Straight From the Mouth

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.

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

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.