Conversations.buzz

MICK MARTIN confesses that a few years ago he thought, “I’ve never done a damned thing.” But then he took inventory of his life in blues.

“I thought, well who have I played with? Bo Diddley, Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Smith at Carnegie Hall, Elvin Bishop, Nick Gravenites - I mean on and on and on and on and on… at the time it was like, well I’m not getting anywhere.”

Mick is a Northern California music legend. He's packed his famous harmonica blues chops and vocal styling around the world. Still living in his hometown, Sacramento, he's been a TV and newspaper film critic and has hosted a weekly Blues Party radio show for decades, now heard online at 1960s legendary freeform FM station K-ZAP. At 75 Mick is still bringing down houses everywhere he takes his band, Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers.

This is a master class for radio in all markets. JOHN OSTLUND owns five stations in Fresno, California, because he loves radio. He remembers the recipe. He only runs five minutes of commercials per hour on all five stations and it works. John says, "Radio is too much fun."

At 31, DANIEL STARKS is the youngest radio station General Manager I've ever met. He's also one of the smartest guys I ever met in the business. Makes sense, right? Here he talks about his love of small-market radio and he brings with him serious major market experience.

“My job is to make you guys rock stars.” - Gavin Spittle to his staff at 105.3 The Fan

I love this conversation because even though we've never met Gavin Spittle and I are in sync as radio programmers a generation apart. He’s the captain and daily inspiration behind Audacy’s 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, the best sports talk station I’ve ever heard. Yeah, I’m a Fan fan. I didn’t even bother to edit this. I just enjoyed it. Here, Gavin is understandably in promotional mode and hits all the company talking points but his genuine love of it all is infectious and inspiring. That’s why 105.3 The Fan works.

Recorded May 10, 2024, during the NHL playoffs. Gavin is a hockey nut and host of his own podcast via Audacy: Spits and Suds.

Dallas radio listeners were recently shocked by the news that MIKE RHYNER, also known as The Old Grey Wolf, had been fired by iHeartRadio and that the talk station known as The Freak would flip back to rock and roll as it had been just 16 months earlier. Rhyner is a radio legend in Texas. Over his 26 years at The Ticket in Dallas, he created the most unique and popular sports talk format in America. To date, the station has won four Marconi Awards as the Best Sports Station in America. Rhyner was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame on July 3, 2014. In this conversation, he talks about how both stations evolved through him and what went wrong with The Freak.

ROBIN BERTOLUCCI has been Program Director of KFI, Los Angeles, for 22 years and the station has never fallen out of first place. The thing that's remarkable about Robin is she hasn't got a lot of complicated philosophies about her job or her station. She just gets the best people in the news and talk business and lets them do their thing.

STEVE BEHM lives in the Texas Hill Country and has a million friends. He also has bladder cancer, a positive prognosis and a fabulous attitude. Steve makes the world happy wherever he goes.

In 1985 GARY GEROULD, DAVE GROSBY, and I were all in attendance for the birth of the NBA Sacramento Kings. 39 years Later The G-Man has been the only play-by-play radio voice the team has ever had. This episode is a reunion for the three of us as we relive the glorious history of my hometown's still beloved and only major league team. - Dave Williams, Feb. 25, 2024