What's Your Favorite...

with Andy Taylor and Julie Vanvig, KTTS morning hosts

Every day, Andy Taylor and Julie Vanvig coolly navigate their way through a pandemonium of turning knobs, flipping switches, taking calls, striking keys, all the while discussing the topics of the day for four and a half hours on KTTS’s Andy and Julie in the Morning show. All of the frenzied hours have been time well-spent in creating one of 417-land’s most successful and longest-running radio shows. Yet Vanvig insists that the callers are the stars of the show. “We are just the facilitators,” she says. This modesty belies the varied experiences they both bring to the job.

Julie was formerly a reporter and anchor for KSPR and even did freelance reporting for CNN and ABC’s World News Tonight. In addition, she speaks with passion about the work she does for KTTS as community outreach coordinator. Among other works, Julie began and coordinates the Christmas Crusade program, which provides gifts and clothing to more than 400 needy families in southwest Missouri each year.

Andy has a long history in radio. He witnessed his father’s legendary work in the business and then worked at stations in such different locations as the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to the desert of southern Arizona, among others. And through a series of chance connections involving a pro tennis event in Springfield a number of years ago, Taylor has been the stadium announcer for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships for several years.

The complexity Andy and Julie manage in technically pulling off a show is only matched by the complexity of the callers. “People call in because they have something to say,” Vanvig says. “You can have an 80-year-old woman call in with a dirty joke followed by a 14-year-old on a school bus.” Here are some of Julie and Andy’s favorite things:

Cheese?

Julie: “Neufchatel.”
Andy: “Boar’s Head horseradish cheddar. It’s awesome.”

Caller?

Julie: “We have so many different characters.”
Andy: “Neighbor Tim, who is actually my neighbor”

Thing about having afternoons free?

Andy: “They’re not.”
Julie: “Radio is a lifestyle. It’s not a punch-a-clock type of job.”

Tennis player?

Andy: “Novak Djokovic.”
Julie: “Rafael Nadal, because he’s hot.”

Candy?

Julie: “70-percent dark cocoa Ghirardelli squares.”
Andy: “Peppermints cover my coffee breath for two seconds.”

Song you play that you love to hate?

Julie: “’Honky Tonk Badonkadonk’ by Tracy Adams.”
Andy: “Anything by Kenny Chesney.”

Radio station call letters?

Andy: “I don’t know if it exists, but I’ve always thought WHAT would be good.”

Thing about working together?

Andy: “You can say stuff that you can’t get away with at home.”
Julie: “Andy brings me alcohol.”

Springfield restaurant?

Andy: “Mille’s.”
Julie: “Nakato.”

Surgeon General?

Both: “C. Everett Koop, of course.”

Hidden, out of the way place?

Julie: “If we tell you, it will blow it.”
Andy: “We’ll have to kill you.”

Childhood memory?

Andy: “Melting crayons on Mrs. Mooncai’s radiator in fifth grade.”
Julie: “Hanging out in the back of the cab of the combine with my dad, singing along with the Conway Twitty 8-track.”

Favorite thing to hug?

Julie: “Husband and kids.”
Andy: “Hugnation.com.”

Stupid reality TV show?

Julie: “The trashiest show in the history of TV was the Age of Love, and I watched it faithfully. So did every other woman I know.”
Andy: “I hate all reality shows.”

Song you play that you love to hate?

Julie: “’Honky Tonk Badonkadonk’ by Tracy Adams.”
Andy: “Anything by Kenny Chesney.”

Thing about Springfield?

Both: “The people.”

Thing about working together?

Andy: “You can say stuff that you can’t get away with at home.”
Julie: “Andy brings me alcohol.”

Springfield restaurant?

Andy: “Mille’s.”
Julie: “Nakato.”

Childhood memory?

Andy: “Melting crayons on Mrs. Mooncai’s radiator in fifth grade.”
Julie: “Hanging out in the back of the cab of the combine with my dad, singing along with the Conway Twitty 8-track.”

Charitable cause?

Andy: “Stan the Man Foundation, which supports soldiers from across the country and their families.”
Julie: “KTTS Christmas Crusade and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Radiothon.”

Country song title?

Both: “’It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night that Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long,’ by The Notorious Cherry Bombs.”

Aspect of working in radio?

Julie: “Making people happy. If you give enough people enough money, they will like you.”
Andy: “The relationship with the listener. If you’re doing something right, you build relationships.”

On air mistake?

Andy: “We make mistakes all the time. You just laugh at it. We haven’t cursed in a while, so that’s good.”

The Mystery Hour

Jeff Houghton will interview Andy Taylor and Julie Vanvig as part of The Mystery Hour, Jeff’s talk show presented by The Skinny Improv. Tickets are $3; the show is 10:15 p.m. January 12 at The Skinny Improv, 301 Park Central East. For more info, visit theskinnyimprov.com or call 417-831-5233.