Dr. Larry Price, Ph..kin' D..k head

"I can't believe you haven't been all over this Larry Price thing", said my friend Liz. I'd been known to opine long before I had to start scratching the blog itch. Some local jock had insulted a politician on the air, questioned his right to use words like "honestly" and "frankly", not because of politics or ideology but because he was blue- eyed, mainland-born and raised. Personally I had not heard what sounded like someone trying to cash in on Imus. To Listen to the interview click link below

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6475244

Let's retrace our steps a bit. The year, 1994. I perused the dial. The NPR affiliate had no local origination worth listening to except Randy Roth's "Price Of Paradise". The university station was a sandbox with an antenna sticking out. Meanwhile free-form "Radio Free Hawaii" was in litigation and in the news. Instant recall did great in average-per-quarter-hour-listening indicators. Everybody claimed to listen but nobody did. Not surprisingly, advertisers bailed. It went off the air. At the other end of the spectrum, "Perry And Price" on KSSK was market's #1, Perry, pompous, sounding like a middle aged teenage ass; Price, slushy lisp'd, contrived localisms, unable to put a sentence together. Holy Guglielmo Marconi! this was THE morning team not just in metro Honolulu but the whole fricking state!!! God help us, I thought as I slammed "Sticky Fingers" into the car tape deck, already missing Howard more than I had imagined I would.

All this, to make the point: I never was, not now nor could I ever be a Perry and Price listener so I thought I'd extend the benefit of doubt until after I'd heard the interview. Having been in front of a mic, I knew a thing or two about slip ups when the damned toothpaste won't go back in the tube.

One of my favorite talk radio hosts, Andrew Krystal in Halifax, Canada http://www.news957.com/station/bios.jsp turns provocative one-liners into an art form, playing devil's advocate for argument's sake. I figured Price had done just that and listeners didn't get it. I was wrong.

Larry price came up again recently in conversation. "You know what, it's the damnedest thing," I said, "but I never heard that interview" changing the subject. But I wasn't to be left off the hook that easily. The link to the infamous exchange was in my e-mail box the next morning.

There's food for some serious thought here. It's not about some old jerk spitting into a microphone. It's the pernicious mentality he peddled that day. Price, PhD is a high-profile member of the community with access to airwaves and press. He lashed out on behalf of locals who view themselves in divisive terms and helped perpetuate a dangerous way of viewing others as a way of life. He's just too much of a Ph..kin' D..k head to see it.

"to us...when people from the mainland say things like honestly..and frankly... there's something wrong."

Kiss my mainland haole blue-eyed ass, Doctor Price. "Honestly" and "frankly", go Ph.ck yourself.