Everyone that moves to Las Vegas has a story behind it. What's yours?
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00:01Many moons ago, we moved here. 16 years now.
00:05What month did you move out?
00:07January. I flew out. It was JetBlue, direct from Boston to Vegas. It was $69.
00:14Wow. My mom bought my ticket here.
00:18There we go.
00:19February, Super Bowl weekend, 2006.
00:22Wow. So I have you beat by a month, but I moved back for two and a half years.
00:25So you kind of have me beat.
00:26We're talking about your Vegas origin story.
00:29The thing that got you here, how did you end up in Las Vegas?
00:32Now, if you're born and raised, first of all, good for you.
00:35You have that above us and you will let us know.
00:37However, that said, if you're not born and raised, text us or call us and let us know how you ended up in the city.
00:43Because everyone has a story. 702-597-1027.
00:47The one story I end up hearing time and again is, oh, I was only supposed to be here for two years.
00:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:53You hear it so many times.
00:54But I just don't know why you would just like come for two years.
00:56Like, what are you going to do in Vegas for two years?
00:57Just gamble?
00:59And then like, hopefully make some money?
01:01I just think that people think they're going to be here for a good time for a little bit.
01:05And they're adolescents and then they leave, but they never do.
01:08Let me tell you what.
01:09I get very territorial, I feel like, about Las Vegas because I love it here so much.
01:14Yeah, me too.
01:15I love Vegas so much.
01:17And I hate when people are like, I can't wait to get out of here.
01:20I'm like, well, then go.
01:21Yeah, exactly.
01:22I'm like, go if you know something better.
01:24Because I picked my sister up from the airport yesterday and her flight was late.
01:29So I went to the liquor library right there in Terminal 1 and got a rosé and sat down at
01:35a slot machine and sat there and waited for 20 minutes.
01:37And I sent the picture to my girlfriends in there in New York and Virginia and all over.
01:41And I said, I love Las Vegas.
01:44I love it so much.
01:45Not just for that.
01:46It just honestly, there's something for everybody here.
01:49Yes, it's hot.
01:50Get over it.
01:50At least you don't live in New York.
01:52You don't have to shovel heat.
01:53Yes, exactly.
01:54That's my whole policy.
01:55Exactly.
01:56We're getting calls in.
01:57Shall we?
01:58Yeah.
01:58All right.
01:58There we go.
01:59Caution to the wind.
02:01VGS, you are live on the air.
02:02Who's this?
02:03Never mind.
02:04They hung up.
02:05VGS, you're live on the air.
02:07Who's this?
02:08Ken.
02:09Ken, tell us, how did you end up in Vegas?
02:11How did this all start for you?
02:13I got stationed at Nellis Air Force Base.
02:16There we go.
02:16There you go.
02:16How long ago?
02:171996, and then I met my wife, Leah, and when I retired, we moved back here because her
02:25family's here.
02:26Wow.
02:26Well, thank you for your service, and that's pretty awesome.
02:29Good on you for moving back.
02:31Where did you go back to before you came back?
02:34Well, I mean, I'm originally from upstate New York, and then we were stationed here in
02:3996.
02:41We left here at the end of 2001 and moved to Germany.
02:45Wow.
02:45From there, we moved to Texas, and then Texas, we moved to UK, and then retired here.
02:52Ken, real quick.
02:53I've got to go back to upstate New York.
02:55Whereabouts in upstate New York?
02:56I'm from Ogdensburg.
02:59Saratoga.
02:59Wow.
03:00My girlfriend lives in Saratoga Springs.
03:01Well, thanks for listening, Ken.
03:02Thanks, Ken.
03:03Thanks for your service.
03:04Ogdensburg.
03:04It sounds like a fake name.
03:06I've got to be honest.
03:06It doesn't sound real.
03:07And it's a city, folks.
03:08Okay?
03:08Don't get it twisted.
03:10VGS.
03:10Hey, you're live on the air.
03:12Who's this?
03:15Leray.
03:15Okay.
03:16Hey, Leray.
03:16Hey, Leray.
03:17Well, where...
03:17How did you get here?
03:18What is your Vegas origin story?
03:21Okay.
03:22Well, I was looking for a place to retire because I was tired of the snow and the cold.
03:27So I have friends who moved out here about, I don't know, 23 years ago.
03:37The first summer I visited them and I started visiting them every two years and I had investigated
03:42other warm places.
03:47Vegas is made on a grid like the city I came from.
03:50Nice.
03:51And it didn't seem...
03:53I thought it was about the same size, but now I know it's much bigger than the city I
03:56came from.
03:57All right.
03:57And it's easy to get around.
04:00It's beautiful.
04:00And so when I retired, the next month later, I was on my way out here.
04:07I love it.
04:08Well, thanks for listening.
04:09Have an awesome day.
04:10We have other people calling as well.
04:11Keep the calls coming in at 702-597-1027.
04:15You moved here because your family was here, right?
04:16Yeah.
04:17My mom, my sister, my brother, my grandma, they all moved here.
04:19My aunt and uncle were already out here.
04:21Yeah.
04:22So I was in upstate New York and I visited in February.
04:26Or, yeah, it was February and it was like warm out.
04:28And I remember I moved and I was like, this is like, I could lay out right now.
04:31This is heaven.
04:31And I did.
04:32And I got like sunburned in February.
04:34And I'm like, why would anybody ever live in New York?
04:36Like, this is so crazy.
04:38Once you realize there's a different way to live.
04:39I know.
04:40Yeah, it's pretty tough.
04:40I know.
04:41We're running out.
04:42I'll share this story though.
04:44Maybe at nine o'clock I'll share the story about my Vegas origin story.
04:47Because I had a MySpace date here in 2005.
04:52I was talking to a girl the entirety of 2005.
04:55We met in Vegas.
04:56It did not go so well.
04:58But I ended up here in the longest room.
05:01And loving it.
05:01And loving it.
05:03Yeah.
05:03It was great.
05:03My dad actually was one of the first pit bosses at Barbary Coast back in the day.
05:07Wow.
05:07Like 79.
05:08Yeah.
05:08And I just happened to end up here.
05:10Tony texts us and said, I moved here 51 years ago when my husband got a scholarship to play basketball at UNLV.
05:15Wow.
05:16Love Las Vegas.
05:17What bothers me is when people say, how can you raise kids in Las Vegas?
05:20She said, I raised two terrific children and five grandchildren.
05:24Makes me crazy when people talk smack about Vegas.
05:26A lot of smack talk about Vegas.
05:28Juicy's on the line.
05:29My buddy, Juicy.
05:30Hi, Juicy.
05:31How are you, girlfriend?
05:32We miss you.
05:33I miss you guys, too.
05:35Congratulations on the new show.
05:37Thank you so much.
05:38Juicy, I don't know your origin story.
05:40Juicy, I know back from the old building way back in the day.
05:43Tell us how you ended up in Vegas.
05:45So, like the other caller, I'm a military brat.
05:50But my dad was Navy.
05:51But we always frequently, when he was gone on his tours on the aircraft carriers in the Pacific,
05:58he would make it up for us because he'd be gone for five to nine months,
06:02depending on his tour.
06:04And then he would take us cross-country and we'd always do two nights in Vegas.
06:09That sounds like a movie, Juicy.
06:11Yeah.
06:13And then we'd go cross-country and go to, like, Walt Disney World, right?
06:16Yeah.
06:16But he decided that he wanted to retire.
06:19And they were like, oh, you want to go move to Vegas?
06:22And we're like, are we going to live at Circus Circus?
06:24Because that was back in 94.
06:26Right.
06:27So, that was, like, the only thing that we knew.
06:30Because as a tourist, you only knew the strip.
06:32Right.
06:33You didn't know that there was houses.
06:34You know, I remember when I visited Vegas the first time going across a pedestrian bridge,
06:39I looked out towards the west side.
06:41And I just saw, like, neighborhoods.
06:44And I'm like, wow.
06:44What the hell is that?
06:45People live here.
06:46That's weird.
06:46Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:48So, June 24th was my 28th year living in Las Vegas.
06:52Wow.
06:53And like you, Amy, like, I get upset when people say, oh, I don't like Vegas.
06:57And I'm like, we take pride in our city.
06:59For sure.
06:59Because we've seen a lot of things go down and come up.
07:02And how fast, you know, the city has grown.
07:06Yeah.
07:06It's just amazing.
07:07Absolutely.
07:07And there is a community.
07:09Like, I love the community of Las Vegas.
07:11Like, we're a huge family.
07:13Everybody knows everybody.
07:14Mm-hmm.
07:14Unfortunately.
07:16I know.
07:16For something.
07:17You can't hide.
07:18Yeah.
07:18You know, the one thing, obviously, you know, one October here was a terrible, obviously
07:23terrible day for Vegas.
07:24But two October is, like, my favorite day of the year.
07:28Yeah.
07:29It is my, because what happened in this city on October 2nd, 2017, we all thought, okay,
07:34yeah, you know, we're all come from different places.
07:36Sometimes you don't know your neighbors, whatever.
07:38That day, this city showed up so big.
07:41Yeah, for sure.
07:41And we had an identity to the world to show what we were capable of, which was phenomenal.
07:46Everybody's story is different.
07:48Yours and mine are very, very different.
07:50Yeah.
07:50Mine's super simple.
07:52My parents moved here.
07:53I was 20, but very immature.
07:55And I had to follow them here.
07:57And move back in with them.
07:58And you were immediately illegally gambling on the strip.
08:01I was.
08:01And it was great.
08:02It was a lot of fun.
08:03And that's why I love it here.
08:04Mike is on the line.
08:06Mike, how did you get to Vegas?
08:07I was four years old in 1968.
08:10My dad was hired and trained and sent out here to Las Vegas to open up the first Arby's
08:15roast beef on the West Coast.
08:17You are here because of Arby's roast beef.
08:20Arby's roast beef restaurant.
08:22There we go.
08:23Arby, like the old school sign, too.
08:25The big old hat.
08:26Oh, yeah.
08:27Yeah.
08:27He opened up the one on Lake Mead and Bruce.
08:29It's still there.
08:30Exactly.
08:30Oh, my gosh.
08:31How much of your body is constituted of beef and cheddar?
08:35Not so much of cheddar.
08:37Just the beef.
08:39Beef and boy.
08:40Oh, yeah.
08:40We grew up on those.
08:42That's for sure.
08:43Imagine just coming out here four years old.
08:46No.
08:47Everything you know is different.
08:48This is crazy.
08:4917 years ago, Hubby was offered a sponsored job here.
08:54We moved from South Africa with eight suitcases, $5,000, and our two girls who are 11 and six
09:00years old.
09:01That is insane.
09:03Insane.
09:04Wow.
09:04So they've been U.S. citizens for three years now, and they love Las Vegas.
09:07Well, welcome to Vegas.
09:08We're glad to have you.
09:08Yeah, that's Simone.
09:09Thank you for being here.
09:11So, okay.
09:11I am here because of a failed MySpace date in 2005.
09:16I was reaching out, because back in the day, you know, you're on MySpace.
09:19That was the place to be.
09:20I was kind of like a MySpace OG.
09:22I was user 63,000 out of like 400 million.
09:25The fact that you know that, man, you're such a lose.
09:27I was on everyone's top eight, because before you got to pick, I was on everyone's top eight.
09:32So I was like, it was me and Tom.
09:34That was it.
09:34Yeah.
09:35So this girl starts reaching out to me, and she is in radio in Northern California,
09:39and I'm doing radio in the Boston area, and we just start talking about radio.
09:43She reaches out to me.
09:44We start to talk about radio, and then we start talking about ourselves,
09:47and then we start talking about each other.
09:48And then we're talking on the phone every single day, all the time.
09:53Wow.
09:53And we are just kind of like falling for each other pretty hard.
09:55Uh-huh.
09:56Because, you know, when there's no physicality, and it's all emotion.
09:59And you said this was 2005, yeah?
10:01Yes.
10:02I'm trying to think of like where cell phones were.
10:03They for sure weren't like video calls, right?
10:07Not yet.
10:08No, not even close.
10:09But the thing just flips still, maybe.
10:10Barely.
10:10Razor was pretty cool then?
10:12Uh, yeah.
10:13I didn't have a Razor, but like it was like a, like it was a twisty phone.
10:17It would twist open.
10:18Oh, the, yeah, you'd flip it like this?
10:20Yeah, exactly.
10:20No, it wasn't, it wasn't even the cool one from Team Home, the sidekick.
10:23No.
10:23It was like a real jank one, whatever the case.
10:26So, you know, but we would send a photo.
10:28We did Skype a couple times.
10:29Okay.
10:30And like, I was just so smitten with this girl.
10:32And we talked for months and months.
10:34And I knew her family was coming to Las Vegas to visit.
10:39And I'm like, you know what?
10:40Listen, I am going to go to Vegas.
10:43I'm going to get my own hotel room.
10:45Let's meet and go on a few dates.
10:48Awesome.
10:49So I had months earlier, like in April, I had applied to the station across the street
10:53over there and didn't get an email back, whatever.
10:56So, but Vegas is kind of on my radar for whatever reason.
10:59So I fly to Vegas and I meet her.
11:01She's staying at Sam's Town.
11:03I'm staying at the hotel at Mandalay Bay.
11:05Oh my gosh.
11:06Yeah.
11:06Now I am making 25,000 a year.
11:08My cousin paid for all of this.
11:09So thank goodness, because I could not afford that.
11:11So I'm staying at the hotel.
11:12She takes, we're both like broke and under 25.
11:15So we're not renting a car.
11:16She takes the bus from Sam's Town to behind the Hotel San Remo, which is now the Oyo
11:22former Hooters.
11:24Yeah.
11:24And we meet there in the most sketch area.
11:27She comes back to the room.
11:28We start like just talking and chatting.
11:30And then she starts making out with me.
11:31I'm like, oh, this is so great.
11:33This is going to work out.
11:35I found the one.
11:36We're in love.
11:37She realized the last bus was going to be leaving pretty soon.
11:40So we raced back to the bus, kiss goodnight.
11:43She says, I'll call you in the morning.
11:45We'll get breakfast.
11:45We'll watch Price is Right together, which, by the way, if you want to know what like
11:48a total like, you know, boxer dropper is for me.
11:51Let's watch Price is Right.
11:53It's fantastic.
11:54So the next morning comes and she doesn't call.
11:59Heartbroken a little bit.
12:00I call her.
12:00She's like, I'm not feeling well.
12:01I go to the I go to Sam's Town.
12:04We hang out for a little bit.
12:05All right.
12:05I'm going to get some rest.
12:06I'll call you tonight.
12:08Calls me later on that I'm really not feeling that great.
12:10So the next day is the last day we have together.
12:12So while I was in town, I'd listened to that station across the street and I heard who
12:15was on the air.
12:16They're not on radio anymore.
12:17And I said, wow, if I don't get a job at that station, I quit radio.
12:20So the last day I pulled out all the stops.
12:23I got tickets to Ka.
12:25We went to Mon Amiga B.
12:27Oh, great.
12:28I tried everything.
12:30We go to the show the whole nine yards and I just felt something was off and I go to
12:34give her a goodbye kiss and she gives me the cheek.
12:38I can't.
12:39She gave me the cheek.
12:41I'm not laughing.
12:42I mean, I am laughing.
12:43You are so laughing at me right now.
12:44This is not cool.
12:45It's so sad.
12:47She gave me the cheek.
12:48Oh, my God.
12:49So I am now P.O.'d.
12:52I am no happy boy.
12:53I am going back to Mandalay.
12:55Did you pay for the car tickets or did your cousin pay for the car tickets?
12:58No, I paid for that one.
12:59Oh, you paid for that one.
13:00Yeah, $25,000 a year.
13:01It was not expensive, not cheap.
13:03So I'm so livid and so heartbroken.
13:06I go back to Mandalay.
13:07I pick up my bag.
13:08There was a line of 25 people for cabs.
13:11And the person that's in charge of the cabs looks at me and says, go ahead.
13:16Yeah, like you're heartbroken.
13:17He sees it in my face.
13:18I get in the car.
13:19What's the first song I hear?
13:23Oh, my God.
13:25Oh, my God.
13:27It was the worst.
13:28You're just crying in the cab.
13:30I flew back to Boston just livid after how this trip has gone.
13:36Shut up, James.
13:37I get back.
13:38Yeah.
13:39I send an email to the station across the street.
13:41They send an email back to me an hour later.
13:44I get flown back to Las Vegas and I move back in January 2006.
13:47The guy who hired me is now our senior VP of programming here.
13:51Isn't that so crazy?
13:52Small, crazy story.
13:53Small, crazy world.
13:54Have you ever talked to her?
13:56Did you take her out of your top eight after that?
13:58She was permanently out of the top eight for sure.