Johnny on the Spot

Louis Rukeyser
1933-2006

The little guy. The working man. The individual investor's only salient source of both sarcasm and succussful securities is gone for sure this time. After 32 years on public TV, the face of Friday night finance is no more. Not to be mistaken for the portrait on a $1 greenback, Louis Rukeyser, as I knew him, was the renowned host of "Wall $treet Week" and no less an iconic childhood favorite than Eric Davis, Montana to Rice, or watching Richard Dean Anderson play MacGyver. Growing up Birchfield meant looking forward to plopping my scrawny arse down at 8:30 Friday evenings on the ol' man's lap and listening to Lou recount the week on the street. Puns and wit flew everywhere, mostly over my head, but the PBS classic hit had a way with me and the ol' man, as well as millions of others. Whether bull or bear, you could count on a few solid tips, big name analysts to back them up, and one hell of a catchy theme song. Technical analyst Ralph Acampora, who put himself on the map with Prudential Securities in the early to mid 90's with a Dow 10,000 prediction back when the industrials were hovering around 3,000, was always a favorite guest on the show. Time would later prove Acampora's call controversial and dead on.

With Lou, the individual investor finally had a voice, as many of the stocks mentioned Friday night would move significantly the following trading day. Sure we knew corporate still dominated the market, but the attention gave us hope. His sardonic approach to the ups and downs of the marketplace urged us to avoid jargon. He brought the complexities of financial news to ordinary viewers, and was repaid with the largest audience in the history of financial journalism. Though, the half cocked smile and glistening white hair weren't all that we admired about Rukeyser. We later learned that what had been thought of to be the gold balls of the family favorite had infact been made of steel.

In March 2002, Maryland Public TV, the producer of the show, hinted at hard times and announced it wanted to shake things up a bit with Lou's contract coming to an end in June. They had a new show planned in which Rukeyser was invited to be a commentator. He refused the offer and that Friday opened the show by letting millions of loyal fans know he had been "ambushed" by public television and went on to reveal, on the air, that "Wall $treet Week" was a huge cash cow for public television costing $2 million to produce, while bringing in $6 million from national underwriting. "And that doesn't include massive local underwriting!" he sarcastically exclaimed.

"I want you to rise out of your chair," he said, "not to shout, 'I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!' but to...write or e-mail your local PBS station saying you heard Louis Rukeyser is still going to have a program and you'd like to see it. I promise that if enough of you do that, it will do the job."

Maryland Public TV fired him effective immediately. That April, Rukeyser landed financial programming on CNBC and got the last laugh by seeing to it that the reruns of the new show were shown on PBS stations. "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" is now carried by more than 160 PBS stations.

While answering a viewers letter about investing in a hairpiece manufacturer, Lou once said, "If all your money seems to be hair today and gone tomorrow, we'll try to make it grow by giving you the bald facts on how to get your investments toupee."

Here's to Lou: to good memories, the white Washington wig, lending a lift to the little guy, and always striving to have your way with the man.

:: Johnny on the Spot ::