Lionel (radio personality)

Michael William Lebron (born August 26, 1958), popularly known as Lionel, is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host based in New York City. Since May 14, 2007, he has hosted a daily three-hour radio talk show from 9 am to noon weekdays on Air America Radio [cite web|url=http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/04/09/daily26.html?jst=b_ln_hl|title=Tampa's Lionel Heading To Air America|publisher=Tampa Bay Business Journal -- Michael Hinman|date=2007-04-10|accessdate=2007-04-10] [cite web|url=http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/$rol.exe/headline_id=n16405|title=WOR Radio Network's Lionel Moves to Air America|publisher=Radio Online|date=2007-04-09|accessdate=2007-04-11] .

Prior to the Air America show, he hosted a nationally-syndicated show on the WOR Radio Network six days a week (9 pm-midnight ET weekdays, and 5-8 pm ET Saturdays), from the studios of WOR 710 AM in New York. The final show for WOR aired May 3, 2007.

Career

After graduating "magna cum laude" from the University of South Florida in 1980, Lionel worked as a District Aide for Florida United States Senator Richard "Dick" Stone and in his unsuccessful campaign for reelection.

Lionel graduated from the Stetson University College of Law, and as trial lawyer worked as both prosecutor for the Hillsborough County Florida State Attorney's Officer (13th Judicial Circuit) and criminal defense trial lawyer thereafter.

He began his radio career as a host at WFLA 970 AM in his hometown of Tampa, Florida from 1988 to 1993.

For years, Lionel had been a frequent caller to local shows, eventually becoming a "chronic", which is industry vernacular for frequent callers. His notoriety was such that he began using aliases and different personas to get on the air. His most enduring moniker is in honor of Francis Lionel "Lion" Delbuchi, the character played by Al Pacino in the movie "Scarecrow". His calls were so entertaining that WPLP, WFLA's rival station across Tampa Bay, offered him a talk show; Lionel declined, both because WPLP paid very little and because he was afraid it would affect his law career. In October of 1988, however, WFLA management called and gave him an unbeatable offer to move behind the microphone as a Sunday afternoon host. Then in January of 1989, he moved to middays (nine to noon) Monday through Friday. Seven months later, he took the afternoon drive position where he remained until 1993. When he did, he quickly became a ratings success, using a lively mix of humor and current events.

He was hired away by WABC 770 AM, a news-talk station in New York City when a former ABC network president, Jim Arcara, heard Lionel's show during vacations in Florida and lured him to the Big Apple. He set ratings records for WABC as its morning-drive host during the mid-1990sFact|date=October 2007. During one period, Lionel did both morning drive and afternoon drive for a period immediately following talk radio legend Bob Grant's departure from WABC.

In the late 1990s, toward the end of his tenure at WABC, Lionel also hosted the CourtTV law show, "Snap Judgment." He also provided a daily update on WCBS 880 AM during the Clinton impeachment process.

In 2000, Lionel began his national radio show, "The Lionel Show," originally syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks through 2001. His show was then syndicated by independent Rex Broadcasting until 2003, when it was picked up by the WOR Radio Network in New York City.

In 2000 and 2001, in addition to his radio work, Lionel was a morning host on an Internet-based talk radio site, "eYada.com" until 2001.

In 2007, "Talkers Magazine" included Lionel on their list of "The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America" at number 23, and tied for 13th place on their "Top Talk Radio Audiences] " list. [ [http://www.talkers.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=34 TALKERS magazine - The Top Talk Radio Audiences ] ]

He has released a comedy album titled "You Don't Look Like You Sound" and fronted a bluegrass band called Lock 'n' Load.

Lionel has recently authored his first book entitled "Everyone's Crazy Except You and Me . . . And I'm Not So Sure About You: America's Favorite Contrarian Cuts Loose." It is published by Hyperion and was released on August 5th, 2008.

Philosophy

Originally espousing a largely libertarian political philosophy, Lionel has arguably adopted a more progressive stance, and his show has become increasingly heard on stations of a left-leaning nature. However, he personally eschews such labels and repeatedly criticizes those who hold opinions simply out of allegiance to a word like "conservative" or "liberal." Many of his stances, such as opposition to some forms of gun control, are not shared by most liberals. He opposes the death penalty on the grounds that the justice system is far too unreliable to be entrusted with that power, and favors decriminalization of drug use and of prostitution. He asks callers to take the Lionel Challenge: Try explicating or describing a political philosophy or point without using a label. Some, he contends, find it impossible.

He frequently targets his fellow talk show hosts, attacking conservatives for reading talking points as part of a "playbook mentality" and some fellow liberal hosts for boring audiences with excessive political dialog. Among his most frequent targets:

*Michael Savage: Routinely pronounced "Sauvage" by Lionel, the show that preceded his at WOR meant Lionel was frequently exposed to Savage's program. His current favorite is pointing out that Savage told his listeners that the sun was the smallest star in our solar system.

*Glenn Beck: Usually described as "the stupidest conservative on television" and "late to the party," Lionel usually dissects Beck's views and questions the logic of them.

*Bill O'Reilly: Lionel typically questions O'Reilly's arguments and emphasis on political issues of the day and considers him part of the "playbook mentality."

*Joe Scarborough: Lionel has had a love-hate relationship with Scarborough for years, formerly attacking him for his socially conservative views but now applauds him for the incorporation of entertainment news in his program in the last few years. Lionel has shown much displeasure over Scarborough's sidekick, Mika Brzezinski, on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," whom he's described as "maundering, yammering and paid by the syllable" over what Lionel describes as her unnecessary interruptions and noise interjections.

*Keith Olbermann: Lionel suggests that although Olbermann does tell it like it is, never mincing words, his efforts to be the next Edward R. Murrow are not successful.

Lionel also describes himself as a "Bright", meaning someone who holds a naturalistic rather than a supernatural world view.

During a discussion on his show about illegal immigration to the United States, Lionel stated his ancestry was Afro-Puerto Rican, Sicilian, Scots-Irish, German and French.

In-jokes and other miscellany

*Theme song: Lionel adopted "Nina Morena" by the Gipsy Kings as his theme song, and he plays it at the top of every hour after commercial breaks. The song's opening line, which sounds like "Lionel!" repeatedly, caused him to "fall out of his chair" the first time he heard it. The closing theme song is "Soul Makossa" by Manu Dibango.
*Current crew: Lionel's Air America crew includes "Juice," his producer and primary provider of tongue-in-cheek prose which accompanies various sound clips played on the show, "Dermott McCallscreener," or "Derm," who because of his status as a member of New York City band "Rich Girls" gets referred to occasionally as "bass player in a tranny band" and "Doobie," a partially aloof native of Skaneateles, New York.
* Retarded Algonquin Round Table: A sarcastic reference to the original Algonquin Round Table, the "Retarded Algonquin Round Table" is a perhaps partially fictional collection of Lionel's less intelligent friends and drinking companions. Their idea of intelligent discourse is to repeat whatever they hear from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and right-wing bumper stickers.

* Barstool Diplomacy: The type of diplomacy advocated by members of the Retarded Algonquin Round Table. Usually involves the use of overwhelming military force, not excepting nuclear weapons, as the first move.

* Archie Bunker: A pseudonym for one commonly referred-to member of the Retarded Algonquin Round Table.

* Let's go back to the phones, back to the fun: A favorite phrase of Lionel's when returning from a commercial break and resuming the conversation with his callers.

* The monkey's dead, the show's over ... sue ya: Lionel's end-of-show catch phrase, used since the early 1990s. "Sue ya" is a reference to his former profession. "The monkey's dead, the show's over" was originally spoken by a defeated political candidate in Tampa when asked for an election-night comment about his failed campaign. Lionel saw the quote in the next day's newspaper and has used it since.

* Stephen Baldwin: A frequent caller and fan of Lionel, Baldwin appeared as a guest on Lionel's show to tout his youth ministry. Baldwin is frequently derided by Lionel, suggesting listeners consider Baldwin's sanity if they replace the word "God" in his book with the name "Bob." Despite the comic jabs, Baldwin continues to phone the show at least once a month.

* Time Cube, the discovery of Dr Gene Ray. Lionel interviewed Dr Ray about the Time Cube several times on eYada, and also interviewed him twice on Air America Radio during 2007.

The following were specific to particulars of the WOR show:

*Pete Conlin (Beverly Hills): Pete Conlin was Lionel's usual "producer" at WOR, which is to say, telephone screener. Lionel almost always referred to him as "Pete Conlin (Beverly Hills)". Lionel explains that in an early episode of "The Mod Squad" the rich kid of the trio was introduced as "Pete Cochran—Beverly Hills". Pete Conlin's name was similar enough to the Mod Squad character's to trigger this memory, so he became "Pete Conlin (Beverly Hills)" (much to Pete's initial bafflement). [The Lionel Show. (May 3, 2007.) " [http://wor710.com/episode_download.php?contentType=36&contentId=689589 Hour 2"] ] Occasionally, Lionel references Pete's wife, calling her "Mrs. Beverly Hills."

* For the benefit of our affiliates, if you suddenly hear a Valentine's Day show, you know what that means: Lionel's ongoing troubles dealing with WOR's listener call management software often meant "the phone lines have crashed." Lionel would abandon his WOR program with a "best of" rerun if the phone system could not be repaired within the hour. He regularly asked a producer to find the most dated show possible to run again.

* If You're Lucky: Lionel often ended the second hour of the WOR show by saying "More coming up in the next hour... "if you're lucky!" This was to remind New York listeners that they would not hear the third hour of the show. The first two hours of the weekday show were carried live on WOR from 9 pm to 11 pm ET.

The weekday show on WOR originally started at 10 pm ET. WOR moved it to a 9 pm start in November 2006, still carrying only the first two hours on WOR's radio signal (due to conflict with another WOR Show, "Health Talk with Dr. Ronald Hoffman").

External links

* [http://www.lionelonline.com Official Site]
* [http://airamerica.com/lionel/ Lionel's page and blog at the Air America website (same as the above link)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLionelShow The Lionel Show YouTube page]
* [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=167 Air America on XM Satellite Radio]
* [http://www.boblassiterairchecks.com/wfla/wfla102388.mp3 Aircheck from Lionel's first-ever radio show] - From BobLassiterAirchecks.com
* [http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-show.php?show=4787 Streaming Radio Guide with a link to the Lionel Show]
*" [http://www.talkers.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=44 The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America] "

References