Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

I was blessed to be on the radio for over twenty years. In that time I met some very interesting stars. I realize that the bigger they are the nicer they are, for the most part. What made me want to do a story about these folks was the fact that my friend Larry Storch, a.k.a. Sergeant Agharn from F Troop, passed away in his sleep yesterday at 99 years old.

When I met Larry in the early 90s he was a guest on the Matty in The Morning Show. He posed for a picture with me and then he actually called up my father and asked him “who says I’m dumb,” which was one of his catchphrases on F Troop. He didn’t have to take the time out of his day to do that for me, and it’s been a lasting great memory for me.

I can honestly say the two of the biggest stars ever had rotten attitudes when they visited the show. Barry Manilow and Rod Stewart were prima donnas to say the least. I did a big haired English character and I think they thought I was making fun of them. Oh well.

Bruins legend Bobby Orr was on the show, so I wrote a little song and he was so touched by it he asked for a copy of it, posed for a photo with me and gave me about four limited edition autographed photographs.

One of my characters was an old bingo loving lady from Somerville named Blanche and we were doing a live show which meant that I had to show up to Copley Square fully dressed like an old lady with make up at all. On the show that day was the infamous captain kangaroo. The funny thing about it is I don’t think the captain knew that I was really a man dressed up like an old lady as a character on a comedy show. I think he felt rebuffed.

Some of the truly nice people I’ve met are Johnny Mathis, Hank Aaron, Michael J. Fox, Gene Simmons, and Alice Cooper. I was also lucky to be able to work with radio legend Arnie Woo Woo Ginsburg, who was a great talent and a very nice guy.

Al Lewis, who played Grandpa Munster, was on the show several times and was always pleasant to everyone as was exercise guru Richard Simmons. Singer Johnny Mathis was a great guest.

One of my fondest memories was singing a medley of Bobby Vinton’s hits with him live on the radio which was a lot of fun.

After appearing at the oldies 103 concert series on the Esplanade, my sons and I met Four Seasons singer Frankie Valli. He talked to my boys and spent about three or four minutes with us just shooting the breeze. What a gentleman. Chuck Norris was also very pleasant and down to earth.

When Larry Storch called my dad, it proved that some stars have a lot of class.

If someone asked me what the best part of my over 20 years on the radio was, I would say it was the people I met, the stars and the radio legends I was blessed to work with.