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Interviewed by Steve Harmon
Matt:
I've been in Santa Barbara for six years now. My formerly homeless
sidekick, Hayseed, has been sitting next to me for almost 5 years. We
just hired our newsgirl Julie who has now been at it a few months, and
my producer has been here almost a year and will be gone in 6 months.
Harmon:
An example of a day when you all owned
the market.
Matt: I always feel like I own the market when we get a big local
celebrity on the air and they admit that they listen to the show. When
Andrew Firestone got the Bachelor gig, he called us because he wanted to
do weekly updates. David Crosby has been listening to KTYD for 30 years.
Jeff Bridges drives his kids to school with our show on the car stereo.
Lance Armstrong gives us an interview every year when he trains in Santa
Barbara. In all of these cases, we are the only radio show they talk to.
That always makes me feel like I own the local radio market. Harmon:
Can you get a fellow cycling fan an
autograph from Lance? I mean .. How do you use the internet in marketing
your show?
Matt: We try to
keep things as interactive as possible by offering daily updates on the
site. Every person we meet or story we discuss, we post the
audio/video/picture/link on our website, which I'm sure is pretty
standard by now. We also do a weekly contest called "Guess Until You Get
It" where one person on the phone tries to answer a question
before everyone else tries to beat them in my e-mail inbox. I also read
e-mail whenever I can...they are usually funnier than the calls. By the
way, "e-mails" is not a word. You don't get "mails" in the mailbox ..
but I am not anal. Harmon: What's
your biggest challenge?
Matt: I remember somebody at Bootcamp saying that major market shows should try and sound small, and small market shows should try and sound large. <Scott Shannon> My biggest obstacle is putting together a show that I'm proud of everyday that sounds like any show you could hear in Los Angeles. Considering that we have limited resources here, this is always challenging. Harmon: At 10am, how do you know it was a good show? Matt: If everyone is still amped and having fun. After a good show, I'm usually "high" for about an hour. It seems I'm more fatigued if the show sputtered along and I had to work for every giggle. These are days I'm not on the hard drugs by the way.
Matt: My initial reaction was to say Dwyer and Michaels "Lemme Talk To Dumbass." It fits our show perfectly. But Jeff and Jer's Human American Flag was HUGE for us. Even though it wasn't an original idea, it continues to be my proudest radio moment.
Matt: I've worked hard to become "that guy on the radio." My goal has always been to be the equivalent our our local tv station and local paper on the radio dial. Having someone tell you that "you are the voice of..." wherever you work should be the best compliment you can hear.Harmon: What was your most personal revelation made on the air? Matt: That I wasn't circumcised until I was a 12-yrs old. It still hurts.Harmon: How and who decides what topics and bits get on the air? Matt: I decide based on what I know about the market and what has worked on my show before. If it's questionable, I'll ask for a second opinion from the crew, and then do what I want anyway. I'm a diva bitch.previous spotlight shows:
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