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(in Newburgh Plaza)
(734) 464-5934
being hired as his intern 10 years
ago: stuck out my hand, and he
said, 'Is that an earring in your ear?
Are you gay?' — and walked away.
Now this is a man who staunchly
fights for gay rights on his show."
Not everyone appreciates Handel's
politically incorrect humor. Latino
groups complained about his
remarks following the 1995 death of
Tejano pop star Selena; Asian
Americans demanded — and got —
an on-air apology for his 1996 par-
ody involving ice skaters Michelle
Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi. This
past March, a Muslim group filed a
federal complaint over a skit that
suggested Iraqis want to kill Jews,
marry camels and meet Japanese
schoolgirls in heaven.
Bertolucci apologized on the air,
stating that Handel "was attempting
to make a satirical point about the
extremist Iraqis." But Handel
refused to apologize.
"I'm an equal-opportunity offend-
er, and probably the least bigoted
person I know," he says. The son of
a Holocaust survivor, he says he's
sarcastic about racism to expose its
absurdity, and loves the American
melting pot while loathing political
correctness.
"Of course, people are fine when I
[ridicule] someone else's group,". he
adds. "The Koreans hate it when I
make dog-eating jokes, but when I
joke about Jewish neuroses, it's hilar-
ious." When Members of the Tribe
call him a "self-loathing Jew," he
retorts, "Where were you when I was
making fun of the `shvartzes?'"
Handel's Jewishness regularly
comes up on the show, sometimes in
a serious manner. He once tried to
take neo-Nazis to Auschwitz to see
where his paternal grandparents were
gassed. More recently, he recorded a
segment about how his father, Leo,
fled Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, posed
as a Jesuit in the Vatican and fought
in the Jewish Brigade.
After the war, Leo Handel immi-
grated to Brazil, where the future
radio host was born William Wolf
Handel in 1951. Five years later, the
family moved to Los Angeles, where
young Bill quickly learned English
— sans bilingual education. If he
now maintains that bilingual ed
"sucks," his opinion comes from per-
sonal experience.
"The worst thing you can do to a
kid who has just come to this coun-
try is give him the opportunity not
to learn English," he says. "That kid
will never be a banker or doctor or
lawyer; he'll be washing my kids'
cars." (Handel is married with 9-
year-old twin daughters.)
As for the young Handel, he says
he was precocious but also "an insuf-
ferable little a who would talk
back and mouth off." Eventually, he
parlayed that personality trait into a
radio career.
As a pioneer in the field of repro-
ductive law in the 1980s, he was
often invited on TV and radio pro-
grams to discuss his then-controver-
sial Center for Surrogate Parenting
& Egg Donation. During one Today
show appearance, he heatedly argued
with a fellow guest ("Bryant Gumbel
had to peel us apart," he says) and
caught the attention of L.A.'s
KABC-AM programmers. They
invited him to do a Sunday legal
advice show.
So how did he finagle a full-time,
general talk slot in prime-time
morning?
"Every week for four years, I'd
record the worst two minutes on
KFI, then play it for the program
director and say, 'You should be
fired,"' he recalls.
In 1993, Handel Yourself in the
Morning debuted in the prestigious 5
a.m.-9 a.m. slot; by fall 2003, he
had become the No. 1 morning
drive host among all adult listeners
in Los Angeles, not just the coveted
35- to 54-year-old audience.
Although he no longer practices
law full time, he still doles out legal
advice on his weekend show, Handel
on the Law, which is syndicated in
more than 50 markets.
"I love telling people they have no
case," said Handel. He also loves
touting himself as KFI's "Latino-
Jewish talk show host" — and
offending as many people as possi-
ble.
"Everyone hates me a lot, which is
really good," he says, gleefully. "It
means I'm doing my job." ❑
.
Handel Yourself in the Morning airs
5 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays on KFI-
AM (640 on the dial) in Los
Angeles. You can catch Bill Handel
on the Michigan airwaves on his
weekly syndicated show, Handel on
the Law, which is broadcast 10
p.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays out of
Traverse City on WTCM-AM
(580 on the dial). For more infor-
mation, visit -www.billhandel.com
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