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Straight From The Mouth
The Morning Mouth's March Interview with Chio
(Reprinted by permission; Copyright © 2007 Talentmasters Inc.)

What was it like returning to Philly?

Chio: Personally, scary as hell. I came back to Philly to save my marriage.

What exactly happened in San Diego?

Chio: You were there for a blink. I was looking around to see what opportunities were out there. That's when I took the job at XHTZ/Z90. A couple of days before going on the air in San Diego with my new show, my wife tells me over the phone she wants a divorce. Meanwhile, I had no clue of such signs from my wife during my job hunting stage even though there were some problems in our marriage. At that point, my world was f'd up. I had no desire to get a divorce. I did not want to be 3000 miles away from my kids so I had in San Diego Or, put radio on the back burner and go back to Philly to take

care of personal matters without a job. I chose coming back to Philly.

Let's talk about the show. Describe the cast and each of their roles?

Chio is the host of the show. He's the married guy with three kids. He's the dad of the show and drives the bus when we are on the air. Ryan's the comedian from Hawaii who's also the brainiac. He doesn't believe in marriage or having kids. G-N is the female voice of the bunch who's struggling to find a man to marry. She loves all girly things and dreams of having a family and kids. Justice is the tough guy on the show. Some may say he's a male chauvinistic pig but he believes in love and working hard to fix his marriage with his wife who left him for another woman.

What are some of the show's benchmarks? Give us a glimpse of the best of the best?

Chioke: Like Karoake but we start the song and our listeners have to finish singing the song. If they get the words right, they win!

One minute inside a woman's head: We get the audio from Delicious Audio. We did a spin to it called One Minute inside a Morning show's head. We poke fun of each other on the air. It's basically like a roast but it's a great character development for the show.

Tough Love: Listeners write into Justice for relationship advice and he tells it how it is (even if it's hard to hear it)

Ask the Expert: Every Tuesday we have some type of expert from divorce attorneys, dog trainers, hypnotists to relationship experts. Sometimes we tie in the expert to something topical in the news. For example, the divorce attorney during Britney Spears divorce announcement to K-Fed.

You Can't Win: We ask 5 un-googleable questions that take months to get the answers to. Sponsors love it. The prizes are huge.

Since Sacramento, have you rethought any of approaches to edgy events? Did your company issue new guidelines?

Chio: Our company, Beasley has not issued any new guidelines. We haven't done an event/stunt since that tragedy but it's not because of it. Is it going to affect what we do on the show in the future? Absolutely not. It was a freak accident and accidents are bound to happen but we are not going to change our show for it.

Stern's gone, but Opie & Anthony are back. Plus, you've got Preston & Steve. In fact, there's a lot of good radio in Philly. What does a show like yours do to cut-through, stand-out and get in the news?

Chio: It is easy content when our lives are so f'd up. We are a very character-based show. When people over the weekend are talking about Justice's surprise visit to his wife in Florida to win her back even though they haven't been together in 3 years, you know that's a great arch.

G-N: Chio's also not afraid to share stories about his bizarre Jehovah's Witness parents. All our listeners know his wife hates visiting Chio's parents because his mom makes their kids pee in a pot when they have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

As far as getting in the news, we are all very OCD about it. We definitely take advantage of any local stories. For example, when Gino's Steaks, which is a Philly landmark for Cheese Steaks, posted a sign saying Please order in English -- the story made local and national news. Our show received TV and newspaper press by calling a competing Cheese Steak Restaurant and doing the opposite. Our show broadcast live at the competing restaurant giving away free cheese steaks for our listeners who ordered in another language besides English. Most recently, we received a ton of local and national press by tagging along to the Philly sports hype and love for The Eagles. We recycled a classic stunt. The old, keep your hand on the car bit to see who can last the longest. Well, that week was the coldest week in Philadelphia and people competed to get tickets to The Eagles playoffs. It became The Story in town. Locally, every news station covered the event for three days straight with reporters live on the scene giving their audience updates to our contest.

Justice: You have to think like a TV producer and determine what they would like to cover. Then, just make it easy for them.

Let me ask about names. I know that Justice used to be Tool, was Chio always Chio? What's the story behind the name?

Chio: I've been Chio since 1985, day one. The Original name was Chio the Hitman. Since I am Puerto Rican, the PD wanted to give me a Spanish name. His original choice was Paco which I thought was too ethnic at the time. My PD was a big fan of Y100 in Miami and there was a Chio the Hitman so he suggested that.

Justice: Tool I got from Paul Castronova in Miami because I am basically a tool and it was a rock station so it fit. When I switched formats to CHR, tool didn't fit so I went with a childhood nickname, Justice.

Favorite question to ask a celebrity?

Ryan: So, why are you calling us?

Chio: So, tell us about the movie?

Justice: Who are you again?

Justice: I had to go on the air two hours after my wife left me.

Ryan: I got fired on the air the day my mom died.

Chio: Doing my one and only show in San Diego with Justice with no sleep for the past 48 hours trying to figure out how to save my marriage.

Best moment ever?

Ryan: When my grandma asked Diddy if he was a homo on the air.

Chio: When the local Fox network was covering my slap fest live. The look on their faces were unforgettable.

Person in radio who changed your life?

Ryan: Sam the Man from 102.7 Da Bomb in Hawaii. Everytime I lost a job, he put me back in the game.

G-N: Little Tommy hands down. Only a couple months into radio, I flew to San Diego and he let me sit in on a few shows. He showed me the right way to do everything from screening phone calls to just getting radio.

Chio: Rick Thomas over at Z90 San Diego when I told him I was quitting after one day and him giving me his blessings and wishing me luck on saving my marriage.

Justice: Paul Castronova. His recommendation alone got me 7 job offers in one weekend.

Read previous Morning Mouth interviews.

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