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Medicine Hat News: What's your full
name?
Blake Ransom: Blake Anthony Ransom.
News: Where's your home town?
Ransom: I'm from Vernon, B.C.
originally.
News: How did you get your start in the
broadcasting industry?
Ransom: Well, I like to talk – a
lot. And it kind of came calling to me. I was actually catching
shoplifters for a living before I did this and I got sick of it. I
didn't have the heart to keep doing it, so I just decided to up
and leave Vernon and go to school in Calgary. I was actually going
to be a TV reporter, but I'm not aggressive enough to be a TV
reporter, or a newspaper reporter so I looked at the friendly road
of being just a nice radio DJ.
News: Why did you decide to get into the
media industry?
Ransom: I've always loved entertaining
people. I've always loved making people laugh and this was a great
way to make it a career. Why did I get into broadcasting? That's a
great question, because it's definitely not about the money. Yeah,
pretty much the entertainment factor.
News: What was one of the best interviews
you ever conducted?
Ransom: I've had a couple of cool
interviews – I got to interview (British) Prime Minister Tony
Blair along with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. That was kind
of neat and it was Tony Blair's first official visit to Canada
while he was the Prime Minister of the U.K. So it was neat to chat
with those guys. Also, Aaron Pritchett was a great interview
because he held my beer while we did it. I used to work at a
country radio station before I got out here and those guys are
really down to earth. I've got nothing but good things to say
about guys like the Road Hammers, Doc Walker, who was recently here
for the Sandfly Festival. Those were overly fun interviews.
News: Who haven't you interviewed but
you'd like to, dead or alive?
Ransom: Hugh Hefner – the Hef. No,
that's a bad one. I think it would be interesting to interview
George W. Bush, just to see where his logic was at with everything
that he's been doing over the last eight years. You know who'd be
really cool? The Queen or Nelson Mandela, yeah.
News: What's your favourite song right
now?
Ransom: Kid Rock's All Summer Long. It is
ridiculously fantastic. I just love rocking out to it. It's laid
back but it's still got some edge. It's a very good song.
News: Do you have any hidden talents?
Ransom: I'm a pretty good mountain biker.
I'm mediocre in golf, so I guess that wouldn't be a hidden
talent. Everybody is mediocre in golf. I make a mean spaghetti.
I'm actually not too bad in the kitchen. Of course, spaghetti
because I'm single and a bachelor so that's my specialty. I make
a mean pork chop.
News: What's one item on a menu you
can't resist?
Ransom: This is really weak and it's the
worst. I'm single and I go out on the occasional date every once
in a while and every time I seem to go out on a date I order a
salad – a chicken caesar salad. I don't know why and I
always feel so lame ordering a salad. I usually don't finish the
salad which makes it even more lame. So here I am taking my salad
home in a doggie bag. Super.
News: What was the last thing you laughed
really hard about?
Ransom: I got struck out at baseball last
week. We play softball with the rest of CHAT TV and the MY96 guys
in the Redcliff Softball League and I got struck out by a girl. She
knows she wasn't a really good pitcher and I definitely went down
swinging. I laughed very hard, my entire team laughed at me and so
did the other team.
News: Do you have any phobias?
Ransom: Anything that crawls. Spiders,
insects, babies. Nah, just kidding (laughs). Babies are OK –
once they're done crawling.
News: Best pickup line you've heard?
Ransom: Did it hurt when you fell from
heaven?
News: If you could go back in time, where
would you go?
Ransom: You know what, I probably
wouldn't want to go too far back because I like the luxuries that
we have today like cell phones, Internet and cars. I'd have to
stay within the last half century. I'd probably go back to the
70s. I'd be down to see what all that was about. The style is
coming back so if I had to go back, I think I could rock the style.
Handlebar moustaches – love them.
News: Best travel destination?
Ransom: My favourite vacation spot is
probably the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana. Best week ever. Also I
love Mexico, I'm a huge Mexico guy. And Canada, I love travelling
anywhere in Canada.
News: If you could give your younger self
a piece of advice, what would it be?
Ransom: Be confidant. That's something I
tell myself and I tell a lot of young people. I'm a Big Brother
with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Medicine Hat and that's one
thing I really try to work on with my little guy. Confidence is
key. If you have confidence then everything else will fall into
place.
News: What's your most embarrassing
moment, personally and professionally?
Ransom: Professionally, I got up on stage
to introduce Trooper at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino last year. I
had a couple of pops before I got up and the one thing that you're
not supposed to do when you go up to introduce someone is touch the
lead singer's microphone. I took the microphone and I was trying
to get it out and it was a little sticky and I bopped it on my
chin. Which makes a nice popping noise, right? The whole audience
starts to laugh and so I go ahead and start to introduce the band
and I introduce them as 'the greatest Canadian country band,
ever' because I was working at a country station at the time. So I
said 'please welcome Trooper' and I ran backstage and Ra
(McGuire) was like, 'first of all, we want a cold intro,' because
we had the CD playing when they came out and they said, 'we're
not country so go back there and do it again.' So I went out there
again and of course, tried to take the mic off and bopped myself in
the chin, again. That was probably one of my most embarrassing
moments professionally. Personally, my whole life is pretty
embarrassing. I make a big fool of myself, a lot. I'm kind of
klutzy, I fall down a lot. Actually, in front of my entire high
school I did a choreographed dance routine to b4-4's Get Down,
which included hip thrusts on the gymnasium floor and lots of
innuendoes throughout the dance routine. And that was in front of
1,500 students. I handle crowds quite well but that one was a
doozy.
News: What's your biggest regret?
Ransom: Biggest regret? (pause) These
aren't easy questions, Zoe. (pause) Probably travelling. I regret
that I haven't travelled more before getting into my career.
There's always the one that got away, too. (pause) There's got to
be so many good ones, because I've regretted so many things in my
life. I definitely wasted a lot of inheritance at one point in my
life. I came into a fair amount, a good chunk of change you could
say. I was a teenager when I got it and legally I was allowed to
get the money but my parents didn't want to give it to me, but
they let me take it. So I took it and spent it on so many things
like car stereos and beer. That was a pretty big regret, because I
could have done a lot of travelling with that.
News: What are you most proud of?
Ransom: I'm proud of myself, just getting
to where I am in my career and having a job that I love. A lot of
people don't have jobs that they love to do and I'm lucky enough
to be one of those guys that I have that. I just bought my first
house, so that's pretty exciting. And I'm proud of my dog because
she doesn't pee in the house anymore.
News: What's the one question you didn't
want me to ask?
Ransom: Probably how old I am. I've been
able to keep that one under wraps since I've moved to the Hat.
Everyone keeps guessing that I'm much older than I actually
am.
News: What would the last words of your
autobiography be?
Ransom: It would probably be my credo,
which is "Smile, have fun, live life to its fullest and entertain
the masses." |
