Indiana RadioWatch: May 13, 2009

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

A tip of the IRW cap to the six inductees into the Indiana Broadcasters Association Class of 2009: Richard ("Dick") Baldwin, Tom Cochrun, David Goodnow, Jimmy Mack (Jim McDowell), Morry Mannies, and Anne Ryder.

Northeast

Federated Media's Rock/WBYR (98.9fm, Woodburn) welcomes John Arroyo to afternoons. Arroyo arrives in the Summit City from Texarkana, Texas, where he did mornings at KFYX. His other stops include Memphis (93X), Norfolk, Virginia (FM 99) and Little Rock, Arkansas (Lick 106.3).

Independence Media's Talk/WNUY (100.1fm, Bluffton) debuts live broadcasts from the Baer Field Speedway. Auto racing broadcasts will be hosted by Cliff Tanner and "FM 100 Talks" PD Pete LaFaucia on select Saturday evenings. The broadcasts begin 30 May. Also, "FM 100 Talks" will debut a one hour weekly interview/results show entitled "Speed Talk Live" which will be broadcast from the Baer Field Speedway pits on Wednesday evenings between 7:00PM and 8:00PM.

Where Are They Now? Former Country/WBTU (93.3fm, Kendallville) PD Chris Sargent is now PD at Classic Rock/KQOL in Portland, Oregon.

Northcentral

A very belated tip of the IRW cap to South Bend Community School's Variety/WETL (91.7fm, South Bend) which celebrated fifty years on the air back in November, 2008. However, the station celebration was held last month.

Northwest

Schurz Lafayette Farm Director Skip Davis will retire on Friday 29 May after 45 years in broadcasting. Davis started out at television stations in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, followed by radio stations in Crawfordsville and Frankfort. He arrived at WASK in 1982. Oldies/WASK-FM (98.7fm, Battle Ground) PD Bryan McGarvey will be taking over Skip's duties as Farm Director, but McGarvey remains PD.

Where Are They Now? Former Artistic Media Partners' CHR/WAZY (96.5fm, Lafayette), and Country/WLFF-WLAS (95.3fm, Brookston; 1410am, Lafayette) PD Dan Baisden is now OM at KWMX, KSED, and KFLX in the Flagstaff, Arizona market.

Southwest

On 30 April, Regent's N-T/WGBF (1280am, Evansville) added a local talk show entitled "Live with Les" which airs on Thursday morning between 9:00AM and 10:00AM. This hour long show takes an hour off the syndicated Laura Ingraham show. "Live with Les" is hosted by Les Shively, an Evansville real estate attorney. Shively's public affairs show features a pair of guests each week. WGBF PD John Story produces the show.

Sad news out of Evansville, as Peggy Mitchell has passed away. Mitchell hosted "The Peggy Mitchell Show" on WEHT (then-Channel 50, Evansville) between 1961 and 1986 (though WEHT moved from Channel 50 to Channel 25 in the mid 1960's). The children's show aired in the mornings, and began as a single black and white camera filming when Mitchell joined the show, then on Saturday mornings. The 73 year old Mitchell passed away from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) in Nashville, Tennessee on 28 April.

Southwest Indiana Public Broadcasting's News-Classical/WNIN-FM (88.3fm, Evansville) adds "A Way with Words," a public radio show about language. The show originates at KPBS in San Diego, California, and is heard on WNIN-FM each Saturday between 1:00PM and 2:00PM.

Radio Spotlight

This week, we are stung (ow!) by South Bend's "Stinger"

Name: Alex "Stinger" Meier
Job Title: Middays, APD, and Imaging Director
Station(s): WBYT-FM (100.7fm) http://www.b100.com
Owner: Federated Media

1. Who were your early DJ or radio station influences?

Definitely (my radio school teachers) Rob Hendrix and John King at North Central High School in Indy. Also Rob Blair former evenings at WZPL and Jammin' John Trout from the same. Finally, JD Cannon at WFMS.

2. What makes your stations unique?

We are very much a live local personality driven station. Only way we're gonna survive.

3. What makes the South Bend market unique?

Many things but the most prominent is that we're only one of what I believe are one of two (Arbitron) "one county metros" in the country.

4. Who are your mentor(s)?

Rob Hendrix, John King, Rob Blair, Jammin' John Trout, and JD Cannon.

5. What's the best advice you'd give to those wanting to get into radio?

Get in the door as an intern and work for free as much as you can. Washing my truck helps.

6. Where do you see the radio industry five years from now?

Hopefully still sticking it to satellite radio and recovering from our recession... and I hope we never go back just read the liner please.

7. What's the most important issue in radio today?

As for country, the musical split in country radio. Definitely interesting.

8. What's your favorite out-of-market radio station?

KSCS in Dallas, Texas.

9. Who is your favorite air personality that isn't working for you?

Dana Marshall, now a record rep. and Chuck Geiger even though he just got out.

10. What have you read that has taught you the most about the radio business?

The Power Radio Workbook by Valerie Geller and Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. Both great reads.

Bonus Question: What's your biggest pet peeve in radio?

"That was (song) this is (song)," "time and temperature" Boring me to tears.... I could go on and on really.

That's all for this issue. Thank you for your continued support.


Back to the Archive Index
All pages Copyright Blaine Thompson. Articles, photos, corrections, and other contributions should be e-mailed to the editors.