Episode 48 · Brian Papstein · June 29, 2024
Brian Papstein talks through a long Humboldt radio family history, from growing up in Eureka and playing basketball at Humboldt to the stations, shows, and habits that shaped his work. He shares how local radio changed over time, why Talk Shop has lasted, and how The Redwood Song became part of the area’s daily life.
Watch the conversation
What this episode covers
- Growing up in Eureka and going to Eureka High and Humboldt
- Playing basketball, including the cluster-era college path
- The Papstein family’s radio history in Humboldt
- How Talk Shop works and why Brian keeps it conversational
- The shopping show and the idea bank behind it
- The Redwood Song and the family memory tied to it
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Transcript
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Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, my friend Brian Papstein and 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond. How's it going, Brian?
Brian Papstein: What, is this a circus?
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I gotta say it really quick.
Brian Papstein: Ladies and gentlemen, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Of all ages.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Oh.
Scott Hammond: So tell us the Brian Papstein story. What's, what's-
Brian Papstein: Oh, geez. How b- how bored do you wanna get?
Scott Hammond: Who a- who are you and what do you do?
Brian Papstein: Well, I grew up about four blocks from here.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: At the end of Edgewood.
Scott Hammond: Right here. Edgewood's right over th- I can almost see it.
Brian Papstein: No, Edgewood is right over there.
Scott Hammond: Okay. It's on my map.
Brian Papstein: Oh. Oh, you're pointing…
Brian Papstein: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Generally.
Brian Papstein: I couldn't find it on the map. Just close my eyes, I'll go find it.
Scott Hammond: You have to look.
Brian Papstein: Um, I, you know, I d- what do you, what do you want? You know, what, what-
Scott Hammond: Eureka High. I know you and I went to Humboldt.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, '70, '78, uh, got silly and senior class president there.
Brian Papstein: Um-
Scott Hammond: Ooh.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, went to Worthington, managed to close that school down.
Scott Hammond: Yep, yep, yep.
Brian Papstein: Zane is still holding on. Um, and then Eureka High, um, and then went to Humboldt. That's where we crossed paths.
Scott Hammond: Is it Humboldt State or Cal Poly?
Brian Papstein: It was Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: It was Humboldt.
Brian Papstein: And then it was CHCSUH
Brian Papstein: for a short-
Scott Hammond: Or-
Brian Papstein: … brief moment.
Scott Hammond: Correct.
Brian Papstein: And that was after I think we were, uh, at least it was after I, I had left.
Scott Hammond: And what was it before Humboldt State? Let's see how-
Brian Papstein: Oh-
Scott Hammond: … how back
Brian Papstein: … Humboldt College.
Scott Hammond: Humboldt… Yeah, and then it was Hum-
Brian Papstein: Hu- Humboldt State College.
Scott Hammond: Then it was Humboldt State.
Brian Papstein: And then, um-
Scott Hammond: Humboldt Teachers College
Brian Papstein: … and then that's the original.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What a history.
Brian Papstein: And all that.
Scott Hammond: So you-
Brian Papstein: Far West Conference.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: That's when we went from Division III to Division II.
Scott Hammond: Go Jacks.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: That was, uh-
Scott Hammond: What a loss
Brian Papstein: … interesting. Did not play at Eureka High.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: Walked on at Humboldt when we were D-III and D-II, uh, Cosentino's years.
Scott Hammond: You're talking about basketball?
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Well, no it's not. It wasn't water polo.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, n-
Brian Papstein: Not with this body. Give me a break.
Scott Hammond: So Brian's kind of a short guy, he played basketball.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Did you start for Cons- Cosentino? Was that right?
Brian Papstein: Cosentino? No, I left at the end of the sophomore year. Um, it's when they chose not to rehire him.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: So, and we, we had taken that, uh, cluster general ed program-
Scott Hammond: I had that
Brian Papstein: … which kinda mucked things up-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Brian Papstein: … um, beyond that point because they were trying to find out the equivalents.
Brian Papstein: So-
Scott Hammond: Really?
Brian Papstein: … ev- um, Joe Hash stayed, Drew Vanderpool stayed. There were four or five guys that stayed.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And they were the nucleus of the team that Tom Wood started with.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And the rest of us dispersed, and some of the guys went to Big Sky schools. I mean, the, the team was pretty good.
Scott Hammond: So did you go through cluster?
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Wow, that's it.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So, so I'll, uh, for our listeners and, uh, viewers out there, cluster was a, uh, uh, a prototype sort of a non-con-
Brian Papstein: An experiment gone wrong
Scott Hammond: … it was an experiment. I, I really liked it. So here, here's-
Brian Papstein: I, I enjoyed it c- because it's kind of what they, uh, some of the schools now teach. It's multidisciplinary.
Scott Hammond: Correct.
Brian Papstein: And that, that part's cool.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: But as far as transferring and trying to explain what it is and what it was-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's too hippy
Brian Papstein: … no. So I, I lost… When I went back to Doane, uh, school in
Brian Papstein: Nebraska-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … um-
Scott Hammond: That's right, you went back east
Brian Papstein: … yeah, in the o- in the old day, old days.
Brian Papstein: Um-
Scott Hammond: How old are you?
Brian Papstein: On… Yeah. One more than you, so we'll just leave it there. Um, you know, everything was SAT. No- nobody took ACT tests.
Scott Hammond: It was all SAT.
Brian Papstein: So I, because it had history and I'm a history geek, I thought, okay, I'm gonna, you know, just for fun. It was like 20 bucks at that time. Well, I got a 23 out of 24.
Scott Hammond: Wow, okay.
Brian Papstein: So when I went back I had half a ride academic, half a ride athletic.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Brian Papstein: But I lost a year.
Brian Papstein: S-
Scott Hammond: 'Cause of cluster
Brian Papstein: … because of cluster and, and there's a, there was a limitation. Doane's a private school.
Scott Hammond: Where's that at? Omaha?
Brian Papstein: Um, it's 20 minutes southeast, yeah, southeast of Lincoln.
Scott Hammond: Lincoln.
Brian Papstein: In, in a town called Crete, which is very comparable to Ferndale-
Scott Hammond: Wow, okay
Brian Papstein: … in size. Thousand kids, everybody lives on campus-
Scott Hammond: Love it
Brian Papstein: … that kinda stuff.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Um, so I lost, so I went back as a, as a senior academic, junior athletic. Lost the year, so I was like a junior junior and then a junior
Brian Papstein: senior.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. And you played basketball?
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Played basketball there for the year and then, uh, came back and didn't go back, so I didn't… I am officially and proudly not a college graduate.
Scott Hammond: Al- almost.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, I'm four classes away, four-
Scott Hammond: Who's our-
Brian Papstein: … non-major classes
Scott Hammond: … who's our guest that was not a, a college grad? It was Wes Chesbro. He's, he never has graduated.
Brian Papstein: Oh, okay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, go figure.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Anyway.
Brian Papstein: We're, we're kindred spirits.
Scott Hammond: There you go. Well, you and I are kindred spirits 'cause w- same class of
Scott Hammond: '78.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Uh, feral children of cluster because I really like cluster. So, uh, it's, it's no tests, no grades, 16 units pass, fail. You gotta show up, you gotta journal, you gotta participate, gotta get your
Scott Hammond: ass in gear-
Brian Papstein: Right
Scott Hammond: … and be part of it, so it's not easy. It's not like escape, skate-
Brian Papstein: Oh, no. No, it w- it was just a different approach and-
Scott Hammond: It's a different approach. And it-
Brian Papstein: You know, I could have done without Waiting for Godot.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Ralph Samuelson-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … had that, and I-
Scott Hammond: Ralph is-
Brian Papstein: St- stupid me, I went and it was presented as theater in the round. I've, I love concerts in theater in the round.
Scott Hammond: Not discussions.
Brian Papstein: I despise plays in theater in the round. No, if I was, if I was a college teacher, I'd be in the round.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: I'd be turning around and, you know, keeping everything and us- using the walls all over the place.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Brian Papstein: That would be way cool, I think. But as far as a play, I saw, I saw Waiting for Godot, which basically is two guys sitting under a tree for f- an hour and a half doing nothing.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: I, I, I'm not a big fan of existentialism.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: Okay. Um, and the o-
Scott Hammond: They do t- they do teach that.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. The only other time that I did it, it was, uh, they put on a play for Hamlet.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Brian Papstein: And they tried to make it modern.
Scott Hammond: Good luck.
Brian Papstein: And it's-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no
Brian Papstein: … and it's like, no.
Scott Hammond: No.
Brian Papstein: You're screwing with the best, and that's what you end up with-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … is thisUh, half-baked approach.
Brian Papstein: And it just-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … wasn't-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … it was very disappointing.
Brian Papstein: And I, I, I enjoy Shakespeare also. I'm-
Scott Hammond: So I'm actually from the Midwest, not far from where you went to school.
Brian Papstein: Oh, really?
Scott Hammond: Sioux City, Iowa, upriver.
Brian Papstein: Ah.
Scott Hammond: And my dad went to Morningside College.
Brian Papstein: So, so, okay, that's-
Scott Hammond: A little Methodist school
Brian Papstein: … was that part of the GPAC? I think it was. I know it's an NAIA school.
Scott Hammond: Could've been. Uh, George Ellen coached football when he played-
Brian Papstein: Yes
Scott Hammond: … back in the day before George went to the NFL.
Brian Papstein: After the old timers, Julian Erickson went f- came from there also.
Scott Hammond: Julian Erickson.
Brian Papstein: Jules was very, um… He was an assistant coach at Humboldt, but he also was the senior class counselor at Eureka High when I was going through, and had been the high school basketball coach for years.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
Brian Papstein: They, uh, decided that you had to be a teacher in order to be a basketball coach-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … because some, a teacher wanted to be the basketball coach instead of having a
Brian Papstein: counselor.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: Whatever, and the team tanks after that, so.
Scott Hammond: Coaches are kinda k- counselors.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, if they're, right, if they're doing a good job, yeah.
Scott Hammond: So did you go right into radio after, uh, coming back from Nebraska?
Brian Papstein: No, I was before radi- before leaving.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You were already in the radio-
Brian Papstein: Yeah, I mean, I d-
Scott Hammond: … world
Brian Papstein: … was
Brian Papstein: telling… Does anybody know about Nick?
Scott Hammond: Nick, this Nick?
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Well-
Brian Papstein: Or is he just our producer?
Scott Hammond: No, he, he, he's the fourth wall, or the fifth. Might be the sixth wall. Uh, yeah, but people know about him a little bit.
Brian Papstein: Okay.
Scott Hammond: He's only got 200 podcasts.
Brian Papstein: We, we, we were, we were talking-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … you know, uh, be- before, before we started this. Um, and it just, you know, depending on where you use it as a reference, um, shopping show, we're what, 23 years now?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Talk Shop is 41, 42 years, something like that.
Scott Hammond: All right, stop. Let's back up. So, so you run a local radio station that your, your father, your grandfather-
Brian Papstein: Three, three stations. Yeah, Grandpa.
Scott Hammond: There's three. Grandpa.
Brian Papstein: Grandpa bought KINS.
Scott Hammond: He bought KINS, which is an AM signal.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, it was, was 980 at the time.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: Um-
Scott Hammond: And now it's FM.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So you're, you're, you're a giant radio magnet for Eureka, California. You're, you're, you're-
Brian Papstein: Well, I, I often say it's a genetic weakness. You just got it, yeah.
Scott Hammond: So y- radio guy, that came from a radio, radio in your veins. What, how does that work? I know ink in the veins 'cause I worked at the Tri-City.
Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah, well, let's see. You know.
Scott Hammond: So there's sound, sound waves.
Brian Papstein: I'm just a high… I'm a higher level.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, I know.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. You were down where the worms are.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: I'm up where the birds are.
Scott Hammond: You're up in the, on the fr- the higher frequencies.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. No, Gra- Grandpa came out
Brian Papstein: in fifty s-
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's right
Brian Papstein: … '57, and he was looking at two stations at the same time.
Brian Papstein: Okay, fine.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: And both of, both of them were available at the same time.
Scott Hammond: Where did he come from?
Brian Papstein: Um, New York City. He was, uh, he was on Madison Avenue for real-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Brian Papstein: … and was a jingle writer.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
Brian Papstein: Um, prior to that, he, in World War II, he was in charge of the European sector communications.
Scott Hammond: How about that? In Germany-
Brian Papstein: Okay. Yeah
Scott Hammond: … or Europe somewhere? Yeah.
Brian Papstein: In Germany. He had, he had, had some of the stuff he'd taken out, some of the-
Scott Hammond: He came west and wound up in Eureka.
Brian Papstein: He was, yeah, he was in New York and looked, and wanted to get into radio, and, uh, a financial guy that was with him for a short period of time was a general sales manager at WINS-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … in New York City.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Grandpa had worked for Estes and J.
Brian Papstein: Walter-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … um, two large advertising agencies.
Scott Hammond: Huge, yeah.
Brian Papstein: Um, in fact-
Scott Hammond: Thompson?
Brian Papstein: … uh, he wrote the Winston jingle, which means nothing to anybody our age or younger, um-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … 'cause it's been off the air since 1971.
Scott Hammond: Grandpa did?
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Would you mind singing it?
Brian Papstein: Uh, no.
Scott Hammond: Can, can you sing Over the Hill and Far Away?
Brian Papstein: I cannot. I can't sing. I-
Scott Hammond: The Winston jingle. I'm trying to think what that was. I know the Marlboro.
Brian Papstein: Winston tastes good like a-
Scott Hammond: Cigarette should
Brian Papstein: … cigarette should.
Scott Hammond: No filter, no flavor, just cotton pickin' paper.
Scott Hammond: Is it?
Brian Papstein: Yeah, or no filter-
Scott Hammond: Was it-
Brian Papstein: … n- yeah, no taste. You know, just a 50 cent waste
Scott Hammond: … that was the kid, that was the kid version.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: But that one was voted… I've got a couple gold records out at the station, uh, in the lobby. Um, it was voted the most effective radio commercial or jingle in '57 and '58.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
Brian Papstein: And for the century, it was, I think, number nine, number eight.
Scott Hammond: Pretty good.
Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's like-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … Coke, you know, like to teach the world to sing and-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Brian Papstein: … millions of dollars of production. They were out in front. You know, McDonald's was out in front also.
Scott Hammond: Sure, sure.
Brian Papstein: So this was one of the old legacies.
Brian Papstein: And part of the reason the effectiveness of it was so strong, that that's part of the reason why they stopped allowing cigarettes advertised on
Brian Papstein: the radio-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Brian Papstein: … after the surgeon general's report came out in the mid-'60s.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: So they took all that money, and at that time, ci- um, cigarettes were the number one category of advertiser-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … on broadcast.
Scott Hammond: How about that? TV and-
Brian Papstein: Period
Scott Hammond: … TV and radio, yeah.
Brian Papstein: So when they pull it off, uh, is the industry gonna survive?
Scott Hammond: There's a big hole.
Brian Papstein: Big question mark.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. They took those dollars, Winston and the others, and if you're a stock car fan, you've heard of the Winston Cup Series.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Brian Papstein: That's where the money went.
Scott Hammond: That's so funny.
Brian Papstein: That's how much money was being spent-
Scott Hammond: And invented NASCAR-
Brian Papstein: … in broadcast
Scott Hammond: … basically.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Or-
Brian Papstein: Yes
Scott Hammond: … helped with the invention.
Brian Papstein: Far, far more of today's version rather than guys running still.
Scott Hammond: Right. 'Cause a NASCAR can advertise cigarettes better than-
Brian Papstein: Yeah, because it's-
Scott Hammond: … ESPN
Brian Papstein: … it's, it's not re- government regulated-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … as, as we are.
Scott Hammond: So I remember early on, uh, here locally in the Tri-City, Ron, love you Ron Pileggi, good to see you.
Scott Hammond: He would-
Brian Papstein: I thought you were gonna say Big Jim
Scott Hammond: … Big Jim. Uh, Ron would throw a… He would really not allow casino advertising or-
Brian Papstein: Okay
Scott Hammond: … initially. Now it's common.
Scott Hammond: I mean-
Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah
Scott Hammond: … now cannabis ads are common in some papers, not necessarily in your radio station, but you go, "Wow-
Brian Papstein: Well, yeah
Scott Hammond: … things have shifted."
Brian Papstein: There's, there's no regulation in that.
Scott Hammond: Uh, nothing, yeah.
Brian Papstein: It's just broadcast.
Scott Hammond: You look in the journal and here's-
Brian Papstein: Journal, billboards.
Scott Hammond: Billboards all over-
Brian Papstein: In a lot of areas, flyers
Scott Hammond: … Garberville, Willits, all-
Brian Papstein: Banners.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: I mean, it's, it's not regulated.
Brian Papstein: It w-
Scott Hammond: No
Brian Papstein: … it, it is weird for me, and just as a quick, really geeky
Brian Papstein: example, um, equal opportunity, you know, EEO.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: E- an equal opportunity employer, right?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Brian Papstein: See that in a lot of the help wanted ads. And you ask me, "Okay, so what does that mean?" "Well, we're interested in anybody as long as they're good."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Good.What regulatory standards do you have to hit in order to qualify for that?
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: What do you mean?
Scott Hammond: Wait, what?
Brian Papstein: I've got, I've got, I've got annual reports I have to file with the FCC showing not what my staff composition is, that doesn't matter.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Brian Papstein: It's what was the outreach.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: So I could have all minority sta- uh, entire staff that way.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Brian Papstein: And if I didn't hit the marks and do enough outreach-
Scott Hammond: However, yeah
Brian Papstein: … I'm subject to the fine.
Scott Hammond: Huh, interesting.
Brian Papstein: Doesn't matter what the results, it's all process.
Scott Hammond: Because it's FCC regulated.
Brian Papstein: It's process-
Scott Hammond: Interesting
Brian Papstein: … not results.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: And there's a current one that's out there now, it's, uh, 395, uh, B, I believe, where I'm supposed to guess the ethnicity of everybody.
Scott Hammond: Wow. 'Cause you can't ask.
Brian Papstein: Can't ask.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: What, what good is that then? Just m- more regulatory-
Scott Hammond: Phew
Brian Papstein: … stuff that-
Scott Hammond: Dude
Brian Papstein: … we have to do.
Scott Hammond: I've been writing tax checks at State Farm to the state and to the feds, and I'm
Scott Hammond: going-
Brian Papstein: Oh
Scott Hammond: … this is r- this is more than one or two more employees. This is crazy.
Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: I got another guy, Uncle Sam, he works in the back. He doesn't do anything-
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: … that I know about.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Maybe he does something. I don't know what he's working on. So tell us about the, the individual components then. So Talk Shop has been around-
Brian Papstein: Oh, some of the programming?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Talk Shop, we started that in '83.
Scott Hammond: And you're on five mornings a week?
Brian Papstein: Yeah, it's weekdays.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So you're kinda-
Brian Papstein: Yeah, each morning at 8:00.
Scott Hammond: You're kinda Humboldt's Larry King.
Scott Hammond: Sorry.
Brian Papstein: Just… Okay.
Scott Hammond: I've been working on that one all, delivery all day.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah, you just wanted to see what-
Scott Hammond: Just to see what Brian says
Brian Papstein: … see what I'd say. Yeah. I've, I've met h- met him a couple of times at some of the conventions, and he was an arrogant SOB.
Scott Hammond: Really?
Brian Papstein: And when I referred to myself as SOB, that was son of boss.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: When Mom and Dad were still around.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha. This is a real
Scott Hammond: SOB.
Brian Papstein: This is a real SOB right here.
Scott Hammond: So he's a real, real jerk.
Brian Papstein: So we were going up the, the elevator, and I mean, you could just tell this guy was arrogant as… And he was short.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Brian Papstein: So he had short man's complex, which doesn't carry too well for me anyway, plus arrogance, and that I do not like arrogance either. So but we were talking, and I said, "So what prep do you
Brian Papstein: do?"
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: And he says, "Well, very little."
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Okay. He doesn't want to… He would never read a book in advance.
Scott Hammond: Well, yeah.
Brian Papstein: Okay, and he, and, and this is the only thing I think that I really agree with him on. If you read or prep or any of that stuff, it's too easy to talk over your
Brian Papstein: audience.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: You know? So-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … while I know a lot of questions that I, will pop up in the conversation-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … I also know the answers.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: But I know that you don't know.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: So instead of me saying what it is, I'm gonna allow the guest, you as a listener-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Brian Papstein: … I'm gonna allow the guest to say, "So when you talk about, what do you mean?" And then they have that response.
Scott Hammond: They explain it, yeah.
Brian Papstein: Um, but it's, it's kind of fun over the decade, over the decades.
Scott Hammond: How many years did you say? 24?
Brian Papstein: 41.
Scott Hammond: 41.
Brian Papstein: So this is the fourth decade of it.
Scott Hammond: Of Talk Shop.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And it started with Br- with your dad, Hugo?
Brian Papstein: No. No, it's been me the whole way.
Scott Hammond: It was you.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, they turned me loose.
Scott Hammond: Good one, yeah.
Brian Papstein: Um-
Scott Hammond: How many, how many episodes?
Brian Papstein: I don't know.
Scott Hammond: And now it's a podcast, right? Could get it in podcast form now.
Brian Papstein: Well, it's on the website afterwards.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: You know, whatever you wanna call it.
Scott Hammond: Gosh, so that's gotta be 41 years of-
Brian Papstein: So, okay, Nick, break out the calculator.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. 50 weeks a year.
Brian Papstein: Five times, five times 52 times 41, whatever that is.
Scott Hammond: All right.
Brian Papstein: I don't know.
Scott Hammond: It's a lot. It's, uh-
Brian Papstein: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … 200 and-
Brian Papstein: It's-
Scott Hammond: It's, it's a couple gra… Well-
Brian Papstein: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … several thousand.
Brian Papstein: Oh, I… It's probably over 10,000. I don't know.
Scott Hammond: That's a lot.
Brian Papstein: It doesn't-
Scott Hammond: 'Cause you talk to a lot of people.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, and, and w- like when the supes, you get a new supervisor in.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah, the supes.
Brian Papstein: You know, and they were discovering this new information.
Brian Papstein: It's like-
Scott Hammond: Sup of the month
Brian Papstein: … "Oh, okay, well, five years ago it was this, and 10 years ago it was that. And back when Anna Sparks was in, it was da, da, da, da, da."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And you can kind of see their eyes roll back.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: 'Cause I'm going back deeper and further than what they-
Scott Hammond: Don Clausen
Brian Papstein: … what they can. W- no, Clausen never showed up. Um, but it, it's having that legacy and that-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … re- has, has really, I think, benefited the community. You know, I don't care about me.
Brian Papstein: It's-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … you know, that's the reason I'm doing it is so that the community is aware of what's going on.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: And have a perspective that they probably don't find anywhere else in any of the other outlets and information
Brian Papstein: outlets.
Scott Hammond: And the show's an hour?
Brian Papstein: Eh, 45 minutes or so.
Scott Hammond: Half hour. 45?
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha. Yeah, no, I, I enjoyed it for years. The, um… And then you have the shopping show on Saturday.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, and that's Saturday that, um, I'm part of, there's 100 of us throughout the world. It's called the Idea Bank.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And you have to be nominated to get in. They're all radio operators. Most of us are owner or operator. And there's folks from Canada and Australia and New Zealand, as well as America, and I think we've got somebody on the waiting list from Europe somewhere.
Brian Papstein: Um, and it's, we get together twice a year. We just, just finished one, uh, last month in-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … uh, Sayre, Pennsylvania.
Scott Hammond: Oh, back at Sayre.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: So it gave me a chance to go to Cooperstown and see the Hall of Fame.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.
Brian Papstein: 'Cause it was about two hours away, and then I got to, uh, see where Dad played baseball for the Red Sox in Corning.
Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?
Brian Papstein: Where the glass company is.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: He, he played there in '58.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
Brian Papstein: Um, so that was kinda cool touching base, but a lot of ideas are exchanged, and this was an idea from there that-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … I, I've only been in since '99.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: So, I don't know, 25 years. And this was one of those early on ideas.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And we mutate it and warp it and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … put it on steroids and do this and do that-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … and scroll around with it. And it's become, uh, I think it's almost destination listening on the weekends for a lot
Brian Papstein: of people.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Brian Papstein: Um, you know, we don't know how many people are, are listening at any one point-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … 'cause we're too small, and the, the, uh, research is too expensive.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, and there's no, there's no incremental cost benefit to that.
Scott Hammond: So I call in, and I can bid on the pizzas from-
Brian Papstein: No, you just buy it
Scott Hammond: … whatever.
Brian Papstein: There's no bid.
Scott Hammond: Just-
Brian Papstein: You buy.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's 10 bucks, whatever it is.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: 100 bucks.
Brian Papstein: Whatever the price is, how many you want, fine.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Okay, next.
Scott Hammond: Next.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: My bid, my number's one, two, three, or five, six.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. But we're, we're, we're getting close to 10,000 households-
Scott Hammond: That's pretty good
Brian Papstein: … that have registered.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: So I mean, considering h- And that, part of that is in-Down Lo- County and part of that is in Curry County when we had, when I had the stations in
Brian Papstein: Brookings
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I think it's genius 'cause it's a win, win, win.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Listeners win, you guys win-
Brian Papstein: And the ad-
Scott Hammond: … advertisers win
Brian Papstein: … and the, yeah.
Scott Hammond: You know?
Brian Papstein: And, and I think, I think we've, we've crossed somewhere around $6 million that we've saved people in
Brian Papstein: buying.
Scott Hammond: That's pretty good.
Brian Papstein: So, you know, is it an economic stimulus? Well, you can argue it.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, but I kinda feel warm and fuzzy about it.
Scott Hammond: That's another shop, you know? It's another place to-
Brian Papstein: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … buy stuff.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. And it's, it is the, the savings.
Scott Hammond: And it stimulates an economy that n- needs it terribly.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a chance, and to keep the money local. I mean, that's one thing when someone who is spending with us, whether it's with direct advertising or-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Brian Papstein: … or with s- the shopping show.
Scott Hammond: And the other kind-
Brian Papstein: It's me
Scott Hammond: … and the other and it's you.
Brian Papstein: That's it. So, you know-
Scott Hammond: Is, is it you and Charlie?
Brian Papstein: Uh, no, it's me and Stephan. Stephan is my youngest.
Scott Hammond: Who is… So I, I know that name.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I think I've met him.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, Char- Charlie Bullet, or, you know, is a pseudo name. He was with us for about the first 15 years.
Scott Hammond: Is he now, he's do- no longer?
Brian Papstein: Correct.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
Brian Papstein: And we-
Scott Hammond: Still living?
Brian Papstein: I believe so
Scott Hammond: … somewhere.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. In the area.
Scott Hammond: We like to think that.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, I know. I just get-
Scott Hammond: No, I understand
Brian Papstein: … that warm fuzzy on it.
Scott Hammond: No, he's, he's, he's been around a while. Um, two people I wanna hear about. One is your dad.
Brian Papstein: Okay.
Scott Hammond: You know, your dad's kind of iconic, I think, probably especially to you.
Scott Hammond: Um-
Brian Papstein: Well, isn't your dad iconic to you?
Scott Hammond: Of course.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Okay. I mean, that's, it's a low bar to hit.
Scott Hammond: After he got sober, he was really iconic.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He's great.
Brian Papstein: He was around, yeah.
Scott Hammond: I was thir- 13, he got sober. It was great. Um, and then I wanna hear about some of the guests. Who, who, who do you like? Who's made an impression on you?
Brian Papstein: Well, which one you wanna go for first?
Scott Hammond: Let's go with, let's go with the old man.
Brian Papstein: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: So Dad, Dad was in the Red Sox chain.
Brian Papstein: Um-
Scott Hammond: Hugo Papstein
Brian Papstein: … he grew up in Westport, Connecticut-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Brian Papstein: … and was… And I'm really starting to appreciate now, 'cause Dad had a phrase that he used. "If frogs had wings, they wouldn't hit their-"
Scott Hammond: Butts.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Your dad said that too.
Brian Papstein: Every, every time-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Brian Papstein: … they jumped. Okay. So he was, he was in the Red Sox, and I f- uh, I'm kinda piecing things together a little bit. But out of Westport, he was kinda like the regional stud in baseball.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, he got a tour through Shibe Park with Robin Roberts.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Okay. Um, there was a stack, after he died, a stack of scouts business cards.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Went, oh, Cubs,
Brian Papstein: Cardinals-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … Red Sox, Phillies-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … Yankees.
Scott Hammond: Met these guys, yeah.
Brian Papstein: This was real. These guys were wanting to sign him.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: And I found a picture, and it was with Opa and Oma, you know, the, the stereotype in the kitchen-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … kid signing, the scout on the, parents on either… It's there.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: It's like,
Brian Papstein: uh-
Scott Hammond: How cool
Brian Papstein: … the, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Exciting, yeah.
Brian Papstein: So I'm kinda starting to piece this stuff together. So when I was back, he played, uh, when he was in Raleigh in 19 s- 1960. No, 19- 1959 is when he tore his back muscle.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: But, uh, Carl Yastrzemski was on that.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, there were, uh, five starting pitchers on that staff.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: Four of the five made the show.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: Dad was the number one-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … on that staff.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, and it was before they had guns and all that kinda stuff.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: So the estimate, based on others of that time that he was equated to-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … probably mid to high 90s with a fastball, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … its curve was low 90s.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: But he could hit a dime in the catcher's mitt.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: So he had that control.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: But it was back when you showed up to get in shape in spring training.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And he didn't stretch properly one time and-
Scott Hammond: Tore his backup
Brian Papstein: … tore the muscle, and that was, he lost four or five miles an hour, and that was the difference.
Scott Hammond: And that-
Brian Papstein: He, he played for the Crabs for about, hmm, I think maybe three, four weeks.
Scott Hammond: Humboldt Crabs.
Brian Papstein: When he, you know, after he came back here and he was, he was done. He played another year and a half in the system, but he knew he wasn't going
Brian Papstein: anywhere.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: So he's here, and the way that it was relayed to me is he would, you know, go out there, and he got, was getting really mad.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And he'd come home, and he didn't wanna be that mad-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … around us. Uh, I was, I don't know, four or five. Kurt was one or two years old. Um, and what teed him off was guys that he used to blow a- blow away were fouling the ball off.
Scott Hammond: That pissed him off.
Brian Papstein: To the point where he quit. He umpired for a year or two.
Scott Hammond: They got contact. That was enough.
Brian Papstein: And that was it. Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: I mean, when, you know, when you're in, when you're one of the elites-
Scott Hammond: He's blown them by before
Brian Papstein: … that's different.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: So I, I went back to Corning-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Brian Papstein: … uh, which is about 20 minutes away from where the convention was la- uh, in May. And I'm looking for… All I wanna do is find the stadium.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: You know, the, the place that he had played.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, yeah, he was, like, nine and four and had five complete games. And for a short season, it was a pretty good, pretty good record. And I'm driving through, and Corning, other than the glassworks, you know, Co- Corning bakeware and stuff-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … there's not a lot there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, maybe half the s- length of McKinleyville-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Brian Papstein: … on Central is a, is a reference.
Scott Hammond: Small town.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, I mean, four or five blocks on either side, and that was about it.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: So I'm going down, and it's one of those, you know, if, uh, I'm Catholic, so I'll, I'll say Holy Spirit. I'm almost through town.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: I go, "Okay, I'm not seeing a high school anywhere."
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: And that was what I was looking for 'cause I had been told that the high school was built on the old location.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Almost all the way through, and I went, "Okay, it's a couple minutes before noon on a Sunday. Who's gonna have a clue?"
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Maybe a hotel.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And I've never stayed in a Radisson-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … ever.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: But there's a Radisson right there, so I pull in. Go up to the front counter, and, and the gal's, like, hmm, 30-something.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: I said, "Do you know, is the old stadium from the '70s-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … where the high school is?" "Well, I don't know, but this gal in the back does."
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: "Oh, okay. Go back and ask for Susie." So I go back there, and there's a young gal and an old gal. I said, "Do you guys, you know, is Susie around?" And I get a look that saysAnd who are you?
Scott Hammond: The guy from California.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah. So I said, you know, "Papstein." I said, "Mid '50s." I said, "Red Sox. Dad was a player."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: "Do you know where the, the stadium was so I can go…" I had two vials. I was gonna get some dirt.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Big deal, right?
Scott Hammond: Cool.
Brian Papstein: He said, "No, I don't, but, uh, there's a gal who lives next door to my cousin-
Brian Papstein: … who's been here the whole time and knows."
Scott Hammond: She'll know.
Brian Papstein: On her cell phone.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Martha.
Brian Papstein: "What, what, what's your name?" "Papstein. Red Sox." "Papstein, Red Sox." Talking to her on the phone.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Brian Papstein: She said, "What was his first name?"
Brian Papstein: "Hugo.
Brian Papstein: Hugo."
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: I get the set, cell phone handed to me.
Scott Hammond: Wow. Let me talk to him.
Brian Papstein: This, this gal went on dates with Dad.
Scott Hammond: Hilarious.
Brian Papstein: During that, that-
Scott Hammond: What are the chances? Pretty good.
Brian Papstein: Mid, mid, mid '80s.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: You know?
Scott Hammond: Small town.
Brian Papstein: And it was kind, kinda like when I was playing ball at Humboldt. There were- … a couple of families that would, uh, invite us over-
Scott Hammond: They do it for the crabs too-
Brian Papstein: … for dinner
Scott Hammond: … crabs players.
Brian Papstein: Um, yeah, every, you know, once a week. They just kind of adopt, adopt the kids, you know, that kinda thing, and that's-
Scott Hammond: Cool
Brian Papstein: … what had happened there, but she-
Scott Hammond: And he had dated her
Brian Papstein: … she had some pictures of Dad-
Scott Hammond: Hilarious
Brian Papstein: … like in a, a pizza parlor that d- hadn't been around for 30 years. So I got some of those, communicated with a teammate of his who's outside of Sacramento.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: He's still alive.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: Um, just grumpy. He is alive, but I'm sure he wouldn't remember Dad. Um, but there's a really cool picture that has his hand up
Brian Papstein: like this.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: Now, maybe it was waving or not, but my take on it is that's the night he got his fifth complete game.
Scott Hammond: Huh. Nice.
Brian Papstein: And he… So it's like, I, I, I mean, all these connections.
Brian Papstein: So-
Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool
Brian Papstein: … and then, so Dad, Dad blew his back out. He comes out here, starts selling. Um, my uncle, um, Grandma and Grandpa had two daughters, Mom and my aunt. Len was on the, on air side, and if you listen to KINS, you'll hear the time check at the top of the hour.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Sorry, jargon. It, you know, KINS, Blue Lake, California, it's
Brian Papstein: 1:00.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: That's Len. Okay, he hasn't been on air here since '71.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: Family.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: History.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: Um, Dad does the community-
Scott Hammond: Top of the hour
Brian Papstein: … the community comment disclaimers.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, I should've got more, but you know, that's, that's enough. Grandpa wrote the, the Redwood Song-
Scott Hammond: I love that song
Brian Papstein: … that plays just before 6:00 in the morning.
Scott Hammond: Heard it a lot. Who sings it?
Brian Papstein: It is Ron Walters-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … who left here and started the Sonoma State journalism, radio journalism program in the mid '60s when Sonoma State started up.
Scott Hammond: He sang it, but y- Dad wrote it?
Brian Papstein: Yeah, Grandpa wrote it, and he's the one playing the ukulele. And we've cleaned it up as much as it can. It's on tape.
Scott Hammond: How do you… I'd love to describe it or play it right now, but-
Brian Papstein: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … it's just impossible, but-
Brian Papstein: Well, yeah, you can go to the website. You can find it there.
Scott Hammond: It's, it's almost iconic to-
Brian Papstein: Oh, it's been played at funerals and weddings and chambers of commerce and business openings.
Brian Papstein: My dad-
Scott Hammond: Is there any reason why you couldn't just recite the lyrics real quick? The Lord looked down on-
Brian Papstein: The world so round.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, I remember seagulls and r- you know, I hear it. I've g- I've got printouts.
Scott Hammond: The L- the Lord looked down and s-
Brian Papstein: If you pulled it up on the website, it's right there
Scott Hammond: … and he made a redwood tree.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah, there's, there's bits and pieces.
Scott Hammond: Lazily to the sea.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah, there's
Brian Papstein: phrases.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, it's a g- it's a cool-
Brian Papstein: It's kind, it's cool. It, it describes the area.
Scott Hammond: It's a cool little poem.
Brian Papstein: And that, that to me-
Scott Hammond: Maybe look it up and we'll read it. We'll have Brian read it before he goes.
Brian Papstein: That, that's-
Scott Hammond: What's it called? The Redwood?
Brian Papstein: The Redwood Song.
Scott Hammond: The Redwood Song.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Uh, we're not fa- we're not fancy. We're j- pretty basic people.
Scott Hammond: We'll do a harmony.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah, well, we, we'll be one short if we do it.
Scott Hammond: One other guy that I'd like to talk about.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I don't wanna pass over your dad too quickly, but-
Brian Papstein: No
Scott Hammond: … for the sake of time. So Rush Limbaugh, you were the first adopters to, early adopters to his-
Brian Papstein: We were sta- we were station 86.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, so that's-
Brian Papstein: We, we joined three months after he went national.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. My, uh, brother-in-law has a Money Matters show on the same flagship
Scott Hammond: station.
Brian Papstein: Oh, okay.
Scott Hammond: Scott Hanson. H- they were Hanson McClain Financial. Now they're Allworth. But he's, he's on every Saturday. They, they've done it for-
Brian Papstein: On WABC?
Scott Hammond: Uh, no, the-
Brian Papstein: Or-
Scott Hammond: … actually Sacramento
Brian Papstein: … Crack. Crack.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Or what used to be Crack. I mean, it's-
Scott Hammond: Wherever he's at
Brian Papstein: … call letters get moved around so much, and particularly-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … with the consolidation and the ownerships now.
Scott Hammond: Correct. Yeah.
Brian Papstein: I think that's probably in iHeart.
Scott Hammond: So, so Rush was, uh, you know, conservative, and then he, he, and then conservative talk, right, r- right-wing talk radio-
Brian Papstein: He st-
Scott Hammond: … flew, right?
Brian Papstein: He, he started… Well, he didn't… How do I say? The talk format didn't exist until the mid
Brian Papstein: '80s.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: And at that point, there were a couple stations. They were called O&Os, owned and operated by the networks, and they would be able to, uh, the networks were subsidizing them, so they could try things that are not commercially viable and see if it works.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: That was one of the formats.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And the first ones that started were, let's see, Dina Dell-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … had a one-hour show in the afternoons.
Scott Hammond: Who's the other woman? Doctor-
Brian Papstein: Um, well, there was, Dr. Laura was there, but she was pre, uh, Dr. Ruth was the-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Brian Papstein: … the sex one.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: Um, TalkNet came out.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: NBC or Westwood had theirs. It was Bruce Williams and Sally Jessy Raphael weeknights.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And Harvey, Harvey Ruben, who was a psychologist at Yale.
Scott Hammond: Yep. Who was the late night-
Brian Papstein: And Bernard, Bernard Meltzer.
Scott Hammond: Meltzer.
Brian Papstein: So those were the weekend guys.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: So we picked those guys up, and at that time, Rush was in Sacramento, and then he had m- moved to WABC.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And he was approached by Lee Vandenhaelen, who had set up, he had worked with
Brian Papstein: KGO-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … and then had developed the Wall Street Journal Radio Network-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … which was a series of short forms with three-minute programs.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: And then he's, he had heard about Rush, heard Rush, met Rush, and offered him a national, national, uh, syndicated program.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: And I was really close with Bruce Williams-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Brian Papstein: … and Rush was frightened beyond belief.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: He said, "What if I failed?"
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Bruce is a big name.
Brian Papstein: And Bruce said, "Well, you're number one in the number one marketYour failing doesn't have a high risk factor.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: So they rolled out August 1st, and I was talking with Bruce and, and his gal Beth i- in November. And at that time, instead of having to be permissioned to go on satellites, we had the old thumb wheels, and I'm just kinda thumbing through-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … you know, Missouri Ag Network, and then you'd flip over and it'd be, like, the SEC Sports Network, and you know, you keep just randomly listening, being a geek, and I stumbled on him. I said, "Bruce, talk to me. What's this guy like?" 'Cause he was out in New York.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And he said, "Well, da, da, da, da, da." Okay. Pretty, pretty hot stuff.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And I asked Beth, who was his, uh, executive assistant.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Brian Papstein: I said, "Well, what do you think, Beth?" And she looked at me and said, "Well, except for his feminazi updates, he's pretty
Brian Papstein: good." So we rolled with it, uh, mid-January.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: And the first week we took, hmm, 75 to 100 negative calls.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Brian Papstein: "How can you? You can't," blah, blah, blah, this, blah, blah. And then it turned.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: And it stuck for his entire run.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: Um, it was difficult at the end after he had died and they we- and they were Premier, who was then the, the provider of the program, continued to run best of.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And it's like he's been dead now for three or four months.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: You can't keep saying, "This is what he would've said."
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: Um-
Scott Hammond: Doesn't work.
Brian Papstein: No. And I, I was close with Kit Carson, who was his producer.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Brian Papstein: And Kit had died of brain cancer-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Brian Papstein: … about two years earlier, and that kinda took some of the mustard out of-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Brian Papstein: … out of Rush's momentum, uh, personally. And it's like, no, we gotta pull the plug.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And the two guys, frick and frack that they had replacing him-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … one was a sports guy.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: It's like they- no, this is not a sports slot.
Scott Hammond: No.
Brian Papstein: And that's where we were fortunate enough, um, Cumulus, which was another program provider, came out with and had, um, Mark Lee Van Kamp and Robbins.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And Jimmy Failla had just broke also-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Brian Papstein: … um, at the same time. And it's like, okay, these two guys are both
Brian Papstein: interesting.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: What was it that made Rush good early on?
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: And it was the intelligence was there, but humor.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. He's funny.
Brian Papstein: Yeah. And that was, that was the matrix I looked
Brian Papstein: at for-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … the replacement was, okay, what are we gonna find?
Scott Hammond: Who's gonna be funny?
Brian Papstein: And both of these guys are humorous.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: It's like, oh, this is cool.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Brian Papstein: Okay. Which one do we go with live?
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Brian Papstein: 'Cause they're both fed at the same time.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: And I went with the M- Mark Lee Van Kamp and Robbins 'cause there's three guys.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: So if somebody's sick, the show doesn't change.
Scott Hammond: Got it.
Brian Papstein: If two guys are sick, the show doesn't change.
Scott Hammond: Still you got it.
Brian Papstein: If all three are not there, something's wrong.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: We got other, other issues to worry about.
Scott Hammond: There's bigger problems.
Brian Papstein: And that's why we went that way and with Jimmy in the afternoon. And I th- you know, continually-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Brian Papstein: … regularly will get comments that, "I don't know how you were able to replace him, but you did. Thanks."
Scott Hammond: Nice. Good job.
Brian Papstein: So, yeah, it, it worked out well.
Scott Hammond: So real quick, before you go, and I know we, w- time is of the essence, the… You've had an-
Brian Papstein: It's radio, baby
Scott Hammond: … a number of guests-
Scott Hammond: … to keep moving. Who, who's impressed you over the years? And, and you could say John Dalby, who, who's lovely-
Brian Papstein: Roger Ridoni.
Scott Hammond: Ridoni?
Brian Papstein: I love, love, love Roger.
Scott Hammond: Well, let's just go top five. Who, who… If, if… Do 10 if you want, but who-
Brian Papstein: Okay
Scott Hammond: … who, who's articulate that has a heart for Humboldt, that does, that has integrity? Uh, y- you name-
Brian Papstein: Well, Roger, Roger's one.
Scott Hammond: Ridoni was amazing. He was a supervisor in Southern Humboldt, right?
Brian Papstein: Libertarian, yeah. He was in the second district.
Scott Hammond: Down over there, second district.
Brian Papstein: And he, uh, he got taken out by a distracted driver-
Scott Hammond: Correct
Brian Papstein: … um, outside of the Eel River Sawmills-
Scott Hammond: Tragic, yeah
Brian Papstein: … he- heading to one of his fundraisers. He was gonna run again for office.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: And he was on the phone with Johanna at the time.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: Not, not a good mix.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: Um, Rob Barclay, who's-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … one also.
Scott Hammond: Interesting dude.
Brian Papstein: Um, regulars is who I'm thinking of, not the exceptionals that come in every once in a while 'cause that list-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, McCauley and T- and Dalby and-
Brian Papstein: Yeah, Billy and J- you know, they were-
Scott Hammond: Honzl
Brian Papstein: … they're buds.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: You know? So I have a tough time-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Brian Papstein: … you know, and all of them turn into being buddies at some point. Um, I'm trying to think, like, in the middle y- uh, 20 years ago, who was-
Scott Hammond: Did you have Robin Arkley on in the day, Rob's dad?
Brian Papstein: Uh, no, he was a community commenter.
Scott Hammond: That's right.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, he had great ones.
Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Real zingers.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, still have got a couple of them that are, are… We're gonna have an archive page.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: And it's gonna, like, list all the employees of the past. I want all community commenters, if we can get samples of those people. I mean, the, the, I-
Scott Hammond: So the things you remember as, as a local, it's, the, the sh- he called her the shrill little whiner from New York, Barbara Boxer.
Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: I mean, it's like-
Brian Papstein: I was actually talking about Danny Walsh there going after, uh-
Scott Hammond: Geez
Brian Papstein: … was it Alex Fa- Al… I think it was Fairless.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, one of the early years.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: It just went back and forth.
Brian Papstein: Um, gosh, who else would be-
Scott Hammond: So people that have made a d-
Brian Papstein: … exceptional, extraordinary. I mean, there's so many good quality people.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Brian Papstein: Um, Yana Valachovic right now-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … is one who-
Scott Hammond: Who's that?
Brian Papstein: Um, she's, she handles the UC Cooperative
Brian Papstein: Extension-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Brian Papstein: … out of Spruce Point. She's the forest advisor.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: She's going all over the country as an expert.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: Do… I mean, so it's, you know, m- I… One of the things that I kind of try to pride myself, and whether it was Rush, who was on two or three of the shows-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … Bruce was on a couple of times, Bruce Williams, um, you know, Wilson Riles, and yeah, I mean, they, big deal. I mean, names, right?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: But so many, and you can tell this early on, so many of these people are used to being in that setting, and the host trying to screw them to the wall.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: Gonna make my mark. I, this is gonna be my leap to the next level.
Scott Hammond: Right. Right.
Brian Papstein: No, my next level's here.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: I'm not going anywhere. So let's have a conversation.
Scott Hammond: My next l- level's right here.
Brian Papstein: And let's just talk. And-
Scott Hammond: Stay in my lane
Brian Papstein: … most of these people do not, they don't have that interactionThey're either put on a pedestal or people try to grind them in the ground.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Brian Papstein: No. I mean, if you're a jerk, you're a jerk. If you're a nice guy, you're a nice guy.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: I give you the credit going in.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: And if you prove to be otherwise, yeah, okay. Or if you say something stupid, okay, now I gotta put you, you know, put you
Brian Papstein: to the test.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: But I'm not gonna do that investigative reporting stuff.
Scott Hammond: The zinger stuff. Yeah
Brian Papstein: In fact, one of the things that people comment about coming in
Brian Papstein: is, you know, the jingle starts and we're literally, we are walking into the studio-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … and sitting down and just before Winston, who's m- who's my oldest, who's bored op probably half of these shows.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: We sit down and say, "Okay, what do you wanna talk about?"
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Brian Papstein: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Organic.
Brian Papstein: Grab the book, do, do the trivia, move on.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: And have a conversation where you're actually listening-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … instead of having prescribed questions-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … that are pillar to post and don't have a fluidity.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, exactly.
Brian Papstein: Makes it happen, and-
Scott Hammond: I like it
Brian Papstein: … I can tell at the end, any, even the major market guys-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Brian Papstein: … they'll say, they'll, they'll be v- highly complimentary, and I don't take compliments very well.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: Um, that, you know, "You're listening."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Brian Papstein: "You're," you know, "You, you rank up there with anybody that I've ever
Brian Papstein: had."
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Brian Papstein: And it's like, "Oh, okay, thanks. Do, do, do," you know?
Scott Hammond: Nothing worse than podcast-
Brian Papstein: I'm at the end of Edgewood, do, do, do. You know, I, I'm still me.
Scott Hammond: And Humboldt.
Brian Papstein: But I can't imagine not-
Scott Hammond: Right
Brian Papstein: … listening and not having a conversation and doing the studying.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Brian Papstein: No, we wanna be regular guys, you know? And if, if my memory kicks in, great, and if it doesn't on a topic, gee, wasn't there something a couple years ago they talked about? And you fill in the blank.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, exactly. I like it.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's good. So two things, uh, before you go.
Scott Hammond: One is, uh, what do you wanna see for Humboldt, the county?
Scott Hammond: What, what-
Brian Papstein: Economic growth and vitality.
Scott Hammond: Okay. And what's your legacy? What do you want it to read on your tombstone? What are we gonna say at your, your celebration of life at, uh, St.
Scott Hammond: Bernard's?
Brian Papstein: Um, did his best and we were better, we're better because he stayed.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Scott Hammond: Good ones.
Brian Papstein: I mean, that's simple and easy. I mean, that's-
Scott Hammond: And, and before you leave, because this is format, you're giving-
Brian Papstein: What is that now? We got, we gotta fight?
Scott Hammond: No, we're gonna arm wrestle. I think we're gonna- … and you're gonna tear my arm off 'cause you're so much bigger. No, thanks for coming. I appreciate you being here.
Scott Hammond: I know you-
Brian Papstein: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … gotta get going, so.
Brian Papstein: Now, do we, do we have the Redwood Song? Has somebody delivered the goods?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Brian Papstein: No, apparently not.
Scott Hammond: The Lord looked down-
Brian Papstein: You know, you know what that means.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Tell me.
Brian Papstein: I get invited back.
Scott Hammond: The Redwood Song.
Brian Papstein: I get invited back sometime in the future.
Scott Hammond: Apple Music will search for it.
Brian Papstein: Oh, I don't think Apple Music is gonna find it.
Brian Papstein: You know-
Scott Hammond: Uh
Brian Papstein: … you have to go to the KINS website.
Scott Hammond: Uh, this-
Brian Papstein: For everybody at home, that's KINS1063.com.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, call it out real quick.
Brian Papstein: One slight plug.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay. KINS, and then you have the country station.
Brian Papstein: Yeah, we have KEKA, and then the, the easy format or easy radio, which is-
Scott Hammond: Is it all three on FM, or is easy-
Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah, all the, all the stations have presence on the FM band.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Brian Papstein: Um, KINS is the only one that doesn't have presence on the AM side.
Scott Hammond: Okay, gotcha. Do you want the song? I have it. Yeah, let him read it. That'd be great. It's not transcribed. It's just the actual audio. Oh, you wanna… Oh, sure. Let's play it. Play it. You wanna play it? It'll be a g- it'll be a good send-off.
Brian Papstein: That, that's my way to go out.
Scott Hammond: Let someone else sing it.
Brian Papstein: Had to be audio.
Scott Hammond: You gotta play it up to the mic. I'll, I'll put it right up here. Here it goes. Here's the Redwood Song. Hit play? Hit, yeah.
Redwood Song audio: The Lord looked down at His world so round, shining for all to see. And He said, "That's good, but I'll need some wood." So He made a redwood tree. He made a redwood tree. He needed a land neither hot nor cold to hold this special tree. So He chose a place where the rivers run lazily to the
Redwood Song audio: sea.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Redwood Song audio: Lazily to the sea. The sea around his special land pounds at the rocky shore. And high against a wind-swept sky, the silver seagulls soar.
Scott Hammond: This sign's on every day with this song, right?
Redwood Song audio: The silver seagulls soar.
Brian Papstein: We don't turn off anymore. It, the last commercial break before 6:00 In the morning.
Redwood Song audio: On wintry nights when the north wind blows and churns up the mighty sea, I bow my head and thank the Lord for the land He gave to
Redwood Song audio: me.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Redwood Song audio: The land He gave to me. Where the trees grow straight and the trees grow
Redwood Song audio: tall-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Redwood Song audio: … and tower above the land. And when I see a redwood
Redwood Song audio: tree.
Scott Hammond: Great song.
Brian Papstein: Summs it up.
Redwood Song audio: I see
Redwood Song audio: my Master's
Redwood Song audio: hand.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Brian Papstein: The one thing about Grandpa, and then I'll get out of here-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Brian Papstein: … um, his father was an Episcopalian minister-
Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?
Brian Papstein: … and so was his, his grandfather.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Brian Papstein: So the fact that, you know, there's a lot of God and, you know-
Scott Hammond: God stuff
Brian Papstein: … spirituali- spirituality in there is-
Scott Hammond: I love it, man
Brian Papstein: … I, I think that helps to set it apart, too.
Scott Hammond: Well, and Humboldt's-
Brian Papstein: Other than the flying rats. Eh.
Scott Hammond: The flying rats.
Brian Papstein: Not a big fan of seagulls.
Scott Hammond: Those rats.
Brian Papstein: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Brian, thanks for coming.
Brian Papstein: Hey, thanks for the invite.
Scott Hammond: Appreciate it. Yeah, have a great day. Appreciate you.
Brian Papstein: All right.