Illinois Entertainer May 2022 | Page 24

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emblazoned on them . They ’ ve even set up a business number where you ’ re greeted with an automated menu of options , including location and hours of operation , upcoming video releases , sales , and a complaint department . You can even hear a muzak version of their new song . But why ? Has PUP gone corporate ?
Well , yes and no . Though PUP isn ’ t necessarily making albums and playing shows purely for monetary reasons , Babcock recognizes it ’ s still a business . “ This is a business for us and there are lots of people who have come to rely on it for their livelihood ,” he says . “ It ’ s important that [ the band ] succeeds
M . O .. Maybe some people will hate it but maybe some people will like it . That ' s a hard thing to control , right ? The best we can do is make something we ' re happy with and we feel like is building on what we ' ve done in the past and hopefully some people connect with it .”
Finding that balance is difficult , but over the years PUP has built enough confidence to trust their own instincts . “ When the four of us are all excited about something chances are we ' re on the right track . We ' ve always trusted our own judgment and the songs we ' ve connected with the most were ones that became popular PUP songs . The ones we kind of halfassed didn ' t do as well . So , we ’ ve learned to trust if we ' re excited about something , other people will probably be excited about it .” What started as a way to kill boredom during the pandemic has turned into the band ’ s “ favorite and most true-to-form album to date .” The risks they took and the challenges they imposed on themselves helped the band not only create something they ’ re proud of but also helped them keep moving forward . “ I think it opened up a lot of doors to allow us

WGN Radio ’ s Dave Plier ’ s interest in the media began at a very young age . “ Getting to see the Bozo show when I was a kid really did it . I saw the set there , and I remember thinking it was so small . I had no idea it was like that . It intrigued me and fascinated me .”

It inspired a life-long obsession with visual arts , which is something he still does today . “ I love display work and store design . I am the Co-CEO of Retail First . We are a retail environment company , building store fixtures , POP , and graphics for clients like Massage Envy , Ace Hardware , Dick ’ s Sporting Goods , True Value , Walgreens , Party City , Yeti , Weber , and more . I ’ ve been on this side of the business for 21 years . Nobody really knows I have a job too . They hear me on WGN , but this is my day job , and I really love it .”
The irony of having such a visual job is not lost on the radio host . “ Maybe that ’ s why I find radio
By Rick Kaempfer

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH DAVE PLIER

Dave Plier
I was somebody ’ s first .” It moved pretty quickly after that . “ Right away they started having me fill in on all the shifts . I was excited and honored , especially , to fill on the morning show . I couldn ’ t believe I was doing the same shift that Wally Phillips did . I listened to Wally with my dad on the way to school . What a thrill .”
Plier has a regular slot now . He hosts Friday nights . “ The other shows are so much more newsfocused , but because I ’ m on Friday nights I can allow the topics to breathe a little bit . By Friday night everyone has been inundated with hard news and they want a break . Let ’ s not talk about any of that and have some good feel-good content .”
He also hosts a Frank Sinatra show every Sunday morning . “ Sean Compton ( GM of WGN ) introduced me to Perry Sook , the CEO of Nexstar , and he said he wanted to do something a little dif-
but it ' s also really important that we find creative fulfillment and those two are often at odds . I think a lot of people who start businesses face this . The way we ' ve dealt with this is through humor . We ' re still drinking beer in the basement but we ' re also reviewing which corporate insurance policies we want to buy into ( laughs ). It ' s just a bit of a trip . It ' s really sad if you ' re unable to see the humor in all of it .”
It ’ s a crossroad lots of longstanding bands face . Do you keep going for the tried-and-true method to sell more records ? Or do you risk that and go for something different that may be more fulfilling ? It ’ s a tricky balance . It would ’ ve been easy for PUP to take the safe route , make a sequel to their last album , and coast off of it . Instead , they pushed themselves to keep growing . Yet , they still wanted to ensure they didn ’ t “ alienate every single PUP fan .” “ We were really trying to thread this needle of pushing the boundaries of what we ' re able to do , but at the same time , holding on to the parts of the band we think are special and trying to make this sound undeniably like PUP but a new version of PUP . That ' s a pretty tall order , but that was kind of the
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to keep growing as a band , which is really exciting for me because I would like this to be a long career ,” says Babcock . “ I would like this band to age gracefully and not just be a band that keeps making the same record over and over . I think it ' s a step in the right direction .”
THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND may be an unconventional PUP record that sees them going on a slightly different path , but one thing remains the same : a group of friends who “ love each other so much ” and “ fucking hate each other ” who just want to get together , laugh , and make music . And that ’ s part of what makes PUP the band . “ It ' s not the tricks that we ' ve used in the past like the gang vocals . That doesn ' t make it sound like PUP . It ' s the four of us in a room together and all of our personalities coming together in a way that shows all the dichotomies of the band . We ' re very serious about trying to make a really great record , but also , we think it ' s ridiculous we get to do this . So , it ' s all fun and love and hate and being upset with each other and just being in awe that this is our lives . That ' s what makes it sound like PUP .”
such an escape ,” he says . Dave ’ s journey to the radio booth is an incredibly unique one . His might be the only radio career in history launched through a broadcasting museum .
“ Back in the early 2000s they were looking for some young blood ,” he says , “ and at the time they had much older board members like Steve Allen , Angel Harvey , and Betty White . I was asked to be a spokesperson because I was a younger face , and I started doing regular appearances on Dean Richards show back in 2004 . I also guested on shows like Spike O ’ Dell ’ s , Steve Cochran ’ s , and Garry Meier ’ s show , and on other radio stations too , like Mancow ’ s . At first , it was all about the Museum .” That all changed ten years ago this month . Plier is happy he answered the phone that May morning . “ Dean was in LA for an awards show and his phone line crapped out ,” he explains . “ So they called me and said to come in and do the show . It was like 7:30 in the morning . They wanted me to host with Dean on the phone . I had to come in right away . ‘ We need you in 20 minutes ,’ they said . I didn ’ t even have time to take a shower . I did the last three hours with Dean , and it was a blast .
Tom Langmyer and Bill White were the management guys then , and they encouraged me to take a shot doing this . I co-hosted an overnight show with Bill Leff , and he taught me a lot of the fundamentals . He said , ‘ bring some guests to the table .’ The first guest I brought was Betty White . When I called her and asked her to be my first guest , she said , sure , ‘ But it ’ s been a long time since
ferent on Sunday mornings . He wanted to do a Sinatra show and asked me what I would do if I got that show . I ’ m a big geek when it comes to music , but I also loved , revered , and got to meet Don Rickles , his road manager who was also Sinatra ’ s road manager , and Tom Dreesen , who opened for him all those years , and I thought to myself I ’ d like to include some conversation about the man in addition to the music . So we sprinkle in stories about him as we play his music . Stories about his very colorful personal life , his movie career , and his love of Jack Daniels . You name it .”
Despite the full-time gig as a CEO and his full weekends at WGN , Dave is also still heavily involved in the Museum of Broadcast Communications . In fact , he ’ s the boss there now . “ I took over for Larry Wert as Chair back in the summer of 2019 and 6 months later we were in the midst of a pandemic . No easy task leading a nonprofit for the last couple of years .” But the museum is on the way back . Several events are already planned . “ We have an inaugural award The Bob Newhart Award For Excellence in Television we will launch this fall with Bob . We have a Radio Hall of Fame event this July where we will celebrate Top 40 Radio Personalities from the ' 60s and ' 70s . The Radio Hall of Fame takes place in Chicago in October .”
The man who is running those events can be heard every Friday night 6-10 pm , on Saturday afternoons from 1-3 pm , and Sunday mornings from 7-9 am on WGN Radio .