An Interview with my Dad, How Radio and Podcasting Compare

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now Sebastian Frost. Impromptu Saturday interview here. Pop Nukes is in town. Hey, sound just like me. How are you doing, young dude? I think you sound like me, but that's cool, man. You know what we could sit here and debate that all morning long. So uh That's not a bad thing. No, not at all. You were on a cruise, I was on a cruise. There was a lot of irony lining up this week. Yeah, it really was. And and then you uh you're you're in town, you're in Miami. When's the last time you've been to Miami? Uh golly, probably seven or eight years. One time you came down to visit me and we uh we took the tri rail to the uh swap shop, rest in peace swap shop. That's in Fort Lauderdale, which is in uh uh West Fort Lauderdale. Yeah, right. Yeah, we spent the entire day um almost got beat up by a bunch of high school kids. And uh yeah, the kids were like cussing up a storm and you were trying to correct them. I'm like, that's a terrible idea, Dad. Well, it was in Spanish, I didn't know what they were saying. What did we go up there for? I think like fake Rolexes or tags or watches or something. Sunglasses, maybe. Sunglasses. So that was yeah, that was quite quite the adventure. So thanks, thanks for well, I guess we can thank me for that, huh? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So uh I you know, podcast has become my life's work. I talk about this a lot. I was playing golf with uh a buddy on the golf course a couple years ago, and I said, you know, my dad was in radio for 30 years, had not didn't really have any desire to follow in his footsteps because I didn't think radio was was for me. And uh he looked at me and he said, Man, are our jeans sure are powerful, aren't they? And I go, I don't know anything about jeans, but my grandfather's name was Gene. That's right. My middle name is Eugene, so Right, right. Uh, which is a strong name. I could have been Sebastian Eugene. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Your mom wouldn't hear that, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

No, if it was up to you, I would have been a Kyle. So let's just leave it.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

She wants the same initials as you as her, so that's why. But actually, I'm coming up on uh uh 55 years in radio now.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, I mean like your your like your big boy job, not you know, this is like uh you know post post like post-retirement job. Of course, like we if we're doing the accurate math, yeah, absolutely. But I'm saying like when you were out there hustling, like because you you didn't just you weren't just on the radio, oh, what's my time list? Sold a lot of radio too. There we go. That's where the that's where the money is.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

It's not an announcing.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Well, I used to watch WKRP in Cincinnati and then I'd go to the radio station with you. And like I there are people like that. How come you don't have that job, Dad?

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yeah, well, they they're a real there's Herb Tarlington's in radio as well. But and I've been in gospel radio the last uh 15 years, I guess. And I'm actually on five days a week on a gospel station up in uh South Carolina. Dad, I don't know if anybody listens to gospel music. 78 years old, you know you can still be you. That's something to look forward to future. Gospel music? No, still being on the radio or doing podcasts when you're 78.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Podcasts suck, Dad, if you don't have one. That's right. You know? Um yeah, Southern Gospel. Um, I'm good. I'm good. But uh I know there's a I know there's a genre for it. If you I had no idea. I mean, I remember you should drag me to those concerts.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

The whole con the whole cruise was Southern Gospel. Does that tell you anything? Carnival was 2,800 people. I would have jumped off the boat.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Um but um well, to each his own. Of course, of course. I mean, I like gangster rap, so you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Oh you're probably not a big Tupac fan. My first boss in radio, you remember him, Dick Schultz. He said if you can't whistle it or hum it, it's noise. It's not music. Wasn't he the vampire or Dr. Paul? No, that that was that was W GTO at Cypress Gardens. That was Dick Benick, and he was Dr. Paul Bear. I still got nightmares because of that. Yeah, he did a funeral thing on Saturdays with the kids with a coffin. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yeah. A funeral thing with the kids on Saturdays. Horror movies. Gather around, kids. We're gonna learn about doom and gloom. Yeah, it was crazy. All right, so let's back up a little bit. So you were in the military, you got out of the military, and then that was the transition into radio? Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I worked in construction when I got out in the mid-60s and I just started going to uh the radio station and bugging the people, and uh finally one day one of the guys got quit or left or something, and uh the boss said to the lady in the front office, Who's that young guy that's been coming in here at night? And she said, Oh, it's Tom Rusk. I sing in the choir with him in the Methodist Church. She said, Call him up. That was July of 66. So I worked for him until 80, came to the Sunshine State in 1980, sold radio for several years, then got out of it and went to work.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Wait a second, though. Wait a second. This guy would go sell the ad, come back to the station, cut the ad. I'm talking Xacto knives and reels and tapes. I would have quit the first day. Then I went and collected the money for the ads. Oh, so you'd sell it and then go cut the ad and then collect so you wouldn't get the money beforehand?

SPEAKER_02 4:52

No, usually. What if he's like your voice sucks? Well, rarely. The nice thing about being a radio and selling radio is you can record at what they call a spec spot and play it for the guy, and he goes, Oh, I put my name. Oh, got it. So you go and do you put it on the air? No, you just take it into his place and play it in your little handheld recorder, your cassette player, and you go, he hears his voice and he goes, Oh, wow, that's an easy way to sell. Yeah. You probably I don't know if you still do doing podcasts. You do some. I mean, technically I could do like an intro for somebody's show if I really wanted to, or do something like that. So you do some what what we call spec where you can say, hey, this is what I do, and send it to them, and they go, Oh, I kind of like that guy. Does a good job interview?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Well, I usually have this guy on, but he likes to complain a lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4,000 Cubans who are trained to kill me. So don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous. All right, Jack. All right, Jack. Good.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

He's getting it. You got a nice setup here, son.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

I'm so proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

I appreciate that. I appreciate it. You know, I I had a I don't know if you know the story or not, but I when I first started Social Buzz TV a decade ago, uh, I got an offer to be on a local FM radio station. And I'm when I say this station had wood panel walls, the whole nine, and it was four o'clock on a Friday afternoon. Nothing says I hate you like 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Technically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Technically. But it's AM radio. It's 20, 2012, 2011. Are people really listening to the AM radio at four o'clock on a Friday afternoon? But I said, you know what, I'll take it. It was the whole aesthetics of it all. It was a studio, I had a producer, you know, wood panel walls. And technically, you know, they could never, the my problem was they could never tell me how many people are listening to my segment. Right. Well, we don't currently have those numbers, but it's an estimate network of 300,000. It's the Bloomberg network, it's the blah blah. But I could never get an accurate number. And I knew for a fact that if I recorded something on my phone or on Audacity into Garage Man, and I uploaded it to SoundCloud back then, and I and I put it on the internet and I posted it on Facebook or wherever, someone I it would tell me exactly who listened, when they listened, where they're at, male, female, all the demographics. So I'm sitting here thinking to myself, this is not difficult. Well, I had a deal with the radio station, and the deal was to help them promote the station. They give me it, they give me the hour of of airtime. Fair enough. So we started to do that, and and one afternoon, the uh the station manager walks up to me, chest all puffed out, was like, hey, you know, we got a deal where uh, you know, you're supposed to be talking about the radio station. I was like, I don't know who told you what the deal is, but that ain't what's going on. Well, you need to be talking about this radio station everywhere you go. I said, listen, pal, this ain't my radio station. Okay, so it's not my job to talk about the radio station. That's your job. I have nothing invested in it. In fact, I don't even want to do this show anymore. We're not even doing this show. And I walked out and I never looked back, and that was the end of my radio days. And I because I just knew there was an easier way. Um, not to say anything's wrong with the radio. We need the radio when there's hurricanes. It's very, very important. Um, they do the surveys.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

The Arbitron does, they give you an estimate of what your listenership is.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Well, Neil, you get the if they buy if the station buys the like the Neil site numbers, you'll have all those numbers. You're not gonna go sale, you you're not gonna go out there and pitch a sales tech on Facebook. Well, you're selling an intangible correct. Correct. So I just knew that there was a better way, and I had no idea that I would end up a few years later doing this. But I did have social buzz on air. Remember that? That was the original podcast. And I and I knew early on that I I could connect with people, I could get in front of people and I could sell them something. And we teach that now at the podcast launch lab. So it's funny how that all- You're not shy. But the bottom line is, you know, I I could go, I all of my shows are monetized now, um, anywhere from 250 bucks to 500 bucks as a booking fee. Right. So you want to be on the show, no problem. We'll get you on the show. It's two anywhere from 250 to 500, depending on what the show is. And then you get all the aftermath of, you know, the episode goes up. We do the micro content for for social media. I mean, there's a lot of bang for your buttons. Imagine selling that these days. Yeah. You know, it's it's significantly easier, but more importantly, you get to make up the rules. And I got some knucklehead telling me to talk about his radio station. I don't have to go anywhere. That's yeah. The mobile I've mastered the mobile podcast studio in a hotel room. Have you done any remote recording at all? Yeah, oh yeah, a lot. Yeah. A lot. Well, I mean, I in fact I I got mics all over the place here, but you know, USB mics just work great. Why? And you sit in front of iPhone. The quality is unbelievable. Yeah, it really, really is. I mean, this is this is probably the best it gets with.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Oh, you got a nice setup. Well, I'm not an audio guy.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Well, you know, the problem with like traditional, I'm not a sound guy, not an audio guy, never claim to be, and I always you know diffuse that conversation when someone's like, hey, you're an audio guy. I am not. I'm sounds good. A podcaster and a comedian knows how to plug stuff in. Yeah, yeah. That's about it. Um, but uh the cool part about technology is that you know this thing plugs right into my computer. So everything operates here. We're live on Facebook right now. What up Facebook? Um, so um being able to make you know the ease of use of recording really easy. But most of the the people that I get the opportunity to work with, I'm like, do you know how to plug a USB mic into your computer? Cool, we're off to the and a little webcam, a ring light. I mean, we're talking about a hundred and fifty dollar setup and you're off to the races with you know audio quality. Um so so towards the tail end of the you know, the like when you were doing this full time, um the radio station sold. Right. And then it was radio state the was so there was no desire to figure out another radio station. No, I kind of decided.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

I I remember that you were like That was the end of the line. I just kind of decided, and I was doing odd jobs doing Army Reserve time and uh had an opportunity to go to work at Disney and well I'll do this for a while. Well, I did for 14 years. Yeah, and I worked in transportation, but I got to do seminars, which is a really kind of like an inside job, take people all over and underneath the Magic Kingdom. Well, they give you a mic on that bus, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just give me the microphone right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Don't give a Rusk a microphone. I don't give a damn if we're on a bus, we're on a train, the airplane. I'll do the announcements if you need me to. Yeah, Southwest Airlines, yeah, I got you. Welcome to Orlando. Yeah, I think about that every time somebody says I just landed in Orlando, that one. Remember that guy? You're like me, though.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

You really learned by doing. You you didn't have a lot of formal training. I didn't either. But you did, but you have the you have the desire, you have the personality, you got the voice. That's the main thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Well, I I will say that it's it's more than just the the pipes in the voice I I've learned. And I later on in my career, now I start to hear things like the your pacing and your and your cadence and your tonality is is impeccable. And that that's what I strive for because that's what I mean that's why you're gonna be able to do that. I hope I have something to do with that. Yeah, I mean you you gotta I guess the biggest lesson is if you you know, my mom and probably you used to say, you know, if you think you're talking too much, you probably are. You probably are. So when you can just take, you know, you're right. Take a minute to and and uh I learned from the great Larry King how to and people ask me a lot, how do you interview somebody? I'm like, what do you mean how do I interview somebody? Do you not know how to interview somebody?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

But um I always ask him questions really that I know the answer to, so I don't want to put them on the spot. I'm careful about that. R right, right. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

And we're not this isn't you're there's only one Howard Stern, you know. So you know Well, I'm not gonna insult Baby. Correct. Um but I think that I learned this from the great Larry King, probably one of the best to ever do it. So it was television. He probably did some radio too. Oh, yeah, it was in Miami, that's where he started. Okay, I thought so. Yep. And he went on to mentor Ryan Seacrest, who was a just been an incredible impact on my career. Um, and of course, Ryan started on the radio in Atlanta, I believe. Dick Clark was a big influence with Ryan, too. Huge, yeah. And he I mean when Ryan went on to take over for all the greats. I mean, he does Casey K Some's you know, top fifty every week, uh Dick Clark's New Year's Eve. Um and his foundation puts radio stations in hospitals for sick kids to learn how to be on the radio. Right. So um that's a great one. I've always had grand plans to uh figure out how to collaborate the podcast launch lab and their foundation. And you know, every time we get the opportunity to launch a show, we're that's great. You know, we're tripping. It might just be one step closer to meeting the one, the only uh Ryan Seagrest. But um he said uh Larry King would say the it's the 80-20 rule. You know, we your guests are talking 80% of the time, you're talking twenty percent of the time.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

And if you want to add to the conversation, cool, add to the you know, extending the answer from the person And you're in control as long as you're asking the questions.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

If you don't ask the questions, you'll lose the interview.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Well, the problem is that a lot of hosts like to get on, and once you hear something that somebody else said, your guest said, you're like, oh, cool, let me tell you about a time something like that happened to me. Yeah. And it's like, this ain't your show, pal. Well, I mean, it is, but it's their spotlight. You're right. You're exactly right, son. You got it. I I joke a lot that you know your only job as a podcast host is to just shut up. Yeah, that's right. That's all you gotta do. Run the equipment. Right. Right. Elf, only some politicians could abide by that. But that's not this is not a political show.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

You actually started, you know, pretty young. I used to hire with you and your sister to do voiceovers and and ads and stuff for me. Oh, I'm f I'm very aware. So you you started very young as well for free talent.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

So I say I joke about this constantly. It's like, you know, I I spend weekends, torturous weekends in the corner with my Legos at a radio station cutting the tracks for kids' programs. Yeah, yeah. In in in in for what would it be a happy meal. Yeah. Yeah. If maybe, maybe not. Maybe some pretzels. Yeah, yeah. Maybe some pretzels, and how about another month of room and board? Yeah. So um, but those are the good old days. I remember those. Um, I don't remember what I would say on those tracks. And then you got my kid doing it.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah. Oh, Kayla is wonderful. Yeah, she still does a lot for my my shows. So in fact, when she was at Thanksgiving, I said, Kayla, you got a couple hours, we can go to the station. She did tell me that.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

She's like, We're not going to the radio station with pop-pop. I'm like, you love it. And it's it's you know, she's an extreme introvert. I mean, it's it's changing a little bit now. But she's got great delivery. There again, uh, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I mean, I told her, listen, you didn't you didn't choose the game. You were born into the game. So your sister's the same way. Right. Well, we've done some projects. I had I often get some voice over voiceover projects from agencies and stuff. Well, I did. Oh, instead of going trying to hunt down a female, uh, we ended up doing a bunch of uh one for a drug company, one for Coca-Cola. You have to take her to lunch, is all? No, I just pay her. Oh, do you? Yeah, she leaves me alone. Oh, there you go. It's perfect. I'm like, it goes a little like this. Did you get the Venmo? Cool. All right, see you later. All right, good job. All right, bye, Lincoln. Yeah. Uh that's that's that's the extent. We got a live studio audience here. That uh uh that's what's going on. So you started doing this Southern Gospel show locally just as a hobby?

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Well, I was asked to do it. I'd helped out the station, but uh they asked me that I'm actually on 25 stations in Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, South, Florida. Yeah. Well, it's more in the local stations.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

No, but I'm saying you start but when you when you first started, it was just for Sunday mornings. Right, we still do that. And now it but it's grown into Yeah. Are you are you still Friday? I don't usually talk on Sunday. I I got a I got a button for that. Oh, thank you. Remember the old cough button? Yeah. Yeah. They never worked, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

No, they didn't. But then uh two years ago I started doing it on a Southern Gospel station that's uh a network of stations, and it's great. The hardest thing was realizing when you say it's 10 after eleven, it's ten after ten on Alabama. So you don't give the time, you don't give the temperature, just announce the music and share a few thoughts and whatever. But it's great.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

I teach the same thing. It's like don't hey, good morning, everybody. Welcome to this episode. Hey dog, they can be listening to it tonight. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

And time and temperature announcers are a dime of dust, and I don't want to be that.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

I always I I end one one show I got a strict format that I follow the same one so I don't have to think. Uh and at the end I always say, you know, so as we just get started here with 2023, at the time of us recording this episode, it's it's the beginning of 2023. Uh 2023. What are you excited about? Right. So it it does, you know, if it because podcasts are evergreen. You don't want to be dated.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Most of them archived.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Oh, all of them are.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Oh, okay. Yeah good. Yeah, being radio, that's the only thing. Once you say it, it's been said and it's done.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

You right, right. The ability to get canceled is lowered. I got it. I got it. I got it. You know, right. Pretty soon you'd be canceled just for just being on the radio. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

I do it as an enjoyable thing, and it's, you know, a couple extra bucks, but I really it's fun to still do. So they pay you to do it. My my mom, your grandmother, who passed away, of course, now, said, How long are you going to do this? I said, Mom, long as I can see to drive to the station and I can talk, I'm not going to give you an end date. So, yeah, so you're a lifer. I mean, I don't know why this this isn't work. Uh no, and you and you enjoy it and you do a good job, so why why quit doing it?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah, it's uh sit home in your chair and watch NFL football. I mean, well, we do a lot of that too. But uh we got a we got a TV here in the studio uh fully equipped, so we kind of multitask here, mic game, but it's not football season, so uh it's podcast season. But um, yeah, we don't have a lot of guests in the studio just because getting people in one place kind of like herding cats. Um so uh but but when people are in town, that happens a lot. Miami's a big city, so people are in town. I like to, you know, we we can do some stuff. I thought it would be more of an active studio. I do get a lot of calls to rent this out, but now it's kind of my space. So it's kind of your office. It's kind of like, hey, can I rent your bedroom? Which people totally do on Airbnb these days. But uh thanks, man. I love it. We I don't know where I oh you know where I got the idea. Yeah, well, she don't you know um uh Mikey, my best friend from from middle school. He's now Jamie Foxx's DJ, been with Jamie for about 15 years now, and for the uh world champion Miami Heat. Um he wanted to start a podcast a few years ago. And he's like, Man, I need a studio, I need a studio. I always talk to people out of studios, and we went all over town looking at studios and spaces, and you can rent here and creative studios and this, that. And whether we landed in one place over in midtown, and like we had to go through a door of a door. You talk about claustrophobic, like you had to go through a door of a door, and there was no windows in here. So I was like, I it was a m it was a little I worked through some stuff that that and that during that meeting, but um I just saw what you didn't want to buy. Well, I just thought, how difficult is this? Yeah. So I just went and I went over to, you know, the they have all these co-working spaces in the executive suite places you can go in. I went to a place that was almost empty. And I said, I need a space that I could convert into a podcast studio. And I go, she so she takes me to like two spots near the front desk. And I go, How much is this one? She goes, 600 bucks a month. I go, I'll take it. So that was the first one. Challenge with that, high ceilings, the vent would go into my studio, so I heard everything in the whole entire place. And they took the ceilings out to make it look hip, so it was like bare bones, and sound was the enemy. So I moved to another one across the way, and I I was fortunate enough to have a uh call center directly next to me. And uh yeah, so it was awesome. It was, you know, reggaetone and golf balls hitting the wall every single day. I I wanted to punch a baby by week two. So um I don't punch babies, okay? Facebook. I wouldn't let him, I wouldn't let him. Good night. Yeah, I gotta be, you have to disclose everything here. So um uh we're getting some uh we're getting some some comments here. Good morning, Lori. Good morning, Adam, Raquel. What's happening? Raquel, our newest show here at the podcast launch lab. Looking forward to that sunshine. Uh Jeffrey's in the house. What's up, brother? Uh Jeffrey's actually uh was in that call center back in the day. And I moved into this building, and guess who's in the penthouse? That call center. So uh he's following you. Hey, yeah, well, yeah, what we avoid is chasing us. Yes, absolutely. No, uh Jeff, what's up, man? Good to uh good to see you from you, good to hear from you, uh uh, brother. So, I mean, and also this is where we're at, too. You know, impromptu podcast episode. We're actually recording the episode um and we're live on Facebook at the same time. So you got that live live show element, which is uh gigantic these days because we we have instant gratification. I want it right now. Right. But if I don't want it right now, I want to go back and listen to it later on. So that's kind of cool too. You get do anything with social media at all with the show at all?

SPEAKER_02 20:43

I do some, but I'll do Facebook, Facebook Live occasionally, but yeah. It's it's a lot of maneuvering. And if they're listening to the radio and Facebook, they're getting a delayed sound, and that can be confusing for the listener.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

So Well, it could be hey, listen, if you're listening to the show here and uh well, I don't know why there would be a video element unless they wanted to look at you.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

I mean they wouldn't, but what's their look at I I a guy told me years ago that I had a great future in show business. I had a perfect face for radio.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

I get that a lot too. I I I definitely get that a lot too. Susie's in the building. What's up, Susie? Um uh so um what else was I gonna ask you about radio? Radio podcasting. I think that was it.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

I I guess I'd never ask you what transitioned for the last 20 years, Sebastian, it's just transitioned into a whole new world. I mean, podcasting has opened it up, social media has opened everything up, you know, from AM radio days when I started where they w went off the air at sunset, like the TV, to what do you have today, 247? It's but you know, it can all blend together, it can all be utilized, you can take advantage of all of it. But uh you're reaching a lot with this and and and what an opportunity. What an opportunity for businesses.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah. Wow. Yeah, really, really. I mean, you there's no there's no more rules. And what happens now is that you know, you get you're an insurance agent, you launch a podcast, you become a media company. Company.

unknown 22:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

And that's a whole nother element to your business. Number one, it's a revenue generator. Number two, um, there's so many other direct benefits, in addition to saying, hey, you know, I what we teach is if you're calling somebody and saying, I want to sell you something, they have a hundred of you calling them. Yes. If I call you and say I want to get you on my podcast and tell your story and get to know you and build our relationship, you're all over it because I've stroked your ego out of the gate. Right. And then once we're done with the interview, I'm like, I add, you know, you're you're just saying, hey, listen, I I don't know if you knew or not, but we focus on employee benefits for companies sized five, you know, 50 to 5,000. Love to have a conversation. If, you know, yeah, my employee benefits guy sucks. I would love to talk to you about that. And that's what I do with the total package. That's great. Right. Cover all the gamut. Right. Well, so you got content, media company, the ability to connect with people, to be able to get in front of your customers. I mean, like, what's it look like to have that audience of one? Who cares how many people listen? That's right. If you have that conversation of one and you close a deal and you continue to build and grow your business because of all that.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Which is, you know, and again, it's still it's gonna be interesting. I've been saying for a very, very long time that podcasting will in fact replace radio. But what happens when a natural you know, natural disaster comes about and the there is no internet. There is no there's no internet, there's no electricity, there's no anything. So the the only thing you have is an actual radio to listen to you know what what's what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

So serious radio has added a whole dimension to it, too. There's a lot of I thoroughly enjoy satellite radio. Yeah, it's it's it's big. I really do. Um big's not the word for it, Barney.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Five would say, yeah, or light, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

I'm an Andy Griffin fan too, if there's anybody listening and watching it.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

I don't know that anybody knows who I'm just kidding. They know who Andy, they know who Andy Griffin is. You grew up in it, you know. I did, yeah. I I definitely know who he sat through those two, folks. He was. Uh, I just I think it's funny that uh Don Knott's ended up on Three's Company. Yeah. You hated that show. We were not allowed to watch that show. Chrissy was so hot, though. Yeah. I can finally tell you that, Dad. It's like, Dad, why would you cut three? John Ritter was a great actor, though. Yeah, he was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Gone too soon. His dad was Tex Ritter, the old country singer, cowboy. A lot of people didn't know that. So he goes way back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

He stood backstage at the grand old opery while his daddy was out there singing.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

So how about those shorts he used to wear? Yeah. I was gonna talk about Christy's shirt. I'm like, yeah, more appropriate. He's like, yeah, John, John Ritter, man. Rest in peace, John. Gone, gone too soon. Wow, he died young too. Yeah, he did. I think in his early 40s. Uh yeah, yeah, about maybe 44. And he was still on TV until his late day because he had that newer show. But I still it's such a unique personality that he that that that uh that he had. I found an old picture of uh Zig Ziggler and the redhead night. Oh, yeah. Back in 2005.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

You grew up with him too. How many of those did I get to?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

And you remember? No, I don't think I went to see Zig Live.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Maybe maybe I don't remember, but I love it. Zig Zig Ziggler transitioned my life uh on a positive note, and you know. How do you? How you doing today, Tom? Not bad. That's a negative answer. Right. Uh I'm not doing bad under the circumstances. What are you doing under there?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

How about I'm so optimistic. I'll I'll go after Moby Dick in a tugboat. What with a jar of tartar sauce and a harpoon.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Yeah, we guess. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love Zig.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Good old Zig, good old Zig Ziggler.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

How to stay motivated. If you ever want to get fired up about what you're doing in life, listen to that. How to stay motivated, Zig Ziglar.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah. I was at a get motivated seminar that he actually had spoken at uh there. I did tell him that you interviewed him in Peru, Indiana. He's like, cool. Yeah. Uh but he was, I didn't realize that I spent so much time in Dallas, have for the past few years now. I mean, he was he was based out of there. Yes. And uh Tom's done a good job, I guess, you know, maintaining a little bit, but it really did, it kind of started to fade out.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Well, once he was gone, he was gone. But yeah, great stuff. Zig is just a terrific individual. Great speaker, what great motivator. It's a great day. You don't think so? Just try missing one.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Yeah, exactly. I do say that a lot too. Yeah. Yeah. Or people say, How are you doing? I go, listen, we woke up today. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Well, he said, even if you don't get up and feel good, you say, I'm doing great, but I'll get better. Yeah, yeah. You're being optimistic. On my on my worst days, I'll say, uh, I've seen better, but I'm improving. It makes people stop, but then they go, Oh, well good. They're not even paying attention to what you say. So you gotta say it again sometimes. You're like, How are you doing? Well, my dog died, and my car won't start. Oh, well, good, have a great day. They don't even know what you said. So yeah, well, the good news is hugs are free today. Yeah, that's right. Listen to what people are saying to you. Right. Sometimes people are going through some tough times. Sometimes, yeah. I mean, sometimes tough people don't last. Tough tough times don't last.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

This guy's like a walking motivational poster. That's right. He is. You can see the little I see the little uh cat hanging on the rope. Hang in there.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

If you remember the Zig's uh philosophy for life, you can get everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want. Yep. That's that's what you've adopted.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

You have. Well, you have to, because if you don't, if you're if you're not operating in a space of what as any relationship, doesn't matter, business, personal, what doesn't matter. That's right. If you can, if you can focus on what you can bring to the table and contribute to that relationship right out of the gate. Somebody told me a long time, I couldn't figure out I always want to figure out how to get rich. I don't understand it. I just I talked to people, I get mentored and the whole and I just it would never click. And and I had somebody tell me, Sebastian, money is a byproduct of doing what you love. That's exactly right. And I'm telling you right now, that was the absolute frickin' game changer. And I'm far from rich yet, but we are damn close. Good. Um, so I didn't need you in my older years. Right. Wait, well, that's that's where the pendulum shifts. You know what I mean? You become your parent. Right. But then there's that, there's also that that rub too, because you when the pendulum shifts, it's like, wow, you know, you the parents have been taking care of the kid for so long, so it's tough to let go and let the kids actually like I have to fight my mom for a tank of gas. Um, so she just you know, we have to be snipe, we're like snipers here. But um, um but it's interesting, you know. It's funny how uh funny how life works out. It's um my daughter just she's 22, your your granddaughter. She'll be 22 in a couple months here, and uh she got health insurance for herself. Um that was a wake-up call. Yeah, I was so glad. I was like, this is this is fantastic. And she goes, This whole adulting thing is a trap. I go, Oh, you're not telling me. You're not telling me. Yeah, welcome. Welcome. So um she goes, Yeah, I go, it's it's yeah, it really, really well. That's a harsh, I remember that transition of. I mean, I started pretty young. You know, I was right out of the gates out of high school, like let's let's figure this thing out. And of course had it. Yeah, it sure was. Door to door. You know, door-to-door sales tell teaches you a lot, though. It does get uh you worked your way up. Brass balls steal over, he's selling door to door. Um, so I'm grateful for those days. I'm not grateful for getting thrown out of buildings. Sir, there's no soliciting here. Sir, do I look like a soul sister? That's right. Sir, I'm selling artwork door to door. Do you think I can read the signs on the front door? You did pretty well though. Yeah. I I did not, it wasn't bad. Again, it was a you know, it was it's a learning experience. It led me to what was next. It led me to uh, well, where am I at now? I mean, this has become my life's work and you know, being able to literally talk for a living. Um been speaking for a minute now. I thoroughly enjoy the platform. Uh, anytime there's a you know opportunity to to make an impact that way in a live you know space and environment. And then of course hosting three shows right now, which is absolute insanity. And then more importantly, the core business being helping people step into a different version of themselves because they made a decision to start a podcast. And I'm able to pour my experience into it, but I'm also a peer. I tell everybody that to start shows. I say, hey, listen, I'm in the trenches with you.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Who can you help along the way though?

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

I had a hit I had an English teacher, Seb uh, who as you can imagine, I talked a lot in school. You probably didn't, but he was kind of a character, and you called me Ruddy Rusk. You said, Rudd Rusk, you'll never make a living using your big mouth. I I wish I could find that guy today. Yeah, I've been doing it for 55 years. So, you know, at what what comes around goes around? I was wrong.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

I was at an event a couple weeks ago at uh you know Burger King's headquarters is here. Right, right. And they also own um KFC. No, they own uh Burger King, um the the a coffee company out of uh and then one other one. They used to call them Popeyes. They own Popeyes, Burger King, and it's called some food group now. But anyway, the CEO originally came on as a young attorney, joined the legal team, and had worked his way up, and he's now the CEO of Burger King, been with the company 26 years now, and his mom, he said, you know I was a you know was a I was a rambunctious kid, and my mother would always say, you know, you need to get, you know, you really need to uh get focused and get your life together, or you're gonna end up working at Burger King. Guy makes 23 million a year. So Hey mom, I made it. I tell that story a lot. It was like I was constantly as a child, it was like he talks too much, he's too hyper, let's put his desk by the and it was it was a constant attempt at at trying to um silence. I don't know, so I don't know if it was silence or or or mitigate or damper on. Yeah, damper on. Um, but you know, all of that led me to what would become my life's work. There's not a doubt in my mind I was put on this planet to to communicate and and to be able to make an impact through you know communication. And I do that in all areas. I don't care uh if I'm on an airplane, the back of an Uber or you know, the it's the clerk at the grocery store. There's an opportunity to leak to leave people different based on you know being able to share that gift. It's not about talking to hear yourself talk.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

No, the zig line, you know, you go to a checkout and there's a 16-year-old behind the counter and you go, How are you doing? Well, I'm here. Well, you're here, you're 16 years old, you got a job, you're healthy, you live in the brightest country in the world. They go, I'm doing pretty good. Sometimes you have to remind people.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, I was like, Hey, how are you doing? Well, I'm all right, I'd be a lot better when I get off, or if I didn't have to be here today, I go, Well, is the unemployment line more attractive?

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Yeah, or how would you like to be in um Bahia? How's dead?

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah, how's dead sound? Yeah. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

I said it's a great day. If you don't think so, just try missing one. Yeah, that's uh Hey, I've enjoyed this.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Yeah, it was good. That was great. You guys are headed up to uh Orlando to Disney World. Yeah, I got to visit my whole boss. Got your mouse ears ready? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Hello, boys and girls.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Yeah, I'm gonna head that way. That was that was hey, I don't do mouse. If if I get a message about doing Mickey Mouse impersonations for your next event, the answer is absolutely not. Um, but uh I'm uh I'm open to anything here. But um, yeah, all right. Well, this is uh Adam James. I think Adam J Adam James, I went to, yeah, I went to uh I went to uh Reedy Creek with Adam James. Oh my god, yes, I remember the earth-covered. Because I looked at that one mutual friend, Chad Dillon.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

And uh yeah, Chad's Chad's doing some great things. A technical question for you, son. Yeah, can people set up a thing when when Sebastian's doing a podcast, it'll give me an alert?

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Yeah. Okay. So you just go to anywhere you consume podcasts, so Apple Podcasts, Spotify. You just type in Sebastian Ruskosh, give you all four shows. I didn't realize I learned that a couple weeks ago. If you type in my name, it'll give you all my shows. But if you hit subscribe to Beyond the Story, um, it'll tell you, it should give you push notifications. A new episode is now available on there. So uh and this will be an episode as well, too.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

So um The thing about it is too being in radio and still in it this late, it keeps you active. It keeps your mind active. I don't do puzzles and quizzes, and Kathy does all that kind of stuff to keep your mind active. But that's why you're not you know waddling around with a with a walker. That's right. Yeah. So it it's it pays to keep that mind active and challenged. 79, huh? Wowza. Yeah. Is that this year? I will be in August.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

So you'll be 70. Okay. So not the big AOE. You'll be 40. I'll be 44 in a couple weeks. Oh boy. 44. 44, feeling 24. Get at me, dog. Let's go. I was born in 44. It was. I seriously, I mean, I I think I'm still 24, and then I go attempt, like, you know, go play basketball or something. I can't walk for a week. But stay away from the naysayers. Well, that's why I do comedy. I mean, who needs a gym when there's comedy, you know? So, well, any final thoughts for our listeners? Dad, no. Great to have you on the show.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Enjoy it. Again, I'm proud of you and what you're doing. And uh, gosh, if I had anything to do with it, or at least maybe planted the seed, but you're gonna carry on the rusk tradition for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

Well, I mean, I think that um, you know, our subconscious mind runs the show, and that's what stores everything. That's the memory bank, and that's everything else, and that's the good shit, the bad shit, all you know, D all the above, and and you know, in in our in our mind, where our the it really runs the show and dictates where we're at. So, my to my buddy's point of like, wait a second, I grew up in a radio, I used to I I say that constantly in my talks. Like, I grew up in a radio station, and people are like, really? Right. How long were we on the radio? I had no association with radio, had a small stint in Miami in in 2020, 2013. Who did you know? And that was the extent of it.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

But one final Zig Ziggler. Quote You are what you are, you are who you are by what goes into your mind. You can change who you are, you can change what you are by what goes into your mind.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

That's a good final thought, Dad. And remember, you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose. All right, Dad, I appreciate you being on the show. Thank you, pal. Absolutely. Enjoy uh enjoy the enjoy the enjoy the mouse house. Thank you. Uh, thanks for tuning in, guys. Until next time. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. We're sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.