My friends, brothers Paul and John Zangari, have had a radio show about cars for over thirty years. The show is appropriately called Drive Thru Radio with Paul & John Zangari. Radio is something people listened to before podcasts and Spotify, for those of you born around the turn of the millennium.

Last Saturday Paul was away on vacation and John needed someone to co-host his one-hour show. He asked a lot of people but because it happened to be the Easter weekend, no one could make it. So then he asked me and I jumped on the opportunity, if for no other reason than just for the experience. I also have a thing for the radio as you’ll read below.

On the show we discussed the things I saw at the New York International Auto Show, specifically the debuts of several SUVs. We discussed the Kia K900 that John was reviewing that week and I questioned why it even existed. We even had a caller asking about the brakes on his FJ Cruiser, which is something I know a thing or two about. Literally, a thing or two.

Give the show a listen, it’s a quick commercial-free 41 minutes. You can stream it, or whatever you millennial babies do with podcasts, here on 790business.com. I am on the show dated 4-20-19 (hehe).

I should note that I hate the sound of my own voice. Like a gray-market G-class, I was imported into this country in the late 80s at the age of about eleven and I still haven’t lost my accent And I probably never will. This is weird as I have an American accent when I speak Polish. Some people say it’s great, others can’t understand me half the time. After hearing this show I started thinking about taking some speech classes.

My Howard Stern Show internship interview experience

And now, a quick story of why I was so exited to do this radio show.

I have always been a big fan of Howard Stern. As my college years were coming to an end in the late 90s, I realized that I could take a one-credit internship. I decided to apply to The Howard Stern Show for that internship. Studying electrical engineering, I justified this internship to my university by saying that would be working in the control room and have Scott ‘the Engineer’ Salem mentor me. As ridiculous as that may have sounded, my university actually approved it. The show called me back for an interview.

At the time, the Stern Show was airing out of the 92.3 K-Rock radio station in midtown Manhattan, roughly ten miles from my home. I arrived for my interview dressed in my best khakis and JCPenny button-down shirt, leather portfolio filled with a copies of my resume and a pen, in hand. I was young and did know much about anything other than cars and everything related to PLCs as applied to motor control in industrial environments.

Upon my arrival I was asked to sit in the lobby and wait for Kathy, Howard’s assistant. While sitting there, minding my own business, I noticed the unmistakable physique of Benji Bronk approaching the bathroom. I shrugged. While I was both surprised and not-surprised to see him here, I never cared much for him and have generally found him slightly annoying on the show.

Kathy came out, nice as she could be. We chatted about the internship; the hours, what it involved, and such. Then she asked if I wanted to see the studio, an once in a lifetime opportunity that I immediately jumped on. It was early afternoon at the time and the studio was empty. It was just amazing to see all of what I have been seeing on Howard’s E! show for sometime.

Kathy and I chatted some more and then she walked me back to the lobby. The whole interview probably took just less than an hour. As we were saying our goodbyes I noticed the bathroom doors open and… Benji Bronk quietly walking out. I can only assume he was there the whole time. Yikes!

I was shocked when Kathy actually offered me the internship. It was unpaid and I was to be there three times per week; once 6:00am-to-noon and twice noon-to-6:00pm. Unfortunately during my last semester in school I had to take 19 credits to make-up some classes that I messed up on, probably due to messing around with cars, earlier in my college career. Due to this insane schedule I was unable to take that internship. I don’t have many regrets in life but this is definitely one of them.

And this is why I was so excited to do the Zangari brothers’ radio show.