Jeff Kurkjian hasn't been out of college a decade yet, but he's already been a successful major market morning show host in Cleveland, Las Vegas, and now Philadelphia. Today, we go through his time at Syracuse, as well as his many stops since. You'd be hard pressed to find a more positive guy in our organization, and you too will likely come out of this listen with a smile on your face.
Jeff's radio journey actually began before Syracuse, when as an 11 year old, he tagged along with his Dad (ESPN's Tim Kurkjian) to a Baseball Hall of Fame Induction in Cooperstown, New York. There. he was interviewed by Fordham University's WFUV, and he became enamored with the interviewing side of the business. Jeff actually followed his sister to Syracuse, with many ideas for what he might want to do professionally. But when he first started on the Z Morning Zoo, he just knew.
Through his time as a student, Jeff relied on many of our prominent alumni to listen to his tapes - folks like Ralphie Aversa, Ryan Sampson, Josh Wolff, Craig Hoffman and more. This feedback gave him the talent and confidence to start sending out tapes prior to graduation. He tells the story of how he landed his first job - and having to do an "emergency morning show," of sorts.
At his first stop in Cleveland, Jeff continued to rely on our alumni to answer questions he may not have been comfortable asking his new co-workers. He also talks about using our network to land his next gig in Vegas.
In Sin City, Jeff met his wife on Tinder. And thanks to country artist Ashley McBride, he actually has a picture of their first date - which lasted 8 hours.
Shortly after getting married, Jeff and Emily were faced with the reality of the business when station changes meant a move to Philadelphia. That meant yet another radio move for Jeff, and an even bigger move for Emily, born and raised in Nevada. Fortunately, the love Philadelphia and are thriving there.
Jeff talks about some important lessons he learned at WJPZ about teamwork, understanding, and patience, and how that has served him well in his career. He also shares his thoughts on the importance of digital and how that interplays with traditional radio going forward.
Join Us in Syracuse for Banquet on March 4th: https://bit.ly/WJPZ50BanquetTickets
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast is produced by Jon Gay '02 and JAG in Detroit Podcasts
JAG: Welcome to WJPZ at 50. I am Jon Jag Gay. A little less than a year ago, my wife and I were out in Las Vegas and we got lunch with today's guest and we walked away from lunch with today's guest and my wife looked at me and said, not only is he so nice, you can tell in talking to him, he is just a total pro and so good at what he does.
That is today's guest from the class of 2015. Welcome, Jeff Kurkjian.
Jeff: Oh, JAG. That is so sweet. That was such a fun little lunch we had. I think it just speaks volumes to this relationship that JPZ has brought so many of us. It's so interesting cuz when I got married and I'm sure you had an interesting conversation as well. It's hard to explain. Okay. Why am I friends with so many alums from so many different years and a lot of them from so many different backgrounds now? And that's JPZ for you.
JAG: It is. And the first time I met you was at the after hours party from a Banquet one year, which I believe you hosted at your house. If memory serves.
Jeff: Yeah, that sounds about right.
JAG: A few of us are outside having our annual cigar when you came up and introduced yourself and, oh, this seems like a nice guy, current student, let's chat with him. We've been chatting ever since all throughout your major market career from Cleveland to Vegas and now Philadelphia.
Jeff: Yeah, I think that is the best advice I could give a current student. Is if you have the opportunity to throw the after-banquet party, do it. Because it's a great icebreaker for alums and a great icebreaker for you. And I always talk to the host of the party and say, “Hey, I was there. I did exactly this, and it's worth every stress that it will cause you the night of and the day after.” Hopefully.
JAG: Hopefully so Jeff, take us back. How did you end up at Syracuse and getting involved with Z 89?
Jeff: My sister actually graduated from Syracuse, class of '13. So she went there for their graphic design program and she loved it. I went and visited her, immediately loved it, knew I wanted to get into broadcasting, knew it was a great program, and said, if I end up getting into Newhouse, I'm gonna go and really had no desire for anything but the broadcast side of things, in the sense of what Newhouse had to offer. But I feel like that's a lot of people. I hear some great stories of kids who said, oh, I, I knew I wanted to join the student run radio station. I never really thought about that much, and I didn't actually get involved with JPZ until my junior year.
Which, objectively speaking, was a big mistake. As soon as I joined, I realized what have I been doing with myself? I need to be here. Since day one, I had a chance to be involved with some great organizations, Otto Tunes, the acapella group. I was the mascot for four years. I was involved heavily within the school, and so that kept me busy.
But when I stepped on the Z Morning, With my buddy Kyle John Fenton, and Simone Depew. We did the show together, and after the first show, I just knew this is what I was gonna do for the rest of my life. I don't wanna say I've never had that feeling before because when I was in Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripkin, oh geez, a long time ago, and it might have been 2000 and when they got inducted, I'm gonna guess it's '04.
Fact check me on that Jag. But I got a chance, my dad was doing an interview with Fordham University's, WFUV and Dad's doing Radio Row. So my dad is ESPN's Tim Kurkjian. So they wanna talk to him about the history of the game and what he thinks about Cal and Tony. And I'm sitting there doing radio row with him.
The program director said, Hey, do you wanna come on next for an interview? And I'm a little shocked. Dad is half in, half out, cuz he's about to go to the next one and they said, Tim, is that all right? And he said, yeah, sure.
JAG: How old are you roughly at this point, Jeff?
Jeff: 11, maybe 12, maybe 13. Maybe It was '06, I think it was '06.
So I would've been 13 years old. I did 10 minutes on WFUV watching the students interview me and I said, I want to be doing what they're doing. I don't wanna be on this side of the microphone. I don't wanna be interviewed. I want to be interviewing. And it was really those college kids, despite growing up with a broadcaster dad, it was those college kids and that interview radio vibe.
I still remember it like it was yesterday. That's what really got me excited About being in radio. Bob Aarons, the program director, long time, for WFUV takes credit for my career as he should, and I gotta give credit to Kyle John Fenton for having the connection at JPZ. And after our first hour, we were gonna switch spots.
He was gonna run the board and "host," and I was gonna be his co-host and he said why don't you just do the first two hours, I'll do the last two. I said OK, I do the first two. He says why don't you do this week and I'll do next week? I said, okay. I do the four-hour show and after he looks at me and says, I think you're supposed to do this for the rest of your life.
So why don't you just keep hosting and I'll be your goofy sidekick or whatever, and we'll do the show that way.
JAG: That's a degree of humility to be able to step back and say that too.
Jeff: I know. And he is the one with the JPZ connection at the time, like he was the one who got us in the door. They had an opening on a Zoo, so they just let us do our thing.
So for him, and I've told him this to his face many times. He was just in my wedding as a groomsman and he just welcomed a baby into the world. Any chance I get, I thank him because he gave me that confidence and JPZ gave me the ability, and when you are able to actually feel like you're making a difference and you're actually on the radio.
I think those who have come before me and those who have come after, it's just a rich history of WJPZ. I'm just proud to be a millisecond in the history of this great radio station.
JAG: It's funny you mentioned your dad because so many people on the podcast, myself included, have come to Syracuse and said, I'm gonna be the next Bob Costas, Mike Tirico, Tim Kurkjian, whatever the name is.
Whether it was AER or coming, going from AER, wanna be a sportscaster, you'd had a front row seat to see that side of the business since you were very young. So you knew coming to Syracuse you wanted to be the interviewer, but not necessarily the sports guy. Is that right?
Jeff: Yeah. Jag, I think this is, and looking back at teenage Jeff Kurkjian, I have trouble grappling with that because I went to Syracuse, not entirely certain exactly where I wanted to go.
I wasn't in the AER meetings on day one. Like I know some guys, Jay Alter comes to mind. Paul Mancono comes to mind. These guys are like, I'm here for AER. I'm here to do the basketball games and Newhouse is separate. I was there, in my mind, to get the best journalism education. I love, still do, loved writing and still love writing, and I think it's an art form that is sadly going by the wayside.
And I said, if I can become a better writer and become a journalist, I would love that. Then I got into some video work and thought documentarian, telling people's stories, asking their questions behind the scenes. I just had so many different ideas. But I think I always said to myself in the back of my head, if I really wanted to, I love sports, I love baseball, I love basketball.
I could go and do that, and I don't mean to belittle those who have dedicated their whole lives to doing it. I knew that if I really, if I was like, end all be all, I'm at Syracuse and I want to go through sports broadcasting, I could do it. But then I think in relaxing back on that, it allowed me to open up to the chance of maybe being the next Anderson Cooper. I grew up right outside DC so having a chance to think about being a Capitol Hill reporter, that really interested me. I got a political science degree there too, and I'm just fascinated with the way politics works. Not politics as a whole, but the way politics works and policies are made, and I love that kind of stuff and I thirst for knowledge in that sense.
And I thirst for others to be more informed when it comes to policies and things happening in the country. So I was like, maybe that could happen. But really, JAG, I can say my first show at JPZ. I remember saying after Kyle said that to me, if I could do this for a living, I would be set. But nobody does this for real.
And that's when J PZ came in. And it's just the kind of thing where you listen to these. You were on terrestrial radio for quite some time, and I'm sure you had the same experience. You'd listen to these people without a face and you'd say, there's no way that's like a real job. There's no way people are getting paid to do that.
And lo and behold, I met the greats of yourself. Ralphie Aversa, Ryan Sampson. Josh Wolff, so many great people who were able to put me in touch. Craig Hoffman, who just said no, this is real, and let's take a listen to your stuff and let's see how we can help you. And that is the reason why I got my first job, is JPZ tore my tape apart. Ralphie, Ryan, these guys really helped me be job ready and I applied to a random job, many random jobs, and ended up starting my career in Cleveland, Ohio, and I a hundred percent thank WFUV, Kyle John Fenton, and then WJPZ and it' alumni. For me, being able to have the career I have thus far. And then be able to maintain it as well.
JAG: Let's walk a little bit through that career, Jeff. So you start off out of school in Cleveland. Pretty good gig outta college to start in Cleveland, Ohio, and then Cleveland to Vegas and Philly. Take me through that briefly if you could.
Jeff: Yeah, so I applied to work for Cleveland's Q104, my spring semester of senior year.
So I was coming up on graduating soon and my favorite story is I had applied to so many radio stations and heard back from basically nobody. I applied on indeed.com and I got a call just on my cell phone. Hi, this is Dave Popovich with Q104. I said, "Oh, Dave!" I'm on my senior year couch with my buddies halfway through a six pack, so I have no right to be talking to anybody,
And I run upstairs. My buddies are like, what's going on? I Google Q104.. At the time, there were two Q104's, so I didn't know what city I was talking about. I believe one of them was in the south, southern region of the country, and the other one was in Cleveland.
JAG: We'll have to ask Josh Wolf, he'd know. Maybe like Savannah, Georgia or something like that.
Jeff: He would probably know. Yeah. And he said, what do you think about moving out to Ohio? And I was like, okay, I can make that assumption. And he said when's your next day on the radio? When's your next show? And I, without thinking, said tomorrow, even though I graduated in 10 days and I was "retired" from JPZ. We had already had our last show.
We had a big tear. It was a big blowout. It was so much fun. I called the general manager at the time who I believe was Steve Krainin. And I said, “Hey, is anybody on the air in the morning tomorrow?” And he said, no, actually, cuz the zoos are done. We're just doing DJ shifts. I said did anybody sign up for tomorrow?
He said, no. I said I'm in. And then I called some buddies and I said, can you do a show with me tomorrow morning? And I convinced them to do a show with me at six in the morning just because I knew one person would be listening and that was my program director who later hired me.
So I did three years in Cleveland, Ohio hosted mornings and that was really humbling because I went from the experience of JPZ, which is such a great classroom.
However, nothing beats that real life experience. So anytime I had a question or anything, or what does PPM mean? Or all these things that everybody just uses buzzwords. People were shouting around the office that I had no idea. I would call a JPZ alum. And there was no, there's no wrong questions. No stupid questions because they're your friends and they were there.
And they'll never judge you. And that's why those connections are so valuable because I was able to ask them the questions. And of course you should always feel comfortable asking your program director those kinds of questions. But if you have a special person in your life who can ask you without you looking really stupid in front of the new boss,
So I did three years of pop radio, Cleveland's Q104, and then I needed a change. I needed something different, and I went soul searching. Through some Syracuse connections. Hal Rood, actually Syracuse. WJPZ guy.
JAG: Yep. Former podcast guest.
Jeff: Gives a lot of his time and effort into JPZ. He is the bomb and I can't wait to hear his portion, but he got me in touch with Tracy Johnson, who is a big- time morning show coach. Tracy sent my stuff over to Beasley Media Group. I had already sent my stuff to Beasley Media Group, but they didn't know who I was. So they'd seen it again and they said, okay, this kid must be someone.
And they watched my stuff and somebody in Boston at Beasley Media Group said, we don't have a spot for him, but sent it out to the rest of the program directors and here we are. That's thanks to Hal. Wow. So when you really think about it now, that's two for two jobs and thanks to WJPZ. So I moved out to Vegas.
I spent four and a half years in Vegas. I met my wife in Vegas. I had an incredible time. Moved to country. Never thought I would see myself as a country music morning show personality. But I love country so much.
JAG: If you're comfortable sharing, cuz you told me this over lunch the story of meeting your wife on your first date, that is a great story.
Jeff: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Talk about radio love. She was a big fan of the other guy. Bobby Bones was syndicated for the iHeartRadio station in my market. So when we matched on Tinder, she's a woman on Tinder, JAG, she had a lot more matches than I did. Us guys, we're a little bit more shallow than the gals out there, so all the guys are like girls are like, I don't know. Is he from a good family? And so anyway, she had a lot more matches. So she had been on Tinder on and off for about a year. She wasn't terribly entertained. I had never been on, so she was my first match ever. And so of course I'm asking her all the questions.
She's a teacher. She was born and raised in Vegas, all this stuff. Anyway, she texted me one day and says, “Hey, I'm sorry, like I fell asleep last night. Hope you have a great day.” I'm sure you're sleeping. Of course, I'd been up since 3:30, so I said, no I'm not. And she had never asked what I did, never been curious.
So she goes, oh, you're up early. And I said, yeah, and if you wanna hear me, you can turn to 102.7 down to right in. And she turned it on. I know I had to eventually get there and she listened and of course right when she turned it on, it was Jeff and Amy in the morning on 1027 Coyote Country.
And she's like, is this the guy that I'm messaging right now? My gosh. And it was so funny cuz then she quickly admitted I'm a fan of the other guy. And I said, that's fine if, and I think I made a joke at one point. If we convert one listener after just going out on a date with me, then that's all would be worth it.
Which at the end of the day is not a good idea. Cuz had we not got married, she probably wouldn't listen to me anymore. Who wants to listen to their ex-boyfriend on a radio station? So anyway, I didn't know what I was doing cuz I had never dated online.
And I got tickets from my program director to go see George Strait. Ashley McBride was opening up and it was where the Golden Knights play, at T-Mobile Arena. And I wanna make it clear, like getting tickets in a radio station like it's not as easy as you think. We usually wait until 24 hours before and there's an extra pair somebody didn't pick up and we get to go, which is of course a great perk, but I can't be planning ahead for these things.
Anyway, two days before the show, I find out I'm gonna get the program director's treatment because my PD can't go. Meet and greet, that's an open bar, that's all this stuff. So I asked this girl to go with me and she said yes and ended up being like an eight hour date. Cuz you go before, you grab drinks, you go to the concert, then you gotta get home and all that. So it was a long day.
JAG: if you still liked each other after eight hours on the first date, that's a good sign.
Jeff: And Ashley McBride, who has become quite the star as of late. Very much loved in country music these days, was pretty much unknown at that point. And we got to meet her in a meet and greet before.
So every time I get to interview her or talk to her, if she doesn't remember and bring it up herself, I definitely do. And I show her those photos. Cause we took a photo with Ashley McBride on our first date. So it's rare to say a lot of people have a photo of their significant other and them on their first date. But I get to say that, which is pretty neat.
JAG: So you spent a few years in Vegas, you're having a great time down there when we met. And then the business is the business. And your wife, Emily, born and raised in Vegas, all of a sudden, you're newly married. Hey we gotta go move to Philadelphia. How does that go?
Jeff: I think you know the answer to that, and I think everybody does with that setup. No, it's crazy. In the relationships I've been in before, I've very much made it clear that my career isn't the most important thing in the world compared to my family and now my wife and my faith and all that.
But it also is what allows me to do the things I'd like to do, to be able to own a home, to be able to go visit family, to be able to be happy. I am only 29 and I've moved three times, and I think the hardest part that I've had to deal with is the fact that. What you do for a living and how you make money allows you to be happy.
It doesn't bring you happiness. Money doesn't bring you happiness, but it allows you to do the things that do make you happy. And you have to make decisions sometimes as a family that are difficult. And the business was the business and they were changing out things in Vegas and switching frequencies.
And Coyote Country was gonna be a different frequency with a smaller staff. And they took my radio co-host Amy Thomas, who is fantastically talented, such a good radio host and put her on a new station they were starting up and they knew this was coming down and they offered this opportunity in Philadelphia.
For all intents and purposes, bigger market, bigger radio station. Only Country station in Philly, as opposed to a smaller market competing with two country stations. So right, bigger ceiling for success. A difficult decision nonetheless. But my wife being an amazing supporter of what we do and me reminding her that, hey, at the end of the day we're doing this together and we're doing this because we want to have the life that we want to have even though it hurts.
She's now working a great new career with Amazon. Things are going really well with her and I'm so happy to see her trying something new. She's been a teacher for a long time and so she got a new opportunity. We get a whole new experience in a city and of course we move here in the summer of 2022 and the Phillies are crazy good and make it to the World Series, and we got to go to two playoff games and then the Eagles start off whatever it was, 7-0, 8-0.
It's just really exciting because it's something we get to do together and we're not going back to my hometown. We're not in her hometown. We are truly discovering this place together. And I think she is my hero and I owe her so much for taking this leap with me and it's definitely paid off cuz we're really happy here.
JAG: Yeah, she's a lucky gal for sure. Just as you're a lucky guy.
Jeff, tell me a little bit about lessons you learned at the radio station. At JPZ that have served you throughout this career you've had thus far. And it's hard to think that you're not quite 30 and you've done all this stuff so far, but what have you learned from Z89?
Jeff: I think the number one thing I learned from Z89 is that it's really important to remember that we're all on the same team, and I've only worked in radio professionally, so I can't really speak to other companies. If it is the way I think it is with radio, everything everybody is trying to do, not just the programming and on-air staff, it's just trying to make the radio station better.
Whether it's your digital team, your sales team. And I always found that because being on the board, I was the Z Morning Zoo producer or director or whatever it was called. So I organized all the zoos, I put the staff together and I made sure that the shows were running, but that was only my concern. I need the program director to schedule the music.
I need the legal director to tell me if we can do this giveaway. I need the GM to sign off on these things. And I think I learned very quickly because they were all my friends, that I was way more patient with them than I would be with a current legal director. Because sure, they're just my coworker.
But at the end of the day, they're also just looking out for the radio station. They're also the sales staff. It was just looking out to make the radio station money and in turn be able to hire me. And on that note, that kind of led me to the conclusion that people are always doing more than you think they are.
I always get frustrated when people assume that what you've asked of them is the only thing you've been asked of in the last 24 hours, right? You email your program director and said, I would really like you to air check this segment, and he doesn't get back to you for two days. It's not because he doesn't want to, it's not because he doesn't like you. It's just because he has other stuff going on, and what you're asking of might not be the number one priority that goes through your sales staff. Digital.
And I think I just learned that because I was helping run a radio station with a bunch of my friends. So you automatically give them leeway because that's my friend. That's my buddy Corey Crockett. You know my buddy Joey Cosco. That's my buddy Allie Gold. Let me call her and see. Oh. Oh, you're busy.
Okay, then we'll figure that out. To that note on morning radio, nothing I loved more and what I learned from JPZ is we all just wanna have a good time and we can just do it on the radio. I would love bringing in our sports updaters, who I might not know, maybe it's a freshman and they're just in charge of 60 seconds of the show, but then you branch off and have 'em in the next segment and say, Hey, let's talk a little bit more about Syracuse basketball or let's talk about the craziest Thanksgiving dinner fail you ever had. Do you have a story for us? In between the songs and let them be creative with you. It warranted that teamwork because Jag, you can speak to this. So many radio stations have a problem right now with staffing.
They're not hiring a lot of people and they're paying people the same amount of money to do multiple jobs, and that's hard. So the days of promo director's in here and he's got a t-shirt cannon and he is gonna fire it at Billy over there in the guest seat and oh look, we've got our part-timers out there and they're dressing up the truck.
Let's call down to them. It's a little bit different, but we always had that at JPZ. We always hand people walking around the studio. You always pull people into your show. You always have a good time. So I think the second lesson I learned was always find a way to have a great time, even if the staff is low or there's not a lot of people walking around, find a way to make it like it was JPZ again.
JAG: I like that. I like that a lot.
You are teeing me up to ask you a question I was gonna ask you at the end, but, so I'll ask you now. What does radio need to do to continue to stay relevant and important? As somebody who's been working in the industry since you graduated?
Jeff: I think a lot of CEOs are asking themselves that question too.
Unfortunately. JAG, I think in a world where everybody wants to be relevant, everybody wants to have a podcast, everybody wants to be on TikTok, everybody wants to stream their video games and all of that. The fact that we have people in the radio industry who are that. They are a thing, and they're refusing to do the extra work to be online, to have a presence and do these things, baffles me.
The amount of times my company has just said, listen guys, we need to think about digital as well, and people have pushed back blows my mind. Listen, I'm in a union here. Our radio station is union. And I'm contracted for a certain amount of time a day to do my job, and now I'm being told I have to do more.
However, I'm also being told that if you don't do these things, there's somebody else who will. So yeah, I'm gonna do the web post. Yeah, I'm gonna do a podcast. Yeah. I'm gonna do these things that make me invaluable. I see these trends on TikTok, and maybe it's just a different industry thing. I'm not sure where people are like, here's to doing your job description eight hours a day and telling your boss, I'll get to that on Monday because they don't own you after 5:00 PM. Totally agreed. But let's hustle till five. Let's work hard till 5:00 PM. Listen, we all are scrolling through our phones and having a good time at work sometimes.
So if you're really gonna cut it off at five and go on for the weekend, then work harder for it. I just released this classroom cover, and Jag, you mentioned it before we started recording, where I sing with kids, I arrange the music, we record it, I edit it, and we put it on. I've got another one that's gonna release before Christmas and this one just released before Thanksgiving because I just know this is gonna be extra hustle.
I don't care about the hours of it. I just know that it's gonna make me invaluable. And this is not a credit to myself. I have a podcast. And it's really just kinda like my own thing. It's not getting monstrous views. It's almost therapeutic for me and it's something I enjoy doing and I like it.
And I know you consult podcasting. You said for whatever reason you're doing it, just keep doing it. Do it for that reason. And so I think in order to stay relevant, we need our radio personalities to step up and continue to offer themselves. Because why can't somebody who wants to be the next viral TikTok star also have a radio show?
You know what I mean? Why can't they do both? Because they'll beat you to it. Because if they have 30,000 Instagram followers and they say I could replace the midday guy. I know he has been here for a while. I know how to do radio. Let's just say they went to JPZ and they know the digital lane.
That's a huge plus for these companies. And I think embracing it and taking the monstrous, absolutely massive personalities that are on the radio now, and sure, hire them an assistant, I don't care, but get them to understand the importance of this and the investment that these companies are making in these large talents.
And allow them to get better at it. And that'll teach the younger generation. I know that radio will survive because in this world where you can get stuff anywhere. Cable tv, I feel like we'll never die whether you get it on YouTube tv or Sling or whatever. But radio is free. There's a million ways you can stream your music.
There's a million ways you can stream your TV show. Tell me what's free though. Not a lot anymore.
JAG: Speaking of all the different things you do on and off air in your, it's gotta be more than eight hour day. And I, by the way, I appreciate you taking your morning show nap time at 1:00 PM to record this with me. What is your favorite thing about your day or about your job? Give me one thing. I'm sure there's a lot, but pick one.
Jeff: There's this little bit of time before. So we have four people on our show, myself, my co-host, Andie, our producer, and our assistant producer, Donnie and Shannon. And this is gonna almost sound rude, because there's nothing I love more than morning radio and being a part of a team.
But there's about five minutes that I'm the only person in the radio station, okay? And I can sit there on my computer and I can hear the music playing in the background, and I can really think to myself, "What would I want to hear today? What would I want to be inspired by? What information do I need to start my day?"
And it's not even the typing on the computer and the prep work and going to my websites and going to the news sites and figuring it out. It's more of thinking through today, what are people going through today? It's being recorded on Monday, November 21st, three days before Thanksgiving. And it's just finding that inner peace of being able to say, okay, before I start to do this show, let me think about the things that people are thinking about and how I can be beneficial to them today. And then we have that conversation with my morning show. Hey, what are people talking about? What are we thinking about? And having that moment by myself in the radio station, which I romanticize radio so much because I'm still like a little kid in there.
So I'm just a little kid that's getting paid to talk to people about what they want to hear about. And so then we talk about it and then I have all these ideas because I really sat down with myself and was able to come to my thoughts and say, okay, that's something I would want.
I'll bring that to the team. And I think that's my favorite part of the day. And it sounds backwards, but it just makes me a better teammate and I never wanna let my team down I need that time in order to be the best version of myself.
JAG: Okay, let me bring it back to JPZ as we start to wrap up here.
Jeff, give me some names of folks you've stayed close with over the years that either you went to school with or connected with through JPZ, through the Alumni Association, and also a funny story or two from your time at the station.
Jeff: Jon Jag Gay. And that's it! No, I had Jag on my podcast, The Do What You Love Podcast to talk about podcasting and it was fascinating.
I just recorded an episode with Ryan Sampson. of the Morning Mashup, and he is fantastically talented. He's been such a great, just soundboard for me in career changes and things and contract negotiations, and I just needed help and needed a voice, Ralphie Aversa, who's massively, giantly talented. He has been so incredible.
Josh Wolff has been amazing with all the opportunities he's given me to speak to students. It's something that is so important. I remember when Ralphie and Craig Hoffman helped me with my tape my senior year of college and they tore it apart and built it back up. It was really appreciative and when I got my first job I said this is partially, mostly because of you guys.
Cause you made me sound good. What can I do? And they told me, just do it for the next person. That's what you can do for us. And so that is something that I have definitely kept with me and I always try to give back to WJPZ specifically. I'll be at Banquet 50. Of course. I couldn't go last year, unfortunately.
My wedding date was right around the corner and going from Vegas to Syracuse with an impending expensive wedding coming up just wasn't in the budget.
JAG: I will say only one of two banquets I missed was the year I got married, so I totally understand.
Jeff: Yep, you get it. You totally get it. And some of my favorite JPZ memories, oh my gosh, it's almost too many to count.
I would have to say that my senior year we had full Z morning zoos, which was my pride and joy because when I first. started, there were like open days and one or two people and whatever, and I said, morning radio, it's the penultimate thing of a radio station. It's the flagship. We need to make this more valuable.
So we filled them up junior year and my senior year we had a couple spots open and upperclassmen I guess didn't wanna get up early. So in the interest meeting, I talked to our general manager before and I said, I wanna hold auditions and I want people to come in and be able to be a part of it. So we held literal auditions.
They came into the production studio, and I took notes and we chatted, and I ended up plopping some freshmen onto these zoos, either as assistant producers or as full-time on-air staff members. And it was the coolest thing because I very much felt like they were appreciative of the opportunity, and a lot of them to this day are still friends of mine, but a lot of them to this day are in radio. And I'm not saying it's because they were put on a Z Morning Zoo their freshman year, but to be shown how much fun radio can be from the get-go, you get that bug. I mean you get that bug and it's incredible. And I'll never forget Nate White, who is a fantastically talented sports journalist in Ohio, and he's a dear friend of mine.
I was the only one at the radio station like the day before classes started, and I hear a little knock on the door and there's freshman Nate. And I let him in and he says, “Hey, I was wondering if you could show me around. Is there an interest meeting or anything like that?” And I showed him around the station and he said I wanna work here.
And I said the interest meeting is in three weeks and we'll see you here. And he goes, is there any chance, like I could come in earlier and just check things out. Yeah, absolutely. I said, what are you doing on Thursday? This is Sunday. He starts college Monday. So tomorrow. And he says nothing. Why?
And I said I'm on the air at 6:00 AM. I usually get here around 5:30. Why don't you show up between 5:30 and 6:00 and I'll let you just shadow the morning show? 'll let you just sit in and see what it's all about. He says, okay. He beats me to the radio station on Thursday morning, his first week of school.
He got up that early and probably had a full day of classes after that, but knew how important this was to him. It's my favorite JPZ memory because there's examples of me who stumbled into it and examples of him who knew he wanted to do this. We're all WJPZ alums. We're all proud to be that, and we all have that one story.
My story isn't as much about me as it is about people like Nate, who made a really big difference. And then there's Allie Wall who I hired as my assistant producer. She was a freshman and now she is a TV producer for CBS in New York City. In market one. And I told her when I hired her, I said, one day you're gonna hire me and that's why I'm hiring you cuz I think you're that good.
And she laughed and now I'm serious. I would love a job from her. And it happened even sooner than I predicted. But those are the stories, Jag. They're not about me. My favorite JPZ memories, they're about other people and I think that is the collective mindset of so many JPZ’ers. It's about that other person who had that opportunity, that other person that you got to help that other person who shined.
That is why JPZ is by far the greatest media classroom and has the best people.
JAG: That is a perfect place to leave it. Obviously, this is an audio podcast and you can't see us, but I have been smiling for the better part of the last 30 minutes. Hearing Jeff tell these stories and his perspective on JPZ and just the folks that have helped him and how he has paid it forward.
You are a fantastic representative of our alumni association in all that you do, it is always a joy to talk to you. Thank you so much for coming to the podcast, Jeff.
Jeff: Thank you, JAG, and thanks for doing this. I'm so happy that we get to talk WJPZ at 50. It's gonna be really special. All these great podcasts.
JAG: Thanks man.