The Takin A Walk Podcast Meets The Celebrity Jobber Podcast

Published Apr 22, 2024, 7:00 AM

Jeff Zito is the host of The Celebrity Jobber Podcast, where he interviews celebrities, musicians, comedians and athletes about what they would have done if their current success hadn't occurred.

Taking a Walk if I can continue to enjoy finding out what makes other people tick and find out what they did before they.

Were a star.

I find that extremely interesting because it's like one big you're one big break away from being just a regular joke, and I just find that so interesting.

And everybody has a first job.

I'm Buzznight, your host for the Taking a Walk Podcast. We talk with musicians, authors and insiders about music with great storytelling. Now, since I came out of the radio business, from time to time I love talking with some old radio friends, especially when they are podcasters. Jeff Zito is my guest on this episode of Take It a Walk. I met Jeff when I worked with Beasley Broadcasting. Jeff's based in Florida and Jeff is also the host of a great podcast I want you to check out. It's called Celebrity Jobber, as he speaks with all sorts of celebrities, musicians and sports figures and comedians about their first job and where fate might have taken them if they didn't become famous. So join me with Jeff Zito on the Taking a Walk Podcast. Well, who whose idea was this? Jeff?

Yours?

Oh? Okay, you want to start.

Yeah, go ahead.

Well, I guess it was my idea to do this, so I'll start. Jeff Zito, Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.

You know, I was going to do it on my iPhone and like take the dog for a walk, because initially I remember when you first started doing this, that is what you did, and I kind of thought that was really cool. But you've evolved now you are now taking taking a seat.

Well, we like to walk when possible, and yet we like to imagine walking virtually. So you're in Florida and in Massachusetts, and let's imagine we're walking together on some dreamy beach.

I like, I like even having this face to face conversation. I think we should do this once a week. Anyway, you know this is good.

I'm game. I'm game. So how did you get into the wacky business of radio.

I was trying to become the next Quentin Tarantino, and I went to well first, I digress. I first went to Farris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. I wanted to be a golf pro, and a golf is in my family. My brother is a golf pro and actually he's a general manager at a very prestigious course here in Tampa. But anyway, it's been in my family, and I want to be a golf pro, like club pro, not touring pro. I knew I wasn't that good, but I could go to Farris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan and get a lot of my business school taken care of.

They actually had a pg.

M major, which stood for pro Golf Management, so you know, you could get some of your business work done. After a year of snow and lake effects snow, which I learned about being up there, I quickly said to myself, are you an idiot? You are from Florida, Get the help. Back down to Florida. Went back down to Florida, went to a community college where they had a small but pretty cool film school, and in my class was this guy, Rob McKittrick, who ended up making a movie called Waiting with Ryan Reynolds and actually a big classic. I was in his class, and I had a teacher who was just very I mean, his name was Del Jacobs. He was a professor in TV radio pop culture and I I just loved this guy, and he inspired me to go into radios. I got an internship at a local radio station. And as they say, buzz the rest is history.

So is it fair to say, back to the focus of your podcast called Celebrity jobb or you would have been a golf pro if you weren't in radio? Is that it?

I was I and I was beginning in nineteen ninety.

Five four maybe ninety four ish, I get fired from WYNF You know, I was making a cool sixteen five a year, and I had a pregnant wife at home.

So I said, what am I going to do?

My brother said, well, you can be an assistant here at the meadows. I run this course in Sarasota. You can be an assistant fro here.

So I did. I went there for about a year.

I took my Player's ability test, your PAT.

I passed that.

I gave lessons and I couldn't get the hell out of there, you know, until Fort Myers WJBX and Fort Myers called me about a year later and said, hey, do you want to do nights? And I said yes, and I ran out of there as fast as I could. You know, dealing with elderly rich folks, I learned buzz was not my strength.

You know, I could only imagine, well, well.

What about you? How did you find your way into this wacky world.

Well, I always fancied somehow being part of radio on the radio. I really can imagine that at a very young age thinking about it, because I grew up outside of New York City and Stanford, Connecticut, so I got to hear the great radio coming out of New York City. So I just had this desire at a very early age to somehow be associated with radio. If it didn't work out, I always imagined that I would have been the third baseman for the Saint Louis Cardinals. That was really certainty. Yeah that was going to happen.

Yeah, oh wow, I didn't know. So did you play baseball in high school?

I played baseball just in the neighborhood. I didn't do anything really that formal. And the fact of the matter was, I think I was a pretty good hitter. I think I was a pretty decent glove man with a decent arm. But I literally ran like I had a piano on my back.

Yeah. Yeah, well that's that's that's that's usually what happens. There's no five tool guys out there.

A couple, you know, And when you were in college, did you go to where'd you go to college? And did you actually study radio or broadcasting in college?

I went to the University of Dayton and Dayton, Ohio, oh wow, and yeah, a flyer and they had a carrier current radio station that was only heard, you know, in the dorms. And they also were the owners of a fifty thousand commercial FM station at the university called w VUD. And you know, when I decided to go to the University of Dayton once again, that was in my sights to try, even though nothing was a guarantee to get a job on VUD. That was the cool progressive rock station. And uh it was home to probably the most famous person was a guy named Dan Patrick him. Yeah, yeah, he he did sports on the station and he ultimately, you know, went on to do some rock radio, and as they say, with him, the rest is history, you.

Know, very very cool.

So it was always in the blood and I can't get it out even though I'm let's just say, I'm on the outskirts of the business now.

Yeah, but you still got your hand in so many different things.

I remember, you know, you worked with a company that I work for now for for a while and I remember when you were coming into the company, we all know knew who you were and were, you know, very excited to have a rock guy work with us, and I knew that, you know, for me that was exciting, but more exciting was you were a fan of podcasting. And you know, a big reason that our friendship began was I heard from a former co worker of mine who recently was let go. He said, Hey, I heard from buzz Night. He gave me a call, and I go, that's so funny that you bring up his name, because I wanted to call him too and talk about his podcast Taking a Walk, because I've got a podcast and I kind of want to pick his brain a little bit.

You were you were in on this thing, you know, pretty early.

Yeah. It was always fascinating as another form of delivering audio and also being able to for me, sharpen some skills that I used to you lives when I was on the air, learn new skills and learn it in the form of this medium. And the beautiful part about it is, as you know, there's experimentation that has sort of welcomed around podcasting, which is pretty cool. And in addition, I really love the fact that I'm I'm learning new things, I'm relearning skills, I'm reconnecting with people that I hadn't connected with in a while, and I'm connecting with people I probably would never connect with in my entire life. So I'm extremely you know, grateful for that. How's the experience for you? When you think of your work on your great podcast, Celebrity Jobber, I.

Think that it has like reinvigorated me. The world of radio has changed dramatically, not in the past twenty years, but in the past five years. And I still love it, but it's changed and it's different, and you just need to learn how to pivot and do things the new way. The podcast kind of brings you back to makes me think a lot about when I had a morning show on WJBX and w rx K in Fort Myers and it was a talk show and I had a morning show with a partner by the name of Bob Garrett, and we were on a station initially that was like a flanker station, a station not designed to win. And you know, if anybody in radio knows, if they're on one of those stations, they are not fun to be on because you don't win, you just block and I, you know, i'd like to catch a touchdown once in a while. But regardless, I was able to have great success on that show and we went from a blocking station to a major player beating the other his you know, heritage morning shows in town. And it brings me back to that time doing the podcast and having the long form conversations because that's what I did during that time. And you know, now you know, being you know on the radio and PPM, which is the way that you know they measure ratings. Now it's it's quick and it's you know, you're not having those long form conversations anymore unless you are on a big morning show. So the podcast has just kind of reinvigorated me, and I just it's so much fun. It just it brings me a lot of pleasure. Plus I get to talk to some interesting people maybe that I'm friends with that I don't know anything about, like you know, we're friends. I don't know what your real name is, can you tell? Can you tell me? Or did your mom name you buzz?

Because I don't think, Oh no.

I actually have the alter ego in my radio identity because when I worked in New York for this rock station, called WNWFM.

I know it well.

I did part time there on the weekends five days a week when I was on the radio in Connecticut at the station I ninety five, and I was the program director and I did mornings. I use the name Buzz Night. And then when I went to work for any W as one of the weekend warriors, I used my real name, which is Bob Kosak.

So yeah, who calls you Bob in your real life?

Anybody? Does anybody call you Bob?

Wife?

There's a small uh just hey, hey hey. Former program director Mark Chernoff, he calls me Bob. He's one of the few still because of my time with him at any W. I think Ken dash Out as well, who is a DJ still in New York on Q one oh four. Ken calls me Bob as well. But you know, most of the time it's Buzz or hey you.

Yeah, I got I got that and Buzz.

What was your very first job was it in radio or what was the very first thing you got a paycheck from?

Well, I was a caddy back to your golf your golf game, and I remember when my particular assignment one day was to go out and shag flies for doctor Milton, and I thought the notion of being paid six dollars an hour and having golf balls hit at you did not really resonate with me, so I high tailed it out of there.

I don't blame you.

You know you have something in common with former Prices, right announcer Rich Fields, who was his very first job He was a caddy. And there's there's someone else. I believe Fox News analyst Brett Behar his first job was as a caddy as well.

So you're in you're in fine company.

Yeah.

Well then after that, this is the one that still to day, uh produces shrieks of laughter from my wife that I actually did this. I worked at Bloomingdale's department store in Stanford, Connecticut, and I was part of the outside parking garage security detail. But we were playing clothes. We didn't have official outfits. We were playing clothes. So I had an early career of intrigue keeping perverts out of the parking garage at Bloomingdale's.

Did you ever have to get physical with any of them?

I called the police officer on duty to do that. That was that was a strict assignment. Don't get physical.

That's awesome, man.

You'll be right back with more of the Taken a Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.

So, who are some of your favorite interviews that you've had on celebrity job or Man?

You know, some of my favorites have been ones that I justn't thought were not really a good fit. And I just you know, in this business when you're when you're doing a podcast and you're speaking to celebrities, you can't really have your pick of the litter.

You can't pick the biggest stars. You've got to pick some people.

That you know might jog your memory a little bit, or you know, sometimes you just you can't get the biggest a lister.

So I remember one time getting the hell is his name?

My dad was a big fan of his because the guy's ninety years old. Debbie Boone's uncle, uh Pat Boone, Pat Booe.

Listen to me.

I really didn't have a lot for this guy because he's like eighty eight. I really didn't think he could follow along or give me what I was looking for. Boy, what a dummy I was. This guy was fantastic. His mind was sharp. He told me that his father was an architect and a land developer, from New Jersey. I said, my father was an architect and a land developer from New Jersey.

He sang two Dy Fruity for me.

I mean, it couldn't have been any more of a surprise. How great that interview was with Pat Boone. I thought it was great and a big surprise. Some of my favorites that have you know, ended up being my favorites. Paul Rogers from Bad Company, he you know, had a stroke, couldn't couldn't talk, couldn't walk, couldn't brush his teeth, and he's come out with a new album and him and his wife were just so great and they sent me a card and thank you letter, and I was blown away by that. Kevin Cronin, his first job was Al Bundy, you know, a ladies shoe salesman, and told me that whole story about how he got the call from Rio Speedwagon to be their lead singer. And that episode actually blew up for me and got me a few a few million downloads, and and that's what started this whole thing with me, because I think that was only episode, you know, first ten or twelve episodes was with Kevin Cronin, and because of the amount of downloads I got on that, I saw all the rest of them kind of go up, and I was just I was just so motivated to keep it going because you know, doing podcasts, you might you know, fizzle out after you know, doing a few, not making any money at it, and it just you know, you've got you're busy doing other things. So that was really really big for me. But what about taking a walk? What was like the biggest surprise? Because you mentioned earlier in our conversation that you spoke to people that you never ever expected or had maybe interest in speaking to. What were some of the big surprises that you had on your podcast Taking a Walk?

Well, I I didn't know what to expect with an artist named Amanda Shires. Amanda's in a band called The High Women. She's married to Jason isbel although I think they recently announced some problems again in their marriage. And The High Women includes Brandy Carlisle and Maren Morris. It's kind of a female supergroup. So I didn't really know what to expect. I read up and listened to her music and learned about Amanda. And this was in person. We were supposed to walk in her neighborhood outside of Nashville, but there were terrible thunderstorms, so we ended up being sequestered in her wonderful barn, and she was just an absolute delight. I thought she was going to actually cook us some meals. She was just so friendly to us, and it was just one of the great experiences and definitely a real popular episode among people who have listened to Taken a walk another fa it once again in person was your mcalcan and from the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. I walked with him at his fur Piece Ranch, which is what he has up in the hills in Ohio, and just a delightful guy to be around eighty three years old, sharp, great shape, funny, endearing, very generous in terms of sharing obviously his stories, and I kind of expected he would be a great interview, but he certainly exceeded. I mean, the surprise thing is funny that you mentioned that, because there's some people you go in and you know, even if it's virtual, and you just don't know really what's gonna happen, what to expect with it, and then you get nicely surprised. And I think I mentioned this one to you, Glenn. Matt Locke who is an original member of the Sex Pistols. What a stitch. He was just funny, witty, you know, just honest and just a guy. You wish you could just be hanging around that bloke in a pub and having a couple of pops with him.

You know, what do you think you'd be doing, buzz if this old broadcasting dream never came Trudy, do you ever think about that, like where you were headed if you didn't get that that gig on that first station.

I wonder if I would have been somehow in a business that was a bit of a tangent from radio, possibly maybe something involving writing or journalism. Potentially maybe something in and around the music business, because I've always had an extreme love for music, still do. But I was banking really seriously on this being a gig, and you had to stay out in Dayton when you were vying for a job at WVUD, you had to stay through the summer to work, and that was your commitment. So I was on this place where if I didn't get the job at VUD, I was probably gonna leave that university and enroll somewhere closer to home. And who knows what would have happened, But I think I would have been somewhere around music or media. I just feel that way.

I think you probably would do. This would be, this would be It would be a waste. It would be a waste if you weren't.

Yeah, so hey, let's close with this. Where do you want your podcast to be a year from now? If you could sort of dream and you could think about audience growth, and you could think about, you know, just that brand that you have built so wonderfully, where would you do you like this all to be in a year?

You know, that's a great question, because it's one that I have never thought about too hard. I just I guess if you were just looking at like a graph, a chart, like in the stock market, I would just hope that it would continually go up. And I guess you can't put a timetable on this. This is definitely podcast is hate patience. It's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And so far I've been on that upward incline couple, had a couple of black mondays, if you will, But I think overall it's it's been heading in the right direction. But I guess I just want to keep growing and as you know, look, you know, I don't have to be Joe Rogan.

I don't need that.

You know, there's there's plenty of success for all podcasters that that do this. And you know, Joe Rogan obviously I mentioned him because he's making the big bucks, probably the biggest of all of podcasters. But you know, I just I have a feeling that programmatic advice are going to increase, you know, in the next three years. And if I can continue to enjoy finding out what makes other people tick and find out what they did before they were a star, I find that extremely interesting because you know, it's like one big you're one big break away from being just a regular joke. And I just find that so interesting. And everybody has a first job, you know. William Shatner his first job was at six years old.

He was an actor.

His first gig came from acting, so he's been an actor his whole life. Ricky Medlock from Lynyrd Skynyrd started performing with his old man, Shorty Medlock, when he was three years old on a TV show in Jacksonville. He has been in the music business his whole life. That doesn't happen for most everybody somebody, you know, most everybody was a waiter or a caddie or worked at a dinner theater like I did. And you know, it's just everybody has that first job. But there are a handful of guys that are in the same business they were in, you know, fifty sixty and seventy years ago. So I just find that incredibly interesting. And as long as I can, you know, keep being you know, inspired by talking to these people and finding out more. I don't know, I'll keep doing the podcast until they tell me not to, which could be any day now.

I don't think, so they won't be telling you that.

What what do you think, Buzz? You think this was pretty good?

I feel like there were so many things that you know, I didn't know about you that I know about you now, especially Bob, your name isn't that crazy? All these years, I've never you know, asked you what your real name was, and that's usually a you know, radio guy question from one to another.

Yeah, yeah, it's public knowledge. So as they say, yeah, this was a.

Lot of fun, I'm glad. I'm glad we did it.

You know, maybe we should do it again, And I don't know, maybe do uh, maybe we should be Maybe I should be taking a walk because tell you, my I'm getting out of shape. I'm starting to be sore all the time and sedentary, So might not be a bad idea of taking a walk. And I just want to thank you too for for all your help, because when I first got into this, you know, we we had a very light working relationship, only talked to each other a few times, and then you really became a mentor of mine and and helped me out so much in the direction and analytics stuff with the podcast.

So I just wanted to thank you.

Hey, thank you. It's a lonely road when you're creating a podcast many times, and it's great to have someone who is on their own sojourn with it that we can compare notes on. Thanks for turning me on to guests like Paul Rodgers who was so spectacular, and for supporting what I'm doing here. And let's keep let's keep growing it to great leaps and bounds. And yeah, next time I'll bring the road wireless microphones and let's take a walk in person.

You got a deal. You got a deal man, all right?

Thanks enjoy celebrity jobber.

And taking a Walk. Thanks Buzz.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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