The Zach Sang Interview – Part Two:
Zach Sang Show is a syndicated Top 40 radio night show that airs on seventy stations in the US. Check out Zach’s real-life content ideas, and meet the characters that make up his show.
R-Tell us about your cast, their roles and characters.
Z- Heather is the best. She’s co-host first and executive technical producer second. I describe her as a redneck sorority girl, but classier. She’s a straight shooter. She calls me on my crap. She’s very open and direct and says what’s on her mind. Heather is sarcastic in a funny way. She balances me out perfectly. I’m a loving guy, and I end every call with peace and love.
R- What’s Dan’s role and character?
Z- He does the news feeds every hour, but he’s also a co-host and helps in pre and post production, and he is a producer. Everybody has a hand in the content on and off the air. Dan takes notes on the interviews, runs our Facebook page, and edits content breaks.
R- What’s Dan’s character?
Z- Dan is a 25 year-old fun-loving curmudgeon, who is also super straight and super athletic. Listeners know him as the hot and angry person on the air. Dan is a good guy, yet he has never bought a gift for anyone, ever. He has never been on a date, and he has never paid for anyone’s dinner. He also does not receive gifts. He teaches himself Justin Bieber and Backstreet Boys dance moves in the mirror. He’s obsessed with pop culture, and he’s always dreamed of being in a boy band.
R: When the show gets off the air, how do you prep for the next day?
Z: We have a content-only version of the show, and a live version. We go into production with a general idea of what’s going to happen the next day. I’ll arrive in the morning and run down a list of conversation starters, stories that are going around, and news stories. I’ll give the list to everyone on the team, they come together with their ideas, and then we put the show together. It’s my job to set everybody up, and to feed them the right type of content so their character shines through.
R: Does the team communicate throughout the day?
Z: Oh, yeah! We used to use Trello. Now we group text and have emails that go around through the day and evening.
R: Is there a show sheet that is finalized before the show starts, and who’s responsible for that?
Z: My executive producer puts it together. I have a sheet that’s all my news feed teases – that’s an hourly benchmark that we do. Then I have a show run down, and then I take handwritten notes. Everybody on my team will get an email that is that same thing as my notes. I organize them and make sure everyone has links to everything.
R: How does Zach Sang get his best ideas?
Z: Always life. I call my mom every week, and I teach her a new sexual word because I like learning them, too. I learned what Eiffel Tower was the other day. Do you know what it is? You should Urban Dictionary it.
R: I just got married a couple of months ago.
Z: Congratulations! You need another partner. You need three or more for the Eiffel Tower. Don’t Google it at work.
Z: My roommate came to me the other day and she goes “I can tell somebody’s a virgin by the way they chew their gum.” That gave me a content idea. I’m going to chew gum with someone else and see if she can figure out if the other person is a virgin or not.
R: Do you put ideas in your phone, or do you write them down?
Z: I have thousands and thousands of notes in my phone; it’s crazy.
R. Is there an embarrassing story that you can share from your broadcasting experience?
Z: I make a fool of myself in interviews all the time, whether I’m talking about my man boobs or not being able to look at myself naked in the mirror. I’m in a constant state of embarrassment!
