The Howie Carr Show
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| The Howie Carr Show | |
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| Genre | Current affairs |
| Running time | 4 hours |
| Country | USA |
| Starring | Howie Carr |
| Executive producer(s) | Nancy "Sandy" Shack |
| Website | HowieCarr.com |
The Howie Carr Show is a radio talk show on Boston's WRKO. Presented by award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Howie Carr, the show airs every weekday between 3 and 7pm.
Carr has had a radio talk show for close to two decades, first at WHDH-AM 850, then (when WHDH became WEEI in 1994) at WRKO-AM 680 in Boston, Massachusetts. He took over the afternoon drive-time slot from Jerry Williams' [1] program, on which Carr often made appearances, originally during a segment called "The Governors," with Jerry and Barbara Anderson. The show's first producer was Kevin Straley, know on-air as "Little Al". The name came from a ruse about the then-program director Al Mayers ("Big Al"). Straley is presently a Vice President at XM Radio; Mayers is the General Manager of Bloomberg Radio in New York City. The show's present producer is Nancy "Sandy" Shack, who was Dick Syatt’s producer during his dating show. Doug ("Virgin Boy" or "VB") Goudie was Carr's former producer, and left to be an on-air personality for the "Fox 25 Morning News" on WFXT. Goudie is Carr's primary substitute host. Other substitute hosts include Colonel David Hunt and "Sandy" (Howie's current producer).
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[edit] Syndication
In September 1996 the show experimented with local syndication, sending the show out via ISDN connections to a group of stations around New England. The local experiment was such a success that - in January 1998 - ABC Radio Today started syndicating the show nationally. The show did not sustain a large nationwide following and syndication was handed over to SupeRadio. In 2005, Carr's show was syndicated to New England-only stations by Entercom, the corporate owner of WRKO.
[edit] "Chump Line"
Listeners can call Carr's "Chump Line" (617-779-3469) and leave an amusing message which might be played in the third hour of the show (starting at 5:07 pm) each day. Carr often remarks how others have copied his format, alluding to the The Whiner Line on WRKO's sister station, WEEI. The Chump Line is available as a free podcast from WRKO's Web site. The last message is always followed by a "Thank you for calling Howie Carr -- you chump!" recorded sign-off.
[edit] Illegal immigrant driver roll call
Carr has a frequent segment in which traffic violators, usually with Hispanic-sounding names, are read from police blotters. The name of the offender is read, along with the offender's traffic violation, typically including driving without a valid license, driving without proof of insurance, and/or driving without valid registration. After each name is read the first few bars of "La Cucaracha" is played in a car horn rendition.
The segment is usually bookended around Carr's opinions on the dangers of illegal immigration. Carr may make statements like "They're only drunk driving and killing the people that Americans can't be bothered killing." The segment was introduced in August 2006, when the question of in-state drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants was a controversial issue among Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates.
[edit] Other features
The show also features other contests in which prizes - usually inexpensive ones - are given out. In the "Celebrity Death Pool" callers choose which celebrity they believe will die next. In the "Wizard of Uhs" segment, Carr plays a clip, usually thirty seconds or so in duration, of the senior Massachusetts Senator, Ted Kennedy. Listeners have to count the number of "uhs" that Kennedy says. "Wizard of Uhs" was originally crafted for Joe Kennedy's ramblings, but it has evolved to include Ted Kennedy. In all cases, final decisions as to the actual number of "uhs" heard in the segment are left to the judge -- Howie.
Another special feature is Mumbles - named in honor of Thomas M. Menino, the current mayor of Boston - in which Carr tries to decipher what Menino is saying.
Callers wishing to relate unpleasant or embarrassing details about themselves can request the "voice-changer". In this feature, Carr plays cheesy 1950s sci-fi sound effects (which actually do nothing to obscure the caller's voice) while they brag about things they got away with, or disparage popular Boston entities.
