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10 Questions with ... Chris Perry
April 14, 2020
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I grew up listening to radio and have vivid memories of Sacramento Radio in the 80’s. Two very different stations pulled me in and made me extremely interested in the medium, those stations were K-108 (KXOA) and KWOD 106.5 in their experimental Alternative days from about 1992 to 1995. Oddly, I have never worked for a Sacramento radio station. I started my career at KZZF/Lake Tahoe- Reno, a relatively short-lived Alternative station that I was blessed to be a part of from 1997 to 1999. I have been at several radio stations and groups in the Reno and the Boise markets.
1. How did you become interested in radio
As a child starting at about 6 years old, I would listen to a portable radio and imagine what the studio looked like, how the jock was producing the content, etc. I remember being amazed by station contesting and how quickly the jock could get the call on the air and often edited down, which was of course on reel-to-reel tape at the time. I think like many radio geeks in the making I would play back songs and talk over the intros and try to hit the posts. I remember being mesmerized by how smooth the air talent could be on some stations and how they so appropriately used the song ramps. I don’t think my parents had any clue what I was doing.
2. Congrats on recently adding MD duties at 96.5 The Alternative. I know you mentioned you helped launch the station over four years ago. Tell us about your responsibilities at Iliad Media Group.
Thanks, we are proud of 96-5 The Alternative. It’s a mighty little FM Translator operating from high above Boise, Idaho at the main communications site, Deer Point. The station signed on in late 2015 and is fed by the HD3 channel of its sister station, market-leading Country station 101-9 The Bull, KQBL. I did not have any programming duties for the station at the time it signed on, but I did make my voice known that the signal needed to be an alternative format and helped to sign it on.
In fact, at the time I was the Director Of Engineering for the group, which I was for 6 years. I designed and built the signal along with the group’s talented staff engineers. Boise did not have an Alternative at the time, it had been 4 years since the format exited the market. I believed it was a fantastic niche for the new low power signal. The station has done well with Nielsen cume and ratings shares that beat many full-power Class C’s in the market. Alternative music is my music, it is one of my passions. The programming team at Iliad Media in Boise is led by the very talented James Garner. James knew I had interest in helping to program the station and in November 2019 the opportunity came up. Thanks James!
3. How did your engineering background lead you into music programming?
It really is pretty much the opposite, sort of. A complicated question to answer but I will summarize. I started in radio as an intern board operator in High School and then not too long after a paid board operator and air talent. I was a bit of an electronics geek and there came a time that the station was off the air and I knew how to get it back on. One thing led to another. My first 6 years in radio I spent most of my time programming and dabbled in engineering. When it came time to feed a family, I segued to engineering full-time. In the recent past I have gone back to doing both.
4. How has 96.5 The Alternative been growing and covering the market on an HD3 signal with an FM translator?
The FM Translator is a high performing translator that was built to be optimized to cover the market as well as it can as a Class D facility. We think that part of the success and growth is because we program the station with the care, we would a full Class C signal. We developed audio processing that makes the station sound large on the dial while also being very clean. We utilize a unique station voice that brings a ton of personality to the station and carefully program the music to be a unique music outlet for the market while playing the hits! Bottom line, we’re all a little obsessed.
5. Give us the 411 on the music and imaging on 96.5 The Alternative.
The music is pretty mainstream for an Alternative station, but we give our P1 listeners enough depth to keep them coming back for more. We take great care in how we manage rotations and in what music we add. We use as much research as we can and then top that off with some gut feeling as all of us involved could be P1s to this station. We take the approach of being an “Alternative music outlet” and don’t cling too much to whether we play rock, folk or EDM. We play music that the others mostly don’t play that we predict to be a hit within the format or on the station.
Songs we consider need to show the needed momentum to become a hit or have already been a hit and then sound like our radio station. The songs that are played on 3 or 4 other stations in town we tend to shy away from unless they are just massive hits and fit. Some staff favorites right now are POWFU’s “Coffee For Your Head,” The Killers “Caution,” and Glass Animals “Your Love.” Our imaging is unique in that it is mostly dry voice and personality based. It’s low key. We use as much humor as we can between the songs and try to include a good amount of current events in the imaging.
6. What would surprise people most about the station?
Usually it is that the FM signal is a translator. We have had record reps in town listening and they were surprised when we told them. I think for the radio programmers out there it may be the Persons 25-54 Nielsen numbers we have obtained. Of course, I cannot quote those numbers. Alternative can be more of a 25-54 format than I think many realize. Especially if carefully programmed to do just that.
7. Tell us about the 96.5 The Alternative app and how the station is using social media?
The app is essentially for streaming the station. We find that most people just want to be able to reliably listen and for it to be easy. We have made sure we have a reliable Android and iOS app and in the last year have added Android Auto and Apple Car Play. We also take pride in being, to our knowledge, the first U.S. based radio group with Alexa skills. We had Alexa skills before much of radio knew what they were, before you could purchase the development of these skills as a package. It was a lot of fun.
On the social front, we try to have a lifestyle-based approach to our social. The station is really all about enjoying music and life in general, so we use that approach when generating social posts. We also keep in mind our audience and post based on the core of our listeners. There is no doubt that social has a very positive affect on the brand. Of course, right now we are airing plenty of COVID-19 PSAs, we have also incorporated the Pandemic into our imaging and same goes for our social.
8. What is your favorite part of your job?
Hearing it come to fruition on the air and to learn that the station is important to many of its listeners. When people message us to tell us that we made their day because we played their favorite old or new song.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?
Coffee, showers are good too.
10. What would surprise people most about you?
Hard to say, perhaps how insanely loud I am given the appropriate venue and maybe a little alcohol.
Bonus Questions
What are weekends like for you?
I have 3 kids and a wonderful wife. This means I don’t have too much control over my weekends. There are usually some sort of kid activities and we are pretty active in our church, so Sundays are typically somewhat filled.
What are your hobbies?
I have always tried to make my hobbies my job, makes it a lot more fun. I’ve never been good at hobbies. I would always just work more instead of doing a hobby, but that is generally because I enjoy what I do.
What are your favorite places to eat in the area?
Cork and Fork in Meridian and the 13th Street Pub and Grill in the Hyde Park area of Boise.
Rank your sports teams in order of passion.
Oh boy, you don’t want to ask me this. I am lucky if I know what sport the team plays! No joke! I am that bad. This is the type of thing that makes a good radio bit on a morning show. Quiz me on sports and you will get a laugh for sure.
First record ever purchased?
Boy, I had so many records before this that I inherited or were given, but I don’t think I bought anything myself until Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales.
First concert?
Neil Diamond
Favorite band of all-time?
Depeche Mode
Anything else you would like to add?
I challenge radio to re-think and re-tool consistently. Radio is not what it was 20 years and in many ways it should not be. Keep the content and medium relevant and it will do well. It’s not just and FM signal any longer, it social, streaming, YouTube channels, etc. This is a good thing. Exploit these tools to keep your brand accessible and on people’s minds. Use these tools to drive people back to the traditional programing day after day.
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