Radio | Public Figures – A Nateland Podcast | Ep #33

• 0:00 Welcome, and where everyone is this week: Aaron in Orlando and Conroe, Dusty at casinos near Des Plaines and in Harris, Michigan, and Brian at New York Comedy Club.
• 1:30 Two weeks since the last taping: Aaron opened for Kathleen Madigan in San Antonio and at Austin City Limits during Ohio State–Texas weekend.
• 3:25 Southwest loses Aaron’s checked bag, CPAP machine inside, and keeps routing it to the wrong city.
• 5:25 Same clothes all weekend and a pair of Buc-ee’s Gasquatch underwear worn on stage.
• 7:33 Dusty’s weekend: Zanies Nashville, then his final show at Theatre 99 in Charleston before the building is torn down.
• 8:25 Columbus and Louisville with Vince Fabra opening, 90-minute sets, and a 75-year-old superfan named Dave.
• 10:05 Brian’s weekend: watching Ohio State–Texas in the green room, and a show at GEODIS Park for Great Cities Missions.
• 11:30 Room setup: a struggling Bible-class speaker, PowerPoints that won’t start, and defending a motivational speaker.
• 13:28 Sponsor: SeatGeek.
• 14:54 Nateland news: Thursday Night Thing, the Showcase Season 5 with Colin Chamberlain, Mike Goodwin’s half hour, and an October 18 taping.
• 17:03 Comments open: where comments come from, and why Apple Podcasts reviews are the worst.
• 18:51 From the Frank Caliendo episode: Aaron’s high school football highlight reel, and Frank’s Gruden and Rogan.
• 20:25 Aaron’s Morgan Freeman impression, and Morgan Freeman in Lean on Me.
• 21:30 Who’s the queen of impressions? Maria Bamford and Melissa Villaseñor.
• 22:02 Jacob Reed wanted to learn about Wisconsin, and Aaron’s Minong bit.
• 23:30 Brian’s AI-generated club poster for an October 25 Funny Bone date.
• 26:00 A cartographer backs Dusty on propaganda maps and map projections.
• 28:30 From the philosophy episode: support for Aaron, and the Frank episode split the audience.
• 30:30 The unmoved mover: Aristotle, Aquinas, and an Aquinas College sign off I-440.
• 31:50 A book on Dustonian philosophy, Dusty’s book We’re Having a Good Time, and the friend commune.
• 35:30 Morgan Freeman hasn’t gone away: Lioness, Taylor Sheridan, and Zoe Saldaña’s box-office record.
• 38:18 Sponsor: BetterHelp.
• 39:30 Morgan Freeman’s disappearing act and The Bucket List.
• 40:15 Who talks most on this podcast, and Vince Gill for the Tennessee Mount Rushmore.
• 41:36 Following Vince Gill at the Opry, and Dustin Nickerson at the Brent Peterson foundation event.
• 43:00 This week’s topic: radio. Who still listens to terrestrial radio?
• 44:15 Ball games on the radio, MLB.TV with the local radio call, and the pencil-snap bat-crack story.
• 45:30 Car presets, a new ’90s country station, Titans sports talk, and the jumbotron code-of-conduct video.
• 47:35 Hitting seek in the middle of nowhere, and calling in to radio shows.
• 48:30 Requesting the Dukes of Hazzard theme as a kid, and Paul Finebaum’s call-in show.
• 49:50 The Harvey Updike call that one host heard live.
• 50:20 Calling in to the Titans coaches show, Big Joe on the Go, and picking Nate and Tacko Fall 12 years ago.
• 53:30 Calling to win Smash Mouth tickets, and when “All Star” became a cultural moment.
• 54:55 Radio days for comics: phoners every 10 minutes, the snap into radio voice, and talking tadpoles.
• 56:55 Zack’s bug-exhibit interview, comics blowing it for a club on morning TV, and Erica Rhodes.
• 58:30 Sitting in on Bob & Tom with April Macie: “There’s no room for you there.”
• 59:30 Childhood radio: John Boy and Billy, Rick and Bubba, a Montgomery DJ at an eighth-grade dance, and South 106.
• 1:00:40 Aaron’s worst radio interview in Dayton, and how the same host got another of them on air too.
• 1:02:00 AM radio, the Opry on Willie’s Roadhouse, and leaving the Opry before the next act.
• 1:03:13 Sponsor: Quince.
• 1:04:49 History of radio: Heinrich Hertz, radio waves in space, and Contact.
• 1:06:15 AM vs. FM, why the dial runs 88 to 108, and Back to the Future.
• 1:08:00 Why AM travels farther at night: the D layer, and WSM across the country.
• 1:09:00 A Nashville tower, Dusty Slay Radio 106.9, and clear-channel stations WSM and WLAC.
• 1:10:40 Can you pick up radio through a tooth filling? Mercury fillings and holistic dentists.
• 1:13:15 Root canals, neutral sources, and pulling a tooth on the podcast.
• 1:15:50 Wisdom teeth: “I think it’s all a scam.”
• 1:16:47 The first commercial broadcast: KDKA Pittsburgh, November 2, 1920.
• 1:17:58 Orson Welles and The War of the Worlds in 1938.
• 1:18:45 iHeartMedia’s station count, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• 1:20:14 Radio owners and authentic popularity: iHeart, Cumulus, and who decides the hits.
• 1:22:00 Ella Langley’s “Choosing Texas,” and a host’s Hawk Tuah conspiracy.
• 1:24:10 Macaulay Culkin is Kid Rock, slowly becoming Dr. Phil.
• 1:25:01 Famous DJs: Alan Freed and the term rock and roll, butt rock, and yacht rock in Canada.
• 1:26:51 Sponsor: Chime.
• 1:28:33 Casey Kasem, Wolfman Jack, and the Newport News condo after Spanky Brown died.
• 1:29:39 Paul Harvey in the car, Rush Limbaugh in the middle of nowhere, and Tom Joyner.
• 1:30:15 “Press the button and blow it up,” and Nashville traffic-report horns.
• 1:31:30 Howard Stern, Delilah, Charlamagne tha God, and Katt Williams’s famous radio clip.
• 1:33:20 Bobby Bones, Dancing with the Stars, and Bear Grylls with celebrities.
• 1:34:34 Ralph Emery comes up, then a detour: is asparagus pee a warning sign?
• 1:36:00 Maple syrup urine disease and Gary Fletcher’s Mountain Dew joke.
• 1:37:20 Ralph Emery, Emory University, and Into the Wild.
• 1:38:45 Gerry House: the House Foundation and the hit songs he wrote.
• 1:39:40 The billboard sitter, the beard until bin Laden, Rick and Bubba, and Charleston’s Gino Jones.
• 1:41:25 Radio shows that made comics: Bob & Tom, Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, and a friend called Apples.
• 1:43:43 The most popular radio show in America: Dave Ramsey, then Marketplace and the rest of the top list.
• 1:44:50 What radio show would you host? Sports talk, highbrow Finebaum, and Dusty’s alien-abduction call-in show.
• 1:47:10 “The unmoved mover”: Aaron’s Notre Dame center nickname, and Notre Dame vs. Michigan State.
• 1:48:55 Marcus Freeman, and Charles Dutton’s clap in Rudy.
• 1:50:14 An NFL version of Rudy: the John Tuggle movie, and whether Rudy is a good movie.
• 1:51:54 Radio the movie and Cuba Gooding Jr., and what they learned.
• 1:52:38 Where to see them live, and an old clip of Aaron bombing at the Harris, Michigan casino.
• 1:55:30 Tour dates for Aaron and Brian, and the closing song.

The lost Southwest bag

Aaron checked a bag at the priority lane in Nashville, the tag was printed but never attached, and it never got scanned. With his CPAP inside, he slept badly all weekend. Southwest kept offering to send it to San Antonio after he’d left, until an agent broke a few rules and had it waiting at Nashville baggage claim, plus a $150 voucher. In the meantime he wore Buc-ee’s Gasquatch underwear on stage at Austin City Limits. 3:25

Theatre 99’s final show

Dusty played his last show at Theatre 99 in Charleston, the club where he started comedy, before the building is torn down for development. Old comedy buddies Jason Gross and Tim Heckle opened. Then came sold-out Columbus and Louisville shows timed around the football schedule, roughly 90 minutes on stage, and a 75-year-old superfan named Dave. 7:33

The unmoved mover

A commenter wanted more on the unmoved mover. Aaron explains it as Aristotle’s idea, adopted by Thomas Aquinas: every cause has a cause, and tracing it back you reach an uncaused cause that Aquinas called God. Later, Aaron’s highbrow sports-show idea turns it into his nickname as a Notre Dame center. 30:30

Dustonian philosophy

A commenter wants a book of Dusty’s philosophy. He has a book coming out, We’re Having a Good Time, and lays out the tenets: stop believing everything people tell you, and ask questions until the answer satisfies you. The table jokes about a Church of Dusty; Dusty wants land for a friend commune. 31:50

Calling in

Nobody at the table calls radio shows much. One host requested the Dukes of Hazzard theme with his sister and waited forever for it. Paul Finebaum’s show gets described as Jerry Springer for college football, including the Harvey Updike call about poisoning the trees at Toomer’s Corner. Another host once called a sports-radio show asking for up-and-comers and picked Nate Bargatze as the comic to watch, years before most people knew him. 48:00

Radio days for comics

Dusty and Aaron both use a radio promoter who books a station call every 10 minutes for two hours. Dusty has stopped doing jokes and just talks, like the interview about raising tadpoles. One host recalls Nashville comic Zack Townsend turning a whole interview into bug jokes, the table warns about comics who ruin morning TV for a club, and Aaron retells being caught on air in Dayton. 54:55

History of radio

Brian’s research: Heinrich Hertz proved radio waves exist; AM is amplitude modulation and FM is frequency modulation; the FM dial runs 88 to 108 because the frequencies below were old TV channels and above are reserved for aircraft navigation; and AM carries farther at night because the D layer breaks up after sunset. That is why WSM and the Opry reach most of the country, and why Tennessee has two of the roughly 50 clear-channel stations. 1:04:49

Radio through your fillings

Can metal fillings pick up AM radio? Brian reads that it can happen under very rare conditions. That turns into mercury fillings, holistic dentists, whether root canals are bad for you, how to find a neutral source, and whether wisdom-tooth removal is a scam. These are the hosts’ opinions, not medical advice. 1:10:40

The first broadcast and War of the Worlds

The first commercial radio broadcast was KDKA in Pittsburgh announcing the 1920 presidential election results on November 2, 1920. In 1938 Orson Welles staged The War of the Worlds, and the table notes the panic has probably been overstated. 1:16:47

Who decides the hits

Dusty doesn’t like iHeartMedia and Cumulus owning so many stations, because DJs get playlists instead of breaking local bands. That leads to doubts about Billboard numbers for Ella Langley’s “Choosing Texas,” and a joke theory that Ella Langley is a recast Hawk Tuah girl. 1:20:14

Famous DJs

The list covers Alan Freed, who popularized “rock and roll,” Casey Kasem of American Top 40 and Shaggy, Wolfman Jack, Paul Harvey (listening in the car until the story ended), Rush Limbaugh, Tom Joyner, Howard Stern, Delilah, Charlamagne tha God, and Bobby Bones. For Nashville there’s Ralph Emery, and Gerry House, who wrote Reba’s “Little Rock” and LeAnn Rimes’s “On the Side of Angels.” 1:25:01

The most popular radio show in America

The table guesses, then gets the genre: financial. It’s Dave Ramsey, followed by Marketplace, All Things Considered, Sean Hannity, Morning Edition, Mark Levin, and Coast to Coast AM. One host wants to call Ramsey with a made-up disaster: a $5 million loan on $12,000 a year. 1:43:43

If you hosted a radio show

One host would do local sports talk. Aaron wants a highbrow Finebaum about sports and culture. Dusty would host alien-abduction calls, with a song after each story, a Socratic way of handling liars, and maybe a cryptozoology hour. 1:44:50

Rudy, Mr. Irrelevant, and Radio

Marcus Freeman’s clapping leads to Charles Dutton’s clap in Rudy. There’s an NFL version coming about John Tuggle, the last pick in the draft, and they debate whether Rudy holds up. They agree it does. Then a nod to Radio, the Cuba Gooding Jr. movie. 1:48:55

Nate Bargatze tour Official site · Nateland merch shop Official site

We’re Having a Good Time by Dusty Slay (book) — Dusty’s upcoming book, mentioned when a commenter asks for a book of his philosophy. Amazon 32:02

Lean on Me (1989) — the animated Morgan Freeman role Aaron loves. Amazon 21:02

Lioness (TV series) — a commenter’s favorite show, with Morgan Freeman as Secretary of State. Amazon 36:08

Drumline (2002) — Zoe Saldaña’s early movie that Dusty never saw. Amazon 37:26

The Bucket List (2007) — the last Morgan Freeman movie anyone could name. Amazon 40:00

Smash Mouth, Astro Lounge (with “All Star”) — one host’s second or third album ever bought. Amazon 54:02

The Dukes of Hazzard — the theme song one host requested as a kid. Amazon 48:55

Contact (1997) — where Aaron learned old broadcasts are still traveling through space. Amazon 1:05:47

Back to the Future — 88 miles per hour, like the bottom of the FM dial. Amazon 1:06:55

Ham radio — how Dusty could start his own station. Amazon 1:09:30

The War of the Worlds (1938 broadcast) — the radio play people thought was real. Amazon 1:17:58

O Brother, Where Art Thou? — the Soggy Bottom Boys’ radio hit they never heard. Amazon 1:19:18

Into the Wild (book and film) — Brian’s Emory University tangent. Amazon 1:38:00

Rudy (1993) — the clap, the gate guard, and a good football movie. Amazon 1:49:20

Radio (2003) — the other radio, with Cuba Gooding Jr. Amazon 1:51:56

Cities and regions

Orlando, Florida · Conroe, Texas — Aaron’s weekend: Funny Bone Orlando (Official site), then the Riot Comedy Club (Official site). 0:30

Des Plaines, Illinois · Harris, Michigan — Dusty’s casino weekend, including the Island Resort & Casino. 0:30

San Antonio · Austin, Texas — Aaron opening for Kathleen Madigan on Ohio State–Texas weekend. 2:00

Charleston, South Carolina — Theatre 99’s final show, and later Brian’s Wit’s End date. 7:33

Columbus, Ohio · Louisville, Kentucky — Dusty’s sold-out weekend. 8:25

Nashville, Tennessee — home base, the radio stations, and traffic-report horns. 43:00

Montgomery, Alabama — radio memories from growing up there. 59:52

Indianapolis — home of Bob & Tom. 58:37

Dayton, Ohio — Aaron’s worst radio interview. 1:00:49

Pittsburgh — KDKA and the first commercial broadcast. 1:17:23

Newport News, Virginia — where Wolfman Jack started, and the comedy condo. 1:29:13

Edmonton, Alberta — don’t say yacht rock there. 1:26:28

Greensboro, North Carolina — Dusty’s redemption at the Comedy Zone (Official site). 1:53:20

Canton, Ohio · Cincinnati · Raleigh, North Carolina — Brian’s upcoming dates. 1:56:05

Comedy clubs and venues

New York Comedy Club (Official site) — Brian’s night on the Good Egg show. 1:00

Austin City Limits Live (The Moody Theater) — Aaron’s Saturday show with Kathleen Madigan. 2:00

Zanies Nashville (Official site) — Dusty’s and Brian’s home club shows. 7:33

Theatre 99 — the Charleston club where Dusty started, now closed. 7:41

GEODIS Park — Brian’s Great Cities Missions show in the suite lounge. 10:50

Grand Ole Opry · WSM 650 AM — following Vince Gill, and the clear-channel signal heard across the US. 42:20

Island Resort & Casino — Dusty returns to the big room years after a rough side-room show with Aaron. 1:52:38

Riot Comedy Club (Official site) — Aaron in Conroe, Texas, with Jay Flake. 1:55:45

Goodnights Comedy Club (Official site) · Wit’s End Comedy Lounge (Official site) — Brian in Raleigh and Charleston. 1:56:34

Businesses, stations, and schools

Southwest Airlines — lost Aaron’s bag. 3:25

Buc-ee’s — the only stop for underwear: Gasquatch. 5:30

Aquinas College — the sign off I-440. 31:30

KDKA · WLAC — the first commercial station, and Tennessee’s other clear-channel station. 1:10:34

iHeartMedia · Cumulus Media — the big station owners Dusty doesn’t like. 1:20:14

Emory University — founded by Methodists, and the school in the Into the Wild tangent. 1:37:30

University of Notre Dame — Aaron’s school, 2–0 and facing Michigan State. 1:47:34

Hardee’s — a radio-station meet-and-greet in a home video. 1:00:38

• SeatGeek (13:28) — Ticketing app; code PUBLIC10 for 10% off (max $20, restrictions apply) at seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PUBLIC10.
• Nateland (house ad) (14:54) — Nateland news: Nateland Presents: The Showcase Season 5 with Colin Chamberlain on Thursday Night Thing (Thursdays, 7 p.m.), Mike Goodwin’s half-hour special (Friday, 4 p.m.), and a Nateland half-hour taping with Andy Woodhull, Mike James, and Mark Chalifoux, Sunday, October 18, at the Woolworth Theatre in Nashville. No code. nateland.com.
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• Chime (1:26:51) — Fee-free banking, 5% cash back on a chosen category, SpotMe overdraft up to $200 at chime.com/nate. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. No code.
• Hosts’ tour dates (house ad) (1:52:38) — Dusty: Des Plaines and the Island Resort & Casino in Harris, Michigan. Aaron: Funny Bone Orlando (Thursday, September 17) and the Riot Comedy Club in Conroe with Jay Flake. Brian: New York Comedy Club, Canton (September 25, free outdoor show), Commonwealth Comedy Club in Cincinnati (October 3), Orlando Funny Bone (October 7), Goodnights in Raleigh (October 8), and Wit’s End in Charleston (October 11). Dusty and Aaron also plug their weekends at the open (0:30). No code.