heard on stations of a left-leaning nature. However, he personally eschews such labels and repeatedly criticizes those who hold opinions simply out of allegiance to a word like "conservative" or "liberal." Many of his stances, such as opposition to gun control, are not shared by most progressives or liberals. He opposes the death penalty on the grounds that the justice system is far too unreliable to be entrusted with that power, and favors decriminalization of drug use and of prostitution.

Lionel also describes himself as a "bright", meaning someone who holds a naturalistic rather than a supernatural world view.

[edit] In-Jokes and other Miscellany

Theme song: Lionel adopted "Niña Morena" by the Gipsy Kings as his theme song, and he plays it at the top of every hour after commercial breaks. The song's opening line, which sounds like "Lionel!" repeatedly, caused him to "fall out of his chair" the first time he heard it.

Pete Conlin (Beverly Hills): Pete Conlin is Lionel's usual "producer", which is to say, telephone screener. Lionel almost always refers to him as "Pete Conlin (Beverly Hills)". Lionel explains that in an early episode of The Mod Squad the rich kid of the trio was introduced as "Pete Cochran—Beverly Hills". Pete Conlin's name was similar enough to the Mod Squad character's to trigger this memory, so he became "Pete Conlin (Beverly Hills)". Occasionally, Lionel references Pete's wife, calling her "Mrs. Beverly Hills."

Retarded Algonquin Round Table: A sarcastic reference to the original Algonquin Round Table, the "Retarded Algonquin Round Table" is a perhaps partially fictional collection of Lionel's less intelligent friends and drinking companions. Their idea of intelligent discourse is to repeat whatever they hear from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and right-wing bumper stickers.

Barstool Diplomacy: The type of diplomacy advocated by members of the Retarded Algonquin Round Table. Usually involves the use of overwhelming military force, not excepting nuclear weapons, as the first move.

Archie Bunker: A pseudonym for one commonly referred-to member of the Retarded Algonquin Round Table.

If You're Lucky: Lionel often ends the second hour of the show by saying "More coming up in the next hour... if you're lucky!" This is reference to the fact that New York listeners will not hear the third hour of the show on WOR.

The monkey's dead, the show's over ... sue ya: Lionel's end-of-show catch phrase, used since the early 1990s. "Sue ya" is a reference to his former profession. "The monkey's dead, the show's over" was originally spoken by a defeated political candidate in Tampa when asked for an election-night comment about his failed campaign. Lionel saw the quote in the next day's newspaper and has used it since.