Oh the People You'll Meet

From time to time I get asked certain questions when people find out about my job. The first is always, do you get free tickets to Jazz games and concerts? The second is usually a question about a co-worker and what it is like to work with them (Frankie and DB are quite funny and David Locke is actually a pretty nice guy, just so you know). The third then comes to, so have you met anyone famous? That's always a hard question to answer.

Fame is funny. Sometimes you meet someone early on in their career and they go on to become something big, or they fade away into the world and you never hear from them again. Other times you meet someone who at the time is pretty famous but in 2 or 3 years it is a name that no one has ever heard of. It's funny how fame slips so quickly from some but there are those who become legendary.

The other thing to remember is that fame is not a measure of a person's character. Some famous people are complete jerks, and there are many "non-famous" people who do quite amazing things to help and serve the community who should be famous. And, there are some famous people who are quite giving and nice. It just depends on each person you meet.

So in answer to the question, here's a list of a few famous people I've met/interviewed:

• The Beach Boys - probably the most famous people I've ever met. Oddly enough the connection with them is family and not through my radio career
• Rihanna - This super pop star had the burden of having me driver her to the radio station and during the drive I had to pull over, take my shirt off and then drive her the rest of the way to the station with me topless (Our morning show made me do it). Six months later she saw me again and called me the naked guy (this isn't one of my more proud moments)
• Blink 182 - Nicest guys I've ever met in a concert Meet and Greet session. They wanted to actually sit and talk with us and when one of the people in the group asked for a floor seat, they looked at their manager and said, "get this kid a wristband so he can be on the floor."
  
• Lifehouse - One day while sitting in a production studio my boss walked in a with a group of guys and said, "Billy, meet lifehouse. I'll be right back." He left to go grab some scripts for them to read for our station and I got the chance to meet these very down to earth nice guys.
• Carmelo Anthony - This wasn't really a formal introduction, just a media availability during the playoffs. He was nice to the reporters and all I really could think while listening to his answers was, he makes a lot of money to play basketball.
  
• Ludacris - Luda is a former radio DJ, needless to say he understands how to make a group of other radio DJ's feel cool. Somewhere I have a signed picture from him that says "To my dog Billy" on it.
  
• Master P - a.k.a. Percy Miller. Master P was having his son "Lil-Romeo" play concerts at the Classic Skating rinks and was a breeze to work with.
  

So that's some of the list. Others that I remember meeting also include: Nick Lachey, The Game, Natasha Bedingfield, Governor Herbert, Congressman Matheson, Senator Bennett, various Jazz players, and BYU/Utah coaches and players.