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The Greatest DJ Who Never Was…The Chucker

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio, morning show 12 Jun 2021 Comments: 0

“Puke”. Verb. /pyook/ “He puked up his pizza”.

I once blogged about someone named the Polynesian Pirate; a mythical character who did his Saturday night shows on KAOI/Maui from a boat as it sailed around the island. It was possibly the best Radio Theater since the 1930’s. Truly amazing stuff.

Alas, the “Pirate” was station personality Tommy Ching’s creation and was done entirely from the studio.

I was trading messages with a Radio friends about the Pirate and how he was the greatest DJ who never existed. I got a pretty harsh reply. “How could you possibly leave ‘The Chucker from Chucker’s Playhouse on Power 92’ off that list?!”

Crap. He was right. Because the Chucker was GOLD. Literally and figuratively.

Imagine having such a strong morning show that you didn’t feel that you needed to air all of the celebrity interviews that were being shoved down your throat. Comedians. Actors pushing projects. Those kinds of interviews where you wonder, “What am I supposed to do with Judy Tenuta?”

Well, that has been Tom Bernard’s status and freedom at KQRS in Minneapolis. To say that his show is a Monster would not be doing it justice.

So, with the assistance of a KQ staffer/old college radio colleague of mine, they created “The Chucker.”

If Tom didn’t want to do the interview or thought that maybe the Chucker’s unique spin would be better, it was done by “The Chucker with Chucker’s Playhouse on Power 92….”

Imagine a septuagenarian who probably has smoked a ton, with possible cognitive issues, getting five minutes on the phone with the actress who played Vicky The Robot on “Small Wonder”. Exactly. Or even Woody Harrelson.

Thus one of the most iconic personalities in Twin Cities radio was born.

To even try to do it justice and explain the nuances of the bit would be criminal. So I’m turning it over the John Lassman, The Chucker himself.

“The Chucker was born out of necessity. On The KQ Morning Show, I was doing ‘The Call Of The Day’, the old ‘Candid Phone Call’ bit. But unlike today, these were real calls, set up by a friend or relative. At some point, some stations (not mine), started getting sued for harassment. I guess calling a stranger, recording them without their knowledge and broadcasting their reaction to;

‘You’re Husband’s leaving you for his co-worker, you know Amy, right?, I’m their new Attorney..’ didn’t go over well in court.” Recounts Lassman.

So how did The Chucker come about?

“I was doing 6-10pm on KQ and interviewing all kinds of ‘Hair Bands’ and B list celebrities for ‘Johnny Rock Primetime’.I thought, if they where already agreeing to being recorded for broadcast, why not have some fun with it? A few days later, The Chucker was interviewing the drummer for Kingdom Come. I couldn’t make that up if I tried. “The Drummer for Kingdom Come”. Kingdom Come where a Led Zeppelin sound alike, who’s song ‘Get it On’ was huge at Rock Radio. After the drummer got pissed off and hung up on me for all the Led Zeppelin questions, we had a new morning show bit,” recalls Lassman.

Who would have the BALLS to mess with Keanu Reeves? Tom Bernard and The Chucker The Chucker with Keanu Reeves – YouTube

And I’ve worked with talent who had to interview Rob Schneider and he was a nightmare. Thus…the Chucker got him The Chucker with Rob Schneider – YouTube

“Fred Savage, Carrot Top, Jim Neighbors, Phyllis Diller and Shirley McLaine are just a few of the ‘Big Stars’ that the Chucker has had the pleasure of interviewing. In Focus Groups, this made up D.J. would test better than 75% of the real personalities in the market. That might say more about the on air talent in Minneapolis/St. Paul at the time, than it does about The Chucker? 30 years later, I’m still riding his coat tails,” jokes Lassman.

Fred Savage? He told him how much he loved his work on “Doogie Howser”. The Chucker with Fred Savage from The Wonder Years – YouTube

The best part of The Chucker, for me, was that after he would stumble, he’d just reboot and start again from the beginning.

All celebrity interviews sound the same. Acknowledging that is part of a 12 Step process to Radio Recovery. So doing them differently would be to execute the Art of Promotions: to stand out.

I heard Katy Perry get interviewed by an intern at the BBC who had a completely different line of questions and a certain degree of nervousness that she immediately embraced. Kind of “Thank GOD it’s not the same six fucking questions.”

30+ years later, The Chucker has name recognition here that simply can’t be bought. But it’s time to bid him adieu for now.

“Paige, we can’t thank ya’ enough for all the time and we still remember when you came up with ‘WLOL’s Prince for Governor’ Promotion. Well, they can’t all be Marconi winners”.

I didn’t come up with that promotion and if the Chucker had gotten my resume right, well, he wouldn’t be The Chucker.

Listen to The Best of The Chucker

Featuring:
Woody Harrelson
Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead
Keanu Reeves
George Carlin
Carl Reiner
Yakoff Smirnoff
Dennis Miller
Fred Savage
Shirley MacLaine
Rob Schneider
Eddie Albert
Carrot Top

92 KQRS · Dennis Miller #1 & #2

Desks For Hire & Rejecting Rejection Letters

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio 17 Jan 2021 Comments: 0

My first two jobs in Radio were minimum wage and I had gotten them the way I had gotten all of my other previous minimum wage jobs: I walked in. Applied. And waited. Or in the case of WLOL, someone at the college station stopped me before I went over and applied at KQRS and said “You know Swedberg works at WLOL? Go there first.” I did and Gregg said, “I don’t have anything but Tom upstairs in Promotions might.”

There came a time when I decided that I was going to take off the training wheels and see if I could actually do this. I’d been unbelievably fortunate to have spent five years working with and surrounded by some amazingly talented people. Hopefully some of it had rubbed off and there was no way to know unless I took a big flying leap.

I’d watched hundreds, no, thousands of people apply for jobs at WLOL and their tapes and resumes ended up in this giant pile.

Piles suck. Except for this one time in Edmonton but that’s for another time.

I’d also seen labels and artists, unsolicited, inundate Programming with product. And most of it ended up in a pile.

I didn’t want to end up in a pile. I wanted just eight seconds of their attention. That’s all. Eight seconds. If I got eight seconds, I was going to be doing better than all of the people in the pile.

Having Fun With Home Studio’ng (tm pending)

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio, Pandemic 07 Dec 2020 Comments: 0

I don’t think I’m one of those annoying “the glass is half full”, “when life hands you lemons…”, “when one door closes, another one opens” kind of people. I’m more of a “okay, this is screwed up but maybe we could have some fun with it” guy.

So, remotely broadcasting is going to continue and consequently, maybe we could have some fun with it.

Radio has never done a great job with visuals but between creating videos and social media and our sites, we’re getting better. We’re just not there yet.

Ticket to Trouble – The Time That Legal Got It Wrong

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Promotions 05 Nov 2020 Comments: 0

This post is a reminder that it’s entirely possible that sometimes, even your Legal Dept. at the corporate level is fallible.

I’ve always had my radar up for things that my station or clients could jump on and in the Spring of 1991, my radar pinged a target. I was at the late GREAT Kiss 102 in Charlotte. That station was a monster. Jo Jo Wright was doing Nights and Mark Shands and Erik Bradley had one of the tightest, most amazing Rhythm formats in Radio.

I was on my way to an event and a few people were up at the front desk giving one of the AE’s wads of cash. A drug deal! Cool! Count me in!

No, sadly, he was on his way to Pittsburgh for a family event, there was a state lottery in Pennsylvania and he was making a ticket run for staff and our friends and neighbors.

When everyone else has something and you don’t, it makes you want it even more. Like a state lottery.

When Promotions Attack #6: The Time A Platinum-Selling Artist Performed For 11 Kids In A High School Auditorium

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Promotions, Street Teamers 07 Oct 2020 Comments: 0

I’ve always looked back at my career in Radio with lots of very happy memories. But as I continue with this blog, I’m beginning to have blocked memories crawl to the surface. PTSD will do that to you. As my Hutterite German father once said, “Feelings are bad. Bury them deep and never speak of them again. Focus on the harvest. The potatoes don’t pick themselves.”

So, yes, there were a few Mary Richards Parties along the way. The Production Director at WLOL used to refer to failed promotions as “Mary Richards Parties” because on the MTM show, all her parties were disasters.

In early 1987 I was the Promotion Coordinator at Emmis’ late, great, helped-pay-for-the-Mariners CHR, WLOL in the Twin Cities. And Programming had been really fortunate to have established a relationship with Limited Warranty, which was a local boy band with an EMMENSE and rabid following who would go anywhere and do anything to see the guys. It helped that they were very talented and also, well, good dudes. Read more…

Can I Have A T-Shirt?

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio, Promotions, Street Teamers 14 Sep 2020 Comments: 0

For about a month in college I tried telemarketing which, if it’s possible, crushed my beaten-down self-esteem even more.

It was brutal.

I remember one client the firm was working for wanted to send free diapers to people and they’d somehow procured a subscription list from Parenting Magazine. So we had a pretty good list of contacts for people who might want some.

It should have been easy. You’re a new parent? We’d love to send you a free box of diapers and when you’re done with them, just fill out a card and mail it back telling us what you thought.

Easy peasy.

Outside of being in Little League, I’ve never been screamed at so many times in my life. Read more…

Death Defying Tales From The Radio Trenches

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio 13 Aug 2020 Comments: 0

In 2010 I was consulting a station and it was pretty evident early on that the General Manager didn’t like me. This would have made my mom apoplectic: “How could she not like you?!” My services had been foisted on her by corporate and frankly, she was stuck with me.

During one meeting she asked, in all seriousness, “How many listeners have you killed?”

This question would have been offensive to some people but I took it as a compliment so I leaned back, looked thoughtful, put on a face of “deep contemplation” and finally replied, “Killed? No….(more thoughtful consideration)…no…never have killed anyone.”

To be honest, I did have a contest winner ski into a tree and have an asthma attack in West Virginia, and a trip winner got cut by flying glass when Hurricane Iniki blew out her hotel room window on Kauai.

But killed? Nope.

When I was at the Emmis CHR in the Twin Cities we did a series of events over three summers where we probably fed 10,000 people. Actual darn DJ’s preparing and servicing actual darn food and not one casualty. I’ve always been kind of stunned by that.

Me? I haven’t fared as well. Read more…

The Worst Radio Promotion…EVER

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Promotions 24 Jul 2020 Comments: 0

Radio Life is about stories. It’s about friends and coworkers and rehashing the highs and lows of our careers. And just about everyone has had their own disaster tale, and when someone tells me that “Nope, never had a contest calamity”, I’ll suggest that maybe they’re not trying hard enough.

Great homerun hitters go up to the plate and they swing. And they usually have the most strikeouts on their team but, when they connect, the stands erupt and they’re mobbed at home plate.

This is not one of those moments. This is the kind of experience that, years later, you still kind of get involuntary full-body shivers.

This is….The KDWB Blimp.

“Hold on…I am vomiting in my mouth…give me a minute” – Buck McWilliams, July 2020

It had it all. Mystery. Intrigue. A cast of characters. Prizes. Prizes, I tell you! An attempted hit on one of the principals in the promotion. It just didn’t have a blimp.

“That blimp idea cratered the radio station…there was no blimp! WTF?” – Greg Thunder, July 2020

In the Summer of 1987 I was Promotion Coordinator at Emmis’s CHR in the Twin Cities, WLOL. It was literally and figuratively a monster. The previous winter we’d actually cracked a 10. The station had a legendary morning team with Hines & Berglund, a booming signal, we owned the streets and because it was Emmis, we did BIG promotions. Read more…

W.W.L.D. (What Would Listeners Do)

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio, Contest, Interns, Promotions 04 Jul 2020 Comments: 0

I always enjoyed taking the interns out for pizza late in the summer before they all fled back to their dorms, and thank them for their hard work but also pick their brains for ideas. They hadn’t been in Radio long enough to get screwed up or have their minds polluted with “This is how stuff is done because this is the way we’ve always done it” thought-boxes.

I’d ask them about events and contests and remotes and procedures and what would they do differently? How would they make it better? And they never ever let me down and I think really helped the stations improve as we moved forward.

The best idea I ever heard was from an intern named Katie who suggested that the station have water coolers and free water at the State Fair booth. “Everything here is so expensive, you can drop $20 before you get in the gate, it’s always so bleeping hot. It would get people to stop at the booth for a moment and maybe get introduced to the DJ’s and the music.”

Brilliant. Freaking brilliant. And NO Radio Person would have ever suggested something as insane and reckless and dangerous as free Dixie cups of water.

The station implemented it the next year and it was a homerun. Read more…

The Best Promotion Ever?

Posted by: Paige Nienaber In: Business of Radio, Contest, Pandemic, Promotions 02 Jun 2020 Comments: 0

Among the questions that I’m asked, like “Have you been drinking, sir?” and “Who does your hair?” is “What do you think the best promotion was?”

That’s subjective. If you asked a GM and a PD and a talent and a Sales Manager and a listener that question, you’d get five different answers. And they’d all be right.

My answer, today, at this moment, on a sunny afternoon in Minnesota as I take a break from trying to discern the directions for a new hammock, would be “The Xtreme Radio beach house in Honolulu.”

There was a point in history when MTV played videos and they did contests that should have been on the Radio. Giving away a pink house? Please. Totally a radio contest. Having Prince come and take you to a movie screening? Radio contest. So when they did a beach house in 1998, I immediately thought, “radio promotion” and quickly lobbed it at all of the Clifton stations.

It took a couple of months but Xtreme Radio in Honolulu took it on and hit it out of the park.

They got a summer rental on the north shore from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And it was pretty amazing. It was surrounded by a wall, had a pool and grotto, was three terraced floors high, and had a basketball court and a huge lawn.
They did one shift a day from there.
300 listeners were invited to come out and hang out every day.