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Radio isn’t just about playing songs—it’s about the people behind the mic, the wild stories, and the grind to make it all happen. Welcome to Talking Between the Songs, where I, Brenden Peach, pull back the curtain on the radio industry with the people who live and breathe it.
Most people think radio DJs just sit around and chat. There's a lot more to it than that. Talking Between the Songs with Brendan Peach, a deep dive with others in the radio business. Not one, but two guests on this episode of Talking Between the Sawns. They're the married couple right out of Boise, Joey and Lauren.
You can hear their show on my one zero two point seven FM. They're also syndicated right here on our very own z one zero three plus. You can find Joey and Lauren on demand wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get into this. We're Joey and Lauren in the morning.
And we are on Talking Between the Songs with Peaches. And this is a lot of fun, and we're grateful to be here. Hi. Hey. How's it going?
Good, man. How are you? Doing good. It is blinding in here. We just set up these new lights and everything, and I feel like I'm on stage.
That is really awesome. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. My, coworker Victor has really, amped things up in here with all the stuff behind me and everything.
So Yeah. That's awesome. Okay. So you K Rock? Wait.
K Bear. K Bear. K Bear. Yeah. Yes.
That's right. Okay. Awesome. That's cool. Yeah.
Sick. How are you guys doing this morning? We're doing wonderful. Always busy. You know how that goes, but getting good.
Yeah. So the show just ended, and you guys hopped into this. Well, I appreciate you for doing so. Yeah. No problem.
Honestly, it's better. Like, I mean, you know what it's like working? Like, you like, honestly, right after airtime is typically the best. It's always when people are like or sales is like, oh, let's do, like, a 03:30 meeting. I'm like, oh my gosh.
That sounds awful. PM to me. No. Yeah. And what what time do you guys start at?
I mean, what time do you guys wake up usually? Four. Yeah. About four, four ten ish. Yeah.
So we live fifteen minutes from the studio, so it's not it's not terrible. Right. You know, but I'm also I knew, like, from the get go, I wasn't gonna be we prep mostly the night before because I was like, I'm not gonna be at 3AM, wake up, like, yeah. I just four is about my limit. Yeah.
Yesterday, I had an interview with the lead singer of Silverstein, Shane Told. So I was talking to him for, like, forty minutes straight, and then I was gonna prep for this interview last night, but I'm like, I'm too darn tired. I just wanted, you know, my Yeah. I have the whole afternoon show to do. I'm like, okay, I'm done.
Yeah. No. You're just fine. I'm kinda just, you know, with this podcast going against what I have when it comes to artist interviews, like, oh, how did you get your start with this? It's like, that's the whole point of this podcast is to talk about talk to the people in the industry and how did they get into the business and all of that.
Yeah. You know? Awesome. What's your target timeline? Because I just wanna make sure I don't just talk forever.
Like, I don't know how you're Doesn't matter with me, man. It's like if whatever fits your guys' schedule. I'm kinda open to anything. It's not like a it's not like a Rogue in three and a half hour. No.
Not like No. That's that's his that's his stuff. You know? I'm like, well, I shoulda had a snack first. No.
I'm just kidding. But, yeah, how did you guys both, get your start in this business? Mine's more the traditional, like, dream of everything. I, when I was, like, nine or 10 years old, like, literally, I would draw. I knew I wanted to be in broadcasting.
I thought more TV until I learned, how much they have to edit video at the lower levels that I I couldn't do it. But when I was, like, nine or 10 years old, I literally I had a notebook, and I would draw, like, TV sets of, like, halftime shows. I was big into sports. And so when most people are like, oh, halftime, I'm gonna go get a drink. I'm gonna go go to the bathroom.
I legit drew and just, like, loved the halftime show. So, basically, since 10, 11 years old, I wanted to be in broadcasting. And then I still remember the first time I heard, a sports talk show because I had only heard music. And I remember hearing, I was like, oh, that guy just talks, and he gets paid for it. And so I was literally in college.
I was at a, job fair, which I didn't think people actually got jobs at job fairs, but there was a radio station there. It was a country radio station. They were doing a live remote break. And literally, I walk by, and the guy's like, 9995, the bull, what do you wanna do? And I was a college kid, and I go, I wanna work in radio.
And he thought I was, like, doing a bit. And so he's like, oh, funny. And then, like, goes the rest of his break. They go to commercial, and he goes, do you really wanna be in radio? I said, yeah.
I was walking towards your tent, and he was like, well, maybe what what are your interests? I said, sports. And he was like, well, you could be the backup to the backup. And so literally, it was like I was the third string sports update guy, worked, what, one day a month. That led into someone getting fired, someone quitting, getting into sports radio.
I mean, there's a lot more steps that got to what our show is here, but mine was legit, Brendan. Like, I wanted to do this since I was a kid. What what about you, Lauren? The same thing? Not even close.
No. It's so so funny. I could have never like, if you would have come to me fifteen years ago and told me what this show was and that I'd be on the radio, I'd be like, you're an insane person. Like, that doesn't even make sense to me. So a little bit of background background on us personally.
So we are married, and we have been together since we were kids. And so when Joey was at that job fair and all these we were married during all that. So, you know and he he had always done, you know, some broadcasting here and there, play by play leading up to that. And so I'd always been, like, radio was a part of my life because he's a part of my life. And so we would travel to jobs and do different things like that, and I'd help him with some stuff for, like, the sports side.
But when we had, you know, moved to where our whole market is now, Joey had been working at a ESPN affiliate, a sports station here. And when he was doing that, I happened to be working in city government and I'd worked in health care and other things like that. And he had gotten a, a call from the management team and said, hey. We need to meet with you. I got that call.
That call on radio that no one wants to get. So, basically, they brought him into and you could probably explain this part better, but they brought him into the conference room. And he walks in, and he sees HR, CEO, general manager, and he's like I'm getting and I'd never been fired in radio. So I'm like, I'm getting fired today. Yeah.
So, how it goes is they said that the station that he was on, the sports station, was flipping formats to a rock station, and he's And I'm not as cool as you, Brandon. I cannot do the rock format. But you I think I think you just assumed, like, I'm getting Yeah. Yeah. I just thought I thought they were gonna go into this whole, like, alright.
So we are flipping formats. I because I knew I wasn't a rock guy. I mean, my hands are softer than putty. I'm like you know what I mean? So, but they go, but we wanna launch a morning show on our hot AC station.
And I'm like, okay. Well, it's a job, so I'm not gonna say no. And then legit, they're like, we wanna put you with a female cohost. We wanna launch this morning show. What about Lauren?
And I literally go, Lauren who? And they're like, your wife. And I go, my wife? And they're like, yeah. And it's weird because Lorna never worked in radio, but you know how radio is.
You share about your life. And so on my sports show, I talk about life at home, and Lorna would come to the work Christmas parties and stuff like that. And so they got to meet kind of our chemistry, and we're both outgoing. And so they wanted to try it, and then I called you. Yeah.
I so he calls me in at work, and I get this phone call. And I literally almost fell over because he's very, like he teases. We tease each other. We're very sarcastic. So I first thought he was joking, and I was like, this isn't funny.
I'm headed into a meeting, like, not funny. And he's like, no. Seriously, I need you to give I I just need to throw this out there. They want you to be my cohost. What do you think?
And I was like, no. I literally said no. And I started crying, so I was like, are you gonna lose your job? And, anyways, it took me a minute. Like, I had to think about it.
And then I said, okay. If we're gonna do this, I need to be Lauren. Like, I need to be myself. I am not Joey's wife. I am not Some sidekick.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm not the host and the wife. I'm, like, I am my own person, and I wanna meet with the CEO. I wanna meet with the general manager.
I wanna meet with everybody at the radio station on my own and see what happens. So we went to lunch without Joey. They talked to me about it and said why they think this could be a really great thing, and we have this great idea. And I'm like, I've never talked into a microphone before. Like, what are you talking about?
And they're like, no. You can do this. Like, we think this to be really fun. You guys have such great chemistry. You have the personality for it.
Let's just try it out. And they made me an offer, and I said, alright. Like, let's freaking do it. And so, I quit my job, and we started doing, like, a couple of mock shows together just for practice. But one thing that our company did that I think really helped launch our show in a really great way in our market was immediately they put billboards up, ads, campaigns, photo shoots, TV commercials.
I had never done radio in my life, and I'm on a billboard. And I'm so scared, and I'm like, they're gonna kill me if this doesn't work. Like, I'm gonna what's gonna happen? And, anyway, launch day happened, and our show just took off that day and has been great ever since. And we've been doing a show together for, like, eight years now.
Yeah. And that's that's what kinda blows my mind. To be honest, I remember when we launched, I said, I don't This will be fun. I said, I think it'll be fun, and I didn't think we'd be dog water. Like, I didn't think but I never would have thought we would actually, like, kinda make noise.
Like and that that's what's weird is, like, I truly thought, oh, it'll be fun, and we'll see how it goes. And I really thought there's no way I thought it'd last longer than two years. I thought we'd be two years, and I thought we'd either it just wouldn't work. And I and, again, I never thought we'd be trash, if that makes sense. That was my expectations.
It's a little bit better than garbage. And for whatever reason, I don't know. I I don't I really try not to put any onus on, what we do. Like, we work a certain way. I think it's just, for whatever reason, people have liked the show.
Right? I mean, there's people like people. And for whatever reason, if someone goes, oh, I like this person, and we see it everywhere in the industry, when you're a likable person, something just happens with it, and that's kind of what happened. I, I don't know why, but guarantee you, we literally just thought couple years of fun, and it's definitely been on that. And Joey went from only sports radio Yeah.
And he he was doing these, like, hard outs, outs, like, 12 how long were your breaks? Oh, yeah, dude. Thirteen fourteen minute segments. Right? Like, that was totally totally different than what you see in, like, music mornings.
And so he'd never done that style of a show before. I'd never done radio before. So I think you put two people who maybe aren't your typical radio people together doing a show together and just letting their personalities blend and see what happens. And, yeah, I think we both were like, oh, it'll be fun for a little bit, and it took off and, you know, we have a family now. We've you know, we have a couple of, two boys, and we've just really Yeah.
Enjoyed, you know, what we do every day. It's just been really fun for us. So Is it was it weird to adjust from sports radio and, like, actual life to then just all of a sudden top 40, you got it, like, you know because the top 40 radio, it's kinda like there's this there's this whole thing about how you have to make the breaks quick, but you guys actually have, like, genuine conversation. Because most of the time, I I I grew up in LA, so, like, I heard the fast, like, keyword cash and then the whole thing and all that crap. You know?
Yeah. It's and I think I I'll be honest. If I had been in top forty radio for twenty years and Lauren had been in top forty radio for twenty years and we just launched a morning show, I don't think it has the success it does because I think people connected with we don't know what the format's supposed to sound like. And, and so, yeah, I think we never went into the show being like, get in and out. Get in and out.
And, yeah, we've adjusted now, and I think you know how we're working in radio. When you worked in it enough, your body has a temperature almost of, alright. It's time to it's time to go to music. It's time to go to break. It's time to go to a giveaway, whatever.
And so then actually but when we started, I I mean, our boss said, yeah. Try to keep it at this time. But when we launched the conversations, we went into it until we were done talking, and then we were done. And, I'm very grateful that was the format, but the no hard outs, I've really enjoyed that. Like, not I mean, I remember 5550 was our last break in sports, and, like, that would freak me out.
And now it's like, oh, whatever. But, yeah, I don't know. I I really think if especially Lauren, if she had worked in radio for a long time, I don't think the show sounds the way it does because I think, really, we've just tried to approach it like they told us to talk from six to ten. We'll play some music. We'll have some fun, and we'll see what happens at the end of the day, and that's kind of what we've done.
No. I'm glad that you guys are actually also just talking in, like, your genuine voices on the air because nothing bothers me worse when I go to, like, LA or, like, some other states. And, like Totally. And it's like, if you wouldn't order like that in the drive through, don't talk like that on the air. Like, I don't wanna hear yeah.
I don't wanna hear can I get two tacos type of fame, you know? Yeah. And and I think that with us coming from such different non near nontraditional radio backgrounds, I think we just never developed any sort of a, like, habit like that. You know, our names are Joey and Lauren. You know, those are our real names, and Joey is actually Joey on his birth certificate.
He's not in Nelsif. And, you know, sometimes I'm like, maybe we should have done a radio name. I don't know. But I do think, like, I think the future of radio has to get more authentic because, that's where so much like, we can get so much authentic content now. Right?
Whether it's TikTok, whether it's Instagram. Right? There's so many there's so many content creators. There's so many famous people, and we and one of the things that's been such a hitter is that people have just been authentic. And what I love about where we're headed as as media is there's no one way you've gotta look or be to be really successful.
My Instagram and TikTok algorithm is full of people that have millions of followers that are really popular that make their whole life content, and they're all different. Some are eating food in their car. Others are mowing strangers' lawns. Like, people have found it a niche, and I think, radio, especially with so many options, is so much easier, as you said. Like, talk how you talk normally.
Act how you act normally. You know, talk about topics you wanna talk about and be authentic because, that's where everything's heading, and it's gonna it's gonna make everyone in radio's job a whole lot easier than trying to fit a certain mold. Definitely. How long did it take you guys to get those, segments that you do on the show? Like, how long did you, think of those ideas and then eventually they came to fruition?
Wow. We had a lot of brainstorming sessions, the two of I think one of the benefits too is being married. We're together all the time. There's a that's a a good benefit for the show because we can kind of always be show planning, but then I think sometimes in life, we, like, drive each other crazy because we are together all the time. So I'm just like, but I think the benefit of, like, planning, tweaking segments, coming up with, you know, creative content, stuff like that, I think it's I wouldn't say easy for us, but I would say it's, there is a benefit to being together all the time because we're just kind of always brainstorming and something, oh my gosh.
That'd be good to talk about on the show or, you know, things like that. What I would say with segments, and I think this is key, is only do segments or benchmarks or bits that, a, you wanna do and you like and you enjoy doing them. But Oh, yeah. They've gotta go hand in hand with also something that you know your audience will like and enjoy. So what I see sometimes and and we've changed things.
We've had segments that maybe we thought our audience would like, but we didn't like it, so we ditched it. Or there's been segments that we'd like, oh, we think this is fun, but, like, no one really likes it. And so you've gotta you gotta find things that you like that your audience will like as well. I mean, we when the show launched, we had the cray cray of the day, and it was like we thought it'd be, like, this funny line, and then we were like, we hate saying that. It just sounds dumb.
Right? And so I think, yeah, like, I think anybody, like, first find benchmarks and segments and bits that you wanna do and that you enjoy doing. Right? That's gotta be number one. But, man, be careful if you realize your audience doesn't like it, but you're like, well, this is my show.
I think I think you can get in a real dangerous thing where you're like, this is my show, my segment, so if I like doing it, no matter what anybody else thinks, we're doing it. But, also, if you're trying to do a bit that you think is dumb, that you hate doing, but you're like, well, let's just do it because we've seen people do it, don't do it. Like, you gotta have that perfect balance. Well, like, force it. You you don't wanna force anything.
Like, if something's genuinely making us laugh, it's likely that people listening, driving in their car, whatever they're doing in their routine, that they're also laughing. If we're trying to force something together that we don't think is funny and we kinda do this fake little, you know what I mean? Like, it's it's one of those things, like, if we enjoy it, as you mentioned, then the hope is that the audience will also enjoy it. And we've tweaked so many segments over the years almost. Yeah.
As you mentioned, one of them. But yeah. But I also think, like, there's too much turnover in radio in general with companies firing personalities, with personalities changing. You know, they have four people on the show, then they add seven, then they take away three. And then I think also with trying to I I know it sounds crazy, but, man, there's some shows that have done the same thing, and you've gotta remember people love routine.
And I'm not saying to do, you know, twenty years the same exact show, but, man, when you have when you have a rhythm, don't be afraid to stick with it. And I think a lot of listeners, they want routine. And so sometimes, especially in management, they're like, oh, this show didn't do as well this month than last month. Let's change everything. And it's like, woah, woah, woah.
Give give people that routine because, man, if you're consistent and you show up and do the things that you say you're gonna do, it it's it can be a huge, huge benefit. Do you guys ever find yourselves, like, in a rut when it comes to show content? Because, like, for me, I I listen to a lot of old Opie and Anthony Jocktober clips, which also sabotages my show because I hear it and I go, okay, they'd be laughing at me right now if I was doing this break and they heard it and then played it on their show type of thing. But I I it's it's so weird because I I see I I see plenty of content on the computer here, but then I go and I'm like, should I talk about this? Because I really am not familiar with the subject.
Should I make a joke? Because I'm more ideally, my whole humor is to make fun of the things that everyone likes to make fun of. But at the same time, people don't want that negativity anymore because they can just go on Facebook and go look at the comment section and be felt that's nothing but negativity there. And, you know, I'm trying now to tweak my show breaks to where it's like, okay, it's a negative thing, but it's also somewhat self deprecating and I can also make fun of, like, this, but everyone can relate to that. It doesn't, like, alienate a certain peep like, I like to tease about dog moms making the whole dog their personality.
But I realized there's a good portion of them in the audience. Let's talk about that. Yeah. That's, yeah, that's the thing. I I, you know, I think, the one thing is you if you build trust with your audience and you and people feel like you're not you don't have malice, you're not trying to throw somebody under the bus, or you're not trying to to just get a quick laugh, it's amazing the grace that people give you with your strong opinions on stuff.
And and I think the one thing that I you know, because we'll argue on the show. But, man, I think we've all heard shows where you're like, geesh. They're mean to each other, or they're mean to the caller, or they're mean about the bit or whatever. And I think one thing we try to do is, hey. We wanna let everyone know we love you, we care about you, and we don't take anything too serious.
Mhmm. That, I think, is so big is we you know, if you if you truly just let your audience know, hey. Nothing's the end of the world when we're talking about this, when we're ripping dog moms, you don't need to think that I actually think you're a horrible you know, or you're you're obsessing over your dogs. So I think that's key. But, again, I always say, do you if you're passionate about it and it's something that the audience is talking about a lot of, dude, that is a home run because they're gonna hear your passion.
They're gonna hear your opinion, and it's something that's relevant. Oh my gosh. It's a it's a hit. Even better if the other person is the opposite. Like, they're not as passionate.
They're passionate the other way. So then we have, you know, me over here where I'm standing strong on, well, I feel this way about this funny thing, and he feels the opposite. So now you've got two different different types of people in your audience that are either siding one way or the other. So then if somebody if we're both on one side, which sometimes happens, but if we're both on one side, there's a good majority of the audience that feels a little isolated. Like, oh, well, am I weird?
Because I don't feel that way, you know? And it's it I think with us, but as you mentioned, like, being passionate about something, like, I was with a friend, I don't know, it was, like, a week ago, and she was we were talking about, like, going to bed, like, bedtime routines or whatever. And she says that she and her husband, they just literally go to bed, like, on either side of the bed wherever they fall that night. And I was like, wait a minute. You don't, like, sleep on what?
Like, you don't have your side of the bed? And she's like, no. We just sleep wherever. We switch off, you know, every other day. And I was like, that too that blew my mind.
And so I was like, I have to talk about this on the show. And I was like, how crazy is it that people don't have their own side of the bed. Right? And so I'm passionate and, like, angry about that, but it's not a serious topic. Right?
It's something that a lot of people can relate to because everybody sleeps in a bed. Yeah. Right? I mean, hot button topics don't I mean, hot button topics can be as silly as you want them to be. And, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, two shows that were amazingly successful, and all of it is about nothing, really.
But they take they take a social norm. They take a situation that people find themselves in, and Jerry Seinfeld or George Costanza were very passionate about it. And I think that's what people really crave, and so that's what we try I mean, to be honest, we've had three different three different presidents in our show or two different presidents. Or or two. Well, no.
We've been many Whatever. Whatever term. We don't we don't do it. Like, we don't cover it. Like, we don't cover it.
And what's amazing is that because we've never covered anything heavy, we're never expected to. But, right, no one has ever I'm serious. I we've never gotten a complaint that says, hey. Why haven't you guys talked about this political issue? Because we never we never talked about the biggest ones, and we said we're gonna be your escape, and we have been saved by that every time because the problem is when when hosts and shows dabble in heavy stuff, and then they go back to funny, and then they go into heavy, and then they go back to funny, where's the line of when you stop talking about the heavy stuff?
Is it the next tragedy that you skip over? Is it the and and I think and I know that every show's different, and people radio stations and shows can decide what they wanna do. But we we've avoided all of it, and I am so grateful because our expectations are not, Joey and Lauren, what's your super controversial opinion about something very serious that's hurting people? Well, for our show, we've set it up to where we want to be an escape for people. We wanna be that that laugh in the morning or their their friends are driving to work.
Like, we don't we don't want to start someone's day off feeling like, blah, you know? And so we try to be that escape. Because as you mentioned, Brendon, you're like, yeah. You can find that crap in the comment section and such and such Facebook page. So go find it there.
Right? So we try to, like when we're arguing or passionate or having a debate about something, it's like, do you fold or wad your toilet paper? Like, I mean, just stupid stuff. Right? Right.
It's like we don't hit those hot button things. It it's weird. Like, we spent our Victor Victor Wilt, our morning show host, he spent a whole hour, cats or dogs. People were calling in the whole time and the GM got really upset with it. And he was like, well, were you tuned in the entire time?
And sure enough, he was. So it's like it's the weird arguments and, yeah, I'm glad you said the escape from politics and the heavy stuff because I try my best to stay away from all of that as well and really shed a light on, you know, because I'm always considered the tall guy. I'm six foot nine. You just can't see because I'm sitting down here. Oh my gosh.
Are you serious? Yeah. Yeah. So Don't ask the question. So You're gonna ask him if he plays basketball.
I did. I did. I I did play I played for I I played for Fullerton College and then, you know, I got let go from that team and, went to Cypress College. They're like, okay, we don't want you anymore. We feel like you you don't love the game.
And then that's when I got in my car and I'm just, like, teary eyed. I'm like, I'm supposed to go to the NBA. What am I supposed to do? And then I turned on a 0.3 The Sound in Southern California, and that was Mark from Mark and Brian in the morning talking to some random lady on the phone. And he was, like, asking her all these obscene questions that, of course, I can't get away with at all.
But, you know, it it was just so it made me laugh because I'm like, okay. People have always said I sound like I should be on the air. Maybe I should and I've always wanted to entertain people, but I hate the way that I look. So that's why I was like, let me just go into radio. Nobody can see me, but they can do it.
Now look, dude. It's all everything's on social and video. Like, you can't Yeah. And now that's that's Yeah. And it yeah.
And I think that, I wouldn't do it any other way. I you know? And there's been times. There's been moments where it's like, gosh. Are we insensitive for not bringing this up?
But, again, I think if you dedicate your show to being that escape, you're going to win over people, but also, I mean, I I hate the term safe space, and I'm gonna that's a whole another conversation. But you kinda become the safe space for people where people are like, alright. I know that I won't have to deal with everyone because, again, they get it here. Everyone's getting the heavy stuff here. No one's missing a news story in today's day and age.
No one. They're not missing a news story. And quite frankly, and I speak probably for all three of us, why you know, I don't know if our opinion necessarily is the one they're looking for when it comes to some heavy things. So, I'm I'm grateful I wouldn't have it any other way, and I I love that we've built out a a show like that. And we've stuck to it.
You know? We haven't we haven't been like, oh, let's let's do this. Let's finally now that so and so is in office or out of office, whatever, we we haven't said, let's talk about it now, and I'm so grateful. Yeah. It's it's funny because I know, like, I follow The Woody Show.
They're one of my favorite radio shows in Southern California, and Yeah. Woody gave his, like, ten minute long speech about some, like, shooting that happened. And I'm like, who cares about the his opinion on this? Like, this is just some weird, like, gray area. And also, like, with my show, like, I just recently talked about how because people don't can't really relate to the tall guy stuff.
Maybe there's, like, a few dudes that are, like, yeah, I'm seven foot. I I understand what Peaches is talking about. But, you know, I talked about how, like, I just had to get a rental car because I was in, like, some car accident. I had to get those Chevy Malibu, some tiny little vehicle. And now we're trying to make it a video of me trying to squeeze into that thing and, you know, look like mister Incredible doing that and Absolutely.
Keep people's minds off of just everyday life sort of thing to try to be make them more Yeah. And that's I I am really convinced because because what happens is I mean, especially when you're talking all the time on publicly, if you do go into to some deep waters, you're gonna say something wrong. And then you're going to, alienate a good chunk of your audience, and you're gonna be like, crap. How do I win them back? When you're talking about six nine getting into a car, you're not gonna lose anybody.
You're not gonna, you know, you're not gonna have to win somebody back and be like, hey. I wanna apologize. It didn't really mean what I what I said. And and I think that and and, again, everyone's different. Some people will say it's part of being in the public eye that you need to share it.
I'm like, man, that's like going to an Italian restaurant and demanding that you have orange chicken and fried rice. You wouldn't do that. That's not that kind of restaurant. Our show is not that kind of show, and it never will be. You know?
That's yeah. Yeah. Is it are there are there any songs on the station that you guys are on where you're like, okay. I'm sick and tired of hearing this now. I'm so do do you, like, in your free time, do you almost feel guilty for streaming music because of the business that we're in?
Because I I feel that way whenever I'm, like, outside of here and, like, I stream songs. It's I I am, I always I always have, like, the radio on. I'm a I'm a big alt guy, so I love alternative music. So I get an escape that way. Top 40 is really interesting because, the the music's obviously very, very popular.
It's got a lot of spins, but then you run into the thing where the audience will see them all over social media. Right? The Grammys cover all of our artists. And so, like, I like Taylor Swift's music, but sometimes I'm like, if they don't show it all the time, then we're not gonna have the audience be like, hey. Enough of Taylor Swift.
What probably really happens is people are just there's just overexposure of of top 40 artists, and that's one thing I wish that different formats have a little escape from. Like, hey. We're gonna play the music, but you're not gonna open your phone and see seven stories from People magazine. Right? Yeah.
I think I think we are listening to our station a lot. Right? Because we're listening to our station while we're doing the show. Right? Like, in between segments and stuff and when and it's on.
And then when we're driving in our car, we're listening to it. Right? And we bounce around with other, you know, stations in the cluster and stuff like that. And then at home, our kids, our son loves the radio. So we we kind of always have the radio on.
And so I would say, yeah. I mean, there's there's those really popular artists that you're gonna hear a lot, but I also think we're we're in a really niche, you know, as are you, where it's like, we're we're hearing it way more than I think your average listener is because it's our life. Right? So we're always hearing it. So I think, yeah, I mean, there's there's certainly some, but I'm I'm also a sucker for the, basic kind of mute, you know, that people would say.
It's funny because I, yeah, I love country, and I have alt. And so, like, if I, you know, I will I I always get, you know, talk to our program director of our alt station, and I'm always like, oh, I heard this. I heard that. You know? And I think he's always like, but you're in, like, hot AC.
You're, like, doing Sabrina Carpenter all the time. I'm like, yeah. But, I I think it's a nice escape. And and I think too, for your audience, Rock's a great example to assume that all of your listeners are bald dudes with beards that I just think we do our audience a disservice, and programmers run into this a lot, where, well, I'm gonna program the rock station like it's just a bunch of dudes that, you know, pardon my French, wanna have have sex and drink beer. Like, I I think it's a disservice to turn your radio station into, I'm just gonna market towards the key demo all the time.
Hot AC. Well, it it would be I I'm not speaking for men. I'm speaking for men, but maybe I'm wrong on this. But, like, our, a hot ice station. If we had, like, sweepers that were, like, station for the mom.
It's like, mom's going to school, like Yeah. And I'm a dude listening. I'd be like, well, I'm kind of embarrassed, you know, but I like this song, you know? Because, like, it's it's a little weird, but we get oh, my gosh. We have so many people calling into our show.
It's like, we have one guy who calls in and he he's a truck driver. He's just a long haul trucker and he listens to our station. And so it is hard it just as you mentioned, if you're, like, pigeonholing yourself into one. And I mean, the numbers. Right?
You see the you see numbers and ratings and stuff. So you see where the majority of your listeners are at demographic wise. You have your key, your money demos and stuff. But overarching, I mean, there are people that bleed into all sorts of formats. Like, I love rock music.
I grew up with rock music. Right? Like, I love all I'm an emo kid to my soul. Like, I love punk, pop, and, you know, country. I'm a huge country fan too.
And I go to, like, all the country concerts that come through. I'm going to all those shows, you know, so it's kind of you can assume. I think trying to make content that's universally funny. So it's not like, well, since I'm on a rock station, I'm only gonna do funny jokes about rock dudes. Right?
It's just and, again, there's there's a time and place for it. But, man, it's try to be as universally funny as you can and and connecting as you can because you never wanna pigeonhole your audience. Right? You never wanna be like, oh, it's I know it's only the moms listening, so that's why we're only gonna do mom topics. Like, no.
You wanna you wanna make everyone feel welcome, because some of your some of your biggest fans are actually gonna be those p twos that maybe they're not entering every contest, not doing those things, but, man, they're they're dedicated to listening. You know? Yeah. It's really funny how expansive our audience is because it surprises me still. Like, every time I do a remote and I see some, like, real estate agent issues coming in with, like, all formal, and she's like, I love Slipknot.
And you're like, what what? And then you see some dude Yeah. Yeah. That's like, I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And you're like, okay, that's a little overplayed, but I get it.
You know? And then we we even have most of our audiences, like, I I've talked to a lot of these, like, really proud moms that are like, I love Lorna Shore, which is a lot of just this heavy crazy growls and pig squeals and stuff. And we play it all. So, like, I'll sit here and then I'll hear the Chili Peppers and then Knocked Loose will play. And then, like, all these, like, crazy other bands will play.
And sure enough, people are requesting those crazy bands more and more because I think it's going more mainstream too because Knocked Knock Loose had a crazy year last year, and it's nuts. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Oh, and look at look at artists now. Like, we are in a we are in a world of music where Post Malone, in my lifetime, has done White Iverson, has done Circles, and has done Pour Me a Drink.
And he's gone from cornrows and hip hop baggy jersey shorts to, dressing like a pop star, and now he's Wranglers, cigarette, and boots. Like and, like and and and Post Malone is loved by so many people, and I think if we have artists that can create a hit hip hop record, a hip hop record, and a hit country record, then we've gotta give our audience more credit of not just being like, I only listen to country. I only listen to rock. There's a very good chance I mean, I'm a great example. I can listen to anything country, and I can listen to anything Sabrina Carpenter and Chaparone.
Probably my two favorite artists are Morgan Wong and Chaparone. That doesn't make sense, you know, but I am who I am. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Definitely. Is it was it hard to get used to, like, the amount of artists that pop up in in top 40, like, Chapel Rohn? I called her Chappelle Rohn the whole time. There's an older Yeah. There's a there's one of my There's so many.
Who's the one he had a song that was of, like, a flash in the pan for a while. Jake. Yeah. His name's Jake, but but it's spelled j v k e. He has the Golden Hour song.
Right? Yes. Golden Hour. That's what it was. Yeah.
And this is stuff like that. I'm like, wait. Who is it? What is this? How do I say this?
And there's, like, so many different, like, new artists popping up all the time. And I'm like, I'm like behind the scenes, like, YouTubing how to say, you know, the Bruno Mars song with Rose, a p t. But during the song, it's Apata, Apata, and I'm, like, I'm so confused. Do I tease into this song calling it, here's the latest from Bruno Mars and Rose, it's called Appetto, or do I say it's APT? And so I'm, like, it's it is kind of funny because they'll pop up.
And it's great. And I I do love, like, that someone can I love that we live in a world where someone can do a song on the Internet, it blows up, and then you've got radio stations all over the country playing it? Because I do think it's unhealthy when it's like, nope. You gotta have a relationship with a record company. The record company's gotta push the record, and that's the way you get on the radio.
I love that. It does cause a little bit, though, I think, for our our format where you can almost go to TikTok radio where it's like, we're just gonna play everything on TikTok. And it's like, again, it's that overexposure. You don't you don't wanna play a song that's like radio, radio, radio, then phone, phone, phone, the max radio. You know?
It's but I love that someone can blow up all of a sudden. We can have a hit that everyone loves, and it goes crazy for a while, and then maybe we never hear from them again. Because I love it for the artists that now their power is in their hands instead of you gotta have all the you gotta have the right person pushing the right record. I think it's cool. Yeah.
It's very weird how, like, TikTok radio is a thing on SiriusXM too. Like, there's just the sounds that get played on TikTok most frequently. Yeah. There's a whole channel. And it's very weird because I talk about it with my, with Victor, the morning show host.
I talk about it because he's like, he's all all about the older people and I'm like, well, we gotta also go to the young people as well because they're the ones that are the future, you know, old people will die first type of thing. That sounds so horrible saying that but it's like, it's true though because they'll they have the opportunity to go to Spotify and TikTok and all these, and it's like, what can I do to recruit them to join in? And most of the time, it's their parents showing them KBEAR and they kind of grew up with it, but then they might grow out of it too. And it's it's almost scary, like, everyone can go to those streaming. Yeah.
I think, creating content and creating a radio station that is so desirable that people wanna listen to it, I think, is is really key. I mean, it has been crazy. Our show, every every metric, whether it's ratings, whether it's queue, whether it's numbers, whether it's it's streaming, whether it's podcast downloads, all of it grows year after year for whatever reason. And so I can't look at that data and look at those numbers and just be like, oh, we're on a we're on a lifeboat trying to figure things out. The one thing I think that's so key is create content that people want, and and that content is not just talking hosts.
It it is it is everything involved with your social media, with your music, but then also marketing. The one thing and Lauren brought it up. Before we even started the show, they bought 19 billboards around town. Like, radio stations have to market. So when you are driving, you see K Bear, you see a morning show billboard, Targeted ads on social media.
And I I really think the one thing that's helped is our company invests money into reminding people where we are. Wow. Very yeah. Because I know with, with me, I first started in 2021, and I was trying to figure out a way to, like, market my show because, you know, I'm the the tall dude from California. They already hate me from the California thing.
And so I'm trying to figure out a way to sort of, like, blend in with them. Luckily, a few of them said they liked me. I think more people have said they, you know, you know, like, oh, I used to not like you, but now I do because, you know, what you said on the air. Oh, you're like, thanks? Yeah.
It's like, thanks. Like, I forget people are listening. I I sometimes think it's just me and Victor chatting back and forth on the noon hour show that we do. And sometimes during the afternoon show, I'll get the same three callers, but then there's random people that know who I am. They go like, oh, I love that conversation you had.
I'm like, dude, call in. Join because I'm tired of the sitting here waiting for callers because I do the segment called The Peach Their Own where I just ask the listeners a question, and they just give me their best or dumbest answer. And I love it. Yeah. And sometimes we'll just do, like, waffles or pancakes, and I'll sit here and the whole thing will go crazy.
Yeah. It's so funny. So Yeah. It's really fun. And attitude Yeah.
Attitude is everything. I I have met, enough people in the radio industry that aren't excited about anything they do, and that tells me their future. And not not to sound harsh, but I've talked to people that are excited, and I'm I'm telling you, you know, be if you're saying, I'm I get to do this, that's gonna be a bigger difference than I am just I have to do this or I'm currently doing this. It's just like anything. I mean, you we there's a gas station by our studio, and, well, you should tell a story.
Like, the this woman at, what, five in the morning when we were getting a drink Mhmm. Oh my gosh. Like, so happy. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, it kinda made my day. So she this was yesterday. I was running you know, we were running late, and, we I had I we popped into the gas station next to the studio, and I just went in to grab a drink. And she was just, like, so bubbly. Hi, Harry.
It was, like, five in the morning. And I literally was, like, this lady, I don't know what she is doing, but she has, like, the most energy ever. I go and I grab a drink, and I go to the counter. And she's just, like, she's, like, oh, did you see me? I have new flavors.
Come. Come. Let me show you. Let me show you. And she, like, took me to the fridge and all this stuff.
And, like, I was telling Joi when I got in the car, I was like, it's amazing how that just changed my entire day. Like, she was so nice. I'm sure some people could maybe think that she was annoying or whatever because she was, like, so bubbly at five in the morning. But I was like, I actually kinda needed that. Like, I needed she was so proud and happy to work where she worked, and she wanted to show me.
And she was like, I don't know if I put it in the right place, but now you know if you come back where to find it, and I can help you out. You know? And she was just very proud of what she does, and she was just very happy. And, you know, I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah.
I mean, we saw our show's in 15 cities, and I I say to myself, oh my gosh. There's 15 places that wanna air the show. Like, that is so cool. A buddy of mine, literally, same number of cities, but just a different outlook. Literally, I said, hey.
How's it going? And he goes, it's okay. We're only in 15 cities. And there there's your attitude change. There's nothing different.
You know? It's it's about having being so grateful to do this. So if you view every hour you're on the show, the noon hour of Victor, your afternoon show, if you go, I get to do this x amount of hours a day, that attitude of being excited about it, I think, is the lifeblood of radio and reminding people, I love sitting in this chair and talking into this microphone. I cannot believe you wanna listen and call in. That's so cool.
People wanna be a part of that. They wanna be a part of positive momentum, and I think it's very important for everyone in radio to keep the positive momentum. We all have to adapt. We all have to ask ourselves, here's what we need to tweak. But if you're not currently excited about it, like, get out of the industry because it's not gonna help.
Right? Definitely. And things have changed so much. Things have evolved so much in radio over the years. Like, even just since we started doing our show, things have changed a lot.
But, like, everything's becoming more and more of a digital age. Right? Because before, like, back in the day, you were a radio personality from six to ten if you were doing mornings. Like, that was it. And then you were you were done.
You ride off into the sunset. You go to your grocery shopping. You're just a normal person or whatever. But now it's like you have to always stay top of mind. Right?
You're not just doing your creative juices are flowing in your morning show. You kind of have to be or or whatever your show is, afternoon show, midday, whatever. You also have to be, like, super creative online. You have to be relevant. You have to be top of mind.
You have to be posting. You have to be blogging if you're if you if you do blogs and things like that. And it's, like, it's a lot different than it used to be because now there's, I mean, there's the podcasting element. There's the social media. There's the, oh, wow.
I have filming a TikTok video. What is this? You know? And and you see that with, you know, some of our coworkers that have, talked about how much it's changed and and different things like that. But we've we've kind of made our show and I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, and not everyone has to do this, but we made our show our entire life.
Like, we care so deeply about our show. Like, it truly is our first baby. Right? Like, we have our two boys at home, but, like, our our show has always been, like, we we we grew this show together, and I think the some misconceptions could be, oh, you guys met in radio and got married. No.
We shared that story with you. We grew up together. And then it's like, oh, Joey just he created the show. He wanted you to be his co host really bad. No.
I don't think Joey in a million years would have ever even dreamed of me being his co host. It's just how it blended together, and we've just really tried to, like, nourish our show as it's as it's gone on. Yeah. It's crazy because I was thinking about it. You know, my friend Rob, he's in Spokane, and he's now a newscaster, but he was in radio before in Bakersfield.
And I was thinking, well, he got married in Bakersfield, and I feel bad for his wife because, like, she has to move along with him if he decides to do the radio route and go all over the place and all that stuff. But one thing you guys talked about was being on in 15 cities. And I was thinking, like, that would be the coolest thing ever because you could go to that city and be like, I'm the guy in the morning. No. I'm that person in the morning talking to you that, like, is never here.
I'm living in Idaho type thing, which is really, really cool. Yeah. It's been and I I mean, again, just like how I thought the show would be fun and we wouldn't be dog water, I never would have thought, that other cities would would wanna pick us up. And it it's it's worked out great. And, you know, we've we've worked really hard to create a product that we can use so many elements to make sure that every that it's not just like, oh, you know, there's some syndicated shows that may be out in New York that sound like, oh, they're in New York, and we're out here and in Idaho or wherever, and it just we've really tried to first, we only are on stations and cities that we feel is a good relationship.
And the goal is not x amount and number of cities. The goal is that we have really great partnerships with people, and that's that's what I'm grateful for is every single affiliate that we have, really good people that care about the show. We care about them. We're we're in it for the right reasons. I wanna we wanna help their their station succeed and their city succeed and them make money in sales and all that.
They wanna they wanna nurture the show, and they put their time into it to make it sound good. And and I think that is that is what's key is, it's an honor. Yeah. It's an honor. It's an honor.
Like, whenever we get, any sort of message about possibly airing our show somewhere, it's like we just are just so honored. Right? We're just like, you like us enough to put you on your station? Like, you know, and we really are we truly are honored with every single, you know, affiliate that we work with. And we try to we try to always communicate with them, like, how's everything going?
Is there anything you need from us? You know, because you could see some some shows out there. They're probably like, okay. Add it to the tally. Move on.
Add it to the tally. Move on. Let producers take care of that. But it's we try really hard, as Joey mentioned, to keep those relationships because, I mean, we're we're just honored to be a part of their community and their station. And for them to trust us with that just means everything.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was, I was actually very happy you guys were jumped jumped on this podcast so fast because I've been reaching out to multiple people. And some of them didn't even respond, but I'm like, you guys were just right there, answered right away, and, appreciate you guys for doing this, really.
It's been a so it's a it's like the third episode for the show. So grateful you asked. Yeah. I know. I am, I am here because of I mean, I literally almost gave up on radio when we first got married.
I went to StateFarm.com, and I was like, I'll just be a State Farm agent. I didn't know why, but I said, I'm just gonna fine. There's nothing Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah.
But I remember I I was on a laptop, and I had part time job from part time job. I had a radio job for a while that I would have to work a certain amount of hours. And once I hit that, I still had to come in and do morning updates, but they literally go, we cannot pay you, so don't put it on your time card. I mean, that was my life for, like, three years. And I went to StateFarm.com.
I was like, I'm just gonna work in insurance, live a normal life, and thank goodness there were people that responded. So I think, again, kind of how we all we're all one big radio family. I think it's very important to to take care of people, to try and do things. So, yeah, I mean, we we try as much as we can to to talk about the industry because it's it's near and dear to our hearts, and I think we're all better for it if we take care of each other because we're all big one. We really are one big family.
I mean, we're all doing the same thing in different parts of the country, really. Definitely. There's not there's not too many of us, which is funny because I was I I think there's tons of people, but I think about, like Yeah. All the personalities. I was talking with a coworker about that here and, yeah, he was just like, there's hardly like, everyone really knows each other.
Like, those two guys know everybody, whether it's big, small, whatever it is. But Yeah. It it's that that's the reason why I wanted to start this podcast is to, like, really educate the people that we're doing more than just talking between the songs. That's why it's called talking between the songs and stuff. And this one, because I every I I have this whole rant around Thanksgiving where, like, I just hate Thanksgiving because overall, I think the food's overrated.
But then also, every single time I go back home, my family's like, so what's it like being a a radio announcer? And they always ask me the most part. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Like, all that stuff. Yeah. And I'm sure you guys get that too with the, how it's like being on the radio type thing. It's like, you have no idea. That's that's why my whole answer now is gonna be like, listen to this podcast.
You know? Yeah. Well, what what I think is key too, like, there's no magic and I'm not I'm not trying to discredit huge shows that are in huge markets, but there's there's not a magic dust. What I've learned with talking to people from major markets, and there's not a magic dust that's like, oh, you get to this skill level, and then you can be in a big literally, so many huge personalities in huge markets are doing the same thing that anybody's doing in a in a certain market. It's it's about, you know, they they care about it.
There there's not some, oh, I'm in market 30 because I'm magically better at you, you know, in radio. It's normally people that have a really big passion for it, care, and are really good personality. 80% of radio, I think, is who you are. And that's why I say to people, like, find out if you're likable and, you know, people make a connection with you, and if they do, great, and if they don't, it may not be, you know I mean, you know, it's not rocket science, you know? It's not especially now.
It's all on a computer screen. So I think that's what's key too for anybody. It's, like, there's not a magic LA, New York, Miami, Atlanta dust that makes you so much more special. We're all doing the same thing. Maybe it's luck.
Maybe it's fortune that you've landed in a in a big market. Maybe it's just hit at the right time. But, yeah, it's not like there's some magic thing that we can't see that makes you a major market host opposed to anybody else. Do either of you hear yourselves on the air and go, okay. That was a little cringe.
You know that? Because I I hear myself with some of my breaks. I'm like, okay. That's a little that's a little you know, the listener's not gonna like that, but then the listeners end up do liking it, and it's weird. It's it's a weird, like, sort of barrier I put upon myself where I'm just like, okay.
I hear myself. I'm like, wow, that was stupid. Especially when I listen to the podcast version of the show and I hear, like, myself with no music and I hear myself breathing. I'm like, okay. First, I need to lose weight.
Second, I need to step it up on the air type thing. You know? It's a We this is gonna sound really weird. We have kind of owned our show being dumb. Like, we have kind of just realized we say stupid things and that's just who we are.
Like, you know, like, we'll say things and, you know, we can laugh about it later, but I'm like, we we'll say something on the show and then we will admit right there, like, wow, this is a stupid show. Like, we'll have stuff Yeah. Because it's I mean, self deprecating is endearing. Nothing's forced from us. Like, we're trying to make it seem it's just literally we make mistakes.
We're human. We say dumb things and then we laugh about the dumb things that we say. And we're kind of used to being stupid. Like, I know that sounds weird, but it's like, we have fun with ourselves. We don't take anything too seriously.
We've, I'm sure, over the years have had said things that maybe now I'd be like, yeah, I wouldn't have said it like that. You know, maybe. But we just kind of own who we are in the day as it comes, and we'll look we'll give each other a look. Like, Joey will say something, and I'm like, what the what did this best truly, best part of being best part of being married to your cohost, especially in promos To be honest. If we're recording promos, Lauren will be like she'll hold up a fist, and she'll be like, you sound too an announcey.
And I'm like, oh, I didn't even think about it. Like, that's what's nice is and I will say that. That was not casual as well. If you're doing and that's the thing about when you're when you're doing a solo show. Right?
Like, you are, like, it it it, like, sometimes it's nice to just be like, tell me. Like, you know, and I'll that's the one nice thing about being married to your co host is sometimes the coworkers may be, like, I don't wanna say they sound stupid or I don't wanna say that sounds stupid. Their feelings. Like, I I don't wanna be rude. I it's not a big deal, you know.
But But, yeah, we don't too honest with each other where, like, I'll be honest. Like, we've had fights in the studio, like Huge fights. Yeah. Off the mics are off, but we're, like, really mad at each other. And, you know, he hurt my feelings, or I said something to him that was rude.
And I say it like it is, and he's, you know, claps back. And we're not not I mean, we've next month, he'll be married thirteen years. So we've had many years together of just kind of being super open and honest. And working together in a confined space is a different breed, and it takes a lot of adjusting. But Yeah.
But yeah. I mean, all the time. I mean, I I think the show is stupid sometimes, like, dumb. Like, it's just not, you know, but it's but, again, we've we've always owned up to that. We don't we don't over edit things.
So, like, when when we if we cough, a lot of times we'll keep it because we laugh and you're like, Lauren will her voice will go out and she'll, like, get that raspy thing that happens every once in a while, and she'll be like, jeez. You can't even talk today. Yeah. So I'm like, this is great. You know?
And I think, Perfection is not anything that we strive for. Like, we're never trying to sound perfect. We're never trying to be perfect. We just truly try to be ourselves. It sounds so cliche.
Like, oh, we're just we're ourselves. But it's, like, we truly try to just do that and not overthink things, not be too, you know, critical of ourselves either, but also be creative enough and look at what we just talked about and be like, was that funny? Like, do I think that's funny? If I think that's funny, the audience should think it's funny. Right?
And so that's kind of how we go about our show. I don't wanna say we wing it, you know, because there's prep and planning. We're not writing down everything we're gonna say. And so sometimes, you know, we have a shared Google Doc with just a bullet point of, like, what we wanna talk about at 07:20 or what we wanna talk about at this time. And sometimes, we'll start talking about that topic, and then it'll roll into something totally different.
And now we're arguing about something ridiculous, and it's funny. And it's great. And we totally got off topic, but guess what? That's what got people interested that day. And it was something we never even thought of or planned of and it just kind of happened.
Yeah. It's very weird that people sometimes will say shut up and play the music to us, but to, like, Josh and Chantelle down the hallway, they're, you know, the married couple as well. They're talking back and forth. Nobody says a single word to them about about the music. And I wonder if just because our conversations are not entertaining or they just like the music so much here on Caber that it's so it's so out of the ordinary that they're like, okay.
I wanna hear that eight minute sleep token song and enjoy that type of thing. Yeah. It's yeah. It really is. And again, you have to have smart people around you that realize that and, hosts that are humble enough to realize, you know what?
This is more of a music centered station. And, also, if you are doing a segment for a certain length because you wanna talk more and you wanna be on the air more, that's a scary thing. And that's something I think I had to swallow in the first couple years of the show. We were easily in in the market, we were the most talking show besides, like, Bob and Tom, which don't they don't play music on on the station here. But I I almost took pride in that.
Like, we we're the stars, and it I I I realized a couple years into the show, I said, you know what? When we're done with the conversation and and we've hit all the funny parts, be done with it. Be done with it. Figure it out. And don't be like, I'm gonna drag it out because I like to and and, again, one of the top problems, I think, people that are talking to talk and just like people that are trying to be funny or just being funny, but yeah.
Like, I I I think when we first started, it was like, yeah. We're gonna we're gonna Yeah. Talk a lot. And then you're like, yeah. If it's done, it's done.
End it when it's ended. Like, why keep dragging out something if it's no longer interest? Like, if we're starting to lose interest in the topic, I can't imagine what people driving to work listening are thinking. And, you know, Joey's really good. We we both do this, but Joey's good at, you know, maybe telling me, like, hey, get to the meet quicker.
Like Yeah. We don't need to, like, ease into the topic and, like, do do do do and, like, dabble around. Like, you wanna hook people right away. And so it's, like, get into the meet right away. And I'll say that to him, like, just get right into it.
And then we talk about it. And then when it's done, it's done. Whether it was a, three minute segment or a six minute segment. Like, it just you know? Well, if you were telling a friend about a movie you just saw, you wouldn't say, hey, man.
How are things? I wanna tell you about, this movie that I saw. So I went to the theater yesterday. You would say, oh my gosh, dude. I just saw this new movie.
Crazy. Boom. Right? And I think, and I and we all struggle with it. This crutch of, let me welcome everyone in.
Let me set the stage. Man, like, I think a lot of times we kinda say what the show is, maybe a tease of what's coming up, and then and then get into the meat. But, yeah, that was that was something I had to swallow, I think, early is, not being obsessed with, oh, I love that we have these long conversations, but when it's done I mean, we've had segments that are two minutes long. We've had segments that are six minutes long, and they're all the same conversation. One is just, it's going well.
We're clearly still talking about it. The others, I'm like, okay. Lauren shared her opinion. I've shared mine. I got nothing else.
Let's go to the music, you know. Yeah. It's it's funny because some days most days, I mean, I I feel like not talking because I talk so much that I'm just like, okay, this is gonna be a shorter show today. We'll just do thirty seconds of each story, I guess, and cater to those that just want the music and more so like a flowy type show. But our morning show host, Victor, he can talk and talk and talk.
He has the gift of doing that where I'm like, okay, where's my joke with this, end it there type of thing and Yeah. It's it's a it's a silly contrast that I have where I'll see the length of my show with no commercials, no music and go, it can be way longer than that. That's not appealing because I I don't think people want to listen to like a twenty minute podcast because they wanna they wanna sit they wanna play something that'll last a road trip with, like, Joe Rogan, of course. And, you know, and I feel like Joe just has that weird thing where he's, like, you know, two dudes just talking back and forth, and the conversation could suck and drag on, but other than that, it's still entertaining at least. Yeah.
If you're if if you're mid segment and you're thinking about how long is this, there's your answer. It's too long. Right? Like Right. I will tell you, we have had we have had segments where I'm like, oh, gosh.
I bet this has been five minutes. It's been three. I'm like, well, that means that we need to go. And then there's times I'm like, gosh. We're just getting into it.
And I look over at the clock, and I'm like, six minutes. Holy crap. We were going. You know? And I think that's that's what's key is, are we all humble enough to realize, you know, when it makes just like any normal conversation.
If you are sitting with someone in a lobby of a doctor's office and you feel like, gosh. This is going on forever. You'd normally go, alright. Well, I'm gonna look at my phone now. Right?
Yeah. Definitely. Just like if you're catching up with an old friend and it's going great, you just sort of like, man, this is awesome. And and I think, many times our feelings are mirroring our audience feelings. So when Lauren genuinely laughs or when I genuinely laugh, there's a very good chance people are laughing.
If I am fake laughing, which I don't do, but if I'm like that's another thing we killed very early. We're like, if it's not funny, do not laugh. Like, you know, and a lot of a lot of hosts are like, oh, I'm like, then you then you can't even remember what's funny or not. But, and then if I'm not laughing and I'm like, I'm not interested anymore, probably your audience is thinking the same thing. Yeah.
I've tried tried killing the nervous laughter. I heard it when I was listening back to my interview with Shane from Silverstein. I'm like, okay. This is I I hear myself laughing or I'll say I used to do, like, the whole definitely. Yeah.
Yeah. Cool. After everything they said. The little trigger filler words. Yeah.
We everybody does Yeah. Little things like that. Yeah. We've really tried the genuine laugh thing where it's like you know? Because, yeah, I think you're right.
You just kinda do this thing. And and, again, especially ten years from now, we're gonna be even hitting these topics more about more genuine because everything, all the polished up's getting shattered day by day on social media. It really is. You know? Yeah.
It's it's funny how, like, people are becoming more of themselves with radio because they know all the old timers are the ones that have, like, the hokey voice or whatever. And you can tell, like, everyone's enjoying just like with with Joe Rogan as an example or David Dobrik, any one of these. They're just genuine people, but they're also now they're rich people that can't relate to the common person. So, like, even Huge, huge key. Yeah.
Huge key. And I can't stress that enough with, morning shows. There have been some shows that I've loved, and, man, they get big, And they and they do sound different. And I I'm not anti get big. I'm not anti make your money or whatever.
If you're lined up with individuals It just doesn't become relatable if you're talking about going out on your yacht or something. It's like, what is your audience gonna do with that? Yeah. It's weird. But, yeah, I I agree.
And I think just just building that trust with your audience, that's what we've that's what we've just tried to do over the years is just truly be be ourselves and just try to be open. I mean, there's there's certainly things that we don't share about ourselves on the air. Right? Like, we never get into politics, really, you know, religious stuff like that. But, like, we lived our life open on the air during the first years of our show.
And now, we have infertility, so we struggle. We can't have children naturally. And so we actually were finding out that diagnosis early on in our show. You know, we try to be an escape, keep things fun and happy, but we also kinda let people in a little bit on our life and, like, what we're dealing with and how long of a struggle we've had. And then we ended up doing IVF on the show.
Like, not on the show, but, like, we shared our experience on the show. And then when we finally were able to announce our pregnancy for our first child, this miracle, it was so exciting. And our it was just kinda like this really amazing community coming together moment because so many people had been kind of feeling that with us for a long time. And then it opened up other couples that were having struggles and they were able to seek help and stuff like that. And then, you know, now we have our two kids.
And so there is a balance of, like, sharing who you are, having your life open on the air, which not everyone chooses to do so. We did. And then that balance of, okay, but let's reel it in and have some fun and laugh because nobody wants to nobody really cares about, you know, all that stuff all the time. But it is it is a balance of maybe sprinkling in some of those moments, but we never want to be a downer for people when they're obviously trying to enjoy their show for entertainment. Because that's what we are.
Like, we're entertainers. In radio, you're an entertainer. Right? It's that's what you're there to do. You're there to entertain people.
Yeah. And I I recently had this whole AFib heart issue, so I talked about that on the air. I do I do Yeah. All the with the IVF stuff too. It's crazy.
Like, that people can relate to that and then be like, oh, yeah. Because, like, I I found out I had sleep apnea and then all of a sudden people are like, yeah, I can't. I stopped breathing this many times per hour. It almost became a competition when, like, one person's like, yeah, I stopped breathing like a 40 times per hour. I'm like, okay.
Wow. That's a lot more than me. Yeah. You you don't wanna win that competition, but you're right. Like Yeah.
You know, and find those things. And I and I think, I think, yeah, you you always wanna find that balance. And it's just like when a when a when a top show it's like when The Office I don't know if you watch The Office, but it's like when The Office, every once in a while, had that serious moment, and you're like, it it hooks you in. Like, when when, like, you're like, oh my gosh. I'm crying in The Office.
80% of the time, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh. Boom. And it's not a strategy. It's not like, oh, Lauren, let's let's get serious here and make people cry. But when you when you just show that human element, it is amazing how people, they love it even more.
And that's how the with The Office, it's like they had those couple serious moments and people go, holy crap. This is so important to me, and this is so relatable. And and I think that, yeah, finding that balance. Some people go overboard on the serious stuff. Some people, I don't know.
We used to have a word for it. It like, kinda trauma dump. Some people, like, we've all heard radio shows where you're like, oh, you are just all in on the woe is me, and I need people to feel bad for me. You never want that. But I I think be a natural human.
Natural human's like, man. I got this AFib thing going on. I'm kinda freaked out a little bit. Boom. Have that moment with your audience.
Let them know I'm not just the six nine guy that's always trying to tell jokes, and Yeah. They'll love you forever. And that that's what's funny too is that people always assume like, they always make the tall jokes. They don't really hear what I have to say, like, break wise. They always, like, you know, anything tall guy related, they just send that to me.
And I'm like, dude, I'm more than just that. And Yeah. Yeah. All the all the tall person memes, I'm sure you get all And I talk about it on the air too. I'm like, every single time someone asks how tall I am, I go six nine.
They go, oh, my cousin's seven two. I'm like, dude, do I I don't really care. Like, it's just like, I don't Yeah. Am I am I looking at do I know him personally? Show up?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My birthday is October 13. Oh, my neighbor's the fifteenth.
Oh. Yeah. I'm supposed to love that information. Right. And then then there's always that stereotype that it's the big, dumb, stupid guy, and I'm trying to break that.
But then there's also times there's plenty of times where I'm just, like, the the dumb dude because, like, most recently, I was at Bath and Body Works, and I saw the champagne toast candle. And I went, why did they put champagne on the bread? And I, no joke, literally thought they put champagne on bread. That's hilarious. It doesn't smell, though.
I do like that stuff. It's it's my favorite smell. Hilarious. So you're like champagne bread. Yeah.
Like, wet bread. Who wants that, you know, type of thing? Yeah. But but yeah. Well, thank you guys for joining me today for this whole conversation.
I appreciate it. And then an hour flew by. I looked at the clock. I was like, oh, boy. Okay.
You guys have things to do, I'm sure. So appreciate it like always. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Like, we you know, it's clearly a passion of ours, and we just love it.
And, again, I love you build relationships with people, and it and it it's always a benefit. I've never heard anybody that builds relationships with people. It's like, oh, that was a bad idea. Like, it's always a great, you know, it's always a great thing. So Thanks for listening to Talking Between the Songs with Brendan Peach.
If you enjoyed the show, please share, subscribe, and rate the podcast. Talking Between the Songs is hosted by Brendan Peach and is a production of Riverbend Media Group. For more information and to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.