Once we started, he put us together and said, let's see if it'll fly. And the first month or so, we were green and it didn't look like it was gonna fly.
Welcome to BRANDwidth on Demand, your guide to rebooting radio.
Know your role, pick your spots and be respectful. And take your job seriously, but not yourself seriously.
BRANDwidth on Demand. Rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be. Now, your guides through the mediamorphosis, David Martin, and author of the book, BRANDwidth on Demand, media branding coach, Kipper McGee.
This time around we talk with a morning show duo who create a daily dose of laughter, information, and whatever other unpredictable adventures they can cook up. Killer content all from scratch, folks, really. Radio veteran Chris Kelly brings his smooth voice and years of experience to the table, having captivated audiences for decades.
Comedic partner Chris Demm keeps things fresh with his sharp wit and off the wall humor, creating a dynamic duo that's garnered the hearts of listeners across the country. They've received numerous awards and accolades, including an NAB Marconi. And they were named North Carolina Broadcasters Morning Show of the Year. The show has achieved consistent number one ratings in both Nielsen and Eastland. It's now being heard on stations from coast to coast.
BRANDwidth on Demand is proud to welcome The one and oh, I guess the two in them guys named Chris.
Welcome. Welcome.
Those are the nicest things anybody's ever said about us. Wow. Thank you. That's very kind. Thank you.
Okay. So with 2 Guys Named Chris, I got to ask first, which Chris is which just so everybody knows
I'm Chris Kelly and I am Chris Demm.
And just for the record, what do you guys do in the show? I mean, you're cohosts, but what's the job description for each of you and anybody else, major part of the playing cast?
Yeah, we have, uh, two other guys. We, we really plan a lot of the show and, uh, you know, I run the board and sort of kick off each break, but it's very ensemble. We try, I think we have a really good group that fits together. Well, great chemistry. We have a third, a producer on the show. His name is Josh Ellinger and everybody just calls him Biggie because he's a big guy.
And then we have a, uh, we have a meteorologist who joined probably almost 20 years ago just to start doing weather, but he, he was really, uh, such a fun and funny personality that he became part of the show and his name is Dave Aiken. And, um, It just seems to really flow well with the four of us.
That's cool. So on the show, and even in writing and articles and stuff, you often joke about instantly hating each other because you were at different stations, although digging a little deeper, I found out you also kind of grew up together. So what's the story there?
The hatred part is actually a hundred percent accurate. You know, we, I think we both started in radio in about the 1980s. And at that point, at least in our experience, a lot of radio was very parochial and there was crosstown wars. There was, uh, battles on the street. And so Chris Kelly entered our, you know, we kind of entered the market, maybe roughly the same time. He was on a top 40 station and I was on the classic rock station. And through fate, our owner purchased both stations.
So now we were working for the same company, working for very powerful, very experienced morning hosts. And so we realized we had the same job, but our job was to knock the other guy off the podium. And so we really disliked each other in a way that only insecure radio people can.
Right.
Okay. And so then. How'd they get you together?
Well, then, you know, Chris Demm is such a nice guy. Uh, all of a sudden we were at events together and things like that. And then we started playing basketball together and they teamed us up to do things in the company, like a plan company, Christmas party skits and things like that. And, you know, I just, Chris Demm is the funniest person I know, and it's hard not to like him after a while because, uh, he just is a funny, good guy.
And so we became friends and did things like hang out with other people that we played basketball and sports. And so when there was an opportunity to put us together,
We had similar interests for probably, you know, four or five years, well, before we even thought about doing a show. And as Chris Kelly said, Once we realized we were working basically the same job, you know, number two microphones with very powerful hosts, we kind of commiserate over that. And we realized we had a lot of similar interests and we had zero social life. And so, but we instantly had chemistry. We laughed at the same things. We thought the same movies were funny.
The same movies were not funny. And I think we were joking about it one night after a game of basketball nine o'clock at night, it was summertime, the sun was still out. And we would often say, wouldn't it be kind of cool to do a show together? Never dreaming it would happen. But then, uh, it's a long story about how our company had a syndicated morning program in place and through no decision of our companies, that syndicated show never happened.
Left leaving our WKRR with a gaping morning show opening. And so we, Chris Kelly lobbied our boss and said, give us a chance. And stunningly he did.
He did.
Well, you guys have had this incredible 25 year run of success. What are some of the unique benefits and challenges of co hosting a morning show?
The benefits was we knew each other for a long time before we started. And once we started, as Chris Tim was saying about our boss, um, he put us together and said, let's see if it'll fly in the first month or so we were green and it didn't look like it was going to fly. And we really went through the wars of trying to improve the show and our boss at the time, we thought he was going to cancel us because it just wasn't going well in the first 6 weeks.
But then he hooked us up with a guy named Randy Lane, a pretty legendary consultant. And he helped us, that was the benefit we had. He helped us immeasurably in year one. And then after that, I think, I know we have the mantra of, you know, we might not be the funniest or best ever, but we can work the hardest. And so I think we put a lot of hard work into it early.
And the more we did it, I just feel like it just keeps falling into place more and more chemistry and it gets just, I won't say easier and easier. I think we'd still try to keep it fresh and, uh, and come up with more and more things and more and more topics and stories to do. But learning from Randy Lane early really helped us propel into some success
as far as benefits and challenges. You know, I think. I don't want to, I think I can speak for Chris Kelly. I think we both are doing what we've always wanted to do. And for that, you can't even put a value on that. The challenges of course, are, you know, the radio advertising marketing has changed everybody and there are more and more podcasts there's there's, you know, people can listen to content wherever you are. So the challenge is. Making people want to continue to seek you out.
What a difference between now and when we started as far as, I mean, it was us versus 20 other FM signals here, and now it's West versus a million, everything and streaming and podcasting and all of that is a amazing challenge.
Many of which though are yours. I mean, you got your own stream, you got your shows out, your podcast, your feature bits.
Well, I think you have to.
No, absolutely not. I think you're absolutely right. So obviously you agree on a lot of stuff. You laugh at the same things, you get the same sense of humor, that kind of stuff, which is very helpful, but. Every show invariably will have some differences here and there. And, one person wants to talk about the, SAG awards and the other one doesn't or whatever. So can you give us an example of something you disagreed about and how you resolved it...in real time, then?
Well, I mean, there have been times that we've disagreed on the air, but I think for us, there's such a respect and friendship and long standing chemistry that, you know, you do it on the air and it's a friendly disagreement. Generally, I don't think anybody takes it to the next 15 minutes or break or whatever. And I know that neither one of us are really comfortable. I don't think talking about like politics.
Sometimes we get into that and I don't think Chris Dim likes to talk about it very much. And, you know, we'll disagree and come at it from different sides. And then we usually resolve just to, I think we're very good at, um, resolving those issues by saying, okay, we don't want to talk about it, but we have to, because it's a big enough item in the news.
We try to keep everything really light and funny, but some days, of course, if you've got a school shooting or something, I hate talking about that kind of stuff, but it dominates the news so much and he's really good. I'm saying, you know, this really needs to be addressed and then we try to figure out a way to address it in a way that fits with our show
and before, uh, Kipper,to your question about conflicts. I mean. What stands out in my mind was for many years, it was just Kelly and me, and we didn't even have a phone screener. Kelly would answer the phone calls live on the air. You know, it was literally radio without a net. And we did that for five years. And so I think we had some, and to Randy Lane's credit, he said, you two need to play up your differences and play your characters. You know, which is an exaggerated version of yourself.
And in my mind, I think we had this, the lead up to the Gulf War, you know, and that was kind of, we kind of butted heads on that on the air, but I don't think, to Chris Kelly's point, we did not take it personally, you know, we knew we just had to do it.
We're different in that I, uh Would rather eat at Chick fil a or McDonald's and he'd rather eat a fine meal and have wine and I'd rather drink Diet Coke. And, and so we play that up to the hilt. And then I would say bring as much, I do a lot of talking about my body. Family, my son, funny little things that happened to me throughout the day. I mean, give as much as you can about yourself because that's what people talk to me about.
And we do so many stories about the news or whatever, but all people talk to me about are the personal things. Uh, you know, two things I can think of. I play pickleball and we talk about it and that's all anybody talks to me about. And a couple of years ago. I had something happen to me. I got scammed in a, uh, pine straw scam.
But guys came by my house and tried to sell me pine straw and I wound up Making a huge mistake and, uh, spending a lot of money on pine straw and people remember those things. That's the stuff people really remember. So I would just say, those are the two things I would say is exaggerate your own character and give as much as you can about your personal life.
Yeah. And my advice would be, be a good listener. Um, you know, use, use your time as wide as you can, because we have incredible phone callers. As Chris Kelly said, we have two other. major players on the show. Everybody has equal access to microphone time. So listen and you know, remain in your character and you know, know what your job is.
Like Chris Kelly will tell stories about himself and he leaves himself open for a punchline, which is kind of an opening for myself or Biggie, uh, our phone screener producer who has a background in standup comedy. He knows how to come in with just the right line. You know, it's just sometimes it's a simple line and then you can take that on a two minute.
Comedic tangent talking about anything, you know, about, you know, how husbands and wives get together or how parents and children relate to one another. So, you know, know your role and pick your spots and be respectful and take, take your job seriously, but not yourself seriously, but that's some of the best advice I've ever heard.
Great, great way to say that. I mean, I, I feel like, and I think this is probably Randy Lane that told us this, the more vulnerability you can have, I don't mind being vulnerable and leaving myself open for jokes because it's. I hear so many hosts say something that's like, uh, leaves themselves open and vulnerable and the other hosts start to make, the other co hosts start to make fun of them or joke around and they'll say, Oh, no, no, no, and try to fight it.
I don't do that because I feel like the comedy is just there for that. I don't mind taking those hits. I think in
comedy, they call that going with the bit. And Chris Kelly is, you know, A plus for, for going with the bit. Try.
These guys are amazing and they're named Chris. That's something else. Somebody you'd love to hear from. We'd love to hear your suggestions. Just email show at brandwithondemand. com or reach out to us on social. Brandwith Plus on Insta, Facebook, and Twitter. And that, that's X or whatever it is. That's Brandwith P L U S. Brandwith Plus. So should we make that Brandwith
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Coming up, 2 Guys Named Chris reveal something they know now that they really wish they knew way back then.
Here at Musicmaster, we can help with a lot of things because we've heard a lot of things. Have you ever heard this? Of course you have. It's dead air. Or how about this? Yeesh, what's known as the trainwreck segue. Or maybe your PD just heard two of the same artists back to back, and it's not even Tuesday. At Music Master, we know a thing or two, because, well, we've heard a thing or two. We are Music Master. Perfect the sound of your radio station today. Check out Musicmaster. com.
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The stuff we know now. We wish we'd known then. BRANDwidth
on Demand. We're with 2 Guys Named Chris. No, really. They are 2 Guys Named Chris. Guys, what do you know now? You really wish you'd known way back in the beginning.
I think I would say, I wish I had known then that our hard work would pay off in the, in the way that listeners would trust us and believe in us and laugh at what we were doing without us trying to reinvent the wheel, as we mentioned. Uh, without us trying to do things that really weren't in our comfort zone, that what we had was working and, uh, would work and that it would all pay off.
I just, I just wish I had trusted my, I wish I had trusted what we do now, 25 years ago, because it took a while to get to that point.
That's a, it's an amazingly tough question off the top of my head. I would say, you know, be, be accessible to all the members of your team. I mean, you know, a radio station is an immense undertaking. We have people who work part time. We have people on our promo team, our sales team, you know, Kelly and I have always prided ourselves on trying to be. Available and accessible to our sales team because they're the ones who get us the endorsements.
They're the ones who, you know, keep the ad revenue coming in. So be known and be available in the building to everybody on the team, because you're all really essentially working for the same goal. You know, you don't have the same job, but you're, the goals are the same.
Our thanks to 2 Guys Named Chris links for their archive shows, podcasts, feature bits, and more all in the show notes. Just scroll down on your phone.
As always our thanks to Exec Producer, Cindy Huber and to Associate Producer, Hannah B for booking. And coming up next.
Hi, it's Molly Cruz, brand manager of B96 in Chicago. And next time on BRANDwidth on Demand, I'll share with you the best advice I ever got and how I get through my days. Of being a brand manager in the third largest market in the U. S. And, uh, and being a mom, all in one day.
That's a wrap, Kipper. Level up with a goal and a plan. That's this time in One Minute Martinizing. Find it in the show notes at brandwithondemand. com. I'm Dave Martin.
And I'm Kipper McGee. May all your BRANDwidth on Demand be wide.