Straight From The Mouth
The Morning Mouth's April Interview with Roula & Ryan
(Reprinted by permission; Copyright © 2007 Talentmasters Inc.)
So you grew up in Houston, got your start in radio at KRBE, go to
Philly where you get your first morning gig at Q102. Then return home to
Houston for mornings at The Mix, and now mornings at KRBE. Do you ever wake
up and think you've been dreaming?
Roula: Well, I admit it has been a crazy ride. You know, when I first got
hired to answer the request lines for KRBE back in 1996, I really had no clue
how deep into this industry I was going to get. I say to my friends all the
time that you could not have ever convinced me to believe that my radio path
was going to go the way it has. I didn't know how, if ever, I would get back
to Houston for radio after Philly, but it sure was nice to get called back
home so quickly. It was all such a blessing.
There were a few months before KRBE where y'all (Hey, this is
Houston) remained idle, but wasn't it your web site that proved to be the
best mojo?
Roula: Yes, it certainly was a major factor. As we all know when radio
people disappear from a station, they essentially disappear from everything.
Our followers would not have it. The fact that our website launched just
before "the hiatus" helped those lost listeners search and find us. It was
great to keep in touch with the many that we entertained until we got back on
the air with KRBE. Our page views were in the millions.
Ryan: I spent the time gutting and rebuilding a house for my mother. It
had been a tough year unexpectedly losing my father the prior Christmas (Dec
25th), and I decided to take the time and focus on the rest of my family. As
far as the website, you bet. During our hiatus, we took over 26 million hits
on roulaandryan.com. I think when Cumulus saw the interest in our show, they
took interest. Kinda weird, I'm trying to think of another situation where
two morning shows in a market essentially switched places. When listeners
tuned in and heard you on KRBE, was there some drama?
Roula: Well, it definitely was the talk of the town. Even the local news
did a story on the radio drama going on in the city. The bottom line was
that the audience got us back. They truly are the ones that made it happen so
we just had to make sure they knew what station to hear us on. (I was curious
to see if "phantom cume" was going to be a factor but thankfully it was not
and we had an AMAZING first book back.)
Eric: I would say they were happy more than confused.
The Blogosphere is now a big part of radio. Hell, the whole world.
I'm sure there was lots of comments about this switch, move, etc. I know they
can be quite inspiring and brutal. Did you follow them, or try to avoid
them?
Ryan: Nah. Occasionally If I wanna get a laugh, I'll take a peak. Radio
peeps that spend countless hours posting their thoughts on the current state
of radio should probably spend a little more time on their craft and they
might get ahead. It is really funny to watch all the commentators blindly
guess what's going on.
During your down-time, how were you able to keep the show
intact?
Ryan: Individually we all had offers to go elsewhere, but we knew we had
something special that was worth sticking it out for.
Roula: It really was the belief in ourselves and our show. I just knew in
my gut that Houston did not want to see our show disappear. So we hung in
there.
Show aside, how did you manage to keep sane?
Roula: Sane? Is anyone in radio sane? Well, I took advantage of my time
and finally took my dream trip to see Australia for 5 weeks and then came
back and hit the ground running on the CBS affiliate's launch of a live,
daily TV talk show as the entertainment reporter. It was great way to learn
about the TV world. By the way, had I stayed in Australia any longer- I think
I would be doing radio there now. It's a great place.
Ryan: Keeping busy and not wasting my time kept me from losing it.
Although honestly, it was starting to get to me!
Eric: I did a lot of contract work with Kidd Kraddick and Star in LA Plus
I wrote a book full of radio topics and ideas geared towards morning shows.
Since your return, you've added some new members. Who does what
now?
Roula: We hired a former colleague as our stunt guy, "Special K," and he's
brought another layer to our show that we didn't have before. He is willing
to do whatever we tell him stuntwise and he is great with show bit production
too. Also, we have "Mojo" who runs our board and is our pre-show production
guy. His passive personality sprinkled in with the rest of us makes for a
perfect radio show formula.
A few years back, we did a piece in The Mouth on kicking off a new
show. And although you weren't an altogether new show, you were starting over
again. What were some things you did to kick it off?
Roula: We picked up exactly where we left off...even going as far as
continuing the last bit we did on that "other station" before we were yanked.
(We had all gone to the Destiny's Child recording studios here in Houston and
recorded some singles to prove that ANYONE can be turned into a pop star with
the right tricks...we just replayed our singles from that day and caught
people up. It was great).
Ryan: The one thing we all agreed we would not do is run non-stop calls of
adulation. That's makes me wanna puke when I hear self-congratulatory
bullshit. We produced a few funny "while we were gone bits," but really
decided to pick up where we left off.
Give are some of your show's favorite benchmarks?
Roula: I like our Wednesday segment "Ask The Guys" We get our female
listeners to email us a guy question so we can get "inside the mind of a man"
Examples like "What do guys REALLY think when they see us without our makeup
on??" We then only let the guy listeners call in so girls can hear their
answers. I have gotten some pretty clear answers for myself too!
Ryan: While I know benchmarks are mandatory, personally it is not my
favorite part of the show. My favorite part of any morning is a great
discussion that sucks the listener in and makes for great watercooler talk.
Eric: I like "Kid Confessions." "Roula and Ryan Roundtable" basically it's
like Around the Horn on ESPN but they are topical stories and non-sports
related.
I've heard from a lot of morning shows who experienced down-time who
told me it was a blessing in disguise; that they were able to listen to other
shows, re-tool, re-invent, etc. Was this true for you as well?
Ryan: Unless you know you have a job locked down, there is nothing
enjoyable about sitting on your ass waiting for the phone to ring. I didn't
start listening to the radio until I knew we were coming back...Then I
listened! When I did, I just took note of what we wouldn't be doing. Didn't
hear anything I wanted to emulate.
Roula: Nope... I was never up early enough in my time off to hear other
shows even if I wanted to. I was a total night owl!
Eric: I think in a way it was. I had a chance to work with some other
talented shows around the country and see how they prepared for their shows.
I also had more time to spend talking with other radio people that gave me a
different perspective that I never had before. Looking back I'm glad it
happened but during it, boy did it suck not knowing what the future was going
to hold.
During this period, whose phone calls and support meant the
most?
Roula: You know, I know some really solid people that were there for me
with words of support. John Peake in San Francisco, Randy Lane, Paul Cubby
Bryant in NYC, Tracy Austin (who is now in Australia), Brian Bridgman in
Portland and my friend Lisa Paige in Philly. Oh yeah, and a guy that kinda
puts it all together... Paul Anderson. :) Of course, Don Anthony. He's our
gift in the industry. (Note from editor: "I swear, I didn't write this!!)
Ryan: I think hearing from each other helped a lot. Randy Lane and Stan
Main helped us keep our chin up.
Eric: For me I would have to say in no particular order Kidd Kraddick, Don
Anthony, Randy Lane, Steve Reynolds, my close friends Cappy (Now known as
Dino), Steve-O with the Dave Ryan Show, Randy James from KZPS in Dallas,
Tommy and Joe from KBULL in Salt Lake City. I'll never forget what these guys
did for me from helping me find jobs to just calling to check up on me. These
are the type of people who I consider my friends even if I gave up doing
radio tomorrow. I know these are the type of friends everybody should have as
a support system.
Ryan, as your own careers would suggest, radio has changed
dramatically over the past several years. What do you think now is the trick
to survival and success?
Ryan: Start thinking about the future, because it's going to change big
time! In Houston, we have the PPM and you really have to rethink a lot of
things about structure. A bit that any show reading this would be nuts not to
do as soon as possible?
Roula: I mentioned it before but really, if you are a female targeted
station, you just can't go wrong with "Ask The Guys." Get your girl audience
to e-mail you what they really want to know about guys and get the guys to
answer live on the air. Ex. "What are guys REALLY thinking when we cry??" We
had some really hilarious answers on that one! Sometimes we will do "Ask the
Girls" but our benchmark is for the guys.
Eric: I love doing Roula and Ryan Video Diaries. It seems like everybody
is doing a blog on his or her site. This is where you can think ahead of the
game and be different than everybody else. We have a Mac laptop that all the
members of the show record: 60-: 90 little diaries a couple of times a week.
It's basically like a little confessional we say whatever's on our minds. It
can get serious, funny, and even stupid. What's great about the Video Diaries
is it's not only a great way to get listeners to check out your website but
you can take the audio from the diary and make a topic, or bit out of it on
the show.
Read previous Morning Mouth interviews.
Return to Menu
Copyright © 2008 RADIO ONLINE ™
| 
