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Artists Meet & Greets · Rik and that Michele Chick

0:00
Welcome to Rick and that Michelle chick.
0:01
I'm that Michelle chick. And I'm Rick.
0:04
Welcome. So I figured to start things
0:06
off, we have some business that we need to take care of.
0:11
So our last podcast, the last episode, it was over an hour
0:18
long. So I, so I just wanted, well,
0:24
our original recording was an hour and 30 minutes.
0:29
I know crazy. So I tried to cut it down and
0:31
not over edit it as much as possible so that it would still
0:36
make sense, but also shorten it up.
0:38
So last episode was an hour and 14 minutes.
0:42
So I, I just want to apologize and I also want to say I'm sorry
0:48
for how many times I said, you know, I think I said it four
0:51
times in one sentence. And when I was listening back to
0:53
it, I just wanted to slap myself.
0:55
So I apologize for that. Well.
0:58
And that brings me up to what we call a radio crutches.
1:02
So it was interesting that listening back to the podcast or
1:05
watching it on Spotify or whatever, I discovered that
1:08
because we don't have it. Script we don't.
1:11
So so we call it radio crutches. When when you like you said, you
1:15
say, you know, I said, you know what I'm saying?
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I yeah, that's the one my wife always gets me, you know.
1:21
What I'm saying? So those are Yep.
1:26
And so those are great radio crutches is what we call them.
1:30
It's when you say and you you lose your train of thought and
1:35
you repeat yourself and then you explain something.
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You know what I'm saying, right? So Yep, I did it quite a bit in
1:42
that one. I could tell I was like, I if
1:44
you, if you were going to slap yourself, I was like double slap
1:47
on myself because I'd gotten into those stories and then kind
1:51
of got into the weeds. So today I felt, I felt today
1:54
should be a Michelle Central. Oh goodness.
1:57
Podcast all about all about Michelle because we didn't we
2:01
didn't dig into the first kiss or oh.
2:04
Gosh, I don't know about that. I figured this episode we could
2:07
dive into meet and greets and maybe radio consultants a little
2:11
bit more. Yeah, listening back to that
2:14
episode, you could tell I've been out of the game for a long
2:16
time. Because if I would have taken
2:18
that in as an air check, last podcast, this episode to my
2:22
program director, I would have been fired.
2:25
It would have been, yeah. You're not.
2:27
Fired those fluff and filler words.
2:30
We learn and are taught that again, you only have a certain
2:34
amount of time and you got to get in and get out and keep
2:37
those words out of there. Yeah, which I just said, you
2:40
know, again. Yeah, I think one of the things
2:43
I noticed too was I was eating the mic too.
2:45
So I'm off the mic a little bit because I was like, sounds like
2:48
I'm eating the mic. And that's another great radio
2:50
term is if you're too close to the mic, it can be kind of a
2:52
little distorted sometimes. I just I was wondering if
2:55
there's Razi awards for the worst podcast because for
3:00
podcast definitely be in the running.
3:03
We would win. I was like, we would be #1 at
3:06
something I'll take do not. Listen, if you need to stay
3:09
awake because we will put you to sleep.
3:11
We are your melatonin. That should be our new tagline
3:15
slogan. There you go.
3:16
I don't know. I think it's funny, but OK.
3:19
Well, now that we've apologized as as go ahead.
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Yeah, as we. Say in the Well, here's a great
3:24
line for us in the radio business.
3:25
Condense, condense, condense and.
3:28
I don't think we're I. Don't agree, But you know it's
3:32
funny that you it's funny that you bring that up because when
3:34
you watch Kevin Smith, his are hours long.
3:39
Kevin Smiths are hours long in a podcast, and so I guess there's
3:43
no one-size-fits-all when you. Do this, but is Kevin Smith
3:47
engaging and you want to stay listening for hours long where I
3:51
could see where people would just think Oh my God these two
3:55
are boring me to death. Well, 22 seconds, 2 minutes in,
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that's done all right, next. I mean, we did say we were full
4:03
of crap, so I I guess we're living up to that.
4:07
I thought, well, go ahead. Yeah, there's, yeah, these
4:11
great, there's these great stories.
4:12
So yeah, we just have to, you know, when we do the stories
4:15
just rein them in. Rein them in wrangle.
4:17
Me which my housekeeper, Bobby, she's not just a housekeeper.
4:21
She's more like my friend. But yeah, she was saying, she
4:25
was been listening to our podcast and she thought it was
4:27
funny that how you just kind of veer off into the weeds and I
4:31
have to try and rein you in. She noticed that right away and
4:36
I said, yeah, that's that's kind of in our our whole lives
4:40
together. Well.
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It's interesting because when you do a radio show, and so when
4:44
you're doing a music station, it's different.
4:45
You news, talk, which you like you, you have 7 minutes to fill.
4:48
Whereas in radio, you really want that that radio break to be
4:53
no more than two minutes. So even if you're and we and we
4:56
call it set in the table. So let's say we're setting up a
4:58
topic, right? So we'll go into the break,
5:01
introduce ourselves, set the topic up, say, hey, hey,
5:04
Michelle, I saw a news story where blah, blah, blah, blah,
5:07
blah. Yeah.
5:08
And then you go, okay. And then you respond.
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I respond and then we go, hey guys, call us with your
5:14
opinions. And that's and so we try to do
5:15
that in within within 10 minutes.
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Yeah, without the. Here it's a little different.
5:20
Here's a. Little great without the, you
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know, like, you know, all that kind of stuff.
5:24
Oh. Don't worry, I I was sitting
5:26
there on that crutch, crutch, crutch, crutch, crutch, and that
5:30
was me, not you. You sounded amazing because you
5:32
never got a word in edgewise, so you sounded amazing.
5:34
No, I yeah, yeah, OK. And it again, I didn't want to
5:40
over edit it, so I didn't, yeah, want us to sound too fake or
5:43
whatever. So, OK.
5:45
So I thought we could explain a little more about radio
5:49
consultants and we've discussed them in a past episode.
5:53
I thought maybe we could more define their role in radio and
6:01
which I remember well. I remember the last time Becky
6:05
Brenner came to town, which I used to be so scared of her,
6:08
just FYI. Yeah, we were doing mornings
6:12
together and she basically had nothing to say about what we
6:17
needed to improve on, which blew my mind because again, their job
6:22
is to be a consultant and tell us what we need to improve on.
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And I think that's the first time I've ever had a consultant
6:31
or someone of importance that air checks you say something
6:35
like that. So I was shocked and I was super
6:40
happy about it. Which we had lunch at Ding Ho's
6:43
in Yakima. Do you remember that?
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Which isn't no longer there anymore.
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And I in my fortune cookie, my fortune was something like
6:55
you're a star and all the world is your stage.
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I remember that. And I think I kept it.
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I have it somewhere. It's probably in my radio crap
7:05
that, you know, is packed away in storage.
7:09
That's my story with Becky Brenner.
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Go ahead. So consultants, there's, there's
7:15
two, OK there. It's, it can be kind of, it can
7:17
be a kind of an adversarial situation too, because you can
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either have a, a, a consultant that's literally on your side,
7:24
on the programming side, or you could have a consultant that is
7:27
literally on management side. So it's interesting that Mark
7:31
Bulky when I took over KFFM back in the day, he got off the plane
7:35
and I said, Hey, what are we doing today, boss?
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And he looked at me and goes, no, you're the boss.
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What do we need to do today? So you think of a consultant as
7:44
a resource. It's a resource for the program
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director to do strategy for the radio station.
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So let's say there's two top 40s in a market or two country
7:51
stations. And then you hire somebody that
7:53
you believe has more knowledge than the staff you currently
7:56
have to come in and help consult.
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So they help you devise the playlist, the imaging, the voice
8:02
people, even the day parts, the talent.
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All of that can be helped through with the consultant.
8:07
So if you got a great consultant, that could be a
8:10
great relationship and it makes for a real interesting radio
8:13
battle. Now, if you get the flip side to
8:16
where a consultant's coming in and they don't like you and it's
8:20
an up, it's an uphill battle that is a little harder to do.
8:23
Did you have any consultants that didn't like you or that,
8:26
you know, didn't like you? Absolutely, absolutely.
8:29
So for me, it was so funny. Cheryl once said Cheryl's our
8:34
old boss. If you're just curious, one of
8:35
her old general managers, She goes, she goes, Rick, it's
8:38
amazing that you only seem to like people that like you.
8:41
Well, of course, why would I like somebody?
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Why would I like somebody who doesn't like?
8:44
To any of those. So right, so I'm, I'm a very,
8:49
I'm a very Top 40 DJ, as Michelle knows, my presentation
8:53
is very Top 40. And so we were doing a station
8:56
in Tri-cities and it was kind of an AC, soft AC and I was doing
9:01
it with John Riggs. So and it was very the, you
9:06
know, if you know anything about AC.
9:08
So if you think of AC as which is adult contemporary, think of
9:10
Delilah. You know, before that set, we
9:14
kicked off with Billy Joel and we ended with Celine.
9:17
Dion AC would be a perfect station for me because my
9:20
nickname is soft sell Michelle so.
9:22
Right, right. You would be you would be a
9:25
superstar AC. But even that even that format
9:27
today has evolved to where we're playing Whitesnake here I go
9:30
again. So it has evolved, but 10 years
9:33
ago, 15 years ago, you're playing Michael Bolton, you're
9:36
playing Céline Dion, you're playing Mariah Carey and and
9:39
soft music. And so my presentation, no
9:41
matter how much I slow myself down, then it then I don't sound
9:45
like myself. I'm I'm disingenuous and it
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doesn't even sound like me. So Terry Patrick was not a fan
9:50
when I was doing star, it was *95 Seven was not a fan.
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I think he's about the only one that I've ever really
9:57
encountered in that situation. Most of them have been always on
10:00
the, on the team and trying to, to, to do good things with this.
10:03
So I, yeah, I, I don't know. How many How many consultants
10:05
have you worked with Michelle through your career?
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Becky Brenner was the only one I directly dealt with.
10:12
Otherwise, again, it was a program directors like you that,
10:16
you know, spent the bulk of the time with them and just relayed
10:20
back to us what we needed to do or improve on, right?
10:23
And that's pretty and that's pretty much it.
10:24
They take a listen to the station, they monitor it, they
10:27
give you advice, they go through the song list.
10:30
A lot of that has changed so much.
10:31
So what happened with deregulation in the late 90s?
10:34
So I was working at a company called the Research Group in
10:36
Seattle and they they are basically a group of
10:38
consultants. So that's kind of where my
10:40
programming background came from because I could see all the, the
10:43
safe lists, I could see the music testing, I could see all
10:45
that. And then they turned me, I would
10:47
like to believe into a pretty good programmer because of the
10:49
knowledge. But when you started buying your
10:51
competition in 1996, guess what you didn't need anymore a
10:55
consultant. So, so they, they were few and
10:59
far between. They do what they did and they
11:00
still do exist, but they were few and far in between.
11:03
And if you own both, if you own both country stations or both
11:05
top 40s, you, you don't need those folks.
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But they're, they're basically, they're a sounding board.
11:10
They're there to give you advice.
11:12
They work. Also, they're usually hired by
11:14
the general manager, so as long as your general manager doesn't
11:17
have an agenda against you, you're going to be OK.
11:20
But but I've had consultants tell me in my face, oh, station
11:23
sounds great. And then the next day they're
11:26
like, Rick, can we talk to you for a second?
11:27
Yeah, station sounds like shit. What?
11:30
Who put your, you know, knife in the bag?
11:32
So it just depends. I I I think that consultants
11:35
serve serve a purpose for. Sure.
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All right. Let's move on to radio job pet
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peeves. All right?
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Are you ready? I have a list.
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I have a list go. For it do the.
11:47
Do your list OK? First one is not getting paid to
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MC or the sales people volunteering us to MC something
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you know, think about it. You don't ask your surgeon, hey
12:00
can you volunteer the surgery? That used to irritate me so
12:05
much. And the sales people were
12:07
notorious. You know, they would want to get
12:11
this client to buy whatever it is.
12:13
And so they would throw in US and seeing this event for free
12:17
and we would not get paid for it.
12:19
So that that's number one. Absolutely #2 those that did not
12:27
complete their assigned production, we should probably
12:32
define production. It's the commercials that you
12:35
hear on the radio. Some of the voices, some of them
12:41
are dubs that we get elsewhere, which a dub is basically just a
12:45
recorded commercial that they sent us.
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Is that right? Did I explain that correctly?
12:50
OK, OK. And the ones that we record, we
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add music, sound effects, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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Those are the commercials. But basically those of us who
13:02
would get our production in and done on time would then get more
13:07
production from the people who would not do their production.
13:12
And you don't want a commercial not running that is scheduled to
13:16
run because that is lost money. So that's number two money.
13:22
I think this is my last one. Hold on, I'm trying.
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I had them like all, I had them all planned out in my head.
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Number 3000 OK, I remember business owners who voice their
13:34
own commercials or have their kids slash grandkids voice it
13:41
because again, they are not professionals and they sound
13:45
mushmouthy or they're trying to get this 62nd commercial into 30
13:51
seconds. It is fine if you bring your
13:54
kids or grandkids in and a professional voices the
13:59
commercial and then the kids or the grandkids say Merry
14:01
Christmas or whatever at the end.
14:04
That is fine. But please leave it to the
14:06
professionals. Don't don't voice your own
14:10
commercial as I'm messing up myself.
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I think that's it for me. OK, I I think that there, I
14:17
think there can be sometimes good sounding clients.
14:19
It depends on what, whose voice in the spot.
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Yeah, some people can get it done.
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Some people can't. A lot of people will say I heard
14:26
you on the radio. I heard you on the radio.
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Even if you're horrible, I heard you on the radio.
14:30
I will tell you my pet peeve back in the day, and I've
14:34
changed a lot about it, is it's not about necessarily doing
14:37
stuff for free, because I think it is important to do stuff, but
14:40
it's being wrangled into things, being told, well, if you don't
14:43
do it, we're going to lose this client.
14:44
So if you've ever seen the movie Private Parts by Howard Stern,
14:48
it's probably one of the best love letters to radio you'll
14:50
ever watch. Now, remember, it's not about
14:53
Howard, but if you watch the movie, all the things that
14:55
happened to Howard are very radio and it's a wonderful love
14:59
letter. So even if you don't like
15:00
Howard, you got to watch the movie because it's great.
15:02
One of the biggest things that that I talk about a lot and I
15:05
refute, I'll never do it again ever again as long as I live was
15:08
many years ago. I got wrangled into being a
15:11
celebrity bartender. Now, what's wrong with that
15:14
picture there, Michelle? You would not want to do that I.
15:19
Would we were pouring the drinks?
15:21
No, no, no, no. I mean, so no, no.
15:24
Here's so we were so so they so a couple times in my career,
15:28
which I will never do again, is people misunderstand why we're
15:32
there and they put us to work right Like we're their health.
15:37
That has happened. So that happened to me at the
15:39
the Yakima Sun Dome for one of the rodeos where Tom and I were
15:43
supposed to be celebrity bartenders.
15:45
I don't drink at all. Right.
15:47
I don't drink. So you would have no idea what
15:49
a. So, so I had a bunch of pissed
15:51
off Cowboys about the F and foam on the top of their beer.
15:56
What, you know, 'cause you have to, you have to pour it sideways
15:58
or some bullshit like that, you know, And so the guys were
16:01
getting angry. I was so upset, so mad about you
16:04
can still even do that. This is like 15 years ago.
16:06
I'm still angry about it. I don't do it.
16:08
I'm like, no, you know, I'm there to MC, I'm there to give
16:11
me, give me some notes. What do you want me to say?
16:13
And that's it. So I refuse because of
16:16
situations like that. I don't do weddings.
16:19
I don't, I don't play music for events.
16:21
I don't do any of that. I just don't.
16:22
And, and my, my wife always has to go to people when they say,
16:25
Oh God, Rick would be so good. And, and she's like, what?
16:27
He's in that he's an announcer. He's, he's not that he's not, he
16:31
doesn't do those. And I will do those on special
16:33
occasions for friends, but for the most part, it's a no go for
16:36
me because people treat you like crap.
16:38
Yes, No, at the end of the day, they treat you like like you're
16:41
there. There's the the helper or the
16:43
servant and I, I don't know, that isn't going to fly with me.
16:46
And so for me that, that experience being a celebrity
16:49
bartender to this day, you know it when I get invited for
16:54
things, I'm like, well, what am I doing?
16:55
I'm in seeing, OK, is this. And I'm always like, is the
16:57
script ready to go? I want to see the script.
17:00
It has to be ready. Oh, another great example.
17:02
I'll show you Yakima parade. Another great example is I'm
17:05
sitting there one day. I must have been having a bad
17:08
day because Michelle, you know, most of the time I'm pretty nice
17:09
to. Yes, you are.
17:10
And so I'm sitting up on, so I'm sitting up on this big platform
17:13
because we're doing a parade for free.
17:16
And I'm, and they give you. And so 5 minutes before the
17:18
parade, they give you this. It's a notebook.
17:22
Normally the, the equipment's not even set up.
17:24
Normally this the, the, you know, the microphone, nothing
17:26
set up until 5 minutes for it. So anyway, that big notebook.
17:29
So I'm sitting there while somehow they got the bands out
17:32
of line. So it was like Mount Adams
17:35
Junior High and West Valley Rams and they were out of sequence.
17:39
Well, I'm just following the brain and they were doing and so
17:42
next to me, I had some codger, some old codger.
17:45
You know, that's, that's, that's Adams elementary.
17:47
What are you doing? Blah, blah, blah.
17:49
And I, I must have been in a bad mood that day because I looked
17:51
at that guy and I said, you know, how much I'm getting paid
17:53
to be here? How much money I'm getting paid?
17:55
I don't know. I said 00 and I just got this
18:00
book. So and, and people get out on
18:02
because you're doing a parade. Oh, you didn't say my name
18:05
right. Phonetically didn't say my name
18:06
right. Well, guess what?
18:08
They, they put it in the book. They don't phonetically spell it
18:11
out. So you're gone.
18:12
Yeah, there's Joe. And they're like, that's not my
18:17
name. Well, you know, so I'm, I'm real
18:20
picky about those things nowadays.
18:22
I used to do them because we were almost, and you know,
18:25
Michelle, we were almost guilted back in the day into doing those
18:28
things and we weren't given choices.
18:30
And I and I, and today I really stand up for like, Nope, not
18:33
going to happen that way. But they used to make and they'd
18:36
make it say, oh, if you don't do it, we're not going to get a
18:38
buy. Yes, again, that's systems
18:40
people, Yeah, guilting us into. It it's contingent.
18:44
We're, you know, we're not going to get a $500 buy if you don't
18:47
do the parade for free. Yeah.
18:49
So there's two instances where it's like, now on the flip side,
18:53
best story for you ever down in Zilla.
18:56
You and I were doing country mornings.
18:58
And I'm, I'm definitely not your typical country DJ.
19:00
And so we're down at a Zilla bar doing an event and this
19:04
construction worker walks over. He must be 6667 massive dude.
19:09
I'm like, oh God, here he comes and he's like, Rick, I want to
19:12
talk to you. I'm like, oh crap, he is not
19:16
going to, you know, because I'm not the, the, the, the normal
19:18
country radio DJ guy. He walks right up and goes, I
19:21
just want to shake your hand. Oh God, I love your show.
19:25
And so it teaches you not to judge a book by the by a cover.
19:28
But it was still funny because I said that that guy in his hand
19:32
could have crushed my whole head.
19:34
If he didn't like you or had had a beef, had a beef with you, I.
19:38
Love the show, love you guys. I was like, oh God, he's going
19:41
to. He's going to break me in half.
19:42
He's going to snap me. Is that?
19:44
So there's some stories. All right, are those your only
19:46
pet peeves with the job that you can think of?
19:50
Long time SO. Rates.
19:51
Less I mean, you're out. They they don't play it.
19:54
They don't play anybody else to do it.
19:56
Yeah, there's no, there's nobody.
19:57
So you, you either do it or you don't.
20:00
So I was trying to think we're supposed to interest enough you.
20:03
Yeah. You mentioned that the
20:04
production or the commercials, you're supposed to have 24 hour
20:07
turn around on that. That that was not always the
20:10
case. No, and another great story.
20:13
It happened to me on Christmas Eve.
20:16
Oh goodness. Tina Bond, Sorry, Tina, if
20:18
you're listening, Tina Bond, a great AE love Tina dearly, but I
20:22
was the last person in the building one year in Yakima and
20:25
it was 3:00 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve and she dropped 20
20:29
spots that had to start and she left.
20:33
See you later. I was the only person in the
20:35
building 20 commercials. So guess what I did with those
20:38
20 commercials? She was notoriously she would
20:41
not write the right amount of length.
20:43
Copy So you had to voice them, produce them, put them together.
20:46
Yep, Yep. So it became it became RIP and
20:49
it became RIP and read Rick to where if she wrote a 32nd spot
20:53
and it was 20 seconds, guess how long that spot?
20:55
Was 20 seconds. 2020 seconds. I banged.
20:58
Just 10 seconds of music at the end.
21:00
Yep. Oh no, I.
21:01
Don't use it. I'm like.
21:03
No, I'm like your, your spot's 20 seconds.
21:05
This will teach you to, you know, yeah, I did that many,
21:08
many years ago. But I was like on Christmas Eve.
21:10
That's horrible. That's Bah humbug.
21:13
So yeah, so those, those days are pretty much over with for
21:17
the most part. But it is crazy.
21:19
It was the Wild West, Wild West. And they really used, like we
21:23
talked about earlier, guilt. It was all about, oh, if you
21:26
don't, if you don't, you'll lose your job.
21:28
And we love radio. That's the one thing that owners
21:32
or general managers or program directors or even consultants
21:35
have over your head is you love this job so much that you're
21:39
willing to die for it. And so they use that.
21:42
They number one, pay you, really, they pay you crappy
21:44
wages. I mean, we might as well dispel
21:46
that rumor. Unless you're Ryan Seacrest.
21:48
Unless you're Howard Stern. You know, unless you're a big
21:51
morning guy. Which I think we discussed this
21:52
in a past episode. You don't they, Yeah, they don't
21:55
pay and then they use your love against you, basically.
21:58
Well, if you don't do it, we'll we'll find somebody you know.
22:02
Oh, the greatest line ever in radio.
22:04
You'll never work in radio. Again.
22:06
Oh yes, remember. When you remember, when you get
22:08
threatened by that, well, yeah, well, if we let you go, you'll
22:10
never work in radio again. Yeah, I think it was more
22:15
difficult for me because I was part time and as a morning show
22:20
you want to do things all together.
22:22
And so any of that kind of stuff I would not get paid to do and
22:27
one of you would be getting paid to do it.
22:29
But because I was the part timer, I would not get paid and
22:32
then but we would still all want to do it as a morning show
22:36
together. So that happened a lot, so.
22:39
It it did. And when you look back, when you
22:41
look back and it's so funny our our good friend Cheryl at one
22:44
time confronted confronted her about that and she looked at me
22:47
and she goes, you could have said no.
22:50
Ouch. Wow, I went wow, wow.
22:54
And you know, and you know when you're the lead of the morning
22:57
show, then if you say no to everything, then you're the a
23:00
hole. No, but but you're the a hole,
23:02
then you're the a hole. And it's like I I didn't want I
23:06
didn't want to, I don't want to be, I don't want to leave my you
23:08
know, it's like it's almost like you're in the army.
23:11
You don't want to leave Sooners. Behind.
23:13
You want to be on the front line and that was one of the first
23:15
lessons I learned. That's one of the first lessons
23:17
I learned at KFFM because I got enamored with the record Rep
23:21
money and different thing or not me getting record, but but
23:24
doing. I did a couple flyaways and
23:26
different things. Meanwhile, there was events that
23:29
I should have been at as the program director that reflected
23:33
poorly on me because I wasn't there.
23:34
And that was one of the biggest lessons I learned was you got to
23:37
be with the team. Right, besides lying to me.
23:39
'Cause things go, 'cause things go wrong, well, things go wrong.
23:43
So they do OK, Is that it? Can we move on?
23:47
Are you done? Pet peeves.
23:48
Pet peeves. Check that one off all right.
23:52
No celebrity bar standing ever again.
23:54
Yeah, I would just want to be there to look pretty.
23:56
I would not be wanting to work in poor drinks, Absolutely not.
24:00
I have been to I have been to things where they put you to
24:03
work like my my Co host Patty one day city of Kennewick.
24:06
They're like, oh, you need to go park cars.
24:08
I'm like, what the and she's out there with the and she's out
24:10
there with an orange vest parking cars.
24:12
I'm like, what the son of? Remember when downtown summer
24:15
nights first started? We were laborers.
24:18
We were labored to set stuff up. OK.
24:23
And even in Tri-cities too, just so you know, in Tri-cities too,
24:25
so staging and all that, they do a, they do a downtown summer
24:29
nights too. Yeah, All right.
24:30
Now we're just airing our grievances.
24:31
Let's move on. Nobody wants to hear it and
24:35
nobody favorite meet and greets. So I have a few which my very
24:42
first meet and greet ever, it was probably one of my
24:45
favorites. It was with Garth Brooks in the
24:49
in the Tacoma Dome. I know, right?
24:52
Crazy. I was 18 years old.
24:55
This is when I was working at KXWD doing overnight weekends.
24:58
And the only reason that I even got to go was because nobody
25:02
else wanted to go. I mean that that was it.
25:05
That was the only reason because, you know, part time
25:08
people get nothing. I've never been to a concert.
25:12
I have never been to a meeting. Great.
25:14
So I had no idea what to expect. It was myself and my
25:19
sister-in-law, Kim, who I took to the concert.
25:23
And it was just her, me and Garth Brooks in this room in the
25:29
in the Tacoma Dome for like 15 to 20 minutes.
25:32
He sat across from us, like, really close.
25:36
You know, it was uncomfortably close because I'm thinking in my
25:39
mind, oh, my God, this is Garth Brooks.
25:40
This is Garth Brooks. You're, you're freaking out.
25:43
You don't know what to say. He's trying to ask us questions,
25:48
you know, like normal everyday questions.
25:51
He was trying to be very personal.
25:54
He could probably tell that we were just freaking out.
25:57
And then he brought this huge stack of T-shirts.
26:00
He signed every single one of them.
26:02
He gave them to us. That's probably one of my
26:05
favorites. Taylor Swift also, I think kind
26:09
of tailored her meet and greets, similar to how Garth Brooks did
26:13
his early on in her career. And then probably one of my
26:18
other favorites, which this is surprising because I'm not like,
26:22
I'm not a huge Keith Urban fan. I like some of his songs, but
26:26
I'm not I'm not over the moon. Oh my God, I love Keith Urban.
26:32
And usually at a meet and greet, they'll ask you your name.
26:36
And then I had a friend with me and he asked her her name and
26:41
you kind of chit chat, you take a photo and then you just leave.
26:45
Well, Keith turns around as we're walking away and he says
26:51
in his little Australian accent, it was so nice to meet you,
26:54
Michelle. That was a horrible imitation of
26:56
an Australian accent and I didn't, I did not catch it.
27:02
I, I mean, I, I don't know why, but my friend, she pointed out,
27:07
oh, she, she's going to stop. So she goes, Oh my God, he
27:12
remembered your name, which never, ever happens.
27:16
So that really stuck in my mind. I was super impressive.
27:19
He also smelled so good. I have to say yes he smelled so
27:26
good. I even googled trying to find
27:28
what kind of Cologne he wears so that I could buy it and make my
27:30
husband wear it but I mean there's multiple different ones.
27:34
Julia or something. There was something Megan
27:36
mentioned when she met him backstage at the court, said Oh
27:38
my God, he smells so. Good, yes.
27:40
I'm like, yeah, there's some, some, and every, every woman
27:43
I've ever met is. Which you haven't met many,
27:47
there's probably just been a few of us I've.
27:49
Sat Well, I've stood next to Keith and I didn't sniff him,
27:51
but I know that the ladies did and they love.
27:53
Well, I mean we got to hug him so that's probably why.
27:55
So and then this is not my favorite meet and greet, but my
28:02
sons Matthew and Benjamin, they were a huge Smash Mouth fans and
28:07
they were at the Puyallup Fair. And so I got 4 meet and greets
28:12
for the two of them. And then Benjamin's at the time
28:14
girlfriend Haley, now his wife. And Matthew took a friend and
28:18
they had meet and greets, and I expected that they would text me
28:22
that they were on their way home from the show after ended.
28:26
So you know what, like 10/30, 11:00-ish.
28:29
They're still Matthews, a senior in high school, so he's 18.
28:31
They drove themselves there by themselves, you know, parked
28:35
everything. I don't even think they've been
28:36
to the Peel Affair ever in their lives.
28:39
So as a mom, of course, I'm worrying and wondering, OK, they
28:43
should be on their way home. There was no Life 360 at the
28:46
time, so I couldn't track their location.
28:49
And exactly, exactly. And so I text him, Hey, are you
28:58
guys headed home? And Matthew responds something
29:02
like, no, we're having dinner with Smash Mouth.
29:08
And, and in my mind I'm thinking, what what?
29:15
So I text him back and I say, excuse me, why are you having
29:19
dinner with Smash Mouth? And he said, well, they invited
29:22
us and I said, well, they're just being nice.
29:26
You don't say yes. He basically, he basically said
29:32
why shouldn't I? But yeah, they had dinner with
29:35
Smash Mouth. One of the members called one of
29:38
the girls as a dads that was with them and left a voicemail.
29:41
So yeah, that was probably it's a good story.
29:45
They had a fun time having dinner with Smash Mouth and they
29:49
were super nice to them. They again, we're engaged and
29:52
sat with them at the table. We're asking them questions and
29:56
I'm thinking these are high schoolers.
29:59
This poor band is stuck with these 4 high schoolers.
30:03
But yeah, so that's our story that that those are my
30:07
favorites, so. Yeah, I think you got a couple
30:10
good ones for me because I've never met Garth.
30:13
Oh, you. Haven't I've met him twice.
30:15
I've not. I've met him twice.
30:17
Yep, Garth and and then Taylor twice.
30:19
I did Taylor and I, well, I was, it was when Taylor was coming
30:23
up. I was in Nashville and my friend
30:25
Donna knows Taylor, so Taylor came out.
30:28
But I always, I always make, I always tell people Taylor came
30:31
out of the the Colosseum or whatever.
30:33
And this is before she was famous.
30:34
And so my friend Donna talked to her, but Donna did not introduce
30:37
me to Taylor, even though I was next to Taylor.
30:39
So to me, I never, I don't, I don't go.
30:41
Oh, I met Taylor Swift. No, because they didn't go.
30:44
Hi. Oh, Donna didn't go.
30:45
Oh, this is my friend. We were just standing.
30:47
This I could say, yeah, yeah, just standing up to Taylor
30:50
Swift. But I mean, I do when I was in
30:52
Bakersfield. Her first song, Tim McGraw.
30:54
I did get a plaque, you know, signed by Taylor because we were
30:57
one of the first stations on it. So I do have some memorabilia
31:01
from that. So here's a couple good stories.
31:04
I mean, you know, I've met. I've been fortunate I've met.
31:07
There's there's some. Biggies I haven't met but, but
31:09
I've met some biggies too. So the, the, but the best ones
31:14
are the ones that you don't least expect.
31:16
So my very, my very first meet and greet was Michael Bolton at
31:21
the Biza Coliseum in and it's at the height of his career.
31:24
So in 1990. And it was my first music
31:26
director job. And the best piece of advice,
31:29
which I did pass on to Cephas later down the road, was Don
31:32
Kelly was the afternoon guy. And he goes, oh, you're going
31:34
backstage and he was a bit one of those old time disc jockeys,
31:36
big old porn mustache. Oh, so you're going smoking a
31:39
cigarette. So you're going backstage to
31:41
meet Michael Bolton. Let me give you a couple pieces
31:43
of advice. And he anyway, and he goes, he
31:45
goes, what you need to do is you need to hang back.
31:48
And he goes if, if it's like you hang back and the artist will
31:51
spend more time with you and and he goes and don't be excited.
31:55
Don't act. You know don't don't you know,
31:58
don't be. Crazy.
31:59
Treat them like normal, like a normal person.
32:01
And he goes, yeah. And he goes, people are going to
32:03
treat. They're going to be all over
32:04
them. And you don't do that, they're
32:06
going to talk to you. So anyway, we get there, my
32:08
first wife and I, we get there and I told, I told Pokey.
32:11
I said, Pokey, hang back, we'll be last in line.
32:13
And so again, just showing you how people are there was meet
32:17
and greet and some people were asking stupid questions and I'm
32:20
like, my gosh, these guys. So then he walks up we're last
32:23
in line now what's your name Rick?
32:25
Nice to meet you and what's your name?
32:27
She goes Dorothy, which is pokies real name and he goes,
32:31
that's my moms name. And so and Michael Bolton had
32:34
this conversation. And so it was, it was I was
32:36
probably gosh, I was young. I was 23 years old.
32:38
But that was the first lesson I learned that when you're in the
32:41
presence of a rock star or you know, any of these meet and
32:44
greets, don't flip out, act normal, hang back, be cool.
32:48
They'll come to you and you're going to get a better
32:50
experience. And then of course, one of my
32:52
favorite ones of all the time is with Logan.
32:54
When he was six, we went and saw **NSYNC in Spokane, and we're
32:58
backstage and this thing is a massive line of screaming,
33:02
giggling girl. Yeah, just falling down crying.
33:06
I they're probably pissing their pants.
33:08
Oh, my God. It's In Sync.
33:10
And Justin Timberlake was there. He's part of it.
33:12
And so Logan looks up at me. He's six years old and goes,
33:15
dad, what's wrong with them? I said.
33:17
I said, well, Logan, they have a disease.
33:20
Oh goodness, he. Goes, you know, but so Logan, to
33:23
this day, he's 31. He still has his autographed
33:25
*NSYNC CD that has Justin Timberlake, even though he
33:27
admits he's too, too cool to admit that he but he still has
33:31
it. He still has the CDM.
33:33
And then another great, another funny one with Logan was when he
33:37
got to be a teenager, he got to be a little shit.
33:40
So he was 11 or 12 and he was visiting me in Bakersfield and
33:43
we went to Fresno to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
33:47
Now it was funny is Logan was at that time.
33:51
No, no, I hate country music. I hate it all.
33:54
Logan better not have been a shit to Tim McGraw.
33:57
Oh, I was oh, no, no, no. So the I was worried.
34:00
I was like, oh God, he's going to, he's going to embarrass me.
34:02
So what happened was Tim McGraw was doing the end the round with
34:06
the backstage listeners. So we did not expect to meet Tim
34:10
McGraw. So the the listeners did not get
34:12
to meet Tim McGraw because that's what they've recently
34:14
done is nowadays they make you do a big group photo.
34:18
They don't do individual photos. If you're Kenny Chesney, if
34:20
you're, if you're a big star, you're doing a group photo these
34:23
days, not individual snapshots. So we were there in Fresno and
34:27
he was in the round and he performed, did a couple songs
34:30
and hey, thanks guys for coming out, blah, blah, blah.
34:32
Well, the record Rep taps on my shoulder and says, hey, we're
34:35
going to sneak over here and Tim and Faith want to come over and
34:37
meet you guys. So I was like, whoa.
34:39
So they presented us with these plaques.
34:42
So like these records. See that record back there?
34:44
You gave? Is that one of the ones you gave
34:46
me? No, no, no, no.
34:49
I that so it was from the station.
34:51
So remember my my rules. It doesn't have my name.
34:53
I don't take it. So it got stuck there.
34:55
So I'm like, so I'm talking to Logan.
34:57
I'm nudging him like, hey, they're going to come back here.
34:59
I said you better, you better. I was like, and I was on him and
35:03
I was whispering to him and I and I was like, if you, if you
35:06
screw this up, I'm just going to, I'll kill you.
35:09
So Tim comes in, Faith comes in. You don't get to see them both
35:12
together usually ever. And Logan's eyes just get like
35:15
this. And he was polite and nice,
35:18
shook their hands and still one of his favorite photos.
35:21
It's on my Facebook page. One of his favorite photos.
35:23
Big shit eating grin. He was happy.
35:26
And then it's funny, it's through the years.
35:28
Logan is the one who calls me and goes, hey, do you have
35:31
backstage to Rachel Platten or Lone Star?
35:34
And so I don't go to these backstage, but he does.
35:37
And so he's kind of, and then he got to be a little radio snob
35:41
kid to where it's like, well, where's our tickets?
35:43
Oh. You know, I'm like, no, no, you
35:46
don't ever get to say where's our tickets?
35:49
Or or what? We're not going backstage to
35:50
this. So going back to another radio
35:53
pet peeve, I hate when you give away free tickets and the first
35:57
word out of their mouth is where's my seats?
36:01
Get the You're giving something for free, I don't care if it's
36:05
Nosebleed. Right, you are fortunate and not
36:08
to go to this concert. There are people that would die
36:10
or kill, especially if it's a sold out concert or their
36:13
favorite artist. You you name it.
36:15
Absolute rude, rude. And then when we talk about meet
36:19
and greets, meet and greets and we talked about this earlier,
36:21
was they, it depends on what artist is performing, but the
36:24
meet and greets done before the show.
36:26
And so people, I've had people get upset.
36:28
Oh, I missed the opening act. Oh, I, I didn't get to tell talk
36:32
about my mom's cancer treatment with him.
36:34
I'm like, well, I'm sorry, Keith Urban doesn't have time.
36:36
That was at Trace Adkins actually, but it happened, you
36:38
know, so I've encountered quite a few.
36:40
I've I've encountered some amazing grateful people and then
36:44
I've encountered some really entitled people and they go,
36:48
that's it, That's it. Yeah, that's called a cattle
36:50
call. Right.
36:51
You get yeah, you get 3 seconds, you will line all up and then
36:55
it's like Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing picture, picture.
36:58
Picture and a lot of people and I like how you said that because
36:59
a lot of people can relate. So if you go to Comic Con these
37:02
days and it's it's William Shatner, it's whoever and
37:05
you're, you know, supernatural and everything 90s retro.
37:09
It is 2.5 seconds. Click Thanks.
37:11
Click. And those you have to pay for.
37:15
Big money, big money these days. So, yeah.
37:18
So I I like when people are grateful, but the biggest lesson
37:20
you can learn if you want any tips, if you're ever meeting a
37:23
famous person, hang back, be cool, be chill and and then
37:27
treat them like a normal person. I will say, as you already know,
37:32
my undying love for Richard Page.
37:34
I was I was waiting for you to bring this up.
37:37
I figured this would be your favorite meet and greet.
37:41
Well, for me it is, it is because for me, that's the
37:45
mountain for me. And a lot of people are like,
37:46
who if you know the song Broken Wings, if you know the song
37:50
Curie, which were #1 smashes in the 80s, they're just my,
37:53
they're my boys. They, that's, that's my music,
37:55
that's my group. And I'm, I'm a die hard.
37:57
And so, and the difference between my guy and everybody
38:00
else's guy is he doesn't tour. He just doesn't tour.
38:03
He's a big songwriter. So 30 years he didn't tour and
38:07
so no, you didn't know where he lived.
38:09
You didn't have access to him. And it was funny by sheer
38:12
accident in 2009 he released a Christmas song and he was on my
38:16
space of all places. So I, I, and it said, and it
38:20
said do not send personal messages.
38:22
And I sent a personal message saying, hey, my name is Rick and
38:26
I'm in the tri-cities at a station *95 seven.
38:29
Would love to interview about the Christmas song.
38:31
Well, his brother jumps on his brother's name's Rob.
38:35
I'm friends with Rob on Facebook and Rob goes, goes, hey, hey,
38:38
Rick, he'd love to do an interview with you.
38:41
And I went, Oh my God. And I did my fangirl.
38:44
No, the only time in history where I fangirled out and Rob,
38:48
his brother wrote back and goes, he puts his, he puts his pants
38:51
on one leg at a time like the rest of us.
38:53
So I love that Rob, like Rob, his brother shut me down.
38:57
Like he goes, he goes. He's my little brother that I
39:00
used to pick on, you know, and give him newbies and give him
39:03
newbies. So he goes, he goes.
39:05
He's not that big. My fangirl meet and greet would
39:09
be Tim McGraw and Sam Hunt. Normally I'm chill, you know,
39:12
again, because you taught us to hang back, be the last in the
39:16
line and ask them questions. Maybe that?
39:20
That's that's the they don't normally get.
39:22
Brought as a great. Yep.
39:24
And, and you get more and you get more and you get more time
39:26
with them. So, so yeah.
39:28
And then yeah, there's just been, there's been a lot of
39:30
great ones. I can't recall any bad ones.
39:35
Usually you're rushed. Like Rascal Flatts was like 600
39:37
people there. There's been different ones that
39:39
I've done with. It's been pretty rushed.
39:41
But but most it's most side people are pretty.
39:43
Cool. I think Brad Paisley's was bad,
39:46
but that was because of his manager.
39:48
OK. So you mean at the bull?
39:49
You mean at the bull bash? No, this was out well, Brad.
39:52
Shy so Brad is shy though, he's kind of about, he is not an over
39:57
the top like, you know, so, so you are going to encounter
40:01
artists that are actually pretty shy and not over the top and,
40:04
and a lot and you just and Michelle, a lot of people take
40:07
it as they're being rude and they're not, they're just the
40:11
and and and interesting thing. And you just made a great point
40:14
about managers. The manager's job is to keep you
40:17
away from their artists. So they will tell you something
40:21
at the start of a meet and greet.
40:22
They're like, don't you, don't you look at him cross eyed?
40:24
Don't you, you know, try to hug him?
40:26
Duh, duh, duh. And then Garth will come in and
40:28
give you a hug, right? And you're like, well, wait a
40:30
minute. I can't hug him because I was
40:31
told not to hug the art. But but the manager's job is,
40:35
you know, to keep, keep his artist safe, I guess.
40:38
And so he'll say crap that sometimes isn't even real
40:42
because you'll say to so because you'll talk to, you'll talk to
40:44
Garth and go, oh, I was told I couldn't ask you about that.
40:47
And they're like, oh. Yeah, right.
40:50
Well, again, we were at Watershed and he, we, you know,
40:54
a lot of meet and greets you have to line up and blah, blah,
40:57
blah, blah. But there was a few people that
41:00
weren't right up against the fence and he, he was like
41:04
yelling constantly get up against the fence.
41:07
The manager, yes, the manager, not Brad.
41:09
Brad is not here yet. Get up against the fence.
41:12
I said if you don't get up against the fence, this meet and
41:16
greet is not going to happen. Just.
41:18
I mean, so everybody was scared shitless by the time that Brad
41:21
got there and is shell shocked, I think.
41:25
But I mean, Brad was super nice. Yeah, he was.
41:28
And then Brad is so soft spoken and nice and totally obvious
41:31
that your experience like, yeah. What just happened?
41:34
It was crazy, Yeah. And.
41:35
And and you get and you get those.
41:38
You get those. I don't think I've ever seen
41:39
anybody get tossed out of a meet and greets.
41:42
I don't think I have either. But but they can they Yeah.
41:46
If you're, if you're unruly, if you're, if you're too crazy,
41:49
they'll they'll get you out. They'll get you out of there.
41:51
And and you and I just, I mean, we could go on for hours about
41:55
all the artists. I mean just a ton.
41:58
Well, you touched on some of the rules that they tell us at meet
42:03
and greets and there are a few that stuck in my mind because
42:09
I'm thinking someone has had to have done this for this to be a
42:13
rule one. Absolutely.
42:15
So one of Luke Bryan's is don't hump his leg.
42:19
That was one of the rules. So obviously somebody has tried
42:24
this or done this. And I think one of Chrissy
42:29
Young's is don't kiss him. I think something about that.
42:35
And then Jason Aldean would not sign.
42:37
So we get a little sticker, I guess you could call it, that
42:41
you have to stick on yourself to go backstage.
42:45
And Jason Aldean would. He will not sign them if they
42:47
are stuck to any part of your body, which I understand.
42:51
If they're like stuck to your boob or your butt, you know,
42:54
that's not appropriate because they have to sign it.
42:57
But yeah, any part of your body. You have to take it off and
43:00
then. He would not sign it unless you
43:02
took it off, so that's just some of the things I encountered.
43:05
Have you encountered any weird rules that you can remember?
43:10
No, one time it was funny, we were doing one of the meet and
43:12
greets the the manager had a gun on him that was kind of funny,
43:15
you know, so he's getting well, he wasn't going to shoot
43:17
anybody, but it was funny how he's getting people online and I
43:20
think they one of the one of the other DJ's Oh God, he's packed
43:22
and he's got a because he opened his coat and he see a gun like
43:25
Oh crap. So, but I think the yeah, I was
43:29
going to say the nice thing about the *NSYNC one was there
43:31
was a table between the the girls and *NSYNC.
43:34
So some of them. Smart about they.
43:36
Have a table. Yeah.
43:37
So they were sitting, they were sitting down and signing that
43:40
way that the kids, the teenagers couldn't get unruly and, you
43:44
know, try to, you know, go over to the table and they and they
43:47
always and they have security for groups like *NSYNC or Justin
43:51
Timberlake, the pop artist. They definitely have.
43:53
They definitely have security. And then, you know, it's
43:55
interesting too, that the nice thing about it is you do some
43:59
artists you actually get to know better than just, you know, the
44:04
meet and greet. So a great example.
44:06
James Otto, who's from Benton City, his his his brother in
44:09
law's Jada Marcus of Rascal Flatts.
44:12
So James Otto's a good one. You and I both know Sir mix a
44:15
lot to some extent. I've had I've had dinner.
44:18
We were at the we did 12 tribes. We did, I did I Co hosted
44:22
American Idol with with the Sir mix a lot.
44:24
And so we our suites were right next to each other, which was
44:27
kind of a cool experience. You know his girlfriend really
44:30
well. I mean, you guys are best buds.
44:31
So but I mean, but it's kind of cool to get to know people on a
44:34
different I guess, cuz he's he's a real person too yeah and so I
44:39
always so whenever I run into his girlfriend on occasion, I
44:42
love when she goes Oh yeah, Anthony was talking about you.
44:45
What, Sir Mix a lot still talks about me.
44:48
She goes, yeah, she's wondering what?
44:49
You're up to. So it's kind of so it's kind of
44:51
cool when and I'll give you another great example of of of
44:55
not abusing it is so because Richard Page is my absolute
44:59
favorite of all the time. I reach out to him once a year
45:03
to wish him a happy. Birthday, I'm just going to say
45:05
on his birthday when you said once a year.
45:07
On his birthday, because I have his personal e-mail, I have his
45:10
person. Any response every time.
45:11
Like, hey, Rick, every time. Hey Rick, hope things are well
45:15
with you, but I don't ever be to me, it's like I don't ever want
45:18
to take advantage of Now The funny thing on Facebook, because
45:21
he does social, he doesn't do social media, but his manager,
45:24
I'm buddy. I'm friends with his manager.
45:26
I'm friends with his brothers. So I mean, I'm on, they friended
45:30
me. It wasn't like I went out and
45:31
went, oh, I'm going to. Friend him with his whole family
45:34
basically. Right.
45:36
So, so, but you get to know people at a different level and
45:38
then you realize, oh, they're, they're cool.
45:39
They're just like everybody else.
45:41
And then they have the same issues and same problems.
45:43
They may, you know, they're famous and that's, that's the
45:46
cool thing. So, yeah, there are several, you
45:48
know, just several artists that, you know, we've just gotten to
45:50
know through the years. And it it, you know, and I, I
45:53
love it. It's it's it's kind of cool.
45:55
But I always feel like you don't take advantage of those
45:58
situations. Oh, that's right.
46:00
Because Richard Page did a, a greeting at my wedding.
46:04
I forgot. Oh, he did.
46:06
Yes, he did. He did.
46:08
So yeah, he did a Yeah. So I haven't recorded somewhere.
46:11
Was it? Hey, it's Richard Page.
46:13
Just want to wish Megan and Rick, you know, happy nuts world
46:16
blah blah blah. So that is special, Yeah, that's
46:19
truly special. That is special.
46:20
And this is for Cameo. This.
46:23
Is for Cameo, Yeah. My guy's not even on Cameo, my
46:26
guy. Don't do anything.
46:27
I could buy something like that. Yeah, you could.
46:30
And, and that's not a bad way. I mean, that's not a bad way to
46:33
go. I mean, if you want.
46:34
I think that there's a lot of, I think what's really changed in
46:37
our industry. You make up a great point.
46:40
Back in the day, the meet and greet was not sold.
46:43
It used to be special and it was basically radio people and maybe
46:47
a few fan club members. Now they sell.
46:49
Oh yeah, it's just another Ave. to make money.
46:53
Right. And so it's the they call it
46:55
what it's, it's another, it's another revenue stream.
46:58
So, so now if you want to go meet Chicago, if you want to,
47:01
you know, some artists you're paying well.
47:03
Well, you all Britney Spears, what was that $1400?
47:07
You didn't go do it. You didn't go do it, but you.
47:09
Thought no. And then somebody told me when
47:11
Jlo not, not this time when she was in Vegas, but quite a few
47:15
years ago, she had meet and greets for sale and I think they
47:18
were 10 grand, 10 grand. Well, you just saw, you just saw
47:23
Gene Simmons of KISS. You could be as roadie for 12.
47:25
1000 like wow. Sorry our RP is the only person
47:30
getting that kind of money from. Him Do you get to put on his
47:32
makeup? Jane Simmons for.
47:34
Him. Yeah, what's Yeah, I think now I
47:38
think the cool thing is I think Rick Springfield did it for
47:41
$1000, but it was for charity and I thought, OK.
47:43
That's cool. Yeah.
47:45
Which is somewhat. But but you go ahead.
47:47
Yeah, but you and I've been so fortunate.
47:48
We've met most. I mean, I feel like I've met
47:50
almost. I mean, it's cool meeting
47:51
people, but I feel like I've met almost everybody, right?
47:55
That I would want to want my bucket.
47:56
Right. I mean.
47:57
There's still some few. There's still folks out there.
47:59
I have. Right.
48:00
Tim McGraw and Sam Hunt were my bucket list people and I met
48:03
them and those were probably the only two artists normally in a
48:06
meet and greet line. Normally we go with fans that
48:09
we've given meet and greets to and I'm usually trying to calm
48:14
them down, you know, tell them to, you know, they're normal
48:17
people, just ask them questions. I'm trying to calm them down
48:20
because they're all freaking out.
48:22
But this was not the case when I was in line for Tim McGraw and
48:25
Sam Hunt. And again, my sister-in-law was
48:27
with me and she, and she's been to multiple meet and greets with
48:30
me and she no, no, she's, she was, she asked me what is wrong
48:37
with you? Like what?
48:39
What is wrong with you? This is not how you are in line
48:42
of mean grief. And I'm, I had to ask her, what
48:45
do I, what do I say to Tim McGraw?
48:47
What do I say to him? And that made her freak out
48:51
because I'm freaking out. And usually I'm the calm,
48:54
rational 1. So yeah, they're just the.
48:57
Only it it's so hilarious is the only person I ever get giddy
49:02
around, which I've met him multiple Times Now, is Richard
49:04
Page. That's it.
49:05
And I don't know why I I am, I'm like a I'm a giddy school girl
49:08
and it's like, I know the guy. What's I mean, it's not like I'm
49:11
a stranger to him. And it's so funny that I still
49:15
shiver or I still get goosebumps.
49:17
I'm like, wait a minute, but I don't know why.
49:19
Because you just you just admire them or you.
49:21
They're your guy. You're great.
49:23
You do, you do. And it's like, and so, yeah, I
49:26
have that's I think that's the only one.
49:29
To this day, no matter how many times I've gone back, I've been
49:32
invited. Rick, you're coming back and I
49:34
go back and I'm still, I'm just, yeah, he's the one.
49:37
He's the He's my high school crush.
49:42
Which I, I think some of the best in meet and greets for me
49:46
have been the, the ones that I've given away my personal meet
49:51
and greet to someone. Which I think the last time I
49:54
was at the Central Washington State Fair, it was Tanya Tucker
49:59
and we had given away. I was working for the Bolt.
50:01
We had given away all our meet and greets to go backstage to
50:06
meet Tanya and of course I had my personal ones and there had
50:09
been a listener that have been waiting and her obviously she
50:12
didn't win, her name didn't get called and she really wanted to
50:16
go backstage to meet her because she had met her a long, long
50:20
time ago when Tanya had came, you know the, I don't know, 20
50:24
years ago and she had gone with her grandma and her grandma had
50:27
since passed. So this was really important for
50:30
her to go backstage again. And I, after we'd given them all
50:35
away and she didn't win, I pulled her off to the side and
50:37
said, hey, you know, I want you to have my personal meet and
50:42
greets because this is going to mean more to you.
50:45
And I, I want you to go and be able to see her again.
50:50
And she got teary eyed and she hugged me.
50:52
And that is the best feeling in the world.
50:56
Instead of actually going back yourself, giving it to someone
51:00
who really, truly is a fan and really appreciates it and wants
51:05
to go. So that's probably some of my
51:07
favorites. Well, for me, I've done the,
51:10
I've done the same thing. I was at I was at the Crystal
51:11
Palace in Bakersfield at Buck's place.
51:14
And I think Rodney Atkins was performing.
51:17
And there was this little kid named Jacob.
51:19
And he is a little crippled boy. And he was right next to where
51:21
you go backstage for the meet and greets.
51:22
And his him and his mom were there.
51:24
His mom's name is Sheila. And Jacob was there.
51:26
And he goes, oh, Rick, are you going backstage?
51:28
I'm like, yeah. And he's like, oh, it was such a
51:30
great show. And I said, you know what?
51:32
Why don't you, you and your mom go backstage and he just his
51:34
eyes lit up and he just just great.
51:37
And then, yeah, multiple times. One of the things that I did as
51:41
a program director, as I if if there was an artist and
51:45
Michelle, you know this, if there was an artist you wanted
51:47
to see, we would do our best to get you that back.
51:50
Oh, yeah. Like we.
51:52
Yeah. So I, so it wasn't now I've
51:54
worked a lot of programs just like that would like, no, I'm
51:56
going, I'm going backstage. So don't give me that's another
51:59
great radio pet peeve. Many years ago, many years ago,
52:03
we used to do these concerts in Lewiston while I was working at
52:06
the radio station there. And every year we would do the
52:09
concert at the park. I would have to be on the board,
52:13
like running the board. And so one year, so one year I'd
52:16
asked the, the program director, I said, Hey, I never get to go
52:19
to the concert in the park like ever.
52:21
And this was like Rick Springfield coming through the
52:24
Bengals. You, you name it, whoever's
52:25
coming through and, and, and, and this year, that year, it's
52:30
funny, it was Three Dog Night of all people.
52:32
But still it was the point of going to the show, not having to
52:35
run the board. And I'd ask the program director
52:37
and sure enough, on the day of. Hey, Rick, we, we really need
52:42
you on the board. We really.
52:44
Yeah. So so I made it a point and I
52:46
was what? Gosh, I was 20 something back
52:48
then. So I've always made it a point
52:49
with my own staff that if there was an artist that you wanted to
52:53
see, I would out. I've always joked out of side of
52:57
Richard Page, you know, there's nobody, nobody else matters to
53:01
me. So yeah, that's.
53:03
It right which I think you helped facilitate the Tim McGraw
53:06
meeting great for me because we had to wrangle again our
53:09
consultant Becky Brenner her Becky her connections because
53:12
we. Well, she needed bigger.
53:14
Yeah, she had bigger juice. I it's so funny.
53:17
You wouldn't in a in a market like Yakima, you're not going to
53:20
get that now. Oh no, there was still a little,
53:23
there was still a little juice left.
53:25
But now after 10 years, the juice is pretty much gone in
53:27
small markets now. The best.
53:29
I will also tell you this too, another great example about meet
53:32
and greets and backstages is your best shot of meet and
53:36
greets and going backstage is when they're in town.
53:39
Oh yeah. So if they're so if they're
53:41
playing the Yakima Sun Dome, if they're playing the Gorge, if
53:43
they're playing the the Toyota Center, you wanting to go to
53:46
Portland OR to Seattle, it can get it can get done, but it's a
53:51
lot harder because those radio stations are going to get
53:54
priority long before you are in Yakima, WA or tri-cities.
53:57
So the best time that to see an artist or get to meet an artist
54:01
is when they're in your home. Right which before I left radio
54:06
I was trying to get as mini meet.
54:08
I was a meet and great whore. I know you were.
54:12
But again, I was. A whore.
54:14
I am a whore now I'm. Going to have to mark us as
54:17
explicit. Last episode you said you said
54:22
suck and have to talk to us as explicit.
54:25
Yes, because I was working part time and doing all the stuff and
54:29
not getting paid. And you even.
54:32
Yeah, you were. Yes, that was your payment.
54:34
Yeah, get as many as you possibly can.
54:37
Yes, I did. I said crank up.
54:39
Yeah, yeah, go, go to as many as you want.
54:41
And some of them I was did not expect to get.
54:45
Blake Shelton was one of them. I, Kitty Chesney, I finally was
54:50
able to get and completely surprised me, so so yeah.
54:55
You just never again. You just don't know.
54:57
You gotta ask. But I but I've always said the
55:00
best time to see an artist is when they're coming up or going
55:03
down, when they're when they're at the pinnacle.
55:07
You know, like right now, Michelle, go.
55:09
Good luck getting some Taylor Swift backstages.
55:11
Gosh, yeah, that would never happen.
55:13
Yeah, I'm just I'm just saying there comes a point of Pink's
55:16
another great example of an artist that you probably got you
55:19
got going up, you know, got a backstage for but.
55:22
But Lady Gaga? Yeah, yeah, these are huge
55:25
artists now that they're they're so limited and they're going to
55:28
give them to the big stations, they're going to give them to
55:30
Seattle or if they're or they're going to, and even then they're
55:32
going to be limited on what? On what they so.
55:36
All right, well, you know what, we've almost had an hour, so
55:39
let's let's just wrap this up so that we can't don't keep going
55:43
longer so we can end episode 4. Maybe next episode we could
55:50
discuss stalkers. We haven't talked about that
55:52
yet. Oh, radio stalkers or food that
55:55
comes to the front desk. All those.
56:00
Your. Fans do, Michelle.
56:02
Yeah. Well, you can talk about do you
56:03
have radio fans? Yeah.
56:05
Stalkers talk about that, especially as a female.
56:07
Like I think more so me than. You.
56:10
Yeah, you're more likely to get them than me.
56:11
Yeah. So.
56:12
Stories we could talk about radio stunts and contest.
56:15
We haven't talked about any of those.
56:17
Yeah, and then fake radio names. Why our names are fake?
56:20
We can, which we'll probably tie in with.
56:23
Dockers too, because we we talked about how I have a fake
56:26
name, but somebody else has a fake last name so.
56:29
That would be me. At least my first name is real.
56:33
My first name is real. That's part of my middle name.
56:37
So we'll talk about Rick is my middle name is Frederick.
56:39
OK, OK. You forget I'm Frederick.
56:42
Isn't that where Rick comes from?
56:44
Frederick It's a stretch. I'm kidding.
56:50
OK, well, let's wrap it up. Thank you so much for listening
56:52
to Rick and that Michelle chick.