The Rick Gilmour Show

Rick Gilmour was a Cleveland Radio personality, either as a caller or as a host. He started off his radio presence as a caller into wcsb (Cleveland State University) radio shows during the 80s to mid 90s. He was never actually a student or alumni of CSU, but he was on air so often, everyone thought he was. If he wasn't calling in, he was invited in studio as a guest. He hosted brokered radio shown on WERE in the mid 90's. He was booted off the air at WERE when he read Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" after a listener complained. Nothing wrong or illegal occurred seeing as it was during safe harbor hours, but it was too much for management to deal with. In 1997 he was hired by WTAM to replace Morton Downey Jr's failed radio show. He kept the WTAM slot until 2004 and gained a national audience. He basically was pushed out the door at WTAM by a reduction in hours, it seems management did not like his opinion of the US involvement in Iraq. A failed marriage and loss of his producer, Gary Schwartz didn't help matters. He also was involved in a radio feud with Craig Callander of 669 radio which resulted in charges being brought against Callander. From what I have read, it seems totally blown out of proportion and Callander really didn't do anything to warrant such charges. You can read the below references and come to your own conclusion. It seems half the people hated Gilly and half the people loved him, callers on Wainstead All Night started a Gilly hate club and additional supporters started their own version of support. He was filled with tons of useful and useless facts which helped keep a show (whether he was calling in or hosting) going, even in the crappy early morning hours. I don't think we will ever see a local radio personality again with his ability, wit and charm. He had his opinions, and yes they could be strong ones, but didn't persecute others with opposing views. I think corporate radio sort of disillusioned him and he saw it wasn't about beliefs or quality, it was all about the money. Rick wasn't perfect, had some issues and made some enemies along the way. There is not that much out there about him, but he contributed more to Cleveland radio than Kid Leo ever did. The Rick Gilmour Shows provided here are used with the permission of clevelandlivemusic and can be found here with a video format that contains images and video to go along with the show. A much better experience if you are sitting down in front of a computer.