10 Questions with ... Dale Carter

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

It would be a huge understatement to say that Tuesday, March 13th was a memorable day for Steel City Media Country KFKF/Kansas City PD/morning personality Dale Carter. He celebrated 23 years with the radio station, and - after his morning show - was notified that he'd won the Academy Of Country Music (ACM) Broadcast Award for Large Market Personality Of The Year, his first such award. Carter has already enjoyed a successful career that includes a 2011 induction to the Country Radio Hall Of Fame (CRHOF). An additional fun fact: Carter was the youngest-ever inductee to the CRHOF. During his acceptance that year, Carter vowed that he was just getting started, and indeed, he's been busier than ever in recent years. In addition to juggling PD and morning show responsibilities at KFKF, Carter serves as a councilman in his community of Blue Springs, MO. He is also about to enter his 10th year as a stadium PA announcer for the Kansas City Chiefs. During this "10 Questions" chat with All Access, Carter discusses his career at KFKF, the Country battle in Kansas City, what the ACM win means to him, his involvement in the local city government, and much more.

1. Tuesday, March 13th was a great day for you, Dale - you celebrated 23 years with KFKF, and you found out you'd won the ACM Personality Of The Year award. We'll give you the first-question option: What's more significant to you, 23 years or the ACM Award?

It has to be 23 years here. Here's why I say it. Marla Zirkle - she was here when I got here - she is the Mgr./Business. She sent me a really nice card that she made, talking about all of the things that have happened over the past 23 that we've been here. So, I started the day very emotionally, thinking back on all of those years and the people I've worked with - some of whom are no longer with us that don't work here or have passed on. It really brings out a lot of emotions of what it's really like to be in a place that long. I mean, I've been here for over half my career! And, I don't see me going anywhere.

2. During this time, you've had different owners, different competitors, competitors who are now your sister stations, co-hosts, no co-hosts - what has been the key to your long tenure, which seems harder to accomplish these days?

For me, personally, what I try to do is remain very consistent in my work ethic and in how I do my job. I've also come to bat with trying to be the value employee, trying to do as many different things as I can to add value to myself. And, be the low blade in the lawn - don't cause problems!

3. Let's talk about KFKF. Though you're still a Billboard (BDS) reporter, you're a heritage station - an "Icon" brand before there was such a thing - in a time when the format and its listener love shiny new objects. And, with two musically aggressive stations in your own market, how does KFKF remain at or near the top so often?

Well, as [KFKF MD] Tony Stevens and I tell each other every week when we look at the music, we feel like we've got the best hand, because we get to sit back and play the hits. We don't have to break anything. And, couple that with the currents being really good right now. I think there are a lot of great acts - I call them the Class Of '17. It's another sea change in Country music, I think. So, we get to play the best of the Class Of '17 and great music from the 90s. It depends on the tune and the artist [when deciding what to play]. For example, with Brett Young, we were late to the party, but now I'm early to the party with the new Brett Young, because I know the last three have been monster hits at my radio station. So, Brett Young now gets that pass that Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean get. It's kind of a complicated formula; we watch what the other two [stations] are doing if it's something that we're unsure on. The best part of our job is we can be uncertain - we don't have to play anything - so, if it's a song or artist that we're uncertain about, we wait until it gets to a certain spin level in the market, then we test it, and if it throws up a number, we add it.

4. You've also done mornings for 20 years. That's a hard lifestyle to sustain, and so is being relevant - sometimes funny - and, you balance this with PD duties. Talk about your morning show and its evolution.

I have my own system - I'm a big "system" guy. Every afternoon at 5p or 6p, I'm looking at the stuff that's trending for the show the next day. Then, I'm here at 3:15a putting that show together. I'm so anal about this; I'm looking under my desk right now, and I have a bit map that I created myself back in the 80s, and I have all of them back to 1997 in binders underneath my desk. Why do I have that? I don't know. But, I do occasionally go back and go, "What did I do on Father's Day last year and the year before?" So, it gives me thought-starters for what I can do again. I have a map, and we play a lot of music on the show - 10 or 11 songs every hour. But, then there are little blanks on the map, and we'll fill them. Every day, even this morning, there was something I was going to do on Donald Trump, and I just started giggling about it, because I knew it would be funny.

5. Kansas City is a very vibrant, competitive Country market, and you've survived programming in it all these years. Talk about how the market has changed - and about how you as a PD have changed - as the format has ebbed and flowed through popularity cycles and music trends.

The evolution of the market is 'DAF; they are the wild card. When I got here, they were on AM. They were essentially a full-service radio station that happened to play Country music. Then, they flipped to FM. They took everything from '61 Country, Lock, Stock, and Paul Harvey over to the FM dial - it was WDAF on FM - and then they decided they wanted to go with this Wolf direction. So, the changes on that radio station have been the wild card in the market. [Listeners] have a choice among three. And, in the PPM era since 2009, what I've seen is for no rhyme or reason, one of us will emerge to the front. It's like we're three seagulls flying, and one of us will emerge to the front, and we'll have a good six to eight- month run, then we'll fall back, and another will go forward. So, 2017 was a big year for KFKF. Where '18 is gonna go, who knows? 'DAF had a run where they had a 53-year-old [listener], now she's 55 - we tracked them that closely - and, she was giving them an inordinate amount of listening. She was driving that radio station. Now, she's aged out of the panel, and it looks like it's my turn; I've got a couple 20-somethings who are giving me an inordinate amount of listening. You program your station to what you want it to be, and I think we've done that, and we love our hand, then you look at the panel and think, "How can we implode this panel?" And, the answer to that question - in my experience since 2009 - is that it's very difficult. You just ride it out.

6. Let's discuss those music trends. As a guy with tons of experience in Country radio, you've seen artists, trends, and fads come and go. What's your take on a format that appears to be wider than ever before, in terms of sounds and influences that stretch the envelope many people are used to?

My take on it is that we may have gone back the other way. You hear a guy like Luke Combs, and it's like, "Hey, that's KFKF," you know? Midland - that's a KFKF. Runaway June - that's KFKF. Then, you've got the superstars putting out really good Country songs right now; Luke Bryan ["Most People Are Good"] may be the best in his career. I really like the Jason Aldean ["You Make It Easy"], the Blake Shelton ["I Lived It"] - really good songs with a meaningful message to it. That's what KFKF is all about.

7. Do you feel that the pendulum is coming back to the more traditional-sounding music - the Country music that tells a story?

With the Class Of '17, we're going to see where that goes. But, I believe through Urban Cowboy then the Class Of '89, is this another Class Of '89, or is it just another flash of the pan? It's interesting. With my station, songs will test, because people will say, "Really? That's testing for Power?" Devin Dawson - no one saw that coming. Jordan Davis is a Medium - I wouldn't [have] seen that coming. I'm not proud, or sticking to any particular position, or being stubborn about it; if it tests, I'm gonna play it!

8. Back to the ACM win; KILT/Houston APD/MD Chris Huff pointed out that in the nearly 60 years of KFKF's existence as a Country station, this is the first ACM or CMA recognition. That seems crazy, knowing the station has not only been the frequent #1 Country station but also the market leader. Thoughts on why?

I only go back 23 years, but the history of the station goes back 55 - we'll be 55 on [Monday,] May 28th. In the 60 years that he's talking about, that could be when it was an AM station, because it did have an AM. Then, they launched the FM in '63. The difference between the ACMs and the way they've done it now - I just had a great conversation with [Cumulus VP/Country] Charlie Cook about this - Charlie talked about how the CMAs have become about needing a full-time person to put this package together. You'll need a PowerPoint, and all this other stuff - it takes a full-time body, which we don't even have, so we stopped looking. The ACMs now is about whether you can do great radio or not; all that they're requiring is a five-minute aircheck, a 500-word essay on what your show is and what you're all about, and a picture. Well, I did that in five minutes, so it wasn't that big of a deal. The difference between the two, and the reason why it's been tough in this market, is because we have three really good Country stations, and ratings were a really big part of it. I don't know if they still are for the CMAs, but it used to be 25% of the scores that the judges looked at. And, again, you could not find a dominant station for a length of time that's going to blow past another station in our category. WMIL/Milwaukee was alone forever; WFMS/Indianapolis was alone forever - that Large Market category, I think Nashville and Kansas City are the only two that have three.

9. In addition to your schedule as a PD/morning guy, you are deeply involved in the community - specifically Blue Springs, MO. You're a councilman there. How did you start getting involved in politics, and does it ever create challenges with listeners who may not share your views?

The beauty of Missouri is, in city government, you don't run a political party. Although, anyone who listens to my show will know quickly what I am, but you don't have that label - even though on our council, there are six of us, including the mayor, that are different shades of Republicans and very conservative. You would get that from listening to the show, even though I don't beat you over the head with it. I got involved [with the council], because I just wanted to do it. In college, I started as a Communications major, but you have to remember that I was already on the radio - I got on the radio in high school - and, by the time I was a senior in high school, I was doing nights on the Top 40 station. When I got to college, we were given an AM station to put on the air. I was Program Director, and my advisor pulled me aside and said, "You're basically paying to teach these other kids to do radio. Maybe you oughta think about another major." Politics and history have always been an interest to me, so I switched to Political Science and History - I was a double-major. So, it's always interested me, and I just had the opportunity; I've lived in Blue Springs for 23 years and [have] been very involved in the school district, and the Chamber of Congress, and lots of different things. There was an opportunity to run, and I ran, and I've been reelected twice.

10. More specifically, you aren't shy about posting views on social media. For years, personalities have been coached to stay away from divisive issue like religion and politics on their show; you seem to be doing okay with all of that, however. Is that 23 years of equity? Because, we live in the most divisive, combative political climate I can recall in years.

[There are] two things I'll say: first, I think Country is a center-right format. There are some liberal folks along for the ride, but by and large - especially around the Midwest - it's centered to right. The other thing I would say is that when [former KFKF morning co-host] Mary [McKenna] and I were doing the show, Mary played more liberal than she was, so there was a kind of Yin and Yang between the two of us. Since Mary left in 2011, one of the reasons I have that outlet on Facebook is so [that] I could throw my grenades, because I don't do that on the air. There's very little that's serious about politics or government on the air - I'm making fun of a lot of it. Trump is the gift that keeps on giving, but there's nothing serious. I'm not on the air hammering people to a point of view - that's just not what I do anymore.

1. You're already in the Country Radio Hall Of Fame - you were inducted as one of its youngest-ever members - what's left to accomplish for you?

When I gave that speech at the Hall Of Fame, I said I was just getting started. I don't know if anybody believed me or not, but in my mind, that was true. My parents both retired when they were my age - they've been retired for twenty years now. Tthat's just not me; it's not in my DNA. I don't know what I would do. When you have a job like this, where you look forward to coming in, you giggle about the stuff that you're going to do, it's fun. I had a fart joke on the air this morning. I'm basically a 12-year-old with a 100,000-watt FM radio station, and I get to have fun every morning. Why would I not want to do that? What's next, who knows? Will we go for Station Of The Year next year for ACM? I think we will. We didn't do it this year, because it was a last-minute thing, but I think our radio station deserves to be honored. I said in [my Hall Of Fame speech] that night, if there were a Hall Of Fame for radio stations, KFKF should lead the way to be in the initial class. It's the station with six Hall Of Famers.

2. As if all your other activities weren't enough, you're the stadium voice of the Kansas City Chiefs. How is that approach different than your radio show? I will say, it seems very PPM friendly!

I've been told that we score at or near the top with the NFL each year, but there is no contract. What's happened the last nine seasons is that the schedule comes out in April, and they'll call me up and say, "Hey, are you in?" And, I say, "Of course." I've evolved in that over the years, too. It's like you're still in a baseball game, but instead of batting right-handed, they wanted you to bat left-handed, because PA is completely backward from play-by-play - from when you talk, to how long you talk, to where you hand it off. But, what I've told people as I've evolved as stadium voice of the Chiefs is [that] I've realized I am the audio propaganda wing of the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm for us, and there can be no question about that. There are rules to the NFL, but I'm definitely for us. I'll give you an example. I can talk until the play clock hits 20, regardless of what else is going on, or until the center touches the ball. Okay, they've broken the huddle, the center touches the ball, I've got to be out of whatever I'm doing. Or, when the play clock hits 20. I heard through the Chiefs that [Head Coach] Andy Reid didn't like it if I talked while they were in the huddle, because they couldn't hear. So, what I got out of that was that I'm not gonna talk when our guys are in the huddle, but when their guys are in the huddle, within the league rules, right up to the limit... as loud as I can! When we score a touchdown, we go crazy. When the other team scores, it's like "touchdown Oakland" - I don't even give the details. There's almost a snarl to it, like I'm pissed off that they scored on us.