in california. i was kind of -- i was kind of between careers at that pointed. and i had filled in for chris, who used to be on our show, on our station as a talk show host from time to time when i was still at goodwill. . the general manager send would you be interested in doing this?

carefully deleting the part about giving it up to a clock in the morning. i said that sounds interesting. i started and i have been there ever since. >> the time of day you are on? >> 5:00 to 9:00. to get the listening. you go to. >> the greater metropolitan area of washington. probably as far north as the outskirts of baltimore. as far south as clinton. >> we took our cameras to your studio this week. here is a segment where you are talking about haiti. >> , when i was a member of congress in 1980 i was in the forefront of the revolution. i said this guy is a formidable presence. i with like to now say he is an idiot. -- i would like to now say he is

an idiot. >> maybe you are not as good judge of character. this is a racist remark. these were black slaves revolting of what -- resulting in what they said. it is the most racist remark we have heard this week. it is. it is absolutely basis. this. this. on a whole variety of levels. >> how much of that is planned?

>> none of that is planned. we have probably said to ourselves, because we have a meeting between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. and we really had not planned to stress the haitian catastrophe until robertson said what he said. he said that this was a story for the national news and it does not lend itself to talk value until robertson said what he said. it is a guy who admires pat robertson as a religious leader and a political architect, i was in iowa when he finished second in 1988. his coalition, the christian coalition, stayed in that state and built the prototype for the conservative republican party.

having said that, i looked at that and said that this is wrong on so many levels and believe me, we get a lot of response on our show. i got equally hammered and lauded for what i said. that is usually an indication that talk radio is working, when people are curious. >> what is the relationship between you and andy parks who sits across from you. personal relationship, show relationship and political relationship. >> in terms of the republican spectrum, obviously, we are both conservatives. andy is the shiite and i and the sunni. it is surprising the number of times we mix it up over things like this.

i find myself to be the more conservative on this issue. i felt that religion had no place in this discussion. i did not know andy before i started on the show. we are very compatible. we really only see each other at work. when you get up at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and you work until about 10:00 a.m., that is plenty. we probably end up seeing more of each other than our spouses. all that having been said, it is a partnership that works pretty well. >> i listen alot and i know that you talk about being a former congressman. health-care issue where you actually got into the weeds. what kind of relationship do you have with your audience over these kind of things? >> nancy pelosi has been very successful in holding

coalitions together when she absolutely, positively has to be there. guys that voted against this all were blue dog democrats that were leaving. now that they are no longer running for reelection, you have to say that they are looking at this and saying what they would get. will i get some kind of job? there are conditions beyond the merits of this bill that factor into this decision. it is more than a math problem. it is a problem of who you believe. if nancy pelosi could convince people like the head of the some of those southern democrats that joined the party in 2006 and 2008 that have a real problem with this.

if past is prologue, then she will say that we will protect you. if you believe that, you will vote aye. almost always, there are two or three casualties. details, do you get any response from your audience? >> no. you find that when you do talk radio, particularly conservative talk radio, you have a fairly educated crowd. people have already done their homework. to our show, will know the players as well as the place. they will know nancy pelosi and maybe even chris holland. they will know the committee chairs. because they are devotees.

they are policy geeks, like myself. they like that level of detail. that is not the full audience. when you are talking to a crowd that is politically attuned and biased, they usually have chapter and verse to backup their creed. i am not just doing this as a former member, i am doing this because this is something that andy and i get into a lot. and he has always been an amateur and a bystander when it came to the political process. he gets particularly upset when i start talking about process of politics because he says that politicians behave this way. this is how coalitions are made. sometimes it is not pretty.

when it comes down to getting the final votes, a lot of what you consider to be principle goes out the window. you're talking about some of these newer members of congress. money. >> that resonates. >> is that good or bad? >> i do not know how that is any different from any deal you would make between two people trying to settle a lawsuit or two companies trying to merge. it is up to the individual member. i would like nothing better than to be a member of the ways and means committee, but i would also like to be a sophomore in the body next year.

every morning? >> an aggregate number? >> yes. >> that is hard to know. >> where do you fit in the 40 radio stations? >> we are usually in the top 15. we are somewhere between seven and 15, normally. the ratings now come out monthly. the system of measuring radio has become more complicated. >> how often do you get a current member of congress say to you that they are a listener? >> pretty regularly. he listens to the show.

there are a few members that tune in to the show. >> you can listen to it on the internet every morning. >> anywhere in the world. >> you get calls from around the world? >> i would say anywhere around the country. we do not get many calls around the world. i would say that we are probably five years away from getting rid of what we used to call radio towers because i think we will be broadcasting entirely over the internet. the new technology that will allow you to have the internet in your car will become fairly commonplace. there will be no difference between am and fm. the big loser may be satellite radio because that was a

technology designed to offer an alternative to the old broadcast modulations. now, you will be listening online. >> in my case, i can listen to a liberal talk show host and a conservative talk show host side by side. >> we just got an application for wmal, so you can listen on your cellphone as well. we try to stay as close to the cutting edge of technology as we can. >> what has worked for the audience, and i mean the confrontation between you and andy? >> one of the most profound statements about doing the radio in washington d.c. came from howard stern.

he is not normally politically motivated. despite all the hoopla, the real listener in radio is louie from bowie. there are a lot of people that are close to the process, but not in it. they are still pressing their face against the glass. that is the real listener. it is perhaps marginally more sophisticated, and marginally more educated. are curious or upset about why

it is not working the way it should. >> the two of you got into it over the question of whether it would be alright if senator mccain became president. >> i am astonished that so many people agree with you. >> sometimes you have to take what you can get. >> he wanted to close gitmo. what would be the difference? >> the difference would be that trial. >> i am not sure of that. >> i will bet you money. >> obama is in the white house. you have both houses that are democrats. it is all on them. >> if you have a republican president, you have the power

of the veto and you can use it. gerald ford built his entire presidential career around having a veto. at least to stop a lot of stuff that shouldn't have happened. >> i want to be careful not to characterize it incorrectly, but as a listener, sometimes andy goes off very strongly. >> everything is now in the democratic corner. let him go ahead and do what they are going to do. mccain would be nothing but a sounding board for them. >> you are not there, though. you are in some other world. >> i describe myself as a recovering congressman. part of that is knowing how the process works and knowing that i was part of the process and apologizing for it.

i also try to explain it. even a conservative rush limbaugh, the real policy is between the right and left. that is a decision that does not sit well with people that are on the right and left. andy is one of those guys on the right. he would have loved to have had fred thompson be elected president of the united states. consequently, when you get down to the choices that you have got, it has got to be the universe you live in, not the one you would pray for. >> when i asked you at the top

of the show about the grade you would give, you gave goodwill industries an a-. i hear you trash congress. >> i was disappointed in the practice. the most exciting moment i had as a member of congress was before i even got there, the night of my first election victory. i'm sure a lot of new members are full of hope. i arrived in 1987 and served until 1995. three presidents came and went and i was able to split the difference between being a

minority member and an effective member. by the time i left, i felt as if the process was imploding on itself. it seems trivial, now. we argued about deficit spending back then. it is nowhere near in the league that it is now. i came out of a show business background. rightly or wrongly, successful endeavors in show business have a beginning, a middle and an end. public policy and congress are always in the middle. it is between stuff. there is a sense that nothing is ever completed. that is why i think i gave it barely an honors mark.

the product does not reflect their individual efforts. >> you say that you get up at 2:00 a.m.. >> yes. >> what time do you go to bed? >> about 6:00 p.m. what does it say when your wife sends you to bed at 6:30 p.m.? i find myself with quasi-jet lag on the weekends. for a guy like andy, that has done this all of his life, he said that you never get used to

it. he said that you get used to not getting used to it. that is kind of true. although i am not getting used to getting used it. >> he drives how far to get to the studio? >> he lives in st. paul, minnesota. he drives about 52 miles each way. he gets in his car and drives for an hour and listens to a variety of radio stations and briefs himself on the topics that we will probably be talking about. while he is doing that, i am on the internet, usually going through an itinerary that includes seven or eight various new sites.

the way that we come together when we have our editorial meeting is that i have some facts and figures and he has sound bites. he has heard some things and he knows where to get them. for a radio show, it is a good mix. on a regular basis. "the wall street journal," "drudge," and "the washington post." >> in addition to that, i would also include "politico." i would include "usa today." but i will also use real clear politics for an editorial spin and cnn.com. i try to graze right and left. a lot of what we do is

commentary about the news, not just the news. >> you are talking with andy about the massachusetts senate race in a couple of days. >> it is andy parks. >> we are trying to elevate the status of john brown's candidacy. we have not been completely fair. she said that we should pull out of afghanistan. i think you could draw a conclusion that she is soft on terrorism and probably on crime. she apparently has picked her enemies very carefully. she is cracking down on garden clubs in massachusetts.

she is apparently going after garden clubs for not filing their nonprofit status properly. angry letters to these little groups that maintain traffic islands. they make between $5,000 and $10,000 a year in various dues and plant sales. this is the enemy that must be stopped now. beennot anybody in afghanistan. >> what role does humor play? >> it only works if you leven it a little bit.

i guess i would include others in that. our news guy is the guy that we are constantly beating up on as somebody who is lacking our experience. if you're going to describe the show, these three people on the show as people driving to work, andy would be in the driver's seat and i would be next to the driver with maps and our news guy would be in the back seat. the whole idea is to be very serious about the topic but not so serious about ourselves so that there is not always a kernel of humor.

andy was amused by my ire and i am sometimes amused by his ire. >> do you guys ever get mad over each other? >> never seriously. professionally, yes. we will have disagreements. there is never a time when anger turns into hostility. >> in your life, harvard was a serious place. gopher for nine years.

congress, of course. and then a radio show that has in it. a-. >> that was what i thought public service was supposed to be. congress was the debate side of public service. goodwill industries was the delivery side. i was able to follow what i ways and means committee. i was able to follow that to the delivery side, which began and then rapidly accelerated the process of welfare to work.

training and education and employment to organizations like ours. training low income and under educated workers as well as people with cognitive and physical disabilities. we got deeply into that and it was very helpful for me to go service to the delivery side of public service. work. these were people that were not just unemployed, but unemployable. there was a sense, at goodwill, that this is what the full realization of a community is all about. saw that.

that? >> it depends on what you are>> try revenue. the goods business is a couple of billion dollars a year and services. number of people that we served. states and canada. serving 250,000 people in some capacity. that pops up is the former roommate of david eisenhower and you were in his wedding? >> and he was in mine. we wound up, accidentally, as roommates because we got sent

off to the academy as a freshman when we were 13 years old. it was the luck of the draw. there was no reason i was his roommate. was from iowa. we got along together and roomed together for four years. we kept in touch. he came out and campaigned for me when i ran for congress. i ran in the primary for governor, and we keep in touch. he is actually the godfather to my oldest child. we drifted apart.

when you know somebody that long, maintaining constant contact is not critical to the relationship. hall hot have on your life? where is it? >> the academy is one of the oldest private boarding schools in the united states. i got sent there because my two brothers and my father went there. but, the most important thing for me was that is where i'd learned how to learn. that was probably the best education i ever had. there were never any more than 12 or 15 kids sitting around a table with a teacher and using a very unique form of learning.

it influenced everything i ever did. i learned how to prosecute and defend macbeth or logarithms or whatever through this process. it was enormously valuable. >> wasn't that the same path that robert todd lincoln took? >> i never thought about that. >> his father went to the cooper union to make a couple of hundred dollars to help him get in. >> the same process still works. >> back to the radio show. use of humor.

>> i do not think the united states or any country can take a shot into a foreign country because they think there is a bad guy there. >> levin said he would accept permission. >> i guess that was misquoted or misunderstood, not mistaken. politicians are experts at that. >> i thought it was yellowstone. i read that wrong. >> i am so sorry. i thought we were talking about the florida peninsula. >> sorry about that. >> the official american response, "my bad." >> where do you pick up on current day slang like "my bad?" how do you stay in touch? >> it helps to have young

children between the age of 35 and 21. i always came out of an entertainment background. i try to stay current with television, with movies, with show business news. not so much music, i fall down in that category. i am not too hip when it comes to pop music. i have always been fascinated in the variations of american speech, the slang, what is taught and what is not. terms that come in and out of vogue. in radio, you want to sound alot like the people that listen to you so that you do not estrange yourself from your audience. when you talk through a

microphone, you are talking to one person. i have always thought that it is like you and i. i am talking to you when you are talking to me. and behind us, there is a large audience. that is why you will never hear us say ladies and gentleman, pack folks -- limbaugh will do that. its that kind of intimacy that i think argues for a more contemporary, popular, even slang oriented speech. >> you are on a radio station that has rush limbaugh and sean hannity and marc levin and coast to coast at night and the midnight radio network.

mostly conservative radio. >> very conservative. >> what does conservative radio work better than liberal radio? >> people have written about that. i guess that from my experience, as a guy that has been a candidate, an office holder and a policy maker and now an info-tainer, conservative talk seems to get closer to the average american dilemma than does the liberal argument. i say this as a guy who went to harvard and to hollywood and was in the house of representatives.

when i went back to iowa and tried speaking like i was a harvard graduate or a guy that was very well educated, i could not communicate very well. i did not understand what it was to run a small farm or small business which is one and the same, or to raise a family without nannies or a staff. a lot of the public policy in the progressive agenda -- take for example, health care is designed to improve whether you like it or not. one of the things that resonates about talk radio is when it is well done, and it is not always well done. there are some people that are good at this and some people that are not. but when it gets to where you

live and it sounds like you are talking to somebody over a kitchen table and not a crowd, that is why a guy like john kerry could never be elected president. he always seemed to be emphasizing how smart he was. we do not elect people like that. i do not know if obama is an example of that. >> here comes the fun stuff. >> what have we been doing up to now? >> ♪ love won't hurt any more ♪ it's an open smile. on a friendly shore.

>> it is not just today, it is always get a haircut, do this, do that. i have been on every cruise and he tells me to do something at least 20 times. >> gopher! >> that is one. >> that seems like forever for me. >> that is not the best and not the worst? >> i do not think people realize how enormously difficult it is to succeed. i have two older children in show business right now. even though they are beneficiaries of my success, i stay out of trying to counsel them as to whether they should do this or not.

the only way you do it is to go out and do it. it is one of those things where in the right place at the right time. it is almost a cosmic mix of talent and luck. >> we found something on polish might enjoy. >> ♪ >> your the smile on the mona lisa. ♪ if i'm the bottom, you're the top.

[applause] >> that was on tvp-2 with polish translation. >> we never took a cruise to warsaw. i met just about everybody who was anybody in show business, including ethel merman. of all of the people that i have met, those that made the most profound impact on me was ethel merman and i did a summer tour on how to succeed in business in ohio.

we toured together. i do not remember liking acting all that much, but i did not have to act. the great dividend about being on that show was meeting all these people. picking up their stories and learning about them. >> what was the accident that burned you? >> we were on location in asia minor. we were attending a soiree of

government officials. at one point, a bunch of cast members and i decided to leave and go back to the ship. we had party balloons that we decided to take with us. i was smoking at that time. as we piled into the car, my cigarette brushed against one of them and it popped. party balloons are filled with helium which is an inert gas, but not in turkey. they fill their party balloons with hydrogen. maybe it is part of their defense strategy. and the car exploded. the flames got 6 feet in the air and i was profoundly burned on my face and hands. it was that kind of flirtation with mortality that got me

thinking about what i really wanted to do with my life and it sent me back to iowa and put me in a whole different kind of life choice than serving myself. i do not have any problem with that. show business is a great life if you can make a go of it. but it became profoundly less gratifying after that accident. it was then that i started thinking about if there was some other use for my communication skills. >> we will leave the entertainment world in just a moment, but there are a few other roles that you played in your life that we must experience. let's watch. >> a picture of your face? [applause]

>> $1,000 bonus and the win. >> i worked as a night watchman to put myself through criminology college. suddenly, oscillating vibrations brought to life three legendary [unintelligible] dracula, the werewolf, and frankenstein. they are determined to make up for their past misbehavings to fight crime. together, we are the monster squad. >> >> here she is, the adorable swastika matilda and her lovable alligator.

>> matilda, herman, do you think that this is your turn to be first and foremost in sunny california? >> today california. >> tomorrow the world. >> those were my own clothes. herman the german in death race 2000, a movie i made for roger corman back in 1977 or 1978. just to give you a little history about how successful he would be, we shot the movie in three weeks and made the money back in six weeks. they did it at a speedway in

pasadena. i think they did all the exteriors and interiors at the pasadena civic center. it was work back then. i never thought i would would be mortified publicly. i lived in the house that gopher built. i would not have had a shot if i had not done that. the entertainment world is a glidepath. sonny bono was elected to the house after i left, but i knew him from television. we would talk from time to time and would sometimes commiserate.

i would ask if he had a problem with actors becoming politicians. >> sonny said that was not the problem. the problem was politicians becoming actors. that was a comment he made 20 years ago. >> back to the radio show. your producer, here is a little bit about what she does. tell us how she fits into the program? >> would you like to talk to grandy and andy? when fred says he is offended, are you offended or not offended? >> i appreciate your integrity to denounce back.

>> so, jeremiah wright, what he said was not nonsense? >> you should be ashamed of yourself, but i know you're not. >> your are right, i am not. >> it is in no way offensive. when jeremiah wright talks, he says it is white america. they say the same thing of any country that is against the gospel. when anything happens there, they say it is cursed by god. it is a warped theology, but is in no way racist. >> that is a critical job. i do not know if they showed you -- as important as the calls

she puts up are the calls that she does not allow. that is the gate that all comments must pass through. every morning, she provides a list of stories that could be six or seven pages long. she is very much a part of the editorial process. given the kind of small network, she runs the montesori school that we are part of. she keeps us on track and sometimes we might get a little bit too far out in one direction and she can help bring us back. in seattle. the guy that is the program director had been out there and brought her to washington when we actually conceived the "the grandy and andy morning show."

we also do a thing at the end of the week which are the top sound bites. that was her idea. she has been a very important part of the content and quality of the show. >> how often do you not let somebody on the air and for what reason? >> you have to ask her. she probably allows maybe 30% of the calls through because there are just some people that do not understand the nature of broadcasting. >> the station is owned by what company? >> citadel, the company that bought all of the major stations a few years ago.

all of the old flagship stations in most of our major cities. >> are you more popular at certain times of the year? >> yes. summer is never a good time for talk radio because people go on vacation. the spring book and the fall book around mid september to mid december and the spring but is probably april to june. if you had tried to get me during another time, i would have blown you off in a heartbeat. >> you have names for them. why do you do this? >> this is from my personal file, but it relates to personal policy.

mrs. fred said she had to go to detroit. she decided she would go out and fly back the same day. i would like to report that in the course of one day and one round trip flight, she exposed the flaws of airport security. she is going through security at reagan. because it is a one day trip, she knew she would not be able to eat so she brought some food with her, some of which was a container of applesauce. the airport's security guys stop her and asked what this was and she said it is applesauce. they said i would be the judge of that and took a bite and said that it was applesauce.

this does not provide a lot of comfort for her because she is behind two guys that are scruffily dressed and looking questionable with passports and backpacks. she says to the tsa guy, "what about them?" and the guy says that may not be a bad idea. two peruvian divinity students will think twice about getting on an airplane dressed in a scruffy manner. >> your wife has had a career. >> we were both in the business when we were first married. she was on "entertainment tonight "as an entertainment journalist and a novelist. we decided when we had our children so that we would not

run afoul of any overzealous fan that might try to seek us out. the mrs. fred thing came from the musical "great expectations." i do not know how i got from mrs. joe to mrs. fred, but when i got on the air, catherine and i were talking and i said that i do not know how much or will she want me to talk about her or what. somehow, mrs. fred just sprang from my imagination one day. ching lao is just a joke.

i wanted to express that this could not possibly be her name. someone thought i had adopted a korean child. >> does your wife listen? >> >> all the time. she is scrupulous in her comments. she occasionally fills in for me. >> how long can you keep this up at 2:00 a.m? >> that is a very good question. as much as i like it, over time, this is going to have some health consequences. i like being on radio, but i cannot be sure how long i will be able to sustain morning radio.

morning radio is prime-time radio. drive time is the equivalent of 8:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. on tv. having said that, there are times when i say that i would not say no to a 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. show. >> any more public office? >> for me? >> yes. >> as much as i enjoyed it , it is interesting -- i do not think i am alone in this. i see congress distancing itself. i see talk radio moving in to fill that gap. it seems that a lot of people call our program and other programs because they cannot get any kind of connection with their elected officials.

it is not just members of congress, it is mayors and county executives. i say this based on the communication that i had when i was a member. these were town meetings that when were no larger than a thousand people. you would go to the community center and maybe 150 people would show up. we could easily sustain a two hour discussion back and forth. >> the last question, your favorite talk show host other than andy? >> that would be rush limbaugh, not because i agree with him, but he is usually on point. he is the best broadcaster out there with the possible

exception of howard stern. those two guys are kind of the zeus and poseidon of talk radio. i do not think anyone else comes close. noti do not know who the heirs apparent are. glenbeck is good. those two guys are in a class of their own. >> fred grandy we are out of time. >> time sure goes by fast when you are having fun. >> for a dvd copy of this program call 1-877-662-7726. for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q&a.org.

episodes are also available as podcasts. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> coming up, will take your questions and comments. the new virginia republican bob macdonald delivers his state of the commonwealth speech. this morning, a discussion about president obama as proposed fees on banks that received tarp monday with steve bartlett. coming up at 9:15 a.m., a disi