Jun 22, 2007 7:21 pm US/Central
Twin Cities DJ Buys Bob Barker's Microphone
by Jason DeRusha
(WCCO)
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Ryan spent the morning playing pricing games inspired by the show. On eBay, there were 85 bids, and the radio host was willing to pay more than he did.
CBS
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CBS engineers built the microphone Barker used for the last 15-years or so. (File)
AP
A Twin Cities radio host has paid nearly $20,000 for a piece of television history.
Dave Ryan, host of KDWB-FM's "Dave Ryan in the Morning Show," won Bob Barker's microphone in an eBay auction.
"I thought, 'What a cool opportunity to win something, to buy something that's a one-of-a-kind piece of American pop culture," Ryan said.
Friday morning, he unplugged his normal studio microphone and used the iconic Barker microphone to broadcast his radio show. Instead of three hosts using three microphones, everyone had to pass around the same skinny microphone.
Ryan spent the morning playing pricing games inspired by the show. On eBay, there were 85 bids, and the radio host was willing to pay more than he did.
"I had a limit of $20,000, but just to make sure I got it, I bid $22,000," said Ryan. He admitted that since the microphone arrived on Wednesday, people have been telling him that he was crazy to spend so much money.
"Including my wife who said, 'You gotta get out of it.' I said, 'Lets talk about this tomorrow.' She calmed down quite a bit, and now she's pretty cool with it," according to Ryan.
Barker's original microphone was a Shure, but it died in the early 1990s. CBS engineers built the microphone Barker used for the last 15-years or so. The microphone still has a Velcro ties labeled "CBS" and "CBS TVC" for CBS Television City, the studio where "The Price Is Right" taped.
Barker used a cabled microphone instead of a wireless by choice.
"Everybody's a "Price Is Right" fan. I don't think there's anybody who isn't," according to Ryan. "'Price Is Right' reminds me of when I was a kid, staying home sick from school, in PJ's on the couch, watching daytime TV."
Ryan said, he doesn't know what he's going to do with the microphone now. He's considering selling it again.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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