Sachem alums find themselves in some interesting and unique places across the world, but in-studio talking with Howard Stern is far and few between. Besides Sachem alum Sal Governale, who is a writer for the Stern Show, and yours truly, who toured the studio and was heard on an interview I did with Howard 100 News – about a profile I wrote on Governale – there are no other connections to Sachem and Stern.
That’s what I thought until recently when I was driving and listening to Sirius XM and faintly heard the call letters “WSHR” said over the radio. I took a double take at my console and realized Sachem radio, 91.9-FM, wasn’t on. WSHR was mentioned on the Stern Show. I cranked up the volume and was surprised and pleased to hear Kenny Nash, a 2008 Sachem East graduate and former on-air personality of WSHR, talking with Stern. Amazing.
I tracked down Kenny, who has worked with Sachem’s custodial staff in recent years, and asked about his once-in-a-lifetime radio experience.
Sachem Report: What was your involvement with WSHR when you were a student?
Kenny Nash: I started out like everyone else by doing shows with the other students, but then had the opportunity to broadcast my own show called the WSHR Weekend Countdown. I had a lot of fun doing that (although it was pre-recorded), but the best part about that show was that I did that from my house. I had set up a mini version of a radio studio in my room and recorded my shows from there. The countdown show aired from March 2007 – June 2008.
Sachem Report: And Howard Stern? How did this all happen?
Kenny: I was in my room and obviously had the Howard Stern Show on. That’s all I listened to was Howard. Besides Hits 1 and Hairnation, I would keep on Howard 100 and just listen to the show and then listen to the replay over and over. I had been to Sirius prior to Howard and got to meet one of the DJ’s from Hairnation, and while I was listening to the Stern Show, I thought of my experience at Sirius and thought, why not try and email [Stern Show Executive Producer] Gary [Dell’Abate] and see if I could just go down there and meet them.
I never wanted to be on the air, I just wanted to meet everyone and tour the studio. I emailed Gary and I told him who I was, and told him that I was a high school radio DJ and that I was a big fan of the show, and wanted to see if I could come down to visit them. I thought I would never hear back from him since they probably get this stuff all the time. A couple of hours later I saw a response from Gary and it said, “When would you be available to stop by?”
I couldn’t believe that he wrote back, and thought that it was just a joke, but when I told him anytime, people from the show started calling me to set up dates on when to come down. They chose Aug. 16, 2007. It was a day that I would never forget.
Sachem Report: What was it like going to the studio of your radio idol?
Kenny Nash: I didn’t get to tour Howard’s main studio since they were on the air, but I got to tour Scott [The Engineer’s] production studio along with Sal and Richard’s studios and JD’s studio. Gary was very nice to my dad and I and he showed us around. Jason then took us outside to the Sirius studio’s and showed us around. It was pretty awesome.
Sachem Report: Did you talk to Sal about going to Sachem?
Kenny: When we got to Sal and Richard’s studio they said hello to us and then Sal said, “you said you go to Sachem?” He asked if Mr. Varajao still tough there. “Matter of fact I see him all the time,” I said. He then told me that he had him for history. That was pretty much all we talked about and then he brought up the radio station. He said he remembered it being in a back room in the octagon by the main office. When I went back to school, it was the first day and I remember Mr. Varajao calling me into the history office. He shook my hand and said, ‘congratulations.’ I was puzzled as to why he would say this to me, but I was like for what? ‘Great job on the Stern Show man,’ he said. ‘It was awesome.’ He was more excited the Sal still remembered him, but he said that he really enjoyed the show. Most of my teachers when I walked in there room on the first day were like, ‘Nash I heard you on Stern good job.’
Sachem Report: So tell us about what it was like being on-air with Howard?
Kenny: I was on the air for about 15 minutes. I was really nervous. I remember thinking to myself as I was on the air, “how bad do I sound?” Sitting there in front of everyone made me turn into Ralph Kramden as chef of the future. “Humina Humina Humina.” I froze and just couldn’t believe where I was and who I was talking too.
Sachem Report: Was it nerve-wracking at all being on air with the King of All Media?
Kenny: The scariest part I would say would be the interview itself. I didn’t want to sound bad, but listening to myself I thought I did. We all know Howard and what he likes to talk about, so I thought maybe he would go off the road with the questions a bit, but he was actually good with them. Everyone who I talk to who heard it thought it was the best thing ever. I said that they were just saying that to be nice, but they told me that everyone who they knew that heard it liked it and got a kick out of it.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro