Real-Life Radio Hijinks Inspire Web Comedy ‘The Jamz’

Have you ever looked around your workplace and said to yourself, “Man, this would make a hilarious TV show?”

That’s exactly what happened to Chris Petlak, who was working at Chicago radio station WTMX 101.9 FM The Mix when he and his creative pal Jim Kozyra realized it was the perfect sitcom setting.

“There’s a lot of very great characters that can come out of a radio station … guests that come through [and] you have to be a particular type of person to work overnights,” Petlak told News WTOP 103.5 FM in Washington DC.

So they created a bunch of three-minute episodes of “The Jamz” — shot at the radio station — and pitched it at the 2014 New York Television Festival (NYTVF), where it was chosen to become the first program produced by NYTVF Productions and funded and distributed worldwide by The Orchard.

Set at the fictional station of 101.7 THE JAMZ, the No. 1 music station in Chicago, the show opens with the retirement of the station’s famous, longtime morning show host. This leaves a coveted vacancy sought by two ambitious but bumbling overnight DJs, Jay Jay (Petlak) and Fitzy (Kozyra).

“Our heroes quickly try to find their way into the morning slot despite their own incompetence and general buffoonery,” Kozyra said. “It’s Jay-Jay, Chris’ character, trying as hard as he can to keep the show on the rails, and Fitzy, my character, literally with the attention span of a flea just taking the show off the rails. What’s ironic, for the audience at home, that’s probably some of the most enjoyable scenes, but for the audience in the fictional radio world it’s gotta sound like hot nonsense.”


“The Jamz” is available on iTunes and, as of this week, is now also streaming on Netflix.

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