Everything about Richard Bey totally explained
Richard Bey (born
July 22,
1951) of
Turkish descent, was popular in the 1990s as
host of
The Richard Bey Show, a daytime
talk show that was arguably "groundbreaking" in its use of ordinary people's personal stories incorporated into entertaining competitive games, a premise commonly used in today's talk and reality shows.
Bob Woodruff, David Sittenfeld and Charles Cook were the Executive Producers of the program from time to time over its five year run.
Early years
Prior to
The Richard Bey Show, Richard Bey hosted 'People Are Talking' (telecast in
New York City and
Philadelphia) and 'Two on the Town' for
WCBS-TV. He grew up in
Far Rockaway, Queens and is an alumnus of the
University of California, Santa Barbara and the
Yale School of Drama.
The Richard Bey Show
The Richard Bey Show (1987-1996) was produced from
WWOR-TV in
Secaucus,
New Jersey and featured such competitive events as the 'Miss Big Butt' contest, 'The Mr. Puniverse Contest', 'Dysfunctional Family Feud' and 'Blacks who think
OJ is guilty vs Whites who think he's innocent'. Bey's show made frequent use of sound effects like 'uh-Duh' for an inane response, 'I've been framed' for a guest proclaiming innocence and 'You're busted!' for one accused of wrongdoing. Bey would often exclaim "Where do they find these people?!" in the presence of unbelievable guests or audience members. During some shows, there would be a secret word, and if an audience member used it in a comment, he'd receive $100 (an homage to a prior talk and game show,
You Bet Your Life). A joking suggestion was then made on how to spend it: "Lobster dinner tonight!"
The show was a precursor to
reality television, featuring a variety of games incorporating guests' stories, most notoriously "The Wheel of Torture", in which a guest would be strapped to a spinning wheel while a spouse or lover poured slime on them as punishment for a misdeed.
Richard would frequently make fun of
Jerry Springer on his show, such as when he lost his contact lenses and was forced to wear eyeglasses, remarking, "Don't worry, you're not watching Jerry Springer" and showing Jerry in his "Bad Neighbors" segment, a reference to Springer's show airing on several American networks either before or after
The Richard Bey Show in the 1990s. He would also make light of
Ricki Lake and
Oprah Winfrey's shows.
The Gennifer Flowers' controversy
Richard Bey claimed his TV show was canceled in December 1996 (despite the high ratings it maintained) as a direct result of doing a program with
Gennifer Flowers, discussing her sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton.
Radio years
After the TV show was canceled, Bey was an evening and later afternoon radio co-host along with
Steve Malzberg on "The Buzz", which aired on New York's
WABC until 2003.
According to the
New York Post, he was one of only two talk hosts at the time on commercial New York radio to openly oppose the
Iraq War, accurately contesting the
WMD evidence. He has since hosted on Sirius Satellite Radio,
The Bill Press Show, and for the syndicated
Wall Street Journal: This Morning.
Bey hosted for a week on
WFNY 92.3 FM from February 5 to February 9, 2007 from 10:00 PM to midnight. He regularly fills in for
Lynn Samuels and
Alex Bennett on the
Sirius Satellite Radio channel
Talk Left when they go on vacation or take a day off.
In August
2007, Bey began hosting a new show on
WWRL in New York City from 8-10 PM. In November
2007, he was teamed up with
Mark Riley and moved to the morning drive, replacing the team of
Sam Greenfield and
Armstrong Williams.
In March
2008, family reasons caused
Mark Riley to leave
WWRL by mutual agreement to return to
WLIB, and Richard was teamed up with long time broadcaster
Coz Carson. Bey later decided to leave WWRL himself, citing personal reasons (namely spending time with his son).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Richard Bey'.
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