1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,160 Unknown: Saw all right, buddy, we're rolling whenever you're 2 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:07,140 ready. Yes, we are back with another edition of circling the 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,700 drain. I'm Jay Harper, but the leader of the captain of the 4 00:00:11,700 --> 00:00:16,380 ship, so to speak, Johnny B is is here. Of course, Fear not. I 5 00:00:16,380 --> 00:00:19,140 mean, just because you see my face first is no reason to 6 00:00:19,140 --> 00:00:20,960 panic. Johnny is here. 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,720 We're not gonna panic, Jay, you're a good looking cat. Man, 8 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,480 come on. Well, thank you girls. Dig here. I love you too. 9 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,100 Well, man, great to see you. Jim, great to see you. And of 10 00:00:31,100 --> 00:00:34,220 course, we have, who else will you toss it to now? 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,000 Well, I'll toss it because it is baseball season, correct? Yep, 12 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,260 yes, we got Jim McCarthy, who runs this ship offsetting the 13 00:00:41,260 --> 00:00:41,740 beauty? 14 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,820 Yes, well, don't about that. Well, I tell you no 15 00:00:45,820 --> 00:00:48,700 handsomeness. I am always excited to get together with you 16 00:00:48,700 --> 00:00:53,200 fellas, but I'm especially excited today to welcome a guest 17 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:59,200 that's a guy that I have looked up to for a long time, a true, 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,800 pro, real man's man that, of course, would be Benny Ray. 19 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:12,900 Shipley, Benny Yes. Benny Ray, joining us here. Yeah. Benny 20 00:01:12,900 --> 00:01:17,880 Ray, yeah, yeah. I mean, during the the Benny and the Jets days, 21 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:19,920 did you get any mileage? Yeah. 22 00:01:19,980 --> 00:01:24,680 Well, I when I meet someone for the first time, whether it be a 23 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:29,120 celebrity or a listener, they would always say, I introduce 24 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,780 myself. Oh, like Benny and the Jets. Actually, Benny was a 25 00:01:32,780 --> 00:01:39,140 girl, b e n n, right, right. B e n n i e or I'd get Benny Hill. 26 00:01:39,260 --> 00:01:40,840 Oh yeah, I 27 00:01:43,540 --> 00:01:44,980 Yeah, and, and 28 00:01:44,980 --> 00:01:51,580 when I introduced myself, we saw like Benny Hill. And I probably 29 00:01:51,580 --> 00:01:55,360 got more Benny Hill than Benny in that time, but now it's more 30 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:55,840 like Benny. 31 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:01,200 Well, Benny is man, as I say, a guy that I've looked up to for 32 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:06,240 for many, many years, a radio Pro that has been through the 33 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,660 wars, a voice over veteran. I mean, you've done all these 34 00:02:09,660 --> 00:02:13,500 national spots and stuff, but man, you come from real humble 35 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:18,660 beginnings in small town, Kentucky, and Johnny and I and 36 00:02:18,660 --> 00:02:22,100 Jim. You know, we were all kind of kids when we got into radio, 37 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:26,660 but man, you were indeed a kid when you started right. So tell 38 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:30,320 us about that. Scottsville, Kentucky, right? 39 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:32,960 1965 I was 15, 40 00:02:34,340 --> 00:02:39,200 and I worked at W, L, C, K for a couple of years, and then I was 41 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,980 still in high school, and I worked there on the weekends, 42 00:02:41,980 --> 00:02:46,660 afternoons and weekends, and no one really paid any attention to 43 00:02:46,660 --> 00:02:51,700 it, because, well, it was local. And then I got a job during the 44 00:02:51,700 --> 00:02:56,440 summer of 67 at wcds, which was the Rock and Roll station in 45 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,800 high school. Yeah, and, man, when I went back to school, I 46 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,620 was popular. All of a sudden, I got elected to these offices, 47 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:09,540 you know, like vice president of some club, or president of this 48 00:03:09,540 --> 00:03:13,020 club, or their journal journalism club or whatever. And 49 00:03:13,020 --> 00:03:16,560 I thought, I'm the same person as I was before. All of a 50 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:21,680 sudden, it was like, Oh, you work at wcds. The kids love 51 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:25,940 wcds, and I loved working there. I was there eight years before 52 00:03:25,940 --> 00:03:27,560 coming to Nashville. Oh, wow, 53 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,240 at 15 years of age, though. I mean, how did you get that gig? 54 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,780 Did you did you know somebody? Or did you just walk in and say, 55 00:03:36,020 --> 00:03:39,080 hey, I want to work here. Were you one of those geeks that just 56 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,860 kind of hung around the station and they finally hired you. 57 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:46,900 Well, what happened a cousin of mine, the first cousin was 58 00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:53,620 president of the Elvis Presley fan club, and they met once a 59 00:03:53,620 --> 00:04:00,300 week on wlck, and it was kind of in contrast to the Beatles they 60 00:04:00,300 --> 00:04:02,820 must say, Well, you know, the office is the king, so they had 61 00:04:02,820 --> 00:04:06,840 a fan club. And so she got to know the manager of the radio 62 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:11,100 station there, and she knew I was interested in radio, so she 63 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,400 introduced me to it, and said, Well, my cousin just loves 64 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:20,180 radio. He really like come up and meet you and just watch. And 65 00:04:20,180 --> 00:04:25,460 so luckily, being a small town radio station, they they have a 66 00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:31,280 need for people to sit in. And so I studied to get my third 67 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,460 class radio telephone operators, yeah, back in the day when you 68 00:04:34,460 --> 00:04:38,600 needed that right element nine broadcast endorsement. And 69 00:04:38,660 --> 00:04:43,300 finally, hung around long enough that they put me on the air, and 70 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:48,100 I made $1.25 an hour, which I guess was a lot of money, 71 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,000 at least from radio. I 72 00:04:52,780 --> 00:04:55,540 called Man, I've got money now. I went in, the first thing I 73 00:04:55,540 --> 00:05:00,900 bought was a color television. Oh, wow. And. I was just 74 00:05:00,900 --> 00:05:04,200 thrilled. But, and then a stereo after that, you think I'd have 75 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:08,220 gotten the stereo first, right? The television came first. I had 76 00:05:08,220 --> 00:05:11,400 to see color. You know, the first, the first show I watched 77 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,900 in color was Gun Smoke. And it was great to see, you know, the 78 00:05:15,900 --> 00:05:21,440 colors James aren't his shirt and and when someone got shot, 79 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:26,000 you actually saw red. And so that was, that was thrilling. Of 80 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,480 course, I was, you know, 1616, years old time, 81 00:05:29,599 --> 00:05:33,199 yeah, but, but, man, you were rolling in the dough. Yeah. You 82 00:05:33,199 --> 00:05:36,859 were Mr. Popular there, at least when you got to Glasgow. 83 00:05:36,860 --> 00:05:40,420 In Glasgow, yeah. And that was a part time gig for until I got 84 00:05:40,420 --> 00:05:44,500 out of high school and hired me full time. The guy that owned 85 00:05:44,500 --> 00:05:48,760 the station, Johnny barrack, was such a wonderful person to work 86 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,080 with, and his kids would come over and help answer the phones 87 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,180 and things like that, and it was a great learning ground, because 88 00:05:58,180 --> 00:06:00,660 he let me do anything I wanted on the air, as long as long as 89 00:06:00,660 --> 00:06:07,320 he kept it clean, he was fine with it. But then I back in 90 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:12,540 those days, it seemed like disc jockeys wanted to hop around and 91 00:06:12,540 --> 00:06:15,240 said, the more radio stations you work for, the bigger you 92 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,240 are, you know, the better. But I always thought 93 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:22,280 maybe I needed to do that. But 94 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:28,160 Ted Johnson, who was Assistant Program Director of WSM at the 95 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,180 time, had worked at wbgn in Bowling Green, and he had heard 96 00:06:32,180 --> 00:06:35,240 me on the radio. I'd heard him on the radio, and then when he 97 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:40,900 found out I was kind of looking he offered me a job at WSM to 98 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:47,020 this was 1974 and that was to work with Harold Hensley, the 99 00:06:47,020 --> 00:06:51,280 great Harold Hensley, yeah, he was, oh my gosh, I can think of 100 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:54,400 a better person to have worked with than Harold Hensley. Now, 101 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,880 if I said the great Harold Hensley in front of him, he was, 102 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,920 there's nothing great about me, you know, and that's what was 103 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:06,000 very charming. But he was a big cut up. He would pull pranks on 104 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,740 you. It was just hilarious, hilarious. And what I did, I was 105 00:07:10,740 --> 00:07:15,300 like, his side gig, okay, yeah, you know. And I would answer the 106 00:07:15,300 --> 00:07:21,680 phones. I would go let the guest in, and then I would do his 107 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:26,780 headline news, and every time, well, not every time, but a few 108 00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:31,160 times, I'd go into the little room with which studio, WSM 109 00:07:31,220 --> 00:07:37,280 studio, right through the next door was the UPI AP room, and of 110 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,800 course, he was insulated with sound, So I'd go in there and 111 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,900 start pulling the headlines, and he'd start the theme, and I 112 00:07:46,900 --> 00:07:50,200 would just, I'd have a long piece of paper. He started the 113 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,960 news theme, and I had to run back in and 114 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,980 try to read, try to Yeah, decipher all that stuff. Yeah, 115 00:07:56,980 --> 00:08:00,480 back in the days with the UPI and the AP machine and the Bing, 116 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,680 bing, bing, whenever breaking news would would happen. So how 117 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,980 old were you when? When you jumped over to WSN, 70? 118 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,020 I was 24 Okay, yeah, yeah. So I was old man by then. 119 00:08:16,020 --> 00:08:18,960 Well, man, but you know that? I mean, come on, that's quite a 120 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,880 jump, that that's a real, that's a real testament to your talent. 121 00:08:22,940 --> 00:08:26,660 I mean, you don't normally go from, you know, all due respect, 122 00:08:26,660 --> 00:08:32,420 to Glasgow, but from Glasgow to WSM I mean, you had to really 123 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,400 be, really be proud about that. 124 00:08:34,460 --> 00:08:37,520 I was in awe of everyone that worked there. And I'd sit there 125 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,200 and say, What am I doing here? How did I get through the door? 126 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,160 And when Ralph Embry or somebody like that would walk in while I 127 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,520 was on the air, I would just play songs back to back. I 128 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:57,580 didn't I thought, if I open my mouth, they'll find me out. But 129 00:08:57,580 --> 00:09:01,200 no, I was humbled, and I was in awe of the people I've worked 130 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:06,240 with, legends, and I'm thinking, How did I get really, literally, 131 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,040 how did I get here, right? 132 00:09:08,099 --> 00:09:13,559 I can only imagine now you and I met via your wife at the time, 133 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:18,959 who was Sheila Shipley. She was my boss at at MCA. Did did 134 00:09:18,959 --> 00:09:22,459 Sheila? Were you two involved before you came here. I mean, 135 00:09:22,459 --> 00:09:24,559 she's too She too was from Scottsville, right? 136 00:09:24,619 --> 00:09:29,179 We were childhood sweethearts. Yeah, I met her when I was 15. 137 00:09:29,419 --> 00:09:37,099 Oh, wow. And we got married in 1969, I was 19, and, yeah, she 138 00:09:37,099 --> 00:09:39,979 was couple years younger than me, right, right? And then, of 139 00:09:39,979 --> 00:09:45,099 course, we had a son Three years later, and then I got a job at 140 00:09:45,219 --> 00:09:50,079 WSM, and that was such a big change. Oh, I can imagine used 141 00:09:50,079 --> 00:09:54,759 to, yeah, it was like, I guess if you're a pilot and you're 142 00:09:54,759 --> 00:09:59,919 flying a small cub around, then you jump in the seat of seven. 143 00:09:59,999 --> 00:10:05,819 47 Oh my gosh. It's like flying 747. When you're sitting on 144 00:10:05,819 --> 00:10:09,839 50,000 watt Clear Channel, right? And it's, it's mighty 145 00:10:09,839 --> 00:10:13,979 powerful feeling. And you feel good, sure, I would really want 146 00:10:13,979 --> 00:10:14,819 to do the job. 147 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:19,200 Did you feel some kind of, I would think you had to deal with 148 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,580 some culture shock. You come into the big city, and then 149 00:10:22,700 --> 00:10:26,540 coming face to face with country music superstars and whatnot 150 00:10:26,540 --> 00:10:30,980 that would come in to the radio station. I mean, what was that 151 00:10:30,980 --> 00:10:32,240 adjustment like? 152 00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:37,640 Well, luckily, did not happen all at once. I would meet some 153 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:43,300 famous people a little at a time. And back in those days, if 154 00:10:44,140 --> 00:10:47,680 a star wanted to be on Harold's show, you know, Ralph Emery did 155 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:51,220 that show for a long time, they would take a little pebble in 156 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,580 and hit the window, which we could look down in the parking 157 00:10:54,580 --> 00:10:58,180 lot. And so if you heard a pebble hit the window, you have 158 00:10:58,180 --> 00:11:01,260 to look out and see who's there. Wow. And then they come around 159 00:11:01,260 --> 00:11:05,580 back, which was right down the steps, and they put a like a 160 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:11,160 intercom doorbell. And then they started using that now one 161 00:11:11,220 --> 00:11:19,380 night, yeah, time that I refused to do something with Harold, I 162 00:11:19,380 --> 00:11:25,340 felt so bad about it. Wayland, Jennings, Willie Nelson, Chris 163 00:11:25,340 --> 00:11:29,540 Christopherson, had been out partying, and so they decided 164 00:11:29,540 --> 00:11:33,440 they wanted to come up and be on with Harold. But they were, you 165 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,880 know, and so Harold said, well, Willie Nelson and Waylon, 166 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,080 Jennings and Chris Christopher's down, they want to come up so 167 00:11:41,260 --> 00:11:45,880 you tell them I can't have them tonight. Listen, you want me to 168 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:51,760 go down and tell Wayland Jennings, no, you can't make it 169 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:57,400 tonight. I'm not going to so they finally got on the security 170 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:01,380 guard just to tell them they were really mad. Oh yeah, but 171 00:12:01,620 --> 00:12:04,320 no, Harold was great to work with us. The only time I said 172 00:12:04,380 --> 00:12:11,340 I'm not going, but those lot of fun nights, I mean, I got to 173 00:12:11,340 --> 00:12:15,840 know Marty Robbins, oh, he would come by a lot and bring his 174 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:20,360 guitar and sing it, thinking I'm sitting right beside Marty 175 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,360 Robbins, there he was with his daughter, and I'm hearing him 176 00:12:23,660 --> 00:12:26,720 this close. I'm not having to hear him through a speaker or 177 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:29,060 radio. And there he is, that beautiful voice. 178 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:33,440 Oh, wow, yeah, he was special. Oh yeah. And I can remember when 179 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:38,780 he passed away. I remember it was like December 8 of 82 right? 180 00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:42,760 December 8. December 9. I was working radio in Louisiana, 181 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,000 Baton Rouge at the time, and it's one of the only times I can 182 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,060 remember after hearing of someone passing I had grown men 183 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:53,620 calling the radio station in tears. He really, really 184 00:12:53,620 --> 00:12:54,940 affected a lot of people. 185 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,480 Well, here, have to tell you this. I was working at music 186 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,940 country radio network, right, which was part of WSM, and I 187 00:13:02,940 --> 00:13:07,080 just gotten off at two in the morning. Al risen. I got the 188 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:12,180 name of Al Rison was on from two until six. While I was on the 189 00:13:12,180 --> 00:13:16,800 way home, I was listening to Al and Marty Robbins called, and 190 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,240 they were talking, and Marty complains, so I'm laying on the 191 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:24,020 floor right now, my back is killing me, and he had just 192 00:13:24,020 --> 00:13:27,980 gotten off tour, and so I went home. I never thought anything 193 00:13:27,980 --> 00:13:31,400 about it, but when I woke up the next day, I heard the news that 194 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:35,480 Marty Robbins had a massive heart attack. Now he was still 195 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:37,100 alive, but I don't 196 00:13:37,100 --> 00:13:41,260 think well, he had heart issues all throughout his young life, 197 00:13:41,260 --> 00:13:41,680 yeah. 198 00:13:41,740 --> 00:13:44,440 And one thing I did love about Marty, whenever he played the 199 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:50,260 Opry and he was the last act, he would always run over, yes. And 200 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,940 I remember it used to make Ernest really mad, because 201 00:13:54,940 --> 00:13:58,060 Ernest would be doing his midnight jamboree at his record 202 00:13:58,060 --> 00:14:01,260 shop, and I got to hear it on the radio one night that shit 203 00:14:01,260 --> 00:14:04,620 was hilarious. Would always do, yeah, he'd always do several 204 00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:06,060 encores of El Paso. 205 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,340 And also, Marty would call and prank you on the phone. He would 206 00:14:11,340 --> 00:14:15,360 disguise his way. He called me like that and said, I'm over 207 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,740 here this nursing home, and I'm listening to WSM radio. I really 208 00:14:19,740 --> 00:14:23,660 enjoy and everything. But I was just wondering if you could I 209 00:14:23,660 --> 00:14:26,840 saw, let me guess, you want to hear Marty Robbins song, right? 210 00:14:26,900 --> 00:14:32,720 And he said, Oh, you son of a gun, but he would do stuff like 211 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,540 that. He was a sweetheart. He was a great guy. 212 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:40,280 So again, I mean, we would be here all day to to ask you about 213 00:14:40,340 --> 00:14:43,960 the all the artists you've met and and dealt with over the 214 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,740 years, but you have to have some real favorites. I mean, you've 215 00:14:47,740 --> 00:14:50,800 just mentioned Marty Robbins. I mean, there, there had to have 216 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,920 been others that really, really hit home with you. 217 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:56,260 Well, there were some that I met, that I thought I'd never 218 00:14:56,260 --> 00:14:59,500 meet, and became, actually became kind of friends with. One 219 00:14:59,500 --> 00:15:04,980 was. Lefty Frizzell, I just couldn't believe lefty actually 220 00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:08,760 said he loved listening to me. And I thought, oh my god, yeah, 221 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,240 that's yeah, that would be and he would call me on the phone 222 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:16,560 and he said, I'm gonna bring my guitar up and, you know, 223 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:21,980 performs on the air for you. And he did that several times. He 224 00:15:21,980 --> 00:15:26,180 said, I'm going to make it this weekend. Now he called me on, I 225 00:15:26,180 --> 00:15:31,340 think it was Sunday, Sunday evening of this particular week, 226 00:15:31,820 --> 00:15:35,540 and said, I am definitely going to come up and see you Friday 227 00:15:35,540 --> 00:15:39,800 night after the Opry. See I was on after the midnight jamboree. 228 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,320 And I said, Great. And he said, I'm gonna bring my guitar and 229 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,640 I'll stay with you all night. So Wednesday, he died of a heart 230 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,420 attack, mercy, and that just killed me. I mean, not just 231 00:15:52,420 --> 00:15:56,500 because he passed away, but we had had plans, you know, yeah, 232 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:01,800 but he was one of them Alabama. They were great guys. I met them 233 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,720 before they became stars. I actually, at that time, was 234 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:11,640 working at wsix FM, doing mornings and an independent 235 00:16:16,380 --> 00:16:23,300 promoter, right promoter, brought a record. It was on a 236 00:16:23,420 --> 00:16:27,440 self, one of these very independent labels that I think 237 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:31,520 they had had pressed up themselves and the song, and I 238 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,020 still have that record at home. The song was, I want to come 239 00:16:36,020 --> 00:16:40,840 over the Alabama band. And I thought, This is great. So I was 240 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:46,120 the music director at that time, so I thought I'd put it on. And 241 00:16:46,180 --> 00:16:50,380 this was before my home in Alabama was out. So I started 242 00:16:50,380 --> 00:16:52,720 getting requests for it. People really liked it. 243 00:16:53,439 --> 00:16:58,059 And, you know, he it just took off 244 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,440 after that. So they were the Alabama, they weren't still wild 245 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:02,820 country at no time. 246 00:17:02,940 --> 00:17:06,240 At this time, they called themselves the Alabama band, and 247 00:17:06,300 --> 00:17:10,980 then later, Alabama, yeah, but then that was fun. They would 248 00:17:10,980 --> 00:17:16,980 come up and visit me when I was at wsix, and they would come up 249 00:17:16,980 --> 00:17:22,700 an old black van. And so I saw a progression from the black van 250 00:17:22,700 --> 00:17:27,260 to a limousine for someone else's diving. And they would 251 00:17:27,260 --> 00:17:30,920 come in and, you know, chat with me for a little while. But they 252 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:31,040 were, 253 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:35,900 they were great. I mean, Benny, you had such a fabulous career 254 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:41,260 from the radio perspective. When I mean Johnny, can you imagine, 255 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:47,620 you know, gosh, Alan Jackson or George Strait throwing a pebble 256 00:17:47,620 --> 00:17:49,420 on your window to come up and talk to, 257 00:17:49,420 --> 00:17:52,540 you know, what an amazing what an 258 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:55,660 amazing time, though. Yeah, 259 00:17:55,660 --> 00:18:00,420 that wasn't, you know, that's a magical moment, no, and that's 260 00:18:00,420 --> 00:18:03,120 when Nashville, to me, was fun, yeah. 261 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:06,180 And at the moment, it wasn't that I wasn't aware of it. I 262 00:18:06,180 --> 00:18:09,360 appreciate it every second. And I thought, I can't believe I'm 263 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:14,160 absorbing all this. I would even go in and watch Lester flat 264 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:19,560 record the the 15 minute bluegrass. So the Martha White 265 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,640 Oh yeah, Arthur, white flower, yeah, they had a 15 minute 266 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:27,800 program every morning before the waking crew, and grant Turner 267 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,580 was MC in it. I can't believe I worked with someone like Grant 268 00:18:31,580 --> 00:18:36,680 Turner. GRANT Turner was great guy, yeah, the dean, they call 269 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,260 him, but one of the nicest guys ever met was Grant Turner, but I 270 00:18:41,260 --> 00:18:46,000 would sit there and in the studio and watch them, where 271 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,520 they where they did the waking crew. They would come in and do 272 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:53,800 an entire week's worth, and Marty Stewart was with them at 273 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,900 that time, had a big flight cowboy hat, and it was playing 274 00:18:59,500 --> 00:19:04,860 that dude is unbelievable, yeah, yeah, but of course, Earl 275 00:19:04,860 --> 00:19:07,860 Scruggs had separated from Leicester flat, so I never did 276 00:19:07,860 --> 00:19:11,040 get seal them together. Yeah, that was fascinating. I am 277 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:16,980 watching Lester flat and Marty Stewart do that Martha White 278 00:19:16,980 --> 00:19:18,780 show. It was amazing. 279 00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:23,300 So tell us about some of the wonderful women of country music 280 00:19:23,300 --> 00:19:26,480 that you had an opportunity to interact with, 281 00:19:27,020 --> 00:19:30,980 Reba McIntyre, right? You worked with Reba? Yeah, yeah. Now, I 282 00:19:30,980 --> 00:19:34,760 met Reba when she first went with mercury record. Mercury, 283 00:19:34,820 --> 00:19:36,140 yeah, a dear friend of mine, 284 00:19:37,460 --> 00:19:40,660 Frank level, oh yeah. Remember Frank? Yeah, 285 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:46,600 he brought her by, and I did an interview with Reba. We recorded 286 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,520 one, and I put a little special together with her. And after the 287 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:53,620 interview, we went to this little steakhouse at 288 00:19:53,620 --> 00:19:59,200 Murfreesboro road and had lunch that was fun. And Reba seemed 289 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,280 always remember. Remember me from those early days. You would 290 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,100 always, no matter what she was doing, she'd say, Hey, you come 291 00:20:05,100 --> 00:20:08,640 over here, you know, give me a hug. And I remember seeing her 292 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:10,980 on the street. She was getting bigger and bigger, oh yeah, 293 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:16,200 time. And I didn't want to bother her, and so I'd seen her 294 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,920 on the street. Andy Williams' brother, I think it was Don 295 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:24,380 Williams, at the time, was managing her, yes, and so I met 296 00:20:24,380 --> 00:20:28,520 her outside the old MCA, where they used to be in that smaller 297 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:32,840 building on 16th Avenue, and she would stop and say hi. And then 298 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:37,580 I was at one of the CRS conventions at the Opryland 299 00:20:37,580 --> 00:20:42,580 hotel, and there was a big crowd around her, and you know, you 300 00:20:42,580 --> 00:20:46,420 don't want to bother them when they're busier, going from point 301 00:20:46,420 --> 00:20:50,620 A to point B. Well, I kind of passed her, and she passed me, 302 00:20:50,620 --> 00:20:53,860 and she stopped and called my name and came over and gave me a 303 00:20:53,860 --> 00:20:57,580 hug. She's always done that. Wow, even to this day, 304 00:20:58,179 --> 00:21:00,899 who the thought? Because, you know, when I first, I first I 305 00:21:00,899 --> 00:21:03,719 first started playing her records when she was on Mercury. 306 00:21:04,019 --> 00:21:06,719 Who would have thought at that time that she would be as big as 307 00:21:06,719 --> 00:21:10,499 she is? No, you know, you you reach, you reach super stardom. 308 00:21:10,559 --> 00:21:13,739 But all you have to say is the first name, yeah, you know, Reba 309 00:21:14,039 --> 00:21:14,999 true, yeah. 310 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,000 I remember back in those days, she actually did a duet with 311 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,660 Jackie Ward, yeah. Jackie Ward, yeah. 312 00:21:20,780 --> 00:21:22,940 I remember Jack mercury as well. Yeah, 313 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,560 Jackie was a great guy, and that was, I think that was a big 314 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,100 thing for her to do a duet with Jackie that time, because he 315 00:21:31,100 --> 00:21:32,180 was, yeah, 316 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,420 he was established, yeah, he was a hit maker. You know, we've 317 00:21:35,420 --> 00:21:39,200 had, we had Deborah Allen as a guest here, and you know, she 318 00:21:39,260 --> 00:21:45,400 did those duets with through the magic with Jim Reeves, and that 319 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:49,420 introduced her to the world and made her, you know, a little 320 00:21:49,420 --> 00:21:52,600 more credible in the eyes of radio programmers. 321 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,720 Yeah, I remember doing an interview with Deborah Allen 322 00:21:56,020 --> 00:21:58,900 when she was married to Ray fenwol, right? And I had them 323 00:21:58,900 --> 00:22:02,880 all together. And that is some more interviews with her. And 324 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,000 she was always sweet, yeah, oh, yeah, I know she and Ray Van Hoy 325 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,600 were writing a lot of songs these days, right? Ray fan hoy 326 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,200 is more of a writer than than an artist, although he did have 327 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:15,840 have a couple of records, yeah. 328 00:22:15,899 --> 00:22:21,019 Now you mentioned that you were music director at wsix Back 329 00:22:21,199 --> 00:22:24,859 then, did you have the autonomy to just play whatever the heck 330 00:22:24,859 --> 00:22:29,959 you wanted, or did you have to run it by corporate or some 331 00:22:29,959 --> 00:22:31,639 other well, entity, 332 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,840 I thought I had the power to do that until I got called down a 333 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:43,600 couple of times now, the program director at that time decided 334 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,600 that I should not have put Alabama on because nobody knew 335 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:52,240 who they were at that time, I want to come over. That was the 336 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:58,120 song we were playing, and I said I thought that we could as long 337 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:03,000 as the record sounded good and had a nice message. It didn't 338 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,820 matter whether they were known or not, as long as fit the 339 00:23:05,820 --> 00:23:08,820 format. And he thought about, I said, Well, you're right, and he 340 00:23:08,820 --> 00:23:11,520 put it back on. He because he pulled it off and he put it back 341 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,080 on after I needed pleaded with it. 342 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,120 So yeah, you ultimately got the the last laugh on that, right? 343 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,620 Yeah, because those fellas did, okay, well, so did he? 344 00:23:23,540 --> 00:23:26,720 He did really, really, really, well, yeah. Can I mention his 345 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:27,080 name? 346 00:23:27,139 --> 00:23:29,839 Yeah. Well, it's entirely up to you. 347 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:34,160 Jerry house, oh yeah, Jerry and I were actually really close for 348 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:40,540 a long time. We we kind of split with thoughts, but no, we're 349 00:23:40,540 --> 00:23:45,520 good friends, and I always was proud to have worked with him. 350 00:23:45,580 --> 00:23:46,360 He was great. 351 00:23:46,420 --> 00:23:49,960 Yeah, you know that whole house foundation thing, boy, that was 352 00:23:50,020 --> 00:23:51,580 a juggernaut. 353 00:23:52,780 --> 00:23:55,360 Yeah, that's that's true. And I mean, he worked hard for it. 354 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,780 He really did. Now, did you ever work with the great Jerry 355 00:23:58,780 --> 00:24:00,660 minchell, yes, I did 356 00:24:02,580 --> 00:24:07,500 the great Jerry Minchew. You talk about a voice and wsix, I 357 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:10,920 was on FM, he was on AM, yeah. And then I worked with Jerry 358 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,420 again at WSM later, yeah. And of course, now he's my neighbor. 359 00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:19,440 You've just meant to be together. Have 360 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,120 you ever had to call the police on him for too much noise. He 361 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:25,160 seems like a rowdy 362 00:24:27,980 --> 00:24:30,200 guy's do, like, the home improvement over the fence 363 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,160 conversations with, like, fabulous radio voices. Well, the 364 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,140 neighbors perk up when it happens. 365 00:24:36,140 --> 00:24:39,080 Like I'm on the second story. He's down in the first even 366 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,220 better, I can yell at him and say, Hey, Jerry, 367 00:24:42,580 --> 00:24:45,460 Jerry had to call me one time. I got called to the carpet 368 00:24:46,780 --> 00:24:49,600 because he was music director at the radio station we were 369 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:54,520 working at, and the uppity UPS told him to get in touch with 370 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,180 me. I played a David Allen co song called divers do it deeper. 371 00:24:59,020 --> 00:25:01,920 And then they told. Him, said, Let him know if he ever does 372 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,700 that again, that he will no longer be working here. And 373 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:11,160 Jerry was very diplomatic about it. That low voice, Johnny, I 374 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,880 was told if you'd play that song again that well, they said, 375 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:19,500 that's the last time you're gonna play yeah. 376 00:25:19,919 --> 00:25:22,339 What a great guy, though. Oh, and what a great talent. I 377 00:25:22,580 --> 00:25:25,580 remember the first time I met David Alan Cole. I was scared of 378 00:25:25,580 --> 00:25:29,960 it, because I heard all these rumors. And turned out the 379 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,680 really nice guy he is. He is a super nice guy, yeah. And then I 380 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,920 got to interview him when I worked at Ws, Sims, music, 381 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,440 country network a couple of times, and he was, he was 382 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:39,980 fabulous, 383 00:25:40,159 --> 00:25:43,119 yeah, he was always fabulous to me. And I've heard other people 384 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:47,739 say that, you know, I had a bad experience with him, but I never 385 00:25:47,739 --> 00:25:48,879 did well. 386 00:25:49,419 --> 00:25:51,939 And Johnny paycheck, I'd met him. I never interviewed him, 387 00:25:51,939 --> 00:25:55,479 but I met him one night. I was working with Harold, and of 388 00:25:55,479 --> 00:26:04,139 course, I was going through the master control room to go to the 389 00:26:04,139 --> 00:26:08,519 front of WSM. It's in the old WSM V building, yeah, where 390 00:26:08,519 --> 00:26:13,079 Channel Four is. And we were there for quite a few years, and 391 00:26:13,079 --> 00:26:15,539 I didn't know he was on the other side of the door, and I 392 00:26:15,539 --> 00:26:24,259 opened the door, he was staring. I apologize, it wasn't, I 393 00:26:24,259 --> 00:26:27,319 wasn't, you know, scared of you. I just wasn't expecting you. 394 00:26:27,319 --> 00:26:28,819 Yeah, but 395 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:34,220 were you ever, were you still at WSM when they went over to the 396 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:38,120 Opryland hotel and were in that bubble, you know, in that in 397 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:41,560 that room, what kind of experience was that like to, you 398 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,960 know, have people with their nose pressed up against the 399 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:45,640 glass watching you do your thing. 400 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,480 Well, when I went back to WSM, we were still on the hill with 401 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:54,520 Channel Four and national life still home the company at that 402 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,400 time, which they were great to work for. They were absolutely 403 00:26:57,460 --> 00:27:01,080 fabulous. I mean, they treated you like part of the family 404 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,520 anyway, we moved from the hill in 1982 out to the little white 405 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,600 building. They call it House on the Prairie, which is before you 406 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,120 get to the opry land hotel. I am Stanley. Tore it down the last 407 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:19,080 few months, but we were in that we even had trailers in the 408 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:23,720 back, and so we were there for quite a while, until Charlie 409 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:28,100 Douglas came up. So we were broadcasting, taking over the 410 00:27:28,100 --> 00:27:33,500 WSM am studio at night for music country network. And then chuck 411 00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:38,600 Morgan left and went to work for the Dallas, 412 00:27:40,580 --> 00:27:45,100 Texas Rangers. Well, it's in Texas anyway. 413 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:53,440 Wrong team. But no, Chuck was a great guy to work with, too, and 414 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:57,760 he's still with the Texas Rangers. And I ran into him in 415 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,980 October when WSM had the 100th anniversary. Yeah, and I hadn't 416 00:28:01,980 --> 00:28:05,880 seen him in years, but still the same, same old Chuck. But 417 00:28:05,940 --> 00:28:10,440 anyway, I set in for Chuck for six months as the interim host 418 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,460 of the music country network. So they got a replacement. And of 419 00:28:14,460 --> 00:28:17,760 course, that replacement was Charlie Douglas in the right 420 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:22,220 game. Yeah, I had heard of Charlie, yeah, WWL, New Orleans. 421 00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:27,080 So I didn't know what to expect, and I Charlie was one of the 422 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,400 most fantastic guys I had ever worked with. He loved to have 423 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:36,500 fun. It was like radio used to be. Yes, he was like, I tried to 424 00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:40,160 compare him to a character called fizzy wig from the 425 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,420 Christmas Carol. Remember the fizzy wig character, when 426 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,300 Scrooge looked back on the life and there was fizzy wig always 427 00:28:46,300 --> 00:28:47,980 having to, you know, it was his 428 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,620 first boss, yeah, his first boss. And in the Muppet 429 00:28:50,620 --> 00:28:52,780 Christmas Carol, it's named Fozzie wig. 430 00:28:54,640 --> 00:29:00,840 And his character was maybe not as animated, but his heart was 431 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:06,180 like that, very jubilant. He wanted us all to have fun. As a 432 00:29:06,180 --> 00:29:10,080 matter of fact, speaking of the Christmas Carol, he wanted me to 433 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,880 put a Country Christmas carol together, which I produced. I 434 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,720 went to the library, found the shortest version of the 435 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:24,020 Christmas Carol I could find, and we used country music stars 436 00:29:24,020 --> 00:29:32,060 as the characters. Bill Anderson was whispering Scrooge. That's 437 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:36,980 great. Grandpa Jones was the Ghost of Christmas Past. 438 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:43,660 How does whispering bill have the intimidation factor of a 439 00:29:43,660 --> 00:29:45,040 scrooge of his whisper, 440 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:46,960 well, he did say humbug. 441 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,040 Sounds like Clint Eastwood, but 442 00:29:52,540 --> 00:29:55,900 grandpa Jones will said it's. 443 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,320 Jerry Clower was also, Oh, wow. But the thing is, I recorded 444 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,820 them all separately, none. So I had to put it all together. I 445 00:30:08,820 --> 00:30:11,400 actually suddenly some of them, I can read the lines to them. 446 00:30:12,540 --> 00:30:17,100 But they were all just just loved it, because they were 447 00:30:17,100 --> 00:30:21,860 doing something out of Yeah, yeah. What a project that was 448 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:22,760 like, an hour 449 00:30:23,180 --> 00:30:25,820 project. Oh, Mercy. How long did it take you to put that too, 450 00:30:27,140 --> 00:30:29,660 and was that? Was that real or real? 451 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:34,520 Real or real? Yeah, so we're you did have a 452 00:30:36,020 --> 00:30:37,520 project, pencils and 453 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:38,660 razor blades? Yeah, 454 00:30:38,660 --> 00:30:40,720 you put some calluses on those fingertips you 455 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:43,780 had some long nights on that 456 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,580 own sound effects, sometimes too, like the chains of one of 457 00:30:51,580 --> 00:30:57,460 the ghosts. I borrowed one of the guys chains from his car. 458 00:30:57,460 --> 00:31:01,380 You know, you know, snow chains, and made the sound effects of 459 00:31:01,380 --> 00:31:10,200 that, and I borrowed people from the radio station as extras, and 460 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,420 I don't know how to put it together now, looking back, 461 00:31:12,420 --> 00:31:14,520 because I didn't have multi track, I would 462 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,940 imagine you had to put the story line together and then improvise 463 00:31:17,940 --> 00:31:20,540 the soundtracks onto another, Yeah, set of tape 464 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:25,160 sound effects. How neat it would be to hear that today. Oh, a 465 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,680 guy I know, Jim driver, whom I worked with at WSM years ago, 466 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,420 has a copy of it. Oh, wow. And he is promised to bring it to me 467 00:31:35,420 --> 00:31:40,480 to one of the luncheons. Oh yeah, the radio luncheons. So 468 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,880 I'm hoping they get a copy of, Oh, man. 469 00:31:42,879 --> 00:31:48,039 I mean, that needs to be in a museum where some radio Museum. 470 00:31:48,100 --> 00:31:51,940 Well, the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame does have it in 471 00:31:51,940 --> 00:31:56,080 their archives. Now it's in their archives, which doesn't 472 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,680 mean that nobody knows anything about it, but we present, I have 473 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:04,080 a picture actually, me, Johnny Russell and Charlie Douglas 474 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,700 presenting the master tape to the Country Music Hall of Fame. 475 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:12,300 Oh, wow, that's that's cool. Johnny Russell was tiny. 476 00:32:12,300 --> 00:32:19,320 Tim. I mean, this was great typecasting. Yeah. 477 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,380 Charlie Douglas's humor, you know, you gotta get 478 00:32:25,700 --> 00:32:27,260 Johnny to play time. What a 479 00:32:27,260 --> 00:32:29,180 character he was. Johnny Russell. 480 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,300 Did you have any trouble convincing when you brought this 481 00:32:32,300 --> 00:32:36,140 idea to these stars? Did they all just think that was great 482 00:32:36,140 --> 00:32:38,360 and jump in? Or did you have to twist their 483 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,220 arms? Oh, no, I didn't have twist anybody. 484 00:32:41,420 --> 00:32:44,500 I just can't imagine doing that today. You know, going to today 485 00:32:44,500 --> 00:32:47,380 stars and wanting to do something like that? Yeah, I 486 00:32:47,380 --> 00:32:50,080 don't think you'd get the Yeah, you'd have to go through their 487 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,000 manager and their publicist. Miss Swift. 488 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,720 Do you want to do this thing? 489 00:32:57,940 --> 00:33:00,220 I would love to see that. I'd be surprised. 490 00:33:00,220 --> 00:33:02,980 You know, it'd be kind of an interesting experience. 491 00:33:02,980 --> 00:33:03,660 Interesting experiment. 492 00:33:03,660 --> 00:33:06,480 Would be, yeah, but the whole theater of the mind thing is 493 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:13,440 what makes radio so special. And you know, you that had to while 494 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:17,280 the workload had to be arduous, as you've described, that had to 495 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:18,600 be an absolute blast. 496 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,180 It was fun. It was 497 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,100 creative, to be able to be that creative, yeah, yeah. 498 00:33:25,100 --> 00:33:27,140 So, I mean, you know, the theater of the mind for this 499 00:33:27,140 --> 00:33:30,020 podcast is the fact that the three of us are muscular. 500 00:33:30,020 --> 00:33:32,780 Adonises, oh, wait a minute, we've got cameras in here. 501 00:33:32,780 --> 00:33:34,640 Yes, right? Cameras kind of 502 00:33:37,340 --> 00:33:39,500 Yeah. The Mystery of radio is now gone. That 503 00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:43,840 was the nice thing about radio. People didn't have 504 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,080 to, it's true, yeah. Well, that was the great thing about radio 505 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:52,000 then as well. It was, I think even listening to the opry on 506 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,140 the weekend, you know, people would envision in their own mind 507 00:33:56,140 --> 00:34:00,040 what, what everything looked like, what? And that's kind of 508 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,660 gone today with cameras everywhere. And I kind of hate 509 00:34:03,660 --> 00:34:06,480 that radio, but you came up during a magical time. 510 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,960 Oh yeah, it was magical. And you, too, you were in radio 511 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:11,340 before you came to Nashville, 512 00:34:11,340 --> 00:34:14,340 right, right, you know. And Johnny, of course, as well, 513 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,240 yeah, you know. And I came to Nashville kind of in the tail 514 00:34:18,240 --> 00:34:23,120 end of a lot of the golden era that many people refer to it as, 515 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,320 you know, you know, I met Owen Bradley, and you know people 516 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:33,440 like that way back when, but you know, again, you had a wife at 517 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,340 the time that was with a record label, a number of them. Did you 518 00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:40,720 ever get, you know, so many radio guys go to a label. Did 519 00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:44,380 you ever have that opportunity or have the bug to work for a 520 00:34:44,380 --> 00:34:46,360 record company? Oh no, yeah, 521 00:34:50,260 --> 00:34:57,880 I admired what you did. I don't think I could have done it. I 522 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,980 would have been me in the. That time. And of course, you work 523 00:35:01,980 --> 00:35:06,180 with other people in the music industry that was in radio, like 524 00:35:06,180 --> 00:35:07,080 Roger rams, 525 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,680 Oh, of course, just about all of us that were at MCA at the time, 526 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:13,680 not everybody, but most of us were old radio guys, yeah, you 527 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:17,220 know. And that's the case with so many, at least back then, the 528 00:35:17,220 --> 00:35:20,660 record label reps, at least the promotion radio promotion 529 00:35:20,660 --> 00:35:24,920 people. But you know, let's face it, radio, record labels and 530 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:29,540 radio both are just so totally different these days. And I do 531 00:35:29,540 --> 00:35:33,320 see a lot of the record reps that are out there now, they're 532 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,740 not radio people. They've never worked in radio. No, you know, 533 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,960 but so you know, you've transitioned. Well, let me ask 534 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:46,060 you this. You are a major talent when it comes to voiceover work. 535 00:35:46,060 --> 00:35:50,260 Another thing that I've always admired about you, were you 536 00:35:50,260 --> 00:35:53,800 doing that while in radio? Or is that something that you really 537 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:58,300 started attacking once you you kind of left radio full time? 538 00:35:58,540 --> 00:35:58,960 Well, I'd 539 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:03,240 always loved putting something together, putting commercials 540 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:04,320 together, was like, 541 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:06,840 Yeah, you're a production guy. 542 00:36:06,899 --> 00:36:13,319 Yes, I Yes, very much. And if I always thought, if I wasn't 543 00:36:13,859 --> 00:36:16,919 invited to the party, I would just make my own I'd throw my 544 00:36:16,919 --> 00:36:22,159 own party, as far as getting into doing voice over work. But 545 00:36:22,159 --> 00:36:26,359 I had, I guess I was blessed that I was able to step into it, 546 00:36:26,359 --> 00:36:29,599 because I'd done all these commercials on radio, yeah, and 547 00:36:29,599 --> 00:36:33,319 I'd keep, I keep the best ones, you know, for auditions, you 548 00:36:33,319 --> 00:36:39,859 know, for my real, my voice over real. And so when I got to 549 00:36:39,859 --> 00:36:43,239 Nashville, I was told I needed to hook up with talent model 550 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,799 land at the time, Betty Clark, God, rest her soul. Yes, she 551 00:36:47,859 --> 00:36:53,019 was, she was great. I got with her, and looking back, I don't 552 00:36:53,019 --> 00:36:58,839 know what she saw in me, but I went to her 111, time, and I 553 00:36:58,839 --> 00:37:04,199 asked her, you know, I was getting rejected a lot, and 554 00:37:04,199 --> 00:37:07,379 especially on camera things like that. I said, Betty, just be 555 00:37:07,439 --> 00:37:11,099 honest with me. But she was very brutally honest with everybody, 556 00:37:11,099 --> 00:37:14,519 which I loved about her. And I said, What's wrong? What do I 557 00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:19,439 need to do? And he's she said, Well, look at yourself. She 558 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:26,420 come 559 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,040 on, look at yourself. 560 00:37:36,740 --> 00:37:39,260 So she basically just broached the topic, hey, look at yourself 561 00:37:39,260 --> 00:37:42,700 and then decide what you need to change? Not like, well, look at 562 00:37:42,700 --> 00:37:46,060 yourself. I mean, you're a good looking guy. I mean, 563 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:52,660 well, I mean, I had like, a mustache. My hair was down to 564 00:37:52,660 --> 00:37:55,120 here at the time. And she said, What do you need to clean up? A 565 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,480 little and which, all the information she gave me really 566 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:04,620 helped. Now, I recalled going into to visit with a dear 567 00:38:04,620 --> 00:38:07,800 friend. He's a dear friend of mine. Now, his, can I say his 568 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:08,640 name is 569 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,060 all you want on him. We encourage it. 570 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,120 I don't know if you know him. Went to the sound shop for 571 00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,720 years. He was also a WNYC radio and who was that again? Now, 572 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:24,380 Byron Warner, okay, and anyway, he was in charge of the 573 00:38:24,380 --> 00:38:28,400 production at sound shop, which was owned by Buddy killing. 574 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,180 Yeah, right, right. And Byron took care of the commercials 575 00:38:32,180 --> 00:38:35,420 that they did a lot of commercials there. So I went in, 576 00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:40,480 and this first time I met Byron, I had in my little reel of my 577 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,020 voice work. And he put it on the reel to reel, and sat there 578 00:38:44,020 --> 00:38:45,220 behind his desk, and 579 00:38:46,900 --> 00:38:49,060 you do this, you know, you know, 580 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:51,700 as it was going like that, 581 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,380 and it was over, he says, well, it's not that was pretty good. 582 00:38:56,380 --> 00:38:58,600 He said, I would have never thought you could have done that 583 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:07,560 when you walk through the door. I said, Thank you. So I started, 584 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,600 wow, how am I supposed to look? But, you know, I guess 585 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,480 presentation, the whole package is necessary. 586 00:39:15,660 --> 00:39:18,060 It's like being told, Well, hey, you know, I didn't realize you 587 00:39:18,060 --> 00:39:26,240 were this popular with the audience. People. You did that. 588 00:39:28,580 --> 00:39:30,740 So back headed compliments, yes 589 00:39:31,279 --> 00:39:33,439 and I reminded him of that 590 00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:38,480 at one time. He said, I said that to you. I said, Yeah, I 591 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:43,000 said, I thought it was hilarious, but he was great guy. 592 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:48,160 And Byron was great. He is this great voice. And I told Byron, I 593 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:53,920 said, you know, I wish I was as consistently good as you are, 594 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:57,760 because you can go in the studio, drop sound at the drop 595 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:03,780 of the hat, and sound great. I said, I may sound great one day 596 00:40:03,780 --> 00:40:05,340 and lousy, right? 597 00:40:05,340 --> 00:40:09,300 The consistency is tough. It really is tough, yeah, and that 598 00:40:09,300 --> 00:40:14,340 is what separates, you know, the Class A Voice Over people from, 599 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:19,200 you know, yeah, poor people like me, like me, Class G, 600 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:26,600 I got to the point where I lost my range. This was like 1616 601 00:40:27,260 --> 00:40:29,300 years Whoa, there we go. 16 years 602 00:40:29,299 --> 00:40:31,099 ago. Ty Garth Brooks, yeah, 603 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,660 but I really got concerned. I was called in to do a commercial 604 00:40:41,020 --> 00:40:45,820 at Audio Productions. And when I went up there, I just thought, 605 00:40:45,820 --> 00:40:53,140 Man, I hope they want a higher range. And I asked the engineer, 606 00:40:53,140 --> 00:40:56,680 I said, Do you know what what they're looking for? And so they 607 00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:00,960 love that very first cut on your demon. I thought, oh, boy, I'm 608 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:07,260 screwed. And I told the guy said I tried to call you because I 609 00:41:07,260 --> 00:41:11,160 don't think I can do this. And that was just horrible, horrible 610 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:15,060 feeling. Yeah, I can imagine. Well, let's give it a try. So I 611 00:41:15,060 --> 00:41:19,020 went and I just couldn't get down. And he said, Well, yeah, 612 00:41:19,020 --> 00:41:20,100 yeah, you're right. 613 00:41:21,060 --> 00:41:25,580 What was what was the like, the physical? You remember what the 614 00:41:25,580 --> 00:41:29,720 mentality was, because I've been in that situation. Hey, you 615 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:32,240 know, on your demo, I want you to do this, and you go back and 616 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,360 listen to it, and you're like, you know, probably should change 617 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:39,680 that out. I did take it off. But, I mean, you remember, like, 618 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:43,600 the I always have to get, like, into a physicality mindset, 619 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:48,100 like, lay on the floor and, like, relax the diaphragm, you 620 00:41:48,100 --> 00:41:51,700 know, kind of do, like, those types of exercises which would 621 00:41:51,700 --> 00:41:55,120 help my register get back down where it was, because my balls 622 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:59,800 dropped about nine years ago, I was always, like, mid range, and 623 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,880 all of A sudden I could, you know, do borderline movie 624 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:03,960 trailers all of a sudden. 625 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:09,300 So, wow, I know I feel it. I feel the pain. I actually ended 626 00:42:09,300 --> 00:42:13,440 up going to the Vanderbilt voice clinic. Oh, really. And they 627 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,160 helped me tremendously. I mean, they did a lot of weird things. 628 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:22,460 One of the things I wasn't crazy about was a hope I don't get 629 00:42:22,460 --> 00:42:28,460 gross here, but they had to run a camera down my throat here, 630 00:42:28,460 --> 00:42:31,760 down my throat, and they had a video. They were videotaping it, 631 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:36,260 and had me to do and they say, you want to look at I said, No, 632 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:44,560 no, maybe later. No, that's your job, yeah. And so they did that 633 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:48,760 to make sure that there wasn't anything serious down there, 634 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:54,040 yeah. And so when I was talking to the the guy that helped me 635 00:42:54,040 --> 00:43:00,180 get back the therapist, I would go and see him once a week, and 636 00:43:00,180 --> 00:43:04,260 we'd go through exercises. And I asked him, Well, what, what 637 00:43:04,260 --> 00:43:08,760 could be wrong? He says, Well, your voice is worn out. Said, 638 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:13,080 you you've gotten old. And I thought, you mean I can't get 639 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:17,940 back? He says, Well, maybe, but they did run me through some 640 00:43:17,940 --> 00:43:23,000 exercises, and I did manage to get to the point where I could 641 00:43:23,660 --> 00:43:26,180 could do it again, but that was really frightening. 642 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:28,700 Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, you know, you hear a lot of vocal, 643 00:43:28,700 --> 00:43:31,340 you know, singers that go through that. I mean, nodes. 644 00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:35,420 Elton John had that, you know, when he recorded that live album 645 00:43:35,420 --> 00:43:40,240 in Australia, his voice was shredded, and he had had the 646 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:43,000 notes so you didn't have any surgery or anything you were 647 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,520 able to therapeutically resolve, oh, 648 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,220 yeah, yeah. They were little exercises. And this sounds 649 00:43:48,220 --> 00:43:54,100 crazy, but you'd get a glass of water with a straw and blow into 650 00:43:54,100 --> 00:43:58,420 that, making bubbles interesting, or go, yeah, which 651 00:43:58,420 --> 00:44:00,900 is really crazy, almost like priestess people 652 00:44:02,580 --> 00:44:05,040 do some crazy things, yeah, and 653 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:09,540 so he actually described, think of curly doing, you know, like 654 00:44:09,540 --> 00:44:16,380 that, and just do it was kind of like on the odd couple Felix 655 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:18,060 would do that. That's, 656 00:44:22,140 --> 00:44:24,140 that's the thing for me, is like, it's put, you know, talk 657 00:44:24,140 --> 00:44:27,500 about getting gross. It's post nasal drip, yeah? Oh my gosh. 658 00:44:27,500 --> 00:44:29,480 That's why I got, you know, the nose spray behind 659 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:33,200 one of the things they said is, drink water, yeah, drink water. 660 00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:37,040 Drink water. Drink water. Green apples. Green apples. 661 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:43,120 Yeah, and lay off alcohol, caffeine, not nicotine, yeah, 662 00:44:43,180 --> 00:44:45,580 not beneficial to one's throat. 663 00:44:45,759 --> 00:44:48,519 I've always heard whiskey does a good job to your throat, though. 664 00:44:48,639 --> 00:44:51,879 Oh, really, yeah, I'm serious, yeah, yeah. It's like supposed 665 00:44:51,879 --> 00:44:54,519 to be actually, not bad for the voice. That's why a lot 666 00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:56,200 of my voice was better when I drank. 667 00:44:59,380 --> 00:45:01,380 I mean, I. Them, at least you thought 668 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:03,780 it was your 669 00:45:04,380 --> 00:45:08,640 was there kind of like a moment in your mind where you said, 670 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,420 Well, how can I take what I have and just pivot a little bit and 671 00:45:12,420 --> 00:45:15,120 capitalize? That's what I've had to do, like, all of a sudden, 672 00:45:15,540 --> 00:45:18,600 I've had like a rasp sneak into my voice, where it's like a bill 673 00:45:18,780 --> 00:45:21,560 like a bill clinton kind of thing, like this, where, where? 674 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,560 Sometimes it does. It's a good sound, you know, it's a good 675 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:29,540 down home. I always used to do the ACE true value up there. 676 00:45:29,540 --> 00:45:33,020 And, you know, Harpeth, true value. And I would always read 677 00:45:33,020 --> 00:45:37,040 the commercials with that little bit of rasp, yeah. And it was, 678 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:40,160 they just loved it, you know, it was like it just worked. 679 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:45,640 Always did, especially there was one guy that got me out of doing 680 00:45:46,060 --> 00:45:50,320 the radio thing. Was a guy named Charlie pro Sykes. He had a 681 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:54,100 company called Charlie and friends. He was out of Texas, 682 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:57,340 worked at Texas radio for years, and he and his family came in 683 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:01,060 and had a very successful company, the Charlie and 684 00:46:01,060 --> 00:46:04,920 friends, and he had his own studio. And I remember going in, 685 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,680 and I tried my regular delivery, and he said, I don't want that, 686 00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:16,920 since I want little higher range and just just forget about 687 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:23,120 radio. And so I did that, and it was more almost like the guy did 688 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:27,380 with a name like Smuckers. It has to be good. I remember that, 689 00:46:27,380 --> 00:46:32,060 yeah, yeah, Mason Adams. Mason Adams, yeah, and so, so I 690 00:46:32,060 --> 00:46:36,320 started a little higher range, like that. And now, you know, 691 00:46:36,860 --> 00:46:41,620 and that really took a load off of the old vocal chords. 692 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,340 Yeah, I can imagine now, you did a lot of spots, of course, in 693 00:46:45,340 --> 00:46:49,900 radio over the years. But when did you feel like you really, 694 00:46:49,900 --> 00:46:55,120 you know you're sag AFTRA, so you've done some major, major 695 00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:59,860 voiceover work. What was the one spot, or client, or what have 696 00:46:59,860 --> 00:47:03,540 you where you just really felt like you had broken through and 697 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:08,160 and were really, really proud of of what you had accomplished. 698 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,760 I'll have to give the credit to my old friend Milton Blackford. 699 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:16,860 You ever heard of Milton? Milton worked in ENR in radio, worked 700 00:47:16,860 --> 00:47:21,980 for United Artists at the time, and also was in a group called 701 00:47:21,980 --> 00:47:25,760 the glass hammer, which recorded for Warner Brothers rock. He 702 00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:29,600 was, you know, pop and of course, Milton has written a lot 703 00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:33,260 of country songs. He's one of the most talented guys I know. 704 00:47:33,620 --> 00:47:36,500 And he also dabbled in advertising. Had very creative 705 00:47:36,500 --> 00:47:41,320 mind. Milton was the guy who wrote me and my RC. Oh, wow. 706 00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:47,440 BMI, RC, well, I still in touch with Milton. I got out of touch 707 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,040 with him for 20 years. But anyway, one of the largest 708 00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:56,140 commercials I got was not by audition, but by association of 709 00:47:56,140 --> 00:47:59,500 knowing the producer over the years. And it wasn't like, Oh, 710 00:47:59,500 --> 00:48:04,080 I'm going to hire you because you're a friend. It was that he 711 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,900 knew I could do this particular thing and he didn't have to 712 00:48:06,900 --> 00:48:12,660 audition. So I went in to do McDonald's, and we would do 713 00:48:14,460 --> 00:48:15,960 maybe three, 714 00:48:17,580 --> 00:48:23,420 three sessions a month, and maybe three to four spots per 715 00:48:23,420 --> 00:48:29,540 session. Now, not only got paid for the voiceover for radio, but 716 00:48:29,540 --> 00:48:32,780 they used it on television. Which I got paid again? You 717 00:48:32,780 --> 00:48:37,160 know? Which was great. I did 46 of those commercials for over a 718 00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:43,480 year. Wow. And thank goodness for Milton, he got me out of 719 00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:52,780 debt. I bought my first condo. I my car was paid off, and made it 720 00:48:52,780 --> 00:48:59,020 possible for me to fly to China to beat my love of my life, 721 00:48:59,140 --> 00:49:02,520 which I'm married to now, yeah, going on 22 years being married, 722 00:49:03,720 --> 00:49:06,900 and so it hadn't been for Milton. A lot of things that 723 00:49:06,900 --> 00:49:10,200 happened to me over the last 20 years would have never happened. 724 00:49:10,439 --> 00:49:13,259 Wow, that's that is sweet, yeah. 725 00:49:13,379 --> 00:49:16,259 But I had talked to Milton every once in a while. He lives down 726 00:49:16,379 --> 00:49:22,939 in Spring Hill, down in this area, and he's like, 82 and 727 00:49:23,059 --> 00:49:27,559 talking to him on the phone is like talking to Milton 30 years 728 00:49:27,559 --> 00:49:31,699 ago. I mean, it's, he's still Milton, yeah, and he still has 729 00:49:31,699 --> 00:49:37,219 enthusiasm, still writing songs, I mean, beautiful stuff. And so 730 00:49:37,219 --> 00:49:41,919 I have to credit Milton for really, bless his heart for 731 00:49:42,339 --> 00:49:48,099 helping me out for my life. Oh, yeah, for the last 22 years. 732 00:49:48,100 --> 00:49:51,040 Well, that's, that is. That's really great. Well, Benny, I 733 00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:54,220 tell you, man, it's, it's wonderful to see you. You know, 734 00:49:54,220 --> 00:49:57,820 we met many, many years ago. We've kept in touch all these 735 00:49:57,820 --> 00:50:01,380 years. And as I say, I've always. Really admired and 736 00:50:01,380 --> 00:50:04,740 really looked up to the to what all you've done, you know, on 737 00:50:04,740 --> 00:50:10,320 air, voiceover stuff again, man, it's, it's great to just kind of 738 00:50:10,740 --> 00:50:16,680 document what you know, what all you've done in the some stories 739 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:19,080 about who you've met. That's one of the things that we kind of 740 00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:23,540 value with the podcast. We, we talked to a lot of folks that 741 00:50:23,540 --> 00:50:27,560 are, you know, in radio and music, songwriters and whatnot, 742 00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:31,040 and we kind of take seriously documenting a lot of this stuff, 743 00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:36,020 and our listeners, our viewers, they comment that very thing, 744 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:40,280 that it's so great that you guys are are documenting and getting 745 00:50:40,340 --> 00:50:45,100 on tape, for lack of a better term, these these stories and 746 00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:49,060 folks like you to tell us about the good old days. 747 00:50:49,420 --> 00:50:51,100 They don't circle the drain, yeah, 748 00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:55,840 and it seems like we all have a connection somehow, somewhere, 749 00:50:56,080 --> 00:51:00,780 like I would listen to you with Phil Valentine and Johnny B it 750 00:51:00,780 --> 00:51:04,980 didn't dawn on me that you were Johnny Bozeman, yeah, which I 751 00:51:04,980 --> 00:51:06,420 knew your sister, Janet 752 00:51:06,420 --> 00:51:08,700 for years. Yeah. A lot of people, yeah, 753 00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:14,820 you know. And I always thought a lot of Janet, she was great on 754 00:51:14,820 --> 00:51:18,480 the air. I What did she do now, after radio? Did she work at 755 00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:20,900 MCA, CMA, 756 00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:26,300 CMA and she also worked at Sony, okay? And then she became a 757 00:51:26,300 --> 00:51:30,620 publicist, yes, publicist, okay. And now she's living in, of all 758 00:51:30,620 --> 00:51:31,640 places, Alabama. 759 00:51:32,780 --> 00:51:35,060 Now, when did you come to town? 760 00:51:35,420 --> 00:51:38,720 I came to town in 7777 Yeah. 761 00:51:38,839 --> 00:51:44,859 Now your dad bought a radio station, the F we know, we know, 762 00:51:44,919 --> 00:51:47,019 yeah. He also put an FM on, yeah. 763 00:51:47,020 --> 00:51:53,080 He did. JR Yeah. Wjrb was the am, I'm trying to think what the 764 00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:58,960 WJ, kz, kz country was, which is now 100 lightning, 100 Yeah, 765 00:51:59,080 --> 00:51:59,980 yeah, yeah. 766 00:51:59,979 --> 00:52:04,439 So I visited Janet one time on 16th Avenue. And what's now the 767 00:52:04,439 --> 00:52:05,279 curb? Well, we 768 00:52:05,399 --> 00:52:08,639 see I was probably there, yeah, they kept me from Yeah. 769 00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:15,360 But then, you know, when I met you at the luncheons thing with 770 00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,600 Jerry, yeah, oh, I think I know you. 771 00:52:19,020 --> 00:52:21,680 Well, you know, I feel really weird going because they're 772 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,440 they're called legends lunches. Well, and these guys are 773 00:52:24,440 --> 00:52:28,220 legends. What am I? You know, Phil Valentine's butt boy. 774 00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:32,000 Now that's my title. 775 00:52:35,180 --> 00:52:37,220 I was Phil Valentine's butt boy. 776 00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,120 But we have a lot of fun at those lunches. Oh yeah, we do, 777 00:52:43,300 --> 00:52:46,540 yeah, and it's great to see see all those you need to be. Thank 778 00:52:46,540 --> 00:52:46,900 you. You do. 779 00:52:46,900 --> 00:52:49,960 You're a legend. Oh, good grief. 780 00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:54,580 Well, Benny again, man, thank you so much for for making your 781 00:52:54,580 --> 00:52:59,080 way to us. It's been a real treat to see you and hear some 782 00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:02,100 of your amazing story and amazing career. 783 00:53:02,100 --> 00:53:05,400 Well, thank you. Some somebody said, you know, you should write 784 00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:11,520 a book. And I thought it would be a book of useless information 785 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:13,020 if I wrote a book. 786 00:53:13,379 --> 00:53:17,519 I don't know about that, but I know he should. Yeah, I 787 00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:20,120 gotta, I gotta say, though, coming up in I would say the 788 00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,120 golden age of radio and voiceover and everything, and we 789 00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:26,360 see what's happening. You know, radio just about has, you know, 790 00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:29,780 the second to last nail being drilled into the coffin. Voice 791 00:53:29,780 --> 00:53:32,120 Over is being affected all things the creative are being 792 00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:36,560 affected by AI, what's your take, and what's what you think 793 00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:40,040 of what might be a solution for radio moving forward? 794 00:53:40,100 --> 00:53:43,480 Oh, my goodness, I wish I could come up with one. I could save 795 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:52,120 the world. But I am a little concerned that that AI, as far 796 00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:58,360 as voice over work might get too popular, because it is 797 00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:02,700 inexpensive. You know, you can, you can hire a really good voice 798 00:54:02,700 --> 00:54:09,540 for nothing and but the creativity of of of AI is not 799 00:54:09,540 --> 00:54:13,380 there yet. As far as little nuances 800 00:54:15,060 --> 00:54:16,920 humanity, I'll give you a 801 00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:20,040 really quick example. I know, I know need to close this out, but 802 00:54:20,820 --> 00:54:26,000 I heard television a certain commercial, and the guy that was 803 00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:31,400 doing that on camera, he was checking off how much he wanted 804 00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:35,420 this particular product, and he says, I'll take 100 milligrams. 805 00:54:35,420 --> 00:54:40,300 Thank you very much. And then they replaced him with AI, this 806 00:54:40,300 --> 00:54:43,060 particular voice, and he does the same read. He says, I'll 807 00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:47,440 take 100 milligrams. Thank you very much. There was no emphasis 808 00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:50,980 there, right? And so those little nuances, those little 809 00:54:50,980 --> 00:54:57,220 things, thank goodness, have not taken over yet, but they have 810 00:54:57,220 --> 00:55:05,340 done an amazing job. Of, of creating a voice, but how do you 811 00:55:05,340 --> 00:55:10,680 direct that? I mean, how do you key in on a computer while? I 812 00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:14,700 want this lifted here, this down here, not as much here, and a 813 00:55:14,700 --> 00:55:17,820 little bit more there. I don't know how you would do that. 814 00:55:17,820 --> 00:55:22,040 So, and I am seeing, and we've talked about this, I'm seeing 815 00:55:22,220 --> 00:55:27,380 the younger generation doesn't seem to be all that enamored 816 00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:28,640 with AI 817 00:55:29,240 --> 00:55:31,640 replace all their jobs Exactly. 818 00:55:31,700 --> 00:55:33,860 They see the end. 819 00:55:35,660 --> 00:55:38,420 They're looking for the authenticity, 820 00:55:38,420 --> 00:55:43,900 and they even like vinyl over, you know, CDs or anything else, 821 00:55:43,900 --> 00:55:44,620 downloads. 822 00:55:44,620 --> 00:55:48,160 Yep, there's a lot of that. Yeah. Well, Benny, thank you 823 00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:51,580 again. And hey, you know, hopefully we can get you back. I 824 00:55:51,580 --> 00:55:54,220 know you got a lot more stories that that you could share with 825 00:55:54,220 --> 00:55:54,520 us. 826 00:55:54,520 --> 00:55:57,100 Well, I've always been told I was full of it. Yeah, 827 00:56:00,340 --> 00:56:04,800 you fit right in. Well, I really am honored to be here. 828 00:56:04,799 --> 00:56:08,339 Well, again, it's great that we could finally get you here. I 829 00:56:08,339 --> 00:56:10,859 know we've tried to get our schedules together, and it 830 00:56:10,859 --> 00:56:14,039 finally, finally worked out. Well, Johnny B, you normally 831 00:56:14,099 --> 00:56:17,459 allow me to go through where all this, the the podcast, all the 832 00:56:17,459 --> 00:56:20,339 platforms can be found. I'll let you do it. Wow. 833 00:56:20,340 --> 00:56:23,420 Well, you can find us on Apple podcasts. You look at anywhere 834 00:56:23,420 --> 00:56:27,020 podcasts are available, you'll find circling the drain. You can 835 00:56:27,020 --> 00:56:31,400 also check out circling the drain.net, you can find a lot of 836 00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:36,440 cool stuff there, including a lot of cool T shirts, caps. That 837 00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:39,980 is correct even to see pictures of the three of us there, which 838 00:56:39,980 --> 00:56:44,680 will just amaze families everywhere. And on top of that, 839 00:56:44,740 --> 00:56:48,040 you can check out our YouTube channel as well, right? 840 00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:52,240 Like and Subscribe. So we hope you'll do all that, and we also 841 00:56:52,240 --> 00:56:56,560 hope you'll check in again with us on the next episode of 842 00:56:56,560 --> 00:56:57,700 circling the drain. 843 00:56:57,700 --> 00:57:00,820 All right. Well, thank you.