Longtime Radio Personality Marv Luten interviews guests, shares community updates, National and Local sports and more. The Marv in the Morning Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media.
For guest or sponsorship opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com or marvinthemorning53@gmail.com
— Automated Transcript —
**Intro**
Welcome to the Marv in the Morning podcast. Now, here’s Marv.
**Marv:**
Thanks again and welcome to another Marv in the Morning podcast on the Fort not Lost in the Woods podcast site. Brought to you by Beales Construction, the Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, Shelter Insurance agent Dave Howe of Richland, St. Robert Auto Supply, Sieger Toyota, the Pulaski County Health Center, STR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Waynesville, TK’s Pizza, and Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek.
As we drop this week’s podcast, it’s the last day of the seventh month of 2026, and we’re headed to August. And the first of two election days left in this year. August 4th, coming up on Tuesday is the primary of the November general election. And all eyes are on the political arena as to who moves onto November, and whether the Democrats will win enough seats to take over the majority of the Senate in Congress.
Right now, our Republican president’s numbers are way down when it comes to the economy, coupled with inflation and the price of gas and groceries. And then there’s the war with Iran. What President Trump said would only take a couple of weeks is now pushing into a half a year.
Reports came out late last week, it’s costing Americans about $1200 to $1400 extra every month to live like they were before we went to war to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, which is a valid concern. Now, Iran has the Houthis getting in a skirmish with Saudi Arabia. Iran sending drones into other parts of the Mid-East where American bases are in Jordan and Iraq, killing American soldiers. Iran hitting cargo ships and oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. When is enough enough?
Sure, Trump wants a deal with the Iranians, and I’m no proponent of war. But I grew up in the Vietnam era. My draft number was too high to get selected, thank God. But we did not go into to win that war and lost more than 50,000 Americans, if my memory serves me right, in a jungle country three-quarters of a world away where more decisions are being made.
Then, there was Afghanistan, where we did accomplish getting Osama Bin Laden, but ended up leaving billions of dollars in American military vehicles behind for their rebels to use. Now we learned earlier this week, there’s another pause in the Iranian war. For how long? We don’t know, and even if it lasts. I hope diplomacy works, but so far that’s been a crapshoot.
Prior to his run for political office, Trump was in real estate, a broker, if you will. Pit one buyer against another and see who comes up with the most cash for the property. This is not real estate, but it seems like he’s doing the same thing at times. Hit them a little, see if they’ll crack. Hit them again and see what happens. If not, try a third time. Let’s quit jacking around, get this damn thing over and better sooner than later. We have the weapons, we have the know-how, we have the men and women to get it done. And like Vietnam and other wars we were involved in, the problem stems from Washington, D.C.
Now, I know that sounds too easy. And there’s a lot more at stake than just blowing the crap out of the country. But if the administration wants to flip the polls by November, they need to tattoo Iran before September. Again, I’m no warmonger, I’m a peaceful man, but like many of my fellow Americans like you, this is getting into our beer drinking money, our vacations and our household budgets. This turned out to be a lot longer than I wanted to talk about.
**Hay Season**
Hay season has taken on a different approach at the farm this year, at least for a short period of time in my place. The round bales are coming, but this year we were given about 70 square bales already on a trailer, and all we had to do was download it. It’s been a long time since I bucked square bales of hay, and I didn’t do a lot of it. Now, there’s many that may hear this podcast and call me a wimp for doing only 70 bales, and I only had to download it. The real work is loading it from the field to a trailer, then stacking it properly, so you don’t lose the load transporting it to the barn. My wife can tell you more about that than I can, and she has told me more times than not.
My problem stemmed from this hay. More than half the bales I unloaded, the strings broke, and stacking them became impossible, and all I ended up with was a big mess and a lot more work than I had planned on. But I was still thankful for the hay, which will come in handy, I hope, when the grass goes dormant during the upcoming colder weather. On occasion, instead of a tractor, it might be in a pickup truck this year. I’ll wait until it’s a real cold day, because at least there’s heat in the cab of that pickup, unlike the seats on my tractors.
**Podcast Topic**
Today on the podcast, we’re venturing into the radio business, and we’ll drop some names of former teachers in the Waynesville School District, names of former DJs at some of the radio stations you may have listened to several years ago here in Pulaski County, Missouri, and some in Springfield that made the airwaves into our county. It’s an interview with a former jock who’s been here before, and we learn of his climb up the ladder in the radio business and some rock heavyweights he had the chance to become acquainted with. Former KFBD jock, Brett Hayes, is coming up next.
Whether or not you’ve heard of these rock legends, this interview is intriguing and kept me on the edge of my seat during the entire interview. Brent is coming up next.
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**Marv:**
Today on the podcast, we revisit with Brent Hayes, a local disc jockey, drummer, musician. Call it what you want, this guy has done an awful lot. And, you know, Brent, of all the podcast interviews I’ve done, I have a lot of times went into these interviews not knowing too much about what I was talking about as far as the subject that we were going to do the interview with. I had to do a lot of research. This time, we’re going to talk radio. I don’t have to do any research because I know this business probably as well as you do. How long were you in the radio business?
**Brent:**
It was about 30 years, right at three decades. Yeah, I started in ninth grade in downtown Waynesville at the for Warner Cable on the square. There’s where the Mitchell Optical building is. There was that little window that faced the street. And Jan Cheat that worked for the school, he had a program where youth could work and do different things. And I borrowed, Jim Matthews had a record collection like no other, kind of like my uncle, my Vietnam veteran uncle. It was massive. And Jim said, Brent, you can do this. He said, you know a lot about music. He said, take my records, we’ll go uptown, you can start your little radio. And it was two turntables and a microphone and a black and white television in ninth grade. And I started reading album cover liner notes, and I just became enamored by it, because those are where the facts were. You know, and I, growing up, Marv, my hero was Jon Records Landecker from WLS Chicago. I literally would go to bed with 2:00 AM radios. One would have, one would have uh, WLS on, the other would have KAAY out of Little Rock, Arkansas. And I was either listening to uh, Jon Records Landecker do Boogie Check, or I was listening to KAAY Beaker Street. And I was just, I wanted to be Jon Records Landecker my whole life, and uh, you know, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, what’s I give all the glory to him. He, he helped it come true. So, Yeah. I was kind of the same way, uh, when I was growing up. I would have a little transistor radio, lay it under my pillow, and I would listen to Harry Caray and Jack Buck do the St. Louis Cardinal baseball games. And as things went on, I became a radio broadcaster doing sports.
**Marv:**
And there you go, that’s it.
**Brent:**
And ended up in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as a result.
**Marv:**
And congratulations on that. That’s well deserved.
**Brent:**
Well, thank you much.
**Marv:**
Well deserved.
**Brent:**
What, what was the TV for?
**Brent:**
It was black and white television. It came over the cable company. Uh, it wasn’t over the radio. People would listen to it on the television. What’s that was kind of, kind of strange, but that was the way to start. It was the way to start, and I would work after, after school until so many hours, and then Dad would come get me, and that’s kind of how uh, KFBD, somebody at B-98 had heard me on there. And they called me up and offered me a like an intern or part-time position. So me being a kid in ninth grade, that’s what I wanted to do. It was a dream of mine. I wanted to make it come true. So I worked hard at it. I did. I, I went up and I, I first talked to uh, Bob Cole. When I first went to uh, KFBD, it was KFBD KOZQ. And there was a man in there who smoked like a stove, and he had this voice. It was just this voice like Roger Olney. You know Roger Olney.
**Marv:**
Yes, I know Roger.
**Brent:**
And when I interviewed Roger, I told Roger, I said, Roger, if I had your voice, I’d be a millionaire. I said, sir, your voice just vibrates the walls of the studio. And Bob Cole had that type of voice, just a booming voice. And uh, I would go in and sit with him and he started showing me the ropes. Hey kid, this is what you do, you know, you don’t set your soda pop on a belt drive turntable or you know, that type of stuff. So I started to learn the board from him and kind of start cutting my teeth from Bob Cole. That’s how it really started there at KFBD, KOZQ. And then later on, it just kind of transitioned when I worked uh, when I was in, I think by the time I was a freshman, sophomore, junior in school, I was already working part-time at B-98.
**Marv:**
And what shift did you have at that time?
**Brent:**
Oh gosh, I’m trying to think. I think I did them all, really. Honestly, I think I did nights first and then uh, I didn’t start mid-days until I was really fully ready to do it. But yeah, I went in and kind of felt my way around, like, like I said, they showed me the board and uh, they, they were very helpful. Working for Dick and Patty Triggs, I really enjoyed my tenure there and learned a lot from some great people. And uh, they would get, of course, Broadcast Center. Ted Huxker was the director then and he would send us jocks from Broadcast Center.
**Marv:**
That’s where I graduated from in St. Louis.
**Brent:**
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, and great organization, great place to learn. And I never did that. I kind of learned already because I did it downtown Waynesville and taught myself the same way I learned drums. I taught myself broadcasting the same way, just by desire, reading liner notes and thinking I had the confidence to do it. And getting up there and working with some really great people really helped me a lot. Uh, when I got to KFBD early on, they were uh, like I said, still a top 40 station. And um, uh, Steven Greenly was the program director then. So I worked under Steven and I remember my first shifts, I was playing Madonna and Prince, Jesus Jones, some of the top 40 of the day. And being a KA-SHI 95 listener, you know, since I was a child, I figured out how to work my back of my cable television. Somehow I got it to pick up KA-SHI. And I started listening to Radio Rich Dalton and Jim Ellis and the greats of KA-SHI that you grew up with too. And those guys became my true mentors. And it was the format that I was looking for, Marv. I didn’t like listening to radio stations that played the same Led Zeppelin song every day at the same time. And it was so, it seemed so repetitive, that I wanted to break that. And I wanted B-98 to not be that. And I worked hard at uh, taking it from a top 40 station to a classic rock station. And I wanted to do the KA-SHI format. And I had some help along the way from a lot of good people, and we’ll talk about that, some of the people that helped us do that.
**Marv:**
Yeah, because with KA-SHI, they played a lot of the album cuts.
**Brent:**
They did.
**Marv:**
That you do not hear normally on top 40, like you said, the same Led Zeppelin song, or the same Who’s song all the time.
**Brent:**
Right. They played the deeper tracks. You know, like uh, a lot of Head East, Missouri moving on, you know, Trooper, Raise a Little Hell, uh like Kim Mitchell, Go for Soda. I learned all these bands out of Canada and all these, you know, Nazareth, all these great bands that were from other countries, not just United States, but the core of what classic rock was really all about. And that is what I wanted B-98 to be. I wanted it to be the best classic rock station in Pulaski County history, and I think we achieved that to a certain extent. I really do.
**Marv:**
Well, you guys, you were hard to beat in the ratings. I do know that. Uh, we, of course, at the same time, we were doing country, so we did not have to really battle you as far as the ratings go because of the different formats that our radio stations did.
**Brent:**
Right. And I knew that KJPW KYS-D had that market, and I didn’t want to go into it. It wasn’t something I wanted to tap into, and had no desire to, and we worked hard to do it. And I, you know, Dick and Patty gave me free rein. I worked hard on, on building a good format. After Steven left, uh, Woody Schuler, who was from Broadcast Center on the Woodman, he came in and we worked really hard together as a team. A lot of people always thought, well, you know, the Ayatollah of rock and roll and the Woodman, you know, we would battle out and have the battle of the DJs, and they thought that we were mortal enemies, and we weren’t. It was just, it was good healthy competition and competitive. And we worked together to change the format, and uh, we did it through a lot of, a lot of hard work by people that helped us out. And uh, we, I worked with Drew Johnson and Vince Richards early on, and those are both guys that worked at KA-SHI, and uh, Tom Starr. And I wanted to talk about Tom. Uh, Michelle Ferris’s husband, Tom Starr, became a record representative, and he was the guy that really, him and Kevin Barton were my mentors as far as becoming a program director. And Tom and Kevin taught me how to really program a very successful classic rock format.
**Marv:**
And you guys did it well, I will say that. Even though there were times when I would tune in and I would hear Leonard Skinner’d Freebird at 7:30 about almost every night.
**Brent:**
Yeah. And that’s what I didn’t like. And that’s what I didn’t want to happen. And uh, you know, Skip Goforth, who’s a great disc jockey, used to play uh, Bob Seger Turn the Page every night at the same time. And I don’t know if he was doing it just to take a break, which I understand that, you know, or whatever, but I, it just seemed like redundancy and Skip is a great jock. You know, the, the whole Goforth family are amazing, you know, with Wes and, you know, Todd Holman, we’ll talk about Todd. He gave me a great opportunity, uh, coming up at US-97 in Springfield. But I just wanted to build the best format possible. So I kind of uh, did a lot of talking to Kevin Barton, a lot of talking to Tom Starr on how to go about this. And uh, when uh, Chris came in, Schuler, we just put our heads together and we wanted to become an album network station because as a kid, when I would work, uh, 10, 11 years old, when Uncle Norman Anderson had Missouri Vending, I would sit and type all the labels up for the jukeboxes. So I would read Billboard magazine. So I’d always take those Billboard magazines with me. So in school, when other kids would have Cream magazine or Rolling Stone, I’d be reading Billboard. And I’d be sitting there going, well, this song has went up the charts. It’s got a bullet. It’s, you know, it’s going up or it’s diving down. So that helped me become a programmer. That helped me be a music director and how to mix those songs together. I think that was a great catalyst for that format.
**Marv:**
And being the program director, you were able to get into a market where you got to talk to some pretty heavy-duty rock and roll musicians.
**Brent:**
Yeah, it, it became big time then. I mean, when I started doing the music director position, then on Tuesdays, I would take music calls all day from 10:00 o’clock until late in the afternoon, and they would send me hundreds of singles a week. I would go through stacks of singles just to find really good songs that fit our format. Sometimes it was difficult. You might only find one or two that would fit the format, but I felt it was more important to get those big impactful songs on there, to mix those with the hits. And when we um, Tommy Nast and Donna Geisinger, uh, is who ran the Album Network. And uh, Woody and I worked with a gentleman named Howard Rosen. He was one of our record reps and he’d call all the time. I mean, he would call you a stuff and call you a stuff, but Howie was connected and knew people in Los Angeles and he knew the people at KLOS. So when we became an album network station, that was like the proudest moment of our careers. Woody and I both looked at each other and said, yes, we finally become an album network station. So we started reporting to the Album Network magazine. And uh, the first quote that I did in that particular magazine was Fred Baer from Ted Nugent. And uh, Ted called me the next Tuesday morning at 10:00 o’clock. The first call was Ted Nugent himself. And he said, hey, I want to know about this quote that you, you talked about and Fred Baer. And I said, well, I live here in Missouri. And he goes, oh yeah, along the Mark Twain National Forest. He knew all about the hunting the area and everything. And he said, uh, let’s meet up this weekend, young man. Come to St. Louis. Ian Moore is opening up and we need to talk. And so that began my career of doing the meet and greets and starting to talk to these big high-end artists who would make these quotes in these magazines, and it really took off like a rocket from there.
**Marv:**
And you have proof of all this, because I just looked through a magazine of pictures you have with Nugent, with Kiss.
**Brent:**
Oh yeah. Yeah.
**Marv:**
And numerous, numerous other bands. You left KFBD when?
**Brent:**
Uh, I’m trying to think exactly the timeline, and I, I was, I was thinking about that. I, I came back three or four different times, and I left to go to US-97. Uh, we had done a lot of things with it. Woody and I were working there, and Woody left to start KFLW, and I stayed with that particular format. And I kind of rode that horse until it was time to move to a bigger market. I felt that we had given, um, Dick and Patty a great format to work with, and we had, had a pretty good air staff going, had good, really good reliable part-timers and good on-air people. And I just felt it was time for me to make a move to a bigger market. And uh, Todd Holman, being the great broadcaster he is, uh, gave me that opportunity. And I discussed it with Dick and he said, Brent, I understand. He goes, you and Woody have done a great job for us, you know, this has been a great run. He said, young man, you’ve got the talent. You should move on to a bigger market. So I went with his endorsement and his blessing, and it worked very well for me.
**Marv:**
And Todd was working at US-97 at the time.
**Brent:**
Yes. Right. I was supposed to leave. Kevin Barton, uh, had became the program director at US-97 earlier on, when TK O’Grady was still there from Rock 99. So I was actually supposed to go work at US-97 earlier, but then the unfortunate accident happened. Kevin lost his life, as we all know. And uh, he was a big mentor to me. He had really taught me the ropes of being a program director. How to work with these record reps, what to say, what not to say, you know, and he knew the ropes. They would fly him out to Los Angeles to the Whisky a Go Go. He would see Excess. He went to the Queen Mary and met Queen, and he was the guy I wanted to pattern myself after, because I thought, well, if you can go and meet all these artists and talk to them and, and, you know, and they’re thanking you, because back then what we did was important. Unlike today, where Jones Radio Network or the satellite system just all stacks it in there. They actually needed us. They needed the music directors, and they needed the program directors because our ads gave them more records in their market, and their concerts sold more tickets. And that was, that felt me to be a very important part of programming.
**Marv:**
That was a stepping stone to the success of these rock bands.
**Brent:**
It was. And I’d met a gentleman early on named David Gerardi. And David runs Live Nation now in St. Louis. And we started doing these ticket giveaways, and I connected with him, and we started giving away rows of tickets, because I told him, I said, we’ve got a lot of soldiers down here at Fort Leonard Wood that would love to go, maybe can’t afford a full ticket. He said, well, let’s, let’s set this up. So he helped me set this up where we do a ticket trade with him, and we would do ticket giveaways over the air. So he’d say fifth caller, whatever it was, for this CD playing this weekend in St. Louis, and we’d give away tickets to the show. And that was really great. Meeting David and learning how to do that, and uh, I kept in contact with him for years, and the people at KA-SHI, we’ll talk about that in a little bit also. Tony Jordan, who’s now what they call the web daddy, was back then the promotions director. So I learned a lot with him. When I got hooked up with Tony, uh, we were doing just shows every weekend. It was amazing after that. It really took off.
**Marv:**
So with US-97, what shift did you have at US-97?
**Brent:**
I actually started from the ground up. I, I, I drove up and did overnights and uh, started with the Blues Show on Sunday. And uh, worked my way up, because they had Todd and Bo in the morning, had their morning show, uh, working with Bo Sanders and Todd Holman, and they were great at what they did. And they gave me opportunities, Marv. It’s unbelievable. That I want to talk about in a little bit, just things that I got to do. One example, I got to do a mid-day show from a hot air balloon, a thousand feet above Springfield. We took off with about 50 other balloons in Springfield and took off. Now imagine this. Me inside a basket, because I was a big guy, with the propane tank, a giant, you know, guy, the pilot of the, of the balloon. Me, the Marti system, and I have to communicate with Todd, who’s running the board during the morning show. So I was, I was doing breakaways and cutaways a thousand feet above Springfield, and we were doing this competition where they gave you a roll of toilet paper and you have to hit an X in the field. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a hot air balloon, but to do your, to do your radio show in a hot air balloon, a thousand feet above Springfield, was pretty amazing.
**Marv:**
No, most of the hot air I had was right there in the studio.
**Brent:**
Exactly. So exactly. So it was, it was amazing opportunities that, that God gave to me, and I, and I took full advantage. That day particularly was great. The show went really well. The breakaways were fine. I was with a group from Kansas called Follow the Yellow Brick Road, and they had a balloon chase team. And I threw my, my toilet paper roll out and missed the mark. We got like second place. But we landed in this lady’s backyard. And it happened to be Mrs. Lipscomb, who owned uh, Hound Dog dog food, Lipscomb Grain and Feed Company out of Springfield. And uh, she came out and she said, well, young man, it’s amazing you’re here, and she said, can I fix you guys breakfast? So they said, first, we have to do the balloonist prayer. So there’s a picture of me kneeling down and they’re pouring champagne over my head, and that christens me into me a hot air balloon, I have all of this on VHS tape. This guy documented all of it on VHS tape. So the show was successful. We did the breakaways and the balloon didn’t crash. It was a great time, and those are just one of many great times that I had at US-97. But yeah, we landed in her backyard, and she made us breakfast and I said, Lipscomb, I said, is your son the potentate at the Temple? She said, yeah, my son was the potentate. How do you know that? I said, well, my, my dad, Dockey Hayes, is a Master Mason. So we made a connection there and talked for a long, long time. So that was a great day, the day I got to do my show from a hot air balloon at US-97.
**Marv:**
I bet that would have been something that, uh, I would have really liked. I mean, I got the chance to go for a ride in an F-4 Phantom jet because of my tenure at KFB, KFBD, or KJPW Radio at the time, and that was an experience that was, you know, if somebody asked me, hey, we’re going to Six Flags, this a week after the jet ride. He said, we’re going to Six Flags, you want to go? And I said, ain’t nothing at Six Flags that’s got anything on what I went on a week ago in the back of an F-4 Phantom jet. Just take your screaming eagle and have fun.
**Brent:**
Yeah. The many opportunities were, were given to us. I mean, even at B-98, you remember when UMR used to have really good rock bands for St. Pat’s? And uh, we had the band Firehouse, and Bill Leverty called me on the phone, because I would work these record reps every Tuesday. I would call, just hundreds of calls incoming and outgoing. And Bill Leverty called me and says, I need a local band to open up for us. I said, we’re playing at UMR, and you’re going to be there with us, right? I said, yeah. He says, you’re going to get up on stage and jam with us during sound check on the drums, because he knows I’m a drummer. I said, yeah, I’ll jam with you guys. So, Bill Leverty didn’t even know I played drums. So, this is kind of a surprise to them. So, Bill Leverty called up and I called Calvin and Andy Bowling. And I said, give me your cassette of Flashback. I said, I think I’ve got you guys a big gig. And he’s like, what are you talking about? I said, I don’t want to lay it out for you yet. Just submit your cassette. So, I played it for Bill over the phone. He said, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I’m looking for a grassroots local band that writes their own music and can put on a good show. And I knew that uh, Flashback was at the top of their game at that time. So, I called Calvin. I said, guess what, Calvin? I said, you’re opening up for Firehouse next weekend at UMR. He couldn’t believe it. He thought I was joking. He goes, you kidding? I said, no. I said, you deserve this. You guys are a great local band. I’ve been given the opportunity to put you in the spotlight. Let’s do this. And he still every day when he would see me, thank you, Brent. I can’t thank you enough. So, we got up there and during sound check, we were all messing around inside Gail Bowman, and nothing booms like a big drum set when you’re doing sound check inside a gymnasium. So, Bill looked at me and said, you ready to play? I said, yeah. He said, what do you want to do? I said, let’s do Montrose Rock Candy. So, I jumped up on stage and my boss, Dick, is watching me. He’s like, what are you doing? He says, it’s not part of the radio thing. And I said, this is a surprise for you, boss. I said, you don’t even know I can do this. And I went up and started playing. And his mouth dropped open. He had no idea that I even played music like that or anything. So, we got up and played three songs during sound check. I came back and he shook my hand and he said, he goes, you never cease to amaze me, Brett Hayes. Just like that. So, that was, that was a great day. I really enjoyed that.
**Marv:**
Some of the other things that uh, you have been able to take advantage of, I should say, uh, because of the radio biz.
**Brent:**
Uh, the meet and greets. That, and that’s something that was very important to me. Getting to meet the, the groups. And that’s what I always loved to do. And uh, we did some really, at US-97, uh, I worked in the Tower Theater. First, we were over on Pythian Street when it was a smaller station. And I did the blues show there, and uh, bands would come to town, and I would meet Tesla, and these guys. And I had met a few of them when I was program director and music director, but at US-97, you had all of them coming in weekly. You know, so you had big-name groups all the time, and they were working the juke joint. And uh, and we would have those festivals. We did the Route 66 festival, and our good friend Ronnie Clark from Dixon, he was a concert promoter, and Ron was a club owner, so we had some really great times then. But yeah, I, I met so many really big names at US-97, uh, when we moved into the Tower Theater. Uh, I was working with uh, at KGBX, My Country. I was working with an alternative station, and at US-97. So I had three different staff shirts. And I was, you know, Doug Cannon would call me in and say, Brent, I need you to do something for My Country this weekend. Uh, we’ve got a huge concert in Kansas City. Just one example. My dad really liked George Strait. And he wanted to meet George Strait and go see him. I was like, sure, Dad. So we set this up. It was Layla McCann, uh, Faith Hill, and uh, Asleep at the Wheel. It was an all-day concert at arrowhead stadium, and I get to take Dockey. And I really loved this moment because I got to show my dad what I really did. And he thanked me that day. You know, he, he ended up in an air-conditioned suite with frozen lemonade, and there’s pictures of him. He met all those people that day. Lee Ann Womack, Layla McCann, Asleep at the Wheel, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and George Strait. He got to meet all of them. And he looked at me at the end of the day and said, son, I’m really proud of you. And for that, Marv, I needed nothing more than that. Than my dad’s validation, because you knew my father. You knew the man that he was, and that he was a very honorable man. And I’d made him proud, and I felt really good about it. That moment was great for me.
**Marv:**
I’ll bet it was. There’s nothing like, uh, making your dad proud of you, especially, you know, when they, they want you to become something else. And, you know, here you are in the radio business. Okay, what, what, you know, big deal radio business. But then, when you meet one of your heroes because of your son, you bet.
**Brent:**
Right. And that, and that was important to me, because he had, he had introduced me to all my country heroes earlier on. So I was just trying to give back to him. But yeah, US-97, we took it to the next level. We started doing these big concerts, and uh, like I ended up, uh, spending the day with Joe Walsh, bringing Joe Walsh on stage, Styx. We did the, uh, Route 66 festivals were amazing. And we had, uh, everybody from Casey and the Sunshine Band to uh, uh, you name it, they were there. They would come through. And like I said, Joe Walsh, and spent the day, and talked to Cardinal baseball with, uh, one of our United States senators. That day, uh, John Danforth was there, spent the day with him. We talked about the Cardinals, and I brought Joe Walsh on that day, and just, it was fantastic. We had a lot of good times. And uh, this one, one particular concert, uh, of course, the Guns N’ Roses riot is the one that’s known as the big riot. But there was another riot in Springfield. Uh, that I was a part of. It was at the first Ozzfest. And as we all know, Ozzy Osbourne can bring out the best in everyone, when it comes to uh, being crazy. You know, he was the master of that.
**Marv:**
Oh, yes, he was.
**Brent:**
So we were slated, I was slated to meet him and interview him that day. So we went down to Lampy, and I had a really good intern out of Aurora, Missouri. His name was Bob Sutcliff. And Bob and I were big guys. We were both like 350 pounds. We looked like twin brothers. So people would mistake us a lot for the same person. And Bob was one of our interns, and he also did some air work there at US-97 also. So, Bob and I, uh, Todd trusted us with the US-97 van to go down to, uh, Swissville Amphitheater. I guess at the time, it was Lampy, in Lampy, Missouri. Now it’s called Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater. So, this was Ozzfest. And this was a crazy lineup of really hard bands. You had Sepultura was there from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were a very hard rock band. Danzig was on there that day. Uh, you had uh, Ozzy was the headliner. And he had a great band, but he was in really bad shape. He had been running a fever the two weeks before that, had started an infection of sorts. But Ozzy never canceled shows. And, and he was a show must go on kind of guy. So, when we arrived at the venue, we knew that things could go a-rye because of his health. So they told me he may or may not make the interview. So, uh, we started going live, and I was doing the breakaways from the top of the mountain up there at the amphitheater, and I kept getting closer and closer to interview time. And I get a call. And the guy calls me, and literally he’s like, where the hell is Lampy, Missouri? He goes, we’ve got this buzz, I know, I said, okay. I said, you’ve got to turn at Ozzy’s one stop. He goes, is that a joke? I go, no. So, I literally had to talk them into getting to the venue over the phone. And he said, Oz isn’t going to make the interview. You’re just going to have to wing it. So, you can’t make this type of stuff up. So, I had the inter, the intern interview me as Ozzy, and I just went on and faked being Ozzy Osbourne. And to, to save it, you know, just to save this remote, and I pulled it off. Because uh, when they pulled up, everyone pulled up laughing, and Sepultura pulls up, the kids get out, and they’re having a great time playing softball and things are going crazy. And uh, his manager walks up, and he goes, are you that radio guy? I said, yeah. He goes, the one that did Ozzy? And I started worrying right then. I thought, man, if he heard something, I said something he didn’t like, I could be in big trouble. You know, I could lose my job or, you know, things could go really bad. So, uh, Sharon walked up to me and grabbed me. She goes, that was amazing. She said, whatever you did, he goes, he laughed the whole time. He goes, it took his mind off everything. He was, we were laughing so hard listening to you, trying to accomplish. He goes, he thought that was hilarious. And he said, he’ll be glad to grant you an interview or do liners after the show. And he was in really bad shape. So, as we got to the concert, the promoter came out, and uh, he knew that Ozzy might not be able to go on. And the doctors were saying, you know, you’re running a high fever, don’t go on. And I’m standing there talking to Randy Castillo. I’m talking to Zach Wild. And Zach’s like, the boss man, he’s going to go on, Brent. He’s like, he will not stop. No matter how many, you know, songs we do, he’s going to go out there. So the promoter came to me and he said, well, it’s, it’s not going to happen. He’s not going to go on. Will you go out there and tell everyone? I said, no. I just got this job. I’m not going to walk out in front of this crowd that’s been here all day in the heat going nuts at an Ozzfest and tell them that Ozzy Osbourne, the headliner is not going to perform. I said, it’ll cause a riot, and I’ll lose my job, and probably end up in the hospital. So he looked at me and I called Todd, and Todd said, that’s not a good, good idea. He goes, you just hold back, let them handle it. So, Ozzy went ahead and went on, and he did three songs. And uh, I won’t say what he said, because with the euphemism, the language.
**Marv:**
Thank you for that.
**Brent:**
Right. And he basically told the crowd whoever can do the craziest thing gets to come backstage and party with me after the show. So this great big biker-looking guy crawled the speakers and started to unzip his pants. And before he could do the deed, of course, Ozzfest roadies are the best in the world. They have done these things all over the world. And this guy was a hill climber from California, and he grabbed this guy by the back of his neck and jerked him off that pole of speakers and took him down to the ground, and the police dog-piled the guy and started handcuffing him. I looked up to my intern. I said, fire up the van. We’ve got to get out of here. And as I looked up, Marv, I saw a rows of people move forward, and I saw him being crushed, and I could see that it was going to be another Guns N’ Roses riot. I lived through that. I saw it coming. I told Bob, I said, let’s get out of here. If we get out of here, it would be lucky if we make it. And they started breaking the seats. The people got injured. I think it was 14 or 15 people went to the emergency room that night, and they had a full-on riot. Uh, Ozzy played three or four songs, and then said that and then went off stage. And uh, I want to apologize to the guy in the tow truck, because I locked bumpers with his truck with the US-97 van. I slid him four or five parking spaces out of the way. Didn’t do any damage, but we made it out of there alive. And we escaped from Ozzfest.
**Marv:**
What year was this?
**Brent:**
90, I’m thinking 91. Because it was the first year of Ozzfest. I’m thinking right around 90, 91 was when it, when it started, because Ozzfest was just first starting.
**Marv:**
Wow, what an interesting story. We’re going to take a break. We’re coming back with Brent Hayes. I’m just amazed at some of the stuff that you have been able to do. Don’t go away, folks.
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**Marv:**
We’re back with Brent Hayes, who has done so many things in the radio business. Like I said, I might have been in it longer, but you have certainly taken it to the next level. After US-97, where did you go?
**Brent:**
Well, from US-97, I, I, I was slated to go to 98.9 The Rock in Kansas City, and uh, my mom called me and said that she had stage four lung cancer. So I had to come back to Waynesville, Fort Leonard Wood and take care of her. So that was going to be my next step. But yeah, when I was at US-97, I was lucky to, to work with Kevin Howard and Paul Kelly, Todd and Bo. We did the John Boy and Billy Big Show, and that’s when we became, we, we had NASCAR uniforms, and we would go out to these meet and greets and do these 80 shows. Like hanging out with Slaughter and Warrant and Quiet Riot and all these big names. We would spend all day with them. So it was an amazing tenure, and I wanted to thank everybody there, Jim Wesley, Paul Kelly. I worked with great like Woody and Janet at KGPX, uh, KGBX, rather. And uh, we’d do the, uh, Fire Falls. That’s where I met Tony Orlando and ended up getting the gig with the Lefty Brothers also playing at the, the townhouse, playing drums with them in Springfield. So after I left there, I came back here and, um, took care of Mom. And after Mom passed away, I got a call from Bob Black. And Bob was the uh, chief engineer at KFBD for many, many years, a naval veteran. And he said, Brent, I’m sorry to hear about your mom. He goes, do you want a job? I said, of course I do. I’d love to have something to do besides what I just went through. And he said, well, uh, we need someone again. So I went back to KFBD again, and this was for Fidelity Communications, working for the Davis family out of Sullivan, and it was called The Classic Rock Station. And there I, I didn’t get to do a full-on air shift, but I got to be an integral part of the programming. So I got to use all of this knowledge that I’d learned over the years to help program The Classic Rock Station. And then after I was there at Fidelity, I left and went to work at KFLW 98.9 The Fort, and I got to work with the great Tracy O’Quinn and uh, of course, Jamie Turner. And Tracy, I just consider Tracy a genius when it comes to marketing and what she does. She just no one better at what she does. That young lady is just a wealth of knowledge. And working with Jamie Turner, uh, he’s a production guru. I’d never met a guy better at production than him. We did all those crazy TK’s Pizza ads, and it won different uh, Missouri Association of Broadcasters Awards. So I just tried to learn from everybody I worked with, and I can’t accredit it all to me. I did a lot of hard work, but I had a lot of great people help me out through the years, Marv.
**Marv:**
And Jamie is still over at KFLW, and Tracy, of course, is the ramrod of O’Quinn Media, which we are on right now, and I can’t, I can’t thank her enough for the opportunity to get this done. I can’t thank you enough either. This has been fun.
**Brent:**
Thank you very much.
**Marv:**
I, I’ve learned an awful lot about your life and even a little bit more about the radio business. And I thought I knew all there was to know about radio. But this is certainly been interesting. Brent Hayes, thank you so much for your time.
**Brent:**
Marv, thank you so much. I’m blessed and honored to be on your show. I appreciate it.
**Outro**
We’ll be right back.
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In these days of texting and emails, words, phrases and names are shortened to letters. It doesn’t change anything, it just makes things easier. That’s the case of STR Glass, a St. Robert establishment since the ’60s. Still the same great service when it comes to auto glass, windows, shower doors, and anything to do with glass. And when it comes to fixing chips in your windshield to prevent cracking, there’s none better. They’re still in the same location on VFW Memorial Drive and still have the same phone number, 336-4122. They’ve just shortened their name from St. Robert Glass to STR Glass, but will never shorten their services to you, the customer.
TK’s Pizza in St. Robert, home of the original hand-tossed king, has been throwing dough in Pulaski County for over 40 years. Although a lot has changed in that time, TK’s delicious hand-tossed pizza has not. Taste our iconic pizza, our delicious toasted subs, mouthwatering calzones, huge fresh salads, gooey cheese bread, and more. At the same little spot we’ve been throwing dough for decades, 743 Missouri Avenue in St. Robert. Call 573-336-FAST, or order online at 336FAST.com. We’ll have it ready when you get here. Come on, taste the TK’s tradition.
Well, it’s time for some sports brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek, a short scenic drive through the countryside on A-Road outside of Richland on the way to the Lake of the Ozarks, where your grill is calling for their great selection of brats, pork, and beef. Well, it’s not been a great start to the second half of the season since the All-Star break for the St. Louis Cardinals. Their bullpen has not been great, and that may be putting it mildly. Their batting averages are far below what it takes to win in Major League Baseball, especially at the top of the lineup. The Birds could turn it around, and they’re still in the hunt for a wild card spot, although last week, it’s dwindled a little. Three weeks ago, St. Louis was the wild card leader, but now they find themselves looking up at the last remaining spot in the National League. St. Louis can climb the ladder in the NL Central this week. They have a four-game homestand with the Chicago Cubs, one of the three teams they trail in the division. They’re a half-game behind third-place Pittsburgh, six games behind the second-place Cubs, and 13 behind division-leading Milwaukee. But the Cardinals are only one and a half games out of the third wild card spot, but they do have Washington and the Pirates and Arizona to leapfrog for that coveted spot. The Kansas City Royals have been on fire after the All-Star break. They have climbed up the ladder a little bit in the wild card chase in the American League. They went seven and three in their last 10 games, coming into this week, but still find themselves in the cellar of the division, 11 and a half games out of first in the AL Central and nine out in the wild card race, but they have seven teams to jump for that to happen. Kansas City Chiefs training camp is underway at Missouri Western State in St. Joe, Missouri. The rookies reported last weekend, and soon the NFL will be back. News broke on Monday, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was shot late Sunday night at the couple’s home in Virginia. Not many details had been released as of earlier this week when we had to drop this podcast. Many of the high school teams are in what is called their dead period where they cannot have contact with coaches at the school or attend any of the school’s practice facilities for workouts. It’s a nine-day dead period that many of the schools take prior to the start of the fall practice campaign, which will begin August the 10th for the high schoolers and August 17th for junior high and middle school. That, my friends, is a look at sports this week brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek. We’re back after this.
Need to fill your freezer and save some serious money? Well, that’s a problem Three Brothers Meat Company is happy to fix. We’re talking whole beef bundles, quarter beef bundles, and the Mighty Freezer Buster, stacked with beef, chicken, and pork, so good, you might start inviting yourself to your own house for dinner. These bundles are perfect for grilling, family dinners, or just beating grocery store prices with much better quality food. Check them all out on our Facebook page, they’re pinned right there at the top of the page. Call 573-346-5233 or just swing by and see us, 2179 State Highway A in Montreal.
Meet you at the V is a popular saying in our neck of the woods, and for good reason. The VFW Post 3168 at exit 150 off I-44 is a popular place, especially on Friday and Saturday night, because it’s steak night from 4 to 9, where folks come from miles around to get some of the best steaks at a price that makes even the most thrifty smile, with several cuts of juicy steaks cooked the way you like, complimented by salad, baked potato, and a veggie. Their canteen is open Monday through Thursday from 3 to midnight, Friday from 3 to 1, and they open at noon on the weekends. The kitchen is open from 5 to 9 Mondays through Thursdays with daily specials, and did I mention steak nights Fridays and Saturdays? There’s karaoke Tuesday through Saturday from 8:00 p.m. to close, plenty of TVs to catch up on all the big games, and a huge meeting room to rent for your special occasions. Queen of Hearts runs every Tuesday, and check out their website for Bingo nights. See why more are heading to the V every day. Lake Way VFW Post 3168, exit 150 off I-44. See you at the V.
Well, that’s this week’s episode, brought to you by Beales Construction, the Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, Shelter Insurance agent Dave Howe of Richland, St. Robert Auto Supply, Sieger Toyota, the Pulaski County Health Center, STR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Lake Way, TK’s Pizza, and Three Brothers Meat Company. Thanks to those sponsors, thanks to my producer Tracy for putting this week and every week’s episode together, and thanks to you, my podcast faithful, for allowing me to be a small part of your lives every week. We’ll visit again next week when we hope to jump back into another big autumn event coming up in Dixon, and it’s called Cow Days. Lacy Rollins, who’s in charge of the long-time event, will visit with us if we can get our schedules to gel. Till then, stay cool if you can. Later.