Plenty of Houstonians wake up to the voice of ROD RYAN, whose edgy, high-energy radio show airs 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays on 94.5 The Buzz (KTBZ-FM). After nearly 30 years on the air, Ryan has built a loyal following with his larger-than-life personality. A Houston transplant by way of Buffalo and New Orleans, Ryan is as committed to raising awareness about breast cancer and prostate cancer as he is to The Rod Ryan Show.<\/p>\n
Q | Growing up, did you dream of becoming a radio host?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | No. I was a failed rock star. I was playing in bands\u2014one was called Cracked Alley. No, we didn\u2019t do crack; we weren\u2019t druggies. I don\u2019t even have a good story about the name, it was just silly, hair band metal. We did a big show for Warner Bros. and they passed on us and I said, \u2018That\u2019s it.\u2019 We were packing up and we were going to go to Los Angeles. This is pre-Nirvana, so everyone looked a little different and sounded a little different, too. I just said, \u2018No, I\u2019m not going,\u2019 and I quit the band. We had done a bunch of radio interviews and stuff when I was in the band and I said, \u2018Well, if I can\u2019t be the band, I\u2019ll be the guy who interviews bands. Maybe I\u2019ll go for radio.\u2019 But I wasn\u2019t talking into my hairbrush when I was a little kid.<\/p>\n Q | <\/strong>Was radio different than you expected?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A | I was always a huge fan of the radio and music was a huge part. Most people get into radio because they love music. Anybody that wants to intern here or work here\u2014outside of people who already know and have done radio before\u2014I break their hearts and I say: \u2018We aren\u2019t, like, rocking out in there. We\u2019re not jamming out, like, This is awesome! We are in there shuffling paper, getting traffic ready and news stories. We aren\u2019t listening to what we are playing on the air, we\u2019re just trying to get ready. I\u2019ve got three minutes to figure out what I\u2019m going to talk about next. When we get off the air, I\u2019m here until 2 p.m. and I\u2019m not planning any musical thing. I\u2019m thinking about how I\u2019m going to sell more t-shirts for the charity, this sales person wants me to do an appearance here, and how do I make this client happy?\u2019<\/p>\n Q | You\u2019ve been doing this show for almost 20 years. Have you gotten used to waking up so early?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | I wake up at 3:20 a.m. every day. I have heard people say that you get used to it, but I don\u2019t think you ever do. I don\u2019t get up and complain about it, but I\u2019m not waking up skipping and whistling around my house either. I just get up and do it. It\u2019s hard to imagine a time when I wasn\u2019t just a little tired, but that comes with the gig. It\u2019s the most high-profile position, most high-profile time slot and not everyone wants to be the quarterback. I want to be the quarterback. The morning show sets up the whole station for the whole day, so there is a lot of pressure and I want that pressure. I want that.<\/p>\n Q | Because your show is so high-profile, do you feel a certain level of responsibility to do something with your influence?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | Oh yes, absolutely I do. My plan was to get involved in some charities and not push them down people\u2019s throats and hopefully choose things that not only we were passionate about, but that people would also be passionate about. We are talking being here in Houston and kids in Houston needing backpacks. Sending money to Zimbabwe is great, but it just seemed like more of a harder sell, and I wanted to give back to the community. So the big one is the backpack drive for the kids. We also adopted a team of doctors at MD Anderson about nine years ago, and we do a lot with the Houston Furniture Bank and the Houston Food Bank. We have been working with Houston Boxer Rescue to get dogs adopted.<\/p>\n Q | Can you describe how your partnership with MD Anderson came about?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | We have the world\u2019s greatest medical center in our city, so we kind of thought instead of just making pink spatulas, we would give our money to this team of doctors whose job every day is to go in and cure cancer. And they have been so great. They are so appreciative of what we do, and these guys are probably getting million-dollar checks every day for grants and whatnot, and here we are coming in with our $75,000. We look up to them because of the job they do, and we tell them how proud we are.<\/p>\n Q | Which cancers do you specifically support?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | We do \u201cBoobs Rock\u201d in October for breast cancer awareness and the \u201cKick Ass\u201d campaign for prostate cancer awareness in September. We sell shirts and whatever else we have schlepped our name on to raise money, but it\u2019s really about sharing the experience. Guys have emailed and they say, \u2018OK, I went in because you were talking about it on the show.\u2019 You have to do it. We all know now that prostate cancer is one of the most curable cancers if it\u2019s detected early.<\/p>\n Q | When did you realize people were really listening to your show and taking action because of it?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | The biggest wake-up call to me was here in Houston. When you are in radio, you are kind of involved in charities\u2014 you go, you emcee, you lend your time. The things that we have done here in Houston have just gone to another level. Hurricane Katrina we broadcast on the air. I wanted to stay on the air and play whatever people wanted to hear, but to raise money, they had to pay for us to play their song. So I came up with a rate card: $50 for a song we normally play\u2014Stone Temple Pilots. Say you wanted to hear Fleetwood Mac\u2014you would pay me $75. And then if it was really ridiculous and you want to hear Frank Sinatra or if you are a local band, I\u2019ll play your song for $100. I talked my bosses into it; we went on air Wednesday at 6 a.m., not really knowing what was going to happen. We stayed on until Friday at noon\u201450-some hours, three days straight, no sleep\u2014and we raised $504,000, the area code of New Orleans. All of the money went to the Red Cross. I can\u2019t plan that, write that or project that. People would say, \u2018Here\u2019s $1,000, play this song.\u2019 And that is when I said, \u2018Wow.\u2019 I had no idea. I had done charity stuff before that and I had been in radio a long time before that, but it was Hurricane Katrina when I realized this community will step forward and help when asked.<\/p>\n Q | How do you decide what to talk about on your show?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | No one really tells you when you start out that you are going to give up so much of yourself. We talk about what\u2019s going on in our lives, but you are walking that balance. I do a ton of show prep for the show every day; we have to know what\u2019s going on. Everybody has access to the same things we do now. The internet has leveled out the playing field. Before, the guys on the radio knew more about music than your average guy\u2014they had access to the AP wire. We were supposed to know more and now, we don\u2019t. We just know what you guys know and nine times out of 10 you know more than us. We mostly talk about life-style stuff. We are just trying to plug in and make that connection\u2014whether it is pulp in the orange juice or a bad haircut. There is a balance between lifestyle and what is happening in the news. I try to walk that line because I\u2019m kind of the director of what we do and what we are going to talk about.<\/p>\n Q | Are there any topics you stay away from?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | I try not to get into politics, but it\u2019s impossible not to mention it at all. That is something that people are so passionate about. There are things that are happening with Donald Trump and even Obama, things that we have to mention. And as soon as you say some- thing about one side, people will say, \u2018Why don\u2019t you say something about the other?\u2019 If I made fun of Hillary during the election, people would say, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you make fun of Trump?\u2019 You have to walk that line. It isn\u2019t hard for me, because I don\u2019t love Trump, and I\u2019m not upset that Hillary lost. But it is a big trigger for a lot of people.<\/p>\n Q | You recently got married at the age of 47. Why now?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | It just happened. I wasn\u2019t thinking, \u2018Oh, you\u2019ve got to get married.\u2019 I wasn\u2019t getting pressure. I guess you just meet the right person and it happens. We met on St. Patrick\u2019s Day at Lucky\u2019s Pub. She didn\u2019t know who I was. She\u2019s not a big partier, so it\u2019s bizarre that she was there, but we met and she wasn\u2019t impressed with me or who I was, and it was awesome. Then she started listening and I got worried. She has never once told me not to talk about something on the radio. We have been married just over a year.<\/p>\n Q | What are your favorite things to do outside of work?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | I like hanging out with my wife and my dog, Voodoo Ryan\u2014she\u2019s a rescue from Houston Boxer Rescue. I like the weather here, so I like being outside. I know it\u2019s hot, but this is coming from someone who shoveled snow for 25 years. I like getting outside; I\u2019ll go for a run today. I don\u2019t feel like enough people do it because it\u2019s so hot and it\u2019s not a walking city. That is my one ding on the city\u2014we don\u2019t walk around.<\/p>\n Q | What is your favorite restaurant in Houston?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | It is hard to pick one, but I have to say Pappas Bros. Steakhouse on Westheimer. Man, you can\u2019t go wrong there. I just get meat. I mix it up. If you really want to impress somebody from out of town, that\u2019s the place. The service is killer.<\/p>\n Q | What are your hopes for the city of Houston?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A | To get some kind of a breakthrough, like curing cancer, to come out of Houston, that would be great. Houston, to me, has a bit of an identity crisis. I love the city. It has been so good to me, but when I told my friends I was moving here\u2014I was living in New Orleans\u2014people said, \u2018For what?\u2019 I said, \u2018It\u2019s the fourth biggest city in America!\u2019 People don\u2019t know that about us. We did great during the recession when the rest of the country was getting dumped on, but I just don\u2019t think people know how great this city is. And if something like that broke out of the medical center\u2014God that would be amazing. It would be amazing for the actual cause and it would be great for the city. And winning a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n Rod Ryan was interviewed by Pulse sta writer Britni N. Riley. This interview was edited for clarity and length.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plenty of Houstonians wake up to the voice of ROD RYAN, whose edgy, high-energy radio show airs 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays on 94.5 The Buzz (KTBZ-FM). After nearly 30 years on the air, Ryan has built a loyal following with his larger-than-life personality. A Houston transplant by way of Buffalo and New Orleans, Ryan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2089,31,32],"yoast_head":"\n