SAY GOODBYE TO THE WIRES

Before Jon played the infamous tape of Howard cutting the piano wires on Soupy Sales’ piano at WNBC in 1985, Gary explained that Soupy was a radio personality at the station and was getting more perks from the company than Howard, even though Howard had better ratings. In the clip, Howard was angry that the studio he was forced to share with Soupy smelled like the salad dressing someone on Soupy’s staff had been eating that afternoon, and threatened to cut the wires on Soupy’s piano if the problem wasn’t addressed. As the deadline Howard gave for the dressing to be cleaned went by, Fred came into the studio with a pair of wire cutters, which Howard used to clip three of the piano’s wires. Gary noted when the clip was done that Howard was genuinely upset with the way WNBC treated him, adding Soupy was simply given things like a car, a producer and a big office, while Howard had to fight for the same treatment. Gary added he felt Soupy was difficult as well, so he didn’t think Howard’s actions toward him were over the top. To illustrate Gary’s point, Jon then played a clip of Howard getting Soupy on the line later that show, and Soupy claimed he and his crew were too busy to respond to Howard’s request to clean up the dressing.