#99 - Being A Filipino in Radio with PJ Butta

Speaking with 30 year radio & entertainment personality PJ Butta who gives his stance on Ai taking over the industry, radio stalker stories, and gives game for y'all who are interested in being in entertainment!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Cum moost than not Kyo. Yeahright, my name is Nico Blitz and
we have the one and only PJButda in the building. What's something many?
And this is his actual voice?Everybody? I feel like everybody,
No, you put the filter on. Remember I brought it over here,

(00:20):
like t Paine, we have antitune. Do you ever like do you still
get that? Like is that youractual voice? Yeah? I think I
get that all the time, andI always fuck with people. I'm like
no, and I'd be like,no, this is how I really like
this. That's how I do it. Have you guys seen that clip of
Tyrese Haliburton this week? No?Okay, So Tyrese Haliburton, he's a
player on the Indiana Pacers, right, and so he was doing an interview

(00:43):
and then his voice just switched likemid interview and he didn't even recognize it.
But the interviewer was just like,did you just recognize that your voice
like switched mid interview. He's like, you know what, bro, I've
done so many of these and likeI just could never tell whenever it happens,
like I don't even hear it.It's like, have you ever heard
the audio of Michael Jackson so allegedly, and I've heard this many times,

(01:03):
Michael's voice is like as deep asmind, but he would just always because
he wanted to keep his youthful youknow, sounding and figure. So there
are actually I think you could probablygoogle it. There's like messages or like,
hey, what's up. This isMichael, and I need you to
come to studio. But I can'teven imagine like Michael Jackson's voice like that.
That's so insane. It's like alsolike DDG where he says, oh

(01:26):
yeah, like his actual voice islike way deeper than what it actually is.
And I've seen like kids in personwhere he switches up and I'm like,
I'm confused. I'm genuinely confused atthis right now. Yeah, And
I'm not gonna lie bro like becauseI've always been like hip to like who
you where ever since I moved toLa right, But then, I don't
think it was until Twitch where Iactually, like, you know, knew

(01:48):
about you, like on a personallevel. So I remember going into your
stream once it was my first timeand I'm listening to you and I'm just
like, am I sure this guyis Filipino? Because his voice is just
way too freaking deep for this man. Well, I mean, but you're
from the Bay, and I don'tknow if you were. They were there
in the Bay. You know,THEO. Yeah, everyone talks about,
you know, because he worked atthe Beat, but he started out in

(02:10):
the Bay and one O six cameme out. So and this before social
media, so even in La.You know, his voice is much deeper
than mine. So like, hey, what's up? This is THEO on
one O six came me all thepeople station, so just based on his
voice, you know, everyone wentcrazy like, man, who's this voice?
And when you see him, like, oh shit, this guy's Japanese.

(02:30):
You know, it just just blowedin mind. I remember the first
uh, the first appearance he madein La, and you know, people
just basing on his voice. Verypopular radio show he was doing afternoons at
the Beat in La, which isno longer round and uh he didn't uh
he made an appearance that it mighthave been a summer jam, but one
of these concerts and like, allright, everyone you heard him. You
love him? He does Afternoons onninety two giving up with THEO when it

(02:52):
comes up, Hey, what's up? Everybody? You know, first of
all, ever screaming, yeah,hey, what's everyone? And he comes
out it's like quiet, You're like, who the fuck is that? Yeah,
everybody's just so confused, like isthis the same dude who's on the
radio. But then again, itwas radio especially back then too, Yeah,
back then too, because even whenI started, you know, at
the Beat, I used to listento it and I'd hear all these radio

(03:14):
personalities and it's just like, youknow, you would hear someone's voice even
on the phone, and you kindof imagine what they look like. Yeah,
so when I went to the Beat, I've heard all these great radio
personalities, you know, John ledIn the House Party, Dinah Steele,
Evan Luck, you know, andthey were all white when I worked,
and it blew my mind's like,oh shit, you guys are white.
But then when I worked at radio, the same thing happened to me,

(03:36):
so I got I was like,oh yeah, yeah, okay, I
get it. So so people essentiallythought you were white before actually like visually
seeing you. No, people thoughtI was black. Okay, Yeah,
there we go. Even as akid, I'll tell you a funny story.
When I was in junior high,so I finally hit puberty thirteen years
old, I hit puberty and Iremember all the girls like ooh you hit
puberty. I'm like, what doyou mean? So I was dating a

(04:00):
girl in a middle school, juniorhigh and I always call her house and
I remember the first time I calledher house and her mom's like, Hi,
who's this. I'm like, uh, this PJ. Shike? Who
do you want to talk to us? I want to talk? Can I
talk to Shanton? Please? Shike? What's your name again? Like?
PJ? Okay, hold on herein the background, Shannon, who's this
old black guy calling you? Who'sthis guy? He's hilarious. So when

(04:23):
she met me, and to thisday we're still friends, her mom calls
me, uh, the boy withthe manly voice. Wow. I love
that. You must have been ableto like get away with like a couple
of things. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like there was times when I was
messing with this girl who was Filipino. She had a boyfriend, and her
boyfriend found out and then I remembergetting call he was like hey this this

(04:44):
PJ. I'm like, yeah,what's up. He's like, oh ship
you he said the N word?Oh you went? I was like,
yeah, yeah, what's up?What's up? I'm gonna find you at
work. Yeah, come get me. You know you know what I look
like. Say, that's so Tyronegot beat up the next day I worked.

(05:05):
Oh my god, bro, that'siconic. So I'm like, I
guess the like in a sense,you're because I feel like, in like
radio, you're always like trying toplay this character in a sense, did
you like find it difficult to findwhat you were in radio? No,
I mean you never want to bea character. You always want to be

(05:26):
yourself. I think for me,though, the problem I had because me
and THEO started at the same time, so we both kind of had the
same baritone voice. So people willsay, oh, you're trying to be
the I'm like, no, that'smy my real voice. That's why I
am so I so at a pointit upset me to a point where I
pitch up my voice more. SoI'm kind of like, hey, what's
up. You know a little morein my higher range. Oh so you
do the Michael Jackson. So Iwas with my voice a little higher for

(05:55):
that. Yeah. No, Imean I get that, especially, I
mean probably even considering like both ofyou knew you were like one of the
only Asians like in radio at thattime, it's like, how do you
even like deal with the separation,like internally you know, yeah, I
mean it's it's it's tough, butit's fun at the same time. Especially
I mean social media. Now everyonecan see how you you know, how

(06:16):
you look, but back then youcould just have fun with it. And
it was also another story based onmy voice. When I was working on
the radio, girl had called meup. I was like, hey,
PJ. I'm like, hey,what's up. She's like, I had
a great time last night. I'mlike, last night, what who is
this? You know? This isSharita. I don't know Sharita. Go
stop at PJ. Stop playing.And I was like, where did we

(06:40):
meet last night? Where were atlast night? We were in Carson,
We was at you know, atthis New Orleans bar, and then we
went home. I was like,Nah, that wasn't me. I'm sorry,
I don't I don't know you knowwho took your home? But it
was definitely not me. Stop playing. You always a fucking around. I'm
like, well, describe me howdo I look? She goes, well,
your six two, uh, yourchocolate skin. Michael, I'm right

(07:06):
there, that is not me.Oh yeah. He was like, well,
first of all, I'm like fiveaues, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, definitely have darkskin, don't look like Michael Jordan,
don't have these skills like Michael Jordan. The dude had a jacket that
had my name on it. Sothis guy whoever was was impersonating me and
would have a jacket and I waslike, damn, I don't even have

(07:26):
a jacket with my name on it. Damn. You know who it was?
You know it was PJ Brenda BrenaNo, because you know, you
know what happened, right, He'sbeen waiting to tell you. I've been
waiting, brob, and I waswaiting for the right opening. So Jackie
and I we were in Hawaii forher birthday this past November. You know,

(07:48):
We're walking around and I was like, a babe, like, doesn't
that dude right there look like PJButda And then she was like, oh
my god, he does. AndI was like, Babe, that's not
PJ Butda, that's PJ Broda broughtout and I literally looked at him.
I was like, I know he'sgoing to like wait to tell him about
this joke, and I can't that'shell of funny. Yeah, man,

(08:11):
that's funny. But when when itcame to like radio, I mean,
you've been in radio for how long? Now? I started in ninety three,
so now that's over thirty years.I guess. Yeah, fact fact
checked. I was born in ninetythree. Fuck wow, Wait a minute.
The moment you feel old, that'sthat moment. That moment, Well,

(08:31):
I guess this is the time tellyou I'm your father. No,
damn, it's like that, huh. I mean we're both Filipino, We're
both for it and yellow today.You know what I'm saying. Yeah,
harm this was not played Hello funnylike because when we were at Dodgers,
I think I was hosting with you, if not that I was hosting obviously
with somebody somebody else. But therewas a Friday night fireworks that night,

(08:56):
and they're like, oh, youknow, it's going to be the twenty
fifth out of the playlist is gonnabe the twenty fifth anniversary of the year
nineteen ninety eight. And I wasthere and I was just sitting there,
and then I just straight up toldGreg I was just like, I was
born in ninety eight. And thenhe goes, see, I didn't need
to know that. Jack, Yeah, I just and I was just like,
well, I mean you could justlook up like my birth year,
and then he's just like, no, I'm not gonna do that. Yeah.

(09:20):
Yeah. What's the biggest difference wouldyou say, Like, because you
said that, like when you firststarted radio, obviously social media wasn't the
thing. Is it more beneficial nowto have social media because of radio with
Radio two? In your opinion,I don't know. I think radio wise
professionally, it's it's a little harderbecause it's more work now you have to
do you have do social media.And then also now before you know,

(09:45):
you've always heard the term like youknow, you have a face for radio
because no one cared what you looklike. And that's not a compliment,
by the way, if you wonder. So it's like you, you know,
nobody knew what these DJs looked likeon the radio, and they unless
you know, you went to ashow or concert or they made in appearance,
so you didn't have to worry aboutyour appearance. Now you kind of
have to worry about your parents,you have to worry about doing your social

(10:05):
media. So that's kind of likethe cons of it I guess then the
good things is that, you know, it's more promotional thing you can promote
with social media and you get alot of you know things in your DM,
which you probably which which now becausein radio, so the equivalent of
the DM in radio back pre socialmedia was people calling out the listeners.
And real number one in radio isnever based you know, one don't date

(10:28):
a listener, and two don't basehow they look on how they sound,
because they never look how they sound. So you always get like the sexiest
voice like, Hey, what's up, PJ. You know this is evonn.
You're like, oh shit, yousound sexy as fuck. Let's go
meet up somewhere. So there aremany times it's been proven not by me
on the listener thought you were tyrone. Yeah, exactly like Michael Jordan's.

(10:50):
So we both cat fished each other. But they never look good. So
one time I was gonna play ajoke with my friend. This girl called
up, yeah you know, andshe was like Carnie, you know,
all freaky because at the time Iworked overnight. So when you work at
like that graveyard shift, you getall these freaks. It's a totally different
vibe. So you get all thesefreaks. So those girls like masturbating ship
like that freaks. Yeah, itfreaks come out exactly. And uh she's

(11:13):
like, you know how I wantto fuck? I said, well,
I can't, but I got abuddy who will bang the ship out of
you. So it's jokes. Iknow that she's gonna be some you know,
ugly horrendous looking chick. And uhso I got just guy's number.
I got her number and I gaveto my friends. I just hooked you
up right now. This girl's hot. Blah blah blah, she's hot ready,
you know, here's a number,address and all that. So he
went over there and the next day'slike, man, thank you so much.

(11:35):
I'm like, what goes? Man? That chick was hot as hell.
Dad. She was like, wedone ship like in porn porn ship.
And I was like, what thefuck? The one time I give
out the number, it it's crazy. It's the assist you didn't want to
give right, Yeah, the cists. I didn't know what happened. So
yeah, just that's the And sonow the dm dms you have to worry.
But now I can see but Iguess you could still get catfish.
But no, I think well,even like right now, even at this

(11:58):
station, like if there's a girlthat sounds like really pretty or really hot,
they'll just be like, let's justgonna get your like number on the
on the other studios or get yourInstagram. I'm like, what, Like
what the fuck? Y'all? Yeah, that's the thing that is just people.
You know, people don't ask aboutnumbers, like give your name,
give me your instagram. Yeah.You know what's crazy is like nowadays,
like it's so hard for me toremember people's like actual names. I obviously

(12:20):
remember your name, right, butlike the way I remember people's names is
like through their instagram. Like I'llsee them and I'll be like, oh,
like my fault, bro, wasyour name again? It's like,
oh it's at blah blah blah,and I g I'm like, oh,
what's man? Like twitch same thing? Yes, like oh exactly dj MC
five thousand, Well who was itwas somebody where I actually referred to them

(12:46):
as their screen name in person?I was just like, I'm sorry,
let me get your actual name whenit comes to like, obviously, Butta
is not your government last name,but like it's but like for me,
I made it a point that whenI started radio, I wanted people to
know my name, like and nowI don't know if I should have,

(13:07):
but like with you, how wasit like figuring out PJ. But well,
uh, PJ. Like my realname is Paul Joseph, so that's
PJ. But you know Filipinos wwayshave nicknames, so my nickname was just
my initials. So I never knewmy real name until I went to kindergarten
and they're like, Paul, Paul, Paul. I'm just like, who

(13:28):
the fuck is Paul? Kindergarten?First, I was cussing as a kindergarten,
so I have no idea who Paulwas. So I've always by PJ.
So I knew on the radio,I said, I gotta go.
I can't be changed my name tosomething else, like I'll change my name
to like Mike Ski. And thenI've never used that name, you know.
I had to keep it a namethat which is PJ. So but

(13:50):
at the time we had THEO,we had a bunch of one name jocks.
I'm like, yeah, I justwant to be PJ. So where
there was this one jock rest inpeace named Captain g To, Whereas when
I started a radar. Started inpromotions on the Street Team, and back
then we would go in the studiowith the jocks and kind of ahead of
time tell listeners where we're gonna beat. So we go in the studio,
Hey, you know it's GJ.Yeah, we're gonna be at the

(14:11):
In and Out and Pomona on Holt. You know, come out and see
us from three to six. Sothere's one jock, captain g He was
like, hey, man, yourvoice a smooth line. Butter, I'm
gonna call you Butter from now on. It's like, okay, cool.
I guess I was like that kindof works out PJ. Butler, because
it was, you know, itwas a hip hop arm by station.
But and my real last name isKolanski. It's a Polish name. My
dad's Polish. So I was like, that's not gonna fly working at a

(14:33):
black radio station. And then thenineties, butter was slang for dope,
so that's when I was like,yeah, I'll get that name, PJ.
Butter. And it was funny becausealso everyone on the Street Team kind
of had like a food name.We had a corn dog, we had
a cheesecake. So someone's name waslike something cheesecake. Yeah, cheesecake.

(14:54):
Yeah works. You might know itworks at the Empire Record shout to Stacy
Cunningham. Oh yes, that washer street team name. She's K because
she was always cheesing so they alwayssmiling. Yeah. So that's how I
got the name PJ Butter. Andit just suck. Yeah, yeah,
literally just stuck, and I youknow, kept it ever since. I

(15:16):
tried to change it a couple oftimes because I like, a you know,
as I got older, it waslike I have PJ Butter, but
it just people just know me asthat, even when I you know,
I was at the Beach for likethirteen years and then worked at Hot ninety
two three, and then when Iwent to Kday when they hired me,
they asked me if I could changemy name, and I was like,
what do you want me to changemy name to? And they were like,
well, can you use your realname? I'm like Paul, Yeah,

(15:37):
like Paul, like Paul Joseph.I was like that sounds like I
work at the Wave or something ata hip hop station or something like Paul
Ski or something. I was like, I don't know, I just never
used Paul as my name. Isaid, Plus, I'm in l already
everyone knows and they're gonna know myvoice if I go, hey, what's
up ninety three five? Ka,this is Paul Ski Like, hey man,
you sound like PJ. Butter.And I'm like, well, yeah,
they made me change my name.But yeah, So that's why that's

(16:00):
weird. You know, it's funnybecause Jackie actually had that conversation when it
came, you know, to theevent that she just did for Sour Apple
pr But like the idea behind Ithink Jackie's question went something along the lines
of, like how much did likeyou really have to like fold for like
a company that like you were workingfor. You know, you've seen many

(16:22):
jocks do that change your name,you know, get totally different names.
One that comes to mind shout outto Chris los but he went by Chris
Knight at one time. I'm tryingto think who else is but or just
jocks that I work with, SoI think John London, who did Mornings
at the Beat, his real namewas Stan Lackey. So sometimes but sometimes

(16:44):
you have those names that just don'tfit, Like that's you said insurance or
something you should be on the radio. So I think you know, if
you have a name that doesn't fit, yeah, you definitely want to change
it. Yeah. So you knowyou said you started off on Street Team
back in ninety How long were youon Street Team until you actually got on
air? My story is different,my path. It was actually kind of

(17:07):
rare. So I started ninety threeand mind you, and this is now
I feel even more older. Therewas no street teams around in radio,
so we were like the first streetteam. Like this first idea and shout
out to Eileen Woodbury who works withyou at iHeart So she was the head
of promotions at the time, andher and Scott Dolivo recipes. They came
up to that idea like, Hey, we're gonna come up with this,
like the Street Team just to goout and represent the station, you know,

(17:30):
and we're looking for interns and youknow, I got an internship there,
so you know, I did theStreet Team in ninety three and then
my internship was up and they said, would you like to be hired in
promotions? I was like, hell, yeah, you know, this is
a this was it. Riginally Iwanted to be an A and R,
but I wanted to be the musicindustry and I was like, well this,
you know, if this keeps mein the radio industry and the music
industry. So I was hired onStreet Team New Promotions, and then,

(17:55):
you know, I always believe thatno matter what job, you want to
learn everyone else's job, you know, and everybody and say hey, you
know, hi, what do youdo? So I learned how to board
up. So I was doing promotions. I'd board up and then help on
production and stuff like that. SoI was boardopping though and also answering phone
calls for We had a show thatwas based out of the Bay Area on

(18:15):
one O six K mail called StreetSoldiers. So it was a gang prevention
show and we were sister stations.One of six came mail ninety two point
three the Beat, so they wouldsimulcast a show and then sometimes they would
fly the jocks, the hosts ofthe show down to LA and do the
show live from LA. So onetime they missed it, I would board
off for that show and screen thecall. So one time they missed a
flight, so they're like, PJ, you have to do the show.

(18:37):
I'm like, man, I gotto talk these gang members off off the
legendship what we're doing. Yeah,I could dictate someone like, but I'm
like, no, Na, You'llYou'll be the host but from LA and
then they'll they'll have the you know, the the the people in the Bay.
So I would host the show fromLA and they'd be in the Bay.
And I looked at that as anopportunities, like, hey, you

(19:00):
know, so this doesn't happen again, and so it saves you money and
radio loves it when you save themoney. Oh yeah, let me just
be the regular host of the show. So I hosted that show for a
minute. And I did college radiotoo, so they kind of knew I
had experience. And then that wentin from you know, hosting this Monday
night show that was in the Bayin LA to having a weekend shift and

(19:22):
then I almost went up to theBay to work at one of six came
out. They offered me a position, but I went back to my bosses
and said, hey, look Igot a job offer at when of six
came out, which I love theBay and I love that stage came in
and I really wanted and at thattime in the nineties, it was really
popping. I was like, man, I really want to go came out,
but I just want to give youa chance to counteroffer, and they're

(19:44):
like they counted offered and it wasmore money. So I just stayed in
LA and worked full time and atthe Beat, and I was of like
thirteen years. Hell yeah man,you know so So to answer your question,
it was it was literally I wentfrom street Teamer to on the air
in about less than a year.That's crazy. I mean that's kind of
similar to my story just a littlebit, because I did Street Team for
a year and I told myself,like, I'm gonna give myself a year

(20:07):
just to do all the random streetteam shit, right, like go to
a viata, you know, pitchup a ten whatnot for us. It
was also like just do the iHeartFestival. Let me just do this once
because everyone's hyping it up. Andhonestly, it was kind of like,
you know by the time I endedup doing it, but I was like
whatever, it's cool. But youknow, I put a hard deadline on
myself. And then, you know, a little bit past that year is
when I started to get like myfirst DJ gig, like on radio.

(20:30):
When it was it was December oftwenty eighteen, I believe twenty eighteen,
and like, yeah, I wasjust super surprised about myself and then everyone
was like, yo, like,so what did you do to do that.
I'm like, I was literally justaround. I was learning how to
board op, I was learning,I was shaking hands. I was actually
getting to know the jocks and notlike always asking for like a handout or

(20:55):
whatever. It was just like,hey, like I want to genuinely get
to know you and like genuinely learnit about this stuff because I'm really about
it. I feel like not thatmany people really have that drive anymore.
And it doesn't even have to bein radio, but people just don't have
that drive to want to like workwork. Yeah. I mean that's always
been the conversation with the difference betweendifferent generations, and like this this generation

(21:15):
is like they feel entitled. Ijust popped up owed something, yeah,
or and they don't want to work. You want me to you know,
type this? You want me tofile that? Do you want me to
lift up this tent? What manuallabor? What is just like the AI
do it? They feel like that'syeah, I feel like that's what like.
And I feel like I have kindof like the same sentiment when it

(21:38):
comes to like how I was ableto get on air. I mean I
started Street Team twenty nineteen September oftwenty nineteen, and then pandemic happened,
so I was let go March twentytwenty, and then I came back for
what maybe six months, and thenI was able to get on air.
And I feel like a lot ofpeople just kind of have this like like,

(22:00):
oh, well, what did youdo to get on their type of
thing. It's like, well,if you just like, if you make
the time and if you really wantto do it, it's gonna happen.
Yeah, gotta put in the workfor sure. Yeah, you do.
Like I remember someone had told me, like the more time you spend in
the building the better, because youknow, they throw you out like the
most random places, like two threehours, you could go to freaking Marongo

(22:22):
for the next couple of days.That's three days that I'm like staying away
from, like you know, notlearning from like the next jock or whatever.
Yeah. I mean I also teachat Mount Sack and I teach upcoming
people want to be in radio andbroadcasting, which is rare, but you
know, you got to make sacrifices, you know, do the work,
you know, be around the building, Like you said, get to know
everybody you know. For me,you know, I was in I was

(22:45):
in college while I was in theradio. So the sacrifice I made is
I didn't get the party like everyoneelse. I was a junior. So
my first like on air gig wasI would actually work in ox nards,
so I would drive. I wentto University of the Burn, so that
was like a two and a halfhour drive. Yeah that's far as OX
start. And I do a graveyardshift on Friday nights. So when everyone's
going to frat house is partying,Hey, PJ, come along, is

(23:06):
like, no, guys, Igotta go voice switch guys. Uh,
you know, And I would sayand you know. And then the next
day I have to be on inthe afternoon, so I would sleep at
the beach. It was almost likeI was homeless on the weekends and Ox
snart And that's kind of like thesacrifices you gotta make. It doesn't come
easy, and I think that appliesto day but people just don't know that.

(23:26):
Yeah, I do, got toask, because you do. You
said you teach over at Mount Sack, Like how many students do you have?
Like actually wanting to be in radio. There's a handful and uh,
you know, I had this conversationthe other day and actually I was going
to ask you guys, because youguys started, like you said, twenty
eighteen through the nineteen uh, youknow, which is kind of later,

(23:48):
and like, what made you becausemy students don't listen to radio. Uh
you know. They do it becauseone is probably requirement for something else,
or they want to be an influenceror apply what I'm teaching to social media,
or they want to do podcasts,you know like this. That's mostly
they want to do podcasting than anythingbecause they're not conditioned or don't have the
habit like someone like me where we'rewe were in the car listening to radio.

(24:12):
But now you know, you canhook up your bluetooth something to your
car on stream. You're not listeningto the radio. So we have that
habit. So kids who grow up, these kids now coming up that are
in college, they never listened tothe radio in the car unless their parents
had turned out. I think,yeah, I think for me like it
was I would. I grew uplistening to Howard Stern, Like my dad

(24:34):
would drop me off in the morningsat school and it was Howard Stern.
I would hear the chaos of HowardStern, and when you pick me up,
it's still Howard Stern. Like Ithink for me, it was always
like in my mind of okay,I want to grab somebody's attention like that.
And I've always wanted to be inentertainment. Initially I went to school

(24:56):
for broadcast journalism to become a sportsjournalist, and then I like, once
I figured out, like I'm notgonna watch every game, I don't know
how to do stats. I'm notgonna like do all that, I'm like,
okay, well I still want tobe in front of a camera.
I still want to report on stuff. How can I do it? And
I'm like, well, I knowI wanted to do radio. I know

(25:17):
now that there's entertainment hosting. Andthen that's when I was like, okay,
well I'm just gonna go full infull force with this, and I
I didn't finish school and I justwent full force with doing what I wanted
and luckily it worked out, likethank god it did. But I think
my introduction to radio and wanting todo this was like hearing Howard Stern every
day. Yeah, I think forme, like, you know, especially

(25:41):
growing up in the Bay, CAMEOUwas just my favorite station every I would
bump that shit so much, bro, and so like for me, there
would be this show and I believeit might still be on right now.
It was called home Turf, andHome Turf would just play literally like all
the homegrown stuff from the Bay Air. So then, of course, being

(26:02):
naive, I'm like, man,like that's so cool. I could go
to LA I can have like myown like radio show where I get to
play like local stuff whatever. Andthen it's like, but you know,
I say all that to say,like, you know, I've just always
had like a love for music,right, and then once I figured out
what it actually was like, insteadof like complaining like, oh, why

(26:23):
don't we do this, why don'twe do that, like, I come
to realize like there is a systemto this and like why everything works the
way it does. So in retrospect, I look at everything and I'm just
like, well, now radio caneasily just become like one of my stepping
stones into like, you know,more things in the music industry, so
you know, without going to collegefirst and then pursuing broadcast journalism, which

(26:47):
eventually led to radio. It thateventually led me to DJing. It eventually
led me to podcasting. It eventuallyled me to I mean, honestly just
like meeting Jackie and doing like everythingwe're doing now with the food fest,
with the podcast and everything. Soyou know, at least for me,
And this is kind of going offon a tangent a little bit, right,

(27:07):
Like I could never diss radio andjust be like, oh, you
know, radio's not shit, Likeradio is not like the same as hell
it used to be or whatever,But like what it means to me is
just it was the stepping stone.It was like that door that like opened
up like the rest of my worldfor the entertainment industry. And honestly,
I'm like forever thankful that I gotin when I did, because now I

(27:30):
feel like it's just it's frankly,just a lot more difficult now, and
like the amount of whether it comesdown to like popularity or like the notoriety
or even like the money that youmake from like radio when you were like
back then, like that's stuff thatyou don't even see nowadays, especially if
you're coming in as like a newperson. Yeah, I feel like that's

(27:52):
definitely like a thing, and likeradio. You said radio wasn't like the
first thing. It was A andR for you, right, Yeah,
I mean, like Nico said,music industry. So I wanted to work
in A and R and signed bandsand signed Groupsuse I just love music.
I love you know, getting themusic first. And I wanted to be
a DJ, but I couldn't affordequipment, so it wasn't until later on
when I had money I could buyequipment to become a DJ. But yeah,

(28:15):
A and R was the thing Iwanted to do. But just so,
I always say that radio is justan internship that hasn't ended. So
when did When did you become aDJ? Uh? So let's see once
I once the Beat hired me fulltime. Uh. The PDA at the

(28:36):
time was Harold Austin. Shout toHarold, who was a Guatemalan from the
Bay Area, so and he hadits accent. Welways, we always say
that he sounded like a Guatemalan ArnoldSwartzebeka. He's like, so, PJ,
have you thought about being a DJ? I was like, yeah,
I've always wanted to, man,I just I just never had money for
equipment. And goes, well,you're full time. Now you can buy

(28:59):
turntable. No. I was like, shit, you're right, Yeah,
I guess I can. Yeah,so at least she never won by DJ
PJ. No, No, Idid not. That was too too easy.
I was like, let me notgo with the obvious. Yeah,
so then he made me realize,yeah, good, buye turntable. So
I bought uh some used turntables froma DJ that worked with us at the
time. He was a DMC champion. But like I think like an eighty

(29:22):
nine early nineties Joe Rodriguez who wasDJing on Theo's show at the time,
and I was like, Joe,do you have some turntables, like,
yeah, I'll sell you for likefive hundred sold me a pair for five
hundred and back then yeah yeah,I say, like those like a slimmer
of it. Yeah yeah, Andthen I picked it up, you know,
got some records because I worked atthe radio station. So again vinyl

(29:45):
was no problem, and like withina month I had a club gig because
it was a club promoter that waslike, yo, let me DJ.
He goes man, you just started. I was like, yeah, come
on, just put me like ina back room. So there was this
lounge outside of the main rooms.I'll put you in the back room.
You spin and I spun. He'slike, damn, you just learned.
Like yeah, it's like, nah, it's pretty good. Like I've always
had it in me, I justnever had the means of doing it.
Yeah. Yeah, I was aboutto say on twitch, you'd be killing

(30:07):
it and whenever I saw you,Yeah, well now so many years and
plus it's not vinyl back then thattoo. Do you feel like all these
like entertainment jobs have just become significantlyeasier for people? I mean, you
know, also just considering like youknow, you've been doing this for a
long time, and I feel liketechnology has just come such a long way

(30:30):
to where like I mean, likeyou said, like you don't have to
buy like a full on turntable setanymore. You can just buy like a
mini controller. I mean, there'seven like AI voices that are potentially going
on radio right now. I feellike the entertainment jobs are kind of just
getting like significantly easier, or likethey're kind of getting like pushed out a
bit. I think it's not easier, it's just accessible. So now it's

(30:52):
easy access to getting music. Youdon't have to go to the record store
and spend three ninety nine five ninetynine for a twelve inch vinyls single and
then actually go to the record store, which you know, could add up
it. It could be like golf. It could really back then when you
have to buy vinyl and the equipmentand the mixer and the needles, and
then not to mention your back becauseyou have to carry all those crates.

(31:14):
So now it's much easier in asense that hey, anyone could buy a
laptop. Anyone can just get MPthree's or now you know, with Serato,
you can just subscribe the title andget all the music there and DJ
off of that. So it's madeit easier in that sense, but you
still got to have the skills.You still got to know how to do
it. You know, everyone saysanyone could be DJ, Yeah, but
just can you be a good DJ? Is the question? Like the value

(31:37):
that you can bring is it still? Like is it still there? And
I feel like with like AI too, like you were mentioning that AI is
like now they're doing like radio AIvoices and all that, and yeah that's
great and all, but I feellike the one thing that AI can't do
when it comes to being a radiolike host and jock is being local,

(32:01):
Like, no, they can't belocal. That's the thing. Now,
that's the story Park. They cando it, Yeah they can't. They
could be local now they can doeverything pretty much, but uh, you
know we can do and sound likeus. It's scary. I think the
thing that they're working on is thehumor. So that's why for your future

(32:21):
jocks, you want to you know, if you look, if you ever
listened to my show, all thoseDS nuts jokes, see if AI can
do that, marketers calling them.Okay, PJ, I got a question
for you, right, so youknow how like you know, AI can
basically replicate like rappers and whatnot.Right, Let's say let's say like a
radio company came up to you andwas like, PJ, we want to

(32:42):
buy rights to your voice, right, so we can use it like anywhere
and everywhere on radio. What isthat price? If there is a price,
one million? Was one million firstthing that came to mind. I
mean you got for that. Atleast we'll start there. We'll start there,
I guess. I mean it dependswhat they're using it for? How

(33:05):
long? How long do they wantto license it. But that is scary,
but that might be the future.It might be just like, hey,
we just want to use your voice, say these lines how you would
say them, because we're not hiringyou, but we're gonna have Hey,
I to do it. That.I mean, that's it's something to fear.
But then you're gonna have to embraceit. It's going to happen.
So it's just a matter of howcan you pimp AI to your advantage?
You know, that's the way yougot to look at it. Do you

(33:28):
become that person that's behind the scenes. That's okay, I'll be the prompt
engineer or something. Uh, figureout how you can work it for your
advantage because it's gonna it's you can'tstop it. It's going to happen at
some point. Even the DJing youknow, I heard I don't know which
company was, but I don't knowwhat DJs, but they are teaching AI
how to DJ and their styles andhow to scratch and everything to where they

(33:52):
don't need you no more. Theysay, hey, let's do this and
you know, doing this style likea jazzy Jeff style. I know that
like in like Spotify and I andI've mentioned it recently, Like Spotify,
they have a like dj X andhe teases songs and he's like, up
next, we got this, andlater on I'll probably get into this,
and then he plays it and thenhe granted the playlist curation is shit,

(34:15):
but like, but it's that I'mjust kind of like, Okay, he's
DJing, he's like talking, whatthe fuck is going on here? Like
it's crazy how all that is justlike meshing and it is a scary thing.
It's as of like as a radioperson, it's just like fuck.
Like, well, they have agirl, Ai Ashley in Seattle. It's

(34:37):
almost a year now that she's beendoing middays. Oh so shit, I
haven't seen the ratings. I don'tknow how she's done in the mid days.
I mean she's been over a year. It's been over a year.
I've seen that on shitty radio job. Yeah, it's been. It was
made major news when it came outbecause it's like, oh shit, this
is you know, rip to ourjobs. Now, if this Ai succeeds,
uh and you know again, obviouslyshe has to be local. I'm

(34:58):
sure they're feeding her local information.But I think that the trick is now
is that's why you can't because yousaid with exactly the Spotify that AI is
just announcing songs like Hey, comingup next, you know, we've got
Kendrick Lamar with Damn. You know, it's simple, and that's why if
anyone wants to be in radio orany type of audio media where you have
to be it's called, you know, a personality. You got to be

(35:20):
a personality. So if you're justwe call it phoning it in, just
like announcing the next song, likehey, you know that was this song
coming up next? Here is thissong on ninety two point three the beat?
You know, it's like, that'stoo simple. You're just an announcer.
You are an AI than the humanform. So you got to figure
out how can I do something thatAI can't do. Well, hopefully it's
played different songs. Hopefully, hopefullyit's played more than ten songs on the

(35:45):
radio. With the event that Ijust did this past weekend, I asked,
like some of some of the peoplethat were in radio and on part
of the panel of this, soI want to get to know your answer,
what's the biggest misconception about radio?The biggest misconception about radio? Yeah,
fuck everything, Damn. I don'tknow. That's a really good question.

(36:07):
The biggest misconception about radio, man, I know, the first thing
that came to mind is we gettickets to everything. We cannot hook up
friends and family. We cannot hookyou o with tickets all the time.
Yeah. Sometimes, but uh,that's kind of like the biggest that's the
first thing that came to mind.Yeah, what does some people say?

(36:27):
Remember people were saying the tickets.Some people were saying that were rich.
Depends I mean, big boy,maybe you know those you are obviously Howard
Stern definitely is rich. But likeand then there was some another one,
oh that we can't play like yourdemos. Oh yeah, you know that
is a thing too where you getlike people, hey, can you listen

(36:50):
to my song and put on theradio? No, we can't that way,
we don't have home turf. Yeah, exact way to do stuff like
that. Those are some of thetop like answers that I got. Could
you could you break it down forpeople on this podcast who probably don't know
this, but like, why isit on radio? Like it's the same
ten to fifteen songs in rotation.Well, now here comes the professor and
me it goes back to somewhere inthe fifties. I forget the exact date,

(37:15):
but and I forget the dude's name. I want to say his last
name is Haley. But anyways,so this one guy in nineteen fifties,
you know, on radio, isjust kind of fresh as a baby.
He goes into a diner and noticesand on the diners back in the day,
they had like jukeboxes, like youcould play whatever song you want at
your table, and he would noticethat people the tables would play the same
songs every time. So it's like, damn, what if I just on

(37:37):
my radio station, I just playthe same songs, same core songs,
every hour. And that's how Topforty kind of came about. So that's
been so now you know, we'retwenty twenty four, we're still doing the
same fucking formula. You think wehad to figure something else different. But
you know, also, the theoryis that, especially with radio, not

(37:59):
everyone is listening for four hours.Yeah yeah, as Jock's, as our
egos, we believe everyone's listening toevery word. We say listening every minute.
Even no, you know you're listening, well for five minutes, you're
going to pick up the kids andthen you're not listening for twenty and then
you jump back in the car,you're go to the grocery store. So
not so someone who wants to hearthe popular song might have missed it,
so they figure within forty five minuteshour you'll probably hear that song again,

(38:21):
just because no one really listens toradio. Yeah, twenty four to seven.
Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, likewe have listeners calling and they'll be
like, like calling me out onshit. They'll be like, Jackie,
last week you said this, andnow this week you said. I'm like,
first off, hold on, Imay have changed my opinion the next
break. Who knows, sir,they are you have those stands in radio
that just like you know, holdon to every word or just really I

(38:45):
mean, I mean just like anyartists they know about it. Just your
fans who know everything about you.It's kind of scary. Yeah, sometimes,
and I've definitely learned to like dialback on like what I should.
Yeah, you have to have youhave you had any stocker situations a PJ
Butter Show, Jackie, Actually Ihaven't, Thank god that I not yet.

(39:06):
And I say yeah because I know, like the guys have warned me
like it's gonna happen. Oh no, No, she's CAPPIs. She definitely
has no but she messed up.She gave her number to a listener.
Okay, okay, a female listener, female listener, and I was just
trying to get my my lashes ormy eyebrows done, and I was just
like, okay, like you knowwhat, fuck it, Like I'm make

(39:28):
an appointment because like I need toget my lashes and eyeils done and they're
local. So I was just like, okay, I'm just gonna I'm just
gonna like book. And so she'slike, here, text me so we
could like, uh, we canfigure out a date, and da da
da dah. I was just likeokay, cool. So I sent her
message. I was like, hey, I'm just looking to get this done.
Here are some of the dates inmy availability. Let me know if

(39:51):
anything works out with you. Thebiggest mistake I could have ever made.
It was just like constant, liketext after text, and then it was
like got like to a point whereI was like, oh, this person
actually thinks like like I'm I'm theirbest friend and they know everything about me,
but I know nothing about them.So I was like, oh,
shit like okay, And I toldNKO was like, I don't know what

(40:13):
to do. Like at one point, I was like I think I'm scared
at this point and that was thebiggest Like I was like, I'm never
doing that again. I'm just gonnago through booking sites probably best and don't
use use a different name. Sodid jackiey Mirrors be like Jackie Ruiz,
Yeah, Jurassic Jackie, Jurassic Jackie. No, literally speaking of that,

(40:37):
Like that's why I asked you aboutlike your name too, like because I
was doing a prior hosting job andthey wanted me to go with like a
character like Jurassic Jackie, and Iwas like, I can't do that,
like that's not me that like Iever since I started hosting. I was

(40:58):
like, no, I want tobe Jackie Ormary's. And I was just
like maybe I should have like maybechanged my last name. I don't know,
but yeah you do. Yeah yeah, So what are you your your
new lastest friend going to do thisweekend? I since found another last time,

(41:22):
that's great. Yeah, So no, but that was definitely one of
no stalkers yet. I have heardthat in some instances some of the like
the females that I work with thatthere actually have been people like that go
into the building restrooms and like waituntil they come downstairs. Yeah, And
I was just like no, no, no, I can't let this happen.

(41:43):
That happens to the guys too.I mean, it's happened to me.
So you get like stockers, Ohyeah, I have one. Uh
it's funny. So I got thisChristmas card. And this is when I
was at the Beat in the nineties. So it was a Christmas card.
A fan sent me a Christmas cardand the handwriting was like a kid.
It's like, oh, a littlelittle girl sent me. Was for a
I can't remember name of less sayname was Penny. I was like,
oh, Penny, what a sweetgirl to send me a Christmas card.

(42:06):
So then I get a call froma listener. I was like hello,
PJ. I'm like, yeah,she did you get my Christmas card?
It's like what was this? PennyLike yes, I was like, oh
shit, she's not a kid.It's like, yeah, thank you so
much, blah blah blah. Sothen she would show up at every event
I was at and she looked likeso like a black olive oil. She
was like really like literally looked likeolive oil for poppy. So she would

(42:30):
show up, and you know,I came up, Hey, how you
doing. I'd be nice because Imeeting her person, you kind of knew
okay that something wasn't right. Yeahyeah, but you still you didn't want
to set her off, so you'dbe nice, like, hey, thanks
so much for coming out. Blahblah blah, you don't see you again.
So one time I was hosting aclub in Diamond Bar and shows up
an old Diamond Bar fifty seven.She shows up. It's like hey,

(42:52):
pej and I was like, oh, hey, what's up? What's going
on? Do you want to dance? I was like no, you know
what, I gotta get on themic. I gotta go. And then
she made like a whole instant likewhat do you want you to want to
do? Mama start crying and makingthis commotion and causing us making a scene
right, and security came over likewhat's going on? I was like,
yo, she's kind of crazy.You might want to take her outside.
So it took her outside and shewas still, you know, seeing all

(43:13):
this crazy stuff. And then socan you just come outside and comrad down?
Soide went out idea, Hey,listen, you know we're I appreciate
you coming out, appreciate the support, but you know, I don't know
what you think we have. Butyou're my boyfriend. I'm like, no,
I'm not. She goes yes.I said, well, I'm not
your boyfriend, but can you calmdown? You know it's okay, you
know, And she's like yeah,I'll calm down. And then she's like,
I'm staying at the hotel room actuallyit was room one twelve. Well

(43:37):
the player is playing. I waslike, okay, thanks man. So
months later I get another phone callat the radio station and uh it was
a guy's like, Hi, isthis PJ. I'm like yeah. She
goes, Hi, I'm Penny's father. I'm She said you're her boyfriend and
she's been missing. Have you talkedto her? I'm like I'm like,

(43:58):
no, I've not talked or I'mnot her boyfriend. I'm sorry, sir,
I have no idea. What's what'sgoing on? Yeah, please tell
me there's more? Right, No, that was that was it. That's
the last I heard her. Ithink one time she did call and uh,
she might have been in a homebecause it's like, hey, p
J, and I was like,oh, ship, Pandy, you know

(44:19):
your parents are looking for you?Yeah, I know. And then you'd
be like and I'm like, ohso anyways, oh my god. Luckily
she didn't stab me or I didn'tdie. But that's my stalker story.
Yeah, And that was just likethe one in a like stocker, the
scariest one, the scariest one towhere it's like, okay, where you're
telling your parents I'm you know,we're having a relationship, full on relationship,

(44:43):
and they think, you know,damn, that's intense. Oh my
god, that's scary. It's veryscary. I can't I'm I'm so terrified
for like that one incident that happens. I'm terrified. I'm so terrified.
Well, at least with you,at least, you know, sometimes especially
radio gigs, you have the crewwith you. Yeah, so that's the
good thing. And like, yeah, and luckily I'm in the show where

(45:05):
it's like all males, so I'mlike, Okay, at least someone's gonna
held out here. And that DodgerStadium we have security. Yeah, we
do have that one guy I forgethis name. I don't know his name
either, but I know exactly right, right, security guard or what?
Well, yeah, sometimes security.But he's like, but for some reason,
he's in love with Dave style.Shout the Dave style. He always

(45:27):
thinks I'm Dave Style's hey, Dave. I'm like, yeah, what's up?
Yeah, that's funny. I rememberhe always thought that Morgan was Dave
too. Well, they kind oflook like me and Dave definitely don't.
Dave is white, blonde hair,looks like he could be in a boy
band, and I'm definitely we donot look collect. Dave is one direction
and that's down clowning on eagle.They go at it so hard sometimes and

(45:53):
it's fucking hilarious. But oh yeah. But yeah, anyway, aside from
radio to PJ and I host togetherat Dodger. Oh yeah, so that
was like I remember that was likethe first time I met you, and
I was just like, like itwas just so cool, you know,
and it was finally I mean,how long I mean did you even want

(46:15):
to like get into that realm ofworld? Yeah? So what happened?
So even before I started with you, I kind of applied in twenty fourteen,
so you know, I was like, oh, I think I think
it might have been Dave that askedme, Hey, you know Dodgers are
looking for someone would be interested.I was like yeah. So I went
to Tadger Stadium and they had meaudition with the camera and we did some

(46:37):
game and it was just me.It was just me and Eric does camera
and Greg who's our boss, GregTaylor, and so they like, okay,
cool, you're good. You knowwe're going to bring you on.
So it was Father's Day weekend andDave had begun that weekend, so I
said, hey, can you coverfor Dave? And I was actually at
Disney World in Orlando. I saidwhat day is that? They said,
you know, the Friday and Saturday. So I'll actually fly in right then.

(46:59):
So I'll do it. I'll doit. So I did one game,
uh, and I remember what happened. It was they don't have any
more but it's called sixty seconds,sixty seconds to win it or something like
that. So in sixty seconds,you had to whatever the subject was.
You had the name as many thingsas you can within the subjects. So
this subject was NH hockey teams andHL teams. Uh. So I had
a guy who looked like just incrediblefunny to know, I have a picture

(47:22):
and everyone goes that just incredible.It is like a dude, like just
incredible. Its like, all right, you got sixty seconds to name,
you know, as many hockey teamsas you can. It's like, all
right, go King's Ducks. Andhe's like, oh fuck. And I
was like in there live you know, it's live, Like oh fuck.
I was like oh so, youknow, afterwards, I'm like gosh shit,

(47:45):
you know, and Greg's like,that's cool. Don't worry about it.
You know it have his live youknow, you don't know, yeah,
say, And then they asked meto come next day, but it
was Father's Day and I was like, I can's Father's day. I got
daughter. Uh and then they neverbrought me back. After that, I
was like, shit, was itbecause that fuck up? The fuck that?
Yeah? Yeah, so they neverbrought me back for whatever reason.
So then, uh, two orthree years ago, I had another buddy

(48:08):
hit me up like, hey,would you be interested roasting the Dodgers?
Yeah? Man, I did thatbefore in twenty fourteen briefly, but they
never brought me back. It's like, well try again. It's like a
right cool, So I emailed,you know. It was jess Jessica Ray
and I was like, hey,you know I was there in twenty fourteen,
but I'd love to do it again. So the thing about the Dodgers,
they actually archived everything, so theywent they actually went back to twenty

(48:29):
fourteen and saw the hosting I did, and they're like, damn, he
did. Fine, why don't webring him back? So they don't know
why they never but they're like,hey, we saw your tape. We
don't know why I didn't bring youback, but you want to come on?
And I was like, yeah,so that's how I can't know.
Okay, funny. Yeah, sowait, so there might be that like
that oh fuck on video, it'scard they've seen the twenty fourteen Yeah,

(48:52):
so if you can go back totwenty fourteen, that's Saturday before Father's Day,
so whatever June fifteenth, fourteenth.Then was all right, you need
to ask them for that. Wait, can we see those guys? I
mean you need that as like anintro for like the upcoming season, you
know what I'm saying, Like,I'm back. No. I think there
was one time where, like whenI was hosting at Dodgers, there was

(49:15):
a couple of incidents I remember myfirst like hosting gig. There was a
guy who would like who was tryingto like get inappropriate on camera with me,
and eventually like our camera guy wasgonna like drop his camera and like
go and help me. And Iwas just like, I remember that instance.
I was like, oh damn.And I remember there was another instance

(49:37):
that didn't happen to me. Ithappened to Jess Rozalez and I was just
waiting for my camera hit and I'mlooking at the screen and she's asking something
and then the guy, the contestant, he just straight up like ditched middle
of the game, like he waslike he said something, and then he
was just like and I think hesaid like if the giants or something on

(49:59):
the actual mike, and then hejust went up the aisle and we were
all like, wait, what justhappened, Like we're so confused right now.
And then everyone was like are youlike what what happened? And then
She's like I don't even know,dude, Like I just he just left.
I was like, wow, that'sinsane. But yeah, there's always

(50:20):
a lot of crazy there is thereis live so you never know what anything
could happen. Yeah, by onetime with being Dave. We we had
these little leaguers. There's a girlsoftball team behind us. Uh so Dave
asked this girl, so, who'syour favorite Dodger? And she's like,
I don't like the Dodgers. I'man Angels fan. And I'm like,
god, don't you all. Aren'tyou guys supposed to like screen like they

(50:43):
do, and sometimes they don't,but like we're just we Sometimes most of
the time they just tell us goto this first. Yeah, this is
a case, like hey, there'sgirls that go there and we have time.
Like okay, You're like, ohhey, yeah, who's your favorite
Dodger? I'm an Angels fan?Like yeah, But it was still funny
because it makes for good you know, TV or whatever. Yeah, it's
just because me and they're like,okay, where do we go from here?
He knows live, Like, allright, let's ask somebody else.

(51:06):
That's so funny. It's so funnyhow people freeze up on camera too.
At Galaxy there was this guy thatwas a game called Higher or Lower and
it was the cards and it justhappened recently at Lakers two to the host
over there, but it was okay, there's a card presented, you have
to guess if the next one's higheror lower. And I remember telling our
contestant. I was like, hey, a king is the highest card,

(51:29):
like I know some people think likean aces, depending whatever. And I
told him the king is the highestcard. He goes okay, and then
it was the first card, aking, and I'm like, all right,
so and so higher lower than aking, and he goes higher and
I went I looked at him like, you're joking right now, right,
and I just I brought the mikeback to me. I was like,
are you sure it's higher than aking? Do you want to change your

(51:52):
answer? He goes, yeah,higher, and I'm like, okay,
he says higher. I try tohelp him. I literally said it on
my I try to help him.I was just like, well, you
didn't get it. So it waslike he was higher, but I'm boom,
it was definitely higher. Yeah.I do got to ask though,
like you know, also having likeyour you know, your gigat Dodgers,
Like, how important is it tojust have multiple jobs like you know,

(52:16):
while being in the entertainment industry.It's it's it's very important. At least
I always tell my students this andyou know, I'm I always say I'm
Jamaican mind because I got many jobs. But since day one when I started
teaching, uh and I always toldmy students, So you just have a
plan A, B, C andZ and especially in this business. You
know me, I recently got laidoff from kJ But it's kind of like

(52:37):
you know, people are you know, okam, Like it's expected. That's
kind of like the things you expect. It's going to happen one day.
That's but for me, I haveother things, so it's not like that
wasn't my only source of income whereI'm like, oh shit, I'm devastated.
What am I going to do?So that's why it's very important that
you have more than one thing goingon. And I think you know we're
talking about you know, things beingeasier now, it can be kind of

(53:00):
easier to do other things because withsocial media, if you wanted to be
like, you don't need to havethe radio to be a personality. I
mean, because you got YouTube,you have podcasts, you could do it
on your own, you know,and then build a following and then someone
will find you. Just like withmusic, you know, all the artists,
this is how you know, anartist doesn't know shit, or it's

(53:20):
old school, like, hey,man, can you get my song on
the radio? Man, I'm tryingto blow up. I'm like, dude,
you don't need radio. This istwenty twenty four. Next you're going
to try to give me your CD. We don't play CDs. You know
you don't need that. Now.The thing is, yeah, put it
on TikTok. But or and againuse TikTok. You have different kind of
ways to get out there, whichcould be a bad thing too, because

(53:42):
it just means more work and youguys don't want to do work. But
yeah, damn millennials, damn jZ. Yeah, nexer is whatever it
is. But yeah, it's it'syou gotta do more than one thing for
sure. Yeah, yeah, Ihear, you know, speaking of just
got like letting go of k likewhat happened over there, it's you know,

(54:05):
with radio, it's just uh,you know, things happened. Radio
is a business, you know.And this is not the first time I've
been late. I've been in radiothirty years. This is the third time
I've got laid off because I've workedat three different stations. Well I guess
four. Technically well, the firststation never really like, hey, we'll
call you when we need you,never call me best. So I guess
I'm still employed a Q one ohfour seven. Uh yeah, call me
if you need me. Uh.But yeah, it's it's something that that

(54:28):
happens, and for variety of reasons. Some number one reason is it is
a business. So if they needto make budget cuts, where does it
make sense to make cuts? Youknow, it's not an easy decision,
but it is a business decision thathappens. Other reasons people you get cut
from radio is they suck, youknow, it is they're not performing.
You know, every job you gotto have, you know, you have
to have, you got to performand perform well. Uh. And with

(54:52):
radio, for us, it's ratings, you know. So if you have
good ratings, you're good. Butsometimes that happens. You can have great
ratings and not be good. Youknow. I had a conversation with a
guy had lunch with yesterday who wasat the time was a program director ran
the station MYFM, and he hadthe best ratings in LA higher than Kiss
in all the top stations, andthey laid him off. So sometimes it

(55:15):
could just be whether it's monetary maybehe rubs you know, someone rubs someone
the long way. They don't likeyou. You're toxic in the workplace.
So there's a variety of reasons,but usually the number one reason is money.
M Yeah, I mean that justbrings up this. I mean it's
not even an idea, right,but like you as like an entertainer,
like radio essentially is just like oneaspect of like PJ. Buda as the

(55:38):
entertainer. Then you go into Dodgersand all the other things. I think,
you know, going way far backabout like Jackie's question about like having
a misconception about like just being anentertainer in general, It's like at some
point you need to realize like youare the business, Like you are the
one who is supposed to grab moreaudience. Like radio was just like one

(56:00):
aspect of it. Podcast is justone aspect of it. Being an entertainment
house for like Dodgers and like everythingelse is just one aspect of it.
And I don't think people necessarily likeunderstand that, because I'm sure you have
students who are just like, yeah, I'm gonna just do this and like
that's it. That's the end,all say all, But entertainment is just
so massive and again to what youwere saying, is so accessible now that

(56:22):
like you kind of have to doa little bit of everything. Yeah,
you do. You are a brand. You're definitely your own business. You
know. It's not like, hey, I just work one job and that's
it. But yeah, you area brand. Whether you're an artist,
you're an entertainer, you have toyou know, put up content, be
in people's faces, you know,get followers, have fans, and you
know that leads. Sometimes it's allsynergetic. So it all if you're on

(56:45):
the radio, you're doing a podcast, you're you're a DJ, you know,
you're a record producer in the musicindustry, maybe you're even an artist.
That all comes together, and Ithink I think that's kind of like
how it's developed over the years,Like you can't just be one thing.
You have to be a lot ofthings, but also be good at those
things too. Yeah, I hearthat a lot, a lot of a

(57:07):
lot of nerdy radio talks, andI actually love it. I don't get
to talk about this ship because alsotoo, there's not too many Filipinos in
radio, so it's like it's goodto just get that perspective from like you
know what I mean, and Ifeel like you've just had the like you've
just had the radio experience, notnecessarily like the Filipino radio experience. I
guess if that makes sense. Yeah, no, I mean, And someone

(57:29):
pointed it out and I kind offact checked it that I was the first
Filipino on air in LA. Hell, it might have been another one,
but he was Hawaiian Billy Blanks.He worked at KISS because there are history,
there's a there used to be awebsite and might be still around LA
Radio. And this guy was aradio historian. So I hit him up,
said, Yo, were there anyother Filipinos that were on the radio,
you know before me? And hesaid, well, Billy Blanks,

(57:50):
but I think he was Hawaiian withFilipino descent. So if I'm not the
first, one of the very fewwho were on at LA at the time,
Well, we had a lot ofDJs though, like turntables definitely not
on the mic. Yeah, butyou were rocking with like Icy Ice and
all them like yeah back yeah.So when I started, that's when we
really had like the beat junkies.So we had Icy Ice fed Melody,

(58:15):
who was so fucking dope. Yeah, you know, just seeing Melody live
in the studio. Uh, youknow, and all those I don't know
what's in the water in Cerritos,but all the fucking TJ's and Cerritos got
some super powers, you know.So it was amazing at that time to
see, you know, the beatjunkies and witnessed them, and Curse was
on at the beach, Icy IceSister Symphony was up there, so and

(58:39):
I mean Ice used to do ashow too to get jams and uh you
know, and shout out to IceIce because me not being from Mela,
he kind of you know, introducedme to the Filipino community in Los Angeles
and we do events and stuff likethat. And yeah, I mean that's
there. There wasn't too many therewere There were no Filipinos on the radio,
but working in radio for sure andin the music industry. You know,

(59:00):
Brian Sampson shout to him, Philip, why are you laughing? What
is there some joke here? BecauseI just so you've known Brian Samser for
years. Yes, I've known Brian'sanswer since like twenty sixteen or seventeen,
and I just I know him inkind of the same light but also completely

(59:21):
different lights. So like I takehim seriously, but at the same time,
I don't as much as I don'tas much as I should because he's
your elder. You gotta bless him. Yeah, yeah, because like Brian
Sampson and Kevi and Nico together,it's just to make such a like chaos.
It's a who bunch of fucker.I mean, keV will say Brian

(59:42):
Sampson's my fucking dad, and I'mlike, all right, bro, relaxed
real, Actually, well your head'snot that square like that Easter Island.
Oh my god. Well, youknow, it's funny that you mentioned like
Melody, Icy Ice and all them, because like when I joined in on
twitch right, like, it wasweird because I felt like I didn't really
know anybody like that at the time. But then I noticed like all these

(01:00:06):
like inner circles between like you,I smelled everybody, like y'all were already
like super fucking tight, and Ikind of felt like, damn, am
I joining this party later? Whatthe fuck? But I say all that
to say, like, seeing ashow you guys had like your roots from
like you know, way back inthe day, it's cool to see like
everything continually come like full circle.Like what is that like twenty years later

(01:00:30):
or something like that. I mean, I'm sure you guys have up kept
your relationship over those years. Butfor me, as like a viewer,
like seeing everything I guess just kindof transpire and just see the pockets of
like decades of your guys' relationships justlike continue to form. It's a really
cool thing. It's good to seethere's no beef. It's good to see

(01:00:50):
that everything is just like kosher.And also coming from like a Filipino perspective,
it's cool to see like every Filipinojust working with each other. Basically.
Yeah, I think at the timeit's I mean with anything, whenever
you share an experience with someone,you kind of have that experience that's lifelong,
you know. For me and Iceand Mellow and Curse one coming up

(01:01:12):
at a radio station, which wasa great time to being raided on the
nineties because that's when like West Coasthip hop was happening. You know,
it was at a time hip hopwas just being played. It wasn't just
like oh, we're gonna play hiphop Friday nights at midnight till two o'clock.
You know now they're slowly introducing hiphop and which meant now now mixers
are coming in. So it waskind of like a new thing and we're
all like sharing this and it wasdope to say we're a part of this.

(01:01:34):
You know. There's a museum inLa called hip Hop Tail Infinity that
kind of kind of showcases the lastfifty years of hip hop. But the
cool thing is they have like littleWest like a lot of West Coast artifacts
there. So they had a mediakind of day there and I was there
and Curse was there and we're justlooking at all the stuff and he was
like, you know, between meand you, we could probably do our
own museum of all the stuff thatwe've seen or have. And it's true.

(01:01:58):
And I think it's because we havethat, we've experience that, we
lived that, and we're still kindof we're in it, you know,
and to see each other it's like, Okay, it's like, you know,
we're kind of part of history.Yeah, and so we have that
in common. You guys are alsostaying in the test of time with it
too. Yeah. Yeah, Imean they're they're still djinge, you know,
I'm still doing my thing. Soit's nice to see people still in

(01:02:19):
it, you know, not givingit up, and that just shows you
the love, the love for themusic, the culture. Yeah, yeah,
I hear you. I'm looking backat everything and this might just be
our last question, but like,is there anything that you would have changed,
like within your journey of just beingin the entertainment entertainment industry for the
past actually thirty years. Yeah,anything I would have changed, I don't

(01:02:42):
know. You know. The onethe one thing that I don't regret but
I always look back, is like, how would my career be if I
went to Kmeal, you know Iwas thinking that, Yeah, because I
know I would have killed it becauseat the time, I mean, it's
still kind of like the same.It's the audiences are different, Like l
A is l A and I loveLA, but the Bay is just a

(01:03:05):
whole different vibe. I think itwas more unified in the Bay, like
you have everyone hanging out, blacks, whites, Latinos, Samoans, Filipinos
and even I came out the timewhen you listened to it, I mean,
you had Alex Mahia there, hisnext kid. Yeah, you know,
you'd have uh, you'd have RickyLee, you know. Yeah,
DJing, so you'd have different youknow, diversity, and it was just

(01:03:25):
such a big station. Yeah,mine motion, you know, Chewy there,
And so I was like, man, if I was there part of
that crew, that legendary crew,I think it would have been really dope.
I would have I always look back, like, dang, how would
that turned out? You know,how dope would that be? Yeah,
when when you brought up the likepotentially going to k and me, I
was like, damn, yeah,how it would have changed, if anything?

(01:03:50):
You know, Yeah, I wonder, But then again, I would
have missed it on the stuff inLa you know in the nineties, the
great stuff that happened, you know, the you know, I was on
the radio when Tupac passed away andI had to announce sit on the radio
because I was filling in for THEOat the time. Oh wow, I
you know I would experience that becausethat happened in ninety six. But just
to have those moments like that,or when Biggie passed away, I was

(01:04:10):
literally the station at the time wasa block away from the Automotive Museum where
he got shot at and I remembergetting a call like yo, we got
you know, this is social mediawasn't around, so we couldn't read that
did you get a phone call?Hey? Her big guest shot, But
don't say it because we got toconfirm it. And you know, this
was like two in the morning,because I was doing a ten p to
two way shift. It's like,well, I'm not going to announce it
because nobody knows. So to bein LA with moments like that when shit

(01:04:33):
happened, and to kind of bea part of it, you know,
maybe those are things that I'd beif I came out, Like damn,
if I stayed at the Beat,I probably would have been here. That's
probably roles reversed. I'd be sayingthe same thing, but opposite. Yeah,
because at that point you never reallyknow, like you know, because
I remember when like Nipsey Hustle passedaway, right I was in the car
and I remember hearing bouleg keV likeannouncing it on air, and I was

(01:04:55):
like, what the fuck, andlike that's just something that I'll remember,
So like I can't imagine, likehow many people remember you saying that on
air when it came to like Tupacor Biggie and it just having like that
much more of an impact because you'rein l A. Yeah, because at
that time radio was social media.That was where you got your news,
right, breaking news on the radio. You know, it's always scary when

(01:05:18):
you hear like more than three songsin a row from a artist. Did
they die? Playing three DJ Quicksongs in the round? But I'm gonna
quick. Well, I mean youhear Drake all day. You know what
I'm saying. Yeah, I guesshe has a dick pic. But that's
about it. PJ butter Man,where can everybody find you? You can

(01:05:38):
find me OnlyFans. No, speakingof dick pics. Yeah, not yet.
It's maybe on I g I PJbut At PJ w t t A.
Also on Twitch, same name PJButta where I do a slow jam
show just whenever I feel like it. I don't do it. I'm busy
now. You know Pandemic he wason every night. But now world opened

(01:06:00):
up. I was like, Igot ship to do, and you know,
people get man. I'm like,I gotta live. I got meet
here man, stuff to do.I hear you so on Twitch. You
know I'm on there when you cancatch me. Uh and uh yeah at
the Dodgers when we go to theWorld Series. Oh yeah, shout out
to the half Latino, half Asianteam. Now, my name is Nico
Blitz and I'm PJ Butter and weare out. Everybody, peace,