It’s not often you talk to someone you grew up watching on Television and in most cases it won’t be for a interview for your podcast. Earlier today I spoke to John Burgess and to many of my generation he is a unknown, I grew up watching Wheel of Fortune and Catch Phrase and always admired his hosting skills. He continues to work in radio racking up more than 40 years behind the microphone.

It was not my best performance but it’s hard to conduct an interview when you want to sit back and enjoy the stories and information from the interviewee. Overall I have to say it was enjoyable albeit a little awkward.

You can hear the interview with John Burgess on The Ploy with Ben and Mike.

The following is text I originally wrote for The Ploy, I don’t think it reads very good as text but I think it sounds quite good as audio.

The rudeness and shear inhumanity of human beings is never more present and clearer straight after the death of somebody. Tony Snow, former press secretary to President Bush and a former host on FOX News Channel died two weeks ago after a long courageous battle with cancer.

His views differ significantly from mine, but beyond politics, beyond the roles he played in media. He was a human being battling one of our worst enemies as a people, cancer. He was always positive, upbeat and always made a point of putting his family before his jobs and beyond his own health. His last 12 months were spent making sure his family had adequate funds to function after his passing.

He left a job he loved as Press Secretary to work in the private sector to do just that, he was a decent human being by all accounts. But as unfortunately what happens far too often, immediately following his death there were attacks at his character, at his former jobs and of his legacy.

The kind of human being who gets cheap thrills by disparaging someone who was brave, honorable and decent, but because of their political views should be disrespected by those who disagree; those people are the people who should be suffering.

Not Tony’s family, not his friends and not the rest of us for having to put up with their sick perspectives.

Is this what it has come to? Locking up 15 year olds and not properly treating their injuries while using “enhanced interrogation”.

Whatever you had, you’ve lost a lot of it over the past eight years America.