When did he turn into a sick and bloated parody of himself? Not too many years ago he was a crusader for the common man, despised radio hosts that changed their opinions for mere ratings, and cut off misogynists whenever possible. What the hell happened?
He found out how to get high ratings.
Just how long ago was he such a wonderful guy?
We had him on our local talk radio about 2 years ago. He lasted a year. The only reason he got on the station is that he gave the program to the station for a time for free.
He was universally disliked.
I have a co-worker that listend to T.L. every night, and thinks he the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I can’t stand him. Most of his shows seem to be about how women are nothing but money grubbing pigs, who let themselves go to seed as soon as they’re married.
The only GOOD thing I’ve heard him do is the ‘Ask the Atheist’ segment.
Yeah, Leykis was good for a while. Back in the late '80s/early 90s, he did a standard AM-radio talk show. His show was mainly focused on politics & current events. Then he got canned by KFI in Los Angeles.
He bounced around from station to station for a while until he revamped his show to take advantage of the new “FM Talk” format. Many stations that aired Howard Stern in the mornings wanted to keep that young male audience through the entire day, so they turned to a “shock jock” talk format. Leykis saw this opportunity, and turned his show into a raunchy boys locker-room program.
It really was a smart move, career-wise. He has really distinguished himself from the other talk radio hosts, and he’s built an audience of listeners that don’t typically listen to talk radio in the afternoons. And he’s targeted a demographic that advertisers drool over.
That was before he got arrested for beating up his wife. http://www.mediawatch.com/leykis.html
He definitely has issues.
How many marriages has Mr. Leykis been through?
What an incredible asshole he is… every time I hear him, he’s on about how life is apparently all about getting enough money to get a prettier woman to fuck you.
Schmuck extreme.
Our local station has dropped him. No one seems to care.
To answer Czarcasm’s question, he has been through four marriages, and he says he is still on good terms with his fourth wife.
According to news reports I’ve read and his own explanation on the air, I believe his arrest for spousal abuse was unwarrented. I don’t remember all the details, but it was a situation where his wife was the one who freaked out and started smashing things, then called the cops, and they arrested him because that was the “politically correct” thing to do at the time, despite protests from is wife.
He was offered a new job in a larger market before the court date, and he had to choose between the starting the better job and staying to defend himself in court. He chose the better job, which appears to be a continuing theme of his life.
I enjoy the Tom Leykis show tremendously. Although I am married and even though I personally could never have followed “Leykis 101” while I was single (I just cannot force mself to be an a-hole no matter how much it would get me laid), I still find him very amusing, and the show is always very “titillating” (pun intended).
Based on your descrption, he has not changed at all. He freely admits that he changed the focus of his show away from politics and current events to get higher ratings, but he still claims to “crusade” for the common man, despises radio show hosts who change their opinions for mere ratings (he changed the topics he talks about for ratings, but still always honestly expresses his true beliefs) and the part about cutting off misogynists is certainly debatable. He claims not to be a misogynist (in fact he loves women, he says), despite many women feeling otherwise. He professes to be about true equality of the sexes (each paying half for dates, for example) and there are many women who call the show agreeing with him.
I enjoy the show for the humor. It is not necessary for me to agree with all the opinions he exresses for me to laugh at what’s funny, and most of the time I agree with him anyways. I would actually like to hear his thoughts on more political issues, but that is not what pulls in the most listeners, unfortunately. If I want to hear political debates I am stuck with shows like Rush Limbaugh, which I cannot stomach for more than half a mnute.
Before the local format changed a few years ago I would always dash to the radio after Don & Mike to switch stations. I simply cannot stand that LOUD MOUTH JIVE ASS DJ VOICE BECAUSE HE ALWAYS TALKS LIKE THIS HI I’M TOM LEYKIS!! IT’S LIKE A PARODY OF EVERY BAD DJ YOU EVER HEARD!!