The Formula To A Number One Show with Bret Mega

 

Taking shows from the bottom to the top is Bret Mega, number one radio host for the morning show on Hot 93.3 in Dallas, Texas. Bret spills his secret formula on bringing a show to the number one spot. He shares the journey of turning shows from being tenth or twentieth to number one in less than two years, transitioning them into being the best of the best. Highlighting a core value that is becoming a challenge to have in this day and age, Bret reflects on his opinions about Survivor, and engages in an interesting conversation about meeting his wife, celebrating holidays with family, as well as his charity.

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The Formula To A Number One Show with Bret Mega

I am super excited about this show because we have a very special guest. Before we get into that, let me share with you just how crazy I am. If any of you out there are road warriors, meaning you travel a lot, you’re going to feel my pain and probably you do the same thing. I’d love to hear from you to see if I’m crazy or not. It could go either way. Here’s the story. It’s the end of the year and I only need a few more segments to make my airline status. I look for these cheap flights like always, but instead of going the convenient route, I need some additional segments. Instead of dealing with one layover, I take multiple layovers. Typically the flights with two layovers are cheaper, so everyone’s happy. I started my journey in Boston and then I flew to Newark and I had a 90-minute layover and a fifteen-minute walk to my new gate. Then I went from Newark to Chicago. I had a middle seat because the plane was booked solid and that was all I could get.

When I went to the gate, I got a window seat, which that’s not bad. Now I’m on the flight. I’m going from Newark to Chicago and I’m sitting in the aisle seat in hopes that maybe whoever is sitting in the aisle won’t want the aisle, they’ll want the window. I’m watching people because that’s what you do on the flights. I hear this family that’s together but apparently, they only had two out of the three seats together. The lady who is sitting in their row has the window seat. They ask her if she wouldn’t mind switching. She’s like, “No, I want a window seat,” and I’m thinking, “I have a window seat.” I butt-in because that’s what you do on the plane when you’re eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. I said, “I have a window seat. Are you switching for an aisle seat?” They’re like, “Yes.” I’m like, “I’m all about that.” The lady’s like, “Fine. I’ll take a window seat. That’s not a big deal.” She takes my window seat and now I’m like, “I got me an aisle seat at least. The flight is getting a little better.”

I’m sitting in my newly-found aisle seat close by to this family. When the people are boarding the flight, another couple has two aisle seats, but one is in one row and one is five rows up. They happened to ask me, who just changed to the seat, “Would you mind switching to an aisle seat closer to the front of the plane?” I’m like, “Sure.” Everyone who has seen me switch are all laughing like, “Soon, one more switch and you’re going to end up in first class.” I’m like, “No big deal.” I wound up in 22C, getting closer and closer. That was pretty good. I land in Chicago. I have another fifteen-minute walk to my new gate and that flight’s going to take me from Chicago to Tampa. I started my journey probably around noon and I got home at 11:15. Not too bad, twelve-hour journey but I got all my segments.

I’m wondering if you, travel warriors, out there have seen the George Clooney movie, Up In The Air. That’s me. I’m all about getting that final status because if you are 1K on United, you typically get upgraded all the time. Not in a Chicago flight where you book it last minute, but most other times you do get upgraded. My family thinks that I’m 100% insane but they don’t travel as I do. They don’t realize that comfort is critical. If you’re comfortable in those flights, it goes a long way. With my status, I am a 1K, I don’t have to pay for bags and checking luggage and all of that. To me, it’s all about the status. Tell me what you think. Do you actually do the same thing or do you think that I’m totally insane? Either way, I’m fine with it.

I would like to introduce to you my fabulous guest because he’s a legend in his own right. Bret Mega is a number one radio host for the morning show on 93.3 in Dallas, Texas. It’s Hot 93.3. His career is so impressive. I have to tell you a little bit more about him. He started his career in Radio in Chicago on WKSC 103.5 Kiss FM. Then he moved from there to Washington State to do a night show at KZBD Now 105.7 and he was able to change the game. With that night show, he turned it into a number one rated show. Then they moved him to the morning show because they found a fabulous host and they said, “We need to put him in the morning because that’s when most people listen.”

After that, he went to Nashville and was able to double the ratings there. Then he went to Atlanta to host WWPW Power 96.1. I think he met up with Scotty, his cohost on his show with now. He’s been back and forth with him a couple of times throughout his career. Both of them together in several months, they were able to transfer that show from 18th and moved it to number one. I have a badass on with me. That’s his story. He keeps moving radio shows to number one. I figured I should probably figure out his secret formula so that I could bring this show, the Carolyn Rivera Show, to number one. That’s the goal and so I have this fabulous guy, Bret Mega. I met him at a charity event and the rest is history. He’s a great friend and I’m so excited to have him on the show. Welcome, Bret. How are you doing?

I’m doing great. How are you?

I am doing good. How’s Dallas?

 

I understand you being a road warrior because I’ve obviously moved around a lot in my career and it’s all about comfort. I respect and hear you on that.

Thank you. I’m not crazy. My family thinks I’m totally insane.

They’re your family. They’re supposed to think you’re crazy.

That’s what that’s all about. Bret, we have something in common that I am not sure that you realize. I know that you married Katie, your high school sweetheart, on your tenth year anniversary. I also got married my high school sweetheart after dating him for ten years. How did you meet her?

I never hear people with the same storyline where you marry your high school sweetheart. I feel like we live in a day and age where it’s like Bumble and Tinder and people don’t find high school sweethearts anymore. It’s crazy that we have a similar story. I met Katie in an interesting way. We both got jobs at Target and she’ll even admit this to this day. I think what’s crazy about it. I was popular in high school and Katie was a total nerd. We had a class of 1,000 kids and Katie was 21st out of 1,000. She’s one of the smartest people I know in my life. I got a job at Target. I had no idea who Katie was. She had no idea who I was. I was the biggest jerk in the beginning when we first met like a total rom-com. She’s all that style and I realized that she was making my life better. Literally, this person has opened my eyes on things. I realized I got to quit being this popular jerk and she opened my eyes to a whole different world. We met at Target where I was a cart attendant and she was a cashier.

You had such a big high school, 1,000 kids in one class, that’s a lot.

It was a huge high school. Not only were we high school sweethearts but then we took on this challenge of doing seven years long distance because she went off to college after high school, which is two hours away. Then I moved away like you were talking about before in the intro, to do radio all over the country. We were always focused on our individual careers. We wanted to support each other but we didn’t want to be that couple that gave up everything for each other. We felt like we can build ourselves as individuals and still remain as a couple. Maybe it was this over-romanticized version of the relationship, but we felt like love will conquer all and that we would finally be together. We can just be patient with our relationship. We did seven years long distance before we were finally living together, which helped us grow as a couple because you learned to ultra-communicate when you’re long distance. That’s the only way you can get by. Actually, the number one thing couples fight about is communication. It became easy for Katie and I to communicate. It became second nature because of the long distance

Our story’s a little bit different because we didn’t have that long-distance relationship. We met in high school. My husband was the captain of the boys’ gymnastics team and my high school didn’t have a girls’ gymnastics team. I decided I wanted to play the sport of gymnastics and compete in it. I tried out for the boys’ gymnastics team and I got on the team. I competed as a boy in high school in gymnastics and the rest is history. We went to the same college together and we did a different route. We were together pretty much all the time. You don’t hear a lot about a ten-year relationship before you get married because we didn’t get married. We were together for ten years also before we got married. We didn’t rush into anything.

In a relationship, it is possible to build yourselves as individuals and still remain as a couple. Click To Tweet

I don’t know if I’m a slow mover but I think that’s so important. You don’t need to rush as long as you’re together and happy, nothing needs to rush. I felt that made our marriage even more special. I don’t know if I’m crazy or not but I did believe that.

We did the exact same thing. We have that in common. Then you focused on your career. How does one get so fabulous at being the number one radio show? You’ve been number one. You’ve turned so many shows from being tenth, eighteenth or twentieth in less than two years, you’re able to transition it to being the best of the best. What is your secret? I’m taking notes.

You need the most important thing. The first thing is like in Atlanta we were the eighteenth place. They thought the goal for the morning show is to be top ten. There was historically this huge morning show. It’s still there in Atlanta. It’s called The Bert Show and it’s been number one for fifteen years. I don’t think it’s ever been out of number one. All of a sudden, they told us it would be impossible to beat The Bert Show. In less than a few years, Bert moved to number two and we have moved to number one. It takes hard work where you hit the ground running and constantly outworking people.

The other thing is self-awareness and authenticity. In this day and age of social media, it’s hard to be aware of who you are as a person, but people can see through that. I’ve always been crystal clear on who I was, my strengths, my weaknesses, and not afraid to be vulnerable and authentic to the audience. It’s important that you don’t fabricate that. That sounds so easy and simple but then you look and it’s so hard to be real nowadays because you feel constantly being judged. You try to be something you’re not. I’ve never ever tried to be something I’m not. That’s been a key to my success. Just sharing my life with listeners, the good, the bad, the ugly.

You hit the nail on the head. Being authentic is what people are after. If you want an actor, you go to the movies. You watch a movie on TV or you see it differently. That’s what they’re paid to do. When people are feeling down or when people are going through something in their lives, they want people that they can listen to that are telling them like it is. Telling them through the experience of what they went through so that they can relate to it. Being vulnerable is not always easy. People love you. We all know that. What’s not to love. I love that you’re so real and I read that sometimes you get in trouble with Katie because you’ll talk about anything. It’s just us. Nobody else is listening. I won’t tell anybody. Give me an example of what you talked about on the air and then when you went home, you got in trouble.

There are two things. One is whenever she can’t tell her side of the story. I think guys and girls see situations differently. There’s always something that happened in my life and she’s like, “That’s not how it happened at all.” I was like, “I swore that’s how it happened,” and I feel like every guy does that. There’s probably the time where organically I came up about how we hooked up while we were waiting in the valet line, where we went on the side of the building and hooked up. She didn’t know I was going to tell that story on the air about how we were doing it in the valet lines. She was like, “No one told me you were going to tell that story,” then here I am retelling that story again.

I’ll have to text Katie later and say, “Tell me about the valet line.”

The cars come quickly, so did Bret.

 

Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do and sometimes it’s got to be quick. The funny thing is my family doesn’t know the things that I talk about because I do a lot of training sessions and workshops. They don’t realize how much I use them as examples in those workshops. They’re not going to talk to any of my clients, so they’re never going to know. You just got busted because you’re on the radio and she’s probably listening, so you’ve got to watch out for that.

My wife is pretty understanding of it because she’s my wife and chose it. You can’t choose family. What I think would actually become more awkward is all my family is still in Chicago. When I go in for Christmas time, I forgot that we did segments or talked about it. It will be months later and they’ll still be bitter or mad about it and they’ll bring it up at Christmas dinner. I’m like, “What are you talking about?” They’re still mad about this month later. That’s when it gets awkward when family members that I talked about on the radio and I see them face-to-face in like family Christmases.

They’re harboring something that you talked about a couple of months ago. You don’t even remember it. They have to know when you’re in that showbiz life, it’s all up for grabs. There’s no turning back. You’ve got to go with it. They’re just going to have to go. I know that you are a Survivor fan. I love talking about Survivor. I figured we’ve got to talk about Survivor. What do you think about this season so far?

I don’t know how Survivor seems to do it. It’s been going on for a million years and every year I’m like, “They’re somehow going to make a storyline or this season’s boring or it’s going to be the same thing.” Every single year they surprise me coming up with different twists and how the story unfolds. I think this season was one of the best ones yet again. Some of the things to top each other year after year. Mainly because people are playing. I feel like everyone is constantly trying to make moves and easier said than done at times. Sometimes they stuck with their alliances when I felt like they could have made moves. Everyone is trying to do something and weighing the odds every single time of what move they can make at all times.

I think the reason why Survivor still exists is that it’s all about the people. All you have to do is put people into scenarios where they’re competing against one another and they’re dealing with elements that get them grouchy. It’s not like you have to create stuff. A lot of people always ask me how much of that is real? The producers don’t have to create the drama because the drama is created because people are starving, they’re freezing, they’re competing in challenges. They’re tired and they’re with people they’ve never met and everyone’s going after the one goal. That’s the formula.

A lot of shows tried to replicate what Survivor did because it was one of the firsts, if not the first reality competition show we ever saw of its kind. A lot of shows have tried to replicate this formula of putting people together. The people they cast in Survivor does so much better than any other reality show because they’re finding the right people. You getting picked for Survivor, someone like you, Mama C, is such a credit to you as a person because they see the right things in people. That’s what makes this season and every season of Survivor so special and different than any other reality competition show on TV.

The casting people are phenomenal. They know the formula at this point. It’s been on for several years. The first Survivor season was in the year 2000. We’re up to season 37 and it’s all about they know what they’re looking for. It took me four years to get on the show. They liked me but they were looking for something for the season that they picked. I wasn’t right until they picked me. Then when it was white collar, blue collar, no collar, it was made for me because I’m an older woman and white collar. Those are probably not that easy to find. You’re right, it is all about the casting. When you think about this season, who’s your favorite?

I think everybody loves Christian. I don’t know about you but I feel like everybody loves Christian. He’s so likable. When we talk about authenticity, I do think that’s what he brings to the table. I feel like he’s having an authentic conversation. I feel like you get this corky character but he’s being himself. Sometimes when people try to be corky and they’re not being authentic, people see through that. What you get with Christian is somebody who is playing the game but also making true relationships with people. I think he’s going to win this season. He somehow found himself too big of a threat to win this season. I cheer for Christian every week. He and I probably have nothing in common, but I would love to sit down and have beers with him and pick his brain for sure.

He is the most likable. Mike is pretty likable too but Christian takes it to the next level. He’s authentic, he’s likable and he’s in for a ride. I don’t think he has a lot of alliance members left because everyone sees how likable he is and now they are threatened by that. I also want him to win. I don’t think he’s going to win because I don’t feel like he has true alliances left.

As long as you're together and happy, nothing needs to rush. Click To Tweet

We saw the votes and he didn’t play a die, though he would have gone home and everyone was against him at that point. Every week it changes from week to week. As much as we see him as a threat, the game is going to open up to him again. He’s going to get some options because people are going to still meet him. In the end, he’s going to have to win at four or five to get there because people are just not going to put him in the final three. They don’t want to talk against him and they don’t want relationships against him. They don’t want relationships to build. They know that Christian has built some great relationships. I don’t think anyone has him in this final three. I do think that we expect maybe him to go home this week. After we saw all of his life numbers turn on him. The game always opened up week after week and we’re going to see him get some options.

I think so too. The idol was played so it could go back into existence. If he was smart, which clearly he is, he’s going to go out there and search for that idol. He found it once, he can find it again. There’s always a potential for a game twist because you never know when everyone gets comfortable, they’re going to change something up anyway.

Who do you think is going to win?

Mike is also playing a good game. I don’t think he’s going to win because he’s a millionaire already and everyone knows that. I feel that’s going to go against him. I don’t know. I think Nick has good potential because Nick is in alliance with so many people. I feel like he has a good shot at it.

I too would probably pick Nick and I think Alison also has a good shot too because she’s been making moves every single time. Whenever Alison and Nick, it happened a lot in a lot of seasons, is she was on alliance where they cut the alliance down so far where she became valuable as a swing vote. Once you become a swing vote, you all of a sudden start getting some power and the power is going to swing in Alison’s way. When it comes down to it, it will be between Nick and Alison. Mike has done a good job. We’ve seen these millionaires play before. We’ve seen millionaires play on so many occasions. I’ve never seen one play as well as Mike has.

He’s done a good job of people forgetting that he’s a millionaire and wanting to reward him the money. He’s done a good job of blending in. I have been impressed with Mike, but I do think that people are going to see him more as a floater than someone who’s had to play the game and make big moves. He’s like, “Go on with the flow.” That was the move he had to make because if he was making big moves, you’re like, “Who’s this millionaire hotshot who’s being loud in group meetings?” I do think he played the game he had to play but in the end, people probably won’t reward him the money.

I feel like in season 34 when Sarah won, Brad went to the end. Brad played a good game. Honestly, I think he toned himself down and he made some good moves. I felt like he built some great alliances but he didn’t win the game and he was a great contender. I just don’t think that they will award $1 million to somebody who doesn’t need it. We’ll see. Who knows? Sometimes you get a bitter jury. You never know with the jury because it’s all about their emotions and their feelings. It’s a moment in time that whatever happens, that final tribal council can make it or break it for people.

I was always curious about that. You’re someone who sat there as a final jury member and were pitching your case. How much do you feel the final jury members are listening to you and actually retaining what you’re saying and taking that in consideration, compared to being premeditated on who they’re going to vote for based off their experiences?

 

Interestingly enough, on my final tribal council, we were not allowed to address the jury and give them a speech, which I think hurt me a little bit. We were only allowed because of the time element or whatever. We were only allowed to answer their questions. They have something that they are looking for and you don’t know what it is and you’re trying to figure out. Ultimately, Mike and I put every single jury member on the jury. Mike and I voted against every single solitary jury member. We both had the same record in terms of who we put on the jury. You’d think, “What are they looking for? Do they want to hear that they played a good game? Do they want to hear why you selected them? Do they want to hear why you backstab them?” You don’t know. It’s a tough thing and your heart is palpitating and you’re like, “Did I say the right thing?” As we talked about before, I think that if you’re authentic, if you actually tell it like it is and talk about the reason why you made that decision. A lot of times it wasn’t because I didn’t like the person. It was because if I was sitting next to them, I would definitely not win against them. It’s not great to hear but that’s what it is.

It’s interesting because sometimes when I watch it, I wonder how much that final tribal council means. I wonder if people are watching and listening to tribal council and have already made their decision before they go into finale night and it’s pretty hard to sway them. It sounds like from your experience, you feel like they have sat on this enough where they’re actually looking to be swayed. They want to listen to what you’re saying, which puts a lot on those final speeches and how you answer those questions. Even more so on that final tribal than even playing the game. All of a sudden that’s all like, “You play the game to get here.” The Super Bowl is being played right now in this final tribal council and you have to pitch your case, which I think is interesting that your game got you to this point. This point will decide who’s the winner of $1 million.

The entire 39 days comes down to two hours basically. It’s funny because they say that I haven’t made up my mind yet. If you answer, “I’m going to ask you pointed questions and I’m going to make my decision after those answers.” That’s what they say to you. We don’t know what’s in their heads and they may or may not have, but I do think that there’s potential to sway them at that night. My last and final Survivor question for you is were any of your favorites voted out early? Was there anyone who was voted out early that you wished they weren’t voted out?

It’s probably Alec and I know all that stuff went down with him afterwards too or it was like fine money because he posts it on social media. I was very curious like how he would go out because I thought maybe he’s going to go out in this nasty way. He doesn’t care about Survivor or anything like that. He went on playing the game and he went out in a heroic way. He was on a marathon against Christian and he lost and that happened. I liked the way he played the game and I wanted to see him keep playing because he was open-minded to make you move. He was also a true physical threat. I do think that’s one of the things. I do think it’s missing a little bit of physicality in some of these challenges. There’s no big physical threat left in the game. I do think it misses some of that in terms of watching somebody on TV dominate these challenges or going through these challenges as a physical specimen. That’s what Alec brought to the table and he was someone who was willing to play the game. He wasn’t just one of those beefy physical guys who doesn’t know how to play the game at all. I did miss him because I thought that was interesting the way he played the game.

I think he played a great game and he was a physical threat. A lot of the challenges of that season have been more endurance in strength and mind because some of those things you have to not focus on and keep holding on for dear life and hope you can. It’s been a great season. I love watching this season. We were talking about Survivor. Someone is going to get a great Christmas present. One person’s going to get $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor.

Where do you put $1 million underneath the Christmas tree?

I know that’s a lot of dough. I’m going to search my tree and see if it’s under that. Are you ready for the holidays?

I am like Buddy the elf, I swear. I think it’s so weird but I do love the holidays. I love Christmas time for some reason. I used to love Christmas so much that my parents change Christmas morning to Christmas Eve because I couldn’t sleep through the night. They’re like, “You keep waking us up at 2:00 in the morning. We need to sleep.” They open up the presents before Christmas morning because I was so excited. I’m the exact same way still to this day.

Is your house all decorated?

It's so hard to be real nowadays because you constantly feel like being judged. Click To Tweet

Yes, my house is all decorated at Christmas, everything.

Katie’s not listening, she doesn’t know. Have you ever given Katie a bad Christmas gift like a vacuum cleaner or something?

I feel like I’m a good gift giver because I always give experiences. An example of experience is I gave her a trip to San Francisco. She’s always wanted to go to the Napa. I saved up on the side and surprised her with the trip. I always tried to do something like that. I’ve always done big and extravagant Christmas gifts. One year we decided money’s a little tight this year. We’re not going to do Christmas gifts for each other. I was like, “Are you sure?” She was like, “I am totally sure. Don’t get me a Christmas gift this year. It’s okay.” I was like, “I’m going to listen to my wife. This is what men should do more often. They should listen.” I listened.

Christmas morning comes. Underneath the Christmas tree, there is nothing for Katie. No gift from me. She hands me over not one Christmas gift but ten Christmas gifts. One for every single year we’ve been together and every single gift represented that year that we had been together. “This year in our first year of dating, this was the gift and this is what made me think of our first year or second year.” It was the most well thought out plan gift of all time. Her family’s watching me open up these ten gifts and their daughter has zero gifts from me. I look like this cheap jerk. I’m like, “I got you nothing and you got me ten gifts.” I think getting your wife nothing qualifies as a bad Christmas gift. I still feel ashamed to this day for that gift.

She said no gifts.

That’s what I’m saying. I listened to her. The same thing has come up this year. Last year I got her a gift. I’m like, “I’m not falling into this trap because this was a few years ago.” I got her the San Francisco gift. This year we both had a conversation. We sat down and she said no gifts. I said, “This is not a trap. There will be no gifts to me.” I’m going for it again. I’m going no gift again. I’m hoping to God I will not be embarrassed like, “You still have not learned your lesson.” I don’t know if I should buy a backup gift and have it on me like something small just in case like, “I knew we were still doing gifts.” I don’t know what to do but I think I’m going no gift again.

A backup gift is not bad. It might not be a bad move because you’ve been burned once. That’s crazy. Her family’s there watching you with ten gifts for every year. I don’t get how she went from no gifts to ten gifts.

I don’t know either. She said she started looking and then one gift click into another gift and she had this grand idea and she’s like, “I just wanted to do it. You didn’t need to get me anything.” She gave me this whole spiel how she wasn’t mad that I got her nothing. I do think she wasn’t mad that I got her nothing. I still felt like an idiot. You’re right. How did she go from getting me nothing to getting ten gifts? That’s not fair at all. It’s all her fault I agree.

 

I love Katie. Sometimes we get this idea and we might think that we might have told you that we’re changing the plan or it didn’t even matter. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to have something in return. We found something in our minds like, “I have to do it” and then she decided to give it to you. Women do that.

I’m one of those people that actually enjoy watching other people open up their gifts more so than receiving them. Sometimes I’m so awkward when I receive them. I don’t feel like I deserve the gift but I love watching people open up a gift that I put a lot of thought into it. It makes me so excited and I know that sounds very Buddy the elf but it is 100% true.

I agree because I have three kids. My favorite Christmas is watching their faces and I can’t wait to give them their gifts because I know they’re going to love it. It’s all about giving that and seeing their reaction and the emotion and it gets so exciting. I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it. What’s the worst gift that you ever got from somebody?

I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten a bad gift. I also gave somebody on the radio. On the radio, I worked with this company called Rejuvenate Spa. They do beauty treatment. They wanted to give people a gift and it totally backfired on me. I was like, “We’re going to do it like a holiday makeover where we reward them for a $2,000 gift card to Rejuvenate Spa.” I thought this is an awesome gift. I called this lady thinking she’s going to be so excited to receive this gift. I’m like, “Somebody had nominated you to receive this gift card from Rejuvenate Spa. We’re going to surprise you.” The lady responded almost pissed off. She was like, “Are they trying to say I need a makeover? Are they trying to say I’m ugly that I’m not beautiful?” I didn’t know what to say. This is one of my clients. I was like, “No, they just care about you.” She was like, “I feel like you think I’m not beautiful.” That gift suck.

They don’t think I’m beautiful. They need a makeover. I think the moral of that story is you just change the title from makeover to spa day. It’s all in the positioning, “No, it’s not like you need a makeover. This is the relaxing spa day, where you get a makeover.” This time of year is all about giving. You have the lights, the decorations, but more importantly than that, it’s giving back. Bret, I know that you do a lot of charity work. We met at a charity but you have a charity coming up. Tell me a little bit about what you guys are doing.

We start this thing called Stuff a Bus. What Stuff a Bus is for 24 hours a day for five straight days, we live on a bus at a mall here in Dallas and we collect toys for homeless kids and at-risk kids. We try to fill a bus full of toys for them because we’re now on the holiday. These kids who are homeless, Santa Claus doesn’t know how to get down their chimney. They don’t have an address and doesn’t even know how to get to them unless we come together as a community. We’re like warriors out there. We live, sleep, breathe, everything that happens out there and trying to collect toys round the clock. It’s a special event where the whole community comes together. All the sports teams come out. The Real Housewives of Dallas come out. Tons of different performers come out. It’s a special event here in Dallas.

You live on the bus for how many days?

For five days, Thursday to Tuesday. We never leave.

How many years in a row you’ve been doing this? Is it like four or five?

This is the third year in Dallas. We’ve done it almost ten years collectively together.

It is exhausting. You’re on all the time and you’re trying to be jolly and getting people excited. It sounds like fun.

There was one time we filled a bus with 126 bikes and then another van full of toys. Hopefully, we can do something like this again because there are thousands of kids who have nothing in this holiday season. Big expectations, though it’s a little nerve-wracking and a little stressful because you hope people show up. Hopefully, people come in the Dallas area to support.

You guys are doing great work. Thank you so much for giving back and being part of that community. We met at a charity. I know that your heart is filled with giving and you’ve done so much for the Dallas community in and of itself. We talked about some Survivor. It was so great hearing your feedback on the show. I always love talking about Survivor. I’m still rooting for Christian. We’re going to see what happens. I’m taking some of that number one, all the insight that you gave me. I wrote it down. Carolyn Rivera Show is moving to the top.

You’re awesome. I had so much fun.

Thanks so much for being part of our show. I appreciate that you are able to fit it into your schedule. The Carolyn Rivera Show to me is all about the audience. Go ahead and follow me. Go to my website at CarolynJRivera.com. Give me some insights. Tell me about things that you want to hear because it’s all about you. You make the show and I’m here to bring you the content that you need. My focus is all about watching people succeed and helping people achieve more than they ever thought possible. That’s what it’s all about. I always talk about believe, commit, achieve, because that to me is the secret sauce for winning. You can read my book on my website.

Important Links:

• Bret Mega
• Stuff a Bus
• Hot 93.3

About Bret Mega

Bret Mega brings approachability on the air. He is everyone best friend, the neighbor you turn to share your deepest secrets to and turn to for advice. He is not afraid to share ANYTHING on the air, which sometimes gets him in trouble at home! He also isn’t afraid to ask ANYTHING no matter how awkward it makes things. He loves helping listeners and believes radio can make a difference in people’s lives.