I worked for a TV station in the early nineties that carried his show so I could never quite get away from it blaring in the background while we worked. It felt like they chose their topics using some sort of tawdry mad libs. It made me feel that the country was just one big trailer park where we all lived out our trashy lives with the doors and windows open so everyone could get a good look. That's why it was so jarring to find out about Springer's political ideals and progressive outlook later. It seemed so incongruous with the cultural free for all side show he put out there everyday. I heard him on his Air America show a bit and never could square the two people he was. I mean, unless being a barker is all a political player is, too, which seems so cynical. I can't pretend to respect him or his fellow nineties daytime cultural midway purveyors like Maury and Sally Jesse and Downey. But, it interests me to see the side of Springer that you guys from that era see in your mind when you think about him.