13 years ago, in April of 1997, Brother Rob and I (Matt Cooper) ended our morning show on 96.7 The Bus in Ventura, CA. Upon exiting the studio we were informed that that was it. That was our last show. Not because Rob and I were delivering a bad show, but because the station had been run into the toilet by ownership and sold to a Spanish broadcasting company. The Rock/Alternative format that we had rocked for 2 years would soon become 96.7 Estereo Corazon! Needless to say, being a couple of white, English speaking dudes, we were fired.

Aside from a handful of sporadic, one-off shows, Rob and I haven’t been on the air together since 1997. With corporate consolidation, voice-tracking, automation, syndicated programming, and “more music in the morning” morning shows taking over the industry we once loved more than anything, it’s time for Rob and I to hop into the DeLorean and go where no roads are needed: The Information Superhighway. We’ve traded in transmitters, full of shit consultants (who usually had already failed at their own shows), douche-bag program directors (again, who usually had failed at their own shows and were good ass kissers) for a seaside studio in Ventura, California with no rules. Just a lot of laughs, some occasional tears, some music if we feel it’s worth hearing, and you.

Chapter two of the show brings with it a new name and a new member of the family. First, the new member. Barry Funkhouser (yes, that is the poor bastards real name) joins us from, well, our original show. You see, Barry, or Funk as we’ll call him on the show (most of the time), was our number one fan. Rob and I actually inspired Funk to pursue radio as a career. Holy shit, I think I feel a tear coming on… No, no tear, just allergies.

As for the name Pod Zeppelin, what else would you call it? It’s a Podcast and it rocks. Pod Zeppelin rolls off the tongue and has huge balls. Admit it, it’s a great name and you’re sorry you didn’t think of if first! And I have to give credit where it’s due, this is another product of the underrated genius that is Brother Rob.

On behalf of Brother Rob, Funk, and myself, thank you! Thanks for reading this bullshit, listening and subscribing to our show (and sharing if with your friends!). We look forward to an exciting future on our own terms.

Sincerly,

Matt Cooper
Pod Zeppelin

Now, meet the show.

Matt Cooper
Matt Cooper, Pod Zeppelin / Picture by Marie Gregorio-Oviedo.Hello, I’m Matt Cooper. After working such glamorous jobs as newspaper delivery boy, machine shop burrhand (parts finisher), telemarketer and grocery store bagger (Paper or Plastic?), I decided to throw full-time employment and insurance benefits away so that I could play rock ‘n’ roll for 4 hours a day and get paid for it. Actually, the main reason was that I hoped to get lots of free music and concert tickets. Oh, and to hopefully meet some slutty rocker chicks, too. And a 21 year broadcasting career was born.

Long story short: After working for incompetent radio station owners, Program Directors who were themselves on-air failures, a Scientologist, a drug addict and a Music Director who made me dust his office, I quit. Now, along with the best two co-hosts on the planet, I am my own boss. Technology is to the point where we can point our middle finger at the aforementioned douche-bags and do our own thing: POD ZEPPELIN.

I’m still taking Prozac every night, though.

Matt Cooper was heard on KGB-FM in San Diego, CA, a word or two (literally) on WAAF-FM in Boston, MA, KXBS-FM in Ventura, CA, KBBY-FM in Ventura, CA, KKSB-FM in Santa Barbara, CA, KHTY-FM in Santa Barbara, CA, KVEN-AM in Ventura, CA, KVTA-AM in Ventura, CA and briefly on a shitty show with a bitch named Kim on KKZZ-AM in Ventura, CA.

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Brother Rob
Brother Rob, Pod Zeppelin / Picture by Marie Gregorio-Oviedo.I like tits.

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Funk
Funk, Pod Zeppelin / Picture by Marie Gregorio-Oviedo.I’m Barry Funkhouser, affectionately known my some as Funk. Growing up in a suburban Los Angeles city was interesting for me. Especially when it comes to radio.

When I was at the age of wondering what to do about a career and my life in general, I was heavily engrossed in the CAD field.  I went to college and almost graduated in Architectural CAD.   I enjoy it, I admire those who create things for the betterment of society and I abhor those who do it for their own personal gain- and architects are some of the smartest most innovative people on the planet. That being said, there’s a LOT of music listening in CAD, and the 90s didn’t have Pandora. I listened to these two guys Matt Cooper and Brother Rob doing the stupidest stuff on the air, playing some alt rock and local tunes and overall staying entertaining for a LONG time while I drafted. I became increasingly interested in performance art and being on the radio listening to the power of local radio and what can be done to move society. I come from a strong background in business entertainment as my grandfather was a successful singer throughout his life and I had a strong connection with him, so I immersed myself in learning how the radio field worked so that I may gain success in that field.

When I was 18, I started an internship in local radio, where I would witness September 11th while under the helm of a local news station and I witnessed the Lakers win a bazillion games in a row while under the helm of a hip hop station. I feel there couldn’t have been a better way to learn. I met some of the architects behind the giant radio stations that have been around forever, and I learned a good fundamental understanding of the business when I headed to major market radio, where I worked with all the biggest adult music makers in the past 40 years of entertainment. I produced national radio on a weekly basis, to where it was second nature to me. I learned how to get exactly what I wanted as a producer out of the talent I was working with. It became just like that of what I learned in school in CAD, and I became one of the best in the business. I was hand-picked to revive  the biggest radio name in history’s career as part of my last stop in LA before leaving to practice doing it on my own.

My first stint as talent was in Las Vegas, then Portland. Times were getting worse and worse and attitudes in local radio became increasingly negative. I was part of a dysfunctional operation in both cities and knew there was nothing that could be done to fix it. Big business had ruined local radio, and I knew that the radio industry jumped the shark. I went back to LA and started melding my hobbies and career together, where I became head of some satellite radio operations under a popular network syndicator.

I took all of what I had learned in local and national radio and applied it heavily into what I believe to be the next stage in audio entertainment: the podcast. I had built ErrorFM in 2002, which went from a hobby, to an experiment in automation, to a lucrative opportunity- and with the advent of on-demand radio, it is only a matter of time until the podcast is the primary means of local audience, just like radio was before it jumped the shark.

Back in 1997, I was an impressionable teenager listening to local radio. Local radio was exciting to hear because of the competitiveness and exciting content. After all, ratings = revenue. I thought the ability to get directly to the DJ was so valuable for local radio, whatever you needed to know there was someone in your corner, happy to hear from you. When one-by-one each of my favorites disappeared, I knew something was wrong.  Thirteen years later and thousands of hours in development I am proud to be part of Pod Zeppelin, the most dangerous podcast on the internet and chapter two of this thing we call radio entertainment.