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10 Questions with ... Andy Hawk
February 5, 2008
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NAME:Andy HawkTITLE:MDSTATION:KWODMARKET:SacramentoCOMPANY:EntercomBORN:SacramentoRAISED:Sacramento
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I struggle with brief but, here we go ... I learned radio in college as an intern at 91X/San Diego. The day after I graduated, I moved to Phoenix for a weekend shift at KEDJ, showed up every day and got hired on fulltime. After four years in Phoenix, I moved back to my hometown of Sacramento for the MD job at KHWD. When that station got Jacked, I was lucky enough to land at KWOD, the station I always hoped to work at. See, I knew I would screw up the brief thing.
LAST NON-INDUSTRY JOB:
I worked at an insurance company for a summer
in college. It was that job that made me want to never wear a tie or
Fill out TPS reports.FIRST RECORD EVER PURCHASED:
Beastie Boys - License To Ill
FIRST CONCERT:
In the Sixth grade I saw MC Hammer with En Vogue as the
opener. I was really bummed Vanilla Ice had canceled that night. Thank
God for Nirvana.FAVORITE BAND OF ALL-TIME:
Bad Religion.
1. How did you become interested in radio?
When I was a wee little boy I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. Somewhere along the line I felt the need to force my friends to listen to the music that I liked. I have quite a mix tape collection.
2. What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?
That's easy, because it was KWOD. I am one of those few lucky people
who is fortunate enough to get to work at and program the station I grew up
listening to. I feel lucky everyday.3. What's one thing that would surprise many people to learn about you?
I am freakishly good at shuffleboard.
4. What part of your job do you like best? Least?
I love logs. I am that radio nerd who could spend all day doing logs
and be perfectly content. As far as least goes, I am not much of a complainer but I
did get to work at 5:30am, and that is never easy when you've been at a
show the night before.5. What would an outsider find most surprising about Sacramento?
There is a misconception that Sacramento is a boring place to live. I
can honestly say that I have not been bored once since I moved back
here in 2004. In fact, when in comes to music there are more talented
bands in Sacramento than any of the other cities I have lived.6. Give us a rundown of the KWOD music features?
NEW Music Pods at 1pm, 6pm, and 9pm.
Sounds of Sac 11am, 4pm, and 8pm. Yes, we play local band every day.
Indieblog Heaven at 12am, 12pm, and an hour of Indie music on Sunday Nights.
X-Beats on Saturday Nights, 10a-2p.
Retro Revival Sunday, 7a-10a.
And we are currently doing a six week series called, "The History of Punk Rock."
7. What makes KWOD unique?
There are no liner jocks at KWOD. Everyone on our staff is involved in some aspect of programming, and we are given the freedom to actually play requests any hour of the day. Scary, huh?
8. How much impact does BigChampagne, research, and phones on new music decisions?
We use it all as a reference point or guide, but at the end of the day we pick songs that sound good for our station and market. We have had many songs this year like Rodrigo y Gabriella, The Editors, Tegan and Sara, and VHS or BETA which have totally worked for us, but have certainly not burnt up the charts.
BigChampagne is really useful because we'll play a song once on a specialty show and we'll see it jump by 700 downloads in the market.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?
Tivo.
10. What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?
I would be selling paintings on the Beach in Maui.
Bonus Questions
What are your hobbies?
Sleeping, eating, drinking, gambling, and training to become a ninja.
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