June 9, 2023 • 34 mins
Roberto Flores was an integral part of the Ben Maller Show from 2018-2023, he was in the air traffic control center pressing all the right buttons, controlling the silly drops. This week Roberto announced he is leaving Fox Sports Radio for a new career path outside of radio. He stops by the Fifth Hour to talk about his decision to leave, what’s next, favorite show memories and what it will take for him to reactivate his @raider_rob24 Twitter account. Be sure to follow Danny G Radio on Twitter @DannyGradio, Follow Big Ben on Twitter @BenMaller, and listen to the original "Ben Maller Show," Monday-Friday on 450+ terrestrial Fox Sports Radio affiliates, iHeart stream, and SiriusXM Radio channel 83, 2a-6a ET, 11p-3a PT!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kubbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the a everywhere you have found the weekended fund
zone open for business. Come one, come all fun for
the whole family. Unless it's not. We will attempt to
knock your socks off, but in a good way. The
(00:49):
Fifth Hour with myself, Ben Mallor and Danny g Radio
in the podcast Ojo This week different than all other
weeks on the Ben Maller Radio Show, and we talk
a lot about that here on the podcast. It is
a companion to keep your company on the weekends. Did
we go skinny dipping this week? No, we did not
(01:10):
go skinny dipping this week. There was none of that.
There was no nudity that took place this week. However,
there was a major change and if you were paying
close attention listing in the middle of the night during
the week. First of all, we thank you, appreciate that
cool beans. Good job by you. Secondly, one of our
(01:33):
good radio pals will no longer be working on the show.
We announced early in the week that our friend Roberto
Cooking with Roberto Fame, Roberto Flores, who has been part
of the radio show for a number of years, is
stepping away. He is leaving the radio show. The announcement
came down and so we will not get to have
(01:55):
fun with our pal Roberto any longer as he is
done with the Ben Mather Show. Roberto worked on our
program from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three. Some of
the great highlights with Roberto going back and forth. When
the Lakers would lose, I would pour salt on the wound.
(02:17):
When the Clippers would lose, Roberto would stab a knife
in my gut, and that is how that went. We
had great times. We're both Dodger fans, so we were
lamenting the run of Dodger baseball. We were together in
twenty twenty when the Dodgers won the hardest World Series
of all time during a global pandemic and beat the
(02:38):
Tampa Bay Rays. So we got to celebrate that under
the stars together and that was a lot of fun.
So I wanted to spend time with Robert. There is
a tradition, not a great tradition, but there's a tradition
in the broadcasting business. When you are fired or when
you leave a broadcast job, you do not get an
(02:59):
option opportunity to get back and say goodbye to anybody.
They get rid of you, they change the codes, they
shut off your email. That's just how it has always been,
and it appears that is the way it will always be.
So with the podcast, we have a little more leeway
here on the podcast, and so I wanted to bring
(03:20):
back my friend Roberto Flores and spend a couple of
minutes shooting the shit with our man Roberto and catch
up on some of the things that he's going through.
He's got a new career. We'll get into that if
he's willing to tell us and go over everything. But
I would like to address as we bring in the
great Roberto Flores, formerly of the Ben Mal Show, the
(03:42):
man that kept us on the air in air traffic control,
hitting all the right buttons and some of the right drops.
He joins us. Now, so there's a rumor going around, Roberto,
some of the fans of the show, some of the
p ones, are convinced that I had you removed from
the show. So once and for all, Roberto, can you
(04:04):
confirm or deny that I Ben Malor had you fired?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes? Ben did fire the fuck out of me.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, well, I tried to get Poppy fired, Roberto, and
they wouldn't listen, and then and then for some reason,
they got rid of you. I don't I don't understand.
I don't get it right.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
No, Ben did not fire me. I decided to lead
the company after five years and without a raising five years.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So you made a business decision, Roberto, to to go elsewhere,
to greener pastors. And would you would you like to
officially reveal I know that a lot of this is
out there on social media, although you are not We'll
get to this in a few minutes. You are not
still on Twitter. We'll address that later on. But would
(04:56):
you like to officially reveal? Right now, you have changed careers.
You have made a dramatic change in your career. You
found a new job. Where will you be working now
going forward, Roberto, Well, they say.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
When you run the board, you will you're you're you're
driving the bus. You're driving the bus? Is that correct?
Is that? Is that what? That's what you say right
times it in radio?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Sure, Well I'm literally h on my way, hopefully soon
to be to driving a real bus, a big yellow
forty ft l a USD school bus. Ben.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So you just correct, you will be Roberto the school
bus driver. You will have the responsibility of and you
don't you're going through the training now, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, that is that is that is correct. Actually, before
I can even get behind the wheel and start training,
I got to get my class B uh, Class B
licensed permit. And that's what I got today, my Class
B licensed permit. Yay, I got my license to permit
to be able to get up behind the wheel today.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Congratulations, congratulate, thank you, thank you, thank you. How big
a pain in the butt was that to get the license?
How hard was it?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
It was not? It was not too hard. You know,
there's believe it or not, there's like the hardest. So
I had to take an air brake test, and had
to take a commercial driver license test, and I had
to take a passenger test. The air brake test was
about it was twenty twenty questions and passenger test is
(06:39):
also twenty questions. Those are the easier those the two
were the easier ones, and the last one, which had
just passed today was a commercial driver licensed test and
that was fifty questions. Luckily, there's you believe it or not,
there's apps and cheat sheets out there that can help
you pass these tests. So it was the whats difficult
(07:00):
one was a commercial driver likesuse because it was fifty questions,
a little more complicated.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Okay, So the obvious question is I'm trying to get
in the mind of the person listening. They're probably saying, well,
wait a minute, you're part of the radio show and
that you're you're a buster. Why did you decide on
this for Berto? What led you down that path to
want to become a bus driver? Well, let's see.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
First, I can say that even though I saw if
I saw that great or happy on the air, I
feel like that was just part of my responsibility of
being a professional. Like you know, I how to ask
for a raised twice and he said, oh, you're doing
a great job, but you know what we can we
can't pay you. Okay, I asked for a raise once,
(07:49):
I raised twice. Nothing Also having to not being able
to sleep during the week was it also was also
for a fight. So for five years I really didn't
didn't get constant sleep during the week, which is I
would sleep one hour and then wake up, go back
to sleep, wake up another two hours, go back. It
was never it was never constant a four or five hours,
(08:10):
six hours of sleep. It was always it was like
sleep was always up and down. Yeah, and then I
reached a point last year was really bad. I remember
I remember texting you one time last year saying have
you ever have you ever have you ever been not
able to sleep? And You're like no, And I was like, oh, Ship,
And I had texted I think it was maybe I
think it was it was like early early, uh February
(08:33):
of last year, and it was like I had text
you around like five o'clock and I had literally had
gotten no sleep and it was like five pm already.
It was like the fucking worst. It was like the
fucking words thing ever, I'm not gonna lie. That's like
you start, you start, You're like you start mentally like
like fucking with yourself and like like you're like start
(08:53):
going through Ship, Like you just start mentally like it's
it's it's not it's not a good place when you
you can't get constant sleep.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So after that, I was just like, you know, maybe
it's it's it's it's it's a good time to try
looking looking somewhere else. Uh uh. But the opportunity of
the bus So I just I just thought about my
wife and my daughter's schedule. How how they have Monday
to Friday, uh uh by five o'clock or six o'clock
(09:28):
at home, relaxing and they go to sleep decent time.
My wife and my daughter got all the holidays off,
and and they got all the holidays off. You know,
you got the vacation. My wife's got a great vacation bay. Uh.
So I kind of want to have the same schedule
with my wife and my daughter. And you know, I
started looking into jobs and L A U.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
S D.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
And I'm like, you know what, being a bus driver
wouldn't wouldn't be too bad. I've worked a kid before
in the past, early on in in my early twenties,
believe it or not, I deal with kids, and I
thought would be pretty fun. I would see bus drivers,
I'm like, you know, this guy's seems pretty bad as
to be able to drive a big fucking bus like that.
(10:08):
I thought it was a cool job, and you know,
I applied and and uh, I went through the process.
It's something where you uh various very uh uh background
checks because it's a it's a believe or not. The
federal Girnment gets involved because you're going through a commercial license,
so it involves, uh, getting a commercial license involved, you know,
(10:31):
be you be able to drive through through different states,
so the FBI or the federal government gets involved. So
it was rigorous process. And and you also got to
be clean. You know, I don't smoke weed, I don't
do drugs anymore, so it's kind of like a no brainer.
It was kind of like a no brainer for me.
And you know, I definitely don't drink as much as
I used to, just just because I just I was
just tired. I'm just tired of the hangovers that used
(10:53):
to get all the time. I still drink it, don't
get me wrong, but not as much. And it was
kind of a it was kind of like a no
brainer for me. And honestly, it's a talking to other
people a pretty good job, and the pay is great
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, well that's great. No. And I tried to explain
to people when I was getting emails, some fans of
the show, Roberto, and they're they're like, where's he going? Well,
you got to get them back, and I'm like, you
don't understand. The overnight hours are not They're a grind.
They wear you out. People that work overnight and I
have talked about this, We talked about this together, like
(11:27):
you don't live as long when you work overnight. It's
just not good for your health. And like, I'm a
bad sleeper. I get four or five hours of sleep
most but compared to you, Roberto, you know, I can
get three or four solid hours of sleep most of
the time, and that's pretty much all I need. I
(11:47):
certainly function better when I get seven or eight hours.
But I've been doing this a long time, and that's
just kind of And I remember when you called me
up and you were talking about how you were having
issues sleeping, and I was like, remember I went through
the list. I was like, you got to get triple
blackout curtains, you got to get a sleep mask, you
got to get like an air conditioner thing for your room,
Like all these little tricks that you have to do
to trys. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
And the problem is in La when it gets really hot,
especially where you are where you live Roberto, it gets
really hot. Yeah, it's impossible. You can't. It's just you
cannot be comfortable. It's like being in the Sahara desert
and trying to sleep at the hottest part of the day.
It's just impossible to do it. And and then when
you factor in your daughter. How old your daughter by
the way, now she I haven't seen her in a
(12:29):
couple so you're set up right. You're gonna you'll be
able to be around her like and she's gonna remember
everything now in the next few years are gonna be magical.
So that's awesome. And and now you won't have to
worry about leaving Dodger games early to get to the studio.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah exact, or went up to work that same day
because you know, I went to a Dodger game. I
got to go to a Dodger game and to go
to sleep and wake up and go to work. Yeah,
that would be great.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, you can hang out at the ball but you
don't have to leave earlier or anything like that. Yeah,
you get that. As often as you want. I rode
the bus, believe it or I probably think I'm like
a rich kid. I didn't rode the bus, but my
mom put me on the bus when I was a kid.
In fact, one of my earliest memories i'll date myself,
but I I broke my first news story. I broke.
(13:21):
I was on the school bus coming back from elementary
school and the school bus driver had the radio on
and it was breaking news. Ronald Reagan had been shot.
You know, I'd been yeah, they oh wow. And I
remember I got off the bus and I was like,
I'm like the boss. And I say, because I heard
my my bus drivers listening to radio. So I said, mom,
(13:41):
I heard the president was shot. And I remember telling
her I was like, my first breaking new story. But
now there's two kinds of bus driver. I guess there
was probably three kinds of bus drivers. There's the mellow,
kind of cool, do whatever you want kind of bus driver. Uh,
there's the I really liked the kids bus driver, you
know what, all the kids love the bus driver. And
(14:01):
then there's the asshole, disciplinarian, death spot type of bus driver.
Question is Roberto, which kind of bus driver will you.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Be it's a tough one because hear from some of these, uh,
some of these people that I've talked to. You gotta
be you gotta show the kids that you're you're you guys.
Just set them like running to your run into your
bus and have a free for all, because then they
then they walk all over you. So you gotta like
before the kids even go get on your bus, you
(14:36):
gotta like say, line up, line up, line up, or
you're not getting the bus. Let's you gotta be stern.
So I kind of want to say I want to
be the death spot, but knowing how I am, I
don't know. I feel I feel like I might be
in between the the death spot and the guy that
lets them do everything. And I think that's who I'm
gonna be.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, you always smile. You always, you always have a smile.
I love that even when things the last couple of
years have been tough on you, and you've been trying,
you know, finding new work, and your sleep's been messed up,
and you haven't spent enough time with your family, you
still always have a big smile. I give you credit
for that because it hasn't like burned you down, at
least on the outside, it looks like you're you're still
(15:17):
enjoying life, which which is nice. And then the other thing, REBERA,
When you're a bus driver, there's not year round school,
I don't think in la. So what are you gonna
do during the summer? Do you have that all mapped
out in your head what you're gonna be Because you're
gonna have like a great schedule, you actually have time off,
like you're back in elementary school, but you still have
bills to pay, So what the heck are you?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah? Yeah, so guess what they don't on a LAUSD.
They don't if you want to do overtime, go ahead.
They don't frown upon you working overtime. So if I
got nothing to do, I'm gonna be working there driving
a bus in the summertime for extra cash and making
like sixty bucks an hour doing overtime. So that'll be
absolutely pretty good. You know the thing about me, Ben
(15:59):
unlike you to spend money, Ben, So that's that's that's
the thing. Uh. And then I like I like my
wife too, I can say because my wife, my wife
tends to be you know, she's she's better with money
than I am. And and she was she was making
like she was making like like she was making about
double double double double the pay that I make. So
(16:22):
it was like it was that was one of the
reasons why I'm like, it's you know, I gotta I
gotta step up, I gotta step up my game and
I gotta break some more money home, because I like,
I'm the one that likes to spend money. I'm the
one that goes to Dodger games and like five beers. Well,
she she won't even though she likes to drink her
she likes to drink her her her self to drinks,
she won't drink her shelter. I do' understand that because
(16:42):
she frowns upon the price of being so expensive. So
so that's another reason why, you know, if I have
to work, you know, during the summertime, may get your money.
I'll do it. But if you know, if if I
have the capability of of you know, taking the whole
summer off, that would be great. Also, me and my
wife can actually maybe plan a trip next year in
(17:03):
the summertime and actually be able to plan way ahead
of time and be able to go off somewhere maybe
who knows.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. In fact, of all the people
that have called the show over the years, the one
that blows me away the most is this guy called Lance,
the bus driver from there. Yeah, man, I told you
about him, so yeah yeah. For those that don't know,
if Lance calls the show every once in a while,
not as much recently does his work schedule. But Lance
has been a city bus driver in San Francisco for
(17:32):
probably over twenty years at this point, maybe even longer
than that. He's been calling the show off and on
for close to twenty years. And he used to be
one of my regular guys and we'd spar back and forth,
we'd get loggerheads. But Lance, he's living a better life
than I'm living because he drives the bus. He's got
a good, solid job. Now. The job is not easy
(17:53):
because he has to drive through like the Tenderloin district
of San Francisco, where every it's like zombie apocola whips
uh yeah, and Francisco people ship on the street, they
eat their own ship, they do drugs. It's terrible. But
but his I think as his wife works for the
airline and his son works in like the hotel business.
(18:14):
So Lance will send me emails he'll be like on
a random day in May, he'll be in Paris for
the weekend because he gets free airfare and he can
get pretty much free hotel rooms, so he travels the world.
It's fascinating. So that's the next level. So you start
out Roberto with the LA Unified School District, and then
(18:35):
after that the next level. You then go go a
little higher up and then you got to commit your
daughter to work for the airline or a hotel and
then you're then you're amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh yeah, Aaron, I'll be great, great, great right there. Yeah,
you know, think about working in in the LAUSD. There's
a lot of there's not a job, not a job,
optunities to move up and do different stuff and still
be able to enjoy way that that that schedule that
the kids have, you know, when they go to school
and stuff. So that's another reason why I chose to
(19:07):
go this route, and because honestly, I looked at other
radio jobs and they just don't pay, don't don't pay,
don't pay well anymore. Man, it's just not like it's
not like it used to be.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, it's not. It's not a great time any the radio,
you know. I don't know how A lot of the
guys do it. And it's tough too, because it'd be
one thing if we were like my brother lives in Appleton, Wisconsin,
and you'd probably be fine. The cost of living though
in Los Angeles, Yeah, sane, and there's no end insight, right,
you know, every summer the gas gets up to six
(19:41):
dollars a gallon. It's it's ridiculous. Uh, the cost of everything,
Nicol and Dimi and everything.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
With everything, with the bills to pay groceries. Uh yeah,
it's it's it's fucking tough to to live in l A.
In Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
It's a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Everything is going up and up and up, and the
to seem to come down at all.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Well, everything goes up except you know, yes, exactly. But
I think that's across the board. I don't. I think
that's in almost every profession.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
The other thing I wanted to address here, so this
your move to leave the ben Malers show, Roberto and
go and become a school bus. Forever we've known about it,
kind of off off the air. We've had an inkling.
You told us you kept us in the loop. You
were very cool about that. We appreciate it. You kind
of told us what your plan was and you you
weren't sure one hundred percent, so we didn't say anything.
(20:34):
I check that I didn't say anything. Now, Eddie, how
do you feel we burrow? Eddie pretty much spelled out
your entire plan on the air because he's judas he
can't get and I'm like, Eddie, what are you doing?
I'd be like, what do you mean this? REBURNA want
that out there? So how do you feel about Eddie
pretty much letting everyone know before it was official that
(20:57):
you were leading. My lips have been on it. Screw
you up? Me?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
No, just kidding. Honestly, I don't mind. I I could
kind of not not like not with like uh like
work stuff, but like like other things like outside of work,
like if my wife tells me something and I can,
I can kind of like go ahead.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
And like spill the beans.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So I'm kind of I'm kind of that way in
a sense like Eddy so but not totally like Eddy,
but but sometimes so so, so I kind of understanding.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I don't blame him, Okay, Well, I'm the opposite. I'm like,
if somebody tells you, if somebody tells me something confidence
I don't talk about on the radio, you know, I
don't like anyway. All right, so you you were with
the show for a good run. You started you what
was it twenty eighteen? You told me, right, I forget everything,
everything's I start. I started.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I started an FSR in the editing uh editing room
December twenty seventeen, just like the week before New Year's So.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You started there and then quickly not you know a
few months later you ended up taking over on our
show when Danny g the left he got promote. I
think you replaced Danny g if I. Yeah, that's so
I've re placed Yeah, yeah, replaced Danny G who's on
this podcast? Now back with me on the on the podcast.
Do you have a favorite moment or is it all
(22:22):
a nightmare working on the show? Is there anything that
was good? Any any favorite memory from the last five
years running as a key member of the show, anything
that really stands. Yeah. Whenever the Clippers lost, Screw you, Roberto,
what is still wrong with the Clippers? Screw you?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
That was all the ship you talking about the Lakers
and the Clippers. Always Tato the Clippers.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Hilarious, dude At least the Lakers win a championship while
you worked on the show. So I did do that.
But the worst remember the one that when they lost
to the Nuggets and I wore a paper bag on
my head, Although that was during COVID, but I still wore.
I wore a damn paper bag on my head the
entire the entire fucking show.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And yeah, when you when you you cursed on the
air about Doc Rivers.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, trust me, I wanted to curse a lot more
than that. I wanted to do nothing. I would i
were on satellite radio only because I would have just
cursed the entire time. The bane of my existence Doc Rivers,
who ruined not only the Lob City Clippers, but also
the first part of the Kawhi Leonard Clippers, and that
that could be the only time That's like Kawhi was
(23:36):
there and Paul George were there. Since then, they've been
hurt in the playoffs, one of them or both of
them every single year. The other thing I thought about
this to Roberta with you leaving the whit.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
White, I wanted to tell people this, Bennett is the
only guy in sports that I know that hates one
team more than he actually likes his team. I hate
the Lakers. You hate the Lakers more than you actually
like the Clippers. It's fucking embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Oh that's not true. That's a lie. Ye know, that's fad,
that's fag. Let me explain first of all. Let me explain.
First of all, I am surrounded. There's a main date
at the company to hire people that love Lakers. I've
been there twenty years. Over twenty years, everyone I've worked with,
almost with few exceptions, has been a Laker hank. Okay,
(24:30):
not just a casual way.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
You want to be a Clipper fan, you're not.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
No, no, But there's people from all over the country
that have worked there. But it doesn't matter. They're all
Laker Lakers. And it makes me want to puke. Okay,
it makes me want to puke. And so it's not
it's not that I don't love when great things happen
to the Clippers. I enjoy that very much. And I
hope you'll tune in, Roberto when the Clippers win the
(24:56):
championship next year, it'll be my matt Piece. It'll be
my greatest show in the history of broadcasting. I might
even retire after that show. Roberto, I might join as
a bus driver. I might just yeah, I might.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
I might.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Once the Clippers win the championship, that might be the
final act. That'll be my swan song. I'll get out here.
I also wanted to point out the other thing about
you leaving is you have been since you've been a
key member of the show, many of the people that
write the different songs for the show, you've been mentioned
in all of them. So now every song is now
(25:32):
you are memorialized, mora realized in those songs. So when
we play them, your name will be mentioned. And I
guarantee whoever the whoever places you will be pissed off
because their name won't be in the song.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
A ah, yeah, that's right, all.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Right, So you'll still be mentioned in those songs until
people write new songs or whatever. And then as far
as the drops, and people have been very upset, Mark,
who's been filling in a lot for you, is not
a big drop guy eyes kind of that's not his jam.
And you were very big on the drops. What was
your favorite drop on the show. Because I the feedback
(26:10):
I've got, I want to see if you agree with
the feedback that I've gotten since you left the show
because there's one drop in particular that people love when
you play, they demand that you play that. In fact,
they're spitting mad Roberto that since you left, this drop
has no longer been played. So I want to I
want to see if we're on the same wavelength here.
(26:31):
What are the drops that you loved when you were
doing all that?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
He blew me off at a hotel and lax.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Oh no, that's not your please out there. He blew
me off at a hotel near La x.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Oh. One drop that I really wanted to play. I
was going to play it. I was going to play
it recently, and I forgot to play it was Negroes
look the same.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yes, make sure you get it right. That's Phil and
Joe Nicro But all those Negroes look the same, their
knuckleball pitchers. And yeah, and that that drop Roberto got
me in trouble. I had people saying that I was racist,
that I was like the the Oakland A's broadcast because
people don't pay attention when they listen, and they some
(27:22):
people want to hear certain things that were not said.
But it was it was Phil and Joe nicro Uh brothers,
that's right, but the and that was that that that
friend in ed and Spokane got me to say that
that schmuck edin Spokane, that big potato head. But but
the the other one, the one that people love, Roberto
is out of context racist drop racist love that.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Oh yeah yeah the raci Oh yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, they love and that. This is people from all
backgrounds all. It doesn't matter. Everyone thinks that's hilarious. The
times we live in when you know you you, we'd
say you know Cleveland browns and you'd play.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
This, Yeah, Cincinnati reds exactly, Chicago black, the Chicago white
Hogs races exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Exactly hilarious like that. That is just tremendous. And I
don't think we've heard that since you you went away
from the show.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Oh that's sad. Yeah, that's sad. Man, Come on man.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah you're Mark.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Cook it up, pick it up.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Well, whoever ends up officially, we don't know. There's a
trial period because it's tough to fill your shoes because
you have very big feet. But but no, there's a
trial period. But find someone to replace you, so you
might it should be same.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I'll just say that it should be thinking.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That's your vote yeah, I have no no control over that.
They haven't asked me. You know, they don't ask me
those things. But if they do, you know, I'll give
my opinion. But they haven't asked me that. Now, you
you did for a long time we had weather with
Roberto that that gave us the Mexican Doppler. But you've
been known for cooking with Roberto and I told you, Roberto,
I remember having a conversation when I came back from
Minnesota and some of these other meet and greets, like
(29:05):
the guys that are fans of the show, were they
were making your recipes, which blew me away because the
last number of months you haven't even been putting the
recipes out. You've just been doing them on the show
and not been like sending out the actual recipes on
social media because you've been off off of the Twitter.
So what was the favorite thing, favorite recipe that you
(29:27):
gave out on Cooking with Roberto? Is there anything that
you love more?
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I would probably say, uh my, my, my, uh my,
carn saw the recipe. That's truly because yeah, because I
gave out various stuff that you could you could have
done with it. Also, get like a nacho saw the
fries and the recipe and it was basically still based
on my carnate saw the recipe and uh and uh
(29:51):
it was another one. Yeah, what was my my my uh,
my carnate saw the recipe? Was was was my? Was
my favorite one? Because dos a few of the things
that I said that you were able to do with
my carnasilo. Yeah, it's not coming up. It's not coming
on the top of my head right now.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I got you. I got you.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
The other question, we had talked to you on the
air and you had said, if Dave Roberts got fired,
you'd go back on Twitter. Dave Roberts. I just checked.
He's not been fired yet, Roberto, even though after this
week in Cincinnati he probably should have been. But Dave
Roberts not fired. And you then also said, Josh McDaniels,
if he got replaced, you would go back. He didn't
(30:32):
get replaced. He's still coaching the Raiders. But now you've
changed jobs. So is there any chance that you will
pop back up randomly and reactivate the Twitter account or
is that dead forever?
Speaker 3 (30:44):
You're fired, not dead forever. So if people want to
see me back on Twitter, they should pray that the
Dodgers win the World Series, and then I'll be back
on Twitter. How about that?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Okay, there you go. So if the Dodgers, Yeah, come on.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
People, pray for the Dodgers win the World theories.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Come on, we need the Dodgers to win the world
Are you still paying off the twenty seventeen World Series, Roberto?
Are you still paying that off?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
I think that's that's finally it's finally done.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
I believe, so finally after all these years. Anything you
will you want to say to Jose Altuve, anything you
want to pass on to our boot.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
To fucking midget, fuck that guy?
Speaker 1 (31:21):
All right, very well, and we'll get you out on this, Roberto.
Anything you're gonna miss about radio? I know the business
has changed a lot. You've been in radio a while.
It's a lot different than when you started it. You
think you're completely done with radio?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Now?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Bus drivers a great job. You can have that probably
the rest of your life if you want. You think
your radio's over? And what are you gonna miss about?
If anything?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
I missed, I missed the I missed the camaraderie without
you guys, with you guys, I'm you and and Eddie
and Coop and even working with Jonas and Lee and
LeVar and Brady was a lot of fun. I'm to
come out with with all of you guys, that was
a lot of fun. But the pay I've definitely I'm
(32:04):
definitely not going to miss that, So I think for
that reason, I probably won't be back in radio for
that reason alone. And you know, it's like all of
the stuff added up for me was the you know,
having to work over overnight when when I couldn't sleep,
and then.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
In the holidays too, having to work on holidays off.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to ask to get
a holiday off if I wanted to, if I wanted
to have the holiday off, those kinds of things. A
lot of that stuff took a lot of the the
fun out of the jobs. But working with you guys,
you know, you know, you know for that time when
I was there, you know made it fun. And you
know when I had when I was there, you know,
(32:42):
it was a lot of fun working with all of you.
So I'm definitely gonna miss that.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Well, I loved you, I still love you. I'll still
bust your balls about to do We'll go back and
forth with the Dodgers and when the Lakers lose, I'll
make sure to send you a text.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
When when Kawhi terrors the next a cl Yeah, I
wanted to text you for that.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Anthony Davis has some kind ersenal backup and is not
able to play, I'll send you a smiley emoji or
something like that. But good luck with the school bus driving.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Man.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'm gonna miss you on the show. I've loved you
on the show. It's been a lot of fun. The
fans love you. We're all gonna miss you, and hopefully
we got to get together at some point here and
hopefully we'll still be friends. I know a lot of people,
you know, it is with Berto. You work with somebody
for a while and then you change jobs.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, that's that's the crazy, right cause I've been I've
been in this business bus and then raided since I
was in uh two thousand and three, and there is
a there. My first radio job, my my first boss,
I still I still talk to from time to time,
and he's one of the longest people that I've that
I've talked to. I've been in radio and then my
(33:45):
second radio job, I was there for like ten years,
and a lot of those people I just talked to
them in social media, but I'm definitely gonna try to
keep contact with with with everybody that you know, I
worked with, the ne FISR that I that I talk
to every day. Definitely, they're going to try to tain
to keep contact because life's too short.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Exactly, man, exactly, you got to enjoy. I mean, people
come and go in your life, and you try to
keep people around as many people as you can. All right,
we'll let you go on that, Roberto, Thank you, good luck,
enjoy your weekends off, enjoy your holidays off, enjoy summer's off.
You're gonna have much more time off than iver we'll
have again, So thank you for your time and I
appreciate it. Thanks Roberto. You got a bank going Dow
Kubbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the a everywhere you have found the weekended fund
zone open for business. Come one, come all fun for
the whole family. Unless it's not. We will attempt to
knock your socks off, but in a good way. The
(00:49):
Fifth Hour with myself, Ben Mallor and Danny g Radio
in the podcast Ojo This week different than all other
weeks on the Ben Maller Radio Show, and we talk
a lot about that here on the podcast. It is
a companion to keep your company on the weekends. Did
we go skinny dipping this week? No, we did not
(01:10):
go skinny dipping this week. There was none of that.
There was no nudity that took place this week. However,
there was a major change and if you were paying
close attention listing in the middle of the night during
the week. First of all, we thank you, appreciate that
cool beans. Good job by you. Secondly, one of our
(01:33):
good radio pals will no longer be working on the show.
We announced early in the week that our friend Roberto
Cooking with Roberto Fame, Roberto Flores, who has been part
of the radio show for a number of years, is
stepping away. He is leaving the radio show. The announcement
came down and so we will not get to have
(01:55):
fun with our pal Roberto any longer as he is
done with the Ben Mather Show. Roberto worked on our
program from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three. Some of
the great highlights with Roberto going back and forth. When
the Lakers would lose, I would pour salt on the wound.
(02:17):
When the Clippers would lose, Roberto would stab a knife
in my gut, and that is how that went. We
had great times. We're both Dodger fans, so we were
lamenting the run of Dodger baseball. We were together in
twenty twenty when the Dodgers won the hardest World Series
of all time during a global pandemic and beat the
(02:38):
Tampa Bay Rays. So we got to celebrate that under
the stars together and that was a lot of fun.
So I wanted to spend time with Robert. There is
a tradition, not a great tradition, but there's a tradition
in the broadcasting business. When you are fired or when
you leave a broadcast job, you do not get an
(02:59):
option opportunity to get back and say goodbye to anybody.
They get rid of you, they change the codes, they
shut off your email. That's just how it has always been,
and it appears that is the way it will always be.
So with the podcast, we have a little more leeway
here on the podcast, and so I wanted to bring
(03:20):
back my friend Roberto Flores and spend a couple of
minutes shooting the shit with our man Roberto and catch
up on some of the things that he's going through.
He's got a new career. We'll get into that if
he's willing to tell us and go over everything. But
I would like to address as we bring in the
great Roberto Flores, formerly of the Ben Mal Show, the
(03:42):
man that kept us on the air in air traffic control,
hitting all the right buttons and some of the right drops.
He joins us. Now, so there's a rumor going around, Roberto,
some of the fans of the show, some of the
p ones, are convinced that I had you removed from
the show. So once and for all, Roberto, can you
(04:04):
confirm or deny that I Ben Malor had you fired?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes? Ben did fire the fuck out of me.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, well, I tried to get Poppy fired, Roberto, and
they wouldn't listen, and then and then for some reason,
they got rid of you. I don't I don't understand.
I don't get it right.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
No, Ben did not fire me. I decided to lead
the company after five years and without a raising five years.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So you made a business decision, Roberto, to to go elsewhere,
to greener pastors. And would you would you like to
officially reveal I know that a lot of this is
out there on social media, although you are not We'll
get to this in a few minutes. You are not
still on Twitter. We'll address that later on. But would
(04:56):
you like to officially reveal? Right now, you have changed careers.
You have made a dramatic change in your career. You
found a new job. Where will you be working now
going forward, Roberto, Well, they say.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
When you run the board, you will you're you're you're
driving the bus. You're driving the bus? Is that correct?
Is that? Is that what? That's what you say right
times it in radio?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Sure, Well I'm literally h on my way, hopefully soon
to be to driving a real bus, a big yellow
forty ft l a USD school bus. Ben.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So you just correct, you will be Roberto the school
bus driver. You will have the responsibility of and you
don't you're going through the training now, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, that is that is that is correct. Actually, before
I can even get behind the wheel and start training,
I got to get my class B uh, Class B
licensed permit. And that's what I got today, my Class
B licensed permit. Yay, I got my license to permit
to be able to get up behind the wheel today.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Congratulations, congratulate, thank you, thank you, thank you. How big
a pain in the butt was that to get the license?
How hard was it?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
It was not? It was not too hard. You know,
there's believe it or not, there's like the hardest. So
I had to take an air brake test, and had
to take a commercial driver license test, and I had
to take a passenger test. The air brake test was
about it was twenty twenty questions and passenger test is
(06:39):
also twenty questions. Those are the easier those the two
were the easier ones, and the last one, which had
just passed today was a commercial driver licensed test and
that was fifty questions. Luckily, there's you believe it or not,
there's apps and cheat sheets out there that can help
you pass these tests. So it was the whats difficult
(07:00):
one was a commercial driver likesuse because it was fifty questions,
a little more complicated.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Okay, So the obvious question is I'm trying to get
in the mind of the person listening. They're probably saying, well,
wait a minute, you're part of the radio show and
that you're you're a buster. Why did you decide on
this for Berto? What led you down that path to
want to become a bus driver? Well, let's see.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
First, I can say that even though I saw if
I saw that great or happy on the air, I
feel like that was just part of my responsibility of
being a professional. Like you know, I how to ask
for a raised twice and he said, oh, you're doing
a great job, but you know what we can we
can't pay you. Okay, I asked for a raise once,
(07:49):
I raised twice. Nothing Also having to not being able
to sleep during the week was it also was also
for a fight. So for five years I really didn't
didn't get constant sleep during the week, which is I
would sleep one hour and then wake up, go back
to sleep, wake up another two hours, go back. It
was never it was never constant a four or five hours,
(08:10):
six hours of sleep. It was always it was like
sleep was always up and down. Yeah, and then I
reached a point last year was really bad. I remember
I remember texting you one time last year saying have
you ever have you ever have you ever been not
able to sleep? And You're like no, And I was like, oh, Ship,
And I had texted I think it was maybe I
think it was it was like early early, uh February
(08:33):
of last year, and it was like I had text
you around like five o'clock and I had literally had
gotten no sleep and it was like five pm already.
It was like the fucking worst. It was like the
fucking words thing ever, I'm not gonna lie. That's like
you start, you start, You're like you start mentally like
like fucking with yourself and like like you're like start
(08:53):
going through Ship, Like you just start mentally like it's
it's it's not it's not a good place when you
you can't get constant sleep.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So after that, I was just like, you know, maybe
it's it's it's it's it's a good time to try
looking looking somewhere else. Uh uh. But the opportunity of
the bus So I just I just thought about my
wife and my daughter's schedule. How how they have Monday
to Friday, uh uh by five o'clock or six o'clock
(09:28):
at home, relaxing and they go to sleep decent time.
My wife and my daughter got all the holidays off,
and and they got all the holidays off. You know,
you got the vacation. My wife's got a great vacation bay. Uh.
So I kind of want to have the same schedule
with my wife and my daughter. And you know, I
started looking into jobs and L A U.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
S D.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
And I'm like, you know what, being a bus driver
wouldn't wouldn't be too bad. I've worked a kid before
in the past, early on in in my early twenties,
believe it or not, I deal with kids, and I
thought would be pretty fun. I would see bus drivers,
I'm like, you know, this guy's seems pretty bad as
to be able to drive a big fucking bus like that.
(10:08):
I thought it was a cool job, and you know,
I applied and and uh, I went through the process.
It's something where you uh various very uh uh background
checks because it's a it's a believe or not. The
federal Girnment gets involved because you're going through a commercial license,
so it involves, uh, getting a commercial license involved, you know,
(10:31):
be you be able to drive through through different states,
so the FBI or the federal government gets involved. So
it was rigorous process. And and you also got to
be clean. You know, I don't smoke weed, I don't
do drugs anymore, so it's kind of like a no brainer.
It was kind of like a no brainer for me.
And you know, I definitely don't drink as much as
I used to, just just because I just I was
just tired. I'm just tired of the hangovers that used
(10:53):
to get all the time. I still drink it, don't
get me wrong, but not as much. And it was
kind of a it was kind of like a no
brainer for me. And honestly, it's a talking to other
people a pretty good job, and the pay is great
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, well that's great. No. And I tried to explain
to people when I was getting emails, some fans of
the show, Roberto, and they're they're like, where's he going? Well,
you got to get them back, and I'm like, you
don't understand. The overnight hours are not They're a grind.
They wear you out. People that work overnight and I
have talked about this, We talked about this together, like
(11:27):
you don't live as long when you work overnight. It's
just not good for your health. And like, I'm a
bad sleeper. I get four or five hours of sleep
most but compared to you, Roberto, you know, I can
get three or four solid hours of sleep most of
the time, and that's pretty much all I need. I
(11:47):
certainly function better when I get seven or eight hours.
But I've been doing this a long time, and that's
just kind of And I remember when you called me
up and you were talking about how you were having
issues sleeping, and I was like, remember I went through
the list. I was like, you got to get triple
blackout curtains, you got to get a sleep mask, you
got to get like an air conditioner thing for your room,
Like all these little tricks that you have to do
to trys. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
And the problem is in La when it gets really hot,
especially where you are where you live Roberto, it gets
really hot. Yeah, it's impossible. You can't. It's just you
cannot be comfortable. It's like being in the Sahara desert
and trying to sleep at the hottest part of the day.
It's just impossible to do it. And and then when
you factor in your daughter. How old your daughter by
the way, now she I haven't seen her in a
(12:29):
couple so you're set up right. You're gonna you'll be
able to be around her like and she's gonna remember
everything now in the next few years are gonna be magical.
So that's awesome. And and now you won't have to
worry about leaving Dodger games early to get to the studio.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah exact, or went up to work that same day
because you know, I went to a Dodger game. I
got to go to a Dodger game and to go
to sleep and wake up and go to work. Yeah,
that would be great.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, you can hang out at the ball but you
don't have to leave earlier or anything like that. Yeah,
you get that. As often as you want. I rode
the bus, believe it or I probably think I'm like
a rich kid. I didn't rode the bus, but my
mom put me on the bus when I was a kid.
In fact, one of my earliest memories i'll date myself,
but I I broke my first news story. I broke.
(13:21):
I was on the school bus coming back from elementary
school and the school bus driver had the radio on
and it was breaking news. Ronald Reagan had been shot.
You know, I'd been yeah, they oh wow. And I
remember I got off the bus and I was like,
I'm like the boss. And I say, because I heard
my my bus drivers listening to radio. So I said, mom,
(13:41):
I heard the president was shot. And I remember telling
her I was like, my first breaking new story. But
now there's two kinds of bus driver. I guess there
was probably three kinds of bus drivers. There's the mellow,
kind of cool, do whatever you want kind of bus driver. Uh,
there's the I really liked the kids bus driver, you
know what, all the kids love the bus driver. And
(14:01):
then there's the asshole, disciplinarian, death spot type of bus driver.
Question is Roberto, which kind of bus driver will you.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Be it's a tough one because hear from some of these, uh,
some of these people that I've talked to. You gotta
be you gotta show the kids that you're you're you guys.
Just set them like running to your run into your
bus and have a free for all, because then they
then they walk all over you. So you gotta like
before the kids even go get on your bus, you
(14:36):
gotta like say, line up, line up, line up, or
you're not getting the bus. Let's you gotta be stern.
So I kind of want to say I want to
be the death spot, but knowing how I am, I
don't know. I feel I feel like I might be
in between the the death spot and the guy that
lets them do everything. And I think that's who I'm
gonna be.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, you always smile. You always, you always have a smile.
I love that even when things the last couple of
years have been tough on you, and you've been trying,
you know, finding new work, and your sleep's been messed up,
and you haven't spent enough time with your family, you
still always have a big smile. I give you credit
for that because it hasn't like burned you down, at
least on the outside, it looks like you're you're still
(15:17):
enjoying life, which which is nice. And then the other thing, REBERA,
When you're a bus driver, there's not year round school,
I don't think in la. So what are you gonna
do during the summer? Do you have that all mapped
out in your head what you're gonna be Because you're
gonna have like a great schedule, you actually have time off,
like you're back in elementary school, but you still have
bills to pay, So what the heck are you?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah? Yeah, so guess what they don't on a LAUSD.
They don't if you want to do overtime, go ahead.
They don't frown upon you working overtime. So if I
got nothing to do, I'm gonna be working there driving
a bus in the summertime for extra cash and making
like sixty bucks an hour doing overtime. So that'll be
absolutely pretty good. You know the thing about me, Ben
(15:59):
unlike you to spend money, Ben, So that's that's that's
the thing. Uh. And then I like I like my
wife too, I can say because my wife, my wife
tends to be you know, she's she's better with money
than I am. And and she was she was making
like she was making like like she was making about
double double double double the pay that I make. So
(16:22):
it was like it was that was one of the
reasons why I'm like, it's you know, I gotta I
gotta step up, I gotta step up my game and
I gotta break some more money home, because I like,
I'm the one that likes to spend money. I'm the
one that goes to Dodger games and like five beers. Well,
she she won't even though she likes to drink her
she likes to drink her her her self to drinks,
she won't drink her shelter. I do' understand that because
(16:42):
she frowns upon the price of being so expensive. So
so that's another reason why, you know, if I have
to work, you know, during the summertime, may get your money.
I'll do it. But if you know, if if I
have the capability of of you know, taking the whole
summer off, that would be great. Also, me and my
wife can actually maybe plan a trip next year in
(17:03):
the summertime and actually be able to plan way ahead
of time and be able to go off somewhere maybe
who knows.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. In fact, of all the people
that have called the show over the years, the one
that blows me away the most is this guy called Lance,
the bus driver from there. Yeah, man, I told you
about him, so yeah yeah. For those that don't know,
if Lance calls the show every once in a while,
not as much recently does his work schedule. But Lance
has been a city bus driver in San Francisco for
(17:32):
probably over twenty years at this point, maybe even longer
than that. He's been calling the show off and on
for close to twenty years. And he used to be
one of my regular guys and we'd spar back and forth,
we'd get loggerheads. But Lance, he's living a better life
than I'm living because he drives the bus. He's got
a good, solid job. Now. The job is not easy
(17:53):
because he has to drive through like the Tenderloin district
of San Francisco, where every it's like zombie apocola whips
uh yeah, and Francisco people ship on the street, they
eat their own ship, they do drugs. It's terrible. But
but his I think as his wife works for the
airline and his son works in like the hotel business.
(18:14):
So Lance will send me emails he'll be like on
a random day in May, he'll be in Paris for
the weekend because he gets free airfare and he can
get pretty much free hotel rooms, so he travels the world.
It's fascinating. So that's the next level. So you start
out Roberto with the LA Unified School District, and then
(18:35):
after that the next level. You then go go a
little higher up and then you got to commit your
daughter to work for the airline or a hotel and
then you're then you're amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh yeah, Aaron, I'll be great, great, great right there. Yeah,
you know, think about working in in the LAUSD. There's
a lot of there's not a job, not a job,
optunities to move up and do different stuff and still
be able to enjoy way that that that schedule that
the kids have, you know, when they go to school
and stuff. So that's another reason why I chose to
(19:07):
go this route, and because honestly, I looked at other
radio jobs and they just don't pay, don't don't pay,
don't pay well anymore. Man, it's just not like it's
not like it used to be.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, it's not. It's not a great time any the radio,
you know. I don't know how A lot of the
guys do it. And it's tough too, because it'd be
one thing if we were like my brother lives in Appleton, Wisconsin,
and you'd probably be fine. The cost of living though
in Los Angeles, Yeah, sane, and there's no end insight, right,
you know, every summer the gas gets up to six
(19:41):
dollars a gallon. It's it's ridiculous. Uh, the cost of everything,
Nicol and Dimi and everything.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
With everything, with the bills to pay groceries. Uh yeah,
it's it's it's fucking tough to to live in l A.
In Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
It's a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Everything is going up and up and up, and the
to seem to come down at all.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Well, everything goes up except you know, yes, exactly. But
I think that's across the board. I don't. I think
that's in almost every profession.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
The other thing I wanted to address here, so this
your move to leave the ben Malers show, Roberto and
go and become a school bus. Forever we've known about it,
kind of off off the air. We've had an inkling.
You told us you kept us in the loop. You
were very cool about that. We appreciate it. You kind
of told us what your plan was and you you
weren't sure one hundred percent, so we didn't say anything.
(20:34):
I check that I didn't say anything. Now, Eddie, how
do you feel we burrow? Eddie pretty much spelled out
your entire plan on the air because he's judas he
can't get and I'm like, Eddie, what are you doing?
I'd be like, what do you mean this? REBURNA want
that out there? So how do you feel about Eddie
pretty much letting everyone know before it was official that
(20:57):
you were leading. My lips have been on it. Screw
you up? Me?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
No, just kidding. Honestly, I don't mind. I I could
kind of not not like not with like uh like
work stuff, but like like other things like outside of work,
like if my wife tells me something and I can,
I can kind of like go ahead.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
And like spill the beans.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So I'm kind of I'm kind of that way in
a sense like Eddy so but not totally like Eddy,
but but sometimes so so, so I kind of understanding.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I don't blame him, Okay, Well, I'm the opposite. I'm like,
if somebody tells you, if somebody tells me something confidence
I don't talk about on the radio, you know, I
don't like anyway. All right, so you you were with
the show for a good run. You started you what
was it twenty eighteen? You told me, right, I forget everything,
everything's I start. I started.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I started an FSR in the editing uh editing room
December twenty seventeen, just like the week before New Year's So.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You started there and then quickly not you know a
few months later you ended up taking over on our
show when Danny g the left he got promote. I
think you replaced Danny g if I. Yeah, that's so
I've re placed Yeah, yeah, replaced Danny G who's on
this podcast? Now back with me on the on the podcast.
Do you have a favorite moment or is it all
(22:22):
a nightmare working on the show? Is there anything that
was good? Any any favorite memory from the last five
years running as a key member of the show, anything
that really stands. Yeah. Whenever the Clippers lost, Screw you, Roberto,
what is still wrong with the Clippers? Screw you?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
That was all the ship you talking about the Lakers
and the Clippers. Always Tato the Clippers.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Hilarious, dude At least the Lakers win a championship while
you worked on the show. So I did do that.
But the worst remember the one that when they lost
to the Nuggets and I wore a paper bag on
my head, Although that was during COVID, but I still wore.
I wore a damn paper bag on my head the
entire the entire fucking show.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And yeah, when you when you you cursed on the
air about Doc Rivers.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, trust me, I wanted to curse a lot more
than that. I wanted to do nothing. I would i
were on satellite radio only because I would have just
cursed the entire time. The bane of my existence Doc Rivers,
who ruined not only the Lob City Clippers, but also
the first part of the Kawhi Leonard Clippers, and that
that could be the only time That's like Kawhi was
(23:36):
there and Paul George were there. Since then, they've been
hurt in the playoffs, one of them or both of
them every single year. The other thing I thought about
this to Roberta with you leaving the whit.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
White, I wanted to tell people this, Bennett is the
only guy in sports that I know that hates one
team more than he actually likes his team. I hate
the Lakers. You hate the Lakers more than you actually
like the Clippers. It's fucking embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Oh that's not true. That's a lie. Ye know, that's fad,
that's fag. Let me explain first of all. Let me explain.
First of all, I am surrounded. There's a main date
at the company to hire people that love Lakers. I've
been there twenty years. Over twenty years, everyone I've worked with,
almost with few exceptions, has been a Laker hank. Okay,
(24:30):
not just a casual way.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
You want to be a Clipper fan, you're not.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
No, no, But there's people from all over the country
that have worked there. But it doesn't matter. They're all
Laker Lakers. And it makes me want to puke. Okay,
it makes me want to puke. And so it's not
it's not that I don't love when great things happen
to the Clippers. I enjoy that very much. And I
hope you'll tune in, Roberto when the Clippers win the
(24:56):
championship next year, it'll be my matt Piece. It'll be
my greatest show in the history of broadcasting. I might
even retire after that show. Roberto, I might join as
a bus driver. I might just yeah, I might.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
I might.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Once the Clippers win the championship, that might be the
final act. That'll be my swan song. I'll get out here.
I also wanted to point out the other thing about
you leaving is you have been since you've been a
key member of the show, many of the people that
write the different songs for the show, you've been mentioned
in all of them. So now every song is now
(25:32):
you are memorialized, mora realized in those songs. So when
we play them, your name will be mentioned. And I
guarantee whoever the whoever places you will be pissed off
because their name won't be in the song.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
A ah, yeah, that's right, all.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Right, So you'll still be mentioned in those songs until
people write new songs or whatever. And then as far
as the drops, and people have been very upset, Mark,
who's been filling in a lot for you, is not
a big drop guy eyes kind of that's not his jam.
And you were very big on the drops. What was
your favorite drop on the show. Because I the feedback
(26:10):
I've got, I want to see if you agree with
the feedback that I've gotten since you left the show
because there's one drop in particular that people love when
you play, they demand that you play that. In fact,
they're spitting mad Roberto that since you left, this drop
has no longer been played. So I want to I
want to see if we're on the same wavelength here.
(26:31):
What are the drops that you loved when you were
doing all that?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
He blew me off at a hotel and lax.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Oh no, that's not your please out there. He blew
me off at a hotel near La x.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Oh. One drop that I really wanted to play. I
was going to play it. I was going to play
it recently, and I forgot to play it was Negroes
look the same.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yes, make sure you get it right. That's Phil and
Joe Nicro But all those Negroes look the same, their
knuckleball pitchers. And yeah, and that that drop Roberto got
me in trouble. I had people saying that I was racist,
that I was like the the Oakland A's broadcast because
people don't pay attention when they listen, and they some
(27:22):
people want to hear certain things that were not said.
But it was it was Phil and Joe nicro Uh brothers,
that's right, but the and that was that that that
friend in ed and Spokane got me to say that
that schmuck edin Spokane, that big potato head. But but
the the other one, the one that people love, Roberto
is out of context racist drop racist love that.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Oh yeah yeah the raci Oh yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, they love and that. This is people from all
backgrounds all. It doesn't matter. Everyone thinks that's hilarious. The
times we live in when you know you you, we'd
say you know Cleveland browns and you'd play.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
This, Yeah, Cincinnati reds exactly, Chicago black, the Chicago white
Hogs races exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Exactly hilarious like that. That is just tremendous. And I
don't think we've heard that since you you went away
from the show.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Oh that's sad. Yeah, that's sad. Man, Come on man.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah you're Mark.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Cook it up, pick it up.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Well, whoever ends up officially, we don't know. There's a
trial period because it's tough to fill your shoes because
you have very big feet. But but no, there's a
trial period. But find someone to replace you, so you
might it should be same.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I'll just say that it should be thinking.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That's your vote yeah, I have no no control over that.
They haven't asked me. You know, they don't ask me
those things. But if they do, you know, I'll give
my opinion. But they haven't asked me that. Now, you
you did for a long time we had weather with
Roberto that that gave us the Mexican Doppler. But you've
been known for cooking with Roberto and I told you, Roberto,
I remember having a conversation when I came back from
Minnesota and some of these other meet and greets, like
(29:05):
the guys that are fans of the show, were they
were making your recipes, which blew me away because the
last number of months you haven't even been putting the
recipes out. You've just been doing them on the show
and not been like sending out the actual recipes on
social media because you've been off off of the Twitter.
So what was the favorite thing, favorite recipe that you
(29:27):
gave out on Cooking with Roberto? Is there anything that
you love more?
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I would probably say, uh my, my, my, uh my,
carn saw the recipe. That's truly because yeah, because I
gave out various stuff that you could you could have
done with it. Also, get like a nacho saw the
fries and the recipe and it was basically still based
on my carnate saw the recipe and uh and uh
(29:51):
it was another one. Yeah, what was my my my uh,
my carnate saw the recipe? Was was was my? Was
my favorite one? Because dos a few of the things
that I said that you were able to do with
my carnasilo. Yeah, it's not coming up. It's not coming
on the top of my head right now.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I got you. I got you.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
The other question, we had talked to you on the
air and you had said, if Dave Roberts got fired,
you'd go back on Twitter. Dave Roberts. I just checked.
He's not been fired yet, Roberto, even though after this
week in Cincinnati he probably should have been. But Dave
Roberts not fired. And you then also said, Josh McDaniels,
if he got replaced, you would go back. He didn't
(30:32):
get replaced. He's still coaching the Raiders. But now you've
changed jobs. So is there any chance that you will
pop back up randomly and reactivate the Twitter account or
is that dead forever?
Speaker 3 (30:44):
You're fired, not dead forever. So if people want to
see me back on Twitter, they should pray that the
Dodgers win the World Series, and then I'll be back
on Twitter. How about that?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Okay, there you go. So if the Dodgers, Yeah, come on.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
People, pray for the Dodgers win the World theories.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Come on, we need the Dodgers to win the world
Are you still paying off the twenty seventeen World Series, Roberto?
Are you still paying that off?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
I think that's that's finally it's finally done.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
I believe, so finally after all these years. Anything you
will you want to say to Jose Altuve, anything you
want to pass on to our boot.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
To fucking midget, fuck that guy?
Speaker 1 (31:21):
All right, very well, and we'll get you out on this, Roberto.
Anything you're gonna miss about radio? I know the business
has changed a lot. You've been in radio a while.
It's a lot different than when you started it. You
think you're completely done with radio?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Now?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Bus drivers a great job. You can have that probably
the rest of your life if you want. You think
your radio's over? And what are you gonna miss about?
If anything?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
I missed, I missed the I missed the camaraderie without
you guys, with you guys, I'm you and and Eddie
and Coop and even working with Jonas and Lee and
LeVar and Brady was a lot of fun. I'm to
come out with with all of you guys, that was
a lot of fun. But the pay I've definitely I'm
(32:04):
definitely not going to miss that, So I think for
that reason, I probably won't be back in radio for
that reason alone. And you know, it's like all of
the stuff added up for me was the you know,
having to work over overnight when when I couldn't sleep,
and then.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
In the holidays too, having to work on holidays off.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to ask to get
a holiday off if I wanted to, if I wanted
to have the holiday off, those kinds of things. A
lot of that stuff took a lot of the the
fun out of the jobs. But working with you guys,
you know, you know, you know for that time when
I was there, you know made it fun. And you
know when I had when I was there, you know,
(32:42):
it was a lot of fun working with all of you.
So I'm definitely gonna miss that.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Well, I loved you, I still love you. I'll still
bust your balls about to do We'll go back and
forth with the Dodgers and when the Lakers lose, I'll
make sure to send you a text.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
When when Kawhi terrors the next a cl Yeah, I
wanted to text you for that.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Anthony Davis has some kind ersenal backup and is not
able to play, I'll send you a smiley emoji or
something like that. But good luck with the school bus driving.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Man.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'm gonna miss you on the show. I've loved you
on the show. It's been a lot of fun. The
fans love you. We're all gonna miss you, and hopefully
we got to get together at some point here and
hopefully we'll still be friends. I know a lot of people,
you know, it is with Berto. You work with somebody
for a while and then you change jobs.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, that's that's the crazy, right cause I've been I've
been in this business bus and then raided since I
was in uh two thousand and three, and there is
a there. My first radio job, my my first boss,
I still I still talk to from time to time,
and he's one of the longest people that I've that
I've talked to. I've been in radio and then my
(33:45):
second radio job, I was there for like ten years,
and a lot of those people I just talked to
them in social media, but I'm definitely gonna try to
keep contact with with with everybody that you know, I
worked with, the ne FISR that I that I talk
to every day. Definitely, they're going to try to tain
to keep contact because life's too short.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Exactly, man, exactly, you got to enjoy. I mean, people
come and go in your life, and you try to
keep people around as many people as you can. All right,
we'll let you go on that, Roberto, Thank you, good luck,
enjoy your weekends off, enjoy your holidays off, enjoy summer's off.
You're gonna have much more time off than iver we'll
have again, So thank you for your time and I
appreciate it. Thanks Roberto. You got a bank going Dow
Host
Ben Maller
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