Howie Carr, WRKO, and "death pools".

[goodeats]

One of the local radio talk shows does a "Ghoul Pool" the first week of the' year. You send in three celebrity death picks and you get a certain amount of points for each one if they do die. You get more points if it's someone young and healthy and you get less points for someone really old or with lots of problems (not sure if Lindsay Lohan gets you less points than someone else the same age). They announce the winners right before Christmas. If someone dies during the downtime (i.e. the Sonny Bono rule) they don't count.

I think it's fun, but I wouldn't admit to certain people that I like it. It is sort of tacky.

 

[DawnCt1]

I can't believe people think it's fun to relish another person's death. We really have no respect for each other anymore, do we?

Actually I think its a nice memorial. If you win, you are out to dinner thinking of the dearly departed who made it all possible.

 

[deedeecee]

One of the local radio talk shows does a "Ghoul Pool" the first week of the' year. You send in three celebrity death picks and you get a certain amount of points for each one if they do die. You get more points if it's someone young and healthy and you get less points for someone really old or with lots of problems (not sure if Lindsay Lohan gets you less points than someone else the same age). They announce the winners right before Christmas. If someone dies during the downtime (i.e. the Sonny Bono rule) they don't count.

I think it's fun, but I wouldn't admit to certain people that I like it. It is sort of tacky.

I listen to that radio show! But I can't stand the ghoul pool. Too creepy. If I entered, and someone on my list died, I would feel guilty, like I wished them dead. No thanks.

 

[MickeySP]

I can't believe people think it's fun to relish another person's death. We really have no respect for each other anymore, do we?

It has nothing to do with respect, noone is dancing on a grave. Famous people die, it happens, so if I didn't think Lindsay Lohan was next it wouldn't happen

Who said anyone was relishing it anyway? Just vocalizing it.

 

[Monte Cristo]

I have 2 entries in a dead pool on stiffs.com. It's a really competitive game.

 

[S. C.]

I have 2 entries in a dead pool on stiffs.com. It's a really competitive game.

Competitive game? Hoping someone dies so that you can win the money and the 2 seconds of fun in saying you are the one who guessed right.

 

[S. C.]

I listen to that radio show! But I can't stand the ghoul pool. Too creepy. If I entered, and someone on my list died, I would feel guilty, like I wished them dead. No thanks.

Exactly!!

 

[debster812]

You mean the Boston Herald which actually sells newspapers, as opposed to the Boston Globe?

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/04/28/circulation_still_falling_at_papers/

This is from an article back in April 2009, but it appears that the Globe was outselling the Herald

The Globe's paid daily circulation fell 13.7 percent, to 302,638 copies, while that of the Boston Sunday Globe dropped 11.3 percent, to 466,665, compared to the same period last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations figures.

The Herald's daily circulation fell at an even greater rate, down 17.4 percent to 150,688 copies; paid subscriptions of its Sunday paper fell at slower rate, down 9.6 percent to 95,392.

I cannot listen to Howie Carr (or read much of what he writes), and I find his "Death Pools" extremely distasteful.

 

[Monte Cristo]

Competitive game? Hoping someone dies so that you can win the money and the 2 seconds of fun in saying you are the one who guessed right.

No, it's not that you are hoping someone dies, it's when someone dies, you're hoping they're on your list.

 

[S. C.]

No, it's not that you are hoping someone dies, it's when someone dies, you're hoping they're on your list.

 

[DebbieB]

People will bet on anything. There was a long discussion last week on a Pittsburgh sports radio show I listen to on the way home from work if you would root against the Steelers if it meant that you would win on your Fantasy pool!

 

[Nancy]

I don't see where the fun is and this is the first time I have ever heard of anything like this before.

I guess if you think it's OK and fun then join in and if you don't like the idea then don't join in.

 

[SandrA9810]

I think it sounds kind of fun. I mean, people are going to die anyways, and well the media is always all over celebs.

I wonder how many won for Micheal Jackson...

 

[kimblebee]

People will bet on anything. There was a long discussion last week on a Pittsburgh sports radio show I listen to on the way home from work if you would root against the Steelers if it meant that you would win on your Fantasy pool!

I would always choose to root against the Steelers if it meant I would win cash. Being a Jets fan, it would be hard but I would root against them if it meant that I would beat my friends in our pool. There is some wicked smack talk and it would be nice to be on the giving end for once.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have never heard of anything like this. It is absolutely not anything I would participate in or light heartedly chat about with someone who did. While some may be okay with it, and to each their own, really think it is a huge stretch to say it is a nice memorial to someone like a PP said. If you are okay with betting about someone's death then just own that but don't try to sugar coat it and make it sound like you are honoring that person in some way.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I can't believe people think it's fun to relish another person's death. We really have no respect for each other anymore, do we?

Clearly you shouldn't be involved as you don't understand what dead pools are about. Learning about the past of Hollywood, respecting a person's body of work, and honoring them in their death is what drew me to them. There is no relishing of their death; it is a true mourning for me.

Having run a dead pool for three years (I don't any more due to time constraints) we would honor each celebrity at their passing, and sending out a complete obit showcasing the person's life and major accomplishments. It was also a lot of fun deciding what makes a celebrity. I was quite strict because I didn't like floozies and thought that sleeping around wasn't a pathway to celebrity status.

I have 2 entries in a dead pool on stiffs.com. It's a really competitive game.

The highest I've ever scored was 37th place after six months. I was pushed to 200 somethingth place, but I was still proud of myself nonetheless. I totally forgot to play this year. Good luck to you.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I have never heard of anything like this. It is absolutely not anything I would participate in or light heartedly chat about with someone who did. While some may be okay with it, and to each their own, really think it is a huge stretch to say it is a nice memorial to someone like a PP said. If you are okay with betting about someone's death then just own that but don't try to sugar coat it and make it sound like you are honoring that person in some way.

I must have missed reading your post. I'm not sugar-coating anything and never would. Yes, we are betting that we can guess the longevity of a known person. But yes, we are honoring those who die by educating those in the pool and you can't say otherwise. In my pool, I would write something about every major and minor person who passed, regardless if they were on anyone's list or not. I happen to love old Hollywood. This is usually their last chance of making an impact on anyone and having their names mentioned again.

On a side note, there was an old Hollywood Motion Picture hospital that my friend volunteered for on weekends. I couldn't tell you how sad it was for her to hold the hand of a studio showgirl from the 1930's who no longer had fans. It was for those people that I memorialized.

I'm probably not getting my point across well enough and for that, I am sorry.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I must have missed reading your post. I'm not sugar-coating anything and never would. Yes, we are betting that we can guess the longevity of a known person. But yes, we are honoring those who die by educating those in the pool and you can't say otherwise. In my pool, I would write something about every major and minor person who passed, regardless if they were on anyone's list or not. I happen to love old Hollywood. This is usually their last chance of making an impact on anyone and having their names mentioned again.

On a side note, there was an old Hollywood Motion Picture hospital that my friend volunteered for on weekends. I couldn't tell you how sad it was for her to hold the hand of a studio showgirl from the 1930's who no longer had fans. It was for those people that I memorialized.

I'm probably not getting my point across well enough and for that, I am sorry.

I guess we just see things differently then. To me, honoring those great actors, profiling them, encouraging fans to make kind comments on a website or send cards and fan mail, etc or simply to view their work is wonderful and caring and honoring a life. Encouraging people to guess when one of those great actors will die and to profit from a correct guess is tacky and disrespectful. I cannot imagine that it would be comforting for that studio showgirl from the 30's lying in a hospital to find out that people were betting on if she would be the next star to die. Maybe I am wrong. I can tell you I would not like it. I mean, do people do this with their own families? DO you have a pool set up speculating who is the next among your relative to die? If not, why not if it would only serve to honor them? Maybe you do, and then I will just be glad I am not in your family

 

[kaytieeldr]

He's an obnoxious writer for a trashy newspaper in Boston and i think he has a radio show too. It's been a long time since I have lived in Boston.

You know, you may not like the person for whatever reason - but to call the Boston Herald, which actually investigates and informs its readers, and which isn't top-heavy with management and isn't laying off people left and right and continually asking/demanding concessions of its employees a "trashy newspaper" is disingenuous.

----

How do you feel about death pools? Howie Carr runs a death pool following the death of a celebrity. Callers have an hour to phone in the "next celebrity" who will pass away. If they chose correctly, they win a nice prize; gift certificate to a restaurant, etc. Any thoughts?

He's been doing it for years, and if/when he changes stations he'll continue to do it. I'm realistic. People die.

To some of the other responders: how would I feel if anyone wanted to put my family members in the/a death pool? I'd have to say... pick me. Among my relatively small remaining family, I guess I'm most likely to go next. Not for many, many, years - but next.

 

[NHdisneylover]

To some of the other responders: how would I feel if anyone wanted to put my family members in the/a death pool? I'd have to say... pick me. Among my relatively small remaining family, I guess I'm most likely to go next. Not for many, many, years - but next.

Then we are just really different people. I would NEVER want my children to hear people joking (it is a comedy DJ morning show, right?) and betting about when I will die when they stop in a store playing a radio in Boston. I wouldn't want them to stumble across people talking about why they think their aunt will be next if they google her for some reason or another, or hear about a friend who's dad bet their grandmother would be the next to die in an office pool. To me that goes well beyond the bounds of the types of privacy famous people give up with fame and while it is not legal it lacks human decency and kindness.
One assumes people "pick" based on reason they think the person might be next to die. So, in my family maybe they would pick my daughter because she has been sick a lot and we don't know why, or my son because he is prone to accidents, or my husband because he travels so much and is exposed to so many things, or my either of my parents because they live in Mexico where law is fading fast, or my sister in law because she goes after the big boys in trial (and they read too many thrillers) or , or ,or . . .
While I know all of these things carry risks to some degree and even my kids know that--I would horrified to have strangers debating it, speculating on it, making jokes about and it betting on it in very public ways. It could really mess with kids to hear this about their families (and most stars do have kids and grandkids and nieces and nephews and the like).