10 Questions with ... Russ 'The Party Bus' Allen

NAME:Russ 'The Party Bus' Allen POSITION:PD (I'm like the Kama Sutra baby - just pick one that makes you smile, and I'll for damn sure make it worth your while.) STATION:WAJZ JAMZ 96.3 MARKET:Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY COMPANY:Albany Broadcasting (ironically located in Albany, NY) BORN:in a cross-fire hurricane (Washington, DC) RAISED:DC, Hyattsville, MD....I'm all about that DMV - DC, Maryland, and the VA all up in this piece!!

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Orlando, San Francisco, Houston, Knoxville, Albany. You name it, I've done it....I've been there, done that, got the free t-shirt with my flyer.

1. How's upstate New York treating you?

It should be a felony for it to snow prior to Halloween... thank God for PF Chang (hint to visiting label reps)

2. Would you please prioritize what you look at when contemplating a potential move?

1) How is the golf in the area?
2) What kind of staff will I inherit?
3) How close are the strip clubs to the station?
4) Stability of company
5) How is the golf?

3. What initially got you interested in Radio and what was your first paid gig in Radio?

Being an only child, the funny man in the little talkie box was my friend growing up. Then, I found out that if you work really hard, strange little people called reps will come see you and take you out to eat. My first paid gig? Well, I was affectionately known as "Jack and Slurpee" by Dr. Dave - I had his hook-up for "special slurpees" while at WPGC in DC.

4. What did you see as your biggest challenge when you accepted the job as PD at WAJZ?

Basically, how to get the staff to understand the magnitude of me (shout out to Reggie Jackson, keepin it real for all the NY people). Honestly, it was how to come in, take something that was already working pretty well and just step on the gas and make a good thing even better.

5. What secret about Russ Allen might surprise even those that know you well?

Sometimes, when I feel extra pretty, I like to go home, light some candles, but on a Colonel Abrams CD and grab some cocoa butter....it all gets pretty freaky after that, so 'nuff said!!!

6. What are you looking to hear as you hit "play" on an aircheck for a gig?

I look for creativity, running a tight show, interacting with listeners, doing more than just reading liners, and doing stuff that fits in the bigger picture of the station. If you have five dayparts (and who in this day and age actually gets five live dayparts?), they all have to have their own identity, but still fit the pieces together and make one big pie. Damn...I'm hungry now.

7. Often in this spot we talk about mentors in radio. Looking back on your career, is there a jock/programmer that may have developed under your tutelage that stands out to you?

I learned a lot from Bob Mitchell, Jerry Clifton, Ben Hill and Jay Stevens (if you can figure out what I share in common with those men you're rather brilliant).

I gave Big Tigger his first on-air opportunity. There's a guy named Joey Tack that I found in Iowa, brought him to Knoxville and he's still doin' big things. Some people feel he's ready to be a PD, those people are correct.

8. Any tips for jocks on how to "recession proof" themselves at their station?

Know how to do everything from running the board to dumping trash (I know a company where they just got rid of their trash man - now thats cutting deep!!!). The key is versatility and making your indispensable.... no one person is truly indispensable in the true sense of the word, but if getting rid of you as one person means four or five different jobs are going to suffer.... you got some security.

9. What has been your greatest accomplishment?

I worked at a strip club for almost a year and never once got caught...oh...nevermind. I'd say making it through this quiz without studying. Actually, it has been just surviving the roller coaster of radio without getting sick, and sometimes even failing to keep my hands and feet inside the car. There are other paths I could have chosen that would have offered more stability and more compensation, but where else could I expose the country to my specialness in such a wonderful way?

10. Hearing anything hot that has you excited about the first quarter, musically?

Dr. Dre Detox (if it ever actually happens), plus the promise of new Eminem, and Lil Wayne threatening to drop Tha Carter IV.... that's the hardest working, deepest puffin' lil goblin in the game!

Your VP/GM tells you that you've got an additional $25,000 in the budget for 2009. Where might you spend it? (we've adjusted this down from $50K)

I would spend it on therapy for my GM, because he most surely has lost his damn mind...or he is trying to involve me in a laundering scheme, and I ain't havin it! For real, I would sit back, analyze my station's needs and what are my listeners' hot buttons, and aim it square at those who matter most and make radio fun - the listener. If it's bills they need help with, then that's what we hit; if they want trips, then we send them packin'... ya just go with what people tell you they want.

What song, in rotation now, always seems to make you want to smile when you hear it on the station?

"A Bay Bay makes me smile because it reminds me of a dancer name Shawnee at Tha Katch in Knoxville. She was one of my best tippers. "Swagga Like Us" also makes me smile.