Why I’ll miss Les Grobstein

I have never met Les nor was I one of his many loyal listeners. On a typical night, Les would be on the air while I was asleep. However, having worked in tech for the past 15 years, there were many a day that I drew the short straw and had to work a dreaded overnight shift. Most often these were software releases where I only had to hang around in case something broke. So it was quite possible I’d be sitting around from 11pm-7am just waiting and staring at a computer screen. In order to convince myself that this wouldn’t be so boring, I thought of the things I could do: drink a whole pot of coffee, finish a box of little chocolate donuts, meet my buddy who worked 3rd shift for first call at Rossi’s, and of course listen to the Grobber.

That last part was the best treat because the show went for pretty much the entirety of the night and all of the sudden, I wasn’t alone. It really didn’t matter what the topic was going to be because you knew Les would have a unique thought on it and OH BOY would the callers be unique. The madness that was that 5 hour show was the perfect thing to make me feel like maybe I was lucky to be the one working overnight.

When I heard the sad news this morning that Les had passed away, I was thinking that there must have been so many people with the same experience. And without fail, the internet provided a ton of tweets from people that were out there listening just like me. I’ll understand if the Score decides it’s more financially sound to put some syndicated show in his place, but I felt like it needed to be reiterated that the Grobber was a true friend to the insomniacs, the overnight workers, and the drunk degenerates; which depending on the night, I’ve been a member of each group.

Les Grobstein will be greatly missed in this town.

-Chorizy-E