January 28, 2026 • 22 mins
Zack, aka Big Zack, joins the podcast as Mike brings each Mojo in the Morning cast member on to get to know them off the air. They reminisce about their favorite — and most embarrassing — moments from the show.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is the Slightly Messy Podcast. My name is Mike,
formerly from Mojo in the Morning, now hosting co hosting
the B ninety three Morning Show. You could download this podcast,
save it to your preset just search more Mojo. Also
make sure you follow the show at Mojo in the
Morning on air, MIC, on Instagram, and B ninety three
(00:20):
dot com. And So what I wanted to do this
next like month, month and a half is most of
you know, But for those of you that don't know,
I used to to for seven years was on Mojo
in the Morning, and I truly call that era of
my life like my radio college. It's like where I
kind of grew up in radio, fell back in love
with mornings, and just literally learned probably the most I've
(00:44):
ever learned in the business through working with Mojo. And
the beauty of that show is is like people will
come on the show, and then new people come on
the show, and then reoccurring cast members will continue and
become like family.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But I was always in Grand.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Rapids, so like every time I'm there, I'm just like
always hanging with like with everybody, and we don't get
to like chill and hang out, and you know, even
when they come here.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It's the same kind of situation.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So working with all the show for so many years,
I only got to have brief moments with people or
it was like water cooler talk. And so I wanted
to bring a member of the show. This was Lydia's idea,
the producer of Mojo in the Morning, and have them
on and just talk and just have conversations, get to
know them a little bit more because I still do
throw back, throw it down with them, and I still
(01:31):
am gonna be like, you know, hanging out with them
every now and then, but I want to know them,
know them. I think that's I think that's you know,
part of the beauty of this job is kind of
getting to know the people you work with, getting to
know the the you know, the people you hang out
with every day. And so I wanted to bring a
member of the show on each time. And so the
first one, first person to come on is Zachary.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It is you. It is you.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Zach the audio producer for Mojo in the Morning, a
big part of Mojo in the Morning, and a guy
that every time I would go over to Detroit and
you would come here and just randomly you and I
would chat, but we would always chat about like like
work stuff, and rightfully, so we work together, it's part
of the job or whatever. But I've never really got
(02:17):
to know you, Zach. I've never really got to know you. Plus,
I had a conversation I've I want to tell you
about later on in this podcast, a conversation I did
have with you, and we had some booze in us
that I replay in my head over and over and
over because it was the dumbest, like if I've ever like,
if I could look at the top douchiest things I've
ever said in my life, it was probably in the
top ten of the douchiest things.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, so, Zach, I don't.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Know if I even remember this.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
I'm sure I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So Zach, what, Let's go back. We's go back before
you're on with Mojo. You're from the east side of
this day, right, yep.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yep, from Nova originally, which is just like a small
little suburban town in Detroit, and then moved out to
New York before you know, the whole Mojo story begins.
And then I was doing audio there. I was working
like holding the booms for film and working at best Buy.
(03:17):
You know, just trying to make rent. And then COVID
happened and brought me back to Michigan and h this
was the first place I applied to and they were
looking for people to do uh board hopping work for
overnights and stuff, and the rest is history. I did
a year as a board or like you know, do
(03:39):
uh you know, weekend shifts and club nights. And then
Mojo saw what I was doing and saw how dedicated
I was, and I got brought on and four years
later he can't get rid of me.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No, you are a You're like you got one of
the like the biggest hearts in the entire world.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
And and you you do. Yeah, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you do so much for the show behind the
scenes that that Mojo is so great about sharing, you know,
the things that you do. But like most people wouldn't
even know that if they didn't have a boss like Mojo, right,
because it's a lot of what you do is you
make it.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You make it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
The stuff people see online, the podcast, sound quality, everything
is is thanks to this guy.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And when you worked.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
In New York, I've never asked this, did you were
you working at iHeart at the time or was it
a different company.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
No, different, different company.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I was doing a freelance so I was kind of
my own boss, which was cool but also the worst. Ever.
If you're not organized, it's the worst. And I am
not the best organization.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So you come back. You joined with Mojo, you joined
the squad. I remember when you started. It was uh,
it was I was about three years in at that point.
And just right away once you meet this guy, he's
one of those guys that you immediately want to hug,
like just the most huggable human being, the most uggable
human being in the entire world. And your story, you
(05:10):
know where you came from and and kind of the
stuff with your mom and your sister is just it's heartwarming, man,
It's it's you know, I've heard bits and pieces of it,
and I know what I know through you know, you
kind of sharing on the show and you sharing on
the air, and dude, you and I have a similar
story in the sense that we lost that that person
(05:30):
at a very very young age. And I've always wondered, like,
because for me, I suppressed it for a while. If
I'm being honest, I suppressed it. Oh, I got angry.
I went through, like I would say, I don't know,
a little mente be if we want to call it
that at the time.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And then my dad passed in eighteen.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And and so what was the you know, working in
this and being comfortable about talking about it all? You
must you know, you never feel great, right, you never
feel normal again, but you feel you feel like you've
you're you're grieving and and coming to terms with it all.
What was the thing that you did to feel comfortable
enough to talk about it on the air, Like, what
(06:11):
was that?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Next, stent?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
That's a great question, man, And I mean, first I
want to ask you a question is but and then.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
When you're when your father passed, how how old were you?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
This is twenty eighteen, so I was it was the
year I was supposed to get married and oh wow
yeah yeah, so we and mine was, so it would
have been what was it twenty eighteen?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
What's that? I can't do math right now?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
No, you're good?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Like nine years ago? No, okay, eight years ago, eight
years ago, ten years ago, yeah, eight years ago. So
I was thirty two?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Thirty two?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Okay, yeah, yeah you were you were younger, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, So what I'm trying to say, is like you
you at least got to acknowledge that, like you were
going through something like your frontal lowe developed and you
had a support system around you, and you you knew
your body enough to like understand like how to process it, right.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I thought, yeah, maybe not the best, not the best.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, and that's fine for me. It was a whole
different situation where I didn't really understand what was happening.
And I'm not even lying in Mike until years later.
I didn't really process it. It took me like until
I hit my twenties, like twenty one, twenty two, a
(07:35):
whole ten years later, where I was just like, oh,
so this is this is what normal, like this is. Uh.
I was dating a girl at the time and she
actually lost her mom through cancer, and that's when it
kind of triggered me where I was like, oh, I
didn't really get over this, and I just had like
(07:59):
all all of the suppress sint and depressing sadness that
I held for so many years, like got brought back
up once my girlfriend at the time mom died. And
to go back to your question, how do I feel
comfortable talking about is? I mean, I've been in therapy
since I was twelve. So I just I think it's
(08:21):
become a norm to talk about it, and I think
it's good to talk about it so you can keep
those memories alive.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Agreed, Agreed, Yeah, that's it. Yeah, I couldn't agree with
you more. I think that people don't fully understand until
you've done this job, that this is kind of like
therapy too, like talking on the radio and talking about
it and people you know, relating to you and that
kind of stuff. It's kind of like therapy, Like I
got seven years of therapy with you guys.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
And the best part is one, it's free. I don't
have to say.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You guys, yeah, they pay you talk.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
And two I can have multiple opinions, not just one
set person like yeah, I love hearing your opinion. But
then I'll go to Mojo who's a little bit older
than us, who might have a little more experience, and
I value his opinion too.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Absolutely, absolutely, he's very good about that. I question, well,
along with that, do you find that today Because I
didn't realize how young you were ten eleven?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You said, yeah, yeah, I was twelve, And this is
the eighteenth year that I've been without my mom. Which
is kind of crazy to say.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, yeah, send in love one percent?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Man, thank you?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Do you feel that because I noticed this in myself
and this is what you're talking therapy.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
This is stuff I work on all the time. Is
the good effects?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Because I feel like, you know, everything happens for a reason, right,
Do you feel like there are positives that have come
out of I know this is hard to say, to
losing a parent and then then the negatives obviously are
losing the parent, But do you feel like there's other
things in your life that are affected by this? And
I bring that up because for me, for me like
it has made me a better dad, to be honest
(10:09):
with you. The only the only reason I am over
the top and too much, and I know it one
hundred percent, is because I don't know. I don't know
when you know my time is going to be because
we didn't. It was unexpected, We had no idea, and
so it could it could end to mile and then
like so I would say, that's my good and then
obviously the bad is I went through I mean it
(10:31):
was the year I was getting married, so I it
was yeah, it was very too. I mean, then you
have to go through it. Again, they wanted to cancel
the wedding. They wanted to there was, you know, because
you have to have that moment where you're like, my
dad's supposed to be sitting right there, and six months
ago he would have been. But so that was That
was the bad that I think came out of it.
(10:51):
But ultimately, you know, you rise from that. Do you
feel like in your do you feel like you have
the same kind of things happen to you?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Absolutely, that's such like that's such a hard question. But
like I look at my situation, and you know, I
look at other people's situations and I'm I'm actually really
thankful that it happened to me at my age, because
I don't know if I could. One, I was in
a really rough situation. I was taking care of my mom,
(11:23):
you know, she was on oxygen. But also I don't
tell a lot of pop. I was living in a.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Trailer park where like bills weren't paid often and things
weren't you know, great. But like I look at myself
now and I'm like, I'm glad that it happened. Like
even though it was such a bad time, I'm glad
that it happened because one I don't think I could
have lived in that environment for long.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah. And two I look at people who are older
that lose a parent, and it's almost harder because they
had more, more time and more you know memory. Yeah,
I agree, and I you know, I I kind of
got I mean, as much as it sucks to say, like,
(12:11):
you know, I only had twelve years, like that's no,
that's a great I don't have, you know, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
That's a great perspective.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
That is it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That is a that is a therapy. That is a
guy who's been to therapy perspective right there.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's what that is.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And it made you who you are today, right, any
of it, all of it makes you who you are today.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And you're killing it right now.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You're doing just awesome things, man, And it's it's really
cool to see. I know I see from a distance,
but it's really cool to see.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Man. I love you and obviously saying to you like
you're you're telling it on your morning show and you're
beating us, which you know, I'm getting a little.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Jealous over here, but you guys are holding it down
to Detroit. I think you're doing just fine. I think
you do it just fine.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Let me ask you this when it comes to radio business,
what is what is future Zachary.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Going to be doing? Dude? You know that's such a
crazy question. Thank you for asking one. That's that's awesome.
I my my whole life goal and this was in
fifth grade while my mom was alive, was ironically to
be an audio engineer. I wanted, I wanted to produce
(13:20):
other people's music, but I just I realized that, like
I kind of hit my goal. I'm an audio engineer,
like poor Mojo in the morning, which is sweet, Like
that's a one out of one, which is really bad ass.
Where where I see after this, Like I'm kind of
(13:41):
riding this wave until Mojo, you know, to the sunset,
and then I'm going to re evaluate my career from there.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It's I mean, you did you get you ultimately, like
check it off the list.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You did that, you nailed it. I also see on
the on the I didn't.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And I don't know how much you talk about this
on the air, but you you DJ and do produce music, correct.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I do. I consider that my art like outlook my art,
you know, just too. That's another therapeutic thing that I
like to do. And you too. You you DJ'd in
the before, and you know how like therapeutic it is.
Sometimes I don't have words, but I know a rhythm
that might get me moving, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
And if people want to listen to your to your
music and check you out, where where can they find that?
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah? On all social Media's at Zach Martian.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Music, Zach Marshall. Where that cause your last name is
that where the name came from?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, so my real my real name is Martin, but uh,
long story short, that's not really good for radio or music.
And I really like aliens in space, so.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Martian, okay, okay, And do you see yourself doing like
do you do club gigs or any of that kind
of stuff for now?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I do occasionally, but you know how it is, you know, waking.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Up early in the morning. Yes, it's it's a different lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So I kind of I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I don't know where that career is or like where
that path is yet. I'm just kind of doing it for.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Fun, Okay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I've always wanted to and we've talked about you and
I and this kind of leads into our the conversation.
I want to share that I'm I've been embarrassed about
and ran by my wife twenty million times. Is our
love and kind of both of us kind of having
that experience DJing. I've always wanted to get you out
to Grand Rapids and get you. I think you would
(15:39):
enjoy maybe not every weekend doing a DJ gig, but
I think you would love it, and I think it
would be really cool.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I think it'd be really really cool. But so my wife.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
First off, I want to say this is my wife
adores you, doors you and like she's like he just
gives the best hugs in the entire world, and I.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Love her and we were it was okay. So this
is the embarrassing story.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
This is I would say top ten, uh maybe top
fifteen douchious things I've said. And I don't know if
you do this, but I replay conversations sometimes, especially when
it's a night out drinking or I'll go, man, did
I really say that?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
There's two actually I have two stories. They lead into
each other. They lead into each other. The first one
is like the first time we all went out and
it was a god what was the party? But it
was right before my son was going to be born,
and I was like, yes.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yes, okay, all right, so go back to.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
That we have I don't remember where we were, but
my son was about to be born, so I was
like scatter brained and all over the place and wasn't
going to drink, and then I was going to drink,
and then I was only going to have one or
two because I didn't know if the baby was gonna come.
And we get to this place and I rode out there.
I think I rode out with Megan, and I get that.
(17:00):
We get there and I realize I forgot my wallet.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And so the.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
First time hanging out with you, like or one of
the first like big times anyways that I can remember
is it had to have been one of the first
times because it was a couple of years ago and
my you know, my son's gonna be three, so I
had to be at least almost three years ago. And
you're like, hey, dude, I can get you, like you
(17:27):
just started on the show, Like there's no reason I
should have ever been like, yeah, yeah, go ahead and
do that. But I was just in it in that moment,
and I said, yeah, sure, go ahead, man, And then
all of a sudden, you're buying us strings and we
had a blast. But that moment to me was like, God,
you're what an a whole thing for me to do.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And you overanalyze that completely.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
No way.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
My thing is like I'm gonna get this.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Veteran drunk and he's gonna spill his guts.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And I may have who knows may.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
And that's another thing that happens is you and I
will go out and uh, and we've done this a
couple of times and we'll start talking shop. But shop
gets old, you know quick, you know what I mean?
You can only talk so much about what it is.
And then so then I'll get a few drinks in
me and out of nowhere. This was a party bus time.
This was another time that I'm like, what a dumb
conversation that I A started and A and B started
(18:25):
it stupidly. Is we're having drinks somewhere and we're it's
a party bus. I think it was a Halloween night
and we stop at one of the places and I
want to share this passion of music with you. I
want to share, like I want to bond over our
love for like DJing and like like talk about it.
And so then out of nowhere, I have this I'm like,
(18:48):
oh cool, you know music, bo, But like I realize
you have no like basis on what like I like,
where I what I've done, or were like where I'm
coming from.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
So it's just like something early yes, like relationship.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Instead of just being like, uh, just going with the
conversation until you asked a question about like djaying or whatever,
I decide to give you my fucking resume.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I decided to start coming I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I don't know why, thank God, because it was the
douchiest thing I've ever said in my entire life. I'm like,
so let me give you, let me give you anything
that starts with let me give you a little background
about myself, Like what who the fuck says that in
a normal conversation, because I just all I want to
do is talk like, hey, what do you use?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
What do you dj with?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I've done this, but like I have, you have no
like reference to what I like? Why would you even
care what I say about any of it because you
don't know that I've done it. So I in that
that was my mindset was like, oh I gotta I
gotta tell this guy so he understands that I'm coming
from a place of love.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Of that is.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
You are over analyzing it. What. I don't even remember
that conversation. However, I do remember, maybe I.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Do because you were like, yeah, I used to DJ
in college, and then we started and then we started
talking about equipment. But I do want to say never,
I feel like I'm one.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Of those guys where I am not thinking about how
you like. I'm just appreciating you're talking to me about music.
Like I love that. That's awesome. It makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
My brain and I do over analyze sometimes. I don't
like I'm much better as I've gotten, you know, older,
and just don't give a shit. But like there's always
a moment of like, man, that didn't come out the
right way, and so then you yeah, instead of trying
to like correct it, which is what I would normally
(20:46):
do and make it worse, I think about it, replay
the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I'd like the drive home or something.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Okay, So here's my equivalent to that.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Oh, I don't even know if that's the right word. Equipment.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Over text, so I'll be I'll send you a text
or like, hey, it was great hanging out with you
by the way. Sorry, I said this, this, and this,
and then I'll send another text. Sorry I even mentioned
that again. I love you, and then I'll text again.
You didn't tell me you love me, so I'm the
same way, bro. I get it.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
It's so funny. It's just I don't know it. Texts
are hard to text are hard because you can never
tell a tone of anything at all, ever, and so
you tried to fix it as the worst.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
But dude, I love you so much.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Man, I'm glad we had this time.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I want to do this more often.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I agreed, agreed.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I love to I want to get everybody on and
I really want to get to know everybody in a Hey,
we're not trying to entertain kind of way.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
We're just just just chatting.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Like I talked to Mojo a little less now than
I used to, but I used to just we just
would chat about random shit. But I just I think
this would be fun, man, I think it would be
a lot of fun. I appreciate you taking the time
to do it. I know you got stuff to do,
so I will let you. I'll let you get back
to it.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But I love you, dude. I love you so much.
Tell the family said.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Hi, I will I will tell everybody said Hi, We'll
talk to you soon. We'll see you soon hopefully.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, Irish and Anilia.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah yeah, you tell me. I don't know. I don't
know the big bosses, I mean plans.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
I don't know we're coming down there.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Are you going to be there?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Oh yeah yeah, I mean yeah absolutely absolutely yeah
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Perfect, Well I will see you around them guy, all right,
talk soon, but
It is the Slightly Messy Podcast. My name is Mike,
formerly from Mojo in the Morning, now hosting co hosting
the B ninety three Morning Show. You could download this podcast,
save it to your preset just search more Mojo. Also
make sure you follow the show at Mojo in the
Morning on air, MIC, on Instagram, and B ninety three
(00:20):
dot com. And So what I wanted to do this
next like month, month and a half is most of
you know, But for those of you that don't know,
I used to to for seven years was on Mojo
in the Morning, and I truly call that era of
my life like my radio college. It's like where I
kind of grew up in radio, fell back in love
with mornings, and just literally learned probably the most I've
(00:44):
ever learned in the business through working with Mojo. And
the beauty of that show is is like people will
come on the show, and then new people come on
the show, and then reoccurring cast members will continue and
become like family.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But I was always in Grand.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Rapids, so like every time I'm there, I'm just like
always hanging with like with everybody, and we don't get
to like chill and hang out, and you know, even
when they come here.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It's the same kind of situation.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So working with all the show for so many years,
I only got to have brief moments with people or
it was like water cooler talk. And so I wanted
to bring a member of the show. This was Lydia's idea,
the producer of Mojo in the Morning, and have them
on and just talk and just have conversations, get to
know them a little bit more because I still do
throw back, throw it down with them, and I still
(01:31):
am gonna be like, you know, hanging out with them
every now and then, but I want to know them,
know them. I think that's I think that's you know,
part of the beauty of this job is kind of
getting to know the people you work with, getting to
know the the you know, the people you hang out
with every day. And so I wanted to bring a
member of the show on each time. And so the
first one, first person to come on is Zachary.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It is you. It is you.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Zach the audio producer for Mojo in the Morning, a
big part of Mojo in the Morning, and a guy
that every time I would go over to Detroit and
you would come here and just randomly you and I
would chat, but we would always chat about like like
work stuff, and rightfully, so we work together, it's part
of the job or whatever. But I've never really got
(02:17):
to know you, Zach. I've never really got to know you. Plus,
I had a conversation I've I want to tell you
about later on in this podcast, a conversation I did
have with you, and we had some booze in us
that I replay in my head over and over and
over because it was the dumbest, like if I've ever like,
if I could look at the top douchiest things I've
ever said in my life, it was probably in the
top ten of the douchiest things.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, so, Zach, I don't.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Know if I even remember this.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
I'm sure I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So Zach, what, Let's go back. We's go back before
you're on with Mojo. You're from the east side of
this day, right, yep.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yep, from Nova originally, which is just like a small
little suburban town in Detroit, and then moved out to
New York before you know, the whole Mojo story begins.
And then I was doing audio there. I was working
like holding the booms for film and working at best Buy.
(03:17):
You know, just trying to make rent. And then COVID
happened and brought me back to Michigan and h this
was the first place I applied to and they were
looking for people to do uh board hopping work for
overnights and stuff, and the rest is history. I did
a year as a board or like you know, do
(03:39):
uh you know, weekend shifts and club nights. And then
Mojo saw what I was doing and saw how dedicated
I was, and I got brought on and four years
later he can't get rid of me.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No, you are a You're like you got one of
the like the biggest hearts in the entire world.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
And and you you do. Yeah, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you do so much for the show behind the
scenes that that Mojo is so great about sharing, you know,
the things that you do. But like most people wouldn't
even know that if they didn't have a boss like Mojo, right,
because it's a lot of what you do is you
make it.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You make it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
The stuff people see online, the podcast, sound quality, everything
is is thanks to this guy.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And when you worked.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
In New York, I've never asked this, did you were
you working at iHeart at the time or was it
a different company.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
No, different, different company.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I was doing a freelance so I was kind of
my own boss, which was cool but also the worst. Ever.
If you're not organized, it's the worst. And I am
not the best organization.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So you come back. You joined with Mojo, you joined
the squad. I remember when you started. It was uh,
it was I was about three years in at that point.
And just right away once you meet this guy, he's
one of those guys that you immediately want to hug,
like just the most huggable human being, the most uggable
human being in the entire world. And your story, you
(05:10):
know where you came from and and kind of the
stuff with your mom and your sister is just it's heartwarming, man,
It's it's you know, I've heard bits and pieces of it,
and I know what I know through you know, you
kind of sharing on the show and you sharing on
the air, and dude, you and I have a similar
story in the sense that we lost that that person
(05:30):
at a very very young age. And I've always wondered, like,
because for me, I suppressed it for a while. If
I'm being honest, I suppressed it. Oh, I got angry.
I went through, like I would say, I don't know,
a little mente be if we want to call it
that at the time.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And then my dad passed in eighteen.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And and so what was the you know, working in
this and being comfortable about talking about it all? You
must you know, you never feel great, right, you never
feel normal again, but you feel you feel like you've
you're you're grieving and and coming to terms with it all.
What was the thing that you did to feel comfortable
enough to talk about it on the air, Like, what
(06:11):
was that?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Next, stent?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
That's a great question, man, And I mean, first I
want to ask you a question is but and then.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
When you're when your father passed, how how old were you?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
This is twenty eighteen, so I was it was the
year I was supposed to get married and oh wow
yeah yeah, so we and mine was, so it would
have been what was it twenty eighteen?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
What's that? I can't do math right now?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
No, you're good?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Like nine years ago? No, okay, eight years ago, eight
years ago, ten years ago, yeah, eight years ago. So
I was thirty two?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Thirty two?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Okay, yeah, yeah you were you were younger, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, So what I'm trying to say, is like you
you at least got to acknowledge that, like you were
going through something like your frontal lowe developed and you
had a support system around you, and you you knew
your body enough to like understand like how to process it, right.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I thought, yeah, maybe not the best, not the best.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, and that's fine for me. It was a whole
different situation where I didn't really understand what was happening.
And I'm not even lying in Mike until years later.
I didn't really process it. It took me like until
I hit my twenties, like twenty one, twenty two, a
(07:35):
whole ten years later, where I was just like, oh,
so this is this is what normal, like this is. Uh.
I was dating a girl at the time and she
actually lost her mom through cancer, and that's when it
kind of triggered me where I was like, oh, I
didn't really get over this, and I just had like
(07:59):
all all of the suppress sint and depressing sadness that
I held for so many years, like got brought back
up once my girlfriend at the time mom died. And
to go back to your question, how do I feel
comfortable talking about is? I mean, I've been in therapy
since I was twelve. So I just I think it's
(08:21):
become a norm to talk about it, and I think
it's good to talk about it so you can keep
those memories alive.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Agreed, Agreed, Yeah, that's it. Yeah, I couldn't agree with
you more. I think that people don't fully understand until
you've done this job, that this is kind of like
therapy too, like talking on the radio and talking about
it and people you know, relating to you and that
kind of stuff. It's kind of like therapy, Like I
got seven years of therapy with you guys.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
And the best part is one, it's free. I don't
have to say.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You guys, yeah, they pay you talk.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
And two I can have multiple opinions, not just one
set person like yeah, I love hearing your opinion. But
then I'll go to Mojo who's a little bit older
than us, who might have a little more experience, and
I value his opinion too.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Absolutely, absolutely, he's very good about that. I question, well,
along with that, do you find that today Because I
didn't realize how young you were ten eleven?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You said, yeah, yeah, I was twelve, And this is
the eighteenth year that I've been without my mom. Which
is kind of crazy to say.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, yeah, send in love one percent?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Man, thank you?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Do you feel that because I noticed this in myself
and this is what you're talking therapy.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
This is stuff I work on all the time. Is
the good effects?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Because I feel like, you know, everything happens for a reason, right,
Do you feel like there are positives that have come
out of I know this is hard to say, to
losing a parent and then then the negatives obviously are
losing the parent, But do you feel like there's other
things in your life that are affected by this? And
I bring that up because for me, for me like
it has made me a better dad, to be honest
(10:09):
with you. The only the only reason I am over
the top and too much, and I know it one
hundred percent, is because I don't know. I don't know
when you know my time is going to be because
we didn't. It was unexpected, We had no idea, and
so it could it could end to mile and then
like so I would say, that's my good and then
obviously the bad is I went through I mean it
(10:31):
was the year I was getting married, so I it
was yeah, it was very too. I mean, then you
have to go through it. Again, they wanted to cancel
the wedding. They wanted to there was, you know, because
you have to have that moment where you're like, my
dad's supposed to be sitting right there, and six months
ago he would have been. But so that was That
was the bad that I think came out of it.
(10:51):
But ultimately, you know, you rise from that. Do you
feel like in your do you feel like you have
the same kind of things happen to you?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Absolutely, that's such like that's such a hard question. But
like I look at my situation, and you know, I
look at other people's situations and I'm I'm actually really
thankful that it happened to me at my age, because
I don't know if I could. One, I was in
a really rough situation. I was taking care of my mom,
(11:23):
you know, she was on oxygen. But also I don't
tell a lot of pop. I was living in a.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Trailer park where like bills weren't paid often and things
weren't you know, great. But like I look at myself
now and I'm like, I'm glad that it happened. Like
even though it was such a bad time, I'm glad
that it happened because one I don't think I could
have lived in that environment for long.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah. And two I look at people who are older
that lose a parent, and it's almost harder because they
had more, more time and more you know memory. Yeah,
I agree, and I you know, I I kind of
got I mean, as much as it sucks to say, like,
(12:11):
you know, I only had twelve years, like that's no,
that's a great I don't have, you know, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
That's a great perspective.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
That is it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That is a that is a therapy. That is a
guy who's been to therapy perspective right there.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's what that is.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And it made you who you are today, right, any
of it, all of it makes you who you are today.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And you're killing it right now.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You're doing just awesome things, man, And it's it's really
cool to see. I know I see from a distance,
but it's really cool to see.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Man. I love you and obviously saying to you like
you're you're telling it on your morning show and you're
beating us, which you know, I'm getting a little.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Jealous over here, but you guys are holding it down
to Detroit. I think you're doing just fine. I think
you do it just fine.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Let me ask you this when it comes to radio business,
what is what is future Zachary.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Going to be doing? Dude? You know that's such a
crazy question. Thank you for asking one. That's that's awesome.
I my my whole life goal and this was in
fifth grade while my mom was alive, was ironically to
be an audio engineer. I wanted, I wanted to produce
(13:20):
other people's music, but I just I realized that, like
I kind of hit my goal. I'm an audio engineer,
like poor Mojo in the morning, which is sweet, Like
that's a one out of one, which is really bad ass.
Where where I see after this, Like I'm kind of
(13:41):
riding this wave until Mojo, you know, to the sunset,
and then I'm going to re evaluate my career from there.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It's I mean, you did you get you ultimately, like
check it off the list.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You did that, you nailed it. I also see on
the on the I didn't.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And I don't know how much you talk about this
on the air, but you you DJ and do produce music, correct.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I do. I consider that my art like outlook my art,
you know, just too. That's another therapeutic thing that I
like to do. And you too. You you DJ'd in
the before, and you know how like therapeutic it is.
Sometimes I don't have words, but I know a rhythm
that might get me moving, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
And if people want to listen to your to your
music and check you out, where where can they find that?
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah? On all social Media's at Zach Martian.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Music, Zach Marshall. Where that cause your last name is
that where the name came from?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, so my real my real name is Martin, but uh,
long story short, that's not really good for radio or music.
And I really like aliens in space, so.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Martian, okay, okay, And do you see yourself doing like
do you do club gigs or any of that kind
of stuff for now?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I do occasionally, but you know how it is, you know, waking.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Up early in the morning. Yes, it's it's a different lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So I kind of I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I don't know where that career is or like where
that path is yet. I'm just kind of doing it for.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Fun, Okay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I've always wanted to and we've talked about you and
I and this kind of leads into our the conversation.
I want to share that I'm I've been embarrassed about
and ran by my wife twenty million times. Is our
love and kind of both of us kind of having
that experience DJing. I've always wanted to get you out
to Grand Rapids and get you. I think you would
(15:39):
enjoy maybe not every weekend doing a DJ gig, but
I think you would love it, and I think it
would be really cool.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I think it'd be really really cool. But so my wife.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
First off, I want to say this is my wife
adores you, doors you and like she's like he just
gives the best hugs in the entire world, and I.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Love her and we were it was okay. So this
is the embarrassing story.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
This is I would say top ten, uh maybe top
fifteen douchious things I've said. And I don't know if
you do this, but I replay conversations sometimes, especially when
it's a night out drinking or I'll go, man, did
I really say that?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
There's two actually I have two stories. They lead into
each other. They lead into each other. The first one
is like the first time we all went out and
it was a god what was the party? But it
was right before my son was going to be born,
and I was like, yes.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yes, okay, all right, so go back to.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
That we have I don't remember where we were, but
my son was about to be born, so I was
like scatter brained and all over the place and wasn't
going to drink, and then I was going to drink,
and then I was only going to have one or
two because I didn't know if the baby was gonna come.
And we get to this place and I rode out there.
I think I rode out with Megan, and I get that.
(17:00):
We get there and I realize I forgot my wallet.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And so the.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
First time hanging out with you, like or one of
the first like big times anyways that I can remember
is it had to have been one of the first
times because it was a couple of years ago and
my you know, my son's gonna be three, so I
had to be at least almost three years ago. And
you're like, hey, dude, I can get you, like you
(17:27):
just started on the show, Like there's no reason I
should have ever been like, yeah, yeah, go ahead and
do that. But I was just in it in that moment,
and I said, yeah, sure, go ahead, man, And then
all of a sudden, you're buying us strings and we
had a blast. But that moment to me was like, God,
you're what an a whole thing for me to do.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And you overanalyze that completely.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
No way.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
My thing is like I'm gonna get this.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Veteran drunk and he's gonna spill his guts.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And I may have who knows may.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
And that's another thing that happens is you and I
will go out and uh, and we've done this a
couple of times and we'll start talking shop. But shop
gets old, you know quick, you know what I mean?
You can only talk so much about what it is.
And then so then I'll get a few drinks in
me and out of nowhere. This was a party bus time.
This was another time that I'm like, what a dumb
conversation that I A started and A and B started
(18:25):
it stupidly. Is we're having drinks somewhere and we're it's
a party bus. I think it was a Halloween night
and we stop at one of the places and I
want to share this passion of music with you. I
want to share, like I want to bond over our
love for like DJing and like like talk about it.
And so then out of nowhere, I have this I'm like,
(18:48):
oh cool, you know music, bo, But like I realize
you have no like basis on what like I like,
where I what I've done, or were like where I'm
coming from.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
So it's just like something early yes, like relationship.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Instead of just being like, uh, just going with the
conversation until you asked a question about like djaying or whatever,
I decide to give you my fucking resume.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I decided to start coming I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I don't know why, thank God, because it was the
douchiest thing I've ever said in my entire life. I'm like,
so let me give you, let me give you anything
that starts with let me give you a little background
about myself, Like what who the fuck says that in
a normal conversation, because I just all I want to
do is talk like, hey, what do you use?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
What do you dj with?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I've done this, but like I have, you have no
like reference to what I like? Why would you even
care what I say about any of it because you
don't know that I've done it. So I in that
that was my mindset was like, oh I gotta I
gotta tell this guy so he understands that I'm coming
from a place of love.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Of that is.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
You are over analyzing it. What. I don't even remember
that conversation. However, I do remember, maybe I.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Do because you were like, yeah, I used to DJ
in college, and then we started and then we started
talking about equipment. But I do want to say never,
I feel like I'm one.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Of those guys where I am not thinking about how
you like. I'm just appreciating you're talking to me about music.
Like I love that. That's awesome. It makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
My brain and I do over analyze sometimes. I don't
like I'm much better as I've gotten, you know, older,
and just don't give a shit. But like there's always
a moment of like, man, that didn't come out the
right way, and so then you yeah, instead of trying
to like correct it, which is what I would normally
(20:46):
do and make it worse, I think about it, replay
the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I'd like the drive home or something.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Okay, So here's my equivalent to that.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Oh, I don't even know if that's the right word. Equipment.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Over text, so I'll be I'll send you a text
or like, hey, it was great hanging out with you
by the way. Sorry, I said this, this, and this,
and then I'll send another text. Sorry I even mentioned
that again. I love you, and then I'll text again.
You didn't tell me you love me, so I'm the
same way, bro. I get it.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
It's so funny. It's just I don't know it. Texts
are hard to text are hard because you can never
tell a tone of anything at all, ever, and so
you tried to fix it as the worst.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
But dude, I love you so much.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Man, I'm glad we had this time.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I want to do this more often.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I agreed, agreed.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I love to I want to get everybody on and
I really want to get to know everybody in a Hey,
we're not trying to entertain kind of way.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
We're just just just chatting.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Like I talked to Mojo a little less now than
I used to, but I used to just we just
would chat about random shit. But I just I think
this would be fun, man, I think it would be
a lot of fun. I appreciate you taking the time
to do it. I know you got stuff to do,
so I will let you. I'll let you get back
to it.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But I love you, dude. I love you so much.
Tell the family said.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Hi, I will I will tell everybody said Hi, We'll
talk to you soon. We'll see you soon hopefully.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, Irish and Anilia.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah yeah, you tell me. I don't know. I don't
know the big bosses, I mean plans.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
I don't know we're coming down there.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Are you going to be there?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Oh yeah yeah, I mean yeah absolutely absolutely yeah
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Perfect, Well I will see you around them guy, all right,
talk soon, but
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