Speaker 1: If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
Speaker 1: was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
Speaker 1: the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
Speaker 1: crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the rich
Speaker 1: pill poppers in the penthouse, the clearing House of hot
Speaker 1: takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
Speaker 1: Ben Maller starts right now. That it does, and I
Speaker 1: hope you're doing well. Thank you for tuning into the
Speaker 1: Fifth Hour, because four hours on the Overnight Show are
Speaker 1: not enough, and you are in for a special treat
Speaker 1: on this edition of The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben
Speaker 1: Maller and David Gascon on the I Heart Podcast Network.
Speaker 1: Because the o g one of my inspirations to get
Speaker 1: into the wacky world of sports talk radio, is gonna
Speaker 1: be hanging out with us. The great Tony Bruno, the
Speaker 1: legendary figure Tony Bruno, the forefather of network sports radio.
Speaker 1: Tony started ESPN Radio and started Fox Sports Radio, and
Speaker 1: I've known Tony for years. I was very excited when
Speaker 1: I first met Tony because I had been a big
Speaker 1: fan of his as a listener to Tony over the years,
Speaker 1: and then I got to know him a little bit.
Speaker 1: We worked together at local radio for a couple of
Speaker 1: years and then at Fox Sports Radio in the early
Speaker 1: days for almost ten years or so. At Fox Sports Radio. Um,
Speaker 1: we were colleagues. So it's it's pretty cool to catch
Speaker 1: up with Tony. We're also gonna have some grab bag
Speaker 1: at the end of this. We'll we'll throw in some
Speaker 1: grab bag at the end and some questions. But Tony's
Speaker 1: back in the game. One of the reasons we're having
Speaker 1: Tony on is he's launching a new radio show on
Speaker 1: Sirius XM, and so why don't we start with that, Tony,
Speaker 1: tell me, tell me what this is all about, give
Speaker 1: me the details, give me the inside, Skinny. It's a
Speaker 1: sports show without sports. I mean, we're gonna try something different.
Speaker 1: You know. I could do a little we'll talk, but
Speaker 1: there's too much of that. I could do sex talk,
Speaker 1: and I'll probably do that late night. But sports show
Speaker 1: without sports hasn't been done. And no better time to
Speaker 1: start a sports show without sports than right now, I
Speaker 1: would say. And for those that don't like when can
Speaker 1: they hear the shots? It's on give me on Serious
Speaker 1: Satellite Radio. It starts next week from this weekend when
Speaker 1: we were recording the podcast. But it's gonna be on
Speaker 1: every day, right, Yes, it's gonna be a Monday, April six,
Speaker 1: So the following the next Monday, coming up April six,
Speaker 1: three to six in the afternoon Eastern time, that's noon
Speaker 1: to three in the West. And uh, Monday Friday. I'll
Speaker 1: be in there. My old buddy Harry May's who I
Speaker 1: used to do a show with in Philly for many
Speaker 1: many years. He'll be on the show. MS. Robin will
Speaker 1: be there just making sure everything goes straight. And it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fine. I mean, you know, obviously you've been
Speaker 1: on Sirious. Anybody who's been on other Fox Sports or
Speaker 1: ESPN or any other CBS, you name it, you know
Speaker 1: those channels are all now broadcasted on on Sirius. So
Speaker 1: that well, and you know, as you know, one of
Speaker 1: the best things is when you're on satellite radio. You know,
Speaker 1: the truck drivers who have always been out there and
Speaker 1: making America move. I get a chance to listen and
Speaker 1: don't have to charry worry about finding another station when
Speaker 1: they drive a hundred miles through the middle of America.
Speaker 1: So it's really a great opportunity for people around the
Speaker 1: country to be able to hear you. Uh and with
Speaker 1: the app of course to the apps up for free
Speaker 1: now through the middle of May, so good time to listen.
Speaker 1: Everybody just wants to get their head away from the
Speaker 1: daily numbers and all the depression and all the noise
Speaker 1: out there and just want to escape and have some
Speaker 1: fun every once in a while. I know from the
Speaker 1: old days, Tony h For years there was always a
Speaker 1: joke in sports radio that the month that everyone wanted
Speaker 1: to take off was like July, right right around the
Speaker 1: All Star Game in baseball. There was nothing going on,
Speaker 1: and and guys would be like, oh, I can't I
Speaker 1: can't work. You know, there's not enough sports news going
Speaker 1: on and and now and now we're in this period
Speaker 1: of time where there is. It's it's not that there's nothing,
Speaker 1: but it's you really have to be creative. And so
Speaker 1: I like, I mean, you're gonna do great, Tony, because
Speaker 1: you don't need, you know, a million things. You're able
Speaker 1: to be creative. But some of these guys are really
Speaker 1: struggling right now because there's just not a lot of
Speaker 1: meat on the bone. Yeah, and you're absolutely it's not
Speaker 1: because they're not good at what they do or anything.
Speaker 1: But luckily, you know, I was I was in l
Speaker 1: A with andrews Aciliano the morning the nine eleven attacks happened,
Speaker 1: and we were grouping off and talking about the NBA,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden we look up at our
Speaker 1: monitors and see, you know, the World Trade Center where
Speaker 1: the whole and smoke coming out, and everybody thought it
Speaker 1: was a joke. So Andrew and I were, you know,
Speaker 1: with backgrounds and reporting and stuff, we're able to transition
Speaker 1: and into from talking about sports into talking about the
Speaker 1: biggest story in our lifetime. And now we were in
Speaker 1: the same situation. I mean, everybody's affected by this. You know,
Speaker 1: nine eleven, we were affected as a country because we
Speaker 1: didn't know what was going on. And then sooner or later,
Speaker 1: it didn't take months and months and months before people
Speaker 1: were feeling confident enough to go out and not worried
Speaker 1: about being attacked, and you know, sports being back in business.
Speaker 1: So we don't know right now. That's the biggest uncertainty
Speaker 1: of this this compared to nine eleven, is that we
Speaker 1: felt that the nation needed to get sports back. It
Speaker 1: wasn't that the league's were all shut down purposely it's
Speaker 1: that the decisions were made after a week or two,
Speaker 1: as opposed to now months and months and months, the
Speaker 1: possible and the prospect of losing an entire baseball season
Speaker 1: or losing the NBA in the hockey season. Again in
Speaker 1: the real world, for the average person, that's not like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, o sports is going to destroy the
Speaker 1: wor no. But there's so many people who rely on sports,
Speaker 1: not just for entertainment, not just for the fun of
Speaker 1: watching their favorite teams, but the people who work in
Speaker 1: these arenas and stadiums, and the people who work and
Speaker 1: rely on sports. You know, the gambling people. I'm gambling
Speaker 1: and became a really big deal now, So all these
Speaker 1: casinos are shutdowns. So it's not just sports here and there,
Speaker 1: it's it's everything that's involved. This entire country not able
Speaker 1: to do the things that we used to do. And
Speaker 1: while it was a similar situation for a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks with nine eleven, it's now a situation where we're
Speaker 1: going month after month after month and nobody knows what
Speaker 1: we're going to get back to anything that resembles being
Speaker 1: close to normal. Tony. When when you talk about that
Speaker 1: and what you're doing right now, You've made the unique
Speaker 1: transition which a lot of broadcasters have not done, at
Speaker 1: least in the radio set of things, is going from
Speaker 1: radio to digital and then now to satellite. But what's
Speaker 1: that been link for you working on Twitch? Because I
Speaker 1: follow you and I know you from Afar, and much
Speaker 1: like Ben, I didn't know who the hell Ben was.
Speaker 1: I started back in San Diego with my heart San Diego,
Speaker 1: and lo and behold, I found out Ben used to
Speaker 1: work for the Mighty six ninety back in the day
Speaker 1: when he first got started. But my my impression of
Speaker 1: you from Afar, when you were here at Fox and
Speaker 1: now where you're at in the East Coast was you
Speaker 1: were a a human firecracker and you let it rip
Speaker 1: and you don't sugarcoat anything. And I'm kind of curious
Speaker 1: to the way that you operate now compared to what
Speaker 1: you were like at Fox and and how you been
Speaker 1: on other platforms as well. Or I don't never think
Speaker 1: I've changed, I mean, and one of the things that
Speaker 1: I tried to be consistent at is staying the same,
Speaker 1: I mean. Times change. Digital obviously came along a lot
Speaker 1: of guys in my age group in the six been
Speaker 1: their sixties, A lot of the old school radio guys,
Speaker 1: you know, like I don't want to do Twitter. I
Speaker 1: don't want to do social media. And I knew back five, six,
Speaker 1: seven years ago, and I got on Twitter in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, so we're talking eleven years now, and
Speaker 1: so I've embraced it because that's that's the way everybody
Speaker 1: is doing business now, especially the younger generations. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to just program to sixty five year
Speaker 1: old guys. And I've never been that way. When I
Speaker 1: was on Fox, I take call from thirteen year old
Speaker 1: kids listening out there, and you know, things that most
Speaker 1: stations wouldn't do it. I'll ever put a kid on
Speaker 1: the air. Oh my god, we can't do that. So
Speaker 1: I it was not called pushing the envelope. It's about
Speaker 1: just having fun. And I've always done this in the
Speaker 1: same approach, have fun. Let people hear you laugh. When
Speaker 1: people hear somebody having fun on their jobs, they're gonna
Speaker 1: feel good about themselves too. And now more than ever,
Speaker 1: people don't want to hear people complaining about you all.
Speaker 1: You know, the Lakers and the Clippers. Now we don't
Speaker 1: know who's gonna win the who's gonna win the m
Speaker 1: v P. That's all fun and game stuff, but in
Speaker 1: the real world, none of that really matters. And so
Speaker 1: it's about, yes, we cannot We can talk about when
Speaker 1: sports is coming back, when baseball, what's baseball gonna do,
Speaker 1: What's football gonna do, what's hockey gonna do? But we
Speaker 1: have to do it in a fun way now. And
Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier, people on radio and sports radio
Speaker 1: are having a tough time. You know, we can always
Speaker 1: do the Mount Rushmore's, which are always good, We can
Speaker 1: always do different lists, but not of the time to
Speaker 1: be creative. So I always try to be creative. I
Speaker 1: always try to have fun incorporate other things, which pretty
Speaker 1: much everybody now is doing. And I was doing it
Speaker 1: for thirty years ago. And now you know, you hear
Speaker 1: people having fun talking about stupid shows like you know,
Speaker 1: the Tiger King and Netflix and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Because people who are sports fans don't just only care
Speaker 1: about sports. They care about they have other things in life.
Speaker 1: They go outside, well, not not right now, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about a normal situation. They said at all and watch
Speaker 1: TV at night and they want to be entertained. They
Speaker 1: can't go to the movies anymore, and so you've got
Speaker 1: maybe got to be sort of an entertainer to them
Speaker 1: as well in these times. So do you think it's
Speaker 1: more challenging for a guy like Ben to to be
Speaker 1: more entertained with his Mallard militia because half the time
Speaker 1: they're not even sober anyway, and they love they love
Speaker 1: anything he does that includes list radio and I don't
Speaker 1: and I'm not doing this radio. I don't long with you.
Speaker 1: I don't break into a fight here now listen. I
Speaker 1: love Ben. I remember when Ben was just a young
Speaker 1: pop in l A and I'd come out there and
Speaker 1: he said to me, you know you're the guy because
Speaker 1: you know Roome and I and those guys in that generation.
Speaker 1: Ben was out there in California when I first met him.
Speaker 1: He was telling me all these one wonderful things about
Speaker 1: having hurt me when I was at ESPN. And now
Speaker 1: Ben's a legendary figure in this business and he's got
Speaker 1: a great following. And that's what it's all about, about
Speaker 1: developing a core audience that likes what you do. And
Speaker 1: I said this earlier. I was talking to somebody else
Speaker 1: earlier today and they said, you know, what is it
Speaker 1: that you want what do you what do you think
Speaker 1: that attracts people to you? And I said, I want
Speaker 1: people to like me. You know, the old Howard co
Speaker 1: Cell mentality was you had half the audience hate you
Speaker 1: and the other half of the audience like you, but
Speaker 1: they were going to listen to you no matter what.
Speaker 1: To me, I've always wanted to be the guy that
Speaker 1: everybody liked. Now, of course, the people who aren't gonna
Speaker 1: like me, but I think for the most part those
Speaker 1: have listened to me over the years, and my p ones,
Speaker 1: as we like to call them in the world of
Speaker 1: ratings and all that other stuff, those are the people
Speaker 1: that have stayed with me wherever I've gone. And now,
Speaker 1: even in the last couple of years, where I haven't
Speaker 1: done any terrestrial radio, it's of a couple of pregame
Speaker 1: shows during the football season locally. You know, I've been
Speaker 1: doing the Twitch thing, and Twitch is a big, big platform.
Speaker 1: They started adding sports content and so I'm on there
Speaker 1: now and I've been on there for a year and
Speaker 1: it's fun because I get to talk to people every day.
Speaker 1: And and the one thing about Twitch talking about the
Speaker 1: generational divide is when I talked to somebody over thirty
Speaker 1: and they say, where are you on now? Say Twitch?
Speaker 1: Will say what the hell is that? When I talked
Speaker 1: to somebody under thirty, they're like, Wow, you're on Twitch.
Speaker 1: And so that's the thing is about getting people to
Speaker 1: know all these new different digital platforms, especially for the
Speaker 1: older generation that doesn't even well, they're pretty much they're
Speaker 1: consuming and anybody who has a phone now except a
Speaker 1: flip phone, is basically digitally connected now, so you're getting
Speaker 1: everything in your hand as opposed to have to worry
Speaker 1: about what time the game ends and finding out where
Speaker 1: the score is. All that information is available to everybody now.
Speaker 1: So breaking news and stuff about this game is over
Speaker 1: the point, spreads and all that stuff. People get that instantaneously.
Speaker 1: We have to provide the other parts of it, the
Speaker 1: the fun and entertaining parts of the world without sports
Speaker 1: every day. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Speaker 1: Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p
Speaker 1: m Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app. Yeah, and Tony, you brought up the early
Speaker 1: days man and I you were a big influence on me.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge Tony Bruno fan. You were awesome and
Speaker 1: you've been very kind to me over there. I remember
Speaker 1: we used to hang out every once in a while.
Speaker 1: I was I was honored we'd hang out. A was
Speaker 1: at Hooters in Santa Monica, which I don't even think
Speaker 1: there anymore, at the Third Street Promenade back in the day.
Speaker 1: But I should thank you. I've been at Fox. I
Speaker 1: started right around when I think it was a week
Speaker 1: or two after the network started. But the only reason
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio exists, for those that are new and
Speaker 1: maybe don't realize the history, it's because of you, Tony.
Speaker 1: You are the reason that this entire network, which has
Speaker 1: been on the air now for twenty years exists. When
Speaker 1: you made the move to come to Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: and do the show, you were the centerpiece, you were
Speaker 1: the rock star, and everything else was built around uh you.
Speaker 1: So I should thank you because it's gotta feel good that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you haven't been at Fox for
Speaker 1: a number of years, but the reason this thing is
Speaker 1: even around is because of your your impact. Well, I
Speaker 1: mean it wasn't just me. I mean obviously Greig Kitchen
Speaker 1: and the people who put the Fox Radio Sports Radio together.
Speaker 1: I left the FPN after ten years and they called
Speaker 1: me and said move out to l A. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've been l A a million times that I never
Speaker 1: lived there. So I moved out to l A. I
Speaker 1: made in my home for eleven consecutive years, from two
Speaker 1: thousand all the way to two thousand and eleven. And
Speaker 1: I worked with a lot of great people. I mean
Speaker 1: I was on the morning show because they wanted me
Speaker 1: to be there, and so I did it with Andrews Siciliano,
Speaker 1: who's now on the Bigger and Better Things the NFL Network.
Speaker 1: And so I've worked a lot of great people no
Speaker 1: matter where I've been, and to see them continuing to excel.
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't make things better. I've been
Speaker 1: fortunate to be in great spots. I've been handed the
Speaker 1: keys to ESPN Radio, to Fox Sports Radio is the
Speaker 1: first voices on and so I was. I was privileged
Speaker 1: to work with a lot of really talented people around me,
Speaker 1: which made me better. And I hope that I always
Speaker 1: felt that the younger generations who asked me about how
Speaker 1: did you get to where you are? I'm always willing
Speaker 1: to do that. You don't why because I had people
Speaker 1: helping me when I was fifteen years old and said
Speaker 1: I wanted to be in radio. I'd called radio stations
Speaker 1: at night. You know, there were a lot of there
Speaker 1: was a lot of sports radio, but I'd called the
Speaker 1: DJs and talk about music and tell them how I
Speaker 1: wanted to be in this business. So I got a
Speaker 1: lot of help when I was a kid, and now
Speaker 1: I try to help others by just telling them to
Speaker 1: be themselves. You know, everybody the one question I'm sure
Speaker 1: you guys get this too. You know, how do I
Speaker 1: be like you? How do I be like Ben Maller?
Speaker 1: And I always say, how do you be like Tony?
Speaker 1: You can't You're not you can be yourself. You can't
Speaker 1: be another Tony Bruno, but you could be yourself and
Speaker 1: just be don't don't create an act, don't do something,
Speaker 1: don't be what you're not, because if you try to
Speaker 1: do this for a long time, people will always know
Speaker 1: who you are what you are. You just try to
Speaker 1: stay consistent. And that's all I've tried to do for
Speaker 1: almost fifty years now. See Tony that that's the one
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to ask you about, because you're so
Speaker 1: seasoned in this game, is that I find at least
Speaker 1: where where my perception is with with guys like you
Speaker 1: and a colleague of ours here, Rob Parker, is that
Speaker 1: you guys aren't looking behind you. You're like, you're not
Speaker 1: looking over your shoulder, You're not looking behind you. You're
Speaker 1: just looking straight ahead. And you have not to say
Speaker 1: you don't have any worries. But you're not worried about
Speaker 1: the outside noise. But what about people that are just
Speaker 1: up and coming. They're going to get in because there
Speaker 1: are there are teams, there are organizations, and there are
Speaker 1: networks that like, you need to have a positive spin
Speaker 1: no matter what, or you have to shade your beliefs
Speaker 1: towards one side of the aisle and you compromise what
Speaker 1: you do as an individual or who you are for
Speaker 1: the sake of the greater good, or in some instances,
Speaker 1: especially nowadays, your paycheck, Like how do you how do
Speaker 1: you toll that line? Well, I've been fortunate that for
Speaker 1: the last five years, you know, I haven't worked for
Speaker 1: a big company where I'm you know, where I'm dealing
Speaker 1: with ratings every day. Not think that's bad, I mean
Speaker 1: that's the world we live in. Almost every radio station
Speaker 1: that's on the air that's not a public radio station
Speaker 1: has to deal with you know, contracts. If you work
Speaker 1: for a radio station and everybody deals with this now
Speaker 1: for the most part, you work for radio station that's
Speaker 1: the rights holder to a specific team, and you're a
Speaker 1: talent and you want to criticize the team. You know,
Speaker 1: right now you're under immense pressure because the partnerships between
Speaker 1: ADEO stations and sports franchises is now at a point
Speaker 1: where they don't want anybody who is going to criticize
Speaker 1: the product on the air. And so you're basically are
Speaker 1: hanging yourself out there every day having to walk that
Speaker 1: tight rope. Not that you're looking to be negative, but
Speaker 1: when things are really bad to not be able to
Speaker 1: say things on the air that everybody at home is thinking,
Speaker 1: but they know that you're not allowed to say it
Speaker 1: because you're worried about losing your job. I think that's
Speaker 1: how the business has changed more than ever before. You know,
Speaker 1: it's run by corporate America. That's the way it is.
Speaker 1: You just look recently, uh enter Com just got rid
Speaker 1: of a bunch of people, uh Beasley earlier on on
Speaker 1: March thirty one, the end of the quarter year. You know,
Speaker 1: they're trying to cut back and so it's all about
Speaker 1: a world not just in radio, but particularly in radio,
Speaker 1: where people are losing their jobs every day because companies
Speaker 1: are under pressure to help their shareholders, and the way
Speaker 1: they make more money is spending less money. So I
Speaker 1: think that's how the business has changed. And it's not
Speaker 1: like I'm happy that I don't have somebody hanging over
Speaker 1: my head or telling me what to talk about every
Speaker 1: fifteen second. It's just that I've done all that and
Speaker 1: I've been through that whole error from the beginning of
Speaker 1: how this starts and how you have to deal with
Speaker 1: working and I've always worked well with people. I've never
Speaker 1: really had problems. I've had some issues with management, but
Speaker 1: only because I was hired and then management would trying
Speaker 1: to tell me to change what I was doing. And
Speaker 1: that's one of the things I've always stayed to stayed
Speaker 1: loyal to. If you hire me because you like what
Speaker 1: I've done and you see my track record, then don't
Speaker 1: try to change me and to make me what you
Speaker 1: want me to be. And I think that's the biggest
Speaker 1: problem that a lot of talent have now. They get
Speaker 1: hired to do one job and then once they get
Speaker 1: on the air, it's like, well, that's not what we
Speaker 1: really want you to do. And so that's the power
Speaker 1: that I think we've lost as entertainers, as performers, as journalists,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call us hosts. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of people who walk on eggshells every day trying to
Speaker 1: do their jobs because they fear saying the wrong thing
Speaker 1: and being fired over something that ten twenty years ago
Speaker 1: was not really a big deal. Be sure to catch
Speaker 1: live editions of The Ben Miller Show weekdays at two
Speaker 1: a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific. Yeah. I know you've
Speaker 1: mentioned this, Tony, but you are You are a firecracker
Speaker 1: on social media now you can do you People are
Speaker 1: jealous of you because you're able to say whatever you want. Now.
Speaker 1: Is that gonna have to change now? Because you're going
Speaker 1: on satellite, You're gonna be able to keep doing the
Speaker 1: same stuff you've been doing here. How's that gonna work? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean one of my biggest things, Ben, and I'm
Speaker 1: not you know, And it's it's funny how the world
Speaker 1: has changed where you go on social media. And my
Speaker 1: biggest problem is with media now. It's not what the
Speaker 1: people on Twitter. You know, anybody can say whatever they
Speaker 1: want on Twitter. You know. I was a political science
Speaker 1: major in college. I'm not a political hack. I'm not
Speaker 1: a Republican. I'm not a Democrat. I don't really root
Speaker 1: for one party. But we live in the world now
Speaker 1: where you know, it's easy for particularly most people in media.
Speaker 1: You know, they're primarily liberals and super progressive, and so
Speaker 1: bashing Trump every day is a fun thing to do.
Speaker 1: And so if you don't bash Trump, and you say
Speaker 1: you don't even have to beat Rob, I don't put mega.
Speaker 1: I don't have any of that stuff. I'm not a
Speaker 1: super right wing guy. But now, if you're not super
Speaker 1: left wing, and you're not twenty four of seven going
Speaker 1: crazy about everything the president does for three and a
Speaker 1: half years, then all of a sudden you get that
Speaker 1: when you're a drumper. What happened to you? Man? You're
Speaker 1: a right wing whack jog, You're Alex Jones. And that's
Speaker 1: not the way I'm at all. I get angry when
Speaker 1: I see media people who were supposed to be doing journalism.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about opinions and pundits and people who
Speaker 1: make their livings awful politics and rooting for one party
Speaker 1: or one candidate. I don't do any of that stuff.
Speaker 1: I just have fun. I mock most media people who
Speaker 1: are to me embarrassing and shameful in the way that
Speaker 1: they become hacks for either political party. So that's what
Speaker 1: Bob is me on me, and that's where I go after.
Speaker 1: I don't go after individual people, you know, who disagree
Speaker 1: with me. People come at me all the time. I
Speaker 1: go back and forth, but I'm not I'm not in
Speaker 1: the name calling or threatening or any of that stuff.
Speaker 1: I just I just have a good time. Twitter is
Speaker 1: basically like the toys. It's like what sports radio used
Speaker 1: to be. It's the toy store for people who want
Speaker 1: to check in and have tough opinions about their favorite
Speaker 1: teams and rip coaches and call for firings. I use
Speaker 1: Twitter as pretty much to promote my brand and also
Speaker 1: to have fun with with an income. Poops out there
Speaker 1: in pictious positions of power. Not Joe Schmo on there,
Speaker 1: because I'm just Schmo in there, just like anybody else.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm better than anybody else. I don't
Speaker 1: think my opinion matters more. But I love when people
Speaker 1: who don't know anything about politics or sports tell me
Speaker 1: that my opinion doesn't matter because they disagree with me.
Speaker 1: I'm Tony, what's it like right now in Philly? Because
Speaker 1: I was telling them this earlier, Like my normal Actually,
Speaker 1: our commute to the studio from where we live as
Speaker 1: anywhere from about an hour to an hour in ten minutes,
Speaker 1: and now it's thirty minute drive. I mean, the streets
Speaker 1: are nearly empty, and it's a rare occasion where obviously
Speaker 1: you get to breathe clean air in Los Angeles, but
Speaker 1: what about in Philly, Like, what's it been like around
Speaker 1: town and how are people acting. Well, I don't go
Speaker 1: out much. I mean I don't go out much anyway,
Speaker 1: but it's pretty much ago. It's like everywhere else. I
Speaker 1: live on a very busy My old neighbor actually moved
Speaker 1: back to the same neighborhood I grew up in in
Speaker 1: South Philly, which is a legendary area near the sports complexes,
Speaker 1: and it's a very, very big restaurant neighborhood. I can
Speaker 1: walk fifty yards and there's some of the best restaurants
Speaker 1: in the country here and now they're all closed. So
Speaker 1: that's what everybody is seeing around the country. Philly is
Speaker 1: no different than any other big city. Streets are empty,
Speaker 1: there's not a lot going on downtown. The businesses. A
Speaker 1: lot of the businesses, the liquor stores are boarding up
Speaker 1: their windows, and it's a really scary, like walking dead
Speaker 1: kind of feel to it. But I think people are
Speaker 1: becoming a little more as as as anxious as everybody is,
Speaker 1: as stir crazy as everybody is. I get out and
Speaker 1: walk around MS Robin and I go take a walk,
Speaker 1: you know, because there's nobody on the streets, so we're
Speaker 1: not worry about getting into a big crowd of people
Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff and the social distancing. But
Speaker 1: I think everybody's trying to deal with this and being
Speaker 1: stuck at home and having your TV on with all
Speaker 1: the noise on the news channels. That's the best thing.
Speaker 1: That's what I don't do. I watched the coronavirus thing
Speaker 1: every day and then I turn it off, and so
Speaker 1: that the more you stay away from the noise and
Speaker 1: all the division and all the vitriol and all of
Speaker 1: the all this that and this guy stinks and this
Speaker 1: guy is not doing a good job. Uh, you try
Speaker 1: to get that out of your head, which is what
Speaker 1: I try to do. And then I go on Twitter
Speaker 1: while I'm working downstairs preparing for my shows, and I'll
Speaker 1: go back and forth with some people, and then for
Speaker 1: the most part, I just watched like Science Channel. I'm
Speaker 1: watching The Tiger King and all these other diversion. Everything's
Speaker 1: that that everybody's watching now when they're stuck inside. I
Speaker 1: hope you're I hope you're cooking is better than Ben's
Speaker 1: because he's tempted to do a YouTube channel on cooking.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you've ever had his cooking,
Speaker 1: but it's not that good Tony. So if you do
Speaker 1: Tony guest on, he's like he lives west of the
Speaker 1: four oh five, you know, the l a landscape, Tony.
Speaker 1: When you live west of the four or five different
Speaker 1: cat you're not a normal person when you live west
Speaker 1: of the four oh five. And exactly well, you know,
Speaker 1: Miss Robin's a great cooking and Robin and I have
Speaker 1: been on a Keto diet. So the funniest thing is
Speaker 1: everybody's you know, sitting at home and eating and gaining
Speaker 1: weight and you know, doing the normal things that I did.
Speaker 1: When back last year, back in October November, I had
Speaker 1: some surgery issues and I had like three different surgeries,
Speaker 1: and so there weren't major, weren't life threatening, and they were.
Speaker 1: They were just a pain in the asked literally in figuratively.
Speaker 1: So I was going through this area where I was
Speaker 1: having surgery and I couldn't walk around, I couldn't lift things.
Speaker 1: So what did I do? I sat around like we
Speaker 1: always do in the fall here on the East Coast,
Speaker 1: when it gets cold and miserable out. You sit up
Speaker 1: late at night. You're watching TV. You know, you're watching sports,
Speaker 1: You're watching hockey, NBA, and you start eating stuff and
Speaker 1: then it's eleven o'clock and you go get some ice
Speaker 1: cream and then you wake and you're still up and
Speaker 1: it's one o'clock. You know, when you're watching T n
Speaker 1: T and the NBA on t V T T n T,
Speaker 1: the post game from the West Coast, and you eat
Speaker 1: and eat and eat till people put on a way
Speaker 1: and I put on like thirty pounds. And so while
Speaker 1: everybody's putting the weight on, now I'm actually losing the weight.
Speaker 1: So we went on the keyto diet, and this Robin
Speaker 1: is a brilliant at it. And even though you got
Speaker 1: to give up the breads and as an Italian giving
Speaker 1: up bread, giving a pizza, giving up those things, I
Speaker 1: mean that's almost impossible. But we've been doing it and
Speaker 1: I've lost fifteen pounds in less than a month, and
Speaker 1: I got another ten to go and then I'll be
Speaker 1: an optimum shape so that when everything is back to normal,
Speaker 1: I'll be out there and I'll be able to come
Speaker 1: back to l A. But the boy shorts on or
Speaker 1: maybe the the speedos and go back on the Venice
Speaker 1: Beach and hang out with all my boys and girls
Speaker 1: down there, your old snoppy grounds in Venice Beach. Uh,
Speaker 1: I got I, Well you're on. I gotta tell one
Speaker 1: of my favorite Tony Bruno's stories and to show how
Speaker 1: professional Tony was. The night of June nineteen, two thousand
Speaker 1: and the Lakers had won a championship. We were broadcasting
Speaker 1: doing local radio in l A. And that was the
Speaker 1: Shaq Kobe, the first title together, and there was a
Speaker 1: riot that broke out across right in front of Staples
Speaker 1: and we were broadcasting from the corner studio, which was
Speaker 1: the l A Live wasn't there, but we were in
Speaker 1: a corner corner studio and I was doing a show
Speaker 1: with Dave and then you came on. But but we
Speaker 1: were like talking about what we were seeing as the
Speaker 1: riot was kind of starting, and you were so professional.
Speaker 1: You handled that so much better than we handled it,
Speaker 1: because it was chaos down there, Tony that night. It
Speaker 1: was insane. What was going on down there. Yeah. Again,
Speaker 1: it's you know, you're, you're, you're the eyes and the
Speaker 1: ears of everybody listening, and so the people who aren't there,
Speaker 1: they want to hear something that's an accurate portrayal. And
Speaker 1: so I always tried to be the en I've covered
Speaker 1: news for so long, and I've covered events. I wasn't
Speaker 1: you know at the Olympics and seventies six when the
Speaker 1: Richard Do jewel thing at Centennial Olympic Park. I remember
Speaker 1: being in l A and eighty four for the Summer Olympics.
Speaker 1: John Madden and I and a couple of the producers, uh.
Speaker 1: When I was at r k O radio in the
Speaker 1: eighties with Keith Olberman and Charlie Steiner and those guys.
Speaker 1: John Madden and I were in Los Angeles and we
Speaker 1: were in the We were in Westwood Village because John
Speaker 1: liked to go to the Pantry in l A all
Speaker 1: the time. That was a favorite place downtown in l
Speaker 1: A legendary place, the pantry, But then we were in
Speaker 1: Westwood Village one night, going out for pizza and we're
Speaker 1: sitting in a restaurant and there's a Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Speaker 1: sitting at a table across from us. And this is
Speaker 1: now eighty four where obviously the l A is buzzing,
Speaker 1: the world's paying attention. The Summer Olympics are there, and
Speaker 1: so John Madden obviously was huge, and everybody knew we were.
Speaker 1: We're sitting there. All of a sudden, a couple of
Speaker 1: which sounded like gunshots went off, and here we are.
Speaker 1: And I remember this is pre nine eleven, but this
Speaker 1: is during the Olympics, and all of a sudden, all
Speaker 1: the fun and games and people looking around and talking
Speaker 1: about it's John Man, there's uh, there's Kareem abdul Jabbar.
Speaker 1: Everybody immediately freaks out and we had to go into
Speaker 1: reporter mode. So I go run to a phone and
Speaker 1: people are calling me on my phone and saying, what's
Speaker 1: going on? Is there are terrist attacks? So people thought
Speaker 1: there was a terror attack in Los Angeles and Westwood
Speaker 1: Village there on the u c l A campus, and
Speaker 1: so that's what happen. You've gotta be ready for that stuff.
Speaker 1: Nobody goes out thinking that the world's gonna end for
Speaker 1: that there's going to be a pandemic. But when you're
Speaker 1: out in you hear gunfire or you here are somebody
Speaker 1: crashing into a building. The first thing you do when
Speaker 1: you instinctively you have been in the media business, and
Speaker 1: I started out as a news reporter, gets to go
Speaker 1: into that news reporter mode where you want to make
Speaker 1: sure you find out what's going on and you transmit
Speaker 1: that information as responsibly as you can by scene what's
Speaker 1: on the scene, and then talking to the people who
Speaker 1: know what they're talking about. So I've always had that
Speaker 1: inner instinct in me, so if something happens, I always
Speaker 1: want to make sure I know what's happening and get
Speaker 1: responsible information. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
Speaker 1: lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app. Search f s R to listen live Tony.
Speaker 1: I know, obviously we're we're in a downturn with the
Speaker 1: way that the economy has been hit right now, and
Speaker 1: and obviously with the industry itself sports and media coming
Speaker 1: to a crashing halt. But how do you go about
Speaker 1: your preparation now and just the way that you have
Speaker 1: kept yourself, you know, chin up, head down type of mentality.
Speaker 1: Because as you guys were talking about earlier, there there's
Speaker 1: guys that are running thin on material or they're kind
Speaker 1: of going through like the Mount Rushmore of sports and
Speaker 1: on the other crap. But how do you go through
Speaker 1: the process because I would imagine, I mean, it's like
Speaker 1: going to a baseball game, right, like no game is
Speaker 1: ever the name as the next one. So for a show,
Speaker 1: I can imagine this falling on one the same lines
Speaker 1: for you. But what's the background for you in terms
Speaker 1: of how you rev up to how you go Well,
Speaker 1: the interesting thing is when I started doing the twitch thing,
Speaker 1: you know I could have just because I do it
Speaker 1: from my home. So I walked down two flights of stairs.
Speaker 1: Robin and I redid the house that we brought. So
Speaker 1: we we remodeled it. The basement looks really nice. We
Speaker 1: turned it into a little wine cellar, and so we
Speaker 1: built a little studio down there. And again this is
Speaker 1: this is long before any of this stuff where everybody's
Speaker 1: doing shows in their basement studios now, and so we
Speaker 1: had a nice little studio there and we did it
Speaker 1: on Twitch. But I would do the same thing. Instead
Speaker 1: of just mailing it in and going down and saying
Speaker 1: I just wing it for two hours, I would prepare
Speaker 1: just like I did for any other show that I've
Speaker 1: ever done. So I get up at nine, we didn't
Speaker 1: go on to one, and I would prepare for four
Speaker 1: hours to do a two hour show. I would write
Speaker 1: little notes done. I want to make sure I knew
Speaker 1: everything was happening. And so once you get that up,
Speaker 1: once you decide how you know what, I don't feel
Speaker 1: like doing it today, I'm just gonna mail it in.
Speaker 1: That's and you really don't want to do this anymore,
Speaker 1: and you probably should just hang it up. But I've
Speaker 1: always tried to approach thing that things with great preparation.
Speaker 1: I didn't need to write scripts. I would just write notes.
Speaker 1: I have all the scores that have anything I needed.
Speaker 1: The point spreads, because we've always done this, you know
Speaker 1: the stone called Locks, and now it's bigger than ever.
Speaker 1: So I've always tried to be overprepared. And most of
Speaker 1: the times I'll have more material than I even could
Speaker 1: possibly use on the show, and so we incorporate music
Speaker 1: and video and stuff Robin does a great job. We
Speaker 1: pull up the funniest videos and being on Twitch, I
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about profanity and things. And we
Speaker 1: didn't curse intentionally, just a curse. But if there's a
Speaker 1: video that has profanity in it, or a song we
Speaker 1: play an old school rap song, we don't have to
Speaker 1: play the watered down versions. And so that's one of
Speaker 1: the fun things about doing radio. We don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about the FCC, and you don't do things just
Speaker 1: to be outlandish, but you can do things that you
Speaker 1: can't do on regular radio. And that's been part of
Speaker 1: the front of the Twitch part. And now the Twitch
Speaker 1: will remain on when I'm on the Serious channel, and
Speaker 1: so they'll so there'll be a video component which you
Speaker 1: can still see on the Twitch channel, Twitch dot tv,
Speaker 1: Slash Tony Bruno Show, and also on Sirious x eppisode
Speaker 1: to have the video coupon. Not to anybody wants to
Speaker 1: see me talking on TV. But it's not just talking
Speaker 1: on TV. We do crazy stuff in the in the basement.
Speaker 1: We'll play darts. I'll go up and play drums when
Speaker 1: when the music song and there's a good drum riff,
Speaker 1: I'll just get my drumsticks and bang them on the
Speaker 1: on the desk. You stupid stuff, stupid stuff that people
Speaker 1: find funny, and that's what it is. And you know
Speaker 1: it's you're having fun. And if I don't have fun anymore,
Speaker 1: I'll have to be dead or I won't be doing
Speaker 1: this anymore, or whichever comes first. There you go, and
Speaker 1: you'll be happy to know, Tony, that the Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio Studios since you left have not changed at all.
Speaker 1: It's same equipment, same computers, same everything's the same they have.
Speaker 1: It's like a museum there, Tony, since you left, I
Speaker 1: want you to know that. Yeah, but it's it's still
Speaker 1: uh do Pete Rose still go to the restaurant right
Speaker 1: across the street there on Venture and Spolita. No. Rose
Speaker 1: moved to Vegas and that restaurant changed, that Italian restaurant
Speaker 1: over there's no a longer. Now it's a bar and
Speaker 1: bar restaurant. Yeah it's not. It's not the same setup
Speaker 1: that place closed a couple of years ago. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: pets moved on. I thought maybe been telling me that
Speaker 1: the Fox Sports Radio Studies went back to being a Denny's,
Speaker 1: which it was originally before they converted into the Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio and that was a great studio there. I
Speaker 1: can't believe you're disrespecting the beautiful studio facilities with the
Speaker 1: double bulletproof glass on the outside of the filding and
Speaker 1: on the inside of the building. That's right. And and
Speaker 1: I was there and years ago and they did somebody
Speaker 1: did uh shoot at the at the studio. Listen, Tony.
Speaker 1: I love you man. You're the greatest dominate on serious
Speaker 1: x M. And I'm so happy you're back. I can
Speaker 1: hear you now, everyone can hear you in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: And you're the o G man. Good luck to you. Thanks, guys,
Speaker 1: really appreciate man. Always great to talk to you about him.
Speaker 1: I have to catch up soon. All right, that was awesome,
Speaker 1: big thanks Tony. Bruno loved love chatting with Tony. We
Speaker 1: have a little time left, gast scout, so we can
Speaker 1: do some grab bag. Is that all right? Yeah? Are
Speaker 1: we gonna have a mom it where you can actually
Speaker 1: read to me some of the positive emails that you
Speaker 1: are purposely confiscating from our general inbox, because I heard
Speaker 1: a rumor or two that you've been doing that of
Speaker 1: the last month. Not at all. I've not received any
Speaker 1: positive messages about you. When I do, I will start
Speaker 1: laughing and know the show is not going well at
Speaker 1: that particular moment. But we have some random questions. Let's
Speaker 1: get to as many of these as we can, guess,
Speaker 1: because we don't have a lot of time, because we
Speaker 1: love talking to Tony and and all that. This one's
Speaker 1: from Carlos and Houston. He says, Ben, when did the
Speaker 1: Curse of the ben Binos starting? And when will it end? Uh?
Speaker 1: Those are great questions, Carlos. The curse of the ben Bino,
Speaker 1: the term curse of the ben Bino started. There was
Speaker 1: a caller from Detroit in the early days of the
Speaker 1: show at Fox Motor City. Mike, I believe was the
Speaker 1: night the guy's name, and he was a newspaper delivery
Speaker 1: guy in Detroit, and he started figuring out that every
Speaker 1: time I made a bold prediction, and I would predict
Speaker 1: things that should happen that most people thought were going
Speaker 1: to happen that didn't happen. And then he's like, you know,
Speaker 1: you're cursed. You've got the curse of the Benbino. And
Speaker 1: then that's kind of how it started. It's gonna end
Speaker 1: when the Clippers when the NBA Championship, which will be
Speaker 1: in December of this year, when the NBA c C
Speaker 1: comes back with Cohi Leonard. Uh so that's when it's
Speaker 1: gonna end. Uh. Let's see r J and san Antonio
Speaker 1: rights and he says with no sports on, has this
Speaker 1: been the hardest time in your career as a sports
Speaker 1: radio host? Uh, I'm gonna actually go no on that,
Speaker 1: r J. Uh I and and maybe it will change.
Speaker 1: But I've been okay, I've been. I mean there's not
Speaker 1: a lot. You know. One of my faults, I'm a
Speaker 1: type A personality, and so when times are normal and
Speaker 1: there's a ton of stuff to choose from, Uh, those
Speaker 1: are actually harder times for me because I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want to do something that's not an A story.
Speaker 1: I don't want do something that's an A story. Uh,
Speaker 1: we'll only do any story I don't want to do,
Speaker 1: like lower stories. So I will sometimes overlook certain things
Speaker 1: and be hyper focused on getting only the biggest stories,
Speaker 1: only the most interesting stories. But now there's not enough.
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of variety, so the options are
Speaker 1: limited on what we have to talk about. So it
Speaker 1: hasn't been that hard. There's still a little bit of
Speaker 1: information every day that we can talk about and kick around.
Speaker 1: So surprisingly, no, the couple of weeks after nine eleven,
Speaker 1: we're really that was the hardest time for me doing
Speaker 1: this kind of stuff. I think are our podcast had
Speaker 1: had you prepared for for this moment? Because are you
Speaker 1: taking credit for this, guest go No, No, I'm not
Speaker 1: taking credit for I'm just saying, like what we did
Speaker 1: with the podcast because we had Beny Versus the Penny,
Speaker 1: which embarked in September to open up Week one or
Speaker 1: nineteen football season. But everything else we've done on the podcast,
Speaker 1: We've talked about fasting, we've talked about different elements of
Speaker 1: this podcast, and most of it is not sports related.
Speaker 1: So the conditioning aspect for you when you go through
Speaker 1: a three four hour show and now onto this is
Speaker 1: that's you've already been trained, or I guess you've already
Speaker 1: your mind has already been trained to go off the
Speaker 1: beaten path and not always take like the low hanging
Speaker 1: fruit that everybody else does in the sports world. Well,
Speaker 1: I've always tried to do a little things a little different.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to be like everyone else.
Speaker 1: I can't I can't stand most of the things I hear,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to do that, So I always
Speaker 1: have to have your unique smith. But it's an answer.
Speaker 1: R J gett. I don't know, it's not. It might
Speaker 1: get to that point, but we're not quite at that point. Um,
Speaker 1: and who else do we have? A guy from Maple Grove, Minnesota?
Speaker 1: Did not write the guy's name down? Bad job by me,
Speaker 1: uh says Why do most of the Ben Mall Show
Speaker 1: regular callers make Joe Exotic look completely sane? Did you
Speaker 1: watch the Tiger King gas No, I was texting. I
Speaker 1: was texting your wife, I said. I got through the
Speaker 1: first episode. I wanted to kill myself. These people, what's
Speaker 1: wrong with your dude? Oh, they're entertaining cartoon characters not entertaining. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: you're west of the four oh five. For us common people,
Speaker 1: it's entertaining. It's everyone loves a freak show. They're just
Speaker 1: guy Joe Exotic, flamboyantly gay guy that collects big pats
Speaker 1: and lives in Oklahoma. Not it's in the world we
Speaker 1: live in right now. He gets to peek in on
Speaker 1: the other side. It's I was compelled by and I
Speaker 1: thought it was very well done with the production value
Speaker 1: was great. They had some real characters, not just Joe Exotic.
Speaker 1: They had the guy from Inside Edition who was the videographer.
Speaker 1: They had the you don't know any of this stuff
Speaker 1: because you didn't watch No thankfully I do not. I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but but no. I said on the show
Speaker 1: that Joe Exotic seems like a kind of guy that
Speaker 1: would be one of my callers, you know. He seems
Speaker 1: like he would fit in with Doc Mike or Mark
Speaker 1: the full name guy, or any of these people. So
Speaker 1: Kenn and Talita writes in this this grab bag actual
Speaker 1: questions by actual listeners, Kent says, uh, Benn, and guesscon
Speaker 1: have you ever weighed yourself then taken a ship and
Speaker 1: then weighed yourself after to see how much your ship weighed?
Speaker 1: So from Ken, you ever done that? Yeah? So what
Speaker 1: I did do is I weighed myself, took a deuce, showered,
Speaker 1: and then weighed myself again, and I lost a couple
Speaker 1: of pounds. Don't you weigh less early in the day?
Speaker 1: Was it late? It's early in there? You want to
Speaker 1: weigh yourself in the morning, Yes, especially when you're in
Speaker 1: an empty stomach. So not drinking any water. I assume
Speaker 1: if you're slept the least seven or eight hours, you
Speaker 1: haven't eaten for maybe ten hours. Um, that's usual when
Speaker 1: you're at your lightest. I don't understand why people go
Speaker 1: to the gym and way themselves and they weigh themselves
Speaker 1: at night, Like that doesn't do anything. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: you're at your heaviest at that point. Yeah. Um, what
Speaker 1: I do when I go to the doctor's office, every
Speaker 1: one song they weighed me. And if I don't like
Speaker 1: the number that they put, I just assume it's because
Speaker 1: I have my keys in my wallet. My keys in
Speaker 1: my wallet weighs seventeen pounds. Your shoes too, probably right,
Speaker 1: my shoes, yeah, my exactly. I'm like, OK, well, I
Speaker 1: don't wait that much. I mean my shoes, my wallet,
Speaker 1: my keys, that's gotta be like twenty five pounds altogether
Speaker 1: plus clearly plus right, and plus your pajama clothing now,
Speaker 1: which is like three inches too big on the waist
Speaker 1: and what like? Shame me? Richard in Texas writes, and
Speaker 1: he says, Ben and guests, God, which HBO series would
Speaker 1: you consider better? Arless? Or curb your enthusiasm? All right?
Speaker 1: I'll go first. This is this is not even close. Now.
Speaker 1: I liked Arless back in the day, and I watched Arless,
Speaker 1: but Curb Your Enthusiasm is a masterpiece. It's masterpiece theater.
Speaker 1: Not even close. That is a k oh first round.
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson Early Days Tyson knockout for Larry David and
Speaker 1: Curb Your Enthusiasm? Why was this so good for you?
Speaker 1: Before I answer, why was it so good for you?
Speaker 1: Curb Enthusiasm? I just love that brand of humor, Like
Speaker 1: I feel like I've I've lived my email. Larry David's
Speaker 1: a character on a TV show, Like a lot of
Speaker 1: things that I have experienced in my life are relatable,
Speaker 1: Like I have the same when I go out. I
Speaker 1: hate the annoying things in life, and I I've complained
Speaker 1: about those things way before Curb Your Enthusiasm. So it's
Speaker 1: it's just resonating. It's preaching to the choir, which I enjoy.
Speaker 1: All right. Well, the reason why I ask is because
Speaker 1: I have not watched either of those shows, but so
Speaker 1: out of hold HBO the two best series that I've
Speaker 1: ever watched on there, not Game of Thrones, but The
Speaker 1: Wire and True Detectives. So I've never seen The Wire
Speaker 1: or True Detective. I love the Sopranos. That was a
Speaker 1: great show back in the day. That's to me, the
Speaker 1: top show that HBO has had is The Sopranos. But
Speaker 1: Curb Your Enthusiasm is just outstanding. Well, I mean, you
Speaker 1: have to watch The Wire. The Wires, I mean True
Speaker 1: Detective season one is the best of the three that
Speaker 1: they they showcased. But The Wire season one to season five.
Speaker 1: It talks about all the nuance in the city of Baltimore,
Speaker 1: police politics, the dock workers, the kids in the school system,
Speaker 1: like it encompasses everything of that city. Um, you have
Speaker 1: to watch it, man, and it's that good. Well you
Speaker 1: got time, now, that's a good point. I do have
Speaker 1: a lot of time, plenty. We all have a lot
Speaker 1: of time. It's grabbed bag. These are actual questions by
Speaker 1: actual listeners. Ethan in akron A k Ethan in Detroit
Speaker 1: writes and he says, what's the worst thing you can
Speaker 1: do while pursuing a career in sports media? So this
Speaker 1: guy Ethan is looking for some career advice on how
Speaker 1: to get into the media business. Well, my advice, Ethan is,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's the worst thing you can do.
Speaker 1: But I think the thing that I noticed, the reason
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't make it is not because
Speaker 1: a lack of talent. It's that they give up. And
Speaker 1: it's a business that will wear you down, and much
Speaker 1: like anything, only the strong survive. And I've noticed that
Speaker 1: a lot of people, if they don't get to a
Speaker 1: certain point and become a kingpin in the media business
Speaker 1: after an X number of years, they're like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: just not gonna make it. I'm gonna go do something else.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the wrong at it. That's a
Speaker 1: that's a loser's mentality. So I think you just gotta
Speaker 1: have tenacity, and you've got to continue, and you've got
Speaker 1: a network and all that. But I think that's the
Speaker 1: biggest mistake. The worst thing I see from people is
Speaker 1: they just give up. They don't try. What about you guess?
Speaker 1: I think to echo that or a piggyback off of it,
Speaker 1: I would say not having any goals. I think for me,
Speaker 1: I went from a career and stability in real estate
Speaker 1: to starting my entire life over when I went to
Speaker 1: grad school. So when I got out of grad school,
Speaker 1: I went and worked for two public access channels here
Speaker 1: in l A making a dime with a master's degree
Speaker 1: for an entire year. And when I got my first
Speaker 1: job was with the I Heart San Diego. I took
Speaker 1: the job as a board operator. If everyone that listens
Speaker 1: to your show knows who Roberto is. I was doing
Speaker 1: his job part time for ten dollars an hour, and
Speaker 1: I was doing that Monday through Friday. I was getting
Speaker 1: paid six dollars every two weeks. But when I first started,
Speaker 1: I wrote down goals, like in terms of how I
Speaker 1: want to ascend, what I wanted to do for work.
Speaker 1: I eventually got my first on air opportunity six months
Speaker 1: after I got in the door, and then I became
Speaker 1: the game day host the Chargers, the game day host
Speaker 1: of the San Diego State Aztecs. Then I started getting
Speaker 1: play by play work in San Diego, then in Riverside,
Speaker 1: and then eventually I moved up to l A to
Speaker 1: work with you fourteen months after I started at My
Speaker 1: Heart San Diego. But I had goals and had benchmarks
Speaker 1: and things I wanted to do. So if you have
Speaker 1: goals down, it puts in the front of your mind like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what you got to do and there's your objectives.
Speaker 1: I think one of the thing is you can't be
Speaker 1: cavalier with your social media because there's always eyes on
Speaker 1: you Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. You can't do stupid shit on
Speaker 1: there because you'll get either exposed or will come back
Speaker 1: and bite you eventually. And those are the two things.
Speaker 1: So acid wash your social media, thankfull you get into
Speaker 1: the business. Or if you're gonna have to have someone
Speaker 1: help you out, yeah, I've helped a few people out
Speaker 1: over the Year's guest And look to my counsel too.
Speaker 1: I know a couple of tricks on how to erase
Speaker 1: certain certain things that are in your past on social
Speaker 1: media that that can come back to haunt you. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Jason and Bakersfield Right City says what sport would be
Speaker 1: the funniest to add a mandatory amount of alcohol too?
Speaker 1: Al Right, I think the obvious one would be hockey,
Speaker 1: al right, seeing guys try to skate when they're completely snockered, yeah,
Speaker 1: liquored up, but anything would be more. We see guys
Speaker 1: played softball completely hammered. Right, Um so, man, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to have our all this chatman throwing at me
Speaker 1: while intoxicated, but you might. I mean if he's schnockered,
Speaker 1: he might not be able to throw it straight, so
Speaker 1: he might not hit you right. He could be so
Speaker 1: sloshed up the ball sales into the second deck. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm a right handed batter, so he throws a slider
Speaker 1: that things hitting me, eating the hip or the dick like.
Speaker 1: Either way, I'm getting dotted by that thing. So well,
Speaker 1: when you were playing back in the day, guest Gun,
Speaker 1: you had first base with Scotch, second base was Whiskey,
Speaker 1: third base with bourbon, right run around the basis at home.
Speaker 1: Home plate was all of it? Yeah, home plate was
Speaker 1: was all the above. There. Let's see. This is Colin
Speaker 1: in Denver listening to the fifth Hour right soon. He says,
Speaker 1: have either of you guys found anything similar to sports
Speaker 1: to watch that isn't reruns? And will this pandemic help
Speaker 1: to legitimize sports in general? Well, listen, Coy, I guess
Speaker 1: we'll take the last part. I think that's the more
Speaker 1: interesting question. No offense, comb um, But will this legitimize
Speaker 1: the sports? I'm not convinced. I think people are watching,
Speaker 1: and the ratings have been very good for for e sports.
Speaker 1: Uh so far, people, millions of people have been watching
Speaker 1: these things, But I think it's more a product of
Speaker 1: the times that if you had a game with real
Speaker 1: human beings actually playing to watch that, more people would
Speaker 1: watch that and less people would watch the sports. But
Speaker 1: when you have no other options, you watch this. You know,
Speaker 1: when you have only one channel to watch, you're gonna
Speaker 1: watch that one channel more than you're not going to
Speaker 1: watch the channel. So I'm not convinced that this coronavirus
Speaker 1: pandemic is going to lead to the new normal being
Speaker 1: e sports. But I know it's a hell of a
Speaker 1: lot cheaper to put an e sports game on, and
Speaker 1: it is to put a real professional sports game on.
Speaker 1: I know that, yeah, And and to piggyback off of that,
Speaker 1: to Ben, I would rather it's like having an automated
Speaker 1: umpire as opposed to a human being behind the dish.
Speaker 1: Like it's nice to have someone accurately called balls and
Speaker 1: strikes properly, but there's something very human and great about
Speaker 1: dishing it out to an umpire, whether you're for him
Speaker 1: or against him, whether he has a liberal strike zone
Speaker 1: or it's really conservative, there's something about that that you
Speaker 1: take away with automation. I don't want to watch a
Speaker 1: kid or an adult playing video games. I want to
Speaker 1: see people competing out there in the cord or on
Speaker 1: the ice or in the field of play, like there's
Speaker 1: there's no substitute. And you'll find that out the hard
Speaker 1: way if we don't have an NFL or college football season. Yeah, yeah, boy,
Speaker 1: don't say that. I come on, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: watch your mouthought with soap and one what's wrong with
Speaker 1: you is say that. Don't even put that out in
Speaker 1: the world. What's wrong with you? All right? Jeff in Clarksville, Indiana,
Speaker 1: right scenes just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky,
Speaker 1: He says, pull the magic radio curtain back and give
Speaker 1: us an inside look. What is something in the radio
Speaker 1: business that goes on behind the scenes that the normal
Speaker 1: listener has no idea goes on? Uh? Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: in some ways I can answer this. I think the
Speaker 1: one thing that I've been eye opening. I don't see
Speaker 1: it that often, but every once in a while. Over
Speaker 1: the years, I've worked with different people, and um, I'm
Speaker 1: always amazed by the guys that just kind of skate
Speaker 1: by and don't prepare. And sometimes you listen to these
Speaker 1: shows you think, oh man, this guy's been preparing all day.
Speaker 1: And I've known a few people that have worked in
Speaker 1: the business that literally show up two minutes before the show,
Speaker 1: haven't done any preparation, and they just it's called rip
Speaker 1: and read whatever the top stories are on the sports websites.
Speaker 1: They just kind of make it up as they go,
Speaker 1: and those people are exposed, they don't last very long.
Speaker 1: But that's that's something that I've seen behind the scenes
Speaker 1: that I think a lot of people assume if you
Speaker 1: have one of these jobs, that you work hard, you're prepared,
Speaker 1: air and all that, and it's not not always the case,
Speaker 1: not always the case at all. What about you guess, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they call that, whether it's in college baseball or in
Speaker 1: minor league baseball, they call it stretch and go. And
Speaker 1: usually it's in the final game of a three or
Speaker 1: four game series where the home or where the road
Speaker 1: team will come in and they won't even take batting practice.
Speaker 1: They'll warm up, they'll stretch, and then they just hit
Speaker 1: the diamond and play the game. And that's exactly what
Speaker 1: you're talking about. It is amazing to me the amount
Speaker 1: of work that certain producers will will do and provide
Speaker 1: for the talent that's either on television or radio, and
Speaker 1: that individual man or woman has the slightest clue about
Speaker 1: what's going on. And that's for live TV and that's
Speaker 1: for regular shows as well. So that is there's one thing.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that's uh earth shattering, but
Speaker 1: I think along the lines of that, there's also a
Speaker 1: lot of box score television, a lot of box score radio,
Speaker 1: and just basically you and I coming into the studio.
Speaker 1: All the Dodgers played the Ace today and they want
Speaker 1: seven and nothing, but you're just going through this box
Speaker 1: score to see who did what and who didn't and
Speaker 1: obviously just talking about the low hanging fruit that's there too,
Speaker 1: and that happens more often than you think. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can tell when they don't actually watch the games. So
Speaker 1: we don't break down games very much these days in
Speaker 1: sports or over nothing right now, But even when games
Speaker 1: are going on, we it's only usually playoff games like
Speaker 1: big games that will break down. But otherwise we're talking
Speaker 1: about the stories around around the games. All right, we'll
Speaker 1: ask you. We got I've got a few questions in right,
Speaker 1: that's a good amount of questions. I want to end
Speaker 1: one more. You want me to give you one more?
Speaker 1: One more. Let's do one more, one more shot. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's see here. This is from Mike in Upper Michigan. Formally,
Speaker 1: he's the guy guesscon that invited weed Man. He tried
Speaker 1: to help weed Man and gave him a place to stay,
Speaker 1: and then weed Man said he accused me of having
Speaker 1: him kidnapped. Nut job. I feel bad. Mike was a
Speaker 1: nice guy opening his home to lead Man. And and
Speaker 1: and that's the thanks, that's what we get anyway. Um.
Speaker 1: He says, what are your worst accidental grocery store purchases? Does?
Speaker 1: His top three are creamy peanut butter, oatmeal raisin cookies,
Speaker 1: tuna packed in oil. Uh. He says those are his
Speaker 1: worst accidental I don't mind creamy peanut butter. I'm fine
Speaker 1: with that. The oatmeal raising, yeah, I don't like oatmeal
Speaker 1: raisin cookies. I'm trying to think, like I've tried, I
Speaker 1: don't really buy things. I don't need these dies. I
Speaker 1: go to the grocery store, I'm like, I'm I got
Speaker 1: laser focused guest, laser like focus. Okay, I go in there,
Speaker 1: I get what I need. I very rarely go off
Speaker 1: the reservation and get somebody I'm not supposed to get.
Speaker 1: But back in the day, my big eating days, when
Speaker 1: I was big fat tub of goo man, I would
Speaker 1: go in there and with any new flavor of Oreo cookies,
Speaker 1: you know they used to try all these news I
Speaker 1: would buy those. Any kind of weird ex A chip flavor,
Speaker 1: I would pick that up, and you know, gallons of
Speaker 1: grape soda and all that. I would just go for
Speaker 1: it back and they what about you guess on any
Speaker 1: weird stuff west of the four oh five you picked up? No,
Speaker 1: But I wanted to be a fat ass. I would
Speaker 1: always buy or get stuff that looked healthy, like vegetables
Speaker 1: or fruit. And anytime I wanted to pick out whether
Speaker 1: I'm eating, like frozen pizza or ice cream or ice
Speaker 1: cream bars, I'd always put it at the bottom of
Speaker 1: my cart so that way it looked like I was
Speaker 1: stacking everything with like healthy food. It's healthy, So people
Speaker 1: walking by me or go into the cashier's desk, I
Speaker 1: wasn't getting judged. Yeah, well, that's like the people that
Speaker 1: would eat the salad and then you just put like
Speaker 1: a gallon of salad dressing on top, so you might
Speaker 1: as well just eat a big mac. It's the same
Speaker 1: amount of calories. What are you doing? You know that
Speaker 1: kind of thing? Yeah, which is really the only way
Speaker 1: to eat a salad is just to pour a ton
Speaker 1: of salad dressing on top of the ranch. Please, no wretch.
Speaker 1: A thousand island that was an island is my addressing
Speaker 1: of choice. That's that's what I go for. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: that is it, Gascon. Thank you. Another a wonderful edition
Speaker 1: of the Fifth Our. Thanks again to Tony Bruno. Love Tony.
Speaker 1: Very excited to have a chance to talk to him.
Speaker 1: It's been the first time in several years that I've
Speaker 1: been able to catch up with the o G of
Speaker 1: sports radio. Now. Hey, follow us on social media. I'm
Speaker 1: on The Graham on Instagram, Ben Maller on Fox. You
Speaker 1: can follow me on there also Ben Mallard Show on
Speaker 1: Facebook and on Twitter. Ben Mallard Gistcon. You're also around
Speaker 1: those parts. Yes, on Twitter, I'm at David J. Gascon
Speaker 1: and The Graham. I g I'm at Dave Gascon. Alright,
Speaker 1: so thanks, tell a friend about the podcast. Be safe.
Speaker 1: We'll catch you back on the radio in probably just
Speaker 1: a few hours, who knows, depending how you look at it.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll talk to you then. Thanks.