Sacramento radio lost a true original when Chris Collins passed away at age 65 after a brief but intense battle with cancer. Just two days shy of his birthday, Collins left behind a legacy that spans decades of broadcasting excellence, business ventures, sports management, and thousands of grateful listeners whose mornings he brightened.
The shocking speed of his decline caught even his closest friends off guard. As Tony Cox shares in this emotional conversation, Collins was intensely private about his illness, with many discovering he was sick only after his passing. The broadcasting community rallied around him in his final hours – a testament to the bonds formed in radio studios decades ago that never weakened with time.
Collins' approach to radio was revolutionary in its simplicity: be authentic, speak your mind, and never hold back. During his time at KSFM's Morning Zoo in the 1980s, the show achieved the unthinkable – a 50% share of Sacramento's radio audience. Half of all radio listeners chose one station, one show, one team of personalities to start their day. In today's fractured media landscape, such dominance seems almost mythical.
Beyond the broadcasting booth, Collins built an impressive career that included serving as the color announcer for San Jose Sharks hockey, managing three-time champion boxer Tony Lopez, and owning hockey teams. He was a man of strong opinions and stronger principles, refusing to compromise on either.
The stories shared by Pat Walsh and Tony Cox offer a glimpse into a golden era of radio when personalities weren't just voices but cultural touchstones in their communities. From battles with management to on-air mishaps, these tales reveal not just how radio worked but why it mattered so deeply to both the broadcasters and their audiences.
Listen to this tribute to a radio legend whose influence continues through the broadcasters he inspired and the industry he helped shape. If you loved local radio, if you remember when DJs were local celebrities, or if you simply appreciate hearing stories of people who lived life absolutely on their own terms, this episode is your backstage pass to a world that changed how Sacramento woke up each morning.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
here we are back for the pats peeps podcast Today.
We're at 284, 284 podcasts.
Man, hey, this is a Wednesday,18th day of June 2025.
(00:39):
My name is Pat Walsh, also thehost of the Pat Walsh Show, the
radio show as heard everywhereon all the streaming platforms,
particularly the iHeart platform.
You know I push that since Iwork for iHeart.
But, yeah, 93.1 FM and 1530 AMin Sacramento.
My show goes 7 to 10 pm.
(01:01):
It is a beautiful day as I lookout my studio window into the
foothills of Northern CaliforniaA slightm.
It is a beautiful day as I lookat my studio window into the
foothills of Northern CaliforniaA slight breeze.
It is warm, it is perfect.
I love this kind of weather.
And on today's podcast here,this is going to be a kind of a
somber podcast because you knowthose of us in the radio
(01:23):
community, whether or not wework together, we are a
community.
We know of one another.
Proof in the pudding is,everywhere I go, tony Cox, who
also has worked in radio forever.
Thank you for joining me.
Everywhere I go, tony, peoplesay, people say, oh, are you pat
(01:44):
martin?
And I understand, tony, becauseI got a phone call on my radio
show last night that somehow Iowe you and pat martin a drink.
I think every time I gotmistake, get mistaken for pat
martin, that someone did.
They owe me a drink.
See, I hope that pat martinsometimes gets gets confused
(02:04):
with pat walsh.
So how are you, tony?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm fine, pat, hello to you and to your peep.
And the funny thing is, is Iactually called pat martin pat
walsh to his face one day?
And we're all friends.
I'm glad you did that, man.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'm glad me too.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Now I got a call saying that.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I owed you guys a beer for some reason.
What is going on with that?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe it's just someone givingme a bad time, a fun time on my
show last night.
That's what she was doingprobably probably, but we'll
certainly take it.
Were you guys hanging out?
You guys were hanging out.
I know that for a fact.
Tony is here because you know,like I said, tony, and I think
(02:51):
you can back me up on this, youcan confirm this for sure that
you know when you're in radio itcould be in other businesses as
well, but we're going to talkabout radio, and when you're in
radio in a market, you're partof this community.
It's a special community ofpeople I say special amongst us
(03:12):
that we keep an eye on oneanother, we know one another.
Perhaps we've worked togetherat some point in time.
A lot of times you move on inradio.
Sometimes it's to a differentmarket or a different city or
what have you, but sometimesit's across town and you end up
running into people that youknow, you worked with before you
make new relationships and allof that.
(03:33):
And along the way, uh, both ofus worked with a gentleman by
the name of Chris Collins, bythe name of Chris Collins, and I
wanted to bring up Chrisbecause Chris just passed away
and I was so sad.
You know, tony, I didn'trealize that Chris was even ill,
(03:55):
had I have known, and you knowsometimes, again.
The real harsh truth is thatsometimes now you and I keep in
touch a lot, but sometimes wedon't keep in touch with
everyone as much as we wish wewould have, and then you kind of
regret that.
So I did not know, because Ithink he was so private that
Chris was ill.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, he kept it very quiet.
I knew that he had beenbattling cancer for a couple of
years and he had a few surgeriesand he came out of them all
with flying colors.
Last week he had a surgery andwhen he came out he developed an
infection and he went downhillimmediately.
(04:36):
I saw him two days ago and hewas uh in a lot of pain and
within eight hours he died.
I was with him with MarcusAllen on the morning zoo.
Chris had a show back in theeighties on ASFM, uh called the
(04:57):
morning zoo, and it was MarcusAllen and me and a few other
people, lucas, our friend, andum, he went downhill so quickly.
We were all there yesterday athis bedside, the four of us, and
he could not respond.
I'd never seen anyone godownhill so quickly.
And he passed away this morning, the 18th of June, at 2 am, two
(05:23):
days before his 65th birthday.
Oh boy, he leaves behind awonderful wife.
They've been married 34 years,two sons and thousands of people
.
He was a worldwide businessman.
He owned hockey teams.
He and I worked together atKFRC in San Francisco.
He was the play-by-playactually the color announcer
(05:46):
with Dan Rusanowski for the SanJose Sharks for many years.
He went on to buy a couple ofteams, a very successful
businessman.
He was a lover of animals.
He was a vegetarian.
Few people knew that and hekept his illness very quiet Some
of his closest friends.
We are all in shock because wefound out he was ill and then
(06:10):
dead.
And God, we love the man.
He was amazing.
He traveled the world and metso many amazing people.
And Chris was a uniqueindividual.
He did not hold his punches, hewas actually a manager.
He was a manager for a worldclass three-time champion boxer,
(06:34):
tony Lopez.
He managed Tony Lopez for fouryears, and mine too, and so,
yeah, chris was family and, withthat said, condolences to his
family.
Um, cancer is a terrible thingand in America when you get
cancer it pretty much drainsyour bank account.
(06:55):
And um, it left him in aterrible place, but, um, the
family will be good, uh, and Ijust pray for him.
And um, he's up there in heavenright now.
You know calling hockey games.
I'm sure they've got some goodgames going on up there.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Jeez Tony, you know you say something so profound
and it really stops you in yourtracks when you said that,
because we hear and we haveexperienced and both you and I
know people again with Chris andso many others we can mention
Joey and Mark the voice guy andso many others others the
(07:32):
challenge of not only the, theillness, but then the challenge
of your emotions, right, andthen the challenge of the
medicine or the.
So you know these treatments,but what we don't hear about is
the challenge of, as you say,draining your bank account and
you, you know, sometimes I don'tknow how that works, but you
(07:53):
know what One day things couldbe.
Everything could be fine, chrisCollins.
The next day things aren't fine.
And now you do.
You, can you cover that?
Are you okay?
Do you have enough money?
Are they going to take it away?
You know that that's an aspectthat doesn't get talked about
too often and, um, I'm reallysad to hear this.
(08:15):
I'll tell you this.
Um, you know you mentionedchris being a guy who didn't
hold back, didn't hold back anypunches.
I think what you mean, andmaybe you can tell me if this is
what you mean he told it likehe, the way he felt it, right,
he was honest.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Every word in the dictionary he would use to
express himself and, being amaster of language, he was real
easy to tell you what was on hismind.
Yes, and I loved him for that.
You know how hard it is to findsomebody who can tell you
exactly what they feel, withoutholding back and without
offending you.
He didn't mean to offend anyone, but he certainly had his views
(08:54):
and he stood tight on them.
You could ask him anythingabout sports.
You ask him about the Raiders.
He loved and hated the Raiders,same with the eggs and the
sharks.
And you know he was and andwhen we worked together you said
he hated the Raiders.
Well, a love-hate relationshipwith the Raiders he loved them,
(09:14):
but he was the first to say howmuch they sucked.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Sure, I mean, you have to be honest.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
What are you going to tell someone that they're
really?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
good, they're not, they weren't.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's like you with your love affair for the Rams.
I mean, you're very honest.
When they're good, they're goodand you don't.
You don't blow their goodnessout, and when they're bad, you
let them know that they're bador they suck and you stick with
them, and that is a true fan.
You and Chris were notbandwagon jumpers.
You stay true, just like yourpatriotism to America, and and
(09:50):
same with chris.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
and yeah, I miss the guy so much, so the world is a
little more dim without him init it really is, tony, and I'd
like to go back to some of the,some memories with you and play
some audio, and then you and Ican talk back and forth and make
comments about this.
But I want to also share,before I do that, a story, uh,
(10:14):
that that how I got to knowchris.
I did not know chris as well asyou knew chris, but I knew
chris very well.
Last time I saw him we were atsam's hot brow together.
I can recall that and I thinkthat was my 65th birthday?
yes, it it was.
And so I get a job.
I get fired out of Chico, fromradio.
(10:35):
I've mentioned why on aprevious podcast.
I wanted to work down hereanyhow.
I knew that KSTE was a newstation.
It seemed like an empty pallet,like you could just do anything
you wanted on this new stationin the talk realm.
So I come down here and I gethired Never in a hurry.
(10:55):
Derek Murray hires me and Iremember we were out on Hemlock,
madison and Hemlock at the time, and this was 1993.
And when I got there, one of thetalk shows that was on was
Chris Collins.
I don't recall if it was aweekend or if it was like a
mid-morning.
I think it was a weekdaymid-morning show.
(11:17):
Perhaps you recall better thanI do, but I remember him being
there and I remember, you know,like geez, this is going to be
the new place I'm really goingto make it here.
And Chris Collins inspired me intwo ways.
Number one, by what you said.
He said what he felt.
You know what I'm going to say,what I feel when my turn comes
(11:39):
and it will I'm going to do thatBecause that's the only way I
can be.
It's called being genuine, it'scalled being authentic and
Chris Collins was that All right.
The other thing was I rememberhim on his his desk, he had a
big stack of cds.
This is back when cds were thething.
And I look at these cds and Igo, hey man, uh, because I'm a
(12:01):
music guy, you know me, tony,we're both music guys, oh yeah,
I said hey man, uh man, you gota nice stack of cds there, a lot
of nice discs, and so we starttalking music.
Now, I know these bands, I knowwho they are, I'm listening to
them, but I didn't hear thingslike Lickin' Stick by James
(12:23):
Brown until Chris Collins and Iare sitting there and I'm like,
hold up now, hold up now.
Oh, mama, come here quick andbring that Lickin' Stick.
I like, hold up now, hold upnow, mama, come here quick and
bring that licking stick.
I said, hold, this is waybetter in my estimation than I
feel good, because I've heardthat song 10 billion times.
I heard this and I heard HotPants.
(12:44):
Mama, come here quick and bringthat licking stick.
And so, chris, he wouldoccasionally play these CDs on
the air and I think maybe he wasusing them for his own show,
for bumper music.
Well, kst had these new jinglesin Tony and you being a
production guy, wizard everyone.
Tony is a production master,he's seen it all, he's done it
(13:09):
all, he's produced it all Film,radio, all of it, Live shows,
movies.
Do I need to go on?
So you know.
And so we had these reels inthat they were so happy at KSTE
and I go in this room and theyput these reel-to-reels on Tony
and it's like this I swear toyou and this is 1993.
(13:33):
Kst talk radio 650.
I'm like, I'm thinking, is this1965?
Because that is straight uplame.
But who am I to say I'm anewbie, so I can't say anything.
But that's corny, say I'm anewbie so I can't say anything
but that's corny so so I'mlistening to Chris and I'm
(13:56):
listening to do that once in awhile, but then he's got to play
these bumpers, kst, and so I'mlike, oh god, and I knew he was
cringing.
So I um was producing JeffMetcalf show at one point.
Oh yeah, okay, remember, jeffMetcalf, colonel Jeff.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Metcalf's show at one point.
Oh yeah, okay, remember ColonelJeff Metcalf.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Oh, absolutely, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Now I take Chris Collinsworth'sattitude and one day I go into
the studio and I'm running theboard for Colonel Jeff Metcalf.
Now, for those of you who don'tknow, and you can affirm this,
you can attest to this Tony, avery serious man with a
handlebar mustache.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh, absolutely Got the little glasses.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
He's very serious looking, very well-dressed very
dapper wearing a vest, a redvest, right, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Oh, absolutely One of a kind.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And we've got these sort of what would you call them
, tony, just a liner KSTE.
You're listening to the bigstation KSTE, with nothing
behind it.
Yeah, image bumpers.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Image bumpers yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So I get the idea.
One time I buy the brand newRolling Stones album Voodoo
Lounge and I'm sitting thereacross the board from Jeff
Metcalf.
He's very serious.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
And I'm going to take .
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Chris Collins' attitude.
I'm going to take a CD Insteadof playing KST, this lame thing.
I play Go For the Jugular, thissong, and over the top I go.
You're listening to the bigstation, you know talk 650.
And I hit it before the post.
Now this song's playing JeffMetcalf.
(15:37):
He hasn't hit the on-air buttonyet, he hasn't hit his mic on
yet.
He looks at me over theseglasses, over that handlebar
mustache.
He says what is this?
And I go it's the new RollingStones.
He says to me Tony, you keepdoing that shit, you keep doing
(16:03):
that shit.
From that point on Are youkidding?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
From that point, on, are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
We used bumpers from that point on used bumpers from
that point on music bumpers, andstill do on my show, of course.
Yeah, that's where it started,you know, and, and and the
ratings went up, oh, and all ofyou went on.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Y'all went on to do bigger and better things yeah
and I'm sure those jingles arenever used.
Um, that was the most brilliantdecision you could ever have
made and I think I'm sure theaudience loved it.
I'm sure not one person saidwhat happened to that needle.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
But I thank Chris Collins for that because that's
my point.
He inspired me and he stilldoes.
So I thought what we could do,tony, is listen to some audio
and we can make comments.
I said so, I want to give ohbeautiful.
Yeah, I want to give creditwhere credit is due.
So this is from uh, heck, uh,which one do I want to do first?
(17:04):
I'm kind of torn which one.
I'm going to do this one first.
So this is from.
This is an interview that wasdone on sack tv news.
Uh, it has killer b who you?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
mentioned earlier and okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And then um alex from sc, eric from um sack tv news.
Uh, I don't alex cosper, alexCosper who produced it?
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So you want to tell us about Alex or Killer B?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Well, killer B, first of all, was with Chris Collins
in the morning, so he was aninstrumental player for years.
He was with us me and MarcusAllen and Trejo yesterday at the
bedside of Chris as he wastaking his final breath.
It was emotional but it wasalso touching because it was the
same team, the same radio team,that years, decades ago,
(18:02):
started all of this inSacramento.
And Alex Cosper worked over atQuad Radio and Alex is an
amazing man.
He knows a lot about music andhe cares about broadcasting, so
he does a lot of these littlevignettes on radio people and
he's probably the mostknowledgeable, other than Joey
(18:23):
Swinsky, of who is who in radio.
And so, yeah, I can hardly waitto hear what you're going to
play.
I'm so glad you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Joe, I'm so glad you mentioned joey swinsky.
Joey swinsky, shout out to joeythis man knows sacramento radio
.
Like you said, tony, like noone else.
Uh, joey, we love you manhonest to god, pat.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
when I, when I have a question about my own career,
when I can't remember where Iwas at what time, I call Joey, I
go, joey, where was I?
Well, tony, you were doingMornings at KROI-FM and you had
just come back from Chicago, andhe knows everything about all
of us.
That's it.
He knows everything about allof us.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I'm getting Joey on my show to do that.
I'm going to try to get him onmy show tonight I I'm going to
try to get him on my showtonight.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I'm going to try to get him on my show tonight to do
that alright.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So there's a lot of things that caught my attention,
that I can talk about andthings that I'm sure you can
explain to me and to those of uslistening here to Pat's Peeps
number 284.
So this is 13 years ago, 2012oh okay.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
So, chris, in our last segment we left off where
you were in 1992 at FM 102.
I guess that's when thingsunraveled, yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
I left November of 92 .
November 30th was my last daythere.
What happened was Brian White,brilliant programmer.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You know, brian.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Oh yeah, brian, Brian and I worked.
Yeah, brian Brian and I workedtogether in Chicago.
He's the one who hired me atKFRC in San Francisco.
He hired me at FM 102.
Brian White is an amazing manand he's going to be listening
to this show tonight.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
Worked for him at KFRC later, which was a great
thrill for me, brian had done agreat job, okay, I mean, I'd
been basically forced by JerryMcKenna to take either the
programming job or the OM job.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Jerry McKenna.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Oh yeah, McKenna was our GM.
Mckenna is now in SouthernCalifornia, retired from radio.
He was our general manager atKSFM and the sports station that
I programmed, the SCORE 1380.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Which that's a whole other story you and I can share,
because I have a connection tothat as well.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, that's the first time I met you.
That's right.
You came in to audition for themorning show on the sports
station.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Do you want to tell people how that went, since you
were the one that was?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
looking down there, oh, it went beautiful in my eyes
.
And then I went in and I goyeah, we need to talk about Pat
Walsh, and he goes.
Well, you know not good, hegoes, but we kind of need a name
and I go like who?
And he goes well, how about thedog?
And I go the dog.
So anyway, that's a wholedifferent story.
(21:05):
I could have been the man whodiscovered Pat Walsh and I
wasn't able to because of thepolitics of radio and we all
have to deal with that.
Everyone knows that.
But the thing that came out ofthat is you and me becoming
friends and you know, louGazzicchi is the one who really
hooked you and me up as friendsand we've been family, you know,
(21:25):
ever since.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, I'm aware.
I just went to your daughter'swedding and I've known her most
of her life.
We're going to talk about Loucoming up, but let's continue.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Morning John.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
All right, buddy.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
And it was because we were transitioning.
We brought in a new ownershipgroup.
Booth Broadcasting out ofDetroit had been very successful
.
They didn't want to pay me$400,000 or $500,000 a year
$400,000 or $150,000 base, Iprobably made $300,000 by last
year, which is a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
That's probably the highest in town.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Well, it was then, but I mean in the 90s, then you
know, all the guys made money.
They made $500,000, $600,000 ayear, but I was making $100,000
in 1985.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
So you know, there was a lot of money back then.
Nobody money back then.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Nobody was.
You want to comment on that?
That's a lot of money back then.
Yeah, but you know what?
He had a 40-50 share in theratings.
50 out of 100 people listeningto the radio in Sacramento
listened to the Morning Zoo.
50 out of 100 people.
That's 50%.
If you are an advertiser andthere's 40 radio stations in
Sacramento, be on KSFM.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You're right, brother , you got it right Tony.
You all right, my friend.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I helped Dave Williams and Joey get their
first six-figure contracts there, which they rightfully earned
Wow, and they were two of mymentors.
I mean, I love Dave Williams,okay.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Dave Williams, my turn.
Dave Williams, oh yeah, daveWilliams, oh yeah, dave Williams
.
I worked with Dave Williams onthe morning show, dave and Amy
on KFBK when I was the sportsguy, worked with Dave and Amy
for many, many years as thesports guy Both very good
broadcasters.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
True, Very true, Probably the greatest news talk
man I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
He's talking about Dave Williams and I'm happy he's
working again and Dave Williamswas a great news man, a great
news talk kind of a guy.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Dave and I go back to before I was in radio.
I was a 13-year-old kid andDave was on the radio at KOBO in
Yuba City in what we call afishbowl studio.
You could look in from theshopping mall into the control
room and see the jock on the air.
I used to ride my bicycle overthere and look at Dave Williams.
I was his first groupie and Inever, I never, thought that I
(23:38):
would ever work with him.
Two years later I was 14.
He was 18.
And, uh, we had just startedradio.
He went from global and Yubacity to KROI at Sacramento.
Am is a music disc jockey andthen he got into country music
and then he got into news talkand became nationally known.
I mean, we're in LA, he's inDallas.
(23:59):
He just retired from news talkradio in Dallas.
Dave Williams is a is a realdude.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
No, he, he really was , a, he really is a great guy.
Yeah, he is, you know.
Uh, gosh, as you were justtalking about that, oh God, I
had a thought about that and itjust completely escaped me when
you started thinking about hiscountry career as well.
Oh, KRY, you know, KRY, from myperspective, heck, I'm a
(24:26):
teenager.
When you guys were slightlyolder than me by a few years and
so I'm listening to K, you guyswere slightly older than me by
a few years, and so I'mlistening to Karen.
Why Now, think about me?
Heck, I'm listening to Tony Coxand I'm listening to Dave
Williams.
Well, I ended up working withDave Williams, becoming friends
with Dave Williams and I becomebest friends with Tony Cox.
So you guys and by God man, youguys inspired me for radio.
(24:50):
Okay, here's some more.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
He was number one on KFBK for many years.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
He's a great broadcaster Dave Williams.
He and I went to the same highschool together Really.
Highlands High, highlands High.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
And Bob Nathan, I got to work with as well.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
Bob was a brilliant broadcaster.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
He's talking about Bob Nathan, so Bob and Dave,
dave and Bob in the mornings onKFBK, which is the station I
work on.
I also worked with Bob Nathan,as I mentioned earlier, when I
came down from Chico and came toSacramento to work with KSTE.
I did that because I saw the TVcommercial where it had the
(25:25):
late great Rick Stewart Race andRicky, who I miss so much.
Oh my God, One of the deepvoices, great broadcasters of
radio, working with Bob Nathan,who was a brilliant guy, just
like Chris is saying, just likekiller B is saying there and
Alex is saying did he have anego?
You're damn right, he did, butthey did things differently.
They didn't just present newsand they weren't really talk.
(25:48):
They were actually kind ofbreaking a format rule by
commenting on stories.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
But people loved that , tony oh they do, because it's,
like you said earlier,authentic and genuine and it's
very rare to find broadcasterswho can step out of their
comfort zone on the radio andkind of challenge the format.
If you don't live on the edgeas a communicator, you're taking
up way too much room.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Here's one thing that I'll never forget about Bob
Nathan, and Bob Nathan alsoinspired me.
When I do my ads, tony, onradio, my live ads, I try to be
as natural and as believable andas genuine as I can, because
it's the only thing I can do,because I will not represent
anyone that does not make mefeel that way.
(26:39):
Well, if you go back to BobNathan, he's one that really
made sure that I did that.
He had this thing he used to doHarold Ford ads.
You remember Harold Ford?
Oh sure sure He'd come on liveand I'd watch him because I'd be
producing the show running theboard.
He'd have the newspaper in hishand and I'm looking through the
.
There you go.
Hi, Bob Nathan.
He'd be so relaxed, like DickClark, super relaxed.
(27:01):
Kick back, Look at the paperhere.
And I got the new big ads outhere today.
Look at this.
It's a 92 toyota tercel.
It was a good deal here.
What was it?
59.95.
He read the ads and you're likejeez, I'm sitting at the table
with bob nathan.
He's reading the ads, he'stelling it's just, there was
something about both isn't that?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
isn't that?
That's the important thing.
When you are a goodcommunicator on a radio station,
your listener feels like youare sitting with them at the
dinner table or in the car or ata concert or looking to get a
new car.
You're like a friend if you'rea good communicator and you
can't fake that, because thevoice is the speaker to the soul
(27:45):
, just like the eyes are thewindow to a soul.
And if you can go on the radioin a sterile environment with a
studio which is all these lightsand flashing knobs and dials
and microphones and deep depths,if you can feel like a human
(28:05):
being in that environment, it'smagic because that's the only
way you can be authentic.
And that's what separates therookies from the pros.
And when you said ego, thisbusiness is an ego product.
And you become a pro when youlive by your ego and you think
you're the greatest thing in theworld and all of a sudden you
(28:27):
get down to the wheel.
You gotta live and die by yourego in this business and then
you become humble, then youbecome a pro, then you don't
worry about all the things thatyou hear.
I know I've heard things aboutmyself on the radio and I get.
I get good and bad, and so,yeah, it's a, it's a special
(28:49):
person who can go in and becomesomeone's friend without ever
being with those people.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
That's what I'm talking about A time.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
we're talking about a time before modern technology,
um, where music andentertainment and news only came
through one source live radio.
Today, my toaster plays music.
My refrigerator tells me what Ineed to buy.
At the store, Everything playsmusic, but back in the day it
(29:20):
was really an art and it was alot more expensive.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Well, let me just interject there.
It's still an art, it is stillsomething I strive for.
Not everyone does, becauseeveryone's bogged down in
politics and divisiveness, butit is what I strive for on my
show.
Not to say that about myself,but the reason I do is because,
again, going back to the peoplewe're talking about, who had an
influence on me and I'll even gofurther than that, and I always
(29:48):
cite johnny carson as one ofthe great influences uh, dick
clark as well.
That's why I mentioned him.
Johnny carson didn't matterwhat was going on in the world.
We got to get back to thisinterview, but johnny, it didn't
matter what was going on, tony,he came out with that monologue
everything was okay.
We're all in this together,don't worry, everything's fine,
okay.
Dick clark, to me, was the mostcool under pressure guy I have
(30:12):
ever seen on tv.
Look at the 100,000 dollarpyramid, the 25,000, just the
way he interacted on americanbandstand, just like can I be
more relaxed?
The answer is no, I'm totallyat ease in front of this camera.
So, um, chris collinsworth, bobnathan, rick stewart, all of
the people, you, you, tony, okay, have all had an influence on
(30:36):
me.
That's the only reason I bringup me is because you have to
point out those influences and Iam so lucky to have an audience
and to have a show, but I Icredit those people who taught
me, who I learned from, who weremy mentors.
All right, here we go.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
So smart.
Anyway, it's actually December26th 1990, and Brian calls me
and says I've been fired.
Typical horse's ass.
General manager Didn't likeBrian because Brian, like me,
didn't like brian, um, becausebrian, like me, didn't like the
general manager and told him tobutt out.
Well, uh, with marty leaving,okay, and with booth coming in,
(31:13):
they demanded they wanted tohave, uh, someone else.
So brian, unceremoniously, isfired.
Everybody's like what's goingon here.
So the station was in flux forabout three weeks, okay, um,
chuck field was named atemporary PD.
He was 19 years old, he stillhad pimples on his face.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Remember Chuck Field.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Oh yeah, he and I were very good friends.
He just chimed in today afterhe heard about Chris's passing.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Not his fault.
So we went through we startedhearing disturbing rumors about
a guy that had been fired forsome real problems in Washington
coming in.
So, lo and behold, the worsthappens and one by one,
everybody starts getting gassed.
Kevin K goes, who is one of thegreat programming minds I've
ever worked with okay, assistedGillette and I for years.
He's gone.
(31:59):
Some dirtbag shows up, that'sbeen out of work.
That's a buddy of the new PD.
Then Mike is finally forced outso you know, it started to go
south and they tell me well, wedon't like the money Mike's
making, we're going to probablyget rid of him, but we want you
to stay.
Well, I'd already had mycontract done and I told him to
get rid of Mike.
You're putting the nail into myback.
They got rid of Mike and that'swhen I went to war with the
(32:22):
program director and I told them.
I said it's either going to behim or me.
All right, jerry Clifton wasour consultant again and he had
come in and said look at.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Chris, you want to work anywhere?
Oh, you got a thought aboutthat, jerry Clifton, jerry.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Clifton.
Oh, do I have a story Feel likesharing?
First time I ever heard fromJerry Clifton.
I was working at AROI and I washired by Steve Rivers to go to
Philadelphia from Croy.
I'd only been there a year andI go, yeah, philly, I'll go to
Philly.
And so I gave notice to Croy.
(32:54):
I was sitting in my apartmentin Sacramento playing guitar and
the phone rings and I answer itand I hear this little
squirrely voice going hey man,what are you doing?
And I go.
And I hear this littlesquirrely voice going hey man,
what are you doing?
And I go.
Uh, I go, I'm, I'm, I, I.
I said I'm playing a littleguitar.
He goes, how little is thatguitar?
I said who the F is that.
(33:16):
What did he say about?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
the guitar.
What'd he say about the guitar?
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I said I'm playing a little guitar.
And he goes how little is it?
Oh, okay, all right, guitar.
And he goes.
How little is it?
Oh, okay, all right.
And I go.
Who is this dude?
And he goes I'm jerry clifton.
Uh, I'm working with steverivers.
Well, I understand that you'regoing to philadelphia.
And I said, yes, he goes.
How would you like the weatherbilly go to chicago?
And I go wait a minute, who isthis?
(33:40):
He goes.
I'm jerry clifton.
I'm the national programdirector and I'm going to be the
PD at WEFM in Chicago.
It's an FM station that has beenplaying classical music for 40
years and we're going to take itover on February 11th and we're
going to go rock and roll andwe're going to take on WLS.
And I said mark me down.
(34:01):
So I called the moving company.
I said, hey, don't take me toPhilly, take me to Chicago.
I landed in Chicago, it was 40degrees below zero, it was 72 in
San Francisco.
No, and Jerry Clifton is thereand he goes hey, man, we're
going to get butt here inChicago.
Man, we're the first FM rockand roll station.
(34:22):
Man, we're going to really.
And we did.
We took a butt in that market.
We took over Chicago.
It was one of the best things Iever did in my life.
And Jerry Clifton was theprogram director and he went
into consulting.
And then all the controversystarts because he was an edge
guy man, he took everything tothe edge.
(34:42):
He didn't do anything normal,the guy just was not from planet
earth, but he was the numberone consultant in america really
yeah, a little little shortlittle guy with long hair and,
just you know, one of those kindof people so
Speaker 1 (35:03):
I love these stories.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
I can help you.
But he said you know this placehere it's sort of screwy.
You know your GM you don't getalong with.
I said, yeah, I don't reallywant to move, though I've got
everything going.
I have a lot of play-by-play.
I was doing for Davis which Ihad done for 10 years.
I'd done soccer, basketball,now I was doing hockey and I Now
I was doing hockey and I likemy life here.
Long story short.
Then this loser Mancow, who'sworking at the teen station in
(35:29):
San Francisco, who's famous forgetting a haircut on the Bay
Bridge and pissing people off.
That was his big funny bitcontribution to radio.
It was supposed to be aboutClinton, or something.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Yeah, it wasn't funny .
Speaker 5 (35:41):
It wasn't funny and it didn't do anything but piss
people off.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, something about Mancow.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Oh yeah, Mancow caused the Oakland Bay Bridge to
be shut down one day.
He was a very controversialjock.
Wow, I have not heard this.
God, Alex Cosper.
He conducted all these.
He's still doing interviewswith people.
If you can find Alex Cosperonline, listen to some of his
(36:06):
programs.
He's just an amazing reporter,I sure will.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Alright, here we go.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
He starts announcing on his show that I'm going to be
fired Now.
Why?
Anybody would care at 107 inSan Francisco, who even I am,
even though I'm sort of a BayArea guy.
People are calling me, tellingme.
So I let him know that if heever mentioned my name again,
they'd find bits and pieces ofhim swimming in the bay.
So I stopped in front of themon it.
They said no, no, no, it's alla lie.
(36:34):
They bring me in after I getoff the air.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
They say well, you know Again again, Chris Collins
not holding back his truefeelings right, he's not holding
back.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
No, hell, no working out, so we're gonna let you go.
So the program director is inthere and I said well, first of
all, you're not going to doanything.
So I said you can either go outthe fifth floor of the landmark
building.
So they threw him out and thegm and I then talked about it
and I knew that they were introuble because they kept
(37:03):
offering me whatever I wanted.
He said said how much vacationdo you want?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I said I don't know five months he goes.
Okay, they wrote it down Fivemonths five months vacation.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
That calls for a year's salary.
We did that.
So, now you have a year and ahalf salary, and then was there
anything we missed.
I said yeah, you missed anothervacation.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Okay, here you go.
Speaker 5 (37:21):
So I said to my wife I go look, I took the buyout,
put it in the bank Thenimmediately within a week, Doc
Fuller hired
Speaker 2 (37:28):
me to sign on KST as his 9 to noon talk show host.
See, there we go.
That's how that happened, right, doc, fuller, fuller.
Broadcasting hires him, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
And that's where he goes to KSTE, which is, like I
say, where I met Chris.
So 9 to noon, 9 to noon on thetalk station.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
And I waited and I collected more and more
information because there were alot of pissed off people that I
left KSFM in the morning.
They had complaints nonstop.
The program director tried toreplace me.
He lasted two mornings and Iwaited up until November 29th of
1993.
And during a banker's meetingat FM 102, where all the
(38:11):
financers of the radio companieswere, I had the undersharp walk
in with the summons that theywere being sued.
That's how I announced it.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
I made some of that stuff up, bitch real quick.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
It was all true.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Oh man, reading about it, it was all true I I uh, uh,
you just, I'm just emotionalover that.
I miss that man so much andhearing him talk like he always
talks it really hits me.
Man, it really.
He hasn't been gone 20 hoursyet and I'm just I know, I
understand, I understand okay,he would want us to do this.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
You know that.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Yes, oh, you know he would the b that was all true
and in my, in my estimation, itwas all true it was.
It was a sealed agreement.
As to how it ended up, so youknow, I can't tell you what was
settled upon, but I think bothsides were happy.
Now I can tell you this I washappy.
(39:14):
I thought that their lawyer,who used to represent me to the
Supreme Court he's a good guy,but I thought it was interesting
.
I thought he handled it well.
You know, they tried to contenda couple of things and then, I
think, one person spoke and thatwas the end of their contention
.
But the better part of it was,within a month of that, both
(39:34):
people that were in charge weregone.
So, if it wasn't settled rightthen I don't know why they left.
You know, I mean in the end thegeneral manager.
I think he bounced between 15different jobs after that.
So you know, I mean in the endthe general manager.
I think he bounced between 15different jobs after that.
So you know, that should tellpeople.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Probably stopped by our station for a minute.
I wonder who that was.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
I wonder who that was man.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
I'm sure he paid us a visit.
I have no idea what happened.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
The unfortunate thing is that over within a year
period of time, the thing thatChris grew with.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Mike Reynolds was destroyed, and then they were
destroyed in the process as well.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
But the station lasted and that's what matters
most to me, because in the endit's tried to be a lot of
different things, but there wasblood, sweat and tears in that
format.
People gave up their lives,gave up marriages, people worked
their asses off here and youknow, really, at the formation
of it in 1980, everyone wantedone thing to be the best to be
(40:31):
number one.
And through that time, througha couple of bad years of Billy
Manders, who I had thesatisfaction of knowing, I got
him fired.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
I got to know about Billy Manders.
Who's Billy Manders?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Well, billy Manders and I worked together in Los
Angeles in 1976.
He was my weekend job when Iprogrammed the station in
Southern California.
He went on to become programdirector at KSFM.
He has passed.
He passed many years ago and hewas one of those people like
(41:06):
you and I know program directorwho's got the position of
program director?
And everybody says, how thehell did he become program
director?
And, with all due respect toBilly, he was an okay friend of
mine but he just didn'tunderstand how to manage people
and he had no idea about radio.
(41:27):
So you get somebody in thatposition and who knows why they
get there.
And Billy was a good man.
I don't think he had any illintention, but he just didn't
know how to make good radio.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
In my opinion.
I laughed at him as he wasthrown out of the building.
Through all of that, throughthe Ed Stoltz of the world,
through everything.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Ed Stoltz, oh, ed Stoltz.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Uh-oh, okay.
Well, and I'm not going to sayanything about Ed, because he
was you've seen WKRP.
Yes, yes, he was the Mr Carlson, okay okay, of Sacramento Radio
, except he was an engineeringgenius.
He took quad radio to the firstquadraphonic broadcast.
(42:13):
He actually built aquadraphonic transmitter, quad
radio in Sacramento and he wouldEd Stoltz, the engineer and
owner and general manager.
His mom and dad bought him theradio station and he programmed
it for many years and he wouldinstantly turn up the modulation
way beyond the FCC limits.
(42:35):
So he would be every threemonths.
The FCC would come intoSacramento and do a check and
they would say hey, dude, we'regoing to find you like and grand
, you're like a over maximummodulation and and he, he would
go in.
The story says he would go inand turn it down while they were
in town and as soon as the FCCleft he turned it back up again
(42:57):
and they had the loudest, mostincredible broadcast signal ever
.
Alex Cosper can tell you moreabout that, ed and I.
Quad was the only radio stationI did not work for.
I was doing mornings at Croy.
We were number one.
We were beating Quad in theratings.
(43:18):
One day Ed calls me.
He goes.
I said I'd like to take you tolunch and see if you'd like to
come over to work with me.
That's exactly how he thought.
I said hi, ed, he goes.
Hey, I'd like to take you tolunch and see if you'd like to
come over to work with me.
That's exactly how he thought.
I said well, you know, ed, I'mreally happy here.
Man, I don't want to go overthere.
Three days later and this is atrue story three days later, one
(43:40):
of the sales people came to meand goes hey, tony, what the
hell did you say to Ed?
I go, what do you mean?
He goes.
Oh, he's dissing you.
He goes.
Yeah, I offered Tony a careerand he turned me down.
I'm going to wait a minute.
And she said yeah, ed says youowe him a favor.
It pisses me off.
I call Ed.
I go hey, ed, can I come downand talk to you for a minute?
(44:03):
So I go down to his office.
I think he thinks I'm going totake the job.
I walk in and Ed was afrustrated lawyer.
He had every legal book in theworld behind him.
He loved lawsuits because heliked battling those things,
even if he lost.
His mom had enough money wherehe didn't care.
So I'm sitting there talking toEd and I said Ed, there's talk
(44:25):
on the street about me owing youa favor.
I don't recall you ever doingme a favor.
And here's a quote.
He goes Tony, I'm doing you afavor right now, just talking to
you.
And I said, well, nevermind, Igot up.
(44:45):
I got up and I walked out of theradio station.
He and I still became casualfriends we still.
Well, never mind.
I got up and I walked out ofthe radio station.
He and I still became casualfriends we still.
I don't know where he is today.
He was sued.
I think he was running awayfrom the FCC.
He had violated every rule inthe book.
I don't know where he is rightnow and again, this is only
(45:11):
hearsay.
Ed and I were casual friends,but I just couldn't work for him
.
I didn't feel right and I don'twant to diss anyone who did,
because Quad was an amazingradio station back then.
They they broke every rule inthe format and, uh, you know it
was pretty wild, but anyway, Ididn't want to get out.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
No, I, tony, I I love these stories, I love radio
stories.
I don't know how much everyoneelse does, but I think they do,
I do, I do.
People love radio.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
They're listening, aren't.
Do People love radio?
They're listening, aren't they?
Speaker 1 (45:44):
Right, people love radio stories.
I'm not the only one.
There's a reason WKRP was sopopular and one of my favorite
shows, and I'm picturing youknow, mr Carlson the whole time
you're talking there.
So here we go.
We're almost done with thisinterview, and then I have one
other thing.
Speaker 5 (45:59):
The one goal was never relinquish and that was to
be the best.
And then in 1992, theybasically threw it all away.
After they got rid of thoseguys, they came back, they
brought in some burnouts thatran it and basically ran it to
what it is today and you knowit's good.
It's still a pop station Someburnouts.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
I'm proud of the fact that, if it hadn't been for me
or for guys like B or Gilletteor Jeff Lucifer, that in K.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Jeff Lucifer, jeff Lucifer, rick Gillette, who was
an intern at KROI yeah, I know,but but Rick Gillette Gillette
in particular, a programminggenius.
He started as a music intern atKROI in the late 70s when I was
(46:47):
there, and then he went on toprogram some of the most amazing
formats.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
How are you doing, Richard?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Jeff Lucifer here.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
It's good to meet you it never would have been.
Speaker 5 (46:56):
It would have been something else right now.
And you should feel the sameway, because Quad never had a
future as a top 40 stationbecause we beat it.
And, as I told you, we did Notas a top 40 station because we
beat it.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
And, as I told you, we did.
Not only did we beat it, wedecapitated it.
Of course we did.
But then what did you do?
Speaker 5 (47:12):
Quad sold for $26 million.
That's not going to happen as atop 40 station.
Who was the guy that made it aprogressive station?
You did.
It was the same thing.
What did the zoo do for FM-102?
What did my programming turn in1987?
I gave up my programming job toprove a point that we could
take out our competitors byflanking them.
I gave them this thing.
I let them advance, theyadvanced, we flanked them and I
(47:34):
decapitated them.
Fm-102 lasts today, 32 years,because of that flank.
If we hadn't done that, wewould have been in oblivion.
The morning show would havebeen a seven-show.
The morning show the stationwould have been a three and it
would be playing country musicright now, or Christian or
whatever else it would be doing.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
The history of sacramental radio can be
researched at this table.
We think.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
You know, it's all the.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
F and 1 and 2 stories .
I could tell you all the quadstories and what was amazing is,
you know, there were peoplethat loved both stations of
course there are that's theaudience too.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
Yeah, they listen to them both.
They don't.
They never got caught up in it.
I mean, that's right with themorning shows they did, because
the morning show sort of set thevibe.
But you know what it is, whatit is, man.
In the end we provided greatradio.
I mean, this was a great radiomarket.
Are you kidding?
Kidding me?
Speaker 2 (48:23):
There you go, and that's the soul and heart of
Chris Collins.
He cared more about the product.
He cared more about hisaudience than he did about all
the crap that went on behind thescenes.
Yet he stood fast.
He broke all the rules becausehe knew which rules to break.
He laughed at people in theirfaces and then showed them why
(48:44):
he was laughing at them, andit's very hard to find a person
like that.
So I'm a little emotional,right now.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I can understand.
I can understand.
So am I, but you were closer toChris and I'm sorry for your
loss as friends and I certainlydo understand the emotion.
Let's bring you back out ofthat just for a moment, because
I want to have a question foryou.
You mentioned this personearlier.
I may get emotional now becauseI'm not going to.
(49:15):
I've come to accept this, butthis past year we both lost a
very dear friend and one heck ofa great guy and one talented
funny dude, um, who ended upbeing a part of my show.
The pat waltz show ended upbeing one of my guest hosts, so
(49:37):
when I had nights off I'd bringin sweet lou gasecki now sweet
lou, we knew him as sweet lougallagher on my show.
His name was lou gasecki.
Uh, lou passed away, but howlong has it been now?
a year maybe a little over, yeah, almost two years, almost two
years.
God time flies, you know.
(49:57):
And so so Lou Gallagher, orSweet Lou, was such a witty guy.
Wonderful, we love both ofthese guys, you know, and I knew
Sweet Lou very, very well andwe were very close friends and
just a gentle guy.
Just a gentle guy, yeah, okay,rooted for the Yankees.
(50:20):
God bless him.
But here he is.
I'm looking at this thing.
I found this video Tony KSFM,fm 102, morning Zoo.
What it says is Chris Collinsand Mike Reynolds, november 11,
1987.
I don't know who Mike Reynoldsis and Chris Collins, he was the
newsman.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Yeah, he was the news guy.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Well, he's barely in this and I don't really see
Chris Collins very much in this.
What it doesn't say is thatit's Lou Gusecki on KSFM, but it
says DJ Chris Collins.
It does not say this.
It was November 11, 1987.
It shows the radio studio.
Speaker 4 (51:03):
It's a hump day, Wednesday, actually is what it
is.
It's the Morning Zoo at FreshMusic FM 102.
Coming up this morning We'll betaking your request to burn
buns.
It's just a little bit after 5o'clock.
Good morning, fresh hits, fm102.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Sacramento.
Did you work on those jingles?
Speaker 2 (51:22):
I've never heard that jingle.
I think that was about threemonths before I.
Oh my God.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
This is sweet Lou working in the studio.
He's in there working and I'mlike going hey, Now there's the
news guy.
He walks by, but it's LouGusecki working at KSFM.
Oh, there's the news guy.
He walks by, but it's LouGusecki working at KSFM.
Oh, there's the news guy again,I don't see anything with Chris
in here, but here's Lou, andit's interesting to me.
(51:55):
At two minutes, Tony, twominutes and 40 seconds into this
video and I've been in a lot ofradio studios something happens
that I've never seen in radiobefore, at two minutes and 40
seconds, and I'm going to tellyou what that is.
Okay, okay.
So I didn't edit this down, solet me fast forward to get to so
(52:16):
we can find some more Lou here.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
I'm on the edge of my seat right here.
I can't imagine what this isgoing to be.
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
I just missed Lou.
I was trying to see him.
Speaker 4 (52:28):
FM 102, Captain Lou with the morning Zoo at 506.
Foggy, very foggy.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
Captain Lou.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
Drive safely.
Keep it here with the zoo.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
Good morning.
Yeah, I don't know who saidgood morning.
I don't know who said goodmorning.
I don't know who that was.
So he was captain lou.
He's been sweet lou.
Well, captain lou is how I.
Is that how you know him?
Speaker 2 (52:50):
that's how I met him first.
He was uh, he was part of themorning zoo.
I think you're going back priorto 1987 am I right?
Well, I got there in 88, early88, and I don't remember any of
that this is 87 FM 102, it's 510now.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Captain Lou with the Morning Zoo on a hump day,
wednesday, coming up all morninglisten to how his voice changed
over the years too, just likemine did it's much higher back
then, as well as their phonenumber.
We call them, wake them out ofa dead sleep and kind of give
them a ration is basically whatwe do.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
There was Chris Collins in the background.
Whoever, I don't know who thatwas, I'm calling right now,
766-8811 is the phone number, or1-800-338-102.5.
That'll get you through to theAll right, he's going to get
ready to go to a break.
And we're at 227, Tony, andhe's going to do something, and
he's using cart machines and allthat which we don't use anymore
.
But at 240, he's going to dosomething I've never seen in a
(53:53):
radio studio.
Speaker 4 (53:53):
And if we don't answer the phone?
Speaker 1 (53:57):
So he goes into the song, he leans over to the right
side of the board.
What does he do?
Picks up his smoke and smokesit yes, oh my God.
Sets it back in the ashtray inthe radio studio and then looks
at the camera.
How about that, tony?
Speaker 2 (54:15):
Okay, can I tell you a quick story about that?
I wish you would, ashtray.
There was a company calledPacific Recorders out of San
Diego and they made all themixing consoles for radio
stations nationwide.
Back then we could smoke on theair and they had built-in
ashtrays in the right corner ofthe board with a nice little and
(54:36):
we would go through a pack ofcigarettes in a four-hour shift.
We just let them burn likeincense.
We constantly smoked and when Ifirst came on to KSFM I was
doing 10 to noon followed themorning zoo and Captain Boo was
part of the morning zoo.
One day I quit smoking.
I decided after 20 years toquit smoking and it was day
(54:59):
three.
The only thing I could think ofwas smoking and we had a brand
new contest.
We had a brand new contest thatwas really involved.
It was called the initials gameand we would spin an imaginary
roulette wheel that had lettersof the alphabet.
We'd spin it twice.
If it landed on the firstletter of your first name, on
(55:20):
the first spin you were halfwayto winning $10,000.
If we spun it again and itlanded on the first letter of
your last name and you were the10th caller, you would win 10
grand.
It was a simple contest, veryhard to execute though.
So I'm on the air, I'm doingthe contest for the first time.
I'm going oh my God, I got sixcards here.
(55:43):
I got to hit the wheel, I gotto make it sound right.
This is a hard contest for meto do and it took a lot of focus
.
So I'm live on the air and I'mgoing.
Esfm, you know, two, five, tonyCox, time to play the initials
game.
If you have a first and lastname, you can win $10,000.
Let's spin that wheel and I hitthe sound effect and went P.
(56:06):
If P's the first letter of yourfirst name, you're halfway to
$10,000.
We're going to spin it againand if it lands on the first
letter of your second name, callimmediately.
And if you're the first of 10callers with those initials, you
win 10 grand.
So by that time, by the time Iexplained it, my cigarette
(56:27):
addiction was in the back of myhead, saying smoke a cigarette,
smoke a cigarette.
And I'm on the air for 30seconds talking and all I can
think is damn, I want acigarette.
So, captain Wu, he's standingin the studio with me and I go
okay, in the studio, on the air.
I go okay, we're going to spinit again.
Stand by to win 10 grand.
(56:47):
In the studio with me is CaptainLou.
Captain Lou's going to give mea hand spinning this roulette
wheel.
And I turned to him on the micand I said Captain Lou, give
that.
And I said the word.
I tried to say sucker, but itdidn't come out as sucker.
I said give that, give thateffort.
Another spin as clear as a billon the radio.
(57:11):
And so and so, captain lou, hehears that and he starts
cracking up and falls on thefloor laughing.
I hit the sound effect of theroulette wheel w if your
initials were pw and grab andlose on the floor laughing and
the request lines.
We had 15 request lines.
They all went up.
(57:31):
And I go to line one Hi, asfl,what's your name?
Hey, man, do you know?
You just said F on the radio.
The first 10 calls werelisteners going.
Hey, you just said the F wordon the radio.
And you know, I thought BrianWhite was our program director.
I thought I was going to getfired.
(57:52):
Instead, the ratings wentthrough the roof and that was
Captain Luke.
That was Captain Luke.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
Oh my gosh.
Instead, the ratings wentthrough the roof.
Seriously, they went throughthe roof.
Speaker 2 (58:07):
Man, I really thought I was going to get fired did
they come and talk to you?
Speaker 1 (58:11):
did they say hey, tony, we heard what happened not
a word, not a word, a word.
No one it was.
There was no such thing as adump button.
There's a.
In radio we have this thingcalled a dump button.
If someone curses or if youhappen to inadvertently curse or
something like that button,it's got a delay no, we don't
have, so it just went out of wowwow oh yeah, it just, and I and
(58:33):
I said it's so proud and sohappy I can't believe.
Every time I think back on us togo damn, oh, that is so good.
Ah, tony, my friend man, I justlearned so much today, so very
much.
Speaker 2 (58:54):
You just tell a good story.
Isn't it amazing how much welearn about our loved ones and
friends after they're gone?
Damn it.
Speaker 1 (59:01):
I know it really is.
You know, as we finish thingsup here, I'm going to play a
song like I'm going to go backto my inspiration.
Chris Collins and he had thatJames Brown CD and I got deep
into it and heard stuff that Ireally hadn't paid attention to
before.
You know, I feel good and allthat.
(59:21):
You know I knew James Brownbefore.
You know I feel good and allthat was.
You know, I knew james brown,but I never gone as deep as I
should.
Thanks, chris, god bless you,man.
Thank you, thank you, thank youamen, amen amen tony, love you
brother.
Thank you, man love you, patrick.
Speaker 4 (59:39):
Outro Music.
here we are back for the pats peeps podcast Today.
We're at 284, 284 podcasts.
Man, hey, this is a Wednesday,18th day of June 2025.
(00:39):
My name is Pat Walsh, also thehost of the Pat Walsh Show, the
radio show as heard everywhereon all the streaming platforms,
particularly the iHeart platform.
You know I push that since Iwork for iHeart.
But, yeah, 93.1 FM and 1530 AMin Sacramento.
My show goes 7 to 10 pm.
(01:01):
It is a beautiful day as I lookout my studio window into the
foothills of Northern CaliforniaA slightm.
It is a beautiful day as I lookat my studio window into the
foothills of Northern CaliforniaA slight breeze.
It is warm, it is perfect.
I love this kind of weather.
And on today's podcast here,this is going to be a kind of a
somber podcast because you knowthose of us in the radio
(01:23):
community, whether or not wework together, we are a
community.
We know of one another.
Proof in the pudding is,everywhere I go, tony Cox, who
also has worked in radio forever.
Thank you for joining me.
Everywhere I go, tony, peoplesay, people say, oh, are you pat
(01:44):
martin?
And I understand, tony, becauseI got a phone call on my radio
show last night that somehow Iowe you and pat martin a drink.
I think every time I gotmistake, get mistaken for pat
martin, that someone did.
They owe me a drink.
See, I hope that pat martinsometimes gets gets confused
(02:04):
with pat walsh.
So how are you, tony?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm fine, pat, hello to you and to your peep.
And the funny thing is, is Iactually called pat martin pat
walsh to his face one day?
And we're all friends.
I'm glad you did that, man.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'm glad me too.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Now I got a call saying that.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I owed you guys a beer for some reason.
What is going on with that?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe it's just someone givingme a bad time, a fun time on my
show last night.
That's what she was doingprobably probably, but we'll
certainly take it.
Were you guys hanging out?
You guys were hanging out.
I know that for a fact.
Tony is here because you know,like I said, tony, and I think
(02:51):
you can back me up on this, youcan confirm this for sure that
you know when you're in radio itcould be in other businesses as
well, but we're going to talkabout radio, and when you're in
radio in a market, you're partof this community.
It's a special community ofpeople I say special amongst us
(03:12):
that we keep an eye on oneanother, we know one another.
Perhaps we've worked togetherat some point in time.
A lot of times you move on inradio.
Sometimes it's to a differentmarket or a different city or
what have you, but sometimesit's across town and you end up
running into people that youknow, you worked with before you
make new relationships and allof that.
(03:33):
And along the way, uh, both ofus worked with a gentleman by
the name of Chris Collins, bythe name of Chris Collins, and I
wanted to bring up Chrisbecause Chris just passed away
and I was so sad.
You know, tony, I didn'trealize that Chris was even ill,
(03:55):
had I have known, and you knowsometimes, again.
The real harsh truth is thatsometimes now you and I keep in
touch a lot, but sometimes wedon't keep in touch with
everyone as much as we wish wewould have, and then you kind of
regret that.
So I did not know, because Ithink he was so private that
Chris was ill.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, he kept it very quiet.
I knew that he had beenbattling cancer for a couple of
years and he had a few surgeriesand he came out of them all
with flying colors.
Last week he had a surgery andwhen he came out he developed an
infection and he went downhillimmediately.
(04:36):
I saw him two days ago and hewas uh in a lot of pain and
within eight hours he died.
I was with him with MarcusAllen on the morning zoo.
Chris had a show back in theeighties on ASFM, uh called the
(04:57):
morning zoo, and it was MarcusAllen and me and a few other
people, lucas, our friend, andum, he went downhill so quickly.
We were all there yesterday athis bedside, the four of us, and
he could not respond.
I'd never seen anyone godownhill so quickly.
And he passed away this morning, the 18th of June, at 2 am, two
(05:23):
days before his 65th birthday.
Oh boy, he leaves behind awonderful wife.
They've been married 34 years,two sons and thousands of people
.
He was a worldwide businessman.
He owned hockey teams.
He and I worked together atKFRC in San Francisco.
He was the play-by-playactually the color announcer
(05:46):
with Dan Rusanowski for the SanJose Sharks for many years.
He went on to buy a couple ofteams, a very successful
businessman.
He was a lover of animals.
He was a vegetarian.
Few people knew that and hekept his illness very quiet Some
of his closest friends.
We are all in shock because wefound out he was ill and then
(06:10):
dead.
And God, we love the man.
He was amazing.
He traveled the world and metso many amazing people.
And Chris was a uniqueindividual.
He did not hold his punches, hewas actually a manager.
He was a manager for a worldclass three-time champion boxer,
(06:34):
tony Lopez.
He managed Tony Lopez for fouryears, and mine too, and so,
yeah, chris was family and, withthat said, condolences to his
family.
Um, cancer is a terrible thingand in America when you get
cancer it pretty much drainsyour bank account.
(06:55):
And um, it left him in aterrible place, but, um, the
family will be good, uh, and Ijust pray for him.
And um, he's up there in heavenright now.
You know calling hockey games.
I'm sure they've got some goodgames going on up there.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Jeez Tony, you know you say something so profound
and it really stops you in yourtracks when you said that,
because we hear and we haveexperienced and both you and I
know people again with Chris andso many others we can mention
Joey and Mark the voice guy andso many others others the
(07:32):
challenge of not only the, theillness, but then the challenge
of your emotions, right, andthen the challenge of the
medicine or the.
So you know these treatments,but what we don't hear about is
the challenge of, as you say,draining your bank account and
you, you know, sometimes I don'tknow how that works, but you
(07:53):
know what One day things couldbe.
Everything could be fine, chrisCollins.
The next day things aren't fine.
And now you do.
You, can you cover that?
Are you okay?
Do you have enough money?
Are they going to take it away?
You know that that's an aspectthat doesn't get talked about
too often and, um, I'm reallysad to hear this.
(08:15):
I'll tell you this.
Um, you know you mentionedchris being a guy who didn't
hold back, didn't hold back anypunches.
I think what you mean, andmaybe you can tell me if this is
what you mean he told it likehe, the way he felt it, right,
he was honest.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Every word in the dictionary he would use to
express himself and, being amaster of language, he was real
easy to tell you what was on hismind.
Yes, and I loved him for that.
You know how hard it is to findsomebody who can tell you
exactly what they feel, withoutholding back and without
offending you.
He didn't mean to offend anyone, but he certainly had his views
(08:54):
and he stood tight on them.
You could ask him anythingabout sports.
You ask him about the Raiders.
He loved and hated the Raiders,same with the eggs and the
sharks.
And you know he was and andwhen we worked together you said
he hated the Raiders.
Well, a love-hate relationshipwith the Raiders he loved them,
(09:14):
but he was the first to say howmuch they sucked.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Sure, I mean, you have to be honest.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
What are you going to tell someone that they're
really?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
good, they're not, they weren't.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's like you with your love affair for the Rams.
I mean, you're very honest.
When they're good, they're goodand you don't.
You don't blow their goodnessout, and when they're bad, you
let them know that they're bador they suck and you stick with
them, and that is a true fan.
You and Chris were notbandwagon jumpers.
You stay true, just like yourpatriotism to America, and and
(09:50):
same with chris.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
and yeah, I miss the guy so much, so the world is a
little more dim without him init it really is, tony, and I'd
like to go back to some of the,some memories with you and play
some audio, and then you and Ican talk back and forth and make
comments about this.
But I want to also share,before I do that, a story, uh,
(10:14):
that that how I got to knowchris.
I did not know chris as well asyou knew chris, but I knew
chris very well.
Last time I saw him we were atsam's hot brow together.
I can recall that and I thinkthat was my 65th birthday?
yes, it it was.
And so I get a job.
I get fired out of Chico, fromradio.
(10:35):
I've mentioned why on aprevious podcast.
I wanted to work down hereanyhow.
I knew that KSTE was a newstation.
It seemed like an empty pallet,like you could just do anything
you wanted on this new stationin the talk realm.
So I come down here and I gethired Never in a hurry.
(10:55):
Derek Murray hires me and Iremember we were out on Hemlock,
madison and Hemlock at the time, and this was 1993.
And when I got there, one of thetalk shows that was on was
Chris Collins.
I don't recall if it was aweekend or if it was like a
mid-morning.
I think it was a weekdaymid-morning show.
(11:17):
Perhaps you recall better thanI do, but I remember him being
there and I remember, you know,like geez, this is going to be
the new place I'm really goingto make it here.
And Chris Collins inspired me intwo ways.
Number one, by what you said.
He said what he felt.
You know what I'm going to say,what I feel when my turn comes
(11:39):
and it will I'm going to do thatBecause that's the only way I
can be.
It's called being genuine, it'scalled being authentic and
Chris Collins was that All right.
The other thing was I rememberhim on his his desk, he had a
big stack of cds.
This is back when cds were thething.
And I look at these cds and Igo, hey man, uh, because I'm a
(12:01):
music guy, you know me, tony,we're both music guys, oh yeah,
I said hey man, uh man, you gota nice stack of cds there, a lot
of nice discs, and so we starttalking music.
Now, I know these bands, I knowwho they are, I'm listening to
them, but I didn't hear thingslike Lickin' Stick by James
(12:23):
Brown until Chris Collins and Iare sitting there and I'm like,
hold up now, hold up now.
Oh, mama, come here quick andbring that Lickin' Stick.
I like, hold up now, hold upnow, mama, come here quick and
bring that licking stick.
I said, hold, this is waybetter in my estimation than I
feel good, because I've heardthat song 10 billion times.
I heard this and I heard HotPants.
(12:44):
Mama, come here quick and bringthat licking stick.
And so, chris, he wouldoccasionally play these CDs on
the air and I think maybe he wasusing them for his own show,
for bumper music.
Well, kst had these new jinglesin Tony and you being a
production guy, wizard everyone.
Tony is a production master,he's seen it all, he's done it
(13:09):
all, he's produced it all Film,radio, all of it, Live shows,
movies.
Do I need to go on?
So you know.
And so we had these reels inthat they were so happy at KSTE
and I go in this room and theyput these reel-to-reels on Tony
and it's like this I swear toyou and this is 1993.
(13:33):
Kst talk radio 650.
I'm like, I'm thinking, is this1965?
Because that is straight uplame.
But who am I to say I'm anewbie, so I can't say anything.
But that's corny, say I'm anewbie so I can't say anything
but that's corny so so I'mlistening to Chris and I'm
(13:56):
listening to do that once in awhile, but then he's got to play
these bumpers, kst, and so I'mlike, oh god, and I knew he was
cringing.
So I um was producing JeffMetcalf show at one point.
Oh yeah, okay, remember, jeffMetcalf, colonel Jeff.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Metcalf's show at one point.
Oh yeah, okay, remember ColonelJeff Metcalf.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Oh, absolutely, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Now I take Chris Collinsworth'sattitude and one day I go into
the studio and I'm running theboard for Colonel Jeff Metcalf.
Now, for those of you who don'tknow, and you can affirm this,
you can attest to this Tony, avery serious man with a
handlebar mustache.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh, absolutely Got the little glasses.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
He's very serious looking, very well-dressed very
dapper wearing a vest, a redvest, right, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Oh, absolutely One of a kind.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And we've got these sort of what would you call them
, tony, just a liner KSTE.
You're listening to the bigstation KSTE, with nothing
behind it.
Yeah, image bumpers.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Image bumpers yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So I get the idea.
One time I buy the brand newRolling Stones album Voodoo
Lounge and I'm sitting thereacross the board from Jeff
Metcalf.
He's very serious.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
And I'm going to take .
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Chris Collins' attitude.
I'm going to take a CD Insteadof playing KST, this lame thing.
I play Go For the Jugular, thissong, and over the top I go.
You're listening to the bigstation, you know talk 650.
And I hit it before the post.
Now this song's playing JeffMetcalf.
(15:37):
He hasn't hit the on-air buttonyet, he hasn't hit his mic on
yet.
He looks at me over theseglasses, over that handlebar
mustache.
He says what is this?
And I go it's the new RollingStones.
He says to me Tony, you keepdoing that shit, you keep doing
(16:03):
that shit.
From that point on Are youkidding?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
From that point, on, are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
We used bumpers from that point on used bumpers from
that point on music bumpers, andstill do on my show, of course.
Yeah, that's where it started,you know, and, and and the
ratings went up, oh, and all ofyou went on.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Y'all went on to do bigger and better things yeah
and I'm sure those jingles arenever used.
Um, that was the most brilliantdecision you could ever have
made and I think I'm sure theaudience loved it.
I'm sure not one person saidwhat happened to that needle.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
But I thank Chris Collins for that because that's
my point.
He inspired me and he stilldoes.
So I thought what we could do,tony, is listen to some audio
and we can make comments.
I said so, I want to give ohbeautiful.
Yeah, I want to give creditwhere credit is due.
So this is from uh, heck, uh,which one do I want to do first?
(17:04):
I'm kind of torn which one.
I'm going to do this one first.
So this is from.
This is an interview that wasdone on sack tv news.
Uh, it has killer b who you?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
mentioned earlier and okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And then um alex from sc, eric from um sack tv news.
Uh, I don't alex cosper, alexCosper who produced it?
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So you want to tell us about Alex or Killer B?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Well, killer B, first of all, was with Chris Collins
in the morning, so he was aninstrumental player for years.
He was with us me and MarcusAllen and Trejo yesterday at the
bedside of Chris as he wastaking his final breath.
It was emotional but it wasalso touching because it was the
same team, the same radio team,that years, decades ago,
(18:02):
started all of this inSacramento.
And Alex Cosper worked over atQuad Radio and Alex is an
amazing man.
He knows a lot about music andhe cares about broadcasting, so
he does a lot of these littlevignettes on radio people and
he's probably the mostknowledgeable, other than Joey
(18:23):
Swinsky, of who is who in radio.
And so, yeah, I can hardly waitto hear what you're going to
play.
I'm so glad you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Joe, I'm so glad you mentioned joey swinsky.
Joey swinsky, shout out to joeythis man knows sacramento radio
.
Like you said, tony, like noone else.
Uh, joey, we love you manhonest to god, pat.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
when I, when I have a question about my own career,
when I can't remember where Iwas at what time, I call Joey, I
go, joey, where was I?
Well, tony, you were doingMornings at KROI-FM and you had
just come back from Chicago, andhe knows everything about all
of us.
That's it.
He knows everything about allof us.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I'm getting Joey on my show to do that.
I'm going to try to get him onmy show tonight I I'm going to
try to get him on my showtonight.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I'm going to try to get him on my show tonight to do
that alright.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So there's a lot of things that caught my attention,
that I can talk about andthings that I'm sure you can
explain to me and to those of uslistening here to Pat's Peeps
number 284.
So this is 13 years ago, 2012oh okay.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
So, chris, in our last segment we left off where
you were in 1992 at FM 102.
I guess that's when thingsunraveled, yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
I left November of 92 .
November 30th was my last daythere.
What happened was Brian White,brilliant programmer.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You know, brian.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Oh yeah, brian, Brian and I worked.
Yeah, brian Brian and I workedtogether in Chicago.
He's the one who hired me atKFRC in San Francisco.
He hired me at FM 102.
Brian White is an amazing manand he's going to be listening
to this show tonight.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
Worked for him at KFRC later, which was a great
thrill for me, brian had done agreat job, okay, I mean, I'd
been basically forced by JerryMcKenna to take either the
programming job or the OM job.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Jerry McKenna.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Oh yeah, McKenna was our GM.
Mckenna is now in SouthernCalifornia, retired from radio.
He was our general manager atKSFM and the sports station that
I programmed, the SCORE 1380.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Which that's a whole other story you and I can share,
because I have a connection tothat as well.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, that's the first time I met you.
That's right.
You came in to audition for themorning show on the sports
station.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Do you want to tell people how that went, since you
were the one that was?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
looking down there, oh, it went beautiful in my eyes
.
And then I went in and I goyeah, we need to talk about Pat
Walsh, and he goes.
Well, you know not good, hegoes, but we kind of need a name
and I go like who?
And he goes well, how about thedog?
And I go the dog.
So anyway, that's a wholedifferent story.
(21:05):
I could have been the man whodiscovered Pat Walsh and I
wasn't able to because of thepolitics of radio and we all
have to deal with that.
Everyone knows that.
But the thing that came out ofthat is you and me becoming
friends and you know, louGazzicchi is the one who really
hooked you and me up as friendsand we've been family, you know,
(21:25):
ever since.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, I'm aware.
I just went to your daughter'swedding and I've known her most
of her life.
We're going to talk about Loucoming up, but let's continue.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Morning John.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
All right, buddy.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
And it was because we were transitioning.
We brought in a new ownershipgroup.
Booth Broadcasting out ofDetroit had been very successful
.
They didn't want to pay me$400,000 or $500,000 a year
$400,000 or $150,000 base, Iprobably made $300,000 by last
year, which is a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
That's probably the highest in town.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Well, it was then, but I mean in the 90s, then you
know, all the guys made money.
They made $500,000, $600,000 ayear, but I was making $100,000
in 1985.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
So you know, there was a lot of money back then.
Nobody money back then.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Nobody was.
You want to comment on that?
That's a lot of money back then.
Yeah, but you know what?
He had a 40-50 share in theratings.
50 out of 100 people listeningto the radio in Sacramento
listened to the Morning Zoo.
50 out of 100 people.
That's 50%.
If you are an advertiser andthere's 40 radio stations in
Sacramento, be on KSFM.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You're right, brother , you got it right Tony.
You all right, my friend.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I helped Dave Williams and Joey get their
first six-figure contracts there, which they rightfully earned
Wow, and they were two of mymentors.
I mean, I love Dave Williams,okay.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Dave Williams, my turn.
Dave Williams, oh yeah, daveWilliams, oh yeah, dave Williams
.
I worked with Dave Williams onthe morning show, dave and Amy
on KFBK when I was the sportsguy, worked with Dave and Amy
for many, many years as thesports guy Both very good
broadcasters.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
True, Very true, Probably the greatest news talk
man I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
He's talking about Dave Williams and I'm happy he's
working again and Dave Williamswas a great news man, a great
news talk kind of a guy.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Dave and I go back to before I was in radio.
I was a 13-year-old kid andDave was on the radio at KOBO in
Yuba City in what we call afishbowl studio.
You could look in from theshopping mall into the control
room and see the jock on the air.
I used to ride my bicycle overthere and look at Dave Williams.
I was his first groupie and Inever, I never, thought that I
(23:38):
would ever work with him.
Two years later I was 14.
He was 18.
And, uh, we had just startedradio.
He went from global and Yubacity to KROI at Sacramento.
Am is a music disc jockey andthen he got into country music
and then he got into news talkand became nationally known.
I mean, we're in LA, he's inDallas.
(23:59):
He just retired from news talkradio in Dallas.
Dave Williams is a is a realdude.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
No, he, he really was , a, he really is a great guy.
Yeah, he is, you know.
Uh, gosh, as you were justtalking about that, oh God, I
had a thought about that and itjust completely escaped me when
you started thinking about hiscountry career as well.
Oh, KRY, you know, KRY, from myperspective, heck, I'm a
(24:26):
teenager.
When you guys were slightlyolder than me by a few years and
so I'm listening to K, you guyswere slightly older than me by
a few years, and so I'mlistening to Karen.
Why Now, think about me?
Heck, I'm listening to Tony Coxand I'm listening to Dave
Williams.
Well, I ended up working withDave Williams, becoming friends
with Dave Williams and I becomebest friends with Tony Cox.
So you guys and by God man, youguys inspired me for radio.
(24:50):
Okay, here's some more.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
He was number one on KFBK for many years.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
He's a great broadcaster Dave Williams.
He and I went to the same highschool together Really.
Highlands High, highlands High.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
And Bob Nathan, I got to work with as well.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
Bob was a brilliant broadcaster.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
He's talking about Bob Nathan, so Bob and Dave,
dave and Bob in the mornings onKFBK, which is the station I
work on.
I also worked with Bob Nathan,as I mentioned earlier, when I
came down from Chico and came toSacramento to work with KSTE.
I did that because I saw the TVcommercial where it had the
(25:25):
late great Rick Stewart Race andRicky, who I miss so much.
Oh my God, One of the deepvoices, great broadcasters of
radio, working with Bob Nathan,who was a brilliant guy, just
like Chris is saying, just likekiller B is saying there and
Alex is saying did he have anego?
You're damn right, he did, butthey did things differently.
They didn't just present newsand they weren't really talk.
(25:48):
They were actually kind ofbreaking a format rule by
commenting on stories.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
But people loved that , tony oh they do, because it's,
like you said earlier,authentic and genuine and it's
very rare to find broadcasterswho can step out of their
comfort zone on the radio andkind of challenge the format.
If you don't live on the edgeas a communicator, you're taking
up way too much room.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Here's one thing that I'll never forget about Bob
Nathan, and Bob Nathan alsoinspired me.
When I do my ads, tony, onradio, my live ads, I try to be
as natural and as believable andas genuine as I can, because
it's the only thing I can do,because I will not represent
anyone that does not make mefeel that way.
(26:39):
Well, if you go back to BobNathan, he's one that really
made sure that I did that.
He had this thing he used to doHarold Ford ads.
You remember Harold Ford?
Oh sure sure He'd come on liveand I'd watch him because I'd be
producing the show running theboard.
He'd have the newspaper in hishand and I'm looking through the
.
There you go.
Hi, Bob Nathan.
He'd be so relaxed, like DickClark, super relaxed.
(27:01):
Kick back, Look at the paperhere.
And I got the new big ads outhere today.
Look at this.
It's a 92 toyota tercel.
It was a good deal here.
What was it?
59.95.
He read the ads and you're likejeez, I'm sitting at the table
with bob nathan.
He's reading the ads, he'stelling it's just, there was
something about both isn't that?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
isn't that?
That's the important thing.
When you are a goodcommunicator on a radio station,
your listener feels like youare sitting with them at the
dinner table or in the car or ata concert or looking to get a
new car.
You're like a friend if you'rea good communicator and you
can't fake that, because thevoice is the speaker to the soul
(27:45):
, just like the eyes are thewindow to a soul.
And if you can go on the radioin a sterile environment with a
studio which is all these lightsand flashing knobs and dials
and microphones and deep depths,if you can feel like a human
(28:05):
being in that environment, it'smagic because that's the only
way you can be authentic.
And that's what separates therookies from the pros.
And when you said ego, thisbusiness is an ego product.
And you become a pro when youlive by your ego and you think
you're the greatest thing in theworld and all of a sudden you
(28:27):
get down to the wheel.
You gotta live and die by yourego in this business and then
you become humble, then youbecome a pro, then you don't
worry about all the things thatyou hear.
I know I've heard things aboutmyself on the radio and I get.
I get good and bad, and so,yeah, it's a, it's a special
(28:49):
person who can go in and becomesomeone's friend without ever
being with those people.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
That's what I'm talking about A time.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
we're talking about a time before modern technology,
um, where music andentertainment and news only came
through one source live radio.
Today, my toaster plays music.
My refrigerator tells me what Ineed to buy.
At the store, Everything playsmusic, but back in the day it
(29:20):
was really an art and it was alot more expensive.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Well, let me just interject there.
It's still an art, it is stillsomething I strive for.
Not everyone does, becauseeveryone's bogged down in
politics and divisiveness, butit is what I strive for on my
show.
Not to say that about myself,but the reason I do is because,
again, going back to the peoplewe're talking about, who had an
influence on me and I'll even gofurther than that, and I always
(29:48):
cite johnny carson as one ofthe great influences uh, dick
clark as well.
That's why I mentioned him.
Johnny carson didn't matterwhat was going on in the world.
We got to get back to thisinterview, but johnny, it didn't
matter what was going on, tony,he came out with that monologue
everything was okay.
We're all in this together,don't worry, everything's fine,
okay.
Dick clark, to me, was the mostcool under pressure guy I have
(30:12):
ever seen on tv.
Look at the 100,000 dollarpyramid, the 25,000, just the
way he interacted on americanbandstand, just like can I be
more relaxed?
The answer is no, I'm totallyat ease in front of this camera.
So, um, chris collinsworth, bobnathan, rick stewart, all of
the people, you, you, tony, okay, have all had an influence on
(30:36):
me.
That's the only reason I bringup me is because you have to
point out those influences and Iam so lucky to have an audience
and to have a show, but I Icredit those people who taught
me, who I learned from, who weremy mentors.
All right, here we go.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
So smart.
Anyway, it's actually December26th 1990, and Brian calls me
and says I've been fired.
Typical horse's ass.
General manager Didn't likeBrian because Brian, like me,
didn't like brian, um, becausebrian, like me, didn't like the
general manager and told him tobutt out.
Well, uh, with marty leaving,okay, and with booth coming in,
(31:13):
they demanded they wanted tohave, uh, someone else.
So brian, unceremoniously, isfired.
Everybody's like what's goingon here.
So the station was in flux forabout three weeks, okay, um,
chuck field was named atemporary PD.
He was 19 years old, he stillhad pimples on his face.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Remember Chuck Field.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Oh yeah, he and I were very good friends.
He just chimed in today afterhe heard about Chris's passing.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Not his fault.
So we went through we startedhearing disturbing rumors about
a guy that had been fired forsome real problems in Washington
coming in.
So, lo and behold, the worsthappens and one by one,
everybody starts getting gassed.
Kevin K goes, who is one of thegreat programming minds I've
ever worked with okay, assistedGillette and I for years.
He's gone.
(31:59):
Some dirtbag shows up, that'sbeen out of work.
That's a buddy of the new PD.
Then Mike is finally forced outso you know, it started to go
south and they tell me well, wedon't like the money Mike's
making, we're going to probablyget rid of him, but we want you
to stay.
Well, I'd already had mycontract done and I told him to
get rid of Mike.
You're putting the nail into myback.
They got rid of Mike and that'swhen I went to war with the
(32:22):
program director and I told them.
I said it's either going to behim or me.
All right, jerry Clifton wasour consultant again and he had
come in and said look at.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Chris, you want to work anywhere?
Oh, you got a thought aboutthat, jerry Clifton, jerry.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Clifton.
Oh, do I have a story Feel likesharing?
First time I ever heard fromJerry Clifton.
I was working at AROI and I washired by Steve Rivers to go to
Philadelphia from Croy.
I'd only been there a year andI go, yeah, philly, I'll go to
Philly.
And so I gave notice to Croy.
(32:54):
I was sitting in my apartmentin Sacramento playing guitar and
the phone rings and I answer itand I hear this little
squirrely voice going hey man,what are you doing?
And I go.
And I hear this littlesquirrely voice going hey man,
what are you doing?
And I go.
Uh, I go, I'm, I'm, I, I.
I said I'm playing a littleguitar.
He goes, how little is thatguitar?
I said who the F is that.
(33:16):
What did he say about?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
the guitar.
What'd he say about the guitar?
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I said I'm playing a little guitar.
And he goes how little is it?
Oh, okay, all right, guitar.
And he goes.
How little is it?
Oh, okay, all right.
And I go.
Who is this dude?
And he goes I'm jerry clifton.
Uh, I'm working with steverivers.
Well, I understand that you'regoing to philadelphia.
And I said, yes, he goes.
How would you like the weatherbilly go to chicago?
And I go wait a minute, who isthis?
(33:40):
He goes.
I'm jerry clifton.
I'm the national programdirector and I'm going to be the
PD at WEFM in Chicago.
It's an FM station that has beenplaying classical music for 40
years and we're going to take itover on February 11th and we're
going to go rock and roll andwe're going to take on WLS.
And I said mark me down.
(34:01):
So I called the moving company.
I said, hey, don't take me toPhilly, take me to Chicago.
I landed in Chicago, it was 40degrees below zero, it was 72 in
San Francisco.
No, and Jerry Clifton is thereand he goes hey, man, we're
going to get butt here inChicago.
Man, we're the first FM rockand roll station.
(34:22):
Man, we're going to really.
And we did.
We took a butt in that market.
We took over Chicago.
It was one of the best things Iever did in my life.
And Jerry Clifton was theprogram director and he went
into consulting.
And then all the controversystarts because he was an edge
guy man, he took everything tothe edge.
(34:42):
He didn't do anything normal,the guy just was not from planet
earth, but he was the numberone consultant in america really
yeah, a little little shortlittle guy with long hair and,
just you know, one of those kindof people so
Speaker 1 (35:03):
I love these stories.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
I can help you.
But he said you know this placehere it's sort of screwy.
You know your GM you don't getalong with.
I said, yeah, I don't reallywant to move, though I've got
everything going.
I have a lot of play-by-play.
I was doing for Davis which Ihad done for 10 years.
I'd done soccer, basketball,now I was doing hockey and I Now
I was doing hockey and I likemy life here.
Long story short.
Then this loser Mancow, who'sworking at the teen station in
(35:29):
San Francisco, who's famous forgetting a haircut on the Bay
Bridge and pissing people off.
That was his big funny bitcontribution to radio.
It was supposed to be aboutClinton, or something.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Yeah, it wasn't funny .
Speaker 5 (35:41):
It wasn't funny and it didn't do anything but piss
people off.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, something about Mancow.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Oh yeah, Mancow caused the Oakland Bay Bridge to
be shut down one day.
He was a very controversialjock.
Wow, I have not heard this.
God, Alex Cosper.
He conducted all these.
He's still doing interviewswith people.
If you can find Alex Cosperonline, listen to some of his
(36:06):
programs.
He's just an amazing reporter,I sure will.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Alright, here we go.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
He starts announcing on his show that I'm going to be
fired Now.
Why?
Anybody would care at 107 inSan Francisco, who even I am,
even though I'm sort of a BayArea guy.
People are calling me, tellingme.
So I let him know that if heever mentioned my name again,
they'd find bits and pieces ofhim swimming in the bay.
So I stopped in front of themon it.
They said no, no, no, it's alla lie.
(36:34):
They bring me in after I getoff the air.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
They say well, you know Again again, Chris Collins
not holding back his truefeelings right, he's not holding
back.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
No, hell, no working out, so we're gonna let you go.
So the program director is inthere and I said well, first of
all, you're not going to doanything.
So I said you can either go outthe fifth floor of the landmark
building.
So they threw him out and thegm and I then talked about it
and I knew that they were introuble because they kept
(37:03):
offering me whatever I wanted.
He said said how much vacationdo you want?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I said I don't know five months he goes.
Okay, they wrote it down Fivemonths five months vacation.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
That calls for a year's salary.
We did that.
So, now you have a year and ahalf salary, and then was there
anything we missed.
I said yeah, you missed anothervacation.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Okay, here you go.
Speaker 5 (37:21):
So I said to my wife I go look, I took the buyout,
put it in the bank Thenimmediately within a week, Doc
Fuller hired
Speaker 2 (37:28):
me to sign on KST as his 9 to noon talk show host.
See, there we go.
That's how that happened, right, doc, fuller, fuller.
Broadcasting hires him, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
And that's where he goes to KSTE, which is, like I
say, where I met Chris.
So 9 to noon, 9 to noon on thetalk station.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
And I waited and I collected more and more
information because there were alot of pissed off people that I
left KSFM in the morning.
They had complaints nonstop.
The program director tried toreplace me.
He lasted two mornings and Iwaited up until November 29th of
1993.
And during a banker's meetingat FM 102, where all the
(38:11):
financers of the radio companieswere, I had the undersharp walk
in with the summons that theywere being sued.
That's how I announced it.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
I made some of that stuff up, bitch real quick.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
It was all true.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Oh man, reading about it, it was all true I I uh, uh,
you just, I'm just emotionalover that.
I miss that man so much andhearing him talk like he always
talks it really hits me.
Man, it really.
He hasn't been gone 20 hoursyet and I'm just I know, I
understand, I understand okay,he would want us to do this.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
You know that.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Yes, oh, you know he would the b that was all true
and in my, in my estimation, itwas all true it was.
It was a sealed agreement.
As to how it ended up, so youknow, I can't tell you what was
settled upon, but I think bothsides were happy.
Now I can tell you this I washappy.
(39:14):
I thought that their lawyer,who used to represent me to the
Supreme Court he's a good guy,but I thought it was interesting
.
I thought he handled it well.
You know, they tried to contenda couple of things and then, I
think, one person spoke and thatwas the end of their contention
.
But the better part of it was,within a month of that, both
(39:34):
people that were in charge weregone.
So, if it wasn't settled rightthen I don't know why they left.
You know, I mean in the end thegeneral manager.
I think he bounced between 15different jobs after that.
So you know, I mean in the endthe general manager.
I think he bounced between 15different jobs after that.
So you know, that should tellpeople.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Probably stopped by our station for a minute.
I wonder who that was.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
I wonder who that was man.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
I'm sure he paid us a visit.
I have no idea what happened.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
The unfortunate thing is that over within a year
period of time, the thing thatChris grew with.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Mike Reynolds was destroyed, and then they were
destroyed in the process as well.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
But the station lasted and that's what matters
most to me, because in the endit's tried to be a lot of
different things, but there wasblood, sweat and tears in that
format.
People gave up their lives,gave up marriages, people worked
their asses off here and youknow, really, at the formation
of it in 1980, everyone wantedone thing to be the best to be
(40:31):
number one.
And through that time, througha couple of bad years of Billy
Manders, who I had thesatisfaction of knowing, I got
him fired.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
I got to know about Billy Manders.
Who's Billy Manders?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Well, billy Manders and I worked together in Los
Angeles in 1976.
He was my weekend job when Iprogrammed the station in
Southern California.
He went on to become programdirector at KSFM.
He has passed.
He passed many years ago and hewas one of those people like
(41:06):
you and I know program directorwho's got the position of
program director?
And everybody says, how thehell did he become program
director?
And, with all due respect toBilly, he was an okay friend of
mine but he just didn'tunderstand how to manage people
and he had no idea about radio.
(41:27):
So you get somebody in thatposition and who knows why they
get there.
And Billy was a good man.
I don't think he had any illintention, but he just didn't
know how to make good radio.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
In my opinion.
I laughed at him as he wasthrown out of the building.
Through all of that, throughthe Ed Stoltz of the world,
through everything.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Ed Stoltz, oh, ed Stoltz.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Uh-oh, okay.
Well, and I'm not going to sayanything about Ed, because he
was you've seen WKRP.
Yes, yes, he was the Mr Carlson, okay okay, of Sacramento Radio
, except he was an engineeringgenius.
He took quad radio to the firstquadraphonic broadcast.
(42:13):
He actually built aquadraphonic transmitter, quad
radio in Sacramento and he wouldEd Stoltz, the engineer and
owner and general manager.
His mom and dad bought him theradio station and he programmed
it for many years and he wouldinstantly turn up the modulation
way beyond the FCC limits.
(42:35):
So he would be every threemonths.
The FCC would come intoSacramento and do a check and
they would say hey, dude, we'regoing to find you like and grand
, you're like a over maximummodulation and and he, he would
go in.
The story says he would go inand turn it down while they were
in town and as soon as the FCCleft he turned it back up again
(42:57):
and they had the loudest, mostincredible broadcast signal ever
.
Alex Cosper can tell you moreabout that, ed and I.
Quad was the only radio stationI did not work for.
I was doing mornings at Croy.
We were number one.
We were beating Quad in theratings.
(43:18):
One day Ed calls me.
He goes.
I said I'd like to take you tolunch and see if you'd like to
come over to work with me.
That's exactly how he thought.
I said hi, ed, he goes.
Hey, I'd like to take you tolunch and see if you'd like to
come over to work with me.
That's exactly how he thought.
I said well, you know, ed, I'mreally happy here.
Man, I don't want to go overthere.
Three days later and this is atrue story three days later, one
(43:40):
of the sales people came to meand goes hey, tony, what the
hell did you say to Ed?
I go, what do you mean?
He goes.
Oh, he's dissing you.
He goes.
Yeah, I offered Tony a careerand he turned me down.
I'm going to wait a minute.
And she said yeah, ed says youowe him a favor.
It pisses me off.
I call Ed.
I go hey, ed, can I come downand talk to you for a minute?
(44:03):
So I go down to his office.
I think he thinks I'm going totake the job.
I walk in and Ed was afrustrated lawyer.
He had every legal book in theworld behind him.
He loved lawsuits because heliked battling those things,
even if he lost.
His mom had enough money wherehe didn't care.
So I'm sitting there talking toEd and I said Ed, there's talk
(44:25):
on the street about me owing youa favor.
I don't recall you ever doingme a favor.
And here's a quote.
He goes Tony, I'm doing you afavor right now, just talking to
you.
And I said, well, nevermind, Igot up.
(44:45):
I got up and I walked out of theradio station.
He and I still became casualfriends we still.
Well, never mind.
I got up and I walked out ofthe radio station.
He and I still became casualfriends we still.
I don't know where he is today.
He was sued.
I think he was running awayfrom the FCC.
He had violated every rule inthe book.
I don't know where he is rightnow and again, this is only
(45:11):
hearsay.
Ed and I were casual friends,but I just couldn't work for him
.
I didn't feel right and I don'twant to diss anyone who did,
because Quad was an amazingradio station back then.
They they broke every rule inthe format and, uh, you know it
was pretty wild, but anyway, Ididn't want to get out.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
No, I, tony, I I love these stories, I love radio
stories.
I don't know how much everyoneelse does, but I think they do,
I do, I do.
People love radio.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
They're listening, aren't.
Do People love radio?
They're listening, aren't they?
Speaker 1 (45:44):
Right, people love radio stories.
I'm not the only one.
There's a reason WKRP was sopopular and one of my favorite
shows, and I'm picturing youknow, mr Carlson the whole time
you're talking there.
So here we go.
We're almost done with thisinterview, and then I have one
other thing.
Speaker 5 (45:59):
The one goal was never relinquish and that was to
be the best.
And then in 1992, theybasically threw it all away.
After they got rid of thoseguys, they came back, they
brought in some burnouts thatran it and basically ran it to
what it is today and you knowit's good.
It's still a pop station Someburnouts.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
I'm proud of the fact that, if it hadn't been for me
or for guys like B or Gilletteor Jeff Lucifer, that in K.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Jeff Lucifer, jeff Lucifer, rick Gillette, who was
an intern at KROI yeah, I know,but but Rick Gillette Gillette
in particular, a programminggenius.
He started as a music intern atKROI in the late 70s when I was
(46:47):
there, and then he went on toprogram some of the most amazing
formats.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
How are you doing, Richard?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Jeff Lucifer here.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
It's good to meet you it never would have been.
Speaker 5 (46:56):
It would have been something else right now.
And you should feel the sameway, because Quad never had a
future as a top 40 stationbecause we beat it.
And, as I told you, we did Notas a top 40 station because we
beat it.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
And, as I told you, we did.
Not only did we beat it, wedecapitated it.
Of course we did.
But then what did you do?
Speaker 5 (47:12):
Quad sold for $26 million.
That's not going to happen as atop 40 station.
Who was the guy that made it aprogressive station?
You did.
It was the same thing.
What did the zoo do for FM-102?
What did my programming turn in1987?
I gave up my programming job toprove a point that we could
take out our competitors byflanking them.
I gave them this thing.
I let them advance, theyadvanced, we flanked them and I
(47:34):
decapitated them.
Fm-102 lasts today, 32 years,because of that flank.
If we hadn't done that, wewould have been in oblivion.
The morning show would havebeen a seven-show.
The morning show the stationwould have been a three and it
would be playing country musicright now, or Christian or
whatever else it would be doing.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
The history of sacramental radio can be
researched at this table.
We think.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
You know, it's all the.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
F and 1 and 2 stories .
I could tell you all the quadstories and what was amazing is,
you know, there were peoplethat loved both stations of
course there are that's theaudience too.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
Yeah, they listen to them both.
They don't.
They never got caught up in it.
I mean, that's right with themorning shows they did, because
the morning show sort of set thevibe.
But you know what it is, whatit is, man.
In the end we provided greatradio.
I mean, this was a great radiomarket.
Are you kidding?
Kidding me?
Speaker 2 (48:23):
There you go, and that's the soul and heart of
Chris Collins.
He cared more about the product.
He cared more about hisaudience than he did about all
the crap that went on behind thescenes.
Yet he stood fast.
He broke all the rules becausehe knew which rules to break.
He laughed at people in theirfaces and then showed them why
(48:44):
he was laughing at them, andit's very hard to find a person
like that.
So I'm a little emotional,right now.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I can understand.
I can understand.
So am I, but you were closer toChris and I'm sorry for your
loss as friends and I certainlydo understand the emotion.
Let's bring you back out ofthat just for a moment, because
I want to have a question foryou.
You mentioned this personearlier.
I may get emotional now becauseI'm not going to.
(49:15):
I've come to accept this, butthis past year we both lost a
very dear friend and one heck ofa great guy and one talented
funny dude, um, who ended upbeing a part of my show.
The pat waltz show ended upbeing one of my guest hosts, so
(49:37):
when I had nights off I'd bringin sweet lou gasecki now sweet
lou, we knew him as sweet lougallagher on my show.
His name was lou gasecki.
Uh, lou passed away, but howlong has it been now?
a year maybe a little over, yeah, almost two years, almost two
years.
God time flies, you know.
(49:57):
And so so Lou Gallagher, orSweet Lou, was such a witty guy.
Wonderful, we love both ofthese guys, you know, and I knew
Sweet Lou very, very well andwe were very close friends and
just a gentle guy.
Just a gentle guy, yeah, okay,rooted for the Yankees.
(50:20):
God bless him.
But here he is.
I'm looking at this thing.
I found this video Tony KSFM,fm 102, morning Zoo.
What it says is Chris Collinsand Mike Reynolds, november 11,
1987.
I don't know who Mike Reynoldsis and Chris Collins, he was the
newsman.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Yeah, he was the news guy.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Well, he's barely in this and I don't really see
Chris Collins very much in this.
What it doesn't say is thatit's Lou Gusecki on KSFM, but it
says DJ Chris Collins.
It does not say this.
It was November 11, 1987.
It shows the radio studio.
Speaker 4 (51:03):
It's a hump day, Wednesday, actually is what it
is.
It's the Morning Zoo at FreshMusic FM 102.
Coming up this morning We'll betaking your request to burn
buns.
It's just a little bit after 5o'clock.
Good morning, fresh hits, fm102.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Sacramento.
Did you work on those jingles?
Speaker 2 (51:22):
I've never heard that jingle.
I think that was about threemonths before I.
Oh my God.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
This is sweet Lou working in the studio.
He's in there working and I'mlike going hey, Now there's the
news guy.
He walks by, but it's LouGusecki working at KSFM.
Oh, there's the news guy.
He walks by, but it's LouGusecki working at KSFM.
Oh, there's the news guy again,I don't see anything with Chris
in here, but here's Lou, andit's interesting to me.
(51:55):
At two minutes, Tony, twominutes and 40 seconds into this
video and I've been in a lot ofradio studios something happens
that I've never seen in radiobefore, at two minutes and 40
seconds, and I'm going to tellyou what that is.
Okay, okay.
So I didn't edit this down, solet me fast forward to get to so
(52:16):
we can find some more Lou here.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
I'm on the edge of my seat right here.
I can't imagine what this isgoing to be.
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
I just missed Lou.
I was trying to see him.
Speaker 4 (52:28):
FM 102, Captain Lou with the morning Zoo at 506.
Foggy, very foggy.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
Captain Lou.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
Drive safely.
Keep it here with the zoo.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
Good morning.
Yeah, I don't know who saidgood morning.
I don't know who said goodmorning.
I don't know who that was.
So he was captain lou.
He's been sweet lou.
Well, captain lou is how I.
Is that how you know him?
Speaker 2 (52:50):
that's how I met him first.
He was uh, he was part of themorning zoo.
I think you're going back priorto 1987 am I right?
Well, I got there in 88, early88, and I don't remember any of
that this is 87 FM 102, it's 510now.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Captain Lou with the Morning Zoo on a hump day,
wednesday, coming up all morninglisten to how his voice changed
over the years too, just likemine did it's much higher back
then, as well as their phonenumber.
We call them, wake them out ofa dead sleep and kind of give
them a ration is basically whatwe do.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
There was Chris Collins in the background.
Whoever, I don't know who thatwas, I'm calling right now,
766-8811 is the phone number, or1-800-338-102.5.
That'll get you through to theAll right, he's going to get
ready to go to a break.
And we're at 227, Tony, andhe's going to do something, and
he's using cart machines and allthat which we don't use anymore
.
But at 240, he's going to dosomething I've never seen in a
(53:53):
radio studio.
Speaker 4 (53:53):
And if we don't answer the phone?
Speaker 1 (53:57):
So he goes into the song, he leans over to the right
side of the board.
What does he do?
Picks up his smoke and smokesit yes, oh my God.
Sets it back in the ashtray inthe radio studio and then looks
at the camera.
How about that, tony?
Speaker 2 (54:15):
Okay, can I tell you a quick story about that?
I wish you would, ashtray.
There was a company calledPacific Recorders out of San
Diego and they made all themixing consoles for radio
stations nationwide.
Back then we could smoke on theair and they had built-in
ashtrays in the right corner ofthe board with a nice little and
(54:36):
we would go through a pack ofcigarettes in a four-hour shift.
We just let them burn likeincense.
We constantly smoked and when Ifirst came on to KSFM I was
doing 10 to noon followed themorning zoo and Captain Boo was
part of the morning zoo.
One day I quit smoking.
I decided after 20 years toquit smoking and it was day
(54:59):
three.
The only thing I could think ofwas smoking and we had a brand
new contest.
We had a brand new contest thatwas really involved.
It was called the initials gameand we would spin an imaginary
roulette wheel that had lettersof the alphabet.
We'd spin it twice.
If it landed on the firstletter of your first name, on
(55:20):
the first spin you were halfwayto winning $10,000.
If we spun it again and itlanded on the first letter of
your last name and you were the10th caller, you would win 10
grand.
It was a simple contest, veryhard to execute though.
So I'm on the air, I'm doingthe contest for the first time.
I'm going oh my God, I got sixcards here.
(55:43):
I got to hit the wheel, I gotto make it sound right.
This is a hard contest for meto do and it took a lot of focus
.
So I'm live on the air and I'mgoing.
Esfm, you know, two, five, tonyCox, time to play the initials
game.
If you have a first and lastname, you can win $10,000.
Let's spin that wheel and I hitthe sound effect and went P.
(56:06):
If P's the first letter of yourfirst name, you're halfway to
$10,000.
We're going to spin it againand if it lands on the first
letter of your second name, callimmediately.
And if you're the first of 10callers with those initials, you
win 10 grand.
So by that time, by the time Iexplained it, my cigarette
(56:27):
addiction was in the back of myhead, saying smoke a cigarette,
smoke a cigarette.
And I'm on the air for 30seconds talking and all I can
think is damn, I want acigarette.
So, captain Wu, he's standingin the studio with me and I go
okay, in the studio, on the air.
I go okay, we're going to spinit again.
Stand by to win 10 grand.
(56:47):
In the studio with me is CaptainLou.
Captain Lou's going to give mea hand spinning this roulette
wheel.
And I turned to him on the micand I said Captain Lou, give
that.
And I said the word.
I tried to say sucker, but itdidn't come out as sucker.
I said give that, give thateffort.
Another spin as clear as a billon the radio.
(57:11):
And so and so, captain lou, hehears that and he starts
cracking up and falls on thefloor laughing.
I hit the sound effect of theroulette wheel w if your
initials were pw and grab andlose on the floor laughing and
the request lines.
We had 15 request lines.
They all went up.
(57:31):
And I go to line one Hi, asfl,what's your name?
Hey, man, do you know?
You just said F on the radio.
The first 10 calls werelisteners going.
Hey, you just said the F wordon the radio.
And you know, I thought BrianWhite was our program director.
I thought I was going to getfired.
(57:52):
Instead, the ratings wentthrough the roof and that was
Captain Luke.
That was Captain Luke.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
Oh my gosh.
Instead, the ratings wentthrough the roof.
Seriously, they went throughthe roof.
Speaker 2 (58:07):
Man, I really thought I was going to get fired did
they come and talk to you?
Speaker 1 (58:11):
did they say hey, tony, we heard what happened not
a word, not a word, a word.
No one it was.
There was no such thing as adump button.
There's a.
In radio we have this thingcalled a dump button.
If someone curses or if youhappen to inadvertently curse or
something like that button,it's got a delay no, we don't
have, so it just went out of wowwow oh yeah, it just, and I and
(58:33):
I said it's so proud and sohappy I can't believe.
Every time I think back on us togo damn, oh, that is so good.
Ah, tony, my friend man, I justlearned so much today, so very
much.
Speaker 2 (58:54):
You just tell a good story.
Isn't it amazing how much welearn about our loved ones and
friends after they're gone?
Damn it.
Speaker 1 (59:01):
I know it really is.
You know, as we finish thingsup here, I'm going to play a
song like I'm going to go backto my inspiration.
Chris Collins and he had thatJames Brown CD and I got deep
into it and heard stuff that Ireally hadn't paid attention to
before.
You know, I feel good and allthat.
(59:21):
You know I knew James Brownbefore.
You know I feel good and allthat was.
You know, I knew james brown,but I never gone as deep as I
should.
Thanks, chris, god bless you,man.
Thank you, thank you, thank youamen, amen amen tony, love you
brother.
Thank you, man love you, patrick.
Speaker 4 (59:39):
Outro Music.
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