Posted by Barry Bondsman on March 26, 2010 at 19:35:48:
The Onion may be the funniest periodical around, but inside of it is a section called the A.V. Club which is a fantastic, serious look at local music, movies, culture and more. In the newest A.V. Club, they do an interview with Jerry Bryant, the man who has been hosting Chicago's JBTV for over two dozen years. You can read it, complete with added video clips, at the link below. Here is the text though:
'Jerry Bryant of JBTV talks 25 years of interviewing rock stars on local access
Since 1986, JBTV has been filling odd time slots on obscure Chicagoland cable and UHF stations with videos, live performances, and interviews by underground musicians. While insomniac channel surfers may be pleasantly surprised to see Peter Murphy, The Tossers, and The Dandy Warhols, the main draw is JB himself, Jerry Bryant. Although his gray hair and style—described as “hippie dad” and “alt-rock Santa”—may fall outside of trends, his mirth, not girth really separates Bryant from the pack. In interviews, he responds to the makers of angry punk, hyper-serious emo, and gloomy goth with a huge grin, free-flowing chuckles, and unbridled enthusiasm that defies rock ‘n’ roll’s rules of cool. This month, JBTV launches its 25th season, so The A.V. Club spoke with the man whose show, despite a few tweaks (Bryant now shares the spotlight with co-hosts Ryan Manno and Jenna Martinelli), remains the same scrappy DIY endeavor since Reagan ruled.
The A.V. Club: Although being front and center on the show, people don’t know much about you. There’s no bio on your website.
Jerry Bryant: I have not promoted myself. I would rather promote the bands.
AVC: You're related to Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote a lot of the Everly Brothers hits.
JB: I’m their nephew. They would come to Milwaukee where I lived, and the rest of the family didn’t really care for them that much because they were musician types. It was like, “Get a real job!” My aunt and uncle, they were such a happy couple writing their songs. I think people get jealous of that kind of creativity. They would work all night, write songs, and not have a regular schedule or regular jobs.
AVC: On the show, it doesn’t seem like you have a love for any particular music, but what you really love is that these people are being creative.
JB: I don’t have to like the music. There are some bands I don’t necessarily agree with, but they’re putting out songs, they’re going on stage, they have fans, and I want to help them.
AVC: You also have a history in radio?
JB: In high school I had my own pirate radio station. I would prerecord me playing 45s and then bring a transistor radio to school. I’d get in trouble for listening in class, and get sent home, and I’d think, "Great! More time to work on my radio." After high school I went to a Milwaukee-area technical college. I walked into an FM station, WQFM—this is when nobody cared about FM radio—and thought I was applying for a job. But nobody else had applied for the job. The guy there just said, “Can you start right now? I’ll be back in an hour.” I put on some records, and I cleaned the station’s equipment, and that was it, I was in radio. It would take hours to tell the whole story, but basically my boss shot and killed himself, so I became general manager, and took the station from easy listening to Top 40, and then started playing B-sides and long album cuts. I’ll never forget one time, we used to go off the air at midnight, so as I’m going to sign off, I went on the air and said, "If you want me to play one more song just honk." It was amazing. I heard hundreds of horns. From there I made it a 24-hour station.
AVC: How did you come to Chicago?
JB: While at the station I partnered with a famous voice talent, Joe Kelly, and we started a business that made radio commercials for rock promoters like Bill Graham for their bands’ tours. That turned into our production company, Super Spots, which made TV commercials for radio stations around the country. Joe Kelly decided we had to move to Chicago where there was more business.
AVC: Eventually you started doing JBTV on the side?
JB: The record labels would send reels of videos, so I decided to [play] some experimental stuff on CAN-TV, and my hobby just became my obsession.
AVC: It being your 25th, do some name-dropping. What are your favorite moments of the show?
JB: I had people like Jeff Buckley in the studio, Jewel, Björk, Dave Matthews Band, before they had an audience, when nobody cared about them because they didn’t know what category to put them in. I gave them a place to be heard. Oasis came in, and after one question [Liam Gallagher] said, "What the fuck is this?" and walked out. John Lydon came in 40 minutes early, I had no crew, and he said, “I’m doing one question, now!” I grabbed a camera with a shotgun mic and he literally went on for 40 minutes, without me even asking a question. He told me, “This was one of the most fun interviews I’ve ever done.”
AVC: After seeing you interview Atari Teenage Riot while they were dressed like post-modern Teutonic nihilist space warriors, it seems that you never adjust your personality no matter who you’re talking to.
JB: You have to be yourself. In America, it’s like everybody has to look the same, dress the same. But TV to me is very personal. Local, independent television and radio is so important to the psyche of the American people. You have to be willing to do what’s in your heart, take chances, try things. Real people with real personalities is what attracts people.
AVC: Then why have you added young, attractive co-hosts this season?
JB: I’m 58 years old; it’s time for me to think about the future. I want to see JBTV turn into a brand and expand it into a 24-hour network, probably starting on the Internet, but eventually on its own a TV channel. This might not be possible, but I’d really like to be able to keep helping bands and inspiring kids. TV can be great, and I want to keep fighting for it 'til I can’t do it anymore.