Now I've Heard Everything

The Kansas City Chiefs are meeting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV. The Chiefs were also in the very first Super Bowl, in 1967.

But it was their misfortune that year to be playing the Green Bay Packer, who are led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr. He was named the game's Most Valuable Player, as well as MVP of Super Bowl II Ithe following year.

I met Bart Starr in 1987, when he wrote a memoir of not just his years with the Packers, but his college career, his childhood, if you supposed to Green Bay career.

A few days ago on Now I've Heard Everything, I featured an interview that I had done many years ago with one of my broadcasting Heroes, the late Larry King.

Today, another one: longtime CBS radio and TV news personality Charles Osgood.

Osgood grew up in Depression-era, World War ii-era Baltimore. And in 2004, he wrote a memoir recalling those years, called Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack.

They may have called her "the original 'bad girl of rock and roll'," but Ronnie Spector was nothing but nice to me, when I met her in 1990.

Spectre was the lead singer in the '60s girl-group The Ronettes. Their big hit, of couse, was "Be My Baby." but of course there were others, too.

But Ronnie Spector was also Mrs. Phil Spector. And we get into that a little bit, in this interview.

I listened to Larry King on the radio long before I first met him, in 1988.  That was actually the first of several interviews I did with King, who passed away the other day at age 87.

 Larry King was a legend in radio and television. Whether you like them or not, you had to acknowledge he had Broad and deep influence in broadcasting. 

Larry did tens of thousands of interviews over the years, often with VIPs and celebrities who would talk to no one else.

And even though I was still in the "minor leagues" while Larry was a major league all-star, he treated me like we were equal colleagues. That's one of the things I liked best about him.

Tomorrow is January 28, and if you are old enough, you undoubtedly have a clear memory of exactly where you were 35 years agp, on January 28, 1986.

That was the day of that horrible tragedy, the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger.

Among the crew members was teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, who had won a nationwide competition to become the first teacher in space.

Watching the liftoff in person that day was Christa McAuliffe's mother, Grace George Corrigan.

Do you remember The Dating Game? Or The Newlywed Game?  How about The Gong Show?

They and many other TV game shows were all created by e same man: Chuck Barris. He was the king of game shows for many years until he retired in the 1980s and moved to France.

A few years later, he wrote a memoir clled The Game Show King. And that's when I met him and interviewed him.

In 1969, a young Texas woman sought a legal abortion. But when she was unable to obtain one, she turned to two young lawyers for help.

Those lawyers took Norma NcCorve's case to court, and eventually to the United States Supreme Court.

Along the way, Norma NcCorvey became known in the court papers as "Jane Roe." Henry Wade was the local prosecutor she was suing, so the case became known as Roe v Wade.

And on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in her favor, effectively legalizing abortion across the U.S.

I met Norma McCorvey in 1994, when she wrote a book clled "I Am Roe."

In early November 1979, a group of students and militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking everyone inside hostage, including the chargé d'affaires, a career diplomat named Bruce Laingen.

The militants were demanding the return of the exiled Shah of Iran, who was undergoing medical treatment in the U.S.

But diplomatic and even military efforts to free thehstages failed, and they ended up being held in Iran for 444 days. It was only on Inauguration Day 1981 that the hostages were ultimately freed.

Years later, Bruce Laingen wrote a ook, based on a journal he'd kept while in captivity. And that's when I met him.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S. So I wanted to revisit an interview I did nearly 30 years ago with a woman whose actions helped propel Dr. King to national prominence.

In December 1955, a young woman named Rosa Parks was on her way home after a long hard day at work. She was on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, when she was ordered to the back of the bus so a white man could have her seat.

She refused to move, and was arrested and jailed.

Many people may think Leonard Nimoy's career started with Star Trek. But he was a serious actor for a number of years before that.  He even appearing in other science fiction shows.

But of course it was Star Trek that propelled him not just to fame but to Iconic status. His portrayal of a half-human, half-Vulcan Spock practically launch a cottage industry.

In 1975, Nimoy wrote a book called I Am Not Spock.  Fast forward 20 years to 1995 when I interviewed him for another book he written, called I Am Spock.  

And as you'll hear, there's a reason for his change of heart.