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10 Questions with ... Jason Rantz
January 3, 2017
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I started in radio as a screener at KLSX in Los Angeles and worked my way up to producer. I've worked at KFI as a producer, Greenstone Media as an Executive Producer, and Talk Radio Network as an Executive Producer (for the Phil Hendrie Show). At KIRO, I was Assistant Program Director and at KTTH, I'm Program Director.
1. What got you into radio in the first place? How did you get started in this thing?
I loved talk radio as a young teen. I would listen every morning when my mom took me to and from school and when I got a day off, I'd ride in the car with my dad listening to Stern. I fell in love with the art... the theater of talk radio. I got started when, at 15, I emailed XTRA Sports in Los Angeles asking if they were looking for interns. They ended up hiring me as a "reporter" for a kid-focused sports show, then I was hired at KLSX as a screener by the host of a weekend brokered show after I kept emailing the show trying to get a job. From there, I worked my way up the ladder a KLSX, then later KFI.
2. Talk radio has, of course, a certain demographics problem. How do you think the format will, and should, develop to appeal to people who are under, say, 60 years old?
I think it's so important to look for younger voices with different life experiences. The industry has a tendency to rehire the same voices over and over again because PDs might think the hosts have brand strength, but that strength is with older demographics. I hope they spend resources developing younger talent (I'm 34) who actually come with a radio background, rather than put some TV host on the radio. That almost never works. And allow for them to be themselves, rather than force them into some "conservative" or "liberal" camp. Normal people don't fall into those camps; so why should ever host? My favorite shows are when someone tells me a perspective I shared changed their minds on something. If you come at your topics in a hyper-partisan way, half the potential audience will just shut you out. What good does that do?
3. You've now been paired with Zak Burns; how would you characterize your individual roles on the show (besides merely conservative versus liberal or gluten-intolerant versus gluten glutton)? What are the things that you like the most and bother you the most about him?
We don't do the whole liberal vs. conservative nonsense. Yes, I'm a Republican but we take positions based on logic and reason, not necessarily on what our ideology tells us. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but we don't run a cliche talk show. We're passionate about topics but we've never yelled at each other angrily (I naturally yell when I get excited, as Zak points out). We have a great relationship -- a weird one. We insult each other - and our perpetually-optimistic producer - all day and night. We have a lot of down time because we get to the studio obnoxiously early; we fill that time by mocking each other incessantly. And it makes us stronger friends and cohosts, somehow. It's our weird personalities.
Our roles on-air are pretty distinct. He does the formatics of getting us in and out of breaks and topics, I give the details and tell the story with audio, and we take turns setting up the angle we want to discuss. We do it pretty naturally; we don't spend time plotting out every point or plating a flag in a topic. A couple times when we just started cohosting regularly, we told each other our points. Those shows sucked. Wow, they were bad. We had done a radio show off-air, essentially, and when we went on air it was flat. So now we go in mostly blind, though we know each other well enough to get a general sense of what our takes will be.
We have a great producer who finds stories he thinks we'll want to dive into (Jacob, our producer, gets our personalities really well), and then I plot them out through the show. Zak (and he'll admit this) just reads the story and is ready. I'll spend a lot of time doing research and finding other sources -- though mostly because I want to sound smarter than Zak. My "character" on air is pretty close to how I am in real life: I hate small talk, and I am not particularly friendly, yet I'm quite likable. I also am the one with the perfect hair.
4. You were controversial as a host even back in college, and your alma mater's been in the news at times for its aversion to dissent right up to today. As a veteran of these battles, what's your perspective on campus political correctness -- do you think that college will always be a place where there's resistance to anything to the right of, well, very-left of center? Is there hope for different viewpoints on campus, or is it always a place where liberal views will dominate the conversation? (And, incidentally, how do you feel you've changed on the air since those days?)
I legitimately fear the hypersensitive college PC culture. These kids are going to be our lawyers, teachers, business leaders and they can't emotionally cope with a microaggression so small they had to be told by someone else that they were offended. I have very little hope for college campus changing; they bully anyone who disagrees with their far Left beliefs. But, ultimately, I think their behavior turns people off and pushes people to the Right. I went to college liberal and left a conservative because the professors always told me how much better they are than conservatives; they never presented the other side. I'm naturally curious so I ended up doing research on my own and finding my real beliefs. And, it's a personality trait: if you tell me not to do something or think something, I tend to want to do it or think it.
On air, I've changed a lot in that I'm less lazy and more unique. In college, I was really just mimicking other hosts I liked. I did purposefully take positions to challenge people's thinking; I find that I still do that.
5. Who have been your influences, inspirations, and mentors in the business?
My biggest radio influences are Howard Stern, Jay Thomas, Larry Elder, and Rush Limbaugh. They are brilliant and so different. I learned a lot about technique and storytelling from each of them. I always considered my mentors to be Heather Cohen (my former PD) for teaching me how to deal with different personalities, Pete Gammell (my current PD) for helping me figure out what I do best (and how to avoid what I do worst) via frank air-checks and conversations, and my high school English teacher, Paul Morsink, for truly teaching me how to think critically.
I've also been incredibly inspired by my friend Terry Jaymes (Lex and Terry). He's the most positive guy I've met, and he taught me how to successfully plan and think about growing my career. I credit him with helping me get to where I find myself.
From the business side of it, and I say this knowing it sounds like I'm sucking up but I swear I'm not: it's my current GM, Carl Gardner. He's incredibly thoughtful and patient and I learn how to coach (and be coached) from him every day.
6. You've been vocal about your fact checking; do you think the present atmosphere in which "fake news" is rampant will pass, or are we really in the "Post-Fact Society"? Are you discouraged or optimistic that facts will matter in the future?
Fake news isn't new. We've always had and will always have fake news. It's the very reason why I came up with the show mantra, "Fact Check Everything". I tell the audience to ALWAYS fact check what they see or hear, including anything that comes from me. We assume the people we trust are telling the truth when we're all fallible.
And the public seems particularly bad at understanding the difference between a journalist and a talk show host. I write my own blogs at MyNorthwest.com and sometimes a commenter or an texter into the show will compliment me as a "great journalist." I correct them. I'm not a journalist. I'm a talk show host. I give opinion. Sure, it's based in fact, but it's analysis. People need to know the difference. If people get in the habit of fact checking, I'm optimistic. But will people? Evidence points to no.
7. Of what are you most proud?
I'm proud of the fact that I haven't yet been beaten up for my conservative opinions in Seattle. Maybe grateful, not proud? I get death threats every once and a while, which can be scary. I'm only telling you that because I want to earn some sympathy and maybe a date.
I'm proud of my ability to be very self-aware and honest on-air. I have a huge ego and low self esteem. I'm also proud of my hair. Zak will bring up my insecurities and character flaws on a regular basis and I own it all. I do not like hiding any part of me. I'm proud I'm able to be genuine, even if my on-air comments have cost me a few dates. I'm still single. Not proud of that.
8. What do you do for fun?
I go to concerts as often as I can, a movie once a week, and I love to read. I've become a travel nerd. I go to Europe once or twice a year, usually, and purposefully, alone. I'll meet up with people, but find solo travel to be therapeutic. Or, I tell myself that to mask the loneliness.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ______________.
...coffee. I start my day with an Aeropress and drink coffee throughout the day. I've become a coffee snob. How I don't have a coffee endorsement is beyond me and borders on criminal.
10. What's the most important lesson you've learned thus far in your career?
Be genuine. Even if it makes you look bad; even if it embarrasses you. Some of my favorite segments highlight a personality trait that is hardly one you'd list on your Tinder profile. I think if you own every bit of your personality, your negative traits become relatable and less odious. I can be very petty and snarky and yet, to a lot of folks, it comes off as charming.
BONUS 11. Gluten: Discuss, with particular emphasis on Zak trolling for pretzels.
Zak is an embarrassment. He is trying to get some east coast company (EDITOR'S NOTE: Wawa, not just some "east coast company") to send him pretzels. That bothers me, because I know they'd make him happy and I don't want to see him happy. Why should I be the only miserable person on the show? Also, I'm gluten intolerant and he knows this. Well, he knows I lie about being celiac to avoid long conversations about why I don't eat gluten (it makes you fat and causes a whole host of diseases -- read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes -- and I don't want to explain myself every time, so I lie and say I'm celiac. No one ever presses me on iy, thankfully; I've never taken the time to really learn what this actually does.
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