We Explore How AI, Community, And Old-School Radio Can Coexist Without Losing The Human Touch

Transcript

Welcome To The Pod Zone

SPEAKER_03 0:00

We're live. We're live. Hi, everybody. How are you? Time for another edition of what we call Skip Happens. It's good to see you, even though I don't see you. Good to see you. Mr. A's over here.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Good to see you.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

And uh here we are. We are in the pod zone, which is adjacent to the laundry room. By the way, it's through that door over there. But you know, so if you see my wife kind of come down with a basket of laundry, that's what's going on. But uh here we are.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I said pay no mind.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Pay no mind. Well, you want to see cameras are on us, so that that's the deal. Uh here we are. And uh we're just uh, you know, this is like conversation. As you know, last night with Skip Happens, I had uh I interviewed Olivia Harms, which is cool. So if uh you didn't go back and check that out, go back and check it out. It's really cool. Her mom is in the country music hall of fame. Uh her name's Joni, Joni Harms. So if you want to do a little search, while you're watching us here chit-chat about life and things that are going on, uh, feel free to do that. I mean, I would let you. And uh comments, by the way. If you want to make a comment, you want to get involved in the uh the conversation that Miss Ray and I will be having tonight. All you gotta do is just whatever platform you're watching on, just send us a message, you know, and we'll see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

And I won't answer it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

I will.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

We'll get right to it once we notice.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Exactly. So welcome everybody, and uh here we are. It's uh I don't know when you're gonna be watching this, but uh, we are sitting here the night before Thanksgiving, and uh Miss Ray has decided said I want to do this again.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Uh we we had you on last week, last Thursday, and we kind of had to adjust, so that's why we're on the eve of Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Oh, cool, yeah, I know exactly. We're gonna try to do this every Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yes, and talk about it every Thursday and all that good stuff, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:49

Right, this is fun. And I noticed that you, I mean, just you have a lot of friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Really?

SPEAKER_03 1:56

A lot more than I have because they're all like commenting how you know, because you have such a just a great amazing support system. You have a great bubble, yes, I do. And who you keep in that bubble, there are a lot of rare, really, uh, really good people, I can tell.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah, I'm very lucky.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Yeah, just keep an eye on your bubble in case somebody just saying you don't want somebody to pop your bubble.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Yeah, so what else is going on?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Nothing much. We're getting ready for tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

What's tomorrow?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

The Thanksgiving. We're getting ready to eat all that yummy food.

Thanksgiving Plans And Family Time

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Yeah, that yeah, it's fun. What do you um what do you do on Thanksgiving in your house? Now, you live in Fulton, so which is north of Syracuse. I don't know if you're where you're watching this, but uh this year we're gonna keep it low-key.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

We're gonna um just spend it with the family and keep it very intimate. And I can't complain about that. I love my mom and dad. I love that kind of setting, like where you get to have really in-depth conversations and one one-on-ones. You know what I mean? I appreciate those moments and I don't get enough time with my mom and dad.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

So I'm glad that I get to take that time with them.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

Yeah, I don't believe that happens all that often anymore, where you know, you spend time with your parents and you really should be. And I think maybe it's it's the way you're being brought up, it's the community that you live in. I think it's that whole relationship. You feel pretty, you can talk about you can talk to mom or dad about anything.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Right. I mean, it's one thing to be a daughter and try to spend make time for your family. I couldn't imagine being a father or a mother, you know what I mean, like like yourself, where you know, you have to balance this work and professional life, and then you have to go home and you have a family at home, so you have to be able to be present and be there for your family.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

And it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

It is, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

It is hard. And doing what I do, um, you know, being I don't mean this in, you know, it's not an ego thing at all, but being skip clark, and I've been skip clark for a lot of years, been doing the radio thing for a lot of years, but every once in a while you gotta take that skip clark and put it on the back burner, and you gotta be the you know, you gotta be the father, you've got you've gotta be, you've gotta play that other role, yeah. And uh yeah, I've had people say to me, Can you stop being skip clark for once?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Well, can you? Can you stop being skip clark?

SPEAKER_03 4:17

You know, it is so difficult. I'm sure it is, it's very difficult, and I'm sure it's exhausting.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

You know, it's a front that you have to put on a persona and um a personality, you know. And I know artists deal with this all the time, and even down to a local level, like you have to play this persona for people, and I think that that's admirable that you continue to do such a good job.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Uh Skip, your mic is hot, man. Is it hot? Is it too hot? Is it hot now? Uh uh, I don't know. My friends, that uh they actually have a YouTube channel, uh, Covacation. I hopefully I said that right. All right.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

So uh yeah, and they take a lot of trips.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

And uh my friend Alyssa is on. Hello, Alyssa. Um, is my mic okay?

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yes. Can everybody hear us? Let us know in the comments.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

You know, I have to tell you, I went out and I watched um his um podcast the other night, uh Covacation. Look it up on YouTube. So cool. They travel. I mean, they've been everywhere. You name it, I think they've been there. So yeah, I brought it down a little bit. Thank you. Didn't mean it, you know. I was wondering if it was a little hot. I was playing with the mess, uh, the settings a little bit, but uh, you got a great uh, you know, I'm plugging your YouTube channel because covaction, covaction, so he spelled it out for me. You have to do that for radio videos. Yes, you have to do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

It's phonetically spelled, yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

There you go, there you go. But going back to um, oh, just real quick, I I believe many years ago I DJed their wedding. This couple. So that's awesome. That had to be um correct me if I'm wrong. Um that was like 2007, I think.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Can I ask a question? How long? How long have you been DJing?

Skip’s Career And Persona

SPEAKER_03 6:12

So all right, as you as you know, you you look at us. I reality is I am old enough to be your father. If not, I could probably be your grandpa. Because you're in your low 20s. I'm I'm above retirement age. And I got grandkids, I got eight grandkids. So, you know, that uh there's a big difference there. But uh, so I've been uh it was my senior year in high school. Uh I went out and started playing at weddings, and then I really got involved, and I was going like every weekend for a lot of years. Every weekend, I didn't have a free weekend to, you know, to not be Skip Clark, so to speak.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Right. You know what I mean? So you started being Skip Clark, Skip Clark at a very young age.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

I I started being Skip Clark at a very young age. I started being Skip Clark when I was in junior achievement um in uh high school. Because uh, I mean, I'm proud to say I'm a geek, I'm a nerd. I am, I love this stuff, and you see me every day around the radio station.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I mean, I wish you guys could see the equipment that this man has right in front of us. The cameras, the mics. I mean, if that doesn't scream geek, I don't know what does.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

But you're a geek.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

I am because I came in and I was like, oh my gosh, I love it. Look at all this stuff, this is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Yeah, so him and I we both and uh he's asking, how did we how did we meet? God, I'll let you explain that. How did we meet?

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah, so last year, last summer, I did an internship with um 92.1, the Wolf, the radio station um that Skip also works at. And we would go to promotional events um at the amphitheater. I don't remember the first show that we saw. I wish I did, but um yeah, that's where we first met. I was at your event.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

Somebody reached out and said, Hey, we have an opening. Would you like to work like on our promo team? Right. Which promo team, you know, we try to take college kids, we try to get them involved in the business, and uh, you know, to get your foot in the door means a lot. And getting your foot in the door was working these events, you know, whether it was setting up the banners, the the pop-up that we fought with every dimble away. Oh my gosh, pop-up. But then, you know, it was fun, and you get to meet a lot of listeners, and uh, you know, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

So yeah, meeting the listeners is actually one of my favorite parts. I love meeting people and talking to people, and I love music in general, you know what I mean? No matter what genre, I think that music is is amazing and it's it's a universal language, and to be able to interact with people that are there to enjoy music and spread that joy just as much as you're there to do that is is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Exactly. You know, I like as you know, being around the radio station every day, then I'm listening to all types of music. I mean, yeah, and we get respect you going, I remember that from the 90s from the 90s, I danced to that. I I was shaking my ass at USA Sams, and you know, she's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

This is what we used to do in the club. That that's my favorite. She's like, Reagan, this is I'm gonna put you on. This is what we used to do. And I'm like, okay, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

So I mean that that's you know, that's how we met. And uh Reagan has uh said that she'd love to do something like this, and um, I just love having her here. Uh, invited her over to the pod zone, and uh here we are. So yeah, and and uh music is uh definitely a universal language and is a big part of our soul. That is so true. I agree, that is so true. And oh, the wedding was not in 2007, it was in 2001.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

2001.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Again, should I ask? Was that before uh before you were born?

SPEAKER_01 10:02

That that is before I was born.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

I was born in well, you okay, that's all you don't have to do. Yeah, but I I totally get it. So I totally get it. But uh, you know what? You went to school, you graduate. We talked about this last week, last Thursday, but you graduated from Oswego, uh, you know, and now you're into the radio thing, and we're you know, getting you into the digital side of things. You're doing our socials and uh whether it's the website, whether it's uh you know, our TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. How relevant is Facebook nowadays, though? Is it is it right up there? Think about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

I think Facebook's very relevant.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Okay.

Meeting Through Radio And Events

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Um, I think it really depends on the audience that you're trying to attract. Um, I think that Facebook's great for people that are over like the age of 35. You know what I mean? Like it's just one of those things, like everybody has it. It's something that people use to keep in touch with their family. It's a great communication platform. Um, but for younger audiences, I think we kind of have to steer in a different direction and go towards Instagram and go towards TikTok and do more.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Is um Snapchat still it's or is that like going?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I think I don't know. I'm not a big into Snapchat.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

I think remember, there was a time Snapchat was was the thing. Um there was also a time time at MySpace thing. That's that's oh my goodness. I don't know. I don't know if your dad was on it, but uh I know I had a MySpace page.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

So and what was your name on MySpace?

SPEAKER_03 11:39

I don't know. I think I just used Skip Clark. I think I don't know. I don't remember. I wonder if I could go into like uh Wayback Machine and bring up, you know, because you can do that with websites, you can go like way, way back. I don't know. I don't know if you can do that with uh MySpace though. So I have no idea. So I don't know, it's crazy. It's crazy. And and then, you know, I asked the question, um, what about websites? How important is a website now?

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Very, I think it's uh very important.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Because I wonder how many people really go to a website. It must be I don't know. I think people do go to the social media side. I mean, I I realize the website's also online and maybe tied into socials, but still I think people will go to TikTok or Instagram or Facebook before they go to a website now. And I think a lot of people get their news from like Facebook or the other social media channels. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 12:43

And yeah, I totally know what you mean. They're all great traditional avenues, uh like traditional platform media avenues to try and reach more exposure and stuff. Um to get more audience engagement.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

I love it. So, what am I? So you know, tonight I'm Skip Clark. What am I gonna be when I turn the mic off and the lights?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, who are you after?

SPEAKER_03 13:05

I don't, you know, it's and we started talking about that, and that's where we kind of went off subject a little bit, but you know, you talk about the artist, and I talk to the artist, as you know. Um, I talk to the artist all the time, and I want to get you involved with that as well. And you know, for example, I got Grayland James coming in next week, not coming in, but he'll be on. Um, I mean, I'd love to have you sit in on that as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Um but I'm down. I'll be there.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

See, this is what I like about you because you are there, you you want to do this, and I and I believe um that you can, and you can do a very good job at it.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

So I'm really interested in perspective. You know what I mean? I'm interested in different approaches and answering, I mean, questioning and asking different questions, and I think that's why I love what I do is because you give me that avenue and that platform to ask. Yeah, these are just what I want to ask, and I think that's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Yeah, the thing is, you know, the whole idea what whether we're doing this or interviewing an artist, just be real.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Just like you and I are having this conversation. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

So yeah, that's all. Just you know, gotta relax and just have a conversation because they're they're no different than you and I.

unknown 14:23

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Everything's the same. So so uh tomorrow. Oh, go ahead. I was just gonna say throughout all of your experience, here comes the question. Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

I have questions, yes. So we were kind of touching on these like traditional avenues that we take to get more exposure and market our station. What are like other ways that you think like we do that or could do that?

SPEAKER_03 14:48

We need to get out, we need to get out of that building. We need to all right, we need to as a radio station or even as a podcast, we need uh, you know, I'd love to get out of the studio. I mean, this is one thing, and I get it right now, and I love doing it this way, but still we need to be in the eyes of you know our listeners, we need to be shaking hands, we need to have them involved in what we're doing, whether we can go to a venue, we there's an event going on, and if you want skip happens there, you want the wolf there, you just gotta let us know. I mean, I that's what we need to do, but there's a big issue, and I'll know which is there's two people right here that would be doing it, and we are like the only, let's just be honest, we're like the only two.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

We have a very light crew. Very light, yeah, very light.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

We can fit my Colorado, all of the whole staff, you know. But uh no, but that's the problem. But I think that's one thing we could do better uh is to get out into the public to get out more.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

I agree, I think that'd be awesome to get more involved in the community, go to more venues that have local and live music, which is something that I actually, since working at the radio station, really learned is like the importance of local radio and local artists and local engagement. And I'm sure you can attest to the importance of that. Oh, totally.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Um how that really shifts.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

It matters, it matters, it does matter, and it especially matters for artists. Like they feel so appreciated, they feel so welcomed when they know that they have listeners and a radio station that support them and love them and care for them.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

You know, being local, I mean, the the artist will walk through the front door. He knows he's gonna see somebody, he's noise, he knows he's gonna be shaking hands, he he he knows he's gonna be talking to the guy that's actually on the air. I mean, and that's what's happening inside our building down on Kirk Cook.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Could you say that it's kind of that moment where you we touched earlier on how you kind of have to play that persona, and then these artists come and they have to, you know, they always have to play this front, they gotta be this big artist, they gotta play celebrity, and then you kind of go behind closed doors to like a radio radio room, for example, and you go and it changes, these are just humans, they're humans, it changes, and I think once once they walk through the door and you just hey dude, what's going on, man?

SPEAKER_03 17:15

It's good to see you, shake hands.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Have you always felt that I'm sorry to interrupt? Have you always felt that way that when you go back there and you talk to these artists one-on-one and you have those intimate, close conversations, that these are just people, or do you for the most part, once you break the ice, yes, it's like anything goes.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

You know, you talk about you talk about things that you know just about everything because they're only human. And a good example of that, um, Drew Baldridge, he's been here a couple of times, he's made a big I I've gotten to know him really well. Um, my son actually took my Drew Baldridge hat.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

I was just gonna mention, weren't you just texting him the other day?

SPEAKER_03 17:54

So I had my son Zach say something to Drew and I said it to him, and immediately Drew texts back and said that you know, you made my night with that, and now Drew is in New York because if you're watching the parade tomorrow, not just on in the background, this right, um, but if you're actually watching, but she didn't, but actually watching the parade at about 11:30, you're gonna see Drew. And I text him already because he sent some pictures saying, 'I'm in New York' and this and that. I said, How exciting you've made it. So, I mean, but that's what these artists are like, and we've broken that ice and we've become, you know, yeah, being an artist is his job, and I'm sure he loves it, just like I love doing this and I love doing the radio, but uh, we're also friends, you know what I mean? It's his job. This is my job. So, and I got Bucky on tonight. Do you see Bucky?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Which is kind of ironic because there's no Bucky's in New York, I don't think. No, there isn't. It's ironic.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

No, I had uh my sister-in-law pick this up uh coming back from uh North Carolina. She went like a roundabout way. No, not Miss Becky. Nope, nope, nope. It was my other sister-in-law, and um she went to they wanted to go to uh Bucky's because it's like the world's biggest truck stop. I've never been there, but to be honest with you, I want to go. It's kind of cool. This is like humongous. I mean, you name it, it's in this truck stop. It's amazing. It's called Bucky's. We don't have any here. Nope. What do we have? We have a uh pilot. I think that's down on 7th North Street. I don't know. I think that's the biggest truck stop I know around here. So I don't know. I don't know where that came from.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I don't know how we got there, but that's all we got.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

It doesn't matter how we got there. So yeah, no, exactly. So do you watch football? I mean, will you have it on or what do you watch?

SPEAKER_01 19:43

We uh we have football. Um, like for Thanksgiving, we got football on, we got the dog show on, we got the Macy's parade on. Um I know you outed me. I do just that's like good background noise. I'm really there to chit-chat, eat some good food, um, not really watch TV, but yeah, that's that's always on in the background. What do you go? What do you put on the TV?

SPEAKER_03 20:06

It's well, Zach, my son will watch the parade, and the parade is on in the background.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Um, you gotta, it's a tradition. It is a tradition, and we always wait for Santa to come down. He's always at the end of the parade. Yeah, but now you know, knowing that Drew's in it and probably some others that we've come across.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

I'm sure you guys are really gonna watch this year.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

We will, yeah, we will, absolutely. And that you watch the dog show. Yeah, that's is it what's the name? Do you recall what the name is? Because there's there's a few different dog shows, but I'm like, my dog would never be able to do that. My dog can't do that. Are you kidding? You want to watch Rossi on a leash? You know how they're like you when you ring the doorbell to come in, it's like Rossi gave me a hug. Yeah, and really gave her a hug.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Actually, gave me a hug.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Now I look at and I go, Oh, those dogs aren't right. You know what I mean? They're so well behaved, and they're beautiful. What uh so it says, I know Skip asked before, how do you feel about AI and how it changes things? I feel like it's trying to undermine us as human artists.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

I think that's a really good question. I kind of want Skip to have his opinions on AI and then I can share my thoughts.

Getting Out Into The Community

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Skip happens. But it's funny because I, as you know, I embrace uh new technology. I mean, is if somebody my age it's very uncommon, it's hard to embrace something new. Nobody likes change. I've learned to accept change and I've learned to go with the flow. And just before I get into it, if you do not go with the flow, if you do not change with the technology, if you do not keep up with today's standards, you're gonna go backwards because everything is changing so fast, the world is changing so fast. There's so much going on. Now, when it comes to AI, there's two sides to AI. There's I'm trying to think of the right words here. Um to use AI, you have to use it to help you not take over, but to assist you. And it's good, but you also got to do your homework because you can't trust AI for every little thing. You know as well as I do. I've had maybe some brain farts at work, and I'm trying to write a promo or I'm trying to write a commercial. And I love copywriting, by the way. And uh, but I don't want to get lazy doing it. And I'm afraid AI may make me a little bit lazy, but still I can put my thoughts into the computer into AI and say I need different words, but this is what I'm trying to say. And how how can I make this flow? It'll come back and give me ideas. Whether I like them or not, it all depends. Um, let's just uh I mean, just be honest that uh I had somebody call in sick today for tomorrow, or you know, the weather girl, all right, violent, she's not feeling well. So I actually took her forecast. I know I'm gonna have other radio people go, oh my god, oh my god. But but what I did was I put it in AI and I had it read the forecast. And I put a little uh Skip Happens touch on it. You know, you watch me on the computer all the time. Little magic, just a little, just a little magic. Do I have a little cricket there? Um, so that's the skip happens. Um put my magic on it and um it came out pretty good. I hate to say it. I hate to say it. But you cannot let it take over. But in a situation where you need to get something done, it's there to help you. Now, the other side, I mean, with our artist, with all that going on, um you know, there there's a song uh uh out there that it's like at the top of the billboard charts, it's a country song. However, there's no such artist, and it was all AI. And it's it's terrible because these artists, these songwriters, these people are, you know, this is this is their bread and butter. This is what they do. And you cannot be they are the most creative people in the world, these songwriters, and AI is trying to do certain things, and I'm afraid the way everything is changing, it's uh it's it it wants to take over, and we cannot let that happen. And I'm not going against what I said before. I firmly believe you got to keep up with the times, but how are we gonna make that work? Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

I think it definitely makes sense. I think it's one of those things that we have to be responsible with because it's so accessible and it's it's very, very convenient. Yeah, AI is scary. That's right, Regina. Just uh like you said, being lazy and stuff. Yeah, um but using it responsibly, I think can be helpful, very helpful.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Exactly. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

It is crazy.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

You know, I'm sitting here thinking about it. Like all these skip happens moments are going through my head right now that it's like I'm thinking about this. So uh so uh he's saying for work, uh I I love these comments and thank you for uh writing in. For work, uh I I find it uh 70 what I don't have my glasses on. I find it at 70 percent for the uh data it shares with me as a as an engineer. So yeah, all right, yeah, I get it. I think that's what it says. I should put my glasses on.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

I think that's what it says.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Yeah, can you read it for oh you got glasses?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

I have glasses, I can try to read it a little bit. I think I think you got it right.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Oh, there it is. Uh for work I find it at 70% for the data it shares with me as an engineer. So how let me ask you, how often do you use it as an engineer? Are you using it every day or see what we can find out here? I think that's interesting when it comes to AI. I give it a C minus, he says.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

C minus.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Ah, yeah, C minus.

Artists As People And Breaking Ice

SPEAKER_01 26:10

So while he answers, I'm actually gonna ask a quick question while we're on the topic of AI. Um do you think AI has changed the format of radio in any way since it's coming out? The format or any way that radio or any radio related information.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

Do you think I I don't know if it's really changed the format but I or the way a jingle might go. Oh yes, because a that that goes back to what I was saying, whether what we call the sweepers or we call it imaging or the radio jingles, um yeah, it it sometimes it'll it'll write those, it can produce those. Um here again, though, it's taking money out of the pockets of people that do that for a living.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

So you know.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

I mean, we have a voice guy at the radio station. Well, I mean, everybody every radio station has uh what they call their voiceover artist, the guy that does, you know, announces the radio station, you know, 92.1 the wolf, and and all that's Dave Morris, and that that's his bread and butter, you know, or uh John Williard, which uh John used he was voicing my podcast here for a little bit. He's the voice of the CMAs, but all this stuff is scary. And you can also take those voices and put them in AI and try to recreate that. And that's not right. That's not right.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, that's scary.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

Yeah, exactly, exactly scary. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, so he said uh maybe 10% of my time, maybe when it comes to using AI. Uh, he says I use it for searching outlook uh because uh the built-in search has degraded. Oh, okay, with outlook. I get that, totally get that. So all right, so football though. If you uh do you do you know who's playing tomorrow?

SPEAKER_01 27:58

I don't know who's playing. Do you know who's playing?

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Packers and Lions.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Which team are you rooting for?

SPEAKER_03 28:04

The dog show. Uh Chiefs.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Fair enough. Good answer.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

You know what? I mean, my wife's side of the family comes over there when they get done hunting. They come over and you know, they'll be hunting in the morning, like to do every Thanksgiving. Then they come over for the dinner and you put the game on the big screen upstairs. But um, yeah, so then they fall asleep on the couch. Uh the Packers and the Lions, you got the Chiefs and the Cowboys. The Cowboys are terrible. Uh the Bengals and the Ravens, those are the three games tomorrow. Then the leftovers on Friday, leftover Friday, football. Uh, I call it leftovers, just you get it right. Football. What is that? I'm with I'm with her.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Exactly. The dog shows where it's at.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

You got the Bears playing the Eagles, and they're both eight and three, by the way, in the season. So if you follow football, that's gonna be that'll be the one to watch on Friday. And don't forget about the Bills playing on Sunday afternoon, and that's a must-win for the Bills. So it's a must-win. They're playing the Steelers in Philadelphia. Oh, Pittsburgh. So I almost said Philadelphia, boy.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Oh, goodness.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Shows what I know. Exactly. So it's crazy, crazy stuff.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

That is crazy. Could you ever announce for the well you do some announcing for the Mets and stuff? Do you think that you could be an announcer for for the football?

SPEAKER_03 29:23

When you say announcer, what it like uh in the stadium or on like as a broadcaster. You know what I mean? Now there's like both. Could you do would you like there's play by play?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Maybe a broadcaster, not a well, that would be the play by play.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

I don't know. I see you gotta know a lot about the sport. Come on, I said I was a geek. Do you football geek? I I know what a football is, I know what a basketball is, and of course, I obviously know what baseball is, but um you know, the actual all the plays and all that. Uh I know about the tush push. Have you heard of the Tush push?

SPEAKER_00 30:01

I haven't heard of the Tush push.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

It's when you get down to like you're just ready to go into the end zone and the tush push is they push you through. They're trying to they're trying to make that illegal. You never heard of that. You learned a new phrase. Go home and say, I learned about the tush push today.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

I will. Or tomorrow when someone does a does a play and they do the tush push. Now I know.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

There you go. I can yell.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

They did a tush push.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

Yeah. I that was on the podcast last night. Skip told me about the tush push. I love it. Uh what were you saying? I just lost my train of thought.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

You're okay. We were just talking about the football games.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

Yep, yep. So they're on all day, and then the desserts come out. Wake everybody up, get a piece of pie to hit pie.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Do you guys uh I'm not a big pie person. We do have like a chocolate pudding.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

Yeah. Oh, I love chocolate pudding.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah, chocolate pudding pie.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

I might come and crash.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Maybe pumpkin. We're not big pie eaters.

SPEAKER_03 31:01

We prefer what's your favorite pie though, if you do have pie? Do you have do you like a favorite pie? See, I like cherry. I love apple. Pumpkin, I'm not a big pumpkin pie eater.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Maybe like a coconut cream. I like like graham cracker uh crust.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

So anything that's got some graham cracker crust or chocolate pie. Would you count cheesecake as pie?

SPEAKER_03 31:26

I guess.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

I would count cheesecake as pie. I'm I'm gonna vote cheesecake.

Football, Traditions, And Pies

SPEAKER_03 31:30

You're a cheesecake person, I would too. I would too. Regina says the eagles are masters at the tush push. Yes. And then they're trying to make that illegal, by the way. But uh, I don't know. Engineers love pie. PI.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

Yeah. All right, I love that. I love that. I love that. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, anyways, I mean, so it's pretty quiet at the house tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

I know, if depending on when you're watching.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Is it gonna be chaos here?

SPEAKER_03 31:56

It'll be chaos here for a little bit till they fall asleep.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Turkey puts you right to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

I don't play.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Do you know why? Do you think it's what's in the turkey?

SPEAKER_01 32:08

I think that there is something in turkey that turkey.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

Let me find it. No, there was something saying it's not the uh the ingredient of turkey that puts you to sleep. It's how much food you eat that puts you to sleep. I don't know. I had it in my notes here somewhere, but I don't know where it went.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

That's all right, no worries.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

I did. I actually said, you know what, if we talk about turkey, I'm gonna talk about this. And now I I know it's now it's lost. Now it's lost. But yeah, yeah, so here we are. Skip Clark. Smith's right. Skip Habbit's podcast. So you know, it just this is so this is exciting.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

This is fun.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

It's exciting. Sorry. Made pumpkin cherry. Oh, Regina. Oh my god. Made pumpkin cherry and maple cream pie and an apple.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Maple cream pie. That sounds delish.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

It does sound good.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

That sounds so good.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Regina, going over to Regina's. No, I should be dropping it off. I'll have Nancy open the door and she'll bring it down. Regina's uh Regina and her husband Billy sit next to us at the Mets game. So that's and uh great people. Tryptophan is the reason uh is the enzyme in turkey that makes you sleepy. Well, that's you know, I read that. But in the my radio prep uh recently like uh today, yesterday, supposed to be in my notes here, says it's not that they say it's the amount of food you eat. Unless they're just trying to pull a fast one on me. I don't know. But I was saying that Billy and her husband, uh Billy, Regina and her husband Billy sit next to us at the baseball games. When I'm not working the game, so and now this whole family works at the Mets. Do you realize that?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Yeah, your whole family. Your your wife works there.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Nancy's there during the if you go into the Mets office uh during the day, yeah, she's the first she's the director of first impression. I was just gonna say that.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

She's the director of first impressions for the Syracuse Mets.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

Yeah, yeah. And uh yeah, then I'm in the PA booth every once in a while, and Zach's up there doing stats and getting things ready. So that that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

What's your favorite part about being like a like a personality? You know, you do DJing and you you go on the mats and you become a personality. What's your favorite?

SPEAKER_03 34:36

I just love entertaining. I just love making people smile. I think that you know that's what I love. It's not a you know, some will argue about this, but it's not an ego thing. It really isn't. I just I just love making people smile. And you know, when I've DJ'd for God knows how many years, and I did weddings almost every weekend, that's the biggest weekend. Um, Chuck would tell you that. Um, that is the most important day in somebody's life. And to make it happen and to make it all just go like clockwork is so satisfying, you know what I mean? And they will never forget it. You mess up, you know, they'll never forget you.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

They'll remember, but I did a good job. Yeah, you did mess up.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

I mispronounced it.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Skip messed up, skip happened, and he messed up.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

Yeah, and that was before we had skip happens. Um but I missed I mispronounced the name in the wedding party. Names are the worst, you know that. I think you hear me talk about that, and you know, but names are the worst, and I mispronounced they were very upset at me and they demanded some money back, but it was a lot of years ago, really, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Um they wanted money back for a mispronunciation, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

Yeah, they said no, that's you know, so we want at least$50 back. And and you know what? I mean, just to keep peace, I sent them the$50 back and I said, you know, I apologize, but it happens. I mean, nobody's perfect, you're gonna make mistakes, it's all part of life. We all make mistakes. We're human, we're human, skip happens, exactly. Exactly. That's how this that's how this came about. I said, What are you gonna name the podcast? And then you look at your life. Skip happens. So pretty much how it all happened. So, Aur Regina, you're so kind. Skip is a true people person, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Emma? You really, I think you are.

AI’s Promise And Perils In Media

SPEAKER_03 36:27

I'm the guy that eats all the candy at the front desk.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Well, we all you're also around the office. We often say too that you're a people pleaser. You know what I mean? Like you're always looking to make people happy, and you often put yourself on the back burner, which is uh is okay. Sometimes that happens, but skip it. You definitely, yes, skip happens, but you definitely try to look out for other people in their best interest.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

I do, and I don't know if that's good every time, every you know, all the time.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

We were saying earlier, we mentioned this is your fatal flaw.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

That's right. You do, yeah. You said that's my fatal flaw.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Yes, and I said, Because it's a good thing, but it sometimes it comes to bite him right in the tushy, and then it's like, oh my gosh. Right in the tushy, yeah, right in the tushy.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

You know, if you said that to my son, he would go, Do you mean his ass? Because that's what Zach would say. By the way, his birthday's coming up this weekend, too. Can you believe it's gonna be 25?

SPEAKER_01 37:28

25.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

25, Saturday, yeah. It's hard to believe, huh?

SPEAKER_01 37:32

That's wild.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

It is wild. And as a matter of fact, I'm surprised he hasn't poked his head down here yet because you're here.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

So I know I didn't get to say hello to him before. And I'll get it. Last time I got to say hello.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

Yeah. So do you have the uh decorations up at home?

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Is it that time of the year that so we're firm believers in waiting until Black Friday to start decorating for Christmas because we like to get through Thanksgiving? We don't want to start things too early because if we decorate before Thanksgiving this year, next year will be before Halloween, and then the following year will be in August. And before we know it, Christmas will never go away.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

Do you do things on the outside of the house? You put lights up, everything like that, yes, and you still wait till after Thanksgiving to do that. It could be snowing like crazy, it could be 20 below in Fulton. You could have three feet of snow on the ground, yeah, and you're your poor dad is out there putting them up.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Dad's not doing that. I'm out there. I'm the uh I'm the oldest. I don't have any brothers. So when it came down to manual labor, they were like, Reagan, you got this, girl. You got this, and it hasn't changed. Um, they're still like Reagan, you got it, girl.

SPEAKER_03 38:45

So you know, I always growing up, we always waited till Thanksgiving. Once Thanksgiving was over, then the tree went up, and you know, the whole house changed over. Now, as you saw today, you know, all our trees are up.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Uh the house the house is lit up, you know.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

It's but I went out and invested in those permanent lights, which we we've talked about those before, but they'll stay up all year. I love those. Uh depending on what the holiday is, I'm gonna change them up. But uh the inside of the house.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

You can do like pink for Valentine's Day, green. Every month you could change it up for the holiday.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

That's the Christmas tree that I got, the lights, it's the Govey product is uh at Halloween, I can make it into uh candy corn. Think about it could be a huge candy corn.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 39:34

Is it Ray or Ray? All right, Chuck, you gotta ask that question. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Is he? I think he's asking for a spelling. Oh spelling check.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

So we said it was gonna be R-E-A.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Yeah, R-E-A, because my name um is Reagan, so that's R-E-A-G-A-N. So I thought shortening that, yeah. And it gets its own originality, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 39:57

All my friends call me Miss Ray.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Yeah, that's what I told him. That was a hilarious conversation, actually. It was me going, well, actually, I think this is a great thing to talk about. Yeah, um, I went up to Skip because I was like, hey, like actually it started with you being like, Hey, I want you to be on the radio a little bit, you know? And I was like, Yeah, I love that. Let me let's do this. So we got on to that. And then as we did it more, um, I would refer to myself as Reagan, and I was like, you know, I kind of want to be like have a different name, you know. Skip Skip's real name isn't Skip, so why can't I kind of play on my name? So I asked him, I go, Can I be Miss Ray? And Skip sat in the studio like this. He's like, hmm, hmm.

SPEAKER_03 40:43

Let me think about that.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

He's like, and then yeah, I was and then the next day he's like, I like it, I like it. And as we continued to say it more, now every time he walks past my desk, it's Miss Ray. Miss Ray! Exactly. So I do like thrown on him.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

It really has it really has.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

It means a lot to me. That name means a lot because it was given to me by one of my my bestest of friends. Shout out Seth. Um, so to be able to have one of my best friends be able to kind of give me a name and then be able to use that name professionally. And yeah, it's why not?

SPEAKER_03 41:20

I mean, I have been Skip all my life. I am a junior, and I think, well, what I was told um that because I'm a junior, they wanted to just give me a different name. If somebody called a house and asked for Clark, uh, they didn't want to go. You want junior or senior? So they I don't know how they came up with skip. Maybe I'll skip it around the house. I don't know. But uh, so I've been skip Clark. I mean, well, when I started radio, I just said, Yeah, I'll just go because everybody called me Skip. So I went with Skip Clark, and I didn't want to be like a dick Clark or anything like that, but I was Skip Clark, and I've kept that uh ever since I started radio, uh, like in my sophomore year of high school or whatever it was. God damn, that was a couple weeks ago, long time ago. Um, but uh yeah, so and I you know I don't answer to Clark, nobody knows me.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

As Clark, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

I mean, you know, you see it, you hear it.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Everyone refers to him as as Skip.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

And the more we keep referring to me as Miss Ray, the more people kind of are doing that as well. They're kind of like, okay, Miss Ray, Miss Ray. And exactly. Um, it's just interesting to see you kind of fall into that persona. And I think it's really cool too that we get to like kind of keep a part of our real name, like our real identity, if you will, and then play into like this other character.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

Nowadays, a lot of a lot of uh radio people do not do not change their name, they go with their real name.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

Yeah, even people we work with, um, like at the dinosaur, most of those DJs have their first and last name. They're actually that's their name. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:04

The only place I'm called Clark would have been in high school or school or the police station. So those are the two places. You laugh.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Your birth certificate. I grew up in a time.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

I know. I grew up in a time where you you did a lot of things. Nowadays, you wouldn't be able to get away with half the stuff that we did back in the day. And don't get me going. Oh, God, it'd be interesting. So, what is the um what's the most trouble you ever gotten into?

SPEAKER_01 43:34

The most trouble I ever got into. Skip, you know my mom and dad are watching.

SPEAKER_03 43:40

Oh are they? I don't, oh maybe they are. I don't you know what they're doing right now? They're going, Frank!

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Frank, Frank, Frank, everybody can plug your ears, the most trouble I ever got into. Um drum roll. I don't know if I want to. No, okay. You don't have to.

SPEAKER_03 43:59

You don't have to. You don't have to do too much. You just have to pay the consequences for it.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Yes, okay. All right, heavily paid the consequences, not by like my parents, but you know, we always sometimes we drink too much, and that comes to bite us right in the shooting. Yes, I was too young.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

You know what? It happens to all of us.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Yep. All right, so never make that mistake again. You mess up once and you'll never do it again.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

Did mom and they didn't know that they didn't know about it.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Oh, they knew, they knew. Um, because I woke up the next day and I was like, oh my gosh, what happened? And I had to clean up the mess that I had made. So that was like the punishment, you know what I mean? Like everything was the way that I had left it, and then I had to pick it up.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

So see, when I was uh obviously, as we've mentioned, there's a big age difference, but um growing up, uh, you could drink at 18. You know, that eventually went to 21, obviously. But at the age of 18, and uh a lot of us were still in high school, and uh because I was such a geek, I was on the A V club, on the A V squad, you know, at the audiovisual, you know, the kid that well, I don't know the only this is terrible.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

I was gonna say the only time I've recently heard about the A V Club is in Stranger Things, talking about talking about the radio. Oh my god, oh my god, yeah, yes last time I heard about the AV.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Well, that's so okay, but we were the uh, you know, if somebody had a problem with a movie projector or whatever, they'd call somebody, you know, like I was on the A V, you know, certain hours, and then all right, I gotta go down to Mrs. Romano's room and 112 and fix the uh fix the 16 millimeter projector. Um that's a whole, but still, um but we um being in the A V club, we would work the school plays. And my senior year, we were doing the the show Oklahoma. And uh after it was all said and done, after a couple nights, it was a great show. The kids, everybody did it, call them kids. We all did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Um were you in Oklahoma?

SPEAKER_03 46:18

No, no, I was the guy pushing the like buttons up and down, curtain up and down.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Okay, so you were crew.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

I was crew, thank you. Crew, good, yep, and uh, but afterwards they said, Well, we went up to our um what do they call the chaperone? Whether the the there's a name for that, somebody that the that watch, you know, that's in charge.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Okay, I I know your administrator, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

Well, you know what I mean. But anyway, somebody's in charge. So we afterwards we had our party, you know, everybody was there, and we were drinking champagne, cold duck champagne. It's gross. I can't even believe it. Cold duck it's called cold duck, but got totally hammered. And I remember they took me home. My buddies took me home. They were fine, they were driving, but I remember I can still remember this, and it was God knows how many years ago. Um, they pulled up the end of my driveway, opened up the door on the van. It was a 40 counterline van, open up the side door, and I look up and I see my mom standing in the garage doing you know, watching. Because it was like hands on hips, hands on hips, middle, oh yeah, middle.

Audio Quality, Processing, And Women’s Ears

SPEAKER_01 47:25

Was your mom one of those moms that had like a mom look? Because I know my mom is if she snaps her neck and looks at me a certain way.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

I know like the mom look means yeah, you're dead. Yeah, you were gonna get it. You're gonna get it. Yeah, and back then we got it. So yeah, but anyways, and I I remember going, okay, I'm fine, I'm fine. I went to get out of the van, I went right on my face. So my buddy, Steve Douglas, um, Rick Davis, God, I still remember. Um, I still see Steve once in a while, and we laugh about it, but they picked me up and carried me to my mom. And I mean, the world was spinning, the house, and she sat me down at that kitchen table and was pouring coffee down my throat. It's the middle of the night, it had to be three or four in the morning, and it was a Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday morning, bright and early, I was in that front row at church. They made me go to church. You know, we're not hardcore church goers. I mean, I'll be honest with you, and not meant to, it's not bad, it's just we weren't, but my mom made me go to church, and I was ready. I mean, I was throwing up, I was, you know, it was my head hurt, so it's that's the worst. That was the worst. That was the worst.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

Instead of going to church, I going to church, I had to, like I said, clean up the mess that I had made the night before.

SPEAKER_03 48:47

And that's pretty bad.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

It's like that was, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:50

And then, you know, not feeling well on top of that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

I learned my lesson.

SPEAKER_03 48:54

You do, and you know what? I mean, I'm sure your mom and dad, maybe they're they laugh about it now.

SPEAKER_01 49:00

Yeah, we can laugh about it now for sure. Um, but in the moment, it was not funny.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

No, and it's the same with me, but you know what? We look at life now, that's a lesson learned. Yes, you know what I mean? It's like I really don't drink much now. Maybe a little winner jack.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm 21 and I just yeah, it's just one of those things. Maybe that that one time really bit me.

SPEAKER_03 49:27

Yeah, see, so it's you know you don't need that, right? Right. You don't need that. No, no, and it don't let you know you are your own person. Don't let somebody say, uh, dude, you know, if you don't want to do it, you don't do it. Yeah, exactly, exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 49:41

Yes. Um, I actually have a question. What is um one of like the most awkwardest moments you've had? I kind of talked about Hardy falling in my arms, you know what I mean? And that being on the last episode, and I was like, I was wondering, what's one of like the most awkwardest moments you've had with an artist or a memorable moment along those lines? Uh that may have happened off camera.

SPEAKER_03 50:07

No, no, this was definitely on camera. It was definitely well, I don't know if it was on camera, but it was in front of a lot of people. I was on stage.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Um I already have, I'm already uncomfortable. I know I was on stage, but my zipper was down.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

I mean, my it was I it's just people were pointing and laughing, and it's like I had no idea. All of a sudden, I looked, oh my god, you don't realize how and it happens, you know. I mean, it my zipper was down. I am in front of how many thousands of people introducing a big time country artist, and I'm walking off the stage pulling up my zipper because people go, Oh, look, your zipper was down, you know, that that's that's one of those crazy moments, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 50:55

That yeah, that's the great one.

SPEAKER_03 50:58

And I let the things like that bother me. It's like, wow, my god, I can't believe that happened. Oh my god, they bother you. Well, I laugh about it, but still it's just the way I am. I'm very self-conscious about certain things, and you know, last thing I need is for yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Yeah, so I'm gonna be like, oh my goodness, he got wicked nervous. Yeah, gotta go. I got the nervous fees, he's in a rush.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

Yeah, yeah. I gotta go.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Yeah, and then he's put on the spot and exactly.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

I'm sure you were out of town, so we were just no, it was here. It was here.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

It was downtown, it was at the war memorial. It was uh was it old Dominion? Who was it? Trying to think of the band. Yeah, I I don't recall. It was uh quite a few years ago, but still, yeah, it's one of those moments. And if you know, because when you're on stage, yeah, you know, when you're doing these shows, you have the lights on, you really can't see what's going on, but people can see you just fine, obviously. But you can't really tell you know, before you go on, you gotta make sure things are taken care of. Yeah, so yeah. Which I do now, by the way. So if you ever I mean I I know you see me do on stage things that I always make sure, okay, I'm good to go. Deep breath, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

Yep. You do.

SPEAKER_03 52:24

I get nervous, just like you do when you sit down here. I get nervous.

SPEAKER_01 52:28

I do, and the nerves don't hit me. I tell I told the skip this right before we started. I go, the nerves don't hit me to do this until right before. Like it can't hit me an hour before, a day before, it's got to hit me right before.

SPEAKER_03 52:43

You know, that's normal though. I mean, from a guy here, you know, uh that does this a lot and get nervous. Yeah, but the minute you open the mic and you start talking, it's like it all goes away. All goes away.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:57

Did I ever tell you about the time I almost fell off the stage?

SPEAKER_01 53:01

No.

Names, On‑Air Identity, And Branding

SPEAKER_03 53:01

It was Casey and the Sunshine Band. You know, it was 70s group, but it was at the fair, and I was introducing the uh introducing the acts, and it was the night show. The fair used to do shows um like two in the afternoon and then again at eight at night or something like Chevy Court. They always had the same act, but they hit two times in the day. And I was doing the nighttime show, and the lights were so bright, and I was out there and I went the I was walking around and my one of my I went off the front of the stage, like my foot, and whoa, and I almost lost it. That was enough to to scare you because you can't see it because of the spotlights, you know, they're in your face.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

So you do on stage um work outside of just being a DJ and stuff. Um kind of behind the screen. What is do you enjoy both of those things? Kind of being in front of the camera behind the camera. I love doing all that, just all of it. You love it.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

I I love doing it.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

Um, I you're not afraid of public speaking.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

No, because I'm a good bullshitter sometimes. No, but um no, I'm not. I mean, I get nervous and I think about it, but here's the deal. When I think about it, if I think about it too much, then I screw it up. I need, for example, I got my notes here. You know, I just glance at them, okay, we're good to go. And but if I start to panic and start looking, and then I'm gonna no, no, no, I get on stage and I have a good idea what I'm gonna say and how I'm gonna how I will do it. So, and the same thing with different events. I've done banquets. Um, you know, I always the people we have come in to do our um public affairs stuff that you schedule, and you get some great people coming in, and you know, they always have these events and they're always looking for people to emce the event. I tell every one of them, you know, if you need somebody, call me, I'll come out and do it. Yeah, you know, I mean it it's that's a great networking opportunity. It is, and that's the way I look at it. Yes, it's not and I'm not doing it for the money. There's no money, it's a matter of just saying, All right, I'm here to help out. I've done this before. Let's make this flow. Let's, you know, like get this program.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

You're really into audio, also, which is something that I don't think a lot of people would would know about you, is that you're really interested in editing audio.

SPEAKER_03 55:13

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

Um, love it. So that's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 55:15

It is, and that's where you, you know. I mean, as you you can't see it on camera here, but I got a full on the other side of the room. I can do I can do the wolf show, what I do, I can do voiceover. I, you know, whatever I need to do, I can do it from over there. I can log into almost anywhere and anything uh with what I have, which is pretty cool. But uh yeah, I love audio, I'd love playing with it. I come down, uh, I'll go into my studio, like on a come down here on a Sunday morning and just play. Try different things, and you know what? And that's how you learn. And if you're watching this, I mean just play, learn things. If you screw up, you screw up, then you know, okay, well, that sucked. I'll go back and do it over again. Yeah, that's it. You watch me do things in the studio at the station, and uh and I love that, you know, how you can mix and match and change the sounds and echoes and uh you know the drone noise and everything that we use. There are a lot of different names for all that stuff, but yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

Yes, yeah, that's so cool. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 56:11

It is, and uh audio is oh, I love this. Uh, Chuck says audio is more important than the video. How wild is that! Yeah, it's true, it's true. Because if it's bad audio, you're gone.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

That's true, right? That's true.

SPEAKER_03 56:25

You go to the dealer shit, it's gone. All right, it's a joke. It's an inside joke, but you should never do inside jokes because nobody knows what they are. Um, but I um yeah, so I I caught up time. I did the Chuck is great. Uh you can tell he does his own podcast, he does his own YouTube channel. Like I said in the beginning, he travels, him and his wife Lori, they go all over the place, and I love what they're doing. Uh, he says, I I cut up tune, I cut up tune.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Hang on. I cut up tune for the video.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

Oh, it does say tune. Okay, yes, learn by screwing up. I do that every day editing, exactly, and that's how you learn. And yes, bad audio drives viewers out faster than uh you know, junky video. It's it's so true, and it and what do I say when certain audio comes into the radio station? You have been a witness to me going that sucks. Yes, we cannot air that. Yes, because it's just if it's annoying, people are gonna tune out, they're gonna go, and that's the last thing you want.

SPEAKER_01 57:38

You really care about listener experience for sure.

SPEAKER_03 57:41

Yeah, and the other thing is you being a woman, me being a guy, we hear things differently. I don't know if you know that interpret things differently.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

No, no, you hear like actual yeah, women have a different way of hearing, they do different, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:58

That's interesting. I really don't know that and when radio stations, um, a lot of them use processing, like you know, you the final product that you hear coming out of your radio, all that's coming out of a processor. I hear it raw in the studio, you do as well. But what you hear in your car or what's coming out of your radio, regardless where you are, that's the final product. Yes, but women hear that differently, they hear different tones, so you kind of program your processor for women, seriously, because women are the ones that make the decisions, women are listening, women's working.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

Is this just um like for your station or is this in general?

SPEAKER_03 58:41

In general, in general, that's the way I was when I worked for uh clear channel for a lot of years, uh, before they went to iHeart. So, you know, oh yeah, oh yeah. And I worked for Buckley Broadcasting back in the day. Uh been there. Um do anything. Oh my god, so many different companies. Watched them all change. It's crazy, it's crazy. And uh, you know, working uh, I don't know if you've been in the iHeart studios, they're absolutely beautiful, but uh they got all the bells and whistles, but nobody to run it. So you know, everybody's gone. It's a shame.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Right here in Syracuse.

Lessons From Youth And First Hangovers

SPEAKER_03 59:17

You know, if you um I know if somebody's watching this that works there, they're probably gonna get pissed at me, but still, if you um skip happens, skip happens, deal with it. Uh let's say you win something from one of the radio stations, you go to pick up the prize. There's nobody at the desk. Now we have our Becky, but there's nobody at the desk. There's a little console there. Have to push a button. Somebody comes on and says, and uh, yeah, uh, my name is so and so. I'm here to pick up all right, somebody be down a minute. You know, there's nobody there to greet you. And when I worked there, we were manned 24 hours a day. There was uh, you know, we had uh all these different radio stations.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

Did they like boot everybody out?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

It's been it's been an ongoing process. So I I want to say within the last couple of years that um you know it finally went all the way like this. Yeah. Because I'll I'll I'll let uh a little secret out. I was asked to go back to work there a couple of years ago. I turned it down. And I'm afraid I I think it was the right decision because um I love where I am and I love doing what I'm doing, and I love working for the people that I work with and work for. Um but this is family, this is what you know we are, but over there it's corporation. And I'll I don't mean this in a way I'm not it's hard to explain, but you're a number there, you're a name with us. Does that make sense? It's like people care. Maybe we don't make the money we would be making if we were over there. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But you know what? Money isn't everything, happiness is. Yeah, you know, and if we can laugh and it's you know and you don't tell HR what's going on when well, HR is involved. So I no, I'm just kidding. Uh, we have a good time with it. So yeah. Very cool. Very cool. I was waiting for another question.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

All right, let me what is well, you're kind of in a position right now where um, you know, you like country, you're really into country and you work for a country station. What is one of those genres of music that you've had to DJ for that you kind of struggled with?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:41

Or have you ever had to be put in a like a genre or when you say DJ, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:47

Like out and about doing a party? Or do you mean like radio?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

Um, like radio.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:52

I have never worked in a format that I couldn't handle. Um, I it I have never worked hip hop or rhythmic. Never I I didn't do that, and I don't that's one thing I probably wouldn't be able to do. Um, when they first put the radio station moving on the air many years ago, I was the midday guy there. That's after things changed at Clear Channel. I was hired by Craig Fox, and you know, that's where I went. But um that wasn't really hip hop or rhythmic, it was like throwback, uh dance tunes. It was really a cool station. And the commercial, the commercial for moving 100.3 and 96.5 was uh people shaking their butts with that music. It was a great, great commercial, like twerking or uh like the twish push. No, um, but no, it was a great commercial, and we actually I should post it. We have um have you seen the TV commercials we produced? No, okay. Well, you know what? I will make sure they get posted as well because I do have those, and you'll get exactly what I'm saying. So that was cool. But um, every radio station I've worked, uh, I mean, I I was on Y94 for a lot of years. Uh now our competition B104, I spent 16 years there. Um, things changed. Um, I was at the Oldies channel back when they used to call it Oldies, now they call it Classic Hits, but uh, and that's our station, the dinosaur. But before that, WSCN used to be in Baldwin's. It was owned by Buckley Broadcasting. Uh, I did mornings there. It was Skip Clark, Barb Gibbons, and the morning crew. Barb, God rest her soul. She's passed on. But uh, yeah, so that was crazy. I was getting up every day like at three o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:35

You know, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:36

By the time you shower and get ready for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

Do you prefer early mornings or late nights?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:42

That's a good, good question.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:46

Because I would prefer early mornings um any day. Any day of the week. Ask me to come in at five o'clock. Do not ask me to stay there until midnight.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:57

I would that's you know, I would have to agree with you because when I do in the morning show, driving into work, especially in the middle of summer, watching the sun come up, it's the most beautiful time of the day. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Most beautiful time of the day. And uh you know what? You just kind of shift your schedule around to make it work. You're in bed at 8:30, nine o'clock. Um, you know, then the alarm goes off at three. It's like there's nobody on the road. I drive to work certain times, it'd be trucks, drunks, and me on the road. And it's like, oh, this is not good, but uh, yeah. But uh, so he's uh, do you guys still talk to Vinny Lopez? I do. Uh, videographer, uh while you DJ'd, yeah. Uh got me into this video thing, by the way. Yeah, Vinny was great. Vinny was great, so cool. Thank you, Chuck. That's a good question. Yes. Uh yeah. So no, you know, but I've also worked, I worked overnights for a long time. And it used to be back in the day, if you're gonna work radio and you wanted to uh learn how to do it, work the overnight shift because number one, there was nobody there to bother you. Number two, if you screwed up, hey, you screwed up, who cares? That's how you learn, as I mentioned before. But to have, you know, to be able to do that and get that experience, that's how I got the experience. I was going to school then. I got a full-time gig working overnights. You know, I would go into work 10:30, 11 o'clock at night, grab my I used to stop at Wegmans. I worked at a radio station called WFBL overnights back in the late 70s. Long time ago, girl. Um, and then they were on old Colomber Road. But uh, I used to go in, I'd stop at uh Wegmans, pick up my my food for the overnight, and then I go into work, and it was just great. It was just great, it was just so relaxed and so cool, and uh just that's where I learned. I learned a lot of a lot of things working the over and overnight shift. It's kind of crazy too. And you know, and you're not alone because people that work overnight they depend on the radio to keep them company, or they did back then. Uh I'm sure now you know we have several different opportunities or platforms that people listen to, but yeah, our biggest competitor has been streaming. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Streaming. Uh, if you ask somebody, for example, your age, say, you know, what is radio? They go, Oh, that's Spotify, that's Pandora, but that's not really radio, you know. So but but that's what you know, they subscribe.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:32

That's the would you let me ask you this.

On‑Stage Mishaps And Nerves

SPEAKER_03 1:06:34

Would you pay for radio? What I because people pay, yeah, because people pay for these. I mean, you can get the free platforms, but you got to deal with the commercials. But there are a lot of people that do pay, you know, so much amount.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:49

Yeah, as a younger person, I think kind of realizing that radio is really good to get um more exposure to a more variety of songs that you're interested in than you might not normally get access to. You know what I mean? Like when I go to streaming, I'm listening to the same songs by the same artist that I normally like. Like, I think it's for streaming, it's more artist-based, while radio, you get just a whole bunch of varieties of songs. So you get to get more exposure to different people.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:24

So you think you hear the same songs over again when you stream?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:28

Personally, yes. That's kind of how my streaming experience is, how I engage with it is like I'll listen to the same song like five times throughout the week, and it's on a rotation with 10 other songs that I've also been listening throughout the week, and then I'll get sick of those, and it's time to switch out with a new five or ten. Um, but when you sometimes I'll tune into the wolf or I'll tune into the beat or even the dinosaur just to hear songs that are new that I might not normally um get access to because streaming also follows an algorithm, so it's pushing out content that is you like in that exactly, exactly. And radio doesn't really do that, it kind of is more broad. So I think if you're looking for more songs in the genre that you're interested in, then radio is phenomenal, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:26

Would you say you would go to radio to hear new music first? Because a lot of people get uh they'll hear certain songs, new music before they hear it on the radio if they go to the stream for whatever reason. But uh, one thing I do with the wolf is when his song comes out and I know it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:43

I think the wolf's a little different because they that's yeah, that's what I was gonna say is you do a really good job of trying to not just go with what's mainstream, but like I know you um a couple weeks ago you interviewed Tyler Nance and he had a really awesome song. I think I believe it was called Keeps Me Sane.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:02

Yes, yes, it's gone viral, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:05

And there's other artists where these smaller artists who aren't really getting as much credit as they just as they deserve or might be getting, they get to be put on the radio and then you know they get to try it out and I get it, yeah, that exposure that they normally wouldn't get if they were just continuing to stream.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:24

Exactly. And there's a lot of these. I don't know. Do you have satellite radio? You don't. You probably don't have it in your car that's got 137,000 miles on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:35

It's a 19 uh it's not a 19, it's a 2007. All right, let me do the math. Yeah, it's a it's a few years old.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:46

Yeah, it's like uh 15, 16, yeah. But anyways, okay, okay, I get it.

unknown 1:09:52

I get it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:52

But no, uh Yeah, I mean I can listen to FMAM on in my car. Um, I can't do like serious XM or anything like that, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:03

Do you um do you know what an eight-track is?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:07

An A-track?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:08

Eight track.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:10

No, okay. What's an eight-track? And do you know what a because I know what a cassette looks like, but you never used one. Um no.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:21

I'm just saying, you know, that's the difference because I grew up, we had um I had a C.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:25

I grew up doing C like having C D's, yes. Yeah, and now they're pretty much gone.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:30

Everything is right, you know, on a flash drive, or you have it, you know, it's on your phone, it's there. You know, yeah, crazy. It's a crazy world. Like, see, that goes back to what we were saying before, how things continuously change. And if you don't keep up with it, I mean, these are things from the past, yeah, they're cool. I had an eight-track player in my car.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:49

That's wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:51

And we had uh, well, then we uh, you know, the CDs and you had the six CD changer or whatever, you'd you'd have that in your trunk and you would load it up for trips and stuff, and you know, but yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy now, like the phone in or yeah, whatever you have.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Which is what I do, it's just connecting to Bluetooth and and playing music.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:13

There you go. There you go.

unknown 1:11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:15

All right. Hmm, here we are.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:18

So are you ready for the snow?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

No, I hate the snow.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:23

Wait a minute, girl.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:24

Which is crazy because we I live in an area where we get a lot of snow. Um, but when I went to college, it really changed something in my brain chemistry where I was like, I hate snow, like it's not fun and enjoyable anymore. This is torture, but it's better than tsunamis, tornadoes, anything along those lines.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:48

Oh man. Oh my god. So Chuck is saying A-Track was cool, endless loop with stereo tracks eight. He goes, click. Oh, the click when he says click, because when it would change tracks, they go click, click, click, click, click, and it'd be a pause. And CD uh came out in 1983. But he uh says I was an early adapter, adapter, whatever. I think, dude, I Chuck, I can't read this show. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:20

Put your glasses on.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:21

I don't know. I don't know, but uh maybe I'm just getting old, but it's all good. You know, it's been fun. It's been fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:27

This has been fun. This has been a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:29

It's it's been a good one. Any further questions of uh the old man over here?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:34

I'm good for tonight. You're good for tonight. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:37

You know, does anybody have any questions? I mean, I'll I'll I'm an open book. Miss Ray's over here, too. Back to A-Tracked. Loved how the foil strip would make the contactor and shift the head down and up. Oh my god. Yeah, you wouldn't understand anything. I get this, I get what Chuck is saying. Uh, you can bump up the fonts. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, dude, dude, I do. I totally, totally God. I wonder if I have an A-track player in the back room. Probably not. Probably not. But uh, yeah, we've had fun. And uh, Mr. A over here to my left, and uh, of course, I don't know which way you're looking here because we got this. I got a new camera in here, so we got her all hooked up. And uh, we're gonna try to do this on a weekly basis. If you got anything you'd like to uh discuss, you're uh feel free to uh you know let us know. You can just subscribe on YouTube. I'm gonna give her all the rights to my YouTube, and uh she's gonna be able to, you know, take care of some of that. And uh, you know, we need to work on our uh algorithms. Is that how they say it? Yes, because I don't and I know Chuck's having a problem with this too, is getting our our podcast out there, getting our our YouTube channel out there. Um, and you know, it's a very crowded space. I get that. But if you're doing something that that's fun and informative, um and I think we bring something a little different to the table, you know what I mean?

Emceeing, Networking, And Audio Craft

SPEAKER_01 1:14:02

Like music, we touched on this earlier. Music is a universal language, so everybody loves music, and then him and I are we're alike, but we're very different. Um, but I think that that's what makes like our content really interesting is that you and I have two totally different perspectives, but somehow they just kind of make sense. So I love it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:27

And look for us, we'll be out. You know, if I'm out doing a show, chances are uh Miss Ray's gonna be there helping out as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:33

Say hi.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:34

You know, over the weekend we did one with uh Kelsey Hart and we were at Keg's and uh he hung with us all afternoon for the cornhole tournament.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:41

And then yes, we had our Howler's Classic Cornhole was a great event. Thank you, everyone, that came out. Kelsey played with us, which was so wasn't that wild? It I think it yeah, really. I think it was it was just so cool to see an artist really take a large chunk of time, you know what I mean? Like he didn't just spend like 20 minutes. No, no, no, he he hung out. He says, I'm here, let's play.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:05

Yeah, and he was a ringer, by the way. Yeah, just saying he says he doesn't play, but he lied.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:11

He did great, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:12

He did great, he did good, yeah. Uh, just reading some of Chuck uh is writing, it's tough with the the algo uh does its thing, and the beach is crowded. True for you guys, and uh and us in travel. Just need to resonate with people, and maybe uh the algo will will reward you. I see, I see what he's saying, so it's kind of cool. See, I can also do this. I can put this little did you know I could do this?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:39

So our viewers can read them. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:43

There you go. See, then if I said I don't like the comment. Goodbye. I could do that. No, Chuck, I love you, man. As a matter of fact, we need to get Chuck and his wife Lori over here, and they can sit at the table with us and we can talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:54

Yes, we can talk about vacationing.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:56

Oh, yeah, oh yeah. I'm telling you, they they've done it. I I I'm I watch his Facebook page and it's like, dude, really? Where are you now? You're in Iceland.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:06

Iceland, that's where they're at.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:08

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:10

Yeah, Iceland. Um, what are my label rights?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:14

Yeah, that's so awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:16

As a matter of fact, she's up there by a volcano. Um but I I uh you know it's absolutely beautiful there. So, anyways, okay, we we've rambled enough. We uh uh we can yes, you're right. He could he could log on from there. We could just bring him up on the screen too.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:32

Oh, yeah, we can do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:33

Yeah, we could do that too. We'll do it, we'll work on a truck.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:36

We'll get in touch for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:37

Absolutely, absolutely. Um, Miss Ray, it's cool. Thanks for hanging out. Yeah, pod zone today.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:42

We'll see you guys next week.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:44

My home is your home, my pod zone's your pod zone. So uh we'll see you next week. Make sure you log on. Uh subscribe to Skip Happens, and uh you can leave us a message as well. And one of us will definitely get back to you. And uh if you'd like to come on, Skip Happens, it's wide open. It's wide open. You know, certain nights I do the uh the artist, and other nights it's gonna be uh you know, Miss Ray and myself. So thank you for watching, y'all. And uh it's youtube.com uh slash at skip happens podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:12

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone. Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:16

Good night, y'all. I said y'all.