If I mentioned the name Adam Zalusky, you might not recognize it. But if I said Crisco of the “Crisco, Dez & Wes” morning show at KS95, KSTP-FM in Minneapolis, it is likely you would.
Crisco has spent his entire career in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market and has been hosting mornings at the Hubbard Hot AC for the past nine years. Radio peers recognized the show as one of the best Hot AC Shows in the 2024 Barrett Media Top 20.
I couldn’t get too far into our conversation without knowing where the Crisco name came from.
“I worked at Subway when I was 16 or 17 years old. We used to get bored, so we’d draw targets on the boxes of bread, chips, and everything else. We would throw these little knives, the paring knives, and I would hit it and stick it to the side of the can and do whatever as jokes.”
“I got distracted because the camera was coming back on me. And they said, throw it. And I went to throw it. They went, no, don’t. And at the last second, it stuck into the side of a can of Crisco and spread everywhere, all over the floor. And they were like, you need to know you’re forever going to be called Crisco.”
The KS95 morning show includes Crisco along with Dez and Wes, the most recent addition to the cast.
“I’ve been with Dez that whole time. The fun part is the way everything kind of works with me, Dez, and Wes. Wes joined us last April, and it couldn’t have been a better addition to the team.”
“Our dynamic is we’re just three friends. We’re technically just four friends, because Devin, who plays the character Pidge on our show, is also our producer. And we all just get along.”
“That’s authentically who we are. I think that’s a giant recipe for radio, and a giant recipe for life, is being yourself. Wes is good at knowing when to get us going and when to bring everything down.”
“The dynamic of our show is that there are enough problems in life, and there are enough things going on in life that you just want to seem like you’re hanging out with your friends. That’s what I feel like our show is.”
“People listen to it, and they go, oh, okay, Wes, he’s running things because he’s the one who has to get us in and out of things. Dez is the mom. She’s the heart of KS95. I’ve said this since I met her. She’s been here 23 years. It doesn’t function without Dez. Dez is KS95 as much as KS95 is a part of this community.”
Crisco tries not to dwell on the pressure of anchoring mornings on such a big heritage station as KS95.
“If you think about the pressure, it really can make you crack. I’m lucky because every day I come into work, it doesn’t feel like pressure. It doesn’t feel like work itself. It’s just hanging with your friends.”
I’ve made the joke since I was 18 years old, when I started in radio, that I get paid to goof off, and I get paid to be a part of people’s mornings. If they’re having a bad day, we can make it better just by being ourselves and goofing off and having fun like that. There’s always that part of you that thinks of the pressure part.”
Crisco is quick to give credit to the Hubbard Minneapolis team.
“We have such a great crew around here, from our promotions department with Rachel and Jess to our boss, Mat, and our boss’s boss, Dan. They give us the tools that we need to execute.”
“We just are very lucky that we have the people we have with us because it makes it easy to execute every single day and come into work and not have to dread it. Not have to be like, oh, man, wonder if this is doing this or if ratings are doing this. All that stuff is kind of out of your control. If you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, things should work out the way they’re supposed to.”
Listeners also get a huge shoutout from Crisco.
“These are people who you can see once a year. You can see them five times a year. And they know so many details because we share so many details that it feels like you’re just running into an old friend or a family member, it’s like no time has passed.”
“It is just like a family reunion every time we see each other. And there’s no bigger line of community. There’s no bigger connection in my life than our listeners with us.”
The family connection and sharing with the listeners have led to some remarkable moments, like when Crisco’s dog Babe died.
“I lost my dog three years ago. We’ve raised $250,000 in three years thanks to our amazing listeners and Blaze Credit Union. ‘Bucks for Babe’ turned into something that started off just trying to make me feel better. It’s now a $250,000 success of rescuing animals from Kentucky, Mississippi, and all over the country, bringing them home to Minnesota, and getting them forever homes.”
“We’ve saved hundreds, if not thousands, of pets just by being able to bring in money for ‘Bucks for Babe.’ It doesn’t matter if things are tough in their own life. They’re working three or four jobs. Our listeners always come through for us.”
A very personal share involved Dez’s family situation.
“Des lost her brother to suicide 20 years ago. And both Pidge, our producer, and Wes have lost people affected by it. My brother struggles with mental health. We found out through the grapevine and different sources, and Dez had a friend connect with her with semicolon tattoos. And the semicolon tattoo, if you’re not familiar, ‘it means to be continued.’”
“That’s to help anybody who’s going through those dark times. You get a semicolon tattoo on your body. Well, we all went to a tattoo shop after the show last Friday for Mental Health Month. And we all got the semicolon tattoo.”
Crisco aims for the show to be a break from the negativity and anxiety in the listeners’ lives.
“There’s enough negativity in the world that I don’t need to tell anybody how I vote, feel, or anything like that in that camp. Nobody cares. Right. We even go back to when our show had to be on during COVID. I mean, people that was that was one of the freakiest, scariest times in our history.”
“Then you have to go on and try to make jokes, and you have to go on and try to be funny and do stuff like that. We’re supposed to be a release from their day. They already have their own drama. We don’t need to add more to it.”
I asked if Crisco could point to a mentor or career influence, and was not surprised by his answer.
“I grew up listening to (KDWB Minneapolis Morning Man) Dave Ryan. I worked with Dave Ryan. I’ll always look at Dave as a friend. I’ll always look at him as somebody who taught me everything. When I started off, I can be completely honest with you, I was a lazy 18-year-old kid. I really didn’t care. I really didn’t have any direction going for me. If it hadn’t been for him taking me under his wing, and for whatever reason, taking a liking to me, I wouldn’t be here talking to you 23 years later.”
A final thought?
“I think the biggest takeaway is just how lucky we are here, but how lucky I am. There’s nothing to complain about on this side. I’m lucky to work with Wes, who I look at as a brother, Pidge, who I look at as a brother, and Dez, who is quite literally related to me now because she married my cousin.”
“It’s pretty awesome to be able to work with your best friends every single day. And like I said, you get paid for it too.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
