RIP Bernard McGuirk, a Sharp Tongue in the Imus Posse
Thirty-plus years ago, the wildly talented and sometimes volatile radio morning host Don Imus hired a kid named Bernard McGuirk as his executive producer.
That meant booking guests, outlining a general plan for the flow of each day’s show and making Imus’s train run somewhere close to on schedule. Some days it mostly meant dealing with Imus, who was a radio professional but could be, let’s say, mercurial and temperamental.
McGuirk turned out to be pretty good at all of that and unlike some producers who are mostly focused on logistics, McGuirk was always tuned in to the content of the on-air conversation. Don’s brother Fred, who had also worked on Imus show production, heard McGuirk adding his own off-the-air remarks from time to time and suggested to Don that he open McGuirk’s microphone and let him weigh in.
“It was Fred’s idea to open Bernie’s mic,” Imus said later, “and it was one of his best.”
Once Bernard McGuirk’s microphone was opened, it never shut off. He was a core of the Imus team for years and after Imus retired, he paired up with fellow Imus alum Sid Rosenberg to host the morning show on New York’s WABC (770 AM).
He kept that gig right up until he died Wednesday from brain cancer triggered by prostate cancer. He was 64 and he leaves two children, Melanie and Brendan, along with his wife Carol.
“He will be missed by all that knew him and listened to him,” WABC said in a statement. “He was the backbone of this entire radio station.”
While he and Rosenberg built a loyal audience in New York, McGuirk will probably remain best known to the larger radio world from his years with Imus, when the show had millions of listeners in national syndication.
McGuirk, along with newsman/sidekick Charles McCord and a cast that over the years included Lou Ruffino, Rob Bartlett, Fred Imus, Larry Kenney, Rosenberg, Warner Wolf, Mike Breen and others, created a posse that Imus always credited with making the show as successful as it was.
While Imus would often engage in long exchanges with McCord, McGuirk was more the mischievous kid who chimed in with a quip or a one-liner. “He’s so quick,” said Imus, who died in 2019. “And he’s got great timing. Besides being a great producer.”
McGuirk created the character of The Cardinal, who did prepared bits in a thick Irish brogue, offering decidedly un-theological commentary on current events.
McGuirk’s ad lib commentary often included ominous remarks about Imus, suggesting he was tyrannical and sometimes just plain nuts. Imus would sometimes respond with threats of his own, but just as often with a sheepish laugh.
Off the air during the Imus years, McGuirk never had anything but good things to say about his boss, who he acknowledged could be challenging but he also said was always fair and generous.
Perhaps the most challenging and public test of the Imus-McGuirk relationship came in the wake of the 2007 Rutgers firestorm, when Imus was dismissed after the show referred to players on the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed ho’s.”
McGuirk was the first to use that specific phrase, which Imus then seconded. But Imus took full blame for it, never pointing a finger at McGuirk — who, unlike McCord or anyone else on the team, was also fired.
McGuirk understandably never said much about all that, but privately he was immensely appreciative of Imus’s loyalty. McGuirk waited out Imus’s hiatus, making occasional appearances with Bill O’Reilly and other Fox News hosts, and when Imus returned to the air, McGuirk was back with him.
McGuirk came under fire at other times during the Imus years for cracks that reflected his conservative political views. When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, McGuirk referred to him as “a jug-eared neophyte.”
His political commentary with Imus often had a bemused tone, which became more serious when he first had his own WABC show and then teamed up with Rosenberg.
Off the air, McGuirk had the same propensity for fast quips, often with a self-deprecating edge. When it was noted that he had been at a gathering with a person who shared his political views, McGuirk remarked, “I should have known from the jackboots.”
McGuirk was born and raised in the South Bronx, graduating from the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx and working as a taxi driver, among other things, before he went into radio.
WABC plans to air a tribute show to McGuirk on Tuesday.
