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10 Questions with ... Scott Herrold & Jayar Reeves
November 30, 2015
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
1. Brief synopsis....school, family, life experience, employment history.
JAYAR:
I was raised in Bremerton, WA and hour outside of Seattle. Lived in Ireland post high school for 2 years and started down the radio path after that. My first 2 stations were KISS 106.1 and STAR 101.5 in Seattle. Waded into Christian radio: Air1 Evenings, Magic 93.1 Boise ID, Total Axxess, Nashville, WayFM, THE JOYFM, Tampa/Sarasota (Currently 4 1/2 years working with this amazing team).
Also voice track: THE JOYFM Atlanta, WLCQ Springfield MA, The Z Network Greenville SC
Married 10 years, I also have a 9 year old girl (Kansas), 6 year old girl (Ysa) , 3 year old son (Boston). We live between Sarasota and Tampa
SCOTT:
Father of Gavin & Naomi. 2 yrs old & 3 yrs old. Husband to Kristine.
My high school in Metro Detroit had a radio station, and I joined the staff as a freshman. In my senior year of high school, I was hired at Planet 96.3 in Detroit and stayed on the staff after they flipped to 96.3 WDVD. I've worked at 93.1 DRQ/Detroit, 100.3 The Kross/Tulsa, 106.9 K-Hits/Tulsa, 102.5 WIOG/Saginaw too. I have a business degree from Eastern Michigan University. I live in Vegas, where I program SOS Radio & host the morning show.
2. So, this new exercise program, Creative Cardio....tell me about that. How fat do I need to be to apply?
SCOTT: CreativeCardio.com is a really unique community for CCM radio personalities. It started from a discussion with friends at Momentum last year about what we're doing outside of our radio stations to challenge our creativity. With so much information coming at us each day, we need a network to challenge us to connect & innovate. There's also a focus on seasoned jocks mentoring newer personalities in the Creative Cardio community.
3. As understand it, you're building a community to challenge others......explain how you see it building and working.
SCOTT: We share our idea starters and challenge everyone in the forum to share their insight. There are tons of phoner topic ideas, bits, spiritual idea starters, social media ideas and more. As one of us posts an idea, others leave comments and other angles to make the idea more interesting. We also host really unique monthly brainstorming sessions online to get our ideas flowing. When you join www.creativecardio.com , we give you a free membership for a younger jock who you'd like to mentor. We also post monthly challenges so you can connect with the younger jock and help develop their shows. For example, this month, we challenged the mentors to connect with the young jocks and talk about what the average person in their city may be doing while they are listening to the radio. (Facilitate a discussion about how listeners are using the radio station & what things may keeping them from listening during that same time slot!)
4. Who is the prime candidate for Creative Cardio?
JAYAR: A couple years ago Scott and I started brainstorming our experiences as jocks. It seems a lot of people feed into the jock but the jock is left to fend for themselves when it comes to content and creativity. One of radio's long time unspoken rules was the beauty of borrowing ideas from each other for your show. We believe this community will bring that to this format which is the toughest format to pull off on the dial.
SCOTT: Anyone who wants to be more creative! We're also looking for mentors who want to help the next generation of radio personalities. We have details at www.creativecardio.com if you want to check it out.
5. When you're NOT working....what are your favorite hobbies?
JAYAR: If it's not kid related... I'm watchin' English "football" or planted up against the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico
SCOTT: Hiking and climbing the desert mountains in the 4x4. I also like finding random diners, drive ins & dives.
6. Is radio RADIO no matter where you are? Do the same factors still apply for you? What are a few of those?
SCOTT: I'm not real concerned with the talk about radio transmitters going away. I feel there will always be a need for personality & unique content. We'll broadcast it on a radio signal, a web stream, an app or a chip in our head if that's how listeners want to receive it. I'm excited about the opportunities to use technology to bring more two way communication & visual content into our industry. We have a lot of smart people in Christian radio, I know we can innovate.
7. What's the craziest idea you ever came up with, that may or may NOT have worked out as you had envisioned?
JAYAR: When listeners meet you they usually lead off with the bit or show moment that registered with them the most. It's a good gauge as to what works... especially if it's consistent. The one that currently is mentioned the most the past 4 years is a bit I do called "Storytime with my kid" ... I record my girls making up a story and our stations talented producer "Krispy-Kreme" produces the stories with sound effects and movie scores. It's like bottling creativity and painting it with sounds! I get grown women crying when they tell me these silly stores make them think of their kids. Or moms who get moved by the zaniness that kids bring to the table. It's been a home run for me.
8. Best & worst interview experiences?
JAYAR: Since my days at Total Axxess I may have logged over a 1000 interviews. It's a labor of love but it's helped me grow in my interviewing over the years. Example...With Jars of Clay I struggled. The first five interviews w/ the guys had me intimidated because they are way smarter than me and my silly questions got me nowhere. Case in point... "which movie would you love to insert yourself into?" Five minutes later I am still rolling and the guys were breaking down the thought that Luke kisses Leah in Star Wars and no one has a problem at that moment that it's actually his sister. Then they started dissecting that thought with each other. Like maybe Obi won and R2 planned it in a desert hut as a joke etc ... I now plan for their deep thoughts... to let 'em go where they need and I just make a bit out of it.
One of my favorite interview features was giving the artist a chance to get on our skateboard in the hallway and get pushed down the hallway into 10 plastic bowling pins. Each pin they knock over represented 3 seconds to plug anything they like. My producer Shimmy would bring them back into the studio and we'd start the music. Imagine Michael W. Smith gliding down the hallway w/ a helmet on nailing all 10 pins. Then he finds himself for all 30 available seconds squeezing in plugs for his new worship album, his website, his sons movie company... BUZZER... and its over. Yeah I miss doing "Bowling for Plugs"
SCOTT: Back at 100.3 The Kross in Tulsa, I had Michael Tait on my morning show. A woman called and asked what it would take for Tait to sing at her son's wedding. He asked what song she would like him to sing. She mentioned a Steven Curtis Chapman song, and he said, "I'm sorry - I have a no Steven Curtis Chapman Policy!" haha. The caller was MY MOM!
9. Favorite movie or book of all time
JAYAR: Shawshank Redemption has to be one of the best stories ever written that was put to film. As for books, I love reading about pirate history... "The Pirate Hunter" by Richard Zacks is a must.
SCOTT: Bob Briner: Roaring Lambs
10. Three people you respect most in your life? (who have had great impact on who you are)
JAYAR: My momma. It's the name that comes to mind when the world seems to be ending. It's been the one constant example of love for 35 years where its unconditional and given by both parties though life's struggles.
My radio mentor Matthew Reid (Mix 104.1 in Boston)... We've been on familiar paths together and there are not bows tied to the end of our stories yet... but we've been there for each other (radio/spiritually).
My wife. She's still here. That fact puts her on this list. I am not the husband described in the text book for preparing future brides. I am learning more every day that I've had a gift all these years and never gave her the appreciation she deserves.
SCOTT: My dad taught me the true test of integrity is the way you react when no one is watching. Who you are at work, at church and at school will all be the same when you walk with integrity.
Kevin Winningham from Northridge Church in Detroit. He was a mentor to me in college while I was working in mainstream CHR radio. He held me accountable at a time when I really needed it.
Brad Staley, our General Manager at SOS Radio. He's shown me through his actions how servant leadership actually works. He's also shown me how we can go anywhere and talk about anything when we are standing on God's Word as our moral foundation.
Bonus Questions
1. You wake up tomorrow, and it's NOT tomorrow. It's 20 years from now, and you are in completely strange surroundings. What do you do?
JAYAR: Step 1 find water and high speed internet. I'd head to Wikipedia and catch up in a half hour. Did radio survive? Did the Mariners ever win a World Series? And as I am typing this I am realizing that I probably mentioned something about finding my wife and children first!
SCOTT: I'd try to get one of those flying cars and find my wife. I might stop on the way to buy one of those flying skateboards from Back to the Future 2 as well.
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