10 Questions with ... Richard Cason

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

1999- Missouri Broadcaster's Association DJ of the Year (Small Market)
1996-1998 Overnights and Evenings on KKLR, Mornings on KWOC-AM- Poplar Bluff, MO
1998-1999 Middays on KJEZ- Poplar Bluff, MO
2000-2001 Evenings on KGMO- Cape Girardeau, MO
2001-2002 Middays on WDDD, 2002-2003 Middays and Afternoons on WQUL- Marion/Carbondale, IL
2008-2009 Reporter at WJPF/WOOZ/WCIL-FM/WUEZ/WXLT- Marion/Carbondale, IL
2011-2014 Afternoons on KDEX-AM/FM- Dexter, MO
Began podcasting in 2009 which become the "Richard Cason Radio Network" in May 2020 on a number of platforms, reformatting it fo Talk radio in March 2021, taking over the Sunday night 9p-11p slot on The Parkland's Freedom Leader AM 1240 KFMO in Park Hills, Missouri. In February 2022, podcast was added to the lineup of Mike Lindell's Frankspeech.com
1997-present, Stand-up comedian
2000-2011, Features Writer for the Southeast Missourian newspaper- Cape Girardeau, MO

1. With so many other options, like podcasting, why did you decide to get back into radio for your talk show? You do podcasts, but what's different about radio?<.h5>

The problem with podcasting is everyone is doing it. Terrestrial radio, on the other hand, is a real job done by real people who love doing it and wouldn't want to do anything else. It's special because not everyone can sell it and not everyone can be on-the-air. And at the risk of sounding elitist, I like that it takes some very specific qualifications, talent, and skill to do it.

Prior to moving to KFMO, the "Richard Cason Radio Network" podcast analytics revealed that our audience was Adults 35-44, 51% Women / 49% Men in Dallas, Tampa, and Seattle, which is remarkable considering that I don't do a female-centric show, at all. I never set out to cater to that demo or cultivate it- they're just the ones who found it. But let's be real: That's only a thousand, maybe a couple thousand people spread amongst three cities- with a thousand other podcasts at the front of the pack. So I wondered, "What is on actual radio in Dallas, Tampa, Seattle, and other large markets on Sunday nights?" The answer is one you might expect and those shows are all done very well, but I believe that we can beat those shows and generate enough revenue to justify our existence.

I found a way to return to radio because I had some unfinished business. Live radio is what I'm built for and when I was a jock, I always won my daypart. Yet as much as I love Classic Rock, I'm a born talk show host but I never got a real chance to do it until a year ago when KFMO said if I could sell it, I could have it. I'm not an expert on domestic or foreign policy- I'm just an ordinary guy with an opinion who hosts an entertaining talk show but I try to absorb as much information as possible to report and discuss every week. Also, the state of radio, in general, and Talk radio, specifically, concerns me. I know that I can set a better example and I know that I can win. If we had started in St. Louis itself, we would already be owning Sunday nights- at least a couple of hours of it, unless the Cardinals or Blues are on that particular evening. But "RCRN" wouldn't have been as good starting on a big station. Instead, we've taken a year to fly under the radar, just on the periphery, getting the recipe right. But once we hit St. Louis and other cities, to them it'll be brand-new and I want sudden impact- I didn't want kinks being worked out live every week in a large market...which means my producer Young Jared has some work to do. Kidding. No, we're ready to hit big league pitching right now, while we still have the energy before this economy destroys the radio industry entirely.

2. There are a lot of conservative political talk shows out there. What makes yours different? How do you stand out?

A couple of years ago, like some buzzard or vulture, I smelled a certain weakness in programming on Sunday nights all over America: Financial shows, real estate shows, food shows, home maintenance shows, supernatural shows, repackaged 90-year-old shows. Seemed easy enough to stand out from that. "RCRN" is designed for people who ordinarily might not even listen to Talk, who prefer Classic Rock or Country...but they'll listen to me, because I speak to them in a language they understand.

We're unorthodox, to say the least- the ultimate in weekend counter-programming because I feel that we're doing something very honest and entertaining. Look at any newspaper: News, sports, and opinion- just like News/Talk radio. But to me what was always missing from Talk radio is the equivilent of the Sunday comics, so that's what we do. Sometimes we're "Doonesbury," sometimes we're "The Far Side." Sometimes we're "Dick Tracy," going up against his rogue's gallery of grotesquely-deformed villains.

Also, my delight of finally doing my show is palpable- delight in the awareness that on 1240 KFMO, an otherwise straight-laced conservative talk station that's been around for 70 years, and here I come along late at night once-a-week with no real competition and just hose down the entire political landscape. To me, it's hilarious that I've pulled it off this long. But it's the natural product of a DJ who always had something to say and got in trouble for saying it. Ironically, every talk gig I ever applied for, on paper, I wasn't "qualified" because I had "no experience" so I had to create a gig. On my own, I had to conceive it, format it, pitch it and once I accomplished that- then came the hard part. I have to prep it, host it, sell it, and ultimately, sustain it, every single week and running a start-up talk show that's always scrambling for money in this economy is a fairly sizable undertaking for just one guy. On a couple of occasions, a sales lead was brought to me and I let that person take care of it, but by and large I wear all the hats, so my respect for account executives has grown by leaps and bounds. Many still shouldn't write their own ad copy, but you know...

Just like my stand-up career which developed outside the influence of the "scene," our show is kind of a latch-key kid that's raising itself and it's a little more complex than your average talk show. We're not influenced by trends or fads- our show is it's own influence, very self-referential. You may like it and not have a clue as to what to make of it...so we'll see you next week and give you a little more.

3. How has your standup comedy experience influenced how you do radio (and vice versa)?

The comedy bug bit me when I was 11 or so. A couple of years later, I first heard one of Bob & Tom's charity releases, "We Three Kings" and it was mind-blowing. Where I lived, radio was music, announcements, spots, and PSAs. These guys from Indianapolis, however, were doing things I didn't even know we're imaginable. After high school I got my first radio job and six months later, I started doing stand-up comedy. I wasn't some hack who decided, "Radio's not working, so I'll try comedy" -- I've been doing both since I was 18 years old and I always knew that I could do both. Even though, I never set out to be a jock per se, once I learned the basics I became a really good one, but I always knew I could do more in between songs than promote some blood drive, so I began to take that liberty. I didn't ask, I didn't seek approval, I just did it. Many DJs think they're funny just by virtue of being behind the mic. Nope. I, however, was funny even back then and getting live laughs in front of real people only confirmed it. That said, you just can't do set-ups and punchlines in a studio for two hours a week anymore than you can do a news-heavy radio program during a stand-up comedy show. But if you know what you're doing, you can take elements of both and synthesize it into something new, like I did. Some would call it an "abomination"- I just call it "good radio."

But being a comic gives me a lot of license to say some real stuff, albeit in Talk radio language. Other times, I'm not going for laughs at all and I'm expressing real outrage, saying some things that, while they break no real rules, they cut deep- and they're meant to cut deep, to make a point. In those moments I don't hide behind, "I'm just joking." I think my audience is smart enough to know when I'm messing around and when it's the real thing. We do what the characters on "M*A*S*H" did: It's people in insane circumstances doing "insane" things to keep from going insane and to me, it's utter insanity to tolerate a world where some 16-year-old Swedish girl who looks look like Popeye browbeats me for driving a car with an internal combustion engine. It's insane that the media is on a constant vigil, demanding "Don't say that", "Don't do that", when they say what they want and do what they want. My response is to just say it or do it anyway. Naturally, even radio has boundaries but I have no issue in pushing it right up to the line. That's how most people wish they could be, so I fill that void. Other times, I'll show just how soft I really am, so you never know what you're going to get in any given week and a little of me does go a long way.

My whole approach is I'll slaughter any sacred cow you have- then make fun of you for crying about it, then I'll make fun of Jared for not ad-libbing something quickly enough, he'll make fun of me for being old, we'll both make fun of the bit that just bombed or while we're doing it, and we'll make fun of the conventions of radio itself- and it's all good. Our show is a pressure valve and we release all of the nation's pinned-up steam every week. And the audience that's dying to hear someone who is funny, fearless, and actually makes a point does exist and I'm going to find it- or they're going to find me, one or the other.

When the comedian Bill Hicks was alive, his style was to editorialize for 45 minutes then give the audience what they want for the last fifteen minutes. My own stand-up act isn't so heavy on current events, but if anyone is paying attention to my overall attitude and body language, it's pretty clear that I'm a conservative -- which itself is a political statement. I'll drop a couple of opinions in front of a live audience and let them deal with it but if you go into current events during your set, whether you're liberal or conservative you can't be preachy and it absolutely has to have a punchline. But simply talking and getting the applause break isn't comedy at all. Stand-up comedy is getting laughs every 20-25 seconds, or going a little longer to build up to a really big laugh...otherwise you're just giving a speech.

4. You've gone the Patreon route for supporting the show; what have you found so far as the pros and cons of trying to get listeners to pay/donate? How hard is it to convert the people you know are listening or downloading to paying customers?

I try a little of everything. I make it available live but if someone tunes in late and misses part of the first hour, Frankspeech.com is the place to catch that first hour. Did you like what you hear? Wanna hear the rest? Join the Dollar Club at www.patreon.com/richardcason. Seems simple enough but as I've said, there are a thousand or more podcasts already- mediocre, saying nothing, and clogging the pipes. And while I question the quality of their content, they definitely have the marketing/social media aspect of it down to a science, and my hat goes off to them for that. They've generated numbers to give the impression that they're a good show. Then there're some podcasts that actually are good. Joining Frankspeech.com has helped to get people listening to that first hour but still, you'd be shocked at how difficult it really is to get people to turn loose of that one little dollar, every month. So a couple of times a year, I'll pull an HBO and have Free Preview Week and I'll make the entire two hours free. But when the show starts adding terrestrial affiliates and listenership grows, I'm convinced that, for the price, the national audience will absolutely want to replay the latest episode and hear the archives. We put out the first hour and the video version, " RCTV" for free on Frankspeech.com. The audio version is also free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and a number of others. But the only way to never miss a complete episode is to join the Dollar Club at www.patreon.com/richardcason. It's literally a dollar a month.

5. How are you getting the word out about your show? Do you rely on social media or are there other ways to draw a crowd?

I try to keep the weekly promo up-to-date on KFMO, which they run throughout the week. Of course, as a conservative just about anything I used to post on socialist media would be reported as "hate" or "violating community standards" because somewhere along the way we started allowing adults who act like 8-year-old children dictate what we say and think. Even now, I'm shadow-banned on Fascistbook; I can post things, but Zuckerberg makes sure that no one sees it, so I don't even mess with it anymore. Twitter shuts me down automatically five minutes after creating a new account without my posting a thing, and even LinkedIn is a lop-sided joke. So for me, it's Franksocial @RichardCasonRadioNetwork and Gettr @CasonRadio. I'll also call or Skype in to most any other show that's so desperate for a guest that they would have me on: Political shows, pro wrestling shows- which in many cases, are one and the same.

6. What's the goal? Where do you want to be with the show in, say, five years?

I've been working like a dog to make enough money to syndicate it myself and earlier this year, I landed the MyPillow account, so I'm quite serious about taking the "Richard Cason Radio Network" national. But I'm reaching my limits as a salesman and at this point one of the big distributors who recognizes the talent, the production values, and the revenue potential would be rather welcome.

As awareness of this thing grows I have total confidence that if given a fair shot, a little patience, and the understanding that there is a method to my madness, on Sunday nights we can go head-to-head up against any show in America. Nobody ever beat me when I was a jock, so I have no reason to think that I'll be beaten as a talk show host. It's inconceivable to me how this thing doesn't catch on in the next year or so, after all the crap I've had to go through just to get to the chance to scrape by every week to keep it on the air. The only logical outcome is that the struggle was worth it and finally turning a national profit is my reward. But we're too fresh, we're too innovative, and to put it nicely, we're just too much to ignore for very long. It'll take national partners, it'll take someone from one of the networks to go, "That guy. He's sounds like he could make us some money- let's talk to him." But once we're coast-to-coast every week, I believe people will be rearranging their schedules to catch it live so they can talk about it at work the next day.

Assuming that the weekend lineup of talk stations in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago stays relatively the same, when our show hits those cities, every station airing a financial, or food, or legal, or medical show is going to get vaporized- at least, partially vaporized for two whole hours every week. I respect Curtis Sliwa on WABC and going on opposite him would be a challenge; I'd rather we were on the same station. But I've done the research and every other show in most major markets in my timeslot is the same thing. I'm not saying it's the end of the weekend gardening talk show as we know it but I am saying that I will outperform them, or the real estate show, or the arts and crafts show, or whatever and I base that on a few things: My own past success, too many people have confirmed what I always knew- that I have major market chops despite never having touched a major market, and I've already heard too many national shows that, in my humble opinion, are just NPR programs with ads. As Jack Nicholson said in 'Batman,' "'Wait'll they get a load of me."

Another goal is get "RCTV" onto one of the smaller, better conservative news channels- again, somewhere late at night on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

7. Who are your influences and inspirations in the business?

Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Anthony Cumia, Nick DiPaolo -- all completely different from each other, talented beyond measure and none of them were/are anything but brutally honest and endlessly entertaining. Even though I'm a relative unknown, talent-wise, I hope they would agree that I'm in their class.

8. Of what are you most proud?

Honestly, my resilience.

I have always approached this medium as a way to entertain people and in those those early days of consolidation, we weren't supposed to be entertaining, which made me hard to coach. Where I started in 1996, they didn't know how to tell me how to improve a bit- "Maybe try it this way" or " If you approach it like this..." because they simply weren't doing things along those lines. Instead, it was "Don't," "Can't," "That won't work," "We've never done that." Cape Girardeau was the same way and by the time I got to what was once known as Clear Channel in Illinois, my personality and style had solidified. I had already been recognized by the industry, I had proven that my show works, so I wasn't changing anything.

But as obnoxious as I must've been in those days, numbers do not lie and in my first seven-year-run from 1996 to 2003, I showed program directors and general managers alike that not only were they wrong about me, I showed them why they were wrong about me. Midday jocks aren't supposed to win industry awards, but I did. You can't do an at-work midday show as if it were morning drive, but I did, and you certainly aren't supposed to be able to replicate that success in afternoons or evenings, and I did that too. Sometimes I was working at the top station in town...in other markets, they were in sixteenth place, but I can only be responsible for the daypart that I'm assigned, so I made sure that I cut through the clutter with pure personality and that's what worked and set me apart. The only time my ratings ever dropped below #1, and it was brief, was in the early 2000s back in Cape, when out of fear of losing my job, I held back- just read the liners, did what they wanted. Ratings suffered in no time at all because I had gotten the audience used to my schtick, then I took it away from them, so they tuned out. And listening to those tapes at the end of the night was depressing, which left me with a choice: Get fired for low ratings as I try to execute management's vision, or get fired for high ratings by executing my own vision. Being the gambling man that I am, I rolled those dice, managed to pull the nose up, got the evening show back to #1, then they fired me.

For my trouble, I've been called "arrogant," "egotistical," a "loose cannon," "unpredictable,"- all those things that make for a lousy human being, but a great talk show host and stand-up comic. And for the record, those labels aren't completely accurate. But I'm also real and for better or for worse, I've stood my ground, which has led to some time "on the beach." But whether it's a News/Talker in southern Illinois, or a barely functioning Country station in southeast Missouri, eventually I always land somewhere.

Throw in facing the exact same crap in the world of stand-up comedy and those periods where real-life simply takes priority and for 26 years, to my own amazement, I have kept the fire burning. It took 26 years of living, learning, winning, losing, moving, moving some more, and moving yet again, but I am finally doing the show I've always wanted to do, exactly the way I want to do it.

9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ___________.

...Cafe Bustelo espresso. I probably make 8-to-10 cups of that in the old French press everyday. During the two hours I do my show, I'll go through a Thermos of it.

10. What's the most important advice you've gotten in your career?

Everything is show prep, operate from the premise that your audience is just as smart as you are, make every segment an event, and never hide your feelings from the audience; be yourself, in the moment, whoever that is because these shows really are about the man or woman behind the microphone. It's the only way it can be. And when you reveal a little bit more of yourself week-after-week by mentioning your interests, hobbies, vacations, family, flaws, unusual anecdotes, etc., the audience identifies with you- and then you got'em. They get to know you not just as some disembodied voice that says things one might agree or disagree with, but as an informed, opinionated, albeit imperfect, and relatable human being who just happens to be a talk show host.

And the most important thing of all: Perseverance. Ignore the critics, ignore the jealousy, ignore the ones whose inferiority complex is so great that they would tear you down just to try to make you quit. Ignore them all and just keep grinding it out. It may take 26 years but if you want it bad enough, you'll get there.