Radio: The Halburn Years

[Lee]

I know there are folks here who have worked with Mark Halburn in radio/TV 'round these parts. We want you to share some of your favorite Halburn moments!

PutnamLIES.com would love to hear some of these stories and publish them. Of course, you don't have to mention your name. Or do it anyway, it's not like he can sue or anything!

Email Mike Ballburn at:

putnamlies.com@gmail.com

[amayo]

I'm pretty sure if I ever worked with him I'd never admit it!

[The-Hammer]

Never worked with him; but, as a listener, I did suffer through his attempts to board-op the Bob and Tom show. It was especially painful when he would try to cram a 4 minute newscast, a 4 minute song and a 4 minute commercial break into the 6 minute network breaks.

[Bob Campbell]

Alright damn you all. I'll admit it. I....I... I hired him dammit! At 100.9 The MIx.
Happy now?
sniff,,,,sniff.
I want my mommy.

[Fred]

Shortly after the WVAH tower collapse Hallburn made the following statement " I worked for the insurance company that wrote the policy on that tower and I told them that the tower was going to fall and that they should not issue a policy for it. "
He went on to state that " That tower was never properly designed and the legs were too small for a tower of that height." My response to him went something like this. Mark, are you a structural engineer? "No" Are you a mechanical engineer? "No" are you a F**KING Weatherman? "No" Then you don't know S**T so shut the F**K up. No one could have predicted when the tower was built that 20 years later an ice storm of record proportion could have taken it down. Don't ever bring it up to me again. I don't think he ever spoke to me again after that. I was so blessed.

[Lee]

Classic!

I'll share one:

It was right after Geof Sturm (PD-WEMM) passed away. The day after he passed, Halburn stuffed his "War and Peace"-esque resume' under the door after business hours. A few of the staff there mentioned how he would call Geof on the air when he was doing his shift what he was doing wrong, how he'd run the station, etc. Geof just hanged up on him, but Halburn would keep calling.

After Geof passed on, Halburn figured the brass at WEMM would be blown away by the awesomeness that is Halburn and immediately hire him as PD after taking 4 months to read his resume'. Needless to say, Halburn didn't get the gig. Why am I making metaphors on his resume's length? It was freakin' LOOOOOOOONNNNNNG, and read like both a Greek tragedy and comedy...well, more of a comedy than anything.

This was all during the time Halburn was here showing his ass and a few of the staff there remarked on how they thought it was funny that we were hammering him. Ah, memories...

I know Mark still reads this board, and no one here has anything to worry about him "suing" anyone. He can't afford a lawyer, or much of anything else, really. Plus, we all know what happened when he er..."represented" himself in court.

Again, I urge anyone wanting a good laugh at his expense to check out:

putnamlies.blogspot.com
tylerhollywood.wordpress.com (Tyler offers commentary and allows comments on Halburn's 'Wal-Mart' manifesto, which has been taken down for awhile now).

I also should mention he has threatened to sue me three times and also has called the police on me for "harassment." Needless to say, both didn't work out for him too well. Freedom of speech kicks all sorts of ass.

[genlock]

Do you have a copy of the resume' to post somewhere?

[Lee]

Nope.

However, I'm sure it'll pop up sooner or later!

[Lee]

I received this email from the idiot himself, CC'ed to Lester:

Lester:

This is in response to the false statements that you allowed to be posted on your blog in rersponse to Lee's request.

1) I NEVER wrote an insurance policy on the TV tower that Fred talks about. In fact, we REJECTED covering it! I DID meet with Chris Johnson, the old WKLC General Manager, and started the quote process. When I inspected the old WKLC AM tower, I was concerned about its condition and called out an INSURANCE COMPANY ENGINEER who REJECTED it AND the TV tower (which had ROCK 105's transmitter on the top). I then left a message for Johnson that we were declining to write the policy until BOTH towers were replaced. We all know what later happened to the TV tower and I believe the AM tower WAS replaced before it fell over. HEY FRED! You should have taken OUR engineer's advice! You are simply fortunate that the tower didn't fall on your head... However, even the tallest tower in West Virginia managed to miss your pinhead brain!

2) Bob Campbell DID NOT hire me at 100.9 The Mix. Bill Knight hired me. He also hired Campbell AFTER me and FIRED Campbell BEFORE I left. Yes, Bob, I OUTLASTED YOU! And, if you recall, it was ME that told you about the job at 101/5 The River, even giving your the name and contact number. How did that gig work out, Bob?

3) WEMM sounded TERRIBLE while Geoff Sturm was the PD. Absolutely AWFUL! Once, I remember he was on a LIVE remote AND COULDN'T REMEMBER WHERE HE WAS! He "covered himself" by saying "do-de-do-de-do-de-do" for about 30 seconds. Where was he? Next to the Charleston Civic Center, one of Charleston's largest and most distinctive buildings! How could he POSSIBLY not know where he was?

Lester... I look forward to reading this on your blog!

Many thanks!

Mark Hallburn
Publisher
www.PutnamLIVE.com
Putnam County's News Leader
304-415-6397

GO GREEN: PutnamLIVE.com is online only. We do not publish a paper edition in order to protect the environment. Please do not print this email unless it is necessary!

[Bob Campbell]

I received this email from the idiot himself, CC'ed to Lester:

Lester:

This is in response to the false statements that you allowed to be posted on your blog in rersponse to Lee's request.

1) I NEVER wrote an insurance policy on the TV tower that Fred talks about. In fact, we REJECTED covering it! I DID meet with Chris Johnson, the old WKLC General Manager, and started the quote process. When I inspected the old WKLC AM tower, I was concerned about its condition and called out an INSURANCE COMPANY ENGINEER who REJECTED it AND the TV tower (which had ROCK 105's transmitter on the top). I then left a message for Johnson that we were declining to write the policy until BOTH towers were replaced. We all know what later happened to the TV tower and I believe the AM tower WAS replaced before it fell over. HEY FRED! You should have taken OUR engineer's advice! You are simply fortunate that the tower didn't fall on your head... However, even the tallest tower in West Virginia managed to miss your pinhead brain!

2) Bob Campbell DID NOT hire me at 100.9 The Mix. Bill Knight hired me. He also hired Campbell AFTER me and FIRED Campbell BEFORE I left. Yes, Bob, I OUTLASTED YOU! And, if you recall, it was ME that told you about the job at 101/5 The River, even giving your the name and contact number. How did that gig work out, Bob?

3) WEMM sounded TERRIBLE while Geoff Sturm was the PD. Absolutely AWFUL! Once, I remember he was on a LIVE remote AND COULDN'T REMEMBER WHERE HE WAS! He "covered himself" by saying "do-de-do-de-do-de-do" for about 30 seconds. Where was he? Next to the Charleston Civic Center, one of Charleston's largest and most distinctive buildings! How could he POSSIBLY not know where he was?

Lester... I look forward to reading this on your blog!

Many thanks!

Mark Hallburn
Publisher
http://www.PutnamLIVE.com
Putnam County's News Leader
304-415-6397

GO GREEN: PutnamLIVE.com is online only. We do not publish a paper edition in order to protect the environment. Please do not print this email unless it is necessary!

Hey! Does that mean I'm off the hook for Hallburn? Whew, Knight can have that one. Though it was actually what's his name, the GM, who fired me at Mix. That worked out great for them I hear.

[Lester]

He is speaking of another Lester, correct?

[cgarison]

I have no clue as to why Halburn's pen name is not "Richard Cranium."

[Lester]

Seriously... what email address did he send that to? I never got it.

And this isn't a blog, dipshit, it's a message board.

[AmpedNow]

I try to steer clear of the Hallburn threads, but I just got to say that I've never seen so much ongoing drama centered around one person.

Wow.

[Greg Goodfellow]

Yep. Don't know the guy, but it seems a TV show could be based on him, whether reality or sitcom.

[weaver]

Well, he did use a lot of capital letters so it must be even truer than true.

[David Paleg]

Yep. Don't know the guy, but it seems a TV show could be based on him, whether reality or sitcom.

Change the title of Shatner's upcoming sitcom from "$#*! My Dad Says" to "$#*! Mark Hallburn Says".

[Fred]

I received this email from the idiot himself, CC'ed to Lester:

Lester:

This is in response to the false statements that you allowed to be posted on your blog in rersponse to Lee's request.

1) I NEVER wrote an insurance policy on the TV tower that Fred talks about. In fact, we REJECTED covering it! I DID meet with Chris Johnson, the old WKLC General Manager, and started the quote process. When I inspected the old WKLC AM tower, I was concerned about its condition and called out an INSURANCE COMPANY ENGINEER who REJECTED it AND the TV tower (which had ROCK 105's transmitter on the top). I then left a message for Johnson that we were declining to write the policy until BOTH towers were replaced. We all know what later happened to the TV tower and I believe the AM tower WAS replaced before it fell over. HEY FRED! You should have taken OUR engineer's advice! You are simply fortunate that the tower didn't fall on your head... However, even the tallest tower in West Virginia managed to miss your pinhead brain!

2) Bob Campbell DID NOT hire me at 100.9 The Mix. Bill Knight hired me. He also hired Campbell AFTER me and FIRED Campbell BEFORE I left. Yes, Bob, I OUTLASTED YOU! And, if you recall, it was ME that told you about the job at 101/5 The River, even giving your the name and contact number. How did that gig work out, Bob?

3) WEMM sounded TERRIBLE while Geoff Sturm was the PD. Absolutely AWFUL! Once, I remember he was on a LIVE remote AND COULDN'T REMEMBER WHERE HE WAS! He "covered himself" by saying "do-de-do-de-do-de-do" for about 30 seconds. Where was he? Next to the Charleston Civic Center, one of Charleston's largest and most distinctive buildings! How could he POSSIBLY not know where he was?

Lester... I look forward to reading this on your blog!

Many thanks!

Mark Hallburn
Publisher
http://www.PutnamLIVE.com
Putnam County's News Leader
304-415-6397

GO GREEN: PutnamLIVE.com is online only. We do not publish a paper edition in order to protect the environment. Please do not print this email unless it is necessary!

Pinhead huh? Well I've been called worse but anyone who knows me knows I call it like I see it. In one email you have managed to not only renew your status as an idiot, attempt to tarnish the name of a very good man who has passed, and forget who hired you at a job you sucked at. Congratulations on your lifelong success, now go away!