He’s coming to Dayton on Wednesday, May 26, to interview the brothers, 58, who are believed to be the world’s oldest conjoined twins.
Their spokesman and younger brother, James Galyon, said he’s convinced the show “will be a very good thing” for a charitable project to build a specially equipped home for the twins.
“When I heard Bill Cunningham was coming, I automatically thought it would be for radio,” he said. “I was surprised and then concerned when I heard there would be cameras. But I looked into it a bit and now I’m sure it will be a positive situation.”
The interview with the twins will be the first of five pilot episodes for a Cunningham TV talk show that would be shot mostly in the studio at WGN-TV in Chicago where Phil Donahue moved his pioneering TV show after launching it in 1967 in Dayton.
Richard Dominick, who produced the “Jerry Springer Show” for 18 years and the “Steve Wilkos Show,” will oversee production.
Sean Compton, senior vice president for programming and entertainment for the producing Chicago-based Tribune Co,, is a former staff member at WLW-AM.
He told the Cincinnati Enquirer the show will be about “opinions and issues. We see it as a modern ‘Donahue’ or a legal version of ‘Dr. Phil.’ It won’t be a political show.”
Compton said potential subjects include the kind Cunningham, an outspoken conservative, often discusses on the radio: pregnant women who smoke, castration for pedophiles and racial inequality.
Pete Andrews, founder of the nonprofit Christian Youth Corp., whose volunteers are building a home for the Galyons in Beavercreek, said the attention will be positive.
“I have heard Bill Cunningham. I am confident that his heart and desire is to help people. He’s also made a generous personal offer,” Andrews said.
Construction on the home was halted in early May until $15,000 could be raised for materials.
“That money is now in hand and we will be gaining speed again,” Andrews said.
The Galyons’ home is designed to have 48-inch doorways and an overhead rail system that can connect to the wheelchair the brothers share.
James Galyon said Cunningham plans “to show how Ronnie and Donnie live now and how they will be living in the future. My main concern about the TV visit is for the people who live in the neighborhood where the house is being built.”
Andrews and Galyon have asked that the address not be made public.
“Big Willie,” Cunningham’s nickname, is one working title for the show. The five episodes are expected to be broadcast in July on stations including WXIX-TV (Channel 19) in Cincinnati.
Cunningham has said he intends to continue doing his radio show in Cincinnati.
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