WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Cathy Hughes Part 2 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:06.560 What Up Everybody? 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:07.440 It's Like Eah? 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:10.640 Welcome back to Part two of the Quest Love Supreme 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.960 interview with Kathy Hughes and part one, Miss Hughes spoke 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.239 about growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, her moving to radio, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:21.919 and creating the Quiet Storm, which may be responsible for 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:26.119 a large part of the population today. If you still 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:30.800 need to listen or watch, please do Here's part two, 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:33.800 which is a special episode for me because I get 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.440 to tell Miss Hughes what she means in my life 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.800 and career as she tells more stories from her incredible journey. 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.320 Join us as we celebrate this Women's History Month and 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.400 honor great women year round on QLs. 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.400 I know that you have your shows that are are syndicated, 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.880 I e. Steve Steve, We'll do something from LA but 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.720 it goes to like whatever, one hundred markets. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:05.840 Whatever, Ricky's in Alabama. 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:06.840 Okay. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:12.120 So what I want to know is how are you able? 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:18.120 Are you the micromanaged type in terms of like, Okay, now, 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.160 I'm certain that there's the technology that exists where you 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.800 can instantly listen to your Houston station and quickly switch 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.800 to your Chicago station. If you want to, how were 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.840 you able to do that back in the day before 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.640 this technology, before the internet just colonized everything and made 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:37.560 it accessible. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.720 How are you able to check your twelve. 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.560 Stations back in nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety by going 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:46.920 to the. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.000 But also remember I started on the East coast, So 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:54.200 first it was DC, then it was Baltimore, Okay, then 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:59.360 it was Philadelphia. We expanded in a pattern. Okay, it 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.400 wasn't then too. We bought the Clear Channel stations, the 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.400 iHeart stations that we actually went to the west coast 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.080 that we actually picked up stations, stations in like Saint Louis. 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:15.560 So we're back now basically just concentrated on the East 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.120 coast because that it's easier for us to get to 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.840 our stations into our people. So back then you just 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.960 had to travel and even though the technology wasn't your computer, 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.440 and then there were phone numbers that you could dial 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:30.120 in and listen to. 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.519 It's just about to say she was hotline and out 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.240 of nowhere too exactly. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:36.200 Oh, so you would be like, all right, let me 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.360 see what why he's doing right now, and you would 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.240 call a hotline to hear exactly what's happening in Philly totally. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.720 And so was she the type to like give you 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.560 notes like you didn't reach. 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.959 The well, amir. You remember, we had a warm line 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.640 and a hot line, right. The warm line was the number. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.919 That all the labels, the artists and people had. The 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.400 hot line was a number that only management had. 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:01.240 So when you saw that ring, you knew down. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.000 It's not the break clod break cloth close out, the 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.680 break clod down, the break clod out, the break really 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:07.280 the warm line. 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.000 I never heard that line, no doubt. All. 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:16.000 We have a warm line and we have a hotline. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.919 that's absolutely And so we did it by telephone back 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.200 then you could actually listen on the stations. Yeah, so 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:27.320 we we heard them. Okay, we heard them, but uh, 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.679 the reality is back to your original question about them 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:38.600 growing big and becoming the way radio has consolidated. They 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:43.840 ain't a whole bunch of opportunities, even for the big names. Okay, 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.360 so there's not much. There's not a whole bunch of 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.080 opportunity to lose them to another Now they we may 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:55.600 lose them to another industry, another discipline, another career, but 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:00.880 there's not much danger in you know, I mean Donnie 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.520 Simpson was retired when we convinced him to come back. Okay, 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.680 if he leaves me, he's going back to retirement. He's 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:09.840 not going to work. 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.680 At the estates want to play with the grand babies. 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.800 The same way. I mean, DL Hughley and Ricky Smiley 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.680 both have it perfect because with technology, they still do 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:26.360 their stand up Okay, they still pack houses and so 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.799 you know where are they going to go because certain 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:34.960 other corporations do have prohibition okay and limitations on what 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.800 you can do. I want my people to be as 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.880 successful as possible because with their success, like I said, 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.840 a rising tide lifts all boats. That means they can 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:46.760 employ people. 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:51.200 I need you to tell these fine fellas. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.960 The story of how you did become a personality and 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.840 decided to do a morning show was a fellow named 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.320 Dick Gregory in DC. 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:01.000 Oh. 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.800 So, when I had the opportunity to buy my first 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:09.599 radio station, we did what it's called a format search, 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:14.000 which tells you where there's a whole hole in the market. 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:17.720 And the hole in the market was information for African Americans, 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.240 and I was like, oh, that's perfect. But no one 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.320 told me was that news talk is the most expensive 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:30.599 of all radio formats, really yeah, and air personality can 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.720 run their board, can answer their own phone, they can 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.200 do news talk is the most expensive because you have 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.760 to have you have to have an ensemble. You have 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.720 to have a team to do a show in news talk. Okay. 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.840 It's not possible for one air personality okay, or two 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.520 people to do it. And so I was not able 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:57.320 to service my debt. Again, I knew how to run radio, 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.680 I knew how to create radio. I did not know 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:05.279 the business of radio. And here it is nineteen eighty one. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.040 The prime went into the mid twenties. I was paying 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:13.080 two and a half points over prime. My first quarter 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.400 of being in business, my interest rate was twenty seven 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.800 point five percent. Okay, it was impossible for me to 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:26.680 service my debt and support a news talk format. So 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:32.120 after about a year of me being my father was 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.800 a cpaight and my father taught me that one of 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.360 the things that causes a lot of people to fail 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:42.240 in business is that they destroy their credibility with people 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.960 that they owe money to. And he taught me never 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.760 to hide from a phone call from someone that I 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:52.320 owe money to, and never not pay them something. And 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.400 so each month during this time when the interest rates 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.720 are in the mid to upper twenties, and I can't 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.839 serve it's my debt and run my station. If I 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.159 owed you one thousand dollars, you might get a check 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.080 for three hundred, but you got something every month from me. Okay. 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.440 So I maintained my credibility with my lenders to get 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:17.440 me through this period. But at a certain point, my 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.000 lenders came to me and they said to me, you 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.440 can't afford a news talk format. You don't have the resources, 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.760 you don't have the experience to do this. You have 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.640 to go back to music. Well, I had already done 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.920 this research, and so I knew the number one I 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.360 was an AM station. How was I going to compete 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.600 against the monster I had created? A whu r? Okay? 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.120 I had created I was an expert on FM. I 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.520 had cut my teeth on FM in the DC market. 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.080 So they want me to play music up against I 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:53.640 have no separation of sound, okay, because to this day 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:59.440 there's very little, if any AM stereo anywhere in radio. Okay, 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.400 all right, there's no separation. I'm like, how am I 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:04.920 gonna do this? Onna be mono and they stereo? No, 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.160 this is gonna work. And so they said to me, 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.440 if you want to keep one shift, it has to 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.720 be morning Drive. And the only way you to keep 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.880 it is for you to do the show yourself, because 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.320 you're the only person you can afford. And it was 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.920 just like a light bulb going off. It was like, 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:32.320 that's a great idea, okay, and so I condensed my 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.000 then husband, Dewey Hughes, that we would go on the air. 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:41.000 And Dewey lasted about three months because by now he's 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:45.600 got fourteen Emmy's, he's in television, he's working for NBC. Okay, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.760 he's not interested in doing radio, and so he says 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.640 he's gonna move to California and suggest that I come 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.360 with him, okay, And I said, no, I can't leave 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:01.120 my radio station. People are dependent on me. Said I'm 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.240 going to do the show by myself, and he said 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.440 I wouldn't advise that, and then out of nowhere, like 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.640 an angel, Dick Gregory descended on me. And one of 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.400 the jokes on the air was that he was my 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.960 permanent kiss, because Dick, some days when I was too tired, 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.080 or was sick or couldn't do the show, or I 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.000 had to do a promotion or speak somewhere. Dick would 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.880 do the show in my absence, but we used to 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.480 always joke on the Arabi. It's called the Kathy Hughes 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.920 Morning Show with permanent guests Dick Gregory, but for many 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:40.600 years Dick Gregory was there every morning. Dick Gregory would 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.400 not accept a penny of compensation and said to me 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.560 that in his life and his career, that two people 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:53.560 had resurrected him from where he was and elevated him 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.079 to where God intended for him to be. One was 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.200 Hugh Hefner, who put him in the playboy circuit and 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:05.360 really started him as a big personality. And me when 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.240 I allowed him to do my morning show with me, 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:14.040 because number one, if people start booking him again, his 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.720 popularity started our eyes once again. He was being invited 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.720 to college campuses to speak. You know, he was never 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:24.760 on Oprah Show because Oprah thought he was too radical. 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:30.200 People considered him a conspiracy theorist. Okay, and yet everything 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:34.160 we ever talked about turned out, maybe years later to 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:38.720 be the truth. Okay, it might have been a conspiracy 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.040 because but it was still a real conspiracy. Okay, it 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:47.880 was actually taking place, and I cannot tell you how blessed. 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.520 He said that I made a difference in his career. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.400 He made a difference in my life and my career 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.560 because the topics that we covered, the information that we 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.800 disseminated during Morning Drive. I never will forget the morning 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.200 that Lee Atwater called in and he said, so, miss 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.679 use and mister Gregory, this is Lee at Water. I 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.000 am the President's blah blah blah. And we said, we 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.520 know who you are. We at Martin, Okay. And he says, 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.360 I don't know if you are aware, but everybody at 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.200 the White House has to listen to the Kathy Hughes 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:24.240 at Dick Gregy show in the morning because all the 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.920 staff here keeps all the radios tuned. And I said, 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.520 so are you telling me that the president this is 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.120 morning show. We don't have any choice. We all listened 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.640 to it, and he became a regular listener and caller 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.480 to the show. But I know that was because of 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.080 Dick Gregory. Then one day I'm on the national board 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.880 of the Urban League and I tell Dick to come 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:51.840 go with me that President Bush was the speaker, and 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:55.800 so we're going down the receiving line. Afterwards, President and 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.360 the President talks about how Dick was his graduation speaker 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.800 at Yale University, and then he started quoting him, and 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.920 the President's handlers are trying to put President Bush. President 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.960 trying to move him, and he said, whoa, I'm talking 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.960 to mister Gregory. And so Dick said, well, let me 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.040 introduce you to Oh, I know who miss Hughes is. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.120 I have to listen to her show in the morning. 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.400 Sometimes you talk about me real bad, and you helping her? 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:29.240 Whoa right, okay, and you helping her. But mister Gregory, 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.199 you changed my life with that graduation speech. It brought 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.800 so much credibility and brilliance to that show that to 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:42.000 this date, to this date, people fill out their diary 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.320 saying that they listened to Kathy Hughes in the morning 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.760 with Dick's and permanent guest Dick Gregory and Dick's men 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.680 dead quite a few years now, and I've been off 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:52.439 the air quite a few years, But that was the 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:54.840 impact that we had in the nation's staff. 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.520 Oh yeah, if that said he couldn't have got any black, 0:12:57.640 --> 0:12:59.120 it was like we didn't think I can any black 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:00.960 up and here come was y'all. 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.520 Here it is, Yeah, I want to know. I want 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.560 to ask you Ms Cathy. You were a young mom 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.680 and like so you were talked about. You know you 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:10.599 have people that will watch a kid. How did you 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.800 balance motherhood like in the middle of all. 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:15.120 This, I didn't have to balance it. It was my 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.880 top priority. Okay, it was my top priority. I never 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.000 my son laughs and says that he had to be 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.120 fourteen before he didn't. He learned that everybody didn't work 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:30.240 or grow up in a radio station. Melvin Lindsay picked 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.440 him up from school. I love to cook, Okay, I 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:38.599 cook like somebody's grandmama. Okay, I cook, and so I 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.960 would cook on the weekends for the whole week freeze 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.680 that bring the food to the radio station. I do 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.720 my homework with his homework with him, and then I 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.840 had a sleeping bag if I had to stay late. Okay, 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.600 he was my date. Howard used to complain because I 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:56.800 had a little tux seedo for him. Okay, we get 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.480 dressed at the radio station, we go to affairs. Because 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:01.320 I didn't know anybody, I couldn't leave him, but I 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.439 didn't want to leave him with anyone other than Melvin. Okay, 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.600 who helped me. And he grew up in the radio station. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.240 I mean Robin Holden used to put him out all 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.920 the time. She teases him now about that. She said, 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:16.559 you know how many times I put you out by 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.280 station because he would be down there helping her out. 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.080 And she said, now I need any help? Okay, But no, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.680 never was I confused my first priority. I never thought 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.600 that I would have a career. I thought that what 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.400 God intended for me to be was a radio personality 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.120 syndicated I don't really have to work four hours a day, 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:41.200 and then the rest of the time I would take 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.160 care of the five sons that God was gonna bless 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:49.160 me with and a husband, and that my most important 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:51.280 decision would be what I was going to cook for 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:57.400 them that evening. It's seventeen. The Good Lord blessed me 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.200 with the one child that I would have, and uh, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.280 you know I'm single now, but you know God has 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.480 blessed me with two husbands, and one of whom is deceased, 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.920 my son's father. And then Dewey Hughes, who you know 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.400 you may remember the movie Talk to Me? 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:17.760 Yeah A P. D. 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:19.160 Green? Did you have any like? 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:20.120 What was like with him? 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.360 I knew P. D. Green before I ever met Dewey. 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.240 Like I told you, The way I met Dewey was 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:27.400 he was bringing Melvin Lindsey back to work for me 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.240 at w u R. I knew p D. Because pet 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.840 was dating my roommate and has spending a lot of 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:38.280 nights up in our family house. And everyone's you know, 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.600 why weren't you in the movie? The reason I was 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.040 not in the movie was because I was not in Washington, 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.200 d C. By the time I got to Washington, d C. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:47.680 P D. 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:52.400 Green was bigger than life. Okay, we had all these mmies. 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:55.480 He was working in television and I didn't know him. 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:59.320 I knew who he was, Okay, because they do only 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.080 because and Ca d C. Lemmons, who you know, just 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:09.600 did the Whitney a movie, the Whitney Houston movie, Casey Lemons. 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.920 The way they do movies is they test them. Okay, 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.000 and the test ninety percent of everyone they showed the 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.920 movie to said, well where is Kathy? Okay? All right, 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.880 why is she in the movie? I was in the 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.320 movie because I didn't even know Dewey existed nor Pete. 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:29.920 I was living in Omaha during the. 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.600 End is a lie. That's the name's Hollywood. That's cute. 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.920 Okay, So they added that in the line at the end, 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.040 how's Cathy showed doing? And he says, it's doing great. 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.760 That's the ending line. But you know, I'm so honored 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.240 because Don Cheeto says to this day that the P. D. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.720 Green roll was his favorite all time role. 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:50.520 I was going to ask you, how do you think? 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.960 Like you know, she would tell how him playing Dewey 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.200 was that accurate to the person? 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.640 Uni do we Tael and Dewey your friends? To this 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:05.479 day he was so Okay, Dewey's idol was Johnny Carson, Okay, 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.600 being from Omaha. Part of his you know, conversation with 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:14.080 me on our first dates had to do with Johnny Carson, Okay, 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:19.000 because Omaha is about as big as you all studio, Okay, 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:24.080 all right, okay, And so everybody in Omaha, and like 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.119 I told you, it's only black folks and white folks. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.159 And I think our population when I was growing up 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:33.320 was right around two hundred thousand people, okay, of which 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:38.240 about twenty thousand were black, Okay, And so everybody knew everybody. 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:44.359 So you know, Dewey's infatuation with Johnny Carson, Dewey Dewey 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.800 is still the same way to this day. 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:58.119 How do you know when someone who wasn't a communications 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:04.160 major is ready for prime time, ready for the big time, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.840 like you know, oftentimes, like a lot of people on 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:12.199 hip hop, you know, Mooney Love sort of transitions from 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:17.240 hip hop to radio, Chubb Rock transitions from hip hop 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:20.080 to radio. Like right now, like a lot of the 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.520 people I grew up listening to as hip hop MC's 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.520 and DJ's and whatnot are now transitioning to like even 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.440 I'll be sure having this show and whatnot. 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:30.520 So how do you how do you know? 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.520 Look at l J. We just honored him Monday night, 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:39.520 okay with the Icon Award, and it got left on 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.600 the editing floor. But the LL cool J story was 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.439 LL cool J was a member of Congressman Flake's church. 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:52.080 Floyd Flake Flake resigned as a congressman to go serve 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.320 his congregation. You as like, I'm not helping folks being 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.119 in Congress. So he went home and he called me 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:02.359 one day and he said that a member of his 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:10.680 congregation named Todd Okay, I was asking him about pursuing acting. 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.399 And this is when LL was at the height of 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.479 his hip hop career. Okay, but he was getting offers 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.560 because you know how they use the rappers for cameos 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.959 and you know, and some of them, like most deaths. 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.320 I thought was one of the best actors. Okay, the 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.159 movie he did where he played the doctor, which was 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:35.600 a true story. Okay, the Urgent, Okay, all right, I 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.120 thought that that was brilliant. I thought he was going 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.840 to be, you know, as big as Denzel. Uh So, Anyway, 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:46.240 they asked my opinion, and I told him that from 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.760 what I had seen of his acting, he was great 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:53.440 in that. You know, I would encourage him to pursue that. 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.400 One of my blessings is my best friend for many 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:01.359 decades is Dianna Williams, and Deannalliams has an eye and 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:06.080 an ear for talent like none other, and I depend 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:09.880 quite heavily on her. Okay, I may have a feeling 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.200 about somebody, but I'll ask d to take a look 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.480 at them, or listen to them, or you know, check 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.679 them out and see what her opinion is. I relied 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.159 very heavily and half for many many decades. Deanna and 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:29.520 I have been besties for probably half a century, to 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:34.880 be honest about it, okay, And the reality is depend 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:40.680 quite heavily on you know, Deanna's input, because she has 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.959 the best eye and air. Okay, I'm better with music 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.359 because I have been tone death most of my life 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.959 and from a childhood accident. And so it used to 0:20:54.960 --> 0:21:01.679 be when the music reps would come to the station, 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.720 they'd always play the new music for me because the 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:12.040 joke was if I could hear a hit, if it 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:16.240 moved me, okay, seriously, that was the case where Geene 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:20.480 Riggins was general manager. She said, I want you to 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.560 hear this song. He's from your hometown. I said, Nellie 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:30.080 is not from my hometown. And it was the right 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.840 country grammar, country grammar that she was playing for me. 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.600 Quincy Jones has said to me that getting a hit 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:40.920 wasn't really as complicated as a lot of people figured. 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:44.920 You have to hit a chord that's familiar to the listener. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.320 And so when I heard Nellie's country grammar, I was like, 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:54.440 everybody knows nursery Rise. And so I said to Geane, 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.480 I said I hear this, and she said, okay, we're 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:02.439 gonna sign you know. Okay did But in terms of 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:07.720 on air talent, the two I have been blessed with 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:13.280 the two greatest Air personalities that have lived during my lifetime, 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:16.960 Tom Joiner and Deanna Williams. I don't think that they have. 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.880 There's no one comparable to their level of talent. There 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:26.760 is no one comparable to what both of them have 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.320 done in different ways, but to help individuals in the 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:36.359 communications industry and so to have close friendships with both 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.679 Tom Joiner and Vianna makes me look a lot smarter 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:40.960 than I really am. 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:44.800 I get it, we didn't even get to TV one 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:49.399 and unsung. But there's one thing I do want to know. 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:56.919 How good are you with the archival part of your 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:02.600 business as far as maintain old radio shows from yesteryear 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:07.240 and whatnot? Because I think oftentimes when we're building and 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.160 I say it's an empire, whether you say it's small fries, 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:11.240 I say it's an empire. 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:16.320 When you're building an empire literally empire, Nah, we think 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.320 I'm big. You're building an empire. You know. 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:23.120 Oftentimes we don't think we're making history day to day, 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:26.320 but then like thirty years go by, and like if 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:29.879 I want to hear, you know, what was radio like 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.560 in nineteen seventy eight blah blah blah blah blah or whatever, 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:42.080 Like how good are you with archiving like historical moments 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:44.760 that have happened at any of your radio stations. 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:50.880 So I now have a full time archivist that's trying 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:57.480 to get individuals, my listeners who have recorded things. To 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.840 be very honest with you, I have the money to 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:04.640 store things. I wasn't going to pay for our storage 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:07.440 bind when I moved, we threw it away. We threw 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:12.560 the stuff away, okay, because I was living it. Okay, 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:16.400 I was living it. I was trying to survive. I 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:21.200 wasn't interested in history, okay. I was just trying to 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:24.800 build a company, keep people. You know, I'm blessed to 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:27.320 say that never once have I had a check bounce 0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:30.240 in the forty three years I've been in business, Not 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:32.760 once have I had a check bounce. Not once have 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:35.960 I had an employee who did not get paid. Okay, 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:38.680