What we did at night before the internets

When I first moved to Charlotte I loved talk radio. I used to listen to the Larry King late night show when I could. I still listen to talke radio, mostly news on NPR and interview shows like Diane Rehm now. I got here in 1990 and after a while I started listening to Henry Boggan on WBT. He was on from 8 pm to 11 pm Monday through Friday on WBT radio in Charlotte. Henry died this morning of a heart attack. I was a pretty consistant listener of Henry's for a few years. My buddy Wendell was Henry's sidekick for a while. I can never remember if I listened to Henry before I met Wendell or not but after a while I was hooked on Henry's show. I can't say much more than what's being said in the two obituaries I linked to. His show was like hanging out with a gregarious neighbor who laughed at your bad jokes and was patient enough to humor the tin foil hat wearing whack job that lived at the end of the cul-de-sac where the street light is always burnt out. He created a community of people who never saw each other. He was myspace before myspace was cool.

I got to meet him once on a bus trip to a Panthers game during their first season when they played in Clemson. He was a lot of fun to be around and when you made him laugh he laughed with his whole body. He had the biggest, warmest laugh I've ever heard. There are a lot of sad people up and down the east coast today and I'm one of them.