B96’s Eddie, Jobo & Erica
Windy City natives Eddie & Jobo have been hosting morning drive onCBS Radio’s WBBM (B96)/Chicago for nearly 20 years! Yes, there was a brief stint at WIOQ (Q102)/Philadelphia but when you think of Chicago morning radio it’s all about Eddie & Jobo. Nowadays the boys are sharing the booth with co-host Erica who’s added a whole lotta girl power to a station that already unleashes a lethal mix of “Hits & Hip-Hop” for Chi-Town.
eQB presents excerpts from the FMQB July Magazine Rhythm Q&A featuring B96’s Eddie, Jobo & Erica
On how they first met and were paired up at B96…
JOBO: Buddy Scott was our program director and I was the night jock/music director and we brought in Eddie for mornings, and somehow he thought that we would fit together… Buddy had a feel for the fact that I tend to be reality based, I don’t go by a script. Eddie was a writer, and a creative writer.
EDDIE: I always thought Buddy had great instincts and he knew I had always been a funny guy, and not really much of a DJ everywhere I had worked. I had always had someone who would let me be the funny guy and not have to run things. He fired my temporary partner in the morning and asked me, “What would you think about working with Jobo?” I said, “Oh my God. I listen to him every night, I love his show, that would be great,” and almost instantaneously our chemistry and ratings clicked.
On working within the FCC guidelines nowadays…
JOBO: It makes a person better because it is tougher, especially for a male oriented format. Not so much for Top 40, depending on your target demographic, and ours tends to be a little female.
EDDIE: Over the years of being here, we’ve had to adapt because there was no Howard Stern orMancow when we first went on the air, and there were a lot of wise guys and funny guys andJonathon Brandmeier playing song parodies. We kind of occupied the asshole nitch. We made fun of people and were kind of like shock jocks. Then we were fired and when we came back both Mancow and Stern were on the air here and Infinity was concerned about lawsuits. We’ve changed our act over the years and we had to adapt to a lot of things. The FCC fines were worse, but we just made the delay ten seconds instead of seven seconds. We pride ourselves in being smart enough at what we do and know there are so many other angles to win in radio.
On doing mornings in Philly at Q102…
JOBO: I had a blast because it was fun for me at that age to get to know a new city and new people.
EDDIE: I had some fun because Jobo and I both thought of it as Spring Break away from our families; we didn’t have to answer to anybody. At the same time I was still married and my kids were back in Chicago so I did the Tom Joyner fly home every weekend thing. It was taxing and miserable, and the guilt of partying and then coming back and being the family man was tearing me apart. Jobo comes from a little harder background so he adapted pretty well to the city’s hard attitude. I came back going “what a bunch of jackoffs!” But I also made some great friends there too.
On what factors led to their return to B96…
JOBO: The fact that it was sold. There was a particular lawyer at CBS that said “these guys will never work on my watch,” and then they said “CBS is about to be sold. The minute Infinity buys CBS, you guys are there.” And it was Mel Karmazin who said “get these guys!”
EDDIE: For them it was a matter of economics. They looked at the revenue that we made and used the old Howard Stern formula where they thought “Hey we’ve paid off a lawsuit but how much are we losing in total revenue?” It was just simple economics. They said now we are in 17th place in the morning whereas we were in the Top 3 before. Let’s bring these guys back. We will bring them back under a lot of restrictions and a 2 hour show at first.
JOBO: We had to have the PD sit in the studio for a few weeks. Tape every break before it aired. That was the low point, having the PD sit in one week and the GM sit in the next.
On adding female co-host Erica…
EDDIE: I met Erica probably three years before she started working for us and she was doing an internship at WKSC. I saw that she was one of those people in a nightclub or behind a bar where she was sometimes working and she just attracted people. My thought – and we always say this to people who pay their way through broadcast school – “If you don’t attract a crowd at the lunch table, don’t try to attract listeners as a radio person.” She had a certain appeal and youthfulness and a different kind of thing about her. I brought a tape to our (PD) Todd Cavanah and he listened to it and liked her and contacted her.
JOBO: The best thing about Erica is that she was not raised on radio. As part of an ensemble, that can be an asset because she wasn’t locked in any certain way, she could learn which way she wanted to go and find herself. So she wasn’t a radio geek…It’s good to have a female perspective, especially when your target demo is 18-24 females. It’s good to have a female in that demo.
EDDIE: We also can’t challenge and scold women for going back to their boyfriend who beats them because we don’t know, being men. Erica is very vocal about a lot of social issues to the point where she’ll get nine texts that say, “You Go Erica” and one that says, “Shut Up Bitch!” She was a little more thin-skinned six months ago than she is now.
On the typical radio interview…
JOBO: We have a plan. We let them plug what they want to plug if they will open up to us, and so far that theory has paid off. I think they really do appreciate it. They seem to walk out of the studio feeling like they got more than their money’s worth. Plus we don’t do ambush interviews.
EDDIE: But Jobo will ask the hard questions because those are the main things that everyone reallywants to know about…There are a very small handful of people that have been offended when the big question comes and hits them. They usually have the biggest egos and are people who think they are above that.
On the best interviews…
JOBO: The three that come to mind are 50 Cent, Ludacris and Enrique Iglesias. I liked the fact that they didn’t act like they were on the radio and they were talking like they were human beings.
EDDIE: The best interviews have always been when we are interviewing them for the third or fourth time and maybe we have spent some time with them outside the station. It really works when they know us and we have a little more insight to their life, and they are so comfortable that there are no boundaries. I would say that one of the most fun ones was 50 Cent when we went to his hotel, where he is laying on his bed, and we ask him a question and he didn’t like it and he hits us with a pillow. It’s like a pillow fight with 50 Cent. That shows you are pretty comfortable with a person.
On the worst interviews…
JOBO: Linda Rondstadt, she came in and complained about the mic processing.
EDDIE: She’d been jaded and in the business too long and wearing her fur coat. She talked about how hot it was and by then Jobo was already so disgusted, and this was a full 38 seconds into the interview, he said “ Don’t worry about the heat, you wont be here long!”
On what ultimately has made the Eddie & Jobo show work so well after so many years…JOBO: I would say realizing our roles, knowing what we excel at and knowing what we suck at. I can’t be funny… We’re also not afraid to say goodbye to old fans. That sounds weird, but sometimes when people get to be 37 years old they say, “you guys are too childish for me.” I say “well you know what? We are just going to have to get three 21 years-olds to take your place.” You have to stay with your demo, you have to talk to that 18-34 demo.
EDDIE: I think both of us being big radio fans and radio geeks growing up, we have so much love for the business that we never lose the desire to be the best sounding show. We do our roles and never lose our hunger for it… The final thing is compatibility, friendship and chemistry that we have always had. It’s something I will always thank Buddy Scott for recognizing. And we are neighbors!
** QB Content by Bob Burke **
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