Flashback: Walter E. Williams on the Casey Lartigue Show with Eliot Morgan (April 28, 2007)

Prof. Walter E. Williams was the featured guest on the Casey Lartigue Show with Eliot Morgan on April 28, 2007, on XM 169 The Power (the only national black talk station). The discussion topic was reparations for slavery.

YouTube link

Prof. Walter E. Williams

Random Thoughts:

1) Live unscripted radio

Wow! At any time, a guest could call in, call you a knucklehead, talk about your momma, or trip you up with a difficult question. It was live, it was dramatic. I hated getting prepared for the show but loved every minute I was on the air.

The audience...yeah, at times they were keepin' it real...at other times, real dumb. We started to get some regular callers, a few people softened on us, stopped calling us sellout. A few were hostile until the end.

2) Problems

Yes, there were many. I had no support from the station. The technical producer...I don't want to to get started. The rich get richer, and in that case, the poor (first time host) got poorer (a first time technical producer).

During the show linked above, I expressed relief at Walter Williams being on the line, its because there were several other times with guests that they weren't on the air when I expected them to be. During one show, the guest got caught off. My co-host got caught off. Then I got caught off!!!

3) Producer, directed, and hosted by...

As I mentioned, I had almost no support from the station. I was my own producer. I booked my own guests. I made the sound clips to be used during the show. During the week, I wrote my own promos to run during the week. Everything except run the sound board. And I tried to learn because I didn't trust the technical producer (yes, he overslept once and the senior producer and assistant producer had to rush to the station to run it).

4) Eliot Morgan

That is one busy guy. But he was willing to come on the show with me every week he was available to be my co-host. He was also willing to defer to me, especially during the Williams interview, he knew how hard I was working to put on a quality show by myself.

As soon as I was told that I would have a radio show, I made two calls. The first one was to Eliot. The second one was to Walter E. Williams.

5) Walter Williams

I called him to ask if he could be a regular guest on my show. He paused...then said he could do it. I asked if it was a problem.

One thing about Walter E. Williams: He don't do nuthin' he don't want to do! I asked if it was a problem, he said that it wasn't, because it was Saturday morning, he would be at the hospital waiting for his wife to have some medical treatment done.

Well, the time worked out for him, so he agreed to be on. This was the same guy who made so many jokes about the gifts he gave his wife for her birthday or Christmas (such as a shovel, so she could shovel the snow for him.

6) The show started off wrong. The technical producer didn't play "Controversy" by Prince, the official theme song of my show

More thoughts and recollections later...

Helping North Koreans 'strike the blow' (Korea Times)

H ave you ever engaged in action not because you were sure it would change the world, but to satisfy your own heart? That, I emailed to an American friend, is why I have joined the effort to help North Koreans who are trying to escape from their homeland. I can’t change the direction of policy in North Korea or China but I can row the boat I am sitting in rather than lamenting that I can’t steer the yachts somewhere else. So I have tried to do what I can: Attending protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul (and I plan to do so when I visit America in April); donating money to the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights ( www.nkhumanrights.or.kr ); educating myself, writing articles and emailing friends; and, as a member of the board of trustees, I recently submitted a resolution to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association (FDMHA) in Washington, D.C., to try to call attention to the plight of North Koreans. Our organization’s missi

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h

2020-05-21 Goodbye, Katty Chi

I had heard through the grapevine and now it has been verified: Human rights activist Katty Chi has passed away. She is one of the first people that I met when I got involved in this cause. The first time was in 2012, at an event at the South Korea's National Assembly. She was super cool, one of my favorites as I used to say even when she was alive. And that is the important time to say such things, when people are alive. Whenever we met, I would say to her, "You know what happens when you meet me?" She would say, "Yeah. Time to take a photo?" I'm glad we did. And from Hyun S. Song, a close colleague of hers: And from Liberty in North Korea, the definitive announcement, August 4, 2020

North Korean defector seeks justice (Korea Times)

It was international news when 12 North Korean waitresses and a male manager who worked at a restaurant operated by the North Korean regime in China arrived in South Korea in 2016. The waitresses have mostly maintained a low profile. There have been numerous accusations and assertions, with some saying the waitresses didn't want to escape, some accused the Park Geun-hye administration of playing politics by releasing details of the case, etc., etc., etc. My blog at the Korea Times today features an exclusive interview with one of the former North Korean waitresses who filed a criminal case against the former manager. You can read about it here on the Korea Times website. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/02/728_345165.html Keep in mind that there are many more facts to the case and that it is much deeper than this brief excerpt of her comments. She also shared legal documents that I shared with the Korea Times well in advance to give them time to review the case. *

Breen's column that outraged Samsung

“What People Got for Christmas” Michael Breen The Korea Times December 25, 2009 At this time of year when Seoul’s bare winter trees are wrapped in beckoning lights ― blue and white are the in colors ― and Merry Xmas signs at hotels and department stores are really saying come-hither-gentle-reveler-and-empty-your-purse, and when expensive restaurants belch noisy year-end office party groups onto every street and the karaoke rooms are full, it is tempting to declare that Christmas has lost its soul. But that would be a mistake. Christmas is a time for giving, and, before they can be given, gifts have to be bought. Commerce is good. Here, as proof, is a round up of some of the gifts given and received today by people in the news. Samsung, the world’s largest conglomerate and the rock upon which the Korean economy rests, sent traditional year-end cards offering best wishes for 2010 to the country’s politicians, prosecutors and journalists, along with 50 million w

The Casey Lartigue Show!

Search This Blog