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10 Questions with ... Dave Levora
July 7, 2020
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. That means giving the audience enough credit to accept and appreciate a playlist that's more than 10x bigger than they're used to. It means being an Alternative station that's a genuine alternative to the same old same old that had some of them giving up on our medium. When someone says, ‘I'm listening to the radio again,’ that's the goal.
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Started working at WDBQ-A and KLYV-FM in Dubuque while attending Loras College. I left Dubuque for KORB-FM (Planet 93.5) in the Quad Cities in 1995 with a Five-Year Plan. Year One of my plan was to spend "no more than one year in the Quad Cities." It's 25 years later and I'm still here. I can't imagine broadcasting anywhere else.
1. How did you first become interested in radio?
I grew up in the South Chicago Suburbs. Listened to Larry Lujack on WLS as a kid and later running home from elementary school to catch as much as I could of Steve Dahl and Garry Meier. I spent more time listening to The Loop as a kid than doing anything else. It was always on. Then I discovered WXRT as a teenager. The idea of growing up and becoming someone who could tell stories and make other people laugh consumed me. I can't claim I ever really considered doing anything else.
2. What led to the launch of Planet 93.9, The Quad Cities Real Alternative in April?
I was one of the thousand or so people who got "dislocated" back in January. It hurt. I had been working at iHeart for two years following a radio exodus courtesy of Townsquare Media in 2014. I was DONE with radio. My mantra was I wasn't done loving something that couldn't love me back. When Fletcher Ford (CEO of Regional Media) reached out for a cup of coffee I figured I'd go because it would give me an opportunity to articulate just how finished I was with radio. Also, I was unemployed, and this was free coffee.
I vented and he listened. Then he asked me what I would do if I was allowed to do radio in the town I loved on my "own terms". I wasn't prepared for that question but immediately answered I'd bring back the two brands I knew had resonated most here in the Quad Cities: Dave & Darren and The Planet (an Alternative station that has been gone for 20 years). We figured out a way to make it work. It's been a month and a half since we launched and I'm still struggling to accept that this is actually happening.
3. When you launched Planet 93.9, you said, "This has been vastly different from my past experiences working in giant corporate radio where a hard drive filled with 250 songs is delivered via UPS without any local input, ensuring your station sounds identical to similarly formatted stations across the country. Regional Media has given me the freedom to build Planet 93.9 on my own terms." How would you describe the station?
This is the radio station my entire career has prepared me for. We're a small company. We own ONE radio station in the Quad Cities. I understand why the larger companies want to deliver a consistent on-air product across the hundreds of stations they own but the end result of that consistency has been cookie cutter radio. Same playlists. Same personalities. Same imaging. Even the same logos.
The Planet will probably be the last radio station I ever work for. Mind you, I hope it's for another twenty years but if this is going to be it, I want to do all of the things I always dreamt about doing "someday." That means giving the audience enough credit to accept and appreciate a playlist that's more than 10x bigger than they're used to. It means being an Alternative station that's a genuine alternative to the same old same old that had some of them giving up on our medium. When someone says, "I'm listening to the radio again," that's the goal. So far, so good.
4. The station library sounds really diverse. How much new music are you playing? Give us the 411 on the station.
53 currents. I just counted. The 20 plus years I spent working for Big Corporate Radio tells me that's "way too many" but there's not one of them that doesn't belong on the air right now. Too much good music. That said, I'm not interested in pretending that "Alternative" music began in 1991. There's four DECADES of great music to play. We're playing David Bowie, The Clash and The Cars. Records from 1979 make sense alongside new music from The 1975. We're also playing local bands in regular rotation instead of doing it as a specialty show. We're lucky to have a lot of very talented local musicians in the Quad Cities making music that belongs on the air.
5. You have been teasing top secret super stuff happening behind the scenes. What can you tell us?
We've got a new transmitter that's really going to clean up the sound of the station. That's exciting. We're also launching a partnership with WQAD (the local ABC station) for News and Weather in the morning. More local content for the station. And we've also got some improvements coming to the Planet 93.9 App.
6. Tell us about Regional Media.
It's a small company that really values being a local asset. They don't throw around the word "local" casually. It matters here. I mean, we LAUNCHED a radio station at the height of a global pandemic and uncertain economy because Regional Media knew people would LOVE it. I will confess, it has been an adjustment getting used to asking for something and then actually getting it. Being a priority can be uncomfortable when you're used to that not being the case. It's a process. I'll get there.
7. In addition to programming Planet 93.9, you are part of Dave & Darren In The Morning. Tell us about your longtime running morning show.
Darren and I have been a team since 2004. We were on-air for 10 years and enjoyed a great deal of success. When the Townsquare folks pulled the plug on us for an "exciting new Country station" (which TANKED-no hard feelings!) in 2014, we moved our show into the Podcast space. We launched Dave & Darren's Top Five Things Podcast because we assumed, we'd be given another opportunity to do mornings and wanted to keep the brand going. It took almost SIX years but here we are.
In some ways it's weird how not weird it is to be back on-air. After that long of a hiatus, I think I expected there to be more of an adjustment period. Our first day back felt like nothing had changed apart from the fact that we were now both working at our dream station. Doing a show with Darren each morning is a gift. We're a morning show that genuinely enjoys each other's company. I'm lucky to have him as a partner and a friend.
8. What is your favorite part of your job?
The limitless potential of each day. Every morning presents the real possibility of being the best show we've ever done. Every break during my midday shift is an opportunity to make a real connection with a listener, over how much we love a song or how excited we are about an upcoming local event or what a drag the bridge traffic can be around here. The time I spent trying other ways of making a living during my first unplanned radio exodus has dramatically informed my gratitude. I get paid to tell stories. That's nuts.
9. What would surprise people most about Planet 93.9?
Our studios are on the edge of town in a storage facility.
10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?
Saying, "Thank you" on the air. Our audience never forgot about us. They kept supporting us when I think it would have been acceptable to give up and move on to something else. Six years off the air and they refused to abandon us. Who does that?
I'm aware of how fortunate I am and appreciate that I get to work at the radio station I would have built if I'd won the lottery.
Bonus Questions
Favorite drink?
I've been the host of a "Brewed" a craft-beer TV show on WQAD for the last five years. Drinking beer on TV is almost as much fun as playing R.E.M. records on the radio. Almost. I'll drink any style except Saison. Unless all you've got is a Saison. Then I can find a way to make that work.
Rank your sports teams in order of passion.
- Chicago White Sox
- Chicago Bears
- Chicago Blackhawks
First record ever purchased?
Album: Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack 45: Debbie Boone "You LIght Up My Life"
First concert?
Jonathon Brandmeier and the Leisure Suits at Poplar Creek
Favorite band of all-time?
R.E.M.
Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for letting me do this, Shawn!
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