Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we thank you for listening. Every single day that
I've sat in this chair, I thank you for listening.
And I think I've thanked you multiple times a day,
every single day that I've done this. And yeah, yeah,
I've had a lot to think about over the last
several months and years, the two years and math like
(00:23):
eight months or so, kind of getting close to about that. Yeah,
so I might have a little trouble with this, but
I want to say this and give everyone an opportunity
to hear it from me, and also to have a
chance for you guys to reach out so you're not
(00:44):
left in the dark.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You deserve better than that.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But starting in March of twenty twenty four, I started
to substitute on a morning show for my home in Iowa,
where I came from. I moved to Omaha, got settled
down in Omaha. My wife and I loved Omaha, and
I said i'd help out for a while. And I
(01:10):
didn't want to leave Omaha though, and I wanted to
keep doing this show. And after substituting for almost six months,
while you know, things in a corporate situation like the
company that we work for, which again is just corporate,
it's not our company. It's not specific to our company.
It's just, you know, when you have so many levels
(01:31):
and layers of a business, a lot of people kind
of have to get their hands on something for a
change to happen. And in the late summer of twenty
twenty four, I was officially offered the opportunity to do
two shows at once.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It was something that I had on my mind.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I thought I could do it, and I did the
best that I could to give my all to my
Iowa listeners throughout the state on multiple stations in Iowa
from nine to eleven and then rerack myself and do
the best that I can to line up every single
thing that I wanted to talk about that was the
same and all the different things that I wanted to
(02:11):
talk about that were different and bring that to my
show here in Omaha. And I did the best that
I could to do that. Six hours of radio every
single day, five days a week. It's a lot, and
I knew it was a lot, but I also thought
that it was a challenge that it was worth me trying.
(02:33):
When Gary Sadelemeyer announced that he was thinking about retiring
and was going to retire in the fall of this
past year. I had been doing the morning show and
the afternoon show together for almost a year and a
half at that point, and it was an opportunity. We
had a big station wide meeting and had basically an
(02:55):
opportunity for all of us to get into a room
and some of our bosses to get into a room,
look at each other and say, what's the best way forward?
You know, because a lot of change is going to
happen now. This is a great opportunity for everybody to
maybe try to find what will make their life better.
And that was an opportunity for me to start a
(03:16):
conversation with the people in this company and in this
building that maybe I needed to pare down to one
show for my own mental health and capacity, but also
my performance. I'm not a stranger to the concept that
a lot of days I came in here and I
was already really mentally fatigued from what I had done
(03:37):
earlier in the day, and I couldn't give my best
show to the legendary Kfab audience. I've done the best
that I could to bring as much energy as possible
into the four hours of afternoon show, and there are
not a lot of four hour news talks shows anywhere
in the country, especially during drivetime. In the afternoons, there
(04:00):
are four hour long morning shows with a ton of
different elements, but just having long form talk for four
hours every afternoon, that is a monstrous amount of time,
and it takes a lot of preparation, and it's one
that I took very seriously when I got hired to
come in here and never been a full time host before.
(04:21):
Most of you were very understanding of the growing pains
that were going to happen as I learned my way,
and a lot of people have been very good to
helping me along the way understand what I should and
shouldn't be doing, while also encouraging me to continue to
be myself. For that, I'm going to be forever grateful.
(04:41):
At the same time, this was never going to be
a thing I could do forever. Two shows, six hours
of radio every day. I can't have a great relationship
with our department in sales. It didn't give me an
awful lot of time to think about anything other than
my radio career. When I was at home, I tried
to like have some be in the community. I tried
(05:03):
to go and have side gigs, which I think are
really important to me to continue to build relationships with
people outside of my building. You know, my wife and
my dogs. We do the best we can to do
as much as we can and not be thinking about work.
But every single time I'd see something on my social
media is like, I got to talk about this tomorrow,
grab it a take notes. I could just be at
a restaurant trying to have dinner with my wife and
(05:24):
just be trying to show prep for one or both
of my shows the next day, while knowing I'm not
going to have time to do a lot of show
prep actually during the day because I'm spending six hours
already on the air. Now, that's just me. The listeners
of this station certainly deserve better than that. So as
(05:46):
these conversations came about, I talk to the people in
this building, I talk to the people in this company
about what the right fit for me would be if
they wanted me to stick around, because I'm not sure
I can say doing two shows, and I don't think
I'm doing a good enough job at both shows to
keep justifying having me do both shows just because I'm
doing them. Now, I think we can do better, And
(06:09):
the conversation was which show did I think I was
more comfortable with how I was personally performing, And which
show did I think somebody else could come in and
do a better job than me? And we talked about
all these different possibilities, and the resolution that we got
(06:33):
to was it made more sense for me to stay
on in mornings in Iowa and pass the torch to
somebody who was a good fit for the KFAB audience
that could do four hours of news talk show Omaha
Lincoln Politics news every single day and be able to
(06:56):
put all of their energy into that. While right we
come to that conclusion, I knew for a couple of
months that that was going to be what we would do,
and so I was coming in here every day kind
of just trying to wait long enough doing all of this,
knowing that my life was going to change and get
(07:17):
a little bit easier and you know, and have the
opportunity to exist beyond living on the air basically for
six hours a day. And I wanted to make sure
that kfab was going to be in a good position
before I said I can't do this anymore. So with that,
today is my last day as the afternoon guy on KFAB.
(07:38):
It has been an incredible honor. This will always the
station is always going to be a part of me
in the way that I.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Look at radio.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's been a legendary station that I've had on my
radar since I got into the news talk format, not
really that long ago. I was hired at WHO first
in Des Moines and when I was ready to be
a host. I am forever grateful to Johnson, to Scott
Voorhe's to this entire company for believing in me, never
being a daily talk show host before, and allowing me
(08:09):
the opportunity to learn as I sat here every single day,
to our entire sales department that's put up with my
lack of availability and still tried to find a way
to make me marketable in sales. I think we've done
a pretty good job considering the circumstances, but it wasn't
a great way forward. And I know the next person
who's going to permanently sit in this chair every afternoon
(08:33):
is going to be able to give more to the listeners,
more to our team, and more to the people who
are in any way, shape or form a part of
this station. Also, I wanted to make it clear I
am not leaving the company I was, you know, the
company wanted to me to stick around in any way,
shape or form if I wanted to, and I did
(08:55):
want to. I really feel like I owe it to
a lot. I owe a lot to a lot of people.
And for every single person that has stuck up for me,
who has tutored me, mentored me, helped me along the way,
for every single individual that has made me feel at
home in Omaha, in this building and within this community,
I want it to stay here. So I'm not moving.
(09:17):
I am staying in Omaha. I will be a presence
still behind the scenes mostly, but you'll still hear my
voice on commercials, on liners. I'm going to be doing
a podcast, I'm not sure the frequency of, so if
you follow me and you are a follower a subscriber
to my podcast, as different things pop up, whether it's me,
It's going to be mostly interviews and conversations that I'm
(09:38):
going to have with local people. But I'll still be
uploading things to my Omaha feed, could be seeing me
at live remotes, could be hearing me substitute on different
shows and day parts throughout the day. My main on
air job is going to become the morning show in Iowa,
which I will still do mostly from Omaha because I
(09:58):
don't I love Omaha. I don't want to leave, and
the company has said, you know what, you don't have
to leave. Are going to make sure that there's a
way for you to continue to do that professionally while
still having the opportunity to work and be a part
of what we're doing in Omaha, because we value you here,
and I am forever grateful that we've been able to
work this out. The number of people I've seen who
(10:19):
do great work who haven't had a chance to kind
of control their own destiny in this business, that's a
big number of people. And to every single person that
has just kind of disappeared from the radio one day,
all over this country, all over the world. Honestly, this
is a very rare opportunity that I have, and I'm
(10:39):
grateful that I've been given this opportunity by the people
in iHeartRadio to be able to do this and to
control my own destiny. While I'm going to miss sitting
here for four hours every day and talking to you
about fun stuff, the news, everything else, I am incredibly
excited at the prospects of what my life will look
like next week when my afternoons now can go to
(11:03):
building my platform on my other show, helping the people
in Omaha be a real asset to this entire station.
And know that the next person who's a permanent host
of this afternoon slot is going to be able to
give their full energy to Omaha, to KFAB and they're
going to make this show better than it was when
(11:24):
I was sitting here. And I'm going to say that objectively.
I guess it's always subjective as to whether or not
it's the right flavor for you. But I know for
a fact there's going to be a lot of fun
to be had and a lot of news to be had,
and a lot of people who are going to be
very happy with the way that things are going to
go as I step aside into a different role here
(11:46):
in the station. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
I don't want this to be a situation where I
just get to say in the ether how I feel
about that. You know, my life is easy, and you know,
going to I think it's going to be a good
thing for my life to pare down, which you know,
the company said, okay, yeah, that probably makes sense, And
(12:07):
you know what we can make the Omaha Show even
better with somebody who can really dedicate their entire being
to being the afternoon guy on KFAB. So I think
that's going to be good for everybody. I'll still be around.
I don't want it to sound like I'm never going
to be heard from again. You'll be hearing me in
commercial breaks. You'll be hearing me as a substitute. You
could be hearing me do severe weather coverage or any
(12:27):
sort of thing. But I'm not going too far away.
Phone lines are open, and take a couple of calls here,
and if you want to call in, if you want
to say something to me, I I would appreciate hearing
from you if you feel compelled to do so. But
got a lot of emails coming in. Can't promise going
to read all the emails on the air, but I'll
read them personally and try to reply it as many
people as I can. Let's get to the phones. We
(12:48):
have heyesus to start things off on the phone line.
Welcome in, Heyesus. What's on your mind?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Oh Emory, I'd like to different I thank you did
an amazing job in the Afternoon Show. You really brought
your best and so I beg to differ whoever is.
I know you have another, uh you know, a life
to live, and I know it's super busy and trying
(13:14):
to get it. But you I think I truly believe
that you brought your best every single afternoon, all the
times that I've listened in that and calling in to
open up can of worms.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
With you, and.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
It's just been I just want to say thank you
for always allowing me an opportunity to express a voice
of opening up a can of worms with you, and
you will be missed in the afternoons, zeus.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It really means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It's been great to have you open those cans of
worms on my show, and I really appreciate that I
did give my all. I don't want anybody to think
that I was just kind of like pulling punches. I
just don't know if you know you did Yeah seventy
five for say it of my like like being at
seventy five percent mental capacity and giving my best when
I'm at seventy five percent, versus another person coming in
and being able to give their one hundred percent attention
(14:09):
to this. I think it's going to work out for everybody,
but it really means a lot to me that you
say those good things.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He just wanted to say one last thing to you
that I will be we will be praying for you,
and we'll wish you the best you and your family.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
And.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Will continue to be thinking about you during these afternoon shows.
And maybe I might have to hit you up on
ten forty. I used to be in Iowa City. Nice,
nice and hit you up some morning.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Okay, sounds good, my man. Thanks for calling in. Really
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Thank you again for everything that you've done for the.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
Nation.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Absolutely, man, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Appreciate you too, man, reappreciate you for calling in. Uh yeah,
it means a lot to me to hear that from
a guy who's a regular caller. And I really appreciate
everyone who's ever called in. But you got your regulars
that call in a lot, and you know, it really
hits you pretty good when you get a chance to
feel what hear what they have to say about things.
So squeeze one more in here before I hit the bottom.
(15:08):
Chris is on a phone line today. Welcome in, Chris.
What's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Ay? Emory, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Hey man? What's up?
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Not too much? I just want to let you know
I think you did a lot of things for KVABS
that maybe a lot of people don't appreciate the way
I think they should. You showed us a different point
of view, and I know that a lot better in
the Netherlands. And I'm going to get to have a
good beer with you here in Ireland in March. We
are going to still be able to have those conversations.
(15:36):
But I don't have to tell you what I was
listening to on iHeartRadio in my hotel room, how your
replacement was doing well, or in Ireland what you did.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I popped into your hotel room a few times while
we were in the Netherlands and Man Chris was listening
to kfa B from halfway around the world. This guy, he's.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
Doing all right. I gotta worry about telling you how
you are replacements doing while I'm in the hotel room
listening to KVAB on the radio.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
App Hey, man, you're the best. I can't wait just
about a month away. Man, I can't wait to see
in Ireland, so I appreciate it. Man, thanks for calling.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
We'll talk before.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Then, but best of luck and we'll have a beer shop.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Absolutely man.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Thank you, Chris Bettini, his company pub Culture Beercations great
to support of this show throughout the time I was here.
Is great, this interesting show. This is the last show
I am doing as the full time afternoon guy on KFAB.
I saw that the Scott posted on the kfa B
facebook page, this is my last show. And obviously you
(16:39):
got haters out there that are going to be like, Yay,
he's gone, and that's fine. Totally get it. That's a
part of the deal. It's part of the game. It's
what I signed up for. I totally understand. I wasn't
going to be everybody's favorite. But for the most part,
you know, when you see that and see those reactions,
it kind of makes it a little bit more real
when you see all these people giving you all these
(17:00):
good words in saying you know, thanks. And in that post,
Scott mentions that the next full time hosts should be
potentially announced next week. And I'm still gonna be around.
I'm not like going away forever, but I'll be, you know,
doing my morning show still within the company for the
state of Iowa, and I will be also around helping
(17:23):
out with news and severe weather coverage and helping substitute,
but just doing six hours a day, all the time,
every single day for the rest of my life was
never going to be something that I could realistically do,
so that that is something that I not gonna lie.
I'm looking forward to having a bit more of a
normal radio guy schedule starting next week, and I think
(17:47):
KFAB will be better off no having a person that's
one hundred percent dedicated to the four hours there on
the air. Here on KFAB, I have a really hard
time understanding, and this is one of the reasons I
really have to pair back on how much I'm on
the radio, Okay, because as much as I want to
talk about the stuff that's going on, like in the
(18:09):
news and everything, there are a disproportionate amount of individuals
like that on that side of the aisle who just
want to, you know, like every single thing that Donald
Trump does or everything single thing that Donald Trump says,
it's either the end of the world or he's the
worst person alive. And then I have another guy on
the other side that's just telling me that I'm not
(18:31):
hardcore enough when it comes to, you know, talking about conservatism,
or I ask too many questions about Donald Trump. I
asked too many questions about the no I am who
I am, and the people who listen to this show,
hopefully you felt like I could be me and I
could talk the way that I felt. Nobody was making
(18:53):
me say anything one way or the other. I was
able to say what I wanted to say. Every single day,
I did the best that I could to talk about
things from my own personal perspective. Legitimately, I didn't want
to sell out to any person or voice. When I
have people that are calling in just like you're not
conservative enough or you're a liberal, I know that's not true,
and but I speak about things the way that I feel,
(19:15):
so I want to I really want to hopefully leave
a feeling that the things that we talk about here
are not life and death. The things we talk about
here are debate, discussion, and hopefully we have the ability
as a society to move forward from some of these
crazier types on either end that make doing a job
(19:41):
like this a lot harder to do, but at the
same time trying to do the best that we can
to like exhibit good debate skills. What we just heard
from Mark there is just not is not what we're
looking for, but more power to him if he's able
to somehow be happy while acting in time talking like that.
(20:01):
Ed Neck is our next caller today, ad Neck, thank
you for calling in. What's on your mind?
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Every I'm happy for you and I hope it works
out for you best. But I got to address this man.
What about our plans?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
We were going to come into.
Speaker 7 (20:15):
Your April twentieth for the Rosterabarians having a holiday? What
about book contact curling?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Man?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, I know, I know, I know this is going
to happen now it actually could.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I am still gonna be here. I'm still working at
this company. I'm just like not hosting a daily two
to six radio show. So, ed Neck, if you want
to shoot me an email of like how we can
logistically come up with a way that we can have
like full contact curling among many of the other uh
not horrible. I was about to say, really good ideas
that you might have. We can try to you know,
(20:49):
work on the logistics and make that happen.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
All right, Yeah that's cool. Hey listen, Personally, I call
myself conservative wife because I am conservative. But I don't
have to.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
See everything in pure a or B, you know.
Speaker 8 (21:03):
Yeah, I mean, I live.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
At counsel bluff if you want, we have counsel bluss
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
It may change your view on abortion, but otherwise good
zuck Man.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I appreciate the call ed ed Nick, thank you.
Speaker 8 (21:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Did not expect that punchline there. I don't co sign that.
If you're listening, counsel blush. I didn't say that. I
just thought it was a little funny. Bryce is on
the line. Bryce, thank you for listening to our show today. Man,
what's going on?
Speaker 9 (21:29):
Hey man, I've been listening to you for a while.
Speaker 8 (21:32):
Uh, you know, we're we're about the.
Speaker 9 (21:34):
Same age, and we actually have a lot of like
shared interest in the I guess, viewpoints on a lot
of things. And I didn't realize I was so sad.
I just turned on the radio to hear that it's
your last day on the show, and they kind of
bummed me out, man. So I just wanted to wish
you luck and.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Tell you thank you, dude.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
I really appreciate you, appreciate your show.
Speaker 10 (21:53):
It's been great listening to you.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Man, Bryce.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That means a ton and I really appreciate that. And
hopefully maybe I see you around town you come and
say hello to me, because I love meeting people in
my own age first and foremost. So I appreciate you
for listening to us and for calling in today.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It really means a lot.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
Hey, buddy, good luck.
Speaker 9 (22:09):
Nice talking to you, friend.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, absolutely, we really appreciate it, you know.
Speaker 11 (22:12):
And I.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
This is the thing that I'm not going away away,
you know, I'm still around, you know, And this is
the thing. Not a lot of people get to make
this announcement on their own. Usually things just either go
to a point where they just disappear one day because
they've been let go, they've been fired or anything.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
And that's not what happened here.
Speaker 12 (22:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
It's been like five months since we started talking about
this in our building, and I've basically been patiently kind
of waiting for what the next thing is going to be.
And I didn't want to just not be on kfab
and leave kfab in a state of unknown. So I've
been coming in here knowing that I was at some
point going to have my last day here while I
(22:53):
transition into other roles, until finally this week is like okay,
a week got everything settled, we think, and this is
you know, this can be the end for you.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
And while it's bittersweet in a way.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I'm incredibly excited for what I'm going to get a
chance to do in the way that I'm going to
be able to do this stuff. At the same time,
it is bittersweet for me because I do know I'm
going to miss talking to you guys for four hours
every day. Six hours radio day just too much for
Emery long term, and between me and Scott and all
(23:27):
of our people that work on this station and behind
the scenes, we came to the conclusion that it was
best for this station, this show, for me to focus
more on my morning show, and that somebody who really
knows Omaha can really come in and take over the
mantle here in the afternoons. Let's get back to the
phone lines. We got Sarah on the line. Sarah, Welcome
(23:47):
to our show, What's on your Mind Today?
Speaker 11 (23:50):
Hi, Emory, I just wanted to say thank you for
I've noticed since you started how great and professional you've
been with all your callers, even if they don't if
they have a different point of view, And I really
appreciated in this era of divisive rhetoric that you really
maintained such a professional demeanor and you were open to
(24:13):
listening to people that had other ideas in you. So
I really respect that about you and appreciated you for
doing that since you started. And I just wish you
the best of.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Luck, Sarah.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
That really means a lot to me, and that's what
I tried to do every day. I really do appreciate
you noticing and thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
For calling in.
Speaker 11 (24:31):
Okay, take care, thank you, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Thank you. JW Is on the phone, JW, thanks for
calling in. What's up?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Yep.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
I appreciate whatever it's been, however long it's been. But
glad they're not glad to hear that you're leaving. Like
the caller Bryce said that, yeah, you've got what it
takes for the afternoon show, unlike the last caller was
saying the the way that you were always open and
(25:03):
tried to maintain a conversation with somebody that might have
a different view that that's appreciated. Yep. I wish you's
the best and sorry to hear you're leaving.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
JW.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It means a lot, man, and I appreciate you going
out of your way today to call in and tell
me that. And I'll still be around. But I really
appreciate you for noticing my efforts. It really does mean
a lot to me.
Speaker 8 (25:25):
Yeah, you're the Yeah, and I've never I've never copy
of that.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, I appreciate it. Jaw Joe is on a phone,
Aisle squeeze. One more call in here, Joe, thanks for
listening to us. What's on your mind?
Speaker 13 (25:38):
E Marie, This is Joe. Yeah, we've really enjoyed you
while you've been here. Always entertaining. I drive around the
city in the area for a living. Uh, you've been
very entertained. Appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you going out of your way
to call in today. You have a great weekend, Okay.
Speaker 13 (26:00):
Absolutely, And for old times sake, Oh man, I'm getting
pulled over. I gotta go.
Speaker 11 (26:07):
What the heck?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Joe, Joe every time. I appreciate that. Man.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I have been coasting for almost two years now, six
hours of radio every day, two in the morning for
multiple radio stations in Iowa and four hours in the
afternoon here in Almah. After a while, that becomes a lot.
And as you probably can mention, and after Gary Sadlemeier's
retirement in the fall, when he announced his retirement, that
got the ball rolling as to how I could be
(26:34):
best used while also not trying to be on the
radio for six hours a day, and between the folks
here who run this radio station, like Scott Vorhees and
everybody honestly, our entire team all the way up to
the top, who honestly I couldn't be happier with the
way that this has really worked out. We decided it
(26:57):
made more sense for me to focus on what's going
on on my more show, help out on KFAB in
a variety of different ways throughout the day, build a
better relationship with some of our sales team in different
ways in both of the markets that I'm typically in
between the Moyinset Rapids and here in Omaha, and also
allows somebody who knows Omaha to come in here and
(27:20):
make this afternoon show the best it can be. And
I just don't feel like I have the mental energy
a lot of days to do the best I can do.
And I know I appreciate everybody for their kind words
to say, well you did give a hundred percent, and
I gave a hundred percent of what I had in
me that was not always one hundred percent of my
whole mental capacity, and I apologize for that. I wish
(27:41):
I could have been Superman for you guys in that way,
but after a couple of years, it was just becoming
an awful lot. And I'm thankful for this company for
allowing me. I get a chance to basically control my
future in a way that is going to be healthier
for me and for my family and for my ambitions.
I'm hopeful to be able to volunteer more be a
(28:03):
part of some other things. And you know, my life
now that I don't have to constantly just be thinking
about what I'm going to do for six hours on
the radio the next day. So I'm incredibly thankful for
all of iHeartRadio for working with me on coming to
a solution that makes sense for me and makes sense
for this radio station and for the amazing people who
listen to it. Phone lines are open if you'd like
to call in and say something. I'd love to chat
(28:25):
with you one more time as the regular host. That
doesn't mean you won't ever hear from me again. There's
a chance that you know I'll be substituting. I'll be
around doing different things. But four two five five eight
eleven ten is the number. Four two, five, five eight
to eleven ten. John is on the phone line, John,
thank you so much for colling in today. What are
you thinking about?
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Hey, I just wanted to call in and say good
luck to all your future endeavors there with your morning show,
and that I really enjoyed your program here on the
afternoon slot. Here. Just wanted to tell you that be
toasting a couple of cold Hams beers.
Speaker 8 (29:00):
Mm hmm, ye yes, yep, you.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Know what, That's actually a great way to kind of
commemorate today. I'm gonna go grab me a thirty pack
at Hive and drop some drop some Hams this weekend,
I think, John, I really appreciate you taking time out
of your day to wish me well man, and it's
always been a pleasure chatting with you. Thanks so much
for listening to our show. And all I can say
is hopefully, you know, we'll be able to see each
(29:25):
other talk to each other sometime in the near future.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you, Sar.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yes, sir, Mark's on the phone line at four O
two five five eight eleven ten. Welcome in, Mark. What's
on your mind today?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Hey, I just want to tell.
Speaker 10 (29:36):
You I appreciate your work. I really appreciate your patience
also with some of our friends on on the Liverpool
side too, like like the previous color, Mark, that was
kind of interesting the way that you hand him. And
I have the same problem when you but to try
to deal with someone that they really don't have any
facts or anything really to argue with and they start
(29:57):
to picking about the Orange man, Evan, it's really frustrating.
It might be a thing to be able to debate,
you know, some of the liberal side.
Speaker 12 (30:04):
But yeah, it's really hard to you.
Speaker 10 (30:06):
Know, I appreciate the way you handle that, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And I and Mark one other.
Speaker 10 (30:11):
Observation ahead, one observation on the Voter Act too, if
I could.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Yeah, we when we think.
Speaker 10 (30:17):
Of the Democratic Party, we think of a lot of
the unions, right, and a lot of the union members
are our voting Democrats, and you just kind of you
just kind of want to reach out to the to
the to the union folks are great folks and just
say hey, look, you know, yeah when you you know,
when you go to your union meetings, Yeah, no one
else could vote except union members.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, And Mark, I'm totally down to talk about this
maybe at another time, but I got a lot of
callers calling in about what I appreciate it. Man, thanks
so much for calling in, and I appreciate it. Not
that I don't want to talk about the Voter Act,
but I'll be honest, I really don't want to talk
about that or anything related to that or anything political
right now. To be honest, it's my last last forty
(30:56):
five minutes on this radio station. You know what I'm
going to say, uh here at as it relates to
that is I can This is the one thing I
got a lot of criticism from people who are hard
conservative and just saying that I'm not hardline enough. I'm
just too nice to people who maybe either I disagree
with or I'm too nice to be able to handle
certain things. And I'm willing to look at too many
(31:18):
different angles. That's this is how you know. Nobody is
making me say stuff, or nobody's making anybody say things specifically. No,
I was totally willing to take the heat on that.
And you know what, I have people who adamantly disagree
because I'm just not crazy enough for them. I was
(31:40):
unabashedly me. I talked about things the way that I
looked at them. I talked about things the way that
I felt about them. You know, I don't do things
just because I want to be a nice guy. I
literally feel that way. And if anybody wants to stir
it up with me and fight with me about things
like we can have like an intelligent debate. But as
soon as you try to kind of bullyball me on
(32:01):
the air, or you try to bullyball me when we're
in the middle of a discussion, I don't really have
a lot of patience for it.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
In that way.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I do the best that I can to be a
good listener, so I can hope that you'll be a
good listener when it's my turn to speak. But that's
old school, man, That's how we used to talk about
politics nowadays, And honestly, a lot of that has to
do with one of the reasons why six hours of radio,
especially when you're talking about politics as much as we do,
it wears on you. I mean, you really do feel
(32:29):
the impact of how often you're talking about things people
are insanely passionate about, and you have to handle a
lot of different types of personalities and opinions, and for
six hours, that's an awful lot to try to compartmentalize
and not take it home with you every day. And
I wouldn't take it home with me every day, but
there are a lot of days where I'd be taking
stuff home with me and think about how I can
handle it better tomorrow, how I can talk about stuff tomorrow.
(32:52):
And it was a lot. It's a lot, and I'm
not gonna lie to you. There's a big part of
me that's going to feel a lot of relief going.
I only have to compartmentalize two of those hours a day,
and the next person who comes in and does this show,
it'll be up to them how they want to handle
that with this audience, regardless of if their hardcore conservative
or if they're hardcore liberal looking to stir things up.
(33:14):
Chris is on our phone line four two, five, five,
eight eleven ten. Welcome in, Chris. What's on your mind?
Speaker 12 (33:20):
I tell you this to me is kind of a
commentary on what kfab as the station is. You've got
yourself who came in a more youthful voice, does not
you know, is not one hundred percent like I'm talking
(33:41):
about Nebraska. You actually branched out and talked about some
other political issues, and apparently some people didn't like that.
If you've mentioned it yourself, that that now they've got
to hire some guy who well he knows more about Omaha.
Well who what the hell were they thinking two years
(34:02):
ago then when they brought you on in the first place.
And just because we've got Gary Sadlemeyer decides to retire
and now got Boor. He's he's the new youthful voice,
Scott Boors. He's just fifty years old. And you are
getting a chef because you're a young guy, and I
think it is BS. I think you're getting a chef.
(34:24):
You're being a nice guy, yeah, because you're professional, And
I just think this is nonsense. Kfab couldn't stand on
their own two feet when Jake Gardner, Yeah it was killed, Chris,
they were yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, sorry man.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I Before I let go, I got other people trying
to call in, and I really appreciate your passion. I
want to just kind of clarify because I understand exactly
what you're saying. I do appreciate the kind words about
me and our station. I do think that.
Speaker 8 (34:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
I just want you to know for me personally, that
I had to make this call and I no matter
what I did, no matter what I talked about, there
were going to be people that didn't like me, and
I knew that coming in, and I tried my best
to kind of balance that the best that I could
and not let it affect the way that I talked
about things. I didn't want to pan their to certain
audiences so they would like me more. I wanted to
(35:18):
still be myself and I was allowed to do that,
and in this station, I wanted to be clear me
leaving wasn't directly related to Gary's retirement. It just gave
me an opportunity to kind of think about what I
wanted to do with myself, and it seemed like a
good time to try to kind of shift into one direction.
I don't know exactly what the show is going to
look like into the to the next guy, I don't
(35:41):
know who that's going to be, and they're going to
make an announcement.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I have an.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Idea of what they're looking for, and somebody like, uh,
you know, somebody like and omaha, and would think right like,
you want somebody who's nearby. They brought me in from
two hours away where I was living in Des Moines,
and they brought me in to try to you know, yes,
I'm youthful, I'm young, I'm trying to come in. I'm
(36:06):
trying to bring in a younger, youthful audience, and I
was tasked with the same kind of responsibility for two
other radio stations I'm broadcasting for every single day in
the mornings.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I'm a little more.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Historically connected to them because I am from there, but
that didn't mean that I didn't try as hard as
I could to be as Omaha based as possible. And yeah,
I did branch out a lot because I wanted to,
you know, some things that are local, that are are
really interesting we should talk about, and we tried to.
There's a lot of national and international things I think
we could also talk about as well, so as from
(36:40):
my vantage point, just to kind of clarify all of that,
I'm not I have no idea exactly how the next
person's going to do this show, and it's probably going
to evolve as they get their feet wet. I just
know that the attention that they're going to be able
to bring for four hours only on this show every
day is going to make this show better than it
was when I was splitting my attention with an entirely
(37:02):
different market, an entirely different audience. And I think if
you liked how I did this show, you should definitely
keep listening, you know, like next week, my friend Matt
Kittle's going to sit in for at least a week,
but I think shortly thereafter, a new full time person
is going to be there, be here and be able
to talk to you about the stuff you care about,
no matter where it is. And KFAB is doing everything
(37:26):
it can as a station and all the people on
the back end to be here and do all this
as a station, and I'm excited for what it's going
to sound like. I'll still be around, I'll still be
a part of the team. I'm just not going to
be here for four hours every single day. And I'm
excited and ready for that opportunity. And I'm sure you
as a listener are going to be served even better
when you have that full time person ready to dedicate
(37:48):
themselves to just these four hours. I've had dozens and
dozens of emails and messages come in, and to everybody
who's messaged me, I don't want to read every single
one of these and bore the people out there. I
already feel like I'm kind of boring the people out
there who are wanting to hear more about the news
Nancy Guthrie, or have us do stuff. I like, if
(38:09):
you want to call in four h two five, five, eight,
eleven ten, and if you want to say something, Peyton,
I appreciate.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
It's been great working with you. We've only when did
you start, like four four and a half months middle
of September.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, and you were training and then you became my
guy basically by the end of September. It's been great
to get to know you and to work with you.
I have to shout out my producer before you, Matt Case,
who was with me for the two years before that.
Had a great relationship with him. I think a lot
of people get misconceptions of what this is, whether you know,
(38:40):
like we're all just pawns and we're geting pushed around
and everything, or you know, like we either are are
best friends or we hate each other. Like people can
read into all that stuff. Being in the media and
just having that kind of spotlight on you, it welcomes
that the problem is for me and this is something
that I have rarely admitted to people. But I am
(39:04):
just a not super egotistical person and the insecurities that
I carry every day are kind of embarrassing, to be
honest with you, For a man in his thirties to
still be unsure about every single thing that he does
in his life, it doesn't really translate well to being
an awesome, like look at me, I'm stealing all the
attention in the room kind of personality. I can fake
(39:27):
it really well in some regards. I really love doing
like sports stuff like that. When I'm doing like tonight,
I'm gonna be over at Baxter Arena, I'll have a
microphone in my hand. I'll be getting everybody hyped up
and excited about everything that's happening. I can be in
my zone, in my element there because I can talk,
you know, but trying to make myself feel like my voice,
(39:51):
in my opinion, is way more important than everyone else's.
I've never thought that. I've never once thought that my
entire life, and maybe that's part of the reason why
I'm so open and interested in hearing other people's opinions.
Because I don't think that I have everything right. I
think I have a good idea of what I think
is right, but that doesn't mean I'm infallible. It doesn't
(40:13):
mean that i'm all of a sudden just like this
perfect type of person. I'm certainly not, and anybody who
is thinking that they are the perfect type of person
probably not a great hang would be my like, you're
probably a pretty miserable person to be around, just kind
of like trying to dunk on people with how much smarter.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
You think you are than everybody else.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
But you kind of have to carry yourself like that
to be awesome on the radio. So trying to be
kind of a mix of that guy plus being me
for six hours a day is like an impossible task.
And I don't know, honestly, I amazed myself. I even
got two years into it and was able to survive
(40:56):
that I volunteered to take on six hours a day.
The company was excited to give me that opportunity. It
was a good deal for both of us, I think,
But it was never as a pipe dream to be
like this guy for many, many years. And I fear
that my efforts in trying to be that guy in
(41:21):
multiple places every single day and on the radio for
thirty hours a week, every single week, my fear is
that it fried me a little bit in my brain.
It fried my ability to be a great afternoon host.
Because a lot of my energy goes into that morning show,
(41:42):
and just naturally, as the day goes on, you're going
to feel less and less energy less and less energetic,
Like I told you, like my sleep schedule and everything.
I think all of this is related in some way,
and so I am going to be thankful to take
this opportunity that this company has afforded me to step
back into focus on something that I feel like is
a better fit for me. And then I can be
(42:04):
kind of a hired gun mercenary jack of all trades,
kind of behind the scenes guy in Omaha, while still
being that guy in Iowa for the morning show, and
then also still having the time, the ability, and the
freedom in my brain to volunteer more, to be in
the community more, to work with other people in this community.
(42:26):
And I get to stay and live in Omaha, which
I have fallen in love with. My wife loves it here,
the people I get to work with, with all the
different entities that I've connected with doing this job, and otherwise,
it's the best of all worlds for me, and it's
the best of all worlds for the listeners of this station.
Because this show is just going to get better with
somebody who's going to be able to poort their entire
efforts and energy every single day from two to six
(42:49):
in the afternoon on KFAB. Trust me, I think we're
all going to feel better about this at the end
of it. I appreciate all the kind words. And I
did string this out for like while I was waiting
on like the green light that you know we can
actually make the move for like two two and a
half months. I kind of knew that this day was coming.
Just when it was going to come was the real question.
(43:09):
And today's that day. So we think you've we talked
about you. Yesterday, Scott Vorhees was sitting with me at
the at IV and Council Bluffs and I was sitting
there as a you know, I I just love doing radio.
It's a lot of fun. I like it when it's fun.
(43:31):
When we get serious, I know we have to get
serious and I'm there for that also, But some days
are tougher than others in that regard. And we were
talking about Barrett Media, which I wanted to give them
a shout out. They are important for US media people.
When you know it's like you think about like an
(43:52):
NBA players Association or something like that that's more of
a union, but it's all of the people in the industry.
Like all the players of basketball get a chance to
talk to each other about the issues and get a
chance to like talk about all this stuff. They actually
have quite a big say in what they do. And
in our industry, a place like Barrett Media is kind
of the you know, it's media for media people. It
(44:16):
covers our industry in a way that we all can.
We can learn things from it, we can learn about
the people involved in it, we can through them kind
of get connected to a lot of other people. And
I wanted to shout out Jason Barrett and you know
his company for that. And they always do these year
end rankings, all these different you know rankings that put
(44:37):
people into you know, like a you know, major market,
mid market, small market, and all this stuff. And Scott
and I both have midday shows. You know, in twenty
twenty five, Scott was still mostly doing his nine to
eleven show and I have my nine to eleven show
that I do for Iowa, and we both made top
twenty in the country, which was great. And the afternoon
(44:59):
show they had all this list and everything, and I
was just on the outside of the top twenty. And
I sat there and I thought about this, and I'm
just like, man, it's so great to have that kind
of recognition. But that's not why I do it, you know.
It was like, did that make me feel really good?
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Is it great to like have that recognition, as you know,
you're in the top half of every single person in
your size of the market that does a show like this. Sure,
it's great, you know, And if I was number one,
that make me feel great, and I'd like to tell
people that, hey, I was honored like this.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
I have a mural award sitting outside this office for
storm coverage that I did with Terry Lahy, Matt Case
and several others who were involved helping us get information
on the day there was a ton of tornadoes in
April of twenty twenty four, if you remember that horrible,
crazy day with all those tornadoes, And we got Amurle
Award for that, and that's awesome. I'm really proud of
that because you know, it talks about the impact that
(45:50):
our coverage when we do stuff like that has. But man,
Gary Sandlmayer retired after forty nine years of being in
this radio station. And I sat there and I was
thinking to myself, Man, forty nine years is crazy, and
he's still hanging around. I mean like he's still doing stuff.
The guy's a machine and he's, honestly, regardless of market,
one of the legends who've ever done this, and I
(46:10):
look up to him. I looked up to people like
Van Harden, who is very similar to Gary in his
career in the way that you know, he's honored by
the Iowa Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and he's the guy
that kind of helped teach me how to do news
talk radio. And Bonnie Lucas who I worked with as well,
and Maxwell Schaeffer and Amy Sweet and Jeff Angelo, every
single person I got to work with on a day
to day basis over there that helped to teach me this.
(46:31):
But I had to sit there and I had to
think about why I do this, And when I sat
I was just like, am I doing this for accolades?
Do I want one day for somebody to put my
name on a sheet on a plaque or have like
fifteen minutes where they're honoring me for the many years
I have put into this business? Is that why I'm
(46:53):
doing this to get to a level one day of
recognition that Gary Sadlemayer Van Harden or any of these
people eventually get themselves to that one day. I'm sure
Jim Rose, Scott Vorhees will find themselves in And it's
just not you know what I want. I want to
be able to go home. I want my wife to
hug and kiss me. I want to be able to
hang out with my dogs. I want to be able
(47:14):
to go to the bar and have some fun. I
don't want people to look at me and you know,
be like, well that guy can he can never do stuff,
or that guy he's the guy that's you know, mixing
it up with people on the radio. You know, I
don't I get recognized in such a positive way so
often when I'm out and about on on remotes and everything.
And I really love that and I'm happy about that,
(47:38):
But it's not like I don't need to be the famous,
notable guy, and I don't need to be doing this
just to achieve some sort of notoriety. And when you know,
as a younger person, you're just like all about wanting
to be recognized and everybody to give you flowers for
what you do, and you know, hey, I'm gonna post
this thing on social media and I want everybody to
run and like it. And I need that dopamine hit
(47:59):
every day to make me feel good and make me
feel important. I've been that guy.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
You know.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
You might notice my social media has been pretty quiet
the last few months. You know why it's been pretty quet?
And I haven't posted a whole lot. It's because I
don't want to. It's probably not great for a guy
in this industry to just kind of be like punting
on social media for a while. But my brain was
fried man, and I I this has been a there's
(48:25):
been a difficult season I suppose of my life. And
I kind of was going through a lot of mental
issues in the summer, Peyton, and you weren't here for
a lot of this, But during the summer I was.
I was dealing with it, like my wife and I
weren't getting along, and I, you know, I was just
like banging my head against a wall, and I was
(48:46):
trying to kind of go through like why do I
feel like this all the time? Am I living the
kind of life that I hope to live? Am I
doing what I want to do with my life. I'm
about to turn thirty five, and am I gonna like
for the next thirty five years a totally cool like
living the life that I am right now? Is everything perfect?
And man, it wasn't. And the epiphany came for I
(49:08):
think the radio station and for myself that something needed
to change in the fall with Gary's retirement announcement. And
so for anybody who's just tuning in, anybody who you
know is unsure of why this happened a few months ago,
you know that we came to a pretty good conclusion
that the best thing for me was to the company
(49:30):
wanted to keep me, and I was okay staying as
long as my role got put into a much more
manageable role, much more manageable for my time, for my energy,
my mental well being. And the decision from them and
a decision from me together about what would be best
for me personally and what would be best for this
(49:50):
radio station and for the listeners of this station was
for me to focus my energies hosting every day for
my I was showing them and pass this show to
somebody who can really put one hundred percent, one hundred
and ten percent of their energy into this afternoon show
covering Omaha, Nebraska, Western Iowa, the country. I'm sure I
(50:11):
have no idea what their show is going to look like.
They're gonna be up. It's gonna be up to them.
But I'm led to believe you're going to learn who
that is in the coming days as to who's going
to be the new afternoon show host. And while I'm
sad that that's not going to be me moving forward,
I cannot lie to you. I am quite excited that
my days are going to free up and I get
a chance to be kind of a jack of all
trades behind the scenes here for this station. I can
(50:34):
work with other stations in our cluster. I can meet
with salespeople. All of a sudden, I don't have my
entire day where I'm doing show prep or being on
my show or just trying to catch an hour long
nap just to try to, like, you know, manage my
insomnia and all this weight on me for all of
the different things that I'm responsible for for six hours
of radio and multiple markets around the Midwest, and it's
(50:55):
going to give me a time. I get to volunteer
in the community. I get to connect with people in
a way that is fulfilling for me in a way,
while you, the kfab listener, gets taken care of by
somebody who's going to be able to entertain you and
give you everything they have every single afternoon. And I
know it's gonna be a change in next week. Matt Kittle,
my friend's going to be subbing for a week or
(51:17):
two while they you know, dot some te's and cross
some eyes. But once we get through that, you guys,
I think are going to be really really happy with
the direction of the afternoons here on kfab. For those
who do have questions, I did want to just reiterate
that I am not disappearing forever. And again, I can't
think iHeartRadio enough. As soon as we started to talk
about things about not just are things going the way
(51:39):
that we want them to go on both stations and
how is my life going. When we started that conversation,
we literally could have just this company could they could
have just said, Emory, this is not worth the headache.
You know, let's just move on and cut ties. They
have spent a lot of energy trying to figure out
a way to keep me around, and I really thank
them for that, and I I really appreciate being valued
(52:02):
as a person more so than just a person that
COEs on the radio every day. They cared about me
as an individual, and I do appreciate that. I will
still be hosting nine to eleven on our sister stations
in Iowa ten FORTYHO and Des Moines six HUNDREDUMT in
Seder Rapids. Obviously, those are on the AM dial. You
can also hear those two stations if you search them
(52:24):
on the free iHeartRadio app. My show is pretty similar
a lot more Iowa news obviously, as you can imagine,
but it's not really all that different than what I
was doing here, just kind of a different format, kind
of crunched into two really hard hitting hours of radio.
And I'll keep doing that. I'll be around, I'll be substituting,
You'll hear me doing promos, you might be seeing me
at live remotes. I have no idea all the different
(52:46):
things that I'll get to do. I'll do weather coverage,
maybe some news coverage.
Speaker 2 (52:49):
It just kind of depends.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
But I will be around and won't be a stranger
on this station either. And again, Matt Kittle will sub
on this show next week from two to six, but
he will not be your everyday host. They will make
that announcement in the coming days of who's going to
take this over for Payton Highlak, for Matt Case, for
everybody that's worked with me on this show, Scott Vourhe's
and to you the listener who has made my life
honestly by listening to me when I got my first
(53:10):
ever radio show here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (53:13):
I thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Please don't be a stranger to me, follow me on
my social media, hope to see her around the city
of Omaha, and thank you so much for making my
life here on news Radio eleven ten kfab
And we thank you for listening. Every single day that
I've sat in this chair, I thank you for listening.
And I think I've thanked you multiple times a day,
every single day that I've done this. And yeah, yeah,
I've had a lot to think about over the last
several months and years, the two years and math like
(00:23):
eight months or so, kind of getting close to about that. Yeah,
so I might have a little trouble with this, but
I want to say this and give everyone an opportunity
to hear it from me, and also to have a
chance for you guys to reach out so you're not
(00:44):
left in the dark.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You deserve better than that.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But starting in March of twenty twenty four, I started
to substitute on a morning show for my home in Iowa,
where I came from. I moved to Omaha, got settled
down in Omaha. My wife and I loved Omaha, and
I said i'd help out for a while. And I
(01:10):
didn't want to leave Omaha though, and I wanted to
keep doing this show. And after substituting for almost six months,
while you know, things in a corporate situation like the
company that we work for, which again is just corporate,
it's not our company. It's not specific to our company.
It's just, you know, when you have so many levels
(01:31):
and layers of a business, a lot of people kind
of have to get their hands on something for a
change to happen. And in the late summer of twenty
twenty four, I was officially offered the opportunity to do
two shows at once.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It was something that I had on my mind.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I thought I could do it, and I did the
best that I could to give my all to my
Iowa listeners throughout the state on multiple stations in Iowa
from nine to eleven and then rerack myself and do
the best that I can to line up every single
thing that I wanted to talk about that was the
same and all the different things that I wanted to
(02:11):
talk about that were different and bring that to my
show here in Omaha. And I did the best that
I could to do that. Six hours of radio every
single day, five days a week. It's a lot, and
I knew it was a lot, but I also thought
that it was a challenge that it was worth me trying.
(02:33):
When Gary Sadelemeyer announced that he was thinking about retiring
and was going to retire in the fall of this
past year. I had been doing the morning show and
the afternoon show together for almost a year and a
half at that point, and it was an opportunity. We
had a big station wide meeting and had basically an
(02:55):
opportunity for all of us to get into a room
and some of our bosses to get into a room,
look at each other and say, what's the best way forward?
You know, because a lot of change is going to
happen now. This is a great opportunity for everybody to
maybe try to find what will make their life better.
And that was an opportunity for me to start a
(03:16):
conversation with the people in this company and in this
building that maybe I needed to pare down to one
show for my own mental health and capacity, but also
my performance. I'm not a stranger to the concept that
a lot of days I came in here and I
was already really mentally fatigued from what I had done
(03:37):
earlier in the day, and I couldn't give my best
show to the legendary Kfab audience. I've done the best
that I could to bring as much energy as possible
into the four hours of afternoon show, and there are
not a lot of four hour news talks shows anywhere
in the country, especially during drivetime. In the afternoons, there
(04:00):
are four hour long morning shows with a ton of
different elements, but just having long form talk for four
hours every afternoon, that is a monstrous amount of time,
and it takes a lot of preparation, and it's one
that I took very seriously when I got hired to
come in here and never been a full time host before.
(04:21):
Most of you were very understanding of the growing pains
that were going to happen as I learned my way,
and a lot of people have been very good to
helping me along the way understand what I should and
shouldn't be doing, while also encouraging me to continue to
be myself. For that, I'm going to be forever grateful.
(04:41):
At the same time, this was never going to be
a thing I could do forever. Two shows, six hours
of radio every day. I can't have a great relationship
with our department in sales. It didn't give me an
awful lot of time to think about anything other than
my radio career. When I was at home, I tried
to like have some be in the community. I tried
(05:03):
to go and have side gigs, which I think are
really important to me to continue to build relationships with
people outside of my building. You know, my wife and
my dogs. We do the best we can to do
as much as we can and not be thinking about work.
But every single time I'd see something on my social
media is like, I got to talk about this tomorrow,
grab it a take notes. I could just be at
a restaurant trying to have dinner with my wife and
(05:24):
just be trying to show prep for one or both
of my shows the next day, while knowing I'm not
going to have time to do a lot of show
prep actually during the day because I'm spending six hours
already on the air. Now, that's just me. The listeners
of this station certainly deserve better than that. So as
(05:46):
these conversations came about, I talk to the people in
this building, I talk to the people in this company
about what the right fit for me would be if
they wanted me to stick around, because I'm not sure
I can say doing two shows, and I don't think
I'm doing a good enough job at both shows to
keep justifying having me do both shows just because I'm
doing them. Now, I think we can do better, And
(06:09):
the conversation was which show did I think I was
more comfortable with how I was personally performing, And which
show did I think somebody else could come in and
do a better job than me? And we talked about
all these different possibilities, and the resolution that we got
(06:33):
to was it made more sense for me to stay
on in mornings in Iowa and pass the torch to
somebody who was a good fit for the KFAB audience
that could do four hours of news talk show Omaha
Lincoln Politics news every single day and be able to
(06:56):
put all of their energy into that. While right we
come to that conclusion, I knew for a couple of
months that that was going to be what we would do,
and so I was coming in here every day kind
of just trying to wait long enough doing all of this,
knowing that my life was going to change and get
(07:17):
a little bit easier and you know, and have the
opportunity to exist beyond living on the air basically for
six hours a day. And I wanted to make sure
that kfab was going to be in a good position
before I said I can't do this anymore. So with that,
today is my last day as the afternoon guy on KFAB.
(07:38):
It has been an incredible honor. This will always the
station is always going to be a part of me
in the way that I.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Look at radio.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's been a legendary station that I've had on my
radar since I got into the news talk format, not
really that long ago. I was hired at WHO first
in Des Moines and when I was ready to be
a host. I am forever grateful to Johnson, to Scott
Voorhe's to this entire company for believing in me, never
being a daily talk show host before, and allowing me
(08:09):
the opportunity to learn as I sat here every single day,
to our entire sales department that's put up with my
lack of availability and still tried to find a way
to make me marketable in sales. I think we've done
a pretty good job considering the circumstances, but it wasn't
a great way forward. And I know the next person
who's going to permanently sit in this chair every afternoon
(08:33):
is going to be able to give more to the listeners,
more to our team, and more to the people who
are in any way, shape or form a part of
this station. Also, I wanted to make it clear I
am not leaving the company I was, you know, the
company wanted to me to stick around in any way,
shape or form if I wanted to, and I did
(08:55):
want to. I really feel like I owe it to
a lot. I owe a lot to a lot of people.
And for every single person that has stuck up for me,
who has tutored me, mentored me, helped me along the way,
for every single individual that has made me feel at
home in Omaha, in this building and within this community,
I want it to stay here. So I'm not moving.
(09:17):
I am staying in Omaha. I will be a presence
still behind the scenes mostly, but you'll still hear my
voice on commercials, on liners. I'm going to be doing
a podcast, I'm not sure the frequency of, so if
you follow me and you are a follower a subscriber
to my podcast, as different things pop up, whether it's me,
It's going to be mostly interviews and conversations that I'm
(09:38):
going to have with local people. But I'll still be
uploading things to my Omaha feed, could be seeing me
at live remotes, could be hearing me substitute on different
shows and day parts throughout the day. My main on
air job is going to become the morning show in Iowa,
which I will still do mostly from Omaha because I
(09:58):
don't I love Omaha. I don't want to leave, and
the company has said, you know what, you don't have
to leave. Are going to make sure that there's a
way for you to continue to do that professionally while
still having the opportunity to work and be a part
of what we're doing in Omaha, because we value you here,
and I am forever grateful that we've been able to
work this out. The number of people I've seen who
(10:19):
do great work who haven't had a chance to kind
of control their own destiny in this business, that's a
big number of people. And to every single person that
has just kind of disappeared from the radio one day,
all over this country, all over the world. Honestly, this
is a very rare opportunity that I have, and I'm
(10:39):
grateful that I've been given this opportunity by the people
in iHeartRadio to be able to do this and to
control my own destiny. While I'm going to miss sitting
here for four hours every day and talking to you
about fun stuff, the news, everything else, I am incredibly
excited at the prospects of what my life will look
like next week when my afternoons now can go to
(11:03):
building my platform on my other show, helping the people
in Omaha be a real asset to this entire station.
And know that the next person who's a permanent host
of this afternoon slot is going to be able to
give their full energy to Omaha, to KFAB and they're
going to make this show better than it was when
(11:24):
I was sitting here. And I'm going to say that objectively.
I guess it's always subjective as to whether or not
it's the right flavor for you. But I know for
a fact there's going to be a lot of fun
to be had and a lot of news to be had,
and a lot of people who are going to be
very happy with the way that things are going to
go as I step aside into a different role here
(11:46):
in the station. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
I don't want this to be a situation where I
just get to say in the ether how I feel
about that. You know, my life is easy, and you know,
going to I think it's going to be a good
thing for my life to pare down, which you know,
the company said, okay, yeah, that probably makes sense, And
(12:07):
you know what we can make the Omaha Show even
better with somebody who can really dedicate their entire being
to being the afternoon guy on KFAB. So I think
that's going to be good for everybody. I'll still be around.
I don't want it to sound like I'm never going
to be heard from again. You'll be hearing me in
commercial breaks. You'll be hearing me as a substitute. You
could be hearing me do severe weather coverage or any
(12:27):
sort of thing. But I'm not going too far away.
Phone lines are open, and take a couple of calls here,
and if you want to call in, if you want
to say something to me, I I would appreciate hearing
from you if you feel compelled to do so. But
got a lot of emails coming in. Can't promise going
to read all the emails on the air, but I'll
read them personally and try to reply it as many
people as I can. Let's get to the phones. We
(12:48):
have heyesus to start things off on the phone line.
Welcome in, Heyesus. What's on your mind?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Oh Emory, I'd like to different I thank you did
an amazing job in the Afternoon Show. You really brought
your best and so I beg to differ whoever is.
I know you have another, uh you know, a life
to live, and I know it's super busy and trying
(13:14):
to get it. But you I think I truly believe
that you brought your best every single afternoon, all the
times that I've listened in that and calling in to
open up can of worms.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
With you, and.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
It's just been I just want to say thank you
for always allowing me an opportunity to express a voice
of opening up a can of worms with you, and
you will be missed in the afternoons, zeus.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It really means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It's been great to have you open those cans of
worms on my show, and I really appreciate that I
did give my all. I don't want anybody to think
that I was just kind of like pulling punches. I
just don't know if you know you did Yeah seventy
five for say it of my like like being at
seventy five percent mental capacity and giving my best when
I'm at seventy five percent, versus another person coming in
and being able to give their one hundred percent attention
(14:09):
to this. I think it's going to work out for everybody,
but it really means a lot to me that you
say those good things.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He just wanted to say one last thing to you
that I will be we will be praying for you,
and we'll wish you the best you and your family.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
And.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Will continue to be thinking about you during these afternoon shows.
And maybe I might have to hit you up on
ten forty. I used to be in Iowa City. Nice,
nice and hit you up some morning.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Okay, sounds good, my man. Thanks for calling in. Really
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Thank you again for everything that you've done for the.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
Nation.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Absolutely, man, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Appreciate you too, man, reappreciate you for calling in. Uh yeah,
it means a lot to me to hear that from
a guy who's a regular caller. And I really appreciate
everyone who's ever called in. But you got your regulars
that call in a lot, and you know, it really
hits you pretty good when you get a chance to
feel what hear what they have to say about things.
So squeeze one more in here before I hit the bottom.
(15:08):
Chris is on a phone line today. Welcome in, Chris.
What's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Ay? Emory, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Hey man? What's up?
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Not too much? I just want to let you know
I think you did a lot of things for KVABS
that maybe a lot of people don't appreciate the way
I think they should. You showed us a different point
of view, and I know that a lot better in
the Netherlands. And I'm going to get to have a
good beer with you here in Ireland in March. We
are going to still be able to have those conversations.
(15:36):
But I don't have to tell you what I was
listening to on iHeartRadio in my hotel room, how your
replacement was doing well, or in Ireland what you did.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I popped into your hotel room a few times while
we were in the Netherlands and Man Chris was listening
to kfa B from halfway around the world. This guy, he's.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
Doing all right. I gotta worry about telling you how
you are replacements doing while I'm in the hotel room
listening to KVAB on the radio.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
App Hey, man, you're the best. I can't wait just
about a month away. Man, I can't wait to see
in Ireland, so I appreciate it. Man, thanks for calling.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
We'll talk before.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Then, but best of luck and we'll have a beer shop.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Absolutely man.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Thank you, Chris Bettini, his company pub Culture Beercations great
to support of this show throughout the time I was here.
Is great, this interesting show. This is the last show
I am doing as the full time afternoon guy on KFAB.
I saw that the Scott posted on the kfa B
facebook page, this is my last show. And obviously you
(16:39):
got haters out there that are going to be like, Yay,
he's gone, and that's fine. Totally get it. That's a
part of the deal. It's part of the game. It's
what I signed up for. I totally understand. I wasn't
going to be everybody's favorite. But for the most part,
you know, when you see that and see those reactions,
it kind of makes it a little bit more real
when you see all these people giving you all these
(17:00):
good words in saying you know, thanks. And in that post,
Scott mentions that the next full time hosts should be
potentially announced next week. And I'm still gonna be around.
I'm not like going away forever, but I'll be, you know,
doing my morning show still within the company for the
state of Iowa, and I will be also around helping
(17:23):
out with news and severe weather coverage and helping substitute,
but just doing six hours a day, all the time,
every single day for the rest of my life was
never going to be something that I could realistically do,
so that that is something that I not gonna lie.
I'm looking forward to having a bit more of a
normal radio guy schedule starting next week, and I think
(17:47):
KFAB will be better off no having a person that's
one hundred percent dedicated to the four hours there on
the air. Here on KFAB, I have a really hard
time understanding, and this is one of the reasons I
really have to pair back on how much I'm on
the radio, Okay, because as much as I want to
talk about the stuff that's going on, like in the
(18:09):
news and everything, there are a disproportionate amount of individuals
like that on that side of the aisle who just
want to, you know, like every single thing that Donald
Trump does or everything single thing that Donald Trump says,
it's either the end of the world or he's the
worst person alive. And then I have another guy on
the other side that's just telling me that I'm not
(18:31):
hardcore enough when it comes to, you know, talking about conservatism,
or I ask too many questions about Donald Trump. I
asked too many questions about the no I am who
I am, and the people who listen to this show,
hopefully you felt like I could be me and I
could talk the way that I felt. Nobody was making
(18:53):
me say anything one way or the other. I was
able to say what I wanted to say. Every single day,
I did the best that I could to talk about
things from my own personal perspective. Legitimately, I didn't want
to sell out to any person or voice. When I
have people that are calling in just like you're not
conservative enough or you're a liberal, I know that's not true,
and but I speak about things the way that I feel,
(19:15):
so I want to I really want to hopefully leave
a feeling that the things that we talk about here
are not life and death. The things we talk about
here are debate, discussion, and hopefully we have the ability
as a society to move forward from some of these
crazier types on either end that make doing a job
(19:41):
like this a lot harder to do, but at the
same time trying to do the best that we can
to like exhibit good debate skills. What we just heard
from Mark there is just not is not what we're
looking for, but more power to him if he's able
to somehow be happy while acting in time talking like that.
(20:01):
Ed Neck is our next caller today, ad Neck, thank
you for calling in. What's on your mind?
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Every I'm happy for you and I hope it works
out for you best. But I got to address this man.
What about our plans?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
We were going to come into.
Speaker 7 (20:15):
Your April twentieth for the Rosterabarians having a holiday? What
about book contact curling?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Man?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, I know, I know, I know this is going
to happen now it actually could.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I am still gonna be here. I'm still working at
this company. I'm just like not hosting a daily two
to six radio show. So, ed Neck, if you want
to shoot me an email of like how we can
logistically come up with a way that we can have
like full contact curling among many of the other uh
not horrible. I was about to say, really good ideas
that you might have. We can try to you know,
(20:49):
work on the logistics and make that happen.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
All right, Yeah that's cool. Hey listen, Personally, I call
myself conservative wife because I am conservative. But I don't
have to.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
See everything in pure a or B, you know.
Speaker 8 (21:03):
Yeah, I mean, I live.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
At counsel bluff if you want, we have counsel bluss
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
It may change your view on abortion, but otherwise good
zuck Man.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I appreciate the call ed ed Nick, thank you.
Speaker 8 (21:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Did not expect that punchline there. I don't co sign that.
If you're listening, counsel blush. I didn't say that. I
just thought it was a little funny. Bryce is on
the line. Bryce, thank you for listening to our show today. Man,
what's going on?
Speaker 9 (21:29):
Hey man, I've been listening to you for a while.
Speaker 8 (21:32):
Uh, you know, we're we're about the.
Speaker 9 (21:34):
Same age, and we actually have a lot of like
shared interest in the I guess, viewpoints on a lot
of things. And I didn't realize I was so sad.
I just turned on the radio to hear that it's
your last day on the show, and they kind of
bummed me out, man. So I just wanted to wish
you luck and.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Tell you thank you, dude.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
I really appreciate you, appreciate your show.
Speaker 10 (21:53):
It's been great listening to you.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Man, Bryce.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That means a ton and I really appreciate that. And
hopefully maybe I see you around town you come and
say hello to me, because I love meeting people in
my own age first and foremost. So I appreciate you
for listening to us and for calling in today.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It really means a lot.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
Hey, buddy, good luck.
Speaker 9 (22:09):
Nice talking to you, friend.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, absolutely, we really appreciate it, you know.
Speaker 11 (22:12):
And I.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
This is the thing that I'm not going away away,
you know, I'm still around, you know, And this is
the thing. Not a lot of people get to make
this announcement on their own. Usually things just either go
to a point where they just disappear one day because
they've been let go, they've been fired or anything.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
And that's not what happened here.
Speaker 12 (22:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
It's been like five months since we started talking about
this in our building, and I've basically been patiently kind
of waiting for what the next thing is going to be.
And I didn't want to just not be on kfab
and leave kfab in a state of unknown. So I've
been coming in here knowing that I was at some
point going to have my last day here while I
(22:53):
transition into other roles, until finally this week is like okay,
a week got everything settled, we think, and this is
you know, this can be the end for you.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
And while it's bittersweet in a way.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I'm incredibly excited for what I'm going to get a
chance to do in the way that I'm going to
be able to do this stuff. At the same time,
it is bittersweet for me because I do know I'm
going to miss talking to you guys for four hours
every day. Six hours radio day just too much for
Emery long term, and between me and Scott and all
(23:27):
of our people that work on this station and behind
the scenes, we came to the conclusion that it was
best for this station, this show, for me to focus
more on my morning show, and that somebody who really
knows Omaha can really come in and take over the
mantle here in the afternoons. Let's get back to the
phone lines. We got Sarah on the line. Sarah, Welcome
(23:47):
to our show, What's on your Mind Today?
Speaker 11 (23:50):
Hi, Emory, I just wanted to say thank you for
I've noticed since you started how great and professional you've
been with all your callers, even if they don't if
they have a different point of view, And I really
appreciated in this era of divisive rhetoric that you really
maintained such a professional demeanor and you were open to
(24:13):
listening to people that had other ideas in you. So
I really respect that about you and appreciated you for
doing that since you started. And I just wish you
the best of.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Luck, Sarah.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
That really means a lot to me, and that's what
I tried to do every day. I really do appreciate
you noticing and thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
For calling in.
Speaker 11 (24:31):
Okay, take care, thank you, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Thank you. JW Is on the phone, JW, thanks for
calling in. What's up?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Yep.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
I appreciate whatever it's been, however long it's been. But
glad they're not glad to hear that you're leaving. Like
the caller Bryce said that, yeah, you've got what it
takes for the afternoon show, unlike the last caller was
saying the the way that you were always open and
(25:03):
tried to maintain a conversation with somebody that might have
a different view that that's appreciated. Yep. I wish you's
the best and sorry to hear you're leaving.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
JW.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It means a lot, man, and I appreciate you going
out of your way today to call in and tell
me that. And I'll still be around. But I really
appreciate you for noticing my efforts. It really does mean
a lot to me.
Speaker 8 (25:25):
Yeah, you're the Yeah, and I've never I've never copy
of that.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, I appreciate it. Jaw Joe is on a phone,
Aisle squeeze. One more call in here, Joe, thanks for
listening to us. What's on your mind?
Speaker 13 (25:38):
E Marie, This is Joe. Yeah, we've really enjoyed you
while you've been here. Always entertaining. I drive around the
city in the area for a living. Uh, you've been
very entertained. Appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you going out of your way
to call in today. You have a great weekend, Okay.
Speaker 13 (26:00):
Absolutely, And for old times sake, Oh man, I'm getting
pulled over. I gotta go.
Speaker 11 (26:07):
What the heck?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Joe, Joe every time. I appreciate that. Man.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I have been coasting for almost two years now, six
hours of radio every day, two in the morning for
multiple radio stations in Iowa and four hours in the
afternoon here in Almah. After a while, that becomes a lot.
And as you probably can mention, and after Gary Sadlemeier's
retirement in the fall, when he announced his retirement, that
got the ball rolling as to how I could be
(26:34):
best used while also not trying to be on the
radio for six hours a day, and between the folks
here who run this radio station, like Scott Vorhees and
everybody honestly, our entire team all the way up to
the top, who honestly I couldn't be happier with the
way that this has really worked out. We decided it
(26:57):
made more sense for me to focus on what's going
on on my more show, help out on KFAB in
a variety of different ways throughout the day, build a
better relationship with some of our sales team in different
ways in both of the markets that I'm typically in
between the Moyinset Rapids and here in Omaha, and also
allows somebody who knows Omaha to come in here and
(27:20):
make this afternoon show the best it can be. And
I just don't feel like I have the mental energy
a lot of days to do the best I can do.
And I know I appreciate everybody for their kind words
to say, well you did give a hundred percent, and
I gave a hundred percent of what I had in
me that was not always one hundred percent of my
whole mental capacity, and I apologize for that. I wish
(27:41):
I could have been Superman for you guys in that way,
but after a couple of years, it was just becoming
an awful lot. And I'm thankful for this company for
allowing me. I get a chance to basically control my
future in a way that is going to be healthier
for me and for my family and for my ambitions.
I'm hopeful to be able to volunteer more be a
(28:03):
part of some other things. And you know, my life
now that I don't have to constantly just be thinking
about what I'm going to do for six hours on
the radio the next day. So I'm incredibly thankful for
all of iHeartRadio for working with me on coming to
a solution that makes sense for me and makes sense
for this radio station and for the amazing people who
listen to it. Phone lines are open if you'd like
to call in and say something. I'd love to chat
(28:25):
with you one more time as the regular host. That
doesn't mean you won't ever hear from me again. There's
a chance that you know I'll be substituting. I'll be
around doing different things. But four two five five eight
eleven ten is the number. Four two, five, five eight
to eleven ten. John is on the phone line, John,
thank you so much for colling in today. What are
you thinking about?
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Hey, I just wanted to call in and say good
luck to all your future endeavors there with your morning show,
and that I really enjoyed your program here on the
afternoon slot. Here. Just wanted to tell you that be
toasting a couple of cold Hams beers.
Speaker 8 (29:00):
Mm hmm, ye yes, yep, you.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Know what, That's actually a great way to kind of
commemorate today. I'm gonna go grab me a thirty pack
at Hive and drop some drop some Hams this weekend,
I think, John, I really appreciate you taking time out
of your day to wish me well man, and it's
always been a pleasure chatting with you. Thanks so much
for listening to our show. And all I can say
is hopefully, you know, we'll be able to see each
(29:25):
other talk to each other sometime in the near future.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you, Sar.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yes, sir, Mark's on the phone line at four O
two five five eight eleven ten. Welcome in, Mark. What's
on your mind today?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Hey, I just want to tell.
Speaker 10 (29:36):
You I appreciate your work. I really appreciate your patience
also with some of our friends on on the Liverpool
side too, like like the previous color, Mark, that was
kind of interesting the way that you hand him. And
I have the same problem when you but to try
to deal with someone that they really don't have any
facts or anything really to argue with and they start
(29:57):
to picking about the Orange man, Evan, it's really frustrating.
It might be a thing to be able to debate,
you know, some of the liberal side.
Speaker 12 (30:04):
But yeah, it's really hard to you.
Speaker 10 (30:06):
Know, I appreciate the way you handle that, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And I and Mark one other.
Speaker 10 (30:11):
Observation ahead, one observation on the Voter Act too, if
I could.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Yeah, we when we think.
Speaker 10 (30:17):
Of the Democratic Party, we think of a lot of
the unions, right, and a lot of the union members
are our voting Democrats, and you just kind of you
just kind of want to reach out to the to
the to the union folks are great folks and just
say hey, look, you know, yeah when you you know,
when you go to your union meetings, Yeah, no one
else could vote except union members.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, And Mark, I'm totally down to talk about this
maybe at another time, but I got a lot of
callers calling in about what I appreciate it. Man, thanks
so much for calling in, and I appreciate it. Not
that I don't want to talk about the Voter Act,
but I'll be honest, I really don't want to talk
about that or anything related to that or anything political
right now. To be honest, it's my last last forty
(30:56):
five minutes on this radio station. You know what I'm
going to say, uh here at as it relates to
that is I can This is the one thing I
got a lot of criticism from people who are hard
conservative and just saying that I'm not hardline enough. I'm
just too nice to people who maybe either I disagree
with or I'm too nice to be able to handle
certain things. And I'm willing to look at too many
(31:18):
different angles. That's this is how you know. Nobody is
making me say stuff, or nobody's making anybody say things specifically. No,
I was totally willing to take the heat on that.
And you know what, I have people who adamantly disagree
because I'm just not crazy enough for them. I was
(31:40):
unabashedly me. I talked about things the way that I
looked at them. I talked about things the way that
I felt about them. You know, I don't do things
just because I want to be a nice guy. I
literally feel that way. And if anybody wants to stir
it up with me and fight with me about things
like we can have like an intelligent debate. But as
soon as you try to kind of bullyball me on
(32:01):
the air, or you try to bullyball me when we're
in the middle of a discussion, I don't really have
a lot of patience for it.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
In that way.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I do the best that I can to be a
good listener, so I can hope that you'll be a
good listener when it's my turn to speak. But that's
old school, man, That's how we used to talk about
politics nowadays, And honestly, a lot of that has to
do with one of the reasons why six hours of radio,
especially when you're talking about politics as much as we do,
it wears on you. I mean, you really do feel
(32:29):
the impact of how often you're talking about things people
are insanely passionate about, and you have to handle a
lot of different types of personalities and opinions, and for
six hours, that's an awful lot to try to compartmentalize
and not take it home with you every day. And
I wouldn't take it home with me every day, but
there are a lot of days where I'd be taking
stuff home with me and think about how I can
handle it better tomorrow, how I can talk about stuff tomorrow.
(32:52):
And it was a lot. It's a lot, and I'm
not gonna lie to you. There's a big part of
me that's going to feel a lot of relief going.
I only have to compartmentalize two of those hours a day,
and the next person who comes in and does this show,
it'll be up to them how they want to handle
that with this audience, regardless of if their hardcore conservative
or if they're hardcore liberal looking to stir things up.
(33:14):
Chris is on our phone line four two, five, five,
eight eleven ten. Welcome in, Chris. What's on your mind?
Speaker 12 (33:20):
I tell you this to me is kind of a
commentary on what kfab as the station is. You've got
yourself who came in a more youthful voice, does not
you know, is not one hundred percent like I'm talking
(33:41):
about Nebraska. You actually branched out and talked about some
other political issues, and apparently some people didn't like that.
If you've mentioned it yourself, that that now they've got
to hire some guy who well he knows more about Omaha.
Well who what the hell were they thinking two years
(34:02):
ago then when they brought you on in the first place.
And just because we've got Gary Sadlemeyer decides to retire
and now got Boor. He's he's the new youthful voice,
Scott Boors. He's just fifty years old. And you are
getting a chef because you're a young guy, and I
think it is BS. I think you're getting a chef.
(34:24):
You're being a nice guy, yeah, because you're professional, And
I just think this is nonsense. Kfab couldn't stand on
their own two feet when Jake Gardner, Yeah it was killed, Chris,
they were yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, sorry man.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I Before I let go, I got other people trying
to call in, and I really appreciate your passion. I
want to just kind of clarify because I understand exactly
what you're saying. I do appreciate the kind words about
me and our station. I do think that.
Speaker 8 (34:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
I just want you to know for me personally, that
I had to make this call and I no matter
what I did, no matter what I talked about, there
were going to be people that didn't like me, and
I knew that coming in, and I tried my best
to kind of balance that the best that I could
and not let it affect the way that I talked
about things. I didn't want to pan their to certain
audiences so they would like me more. I wanted to
(35:18):
still be myself and I was allowed to do that,
and in this station, I wanted to be clear me
leaving wasn't directly related to Gary's retirement. It just gave
me an opportunity to kind of think about what I
wanted to do with myself, and it seemed like a
good time to try to kind of shift into one direction.
I don't know exactly what the show is going to
look like into the to the next guy, I don't
(35:41):
know who that's going to be, and they're going to
make an announcement.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I have an.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Idea of what they're looking for, and somebody like, uh,
you know, somebody like and omaha, and would think right like,
you want somebody who's nearby. They brought me in from
two hours away where I was living in Des Moines,
and they brought me in to try to you know, yes,
I'm youthful, I'm young, I'm trying to come in. I'm
(36:06):
trying to bring in a younger, youthful audience, and I
was tasked with the same kind of responsibility for two
other radio stations I'm broadcasting for every single day in
the mornings.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I'm a little more.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Historically connected to them because I am from there, but
that didn't mean that I didn't try as hard as
I could to be as Omaha based as possible. And yeah,
I did branch out a lot because I wanted to,
you know, some things that are local, that are are
really interesting we should talk about, and we tried to.
There's a lot of national and international things I think
we could also talk about as well, so as from
(36:40):
my vantage point, just to kind of clarify all of that,
I'm not I have no idea exactly how the next
person's going to do this show, and it's probably going
to evolve as they get their feet wet. I just
know that the attention that they're going to be able
to bring for four hours only on this show every
day is going to make this show better than it
was when I was splitting my attention with an entirely
(37:02):
different market, an entirely different audience. And I think if
you liked how I did this show, you should definitely
keep listening, you know, like next week, my friend Matt
Kittle's going to sit in for at least a week,
but I think shortly thereafter, a new full time person
is going to be there, be here and be able
to talk to you about the stuff you care about,
no matter where it is. And KFAB is doing everything
(37:26):
it can as a station and all the people on
the back end to be here and do all this
as a station, and I'm excited for what it's going
to sound like. I'll still be around, I'll still be
a part of the team. I'm just not going to
be here for four hours every single day. And I'm
excited and ready for that opportunity. And I'm sure you
as a listener are going to be served even better
when you have that full time person ready to dedicate
(37:48):
themselves to just these four hours. I've had dozens and
dozens of emails and messages come in, and to everybody
who's messaged me, I don't want to read every single
one of these and bore the people out there. I
already feel like I'm kind of boring the people out
there who are wanting to hear more about the news
Nancy Guthrie, or have us do stuff. I like, if
(38:09):
you want to call in four h two five, five, eight,
eleven ten, and if you want to say something, Peyton,
I appreciate.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
It's been great working with you. We've only when did
you start, like four four and a half months middle
of September.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, and you were training and then you became my
guy basically by the end of September. It's been great
to get to know you and to work with you.
I have to shout out my producer before you, Matt Case,
who was with me for the two years before that.
Had a great relationship with him. I think a lot
of people get misconceptions of what this is, whether you know,
(38:40):
like we're all just pawns and we're geting pushed around
and everything, or you know, like we either are are
best friends or we hate each other. Like people can
read into all that stuff. Being in the media and
just having that kind of spotlight on you, it welcomes
that the problem is for me and this is something
that I have rarely admitted to people. But I am
(39:04):
just a not super egotistical person and the insecurities that
I carry every day are kind of embarrassing, to be
honest with you, For a man in his thirties to
still be unsure about every single thing that he does
in his life, it doesn't really translate well to being
an awesome, like look at me, I'm stealing all the
attention in the room kind of personality. I can fake
(39:27):
it really well in some regards. I really love doing
like sports stuff like that. When I'm doing like tonight,
I'm gonna be over at Baxter Arena, I'll have a
microphone in my hand. I'll be getting everybody hyped up
and excited about everything that's happening. I can be in
my zone, in my element there because I can talk,
you know, but trying to make myself feel like my voice,
(39:51):
in my opinion, is way more important than everyone else's.
I've never thought that. I've never once thought that my
entire life, and maybe that's part of the reason why
I'm so open and interested in hearing other people's opinions.
Because I don't think that I have everything right. I
think I have a good idea of what I think
is right, but that doesn't mean I'm infallible. It doesn't
(40:13):
mean that i'm all of a sudden just like this
perfect type of person. I'm certainly not, and anybody who
is thinking that they are the perfect type of person
probably not a great hang would be my like, you're
probably a pretty miserable person to be around, just kind
of like trying to dunk on people with how much smarter.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
You think you are than everybody else.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
But you kind of have to carry yourself like that
to be awesome on the radio. So trying to be
kind of a mix of that guy plus being me
for six hours a day is like an impossible task.
And I don't know, honestly, I amazed myself. I even
got two years into it and was able to survive
(40:56):
that I volunteered to take on six hours a day.
The company was excited to give me that opportunity. It
was a good deal for both of us, I think,
But it was never as a pipe dream to be
like this guy for many, many years. And I fear
that my efforts in trying to be that guy in
(41:21):
multiple places every single day and on the radio for
thirty hours a week, every single week, my fear is
that it fried me a little bit in my brain.
It fried my ability to be a great afternoon host.
Because a lot of my energy goes into that morning show,
(41:42):
and just naturally, as the day goes on, you're going
to feel less and less energy less and less energetic,
Like I told you, like my sleep schedule and everything.
I think all of this is related in some way,
and so I am going to be thankful to take
this opportunity that this company has afforded me to step
back into focus on something that I feel like is
a better fit for me. And then I can be
(42:04):
kind of a hired gun mercenary jack of all trades,
kind of behind the scenes guy in Omaha, while still
being that guy in Iowa for the morning show, and
then also still having the time, the ability, and the
freedom in my brain to volunteer more, to be in
the community more, to work with other people in this community.
(42:26):
And I get to stay and live in Omaha, which
I have fallen in love with. My wife loves it here,
the people I get to work with, with all the
different entities that I've connected with doing this job, and otherwise,
it's the best of all worlds for me, and it's
the best of all worlds for the listeners of this station.
Because this show is just going to get better with
somebody who's going to be able to poort their entire
efforts and energy every single day from two to six
(42:49):
in the afternoon on KFAB. Trust me, I think we're
all going to feel better about this at the end
of it. I appreciate all the kind words. And I
did string this out for like while I was waiting
on like the green light that you know we can
actually make the move for like two two and a
half months. I kind of knew that this day was coming.
Just when it was going to come was the real question.
(43:09):
And today's that day. So we think you've we talked
about you. Yesterday, Scott Vorhees was sitting with me at
the at IV and Council Bluffs and I was sitting
there as a you know, I I just love doing radio.
It's a lot of fun. I like it when it's fun.
(43:31):
When we get serious, I know we have to get
serious and I'm there for that also, But some days
are tougher than others in that regard. And we were
talking about Barrett Media, which I wanted to give them
a shout out. They are important for US media people.
When you know it's like you think about like an
(43:52):
NBA players Association or something like that that's more of
a union, but it's all of the people in the industry.
Like all the players of basketball get a chance to
talk to each other about the issues and get a
chance to like talk about all this stuff. They actually
have quite a big say in what they do. And
in our industry, a place like Barrett Media is kind
of the you know, it's media for media people. It
(44:16):
covers our industry in a way that we all can.
We can learn things from it, we can learn about
the people involved in it, we can through them kind
of get connected to a lot of other people. And
I wanted to shout out Jason Barrett and you know
his company for that. And they always do these year
end rankings, all these different you know rankings that put
(44:37):
people into you know, like a you know, major market,
mid market, small market, and all this stuff. And Scott
and I both have midday shows. You know, in twenty
twenty five, Scott was still mostly doing his nine to
eleven show and I have my nine to eleven show
that I do for Iowa, and we both made top
twenty in the country, which was great. And the afternoon
(44:59):
show they had all this list and everything, and I
was just on the outside of the top twenty. And
I sat there and I thought about this, and I'm
just like, man, it's so great to have that kind
of recognition. But that's not why I do it, you know.
It was like, did that make me feel really good?
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Is it great to like have that recognition, as you know,
you're in the top half of every single person in
your size of the market that does a show like this. Sure,
it's great, you know, And if I was number one,
that make me feel great, and I'd like to tell
people that, hey, I was honored like this.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
I have a mural award sitting outside this office for
storm coverage that I did with Terry Lahy, Matt Case
and several others who were involved helping us get information
on the day there was a ton of tornadoes in
April of twenty twenty four, if you remember that horrible,
crazy day with all those tornadoes, And we got Amurle
Award for that, and that's awesome. I'm really proud of
that because you know, it talks about the impact that
(45:50):
our coverage when we do stuff like that has. But man,
Gary Sandlmayer retired after forty nine years of being in
this radio station. And I sat there and I was
thinking to myself, Man, forty nine years is crazy, and
he's still hanging around. I mean like he's still doing stuff.
The guy's a machine and he's, honestly, regardless of market,
one of the legends who've ever done this, and I
(46:10):
look up to him. I looked up to people like
Van Harden, who is very similar to Gary in his
career in the way that you know, he's honored by
the Iowa Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and he's the guy
that kind of helped teach me how to do news
talk radio. And Bonnie Lucas who I worked with as well,
and Maxwell Schaeffer and Amy Sweet and Jeff Angelo, every
single person I got to work with on a day
to day basis over there that helped to teach me this.
(46:31):
But I had to sit there and I had to
think about why I do this, And when I sat
I was just like, am I doing this for accolades?
Do I want one day for somebody to put my
name on a sheet on a plaque or have like
fifteen minutes where they're honoring me for the many years
I have put into this business? Is that why I'm
(46:53):
doing this to get to a level one day of
recognition that Gary Sadlemayer Van Harden or any of these
people eventually get themselves to that one day. I'm sure
Jim Rose, Scott Vorhees will find themselves in And it's
just not you know what I want. I want to
be able to go home. I want my wife to
hug and kiss me. I want to be able to
hang out with my dogs. I want to be able
(47:14):
to go to the bar and have some fun. I
don't want people to look at me and you know,
be like, well that guy can he can never do stuff,
or that guy he's the guy that's you know, mixing
it up with people on the radio. You know, I
don't I get recognized in such a positive way so
often when I'm out and about on on remotes and everything.
And I really love that and I'm happy about that,
(47:38):
But it's not like I don't need to be the famous,
notable guy, and I don't need to be doing this
just to achieve some sort of notoriety. And when you know,
as a younger person, you're just like all about wanting
to be recognized and everybody to give you flowers for
what you do, and you know, hey, I'm gonna post
this thing on social media and I want everybody to
run and like it. And I need that dopamine hit
(47:59):
every day to make me feel good and make me
feel important. I've been that guy.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
You know.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
You might notice my social media has been pretty quiet
the last few months. You know why it's been pretty quet?
And I haven't posted a whole lot. It's because I
don't want to. It's probably not great for a guy
in this industry to just kind of be like punting
on social media for a while. But my brain was
fried man, and I I this has been a there's
(48:25):
been a difficult season I suppose of my life. And
I kind of was going through a lot of mental
issues in the summer, Peyton, and you weren't here for
a lot of this, But during the summer I was.
I was dealing with it, like my wife and I
weren't getting along, and I, you know, I was just
like banging my head against a wall, and I was
(48:46):
trying to kind of go through like why do I
feel like this all the time? Am I living the
kind of life that I hope to live? Am I
doing what I want to do with my life. I'm
about to turn thirty five, and am I gonna like
for the next thirty five years a totally cool like
living the life that I am right now? Is everything perfect?
And man, it wasn't. And the epiphany came for I
(49:08):
think the radio station and for myself that something needed
to change in the fall with Gary's retirement announcement. And
so for anybody who's just tuning in, anybody who you
know is unsure of why this happened a few months ago,
you know that we came to a pretty good conclusion
that the best thing for me was to the company
(49:30):
wanted to keep me, and I was okay staying as
long as my role got put into a much more
manageable role, much more manageable for my time, for my energy,
my mental well being. And the decision from them and
a decision from me together about what would be best
for me personally and what would be best for this
(49:50):
radio station and for the listeners of this station was
for me to focus my energies hosting every day for
my I was showing them and pass this show to
somebody who can really put one hundred percent, one hundred
and ten percent of their energy into this afternoon show
covering Omaha, Nebraska, Western Iowa, the country. I'm sure I
(50:11):
have no idea what their show is going to look like.
They're gonna be up. It's gonna be up to them.
But I'm led to believe you're going to learn who
that is in the coming days as to who's going
to be the new afternoon show host. And while I'm
sad that that's not going to be me moving forward,
I cannot lie to you. I am quite excited that
my days are going to free up and I get
a chance to be kind of a jack of all
trades behind the scenes here for this station. I can
(50:34):
work with other stations in our cluster. I can meet
with salespeople. All of a sudden, I don't have my
entire day where I'm doing show prep or being on
my show or just trying to catch an hour long
nap just to try to, like, you know, manage my
insomnia and all this weight on me for all of
the different things that I'm responsible for for six hours
of radio and multiple markets around the Midwest, and it's
(50:55):
going to give me a time. I get to volunteer
in the community. I get to connect with people in
a way that is fulfilling for me in a way,
while you, the kfab listener, gets taken care of by
somebody who's going to be able to entertain you and
give you everything they have every single afternoon. And I
know it's gonna be a change in next week. Matt Kittle,
my friend's going to be subbing for a week or
(51:17):
two while they you know, dot some te's and cross
some eyes. But once we get through that, you guys,
I think are going to be really really happy with
the direction of the afternoons here on kfab. For those
who do have questions, I did want to just reiterate
that I am not disappearing forever. And again, I can't
think iHeartRadio enough. As soon as we started to talk
about things about not just are things going the way
(51:39):
that we want them to go on both stations and
how is my life going. When we started that conversation,
we literally could have just this company could they could
have just said, Emory, this is not worth the headache.
You know, let's just move on and cut ties. They
have spent a lot of energy trying to figure out
a way to keep me around, and I really thank
them for that, and I I really appreciate being valued
(52:02):
as a person more so than just a person that
COEs on the radio every day. They cared about me
as an individual, and I do appreciate that. I will
still be hosting nine to eleven on our sister stations
in Iowa ten FORTYHO and Des Moines six HUNDREDUMT in
Seder Rapids. Obviously, those are on the AM dial. You
can also hear those two stations if you search them
(52:24):
on the free iHeartRadio app. My show is pretty similar
a lot more Iowa news obviously, as you can imagine,
but it's not really all that different than what I
was doing here, just kind of a different format, kind
of crunched into two really hard hitting hours of radio.
And I'll keep doing that. I'll be around, I'll be substituting,
You'll hear me doing promos, you might be seeing me
at live remotes. I have no idea all the different
(52:46):
things that I'll get to do. I'll do weather coverage,
maybe some news coverage.
Speaker 2 (52:49):
It just kind of depends.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
But I will be around and won't be a stranger
on this station either. And again, Matt Kittle will sub
on this show next week from two to six, but
he will not be your everyday host. They will make
that announcement in the coming days of who's going to
take this over for Payton Highlak, for Matt Case, for
everybody that's worked with me on this show, Scott Vourhe's
and to you the listener who has made my life
honestly by listening to me when I got my first
(53:10):
ever radio show here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (53:13):
I thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Please don't be a stranger to me, follow me on
my social media, hope to see her around the city
of Omaha, and thank you so much for making my
life here on news Radio eleven ten kfab
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.