Alex Bennett (broadcaster)

Alex Bennett (a.k.a. Bennett Gordon Schwarzmann), (December 18, 1939) is an American talk radio host, known for his mix of left-wing politics and humor. He currently hosts a weekday radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio channel "SIRIUS Left 146" and XM Radio's "America Left" Channel 167.

Bennett was born in San Francisco, California and attended Drake High School in San Anselmo, CA. He adopted his on-air name as a tribute to his late father, Alexander Schwarzmann.

Broadcasting career

During the 1960s, Bennett worked at radio stations around the country, including KILT in Houston Texas, where he used the on-air moniker James Bond and did his show using an English accent, and WLOL in Minneapolis, Minnesota before gaining major market attention in 1969 at WMCA in New York. He initially started as a disk jockey, later evolving into a talk show host during the station's transition from its Top 40 "Good Guys" music format to the pioneering "Dial-Log" all-talk era. Bennett brought a progressive rock radio sensibility to the teenage-oriented station, still playing album cuts of music as his talk show evolved, and openly discussing topics ranging from his love life to his participation in various countercultural events, such as Consciousness III, before giving his Yogic sign-off "Namaste" ("The God within me sees the God within you"). In 1969, Bennett flew to London to investigate the rumor of Paul McCartney’s death. He later became friends with John Lennon, who appeared on his show.

In 1970, Bennett and his wife-producer Ronni moved their show to WPLJ, still in New York City. By late 1971 the couple split. Ronni went on to produce for ABC’s 20/20 and Barbara Walters. Today, she writes a blog on aging and what it's really like to get old, Time Goes By.[1] Guests on Bennett's WPLJ show included rock stars, comedians and left-wing, anti-war activists.

An early video pioneer, Bennett created and produced Midnight Blue with Bruce David (who went on to be the editor for "Hustler Magazine") for a New York public access cable channel.

In 1980, Bennett returned to his native San Francisco to host a morning show for album-oriented rock station KMEL. Bennett found success by featuring standup comedians as his guests. Before they became famous, performers Bob Goldthwait, Whoopi Goldberg, Dana Carvey, Ray Romano, and Jay Leno were guests on Bennett's program. The popular show aired on three San Francisco area radio stations throughout the 1980s and 1990s: KMEL, KQAK, and KITS. The Alex Bennett Show changed stations due to management/consultant conflicts (KMEL), a format flip (KQAK), and, finally, a station ownership change (at KITS, where he did two stints). Bennett also briefly hosted talk shows on KNBR in San Francisco and WIOD in Miami, Florida (the latter, a very sour experience), in between his Bay Area morning show gigs. During the 1980s, Bennett was the original host of public television’s Comedy Tonight.

Bennett was also noted for not having any televisions in his studio while is mentors Opie and Anthony had as many as 12 at one point. While at KMEL, Bennett’s mother, Ruth, achieved fame as the world’s oldest album-oriented rock disk jockey when she hosted a Sunday night countdown show on KMEL from 1982 to 1983. Bennett hosted the station’s morning show, and Ruth continued at KMEL for a year after his departure for KQAK. Ruth died in 2005 at the age of 100.

Bennett's eponymous radio show was unique in that it featured a live in-studio audience consisting of listeners who were invited to just walk in off the street. In addition to featuring comedians on his San Francisco radio shows, Bennett produced a number of live comedy shows. The earliest ones included his KMEL/KQAK newsman Joe Regelski and were called "Alex and Joe Shows". He also did remote broadcasts of his morning show, known as "Breakfast with Bennett."

A technology aficionado, Bennett took advantage of the early growth of the World Wide Web. After leaving FM rock radio in the late 1990s, Bennett created an Internet radio show for Play TV that ended when the company went out of business. He also developed an early website, The Surfing Monkey (along with Chuck Farnham, David Biedny and Jesse Montrose), which featured, among other things, a series of articles written by an inmate on Death Row at San Quentin. The prisoner, identified by the pseudonym Dean, reported on daily prison life in a series called “Dead Man Talking”. Bennett is personally opposed to the death penalty. He also voiced the Starbase Commander character in the 1992 release of Star Control 2 by 3DO.

Bennett briefly returned to radio in 2001 to host a technology-oriented midday talk show for CNET Radio at its San Francisco flagship affiliate, KNEW). Bennett's attempt to return to general AM talk radio was hampered by his outspoken left-leaning political views (though he temporarily hosted a morning show on KNEW when they changed their format to a talk format in 2003). Station managers at the time only wanted to hire right-wing talk show hosts.

In 2003, Bennett returned to New York, and started his current 9-noon ET show on Sirius Left on April 19, 2004. On his weekday show, he talks about politics, entertainment, and personal matters. He has also served as a substitute host for syndicated talk show host Lionel on several occasions.

Trivia

Alex recently served jury duty in a jury pool that included film director Steven Soderbergh. Alex was excused from serving because he opposes the laws against the sale and use of drugs. Soderbergh was excused so he could fly to Cuba to make a film on Che Guevara.

Bennett was the first American DJ to play the song "No Matter What" by Badfinger.

On April 5, 1985, at the time when many U.S. radio stations were to play the charity single, "We Are the World", simultaneously, Alex Bennett played "Bad Food" by The Finders.

During his days at Live 105 Alex would have stuntman Chuck Farnham cover himself with food to feed the homeless. This allowed Alex to get around the San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan's ban on feeding the homeless without a permit.

One of Bennett's greatest achievements in radio was the invention of "quickies", in which callers have fifteen seconds or less to say anything. The idea was later "borrowed" by both Alan Colmes and Sean Hannity on their radio shows. Bennett recently brought the feature back for his show on Sirius.

Bennett had a very bitter rivalry with Howard Stern, whom Bennett claims ripped off his style from the days of Bennett's early New York program. This rivalry intensified when Stern entered the Bay Area market on San Jose’s KOME and eventually replaced Bennett as morning host on KITS in 1998, when CBS took control of the station, fired the on-air staff and moved KOME’s air staff to KITS. Ironically, when Stern signed with Sirius Satellite Radio (where Bennett currently works) in 2004, Bennett praised the move.

Bennett has also appeared as a pundit on Tucker on MSNBC and is a frequent contributor to Hustler magazine.

References

External links