Jerry Springer speaking at Atlanta Press Club

 
Today I had a great time at the Atlanta Press Club. Jerry Springer is in town doing the play Chicago and he stopped by to chat with members of the club. I found him to be very informative,funny and witty did I mention charming? Well he was Governor of Cincinnati and politicians kinda have that persona lol. Well he spoke on politics,show business and gave a lil bit of relationship and moral advice.

When we arrived he was talking with some people and the room was filled with a very conservative crowd. Everyone looked very serious lol. I quickly went over to him and introduced myself and handed him my card. He said,hmm Talking with Tami? I said, yes Mr.Springer I do a talk show here in Atlanta on cable. He said oh wow,what is it about, and I told him a variety talk show. I also told him I was from Cleveland,Oh. He raised a brow and said where about? Then I told him where. He was so charming and looked just like he appears on tv. He is an average height about 6ft  and has a nice build,loved his navy suit.

We then gathered for lunch, I sat next to him and we chatted some more. A lil later on someone from the AJC introduced him and he took the stage. He talked about  his career as Mayor of Cincinatti, being a radio host,and show biz. He said that he was offered a job as an experiment at NBC as a news anchor. The tv station he was on had low rankings so he had nothing to loose. That was in 1982.The show caught on and he did that for 10yrs on channel 5. NBC then told him,hey were starting a talk show and your the host! Jerry was like ok, as long as I can do my commentary at the end of the show, and thats how Jerry Springer came about. Now 19 years later he is still at it. Someone in the audience asked how the whole” Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” chant came about and he said, he think it started because of Ricki Lake. Everybody was saying little chants back then, it was 20 something talk shows on at that time so he think thats where it came from.

Another lady in the audience asked for some relationship advice and Jerry laughed and said , well I think it should be 2 things to do in any relationship. “Be kind and authentic”. He said, “too many people try to be something there not”. He said,” we also should learn how to say thank you and give something back”.

Jerry spoke of how he use to commute from Chicago to Cincinnati everyday for 1 1/2 before deciding to give up the news gig to do the Jerry Springer show full time.  He said at first it was a normal talk show,that reached middle aged housewives,to college age students with young subject matter.

He said the big wigs at NBC then told him, Your only allowed to do outrageous shows lol. So, The Jerry Springer show turned into a talk show for the young people. 

He also talked about how we havent really grown as a society. We still can be mean spirited. He said, that on 911 Bush was talking with kids at a school but when Barack Obama wanted to talk to the kids it was a big uproar. He also discussed the Health Care system  and how we spent all that money looking for Bin Laden but now we think health care will be too expensive. Jerry had some great points and showed me how backwards this society is!

A doctor was in the audience and he stated that we should first educate our society on how to be more medically literate. That way people wouldn’t just go to the emergency room for every lil thing. Jerry said,” we need to have health care because we are human beings” .

I stood up to ask him why shows like mine are having a hard time getting picked up,but at the same time all these crazy reality shows are getting picked up like hot cakes. He responded to me very bluntly, which I really respected. He paused and said, “Tammie, its a very vanilla world we live in”. The target demographic is upper class whites. They do things for public and if that is whats selling,thats what they are going to pick up. Wow I got a reality check today!

I will never forget those words he said to me. I was not offended at all but sometimes you have to hear it from somebody else. That will just make me work harder and look into other options. Im so glad that I got a chance to talk with Mr.Springer today he was so warm,enlightening and full of knowledge! I will always remember his speech today. He also said,”Life is Luck”. I hope some comes my way, one day soon.

www.jerryspringertv.com