“John & Jeff” are two guys who met at KPWR-FM, Power 106, Los Angeles in 1989. The duo worked together hosting over a thousand radio station promotions, and Southern California events throughout Los Angeles and Orange County.
During his ten years at Power 106, Jeff worked in programming, and served as emcee of numerous motion picture world premieres, movie screenings, L.A. concert events, theme park openings, nightclubs and national client promotions.
During John's eight year tenure at Power 106, he held management positions of: Promotions Coordinator, Assistant Promotions Director, Promotions Director and Director of Marketing and Promotions. In 1994 and 1995, John was nominated Billboard Major Market “Marketing & Promotions Director of the Year.”
In 1992, during the height of the L.A. Riots, John was instrumental in creating and producing an unprecedented citywide “Stop The Violence” talk show broadcast hosted by Arsenio Hall, and broadcast live on 12 LA radio stations.
In the summer of 1992, after a five year hiatus, John decided it was time to get back on the air! John began secretly moonlighting as a 6-Midnight weekend Top 40 Disc Jockey at KAVS/KAVL in Lancaster, California under his Rhode Island DJ name “Johnny B.”
In 1994, John encouraged Jeff to send his audition tape to the Lancaster station, and soon Jeff was hired as the weekend Midnight-6am Disc Jockey under the name “Michael Cruz.” Jeff, who became amused by John's weekly off-air telephone conversations with listeners on reel to reel, approached John about working as a duo.
John, who was inspired by Rhode Island talk radio host Steve White, and Jeff by Tom Leykis' early days on KFI, were trapped in a “10 second” CHR format, decided there was more to life than playing “10 hits in a row.” The duo began “working out” as talk show hosts in a Burbank production studio in 1994.
The duo got their first air-check session as talk show hosts by accident! When a Power 106 Program Director borrowed John's boombox for his daughter's weekend party, a demo cassette of the “John & Jeff Show” was inside the deck. To much of the duo's surprise, he listened to the tape, and said he was “quite entertained by the tape,” enough to express interest in producing the show if they got on an L.A. radio station. John & Jeff sent their tape to a Los Angeles talk station, only to receive a call back from the Program Director asking the duo to approach their show from a different angle. After making the suggested adjustments, John & Jeff felt their show wasn't their own, but a reincarnation of the hosts already on the station. The duo continued their talk radio “work-outs” in the studio and never resubmitted their audition tape to the L.A. Talk station.
In 1997, John was fired by Power 106 after eight years. Free to pursue other options, the duo began gearing up for the talk radio debut of the “John & Jeff Show” on a karaoke machine on John's kitchen table. At the urging of Jeff, they entered the 1998 nationally syndicated “Mark & Brian” comedy contest. John & Jeff submitted an entry and won the $2500 cash second prize.
In 1998, after six months of telephone calls to KLSX, John convinced Program Director Jack Silver to take a chance on the “John & Jeff Show.” Silver invited the duo to a KLSX “Tom Leykis Show” remote, and asked the duo “Can you entertain this audience?”, “Hell, yeah!” replied John & Jeff.
Three months later, the “John & Jeff Show” debuted on weekend overnights in Los Angeles on 97.1 The FM Talk Station under the moniker “Buried Alive from 3-5am.” In January 1999, the “John & Jeff Show” was signed to a full-time contract with the CBS/Infinity station.
Jeff, a native of Southern California, is married, a bodyboard surfer, muscle car nut, and 5/10K runner.
John, born in the Bronx, New York and raised in Rhode Island. John, single with “no baggage” has a B.A. in Radio & Television. John is an avid stock market trader, travel junky and sports fan.
John's radio industry credits also include on-air stints as a CHR personality and Promotions Director at WERI-FM/Providence, Rhode Island, WQGN/Groton-New London, Connecticut and Affiliate Relations Manager at Entertainment Radio Networks in Malibu, California.
The John & Jeff Show is in their 8th year of national radio syndication. The John & Jeff Show has been honored by TALKERS Magazine as one of the most important talk shows in America in 2001, 2004, and 2005.
