Joy Taylor: South Florida's Female Sports Radio Host

Has Mr. Horner lost his way to the house under the hill? Is old blind Bob having trouble finding the harbor of hope? Oh, don't despair. It's time for Just the Tips with the queen of concupiscence, Joy Taylor.

Taylor: *cackling laughter*

If you've tuned in to much sports radio over the past six months, that cackling, unmistakable chuckle is familiar. Back in August 2012, The Ticket Miami tabbed Marc "Hoch" Hochman and Jonathan Zaslow to team up in the mornings, and the show was well-received, with Zaslow even winning our 2013 Best Of Award for Best AM Radio Personality. Taylor, the younger sister of former Dolphins legend Jason Taylor, was the third voice on that show, brought in a couple of times an hour to give an entertainment update or something frivolous and not always about sports.

But she got her shot at history (and hosting) when Hochman left for 560 WQAM at the end of '13 when his contract expired. He wasn't allowed to start at WQAM until April 1, and in that period, Hochman recruited Taylor to join him and his new cohost, Zach Krantz, as the third wheel. While Taylor contemplated, Zaslow fretted.

"I was really nervous," he says. "I was upset about it, because overall I thought the original incarnation of the show was building something really good, and if she winds up leaving also, then the show completely changes. Look, I've done my own show for years -- I know what I'm capable of -- but I never got the reaction from my show that we got for the first incarnation of the show. Never. So I didn't want to lose it, and also as far as the way the show would change a little bit with Joy stepping into this role -- it makes the show different, and different in a good way. Because she's the only female sports host down here, so it makes the show different than everyone else, so there's an element there that we have and no one else does."

The newly dubbed Zaslow and Joy Show is still gimmicky and playful -- they did a funeral on-air for the Indiana Pacers after the Heat evaporated their season, complete with producer Brendan Tobin following callers' memorials for the Pacers with "Riley be with you" -- but in Joy's expanded role, the show skews younger (and better) with segments like "Just the Tips," in which Taylor dishes sex advice -- on morning sports radio -- unlike anything listeners down here have heard before.

With that in mind, New Times spent some time with the queen of concupiscence herself to find out what it's like being the only woman in a room forever filled with smelly, annoying sports males and where the show might go from here.

New Times: So when Hochman leaves and the opportunity presents itself to host, what's your thought process? What swayed you to stay?

Joy Taylor: I think I always knew I could do it, but it took some people around me telling me that I could do it to sort of give me that extra push; you know, people that I respected said that I was capable of it, and that kind of gave me the confidence to try. And I was nervous at first, sure. It's a big step, and it's a lot of responsibility. People are hearing what you're saying and paying attention to it, so you don't want to sound stupid.

I imagine the audience didn't like the change because they never like change. Early on, did you just get hit with a ton of shit from the angry male listeners?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And we still do. We're in a position where everyone pays attention to everything we say but they don't necessarily hear it. You know, they hear what they wanna hear when it comes to radio. For the most part, it's been positive. It's been more positive than it's been negative, but you're always going to have people that are resistant to it. Look, I don't understand the idea that women aren't supposed to be in sports or talking about sports because there's, in my opinion, just as many female sports fans as there are male sports fans. My logic is just that the major sports we watch are played by men, so there's just this thought that men should be talking about the other men playing the major sports.

That idea has to enrage you, no?

No, I think it's changing, but there's a couple factors to it. I don't believe in fighting the system where I gotta re-create it and it's like I am woman! Give me respect! Whatever, man. I don't have time for that. I'm just going to do what works and beat the system. Like, I'm a girl, they play up the fact that I'm a girl, and, you know, I'm the cute girl or whatever. That doesn't offend me. Some women get offended by that, but this is the way God made me to look. I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it. You take the gifts you have and you use them, so it doesn't bother me or offend me.

And when people say I shouldn't be hosting or whatever, you know, like, I'm here. They pay me. I have a contract. Somebody thinks I should be hosting, and quite frankly as long as the bosses think I should, I don't really care what another host or a couple of chronic sports maniacs think. I think people enjoy the type of show that we do, and I think that's also another big part of it. We don't do a meathead his-ERA-was-this-and-let's-break-down-stats kind of stuff. We talk about it like sports fan do that are at the bar with their buddy. We're having fun. We're not trying to be something that we're not.

You've worked for a lot of big names in this market. DJ Laz, Sid Rosenberg, Joe Rose, Hochman. Hell, you even worked with that clown Dan Sileo. What's the best piece of advice you got?

I learned a lot from Sileo. I don't think he meant to teach me anything, but I did learn a lot from him. The biggest piece of advice or the one string that went through all of them was: to talk. And it's the same advice that I give people that are trying to come into the industry now, especially girls. There are opportunities, but you've gotta say something. When the mic is on, don't just say "Yeah" or giggle. Have something to say, and be ready when it's teed up for you. And play your role too. Everybody wants to go straight from school to hosting a show full-time, but you've gotta learn and put in those years as a producer and an intern. Always be learning and just appreciate it. Be a personality, and don't be shy. Everybody wants this job and thinks they can do it, but when it's time and it's ready to go and you've gotta talk -- you've gotta talk.

When you took over as a cohost, there was some talk that the Ticket would look for a third voice to add onto the show. is that still a possibility? Six months into this new incarnation of the show, what's the future of it?

We don't really know yet. We're still working that out and trying different people. I wouldn't rule out adding a third person, we're certainly open to it because we have bosses. But anybody we add to the show will fit in with what we do already and our style, and it'll be somebody that adds an extra element to what we're doing. We may end up doing what Le Batard does where there's different guests weekly. But it's exciting. Whatever we do is going to make the show better. And you should be excited about that if you're a listener.

The Zaslow and Joy show airs on FM 104.3 and AM 790 weekdays 6 to 10 a.m. You can listen live here. You can follow Ryan Cortes on Twitter.