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10 Questions with ... Kate Knowles Murphy
November 15, 2005
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NAME:Kate Knowles MurphyTITLE:MD/middaysCOMPANY:CoxMARKET:Tampa (#21)BORN:Lexington, KYRAISED:Everywhere
LAST NON-INDUSTRY JOB:
Active Duty military
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Graduated High School and ran away with the circus (joined the military). Got out and attempted to bribe the PD of a local rock station with donuts (too bad he was diabetic. He gave me a shot anyway). I also dabbled a little on the TV side of the media house and realized that while the pay was better, the satisfaction wasn't there. Plus, in radio, I can wear jeans and bunny slippers to work.
FIRST RECORD EVER PURCHASED:
Candlebox (but if you're talking vinyl, then it was Jimmy Buffet, Chaka Kahn when I was a kid).
FIRST CONCERT:
Oh jeezus, do I have to admit to this? Ok, ok, it was New Kids on the Block. ONLY BECAUSE MY YOUNGER COUSIN WAS A FAN AND NOT ALLOWED TO GO UNLESS I WENT WITH HER!!!
FAVORITE BAND OF ALL-TIME:
Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty (but nothing after "Wildflowers"), Toad the Wet Sprocket (shed a tear when they split), Tori Amos (still buy but don't listen to anything after Choirgirl Hotel), MUSE, Jimmy Eat World. It really depends on the genre.
1. How did you become interested in radio?
Wanted to be a world-traveling Broadway star performer and Pulitzer Prize winning author but would've settled for local theatre and a brief nod from Oprah's Bookclub so, I really don't know if I could say I had an interest in radio so much as a "pleasant speaking voice" and a passion for music.
2. What part of your job do you like best?
NEW MUSIC! Opening packages and hearing CDs before ANYBODY else. So cool! If I wasn't in radio, I might be an unemployed music critic. Unemployed, of course, because no one wants the truth of how bad their band sucks and I'm not pretentious enough to write for Rolling Stone.
3. What is your biggest challenge?
Using punctuation and not using emoticons=) Seriously? Time management. When I became Music Director, I still had to stay on top of my on-air work. Averaging 65 hours a week, no family/social life was getting to me and I was increasingly distracted "on-air" by things needing to be done when I got "off-air." Then, with guidance from a friend at another station, I "tweaked" a few things in Selector to make it more efficient and (almost) "user-friendly." I still have a LOT to learn but it's a start. My goal is to conquer Selector, balancing the two jobs without sacrificing the quality one for the other. By the way, anyone with any suggestions/helpful tips/hints on that infernal program, please holla at me!
4. How would you describe the music on WSUN?
When we signed on five years ago, we introduced folks to Disturbed, peppering in the occasional skate/pop punk song. We were trying to slowly baptize an area that had been weaned on the teeth of AC/DC and Metallica (got a lot of calls when we first started saying, "I thought you said you were a RAWK station!"). The evolution has been slow but now our listeners, having grown with us, are beginning to accept and embrace everything from The Killers to SOAD.
5. What would surprise people most about the station?
Maybe how "down to earth" the airstaff is. No egos or assholes. We are friends first and co-workers second. I'd take a bullet for any of them. Sure, we fight (oh, if you could be a fly on the wall at our music meetings) but what healthy family doesn't?
6. What would surprise people most about you?
That I'm shy. Painfully so (but I'm getting better!). People ask, "how can you be shy and be on the radio?" I think it's because when I talk into the mic, I'm talking to friends and family; just being myself around people who have known me for years. And I usually don't have to initiate a conversation because listeners call me first and things just deteriorate (but in a funny, 100% unwholesome and sexually/politically inappropriate way) from there.
7. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?
Farstux. Hey, when the hell are they going to put Ephedra back on the market! I need some frickin' MA HUANG!!!
8. Besides 97X, what is your favorite station and why?
There are other stations? Actually, if I'm not listening to us (dissecting my work), I listen to public/college radio stations and other "Alt/Rock" stations in Florida to see what they're playing (that we aren't). I also check out playlists of WTGZ "The Tiger" in Auburn, AL. They caught my attention when they played the DRESDEN DOLLS! I don't pay much attention to stations in the other corners of the country, because that's a lot of mileage and tastes differ along the way. What works for them doesn't necessarily work for us. You have to listen to your audience and give them what they want (even if it's not necessarily what YOU want). I try to keep in mind that radio is like a giant jukebox and the object of the game is to make the majority of people listening happy. I want to hear the Dresden Dolls. They want to hear Crossfade. They win!
9. What's the best concert you've been to this year and what made it so great?
Ah, that's an easy one: NIN with the Dresden Dolls at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. Drove all night with a girlfriend of mine and the show couldn't have been more perfect. The venue had great acoustics (I hate stadium shows. Great for hockey games, not for concerts) and it was incredibly intimate. The lights were "up" so the band could see us as well as we could see them. Mr. Reznor was singing to us, I swear! Ask my girlfriend. It was amazing. I've seen NIN two more times since then but the intimacy was gone. I felt nothing.
10. Biggest career highlight?
Pulling 7.6G's with the Navy Blue Angels (and NOT blacking out and/or puking, thank you). Who would've thought? Eight years active duty military and nothing better than a roller coaster ride in the boom seat of a tanker. I become a "DJ" at a radio station and I get the ride of my life!
Bonus Questions
What are your hobbies?
Singing, dancing, writing, reading, painting, photography, sewing, making jewelry, saving animals, riding motorcycles, and killing people. I'm still in the National Guard and I'm one hell of a shot.
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