- 2 days ago
The Sports Junkies break down the beginning years of their show.
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00:00I'm John Paul Flame, joined by Johnny Cakesawville and Eric Bickle.
00:04Jason Bishop at home, celebrating his 56th birthday.
00:08Do we even know, is he home, or did he go to North Carolina for the weekend?
00:11I don't know.
00:12He might be at the beach or North Carolina.
00:15I bet he parlayed into something.
00:18Some little three-day getaway.
00:19But, you know, it is his birthday.
00:21You can't blame the guy for taking off.
00:22I mean, if he took off for his birthday, that's kind of unmanly.
00:26The guy's always looking for an excuse to be off, man.
00:30It was a lot of days off work.
00:31I've got to tell you, I do remember when we were doing the weekend show.
00:36Maybe it was during the weekday show, but his mom came in very early one time
00:40and brought, like, cake for the birthday.
00:43Nothing really big here that we're celebrating,
00:45although apparently we're getting free breakfast, which is always big.
00:48Thank you to the listeners.
00:49We have pies from Eddie.
00:50Oh, Eddie brought in pies.
00:51I didn't see any.
00:52He did.
00:53I haven't been here for you.
00:54Oh, very cool.
00:54Yours is in the fridge, since it's a chocolate pie.
00:57Nice.
00:58JP, you got a chocolate?
00:59Yeah.
01:00Nice.
01:01Well, we appreciate Eddie.
01:02Appreciate all the listeners.
01:03You got to make some believable pies.
01:03He's very nice.
01:04Eddie also brought this.
01:06What is it?
01:07What do you mean this?
01:08What else is in the bin?
01:09Some sort of t-shirt or something?
01:10Yeah.
01:11He wanted to show me how much he's been listening.
01:15And look at that broke-team t-shirt.
01:18That's a great tee, though.
01:20I know.
01:20That's vintage.
01:20That's some vintage tee right there.
01:22For the listeners, this t-shirt, it's a white t-shirt.
01:25It says, wake up, donkeys.
01:27The junkies are on 99.1 HFS.
01:29What size is that?
01:30Turn around.
01:31Show it to the camera, Mike.
01:32It's an XL.
01:33It's an XL?
01:34Yeah.
01:34Dude, that was like...
01:37I mean, if you...
01:39Well, you know, they had a promo department, and they were really into promoting the show.
01:42There can't be many of those still existing in the wild.
01:45That's a great one.
01:46Like, that's one of, like, probably 20 still...
01:48I want it.
01:48...still surviving.
01:49You gotta ask Eddie.
01:51Oh, okay.
01:51He's not giving it to us.
01:52I don't...
01:52He might.
01:53It might be.
01:54It looks a little...
01:55Used.
01:56It looks a little yellow.
01:57Well, I mean, it is 20-plus years old.
01:59God only knows what's on it.
02:00I mean, that's a promo piece from when we're at HFS.
02:03Yeah.
02:03It's probably DNA all over this shirt.
02:06Yeah.
02:08You know, I don't want that shirt.
02:09By the way, real quick, before I bang out some of these calls, I wanted to mention that
02:12my daughter actually went to that...
02:14Ended up going to that Bruno Mars concert last night.
02:16Oh, okay, yeah.
02:17Heard about a million other people.
02:19It was, like, six of her volleyball friends or teammates and one of the moms, and she did
02:25the bit where she waited.
02:26She waited out, like, $1,000 floor seats until they...
02:31I think she got them at, like, $260 or something.
02:34It's pretty good.
02:35Which, to me, is still outrageous.
02:36It's a lot, but, I mean, she's getting her, you know, 75% off the peak.
02:41But, you know, I didn't speak to her.
02:43I was in bed, but when my wife came home and brought her home, after midnight, I did wake
02:48up briefly, and I said, did she like the concert?
02:50She said, it was amazing.
02:52Yeah, I'm sure it was great.
02:53And we all know that Bruno Mars puts on an incredible show.
02:55He did, what, two nights?
02:56He did two nights.
02:57Yep.
02:57Yeah, unbelievable.
02:58By the way, since you're doing a shout-out, I just give a shout-out to my daughter.
03:01She did a half marathon in one hour and 30 minutes.
03:05Wow.
03:05So, that was her goal, right?
03:07So, she killed it.
03:07She killed her goal.
03:08Her goal, I think, was a 7.15 average.
03:10She averaged 6.53.
03:12Maybe I might be off by a few seconds.
03:13It's those carbon-plated shoes.
03:15Yes, carbon-plated, not carbon-laced.
03:18That must be it.
03:18Apparently, Farley was upset that I was in carbon-laced.
03:21I mean, congratulations.
03:22That's incredible.
03:23I mean, she's got a sub-three marathon in her, it seems like.
03:28I don't know about sub-three, but I think she definitely can probably do a 3.15.
03:33Oh, easy.
03:35Easy.
03:36So, congratulations to her.
03:37She's become a great runner.
03:39We ran the New York City Marathon together, which might have been her second marathon.
03:42She's now done six.
03:43Yeah, that's awesome.
03:44So, congratulations to Kelsey.
03:46Kelsey, we're taking calls throughout the show, I guess, 1-800-636-1067, if you have
03:51any early memories of the show.
03:53One of our listeners who actually went to our high school together, our pal James, said,
03:59it's just a reminder, he said, you guys took half of G. Gordon Liddy's show, I believe.
04:04I remember him being upset when we took the mid-days.
04:07Was G. Gordon Liddy still there at that time?
04:09Yeah.
04:09I don't remember.
04:10I guess so.
04:11I honestly don't remember.
04:11I think that, yeah, I think.
04:13He must have been, I guess.
04:14I know that they wedged us in.
04:16And it was like, Stern, here's what happened.
04:19HFS flipped.
04:20We go into this office, which we never did during the week, and they're like, just want
04:25you to know, in two hours, the station is going from rock to Spanish music.
04:30It was completely out of left field.
04:32And don't tell anybody, don't clear out your locker, just leave.
04:36Right.
04:36Just leave, because nobody on staff knew.
04:38We were flabbergasted, but then they said, but we don't want you to go anywhere.
04:43We want to bring you back to WJFK, your original home, 106.7 FM, and we want to give you
04:50the
04:51morning spot when Howard goes away.
04:52But Howard still had another year until he was going to move to satellite.
04:56So we went to Petria Uno, and we chilled, and we're like, holy crap.
05:02Like, what the heck is going on?
05:04I remember coming out and turning on HFS, and I think the last song they played was Jeff
05:10Buckley.
05:11I think his last goodbye.
05:12I'm 99% sure that that's correct.
05:14And then they had all of the elements and the promos for El Zol, and it sounded like this.
05:23And I'm sitting in the parking lot, and we were just doing a show on that air two hours
05:31ago, and now it's a completely different entity.
05:33And I have to tell you, I love working at that alt rock station so much.
05:38It was fun.
05:38And I felt like, well, there's never going back to, like, just boring sports talk.
05:44Like, that was so fun interviewing rock stars, going to concerts, and I just thought we had
05:49started that new phase in our career.
05:53I just couldn't believe we were going back to Jeff.
05:55And now it ended up being a great blessing in disguise.
05:57We jumped aboard the Titanic because our ratings were good.
06:01The problem was, I never forget that somebody told us, I can't remember if it was Sam Rogers
06:07whatever, they said, the moment that we signed off the air, 50% of the listeners dropped
06:11off.
06:12It wasn't our fault.
06:13You guys played crappy music.
06:15Or whatever you're doing, you're not doing it right.
06:17Yeah, I mean, I don't know if the music was crappy.
06:20It just wasn't as popular as it was, obviously.
06:23It certainly wasn't popular.
06:23In the 80s and the early days.
06:24Then they said, hey, we want you to go to JFK, and eventually you're going to take Sternspot,
06:29but we're going to wedge you in from 10 till 1.
06:32So I guess we did take some of Liddy's time.
06:34I'm not sure.
06:35I'm not sure about that.
06:37But maybe.
06:37It's possible.
06:38I know that Bill O'Reilly was nationally syndicated, and we took some of his time.
06:42I know we chopped off some of that.
06:44All right, let's go to Ben in Silver Spring.
06:47Ben, what's up, buddy?
06:48You're on with the jokes.
06:49I just want to recount a call that I made, God, 20 years ago, and it happened to be...
06:56I don't know what happened, but we lost him.
06:58Let's go to...
06:59Cliffhanger.
07:00Let's go to Christian in Manassas.
07:02Hey, Christian, what's up?
07:03You're on with the jokes.
07:05Hey, Junkz.
07:06Love the show.
07:07I've been listening since, I don't know, 20 years.
07:10Thanks, man.
07:12Pretty much since I was in my dad's car, I've been listening.
07:15I'm 33 years old, so I love the show.
07:18Always part of my morning and daily routine during the week.
07:23Thanks, man.
07:24I actually met you guys at Nats Fest.
07:29I think it was 2015.
07:30It was in the winter.
07:31You guys were all doing the radio show.
07:34The radio was all doing live shows.
07:38I think it was Grand Danny were doing their live show, and you guys were on before that.
07:42When you guys were on a break, anyway, I met you guys.
07:44That was a pretty cool experience.
07:46Local celebrities, every time I see you guys in D.C. or at a sporting event, I'm always amazed.
07:51Well, you shouldn't be, but I appreciate it.
07:53We're far from celebrities.
07:54Thank you, man.
07:55Say hello.
07:56Hello, right, celebs.
07:58Christian, thank you so much, buddy.
08:00Do you know that guy, George Carmy?
08:02I think we maybe even had him on the show that does a lot of work with the commanders.
08:05So, I'm at Lifetime Fitness the other day, and I walk by this guy, and I'm like, I was
08:11pretty sure it was him, but I didn't want to say anything, and I always tell him.
08:14I ended up sending him a message.
08:16I was like, just say hello.
08:18He's like, I didn't want to interrupt you.
08:19Just say hello.
08:21We're pretty approachable guys.
08:23We're very approachable.
08:23It's weird when we get those tweets that you didn't say hello because you didn't want
08:27to bother us.
08:27Just bother us.
08:29Maybe Jason, not so much, but you can bother us.
08:32Jason's great when he sees people.
08:33I know he is.
08:34All right, let's go to Amy.
08:36This is the Amy.
08:38This is Amy Soudowitz who worked for us, oh my God, back at the very, very beginning.
08:43Long time ago.
08:43Did she start with our very first?
08:45Yes.
08:45When was her first year?
08:46No, I think the first show.
08:48Amy, were you there for our first show?
08:50I think I might have been.
08:52I can't remember, but it was pretty early on because it was all kind of just coming together,
08:57and I think you had just got done doing the show on the cable channel, and I think
09:03Jim McClure was looking for new shows for WJFK and pitched it and really kind of went out
09:11on the limb and was like, I think this will really take off.
09:15At that time, WJFK was just throwing spaghetti at the wall.
09:18I'm like, will this work?
09:19Will that work?
09:21And it just took off, and I remember early on, and so one of my former co-workers just
09:26messaged me, and he's like, it's 30 years.
09:28I'm like, oh my gosh, it's 30 years.
09:29There's no way.
09:30So I'm listening, and I'm hearing about people's kids, and actually, I recently was going through
09:35things, and I found that tape you guys made for me of the rap, like my last day there,
09:40and I was like, oh my gosh.
09:41So I just, I wasn't going to call in, but I'm like, I have to.
09:44I mean, congratulations.
09:45Oh, it's so nice of you.
09:45Glad you called in.
09:46No, I know that you were in it.
09:47I believe the chorus.
09:49I remember it after all these years was, you pulled our carts and smelled our farts.
09:54Goodbye, Amy.
09:55That was a goodbye song that we made for?
09:57It was a P. Diddy song, a Puff Daddy song, and we did a rap song over.
10:01If he loves Diddy, that tracks, that makes sense.
10:03I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep track.
10:05I know you were in media, and like in news, and all that.
10:08Are you still in that industry?
10:10No.
10:10No, so I, yeah, I've been on to be a TV reporter for many years in like Raleigh, North Carolina.
10:16I came back, and I was at Channel 9 for a little bit, and so I retired from TV news
10:21in 2009
10:22when I moved to Florida, and then I worked in healthcare, and then I was a personal trainer
10:26and had an online fitness business, and I recently retired from that.
10:29Now I do real estate investing, because that's what everyone does when they retire.
10:33Yeah.
10:33Well, congratulations.
10:35I mean, if you're reinventing yourself like three or four times, we're still doing the
10:37same thing.
10:38I would love to know, just what were your initial impressions of the show when you worked for
10:43us, and then is there a highlight for you?
10:46I think it really was kind of like a lightning in the bottle scenario.
10:50Like, I don't think it, you know, it's just one of those things where I was just like,
10:53early on, I'm like, this, this, and this is not just me saying, but like, it's like
10:57to see a lot of people come and go, but I think what really stands out was the dedication,
11:01I think is, I hate to take on it, is Jason not there today?
11:04Yeah, he's not.
11:05Shocker.
11:06It's like his birthday or something, so he just wanted to be off, I guess.
11:10Yeah, I was like, there's always like one person like that.
11:13But, you know, I was just kind of like remembering, I'm like, no, it really was something that,
11:17you know, it just kind of really took off.
11:19And, no, I thought early on, so my favorite memory, there's so many, but yeah, I was just
11:23like, you'd be like, just call this list of people.
11:25And I'm like, I didn't understand at the time, I'm like, these are all pro athletes.
11:28You're like, call this a hotel, we think they're staying there.
11:30And every once in a while, they would answer, and they would come on the show.
11:34Right.
11:34And it was like, just kind of like, you know, you were, I think what it was is because
11:38you didn't really know, you didn't know, like, you didn't have that fear or the hesitation.
11:42You're like, this is going to work, let's just call this person, call up this person,
11:45they'll come on the show.
11:45And they did, so none of us, I didn't know anything about sports at all.
11:50So, but that's kind of what made it kind of work, I think.
11:53It wasn't like, I wasn't intimidated, I didn't know what any of these people were.
11:56I'm like, this is a list of people, I don't know who these people are.
11:58So great.
11:59Yeah, Amy was answering the calls, but then she also would be on the show kind of as
12:03the moral compass of the show.
12:05It was like these four guys who were 25 years old being wild, and we would bring her on for
12:11kind of the voice of women from time to time.
12:14Did you speak for all women?
12:16I think at times, and I think I met Oksana Bayul, too.
12:20That kind of stands out, because she was so young.
12:22Remember, we used to have, like, all those people coming in the studio, and it was kind
12:25of wild.
12:26You're like, we have this person coming in, Oksana Bayul, and I'm like, that's kind of a
12:29big deal.
12:30Right.
12:30So, yeah, and I think you guys really pulled some big guests and still do because of that.
12:34So I was like, I have to call in.
12:35That's too funny, because I literally just had that tape in my hand.
12:38I still have it.
12:39Well, that's so cool.
12:40Thank you so much.
12:41It's good to hear from you.
12:42Glad to hear your voice.
12:43Glad to hear that you're doing well.
12:44And, I don't know, maybe we'll buy some property from you anytime soon.
12:47Yeah.
12:48I live in Florida now, so whenever you're ready.
12:51What part of Florida?
12:51A silly ocean front somewhere.
12:52What part of Florida?
12:53She's going to hook us.
12:55Palm Beach.
12:56Palm Beach.
12:57Pretty nice area.
12:58Palm's pretty nice.
12:58Pretty nice area over there.
13:00Probably too ritzy for me.
13:02Move the show.
13:02Yeah.
13:03Move the show.
13:04Thank you, Amy.
13:06Congratulations.
13:07Thank you so much.
13:08Great to hear from you.
13:08Very sweet.
13:09Wow.
13:10Haven't heard from her in 25 years.
13:12She sounds exactly the same.
13:13And thank you, too.
13:14I hear her voice, and it just brings you back.
13:16Honestly, thank you to all the people, especially the people that were there at the beginning.
13:20Jim McClure and Jeremy Coleman, who you mentioned, but like Jason Veazey, Joe Ardinger.
13:25Oh, yeah.
13:26Brian Cosgrove.
13:27Brian Cosgrove.
13:28Yeah.
13:28A lot of the behind-the-scenes.
13:30All the producers that we had at the beginning.
13:32Mike Sprouse, the vampire.
13:33You heard that one producer, and I'm just going to say it, but I forget his name, but
13:40he was kind of necky from like PG County.
13:42He used to get so upset because I would abuse the producers.
13:45I know who you're talking about.
13:46He would get so upset at me because I would mock him.
13:48I think his name was Greg.
13:49I can't remember his last name, but Greg is kind of jumping out.
13:51He was a nice guy.
13:53Very nice guy.
13:53I just thought that's what you do.
13:54You make fun of producers.
13:56And I was just giving him a hard time.
13:57Greg Edger.
13:58Oh, that's him.
13:59And he really, he really, he really did not like him.
14:04He really did not like it.
14:06So I apologize.
14:07But thank you anyway.
14:08Yeah, no, thank you.
14:08And he was a supporter of the show.
14:10He just didn't like it when I was so hard on him.
14:11Right.
14:12Yeah.
14:14All right, let's go to Steve.
14:15It is warranted.
14:16Steve, what's up?
14:17What's up, fellas?
14:18I got two memories of you guys.
14:20Go ahead.
14:20The first one I remember is back in the early 2000s when you guys would do the all day
14:28with LeVar and Chad and O'Mara.
14:32Okay.
14:32We did that one time, I think.
14:34We did like a 24-hour broadcast.
14:35Jason wasn't a huge fan of that.
14:37Yeah, I'm sure he was bitter.
14:39And the second thing I remember is before that, I actually won a key to a, it was a cruiser
14:45bike.
14:46And I forget the bar in D.C., but I won a key and I was like number nine.
14:52Yeah.
14:53And, but number, like number 17 was the person who won the bike.
14:57Right.
14:57That was right over here by the water.
14:59You remember that?
14:59We did that bike giveaway at least a couple times.
15:02I think we did it at Fairfax one time and like the second person had the key, turned it
15:07and like a bunch of people were stuck.
15:08Ruined a bit.
15:09Ruined a bit.
15:10Yeah.
15:10But we did that multiple times.
15:12The one I won was the one where it was in D.C.
15:14And I remember I was like number nine.
15:16And like I said, it wasn't really there after someone won it.
15:19Yeah.
15:20Yeah.
15:20Very cool.
15:21All right.
15:22Cool, guys.
15:22Thanks, man.
15:23Appreciate you listening all these years.
15:25Really cool.
15:25Today is the 30th anniversary of the Junkies.
15:29It all started on the new sports weekend on WJFK, 5 p.m.
15:35We were 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday nights originally.
15:39We eventually expanded to Saturday and Sundays.
15:42A year later, got the full-time gig, but it's 30 years.
15:45If you have any memories of the early days, 1-800-636-1067.
15:51We're the Junkies on the fan.
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