Denied for the "Make us say WOW" game     July 9th, 2003

The day after the third and fourth soundboard call, Jeff and Jer were playing a listener call-in game called "Make us say 'Wow'". The idea was to allow listeners to call in and tell an intriguing story. If the story or factoid can make anyone on the show say "wow" three times, then they win a prize. Still energized from the previous day's events, I ran downstairs and booted up my laptop and called the show. Rick Moorten was subbing for Little Tommy in the producer's role, and he answered the phone. Rick produces "Talk-to-Tuesdays", so I knew he would appreciate the gag. So, when he answered, I played all of the "Wow" buttons rapidly. He laughed and put me on hold. A few minutes later, he came back on the line and said that I could not do it. I called back to try again since it sounded like the game was continuing. Rick explained to me that Jeff and Jer felt that talking to themselves at this point would take the momentum away from the game they were currently playing. All I wanted to do was play the wow buttons and hang up, but I understood what they meant. It was a dramatic change from the bit they were engaged in and my joke was too much of a diversion from the scope of the bit.

During our conversation, I told Rick about my soundboard calls to the Greg and Jen afternoon show using Jeff and Jer drops. I sent him a copy of the fourth_call.mp3, and he invited me down to the studio to watch him work the next Monday. I met with him at 5pm and hung out. He gave me a tour of the KFMB stations, and introduced me (briefly) to Greg, Jen and Sara from the afternoon show.

Rick Moorten

During my visit, I showed Rick my collection of Jeff (and a few of Jer) saying "Here's the Deal". While I was constructing the soundboard, I noticed that Jeff and Jer always said that stupid phrase. So, I started collecting them on the side, in addition to the bites I needed for my soundboard. I figured it would be funny to let them hear how often they say it. Rick loved the idea, and he gave me a copy of their frequently used vamp and told me that if I could create a montage of the clips over the vamp, then he would play it on the air and give me full credit. The very next day, I sent him the following...  (see audio clip on the far right)

heres_the_deal.mp3

I missed the show that they first played it on (and I was not recording it since I was on to recording the Greg and Jen show for their section of the soundboard) but at the end of the Thursday show (I had given Rick the vamp on Tuesday) they played it on the air. I wish I had a recording of the broadcast, because they loved it. Eventually, the "Here's the Deal" vamp evolved into a new bit on the show called "Dollar a Deal". The idea was to have each show member pay a dollar into a jar (like a swear jar) every time they catch each other using the word "deal" during the broadcast. If they don't catch each other, and a listener does, then the listener that calls in gets all the money in the jar. The bit was used for an entire month, until they had 3 consecutive shows without saying the phrase. When I finally met Jeff, he thanked me for coming up with that vamp. It gave them a month-long bit that hooked listener participation.

It was my pleasure Jeff... now stop saying "Here's the thing."    Please.

The show was planning a "Do-stuff-to-Randy-Wednesday" bit for weeks where they would float Randy (the show's Gofer) away on helium-filled weather balloons. So, my brother and I made a "Goodbye Randy" sign and headed down to the radio station watch the event in person. We were the first of about 30 people to show up. This was the first (and only) time my voice was on the radio. That's me with the sign, and my brother in the red shirt.

goodbye_randy.mp3

I won a cell phone picture contest that the show was having, and received an e-mail from Tommy about it. I told him I would donate the $100 to Jerry's charity if he would let me come in to the studio to meet everyone. After confirming with me that I really don't want the money, Tommy agreed to let me come in and watch the show. So, on 10-1-2003 (Jeff's Birthday), I spent time in the studio. It was a lot of fun.  

When the show was over, I waited outside of the studio for Tommy to finish a private meeting with someone from engineering. Then, Jeff and Jer came out of the studio together and walked by me. Both of them thanked me for the contribution as they hurried away down the hall. Jeff was as sincere as before (what a guy), but Jerry seemed to be forcing the smile. Oh well. After I left, Tommy followed up with an e-mail saying it was nice to meet me. How nice! That was not expected!

The show asked for intros from listeners so they can use them to go from commercials back to the program. I had some fun putting together a "Back to Jeff and Jer" intro, which was also never used on the air until Jeff actually read this web page (see below).

I emailed Jeff a link to Make Jerry Snort to him via e-mail on October 11th, 2003. On October 14th, Jeff left me the following voice mail message on my phone...

The next day on the show (October 15th, 2003), the following segment (which was completely dedicated to my project) was put on the air, courtesy of Jeff.

back_to_jeff_and_jer.mp3

call_from_jeff.mp3

a_guy_named_john.mp3

I exchanged e-mails with Jeff every once and a while when I have something else to give him to use on the show. For example, Jerry says the word "interesting" on the show a little too much, so I could not resist making this little song.

Jeff played it for Jerry on November 5th. Of course, it sounds like he already heard it prior to going on the air. Every good morning show meets about the material they put on before they actually go on. They must sound like they are unplanned and spontaneous, even though the are very prepared and discuss everything they put on the air prior to the show even starting.

interesting.mp3

interesting_bit.mp3

In preparation for a "you are Jerry's arch nemesis" bit that Jeff hinted at (which never happened), I started some photoshop projects using images of folks on the show. When they were talking to Bob the Bachelor on the air on November 20th, 2003, Bob mentioned his favorite magazine cover was US Weekly. I had edited the header of that very cover to include a picture of Jerry with his new "Boyfriend". I sent it to Tommy, and he wondered if I could put his face on top of Bob's. I finished the change that night, and then on November 24th, they played the following coming out of commercials...

us_magazine_cover.mp3

Jeff lost his phone on the Indiana Jones Adventure attraction at Disneyland on 1-9-2004. He talked about it on 1-14-2004, and I called in with this within minutes.

The audio I produced for this bit was done on the fly, during a live show. I made the mistake of going back upstairs after the first call... thinking that my contribution was over, and I missed subsequent calls from Little Tommy to plan the same bit for the latter segments of the show. I called him back and made those plans, but this taught me that you have to have that phone ready and nearby at all times if you are a good contributor to the show.

jeffs_lost_cell_phone.mp3

Here is another magazine cover I created featuring Little Tommy. Jessica was supposed to be on the show with them, but that never happened. The original head was, of course, Nick. Notice the inset photo is also Little Tommy, "TV'S Smartest Couple mentions "Little Tommy" and the "Scandal Roundup" mentions Jerry's name.

Everyone uses it in their everyday speech patterns, but perhaps Jerry says "Huh" a little too much. Any dedicated listener to the show may notice that everyone says "huh" at the end of their sentences way too often... but Jerry tops them all with...

• "That's cool, huh?"
• "That's pretty interesting (though), huh?"

I started collecting "Huh" clips, but I wanted to do something different than a song. So, I created a cute little flash game, and Tommy had it put on the web site on 1-22-2004 for the 23rd's show, but it did not get promoted on the air until 1-27-2004.

Click here to play the game

how_many_huhs.mp3

Jerry Cesak had back surgery in January and was off the show for close to three weeks. During this time, I e-mailed my "Talk-to-Jerry" soundboard to Little Tommy Sablan, in case he wanted to use it when Jerry called in. Instead, Jeff used it on the air to quench their need to hear Jerry's voice again. Jeff tried to play it over a "Whoomp There it Is", but his soundboard (not mine) crashed on the air, so he had to try again the next day. u

jerry_board.mp3

Aaron Leads the Pledge               January 30th, 2004

Every Friday morning before the news, the show members stand up and recite the pledge of allegiance. They have been doing it for at least a year or two. Now, they want "Junior Listeners" to come in and lead the pledge of allegiance for them. I e-mailed Little Tommy asking if my son could do it, and he agreed. We went in on 1-30-2004. We met Jennifer Markham (very nice person!), waited for our turn, did our thing, and then left. Aaron said to all his friends "I got to see the stars!" He has all of their photos on his cork board in his room.

aaron_leads_pledge.mp3

Mug Shots             February 3rd, 2004

When I arrived in the studio with Aaron for the pledge, Tommy immediately ran a request by me for photoshoped mug shots images of the Jeff and Jer show. The funny thing was, I was just looking at some celebrity mug shots a few days ago, and told him that it would be easy to do. During that weekend, I constructed these images, which were posted on Star's web site the next Monday afternoon.

Jeff promoted the pictures on the air during the February 3rd show then he uses them whenever some celebrity gets arrested, such as Mel Gibson.

mug_shots.mp3

The End              February 4th, 2004

I recognized early on that I was obsessed with the Jeff and Jer showgram because of all this work I was doing. I was using the opportunity to break into the business, but soon realized that wasn't what I wanted to do with my life.

After working with Little Tommy on some production elements and visiting the studio a few times, I discovered that I would love to do this type of audio and video production work for a living. I found myself constantly thinking of new things to do for the show, and I could not turn it off. However, when it came down to implementing them, I felt like I was starting to come off as an annoying, obsessed listener with nothing better to do than nag them to put my creations on their web site and talk about me on the air; it looked like I was out for attention and that is not the image I wanted to convey.

I was thrilled that Tommy asked me for the mug shots, and to help Jennifer with a computer issue the last time I was in the studio (which I solved quickly, by the way).  I have been able to turn in an air-worthy projects on my own schedule and as soon as they were requested by Little Tommy. The overall experience has made me more creative with audio and video projects, as well as a stronger Macromedia Flash programmer.

Production Assistance in the Radio business was fascinating to me. I looked into what it would take to get started in the business, and working on projects like this is a common way to get your foot in the door and gather valuable experience. 

I had a lot of fun working on these projects. I have finally met everyone on the show in person many times, and enjoyed working on everything I have done for them. I asked Little Tommy whether or not he ever gets Production Assistant interns, and he replied right away to remind him later. So, I decided it was time to close the book on this stuff and move on. We still e-mail each other from time to time, so that's cool.