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10 Questions with ... Shawn Lucero
June 14, 2022
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Our owners believe in live radio. It’s important we deliver for them and for our market. Colorado Springs has always been a hyper local community and we’re proud to be a part of keeping that spirit alive as well as helping new and established local businesses increase their traffic. It’s also a growing city so being able to have new listeners reach live in the studio and interact with the jocks is so important.
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Started at 94.3 KILO in 2002 as an intern then moved into part-time weekend mornings. Moved to Phoenix in 2004 where I jumped on as a Promo Assistant at 98 KUPD and then became Promo Coordinator. My next stop was Promo Director/Mornings for Manhattan Broadcasting in Manhattan, KS in 2006. Eventually became PD at 101.5 KROCK. In 2015 I accepted the position of MD/Middays at 94.3 KILO and in 2019 became PD of RXP then rebranded in 2021 to X1039. I now host afternoons, X1039’s Classic Alt show “Sunday Service”, and New.Now. on Fridays at 6p highlighting new music each week.
1. I’m thrilled to shine the spotlight on KRXP (X1039). You have the station really humming in 2022 .X1039’s ratings have soared from 1.2 in January ’22 to 4.2 in April ’22 12+.When I asked you a few weeks ago about the ratings surge, you said: “Live and local works! Strong on-air personalities, exciting promotions, a marketing team that sells and loves our stations, and nothing but bangers in the playlist. Not a bad formula. The return of live music doesn't hurt either. I hope to see the climb across the board with all the doubt we've had in the format over the past few years.” Let’s take a deeper dive into the ratings growth at X1039. How has the station been growing in your target demo’s?
We’ve seen steady growth over the past three months in males 25-34 and females 18-24/25-34. Bringing back the younger female demos is exciting. We also see peaks in our focus hours throughout the day. We’re really happy with the three month average overall.
2. What are you most proud of from the station’s ratings success?
Seeing big growth with the morning show/middays/afternoons. We’ve made a few changes over the past year, like rebranding, which isn’t easy to do. It can be risky really. Instead, we’ve seen nothing but positive steady growth and reaction.
3. It was a little over a year ago that KRXP rebranded to X1039. Live and Local has been the focus. Share with us why this is so important for the station.
It’s important to both stations in the building. Our owners believe in live radio. It’s important we deliver for them and for our market. Colorado Springs has always been a hyper local community and we’re proud to be a part of keeping that spirit alive as well as helping new and established local businesses increase their traffic. It’s also a growing city so being able to have new listeners reach live in the studio and interact with the jocks is so important.
4. Give us the 411 on how you involve the X1039 team on the new music.
We’re having music/staff meetups on Mondays. That’s our new goal anyway. Our jocks have a nice age range and keep up with the format, so I value their input on music. It’s fun so far and great team building. Only a couple are music snobs. I won’t name names.
5. Let’s talk about New Music Discovery. Share with us all the X1039 on-air new music features and the passion you and your team have for the Alternative format.
Our new music features are more focused now. Weekdays the 3p Throwdown features a new song that our listeners can give feedback on via socials, calls, and on our website. I usually involve a giveaway too just to encourage the feedback and calls. We’ve moved our New Now weekly new music show to Fridays at 6p. It’s less than an hour but more focused. We showcase the best new music released throughout the week and try to keep the playlist to a more submodern/indie vibe. There’s so much music out there to discover and expose. Our goal is to hopefully turn listeners onto something they maybe wouldn’t find on their own.
6. Explain how you extend the station’s New Music Discovery off-air with the New.Now. Podcast, Staff Playlist, etc.
New Now, What’s New Now Podcast, and our staff playlist on Spotify really all spawned when the pandemic hit. Promotions went away, remotes went away, sponsorships went away. We were left with music, talking about music, and missing live music. So, just like everyone else in the early pandemic, we found ourselves with more time on our hands to do other things. We thought we’d stick to what we know. Music. For quite some time the webpage with our staff playlist got the most hits. It was exciting to know that listeners wanted to know what we were listening to. Isn’t that really what it’s all about?
7. You were very excited to recently promote KILO/KRXP weekender Aubrey Bishop to Promotions Director & Middays. You said, “It's been exciting to watch Aubrey grow so much over the past year and a half with the X1039/94.3 KILO team! She brings many skills including a natural grasp of promotions and digital arts. She's also fantastic on-air, social media, and our listeners love her. She keeps X1039's midday mood so upbeat.” What makes Aubrey so fantastic on-air and able to connect with listeners?
Aubrey loves being on-air, and her passion is contagious. She has a great social media presence as well. She also grew up in Colorado Springs, so she really knows how to talk to the locals.
8. Tell us about how you assembled a marketing team that loves the X1039 brand?
I had nothing to do with assembling the marketing team. Our GM Jason Janc was the PD of RXP when it flipped to alternative in 2008. We were all really excited when he came on board as our leader a little over a year ago. He and the marketing team went full force to get our stations on the streets again and connect with local business partners. He has a true passion for both X1039 and KILO which I believe helps drive the marketing team. One of our marketing reps is part time on-air on X1039 and the other worked for the stations years back then returned. We couldn’t ask for a better lineup.
9. It’s so great to have the return of live music. How much has this impacted X1039?
It feels like such a shot in the arm. I can’t express how much it means to us to be able to send listeners to see their favorite bands again but to also meet those listeners and experience live music with them. They remember those moments. It’s also probably the reason I recently caught Covid, and I’d do it all over again.
10. The station is very active on social media. Tell us about how active you are at cross-promoting social posts on-air and the station website.
Web/digital is a whole other job. Right? It can be draining to be honest, but we have to do it. This is where I get to talk about Summer Justice and adding digital director to her news director title. Summer is now streamlining things when it comes to cross-promoting, web posts, and all that jazz. I like to encourage the staff to promote themselves on their own socials. Let’s be honest, it’s a lot to keep up with and with all of our other duties we have to cover I just ask that they keep up as much as possible and they do!
Bonus Questions
What made you decide to change your on-air name from Shawn Rock to Shawn Lucero this year?
I’m proud of my last name. I have a strong heritage in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. My ancestors are from this region. I just wasn’t feeling the “radio name” game anymore and my kids are grown so no need to protect that part of my life so much. It just seemed goofy to keep carrying on the faux last name. I also hope I can be an example or inspiration for other Chicanas/Chicanos/Chicanx wanting to start a career in broadcasting.
Who did you grow up listening to and share with us some of your mentors?
The first rock radio station I fell for was KFMG ‘Rock 108’ in Albuquerque. Then I moved to Washington state in the early 80s and really got hooked on college radio. I really hated commercial radio at that point. I moved back to Albuquerque in the late 80s and started listening to 94 Rock. There was a DJ named “Rene” pronounced “Ray-Nay”. She was the s**t. She really made me want to be on-air and talk rock forever. I wonder what happened to her? Anyone know?
What station do you keep tabs on?
Alt AZ.
Favorite new band over the past year?
Not necessarily new…TURNSTILE.
Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for caring about what we do, Shawn. Does anyone ever thank you by the time we get to this part?
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