10 Questions with ... Spud

NAME:Spud TITLE:POD (Programming Operations Director) STATION:KITS MARKET:San Francisco COMPANY:CBS Radio BORN:Montreal, Canada RAISED:San Mateo, California

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

After graduating from SF State with a BA in Film in 1988, I decided I wanted to take a break from film and got an internship at LIVE 105, answering the request lines for Steve Masters and Roland West. I got hired part-time six months later and became Promotions Assistant and then Programming Assistant for PD Richard Sands. When Sean Demery became PD in 2002, I graduated to Programming Operations Director, which is my current position in the LIVE 105 Programming Department, where I work with PD/VP of Rock/Alternative Programming Dave Numme and APD/MD Aaron Axelsen.

LAST NON-INDUSTRY JOB:

I worked in a local library, where I checked out books and read a lot of book titles.

FIRST RECORD EVER PURCHASED:

Brownsville Station "Smokin' In The Boys Room" (1st 45RPM record) and The Beach Boys "Endless Summer" (1st album).

FIRST CONCERT:

DEVO New Traditionalists Tour at the Bill Graham Civic, December 1981 (I remember debating with myself whether a tour shirt is worth $6!)

FAVORITE BAND OF ALL-TIME:

The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson's music always makes me SMILE!)

1. How did you become interested in radio?

I started listening to KFRC when Dr Don Rose was the morning show and they played Top 40 hits in the early '80s but when KQAK "The Quake" hit the airwaves, I seriously fell in love with radio. I used to sit in my car and listen to the Alex Bennett morning show for hours and then make Quake tapes of all these cool new bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, The Alarm, U2, New Order, and the Psychedelic Furs. That's when I also started going to concerts and became seriously addicted to music and felt like some of my best friends were Quake DJs like Big Rick Stuart, Tim Bedore, Oz, and Rob Francis.

2. What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?

KFRC & The Quake (programmed by Rick Carroll). Then when The Quake changed formats, I felt somewhat musically lost and started listening to KITS because this wacky dude named Steve Masters did a weekly show called, The Modern Music Hour. I used to call in all the time as "Spud" and request DEVO (note: DEVO referred to their fans as "spuds" because they said their fans had a lot in common with potatoes -- they're dirty and unglamorous but still go good with every meal!) and then beg Steve to play more modern music (AKA "alternative," though we didn't call it that at the time). He told me to write a letter to the Program Director so I put together a petition, got all my friends to sign it and sent it to Richard Sands. A couple of months later, KITS Hot Hits became LIVE 105 Modern Rock and the rest is history!

3. Give us a rundown of your day-to-day duties?

Answer listener e-mails and calls, write studio liners, prepare music logs, update concert calendars, schedule jocks and board ops, manage interns, order CDs for on-air giveaways, update and distribute weekly playlists, coordinate details for in-studio artist interviews and performances, oversee live broadcast details, voice public service announcements, coordinate LIVE 105's Beach Cleanup program in conjunction with the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, come up with great ideas for specialty weekends and assist PD Dave Numme with miscellaneous projects and assignments. I also seem to have adopted the job of Spud The Janitor over the years and make sure the station is always clean and organized.

4. What part of your job do you like best? Least?

Best: Listening to new bands and new songs and getting that same exciting feeling when I hear something new for the first time and it moves me.

Least: Filling out paperwork and forms for everything!

5. What's one thing that would surprise many people to learn about you?

Spud's not my real name, it's Dulce and I lead a secret goth life!

6. What would an outsider find most surprising about Live 105?

That even though the building we work in looks very corporate, when you go inside, you'll find the coolest bunch of seriously-passionate-about-music-dorks you'll ever meet. Come on over and I'll prove it.

7. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without __________?

Lunch, preferably fish tacos.

8. What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?

Integrity is everything, and always prioritize your listeners (oops, that's two truths!).

9. What is your fondest memory at Live 105?

For some reason, the one that really stands out was the time a bunch of us went over to AT&T Park to work out the live broadcast details for an upcoming Cure concert. We were going to broadcast from the Giants dugout so we had access to the field. Of course, knowing this in advance, we all brought gloves, balls and a bat and played baseball on the actual field where the SF Giants play! But there are so many other great memories, I think I better start writing that LIVE 105 book sooner than later.

I would also like to add that after being at the same radio station for 20 years, I still look forward to going to work every day in the morning and consider myself very fortunate to work with such a cool group of people at such a killer station!

10. What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?

I'd be a hugely successful film director in Hollywood (reality: assistant to the assistant editor) or maybe an astronomer, I love stars, planets, outer space, and infinity!

What are your hobbies?

I surf, snowboard, dive, and also play keyboards and sing in a beach party surfpop band called Drifting Sand -- I'd be a fool not to say check out www.driftingsand.com, right? Surf's up... sea ya in the water!