AM Show Hr 3 | Our Tribute To Shara Fryer

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, time, Luck and load.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
The Michael Verie Show is on the air. The movie

(00:35):
industry loves to write, loves to make movies about making movies.
Authors love to tell stories about authors. It's a natural tendency.
And I of course love the internal workings of the

(00:57):
media industry, particularly radio, because I think they're fun, and
I think radio is a unique medium in that the
audience is more engaged than anywhere else any other form
of media. This medium in particular, has a deep rooted connection,

(01:19):
particularly am talk radio. I get emails every day from
across the country from old radio heads who will say, Hey,
you were talking about this today, and this is my
opinion on this, and by the way, I used to
work at k EX eleven ninety in the seventies, or
by the way, I worked for WJBO and Baton Rouge

(01:40):
from eighty seven to ninety three. I get it from Houston,
where people will say I worked for the Buzz, I
worked for the Arrow, I worked for you know, k LOL,
obviously a station that held on to people's emotions for
a very long time. That's a much deeper connection than
just where you flip the station and listen so several

(02:03):
weeks ago there was, as there has been in media
across the country for many years, there was a blood
letting at iHeart, which is the core company that I
work for, the syndication of the show through Premiere. Premiere
is a company within iHeart, but it does syndication. Our

(02:26):
show does air on some non iHeart stations, but mostly
I think two thirds of our stations are iHeart. So
the news emerged that Sheriff Friar, well, the news never emerged.
It's not done that way. It's never done that way.
Sheriff Fryar was no longer appearing on KTRH, and I
started hearing from people, Hey, what happened to Shera And

(02:47):
the answer was I didn't know, and I didn't want
to bother Eddie Martini because he's just been put into
a position as part of those layoffs as some people
who were heads of market were removed. Eddie Martini, the
most successful market manager in the country, was put in
charge of all of Dallas and all Louisiana. So he's

(03:08):
traveling a lot, and he's working like a madman. And
I didn't want to know, or I don't want to
I always want to know I'm nosy. I didn't want
to reach out to shera during a tough time. I
will in time. We're friends. But like many people, Shara
is a friend that I don't get to talk to

(03:28):
very often. Greg Fountain, the guy just called as a friend,
I don't get to talk to him very often, maybe
a couple times a year. Same it's true of Shara.
But in time we will and we'll catch up. And
I love and adore Sharah. I've known her a very
long time, going back to her Channel thirteen Days, when
Eddie Martini was looking to bring Serff for her on

(03:49):
twelve years ago, he said, what do you think? And
I said, I think it is a brilliant choice. In
the old days, TV was much more glamor reston radio.
Now today, that's not necessarily true, and Rush Limbaugh changed
a lot of that. The dynamic that he created in
creating this sort of legendary I mean a sort of

(04:14):
the radio star, the audience, the cult following and all
that he created that whole phenomenon. It didn't exist before that.
I mean the Wolfman and Bob Grant. There were several
people that had big followings, but nothing Paul Harvey was
a little different because it was not interactive, but Rush

(04:35):
really created that and since then there have been others
to follow in his way. So the history behind Sheriff
Fryar coming to the station was some of you will
remember Lanta and JP, who were on for many, many,
many many years. Land and JP were let go and
they brought in. This was just after I left programming

(04:59):
the stations. I would not have wanted to letting JP go.
I wouldn't want to be the one to do that
because They'd been on for so long and I'd been
a listener, you know, and you get You're still kind
of a fanboy, you know what I mean. When I
hang out with Dan Pastorini today, I'm still a fanboy.
We might be buds, he might ask my opinion on something,
but at the end of the day, I'm still a fanboy.

(05:22):
And you know, those two were legends of Houston Radio.
But as with every other as happens at your company,
people move on, people are moved on. These things happen. Now.
What's interesting is if the guy at the tube company
in the industrial park next to you gets laid off,
you don't spend a lot of time being mad about it.

(05:43):
We get mad about people being let go or leaving
because we connect so deeply with them. We grieve greater
at a funeral for a person with whom we had
a deeper relationship. The darn radio creates these very intimate connections,
even with people you've never met before. And in the

(06:06):
old days, guys that were good at TV did the
same thing. My friend and mentor, the beloved late Walter p. Zivy,
told me a story one time that he had met
Ron Stone at some businessman's lunch and he went up
and you'd have to understand Walter to understand this. He
was from Mineral Wells, Texas, and Walter went up, and

(06:27):
he was a very prominent Houstonian, very prominent lawyer, had
very famous clients. But he was a very all shucks
country boy with a shock of white hair and a
crooked eye and just a little pop belly in a
very unassuming manner. And everyone loved an adored Walter, always
in a suit. And Walter walks up to Ron Stone
and he said, hey, Ron, how are you doing. I

(06:49):
forget Ron Stone's wife's name, let's say it was Shirley.
How are you? And Shirley doing everything good, And he said.
Ron Stone looked at him as people as famous people
will do, because he knows he needs to know this
guy's name, because the guy obviously knows him as a friend.
And ron Stone said, I'm sorry, sir, can you remind

(07:10):
me your name? And this is Walter's I He's not
the kind of person to be a fanboy for anybody,
and he said, oh my god, we've never met. And
ron Stone looked at him, like, you weirdo? Then why
did you ack leg? He said, I'm sorry. I watch
you every evening and I felt like I knew you.

(07:31):
I wasn't trying to assume or presume anything. It just
now hit me. You don't know me. I just know you. You're
really really good at what you do. And Walter turned
and walked off. And that's a that's just a Walter's
a was always the butt of his own stories. He
never bragged on himself. But that is a connection we have.

(07:54):
So I received a number of emails from folks regarding
Sherah and I did I put two and two together.
There were a number of folks around the country within
our company who were laid off, and it's awkward. I mean,
there's just no way around this. It's awkward. It's also
a business. It's a very competitive business. People are removed

(08:18):
from television stations day in and day out. And if
you follow what is McGriff McGuff Michael McGuff, No, not
Fred McGriff, Mike McGuff. He does a blog on Houston
Media and if you like to keep up with these things,
it's the best blog on Houston Media. Unfortunately he gets

(08:39):
paid for it, but he does the comings and goings
of you know, who's on KPRC and who moves to
KHOU and who retires and Dominique Socks that went here.
I have more to say about Sheriff, but that was
the reason I didn't respond, was because I didn't know.
But I would like to say a couple of things
about sheeryff Friar, who I love and admire. Coming up, beautiful,

(09:04):
Michigan's football team has signed a recruit at linebacker that
they were equally that they were ardently recruiting. It's going
to be very interesting for sportscasters following Eastern Michigan football.

(09:26):
The young man's first name is spelled a H. His
last name is spelled k Ni gga. That's uh going
to be interesting. He has been promised number ten Jersey

(09:52):
number ten, because that's what he requested. Mister Noah, I'm
not really sure how you pronounce his last nah pass
for now? A pass for now? Caniga Nieje? Perhaps it's

(10:18):
Nieje did not know. Back to the issue of Sheriffriar
Our beloved Sheriffriar So anyway, Jimmy Barrett had the unenviable
task of addressing the issue of Shara not being on
the air. And look, I've been through these things before.

(10:40):
It's it's never easy. I remember when Catherine came on
the air to announce that Rush had died. Sharah's alive
and well, very much so. When Catherine came on the
air to announce that that Sherah had died, that Rush
had died, that was man, we get so connected with people. Anyway,

(11:02):
I thought Jimmy handled it very well. Here's what he
had to say.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
I'm here on Houston's Morning News. Let's see how well
I can tackle this. This is this is not the
kind of duty I lect having, certainly, but I agree.
You know everybody's been asking where's Shriff Fryer, where's Shara
what's going on, and you deserve to know that Share
is no longer with our KTRH morning show with Houston's

(11:26):
Morning News. And if you're wondering why that is, the
best I can tell you is is that we are
in a business, a media business that is constantly changing.
And when that comes constant staffing changes, consolidation leads to changes,
and when the changes happen, then positions come and positions go.
You may have heard that Rachel Maddow, for example, just

(11:46):
took a big, huge salary hit over MSNBC. The media
business constantly goes through this and it's going through one
of those periods right now. And it's not just here
in Houston, it's all across the country. So with this reorganization,
Share is no longer our morning show. And like you,
I will miss not having her not only to just
be a co host, but also to talk to every morning.

(12:09):
I can tell you that I have talked with her.
I think she's fine. I absolutely believe that she will
probably come up with her next best life of what
it is that she wants to do. And I will
never forget how she welcomed me to Houston. You know,
gave me all the background information. Here's what you need

(12:30):
to know about Houston. Here's what's important, all this other
I couldn't have made the transition I made to this
new city of mine, my new hometown, without Shriff Fryer,
and I owe her a debt of gratitude for that.
We look forward to seeing and hearing whatever she does next.
And I hope you're going to continue to listen to
us here on KTRH. I promise you we will do

(12:50):
the best morning show we know how to do, and
Sky Mike and Cliff and myself will what put all
of our energy into making this show as good as
we can make it.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
So the question becomes is do you replace her? No,
you don't replace Sheriff fire. Sheriff Fryar was on. It's
been on the air for four decades between radio and
television when Sheriff Friar came to kjr H, the credibility

(13:22):
she brought with her. Sheriff Friar, Dave Ward, Marvin Zendler,
Wayne Oltrafino, who's still doing great work. By the way,
if you get a moment, go to the YouTube page
for Wayne Oltrafino. He the guy is fearless. Well, that

(13:43):
broadcast team. I think Ed Brandon was their meteorologist. Is
that right? Not only were they the number one team
in most watched news station when I was on City Council.
If I had to, if I had to manage time
as to which interview I did, Channel thirteen was so

(14:05):
much head and shoulders above everyone else. I think there
are some great journalists that were not on Channel thirteen.
Wasn't their fault they weren't number one, But it is.
It is this, It's an unspoken thing, but it's real.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
It is.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
There is a very deep connection to your TV news anchorman.
Now I don't watch TV like that anymore, so I
don't have those relationships the way I used to. Although
I kind of considered Tom Abram's a friend. I've known
him over the years. I like him. So if I,

(14:40):
you know, if after a ballgame he comes on, I'll watch,
and you know, I'll try to figure out how much
more gray his hair has become and send him a
little jab of a photo. He's one of the guys
that's been around since I was around there. But I
used to spend a lot of time in newsrooms because
I would go in as a guest, and so, you know, you.
I didn't I have a fob to get in and

(15:01):
out of the TV stations, but I might as well have,
because I'd get there and the receptionists would know me,
and they wouldn't even come and get me. I just
go to the back and you get to know those
people as human beings and you grow to like them.
Sheriff Fryar, I've been out in public with Sheryff before
she does the World Economic Forum. She is so recognizable,

(15:23):
far more than me, so beloved in the greater Houston area,
and as big as that is, it's a blip on
the map compared to Sheriff Friar. In Hallttsville, she was
I believe she was the homecoming queen. She was the
bell of the ball in Hallsville. But what I love
about her, I've never really mentally left Orange because I

(15:46):
have such a connection to the Golden Triangle. She was
always She'd come down to my studio and tell me, Hey,
I'm going to Halltsville this weekend because she knew I
loved that, and she might be going there because it
was the sausage making festival. She'd get in there and
you know, she was the celebrity who would come in
and make sausage for everybody. She came from a fiddle
playing family, and so what was the guy Jimmy going?

(16:09):
What was the great fiddle player? She would always try
to get me to promote and we did multiple times
the Fiddle Contest, and I think it's the national fiddling Contest.
The whole movement to keep the fiddle alive and the
culture of the fiddle, it emanates from Holllettsville, Texas, and

(16:29):
Shara is a big part of there. There's a guy
named Ken Kopecney. I think she's named Heckney Copeckney he
stoked upon for me one time, but he was he
has the biggest fish hatchery in the area. And if
you buy a place out in Hallettsville or Lagrange or
pretty much anywhere that whole area from from Houston to
San Anton and all the way up to maybe Fredericksburg,

(16:53):
that's who most people will call on. My friend Randy
McDowell had bought a place out in I think Belleville,
and that was where I first met him, and I said,
say it was from Halltsville, And I said, do you
have to know Sheriff Fryar And he said, Son, anybody
that's ever been to Halltsville knows Sheriff Fryar. She was
the belle of the ball. She was the most beautiful
young lady and she still is to this And she's

(17:14):
such a pretty lady. You know. I hate to say
the phrase for her age, but to me, it's a
whole lot easier to be pretty at eighteen than it
is at her age, and she manages to do it.
But what a consummate professional, a complete truth teller. And
I will tell you something, and I am not exaggerating

(17:36):
when I tell you this. I have never met a
person in Houston Local News, and I've met all of
them who were on the air before. But between the
age between the years of ninety five to twenty ten,
there is not a more Maga America, first tea party,

(17:57):
American loving Christian values, rural values America than Sheriff fire
And that's the greatest compline can give anybody. Love him.
The Michael Berry Show, Jack Right, we have a dog
problem in the Magnolia area where I live, called local

(18:18):
animal control. They show up in my driveway. Guy who
gets out wearing a badge, a gun and a bulletproof vest.
I called animal control and this is a cop. He's
also a police officer, worthless as tits on a boarhog
doesn't even catch the dogs. Tells me he can set

(18:40):
traps instead of catching them with the pole, which is
apparently now illegal. So, needless to say, we still have
dogs running loose and breeding. They know exactly who the
problem is, but do nothing about it. I'm not impressed
with the cop slash dog catcher, as you can tell,
and they think should be doing more of an effort
to fix the problem them. I've had it out with

(19:02):
Montgomery County over this. Cats are also out of control.
They even printed letters in Spanish and mailed them in
the neighborhood with no resolve. Kevin Wrights, you were talking
about healthcare costs. I highly recommend this book is put
out by the Cato Institute. Overcharged, Why Americans Pay Too

(19:22):
Much for Healthcare by Charles Silver. I read this because
this is a good point in a nutshell. Insurance companies
want medical costs to be through the roof. That way
people will buy health insurance. The insurance companies will negotiate
a price which makes consumers thankful they have insurance. Health

(19:44):
providers want to make money. Who doesn't. This was eye
opening to me to help me understand why a two
hour trip to surgic care costs nine thousand dollars, but
thanks to my insurance, my wonderful insurance, I seemingly only
pay eight one hundred and fifty dollars. You know what,

(20:04):
One of the we talk about our naive neighbors doesn't
mean they're bad people. They're good people. Good people can't
imagine that other people are evil, and unfortunately it's the
good people who get duped and scammed. Now I think
they go to heaven, but I think that good people

(20:27):
often suffer at the hands of bad people, partly because
unfortunately they can't imagine that there are bad people. If
you're a good person, you think that other people are good,
and if you're a bad person, you think that other
people are bad. You know people that are engaged in

(20:49):
PONSI schemes and scams, and you know the type the
people that are churn and burn business owners. There's something
we've had to deal with over the years, at almost
twenty I is somebody will want us to speak for
their company and they're a high pressure sales They don't
care if the experience is good for the customer, and

(21:11):
they think, well, we can sell them with a lot
of products, and you can spot them a mile away
because they'll want you to give discount codes. You buy
today is five percent off and then ten percent off.
Will do this and thirty percent worth of this. They'll
want you to give discount codes, trash their opponents, their competition,
that's always a big one. And tell you that you

(21:32):
have to buy a day because if you don't buy
to day, everybody will die. And I said, that's not
what I do. It's not what I'm ever going to do,
and I don't believe it. It's dishonest. So I believe
that you build your business on the basis of a
good reputation value added and you don't try to serve

(21:57):
every customer. It is that level of green that gets
people into trouble. I talk to a lot of small
business owners show sponsors and not every single day, and
many times they are frustrated. They are dejected because they
got a bad review. I tell people, don't read your
Yelp reviews. If you want to know what people think

(22:18):
about your business, restaurant's the easiest way to do it.
The easiest industry to do this, then walk into your restaurant,
sit in the corner, and go up to every table
and say, tell me the honest truth, what could we
do better? Because if you go how's your meal, it's fine.
People don't want to have to say, well, I've been
waiting for fifteen minutes for your waiter to come back.

(22:41):
How tell me, honestly, what's one thing we could do better.
So Russell Lebara, who loves to eat out, loves to
study menus, pricing, food delivery, presentation on the plate. He
went to a mutual friend of ours restauran. Well, I'll
tell you and Iron Steakhouse, Our friend Michael Sambrooks of

(23:02):
the Pit Room, had opened this steakhouse on Alan Parkway.
Just not an area I get to very often, and
there have been some new, very high end restaurants come
along there. And somebody told me the other day there
are now forty major steakhouses in the greater Houston area.

(23:22):
That seemed like a lot, but it might be true.
And you know, I remember a couple of years ago
there was an article the return of the Great Steakhouse
to Houston, Texas. The problem is everybody opens at the
same time, so you might have had a market that
could absorb five new high end fancy You're only going

(23:45):
to go there if you're using the company credit card
taking clients steakhouses, And yet instead you got all these
steakhouses that popped up. Well, Michael sam Brooks entered that
market as well, to a lot of press because he
was a little bit different. But my god, you got

(24:07):
Tilman's got Massros, which is high end and I think
executes on all cylinders. If you want a solid, good steakhouse,
Masstros is phenomenal. For years, I went to Vic and Anthony's.
I didn't go to an Astros game without going to
Vic and Anthony's first. You could smoke inside back then,

(24:29):
and we would have we'd meet over in the little
bar over to the side and have a cigar and
then start with a beer, and then have never leave
the bar and never go into the main dining room
and have a steak and home fries. Them and Blake's,
which is no longer around anymore, were the best two

(24:50):
home fries in town. Because I like the thick cut
home fries. I am the opposite of shoestring potato. I
don't understand what was those things you used to get
in a can ramone, the little shoe string potato. Huh
what popeyes? They were little sticks. I never understood that anyway.

(25:12):
So Russell went to and Iron and wrote a long
review just for Michael Sandbrooks this morning, because he wanted
to help him. You know, here's what I think you're
doing great. Here's what I think you can do about it.
That's what you want.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
You can sit around and wait for the fall Ner Rand.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
The year was nineteen eighty eight. I was a junior
in high school. Looking back now in the arc of
the careers of people like Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, the Beatles,
George Harrison, e l Os, Jeffrey Lynn. I you know,

(25:54):
there was you got the Highwaymen, which was just and
it was this period of time we didn't know there
would be a resurgence in interest and bankability of the
Willie Nelsons, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard. We thought the world
had just changed and left them behind. And so it's

(26:18):
it's rather sad, you know. Johnny Cash was playing in
Branson to shows of between two hundred and three hundred people.
Can you imagine how shattered you would feel? You're still
young enough that you need to make a living, you
want to play your art. But the world had changed.

(26:39):
It was it was new wave, it was glam rock,
it was a hair metal, it was gn R, and
then it was it was going to go from there
to grunge, and then it was going to go to
this pop of Hoody and the Blowfish and a new
style of music, and then the Beastie Boys, and now

(27:03):
what would become hip hop at the time was raped.
And there just wasn't a place for the singers songwriter
of the sixties and seventies. And yet they were still
weren't that old? So nineteen eighty eight the Traveling Wilbery's Gather,
the supergroup high women style supergroup, and we thought they

(27:27):
were so old. Ramon, how old do you think Tom
Petty was in nineteen eighty eight when Traveling Wheelbars got together?
Not thirty eight, thirty seven? Very good? How about the
old Beatle Beatles had been split up for going on
twenty years? George Harrison, he was a whopping forty five.

(27:54):
The old man Bob Dylan, long gone from the acoustic
to electric days with the band back in He was
a whopping forty seven Jeffrey Lynn of Elo ELO's best
days were long gone. He was only forty one, and

(28:16):
the old man who would die, they would have the
rocking chair without him in it, rocking as if he was.
That most poignant moment in the video, Roy Orbison, I
thought he was seventy five. I mean, I didn't consciously
think how old he was. I just knew he was

(28:37):
the elder statesman of the group fifty two he is,
he was two years younger than I am. Now I'm
fifty four. And what's weird is I haven't so my

(28:58):
birthday was November tenth, it's almost it's been a month.
I haven't had a need to answer the question as
to how old I am on any documents or you know,
to get in to a bar or anything like that.
So I haven't had to say I'm fifty four. So
I'm still in my mind fifty three. And it's not
like there's a huge difference at this point that it
all kind of blends together. It's just weird because our

(29:21):
age is one of our forms of identity, and I
haven't had to say to anyone, so, how old are you?
Fifty four? I ask people how old they are? All
the time. My wife's trainer before Michael Petro. She lives
in Costa Rica now and she's her best friend and
she's in town. She comes up once a year and

(29:43):
they go for lunches and hang out and you know,
do girly stuff. And I asked her yesterday because she
has the most smoking body you've ever seen in your life.
I mean, she's just incredible. If you meet her one time,
you remember for the rest of your like, you've never
seen a woman so fit as this. And I said, Michelle,

(30:04):
how old are you? And she looked at me, and
she wears these eyelash extensions and she bats them Indian
just like the peacock, you know, ascending to the roof
every night. The wind blows when she does this. She says,
these big expressive eyes. You can't ask a lady, I said, Michelle,
I ask everybody their age. You know this, I've asked
you before. So I'm sixty four. And I said, you

(30:25):
know what, I don't understand. Why wouldn't you brag about that.
I think women have had this idea that you don't
tell your age. I was thinking about this other day.
If you're forty and look fifty eight, you don't want
to be asked your age because you know, you know
what people think you look like. If you're forty and

(30:48):
them's hard miles and you look fifty eight and someone
says holder you and you go, I know you're thinking,
I'm almost sixty, but I'm only forty. Ah, that's weird.
I'm going to tell you something. If you're Michelle Rogers
or I asked Mary tally bout another day. She opened
up her clinic on Sunday to see me because so
I wouldn't have to because she was stacked all day

(31:09):
Monday because she'd been out for vacation. And she said,
you I can hear she's the steroids have done a lot,
are good. I didn't sound like this. I'm not saying
I sound great, but you you would hear me wheezing
like I had emphysema. I may for that matter. But
she said, you have a lot of fluid on your

(31:30):
lungs and she hit it with the steroid and it has.
I've been doing a nebulizer and the whole Let me
tell you something. If you got if you got breathing
issues or sleeping issues, go see Mary Tallyboude. And she
is she, I mean by Monday afternoon. In fact, Eddie
Martini said, what are you talking about? You sound just
fine on the air. I said, if you had heard

(31:50):
me yesterday, you would not have believed it. She hit
this thing with everything, and my wife was insistent, you're
not waiting another day. You're going in there. I'm worried
about you. Her mom died of pneumonia, so she has
a kind of a little bit of a you know,
a little bit of a thing on that. And I said, okay,
I owe you that. But I asked her because she's
a very attractive woman. She was going to be doing

(32:12):
a big interview yesterday for some national TV show about
the vaccine and COVID treatments and all that. I said,
how old are you again? And she kind of puckered
her face up, and you know Jack Nicholson in the
shining and I said, well, I guarantee you look younger
than you are, So just tell me your age and
I'll tell you look younger than you are. So I'm

(32:32):
fifty two. I said, listen, it's not easy with your schedule,
four kids, single mom, hard working Texas medical board out
to destroy you to look as good as you do
at fifty two. You should be proud of that. And
we close our show with a little bit of a
tribute to our buddy sky Mike, because he's the one

(32:52):
that always played the Sheriff Friar clips in his morning
Traffic report, and I thought it was that was my
favorite part of the morning News. I loved it so clever.
But Aiemy Barrett will tarry on. He will do a
fantastic job and he will get through it, and Sheriff
Fryer will pop up. Somebody smart's going to hire her,
maybe in media media, may be in media consultation, maybe
as an executive, which she could well do. But we

(33:14):
close our show with a fun little tribute to our
dear friend, Sheriff Fryar. I had a possum in my
fan belt. I had a possum in my fan belt.