It's been more than a quarter of a century since Steve Palec and Keith Harmon were teamed in front of the morning microphones at the old WQFM-FM (93.3).
The pair will be back together for three hours this Sunday morning at 9 as Palec welcomes Harmon, or "Abdul," as he was known on QFM, to his "Rock & Roll Roots" show on WKLH-FM (96.5). They'll be talking about life at the old rock station -- now WLBD-FM (93.3) -- and playing tapes of their old show.
Palec has had a day job in commercial real estate for decades now. He's a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis. But he continues to do a very personal weekly radio show in an environment where many similar shows have faded away.
"It's just an amazing creative outlet," says Palec, who also blogs here at OnMilwaukee.com.
Palec's been doing the Sunday morning show for well over two decades and in his quest for a fresh take on his annual holiday special, he turned to Harmon. The artist formerly known as "Abdul" is now on the other side of radio as an account executive selling ad time on WTMJ-AM (620), to reprise their partnership, which ran for about a year and a half, beginning in 1984.
"We're closer now than we were when we got thrown together," Palec tells me.
At the time they were doing the show, Palec was focused on a radio career career, while Harmon was going through a rough spot in his personal life, which helped shorten their run together.
"In a year and a half, we did some great things," Palec says proudly. That included heading to Washington, D.C. to do live radio from Ronald Reagan's second inauguration.
Among other high points was a role in launching the "Fish Tie" craze, and a bit where they'd get local restaurants to give away free lunches, sending crowds to those eateries.
"We may have started flash mobs," Palec says.
Here's a mid-1980s TV spot featuring the old QFM morning team:
On TV: Madison-born Russell Kook is one of two wannabe chefs competing on the season finale of Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" at 8 tonight on Channel 6. The 29-year-old sous chef currently lives in Chicago.
- Time Magazine has named Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg as its "Person of the Year."
- ABC's Robin Roberts has snared a rare non-Fox News Channel interview with Sarah Palin up in Alaska. It's scheduled to air Friday on "Good Morning America."
- CNN says John Roberts will be exiting its morning show, meaning a new co-anchor for Kiran Chetry. Roberts is staying with the news channel.
- Speaking of CNN, it is tempting fate with another pairing of Anderson Cooper with funny and foul-mouthed Kathy Griffin for its live countdown to 2011.
- Speaking of cable news, Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier has signed a "multi-year" deal to keep on doing his "Special Report," which airs weekdays at 5 p.m.
- The Guardian reports that David Hasselhoff, whose "reality" show was dumped by A&E after just two episodes, will replace Piers Morgan as a judge on "Britain's Got Talent." Morgan, of course, is replacing the retiring Larry King on CNN.
- BBC America has picked up cable rights for "The Tudors," and will start with a marathon of seasons one and two at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 16.
My favorite Christmas commercial -- this week: I love the retro-'60s feel to this holiday spot for Stella Artois (and, yes, I like the beer, too).
Anybody else have any favorites this year?
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
