10 Questions with ... Eric 'Boney' Clouse

NAME:Eric 'Boney' Clouse TITLE:Music Director STATION:KTCL & KPTT MARKET:Denver (#22) COMPANY:Clear Channel BORN:Seattle RAISED:Denver

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Graduated from the University Of Denver in 99 with a degree in Marketing. I realized people with piercings and tattoos don't make good salesmen, so I followed my music passion right into radio. Started in FM promotions for the Denver cluster in 2000. Got the crap kicked out of me by the KBPI morning show for three years and finally landed an assistant programming with KTCL and haven't looked back since.

LAST NON-INDUSTRY JOB:

Still own and run my own karaoke show

FIRST RECORD EVER PURCHASED:

First cassette was DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper"

FIRST CONCERT:

Metallica/Guns N Roses/Body Count Mile High Stadium. The infamous one where Axl left, during their set, for two hours until Barry Fey allegedly threatened his and the driver's life.

FAVORITE BAND OF ALL-TIME:

Tough question... probably Pearl Jam.

1. How did you become interested in radio?

I became one of those people that sat back and asked what would I do if money wasn't an issue? Listen to music, so why not get paid to do it?

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

Easy, when it all boils down to it, I get to play with music for a living and they pay me, not well, but they still pay me. The least part is simple as well: frustration. With a passion in music, occasionally you'll throw a song on the air that you feel is a very important song and when the listeners don't feel the same. That's frustrating.

3. What makes KTCL unique?

A couple of things, one is the number of frickin hoops a song has to jump through to get on the air. It's a Mike O'Connor (our old Director of Programming) thing that songs must first go to a music meeting, then into "pre-search" in Rate The Music, then to a board where it waits for a position to open up in our current category. We don't have another Alternative station here so we have a little bit of liberty on not being the first to get to a record.

Second, we're THIS close to being a pop station flying an alternative banner. There's no Top 40 here so we can get away with Fort Minor, Jack's Mannequinn, Panic At The Disco, etc all in power. Indie and heavy stuff doesn't work at all, and we still pull 4-5 in the books.

4. Why is pre-testing songs so important to KTCL's new music selection?

This is a philosophy this station had before I got here, and it seems to still work fairly well. Preseach has surprised us and backed our opinions with songs before the hit the air. Now presearch is not the end all, we'll go against it here and there, but it still helps.

5. What would an outsider find most surprising about Denver?

Denver is definitely a rock town. With an Active, Alternative, AAA, and even a Hot AC (that is VERY rock heavy) all playing the same music, we all still do well in the ratings.

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

A stupid e-mail from our building manager reminding us that if it's snowing, to use the handrail, or instructions on how to use an elevator... seriously.

7. How did you get the nickname Boney?

Back when I was in promotions working for the FM cluster (3 stations, an Active, Alternative, and a Classic Rock), we decided to incorporate our Smooth Jazz station to our promotions team. The promo director immediately asked us for brainstorming ideas. There's a smooth jazz artist named Boney James, so I immediately said we should do a "How Boney is your James" contest?" She of course said, great idea, horrible execution. The name stuck.

8. What would surprise people most about you?

Usually the tattoos. I've got 13 of em and they're all in places that are covered (just in case I get fired/laid off and have to find a real job).

9. Biggest career highlight?

When my director of programming asked me help him build our new Urban/Top 40 station. His job is riding on it and he had enough confidence in my programming/music knowledge that he put the station in my hands.

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

Probably would have followed the advertising industry, had an internship in college that seemed like the most professional you could get while still acting like a kid.

What are your hobbies?

Football (watching, playing, fantasy, and Madden) and collecting movies (working on 2200+ DVDs, probably haven't seen over half of em).