Straight From The Mouth
The Morning Mouth's December Interview with Mojo
(Reprinted by permission; Copyright © 2002 Talentmasters Inc.)
For the record, this conversation is beginning about 45 minutes
late. My understanding is that you were delayed because you were getting
yelled at. True?
Mojo: We planned a promotion on the air without getting permission
beforehand from the promotions department.
Spike: We used one of the rare things in radio called brainstorming and we
actually were on the air coming up with the idea for an event with the
listeners. The problem was we got a little ahead of ourselves because we
didn't talk to promotions or sales.
Sara, you're being awfully quiet?
Sara: I'm tied up in a chair, actually. They just took the tape off my
mouth.
Mojo: We were told that we have to pay for the prizes ourselves for
bringing it up on the air without having the sales department or the
promotions department actually sell it. So, we're wondering if everyone who
subscribes to The Morning Mouth can send $1 to actually pay for this
promotion. (ed: email mojo at Q95mojo@aol.com)
Just wondering, if one of your guest was 45 minutes late for an
interview, how would you handle that?
Mojo: It's funny you ask, because we have one in the lobby that's 2 hours
late. He's gonna wait a while.
How did the rest of the show join you?
Mojo: Nobody came with me from Tucson (KRQQ), so we focused on hiring
people that were local. It was honestly the greatest thing I have ever done.
Spike, Sara and Eric are all from Detroit?
Mojo: Well, Sara and Spike were on the Alternative station. They had huge
18-34 numbers, and we were able to get them to leave. Eric worked with Dick
Purtan who's a legend in the market. Eric does a lot of the voice
impersonations on the show, and was able to bring a lot of what Dick Purtan
had to offer. Chad was working for our direct competitor as morning show
producer and was doing nights.
Spike: It is the biggest lesson for me, because I had always hosted my own
show. I didn't know if I wanted to step into the role of second banana. It's
the best decision I've ever made. I really found that perfect marriage, the
perfect show.
Who did you follow at Q95?
Mojo: The show before us was Steve Cochran. Before that was Danny
Bonaduce, and before that was Dick Purtan.
Was sitting where Dick Purtan once sat pretty heavy?
Sara: I freaked out because I'm from here. In middle school and high
school, that's who I listened to. The first day that I sat down in the same
studio, and got to sit in his chair and sit behind his microphone, it was a
really big moment.
Mojo: One of the coolest things that Dick did is he listened to our first
show that we did. Every show that had followed him had pretty gone on the air
and not really mentioned what the station was all about and we kinda came on
the air and I think the first 20 minutes on the show was talking about the
legend of Dick Purtan and what this radio station was, and how we were just
happy to be a part of it. He heard that and during a speaking engagement,
made it a point to thank us. Probably listeners appreciate hearing it as
well. Detroit is a very non-transient city in the sense that you'll find more
people born and raised there than you will in many other cities.
You went from Tucson to Detroit. Just curious, during what month
were you interviewed?
Mojo: I was interviewed in December. I took the job in December.
Eric: So, we knew he wanted the job.
Compare Tucson to Detroit. Obviously, the weather's different, but
what about items that impact the show, i.e. getting guests, money, etc.? How
difficult is it getting the big names?
Chad: Can you write f*cking?
Mojo: All the locals call us. Kidd Rock, Eminem, Aretha Franklin, Bob
Seger, the President of the big 3. Those guys are easy to get. Pamela
Anderson... they hang out here. We have to fight for [big names]. Detroit is
not a vacation destination. In Tucson, we had an easier time getting guests
because they would come stay at the resort there. The coolest thing is -- and
this may surprise you -- but Detroit has the largest television viewing
audience in the country. We are able to capitalize off of the TV network
because they need their shows to do well in this market. I think the beauty
of working in a city like Detroit is the fact that there are more stars than
people realize that live here. And many of them listen to us. A couple of
weeks ago we were on the air with a girl that wrote a tell-all book about
Eminem, called "Clean Out My Closet." The girl wrote a whole bunch of stories
about him and his ex-wife, and his ex-wife called us up. He called us up
within 15 minutes right afterwards, to dispute it. That was something that
didn't happen in Tucson. The fact that the president of General Motors and
the Ford family lives here. You can go on the air and talk about your
Explorer. and then get a phone call from the secretary of the president of
Ford, saying "Hey, I want to take care of this for you." That's pretty
awesome.
How did you become Channel 95.5?
Mojo: It was more getting rid of 'Q' it had a stigma attached to it
because it was 'Q' for years and it had a more adult-leading format. Since we
were going to aim for more of the 18-34 audience and the more active
audience, we want to make sure that we made a bold enough change that people
would notice something had changed.
Spike: Our PD Dom (Theodore) saw that we shared a lot of listeners with
other stations and they tune into us, but might not enjoy the music as much
on our show. He gave us the freedom to open up and do a little more talk and
not be so afraid to miss a song.
Mojo: The first day that Dom came into work at the station, he pulled me
into his office and said "I want to talk to you about this morning show." I
thought "Oh, crap..." and he said "I was listening to your show and I was
really compelled, but then all of the sudden you played a record. I got bored
with it. I had to punch around. So, start dropping some more music." It's the
first time in my career that I had a PD that told me to drop music.
Let's talk about the show. What did you do on the air this morning
other than something that got you in trouble?
Sara: Hunting is very big in Michigan, so we wanted to do something for
the ladies, the hunting widows. So, we're having a big hunting widows party.
We're taking them over to Canada and we're going to have makeovers and junk
food.
Mojo: It's the Deer-hunters' Widows Ball. It's something that wouldn't
work in other markets, but it's being able to identify with your listeners
and realize that there's fights and divorces over the fact that these guys
will take their entire 2-week vacation every year to go in a log cabin with a
bunch of other guys while they leave their woman home with the kids. It
happens to so many listeners.
What are other examples of your show?
Sara: The women in radio issue that came up with Playboy.
Mojo: We had a tryout for her. The lady that does the pictures was going
to do special photographs of Sara. One of the things we did is we said that
Sara is going to be naked and went back into Sara's parents artifacts and
found a picture of Sara naked at the age of like 2 in a bathtub. We put it up
on the web site. We had the most hits that Clear Channel has ever had in one
day, on that day, on our web site. One of the things we did with Eric that
was cool was a local thing. We had him bring in his yearbook because we
wanted to talk about the people that he went to school with, see where they
were. We started calling the girls that wrote him in the yearbook, that said
"keep in touch over the summer." We called them up years later, and a lot of
them didn't know what he was doing. One girl was mortified that we were
talking about her on the air.
Chad: Eric does celebrity impersonations. He does dead-on impersonations
of just about everybody. We had Eric call up Peter Jenning's office as Ted
Koppel. Literally, they pick up right away. Dick Cheney was staying in a
hotel. We called him up and I got him on as talking as Al Gore, saying
"Congratulations. It's gonna be a tough job, so I hope you're up to it." He
got really mad, but we talked to him for a little bit.
Sara, what's it like working in a studio with 4 guys every
day?
Sara: That's something that took a little getting used to. I had no
brothers growing up, so I had to get broken in. Now I'm used to it. If they
look at a hot girl, I just chime in. I don't try to lose any of my femininity
and they appreciate that I'm a girl. I'm a single lady. They make fun of me
that I'm going to be a spinster forever because I have two cats.
Do you ever have to draw the line?
Sara: Yes, definitely. The hardest part is because I'm from here, my
parents will call in if the line is crossed.
Mojo: Yeah, that's our second program Director. Sara's dad has called in
on numerous occasions to make sure that his daughter was not abused.
At next year's MSBC...
Mojo: Wait Don, is this the part of the interview where you hit us up for
a deposit for next year's Camp?
No, that's later... But as I was saying, we're planning a segment
called "Meet a Mentor." Basically, where several of today's top personalities
host tables where jocks can sit one-on-one for some intimate discussion. Who
are some people you'd like to see at hosts these tables?
Mojo: Just last summer I took a vacation and sat in with Jeff and Jer (San
Diego) on their show. I was so nervous walking up to their door, to walk into
their show. They are my mentors they are the guys that I someday aspire to
have half of the success they have. So, obviously Jeff and Jer, Kidd
Kraddick, Jonathan Brandmeier, Dave Ryan, Eddie and Jobo. Those are all guys
that have been mentors for me. Going back to that whole San Diego thing,
Tommy and Jeff and Jer let me go in there and hang out with those guys. You
know what, when I walked in and saw them doing their show, I said "Wow, we
actually do a show very similar to theirs." and it gave me confidence to come
back here and go on the air.
What's your thought on expanding into other markets?
Mojo: When I was in Arizona, I wanted to be on in Phoenix and Tucson. That
was my goal, and I made my life miserable wanting that. You know what my goal
is here? To do our show, work hard to obtain the greatest ratings we can, and
spend time with my family. If they want to use the show we did today in
Battle Creek or in Toledo, or wherever, and if they can justify that without
taking away the local-ness of the show, then so be it.
What about your take on business today?
Mojo: I think the business is great. I also think that Clear Channel gets
a bad rap. I think this company gives you every opportunity that any other
company does and more. They've got to make money. They've got investors that
they owe that to, and I think the business is going to come around, and it's
going to go back to where it was.
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