WJPZ has formed many deep bonds and friendships - and that is certainly the case for Matt Gehring and Sam Kandell, who served as PD and GM respectively, for the Class of 2018.
As you'll hear, their origin stories differ greatly, but they've been thick as thieves since fate brought them together on Boland 8 as freshmen. Soon, Matt, a self professed music geek, and Sam, a die-hard sports fan, were treking across campus together for the 4-6am shift.
They learned from upperclassmen like Allie Gold and Joey Cosco, and were invited to the Z Morning Zoo by Jeff Kurkjian. They were also quickly tapped for exec staff. Matt became research director, and Sam took over legal. She tells the story of how that almost didn't happen due to a very big (and, in hindsight, hilarious) miscommunication about the application process.
Eventually, "mom and dad," as most of the staff called them, became GM and PD, furthering the passion for paying it forward at the station. Both made efforts to know the entire staff, Sam secured funding to upgrade the station's power, and Matt was honing his social media mastery, leveraging fan bases of artists to keep the station top of mind, even over the summer. In fact, his Twitter prowess led to a well publicized feud with Tomi Lahren during the 2016 Presidential election.
At graduation, Matt joined MTV for their reboot of TRL. When that didn't work out, he and his team were moved over to MTV's social media, and he was "given the keys" to MTV's Instagram. We spend some time talking about social media for brands in 2023.
Sam went to iHeart after graduation, but wanted to follow her passion for video and sports. She leveraged connections from a previous internship to land at SNY, home of the New York Mets. She had to rely on the adaptability she learned at Z, though, as she started in March of 2020. She talks about how the pandemic totally changed her job, and what it's become now, in 2023.
We wrap up with a story that we are pretty sure is unique in WJPZ's history - Matt and Sam getting legit married on the air, on their Valentine's Day Z Morning Zoo in 2018. And yes, we have the audio.
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
Sign up for email alerts whenever we release a new episode here: jagindetroit.com/WJPZat50
Want to be a guest on the pod or know someone else who would? Email Jag: jag@jagindetroit.com.
Want to stay in the loop with WJPZ Alumni events? Subscribe to our newsletter on the right hand side of the page at http://wjpzalumni.org/
Want to be on the show? Email JAG at jag@jagpodcastproductions.com
Connect with the WJPZ Alumni Association: https://wjpzalumniassociation.org/
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
