10 Questions with ... Danny Dwyer

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Danny Dwyer recently marked his 20th anniversary at KUPL, and during his two decades, he's enjoyed success in all areas, including on-air, promotions, and programming positions. His radio experience dates back to his high school days; early in his career, he gained valuable experience working in Los Angeles radio. Anyone who meets Danny is automatically taken with his genuine love for radio, his relentless positivity, plus, a strong understanding of his radio station and the Portland market. Dwyer took some time out of his busy schedule to chat about his 20-year run at KUPL, maintaining that positive attitude; his audition for the upcoming season of "Big Brother;" and much more.

1. Danny, thank you for taking the time for "10 Questions!" Let's start with your recent celebration of your 20th anniversary at KUPL. This is a rare accomplishment. Did you ever think you'd stay at one station for two decades?

Never. Not a shot. It's funny; when I left KZLA in Los Angeles, I moved to Portland never knowing what was gonna happen. I was scared to death. I came to work with [then-PD] Cary Rolfe, and when I got invited to [KUPL], I met the infamous Lee Rogers; he welcomed me with open arms. Then, all of a sudden, I felt like it was instant family the second I walked through the door. It was a fit right away. Little did I know, it would last twenty years. There's a lot of people I'd like to thank, who believed in me from the beginning and gave me the opportunity to be where I'm at. The list is so long - it's really hard - but, there's definitely a few people. [then KZLA Dir./Marketing] Terry Watson gave me my first shot to come into the Promotions department and help with St. Jude. You, RJ, for believing in two young kids to pull off a show that was playing music that would make people go, "Are you kidding me? These two young guys?" Shawn Parr, obviously, and everyone that I've ever had the chance to encounter here at KUPL - MoJoe, Rick Bubba Taylor, Scott Mahalick, Cary Rolfe, and all those guys - literally everybody that I have crossed paths with here has opened the door or given me an opportunity to do some great things that I never would've gotten to do had I not been in radio. If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't be where I am today, so thank you.

2. Let's back up for a minute; a lot of people who marked 20 years somewhere started there as an intern or something, but you already had a strong background in radio. Walk us through your first gig, up to when you arrived at KUPL.

I started in radio in high school in 1981 at KMMT in Mammoth Lakes, California. I was going for "Husky Night," and I had gotten classes, and we would get credits for showing up to extra activities. It was an extra activity, and I always loved music as a child growing up. So, that was my first opportunity to do radio - to be on-air. Then, after graduating high school, I moved to LA and got a club gig at Denim & Diamonds with Buzz Brainard, who's now at SiriusXM. Buzz introduced me to Shawn Parr, and we hit it off like brothers, and I told him I once worked in radio and that I'd love to get back into radio. He then told me at that time that he could get me in the door to clean closets and be part of the promotion team, and he'd bring me everywhere with him to learn the ropes. So, I did with him. Eventually, I worked my way through the Promotions department at KZLA and worked with my first Program Director, RJ Curtis. So, I learned the ropes by producing the afternoon show with Shawn and being a member of the street team at KZLA. I was also on-air, doing nights, playing the older Country music at the time. Our MD at the time was Cary Rolfe, and Cary and RJ both had opportunities, so they left KZLA and made their way elsewhere. Cary made his way to Salt Lake, then ended up in Portland, so I sent him a tape and resume. Two days later, I had a plane ticket, waiting for me to get to Portland.

3. Did starting in radio at a younger age than most and playing older Country music from the time give you an early appreciation for what had come before in Country music? Had you listened to that kind of music before?

I grew up on Country music through my parents; my mom was a huge Kenny Rogers fan. She loved him and Conway Twitty. My dad loved Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. So, it made me appreciate the older music that I was listening to, but becoming the host of "Z Past" made me just wanna grow even more, so I studied and learned everything I could about those artists.

4. Twenty years at one station is incredible, and during that time, you've seen a lot happen in this format. What have been the biggest changes - musically or with radio - during your time in Portland?

Two big things stick out for me, mostly; one of my old Program Directors, John Paul... I was doing afternoon traffic, and he had told me, at the time, that I had to make my traffic breaks shorter, because there's a new system coming into play called PPM, and he said, "You're gonna have to learn to talk a lot shorter and make breaks a lot shorter. At first, we laughed it off, but now, today, man, was he right. It was crazy. The other big thing was literally transferring from CDs in carts to the digital era, where everything is now computerized. It's really a magnificent view to see everything we've gone from. At KZLA, we were reel to reel in carts, then you go to CDs, now everything is MP3 and WAV files. It's incredible. Technology today is amazing.

5. One thing that we at All Access have noticed about you - and marveled at - is your unceasing enthusiasm. You are always positive. How do you keep that great attitude going?

I was raised right from my grandparents; it comes from my grandmother to always have a positive attitude and treat people the way you wanna be treated. My parents gave me a great work ethic; my mom and dad weren't rich, but they knew if they wanted something, they'd have to buckle down and work hard at it, and they eventually got it. I saw that in them, so I started very young. I've always had a great attitude on life; I'm like, "Hey, look, if I woke up today, it's a good day." I just look at the bright side of things, always, and I try to find the bright side of everybody. I try to give everybody ample opportunity to be a smiling personality and see what happens. Some days, people have terrible days and don't wanna be bothered, and I get that. I do have my days and my moments where I'm just like, "Leave me alone, let me do my thing," but for the most part, I hear the words of my grandmother, "Treat people the way you wanna be treated. Be happy in life."

6. During your time with KUPL, you've had many roles: MD, Dir./Promotions, on-air, etc. You seem to be able to do just about any job at any radio station. Has this been helpful in maintaining your position there?

Yes, absolutely. In today's world of radio, we gotta wear a lot of hats. It's coming down to the wire; you don't just get to be the PD anymore. There's a lot of PDs out there now that are on-air, doing afternoons, or they're format captains, running 10-15 other stations. There's a few programmers that I really look up to, and I hear those stories, so I know what it's like. So, yes, you have to wear many hats and challenge yourself every day to learn something new. It's what keeps you relevant in today's society, because there's always somebody coming up in the ranks that wants to learn, and they're gonna have that opportunity.

7. You've worked with several PDs there. Can you share what some of them have taught you and lessons you still bring to work every day?

Passion: I learned that from RJ; have passion for the business. Love it and embrace it. Cary taught me mostly about music; his ethic for the music industry and how it worked gave me a great insight on a lot of it. John Paul taught me a lot about trimming the fat and how to make it work for today's era of radio and what it's about. He was a great leader for that. Another great guy that wasn't really a programmer at the time but was my partner for years was Rick Bubba Taylor. I learned a lot from Rick; a lot about a life and just embracing the format and how to treat people in this format and that what you give to this format, you'll get back from this format. My relationship with Lee [Rogers] was fantastic; the thing that I learned from Lee was to always give it 120% -- not 100% -- 120%. And, to embrace everything you can; the more you make a listener feel like a part of the family, they're gonna embrace you. I've always said that when I moved to Portland; it's what Lee taught me: give everything you can, because if you can show one listener happiness and make them feel like they're part of the family, then they're gonna do that to you. I know that I can go on the air and say, "Hey, I need a spaghetti dinner tonight," and I'm gonna have ten plates offered to me in five minutes. Lee had a huge, huge heart, and he always saw the good in people. I think that's one of the biggest things I learned from Lee, as well, is that you always need to see the bright side in people until you get burned, then it's a different situation. He spoke his mind, but that's what made people love Lee Rogers 'til this day. We still get phone calls at the station about Lee.

8. Right now, you and MoJoe seem to have a terrific working relationship. You have more history with The Bull than he does, but he seems to really respect your knowledge of the market and the station. Can you talk about the relationship you guys have?

It's really strong; I think we have a great relationship. There are days where we butt heads, but I think everybody does that when it comes to a great business. He's like my partner. I like at it this way: this is our business, and he's my business partner. We have to make some tough decisions on how things are gonna work. The knowledge of the city and the fans, yes, he comes to me to ask what we should do. When it comes to programming, he's taught me a ton of stuff about the metrics of the numbers and how many things we're gonna be getting and promotion and what we'll do. I've been the Promotions Director here, twice, but he brings another avenue of it, full-force, from the programming side, which has always been interesting. Like I said, there's good cop and bad cop and days where we do butt heads, but at the end of the day, we high-five, we knuckle-bust, and we kill it - we crush it - every single day. That's a great relationship.

9. Since you have a long and wide perspective on the business. What are your thoughts on the current state of music at Country radio? Do you think we're in a strong music cycle? What are YOU seeing that is working, and what do you feel is an emerging trend with our music right now?

For me, I've watched it go in cycles; there are times where we've had the 90s of Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Garth Brooks - they were the superstars at the time. Then, we kind of went through a low point where it was questionable of who was gonna be the next superstar. Now, we've come to this era of Country music, and it's completely different than what my parents grew up with. Everything always changes; people don't like change, but you have to embrace it. Now, I feel like the music that's coming out is such a wide variety of music. You look at somebody like Luke Combs; I think he can be the next generation of Eric Church. He brings that raw intensity of music to the format. Then, you have artists like [Florida Georgia Line] and Thomas Rhett that are reaching out, working with artists like Bebe Rexha, and some people don't embrace it, but I think we have to, because sometimes the music format goes through a low point and trying to find avenues to find a different way to make the music sound compelling. Some people don't like change, but that's just the way it is. For me, I love it. I like the traditional side of Country music, with the Jon Pardi, William Michael Morgan, and Midland; I love that new sound of what it is. But, I also embrace the new sound of Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett. Blake [Shelton] kinda falls into that traditional sound, but he makes it sound a lot more fun. Looking at the format from what it was back when my parents listened to it to today, yeah, it's completely different; it does not sound the same. And, in Portland, we have such a diverse group of fans; you have people that love the old, Gold, traditional style of music, then you have the new millennials that love the new sound of Florida Georgia Line, Cole Swindell, Kane Brown, and Russell Dickerson. So, you have a huge variety of people to choose from when it comes to music, and I think Portland's a great market for that.

10. What is the process like for evaluating music on The Bull? How many are involved in the meeting and what is important to your team when putting a playlist together?

First of all, we wanna cover the demo target that we're looking at - like most radio stations - the mothers between 18 and 45. A single mom, driving two kids in a mini van - we try to focus in on that. But, when it comes to music meetings and what we place on the station, every Friday, we sit down with six or seven staff members and do music meetings. We play seven to eight songs and get a feel for it. We bring in a couple females and a couple males. And, we do a podcast called "Yeah, Meh, Or Nah," and we have our fans vote for the songs that we put up that week on the podcast, and we kinda let them make a decision on what they'd like to hear on the station, as well. It's new and old music. And, of course, we always look at the research we get from our consultants - me and MoJoe team up together so well and take a look at the meter counts and what we need to get on the station to make it rule.

We know you just auditioned for "Big Brother;" knowing your personality, we think you are a shoo-in to win this. How did the audition go, and have you heard any word?

Not yet. The audition was amazing; there was almost 600 people there. There was five locations around the country, [including Orlando, Boise, and Chicago]. The audition was just a two minute interview; you had to tell them about yourself, why you're a fan of "Big Brother," why you wanna be on the show, what would make you the perfect contestant, and so on. But, we did the interview, and I'm just waiting. They said we'd hear in a month to two months to figure out what's gonna happen and who's gonna be a part of the cast. And, the show starts taping at the end of June. I would really love to be on the show; I think it'd be a great opportunity. It would just be hysterical to get in a room with 16 other people and try to fight it out to the end. It'd be amazing. I think I would be the perfect roommate, because I can get along with just about anybody. I also wouldn't wanna be known as the "Floater" on the competition, but I would definitely give it a run. The "Floater" is somebody that just sits back and kind of takes everything in and lets everyone else do the dirty work, and they just keep advancing without having to do anything. I would like to at least compete for a couple competitions to make myself be real in the competition.