Imus Redux? No, It's Sammy Allred!

Despite the fact that the reporters from the Austin fishwrap don't know the difference between profanity and obscenity, a drive-time talk show co-host was sacked by his station's management for referring to a caller as an "anal aperture." Following, the report, the fishwrap's resident redneck columnist, John Kelso, weighed in on the controversy by offering alternate phrases for the offensive expletive that brought Sam Allred's dismissal. Lenny Bruce, wherever he is, must be weeping. First, Imus, now Sam Allred.
If this is (fair & balanced) salaciousness, so be it.

[1 — Allred Firing]
[2 — Kelso On The Allred Firing]

[1 — x Austin Fishwrap, 10/31/07]
Sam Allred fired from KVET
Co-host, callers this morning expressed their sadness at his departure
By Eileen Flynn, Miguel Liscano and Joshunda Sanders

Sammy Allred, a veteran radio host for KVET 98.1, has been fired from the popular "Sammy and Bob Show."

"I have been there for over 35 years and have won all the awards," Allred said when he was reached by phone this morning. "If I understood anything about all this, I would let you know."

Bob Cole, Allred's co-host for the morning show, fielded calls today from listeners who expressed their sadness about Allred's departure. "It's a personnel matter, and as such, I haven't been told about it," Cole said.

When asked to confirm whether he had uttered a profanity on air, Allred refused to answer and hung up the phone.

Cole, who worked with Allred for 20 years, said on air that he had not heard from the station's management about the decision until late last night.

A spokeswoman for Clear Channel Communication's Austin stations said their policy did not allow her to comment on personnel matters.

Allred, a native Austinite, has been with the country station since 1969, and in 1990 joined Bob Cole for their morning show. He has been a humorist and country music entertainer since the early 1960s when he and sidekick Dewayne Smith were regular guests on Arthur Godfrey's radio program.

Through the years, Allred has become an Austin radio institution, raising eyebrows and making headlines for salty comments and his crotchety radio persona. He's made a career out of using broad humor that often touches on race. It is a common occurrence on the morning show for him to refer to "white trash," for example.

In a 1993 interview with the American-Statesman, Allred described his experience on his radio show like this: "I take a lot of heat. I worry if I hurt somebody's feelings, and they take it personal when I really don't mean it that way. I assume everyone knows it's a show. It's an act."

Not everyone was always in on the joke.

In 1997, a local environmental activist filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking them deny KVET a licence, alleging that Allred, Bob Cole and John Doggett had violated the commission's personal attack rule with comments made, most notably, about former City Council Member Brigid Shea. The commission rejected the petition a few months later.

And in March, Allred was suspended for a week after he called U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a "clean darky" on air, which he later explained was a phrase he was using to mock U.S. Sen. Joe Biden. Biden, D-Del., who earlier in the year had referred to his presidential rival as,"the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Jay Vise, a show producer who left KVET in September 2006, said he was not surprised by Allred's dismissal. "At first, I thought this kind of behavior was an on-air persona, but over the four years I worked with him, I came to realize this was the real Sammy," Vise said. "What you heard was the real Sammy, for better or worse. The main reason I left was management's refusal to accept the fact that not only was Sam dragging down the show, he was becoming increasingly rude and hostile to listeners on and off the air."

Allred and Cole received the Country Music Association award for best radio personalities in 1999 and 2006.

In the 1950s, Allred's band The Geezinslaws, who once opened for Sun-era Elvis Presley, were regulars on the Louisiana Hayride radio show based in Shreveport in the late 1950s.

James White, owner of the Broken Spoke where the originally named Geezinslaw Brothers play monthly, said he remembered the first time he saw the Geezinslaw Brothers perform — on a flatbed truck in 1954 at the opening of the Twin Oaks shopping center in South Austin. The band was the first Central Texas act to land a major record deal (with Capitol Records), according to Geezinslaws piano player Larry Telford.

They were tagged by a talent scout for Arthur Godfrey as up and comers in the early 1960s, and knocked around Manhattan for 10 years after they were signed, making appearances on network TV on the Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason and Johnny Carson shows. They also toured with musical giants Roger Miller and Perry Como.

"It's not just Texas music," Telford said of the band's influence. "This is worldwide music."

While traveling in Germany recently, Telford said, he encountered a man who relayed a Geezinslaws joke in German. He still performs with the band, which he founded in high school.

White said he couldn't imagine the show without Allred whose crusty impatience with callers sparked both resentment and fondness among listeners.

"It's just a lot more fun when Sammy's on there," White said. "He's one of them colorful characters." A plate — the steak and eggs special — was once, and still might be, called the Sammy Allred Special at Richard Jones Bar-B-Que on South Congress Avenue.

Off stage and off the air, White said, Allred revealed a quieter persona. "He hardly ever raises his voice," he said, "but he can tell the best jokes, the funniest jokes."

When asked what his future plans were, Allred said, "I'm gonna go eat some oatmeal now."

---

[2 — x Austin Fishwrap, 11/02/07]
Sammy Allred gets fired for bad language?
Isn't that like firing the Broken Spoke for country music?
By John Kelso

I'll stick my rouge-tinted neck out here and say that Sammy Allred shouldn't have been fired.

The story going around is that the contentious crank of Austin morning drive time got the ax from his KVET radio job because he allegedly called a caller to the station the A-word on the air.

Yeah, well, so what? In this town, he probably had accuracy on his side. And who better to know one when he heard one?

Sure, the guy's 73 and it might be time to stick him in the Hills at Cantankerous Farms, that home for aging shock jocks. But the trouble here isn't entirely with Sammy Allred. The trouble is with his boss, Clear Channel Communications, for not providing Sammy with a bleep machine assistant to wipe out any @#%&-@#$&* words that would predictably leap out from between his lips.

With Sammy, it wasn't a question of what did he know, and when did he know it. It was what would he say, and when would he blow it?

I'll miss Sammy Allred, the way a man with a limp misses a plantar's wart. Sammy's reputation preceded him. Then again, so does mine, and you're thinking, "Kelso, you're next."

The other rumor going around is that Sammy didn't use the A-word on the air, but that he said, instead, "Ask Cole," referring to his radio partner of 17 years, Bob Cole.

Then again, maybe Sammy was trying to borrow a plug of chewing tobacco and said, "Ah, Skoal."

I don't understand why KVET would run off Allred for being a jerk. Wasn't that on his job description? It's not like he had a children's puppet show. They should give him one. He could cuss out the puppet. To heck with radio. Sammy and Krusty the Crab: That would make great TV. The trouble would be trying to tell which one was Krusty.

I'll miss Sammy Allred, the way a pest control company misses termite season. Sammy was a reminder that this city is not quite San Jose — yet. He was a piece of, uh, don't go there, unique local color. He was an integral part of the old Austin, which is rapidly disappearing a loft at a time.

I think there are a couple of reasons why Clear Channel got rid of him. Over the years, mean overtook funny in his shtick. Plus, the Sam and Bob show hasn't kept up with this ever-changing city. Sam was top dog when downtown was full of rednecks. But now that it's overrun with metrosexuals walking their small dogs, Sammy doesn't fit in.

The question is, what does Sammy do for an encore?

He'd make a great doorman at The Austonian, the high-dollar loft tower going up on Congress. That way, even though he can't give the yuppies what-for on the air anymore, he could do it in person.

John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 512-445-3606 or jkelso@statesman.com

Copyright © 2007 The Austin American-Statesman

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