There’s a long, extremely revealing and quite valuable look into the mind, person and life of former DFW radio shock jock Russ Martin printed in The Dallas Observer yesterday, written by Richie Whitt.
Martin, you’ll recall, recently accepted a plea bargain of two years probation after his fiancee was beaten up, although he still claims he didn’t lay a hand on her.
Whitt’s first paragraph summarizes Martin pretty well:
“He’s a vulgar, pompous bully who for years physically and psychologically tormented his Dallas radio co-workers to gain fame and fortune.”
But before you read it, please be warned that the article is filled with quotes using lot of bad language, quoting Martin and his former sidekicks, so you might not want to read it. But that’s what was usually heard on his afternoon drive radio show, listened to primarily by those who enjoyed white trash humor.
Click to read the Observer article here.
The article leaves me feeling even more disgusted with Martin, whose schtick finally died, plus with CBS radio management, which made him a millionaire. Anything for money is obviously the case.
It’s so interesting to me how willing so many people were to overlook his obviously abusive personality just so they could be popular and make money – at the expense of so many.
Even a former listener said that his assault conviction of his former fiancee was none of our business and just his private life. Hmmm…guess that means we should just overlook all assaults.
Here are some quotes which tell us who Martin really was…and apparently still is:
“Stuff he’d say to us on the air he wouldn’t say to us in the hall, because he’s a coward,” said J.D. Ryan, Martin’s radio right-hand man for 25 years.
“For him to be truly happy, those around him also had to fail miserably.”
“Russ is a miserable person,” says Lori Miears, ex-fiancée of a former Martin show cast member. “I’ve seen random acts of kindness from him, but I’ve never met anyone that genuinely likes him. Or vice-versa.”
“Power and control. That’s what he got off on,” said J.D. Ryan. ”Everything he did was founded in manipulation.”
“He was a bully that was always marking his territory with control and power,” Ryan says.
“If you worked for Russ, you were sexually assaulted in one way or another,” says a former staff member who requested anonymity. “I’m not saying he was gay or bisexual, but…how about inappropriate and extremely peculiar? Let’s go with that.”
“Except him being a horrible person. That part was totally real.”
“Ours turned into an abusive relationship, because Russ has difficulty with people who care about him. His mindset is that he’s got to hurt them before they hurt him first.”
“Part of me pities him,” Lewis says. “Because it’s sad for someone to be so insecure they have to act that way.”
And that is the bottom line. The majority of abusers are abusive because, underneath their often charming persona, they feel terribly insecure, deply hurt and unloved. They’ll do virtually anything to prevent the pain from being inflicted again, or from being abandoned again.
Martin was obviously terribly hurt and abused emotionally as a child.
Hey, Richie, how about doing that story next…
