#58. The Voice of Humboldt: Brian Papstein on Broadcasting, Sports, and Community Resilience

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt, with my new best friend-

Brian Papstein: What do you mean 100%? You weren't grown… You didn't grow up here.

Scott Hammond: I did not.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Brian Papstein. Hi, Brian.

Brian Papstein: Hi. Now-

Scott Hammond: Actually-

Brian Papstein: I am 100%.

Scott Hammond: You are 100%.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We'll review your, uh, background and your pedigree-

Brian Papstein: Ha. Okay

Scott Hammond: … momentarily.

Brian Papstein: Won't take long.

Scott Hammond: You know, I felt like I did a lot of growing up after I came up to Humboldt State at, at 18, at a tender age.

Brian Papstein: Well, that typically happens once you get out of high school.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I did all my… I think I did my growing up here, my raising of a family.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, l- let's review your pedigree.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So-

Brian Papstein: Bring it on, baby

Scott Hammond: … were you, were you born at General?

Brian Papstein: No. St. Joe's.

Scott Hammond: St. Joe's, my bad.

Brian Papstein: Ted Loring.

Scott Hammond: Ted. He's-

Brian Papstein: Dr. Ted.

Scott Hammond: Doctor. He's-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … legendary. Is he still living?

Brian Papstein: No.

Scott Hammond: No.

Brian Papstein: No, it was 20 years ago maybe. Ted Junior's still around.

Scott Hammond: Okay, there's a… I know there's a Loring.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So tell us about, uh… Let's, let's go through your school pedigree again. So you… Did you go to Worthington?

Brian Papstein: Worthington, Zane, Eureka High.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Papstein: Humboldt for three years. Doane in Nebraska for a year.

Scott Hammond: Where's, where's Doane? In what town?

Brian Papstein: Crete.

Scott Hammond: Crete.

Brian Papstein: Southwest of Lincoln. It's a town about the size of Ferndale.

Scott Hammond: So are you a Husker fan?

Brian Papstein: Not particularly, no.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: More of a, more of a Duck?

Brian Papstein: Uh, college doesn't really…

Brian Papstein: I, I don't-

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: I root for players.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Not, not teams, other than the, the Warriors

Brian Papstein: probably, probably is, is the one team that I'm most-

Scott Hammond: Warriors

Brian Papstein: … connected with, if you will.

Scott Hammond: Warriors are awesome.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Love the Warriors.

Brian Papstein: Well, they screwed up and let Klay out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they did. That's too bad. Tell me about, um… So you came back to Humboldt. You went there. You got your-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … degree, came back.

Brian Papstein: No. Degree? No.

Scott Hammond: Oh, but you came back to Humboldt.

Brian Papstein: Proudly no.

Scott Hammond: Pro-

Scott Hammond: Thanks.

Brian Papstein: No, I'm four classes away.

Scott Hammond: From, um… Oh, you… Okay.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, and they're all DEI, so you can imagine how excited I would be to take those classes.

Scott Hammond: I think Wesley Chesbro is in your same deal. He's got like-

Brian Papstein: Could be

Scott Hammond: … three classes and-

Brian Papstein: I, I thought I liked him a-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … certain extent.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he's… Of course you do.

Brian Papstein: Hi, Wes.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Wes. Um, no, I like that. It… So you came back and then worked for dad at the radio

Scott Hammond: station.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, came, came back to the shop. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And you do… Speaking of the shop, do you see the segue that's happening?

Brian Papstein: I, I'm, I'm…

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, it's really hard to follow you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Are you tracking with this?

Brian Papstein: No, no, I'm just l- making it easy for you.

Scott Hammond: So Brian's family has been part of the radio business for a c- century?

Brian Papstein: Well, fif- Grandpa was not that old. 58 is when he came out and bought it.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um, but before that he was jingle writing, so he's part of the radio industry, but not in ownership.

Scott Hammond: Third generation, so. So KINS Radio-

Brian Papstein: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … KIKA.

Brian Papstein: KINS, K- KIKA, and then, uh, EZ Radios is what KWSW is.

Scott Hammond: Is that AM now, or is that-

Brian Papstein: And, and with an FM translator.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Okay.

Brian Papstein: So most of it's on the 95.5-

Scott Hammond: So if I-

Brian Papstein: … most of the listening

Scott Hammond: … if I was a print guy, which I was, I would have ink in my veins. What, what do radio guys have in their veins?

Brian Papstein: Mental deficiencies. What do you think?

Scott Hammond: Well, there's that. So would you tend to go after, uh, or follow sports teams that you guys would rebroadc- or that you broadcast like-

Brian Papstein: That we were affiliated with?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you had the-

Brian Papstein: Well, you know-

Scott Hammond: … Oakland A's, right?

Brian Papstein: We were, we were with the A's. Um, when Grandpa purchased, it was right at the time when the Giants and Dodgers came out to the West Coast.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Brian Papstein: So that was an easy one.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And the 49ers had just moved into the NFL from the old

Brian Papstein: AAFC.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Brian Papstein: So that became… At that point they were starting to do network.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, prior to that, I mean, you can go back in some of the old baseball, uh, stuff, like in the '30s when-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Brian Papstein: … when President Reagan was doing the recreations.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: You'd have 60, 70, 80 radio stations there each broadcasting their own signal from the ballpark-

Scott Hammond: Right. Well-

Brian Papstein: … instead of having one and then having the, the network. So the network, uh, concept started in the, in the '50s, and, uh, KSFO was the one on the West Coast, and they had the Giants, and we hooked up with them. That's where we, we, uh, initially started with Lon Simmons and Bill King. They were both on, on the baseball side.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And then Lon was doing the football because he was the sports director at

Brian Papstein: KSFO.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: As maybe a 25-year-old,

Brian Papstein: 26-year-old-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … he went, he cut his teeth in, uh, Marysville, KUBA. Um, a buddy of mine owned it for a period of time-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … so it, it, it kinda sticks.

Scott Hammond: Next to Yuba City.

Brian Papstein: Yes. Yeah. Uh, and then moved into, uh… Got hired San Francisco, and the Stoneham family about two months

Brian Papstein: later said-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … "We're coming to San Francisco."

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And he was the sports guy at KSFO.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And, uh, they hooked it, and they had Russ Hodges came out with them, and, uh, Scully decided to stay

Brian Papstein: back, um, at least for a year or two.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, didn't, didn't come to the West Coast, and so it was… Lon was the number two chair.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And, uh, that became, began his Hall of Fame career.

Scott Hammond: Vince Scully would later come to the Dodgers.

Brian Papstein: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, and then, uh, we were with the Giants through 1980, and then, uh, that point, that's when the, uh, Walter Haas family,

Brian Papstein: um, most people know him as Levi Strauss-

Brian Papstein: … bought the A's-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Brian Papstein: … and ran 'em, and they brought Lon and Bill. They reunit- united those two guys, and they started this thing called family-friendly baseball.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: So where the Giants were having fights in Candlestick's parking lots-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … the A's were having no smoking areas, and they had the gourmet foods, and they said, you know, no

Brian Papstein: off color,

Brian Papstein: and it was-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … it was very, very different-

Scott Hammond: That is different

Brian Papstein: … very different culture. And then, you know, they had Rickey and started winning,

Brian Papstein: and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … it just started rolling.

Scott Hammond: And then it kinda flipped, and, and then it was dangerous to go to a Raiders game.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Well, Raiders, yeah, Raiders we didn't pick up

Brian Papstein: until-Oh, 10 years ago maybe

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: Uh, something, something along those lines.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Papstein: Um, it was when they had come back to Oakland from Los Angeles, and I'm driving around. This was after, after buying from Mom and Dad, and just seeing the amount of stick- bumper stickers and merchandise. The Raiders are still the number one… I believe they're still the number one merchandise-selling NFL franchise.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Brian Papstein: Okay, now you may argue why the colors are so popular, and that's, you know, a whole different topic.

Scott Hammond: Followed by the Yankees.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah, right now, you betcha.

Brian Papstein: Um, but it-

Scott Hammond: Yankees are big overseas.

Brian Papstein: Right. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You see a lot of people. But they're not football.

Scott Hammond: I digress.

Brian Papstein: Right, right. Um, and so there's a lot of following, and we said, "Well, okay, you know, if there's a following, there's gonna be some folks that either the TV broadcasts aren't gonna be available or they're not available to those individuals, and

Brian Papstein: why not us?"

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: So we picked 'em up, um, and the same concept with the Warriors. Uh, the timing has been when the Giant- we, we re-affiliated with the Giants, um, that's when… It was the first year of their f- I think f- five seasons when they won three championships.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Brian Papstein: It was a fairly tight window. Um, and then we hooked up with the Warriors, and-

Scott Hammond: Had the same magic

Brian Papstein: … kind of had the same magic. Didn't quite carry into the, um, Raiders so far, but still holding hope.

Scott Hammond: We're rebuilding again.

Brian Papstein: Yes. Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Uh-

Scott Hammond: We're rebuilding

Brian Papstein: … so it's, it's just, you know, sports is fun. It's destination listening.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: It's something that people are interested in either for advertising their businesses or for listening.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: And it's part of, it's part of radio. You know, the whole theater of the mind thing.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Brian Papstein: And that's, that's where it is. So the spoken word is really kind of where we, we have cut our teeth-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … for a long, long, long time. And then, uh, it's been interesting for me, Scott, at least, is that the, the music that we're playing on 95.5 is what we grew up with, right? I mean, '70s-based format.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And there's a lot of youngers,

Brian Papstein: 30s-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … they're listening.

Scott Hammond: They like it.

Brian Papstein: I say, "What, what's going… You're listening to your grandparents' music."

Scott Hammond: But it's pretty cool.

Brian Papstein: But yeah, you can understand the words. You can say the words in mixed company.

Scott Hammond: There's not feedback all the time.

Brian Papstein: Right, and there's this thing called good-sounding music.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: And it just has, it's, it's been intriguing for me.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's funny. Joni and I will go back and listen to Bread or The Carpenters

Scott Hammond: or-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, I, not quite, haven't quite got to Bobby Sherman or The Partridge Family.

Brian Papstein: Well, that's back a little bit further. You're kind of off the main trail there.

Scott Hammond: But these were people we hated and, uh-

Brian Papstein: Oh

Scott Hammond: … as young rock and roll guys. Oh, that's… We would deride them-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … all day.

Brian Papstein: Beach Boys?

Scott Hammond: And that… Beach Boys are-

Brian Papstein: I bet you that was on your hit list too.

Scott Hammond: We're gonna go see The Beach Boys Saturday-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … at Cal Poly.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: It's, it's… There's something really cool about it, and then because it's a kind of a free-flowing format, um, I, I have music, uh, consultants that we use for the two music

Brian Papstein: stations. And we just came off of the Summer Beach Weekend.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Brian Papstein: And we'll do that from mid-May through, well, till summer ends, right? So the third weekend in September.

Scott Hammond: And, and November for us.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah. And then in, uh, there's a… I don't know if it's called a phenomenon or not, but there's a reality that Christmas music is really something that people look for.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: I mean, you were talking, you know, Pat Boone and Bing Crosby.

Brian Papstein: I had a-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … discussion with a, a buddy of mine, and, and I asked her what, what her, uh, favorite, favorite Christmas movie was.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And she's a little bit younger than I, and she said, uh, Elf. I went, "What?"

Brian Papstein: Elf. Ho- Holiday Inn, White Christmas, right?

Brian Papstein: Bing-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Papstein: … Bing and Danny and yeah. And it's like, how do you top that?

Brian Papstein: Elf.

Scott Hammond: It's A Wonderful Life. I mean, come on.

Brian Papstein: Well, that was, that was number two.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: For me, those were the, the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: But you get into those different age groups, and everybody has what was, what they were growing up with. You know, The Grinch.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: But the animated Grinch, not Jim Carrey Grinch.

Scott Hammond: Correct.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Frosty is Frosty.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: You know, was it-

Scott Hammond: With Burl Ives.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah, Rankin, something Rankin or the guys that-

Scott Hammond: Right, right.

Brian Papstein: That's, that, that's real. The other stuff is-

Scott Hammond: But Elf, I remember seeing it in the theater-

Brian Papstein: Ah

Scott Hammond: … at Bay- at Bay Shore Mall.

Brian Papstein: I, I have a very difficult time with certain things, and one of them is people playing stupid. That's the whole-

Scott Hammond: What do you say?

Brian Papstein: … base reference of that movie, and it's like, I, I… Okay, fine. If you like it-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Papstein: … then I'll sh- I'll be quiet.

Brian Papstein: But uh-

Scott Hammond: That, that has a name. It, it's, um-

Scott Hammond: … men that are incompetent, uh, and, um-

Brian Papstein: Not to be confused with incontinent?

Scott Hammond: That.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Could, could result.

Brian Papstein: Have some more water, buddy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I better chug that water.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I was gonna ask a, the sports question.

Scott Hammond: Did-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … i- in growing up in this industry, were you able to meet some of those guys or the players-

Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … and-

Brian Papstein: Oh

Scott Hammond: … go down and skybox it up and-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, the, the A's, the A's were really tremendous,

Brian Papstein: um-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … when we were with them, and we were with them for 30-something years.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: And they were great teams.

Brian Papstein: Oh, and, and fun and, but it was family-oriented.

Scott Hammond: Is it?

Brian Papstein: So we, we had four season tickets-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … four boxes.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Papstein: Spring training trip. Um-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Brian Papstein: … we had a, a skybox, so we took the sponsors down for

Brian Papstein: that.

Scott Hammond: Scottsdale or somewhere in Phoenix?

Brian Papstein: No, no, in, in Oakland.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: But spring training.

Brian Papstein: Oh, spring training. Yeah, it was in Phoenix at that time.

Scott Hammond: Phoenix area.

Brian Papstein: They played at, at Phoenix Muni. Um, and then they had the caravan. So they would… Steinbach was up here a couple times. Bordick was here. Um, Billy Krueger. You know, and they would bring… Ray Fosse would be with them.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Papstein: And they would kind of touch, spend a, a half day in eachUh,

Brian Papstein: market-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … that they were doing. Um, so we would, we'd take them out to like Freshwater Elementary School, a couple elementary schools-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Papstein: … and let them see, you know, and, and talk to the kids and that kinda stuff.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And then, uh, have a lunch and then hit the road and go over to Redding.

Scott Hammond: Is this off-season?

Brian Papstein: Um, it would be like the week before, uh, reporting for spring

Brian Papstein: training.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um, so Stiny would be in the area anyway-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … um, coming out from Minnesota, and then they would do that. And we, we got, um, Mike Davis, who was a right fielder for them back when, uh, they weren't all that good. The, the, uh,

Brian Papstein: mid-'80s.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um, he, he came up. The A's donated I forget how much, 10,000 bucks maybe, to one of the ballparks up in McKinleyville.

Scott Hammond: Very nice.

Brian Papstein: And he came up, and we kinda had a little whoopty-whoop about it, you know. So they were very community-oriented-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … before it was cool. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Who was the Raiders coach that wouldn't fly?

Brian Papstein: Oh, John Madden.

Scott Hammond: Was Mad- would Madden ever do any sort of-

Brian Papstein: Well, they– He w- he would've been with CBS for a number of years before we

Brian Papstein: affiliated.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: He was already, yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, and they had their spring train– Well, preseason training was, was always in, uh, Santa Rosa.

Scott Hammond: That's right, yeah.

Brian Papstein: They, they would stay down there. And we– I never got down there to see, see that before they moved their, their camp when, uh-

Scott Hammond: The Niners were out in Rockland

Brian Papstein: … the Davis kid. Yeah, yeah. No, we, we did, uh, when McCauley and I were doing College of the Redwoods football, we would play American River.

Scott Hammond: Oh, fun.

Brian Papstein: And we were up in the scaffolding. That was, it was a little weird. Um- … but that's where they would put the cameras and the scouts, the, the scouting coaches.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And it was right there. That was the field. Yeah, I don't know where the kids play now or not.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Papstein: And that was– We were– Billy and I were talking about that last time he was on the

Brian Papstein: show.

Scott Hammond: So Bill used to be an announcer?

Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah. Oh, it was-

Scott Hammond: How many, how, how many seasons did he do that?

Brian Papstein: We did about 10.

Scott Hammond: That's HSU football?

Brian Papstein: No.

Scott Hammond: Lumberjacks?

Brian Papstein: CR.

Scott Hammond: CR football.

Brian Papstein: CR.

Scott Hammond: Corsairs.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, we kinda got, uh, thrown out. Well, we didn't get thrown out. We left Humboldt State.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um, m- it was… You have so much inventory that you can sell on a broadcast.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Well, they wanted ha-half of it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Brian Papstein: Well, when you're barely covering the net to do the whole thing you're doing as a community service-

Scott Hammond: No

Brian Papstein: … you lose half, uh-

Scott Hammond: Now you really are a nonprofit

Brian Papstein: … I, I don't– Well, yeah, either it's a nonprofit or I come knocking on your door and say, "Hey, Scott, the thing that was a buck last year, it's two and a half this year because-"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So that, that kinda blew up, and we went out and-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … and, uh, Billy's dad, Jim, was the first football coach out there f- and did extraordinarily well. Um, so he had connections there, and we knew-

Scott Hammond: At CR?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. I think Fred Whitmire, who was the head coach at the time-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Papstein: … was one of Jim's assistants. Uh, he's also somebody that Dad taught-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Nice

Brian Papstein: … in Pop Warner.

Scott Hammond: Is that right?

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He's a nice guy.

Brian Papstein: White Tornadoes.

Scott Hammond: I, I met him just a few years ago. He's a great guy.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah. So there's, there's-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … you know, all that intertwining and, and stuff.

Brian Papstein: But it's-

Scott Hammond: It's, it's true. Sports does that.

Brian Papstein: It-

Scott Hammond: Even at Humboldt. I mean, there's a lot of-

Brian Papstein: It cuts across everything.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know, and I think that's why a lot of people lamented the, uh, past president's decision to get rid of the football team. You know, it was-

Scott Hammond: Lament is light. That's a nice way to s-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, well, you know, they're still talking about maybe bringing it back.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: If they brought– If they created a rodeo team.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, back to Talk Shop, so you-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, see, I can force a segue or not.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Does this feel like a forced segue to you, Nick? S- so, so Brian, you've done, uh, this show called Talk Shop

Scott Hammond: for-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … for you said f- about 42 years.

Brian Papstein: Started e- first Monday in April in '82.

Scott Hammond: And when you look at it, number 11,000 coming up, which is it-

Brian Papstein: You okay? That's higher math.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, w-we think it's pretty close.

Brian Papstein: I, I don't go there, but I'll, I'll spot you. You play with numbers more than I.

Scott Hammond: 10K.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Plus.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's a lot of interviews.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, I guess.

Scott Hammond: Introduce us to the format and the, the idea of the show and, and one-on-one, just real quick. What-

Brian Papstein: The real, the basic concept of it is I– early on, I got, and Dad kind of echoed it also, frustrated at the local news media

Brian Papstein: editing-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … stories.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: You know, to, to reflect their personal biases.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Gee, have things changed? Hmm.

Scott Hammond: Not really.

Brian Papstein: And so, you know, you'd have a 15-minute interview, and at that time there was local news on the multiple t-TV station, and what was edited would either be taken out of context or wouldn't be the full story. And then the newsprint, which existed at that time also, would either selectively, um, edit

Brian Papstein: or,

Brian Papstein: misquote-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … et cetera, et cetera.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: So, uh, you know, there was a little frustration and, uh, so we thought, well, okay, let's just kind of open it up, let these guys talk, you know, and whatever it is that they wanna talk about is whatever that it is that they wanna talk about.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And we'll let folks, um, hear unedited this, um, topic, discussion-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … story-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Papstein: … whatever it might happen to be. And that, that was it. It-it's been intriguing to me, gosh, do I wanna say over the decades? Hmm, I guess it is. Um, people's responses to it or reactions to it, not the listener necessarily, but– And I kinda– I position them as a co-host-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … in my mind. You know, it's their show.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: I hit the breaks. It's their show.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: So this morning it's Bob, tomorrow it's June, the next day it's Amanda. Whatever it is, it's their show.

Scott Hammond: It's their show.

Brian Papstein: So, you know, and the prep on it is less than what we had

Brian Papstein: for this.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know, the music starts, we go in and say, "What's ha- what's happening?

Brian Papstein: What-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … what are people talking to you about?"

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Then if we, if we get in there a little tardy, then I say that on the air.

Scott Hammond: So it's 30 minute-

Brian Papstein: And we just go

Scott Hammond: … 30-minute show?

Brian Papstein: Um, I think the content's 35, 36, something

Brian Papstein: like that

Scott Hammond: Okay. With a break in there somewhere?

Brian Papstein: Yeah, we got, we got the, the four breaks.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, or four segments rather. So we can either hit multiple topics or just one extended and just-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … turn 'em loose, you know? And it's, um, it… I enjoy doing it because I can't let my little kid out, and that's the shopping show. But, but for a talk shop, I can let myself out a little bit and have fun and laugh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: And a lot of times these folks don't get that opportunity-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Papstein: … you know, it, to share their personality-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Papstein: … out in, in the market. Um-

Scott Hammond: I like it. Yeah

Brian Papstein: … and that, that, that to me is, is part of the fun. You know, we don't take ourselves too serious, but then if you say something stupid, I, I am gonna come after you.

Scott Hammond: Sure. That's your duty.

Brian Papstein: But, but in, in, in, uh, either a light-hearted way or I might even correct

Brian Papstein: you.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: "Scott, really? You really think that Allstate is-

Scott Hammond: No. Now the Earth-

Brian Papstein: Oh, no.

Scott Hammond: No.

Brian Papstein: Oh, no, wait a minute.

Scott Hammond: No, the Earth is flat.

Brian Papstein: No, that's All Stars, not Allstate. Oh, okay. Then we laugh and we move on-

Scott Hammond: There you go

Brian Papstein: … you know, rather than anything else. Um, so that's, that's kinda what the premise of it was. Um, but it… I, I find it intriguing as all get out 'cause we've had, we've had people from, obviously the locals, but, but regionals and nationals.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And they're always waiting for, where's the nail and the hammer that you're gonna try to-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Brian Papstein: … tack my hide to the wall?

Scott Hammond: The zinger. The zinger award.

Brian Papstein: And it's like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … no. No, why, why would anybody want to do that?

Scott Hammond: So you would have like a statewide candidate that was in town perhaps campaigning

Scott Hammond: or-

Brian Papstein: I, I can remember Wilson Riles when he was-

Scott Hammond: Okay. He's a name

Brian Papstein: … when he was,

Brian Papstein: um, and it was over and he said, "That's it?" And I said, "Yeah." He said, "Well, that was kinda fun." I said, "Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um, thanks."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know, appreciate you coming in, that kind of stuff. He said, "Can I ask you a question?" I said, "Sure." He said, "Well, why didn't you go after me?" I said, "'Cause that's not what this show is."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: You know? It, it… The Santa Rosa market, which is the one that he was most familiar with coming north, um, you got, you have their hosts that are trying to climb the ladder.

Scott Hammond: Right. Making a name.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, right. So they'll sacrifice principles, ethics, morals to try to get that one thing that they can put on their demo tape and then shoot it out and see how good I am and I can get… And it's like, no.

Brian Papstein: That's not-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Papstein: … that's not me. That's not us. That's not our, our station. That's not our community. Well, maybe it is the community anymore.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: But that's, that's not… What was it? Uh, Casey at the Bat?

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Brian Papstein: That's not my style.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Brian Papstein: So we-

Scott Hammond: Not my style

Brian Papstein: … we have fun, uh, but, uh, uh, Rush was here, Bruce Williams when, when he was

Brian Papstein: alive.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, hit some names.

Brian Papstein: Um, Lon. Um, recently we've had, uh, the, the kids who work with me, um, one in DC who's the engineer for The Giants. So we've done four or five with-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Brian Papstein: … with, uh, Darren, and it's just back and forth, giggle, laugh, and talk about whatever is happening.

Scott Hammond: I know who Lon is, but Lon who?

Scott Hammond: From where?

Brian Papstein: Oh, Simmons.

Scott Hammond: From?

Brian Papstein: He's dead.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. But he-

Brian Papstein: So from, from the afterlife.

Scott Hammond: But he's an announcer for?

Brian Papstein: Oh, for The Giants and The A's and-

Scott Hammond: Okay, a lot of-

Brian Papstein: … and the 49ers, yeah

Scott Hammond: … lot of folks might know.

Brian Papstein: Hall of Famer.

Scott Hammond: Hall of Famer announcer.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You wanna get me going, talk to me about the, uh, Ford Frick presentation at the Hall of Fame. It is so embarrassing.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We won't-

Brian Papstein: Three by five cards.

Scott Hammond: We'll s-

Brian Papstein: They don't even get plaques.

Scott Hammond: We'll save that one for the next show.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, oh.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So tell me-

Brian Papstein: There'll be a note going out on that one.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We'll talk about that after the show.

Brian Papstein: Fair enough.

Scott Hammond: So 10,000, almost 11,000 interviews. Uh, some of them repeat, so you've had McCauley, you've had Dalby, you've had-

Brian Papstein: Oh, we got regulars.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Who are the, who are the regulars? Uh, who stands out? Who, who… Fave… I, I know you can't really say favorites, but you might have some, some cool stories.

Brian Papstein: Sure. Sure as favorites.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, uh, there are-

Scott Hammond: Who's regular? Let's start there.

Brian Papstein: Who's regular? That's right up there with who's normal.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So we, we've had… Uh, I'll use titles initially.

Scott Hammond: Sure, that's fine.

Brian Papstein: So we have the Eureka police chief.

Scott Hammond: Chief.

Brian Papstein: And I, I think nine or 10 of them.

Scott Hammond: You've had a lot of chiefs over the years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, Billy, who's, is, uh, is a CPA, but also

Brian Papstein: just is a guy who's a local that has commentary about what's going

Brian Papstein: on and-

Scott Hammond: Great guy. Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, Wednesdays are always the supervisors-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … on a rotational basis.

Scott Hammond: So you have all five?

Brian Papstein: No. Arroyo said no.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Brian Papstein: First time in 40 f- plus years.

Scott Hammond: That a supervisor refused?

Brian Papstein: Well, I, I… No, I have to go back. Harry Pritchard initially didn't participate because he had a severe speech impediment.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And he was very conscientious of that.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Does Natalie have anything like that?

Brian Papstein: No.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Mm-mm.

Scott Hammond: Just can't do it? Won't do it.

Brian Papstein: Just doesn't… Has chosen not to.

Scott Hammond: Met Michelle Bushnell, sat with her at the Land Conservancy-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, dinner the other night.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, Michelle's-

Scott Hammond: I like Michelle. She's cool.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Regular, regular.

Scott Hammond: Her husband's a super nice guy.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: For a rancher.

Scott Hammond: For, for… Hear that rancher?

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No, what a, what a great group-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … those guys.

Brian Papstein: Just g- good guys. Um, let's see. Thursday, um, depending on what week it is, it's Billy Hansel-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … and Stacy Eades.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, let's see.

Scott Hammond: She's, she's the DA.

Brian Papstein: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Correct?

Brian Papstein: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And Billy's sheriff.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: Of course. Hey, Bill

Brian Papstein: … city, city managers. We've got Eureka, Arcata, and Fortuna. Um, and then if they're not there, then they'll send a department head or somebody else.

Scott Hammond: Myles is pretty cool.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, you mentioned Dalby already, so John's on. Uh, Jana Valachovic, who probably is one that a lot of folks are unfamiliar with, is-

Scott Hammond: What does she do?

Brian Papstein: She runs the UC Cooperative Extension out at S- Spruce Point.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that right here.

Brian Papstein: She's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … yeah, the forest advisor who is recognized statewide and nationally as being something of significance.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Papstein: So it's, it's cool that we've got a lot of those types of treasures in our

Brian Papstein: area.

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: And nobody would ever know about him except for something like this.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So she'll send in some of the other troops if she's out of town or, or, uh, too

Brian Papstein: busy.

Brian Papstein: Um, let's see. Uh, the provost at Humboldt is a recent add.

Brian Papstein: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … Jen is, is, um, probably two years, yeah, two years with us.

Brian Papstein: Um, CHP.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, because they have different challenges than what the other-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … law enforcement agencies have.

Scott Hammond: Is there a local chief of some sort?

Brian Papstein: For?

Scott Hammond: For CHP.

Brian Papstein: Oh, there's an area commander. That's what they call them.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, but he sends… You know, the PR guys are the ones that will typically come in.

Scott Hammond: Come out, yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um, fire chief for Humboldt Bay Fire.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, gone through, I don't know, nine or 10 of those guys.

Scott Hammond: Good guys. You had Gillespie probably at some-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, Billy w- Billy was there after, uh, Kent left, and then, uh, Sean recently is going out to, uh, work at the, uh, CR and develop a fire academy out there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: So Tim now is, is stepping in, in his stead.

Scott Hammond: Is this the same Sean whose dad is Frank Tostee, my next-door neighbor? His, his dad was fire chief in, uh, Arcata.

Brian Papstein: Right, that, uh-

Scott Hammond: Sean.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. No, uh, Sean, uh, Robertson.

Scott Hammond: Wonder if he's the same one. I don't know. I should know Sean.

Brian Papstein: He, he grew up in South Africa.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: Probably not.

Scott Hammond: Unlikely. We'll go with a no on that one.

Brian Papstein: Way to, way to go there. And then we, we have a couple built-ins, uh, that are rotational. So right now we've got, um, well, we did have Cody until, um, from the airport.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, he was, he was a fun one, so we've got a little bit of an opening there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, we've got superintendent of schools.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Um, and, and Paul from St. Bernard's. So we've got, uh, Eureka as well as Michael, uh, from the county office. And-

Scott Hammond: He's a great guy. He's got his own podcast.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, I know. He keeps threatening to bring me in.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: I said, "Are you sure you wanna class up the place that much?"

Scott Hammond: Hear that, Michael?

Brian Papstein: And then, uh, and Rob Arkley.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: So the-

Scott Hammond: Gotta have Rob in there.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, so that-

Scott Hammond: Is he a regular, or?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Last, last Monday of each month-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Papstein: … he's in. And then, uh, Winston will put those up on the website by 10:00, 10:15. So-

Scott Hammond: Are these, are these video as well?

Brian Papstein: No. Heck no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Damn.

Brian Papstein: No. One, you know, you, you, you've heard the phrase.

Scott Hammond: Got a great face for radio.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah. So that's, uh-

Scott Hammond: Sorry to s-

Brian Papstein: There's a truism in that one, so we'll just kinda be there.

Scott Hammond: What, do you do this in your jammies? What's, what-

Brian Papstein: Uh, no, no, no. It's just, you know, some people are more concerned about their looks-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … than others.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: And, uh, the thing that people will ask about is, "How can we hear what is talked about during the commercial breaks?" That's it. You will never hear-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … what's talked about during the commercial breaks.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's in here.

Brian Papstein: But a lot of times we'll come back laughing or have references to those discussions.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: That becomes the mystery of the show.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it. I like that.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, the, the, the most challenging ones, there were two that I can recall offhand. Uh, the first one was Irv Renner, who was the first district

Brian Papstein: supervisor, was the first sup who was in in the first week.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: And he knew Dad.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Papstein: You know, who's the, who's this kid?

Scott Hammond: Who's the kid?

Brian Papstein: Had no clue, and he was used to getting

Brian Papstein: misquoted-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … by media.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So he came, he came in jaded.

Brian Papstein: Well, let's just say his experience showed. So for that entire show, everything was yes, no.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Brian Papstein: Everything.

Scott Hammond: Pulling teeth.

Brian Papstein: Oh, baby. You know, and of course I didn't have anything to draw back on, being

Brian Papstein: 22.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you don't know anything.

Brian Papstein: Uh, uh, j-

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Brian Papstein: That was a, that was a tough one.

Brian Papstein: And then he-

Scott Hammond: Where's the first district?

Brian Papstein: He realized we were having fun, or normal stuff, and he opened up as much as… At that time, the supervisors were Danny Walsh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … and, uh, and Wes Chesbro.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And it was like, okay, I say, "Good morning." Boom, they're good for five minutes.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Papstein: "Uh, we gotta take a break, guys."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. There was, like, three questions that I would throw into each show, and they just ran, um, which was al- It still is kinda funny when I see Danny every once in a while.

Scott Hammond: Again, their show.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. E- exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: Good

Brian Papstein: … so Irv, Irv, Irv kind of loosened up a little bit-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … and, and things, things were okay after that.

Scott Hammond: Heard Danny was a good football player. Is that correct?

Brian Papstein: Oh, he's a stud.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he played at Humboldt.

Brian Papstein: A lot of the Walshs were.

Scott Hammond: He went to the s- the state championship, right?

Scott Hammond: Or the-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, he, he-

Scott Hammond: … whatever Poinsettia Bowl

Brian Papstein: … they all, all went through SB, and then-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … uh, he w- I think he was on the Camellia Bowl team.

Scott Hammond: Camellia Bowl.

Brian Papstein: For, for Humboldt State.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, yeah, there were, there were a number of them, and two or three of his brothers also played at Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: How about that? Huh.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah. Um, Eureka kids.

Scott Hammond: Okay, so let's, outstanding moments. Let's, let's, let's do that. For our quiz today- … for one free Dick Taylor chocolate bar.

Brian Papstein: Oh, you're gonna ask me or I'm gonna ask you?

Scott Hammond: No, you're not gonna ask me anything.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: My,

Scott Hammond: my show.

Brian Papstein: Fine.

Scott Hammond: Be that way.

Brian Papstein: Hit the brakes.

Scott Hammond: So I, I guess outstanding memories from, from 11,000 of the… I- It's almost an unfair… You could probably talk for two hours.

Brian Papstein: Oh, there's-

Scott Hammond: I mean, any-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what, what was your, the biggest jaw-dropping surprise? And then we'll go, we'll diminish from there. A, a, a surprise guest that maybe dropped a, a, a, a

Scott Hammond: bomb.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, most of it, you know, it's, it's all conversational.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: So it's not like-

Scott Hammond: It wasn't revelatory or anything

Brian Papstein: … you save up. I, it's… For me, the, the, there are two things

Brian Papstein: that w- will probably stand out over, over the years whenever, I guess maybe when I hit 50 years with this thing or something.

Brian Papstein: Um, first appearance, I can tell if, you know, if, if it's a good show or not.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know, if… I do a palm check when they come in.

Scott Hammond: What is that?

Brian Papstein: Sweaty palm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Oh, your palm's kinda-

Brian Papstein: Are you okay? Are you-

Scott Hammond: Pretty dry.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Are you nervous or not?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: When you start to see them-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, well, you know, some, some, you know, will hold their hands down or

Brian Papstein: be under-

Scott Hammond: Some people hold-

Brian Papstein: … be under the counter or, I mean, there's all those types of-

Scott Hammond: Tap, tapping their foot

Brian Papstein: … public speaking tricks that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … that you can learn. Um, but when they're done, they sayWell, that was fast.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: That wasn't bad. That was nice.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: That was g- Hey, can I come back?

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: That was like the fun ride at the carnival.

Brian Papstein: 'Cause there's c- there's conversation. You know, and that's one of the things, uh, I'm gonna-

Scott Hammond: Please.

Brian Papstein: See this? These are questions that he had- … probably of me and anybody.

Brian Papstein: I come in-

Scott Hammond: Hold still. I wanna read my question.

Brian Papstein: I, this is my notepad.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Literally.

Scott Hammond: I like it. Uh, lesson learned.

Brian Papstein: Date and who it is so that we can track it for our FCC reporting stuff.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: And that's it. There we go, and we just have conversation and talk.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Brian Papstein: And most don't. Most interviewers don't. Um, this was something Jim Bohannon and I had had some conversation with. Um, you're listening to them.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: If you have a list of questions, you're, you're interrogating them.

Scott Hammond: Correct.

Brian Papstein: Not talking with them. This is a talk, this is interview, this is conversation.

Scott Hammond: Organic.

Brian Papstein: This is fun.

Scott Hammond: Genuine.

Brian Papstein: Go with it. So that's one, one thing. I know if I've, I've done well, they go, "Oh, we're done?

Brian Papstein: Okay."

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay.

Brian Papstein: Um, so that, that was one of them-

Scott Hammond: Wait, uh, excuse me.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I have a question to ask.

Brian Papstein: Sure.

Scott Hammond: I can't-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I'll pull your leg. So-

Brian Papstein: So the fir- first time through, then they kind of understand what's going on. They realize-

Scott Hammond: And if it went quick, they had a, a good experience.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: And I'm not, not, um, they… Most have heard the program. Some haven't, so they kind of understand my personality.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: And what is, mm, pretty much anything goes within, you know, the large boundaries.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So we sit around, we giggle, we have fun, and-

Scott Hammond: It's good

Brian Papstein: … and we start with our day.

Scott Hammond: Well, you relax people.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, I g- guess, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I feel pretty relaxed.

Brian Papstein: Um, the other thing, uh-

Scott Hammond: Did you wanna ask me some questions?

Brian Papstein: The other element, and, uh, this, this, uh, it sounds self-aggrandizing, and it's not meant to be, but I'm sure, I'm sure some people will take it and spin with it. When, you know, Rush, I did like, I don't know, three or four with him, and with Bruce five or six times,

Brian Papstein: and they-

Scott Hammond: We know Rush. Bruce is-

Brian Papstein: Bruce Williams

Scott Hammond: … who is a-

Brian Papstein: Um, who was-

Scott Hammond: … infamous talk show host

Brian Papstein: … part of, part of TalkNet, the whole resurgence of the spoken word

Brian Papstein: format.

Scott Hammond: He was certainly at the front-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … front end of that.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, he w-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Papstein: … he was driving that, that ship, him and Larry King.

Scott Hammond: How many years did w- Bruce do it?

Brian Papstein: Well, he started weekend, or he started in, uh, in a station in New Brunswick, New

Brian Papstein: Jersey.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: And then, uh, he got into WABC-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … Sunday nights, and somebody didn't show up.

Scott Hammond: And he got a job.

Brian Papstein: Got a call, said, "Hey, can you come in tonight and do…" 'Cause it was just

Brian Papstein: financial-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … acumen. I mean, it was, it was nothing political at all.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: At least initially it wasn't. And he got the calls, and they started paying attention, and then, uh, NBC talk, NBC at that time existed. Now it doesn't. Um, and then they decided that they wanted to get into the spoken word as well as-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Brian Papstein: … the music formats for syndication. And it was he and Sally Jessy Raphael were the nighttime, um-

Scott Hammond: She was a big deal.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, until she kinda went off the deep end.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, she's-

Brian Papstein: Um, but-

Scott Hammond: … got interesting

Brian Papstein: … but they, uh, that, that was, that was kinda where, where Bruce came from, and they just said-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … and again, it- it's not… I, I always feel uncomfortable with compliments.

Brian Papstein: That's just-

Scott Hammond: Please, please share

Brian Papstein: … me.

Scott Hammond: So this is back to the self-aggrandizement?

Brian Papstein: Yes, yes. They-

Scott Hammond: I can aggrandize you

Brian Papstein: … they s- they said that this, that I was one of the best interviewers that they had ever come upon.

Scott Hammond: Wow. High compliment.

Brian Papstein: And you c- that I could go national.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: And if I had interest, they would hook me up, so to speak.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: It's like, no, no, no, I'm, I'm a Humboldt kid.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: I'm, I'm Eureka. I, I grew up in Myrtletown. I'm gonna stay in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Brian Papstein: That's, this is it. But thanks for the compliment.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. Well, and those-

Brian Papstein: You know

Scott Hammond: … are people that could make it happen.

Brian Papstein: Oh, yeah. Oh, they, they had the connections, and at that time, uh, the, uh, radio conventions. And the, the presidents of, and we, we knew them 'cause we were, had been with CBS for 60-plus

Brian Papstein: years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So, and there's Dick Brescher, one of the VPs.

Brian Papstein: Mm, okay.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: "Hi, Dick. How you doing?" You know, that kind of-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … relationship, and, and, uh, it, it could have happened, but f- at what cost?

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Brian Papstein: You know? And no, no, I, there's, there's too much to do

Brian Papstein: here before… Gotta save home before you can save everybody else.

Scott Hammond: There's-

Brian Papstein: Right?

Scott Hammond: There's an amen, yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We do Humboldt heroes. Somebody goes, "Why don't you do the, the hero celebration for veterans? Make it bigger. Let's go statewide." And I go, "Why would you wreck it?"

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's designed to be organic and small, and-

Brian Papstein: Let Mendocino do Mendocino and Trinity do Trinity, and let everybody do their

Brian Papstein: own thing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know? It doesn't, everything doesn't have to grow to be successful.

Scott Hammond: Correct, yeah. Sometimes we think size is every-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … growth is-

Brian Papstein: No, that's the, the macho attitude, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's-

Brian Papstein: You know, if one's good, four's gotta be four times as good.

Scott Hammond: It's a little bit American. I think Western, at least.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know. Anyway.

Brian Papstein: Um, so anyway, that, that's kind of the-

Scott Hammond: I like that

Brian Papstein: … the backstory. And the other element of the show that I think that I

Brian Papstein: personally, uh, I, I'll go to the mat on is no callers.

Scott Hammond: Callers?

Brian Papstein: No callers. Pe-

Scott Hammond: You mean these?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah, some days. I bet you'll never know-

Scott Hammond: Oh, callers

Brian Papstein: … 'cause we don't, we don't have the cameras in the studio.

Scott Hammond: Wait. Did you say collars or callers?

Brian Papstein: Yeah, I said both, yes.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: It's kinda like Peyton Manning. Yeah, good. You-

Scott Hammond: I get that

Brian Papstein: … you got that one. Good.

Scott Hammond: I get that.

Brian Papstein: Um, because, you know, these guys come in with topic, and there had been a local show for a short period of time when we started,

Brian Papstein: and, you know, y- you need to have about a quarter million people to have a broad enough population to have a variety of callers that aren't the same ones all the time talking-

Scott Hammond: Correct

Brian Papstein: … about the same thing over and over, and to be able to screen them and do, do the proper mix for, for a talk show.

Scott Hammond: Sure, yeah.

Brian Papstein: We don't have it.

Scott Hammond: It'd be the same guys, gals.

Brian Papstein: And that's what was going on, so, you know, you'd be talking about insurance, and somebody would call up and wanna talk about dog training.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Wait a, wait a what?

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: And it would be the same person calling about dog training-

Scott Hammond: Reminds me of supervisor-

Brian Papstein: Two, three times a week

Scott Hammond: … supervisor meetings.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Same speakers.

Brian Papstein: Right.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Uh, y-

Scott Hammond: I-

Brian Papstein: Yeah, except they would also then tend to come from a point of business ownership, so they just saw it as free exposure.

Scott Hammond: Oh, how nice.

Brian Papstein: And it's like, no, get away. You know, so it was, it w-

Brian Papstein: I, I-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty bold, actually.

Scott Hammond: It's pretty-

Brian Papstein: Uh, yeah. Well, that, it starts with the right letter.

Brian Papstein: So it was-

Scott Hammond: Have you heard about my sporting goods store?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Uh, what size do you want?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We have-

Brian Papstein: Or what size do you have? Take your pick. So we just went with interviews, and, and-

Scott Hammond: Fair

Brian Papstein: … that allowed, you know, if we're talking about whatever we're talking about, you can kinda pace and, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … get a, get what you want out, rather than having to deal with the wing nut call or somebody that's way off topic, or somebody who's like me and goes, "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,

Brian Papstein: nah, nah"

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … and it takes, you know, four, four minutes to ask a 10-second question.

Scott Hammond: Sure. That's fine.

Brian Papstein: Well, yeah. So it's, I think it's worked out. I think the interview-

Scott Hammond: Gosh

Brian Papstein: … format is, is cool.

Scott Hammond: You're not cutting this out of the programming for any reason?

Brian Papstein: No.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I don't hear anything's going, "Hey."

Brian Papstein: No, no. And that's, that's-

Scott Hammond: Well, have you tweaked it a l- a little bit over time?

Brian Papstein: Uh, it's bounced around in times.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, we started in the 8:00 in the morning-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … weekdays, and that's where we are now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: But then we, we did do, uh, 4:00-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … for a while.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, and 3:00. And it just, it… The concept there was back when Rush was Rush, and we had, it was a med vet, I think, at the time, um, who, before he had his cancer and, and those challenges. Um, if we could ca- if we could take a third of the audience that we had in the morning and take it in t- at 3:00-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … it would double the afternoon audience at that time.

Scott Hammond: How about that? So you-

Brian Papstein: It's like, okay, so sacrifice the lamb. I don't care.

Scott Hammond: So you, did you rebroadcast? Is that what you're saying?

Brian Papstein: No, no.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: No, we just extended the news block in the morning-

Scott Hammond: I see

Brian Papstein: … and then did it in the afternoon.

Scott Hammond: Now it's strictly morning, is that correct?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. It's, it's just mornings now. It's easier for the folks to come in and start their day with us rather than remember, "Oh, geez, what time is it? Oh," and then have to sprint.

Brian Papstein: Um-

Scott Hammond: At this point, I would, would ask you to call out the, uh, the call, call sign and the time and… So Kids Radio-

Brian Papstein: KINS, yeah

Scott Hammond: … FM.

Brian Papstein: 106.3 is the dial position.

Scott Hammond: See, you know it 'cause you're used to it, but people might, 106.3-

Brian Papstein: I know, it, it-

Scott Hammond: … on the FM dial

Brian Papstein: … it's really weird, Scott. Some people know us as the call letters. Some of us, some are known as the dial position, uh, music or, or spoken word.

Scott Hammond: What-

Brian Papstein: And others then know it as whatever the, the, uh, positioner is. So, like, KIKA could be K-E-K-A.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: It could be 101 Country or 100.9-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Papstein: … or it could be Thunder Country.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So, and it's, everybody kinda has their own area-

Scott Hammond: A lot of-

Brian Papstein: … that they fit into

Scott Hammond: … a lot of brands.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Well, it, I don't know if a dial position is a brand or not, but you know, it, reference points.

Scott Hammond: 101 might be.

Brian Papstein: Same thing with, with, uh, Easy.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Papstein: So the call letters are KWSW.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Okay, and that's, uh, something mom came up with. It's the initials, the first initial of the first four grandkids.

Scott Hammond: All right. Okay.

Brian Papstein: It just worked out that way.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Brian Papstein: Okay. And some know it as either 980 or 95.5, but most reference it now as Easy.

Scott Hammond: And that'll go to Christmas format-

Brian Papstein: It's, we're going all-

Scott Hammond: … during the holidays?

Brian Papstein: … all Christmas, um, on the 18th. It's the m- the Monday the week before Thanksgiving.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Brian Papstein: That's where we go. Now, some, some people will be starting on the 1st of November.

Scott Hammond: And s-

Brian Papstein: The, the numbers-

Scott Hammond: And some in September.

Brian Papstein: It, it's… Well, we do do, this year, Stefan, my youngest, came up with the concept and, uh, Christmas in July. So I, and I happened to take, I don't know if you've met my middle brother or not, but, uh, Kurt was born in the middle of July.

Scott Hammond: I know Kurt.

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Um, so he's, he was born on the 17th. That was the middle day-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Brian Papstein: … of the week, of the middle week of the month.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Brian Papstein: So that's the-

Scott Hammond: There it is

Brian Papstein: … that's the day, and we go 24-hour Christmas on that one day.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's funny.

Brian Papstein: Just, just to kinda throw a little something out there, 'cause there-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … there's an amazing amount of people that just really like the traditional Christmas music.

Scott Hammond: I do.

Brian Papstein: And-

Scott Hammond: Who doesn't love Christmas?

Brian Papstein: … all the, all the time. You know, like the, we had had out at, uh, by the Cook House, uh, which kinda is probably starting to date us also, um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, the gift shop?

Brian Papstein: It was a Christmas store.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: 20-

Scott Hammond: We?

Brian Papstein: 12 months of the year.

Scott Hammond: Your family?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. No, no, no, uh, we as the community-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Brian Papstein: … had that.

Scott Hammond: That's long gone, right?

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's-

Scott Hammond: That was a cool little store.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I know.

Brian Papstein: Okay. Yeah, and there's a couple places down on the, on the wharf in San

Brian Papstein: Francisco-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … that-

Scott Hammond: Are Christmas all the time

Brian Papstein: … I think they still are. I'm-

Scott Hammond: I remember those

Brian Papstein: … right now I'm boycotting San Francisco, so I'm not-

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Uh, the kids took me to a ball, ball game, first, first game with the Giants-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … um, since '78.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Um,

Brian Papstein: so I, we took the ferry in, so I didn't have to drive.

Brian Papstein: They-

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Brian Papstein: They-

Scott Hammond: That's the way to go

Brian Papstein: … they took me, but they didn't force me to break my, uh, myself, uh, my vows, so to speak.

Scott Hammond: I was, never drive to that city again.

Brian Papstein: Brought, brought the ferry in. Well, I, it j- Yeah, there's just so many reasons why.

Brian Papstein: Um, so I've not been down to the Fisherman's Wharf in-

Scott Hammond: Did the Giants win?

Brian Papstein: … a long, long time. Uh, the Giants got beat by the Padres, but part of what we were able to do was to go up and see the guys.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Brian Papstein: So that was, that was fun for the kids. Um, I've got a buddy who has a station in Pittsburgh. Well, he lives in Pittsburgh. His station is in DuBois, um, who's a Pirate affiliate.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: And we went in, um, coming off of a convention this spring. I got to see, uh, Paul Skeens-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: It was extraordinary. I mean, he's-

Scott Hammond: Is he a Pirate?

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: He, he's the kid from LSU that just throws BBs.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: I mean, he- he's, he's like once a decade-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Papstein: … kind of, kind of player, like Ohtani is for the Dodgers.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Brian Papstein: He is for the Pirates.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, and then we went up and, and got to see the Pirates broadcasters, who I don't recognize at all.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, but we also went next door and saw DC and, and the guys for the Giants.

Brian Papstein: So-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool

Brian Papstein: … kind of, you know, for radio guy to go into the broadcast booth-

Scott Hammond: Pretty cool

Brian Papstein: … I'm looking at all the gear.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Kids are looking at the announcers.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: I don't need the announcers. Show me the gear.

Scott Hammond: I wanna see the new stuff.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah. Show, show me your mixer board.

Scott Hammond: Look at that.

Brian Papstein: That's exciting. Yeah, the wire-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Brian Papstein: … the microphones and the headsets, that's cool. How do you, how do you place your crowd mics?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Uh-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Papstein: So-

Scott Hammond: All the nerd, nerd stuff

Brian Papstein: … oh, it's-

Scott Hammond: It's all nerded

Brian Papstein: … I mean, if you're in, you're in, right?

Scott Hammond: I love that.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah. So that was, that was kind of a kick.

Scott Hammond: So more amazing stuff around, uh, Talk Shop please. Any, any other, um… anything that floored you or any, any surpri- I, I don't know about surprises or bombs or flooring, but what about dis- gra- grave disappointments? Um-

Brian Papstein: Oh, you know, the fir- the first-

Scott Hammond: … anything that stands out as-

Brian Papstein: Sometimes-

Scott Hammond: Did anybody ever bring an animal? Did you ever-

Brian Papstein: No.

Scott Hammond: How about Corky Cornwell, did he ever come into the studio?

Brian Papstein: Nope, Cork, Cork never did.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Well, I mean, he did to do recordings, but not-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Papstein: … not to do a show.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: Um, yeah, I don't know. I'm sure that there must have been.

Scott Hammond: All right.

Brian Papstein: But it's, you know, the expectation is let's sit down, giggle a little bit, fill the time, hit the commercial breaks, and start our day.

Scott Hammond: It's not doing fluff here. Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So, yeah, it's, it's not, um… You know, the guys that try to turn it into a, a, uh, self, uh, self-promotional.

Scott Hammond: Cal-

Brian Papstein: There-

Scott Hammond: Cal Worthington

Brian Papstein: … there have been… Well, okay, that's that LA thing out of you. I don't know.

Scott Hammond: That's… Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know, I'm, I'm 100% Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: Well-

Brian Papstein: You stepped in that pile, didn't you?

Scott Hammond: Well, there you, there you have it.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So for th- for those of you from Humboldt, he, uh, he was a sa- a salesman, a car dealer that was on TV a lot, and he'd bring hi- his dog Spot, which was usually a, anything from a giraffe to a zebra to a-

Brian Papstein: Okay

Scott Hammond: … a, a water buffalo to a li- an actual lion. And he would, he would sell car… And so he, he actually got so big, he's got dealerships

Scott Hammond: for-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … a li- in Anchorage

Brian Papstein: I recognize he's a big, a big dealer.

Scott Hammond: Go see Cal.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. Sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Brian Papstein: You betcha.

Scott Hammond: Sorry to re-

Scott Hammond: … reduce, reduce it to that. That was his life.

Brian Papstein: Oh, that's, uh, you know, that's… To me, the, the cool part is… Well, I, I had somebody… What was it? Somebody's f- parent. That's it. Okay. One of, one of our folks,

Brian Papstein: her mom's current husband, so step,

Brian Papstein: stepdad, had a friend, came in, and Grandpa wrote the Winston jingle. Okay. So he came in, and I guess he was made aware of that fact.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: So he came in. "Hi, how you doing?" Da, na, na. He said, "Is it true?" I said, "Yeah, yeah." He said, "How did it go?" I said, "Winston tastes good," and he finished it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Okay, it's been 53 years since that's been broadcast.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Brian Papstein: It's still in there.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: That to me is cool.

Scott Hammond: That's-

Brian Papstein: You know, that when we were younger-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … um, I don't know if you remember or not, but up here it was a big deal when McDonald's came out with the Big Mac.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Brian Papstein: And they had the jingle.

Scott Hammond: Two all-beef patties.

Brian Papstein: Special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: Say it in 20 seconds and you get a free Big Mac.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Brian Papstein: We did that promotion for two years.

Scott Hammond: And you get a free Big… That was a free Big Mac?

Brian Papstein: That, that was, that was the big deal.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Papstein: And it was, uh, that was… I, when you say remember when-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … what I remember back is not Talk Shop. What I remember is our stations-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … and some of the stories and the fun and the, the creativity and the excitement and all that kind of stuff-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … rather than just being one narrow slot of it.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: It's across the board.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, uh, that to me is what, what this is, and, and, and that's where the magic lies, I think.

Scott Hammond: I like that. So where do you see radio going?

Scott Hammond: It ha- it-

Brian Papstein: Well, we-

Scott Hammond: Everybody said it's gonna go bye-bye with the internet. Not true, so.

Brian Papstein: Not true. Spotify, eh. Um,

Brian Papstein: you know, we had cassette players, we had 8-track players, we had phonographs. All those were supposed to kill radio.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Hasn't happened. Um-

Scott Hammond: CDs

Brian Papstein: … S- SiriusXM, okay, still hasn't made a dime.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Brian Papstein: Yeah, it's… We, what, what radio is, Scott, that separates

Brian Papstein: us, and I see small market or micro market like we are-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … versus the, the big boys, that's two different, two different mediums.

Brian Papstein: Local.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, if you're just playing music or pulling down a satellite feed-

Scott Hammond: What are you doing here?

Brian Papstein: … you're any- anywhere USA.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: There's nothing there. You know, and you can say, you can argue, "Well, the commercials are local."

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: Well, some of them are.

Scott Hammond: Not all.

Brian Papstein: But if you're running, let's say, a, a national State Farm ad, well, that's anywhere USA.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's on any-

Brian Papstein: You know, it's not, it's not anybody specific.

Scott Hammond: That's all Clear-

Brian Papstein: Weather

Scott Hammond: … Weather Channel, yeah.

Brian Papstein: Weather? Uh, okay. Um, I've had a surprising amount of comment lately about Audacy-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … um, going into receivership as one of the larger publicly traded

Brian Papstein: companies-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: … and Soros buying it.

Scott Hammond: What is Audacy? Are they like a Clear Channel? They own radio stations?

Brian Papstein: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Uh, KCBS is the one that I'm kind of most-

Scott Hammond: Pretty big

Brian Papstein: … excited about.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: But yeah, major market, a lot of them are spoken word or news.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: And George Soros has, uh, bought 20, 27% of the debt.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: I think it was something like that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, and there's two major issues. One, you know, I think everybody's pretty familiar, he's, uh, politically

Brian Papstein: active-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … in placing people in elected positions, okay? And the concern is now if he's controlling content

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Papstein: What does that do? But secondly, he's also foreign.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: And up until my buddy John Pohl bought a

Brian Papstein: station, he's, he's in, uh, Ottawa-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … and the station was just over the border, but most of the signal and most of the reported listening was in Canada.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: So the FCC this past spring allowed that to happen. Now, with the advent of the election in a couple weeks-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … and if President Trump becomes President Trump again-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … the way the FCC, c- it, Federal Communications Commission is structured, it's a five-person board.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: Two Dems, two Republican, appointed by those sides-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … and then the president appoints number three, the swing vote.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: Well, now it's a three-two

Brian Papstein: Dem.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Brian Papstein: Okay? Well, they're fast-tracking this thing-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Brian Papstein: … because he's, uh, more favorable to their, to their liking.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Well, it always takes forever. I mean, it, it… For when we sold the Brookings stations, it took anywhere between eight months, eight months for one of the stations, uh, 12 months, some extenuating circumstances-

Scott Hammond: But this thing's going quicker

Brian Papstein: … for the, for the other one.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: They're doing this one in two months, and it's, like, 250 radio stations.

Scott Hammond: So politically motivated, perhaps.

Brian Papstein: It appears to be that way.

Scott Hammond: The e-

Brian Papstein: Just leave it there

Scott Hammond: … the evidence.

Brian Papstein: He, he's got a lot more zeros than I do. His zeros are w- on the left side.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Mine are after the dot.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, right. Soras, is he Greek?

Brian Papstein: I believe so.

Scott Hammond: That sounds like a Greek name.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So it, it, it is making for some interesting dynamics. Um, but radio's future, yeah, as long as, as long as it's good, it's good. You know, it, it's… The frustration I have is a lot of people are relying on social media, uh, as news or information content.

Scott Hammond: Or community.

Brian Papstein: Well, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Which is scary.

Brian Papstein: The old, the old way, we would get a fax.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Say, "Da, da, da, da, da," what's going on. "Well, we posted on Facebook." Great. So when the tornado or the hurricane or the earthquake or the windstorm or the rainstorm happens, and we lose power at those towers-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … okay, keep pumping it out. You think people are g- able… They can't get to the information.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: Or if it's without power entirely, your cell phone dies.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Okay, well, let's, let's put out, you know, the f- current flood conditions.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Call me. Just call me.

Scott Hammond: That's a great part of radio, it, the emergency services a- aspect of this thing, 'cause-

Brian Papstein: That's-

Scott Hammond: … when this thing dies-

Brian Papstein: Yep

Scott Hammond: … for all the reasons, um, imagine having a little AM/FM radio or a little C. Crane Radio you could turn on and go,

Scott Hammond: "Oh-"

Brian Papstein: They're there

Scott Hammond: … "Fern Bridge is at 55 point and-"

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "We gotta get outta here."

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: That's, that's part of what we are, and that's-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Brian Papstein: … there's a battle going on, it's a- almost over, um, requiring AM in the dashboard of cars.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: Tesla, BMW, and Volvo are the three manufacturers that do not, you can't buy one with an AM radio in them.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, and because of what, exactly what you were saying, you know, if one of my towers goes down and it's w- so it's horizontal, right out here in the swamp-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … I can still broadcast. You can still hear me.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: Um, KCBS, which has a five-tower array, which sounds, uh, they have five radio towers.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Papstein: That's how they get their signal out.

Scott Hammond: In the Bay Area?

Brian Papstein: In the Bay Area. Three of the five towers were out after a windstorm.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Papstein: Two months later, they found out when f- the engineer went out that three of the towers were down.

Scott Hammond: They wouldn't even knew.

Brian Papstein: Didn't lose a, a, a bit of their coverage.

Scott Hammond: Didn't feel it.

Brian Papstein: But if an FM tower goes down, it's gone.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's in the bay.

Brian Papstein: Right. So you need to have, you need AM radio.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Brian Papstein: You need to have access to it, and, you know, is it as sexy as

Brian Papstein: FM is?

Scott Hammond: Mm-

Brian Papstein: No.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: But is it as vital? It's easy to argue more so.

Scott Hammond: I was staring at my C. Crane Radio this morning and wondering, it, I wonder if Bob's doing well with that company still.

Brian Papstein: Well, I know he sold it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he sold it.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But I wonder if they're still s- selling radios.

Scott Hammond: I'm going-

Brian Papstein: They seem to be. Yeah, they, you know, you see the catalog, they've got a bunch of

Brian Papstein: choices. Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they got cool stuff. That's-

Brian Papstein: It's, it's interesting for me now, I'm se- starting to see now AM/FM

Brian Papstein: radios-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … in retail stores-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Brian Papstein: … where you couldn't find them for a while.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Or it was FM only.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Now it's AM/FM because I think there's starting to be that recognition that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … when it hits the fan-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … we're there for you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: So.

Scott Hammond: I like it. Hey, so a lot of people ask me, I, parting shot here, getting close, um, "Hey, Scott, why do you podcast? What do you, what do you do? How, how do you, how do you do it? What's your…" I would ask you for tips, and the question is-

Brian Papstein: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … how, how does this get better? And, and I'm perfectly-

Brian Papstein: Interviewing?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I'm perfectly open to, you know, your coach approach.

Scott Hammond: Coach-

Brian Papstein: A- active li-

Scott Hammond: … Coach Brian

Brian Papstein: … active listening.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay.

Brian Papstein: That's it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, wh- when, this morning, Casey, uh, Day was in. W- we're, we're buds, you know, after sucking up his Yankees comments of…

Scott Hammond: Oh, no.

Brian Papstein: He's a big Yankee fan. Ha- but has been for a long, long time.

Scott Hammond: Remind me, I know that, his name. Who's Casey Day?

Brian Papstein: Uh, he, he, he is the, uh, police chief in Fortuna.

Scott Hammond: Yes, we just recognized him as Humboldt Hero.

Brian Papstein: So he came-

Scott Hammond: Great guy

Brian Papstein: … so he, he came in and, and we, we did the show a little bit.

Brian Papstein: Um, and we, we just, we just talked about what is happening. You know, this time it was about recruitment. You know, who wants-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Papstein: … to be a cop?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: You know, if that's top of mind, then that's top of mind.

Brian Papstein: You know, I,

Brian Papstein: I have kind of a, a visceral response to somebody who wants to me just to talk about one thing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, it's like you're trying to define me as that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: No.I don't, I don't do celebrity.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, it, it's interesting to see those who do.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: You know, I don't, I don't do celebrity.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Um, and, you know, it just… It's a wasted opportunity, and I hate, I hate standing in lines. I hate crowds.

Scott Hammond: And that's what's-

Brian Papstein: Wasting time and getting tied up with things that aren't-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Papstein: … uh, aren't what I really wanna do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: You know, so for the interview part, you know, what do you wanna talk about? I don't know. What do you wanna talk about?

Scott Hammond: Let's go.

Brian Papstein: Let's talk.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: And whatever it is, you know. So if it's insurance issues, you know, I'm sure you, you have the same general questions people ask you-

Scott Hammond: Sure. Absolutely

Brian Papstein: … on a regular basis. I kind of… I, I'm a little bit more diverse, you know, 'cause I kinda share a little bit more on air than what I probably ought to. But, you know, pe- people know about, you know, so I… Now they're talking to me about the house.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Okay. Or talking about the ball, ball teams. Okay. Or, you know, it'll soon be Christmas music.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: Okay. Or a shopping show. Uh, uh, you know, it just, everybody's got their areas that they identify you with.

Scott Hammond: Sure. I get… Yeah, that's true.

Brian Papstein: And you just kinda go, "Yeah, you know, let's talk about life."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Papstein: Broad stuff.

Scott Hammond: It's beautiful today. It's windy outside.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's fall. It's cool.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And I, I discovered that's where the, kinda the magic is in being in the moment with people. There's a thousand things we could talk about, but what about the fact that it feels super windy and it feels like fall?

Scott Hammond: What-

Brian Papstein: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what, you know, how organic is the weather?

Scott Hammond: And-

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it-

Brian Papstein: Well, I don't know about organic or chemical or not or…

Scott Hammond: I, I don't think we could go on for an hour on the weather.

Brian Papstein: But I do want, I do wanna congratulate you though. Uh, um, one of my tirades now is people using the C word.

Scott Hammond: What, what do you-

Brian Papstein: And it's like-

Scott Hammond: What do you-

Brian Papstein: … are you kidding me?

Scott Hammond: What?

Brian Papstein: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You mean cops?

Brian Papstein: No, no, no.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Brian Papstein: So about-

Scott Hammond: … culture?

Brian Papstein: No, I'll get, I'll get there, don't worry, and it's okay. Um, 10 years ago- … when, when Rush started using it, every, everybody was talking about vetting.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: That was the cool word.

Scott Hammond: Vetting.

Brian Papstein: Vetting. We gotta vet it. You mean you gotta double-check your sources?

Brian Papstein: Well, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Vet it.

Brian Papstein: Regular, regular guy talk. Well, now it's collaboration.

Scott Hammond: Oh, the C word.

Brian Papstein: It's, I… Are you… You mean you wanna meet?

Scott Hammond: I can't even spell it.

Brian Papstein: You wanna talk? It's collaborate.

Scott Hammond: I'd rather-

Brian Papstein: So now it's, now I'm calling out anybody, and Casey snuck two of 'em in on me today. And, uh, let's see, Madrone, when Steve was on Wednesday.

Scott Hammond: Were they collaborating?

Brian Papstein: Last segment.

Scott Hammond: Uh.

Brian Papstein: Like, 30 seconds to go.

Scott Hammond: And you couldn't say a thing.

Brian Papstein: He said, "Collaboration." I said, "You used it."

Scott Hammond: Ha.

Brian Papstein: And he's laughing. He goes… Most of them know, you know, when I get on a, a-

Scott Hammond: It's pretty funny

Brian Papstein: … a horse about that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: It's… And that's what it is. It becomes humorous and fun and giggle and regular guy.

Scott Hammond: That's so robust.

Brian Papstein: Yeah. There's, there's a, uh-

Scott Hammond: The overused

Brian Papstein: … phrase that we use in, in the, uh, sales end of things,

Brian Papstein: um, about whether or not a commercial sounds good.

Scott Hammond: What's the phrase?

Brian Papstein: What we say is, "Does it pass the beer test?"

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Papstein: Okay?

Scott Hammond: What does that mean?

Brian Papstein: Two guys are sitting down, and they're having a beer, soda, iced tea, whatever it

Brian Papstein: is.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Papstein: Is that how they talk?

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Located at 1438 48th Street.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Nobody talks like that.

Scott Hammond: Come on down.

Brian Papstein: Yeah, it's across from the pizza parlor on the corner of…

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Papstein: Regular guy talk.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: That's what this, that's what I-

Scott Hammond: The beer test

Brian Papstein: … that's what I do. Regular guy talk.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Brian Papstein: Um, and if you use acronyms, I've, I've tripped guys up saying, "Well, what did… " Okay. Regular speak, what does that mean in English?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Half the time… Well, not half the time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Papstein: Many times they forget what it means.

Scott Hammond: Oh. Great.

Brian Papstein: They, they can't define it. They know how it's applied.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: But they can't define it word by word.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Papstein: Come on. Now we're supposed to be able to follow your line of logic?

Scott Hammond: Somebody yesterday-

Brian Papstein: Eh, speak English

Scott Hammond: … this gal in a group last night, she, she's a recovering alcoholic. She goes, "Keep it real and raw." And I go, "I kinda like that," 'cause we're so full of BS.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: As we BS our ending here-

Scott Hammond: … and we close the show-

Brian Papstein: No, it's BP you're ending.

Scott Hammond: BP.

Brian Papstein: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What is that?

Brian Papstein: Not BS.

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's B, bull,

Scott Hammond: uh-

Brian Papstein: What's my name?

Scott Hammond: Oh, Brian Papstein. Brian, thanks so much- … for being here today.

Brian Papstein: I'm gonna have to give you crib notes.

Scott Hammond: Kept Radio, Eureka Broadcasting. And as I close the show, thanks everybody for listening. Come back next week. It's gonna be on YouTube. It's gonna be on Spotify. It's gonna be everywhere we, we can possibly get this, including Access TV, so it'll be on Suddenlink on the, the cable channels. And-

Brian Papstein: As long as it's not on a billboard.

Scott Hammond: It… Well, not yet. And, uh, repost, re-share, subscribe, do your whole thing. Love to have you and love to have you back. Thanks for making it.

Brian Papstein: Sure.

Scott Hammond: Anything you'd like to say before we go? You got, I don't know, 20 seconds.

Brian Papstein: See ya.

Scott Hammond: Nice. With that, we're done. Thanks, Brian.