Straight From The Mouth
The Morning Mouth's July Interview with Johnjay & Rich
(Reprinted by permission; Copyright © 2004 Talentmasters Inc.)
First things, first. How are you doing? (Johnjay suffered a stroke
in May.)
JJ: I think it is going great. You know at first people thought it was a
stunt. It was a mini-stroke from a lack of sleep and sleep apnea. So for all
of your readers, if you don't get enough sleep at night there is a thing
called sleep apnea where I was waking up over 120 times a night. Now I sleep
with a breathing machine and I get the best sleep of my life. If I only sleep
four hours, it is a solid four hours. Rich will tell you too, that sometimes
the best show prep is a good night's sleep. It's been a strange time and I am
doing great now.
How quickly were you back on the air following that?
JJ: Two days, Rich is the one that took me to the hospital. I didn't think
I was having a stroke. I was slurring and my face didn't move and he was like
we are going to the hospital and it was 4:30 in the morning. He did this to
me. He is the one who made me miss work. Rich actually, I thought we would be
back in time for our first break. I didn't think it would be that big of a
deal. I thought we would have a cool story to talk about. We tried to do live
relays from the hospital.
It's been three years since you arrived in Tucson. Do a
recap.
JJ: We have had an amazing three years. We have been on CNN because of a
couple of stunts we have done. We had an interview with Oprah, who doesn't do
interviews, Rich had a baby, I adopted a baby, and then my sister-in-law
carried a baby for us. We have matured a lot in three years.
R: Last week I ran across a couple of cassettes from the first week of our
show, so I popped it in. It is so amazing to hear how crappy we were. This
was only three years ago.
What did you think was crappy?
R: We sounded so uncomfortable, we didn't have each others rhythms down,
we were second guessing each other.
How's the sidekick situation working out these days? Have you found
a keeper?
R: Yes, we finally found one and she is awesome! She is a single mother of
three kids, all three different dads, she is bi-racial, she has the best
personality of any person you have ever met, and she just gels right into the
show.
Where did you find her?
JJ: She actually wrote a letter to us. We are now looking for caller 9 to
be the father of her fourth child.
As the story goes, the two of you met at Morning Show Boot Camp and
decided to be a team. What do you recommend for people who've never worked
together before and are starting a new show?
R: Treat it like marriage counseling. We agreed that we were going to be
partners and stick it out. Most shows only last 18 months when two people are
thrown together and told to make a show. One of the things that Johnjay and
I did, is that we hung out non-stop so that we could find out as much as we
could about each others quirks, so that we could mess with each other on the
air and figure out who was going to work which side of the show. We agreed
from that point on that we would stick it out. Instead of it becoming a job
it is like hanging out with your bud.
Having both been in major markets, was starting your show together
in Tucson a planned strategy?
R: Sometimes you have to take a small step back in order to take a giant
leap forward. When we picked up Santa Barbara a year and a half ago and we
have not seen that money. We put that money into our support staff. We both
think it is very important to invest in your show. We bought our own Instant
Replay, we bought a Vox Pro, and we buy other stuff to make the show sound
better.
How many PD's since you arrived?
R: Quite a few, but since Tim Richards, who is our boss now, he is a
master commander programmer. He is 100% supportive and the best coach that we
have ever had.
How can you get him to say there?
JJ: He is going to stay here!
What's the rating's story since you got there?
R: The last book we were #1 in 18-34 and #1 25-54. When we first started
we were in the sevens and eights.
KRQQ has quite a history of good morning shows.
JJ: There was Tim and Willy, Mojo, and even Jimmy Kimmel did mornings
here. Carson Daily was an intern here. Jenny Finch, a U of A softball pitcher
who is going on to the Olympics, she was our intern. Luke Walton used to
answer our phones, and now he plays for the Lakers.
Do any of those people still talk to you?
JJ: All the time.
Your show has been a publicity machine. Any flack from other shows
in the building?
R: There is a fairly new morning show down the hall now, so we really
don't have that problem. But with our old management, they were instigators.
They always tried to make problems with us and other shows. We got into
trouble because we got too much coverage back then.
JJ: Last year we were in a terrible situation. We had a terrible GM, PD,
everything. None of which are still with us. Rich and I were getting offers
to go other stations in bigger markets for a lot more money. But we knew that
something good was coming that we just needed to stick it out. That something
was Tim Richards and Debbie Waggoner, who is the woman who initially hired
us. Those two people have changed this place completely. Our first book after
they came here, we were number one everywhere. It is all about support. If
you have good management and they support the show we are going to do great
things for these people.
Who all is on the show with you now?
R: John Jay and Rich of course. Carrie, who is our newsperson, Obi-Wan who
is lovable looser. It is really his name. He officially changed it to Obi-Wan
Kanobe. We have G.N. who produces the show and is becoming more of a
character on the show. She is 21, single, club hopper. We have our intern,
Randy, who is an employed now as our stunt guy.
Who does what on the show?
JJ: I am the sexually frustrated married guy with two kids, who loves his
wife, but talks about everything that could possible happen. Rich is the
lovable married guy who just had a baby. What makes you different from each
other?
R: JJ is a little more biting with his commentary. He is the perv of the
group. He is into like using his TiVo to tape Oprah. He's into "West Side
Story," meat and potatoes, hockey... he's a gadget guy.
JJ: I watch TV, and Rich plays the guitar. Rich goes out to dinner with
his wife, and I would rather stay at home and never go anywhere again.
Do your families hang at all?
JJ: All the time. My wife threw a baby shower for Rich's wife. My wife and
I are Godparents to Rich's little boy Joseph.
Do you live close to each other?
JJ: We used to but I had to get the hell away.
Has marriage changed either of you?
R: I moved out here with a girl, and have gotten married and had a baby,
all in the last three years. It has totally made me more patient with the
crew.
JJ: My son was conceived through in vitro. It was my sperm, my wife's egg,
and my sister-in-law carried the baby for us. We also adopted a boy 16 months
ago. We have two boys who are less than ten months apart. I get calls from
jocks across the county, talking about in vitro. My wife and I went through 8
years of infertility and suffered a major loss in 2000. I'll talk to anyone
about it!
How have you been able to get people on the air in Tucson that even
people in majors have trouble getting?
R: Our letters are KRQ, sometimes we slip an O in the middle of that.
(KROQ is in Los Angeles.)
Anything you look back on in the last 3 years and would like to
forget?
R: We would like to forget the management that was here before our crew
now. Take living hell and add shattered glass in your testicles and old
ammonia and roll around in it and it is still better than our last
management.
I hear you just reuped for big numbers, any special perks?
JJ: No, sales people can look us directly in the eye.
Okay, things you've done that got the biggest news coverage.
The human flag was pretty big, right after 9/11. It was two days later. We
were on the air for 30 hours straight. We the only place that people weren't
just watching the news but people could call in and talk about it. I think we
had 65 thousand people show up make this human flag. These pictures were
everywhere. Even in the oval office. We have a picture of it on our web site
with our intern Jenny presenting it to President Bush.
Then there was the publicity that we got for interviewing Oprah Winfery.
We talked to her for 35 minutes straight and she doesn't do interviews. She
had won the lifetime achievement award at the Emmys and she had thanked her
dad at the barbershop. So we called that Monday morning and sure enough, he
answered the phone and we interviewed him. Then we sent a copy to Harpo
productions. Two days later she called and said that she had heard the
interview, she said that we treated her dad with such respect and that she
wanted to talk with us. You can still hear it on our web site,
www.johnjayrich.com
How critical are you of your show?
JJ: We go over our crutches. I mumble and can't enunciate. Rich is king of
dead air.
R: I don't run what you call a tight board.
JJ: Our mistakes have become part of the personality of the show.
R: Oh yeah, and about that maturity thing: when we say that we have
matured, we mean into 11-year-old boys.
Read previous Morning Mouth interviews.
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