The Radio Talkers who Influenced Milwaukee’s ‘Carter-McGee Report’

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Photo: The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com

Pete Franklin

Pete Franklin

As a long-time fan of call-in radio talk shows, I owe my start on Milwaukee’s top-rated “Carter-McGee Report” on WNOV-AM, to celebrated, out-of-town, sports radio talkers, Art Rust Jr. and Pete Franklin. Each influenced me with sage advice I was to follow here.

During separate interviews for the Daily News in New York, both, in essence, said to me: “Go for it, young man. You’ve got the goods.”

I told Franklin our motto for Milwaukee was to be “tough talk,” and he laughingly said: “I wish I’d thought of that.” Rust simply told me, “Just be yourself—Black and strong. And always use your full name on the air—like I do.” And I always did.

While each of these dynamic radio talkers attained fame in New York, Franklin—known as “The King”—first came to my attention on WERE-AM in Cleveland, during his night-time, often acerbic “Sportsline” back-and-forth with pro-and-con callers. And I loved it.

Heated Debates

To me, the most memorable of Franklin’s boisterous, insult shows was April 4, 1968, when, during a heated debate with a caller, he shrieked: “Wait a minute, now. I’ve got something important to say.”

And then he announced, in uncharacteristically sedate tones, the worst news I’d ever heard. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had just been shot. Listening in my car on the way home from my reporter’s job with The Plain Dealer, I choked-up, pulled the car over, and sobbed.

In 1988, after Franklin cashed-in big with a move to WFAN-AM in New York, I sat-in for his 3-7 p.m. drive time show at huge Kaufman-Astoria Studios in Queens. His lively repartee with callers—which took New York by storm—was preceded that day by my interview in a small, basement office about his up-and-down career.

This included his eventful stops on stations in Savannah, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland, Fort Worth, and Trenton and Canton, Ohio, before landing in Cleveland. My in-depth interview with Pete resulted in one of my most popular Daily News columns in sports-happy New York City. And he called me that day to say thanks.

That was Pete Franklin – an outspoken, often outrageous loudmouth on the air, but a nice, humble man in private. One of my most unforgettable characters.

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Photo: Suzanne Rust - X

Art Rust Jr.

Art Rust Jr.

About a year later at the Daily News, I heard from Rust -- called “the godfather of sports talk radio.” Reminding me of our exchanged greetings at 49th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, he expressed his feelings about my Pete Franklin column, notably the headline I hadn’t written: “Let me broadcast the news: Pete is No. 1.” 

“Hey, Richard, this is Arthur George Rust Jr.,” he said. “What’s this about Pete Franklin number one in New York? How about my “Sportstalk” at WABC?”

“Hey, yourself, Art. Nice surprise to hear from you,” I said. ”But that column was a year ago.” To which, he replied, “I got a long memory, my man.”

“So how about us getting together for an interview Art,” I said. “You can tell me, for my readers, why you’re the king of the hill on New York sports talk radio.” 

“You got it,” he said. “Drop by my place on Riverside Drive, at your convenience. I promise you’ll learn something.” And I did – on both counts. 

For example, while I knew Rust was a sports historian, I learned he and his late wife, Edna, wrote six sports books. And I was really impressed as he pointed out his large collection of jazz records and autographed photos of big names, several of whom had been his neighbors in the city. 

The Brown Bomber

Smiling, he then told me about the Harlem Opera House in 1935 when Joe Louis—the legendary “Brown Bomber”—punched a speed bag to “Anchors Aweigh,” with a line of high-kicking, Black chorus girls on stage behind him.

As we both laughed, I asked who he considers the greatest in all sports. His answer: “Joe DiMaggio in baseball, Jim Brown in football, Wilt Chamberlain in basketball and Sugar Ray Robinson in boxing.”

“How about Mike Tyson (then heavyweight champ),” I asked. “He might be the best heavy of all,” said Rust. “He probably would’ve KO’d Joe Louis. Only Ali, at his peak, might have beaten him. I said might.”

Then Rust—who was pure New York—told me about his upbringing in Sugar Hill, attending Brooklyn Law School and studying pre-med at Long Island University. In 1938, he heard radio’s Red Barber on the New York Yankees-Chicago Cubs World Series and decided that was what he wanted to do.

“The rest is history,” he said, which was shorthand for his New York stints at WWRL radio and WNBC-TV, and shorter stays at WINS and WMCA radio prior to his then drive-time gig at WABC. “I just regret that Jackie (Robinson) wasn’t alive to come on my show.”

Following our interview, I wrote a Daily News column headlined: “Art Rust Jr., No I in sports talk game.” And like Pete, Art quickly called to thank me.

In 1994, while creating “The Carter-McGee Report” in Milwaukee, I called Pete and Art for their advice. Needless to say, both were elated—and complied. During my tenure on the program, there never was a day I didn’t implement what they told me. I always engaged in tough talk and used my full name—Richard G. Carter.

That was Pete Franklin and Arthur George Rust Jr., both of whom, sadly, are gone. And without their experienced, influential advice for me, there might not have been a “Carter-McGee Report.” And that would have been Black Milwaukee’s loss.