KFI AM-640 afternoon host Tim Conway Jr. was named the top major market afternoon show in the BNM Top 20 Wednesday, topping 95.5 WSB host Eric Von Haessler. However, he credits Von Haessler for getting him into the business in the first place.
While discussing his ranking in the BNM Top 20 Wednesday, Von Haessler noted the finishing order and told his producers to get Conway Jr. on the phone.
“I am one of the people that got this guy into radio, and now I’m number two?!,” Von Haessler joked during The Von Haessler Doctrine. “I was looking in my phone, and I don’t have his number anymore. Call KFI. I want to get Tim Conway Jr. on the show to congratulate him, number one. And to also to get him to let people know that he would not be in radio if I had never been born. I want some sort of acknowledgment.”
After linking up with Conway Jr., who was driving to the station, he gave Von Haessler credit for getting him into the business.
“If it wasn’t for you and your partner, Larry Wachs…I would not be driving to work right now on KFI. And I mean that,” Conway Jr. said. “There are about four or five people I can turn to in life and say — you and Larry are one of them, and there are three or four others — but if it wasn’t for you guys, I definitely wouldn’t be in radio right now, and I wouldn’t be driving to work at KFI. It’s a true story.”
Von Haessler then noted that Conway Jr. had what he considered the first internet radio talk show in 1995. That is when Conway Jr. revealed he gained plenty of notoriety for the show after lying about its audience size. As a result of the lie, he was featured in stories in Time, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and 60 Minutes.
“I think lying is very important, and the kids need to know that,” Von Haessler joked.
The two then joked about former co-workers, with Tim Conway Jr. joking that he worked with David Letterman, and a pair of colleagues that eventually became TV writers.
“They are millionaires living in Beverly Hills. I live in Burbank and I’m just coming home from Walmart,” he said with a laugh. He did call radio “the greatest business in the world”, because you get a small taste of the money without much of the notoriety.
As the interview concluded, Von Haessler joked that he was responsible for the top two positions on the BNM Top 20 list. Conway Jr. then revealed that he named his son Eric in honor of Von Haessler, which the Atlanta host appreciated.
