The Bobby Bones Show - Lynn Hoffman - Media Personality and Host of The Music Saved Me Podcast

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

On this episode of Takin A Walk, Buzz talks to Lynn Hoffman. Lynn is a Media Personality and Host of The Music Saved Me Podcast. For more information go to https://musicsavedme.net. The Music Saved Me Podcast proudly supports Musicians on Call, the nation’s leading provider of live music in hospitals. Musicians on Call volunteers have performed for more than one million individuals in healthcare facilities nationwide. For information on volunteering or donating go to   https://www.musiciansoncall.org *****Thank you so much for listening to the TAKIN’ A WALK PODCAST SHOW hosted by Buzz Knight!   Listen to more honest conversations with a compelling mix of guests ranging from musicians, authors, and insiders with their own stories. Get inspired, get motivated, and gain insights from honest conversations every week that can help you with your own journey. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and be part of this blessed family. Website: https://takinawalk.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebuzzknight LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/buzzknight  Linkfire: https://lnk.to/takinawalk Please consider subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing it with your friends and family!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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as he's joined by Lynn Hoffman. Lynn is an accomplished TV and radio host with work in major markets, A&E, and VH1. And she's also the host of a new podcast, produced by Buzz Night Media called Music Save Me. Join Buzz Knight and Lynn Hoffman next on Taking a Walk. We're in beautiful Litchfield County, Taking a Walk. What do you call this place here?

Buggy. It's a good thing, though. I didn't have breakfast, so now I've eaten a few. Oh, it's so great to be with you. You too, Buzz? This is called, I think it's called Three Rivers Park. It's beautiful. We got somebody walking a dog up here,

and I do want to caution everybody who listens to this podcast. We do do virtual additions from time to time, but we like doing them in person. And many people will remark, they'll go, you were taking a walk with somebody, and it sounded like you were, winded because we're walking.

We're entitled. Good thing we're not biking. Then there would be some issues. But you can take it whatever pace you want, Lynn. It's so great. It's your episode here, and I'm so grateful to be with you. Well, it's so great to see you, Buzz. It's always awesome to see you. You are like family to me. You are my cousin Buzz. So let's not bury the main headline, which we could come back to. You are hosting this podcast called

music saved me and I'm so grateful that you are and so excited and I want everybody to check it out and the first episode is out with Wynonna. Winona. She's amazing. And what, if anything, surprised you because I know you had encountered Wynonna previously. Yes, we did work together a few years back and I just, she's the kind of woman. The minute you meet her, you just want to throw your arms around. and she will give you a big old hug, you know, and just lovely and completely open and honest. There are no walls with Winona.

And getting artists to be able to open up about what music means to them in their lives and being able to pass that on to listeners is a really cool connection that I think we're going to be able to make. upcoming episode with jelly roll as well. This jelly roll's blowing up. He is that lad is busy these days, for sure. He is busy giving back and being so grateful for everything that has come his way that I just can't tell you what a shining light this guy is. I mean, he's larger than life figuratively and...

Spiritually. spiritually, yeah. Right? Yeah, and he gives back so much. I think that's mostly what he does. Not only when you talk to him, he wants you to take something away from it, but he also, he just, it's his mission in life

to give back to those and try to teach them how to live their best life and how they can turn everything around, really. I mean, you can turn your life around. He's evidence of that, really. And he's out on a big tour, and I think this guy, the fact that he crosses all genres, I think, is super interesting as well. Definitely. And I think the fact that Jelly Roll takes the struggles that he had in his life and he sort of brings it forward, deepens his connection with his audience.

Yes, it does. And his audience is everyone, including those who are currently incarcerated, which I find. incredibly interesting because he travels specifically to talk to those people who are locked up that they can change their life and they can use music to help. Yeah, which is just the therapeutic nature of music. So we'll come back and throw out overt plugs for the Music Save Me podcast later on. I love it. I want to trace your illustrious path to success in your career.

Did you say illustrious? I did. Is that okay? I just think that you've accomplished so much and you're still working and accomplishing even greater things and you're just beginning. That's illustrious. Well, it does feel that way, but my body doesn't feel that way. Come on now. But my brain, yes, it does always seem like I'm still.

just starting out. I guess you have to stay hungry, right? And always be you know, forging ahead. I like to push boundaries. I don't really like to settle. So if I'm doing something, I don't know where it comes

from, but I have to do it at the best level possible. And that's how my mind works with everything I do. So when did you first think that you were going to have career around media?

Very early on doing impersonations of commercials when I was very, very little, probably in the 70s, and I would do impressions of the actors on the commercials for like sucrettes or other interesting products that were out in its day. And then I would start doing impressions of people

and accents and And my favorite show was Saturday Night Live and Carol Burnett and Cher and Sunny and I wanted to be all of them. But I wanted to work with a team. I never just wanted to shine by myself. I wanted to work with a creative team and just make something special so that it made people feel good. And then I think it was fourth grade. Geez, I walk all the time and I feel like I'm winded. It was fourth grade, and I had a bit role in a Peter Pan play, and I got up there, and I said something silly, and the audience laughed.

It wasn't part of the script because something went wrong on the set, and everybody laughed. And at that moment, when I felt them all laugh, I was like, did I make them all feel good like that? I have to do that for the rest of my life. Wow. And that was it. It was cemented at that point. Yeah, morning radio, though, specific because it was a team of people that worked together that, you know, made it all happen. And that's really why I kind of focused on that.

All right. So what was the first beginning of that? And we are going to get to the point in time when I was jilted by the fact that I tried to hire you. So we'll get to that, maybe sooner than later. But what was next that brought you closer to at least radio first? Radio. It was really the love of voice work. I mean, I was so, like I said, want to achieve the highest heights. The first demo tape I sent was Disney. I sent Disney my demo and said I would love to be a voice of cartoon characters if you would hire me. And of course, I said no, because, you know, I wasn't even, I didn't even have a job at the time.

But voiceovers, I started working for a company that was messages on hold. And I was the, thank you for calling the cinemas. tonight's showings at 7, 11, you know, and it started there. And when I felt really comfortable that I could do that, I guess, then I felt like I could work with other people. And I was scared. You know what, Buzz? I was just scared to do anything alone.

I don't know why. So I needed a team. Like, I wanted to work with other people here what they thought. And so I thought, you know what? Morning Radio has to be that place for me. All right. Wait, we're at a crossroads here. We're at a crossroads.

Hmm. I say go toward the ears of corn. It's like the fields of dreams. It is, isn't it? I've never been out here with the corn all like this. It's amazing. I love it. Do you know they do reenactments out here?

Anyway. Right. I digress. I really don't find myself, my life, so interesting. So I think it's so honored that you want to talk to me about me. I'll get everything out of you. But enough about me. That's more about me.

That's right. Talk more about me. I started interning for a show called WCDJ, Smooth Jazz, 96-9. And I was there on the night of my graduation from college when everyone else was partying, and I was actually getting paid $6 an hour to run the board while the company was having their Christmas party or something, or there were some holiday party or something. and I don't know it seems weird graduation in December so it must have been some other holiday

but they said this is how you do it and then they left me there and of course that's when I started queuing up the reel to reel while the mic was potted up and they called me from the party and said they could hear all of it going on but I got my job I met a gentleman named Rob Schuller

who is sadly not with us anymore he was the voice of the Patriots and he knew that I wanted to voice commercials because I went in his office and I said, Rob, my parents don't think I can make any money in this industry. I have to prove them wrong. I need to start doing commercials.

Can you help me? And he put me on the radio, doing commercials. And next thing you know, he walked me into metro traffic and said, hey, this girl wants to talk for a living. And I became a traffic and news reporter in Boston. And I got to work with all of the morning shows. Yeah, that was every station. Yeah, like the guy, this is the craziest thing.

The guy that broke me in on the air live with my mom listening, Eddie Endelman. Oh, my God. Yeah. And the very first broadcast, he talked about my gynecologist appointment. Oh, lovely. But it wasn't that descriptive. However, I had to, you know, wiggle my way around all that, get the traffic out. And now I'm thinking my mom's listening.

Oh, my God, this is crazy. But yeah, so I worked with him. I worked with Ken Johnson over at W ILD. I did traffic for him in the morning. I don't know if you remember WILD. I do. They were the only AM music station. Yeah, and it was an urban format. Yeah. And I worked with Lauren and Wally doing their trap. No, I interned for Lauren and Wally. Oh my gosh. I interned for them. I did. And then they actually ended up offering me a job to be. be on the show and Len Malo, another guy who we lost recently, who is their news guy, he told me, don't do it. Really? Yeah, and I said, why? And he said, because there's 11 people on this morning show. And you're going to get lost, and you're meant for other things.

I said, okay, like what? Next thing you know, Matt Siegel is calling and he wants to hire me. And Mike Bucks in Rhode Island wanted me to be his co-host because of all the traffic. and I was able to sort of hold my own with these legendary guys, mainly because I was clueless. I just wanted to do the traffic and get out, but they all wanted to hire me, and I ended up working with John Lander by chance

because he came into town. He liked my reporting and brought me in, and then I never left. I want to go back to John Lander, of course, but what was it about my pitch to get you to work? I failed that. That's right. Okay, so I'm doing traffic. I think I was like 22, 21, 22 years old. And you offered me, yeah, I think we might want to go, well, this is someone's house. Oh. Yeah, we'll turn around. We can turn around.

Sorry. Yeah, watch off for ticks now. We're at the high grass here. So you called me up and you said, you wanted me to do afternoon drive on double. W ZLX, Boston's classic rock. And I was like, what? And you said, yeah, I want you to come in do afternoons. And I said, okay, and I hung up the phone, and then I was like shocked.

And then I was just scared. And I didn't think that I, I didn't feel like I could do it. I feel like I tried to hire you twice. Did you? Yeah. Unsuccessfully. I feel like there was a ZLX play, and there was also an ROR play as well.

You did. When I moved to New York, you wanted me to come back to work with Lauren and Wally. Yeah, so there was two attempts that were unsuccessful. Yeah, but then you guys had amazing ratings, so I didn't have to come hang out. But then, of course, the John Lander period. What was the beginning of that like? Because the show certainly evolved into being one of the most successful shows, you know, in the market.

But how did it start? What was that process like? Thanks. It was scary as hell, but like I said, it was a team, so I didn't feel so stressed that it was all on my shoulders. And Lander, man, he was already a huge radio name. Everyone was talking about it. He was so good to me.

He never made me feel like he never said, don't say that. like in New York when I did mornings in New York for that short while. The PD who remained nameless who was a lovely man. Only nameless because I can't remember his name. He's going to kill me. If he ever hears this, he's going to kill me. He was so nice. Oh, Smokey Rivers.

Oh, smoky. Yeah, what a great guy. But he would see things like Lynn, don't say I love it. Don't say this. Don't say that. And he would sort of try to help mold me. But Lander never did that. And he sort of let me sort of find my own level.

And it was just the most fun I think I've ever had at any job almost in radio. Just most fun. And that radio station competing against it as I did at that time was, you know, constantly innovating, doing cool promotions, big personalities, great. energy and it had pretty damn strong competition in terms of certainly you know kiss 108 yeah heritage I'll tell you what when I left Boston we had a little party at the rack Paul Barclay's place was like the hottest place in town when I was living there and do you know Matt Siegel showed up and he came over to me and

he said I need to shake your hand and tell you I'll never forget this he said I'm glad you're leaving And I said, why? He said, because you made me work too hard. Isn't that great? I couldn't believe it. I couldn't even believe it. Yeah, but I was so taken back by that. And I could have worked with him because they were prepping me to work with him. I saved the voicemail and everything.

I was so excited. But there was such great leadership there as well at Mix. Oh, gosh, you got Greg Strassell, who was like the king, and it was the flagship station for CBS when they bought it. And Mark Cannon, of course, as well. Yeah. Really good people. Oh, Mark.

Yeah. I had the best of the best of the best. Yeah. With the exception of you, of course, because you were at the other company. Yeah. Well, no, eventually it was the same company. We were all ultimately CBS Brethren after the sale from American radio system. Yeah, I remember we were there at the dawn of the monopoly getting thrown away, that rule of ownership.

You know, like I had a taste of what it was like when radio stations were privately owned, and it was mom and pop across the street, and you would have like a classic battle of who's going to win the ratings, and it was all done creatively and good camaraderie, and then all of a sudden we were in a building with every single station on one floor, with every personality you've ever listened to growing up. Yeah. It was crazy. Well, and the personality level in the Boston market then, you know, you just mentioned it was,

you know, certainly Maddie and Lander, Charles Laquadera was still kicking around as well. Love Charles. This was the beginning of the, really before the sports format really kind of took off, even though it kind of existed in some regards, but it was really a pretty electric market in terms of the competition. So some markets are really fiercely competitive and, you know, kind of, it gets unfriendly, and other markets are fiercely competitive, but it's friendly competition. How would you characterize Boston? Was it friendly competition? It was friendly competition 100%, because I wouldn't stand for it any other way. I mean, there was no, I wanted to be friends with everybody

because I felt we were all in the same business, so why did we have to be enemies personally? You know, just come, if we're going to be fighting against each other, you know, Coke Pepsi, you know, who's better, who's got the better campaign, who's got the better music, who's got the better formats, or whatever, that's fine. But that people as a whole, I felt it was extremely friendly. However, there was always the problem that I had with other women.

because I was so approachable and they wouldn't even give me the chance I didn't, you know, there was a couple of times where there was some not so friendly women just because they felt threatened and I understand that but when I was young I didn't

you know and I all I was trying to do was achieve goals for myself and I wasn't trying to hurt anybody but overall once you know the career got up and running I didn't find that at all, except when I left. Every single woman in the building was lined up. I said, what's going on?

They're all lined up to go see Lander in his office. Oh, yeah, they're all going to apply for your job. Oh, geez. I said, oh, thanks. I didn't know you guys all wanted the job. That's funny. Oh, yeah. Had you always set your sights on New York City as a goal?

No. I was petrified of New York City. Are you kidding me? I didn't want to go at all. The only reason why I went was because I was, convinced the production director, now my husband, to go with me. I said, come on. You want to sit in this production studio all day? You want to go to New York? And, of course, I was totally bullshitting. I didn't think he would say yes.

Because, you know, who's going to just up and leave their job, both of us, and take off like that, with six months disposable income? And if we didn't make it, we'd have to hang our heads and come back. So he went, sure. He did. And the rest, yeah, just. sort of fell into place from there. But that says a lot about, you know, I wrote down my goals. I lived my life as if I had those goals already accomplished, even though I didn't.

It was just sort of in me. Who were the people that instilled that in you? My parents. Yeah. Especially my dad. Well, both my mom and my dad, but my dad, what he went through in the military, and, you know, he was a green beret

and Vietnam. He saw a lot, and he put up with a lot with me, because I was a lot to handle. I had a lot of energy. They always used to say that I was going to grow up, and they were not surprised I ended up in radio, because I loved to talk. But they were supportive. Oh, yeah. They were just happy I picked something.

But they were a little concerned how I was going to make a living. And I think that in of itself was the reason, because they didn't think I was going to able to do it. It was like a fire lit under my ass. I swear. Anyone who told me, don't get in it. That business is horrible. It's competitive. People are going to eat your lunch. Every time someone said that, it made me want to achieve it more. And it started with my parents. So I had to prove to them that I could do it and make a living at it. Did you always see TV in your sights? Yeah. I always wanted to do TV. But I didn't want to tell anyone because I was too shy because I didn't want people to think I was full of myself. I didn't want to do TV alone, mind you. I wanted to do it

with a team. But one day, I think it was Joyce Cole Haywick on BZ. She was, I think she's still doing something. I've heard her name recently even. She was like my favorite entertainment reporter of all times, and she was going on vacation, and we happened to be in the parking lot of BZ. We moved to a new location. And I sort of let it be known that I would love to fill in. And Mark Hannon walked me across that parking lot and put me in front of a teleprompter at Channel 4 and said, Here's your chance.

Is that right? Yeah, and I said, wow. Yeah, and I did it. And he, I believe Mark Hannon said to me, it was him, somebody there. I want to give him the credit if it was him. He said, you know, why don't you want to tell people that you want to be on TV? And I said, because I don't want them to hate me

or think that I'm full of myself. And he said, if you know what you want to do with your life, you scream it from the highest rooftop. If I had known that you wanted to do this earlier, I would have made this connection sooner. And, of course, it worked out great because I was the ambassador for the radio station on TV

so I could help them promote the show and the station and vice versa. Wasn't it the birthday game, the TV spots for the birthday game? Am I getting that right? Oh, that was a million dollars. Million dollars? That was a million dollars.

They flew Lander and I. to Atlanta to shoot the commercial. Isn't that funny? Willie does TV commercials all day in our basement. Right. But they flew us to Atlanta. Sure. But I remember that commercial.

Yeah, that was pretty fun. It's so funny talking about when radio stations ran TV commercials. I know. Isn't that weird? Yeah, because they don't really do that now. Well, the weirdest thing is, is when I started to work in television when I moved to New York, they had no idea how radio worked. You know, I said, hey, you know, this would be a great radio show because it would translate because it's music.

because I worked at V-H-1, and I did a music show in A&E, and they would look at me just sort of befuddled. Like, how do we do that? I said, well, it kind of works the same exact way as television, just with pictures, you know? Like, I couldn't figure that out. But, well, everything's caught up now. What was first, A&E or VH-1? VH-1.

VH-1. VH-1 was first. You know, Mix broke the bare-naked ladies. Yeah. And one year to the day after they broke them, we had a big concert, and there was, like 100,000 people on rooftops, trees. We'd never seen so many people. And I went back to interview the guys from Bare Naked Ladies.

And I said, do you know these people are all here for you? They thought they were there for the monkeys. I said, no, they're here for you. And it was the million dollar song. Anyway, VH1 came into Boston, and I happened to be working that day, and I met the producer, and they found out that we were that station that broke them, and they wanted to do a little story on them. Her name was Tony, and she worked to VH1.

and she said, you know, you should do this because they had to put me on camera to talk in front of the board, and no one else wanted to do it. So, of course, let's get Lynn. Perfect. And when I moved to New York, that was like one of the first calls I made

was that contact I made in Boston because I didn't have representation from any... I was with William Morris at the time, but I didn't have any television rep. It was all voice. I called up and I said, hey, I just moved to New York. And I just want to let you know I don't have representation,

but I'm willing to come in an audition if you have anything. And the next day, they said, you know, we're launching this new digital platform called VH1 Classic. And we'd love for you to come audition for it. So I walked in the door with my two best friends, Buzz, because I don't do anything alone, right? With my two best friends, one had a camera, one had like an audio recording. And I made up the story that they were doing a story on my life. They were following me around just so I didn't have to go to the audition by myself. You caniver

I know But I literally I just When I left I said hello To the camera people I asked the guy Later

The producer Dane who also Is not with us anymore It's just amazing How many people And he said It was because

You were moldable Because you said Hello to everybody Because you came up to me And told me That you didn't have to look Any further I was the one

And he said to me You're gonna have to memorize Like 800 pages of script Every week I said I don't care. You know, cut to me on every weekend home while everyone else is going out because I've got to memorize lines because they didn't have the money for a teleprompter. Oh, boy. So for years, I had to memorize, you know, five gold records, 20 Grammys, two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awards, three hit singles and the names of the songs and the artists.

Wow. Yeah, so I became sort of like a classic music encyclopedia. A little bit of a savant thing going on there. Yeah. It was a great education, though. And I met so many amazing people starting out a career in television, working with the greats rather than the new people. You know, could have been MTV breaking all the new artists, but I was with the classic guys.

It was awesome. It was really cool. And then how did A&E happen? They handed out pink slips at VH1. And about an hour after, my agent called, and they handed out pink slips because we had become financially sound. I guess they started making money with the ads on, VH1 classic. It took about five years. And so then the main company took it back and pretty much

disbanded everyone because it was, you know, we made it lucrative for them. And my agent said, well, I got some good news and bad news. He said, the bad news is you're not going to work next week at VE because they've fired everyone. But the good news is, remember that audition you did last week at A&E? I said, yeah, and he goes, well, they want to hire you for a new show. So I was like, what? So I have not been without a job. that or my voice work, which I still do to this day thanks to my husband, who sent me up with the William Morris thing and created that whole... You know Willie did that, right?

Yeah, of course. Like, he literally told them they needed to have this... They wanted to hire him at all the agencies in New York. We went out and bought him suits. And he's like, I'm not an agent. Sorry. Your husband is a powerful power broker, and he really, he hides that. He tries to be.

very much in the background. Oz, behind the curtain. But he knows how to find the right people and the right angle and connect them. You're similar. You guys, that's why you guys, you know, it's worked out with you too. Well, I chose you, obviously,

it's something right. Well, I think the feeling's mutual. So, A&E sessions. Private sessions, yeah. Private sessions. Sounds like a late-night show on Cinemax, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. So tell me about some of your favorite.

interviews with that great show? Well, Winona, first of all, and that is not, I'm not just saying that because of music saved me. Literally, it was one of the most memorable other than perhaps Ringo Starr and Bon Jovi. When you're in a building that has 14 floors and you never see anyone, when everybody on every floor shows up on your floor, you know somebody significant is there and, you know, they want to see them. So, I mean, the job was fun. So it took a number of days to prep because I had to basically know every single thing about these people in their life and their career. And I wanted to be educated before I talked to them. Remember how Larry King would say I wouldn't do any research? I just wanted to learn like the audience.

I did the exact opposite. Larry should have considered that at times. I think so. I agree with you because he would have had a better time because he would know where they were going and understood their story better. I don't know. Even though it worked for quite a while, he at a point, should, should have probably rethought that a little, but I don't think anybody was going to tell Larry what to do. No, I don't think so.

You don't tell Harry. What did you? I don't think many people did. Obviously, because if they did, he wouldn't have been wearing those ridiculous suspenders. True. True. But so you took the opposite approach and really immersed yourself? I took three days to prep and then shoot day.

The day before, and this is why I connected with Winona so much. And even Queen Latifah, to be honest with you, because after I read her book, I felt like we were sisters that were separate. at birth. We went so many similar things in our lives. The reason why I brought up Wynonna was because one of the things that she talked about was visualization. And you'll hear that in the Music

Save Me podcast. It's big, and it works. It's real, it's no joke. And I used to do it every night before I would go to actually sit and shoot with an artist, and I usually, it would be like a 16-hour day, because they performed all the songs, then we'd strike the set,

and then go and do the interview after. and usually I would be entertaining them while this was happening in between stuff. We would do crazy things, you know, all sorts of stuff. But every night before I go in, I would visualize me with the person I was interviewing, with the people I worked with, laughing, smiling, and having a ball.

And every single time the day ended up that way. No matter who came in, no matter what egos walked in the door, and there were big egos that walked in the door. They were completely disarmed. and I would insist on being there even before my call time so that I can make everyone feel comfortable. Because I think the most important thing is to feel comfortable in your environment when you're talking with people. And if you're in a place where it's your living room, it's the most comfortable. But that's you, too.

That's not you being someone that you're not. You know, that's who you are. I guess, yeah. It's selfish. It's so I'm comfortable. but I want to make everyone else comfortable so I can be comfortable, and I guess it's good for everyone.

Everybody wins. Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Also, I didn't find that celebrities made me nervous, or, you know, I'd watch people treat them sort of almost like from another planet. And I would say,

why? I mean, they just, like Edison invented the light bulb, these people invented this incredible music that resonated with so many people that it's amazing and you want to get in there and find out what they're all about, but yet they weren't more important than you or I. Are they?

No, not really. They're people. That's right. They get up every day. They put on their pants one leg at a time, and that really is how I had to look at it, too, because otherwise I would have pooped my pants. I do remember a couple of early times, like I had to interview Hollinotes and Joe Jackson really, really early on, and I remember telling my producer, I didn't.

I didn't sign on to interview people. I just wanted to read a teleprompter and, you know, sell music and stuff and make everyone happy. And now you want me to actually sit with them and talk with them. And then who knows, that was going to be my career. You know, anything I said I didn't want to do ended up happening. And I had to do it. Like, I didn't want to do the news on Mix. And then I had to do it.

And I was happy. So you're doing tons of voiceover work for radio and TV and other clients, right? Yeah, mostly radio and television, and I feel like the only reason why I am fortunate enough to still be doing that is because I started at the beginning of that being very big for female voices, because there really wasn't a lot being used at the time when I got in. And then we talked earlier about my husband, who sort of created this whole business model, if you will, for the agencies to have voices, multiple voices on radio and television. and so I built up a nice clientele, and then, you know, 20 years sort of went up, and now it's on its way up. Because, don't forget, I'm up against AI now. And that is absolutely, I mean, we just got a commercial today made by AI that Willie had to fix. Just because you need a human touch.

Yeah, that's always going to be needed. Right. Maybe it'll be less work for me, but that's why you've got to have other irons in the fire. Yeah. What's the strangest dialect you ever required to do on a voiceover? Strangest dialect. Well, Boston. Don't laugh.

I just recently did some commercials. Iron tree service up in the North Shore, okay? No, it wasn't them. I'm sorry. It was another client. Somebody, there was a restaurant. Kelly's Roast Beef. And they wanted a Boston-sounding person.

And I've lived out of Boston more than half my life now. And I went to New York. So I thought, oh, I can do this, no problem. And I did the whole thing. And they said, can you sound less New York and a little more Boston? I didn't even realize that it happened. Did you really have to crank up the Boston? Yeah.

Like, give me an example. Like, should I do the normal one? Like, pack the car and have it yet? Do it really over the top one. Come on. It's bought. Oh, it's your cousin. From Boston.

Boston. Come on. I mean, I don't know. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I don't have to try too hard. No, I don't. I don't. And when I get tired, I sound like I'm, I'm from Boston. But my whole life, going to school, they wanted me to have general American speech, which for broadcasting, they didn't want you to be able to tell where the broadcaster was from. There you go. So, that's what I learned. And no one believed me that I was from Boston because I didn't speak with the Boston accent. And then I turned it on. lovable Boston accent. Duncan donuts. Come on. I grew up there. I had the large Dunkin' Donuts with like vanilla and like, you know, half the glass was filled with sugar. You know what's funny, my friends from New Jersey add the R on. I have an idea. I'm like, you got an idea? Yeah, wait,

and I said, that's a Boston thing. You add the R and you take off the R. I think they're messing with you. I think so, too. I think I talk too much. Lynn, you never talk too much. Thanks for being out taking a walk. Thanks for hosting. Music saved me. Music saved me. It's going to be so much fun. It's, thank you for choosing me to... Wait a minute.

This will be the first time I didn't turn you down for a job offer. Oh, my God. Can you believe it? Now we actually have to make some money. All right, I'm down for that. Got to pay for this car. Taking a walk with Buzz Night is available on Spotify. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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