The Life and Style of Robin Leach
So, in the interim I met up with Robin Leach who happened to be having dinner at Tao at the Venetian. Leach is a fascinating man, and I am little jealous that we both report on Vegas happenings, because the sources he has transcend anything that any of the rest of us get. This jealousy is somewhat reduced by the fact that Leach is always extraordinarily generous with leads, contacts and stories and an-all-around interesting and smart person. It is also nice to meet someone who started as a magazine writer now so ridiculously successful. Leach is also inspiring in both his drive and his ambition neither of which are mellow: Robin Leach has earned his rich and famous lifestyle.
Last year I spent weeks with Leach as he attempted to transform a lousy local UHF station into a national cable network. The station was not even on local cable yet and the dream was in theory impossible. But Leach tossed in his own money, began to take on partners, bring in national on-air talent and behind the scenes television pros to run things. It was in short moving from impossible to a mere long-shot. Just as all this was happening though, things fell apart on the personality side and Robin wound up in litigation and I wound up with a fascinating cover story about the entire affair for Las Vegas Weekly. Hardly discouraged or slowed down, Leach got right back on the horse and began plugging away at other television ventures and opportunities in Vegas striking partnerships with AOL and others.
