Rich Davis: Radio Hustle, On-Air Chemistry, and the Power of Saying Yes

0:03 I see Scott Shannon in the hallways of PLJ my first week there and I'm doing intern stuff making copies, folding t-shirts, going handing out bumper stickers and I went up to Scott Shannon. I go hey, scott Rich, I'm an intern, I don't want to fold t-shirts, I want to learn from you, I want to be your intern. And he was like I like your ambition Starting Monday, you're my personal intern. And he was like I like your ambition Starting Monday, you're my personal intern. When I first started getting into radio, I would compile air checks of people around the country, take a little bit from each. Like ooh, I like how he does that. There'd be videotapes of like Broadway, Bill Lee and some of these legends and watching them in the studio and I would do that.

0:43 There was a point where if you named a city, I could tell you the station, the program director and who's on the day parts. I wanted to be in the know. We're in the fishbowl and Bruno Mars is walking by. Henry Winkler pops out of his chair and he's like oh my god, I love Bruno Mars. And Bruno sees that, makes eye contact, comes around, pops in the fishbowl and they just have a love fest for each other. He's like I love you. And Bruno Mars starts talking about you know, you're the Fonz, this is surreal. And he's like but I love your album, I love you, bruno. He's like no, I love you. Henry and Cavino and I are just sort of sitting back watching this cool moment unfold. Kid Kelly said early on in my career if you're kind to people and keep your nose clean, if you're not an asshole, you're kind to people and you're good, there'll be a place for you.

1:37 Hello and welcome to the Career Journey podcast no Wrong Choices. I'm Larry Samuels, soon to be joined by Tushar Saxena and Larry Shea. Today's episode features the radio, podcast and TV personality, Rich Davis. Before we bring him in, please be sure to like, follow and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening right now. Let's get started Now. Joining no Wrong Choices is the radio and podcast personality, Rich Davis, with over two decades in the business, Rich entertains listeners who enjoy everything from pop culture to hit music to sports.

2:18 He can currently be heard or seen on Covino and Rich, on Fox Sports Radio, the hit podcast have Kids they Said, which I look forward to talking about, and on the Sirius XM channels pop two K and the pulse rich. Thank you so much for joining us. Hey, I love seeing you know faces from the past and I want to add one thing to the list there I'm the number one kids coach in Southern California. I am, you got to see me, coach man. I think we're going to have a lot in common as we go through this conversation. Having seen the bad news bears I probably know what your coaching style is like. Yes, and to that point, I am the coach of my son's t-ball team right now. So I think we're gonna have a lot to talk about for sure excellent, no doubt, no doubt of it. Uh, it's larry shea here. Rich, it's really good to see you, man.

2:59 Um, it's been a lot of years. We've we've worked together for a couple of decades now at SiriusXM and it was really one of my favorite parts of the day. Man, you would finish your show and come bounding by my office in the hallway, as I used to call it, and we would talk sports and life and shoot the shit, and it was always just, you know, you were one of the ones, one of the good ones, as they say. You know, like, as we connected, Larry, I feel the same about you man Like there's a, there's a group of people I feel like that were part of Sirius XM when it was just serious, when it was like this exciting new company Listen, it's a huge billion dollar cash flow company now but those early days when you know random people like Larry, where do you work?

3:41 Cyrus Radio those old school days, you know you are friends like Diane Tinelli, kathy Berusso, chris Gibbons, people that, like we've professionally worked with for 20 plus years that you know we I've seen people there. I'm saying with you have little kids that are like now in college. Yeah, definitely True. Shout outs to some legends at Sirius. Xm right there. No doubt I get the fun part. Man, I want to take you back to when you were a kid, because I know you're like a lifetime radio guy, tv guy. Take me back to young Rich Davis, though. What was the dream? What did you want to do when you were a kid? Well, you know it's interesting. A lot of times you see little indications along the way.

4:22 At the time time it might not be evident, but when you look back you're like, shit, it makes sense now. Like who wants to do the class announcements with me? You know who wants to take the lunch tally? Like, all right, who wants pizza? You know who wants hamburgers? Like I was the kid that was never shy to be on stage I was never. I was never shy to get in front of the classroom and do a project. So I always felt pretty natural speaking in front of people. And then I remember thinking you know, I want to go into sports, broadcasting or music or something. And my high school principal, a guy named Tom Dolan a lot of people are like, yeah, my principal sucked. I don't even know him. My principal was a great dude. Like he pulled me aside and he's like any hesitation of you maybe staying on Long Island or going local, he's like go to Syracuse, you're going to do it.

5:08 And I remember and we'll always thank Tom Dolan for that went to Syracuse. And the cliff notes are simple I was dating a girl long distance and she dumped me. I went to her college dorm room, larry and we were on the rocks and I'd knock on the door. You know, when you sneak into a dorm like you wait for someone to open it, you trail them in. Sure. Because we were going through like a rough moment. You were stalking her Could be a word that's used. Yeah, and I remember some dude answering the door he's like she's with me now and he was wearing like a backwards lacrosse hat and a goatee. It was the 90s. I'm like who's this jerk off? And and then I went back to my college.

5:48 I was all mopey and one of my friends said, hey, do you want to come to the college radio station? And I'm just like drowning in a beer sitting in my college dorm room, like I guess so. And for some reason I went to the college station and some like confidence took over where I was like wait, these are the guys that are on the radio. Yeah, I think I want to try it. Yeah, and and I did, and it seemed like something that sort of came relatively natural and easy to me, and that's not always the case, right? So I said let me roll with this and you know, fast forward, I'm giving you the longest story ever no, it's all good fast forward. I was at syracuse, kept working at the college station, started working at hot 1079, which is a hot a chr in syracuse, and kid kelly, who was working at z100 in new york.

6:35 Um, I would send air checks. I was, I was super ambitious back then. I made 50 demos and I went to the copy center remember Maybe you'd have to like burn CDs and I printed out color resumes and shit Like it was and I sent it to 50 radio stations in like the top 25 markets. And one of those people that got back to me was kid Kelly and he had agreed to air check me and which, which, for those that don't know, means like listen to my tape and give it some criticism. And I had become friends with him and after a while he hit me up and he's like hey, what are you doing this weekend? And our usual conversations. I thought he meant like yeah, dude, I'm gonna try to hook up with some girls and drink at the bar he goes well, do you want to come down and do the overnight at z100?

7:18 and I was 20 years old and I'm like wow, like 20, wow, working at z100 in New York, and that just led into fill-ins and me just being available whenever they wanted me. Someone gets fired, I'm filling in. And then I was full time there for four years, and that in 04, when my contract was up there, kid Kelly had been at this new company, sirius Satellite. Radio and he's like yeah, cyrus Radio. And at the time I'm like, do I move around the country, like where do I go from here? And he's like I promise you just come to Sirius and boom, here we are Awesome. Ta-da. So just to give some folks some perspective, like who Kid is, because Kid is, you know, he's an enormous enormous personality.

8:01 I, he's an enormous personality. I mean, yeah, he's a legend in the radio business, especially when it comes to rock radio. I think didn't he recently get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yeah, he was in the Radio Hall of Fame. He ran all the biggest top 40 stations in the country. Kid was, and still is, a big deal in that world and it was always weird to me like wow, of all the people you send out 50 resumes and demos, maybe like five people got back to me but all you needed was one dude all you needed was one important person. Right, I kind of want to, I want to kind of uh, you know, uh, stay on that subject for a moment. The idea of sending out demos and sending out demos and whatnot so was your, was your goal your first time around that you wanted to do talk or you wanted to do music?

8:45 at the time of my college radio station was a pretty good like. It's considered like the best self-run college radio station. Like it's it's independently run and there's commercials and it's formatted. It's it's very official for a college station, it's very professional, very pro and it's it really prepared me and I said you know what I remember going home one summer and I interned. I had an internship opportunity at a public relations firm and WPLJ in New York, 95, five, and I just felt the contrast between the fun vibes of a radio station hallway and wearing a fucking suit to the PR agency.

9:27 I feel like that was like one of those. Am I going to make a left or right? And I went radio and then on top of that I had you know, when you don't realize you're having balls and like people like, did you just do that? Scott Shannon, who's maybe one of the biggest legends in the top 40. Legendary legendary figure. So I see Scott Shannon in the hallways of PLJ my first week there and you know I'm doing intern stuff making copies, folding T-shirts, going handing out bumper stickers, you know, and I went up to Scott Shannon. I go hey, scott Rich, I'm an intern, I don't want to fold T-shirts, I want to learn from you. I'm an intern, I don't want to fold t-shirts, I want to learn from you.

10:08 I want to be your intern. And he and he was like I like your ambition. Starting Monday, you're my personal intern and I became Scott. Wow. Wow. Personal intern for a summer, and yeah it just, I feel like when I was a younger man I made some pretty like ballsy moves and I guess you know ballsy, that's a ballsy play that's a ballsy play I didn't know people like you went up to scott. People don't do that. I'm like it worked. Yeah, that's great. Do you know why you broke through with Kid kelly? Like what was the, the package, the tape, the resume, like what stood out? Yeah, what? what did kids say? Truthfully, I think I sounded a little like him and people are all people like people that are like them, and our conversations were very light and funny about you know, like date, like he knew that I was a guy, that was, I lived like a very fun life, like I was a young guy that was talking about dating and hooking up and music and sports, and I think he saw a little of of me in him when he was on his come up.

11:04 So we, we bonded pretty quickly. So I think it was just one of those I could mold this kid into what I need when you were a kid did you listen to the radio? Did you hear those guys and say I wonder who those people are? Because it seems like the first time you even thought about it was when you were bummed out about a girl. Yeah, you know, it's funny. Dude booty will motivate you the loss, of the loss of a fine ass will uh will motivate man, but no, I I, I do remember, uh, being in my car as a kid, like we all did, like some listened to stern, some. I remember listening to elvis and elliot and it's so funny because elvis duran later became a friend of mine and still is, you know but I remember listening to Elvis and Elliot and if they were in the middle of a good bit, I remember like not wanting to get out of the car, like and that's the power of radio, like you know when, if Howard or Elvis Duran or Mike and the mad dog, if they're in the middle of a good conversation, you'd be like, when you got to your destination, you'd be like, shit, I want to.

12:01 There was no podcasting. I couldn't listen. Later it was just gone. If you got out of the car it was into the ether. Where are you getting your chops? Was it that first Kid Kelly overnight experience? Because you obviously can make some mistakes overnight without a big deal. But where are you getting those chops? You said it came naturally to you, but where are you honing that craft? I think you know what I was a. When I really get into something I mean I like to think I still do it. Like we'll talk about kids later. But like you know, I started getting into coaching. I really dove in. Like I'm, you know, like when I like something I dive in head first. I become a little obsessive, compulsive, right. So when I first started getting into radio radio, I would compile air checks of people around the country, take a little bit from each like, oh, I like how he does that.

12:49 Remember, like california air checks. I don't know if that was just a top 40 guy thing, but there'd be. There'd be videotapes of like broadway, bill lee and some of these legends and watching them in the studio. And I would do that, I would. I would find air checks and listen to different DJs. There was a point where if you named a radio, a city, I could tell you the station, the program director and who's on the day parts. Like I was a bit obsessive, compulsive about it. I wanted to be in the know, you know. So when you transition from Kid Kelly Z100, you come out of that contract and go over to Sirius XM, you walk into the Wild West. There's no telling what's coming your way. Did you walk in there with a vision, with expectations?

13:33 Was there something laid out for you? What were you walking? into. Interestingly enough, I remember taking a significant pay cut because New York, no matter how young I was, it was union, it was after a SAG. Significant pay cut because, you know, new York, no matter how young I was, it was union, it was after a sag. So, you know, for a 20 something year, 20 year old kid, I was like I was buying the good beer. Let's say that, you know, and I go to Sirius XM and at first it was like, yeah, we can't pay you what they were paying an on-air New York talent. So I remember taking a pay cut, not really knowing where this was going. And you're right, it's. It is a little bit of a kick to the nuts, ego wise, because everyone you know is like oh, you're on the air, you know Z100 or two like WFAN. And now you're like no, no, I'm, I'm at serious radio. And everyone's like I'm sorry, I don't have that.

14:17 So you know I. But I do remember thinking like all right, it keeps me in New York. And you know, at the time I really didn't feel like leaving and and going somewhere else, not because I was nervous to do that, I just felt like so many people found their way to New York. Eventually I started there. So, unless it was a really cool job, I I didn't feel like going in reverse Like I was okay with the idea of, hey, I had the radio chapter of my life, what's next? Cause I wasn't going to be like all right now, let me go to Boise and do afternoons, like I. Just that wasn't in my cards you know? So was that the deal Like when your contract was up at Z? They basically said they were not going to renew you. Yeah.

15:01 Or it was simply that you're going to make the jump. Well, you know what it was one of those. Hey, you know, as you know, it could be sports, top 40, rock. If a new regime of programmers comes in, you know they bring their own guys and they shake it up. I was a Kid Kelly guy, so when he left Right Like they got rid of his regime. Yeah. Like any, any, because there were a couple regimes in there and you know it. It's almost like remember when Sirius and XM merged. They were XM people and Sirius people and the people that were too much like, yeah, fucking XM. Later. Right, exactly. So what would you say was the biggest difference between doing commercial radio and now doing, for however long you've done at this point, for the bulk of your career, doing satellite radio?

15:50 Interestingly enough, I think, meeting and talking to people around the country as corny as that sounds, when you're in New York, everyone is like you know, hey, jersey, oh, italian guys. I grew up in a very Italian town on Long Island, new York, new know, hey, jersey, oh, italian guys. Yeah, like I, it's. I grew up in a very Italian town on long Island, new York, new Jersey, connecticut. I, you know. My joke is always, if you're on the subway, like I'm six foot, I feel tall in New York because it's all, it's all Puerto Rican guys, italian guys and Asian guys that are like short, unless it's a black dude, I'm the tallest guy on the subway, you know, and it's very hey, New York pizza, hey, like. I remember having a conversation with Covino early on and I'll tell you how that started the Covino rich in a minute.

16:33 But I remember early on mentioning that I had penny a la vodka for dinner and someone and all the calls like what's vodka sauce? So you forget. You're very in a New york bubble, you're in a market, if you, if you're the guy that's only done radio in texas, you don't know la new york miami. So I thought it was cool to start getting perspective about prices, preferences, food style, everything. So you know, like, for instance, like I like cavino and I would joke about, like what are you wearing? Like a pair of oakley's and this, and it's like no, there's guys around the country that that's their style. Like they are, they wear oakley's and polo shirts and they golf like that's. So you're very learned. You learn quickly. I love the idea of learning everyone's life, you know yeah, so let's talk about start getting into, like, what you were doing at serious meeting, Covino.

17:21 I want to talk about your partner, because you've been with him for two decades now at least right, so it's our longest relationship, yeah, so I want to talk about how that relationship started. Were you thrust into it? Did it happen, naturally? And I also want to know, like, were you under contract at Sirius? Was when they took you on? Was it we're going to do a four year or it was just your full-time indefinitely? I think in the beginning it wasn't even like a host on a talent contract. I think I was like an employee of SiriusXM, sure, yeah, and I remember that because in the beginning I would get things like stock options and things that employees got, and then once you get a contract, you're just a host that goes away when you're a host.

18:04 Yeah, it's funny. The perks that you do get as an employee. I mean, you get benefits and stuff, but those other little things like bonuses- or options, A future? A future yes exactly. So I start working there and the only way for them to give me, I guess, a little more money so I could be like hey guys, I was coordinating some of the channels, so I was a music coordinator, as they call it, and I quickly realized that I was really quick at it and good at it and I realized not to brag, but I'd be done by lunch. And I'm like what is everyone else dilly-dallying? And it made me realize I'm not cut out for this, because if you work hard and fast, like, there's a lot of people that like it would be lunchtime and I'd be like, all right, I program the 80s channel, this and that for tomorrow, and everyone else is like, yeah, dude, like slow down, slow down.

18:56 So I was, I was coordinating, the 80s channel had started and Nina Blackwood, mark Goodman and all those 80s, 80s signed on and my job was to sort of run that channel, load their voice tracks into the system, while doing voice tracking on Hits 1, the pop channel. Then, at some point about six months into that, if you remember, when print media was a thing, maxim Magazine wanted to do a deal with Sirius and that's where Covino and Rich comes into play. So around this time I know Covino because he's working at K-Rock in New York but he's also voice tracking on Sirius, xm's, octane and Turbo and all those rock channels.

19:38 So Covino and I know each other. We're mutual radio buds. When him and I met, we became friends real quick. It's like it was. It was almost like zach and slater, I say because, like we, we were great wingmen, because if we met girls it's like all right. Do you like the handsome latino guy or the white guy? Like we're not competing. He's rock guy, I'm pop guy, I'm mets guy, he's Yankees guy. Like we, we always got along but we were different, yet the same, if that makes any sense. And totally, totally. They said, hey, we're pushing this maximum thing. We want to do a talk channel. And I got to give Covino credit because he was like he was very adamant, like dude, it's gotta be me and you. And they tried to team me and him up with Demos, who's a great radio host, but that didn't work.

20:24 They were like what about Madison? They were trying to just separate Covino and I, or like you should be a lead on this show and you should be a lead. And Covino was adamant. They're like no, no, no, covino and Rich, rich and Covino, whatever you want to call it, just like, why are you separating us? Like? Their thought was why put two leads together? And we were like no, no, that's us, you know. And that after demos and demos and Demos, we celebrated 20 years. December 04 was our first show for Maxim Radio. That's amazing, yeah first show from Maxim Radio. That's amazing. And how much does, I guess, having that great partner play into the choices that you then make for the next two decades?

21:04 I mean think about how different your life might have been if that partnership doesn't occur. It's interesting you would say that, and I think what's good about that is that him and I keep each other in check. We also keep each other thinking young and looking young. Cause I feel like if one of us, like, if one of us like all of a sudden just didn't start caring or let themselves go, or or or became greedy, like we never allow each other to have an ego and we always make the same amount of money, like we've agreed that no different agents and this and that we always it would, it would never end up good. If one was like wait, you negotiated for 20 grand more from this than I did, or it would. We always agreed we're in it together and we realized, like once you started having success together, like let's not fuck up a good thing and and you know whether it's a, a meddling ex-wife or you know an annoying family member or co-worker like, no matter what it is, we can't let anything get in the way of this.

22:03 That's amazing. So what was that first thing? You get teamed up? You guys are the guys. What was that first thing you guys did together? The first. You know what's funny is? I always remember this right around the time we're pitching the show. Larry, you may remember this because you're so old school. I love it. They used to do something called the serious rhythm of the road tour. Okay, yes, I remember this and I don't remember they would send some of the host out and it was actually, you know, good talent fee, appearance money. But they'd be like, hey, go to daytona beach, and you know they pop up some signs and they had Pam Anderson cutouts because, remember, she was like part of Syria. Our spokesperson right? yeah, I just remember there being a Pam Anderson cardboard cutout, yep, and, and you know just me and Covino with serious, it was like turn on.

22:50 There was like an on off shirt like serious turn on, and that was like our first event right around the time we were working out this deal and I just knew we had something because we just got along so well. But I remember we were talking to these girls and they wanted to go in a hot tub with us and we didn't have bathing suits and I was very quick to be like dude, just get down to your underwear. He's like bro, I don't get down to my underwear. At that point I was like this is a topic already. Fucking. Two hot girls want to get a hot tub and you're like, I'm not wearing the right underwear so I I just knew that immediately. Our content just based on our personality differences. Like I'm a dance at the party, make a fool myself.

23:30 He's a yo. I gotta look cool, so I knew that would be good you know. so that's good bit of yin and yang between the two of you, which is always a great thing for any type of really any type of relationship like that, and you know you mentioned it before that this is one of the longest relationships you've had in your life. How have you guys been able to, uh, balance, balance your professional life with your personal lives? Obviously right, because I mean, family does have to, family does play a major role in both of your lives. How have you been able to balance that? You know, given each other a little grace from time to time when it matters, but neither one of us have ever like poorly prioritized, like listen, if there's something he has to do with his daughter, of course I'm going to be like, that's the most important, if you know, if I have something with my kids, we're very flexible, like, and I just know we both have the work ethic where we're not going to let shit fall by the wayside and listen, there was a time where his ex-wife was in LA and I was in New York and he was going back and forth, but we made it work.

24:28 And there were times where I was redoing my house and living in Texas for two or three months and he understood. So it's a matter of just understanding each other and being like listen, let's not let again let anything get in the way of this. And yeah, no, it's, it's. It's really just that it's we. We even agreed at one, you know, to move to LA together. That was a big deal too, you know. I want to ask you a little bit about your uh, your. Obviously this has nothing to play in. This is not meant to cause any type of rift between you and you and Covino, but the differences that you feel between doing a tandem show and then doing a solo show like you would probably do for music. You're a solo, you were a solo host there, here, obviously, you and Steve, you guys are obviously the duo, the team over at Sirius.

25:18 What has it been? What's the biggest contrast for you there? I thrive on conversation and conflict or camaraderie or reminiscing together or fighting. To me it makes great radio. Now, I'm not saying there's not a place for solo acts. Like I love a great Colin Cowherd analogy. I love a good Adam Schein monologue, her cowherd analogy. I love a good adam shine monologue. You know, I these are great things, but I I could never do that. I've there have been times where we've done on a rare occasion like yeah, could you roll solo today? Yeah, but you know what I'm doing. A lot of times I'm rolling off my producer or the board op or something, because to me I you know something going on in the world. Like hey, do, do you see Otani last night?

26:00 Like I want to talk to you about that, larry Me, just hearing myself talk, I just find I don't know, it just doesn't work for me. But delivering information in 30-second increments on like a music channel, I feel like that's a skill I've mastered at this point. So I get it. But I don't think I could ever do a sports show by myself without an ensemble, just because I could, but I don't think it would be that great you know, yeah, yeah, I like riffing off of people too. That's why we do this as an ensemble. It's just that's why we do this. Yeah, exactly. Like you guys busting each other's balls, having fun, laughing Like.

26:41 To me I always found like and I'm not comparing it to a cheesy laugh track of a sitcom, but I always feel like when I hear people having fun, whether it's like the stern show and the you know, you know, just like back in the day, like arty or someone or gary laughing and every him and robin, or you know when a elvis duran and his crew or anyone is laughing with each other, to me that's contagious. When I hear certain shows on any network and it's like just someone talking without any laughter or levity in their voice, I'm like fucking boring, come on, what are we doing? There's shows on networks. I'm on that. I'm like, come on. Yeah, speaking about work-life balance and things that happen on radio shows, you met your wife on your radio show, is that true? Can you tell that story real quick? I did my wife.

27:23 What I love about this is it just it shows you how you know not to get all weird, but it shows you like butterfly effect and how one little thing, one little thing like-. No wrong choices and no wrong choices no wrong choices. I, you know, and I think about this often recently because someone had asked me how I met my wife and I remember she was in a swimsuit calendar for Hooters. When she was in college my wife worked at Hooters and you know, back then Hooters and still is I mean, it's not what it was, but it was a big brand. And you know, another regional thing I realized was outside in New York. In New York Hooters are like man, whatever week.

28:04 No one really loved Hooters in New York. There's one by Nassau Coliseum where the Islanders play. I don't remember going to Hooters but around the country guys go to Hooters to watch sports. It's a big deal around the country and deal around the country. And my wife was like you know what, let me try out for this calendar and the competitions and she would win a hell of a lot of money. My wife like sort of ran the whole like bikini circuit for a while when she was like in college, in her 20s, and she ended up winning miss hooters international like fifty thousand dollars and was. You know, that was like her world in her early 20s and got to go with hooters to iraq, europe, all over the world. She was like her world in her early 20s and got to go with Hooters to Iraq, europe, all over the world. She was like essentially their spokesperson and one of those you went to Hooters.

28:44 Iraq. That's an odd place to go. Hooters. Iraq. She went there with like a US. Yeah, hooters, iraq. It was a burka. You went to Hooters Baghdad. The jokes write themselves right there. Oh my God, that's burka. The jokes right themselves right there. Oh my god, very funny. Oh my god, uh, she was actually. She tells the story of uh, you know, she was in saddam hussein's house after he had been captured, like they she. So she had some pretty cool experiences, all for a, a brand that has to do with titties and wings. You know she's, she's had some cool experiences, that's crazy and but the, the butterfly effect thing, the uh, no wrong choices. There were, I believe, eight girls that came to serious xm and arbitrarily larry.

29:28 Someone from the talent department was like all right, all right, you four go on this show, you four go on that show, right? Whoever that was, whether it was, I don know, thinking back to the day, like Annabella. Spencer. I don't know who the hell it could have been. So some random Stephanie Sacco Remember that name Somebody in talent relations chose for you. Oh my God. Someone was just like all right, and you on that side, and that side meant Kavino and Rich and I it's cool that I have the audio of my wife and I introducing ourselves to wow yeah, I didn't even think about that. Wow, that's something pretty cool. Like what's your name? She's like sarah and I and I said, wow, texas, the most beautiful women in the world.

30:08 That was what I said. Wow. And and that night the hooters girls were in town. They went out for like a nice dinner with their marketing people and she's like why don't you come out and meet for a drink? And I was like sort of fresh out of a relationship and I'm like I'm gonna fuck this up. So I sort of was like yeah, I really can't. I'm like what was I thinking? But perhaps it made her be like, yeah, and we we long distance chatted for a couple months. And then I met up with her a couple months later and you know, we did long distance for a year. She moved to new york and that was in 20, you know, 2008, 2009. And here we are, 15 years later with two kids living in the valley, you know, and with the family. So let's talk about all the shows you were on on SiriusXM, because it wasn't just Covino and rich right, it wasn't just maxim radio, it was no morning mashup and like you talk about everything and kind of how it came about that you were just thrown on all these programs.

31:01 I mean Morning Mashup was the most listened to show on the most listened to channel, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, you know what's so funny, is that, nicole? So the Morning Mashup. We needed a morning show for the Top 40 channel. Kid Kelly believed in me, obviously from Z100 Days, so he's like it's you. If you remember, at the time there was a very funny guy, gay guy, named Jason Drew. I don't remember. Jason. Jason Drew. He's now down in Orlando, I think, or Florida. Yeah, he's doing news TV He's like the entertainment news guy.

31:44 But jason drew was like a really almost like fresh out of modern family, like sarcastic, like almost like. Uh, who's the redheaded guy on modern family? Uh, mitch mitchell, the character mitchell. He was very like dry, funny, gay guy. And then stanley t is a college friend of kid kelly's, so it was back then. Kid will admit it was very stereotypical. He's like black guy, gay guy, white guy. All right, do it. Now we need a girl. You know, it's really just old school putting together a show. Let's be honest, right back, you know how things were done at some point. Right, and nicole was the front desk girl and you might not remember this. You know jeff reagan's wife serena, who worked at sirius xm for years, absolutely he was the original girl on the morning mashup how about that? And she was like, yeah, I don't know if I'm feeling this, and she went in her own direction, but she was originally the girl that hung out with us for a couple months and then she was like, eh, I don't know, Nicole was just the charismatic, young, pretty funny girl that worked at the front desk again no wrong choices.

32:42 She was a temp that was assigned serious xm purely by like all right, uh, nicole, you're gonna go to the 49th street, serious xm. She was a temp. Again, no wrong choices, right. So it's so true, nicole seemed to be a good fit because she was and also, as they say in the industry, green like she. She was not like, she didn't have like a fake radio voice, she was just like a 20 something year old girl that lived in new york city, that liked to go out and party and had good stories, like. So it was very natural, right. So her, the four of us did the morning mashup for a decade and the only reason I left the morning mashup was we had the opportunity Covino and I SiriusXM said they were expanding their LA offices and anytime I had my contract negotiations at SiriusXM a little behind-the-scenes stuff was they always seemed to value the talk side and Covino and Rich more than the morning mashup.

33:31 And I also started doing television stuff with Covino and I always thought that, as much as I had a good camaraderie at the morning mashup and, yes, I had way more listeners with the morning mashup it was I never thought that was my lane because it was like they're there for ed sheeran and taylor swift. I just happen to be the voice that accompanies that. If you listen to covino and rich, you're listening for covino and rich, right? So I I always thought like, am I betting on myself or am I betting on just being part of a big channel like hits one's huge, like you could put a, you could put a boson hits one and they'll be the most listened to. You know, yeah um, I want to talk about, um, your favorite moments. It's serious before we move on to other stuff, because we always talk about how, like in the hallways, like al pacino will walk by and like whatever name, a celebrity.

34:19 They've walked by and you know, brushed elbows with you or whatever, but you know you're bringing these people into your studio. What was your favorite moment? Do you have a favorite radio interview, either that just memorable turned awful, or just couldn't believe you were interviewing X, y or Z, something like that. Yeah, there's a couple. There's a couple that come to mind. My favorite moment, like, just like a moment was we're doing a town hall, which is the you know, the fishbowl in the lobby of serious xm. It's usually an interview, maybe a studio audience, and cavino and I, somehow, some way you, you never know who you're going to click with we created this really bizarre friendship with Henry Winkler, the Fonz, yes, and over the years and it started out as a joke Before we met him, covino, and I would always say as a joke when we were doing Maxim, it would be like, all right, who's an old school example of cool.

35:16 So we'd always joke in a scenario like yo, this girl dumped me this and that hey what would the Fonz do? that was like our joke, and then we had Henry on and he just took a liking to us. Like you guys are silly, but I like you. You're good guys. I'm the Fonz, like he's just so gentle and kind in a very non-Fonz way right and we're in the fishbowl and bruno mars is walking by, henry winkler pops out of his chair and he's like oh my god, I love him. Bruno mars and bruno sees that makes eye contact, comes around, pops in the fishbowl you can find this on youtube, it's available, great. And and they just have a love fest for each other.

35:58 He's like I love you. And Bruno Mars starts talking about you know, you're the Fonz. This is surreal. And he's like but I love your album, I love you, Bruno. He's like no, I love you. Henry and Covino and I are just sort of sitting back watching this cool moment unfold. Another cool moment we're doing one of our Covino Rich conventions, where we have our listeners visit New York, set up a bunch of cool events. We have the fishbowl packed, the lobbies packed and for some reason, Steven Tyler must be doing something with the rock channels. Now we know that Steven Tyler could hear us only because they were putting our show on through the lobby and the men's bathroom.

36:40 So we're in the middle of our show with our listeners and we're like oh my God, there's Steven Tyler. He walked in the bathroom and Covino goes. Well, wait a minute. Steven Tyler absolutely hears everything we're saying now. So he's like hey, Steven Tyler, I know you're holding your penis right now. Steven Tyler, I know you're holding your penis right now. We know you're in there, so hope you're doing well. Big fan, Steven Tyler, so don't forget to wash your hands. So he's sort of talking to Steven Tyler through the PA. That's great In the bathroom. Steven Tyler comes out laughing, comes in the fishbowl and we do like an impromptu 30-minute interview, like that wasn't scheduled or anything.

37:21 He tells his publicist like no, no, I want to do this and I always thought that was really cool. You know that bathroom is very famous for those encounters too. I remember walking in and how many famous people have you seen like in there? But I remember walking in and literally there was like what? Four or five urinals, and Literally there was like what? Four or five urinals. And like I'm at one, and on both sides of me I'm flanked by Motley Crue peeing. This is one of those moments, man, not to one-up you, larry. I used to joke that there was a time I went in the bathroom and the urinals to the left and right of me were Bret Michaels and Hulk Hogan. I was like blonde dudes with bandanas. My highlight was watching Eminem and a little Eminem practicing their dance moves in the mirror.

38:02 As I'm trying to do my thing at the other end, I'm like I got to get out of here. This is too great. Great moments at Sirius. I got one more that doesn't involve me, but you'll laugh because you guys all know the guy, if you know Sirius. Xm Jose Mangan, the most rock guy ever Jose brother, Brother, brother, Jose brother Brother. Jose's like a caricature of. I can't describe it. Brother. I remember being in the lobby. I walked through the lobby once and he was doing a tour. You know the company loves Jose because he's charisma to the 100th degree. He is all-go-serious, 100%. That is Jose, and I remember Jose is doing a tour in the lobby and he's telling everyone like we get all types of people coming through these doors, brother, like serious.

38:49 And he goes, holy shit, look. And he turns to his side and he goes Pat Sajak. And then he goes Chubby Checker. So just to watch Jose shout out, chubby Checker and Pat Sajak. Yes, two people that are like. So not in Jose's wheelhouse, yes, and it was always a weird dichotomy of like porn stars sitting next to priests sitting next to it was like this place. You would see Cardinal Dolan and Father Dave in the lobby, and then Lisa Ann would be doing her fantasy football picks. Can't make it up. I do miss those days, my God, you can't make that stuff up by the way, I have a question for you, touche yes, sorry to flip it on you, but when you were working in the sports department, were you there when Lisa Ann, the porn star, came aboard?

39:36 Yes, I was there. I always wondered when the big dogs at SiriusXM would be like oh yeah. Yeah, I'm well aware of who you are. Was that their way of saying I've jerked off to you. This is a really good question. I don't think I actually ever, really I don't think I really actually went that far to say hey, what do you mean by that? If Stevie Cohen said that, if Stevie Cohen or Steve Torrey or one of these guys that I love good friends, if they said oh yeah, of course, lisa Ann. Of course, lisa Ann. Is that your way of saying? I am not going to answer that question because these are people who know me, know where I live. And if I say the wrong thing, they'll come get me. That's brilliant. All I will say is that I knew who she was and I knew what she did.

40:20 So let's turn Larry's question around a little bit. So those were unbelievable moments and great highlights. Were there any, like you know, landmines that you walked into or interviews that were set up? You were like, oh no, this is just a disaster. You know it's funny People will. People ask that question obviously to all of us when we do this. I haven't really had many bad experiences because you got to remember if someone comes on your show, usually they're coming there with a positivity. Even people that are known to be like everyone would always say jeremy piven, what a prick. He was always so nice to me, but then again he's on my show. Why would he be an asshole? However, two people do stand out.

41:02 Um molly ringwald came on the show and she's like I don't want to hear. And she said, yeah, I am not going to talk about anything from the past and I'm like, well then, what the fuck are we going to talk about? Like respectfully, then what? like she's not going to talk about pretty. And did we have that problem with Herman Munster? Fred Gwynn. Didn't he do that to us? I don't know. I think that happened to us. I remember we had a Sean Astin no. Herman Munster. No, my cousin Vinny Like what. We had a Sean Astin moment on the fellas. Oh, that was crazy. He needed a cold compress handlers yeah it blew up everything about rudy for okay, what was the second one? that was molly ringwald.

41:42 I'm sorry, uh, molly ringwald and you know, I'm trying to think I remember like, as far as like, uh, there's some musicians that are like mariah carey needed certain flowers and drinks and everything in studio one, and we'd be waiting around for two hours like and listen. I'll be honest, the the older I get, there's one thing that I have no tolerance for anymore, and it's one thing that I will, uh, I won't stand by, I won't put up with which is waiting for like a diva's schedule, right like to me. Now, if I was at series 6m now and you're like, yeah, mariah is running two hours behind, I'd be like, all right, I'm going home, like I'm not, you know, like I'm not waiting for Mariah Carey for two hours.

42:25 Like I was at Sirius XM in LA, like maybe a year ago doing an interview, and it was like a newer artist, and they were like, yeah, they're running like an hour behind, and I was very close to being like, yeah, guys, like you know, like I'm I'm gotta go put my kid to bed. I don't know what you want to tell you. So I I think it was like divas, like that, or when you were told like you can't ask anything and they're the hot artist of the moment. But it's like hey, they're in the middle of a scandal, but don't talk about a, b and c. Then you're like then you feel like you're doing a shit interview right, right. We weren't allowed to ask dakota fanning about money. I remember yeah, that was a big. Thing and tom seaver was supposed to be a problem, but he wound up being great. Seaver was great. He was a sweetheart, yeah so let's talk a bit about your transition out of the tv side of things, because I know that when you and rich were doing uh, I'm sorry, when you and steve were doing uh, your maxim show, at some point you guys made the transition to doing uh.

43:16 I think it was what talking heads Heads SNY. SNY? No, I mean we were doing Covino and Rich. They gave us a half hour every day, man, that was great. That was great, Rich. That was the most fun Steve and I ever had on TV. How'd that come about? So the story is pretty awesome really. We're at the Super Bowl for SiriusXM and Tim Tebow is like the most protected guy at this moment. This is when tim tebow is like, you know god, like even though he's not, he's like a backup quarterback, but everyone still loves tim tebow. He's doing very little press at the super bowl. When I tell you, tim tebow could be standing here if there was a beer within two feet of him.

43:58 Someone moved it away from him so it didn't even appear as though it was his cocktail, like he was protected for some reason. Somehow we got him on the show and we made it very Covino and rich, light and stupid and funny. Tim Tebow's laughing as Tim Tebow's laughing and we're having like just a funny time. Like Guy Fieri also comes by with us and Kurt Gowdy Jr, who runs SNY, happened to be walking by with Brad Como, who also was running SNY, probably still does and they're like what is going on here and they were like who are these guys? And I'm like I'm a big Mets fan. I'm a New York guy, sny.

44:38 That was sort of'm like big. You know, I'm a big Mets fan, I'm a New York guy. Sny that was sort of their way of like saying all right, well, we're doing, we're doing like Adam, shine and wheelhouse and all these loud mouths and all these like very New York daily news live. What can we do to sort of break that up with something lighter? And they really let us just do what we wanted. If we wanted to come in one day and do like 80s movie trivia on SNY, they'd be like yeah, go ahead, do 80s movie trivia. They were so fucking cool and I had more fun doing that TV show than anything we did anywhere else, whether it was ESPN or any like. Espn was a great opportunity, but they didn't get us the way SNY did. Sny got us Like.

45:19 They were like do you guys and that's why I love Scott Shapiro so much at Fox Sports and Don Martin they're like and we'll get to that, I'm sure, but they are like do you guys, how long were you on SNY? Two and a half years, two and a half years. And around the time our contract was coming to an end I wasn't sure if they were going to renew us or not, but I wasn't going to let Sirius XM know that. So that's when they said do you guys want to move to LA? I was like but we're going to have to give up SNY, so cha-ching. And they were like okay. I was like okay. So you know, we never really renegotiated with SNY because SiriusXM is like we'll make up for that, go to LA.

46:03 That was literally my next question. So what were those circumstances? What took you out west? So Covino's ex-wife and, I'm sure, the whole joke is. I can't go a day without bringing up his ex-wife. You've now brought her up at least three times in this conversation he met her and she was living out here in LA and you know, kavino probably had all these pipe dreams of like, oh yeah, I'll get out to LA. And you know we had the opportunity and my wife and I were, you know, relatively newlyweds living in Manhattan. You know I was living in Midtown, larry. I was living three blocks away from Sirius. Xm because sny and sirius, right there, right there perfect and it was great. But my wife and I like, listen, if we want to start a family, yeah, we're gonna move to jersey, long island, connecticut, like I.

46:49 I just didn't feel like being that long island railroad guy and I said, you know what, like, why not like, let's do it. My no offense to my family. They weren't like the type that were going to be like grandma and grandpa, like here all the time. So I was like, let's do it. So we moved to LA and Covino was able to be near his kid full time and it was a good move for the show and everything. It gave us new life as well, you know. So let's talk about the fox sports stuff how does that come about when you get out there? does it happen right away, or what happens? So so let me, let me, let me just skip by a pretty big step along the way.

47:30 So when we're out here, um, we're on sirius xm but we're on early, which is fine for me, but there was a time we were on six to nine am, or seven to nine or seven to ten am, because on the east coast, you know, you got to remember, if you know east coasters, we, you know, when you're in east coast, you think everything revolves around your time zone, right? so you're like yeah, yeah, those guys run from 9 to noon. When you go out to la, you're not on 9 to noon anymore you know, so yeah so that that 4 30 alarm goes off and you're like shit. But but I did commercials for a little while. So like they joked that, like there's a bunch of like shitty b-level commercials. I was in for a couple years because I had all afternoon, yeah, whatever. And then about a year into it, um, our buddy, sean wyman, who was such a good friend.

48:14 Sean was the guy that loved our show and he had worked at espn. He he's like I'm a producer the minute I get any power, you're my guys. People don't know it, but you're the guys. So Sean goes from producing Mike and Mike to becoming part of the talent department. The minute he gets in the talent department he's like you got to get these guys a show and we got the opportunity to do a half hour late night show on ESPN two for a couple hours and I I enjoyed what Covino and I were doing. But you know, sometimes like the producer and the team they put you with for budget reasons we were working with like the deport days guys a lot, and no offense to them.

48:54 But like they were like hey, let's talk about soccer and this and that, and like it was. I learned a great lesson, larry, that we all learn in broadcasting, which is like it you got to stand your ground because you, I'm too much of a yes man. And this is where I learned that lesson, because I was like yeah, yeah, ok, and I should have instinctively been like no, no, you know. But we did a good show for a couple of years. Covid happened. We did the show from home for a year, got paid, which is fine. But then eventually they were like if you're not Stephen A Smith or someone important, if your contract's up, covid, sorry. And you know that. That sort of went away around. The same time, covino and rich on Sirius XM.

49:35 Our contract was up and they were like you know, I love Sirius XM. Our contract was up and they were like you know, I love Sirius XM, I've been there 20-something years. But as far as Kavino and Rich go, they gave us a hey, we want to give you a pay cut and a non-compete. And I was like a pay cut and a non-compete, ouch. So I was like hey, I love you guys, you love me. I thought, you love me so much. Yeah, like can. Like, I still do the music channels and be full-time. No. And they were like all right. So I did work out a deal with Steve Blatter's. Always looked out for me. I love Steve Blatter, you know him and I. He seems to take a liking to me. So good dude for me. You know Scott and Andrew Moss all good to me. Those are the behind the scenes serious people.

50:16 So I've been there for you know all these years. Now I'm still a full-time employee, you know, salary adjusted but I'm with the pulse and pop 2k and um covino and I were able. The carve out was I could stay at series 6m but I could bring covino and rich somewhere else. Wow that's a great was an awesome, great deal. You know, which is, like you know, at serious xm. I'm I'm Rich Davis, host of Pop Stuff. Yeah. Exclusive to SiriusXM no Spotify. No, iheart when it's pop radio. I am SiriusXM's little pop bitch. Yeah. But when it comes to the brand of Covino and Rich, wherever you want to take it, and Scott Shapiro at Fox Sports Radio knew what we were doing and he is, honestly, the guy that I've worked for since Kid Kelly that's got me the most.

51:09 He's our age, he gets it. But he and Don Martin, who is like the big dog at Fox Sports and iHeart, they know what Covino and I do and they're about to have a conversation about who's the next show they want to elevate and they're like no, no, you go first. No, you go first, not realizing they were both going to say Kavino and Rich. So we got major support from all the folks at Fox Sports Radio and we've been there and honestly, when I tell you the support we get and no one like it's never like. Guys talk about more sports. Like today we talked about Nick Cage and how he's going to be playing John Madden for an hour, like they'd probably say great, because we've had enough Denver Nuggets Thunder preview.

51:50 You know like. So they like what we do and so we're there. I'm there also doing SiriusXM and full time and I also do another podcast yes, talk about it actually thank you for leading. I'm there Also doing Series 6M full-time and I also do another podcast. Yes, talk about it Actually. Thank you for leading us into that. So tell us about the podcast. So, Nicole from the Morning Mashup, who I worked with for all those years, her and I were really close. She's like a sister I never had. She's like a stepsister because we flirt a lot, but she's not like a real sister. So Nicole and I were always very close, always had like a fun, flirty, lovable vibe. Like her and I are super tight. I fucking love Nicole and when I left New York she'll admittedly say like she cried her husband's like what do you love him?

52:37 Because we were so good together on the air. No offense to Stan and Ryan, but Nicole and I always had just a great chemistry. And I said to her I go, I promise you you're new to this world, I am not. You'll see people again. I'm like. I will work with you again, I promise you. I don't know how or when, but it'll happen. And Sirius XM started trying to expand their podcast division when they started acquiring, like Stitcher and I, you know a lot of those podcast companies and they're like Rich, do you want to do a podcast about pop music or the 2000s or anything? I'm like I don't know. I'm like I'm doing sports or Covino. I like music. I'm like, and at the time I was a new dad and I said you know what is on my mind a lot?

53:19 The fact that I'm a guy that was quote unquote, a, a playboy and like a single guy in my whole world was maximum girls and party and all that. And now like I'm watching, uh, cartoons and and feeding a baby. So I'm like I think there's something that's great said about the transition to fatherhood, which is which is such a big step for every man, right? Yeah, so I said you know what Nicole is? A new mom, nicole, what do you say? And she's like oh my God, you know Nicole. Oh my God, girl, let's do it. And you know she's so Was she on air at that point she's still doing the morning mashup. She's there every day. So she's there, and Nicole and I said, let's, let's do it. And it was around the time of covid, so there was no opposition to I'm in LA, she's in New York, because even the people in the same city were in Zoom situation.

54:09 So again, no wrong choices. Yeah, like like. All these things have to line up for a reason. Like perhaps if it was a year earlier they would been like yeah well, you're in la, she's in new york, like, do it with a host near you. You know, it's amazing how Covid has changed all of that the notion of of what a broadcast actually is, absolutely. I will say one thing, one thing I brought to fox and it's and it's not even revolutionary. I'm shocked that they were still doing like phoners and I'm like, why are we doing phoners? Like because I remember we're gonna have a guest on. I'm like send them a zoom link, that way we could do video if we want, or like it's clearer, it sounds better. And they're like, yeah, but we don't.

54:49 I'm like we know you used to, not, we're gonna do zoom. So yeah, exactly like covid covid. There you know if you're gonna pull positives out of it. It sort of gave our, our industry, some benefits and some leverage it opened. It opened up a whole different way to think of what broadcasting actually is yeah, you know rich. We talk all the time on this show about how you know this person is built for this. You know what I mean? And like I'm just listening to you tell your stories and like you were so built for this, like if you weren't doing this what would you? Possibly be doing man, you know it's having the tie at the PR firm. Dude, Larry, you know I think about that often because there were moments like when ESPN went away and Sirius XM's like hey, non-compete.

55:30 And there were times where I'm like and, by the way, that was right around the time I bought my house, so you could imagine I was like I had the nervous shits like every day, yeah, so you can imagine I was like I had the nervous shits like every day. Yeah, so, but yeah, I do feel like I found what I'm supposed to be doing. As corny as that sounds, and like I said in the beginning of this interview and this beginning of this I don't even want to call it an interview I hang with my friends. In the beginning of this hang, Like I said, I like watching sports, I like talking to my buddies and I like talking about being a dad. I like watching sports, I like talking to my buddies and I like talking about being a dad. I cover it and Nicole and I talk a lot about, like right now, it's a lot of coaching. I'm the coach of a T-ball team my son's 5U and I coach my daughter's 8U softball team.

56:17 So I am Coach Rich. Many people around here know me as Coach Rich these days. That's amazing. That's amazing. Love it. You know, you've been in this business for so long. You've seen it literally flip upside down. Where you started on FM, you went to Sirius. Now you're podcasting. You've been on TV. You have to constantly evolve and change. You know what are some of your broad observations about the industry from when you first walked in to where you are today. Resisters fail. There's always going to be something I remember early on in my career when I would see some of the older DJs being like computer system.

57:03 I like CDs and records and it's like why are you resisting? Like you will get left behind, right? It's like I don't want to, I don't want to post that on social media. You will get left behind. I feel like you'll. I feel like I always say David Letterman was brilliant in that when he realized late night TV started to become social media clips to watch the next day, he's like I'm out. He didn't, like he knew when it was time and then he came back and he's like I'm going to do a Netflix interview show because that's where my strengths could be used Like imagine if Letterman stuck around another couple of years. People would have been like oh, dave needs to retire. He knew when it was like oh, did you see carpool karaoke? Dave didn't have a carpool karaoke.

57:44 He's just a great interviewer and a funny guy. So I think it's resistors will get left behind. And you know, kid Kelly said early on in my career if you're kind to people and you keep your nose clean, if you're not an asshole, you're kind to people and you keep your nose clean. If you're not an asshole, you're kind to people. And you're good, there'll be a place for you. That's basically the advice we have for everybody on this show. Hey, be someone that people enjoy being around and you'll be successful Bro there's people that I've worked with at SiriusXM, espn and Fox on-air talent that I hear producers say thank you so much for, and I'm like thank you, you're part of the team. They're like no, but that host they told me to shut up and don't speak unless spoken to, and I'm like hosts say that what assholes.

58:31 I'm shocked to this day how ego will ruin some folks. So be kind, keep up with stuff, stuff. If anything, the one thing I wish I had done differently was early on, and I blame sirius xm jokingly, but not when social media first started. They were like don't go on that, don't do it. Oh, and I remember like when twitter and all that first started, they were like they don't mention on, they looked at it as like competing media. So when everyone was accumulating their followers, we were like, we were like. And then, fast forward 10 years, they're like how many followers you have? You mean for the platform you told me to ignore when it was building?

59:15 You, like us, we've done a lot of different media. We've done a lot of media platforms Radio you've been there, obviously, radio. You've done satellite, you've done podcasting, television. You've seen all of these mediums now change over the years. We're one of these guys who've been kind of on that cutting edge of that technology too. What would you say have been the biggest changes you've seen, maybe from one to the next, or do you see a line that connects all of them? I think the one cool thing for all of us is that audio entertainment is thriving and is big and better than ever. It's just spread out a bit right. People want to listen to podcasts or radio and all that.

59:57 It's healthier than ever. People want to listen to podcasts or radio and all that. It's healthier than ever. But go on Marketplace or go on eBay or anything A lot of podcast equipment for sale because people think they could do it and can't do it. You guys can, Not everyone can. You can too, obviously. So you realize that it's healthier than ever. So you realize that, like you know, it's healthier than ever. But I think the biggest change for me is, unfortunately, I struggle sometimes giving advice to a younger kid. Right, because there used to be a template and that template was work hard. You may have to start a smaller market. Send out your air checks, study other people. You might need to move to another city.

1:00:39 Roll with that. Now I like now my advice is sort of like I don't know, like start your own podcast and like hope it gains momentum. I I struggle with how to tell like, let's say, like a young, a young kid at Fox sports, it's like a good editor or producer or a guy in the editing room Like I don't know, you know you have really fun, takes on the NFL draft, make some TikTok videos. I really have no advice that we would have given someone maybe 15 years ago, right? I agree. I agree with you 100%. Like, if you guys know some young talented kid, isn't it almost tricky to tell them any good advice? I think the word is try. You know, just try. Yeah, I mean most people just try and I can't tell any.

1:01:21 Whenever a kid asks me, should I go out of a market, should I go out of my market to try somewhere else, I'm like, yeah, I mean if you want, but the reality is that that model is no longer. it's no longer reality, dude, and I hate to be on the now. I feel like Ebenezer Scrooge because I'm on the flip side of that where I'm trying to get your market. Covino and I are on 340 stations around the country for iHeart and Fox Sports. So, like you know what, 341, sorry kid, you know like I, just I hate to say it, but like Elvis Duran, like Bobby Bones, you know all these hosts that are just you know I, I look this way most jobs I had on my come up are not there anymore, like I worked at hot 1079, like I said in syracuse.

1:02:10 Elvis duran does mornings there. Their night show is voice tracked and so I I look back at the steps I took and those steps aren't there. So that's what makes it tricky. Incredible, interesting, incredible. What a journey. You've seen it all, you've touched it all, you've been seen everywhere, et cetera, et cetera. Just an incredible run, rich. Run through the list again, because I tried at the beginning, I probably didn't capture everything. Where can everybody find you? So Monday through Friday, fox Sports Radio 2 to 4 pm out here on the West Coast, so 5 to 7 for you guys on the East. You can hear it on the iHeart app or you know anywhere you get podcasts. I'm on the Pulse every morning, I'm on Pop 2K in the afternoon and Nicole and I do have Kids Day today.

1:02:54 We've got new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday and I will say I want to put it out there, because when you put things out there I feel like it happens right. So there's a guy named Dan Patrick who's going to be hanging it up in two years Just saying oh, wow. There's a guy named DP. That's going to be hanging it up and that would sort of be that's my goal. That's the next step. Wow, I love that Hell of a goal. That's the next step. Wow, I love that. I love that. That's the goal. Are you saying you want to go solo? Then Covino left behind. Does he know this? He does now 23 years is my limit, are we? breaking something You're going to ditch this guy. In two years it's all over. Then I'm going to get a more handsome young Latino guy that appeals to a different demo I love it.

1:03:38 Great stuff, Rich. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you guys. Great seeing your faces and great catching up. You guys are great. So that was Rich Davis who took us for a wonderful walk down memory lane. Rich, thank you so much for that and, and, larry Shea, thank you so much for opening the door to bring him in. Yeah, he's great, great interview, great guy. Really had a lot of fun with that. I got to tell you a quick story before we were going to do the interview. I was, you know, just looking at some stuff and my wife was kind of writing and I'm like this is who we're interviewing today and I show her a picture of Rich. And you know, there's this old joke in radio like why did you do radio? Because you got a face for radio.

1:04:18 Blah, blah, blah. Well, you know, Reggie's a really good-looking guy. This was not why he got into radio, you know, there's no reason why he wouldn't be successful. When you hear him tell his stories, I mean I said it in the interview and I mean it, he's so built for this. But the fact that he got the good looks and the good personality, like that's unfair. I'm sorry, it's just unfair. But what a great dude. And like he really gave you a lot of nuggets. You know, he was really like he said, when he gets into something he goes full bore. So for him to, you know, find it at a young age and to just realize in the heat of the moment, like boom, this seems interesting to me.

1:05:00 He went at it, full force. He got himself a great mentor in Kid Kelly and the rest, they say, is history. But there were a lot of twists and turns along the way. And who wouldn't want to work with that guy? He said it right. I mean I want to work with him. It was my favorite moment of the day. He'd finish a show and he would see me in the hallway and we would just, you know, talk about life, sports, whatever. It was just good times man. Thank you, rich for joining us. That was really a lot of fun, you know, it reminds me of the times. The one thing I, the one thing we you brought it up, shay during the interview, and obviously rich did as well was you know, you get spoiled when you were at a place like serious for for a long time, because it's not like the rest of the world where you don't see celebrities every day kind of walking in and out.

1:05:45 We had the opportunity the three of us had the opportunity to speak to Bill Walton and then Bill Walton would walk into the Sirius studios once a month to do stuff. After a while you get spoiled seeing legends like that walking through the halls, grandmaster Flash. Martha. Stewart. Yeah, martha Stewart. Robert Plant was my shock. One day, right. These people just kind of for me Weird Al Yankovic, right Roger Daltrey yeah. I remember being in the elevator with Roger Daltrey and none of the business people that were in the elevator knew that they were literally riding in the elevator with the lead singer of the who. I'm like do you know who that is.

1:06:25 You just get spoiled by having, like these people come in and out of like who you're just kind of like you're interacting with, like it's every day, so you don't get used to that. In an odd way it spoils you for the rest of your life. To be quite honest with you, the one thing I was very taken with was the honesty that rich had, especially about what the business has become now. Like he's right when he says you know what is that advice you have to give to a kid who wants to come up in this industry now? And they say, hey, do I need to go to another market? Do I need need to try and do this? What should I do to try and hone my skills here? The reality is everything that Rich, you myself, you, me, we all did to come up that game has changed completely, right.

1:07:12 So the notion of sending out that CD or that tape to 50 different people, that no longer really that no longer is the way to really go about it and it's it's tough to to try and give that advice to a, to a kid who wants to come up and say, okay, so what's? What's the path you know we have. We call the show no Wrong Choices for a reason, because maybe there is no real path to that, to that, to that end goal. I mean there's obviously a. I mean there's obviously a road, there's obviously a roadmap there, but all roadmaps have the ways to get off that specific, to get off that specific route to find your way to the, to the end, to the end goal there. So I appreciated his honesty because he's right, the game has changed and if we don't understand the rules of this new game, it's going to leave you behind absolutely, and the the term that he used was resistor.

1:08:01 If you are a resistor, you will be left behind and you will disappear. So there's this theme that we come up against or bump into all the time, which is about continuously learning, continuously evolving, and no industry requires that more than the one that we have been in for a long time. Media requires that more than the one that we have been in for a long time. Media and the one thing that you know seems to be a theme with a lot of our guests is that, look, you got to be a good guy, you got to be a good person, someone people enjoy, someone people can at least deal with being around for 24, for, you know, for 8 to 10 hours a day, if you're a son of a bitch, no one wants to work with you. That's, that is plain and simple. If no one wants to work with you, that is plain and simple. If no one likes to work with you, no one will work with you.

1:08:43 Well, rich clearly is a good guy. Everybody does want to work with him and that has certainly been a great key to his success. Rich, thank you so much for joining this episode of no Wrong Choices. Thanks again for joining us. If this episode made you think of somebody who could be a great guest, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to us through the contact page of our website at NoWrongChoicescom. While you're there, check out the blog for a deeper look at our takeaways from each episode. You can also connect with us on social media. We're on LinkedIn, instagram, facebook, youtube and X. We're on LinkedIn, instagram, facebook, youtube and X. On behalf of Larry Shea Tushar Saxena and me, larry Samuels. Thank you again for listening.

1:09:25 We'll be back next week with another inspiring conversation.