Part 2 of a three-part story. See part 1 here.
With a career in radio broadcasting spanning 46 years, Rickie Ricardo has covered many superstars.
Working for the Yankees as their Spanish broadcaster and doing the same for the Philadelphia Eagles for 18 and 15 years, respectively, Ricardo has covered greats like Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, three-time MVP Aaron Judge, and Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts.
But they pale in comparison to two international music icons that Ricardo, for a while, resided in their orbit. One was the mercurial talent sometimes known as a symbol — Prince. Yes, Prince.
The other was the polar opposite. He was brash, the wildest of childs best described as a “well … Super Freak. That song says it all,” states Ricardo. “Everything that you can imagine from the lyrics of Super Freak came to life on a nightly basis.” Ricardo was James’ MC for six years. “Those were six of the most fun years. Now looking back on it, I’m amazed that I survived it.”
Because he was tight with Crocker, who was from Buffalo like James, that meant “automatic respect. For some reason, we really hit it off. I ate, slept, and did everything at his home in Buffalo.
“He would put his hair in a rasta hat, and we would walk to the Anchor Bar and have chicken wings,” he recalls. Many cervezas were probably consumed. He saw James’s destructive side firsthand. Luckily, it did not destroy him. “By all logic, I shouldn’t be around. We did some really, really … look, he’s gone. I’m still in one piece and thank God I’m still healthy and able to work.”
Prince was an altogether different royal. “It was almost Oz-like getting to Prince,” he remembers. Ricardo would come to Prince’s homebase at Paisley Park in Minnesota to hang out as James and Prince toured together.
“You had layers of people in between him, and when he finally got to you, he would say hello, and he wouldn’t talk to you for a year or six months,” he admits. One time, Prince kicked everybody out because he wanted to use the studio.
“It was 18 below zero,” he said. “My White Castle hot chocolate turned into a fudgesicle.” With that, Ricardo let out a booming laugh. They both trusted him because he was “Frankie’s boy” and that carried major cachet. If you were okay with Frankie, then all was right with the world.
Crocker, who passed in 2000, even gave Ricardo his name after the classic character from the “I Love Lucy” TV series of the 1950s.“That’s not my legal name,” he said. He was born Jorge Lima, Jr. born in Newark, NJ, to Cuban-born parents. Castro came to power in 1959. They left in 1961 when the government took his father’s business. His mom was carrying him.
Today, Ricardo and his fiancée Maria Berral, radio sideline reporter for the Eagles, have been together for 15 years. “She is my rock,” he admits. “We’re practically husband and wife, and we’re talking about going to Vegas and [getting married] this year.”
Ricardo knows how to make it work with superstars. “Prince recorded ‘Dirty Mind’ (in 1980), and songs like that weren’t widely accepted,” notes Ricardo. “We played them in heavy rotation on WBLS and took the taboo away.” It must have paid off as the programming was highly successful.
“I was accepted by the entire WBLS audience, the Black community, the Hispanic community, and the white Angelos that love BLS,” he said, adding, “We were the darlings of the Upper East Side.”
In Part Three next week, Ricardo helps to develop the La Mega format and has a flair for sports business.
