Interview: John (U-Man) Ulett of KSHE 95 and St. Louis Cardinals P.A.

One of the most recognizable voices to grace St. Louis airwaves for more than 4 decades, as well as the voice heard throughout both Busch Stadiums for nearly 40 years is that of John Ulett.

Ulett, affectionately known as The U-Man will be front and center at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 29, at The Sheldon Concert Hall, as KSHE95 Welcomes “Life, Death & Other Scary Things,” An Evening with KSHE 95’s John Ulett.

“I think people can expect some laughs,” Ulett said, of the upcoming show. “First and foremost, we want it to be entertaining. There will be those moments where we will talk about my career and hopefully that’s not boring.”

There seems to be nothing boring about the career of Ulett, who got his start at KSHE in 1976. While he has semi-retired from radio, he can still be found up in the PA box at St. Louis Cardinals games. Fans who attend the show can expect to see a lot of photos and videos of things that have happened during Ulett’s career.

“There will be some stories about all the famous people that I’ve met,” Ulett said. “There will be some funny stories about meeting some of those people.”

The show will open with a comedic performance from Joy Grdnic, wife of the host of the evening, Ron Stevens. Grdnic will have a very funny slideshow presentation. Stevens was the man responsible for hiring Ulett at KSHE when he was just 19 years old.

“Hopefully, different people we have asked will make cameos are cut videos for us,” Ulett said. “We are aiming for people like Jon Hamm and Andy Cohen, people who have told me on the field at Cardinals games that they grew up listening to me. We will see, we’re still putting it all together.”

Ulett said that the plan is for this type of show to hopefully continue down the road with other guests.

“This type of live show format is something that is catching on,” Ulett said. “We will see how it goes. I’m excited. Any questions are legit. I’m not going to hide from anything or issues that might pop up.”

While chatting, I asked Ulett about how social media would have affected his job if it were around years ago when he was starting out.

“I think it would have changed a lot of things,” he said. “Artists just casually came into the radio station back in those days because radio was the only way for them to get their message out. If social media would have been around, they may not have been as willing to do so because they could have taken care of it themselves. Athletes, musicians and DJ’s lived kind of carefree back then, but they don’t today. Sex Drugs and Rock n’ Roll, there’s a reason that saying existed. I avoided the drugs’ part; I had no interest in that.”

Ulett, having been with the Cardinals now for nearly 40 years, I had to ask him who his favorite player of all-time was.

“As time goes on it starts to change,” he said. “With great players like Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright coming through, it changes. If you would have asked me that 20 years ago, it would have been Ozzie Smith or Willie Mcgee, but then these guys come along. Wow, what a 20-year stretch that was! I guess I’d have to say Ozzie Smith. He was so damn good.”

The lifelong St. Louisan also mentioned the late-Mike Shannon.

“Growing up as a kid, my favorite player was Mike Shannon,” he said. “Then, getting to work with him and getting to know him, that was pretty cool.”

As far as Ulett’s favorite memory working for the Cardinals, he immediately said Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

“Oh my god! I still can’t believe that happened,” Ulett said. “That was so unbelievable! A hometown guy hit that triple and then a homerun. That was my favorite moment.”

Looking back on his career, Ulett admitted, he could tell right away that there was something special about KSHE when he first took the job.

“I didn’t know what the future held back then, but as soon as I got the job at KSHE, I could tell pretty quickly that is was a special radio station with an audience that was really into what we were doing and the music coming out was really good and exciting,” Ulett said. “When your air shift was done, you just hung out because you didn’t know what would happen or who would show up. I just took it day by day and made it through all these different phases over 47 years.”

Tickets are $49.50, $45.50, $34.50 and $18.50, and are available at MetroTix or by calling MetroTix at 314-534-1111. Tickets are also available one hour before show time at The Sheldon box office. There is also a Post-Show VIP After-Party that can be added on to any price level for $25. Each VIP ticket will entitle the holder to ONE glass of wine, beer or soft drink, plus a meet-and-greet with John Ulett and other VIP Special Guests.