Once a Flaming Talk Show Host -- The Only Flame Now in Dave Barber's Life is on his Grill and He's Happy About That

It wasn’t that long ago that the radio market in Flint, Michigan was filled with some incredible on-air personalities from wild and kinetic rock n’ roll antics of Peter C. Cavanaugh on WTAC to the mid-day housewife’s best friend, Betty Clark on WFDF.  Country music fans listening to WKMF couldn’t get enough of disc-jockeys such as Johnny Irons and Big Bill Anderson and then there was Buffalo Dick’s Radio Ranch on WWCK – Jeff Lamb’s somewhat bent take on children’s television shows that kept everyone entertained in the late 70s.

It’s a pretty safe bet that if there was anyone on the radio in Flint, Michigan who made a lasting impression on people – good or bad – that person would be Dave Barber.  While working overnights spinning records at WTRX – Dave dipped his toes into the world of talk radio by filling in for a vacationing Wally Kennedy.  Unlike other fill-in hosts for Wally Kennedy – Dave didn’t play it safe – he instantly went into his flame-throwing mode and the style of talk show that people remember Dave doing.

“I figured I couldn’t do the show the way Wally did it, so I started flame throwing,” Dave says.  “I mean I had an opinion about everything.  It managed to get a reaction (not always favorable).  Wally tended not to be very confrontational, so I stood out like a sore thumb.  It’s not what people listen to, it’s what they remember and can write it down in a rating diary and back in the late 70’s my show had a 40 share of the Flint audience.”

And just like Howard Stern in New York City – radio listeners in Flint, Michigan might not have liked or even loved Dave Barber, but they would listen to him just to hear what he would say next or who he would verbally dissect without missing a beat.

A complicated radio personality – Dave was part newsman, part antagonist and part Las Vegas lounge lizard who would like nothing more than to be a part of Old Blue Eye’s Rat Pack.  On one hand Dave Barber could be playful on the radio, but most of the time you took him pretty seriously and the last thing you ever wanted to do was to get in a pissing match with him.  He warned more than a few of the callers to his show – “If you want to play mental gymnastics with me, I’ll tell you right now, you’re going to lose,”  and he would see to it that even your best argument didn’t hold water and you weren’t worthy to even take up any of his time.  With Dave Barber – you either loved him or hated him….and he usually made sure that there was no middle ground for you to choose.  He knew how to push his listeners’ buttons and get them to respond, and in turn, it’s safe to say that Dave Barber provided Flint with some pretty exciting talk radio.

It’s been four years since Dave Barber’s voice has been heard on Flint radio.  In March of 2006, Dave left his hometown of Flint, Michigan to take a morning spot on WPRO radio in Providence, Rhode Island.  The radio business is not unlike any other business – if you want to move up in your career you had to take some challenges and Dave knew that the job in Providence was that next big step in his radio career, but it’s not easy to leave your comfort base and move to a new area where nobody knows your name or who you are. 

“The move was far more difficult then I expected,” Dave said.  “I did not know one single person and to be honest with you, I don’t know if I would have made the move if I knew what I know now.”

After nearly a year in his new job, Dave received his first employee performance review from the vice-president of talk programming for Citadel broadcasting (the company that owns WPRO, as well as WJR in Detroit and the ABC Radio Network).  Dave got a glowing review and everything was coming up roses, or so he thought. 

“I was so excited about the good review,” Dave says, “I decided to treat myself to a vacation in Miami to see the Super Bowl.  Things changed though when I got back to Providence -- On my first day back from vacation, I was fired.  And to complicate the matter even more -- the general manager of the station wouldn’t even give me the reason why I was being let go -- I was just told that I would understand in a few days.” 

A few days passed and Dave discovered the reason he was let go.  A former Rhode Island radio personality, who was better known, had just been fired from his job in Boston and was now available, so WPRO decided to bring him back to Providence. 

“So, I was the odd guy out when they hired him to come back to the market.  Plus, I don’t think it helped that I questioned the war in Iraq on the air, because the General Manager’s husband was a military General.  A little something that nobody bothered to tell me about.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Dave was vocal about his feeling against the war in Iraq – he’s always let his feelings known on the air about the issues of the day – whether it was the war, the Auto World fiasco, abortion rights or capital punishment and he wasn’t afraid to take on people in power. 

Dave’s feud with former Flint Mayor Woodrow Stanley was pretty much chronicled by the Flint Journal. 

“Woodrow was simply corrupt,” Dave said about the former mayor.  “He circled himself with corrupt people and he didn’t like it that I let people know that about him.” 

How many talk show hosts do you know that have to protect themselves against the people that they talk about on the air?  Not too many, but at one point during the Stanley feud, Dave was allegedly struck by the former mayor and he had to have a restraining order issued against him. 

“Hey, Stanley loved me so much that he called me ‘his bitch’ to anyone who brought up my name.”

Dave irritated some other politicians – such as former Michigan governor John Engler.  Dave challenged Engler -- who embraced “family values” during his campaign for governor -- yet allegedly abused and cheated on his first wife – according to a request for an annulment from the Catholic Church that Engler’s wife filed.

“She said she would sue me if I reported it,” Dave said.  “I did and she didn't, so you see truth is a defense.”

As much as Dave loves to talk about his days in talk radio – he knows that those days are now over and he feels that was is happening now in the radio business is sad and embarrassing.

Currently, Dave Barber is the program director for Rhode Island’s Capitol Television. 

“Think of it as C-Span for Rhode Island.  I report to the Speaker of the House and I serve as the stations’ only on air person.  It’s all politics all the time.  My life today is completely different then it has ever been and I have never been happier.”

When Dave Barber lived and worked in the Flint area – he ate at only the finest restaurants in the area…today, Dave Barber enjoys eating meals at home -- meals that he cooks on his deluxe grill and, if you believe some of his Facebook postings, he has become a pretty fair grill master. 

And when asked about what he misses about the Flint area, Dave answers quickly, “Koegel Viennas!  Here in Little Rhody they call coney dogs “hot wieners”.  I was spoiled in Flint.  A hot dog in Flint is like filet mignon. The dogs here crawl out of the bun.” 

Anyone wishing to forward some Kogel’s out Dave’s way – you can contact him at Capitol Television.  You could call him at home – but he might be too busy grilling or getting ready for an evening in front of the television watching “American Idol.” 

In the interest of full disclose -- the author of this blog, Rich Frost, was once Dave Barber’s producer at WTAC – which doesn’t make him a bad guy – but it’s something he thought you might like to know.

Remembering Radio's Golden Years

I couldn’t help to think about radio when I heard on the news last week that Art Linkletter had died at the age of 97. I also thought about radio when I was channel surfing through the television dial on Sunday afternoon during the 94th running of the Indy 500. You see, my first recollections of Art Linkletter wasn’t from watching him on television, it was from listening to him on the radio….on WJR to be specific. And I can still remember walking around the Clio Road and Stewart Street area on Memorial Day weekend in 1967 with a transistor radio listening to the Indy 500 on the radio. If you wanted to see the race – you had to shell out some big bucks and see a closed circuit television broadcast of the race on a big screen – probably at the IMA Auditorium.

Radio was more important in people’s life then it is today. Radio not only entertained, but it also informed and I can remember how radio in Flint, Michigan was used effectively to “keep the peace” during the riots of 1967. Flint didn’t go up in flames like Detroit or L.A. because a daytime only radio station – WAMM – got permission and stayed on past sunset. The extra broadcast time gave WAMM’s Sam Williams and Flint’s first black mayor, Floyd McCree a direct voice to the people to spread the word that violence in the streets wasn’t the solution and that everyone needed to keep cool,



Being born in 1954 – I’m just old enough to remember the decline of the golden age of radio. For some strange reason – I can remember being about three or four years old and hearing Lawrence Welk and Eddie Fisher’s radio programs on the car radio while our family was driving upnorth to Cheboygan for a family get-together. I can’t give you any logical explanation why I should remember those two programs – but I do.



My memories of listening to Art Linkletter’s “House Party” on the radio were more vivid. CBS television aired the tv version of “House Party” every afternoon at 2:30, but an twenty-minute abbreviated version of the show aired on the CBS Radio network and WJR at 1:10 every afternoon. They seldom aired the same show each day on the television and the radio – but it was still fun to listen to – especially the segment with the kids.



The radio version of Art Linkletter’s “House Party” had one of the best lead-in radio network shows that there ever was – The Arthur Godfrey Show. When it comes to the history of radio and television – Arthur Godfrey was in a league of his own and couldn’t be touch. He could make and break entertainers and if you got the seal of approval from Godfrey – you had it made – just like authors who’s books are featured on Oprah have it made today. He was the perfect pitchman who knew how to sell a product by talking directly to the people and sell he did – pitching Lipton tea and refrigerators by Frigidaire to the masses.



At one time – it was a big deal for a radio station to be able to secure the rights to air events like the Indy 500 and the Detroit Tigers – because it was the only place you could turn to for free live coverage of the events and radio stations were able to make lots of money selling local advertising in these broadcasts. Now airing these events aren’t a big deal for radio broadcasters – they’re just another place for broadcasters to place “inventory” (ads). And, when these events are aired on a radio station – the odds are pretty good that the radio board operator plugging in the local commercials in these broadcasts are probably watching the game on TV as they “work the game” on the radio.



So, it is with the passing of Art Linkletter and the running of the Indy 500 race that I share with you my memories of radio. I’m sure there will be another event or moment in our daily life that will again spark some pleasant memories of the medium of radio – who’s golden age has long since faded.