Radio Bit

What do John Palminteri, a boat-destroying whale, The Departed, and the world-famous phrase “Hello, and welcome to Moviefone” have in common? Well, they’re all part of the bizarre story of how-for the past week-KJEE’s morning show deejays became the official voices of the popular 777-FILM hotline.

About a year ago, a whale jumped out of the ocean near Leadbetter Beach and crushed a motorboat. When mustached newsman Palminteri, aka The Palm, reported the story on KJEE’s morning show, the voice behind Moviefone-Russ Leatherman-just happened to be listening. A whale lover, Leatherman was troubled by Palminteri’s depiction of an “attacking whale,” so he emailed DJ Spencer Delamor to complain. But rather than stay flustered, Mr. Moviefone became a part of the morning show, calling in every Friday to offer up his movie-going advice.

Last month, Mr. Moviefone bet DJ Adam “the sports guy” Lundquist for who could pick the most Oscar winners. Flying the flag of his beloved home city Boston, Lundquist picked The Departed to clean up on Oscar Sunday-he was right, thumping Mr. Moviefone 6-0 in their head-to-head bets.

Thanks to the victory, Mr. Moviefone was in the KJEE studio last Thursday, doing everything the morning show deejays threw at him. Aside from allowing Adam to become the Southern California voice of 777-FILM for the week, Leatherman asked Adam’s girlfriend if she would ever consider a threesome, ordered an Egg McMuffin from a McDonald’s drive-through, tried to pick up girls outside Ralphs, and had a face-to-face introduction with mustached man himself John Palminteri.

In the morning’s brightest moment, The Palm-totally straight-faced-thrust his hand out at Mr. Moviefone and deadpanned, in full Ron Burgundy glory, “Hi, I’m John Palminteri. I’m kind of a big deal around here.” And thanks to Mr. Moviefone, KJEE’s Adam Lundquist was a big deal all over SoCal for the past week.