Corey: How much does your website and the Internet figure into your show?
Rusty: I like the website and its fun to have one but it takes time away from the daily show. Occasionally I'll find something that I can only do on the web but it's not as often as I would like. I do have one interesting web story... recently I went to Iraq. I found the dumbest souvenir I have ever seen. It's a cheap clock in the shape of a mosque. As bad as that is ... the alarm is the Muslim call to prayer. It's one of the funniest things I had ever seen. I brought it back people kept asking for them, so I started selling them on the website. I sold 5000 in two weeks and had to stop because I couldn't keep up with demand.
We now are offering "Rusty Ringtones for your Cellphones" they are $1.99 each, however if you become a "Rusty Humphries Associate" and make a pledge to the show, we give you one ringtone for free. We sold 400 ringtones ... yesterday. Next "Rusty Humphries Show Collector Coins."
Corey: Before the '90s, everyone got 15 minutes of fame. Then in the '90s it seemed like everyone got a website. In the 2000s, does everyone get a radio show? There has been a huge influx of people into Radio who never intended to be there. At the same time, thousands of radio-trained people have left the business. What gives?
Rusty: I'm not a big fan of people who have never been in the business being given the dream opportunity that so many have worked so hard for. Politicians, writers, actors, cops, Dr's, lawyers etc.. If I wanted to start in the Supreme Court or get an Oscar with no training, I think people would have a problem with that.
On the other hand if they are compelling and people want to hear what they have to say, God Bless them. It goes back to my answer to your "What's wrong with listeners" response. If that's what the audience wants, it's our job to give it to them. I wish they would learn a bit of Radio 101 first though.
Corey: What's in the future for "The Rusty Humphries Show" or you, personally?
Rusty: We have really found a good niche at night with the Rusty Humphries Show. We're on from 9-mid (eastern) and we focus on what is happening right now ... "Tomorrow's News ... Tonight!" It's exciting as we add 5 maybe 10 new affiliates on a weekly basis. Stations are finding our approach with hard-hitting news and analysis with a comic relief at the end of the day to work for the audience. It's fun and rewarding.
Next month I'll be in Israel and be on the look out how we do it differently from all other hosts who have broadcast from the Dead Sea and taken a tour of the Old City. As Walt Disney used to tell his Imagineers "That's good boys ... now plus it, plus it." My staff and I live by that philosophy everyday.
