September 13, 2025 • 16 mins
Gary welcomes KTLA’s Andy Riesmeyer for a conversation about life in TV and radio, the winding path that led him from music to media, and what it’s really like behind the scenes at a legacy LA station.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, welcome to the Gas Weekend Fixed. This is the
podcast that we throw out on the weekends because we're
too busy during the week doing other things.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
It's been quite a week.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It's nice that they give you so much time to
just talk here. I don't know if four hours a day,
five days a week is enough, they said, they said,
but we need to do a weekend podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Shannon and I have both said that our spouses are
very lucky that we that we do this for work
so that by the time we get home we're not
just blabbing away incessantly.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
It makes sense. That can be a lot. That can
be a lot. It's free therapy.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Re Smeyer has joined us from KTLA among other things,
of course, but he was on the show with us
just yesterday, just on Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That's right. It went so well.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It was an awesome She's got a lot of calls,
a lot of calls, a lot of feedback and some
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You know, I was at my best.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I will say, yeah, like you're doing in a postgame
with towel around your neck, and it's.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
All about those those those overcoming those what they always say,
everybody's overcoming in inabilities, insecurities, obstacles. There's a word that
they use every postgame interview. I can't remember because I'm
so well.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Remember, it's not about the name on the back of
the jersey, it's the name on the front.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
That's right, that's who you're playing for. AFNERGAT.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
How did you get into how'd you get into TV?
Why did you get into TV?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You know? It was weird.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I came to LA to be in a band to
make music that obviously didn't work out, and my fallback
was maybe I can get a job at a TV station.
My aunt used to work in radio way back in
the day at WMAQ in Chicago, and I always liked it.
And I had a radio show in college or in
high school rather, and I did some college journalism at
Santa Monica College. And there was this pepper spraying thing
(01:49):
that you may remember. This is twenty eleven, I think
maybe twelve, and I thought, okay, I have video of
this thing because I was there and I witnessed it,
and I thought, let me hall a television station. I
know they need content, and I will broker a deal.
I'll give them this video of all these kids getting
pepper sprayed, myself included, and I'll get an internship and
(02:12):
that's how I'll get in. And so I looked up
television stations in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
You didn't know them already. I didn't know them.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Already that were near, that were on movie sets. Because
I was like, I don't want to work at some
dumb right, I want to I want to go to
the valley. And so I saw that Katla was in Hollywood,
and I was like, well, that's that works. So I
called them. They sent David Begno out and I said, hey,
(02:41):
i'll give you this for free, but I would love
an internship, and so he said okay, And then like
a couple weeks later, I interned, kind of the start
of it for me to get in the door. I
left then and worked at a bunch of places. I
worked with Larry King, I worked at the Hot Wheels
YouTube channel. So I did I did like all these
little miniatures with Hot Wheels setups, did a bunch of
viral videos, did online digital media, and then went back
(03:03):
to KTL I probably eight years ago to do their
their digital show five live. And then eventually, if you
stick around at a place long enough enough, people will
retire or get fired and you'll.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Be able to do You'll be the next You'll be
the next one up that happens. What do you love
about Well, let's go back. Are you a vocalist? You
could play, play an instrument?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah? I played.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I was the lead singer and I played piano, so
you know, we were.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
A locked bands with the piano one.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You know, especially real cool going to dive bars where
like real rock bands are played, and you show up
with your cassio. You know, you're like walking through and
the sound guy looks at you like, look, oh my god,
this a hole. Yeah, this guy.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And I'm like, oh, do you have stereo input that
I could put I have. I have a left and
a right channel, but I really would like you to
use both both inputs.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The guy, just because if you don't, you're going to
ruin the sound. Yeah, exactly, because they need.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
To see they need to hear the full spectrum of
all a eight keys left in right.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
So I did that night. I loved I love doing that.
But you know, being a musician.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Is hard, and I just wasn't cut out to live
that kind of life, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I was like, I don't need it to be I don't.
I just can't. I can't be sleeping in the van.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
That we just all ate Taco bell in I I
learned a very important lesson from the great poet to
bring a carpenter.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yes, you know she stays up late because she's she's
a singer.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, so I yeah, I can understand that would be
a trying schedule.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, and you know, not even staying working right, because
you know, it's a hard it's a hard life. Uh
And and I think that that now I look back
on that, and I realized that all of this, especially
like I am this, I'm a heartbeat away from Ryan Seacrest, now,
you know what I mean. You know what I'm saying,
a handful of heartbeats. I'm there, buddy, And so I'm like,
(04:50):
this is actually what it was all about. This has
been a slow rolling con sure, a fifteen year con.
I'm in the belly of the beast now, Matt, I'm
an employee of Heart Radio. So my music career is
really just about to take off.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
What was the movie.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Was it the movie The Magic Movie? Was it now
you see Me? Was that the one where the magic
trick was planned decades before and they finally pay it
off at the thing.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
That's what you're Jesse Eisenberg. Yeah, it's my spirit animal,
as it were.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I always I'm fascinated by people who get into this business,
whether it's radio or TV. I mean, I know there's
separate entities for good reason, but but this idea of listen,
we all come from a broken place. Oh yeah, we
wanted the attention, whether we deserved it or not, we
were going to get the attention somehow or another, and.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
We're all starved for it for whatever reason. Yeah, there's
a whole, there's a god sized hole. Certainly.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Maybe I think that for me it was less even
ego and more about laziness because I looked at the
people who were doing news and I thought, Oh, they
only worked for two hour or is a day.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
How great is that without probably not even wearing pasts.
They don't have to.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
They just go roll in and read a teleprompter. And
and actually I found that after doing it, it's like, oh,
it is a lot of fun and the art of
it and the idea of yes, and and creating things
with people and building chemistry and all that kind of stuff,
which is like not fun to talk about it, but
I think it is really fun to do. And I
did a lot of improv comedy, and I did a
lot of sort of that UCB thing where you take
(06:26):
an idea and somebody says something and another person says, yes,
that's a cool thing. Here's another thing that that reminds
me of, right, And I think that that's actually a
really good life lesson too, because nobody wants to hang
out with somebody, even if you're not doing a radio
show or on TV or in an improv class. Nobody
wants to chill with somebody who's just a contrarian all
(06:47):
the time.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
You want to be able to say, oh, that's a
cool idea. Yeah, friends, let's go with that. And I
think that that's like a really I don't know, it's
a way to make you get out of your own
way or.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Or something that was waiting for it.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, who's the biggest asshole over at KTLA?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Oh that's a great question, you know, how could I choose?
Where do I be giving? Give me top five?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Oh? Okay, from descending order from least least to most. Now,
I think that I will the reason I asked that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I mean, it's obviously a joke. I wouldn't hold you
to it, but if you want to just write it down,
I won't read it out loud. There's an assumption, especially
in a place like La uh huh, that if you
are working at a certain level, and KTLA is a
pre eminent station in this city, that you're going to
deal with a bunch of egos and a holes.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
The old news director was the biggest. Yeah, and he's
gone now so and I think that that's why he
didn't die. He didn't No, no, no, that's why he didn't.
It didn't work for him because he like didn't get it.
And that's really just like KTL is is one. I mean,
it's a legendary place, it's a legacy brand. It's a
thing that, in spite of all of the changes in
(07:59):
digital media, still means something as a traditional media outlet.
So even in spite of all that, if you're a jerk,
you don't stick around because that's just not tolerated there.
And I think that it's like it is a sense
of there's a camaraderie, there's a sense of family. Everyone
(08:19):
has treated me so well, even when they didn't have to,
even when I was just this like intern idiot. And
I've worked there on and off for like fifteen years,
and I think that it's just I know, when people
get in there and they have a sense of selfishness
or big headedness, it doesn't work because you're never gonna
be bigger than the call sign. You're never gonna be
bigger than the number, unless you're Hal Fisherman and then
(08:40):
you you had he was bigger than right, he was
the guy instance.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I don't know who how Fishman is. I mean, they're
not do you know who? The name? There was?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
No?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
And that's that's an evolutionary thing for sure, right.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
But I think that that place just supports this notion
of it is a team sport. And if you're gonna
be on your own and you're gonna make it about yourself,
if you just want to be on TV like you're gonna,
you won't last. And that happens. People move up, they
go elsewhere. You know, they fail up essentially, is what happens.
Because if they're if they're the squeaky wheel, they get
(09:11):
the grease and then and then they go to network.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Is the stereotype correct that people in LA on TV
all want to be actors?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, some of them are, Yeah, I mean Rick Chambers
is like, get that man an acting school because he's
the voice of Marongo obviously, but also is you know
in every show, every Michael Connolly show, that's the guy,
He's the he's the dude. And I think that there's
a sense of cartoonish vapidity, oh rapidity right down in
(09:51):
the clip. Use it in the promo.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
For the episode.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Maybe not a word who cares, but but it's it's
a it's a stereotype that I think if you look
back at the early days of the KTL Morning News,
you go back to Barbara and Sam, especially Sam Rubin,
they played into it. They played it up because it
was like, oh, here's the thing that like is a
thread that of something real that we can play off
of and pull on. And no, I mean, I I
love those people so much. I'm so lucky that I
(10:18):
get to work with them every day, and I wouldn't
say that. I think if I I didn't feel that way,
I just wouldn't say anything about it.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Is there a rivalry between between stations. They might think.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So, you know, they might think, do you KTLA the
New York Yankees? Yeah, I mean what do you do?
The city is in the call letters.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
That's a good point. You're like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I'm sorry, right, but you've got k NBC and k
A b C. I mean, you've k CBS, You've got
the actual.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
The morning network. The morning show has just been so
was it just been dominated for I mean dominating for
so long that I don't think that there is a
sense And Begno told me this. Who is the guy
who really got me into the business originally? He's at CBS.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know, once you reach market too, there isn't the
same kind of pettiness and anger and backstabbery that you
get in like Boise or Indianapolis, even because it's just
like we're here, we made it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, And those smaller markets, you're gonna have people with
footprints on their shoulders because a lot of people are
climbing over them to get up to the top. Here
in LA, everybody's feet are the ones. They'd have the
shoulder prints on them because they've climbed over of other people.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know, those stereotypes.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
We're we're the we're the monsters, I think is what
you're trying to say, again, the most egotistical self center.
I think it's really funny, Like, yeah, absolutely, but I
think that's funny, Like that's a lot of comedy there
because there is the sense the self seriousness of broadcast
TV that like, that's why people love bloopers so much,
(11:54):
is because there's these people who go on and affect
this personality or this this persona that's the same thing,
and they they mess up and then it's hilarious because
they're a real person.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I think the greatest example of that legendary of course
is Bill O'Reilly. Yeah, he was doing a current affair
to the effic we'll do it Live. I mean, that
was one of those things because he was so calm
and measured during the show, and he was a host
and he was keeping everything cool and calm and he's
trying to nail this thing down and they're doing it
live and someone screwing it.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Up and fucking all right it, we'll do it live right.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, you can say that on the show, Say what
vapid vapidity do you believe?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
For the F word on the podcast say this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, well now that I know this, well, that's why
we do it this way instead of, you know, we
do it in a dark room.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We don't tell anybody we're in here. It out before
you have to go on TV or on the radio.
H No. I think that that's totally true. And we
started our five live.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Show came back in the spring on the KTLA plus
app and we now call that show do It Live,
and we use the intro. We have Glenn Walker redo
the intro. But what is so wonderful? I think if
you think about it like a TV show, all these
people are characters and they're in some way they're themselves,
but they're playing up what they are sometimes on TV,
and so they're great characters to like a Ted Baxter
(13:11):
type person. He's hilarious. You don't want to be around that.
You don't want to be married to that person, but like,
and you don't really want to be that person's underling,
but you'd watch, but it's hilarious to see. And I
think that that's kind of where that's out for.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
From that vein.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
There was an old radio show that I used to
listen to The Don and Mike Show out of Washington,
d C. And it was syndicated around the country, and
they just would they goof around. They were on a
sports station, so they were kind of that attitude. Yeah,
you know, sometimes they would talk about sports. But they
used to do this thing where from their studio they
could see there was a line of production studios and
(13:46):
windows between each one of them, and they could see
in that third room over there their commercial guy was
recording a commercial and they would configure their board so
they could hear what he was doing that And it's
the funniest thing because you know, we do commercials. If
we're doing an endorsement commercial, it's just our voice. We're
not trying to do an affect of any kind. But
(14:06):
these guys would be the big voice guys. Oh yeah,
and he's doing the warm up and he's doing five
fourth reach one, and then you go John's glass, shot
John's glass, shot John's glass. And that behind the scenes
of that guy not knowing that we were listening to
what he was doing to see the sausage being made
or hear the sausage being made, I guess was one
(14:28):
of the funniest, totally funniest bits.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Well, and I think that that's one of the benefits
of the Internet. One of the good effects that it's
had on traditional media is that it takes down the edifice.
You can no longer be this fake version of yourself.
You think people want authenticity, but they don't want fake authenticity.
And I think so when you can hear somebody and
they actually are that way and you were listening to them,
(14:52):
be that and you can you can tell you know
someone's soul based on you know, your BS meter.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Is really good.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I think the general you not yours. Gary, No, it's awful, man,
falls for everything. I haven't pushed back on anything you've
said yet. No, No, just made a string of I
don't even work vomit.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I don't even work at Kate deler Well.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
All right, so Andy Reestmeyer, of course the newest I
guess you could say host for KFI. Your show is
on Sundays, Yes, two to four, two to four. It's
correct and there will be some football issues, but this
weekend you're going to hear this on Saturday morning when
it pops up, so tomorrow people can check out to
check out this.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I am so appreciative of that plug and also just
being here. I'm so thankful that I got to come
and do the show with you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That's bullshit. No for real, Okay, let me tell you.
I thought it was working.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
It wasn't. No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
KFI is the thing that I listened to when I
first moved here and I knew nobody, and I was
like totally lonely, and I was looking for like some
kind of thing to connect within this boring, sometimes sad
city when you don't know a person. Sure, and I
heard Conway and I was like, oh, this is like
I get it.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Like we've been friends longer than I realized. Yeah, I've
listened to you and I'm listening. I was listening back.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I think I told you when Bill Carroll will still
hear it. I was listening when you were just a
little news guy.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Oh that's so sweet. And now look at you. Well,
thanks for coming in, Mick. You appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
This has been the gast weekend fix. Always check out
the podcast. Wherever you find your podcast. I mean, we
prefer the iHeart app, but that's up to you. Just
type in Gary and Shannon. You can subscribe to the podcast.
You can follow the podcast. You can comment on the podcast,
and most importantly, share the podcast, and we'll see on
Monday you've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show.
(16:36):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, welcome to the Gas Weekend Fixed. This is the
podcast that we throw out on the weekends because we're
too busy during the week doing other things.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
It's been quite a week.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It's nice that they give you so much time to
just talk here. I don't know if four hours a day,
five days a week is enough, they said, they said,
but we need to do a weekend podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Shannon and I have both said that our spouses are
very lucky that we that we do this for work
so that by the time we get home we're not
just blabbing away incessantly.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
It makes sense. That can be a lot. That can
be a lot. It's free therapy.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Re Smeyer has joined us from KTLA among other things,
of course, but he was on the show with us
just yesterday, just on Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That's right. It went so well.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It was an awesome She's got a lot of calls,
a lot of calls, a lot of feedback and some
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You know, I was at my best.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I will say, yeah, like you're doing in a postgame
with towel around your neck, and it's.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
All about those those those overcoming those what they always say,
everybody's overcoming in inabilities, insecurities, obstacles. There's a word that
they use every postgame interview. I can't remember because I'm
so well.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Remember, it's not about the name on the back of
the jersey, it's the name on the front.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
That's right, that's who you're playing for. AFNERGAT.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
How did you get into how'd you get into TV?
Why did you get into TV?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You know? It was weird.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I came to LA to be in a band to
make music that obviously didn't work out, and my fallback
was maybe I can get a job at a TV station.
My aunt used to work in radio way back in
the day at WMAQ in Chicago, and I always liked it.
And I had a radio show in college or in
high school rather, and I did some college journalism at
Santa Monica College. And there was this pepper spraying thing
(01:49):
that you may remember. This is twenty eleven, I think
maybe twelve, and I thought, okay, I have video of
this thing because I was there and I witnessed it,
and I thought, let me hall a television station. I
know they need content, and I will broker a deal.
I'll give them this video of all these kids getting
pepper sprayed, myself included, and I'll get an internship and
(02:12):
that's how I'll get in. And so I looked up
television stations in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
You didn't know them already. I didn't know them.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Already that were near, that were on movie sets. Because
I was like, I don't want to work at some
dumb right, I want to I want to go to
the valley. And so I saw that Katla was in Hollywood,
and I was like, well, that's that works. So I
called them. They sent David Begno out and I said, hey,
(02:41):
i'll give you this for free, but I would love
an internship, and so he said okay, And then like
a couple weeks later, I interned, kind of the start
of it for me to get in the door. I
left then and worked at a bunch of places. I
worked with Larry King, I worked at the Hot Wheels
YouTube channel. So I did I did like all these
little miniatures with Hot Wheels setups, did a bunch of
viral videos, did online digital media, and then went back
(03:03):
to KTL I probably eight years ago to do their
their digital show five live. And then eventually, if you
stick around at a place long enough enough, people will
retire or get fired and you'll.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Be able to do You'll be the next You'll be
the next one up that happens. What do you love
about Well, let's go back. Are you a vocalist? You
could play, play an instrument?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah? I played.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I was the lead singer and I played piano, so
you know, we were.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
A locked bands with the piano one.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You know, especially real cool going to dive bars where
like real rock bands are played, and you show up
with your cassio. You know, you're like walking through and
the sound guy looks at you like, look, oh my god,
this a hole. Yeah, this guy.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And I'm like, oh, do you have stereo input that
I could put I have. I have a left and
a right channel, but I really would like you to
use both both inputs.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The guy, just because if you don't, you're going to
ruin the sound. Yeah, exactly, because they need.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
To see they need to hear the full spectrum of
all a eight keys left in right.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
So I did that night. I loved I love doing that.
But you know, being a musician.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Is hard, and I just wasn't cut out to live
that kind of life, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I was like, I don't need it to be I don't.
I just can't. I can't be sleeping in the van.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
That we just all ate Taco bell in I I
learned a very important lesson from the great poet to
bring a carpenter.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yes, you know she stays up late because she's she's
a singer.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, so I yeah, I can understand that would be
a trying schedule.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, and you know, not even staying working right, because
you know, it's a hard it's a hard life. Uh
And and I think that that now I look back
on that, and I realized that all of this, especially
like I am this, I'm a heartbeat away from Ryan Seacrest, now,
you know what I mean. You know what I'm saying,
a handful of heartbeats. I'm there, buddy, And so I'm like,
(04:50):
this is actually what it was all about. This has
been a slow rolling con sure, a fifteen year con.
I'm in the belly of the beast now, Matt, I'm
an employee of Heart Radio. So my music career is
really just about to take off.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
What was the movie.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Was it the movie The Magic Movie? Was it now
you see Me? Was that the one where the magic
trick was planned decades before and they finally pay it
off at the thing.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
That's what you're Jesse Eisenberg. Yeah, it's my spirit animal,
as it were.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I always I'm fascinated by people who get into this business,
whether it's radio or TV. I mean, I know there's
separate entities for good reason, but but this idea of listen,
we all come from a broken place. Oh yeah, we
wanted the attention, whether we deserved it or not, we
were going to get the attention somehow or another, and.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
We're all starved for it for whatever reason. Yeah, there's
a whole, there's a god sized hole. Certainly.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Maybe I think that for me it was less even
ego and more about laziness because I looked at the
people who were doing news and I thought, Oh, they
only worked for two hour or is a day.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
How great is that without probably not even wearing pasts.
They don't have to.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
They just go roll in and read a teleprompter. And
and actually I found that after doing it, it's like, oh,
it is a lot of fun and the art of
it and the idea of yes, and and creating things
with people and building chemistry and all that kind of stuff,
which is like not fun to talk about it, but
I think it is really fun to do. And I
did a lot of improv comedy, and I did a
lot of sort of that UCB thing where you take
(06:26):
an idea and somebody says something and another person says, yes,
that's a cool thing. Here's another thing that that reminds
me of, right, And I think that that's actually a
really good life lesson too, because nobody wants to hang
out with somebody, even if you're not doing a radio
show or on TV or in an improv class. Nobody
wants to chill with somebody who's just a contrarian all
(06:47):
the time.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
You want to be able to say, oh, that's a
cool idea. Yeah, friends, let's go with that. And I
think that that's like a really I don't know, it's
a way to make you get out of your own
way or.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Or something that was waiting for it.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, who's the biggest asshole over at KTLA?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Oh that's a great question, you know, how could I choose?
Where do I be giving? Give me top five?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Oh? Okay, from descending order from least least to most. Now,
I think that I will the reason I asked that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I mean, it's obviously a joke. I wouldn't hold you
to it, but if you want to just write it down,
I won't read it out loud. There's an assumption, especially
in a place like La uh huh, that if you
are working at a certain level, and KTLA is a
pre eminent station in this city, that you're going to
deal with a bunch of egos and a holes.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
The old news director was the biggest. Yeah, and he's
gone now so and I think that that's why he
didn't die. He didn't No, no, no, that's why he didn't.
It didn't work for him because he like didn't get it.
And that's really just like KTL is is one. I mean,
it's a legendary place, it's a legacy brand. It's a
thing that, in spite of all of the changes in
(07:59):
digital media, still means something as a traditional media outlet.
So even in spite of all that, if you're a jerk,
you don't stick around because that's just not tolerated there.
And I think that it's like it is a sense
of there's a camaraderie, there's a sense of family. Everyone
(08:19):
has treated me so well, even when they didn't have to,
even when I was just this like intern idiot. And
I've worked there on and off for like fifteen years,
and I think that it's just I know, when people
get in there and they have a sense of selfishness
or big headedness, it doesn't work because you're never gonna
be bigger than the call sign. You're never gonna be
bigger than the number, unless you're Hal Fisherman and then
(08:40):
you you had he was bigger than right, he was
the guy instance.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I don't know who how Fishman is. I mean, they're
not do you know who? The name? There was?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
No?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
And that's that's an evolutionary thing for sure, right.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
But I think that that place just supports this notion
of it is a team sport. And if you're gonna
be on your own and you're gonna make it about yourself,
if you just want to be on TV like you're gonna,
you won't last. And that happens. People move up, they
go elsewhere. You know, they fail up essentially, is what happens.
Because if they're if they're the squeaky wheel, they get
(09:11):
the grease and then and then they go to network.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Is the stereotype correct that people in LA on TV
all want to be actors?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, some of them are, Yeah, I mean Rick Chambers
is like, get that man an acting school because he's
the voice of Marongo obviously, but also is you know
in every show, every Michael Connolly show, that's the guy,
He's the he's the dude. And I think that there's
a sense of cartoonish vapidity, oh rapidity right down in
(09:51):
the clip. Use it in the promo.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
For the episode.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Maybe not a word who cares, but but it's it's
a it's a stereotype that I think if you look
back at the early days of the KTL Morning News,
you go back to Barbara and Sam, especially Sam Rubin,
they played into it. They played it up because it
was like, oh, here's the thing that like is a
thread that of something real that we can play off
of and pull on. And no, I mean, I I
love those people so much. I'm so lucky that I
(10:18):
get to work with them every day, and I wouldn't
say that. I think if I I didn't feel that way,
I just wouldn't say anything about it.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Is there a rivalry between between stations. They might think.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So, you know, they might think, do you KTLA the
New York Yankees? Yeah, I mean what do you do?
The city is in the call letters.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
That's a good point. You're like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I'm sorry, right, but you've got k NBC and k
A b C. I mean, you've k CBS, You've got
the actual.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
The morning network. The morning show has just been so
was it just been dominated for I mean dominating for
so long that I don't think that there is a
sense And Begno told me this. Who is the guy
who really got me into the business originally? He's at CBS.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know, once you reach market too, there isn't the
same kind of pettiness and anger and backstabbery that you
get in like Boise or Indianapolis, even because it's just
like we're here, we made it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, And those smaller markets, you're gonna have people with
footprints on their shoulders because a lot of people are
climbing over them to get up to the top. Here
in LA, everybody's feet are the ones. They'd have the
shoulder prints on them because they've climbed over of other people.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know, those stereotypes.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
We're we're the we're the monsters, I think is what
you're trying to say, again, the most egotistical self center.
I think it's really funny, Like, yeah, absolutely, but I
think that's funny, Like that's a lot of comedy there
because there is the sense the self seriousness of broadcast
TV that like, that's why people love bloopers so much,
(11:54):
is because there's these people who go on and affect
this personality or this this persona that's the same thing,
and they they mess up and then it's hilarious because
they're a real person.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I think the greatest example of that legendary of course
is Bill O'Reilly. Yeah, he was doing a current affair
to the effic we'll do it Live. I mean, that
was one of those things because he was so calm
and measured during the show, and he was a host
and he was keeping everything cool and calm and he's
trying to nail this thing down and they're doing it
live and someone screwing it.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Up and fucking all right it, we'll do it live right.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, you can say that on the show, Say what
vapid vapidity do you believe?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
For the F word on the podcast say this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, well now that I know this, well, that's why
we do it this way instead of, you know, we
do it in a dark room.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We don't tell anybody we're in here. It out before
you have to go on TV or on the radio.
H No. I think that that's totally true. And we
started our five live.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Show came back in the spring on the KTLA plus
app and we now call that show do It Live,
and we use the intro. We have Glenn Walker redo
the intro. But what is so wonderful? I think if
you think about it like a TV show, all these
people are characters and they're in some way they're themselves,
but they're playing up what they are sometimes on TV,
and so they're great characters to like a Ted Baxter
(13:11):
type person. He's hilarious. You don't want to be around that.
You don't want to be married to that person, but like,
and you don't really want to be that person's underling,
but you'd watch, but it's hilarious to see. And I
think that that's kind of where that's out for.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
From that vein.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
There was an old radio show that I used to
listen to The Don and Mike Show out of Washington,
d C. And it was syndicated around the country, and
they just would they goof around. They were on a
sports station, so they were kind of that attitude. Yeah,
you know, sometimes they would talk about sports. But they
used to do this thing where from their studio they
could see there was a line of production studios and
(13:46):
windows between each one of them, and they could see
in that third room over there their commercial guy was
recording a commercial and they would configure their board so
they could hear what he was doing that And it's
the funniest thing because you know, we do commercials. If
we're doing an endorsement commercial, it's just our voice. We're
not trying to do an affect of any kind. But
(14:06):
these guys would be the big voice guys. Oh yeah,
and he's doing the warm up and he's doing five
fourth reach one, and then you go John's glass, shot
John's glass, shot John's glass. And that behind the scenes
of that guy not knowing that we were listening to
what he was doing to see the sausage being made
or hear the sausage being made, I guess was one
(14:28):
of the funniest, totally funniest bits.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Well, and I think that that's one of the benefits
of the Internet. One of the good effects that it's
had on traditional media is that it takes down the edifice.
You can no longer be this fake version of yourself.
You think people want authenticity, but they don't want fake authenticity.
And I think so when you can hear somebody and
they actually are that way and you were listening to them,
(14:52):
be that and you can you can tell you know
someone's soul based on you know, your BS meter.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Is really good.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I think the general you not yours. Gary, No, it's awful, man,
falls for everything. I haven't pushed back on anything you've
said yet. No, No, just made a string of I
don't even work vomit.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I don't even work at Kate deler Well.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
All right, so Andy Reestmeyer, of course the newest I
guess you could say host for KFI. Your show is
on Sundays, Yes, two to four, two to four. It's
correct and there will be some football issues, but this
weekend you're going to hear this on Saturday morning when
it pops up, so tomorrow people can check out to
check out this.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I am so appreciative of that plug and also just
being here. I'm so thankful that I got to come
and do the show with you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That's bullshit. No for real, Okay, let me tell you.
I thought it was working.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
It wasn't. No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
KFI is the thing that I listened to when I
first moved here and I knew nobody, and I was
like totally lonely, and I was looking for like some
kind of thing to connect within this boring, sometimes sad
city when you don't know a person. Sure, and I
heard Conway and I was like, oh, this is like
I get it.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Like we've been friends longer than I realized. Yeah, I've
listened to you and I'm listening. I was listening back.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I think I told you when Bill Carroll will still
hear it. I was listening when you were just a
little news guy.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Oh that's so sweet. And now look at you. Well,
thanks for coming in, Mick. You appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
This has been the gast weekend fix. Always check out
the podcast. Wherever you find your podcast. I mean, we
prefer the iHeart app, but that's up to you. Just
type in Gary and Shannon. You can subscribe to the podcast.
You can follow the podcast. You can comment on the podcast,
and most importantly, share the podcast, and we'll see on
Monday you've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show.
(16:36):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Gary and Shannon News
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