ONE OF THE MANY REASONS Bill Wattenburg was so popular was his original style. As I pointed out here on Saturday he could be angry and dismissive with callers he thought were imbeciles but you still listened because it worked on the radio.Mind you, Wattenburg wasn't doing this for effect, it was really him. He didn't have to be shock, his material was down to earth and real, it's why we listened.
I said original, right?
Here's a link to Saturday's KSCO "Special"--it's a good listen for you "Dr. Bill" fans; a two-hour interview with Wattenburg's son, Eric. Hosted by Michael Zwerling, the show featured vignettes interesting, poignant, and entertaining content.
It provides some down-to-detail stories and material you might like listening to especially if you were a Dr. Bill fan.
Great post. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I liked about Ralph Barbieri, a real original. Tolbert without Ralph? Snooze
ReplyDeleteAmen, I'm listening right now.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame, all these Johnny come lately yahoos to the area, young and old alike, have no clue who or what Dr Bill was. Damn poseurs.
"Wait long by the river and the bodies of your enemies will float by." Wattenburg taught me that it's fruitless to call into a talk radio show, because no matter how idiotic the comments of the host are, and how cogent your rebuttal, he sounds better than you and he has complete control of the discussion. So long, asshole.
ReplyDeleteBut Rich is right. I did listen.
Rich, is Eric still doing a radio show?
ReplyDeleteOn his KGO show I found his insults pretty sophomoric, some to the point of being a station ear-sore. On the other hand when he focused on science and technology topics, especially as part interviewing somebody like UC professor Richard Mueller, where he had to keep his personal insults to a minimum, the program could be pretty interesting. I recall in the early years of his show he'd take any technical question, and it usually ended up being a show about how to repair your car. Eventually he came up with the response: Don't try to repair it yourself, take it to the dealer!
ReplyDeleteThe tongue national forest
ReplyDeleteI always loved how Wattenberg would start his show with that real folksy intro saying stuff like, "call in and lets talk about it. Your medicine may be stronger than mine but lets have a discussion". Then when someone did call he would immediately tear them a new one.
ReplyDeleteWattenberg was an incredibly brilliant man and if you read up on him you will be fascinated and amazed at what he accomplished in his life. I will leave with this one story of him. As you know he grew up in the middle of nowhere. One day when he was about 5 years old he was hanging out helping his dad work on a piece of equipment. A guy shows up saying that his car broke down on the road by their place and asks the dad if he could help him get it going. Wattenbergs dad says he is too busy ask his son he will fix it for you. The guy thought that was crazy since this kid is like 5 years old. Wattenberg fixed that guys car and got him on his way. The man actually called his program one night and Wattenberg remembered him.
When KGO got rid of Wattenburg I stopped listening. A great man and a great mind, despite coming across as a curmudgeon, he cared deeply about the country and the environment. RIP Dr. Bill, you will be missed.
ReplyDeleteDr. Eric, Dr. Bill Wattenburg's (med doctor) son, said on a KSCO tribute show that one of Dr. Bill's final deathbed actions was to patent a method to quench nuclear reactors that have lost their H2O coolant. http://shows.zbsradio.com/20180728/e7a038a6478b2c9.mp3 I found Dr. Bill's proposal online & it is even more significant than Dr. Eric claimed. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8385083
ReplyDeleteDr. Bill's system is best described as a "waste heat" concentrator that allows power plants to generate electricity from "waste heat" that, in conventional electrical power plants, cost large sums of money to safely discard to the environment. In addition, the method offers a way to store energy from unconventional renewable sources such as wind-farms. The technique, in famous Dr. Bill fashion, utilizes OFF-THE-SHELF proven technology to accomplish something new, useful, and in the general public interest. And as Dr. Bill has done numerous times before, he mass-mailed his idea to numerous powerful and influential politicians (including the current U.S. President) in an attempt to get the political and fiscal commitment to implement his idea.
Dr. Bill's proposal involves utilizing the "waste heat" left over from the nuclear & fossil-fueled powering of electricity-generating turbines. The low level "waste heat", while generally considered insufficient to perform additional electricity generation, is sufficient to power a specially modified turbine that pressurizes air. The air this turbine pressurizes is then stored underground at ambient temperatures, either in a large depleted gas/oil field or in other commonly available geologic formations.
During "peak demand" electrical load periods, the stored pressurized air is drawn out and piped to a heat exchanger where it is warmed by the "waste heat" of the plant's current operations. The combining of the pressurized air with currently available "waste heat" increases the air's "energy density" sufficient so as it can again help to power a specialized electricity-generating turbine designed for low-level energy input. Dr. Bill's proposal is capable of increasing a plant's output by up to 100% during peak electric periods -- when the electricity generated fetches top dollar -- and it does so without using any additional fuel! In fossil-fueled plants, an overall reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 40% is also possible!
As for the marquee claim of quenching nuclear reactors that are starved of their water coolant, it is the same pressurized air that stores otherwise wasted heat energy that can also be used to prevent nuclear meltdowns. The containment dome of the nuclear plant can be pre-fitted to allow pressurized air to bathe the nuclear fuel with cool pressurized air during the first critical 72 hours a nuclear plant is starved of water. http://goo.gl/b1DCV9 While this would likely allow a small amount of radiation to be vented out the top of the containment dome, Dr. Bill's idea is much preferential to a Fukushima-type meltdown and its accompanying more substantial release of radiation. Perhaps a plumbing system could be used to vent the coolant air away from inhabited areas.