\u201cI was a big talk radio fan during the beginnings of this thing,\u201d Dennis Prager said on his Feb. 1, 2007 show. \u201cI would call in and get on pretty much when I called in. I would be in the upstairs and they\u2019d [Prager’s parents] be down in the basement and I\u2019d scream, \u2018I\u2019m going on the radio.\u2019
\n\u201cI wonder what I talked about? I have no recollection.\u201d<\/p>\n
On June 15, 2012, Dennis said: “I was mesmerized. I never thought I’d be one, any more than if I went to the movies, I thought I’d be John Wayne.”<\/p>\n
Dennis particularly liked WNBC radio and WOR host Jean Shepherd.
\nAccording to a New York Times retrospective on the movie A Christmas Story:<\/p>\n
\nJean Shepherd narrated \u2018A Christmas Story,\u2019 giving voice to the adult Ralphie Parker, which makes sense because he wrote the Christmas adventure based on semi-fictional stories from his own childhood in Hammond, Indiana. Shepherd\u2019s screenplay includes previously released material from several of his books. Also, Shepherd knew his way around a microphone, as he had a very popular three-decade radio career, during which he told stories, read poetry and organized listener stunts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Donald Fagen wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n
\nListening to Shep, I learned about social observation and human types: how to parse modern rituals (like dating and sports); the omnipresence of hierarchy; joy in struggle; “slobism”; “creeping meatballism”; 19th-century panoramic painting; the primitive, violent nature of man; Nelson Algren, Brecht, Beckett, the fables of George Ade; the nature of the soul; the codes inherent in “trivia,” bliss in art; fishing for crappies; and the transience of desire. He told you what to expect from life (loss and betrayal) and made you feel that you were not alone…
\nLike a lot of fine-tuned performing artists, Shepherd increasingly exhibited the whole range of symptoms common to the aging diva. He became paranoid and resentful of imagined rivals, whether they were old ones like Mort Sahl or upstarts like Garrison Keillor.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cI went to bed at night with a transistor radio under my pillow and listened to Jean Shepherd. He never took calls. Just talked for three hours.\u201d (Dec. 21, 2010)
\n\u201cI began calling talk radio in mid-high school. Was I nervous! I remember when the guy would say, \u2018Dennis in Brooklyn.\u2019 I was dripping with perspiration.\u201d (Dec. 17, 2010)
\nDec. 17, 2013, Dennis said: “Transistor radios. They were all made in Japan… I would go to bed at night and take my transistor radio and put it under my pillow. Until high school, I had a bed-time. It was so strictly enforced. I had to be in pajamas and brush my teeth by that time. I think it is a good idea. I don’t think I had one for my kids quite as much.
\n“Is that why I stay up late now? That might be the case. I think of it as liberty.”
\nIn his 14th lecture on Deuteronomy (in 2003?), Dennis said: \u201cWhen I was a kid, I knew I wouldn\u2019t be a doctor. A. My brother was. I knew I wouldn\u2019t do the same thing my brother did just to individuate. B. I hated the site of blood. C. I didn\u2019t find studying the names of nerves interesting.
\n\u201cSo I remember thinking, OK, I\u2019ll be a lawyer. In my eighth grade Yeshiva Rambam graduation booklet, each kid had his picture and he\u2019d tell the editor what phrase he\u2019d like under his picture and mine was, \u2018Dennis Prager, D.A.\u2019 He had under his picture six years early, \u201cKenneth Prager, M.D.\u2019
\n\u201cThrough high school, I just assumed I\u2019d be a lawyer, but then I read a law book. By page 11, I decided I wouldn\u2019t be a lawyer. And I remember thinking, what am I going to do? I\u2019m a Jew.
\n\u201cI remember saying to my brother, \u2018Kenny, I\u2019m not going to be a doctor or a lawyer. I\u2019m going to be something different.\u2019
\n\u201cI thank God that I followed my gifts.\u201d
\nDennis found his life purpose in lecturing about right and wrong and ascribing his values to Judaism. In his 20s, as Dennis found he could both earn a nice living lecturing about morality and simultaneously date many pretty adoring women through this work, he came to the belief that society’s greatest task was moral education. It just so happened to coincide with his chosen profession. He could do good and make good through what came most naturally to him — talking, charming and intimidating — without any one entity having veto power over him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI was a big talk radio fan during the beginnings of this thing,\u201d Dennis Prager said on his Feb. 1, 2007 show. \u201cI would call in and get on pretty much when I called in. I would be in the … Continue reading