Mr Controversy

Another piece I prepared for my writing group, I think the character could be developed into maybe some longer stories, or not.

Gary Lester was a creative type. Not in the sense that he made things, not a painter or a sculptor or a songwriter. Gary’s creations were destined for history, but not art galleries.

Gary created fear, division, fake controversies and headlines. Gary knew which buttons to press and had a long list of war stories to tell, in the right company of course.

As 6GF’s morning presenter he set the agenda for the city, whipping up his listeners into a frenzy over whatever issue could drive the ratings. Last year he’d been particularly pleased how something he had thought was an offhand remark escalated to the point of riots in Armadale. It was almost like everything he touched turned to gold. Ratings gold.

Just last month he had forced a plumber to flee town over a large bill to a single mother, looking back now, the bill didn’t seem that bad, but it was good radio and generated calls for days. Surely the plumber was back in town by now. Or not.

The single mother had had her 15 minutes of fame, so there was that, and she was lucky she wasn’t like most single mothers he featured on his show, the usual ones got criticism for being welfare cheating baby makers.

But last night he had struck on the biggest vein of gold ever, Freedom fighters. This small but loud group could give him material for weeks. This stuff would rate it’s socks off and confirm Gary’s status as Mr controversy.

It would be no issue getting them to talk, they were all over Facebook whining about their right to free speech, so they would surely love a platform like his, the highest rating radio show in the City. 

But how to play them for the most effect, and best to get them on the phone, Gary didn’t want to get anywhere near these anti vaxxers , even with his booster shot.

If he attacked them early, the talent would dry up, so he needed to come across as a bit sympathetic, maybe give them enough rope to make themselves look bad. 

He called out to his producer “I need you find some people for me”