10 Questions with ... Wally

NAME:Wally TITLE:Host, Total Axxess STATIONS:Nationally Syndicated COMPANY:Christian Hit Radio Satellite Network (CHRSN) BORN:West Palm Beach, FL RAISED:West Palm Beach, FL

Brief Career Synopsis:

I have done every format from rock to Radio Disney. My last gig before coming to Total Axxess was mornings at 99X in Atlanta.

1) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?

I started in Orlando at WJJR as a promotions/production guy. The Promotions Director and I created this character called "Zippy the happy prize guy" that would run out at events and throw prizes to people. It worked I got a lot of attention and quickly got my own afternoon show. The only drawback was I was stuck with that horrible name. It followed me for a good eight years before I could shed it.

I never planned to get into radio so my influences are the guys who gave me my start: Tommy Kramer, John Frost and Steve Robertson. That was a great time in radio because it was such a creative environment. The rule was, "you could do anything once."

2) How do you prepare for your show day? What's your biggest challenge?

My dysfunctional life provides a lot of show prep for me but I also do the normal stuff like scour the Internet for odd stories and audio, I watch "Headline News" (not Fox contrary to popular belief) and tape TV shows. I also do a ton of artist interviews. That was in place before I got here so that takes a lot of my time. I have done like 70-plus interviews in the short time I have been here.

My biggest challenge is being funny in a restrictive format. Historically, Christians don't have the best sense of humor and usually any jokes I make that have a victim (as all good comedy does) is met by scathing e-mails from crazy Christians about being judgmental. Their e-mails are the best because they usually quote a ton of Scripture and they have no idea that as soon as they start that I stop reading.

3) What has made your show successful - in the six months you've been there?

Being real and relevant. The problem with Christian radio has always been its inability to relate to real people with real problems. I refused to be sugary sweet and disingenuous. If I was having a bad day, I would talk about it. If I got a hate mail, I would read it. The best compliment always came from people thinking they were being mean by saying, "this sounds like mainstream radio." It was not easy; I was met with immense opposition when I first started. I expected it from listeners; that is normal. I was shocked at the response I got from the record industry. Labels would actually not bring artists to my show because they were so scared of what I would ask. The irony is I never asked anything inappropriate. I never asked anything I would not ask with my 8-year-old daughter in the room. It has since been rectified but I guess I am an acquired taste.

4) Best advice for making a show for a Christian station?

Don't make a Christian radio show. Make a radio show and do it as natural extension of your Christian beliefs.

5) Who do you look up to as an air personality not at your station?

I've always liked Kevin and Bean. And one of my old partners Fred Toucher. He is a BCN in Boston. We are radically different but I've always respected him. His take on things always surprised me. I never knew where he was going to go. If he gets the right breaks, I think he will be the next big thing.

6) If you were just starting out in radio today, but you knew what you know now, would you continue forward?

Yeah, it's still a great gig even on its bad days.

7) Most memorable on-air interview to date?

tobyMac

8) If you could have any job outside radio, what would you try your hand at?

I would flip houses. I like carpentry and working with my hands

9) What is your favorite sport to play in the station lobby?

We used to play Frisbee golf and we would set up long holes that included multiple floors as fairways and the hole was hitting the guy who worked in the building café. (He hated to see us coming)

10) Has TobyMac put a restraining order out on you yet?

No, but he was on another radio show talking about me. He told the jock that he is building a brick wall around his house (it's true, I have seen it) and he is calling it the Wally-Wall. I love it I have gotten inside his head.

1) What's in your CD player right now?

John Reuben

2) Do you have musical guilty pleasures?

I love country; the more cliché, the more I like it.

3) Cat or dog person?

Cat

4) Favorite TV program of all-time?

I have a few: "The Office", "Seinfeld" and "Family Guy"