Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 328

'4 i- i THE LAST ORB With Pete Franklin here never have it again Caller: Tm disappointed in your opiriion about Davey Johnson giving him too much credit Response: Tm the best there ever was gimme that crap the world champs? Caller: The Mets Response: Whets the world champs' manager? Caller: Davey Johnson Response: Get the hell out of here By Paul Daugherty GET A LOAD of this guv He comes into town from Cleveland (Cleveland?) and right away the best there ever was been here a week Already calling George Steinbrenner vile 9 'v -i' wane oiwme ou knowr the motto ofthi8 8tationi is IZWhere i AI 'J 1 Sasiiii bull Si 28 TTT JTj £thecity of'NewStdfKS i i -J Ih V-! 'i J'? i'V j-v I t-f 5 Former Indians manager Frank Robinson had a running feud with Franklin as did Billy Martin and Woody Hayes Sam McDowell the former mqjar-league pitcher once interrupted a live remote of show at a restaurant in Cleveland by banging on the glass walls of the studio and threatening lifo On another occasion police had to take Frimklin home after a group of Angels showed up at the studio interested in something a little more substantial than talk reminded you of your Klein said controversial and not just for the flu of it very conscious of the business in and what he has to do to be successful There will be times in New York when he may need police Franklin is equally respectful of on he said love them but a pox on them I do the show for my interest You try to please everyone you please no Franklin is who Dick Vitale would be if Dick Vitale were Don 'Sickles That to say he shoots from the hip Said Dombrowski knows more about sports than any man work my rear Franklin said show is easy The preparation is In Cleveland Franklin spent at -least two hours every day reading out-of-town newspapers He is well connected with pro scouts particularly in baseball a freak a sick he said I doing this Td still be worried about what Johnson is going to do with his pitching staff or what line the Rangers are going to start Franklin is the rase talent whose own personality transcends the content of his show It matter what Franklin is talking about so long as Franklin is (bring the talking It's the sort of on-air presence that all broadcasters dream of Howard Cosell had it To a certain extent so did Don Meredith before he got bored with it all Vin Scully has it As Franklin said presence is a great break for the city of New Pete Franklin look like he sounds He is a smallish guy even smaller when he is sitting deep in a swivel chair in a radio studio He is 58 has a receding hairline and a chest that has found a comfortable spot in his lap He wears thick glasses He looks not the least bit athletic like he ought to have a pencil behind his ear He uses the dusty vernacular of the Women are men are Money is home is a Franklin sometimes sounds like doing bad Bogart In May he had a heart attack that nearly killed him After quadruple bypass surgery the concern at the station was whether Fete would still be Fete Could he still rant? Would he? He would Where a will a rave are you pal? Some kinds nut? Davey Johnson is the manager of the world champions Who the hell are you? Get the hell off my show WFAITsPstf Franklin! names Already calling the Meadowlands Cancerville A guy from Cleveland ripping Jersey? the point? This is heavy He loves Davey Johnson like Casey Stengel or something Johnson makes some of the dumbest bullpen moves this side of The Bad News Bears and like he should be bronzed and shipped to Cooperstown You hear what I'm saying? And then you call him up to talk about this stuff and all he does is call you pal or moron or yo-yo or sickle or freako or goombah Who is this guy? Pete Franklin was hoping ask the new drive-time host at WFAN-AM (1050) You love him You hate him You want to send him back to Cleveland on the next garbage barge But you want to have him over for dinner first And listen to him by God live and off-color Franklin did his shtick in Cleveland for 21 years Screaming and faulting and ranting and hyping and hyperventilating and tearing the heart out of subtlety Call-and-response radio Primal sports therapy Got a beef a bitch a gripe pal? Got a comment or Just maybe a question? Got masochistic tendencies? Call Pete Franklin has built the greater part of his life around the notion that people enjoy or at least respond to what he has to say about sports And not infrequently about them And now at 58 he is here "My last hurrah" Franklin said "Playing the WFAN the all-sports star tion that debuted July 1 paid him $600000 for two years and gave him a new Cadillac Seville for the right to talk at New York sports fans Talk at them he does he said to a caller just before hanging up on him Then: know the motto of this station is the fan is crap On my show Tm Somehow it all works On WWWE in Cleveland Franklin was introduced each night as "the eighth wonder of the In the Arbitrons the radio equivalent of Nielsen ratings 6-10 pm show randy dipped below seventh in a 26-station market Aided by Indians baseball Browns football and Cavaliers basketball all of which were carried by WWWE he occasionally finished in the top three Wondrous considering the perpetually putrid state of sports in Cleveland himself he set public said Indians general manager Joe Klein knew Pete Most everyone listened to Six telephone lines come into the control room at WFAN They were all blinking for the entire four hours of 3-7 pm show last Monday his first day Success in radio talk is measured in blinking lights and Franklin has been nothing if not successful let him do his spiel and hell get you says Dave Dom-browski producer at WWWE the previous seven years competed with him here Nobody He has stiff competition in New York from Dave Sims at WNBC and the venerable Art Bust Jr at WABC Dombrowaki and WWWE general manager Art Caruso said FYanklin asked only to be left alone say Til do everything you need me to do butmy show is my show If you try to tell me what to do Tm Caruso said years ago Pete was the only thing on this station that was any good He knew he was the island here but he never gave anybody any heat never asked for more money in the middle of his contract He was WFAN program director John Prueter said Thursday that the switchboard has been flooded with calls this week from listeners love him or hate him Well get one caller on the air saying-how great they think he is then 100 off it saying Prueter who worked with Frank- lin for 10 years in Cleveland before coming to New York is content to let Franklin be Franklin you have Gaylord Perry you tell him how to pitch You hand him the Really New York have much trouble adjusting to him The city sounds like Franklin already 'somewhere between a bari tonal whine and an ambulance at 3 am Franklin even grew uphere on Montgomery Street in Brooklyn three blocks from Ebbets Field was a terrible total failure as a he recalled give a spit about anything but Like the athletes he covers Franklin can be irreverent egocentric and routinely profane When he says he's the best there ever was he means it He began his radio career just after World War in broadcasting schooLT was horsespit in radio until I found talk shows I started out doing general talk I interviewed Nixon in 1962 when he was running for governor of California I interviewed Lyndon Johnson when he was a senator of that spit turned me he said sports spit turned me on If you tell a guy a schmuck on religion or politics you got an enemy for life If you tell a guy a eehmugh on sports you still got a Not that Franklin cares much "about buddies Former Cleveland Cavaliers -owner Ted Stepien sued Franklin unsuccessfully three times CO CO.