Morning talk show radio venting personable vibes
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 22, 2000 9:00 p.m.
 Brent Hopkins Hopkins keeps it real only
once or twice a week. E-mail him at [email protected] for your own dose of
reality.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have seen the light, and it has come in
the form of Steve Harvey.
No, I don’t mean the balding guy who digs up random Los
Angeles tidbits in the L.A. Times, I’m talking about the
absolute pinnacle of talk radio, 100.3 FM’s morning talk show
host.
Yeah, yeah, I know it’s probably not real professional for
me to kick off an article gushing like this. Then again, restraint
isn’t exactly my greatest strength. Though I should be all
detached and professional, I’ve gotta say, the guy’s a
genius.
I should preface this column by mentioning that talk radio
almost always sucks. I’d rather drink flaming gasoline than
find myself stuck in traffic with only those geeks from Star 100.7
to get me through my commute. I don’t know about you, but I
get enough people spouting off about their stupid opinions and
trying to be funny in my real life. So when I flip on my stereo,
the last thing I want to hear is some moron telling lame jokes
about things I don’t really care about.
As the three regular readers of this column probably know,
I’m probably not in the demographic that The Beat is aiming
for, so it’s especially unusual that I think Harvey and
company are so amazing. I don’t “talk country,” I
don’t watch his sitcom on the WB and I had to have someone
explain this whole “bling-bling” concept to me. But for
whatever reason, I find myself feeling compelled to tune in if I
find myself near a radio from 7 to 10 each morning.
The show’s only been on a little more than a month, but
it’s maddeningly addictive. Though I’m clearly not, I
feel like one of Steve’s homeboys. When he calls out to all
the playas (and I’m reasonably sure he doesn’t mean
Mexican beaches), man, I’m right there, answering back. I
feel kind of like I did back in my eighth grade gangsta rap phase
““ identifying although I realize that I’m out of
place.
I think the reason the show’s so good is because it seems
real. Who knows, perhaps they’re all just extremely good
fakers, but Harvey and his team of Angels ““ Dominique
DiPrima, Shirley Strawberry and Nautica De La Cruz ““ create a
genuinely enjoyable vibe as they chat back and forth. I
haven’t taken the embarrassing step of chatting along with
them, but I’ve caught myself several times laughing like a
mad idiot, feeling like I was there, which is never a wise idea in
heavy freeway traffic.
Let me attempt to illustrate this reality vibe. The other
day,they were chatting about everyone’s favorite boxer, Mike
Tyson. Tyson had been caught on tape saying that he hated white
people, and the Angels were condemning him. Harvey interrupted for
a minute, making a bold, though possibly catastrophic statement.
I’m roughly paraphrasing here, remembering what I heard while
barreling down Sepulveda, trying to get to school on time, but
it’s pretty close. “Yeah, I was listening to him and I
kind of found myself agreeing with him,” the host said.
The Angels quickly jumped in, telling him to shut up and disavow
these somewhat racist thoughts. Harvey held his ground, though,
explaining himself out of a potentially dangerous hole.
“I didn’t say it was right to think that way,”
he said, “It’s just human nature, though. Sometimes you
make generalizations you shouldn’t.”
I guess I should have been offended, but he’s right.
Though a ratings-minded host would have gone for some more
politically palatable statement, Harvey took the chance on speaking
his mind and came out far better for doing so.
It seems like Harvey is dead-set on being honest, which can be
kind of annoying sometimes. As much as I love the show, whenever he
starts spouting off about how he speaks his mind and does whatever
he wants, I want to change the station. Listening to him,
it’s clear that he’s an opinionated, articulate man
““ he doesn’t need to ram it home every five minutes by
saying “we keep it real here, dawg!”
Aside from this excessive self-promotion, Harvey’s an
amazing host. It’s not just that he’s funny ““
though his sense of timing and vocal expression are amazing ““
but that he can really invite the audience into the on-air
community he’s created.
Oddly enough, the best segment I’ve heard so far was the
cast reading an ad for Target. You’d think that this
scripted, corporate moment would be about as exciting as listening
to Dick Cheney talk about his weekend recreational plans, but it
really stood out to me.
As one of the Angels read through the ad, talking about whatever
was on sale that particular week, the rest of the cast joined in,
offering commentary on the merchandise.
“They’ve got bath towels for that cheap?”
Harvey interjected. “Man, that’s a good deal. I gotta
go get some of those!”
Sure, it’s a commercial ““ the station’s
getting money for him to say those things. The way the crew
delivers it though, is the cool thing. While they could just read
off a script, instead, they put a little bit of personality into it
so the audience can relate. Though I didn’t make a u-turn and
head straight to the store to pick up my very own copy of an
African American Barbie doll, as Steve suggested I might want to
do, I’ve still got to give them credit for putting together a
fine show.
Sure, the program’s got its share of critics, most of whom
take offense at Harvey’s hip-hop bashing. I don’t
really have a problem with that myself. No matter how opinionated
he is, he’s made my morning drive a whole lot better.
