Ron Roberts, Radio Veteran, Realtor, Podcaster

00:00
So do you know the first job I ever took where the person who hired me knew I was gay was in 2018?

00:13
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for following, liking, downloading, listening to the show. I really do appreciate that. Thanks to the folks that have bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com as well. And also had a couple more folks get a journal. That is so encouraging to me that you're using the journals to track whether it's your grocery list or your mental health journey. I really...

00:39
I think that's amazing that you're using that tool. So thank you. And you can find more of that stuff online at chewingthefatbr.com. I am so excited about my guest today. We've tried to get together a couple of times here, but a long time friend. He's a radio veteran and a Augusta boy, and a real good friend that I know I can always call if I ever need anything. Please welcome Ron Roberts.

01:08
Hey, big Robb, man. Thanks for the invite and staying on me about, you know, joining your, uh, your show here, been looking forward to it since we got it on the calendar. And, uh, gosh, I apologize for just not being able to nail this down sooner, but it's been, it's been a hectic, uh, I don't even want to say three months, nine months, 10 years. It's been hectic. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, of course, you know, that's, that's the whole thing. Like even with the pandemic, you know, you, that's two years that people forget that we, you know, that we just stayed inside, you know, so it's always weird to try and

01:37
figure out time based on that. But yeah, um, you've done some traveling around since your Augusta days. Uh, and, um, but, but you're from, from Augusta, right? Grove town, Georgia to be exact. Grovetown. There you go, man. Now that town has experienced a crazy growth over the past 10, 15, 20 years. Um, yeah. Have you been backed out this way recently? Cause you're in Atlanta right now, right? Yeah, I live in Atlanta and uh,

02:05
You know, I'm sure we'll we'll dive into more of the whole familial aspect of where my life is right now later But I actually like my dad still lives in Augusta his twin brother my uncle they still live there or in in Grove town, but Don't I don't get by there as often as you would think yeah, and a few times I do you're right. It's it's exploded It's hardly recognizable. Yeah. Yeah, so when you were growing up in Grove town this area what

02:34
What were you into? I mean, cause like I said, I know you as the Ron Roberts. So I mean, was radio and entertainment, was that something that always you kind of had a passion for? In some respects, yes. My best friend, shout out to Jeremy Ray. He and I grew up on the same block in the same little subdivision. One of the few that actually existed in Grove town back then.

02:59
And he and I were those kids who would do sleepovers on the weekend. And we'd stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live. We used to record radio shows on the, you know, the twin cassette deck. Yeah. You know, we tried to record songs off of the radio and repurpose them for our own little shows and whatnot. When those very first little personal, I think they only recorded in black and white, personal video cameras that were somewhat affordable, but meant for kids. Yeah.

03:28
We were doing that stuff. I mean, we were trying all sorts of things. So yeah, entertainment's kind of always been in my blood. And even when I got to be, I want to say I was 12, 13 years old. The Augusta Chronicle should have this archive somewhere. Uh, I actually used to produce a weekly newspaper in my hometown. Uh, I bought, I was, I was probably the youngest kid that walk into an office supply store and buy a copier back then.

03:53
Yeah, I bought a copier and was, you know, my Friday nights consisted of staying up late to copy, you know, make copies of the paper, staple them, and then show up at the grocery store in Grove town on Saturday morning to sell them for hours. That's awesome though, man. That, I mean, that's, that, that's some crazy, like entrepreneurial spirit. You know what I mean? That's, that's awesome.

04:18
Somewhere in my parents house is a letter I got from Zell Miller when the Chronicle wrote that article where he was just, you know, you know, commending me for, you know, having that entrepreneurial spirit. But I had I was 12, 13 years old. I was also like sitting in front of a grocery store all day for hours and hours and hours for a lot of my childhood, too. So there's that. Yeah. Yeah. And a Grove town in a grocery store in Grove town at that. Was the only one.

04:46
Right. I was gonna say that at that time it wasn't like it was a booming town that it, that it is now. Um, is that what you went into school for? Did you go in for like journalism for writing or? Well in high school it was a late in my junior year that I finally got on the newspaper staff at Harlem high school. And, uh, by my senior year, we had, you know, full, you know, full head of steam going to where we were, you know, publishing,

05:15
This is back when Macintosh computers first came out, and they were those boxes, you know? Yeah. And we were using Aldous PageMaker to lay out the paper and send it to the print shop. And we were printing like high quality, so well that by the spring when we were going to the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, I guess conference or convention, we had the highest rated newspaper from the state of Georgia that year.

05:42
And, uh, so yeah, I mean, I was going to, I was going to parlay that and go to the university of Georgia and, you know, get a, get a degree in journalism. That was the idea anyway. Well, well, what happened? If it was just the idea, what happened? Well, when you're a 18 to 19 year old, you know, a young man who is on his own for the first time and, uh, you're invited to all these parties and you're just kind of.

06:10
really for the first time in my life anyway, discovering, you know, the sexual side of my life. There are a lot of distractions and I was trying to balance school with that, with a job I had at a Harris Teeter supermarket I transferred to, you know, to work in Athens and I didn't prioritize school. So, you know, school suffered and it was all I could do to keep the bills paid and, you know,

06:39
try and balance that social life. I tell people all the time now, I'm like a 23rd year sophomore at the University of Georgia and I'm still on academic probation because I haven't rectified that. So that happened. And then I got a radio job. I got my first radio job in college at Magic 102 there. And it started out just being weekend overnights. The only reason I got that job was because I'd had a job at a station in Augusta that doesn't exist anymore.

07:07
or maybe it exists. I guess it's 93.9 now, whatever that is. It used to be 94 gold. And there was a time in high school, Rob, kid you not, I was writing and working stringer work for the Augusta Chronicle Sports Department, but I also had a hourly bagging and stocking job at a Winn-Dixie on Columbia Road. And I worked overnight weekends on 94 gold for a while there. I don't even know when I slept weekends, to be honest with you.

07:37
that that went on for a minute in high school. So anyway, I wound up getting a radio job and it was you know, part time became full time and then I wound up you know, getting a job offer in Greenville, South Carolina and I thought well, this is kind of what I was going to go to school for anyway. So let's see where this goes without the degree. Nice, nice. I didn't I didn't know that you had a radio job when you were in high school. That is so cool. Because that's where that's when I started. I started interning when I was in high school. And finally, my first

08:06
paying radio jobs in Greenville. All right. Yeah, it's similar paths there. And so obviously you kind of stuck with it as far as radio goes. And that's one of those things that's hard to explain as far as like radio. It's like when you say you stuck with it, usually I know for me there's like a passion part about it. You got into radio probably around the same time.

08:34
as I did maybe a little earlier where it was like good and fun and enjoyable, you know what I mean? And still an entertainment outlet as opposed to kind of a business, you know? Everything kind of shifted to more business than entertainment in the later years. But sticking with it is just one of those things is kind of you get that bug and it gets ingrained in you and you kind of don't want to do anything else because it's...

09:02
even though the work can be really hard, it's gonna be really, really fun too. And I learned over time that, you know, once the bosses became not just, you know, the guy who worked for the guy who owned the station, but the suits who were just, you know, trying to meet these arcane numbers that you don't understand, these metrics, and they realized, you know, very early on that, you know, folks like me existed who were very passionate, and you.

09:30
who were very passionate about what we did and realized that that was part of our paycheck. We didn't realize that, but they did. They knew that they could underpay us and keep dangling the carrot of, you know, remote fees and endorsement fees and, you know, keep that, keep that carrot just far enough in front of us horses to keep us moving so that, you know, they can hit their budgets and, you know, you know, get their corporate jets and stuff like that. Yeah.

10:00
Um, so from Greenville, where did you, where did you head to? Augusta. Okay. That's where I came back. That's when I came back to work at, uh, at Y one Oh five. And when I got there, I was hired to do overnight. Uh, I was, I was, I was on the air immediately after Michael chase on weeknights. Um, and I was paid a whopping $15,000 a year and don't

10:27
misunderstand back in 1995, that was still not a lot of money. It was not, it was not, it was not a great sound, but I was, you know, again, uh, very passionate about what I was doing. And I really wanted to move back home. Uh, I think in my mind, I thought I really screwed up my college years. If I go back here and I can do overnight, I can go back to school, maybe at Augusta. Well, I think it was still Augusta college at the time. And you know, get something. And I just never, I never did that part because three months later, um,

10:57
after spending, I think about three or four months waking Mark Summers up, you know, I was overnight guy gets to wake up the morning guy, right? Yeah, that was our job. About three months into that, you know, he didn't come back from vacation and informed, you know, the management that he wasn't coming back from vacation. And so between that and you know, ratings were just sort of in the tank at the time. They shook things up a little bit. Yeah.

11:26
So how did, so obviously that's how the door opened for you to do mornings. Did you start morning solo or was a team always the plan? So, you know, I'm getting the timeline a little messed up actually, because what I remember was, uh, the, the ratings came back. They were kind of abysmal. Um, and that's, you know,

11:43
you know, no one talents fault or anything like that. They just, you know, they made that strange switch over the, the queue and, and a BBQ and, and why wouldn't it, it didn't explain it to the audience and the audience was kind of slow to catch on. And remember this is an era where, you know, and still is an Augusta where people don't carry around the little beacons that like keep track of what you're listening to, like they can now in a lot of markets, but people were writing down what they recalled and people are just slow to recall that the pop station they're listening to isn't called WBBQ anymore.

12:09
So for a few years, they just struggled because people remember WBBQ and would write it down, even if they weren't ever listening to it. They may have been listening to Y105 all the time, but the marketing was bad. The rollout was bad. Anyway, the numbers continue to be bad. And so I think our program director, Bruce Stevens, sort of realized that like, you know, we've got, you know, a youth movement going on our night show. We've got this young guy in overnights and we've got, you know, morning, midday, afternoon jocks who are legends in that market.

12:39
but they're kind of, listen, this is, I'm interpreting, kind of maybe mailing it in a little bit. And so they juggled the staff around a little bit. Next thing you know, I'm working afternoons. The afternoon guy at the time, Rob Collins, they moved him to mid days and Rob's got one of those voices and demeanors, he's perfect as you're at work. He was perfect for that slot. And Mark stayed in mornings. Well, again, one day Mark decided he wasn't coming back from vacation.

13:09
And the rule always was when the morning guy went on vacation or was about sick, the afternoon guy filled in, well, that was 21 year old me, uh, completely in over his skis and had no idea what he was doing. Literally like ripping and reading show prep, you know, can liners and jokes and this, that, and the other, and trying to get a rise out of Dana Lynn McIntyre or Jim Defonis. And just rolling with it. And like I said, Mark, just one day said he wasn't coming back. He was going to go.

13:38
go do his thing somewhere else. And so, yeah, I started out working solo. And when I say solo, you know, like I said, we always had those folks on the news side, it would show up twice an hour to kind of banter as much as I could with them at the time. Yeah. That's how, that's how I got there. Wow. So then when did the transition come around to get a partner for you? How long, how long did that take? It had to be around 96 or 97 because I think

14:05
If I remember correctly, Mackenzie Clark, who wound up becoming my co-host, graduated from UGA around the same time I would have had I gone and stayed. And, you know, and then so she came in, she came in with like zero radio experience and all the education. And here I had none of the education and all the experience. And it was like two feral cats in a sack for a minute. But, you know, we grew to love each other and, you know, on the air and off and, and still stay in touch to this day. Yeah.

14:32
So yeah, they brought her in freshman college. You know how it is when you're fresh out of a situation like that, a school or a college, and you've got all these ideas that you learned, and you're like, that's not the real world. But there was a little bit of that. And there was a little bit of capitulation on my part to making room for someone else to chime in instead of like, it wasn't my show anymore. It was our show. And so that was a

14:58
That was a lot to learn again for someone, you know, at a pretty young age, both of us at that time. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I guess in that time that you were in the, in the seat by yourself, you kind of, like you said, you, you grew as a talent, as a, you know, personality. And then again, having to learn, you know, how management is doing their thing and sales is doing their thing. And then you've got this new person there in part of it that's saying, oh, it should be this way.

15:28
And it's like, well, no, that's not how this place works. That's not how it works. You know, and at the, at the end of the day, what, what we needed was we needed our own coach. We, yeah, we definitely needed air. Not, not that we didn't get air checked. I don't want you to come away thinking that we weren't getting critiqued. We weren't getting critiqued often enough by people.

15:48
outside of the building who really, you know, had some insights onto what works, what's the latest trends, this, that, and the other, especially with morning shows. Like we went to a morning show bootcamp once up here in Atlanta and it was, you know, it was eye opening. We made, we made great contacts and we learned a lot from that. And I think we got better from that, but that was a one-shot thing as opposed to like, you know, monthly or quarterly visits from a consultant, you know? Yeah.

16:12
Well, what's, do you have like a favorite memory from that time? Cause if you're saying Mac came on around, you say around 96, 97, I think I started there around 98, 99 or so. With, I mean, starting, you know, driving a van for the cluster. That was when it was still cumulus at the time. And then had the opportunity to do overnight.

16:42
Like I said, you know, kind of building your repertoire and, and, you know, I remember several times sticking around, you know, because you guys are the, the, the learned morning show. And it's like, well, I just want to kind of be in the room and, you know, see what you guys do and how do you do what you do? And little did you know, we, we didn't know squat. Well, you played it off very well then because you were like, I should have been an actor.

17:10
There you go. So, um, some, some, some things that stand out to me memory wise, I guess. Um, okay. So there are two things that I will never forget about that time. And one of them was the morning. And I don't remember why, but I think this was, I promise you this had to be a McKenzie idea because you know, she was a fitness freak still, it still does work out and, uh, there was some reason why we were out on Washington road, uh, broadcasting, uh, you know, to the listener anyway, naked.

17:40
Oh, like there was some broadcast we did in front of, uh, the old Washington cinema, whatever it's called now. Uh, for some reason, yeah, we did a show out there. Like we had the sheet partition so that nobody would see that we were actually wearing shorts underneath or whatever. But for some reason, that was some stunt that I I'm convinced she talked us into doing because there's no way I'm leaving my house naked for sure. You know, uh, I never, I never, I didn't then, and I don't now I have the physique for that.

18:07
So then there's also the morning we did a show from an elementary school, not far from the radio station. And you know how back then, how perilous it was to do a show live anyway, with, you know, a rickety old Marty equipment and Dr. Bob showing up, setting up the Yagi and you know. So we were at an elementary school and McKenzie knew I was gay, but not a lot of people.

18:33
outside of the inner sanctum of the morning show. I'm pretty sure you and Dale may have known at the time, and I knew Michael knew, but like, I didn't like, Bruce didn't know, management didn't know. Anyway, we're doing this morning show at an elementary school. And it was, I forget why we did it. Maybe it was the first, it couldn't have been the first day, it would have been crazy. But there was some reason we were doing the show there. And this little kid who looked like a little eight-year-old version of me, this is back when I had hair, a little eight-year-old version of me came up and introduced himself to us.

19:03
And McKenzie looks at that kid, looks at me, looks back at the kid, looks at me again, and I understand what she's saying. This kid looked like me. I'm like 24, 25 years old. I'm doing the math, you know? And I'm like, what's your mommy's name? There were a few times this could have happened back in my, you know, the experimental phase. Right. Yeah, exactly. Uh, not my kid, but damn, that was a good looking kid.

19:33
That's awesome. So after, so after Augusta, what, you know, what you, I'm trying to remember, I mean, because I'm trying to keep up with you. Was that was Augusta to Alabama? Or was Augusta to Yep, yep. You know, I spent a few months being unemployed. That was no fun for the first time. And then took a job in Mobile, Alabama. I did morning radio there. That's really where I learned for the first time.

20:03
what it's like to do morning radio. Are you hearing me? I did it for five years in Augusta. And I go to Mobile, Alabama to be part of a morning show and the station's promotions director. And I really learned for the first time what doing morning radio was all about. And I was only there for like 18 months, but that was quite a learning experience. Yeah, I was only there for about 18 months. The owner almost immediately after hiring me just hated my guts.

20:31
I'm going to be out and look, he's, he's long dead now. I have surmised and some of my coworkers have talked about it since then. I think I got off on the wrong foot with him when he realized not long after I got there that I was gay. You have to understand, I mean, Mobile is a big town. It's, it's, you know, it's a bit of a bigger market than Augusta, but it's still South Alabama. And in the late 1990s, early 2000s, while

20:59
You know, you're safe to go out to the local gay bars, to be in the public spotlight, it's fraught with peril. And WAVB at the time was the station in Mobile, Alabama and throughout like the Gulf Coast. And so I don't think he ever wanted to say it, but I think the owner caught on pretty quick that I was gay and was just dead set on figuring out a way to make sure I didn't stay there very long. Wow.

21:30
So from there, from there, from there, I took a job managing my first radio station in Alexandria, Louisiana, and was there for about five years. Again, this is early 2000s. I wasn't out to anybody, you know, ownership wise, but we did that for five years. I think they knew. I think they pretty much figured it out. But I did that for about five years before, you know, I wanted to

21:59
And so I took a job in New Orleans for about six months and then finally got an interview with a small boutique company that owned stations throughout like the East coast. And one of them was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wanted to get back closer to home. My mom was always on me about getting back closer to home. And so I finally pulled that off in like 2007, 2008. I was there for 11 years.

22:27
Do you, well, I mean, only you know, was, well, if you were there for 11 years, do you feel, was there a more welcomeness about, or was it even an issue about being gay in Myrtle Beach there? I mean, obviously the times had changed some from the 90s to the early 2000s as far as like acceptance and things like that. So do you know the first job I ever took

22:57
The, the person who hired me knew I was gay. Um, was when I came to work at start on a four in 2018. Oh, wow. Right. Um, now I took that job in Myrtle beach, uh, in 20, uh, 20, 2007, 2008, somewhere in that timeframe. And, um, it was 2007. Um, and my boss didn't know at the time. He did find out like not long after, you know, it was, I don't know, a year or two later and I told him, um, and he didn't care. Jimmy was cool.

23:26
You didn't care. You know, it wasn't it wasn't really a factor with clients or anything like that. Ownership. They didn't care. It's just, you know, you don't you don't put that on your resume. You don't lead with it. Yeah. Yeah. Because you don't you never know. You just don't know what you're walking into. Yeah. Well, I guess, you know, it's it's funny you say that now with like, you know, diversity and inclusion, pretty much every, you know, large business has a diversity and inclusion department or whatever, you know, where that's kind of.

23:56
It's kind of part of the conversation when you're, when you're interviewing, you know, it's, it's, you know, so can I tell you one of the things that, that stuck with me about my departure from Y 105, you know, it was unceremoniously terminated. Uh, and I, and I, you know, I'm not saying that I didn't, I didn't give the ammunition to a, to management to do it at the time, but, uh, I, I also feel like it was kind of one of those deals where like the market manager kind of knew the score and

24:26
We were dealing with all of these changes, everything went from like battling for your station to battling for your cluster. And it's like, and somebody writes down cumulus broadcasting in a ratings diary, who gets the credit? It was just, it wasn't a good scenario. Anyway, like I said, I gave that market manager that one opportunity to pull the trigger and so he did. But I remember after the fact, the rumors that I heard.

24:56
as to why I was fired. And they were, a lot of them were sexual in content. Wow. I mean, there are people, there are people who probably to this day in that market think that the reason I got whacked is because the, the, the one that I heard the most prevalent was, uh, that I, um, propositioned some off duty cop.

25:19
for like oral sex by one of the bridges or the canal or something like that. I don't even, you know. Right, I mean. Oh. Not even into cops. No, I mean, it's not the point. It's just that that's the sort of thing that like, I remember, you know, and most of my radio career, in fact, all of my radio career I spent in the South. And you know, as well as I do, you know, when she leaves city limits.

25:44
You know, you're leaving, you're leaving a comfort zone and that's where a lot of the population is. And so, uh, yeah. So yeah, I, I walked that tightrope for quite a while. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm, it sounds dumb for me to say, I'm glad you're out, but I'm, I'm glad to see you're so much more comfortable in your skin now and, and so much more vocal about who you are. I cannot imagine.

26:14
fully how difficult it is to hide like that on a daily basis in your job, where you're trying to make money to sustain yourself or whatever family you have or want to have and the things that you deserve to have just like anybody else in the world. I mean, the world's hard enough as it is, much less having to have that barrier.

26:43
Rob, one time I got flowers at work when I was working at Y105 from a guy who obviously liked me. I freaked the hell out. Wow. Because the card, I don't know who else saw it, but the envelope wasn't sealed or anything like that and it had his name on it. I freaked out. And you know how it is, everybody's like, oh, who'd you get flowers from? I was mortified.

27:13
And I shouldn't have been. Yeah. Mortified. I never spoke to that guy again. Wow. Wow. Mortified. Yeah. Gosh. Uh, that just, that breaks my heart for, for you, because I know you and I love you and, but also for, you know, there's a, there's a million other yous that are out there maybe dealing with that same thing right now where they work.

27:39
You know as much as we talk about you know places that have inclusion and diversity and stuff like that and as much as we idealistically want There to be that acceptance. I mean You know, I hate the I Don't always walk around the world with you know rose-colored glasses on I realize that it's not always Peaches and cream and there are people that have to deal with that stuff on the daily You know and you shouldn't have to worry about are you gonna get beat up going to the grocery store?

28:09
Or are you going to get fired because you have a secret admirer that sends you flowers or something like that? Yeah. You were in Myrtle beach. You said you went to, uh, to Atlanta. I came to, I came to Atlanta to follow a dream. I had been, uh, I had been married, uh, by that time about five years or so. Um,

28:34
And, you know, my ex-husband now, he, his family's from nearby here. And so it was always one of those things like, you know, hey, man, if, if I ever got an opportunity to work in radio in Atlanta, I don't care if it's grunt work, let's do it, you know? And so I came here, I got this once in a lifetime opportunity to come manage one of the lineage heritage stations, you know, in the South and, uh, and they hired me. Uh,

29:02
It was a disaster. It was an 11 month disaster. It was a bad fit at a bad time. I was the right person, I believe for the wrong time. Staffing situation was bad. And here's, here's kind of how it went. I mean, I got the job. I got here, you know, got this, this new found energy, you know, the building has an experience.

29:26
A lot like what we had in Augusta, we were in two different buildings for a while too. We were off on our own up in Vining's and the rest of our clusters in Midtown. So there was a little bit of autonomy, but also a lack of guidance from a corporate perspective too. And I worked with iHeart Media and then came to work for Entercom with who I think wanted to be iHeart without being so iHearty, without being so clear channel.

29:53
Anyway, the staff had been there a while. They had been put through the wringer with this new ownership situation and feeling marooned, no guidance, no support. And so I came in with the energy and the, no, we're gonna fight for what's ours and what we believe we deserve and whatnot. And for about three or four months, it really worked.

30:20
We, uh, by that, I got hired in August by that October, we had, we had seen numbers that that station hadn't seen in like a decade ratings wise, you know, we, we were gelling. I thought, um, we also, I also had to deal with some talent issues that, you know, um, eventually it just blew up like two months later. And I was tasked with replacing, you know, a big name that wasn't bringing big numbers. Um,

30:48
and was given a deadline for it. It was gonna be like May 1st. May 1st rolls around and I'm ready to pull the trigger. And I can't tell a soul about this. I can't, like there was one person I got to tell about this and they were also an on-air staffer, but they weren't allowed to tell anybody either. So it was me and that staffer and my boss and the handful of people across the country that I was hiring or interviewing to hire that replacement. This is an impossible secret to keep in 2019, right?

31:18
And yet we did. So May 1st comes around and we're ready to make this, this change. And now I need you to wait a week. So-and-so corporate so-and-so was on vacation.

31:29
You know, you've got to let social media people know, you've got to let digital people know this, so the websites, you've got to do all of these things. And like, I'm like, I'm doing this. I'm just like, oh, no, wait, hang on. I don't want to, I don't need to give it just yet. Hang on. Maybe next week. That went on for like three weeks. Oh, my God. And when it finally did happen, the day before we were supposed to pull the trigger, I don't know why they wanted to do it on a Friday. But

31:58
I went down to the other office and had to make the brief to the salespeople what was going to happen. And here's what the new lineup was going to look like, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I made this PowerPoint presentation and all this jazz, you know, as my GM asked me to do. After I made this pitch, everybody's all excited about it in our sales department. So it seems, and my GM asked me, Hey, I need you to email me that PowerPoint, email that to me and our, and our director of sales. Okay. I got back up there to do that. And I'm telling you, not an hour later.

32:28
Not an hour later, that entire PowerPoint is online on the Atlanta Journal of Constitution's website and social media on the Facebook page. So yeah, audiences, non-audiences and audience people knew before we even went on the air the next morning to crack the mic. And the backlash was quick and resounding, driven a lot by the talent spouse and

32:56
You know, they have social media following this is Atlanta, you know, so they both had social media followings, you know, they were influencers or whatever. And now they've got their own podcasts and all this stuff. So it's not like they didn't, it just wasn't translating the ratings. So, um, yeah, man, all of the, you know, all of the dirt came out. Oh, you know, I was misled and this guy, this, I mean, before we even cracked the mic the next morning, we were walking into a buzzsaw and because of all the social media backlash, just from that little 12 hour period, like.

33:25
The remnants of the morning show and I sat in with them that morning, the remnants of the morning show came in angry, attacked and felt like attacking back. And you know what, as a manager, I probably should have, you know, filter everything myself through before we went on the air, but I had a certain level of trust, of professionalism with, with folks. And, uh, I mean, I'm not going to say they let me down. I just, you know what, I, I,

33:53
I put a lot of trust in folks and believe. And even then, I, you know, I didn't expect the backlash to be as resounding as it was, but instead of whoever leaked that stuff to the media was someone had to take the fall. And so I wound up being the guy that took the fall. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was ugly. So that was that was the end of my radio career. That was it. That was it. Twenty nineteen, June twenty nineteen, twenty eight years in the business.

34:23
And I spent a few months just kind of like mourning the loss of a loved one, you know? And I told myself I was going to get a real estate license once I got out anyway. And so I spent a little time getting into real estate school and got my license in October of 2019. And in February of 2020, the world came to an end. I just, yeah, I've not been on a good streak here lately, Rob. That's for sure. Did they let you go?

34:50
Or did they just pin everything on you? Did you get a severance? Did they try to at least be like, Hey, you know what? It all kind of blew up here. Let's at least try and get you out here. Okay. As much as we can. But I mean, I remember, I remember when I mentioned that the company was named intercom at the time, they're called Odyssey now anyway, intercom, I believe really wanted to be a lot like I heart media.

35:15
except they didn't have the infrastructure to be like iHeartMedia. They wanted to be more live and local than relying on air track talent from other markets, but they really wanted to have that structure at least that iHeartMedia had, and they had almost none of it. There was a boilerplate press release set to go out that Friday morning, but again social media beat you to it by 12 hours. There was no calls made or anything

35:44
anything, any effort by anybody at the corporate level to say, okay, shut your social media down because we were getting comments. I mean, crazy, nasty, mean, we had early twenties, fresh out of college girls working behind the scenes on that show who were being attacked. I was being attacked. The co-host was being attacked and you know, I felt like a Papa bear. I wanted to defend, you know, you know, there was no guidance. Shut it down. Disable comp. None of that. None of that. We were, we were pissing into a gale force win, man.

36:14
And so not having that and not not having any guidance whatsoever on how to handle this, man, we were flailing. We were flailing. So no, there, you know, I was I was terminated. Well, it took a little while, but they decided to terminate me about a month or so later after I had already gotten the new show instilled and like the vibe was good with them. They were they were they had the potential to be a great show.

36:41
if they'd have been given the opportunity and the backing and not, you know, been walking into the shit show that they walked into. Um, and it just didn't work out to be for them. But, um, yeah, but it was, you know, a few weeks later I was, I was terminated. Uh, I was given a severance, I guess to keep quiet, um, not throw anybody else into the bus. Gotcha. And, uh, and that was that. So we, uh, like immediately, I remember coming home, uh, we had just moved into an apartment.

37:11
And, uh, like, you know, we just sold our house in South Carolina. My husband that day had gotten his quote unquote dream job. You know, he, you know, he's a meteorology geek. And so he got a job at the weather channel. Oh, wow. He was excited about that. And he told me about that. And my heart just sank. Cause I had to tell him I lost my job today. My dream job. Yeah. Wow. So before he started his job, we took like a week vacation down in, uh, the Virgin islands, just to, you know, decompress, let me gather my thoughts and enjoy myself a little bit. Yeah.

37:40
I mean, sometimes that's all you can do. It's like, I mean, that happened with me with Clear Channel. I just worked PowerFest all weekend long in the sun, come in Monday morning with my recap from the festival because I was a marketing director for the cluster here at that time, after having been here, gone to...

38:09
Birmingham for a while, come back, and had all my stuff out on the table, and they're like, hey, come to the office. And that was it. Me and 3499 of my closest friends all let go at once. And we had, in the family we were going to Phoenix to visit family for my father-in-law's birthday. It was like, well, and you know, I was like, do we not go? I was like, no.

38:39
It's already paid for, let's go. Let's get away from this town. And I think it does definitely help to be like, you know what, I need to be as far away from this as I possibly can for a few days and concentrate on something else. Yeah, yeah, it was good. It was very good. I spent that week trying to enjoy myself really hard. When you realize, again, we moved here,

39:07
with that dream job under one arm and my husband finally getting his job and being near his family, closer, a lot closer to mine, we weren't going to leave. So I knew this was the end of my radio career unless some other company in Atlanta wanted to take me in. And it just wasn't a position that I was a fit for. And actually, because of all of the cacophony of the termination and all,

39:37
Uh, you know, the, the, the brouhaha star, like I'm sure I was radioactive. Well, radio inactive. Right. Uh, there's that too. But, uh, yeah. Um, like I run into people all the time or did at the time from competitors. They were like, man, you got the raw deal. You know, you were working your ass off and yada, yada, yada. You know, I remember there was a time like before, you know, when the Jonas brothers were just kind of resurfacing, right? It was, uh, awesome. It was, uh, uh,

40:06
Q100 and Power 96 were one of the two pop stations in the market. We were like three of the four, I think there was a four station that got like 300 tickets to give away to that pop-up show at the Tabernacle, right? And so this is to give you an idea of just how like complacent I think some of the staff members got. Like it was an unpaid gig to drive that van down there and do live check-ins and social media and whatnot from arguably the biggest pop story of that year. You know?

40:36
And I, my afternoon guide wouldn't do it. My midday girl wouldn't do it. We didn't have a night guy. We did, but he was part time and he had a real job. And nobody in the morning show would do it. So I was like, fine, I'll do it. Me. I mean, I'm basically recording overnight. So I'm just, you know, voice track overnight guy. I'm the station manager. Nobody really knows who I am, but somebody had to do it. So I went down there. I drove this big ass van that I had no business driving myself, set up, did the brakes.

41:04
the check-ins, the social media, all that stuff by myself. These other stations, they had top tier talent. They had marketing people, street team people with them. We didn't have anybody available because there was, I wanna say either, it was either a Hawks game, Atlanta United match or a Falcons preseason game, something like that. All of the street team people for the cluster were over with the sports station. So I had nobody available. So all of the people from like I Heart Media and QBILS are like.

41:31
dude, man, you were a hustle. You were balling out. You were doing your thing, man. You were the only one really, you know. And so I got a lot of that, you know, sorry to hear that, but I also wasn't like reached out to by anybody because I think I was radioactive. Yeah. Yeah. So I knew I was going to stay in Atlanta and I had to make that sacrifice of radio's over. So what's the next chapter? And that's when I leaned to real estate. So how is, so how is the next chapter going now?

42:00
Honestly, Rob, because of the pandemic, you know, I'm not gonna sit here and not put some blame on myself. When you are blessed to work at something that you've loved for so long, you develop habits. Like, you know, it's easy to work an 18 hour day when you really love what you're doing. And so I was never shy about working a 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 hour day in radio.

42:27
I mean, is it wrong for me to say I don't love real estate like that? I don't think I'll ever love anything like that. You know what I mean? I really don't. Um, but it also, it also requires a mindset that I don't know that I found yet. So I rely on not being that commission breath salesy. Well, you know, the salespeople. Yeah. I, you know, you, you, you realize when you're, when you're a real estate agent, that you become those salespeople that you loathe.

42:57
in some respects. And so I try to walk that tightrope where I'm not like that, where I'm not hounding somebody to sell their house through me or that I need to be their agent. I try not to be, because I just don't think that's, I just think the relationship game is the long game. I get clients through a lot of referrals and just people that I know in my condo building, who I just say hi to in the hallways and yeah, there's a couple of

43:23
There was a cup of pins with my name on it down at the mailbox and some business cards, but I don't hammer people over the head with it. Right. And I get enough business to do that. I get enough business that route and I'm able to pay my bills. Could I be doing better? Yeah, no, absolutely. I could. But I've had to navigate through a pandemic as a brand new agent unable to get out and network and networking is the way you meet clients, you know? Yeah. So without the ability to network through a pandemic.

43:52
That was very difficult. That was a bit of a setback. Finding out last August that I was going to be divorced, really threw me for a loop. Navigating that while trying to grow my business, while also realizing a few months into that spectrum that I needed to start reaching out to talk to a therapist. That was, like I said, I've not been on a good streak of late. But

44:20
I've been fortunate, like I said, just some neighbors who were going to sell their condo and buy a big house in Sandy Springs hit me up. And that's two very lucrative transactions when you're pulling 3%. So between that and some other clients that I've just kind of been slowly marinating on have been coming to the fold, I've been able to really make a good business of it for like the last eight or nine months or so. That being said, I'm also not ignorant to the fact that like the market...

44:48
is has been crazy good, crazy hot for people who have been long in the business because the clients they help buy houses will actually come back to them to sell their house. Well, I don't have a whole lot of those. So if you're a listing agent on that side, you're doing great. But if you're a buyer agent on my side, you're having to work four and five times as hard to help your buyers buy a house because the competition is so stiff. There's multiple offers on every house now. Everybody asking for well over asking price. And most of your clients, when you're brand new.

45:17
are working strictly through financing because they're not wealthy. And they're gonna lose those bidding wars because they don't have the extra cash. So it's been very, very tough. And knowing that like there's a shift about to come, I actually, tomorrow I start training for what will be my second full-time job. I tell people like, I'm gonna have a second full-time job as like a headhunter.

45:41
to help people who are looking for jobs, find jobs in the marketing spectrum, but also help marketing companies who are looking to hire people that they're having trouble finding, do their thing. Nice base salary with benefits, pay some bills, you know, takes a little bit of my monthly expenses off of my plate while actually paying me a first and 15th check that's good for my peace of mind right now, while also doing real estate. So that's where I am. Yeah.

46:10
Have you done, I feel like I remember you, didn't you start a podcast or you have one that you're looking to start, didn't you? Or have you dipped your toe into at least keeping your voice out there in a couple of ways. So, you know, my, my then husband and I, we started recording a weekly sort of podcast. We weren't on any of the podcast platforms, but we were literally just posting the SoundCloud and sharing it on social media.

46:40
We did that for a while. It was, that was going from like having McKinsey, the cohost who was super eager and always came in with the ideas to my, my, my former husband who came with no ideas. And, you know, I had to, you know, badger him to, you know, let's do this, let's get this done so I can, I can produce it, yada, yada, yada. Totally opposite of the spectrum. So that didn't last very long. And so now I am, working on producing a podcast.

47:09
That's a little autobiographical, but also I think a good roundtable discussion and, you know, topical discussion. I've called it single in the gay TL. And I pitch it to be something a little bit like Sex and the City for gay folks. But I'm not going to make it so much about me. And hopefully...

47:35
If all goes well, eventually I cannot be single in the gay TL and can hand it off to somebody else to take eventually. Yeah. That's a, that's a great idea though. We'll see. Well, if there's anything I can do to help you out with that, all you gotta do is do it. I'm learning now, man. You kidding me? Yeah. Um, so when you're not getting a second full-time job and doing marketing and you're not, um, you know, selling houses or

48:04
What's what's bringing you joy, Ron? You know, what used to bring me joy were road trips, hikes, you know, hikes to waterfalls, mountain, this to hikes, things like that. You know, my ex-husband, I used to do that all the time. And I have not been on a hike. I've not been on a hike since.

48:23
since he told me he was leaving. What I did stumble into in the heat of the pandemic, I remember this was like September 2020, I'm on a Zoom networking event with the Out Georgia Business Alliance. It's a local LGBTQ business mixer kind of group. And one of these guys mentions that, you know, as we're kind of going around the screen to introduce ourselves to each other,

48:49
that he's playing on in a local LGBTQ league on a softball team. That's always short of players. And I thought I played ball when I was a kid, I could do this. And so I reached out to him. I DMed him to ask about some information. I'll Hey, I'd love to come play, you know, if your team needs me. And so he introduced me to his team and I started playing with them through a fall season. Uh, that was just six weeks. I think I only got in like five weeks because the season had already started. But, um,

49:19
Uh, 47 year old body with the mentality of a 27 year old who, you know, is infallible physically, right? Uh, aches, pains, strains, uh, wobbly knees, ankles, all that stuff. You know, you learn, you learn your age, you know, really quick. Um, so, um, there were some setbacks, uh, quad issues and you name it. Um,

49:41
Throughout the winter, I kept playing pickup games with people from that league who were also gonna be participating in the larger league here, which is called the Hotlanta Softball League. And I eventually picked up with a team. The gay innuendo names for these softball teams are hilarious, you'll love it. So the team I picked up with are called the Moose Knuckles.

50:03
And so I played with the Moose Knuckles my first year in 2021. We did well enough to get to the gay softball world series. Yes, there is such a thing. Wow. It was held in Columbus, Ohio last last August. Remember now early August, I'm told I'm getting divorced late August. We're playing in the World Series. And so preparing for that and the experience of going to that really took my mind off of my world coming.

50:33
you know, coming in glued around me. Um, softball has really been, uh, a saving grace, uh, a respite for me mentally, physically, it's been good for me too. It's kept me, you know, um, it's kept me moving and kept me from, you know, gaining weight and kept me, uh, you know, saying I need to go to the gym to work on like, you know, my forearms or my, my, my biceps or shoulders, which I still don't have. I'm waiting for them to come in still. But, um, but like, uh, you know, at my age, I'm one of the faster people on my team.

51:03
And there are people, you know, 20 years younger. Um, uh, you know, I, I feel like I play about well enough. I went up from the entry level division to the D division this year. So, you know, those are the things that, you know, that, that's, that's, though, that's the route that brings me joy. That's, that's my outlet for sure. I also wound up on the league board this year. Uh, yeah, you know me, I can't do anything half-assed. Uh, so I wound up on the league board and this past weekend, we had our

51:31
our leagues softball tournament, which is an invitational for teams from other leagues across the country to come play here. It's called big peach. And so that was this past weekend. And I didn't play. I did the year before, but I didn't play this year because I needed to sort of be free to like bootleg for sponsors as that salesperson that I never wanted to be. And so we were, you know, at three different complexes across basically North Georgia.

51:59
So I had a lot of fun with that. I had a great title sponsor. We had our first streaming sponsor. We had two of our championship games streamed live. So we broke a lot of ground this past weekend. So that's my outlet, basically softball. Softball's been it. And the great friends I've met through that who have been fantastic support mechanisms outside of my long cadre of friends, folks like you, and my friend Greg and Sonja and Darryl.

52:27
all the other folks who have reached out over the last, you know, eight or nine months to make sure I'm okay.

52:35
All right, Ron, this is the second segment of the show where we dive a little bit deeper into you, talk a little bit more about mental health. Everybody deals with down days, sad days, whether it's diagnosed depression or anxiety or like I said, maybe you just feel like crying in the shower and you don't know why. I think everybody deals with that stuff. And I think it's important for folks to know that you're not alone, that it is universal. It really is. So I ask of you.

53:04
How do you keep the darkness at bay? Some days I'm not successful at it. If I'm being honest, um, uh, you know, again, I, I feel like I've, I've been put through the ringer a lot since, uh, June of 2018, uh, or 2019, um, losing your dream job is a gut punch. Realizing it's ending your career is the knockout blow. Um,

53:33
fighting to reestablish yourself. And listen, you know, when I, when I got into real estate, all I ever wanted to do, Rob was get back to the point where I was earning at least as much as I was when I was in radio so that I could get back to, um, providing for my husband and our cats and in a way that they were used to, you know, and, um, I'll never, I'll never not think that like the, the financial strain.

54:03
wasn't a part of why we wound up splitting up. I firmly believe that. I think it played a role. Not that that ever comes out in divorce papers or in conversations, but although the splitting of the assets certainly did. So no, I'm not always successful with escaping the dark moments or the dark days. There are days where

54:33
or at least move to the couch. There are days where I just don't feel like doing anything. I get sucked into just being on Twitter or social media all day, dating apps, looking for that next, you know? Yeah, there are days it's hard to escape, if I'm being honest. And while there's a sense of freedom when you are...

55:02
self-employed as a real estate agent is, you know, no one else is depending on that next check, except you. No one's going to push you except you. That's good. And it's bad at the same time, because when you have those days where you don't feel like doing anything, man, it's Rob, there were days where it's hard when a client calls you and you just go, oh, I just don't feel like talking. Yeah. You know? So I wasn't always successful at it.

55:32
Uh, like anybody who knows, he knows that I love my cats. They are, I swear to God, they are, they are the loves of my life. Um, and I only get them every other week. That's the other nice, you know, other twist of the knife, you know, it's like, okay, I'm leaving you, uh, I've met someone else. Also, I want the cats every other week.

55:56
And by law and state of Georgia, their property. So you have to share them. It's either one gets one and the other gets the other, or you just share time with them. Wow. Um, so it's every other week there's, there's even that battle. Um, yeah, it's not been easy. Um, and like I said, you know, early on, you know, I had softball as an outlet and, um, that was great for a month getting ready for the world series. We had extra practices. We did, we did more to fundraise, you know, to help defray the cost to go.

56:26
that and the other. But, you know, whether it's six weeks in the fall or 10 to 12 weeks in the spring, it's a weekend sport. You know, we're not playing on Wednesday nights. So, we didn't have weekday practices. So, I didn't have that to look forward to. Some days were then and to a lesser extent, but still now, some days are better than others. I finally realized

56:55
I want to say it was like late September, early October of last year that I needed to reach out to find a therapist. And I was even struggling with that. It's hard to find a therapist because everybody sought out therapy. Good. That's great. But if you didn't have one, you know, it's like, it's like, it's like getting on the bus and all the seats are full. I guess I'm standing, you know, grabbing, grabbing the rope.

57:25
So I don't even have like a legit therapist. I have a doctoral candidate through Emory here in Atlanta and they have a psychology clinic. It's like going to the dental clinic at MCG there. You might get work done by a student who's about to graduate. And so I talked to a, I guess a graduate.

57:53
whatever at Emory once a week and she's great. She's fantastic. You know, I, I, and I mean, I think the fact that you're going, the fact that you realize that you needed to go and speak to someone huge, you know, you, when you realize that you don't have the capacity to get out of whatever it is on your own, that you need to seek, you know, someone else to talk to. And I say this all the time, you know, therapy doesn't necessarily have to be

58:21
talking to someone licensed, you know, in a doctor's office or something like that, just having a conversation with a friend can help and can act as therapy. So I commend you for figuring out that that's what you need and to seeking that out. Because there are a lot of people that don't, you know? And I don't think there's, and yes, to say that, you know, with the pandemic and, you know, there were a lot of people that started having these

58:50
these realizations of whether it be about life, about what their job is, what their relationships are, or whatever, and like, you know what? This is, I need to do something to get this better. So if you could call it good, I think it's good that that happened to allow people to have those kind of inward moments to realize that they need to seek something better for themselves. Yeah.

59:17
but unfortunately then all of the slots get filled up and it's trying to find someone. Well, I theorize that it's probably led to a lot of what we're experiencing, what they call the great resignation. A lot of people have realized and prioritized differently, I didn't need that job as much as I thought I did. Or it turns out since we were both at home and I was out of work, that we could get by on one budget.

59:44
Golly gee, how many people realize that the only reason that they're going to work is because, you know, they may not be the bread winning spouse, but all the money they're making just went to the car payment and the insurance that was getting them back and forth to their job. Well, what's the point? Why are you doing that? Like, you know, if you, if you could spend time with your kids at home and, and maybe do something as a work from, you know, yeah. I think, I think a lot of people, that aha moment clicked in for a lot of folks. For me, I realized I needed therapy because,

01:00:11
Well, Rob, you know me, you know, as long as you've known me, you've known that like, I've never been shy about putting in a full day's work. And, um, I hadn't, I had no interest in doing that anymore. I just didn't, I had no interest. Like I was trying to like, what am I living for? And not that I was like suicidal or anything like that, but like my husband had left me. Um, if something happened to me, he's got the cats every other week, so he could have them all 52. Uh,

01:00:39
I just, yeah, I was just having, I was struggling to like figure out what I was still existing for. And so I told myself, okay, so I'm going to let you behind the current a little bit. When I say I was never suicidal, I've never been suicidal, but I often told myself, like I knew how much money was in the bank. I knew how much I had in savings. And I told myself, you know, I'm just going to do this. And if the money runs out one day, then so be it. Then I'll figure out what I'm going to do then.

01:01:08
That's, I guess, a little scary moment for me. And that's, like I said, when I decided I need to talk to a therapist because I don't want to have these thoughts. And I also need to get back to that frame of mind where I'm putting in enough of the effort and time to pay my bills, put a little aside and put myself out there again. Yeah. Yeah. And how is that going for you right now?

01:01:35
what the putting myself out there part, I mean, whichever part, you know, I mean, so I wrote this post a few weeks ago on social media about how I defined where my life was at that point. Again, you know, no relationship, no steady stream of income. I don't have, you know, close ties with my family anymore. And I only have, you know, my father's still alive.

01:02:03
He's not my biological father, but he was there from the day I was born. So he's my dad and ever since the war, my dad really needed therapy when my mom passed away 11 years ago and never got it. So he sort of withdrew from us. No holidays, you know, no birthdays, just I get text messages from a case from him. Occasionally. That's really about it. And he's still living in grow towns, two and a half hour drive. We don't see each other. Haven't seen him in more than a year and a half. Wow.

01:02:31
You know, my sister and I, we don't, we don't talk anymore. Um, I was essentially her landlord after our grandmother passed and, you know, left me with taking care of the condo and giving my sister a place to live at as rock bottom or rate as I could. And so I did, and I even got stiffed on that and she skipped out and yeah. And then Robert really hurt was, and I shouldn't stay mad at her about this, but I can't help it. Like, I understand my sister has some challenges, um, from a

01:03:03
psychological, mental, maybe spectrum standpoint, I don't know, you know, kids of our generation, we weren't put on a spectrum because they're, they didn't exist, but I, you know, I think there's, there's something that anyway, she congratulated my ex husband on his engagement on social media and said, you know, it's good to see you happy again.

01:03:26
Wow. So naturally I don't speak to her. So I wrote this post on social media about what it's like to, to, to be what I call rudderless. Like I had no direction. Nothing was guiding me anywhere. And, uh, it was, it was kind of a scary realization. And I told myself I wanted to just get a Monday, Friday nine to five, not even have to think about it.

01:03:56
that I can take my skills and do it, do what they need me to do, salary benefits, and I'll continue to do real estate. And so lo and behold, like the day after I made that long post about being rudderless, I got offered a position that I'm, like I said, I'm gonna start basically training for tomorrow in a headhunting role. Nice base salary. I don't have to pay out of pocket for health insurance anymore once I'm on board.

01:04:25
30 days in, there's benefits like vision, dental, all these things that I'm paying out of pocket for now. When you're in real estate, you're self-employed, you're your own boss, you're your own provider in all aspects. So a lot of these out of pocket expenses, I'm not gonna have to take care of anymore. So that's good. It's gonna take care of my internet, my cell phone. I mean, it's fantastic. And it's just on Monday to Friday, nine to five gig. And I can continue to still do real estate. And I get to work from home. So...

01:04:52
You know, if I got to take a client call, I can take a client call. If I need to go take my lunch to go show up house, I'll do that. So it'll give me the best of both worlds. I go from rudderless now to knowing that I've got income on the first and 15th or whatever their pay thing is now. And, um, I can kind of finally start, I feel like to put my feet on firm footing again for the first time since June of 2019.

01:05:21
All right, Ron, this is our third segment. This is our Fast Five. It's the Fast Five. The Fast Five, it is now time for the Fast Five. Sorry, I'm working on a theme song. Still got my music guy out on some stuff.

01:05:36
We'll get it together one day. Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by my friend Travis Brown. It's great if you're a podcaster, gives you episode ideas and different topics to talk about. But even if you're not a podcaster, check it out. If you have to speak in front of your rotary club or something, or you just need an icebreaker if you're talking to somebody on the bus. If you go to chewinthefatbr.com slash poddex, use promo code chew, you get 10% off your physical decks. But I'm gonna use the app.

01:06:04
I'm gonna just hit the randomizer. It's no wrong answers, Ron. Just the first thing comes off the top of your head, okay? All right. All right, here we go, question number one.

01:06:16
Where do you go when you need to blow off some steam? I usually take my bike and ride it over to Piedmont Parking back, give myself a good hour of cycling. Okay. What kind of bike you have? Like, is it like street bike, 10 speed or just? It's a, it's a hybrid. So it's good for mountain or mountain or street. Nice. Yeah. That's awesome. And you say how you say it's an hour ride, but about how far is that? I just.

01:06:42
Just, you know, I really should check what the mileage is. I have no idea. I just, I get on it. I know the route. It takes me to the belt line. The belt line takes me to Piedmont park and back and uh, no idea. Just, I, I know it's usually a good hour. That's good. I'm very tired when I get back. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. Question number two.

01:07:06
Where is one place you hope to visit before you die? Uh, I really want to get to Germany to see my mother's extended family. She's got an older sister there and, uh, you know, some extended family over there that I'd love to go see. Yeah. What area? Yena, Germany. There you go. Yena, Germany. Yena, Germany. Yep. Wow. That's really cool. And number three.

01:07:35
What embarrasses you instantly? I don't know that I have an answer for that. I mean, working in radio, you do a lot of stuff. Like you said, you're naked at the side of the road. So it's like the embarrassment thing is. What embarrasses me? I don't, I really don't know that I have an answer for that, Rob. Maybe that should be the embarrassing thing. I should be embarrassed by something. I guess I get embarrassed when, when do I get embarrassed?

01:08:04
I get embarrassed when I'm completely wrong about something. Uh, and an absolute idiot points it out. It's like, Oh my God, how could I be so wrong? And that jackass knows it. That is the best answer ever. It doesn't happen often. I'm telling you, but, uh, yeah, but when it does God, it's embarrassing. Oh, it's the worst question. Number four.

01:08:33
What are you superstitious about? I tend to not believe in superstitions and I'm not even like, you know, astrological, you know, every time you discover a planet, it screws that up. I think, but, um, I do not walk on the chalk line going on to, or coming off the softball field. That's just a baseball thing. Oh, okay. Not supposed to do that. Yeah. So you're not supposed to actually walk on it. I mean, obviously you have to crossover, but you don't walk over. Don't step on it. Yeah. Okay. Is that kind of like a

01:09:03
step on a crack, break your mama's back kind of thing. I guess, yeah, I guess, I guess. Huh, that's pretty cool though. All right, and question number five.

01:09:16
salty or sweet? Why not both? Okay. No, seriously. I mean, I like a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich, salted caramel milkshakes or whatever. I don't know who makes those anymore, but they think they had them at Arby's for a minute. Those things were the bomb. Okay. I was going to say like a lot of chocolate covered pretzel or something like that. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I like it. I like it a lot. Well, Ron, that's our Fast Five and that is the show. Thank you so much for being here, my friend.

01:09:45
It was my pleasure. It's always good to catch up with you, Robb. Absolutely. If folks want to keep up with you, what's the best way they can follow you on socials or keep up with you ready? They got a house they wanting to buy. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, it's real easy. And if you want to, if you want to reach out to me, you know, uh, for, for the, for the whole real estate thing, uh, it's everything, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. It's at Ron on the real R E A L. Um,

01:10:13
I keep two Facebook accounts and I started one simply because I didn't want anybody in the real estate industry to know what a crazy cat loving, you know, free will and progressive liberal hair on fire Bernie Sanders nut job I am. So I have I have the one that like all my friends and whatnot have. And then I've got the PG 13 very nobody wants that one. It's really boring. Just look for I'm Ron Roberts on Facebook.

01:10:43
I'm Ron Roberts, and I think that's me on Twitter too. I think that's me on Twitter too. Okay, all right. Well, I'll put those links in the show notes and of course you can find out.

01:10:52
More about Ron and all our guests on the website at chewingthefatbr.com. Ron again, thank you so much, but it is such a pleasure to talk to you again. And we've got to do this more often. And I've either got to come up to you or you come down this way. We need to grab a, grab a bite, grab a beer and just hang out in, in the real world for sure. You know, you know what, let's check our calendars and I have yet to see the new green jacket stadium. I definitely want to do that at some point in time and now they're a Braves affiliate, so I actually have a rooting interest. So there you go. Absolutely. Let's do it. Let's make that happen.

01:11:21
Let's do it, Ron. Thank you so much again for being here, buddy. My pleasure. And if you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it if you buy 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.