Jizzo Celebrates 20 Years in Radio - Episode: 153

We give Jizzo his flowers as he celebrates 20 years in radio.  We share a bunch of fun stories through his journey.  Here's to 20 more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As the recording of this podcast. TikTok is supposed to
be banned this Sunday, the nineteenth.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Yeah, I mean I have.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
A few thoughts about it, And I guess the first
thing I'll say is I have a conspiracy theory, meaning
I think, well, this is just a theory, no facts
on this. But you know how the Supreme Court those
are aren't those majority like Trump's people. Yeah, so they're

(00:30):
gonna make it sound like they're gonna ban it, and
then there's gonna be an extension, a delay, and then
when Trump is officially in office, which that's happening in
a few days, like he's gonna save it. Yeah, and
then TikTok is saved.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
So yeah, I mean, well, did you hear about the
CEO of TikTok's supposed to be inauguration. I just saw
that today, which was interesting, and I know that he's
been wanting it to be uh the band put on pause.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
But away from away from the conspiracy theorist, what's your
thoughts on just the decision of even banning an app?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, did you see that a lot of people are
going to these other Chinese apps?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Or China based ap red notes.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Essentially prove a point of like, yo, these apps are
owned by China too, Like what are you going to do?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Band ease?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
I understand the sentiments, the thought process of oh, you
know this, they're they're spying on our info. Any app,
any smart hacker can probably make that happen with anything.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
So what do you think is the real reason then,
or do you think that is their reasoning?

Speaker 1 (01:50):
That's the part that confuses me because you're gonna hurt
a lot of businesses, a lot of youngsters that are
becoming famous out of this from this app, and they're
making their money this way. Like I said, small businesses.
I've bought many things on TikTok. I've been on the

(02:11):
TikTok shop. So it's gonna affect small businesses, people that
were people that were influencers.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, like that's their job is to be on TikTok.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Now, yes, there's other apps, but as we know, the
world works when things are hot. When the iron is
hot in TikTok is the hot thing right now, So
will people recover and find something else more than likely.
But I'm just saying for right now, it's just the
way I see it. I don't see a threat. And

(02:43):
obviously I'm not in the government. I'm not in the
you know, in uh. I was gonna say, like the.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Not the Pentagon, but you're not in government.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Just you know, it's just an entertaining app and it
for me just feels like.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Really yeah, and if they when they have done something
already by now, I mean TikTok's been around for a
few years now, so I don't know, like it's already
out there. There's oh, you know, millions of people on it.
I don't really understand. Now, what is your gut feeling.
Do you believe it's actually gonna go away on Sunday?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
No?

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Really?

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, you think he's gonna be delayed.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Okay, it'll be delayed and then and then they'll eventually
just be around still. Or do you think do you
think someone will buy it because they're pretty adamant about
not selling, or do you feel like there's just this
who's gonna budge first? And you know there's almost like
this this game is being played between both sides, like
are you gonna buy?

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Are you gonna well, I.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Be surprised if he gets band. No, I just don't
think it will because this is just my how I
see things. It's not that serious.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
So yeah, TikTok is a learning tool for me. How
many recipes I've learned on there. I've been learning how
to play golf from TikTok videos, So i'd yeah, it suck.
It would suck if it disappeared. I use it as
entertainment and a learning tool. So I just I don't

(04:16):
understand just why that app I know it's you know,
the owner of it, Chinese government, but it's been around.
It's kind of like what you just said, like they
would have gotten. And also the information I have on
there is nothing that there's nothing super personal on there.

(04:36):
I mean we always say too like let's say, let's
just say something happens and I'm not thinking of anything major.
I'm thinking of something minor, and they go like, see,
well then you deal with it at that moment. You've
been having TikTok for years.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
And nothing crazy has happened.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah. Man, So I don't think it's going to disappear.
That's how Wait real quick, how about you?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
I don't think it is either I think something's gonna
either like delay it or they'll put a stop. But
come this Sunday when it's supposed to allegedly go black
in the United States. I don't think so, but I
guess we'll find out in a few days.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
This could give me for our podcast What Up on Jizzo?
That is John Magic and we are back now.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
The title it's happy twenty years to Young Jizzo's radio career.
But I would be remiss if I didn't mention because
it does kind of have to go along with this podcast.
The recording of this podcast is on Eliah's birthday. And
I'm not gonna make this long winded story long at all.

(05:42):
Just keep it short. My first week in radio ever.
Just imagine a young twenty something year old on Power
one oh six in la first week, never been on
the radio ever, and your boss calls you and says,
Leah passed away and.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Like you have to make the announcement.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Wow. I was so confused, Like how do I do
this without?

Speaker 3 (06:07):
I don't think you ever told me that story.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, I was. I had to announce it.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Do you remember what shift it was?

Speaker 1 (06:12):
It was the weekend shift. It was in the afternoon.
It was like during the mix, and I remember my
bosses like get some alias songs ready, put it into
the Scott's system.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
We had the Scott touch screen.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, that's I mean, obviously this was twenty plus years ago,
and I was the one that had to say it
on the radio. And to this day, I have friends
on Alia's either Alia's birthday or Aliyah's death anniversary, they'll
like text me and say, hey, I was listening to
you that day. I have friends that still text me
and remember that moment that I had to announce it.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Do you remember what you said or how you said
it or no.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
I just I remember just staying calm. I didn't want
to make it this big speech because I didn't know
how to present it. I've never been on the radio.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Before, and you got to present something like that.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
It's pretty serious, yes, So I just remember just keeping
it short and then letting them like playing her music.
Yeah yeah, And then the calls just came in and
I didn't even know how to handle that. I wish
I knew what I knew now, and I would have
made it a better presentation. Probably over the radio air
some calls calls, but I was so new to radio.

(07:22):
But just imagine a rookie you getting called like, hey,
you have to announce this.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I mean I've done it
numerous times over the years. When someone passes away, you
sort of, you know, mention it on the radio. But
I mean at that time, though, like your first, I
would have been kind of nervous too.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
How do I say this?

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I don't want to come off like I don't care.
I don't want to, you know, say something that sounds
out of pocket.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Everything that you just said is what was going through
my But I bring that up my first weekend radio
because we got to congratulate you and give you your
flowers for making it to twenty years in the radio business.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Man, this month marks my twenty And it's crazy because
when I tell people that, they're like, damn, so, how
old are you? But I'll say this, I've basically been
in radio since right after high school, so that's why
it seems crazy. And people still say that I still
look young, so I'll take it. But yeah, man, twenty years.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, I mean, you're gonna have to remind me the
beginnings of it, because I don't even remember making you
my intern.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
I don't remember these things, and I'm sure you these
are like core memories for you.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, I got the the internship over the radio because
back when we set have interns and I think every semester.
It was an announcement for the fall in the spring
that the radio station was looking for interns, and so
I had applied. My dad had actually told me about it.
He had heard it on the radio. And I was
a full time student in college but I didn't have

(08:50):
a job, so I thought this could be cool radio.
By the way, radio was nothing that I ever thought
I would be in, especially you know, I'm the introvert.
I was the quiet kid. But I thought, you know,
I like hip hop and music, and I thought it
could be fun to be an on air person like that.
And I just remember I applied for it and I

(09:11):
went to my interview. You were actually sitting in the interview,
do you remember, I don't.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
I know we've brought this story up before, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Okay, Yeah, So it was the PD at the time,
you and then the afternoon guy at the time, and
I just remember getting interviewed, and of course we've talked
about this before, but we're just not good interviewers new
or is it interviewees interviewers okay or.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
I don't know. I'm not good when someone's interviewing me.
I just I don't know.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
I know we've did a whole podcast about this, but
I was probably quiet. My answers were probably just like
one and done, and then I just left. And I
remember I got the call from the PD at the
time and he even said, like, your interview was horrible,
like you didn't say anything, but I just I just
see something in you.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Who knows if that was real. I was about to say, no,
that could be there's some truth in that, because there's
a piece of me that trying to remember. I think
we wanted to just hire everyone, Yeah, but at that
time I think no, I think g wanted was selective.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, because obviously the more, the more, the more you get,
the more help you get. Right, So it could have
just been one of those situations where maybe he really
did see something in me, because obviously twenty years later,
I'm still here. So I remember getting that call back
and coming here to do my internship. And where where
did you start? Like what was your my first things?

(10:28):
My first thing was to learn the board. That was
the first thing that you learned?

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Was it through me? Because usually I remember I was
the one teaching a lot of the interns.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Uh No, it was actually because the way my schedule was,
I had like that noontime open, so I learned during
the noon mix. So at the time there was a
mix during noon. And Josh Butters shouts to Josh Butters,
he was an intern, he used to work here as
a good friend of mine. He showed me the board
because he was running the board.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Ye.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
By the way, if you don't know what the board is,
it's like all the switches on the board.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, when you look when the classic you look in at.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Your radio station, you see the board. Yeah, so you
have to learn that first. So I learned that, and
I was a super quick learner. Just that's kind of
my personality. And I remember you you were doing the
night show at the time, and you just needed an
extra board op for whatever reason, maybe because who you
had at the time it was just they would they would,

(11:26):
their schedule was maybe hit or miss, and you kind
of needed someone who had learned the boards already to
do your nine o'clock mix at night.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Up because so I would during my show, I would
be doing the show on my own, meaning running the board.
But at nine o'clock, I would mix, and at this
time we mixed live.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, and you can't really mix and run the board
at the same time.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, I mean it's not impossible, but it's just so
much better when you have someone running the board while
you're mixing.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
So I don't know if somebody told you that I
was good or give me a shot or something, I
do remember this.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
So at that time I was trying to create something
on my show where if some interns are gonna be here,
like I want them to be part of my show.
And it's something that I was kind of used to
being doing a radio in LA I remember just seeing
I like the energy of a lot of people in there, so.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
I know, sounds like a party.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
I know I wanted to put together a team, but
I didn't say that to anyone, but in my head,
I'm like, I need to find some interns. And I
was very selective because I wanted to pick people that
kind of fit the night show. So if you were
like someone just calm and you know, not energetic, I
probably wouldn't pick you. And also it had to fit
the time slot, meaning like were you available at that time,

(12:42):
So that's sort of like how I was kind of
looking for interns. But the one big thing that why
I remember wanting you as part of my show is
because of your fashion. Like I had the look. Can
you describe because it's almost an inside joke with the
homies of how you used to dress.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Well, let me just say this was during the era
at that time. Yeah, so it was like the big
white tees. It was like the baggy clothes. It was
the you know, the fitted hats, fitted it has the
baggy clothes. I had that. I had that whole get up,
you know what I mean. I even had the airbrush
shirt like everything. I had, that whole get up. It
was during that time. And in my head, like as

(13:21):
you say, you're like, oh, he kind of fits that fit,
like you know, it's.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Hip it's a hip hop station. Yeah. So and then
I think that, I mean, obviously there you might have
to like kind of fill me in on some highlights
on that. But I do remember you knew how to
run my show. Yeah, yeah, you knew how to run
the board to the point. So it's so weird how
how we do radio today.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, it's a lot different.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
It's because you could record a show, you could do
a show remotely from somewhere else, and that's I do
it from home, that's and that's okay, yeah yeah. But
so you have to remember twenty years ago, this technology
didn't exist.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
You had to be super hands on, super active, pay
attention like everything had to run like manually essentially, and
so you had to be on top of things.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
And at this time I was super busy as a
touring DJ. I was DJing man, I was djaying Thursday
through Sunday.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Was this during the hot important nights.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Everything hot important nights clubs with Joe. My off days
would just be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday through Sunday.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
I would be out of town exactly.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Trap flying out of airports and during this time, you
know rpds. Actually, it's just the way our business was.
You couldn't just leave. You had to ask for vacation
time and so forth.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
You couldn't just record and dip. You technically could at
the time, but it just what they didn't want you to.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Well. Also, if you recorded, like you said, you needed
someone there though, to make sure it all ran right,
all ran correctly, Because we didn't have the technology of
the timing and all that stuff. Yeah, it does it automatically.
So as the months went on of me understanding, like, man,
Jesse understands my show. Yeah, I would just record on

(15:16):
the vox Pro radio. People will know what the vox
Pro is, but it's just a machine where you could
record your talk breaks.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, and you see the waves in there, yep.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
And then you would need a board ope you to
play it back and make it sound like I was there,
and I would sneak out. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Man, I can't believe you did that. And what made
it even crazier is you did it when even like
I wasn't even supposed to be here because it was
during summertime and they didn't have interns in summer. But
I remember it used to hit me and you'd be like, yo,
you want to run my show while I leave? So
you're not supposed to be leaving and I'm not even
supposed to be here.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Can you believe that? I mean, it's not illegal, but
I'm just saying the words of like a work envin,
I was doing some illegal ship like.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
I'm out that could have got you in trouble.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
And isn't there a story where we almost got caught
like a the PD called.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
I don't remember, but I do remember you saying like,
if anybody calls, Yeah, we had like we had like
I stepped out or something. And then I think I
just said a like the PD called and then you
may have called him and it was like, oh, I
just stepped out for something like that.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
I don't remember it was, That's what it was.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
I was halfway to lay and then I was like, oh, hey,
Gizo said that you called. And then he said something
and I think I was like, oh, yeah, I'm just
down the street. I'm on my way back, but I
was already near La.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
I mean that.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
I mean at the time, if you think about it,
you really had to put a lot of trust in
me to make sure that your show did ran good,
because that could have been a disaster over air. Not
to mention it would have got back to the PD.
You would have gotten in trouble. I probably would have
gotten not allowed in this building anymore. Yeah, I mean
I was scared.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
So I do have to say I never I never
got caught, never got in trouble. Yeah, no one ever knew.
And usually the times I needed you is when I
would have a gig in La. So hence me having
So my show at the time was seven to midnight. Yeah. Yeah,
so that's if you guys are wondering, like, why don't
you just do your show and then leave? No, Like
I needed to be four hours away for a gig

(17:21):
and I can't leave at seven.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, basically you were.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
You were at your gig in La or whatever at
the club and your show was still going on. Like
that's how crazy it was.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
But the cool thing was, you know when you're when
you're driving and it's before Bakersfield and my show's playing,
I could see, I could listen to it, and you
always ran my show like it sounded like I was there.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
And this was even before iHeart radio, so you had
to like listen on the in your car. But that
was fun times. Of course, you know, at that time,
you're young and hungry, not that I'm not anymore, but
at that time you're willing to do whatever. Like I
wasn't even paid or anything.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
It's rare to find people like that because I was.
I mean, you know, I was like that. I'm not
trying to like put the lot on me, but it's
just a comparison to your work ethic. Is how I
was when I was an intern at KGGI nineteen ninety six,
but that's even before that. But yet that's a good point.

(18:19):
But bobbysoto dot com was my first mentor DJ where
I would have to pick up his lunch, you know,
grab my laundry or you know at the dry cleaners.
I did all that and in my head, I didn't
care that I wasn't getting paid. Yeah, those are like
rare people to find, and sometimes those are the stories

(18:41):
of the people that became successful. Are people that do that.
And to bring up the point that you said, when
I was working at Power we had the big at
the time, the biggest festivals show before it was called festivals,
but it was when all the artists would performance called
the Powerhouse the radio yeah, the radio stations concert. I
had like twenty artists performed on twenty of the biggest artists.

(19:04):
It was called Powerhouse. I was at Power Want six
for two years total. I did not go to one Powerhouse.
Why it's because at the time, same thing there was
no recording. I had to be in the studio on
the show. I had to be the show. Yeah, so
I would be the ones saying power one of six,
let's check in.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
Live from everyone's at the concert.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Everyone's on the concert. But again did I I to
me that was so much fun?

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, like you were down to do it.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
I didn't care that I was in at the concert.
I was on the radio.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
I remember even during like holidays, you know, I would
be down to coming here Thanksgiving. I've been up in here,
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, even probably coming up in here
just because I wanted to be in here just to
get my hands on everything.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
So after that, I think, I mean, you could shorten
this story because I think there's an episode about this. Yeah,
But after that, how did you get to the next level? Next?
Like I guess the next level would be on air
for yourself.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
So then eventually, you know, you I was part of
on air with your show because it was John Magic
and the flav Units. So you had built that that
team that you were talking about, and so I was
sort of like a sidekick or weed joke like background
noise for you basically. And then eventually, I mean, just
to fast forward a little bit, but you know, eventually
got hired to do weekends, because you always get hired

(20:20):
as like a part timer first and then you just
do like Friday, Saturday, Sundays and you do like three
hour shifts or whatever in the mix with like the
other DJs. And that's sort of like how I got
put on. But I think what also helped me is
or what sort of like made a name for myself
was like the high school stuff, because the high school
Halla's was something that we did huge, which is something

(20:42):
that you did big. Or we would go out to
the high schools during like their lunchtime, all the schools
around here, and you know, kind of like throw a
party on campus during the lunchtime, playing music, do contests.
And I would go out there with you because I
was trying to do anything and everything. I would show
up to events on air wherever you needed me. But
that I wanted was something that was really fun to do.

(21:02):
And I remember you would just give me the mic
and you kind of sort of throw me in the fire,
like go the host.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
The funny thing about you just saying me giving you
the mic it had nothing to do with like, oh,
I believe Jisell can do it.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
I just didn't want to do it.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
I just I already know you're asked, so then of
course it forces me to learn.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
But but you fit the you fit the high school
Holloup scene, and you did well on the mic, which
I think I was I remember being impressed with. So
it's like, oh, now, now you done did it, because
I don't now I'm not I'm never gonna talk on
the mic.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, So then that just became like the thing to
do these high schools, and we were traveling all over
and I was sort of like making a name for
myself for these high schoolers. And then obviously as they
became older adults and became listeners, so that was really big.
But yeah, I mean it just started off with me
just doing the weekends and then of course like doing
as much as I can going to the high schools
or wherever I was needed, because even at that point,

(21:59):
you're still hungry to like have your own show or
to do more on their ships. You want to feell
in more, you know, Like mixed weekends were always fun
because I know I was gonna get a lot of hours,
you know, if it's like Memorial Weekend, we do those
three day weekends of mixing, and then you know the
full timers are off or every time a full timer
was off or on vacation, then that's when I would
step in, and that's really when I really got to

(22:21):
get my hands on like doing a show, because I
think I would feel in for you a lot, So
now I could legitly feel in for you.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
I'm omitting myself on this next question, just because you
were part of my show, I was kind of training you.
Did you have any other DJ's on her personalities that
you looked up to or that mentored.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
You, that mentored me?

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah, like like while I was here or this whole time. Yeah,
or I'm omitting myself because I was there throughout the
whole thing. Yeah, yeah, So was there someone else.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
It was actually helping me? Not so much, I think.
I think a lot of it was just like the
conversations we had. I mean, you have your air checks
with your pds, which, if you don't know what that is,
basically you record your show or you record your talk breaks,
and then you meet with the pds and they go
over your talk breaks and how you can better them.
And so I did learn some things. I would say.

(23:14):
One of my favorite pds that I've had was probably
Tony Banks rest in PC actually passed away a few
years back, but he was somebody that had taught me
a lot on air wise, I don't know, I didn't
really go to too many people. I started doing my own,
meaning like I would like to listen to a lot
of and when I would go to other cities, I

(23:35):
would like to listen to a lot of other radio
sessions and their jocks. So if I was out in
La listening to Power one, O six, listening to Big
Boy or Pelly Fell or whoever the case was at
the time, or you know, going up to the Bay
Area and listening to like, you know, Big Vaughn and
those guys that came Yale. So I did a lot
of my own, and to this day, I still do that,

(23:56):
even like listening to podcasts, I feel like you can
get stuff out of that. But as far as like
the real hands on it was just a lot of
you coming up and then over time, just you know,
just learning on my own.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
What was your favorite during the early years, what was
probably your favorite perk? Because you know, radio people get
a lot of perks, yea, And during that time, we
were getting a lot of perks just in the sense
of artists came almost every week, we had famous people
in here. But you being a new radio guy during

(24:29):
the first few months first year. Yeah, what were like
some of the perks that you're like, we get to
do this?

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, I mean it was probably going to the concerts.
Going to the concerts, being backstage, even though you know
you're supposed to be working, but that's a lot of fun.
And you just don't know, like when people say, like, oh,
like it was like at concerts, it's a mess backstage
almost like nine times out of ten concerts or just
they're just a mess, like dealing with artists, dealing with

(24:57):
people back there, dealing with security, dealing with promoters. It's
always a lot going on backstage, and so to see
that side of it was just crazy. But it was
always fun because you know, I'm somebody that's you know,
I deal with a lot of anxiety and being around
a lot of people is not my comfort zone.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
So being able to go to clubs.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
And concerts and not have to be around the crowd
of people was something that I always appreciated because you know,
once we go to clubs, we get to go like
either in the DJ booth or in a VIP section
or on stage, you like that. So I always liked
that aspect and I always wonder to myself. I don't
know if I would ever be a club goer if
I was never in radio, honestly, because just being down
there with like the people is just something that I

(25:39):
just I can't vibe with. I don't really like to
be part of the party. I sort of like to
help throw the party.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
All right. How about twenty years in radio, You've met
You've interviewed a bunch of celebrities. Yeah, was there one
or you could even name a couple that you were starstruck, Like,
I can't believe I'm about to meet this person.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
Buster ROMs was pretty big.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
I know, we had like a really good interview that
we had did with him during that time. That was
like a pretty starstruck moment for me. You know, at
the time he wasn't big, but you know, looking back
at it, Kendrick Lamour is pretty dope. I mean, he's
got to be one of the biggest in the game.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
You know, growing up, I listened to like a lot
of underground music more than the radio. Oddly enough, so
meeting people like Tech nine and Twista was like kind
of big for me because that's like who I listened
to growing up. But yeah, man, I mean, we've got
to meet some cool people if.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
You think about it, I mean from Pitt Bull, like
the big artists that that they're in their older stage
right now yet, but they're still huge artists. Yeah, the
game we've met practically all of.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Them, Yeah, a lot of them. Yeah, it's wild.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Okay, So how about how about a story. Do you
have any stories where an unexpected like this happened because
of radio? It could be like a crazy you know,
it could be any Is there any crazy.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Stories like because of what happened in radio?

Speaker 3 (27:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
I guess to this day is still surprises me and
I don't know why when people like will recognize me
in the in the streets or they'll say my name
and I'm like, wait, what, like where'd that come from?
And you just you get surprised that. I don't know,
because I don't look at this as like like a
celebrity or something like that.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
No. We that's that's something that a lot of radio
personalities we don't consider, maybe the big time ones.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
But yeah, yeah, yeah, all these.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
You know, twenty five years for me, twenty years for
you saying I've like recently somebody called me a celebrity.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
I was like, no, yeah, yah, yeah, exactly. Shut.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
First of all, I'm not even on the radio anymore.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, I guess that.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
To this day that still surprises me about how many
people still like recognize me from like you know, all
ages and all. And I'm just like, oh, all right,
who like people know me out here.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
But it is humbling and we appreciate it. It does
make us feel good. We could play the role of
like no, no, but no, it makes us feel good.
This story I always bring up every time we bring
up this subject is this was years ago, maybe ten
over ten plus years ago, where I don't know how

(28:24):
to snowboard, but my ex at the time was trying
to convince me to learn. So we went to China
Peak locally here in the Fresno area. So I did
not want to I wanted to learn the right way,
meaning start me off in the bunny slopes. And it
was just a bunch of kids, a bunch of kids
doing amazing skiing snowboarding, and there's me falling on my

(28:47):
ass over and over again. And my ex at the time,
she was pretty good at it and you know, helping
me out. I keep falling and out of nowhere. You
just hear people like hey John, yeah on the Bunny slopes.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
It always sucks when you get recognizer. People kind of
call you out when you're maybe like you know, maybe
not dressed the best or you're not having like your
best day or whatever, and you're like, oh damn, I
was kind of hoping no one would see me, but
it's always appreciated.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Have you gotten this? So this happened years ago for
me where I was doing a show and someone asked
for my autograph and they tattooed it.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Oh really Yeah, No, I've never had anybody I've done.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I don't know, I'm nobody.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
Damn. I haven't got to that level yet.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Not mad at that, yeah man, No, But I mean
I've had, like, you know, my own shirts that I've
given out, and people you know, to this day will
show me that they still have like a shirt that
I had, or a bracelet or even like a flyer,
which is always like cool that people still and you know,
in posting that this was my twentieth on social media,
I had like a lot of people like, hey, I

(29:59):
remember this, or when you came that time, or when
you came to my school or so it's dope that
you know, I've made an impression on some people, and
you know that's that's a really satisfying part of the job.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
I don't know if this was one of your highlights
on your list, but I'll bring it up because I
feel like it's a big thing for us radio people.
I got to experience it a few times when I
was on KGGI. But you got to do your show
that it's kind of reversed because I think I board
OpEd for show. Yeah, you got to do your show

(30:32):
live at Disneyland.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, that was that was cool to do broadcasted from
Disneyland a few years back, during like their Halloween time.
That was a lot of fun. I was at a DCA.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I remember specifically, like so being so happy for you because,
like I said, I got to experience it, and usually
it's the morning show that gets to experience it. So
when it got to you, I was like happy to
board op it.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah, it was cool.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
It made the I tried to make the shows sound
good from people listening here. Yeah, but I just remember
being like super happy for you to get to do that.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, it was fun. I mean they put you up
at the Grand California.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah, they treat you like so you got to.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Like stay there, which was fun. And then you know,
you hop the parks and you get to cut the
line and stuff like that. And then obviously broadcasts, which damn,
I don't think we've done a broadcast at Tizeyland in
a long time. But yeah, man, I mean doing all
these things as definitely been a perk. You know, going
to these businesses and helping them out, and you know,

(31:35):
going to these high schools and throwing a party or
my birthdays at the clubs were always a fun time
to see people come out and support me. Those were
always good times. But yeah, man, so.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Let's bring it all around. So the beginning of us
talking about not being able to record, the stress of
like having to sneak out. Yeah, can you like just
you know, ENLiGHT listeners of how radio is now because
you're like doing multiple shows across the country. Yeah, because
you're able to record. Yeah, and yeah, can you kind

(32:09):
of speak on how radio is now?

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
So from just being like an intern and doing everything
live and just being the little weakend person, now you know,
I'm on different stations across the country, and obviously, like
you said, I could do that remotely now. And I also,
do you know I'm also like a voice person. I
guess you would say, so I voice over talent. Yeah,
I'm also voiceover talent, so I voice things for like

(32:34):
our iHeartRadio app and other radio stations. So it's definitely
been It's been a lot, but I wouldn't take any
of it back. I mean all the people that I've
gotten to meet, all the celebrities I got in the
meets and like the perks you were talking about, and
all those fun events that we got to do. It
it's been a lot of fun, and it's it's definitely
transitioned a lot from the beginning, you know, technology and

(32:56):
stuff like that, but I made a lot of friends
through the way, and I can't believe to this day,
twenty years we're still hanging in there.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
Magic.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
Well, I guess i'll wrap it up with this is
where do you see radio as a future? Like, where
do you see the future radio? Because it's such a
different world. We were just talking about TikTok and people
can stream things easily, but yet you know, there is
data that shows that majority of people still listen to

(33:27):
the radio. So where do you see the future.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Radio, I don't.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
I mean, I think it's just going to go more
and more digital. But I mean it's still in people's cars,
you know what I mean, And people are still listening
when they're driving. It's everywhere now, and with the iHeart
Radio app, like we're digital. You can listen on your phone,
you can listen on your tablet, you can listen on
your TV. You could listen is an iHeart Radio. You
can listen on your Alexa device. So like, the company

(33:54):
is definitely making all the right moves and putting iHeartRadio everywhere,
and it's only getting more and more, bigger and better.
They've just updated the app. So I do see radio
sticking around forever, you know. I mean, it's it's got
its place here still.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
And the terrestrial radio part of it too.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
I think it's still going to stick around because, like
I said before, if if aliens are attacking and they're
knocking off all our systems, radio is still going to
be that one media that we can get in contact
with the people.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Yeah, I'm glad that we get to kind of, you know,
branch out of other than you know, terrestrial radio is
what we kind of grew up on. And this was
our career. Yeah, but we get to do this podcast and.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, so that's something in the last few years that
we've added to our plate is doing this podcast. So
now you can listen to us on the app through
that way. Obviously, social media is a big part of
what we have to do, so making videos. Oh, this
was like another thing that I just wanted to mention
something cool is the big billboard that we got to
be on.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Uh that was really cool.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, a goal that everyone wants that has their in
their lives to be on a billboard.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
So we were on this like really big billboard that
was on the fashion fair mall or mall out here.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
You and I are the one, I think you and
I drove down there and yeah, videos and pictures of them,
we saw them putting it up. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
I remember when they were putting it up and I
was just like, wow, this is cool, Like look mom,
you know, I mean one of those type of moments
and just like when people would see it and they'd
be like, I saw your billboard. And then obviously you
know there's been times who're been on like commercials and
stuff like that in newspapers and so it's been cool
to see that aspect of it, but yeah, man, what a.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
What a ride, and congratulations reaching your twentieth super huge milestone,
continued success. You know I'm you already know I'm a
firm believer of work ethic and I saw it in
you when I first met you, and it just kind
of shows where you're at now and the things that

(36:07):
you're accomplishing. It's not even a surprise. So congratulations on
twenty years bro.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
Until next time, this could give me five podcast