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They Call Me Baba Booey-A Book Review

This past Wednesday, Kathy and I were in the local Goodwill store looking for books for Kathy to read. She found about 3 books. Me I just was looking more or less out of curiosity when I come across a book called They Call Me Baba Booey, by Gary Dell'Abate. The inner radio geek in me then kicked in. Mind you, I have plenty of books to read that I haven't even touched, and I'm also waiting on another book to arrive at my house that I've promised to review for this blog. But my love of radio is a reason I bought the book. And I read it in less than 24 hours.

Gary Dell'Abate is probably the best known radio show producer in the world, as he is the producer for the Howard Stern Show. Now I'm not a big fan of Howard Stern, but I did read his book, Private Parts. And if Howard was in town and offered to autograph my copy of the book, I would let him. As I have said, I'm not a fan, but I am a radio geek.

I picked up They Call Me Baba Booey and could not put it back down. It is very rare for me nowadays to be able to finish a book in a reasonable amount of time, but this one kept my attention. Gary tells quite a bit of his home life, especially dealing with his mother. The way he describes his mother's behavior, I would say she was suffering from bipolar disorder. Having a difficult home life, Gary turns to music and his beloved New York Mets to help him cope. His interests lead him into a career in radio and eventually producing one of the most popular radio shows in the history of the medium, The Howard Stern Show.

Unlike Private Parts, where Stern goes into minute detail about all his guests, Gary gives us an insight about his adventures in life and shares many embarrassing moments with the reader. Lets everybody know that getting into radio wasn't a cakewalk back in the 1980's. Gary also accepted the fact that sometimes his life would be center stage on the Howard Stern Show because there was comedic value in doing that.

We also learn how a brain cramp became a nickname and rallying cry everywhere when a Howard Stern fan would pull a fast one on a radio television host. Read the book and see how Gary Dell'Abate became part of one of the biggest news stories of the 1990's.

As I have stated earlier, even if you are not a Howard Stern fan, but you are a radio fan, give They Call Me Baba Booey a read.

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