Tom Leykis

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Tom Leykis

Born Thomas Joseph Leykis
August 1, 1956 (1956-08-01) (age 51)[1]
New York City[2]
Residence Hollywood Hills[3]
Nationality American
Other names "Dad"[4]
"The Professor" "Father"
Education Fordham University
Occupation Radio Host
Height 5'11[1]
Weight 210 lb (in 1993)[1]
Known for The Tom Leykis Show, Naming Kobe Bryant's accuser
Relatives Harry Leykis (father)
Website
http://www.blowmeuptom.com/

Thomas Joseph Leykis (pronounced: /LYE-kiss/;[5] born August 1, 1956) is an American radio host. His Los Angeles-based hot talk show, The Tom Leykis Show, airs Monday through Friday and is syndicated throughout the United States by CBS Radio. The show's most well-known feature is "Leykis 101," in which he purports to teach men "how to get laid" while expending less time, money, and effort. Leykis also hosts The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis, a weekly lifestyle program dealing with fine food and drink. It airs on Saturday in many markets and, like Leykis's primary show, is syndicated by CBS Radio.[6] Leykis has been described as a shock jock by many.[3][7][8][9][10] His current success is largely due to his performance with the Hot Talk format.[11]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Tom Leykis was born August 1, 1956 at a time when his parents, Harry and Laura (nee O'Mara)[12], lived in the Bronx and his father worked for the United States Postal Service.[13] Leykis spent his early childhood in Bronx,[14] New York City,[15] New York. His father worked at the The New York Post; he has two sisters and a brother.[3][2][16] The family eventually moved to Long Island, where Leykis completed his high school education, graduating at age 16.[3] He moved away from home to study broadcasting at Fordham University but ended up being forced to drop out due to financial pressures.[17]

[edit] Career

Leykis spent sometime in the state of New York. At 14-years-old, he was once a fill-in host for WBAB.[17] Leykis for a time worked for Mark Simone's talk show comedy titled The Simone Phone being featured as a sidekick for station WPIX airing around 1979.[18][19] Leykis eventually left WPIX, later went to WBAI leaving in the fall of 1981 to go to Albany working at WQBK-AM.[19][20] Leykis also contributed to a show called The Phonebooth in WABC that ended in 1981.[21]

The ambitious Leykis decided to turn up his aspirations when he was offered a radio hosting job in Staunton, Virginia making it full-time.[14][17]

On Monday, February 27, 1984, Tom Leykis Show aired on WNWS in Miami to replace the WNWS night show by talk radio personality Neil Rogers.[22] Rogers, who had previous signed conflicting employment contracts with both WNWS (790 AM) and WINZ (940 AM), had just won permission from a Miami court to take his act to WINZ and hoped his leaving WNWS would be devastating to Leykis' new station.[22] Rogers and Leykis became rivals and in June 1984, just after Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg was assassinated, Leykis told listeners Neil Rogers' real name and urged callers to harass his on-air rival.[23] By January 1985, Leykis had the top-ranking evening talk show in the market.[24] In September 1985, Leykis abruptly left his WNWS job over concern about the pending WNWS-WGBS merger and began broadcasting at Phoenix's KFYI-AM.[25]

Leykis made a turn to Phoenix, Arizona. Being a program director for KFYI station's owner, he constructed a politically well-rounded host lineup inserting himself as a "left leaning libertarian" in the afternoon.[26] Leykis was known for his method of gathering new callers for the station by provoking rival station KTAR.[27] He left in 1987 due to differences with station management.[27][28][26] Leykis also spent sometime with his own cable television show called Backstage Pass around the same year,[29]

Leykis went to Los Angeles working for KFI where he hosted from 1988 to 1992,[30] as a liberal counter to Rush Limbaugh.[14] His station KFI was hit with a $6,000 FCC indecency fine paid in balance from comments from callers in the time of his show according to Leykis and station general manager.[31][10][28] His co-worker Geoff Edwards became suspended then resigned on the incident related to steamrolling a massive collection of Cat Stevens' work rallied by listeners, which was motivated by Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie, as a result of Leykis' show. Edwards hinted the stunt as reminiscent to a Nazi book burning which a historian made clear.[32][33] Leykis' contract called for $400,000 per year at the station, but management released him due to a business decision.[28]

Leykis then worked for WRKO in Boston.[34] He left the city for a new job in Los Angeles after a publicized fight with wife Susan that occurred at the end of 1993.[35]

He then carried his 1994 show The Tom Leykis Show on national syndication with Westwood One. Production is done in Paramount Pictures studios.[14][5][36]

[edit] The Tom Leykis Show

The Tom Leykis Show

Genre Hot talk
Running time 5 hours (including commercials, 3rd or 4th hour rebroadcast in final hour)
Country Flag of the United States United States
Home station KLSX
Starring Tom Leykis
Announcer Joe Cipriano
Creators Tom Leykis
Producers Gary Zabransky
Dean "Dino" DeMilio
Air dates 1994 to Present
Opening theme "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
Website
BlowMeUpTom.com
 Podcast
The Tom Leykis Show podcast

The Tom Leykis Show began in 1994 and is currently produced by CBS Radio as part of its Free FM format with the flagship station KLSX in Los Angeles. The show is broadcast Monday through Friday, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM PST from Paramount Studios[37] in Hollywood, California and is heard in a number of major metropolitan markets on the West Coast of the United States.

It is produced by Gary Zabransky, along with associate producer Dean "Dino" DeMilio, and is engineered by Art Webb.[38] Ironically Paramount Studios hit Leykis with a 'cease and desist' order and thus he is unable to identify the studio by name on the air. This is often satirized on the show.

The cornerstone of the program is the Thursday broadcast of "Leykis 101", in which the program is set-up as an ad hoc lecture and question & answer session, over which Leykis presides as a self-styled "professor". The subject of the "101" segments is how men can spend less money on women, while achieving greater sexual success.[39][14] Along with general information on life for young men, advice mostly consists of his principles of looking out for yourself and that the institution of marriage is flawed and biased against men. He constantly recommends that young men attend some form of higher education and not to be distracted by relationships or to marry at a young age as he did. The intent of his advice is to replace the father figure which many men lack, earning him the moniker of "Dad". He also denounces what in his words is a corrupt and broken child support system that does not require DNA tests and has forced men to pay money to women who lied before a judge for children these men did not father.[40]

A popular and long-running feature of the show is "Flash Friday" in which men are encouraged to drive with their headlights on and women are encouraged to expose their breasts to such vehicles.[41][2] The feature began as a one-time bit; while on the air, Leykis recalled a radio host he listened to as a child, who asked his listeners in New York apartments to flash their lights on and off and then to look outside to see how many neighbors were doing the same, as a way to gauge the audience size. Leykis asked his listeners to do the same with their car headlights, and a few minutes later, jokingly suggested that women flash their breasts. A listener called in to report that he saw a woman flashing fellow drivers, and it became a regular feature of the show.[42] Both women and men commonly call during the Friday broadcast to alert other listeners as to their location, and to recount stories of flashing or being flashed, respectively.[citation needed]

The show also uses sound clips which callers generally request after long conversations. Callers make requests to be "taken out" in some style, such as, "could you take me out with a bong hit?" or "take me out Kobe style."[4] The practice of "taking people out" with use of a sound clip dates back to the early days of the show, when Leykis was working at a small radio station in Albany, New York. Leykis would dispose of undesirable or tiresome callers by playing the sound of a toilet flushing while hanging up on them. The station manager found this offensive, and when Leykis refused to stop, he took the cart out of the studio. Leykis retaliated by re-recording the sound on another cart that he purposely mis-labeled as "dog barking", and continued playing it. The station manager became frustrated, and began harassing Leykis about it, so he began blowing callers up, which lead to callers asking for it.[42]

In 2003, Leykis named Katelyn Faber,[43] the accuser in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case.[9][44] But the news revealed more intricate details such as race and masked photographs while excluding her name as it was the standard practice at that time,[45][46] raising privacy questions.[47]

On June 25, 2003, Marty Ingels, a voice actor, called into Leykis' show and tried to challenge him on moral grounds. Ingels, who was much older than the typical caller to Leykis's show, was subjected to some rude remarks by the call screener who said that he was old too and shouldn't be on the air. But the call did get put through, at which point, Leykis too began to insult Ingels, adding that "you're not just older than my demographic, you're the grandfather of my demographic".[48] Leykis explained that he didn't want older callers because he was selling advertising to the younger demographic, stuff that usually didn't sell to people Ingels' age. Ingels sued the show for age discrimination.[48]

Ingels's first lawsuit got dismissed, by an anti-SLAPP statute (CCP S 425.16) that protected against lawsuits that protects first amendment rights and another judge claimed that the show had the right to control its content. Further, it was noted that Ingels couldn't really complain he was discriminated against because his call was in fact put on the air.[48][49]

As for Ingels, he had to pay $25,000 in attorney's fees.[48][50]

Another widely publicized event took place in November 2006, when a listener from Ahwatukee, a city in the Phoenix metro area, called the show, and confessed to shooting the father of her child when he refused to pay child support. Leykis denied that the call was part of a hoax set up by the show, and producers turned over any information they had to local police.[51] The caller, a nurse, who went by her middle name, Sue, said that she shot the man in the heart with a 9 mm because she "knew how to aim for it", and made the shooting look like a suicide.[52] About a month later, former talk show host Geraldo Rivera asked Leykis about the incident on his Geraldo at Large syndicated television program.[53] Geraldo: "So what was your first reaction when you got this call?" Leykis: "I was shocked. You know, people call talk shows and say all kinds of things, but they never confess to murder."[53]

Talkers Magazine analyzing Arbitron data show that Leykis has an estimated listening minimum weekly cume of over 1.75 million for Spring 2007 based on a national sample.[54] For web searches, Lycos reported that Leykis did not make top 20 searched radio personalities for 2007,[55] but he was ranked in at #13 in 2006.[56]

For early 2008, Leykis had announced radio ratings at various angles. Among the 81 radio stations in Southern California the show was #9 overall, #6 in English stations, and #1 for time spent listening. Among men ages 18+, adults ages 18-34, and "the money demo" ages 25-54, the show was #1 in time spent listening with an average of over 4 hours per week, in addition to being #1 in share for men aged 18+.[57]

[edit] Personal life

Leykis has been married and divorced four times.[7] One marriage was to television reporter Christina Gonzalez who was caught cheating after Leykis investigated some receipts he found.[3] Another marriage, which lasted a year, was with a Seattle woman in 1989,[15] who was a listener of his show.[3] On December 22, 1993, while married to Susan, who first met Leykis at a Los Angeles Kings game,[3] he was charged with "felony assault and battery and threatening to commit a crime"; a police officer found bruises and scratches on the woman.[8] In March 1994, Leykis was sentenced to a year of probation and a domestic violence class. He completed both, dropping the charge; the couple were divorced in April 1994.[3][8]

In August 2004, Leykis was attacked outside a Seattle bar, causing him to require 17 stitches over one eye, and leaving him with scratches and bruises. The assailant reportedly had an accomplice who accused Leykis of calling him a name and hanging up on him when he called the show, when the other man kicked him in the face.[58]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c CRIMINAL COMPLAINT. The Smoking Gun & Boston Municipal Court (1993-12-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  2. ^ a b c NewsMax's 25 Most Influential Talk Radio Hosts -. NewsMax.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rahner, Mark (2000-08-13). Churning up the radio. The Seattle Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  4. ^ a b Clawson, Michael (2006-07-30). Tom Leykis: Susan B. Anthony with a Penis. Sylk Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  5. ^ a b Lippman, John (1998-10-29). High-Frequency, Low-Brow Chatter Starts to Take Over the FM Airwaves. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  6. ^ "The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis", Saturday airing: 98.3 WOW–FM website. Retrieved on March 5, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Dotinga, Randy. Who needs a year in review when there's Leykis?. North County Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
  8. ^ a b c The Smoking Gun: Archive. The Smoking Gun. Retrieved on 2008-02-14.
  9. ^ a b Castro, Hector (2004-08-26). Tom Leykis hurt in late-night Belltown assault. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  10. ^ a b Ahrens, Frank. FCC Indecency Fines, 1970-2004. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  11. ^ Heavy Hundred 2008. Talkers Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
  12. ^ Newsday (November 24, 1998) Obituaries: Laura G. (nee O'Mara) Leykis Section: News; Page A60.
  13. ^ New York Daily News (October 9, 1995) Obituary: Harry Leykis Section: News; Page 28.
  14. ^ a b c d e Baker, Bob (2002-11-17). Rehab III: The Profile. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  15. ^ a b Jasmin, Ernest (2005-09-26). Gregarious guru just for guys. The News Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  16. ^ Harry Leykis, Union Leader, 63. The New York Times (1995-10-10). Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  17. ^ a b c Singer, Alan (1994-12-16). KNWZ invites Tom Leykis to Valley. The Public Record. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  18. ^ HISTORY. CD101.9. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  19. ^ a b Sullivan, Kat. Welcome To The KatHouse. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  20. ^ Tom "Tai" Irwin. Radio Dialing for Dollars. Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  21. ^ Hoffman, Howard. The Howard Hoffman Collection. REELRADIO. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  22. ^ a b Fisher, Marc. (February 29, 1984) Miami Herald Acerbic radio star allowed to take act to other station. Section: Local; Page 1D.
  23. ^ Lacayo, Richard (1984-07-09). Audiences Love to Hate Them. Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  24. ^ Thornton, Linda R. (January 19, 1985) Miami Herald Every group has its own taste in radio stations. Section: Comics/TV; Page 4C.
  25. ^ Thornton, Linda R. (September 13, 1985) Miami Herald Missing WNWS Host found - on the air in Arizona. Section; Comics/TV; Page 10C.
  26. ^ a b Ortega, Tony (1997-05-08). Beware of the Dogma - When KFYI radio host John Dayl spews mindless hate, David Winkler listens. Phoenix New Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
  27. ^ a b Fitzpatrick, Tom (1989-03-15). Blabber Mouths and Radio Egos. Phoenix New Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
  28. ^ a b c Walker, Dave (1992-10-21). DARYL GATES' AIR PIRACY - EX-VALLEY RADIO HOSST TOM LEYKIS LOSES HIS L.A. TALK SHOW TO THE CHIEF. Phoenix New Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  29. ^ Samuel, Joel (2007-03-17). Tom Leykis & Michael Finney bsp. YouTube. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  30. ^ Lycan, Gary (2006-07-02). Radio: Stations get in holiday mood with July 4 programming. The Orange County Register. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  31. ^ McDougal, Dennis; Puig, Claudia (1989-10-28). Leykis Leads Counterattack Against FCC Fines Radio: KFI afternoon drive-time personality says he'll probably dedicate several shows to indecency issue.. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  32. ^ Zoglin, Richard (1989-05-15). Bugle Boys Of the Airwaves. Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  33. ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (1989-03-08). Los Angeles Journal; Books, Then Records; Flames Climb Higher. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  34. ^ Indira A.R. Lakshmanan (1993-12-23). RADIO HOST ACCUSED OF THREAT ON WIFE'S LIFE. Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  35. ^ Ellement, John (1994-03-10). CASE AGAINST RADIO HOST IS DROPPED. Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  36. ^ Michaelson, Judith (1998-03-29). RADIO; The Decline of the Local Hero; You have to go national to make it big in talk radio. But is anyone going to talk about local issues in this age of syndication?. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  37. ^ Lycan, Gary (2007-08-30). On the radio: Get ready, your ears count. The Orange County Register. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  38. ^ Tom Leykis Show
  39. ^ Doran, Bob (2000-07-20). SHOCK RADIO: TOO HOT FOR HUMBOLDT. North Coast Journal. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  40. ^ TRANSCRIPTS - LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES - Interviews with Tom Leykis, Patricia Saunders. CNN (2003-07-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  41. ^ Reich, Howard (2004-05-16). Shock Jocks: Will they be muzzled?. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  42. ^ a b Kinosian, Michael (2003-11-17). He's Just Like Us. Inside Radio. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  43. ^ Tom Leykis. NNDB. Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  44. ^ PLUS: PRO BASKETBALL; Bryant Accuser Is Named on Radio. New York Times (2003-07-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  45. ^ See also Rape shield law.
  46. ^ TRANSCRIPTS - CNN RELIABLE SOURCES - Should Kobe Bryant's Accuser Be Named?; Has BBC Suffered Serious Credibility Blow?. CNN (2003-07-27). Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  47. ^ Women's groups outraged by radio host. Reuters (2003-07-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  48. ^ a b c d Welkos, Robert W. (2005-07-06). Not too old to sue Tom Leykis. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  49. ^ Excerpts from the Ingels call: SV Media Law website. Retrieved on March 5, 2008.
  50. ^ Hastings, Hon. J. Gary. (May 26, 2005) Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 4, California Ingels v. Westwood One Broadcasting Services, Inc. 129 Cal.App.4th 1050, 28 Cal.Rptr.3d 933 Cal.App. 2 Dist. (review denied August 24, 2005 by the California Supreme Court)
  51. ^ Martin, Nick (2006-11-08). Shock jock upset over caller's slaying claim. East Valley Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  52. ^ Lewis, Antwan (2006-11-10). Valley woman confesses to murder on radio. azfamily.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  53. ^ a b Rivera, Geraldo. (December 26, 2006) FOX 5 WNYW-NY Geraldo at Large 18:00
  54. ^ The Top Talk Radio Audiences. Talkers Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  55. ^ Top Talk Radio Personalities of 2007. Lycos (2007-10-18). Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  56. ^ Top Talk Radio Personalities of 2006. Lycos (2006-10-10). Retrieved on 2008-02-26.: mirrored on Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
  57. ^ Tom Leykis. The Ratings Are In… KLSX. Podcast accessed on 2008-2008
  58. ^ Rahner, Mark (2004-08-26). Shock Jock Leykis says he was attacked in Seattle. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Leykis, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Radio Host
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City, New York
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages