Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Gonzales.
Chris, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started back in 2013 when I was attending Cerritos Community College for Journalism. I was taking a class called Radio/TV/Film and my professor mentioned to us that there was an opportunity for some extra credit and at that time, I really needed the extra credit because I was failing the class. The extra credit was to go to the radio station next door and record a 30-minute episode of whatever you like for 10 points extra credit, luckily for me my best friend Joseph Vargas was taking the class with me.
So without any hesitation we decided to go practically everyday after class and record an episode. We eventually did so many that I ended up getting an A in the class because of all the episodes we did. During that time, I wanted to become a sports journalist and write amazing stories about my favorite players or teams, but the moment that microphone was in my face and the on air light was on, I knew that talking and interviewing, and engaging with the listeners was what I wanted to do. I continued to do my sports talk show for a few more years which was called The Hot Corner at Cerritos College Radio (WPMD) Where People Make A Difference.
During that time, I was nominated for the IBS College Best Sports Talk Show in the Nation, where I was the only nominee from a community college, the rest were from top universities in the country. Once I left Cerritos College, I wanted to continue with my show so I transferred The Hot Corner into a podcast, but after a short while I had a growing urge to talk about more than sports, and that is where The Kickback came into my life. My brother Gilbert and I always talked about doing a podcast together so we gave it a go, and we named the show The Kickback. Unfortunately it had a short life, we were only able to record about eight episodes and we stopped because of our schedules… After almost a year with no podcasting, I decided to ask two of my closest friends Jesse Flores and Jay Rosales who had no experience with podcasting if they wanted to restart The Kickback Podcast with me. Thankfully they said yes because now we are a year in and I couldn’t be happier with where we are at now as a group and most importantly, I couldn’t be prouder to call Jesse and Jay my co-host.
Has it been a smooth road?
With anything in life there are ups and downs, and with The Kickback specifically there has definitely been so bumps in the road. One interesting situation we were in was when I went on a family trip to Peru, I left the podcast duties to Jesse and Jay who at the time had only had two episodes under their belt. They had never done a podcast without me, but I knew for them to grow and get better and for the podcast itself to grow and be better, they had to do it without me. More personal bumps that we have gone through as a team has been this pandemic. I along with my co-host, have had to get passed deaths in our family that were hard to overcome, but if it wasn’t for each other and our podcast listeners, it would have been an even harder to get through.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Kickback Podcast LA – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
The Kickback LA is a podcast that is hosted by three very close friends who share some very personal stories that are relatable to almost anyone. What Jesse, Jay, and myself specialize in is making each other laugh, there is not a day that goes by where we don’t make each other die laughing. We have gotten countless messages and comments saying that we remind them of their group of friends, or we remind them of a certain person in their life that has passed away so they enjoy listening because it makes them feel as if that loved one is still with them. The proudest I have ever been is right now because there have been many situations or scenarios where we could have stopped doing the podcast. But we pushed through pandemics, through hardship, through all kinds of rough patches in our life to continue to do this podcast is a blessing in my eyes. What sets us apart from others is that we aren’t a group of personalities that were thrown together by a production studio, we are three friends that love each other and will continue to share our hilarious and wild stories that we get ourselves into our audience.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Being born and raised here in LA, there is so much to love because of what my family/ancestors did to get here. My mother is from Peru and my father is Puerto Rican, and growing up in an area where it is mostly Mexican, I began to fall in love with that heritage as well. and that is what is so amazing about our city is that you can come across people from all walks of life, from any ethnicity to any heritage, you can find it here. Just like any city, there are flaws but I never let that take away from what this city has given me and how it has shaped me into the man I am today. I can tell you for a fact the one thing I hate the most here are the earthquakes, I will never get used to that because I am a wimp when it comes to the ground shaking.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @thekickbackpodcastla
- Twitter: @thekickbackpdc
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