Joe Pyne

Joe Pyne (December 22, 1924 – March 23, 1970) was an American radio and television talk show host, who pioneered the confrontational style in which the host advocates a viewpoint and argues with guests and audience members. He was a major influence on other confrontational talk show hosts such as Wally George and Morton Downey, Jr.

Joseph Pyne was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. His father, Edward Pyne, was a bricklayer; his mother, Catherine, was a housewife. Pyne graduated from Chester High School in 1942, and immediately enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He saw combat in the South Pacific, where he earned three battle stars. In 1943, during a Japanese bombing attack, he was seriously wounded in the left knee. In 1955, he would lose the lower part of that leg due to a rare form of cancer."Acid-Tongued Joe Pyne Dies." "Delaware County Times" (Chester PA), 3/25/70, p. 1.]

Radio

Discharged from the Marines at the end of World War II, Pyne attended a local drama school to correct a speech impediment. While studying there, he decided to try radio. He worked briefly in Lumberton, North Carolina before he was hired at a new station, WPWA, in Brookhaven. However, he argued with the owner and was fired.Don Murdaugh. "Joe Pyne Saw Tobacco Juice Fly." "Chester Daily Times", 4/22/59, p. 19.] He next got a job at radio station WILM-AM in Wilmington, Delaware, the first of three times he would work at that station. He moved to WVCH, a new station in Chester, which went on the air in March 1948. Seeing little chance to advance his career in Chester, Pyne left after a year and a half. He moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was hired at WLIP, owned by a local businessman named William Lipman (hence the call letters.) After six months of hosting innocuous programs such as "Meet Your Neighbor" from various grocery stores, he quit during a confrontation with WLIP management in which he threw Lipman's typewriter against a wall. Pyne worked at several stations in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but by then was changing his style of broadcasting.

Call-in

Pyne gradually tired of being a disc jockey who made comments about politics and current events. He developed his on air persona as an opinionated host who knew something about everything. He returned to WILM in Wilmington, where he debuted as a talk show host in 1950. (He would later tell reporters that he first experimented with two-way talk during his time in Kenosha.)Don Page. "Pyne Answers Final Call on Two-Way Radio." "Los Angeles Times", 21 February 1969, p. J1. ] It cannot be disputed that his new show was unique. He named it "It's Your Nickel", a popular idiomatic phrase, since back then a call from a pay phone cost five cents. The format was for Pyne to express his opinions on various topics. Listeners would call to ask questions, offer their own opinions, or raise new topics. At first, Pyne didn't put callers on the air; he paraphrased for the audience what they had said. Before long the callers and his interaction with them became the heart of the show. Pyne became famous for arguing with or even insulting those he disagreed with. One of his trademark insults was "Go gargle with razor blades.""Killer Joe." "Time" magazine, 29 July 1966, p. 30.]

Television

By the early 1950s, television was replacing radio as America's main medium. In 1954, Pyne moved to television with "The Joe Pyne Show", broadcast by WDEL-TV in Wilmington. In 1957, he moved to Los Angeles. His initial efforts to gain fame were unsuccessful, and he returned to the Wilmington area. He hosted a TV talk show on WVUE, Channel 12, which was also seen in Philadelphia, and received positive reviews from critics. While he would later be regarded as a bigot, in the late 1950s the local black press generally praised him for inviting black newsmakers on his show to discuss issues of concern to their community. One of his regular guests was a member of the editorial staff of the area's black newspaper, the Philadelphia Tribune, usually a columnist or even the newspaper's publisher. ("Tribune Comptroller Scores on TV Show." Philadelphia Tribune, 8 July 1958, p. 2.) Pyne continued this program until late 1959, when he returned to Los Angeles. This time, he was more successful. By 1960, he was hosting a radio show first on KABC, and later on KLAC. This led to a television show on KTTV. In 1965, he began broadcasting a nationally syndicated show which was carried by as many as 85 television stations and 250 radio stations at its peak. At the height of his fame, he was making $200,000 annually.

Pyne spoke out against racial discrimination and supported the Vietnam War, ridiculing hippies (a favorite target), homosexuals, and feminists. Though generally a conservative, Pyne spoke in favor of labor unions. His tendency towards insult and vitriol offended most critics, who called him "outrageous" and described him as "belligerent" and "self-righteous."Lawrence Laurent. "Joe Pyne is Outrageous." "Washington Post", 22 July 1966, p. C7.] Groups like the Anti-Defamation League accused him of catering to bigots. However, audiences kept listening and watching.

Confrontations and Controversy

Pyne was rude and confrontational with guests, often attempting to throw them off, but there are stories of the rare times when someone got the better of him. One famous tale is that he lost a verbal duel with Frank Zappa. Pyne insulted Zappa by saying, "So I guess your long hair makes you a woman." Zappa allegedly replied, "So I guess your wooden leg makes you a table." While it sounds plausible, no one who was around at that time recalls it happening, nor is there any evidence that Frank Zappa was ever on the Joe Pyne Show. Internet re-tellings of the story never say when it is supposed to have happened, strongly suggesting it is only an urban legend.

On the other hand, there are many documented cases of Pyne getting into altercations with people on his show. He preferred controversial guests, inviting members of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as the American Nazi Party and followers of Charles Manson. Pyne argued this was educational, since it exposed these violent groups to the public eye.Bob Rose. "Pyne Sneers All the Way to the Bank." "Corpus Christi Caller-Times", 8/20/67, p. 19.] "The Joe Pyne Show" was not only verbally aggressive; at times it could get physical, with chairs being thrown at him by someone he was interviewing. If the "discussion" got too heated, the guest would often walk off or Pyne would himself throw the guest off the show. Still, Pyne once described himself as an "overly compensating introvert."

There is another much-quoted confrontation which is also famous. It involved Paul Krassner, who was a guest on Pyne's TV show. Pyne made insulting remarks about Krassner's acne scars. Without missing a beat, Krassner asked Pyne if his wooden leg caused any difficulty in having sex with his wife. As the story goes (and Krassner has told it numerous times), Pyne was flummoxed, so he went immediately to get comments from his audience, pretty much made up at this point in his career by whomever KTTV could bring in from Hollywood Boulevard. This evening the audience happened to include Phil Ochs, whom Krassner had brought along to the studio. Ochs very calmly remarked, "What Paul Krassner has just done is in the finest tradition of American journalism." Here again, surviving videos do not show this incident, though Krassner insists that it did occur and was edited out.

Ron Karenga, a controversial African American author, Marxist political activist, and creator of Kwanzaa, was a frequent guest on the show.

Gay activists Harry Hay and John Burnside -- who were a couple from 1962 until Hay's death in 2002 -- appeared on Pyne's show in 1967.

In 1966, NBC gave Pyne a daytime game show, "Showdown". It lasted only three months and was replaced by "The Hollywood Squares", which would run for nearly 14 years.

Death

Pyne was a chain-smoker who on the air referred to his cigarettes as "coffin nails". Not surprisingly, he developed lung cancer near the peak of his career and died in Los Angeles on March 23, 1970 at the age of 45. He was survived by his wife.

Quotes

Pyne once suggested a caller "take your false teeth out, put them in backwards and bite yourself in the neck."

"Look, lady, every time you call this program and open your mouth to speak... nothing but garbage falls out... get OFF THE LINE, YOU CREEP." (This "get off the line, you..." line continues to be used today by hosts such as Bob Grant, Mark Levin and WFMU's Tom Scharpling.)

“I could make a monkey out of you, but why should I take the credit?”

ee also

References

External links

* [http://www.tvparty.com/empyne.html Tv party: Joe Pyne]
* [http://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2007/05/joe-pyne-show-1965.html Joe Pyne video clips]
* [http://www.talkers.com/greatest/21tPyne.htm Joe Pyne on Talkers Magazine On Line]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899296,00.html Time magazine on Joe Pyne]