Alex Bennett

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Alex Bennett (a.k.a. Bennett Gordon Schwarzmann), born on December 18, 1939 in San Francisco is an American radio personality and talk show host, known for his mix of left-wing politics and humor. Bennett created his name as a tribute to his late father, Alexander Schwarzmann.

Alex Bennett first gained major market attention in 1969 with WMCA in New York, where he was first a disk jockey and then a talk show host during the station's transition from its Top 40 "Good Guys" music format to the pioneering "Dial-Log" all-talk era. Bennett brought a progressive rock radio sensibility to the teenage-oriented station, still playing album cuts of music as his talk show evolved, and openly discussing topics ranging from his love life to his participation in various countercultural events, such as Consciousness III, before giving his Yogic sign-off "Namaste" ("The God within me sees the God within you"). In 1969, Bennett flew to London to investigate the rumor of Paul McCartney’s death. He later became friends with John Lennon, who appeared on his show.

In 1970, Bennett and his wife-producer Ronni moved their show to WPLJ, still in New York. By late 1971 the couple split.

An early video pioneer, Bennett produced Midnight Blue for a New York public access cable channel. Guests on Bennett's New York radio show included rock stars and left-wing, anti-war activists.

Returning to his native San Francisco, in 1980, to host an eponymous FM radio morning show on album-oriented rock station KMEL, Bennett found success by featuring standup comedians as his guests. Before they were famous, performers Bob Goldthwait, Whoopi Goldberg, Dana Carvey, Ray Romano, and Jay Leno were heard on Bennett's program. The popular show aired on three San Francisco area radio stations throughout the 1980s and 1990s: KMEL, KQAK, and KITS. The Alex Bennett Show changed stations due to management/consultant conflicts (KMEL), a format flip (KQAK), and, finally, a station ownership change (at KITS, where he did two stints). Bennett also briefly hosted talk shows on KNBR in San Francisco and WIOD in Miami, Florida (the latter, a very sour experience), in between his Bay Area morning show gigs. During the 1980s, Bennett was the original host of public television’s Comedy Tonight.

After leaving FM rock radio in the late 1990s, Bennett created an Internet radio show for Play TV that ended when the company went out of business. He briefly hosted a technology-oriented midday talk show on CNET radio at its San Francisco flagship affiliate KNEW). Bennett's attempt to return to AM talk radio was hampered by his outspoken leftist political views (though he temporarily hosted a morning show on KNEW when they changed their format to talk radio in 2003). Station managers only wanted to hire right-wing talk show hosts.

Bennett returned to New York in 2003, and currently hosts The Alex Bennett Program on Sirius Satellite Radio channel (SIRIUS Left 146). It premiered on April 19, 2004. Alex is on the air weekdays from 9am to 12pm EST/6am to 9am PST, and talks about politics, entertainment, and health issues of a personal nature. He has also served as a substitute for syndicated talk show host Lionel on several occasions.

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[edit] Alex Bennett facts

Alex recently served jury duty in a jury pool that included film director Steven Soderbergh. Alex was excused from serving because he opposes the laws against the sale and use of drugs. Soderbergh was excused so he could fly to Cuba to make a film on Che Guevara.

Bennett was the first American DJ to play the song "No Matter What" by Badfinger.

One of Bennett's greatest achievements in radio was the invention of "quickies", in which callers have fifteen seconds or less to say anything. The idea was later "borrowed" by both Alan Colmes and Sean Hannity on their radio shows. Bennett recently brought the feature back for his show on Sirius.

His early website, the Surfing Monkey, featured a series of articles written by an inmate on Death Row at San Quentin. The prisoner, identified by the pseudonym Dean, reported on daily life on Death Row in the series called “Dead Man Talking”. Alex is opposed to the death penalty.

Bennett rarely mentions his current website on the air: Radiofreejack.com. Some of his best interviews, including John Lennon and Sam Kinison are archived on the site.

While working for KILT in Houston, Bennett used the name James Bond and did his show using an English accent.

While working at Live 105 in San Francisco, his co-host Lori Thompson called him by the nickname Ben. Since his first name is actually Bennett, Ben is an appropriate nickname.

Bennett’s mother, Ruth, achieved fame as the world’s oldest album-oriented rock disk jockey when she hosted a Sunday night countdown show on KMEL from 1982 to 1983. Bennett hosted the station’s morning show, and Ruth continued at KMEL for a year after his departure for KQAK. Ruth died in 2005 at the age of 100.

In addition to featuring comedians on his radio shows, Bennett produced a number of live comedy shows during his time in San Francisco. The earliest ones included his KMEL/KQAK newsman Joe Regelski and were called Alex and Joe Shows.

Bennett’s comedy-oriented morning radio shows in San Francisco featured a live in-studio audience of listeners who could walk in off the street.

Bennett’s second wife, Ronni, produced his shows on WMCA and WPLJ in New York. After their divorce, Ronni went on to produce for ABC’s 20/20 and Barbara Walters. Today, she writes a blog on age discrimination, Time Goes By.

Bennett had a very bitter rivalry with Howard Stern, whom Bennett claims ripped off his style from the days of Bennett's early New York program. This rivalry intensified when Stern entered the Bay Area market on San Jose’s KOME and eventually replaced Bennett as morning host on KITS in 1998, when CBS took control of the station, fired the on-air staff and moved KOME’s air staff to KITS. Ironically, when Stern signed with Sirius Satellite Radio (where Bennett currently works) in 2004, Bennett praised the move.