Posted by Allan Sniffen on October 23, 2009 at 07:27:03:
In Reply to: Soupy Sales R.I.P. posted by Mike Piazza on October 22, 2009 at 23:55:00:
Soupy Sales was a great entertainer (especially for kids) with a huge fan base. Nice man, well liked and admired.
And did a terrible radio show.
Consider this description from the linked obit at the top of this thread:
"Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face "
How does that translate to radio? Both Don Imus and Howard Stern criticized his WNBC show and they were right. It wasn't funny. Reducing his humor to just his voice without all the visuals just didn't work. I couldn't understand, at the time, why WNBC ever thought it would. Yes, he had the name and was well known (and loved) by the demo that WNBC was targeting (kids, by then adults, who knew him from TV) so I guess they were hoping he could somehow adapt to radio and be funny. Radio just wasn't the right platform for him.