Matt Case Says Goodbye

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're saying in a good mood. We're being happy, jovial
the best that we can. Knowing that Matt case his
last day is today, Matt is wrapping up his time
with us here on kfa B. A bittersweet day for sure.
But Matt, for those who may have missed the big announcement,
can you just kind of talk about, yeah, just how

(00:21):
you feel before I go back into reading more emails
of people telling them how how they feel about you.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, sure, I, like I said at the start of
the two o'clock I just I am just in a
grateful place. I'm certainly grateful after the kind emails, and
grateful to be a voice that you got to hear
in your ears for the better part of the last
four years.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
That means a lot to me.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
And I don't know, again, I'm just a kid from
York who got an opportunity like this, and it's pretty
unique that I get to say that that I got
to do this and and and so in that sort
of sense, certainly, certainly, uh you know, bittersweet too too

(01:10):
to have to to take a step in a different direction,
But just very grateful. And I don't know, I mean,
I uh, yeah, you know, I I suppose not getting
into too much of the mushy stuff, but you know,
just just appreciative. And I think that there's there's a
lot that goes on in in this crazy, big world

(01:31):
that we all live on, and you know, and and
the seek can get kind of hot when when you're
in charge of of having to figure that all out,
you know, and and and that's that's your job, not mine, right.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Like, yeah, unfortunately a lot of days, right, but.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Just kind of having to to be in that world.
It could it can certainly be taxing. And so the
fact that I got to be more in a sort
of just a guy who who spreads joy and scatters
joy and and and gets to be silly and goofy.
I just I've always just this has always been me.
I'm a Jim Carrey guy. Jim Carrey. One of my

(02:14):
favorite things that he says is when he talks about
why he he wants to make people laugh, as he
says that he wants to free people from concern. The
first time he ever did stand up, he got up
there and he kind of just thought that's what he
wanted to do that night. He wanted he saw the
people in the crowd, and he just wanted to free
them from concern. And I just I think that's so valuable.

(02:36):
So if I was able to do that for anyone,
that genuinely means a lot to me. Though there's probably
been a lot of times when you were smacking your forehead,
like did that guy really just say that goofy thing?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
That's just me.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
You know, I don't know how else to be any
other way, But I've only figured out how to be
me thus far in life.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Every time I try to do anything else, it doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
So you know, I'm just grateful, Emery that you've kind
of given me a platform to be my orci self,
and and and that we've made so many fun and
funny memories, whether it was hockey on a battleship, whether
it was all I mean, just so many goofy conversations
that that have hopefully helped bring levity to people's hearts,

(03:16):
because man, life's tough.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
We all deserve it. We deserve levity. We deserve to be.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
With people who lean in, who who care about us,
and and and and uh and and so we got
to be that for people too, you know. And and
I'm no preacher. These are just life lessons that I'm
learning as as I make my way through life, you know,
And I don't know, is that is that mandering enough?

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, you did a good job. You did a good job.
That was you didn't You still didn't even go as
long as he did in the two o'clock hour, So
you did good there. Yeah, And I just for for anybody,
and I got more emails I'll read here for anybody
that question. Because I would give Matt a hard time
on the air quite a bit, you know, about different things,
but it was never in a personal way. You know,

(04:03):
he would challenge the way I would feel about some
things when we would get serious. But like ninety eight
percent of the time, everything that we ever did was
just genuinely for fun everything, even a lot of the
random serious sounding stuff. I just think that we could
talk each other into and out of some of the
most random conversations. Millard Fillmore is a great example of this.

(04:28):
We spent a ton of time on Millard Fillmore. Yeah,
and people probably were actually enjoying that conversation simply because
we were taking it seriously while we were goofing off.
That is a tough thing to do. That is a
tough line to walk. It's the line that I walk
all the time. And when I met you and I

(04:49):
auditioned for this job a couple of years ago, I
picked up pretty quickly that you were the kind of
guy that actually towed that same line. You find it
to be really funny acting serious about something that is
completely ridiculous. Absolutely, that is the best type of comedy
to me. So so talking about Airbud and us breaking

(05:14):
down like the merits of Airbud as a legitimate film.
I mean, it's just we weren't laughing, but we're trying
not to laugh because we're talking so seriously to each
other and we want the bit to keep going. Man,
it's tough to find people like that that share that
kind of sense of humor. That's gonna be a challenge.

(05:36):
I don't know, the show will never sound the same.
There's just no way I'm going to find a person
that has that lines up in that way with me. Again,
it was so I was so lucky my first two
years as an actual radio host to have somebody that
when I wanted to be goofy like that they shared
that kind of that kind of humor and thought that

(05:58):
that was funny too, and we there are are We
had no bounds, There were no boundaries to the conversations
we were having.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
I'm right there with you, man, and uh, I could
be pretty serious about some pretty silly things, you know.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Oh so with your hockey on a battleship exactly.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
And hey, you know what, Okay, do you remember what
day that was that we talked about that?

Speaker 3 (06:20):
No, October seventh, twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
What Yeah, Well the next like the next the well,
that's when it got podcasted, right, That wasn't the day
we talked about it. We weren't on that day.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Okay, you're right.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
It would have been.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
It would have been when that was the It would
have been when that was the news. Do I have
my dates right here? Because because we're talking about.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
The battleship on a on a or a hockey on
a battleship. Yeah, yeah, so there's a chance it was
podcasting on the seventh, But we talked about it the sixth,
because October seventh, twenty twenty three, was a Saturday.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Okay, so then maybe I might e's wrong.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
The day we talked about it was the day when
you were breaking down the news about the terrorist attacks
in Israel.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Okay, so maybe it was gonna be Okay, so October
seventh of twenty twenty three, I just want to make
sure that that's wild stuff. That was a Saturday, So
the ninth, Yeah, we would have come back on the ninth.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Okay, my bad.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
I So I had that date in my mind because
I knew it was, but it would have been the
same day we did that. So I you understand that,
Like I.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
I.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Genuinely look at Hockey on a Battleship as my most
proud moment here.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
And I'll explain why, because that was a really heavy day.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
It was I didn't even know. I did not even
like know that that was when we did that.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
It was and that and and I'm telling you, man,
like I look for all of my faults, one thing
is that I see levity like light. And and on
that day it was heavy, you know. And I don't
know what it was that made that come out of
me out of nowhere. But the weirdest thing was it

(08:09):
took off. Yeah, we started getting emails about it, we
started getting calls about it, and you know, in that moment,
what just like you know, you get the chills because
you make this realization in that moment, I was like, oh,
I think that my wackiness just kind of provided a service.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
There for a second.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Oh, it definitely did.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Like, And so that's why I say that, like, that's
literally my proudest moment of my time here because I
understand how ridiculous it is. But you know what, maybe
that was just the right kind of ridiculousness because that
was a heavy day, you know, and that was that
was a tough, a tough thing for us for us
all to to parcel through. And then of course we

(08:48):
know that here we are a couple of years later
and there's wars being waged, you know, in part.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
I mean war still going on. Yeah, I mean, no,
no doubt. And that's one thing that it's gonna be
a challenge for me. And I'm just gonna be public
about this. And you know, it takes chemistry. We didn't
have that the first day we worked together. You know,
it kind of developed as we talked to each other
off the air. We talked a lot off the air,
and then just some of the stuff that we would do,

(09:16):
you know, in the breaks and just get ourselves in
like the right mood, and you helped get me in
the right mood a lot of days when I was
just not feeling it. And there are some days where
the news is heavy enough I don't want to talk
about it, or or I know I need to and
I just don't want to, but I know I need to,
And it's good to have a support system there of
somebody you can kind of bounce ideas off of and

(09:38):
chat about. And it's gonna be interesting to feel how
the show sounds when I don't have that kind of
foundation around me to kind of protect me if I
needed help or whatever. You know. So, no, I think
those are all really really good observations of that conversation specifically,

(10:00):
but also the conversations that we have had over the years,
which many of them are available on the Emery song
Er podcast page on the free iHeartRadio app. And we'll
live forever hopefully in that way, so we can go
back and revisit that. If you have thoughts, things that
you want to let Matt know before he signs off,
he's actually leaving an hour early today and we're going

(10:21):
to continue to celebrate his his time with us. You
can email me if you want to leave a note.
I'm forwarding him the emails so he'll have them forever
and then, you know, talk about them on the air.
If you want, you can email me Emory E. M. E.
R Y at kfab dot com. Emory at kfab dot com.

(10:41):
All right, I have Curtis who said, let me Okay,
here we go. Curtis says, hey, man, tell Matt. I'm
gonna miss mentally picturing you and Matt looking at each
other and giving the what the heck just came out
of your mouth look and made for good good luck
on your next adventure. Curtis, Oh, yeah, yeah, you go. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
Were definitely those moments, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
I enjoyed those when you would say something and I
just had nothing to say, but we would look at
each other in the studio and uh, I know that
doesn't do much for radio, but those looks. Those were
funny moments, right of just like look at each other
after somebody says something and seeing which one of us
cracked first. Laurie says, OMG, you will be extremely missed.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Thanks Lori.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Mike ninety nine, well, miss Matt Emory, Please send Matt
my regards. He has been my favorite part of the
afternoon show even before you joined the kfab family. Don't
get me wrong, I think Ian was great and so
are you. But Matt's random humor is right in the
sweet spot for me. He's leaving huge shoes to fill. Wow.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Wow, thanks man, and that means a lot. I really
appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
What size you wear anyway, ten and a half, that's
pretty big.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Size eleven and some.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
It just depends on the shoe brand, but ten and
a half for the most part.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, well, we could definitely not wear each other's shoes,
that's for sure. I'm afraid to say what my shoe
size is. Brandon says, Hey, Emery and Matt, I'm going
to miss when I called in the one time to
report severe weather. If Matt remembers the guy who's totally
blind who reported the thunder and lightning and very heavy

(12:36):
rain in the Missouri Valley. I jokingly told Matt he's
always on the case. His coverage breaking on what I've
dubbed the tornado Tuesday in twenty twenty four. Last May
was great. I was literally in a dead sleep waking
up to Okay, guys, this is Matt case and we
have a new tornado warning four and a weather bulletin followed,
Going to miss hearing his comedy, his humor, and his

(12:56):
perspective on Ai Matt, I hope you running to each
other in some way, shape or form.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Wow, man, me too, Me too, Brandon, I do as well.
That's awesome. I just got chills thinking about that.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
That. Wow, that's cool man.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
That was a Yeah, there were we talked about the
one day, the one big day, the first day last
year that was like April twenty fifth or twenty sixth
or something like that last year, and we got like
some awards for but that we had like four or
five days last spring where we were just walled a
wall with like tornado coverage. I mean, you make a

(13:33):
bigger difference in those moments on a radio station like
this than anything else that we talk about. We really do. Yeah, Like,
those are the moments that you wake up and you
live for to inform people in something that truly could
affect injury, life, death, all that stuff. Right, So hopefully
those are some memories that you have. Good memories may

(13:54):
not be the right way to say that, but they
definitely were the most impact that we had doing this job.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yes, I it's certainly as far as like impact. I mean,
just again, it's incredible that I got to say that
I was a part of that team that would that
would break in and deliver that and just keep people
informed of the crazy weather that was hitting their town.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Chris Pierce send me an email saying I will miss.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Matt chris By.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Hey man, I'll miss being being your producer when you
fill in, That's for sure. I'll miss all those dad jokes.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, there you go, Jason said, best of luck moving forward. Matt,
will you get to wear the jeorts at your new job?

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I you know, I probably I haven't tried that yet,
you know, but.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
For whatever it's worth, I haven't seen Matt in the
georts since January. And that might be a weird thing
to say, but he brought the him so he could
take a photo in the snow or in the jorts.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
I did.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, that was a you know, one of those decisions
you make and you look back on it, You're like,
that was kind of weird.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
But yeah, I've certainly had that.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
I liked it. I wish that picture was available. You
got to repost that somewhere he.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Gonna make me repoth Day.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
I sneakily took it down because I was like, come on, Matt,
quit being weird.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
No, I did old Day on the coldest day.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, it was like twenty below zero. And and Matt's
idea of a joke was He's gonna put the jorts
on and go pose outside.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
I loved it. I mean, come on, the irony? Can
you can you come up with something better? All right? Uh,
we got more where that came from. I got a
bunch of emails coming in, and if you want to
give Matt your regards, he is heading out at the
top of the hour, so, uh, you know, we're here.
We're keeping an eye on the news and everything, and
we'll get to some of that more later. But I
want to make sure that he gets his flowers while
he's here because he'll leave at the five o'clock. At

(15:51):
at five o'clock, So if you want to email me
Emory at kfab dot com, E M. E. R. Y
at kfab dot com. Dave sent an email here Matt,
his congratulations on your new gig. You've definitely left some
big shoes to fill. Your humor, intelligence and personality will
be missed. Your time on the afternoon show has been
truly enjoyed and appreciated. As they say, time marches steadily

(16:11):
on and yields for no one. Just kidding, you're a
fool of epic proportions for leaving us all behind. Okay,
that was kidding. I wish you all the best of
your future endeavors. I'm certain that with your faith and
positive attitude, you will be a success in whatever you
choose to do. Congratulations again, good luck and God bless Dave.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Thank you, Dave. God bless you too. And I appreciate that,
I really do. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Man.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
All right, I'm just gonna go ahead. We got a
couple of minutes left them. Just gonna yield the floor
the last word. I mean, sure you're gonna be on
the radio again some point, but as far as you know,
the everyday producer for this show and in this time slot, Matt,
I'm gonna yield the floor to you, and you say
your piece, say whatever you'd like to say to anybody, everybody,

(16:55):
and even yourself, honestly and well, take get away.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
I have no idea what I'm gonna say here.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I don't even have a speech to crumple up and
throw away, so I'll just kind of wing it. I
don't know, man, I'm appreciative of these almost.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Four years for a lot of reasons.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
I'm I'm appreciative of and you know, Ian Swanson for
bringing me in as his producer. And if you want
to know why he will always have my vote for
anything he runs for, it's because I got to sit
with him for a couple of years and really get
to know how good of a person he is, just
genuinely in his faith, in his high character. The man

(17:39):
was about forty five minutes I would guess late to
a Christmas party because my car was broke down and
he refused to let me uber to my car to
the mechanics. That's that's who Ian is and and I'm
grateful to you.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Ian.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
If this ever gets to you, love you, brother, And
I love you too, Emory. You you you are a kind,
compassionate guy who's who's real through and through and it's
it's been fun to to make such silly memories together
and to talk about some serious stuff too. And you

(18:18):
don't have to ever do that, but you let me in,
you know what I mean? Like like you didn't have
to ever let me in on the serious stuff. And
I'm not generally a super serious guy, although I have
my moments for sure, right and we all do. And
I think one thing on a serious note is that
the one thing I think about all the time, all
the time is in this crazy world that we live

(18:41):
in that can be crazy good and crazy bad, I
just am constantly reminded about how much we all have
in common, about how we all share this earth together,
and how much better a job we could be doing
have taken care of ourselves. And and this isn't to

(19:02):
stand on a preachy point. This is really just you're
hearing from a man who has made mistakes in life
and is saved by grace and is grateful to have
this microphone in front of him. And so I guess
really all I can think to say right now is
I think about the quote that I'm going to totally

(19:23):
butcher from my favorite President Abraham Lincoln, when he said
to the effect, this country's way too strong for an
outside force to ever invade our shores and destroy us.
That could only ever come from within.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
And so.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Let's stay strong, let's stay in common, let's lean into
our to our strengths. Let's lean in when there's a
difference to understand why, Let's take care of each other.
Let's take care of each other's That's really all that
matters at the end of the day, is that we're
taking care of each other. And I'm just grateful to
have a microphone in front of me to be a

(20:11):
part of this journey, to be a part of your show,
Emery and the kindness of this show to go off
with a bang, because I totally would have been cool
if it wasn't even it wasn't even a footnote. But
I don't know, Man, got forty seconds left, and probably
a hundred other things I'll think of once I leave
the studio. But I'm just grateful, and I'm grateful for
every single person who's listening right now.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
And yeah, that's all.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Hey, Man, love you as always. It's been fun to
be with you. And I'm sure we'll see you around town.
I know I'll see you around, but for everyone else,
I'm sure that they'll You won't be too much of
a stranger. Get on that social media so people can
see what you're up to. I know I need to
get on that all right there, we go Matt case everybody, Hey,
take it easy, brother, you too, man,