THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509270036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
IT WOULD BE fair to conclude that Michael Feldman's radio debut pretty much set the tone for his career behind the microphone.
The glib, quick-witted host of the widely popular ``Whad'Ya Know?'' was a 16-year-old high school student in Milwaukee when an essay he wrote won him an appearance on WUKY in Kentucky. He dedicated the song ``What Kind of Fool Am I?'' to the owners of the Milwaukee Braves, who were moving the team out of town.
His recollection? The host ``told me I talked too much.''
Thirty years later, Feldman can't talk enough. ``Whad'Ya Know?'' a two-hour, comedy/quiz show broadcast live each Saturday from Madison, Wis., just marked its 10th year on the air. A public radio fixture, the show is carried on more than 185 stations around the country, including WHRV-FM (89.5) in Hampton Roads. The show teams audience members and callers to answer questions in categories like ``Things I Learned in School,'' winning dubious prizes such as plastic pink flamingo lawn ornaments. But the show's real draw is Feldman, who trades quips with his audience for two hours.
About eight times a year, Feldman leaves cozy Vilas Hall at the University of Wisconsin and takes the show on the road - upstate to Green Bay, out west to San Diego and, on Saturday, to the Pavilion in Virginia Beach.
Feldman, 46, was home last week, recovering from ``another strain of day-care flu,'' courtesy of his two pre-school daughters. But he wasn't too under the weather to talk about what makes ``Whad'Ya Know?'' click, genetics, the future and why he isn't cut out for TV.
The Wall Street Journal called you ``The King of Small Talk Radio.'' Does that mean small-talk radio or small talk-radio?
It's a pretty clever phrase. For a while, I thought it was insulting. I think where it came from was when I was asked if I did talk radio, and I said no. I don't know if I said I did small talk radio or he (the writer) said it. What I try to do is get away from all issues and concentrate on the mundane. I find it more interesting, actually.
The writer wasn't referring to Larry King or Don King was he?
Someone once asked me to try and describe what I was like. I said if you mated Larry King and Groucho Marx, you'd be close. But the offspring would be too horrible to let it live.
You've also been described as a cross between Groucho Marx and Garrison Keillor.
That would be an even tougher thing to mate. I don't think genetically that would be possible.
How do you decide where to take ``Whad'Ya Know?'' on these road shows?
Any place with the word ``beach'' in it. We finally got smart and decided to go South in the wintertime. We were doing things like going to Green Bay in January.
I love the shows we've done in the South and mid-South. They've been terrific. I love Southern women, though I don't indulge. They're nice to you. They talk to you. They put their hands on you when they talk to you. Their boyfriends are standing right there and they don't care. It's a great part of the country.
Is there a method you use for selecting the guests?
There's somewhat of a formula, but it varies a lot. We try to have one person that can talk about the history and geography of the area to give people (listening) a picture. Authors are a big category; sometimes newspaper writers or columnists - someone who kind of has the pulse of what's going on. Usually I subscribe to the (local) paper for about a month to try and figure out what the hot buttons are, the current issues and so forth.
You've been on the air 10 years now. Did you anticipate it running this long?
No. I figured about two years - that's the average life of a radio show that I've done anyhow. We're in definite overtime now.
What is it about the show that continues to hold your interest?
Do you mean why am I still doing it? Desperation comes to mind. That's a word that keeps popping up. I have two daughters under 5 years of age. I've got to stretch it out at least another decade.
This one just sort of hit on the right formula for what I do. It came off a bad experience in Chicago at WGN. I had a chance to come back here to Wisconsin. I didn't really didn't want to do it, but I thought, ``All right, I'm going to ask for everything I'd like to do in radio,'' and I made this list. Basically, ``Whad'Ya Know?'' was intact: a live audience, a way of calling in to talk to people nationally and all that. Each show is different, I don't feel like I'm formatted to death.
So you and commercial radio didn't hit it off?
My track record is not too good. Besides the WGN experience, I had two weekend overnights on a rock station in Sun Prairie, Wis., which is located in the middle of a cornfield. One time this girl called up in the middle of the night and said she had a niece who was just born, a baby girl, and asked if I would play ``Hell's Bells'' by AC/DC. That's when I knew I couldn't last another weekend.
What is it about ``Whad'Ya Know?'' that appeals to your listeners?
That's hard to pinpoint. To me, it skips over everything that's popular. It's not tabloid. There's no sex or violence. It's kind of old-fashioned. The pace is different. The audience is composed of witty people. So I figure it flies in the face of current reality.
I don't know what percentage of the population likes that but enough for us to get a couple of hundred people (in the audience) each week. We get kids and, even though we're in a college town, it skips the late teens and 20s and picks up again in the 30s. And we get a lot of older people too - everything except the desirable demographic. That's why it's public radio.
You just finished a short run on TV. Are you going to pursue that?
(Laughing) It doesn't look that way. I think I'm out of the business. It was proposed by a station group that was trying to develop people to syndicate. Everyone's trying to get in the syndication racket and make big money. I'd gone through this before (but) sort of let myself get talked into it again. It was a fun thing. We went up to Minneapolis-St. Paul. But I think it's been deemed as being too slow for late-night syndication.
That's hard to believe considering everyone else who has a talk show today.
I watched Stephanie Miller the other night and I had to call my wife in. I said, ``Sandy, come here a minute. Look what I'm worse than.'' It was trash. I never use the word ``vulgar,'' you know. But it was incredibly vulgar. It sort of made me feel better after seeing where things are.
How about the next 10 years? Do you see yourself still hosting the show?
I'm pretty much compelled to. I don't know if we'll be doing exactly the same thing, but conceivably we will. Nothing else seems to work for me. The books don't sell. TV doesn't work. What am I going to do, really?
Besides raising the profile of ``Whad'Ya Know?'' the road shows benefit the local public radio affiliate. What do you take from the shows?
I really like to learn about places. I tell you, the more you do it, the more you're reassured that America still exists and that it still has differences and that there's still a lot of good people out there, as opposed to what you would think if you just watched television and read the papers.
That's why I love going to the South. I grew up here in the Midwest. It's different to me. I like the way people relate to each other. People are friendly and outgoing. It warms the cockles of my Midwestern heart.
And you get treated like a king for 2 1/2 days. Usually, there's a fruit basket in the room.
Last question: Is Lake Wobegon a real place or did you make it up?
Lake Wobegon? No, I made it up. I made up the whole persona of the Norwegian bachelor farmer. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY RADIO INTERVIEW by CNB