Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor by Marcy Nathan

My career has been linked with the New Orleans Saints — with the coaches, players and radio personalities on WWL, the flagship station of the Saints — since my very early days in advertising.

It all began with #57 Rickey Jackson of the Dome Patrol and a commercial for Radiofone, a wireless service provider in New Orleans with a very memorable jingle produced by ad man Robert Alford, who hired me to write a script for Rickey. Robert and I would go on to work together for years at his agency.

In the commercial, #57 used his Radiofone to order 57 cheeseburgers, 57 fries — oh, and a diet cold drink. He had to make weight, after all.

I would meet up with Rickey Jackson again years later when we sold the Hall of Famer’s smoked sausage at Rouses Markets, one of many partnerships we’ve had with former Saints players, including Joe Horn and Zach Strief. Today, we proudly feature Rickey’s fellow Dome Patrol linebacker Pat Swilling’s tequila, Avé, in our New Orleans stores.

On the agency side, I also worked with Mike Ditka of “da Bears” fame during his short tenure as head coach of the Saints. When he was hired, Ditka promised owner Tom Benson and everyone else he would transform the team, but he struggled early and never found any momentum. In 1999, he traded almost all of our draft picks, plus our first-round and third-round picks from the 2000 draft, to get running back Ricky Williams. Run, Ricky, Run. This was such a big commitment on Ditka’s part that ESPN the Magazine posed Ditka as groom and Williams as bride on their cover. Our client, Radiofone, parodied the magazine cover in a commercial. Williams had a disappointing rookie season (it happens), and Benson fired his coach, who, it turned out, didn’t know Ditka about the draft.

TRAINING CAMP IN THIBODAUX

In 2000, the Saints hired Jim Haslett. That year, they also brought training camp

back to Thibodaux for the first time since the 1970s. This was the beginning of the Rouses Markets relationship with the Saints, as well as with WWL Radio. I had already worked with WWL with other clients and would meet the Rouses Markets folks in 2001.

Camp was held at Nicholls State University. “John L. Guidry Stadium had, on average, 8,000 people watching practice under the lights every night,” recalls DePaul Smith, director of Saints radio sales. “I’d never been to Thibodaux before, and then I was going down every day for training camp, and the community made such an impression on me. You could see that Rouses Markets was completely at the heart of it.”

As DePaul remembers, there was no rain that year — and no mosquitos. And the excitement of meeting Haslett, and players like Joe Horn, Willie Roaf, Kyle Turley, Sammy Knight, Norman Hand, La’Roi Glover and so many others — Steve Gleason was a rookie that year — heightened the energy to a fever pitch.

Tim Acosta, Rouses Marketing and Advertising Director, agrees. “We were a sponsor. Every day, we were right there next to the field, cooking jambalaya for the fans who came to watch practice. At the time, with 15 stores, that felt like a significant milestone. Now, with 64 stores (and more in the works), we are the official presenting sponsor of Training Camp for the second year in a row, and the official supermarket of the New Orleans Saints. That makes me very proud.”

This was before my time with Rouses Markets, but Tim remembers hearing — then seeing — Saints superfan Whistle Monsta walking up to the stadium at Nicholls. “He could whistle louder than anyone I’d ever heard before. And then to have all of the

players and coaches and fans in our stores. It was unforgettable.”

Saints fans truly are the best in the NFL, and the most creative. I used to ride a River Parish Disposal trash truck around the Superdome with Supa Saint and other fans on game day.

The first year the Saints had training camp back in Thibodaux, they had their first winning season in years, with an amazing 31-28 victory in the wild-card playoffs at the Superdome and Jim Henderson’s legendary call, “Hakim drops the ball! There is a God after all!”

THE REMOTES

As Tim recalls, we had our very first WWL live show at the new Rouses Market in Thibodaux during that 2000 training camp, and live shows throughout that summer. These were the first of hundreds of live shows (which we call remotes) to come. Now we have remotes at stores all over the Gulf Coast throughout the year. I’m usually on site, and this is one of my favorite things we do in the advertising and marketing department. You can follow along on social media to see when a remote is scheduled in your area.

As I mentioned, I wasn’t there, but Tim remembers that radio personality Buddy Diliberto was at those remotes in Thibodaux, along with New Orleans Saints radio announcer Hokie Gajan. We have a story in this issue about Buddy D, whose unmistakable voice and references to callers as “squirrels” endeared him to countless fans across the Gulf Coast.

I wrote a lot of commercials for Buddy D over the years (and later Hokie Gajan). It didn’t really matter what I wrote, or which client the script was for, though, because you never knew what kind of linguistic

roller-coaster you were about to ride when Buddy D went on the air — Hokie Gajan became Hokie Saigon. But his memorable mispronunciations were part of his charm.

Buddy D died in January 2005. But his remarkable spirit lived on in the unforgettable Buddy D Dress Parade that unfolded after pigs flew, hell froze over, and the Saints won the NFC Championship and were on their way to the 2010 Super Bowl.

Thousands of Saints fans joined forces with Bobby Hebert, WWL Radio and DePaul Smith, and our agency client, River Parish Disposal (“Our Business Stinks, But It’s Picking Up!”), the waste disposal company run by Weldon “the Gator” Frommeyer and his son “Brother” Frommeyer, the Lil Gator. Everyone came together to honor Buddy’s promise to wear a dress if the Saints made it to the Super Bowl. It was a momentous celebration honoring Buddy D and the indomitable spirit of Saints fans. It was a privilege to contribute to putting the parade together. And so, affectionately known as “Buddy’s Brawds,” thousands of men donned dresses, representing the camaraderie of football that unites us all.

In that remarkable Super Bowl season, Pepsi and Rouses Markets had a meet and greet with Drew Brees planned for our customers, initially scheduled for the end of the season. But with the Saints’ winning streak, the event had to be repeatedly postponed. Finally, in February, after that onside kick, a 16-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Thomas, and a 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts, we were able to host the meet and greet. The moment was nothing short of electrifying when Drew Brees took charge and led us all in a spirited Super Bowl huddle chant.

DEUCEBUMPS

The year after Buddy died, Hokie Gajan became the voice of River Parish Disposal. Hokie’s folksy observations and one-liners — we called them “Hokie-isms” — fit perfectly with River Parish Disposal, a company with a great sense of humor.

I wrote a commercial for River Parish Disposal transitioning from Buddy to Hokie with: “Let’s dedicate the season to Buddy Diliberto, boys … let’s win one for the Lipper.” The commercial only ran for two weeks before Katrina hit on August 29, 2005.

I also penned commercials for Hokie for Jani-King, and, later, Rouses Markets. I still reference my favorite Hokie spot ever

— “Deucebumps,” my word that captured the essence of Hokie’s admiration for Deuce McAllister, and how excited he got when McAllister made a play.

Today, we all get Deucebumps when Deuce McAllister makes an appearance in one of our stores or comes to our office. Deuce starred in our Shoppa Style commercial alongside Darwin Turner, the New Orleans West Bank rapper known as Choppa. Turner’s hit, “Choppa Style,” is a favorite in the Saints locker room, on the field and at tailgates. Our whole TV crew got Deucebumps during the Shoppa Style shoot. (I personally get Deucebumps every time Deuce refers to the big screen in the Superdome as the Rouses Markets’ Gumbotron on WWL Saints Radio.)

THE BAYOU

The Saints personality I’ve worked with the longest is Bobby Hebert. When Bobby talks about Rouses Markets, you know it’s true because he was born on the bayou, just like Rouses.

When Bobby does a remote, it’s great radio, great entertainment and great camaraderie with the fans that come up to see him — fans of all ages. He has to have his Rouses brand Italian sparkling water, because he loves it, and a cup of black coffee. This usually involves the store manager making him fresh coffee throughout the remote because they want to impress him — they are fans, too.

Bobby Hebert is truly the funniest person I know. He recently told me he was like a lizard because he doesn’t have any hair on his arms or legs.

I am lucky to call Bobby a friend, but anyone who has ever talked to him in our stores walks away feeling like they are his friend. This is Bobby’s first question of everyone he meets: “Hey, where you from?” From your answer, he will play Six Degrees of Separation.

Working closely with Deuce, Bobby, Mike Detillier, Mike Hoss, DePaul Smith and the rest of the WWL Radio team — along with Bobby’s son T-Bob and Guaranty Media in Baton Rouge — has been an absolute pleasure and a highlight of my career. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything — not even for almost all of the Saints’ 2024 draft picks, and the Saints first-round and third-round picks from the 2025 draft.