Straight From The Mouth
The Morning Mouth's May Interview with Chio
(Reprinted by permission; Copyright © 2002 Talentmasters Inc.)
How are things in Philly?
Things are good. I just re-upped for another two years in December, which
didn't start until February. The show is about two years old, even though I
have been holding down the fort for two and a half years. When they made the
move with Glenn Kalina I was the afternoon guy here.
This is your first morning gig, isn't it?
Yeah, I did one year of mornings at KHTS in San Diego, but that was very
music intensive. It was like nine songs an hour. So you can say this is the
first real one with the proper tools.
You were doing a personality oriented show in afternoons though,
right?
Yes.
Had you ever had discussions with the PD about a possible shot at
mornings?
None whatsoever. I was brought in from San Diego to be the afternoon guy.
That was August 1999. Then changes happened in December 1999, and the GM and
PD asked me if I would hold it down while they were in the process of finding
a morning show. I said sure. After I said sure, they told me it was happening
on Monday. I did that for a month and Brian Bridgeman, the Program Director,
asked me if I had any interest in...
Brian Bridgeman, he brought Ace & TJ to Charlotte, correct?
Yeah, he brought them to Charlotte and put them on the map. So he asked me
if I had any interest in doing a morning show and building a show around me.
At first I said no, because I didn't want to deal with the headaches, even
though mornings are like the quarterback, everybody wants to do mornings.
Were you worried that you may not have a slot in afternoons if it
didn't work out?
Yeah, I thought about that. He asked me to think about it over a weekend.
I called some of my friends. I said if the company gave me the tools to put
on a full blown morning show, I'd be interested in doing it. They said that
we were after the same thing. Q102, since 1989, has never had a full blown
morning show.
Mark Driscoll, right? That is dating back to the 80's.
But they never had a real morning show. Not to dis anyone that was doing
it in the past. It was music intensive.
How did you learn how to do mornings? Most guys work their way up
through markets and learn the tricks of the trade. You came in through the
side door, because you were filling in.
When I was working in San Diego, doing afternoons for Todd Shannon on Q106
in 1997, they were going to sell Q106. Q106 was going down the tubes, it
wasn't going anywhere. I got a job offer from Chancellor to be the afternoon
guy on Mega 100 in L.A. I wanted to take that job, so I tried to get out of
my contract in San Diego. Long story short, they said, 'We love you and we
want you in the company, forget LA. We understand that you have aspirations
for doing mornings, why don't you do your same type of show you do in the
afternoons, which is personality oriented and do it in mornings here. Do your
little bits in between the songs.'
Is this after Jeff & Jer had left?
Yes, this is after they left. Dave Smiley was doing mornings on the
station.
You followed Dave Smiley?
Yeah, Dave Smiley was doing mornings at Q106. They wanted me at KHTS. So
they gave me an option to rip up the old contract and give me a new one. I
did mornings for 12 months in San Diego. I study radio, Jeff & Jer, Dave,
Chainsaw and Shelly, Kidd Kraddick. I listen to airchecks. I listen to how
they execute things. Number one, I worked with a consultant, Dennis Clark
here. He was very helpful.
When you were in San Diego they didn't want you to leave the company
so they pushed you to...
They moved me into another station that had a morning show opening, a
Clear Channel station in the market, KHTS, a Rhythmic Top 40. I was there one
year.
Then you moved to?
Then I transferred to their Jammin' Oldies station that they just signed
on in San Diego to do afternoons and to become APD. From there I came to
Philly. I wanted to get back into the Top 40 format. So I came back to Philly
to work for Q102.
How long did you do afternoons before they moved you to
mornings?
Just like six months.
How intimidating was it to move to mornings in Philly?
Pardon my French, but I was thinking, "What the fuck am I getting myself
into?!"
Did that really cross your mind?
Yeah, I lost my cake afternoon gig. The station was doing well outside of
morning drive. Things were safe. There was a lot more pressure. Morning drive
is make it or break it.
Two years later, how are you doing ratings wise?
Number one in the last Arbitron 18-34 women. Number one 25-34 women, and
number two 18-34 adults behind the King of All Media, Howard Stern. So I
think we are doing pretty good.
So you are just behind Stern?
Yeah, just behind Stern. He is still kicking my ass, though. He has like
an 18 and we have like a 10.
Well a 10 is not bad for Philly.
No.
It's not, as they say, chopped liver. So who is on the show?
Me, my co-host Christy, Diego my stunt guy, and then we have Wendy McClure
who does news/traffic in studio. When Joey B. comes back, he also plays a
major role. He loved me so much that he's coming back. You can't get a Philly
Cheesesteak in Miami. He had a hard time doing that, a really good one
anyway.
This is a personal question, but one I think is important. Going into
mornings without a proven track record makes it difficult to make the big
money. Is that fair to say in your case as well?
Definitely, and you know what, they were one hundred percent right.
What point in the ratings did you think that you had proven
yourself?
I think that has happened in the last year. You are always learning.
You have the same PD, right?
Yeah, right.
If I called Brian Bridgeman after our interview here and asked him
how you have improved most as a morning person, what would he say?
In every aspect of doing it.
Why do people listen to your show?
I know this is probably a cliche answer that you get from a lot of morning
guys, but one of the things is being real, sharing your life on the air. Like
at Boot Camp last year, you had a great speaker, Bill McMahon, he said that
there are all different kinds of emotion and everybody looks at everything
funny. Everything is not always funny. I think being real and sharing your
life on the air can open you up for some embarrassing things. We all share
our lives on the show. People feel like even though they have never met us in
person, unless they've come to an appearance, that they know us. That we are
family.
Was it a tough transistion, because before this you were doing
afternoons and you didn't really talk about what you did over the weekend,
etc.?
It was extremely difficult. I remember Brian Bridgeman telling me, 'You
know you are going to have to really talk about your life now. These people
are going to have to get to know who Chio is. Are you willing to do that?'
Some people are not willing to do that. Some people are really private.
Obviously, they aren't doing morning radio, that's why they are jocks. They
are not willing to open that door. I was willing to do that. That is kind of
like, 'holy shit!' At first it was harder, two and a half years ago. It has
gotten easier as time goes by.
From making the transition from music intensive to personality radio,
how difficult is it to get out of the habit of sounding like a DJ?
That is difficult. I remember the first producer of the show, you know
quite well, Jeff Dauler, we would sometimes go over a show and he would tell
me to be careful, that I was sounding a little "DJ-ish." An old Randy Lane
saying, "Let all the junk come out, that's how people talk." Just talk. Be
you. Forget DJ-ing. Be Chio.
How much music are you playing an hour?
We are playing four to five songs an hour. When I started the show, when I
was just filling in it was nine or ten an hour.
Going up against Stern in Philly, has he ever mentioned you on the
air?
As far as I know, no. But the other guys do. They are always talking about
us from what I hear, anyway.
How are you able to compete with getting guests with the likes of
Stern?
You can't match Stern, for guests anyway. He gets everybody. I think if
you are in New York or L.A. it makes it a lot easier. I think getting A list
guests is always a challenge. Ted Danson has a movie that comes out next week
and is on every station to promote it. You know what I'm saying. But you get
a guy like Little Tommy from Jeff & Jer, they seem to get everybody, and
they are not in New York or L.A. I guess his rolodex is one of the best in
America.
Do you network much?
I don't network too much. I do a little bit.
Do you go to many of the comedy services to see what other morning
shows are doing?
I am not afraid to admit this, with a lot of radio stations on the
Internet, I am rolling tape on some of the bigger and better shows that I
like, that I feel I can learn from, all the time.
What doesn't work on the air anymore?
Characters, I don't think they work. For example if Mike Tyson is in the
news and I go, "Hey, Mike Tyson is on the line."
They don't work as well as they use to.
No, because before it was, "Hey it is George W. Bush!" Anyone that is in
the news, to get somebody imitating them, like Ozzy Osbourne. He's the
hottest thing now, "The Osbournes" on MTV. But we don't do that.
What about phoners?
Phoners are huge for us. The strongest thing I think we do is phones. The
best bits, and I am sure you have heard this a million times, are the real
life bits. If I have a problem with my wife, or we have had an argument the
night before and I go on the air and say, "Am I wrong?" My wife is on the air
with me half the time. People know her. People ask me at appearances if my
wife is there.
A quick sidebar, have you always been Chio?
I have always been Chio. Chio the Hitman was the full name.
How did you get the name?
I got Chio the Hitman when I first started in Sebring, FL, from my Program
Director. Another DJ in Miami, who was at Y100 at the time, was named Chio
the Hitman and we were like 3 or 4 hours away. We would pretty much mimic
that station. The PD was a big fan of Y100, when Robert W. Walker was
programming it back in the day. The station I was on was WCAC and Steve Lyons
was the PD.
Is there still a Chio the Hitman in Miami?
Yeah, I no longer use the "Hitman."
Did you ever communicate with him?
I have never communicated with Chio the Hitman. It's funny because when I
was in San Diego he became the PD of Clear Channel's Jammin' Oldies station
in Miami. They put my picture in the front page of R&R with his story. He was
pissed. I'm sure he is a great guy. You know, I could have been Rick Dees at
that time, it was such a small town. I'm Puerto Rican. They wanted to give me
a spanish name. Their first choice was Paco. I thought it was too ethnic for
the town that I was in. So that is how the whole Chio thing started. He is
half Cuban and half Chinese or something. That is how that whole tie in came
in. I didn't really care what my name was. I was so nervous it didn't really
matter. And the name kind of stuck. I have been Chio for 17 years.
So being a student of the business, if you had to spend a week on an
island with only one morning show, who would it be?
Dave, Chainsaw and Shelly out of KGB in San Diego. He is brilliant, Dave
Richers. That show is one of the better shows in the country.
You have to admit that San Diego is loaded with great morning
shows.
Yeah, San Diego is not a good place for new morning shows. That is what I
learned. You have three of the best mornings shows in market 17.
If you were doing a focus group to find out why people listen to your
show, what do you think they would say? Why do people listen to your
show?
I'm just me. We are huge on street stunts. We do a lot of wacky stuff.
What's the best thing you have ever done on the air? The most talked
about thing that you have done on the air?
It would have to be the stunt we did two weeks ago called IOU Man. We sent
him to an IHOP and he ordered breakfast. When he went to pay he told the
manager that he didn't have any money, that he is IOU Man. He has IOU notes
and will come back the next week. Well, long story short and the manager
panicked and hit the silent alarm for the police. The police came. When the
cop came, I was talking to Diego my stunt guy, "Tell him you'll do the
dishes, etc." There is no confrontation on the air between my stunt guy and
the manager of the IHOP. Anyway, he panicked because two weeks ago that same
IHOP was robbed.
Good timing.
Ok, so they had gagged the guy with duct tape and everything. So he
freaked out. So keep in mind that we are doing a radio bit, my stunt guy has
money. He could pay the bill, no big deal. The cop gets upset and says, "You
have balls. You come in here and you don't have any money." They arrest him
and put him in the back of the car. Another cop hears this whole thing on the
radio and tells them to let him go. They let him go. At 4:30 that afternoon,
the police call a press conference, how they are looking into pressing
charges for wiretapping, causing panic, etc. We call a press conference about
30 minutes later. It was all over TV. It made national news, CNN, MSNBC,
front page of the Philadelphia Daily News the following Saturday. We can't
talk about it now. It's a big investigation. That is the most talked about
single bit I ever done. Only on the air I can't talk about it. That is only
as of a couple days ago, because they came with a search warrant on Monday.
Have you talked to the IHOP since then?
No, I haven't.
They got a lot of free publicity though.
They got a lot of free publicity and we went on the air the following
Monday and had restaurant managers on the air. Like there is a protocol to
follow, you don't hit the silent alarm for nine dollars. 911 is for
emergencies. Nine dollars is not an emergency. And it is not considered theft
until you leave the premises. He never left the premises. I told him to offer
to do the dishes for like an hour. The manager said that was cool. We had no
idea the cops were coming. Obviously, when the cops came that is what made
the bit.
You mentioned that you like phoners?
We don't just throw out phoners. I like to use phoners that have to real
life situations. Here's one from the other day. My daughter is 13 years old.
She comes home one day and asks her mother if she can get her belly button
pierced. Her mother tells her to talk to me. Obviously, I don't want her to
get her belly button pierced, she's 13 years old. She's too young. I talk
about that situation. We open up the phones and ask people what they think.
That got e-mails and phones. Before we go on the air every morning we ask
what is going on. Diego might say, "Yeah I got dissed last night." Those are
the type of phoners that we try doing. You got to have a story. You just
can't say, "Okay, this morning topic is going to be the first time you ever
got dumped."
How much easier is it having a PD who has a real ability to work with
morning personalities?
I think most PD's don't know. It's hard to coach mornings if you have
never done it.
I hear that all the time. Where are they going to learn how to coach
because there are no rule books. What do you look for in a PD, as a morning
personality in Philadelphia?
I think the best thing that Brian has ever done for this show is that he
has let us make mistakes. I think what happens a lot of the time with PD's is
they are up your butt all the time. Brian never hotlines. As long as you
don't mess with his music, he ain't going to bother you. To me that is very
important. I'm sure there has been, in the two and a half years, a lot of
times when he didn't like what he was hearing. A lot of PD's will hotline you
right there. That just crushes you, that just breaks you. Or you get off the
air and right away they are just ripping everything. That's not how I work.
I've worked with PD's before where they analyze and criticize everything.
They criticize you so much that you are afraid to do something. When you are
on the air and you are thinking, "Oh crap, is my PD going to like this? Is he
going to think this is funny?"
Do you worry about what the PD thinks of stuff?
No, I don't.
What about the GM?
We don't have a GM at WIOQ. We have Dave Allen, who is like the Market
Programming Manager. He's not really in this building. I don't really see him
much. Then we have a guy who is in charge of like the Northeast, so I don't
have a GM.
Do you ever have aircheck reviews or critique sessions?
We don't have Dennis Clark anymore. But we did a lot of going over
airchecks with Dennis. But as far as Brian doing it, he did it at first when
I first started. But once we had Dennis Clark, he would get a couple shows
every two weeks and we would have conference calls with him. You know, your
typical stuff with a consultant.
What is the best advice a consultant ever gave you?
Talk about stuff you are passionate about. When you have passion about
something I think that is what makes great radio. Instead of trying to fake
it. Like if you don't like "Friends," then how are you going to talk about
it? If you fake it, it ain't going to come out right.
How do you overcome a bad day?
You know what, when things are not working I always try to get back to the
basics. You just have to forget about it and move on.
How do you work through personality problems within the show?
I have never had a situation with this show where I didn't get a long with
somebody or that anybody was an asshole towards me. Maybe because I'm the
host of the show. You have to take it face on. That is one of the things that
I hate about it. When you are a jock, you are pretty much working by yourself
or maybe you have an intern or a $5/hour phone op. And that is it, everything
is on you. When you do mornings you depend on a bunch of different people and
you are managing people. You are like the Program Director.
Jeff Dauler was a producer for you and he left and went to Atlanta.
Then Joey B, then Shawn Dion, and now Joey B. is coming back again. When new
producer joins you, what do you tell a him/her?
I try to explain everything that we do and what we are trying to do, who
we are going after, what we need for him/her to do. Before Joey B. came to
our show I would send him tapes of the show. Before he accepted the gig he
wanted to listen and know. I must have sent him four or five shows.
What is the number one quality you look for in a producer?
I need somebody who is totally up on pop culture, on everything that is
going on. If I miss something I know that guy is going to be there and keep
me informed. I can't watch every show. I need somebody who is totally into
the news, who just knows everything. Joey B. is that type of person. And also
I need a manager. The producer in my opinion is very important. A producer
can make or break a show.
So a great producer will relieve you of unnecessary problems?
Yes, that's huge.
Do you like getting guests cold or do you like to have a lot of
prep?
I like to know as much as possible. I'm not one of those guys that likes
to do cold stuff. I think the more information I have on that person, the
more confident and comfortable I am. I don't like to wing it, because when
you wing it, for the most part, it sucks. Every now and then you will get
lucky. I believe it was Bill McMahon who told me a story about Howard Stern.
Howard tries to find something that he can put his hands on when he is doing
an interview. It isn't about the new CD. He tries to find out something about
the person he is interviewing that is of interest to him and that makes the
best interview. Obviously, you can't find that all the time. But we try to
find some kind of gossip or something we can talk about, that breaks the ice
and makes them comfortable.
Right now the National League East is my life. Come September, where
are Philadelphia, Atlanta and New York going to be? In what order?
Mets, Atlanta, Philadelphia. I'm saying how it is for real. Of course, I
want the Phillies to win, but you didn't ask me who I want to win. And if the
Mets don't win the division then somebody needs to get fired, with all the
money they invested. They got everybody.
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