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105.3 The Fan in Dallas host RJ Choppy was a guest on The Dan Patrick Show talking about the now infamous interview he and partner Shan Shariff had earlier this week with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The Fan is the Cowboys flagship station and Jones has done the weekly interview on the show for almost a decade and a half.
“How did that interview end, R.J.?” asked Patrick after playing a clip of the question that led up to Jones going on a tirade about how he could replace the hosts with others who would ask questions he wanted to answer.
“We went into a couple of other topics, and we ended it as normal,” Choppy said. “Now, it went longer than normal. Usually, they’re about 15 minutes. This one went closer to a half hour, but yeah, it ended less contentious than it was in that moment, but when it ended, we did know that that was not a normal Tuesday appearance from Jerry. We’ve had almost 300 of them with him. It’s been 14 years that we’ve done that interview with Jerry. Basically, the same time on Tuesdays, and we’ve never had anything like that.”
Patrick then asked, “Any follow-up from Jerry Jones after the interview, given the fallout from it?”
Choppy replied, “No, not to us, and we haven’t heard anything, and I’m sure that it would have been relayed to us had there been, but no. We actually talked yesterday, we were wondering if he would call in today. He has an appearance Tuesday on the station and then Friday on the station. So, we haven’t heard from him. It may change as the week goes on, but as of now, no.”
“Did you take the threat seriously that you guys are interchangeable parts there on the flagship station?” asked Patrick.
As Choppy said, “…Everybody’s interchangeable, I suppose…” Patrick added, “He seems serious, RJ.”
“It did seem serious, but you know, we were sitting there wondering, was he talking about removing us physically? Or just he’s gonna do his interview on another show on our station at a different time of day, which if he wants to do that, I suppose that’s his prerogative, but no, our company, our bosses have been behind us. They’ve not said a word about that.”
Patrick asked if Jones or the Cowboys had ever asked for certain topics to be off limits or submitted questions they wanted asked. Choppy said there was one time several years ago when they asked to not discuss the Colin Kaepernick situation, however Choppy explained they had already talked to Jones about the subject a few different times.
Choppy later added about Jones, “He’s been great. That’s why this was so surprising. He’s never been sensitive. Of all the owners that we’ve dealt with in town, and even owners that we’ve had on from other markets, we’ve never had one that is more accepting of difficult questions. We don’t get personal with him…He’s never had a problem with answering tough questions. When you’re the owner and the GM, and you put yourself out on radio twice a week, every week, it’s hard to avoid those questions. To his credit, he’s never had a problem with them, and that’s what made this so surprising and disappointing, to be frank.”
Patrick and Choppy would go on to talk about why they thought this happened and whether Jones is more interested in winning championships or getting himself and the Cowboys brand promoted on radio and television.
As they wrapped up, Patrick said, “Good to talk to you, RJ. Glad you’re still employed.” Choppy replied, “For now.”
