Posted by Bud on January 20, 2010 at 18:17:41:
5 Questions with...WGN Radio's Greg Jarrett
January 20, 2010
Want to know more about your favorite Chicago media celebrities? CSNChicago.com has your fix as we put the city’s most popular personalities on the spot with everyone’s favorite weekly local celeb feature entitled “5 Questions with...”
Every Wednesday exclusively on CSNChicago.com, it’s our turn to grill the local media and other local VIPs with five random sports and non-sports related questions that will definitely be of interest to old and new fans alike.
This week…veteran radio personality who recently earned the prestigious position as morning drive host on WGN AM 720 (M-F, 5:00-9:00 AM)…he’s a man with a wealth of knowledge on just about any topic one can conjure up…here are “5 Questions with…GREG JARRETT!”
BIO: In June 2009, Greg Jarrett joined WGN Radio as morning drive host, heard weekdays from 5:00-9:00 AM. He was previously an afternoon host, news anchor and on-air correspondent for the legendary heritage radio station KGO-AM in San Francisco. In addition to his extensive experience at KGO, Greg has also traveled the world as a correspondent for ABC News, covering events ranging from Operation Desert Storm as a combat pool correspondent to the last Bush-Gorbachev Summit in Moscow to the original Iraqi invasion in 2003, where he was an embedded correspondent with the Purple Foxes, the United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron.
Greg was born in San Antonio, Texas and moved throughout his childhood as part of an aviation industry family, attending sixteen elementary schools and three different high schools. As a 4th grader, he went missing one Thursday afternoon and was eventually found at the public library at 10pm, so engrossed in the works of Ernest Hemmingway, Ernie Pyle, and other famous war correspondents, that he didn't realize the library had closed. When sternly asked by his father what he had learned from the experience, he responded, "I think I've learned what I want to be when I grow up."
Greg's career in radio started as a high school senior in New Iberia, Louisiana. The speech and debate coach knew of his love for high school football (Greg had previously attended, and played football for Permian High School in Odessa, Texas, the school on which the book Friday Night Lights is based) and suggested that Greg apply for the part-time high school football play-by-play position at the local radio station, KANE-AM. Within two months, Greg was hired full-time as a DJ and news reporter.
Greg is an Expert License U.S. Parachute Association Jumpmaster and escorted broadcast legend Paul Harvey on his first jump. He is also a multi engine and seaplane rated pilot and a certified advanced open water scuba diver. Greg also enjoys swimming, biking, soccer, fly fishing, cooking for charity and is currently writing an experienced-based cookbook.
Greg is married and has three sons, two grandkids, two dogs, a cat, and millions of fleas.
1) CSNChicago.com: Greg, you’ve brought an entertaining and information-filled morning show to WGN AM 720 and its legion of listeners throughout the Midwest since you took over this prestigious position previously held for many years by Chicago radio legends Wally Phillips, Bob Collins and Spike O’Dell. Even though you’ve been in this business for a long time, do you feel any pressure upholding the legacy of these longtime Chicago radio standouts and what do you consider your top challenges in continuing to gain listenership for your show on a daily basis?
Jarrett: I have said many times that Chicago in general, and WGN in particular, served as models for my development throughout my career. No matter how big a market I wound up in, or what challenging position, I always looked back to my first year in radio when I would listen to Chicago radio and think, “That’s what a professional broadcaster should strive for.”
Certainly many would interpret the feeling I get when I crack open the mic at WGN as nervousness. For me the tingle I get every time, is excitement, energy and drive to do the best I possibly can.
This is the hardest I have ever worked at any job. This to me is one of the greatest heaping helpings of responsibility I have ever been handed. The hours of preparation lead to what is a four-hour oral exam that I want to get right. And, that is tough.
Many have called me an “early adopter.” Methods of gathering and presenting information are evolving rapidly. I not only feel it is necessary to stay on top of the changes, but embrace them and help move them. The challenge here is not only to embrace the traditional audience of WGN and keep them well informed and happy, but to convince the incoming generations that however they consume information, the source should be WGN. We have developed, and continue to develop multiple platforms of transmission. Contemporaneous with all this new stuff, is the fact we can now utilize all our resources, Tribune, WGN-TV, CLTV, and all our outlying resources to funnel information to WGN Radio consumers. They are the winners, but it does mean we have a lot more work to do making sure it all comes together without the consumers of that information figuratively, bumping into each other.
The fact is, I feel immense responsibility to tradition while knowing that now I must walk through multiple doors simultaneously, addressing several audiences, and making sure they are all informed, entertained, and happy. I love it.
2) CSNChicago.com: Your bio states you played high school football for the now nationally-recognized Permian H.S. in Odessa, Texas (the school in “Friday Night Lights” fame). As much as many Chicagoans profess their love and respect for high school football in our region, we don’t have a clue about its massive social impact in the state of Texas, do we? Explain your reasoning on why it’s so big in your home state.
Jarrett: I should make it clear that I was born in Texas, and throughout my life often returned. However, I played 3 years of high school football in California before returning my senior year to play at Permian. I went there for the summer between junior and senior year to work part time in construction for my oldest brother and attend summer track and football speed programs. During one of the summer track meets, I had an out of body experience and performed well above anything I had ever done before (I had been fortunate to run varsity track my first 3 years of high school for Indio high school which won division all 3 years). One of the Texas summer program coaches suggest I meet with Gene Mayfield, Permian head coach.
Long story short; I was stunned by the opulence of the program and all it suggested. We can talk sometime about how more people attended early practice at August two-a-days than attend most high school games in the USA. I transferred and played fullback and linebacker ‘til I was seriously injured early in the season and had to leave. This was one of the most surreal memories of my life.
My impression of Texas football is that the state is community oriented. The communities focus on school and church. For many communities, the affordable weekly entertainment is high school football. Small rural towns field seven-a-side teams. We had 20 thousand plus at each game, even pre-season. The usual route is to start playing at age 8 for tackle football. The whole town watches the young kids come up. This is similar to the feeling for soccer in the United Kingdom.
I started Pop Warner when I was 8. I had two nephews on the 2008 Katy high Texas state championship team.
3) CSNChicago.com: You’ve mentioned numerous times on your morning show that you’re a self-proclaimed “tech junkie” who loves the iPhone. Name 5 “can’t miss” apps that every iPhone user must have and provide a brief description on your choice for each one?
Jarrett: 5??!! You have to be kidding!! So much depends of what I am doing that day, what the latest app is, and what I need to do. But, let’s give it a whirl…
1. For my profession: Poddio. I can record, edit and transmit clean, professional sound from anywhere in the world back to the station, or wherever, in a shorter time than it would take in the studio. Who needs a recorder of any kind? You just need an iPhone to do the news.
2. I am currently enamored with Dragon Dictation. It lets me speak my texts and emails and has led to me using Dragon to write the cookbook on which I am working.
3. Skype lets me communicate from anywhere…free.
4. Zipcar. Renting a car to get around just became soooo much easier. And, I can find it in the parking lot with the “honk” function.
5. WGN Radio..’cause I would hear about it from the boss if I didn’t point out how easy it is to take us with you anywhere you go. But seriously, even my 21-year-old son has it so he can hear that dad is still kickin’.
(Also check out Bump, Police Radio, I am T-Pain and Transmate too)
4) CSNChicago.com: You recently put up a Facebook post about having MOHs surgery. Can you explain to CSNChicago.com readers exactly what that is and, most importantly, is everything OK and treatable in your case (we all hope so to say the least)?
Jarrett: USE SUNSCREEN starting the second you squirt out mom and the doc slaps you on the bottom!!! I always got real brown by August. Never used sunscreen. Now the doc peels off my skin from time to time.
Seriously, my dermatologist recently started finding little basil cell carcinomas, then a couple of big ones, on my face!! MOHS means they use a scooper to cut a layer at a time and run it through the lab to see if they got all the cancer cells. Last year they did MOHS on my ear and wound up having to re-build the lobe to look normal. Last week at Northwestern they did the same for my throat just under my chin. They had to do some reconstruction to cover the section they scraped out but they got it all. It takes hours, but is effective.
I like to fish, hunt, fly, and travel. I now use a big hat and bathe in SPF 80. Please DO NOT sunbathe...MOHS is great but it would be better if you didn’t need it.
5) CSNChicago.com: Your morning show includes contributions by two Chicago radio news legends: Orion Samuelson and Lyle Dean. What’s it like working with these men and what have you learned from them since you’ve been with WGN over the past seven months?
Jarrett: When I first sat down with Orion in the studio, it was like being with a rock star who was your dad. Elvis who could give you life advice. What a gentleman. Orion regularly helps me with gentle, well-guided advice. I do not know what I would do without him in the room. His presence is palpable.
When I had the opportunity to work with Lyle Dean the other day I was so excited I felt like the rookie quarterback who was asked to throw to Jerry Rice. You have to understand that when I was 17 I would wake up before light to listen to him “Get It Said For Chicago.” Then when I was working in Green Bay in my early 20’s, my morning show partner and I would commute in listening to him. He was the model, I was the clay. It was an honor to work with him. One I will not forget. If I was a musician and someone asked me my influences, I would have to answer Lyle Dean.
BONUS QUESTION…CSNChicago.com: Anything you’d like to plug Greg? Please tell us about it…
Jarrett: I have had the opportunity early on to work on promotions with the Chicago Cubs, Blackhawks and Fire. I hope to continue to expand on that base. We are just kicking off the year and would ask everyone to check wgnradio.com on a regular basis to see where we can meet up and get to know each other. Also, neediest kids is a year long effort. Please stay involved.