Even if you haven’t heard of Zach Sang, you’ve definitely listened to his silvery-smooth voice on the airwaves. The expert interviewer has been one of the hardest-working entertainment journalists in the business. For more than 15 years, he’s hit up concerts, festivals and anywhere culture was commencing to talk to some incredibly talented people.
Out In Jersey found it fun to finally flip the script and ask questions to the native New Jerseyan. We interviewed Zach Sang about his frequent visits home to the Garden State, how radio became a lifeline for new friendships, and how he’s paving the way for the next generation of queer reporters — present company included).
I see the radios behind you, and it makes me think of your early radio days. What’s your origin story?
Zach Sang: Dude, my origin story was genuinely a kid who had no friends who made a radio show from his bedroom, and it’s continued for 18 years. It’s been an 18-year thing that’s been going on. I made this radio show from my bedroom in Wayne, and I was 14 years old.
I tried different ways to make a radio show online previously, but it wasn’t until I found this one service called Blog Talk Radio that it all really clicked. For as long as I can remember, every single morning, I would listen to Scott and Todd on 95.5 WPLJ, and it was Scot and Todd, Joe Nolan, Patty Steele, and Bill Evans, and it was just a bunch of people who really sounded like best friends because they were best friends and you could tell.
And that’s what I did, that’s how I started my day. You felt like you were a part of their friend group. I wanted my own friends, but I couldn’t make friends properly for whatever reason at school. That school was tiny, and when I moved to high school, [the school] was really big. So it was just a really hard transition. I leaned on the idea that I had to use the internet to make a radio show.
To me, the two were one and the same. A radio show was equated to friendship, community, companionship, and connection with other people. So that’s what I used it for. It’s still what I use it for. That’s really why I started. Like it wasn’t from wanting to just interview celebrities or be famous. Just genuinely none of that. It was like a desire to connect with other people and make friends.
That’s really inspiring and impactful. How’d you notice it grow from just a hobby and a way to make friends into a career?
ZS: I really felt this shift when it was time to decide whether I was going to go to college or pursue this as a legitimate career. At first, I was so nervous that I decided to try going to school.
I went to Kean University, which is in Elizabeth. I attempted to go for a semester because I just couldn’t fully accept myself. The idea of not going to college was difficult, so I enrolled in two classes. Going was something I needed to get over the hump. But after that, I convinced myself and everyone around me that I wasn’t going to go to school. I needed to focus 100% of my time and effort on this; it felt like something I couldn’t turn back from. It was all or nothing.
The story goes like this: I started in my bedroom. Then I started working for an internet radio startup based in Jersey City, on Hudson Street at Exchange Place. The company existed for about three years. I worked with them for two and a half years, all the way to the very end. I was the last employee. I convinced my parents in May, not long before graduation from Wayne Valley in June, that I would not go to college.
I was just going to focus on this radio show a hundred percent of the time in July. But then, I get let go because the company shuts its doors and ceases to exist, and I don’t know what to do. So I tried to go back to school, at least for two classes, but then I ended up working for Nickelodeon, and then the rest is history. But my intent was to go all in on this. Then, when I went all in on it, it kind of went belly up, and then I had to figure it out pretty quickly. But I think it was in that moment that I was like, “Oh, dude, it’s all or nothing right now.”
I realized I’m fully in this. I couldn’t really turn back. It’s crazy. It felt like a job then, though, because it’s all I had. There was no school. Even while I was doing the radio show every day, making a commute into Jersey City and doing all this stuff while in high school, it felt like a job. But because I had school for eight hours a day, it still felt like I was competing for something. But the second it was like all or nothing, this one thing, then it really felt like this was my career.
How are you able to differentiate the pressure of making a career and doing so well, while also authentically finding your voice? That seems like such a tough thing to balance.
ZS: I don’t think I thought about it because I just trusted my gut. People, over the years, have tried to get me to change things that I do. It could be anything from giving an artist edit approval over something to starting an interview a little bit slower, and not as exciting, with not as many big “gotcha” questions. In some cases, I’ve worked for companies that question why I was doing interviews at all. If I had listened to any of those people, I would not be talking to you today.
A lot of that side of it just goes down to trusting your gut, and maybe, like my therapist at one point called it, subconscious competence. That’s where you don’t need to think about it, and you just do it. For whatever reason, it could be the universe telling you what to do, or it could be what you were born to do, or it’s just like this inherent flow state that you enter.
Could you share more about your decision to come out?
ZS: It’s so funny. For many years, well over a decade, I was on FM radio. We did a reality radio show. I chose to share everything about my life except for the gender of the person that I was dating because it was more like this: In my mind, I was kind of testing everybody because I was building these really deep relationships with people in Salt Lake City, Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Beckley, West Virginia; and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
I was working through predominantly conservative areas. But by the way, those same areas also have the most vibrant, beautiful, loud queer culture and queer communities that you would ever come in contact with, ever. I was able to experience that firsthand by being on the radio in all of these cities. I remember when love won, and marriage equality became the law of the land.
I digress for a second. I still took the opportunity to be gender neutral but share 100% of myself. I also had our co-hosts on the air with me, all that kind of stuff in all these different parts across the country. But I wanted to test something. I would talk about all these things, and people would call me and respond, and people would assume it’s a she. Or they’d assume it’s a he, they would literally play their own mind games, and they’d respond in their own ways. So I think a lot of that is fueled by the fact that I spent 10 years on people’s local radio stations every night, talking about my life in this gender-neutral way.
People bonded with me, whether they were a truck driver who had never, ever thought of having any sort of relationship with a queer person in their mind. Or it was somebody who was a kid who was struggling to figure out their own path. To come out publicly wasn’t necessarily a big move because by then I was 32 and I wasn’t on FM radio anymore.
On top of that, I was very digitally out there in the world, and I wanted to see what the response would be once it happened. After this, just take a look at the videos. Just search “Zach Sang boyfriend,” and you’ll see the videos have millions and millions of views. I think a lot of it is derived from this long-term thing that was conceived over a decade on the radio, which is I talk about people all day, and you never really know the type of person I’m talking about. But what it did prove is that love is love, whether it’s the trials and tribulations of a heterosexual couple or the trials and tribulations of a homosexual couple. No matter what you’re going through in the love sphere, it’s the same, no matter who is sleeping next to you. It really doesn’t matter.
So it was a bigger idea that I was trying to prove. I don’t want to take anything away from the queer community. That’s something very special. But I do think society evolving to that point would really be a special place. Because again, love is love is love is love. Just like somebody loving a chick is the same as somebody loving a dude. It doesn’t matter who can like it; it’s all the same. Absolutely. And we’ll get there. I think the next generations are super gender-blind and sexually orientation-blind. They’re very much open. I have so much hope for the future. It’s cool.
People our parents’ age are the majority at these [Pride] events. It’s nice to know that New Jersey isn’t as homophobic as it was when I was a kid.
ZS: Well, that’s the real scoop. I got to say New Jersey is filled with some of the best people on Earth, like point blank period. I’ll die on that hill every single day. I think they’re the hardest-working individuals in this country. I think they are the most loving and accepting individuals for the most part. And on top of that, queerness runs through the state.
So much of who and what New Jersey is comes back to its queer roots and presence. So many of my favorite parts of the state have been given new life, courtesy of queer families, choosing to adopt this place as their home. Asbury Park is one of them. Also, our accessibility to New York City cannot be beat. New Jersey is the best. It is home forever. We have the best people and the best neighbors. So you’re lucky that you’re there right now.
What are some of your favorite things to do when you’re back in Jersey?
ZS: Willowbrook Mall, sometimes I’ll hit Short Hills, depending on my vibe. I’ll definitely hit Church Street in Montclair, grab some food, and go to The Pie Store. That’s also in Montclair. I go there all the time. Take a walk around Packianack Lake every day. Also, if I have enough time, I’ll cruise down to the beach. Primarily, Asbury Park, because it’s the one closest to me.
But, you know, if I’m feeling a little frisky and I want to travel down the Parkway, I’ll do Lavallette if I’m really down for a journey. That’s my typical New Jersey routine. Then obviously I get in on a diner. Park West Diner on 46 is my go-to these days. I also have Pompton Queen Diner on Route 23. Great choices. We shoutout the locals. Jersey diners are the best…
I come home every few weeks. I try to be home every six weeks, usually, at least for a little bit. I literally will stay in Wayne and work out of the city. We have space in Brooklyn. Then we have some offices in Hudson Yards, but I primarily work out of Brooklyn, and I’ll stay in Wayne. I’ll literally stay with my parents or have my place in Wayne… I’m New Jersey for the rest of my life. I mean, I love it. I also love Mikie Sherrill. I think we have an amazing governor. Makes me very happy that she’s elected. A great person and a great candidate.
Can you give a shoutout to anyone who was influential during your coming-out journey?
ZS: I’d probably give a big old shoutout to my parents, my mom, my stepmom, and my dad, primarily. They really have been nothing but supportive and have driven me from one tip of the state of New Jersey to the very other tip of the state of New Jersey. Quite literally, to almost every music venue that the state has to offer at one point in time over this 18-year journey. On top of that, they’ve been with me as I came out. I mean, they’ve accepted me, and without their love and care, I would never have felt emboldened and safe enough to be as confident as I am and to live as truthfully as I have at all. So I really thank them more than anything.
My mom worked for 37 years as a social worker in Paterson. And then my stepmom was a theater teacher for like 20 years at Passaic County Tech. Then my dad has done mortgages for people throughout Paterson for a long time. So New Jersey courses through my veins. It’s the best state in the nation. It really is.
