WEBVTT - The Fifth Hour: Signed, Sealed, Delivered 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:01.600 Kabbooms. 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.520 If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:09.320 a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.640 of the Old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.640 treats crackheads in the ghetto Cutter the same as the 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.720 rich pill poppers in the penthouse Wow. The Clearinghouse of 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.640 Hot takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:29.760 with Ben Maller starts right now in. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:34.880 The air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben Mahler 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.320 and Danny g Radio will join me over the course 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.080 of the weekend. He is producing this podcast today, but 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:47.040 we are locked in the pod studio early on this 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.519 Friday morning, back at it after a few rare and 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.600 appropriate days away back in the podcast sweatshop, and on 0:00:55.640 --> 0:01:00.360 this podcast we've got signed, sealed and delivered and check 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.200 the inbox and some other surprises along the way. But 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.200 we begin with this. So we are recording this live 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.600 on digital tape, as we like to say, later than normal. 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.000 And the reason that we are doing that is because 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.120 Uncle Benny did not want to disturb his nieces that 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.640 we're sleeping right next door to the remote studio where 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.360 we do the overnight show from occasionally and also do 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:33.760 this podcast. There is an adjacent bedroom which has a 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:38.600 very thin wall with bad insulation, and that is where 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.920 much of the audio magic comes from on this side 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:43.679 of the wall. We didn't want to disturb the people 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.000 on the other side of the wall. As much as 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.120 I wanted to get in here and bark early in 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:53.520 the morning, would have caused a great disruption to the 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.720 beauty sleep and did not want to upset my twenty 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:03.559 something nieces. So nevertheless, here we are. Now the big 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.400 news of the week. Well, I took a couple of 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.840 again rare inappropriate days away from the radio show. There 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.800 was no holdout, There was no hashtag, there was no drama, 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.320 there was no hostage video that was released. There was 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.919 no I want to be traded to some other team 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:27.240 that did not happen. No, just a pen, a paper, 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:33.600 maybe some docu sign new a multi year deal, done 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.200 the way things used to be done. Quietly. You know. 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.280 I realized I am in the talk radio business and 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:45.760 that we liked the contract holdout in pro football because 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:51.280 it's good for business. However, my business done on the 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.280 down low, the DL, as we used to say, So 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:59.240 we did not announce that there were extension talks going 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.800 on on this podcast or the talk show. In fact, 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:08.040 technically I was working without a contract for a couple 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.160 of weeks. My contract had run out, so at that 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.639 point I was a free agent, even though I was 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.960 still getting the microphone time at Fox Sports Radio. But 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.560 we did not leak the news to a trusted source, 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.480 not that there's many of those people left trusted sources. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.240 There was no campaign on the gram featuring my dog 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:34.520 Moxie wearing a T shirt saying pay me. There was 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:39.480 none of that. No, no, we signed this new multi 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.680 year deal. We did it behind closed doors, under the 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:48.840 cover of darkness, which, if you know the Malor brand 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:54.000 over the years, that's about as on brand as it gets. 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.400 And so let's be honest here now, there was a 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.720 point where we thought this would not be happening, where 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.960 it all might come tumbling down like a wobbly Jenga 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:11.440 tower tipping over and hitting the floor, pieces flying everywhere. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.000 So let's go back on the hot tub time machine 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.600 to a sad moment on the history of the show 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.800 and in a moment where at the time I was 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.400 at the very top I thought of the mountain. Let's 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:29.400 go back to November mid November twenty twenty four, I 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:34.360 had returned from a very brief trip to Cansa City, 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:39.120 had returned from Kansas City after a VIP weekend. They 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.239 rolled out the red carpet, had a penthouse, hotel room, 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.280 the airfare, everything taken care of courtesy of the landing 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.960 in Liberty, Missouri, the home of the Ben Mallard Chicken 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.440 fingers and my friend Bob Fesco, the big morning star 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.520 at the fan in Cansa City. I went in there 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.200 and you guys showed up from all over the Upper Midwest. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.920 We had people come down from Iowa, Nebraska, obviously Missouri 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.920 where we were doing the broadcast Kansas which is right 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.359 across the way there, and it was awesome. I had 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.640 a great turnout. People were very kind. And then I 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:21.000 got back and I walked into an audio bloodbath. The 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:27.000 company had whacked the great Eddie Garcia steamboat. Willie, my 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:32.520 longtime Update anchor, partner in crime after more than two 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:37.880 decades at Fox Sports Radio. That's it now. As you know, 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.160 for all of us, the experience of you a listener 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:46.200 me doing the show that was a major, major gut punch, 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:50.799 the kind of sudden move that makes you realize yet again, 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:56.840 how fragile these gigs really are, the fragility of the 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:01.159 business that I have chosen my life's profession. You see, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.320 there was no golden watch that was handed out. There 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.280 was no farewell tour. I don't like those anyway, just 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:13.200 a thanks for everything. It's not you, it's us. And 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:21.159 then a vanishing act of Eddie that reminded everyone who's 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:26.760 involved in the business that you're only secure until you're not. 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:34.240 And listen, we have built a freakishly loyal cult audience, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.279 which hopefully you're part of. You're listening to the Fifth 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.160 Hour podcast and I think you're in that. It's my opinion, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:46.640 but you're listening to the radio show and the Witching Hours. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.160 However you consume this stuff, it doesn't matter. Right, We 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:55.679 started to wonder if our number was next. My deal 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.920 was up in the summer, just a couple of weeks ago, 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.760 in July of twenty twenty five. So you do the 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.520 math on that. You say, well, Eddie and Eddie got 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:10.120 let go in November and then my deal is up, 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.120 and okay, you put two and two together. You're like, well, 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:18.040 this isn't good. That's not good. And if Eddie could go, 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.000 I certainly could go. I'm not giving a lifetime contract 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.880 or anything like that. So one thing about getting into 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.480 the industry at a pretty young age you learn at 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:37.680 an early point in life that not only life is temporary, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:42.160 but the business you have chosen is temporary. This is 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.880 not something that you normally do for a long time, 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.600 certainly not in one place, which makes what has happened 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:53.760 to me in my situation even more outrageous and more 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:58.960 crazy and all that stuff. Radio, especially talk radio, does 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.040 not offer long term leases. It does not you You're 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:06.640 always month to month, at best your month to month. 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.679 And while these jobs are hard to get, they're even 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:15.360 harder to keep. And if you manage to stick around, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.200 as I like to say, you age in dog years, 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:25.160 a decade on the air is really like seventy seventy 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:29.960 years on the air. Like the format shifts, the executives change. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.720 I have had in my time at Fox Sports Radio, 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.079 I think I've had three or four different bosses. If 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.800 I did the math on that, yeah, I've had four bosses, 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.480 four people that could have whacked me at any time. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.600 So I've had four executives that I've had to deal with. 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.920 And then what ends up usually happening is it's not 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.200 even the executives that you deal with. It's one day 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:57.120 some middle manager from San Antonio tells you that your 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.840 P one numbers are strong, but your P two numbers 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.600 are soft. The quarter hours just aren't really working out 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:09.040 for us anymore, and suddenly you find yourself only doing 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.720 a podcast, which listen, eventually, I will only do a 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:13.720 podcast at some point. That is the way it's going 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:18.240 to go. But the point is you're only doing a podcast, 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:23.120 and then you're doing ads for a lawnmower blade replacement company. 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.559 And that's fine. You try to avoid that as long 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.480 as you can. And we survived for now all yet 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:36.000 again and listen were locked in financially for a couple 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.000 of years to the company. And we're still calling the shots, 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:44.199 still sitting in the catbird seat, the watch tower of 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:50.240 the overnight, still commandeering the overnight airwaves, like the one 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:56.520 man navy, writing the monologues, the bullet points of the monologues, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.520 putting the things together for the show as a one 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:05.880 man op. But why do we enjoy those crazy nighttime hours? 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:12.040 Because for all the pressure, capital pee pressure, the late 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:17.440 night slot comes with something that no amount of drive 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:25.400 time Molah can buy you freedom. Freedom with a capital F. 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.600 And we talk about this from time to time, But 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.880 no one's breathing down my neck at three in the 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:37.400 morning to get me to do something that they think 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.200 needs to be done. Meaning there's no brand consultants that 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:45.880 are yelling at you about your tone of that monologue 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.959 or the pacing of that particular segment, or you left 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.960 that guy Jed who fled on too long. She was 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.440 on the air for too long. There's no zoom calls 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:02.199 filled with big buzzwords with things like synergy in platform adjacency. 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.440 I don't even know what that means. Right, you don't 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:09.440 have that. So those are all positive things. Those are 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:14.040 all positive things. You don't have to deal with the 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:18.200 rigamarar that a lot of those other shows have, where 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.800 there's people in management that often feel the need to 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:26.960 do something to justify their existence, which often means busy 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.200 body work. We don't have that. We don't have that. 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:35.400 They've given me the freedom of the overnight to go 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.480 in there and just get weird. Right, you get to 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:43.080 be weird, you get to be real, get to talk 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:48.440 with yes, you the listener, the audience. You don't have 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.760 to talk at anyone. I don't have to talk at you. 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.760 I don't have to sit like I'm on some mountaintop 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:58.760 that I'm better than you. And one thing you learn 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:03.839 also is that the people listening at the hour where 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.800 you should be sleep and nothing good happens after midnight, 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.320 the phrase one or two in the morning, whatever it is. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.839 But the people that are listening, the insomniacs, the truckers, 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:19.920 the security guards, the cops, the robbers, the fast food workers, 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.280 the night owls, a few lost souls mixed in there. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:29.479 You're not flipping around, You're not hey, you're not dabbling, 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.960 You're locked in. You listen. Many of you listen for 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:37.240 the entire four hours of the show, or you'll listen 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:41.800 for an hour. Most people in daytime radio, you're lucky 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.920 if you get them for seven or eight minutes. Very 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.880 rare that they listen that long. And the difference also 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:53.640 is you listen overnight and you call in, you become 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.720 part of the show. You become a character on the show. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.160 I go out and do these meet and greets the 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.760 different towns. I've been all over the United States, from 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.280 from Maine all the way to Seattle and all over 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:12.120 South Carolina. We did one last year in Charleston, in 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:17.120 southern California, all over the place. And always somebody will say, hey, 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:20.440 what's so and so like, And it's a caller to 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.120 the show. They're like, Hey, what's that person like? And 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.520 so that's one of the reasons you don't leave something 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.440 like this. And sure could I have jumped to a 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.199 morning show somewhere or afternoon drive and made a lot 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:36.400 more money. Absolutely, I'm not getting rich doing this. I'm 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:40.960 not and doing a zany show, a zoo show with 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:48.120 goofy animal sound effects and giving away wads of cash, 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.960 or a car wash in Temecula, you know, like I 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.040 used to do at the mighty six ninety in San 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.360 Diego back in the day. We could have taken this 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:03.199 audience and tried to rebuild something somewhere else. Very difficult 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:07.640 to recreate that. We've had opportunities over the years. I've 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:12.160 been offered radio jobs in many cities, well three to 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.760 be exact, since I've been at Fox Sports Radio. But 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:21.840 fun equals funds, right because radio at night, and we 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:25.000 have preached the bully pulpit, from the bullie pulpit, this 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.440 and I continue to say this radio at night just 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:33.160 means more. It connects deeper, cuts deeper, It sticks in 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:38.880 your soul longer. It builds community in a way that 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:44.400 daylight radio cannot touch. It just can't. There's a lot 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.160 more people awake during the day, but there's a lot 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.520 of options, and people are busy and they're listening with 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.760 half an year. At night, there's less going on and 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.560 you're more locked in. And that is why the Malard 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.440 Militia as we've called it, thanks to Jahattis John and 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:04.760 Michigan who came up with that name, the Malard Militia 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.960 isn't just a catchy name. It's a movement, right, It's 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.720 the movement is it's a small movement. It's a movement. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:18.520 Got a bunch of diehards across every time zone in 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.400 the United States. We have an international reach, but we've 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:25.960 got people at truck stops and people listening during the 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:31.600 day while I'm sleeping in office buildings who treat me 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.480 like a friend in the room, not just some random 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:41.600 voice in the box. What's in the box right? Not that? 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:46.400 And what kind of bond? You don't throw that away 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.920 for some tea time. I'm not even a golfer a 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.200 golf once a year if I'm lucky. You don't throw 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.680 that away for some tea time at nine or ten 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:01.800 in the morning, and then a What's trend segment? No, 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.800 So we stayed. We stayed with Premiere Networks, which is 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.840 still the top of the food chain in syndicated radio. 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.600 There is no one that does it better than the 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.080 Premiere Networks. And I recall them my younger days. I 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.320 was like, that's the gold standard. You want to work 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.600 in radio and you want to do syndicated radio, you 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.479 work for a Premiere. They were called Premiere Radio Networks 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.400 when I started. Now they're just called the Premiere Networks. 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.720 And then with Fox Sports Radio having started shortly after 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.480 the network launched, and remember being on and only markets, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.400 the test markets. We were doing beta testing at Fox 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.000 Sports Radio in the early days, and I was the 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:45.560 first weekend overnight host on Fox Sports Radio. They were 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:51.320 playing recorded programming overnight and they gave me the Friday 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:56.880 and Saturday overnight shift. I was, I believe twenty five 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.720 years old or something like that. I got the overnight 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.920 show at Fox Sports Radio on the weekends, and we 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:09.560 were doing beta testing in Binghamton, New York, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.480 and there were a couple of other small markets, but 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.520 we were only on in like four or five cities. 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.000 To start Fox Sports Radio, we had to work out 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.480 the kinks. We had to give the customer a product. 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.800 At that time, ESPN Radio was the gold standard. Everyone 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:25.920 had listened to that they were at the very top 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.719 of the food chain. And now you look all these 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:34.359 years later, and Fox Sports Radio is the gold standard. 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.320 It's been that way for years in national syndicated sports 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.439 talk radio. And so they've given me this stage with 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.640 a microphone, a moon, and a man on a mission. 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:51.879 And so the audio penthouse stays occupied and the show 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:56.080 we're not coasting along. We're evolving. We're getting bigger and 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:01.119 louder and stranger and hopefully better. Of course you'll be 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:05.240 the judge of that. So we may soon be entering 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.640 our year twenty five. Now I'm a little behind Fox 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:13.679 Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio's birthday is August twenty eighth, 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:18.320 is when the network launched in two thousand. So I 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.280 have to wait. I haven't done the math on this. 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.080 I haven't done the math on this. I'm sure alf 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.679 or ferg Dog or someone will do the math. So 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.280 I'm six months in twenty six days. Actually seven months 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.160 in twenty six days behind that because I started about 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.600 a month after the network started, so I'm about eight 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:38.280 months behind. So I guess the summer. If my math 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:42.600 is correct, the summer of twenty twenty six will be 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:47.720 my twenty fifth anniversary at the company. But in talk 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.360 radio terms, that's something like, you know, twenty five years 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:52.720 is like eighty two and a half. I did the 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:58.359 math on that. The legs still work, the voice still 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:03.439 cuts decently, still cuts decently. Occasionally I get my vocal 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.080 cord shredded from talking so much being a one man 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:08.639 act on the overnight. By the end of the show, 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.560 some of you guys still laugh, some of you still 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:15.440 enjoy the show. And more importantly, that red on air 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.919 light that flashes outside the studio it still means something 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:24.600 to me. I was raised on radio. My parents worked 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.720 crazy hours. My mom ran her own business, and she'd 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.880 always have the radio on. A little fat Benny would 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.679 tag with my mom after school and she'd make her 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:38.200 deliveries to post offices or whatever, and I was with her, 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:40.359 and she always had the radio on. It always meant 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.200 a lot to her. She always would turn it up 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.800 for certain segments on the radio. My dad was the 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:49.119 same way, grew up listening to Art Bell through Coast 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.560 to Coast late at night. But my mom, both of 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.520 them loved, loved radio, and she would turn on in 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.240 the afternoon at five point thirty. There was a guy 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:02.160 named Jim He who did a sports show in LA 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.399 and she knew I liked sports, and so she turned 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:07.840 that on and he had all these goofy sound effects 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.520 and so I listened to that and I loved it. 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.720 And there's just something magical about doing it live. Performing 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.040 live the grid of the overnight, you don't get that 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.760 same vibe. Not that I don't love doing the podcast, 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.400 but you don't get that same vibe. And you don't 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:27.520 get many second acts in this business. You don't. And 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.000 so we were able to secure a third or fourth. 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:35.080 I don't even know what we're on now. So remember 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.640 to turn out the lot. But the party's not over. 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.600 The party's not over. And you leave that radio on 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.080 and you download the podcast, you listen to that, you 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.960 give us a good review, and you help keep this 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:51.120 show going as long as we can go. And we'll 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.679 just keep doing it and doing it and doing it 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.879 and doing it and doing it. And I have no 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.359 plans on stopping as long as the health is good 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:04.160 and life is great and I loved it. We've survived 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:10.440 a freaking pandemic together. We can survive just about anything. Now, 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:14.399 turning the page on that, you gotta check the inbox. 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.240 What's in the box? You gotta check the inbox? So 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:23.240 he announced your pronouns. He emailed me a few weeks back. 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:32.320 His name Will Will the thrill from oh Glaholma, so 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:37.119 he said HEREM. I almost didn't open the email. I 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:42.680 get inundated. This is a person named blind Scott who 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:45.520 is one of my crazy friends. I've known Blind Scott 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:48.520 since a man the early days. He was one of 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.800 the original people that fell in love with the Overnight 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.520 Show and his many service dogs. Now he can't have 0:21:55.640 --> 0:22:00.160 a service dog anyway. Scott and I go go way back, 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:04.400 and he sends me literally hundreds of emails a week, 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:09.320 and as a result, I have to like get rid 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.000 of him, and it's hard to go through the email. 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:15.880 It's a whole flugezy thing. So I get this message 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:19.320 from Will from Oklahoma, and as I said, I almost 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:22.640 didn't open it, because you know, spam is everywhere other 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.840 than blind Scott, and I am not in the market 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.600 for some kind of malware by opening some email I 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.320 don't recognize, or trying to have someone sell me a 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:40.000 discounted timeshare or some off brand pharmaceutical products that will 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.840 promise to regrow my hair. I'm good on that. I 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:48.120 have a nice hat collection. But something in the subject 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:52.040 line caught my eye and I'm not sure what it was. 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.440 I don't think he said longtime listener, first time visitor, 0:22:56.920 --> 0:22:59.360 although he could have said that. It turns out that 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:04.000 Will wasn't just another overnight zombie. No, this was a 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:08.840 card carrying member of the Malor militia, a real one, 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:15.680 authenticated and essentially from before he was even a teenager. 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:17.959 So he said he had been listening to the show 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:23.000 since he was the tender age of twelve years old. 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:26.760 So at age twelve he found the show. Let that 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:31.800 marinate in your brain for a second. For me, I 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:33.679 was like, that kind of reminds me of me. I 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:36.680 fell in love with radio around that age. I think 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:39.280 I started listening. I was a little younger than Will, 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.240 but right around that age, and I loved it. I loved. 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:45.520 I was an introvert and the radio talked to me. 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:48.320 It spoke to me, and I didn't have to deal 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:50.520 with anyone. I didn't have to talk back to it. 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:52.840 It just talked to me. And if I wanted it 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:55.879 to shut up, I just turned it off. It was wonderful. 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:00.480 So I've always said, and I said this earlier thing 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:04.679 dog years and all that. So using that analogy that 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:07.760 we used earlier in this fifth Hour podcast, that would 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:14.160 make this kid about sixty in radio terms. All right, 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:17.920 So he grew up in southern California, my stomping grounds, 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:23.720 and would sneak a transistor radio or probably a phone 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:25.680 with the iHeart app. You know, I don't know, I'm 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:30.360 old under the covers and listen to this overnight circus 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:34.160 that we've created. His dear old mom, he said, would 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:37.879 scold him for staying up too late to listen to 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:41.680 that gas bag. I don't know. His name might start 0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:46.040 with a B. Maybe that would be me, and hey, listen, 0:24:46.080 --> 0:24:49.119 I've been called worse. Now. Will told me sadly that 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:52.560 his mom had recently passed away from cancer, and now, 0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:56.720 at twenty one years old, all grown up and married, 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:01.119 he was coming back to town. Wanted to visit the 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:04.680 studio just to kind of hang out, and I gave 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:07.240 you say thanks and all that, just to see the 0:25:07.359 --> 0:25:13.280 place where this odd little cult show is brewed, a 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:18.919 nice warm brew every night. Like the bizarre stew of 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:22.560 many hot sports takes and Mallard monologues, goofy sound effects, 0:25:22.560 --> 0:25:26.320 all the lunacy, all the nonsense, all the wacky callers, 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:30.560 all of that. Now you should know that we've had 0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:33.879 a few bumps in the road with visitor requests. I 0:25:34.040 --> 0:25:38.400 love opening our doors. I think that's the coolest thing. 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:41.800 I still get a kick out of walking into the 0:25:41.880 --> 0:25:46.360 radio studio now again, I guess I'm getting old boomer, 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:49.359 not a boomer. I just feel the energy. I feel 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:51.679 the vibe of the microphones and all the legends that 0:25:51.720 --> 0:25:55.000 have worked in that building. We're in the old Rush Limbaugh, 0:25:55.440 --> 0:26:00.920 Steve Harvey compound. Just amazing people in broadcasting, some of 0:26:00.920 --> 0:26:04.520 the greatest of all time, who entertained millions and millions 0:26:04.560 --> 0:26:08.640 of people, and they sat in those same studios, slaving 0:26:08.640 --> 0:26:11.480 away in the mic over the microphone. Casey Casem his 0:26:11.600 --> 0:26:15.159 old studio is down the hall. It's our podcast studio. 0:26:15.640 --> 0:26:18.960 Like this is just amazing, you know, the ghost of 0:26:19.000 --> 0:26:22.240 that building, if they could talk. So I want to 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:24.520 let you guys in, if your friends, if I know 0:26:24.680 --> 0:26:27.960 you from the show, and you're called in and see 0:26:27.960 --> 0:26:30.240 that's one of the things Will told me as a 0:26:30.320 --> 0:26:32.960 kid caller, and I had forgotten. But he went back 0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:36.679 to the iHeart archive and sent me the clip that 0:26:36.840 --> 0:26:41.360