Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What they saw - and the rest of the country heard on National Public Radio - was a two-hour live production of Michael Feldman's "Whad'Ya Know?" at the Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium.
And they heard Feldman mine Western Virginia's landmarks and people for humor. Like his jokes about the Roanoke Phantom, the local man who was sentenced last week for talking to pilots as they landed at Roanoke Regional Airport.
"So I'm flying in over the mountains, and I'm trying to remember what I read in the paper a couple months ago about Roanoke," Feldman said. "And we're grazing the tops of mountains, and I remember it's the Roanoke Phantom air-traffic controller.
"It's an unusual concept, though, landing a commercial aircraft from your garage - sure beats flying one of those little remote-control models."
Feldman's show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Division of Tourism, which uses the wacky program to spread word about the land of cheese. But Saturday's two-hour broadcast focused on the Roanoke Valley and the rest of the state - though not all the publicity was flattering.
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers made a guest appearance. A couple of Bowers' early jokes fell flat, but then Feldman brought up cooperation among the city, the county and Salem.
"Do you guys ever get together and duke it out?" Feldman asked Bowers. "Is there a possibility of military action?"
"I believe you'll see peace in Bosnia," Bowers said, "before you see it in the Roanoke Valley."
Feldman obviously had been briefed on local issues. During the opening minutes of the program, he joked about a bumper sticker he saw that touted the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains: "God lives here."
"Yes, God lives here," he said, "but he's one of six governmental entities."
During his time on stage, Bowers put on his best public-relations push, presenting Feldman with a crystal star from the Star City. Feldman dismissed it: "Just throw that on the shelf with the rest of the stuff."
Throughout the program Feldman wove in jokes about the Texas Tavern, potted possum from Freeman Cockram's General Store in Floyd, Roanoke's former name "Big Lick" and Channel 7 weatherman Robin Reed.
"Who is Robin Reed, anyway?" Feldman asked the audience before the show began. "Weatherman," the audience shouted back.
Then Reed, who Feldman apparently didn't know was in the audience, stood.
"Are you Robin Reed?" Feldman asked. "Is that Robin Reed?" he asked the audience.
"You're supposed to be best local sex symbol/male, Robin," he said. "Is there a reason for that?"
Reed: "It's a slow town."
Feldman later recruited Reed for the quiz, a trademark of the show. A caller from New York got to play as Reed's counterpart on the "Whad'Ya Know?" quiz when she correctly guessed how Roanoke originally came to be called "Big Lick." Then Feldman elaborated on the name.
"It was a big salt lick," he said. "It attracted animals, which attracted hunters, which attracted . . . I-73 apparently."
Feldman got several other shots in at the interstate proposed to come through the Roanoke Valley.
"The idea is to connect Charleston and Detroit," he said, "and sling 'em through Bent Mountain. A lot of towns don't want an interstate coming through - they've been to Stuckey's and they're not impressed."
by CNB