By GARY LYCAN
Phil Hendrie is a man with many voices. For years, he has turned talking to himself into an art form. Whether it’s psychotherapist Dr. Bud Dickman or Skippy and Frank talking about rock ‘n’ roll, or another of his more than two-dozen “friends,” we listen to Hendrie’s theater of his mind creations with the same attention people decades ago spent listening to “Lights Out” or “Suspense.”
Characters count for Hendrie. He is on KTLK/1150 AM live 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and repeated 1 to 3 a.m. weekdays, and on KFI/640 AM from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, where in the April Arbitron ratings he was No. 1 in spoken word programming among all listeners age 12 and over, and also in the age 25-54 demographic. “I think he is a superstar. He is genuinely original and creative,” said KFI program director Robin Bertolucci.
Talk Radio Network syndicates Hendrie’s show nationwide. So life is good for Hendrie at age 58. But when you phone him for an interview in Ventura, where he has his studio, it is clear he is most proud of his Internet site www.philhendrieshow.com.
“There are two kinds of radio people in this business. The ones who like to be on the radio, and those who need to be on the radio, and I’m one of the latter. It’s my art, and to be able to do it everyday for me is necessary,” he said.
“I didn’t think when I left back in 2006 that I would require it, but when I was sitting waiting for phone calls from agents and casting directors, when you are doing a movie or TV show, you wait six months to find out if it is picked up, I realized I need radio, which is immediately gratifying. You think about it today and put it on the air tonight.”
Hendrie, concluding that “the radio industry is so badly managed,” took matters into his own hands with his website. He’s doing podcasts, videocasts, webisodes, and making available his archived shows – all for a subscription fee. “I am exploiting new media, not relying on radio. It’s financially more profitable because people are paying me money. I am doing a better job selling “The Phil Hendrie Show” than anything Mel Karmazin (Sirius XM) has done.”
This is the first of two parts. Next week, he tells what it takes to get into personality radio and the joy of working on animated films, including the Fox TV series for 2012, “Napoleon Dynamite.”
