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10 Questions with ... Mike Allen
January 7, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Reconnection to the local market you serve. If you're a jukebox, you can be replaced by any one of a number of services that will custom tailor itself to your listener. If you bring local information and content that they can't get from the machines, then you have the chance to be indispensable
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Part-time to Interim PD over 13 years at Rock 101 WROQ. Ownership change led me to leave for Charleston. OM at WYBB and WCOO for 12 years and then the opportunity to start a Triple A from the ground up led me to Columbia, SC. The original Palm for two-and-a-half years and then Alpha Media APD WMFX then PD WMFX/WPCO and Rock 99.7
1. How did you become interested in radio?
When I was a kid, WSB-A played radio serials, so I got interested in those and then Ross and Wilson back in the day.
2. Tell us about the recent relaunch of 'The Palm" in Columbia.
We knew from my previous experience that there was a market for the music and lifestyle of Triple A, but we needed a signal. Alpha local management had mentioned the idea from early in my stay here and then they came to me one day and said let's do it.
3. Gives us some insight into the Columbia market.
It's a college town with the University of South Carolina, along with healthcare and insurance driving a lot of the local employment. It's the state capitol so we get more than our fair share of political news, but it's also a market that is blossoming with local food, beer and fun.
4. Are you approaching this version differently than the first go around?
Musically we'll land in about the same spot. Perhaps a bit more traditionally commercial than we did before.
5. How do you balance the music now that there is an Alternative in the group?
That's a challenge. We're figuring it out band by band and trying to find air space for both products.
6. How is the staffing for the station coming along?
We've started with the morning show ... Deep Dive with Sloan Spencer. She started Monday, December 3rd, 2018
7. What new artists are you most excited about?
On my desktop right now: The Strumbellas, Gregory Allen Isakov and The Teskey Brothers
8. Tell us about the Triple A station you are consulting in Raleigh, NC.
95-7 That Station and Thatstation.net. That is a wider ranging view of Triple A and Americana in the heart of Raleigh, NC. They have Studio J with audio and video for band visits right there on site as well as morning and afternoon talent. Sean McHugh is the PD there and he's helped out by Kristen Kokkelenberg in PM drive. The reason we called it That Station is that we had a contest on launch where the plan was to make it That Station while we ran the naming contest ... But they liked That Station by a ton of votes so it's that name that stuck.
9. What do you view as the most important issue facing radio today?
Reconnection to the local market you serve. If you're a jukebox, you can be replaced by any one of a number of services that will custom tailor itself to your listener. If you bring local information and content that they can't get from the machines, then you have the chance to be indispensable.
10. Fill in the blank. I can't through the day without ...
... Coffee ... All the Coffee ... They make fun of me for I it ... Kinda sad really.
Bonus Questions
Last non-industry job:
Forklift driver for Southeastern Motor Freight ... Did that while I was working my way in part-time.
First record ever purchased:
Styx - Paradise Theatre
First concert:
Dog Day Afternoons ... to be fair, I was a little kid there to keep my older brothers out of trouble. First ticket I bought was KISS - Destroyer at the Omni in Atlanta.
Favorite band of all-time:
Too many that I love.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time away from work?
Jogging slowly, reading and I've fallen in love with my podcasts that I listen to weekly.
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