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January 13, 2005

More on Marvin

Cut and pasted from Eric Zorn:

A coda in my life as a journalist has been saying goodbye to radio personality Jay Marvin.

First time was in 1983 when he was sharp but disillusioned country music jock bounced from the unendurably bland WJEZ-FM.

The next time was in 1996 when he left WLS-AM (890) after three years there as the resident liberal firebrand talk-show host and took a higher-profile gig in Denver.

Marvin, now 52, returned to the station in 1999 as a more reflective, measured and libertarian voice, still by far the most left-wing of the daily hosts on the increasingly right-wing talk superstation.

Now he's out the door again.

He says he's happy to be gone from the station, where he was never particularly appreciated or beloved either by management or the listeners.

This is not merely brave posturing on his part.

Jay and I are professional friends, I guess is how you'd describe it, and we've spoken about his frustrations frequently over the years, as well as his desire to move on.

My role in these discussions has always been to urge him to stay and continue to provide counterpoint to the station that, in recent years, has bounced liberals Mike Malloy, Nancy Skinner and Ski Anderson and reduced the role of the iconoclastically progressive newsman Bill Cameron.

It was also to remind him not to take the partisan skirmishes and vicious callers too seriously; to remember that talk-radio is show biz and, at his best, he was a great showman.

But Jay is a restless and politically serious man, and I believe him when he says he's greatly relieved to be gone from the station, which in recent years had paired him with conservative Eileen Byrne in a match that had more on-air chemistry than he seemed to think.

It shocked and pleased me this morning to hear Byrne offer a classy farewell (shocked because once personalities leave WLS, the usual custom is never to mention their names on the air again):

"I just want to say a word about my friend and former partner Jay Marvin. If you didn't already hear the news, Jay Marvin is no longer with the station. I enjoyed working with him very much.

But I knew that he was not happy and I did not know how to help him. You know we. this is our first election that we'd gone through. He took the debate very personally. I didn't know how to help him be more positive about what we were doing.

But let me say this as we go forward. That I loved his different perspective. And as we go forward, I'm always going to think of him and look at things from beyond my own eyes and ears and treat everybody who disagrees with respect.

I did talk to Jay, he was going on vacation, he was on his way to Phoenix, and he sounded happier than he did in a very long time. So certainly I wish him all the best."

I do, too. And I suspect that, as before, we haven't heard the last of Jay Marvin.

Posted by Mike at January 13, 2005 03:44 PM

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