David El Attrache and Ed Wallace Stop Hosting KLIF Wheels
2023 November 18

The October 28^th broadcast of KLIF Wheels closed a very brief chapter where the radio show was titled Wheels with David El Attrache and John Ingram. David El Attrache has quit the radio show and is going back to selling cars at a dealership. His tenure is best remembered as someone who obviously disagreed with much of Wallace’s leftist propaganda, but was too cowardly to forcefully refute it on air. Yet, he still put his name and reputation on the show, and resulting stigma attached to him shall persist for a very long time.

That said, it seems appropriate to compare what that show was versus what Ed Wallace announced it would be prior to its launch last year. On the final show where its title was Wheels with Ed Wallace, Ed Wallace described the Wheels’ future as follows:

Wheels with Ed Wallace
KLIF 570 AM - October 29, 2022 11:41AM

Ed Wallace
“David and John are going to do their own show. I’m simply going to try to steer them in the direction that they feel comfortable.”

So, did David and John do their own show like Wallace prognosticated? Well, if once looks at the show content and format, not one element changed. The pre-recorded segments like Classic Tracks were all the same, with Ed Wallace being the sole writer and voice for all. The opening snark continued the same partisan tilt. Even the bumper music selection was untouched. Most significantly, Ed Wallace remained the host, dominating the microphone for all 52 shows except one. And that show (October 21^st) occurred just before the last show on the Wheels with David El Attrache and John Ingram series. Given that David El Attrache and John Ingram brought no original content to the show and did not actually the host the show as leads, yet another of Ed Wallace’s predications was proven false. For the entire year, El Attrache and Ingram never did a show that was truly their own.

But the lack of ownership was not the only failing of David El Attrache and John Ingram. When those two nominally took over Wheels, Wallace challenged El Attrache during that “final” Wheels with Ed Wallace show to bring on new sponsors. El Attrache had claimed that there were “good” dealers that one could bring onboard if one chose to do so.

Wheels with Ed Wallace
KLIF 570 AM - October 29, 2022 12:05PM

Ed Wallace
“If you're in the car business, you know, everybody who's got a good reputation. You also know who's got the worst.

I want everybody to know that a year ago, actually two years ago, when I started talking about maybe it was time to retire, David said ‘why?’.

And I said, because I'm running out of good people to put on the show.”

David El Attrache
“I did.”

Ed Wallace
“And you said, oh, no, there's lots of young, good people on their way up. If you don't have them on your show, that's on you!

[LAUGHTER]
I’m giving you the show!”

David El Attrache
“You said… I don’t remember laughing.”

Ed Wallace
“Yes, you did. But it is now on you.”

One year later, not one new sponsor joined the show. Instead, the opposite occurred. When El Attrache and Ingram nominally took over, Frank Kent Cadillac dropped their advertisements and Norm Reeves Subaru Rockwall abandoned plans to join the radio show. A few months later, the Autobahn Fort Worth also stopped advertising on Wheels. Furthermore, a year has passed with El Attrache and Ingram failing to attract sponsors with these “young, good people”. That is on El Attrache and Ingram. In lieu of new sponsors, Wheels limps along by backfilling lost sponsors with ads of dealership locations from his shrinking pool of current sponsors.

One must note that it is not all bad news for Ed Wallace, as one of his predictions came true.

Wheels with Ed Wallace
KLIF 570 AM - June 11, 2022 11:24AM

Ed Wallace
“I am very near the end of the road. It will be over before the year is done. Carl, I'm getting old.”

Caller “Carl”
“Ok”

Ed Wallace
“And I'm already ‘gritchy’ enough. I figure if I stay one more year, nobody's gonna be able to stand me.”

During Wheels’ broadcast of June 11, 2022, Wallace stated that if he stayed on-air for one more year, his presence will be found to be insufferable. Well, unlike his supposed “final” show in 2022 where the audience was subjected to a finale that was a ♫ melodramatic paean to himself, this year’s exit from stage went as follows:

Wheels with David El Attrache and John Ingram
KLIF 570 AM - October 28, 2023 11:59AM

David El Attrache
“Ed, you need to say goodbye for the last time?”

Ed Wallace
“Bye.”

[INANE BANTER / LAUGHTER…]

So, as the Wheels with David El Attrache and John Ingram chapter closes and the Wheels with Don Grantham and John Ingram begins, Ed’s terse departure after that one additional year indicates that everybody, including himself, now finds his presence insufferable. Wallace can take solace in that one of his predictions came true.

-- Related Stories --

2023/09/16 - Ed Wallace Announces His Final Date As KLIF Wheels Host. David El Attrache Also Leaving

2023/04/15 - Autobahn BMW and Volkswagen Stop Advertising on KLIF Wheels

2022/11/08 - Frank Kent Cadillac Stops Advertising on KLIF Wheels. Norm Reeves Subaru Rockwall Aborts Sponsoring.

2022/11/05 - Major Media Did Not Give Much Play to Ed Wallace's Retirement from KLIF