50 years of Terry Meiners radio bits · NewsRadio 840 WHAS (WHAS-AM)

Guvnor Wally & Martha, Frank & the Newlissas, Mayor for Life, Ralph Hacker, Beasman, more from 1993

January 4, 2026·45 min·4 clips

Boz Baxter introduces Terry Miners' radio highlights with a joke about how bad the lowlights must be.

1. This episode is a compiled commercial highlights tape from Terry Meiners and Company, broadcast on 84 WHAS Radio in Louisville, Kentucky, with bits drawn from 1993. 2. Terry Meiners is the host; the compilation features a rotating cast of recurring characters and voice performers including Boz Baxter, Ronnie O'Brien, Frank Hudson, NewsLisas Forsythe and Swan, Ralph Hacker, and others. 3. The episode's format is a comedy sketch compilation rather than a linear broadcast, packaged for home purchase as a highlights tape. 4. The first segment features Ronnie O'Brien as an Elvis impersonator upset that 95% of Memphis residents voted against naming a new NFL franchise the Memphis Hound Dogs, pitching a full arena experience including rhinestone uniforms, blue suede cleats, mutton-chop sideburns on helmets, and fans given pistols to shoot out the replay screen when the opposing team scores. 5. Ronnie closes by suggesting Elvis may already be buried in the end zone 'right next to Jimmy Hoffa,' and pledges to drive to Memphis to talk sense into locals. 6. Frank Hudson and the NewsLisas (Forsythe and Swan) appear in a segment for a sweeps-week newscast, with Frank announcing he will deliver the news lying on a bear-skin rug in a bathing suit and will sing the weather forecast. 7. The 'President Clinton' parody call segment features a Clinton impersonator discussing the stalled health care plan — 'the numbers are in Hillary's purse and I'm not allowed in there' — and referencing the film Aladdin as inspiration for finding a magic lamp. 8. The 'Mayor for Life' character (a parody of then-Mayor Jerry Abramson) calls in furious about Rush Limbaugh billboard advertising on WHAS, describing destroying billboards and accidentally smacking Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala in the face to prevent her seeing one. 9. Terry explains the make-good system: every billboard destroyed generates a billboard company credit, producing new replacements; the mayor pledges to stop and instead advocates 'planting a tree in front of a Rush Limbaugh billboard.' 10. Ralph Hacker hosts a parody 'Cat Call' segment from Fayetteville, Arkansas, before a Kentucky Wildcats game, noting that since the town is called Fayetteville and UK is in Fayette County, 'I'm sure all the fans are closet Wildcat fans.' 11. Ralph's calls include a wrong number, a caller demanding to 'protest to somebody,' and a reverend whose vocabulary apparently consists of profanity when discussing UK basketball — all played for absurdist repetition. 12. The 'ex-presidents calling in' segment has Terry taking impersonation calls from Reagan (repeatedly forgetting who Terry is and asking for morning DJ Wayne Perky), Carter (birthplace highway trivia), Ford (at a racetrack), and Bush — each responding to a request to attend Clinton's NAFTA pitch at the White House. 13. The 'Gary Bicker' parody advertisement runs as a full self-contained comedy bit: a spoof ambulance-chasing lawyer offering to sue for donut theft, a sneeze-induced toupee incident, and a baby born the wrong gender after ultrasound, closing with 1-800-PARASITE and the revelation that his commercial's victims were actors. 14. Joe Beesman appears as a character who left coaching to work at a bank drive-through window and runs an unofficial car wash by threading a garden hose through the transaction tray — giving free washes to University of Kentucky fans and sending a live hornet's nest to anyone he dislikes. 15. Bob Shearer, the station manager, appears in a segment where he describes his company health plan as using leeches for blood tests, the cafeteria head chef for surgery (conducted on the salad bar), and a laminated Wayne Perky health care card as the company insurance policy. 16. A segment features competing jingles for two Kentucky political candidates: Alma Waddell running for Secretary of State, and Gene Snyder described as a 'challenger again' — both in the style of campaign radio ads. 17. Denny Crum (Kentucky basketball coach) and 'Hard Stellenberger' (parody of Howard Schnellenberger, then UofL football coach) compete in a sketch called 'Manipulating the Mayor,' each calling Mayor Abramson to claim they are leaving so the mayor will offer gifts to keep them. 18. The compilation tone is rapid-fire local political and pop-culture satire aimed at a Louisville audience, with targets including Bill Clinton's health care plan, Rush Limbaugh, Kentucky and Louisville sports figures, and local politicians. 19. The style is late-night variety radio with heavy character work; most segments rely on listeners knowing the recurring cast and local Louisville political landscape of 1993. 20. Best suited for listeners nostalgic for early-1990s Louisville radio, fans of AM talk radio history, or those interested in regional comedy radio formats before syndication dominated afternoon drive.

As heard by us

A loose local-radio time capsule where the jokes keep widening and the personalities do the lifting.

A WHAS highlights tape leans hard into local radio chaos, with Terry Miners and Company bouncing through station banter, character bits, and a banking gag that somehow ends at a car wash.

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Why you'd press play

You want archival radio chaos with Elvis riffing, bank jokes, and civic ribbing.

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