The Radio Life of CK - Episode: 127

He is the co-host of the "CK & CARMEN MORNING SHOW" on B95 in Fresno...Let's get to know about his wild radio journey. Ladies and gentlemen, CK.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This could get me fire podcasts.What up? I'm just so that is
John Magic and we are back.We are continuing with these amazing guests that
we've been having for the past whatlike ten ten episodes, yeah, something
like that, And we've been gettinga lot of people saying that they've been
loving all these guests, getting toknow a lot of people from the valley

(00:23):
that are doing big things. Sotoday we have one of our coworkers.
Yeah, he's a radio veteran that'sbecome a staple name in the five to
five nine. He's the one ofthe hosts of the morning show, c
King Carmen. In the morning wehave c K Let's Go and Man's Go.

(00:44):
We appreciate you taking some time outwith us. Bro. First of
all, let me say this,I'm honored to come on with y'all.
Like to think about everyone that youguys have had on here, from Lewis
to Marcus, DJ Straws, DJd Soto, shout out to Andy over
there at have done a great jobof letting people hear some of the different

(01:04):
folks from throughout the valley to makea difference in this community. I think
it's dope. So I'm honored,bro, I'm honored. Yeah, we
wanted to like sort of highlight peoplein the valley and in Fresno. They
were doing things in different industries andit's dope to hear people's stories and how
they've come up. And we wantedto hear your story because obviously we've been

(01:25):
co workers for how long you've beenhere now this time around, I've been
here. This is my eleventh year. Damn, eleven years already. Wow,
this is my eleventh year, Some and you have been co workers
for eleven years now. You've actuallypreviously worked here before. Yeah, yeah,
we'll get into that a little bitlater, but man, it's been

(01:45):
dope working with you number one morningshow consistently with you and Carmen. You've
been a great co worker with me, and we just want to get to
know you even before then, becauseI don't think me and Magic really know
too much before you got here,and maybe a lot of people out here
don't know. So we kind oflike want to know your story from the
beginning, right, but before westart from the beginning, where you're from

(02:07):
and all that stuff, you know, the past episodes would rend rock with
the Soto. Do you want toair any grievances with me. When we
had them on, they had likeall this all this ship to say,
but I mean, but it butno, it's been good actually to hear
and it's good to talk about itwith them because there's there's now an understanding,

(02:30):
right, there's a there's a showof growth of like us growing up.
But I'm just joking, but wecould get well, we were clearing
some beefs in the early days.It's like a therapy session. Oh no,
a little bit that the SOO episode. I'm getting comments to it still
every day. I think I thinkMagic had rubbed some people the wrong way

(02:51):
in the early years, like twentyyears ago. Yeah, so people are
kind of bringing that to his attention. But uh, he's changed and we're
all good now. Not only thatthey say that I've changed, which you
know you've seen the change, butyou know, shout out to de Soto
for also acknowledging like I could seewhy you said that, or it's understandable

(03:14):
now that you know that he sawyour side of it. Yeah. Yeah,
but you know, we always liketo start with are you originally from
the five to five to nine?No, I'm from the two O nine.
So here's what I'm gonna say.We used to be the two nine,
was the two o nine. Sowith that being said, I'm o
G two o nine. So I'mfrom Stockton, born and raised. I'm
a valley kid. So when Frisnowas two o nine, I was two

(03:37):
o nine as well. So yeah, I was born and raised in Stockton,
and uh, I'm I'm valley youknow, up and down, that's
how I get down. And myvery first radio station, and we'll talk
about this outside of my home stationat KWin, was B ninety five.
I worked at B ninety five.Mark Adams back in the day hired me.
I was here for three months.That's it, three months. I

(03:59):
was here for three months. Whatyear was this, I want to say
it was like ninety six as amatter of fact, true story. I
was the very first dude to evenplay like a hip hop kind of record
on B ninety five, So thatwasn't we weren't bro at the time.
We were playing Cardigan's we were playingsongs like that, like love fool and
I remember Mark Adams, it wasMark Adams was here at the time and

(04:20):
he was like, all right,we're debating if we want to play Doctor
Dre on this Black Street record,And I was like, so you guys
have I was like, I camefrom KWin we played hip hop records,
but here they were like a fullon pop station. So he was like,
look, the first time we're evengoing to run this is we're gonna

(04:40):
play Black Street with Doctor Dre onyour show. So I was like,
a cool, let's do it then. So during that time, it was
more pop. It was hot,no doubt. We played Cardigan's Love Fool,
We played songs like that. Thatwas what it was all day long.
Was it considered what is it?It was like a true chr It

(05:03):
wasn't It wasn't a rhythmic. Itwas more like, hey, look we're
just playing the biggest hits period andif they happened to be like Tony Braxton
song back in the day, youwould go ahead and play it, you
know, you would play like TevinCampbell songs like that that were so big
that you couldn't ignore it. Butwhen I remember, man, I was

(05:25):
like, dang, this is thefirst time y'all gonna play even some Doctor
Dre on this and that was it. He was like, I'm nervous even
just put it on. Let's kindof rewind real quick because Gizo has his
internship story. I had my internshipstory. You know, when you were
growing up, what was was radio? When did radio come to your head

(05:46):
that that this is something you wantedto do? You know, when I
was a little boy. So mybrothers were both DJs and Stockton and you
guys both know Brian Sampson. Somy brothers DJed with Brian Samson. And
I think I may have been likesix seven eight ish. I was in

(06:06):
elementary school and they would bring concertsto Stockton and one of the very first
shows that they brought was Doctor Dreand the World Class Wrecking Crew. Wow.
I remember it was before NWA AndI remember like Doctor Dre he came
over to my house and he wassitting on my couch. They were watching

(06:28):
football and my father he turns toDoctor Dre and he goes, do you
think this is gonna last? Doyou think hip hop's gonna be around?
And ever since that point, likeI remember like all my friends running over
they got autographs from Doctor Dre andthey were all super hyped up and gassed
out. And I always knew thatI wanted to do something in the music
industry. I didn't know exactly whatit was, but that was kind of

(06:50):
like the first time. I waslike, I'm gonna do this. I'm
gonna try to figure it out.And once I got into college, I
saw that there was an opportunity getthe college radio station stocked. So then
I jumped on. They let meplay hip hop for the full hour.
So I was like, look,y'all gonna let me play hip hop and
let me say whatever I want.They was like yeah, I'm like,
so you're not even gonna restrict therecords that I'm playing. So I mean,

(07:13):
me and like three other dudes wemade an all hip hop day and
the local radio station called on tous and they were like, look,
if you guys ever wanted to comeand intern. So then I started intern
at k WIN with this dude,Mark Medina. So then Mark Medina,
who now is the program director isZ one hundred in New York. Yeah,
so he's the program director Z onehundred in New York. And back

(07:35):
then we was just little kids,teenagers and we just did a night show
together. I was like his intern. I used to pull his carts and
then ever since then, I waslike, man, this is what I'm
gonna do for the rest of mylife and what station. So you guys
who were doing college radio made alot of noise, got the attention of

(07:55):
k WIN and brought you on aslike interns. Because you gotta remember,
like back in the day, mainstreamradio stations weren't playing hip hop. So
whenever you had even a college radiostation playing hip hop like that was the
first time I even heard of BrianSamson. He used to be a KUOP,
which was the same radio station thatDale You're Wrong used to work at.

(08:16):
Dale You're Wrong. Used to bea DJ before he got on TV
out here in Fresno. Yeah he'sa newscaster. Yeah wow. So KOP
was the very first station in Stocktonthat would play hip hop, and then
ks JC, the Delta college stationthat I went to. We wanted to
do the same thing that KOP wasdoing, and so we were doing hip
hop before mainstream radio stations even wereembracing it. Now. Was that a

(08:39):
situation because hip hop was still kindof new at the time, or is
it because it was controversial or whatwas ok? It was both. I
mean, you know, people didn'tknow what to make of it. The
thing was pick believe in it.At the time, you didn't get any
love at you know, during theGrammys. During that time, people thought
that it was just like a phaseand they would fall off. So,
you know, looking back, itdoes make sense that radio stations were kind

(09:03):
of afraid to touch that genre.And now it's like the biggest genre,
right. It's one of those genresthat you can't ignore, and then every
other genre tries to dive into thehip hop lane or at least borrow hip
hop artist to help benefit them andwhat they're doing with their style. You
know, I want to know whatwere you listening to because you talk about

(09:24):
hip hop was a big thing.I remember nineteen ninety three, nineteen ninety
four. I was a rocker guy. I was listening to like def Leopard,
Warrant, like and then the youknow, what's the heck man.
Then they start getting to that electronicpop rock stuff. So I was like,
what were you listening to during thosetimes where hip hop wasn't big yet.

(09:50):
Well, here's the thing. Becausemy brothers were DJs, like they
would have just crates and crates ofvinyl, So anytime that they were doing
gigs or anytime that I was justable to be at the house. They
had their technique twelve hundreds and theywould just let me go on there and
just put different songs on there.So I would be listening to like grand
Master Flash, I would be listeningto like who Herbie Hancock. I would

(10:11):
be listening to early run DMC,like rock Box Run DMC, like before
they even blew up and did likeIt's tricky and stuff like that. What
else Who's DEENI So you were listeningto the early hip hop because you had
access to those records, says toit, and because they would like I
mean, like I said, theybrought the world class rerecord crew. They

(10:33):
brought ice tea to Stockton. Theybrought a lot of different people to Stockton.
Like I remember six in the morningbefore six in the morning was even
like a big deal, and Iwas like a little kid going, oh
my god, six in the morning, police at my door, fresh shitty
to squeak across the bathroom. Andso I was like early into hip hop,
into the game because of my brothersand Brian Sampson's dope. Yeah.

(10:54):
By the way, Brian Sampson's arecord label rap he worked for Death Jam
back in the days. Sorry,I should have probably exp No, It's
funny because I remember, you know, talking to Samson and then you always
saying that he like would raise youor not raise you. But yeah,
babysit, yeah you said, babyCity. You would always tell stories like
that, and it's crazy. Ididn't know that you guys had went that
far back, even as far asback to Dre and the World Class Wrecking

(11:16):
Cry at that time. He wasa doctor is a DJ at that time,
right, you see a little bitof in the movie. All right,
so you're at K one at thistime, and what's the next move
after that? You get hired onor so basically what happened was Mark Medina
continued to blow up, and likeI said, he ended up being the
program director at Z one under inNew York, which by the way,

(11:37):
is a huge station, the numberI think the number one station out there.
Crazy man. Love that dude.And so when he left, it
gave me the opportunity to do nightsat k WIN and so but I realized
for me to like kind of getmy potential into reach where I wanted to
be and who I wanted to be, I had to eventually take the step
and the leap of faith of leaving. So at the time, my dude

(12:01):
Mikey on the mic used to workhere at B ninety five, and when
he left, he was like MarkAdams, I got my replacements, this
dude Ck and Stockton, and soI came out here. But at the
same time I was working at Wildninety four nine and doing weekends. Well
it was Wild one o seven atthe time San Francisco. So when I
got here, literally like a monthor a month and a half after I

(12:24):
got here, that's when Jojo onthe radio, who was working at Wild
one o seven before he went toKiss FM in La he was like,
I'm about to take off to goto Kiss FM. Michael Martin already messed
with me because I was doing weekends. So he had to call Mark Adams
and was like, look, Iknow my dude just got there like three
months ago, but this is whowe want to be our next night guy

(12:46):
at Wild one oh seven. Soso here was just like a transition.
Oh it was a transition, yeah, And what were you doing here at
the time acts no nights, okay, And then you made your way to
San Francisco. You know what's crazyhearing this story is you were you know,
me being like this radio nerd.You you were surrounded with some big

(13:07):
Yeah, all these name jumps rightnow, it's like crazy, I didn't
know you knew all these people.No, it's crazy, dude. And
actually a lot of people that havenames have came through B ninety five over
the years, which is wild.Well, when you think about B ninety
five, like Sna G worked atB ninety five. She's the morning show.
It came yell in San Francisco.Her boss, Don Parker was the

(13:30):
program director here at B ninety five. Mark Adams, program director here at
B ninety five. I mean thisstation that we work for is legendary.
People don't understand. KBOs is oneof those stations that when you break it
down and you look at the talentthat has come from here alone, you
gotta be kidding me. Like Iremember, like the dude that did afternoons,

(13:54):
he's now doing mornings in San Francisco. His name was Marcus d.
The girl that did middays in endedup doing I think it was mornings and
then now her own afternoon show inSan Diego. So I'm just saying,
like, this place a lot oftalent. Yeah, a lot of talent.
I mean, and we're not talkingabout some of the people that are
off there, like look at Travis, like t XL, Travis Lockran.

(14:16):
I mean, he's the APD atWild in San Francisco. He was here.
So some of these names I didn'tknow they were here. Yes,
this is a good story, allright. So now you're back in San
Francisco at this time my Wild doingwhat are you doing doing nights? Okay?
Yeah? Was this during the Doghouseera? Dog House was there?
Well, it was crazy, wasthe time. So when I was coming

(14:39):
up in radio, the most difficultpart was figuring out who you were going
to be. And I think thebest advice anybody gave me was do Chris
do c K. Don't don't tryto emulate anybody else's sound or anybody else's
style, because the dog House wasrelevant. Rick Chase was really big for

(15:00):
us. It came he yell.Then of course you had Big Boy,
and of course you had the BakerBoys. So you're like, man,
there's so many styles out here thatmaybe I should be just like them,
or maybe I should sound like them. Or maybe just kind of emulate their
vibe. When we first get intoradio, we sort of emulate the people
that we listen to or that welike. So it makes sense that that's

(15:22):
sort of like what you were gonnado, and then you kind of gotta
break yourself find yourself essentially, whowas the DJ that you kind of emulated
when you were young when you firststarted. You know, it's crazy like
I used to I used to lovethe Baker Boys because I loved their energy,
but I was only one person,so I couldn't really emulate it.
I would just kind of have thatsame sort of I would be a little

(15:43):
hype, if that makes sense.But then I remember, like someone told
me, like, dog, that'snot you. Like you're a good dude
without trying to be somebody else.And so like when I got to San
Francisco, they were like, look, man, what's your vibe? What
are you gonna do? And I'mI'm just sitting down talking to Saint John.
He was like, man, you'rewow, dude. You like he

(16:04):
goes, You're like, man,The bad Boy Broadcast. So that's when
we started the show called The badBoy Broadcasting. It was me and this
dude big Vin Who's now it cameto yell and man or man Man.
Let me tell you those wild years. It was wild years. It was
crazy. If you listen to someof my first tapes here in Fresno,

(16:25):
you would think Felly Fell worked here. That's you know, but that's not
a bad person to emulate. Imean, but I was still so new
to the game, really, butyeah, you kind of break out of
that mold. I wanted to askJizzo, I've known you from the beginning
of your career, did you everbecause I don't know, did you ever

(16:45):
emulate anyone? I think I camefrom that same Felly tree because I came
on as your interns, so Ikind of emulated sort of like what you
did, which is sort of likewhat Felly did. So I think I
kind of branched off from that too, with like the high energy, the
hypeness. Yeah, the cool wordsand all that stuff, right, the
long intros and sirens and all thatshit. Right, So yeah, so

(17:07):
it happens. Let me tell youthis quick story real quick, because going
back to the Baker Boys, Soyou know the Baker Boys obviously from Bakersfield,
Bakersfield, you know, back inthe day, you could get B
ninety five and people would listen.So my first couple of nights on the
on the radio here, we woulddo this thing called the bad Boy breakdown,
but it was basically stealing what theBaker Boys did. And it'd be

(17:27):
like, it's the bad Boy breakDamn being ninety five. K's on the
mic and I'm kicking it live,shout ouse to your peeps, what's up
to? Your crew? Were breakingit down a baby, who are you?
And the people would come on andthey would freestyle right then I would
say my line and I would doit one more time and see K's doing
it and I would say something.They would say something clever, and then
so about a weekend of doing that, I got a call from them like

(17:52):
stop. It was like the BakerBoys hit you up. They was like
stop. Know what? Though,I think that was the best thing that
could have happened to me because ithelped me realize I'm not y'all, I'm
not supposed to be doing and itworked because a lot of people can emulate
other people's styles, but it wasthe best thing that happened to me because

(18:17):
then I realized I'm about to bethe best Chris I can be. It's
interesting that when we all first getinto radio, the hardest thing for us
to eventually become is ourselves, whichis weird, right, because we're naturally
ourselves all the time, but forwhatever reason, when we get on the
radio, it takes sometimes a longtime years to just become ourselves on the
radio. It's really weird to me. I've always found that interesting why we

(18:40):
all do that. Yeah, I'vealways wanted there's a I don't know if
this is still possible, but I'vealways wanted to. What's that position where
you go around different radio stations andkind of teaching them like a consultant.
A consultant because I'll go to likebig markets and listen while I'm at that
market, can and listen to thejock there and this is a big market

(19:03):
and I'm hearing this kind of talkbreak and it just reminds me of how
we were when we were younger,and you kind of want to teach them
now, like you just be yourself. It's the whole thing you're not you're
trying to sound like a DJ.Like, don't try to sound like a
DJ. Just be you and onceyou can figure that out, like you'll
be the best version. And I'mtalking this is recent, like when I

(19:23):
was back home in La Yeah,I mean to this, there're still here
breaks like that. I can telllike, man, that's not you right
yeah to this day and you knowit's you know, no one's maybe telling
them or they're just still new andit's just you got to break out of
that. But it is interesting thatonce you can find yourself, you're going
to be the best radio personality youcould be. Okay, so you're here
B ninety five now, okay,he's you were in San Francisco, Cisco.

(19:48):
Yeah, that story I just hadto go because we were talking about
emulating style. You were like,oh, you know what, I kind
of feel like. You know,it's interesting that you both say that about
Felly Felt because I definitely could hearthat influence back in the day. Because
what people don't know about me wasI would come to Fresno at least three
or four times a year. Mywife went to Bullet High School, so

(20:10):
I met her the first time whenI came to Fresno. So I would
come back and just listen to radio. I would just come back. I
would grow, I grew up listeningto y'all when I was in radio.
So I would come back, Iwould listen to magic. I would come
back, I would listen to y'all. I would see what y'all were doing.
I'm like, okay, let mesee what what B ninety five is
doing. Let me tap in andsee what their vibe is about. But

(20:32):
yeah, no, I mean Idefinitely could hear that, like back in
the day, that Felly influence,and I think Felly Fella's dope. That's
yeah. I think my mindset doingthat too was I'm in a different city
that he's not, So I thinkthat was my mindset. But yeah,
looking back at it, it didtake me a while to find my own

(20:52):
style. Okay. So yeah,so what's next on the timeline? So
from San Francisco, that's when MarkMedeena and myself we teamed up again at
Power ninety two in Phoenix. Sowe went to Phoenix to do afternoons and
the whole goal was that we weregoing to do a morning show together.

(21:12):
So when out there, the planwas to do a morning show together.
Program director was one hundred percent inon it. We were ready to go,
and then for some reason, themorning show that was in place there,
their numbers blew up that we werecoming in to take over them.
Yeah, and they just got bettertheir number like it was almost like,

(21:33):
oh, we know what y'all arehere to do. Then they got better,
and it was like back burner,back burner, back burner. Mark
kind of got a little tired ofthat. Mark's like, look, I
think my goal is I want tobe a program director. And he's like,
I think I'm gonna go and I'mgonna start my journey. And I
was like, damn, I'm outhere in Phoenix. So then he went

(21:56):
to his radio station where he startedhis journey, and I proud of them
because you see where it ended up. Then I went back to KSFM and
Sacramento, and that's where I didnights and did mornings and did a whole
bunch of things. I was therefor like a couple of years, four
or five years, so okay,and then after that where so from KSFM,
I'll tell you at KSFM, forme, it was where I really

(22:22):
found myself. This is Sacramento.And I loved that station for so many
reasons. First of all, wasa heritage station, but I always said
I wanted to go back and givemyself an opportunity to be heard by my
family, which was in Stockton,but not necessarily on k WIN. I
wanted them to hear me in amajor market capacity. So now that my

(22:44):
parents have passed away, going toKSFM really meant a lot to me because
they were able to listen to meat night, listen to me in the
mornings. They were able to heartheir son be on the radio and be
successful in this game that a lotof people say it's a difficult game to
be successful in. I love KSFMfor that. KSFM was an interesting station.

(23:07):
It's a station that's a heritage station, no different than say a B
ninety five, but it's fell offdrastically in the last few years and it
doesn't necessarily have the name that itused to have back in the day.
But that was where I almost gotinto a fight with Chris Webber. So
the King's Chris Webber, The King'sChris Weber. We're doing mornings and it's

(23:29):
the same time that Chris Weber getsbusted for smoking marijuana, and he didn't
tell his mom that he got bustedfrom marijuana. His mom happens to be
listening to the morning show on theday that we're reporting the story. Shit,
we had a concert right with DiAngelothat we were hosting at the Arco
Arena. So there I am.I'm showing up to the KSFM concert with

(23:52):
DiAngelo. Someone at the at theKSFM booth was like, look, Chris
Weber is looking for you. He'smad. I was like, what do
you mean, what are you talkingabout? Nah? Man, Chris Weber
says, when k gets here,let me know. We got some shit
to seven. And I was like, wait a minute, are you for
real? Like nah? Nah?And then I was like what do you
mean, Like how bad is it? He's like nah, he goes.

(24:12):
I think he wants to fuck youup marijuana, yes, right, yeah.
And so then there we were atthis concert. I had a friend
that played on the on the King'sPractice squad, So I was like,
man, I don't know what's goingon. Can you talk to Chris figure
this south for me? And cometo find out, like I'm sitting there

(24:33):
in the front row and I'm withmy my family and my friends, Chris
Webber comes up out of nowhere andliterally taps me on the shoulder and we
get into a full on altercation,not like a fight or nothing, but
like verbally just assaulting each other rightthere in the front row during the DiAngelo
concert. Wow, and the wholetime like and I kind of had mentally

(24:56):
prepared myself for this. I waslike, please hit me, because I
think I'm gonna get millions by ChrisWebber. But cooler heads prevailed. And
I'll tell you right now, Iwas scared to death though he's hella big,
yeah, hell big. I waslike, damn Chris Webber. But
he was mad. He was like, my mama heard this, this I
go. All I did was reportthe story. I read something in the

(25:19):
Sacramento be I'm not doing something thatI was like. I wasn't talking trash
about him. I wouldn't say anythingnegative about him. But man, I'm
telling you right now, that wasthe one time where I was like,
damn, im about to get beatup by Chris Webber. Man. So
after Sack, is that when youfinally got back to the balley? No?
No, from there, I wentto Portland. Okay, oh yeah,

(25:41):
I forget about Portland. To Portlandreal quick before you get into port
The Portland story this is just youknow, a lot of people try to
get radio gigs. What's the proare you applying for these jobs? Are?
Are are you getting sought after?How are you you? Probably because
he just all the people you know, man, Oh yeah, that's what

(26:03):
I want to know, Like,how are you getting connects to these different
you know, these are some dopecities to work radio in. So once
I started working at Wild in SanFrancisco, it was like you had the
Michael Martin seal of approval. Andso when people looked at your resume and
they saw the stations that you workedat. Now you have to remember KWin

(26:27):
is a heritage station in Stockton,still the top station in the area.
B ninety five was the heritage stationin Fresno Steal number one, Wild one
oh seven then transforms to Wild oneninety four nine. I worked for both.
The top station in the Bay Area. KSFM was number one. So
when someone saw my resume at thestation, like, oh, this dude's

(26:49):
worked at all the top stations.Power ninety two in Phoenix, this dude's
worked at all the top stations.Oh and by the way, Michael Martin's
co signing for him, Mark Adamsis co signing for him. These other
dudes are co signing for him,and I'm like, so my resume just
kind of led me to different places. I'm not gonna lie, it was.
I mean, it's sort of likewhat we talk about, like,

(27:11):
right, you get these type ofgigs by who you know, the networking
that is crazy in this industry.It is like, one of the reasons
why I fell in love with thisindustry is just like it's it's who you
know, the people you rubbed shoulderswith, and that goes a long way,
and obviously it's gone a long wayfor your career. So that's dope,
man, that's dope. Okay.So we're in Portland now, and
now this was probably the most interestingmove of my career because it was a

(27:37):
full on mainstream station. Now.The reason this was interesting was because I
knew I was going to do somethingthat I had never done before. I
knew I was going to challenge myselfto do something that I had never done
before. But it was important forme to go there because I felt like,
as a black radio personality, peoplealways said, well, he can

(28:00):
do hip hop, he can dothe rhythmic radio because he's black. So
going to Portland was more about mechallenging myself, silencing people, silencing naysayers
and saying you know what, Idon't care. I can talk up Incubus
and still win. I can talkup all these records, three doors down,

(28:23):
you name it, because that's whatI was playing in Portland and still
be successful. And that's what Iwent there to do, and I did.
I went there to be the bestI could be, learn more about
myself, and then be able totell anyone in the future you can hire
me at any sort of station becauseI fit that format. So that was

(28:47):
a big deal for me. Iloved Portland, was a beautiful city,
but I learned a lot about myselfthere. I became the best personality I
could be there, and I becamethe most well rounded there because man,
and I'll tell you right now,you thought it was interesting coming and being
the first dude to play Black Streetand dre here at B ninety five,

(29:07):
there was none of that I was. I played Uchi Wally. That was
That was the only hip hop recordwe played on the night show. It
was Uchi Wally the nas joint YEP. Okay, how long were you in
Portland? I was in Portland forabout six years? Oh wow? So
you were there for a long longtime in Portland. I did nights,
afternoons and mornings. Was that yourfirst time doing a morning gig? You

(29:30):
know what it was? It wasbecause even when I was at KSFM and
I did like feeling mornings and stuff, it wasn't me. It wasn't your
show. So it was my firstopportunity to get a real taste at morning
drive where I was in charge ofother people or like it was a team
and it was a show, thatwhole thing. But I was bad.

(29:52):
I sucked. It was horrible.I mean, the morning show is a
different beast. It's something that Ido. I know, magic you've on
it in your career. I've justbeen like a like a like a co
host on certain times their feelings,but I know that's like a whole other
beast. Not to mention waking upHella early all the time. It was
different, dude, And I'm notgonna lie I was really bad at mornings.

(30:15):
Hey, I don't even think I'mall that great now, but I
was really bad. Like it wasn'tit wasn't good. I don't even want
to go back and listen to aircheck of that. Okay, So after
Portland. Now where are we at? So? After Portland? What I
do from there? Oh? Iwent to Tucson. I was at Arizona
three and two Son. Yeah,okay, yeah, So I went there

(30:37):
for a quick minute, and thenafter that I kind of got out of
radio, Like I started working forthis dude named R Dub and Sunday Night
Slow Jams. So R Dub wasmy program director at Hot ninety eight three
and Tucson, and he has asyndicated show called Sunday Night Slow Jams.
So as the show was starting tobubble up, it started off on like
ten stations and now he's like onover two hundred. He was like,

(31:00):
hey, man, you know what, dude, do you think you want
to come and like help me getthis show on radio stations nationwide. So
he hired me and we literally wentfrom city to city, state to state
just trying to get Sunday Night SlowJams on every single radio. So then
I got out for a little bitand I I was like, man,

(31:23):
Okay, what are we gonna donext? Because I could either keep working
for our dub and I didn't reallylike that. I want to get back
on the radio. So I waslike Okay, what am I going to
do? What am I going todo? And something opened up in the

(31:44):
valley, in a little house inthe South Valley, in a little house
in the South Valley where there wasa roach that would run across the board
when you're on the radio. Sothis is this is when I first heard
of they were I don't know whothey had before you. I don't know.
Was it the PK's Playhouse was itthat during that time? I think

(32:05):
I came on after Davy Okay,okay, so yeah, so Q ninety
seven was doing their morning show atthe time, transitioning and then I remember
hearing a c K come on there. But you weren't there that long?
Right, No? No, likeI'm even thinking, was I gone already?
Was ill year? Was that?Do you remember on tour already?
You know what? I think youwere gone? Yeah, because I don't

(32:29):
Yeah, you were gone because ifI remember correctly the way it went the
talent wise, that was here,it was g dree Mo. Yeah,
I want to say Danny and thenyou. I think that was the lineup.
So yeah, you were. SoI was doing nice at that time,
and I just remember being miserable.I remember thinking to myself, Why'd

(32:52):
I even come back into the game, Like I really was, like I
didn't want to do it. Yeah, I mean I could attest to that
because I worked over there for alittle bit too, And that was technically
my first radio gig because after interninghere at B ninety five, they had
no openings and I got offered todo weekends at Q And it was in
Vicelia, so already that drive,but it's literally in a house like bedrooms,

(33:16):
bathrooms, school, a kitchen.Yeah, it's a house that they
turned into a studio and man,I was on that same VI. It's
depressing. I don't know why,Like especially coming from interning at a big
corporate station in this big building andthen I'm driving to the South Valley across
the street from a school. Drivinginto like Acharage to Park station was kind

(33:38):
of like underground. So like whenyou looked out of the window from the
studio at the road, yeah,it was like you would see people's feet
walking to school. I'm just like, it is kind of depressing. It
you remember who reached out to youto let you know there was an opening
or did you you heard of themopening and you went out for Tommy Oh

(33:59):
this one Q oh for Q oh. No, you know what it was
because Tommy wasn't there at the time. It was Renee because it was remember
like Q and were owned by thesame company. So we didn't even really
have a program director there because Reneewas programming both stations and so he would

(34:20):
only go up there like once ortwice a week if that. And yeah,
it was it was an interesting whenyou were there just a few months.
It was not not the business.It was not the business. And
I remember because this was the sametime you were out of Radio two.
And the reason I know this wasbecause when I got a call one day,

(34:50):
they were like, look, wegot your name from Dennis Martinez,
who was also a program director hereback in the day and someone that I
grew up in radio Win and TonyRest in peace, Tony Man, good
dude. I got a call fromhim and he was like, hey,
look, I want to meet withyou, but obviously we can't meet anywhere

(35:14):
around the radio station. I justwant to talk to you. I just
want to pick your brain and let'sjust vibe out. So we met at
a Starbucks, the Starbucks down thestreet on Shaw and we met there like
three times, and I never knewwhat gig he was talking about. And
the only reason I remember this nowbecause now I know you were out of

(35:34):
work because the gigs that were openit wasn't B ninety five at the time,
because at the time B ninety fivewas occupied, it was kgg I.
So I was this whole time,follow me this whole time. I'm
like, I think he wants meto go to Riverside because you were not

(35:59):
yet. No, that's right,that's right. But you end up getting
it. So we're sitting there andwe're going through this process, and I
end up meeting Jeff again away fromhere, never at the radio station.
We're meeting in Starbucks all the time. I think once Jeff was like yep.
Then he goes, all right,look, we are gonna talk to

(36:19):
you on Friday. We're gonna letyou know what our ideas, so I
could tell you what was going onon my end on that story, the
same story of Tony and Jeff talkingto me about an opening in Riverside,
but they said, we would wantyou to choose Fresno first. Do you
want to come back to BE ninetyfive as the new morning show Now previously.

(36:45):
They did say in the beginning,was there's an opening for the morning
show on Riverside, right, sothey they kind of had me decide which
one I wanted at this time.It's the same story about your parents.
I'm originally from that area, Sojust the thought of my friends, my

(37:06):
family hearing me on the radio iswhat made me kind of decide to choose
Riverside. But they were giving mean option, we want you back at
B ninety five, that's our firstoption, but you left. I chose
be Ninty. I mean I chose. It must have been right after,

(37:27):
like literally right after he made thedecision that it was going to be kgg
I. They said it's B ninetyfive. I was like what wow.
I was like, hell yeah,So this is the whole time you're having
these conversations. You had no idea. What the gartn't tell me. They
just said, just say it's amorning show opening. You're going to be

(37:52):
satisfied, You're going to be happy. And I'm like, I was just
patient. That's chilling. Literally,I was like, if we're gonna do
let's do it. And then theywas like B ninety five. I was
like morning show and because it meansso much. It really does. You
worked here before, you know whatI'm saying, you were gonna start a

(38:14):
new morning show, damn. Sohow'd you feel? Man? I was
nervous. I was nervous because thisis a station that means a lot.
It means a lot to this community. It means a lot in the radio
business, and especially the morning show, and especially this morning show is one

(38:34):
of those morning shows where live upto what the numbers have always been,
and they they've always been extremely successful. So I wasn't coming in after someone
that wasn't producing good numbers. Iwas coming in after a morning show who
everybody knew, who had the bestname recognition in the history of Fresno.

(38:59):
And I was like, if Ican't kill it, if I can't win,
this could be it. Well notto mention, now are you replacing
them? But then you have tocompete against them because then they go the
other radio station. They had thejump because right because the way that once
Magic made his decision, they werelike, all right, look, it's
gonna be you, Carmen and Dre, and then Dre was like, nope,

(39:25):
Dre didn't know I was coming in, but they pitched you that d
was going to be here, andthen when g did what he needed to
do, Dre was like, nowI'm going with him. So then it
just left Carmen and I felt badfor Carmen. He just doing the morning
to show by herself for a littlebit, and I'm sure that she was

(39:46):
like, what just happened? Myold My whole world in radio just turned
upside down? I mean because atthe end of the day that had to
feel lonely for her. I mean, I'm we've talked it before, but
we've never dived in. Maybe thisis something y'all need to talk to her
about it. We'll have to getinto that. At the end of the

(40:07):
day, I was like, bro, that was messed up, Like y'all
didn't give her heads up, youdidn't tell her nothing, and then we
were just kind of thrown into thefire. Yeah, literally, we were
thrown into the fire so to cutthroat business the radio. I mean,
I remember that era. It waslike a tough time, you know for
you guys. I remember during thattime. I know she still felt some

(40:27):
type of way. She was kindof going through it. You were like
new you know what I'm saying.You had to like start something into what
you said you had done on theshow before, but you said that you
weren't even good at it, sonow you had like a second try.
Then you had to follow up whatthey were doing and then compete with with
them. And I mean, lookat what it is today now, you
know what I'm saying, number onemorning show. You've made a name for
yourself, You're on multiple radio stations, you got a Fox Sports show that

(40:52):
you do. So it's it's dopeman that you you were able to overcome
that and still be here. Yeah. No, I mean it is definitely
a journey. I'm so happy,Blest, and I love the team.
I mean, I think it tooka minute for everybody to gel and get
our synergies together, but now Ireally feel like we're a really good unit.

(41:15):
And I feel like we all understandeach other and I feel like we're
all working for the common goal.So I appreciate the team. I appreciate
Visa, I appreciate everything that we'reabout because I know that we're like we're
gang when it comes to this,like we're family. This is fun,
it's fun. I think the goodthing about what you just said is like

(41:36):
it's that almost like a sports analogy. Everyone knows their role, so there's
no one no one feels like anyone'sstepping over anybody or or you know,
there's no threat of anything because everyonehas their own role and put together.
I mean like an era of likea lot of toxicity, yes going on.

(41:59):
Me and even sort of had likea one on one during like the
pandemic. I think that's when meand him really got to like kind of
air some things out and be coolbecause during the pandemic, I mean,
it was empty in this building,and it was me Ck and just like
a few other people in the building, and we would see each other every
day during that time, and youknow, that time was such a very
ugly time in the world and anythingthat was going on, and we just

(42:21):
didn't know what was gonna happen inthe world, what was gonna happen with
our jobs. And I think meand c K really started to click with
each other because we would see eachother coming here every day just all the
bullshit out in the world. Wewas coming in here working, we'd be
here on the weekends, we'd popup, and me and him really just
kind of got to know each otherand really be understood like our work ethics
and really started to like understand eachother. And I think that was really

(42:43):
good for like the comarradity of everythingand like really breaking that gap between like
the mornings and the afternoons. Andlike you said, now, I feel
like we really do have like agood team. And to your point,
magic, like everybody now just kindof knows their role. You know what
you need to do. I knowwhat I need to do, and then
if we need to help each otheror if we're at an event. We
were recently at an event together thatValentine's Not out. We were all three

(43:05):
on stage together and like we bothlike hit each other up, like yo,
that was like a good time,man, Like we really enjoyed each
other's company. We like gel together. We were dope on stage together.
And I think it's just we're allin a good place right now. No,
we definitely are. And I mean, let's be real, it was
all growing pains, yeah, exactly. We all had to get used to
all the changes that were going onaround here. It was a crazy time.

(43:28):
It was a crazy time, andyou're right, there was a level
of toxic toxicity. Toxicity toxicity.It was toxic. There was that level.
But you know what, you gothrough it it's about growing and that's
what we did. We all kindof grew through it together. And I
mean, I can tell you justfor my eleven years here now it's night

(43:50):
and day. It really is.Yeah, And I'm like, I feel
happy to come to work. Ifeel blessed to come to work. I'm
excited about our team. I'm excitedabout the things that we do here.
Whereas there was a moment where Iwas like, man, I don't know,
I felt like there was like adivide. Yeah, we had,
like, you know, a leader. There was kind of like didn't really
help the situation, you know whatI mean. There was a it was

(44:10):
a it was a it was kindof a mess. But now that that's
gone and we've kind of like gotto know each other more, there's a
better understanding and I think we're justreally in a good spot right now.
A couple of fun funds were I'lljust say, look at this, this
is real therapy. I know,you guys have we bring on coworkers and
stuff. We really just get everythingout. It's definitely like a good learning

(44:35):
uh session for me and just findingout the background of out that everyone hated
you. But you know, though, like going back to that, I
mean, I'm sure because all ofus, all of us went through our
time of arrogance in cockiness. Youknow, I'll tell you something real.
I have reached out to people thatI worked with before and I've apologized to

(44:59):
them. I've reached out to peopleand I said, you know what,
at that point in my career,I was full of myself. I really
believe the shit that I was on. I mean, you think about it,
though, this is like the entertainmentbusiness, you know what I'm saying,
Like, this is like we areyou know, people in the community.
We have our brands, we haveour image. We're all trying to

(45:21):
get to the top. So yousort of have to have a little bit
of that ego. But at thesame time, you can't shit on other
people. We gotta work with people, and I think that might have took
us like a little while to figurethat out to kind of like gel together
and like, yo, at theend of the day, we're like a
team. I mean, you see, like athletic teams go through this type
of thing. It was nothing differenthere. But what we're getting there,
man, And I think I thinkit's good, but I think it is

(45:44):
growth. I'm just saying, like, I appreciate these conversations, the conversations
that you guys have been having,and they need to be had. They
need to be had because I'll tellyou right now. For me, it
was like maybe halfway about five yearsago, I realized there were times in
my career where I was just anasshole and I was an asshole to co
workers, I was an asshole tointerns, I was an asshole to people

(46:06):
that I respect in this business.And I really reached out to people and
said, hey, man, Ijust want to call you and just apologize
because I know that there was atime where I was just a dick.
So but go ahead, Magic,I know you guys have a question.
My mind was just going to bemore kind of like changing it to a
more fun questions. Let's do it. Do it? Like you know,
I know your name is Chris,but what I actually don't know what Your

(46:31):
last name doesn't start with a K. So my last name is Hall.
And at the time when I firststarted in radio, there was a dude
named Kevin Hall at the radio station. Because I just wanted to be Chris
Hall, and they were like,well, we already got a Kevin Hall
that works here. So they're like, just pick a name. I'm like,
just pick any name. So theyliterally went through the phone book and
they were like, well what aboutthis name, this name, this name,

(46:52):
And then they were like Kennedy.So I was go on the radio
as Chris Kennedy, Chris Kennedy.So like my first air checks would be
like, hey, what up,it's k Wayn. It's Chris Kennedy.
So I was like, dang,that sounds hell of corny. So then
I was like, I'll just beKennedy. But then there was the VJ

(47:13):
that was like on MTV the girlher name was Kennedy. So I was
like, damn it, I'm justgonna go by the name of c K.
So here's the messed up part.And there's one part of my career
that I forgot because it was ablip on the radio, and I'm gonna
go back to that real fast,going by the name c K. And
Stockton there were a lot of crips, so they thought that it was like

(47:35):
banging on radio. When I firsttook the job at KSFM, they made
me go on. I did thirtyminutes of explaining my name. No shit,
yeah, this is the honest togod true. I had to take
phone calls. I had to letthem know. They were like, look,
you were ck in the bay,so we want you to still be
ck here. But because gang violenceis so rampant, do you mind doing

(48:00):
this? So first thirty minutes ofmy show, I had to explain your
k the name, and hopefully everybodywas good with it. The quick part,
this was so fast. I workedat Kday for a minute in La.
They wouldn't let me go by cK. So I was on the
radio there as CJ. I didmid days at Kday in l A,

(48:24):
and it was a quick It waswhen we first brought KD back, so
it was like kJ had just kindof came back. Julio g was on
the radio station at the time.It was right before the Biger boys started
doing afternoons again, and I wasthe midday dude. But they were like,

(48:45):
you gotta be CJ. There's noway that Bek on the radio out
here in LA. I'm not familiarwith the c K being that's associated with
crips, strip killer. Oh yeah, that's right. That's right, right
and again, and I have acousin that the gang bang was locked up.
He said, like, anytime Icome on the radio, like in

(49:06):
jail or in prison, and I'dbe like, c K would be happy?
Is it? Yeah? There yougot our dude. I never thought
about that. Bro, It's ChrisKennedy. So to this day is this
core dude is every once in awhile. I mean, people don't bang
like that. So I mean,I mean there are times where I do

(49:29):
be like, damn, should Ieven say, like what my name is?
But you know, it is whatit is. It's a name.
But yeah, without counting Fresno,you named all these cities you did radio
in, so you can't say Fresno. What would be the city you wish
you were having a long radio careerat Portland. I love Portland. Portland

(49:51):
Portland, the weather was fantastic,you got the Blazers basketball. The Northwest
is a special place, but yougot to live in Northwest to kind of
fully understand it. But when peoplego it rains too much, I'm like,
no, it would rain in themorning and then the sun would come
out in the afternoon. But man, Portland was a beautiful beautiful city.
So out of all the cities Ilived in, if there was one city

(50:14):
I could go back to and justlive there, it'd be Portland. It'd
be Portland for sure. One lastone B ninety five highlight, like working
here was like something that pops inyour head. Oh simple, It was
meeting Carmen. Because Carmen made mebetter. I tell her this all the
time I go. You are theblessing in my career that I didn't know

(50:34):
that I needed. She made methe best version of K period. So
the fact that I met Carmen,that we went through the growing pains that
we went through, and where weare now, there's no question about it.
That me and Carmen teaming up,meeting, building the synergy that we
have in the CK and Carmen inthe Morning Show. Now, that was

(50:57):
the best thing that could have happened. And this has been your longest stay.
No. I love I love Resno, I love my The fact that
my kids are around the grandparents,The fact that my kids are around their
nieces. I mean my nieces,they're the niece and the nephews, but
around their cousins and stuff. Man, that's dope. I love being a
dad, Like that's where I'm atnow in life, like my dad Number

(51:17):
one is to be a dad.This has afforded me a great opportunity to
be the best dad that I couldbe. Real quick, I would be
remiss if I don't bring this up. You were talking about your different stations
that you went to all over.Were you single at the time or were
you did you so, because whatwas that dynamic? Like when I met
my wife here that was my firstjob outside of KWin. So my wife

(51:45):
and I we got engaged maybe likemaybe it was a year after we met.
I'm trying to think of the wholetimeline. So I was never really
single in radio other than at kWIN. And that was crazy because I
wasn't twenty one, so I'd bein the clubs whil and now you know
what I'm saying. They would justbe sneaking brothers up in the club.

(52:07):
I mean that was fun, ButI didn't really live like the single life.
But I'll tell you right now,as far as like the best station
in the best environment, one ofthose seven Wild ninety four nine, it
was radio war and we had tolive the lifestyle. We'll just put it
like that. So we I didfive clubs a week. I was out

(52:29):
every night. We lived that life. It was it was it was like
it was radio wars. It wasn't. It wasn't for the faint of heart
killers. Killers and I'm not talkingabout real life killers, but I'm talking
about radio killers were born out ofthe camea wild ninety four nine battles period.

(52:50):
Man, Well, Chris Kennedy,thank you very much today's guest on
the podcast. Hey, thank youall so much for having me. Yeah,
man, last, just let letpeople know what they can where they
can listen to you, you know, the morning show, the Fox Sports.
Yeah, man, make sure youcheck me out every single morning,
first and foremost with Ck and Comedyin the morning BE ninety five. That
makes sure you check me on theafternoons Fox Sports Radio three to four k

(53:13):
on Sports, and then I'm ona ton of iHeartRadio stations Friday, the
same stations as Yeah. Yeah,all right, man, we appreciate it,
brother. Until next time. Thiscould get me for ore podcast