Love Him Or Hate Him -- That's Our Dave

If you have ever lived in Flint, Michigan -- you know who Dave Barber is.

Dave Barber is the most beloved hated radio personality in Flint, Michigan. To love Dave Barber is to hate him, because you know that sooner or later, he's going to say something to piss you off. That's our Dave! He knows how to push our buttons and he lives to push them until we scream that he's an asshole or some other like comment, because that only fuels the fire in Dave's belly.

Barber is at his best when he has a caller who thinks that they have all their ducks in a row and they're going to let Dave have it. Dave doesn't have to have a library of facts to back up any of his arguments -- he's got the microphone and Dave has perfected jumping on something stupid someone says and hitting the caller over the head with it. And, if Dave can only get the caller to hang up on him -- it only puts another feather in Dave's cap -- because there ain't no son-of-a-bitch going to win a round of verbal gymnastics with Dave. No way!

I got to work with Dave for a good part of the 80s as his producer at WTAC and as I look back at those years -- they were probably the most fun years of my broadcasting career. At first, my job with Dave was nothing but a glorified board operator, but I eventually became a "real" producer (or so I thought) and got to book the guests and interviews. I had fun and I was getting paid, too...Those were the days.

Looking back, it was always hard to believe that Dave and I were the same age. When I was 28 going on 30 -- Dave was 28 going on 50. While I was into "The Boss", Dave was into "The Chairman of the Board". When others of our age were drinking beers -- Dave would have a cocktail -- maybe a martini (shaken not stirred).

I never had a chance to talk to Dave about his "soft spot". Yeah, Dave Barber did have a spot spot on the air at times. He could be as tough as nails with any guest that he interviewed or caller that came his way, but the boy would soften right into butter anytime that we had his Mom on the air with him. Every Mother's Day, we'd have our Moms on the air for a bit and Dave knew that you couldn't be an asshole with Mom -- because Mom Barber would put him in his place without batting an eye.

Those were the days.

It's nice to know that Dave's back on the air again in Flint on Super Talk AM1570 WWCK. It would be nice if the company that he worked for would stream the show on the net, but at least Dave's been able to give us some bits and pieces every so often -- such as with his recent interview with Michael Moore.

Of all of the questions that he asked Michael Moore during that one hour interview -- nothing was more telling than when he asked Moore how much money he had in his pocket -- because that's the kind of question that you and I would ask if we had the chance.

Love him or hate him. Dave Barber definitely is the voice of the people.