Editor's Note: This week we are re-releasing the episodes of our 2025 Hall of Fame Class. Here, you'll catch our interview with the inspiring Geoff "Deaf Geoff" Herbert, Class of 2005. Geoff "Deaf Geoff" Herbert is a machine -serving as WJPZ's GM while working as a morning show host at a commercial station in Syracuse. Oh by the way, he was working a night shift at Blockbuster Video (RIP) and somehow attending classes. Geoff was bitten by the radio bug early, serving as General Manager of his hi...
Feb 25, 2025•30 min
Editor's Note: This week we are re-releasing the episodes with our 2025 Hall of Fame Inductees. Here, our host became the guest, as Jag's 2002 classmate and fellow Hall of Famer Matt DelSignore sat him down to hear his story. Today, we turn the tables on our host and put Jon "JAG" Gay, from the Class of 2002, in the hot seat. Doing the honors is his classmate, Matt DelSignore. Matt starts by asking Jag about the WJPZ at 50 Podcast, how the idea started, and what he's learned by hosting it. From ...
Feb 25, 2025•45 min
Editors Note: In honor of Banquet Week - we are re-relasing the episodes of our three 2025 inductees into the WJPZ Alumni of Fame, beginning with Sharon (Goodman) Michaels, aka BB Good. Due to a prior commitment, she is deferring her induction until next year, but we wanted to showcase her incredible story. If we were to pick one alumnus who best represented the warm, welcoming atmosphere of WJPZ, it would probably be Sharon Goodman Michaels, aka "B.B. Good" from the Class of 1993. Several Z89'e...
Feb 25, 2025•38 min
I wanted to call your attention to some OTHER WJPZ Alumni who are doing great podcasts. In fact, we’ve got a little something for everyone. Today, in part 1, I’m going to introduce you to three podcasts hosted by WJPZ Alumni. There’s no bigger star in the world right now than Taylor Swift – and you’d be hard pressed to find a bigger Swiftie than Molly Nelson, class of 2014. She and her best friend Ryan co-host “Hits Different,” a podcast devoted to all things Taylor, from news to theories, and m...
Apr 04, 2024•7 min•Ep. 114
We're talking today with Matthew Reschke, also known as R Source, from the class of 2012. Matt's connection to WJPZ started in his childhood, growing up near Syracuse and engaging with the station's DJs through AOL - before even AIM. Matthew's academic path took him from Onondaga Community College to LeMoyne College, where he first dabbled in college radio. His journey to WJPZ was not straightforward; it involved exploring different educational paths and eventually finding a flyer that led him t...
Mar 25, 2024•25 min•Ep. 113
Every year, the WJPZ Alumni Association, via the Berrell Award, sends two students to an industry event. In 2023, GM Grace Denton and former sports director Joe Puccio went to Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show. We sat down with them to hear about the experience. We've met Grace in her previous episode with PD Maddie Doolittle . So first we meet Joe and get his background. And we hear about their summer 2023 positions- Grace at Taylor Swift's Republic Records (thanks A...
Feb 21, 2024•26 min
If you don't know Adam and Kelly (Foster) Shapiro's backstory, you might assume it's yet another romance started in the halls of WJPZ. Their story, as you'll hear here, is a much different road than than other Z89 couples. Both members of the Class of 1992, they were certainly friendly in school, and had mutual friends, but didn't spend a ton of time together outside the station. Kelly joined the promotions department, eventually working her way up to legal director. Adam was a sports guy who be...
Feb 19, 2024•44 min•Ep. 112
While many of us flipped burgers or bagged groceries in high school, Dave Roberts was reading the news on an AM station and (literally) herding cats as a 15 year old. When he toured Syracuse and saw the WJPZ prize van, and he met Hal Rood, Jim Remeny and more. He knew it was where he had to be. After starting on overnights, Dave quickly climbed the ranks to news director and eventually VP of Business. That may sound like a strange trajectory, but Dave's always loved news (and meterology). And wh...
Feb 16, 2024•37 min•Ep. 111
Kevin Tippy Martinez, '88, is the Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications for the Seattle Mariners. It's no surprise that this New Jersey native, with passions for baseball and broadcasting, found himself transferring in to Syracuse. Once he got to SU, Martinez was actively involved with both Z89 and WAER, where he honed his skills in sports broadcasting and DJing. Not many students worked for both stations at that time, but this chief announcer made it work. He simply couldn't walk aw...
Feb 14, 2024•35 min•Ep. 110
Mike Roberts, Class of 1979, is one of the people who helped kept WJPZ alive in the early days. With the station's founders having graduated, Mike empowerd a team to run radio station, passing its educational lessons forward to the next generation of broadcasters. Arriving on campus in 1975, he quickly found WJPZ 1200 AM in the Spectrum Records building and told Bill Bleyle that he wanted to be involved. In addition to his airshift, he learned how to do everything - down to changing the needles ...
Feb 12, 2024•33 min•Ep. 109
Today we interview Marc Bokoff, from the class of 1987. A management major, Marc came to the station as business manager under then-GM Larry Barron, before becoming general manager himself. He took over the station in the midst of the station changing from a block format to the much more tighly programmed CHR format it still has today. As GM, Marc and the staff faced backlash for this change, leading accusations of racial bias and subsequent protests. We get his perspective (through his 37-year-...
Feb 09, 2024•43 min•Ep. 108
Scott Greene, '93, grew up just outside Boston wanting to be a newspaper reporter. He did it in high school and came to Syracuse wanting to pursue that career. But WJPZ quickly drew him in, and he says the only columns he wrote for the Daily Orange ended up being Wrestlemania previews. Scott came to the station as the classes of 90 and 91 were taking the reigns. His group quickly got their footing, and passed the torch to '94 and '95. And yes, Scott names names from all of these groups. While a ...
Feb 07, 2024•28 min•Ep. 107
Links! All of Marty's current work, including podcasts: https://weeklyhumorist.com/ Marty's archive of Z Morning Zoo bits, including the full Rick Wright tour of the Ostrom House: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/ascjv18c57ajw/Z_Morning_Zoo_audio Marty D was best known at WJPZ for hosting the Z Morning Zoo, alongside Peterman and Emily Zizza (now Almas). But you'll learn much more about him in today's episode. You'll hear how he was a radio nerd like most of us, growing up listening to Baltimore...
Feb 05, 2024•54 min•Ep. 106
John sent some great 1990's pics from the station. You can view them here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/zxxnn6pconq7p45fvidd1/h?rlkey=ny9i0u512pve0tf915i58xtl3&dl=0 John Beck, Class of 1995, has gone on to a prolific writing career in Hollywood, having worked on everything from The Hughleys to Fuller House, to Liv and Maddie, and more. A TV guy through and through, it was actually Dave Gorab who approached him, over at then-UUTV, to come do the Crazy Morning Crew at Z89. John is very hones...
Feb 02, 2024•43 min•Ep. 105
As the son of a radio station owner, Tony Renda grew up in broadcasting. His dad, Tony Renda Sr, started with an AM station in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania, before growing the company to many station in several markets. Growing up near Pitt, Tony Jr. new about the Big East, and of course Syracuse. His dad was an alum. But he didn't go straight from high school to Central New York; he didn't have the grades. So he spent a year at Ohio University before transferring. Once in the 315, Tony's frate...
Jan 31, 2024•32 min•Ep. 104
Today's guests are three ladies, three years apart, who have formed an enduring frienship via WJPZ that has lasted over 20 years. Tracey (Chilandese) Turner got to the station when Harry and Dena were running a skeleton crew, having just shepherded the station through it's second format change (back to Z89) in just a few years. Trace joined the station as a sophomore, just as Matt DelSignore was taking over for Harry as GM and PD. Harry provided guidance for promotions, and let his dynamic duo t...
Jan 29, 2024•48 min•Ep. 103
"Kid" Michael Rock grew up taping Casey Kasem and trying to talk up the songs himself. So it's not surprising that he applied to Syracuse, and only Syracuse . And he set out to find WJPZ before his parents had finished unpacking him into Flint Hall. Who was the first person he met at the station? BB Good. Kid got his FCC license and was soon doing every airshift, including mornings with Steve Donovan (then "Abe Froman"). Ironically, they'd end up competing against each other years later. Rock re...
Jan 26, 2024•25 min•Ep. 102
Today's guest is play-by-play man David Resnick, a 2010 WJPZ alum. He reached out to us because he wanted to make sure we recognized the All Star sports department he worked with at Z89 - many who have gone on to great success in the sports industry, as you'll hear. As David says, the "Cold War" between WJPZ and WAER had thawed by the time he got on campus, and he got involved in everything he could - working simultaneously at both radio stations AND Citrus TV. He emphasizes that being willing t...
Jan 24, 2024•33 min•Ep. 101
Hey, it’s Jag. Again, thank you so much for your support of the WJPZ at 50 podcast, which as of today, January 23, 2024, now has almost 13,000 downloads! We’re starting to wind down the series, but wanted to make sure you had a chance to hear from all of the incredible people we’ve talked to, BEFORE we all get together in Syracuse. So from now until we run out of episodes, probably the middle of February, we’ll go back to our original release schedule of every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Also...
Jan 23, 2024•1 min
We can't think of a better guest for our 100th episode than Mr. Jim Gallagher. He is believed to have spent more hours "in the chair" doing morning drive than anyone in WJPZ history. Today you'll learn how lessons learned in Syracuse served him well in a truly remarkable career. And we open the episode with a classic station story - a live broadcast from the Denny's on Erie Boulevard when he tried to eat 89 pancakes. Following his time at WJPZ, Jim did radio in Maine and Georgia. In Georgia, he ...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 100
Jen Nycz-Conner felt like she applied to every college in the Big East (RIP) before falling in love with the communications program at Syracuse. Once on campus, she found a fellow freshman with a map. She and Steve Donovan went to the radio station, met B.B. Good, and the rest is history. Living above the station in Watson as a sophomore, Jen got more involved with the station, and soon became VP of Operations as she and her 1995 classmates ran WJPZ. Actually, she wasn't technically Class of 199...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 99
Mike "T-Bone" Tierney may have known more classes in JPZ's history than anyone - having worked at Z89 as a high schooler, undergrad, and grad student. So it's no surprise many of his contemporaries consider him one of WJPZ's greatest program directors. T-Bone went to Nottingham High School, and saw a recruitment flyer for summer staffers while visiting Bird Library. He walked in that day, was immediately training, and worked his way up from overnights to the Top 8 at 9 that summer. You'd think t...
Jan 08, 2024•57 min•Ep. 98
It's no surprise that Ethan Charlip ended up at Syracuse University. His New Jersey high school classmates Jacob Belotti and Shruti Marathe were already there when he arrived on campus. In fact, Shruti told Ethan he'd be at the WJPZ spring recruitment meeting and tasked Jacob with making sure of it. Like so many of us, Ethan immediately found his tribe at the station, quickly earning a reputation for hanging out there more than even the exec staff. And how badly did he want to join exec? He appl...
Jan 01, 2024•24 min•Ep. 97
(Note link to additional content at the end of our show notes.) If we were to pick one alumnus who best represented the warm, welcoming atmosphere of WJPZ, it would probably be Sharon Goodman Michaels, aka "B.B. Good" from the Class of 1993. Several Z89'ers have come on this podcast to talk about how she welcomed them to the station, and we are thrilled to welcome her to this podcast. Like many of us, this Massachusetts native grew up loving radio - and she tells the story of how she recruited K...
Dec 25, 2023•38 min•Ep. 96
Kelly Sutton, '92, is the first female general manager in the history of WJPZ. And, like many of us, the station launched her into a prolific media career. This Buffalo native went to Syracuse, in part, because of the opportunity to double major in both Newhouse and business. And when a local radio owner back home promised a summer job, she knew she needed experience. By the spring, she found Z89, and folks like Scott Meach, Hal Rood, Dave Gorab, Dave Roberts, Dave Morgan, and more. Despite doin...
Dec 18, 2023•39 min•Ep. 95
Jordan Capozzi grew up in Syracuse, and like many Salt City Natives, did not know WJPZ was run by college students. When his high school guidance counselor released how much he liked to talk (sound familiar?) she recommended he look at SU. When Jordan learned that he could work at Z89, the station was one of his first stops. He got involved in sports, music, and the morning show. Jordan talks about the inclusive and welcoming environment of the station to students of all majors. Before long he w...
Dec 11, 2023•25 min•Ep. 94
Many of us have spent time on the air at various radio stations, but if there's one jock the current students know, it's probably Ryan Sampson, '99, the host of the Morning Mashup on SiriusXM's Hits 1. Like many of us, Ryan grew up a news and sports junkie, and considered himself fortunate to get in to Syracuse. He joined WAER and WJPZ, but had more fun at Z89, where he succeeded Scott MacFarlane as news director. After his parents moved to Baltimore, Ryan did some promotions and other work ther...
Dec 04, 2023•37 min•Ep. 93
Today's guest is one of many alumni who took the lessons of WJPZ and applied it to every job she had before and after graduation. Tina Stoklosa is a Philadelphia native who was obssessed with the news growing up. The first in her family to go to college, she new Syracuse's Broadcast Journalism program was the way to go. And while TV was always her first love, the camaraderie of Z89 quickly pulled her in. She started doing a Saturday morning news update, and worked her way all the way up to news ...
Nov 27, 2023•22 min•Ep. 92
"Cousin" Danny Corsun shares much in common with many of our alumni - a New York kid who liked sports and went to Syracuse. But as you'll hear today, his life's journey is as unique as they come. Danny started at WJPZ doing sports, and after the station moved to FM, he found his way to the Crazy Morning Crew. There, he and the late Larry Barron teamed up for one of the most prominent AM drive shows in the station's history. He tells a classic story of the moment when they realized the whole town...
Nov 20, 2023•44 min•Ep. 91
In her current role at LinkedIn and Microsoft, Jeanne Schad (Class of 1994) specializes in employee engagement. So it's not surprising that she's part of the team that's working to make the WJPZ Alumni Association and Hall of Fame more inclusive. We start with our favorite native Iowan's backstory. Jeanne's parents owned a radio station, and she had her FCC license before her driver's license! In high school, she researched the best broadcast schools, and had good instincts - she picked Syracuse...
Nov 13, 2023•46 min•Ep. 90
