Straight From the Mouth

Z: Chad Mitchell/The Fox, Detroit & that jerk owes me money. After that, I just love picking the brains of some of my favorites: Mojo/WKQI, Danny Czekalisnki/WRMF, Dana DiDonato/WBLI, Bender/WYOY, Jeff and Jer, and whomever else is reading this right now and wants to know why their name isn't on this list.

The thing about your first time ever on the air was?

D: It was an AM station in upstate New York (1230 WIGS The Big Wigs ) that had gone bankrupt and fired everyone who was making money, so I was hired as a 14 year old scab. Within two weeks I went from weekends to afternoon drive. That would have been a bigger deal if anyone else worked there. Actually, the guy that hired me was an amazing talent named Lee Richards. Even thought the place was an unbelievable dump, he put on this great show. It was a great education in what radio is really like.

Z: I did the Little League Baseball Game of the Week on an AM station in my tiny hometown of Middleboro, MA. During the rest of the week the station was an affiliate for the Radio Reading for the Blind Network, except for my little slice of ratings gold from 1-3 on Saturday afternoons. In all honesty, it was great summer job for a kid in high school, and taught me a lot about what goes into running your own show. I also got to sell spots and keep the profits, so I got to feel what it was like to be a sales weasel as well.

Who do you think is the best jock that ever lived?

D: There are so many. I'm an unbelievable radio nerd &so it's not hard for me to rattle off a top 3. 1) Dale Dorman/Kiss 108 2) Jojo Cookin Kincaid from Kiss and Q106, San Diego and 3) Paul Cub by Bryant from Z100/NY

Z: You stole my answer! I love the old Jojo Cookin Kincaid.

Monica: Howard Stern. He is such an entertaining individual and I love his co-host, Robin.

D: Monica's 22 and she doesn't know what a disc jockey is.

You knew you'd be a deejay when?

D: I got a Sears and Roebuck Be a DJ record player and microphone for Christmas 1980.

Z: At four years old when I was creating and taping my own variety shows on cassette to send to my grandparents.

D: Zack's grandma has a cute Polish name. Way better than Nana or Grandma.

Z: You leave my Babci alone!

The five buttons on your car radio are tuned to?

D: There are only five stations in this market, so one for each of them. Done.

The four TV shows you never miss?

M: Grey's Anatomy, Chef Ramsey, Paula Dean and I Love New York.

Z: I Love New York (so I can feel cool and talk to Monica), Lost, Dexter, and Curb Your Enthusiasm

D: American Idol, Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights, and Barefoot Contessa on the Food Channel

Z: FYI: Danny typed that list and then kept shouting "I watch some guy shows. I swear! Yeah, sure.

The last thing you TiVo'd was?

Z: My Big Breasts and Me . some documentary on BBC America that got me in trouble with my wife. They need to invent a way on Tivo to change the name of the show you taped so I could've changed that one to Fantasy Football Preview dammit!

D: Mr. Warmth the Don Rickles movie.

The best interview question you ever asked was?

D: to American Idol Kimberly Locke about Clay Aiken 's sexuality and she totally outed him live on the air.

M: To Good Charlotte. I asked the guys if they liked big butts. We all know that Joel Madden has dated some skinny women, Hilary Duff and his current boo, Nicole Richie. I wanted to know if he liked a little thickness. He answered yes to the question.

Z: I'm not allowed to ask questions. Danny banned me. And he may want to do the same for Monica in the future.

You had a caller once...

D: Who admitted she thought her father and brother killed her high school boyfriend. He'd been hitting her so they put the bad dude in a van and he never returned to school. For years she had been unable to get any straight answers from her family so we hired a private investigator and tracked him down in a prison in Arkansas.

You had a couple in the studio once...

Z: Who both failed lie detector tests about cheating on each other. They still ended up getting married.

D: And *SHOCKINGLY* later divorced.

Z: Remember, we do a show in the South.

You once hung up on...

D: Here's the deal. A lot of celebrities hate doing radio, some of it is our own fault because a lot of DJs make a name by treating guests badly. However, I do try to treat our guests well so if they treat us poorly they get banned forever. A partial list: Chad Michael Murray, Dustin Diamond, Apolo Ohno, Tim Meadows, and Scott Stapp.

They once hung up on you...

D: Jennifer Lopez. I asked her about the insurance policy she took out on her ass. It was in US Weekly so it was definitely true, right? She disconnected from us at that point.

What was your worst remote experience?

D: A local cabinet maker that sunk his entire advertising budget into one radio remote for his grand opening. When the remote started and crowds weren't beating down the door to buy cabinetry, he looked at me, and this is a burly woodcrafting man, with tears in his eyes and said feebly where are all the people?

Z: I once had to do play by play for musical toilets at a minor league baseball game. I knew at that moment that I had officially arrived.

D: Wait, another one: I was supposed to broadcast live from the grand opening of a new roller coaster at a major amusement park. After the station hyped this broadcast for a month, it was when I got there that I was informed the coaster would never be opening because it was shattering people s rib cages on takeoff. So I was instructed not to mention a word. Here comes another 10 hits in a row live from Wheezy World!

What's the best, worst part of the day?

D: Best is the four hours I'm on the air. Worst is when it's 9pm and I don't wanna go to bed!

Z: I'll agree that the four hours is the best, though the times during spots when Danny and I are fighting like a married couple is probably the worst. He argues like a woman making it impossible to win.

D: Maybe I do, because I argue on point. Zack is a hurtful windmill-puncher.

Z: See!

The on-air bit that doesn't work anymore?

Z: I'm not really a fan of that question. I hate when I hear shows at Boot Camp trash other shows with things like "You do War of the Roses? Meanwhile, I see that same show doing Love Court and Brainbuster Trivia on The Aircheck Channel in my hotel room. Every show is different. If a bit works for you and it gets you ratings, then do it! Who cares what anybody else thinks?

D: Plus, there's always a way to reinvent a bit that works.

Z: Yes. And after Mojo reinvents it, we copy it from him and it works!

You wish radio would never...

D: Go away. Awww. No but seriously, I am regularly freaked out by the fact that my five year old nephew has an ipod but no radio. I love this business and I'm legitimately nervous of the future.

Your wife told me once...

Z: My wife speaks in a tone that doesn't register in my brain.

D: Come on, don't you love it when she tells you all about what happened on the Today Show that morning?

Your GM would kill you if...

Z: I'm honestly not sure if we could do anything that would make him want to kill us. We re lucky enough to be working for one of the last family-owned radio groups in the country, and I count my blessings for that every day. No red tape, a local owner that cares about his employees, and easy access to petty cash. What more could you possibly want?

D: Yeah, sometimes it stinks because he doesn't give us a lot of material for the air.