When you think of Wolfman Jack, the iconic American radio jock with the gravelly voice, him ripping off your cocaine might not be the first thing that comes to mind.
“At the time I was pissed,” said Scott Paisant (a.k.a. Scoot.) “If I knew where he was buried I’d still spit on his grave,” Scoot jokes.
Scoot was backstage at a Rolling Stones concert where the Wolfman was introducing Mick and the boys.
“Everybody backstage was doing coke and I’d just bought a vial. I asked Wolfman if he wanted some. He said ‘sure.’ Then he took the vial and walked away. That was going to be my little vial for the weekend. I was so disappointed.”
I mentioned to Scoot it was almost worth it that Wolfman was a coke-hog. Now he’d have a great story to tell. Wolfman Jack stole my cocaine. That would be a great opening story at any party. Scoot had another similar story. He was at a strip club in New Orleans where a young woman took a liking to his sweater.
“It was a nice club on Bourbon Street,” Scoot explained. “I was wearing this long, cool sweater and a stripper asked me if she could try it on. She did and told me she’d give me a free lap dance if I gave it to her. I told her no. Friends have always chided me for not taking the dance as it would have been a great story. I told them it’s a better story now because I said ‘no.’”
Scoot is back home in New Orleans on WWL-AM-FM-WWL and has worked in prestigious markets across the country including Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, Seattle, Portland and San Antonio. His first radio gig was a part-time job as a producer for Bob Ruby’s Morning Show on WWL radio.
Scoot said he worked alongside a very popular jock named Captain Humble early in his career. They appeared on each other’s show, not on the same show.
“He was a good guy who enjoyed life,” Scoot said. “He was stoned all the time, loved his pot. When I was new in the business in the early 70s, I found a way to associate with him. He was a big deal and FM was still king of the underground.”
Scoot took part in what might be termed performative radio. At the Superdome, he organized a jazzercise class that filled the stadium. Replete with leg warmers, Scoot was the MC.
“There are a lot of things I used to do that wouldn’t fly on the radio today,” he said. “I used to do a gay character named Sid Showcase. I’d play the sound effect of a knock on the door and a door opening. I’d say, ‘Sid is coming out of the closet.’”
He did other characters with different accents.
“They were major parts of my show,” Scoot said. “In the 80s, it was a different moment in time. I don’t do that kind of stuff today.”
Scoot did an episode on his YouTube channel which focused on people’s fixation on whether he was gay.
“I did that because I felt I needed to show how ridiculous people are when they judge people for whatever reason,” Scoot said. “It was a way of pointing out how I’ve been judged purely on the way I look. The only thing that makes you gay is if you’re ‘gay.’”
Scoot said he has friends in Denver who have commented he is the gayest straight person they’ve ever known. Apparently, if a man has an eye for fashion or an eclectic taste, you are relegated to assume something about them.
“I’ve even had women that I’ve dated tell me, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t wear that.’ We all have that voice inside us that nobody can hear but us. Not everybody has the courage to follow that voice. People like to think I’m gay because I stand up for gay rights, equality in general. We have no right to judge people. My wife and I went to see a tribute for Donna Summer at a gay club on Bourbon Street. Not because I was gay but because Donna Summer was the Queen of disco and that club honored her the best. I just want to live in a kinder world. Not just for gay people but for politics as well. It’s sad when someone can’t appreciate the fact others have a different point of view.”
He said from the very beginning of his career, he’s been intent on having fun. A GM once suspended him for something he said on the air, something today people wouldn’t blink at.
“I was listening to the Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter debates,” Scoot said. “I comment on the air they were mass-debaters.”
Colbert, Kimmel, or Fallon probably said something more controversial last night. The suspension would have been a great PR stunt, but Scoot doesn’t think the GM saw it that way.
With stations dramatically flipping formats today, emphasizing different areas of broadcasting, Scoot said it hasn’t been too surprising.
“A lot of major corporations are taking away the strongest elements radio has to offer,” Scoot said. “We’re eliminating the intimate conversations hosts can have with listeners. We have so many pre-recorded shows.”
You can get your music anywhere. It’s the connection people crave.
“Once that connection is gone I don’t know why people would have any use for a radio station. It seems the trend is to whittle everything down, so streamline things for the bottom line.”
Scoot thinks that can be the death knell for radio.
“After we had a hurricane down here, I had people come up to me and say ‘Thanks for being there for us.’ We’re still live and intimate. Tens of thousands of people tune in to someone they have a relationship with.”
During the immediate effects and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in late August 2005, WWL was for a time one of the few if not only radio stations in the area remaining on the air.
To stay relevant to young listeners, Scoot is doing a lot of social media stuff, and working on a podcast.
“There are still a lot of people in their 20s and 30s that listen to what we do, they just don’t show up in the ratings. They’re not going to fill out a card telling someone what they’re listening to.”
Evelyn Benoit, a prominent player in Louisiana horse racing, has been so taken with Scoot, she named a horse after him–Scootiera.
“It’s official, approved and everything. He’s got a good bloodline,” Scoot said.
Benoit said her horses’ names have great meaning to her. The names have to be approved by officials. She said she and her trainer went through the stables to find the right horse to name Scoot.
“This is just a microcosm of the fun I’m still having on the radio. I could probably coast on my name and reputation in this market, but I still get up every morning and deliver the best I can every day.”
Scoot has a very calming voice and presence on the air. He said that’s because he strives to be ‘real.’
“People want authenticity,” Scoot said. “I want to be natural on the air. If something is bothering me, I might bring it up. If I think of something on the way to the station, I make it part of the show.”
Sadly, Scoot said we may have to accept these shootings as a ‘new normal.’
He has taken some hope from the midterm elections, saying people are showing up to make a difference.
“I get people that call the show that lean Left, and I’m in a red area. I’d like to think I can provide an alternative to Right-Wing extremism. Too many people are taking the path of least resistance, swallowing the rhetoric.”
Like a comic reads a room, in preparing for his show Scoot said he reads his audience. Scoot and I spoke the day after the most recent gun-related massacre in a Walmart in Virginia.
“I have to wake up on a beautiful Wednesday morning after another shooting and make a decision. Do I bring up yet another horrific topic? I have to determine if and how much I’ll go into a shooting today as they’re so commonplace. How much can an audience take?”
Jim Cryns writes features for Barrett News Media. He has spent time in radio as a reporter for WTMJ, and has served as an author and former writer for the Milwaukee Brewers. To touch base or pick up a copy of his new book: Talk To Me – Profiles on News Talkers and Media Leaders From Top 50 Markets, log on to Amazon or shoot Jim an email at jimcryns3_zhd@indeedemail.com.
