Out 'N About - Hogan, Swann

Radio icons

Hogan, Swann team up with passion to be radio’s best

Long before the sun rises over the mountain empire, Dave Hogan and Carl Swann are hard at work, readying themselves to become guests in thousands of homes and cars.

The radio icons teamed up in 2007 to co-host “Thinking Out Loud,” the morning program for WCJW and WGOC AM radio stations. A wide array of local business, civic and political leaders and newsmakers are featured on the show, which airs live Mondays through Fridays from 6 to 9 Dave Hogan, left, and Carl Swann ‘Thinking Out Loud’ a.m.

As one listener puts it, “Their show is not the traditional, stiff interview program. They make it sound like a couple of guys sitting around, having a good conversation. And that’s very pleasurable to drive down the road listening to.”

“They invite us in,” Swann says in response. “That is a great gift, and a compliment, but also a responsibility that we never take for granted.

“We try to find interesting people to talk to about their passions. They become interesting when they do. We engage in conversation to draw them out. When the audience hears that, it draws them in,” Swann said. “It is very much theater of the mind. We may sound like we’re just out there, sitting on the porch talking. But it’s always directed.”

“Oh, yes. We’re totally scripted,” Hogan interjects, smiling. “Well, I am anyway.”

Hogan’s radio career began in 1957. “I had a strong aversion to manual labor,” he says with grin, leaning back in his chair behind the control panel. “I grew up on a dirt farm, and it was work from daylight to dark.

“Radio was my window to the world. Through radio I knew there was something outside (Continued on Page 2)

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of my hometown, a big interesting world out there.” He recalls his fascination while listening to the political conventions of 1952, during which several ballots were required before the Democrats selected Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson II and the Republicans chose Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as their respective presidential nominees.

“And of course there was baseball – lots of baseball, all the time – and the voices of Red Barber, Vin Scully and Bob Prince.”

He was “a pretty good football player” but Hogan made his decision and walked into his coach’s office to turn in his cleats. “I told him I was going into radio. He sat me down and said, ‘Now, son, there’s this new phenomenon of television. In five years there won’t be any radio. So I’ve been hearing about the demise of radio since I got in it,” Hogan said.

Hogan was there for the explosion that marked the birth of rock and roll. “In the 50s, it was a huge thing. And it was not popular right away, certainly not in country markets – at least not until Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan promoted it. Then people began to have to play Jerry Lee Lewis and others.”

Swann’s radio days began during his junior year at Dobyns-Bennett High School when he was selected a guest student DJ for the daily program “Teenage Terrace.”

“We’d go out and get requests. You know, ‘Janie wants to dedicate Bobby Darin to…,’” Swann says, smiling at the memory. “At some point, I’m sitting there in the studio, announcing, in the middle of all this equipment, and I’m thinking this is just about the greatest thing possible.”

Swann was noticed by longtime WKPT radio man Martin Karant. “He asked if I’d be interested. Well, that was like putting Br’er Rabbit in the briar patch.” So, in 1960, Swann went

On the Air: ‘We try to find interesting people to talk to about their passions.

They become interesting when they do. We engage in conversation to draw them out. When the audience hears that, it draws them in.

It is very much theater of the mind. We may sound like we’re just out there, sitting on the porch talking. But it’s always directed.’

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Carl Swann

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to work playing “middle-of-the-road,” or “easy listening” music for WKPT, a partnership that would continue off and on for two decades.

“It was wonderful. Now, Martin was a taskmaster. He taught us a lot. We had to pass the NBC audition form. He was just as serious with us as if we would have been national network announcers.”

“Thinking Out Loud” eludes easy definition. Their show reflects Hogan and Swann’s wide-ranging interests and their unquenchable thirst for information.

“We share a love of NASCAR, and sports in general, along with political goings-on at all levels, music of all kinds and good food. Yet we manage to have enough dissimilar leanings to keep things entertaining,” Swann said.

Both men are “firm believers” ‘Radio was my window to the world. Through in planning ahead. “Both Dave radio I knew there was something outside and I know many people in the of my hometown, a big interesting world out region, so getting guests for there.’ local and regional events and stories has never been a probDave Hogan lem,” Swann said.

“We’re all products of our experiences, therefore all that we have done in the past helps us be better at what we do now,” Hogan said. “On the other hand, if Carl and I had sat down in 1965, for example, I believe we would have been completely comfortable with each other. Neither of us have ever been uncomfortable in front of a microphone.”

“Dave and I knew each other but we had never worked together until August of 2007,” Swann said. “His co-host at the time had left. I had sat in on a couple of earlier occasions. We seemed to complement each other’s style, so I agreed to become co-host on a permanent basis.”

Though they have literally a century of experience between them, the microphone still has the same charm for the duo. Their boyish enthusiasm and good-natured bantering is a staple whether the “On Air” light is lit or not.

A simple question offers an excellent opening: “Have you two reached the point where you finish each other’s sentences?” “With Dave, I have to,” Swann quickly deadpans, leaving Hogan grasping for the magic control knob in the futile hope he might “mute” his partner.

Hogan’s earliest memories are of listening to “The Lone Ranger” on the radio, and his mother listening to soap operas while she worked.

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“Also, in the beginning there was a considerable talk show presence on radio, such as Jack Bailey. Then it began to evolve as an instrument of music – the industry was literally dominated by music.

“As time moved on, every little town got a station and soon there were so many stations. And then came the opening of the FM band. And pretty soon all the music listening was going over to FM, which is of course a better medium.

“But with the human voice, it really doesn’t matter ‘At some point, I’m sitting there in the studio, whether AM or FM. And all announcing, in the middle of all this equipthese innovators are out there, ment, and I’m thinking this is just about the working and retooling, and greatest thing possible.’ now we’ve seen the great reCarl Swann surgence in talk radio,” Hogan said.

The broadcasters credit national talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Mike Gallagher for having a tremendous impact. “But if it wouldn’t have been Rush, it would have been someone else,” Hogan said.

Both hosts say they believe a professional “instinctively knows” their individual market and how far they can comfortably go expressing opinions or provoking controversy.

“Some of the national hosts can be a bit extreme. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with them or not. We live here, in this community, and so we are not really able to go that far. And I don’t think our listeners either expect or want us to do that,” Hogan said.

Despite a half-century in front of the microphone, Hogan and Swann are still hearing about “the demise of radio.” And they’re still not buying it.

“There will always be radio for our generation,” Swann says. “Still, there is a lot of competition for that advertising dollar, and we may see a different delivery system,” Hogan adds as Swann pulls his cellphone from his pocket and holds it up.

“It likely will center around these. And, of course, another big development comes in the form of the iPad. I think we’re going to see a portable information center in the not-too-distant future,” Swann said.

“All media is in the same boat,” Hogan said. “It’s not that there is less demand. Actually, there is more. But it’s becoming more difficult to compete with the huge conglomerates in the digital delivery of everything.”