10 Questions with ... Mel Owens

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Mel Owens has spent his entire career at KUZZ/Bakersfield, where his first job was emptying the trash and performing janitorial duties. He eventually become a sales executive in 1971. Since then, he has risen to Sales Manager, Station Manager, VP/Buck Owens Production Company, and CEO/Buck Owens Production Company. Owens currently serves as President/Owner of the company. During his watch, KUZZ has been one the most honored Country stations in America, winning CMA Station Of The Year honors in 1998, 2002, and 2009, and ACM Station Of The Year awards in 1999, 2009, and 2012. Additionally, KUZZ is a six-time winner of the NAB Crystal Award for Community Service. Owens joins another member of his family, Former KNIX/Phoenix GM Michael Owens, in the Country Radio Hall of Fame

1. Let's begin by asking what induction into the Country Radio Hall Of Fame means to you. What you think it says about your radio career?

When you called me and told me about it, I was on cloud nine. To be recognized by your peers, and to be in the same category as some of the history of Country music and the people that have presented this format and work so hard, you tell yourself, "Yeah, maybe I've finally made it!" After all of the time and years, maybe I finally got there.

2. Tell us about your first radio job - or, wait - is it safe to say you're STILL at your first radio job?

Yes, I'm still at my first radio job. I started as the janitor at this radio station; I was the guy emptying the trash cans, wiping the phones down, washing the windows, vacuuming carpets -and in those days, they smoked in the radio business, so I was emptying ashtrays. I was 16 years old when I started there. That was Buck [Owens]'s plan - If you wanted to work, you started as a janitor at 16, and everybody moves up from there, if that's what you want to do within the organization. Back in the old days, we had this mailing list to these disc jockeys, and the gals during the day would print these envelopes, and we would come in the evening, and we'd stuff these 45s into the padded envelopes that would include Buck's latest song. Then, we would put them in big buckets, and since we were across the street from the post office, we would push the bins to the post office so that they were ready to be mailed the next day. If we went down at night to do that after the offices were closed, we didn't have to go to school the next day - that was our pay. I was about 14 or 15 years old when we did that. What kid wants to get up and go to school the next day if they don't have to?

3. What station or personality did you listen to most growing up and how did either - or both - influence you in pursuing a radio career?

KUZZ was one of the primary stations I listened to, and we had a guy in the mornings named Johnny K who was a crazy, wild guy in the mornings. He did all kind of crazy things. He was very talented. He kept you on your toes in the morning. Another guy I listened to was on the AM station, KAFY, which was at 550 on the radio dial. His name was Chris Connor, and he was afternoon drive on the station. At one point, the station had a 52 share in this market. We were just a little daytimer; we were 800 on the dial with KUZZ-AM at that time. When the sun would go down, we'd sign off, so at night we were listening to Chris Connor. What's ironic, even to this day, is that in 1977, we hired Chris Connor and put him on afternoon drive for KUZZ. We ended up buying that 550 AM frequency so that we could be full-time on the AM, and we picked up the 107.9 FM dial. Today, Chris Connor still works there. He is still doing afternoon drives on this radio station.

4. This is the part where I ask about mentors, and who may have influenced your career most. That seems like a silly question, since Buck Owens was down the hall from you for many years.

Buck Owens was, of course, a huge mentor. Someone else who was a huge for me was [Buck's sister] Dorothy; she was like a mother to me. She did things for Michael and for me that I don't know if she did for some of the other kids. What I mean is that she saw something in me and Michael. He was trained ahead of me, because he was two years older, but when I earned the privilege of having her decide that I was ready to move on to the next step, she would let me sit in the office during meetings. I wasn't really there to say anything - I was just there to listen - and at the end of the meeting, she would ask, "Do you have any idea why I decided to do what we're going to do?" If I thought I knew, I would say, "Well, I think it's because of this..." And she would tell me whether I was partially right, or if not, she would explain why. I had the privilege of being able to sit in on some of those things for the first years of my training in becoming a station manager.

5. Buck really was a terrific broadcaster, wasn't he? Was that an innate talent, or an acquired skill for him?

Both. But, I think he picked a lot of that up from [longtime KNIX PD and Country Radio Hall Of Famer] Larry Daniels, who worked here for us. During my days as the janitor, he and Buck would talk about programming, and Larry's philosophy about programming. And Buck would talk to other guys in the radio business where he was doing shows; he would pick their brains. He was very much a student of this business.

6. KUZZ has always been - and seems likely to always be - a family owned business. That's how radio once was, but isn't likely to be, ever again. Can you talk about the advantages of being family owned, and locally, operated versus part of a giant broadcast company?

I believe in live and local radio. I do not believe in voice tracking; we do absolutely no voice tracking at KUZZ. I want that jock in that control room, and when the phone rings, I want him to pick it up and talk to the listener out there. I want that listener to know that there's somebody there, and if they want to call, they can get them on the telephone. They are required to pick up that telephone and answer. I believe in local content and doing everything on a local level that you can to promote your radio station to be part of the community. My daughter, Melanie, is our controller here now, and she does a great job for us. I said to her, "Do you want to continue this? Is this something you see you want to do down the road? Because I'm not going to be here all my life - there will be a time when I need to step aside." She said, "Dad, I want to do this. I really like this, and I really enjoy what we're doing. It's a lot of fun, and I want to be here." So, I am thrilled that I have another generation that wants to be a part of this whole thing. I started her training with her going to CRS, and told her to go and see if it's something she wants to be a part of.

7. So the Owens family tradition will continue! Also, your company is not limited to just a radio station. You operate one of the most famous, successful, and popular concert destinations in America - the Crystal Palace. What role does that venue play in the grander scheme for KUZZ? Seems like there is total synergy there.

When Buck was alive, we talked about the Crystal Palace, the radio stations, our print publications, and everything else. We talked about the synergy we create with everything that we try to do with all of these things. Buck asked me one day, "Do you think we should sell the radio stations?" And I said, "Why would we want to do that?! We create such a synergy with the Palace." The Palace couldn't go out and buy the kind of advertising that we bring to it, and we couldn't go out and book all of these acts that it brings in to benefit the radio station. And, Buck told me, "I just wanted to see if you were still interested in doing all of this. The other boys have retired, so I just wanted to make sure you're okay with everything!" And I told him that I am great - that I'm not interested in retiring. He told me that as long as I'm interested, that we would continue to do it. It still takes me back when some of these artists come in here and are so excited to get on the stage at the Crystal Palace to play. To be honest, sometimes when I go over to the Palace, and even in this building, I can feel Buck's presence. You look around and know he's looking down on us and telling us to keep it going.

8. Shifting gears to a more global perspective on the business, a lot of people have expressed concern about where the next generation of new, great air personalities will come from. Where do you think the next great radio stars will come from, with fewer and fewer "farm team" type opportunities anymore?

We found some of our better disc jockeys that want to learn this business through our listeners - the ones that call, really pay attention to the music, and are part of the Country scene. When we get somebody like that, we'll bring them in to be on Toni Marie's show, and we'll show them how the board works, what to say, and what music to play. They'll come in for three or four weeks in the evening in the control room with Toni Marie, or one of the other disc jockeys, and they get the bug. They're actually listeners that love the format and love what we do. That's where our farm team is coming from.

9. Having been in the format for years, through its ups and downs, what direction do you see it heading? Are the Pop, Hip-Hop, and Rock influences here to stay?

I hope we come back to more of a traditional format. I'm not wild about the Hip-Hop aspect, and some of the Pop is just over-the-top. A little bit of that is okay, but some of the Hip-Hop and Rock stuff doesn't really have a place in our format. It's an interesting time. Go back to Kenny Rogers' "Lady;" I remember Buck saying to us, "That's not a Country song." At the time that song came out, Buck was totally against putting that on the radio station, because it was a Pop record. I think we're in the same type of times right now; we're getting a lot of the stuff going on, and we've got a lot of new, young people coming up that have been influenced by Hip-Hop and Rock. Do I want to go back to Mo Pitney and Craig Campbell sounds? Absolutely, I'd love to.

10. Can you identify one or two of your proudest moment in radio? Is it an off-air or on-air moment for you, personally, or your radio station?

Two things have made me the most proud of my radio career. The first is being inducted into the Country Radio Hall Of Fame. The other was the first time that KUZZ radio won a CMA for Radio Station Of The Year. I was so excited when I got to go and tell Buck that we had won, and I thought Buck was probably going to go accept the award, but he told me to go get the award. I asked him, "Well, aren't you going to get it?" And he said, "No, you run the radio station. That's your honor to go and get that!" Back when we won the first one, it was when - before the show - people were coming in to get the seats, and you had the chance to say a little bit in front of everybody on the stage. I got to stand up there and got to thank Buck and everyone at the station. That's probably one of my proudest moments, along with getting this award.