Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Jan 12, 2017 12:21:00 GMT -5
It would be nice if Spitfire put that audio clip where I could get a good listen to it to determine what 0-5 was actually playing. Some iPhones can discern what song is playing via an app if you ask it to. Assuming there isn't too much other noise in the background that would mask the song and the app's ability to "name that tune!"
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Apr 5, 2017 18:30:19 GMT -5
Funny how things can just pop into your head. Ol' Geno had a knack for mispronunciation, and I'm not sure if he did it on purpose or not, but I think we all got a kick out of it. At some point I really ticked him off and he threatened me with legal action. He would often brag about his lawyer here in town, but little did he know I'm on a first name basis with his lawyer's son and let's just say we had a couple interesting conversations about Mr Gene. Anyhow, Gene threatened me with, as he put it, a "deflamination suit". Well, what can I say, I took that one and ran with it. I busted his stones over the air, which of course lead to more threats of legal action, but I so loved the phrase that I made it an Urban Dictionary entry. I hadn't thought about it for quite a while, but for some reason it just popped into my head... www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Deflamination%20suit
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Apr 5, 2017 22:07:32 GMT -5
Funny how things can just pop into your head. Ol' Geno had a knack for mispronunciation, and I'm not sure if he did it on purpose or not, but I think we all got a kick out of it. At some point I really ticked him off and he threatened me with legal action. He would often brag about his lawyer here in town, but little did he know I'm on a first name basis with his lawyer's son and let's just say we had a couple interesting conversations about Mr Gene. Anyhow, Gene threatened me with, as he put it, a "deflamination suit". Well, what can I say, I took that one and ran with it. I busted his stones over the air, which of course lead to more threats of legal action, but I so loved the phrase that I made it an Urban Dictionary entry. I hadn't thought about it for quite a while, but for some reason it just popped into my head... www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Deflamination%20suitGene butchered words both verbally and in written form. There is a list of them. Some of his more infamous verbal "mis-terms" include "Gazzy" for gassy, "Toshabi" for Toshiba, "Attenator" for Attenuator, "Tay-Hoe" for Tahoe. I'm sure there are more.
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Apr 6, 2017 9:23:56 GMT -5
Funny how things can just pop into your head. Ol' Geno had a knack for mispronunciation, and I'm not sure if he did it on purpose or not, but I think we all got a kick out of it. At some point I really ticked him off and he threatened me with legal action. He would often brag about his lawyer here in town, but little did he know I'm on a first name basis with his lawyer's son and let's just say we had a couple interesting conversations about Mr Gene. Anyhow, Gene threatened me with, as he put it, a "deflamination suit". Well, what can I say, I took that one and ran with it. I busted his stones over the air, which of course lead to more threats of legal action, but I so loved the phrase that I made it an Urban Dictionary entry. I hadn't thought about it for quite a while, but for some reason it just popped into my head... www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Deflamination%20suitGene butchered words both verbally and in written form. There is a list of them. Some of his more infamous verbal "mis-terms" include "Gazzy" for gassy, "Toshabi" for Toshiba, "Attenator" for Attenuator, "Tay-Hoe" for Tahoe. I'm sure there are more. And let's not forget "Elviston" for Elverson.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Apr 6, 2017 15:27:43 GMT -5
Gene butchered words both verbally and in written form. There is a list of them. Some of his more infamous verbal "mis-terms" include "Gazzy" for gassy, "Toshabi" for Toshiba, "Attenator" for Attenuator, "Tay-Hoe" for Tahoe. I'm sure there are more. And let's not forget "Elviston" for Elverson. Or "Elvistown".......
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Jan 1, 2018 20:05:39 GMT -5
It's been a while since I added to this thread. So here's the next ( and probably last) chapter of the "Zero-Five" story:
The Downfall.
In the beginning, Gene seemed to have the upper hand in dealing with his detractors. His wit was usually better, things usually went his way, and in his mind, he was "winning" the on-air skirmishes. And in the beginning, when the exchanges were pretty much limited to simply on-the-air, it was easy for him to re-enforce his perspective that he was "winning". But as the years went on, his detractors started digging into his personal life and, as it turned out, he had no shortage of skeletons in his closet, with which to serve as ammunition against him. When the seedier and less honorable elements of his personal life were broadcast over the air, he reacted in various ways. He tried denial, "spinning" and otherwise making excuses for what was revealed. He also tried to dig up dirt on his detractors to counter. I think we learned more about the people on channel 21 than we really wanted to, or had any business knowing. As the abuse continued, Gene started threatening legal action on the grounds of slander (Or, as he put it, "deflamination"), which was simply met with even more ridicule. Things started getting out of hand when certain locals started dropping the dime to the township for Gene running a business out of his residence. This forced him to rent a commercial space to run his business out of. In typical Gene fashion, he ended up renting the cheapest, less than first rate building, which had some code related issues, which his detractors made use of to further bust his stones about. When there was talk of vandalizing or breaking into to his business, Gene threatened to install a complete security system with video surveillance. But in typical Gene fashion, instead of paying for a new system, he bought a cheap and not working system from Ebay. By now, Gene's detractors followed his every on-line movement, so his Ebay purchase became another source of ridicule.
Things took an even worse turn when a skipped child support case from his past finally caught up with him (and there were rumors that his detractors had helped this happen) and he had to spend some time in the local jail. When he finally returned home, he tried to conduct himself as he usually did, but it was clear that his enemies were starting to get the better of him. Gene was always talking about liberally drinking Corona beer, and he had been a little wasted on the air on several occasions. What most of us didn't know was that Gene had a much bigger problem with alcohol. The pressures of his life (most of which were self inflicted or exacerbated) were starting to close in around him. His usual defense was to dismiss his detractors as somehow beneath him by elevating his own status. But too many of his "faux rich" lifestyle claims had been debunked, and he couldn't escape, or hide from issues like the township closing down his business, or the child support case, which were public knowledge. So he started drinking heavily to cope and became depressed. One night he locked himself in a bathroom with a gun and that prompted a stay in the local psyche ward. He was put into a rehab program, but it was destined to fail, because he just couldn't take himself away from the main thing that was causing his anguish, and that was arguing with his enemies on the radio. He was like a moth being drawn to a flame. But every time he'd get on, each and every speed bump in Gene's life was echoed and ridiculed by his radio nemeses and that just drove him back to drinking. Had he been able to exercise some better self control, he could have avoided his downward spiral. He had a lot going for him, but he chose (in the words of Wizzman) to be "someone that he's not", instead of being straight about everything.
Gene's wife was a real sweetheart and supported him (even if she didn't like big antennas on the house) in most of his activities. She bailed him out of jail, arranged his rehab, and stood by him through all of his self destructive behavior. But eventually he went too far and she finally had enough and kicked him out of the house, and filed for divorce. Gene moved back down to Florida and his wife shipped his most important belongings (including Pete's TRC-441) to him and gave away or sold the rest. Gene ended up buying a sailboat and lived on that for a while. He re-established his underwater LED light business in a rented shop in Fort Lauderdale. He met a woman and things started looking better again for Gene. Away from the pressures, he was able to thrive again. But eventually things turned sour in his new relationship. Don't know any details there. But drinking became a problem again. One day he was found unresponsive in his shop after, I assume, he drank himself into oblivion. I'm not sure how long he was "out" for, and details are sketchy. But last I heard, he went to live with one of his sisters in West Virginia. He must have suffered some level of brain damage as he supposedly can't remember much from his past. But no one I know has had any contact with him. His Facebook page has not seen any activity since July of 2015, so I have no idea whether he's getting better or not, or even whether he's still alive or not.
Gene was definitely an influential character to the area for the 5 or 6 years that he lived here. But it's probably no coincidence that not long after he left, a lot of the channel feuding dropped off. Most of the guys who were friends with Gene ended up moving to channel 13 and Classic Radio Roundup became full time more or less. Without Gene (or the rest of us) to feud with on 21, those who were left, pretty much stopped regular talking. I guess there are just some people, who just live for the fight, and without it, their interest in radio just isn't there. But overall, things are WAY better off now than they were 10 years ago. I just hope wherever Gene is now, that he's happy and is staying out of trouble. He wasn't a bad guy as long as he wasn't on the defensive.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Jan 3, 2018 12:07:27 GMT -5
Thanks for the update. I was watching some YouTube and couldn't remember where to post 0-5 related videos. You can move the post that I recently (probably incorrectly) posted in the damaged equipment thread. There were some newer videos that featured his family or friends as he narrated the video, but none showing him per say.
|
|
|
Post by cbrown on Jan 4, 2018 13:38:33 GMT -5
A very sad ending, indeed. There were radio feuds here in my area, but nothing bad.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Jan 4, 2018 14:08:11 GMT -5
A very sad ending, indeed. There were radio feuds here in my area, but nothing bad. This area has had its share of malcontents who caused more than their share of hate and discontent on the air. Guys like Eagle, Mad Russian, Trucker et al. Interestingly enough, all of those guys are now dead. Gene was different in that he was more a Jekyll and Hyde type. He was a fairly smart guy, who was skilled in a number of vocations, and he had a great sense of humor, and he was fun to be around. His biggest problem was that he had self-esteem issues and was very defensive when challenged, and that combination caused him to clearly over-react to the situations he found himself in. Even when those of us who were friends with him tried to offer up more reasoned approaches to these situations, he looked at it as us "not having my back". In his mind, you were either 100% with him or you were against him, there was very little middle ground. And that's the real shame of it. If he would have understood that we were really trying to help him, and not simply "stab him in the back", he might have fared better. At times it seemed that it was him against the world, and I think the pressure finally got to him. In some way, he might be better off if he can no longer remember the demons that did him in. He might actually find happiness at some level. I really wish him well wherever he might be. That being said, there were just so many lampoonable moments created during his "reign" in our area, that we can't resist a few chuckles at some of those escapades. I guess we'd rather remember the more "fun" aspects of the time, than the dark spots.
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Jan 5, 2018 12:48:40 GMT -5
Oh boy. I just sifted through my forum (the 2nd one after Gene had the 1st one shut down) and found a few interesting things...
|
|
|
Post by cbrown on Jan 18, 2018 16:14:33 GMT -5
That being said, there were just so many lampoonable moments created during his "reign" in our area, that we can't resist a few chuckles at some of those escapades. I guess we'd rather remember the more "fun" aspects of the time, than the dark spots. Best to remember the fun. We did have one guy that was the nicest guy in the world. Always friendly and helpful. But when he started drinking, he'd get on 19 and just yell at all the drivers that would respond to him. No one could stop him. We often wondered if he lost a girlfriend or ex to someone driving.
|
|
paul
Mudduck
Posts: 2
|
Post by paul on Mar 3, 2018 18:58:50 GMT -5
Very interesting read. I can remember hearing a fire house siren blaring on 21 for days in the Elverson neighborhood and wondered who? I knew why because I had been listening to the drama for years
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 3, 2018 22:54:45 GMT -5
Very interesting read. I can remember hearing a fire house siren blaring on 21 for days in the Elverson neighborhood and wondered who? I knew why because I had been listening to the drama for years Yea, if the siren was strong in Elverson (Or as Gene called it, "Elvistown"), we all know who that was
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Mar 4, 2018 8:11:23 GMT -5
There was also a siren being broadcast from the Douglassville/Rattlesnake Hill area for a short period of time. Found it on my lunch break one day, a beam pointed directly Southwest.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 4, 2018 10:43:37 GMT -5
There was also a siren being broadcast from the Douglassville/Rattlesnake Hill area for a short period of time. Found it on my lunch break one day, a beam pointed directly Southwest. There were a few "copy cats" out there during that time......
|
|
paul
Mudduck
Posts: 2
|
Post by paul on Mar 4, 2018 11:59:46 GMT -5
Very interesting read. I can remember hearing a fire house siren blaring on 21 for days in the Elverson neighborhood and wondered who? I knew why because I had been listening to the drama for years Yea, if the siren was strong in Elverson (Or as Gene called it, "Elvistown"), we all know who that was I got the feeling, at the time, that it was meant to shut down Elvistown! Although it was a strong signal, it wasn't as strong as what comes out of there. I caught it in my mobile driving through and it was just a shade over S9. This would have been some time during 2010, or so.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 4, 2018 13:57:35 GMT -5
Yea, if the siren was strong in Elverson (Or as Gene called it, "Elvistown"), we all know who that was I got the feeling, at the time, that it was meant to shut down Elvistown! Although it was a strong signal, it wasn't as strong as what comes out of there. I caught it in my mobile driving through and it was just a shade over S9. This would have been some time during 2010, or so. Well, like I said, there were a few copy cats, so it might have been one of those, or it could have been the French Creek "Tree Rat"......
|
|
|
Post by ytradio on May 9, 2018 19:40:57 GMT -5
Very interesting and well written story Sandbagger. Also kind of sad. Not sure why some people take radio feuds (as well as online feuds) so seriously. I have always taken it pretty light hearted, but I too have known some like Gene. You would think someone had come to the door and punched there grandmother in the face, when all that really happened were some carriers thrown and a few smart ass comments. I wish him well, 73 Whitey
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on May 10, 2018 15:46:53 GMT -5
Very interesting and well written story Sandbagger. Also kind of sad. Not sure why some people take radio feuds (as well as online feuds) so seriously. I have always taken it pretty light hearted, but I too have known some like Gene. You would think someone had come to the door and punched there grandmother in the face, when all that really happened were some carriers thrown and a few smart ass comments. I wish him well, 73 Whitey
I wish Gene well too. It's really a shame. Gene had just the right (wrong?) combination of personality traits that made him unable to resist any challenges, along with an ego that couldn't let him admit defeat. In many ways, he was his own worst enemy, even though he was also a victim. He could have played things a bit differently and came up smelling like a rose. But then it wouldn't have been Gene, and we wouldn't be here talking about it.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 23, 2019 10:55:24 GMT -5
It's been a while since I posted anything on this thread, but recently I was able to dig up a little more info on Gene's current status. He is living with one of his sisters in West Virginia, and seems to be in physically good shape, although he has put on a good deal of weight. He's no longer a "Skinny pimp". Supposedly he has trouble remembering much of his past and he may have had other brain damage, as supposedly he was passed out on the floor of his Florida shop for 2 days (with no air conditioning) before he was found. Here are a couple of recent pics of Gene. He seems to be happy in whatever condition he's in. So maybe God did him a favor, and he's finally rid of the strife and pain in his life.
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Mar 25, 2019 14:02:33 GMT -5
Holy mackerel! He looks completely different.
|
|