Kris Fisher, Radio Veteran, Event DJ, Trivia Wiz

00:00
I wanna do this! That was so awesome!

00:11
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Welcome to season four, the first episode of season four. Thank you so much for the folks who stuck with me through three other seasons. I hope you're enjoying these stories and maybe you're finding some commonality with folks to know that we are not alone in this world. I am so happy to have in studio with me today, an old friend from radio who's back in radio again. Please welcome Kris Fisher. Thank you.

00:41
Kris, how are you doing buddy? I'm okay, but you didn't tell me I was the first episode of the season. That's pressure. No, I thought you would have said no if I told you. No, I would never say no. Actually, truth be told, I've been waiting for the call to be on your podcast. I appreciate that, man. So thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, yeah. We've probably known each other for well over 20 years, if not longer.

01:09
even though we've never actually worked together, I don't think. We may have worked for a small time together at 96. It was a hot second back in Cumulus days. Because I started there in 98, I believe. Okay. Yeah. I think I started 99. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And then I left in 99. I left in... Oh, boy. I can't remember. Late summer 99. I don't know. Yeah.

01:36
That's a fun story. Well, we can get into that here shortly, but that's one of those things with, especially radio folk that are like not the salespeople or not the management people. I mean, we're all doing the same job. We all understand the pressures and the crap that we all have to go through. So it's a big like brotherhood system of just people.

01:58
Um, yeah, I know what you're going through is a support group. Radio people anonymous, although we're radio people. So we don't want to be anonymous. Everybody to know people public. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so Kris, are you from the Augusta area? Born and raised. Oh really? Yes. Born in South. Well, I wasn't born in South. I guess I was born it.

02:22
Back in the day, yeah. Peach Orchard and windsor spring. That's it right there on the corner. Uh, back then it was Hardees. No, I'm born in St. Joseph hospital, which is now I think one of the Piedmonts. Um, but yeah, then raised in South Augusta, you know, graduated from Butler high school, 1995. Yay. That was Bulldog, right? Bulldogs. Yeah. And that was it, you know, well, that wasn't it, but, uh,

02:52
I went to college for a couple of years after that, before taking the dive into radio. Yeah, did you go to like Augusta College or? It was. Venture out. Then it was Augusta State University. Oh wow, okay. That was the name that I wanted to. During that one. That's the one you wanted on the diploma at that time. Yeah. As opposed to Regents or GRU or anything else. It was like.

03:18
It was Augusta State University, but we still had the asbestos buildings. So there's that. Here's a degree and a side of cancer. Yes. Enjoy. Did you, did you always have like a desire to get into radio? I know you said you, you got into radio, but like, was there always like something, were you a performer? Did you play an instrument? Did you sing? Did you just, were you the class clown? Yes, to almost all of that. Okay. I didn't sing.

03:47
I always wanted to, but I'm not a big singer, I don't think. But, um, yeah, no, uh, early in high school, I thought I wanted to be like an actor. And I probably, I guess I still do, but like, uh, did drama in high school and stuff like that, and, uh, you know, I did a little bit of theater outside of school, but it just, my, my, um,

04:12
self-confidence, I guess, wouldn't let me go, you know what? I could probably be good. So I didn't really pursue it as much as I would have probably have liked. But yeah, if you look back on my, we had these cheesy little senior books that you write in, all the things you want to do. And if you look at my senior book, it says, I want to be a radio DJ. So, so yeah, there was the desire even back then. That's awesome. Where did you, I mean, your front born and raised here listening.

04:40
to radio here. Did you have any like inspiration from the stations here? Were you a WBBQ guy back when it was, you know, top 40 and you had like, yeah, I guess we're at Mark Summers was the morning show guy at that time. Mark Summers grew up listening to, you know, Dickie Shannon and Harley Drew and everything, all the, all the old Augusta radio names. And I just remember BBQ growing up was like, anytime anything fun was going on in town, WBBQ was there. And that's, that's,

05:10
kind of how I try to program HD 98.3. Cause you know, to me it was just a feeling of excitement. And if I saw that van, I knew something fun was going on. And I want people to feel the same thing with my radio station. But the actual thing that got me really hooked was, and I heard this when I listened to the Jenny Bender episode and we've actually talked about this. The dude that she had worked with down in Brunswick.

05:36
who did mornings here on 96, it was RXR back then, Joe Mama. And I used to listen to him in the mornings. And I had this weird calendar in my room as, I don't know, I was probably a freshman in high school. I don't know how old it was, but it had these weird holidays. And one of them was tricky handshake day. And for whatever reason, it was, I had to call the radio station and go, Hey, it's tricky handshake day. And you and I know how radio works.

06:06
getting on the air as a caller is difficult. Yeah. Yeah. And for whatever reason, I don't know why, I don't know if the guy was expecting a call or whatever, but Joe Mama's partner, I don't even know who it was, answered the call on the air. And Joe was like, what is this? Why is it so important to answer this? Well, who is this? And it was me. And I was like, I just wanted to call and tell y'all it's tricky handshake day. And this is right after Pee Wee Herman got in trouble. Oh no. And Joe said, well, that's how Pee Wee Herman got in trouble.

06:36
Silence. I froze. I was like, uh, uh, and then he fired up a song, uh, running on empty. And he said, this is for the young man on the phone and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and went into his thing. And I'm like, I want to do this. That was so awesome. So that was, that was my, my big moment of going, this is what I want to do with my life. And, um, you know, Jenny told Joe that and he got a real kick out of it. And we kind of,

07:04
connected a little bit on social media. And I don't know, it was a cool little moment to go, thank you for that, you know? Yeah, yeah, that is so, that is so, you know, and I think a lot of us that, obviously we got into radio. I don't think anybody got into radio without having listened to or had some sort of experience like that. I mean, something where you're like, you know what, this seems like this could be a cool thing, or I have this, you know, I'm a.

07:27
I'm an introvert on the outside, but there's an extrovert trying to get out. If you don't look at me, I can be that performer on the stage. If you can't see me, you know? Yeah. It's funny that you say that cause like, um, you know, I can do whatever we do on a mic and I, I'm usually okay. Like in a big setting, like if I'm on a stage introducing a band and there's maybe a thousand people or whatever, I'm okay. But in a room of small people, I had to do a presentation for college. They're called little people.

07:57
Little, no, not, not like that. Oh, you mean a few people, a few people, a small amount of people, a presentation for them. I don't know. It may have been 30, 34 people. And I was so nervous. Yeah. And so it's just weird how that translates. I don't know what that means. Yeah. And I've had that same experience like you, you know, been on stage in front of 30,000 people, like introducing rascal flats at a concert. Yeah.

08:25
no problem at all. But if you put me in that room with like seven people that I don't really know, even at a party and it's like people are happy to be there, it's like I'm gonna hang out in the corner or find that one person that I know and just attach myself to them. Don't leave me. Do not leave me here. I don't know these people. Yeah. I think part of it also is like when you have that personality, we all have these personas. We have these gnome diplomas that we sometimes come up

08:53
come, we create, you know, I created Big Rob. That's just, that's who that is. Sure. And you can kind of separate yourself from your on-air persona, from your personal person. Right. And people see you as that persona and they're like, hey, you know, if you're a comedian, tell us a joke. Yeah. Say something funny. Which is the worst thing to say to someone. Absolutely. The sidebar, anyone, if you approach someone who is...

09:20
you know, that's kind of their craft comedy or like, I've had somebody come up to me and say, do something funny, be funny. And it's like, I don't know what I'm doing right now. Yeah, yeah. It's like, I can't, it's like, you know, or do your radio voice. Yeah. It's like, well, this is just my voice. I don't, what do you, what do you mean? Go buy a car. What do you want me to tell you? It's like, you know. Well, it's funny too. I get that a lot in, just in my personal life. Cause you know, pop radio is a lot different.

09:49
Um, pop radio, cause most people say, well, you don't sound like you do on the radio. It's because I'm not excited about everything on pop radio. That's it. You got whatever Taylor Swift song's coming up. Hey, this is the best song ever. Listen to it. Yeah. I don't do that in my daily life. People would think I'm just made. I'm going to go to the bathroom right now. I'll see you in eight minutes, you know, or whatever. Um, so yeah, there's, it's just a funny kind of, uh, I don't know what you call it difference there. Yeah.

10:19
Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, it's, it's, it's switching on and being as part of your job. Yeah. Do that stuff. You know what I mean? A lot of it, I think a lot of us bring our own personality to it or that, that hidden bit of the personality that we, yeah, you know, because you have that anonymity of the microphone and you're just being, being on the radio, you're in a room by yourself, talking to yourself for

10:44
four or five hours at a time. Yeah. That's really all it is. Which is funny too, that brings up another thought of, why I loved getting in the radio was, I'm sure you remember the movie, American Graffiti. Oh yeah. So for people who don't know this movie, kind of the Cliffs Notes here, is these high school kids graduated, they're about to go off to college.

11:09
and they're doing their separate stories and everything. But the one constant in the movie is the voice on the radio is Wolfman Jack. And, you know, he had a little cameo in the movie and you see that he's just there by himself. You know, the, the freezer's busted. He's eating popsicles. He's by himself, but he's also hanging out in everybody's car with them. And that fascinated me so much. I just love the idea of like, you're here, but you're also everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. You're, you.

11:38
And we get that when listeners call in, and you're so much a part of their life every day. If you're on in the morning show, you're part of their drive to work, or you're part of their drive home, or their Friday nights, or whatever it is. And they quote unquote know you, whereas you have no idea who these people are. But also part of it is when you're out, when you do a remote, or you're out at an appearance or something, you have to...

12:08
You have to know them too. You have to be congenial to them and like, oh yeah, that's great. Thank you so much for listening. Oh, that's great that you know, I was there for the birth of your child. Yeah. Who knew? You know? I love that stuff though, man. Going back to the voice thing, I've only been recognized for my voice one time, I think. And that was like somebody at my bank who I'm kind of remain friends with, but like,

12:36
I don't think I've ever been recognized for my voice. I've been recognized for my face for more, more for my Metro spirit column than I have for radio, which was weird. Cause only did that for like what two or three years. I don't know. It's your picture was there with it. Yeah, but still is a little tiny, little grainy black and white picture. Like how long did you look at this picture? Yeah, but that's, it's just, it's just fascinating. And, um,

13:05
It's funny you're talking about American or graffiti. That was actually how I got my first paid radio gig. I interned at 96RXR back when it was in the Lamar building. Back with Tony Powers and the Need A Man in the morning zoo. I would board up and I would cut promos and stuff with reel to reel and razors and tape and all that stuff. I came in on the tail end of that. Yeah, it was just, Dave Wren was the engineer there and built that studio out. It was crazy.

13:35
I was still in high school, but I got a gig working at a station in Greenville paid because I did a Wolfman Jack impersonation on there. Oh, really? Yeah. The guy was out at some remote. He'd come down from Greenville because it was like, it's like, it's like not WLFJ, kind of like AFJ is here at the Christian station, but they have.

13:58
their home station is like his radio in Greece. Oh, so the same, same company. Right, yeah, so they just had like a repeater here or whatever. Gotcha. And they'd come down to some concert or whatever. And the guy that, the DJ that was there was like, and I did like a Wolfman Jack, like what he was like, and he afterwards, he was like, would you like to do a weekend shift? I was like.

14:19
Not like that. Because I don't have to do this the entire time. He's like, no, no, no. And so that was, that was my first paid gig. Saturday mornings go work six hours in Greenville, barely made enough money to pay for the gas. Yeah. Get back. But that's how we do it. You don't get into radio because you like money. That was the first thing when I said I wanted to get in. I said, well, you're not going to get rich.

14:45
Yeah. And they did not lie. They should have said, you'll barely pay your bills. That would have been more accurate. I hope you enjoy water and ramen. Yeah. Um, Oh, that's, that's, that's so fun, man. That is, that's great. So in your, and you mentioned, uh, your back end radio now, you were out of it for a while and you are at HD 98, HD 98 three. Um, I guess you could call it back home. Um, you know, just, uh,

15:15
I guess my history there is I started there in 2006 and they had just signed it on and they, you know, hired me to do afternoons and I was the assistant program director and I was there for seven years. And then I left for, I left to do a morning show because that's what I always wanted to do. You know, most radio people, you want to do a morning show.

15:41
And I always wanted to, and I wasn't going to get it here because we had the Kit Kratik show and they weren't going anywhere. So this position opened up in Florida. I actually have an old radio station. Jordan's A was down there doing mornings. And so like, yeah, I'll go down there. And they needed somebody. So went down there and it blew up in my face and it was just not a good situation. And came back. I was out for a year. Then I got hired as program director at HD 983.

16:11
ran the station for a little over three years. Then they moved me to Vegas to run a couple of radio stations. Oh wow. And that was, that was a really cool experience. But, you know, got let go there, came back, and there was just nowhere for me here. So for the next five years, I was just like, I'm just out, I guess I'm done, you know? Had a 20 year run, it was fun, it was good. Yeah. But now time for the next adventure.

16:37
So working for myself and then all of a sudden this position opened up and it's, I guess I'm back. Yeah. Well, let's, let's, uh, I mean, obviously you wouldn't have gone back if you didn't. I think, I think we're all a little bit, uh, you know, uh, there's always that, that bug for radio. I don't think you ever completely get over it. No, not at all. You know, and like I said, you're not doing it for the, for the money.

17:03
Do it because you love it and there's something about it that you love, whether it's being the entertainer or the people or just the love of music too. But before you came back, you started your own business. And you still have the business going on now. I do. So what was that? Well, I was actually, I had actually started it years ago as a supplement to my income for radio and that's what radio people do. And

17:33
I was DJing weddings a lot, you know, some parties and events and stuff like that. And it was really just a side hustle to make a little extra money. So when I came back from Vegas, I had nothing. I was like, well, I'll just go back to that because I have all the equipment and I have some connections and I could probably get back into it pretty easy. And, um, man, I just built and built and built those five years were very, um, promising. So fast forward to this year.

18:02
You know, and, um, also I went through a divorce last year, so I didn't have my wife's income to kind of back me up. So it was just me with my kids and trying to make all those ends meet. So I was like, I'm going to pack in as much as I can work wise. And that's what I did. So this spring is like, jam packed. I am so busy. I'm more like weddings every weekend. Uh, I got trivia's during the week. I've got all kinds of parties, renting out photo booths, just everything. And then.

18:31
All of a sudden now you also have a 40 plus hour a week job. Yeah. Um, so it's, I'm very busy right now, but, but the, you know, a caveat of, uh, of getting the job is that, okay, now I don't have to push so hard for the extra events for the weddings and things like that. So, and my son, he's got two years left in high school. My other two are already, you know, grown and doing their own things. So I want to kind of, uh, make the most out of that time.

18:58
So working every Saturday doesn't really, you know, isn't great for that. So this will give me a chance to take a few Saturdays off, spend it with my son and things like that. That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. Any favorite memories from any of your time in radio? Any, I mean, because we have these weird opportunities, you know, to meet people that you just never know that you would never think you would meet.

19:26
And it's also one of those things is like, you know, don't meet your heroes because they're generally, you know, generally, you know, assholes or whatever. Sure. But I mean, do you have any like favorite memories from radio? Man, there's so many. Yeah. A lot of great memories. I would be better to just list off that whatever pops into my head. And then I guess the first one would be attending a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel show in Vegas. You know, he's from Vegas. So he did a show there at the Planet Hollywood for a little bit. And then.

19:56
the one I got to go see, he had the killers come in who are also from Vegas. So they did their songs for the show. And then when they were done taping, they did like three or four more songs, just like a little impromptu concert because it's Vegas. And I was just like, this is a very Vegas moment. This is so cool. That was pretty cool. Man, that's...

20:22
I don't know why I'm on the spot with this. There's so many cool things, uh, meeting a lot of cool people. I've, I've never really met like an asshole or anything. Like, you know, most people have been really cool. I've been very fortunate to not, you know, meet that hero that, that shatters your dreams. Yeah. Well, that's great. Um, I actually, this is a pretty cool story. Back when I was in Florida, the first time I first full-time gig, I was doing nights in Panama city beach, Florida, and Papa Roach came and did a concert at the club where we were.

20:52
doing the show from. And after, you know, the club closed, I was already, I was done being on the air and I was just hanging out. I was tipsy. But I had this megaphone that I would just carry around and just mess with people with. So at the end of the night, I'm in the parking lot, just on the megaphone, talking shit to the people leaving the club and stuff. And the band comes out and Jacoby is like trashed.

21:17
and he sees me on the megaphone. He's like, Oh man, that's awesome. I want that. I'm like, dude, I just got this. And I'm like, not well off. Like this costs a hundred bucks. He whipped out a hundred cash, gave it to me and I sold it to Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach. So fast forward, however many years it was when they came here to Augusta.

21:38
He came into my studio at HD and did a little interview and I reminded him of that story. I showed him, I got a picture of it, of the interaction or the transaction. And he's like, yeah, I remember that. He's like, we use that in our show for, you know, a few shows. I was like, that's the coolest thing ever. So then I got another picture with Jacoby after telling the story. It was just kind of a cool full circle moment with that. So that's a really cool, I think radio story for me anyways. Yeah. Cause I mean, that's like you said that you're putting these situations that

22:08
people won't believe that happened that actually happened. You know what I mean? Yeah. Hey, you know what? Papa Roach bought my megaphone and used it in a few concerts. Yeah, yeah. And I got to see him again later. Yeah, we got to rehash the story later. That doesn't happen. Right, right. So yeah, you know, there's this, man, there's so many stories. I'd have to sit here and write some out and that'd be a good book, actually. Hey, hey. A little memoir?

22:36
Yeah. A little autobiography. Yeah. Something like that. That would be cool. Yeah. I always said if I were to, I would, if I were to write an autobiography, the title would be like Mike check one, two, because that's, that's all as far as radio people can count. Yes. One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two. Where's that? What's after that? I don't know. So, so now you've, you've got your.

23:04
your empire of wedding DJ and trivia. And now you're back on top in radio. What's, what do you, and you've only been there. This'll be, I think I just completed my third full week. Oh wow. Third or fourth. It's still pretty fresh. So it's all a month or so that you're back. What's the plan? What?

23:33
What's exciting that's going to be happening with HD98 that people can tune into? My thing of, you know, when I had control of it before was, well, like I said, you know, you can make it the WBBQ of 2024. Yeah. So people can expect to see our van a lot more, see us involved with a lot more things. I just like, and now this was a big part of me,

24:03
coming back to the station. I love having something to do with the community and having influence on certain things that happen in the community. If we can help an event go on or be better, I love that part of it. My whole philosophy of programming was I want people to feel good when they see our van or when they think about the radio station. I want to give them a feeling. So.

24:30
I guess that's a weird way to say what to expect from us, but I guess that's it. You just expect to see us a lot more and hopefully get some cool shows in town and things like that. Yeah. No, that's good. I mean, it's so, again, when you talk about BBQ, they were everywhere.

24:49
They were everywhere. Anything was going on there. Of course they had a news department and all this other stuff too. Um, and then, you know, the cue card, everybody had a cue card. We're going to have HD card. Maybe we're going to, you know, I tried that in the past and it was like.

25:04
people don't carry around cards like that anymore. So it'd have to be something on your phone or something. Something on your phone or I even thought of like the little key cards and you put on your key chain or a bracelet. Cause people wear the plastic bracelets, but I thought it'd be cool. Like, Hey, if you have an HD bracelet, you get discounts that, you know, these businesses or something like that. So I, I brought the idea up in the past. It didn't really do much, but I might, I might try to do something like that again. That would be cool.

25:33
I feel like probably in one of these boxes around here, there's probably several cue cards still laying around. So for people who are listening, who don't know about the cue cards, we have to explain this. You would get your WBB cue card. I mean, this thing was almost like a little credit card. I mean, you had a serial number on it. It was official. But you could show it around town and you get like these massive discounts, or I think in some cases you would get stuff for free. And it was just a thing like...

25:59
You had to have this cue card. Yeah. It was the predecessor to every store's loyalty card is what it was. Sure. Yeah. You know, you get punches now with a cue card. You just, you flash the cue card and like I said, you get like 50% off a donut at Krispy Kreme or something, or you get a, you know, it was, it was your loyalty card for listening to the station and they just had, they everywhere accepted or had some sort of deal with the cue card. Yeah. And it was like an event too. Like they would say, all right, come.

26:28
you know, baby Q would put out these events to where they're like, come get your cue card at wherever we're going to be this Saturday. And like people come a lot of people. Yeah. Come sign up for the card in, in, you know, so you're writing down all your information and it's going to a box that you might get drawn for concert tickets while you're there too, or something like that. It was just always such like, when you talk about this stuff going on, the energy, the, the spectacle of

26:54
you know, what radio was. And I think that was probably what was so attractive to me and getting into radio, you know, that we got into it around that time when it was still a spectacle, when it was still like, somebody was talking the other day, we talked about, we mentioned Mark Summers, but I saw a meme going around. It's like, yeah, Gen Xers.

27:17
we were like, we had teen nightclubs and there was no video evidence. Yeah. Actually there was, there was one here in town called TP Cruisers. TP Cruisers. And Mark was the, and we made a TV show of the teen nightclub and Mark was the host of the TP Cruisers. Yeah, I remember that. It would come on at like, I don't know, 10 o'clock Saturday morning or something like that. You'd look for your friends on there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was just crazy stuff. But I mean, that was the fun stuff that got me excited about.

27:46
I could actually do this. I could, you know, it's not like having to go to Hollywood and become, you know, the next Robin Williams or something like that. It's like, I could be the Robin Williams of Augusta. I could be the guy that.

27:58
that kind of brings that joy and that excitement to your home. Because you love your home. A lot of people, they love where they grow up from. And to be a part of that. And BBQ was such a big powerhouse at that time, too. They were just huge, huge signal. They don't do radio like that anymore. You can't. I mean, it's just so difficult. People got so many different options. Yeah. Was that ever a thought that when you saw that coming out,

28:28
It started with XM and Sirius and the satellite radio. Did you ever think of maybe trying to go that route? I did, but that's as far as it got. I never really, you know, and I think I probably glanced around the old extinct allaccess.com for satellite or Sirius jobs. And it just never, I never came across anything. Truth be told, I could have stayed in radio when I left.

28:57
Vegas, um, just cause, uh, you know, it's all about who, you know, uh, I had an interview lined up in Knoxville, Tennessee. They were going to have me out and come, you know, check out the market. And it was almost, it seemed like it was like pretty much a done deal, but I was like, family wanted to come back home. So I just hung them up, you know? So, um, I mean, who knows what happened. I could have got canned there too. I don't know. It's kind of the, it's kind of the thing with radio. Yeah. When I got like, oh, uh, from.

29:25
It was still clear channels before I heart had bought them out. I mean, it was me and 3,500 of my closest friends got let go in the same day. So that massive, you know, RAF. And, and when you have 3,500 people all that now don't have a job and the jobs don't exist, it's not like you could just go over to another station. Yeah. They were just don't exist anymore. Well, and then the ones that do exist, the competition for those jobs.

29:53
much higher. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, I, I, I've stayed in this business, you know, a long time. I'm, I'm good enough to have a job, but there's much better broadcasters. So I didn't feel comfortable going, you know what? They can just have those. Let me go knock down Howard Stern. I can do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, just not the thing. So, so aside from, from radio and your

30:21
Well, I was, I feel like I was going to ask a stupid question, but aside from radio and your lack of time because you have weddings to attend and trivia and stuff like that, is there anything else that you're just really passionate about that you just love being involved in sports or? You know, I heard you ask this on one of your other episodes and I was like, what am I passionate about? And this is kind of a struggle for me because like, I don't have time for hobbies. I don't have hobbies. I don't watch TV.

30:51
I don't do a whole lot and that bothers me because I want to. You know, I do, I love riding motorcycles. I have a motorcycle, but I don't have time to ride it. You know.

31:05
like to go to the gym? I don't know. So I mean, it's like, I don't, I don't know. I guess that's the answer to that. And I would like to know, I would like to have that time to go, all right, well, let's, let's do some hobbies. Let's do some activities. And let's, let's figure out some, some me time. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess in that same vein, then, so what, what's bringing you joy, then? My kids, honestly, my kids have turned out really cool.

31:35
I got three of them. My oldest is kind of navigating life. He reminds me a lot of me in my early twenties, what I wanna do. I got this radio thing I wanna do, but I've got these other things that might be cool too. And you just, at that age, you don't know which road is the right road to take. So you're almost afraid to take any of the roads. Yeah, yeah. So it's fun trying to help him kind of navigate that.

32:05
Yeah. Um, my daughter, she moved out the day after her 19th birthday. She's like in college, doing great, got a great job. Like she's, I don't know, she's flourishing. And my youngest son, he's 15. He's, um, football player. Really good, great football size. Um, so he's, it's fun. And I take him to camps a lot, you know, football camps and, uh, trying to get him.

32:34
some recruiter attention and things like that. Cause you know, he wants to go to school and play football. I just want him to go to school. Yeah. But playing football is a great bonus. And he loves to do it. So that's, those are the things that bring me joy. Hanging out with my kids, watching their journey and just seeing them accomplish things and, and you know, experiencing their wins and losses with them. It's to me, it's, I don't know. That's, that brings me joy.

33:09
Chris, this is the second segment of the show. This is where we dive a little bit more deeper into your mental health journey. It's what the show is about. I believe that the more we talk about things that bother us, the more we're open about that and try, instead of keeping it in the shadows, the easier it is for us to realize that we are not alone in these things. And I think that depression wants to tell us that we are alone. So for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay?

33:37
booze? No, I'm kidding. That usually makes it worse. I guess that would be it. Making a joke out of everything. Yeah, you know, it's a great way to mask stuff, but it doesn't really address the problem. I don't know, I try different things. I try to stay positive. Yeah. Actually, for a while there when I got canned in Florida, you know, back in 2013 or whatever it was.

34:07
Like I got to where like, just to kind of convince myself, I was posting all these little cheesy positive quotes every day. And I didn't think anybody was paying attention, you know, and then a good friend of mine, Molly Swift saw it and she, you know, said it struck a chord with her and, you know, it kind of helped her and stuff like that. Really kind of, I don't know, that made me feel good. You know, those like, okay, kind of like you said, you know.

34:36
that you're not going through things alone. Like people got their own things they're going through. So even if you're posing some cheesy quote that you saw written on a bathroom wall or wherever you saw it, it might help someone through whatever it is they're going through. Right. So I was doing, you know, that helps a lot, just kind of reminding myself to be positive. I was doing therapy for a little while, currently in the market for another therapist. So.

35:04
I guess that's it, just staying on top of it. Just, you know, when you get into a hole, and you know, my past few years have been pretty rough. You know, I had a lot of death in my family and being unemployed, you know, and then going through the divorce last year. So, there's a lot of opportunity to crawl in those holes. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. I think being aware that, you know,

35:34
that there is a hole because sometimes you're in it and you don't realize that you're in a hole. Because you've just kind of slid down in it, you just kind of backed away from things that maybe did bring you joy or things that you found yourself passionate about, even getting on your motorcycle and going for a ride or something like that that you may have normally done. Found an excuse not to have time to do that or something like that.

36:04
recognizing, fuck, I'm in a hole. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I do feel lucky to be able to recognize when I'm getting that way. I've become pretty good at like recognizing when I'm feeling a little more depressed or a little in that hole or even angry, you know, you know, everybody gets angry. And my thing is, how do you manage that anger? Yeah.

36:33
a proud myself and just kind of not blowing up, kind of keeping it to myself. And then you need to tell your loved ones like, look, I'm pissy right now. Let me get over it. Let me, let me digest, you know, and then we'll move forward. Yeah. So that's, I feel lucky to be able to, to have those moments of self reflection to go. I'm not my best self right now. Yeah. Yeah. And you talked about going to the gym. Do you find that maybe some of the,

37:01
do some self work like when you're literally working on your body, but I mean, do you pay attention to like maybe where you're at mentally during those times too to work out some of that anger or work out some of that frustration or what's the next move type stuff, you know, getting your body moving I think helps get your brain moving. It does. Absolutely. I find it very therapeutic. I have a very angry playlist that I listen to while I'm working out.

37:30
Yes. A lot of like death metal is just like speed metal, just, you know, and it kind of, um, is very therapeutic. Um, and it's helped a lot over this past year. Cause, uh, you know, you have going through a divorce, you have all these feelings, you know, like of, you know, a lot of my stuff was, you know, what, why did I let it get this way? Or why, what could I have done better? And why, why.

37:57
I don't just a lot of wise, a lot of wise connected to different things. So yeah, that's that's probably over the past year. That's been my focus of every time I go on the gym. It's like a hone in on that. And I'm like, why? Why? Yeah. Probably I don't know if that's healthy or not, but that's what it's been. But I mean, you know, there I think why is the great question for uncovering things, you know, when you, you know, you know, I

38:27
I don't want to eat today. Why don't you want to eat? You know, it could be because you're not hungry. All right. But it's cause also my pissing me off. Why'd they piss you off? Or why do you think they pissed you off? Yeah. You can always follow a why question with another why question and to really get to the root of what's going on. Um, you know, whether those whys and it being like, I feel like I'm not worthy enough now for someone's love or I feel like I've screwed up.

38:57
something and I don't deserve to either love myself or to have someone else love me or whatever. And you have to be able to sit with yourself through those kind of questioning moments to discover that. Because I think that's where you then start to like, okay, I'm in this hole, but actually there's a rope over there. Let me grab hold of that rope. Right. And therapy helped me with that a lot.

39:26
Um, that was, I think may have been my first question. My therapist is going in there and what the fuck is wrong with me, you know? And then, um, just kind of laying out the kind of the things I was going through. And, um, you know, she reassuring me that even though, you know, you may not handle this situation, great, or maybe you did this thing that may have been not the best, you're not in your best moment.

39:51
you're okay. Cause people screw up, you know? And that was my thing. Like I am my own biggest critic. So when I screw something up, I'm just like hammering down on myself. And it's so unhealthy. Right. Right. So, you know, therapy helped me through that a lot, but it's still there. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, sometimes those things never go away. Yeah. But again, your awareness of it, your, your awareness of the things that get you to that place.

40:21
and how to either avoid them or work through them in a productive, positive type manner are very important. And that's, you know, I try to focus on that. And that's like going back to being self-aware of like what you're going through and just being able to recognize it. I feel like that's a huge help in your mental state, you know? And I try to pass it along to my kids, like, look, you know if you're feeling a certain way, take a breath.

40:51
step back, look at it, you know, why is it this way? How can you handle it better? You know, so, I don't know where I was going with that. No, I mean, you know, I get it, you know, take, it's that moment of reflection, you know, it's the moment of realization, like, hey, realize you're going through something. Like you said, take a deep breath.

41:16
especially in the role of a father, you're like, I don't want them to ever feel any, you know, I don't ever want my kids to ever feel any pain or every, any disappointment or anything like that. But that's part of life. It's going to happen. And so you have to take a breath too, like, fuck, they're about to go through some stuff and I don't want them to go through it. And it's like, okay, I can only warn them so much. And then I can equip them with the tools like, hey, stuff goes

41:46
very important and you still got a lot of great stuff to do in life. But take a moment, don't be so hard on yourself. Right. Yeah. I had said, you know, situation with my youngest son just last week, he was going through something at practice and everything. So he was like all upset when he got off of it. And I was like, in my head, I'm thinking of the whole situation because he got called out and singled out and practice. And

42:13
I felt how embarrassing that may have been or how frustrating that was. And I just knew like the, the waves of emotion that he was probably going through. And then I just remember thinking to myself, God, I really hate this for him. I wish I could take those emotions and experience them for him. But this is also good for him, you know? So it's, it's a, a chance to grow and to.

42:40
All right, Chris, this is the third thing to show. It's time now for the fast five. The fast five is down now for the fast five. I know it's four seasons. This theme song is. I was looking forward to that. I feel like I still need to get somebody on the fast five theme song. It's powered by Poddax, an app created by my friend Travis Brown.

43:04
It's created for podcasters, great icebreaker questions and stuff like that. But if you go to chewingthefatbr.com slash pod decks, you can find the link to get your own deck at the app store of your choice, whether you're an Apple or an Android or whatever, but green bubble gang, green bubble gang for life, son. Okay. I think your mic stopped working here. All of a sudden. Okay.

43:33
You know, I can't leave your group chat either. I don't know if you realize that. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I can't leave if you put me in. Lucky for you. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Fast Five is just five random questions. First thing comes up, you had no wrong answers. You ready, buddy? I'm ready. Here we go, question number one.

43:56
If you were the captain of a ship, what would you call it?

44:01
Oh, I wasn't expecting nothing like that. Yeah. You get to name the ship. What's your name? Name the ship. Yeah. Uh, the USS me. Okay. The USS me. I don't know. I don't have a good answer for that. Well, there's no wrong answer. So, I mean, if that's, that's the first thing he came to. There you go. Question number two.

44:26
What's the best compliment you ever received? Oh man. Best compliment that I can say on a podcast. I'm kidding. I guess I would have to say that, uh, it would be whenever my stepkids chose to call me dad. Oh, wow. Um, I never expected that. I, growing up, I called my steps by their name, you know, um,

44:54
And I never even, it never broached my mind that they would call me dad. And then they took it upon themselves and came to me and they were like, Hey, we just want to let you know, we're going to start calling you dad. And I was like, Whoa. I was like, this is. That's a big. Yeah. I was like, y'all give it some thought, you know, like, do you realize this is like a thing? Like, and, um, they said, no, no, no, we've talked about it a lot. And we both decided, you know, you're our dad. We want you to call him. We want to call you dad. That's the best compliment I've ever had. That's, that's amazing.

45:24
Yeah, I can't think of a better one. That's amazing. Question number three.

45:32
Do you consider yourself superstitious? Yes and no. Okay, explain. I would say no, but I do superstitious things. You wear the same underwear when you watch the Braves play or something like that? No, but okay, well that's a great example. So not underwear. I had a couple of years ago, I bought a new Georgia shirt. Cause I always wear like a Jersey during the games. And then

46:01
I brought a new Georgia shirt at the beginning of the season and they won all their games. I was like, Oh, okay. This is cool. And then here comes the was, I guess, the SEC championship or whatever. And I was working, I was doing a wedding and I was like, I just, I'll wear a different shirt today, you know, and then they lost that game. But then that's the year they came back and you know, they were allowed in the playoff and eventually won the national championship.

46:28
which I wore the games from the shirt, those games that they won. So I was like, I'm going to wear this shirt for every game until they lose. And then the next season, we all know what happened. Yeah. And I was like, Holy shit, this is working. Like, so, uh, uh, I wore it, uh, for every game and then, you know, it lost its mojo at the sec championship last year. So thank God you're not superstitious though, as you stated.

46:56
Exactly. I'm the biggest walking contradiction you'll ever meet. Question number four.

47:07
What would constitute a perfect day for you? Perfect day. Perfect day would be...

47:18
Being woken up by the sunlight through my window, not by my dogs who usually like to wake me up. But yeah, being woken up at a decent hour, I don't know, eight-ish, I like to wake up semi-early because I like to enjoy my day. I'm not a sleeper in or I'll sleep when I die. Okay. And then if it's the perfect day, then I'm gonna head to a beach nearby. Nice. And...

47:48
ride the motorcycle there to the beach? God, that would be great. I'm just asking. This is your day. I was just asking. Well, you just, I don't know, because in my head, I'm like, my kids are in the car and stuff. Okay, there you go. I'm kind of like family thing. There you go. And then I find a spot on the beach, close to a tiki bar where I can go grab a margarita, sit on the beach. And then that's my day. Perfect day. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, question number five.

48:18
If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

48:26
You know what? I thought about this question recently and I forgot my answer. This is a thing about me. My memory sucks. It is terrible. But the bet you got a lot of useless knowledge about, about the artists floating around in there. Oh yeah. It's you out at any moment if you needed to. Yeah. Randomly. Yeah. So I guess the best piece of advice would be like,

48:54
live in the moment, I guess. I'm real bad about looking five steps down the road and being worried about that. Oh, wow. And not appreciating the moment. And I guess you could kind of package that with my work ethic, which I blame my father for. But, you know, he's just, you know, he and my grandfather, they were just those old school southern guys that were like, look,

49:24
you got to make money and that's your job to provide for your family. And to always make sure you can do that. And so, um, that, that owes a lot to, or what the way I do my life now, it owes a lot to that cause I work a lot. Um, but I'm, I'm afraid of not being able to provide. Yeah. So, so that takes away a lot of the living in the moment.

49:49
You know, and the moments to enjoy and stuff like that. So I guess that would be my thing. It's the cheesy thing you see in movies all the time. Like don't work your life away. Family's important, you know, but it's true, you know, um, you know, work enough to pay your bills and, and spend time with the people you love and cause one day they won't be there and you won't get the time and you never know when that day is. Yeah. And I, and I absolutely agree with that because like, you know, when

50:19
when you think about, you know, your kids don't, when they've grown up, they're not gonna remember those days that you worked late. They'll remember the days that you had time to spend with them. Right. You know, that you've made it to the football game or you made it to the concert or the production or whatever it was that they were involved in and you were there in that seat for them. That's what they'll remember. Yeah, 100%.

50:46
You know, I try to make the most of that. I try to be there for them as much as I can. And, you know, I just try to have those moments to find joy. So, you know, I guess that's the long way to say, just, you know, take joy in your moments. Enjoy the moment. And if you're not, find a way to do that. Yeah, I love that. I just read a book recently that you should, if you've not read it, you should read it. It's called 4,000 Weeks.

51:16
time management for mortals, Oliver Berkman, the author. It's not like this, hey, here's how to here's how to get 15 more things done every day type of self help thing. It's more philosophical about what you're saying about our relationship with time. Yeah, basically says, you know, that everybody lives about 4000 weeks, and that's it. You know, now, so it's, it's enjoying the things that you can get done, not trying to squeeze more in.

51:44
giving things priority that are going to be meaningful, knowing that you can't do everything. So when you decide to do these three things today, those are the things that are important and that I'm going to enjoy the time doing those. And I'm not gonna feel bad for not getting to the other 20 things that might need it to get done. That's pretty big. I mean, I feel like you're in my head right now because that's me every day. Oh, I didn't get to these things. And then I hate myself for it.

52:13
And then I repeat the cycle the next day and the next day and the next day. And it's probably fueling some of my, you know, reasons I need a therapist. Definitely check out that book. If you, if you've not read it yet, 4,000 weeks, it's a great book. 4,000 weeks. I'm putting it on my list. Well, Chris, that is our fast five and that is the show. Thank you so much for being here, man. Thanks for having me. Uh, this was a lot of fun. Uh, I've been listening to your episodes and I got to say.

52:42
Uh, then in this, just like I told the, uh, the drop the disc guys, like when I saw you were doing this immediately, I go to jealousy and like, oh, damn him. What the hell? But then I'm like, and then I realized I'm like, well, it's because I want to do that. And like, I'm really just mad at myself for not doing that. So I'm like, dude, this is awesome. I've been listening to your episodes. They're all great. I appreciate it. So, um, you know, kudos to you and I hope you can do this and it's lucrative for you.

53:10
Yeah, it's like working in radio actually. So except I don't even get anything for this. Oh, OK. But you know, but I do appreciate the folks that take their time like you to come and be a part of the show and to open up your open up your heart, your mind to the conversation. I really do appreciate that. Well, thanks. Thanks for having me. If people want to keep up with you, what's the best way they can do that? Many, many ways. I guess, first of all, I'm.

53:38
on  afternoons at HD 98.3 FM Monday-Fridays, 3-7, Instagram @djkfish, facebook Kris Fisher, Kris spelled with a K.

53:57
What am I missing? Okay. I don't know. Is that where you, that your main places? I'm usually on Instagram, you know, and it like automatically ties to Facebook. So I don't really do extra stuff. I'm on TikTok, but I don't take that much, but there's some TikToks. That's, uh, at Augusta wedding DJ. Okay. Um,

54:16
And if you need a wedding DJ, if you need a wedding DJ, uh, I do have some availability. You can check me out online, Augusta wedding DJ.com. And what's in the trivia. Do you do that? Is that weekly? Is that every week? Is it the same place? Trivia weekly. Uh, I have a game that I host at Vance's bakery bar on Thursdays. It starts at eight and, um,

54:37
advances is delicious. Oh my gosh. I was just me and Val with advances last night and had the bread pudding and she had like some hot chocolate something or whatever. It was amazing. Amazing. So and their drinks are so good. Like, you know, I don't know, I guess maybe I'm partial or whatever. But they're their old fashioned is like the best old fashioned I've ever had. So yeah, try them out. Come see us on Thursdays. Have a

55:06
Game that I write but actually you had Regina on your show Gina breadja and breadja. Yeah, yeah she hosts for me and I'm at a Senior mezcal on Thursdays from 7 to 9. That's great. That's great. Well, I'll put all those links in the show notes

55:23
And of course you can find out more about Kris and the other guests online at chewingthefatbr.com. Again, Kris, I love you. I wish you nothing but success in everything that you got going on. And if there's anything I can do for you, man, I'm right here. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Absolutely. So we can do this again tomorrow then. Is that what you're telling me? Sure. You said you didn't have time, but all of a sudden time has opened up. It's amazing. Yeah, if I can talk about myself, I'll make time.

55:48
If you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com. But until next time, I look forward to the chance we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.