Episode 120: Ron Tarrant

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Ryan: This is The Producers Podcast with Ryan Dreen. Hey, hey, dude, again, podcast time. I wonder if other podcast people, if they go back and like record their intros later, does it take them Was it them, 15 takes as well? I'm just curious because, yeah, maybe this isn't 15, but it definitely ain't 3 or 4. I'm just— I don't care what I say at this point. This is going to be the intro that sticks, but we'll make it quick. I don't have too much to say. Ron Tarrant is the guest. Ron— well, let me tell about him in just a minute. On the website, go to the Ron Tarrant page. There'll be a link there, or search for the show notes for Ron Tarrant. there's some cool pics. People like to see studio pics. He had a nice clean contemporary setup in his New York City apartment. We got a pic of that home studio, if you will, up there, plus his music. We talk about it in the show. Admittedly, before I interviewed him, I didn't know what type of musician he was, or that legit could have been a full-blown rock star. He came to a crossroads, but again, like I said, we talked about that. Check out the music on the show notes page there, the Ron Tarrant show notes page. highly recommend it. I truly dig it. Like, if he wasn't the guest, I would go, hey, thumbs up on that, that's great stuff. so Ron was at KISS in Toronto. He was at a couple other gigs as well, but I first knew about him at KISS in Toronto. just a killer CHR producer. then he went to Howard Stern with SiriusXM, was there for 2 years. But very recently, as I'm speaking, it's been days, and he had just moved out of his apartment in New York, going back to Canada. And then when we recorded this, it was right before Memorial Day in the States. So I have learned my lesson not to put an episode out right before a holiday. It doesn't work out so well. And I want everybody to hear Ron and his brilliance. So anyway, right before we recorded this, he was just days out of his job there. So he is in an interim period. He says he's working on some music and he'll have a new job to be announced soon. I'll update the podcast page. Yeah. on the website whenever that happens for Ron. so that's about, you know, where he's at. He's just— he's still relatively young, just super skilled, and, he's got everything. radio imaging producer, music producer, he's a musician, a singer, voiceover artist. and he's gonna be able to expand those things too now that he's kind of not locked into the world of Howard Stern. So to start, I'm gonna lay out the full 3-minute demo he gave me because quite frankly I loved it and I want to hear all of it again. but for anybody that has some delicate sensibilities, this is Howard Stern stuff. So, you know, again, if you're listening to this show, you probably don't have delicate sensibilities, but if you do, go ahead and fast forward 3 minutes. Save yourself a headache or a nasty tweet to somebody, 'cause you know how Twitter's been so good to people recently when they say nasty things on there. Otherwise, enjoy the brilliance that is the one and the only Ron Tarrant. Power! Power! Power! Power! Howard Stern. It begins in New York City. And surges out to the west. He's the king of all media! Howard Stern changed radio as we know it. Millions of listeners worldwide. And every one of them have a bigger penis than him. Howard 100 and Howard 101. I have a lot to say. HowardStern.com. SiriusXM.com. The World of Howard Stern. Howard Stern never stops. And now, the Howard Stern Show. Howard! I put my hand underneath my ass, I farted, and smelled my hand. No, I've never done that. We have the greatest channels in the history of radio. It's kind of a historic day in broadcasting history. He is an innovator, a masturbator. Would you let Howard Stern teabag you? I'm not sure what that is. It's when a man drops his nuts on your face. No. The world of Howard Stern. I think I've made my mark On radio. Go Howard, go! Never stops. Howard 100. Howard 101. All October, it's Cocktober, only on The Howard Stern Show. The world. The world of Howard Stern never stops. Howard 100. Howard 101. where do I get a handjob in New York City? Okay, here's a place matching handjob. It's a new ways of New York. City. Oh, let's see. We will not bow down. I am the last of a dying breed. Don't look him in the eye. Don't look him in the eye. Look me in the eye. Howard Stern. The world of Howard Stern never stops. You guys into this or what? I love it. Howard. Howard 100. Howard 100. One Kiss. CKIS FM. Toronto. Here we go. What's up everybody? This is Ariana Grande. Jay-Z. Hi, this is Toblo. Katy Perry. One Republic. This is where hit music lives. This is my station. My music. This is KISS. KISS 92.5.

Ryan: there it is. You know what? I'm gonna start off with some standard imaging effects. Pew pew pew! World exclusive. So, my guest Ron Tarrant first. Ron, thank you for joining me. I appreciate your time.

Ron Tarrant: Hey, thank you so much for having me. I've been listening to the podcast for years and years, and I'm finally able to say I can do one of these things, which is—

Ryan: Oh, hell yeah. Nah, man, it's— well, anyway, I'll go back real quick. My fancy imaging effects that I did with my mouth there, it was really awesome, and the world exclusive. I played audio that has not been publicly played before, is that correct?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, on the social media world, yes. On satellite radio, it's been on Howard here for the last 2 years, but as as far as— Okay, wait. Yeah.

Ryan: Yeah, that's a good point to make. Certainly it aired. It absolutely aired. But you weren't able to really put that out there to the world as, hey, here is some of my work, other than it being on the air before right now.

Ron Tarrant: Exactly. It's a pretty tight world. And even when you asked me to do the interview a few years ago, it was like, oh man, I've been listening to this forever. That'd be so fun to actually do one. And I felt horrible having to tell you I couldn't do it. And so now we actually get to do this and have some fun.

Ryan: Yeah, man. I mean, it was no sweat. I did think it would've been, people would've expected to, I mean, we're not giving away inside secrets on the world of Howard Stern or anything, even though I'd love to. And I've been a huge fan of that entire world for, I don't even know how long, but people would expect us to talk about that. And so now we can at least talk about that part of your career today.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah.

Ryan: That's good. So going all the way back to the beginning for you, what was the— I don't know, the first time you dealt with audio? Was it radio production? Was it music? Tell me just the first time you worked with audio.

Ron Tarrant: I didn't really have, I think, a typical intro to radio, but my dad was a country musician growing up in Canada, and he always had instruments and mixing boards laying around the house. And he recorded an album that did pretty good in Canada back in— I think it was like '86. or something, so 2 years before me. And then, you had me and had to get a real job and stop playing music full-time. sorry, Dad.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: But I, I just grew up with, with all that gear in the house, and I was constantly listening to music, and my dad was, was always encouraging me to kind of tinker with, the boards here and there. And, I, I think I learned how to use a 16-track recorder when I was like 12 years old or something like that. And so I was just a big kind of gear nerd at that point. And then really, I just filled my days with skateboarding and hockey, and I didn't really think about too much anything else at that point, rather than kind of playing guitar. And I enjoyed music, but I started to really dissect, I guess, listening to bands and hearing like a neat guitar. And I was like, well, why doesn't my guitar sound like that when I just plug it into the amplifier? And so I kind of started to really get interested in that side of things. And so—

Ryan: What was the studio like? So you said you were kind of getting it, you had your first time with a 16-track recorder when you were 12? Is that what you said?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, so my dad had all that gear in the house actually where—

Ryan: Okay, he was pretty kind of a home studio.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, everything was home studio back then. I didn't really see my first kind of studio until I was about 17. Me and, I had a high school band and we ended up winning Battle of the Bands, and this is like way back in the day, I think when I was like 15 or so. And we won a little bit of recording time and then saved up some more money and went in and actually We were gigging at that time, just kind of playing around Calgary where I'm from. But it wasn't really until I went into like an actual studio and paid some producer, like, I think it was like outrageous money back then of like $600, which is, you know, nothing now. But at the time it's like, man, this, this better sound like as good as a Pink Floyd album. This is all my money. And then sure enough, it, it comes out and you're like, wow, that, that sounds like shit. And I think it was, it was then that I really got into more of the production side. I'm like, well, Why does the record sound bad? We had this amazing recording studio, but nothing's— everything sounded flat, and we didn't spend money on the mixing. And yeah, so that was kind of my real first introduction, I think, to production. And that led to— I actually went to an open house tour at, like, a university in Calgary. It's more of like a trade school, art school. It's called SAIT, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. And I didn't really know what I wanted to get into in post-life. And I saw this sign one day with my dad as we were walking around and it said radio. And I was like, radio? Well, they play music. That's pretty cool. Maybe I should check that out and we should take the tour. So we did that. And I actually got a huge bug for the on-air side of things right away when we went in and saw the students like crack a mic for the first time and, and talk over tunes. And I was like, wow, this is super cool. So I applied for that program and I think it's one of the hardest broadcast schools in Canada. to get into because I think they have like, I want to say like 200 people apply every year and they take 20 or 30 or something like that.

Ryan: Oh, wow.

Ron Tarrant: And I don't know how the hell I got in because really at that time I wasn't like a superstar at school or anything like that. But because I had that little bit of experience behind the board and I was able to use that on my essay to get in and all of that, I think that they saw me as, well, this guy might be in a production and there's not too many people in production. So somehow I I was able to get in the program. And once I was kind of in school, I was like, man, this production thing is awesome. Like, this is way funner than being on air. So I kind of discovered that side, and from there, really enjoyed the commercials. And at that time, what we called station imaging was like, you know, like you talked at the beginning, like zip, zap, boom, all that stuff.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah. So give us a ballpark on, like, when is this? What year are we talking about?

Ron Tarrant: So this would have been about, I want to say, like 2007, 2008. I graduated from there 2008, and I just passed my, I guess, my 10th year in radio now this year, actually.

Ryan: Okay. Yeah, I was trying to get a ballpark. I mean, you're not, you're not an old man, Ron. You still appear to be rather young to me. I, I don't know if I'm calling you a young gun. I actually don't know. I mean, do you want to tell us how old you are? I don't know how old you are, to be honest.

Ron Tarrant: I'll be 30 this year.

Ryan: Oh, well, I would have got about right then. I thought you were nearing the end of your 20s, so So yeah, I mean, you certainly accomplished a lot, but so you get through the school program, you realized actually pretty early that production was for you. So I guess if it's a safe second question, what was the first professional gig? Is that kind of what came next? Or I do know there was a band involved here though, so maybe that's what came next.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, I was pretty lucky because at that time I was still really juggling if I wanted to go into music full-time or not. And I was really, you know, granted some cool opportunities recording with that band because we had a couple of little side deals where we would go and record with Nickelback's producer in Winnipeg. And while we were doing all that, I got to sit and nerd out in the room and ask their producer— his name's Dale Penner, and Chris Burke-Gaffney was one of the other producers we worked with when I was in a band in Calgary. And he was Chantel Kreviazuk's producer, and he had just some amazing little tips and tricks all the way, and they were eager to share stuff with us. I was, you know, we were just young guys at that time too. I think I was 20 years old or 21 by that time. And so it was right at that time, I had started my practicum in second year at SAIT. And there was an opening just outside of Calgary at a place called Airdrie, which I think the population's like 40,000 people.

Ryan: Okay.

Ron Tarrant: But the cool part was, is I didn't have to go— I didn't have to like go to Buckfuck, Saskatchewan kind of thing. I was really lucky. I was like, you know what? I'm going to take the small town practicum. And this is one of those, like, rare things that just you hear about, but it doesn't happen. But while I was there, the production manager— I can't remember her name, but it was like the week I was about to start my practicum, she gave her notice. And so, they were like, well, Ron, do you want to come in and work for us for a month? And, you know, it's small-town Airdrie, so it doesn't need to be anything amazing. But by that time, I had kind of been like, you know, production is what I want to do. And.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: I think I did decently well at it at school, so they seemed to trust me, and my teacher's referral knew the program director there.

Ryan: Hmm.

Ron Tarrant: So they got me in, and after a month just kind of working my ass off there doing commercials and a little bit of imaging and anything I can get my hands on, they actually offered me— they're like, hey, do you want to stay on and do this? Because it was just about to go music side, because I was playing guitar for this Canadian Idol guy named Billy Klippert. I think he was like the second runner-up in the first season. So we had some— he had a full record deal with Universal Music and playing shows all over Canada, and I was touring with them a little bit. And there was a couple of little hiccups, like most musicians, where you're like, you know, I don't know if things are going to keep on this track because I'm dealing with—

Ryan: Yeah, I know what you mean.

Ron Tarrant: A guy who drinks a 40 of gin a night, and you're just kind of watching the dust settle, and you're like, man, I got my own career to think about. I'm only 20 at this time, and I think he was like 34 or something. So it was at that time I was like, you know what, I think I want to take the radio job.

Ryan: Were you able to finish school? I can't, I can't figure that part out. Did you have to actually leave school, or?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, so I finished high school, I went to, went to SAIT, and right at the end—

Ryan: No, yeah, finish SAIT.

Ron Tarrant: Okay, yeah, so when I finished SAIT, right at the end of those 2 years, when I got hired for my practicum, they were like, hey, in order to graduate, you still need to do like 3 months of school. And I wanted to start this job right away, and they needed me right away, so I actually did like all my schoolwork on top of working this full-time job just so I could get the piece of paper to say I graduated. Because you figure that's kind of important if you end up getting canned and you go to radio school for 2 years but you don't get your certificate. It looks, you know, pretty bad.

Ryan: Yeah, but, you know, I think it all worked out for you. So from there, maybe don't get too much in the mud because I want to talk a lot more, you know, day-to-day and get into the world of Howard and get into what you're doing now. But what were some of the big, you know, Points of your career from there?

Ron Tarrant: So from there, I spent 2 years in Airdrie and I did everything. I did mid-days, I did all the production commercials, imaging, I did traffic scheduling, which sucks. If anyone did that, they'd know exactly what I'm talking about. And I also did a little bit of creative writing there too. And so I just learned everything, which is probably the most fun and least stressful time in radio where you're just like loving everything about the job, and you're so new to the world, and you're not jaded like us old guys now. But on that note, the cool thing was is our signal bled into Calgary. So there was a guy who had also gone to SAIT who was one of the, the big production guys in Calgary at Jack FM and Light 96 at the time, and Sportsnet Radio, 660 News. His name is Jesse Simon, and we had kind of known of each other And I just messaged him and asked him to critique my work here and there. And he was a really great guy because at that time, I was reaching out to many producers. One that I'll get back to this story about a little later because that's kind of a big thing in the Howard job that I'll tell you about. Okay.

Ryan: I have a feeling we're mutual friends.

Ron Tarrant: Yes, I think you might know where this is going. And I don't think many people know this story, so it'll be a fun one to share with you. But Jesse was like, hey, we have this opening in Calgary. you know, I live in Airdrie and I hear your work on the way into work sometimes. Do you want to apply for this like junior commercial job? So I actually ended up getting the job in Calgary. And when I was there, I found the world of imaging and I listened to Jesse's stuff all the time. And I had a great broadcast teacher named Richard Strohband. And these 2 guys, just the passion that they had for radio imaging. Another boss at the Rogers radio stations I worked at was named David Lloyd. And these guys just shaped my world and made me love imaging and want to get better at it so much. And so the entire time I was a commercial guy there, as soon as like 5 o'clock, all the voices kind of left the building. And so I would actually start working on just like fake imaging at nighttime.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: And I'd ask Jesse to say, hey, can you send me some of Howard Cogan's tracks for Jack? And, you know, I'd love to put some splitters together for the morning and just get you to critique them. That's all. Just tell me what's wrong with them, rip them apart. And Jesse was great. He's like, yeah, of course, man, no problem. And so I would hear some of his work the next day, and I'm like, oh my God, this guy is amazing. I want to spend more time with Jesse and Dave. And so those guys just gave me such a huge passion for imaging. And from there on, I was like, this has got to be my focus. I'm having way too much fun doing this. So I just worked on imaging after hours for like 2 years after that. And eventually a job came up in Edmonton as a CHR imaging producer at 91.7 The Bounce. And my boss Dave and Jesse were like, hey, Ron, we think you're ready for this. Can you put some demos together? So of course I was like, holy shit, this is— A, it's CHR, which is like one of my dream formats to work in, and it's like my own imaging station. This could be great. Yeah, it's in Edmonton, which kind of, you know, if you're from Calgary, that's kind of a problem. But—

Ryan: Why is that a problem?

Ron Tarrant: If you're a hockey fan in Calgary, you're a Flames fan, Edmonton Oilers in Calgary, it's just kind of like You know how people say it's like, oh, you're either LA or you're New York or one or the other? Okay.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, but it's like a regional quarrel or whatever.

Ron Tarrant: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Ryan: They're enemies, quote-unquote, in everything sport and other. Okay.

Ron Tarrant: Absolutely. So everyone from Edmonton's like, oh, we hate Calgary, and vice versa, Calgary, we hate Edmonton. But this job came up and I ended up getting it. So I went up to Edmonton and we rebranded this station and And I didn't really know what I was doing because it was like, well, here you go, Ron, here's the reins, go reformat a new station. And it was the first time I'd ever worked with an imaging voice one-on-one. And we had just signed Wendy Kay Gray when she was a radio baby. And I think she'd be okay with me saying that because this was her second radio station, I believe, where she was voicing. So we were almost on the job training with each other, which was so much fun because I know you met Wendy when we were in LA together too, and she's just this amazing girl. So we would chat on the phone and talk.

Ryan: She's a Texan with me now.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah, we're pals.

Ryan: We're Texas buddies. Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: I love— see, I love how small this industry is even after all these years going back to Emmettton. Yeah, that's the coolest part about it. So me and Wendy kind of reformatted the station together, and the station wasn't doing too well at the time. It used to be a Monumental Heritage station in the market. And I know I'm talking forever, so I'll try and go a little quicker. But Toronto, the head office for Rogers, which we owned about like 55 radio stations all across Canada, was listening to this station going like, what's wrong with it? Why is it not doing so well? Well, hey, we, we kind of like the imaging. So I got in touch with a guy named Chris Pottage, who was the production director in Toronto, and he would often critique my, my work out there. And I would send stuff back and forth and just get a dialogue going. And after 9 months in Edmonton, this is my first full-time job, the phone rang and he goes— it was Chris Pottage in Toronto saying, hey, we got a job open at our flagship CHR station, KISS 92.5 in Toronto. Do you want the gig? And I was like, holy shit! Like, it was my dream to get to Toronto, never mind this station.

Ryan: Did it take you 1 or 2 seconds to say yes?

Ron Tarrant: I tried to play it cool and was like, oh, let me just— yeah, I'll be there next week. So I moved out to Toronto, and I was there at Toronto for about 3 years doing KISS, and which eventually led into doing all the national CHR imaging. And anytime Rogers built a new station, there would be like this kind of like super dream team of great guys across the country. And there'd be a handful picked from the VP of Radio, Julie Adam and Chris, who would be like, hey guys, we're launching a new Jack FM in Halifax. You guys want to do the launch from Toronto? And we'd have 4 or 5 guys secretly working on stuff while still doing KISS Toronto and helping out on the other stations. And I was there for just over 3 years at KISS Toronto, and that's when I got the, the call for Howard in New York.

Ryan: So real quick, to give people the timeframe a little bit, so you did a— let's call it a year over there, 3 years there. So when is this now, like 2013 or Where are we at now?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, so right at the start of— by the time I got the call from Howard, it was about 2015 or so.

Ryan: Okay.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah.

Ryan: So now let's hear how that goes down.

Ron Tarrant: So I'll backtrack a little bit just to reaching out to people when I was a super junior guy, 17 or 18 at my first station. And are you familiar with this thing called the Radio and Production Magazine?

Ryan: Yeah, absolutely.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah. It's— I think it's even— is it out of Texas? I think it might be. Yeah, yeah.

Ryan: Jerry, who is at, you know, I haven't actually reached out to him in quite a while, but he was at K104 in Dallas here. It's a massive urban station. I mean, decades of dominance. And yeah, I've interacted with Jerry quite a bit.

Ron Tarrant: Okay. Yeah. So I grew up on that magazine for many years when it was, I would say, a little more in its prime back in the day before the internet was so accessible and it was the only place to hear imaging before SoundCloud. And when I was in school, my teacher Richard's like, hey, if anyone wants to be in production and you want to be into radio stuff, this is the magazine you got to check out. And I'd never really seen anything like this. So I listened to this CD religiously when it came out when I was like 19. And I noticed at the bottom, it would have like certain cuts from certain producers around the world. And what was so cool about it is it actually had most people's email attached right at the bottom. And so, I heard this one demo, and it was— I think it was like a promotional spot for Howard Stern going to SiriusXM satellite radio. And I was like, holy shit, is this the guy that does, like, Howard in New York? And I read along, and his name was Jon Kerber. And I was like, wow, Jon Kerber. I wonder if I can just email this guy. I might as well email this guy. Like, I didn't really know what to think, or even if I was gonna get a response. Like, I'm emailing New York. Like, oh my God. It was such a— Yeah, right, right. Crazy thing at that age to even think like that.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: And so, this really speaks to Jon's character because, especially after knowing how intense this job is and how much little free time you get on the side, I wrote him a page and was very like, hey, Jon, such a huge fan of your work. I've been listening to Stern for years and years, and especially when he was on satellite, that's when I really kind of got into it, and it was more accessible to me up in Canada. And so, Jon wrote me back this super unbelievable nice message, And was so grateful. And he actually sat down and, like, critiqued my work. So, here I am at, like, 19, getting one of the biggest guys in imaging to listen to my little old stuff, which is amazing and really speaks to his character. And so, John and I, short— long story short, we kept in touch for probably 10 years.

Ryan: Wow.

Ron Tarrant: And I would always just like, hey, man, Merry Christmas. Here's some new audio. I'm— oh, I'm actually moving to Edmonton now. I've got a gig in Toronto. And he was letting me know how how things were going at Stern, and send me, you know, a couple pieces of audio here and there just for fun to listen to. And when I was in Toronto, I actually— I phoned Jon up, and I was like, hey, I'm coming down to New York. I would love to meet you after all these years and take you out for lunch. Is that something we could do? And he's like, come on down. I'll give you a tour of the station, and we'll grab some food. It'll be fun. This is awesome. Amazing. Thank you so much. So, I actually came down and met Jon and had a great day. The guy is unbelievable, as he is in person, as he is on TV. or any other platforms of social media. And about 2 years later goes by, and John tells me he's leaving Howard, and that he's going to another position in SiriusXM, but he's just had a baby, he's married now, the job is very intense, obviously, and he's done it for 12 years now. So, he's looking for his next challenge in his life, which he absolutely deserves, 'cause he's just He had mastered Howard and everything that came with it. And so he was taking over the new creative director role for all the music channels at SiriusXM, which is a massive, massive role. And John Fomian said, hey, man, we've known each other for a long time. Are you interested in the Howard gig? Do you want to try out for it? And I'm like flattered at this point going, yeah, that's amazing. Of course I would. But who's going to sponsor a visa these days is what I was thinking. Because it's so much money. You know all about this, Ryan. It's just, it's so much easier to take an American than a Canadian and do all that extra work.

Ryan: For anybody that isn't aware, it really is. And now that I'm in a position where I'm kind of a little more connected to the management of a massive corporation, you know, hiring outside the country is very difficult here and it's costly. So yeah, it's a big hurdle.

Ron Tarrant: Absolutely. So the first thing that went through my mind is, wow, this will be an amazing opportunity. And if nothing, I'll probably get a few more contacts and might be able to make some fun audio, you know, to look back on one day.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Ron Tarrant: So with that said, I put together a few demos and sent them off to John, and John seemed to be pretty excited about it and said he would pass them off to his boss. And about 3 weeks go by, didn't hear anything, and all of a sudden I get this email saying, Hey, Ron, we need some custom Howard demos for you— from you. And I was like, okay, well, what does that mean? A, awesome, I got a callback, and B, now I'm a little bit nervous because this is, you know, moving on to step B. So at that time, they'd asked me to put together— they gave me a list of, I think, about 6 subjects where it was like a Richard and Sal thing, a History of Howard Stern promo, and one of the celebrity interviews. And they just— they said, send us something creative to do with this.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Ron Tarrant: And that was— that was the guidelines. So, that meant, like, no audio to work with, no clips, no nothing. They want to see if you can, like, scour the internet and find all this rare archive stuff, just to see if not only you can produce, but But can you do this solely 100% on your own without having these resources at your hands?

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: So, they'd asked me to put together a couple of these demos, and from there, I just built some audio and sent it off to the guys, and I didn't hear anything again for like 4 weeks. So, I'm thinking this time, there's definitely nothing— nothing is happening. And I get an email from Howard's team, and they said, hey, we liked your stuff. Howard picked you. Do you want to come down, and can we meet you? And at that time, I'm like, holy shit, this just got, like, real fast.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah. So, I kind of was messaging Jon on the side, being like, hey, man, have you heard anything? Here's what I've heard. They want me to come down. And I flew down secretly just before Christmas of 2015 and came and shadowed Jon for about 2 days. Met the whole gang. And the craziest part is I had rolled in, and I was sitting there the morning of, and I think it was like 7:00 AM, and the show was just getting underway, and I said, Tina Fey and Howard walk in together, and they're getting ready to do their interview. And I'm like, holy shit, man, is anyone ever gonna believe this if I don't get this job now? Right. Right. It was one of those very surreal moments for the first time where it's kind of starting to sink in, and you're in New York City. So, shadowed Jon for 2 days, and I talked with the managers, met with all the staff, and they said, okay, well, we'll let you know. Have a good Christmas. I come back up to Canada, and I'm like, man, what is going on? I don't know what any of this means. How many more people are there? Yeah, I hope I did well. All that kind of stuff is just running through your head constantly. So it wasn't till January, and I finally get a callback another, like, 5 weeks later. And I didn't follow up at this point because it had been so far into the process where I was like, you know what, they'll phone me if, if they are still interested at this point. And they said, we'd like to offer you the job. However, it is contingent on you getting the American visa to work here. So, we will pursue the visa for you, but don't quit your job, don't do anything. We need to see if we can get this on your behalf, and we're gonna go for the O-1 visa, which is, as you probably know, it's— they call it like an extraordinary ability. I don't know how that translates to us, but you know.

Ryan: The same one that Dom Narro has?

Ron Tarrant: Exactly, exactly. So, you have to go through this insane process Like, process.

Ryan: Athletes can get them, or you have to be like one of few people in the world that can do your job officially.

Ron Tarrant: Right, right, exactly. So I had to literally send off like 10,000 forms and work with these lawyers, and that process was so crazy long, drawn out, and intense that, man, if I didn't get it at that point, it was gonna be crazy, 'cause every night I was going through forms, sending— I think they asked what kind of toilet paper I used in 2005. That's how crazy it was, or it felt anyway at the time.

Ryan: Yeah, exactly.

Ron Tarrant: So that was going on then. And at the whole— I can't tell anybody about any of this at this time, except I think I told like my mom and dad and my girlfriend at the time, and she was pretty cool with this whole thing. And we were just about to move in together, and like a week later they finally phone and go, okay, Ron, we got the visa. When can you be here?

Ryan: Damn.

Ron Tarrant: Okay. Wow. This is happening.

Ryan: So how long did it take? So, okay. So from the time they say, all right, we want to do it, but we got to get the visa. How long did that process take?

Ron Tarrant: I want to say the visa process took about, I think they expedited it. So it was like a 2-month thing from start to finish after accepting the job. Okay. Wow.

Ryan: So basically you kind of have this job if you can get the visa and you had to sit there for 2 months working in Toronto, not telling anyone, and then they come to you and say, you got it, let's rock and roll. Then how long did you have from that moment where you got it to when you had to actually be there in New York working?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, exactly. So I think from the whole process started in October, and I was actually down there by April 1st. So it was, yeah, at least a few months of getting everything organized. So I gave my work up in Canada about a month's notice, and They were super cool. Julie, the head of the company, was like, Ron, go do what you got to do. We're so proud of you. And sent me on my way and my boss, Chris, and everything. So yeah, it was about a month from there where I had to pack my bags and move down. And I think I ended work on a Friday in Toronto and started on that Monday in New York.

Ryan: Wow. Okay. So who— if we can get into the Howard job a bit, Now, just in case anybody doesn't know, I don't know if we made this clear. That was a long history of Ron story there, and I'm not sure what we made clear at the beginning. You currently are no longer working there, which is why you were able to give me that audio and let me play it, and why we're able to talk a little more about this. But again, for anybody that doesn't know, you have now left that job. So how long were you there for?

Ron Tarrant: Yes. So it was just over 2 years that I was in the Howard gig for.

Ryan: So, every day, is it a— I mean, are you— is everyone on the staff there, you know, bright and early? What are your hours like? Start there.

Ron Tarrant: So, this is kind of a— I'll give you a little bit more history in a look inside the world, because it is so, so different than any radio job I have ever had. And I've done 6 cities now, and worked with 500 stations, it feels like. But this one in particular, I wouldn't even call it a radio job. I would just say it's probably what you see on most show business platforms. So, as far as an audio and imaging guy, I was the only guy who stepped behind the Howard Stern doors who did anything related to this job. Part of the reason I think that I was able to get the gig down there, and they took me over an American or someone else who just strictly did radio, was that I was gonna come down, Write everything, produce everything, voice everything, compose all the music myself, and do all the sound design from scratch. So that was my job title, and that's everything that included on a daily basis.

Ryan: Okay. What is that like though, like day to day? You show up when? You work for 50 hours? You know, what?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, yeah. So, a typical day, Howard's live Monday to Wednesday. where those are like the early morning show days. So I would probably roll in anywhere from like 7 AM when the show gets going, or I'll definitely be listening on my walk to work if I come in a little bit later. There wasn't too much I was doing in the actual, like, daily live shows. Everything was made the week before, or all the bits are very pre-approved by Howard and, and the rest of the writers and all of that. So as far as my imaging stuff goes, My main day, I guess, would probably be in the realm of hours. I'd say like 8 AM till like 7 PM, or some days even 8 or 9. It was— I don't remember in 2 years probably doing less than an 11-hour day.

Ryan: Really?

Ron Tarrant: It was just so much.

Ryan: Yeah. Is it a situation— I mean, you're still young, and sometimes I hate it when people just say, oh, you're young, you can handle it. But it, you know, now that I'm older— well, I am older than you, I always will be. But, I mean, you were there 2 years. Did you get to sort of burnout points? Was it always so exciting, you were fine? What's the mentality like as you get into your 6th month, and then your 12-month, and all that?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, I would definitely agree with the burnout points, only because when you're in a role like that, usually, if you're working on Jimmy Fallon or something like that, every 2 weeks, the entire staff is off for a week, and you get to recharge those batteries and come up with fresh ideas. But we're in there every single day. So, even when Howard's off on vacation, and the rest of the show is off, we're all working on other things that— you know, people are paying for this service, $17 a month, which is the highest premium of SiriusXM. So, we're filling all this content while people are pissed off that Howard's on vacation. So, that's what made it tough, and I'd say that the burnout factor was definitely there. it was also a very intense place to work, as in the expectations were extremely high on every project that you touched. I'd say one of the things that was tricky was balancing the meetings with all the— I wouldn't say politics of the job, but there was— my hand was in almost every department of that show, and that was the one job that really did touch every department of that show.

Ryan: Do you think— I mean, I've listened to the channels a lot, and I'm pretty— well aware of the work that gets done. There's a lot of it. But the resources that are put into imaging, are they sort of commensurate with the magnitude of that multichannel world? Or was it a little tough to contend with?

Ron Tarrant: It was tough to contend with. And you bring up a good point there because a lot of the— I'm going to leave names out of this, but some of the management there, they don't really quite understand our world and what we do. And, you know, if I were to say to you, write a promo, and you're making everything from scratch that one day, and balancing, you know, 10 other things that same day with meetings and all this, it can be tough because writing, producing, composing, sound designing, and voicing it all, like, you're literally seeing it from A to Z, and no one's helping you. There's no other ideas to really bounce off of. And it's tough. You're kind of just pulling stuff out of thin air and out of your ass every single day for these things. Yeah. It's not like, wow, we can do a, you know, top 25 music hits promo today. It's literally— it's something new and creative. And the most interesting part of that, which was something I had to really work on when I got there, was comedy writing. Because all of our pieces should be somewhat entertaining, make you laugh in the car. And it can't just be like, you know, a super cheese joke.

Ryan: Right.

Ron Tarrant: We have some of the best writers in the world working on that show. And now I'm competing with my stuff on the air against these guys in a room every single week where we're pitching our ideas. So, that's where it gets really tricky.

Ryan: So, as far as the imaging goes, because we heard a slew of your work, there was plenty of funny imaging. It's such a generic word. But the people on the team that were writing for everything else around the show weren't also in there with you writing imaging?

Ron Tarrant: That's right. I literally did every single piece by myself. And I think that made it tricky and tough because anytime we worked on a live show idea— When I first got there, I only did imaging. And then after that, it was like, okay, Ron, well, you seem to have got the hang of imaging. Now we're gonna load up your plate with— Every Monday morning, you're gonna be in a room pitching ideas against the rest of the writers, basically competing for your job. And these guys used to write for SNL, David Letterman, The Tonight Show.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: And now you're in the mix. So hold your own, kiddo. Here you go. Oh, and don't forget to do all that other work we already asked of you on Monday too. Thanks.

Ryan: And I'm getting the sense that when you started there, you know, very exciting, and I'm sure it's still fine the whole way, but, you know, you thought you would be producing the imaging for the Howard Stern channels, and maybe— were you aware that you would also be producing your own? I mean, I think you were doing a lot of your own sound design on your own music. Were you aware that that would be part of the job?

Ron Tarrant: I knew to a certain degree, but I also thought there was going to be— I wouldn't say, like, emergency cases where it's like, oh, you know, you can grab this from this library, or this and this, or, hey, we own these ones, or anything like that, like one of the services. But when I got there, I literally came into a blank computer.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: And Howard wants everything custom. He wants to be able to own it all, and no one else be able to replicate that sound. So I had to continue this pace of, the magical John Kerber, who is an absolute radio imaging god. And I had to hit the ground running and contain the same speed as where he left after 12 years of archives and saving stuff and being able to reuse stuff here and there.

Ryan: For sure. So, when you step in, like you said, blank computer, clean slate, is— you obviously have the skills to produce sound design elements and music, but did that take up up a lot more of your time than you thought it would. I mean, you don't just, you know, to create a quality, even if it's going to last, you know, 10 or 15 seconds, but a quality music bed that you're going to be using in a promo, it's not something you make in 10 minutes, right?

Ron Tarrant: Ah, see, Ryan, I'm so happy you get it because it's tricky trying to explain that to people who don't come from a radio background, whether or not they understand imaging or not. But yes, it is so time-consuming.

Ryan: And like you said, it could take you longer just to produce one of the elements you're gonna use than it would to actually write the promo and actually mix the promo. The whole, you know.

Ron Tarrant: Nailed it on the head. All of that. All of that. And trying to explain that to someone who deals with paper and doesn't even know really what the imaging world is or what an imager does at the station, yet they're, you know, running the corporation. It's very tricky to get someone on your side to fight for spending time on those pieces when everything else is so in demand as well. And you're spread so thin there doing 900 jobs.

Ryan: When you were applying and, you know, discussing the job and all that, that was probably made very clear though, I guess, that whoever gets this job is also the creator of custom content for everything they make. Or was it?

Ron Tarrant: Hmm, that's a double-edged sword that I won't fully be able to answer, but there was a lot of surprises that came with the gig.

Ryan: Yeah, okay, that, that makes sense.

Ron Tarrant: Wow.

Ryan: I mean, yeah, because you can't say no. Well, I mean, you can say no to the job, but let's be honest, probably not going to say no to the job. And then that's, yeah, that's pretty wild. I mean, and I'm not saying or asking any of these questions to fault SiriusXM or Howard's company or anything that goes on there. Huge respect. It's just fascinating is all, you know, that, the, the imaging producers world can be shrunk down to one person. And it probably is just a lot of, well, the last guy did it. You know, you can do it too. We, you know, we don't need to even understand what it is you do.

Ron Tarrant: Right.

Ryan: We just are gonna tell you to do it.

Ron Tarrant: That's exactly it.

Ryan: Yeah. Wow. That's pretty crazy. So, give me, give me a high point. Give me, give me over the course of the about 2 years, something that just really stands out. Like, wow, that was an epic moment.

Ron Tarrant: I definitely have one of those, and it came in my first month, believe it or not, right when I was there. But one of the first promos I worked on— so when I had just gotten in the door, I was still using, like, some artist music on some promos while I was getting caught up to speed and all of that. And this is before I started really doing all the custom music. But I made this promo we were doing. Sal is one of the characters on the show, and it's his 20th year with Howard.

Ryan: Wow.

Ron Tarrant: And so, we were doing a celebration of Sal Governale, a whole week-long special on Howard 101. And they came and said, hey, we need a promo for this. We need it in, like, a couple days. It's gonna be your first piece, so get ready. We're throwing you into the deep end. So, right at that time, I'd just moved to New York. I'm walking to work every day, just kind of bright-eyed, looking up at the buildings, going, this is amazing. I can't believe I actually made it to New York. And I'm listening to this new record by Filter. I'm not— Ryan, are you a Filter fan at all?

Ryan: I am.

Ron Tarrant: Love it. Okay, so I'm a huge Filter fan, and the Crazy Eyes record comes out, and I'm just jamming it every day when I'm walking to work just to get pumped up for the job, and, and the record's awesome. So I'm listening to track number 2 on Spotify, and wow, this, this could be like really good for this. Okay, I'm writing this whole promo in my head on the way to work, and I get in there.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: And I used this music bed for like most, like I'd say 3/4 of the promo. And it's the first piece that gets on the air and everyone loves it. And it's like a 40-second piece, which would never happen these days, even from 2 years ago, because the imaging times fluctuate so much on purpose where we just, we were coming back around to the longer pieces again here. But this piece gets on the air and it's in heavy rotation. So it's getting a lot of spins. And it's like my second week on the job, and I get this email from my boss, and I see the subject line saying like, hey, Ron, can you deal with this? And it says filter. And I'm like, oh, fuck. Was I not supposed to use that? Like, I don't really know the rules here about satellite radio and music and all that. It's the first piece on the air. I'm like having a mini heart attack in my studio. So I scroll down my email, and I go all the way to the end, and I see like the email signature right away, and it's the president of the record label. Now I'm like, oh fuck, what did I do? Yeah.

Ryan: What?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah. So, I start reading it, and they go, hey, a couple of our guys heard you guys are using one of Filter's new tracks. They said it sounds really great. I'd love to show it to Richard. Is there any way we could get a copy of this? Oh my God, that's amazing. Okay, I'm not fired. So I send off an email, and funny enough, that week— I've never— Filter doesn't really tour in Canada that much, and they're not as big of a band as they were back in the '90s. So they were actually playing a show in New York City that Friday, which— talk about the stars aligning. Yeah, but I emailed back and I go, hey, I'm so glad you guys liked the promo. Here's a copy. You know, hope you didn't mind the extra promotion. Like, just saying thanks for letting us use it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're all good, right? By the way, I'm a huge fan, and I'm gonna be at the show on Friday. I would love to meet anyone from the gang who's out there, any of the reps or anything, just to say hello in person and buy you a beer or something like that. And he goes, thanks, Ron, we'll be in touch. So a few hours goes by, and my phone rings, and I get this phone call, and sure enough, it's the guys from Filter being like, hey, do you want to come down and talk some music before the show? We, we loved what you put together. I'm like, holy fuck! This would never happen anywhere but, like, A, New York City, and B, Howard Stern. So that night, I went down to the show and talked music with Richard backstage before the concert. And I've actually kept in touch with his producers now out in LA. And, I mean, talk about the connections just made from that one moment. And that was really the start-off to the Howard gig.

Ryan: Yeah. Now, I hate to think of what the answer to this question is, but Did anything match up to kind of the, like I said, the epicness of that moment since then? Or was that your peak 2 weeks into the job?

Ron Tarrant: That was a pretty good peak. I mean, there were so many things where, you know, recording Metallica and Bon Jovi and Green Day in the studios was amazing.

Ryan: I haven't heard of any of those bands. Are they—

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, they're real up-and-comers. Even just weird things like, you know, I happened to be taking a leak one day in the bathroom, and we had just had Robert Plant on Stern. And so, there's like no one in the bathroom, which never happens there because it's such a busy place and a busy couple of floors that we have. And I'm taking a leak at the urinal, and this guy walks in, stands like right beside me in a whole line of urinals, and he goes, oh, it's hot in here, hey? And I kind of look over, and I'm like, oh my God, it's Robert Plant. I don't know what to say. It sure is. And I just did up my fly and walked away. I'm like, I don't want to get into it with him right now. I'm like, you are the reason I started playing music.

Ryan: Like, holy crap.

Ron Tarrant: So I was just—

Ryan: Yeah, Bob sure is warm. See ya.

Ron Tarrant: So a few of those moments happened. And then I guess the latest and last one was we put together this big David Bowie tribute music special, and we had Tony Visconti, his producer, come in and record with us and put together this special with the Tapes team for Sternthology. and it got mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine. So, all of our work was on the Rolling Stone website, and our voices talking about it. All my imaging was playing on Rolling Stone, which was a huge highlight for me. And then, that night, we all went to the bar, just over in Queens, in New York here. And Tony Visconti showed up, and we're talking about the project, and having beers with Tony, talking about— What a legend. All the artists we got to work with, Billy Corgan from The Pumpkins recording one of the songs as the tribute. And that night was pretty amazing, you know, just getting to crush some beers with him, just talking about music production and what it was like to work, you know, with all of his amazing artists and especially David Bowie.

Ryan: Man, that's just— I'm trying to—

Ron Tarrant: Super boring, I know.

Ryan: What I was gonna ask next, I guess I'll ask it. Was there something that you don't feel like you got to accomplish that you had always sort of hoped, like, this would be— this would happen while I was there. Is there anything like that in your mind? I know you don't really appear to be a negative guy to me, so you probably aren't sitting there thinking about, oh, I wish I could've, but, you know.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah. I mean, I wish I could've spent a few more hours and days working on a couple of ideas I had, but it's very tricky getting through the layers of the management sometimes, and working closer with people like Robin and Fred. I wish I had a little bit more time with Howard. Certainly, those were the highlights for me, where you would come out of a meeting with those guys and just be like, wow, everything in the world makes sense now. And you just feel so inspired leaving those meetings when you get to see Howard talk to you and come up with ideas, and definitely all of that stuff. I wish there was even more of that, to be honest.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. How much access does the imaging producer of the Howard Stern channels have to Howard Stern?

Ron Tarrant: It really changes from, I'd say, month to month, week to week. Even the 2 years I was there, there was nothing that was like, hey, we're gonna have a set Monday meeting with Howard. He would basically just kind of call us in when he wanted to talk to us as a small production group. So, there might be a handful of us, there might be 20 of us in the room. But it was definitely a special collective group that kind of got invited into his studio to then break down and brainstorm after the show. So, I mean, I could probably count on 4 hands the amount of times and interactions there was an actual sit-down creative session where we could pick his brain. But for the most part, he just comes in, he runs the ship now. He's been in the trenches for so many years, and, you know, that's why he's got us to do the heavy lifting these days.

Ryan: No, it— you know, that answer actually is a little more than I thought you were— I thought your answer could have been 5. I thought it could have been like, in 2 years, I spoke in a meeting where he was there 5 times.

Ron Tarrant: You know what I mean?

Ryan: So that's probably a little more because I kind of get that, I think.

Ron Tarrant: Right. And it certainly felt like 5 times, even though it was the course of 2 years and it was more than that. But you're always left wanting more. So when those days came, I think it really meant a lot to all of us.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, I would imagine. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Well, we want to get to some other stuff. Now it's time time to reveal your next job. Go.

Ron Tarrant: Can you phone me in one more month?

Ryan: I know, I understand. Although I'm pretty confident I know where you're going.

Ron Tarrant: Can you— I would love to hear just a couple of guesses. I'm not gonna say yes or no, but I'm just curious.

Ryan: I will bet you $10 that my first guess is correct, and you don't have to confirm it, but this will be on record. Real World.

Ron Tarrant: Okay.

Ryan: That's my first guess.

Ron Tarrant: Okay.

Ryan: So I'll bet you $10 that I'm correct, and once we stop recording, you can, if you want, you can tell me you, I owe you $10. Although I don't know if you agreed to the bet now that I think about it. I'll get you a couple beers next time we hang out. Do I even have a second guess? I, I don't think that I do, but I think I probably know you a little more now. Yeah, I don't think I even have a second guess, but we don't, I don't need to, we don't need to go into that. I know you can't say it. So how about this question? You have a bit of a delay between jobs. Just speaking professionally for people that are curious, how come something like that happens where you end this job and you're going to be technically out of a gig for a little while here?

Ron Tarrant: Honestly, at this point, it's kind of a dream come true. I haven't had— and I was talking about this when we were in negotiations, But from the time I had gotten into radio at 17 to literally about a couple of weeks ago, right before we went to Los Angeles together and met at the Worldwide Radio Summit, I haven't had more than a week and a half off in like 13, 14 years.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: So at this time, as I just told you, I, you know, I ended the KISS job in Toronto, moved countries, and then started this whole new crazy world of Howard Stern on that Monday.

Ryan: Over a weekend. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: As you can imagine, the burnout was just crazy, even trying to organize all this stuff and just moving and then the job. And I'm like, you know what, if I'm gonna do this again and I have the option this time to control a little bit about this, it's not just me I'm looking after now because I'm engaged now. So it's gonna be a little bit, a little trickier to bring someone else along for the tour. But it definitely, you know, opened my eyes to going, I would love to just take like 2 months off and work on a little bit of music, take my time moving back to Canada, getting set up, building, you know, a couple of the new studios I'm gonna be working out of, and just chill out and get refreshed because this new gig is not gonna be a walk in the park either. So I wanted to come in firing on all cylinders and just, yeah, get— it's been a hell of a 2 years here. So I think I need a little break just to recharge. Right.

Ryan: Just one last one on that. I— and again, only say what you're comfortable saying, but was there an opportunity for you to stay there if you wanted, and you sort of decided, I did 2 11-hour-a-day years, it was time for me to go somewhere else?

Ron Tarrant: I can't really talk about that part.

Ryan: Okay.

Ron Tarrant: Only because that's kind of on the way out. That's— it was like, hey, sign this, and then don't talk about a lot of the things that we did here. Sure. Okay.

Ryan: Okay, that's fine. You're happy. You're clearly going to do something you want to do.

Ron Tarrant: Yes.

Ryan: Now, did you— you mentioned a girlfriend long ago. I got the impression that that's not the same, you know, not currently your fiancée. Anyway, are you engaged to an American?

Ron Tarrant: I'm not. So it was actually— we met in Toronto when I was still working at KISS 92.5, and we've actually been doing long distance the entire time I've been down here.

Ryan: Oh, man.

Ron Tarrant: Okay. Wow. So, the burnout factor, that definitely plays into it because we would fly up and see each other every 2 or 3 weeks, and it'd be like leaving New York on a Friday at 6:00 PM or 7:00 PM, going to Toronto, getting downtown, and then seeing her, and then flying back Sunday night, getting home at midnight, and then going back to work at 7:00 AM on Monday to the madness here in New York in Howard world.

Ryan: Okay. Well, that explains, for anybody who's savvy, I believe, that we just figured out another major element of maybe why the career change had to happen. You know, I got a couple of pieces of advice early on, way early, very, very early. But the one piece of advice I got from multiple old-school radio guys was don't get hooked up with a girl before you get into your last job, or what you think is your last job. And you did that wrong, Ron.

Ron Tarrant: I know.

Ryan: You got hooked up with a girl up there You should have waited until this Howard job. Why didn't you know? You should have known that.

Ron Tarrant: Oh, she's a good catch, so I was like, damn it, I gotta stick with this one. Good for you. Oh, man.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I figure in the long run, she'll be the better one to stay with than Howard, 'cause, you know, for a few reasons, I would assume. Okay.

Ron Tarrant: I like that. She's gonna like that too.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah. I don't even know her. I mean, she might be an animal, like, She might beat you, I don't know, but still probably a better choice. So aside from all of that, I know you have a voiceover career. I mean, I, in fact, I was gonna say of some sort. Why don't you tell me what sort? How much voiceover work are you doing?

Ron Tarrant: Right now, as far as Station Imaging, I was only really exclusively allowed to voice Howard while being the voice of Howard Stern because Howard likes to kind of control all that stuff and doesn't want anybody else to have his guys or things, his toys, I call them. But now I've just signed on with Nate at CESD, and I picked up a station in Jacksonville, Florida. And it looks like next week I might have another one coming in on a platform that I'm very excited about. So as far as that radio imaging world side, I'm just kind of opening up the doors now finally because I can.

Ryan: Yeah, just getting started. Yeah, excellent.

Ron Tarrant: As far as commercials, I do a whackload of commercials, I'd say every week, probably at least like 10 or 15 for a whole assortment over North America and Europe.

Ryan: So first of all, I wanted to compliment you on your imaging style. I dig your, your VO style on the imaging side.

Ron Tarrant: Man, thank you.

Ryan: I, I— yeah, it sounds great. I like— I think it's good that that Howard wants that control because it gives— I know John would voice a lot of stuff for Howard as well. So it gives you that platform, even like it or not, you're gonna do that. And then you can parlay that now into other things. So good for you on that.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, that's been a lot of fun. And I learned a ton of stuff while I was there and just the freedom being able to get stuff on the air so quickly and change something while being the local imaging voice. It was Something I really wasn't used to, which was a huge, huge advantage.

Ryan: Talk about the commercial side. You said you do a lot of stuff. How has your commercial voiceover career formed itself?

Ron Tarrant: Just been— I used to do a ton of spots at my local stations all over Canada, and just recently in the last little bit, I have an agent who gets me some stuff here and there. And I do things for a couple different services as well. So a lot of, I'd say like my bigger clients are kind of like Lexus and Mazda and car dealerships, and they kind of air all over the place. It's not those like massive national campaigns where your face is on TV or anything like that, but it's a lot of, I'd say, local radio stuff like that around town to town to town. And yeah, I mean, getting a ton of like dispensaries reaching out from across America now, which is amazing. So I get to really play up the stoner guy and just relax and I probably should light up in here while I do that just to really get into it. But, you know, that's— I think that's coming.

Ryan: Yeah, I assumed you had already done that. No, but yeah, you've got a good young vibe like that, so that's great. So you're gonna continue to do that, and I assume with the new gig you will have more leeway to do more of the imaging work, but also more of the commercial and that kind of stuff.

Ron Tarrant: Yes, that was another big decision about, you know, I wish I could talk about the gig because I'm really excited about it, A, and I think the people are just fantastic.

Ryan: Yeah, well, you know, you talk about it if you want. You just cut me off when you want to break some news here. But seriously, so I have to bring up the music though, because there's a link on— I made a Ron Terrence show notes page, which will house one particular YouTube video you sent me. That's a music track that you basically did everything Except for the mastering. I believe I got that right.

Ron Tarrant: Yes.

Ryan: How recent is that? When did you make that music?

Ron Tarrant: that one, I think the video I sent you there is probably about 2 years old. It was just as I was leaving Toronto to come down to Howard here.

Ryan: Okay. why did you send me that one? What's, you know, that one as opposed to anything else?

Ron Tarrant: I think I like the style of that song, and I'm working on a new record right now, which I have about 60-70% done. Hence why I'm taking the time to do a little bit of music in this last little bit. Nice. But I like the style of that. When I released my last record, it was a little bit more like acoustic-y, and I think I released that about like 6 years ago. So I find like, you know, my production grows just like it does in radio production and singing style and all of that. So that's kind of the last like major video where I did a whole— like actually did a whole video shoot and worked with a bunch of people doing the video side of things, and that's when I got into video editing. And I kind of like it as it shows a little bit of the Canadian side, and I do play everything on that record myself as well. And that last song I did, I just haven't really had the time to do any video productions like that music-wise since I got this Howard gig because of how busy I was, except for a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit in the last couple months where I I recorded it live in Brooklyn.

Ryan: Okay. Wow. Forgive me for not being— I just didn't— I simply didn't know a lot about the music side of you, but you're talking about releasing records. I mean, we're talking about full albums, like 10 or 12 or 15-cut albums, or how do you— how are you defining a record here?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, yeah. My last one I did— so I've done about like 5 or 6 now.

Ryan: Solo albums?

Ron Tarrant: 4 of them have been in bands, and those ones are a little more, I'd say, like commercially successful, which got radio play in Canada. And then these last ones, I've done one full solo record where I played almost every instrument except for the drums on a couple of tracks myself. And then this next one I'm working on, I'm doing everything again, except I also have that old, old guy I was telling you about from my radio station back in Calgary, Jesse Simon.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: He plays drums on those. with me as well. So we collaborate a lot and send Pro Tools sessions back and forth, and that one should be hopefully coming out in the next, next little bit.

Ryan: Don't, don't be modest, and just forgive my complete and utter ignorance on, like, you know, I know I'm well-versed on your radio production skill set and career, but I mean, you know, are you— how successful is the music for you?

Ron Tarrant: I love it just as a different outlet, and I work Dom Nero here in New York. We've been hitting up Jerry Wonda's studio, and just being able to work on tunes with Dom alone has been great because he's such a good rearranger. And Dom doesn't play any instruments, which is cool. So he kind of— when I got to New York, he was like, Ron, you want to come over and bring your guitar? And we'll, you know, working on this remix or something. And as fun as doing solo stuff is, I miss the band feeling and collaborating. So Even just getting a couple of guys over to the house, whether it be Dom and Stax from Z100, he'll come over and play bass with me and we'll just jam out and record tunes. And I miss that stuff so much. So I need that music outlet. Yeah, it's cool. And I haven't had that outlet in a little while just because the radio life has been so crazy moving around so many cities. But back in the day, we won the Canadian National Songwriting Competition. for my old band, and it was a song I wrote when I was like 19 years old, and they flew us up to Toronto to play Canadian Music Week. So that was all super big highlights for me in my younger days, and I'm just trying to keep on pace with the music side as much as the radio side.

Ryan: That's great. Where— your music training, I mean, you just said you played every— you played them. Did you sequence a lot of this stuff, or you actually can break out a guitar, a bass? Can you break out— I mean, you can get on the drums? drum set, you can do all that?

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, so this might sound really bad, but I'm not a huge fan of making computer music. So everything you hear on the records is pretty much done by a live instrument.

Ryan: Really? Wow.

Ron Tarrant: I'm a very old-school analog guy where I like to mic shit up and I like to turn some dials instead of sitting there with a plugin for 500 hours on my music. Radio production is different, but on my music, I really like to have it authentic and And it just does something.

Ryan: That's great.

Ron Tarrant: Nothing wrong with that. Yeah, it just—

Ryan: Absolutely. So that actually leads me though, a lot of the stuff that you produce for the radio, you do know your way around virtual instruments. You've probably got Komplete, you've probably got Serum, and a number of other things that you use.

Ron Tarrant: Whackloads of different things. Yeah, for mostly, I guess, more of the, I'd say, newer age sounding stuff. I do use a lot of plugins like Komplete and all that, and Kontakt players. All the plugins that come in with that stuff, Massive, all that stuff. And a lot of that, yeah, I'll use it for either radio production or even just sound design and things like that for sure.

Ryan: Yeah, what— do you have any favorites? If somebody is like, you know, they have a little theory in their background and they want to get into computer music, if you will, do you have any recommendations that you would start out with?

Ron Tarrant: There's a lot of— boy, there's just so many to pinpoint a couple of them. I really like some of the Output makes some just fantastic stuff, and they gave me a few trials of it when it first came out a few years ago. And they're like, hey Ron, do you want all this free stuff? All you got to do is, can you just make us a little video of you trying some of it out? And I was like, hell yeah, free plugins for like a— absolutely, hook me up.

Ryan: Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: We all know, we all know how expensive that stuff is. So I love some of the Output stuff for sure. Boy, there's, there's just so many. Yeah, I love the Massive stuff. I actually really like a lot of the stuff that comes in Pro Tools and messing with that as well. And—

Ryan: Okay.

Ron Tarrant: Using whacked-up plugins on even just like the basic drum stuff, that program Boom, like the 808s and everything in there, like they are sick samples. And if you take one of those and then you run it through all these other programs and really mess it up and make it your own, you can make like 500 other samples from that one kick drum in Boom. it's just a matter of taking the time.

Ryan: Do you have a go-to synth? Just, you know, just one synth plugin if you had to pick one, a go-to synth plugin?

Ron Tarrant: I really don't. There's a new— I'm not even a big synth guy really, but I just got a new like Arlitzer Wurlitzer plugin which I have been playing with like crazy because I love whirlies, but they never work in real life anymore because the maintenance on those things are crazy. so I've been looking for a good Wurlitzer plugin forever, and those things are so fun to play with. I could just spend hours and hours and hours with those.

Ryan: So for any guitar players out there, what software tools do you like to use on your real analog guitar? For example, the guitar— okay, yeah, go ahead.

Ron Tarrant: Really not a whole lot. I would say I've tried— I've done a lot of stuff with AmpliTube in the past, but there's nothing like miking up an amp. I have a half Marshall stack amp in my apartment here, which is insane in Manhattan. But I'll bring that in my little— where I'm sitting right now in my closet, I'll bring that in here and actually mic it up with like 5 mics and turn it on and see how loud I can get before my neighbors want to kill me and cut my throat.

Ryan: Before bullets come flying through the walls.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, which happens often in New York, by the way.

Ryan: Oh yeah, the big city, frightening.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, that's why I had to build this thing, because every time I was doing the world of Howard Stern. You'd hear like a siren in the background. I'm like, man, I gotta get a voice booth at home. I gotta do something about this.

Ryan: Oh man. I've had a couple of people on here that were working VOs in New York City and Manhattan, and it's fun to hear all the ridiculous stories of how they have to— what they contend with.

Ron Tarrant: Oh yeah, I love walking into places like that.

Ryan: Is it a funny story? I mean, is it podcast-worthy? The first time you— I don't I don't want to spoil the story, but you and Dom, about where you lived.

Ron Tarrant: Oh, yeah.

Ryan: Is that podcast-worthy? It's a funny— I thought it was a funny story.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, so we figured it out. Dom was so awesome when I got here. We had messaged on Facebook a few times. I'm like, hey, man, I'm moving to New York. I know we have a lot of mutual friends. And Dom was so great. He's like, hey, come on down. Let's go out for dinner on Saturday night. And it's funny, you know, when Dom says dinner, I message him that morning. I'm like, hey, man, I'm in the city. I'm all settled now. What time you want to do dinner? Like 7, 7:30? He's like, oh, dude. He's like, 10, 10:45 is our rezo. Welcome to New York. Like, I gotta eat dinner before I go to dinner?

Ryan: Right. You have to have lunch too or something. Yeah.

Ron Tarrant: But after that, Dom and I became very close friends. Him and Stacks are, you know, my, my 2 best buddies here in New York for sure. And I'd say we hang out often, a few times a week for sure. But Dom lives just like 5 blocks from me. about, like, 3 avenues here in Hell's Kitchen. So, we're both, like, 5 blocks away from Times Square. And we're on the phone one night, and Dom's like, what, Ron? What building are you in again? And I go, oh, I'm, you know, at 42nd and 11th. He's like, oh, shit, I think I can see your building. Which way do you face? I'm like, well, I'll just take a picture and send it to you. So, he's like, man, I bet you would— we can flick our lights on and see each other across Manhattan. So, I'm like, dude, we gotta try this. So, we both were on our phones like 13-year-olds, with walkie-talkies.

Ryan: I was just gonna say, you, you children.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah. And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna flick my lights on right now. Can you see me? And he's like, no, I can't see— oh, oh, I see you.

Ryan: I see you.

Ron Tarrant: I'm like, okay, now you do yours. And sure enough, there's like 10,000 buildings here, and I'm searching in, I'm looking, I'm squinting like crazy, and I see Dom's lights going on and off. And he's like, man, we're gonna get the cops called. I think it's a distress call in Manhattan or something like that. But we've done it a few times, and yeah, we just It's kind of a hilarious story.

Ryan: It's a nice party. You said it was a nice party trick.

Ron Tarrant: Yeah, exactly.

Ryan: So, but you guys were there for a little while, or you were there a little while before you realized that. So it's like suddenly like, oh, hey, look at that. We could throw a rock at each other.

Ron Tarrant: Exactly.

Ryan: Yeah, that's pretty funny though. I mean, you know, one of the most, one of the, I don't know, the largest radio entities on planet Earth, Canadian producing the imaging. And then, you know, maybe the most prolific hip-hop station on planet Earth. There might be 2 others that could contend. Canadian producing it. You guys are taking over.

Ron Tarrant: We're certainly trying.

Ryan: I'm getting tired of it. You go back to Canada. Is that, is that where you're going, right?

Ron Tarrant: You're going back to Canada? Yes, yes, yes.

Ryan: Okay, I gave it away. No, no, I'm just kidding. man, I got, 20 other things, but I think, I think we kind of covered it, right? I mean, do you feel good about this? I think we had a good time.

Ron Tarrant: Man, I just, I'm so honored that you asked me to do this, and I've been listening to this for years and years, and all of the people I look up to in this industry have said some amazing things on here, and I've taken that to my production. And just even when you're in the world of radio, it's, you have such a passion for it. It's so nice to see someone like, A, you give back to the radio community by doing these, and everyone else talking about what they do and sharing. I love it.

Ryan: So thank you. Yeah, you're right.

Ron Tarrant: And for all you've done.

Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I appreciate the time. Like I said, I just have other things I wanted to get into, so we'll have to do something else in the future. Maybe we'll get the Canadian roundtable going or something and really talk some tech or just talk about your worlds again. Let me see here. Before I forget though, I would like to get your take on this. And we didn't really get into— I don't think we've spoiled your answer. So if you were gonna give, you know, you're not exactly old, but one of the new, the young guns out there, give them a little advice on how to, well, get the— become the next imaging producer for the Howard Stern channels. What's your advice for them?

Ron Tarrant: Well, my advice, I think, if you're going for the Howard gig, it's probably up because I don't think they're replacing me there. I think they're gonna use my stuff for the next 2 and a half years. And then I'm not sure if Howard's gonna retire. So that gig might be out of the question, but—

Ryan: All right, so less specific then, but yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ron Tarrant: Man, I've been so lucky because I've never really had to apply for a radio job ever, which I'm not sure if anyone can say that. I just love to network and I love to reach out to people and learn from people and ask for feedback. And that's really gotten me everything. Everything I've gotten in radio has come from networking, whether it be taking the time to write an email or asking for feedback and There's very particular ways. I get a lot of messages these days from younger talent, we'll say.

Ryan: Sure.

Ron Tarrant: And the tone of the emails and the expectations and— there's a word I'm missing in here, but it's very unprofessional these days.

Ryan: You mean their communicative abilities are lacking compared to maybe 10 years ago?

Ron Tarrant: Absolutely. I was, I was very grateful to even get a response back in the day. And now it's, you know, because people were so great to me, I'll take the time to respond to a lot of people, and then I just won't hear anything back. And I'm like, well, man, I just like did 2 pages in it. Not even like a— not that I'm looking for a thank you or anything, but I would just be like, you know, hey, let's keep in touch, or send me back the audio that I critiqued and let me hear it with the changes or something, you know?

Ryan: If I can kind of echo what you're saying. So I've done this podcast now for 10 years and I've had— I'd like to bring up Andrew Berger as an example, but he started communicating at 18 with me. And today, and for the last couple years, he's been the imaging producer of Power 106 in LA. So he started out as nothing, just wanting to do it. But the difference between him and the people you're talking about are the ones that spend the time to follow up and follow up and follow up and learn from what you're saying. And so I'm just echoing what you're saying. Don't just reach out to someone. Reach out, follow up, you know, be cool, be open to learning, you know, be positive.

Ron Tarrant: Exactly. And another thing that even when I would take a vacation my whole life, and maybe people will think this is insane, but I always made an effort to kind of go to the radio station and nerd out for an hour and take the guy out for lunch, whoever's doing production there, because you never know when it's going to come back around. And that guy, you know, John might phone you for a job one day and say, hey, do you want to do Howard? And none of that ever would have happened if it wasn't for the steps, you know, making the effort to go to the radio station, whatever town you're visiting. I even went and saw Mike Anderson in Sydney, Australia, when I was there backpacking, doing music. at one of my, you know, many moons ago. And he was like, Ron, come on in. Like, people want to see you. Like, it's— yeah, when you can share that experience wherever you are in the world and you're a radio guy, no one's ever going to say no to that unless they're super swamped. But everyone has been amazing. So why are you not taking advantage of that is what I would say.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, that's great. It's great advice, especially— I mean, you know, using the word networking is so generic now. It obviously It's almost like obviously you have to network, you have to meet people, but doing it correctly, that's great advice. Well, Ron Tarrant, let me remind them again. Let's see here, I've got that great— I love your music, man. It's really excellent.

Ron Tarrant: Thank you, man. Really appreciate that.

Ryan: I work with musicians, and so I kind of have gotten used to sort of, you know, you see what's good and then what's actually really good. Clearly, you've got skills, but I'm probably not the first person to notice that. So anyway, they can find you on the social networks, Instagram and Facebook. You had mentioned to me you're kind of on those ones. They can go find you. The YouTube video of your music will be posted on the show notes page with some extra pictures you sent me. So that's cool. I'd say that'll do it. So I'm just going to simply say, Ron Tarrant, good luck in the new job.

Ron Tarrant: Thank you.

Ryan: You did amazing work at Howard, and we look forward to seeing what's next. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Ron Tarrant: Ryan, thank you, man. And hopefully everyone will come out to Worldwide Radio Summit again next year and we can actually socialize this time.

Ryan: Hell yeah.

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