Episode 89: Dave Foxx

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, industry insights, putting you on the inside. This is The Producers Podcast with Ryan Dreen.

Ryan: Today will be the final episode of 2015, and I thought with all of the doings that have happened in the last month or two, There were really, there were 2 episodes, 2 interviews that I wanted to conduct to round out the year because it will give us some good perspective as we move into 2016. And I think, you know, Chris Nicholl having been just released about a week ago depending on when you hear this was a good one, but I think the ultimate final episode to 2015 would have to be unquestionably with the one and only Dave Fox. So Dave, I thank you so much for joining me on the show here.

Dave Foxx: Oh, it's my pleasure, believe me. I'm kind of flattered that you would think that highly of me.

Ryan: Yeah, well, I'm not alone. I think you have a pretty good perspective on, you know, not just the industry, but sort of, you know, what you are and who you are and what you've contributed. And that's great. I think I was kind of joking with you beforehand. I have about 4 hours worth of questions, but I won't take that much of your time. If I can start though, and the way I've sort of written this really is aside from the math, as I believe I know about how old you are.

Dave Foxx: Right.

Ryan: Why is now the time time to leave Z100 and iHeart?

Dave Foxx: Wow. I find that my need to pay it forward, to give back to the industry, has outgrown my need for a 9-to-5 job with iHeart or Cumulus or anyone else. and my, my writing time was starting to impinge on my production time, and my production time was starting to impinge on my writing time. So I decided, you know what, let's, let's go all in on this. I don't really have anything to prove at Z anymore.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: I'm gonna continue doing the VO for Z, and I'm gonna continue doing VO for anybody else who wants to come along and hire me. But that's not gonna be my main focus. My main focus is really gonna be paying it forward, trying to be the source of information that just simply wasn't there when I was coming up in the industry. When I wanted to know about compression, I had no idea who to ask, and a lot of the people I did ask gave me bad information or no information, and very few of them were actually production people. Most of them were engineering types or music industry people, and as anyone who has worked both sides of that dial, both sides of that coin, music and radio—

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: You know, the compression kind of means something different to both of them, although technically it's the same thing. It just— in how— in the way it's thought about is quite different.

Ryan: Yeah, without question. Yeah, the way it's done on each side, the other goes, oh, what? What are you doing over there?

Dave Foxx: Exactly.

Ryan: Yeah. So I like the pay it forward topic. And, you know, I'll go ahead and say it again. I have to have said this at least 5 or 6 different times over the years now, but I started this podcast back in 2008. I think it was August. I decided that my first guest had to be one certain person if I'm going to legitimize this thing. And honestly, if I'm just going to start to get good at it, let's just start with the guy. So of course, my first guest was you, episode 1. That was August 2008. And the reason I started this show was that idea that when I came up, I had that. I had what you say you kind of didn't have.

Dave Foxx: Right.

Ryan: And it was people exactly like you. that were willing to say, hey kid, come on in here to the Z100 studios and watch me work for a day.

Dave Foxx: I think it's kind of funny because Chris Nicoll, his graduating piece from school was an interview with me. And it was kind of weird. He was working from New Zealand. So we did everything remotely. We couldn't really talk face to face or anything, but when it was all done, he gave me a lot of credit for helping him graduate. and move on into his career. And of course, as you can see, he's done quite well.

Ryan: He's done all right for himself, and he's gonna continue to do so.

Dave Foxx: No question.

Ryan: You know what, let me bump this question up. I was gonna discuss this later, but kind of on what I was talking about as far as what you did for me, I really, I don't know if you know what it actually does for young people when they just get to see it, just get to be around the people at a Z100. And then of course sit in your room with you. But how many of me have there been over the years?

Dave Foxx: People who have actually sat with me in my studio, probably a couple dozen, not many more. It's just, you know, it's just practically, it's not practical.

Ryan: Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, how many people are close enough to get there or willing to make a trip or that you can literally take that much time away? But yeah.

Dave Foxx: Yeah.

Ryan: I also have to say, for me, I was still an on-air talent and you let me come into the Z100 programming meeting. I think it was your weekly meeting. That was also something that made me go, wow, 'cause everybody needs something to shoot for. You gotta have these goals and these things to attain. And so I think you helped to do that. So that leads me to what— and I'm gonna get back to the time at Z100 here, if you'll permit me. You know, looking forward a little bit, what are your main goals now? I mean, I know pay it forward, but what are your really, your real main goals with your website and other things?

Dave Foxx: That's interesting because I'm, I'm right now writing the column for, January for Production 212, which by the way is probably going to undergo a name change. we're going to kick it up into the graduate level now, probably call it Production 512 since that's my new area code.

Ryan: That's great.

Dave Foxx: But I've been, I've been toying around with this and finally I realized what I need to do is sit down and write a manifesto. This is what my goal— these are what my goals are and this is how I plan to get there. The column stays. The column absolutely stays because it's, it's one place I can comment on things that are changing in the industry and address it directly to the people who are affected by those changes right away. And it helps me keep in touch on a, on a more day-to-day basis with, with everybody. The, the website right now, it's just basically pimping my VO service.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: there's, there's a blog there and it's, it's a, the blog is really a chance for me to, to vent about things that I might not feel are really appropriate for Wrap Magazine. but are still something worth commenting about. You know, I'm trying to keep rap on a really positive tip. but eventually, as I start writing my book, I will be offering through the website, for a minimal cost, the whole point being just to actually pay for the streaming and the technology and the people involved in the production of it.

Ryan: Yeah.

Dave Foxx: I'm going to be doing a produced version of the book. So there are examples and samples and people can, you know, see how I do it, why I do it. And the thing is, is these days with Google and YouTube, you know, there are 1,000 different tutorials out there about how to do EQ or how to do compression. The difference is going to be I want to explain Why. I want to explain how, yes, certainly that, but I mean, you'll get that anywhere. But I want to explain the why and the when. When is it important to really overcompress? When is it really important to EQ? And put some of the thinking behind the tech.

Ryan: You just sort of mentioned, you know, you're in the midst of writing your manifesto, your goals, and figuring this all out. But just to give a little bit of expectations, can people, you know, a weekly sort of deal? Is it gonna be daily? Do you have any idea on that end as far as how people can be educated and, you know, with what frequency?

Dave Foxx: I want to make it pretty much self-directed if I can. The, the blog will be weekly, the column is monthly, but once the book starts showing up online, once all the videos and all the tutorials and everything start going online, yeah, that will be self-directed.

Ryan: Okay.

Dave Foxx: And you know, I want to make it so that it can be used as a reference. I don't have an issue with that, but I think it's kind of important that folded into the tech is the reasoning. And so, you kind of take that as it goes. like the first thing I'm doing for the book is I'm writing a vocabulary. As a VO artist, I cannot tell you how many different things a sweeper is called. But it depends on who's, who's saying it and what country they're in and what their background and experience is. You know, it can be called a jingle of all things, sweepers, liners, you know, and it's just, you know, I want to set down a vocabulary so that everybody's working from the same sheet music. and then we kind of take it from there, you know, one topic at a time. And, you know, I'll cover all the other stuff. You know, I think the creativity, the branding, the, The, the more existential portions of what we do, the more thought processes of what we do. But, you know, as the tech unfolds, then a lot of that will come along with it.

Ryan: That's cool. It'll feel very organic then.

Dave Foxx: Exactly. So if, you know, if you feel like you want to learn it all at once, you want to sit down and watch all of them one right after the other, no problem. You know, they'll all be there and you can just— they'll be numbered and you can just watch them sequentially. You can Yeah, yeah. Like somebody's gonna do that with my— I can see sitting down and doing all the episodes of Daredevil at once, but Dave Fox? I don't know.

Ryan: I don't know, man. I think in this world everything's bingeable. You can binge anything today.

Dave Foxx: That's true.

Ryan: Let me take a step back now, because— and, you know, I try to keep myself plugged into the world of imaging and the gigs and who's got what and who's doing what, but I personally have not heard anything As far as your replacement goes, is there anything you can say about that? Has it already been announced and I'm just totally a dork and don't know? Or do you have a hand in who gets to take over the reins for you?

Dave Foxx: I have absolutely no say whatsoever.

Ryan: No say whatsoever and you don't know?

Dave Foxx: No, I have no clue. Here's the thing, because corporate radio has gotten to be the way it is, it was— I gave them a month notice. So that I could help with the transition. I would, I would, you know, I thought, you know, within a couple of weeks they'll have at least a couple of good candidates. But no, they didn't even post the job until the day I left. Hmm. So it's like, you know, they just posted it like a week ago. It's crazy.

Ryan: Do you think that, that, you know, it could certainly be that that's just the way it is. A corporation, the bigger it is, the slower it can make turns.

Dave Foxx: Yeah, well, it's just like the Army. Hurry up and wait. Hurry, you shoot it. You know, you do your part and then you shoot it up the line to the next person in charge and they do their part and shoot it up the line to the next person in charge. And if each one of those people takes a week or 2 weeks to respond, it can just take forever. That's just the nature of the beast.

Ryan: Is it possible that replacing you is just impossible, Dave?

Dave Foxx: I'd like to think so, but I know it's not. In fact, you know, and I've offered my services on a freelance basis to, you know, to help them transition whoever they, you know. Now that's not to say people haven't applied. As soon as I announced on Facebook that I was resigning—

Ryan: I bet.

Dave Foxx: They got— he was inundated. Mark told me that he got more applications that first day than he had for both afternoons and evenings, which have both come open at Z in the last year.

Ryan: So I wanted to ask you, I guess, just this about the job. I have ideas about who could be, you know, slotted in there, but what do I know? I'm certainly not employed by the company. Do you think that to be the creative services director or imaging director, it's called— that's another thing for your vocabulary, by the way, titles change anyway.

Dave Foxx: Yes, absolutely.

Ryan: Of a Z100 New York City America, do you in any way, shape, or form have to be American? Can you be from the UK or another country? And what are your opinions on that?

Dave Foxx: No, I don't think so. In fact, one of the people— because I did recommend a few people to the management— one of the people I recommended is from the UK.

Ryan: I would figure.

Dave Foxx: And, but they— the company he works for got wind of the fact that I was going to make the recommendation and they locked him up in a 5-year deal. So that just went by the boards. He's— because he's tremendously talented. But, no, I don't think so at all. In fact, my counterpart over at Hot 97 in New York is from Vancouver. Now I know Vancouver is a lot like the America, but the USA, but it's not, it's different. And, you know, he had to go through the whole green card process, which I'm proud to say I actually helped with.

Ryan: As did I. As did I. Yep.

Dave Foxx: So, and, and, you know, Dom's a terrific guy and I think he would make a great candidate, but I, you know, I don't know if they're even talking. So it's like, I have no idea. Cool.

Ryan: But at the end of the day, there's no reason why this person would have to be from the States. No, at all. Because it's a New York, you know, New York City, you know, it's just a, you know, okay. Speaking of the New York City job market, there's something I wanted to, or I'm sorry, radio market. There's something I just wanted to get your opinion on or your thoughts now that you were there for so long. You know, that pinnacle job for a lot of people is to get, you know, imaging director in New York City or afternoons or mornings even.

Dave Foxx: Sure.

Ryan: Is the market all it's cracked up to be with no exceptions, or is it possible there's things about that market that you might say, you know, maybe you want to rethink?

Dave Foxx: I think there are like 10, maybe 15 radio stations out of 65 signals in the market that I think are just like at the top of their game. Yeah, absolute top of their game right now. and they don't hit it on all cylinders all the time, but for the most part they do. power is just amazing right now with Angie Martinez in the afternoon. It's just so much going on there. I think Z is really strong with Mo Bounce coming into the afternoons. there's just, there's some really good stuff going on. That's not to say that it's mecca anymore.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: it's changed a lot, and a lot of that has come with all the corporate change that is— that has come about in the last few years with all these mega radio companies going in and snapping up radio stations in markets large and small. what's happened is a lot of the major market stations like Z100 have to run these national contests Because the small market stations won't do it unless Z100's doing it. And so we end up running a lot of contests that we otherwise just normally would never even think twice about.

Ryan: You made me think there when I was an employee at Clear Channel back 2000, 2006, that era, and especially when I kind of focused on what you were doing and being in the shadow of New York City there, how it was like Clear Channel's running national contests, but It doesn't mean that Z100 runs it. At that time, still those major markets had complete control over what they were doing.

Dave Foxx: Yeah, and that's just not the case anymore. Yeah.

Ryan: And realistically though, in your opinion, is that necessarily detrimental to a brand like Z100?

Dave Foxx: No, no. There's so many layers to a radio station like Z100 anyway. When you stop and think about it, If programming models are even close to being correct, promotions really only account for about 5% of your audience. That's the only— only 5% of your audience will come to a station because of a promotion.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: The lion's share, of course, is music, and imaging actually comes in above contesting. So the contesting is not as important as long as you couch it correctly, as long as you promote it correctly, and as long as you don't lose sight of who you are. one of the things we will do is we will take the promos that come from National, from our good friend Kelly, and revoice them. sometimes re-edit them to make them a little tighter, to make them a little more Z100-ish.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: But it's the— and we kind of take ownership of a promotion that way. And that really makes a big difference in the way it sounds. Frankly, I don't think it hurts the station at all. Really.

Ryan: Yeah. I think you're absolutely right. It's also the local versus national debate. I honestly am in the— I'm in the school of thought that ultra-local doesn't necessarily mean better and it doesn't necessarily mean win. You know, people that cry and scream over, how do you not have a local midday talent? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't think it necessarily matters.

Dave Foxx: I don't think that really matters. Not really. I think local ultimately can win and can win bigger, but it's a question of talent. It's a question of timing and it's a question of promotion.

Ryan: Certainly. Let me ask you this one. I don't know if you've been asked it, but I know originally way back when, You were to come to New York City and you were to be a midday jock. You were told, hey, sorry, job's not available. Do you ever look back and think, what if I had remained on the air? Have you ever thought about that? Do you ever reminisce about that? Do you ever wish you had?

Dave Foxx: Sure. In fact, it's funny, Steve Kingston and I had this conversation just a couple of weeks ago because when he brought me to New York, it was to be on the air. It was to do middays at Z100. His contention at the time was that I was the best midday guy in the world. Yeah, I don't know. But it certainly would have been fun to find out. But the problem was, and I've written about this a couple of times, there was a contract dispute with the previous midday person, which was resolved before I got there. But I was then out of a job. So they stuck me in a production studio and the rest, as they say, is history. Had I gone on the air and done my on-the-air thing, I might still be doing that. I might, you know, but I mean, production's always been a love of mine, but when you're thrown into it full-time, it really changes your attitudes about it. And it really changes your perceptions of what you're doing and how you're doing it.

Ryan: Of the talent that I would say are at a very tippy-top level of the industry, I've heard it many times that no matter how high they reach, you know, whether it's market 1 or Market 5, and they're, you know, the number 1 morning show in the Dallas market or wherever they might be, you still hear that, you know, some days I wish I was back in Market 190 doing afternoons.

Dave Foxx: Oh, absolutely. And I totally get that. Yeah, I totally get that. and I've, and I've, you know, trying to give life experience, life, advice to people. You know what, if you're really happy in your job, if you like the people you're working with, if you're comfortable with the salary that they're giving you, if you have a nice home, maybe you've got kids and a wife and—

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: Or a husband and you're hitting the PTA on a somewhat regular basis and you're just living life, why mess with that? You know, going to New York is not the be-all end-all. Going to New York is a nice feather in the cap. In fact, when I first got the offer to come up to New York, I told my wife, I said, look, it's going to be for 2 years. No big thing. Yeah. 28 years later, she was so ready to move. But yeah, it's, it's just not all that. If you're happy where you are, stay. My God. It's not that, it's not that big a deal.

Ryan: Yeah. And then kind of attached to that, perhaps another thing that I noticed, and I just wanted your opinion on the idea or the ego. I noticed that the higher the market or the larger the gig, so to speak, simply the less ego.

Dave Foxx: Well, the ego will always give you away. If your ego is too— if you're too big for your britches, you're gonna split your britches out and everybody's gonna see what you got. You don't want that. And I do agree with you. I think, you know, in the music business, it's the same way. Back in the day when Shannon was still the PD and Steve Kingston was the OM and we had a lot of artists coming in to do, to do appearances and whatnot. We would have artists like Phil Collins or Elton John or Steven Tyler. I'm trying to think of some of the others. Sting. They would come in and I would work up an instrumental version of their hit song, whatever it was, and then we would have them sing the parody of their own song. And it was amazing. It was really amazing having Elton John sing Crocogoo— Croc-A-Zoo Rock, or having Steven Tyler, Zoo Gets Kinda Crazy instead of Dude Looks Like a Lady. some amazing, amazing parody songs came out of that. You might remember, a one-hit wonder named Nena Cherry. Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan: Yep.

Dave Foxx: Buffalo Stance.

Ryan: Yeah.

Dave Foxx: She came in and we had it all set up for her. You know, we did up an instrumental. She was so offended that we would even ask her to do a parody of her song. And we said, okay, nevermind. Buffalo Stance came off the air that day and we never heard from her again.

Ryan: Oh, that's, the power of radio.

Dave Foxx: You know, it was just like, we don't need that. Come on. Her brother, Eagle Eye, had a couple of hits and a sort of career, but never heard the name again.

Ryan: Save Tonight, I think, was Eagle Eye Cherry?

Dave Foxx: Yeah.

Ryan: That was a big—

Dave Foxx: That was his big hit. He had a couple of other ones.

Ryan: Yeah, that was the one. That's great. That is a perfect illustration of what I've always sort of thought about that ego. I mean, it's really just a life lesson. Just keep it in check. You're going to do better if you can just stow it.

Dave Foxx: Be yourself. Just be yourself and just be genuine, be honest. in my last Wrap column, I wrote about, you know, things to learn about transitioning to new jobs. And for me, it was like, grow up. Grow a pair and grow up. You know, if you make a mistake, own up to it.

Ryan: Yeah.

Dave Foxx: If you, you know, just don't play CYA. Nobody likes that. Don't do any of that other corporate BS stuff, even when they're corporate BS stuff is happening to you. Just move on. And ego is just— it can just kill your career. Absolutely kill it.

Ryan: Yeah, it's like black mold.

Dave Foxx: It's— that's a very apt description.

Ryan: You started it. You said back in the day, and you started bringing up cool stories here. I've got a list if you would indulge me. I want to kind of say, you know, let's reminisce. I want to bring up a type of moment. You can either, you know, shoot me a couple quick words, you can tell a whole story, or you can say, I got nothing, move on.

Dave Foxx: All right.

Ryan: so if we reminisce here about moments, I'd first like to say, does a craziest moment stand out?

Dave Foxx: God, there are so many.

Ryan: one of, one of your craziest.

Dave Foxx: one of the craziest was walking into the on-air studio at Z100 and discovering the DJ on duty having sex with someone who was not his spouse. We'll just put it like that. And it was like, you know, dude, if you're gonna do that, fine, but don't do it here. Oh my God.

Ryan: Was this the big glass studios with, you know, complete glass, wide open walls, or was there at least a little privacy?

Dave Foxx: There was a little privacy in the glass. what glass there was opened out into the swamplands of New Jersey. So it was not that big a deal, but it was— for me, it was quite shocking. My virgin eyes.

Ryan: Let's try this one, and I hate to go negative, but, you know, saddest. Is there a saddest moment?

Dave Foxx: When Spanky McFarland died. That just killed me. He was one of the Huge wave of victims of AIDS back in the day. And when he died, it just really sucked the life out of the radio station for the longest time.

Ryan: Wow.

Dave Foxx: It was, it was really hard. Really, really hard. And I mean, Spanky was so genuinely liked by everybody. He was just, he was a terrific guy.

Ryan: Man. Okay.

Dave Foxx: Wow.

Ryan: okay. How about I just, just an abrupt change of gears. Is there just simply a happiest moment?

Dave Foxx: For me, every day when I first get to work, I am thrilled to be there. I'm happy because I know I'm doing something I'm good at. I'm doing something I love. I'm doing something that makes a difference, at least for this little group of people I work with at the radio station. And it just— every morning, as soon as I'd walk through that door, I'd get a big grin on my face, and I, I felt home. I felt really, really good about being there.

Ryan: That's— I like that answer. How about heartwarming? Was there a heartwarming moment of your career that stands out?

Dave Foxx: Yeah, without getting into names, there was a person on off-air ancillary person who, who passed on. That's not the heartwarming part, but she was attached to one of the on-air personalities at the radio station. The outpouring of love that we all felt and saw for this person who was left behind was. It was incredible. just staggering. It was amazing to see. And I'm really, you know, I'm still saddened by the passing of her, but the support he got was just amazing. It was really, really incredible.

Ryan: Professional achievement. You've had many, obviously, and your whole career is really one major professional achievement, but is there a moment that stands out as like, wow, you know, wow, I really nailed it that time?

Dave Foxx: Not any specific project so much. Honestly, right now is one of those huge achievement moments in my life because the response I've gotten from the Facebook posts and the blogs and everything else has just been stupefying. I can't believe that many people, you know, and people crawling out of the woodworks, people I haven't seen in years and years and years, all of a sudden showing up, find out, and I find out they've been following me all this time on Facebook or Twitter and, and, oh, I'm so sad you're leaving, blah, blah. And I'm just like, where have you been? Come on.

Ryan: Yeah.

Dave Foxx: That's, that's a really big one. I have to also say, winning the Best Producer VO— I forget what the whole title is— at the Worldwide Radio Summit 2 years in a row, that floored me.

Ryan: When you said you were surprised or stupefied at how many people came out of the woodworks and then winning that, see, for me, kind of looking at your career, it's almost obvious. It's like, who's gonna win? Well, Dave Fox is in the running. Oh, okay, well then he's gonna win. You know what I mean? Like, I think a lot of people would think that way, but you don't see it that way.

Dave Foxx: No, and in fact, I wrote publicly shortly thereafter, I said, you know, while I'm thrilled that I won twice in a row, you really ought to make somebody ineligible the following year to spread the wealth.

Ryan: Like the ACM Radio Awards? Yeah.

Dave Foxx: Yeah. And so they did the next year. And, I don't know if I'm even in the running this year or not. They don't— I never know about this stuff until after it happens, because honestly, I don't pay attention.

Ryan: I get it. You, you're just claiming you would have won 3 times in a row then. You were already claiming the 3-peat, Dave. That's what you're saying.

Dave Foxx: I might have. I will say that, but I, I really don't think so.

Ryan: let me, let me try this one. I don't know what this kind of an answer this would bring, but if I could, As far as reminiscing moments, Z100, overall best, is there one?

Dave Foxx: Yeah. I'm not sure I can do the story justice here is the only reason I hesitate.

Ryan: Is it a story you could write about, but maybe give me a bullet point or 2 here and then I can preemptively say, hey, now we're gonna get to go to Dave's blog at some point. I don't know.

Dave Foxx: Yeah, actually, I will write about it because it's something that comes back to me over and over again. The day that Tom Polman was hired as program director, which was also the day that Steve Kingston was let go as program director, I was resigning. I had my letter of resignation in my pocket, and I walked into the GM's office, reached in my pocket to hand it to him, and And he looked up from what he was doing and he says, oh, Dave, I'm glad you're here. I just want to let you know, I just let Steve Kingston go, but I'm bringing in this new guy from Houston. My hand went right back into my pocket, let go of the letter, and I said to myself, I'll give him 6 weeks. But that was the best decision I ever made.

Ryan: Yeah.

Dave Foxx: Pullman turned out to be, and to my way of thinking, is still The best program director I've ever worked with. Mark Medina, who is there now at Z100, is a real close second. And Sharon Daster was awesome as well. But Tom Pullman, he takes the cake.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. He really did become legendary. He seemed so young for being so achieved or accomplished, I guess.

Dave Foxx: Yeah. Well, and he takes it all so in stride. And again, No ego. It's not about ego for him. He just, you know, to him, it's about the job. It's about doing the right thing and doing it in the right way and doing it in the right place.

Ryan: Well, I do hope you write more about that. I'd love to hear more details about that story. But that's actually a real nice spot to get us towards our wrap-up. I know you've come back to Texas. I don't believe this is a full-blown retirement, per se. No.

Dave Foxx: In fact, that's how I'm starting my next rap column. So many people have said, congratulations on your retirement. And I'm very quick to answer right back, not retirement. This is, this is just the next chapter. That's all. It's time to really concentrate on paying it forward. Austin is— see, I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. So, you know, coming back to Texas was always something I kind of hoped would happen.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Dave Foxx: Austin turned out to be a really cool place for that to happen. So here I am, ready to rock and have a good time. And, and I don't plan on any big moves. I am going to keep my hand in the production. I have a couple of little things going on on the side, the VO thing, of course, and the website. The website is davefox.com.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. To wrap it up, davefox.com. are you, are you active on Twitter? I honestly just can't remember right now.

Dave Foxx: I'm not very active on Twitter. But I am going to be active on Twitter, DaveFox1.

Ryan: Okay. @DaveFox and the number 1.

Dave Foxx: Yes.

Ryan: Great. where else, anybody, anywhere else you want people to find you? Are you active on SoundCloud? I know you're on the Facebook. do you have any?

Dave Foxx: No, I keep all of my files on, on High Point because it's more private. you know, I do that for clients more than anything else.

Ryan: Sure.

Dave Foxx: I could, I could probably be convinced to open up a SoundCloud account. But, yeah, if they really want to hear what people are doing with my voice and, and some really great samples of, of production, because some of these producers are just rock stars. right off the top of my head, I think of, Roger King at KBPI. Oh my God, this guy's a, he's a, he's brilliant. I think of, Jason Gart at, production at, Mix— I forget what the name is.

Ryan: Mix Group.

Dave Foxx: Yeah, Mix Group. They really do great work. just, just tremendous work too from Digital Sound and Video down in Orlando, and some of the, some of the in-house producers at, Mix 107.9 in Salt Lake City. Anyway, samples from all of this and from producers around the world, producers in Africa and all over Europe and the Middle East. You know, it's all the— all those samples are up there on my website, and if you want to just Go and be inspired. It's a great place to do it.

Ryan: I've seen that. Yeah, you've got a lot of content. Well, I can't wait to see what your website becomes, Dave. I can't wait to see what else you bring to the industry. And I'm also glad to hear that, you know, this— I didn't think this was a retirement, even though, you know, again, I know the math. I know generally where your age is residing.

Dave Foxx: Yeah, and it's, and it's, you know, it's about that time, but it's, it's not.

Ryan: You're a spry young fox, to not turn a phrase, or whatever. But anyway, okay, one final question. I want to talk about wisdom. I always ask this generally of everybody I talk talk to, but I think for you it'll be a little different. You know, just if you could pluck out one, the most key piece of wisdom that you have gained over the years and hand that off to everybody and say, look, use this above all else and you'll be successful, what might that be?

Dave Foxx: Put on your big boy pants. This is not— to the day she died, my mother kept asking me when I was gonna get a real job. And I kept explaining to her, Mom, I'm making more money than my brother and sister combined. That didn't matter. I still wasn't doing a real job. Folks, this is a real job. And if you take it seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously, you'll do well.

Ryan: That's great. Dave, I know you've got a lot to do there. You've come to Texas. I owe you a dinner at minimum. for everything you've done.

Dave Foxx: Come on down. We'll drive down to Llano and get some first-class barbecue.

Ryan: Oh, there's so much good barbecue. Salt Lick. That place is solid. Oh yeah, there you go. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Dave Fox, everybody. DaveFox.com. Dave, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything you've done and for doing this podcast.

Dave Foxx: My pleasure, Ryan. Anytime.

Ryan: Hey, super quick note just to kind of wrap it up here. Not only this episode, but this year, I just wanted to say happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, whatever it is you celebrate. I can't possibly list them all, but I hope you enjoy it. And just to thank you for your support of the podcast over the years. It's, you know, support. You download it and listen to it. I haven't asked for much, and hopefully you felt that way. I thought this year was probably one of my best in that I think I had the most episodes, covered much larger topics, had bigger guests, had some more collaborative shows and all of that. I'll try and do the same in 2016. I already have plans for at least one of the top, I don't know, let's say, let's call them top 5 imaging VOs. I've got that one ready to roll. Another big-time creative director in the UK at a very large creative company in the UK, that's already scheduled. A team of producers from Dubai, we're gonna get them on together. probably 3 to 5 at the same time. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, as I always like to say, and hopefully you know is true, I respect your feedback and of course your suggestions. So if you just go over to the website— I got a bunch of URLs, to be totally honest. The Producers Podcast will just take you right to my site. You can just go to ryanontheradio.com and email me, ryan-dreen@gmail.com. That's wide open to anyone. Send me your suggestions, requests, etc. But, you know, that'll be it. So thank you for checking out the episode with Dave Fox. Thank you for a great 2015. Until next time, bye.

Announcer: Contact the show, contribute your opinions, see additional content, or simply stay connected at producerspodcast.com.