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Ken interviews entertainment journalist John Bathke. · The Mark Simone Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ken Rosado. The question is, what's going to happen now?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: What's going to happen to her estate? What's going to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: happen in terms of funerals? With us on the phone
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: is Emmy Award-winning entertainment journalist John Bathke. He's going to
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: talk to us about the Dolly Parton passing and the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: plans for the upcoming funeral. Good morning to you, my friend, John.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Ken. Good to be with you.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: It's great to have you on. John has been on
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  Speaker 1: our show on On New Jersey Radio. In the past,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and thankfully, I think, what did we do? We put
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: you out to suffer in the last snowstorm we had.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I think you helped us out with that, right?
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  Speaker 2: Well, suffer is right. But actually, it was very near home,
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  Speaker 2: so I could actually just walk out the door and
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  Speaker 2: get there. So it wasn't a bad commute that day,
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  Speaker 2: but it was good to be on with you that
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  Speaker 2: day as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's a good thing. You know, here he is,
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  Speaker 1: the man wins Emmy Awards doing entertainment journalism, and we
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: throw him out in a snowstorm. But that just says
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  Speaker 1: everything about us, right? So let's talk about Dolly Parton.
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  Speaker 1: This woman was just beloved by all Americans. She's probably
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  Speaker 1: one of the few, maybe the only person who was
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  Speaker 1: non-polarizing in an era when everybody's polarizing. And when she died,
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  Speaker 1: I think she just impacted everyone in some way, right?
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  Speaker 1: Everybody can think of where they were when one of
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  Speaker 1: her hits came on and think about things like even
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  Speaker 1: younger people not realizing that Whitney Houston's I Will Always
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Love You was her song. So why do you think
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  Speaker 1: America was so impacted by Dolly Parton?
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  Speaker 2: I think it's several things. She had this ability, Ken,
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  Speaker 2: to crystallize what everybody has felt or experienced or gone
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  Speaker 2: through in life and put it in a song and
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  Speaker 2: then attach a really catchy melody to it and drive
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  Speaker 2: that thing home and make it a hit. Think of
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  Speaker 2: nine to five. Everybody at some point has had a boss, right?
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  Speaker 2: Who was on their back or they didn't feel they
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  Speaker 2: were getting the fair shot. And that song just crystallized,
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  Speaker 2: not only for women in the workplace at the time,
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  Speaker 2: but for everybody. And she did that again and again
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  Speaker 2: and again with her music. So I think people related
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  Speaker 2: to her in that way. And then there was this,
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  Speaker 2: you know, even though she obviously had a very glamorous
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  Speaker 2: life and worked with the biggest stars, she kept her
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  Speaker 2: salt-of-the-earth persona and her way with words about her all
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: through her life. And I think that authenticity just held
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  Speaker 2: people so dear to her.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Entertainment reporter John Bathke on with us today. This is
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Ken Rosato on The Mark Simone Show, and we're talking
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: about Dolly Parton and her passing. She composed nearly 5,000
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  Speaker 1: songs that she started writing when she was a child.
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  Speaker 1: She recorded 1,000 to 1,100 of them. And she had
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  Speaker 1: 25 number one singles on the Billboard country chart, 113
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  Speaker 1: entries on the Hot Country Songs list. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: that we'll ever see somebody with that much success.
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  Speaker 2: No. And the fact that her success was so... as
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  Speaker 2: a songwriter, but as a performer, and as an entrepreneur,
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  Speaker 2: and as a philanthropist. It was so multifaceted. There are
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  Speaker 2: so many tent poles to her legacy in show business
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  Speaker 2: and in business. And I believe, I have to believe,
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  Speaker 2: that there will be songs of hers that are released
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  Speaker 2: for years and years and decades to come. I have
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  Speaker 2: to believe that she had in the bank... things that
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  Speaker 2: she had recorded and never released, certainly songs that she
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  Speaker 2: had written and were never recorded and someone would love
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  Speaker 2: to record. I just think she may have left this earth,
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  Speaker 2: but her music is going to live on. And I
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  Speaker 2: think there will even be new music from her. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: there's going to be a Broadway show about her life,
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  Speaker 2: you know, opening early next year. So with songs, new
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  Speaker 2: songs that she wrote. So she's, she is, a gift
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  Speaker 2: in a way to culture that it's going to keep
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  Speaker 2: on giving, I believe.
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  Speaker 1: So I just read that in 2015 in Dollywood, at
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  Speaker 1: Dollywood's Dream More Resort in Pigeon Forge, Dolly recorded and
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  Speaker 1: buried a song called My Place in History that nobody
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  Speaker 1: has ever heard. It is an unreleased secret song. It
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  Speaker 1: will be released in 2045. So we all have to
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: stick around until 2045 to hear it. But that's amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious now what's in it, because maybe she finally
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  Speaker 1: unleashes on people.
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  Speaker 2: Who knows?
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  Speaker 1: I just don't see her unleashing on anyone.
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  Speaker 2: I have heard her speak about that. And she actually
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  Speaker 2: said after she buried it, she wanted to dig it
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  Speaker 2: back up because she thought it really was going to
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  Speaker 2: be a big hit.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it'll benefit her estate. That's amazing. Yeah, so she
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  Speaker 1: was worth a net of $ 450 million. Her total value
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  Speaker 1: was $ 800 million. This is a girl born in a
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  Speaker 1: big family in the Appalachian area, Tennessee. Total poverty, but
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  Speaker 1: they had love. And as she said, We had class.
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  Speaker 1: It was country class, but it was class. And you
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  Speaker 1: could see she had a certain dignity and class that
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  Speaker 1: only comes with being raised right. The respect that she
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: had for other people, the love that she had for
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  Speaker 1: other people just came across anytime she was interviewed. hearing
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  Speaker 1: the way she spoke with Johnny Carson, just the fun.
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  Speaker 1: And even the way she handled Barbara Walters, who couldn't,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: there were many times Barbara could be a not too
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  Speaker 1: nice person. And when Barbara asked Sarah, would I call
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  Speaker 1: you where I'm from? Would I refer to you as
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  Speaker 1: a hillbilly? And you could see Dolly was offended by it.
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  Speaker 1: But instead of saying, you know, shut your mouth, Dolly
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  Speaker 1: said with a smile and a giggle on intelligence, she said, well,
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  Speaker 1: if you said something like that to me, I'd probably
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: come around and kick your shins and then laughed. But
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  Speaker 1: that was her way of saying, shut your mouth, lady.
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  Speaker 1: And it was a respectful way of doing it.
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  Speaker 2: And also, you know, she was born into those things
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  Speaker 2: and had a sense of respect in her growing up.
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  Speaker 2: She was also, I believe, certainly born with just an
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  Speaker 2: amazing drive, a drive to work, a drive to succeed,
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  Speaker 2: a drive to lift up not only her family, but
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  Speaker 2: then the entire county where she was born. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: years ago, she started a scholarship program in her county
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  Speaker 2: that she was born in, where everybody who graduated from
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  Speaker 2: high school, she gave them $ 500. I believe it continues
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  Speaker 2: to this day.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: There are people in public office. I heard the mayor,
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  Speaker 2: the former mayor of that town, say that he was
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  Speaker 2: one of those high school graduates who got a $ 500
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  Speaker 2: bonus for graduating from Dolly Parton. And, you know, that
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  Speaker 2: is just such a a great legacy to leave. And
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  Speaker 2: her literacy campaign that she has been so dedicated to
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  Speaker 2: for many, many years has provided millions of books to people.
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  Speaker 2: You talked about her net worth. I have to believe
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  Speaker 2: her net worth would have been twice what you're talking
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  Speaker 2: about if she had not been as philanthropic as she
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  Speaker 2: was and simply she gave away money to causes that
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: she supported.
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  Speaker 1: Hundreds of millions. She gave away hundreds. They don't say
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  Speaker 1: how many hundreds of millions. She gave away How many
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: people could say that? Hundreds of billions of dollars.
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  Speaker 2: Amazing.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know a lot about a funeral. Apparently, it's
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: going to be a small private memorial service. But I
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  Speaker 1: would think that America is begging and dying for a
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  Speaker 1: big memorial service that could be organized outside of her
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  Speaker 1: rightfully deserved family memorial. I mean, they deserve a private
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  Speaker 1: small ceremony. But I would think that there would be
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  Speaker 1: something large organized for all the rest of us to
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  Speaker 1: celebrate her life. Don't you?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. And I think there will be more than one.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure that once she is laid to
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  Speaker 2: rest and the family has had a minute, I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: the Country Music Academy, I am sure the Ryman Auditorium
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  Speaker 2: in Nashville would be a beautiful place to host a
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  Speaker 2: very star-studded tribute concert to her. And I'm sure, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the Emmys are coming up. She was an Emmy winner.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure there will be a tribute to her there.
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  Speaker 2: She was a two-time Oscar winner. I'm sure, you know,
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  Speaker 2: next year at the Oscars, there will be a tribute
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  Speaker 2: to her. I think I said Oscar winner. She was
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  Speaker 2: a two-time Oscar nominee, rather, for songs that she wrote
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  Speaker 2: for films and certainly the Grammys. I think she has
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  Speaker 2: about 10 Grammy awards. There'll be tributes to her along
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  Speaker 2: the way. And then I think when the Broadway show
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  Speaker 2: about her life, which she has been heavily involved in
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  Speaker 2: the writing of the music for, I think that will
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  Speaker 2: be another big moment in this sort of collective grief
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  Speaker 2: that people are experiencing and this want to celebrate this
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  Speaker 2: remarkable human being.
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  Speaker 1: John, I knew that she was from a big family.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't realize she was one of 12. Wow. Can
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  Speaker 1: you imagine in the poverty of the Appalachians? To have
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  Speaker 1: 12 kids. So she had six brothers. There were six
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  Speaker 1: brothers and six sisters in total. She was the fourth
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  Speaker 1: oldest of them.
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  Speaker 2: Of them.
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  Speaker 1: And six of the siblings are still alive. So amazing. Well,
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  Speaker 1: Emmy award-winning entertainment journalist, John Bathke, we've seen you on
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  Speaker 1: TV a billion times. I love that you came on
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  Speaker 1: this morning. We appreciate you. And I'm sure as we
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  Speaker 1: get more info about any upcoming Memorial of Life for
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the great Dolly Parton, we will have you want to
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  Speaker 1: talk about it.
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  Speaker 2: I would love it. Thank you, Ken.
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  Speaker 1: All right, John, have a great day. Thanks so much
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: for coming on. It is Ken Rosato in for Mark
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: on your Friday. When we come back, we'll take more
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: of your calls at 800-321-0710, 800-321-0710 for WOR.