Chak's Review: The Review of Gary and Julie in the Morning

Adam McGurk told me that he's one of the family members that is following his mother's footsteps, who he is referring to the station is known for putting country music in Santa Clara County. McGurk was almost unaware about my blog review on him, of which I gave that a very positive review. After McGurk read my blog on my review about why I listened to him on Saturday mornings, he was stoked that I enjoyed him very much. The mother that McGurk is referring to me is Julie Stevens, who I met her during my lunch time at Kyoto Palace Restaurant in Campbell as I was attempting to do a live Facebook chat with my followers. In my blog, I reviewed my favorite thing about Gary and Julie in the mornings over on KRTY radio, just after KLIV started their simulcast of KRTY. However, I also explain in my blog of why not everyone pronounces some locations correctly, particularly the one location of which many other people that I all-too-often don't pronounce correctly.

Julie is part of the duo known as "Gary and Julie in the Morning," the program that gets many of their country music fans up and to where ever people needs to be in Silicon Valley. The "Gary" part is Alabama-native Gary Scott Thomas, who for nearly two decades in Silicon Valley have helped Julie laugh a lot in the mornings, which I also enjoyed as much as I have listened to McGurk. Although not everyday that I do listen to Gary and Julie in the morning, I do my very best to tune in online via the website on both KRTY and KLIV at 5AM as much as possible to hear their laughs, similar to the fact that I do tune in to Adam McGurk when I hear is voice at anytime (not including his normal Saturday gigs) or when McGurk is on from 6-10AM on Saturdays. When the Gary and Julie show is over at 9AM, I do enjoy hearing John McLeod and Randy Jones as well, both of which have great voices much like Gary and Julie.

The fun fact that Gary and Julie probably never knew is that I have met the president of the San Jose Earthquakes, Dave Kaval, on multiple occasions in the last couple of years; two of which was not far from San Jose State University. And yes, the Earthquakes soccer is unaffected by the change to classic country music back in June known as "country gold," which both Gary and Julie mentions from time to time.

Although I still do listen to other formats like rap, rock, techno, electronic dance music (EDM), and many others, country music when listening to Gary and Julie in the mornings and McGurk on Saturday mornings often reminds me of something, especially the history and the best things about their voice. The best thing about Gary and Julie is that the duo are very much known for their laughs and country-styled humor with a Silicon Valley focus, which was not surprising to the other people at other radio stations. This was particularly true for Lissa Kreisler and Sam VanZandt at KBAY, who both Lisa and Sam knew that Gary and Julie were on the radio longer than the two in a video. Listening to country music overall is nothing new to me, especially when it comes to hearing Blake Shelton on NBC's The Voice and attending events hearing classic country music hits from the early days. Country music also reminded me of watching the 1977 mini-series known as The Roots. Country music also reminds me of garlic country, referring to the what I hope for me to be at the Gilroy Garlic Festival again during the last weekend of July, but with a smaller chance on that Saturday due to a surprise call by one of my brother's friends asking me and my brother to come over to San Jose State University's MacQuarrie Hall in an email sent to me.

For people like me that loves enjoying Gary and Julie in the mornings, not everyone who knows Santa Clara County knows how to pronounce some names that often gets mispronounced, particularly the town of San Martin - with the focus on the last part of the name. I often get a lot of calls from people who called the last part of the name known as "Martin," as in the music artist Ricky Martin. Most recently, NBC Bay Area producer named Nitin (pronounced Ni-TEEN) during a Facebook live video mispronounced the town of where I reside, although anchor Laura Garcia-Cannon corrected him.

Overall, much like how I gave Adam McGurk a happy positive review, I also gave Gary and Julie a positive review as well due to the way that the two entertained me. I will be surprised how Gary and Julie, as well as Adam McGurk, reacted to this blog on my social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram only; the latter two have the same handle)... I will promise to the duo that I will enjoy their laughs each time I listen to KRTY in the mornings, but I just hope that I won't get a scream or two in my ears...

Original Work: Kyle Chak
E-mail: chak595301@gmail.com
Twitter: @KyleSChak