Episode 113: Josh Jensen

Announcer: The Producers, featuring the most respected international talent in the world of audio production and voiceover. Radio, TV, film, and online. In-depth interviews and industry insights, putting you on the inside. This is The Producers Podcast with Ryan Dreen.

Announcer: All right, we're doing it again, Producers Podcast. bit of a delay for the Thanksgiving holiday. I was gonna rush one out before that, but they, kind of get buried by those holidays, so figured I'd delay it. What the heck. And I am working on a few episodes. I'm really not sure what will come out before the end of the year, so hopefully I won't really go to sleep on this thing for too long, even with the Christmas and New Year's holidays coming up. But some really cool and, different shows than I've done in the past. I would say 2 out of the 3 I'm working on now will be very different from what— from the people that I've featured in the past. So that's as much of a tease as I can give you. Also working on one of the very legendary radio and also TV voiceover stars, female. Again, only tease I can give you on that one, but some good stuff coming your way. Today, Josh Jensen, based out of Tampa, really talented guy. I've known him for a little while now and been meaning to get him on for a while now and finally got my act together. Really generous with his time. We talked about a lot of stuff. I'm gonna make one note right out of the gate. I get, you know, like people on the voiceover side who find it really interesting when I talk to people that lean more on the production side to hear what they, you know, want from VO talent, some of their expectations, what they like, what they dislike. I tried to get Josh to talk a lot about that. And on the podcast page on my website, ryandreen.com, I make a mark. I don't remember the time offhand, but I make a mark where specifically talk about that to help you out there. So if you are a voice talent looking to hear about that kind of thing, I'll let you know where or when that happens. Anyway, I'm gonna dive right in. iHeartMedia creative director at 98 Rock and US 103.5 WFUS in Tampa. He also works on the iHeart national platform, Nicki Sixx's national shows, the producer there for, you know, the time being, 'cause those are coming to an end soon. also a mixed group talent as well. So a lot going on with this guy. Let's hear about 2 minutes, a smattering of audio from various formats, and then we'll get to the interview with Josh Jensen. Ring, ring, ring! I'm ringing! Whoa! Even if your phone is retarded— Text message! It's still a smartphone. Yay! And it can stream us. Hell yeah! Get the iHeartRadio app now at 98rock.com. Wake up, wake up, then rock with it. This whole next hour of music is brought to you by— and no one else. It's 98 Rock. Playing the guessing game with your kids. Guess what, Daddy? Guess what? I don't know. No, you gotta guess what. Okay, what? Chicken butt. Playing the guessing game with US 103.5. Oh my God, I'm gonna I wet my pants. Wow! Picture this. You call US-103.5. Hello, did I qualify? No! Who is this? How did you get this number? No, I'm just kidding. Yes! Woohoo! Thank you for not being this. And listening to this. We got the new, new music. Music! The black keys. We got the new gold on the ceiling music. Gold on the ceiling. Where in the hell did I put all the music? Ow! Here it is! Back to the music now. Hey! And now, inside the mind of Little John. Yeah! Breathe in. Say yeah. Yeah! Breathe in. Say okay. Okay! Breathe in. Say hey. Hey! Yeah! Y100. Y100! Y100. My Abby's number one hit music channel.

Ryan: Yeah, we just heard some sweet sounds from the one and the only Josh Jensen, the guy on my show today and the guy who has, by last count, 13 jobs. but seriously, creative director, 98 Rock, WFUS, Nicki Sixx for a little bit longer, also on the national programming platform for iHeartRadio. Josh, man, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it.

Josh Jensen: Thanks for having me, dude. I'm stoked. I also do Mix Group. I forgot to tell you about that.

Ryan: Oh, you know, I, you know what, I knew that. And I think the first time I met you, you were walking along with some of my pals at the Mix Group, and they're like, you ever met this guy? And I'm like, I don't know, but he looks kind of wacky. Like, well, that's Josh Jensen. I'm like, oh yeah.

Josh Jensen: About as wacky as they get.

Ryan: Right, exactly. So that was a few years ago, and to be totally honest, just everybody listening, I wanted to have you on here much sooner, but you know, a couple of messages get lost and everybody gets crazy busy, so Thank you for letting me delay, but, you know, thanks for your time today. I know you're really busy.

Josh Jensen: Dude, thanks for having me. I'm stoked, man. This is awesome.

Ryan: Yeah, I'll get it out of the way, and I'll also mention it at the end, but your website, radiotweaker.com, always a little under construction, so they might see, you know, some more updated stuff soon. So make sure you hit radiotweaker.com.

Josh Jensen: New Year's resolution is to have that completely updated once a month.

Ryan: Oh, nice. Excellent. Facebook, Josh Radio or Josh Radio Productions, plural or production?

Josh Jensen: Productions. I think it's a plural.

Ryan: They'll find you. Josh Radio, Facebook. And then Instagram, your favorite, Josh Radio 13. Josh Radio 13.

Josh Jensen: Yeah.

Ryan: All right, so we got that stuff out of the way. Let me ask you this first question, and then I'm gonna— I have— I'm going out of order on my sheet here, but are you a rock guy, a CHR guy, or what are you?

Josh Jensen: I've done it all. But, I started in country in Ocala, Florida at, Asterisk Communications. It's now JVC, but I started in country, which is crazy. But I'm, I love country and I love rock and I love CHR. Nice.

Ryan: 33% each?

Josh Jensen: Yes. Yeah.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: Your math is fantastic.

Ryan: Well, yeah, now real math people are like, but he left off a percent. so that's cool.

Josh Jensen: Okay.

Ryan: I actually would have said, okay, you know, like, you know, meeting you in real life, I'd be like, whoa, that's probably like an alt guy or a rock guy, you know? But then I hear your CHR work and I'm like, damn. But I do know you do country imaging. So again, let me stay on this one. Give me, you know, really like go, go big picture. Is there anything you sort of have to do to get into the right mindset for each format? Any, anything general that you need to be sort of aimed at to do the right thing for the right format?

Josh Jensen: I try to just get the basic idea of what the PD wants, and I try to go as far to the bounds as I possibly can. If I'm writing— if I'm writing country, I listen to heavy metal.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: If I'm writing CHR, I listen to just the most twangiest country ever. And when I'm writing, you know, rock stuff, I listen to probably the most hip-hop hip-hop you'll ever get.

Ryan: Really?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, it's so weird how my, how my mind works with the different sounds and stuff.

Ryan: That is cool. So sometimes I ask a question that meanders a bit and I don't know what the answer is gonna be. That was a good answer. Explain to me though why, for example, I think you said you listen to— when you're, when you're writing for rock, you listen to the most hillbilly country?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, it, it triggers just this weird spot in my mind and I have no idea why I do it, but I've been doing it since like day one. It's so crazy.

Ryan: When you're working, especially, you know, producing audio, do you always have sort of something else going on in the background in the studio? Music or talk show or something like that?

Josh Jensen: horror movies on Netflix.

Ryan: Nuh-.

Josh Jensen: Yeah.

Ryan: That's awesome.

Josh Jensen: It's either that or cartoons, one of the two.

Ryan: But you always have something going in the background?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, my mind is loud. It talks. So I try to put as many things on as possible to get it to shut up.

Ryan: Yeah, I'm the same way. I've had people say that that's crazy, like, how can you be sitting there producing audio with other noise in the background, but to me it makes sense, and to you I guess it does too.

Josh Jensen: Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Ryan: Alright, let's take a step back now. Now I believe I've done all the research I could. Now, I, you know, I went to your website and then I know a couple people, you know, we know the same people, but you're in Tampa, you worked in Milwaukee, and I believe you also physically worked in Atlanta.

Josh Jensen: I did.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: I started in Milwaukee 13 years ago to this very day.

Ryan: To this very day?

Josh Jensen: To today, yeah. Like, today is my 13th year with iHeartMedia.

Ryan: Wow. Was that your first job?

Josh Jensen: No, that was my second. I was, I was in Ocala and I started just being a part-time guy and then I wound up programming 2 stations and production director for the cluster.

Ryan: Oh yeah. And you know what? You already said that. So if I was better at listening, I would've said that.

Josh Jensen: No, you're good. You're good.

Ryan: What's that market like? What was that first job? What's that market like? What's the landscape there?

Josh Jensen: Ocala? It was awesome. It was run by a mom and pop. And they really didn't care what went on as long as we made money.

Ryan: Yeah, I was gonna say.

Josh Jensen: And that's what happened.

Ryan: So those stations you said have since been sold?

Josh Jensen: Yep, they're now JVC.

Ryan: That environment doesn't quite exist anymore, I would assume.

Josh Jensen: You know what, I think it's still the same.

Ryan: Really?

Josh Jensen: I met up with the people a couple months ago that still work there, that have worked there since I've worked there, And it is still the same. It's great. They're having a— they have a great time there.

Ryan: I've known guys that have— gals, humans that have been in radio for, you know, 20, 30, 40 years, and often there's one prevailing sentiment that they would often like to go back to that first job. You know, whatever big market they get to and with all the stresses and everything. Is that true with you? Do you sometimes wish you could just go back to that first job?

Josh Jensen: I'm gonna go with, it'd be super fun, but I ran through that town like nobody's business, so I'm good.

Ryan: So maybe you can't go back to that.

Josh Jensen: it's, it's, it's a little ridiculous.

Ryan: All right, so you born and raised in Florida then?

Josh Jensen: Yep.

Ryan: Cool. Ocala, are you like—

Josh Jensen: yeah, actually I was born here in Tampa and—

Ryan: oh yeah, excellent. So do you see yourself getting away from Florida again? Because my next— I— we covered first job. My, my next question is dream job. Does that take you away from Florida?

Josh Jensen: I'm not really— I want to go— I want to go out west. I want to go to Phoenix. I want to go to Salt Lake City. I want to go where the country is, but still like big stations can be, you know?

Ryan: Yeah. and, and specifically dream job, do you have a dream job? Is there something in your mind right now that would just be perfection?

Josh Jensen: Well, it's funny because this, this was it. And then like the job opportunity came up for KISS LA and I got beat out twice, once by Forrest and once by Miles. And then Z100 came up and I got beat out by Stacks, who is amazing. They're all just great people. So I'll take that lick on the chin all day long.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: Yeah.

Ryan: Yep.

Josh Jensen: They're amazing. So yeah, but that's about it. You know, I think LA would be super fun. I'm very good with hustle and bustle. And also I think New York would have been too much. I probably would have died.

Ryan: I was gonna say, so for some— for me, I think it'd be Vegas. I don't believe I could live in Vegas.

Josh Jensen: Oh, no way. No way. But I would like Nashville as well.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: But I don't really have a— I used to have a dream job and I just want to be happy wherever I'm at. That's pretty much my dream, you know?

Ryan: Yeah. So you've been with iHeart 13 years. I mean, I worked for Clear Channel a long time ago. I've always— I've said on this show many times that I actually really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the people. Is it something you're looking forward to staying with?

Josh Jensen: Oh, I also re-signed my contract.

Ryan: Excellent.

Josh Jensen: Yesterday.

Ryan: There you go.

Josh Jensen: So yes, I think I'm gonna be here for about 4 and a half more years.

Ryan: Oh, that's great. Okay, cool. All right, so let's go day to day. You image— let me see here. You image what? 2 or more stations in market?

Josh Jensen: I have 2 in market, and if anybody— if like Drew's out of town, Drew Hall, yeah, I'll help him out if he's out of town. But other than that, that's about it, just the 2.

Ryan: So, 2 stations that you've— you produce the imaging for in market. what else are you doing in market? Anything else, or do you get to just—

Josh Jensen: I voice track. sometimes if, someone's out, I'll cover their shift. I do a weekend shift. and a metal show on 98 Rock on Sunday morning at midnight.

Ryan: Oh, nice. So like late Saturday night or late Sunday night?

Josh Jensen: It'd be late Saturday night.

Ryan: Okay, that's kind of the perfect time.

Josh Jensen: Yeah, getting everybody ready to go home and pass out from their drunken night.

Ryan: Right, right. No, but that, that seems about right.

Josh Jensen: Yeah.

Ryan: do you do that live or do you track that?

Josh Jensen: I track that.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: But I mean, I put it all together, do the whole thing, and I do, I'm doing shifts on WJRR in Orlando too.

Ryan: Oh cool.

Josh Jensen: Whenever they need it.

Ryan: so day to day, there, you know, are you a 9 to 5 guy? You don't seem like you would be, or what's the structure like?

Josh Jensen: I left last night about midnight.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: And I got here at 7 in the morning.

Ryan: Oh really?

Josh Jensen: Oh wow. Yeah, and I'm back in again at 7 in the morning. But like, I'll get to work, I'll do my mixed group stuff till about like noon if I don't do it from my house, because I like coming in just in case if anything comes up.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: and then I'll do 98 Rock stuff or my US 103.5 stuff, whichever is more pending. But we have a new, APD here at 98 Rock and she wants to change everything, so I'm not mad at it. So it's been really busy.

Ryan: Yeah, I bet.

Josh Jensen: Yeah, but super fun.

Ryan: Yeah. So your daily— I actually sort of forgot about the mixed group over there, but you're, you're handling a lot of stuff for them. So like 7 to midnight-ish, Is, is kind of what you have to do to cover everything that you're involved in?

Josh Jensen: I'm gonna go with 7 to 8, 8 PM.

Ryan: Okay. Oh, so just a, just a 13-hour day then?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's no big— that's, that's nothing. I love it. It's, you know, I'll get up in the morning, go work out, come into work, work, go to lunch, hang out for a little bit, come back in, kill it, and then, you know, try and get myself set up ready for the next day.

Ryan: Yeah, that's cool. outside the station, we've— we talked about the Mix Group, and, and just for anybody that's not totally sure about what the Mix Group is, they, they have, you know, producers on staff and they handle imaging production on barter or cash. I'm sure they'll do cash deals.

Josh Jensen: 100%.

Ryan: I believe they are well over 1,000 stations now.

Josh Jensen: Oh yeah, well over.

Ryan: Yeah. and I mean, they, you know, I like those guys. I've, I've worked with them And I know just about everybody there, just— but killer though, right? I mean, they have constant—

Josh Jensen: Oh my God, they're the most hardest working people ever. Yeah, like my 13-hour day is nothing compared to Jason Garth's, you know, 20-hour day.

Ryan: 25-hour day, I think.

Josh Jensen: Yeah, exactly. I don't know where he gets that extra hour from, but he nails it.

Ryan: Yeah. So anyway, I know that they kind of put you through the, you know, they lay it on you when you work for them, but I mean, they, you know, they compensate well and they just have a lot of work.

Josh Jensen: 100%, man. Yeah. I mean, they expect you to work, and I mean, that's what you're there to do.

Ryan: Yeah, and that's what that's about. So other than that, and then, you know, the Tampa iHeart and then the national programming stuff, which you said you're part-time on, I'm sure you have plenty of work there. Do you have any other stuff that you work on, like side stations outside the market?

Josh Jensen: I'm doing a couple, actually. One of them I can't talk about right now.

Ryan: Okay, no problem.

Josh Jensen: You'll hear about it soon. And I think if anybody like reaches out, I just, I don't say, I don't really say no to anybody.

Ryan: Sure.

Josh Jensen: It's like, whatever you need, here you go, man.

Ryan: Right, right. And you can work like probably page by page. Obviously monthly retainers are nice. And yeah.

Josh Jensen: Those are my favorites.

Ryan: Yeah, of course they are. Yeah. Back to the one you can't talk about. And of course don't answer me, but I'm, my guess is that the letters A, L, and T could be involved.

Josh Jensen: Wrong.

Ryan: Wrong.

Josh Jensen: Okay. If it was right, I'd be like, Yeah, you're right.

Ryan: Exactly. I've noticed a little bit of, although it wasn't really a big battle, but you know, the intercom's been flipping to alt all over the place. And then finally they stumbled into an iHeart alt. So they had to go, whoops, all right, let's take this back to an FM now.

Josh Jensen: That was Daytona. Good for them.

Ryan: I was gonna say, which is right near your neck of the woods.

Josh Jensen: Yeah. I laughed so hard. I was like, wait a minute, they can't do that.

Ryan: It's really weird. And there's been a couple of battles with the KISS moniker over the years. But the alt one is, I mean, even more basic, but it is kind of weird that you would take the time to do that and not go, wait a minute, is there already an alt in this market?

Josh Jensen: Right.

Ryan: The environment in Tampa at iHeart Tampa, I think I mentioned this actually on the show, but I don't remember now, we've talked for a while. You guys have like 10 stations or more and maybe like 12 actual sticks in the market. It's a massive market there for iHeart. What's the environment like there? Is it just like bursting at the seams with people and creative?

Josh Jensen: It's definitely bursting at the seams for sure. it's been, it's been pretty crazy the past couple months. We've let some people go, we're hiring some people, people are moving, people are coming in. It's, we, we need promotion, we need a head of promotions if anybody's listening. we also need a program director for FLZ or maybe a country PD, so send your stuff to Tommy Chuck.

Ryan: Wow. Yeah, I talked to Drew, it's been a while actually, but, he was, he was kind of intimating about some of the changes and the, you know, this was not so great for a while, but now it's getting better. And lots of, lots of action over there in Tampa though.

Josh Jensen: You know what's funny is everything really happens outside your door. If things are bad, just shut your door and just live in your own little happiness, you know? Yeah, it's so crazy. Everybody— I see a lot of people running around frowning and I'm like, what are you doing, man? This is where you're at all day. Yeah, if you don't like it, go.

Ryan: Yeah, it's funny you say that. I, I was in my first job and I was taking stuff way too seriously. I'd let myself get too stressed out. And one of the, like the after— it was a talk station— and the afternoon guy, it was like, you know, 60, he'd been around forever. He's like, you gotta remember, man, this is still just radio. Like, no one's gonna die. Yeah, there's something, you know, and we get to work in radio.

Josh Jensen: So yeah, it's awesome. I just went into the kitchen just before this. I was like, man, I'm not gonna have time to grab lunch. But Chick-fil-A just dropped off a bunch of Chick-fil-A. Oh, hell yeah.

Ryan: Yeah, I mean, see, that doesn't happen anywhere else. No, it's so awesome. More about the Tampa market, a little more professional, I guess. What is it about— and I've heard this from multiple people now. In fact, I've had a lot of people from Tampa on my show. But in your words, why is Tampa such a jump-off market or just a legend maker? What is it about that market that makes brilliant talent, or that makes brilliant talent want to work there?

Josh Jensen: you can do pretty much whatever the fuck you want to do, man. It is— if you have a reason and a creative reason to do what you want to do, they back you 100%.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: You know, like—

Ryan: Who's that?

Josh Jensen: Bubblegum Sponge, everything. You know, they started here. It's crazy the amount of talent that has started here, left here, and became something awesome, you know?

Ryan: When you say they, do you mean the listeners, the community, or the management, the programmers?

Josh Jensen: Management, programmers.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: I mean, I probably couldn't get away with half the stuff that I do, like professionally and, you know, personally, anywhere else, you know. I mean, Kerry Wolf out of Milwaukee was probably one of the most lenient bosses I've ever had, and I still got his stuff done. I would come in at 1 o'clock in the afternoon when I was supposed to be there at 8, and he'd be like, dude, And I was like, well, you know, I was here till midnight and listen to everything I did. He goes, okay, we're good. Right. Yeah.

Ryan: So, but the, even, even just that iHeart cluster seems to be something different than other iHeart clusters.

Josh Jensen: Yeah. Like, we, we lost one of our, SVPs here. Travis Daly, he, he's all about creativity and having fun. You know, he is, he's all about, let's get you better than you are. Let's push you harder than you, than you've been pushed. And let's show you what you really can do.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Josh Jensen: You know, and we've had, we've had people leave here and go on and do great things. And we've had people leave here like with bad attitudes and haven't done squat.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: So it's basically whatever you want to do for your career, they back you 100% here.

Ryan: Yeah, that's great. Let me ask you this question as I wrote it and you react to it. The most important traits a creative person should have who works for a massive corporation.

Josh Jensen: Something that I do not have, and that is focus.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: Focus. I have all the drive in the world, but man, I can come off the rails. But focus is the main thing and organization is the other, and I lack both, and some reason they keep me.

Ryan: Well, You, you make up, I guess, on the other side.

Josh Jensen: I'm guessing.

Ryan: In a market like that, you told me you image 2 of the stations. I know Drew is there, he's doing a billion things. You must have other— how many imaging producers are in that market? I'll start there.

Josh Jensen: We have 3.

Ryan: Okay.

Josh Jensen: We have Phil Azun, and he's, he's one of the baddest dudes ever.

Ryan: I couldn't remember Phil.

Josh Jensen: He does the AMs.

Ryan: I know the name.

Josh Jensen: And then Drew handles the others, and then I handle the others, so they're mixed up. And I'm not really sure who does the beat. I have no idea. Like, I'm not sure. I know they don't use Mix Group, and I know they don't use the other one, but they pretty sure— I don't have a clue who images it. I think the PD images it.

Ryan: Oh really?

Josh Jensen: And it sounds good.

Ryan: I can't remember. Evolution 93.3, that's, who does that?

Josh Jensen: I think Brian Fink does that. Like, I used to do the Evolution like the brand itself. Yeah, for Kelly when she got busy, or Forrest when he was here and got busy. but yeah, so I used to handle that for them, and then Brian Fink took it over and he's killing it.

Ryan: Yeah, cool. It's a cool brand. Collaboration. So you, you just talked about, at least 3 solid full-time guys there in the building, but do you guys ever get a chance to just sort of sit around and shoot ideas off each other, or is there really no time for that?

Josh Jensen: I wish. Drew's super busy with everything he has going on, and he's one of the most creative people because he sees things differently than I do. So when we get together, it kind of puts the 2 breads and makes the sandwich, you know?

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Josh Jensen: And it's pretty cool, but we never really get to, to collab like that. Like, I collab with Malcolm Riker a lot, and sometimes Miles when he's, not busy and stuff, but You know, but that's about it. We should, we should definitely collab more in the building though.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah. Why? I mean, there's some people that would say, ah, you know, I don't get much out of it, which is weird to me.

Josh Jensen: Absolutely.

Ryan: But there's other people that are kind of jealous, like, man, you work in a place with these kind of— but, but, you know, I get it. It's the realities of the business. But you did talk about how you collaborate with guys that are outside the market. So how exactly do you do that?

Josh Jensen: We just do call up on the phone, man. Speakerphone that thing in.

Ryan: Oh, nice.

Josh Jensen: Okay.

Ryan: It's a dumb question, but I mean, I think it's cool to put that here.

Josh Jensen: I'll take that back. What really happens is Miles starts off with like 10 sweepers, sends it out to a group of people. We all like put 10 sweepers in, we send it all back, and then we have like, we have 100 sweeps ready to rock at any point in time.

Ryan: Do you still have the Clear— I'm sorry, the iHeart online imaging forum? I can't— it's been so long since I've been there. Is that still a big asset to the producers working there?

Josh Jensen: It is. I feel we have a, we have a couple other different ones too that are really dope, but we just, we just really like our imaging people to collaborate with all the imaging people. You know, our email boxes are always open. Yeah, just ready to go at any time if anybody needs anything.

Ryan: Yeah, that's cool. Let's go on the tech side a little bit. And again, I know, you know, we're all super busy, so I'm going to try and not take up all of your time today, but Would you consider yourself a tech-savvy individual?

Josh Jensen: God, no.

Ryan: No?

Josh Jensen: Okay. I'm like, Drew, Drew Hall, I need you.

Ryan: Is there a lot of that going on over there?

Josh Jensen: Well, look, Drew Hall is probably one of the smartest people I know when it comes to that kind of stuff. Uh-huh. So it, that helps out so much. Like, our IT guy sometimes goes to Drew when it comes to the Mac stuff.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, well, that's cool. So you guys all working on Macs there? Mac workstations?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, I'm starting to learn a little bit about it, but if I'm in a hurry, I'm like, Drew!

Ryan: Yeah, that's the problem, right? When you work in a field of creativity, but then you also rely on technology, you know, you can't be stunted by broken tech.

Josh Jensen: Yeah, 100%.

Ryan: Yeah, tough to deal with. So what's some of the gear that you like to use? And you might not be a big gear guy, but I mean, is that— and not— we won't talk about software just yet, but any of Any of the hardware you have there that you love to use that you have?

Josh Jensen: I got a Universal Audio preamp, I got an Aphex, and those are my 2 favorite things with the nice little Sennheiser shotgun microphone.

Ryan: Oh, nice.

Josh Jensen: And at home I run pretty much the same exact thing I have here just so it mirrors up.

Ryan: Yep, I've tried to do the same thing. It makes sense, it makes life easier. It's one of those—

Josh Jensen: Sure. During the hurricane, we weren't supposed to go over the bridge and So I live on the other side of the bridge, which is in the works on the other side. So they just texted me and were like, we need something. So I just did it all there and sent it in. Yeah, it was like I was in the building.

Ryan: I've been, I've been into the UA stuff for quite a while, but what, what interface do you have?

Josh Jensen: And oh, just for that, for that route, I just use the, I use whatever. I have an Eleven Rack at home for my interface. And here I just have the M-Box Pro.

Ryan: Oh, okay. Universal Audio, I thought you had mentioned— so do you have like an Apollo or—

Josh Jensen: Yes. Okay, cool.

Ryan: Yeah, I've been getting into that. I like the sound of that. Very, very clean quality preamp.

Josh Jensen: 100%.

Ryan: And then the 416, that's the mic you like?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, it's awesome.

Ryan: We always joke whenever we go to a convention, especially with a lot of the creative side program— I mean, production, voiceover— that how lousy these hotels are with 416s, because that's what everybody travels with these days.

Josh Jensen: It picks up almost everything if it's right in front of it.

Ryan: Yeah, exactly. But the beauty is it picks up very, very little that's not.

Josh Jensen: Exactly.

Ryan: Talk about software, because I mean, we already know you're on a Mac, and you running Pro Tools? Are you in Audition? What DAW do you like?

Josh Jensen: Pro Tools all day. Like, I couldn't, I couldn't use it before I got to Tampa, and they were like, we're not gonna change it, so you should probably just learn Pro Tools. And I did immediately.

Ryan: I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, my experience was Pro Tools felt extremely daunting until I had the same deal. Someone said, you have to use this, it's what we have. And once you try to learn it, you realize it's not that daunting, it's, it's not that difficult to learn, and then it's really hard to go back.

Josh Jensen: 100%. Like, I was scared to death. I was— yeah, I didn't think I could. I was like Stevie Wonder walking through a floor with holes in it. I was like, I'm going to fall flat on my face in front of all these people who just hired me.

Ryan: And let people know, how long did it take you before you felt like, okay, I'm comfortable?

Josh Jensen: Oh, it took me like 4 days.

Ryan: Yeah, exactly. Not even a week. It won't even take you a week, and you will be able to work in that time. It'll just take you a little longer to 100%. Plugins, what kind of stuff do you like to use?

Josh Jensen: I have Waves Gold, and then I have, I have Speakerphone, and that's about all I use.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: Just the Waves stuff, yeah. I don't really go, I don't stray too far from that stuff because if, you know, if something glitches in there, it's gonna mess everything up for me.

Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. I found, I went through a phase where I was buying way too many plugins And you look back and you see all these plugins you have that you'd never even open, and you realize that you really— you need a few really good in each category at most. And so the Waves Gold gets it done. how much— like, are you mostly an imaging producer who does some voice tracking? Are you doing a lot or any voice work specifically?

Josh Jensen: I've never really been into voice work, but I think I was going to try and bust out a little bit just to You know, just to do it because it's fun. But I mean, I have my voices on 98 Rock. It's on, you know, whatever station I image.

Ryan: I hear you in your imaging a lot. Yeah, absolutely.

Josh Jensen: Well, a lot of that is because some of it is, you know, if I get some stuff from program directors that don't really have time to write, I try to make it, you know, I try to make it like pop. I'm gonna try to make it sound different, put a little bit in, do something cool, you know, stuff like that. But I also like making it interactive with your voice artist because, you know, it's another voice that adds to the station, adds a little bit of depth, and it sounds fun. Yeah.

Ryan: So using 98 Rock as an example, you are— would you say you're the secondary voice of the station?

Josh Jensen: A little bit, yeah, for sure.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: Yeah, and that's cool. I mean, it makes, it makes as an imaging producer your life so much easier when you don't have to rely on outside talent, making sure they get the direction right, and then sending them copy changes. Or, you know, you can think on the fly, you can make ad-libs, you can riff off of the other person, and you're there. It makes your life easy.

Josh Jensen: And on top of that, if, like, working with Malcolm is dope because he'll send— I'll send him one thing and he'll send me back the one thing, but he'll also send me something else that's completely different, and it makes for a whole new promo or a whole new sweep. And it's dope. Miles does the same thing too, but—

Ryan: Yeah, that— so I have a few questions based on that. And actually, I get people asking or even telling me, especially voice talent, they love to hear people like you discuss the way they interact with their voice talent. So just knowing that Malcolm is sending you tons of ad-libs and he's helping you create new— but what your best scenario with an imaging voice You send them copy, they send you completely uncut, unedited, every possible ad-lib, or do you need it to be cleaned up? What are some keys to voice talent out there on how they should be interacting with their imaging producer?

Josh Jensen: I think they should definitely give it all they got. You know, I don't think— like, some of the times they mess up, and that makes for a better part of the promo. You know, so leave it in, send them the raw file unless you're gonna filter it. Ad-lib, throw some cool things in there. Steve Stone is really awesome at like his— he has an old man voice that he does. It's really funny. Yeah, and he has a couple like other things that are really cool.

Ryan: He's got— I like his old like '40s announcer guy.

Josh Jensen: Yes, that dude is awesome. And I sent him something a couple years ago, and I can't believe I still even remember this promo. But like, it totally changed the whole shape of the promo and the sound to it. And he went back and reread it the normal way, but I'm like, get that out of here. But yeah, it was, it was for— I forget, I think it was for the Braves when we were in Atlanta.

Ryan: Yeah, that's cool. So you send a page of copy off to somebody. In your opinion, they should not edit themselves at all? Like, if they want to do 15 takes of one line because they feel they're eventually going to give you something Like, you're cool with that? That is acceptable?

Josh Jensen: 100%.

Ryan: Yeah.

Josh Jensen: I mean, more the merrier, you know?

Ryan: And what— do you work with any— I mean, I'm not even trying to say this is a negative or we should even be naming names, but what about the voice talents that are kind of like, this is my sound, I will give you 2 takes of each line and be done? Is that acceptable to you? Would you work with talent like that?

Josh Jensen: yes. Yes, yes, yes. Chad Erickson is a really good one-take wonder. Yeah, and he does exactly what he does, and he does it very well. And I'd work with him any chance I got, you know. But he also does throw in some funny things too every now and again. But yeah, he slays.

Ryan: You might not necessarily care about this, but just technically speaking, a voice talent out there who's sending copy Do you want it delivered in a certain way? Does it need to be stereo or mono? Do you have specifications on the way the files should be, etc.?

Josh Jensen: Not really. as long as I get it in a timely manner, I don't care.

Ryan: Okay. Do you have the time to do a lot of directed sessions with your talent?

Josh Jensen: I wish. I wish they had time as well. Yeah, but no, definitely not. Oh, I used to do it with George Lowe. Other than that, Because he's Space Ghost, you know, come on. That and this dude Steve Wood, he's out of Phoenix I think, but him and I used to get on the phone all the time. But that's only back when I was doing just like 3 stations and that was it. But that's when I had the time.

Ryan: You know, posting audio to an FTP, let's say they have at least even a Dropbox, they have that set up. Do you demand WAV or MP3 is fine? Anything at all in that realm you can give MP3 is fine.

Josh Jensen: A lot of people do WAVs, which is cool. I don't, I don't really care. Our processing and stuff like that makes it pop and sound really good. So, yep. Yeah.

Ryan: And then finally, on that note, I had something else jumping in my head that I've had people ask me about. Gosh, I'm sorry. Oh yeah, turnaround. I've had this come up a number of different times in different ways. Is there a certain speed at which they need to respond? that is acceptable to you? You know, what if someone has 2-day turnaround? Are they getting hired by you?

Josh Jensen: No.

Ryan: Yeah. What do you need to work?

Josh Jensen: Single day. Just 1 day.

Ryan: So if you send something at 8 in the morning and they send it back at 5 PM, that'll still be okay?

Josh Jensen: I'm okay with that. Yeah. Unless if I say I really need this ASAP.

Ryan: Yeah. And then hopefully most people would be able to flip it around within an hour or so.

Josh Jensen: Yeah, 100%. But then again, you know, I work with Malcolm, who's lightning fast. I work with Deke, who's lightning fast. And You know, Chad Erickson, he'll get your stuff back before you even hit send.

Ryan: Yeah. I always thought, especially some of the really big talent out there, when you're like, man, this guy's probably doing like 100 stations, and like you just said, you hit the send button and it's already coming back to you.

Josh Jensen: Yep.

Ryan: It's insane. I think people should just be aware of that. There's a lot of talent out there that aren't fully aware of what other big-time imaging voice talent are doing. They're turning stuff around in 30 minutes. They're, they're giving you 20 takes. They're doing tons of ad-libs, all of these traits.

Josh Jensen: Oh, for sure. I mean, look, I understand you have some big voice guys and they like to take their time and do their thing, which is cool, you know, I get it. But in this day and age when we have a fast pace and we need stuff back and we have program directors from every other market jumping on our back, we need it as fast as we can get it. Yeah.

Ryan: Absolutely. I'm trying to wrap this up and make this a nice, tight— well, it'll end up being probably a 40-minute interview. I've got my final question, but I do want to ask you this. Name one item that you can't get through the day without, and not your phone.

Josh Jensen: These days it's been chocolate, and I need to tone it down. Monster Energy is probably one of my favorite things ever. The zero carb, zero calorie, zero sugar is my jam.

Ryan: So you may as well just inject caffeine straight into your veins.

Josh Jensen: Either that or Adderall, man. One of the two.

Ryan: That's classic. You know what, let me throw this— I was just thinking about this, and because your name came up at a conference again. So do you go to many— I know you go to at least one or two, but many of the industry events? Is there anything or any that you recommend?

Josh Jensen: I really need to start going to more, but like CRS is probably my favorite one ever in life, and I really need to get to the Conclave.

Ryan: okay.

Josh Jensen: But yeah, I feel like, I feel like we should definitely— I should definitely go to a lot more. I just use my time off to, you know, dick around and do things I shouldn't, you know, stuff like that.

Ryan: No, that's what I mean. Yeah, you wouldn't be good at your job if you weren't out there screwing around.

Josh Jensen: Yeah.

Ryan: one more thing. I know within iHeart they have a lot of great like benchmark events and they allow talent to go to on occasion. is there anything you can tell me about those events? Are they, are they bringing imaging producers to anything special and you're getting anything out of those?

Josh Jensen: All of it. Like, they invite, they invite us to all of them. Like, you know, iHeartRadio Music Festival, they invite us. I think a couple of us got to go to, the iHeartRadio Music Awards. I know people are going all over the place for some of them, you know.

Ryan: And what is so good about that? Like, is it just a fun experience or, you know, the camaraderie with your friends, or do you get anything else professionally out of it?

Josh Jensen: I, I have some funny stories I can't really talk about.

Ryan: Especially because a lot of them take place in Vegas.

Josh Jensen: As a matter of fact, yes. But, and with high-level— and they're not bad things. They just, they just see me when I'm wasted and it's just so funny just to see the look on their face. They're like, Josh, what are you doing? I was Not working! Woo! You know?

Ryan: Yeah, it's classic.

Josh Jensen: And they just laugh and they go, oh, that's so Josh, and they turn around.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah. Well, I was gonna say, I was trying to not, like, throw you under any buses, but let's just say your name might have come up in relation to an iHeart event in Vegas with Deke.

Josh Jensen: Yes.

Ryan: Let's just leave— you know, we'll just leave it there.

Josh Jensen: Him and I were buddies.

Ryan: Yes. I'm not in the business of, like I said, throwing under buses, but there was some fun stories that happened.

Josh Jensen: Look, man, if the bus is in the way, You can throw me in it.

Ryan: Excellent. I'll just say this, I go to Vegas quite often. I believe that I would like to be there when you are there at some point.

Josh Jensen: I will be there March 22nd. Mark your calendars, everybody.

Ryan: Excellent.

Josh Jensen: You can find me at the Golden Nugget.

Ryan: Oh, great. I love to frequent the Golden Nugget.

Josh Jensen: It's a blast.

Ryan: Awesome. All right, man. All right, one more question then. When you're in Vegas, I mean, there's a billion things to do, but are you a Strip guy or are you a downtown guy?

Josh Jensen: I used to be a Strip guy. I would actually— I wouldn't even be— I would go to the Hard Rock and I would hang out at the Hard Rock the entire time because I would go for, for motocross. I would go to the, the little finale they have out there every year, and that's— we would stay at South Point off the Strip, and then we would go to Hard Rock and stay at the Hard Rock and party at the Hard Rock all the time, and that would be it.

Ryan: Nice.

Josh Jensen: But now I'm a downtown guy. Like, I like the Double Down. I like going to The Golden Nugget's one of my favorite spots, and there's a bar called Hogs and Heifers that's right next to there. That's really fun.

Ryan: Have you been to— I should remember the name of it. I've been to like 10 times, but inside El Cortez there is this kick-ass old-school speakeasy type, really rich mahogany type bar in there. I can't remember the name, but you familiar with that?

Josh Jensen: I have not been there, but that's on my list.

Ryan: You have to go there. It's one of those famous Super famous Vegas joints, and El Cortez is a dump but a great place to go to downtown.

Josh Jensen: So, you know, my favorite places to be. The dumps are my favorite, man. They fit right in. Cool.

Ryan: All right, man, let's wrap it up. one final question. What is, you know, key piece of advice? And you can talk in any terms you want, but a young up-and-comer who's looking to make it in radio, a key piece of advice you would give them?

Josh Jensen: Bust your ass. Don't sleep. Never say no.

Ryan: Yes, absolutely.

Josh Jensen: Great. That is it. Work, outwork everyone that's around you. I love it.

Ryan: And especially the never say no. I've heard that a couple of times, but I think people underestimate how, how valuable the person that doesn't push back is to managers.

Josh Jensen: Yep. It's one of my favorite things. Like, I know, I know I don't hit all my deadlines on time, but that's because I don't say no to anyone.

Ryan: Yeah, that's cool, man. Hey, Josh Jensen, on Facebook Josh Radio, Instagram JoshRadio13, or JoshRadio13, radiotweaker.com. He's in Tampa, he's working all over the world, one of the real talented guys out there.

Josh Jensen: Oh, I forgot to tell you, I do do voice work and it's for Red Bull. That's it. That's all I forgot.

Ryan: Oh really?

Josh Jensen: Yeah, I do. I do a lot of their motocross stuff.

Ryan: Oh really? So how did you get that?

Josh Jensen: I have a buddy that does all the video for them. And he hit me up at 2 in the morning one night and he goes, my voice guy just fell through, I need you. And I jumped up out of bed, ran to my studio, nailed it for him for like— took me 15 minutes turnaround. And next thing I know, I'm on a lot of their projects.

Ryan: That's awesome. So that was a great bonus story. And also based on your advice, you know, be available but never say no and work your ass off. And you get to be— you get to voice Red Bull stuff.

Josh Jensen: Boom, baby. There it is. Nice.

Ryan: Hey, right on, man. thank you. Thank you again. I look forward to hearing more from you and staying in touch and all that.

Josh Jensen: Heck yeah, man. Sounds good. Thank you so much for everything, man. Thanks for even thinking about it.

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