Rich Davis: Radio Hustle, On-Air Chemistry, and the Power of Saying Yes

Episode Transcript
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Rich Davis (00:03):
I see Scott Shannon in the hallways of PLJ my first
week there and I'm doing internstuff making copies, folding
t-shirts, going handing outbumper stickers and I went up to
Scott Shannon.
I go hey, scott Rich, I'm anintern, I don't want to fold
t-shirts, I want to learn fromyou, I want to be your intern.
And he was like I like yourambition Starting Monday, you're

(00:24):
my personal intern.
And he was like I like yourambition Starting Monday, you're
my personal intern.
When I first started gettinginto radio, I would compile air
checks of people around thecountry, take a little bit from
each.
Like ooh, I like how he doesthat.
There'd be videotapes of likeBroadway, Bill Lee and some of
these legends and watching themin the studio and I would do
that.
There was a point where if younamed a city, I could tell you

(00:46):
the station, the programdirector and who's on the day
parts.
I wanted to be in the know.
We're in the fishbowl and BrunoMars is walking by.
Henry Winkler pops out of hischair and he's like oh my god, I
love Bruno Mars.
And Bruno sees that, makes eyecontact, comes around, pops in
the fishbowl and they just havea love fest for each other.

(01:08):
He's like I love you.
And Bruno Mars starts talkingabout you know, you're the Fonz,
this is surreal.
And he's like but I love youralbum, I love you, bruno.
He's like no, I love you.
Henry and Cavino and I are justsort of sitting back watching
this cool moment unfold.
Kid Kelly said early on in mycareer if you're kind to people

(01:30):
and keep your nose clean, ifyou're not an asshole, you're
kind to people and you're good,there'll be a place for you.

Larry Samuels (01:37):
Hello and welcome to the Career Journey podcast
no Wrong Choices.
I'm Larry Samuels, soon to bejoined by Tushar Saxena and
Larry Shea.
Today's episode features theradio, podcast and TV
personality, Rich Davis.
Before we bring him in, pleasebe sure to like, follow and
subscribe to the show whereveryou're listening right now.

(01:57):
Let's get started Now.
Joining no Wrong Choices is theradio and podcast personality,
Rich Davis, with over twodecades in the business, Rich
entertains listeners who enjoyeverything from pop culture to

(02:17):
hit music to sports.
He can currently be heard orseen on Covino and Rich, on Fox
Sports Radio, the hit podcasthave Kids they Said, which I
look forward to talking about,and on the Sirius XM channels
pop two K and the pulse rich.
Thank you so much for joiningus.

Rich Davis (02:28):
Hey, I love seeing you know faces from the past and
I want to add one thing to thelist there I'm the number one
kids coach in SouthernCalifornia.
I am, you got to see me, coachman.

I think we're going to have a lot in common as
we go through this conversation.

Tushar Saxena (02:43):
Having seen the bad news bears I probably know
what your coaching style is like.

Yes, and to that point, I am the coach of my
son's t-ball team right now.
So I think we're gonna have alot to talk about for sure
excellent, no doubt, no doubt ofit.

LarryShea (02:56):
Uh, it's larry shea here.
Rich, it's really good to seeyou, man.
Um, it's been a lot of years.
We've we've worked together fora couple of decades now at
SiriusXM and it was really oneof my favorite parts of the day.
Man, you would finish your showand come bounding by my office
in the hallway, as I used tocall it, and we would talk
sports and life and shoot theshit, and it was always just,

(03:18):
you know, you were one of theones, one of the good ones, as
they say.

Rich Davis (03:21):
You know, like, as we connected, Larry, I feel the
same about you man Like there'sa, there's a group of people I
feel like that were part ofSirius XM when it was just
serious, when it was like thisexciting new company Listen,
it's a huge billion dollar cashflow company now but those early
days when you know randompeople like Larry, where do you
work?

(03:41):
Cyrus Radio those old schooldays, you know you are friends
like Diane Tinelli, kathyBerusso, chris Gibbons, people
that, like we've professionallyworked with for 20 plus years
that you know we I've seenpeople there.
I'm saying with you have littlekids that are like now in
college.

LarryShea (03:58):
Yeah, definitely True .
Shout outs to some legends atSirius.
Xm right there.
No doubt I get the fun part.
Man, I want to take you back towhen you were a kid, because I
know you're like a lifetimeradio guy, tv guy.
Take me back to young RichDavis, though.
What was the dream?
What did you want to do whenyou were a kid?

Rich Davis (04:17):
Well, you know it's interesting.
A lot of times you see littleindications along the way.
At the time time it might notbe evident, but when you look
back you're like, shit, it makessense now.
Like who wants to do the classannouncements with me?
You know who wants to take thelunch tally?
Like, all right, who wantspizza?
You know who wants hamburgers?
Like I was the kid that wasnever shy to be on stage I was

(04:39):
never.
I was never shy to get in frontof the classroom and do a
project.
So I always felt pretty naturalspeaking in front of people.
And then I remember thinkingyou know, I want to go into
sports, broadcasting or music orsomething.
And my high school principal, aguy named Tom Dolan a lot of
people are like, yeah, myprincipal sucked.
I don't even know him.
My principal was a great dude.
Like he pulled me aside andhe's like any hesitation of you

(05:03):
maybe staying on Long Island orgoing local, he's like go to
Syracuse, you're going to do it.
And I remember and we'll alwaysthank Tom Dolan for that went
to Syracuse.
And the cliff notes are simpleI was dating a girl long
distance and she dumped me.
I went to her college dorm room, larry and we were on the rocks

(05:23):
and I'd knock on the door.
You know, when you sneak into adorm like you wait for someone
to open it, you trail them in.

LarryShea (05:28):
Sure.

Rich Davis (05:29):
Because we were going through like a rough
moment.
You were stalking her Could bea word that's used.
Yeah, and I remember some dudeanswering the door he's like
she's with me now and he waswearing like a backwards
lacrosse hat and a goatee.
It was the 90s.
I'm like who's this jerk off?
And and then I went back to mycollege.
I was all mopey and one of myfriends said, hey, do you want

(05:51):
to come to the college radiostation?
And I'm just like drowning in abeer sitting in my college dorm
room, like I guess so.
And for some reason I went tothe college station and some
like confidence took over whereI was like wait, these are the
guys that are on the radio.
Yeah, I think I want to try it.
Yeah, and and I did, and itseemed like something that sort
of came relatively natural andeasy to me, and that's not

(06:15):
always the case, right?
So I said let me roll with thisand you know, fast forward, I'm
giving you the longest storyever no, it's all good fast
forward.
I was at syracuse, kept workingat the college station, started
working at hot 1079, which is ahot a chr in syracuse, and kid
kelly, who was working at z100in new york.

(06:35):
Um, I would send air checks.
I was, I was super ambitiousback then.
I made 50 demos and I went tothe copy center remember Maybe
you'd have to like burn CDs andI printed out color resumes and
shit Like it was and I sent itto 50 radio stations in like the
top 25 markets.
And one of those people thatgot back to me was kid Kelly and

(06:56):
he had agreed to air check meand which, which, for those that
don't know, means like listento my tape and give it some
criticism.
And I had become friends withhim and after a while he hit me
up and he's like hey, what areyou doing this weekend?
And our usual conversations.
I thought he meant like yeah,dude, I'm gonna try to hook up
with some girls and drink at thebar he goes well, do you want
to come down and do theovernight at z100?

(07:18):
and I was 20 years old and I'mlike wow, like 20, wow, working
at z100 in New York, and thatjust led into fill-ins and me
just being available wheneverthey wanted me.
Someone gets fired, I'm fillingin.
And then I was full time therefor four years, and that in 04,
when my contract was up there,kid Kelly had been at this new

(07:41):
company, sirius Satellite.

LarryShea (07:42):
Radio and he's like yeah, cyrus Radio.

Rich Davis (07:45):
And at the time I'm like, do I move around the
country, like where do I go fromhere?
And he's like I promise youjust come to Sirius and boom,
here we are Awesome.

Ta-da.
So just to give some folks someperspective, like who Kid is,
because Kid is, you know, he'san enormous enormous personality
.

LarryShea (08:01):
I, he's an enormous personality.

I mean, yeah, he's a legend in the radio
business, especially when itcomes to rock radio.
I think didn't he recently getinducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.

Rich Davis (08:12):
Yeah, he was in the Radio Hall of Fame.
He ran all the biggest top 40stations in the country.
Kid was, and still is, a bigdeal in that world and it was
always weird to me like wow, ofall the people you send out 50
resumes and demos, maybe likefive people got back to me but

(08:32):
all you needed was one dude allyou needed was one important
person.

Right, I kind of want to, I want to kind of uh,
you know, uh, stay on thatsubject for a moment.
The idea of sending out demosand sending out demos and
whatnot so was your, was yourgoal your first time around that
you wanted to do talk or youwanted to do music?
at
the time of my college radiostation was a pretty good like.
It's considered like the bestself-run college radio station.
Like it's it's independentlyrun and there's commercials and

(08:57):
it's formatted.
It's it's very official for acollege station, it's very
professional, very pro and it'sit really prepared me and I said
you know what I remember goinghome one summer and I interned.
I had an internship opportunityat a public relations firm and
WPLJ in New York, 95, five, andI just felt the contrast between

(09:19):
the fun vibes of a radiostation hallway and wearing a
fucking suit to the PR agency.
I feel like that was like oneof those.
Am I going to make a left orright?
And I went radio and then ontop of that I had you know, when
you don't realize you're havingballs and like people like, did
you just do that?
Scott Shannon, who's maybe oneof the biggest legends in the

(09:42):
top 40.
Legendary legendary figure.
So I see Scott Shannon in thehallways of PLJ my first week
there and you know I'm doingintern stuff making copies,
folding T-shirts, going handingout bumper stickers, you know,
and I went up to Scott Shannon.
I go hey, scott Rich, I'm anintern, I don't want to fold

(10:03):
T-shirts, I want to learn fromyou.
I'm an intern, I don't want tofold t-shirts, I want to learn
from you.
I want to be your intern.
And he and he was like I likeyour ambition.
Starting Monday, you're mypersonal intern and I became
Scott.
Wow.

Wow.

Rich Davis (10:14):
Personal intern for a summer, and yeah it just, I
feel like when I was a youngerman I made some pretty like
ballsy moves and I guess youknow ballsy, that's a ballsy
play that's a ballsy play Ididn't know people like you went
up to scott.
People don't do that.

I'm like it worked.
Yeah, that's great.
Do you know why you brokethrough with Kid kelly?
Like what was the, the package,the tape, the resume, like what
stood out?

Rich Davis (10:38):
Yeah, what?
what did kids say?
Truthfully, I think I sounded alittle like him and people are
all people like people that arelike them, and our conversations
were very light and funny aboutyou know, like date, like he
knew that I was a guy, that was,I lived like a very fun life,
like I was a young guy that wastalking about dating and hooking
up and music and sports, and Ithink he saw a little of of me

(11:03):
in him when he was on his comeup.
So we, we bonded pretty quickly.
So I think it was just one ofthose I could mold this kid into
what I need when you were a kiddid you listen to the radio?

LarryShea (11:13):
Did you hear those guys and say I wonder who those
people are?
Because it seems like the firsttime you even thought about it
was when you were bummed outabout a girl.
Yeah, you know, it's funny.

Rich Davis (11:24):
Dude booty will motivate you the loss, of the
loss of a fine ass will uh willmotivate man, but no, I I, I do
remember, uh, being in my car asa kid, like we all did, like
some listened to stern, some.
I remember listening to elvisand elliot and it's so funny
because elvis duran later becamea friend of mine and still is,
you know but I rememberlistening to Elvis and Elliot

(11:46):
and if they were in the middleof a good bit, I remember like
not wanting to get out of thecar, like and that's the power
of radio, like you know when, ifHoward or Elvis Duran or Mike
and the mad dog, if they're inthe middle of a good
conversation, you'd be like,when you got to your destination
, you'd be like, shit, I want to.
There was no podcasting.

LarryShea (12:03):
I couldn't listen.
Later it was just gone.
If you got out of the car itwas into the ether.
Where are you getting yourchops?
Was it that first Kid Kellyovernight experience?
Because you obviously can makesome mistakes overnight without
a big deal.
But where are you getting thosechops?
You said it came naturally toyou, but where are you honing
that craft?

Rich Davis (12:23):
I think you know what I was a.
When I really get intosomething I mean I like to think
I still do it.
Like we'll talk about kidslater.
But like you know, I startedgetting into coaching.
I really dove in.
Like I'm, you know, like when Ilike something I dive in head
first.
I become a little obsessive,compulsive, right.
So when I first started gettinginto radio radio, I would

(12:46):
compile air checks of peoplearound the country, take a
little bit from each like, oh, Ilike how he does that.
Remember, like california airchecks.
I don't know if that was just atop 40 guy thing, but there'd
be.
There'd be videotapes of likebroadway, bill lee and some of
these legends and watching themin the studio.
And I would do that, I would.
I would find air checks andlisten to different DJs.
There was a point where if younamed a radio, a city, I could

(13:09):
tell you the station, theprogram director and who's on
the day parts.
Like I was a bit obsessive,compulsive about it.
I wanted to be in the know, youknow.

So when you transition from Kid Kelly Z100,
you come out of that contractand go over to Sirius XM, you
walk into the Wild West.
There's no telling what'scoming your way.
Did you walk in there with avision, with expectations?
Was there something laid outfor you?
What were you walking?

Rich Davis (13:36):
into.
Interestingly enough, Iremember taking a significant
pay cut because New York, nomatter how young I was, it was
union, it was after a SAG.
Significant pay cut because,you know, new York, no matter
how young I was, it was union,it was after a sag.
So, you know, for a 20something year, 20 year old kid,
I was like I was buying thegood beer.
Let's say that, you know, and Igo to Sirius XM and at first it
was like, yeah, we can't payyou what they were paying an
on-air New York talent.

(13:57):
So I remember taking a pay cut,not really knowing where this
was going.
And you're right, it's.
It is a little bit of a kick tothe nuts, ego wise, because
everyone you know is like oh,you're on the air, you know Z100
or two like WFAN.
And now you're like no, no, I'm, I'm at serious radio.
And everyone's like I'm sorry,I don't have that.

(14:17):
So you know I.
But I do remember thinking likeall right, it keeps me in New
York.
And you know, at the time Ireally didn't feel like leaving
and and going somewhere else,not because I was nervous to do
that, I just felt like so manypeople found their way to New
York.
Eventually I started there.
So, unless it was a really cooljob, I I didn't feel like going
in reverse Like I was okay withthe idea of, hey, I had the

(14:40):
radio chapter of my life, what'snext?
Cause I wasn't going to be likeall right now, let me go to
Boise and do afternoons, like I.
Just that wasn't in my cardsyou know?

So was that the deal Like when your contract was
up at Z?
They basically said they werenot going to renew you.
Yeah.

Rich Davis (15:01):
Or it was simply that you're going to make the
jump.
Well, you know what it was oneof those.
Hey, you know, as you know, itcould be sports, top 40, rock.
If a new regime of programmerscomes in, you know they bring
their own guys and they shake itup.
I was a Kid Kelly guy, so whenhe left Right Like they got rid
of his regime.

Yeah.

Rich Davis (15:21):
Like any, any, because there were a couple
regimes in there and you know it.
It's almost like remember whenSirius and XM merged.
They were XM people and Siriuspeople and the people that were
too much like, yeah, fucking XM.
Later.

Right, exactly.
So what would you say was thebiggest difference between doing
commercial radio and now doing,for however long you've done at
this point, for the bulk ofyour career, doing satellite
radio?

Rich Davis (15:50):
Interestingly enough , I think, meeting and talking
to people around the country ascorny as that sounds, when
you're in New York, everyone islike you know, hey, jersey, oh,
italian guys.
I grew up in a very Italiantown on Long Island, new York,
new know, hey, jersey, oh,italian guys.
Yeah, like I, it's.
I grew up in a very Italiantown on long Island, new York,
new Jersey, connecticut.
I, you know.

(16:10):
My joke is always, if you're onthe subway, like I'm six foot,
I feel tall in New York becauseit's all, it's all Puerto Rican
guys, italian guys and Asianguys that are like short, unless
it's a black dude, I'm thetallest guy on the subway, you
know, and it's very hey, NewYork pizza, hey, like.
I remember having a conversationwith Covino early on and I'll

(16:31):
tell you how that started theCovino rich in a minute.
But I remember early onmentioning that I had penny a la
vodka for dinner and someoneand all the calls like what's
vodka sauce?
So you forget.
You're very in a New yorkbubble, you're in a market, if
you, if you're the guy that'sonly done radio in texas, you
don't know la new york miami.
So I thought it was cool tostart getting perspective about

(16:53):
prices, preferences, food style,everything.
So you know, like, for instance, like I like cavino and I would
joke about, like what are youwearing?
Like a pair of oakley's andthis, and it's like no, there's
guys around the country thatthat's their style.
Like they are, they wearoakley's and polo shirts and
they golf like that's.
So you're very learned.
You learn quickly.

LarryShea (17:12):
I love the idea of learning everyone's life, you
know yeah, so let's talk aboutstart getting into, like, what
you were doing at seriousmeeting, Covino.
I want to talk about yourpartner, because you've been
with him for two decades now atleast right, so it's our longest
relationship, yeah, so I wantto talk about how that
relationship started.
Were you thrust into it?

(17:33):
Did it happen, naturally?
And I also want to know, like,were you under contract at
Sirius?
Was when they took you on?
Was it we're going to do a fouryear or it was just your
full-time indefinitely?

Rich Davis (17:45):
I think in the beginning it wasn't even like a
host on a talent contract.
I think I was like an employeeof SiriusXM, sure, yeah, and I
remember that because in thebeginning I would get things
like stock options and thingsthat employees got, and then
once you get a contract, you'rejust a host that goes away when
you're a host.
Yeah, it's funny.

(18:06):
The perks that you do get as anemployee.
I mean, you get benefits andstuff, but those other little
things like bonuses- or options,A future?

LarryShea (18:15):
A future yes exactly.

Rich Davis (18:19):
So I start working there and the only way for them
to give me, I guess, a littlemore money so I could be like
hey guys, I was coordinatingsome of the channels, so I was a
music coordinator, as they callit, and I quickly realized that
I was really quick at it andgood at it and I realized not to
brag, but I'd be done by lunch.
And I'm like what is everyoneelse dilly-dallying?

(18:40):
And it made me realize I'm notcut out for this, because if you
work hard and fast, like,there's a lot of people that
like it would be lunchtime andI'd be like, all right, I
program the 80s channel, thisand that for tomorrow, and
everyone else is like, yeah,dude, like slow down, slow down.
So I was, I was coordinating,the 80s channel had started and

(19:00):
Nina Blackwood, mark Goodman andall those 80s, 80s signed on
and my job was to sort of runthat channel, load their voice
tracks into the system, whiledoing voice tracking on Hits 1,
the pop channel.
Then, at some point about sixmonths into that, if you
remember, when print media was athing, maxim Magazine wanted to

(19:22):
do a deal with Sirius andthat's where Covino and Rich
comes into play.
So around this time I knowCovino because he's working at
K-Rock in New York but he's alsovoice tracking on Sirius, xm's,
octane and Turbo and all thoserock channels.
So Covino and I know each other.
We're mutual radio buds.
When him and I met, we becamefriends real quick.

(19:45):
It's like it was.
It was almost like zach andslater, I say because, like we,
we were great wingmen, becauseif we met girls it's like all
right.
Do you like the handsome latinoguy or the white guy?
Like we're not competing.
He's rock guy, I'm pop guy, I'mmets guy, he's Yankees guy.
Like we, we always got alongbut we were different, yet the

(20:06):
same, if that makes any sense.
And totally, totally.
They said, hey, we're pushingthis maximum thing.
We want to do a talk channel.
And I got to give Covino creditbecause he was like he was very
adamant, like dude, it's gottabe me and you.
And they tried to team me andhim up with Demos, who's a great
radio host, but that didn'twork.
They were like what aboutMadison?
They were trying to justseparate Covino and I, or like

(20:29):
you should be a lead on thisshow and you should be a lead.
And Covino was adamant.
They're like no, no, no, covinoand Rich, rich and Covino,
whatever you want to call it,just like, why are you
separating us?
Like?
Their thought was why put twoleads together?
And we were like no, no, that'sus, you know.
And that after demos and demosand Demos, we celebrated 20

(20:52):
years.
December 04 was our first showfor Maxim Radio.

LarryShea (20:55):
That's amazing, yeah first show from Maxim Radio.
That's amazing.
And how much does, I guess,having that great partner play
into the choices that you thenmake for the next two decades?
I mean think about howdifferent your life might have
been if that partnership doesn'toccur.

Rich Davis (21:10):
It's interesting you would say that, and I think
what's good about that is thathim and I keep each other in
check.
We also keep each otherthinking young and looking young
.
Cause I feel like if one of us,like, if one of us like all of
a sudden just didn't startcaring or let themselves go, or
or or became greedy, like wenever allow each other to have
an ego and we always make thesame amount of money, like we've

(21:33):
agreed that no different agentsand this and that we always it
would, it would never end upgood.
If one was like wait, younegotiated for 20 grand more
from this than I did, or itwould.
We always agreed we're in ittogether and we realized, like
once you started having successtogether, like let's not fuck up
a good thing and and you knowwhether it's a, a meddling

(21:55):
ex-wife or you know an annoyingfamily member or co-worker like,
no matter what it is, we can'tlet anything get in the way of
this.
That's amazing.

So what was that first thing?
You get teamed up?
You guys are the guys.
What was that first thing youguys did together?

Rich Davis (22:12):
The first.
You know what's funny is?
I always remember this rightaround the time we're pitching
the show.
Larry, you may remember thisbecause you're so old school.
I love it.
They used to do somethingcalled the serious rhythm of the
road tour.
Okay, yes, I remember this andI don't remember they would send
some of the host out and it wasactually, you know, good talent
fee, appearance money.

(22:32):
But they'd be like, hey, go todaytona beach, and you know they
pop up some signs and they hadPam Anderson cutouts because,
remember, she was like part ofSyria.

LarryShea (22:40):
Our spokesperson right?

Rich Davis (22:42):
yeah, I just remember there being a Pam
Anderson cardboard cutout, yep,and, and you know just me and
Covino with serious, it was liketurn on.
There was like an on off shirtlike serious turn on, and that
was like our first event rightaround the time we were working
out this deal and I just knew wehad something because we just
got along so well.
But I remember we were talkingto these girls and they wanted

(23:06):
to go in a hot tub with us andwe didn't have bathing suits and
I was very quick to be likedude, just get down to your
underwear.
He's like bro, I don't get downto my underwear.
At that point I was like this isa topic already.
Fucking.
Two hot girls want to get a hottub and you're like, I'm not
wearing the right underwear so II just knew that immediately.
Our content just based on ourpersonality differences.

(23:27):
Like I'm a dance at the party,make a fool myself.
He's a yo.
I gotta look cool, so I knewthat would be good you know.

so that's good bit of yin and yang between the
two of you, which is always agreat thing for any type of
really any type of relationshiplike that, and you know you
mentioned it before that this isone of the longest
relationships you've had in yourlife.
How have you guys been able to,uh, balance, balance your
professional life with yourpersonal lives?
Obviously right, because I mean, family does have to, family

(23:56):
does play a major role in bothof your lives.
How have you been able tobalance that?

Rich Davis (24:02):
You know, given each other a little grace from time
to time when it matters, butneither one of us have ever like
poorly prioritized, like listen, if there's something he has to
do with his daughter, of courseI'm going to be like, that's
the most important, if you know,if I have something with my
kids, we're very flexible, like,and I just know we both have
the work ethic where we're notgoing to let shit fall by the
wayside and listen, there was atime where his ex-wife was in LA

(24:24):
and I was in New York and hewas going back and forth, but we
made it work.
And there were times where Iwas redoing my house and living
in Texas for two or three monthsand he understood.
So it's a matter of justunderstanding each other and
being like listen, let's not letagain let anything get in the
way of this.
And yeah, no, it's, it's.
It's really just that it's we.

(24:45):
We even agreed at one, you know, to move to LA together.
That was a big deal too, youknow.

I want to ask you a little bit about your uh,
your.
Obviously this has nothing toplay in.
This is not meant to cause anytype of rift between you and you
and Covino, but the differencesthat you feel between doing a
tandem show and then doing asolo show like you would
probably do for music.
You're a solo, you were a solohost there, here, obviously, you

(25:12):
and Steve, you guys areobviously the duo, the team over
at Sirius.
What has it been?
What's the biggest contrast foryou there?

Rich Davis (25:23):
I thrive on conversation and conflict or
camaraderie or reminiscingtogether or fighting.
To me it makes great radio.
Now, I'm not saying there's nota place for solo acts.
Like I love a great ColinCowherd analogy.
I love a good Adam Scheinmonologue, her cowherd analogy.
I love a good adam shinemonologue.
You know, I these are greatthings, but I I could never do

(25:44):
that.
I've there have been timeswhere we've done on a rare
occasion like yeah, could youroll solo today?
Yeah, but you know what I'mdoing.
A lot of times I'm rolling offmy producer or the board op or
something, because to me I youknow something going on in the
world.
Like hey, do, do you see Otanilast night?
Like I want to talk to youabout that, larry Me, just
hearing myself talk, I just findI don't know, it just doesn't

(26:07):
work for me.
But delivering information in30-second increments on like a
music channel, I feel likethat's a skill I've mastered at
this point.
So I get it.
But I don't think I could everdo a sports show by myself
without an ensemble, justbecause I could, but I don't
think it would be that great youknow, yeah, yeah, I like
riffing off of people too.

That's why we do this as an ensemble.
It's just that's why we do this.
Yeah, exactly.

Rich Davis (26:30):
Like you guys busting each other's balls,
having fun, laughing Like.
To me I always found like andI'm not comparing it to a cheesy
laugh track of a sitcom, but Ialways feel like when I hear
people having fun, whether it'slike the stern show and the you
know, you know, just like backin the day, like arty or someone
or gary laughing and every himand robin, or you know when a

(26:51):
elvis duran and his crew oranyone is laughing with each
other, to me that's contagious.
When I hear certain shows onany network and it's like just
someone talking without anylaughter or levity in their
voice, I'm like fucking boring,come on, what are we doing?
There's shows on networks.
I'm on that.
I'm like, come on.

LarryShea (27:11):
Yeah, speaking about work-life balance and things
that happen on radio shows, youmet your wife on your radio show
, is that true?
Can you tell that story realquick?

Rich Davis (27:21):
I did my wife.
What I love about this is itjust it shows you how you know
not to get all weird, but itshows you like butterfly effect
and how one little thing, onelittle thing like-.

LarryShea (27:34):
No wrong choices and no wrong choices no wrong
choices.

Rich Davis (27:38):
I, you know, and I think about this often recently
because someone had asked me howI met my wife and I remember
she was in a swimsuit calendarfor Hooters.
When she was in college my wifeworked at Hooters and you know,
back then Hooters and still isI mean, it's not what it was,
but it was a big brand.
And you know, another regionalthing I realized was outside in

(28:01):
New York.
In New York Hooters are likeman, whatever week.
No one really loved Hooters inNew York.
There's one by Nassau Coliseumwhere the Islanders play.
I don't remember going toHooters but around the country
guys go to Hooters to watchsports.
It's a big deal around thecountry and deal around the
country.
And my wife was like you knowwhat, let me try out for this

(28:21):
calendar and the competitionsand she would win a hell of a
lot of money.
My wife like sort of ran thewhole like bikini circuit for a
while when she was like incollege, in her 20s, and she
ended up winning miss hootersinternational like fifty
thousand dollars and was.
You know, that was like herworld in her early 20s and got
to go with hooters to iraq,europe, all over the world.
She was like her world in herearly 20s and got to go with
Hooters to Iraq, europe, allover the world.
She was like essentially theirspokesperson and one of those

(28:44):
you went to Hooters.
Iraq.

That's an odd place to go.

Rich Davis (28:46):
Hooters.

Iraq.

LarryShea (28:50):
She went there with like a US.

Rich Davis (28:51):
Yeah, hooters, iraq.
It was a burka.

You went to Hooters Baghdad.

LarryShea (28:56):
The jokes write themselves right there.

Rich Davis (29:02):
Oh my God, that's burka.
The jokes right themselvesright there.
Oh my god, very funny.
Oh my god, uh, she was actually.
She tells the story of uh, youknow, she was in saddam
hussein's house after he hadbeen captured, like they she.
So she had some pretty coolexperiences, all for a, a brand
that has to do with titties andwings.
You know she's, she's had somecool experiences, that's crazy
and but the, the butterflyeffect thing, the uh, no wrong
choices.
There were, I believe, eightgirls that came to serious xm

(29:26):
and arbitrarily larry.
Someone from the talentdepartment was like all right,
all right, you four go on thisshow, you four go on that show,
right?
Whoever that was, whether itwas, I don know, thinking back
to the day, like Annabella.

LarryShea (29:39):
Spencer.
I don't know who the hell itcould have been.
So some random Stephanie SaccoRemember that name Somebody in
talent relations chose for you.
Oh my God.

Rich Davis (29:49):
Someone was just like all right, and you on that
side, and that side meant Kavinoand Rich and I it's cool that I
have the audio of my wife and Iintroducing ourselves to wow
yeah, I didn't even think aboutthat.
Wow, that's something prettycool.
Like what's your name?
She's like sarah and I and Isaid, wow, texas, the most
beautiful women in the world.
That was what I said.

(30:09):
Wow.
And and that night the hootersgirls were in town.
They went out for like a nicedinner with their marketing
people and she's like why don'tyou come out and meet for a
drink?
And I was like sort of freshout of a relationship and I'm
like I'm gonna fuck this up.
So I sort of was like yeah, Ireally can't.
I'm like what was I thinking?
But perhaps it made her be like, yeah, and we we long distance

(30:33):
chatted for a couple months.
And then I met up with her acouple months later and you know
, we did long distance for ayear.
She moved to new york and thatwas in 20, you know, 2008, 2009.
And here we are, 15 years laterwith two kids living in the
valley, you know, and with thefamily.

LarryShea (30:48):
So let's talk about all the shows you were on on
SiriusXM, because it wasn't justCovino and rich right, it
wasn't just maxim radio, it wasno morning mashup and like you
talk about everything and kindof how it came about that you
were just thrown on all theseprograms.
I mean Morning Mashup was themost listened to show on the
most listened to channel, if I'mnot mistaken.

Rich Davis (31:08):
Yeah, you know what's so funny, is that, nicole
?
So the Morning Mashup.
We needed a morning show forthe Top 40 channel.
Kid Kelly believed in me,obviously from Z100 Days, so
he's like it's you.
If you remember, at the timethere was a very funny guy, gay
guy, named Jason Drew.

LarryShea (31:25):
I don't remember.
Jason.
Jason Drew.
He's now down in Orlando, Ithink, or Florida.
Yeah, he's doing news TV

Rich Davis (31:44):
He's like the entertainment news guy.
But jason drew was like areally almost like fresh out of
modern family, like sarcastic,like almost like.
Uh, who's the redheaded guy onmodern family?
Uh, mitch mitchell, thecharacter mitchell.
He was very like dry, funny,gay guy.
And then stanley t is a collegefriend of kid kelly's, so it
was back then.
Kid will admit it was verystereotypical.
He's like black guy, gay guy,white guy.
All right, do it.
Now we need a girl.
You know, it's really just oldschool putting together a show.

(32:05):
Let's be honest, right back,you know how things were done at
some point.
Right, and nicole was the frontdesk girl and you might not
remember this.

You know jeff reagan's wife serena, who worked
at sirius xm for years,absolutely he was the original
girl on the morning mashup howabout that?

Rich Davis (32:21):
And she was like, yeah, I don't know if I'm
feeling this, and she went inher own direction, but she was
originally the girl that hungout with us for a couple months
and then she was like, eh, Idon't know, Nicole was just the
charismatic, young, pretty funnygirl that worked at the front

(32:42):
desk again no wrong choices.
She was a temp that was assignedserious xm purely by like all
right, uh, nicole, you're gonnago to the 49th street, serious
xm.
She was a temp.
Again, no wrong choices, right.
So it's so true, nicole seemedto be a good fit because she was
and also, as they say in theindustry, green like she.
She was not like, she didn'thave like a fake radio voice,
she was just like a 20 somethingyear old girl that lived in new

(33:04):
york city, that liked to go outand party and had good stories,
like.
So it was very natural, right.
So her, the four of us did themorning mashup for a decade and
the only reason I left themorning mashup was we had the
opportunity Covino and ISiriusXM said they were
expanding their LA offices andanytime I had my contract
negotiations at SiriusXM alittle behind-the-scenes stuff

(33:26):
was they always seemed to valuethe talk side and Covino and
Rich more than the morningmashup.
And I also started doingtelevision stuff with Covino and
I always thought that, as muchas I had a good camaraderie at
the morning mashup and, yes, Ihad way more listeners with the
morning mashup it was I neverthought that was my lane because

(33:48):
it was like they're there fored sheeran and taylor swift.
I just happen to be the voicethat accompanies that.
If you listen to covino andrich, you're listening for
covino and rich, right?
So I I always thought like, amI betting on myself or am I
betting on just being part of abig channel like hits one's huge
, like you could put a, youcould put a boson hits one and
they'll be the most listened to.

LarryShea (34:07):
You know, yeah um, I want to talk about, um, your
favorite moments.
It's serious before we move onto other stuff, because we
always talk about how, like inthe hallways, like al pacino
will walk by and like whatevername, a celebrity.
They've walked by and you know,brushed elbows with you or
whatever, but you know you'rebringing these people into your
studio.
What was your favorite moment?
Do you have a favorite radiointerview, either that just

(34:29):
memorable turned awful, or justcouldn't believe you were
interviewing X, y or Z,something like that.

Rich Davis (34:37):
Yeah, there's a couple.
There's a couple that come tomind.
My favorite moment, like, justlike a moment was we're doing a
town hall, which is the you know, the fishbowl in the lobby of
serious xm.
It's usually an interview,maybe a studio audience, and
cavino and I, somehow, some wayyou, you never know who you're

(34:58):
going to click with we createdthis really bizarre friendship
with Henry Winkler, the Fonz,yes, and over the years and it
started out as a joke Before wemet him, covino, and I would
always say as a joke when wewere doing Maxim, it would be
like, all right, who's an oldschool example of cool.
So we'd always joke in ascenario like yo, this girl

(35:22):
dumped me this and that hey whatwould the Fonz do?
that was like our joke, and thenwe had Henry on and he just
took a liking to us.
Like you guys are silly, but Ilike you.
You're good guys.
I'm the Fonz, like he's just sogentle and kind in a very
non-Fonz way right and we're inthe fishbowl and bruno mars is
walking by, henry winkler popsout of his chair and he's like

(35:44):
oh my god, I love him.
Bruno mars and bruno sees thatmakes eye contact, comes around,
pops in the fishbowl you canfind this on youtube, it's
available, great.
And and they just have a lovefest for each other.
He's like I love you.
And Bruno Mars starts talkingabout you know, you're the Fonz.
This is surreal.
And he's like but I love youralbum, I love you, Bruno.

(36:06):
He's like no, I love you.
Henry and Covino and I are justsort of sitting back watching
this cool moment unfold.
Another cool moment we're doingone of our Covino Rich
conventions, where we have ourlisteners visit New York, set up
a bunch of cool events.
We have the fishbowl packed,the lobbies packed and for some
reason, Steven Tyler must bedoing something with the rock

(36:30):
channels.
Now we know that Steven Tylercould hear us only because they
were putting our show on throughthe lobby and the men's
bathroom.
So we're in the middle of ourshow with our listeners and
we're like oh my God, there'sSteven Tyler.
He walked in the bathroom andCovino goes.
Well, wait a minute.
Steven Tyler absolutely hearseverything we're saying now.

(36:53):
So he's like hey, Steven Tyler,I know you're holding your
penis right now.
Steven Tyler, I know you'reholding your penis right now.
We know you're in there, sohope you're doing well.
Big fan, Steven Tyler, so don'tforget to wash your hands.
So he's sort of talking toSteven Tyler through the PA.

That's great In the bathroom.

Rich Davis (37:16):
Steven Tyler comes out laughing, comes in the
fishbowl and we do like animpromptu 30-minute interview,
like that wasn't scheduled oranything.
He tells his publicist like no,no, I want to do this and I
always thought that was reallycool.

LarryShea (37:25):
You know that bathroom is very famous for
those encounters too.
I remember walking in and howmany famous people have you seen
like in there?
But I remember walking in andliterally there was like what?
Four or five urinals, andLiterally there was like what?
Four or five urinals.
And like I'm at one, and onboth sides of me I'm flanked by
Motley Crue peeing.

Rich Davis (37:42):
This is one of those moments, man, not to one-up you
, larry.
I used to joke that there was atime I went in the bathroom and
the urinals to the left andright of me were Bret Michaels
and Hulk Hogan.
I was like blonde dudes withbandanas.

My highlight was watching Eminem and a little
Eminem practicing their dancemoves in the mirror.
As I'm trying to do my thing atthe other end, I'm like I got
to get out of here.
This is too great.

LarryShea (38:06):
Great moments at Sirius.

Rich Davis (38:13):
I got one more that doesn't involve me, but you'll
laugh because you guys all knowthe guy, if you know Sirius.
Xm Jose Mangan, the most rockguy ever Jose brother, Brother,
brother, Jose brother Brother.

Jose's like a caricature of.

I can't describe it.

Brother.

Rich Davis (38:26):
I remember being in the lobby.
I walked through the lobby onceand he was doing a tour.
You know the company loves Josebecause he's charisma to the
100th degree.

He is all-go-serious, 100%.

Rich Davis (38:39):
That is Jose, and I remember Jose is doing a tour in
the lobby and he's tellingeveryone like we get all types
of people coming through thesedoors, brother, like serious.
And he goes, holy shit, look.
And he turns to his side and hegoes Pat Sajak.
And then he goes Chubby Checker.
So just to watch Jose shout out, chubby Checker and Pat Sajak.

LarryShea (39:02):
Yes, two people that are like.
So not in Jose's wheelhouse,yes, and it was always a weird
dichotomy of like porn starssitting next to priests sitting
next to it was like this place.

Rich Davis (39:13):
You would see Cardinal Dolan and Father Dave
in the lobby, and then Lisa Annwould be doing her fantasy
football picks.
Can't make it up.
I do miss those days, my God,you can't make that stuff up by
the way, I have a question foryou, touche yes, sorry to flip
it on you, but when you wereworking in the sports department
, were you there when Lisa Ann,the porn star, came aboard?

Yes, I was there.

Rich Davis (39:37):
I always wondered when the big dogs at SiriusXM
would be like oh yeah.
Yeah, I'm well aware of who youare.
Was that their way of sayingI've jerked off to you.

This is a really good question.
I don't think I actually ever,really I don't think I really
actually went that far to sayhey, what do you mean by that?

Rich Davis (39:56):
If Stevie Cohen said that, if Stevie Cohen or Steve
Torrey or one of these guys thatI love good friends, if they
said oh yeah, of course, lisaAnn.
Of course, lisa Ann.
Is that your way of saying?

I am not going to answer that question because
these are people who know me,know where I live.
And if I say the wrong thing,they'll come get me.
That's brilliant.
All I will say is that I knewwho she was and I knew what she
did.

So let's turn Larry's question around a little
bit.
So those were unbelievablemoments and great highlights.
Were there any, like you know,landmines that you walked into
or interviews that were set up?
You were like, oh no, this isjust a disaster.

Rich Davis (40:37):
You know it's funny People will.
People ask that questionobviously to all of us when we
do this.
I haven't really had many badexperiences because you got to
remember if someone comes onyour show, usually they're
coming there with a positivity.
Even people that are known tobe like everyone would always
say jeremy piven, what a prick.
He was always so nice to me,but then again he's on my show.

(40:58):
Why would he be an asshole?
However, two people do standout.

LarryShea (41:02):
Um molly ringwald came on the show and she's like
I don't want to hear.

Rich Davis (41:07):
And she said, yeah, I am not going to talk about
anything from the past and I'mlike, well then, what the fuck
are we going to talk about?
Like respectfully, then what?

like she's not going to talk about pretty.

And did we have that problem with Herman Munster
?
Fred Gwynn.
Didn't he do that to us?
I don't know.
I think that happened to us.

LarryShea (41:24):
I remember we had a Sean Astin no.

Rich Davis (41:25):
Herman Munster.
No, my cousin Vinny Like what.

LarryShea (41:29):
We had a Sean Astin moment on the fellas.

Oh, that was crazy.
He needed a cold compresshandlers yeah it blew up
everything about rudy for okay,what was the second one?

Rich Davis (41:41):
that was molly ringwald.
I'm sorry, uh, molly ringwaldand you know, I'm trying to
think I remember like, as far aslike, uh, there's some
musicians that are like mariahcarey needed certain flowers and
drinks and everything in studioone, and we'd be waiting around
for two hours like and listen.
I'll be honest, the the older Iget, there's one thing that I

(42:03):
have no tolerance for anymore,and it's one thing that I will,
uh, I won't stand by, I won'tput up with which is waiting for
like a diva's schedule, rightlike to me.
Now, if I was at series 6m nowand you're like, yeah, mariah is
running two hours behind, I'dbe like, all right, I'm going
home, like I'm not, you know,like I'm not waiting for Mariah

(42:24):
Carey for two hours.
Like I was at Sirius XM in LA,like maybe a year ago doing an
interview, and it was like anewer artist, and they were like
, yeah, they're running like anhour behind, and I was very
close to being like, yeah, guys,like you know, like I'm I'm
gotta go put my kid to bed.
I don't know what you want totell you.
So I I think it was like divas,like that, or when you were
told like you can't ask anythingand they're the hot artist of

(42:47):
the moment.
But it's like hey, they're inthe middle of a scandal, but
don't talk about a, b and c.
Then you're like then you feellike you're doing a shit
interview right, right.

LarryShea (42:53):
We weren't allowed to ask dakota fanning about money.

I remember yeah, that was a big.
Thing and tom seaver wassupposed to be a problem, but he
wound up being great.

LarryShea (43:00):
Seaver was great.

He was a sweetheart, yeah so let's talk a
bit about your transition outof the tv side of things,
because I know that when you andrich were doing uh, I'm sorry,
when you and steve were doing uh, your maxim show, at some point
you guys made the transition todoing uh.
I think it was what talkingheads Heads SNY.

Rich Davis (43:19):
SNY?
No, I mean we were doing Covinoand Rich.
They gave us a half hour everyday, man, that was great.

LarryShea (43:26):
That was great, Rich.

Rich Davis (43:27):
That was the most fun Steve and I ever had on TV.
How'd that come about?
So the story is pretty awesomereally.
We're at the Super Bowl forSiriusXM and Tim Tebow is like
the most protected guy at thismoment.
This is when tim tebow is like,you know god, like even though
he's not, he's like a backupquarterback, but everyone still

(43:49):
loves tim tebow.
He's doing very little press atthe super bowl.
When I tell you, tim tebowcould be standing here if there
was a beer within two feet ofhim.
Someone moved it away from himso it didn't even appear as
though it was his cocktail, likehe was protected for some
reason.
Somehow we got him on the showand we made it very Covino and

(44:10):
rich, light and stupid and funny.
Tim Tebow's laughing as TimTebow's laughing and we're
having like just a funny time.
Like Guy Fieri also comes bywith us and Kurt Gowdy Jr, who
runs SNY, happened to be walkingby with Brad Como, who also was
running SNY, probably stilldoes and they're like what is

(44:31):
going on here and they were likewho are these guys?
And I'm like I'm a big Mets fan.
I'm a New York guy, sny.
That was sort of'm like big.
You know, I'm a big Mets fan,I'm a New York guy.
Sny that was sort of their wayof like saying all right, well,
we're doing, we're doing likeAdam, shine and wheelhouse and
all these loud mouths and allthese like very New York daily
news live.

(44:51):
What can we do to sort of breakthat up with something lighter?
And they really let us just dowhat we wanted.
If we wanted to come in one dayand do like 80s movie trivia on
SNY, they'd be like yeah, goahead, do 80s movie trivia.
They were so fucking cool and Ihad more fun doing that TV show

(45:12):
than anything we did anywhereelse, whether it was ESPN or any
like.
Espn was a great opportunity,but they didn't get us the way
SNY did.
Sny got us Like.
They were like do you guys andthat's why I love Scott Shapiro
so much at Fox Sports and DonMartin they're like and we'll
get to that, I'm sure, but theyare like do you guys, how long
were you on SNY?

(45:33):
Two and a half years, two and ahalf years.
And around the time ourcontract was coming to an end I
wasn't sure if they were goingto renew us or not, but I wasn't
going to let Sirius XM knowthat.
So that's when they said do youguys want to move to LA?
I was like but we're going tohave to give up SNY, so
cha-ching.
And they were like okay.
I was like okay.

(45:53):
So you know, we never reallyrenegotiated with SNY because
SiriusXM is like we'll make upfor that, go to LA.

That was literally my next question.
So what were thosecircumstances?
What took you out west?

Rich Davis (46:14):
So Covino's ex-wife and, I'm sure, the whole joke is
.
I can't go a day withoutbringing up his ex-wife.

You've now brought her up at least three
times in this conversation

Rich Davis (46:20):
he met her and she was living out here in LA and
you know, kavino probably hadall these pipe dreams of like,
oh yeah, I'll get out to LA.
And you know we had theopportunity and my wife and I
were, you know, relativelynewlyweds living in Manhattan.
You know I was living inMidtown, larry.
I was living three blocks awayfrom Sirius.

LarryShea (46:38):
Xm because sny and sirius, right there, right there
perfect and it was great.

Rich Davis (46:43):
But my wife and I like, listen, if we want to
start a family, yeah, we'regonna move to jersey, long
island, connecticut, like I.
I just didn't feel like beingthat long island railroad guy
and I said, you know what, like,why not like, let's do it.
My no offense to my family.
They weren't like the type thatwere going to be like grandma
and grandpa, like here all thetime.

(47:04):
So I was like, let's do it.
So we moved to LA and Covinowas able to be near his kid full
time and it was a good move forthe show and everything.
It gave us new life as well,you know.
So let's talk about the foxsports stuff how does that come

(47:26):
about when you get out there?
does it happen right away, orwhat happens?
So so let me, let me, let mejust skip by a pretty big step
along the way.
So when we're out here, um,we're on sirius xm but we're on
early, which is fine for me, butthere was a time we were on six
to nine am, or seven to nine orseven to ten am, because on the
east coast, you know, you gotto remember, if you know east
coasters, we, you know, whenyou're in east coast, you think
everything revolves around yourtime zone, right?
so you're like yeah, yeah, thoseguys run from 9 to noon.

(47:47):
When you go out to la, you'renot on 9 to noon anymore you
know, so yeah so that that 4 30alarm goes off and you're like
shit.
But but I did commercials for alittle while.
So like they joked that, likethere's a bunch of like shitty
b-level commercials.
I was in for a couple yearsbecause I had all afternoon,
yeah, whatever.
And then about a year into it,um, our buddy, sean wyman, who

(48:13):
was such a good friend.
Sean was the guy that loved ourshow and he had worked at espn.
He he's like I'm a producer theminute I get any power, you're
my guys.
People don't know it, butyou're the guys.
So Sean goes from producingMike and Mike to becoming part
of the talent department.
The minute he gets in thetalent department he's like you
got to get these guys a show andwe got the opportunity to do a

(48:36):
half hour late night show onESPN two for a couple hours and
I I enjoyed what Covino and Iwere doing.
But you know, sometimes likethe producer and the team they
put you with for budget reasonswe were working with like the
deport days guys a lot, and nooffense to them.
But like they were like hey,let's talk about soccer and this

(48:57):
and that, and like it was.
I learned a great lesson, larry,that we all learn in
broadcasting, which is like ityou got to stand your ground
because you, I'm too much of ayes man.
And this is where I learnedthat lesson, because I was like
yeah, yeah, ok, and I shouldhave instinctively been like no,
no, you know.

(49:18):
But we did a good show for acouple of years.
Covid happened.
We did the show from home for ayear, got paid, which is fine.
But then eventually they werelike if you're not Stephen A
Smith or someone important, ifyour contract's up, covid, sorry
.
And you know that.
That sort of went away around.
The same time, covino and richon Sirius XM.
Our contract was up and theywere like you know, I love

(49:39):
Sirius XM.
Our contract was up and theywere like you know, I love
Sirius XM, I've been there20-something years.
But as far as Kavino and Richgo, they gave us a hey, we want
to give you a pay cut and anon-compete.
And I was like a pay cut and anon-compete, ouch.
So I was like hey, I love youguys, you love me.

LarryShea (49:55):
I thought, you love me so much.

Rich Davis (49:57):
Yeah, like can.
Like, I still do the musicchannels and be full-time.
No.

LarryShea (50:03):
And they were like all right.

Rich Davis (50:04):
So I did work out a deal with Steve Blatter's.
Always looked out for me.
I love Steve Blatter, you knowhim and I.
He seems to take a liking to me.
So good dude for me.
You know Scott and Andrew Mossall good to me.
Those are the behind the scenesserious people.
So I've been there for you knowall these years.
Now I'm still a full-timeemployee, you know, salary
adjusted but I'm with the pulseand pop 2k and um covino and I

(50:28):
were able.
The carve out was I could stayat series 6m but I could bring
covino and rich somewhere else.
Wow that's a great was anawesome, great deal.
You know, which is, like youknow, at serious xm.
I'm I'm Rich Davis, host of PopStuff.

LarryShea (50:41):
Yeah.

Rich Davis (50:42):
Exclusive to SiriusXM no Spotify.
No, iheart when it's pop radio.
I am SiriusXM's little popbitch.

LarryShea (50:49):
Yeah.

Rich Davis (50:50):
But when it comes to the brand of Covino and Rich,
wherever you want to take it,and Scott Shapiro at Fox Sports
Radio knew what we were doingand he is, honestly, the guy
that I've worked for since KidKelly that's got me the most.
He's our age, he gets it.

(51:12):
But he and Don Martin, who islike the big dog at Fox Sports
and iHeart, they know whatCovino and I do and they're
about to have a conversationabout who's the next show they
want to elevate and they're likeno, no, you go first.
No, you go first, not realizingthey were both going to say
Kavino and Rich.
So we got major support fromall the folks at Fox Sports
Radio and we've been there andhonestly, when I tell you the

(51:36):
support we get and no one likeit's never like.
Guys talk about more sports.
Like today we talked about NickCage and how he's going to be
playing John Madden for an hour,like they'd probably say great,
because we've had enough DenverNuggets Thunder preview.
You know like.
So they like what we do and sowe're there.
I'm there also doing SiriusXMand full time and I also do

(51:58):
another podcast yes, talk aboutit actually thank you for
leading.
I'm there Also doing Series 6Mfull-time and I also do another
podcast.

Yes, talk about it Actually.
Thank you for leading us intothat.
So tell us about the podcast.

Rich Davis (52:07):
So, Nicole from the Morning Mashup, who I worked
with for all those years, herand I were really close.
She's like a sister I never had.
She's like a stepsister becausewe flirt a lot, but she's not
like a real sister.
So Nicole and I were alwaysvery close, always had like a
fun, flirty, lovable vibe.

(52:28):
Like her and I are super tight.
I fucking love Nicole and whenI left New York she'll
admittedly say like she criedher husband's like what do you
love him?
Because we were so goodtogether on the air.
No offense to Stan and Ryan,but Nicole and I always had just
a great chemistry.
And I said to her I go, Ipromise you you're new to this
world, I am not.

(52:49):
You'll see people again.
I'm like.
I will work with you again, Ipromise you.
I don't know how or when, butit'll happen.
And Sirius XM started trying toexpand their podcast division
when they started acquiring,like Stitcher and I, you know a
lot of those podcast companiesand they're like Rich, do you
want to do a podcast about popmusic or the 2000s or anything?

(53:10):
I'm like I don't know.
I'm like I'm doing sports orCovino.
I like music.
I'm like, and at the time I wasa new dad and I said you know
what is on my mind a lot?
The fact that I'm a guy thatwas quote unquote, a, a playboy
and like a single guy in mywhole world was maximum girls
and party and all that.
And now like I'm watching, uh,cartoons and and feeding a baby.

(53:33):
So I'm like I think there'ssomething that's great said
about the transition tofatherhood, which is which is
such a big step for every man,right?
Yeah, so I said you know whatNicole is?
A new mom, nicole, what do yousay?
And she's like oh my God, youknow Nicole.
Oh my God, girl, let's do it.
And you know she's so Was she onair at that point she's still

(53:54):
doing the morning mashup.
She's there every day.
So she's there, and Nicole andI said, let's, let's do it.
And it was around the time ofcovid, so there was no
opposition to I'm in LA, she'sin New York, because even the
people in the same city were inZoom situation.
So again, no wrong choices.
Yeah, like like.
All these things have to lineup for a reason.

Like perhaps if it was a year earlier they would
been like yeah well, you're inla, she's in new york, like, do
it with a host near you.
You know, it's amazing howCovid has changed all of that
the notion of of what abroadcast actually is,
absolutely.

Rich Davis (54:30):
I will say one thing , one thing I brought to fox and
it's and it's not evenrevolutionary.
I'm shocked that they werestill doing like phoners and I'm
like, why are we doing phoners?
Like because I remember we'regonna have a guest on.
I'm like send them a zoom link,that way we could do video if
we want, or like it's clearer,it sounds better.
And they're like, yeah, but wedon't.
I'm like we know you used to,not, we're gonna do zoom.

(54:52):
So yeah, exactly like covidcovid.
There you know if you're gonnapull positives out of it.
It sort of gave our, ourindustry, some benefits and some
leverage it opened.

It opened up a whole different way to think of
what broadcasting actually isyeah, you know rich.

LarryShea (55:06):
We talk all the time on this show about how you know
this person is built for this.
You know what I mean?
And like I'm just listening toyou tell your stories and like
you were so built for this, likeif you weren't doing this what
would you?
Possibly be doing man, you knowit's having the tie at the PR
firm.

Rich Davis (55:22):
Dude, Larry, you know I think about that often
because there were moments likewhen ESPN went away and Sirius
XM's like hey, non-compete.
And there were times where I'mlike and, by the way, that was
right around the time I boughtmy house, so you could imagine I
was like I had the nervousshits like every day, yeah, so
you can imagine I was like I hadthe nervous shits like every
day.
Yeah, so, but yeah, I do feellike I found what I'm supposed

(55:44):
to be doing.
As corny as that sounds, andlike I said in the beginning of
this interview and thisbeginning of this I don't even
want to call it an interview Ihang with my friends.
In the beginning of this hang,Like I said, I like watching
sports, I like talking to mybuddies and I like talking about
being a dad.
I like watching sports, I liketalking to my buddies and I like
talking about being a dad.
I cover it and Nicole and Italk a lot about, like right now

(56:05):
, it's a lot of coaching.
I'm the coach of a T-ball teammy son's 5U and I coach my
daughter's 8U softball team.
So I am Coach Rich.
Many people around here know meas Coach Rich these days.

That's amazing.
That's amazing.
Love it.
You know, you've been in thisbusiness for so long.
You've seen it literally flipupside down.
Where you started on FM, youwent to Sirius.
Now you're podcasting.
You've been on TV.
You have to constantly evolveand change.

Rich Davis (56:46):
You know what are some of your broad observations
about the industry from when youfirst walked in to where you
are today.
Resisters fail.
There's always going to besomething I remember early on in
my career when I would see someof the older DJs being like
computer system.
I like CDs and records and it'slike why are you resisting?
Like you will get left behind,right?
It's like I don't want to, Idon't want to post that on

(57:08):
social media.
You will get left behind.

LarryShea (57:11):
I feel like you'll.

Rich Davis (57:12):
I feel like I always say David Letterman was
brilliant in that when herealized late night TV started
to become social media clips towatch the next day, he's like
I'm out.
He didn't, like he knew when itwas time and then he came back
and he's like I'm going to do aNetflix interview show because
that's where my strengths couldbe used Like imagine if

(57:34):
Letterman stuck around anothercouple of years.
People would have been like oh,dave needs to retire.
He knew when it was like oh,did you see carpool karaoke?
Dave didn't have a carpoolkaraoke.
He's just a great interviewerand a funny guy.
So I think it's resistors willget left behind.
And you know, kid Kelly saidearly on in my career if you're

(57:55):
kind to people and you keep yournose clean, if you're not an
asshole, you're kind to peopleand you keep your nose clean.
If you're not an asshole,you're kind to people.

And you're good, there'll be a place for you.
That's basically the advice wehave for everybody on this show.

Rich Davis (58:09):
Hey, be someone that people enjoy being around and
you'll be successful Bro there'speople that I've worked with at
SiriusXM, espn and Fox on-airtalent that I hear producers say
thank you so much for, and I'mlike thank you, you're part of
the team.
They're like no, but that hostthey told me to shut up and
don't speak unless spoken to,and I'm like hosts say that what

(58:30):
assholes.
I'm shocked to this day how egowill ruin some folks.
So be kind, keep up with stuff,stuff.
If anything, the one thing Iwish I had done differently was
early on, and I blame sirius xmjokingly, but not when social
media first started.
They were like don't go on that, don't do it.

(58:51):
Oh, and I remember like whentwitter and all that first
started, they were like theydon't mention on, they looked at
it as like competing media.
So when everyone wasaccumulating their followers, we
were like, we were like.
And then, fast forward 10 years, they're like how many
followers you have?
You mean for the platform youtold me to ignore when it was

(59:12):
building?

You, like us, we've done a lot of different
media.
We've done a lot of mediaplatforms Radio you've been
there, obviously, radio.
You've done satellite, you'vedone podcasting, television.
You've seen all of thesemediums now change over the
years.
We're one of these guys who'vebeen kind of on that cutting

(59:35):
edge of that technology too.
What would you say have beenthe biggest changes you've seen,
maybe from one to the next, ordo you see a line that connects
all of them?

Rich Davis (59:46):
I think the one cool thing for all of us is that
audio entertainment is thrivingand is big and better than ever.
It's just spread out a bitright.
People want to listen topodcasts or radio and all that.
It's healthier than ever.
People want to listen topodcasts or radio and all that.
It's healthier than ever.
But go on Marketplace or go oneBay or anything A lot of

(01:00:06):
podcast equipment for salebecause people think they could
do it and can't do it.
You guys can, Not everyone can.

Tushar Saxena (01:00:14):
You can too, obviously.

Rich Davis (01:00:15):
So you realize that it's healthier than ever.
So you realize that, like youknow, it's healthier than ever.
But I think the biggest changefor me is, unfortunately, I
struggle sometimes giving adviceto a younger kid.
Right, because there used to bea template and that template
was work hard.
You may have to start a smallermarket.
Send out your air checks, studyother people.

(01:00:36):
You might need to move toanother city.
Roll with that.
Now I like now my advice issort of like I don't know, like
start your own podcast and likehope it gains momentum.
I I struggle with how to telllike, let's say, like a young, a
young kid at Fox sports, it'slike a good editor or producer
or a guy in the editing roomLike I don't know, you know you

(01:00:58):
have really fun, takes on theNFL draft, make some TikTok
videos.
I really have no advice that wewould have given someone maybe
15 years ago, right?

I agree.
I agree with you 100%.

Like, if you guys know some young talented kid,
isn't it almost tricky to tellthem any good advice?
I think the word is try.

Larry Samuels (01:01:17):
You know, just try.

Yeah, I mean most people just try and I can't
tell any.
Whenever a kid asks me, shouldI go out of a market, should I
go out of my market to trysomewhere else, I'm like, yeah,
I mean if you want, but thereality is that that model is no
longer.

it's no longer reality, dude, and I hate to be
on the now.
I feel like Ebenezer Scroogebecause I'm on the flip side of
that where I'm trying to getyour market.
Covino and I are on 340stations around the country for
iHeart and Fox Sports.
So, like you know what, 341,sorry kid, you know like I, just
I hate to say it, but likeElvis Duran, like Bobby Bones,

(01:02:03):
you know all these hosts thatare just you know I, I look this
way most jobs I had on my comeup are not there anymore, like I
worked at hot 1079, like I saidin syracuse.
Elvis duran does mornings there.
Their night show is voicetracked and so I I look back at
the steps I took and those stepsaren't there.
So that's what makes it tricky.

Incredible, interesting, incredible.
What a journey.
You've seen it all, you'vetouched it all, you've been seen
everywhere, et cetera, etcetera.
Just an incredible run, rich.
Run through the list again,because I tried at the beginning
, I probably didn't captureeverything.
Where can everybody find you?

So Monday through Friday, fox Sports Radio 2 to 4
pm out here on the West Coast,so 5 to 7 for you guys on the
East.
You can hear it on the iHeartapp or you know anywhere you get
podcasts.
I'm on the Pulse every morning,I'm on Pop 2K in the afternoon
and Nicole and I do have KidsDay today.
We've got new episodes everyTuesday and Thursday and I will

(01:02:57):
say I want to put it out there,because when you put things out
there I feel like it happensright.
So there's a guy named DanPatrick who's going to be
hanging it up in two years Justsaying oh, wow.

LarryShea (01:03:10):
There's a guy named DP.

That's going to be hanging it up and that would
sort of be that's my goal.
That's the next step.

Wow, I love that Hell of a goal.
That's the next step.
Wow, I love that.
I love that.

That's the goal.
Are you saying you want to gosolo?
Then Covino left behind.

Does he know this?

He does now 23 years is my limit, are we?

breaking something You're going to ditch
this guy.

In two years it's all over.
Then I'm going to get a morehandsome young Latino guy that
appeals to a different demo Ilove it.

Great stuff, Rich .
Thank you so much for joiningus.

Thank you guys.
Great seeing your faces andgreat catching up.
You guys are great.

So that was Rich Davis who took us for a
wonderful walk down memory lane.

Rich, thank you so much for that and, and, larry
Shea, thank you so much foropening the door to bring him in
.
Yeah, he's great, greatinterview, great guy.
Really had a lot of fun withthat.
I got to tell you a quick storybefore we were going to do the
interview.
I was, you know, just lookingat some stuff and my wife was
kind of writing and I'm likethis is who we're interviewing
today and I show her a pictureof Rich.

(01:04:12):
And you know, there's this oldjoke in radio like why did you
do radio?
Because you got a face forradio.
Blah, blah, blah.
Well, you know, Reggie's areally good-looking guy.
This was not why he got intoradio, you know, there's no
reason why he wouldn't besuccessful.
When you hear him tell hisstories, I mean I said it in the

(01:04:33):
interview and I mean it, he'sso built for this.
But the fact that he got thegood looks and the good
personality, like that's unfair.
I'm sorry, it's just unfair.
But what a great dude.
And like he really gave you alot of nuggets.
You know, he was really like hesaid, when he gets into
something he goes full bore.
So for him to, you know, find itat a young age and to just

(01:04:57):
realize in the heat of themoment, like boom, this seems
interesting to me.
He went at it, full force.
He got himself a great mentorin Kid Kelly and the rest, they
say, is history.
But there were a lot of twistsand turns along the way.
And who wouldn't want to workwith that guy?
He said it right.
I mean I want to work with him.
It was my favorite moment ofthe day.
He'd finish a show and he wouldsee me in the hallway and we

(01:05:26):
would just, you know, talk aboutlife, sports, whatever.
It was just good times man.

Thank you, rich for joining us.
That was really a lot of fun,you know, it reminds me of the
times.
The one thing I, the one thingwe you brought it up, shay
during the interview, andobviously rich did as well was
you know, you get spoiled whenyou were at a place like serious
for for a long time, becauseit's not like the rest of the
world where you don't seecelebrities every day kind of
walking in and out.
We had the opportunity thethree of us had the opportunity

(01:05:48):
to speak to Bill Walton and thenBill Walton would walk into the
Sirius studios once a month todo stuff.
After a while you get spoiledseeing legends like that walking
through the halls, grandmasterFlash.

Martha.

Stewart.

Yeah, martha Stewart.
Robert Plant was my shock.
One day, right.

These people just kind of for me Weird Al
Yankovic, right Roger Daltreyyeah.

I remember being in the elevator with Roger Daltrey
and none of the business peoplethat were in the elevator knew
that they were literally ridingin the elevator with the lead
singer of the who.

I'm like do you know who that is.
You just get spoiled by having,like these people come in and
out of like who you're just kindof like you're interacting with
, like it's every day, so youdon't get used to that.
In an odd way it spoils you forthe rest of your life.
To be quite honest with you,the one thing I was very taken
with was the honesty that richhad, especially about what the

(01:06:46):
business has become now.
Like he's right when he saysyou know what is that advice you
have to give to a kid who wantsto come up in this industry now
?
And they say, hey, do I need togo to another market?
Do I need need to try and dothis?
What should I do to try andhone my skills here?
The reality is everything thatRich, you myself, you, me, we

(01:07:08):
all did to come up that game haschanged completely, right.
So the notion of sending outthat CD or that tape to 50
different people, that no longerreally that no longer is the
way to really go about it andit's it's tough to to try and
give that advice to a, to a kidwho wants to come up and say,
okay, so what's?

(01:07:28):
What's the path you know wehave.
We call the show no WrongChoices for a reason, because
maybe there is no real path tothat, to that, to that end goal.
I mean there's obviously a.
I mean there's obviously a road, there's obviously a roadmap
there, but all roadmaps have theways to get off that specific,
to get off that specific routeto find your way to the, to the
end, to the end goal there.

(01:07:48):
So I appreciated his honestybecause he's right, the game has
changed and if we don'tunderstand the rules of this new
game, it's going to leave youbehind absolutely, and the the
term that he used was resistor.

If you are a resistor, you will be left
behind and you will disappear.
So there's this theme that wecome up against or bump into all
the time, which is aboutcontinuously learning,
continuously evolving, and noindustry requires that more than
the one that we have been infor a long time.

Media requires that more than the one that we
have been in for a long time.
Media and the one thing thatyou know seems to be a theme
with a lot of our guests is that, look, you got to be a good guy
, you got to be a good person,someone people enjoy, someone
people can at least deal withbeing around for 24, for, you
know, for 8 to 10 hours a day,if you're a son of a bitch, no
one wants to work with you.
That's, that is plain andsimple.
If no one wants to work withyou, that is plain and simple.

(01:08:40):
If no one likes to work withyou, no one will work with you.

Well, rich clearly is a good guy.
Everybody does want to workwith him and that has certainly
been a great key to his success.
Rich, thank you so much forjoining this episode of no Wrong
Choices.
Thanks again for joining us.
If this episode made you thinkof somebody who could be a great
guest, we'd love to hear fromyou.
Please reach out to us throughthe contact page of our website

(01:09:06):
at NoWrongChoicescom.
While you're there, check outthe blog for a deeper look at
our takeaways from each episode.
You can also connect with us onsocial media.
We're on LinkedIn, instagram,facebook, youtube and X.
We're on LinkedIn, instagram,facebook, youtube and X.
On behalf of Larry Shea TusharSaxena and me, larry Samuels.
Thank you again for listening.
We'll be back next week withanother inspiring conversation.

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