Bandleaders in Texas take their football and discipline seriously. Ramon Robles played percussion in his high school band. One day he was late for practice and as punishment, the bandleader made him run laps on the track around the football field. During one of those laps, Robles fell and broke his ankle.
“I tripped over a bend in the concrete,” Robles said. “Not a lie.”
Wow. Only a man who is extremely sure of himself who would admit to such a thing.
Robles describes himself as a professional button pusher. The longtime producer for The Michael Berry Show on NewsRadio 740 KTRH AM does a heck of a lot more. Berry and Robles do two shows a day. The first from 8:00-11:00 AM, and the second from 5:00-7:00 PM.
“It’s still us doing both shows, but they might be considered different versions,” Robles said. “In the morning, we’re getting out of bed, finding coffee. I think we’re a little bit lighter in tone for the morning show than we may be later. Mornings should be more entertaining. We look at it as a more loose show. If morning events warrant, we will be serious.”
Robles said he and Michael Berry (who Robles simply calls “Berry”) are extremely comfortable on the air. At ease with how they run their clock.
“We’ve spent so many years imitating and borrowing from (Rush) Limbaugh and other personalities, we were ultimately able to discover our natural flow,” Robles said.
He explained you can work with someone long enough that you share non-verbal communication on the air.
“I’m always looking for a way to bust Berry up,” Robes said. “If we’ve been laughing about something on the air, and he wants to stop laughing, he knows he can’t look at me. If he does, he’ll break out in laughter again.”
When they discuss something more serious, laughs can turn to tears.
“If we’re discussing something serious and emotional, if one of us gets teary-eyed, we can’t look at each other at that point. That would make the other cry. It can be very emotional in the studio at times.”
Robles seems genuinely thrilled he’s a Texas man. He was born about 30 miles from Houston in Texas City, a blue-collar town with oil refineries. Robles still has a younger and older sister in the Texas City area. His father-in-law lives just two blocks from Robles’ parents.
“You know you’ve reached Texas City when you see all the fumes and flares coming from the stacks,” Robles said. “They call it steam, but it’s fumes. We’re one match away from not being on the earth any longer,” Robles said of all the gas in the air.
I mentioned to Robles I get the feeling Texas City is like Odessa from Friday Night Lights, or where Bud and Sissy lived in Urban Cowboy.
“Urban Cowboy is mandatory viewing in school,” Robles jokes.
“KTRH has always been the blowtorch in Houston,” Robles said. “I tried for years to get in. I sent five or six resumes. Finally, I interviewed for a weekend board op position in April of 1999. By December, I was hired as a producer.”
Robles was filling in on a weekend shift when he first met Michael Berry.
“He was coming to the end of his city council job and doing a weekend show,” Robles said. “It was so sad, the poor guy had to offer pecan pies to anyone who called in and asked a question on his show.”
Robles said Berry ended up with a lot of uneaten pecan pies.
Robles credits his mother and father, saying they were instrumental in his success. His father was one of nine kids raised by his mother in Wharton, Texas. These were humble beginnings.
“My father was picking cotton when he was 8 years old,” Robles said. “As I was growing up, I was aware of that fact. I respected him and wasn’t going to complain when my Nintendo wasn’t working. He’d been through enough already.”
Robles said his parents are proud of their son, and his work in radio.
“You wish you would have known what your parents were saying to you when you were young. You wish you’d taken what they said more to heart. They were offering life lessons, and at the time I didn’t know how right they were.”
Robles said looking back at his high school years he was neither a dork or overly popular.
“I was neither picked on nor ignored,” Robles said. “I have a bad memory of people, but I know I went to high school with my wife, Amy. We kind of knew each other. We were in band together but never hung out”
When he gets away from work, Robles likes to hunt. “My five-year-old son, Oliver, is looking forward to hunting with me for the first time,” Robles said. “He loves to try anything. Our elder son is really into his computer games.”
Robles said his wife enjoys a variety of things. “If she sees anything bright, expensive, and shiny, she’s gotta have it.”
Robles has learned to appreciate each day as it comes. One of the more difficult times in his life came when his best friend Brian passed away in 2004.
“The enormity struck me as I thought, ‘Oh, man, that’s the end. That’s it.’ I remember driving to Brian’s parents’ home and sitting with them. I couldn’t say anything to them. I didn’t know what to say.”
Robles said he’s learned a great deal from working with Michael Berry over the years.
“He’s a renaissance man,” Robles said of Berry. “He has two law degrees and he stopped practicing law to go into real estate. With everything he does, Berry just jumps in and learns. The man knows how to build a team, and we all have our own specialties. I learned how to delegate from Berry.”
Even though they’re on opposite sides of the glass during the show, they keep in constant communication.
“Our show prepping is like jazz music,” Robles said. “Our executive producer Chad will throw out a couple of topics. I might throw something out there. Before you know it there are a lot of figurative musical notes on the figurative page. Not necessarily the same arrangement, but definitely the same jazz set.”
He said Berry knows how to cut to the core of an interview. He feels his way.
“That’s what makes Berry so good,” Robles said. “It doesn’t matter who he’s talking to. He’ll ask a caller, ‘What do you do for a living?’ That question seems to loosen people up and they want to share more with him.”
If the topic is ‘juiced,’ Robles said there is no stopping the show.
“I knew him before he was Michael Berry. I knew him when he was giving away pies for calls. Berry says he’s 6’ tall. I know for fact he’s only 5’11.”
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.
