Staying Power: The Andie Summers Blueprint to Major Market Morning Success

Andie: 00:00:00

911 was a huge change for me personally.

Andie: 00:00:05

Yeah.

Andie: 00:00:05

Little did anyone know that?

Andie: 00:00:06

My parents were on a cross-country flight at that time.

Andie: 00:00:10

Oh.

Andie: 00:00:10

And when we found out that they were cross-country planes, I was freaking out.

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Like that's when the human side of me came out.

Andie: 00:00:17

Welcome to BRANDwidth On Demand, your Guide to Rebooting Radio.

Andie: 00:00:23

I was the news source and I had to keep it together and make sure that I was

Andie: 00:00:27

giving everyone the information, and I did that as long as I could until I

Andie: 00:00:31

just broke down and I was like, listen.

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I honestly don't know what's going on, but let me tell you what's

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happening in my life right now.

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Mm-hmm.

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and I still have listeners come up to me.

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Like I remember not only the tragic events of that day, but hearing

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the emotion in your voice because of what you were going through.

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And I was praying for your parents, so it really, that

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taught me to just be vulnerable.

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BRANDwidth On Demand.

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Rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be.

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Now your guides through the media morphosis.

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David Martin and author of the book, bandwidth Media

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Branding, coach Kipper McGee.

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Andy Summers has been waking up country music fans in Philadelphia

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on 92 5 XT U for over two decades.

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No, I'm not kidding.

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During that time, she's earned the love of her listeners and respect

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for the entire country music community winning several awards,

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including an a ACM and a CMA award.

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The best major market person.

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As if juggling the crazy hours of a wife, mom, and morning

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show host weren't quite enough.

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She's committed to volunteerism as well.

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Impressive work for her church to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,

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the American Red Cross Wings for Success and many, many others.

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BRANDwidth On Demand is proud to welcome a real star.

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Andy Summers being,

Kipper: 00:01:54

Hey.

Andie: 00:01:55

Hey guys.

Andie: 00:01:56

Thank you so much for having me.

Andie: 00:01:58

This is such an honor.

Kipper: 00:02:00

Well, we are honored to have you, and since you've been doing this

Kipper: 00:02:04

really for a while with over 20 years at the same station, I gotta at us.

Kipper: 00:02:09

Yeah.

Kipper: 00:02:10

What the heck is your secret to longevity in a market, let alone the same station?

Andie: 00:02:16

uh, you know, I honestly don't know that it's much of a secret.

Andie: 00:02:19

I feel like I'm so not radio E when it comes to, because this is obviously a

Andie: 00:02:24

question I get asked a lot, especially from people in the industry, cuz

Andie: 00:02:27

it just doesn't happen that often.

Andie: 00:02:29

Um, yeah.

Andie: 00:02:30

But I was raised by hardworking parents and they just taught

Andie: 00:02:34

me, keep your head down.

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Like, you know, get the work done, be the hardest working person in the

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office and make yourself indispensable.

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So I do think.

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One of the benefits that I have, aside from amazing parents who

Andie: 00:02:47

taught me, you know, just great work ethic is when I started in radio, I

Andie: 00:02:52

started at a very small mom and pop shop in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.

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So we were only 6,000 watts.

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We weren't rated, so no one really paid attention to us.

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They weren't making a ton of money cause it's just a small local radio station.

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So I learned everything from day.

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I not only did mornings, eventually, I started off doing

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nights, but moved into mornings.

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I worked with a veteran who had already retired talk radio, and

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this was kind of his retirement, so I learned so much from him.

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But I was also the promotions director.

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I would go out on sales calls and I did all the production.

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So, you know, it's a lot.

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It was a lot.

Andie: 00:03:31

But it's young and eager and lived at the radio station that,

Andie: 00:03:35

that was my only community and, and I loved every second of it.

Andie: 00:03:38

It's kind of how I knew I would never leave, cuz I just never wanted to leave

Dave: 00:03:42

Well, clearly you've seen a lot of changes happening in the industry

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and at 92 5 x xt, what would you say are the top three changes that

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have had the biggest impact on your.

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. Andie: Um, you know, that's tough

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many, and I'm one of those people that just kind of rolls with the punches.

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You know, market manager changes and program director changes and morning

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show partner changes and right.

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The list goes on and on, which all are, make a huge impact in what we do.

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But I think that through all of that, it really reinforced that you

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just need to be true to yourself because the audience can see.

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your management can see that.

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And certainly your partner, the most important person in that room, aside from

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your listeners, they can see that too.

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So it, it taught me just be true to me.

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Continue working hard and all of that good stuff.

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So that, obviously going through all those changes made a big difference.

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Nine 11 was a huge, uh, a huge change for me personally.

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because I was in radio, so when the towers were struck, like so many of us

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doing morning radio, we saw it happen on the news and we were trying to get

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as much information and regurgitate that to our listeners because of course,

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people weren't on their smartphones then They're getting information.

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They were getting it from us.

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Yeah.

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Little did anyone know that?

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My parents were on a cross country flight at that time.

Dave: 00:05:11

Oh.

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And then we found out that they were cross-country plane.

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. I was freaking out.

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Like that's when the human side of me came out.

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And I remember I was working with a guy who had done radio

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for a long time, a real veteran.

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He was awesome.

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But to him, I was the news source and I had to keep it together.

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And get, pull it all together and make sure that I was giving

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everyone the information.

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And I did that as long as I could until I just broke down and I was

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like, listen, I honestly don't know what's going on, but let me tell you

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what's happening in my life right now.

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And mm-hmm.

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, I still, 21 years later have listeners come up to me.

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Like I remember not only.

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, the tragic events of that day, but hearing the emotion in your voice

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because of what you were going through.

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And I was praying for your parents just as you were praying.

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Like, so it really, that taught me to just be vulnerable, put it out there.

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Mm-hmm.

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, the audience needs to know what you're going through.

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Yep.

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Yeah.

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And

Kipper: 00:06:08

speaking of vulnerable, while we're on that, I mean,

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how'd you guys handle the.

Andie: 00:06:13

Um, so that was interesting obviously as it was for everyone.

Andie: 00:06:17

I worked from home mm-hmm.

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for 10 weeks, and my partners stayed in the studio.

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So I had a morning show partner at the time and my producer, and

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they were able to go in and kind of run things from that side.

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I thought it went pretty well.

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We took as many calls as we could.

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We found out what people were doing.

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We talked to a million country fans.

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I mean, that's the other great thing.

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There's nothing quite like country radio.

Andie: 00:06:41

Yeah.

Andie: 00:06:41

Our audience is so personal.

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Our artists are so personal.

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So yeah, it just, you know, it was real life stuff.

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I would be down here in my basement.

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Talking about something and my son would come down and shoot me with the

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Nerf gun and that, that's real life.

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Like this is what happens when you're working remotely.

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You know, you have your kids running around and the dog and all of it.

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So I, I think that that actually even brought out another layer to what we

Andie: 00:07:07

were all doing and, and, and isn't that what the whole point of this is?

Andie: 00:07:10

Right?

Andie: 00:07:10

It's about making those human connections.

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You need that shake up in order to make that happen.

Kipper: 00:07:15

Mm-hmm.

Kipper: 00:07:16

. Good point.

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So, , Andy, with your name on the show, what do you look for when it

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is time to make a change with fellow cast members or somebody leaves?

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I mean, you've had a number of different incarnations.

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What are you looking for?

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And more importantly, how do you know if someone is going to gel?

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Yeah.

Andie: 00:07:36

You know, my whole career, up until, until my last two or three

Andie: 00:07:41

partners, they've been arranged marriages, as we like to say, in the business.

Andie: 00:07:46

Right.

Kipper: 00:07:46

Shotgun

Andie: 00:07:47

weddings, huh?

Andie: 00:07:48

No, exactly.

Andie: 00:07:49

I would come into work and we pulled into one office and my partner would

Andie: 00:07:52

be pulled into another and they would say, okay, we're letting him go now, but

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here's who you're gonna be working with.

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And it was like, okay.

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, I've never met that person, or gosh, I think I've heard of this person.

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So you learn very quickly, uh, how to adapt and roll

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because it wasn't my decision.

Andie: 00:08:09

It wasn't my choice, but if I wanna have a job, then this is what I need to do.

Andie: 00:08:13

Mm-hmm.

Andie: 00:08:13

. Uh, so really my marriage is more to the X to you audience than it is to anything.

Andie: 00:08:18

I have a very emotional relationship with them, so I try to, Um, you know,

Andie: 00:08:26

when it comes to finding new, new blood in the studio, I like to make sure

Andie: 00:08:30

that they're gonna be as authentic as I am because my listeners deserve that.

Andie: 00:08:34

And I think that's one of the reasons that I stayed As long as I have at X to you.

Andie: 00:08:37

They, this audience helped raise me, you know, I moved away from my friends

Andie: 00:08:41

and family to take this job when I was in my early twenties, so they saw me.

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Get engaged and get married and have babies and go

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through ups and downs in life.

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And they always have amazing advice.

Andie: 00:08:52

So that's been fantastic.

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But when it comes to finding a really good team, you know it,

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that again, is just so personal.

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It's not how long have you been in radio?

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It's not, have you ever worked in country before?

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Or you know, like format doesn't matter.

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Think it's just that personal connection because that's what radio is now, people.

Andie: 00:09:12

Especially, especially today since the pandemic, so many people are still working

Andie: 00:09:16

virtually and they're not with coworkers.

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We are as close as they get to that in the morning while

Andie: 00:09:21

they're getting ready for work.

Andie: 00:09:23

Um, hopefully they're listening on Alexa or whatever it is.

Andie: 00:09:25

So, you know, you need to be their friend.

Andie: 00:09:28

Mm-hmm.

Dave: 00:09:29

Andy, for somebody starting out today or somebody ready to make

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their second move in the industry, what are some of the things that

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you would advise them to do or not?

Andie: 00:09:41

You know, I think that you really just need to follow your heart.

Andie: 00:09:44

I think so many people like to follow the money, which that's fine if you're

Andie: 00:09:49

willing to pick up and bounce around.

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And then that's one thing for me that has never been the situation.

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I, you know, I love what I do, where I do it.

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So for me it's quality of life.

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So you have to figure out what is most important to you in your life.

Andie: 00:10:03

I love living where I live, especially now that we have kids.

Andie: 00:10:05

I love.

Andie: 00:10:06

Kids school community, and I clearly have a love affair with my audience.

Andie: 00:10:11

Mm-hmm.

Andie: 00:10:11

, it would take a lot and, and my bosses know that it would take

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a lot for me to pick up and go.

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So that's one thing, but to me, absolutely worth it because I

Andie: 00:10:20

love what I do and where I do it.

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So that's first and foremost, figure out what you love and then, and then

Andie: 00:10:26

try to make sure that that's part of the equation, you know, and just

Andie: 00:10:29

having that great work environment because it makes such a big difference.

Andie: 00:10:34

You have to feel good in your.

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because when you don't, the audience can feel that and, and they're number

Andie: 00:10:40

one, if they feel you're uncomfortable, they're not comfortable and they're

Andie: 00:10:44

going somewhere else, right?

Andie: 00:10:45

Mm-hmm.

Andie: 00:10:45

. Cause they're gonna go to somebody who is mm-hmm.

Andie: 00:10:47

. So I think that that's really important as well.

Andie: 00:10:50

So,

Kipper: 00:10:51

time to do a little skywriting.

Kipper: 00:10:53

Okay.

Kipper: 00:10:54

Okay.

Kipper: 00:10:54

Let's say that you could do anything with the Andy Summers

Kipper: 00:10:58

show that you ever could dream up.

Kipper: 00:11:01

Budget's not a factor.

Kipper: 00:11:03

What would you most like to.

VO: 00:11:05

This

Andie: 00:11:06

is such a great question.

Andie: 00:11:09

That I don't have a great answer for

Andie: 00:11:13

. Kipper: Well, let's start with just,

Andie: 00:11:18

promotion, would, would you like to take your listeners on a cruise with all the

Andie: 00:11:23

country stars that you could think of?

Andie: 00:11:25

Uh, no.

Andie: 00:11:26

No, no.

VO: 00:11:27

That doesn't sound appealing to me.

VO: 00:11:29

Um, okay.

VO: 00:11:30

, Dave: would you like to do a, Ben,

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concert for one of your charities in.

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. Andie: I think that that would be ideal.

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Anything that I can do to give back.

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So when I started my family, uh, when my daughter was born, I really struggled.

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with going back to work, and as I think a lot of moms do, it's so hard to, you

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know, I, I just felt like I was putting myself first instead of my daughter,

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and that to me didn't seem fair.

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So I made a promise to myself early on because this is what

VO: 00:12:00

was gonna work for our family.

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This is, you know, my husband, it was, he really wanted me to stay in the business.

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He was like, I don't want you to lose this opportunity.

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Love what you do.

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So let's see.

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, at least for a while, if we can work our way through it.

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So I made a promise when I went back to work after my maternity leave

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that I would make a positive impact in someone's life every day, period.

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And that's what would make it all worth it.

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So if I was able to make someone smile, if I was able to bring them

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joy in any capacity at all, then that makes it worth it and hopefully my.

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See that I do that and I love doing that.

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So honestly, if I could do anything with the Andy Summer show, money is no object.

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It would just be to continue pleasing people as much as we possibly can.

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I just love, love and happiness.

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Then it's all goodness to me.

Dave: 00:12:53

Superstar of Philly Radio.

Dave: 00:12:55

Andy Summers with us today.

Dave: 00:12:57

Somebody you'd like to hear from.

Dave: 00:12:58

We'd love to hear your suggestions.

Dave: 00:13:00

Just email show at brand with on demand.com

Kipper: 00:13:04

and you're invited to stay in touch on social.

Kipper: 00:13:08

Just get in touch, follow brand with Plus on Facebook,

Kipper: 00:13:12

Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Kipper: 00:13:14

That's brand with P L U S Bandwidth

Dave: 00:13:18

Plus coming up, Andy Shearon things she knows now.

Dave: 00:13:22

She really wishes she knew way back when she got started and some

Dave: 00:13:26

things she'd like to know now.

Dave: 00:13:28

About the future of our business.

Dave: 00:13:30

Hi, I'm Jeff McCarthy, vice President of Programming for

Andie: 00:13:33

Duke Wright's Midwest Communications.

VO: 00:13:34

I'm Tony Lano from Throwback Nation Radio.

VO: 00:13:37

Hi, this is Dave Tyler from Music Master, with even more raving fans.

VO: 00:13:41

Hey, I'm Bailey, program Director for K O S P and Midwest Family

VO: 00:13:44

Broadcasting and Springfield, Missouri.

VO: 00:13:46

Hi, my name's Jonathan Shu.

VO: 00:13:48

I'm the program director at the Legend 6:50 AM W.

VO: 00:13:51

Sam ready to join these raving fans.

VO: 00:13:53

I'm so thankful for Music Master and the team for helping us

VO: 00:13:56

grow our station into what it is

Kipper: 00:13:58

today.

Kipper: 00:13:59

Never

Andie: 00:13:59

stop learning music.

Dave: 00:14:00

Master's educational webinars have helped us become excellent.

Dave: 00:14:04

Music schedulers.

Dave: 00:14:05

Visit music

VO: 00:14:05

master.com today.

VO: 00:14:07

I cannot thank

Andie: 00:14:08

the Music Master team enough.

Andie: 00:14:10

The stuff we know now we

VO: 00:14:12

wish we'd known then.

VO: 00:14:14

BRANDwidth On Demand.

Dave: 00:14:16

We're with Andy Summers.

Dave: 00:14:18

Oh, she's famous..

Dave: 00:14:19

Philadelphia 92 5 XTU.

Dave: 00:14:23

Annie, what's the one thing you know now that you really wish you knew way back

Dave: 00:14:29

when you got started, and what's one thing you'd like to know now about the future?

Andie: 00:14:36

Um, gosh, you know, I feel like not knowing is what

Andie: 00:14:41

brings you to who you are today.

Andie: 00:14:43

So I'm glad that I was clueless, and e when I was going, when I, you know,

Andie: 00:14:50

started in radio and had to figure out who to rely on and who to look for for me.

Andie: 00:14:57

. Um, but I think that that is a good piece of advice if you're

Andie: 00:15:00

just starting out in the business.

Andie: 00:15:02

Find a mentor.

Andie: 00:15:03

Find even if you never talk to that person, follow someone's career if that's

Andie: 00:15:08

what it takes, and, and just kind of figure out how they got to where they

Andie: 00:15:11

are and what they're doing that makes them the success that you hope to be.

Andie: 00:15:16

So I guess that's more advice than it is what I wish that I knew.

Andie: 00:15:20

I guess I wish I knew back then that just being true to myself.

Andie: 00:15:27

. Just being the true Andy Summers that I am is what is going to

Andie: 00:15:32

carry me on in this career.

Andie: 00:15:34

It's not,

Dave: 00:15:35

you're good enough.

Dave: 00:15:35

You're good enough, right?

Dave: 00:15:37

, Andie: exactly, but it's not

Dave: 00:15:40

It's just about your authenticity and what that's what your audience is looking for.

Dave: 00:15:44

They want the real you.

Dave: 00:15:45

They want the vulnerable you.

Dave: 00:15:46

They want the screw up.

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I'm a terrible mom.

Dave: 00:15:49

Talk about that all the time.

Dave: 00:15:50

On the air.

Dave: 00:15:50

When I was in my twenties, I had such a hard time.

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admitting to my mistakes.

Dave: 00:15:56

You know, I wanted everything to be perfect.

Dave: 00:15:58

I thought I was a stud, but I think you kind of have to go

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through that in your twenties.

Dave: 00:16:01

That's why everyone does.

Dave: 00:16:02

And then your thirties are like, oh geez, I was an idiot back then.

Dave: 00:16:06

. And now you're in your forties, and you're like, yeah.

Dave: 00:16:08

But thank goodness I went through it because it got me to where I am.

Dave: 00:16:11

So no regrets you for the most part, . All right.

Dave: 00:16:16

And then what do I wish to know about?

Dave: 00:16:19

Like what do I wish I knew about the future?

Dave: 00:16:22

There's something beautiful in not knowing because it gives me less anxiety, I think,

Dave: 00:16:27

because I just have to stay so present.

Dave: 00:16:30

You know, there are so many questions about where this industry is going.

Dave: 00:16:34

Um, I don't necessarily wanna know the answer to that.

Dave: 00:16:38

. But yeah, you know, I guess, I guess just knowing that I'll ride off into

Dave: 00:16:42

the sunset on a good note and on my terms, that would be nice to know.

Dave: 00:16:46

Hopefully I can make that happen.

Dave: 00:16:48

Yeah,

Dave: 00:16:48

a terrific talent.

Dave: 00:16:50

Andy Summers from 92 5 x to you, Philly.

Dave: 00:16:54

You'll find all kinds of good stuff, including links to her podcast and more.

Dave: 00:16:59

Just scroll down on.

Kipper: 00:17:00

As always, our thanks to exec producer Cindy Huber for making this

Kipper: 00:17:05

happen and to Hannah B our associate producer for booking and coming up next,

Kipper: 00:17:11

he knows where we're coming from and he knows what everyone is going through.

Kipper: 00:17:17

Yeah.

Kipper: 00:17:17

That has his no money

Andie: 00:17:18

and only requires one person who's already working

Kipper: 00:17:21

17 other jobs

Andie: 00:17:21

to do.

Andie: 00:17:22

Yeah, no problem.

Andie: 00:17:23

Let me, uh,

Andie: 00:17:25

, Kipper: but most important.

Andie: 00:17:27

He's telling us how to get where we gotta go next.

Andie: 00:17:31

From Jacob Media Digital dot Connector, Seth Wrestler joins us.

Dave: 00:17:37

That's a wrap.

Dave: 00:17:38

Kipper make changing up your show a priority.

Dave: 00:17:42

The next one Minute Martinizing is about keeping your act fresh.

Dave: 00:17:45

Find it at BRANDwidth On Demand.

Dave: 00:17:48

I'm Dave Martin.

Kipper: 00:17:49

And I'm Kipper McGee.