BRIDGES: Ludlow Porch signs off for last time

I remember Ludlow having trivia contests on his radio show and how you were encouraged to “dial in for yard eggs.” I actually thought you would receive a carton of eggs in the mail of you were the winner for the day. Ah, still so much to learn at that age. Somehow, Ludlow would have appreciated that I think.

The man whose gift of gab was unmatched passed away in recent days and his death has left his multitude of fans a little less whole. It goes without saying talk radio today is nothing like it was even in 1988 when I stumbled across Ludlow by chance.

Even in those days you had a mix of talk shows from pure news ones to sports to right-leaning hosts to (gasp) left-leaning hosts. What has become of talk radio today is nothing short of a disgrace in my book. If you don’t spew right-wing banter you, first, will never get a show and second, will be swallowed up in the black hole of Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys.

Even after Porch was shown the back door at WSB in the early 90s, I continued to listen to him. He formed a network of small-town radio stations which carried his show. In many ways, it was better because his show now reached even more people. The regular callers were as much characters as the host. You recognized them when Ludlow would punch them up to go on the air.

It seemed no matter where the small town was I lived, Ludlow would be part of that town’s radio lineup. There’s little doubt I was one of his youngest listeners, although I’m certainly not the teenager I was back in 1988. In fact, my brother has always kidded me about listening to Ludlow claiming one time he heard some caller ask him “how do I get this sticky stuff off my glasses?”

Porch was also able to translate his ability to talk into writing. He penned several books with catchy titles such as “There’s Nothing Neat About Seeing Your Feet” (something I can relate to) and a personal favorite title called “Who Cares About Apathy?”

Word is Ludlow’s show will continue (and it has been for some time now since he had been in declining health) but you wonder how long even the most loyal of listeners will continue without him. It’s kind of like the Beatles without Lennon and McCartney or The Rolling Stones without Jagger and Richards. The Ludlow Porch Show without Ludlow Porch just doesn’t really make sense.

So much has changed since I first tuned into Ludlow through a fuzzy AM signal on a small radio during my high school days. By listening, you felt like you knew him. He didn’t try to cram his beliefs down your throat. He didn’t tell you that you should do this or do that or that the president is the devil. Rather, he simply held court for a gathering of friends every day. It was something different, something unique and something, quite frankly, we would be a lot better off with more of today on the radio.

He would sign off each day by saying, “Whatever else you do today, find somebody to be nice to.” If we all lived by those words, there would be no need for a call of civility in this country. Ludlow’s gone now but we have the memories of those weekday get-togethers, which in many ways were like family reunions.

Give me more Ludlow Porches and less of the angry, extremist, knuckle draggers who infect talk radio these days.

Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.