Is it possible to slightly miss the Ray Taliaferro Show?; Ex-KGO host still elicits strong emotion; Friday Fish

Can you miss a secret craving, an instant fix in the middle of the night? Of course.

Ray Taliaferro, one of the dismissed hosts from the albatross station, was that sometimes guilty pleasure. He's gone, but certainly not forgotten.

While most of the other hosts have surfaced on other outlets, Taliaferro, has been noticibly absent. Outside of a few radio shots, Mr. T hasn't registered on the domain.

Taliaferro's 1-5 AM show elicited tons of feedback, good and bad; his critics, which were many, (including, occasionally, me), labeled the overnight a certifiable "freak show." He had his defenders too, and some were, and still are, quick to point out that Taliaferro was the most entertaining person on Bay Area radio.

His shtick with callers was overwrought--sure. But there were times when the proverbial twenty minutes of shouting and screaming bizarrities to a racist, say, in Marin, was downright funny and compelling, in a freakish sort of way, sort of like peeking at the body at the scene of an accident on the freeway.

Frankly, I thought Taliaferro was way too many times overboard, but he had me glued. You never knew what to expect. His political rants were legendary; frankly, transcending Democrat or Republican talking points. The overwrought temper tantrums and caller-driven drama presented a circus-like show in the wee hours, but as an entertainment conduit, nobody could outmuster the Taliaferro template. Whether or not you loved or despised him, most of you listened, well, at least a good few, just to hear if he'd go off on Roy in Livermore.

Oh, and did I mention he had a certain distaste for a certain past president?

Here's wishing Taliaferro well. I hope he pops up somewhere, (other than Facebook), just to get a little return of the Ray-craze.

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