Jake Nichols:
It’s 8:27, this morning in the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show with Jake! As we come out of break, I want to talk about the weather forecast, because it impacts travel.
Wendy Corr:
Hey, Jake!
Jake Nichols:
But Don day…
Wendy Corr:
Jake! Jake, it's podcast time. It's podcast time.
Jake Nichols:
Oh my goodness, Wendy, I'm so sorry. I was in the middle of something.
Wendy Corr:
You were in the middle of, Jake In the Morning with Cowboy State Daily.
Jake Nichols:
No one knows about it, but me. But yeah, I'm happy to share.
Wendy Corr:
Well, now it's time to tell everybody about it. Jake Nichols - okay, folks, we'll start over here a little bit. Welcome to The Roundup, Cowboy State Daily's podcast, where we interview really interesting people from around the Cowboy State. Today we are interviewing Cowboy State Daily's own, Jake Nichols!
You've read his articles. I mean, his ‘Drinking Wyoming’ in Dubois is legendary. You've got to go back and read that if you haven't read it yet. But Jake has such a fantastic writing style. His voice almost comes off the page.
Well, actually, his voice IS coming off the page now because his voice is going to be over the internet, hopefully soon, over your local radio station, because Jake is launching Cowboy State Daily's very first morning show! Jake Nichols, what are we doing here?
Jake Nichols:
Wow. Well, thanks for the build up. Yeah, I like to think that my writing style is really an extension of my first passion, my number one skill set, and that's as a radio guy. And maybe nobody knew that - knows that, but they're going to know.
Wendy Corr:
I guess they're definitely going to know now, because you are going to be launching October 1! Folks, we are launching the Cowboy State Daily morning show with Jake Nichols, and it's going to be everything that you expect from a morning show. We got a little bit of a glimpse of it when we interrupted Jake first, when he was getting ready and rehearsing for this morning show.
Jake, tell us about Cowboy State Daily's morning show. What are we going to hear when we tune in at 6am Monday through Friday? What are we going to hear?
Jake Nichols:
Well, I mean, it's hard to envision something that isn't happening yet, but I've done morning shows before, so I know, you know, I know what it needs to be - four hours a morning for people, you know, it's to kind of get the morning started.
But I think one thing that'll be typical of the morning show, it's going to have all the elements that morning shows have. It's going to, you know, have weather, keep people informed, all the info you need to start your day. And then I think one of the - a couple of things that morning shows don't have the luxury of doing is, we can look at the stories of the day and drill down a little deeper.
You know, there's always stories that we read and it leaves you with more questions than answers. Or it leaves you wanting to talk about it, and it's water cooler talk. And we're going to do it on radio.
We're going to invite people to call in. We got a number of people can call in. And I want to talk to people. When we see one of these interesting stories, I want to see what Wyoming thinks about it.
And, yeah, we're also going to cover the state, you know, border to border. I really, I've been around the state. I love this state, and I don't want to leave anybody out, like from Meeteetse and Ten Sleep to Laramie and Casper. We're going to try to get to all of you.
Wendy Corr:
You know, that's a great thing that you brought up, that you have been from corner to corner in the state of Wyoming - because you are a sports guy, you're an announcer, you are a radio sports broadcaster, but you're also a DJ. And Jake, tell us what you've done here in Wyoming. How long have you been in the state now?
Jake Nichols:
Since 1997.
Wendy Corr:
Okay, so you've been here. See, I feel the same way. We got here in ‘98, same thing. Yeah. So you're practically a local. You've been here for what, almost 30 years. Tell us a little bit about your activities since you became a Wyoming cowboy in 1997.
Jake Nichols:
Yeah, I came out here specifically to cowboy. I was living in New York City, living the dream. And I'll tell you an interesting thing - I should write a book one day, because I have the title. I just need, like, more interesting page-turning stuff. I have the title already - “Jake, My Journey from Jackson Heights to Jackson Hole,” because Jackson Heights is a suburb of Queens, where it was the first place I lived out of college.
So when my life started, I went to Jackson Heights, and now I ended up in Jackson Hole. So I'm probably trending in the wrong direction, but I lived in New York City. And, you know, New York was great, but there was too many people, and I thought, I gotta get out of here. I gotta go the polar opposite.
So I was like, what state has the least population? I contemplated Alaska, and I settled on Wyoming, because more people were leaving Wyoming than coming to Wyoming back then. So I had a little bit of cowboy, you know, some horse background, and I came out the cowboy.
I worked at a ranch in Wyoming. I started just the summers, and then I went full time. Just came out here to work on a ranch in Wyoming, 1997 Lost Creek Ranch.
Wendy Corr:
That is so great, that you came out here to cowboy - that is miles and miles away from what you were doing in New York City, because you were rubbing elbows with some pretty well known names when you were in New York City, Jake.
Jake Nichols:
Yeah, in New York, I did a lot of different things. My day job, I was a press agent for a lot of comedians - Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, just about every comedian you can think of in the day. And this is in the 90s, when they were all touring - like Jay Leno was a Road King. This guy was doing stand up like 300 nights a year. It was insane. Stand up was huge in the 90s clubs and doing stuff. So, you know, I was busy as a press agent.
I remember Leno, this was before Leno had a show, Leno would appear on Johnny Carson Show, and Johnny would say, I read somewhere you're a big car buff. And I thought, ‘I know where you read that. That was in the press release that I sent you this morning.’
Yeah, so I was a press agent for these comedians in the day. At night I was a cameraman for MTV and HBO. We shot a lot of videos of bands, live musicians. I pointed a camera at a lot of huge bands, Pearl Jam, remember Eddie Vedder? And I also interviewed these bands. I was also a music critic for a lot of magazines as a journalist. So, yeah, I did a lot of stuff in New York, now that I think about it.
Wendy Corr:
Now that you think about it. Yeah, I guess - you know, I think, just a side note here. I think that's one of the coolest things about Wyoming, is that you never know what people's backstories were before they came to this state. And Jake, you have one of the best backstories that got you here to Wyoming.
But now, since you've been here, you started out cowboying, but then you moved back into - which you have said before is your first love - radio. How did you get involved in the radio scene here in Wyoming?
Jake Nichols:
I mean, I've always loved radio, from all ends of it. I remember as a kid with a transistor under the pillow at night, when I went to bed, I'm like, you know, back in my day, that's what we did to fall asleep.
And so I did a little bit of radio in college, and I called some sports events on radio in college. You know, in New York, there was just no opportunity. You know, it was a guy named Howard Stern that kind of was dominating the New York City radio scene.
So, yeah, I was out of a job there. And then, when I came to Wyoming, I worked at a ranch, and the ranch was owned by a gentleman who also owned a radio station, and he found out that I had a radio background. Next thing you know, I was working on that radio station. This is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and yeah, I kind of started the side job of back into radio was fun.
Wendy Corr:
And then that took you, then, on to sports broadcasting. You're a rodeo announcer as well. And so we've seen you with your cowboy hat on from time to time. I'll do the interviews for the newscast, and you'll be in an arena, a rodeo arena, with your cowboy hat on. Like, who is this guy? This is not the Jake Nichols I know!
Jake Nichols:
I do, you know - in addition to having done a morning show that lasted for a while on Jackson radio, and that was a lot of fun. That's where I got my, you know, really cut my teeth on Morning Show radio. I also follow the high school sports, football, basketball, baseball, and I announced play by play for our Jackson Broncs High school sports team.
And just this last year, I’ve been doing a lot of rodeo and a lot of windshield time, eating a lot of diesel smoke out there, as they say in the rodeo game, and trying to get rodeo to rodeo. And I do that for mylocalrodeo.com and also in conjunction with the Cowboy Channel Plus app. So yeah, that's been fun.
Wendy Corr:
That's so cool. So we've been able to hear you all this time. We didn't know if we tuned into the Cowboy Channel app, we'd be able to - oh, my goodness! Okay, so now we know. Now we know that.
But you're also, one of the other things that I really find entertaining is when I interview you for our newscasts, is that I'll catch up with you, and all of a sudden there's like this beautiful venue behind you, and there's lights, and you're wearing like a salmon color blazer. And I'm like, again, the many, many faces of Jake Nichols. You are a wedding DJ, and I can just imagine how much fun those brides and grooms and their families have with you behind the mic.
Jake Nichols:
I'm heading out to a wedding, actually, today, later today, tonight, be doing a wedding. But, yeah, that's fun. I mean, Jackson Hole is such a wedding industry. I DJ 80 weddings a season, from May to the end of October, and I also play Sundays at the million dollar cowboy bar at Jackson. So, yeah, DJ. It's fun to me, because I just love music. I love to share that.
Wendy Corr:
Well, we are so glad that you're able to bring that joy to so many people - but now you get to bring that energy to the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show! So let's switch gears here, and let's talk Cowboy State Daily. Why? Why does Cowboy State Daily branch off into a four hour morning show? What's the goal here? What do we want to bring?
Jake Nichols:
Well, if you listen to our ownership and management, it's a plan for world domination, beginning with the Cowboy State of Wyoming and then expanding out, until we just run the whole show.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic! Okay, yeah.
Jake Nichols:
But speaking, you know, speaking for me, outside of the marketing business aspect, you know, it's a lateral pivot that kind of makes sense to slide over into other media. You see other news agencies doing it as well. You know, we're already in the digital news source. We already have you, Wendy, doing radio news. We have you doing video news, which is practically TV at this point. We have podcasts.
So, I mean, we're doing everything but radio. If somebody said, Hey, what about radio? And Jake can do radio. It just seemed like a natural fit again, to be able to expand on what Cowboy State Daily does better than anybody, and that's cover news - show Wyoming to Wyomingites, you know. We're just a mirror, that's all media has ever been. We want to reflect back what the state's thinking, what the state is doing, and and be everywhere with breaking news.
Radio has some immediacy with that, to be able to do things in real time, but yeah, it's just to keep extending out what we're already doing.
Wendy Corr:
And so one of the things I think that at Cowboy State Daily we do really well is to talk about the people. The people are really who make the news. And I think that that's what people in Wyoming care about, and I think that's what kind of sets us apart. We're not just tossing headlines out at people, we're diving into the people behind the stories.
So you're going to be talking to our reporters, just like I do on our newscast. You're going to be talking to the reporters, but you're getting more than just a 30 second soundbite. Tell me about what your platform is to talk to our reporters.
Jake Nichols:
All right, it may take a minute because this part really interests me. And this is really why I want to do radio, Cowboy State Daily radio. I want to talk to the reporters, and I want to talk to them in a way when we're talking about their story, what, where did, how did the story land in your lap? How hard did you have to dig to get it? How difficult was it to tell it neutrally, you know, neutral down the middle, and not bring in any kind of slant.
And then I want to maybe push them a little bit on, ‘I didn't understand this part. What does this mean?’ Talking to our own reporters, yeah, I want to bring them to life and introduce them. You know, you see somebody's name come off a page when, when I talk to them, hopefully.
But it also introduces one of my favorite things about radio, the intimacy of radio, like no other media - like, not like digital news, not like your smart screen. I know there's influencers on Insta that are really good at what they do, but nothing replaces the intimacy of radio. It's someone talking into your ear, and it's always been that way.
I know TV was going to destroy that, cable TV was going to kill radio, and never did. Radio is still here because of the ease of being able to get it. You know, when I got a million channels on cable TV, and then when I got a million channels on Netflix, you know, how many of the 100 channels on TV I watch, like 1% of them. When you have unlimited access to podcasts in your car. When AM/FM, radio is yanked out of it in 10 years, and all you have is podcasts, you're gonna turn it on and you go, Well, what do I listen to? You have too many choices.
So anyway, radio's just always been there. And the guy who wakes you up in the morning, just the guy or gal, has always been there, and that's why I think radio is going to be an important channel of Cowboy State Daily’s morning show. You know, what we're trying to do. Radios can touch you and get to you in unique ways and be real personal about it, and that's what it's about. Like you said, Wendy, people.
Wendy Corr:
I think it's fantastic. I love what we're going to be doing here and what you're going to be doing here, but you're not just going to talk to our reporters. You're going to be talking to people who call in. You've got a phone number and everything.
Folks, you're going to want to write this down. It's actually going to be real easy to remember, but you're going to be able to let people call in and ask questions and make comments and things like that. Tell us about how the listeners are going to be able to interact with the morning show.
Jake Nichols:
Yeah, we'll be an online morning show to begin with. So whatever platform you're viewing us on, there will be a video aspect to the radio show. You're certainly invited to chat on that stream, on that channel. If you're watching us on video, on Vimeo, you have the ability to chat back. Twitch, YouTube, you know, whatever you're watching us on, and we'll we're trying to hit all the platforms.
You'll be able to chat in real time. I'll be able to read that. But we also have the phone, and that's where I think some real radio magic happens. And by the way, it's 307 - all throughout the Wyoming State, 307, we're in the 307, get used to it - if you're calling from out of state, 999-TALK. It's triple 9-8255, that's the number you would call in. And we're gonna, we're gonna chat.
And you know, I don't want to, I don't want to get bigger than myself here, Wendy, but I think that talking with someone about a topic, especially a touchy topic, I want to do it in a different way.
And I'll tell you, here's an example. I remember doing a morning talk show on this western cowboy channel once years ago, we were talking about the Teton Redskins, a football team in Idaho. They were thinking about changing their name, because the Redskins, the whole thing was while Washington Redskins and the NFL were in the process of changing their name.
And the typical Wyoming conservative radio talk show host who has a microphone and a blowtorch for a mouth, would say, ‘Ah, they're just trying to take away everything, you know, change it, and then wait, oh, that's tradition. It has nothing to do with the Native American. It's just the woke crowd trying to ruin it for everybody.’ And that's kind of where I started.
And I had this young lady call me up, and she was Native American, and she set me straight real quick. And it was the most interesting phone call, and it was the 10 minutes of radio magic that I want to recreate every time someone calls. She has skin in the game. Excuse the pun. And I didn't, I couldn't imagine what it'd be like for a team to be called the Redskins.
She was Shoshone, I believe. And she said, ‘Look, I don't have an issue with maybe you calling a team the Warriors. That's something that's prideful, maybe about my tribe, or, you know, call us the Utes. You know, there's football teams out there called the Utes, an actual tribe. But to reduce me and my people to a color of skin, the Redskins? What about the Dallas Palefaces?
And, you know, we, we came to an agreement, and she changed me 180. And it may not always be that way with a phone call, maybe we will agree to disagree in the end, but we'll discourse. We'll have we'll talk civilly, something we can't do in American politics today, and I'm excited to do that. That's radio.
Wendy Corr:
That is fantastic, Jake. And I love that it has - those conversations are transformative, if they are falling on those kind of ears. But this is the platform you're offering. You're offering the opportunity to talk about these things civilly, to talk about these things in a way that makes sense for everybody, where we can stop and sit and think, ‘Wow, maybe this person has a point.’ And I think that's awesome. That's absolutely awesome.
But of course, we're more than politics. At Cowboy State Daily we are weather. We are the daily sunrises. We are the Daily Darwins. Are you going to bring any of that into your radio program?
Jake Nichols:
I'm thinking about it, you know, I'm trying to figure out what elements work over radio. But, yeah, I'd like to.
Wendy Corr:
Well, there are so many elements that we've got. We've got business, we've got energy, we have all of these really important topics. We've got crime, we've got all of our great reporters - from Clair McFarland to Renee Jean to Mark Heinz outdoors. And so Jake, this is something that you're offering, Is that opportunity to really spend more time with each of these things.
But four hours we have to fill. You've got to fill four hours every day. And I just think that that's so much fun, to be able to get all of that really great stuff in there. Jake, tell us a little bit about where you're at in the process. Because, like, say, we launch - by the way, folks, we launch October 1. So that's the date that you've got to get in your mind. But what are you doing between now and then to get yourself set up for this?
Jake Nichols:
Four hours a day? You called it fun, I call it daunting. Yeah, when you put like that, but I've been working, yeah, to kind of get a format going and a rhythm and how the morning is going to go.
But yeah, I think four hours of morning talk, when you start from the starting line of Cowboy State Daily News and just flesh out stories, just round out our morning stories. I mean, that's the bulk of the programming.
And then, of course, we'll have weather, sports, we'll talk about everything, but I think there's enough meat there every morning to fill four hours of just expanding out on what our website, what our news offerings already do.
Wendy Corr:
But you've also got the opportunity to talk to individuals that aren't our reporters, because you know so many people, Jake, in the cowboy state, you have made some really great contacts. Are we going to have special guests throughout the day and be able to talk to people that normally we don't get to hear from.
Jake Nichols:
Well, thankfully, technology definitely allows that. Yeah, I hope to be able to, you know, to tap anybody. If I'm talking about the University of Wyoming cowboys, you know, ‘What's wrong with the Pokes? They're 0-2, they're playing so bad. Let's talk to Kevin McKinney and see if he can bring some insight.’ Yeah. I mean, you know, that's the magic of radio.
And I got a whole mess of buttons here in studio that I could just, ‘Oh, let's get this guy on the phone.’ Yeah? So, yeah, we hope to do that. That's morning radio as well.
Wendy Corr:
That's going to be great! Jake, we're about out of time here. This has been such a great conversation, and we're so excited to get started with Cowboy State Daily radio. What would you tell the people who are thinking, ‘Boy, do I want to have this on for four hours? Can I have this on for four hours?’
Where can people find this? Where are we going to be able to find our Cowboy State Daily radio morning show?
Jake Nichols:
Yeah, well, that's the greatest challenge. That's why we hand this over to our marketing team at Cowboy State Daily. I don't know how they're going to do it, but yeah, we're going to - you know, you got to begin somewhere. So we're hoping to get one radio affiliate to begin.
And then, you know, the plan is to be syndicated, morning shows statewide. You know, wherever you are in the state, you turn on the radio and you're going to hear Cowboy State Daily Morning Show with Jake. That's the end goal.
But for the beginning, I think it'll be social media platform. We're going to be an online radio station that you'll be able to see if you already digest our news, if you already use the website and are on the website to read - you know if it happens to be six to 10 in the morning, you'll see the show going on in the background and it'll just take one click, and then you'll be able to join the show and hear it and see it as well, which will be interesting.
We have a video element, so yeah, I mean, me, I would just put it on in the corner, you know, open that page, open that thing, put it up in the corner of your computer, and then continue with the other goofing around you do on the computer when you're supposed to be working. And just have us in the corner, in your ear.
Wendy Corr:
I think that that's going to be so fun. I mean, I'm just, I'm getting excited just talking to you about it, getting that clip at the very beginning that we did, and knowing that that kind of energy is going to be coming through. Getting that deep dive into our stories, getting a deep dive into Wyoming people, sports, weather. I mean, all the things that you expect from radio.
I'm excited about it. Instead of must- see TV, we're going to have must-listen radio with Jake in the mornings. And I'm thinking that this is going to be a great time.
And Jake, thank you so much for bringing this element and expanding this element of Cowboy State Daily. I think we're all excited about turning on the computer, clicking that button at 6am on October 1, and see what sort of energy we can get to start our day. Jake, thanks so much.
Jake Nichols:
Hey. Thanks for your time. I appreciate being on.
Wendy Corr:
Oh, this is going to be great! Folks, once again, Cowboy State Daily Morning Show with Jake Nichols, launching October 1st, 6am to 10am weekdays.
You're going to find it here on Cowboy State Daily, you'll be able to as we get closer to it, we're going to be bringing you more information on Cowboy State Daily, so you'll be able to see where we're at, how you can listen and - please - also feedback!
Let us know what you think about Cowboy State Daily, about our news, about our morning show that we've got coming up, about these podcasts! We want to hear from you, so let us know, who should we talk to next on Cowboy State Daily's ‘The Roundup?’ Who should Jake have on as a guest for the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show? Let us know what you've got going on and what's important to you, so that we can then reflect that back.
Folks, thanks for tuning into The Roundup. I want to give a big shout out here before we go, I want to make sure that people know - you're listening to us as a podcast. We've got other great podcasters in the state too, including the Wyoming Business Alliance. They've got the Business From the Basement podcast. And if you're an entrepreneur or a news junkie, you're going to want to check out Wyoming's top business podcast, Business From the Basement. So check those things out on the same platforms that you're finding us here on Cowboy State Daily as The Roundup.
Jake Nichols, good luck. We're very excited about getting started with this, and we're so glad that we've had you on Cowboy State Daily as a writer for so long - that won't change, folks, he said he's still going to write, so no worries there!
Jake, have a great day.
Jake Nichols:
Thank you. You too.
Wendy Corr:
All right, folks, thanks for tuning into The Roundup. Have a wonderful week!
