<<Actually, my MEMORY is that I kinda DID do that.>>

Yes, you might be right.  It's been awhile since I've heard it.  I seem to recall the preponderance of evidence leaning more toward Bradbury's version of events (and Essex coming off as a bit of a blackguard), but I could be wrong.  I do recall enjoying the commentary, btw.

As for Bradbury's name recognition these days, I teach English at the college level and have been doing so for nine years now.  Though I've never assigned Fahrenheit 451, I've assigned several other dystopian works, e.g., Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, and V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.  At some point early in the semester I usually ask the class if they've ever read Orwell's 1984, Animal Farm, or Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  The vast majority of them have been assigned at least one of those books in high school.  And even if they didn't actually read the book (in many high schools these days reading the assigned text books appears to be an optional activity) at least they knew who the authors were. 

Most of them would definitely not know who Rod Serling is.  Trust me on that.  For any eighteen-year-old in 2010, black-and-white television is like Zyklon-B-laced Kryptonite.  Sad, but true!